: 9
2013 . 9 . .
A.J. Nino Amato: Two wild cards that could throw the race to Donald Trump
Meeting Kansans at Carolyn's Essenhaus in Arlington
Sawyer believes ethanol is a key factor of growth for farmers and the state
Weve said this before and we will say it again. If this government is serious about improving education in this country, it should put its money where its mouth is. How?
Its simple really. Pay teachers what they are worth. You see, if education is the key to the future, as the government keeps saying, let them show it.
The same could be said about the health sector.
If the government is serious about everyone having access to quality health care, invest more money into the people who are most important. They include doctors, nurses and health specialists who can operate those wonderful machines weve got gathering dust at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital.
The truth is undeniable. When it comes to education, flash buildings dont produce bright students. Good quality teachers do. Which is where weve got a problem. The majority of teachers in this country are paid peanuts.
It not just ridiculous, it is unrealistic because all were ever going to get are students who fail themselves, their families and the community.
For a moment, take your mind away from the students who graduate with degrees and other qualifications from universities and educational institutions in Samoa and abroad.
Instead think about the hundreds who dont make it. Think about the young people who are falling through the cracks, the ones who end up unemployed and left with nothing to do but create social chaos as a result of idleness.
Isnt that one of the roots of our many problems today? You see, these problems are products of the system, a system created and is being implemented by the government.
Lets be reminded that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.
It is time to revisit how these priorities and promises are being walked out. A good start will be to look at developing better teachers.
For this country sorely needs them. It is no secret that at the National University of Samoa, it can be argued that the brightest minds dont want to be teachers. As a matter of fact, most students in the Faculty of Education ended up there because they couldnt get into other programmes they would have preferred. Thats where our problems begin.
But you cant blame our brightest minds for looking elsewhere. Who wants to be a teacher when the salaries are so bad? Who cares about making a difference if your pay cant feed your multiple children?
One of the attractions about becoming a teacher is the idea that school finishes in the afternoon and teachers then have some time off, unlike all other 9am to 5pm jobs.
That has now been changed with colleges finishing at 4pm. What that means is that teachers are working like all others for the same hours if not longer - and yet still get the same pay.
Whats worse is that when teachers go home, they are expected to prepare their lessons for the next day, taking up most of the night. This is unfair.
The question is, since this system of longer school days has been around for a couple of years now, has it improved anything? Has it contributed to the improvement in exam results or has it only created more problems? This is a valid question that must be addressed.
At the end of the day, this is a government that is forever talking about health and education as a priority.
Yet from what we are seeing today, that is a load of rubbish when it comes to teachers and core health workers
We have both Ministries that are so top-heavy the bulk of the money is tied up there when it should be used to improve the very essence of why these Ministries exist.
If teachers are that important, pay them just as well as the doctors. Give them incentives to stay and become better teachers.
Some people will ask but where can the government get the money? Why dont we start by getting rid of these money-wasting projects?
How is this country prospering from nearly $20million of taxpayers money that has been wasted on that Saitoa wharf thats become a rather ugly sight on a most beautiful part of the country? What about all those white elephants at Tuanaimato, Vaitele and Savaii?
Maybe someone should again remind this government about its priorities. They are supposed to be Health and Education.
The truth is that whereas doctors shortage has yet to be addressed, education is in a mess.
The sad reality is that the folks in charge of the system are trying to fix everything else but the one issue that should be addressed is being ignored.
Here it is once again; if we want bright students, attract brighter teachers. Pay them what theyre worth and make a real effort to keep them.
Do the same with health workers if we want a better health system. That is the only way to go. Otherwise, if we continue to pay peanuts, all were ever going to get are monkeys. And thats a future nobody wants.
Sometimes the gift of knowledge is greatest of them all. For the library at the National University of Samoa, a generous donation from overseas made this gift possible.
The University Library received almost 100 textbooks with an estimated value of A$10.000 from the University of Newcastle in Australia. The donation was preceded by a brief visit to the National University of Samoas Faculty of Business and Entrepreneurship last year by a group of ten undergraduate business students and their two lecturers from the Australian Universitys Faculty of Business and Law.
The trip funded by the Australian government marked the beginning of a close and collaborative relationship between the two educational institutions. The collection given to the library includes works about Accounting, Business management and law.
The library is a very important part of any institution of education, said Vice Chancellor, Professor Fui Asofou Soo.
We have a very good range of books here in the library, but theres also a lot of room for improvement. We need to double and even triple the volumes of books that we have in order to take our university to the next level compared to other universities.
Our visitors from Australia [] came and realized that we need assistance in terms of books for our university. They went away and put together these books.
But the University of Newcastle first had to find a solution for another problem to finally show its generosity to N.U.S.: the transportation of the books. They were looking for a way to get the books from Australia to Samoa. This was then made possible with the assistance of the Consulate General of Samoa based in Sydney.
According to the Universitys Vice Chancellor, the most important part of this donation is to make available the books [and] then encourage the students to come and read the books, whether they do or not is their very own issue. Most of them come and read the books, but some of them wont, which is a phenomenon that can be found throughout any generation of students, he said.
Even though Professor Fui stressed that nothing compares to the process of learning with books, this donation by the University of Newcastle in Australia should not be the only one of the day.
The National University of Samoa also welcomed a most noble contribution done by the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand that fits together perfectly with the previous book donation from Australia: 834 book shelfs, desks, tables and chairs found their way to Samoas University.
Every now and then, most universities [] change their book shelfs and other parts of their equipment and replace them with new furniture, said the Vice Chancellor.
Were really happy and thankful to now have those book shelfs and the furniture for our university from our friends in New Zealand.
Unfortunately, we dont have enough space in our two main libraries to accommodate those new book shelfs. But plans are already being made to enlarge our libraries so that we can also offer a broader range of books for our students with these new facilities from Wellington.
Prosecutors say a Baraboo man broke into the apartment of an intoxicated woman last month and raped her after having helped the womans friend get her home safe earlier that same evening.
The Sauk County District Attorneys Office has charged 32-year-old Juan L. Walker with second-degree sexual assault of an intoxicated victim, burglary and marijuana possession related to an incident that allegedly took place July 26 in the village of Lake Delton.
Authorities say a young woman told police she had drinks with friends before going out in Lake Delton that evening. Later, she said she became ill outside a Chinese restaurant, and blacked out.
The woman reported that the next thing she remembered, she was in her own bed with a man she later identified from a photo lineup as Walker, and he was attempting to have sex with her.
A friend of the woman told police that Walker offered to help them when he noticed the woman vomiting outside the restaurant. He gave them a ride home, and the witness said she put her ill friend to bed with her clothes on.
While she was tending to her friend, the witness said, Walker was walking around inside the apartment. When they left, the friend told police, she locked the front door.
The friend told police that Walker then drove her back to the restaurant, and she did not see him after that. But before they parted ways, the friend told police she saw Walker shake hands with a Lake Delton police officer who was in the parking lot.
That officer reported that the only person he shook hands with that night who matched the description of the person described by the witnesses was a man he knew from prior contacts as Walker. The alleged victim and her friend both later independently identified Walker from photo lineups, authorities say.
Police searched the parking lot of area bars for Walkers vehicle several days later, and located him walking around outside the same restaurant where the woman had become ill. When he was arrested, police say, Walker had several marijuana joints in his possession.
If convicted, Walker could face up to 40 years in prison and $100,000 in fines. He has been jailed on a $2,500 cash bond, and is due to appear in court Aug. 12.
China and the village of Sapapalii Savaii have begun a relationship that will transcend generations to come.
This follows a visit to the village by Chinas Ambassador to Samoa, Wang Xuefeng, where he presented Sapapalii Primary School with 30 Guangdong Huizhou Friendship scholarships.
This scholarship is funded by the peoples government of Huizhou city in Guangdong Province of China, said Mr. Wang.
This year altogether about 120,000 tala will be given to more than 1,000 students from low-income families in 20 primary schools and 10 colleges all over Samoa as well as 20 normal students from N.U.S.
Today, the 30 students in Sapapalii Primary School are the first group of recipients of this Friendship Scholarship. Although the amount for each student is not big, we are happy that more families in need are covered so that more students will be able to concentrate on their study.
I hope you will study hard and find a good job when you grow up so that you can do more for your family, your community and your society.
The Guangdong Huizhou Friendship Programme honours an M.O.U between Samoa and China signed on 11 November 2015.
The scholarship programme is for three years and is part of the Chinese governments ongoing assistance in improving education in Samoa.
The programmes purpose is to assist students with financial challenges to ensure that their financial constraints will not be an obstacle in gaining an education.
This fund will be distributed in terms of scholarship awards to support students and cover their school fees.
There are three levels that will be covered, which are the primary level, college level and tertiary level.
1105 students from 20 primary schools and 11 colleges, as well as 20 tertiary students from university will be assisted by this programme.
Sapapalii Primary School was built in 2013 and is one of the ten primary schools built by the Chinese government.
Ambassador Wang also donated science kits, reading books, volleyballs and netballs, teacher's teaching supplies and student stationery.
Over the past 40 years since 1978, China has achieved remarkable economic and social achievements which have caught world attention.
One important experience that we learn in the course of our development is that education must will given the highest priority.
Besides the great efforts that we have been making in education for ourselves, China is also helping other developing countries including Samoa in their social and economic development and education is definitely one of the priorities in Chinese foreign aid policy.in addition to building school for Samoa, we also help the capacity building in education sector.
For example, we send several Chinese language teachers and science teachers to Samoa to help improve the teaching in science and language in schools.we provide opportunities for principals and teachers from Samoan colleges and primary schools to go to China for training programs.
In June this year, Chinese Embassy sent 11 young students from N.U.S to go to China for a 10-day trip and they visited several big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. We have also set up several computer labs in some colleges for students to practice their computer skills. Generally speaking, this China Guangdong (Huizhou) Scholarship is part of the long-term aid in education from the Chinese government part of the scholarship is for the normal students at N.U.S in the hope that they will become the better future teachers in all schools to teach more children all over Samoa.
Deputies responding to a report of a suspicious person arrested a driver for drunken driving in the town of Vienna on Tuesday, the man's alleged ninth OWI offense.
Clarence Gage, 73, was taken into custody after refusing to perform field sobriety tests, the Dane County Sheriff's Office said.
Deputies were dispatched at about 6:10 p.m. Tuesday for the suspicious person report at a residence in the town of Vienna. Gage left the residence in his pickup truck and was stopped by authorities on Highway 113 near Ripp Lane.
Court records show Gage was sentenced to two years in prison in 2004 when he was convicted for an eighth drunken driving offense.
All of these photos and most of this post were done pre-Earl. With so much sand washed away during the storm, you can be sure that this quarry will be working overtimeand the huge dump trucks that give you a teeth-rattling HOOOOONK as they blow by you, will be a frequent sight around the caye. The clean-up is going full force around the cayeI will update this as soon as I can get up there.
About a week and a half ago, after trying to hitch a boat ride up to Camp Basil Jones, it was suggested to me that I just drive north. DRIVE 14 MILES NORTH!?!?!! Just a few years ago, one or two miles north of town was considered my far north. Even a few miles over the bridge was a full day event that needed much advance planning.
We now have a bridge (for those who havent been to San Pedro in about 11 years) AND A ROAD. Paved in 2015 as far north as 3 miles (or Belizean Shores Resort) and then hard packed and graded to almost 11 miles north or just behind luxe El Secreto.
Once you get up there, you need to take a turn towards the beach. Heres what I saw on my drive just over a week ago. CAN YOU BELIEVE EARL WAS LESS THAN ONE WEEK AGO? I can hardlyI am again amazed at how quickly this community can rebound.
Once you hit about 7.5 miles north, there are some lots being cleared and a few homes being built. These are part of the lots that were allegedly given out during the last election.
There are a few turn-offs to the beach but it still stuns me how this massive road is being plowed through dense trees and brush when so few people live up here
Turn right to the beach.
The road passing Sapphire Beach at about 10 miles north.
And thendriving down a broad road with very little around other then some turn-offs like this
You see the sign for El Norte Bar and Playa Del Sol Resort. If anyone knows how this CUTE spot fared during the storm, please let us know!
UPDATE FROM OWNER! The pier is down, the bar is GOOD! and the construction all hurricane proof. There is clean up to do but they are faring well
You must turnthe road ends just ahead.
The owner, a Cypriot (I like using that word and I dont often get the chance), came running out to show us his place. This is the first of a few buildings to be built.
We continued on. The road, at this point, takes to the beach and it was beautiful.
Passing El Secreto along the beachlooking for stars
And just soaking in the view. The road was bumpy, to be sure
To the left, beautiful trees, shrubs and sunning wish willys.
To the rightsigh.
After 40 minutes, we reached Tranquility Bay (which will be re-opening this week) and Camp Basil Jones
We spent a few hours with the kids and having lunch at summer camp
And then bumped our way back home again.
Passing the dock at the old shrimp farm
The beach at the old Sueno Del Mar the resort that was built, quite grandly about 8 years ago, opened with partial ownership agreements and then was taken by the bank. (For some of the details, you can see this letter to the editor in the local paper.)
And back to the main road. Heres a much more realistic shot of bumping along
A brand new dock at about mile 12 where something LARGE is being built. Not sure of its current state
Back through El Norte
And we took a right, heading south, at the quarry. The huge parcel of land that was carved out of the mangroves and is now being mined for fill.
Cleared mangroves and a series of very deep lakes that have been excavated.
I am not writing this to gloss over the damage from Hurricane Earl but to show how GORGEOUS this island isto stress that progress isprogressing quickly and how beautiful it still is. One storm is not going to hold us back. Also, if you have any information on any of the properties up northplease let us know.
As I said in my last post
Up until this morning, it was illegal to be a homosexual man in Belize. Today at 10am, the justice at the Belize Supreme court, after deliberating foryearsturned that around. Acceptance rather than rejection? Love rather than hate? Belize just got more beautiful for me today.
I asked my friend Colette Kase, who flew to Belize City this morning to be there for the historic and IN NO WAY guaranteed verdict to write something for me. And she did. Please dont wince at her British spelling habits.
And as my friend Ali just put it beautifully after the rain comes a rainbow. Hurray!
If youve never been to Belize, you probably wouldnt know, but until recently, very recently, Belize was one of approximately 76 countries that criminalised consenting sexual acts between homosexual men. Even if youve been to Belize, its likely that this fact wasnt even on your radar, but the truth is that many of the people who provided you with the amazing experience you had here were LGBT Belizeans and many were forced to hide their sexuality from their families, communities and even their employers.
Three years ago a very brave young Belizean gay man, Caleb Orozco and his highly respected Belizean lawyer (and Senator at the time), known for her work in human rights, took the Belizean government to court to change that. They were supported by a team of human rights organisations and lawyers, who are all committed to fighting for human rights internationally.
You see, Belize is a young country in terms of independence and because of that they are still ironing certain things out. The Constitution of Belize is a powerful document based on some of the most modern ideals, protecting the rights of people within Belize. But, there were also some rather antiquated laws that didnt jive with the concept of freedom, equality and dignity for all outlined in the Constitution. One of those laws was Section 53 of the Criminal Code.
This law, like so many other laws that originated during British colonialism around the world, meant that lgbt people in Belize were stigmatised, had no right to a private personal life, could be discriminated against and had difficulty accessing health and other services. It made life much more difficult for lgbt Belizeans and that simply wasnt a good thing. It also made lgbt tourists wary about visiting the country and while there has never been any evidence that lgbt tourists have ever been discriminated against (and I can speak for that personally), many chose not to visit in solidarity or simply because they were worried.
Today, in the Supreme Court, Caleb finally got his judgement, 3 years after the case commenced and its great news. LGBT Belizeans are now protected from discrimination. Yes, you heard me right. LGBT Belizeans now have equal protection under the Constitution of Belize. It also means that if you are an LGBT tourist, you have nothing to worry about now not that you did before but now, you know you are visiting a country that supports equal treatment of all of their citizens.
Of course, there is still some way to go, but we can be proud of the bravery of Caleb and the tenacity and skill of his lawyer Lisa for establishing a ground breaking precedent for the rest of the Caribbean, which will impact on the lives of so many in such a positive way.
As First Lady of Belize, the Special Envoy for Women and Children, Ms. Kim Simplis Barrow said on this historic day, Its a great day for Belize; its a great day for human rights; one step closer to dignity and the respect we all deserve.
Country
United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
Frontier Airlines will offer non-stop service between Madison and Orlando, Florida, beginning Jan. 5.
This is the second direct-flight service offered by Frontier from Dane County Regional Airport. Frontier also offers non-stop service from Madison to Denver.
Frontiers continued commitment to south-central Wisconsin has a significant economic impact on the Dane County region, said Dane County Executive Joe Parisi. Having an airline that continues to provide non-stop flights to more destinations, helps to make Dane County a world-class destination.
Frontiers decision reverses a move to discontinue its direct service from Madison to Orlando two years ago.
Frontier is Dane County Regional Airports smallest carrier by market share. The airport also is served by American Eagle, United Airlines and Delta Airlines, which is the airports largest passenger carrier.
All Frontier flights from Madison to Orlando will operate on 180-seat Airbus 320 aircraft. Departures are scheduled for Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
Dane County Regional Airport also offers non-stop flights to Atlanta; Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago; Dallas/Ft. Worth; Denver; Detroit; Minneapolis; New York; Newark, New Jersey; Salt Lake City; and Washington, D.C.
A federal appeals court has stayed a judges order allowing people who said they could not obtain photo IDs to sign an affidavit and vote anyway meaning that option may not be available to Wisconsinites seeking to vote in November.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruling issued Wednesday morning was the latest in the ongoing legal battle over Wisconsins voter ID requirement.
The ruling blocked an order U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman issued last month that allowed anyone without a valid photo ID to sign an affidavit at their polling place in order to vote.
By signing such a document, a voter would have had to affirm they face a reasonable impediment to getting an ID.
Adelmans order did not apply in Tuesdays primary but was on course to take effect for the November general election.
A panel of three appeals court judges said Wednesday that their stay, which bars Adelmans order from taking effect pending an appeal, was based on the fact that it is likely to be reversed on appeal and that disruption of the states electoral system in the interim will cause irreparable injury.
The judges said the appeals court previously found that eligible voters who lack IDs and could not obtain them with reasonable effort are entitled to an accommodation that will permit him or her to cast a ballot.
But instead of attempting to identify these voters, or to identify the kinds of situations in which the states procedures fall short, the district court issued an injunction that permits any registered voter to declare by affidavit that reasonable effort would not produce a photo IDeven if the voter has never tried to secure one, the appeals court judges wrote.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which is among the plaintiffs challenging the voter ID law, said in a statement that the decision guarantees the disenfranchisement of vulnerable Wisconsin citizens in November.
We are evaluating our options to ensure that our clients and many others are not denied their voting rights, said Dale Ho, director of the ACLUs Voting Rights Project.
Walker, Schimel
praise court ruling
A spokesman for the state elections commission, Reid Magney, said the decision means that no affidavit option is in effect for future elections.
We are monitoring the case closely and consulting with our attorneys at the Wisconsin Department of Justice, and we will be communicating with Wisconsin clerks about the decision, Magney said.
A variety of IDs, including drivers licenses, U.S. passports, and military, Veterans Affairs and tribal IDs, satisfy the voter ID requirement.
Student IDs also may work, but with caveats: they must be accompanied by a separate document, such as a tuition statement, that proves the voters current enrollment at the applicable college or university.
Also, the student ID must expire no later than two years after it was issued.
For voters without a qualifying ID, the state has a process to issue them a free one.
But a smaller share of voters have been unable to obtain them because they also lack the underlying documents, such as birth certificates, that the state requires to issue an ID.
Gov. Scott Walker, who signed the voter ID law in 2011, praised the appeals court decision in a statement, saying it recognized Adelmans order would create more uncertainty for voters.
Attorney General Brad Schimel, who has defended the voter ID law, said in a statement that he is pleased with the decision.
I will continue to represent the state of Wisconsin and defend the rule of law until the case is resolved, said Schimel.
The ACLU case is one of two currently underway to challenge Wisconsins voter ID requirement, which is among the strictest of any state.
A narrower voter ID ruling in the other case, brought by the liberal One Wisconsin Institute, remains in place for now.
The state also is appealing it and asking the appeals court to place it on hold as it has Adelmans ruling.
In late July, U.S. District Judge James Peterson ordered the state to quickly issue voting credentials to anyone who lacks the documents to obtain a voter ID and who has been unable to obtain one from the state.
Many people unable
to obtain voter IDs
Peterson found the states process for getting free IDs to people who lack such documents to be unconstitutional and a wretched failure because it has left a number of citizens overwhelmingly black and Hispanic unable to obtain IDs.
The One Wisconsin Institute case is broader in scope, as it challenged not just the voter ID requirement but also other election laws passed by Walker and Republican legislators since 2011. In his July ruling, Peterson struck down laws that limited early voting to weekdays between certain hours at one location per municipality, upped residency requirements from 10 to 28 days and prohibited the use of expired student IDs for purposes of proving ones identity.
State Journal reporter Molly Beck contributed to this report.
Emerging Market's ICT Spends in Education Sector - Future Perspective to 2019 - New Report Available
Fast Market Research announces the availability of the new Kable Market Intelligence report, "Emerging Market's ICT Spends in Education Sector - Future Perspective to 2019", on their comprehensive research portal
Providence, RI -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/10/2016 -- Award-winning filmmaker, Soren Sorensen, is seeking community support for the release of his latest documentary, "Omar Sosa's 88 Well-Tuned Drums." The film chronicles the life and music of Grammy nominated pianist and composer Omar Sosa. A campaign was launched to raise $19,000 by August 31, 2016, to complete the project. Funds received will be used for graphic design, festival submissions, legal fees, errors and omissions, insurance, marketing, and publicity.
"Omar Sosa's 88 Well-Tuned Drums" takes the audience through the origins of Sosa's life. The film traces Sosa's origins from his birth in Camaguey, Cuba's third-largest city, conservatory education in Havana, and relocation to Ecuador where he briefly wrote and arranged commercial jingles. Sosa's story continues with a fateful mid-90s move to the U.S., a stint as a sought-after sideman in the Bay Area's Latin jazz scene, and partnership with manager Scott Price that continues to this day.
Since 1997, he has released almost 30 albums, received four Grammy nominations, and three Latin Grammy nominations. Annually, he performs over 80 concerts across six continents.
Sosa's otherworldly talent as a musician and bandleader is what captivated Sorensen. In 2013, the filmmaker was granted unprecedented access to the composer and his bandmates for interviews, rehearsals, and performances.
To learn more about this documentary, visit the Kickstarter campaign. Click here to make a contribution. Backers can choose from a number of attractive rewards. Perks will be delivered by November 2016.
About Soren Sorensen
Sorensen specializes in producing nonfiction films, television, and web content with an emphasis on advocacy for nonprofit organizations. He has worked with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Families First RI, Montessori Community School of Rhode Island, and The Picture of Children's Health. His filmography includes "Behind the Ribbon," "Harvesting Rhode Island," and "My Father's Vietnam" the film won the Soldiers and Sacrifice Grand Prize at the 2015 Rhode Island International Film Festival and won Best Picture Documentary at the 2016 Flagler Film Festival in Palm Coast, Florida.
Contact: Soren Sorensen
email: omarsosafilm@gmail.com
Website: http://kck.st/2aLNvW9
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/10/2016 -- The industrial tapes market has experienced robust growth in the past few years with the global growth of the tapes and adhesives industry. Increasing demand for high strength, solvent-resistant tapes are gaining popularity in industrial applications. These tapes comprise a face stock which is coated on one side with an active adhesive. The face stock material forms the backing of the tape. Several types of backings are currently popular in the industry. Some of them include paper, polypropylene, vinyl, polyethylene, polyester, polytetrafluoroethylene, metal foil, and glass foil. Paper tapes are the most economical choice for industrial tapes; however, due to poor moisture and tear resistance, they are usually employed in paper and corrugated packaging industry. Polypropylene industrial tapes are usually used as substitute for paper tapes.
Polypropylene tapes are tear resistant and offer good performance at low temperatures. Polytetrafluoroethylene tapes are relatively high priced; they however exhibit excellent anti-stick properties and have excellent moisture-resistance property as well.
Get FREE PDF Brochure for more Professional and Technical insights : http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=13607
Industrial tapes, commercially available in the market are primarily of two types- single coated and double coated. Single coated industrial tapes can have different adhesives such as acrylic, rubber, or silicone. These types of industrial tapes are usually used for electrical, masking, carton sealing, and medical applications. On the contrary, double coated tapes consist of pressure-sensitive adhesive on both sides of a carrier. These tapes tend to be thicker due to the added layer. Double coated tapes are usually the preferred choice when two distinct adhesives are needed in order to join dissimilar surfaces. Thus, these are often referred to as differential tapes.
Industrial tapes are predominantly used in various end-user industries such as packaging, footwear, construction, furniture, automotive, and others. The end-user industry utilizes several types of industrial tapes as per the requirement of the application. For instance, double coated polypropylene tapes are widely used in automotive, aerospace, and carpet installation due to their flame retardant property. Industrial tapes are used for masking, lamination, protection, jointing, insulation (cold & electrical), holding or mounting during the manufacturing of automobiles & their accessories. Similarly, these tapes are used for bonding of white goods appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners, televisions, washing machines, printers, microwave ovens etc. Industrial tapes for packaging industry are made up of paper, cloth & foams, and polyethylene and are used for carton sealing, bonding, jointing, and sealing application.
The demand for industrial tapes is significantly expanding in the fields of flooring for commercial and housing applications. Steady growth rate of construction of residential buildings, especially in emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil, South Africa, and Russia (BRICS), is driving the industrial tapes market. Moreover, robust growth in the packaging and converting industry will increase demand for industrial tapes. However, enactment of several environmental regulations regarding VOC emission from solvents used in industrial tapes is the prime restraining factor for the market. Innovation in the market related to improvement in aesthetics and application time is expected to create immense opportunity in the market.
Asia Pacific is anticipated to be the fastest growing region in the industrial tapes market in the coming years. Increasing urbanization and formation of smart cities is boosting the demand for industrial tapes in the region. The Middle East and Africa (MEA) is estimated to exhibit significant growth during the forecast period due to easing government processes for residential mortgaging, especially in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Latin America is projected to witness moderate growth during the forecast period. Brazil and Argentina are likely to drive the industrial tapes market in Latin America due to significant public investments in commercial, infrastructural, and industrial construction. Europe held a significant share of the global industrial tapes market in 2015. Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, and Turkey have been identified as high growth markets for industrial tapes for construction end-user industry. The industrial tapes market in North America for construction end-user industry is likely to expand at a below average growth rate due to maturity of the construction industry.
Browse The Full Research Report At : http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/industrial-tapes-market.html
Some key players in the industrial tapes market include 3M, Scapa, Avery Dennison Corporation, H.B. Fuller, Ashland Inc., Sika AG, Henkel AG & Co. KHaA, Saint Gobain SA, The Eastman Chemical Company, Tape Products Company, and Tesa Tape, inc.
The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth insights, understanding market evolution by tracking historical developments, and analyzing the present scenario and future projections based on optimistic and likely scenarios. Each research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology developments, types, applications, and the competitive landscape.
The study is a source of reliable data on:
-Key market segments and sub-segments
-Evolving market trends and dynamics
-Changing supply and demand scenarios
-Quantifying market opportunities through market sizing and market forecasting
-Tracking current trends/opportunities/challenges
-Competitive insights
-Opportunity mapping in terms of technological breakthroughs
About Transparency Market Research
Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.
Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.
Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/10/2016 -- Vietnam, situated in the core area of south-east Asia, achieved significant growth in recent 20 years. Its GDP was about USD 204 billion with that of USD 2,228 per capita in 2015. Trained workers accounted for 51.6% up to 2015. At the end of 2015, Vietnam signed the Vietnam-EU FTA and TPP, and ASEAN was established at the same time. Vietnam establishes free trade relationship with 55 countries and partners, of which 15 are members of G20. Furthermore, 59 countries admit that Vietnam has its fully market economic status.
According to CRI's investigation, the major considerations that garment manufacturing enterprises should take when choosing locations include workers, raw materials, tariffs, supply chains, religions and political unrests. Vietnam has mature workers in efficiency and skills besides China, and it is one of the biggest beneficiaries of TPP. Textiles manufactured in Vietnam will be exported to the U.S.A. and other important markets in the world such as Japan being exempted from Customs tariffs after TPP officially goes into effect among all members. This will increase the demand for processing products and create numerous jobs in Vietnam.
Industries benefited most are garments, foot-wears and textiles, which accounted for about 25% in Vietnam's total export value in 2015. Furthermore, Vietnam and other TPP members shall abide by the rules of origins in garment products. Namely, the raw materials such as cotton yarns shall be originated from domestic market or other member countries, which will benefit the upstream material suppliers of Vietnam garment products. Textile manufacturers will further expand their production in Vietnam and transfer their textile industry as the countermeasures of rising costs of workers and energy in their Chinese bases.
To summarize, Vietnam has a priority if manufacturers in China choose to transfer their bases.
According to CRI, Vietnam has about 6,000 textile and garment manufacturing enterprises with over two million employees and providing job opportunities for over one million workers in relevant industries.
Under the context of global gloomy economy in 2015, the export value of textiles and garments in Vietnam increased by 9.43% YOY being USD 27.2 billion, of which export towards the U.S.A. increased by 11.5% being USD 10.9 billion. The U.S.A. is the biggest export market of Vietnam textiles and garments with a proportion of 40.3% in the total export value. The second goes to Europe with that of 12.5%, Japan with that of 10.2% and South Korea with that of 7.8%.
However, according to CRI, about 50%-60% of the garment raw materials of Vietnam depend on import and are mainly imported from China, South Korea and Taiwan, of which over half are from China. For example, only 2%-3% of cotton demanded in Vietnam textile industry is from domestic market, and the output volume of cotton is unstable. Vietnam also lacks local garment design talents and famous garment brands, which have significant development potentials.
In 2016, the minimum wage of garment manufacturing industry in Vietnam is about USD 108 (2.4 million Vietnamese dong) per month. It is relatively low in the world though increases compared to 2015. Considering that the quality of human resources in Vietnam are universally higher than most countries in south-east Asia, the productivity is relatively higher. With regards to manufacturing enterprises of garment raw materials, product enterprises and brand enterprises, Vietnam is a rather good investment destination.
Get More Details on this Report and a Full Table of Contents at Vietnam Garment Manufacturing Industry Overview, 2011-2020
Through this report, the readers can acquire the following information:
-Definition and Classification of Garment
-Research Methods, Parameters and Assumptions
-Competition in Vietnam Garment Industry
-Analysis on Leading Enterprises of Vietnam Garment Industry
-Analysis on Vietnam Garment Market
-Analysis on Import & Export of Textile and Garment in Vietnam
-Development Opportunities and Driving Forces Faced by Vietnam Garment Industry
-Risks and Challenges in the Development of Vietnam Garment Industry
-Analysis on Prices of Raw Materials and Products of Vietnam Garment
About Fast Market Research
Fast Market Research is a leading distributor of market research and business information. Representing the world's top research publishers and analysts, we provide quick and easy access to the best competitive intelligence available. Our unbiased, expert staff is always available to help you find the right research to fit your requirements and your budget. For more information about these or related research reports, please visit our website at http://www.fastmr.com or call us at 1.800.844.8156.
Browse all Consumer Goods research reports at Fast Market Research
You may also be interested in these related reports:
-Cambodia Garment Manufacturing Industry Overview, 2011-2020
-China Health Food Manufacturing Industry Overview, 2011-2020
-Apparel & Non-Apparel Manufacturing: Global Industry Almanac
-Manufacturing Analytics Market - Global Forecast to 2021
-Manufacturing Execution System Market - Global Forecast to 2020
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/10/2016 -- The report, titled "Life Insurance Market Southeast Asia 2016-2020," examines the existing market scenario of the market in the region and forecasts the market's growth rate and market size by 2020.
According to the report, the South East Asia market for life insurance will rise at a CAGR of 8% between 2016 and 2020. The study is titled "Life Insurance Market in South East Asia 2016-2020. It offers a complete overview of the current trends, future growth prospects, and the performance of the South East Asia life insurance market in the past years.
View Press Release at http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/pressrelease/2094
Growth of the life insurance market in South East Asia is expected to be supported by the advent of new distribution channels. Many life insurance sellers are coming up with innovative marketing strategies in order to attract more customers. Many customer-friendly packages are being clubbed together and integrated workplace marketing tools- machine for a customer friendly approach are being implemented in this process.
The report highlights that the financial crisis of 2007 shattered many economies worldwide and triggered a negative shift in consumer demand for life insurance. Moreover, it also reduced the industry's market penetration. Due to this the companies in this sector started opting for new approaches to make up to the set back the crisis caused them.
For Sample Copy, click here: http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/741701
Currently promising new underwriting capabilities taken up by companies will remove the need for the time-consuming processes in this sector, for example the need for the policy holders to go through a medical checkup. In this process, Singapore took the lead with a market share of 48% in the year 2015 by providing customers with integrated life insurance plans as customers seek more exposure and extra benefits. Meanwhile, due to this breakthrough in the life insurance market in South East Asia, the customers will have new experiences in the process of buying life insurance products.
The report states that the compilation of life insurance companies to provide customers with a complete package will inspire many working policy holders to save for their retirement and gain tax benefits. The report analyses the market's position in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. The report uses the gross life premium value to calculate the market size in these regions. Other regions covered in the report are Brunei, Laos, Burma, Cambodia, and Timor-Leste.
The key vendors in the market are The Manufacturers Life Insurance (Manulife), AIA, Great Eastern Life, Prudential Financial, Aviva, NTUC Income, AXA, , HSBC, and Tokyo Marine. The recent developments in the market by the core companies has also been mentioned in the report.
To order report Call Toll Free: 866-997-4948 or send an email on sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/10/2016 -- North America soups market has experienced unique trends across different countries such as the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Soups in the U.S. and Canada are perceived as a conventional and traditional food product. Traditionally soups are consumed heavily during winters in these countries. However, leading brands have introduced new flavors and types to attract consumers. For example, companies have launched chilled soups which are people's favorite during summer season.
This market has segmented by types of soups produced and consumed into five types such as canned, chilled, dried, frozen and UHT soups. It also provides an insight into value (USD million) and volume (kg-million) of soups consumption in North America market. The study highlights current market trends and provides forecast from 2014 to 2020. In addition, current and future trends are also covered in this report.
Complete Report with TOC @ http://www.mrrse.com/north-america-soups-market
By country, the market has been segmented into the U.S., Canada and Mexico. This report also covers country wise preferences for different soups. Countries of North America such as the U.S., Canada and Mexico would see a stable growth in volume and value of soups over the forecast period. Traditionally, soups are one of the major items in the day to day meals in the countries of North America. The major factor contributing to the growth of soups market in North America region is the increasingly busy life style of people in the countries like U.S. and Canada, where people opts for ready to go meals. The canned soups market in North America is expected to see decline over the coming years. People here find canned soups as an old food item and opt for new food items.
However, the leading soups companies have launched new premium soups items to attract more customers, especially the younger generation. The dried soups market is expected to witness steady growth over the coming years. This is due to the reason that it can be made ready to consume by only adding water and heat. People can buy it or can carry it to their work places and can consume it whenever required. The trend shows that the overall demand for dried soups and chilled soups would increase over the forecast period and the demand for canned soups would decrease in the coming years.
In North America, the U.S. has the largest market size in case of value and volume terms followed by Mexico and Canada. The chilled soups market is expected to have a steady growth over the forecast period in the countries like the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The trend shows that the chilled soups market is the fastest growing market in the North America.
In the U.S., the demand for soups is becoming heavily influenced by addition of premium flavors by different soup companies. One of the leading soups companies Campbell's have introduced new brands having different premium tastes including Campbell's Go Soup to reach out to younger customers. In Canada soups market is having difficulty to find growth especially in canned soups segment. However, introduction of new flavors by top soup companies would see a change in demand in the coming years. Another factor driving the soups market in Canada is the increasing demand for chilled food items. As a result chilled soups market in Canada is expected to have decent growth over the forecast period in the coming years. In Mexico, the chilled soups market is expected to grow at a decent rate over the forecast period because of the hot weather. Dried soups market is also estimated to have a decent growth in Mexico as it is easy to consume.
Request a Free Sample Copy of the Report @ http://www.mrrse.com/sample/749
Soups are sold through a variety of channels. Major distribution channels such as, supermarkets, hypermarkets, convenience stores, food and drinks specialists are among the most preferred destinations/channels for the sale of soups. Supermarkets and hypermarkets have become popular channels for purchase of goods due to the availability of a huge range of products under one roof. Supermarkets and hypermarkets are likely to dominate the distribution channel by 2020.
About MRRSE
MRRSE stands for Market Research Reports Search Engine, the largest online catalog of latest market research reports based on industries, companies, and countries. MRRSE sources thousands of industry reports, market statistics, and company profiles from trusted entities and makes them available at a click. Besides well-known private publishers, the reports featured on MRRSE typically come from national statistics agencies, investment agencies, leading media houses, trade unions, governments, and embassies.
ESOs VLT Survey Telescope at Paranal Observatory, Chile, has captured a new image of the star cluster Messier 18, also known as NGC 6613 and M18.
Messier 18 is an open star cluster located in the constellation Sagittarius.
It spans about 18 light-years across and is at a distance of 4,230 light-years from Earth.
It was discovered in 1764 by the French astronomer Charles Messier during his search for comet-like objects.
There are over 1,000 known open clusters within our Milky Way Galaxy, with a wide range of properties, such as size and age, that provide astronomers with clues to how stars form, evolve and die.
The main appeal of these clusters is that all of their stars are born together out of the same material.
In Messier 18 the blue and white colors of the stellar population indicate that the clusters stars are very young, probably around 30 million years old.
Being siblings means that any differences between the stars will only be due to their masses, and not their distance from Earth or the composition of the material they formed from. This makes clusters very useful in refining theories of star formation and evolution.
Scientists now know that most stars do form in groups, forged from the same cloud of gas that collapsed in on itself due to the attractive force of gravity.
The cloud of leftover gas and dust that envelops the new stars is often blown away by their strong stellar winds, weakening the gravitational shackles that bind them.
Over time, loosely bound stellar siblings like those pictured here will often go their separate ways as interactions with other neighboring stars or massive gas clouds nudge, or pull, the stars apart.
Our Sun was most likely once part of a cluster very much like Messier 18 until its companions were gradually distributed across the Milky Way.
The dark lanes that snake through this image are murky filaments of cosmic dust, blocking out the light from distant stars.
The contrasting faint reddish clouds that seem to weave between the stars are composed of ionized hydrogen gas.
The gas glows because young, extremely hot stars like these are emitting intense UV light which strips the surrounding gas of its electrons and causes it to emit the faint glow seen in this image.
An international team of researchers from Singapore and the United Kingdom has identified an enzyme that regulates the production of sperm and egg cells in human reproduction. The discovery improves our understanding of a process which can often go wrong, resulting in miscarriage or infants born with chromosomal irregularities.
The research team, headed by Dr. Prakash Arumugam of the National University of Singapore and Bioinformatics Institute, looked at a process known as meiosis, which unlike normal cell division (mitosis) has two rounds of nuclear division, to ensure that when sex cells fuse with each other, they have two copies of each chromosome one from each parent.
Meiosis is a specialized form of cell division in sexually reproducing organisms by which haploid daughter cells are produced from diploid germ cells. This is different from mitotic cycle in which daughter cells produced have the same DNA content as their parental cells, the authors explained.
Understanding how meiosis is regulated is of great importance to understanding the causes of aneuploidy and genetic disorders in humans, they said.
When the cells have too many or too few (aneuploidy), babies are born with Down syndrome (three copies of chromosome 21); Patau syndrome (three copies of chromosome 13) and other conditions.
Aneuploidy is also a leading cause of miscarriage, and with an estimated 1 in 7 pregnancies resulting in miscarriage.
In order to identify the genetic switch that regulates segregation and mis-segration, Dr. Arumugam and his colleagues Dr. Jin Huei Wong of Bioinformatics Institute and Dr. Gary Kerr of the University of Salford investigated PP2ACdc55, an enzyme involved in diverse cellular processes.
Using fluorescent tagging, they tracked the enzymes presence on yeast models which offer a number of commonalities in the processes of meiosis in humans.
Prior studies by the team showed that PP2ACdc55 played an essential role in controlling the timing of metaphase to anaphase during meiosis, in other words preventing cells from prematurely exiting meiosis.
By creating random mutations in the Cdc55 gene, the scientists analyzed the resulting 987 mutant yeast strains, characterized the mutations and worked to identify the role of the gene by looking at the effect of the mutations on the resulting colonies.
The resulting data suggests that PP2ACdc55 plays a pivotal role in chromosome segregation, although we are still a way from knowing how the processes go wrong.
The teams findings were published July 26, 2016 in the journal Scientific Reports.
_____
Gary W. Kerr et al. 2016. PP2ACdc55s role in reductional chromosome segregation during achiasmate meiosis in budding yeast is independent of its FEAR function. Scientific Reports 6, article number: 30397; doi: 10.1038/srep30397
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne easily won re-election to the office Tuesday night after a sometimes-testy campaign against Robert Jambois, an experienced prosecutor in his office.
"I think the people came out with a strong statement about the direction they want the community to go in," said Ozanne, speaking from a gathering of supporters at The Edgewater hotel in Madison. "I'm very pleased."
Reached by the State Journal, Jambois said from a gathering of supporters in Sun Prairie that he was about to call Ozanne and congratulate him on his win.
"I didn't know for certain what the outcome was going to be," Jambois said, adding that he was surprised by the margin, which by 9:30 p.m. had him behind Ozanne by about a 70-30 percent margin. "But the voters have spoken."
With nobody else on the ballot for the Nov. 8 general election, Ozanne will be re-elected for another four years.
Jambois, 64, accused Ozanne, 45, of mismanagement of his office. Jambois has been an assistant district attorney under Ozanne for nearly 15 months. He was the district attorney in Kenosha County for nearly 17 years before coming to Madison to be the state Department of Transportations lead attorney for just over five years.
Ozanne was an assistant district attorney in Dane County for about 10 years before he left for a job with the state Department of Corrections, later becoming its deputy secretary. He was appointed to the DAs job in 2010, and was elected unopposed in 2012. Ozanne later ran unsuccessfully for state attorney general, so this is his first win in a contested election.
Jambois charged during the campaign that Ozannes management has left prosecutors in the office dispirited, and he accused Ozanne of doing little work that benefits the office. He criticized Ozanne for not personally carrying a caseload and trying cases in court.
Ozanne, who is the first African-American district attorney in Wisconsin, charged that Jambois criticisms were thinly-veiled racial attacks. Jambois said he found it offensive that Ozanne interpreted his criticisms that way.
Ozanne said that without a caseload, he is involved in initiatives to enhance public safety, prevent crime and attack racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Ozanne said his office, like many prosecutors offices around the state, also has been hamstrung by the state Legislatures lack of funding for pay increases for prosecutors and its failure to authorize hiring more.
Ozanne said Tuesday night that he plans to continue the work he started, and in particular would like to see the Community Restorative Court now in operation in Madison become a countywide program. He is also looking to expand a child abuse prevention initiative, and said he is excited to bring together law enforcement and mental health officials to address issues in common.
Jambois also charged that prosecutors left the DAs office because of Ozannes management. Ozanne countered that many of those departures were for better-paying jobs or retirements.
A team of scientists at the University of Maryland has discovered a beautiful, swirling flame phenomenon, the blue whirl, which evolves from a fire whirl (fire tornado) and burns with nearly soot-free combustion. The discovery could lead to beneficial new approaches for reducing carbon emissions and improving oil spill cleanup.
Blue whirls evolve from traditional yellow fire whirls, said co-author Prof. Elaine Oran, from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Maryland.
The yellow color is due to radiating soot particles, which form when there is not enough oxygen to burn the fuel completely.
A blue whirl is smaller, very stable, and burns completely blue as a hydrocarbon flame, indicating soot-free burning.
The combination of fast mixing, intense swirl, and the watersurface boundary creates the conditions leading to nearly soot-free combustion.
Prof. Oran and colleagues set out to investigate the combustion and burning dynamics of fire whirls on water.
What the scientists discovered was a novel, blue flame that they say could help meet the growing worldwide demand for high-efficiency, low-emission combustion.
A fire tornado has long been seen as this incredibly scary, destructive thing, said co-author Dr. Michael Gollner, from the Department of Fire Protection Engineering at the University of Maryland.
But, like electricity, can you harness it for good? If we can understand it, then maybe we can control and use it.
Some oil spill remediation techniques include corralling up the crude oil to create a thick layer on the water surface that can be burned in place, but the resulting combustion is smoky and incomplete.
However, blue whirls could improve remediation-by-combustion approaches by burning the oil layer with increased efficiency, reducing harmful emissions into the atmosphere around it and the ocean beneath it.
In our experiments over water, weve seen how the circulation fire whirls generate also helps to pull in fuels, Dr. Gollner said.
If we can achieve a state akin to the blue whirl at larger scale, we can further reduce airborne emissions for a much cleaner means of spill cleanup.
A fire whirl is usually turbulent, but this blue whirl is very quiet and stable without visible or audible signs of turbulence, said lead author Dr. Huahua Xiao, from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Maryland.
Its really a very exciting discovery that offers important possibilities both within and outside of the research lab.
The teams results appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
_____
Huahua Xiao et al. From fire whirls to blue whirls and combustion with reduced pollution. PNAS, published online August 4, 2016; doi: 10.1073/pnas.1605860113
Air pollution is one of the common contributing factors in the development of disease, especially in the respiratory tract. But, a new study has found that air pollution can be one of the contributing causes in the shortened life-span of patients with lung cancer.
Immortalnews.org reported that a new research has revealed that not only do airborne toxins have a number of negative health impacts on one's health, researchers also found that people diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer are at risk of premature deaths. This is said to be especially true to those with adenocarcinoma which is the most common type of non-small cell lung cancer. According to Medscape, it comprises 80 percent of all lung cancer cases.
The research, led by Sandrag Eckel with the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles studied data of over 352,000 people in California diagnosed with lung cancer between 1988 and 2009, whose details had been entered into the US California Cancer Registry. Their average age when they were diagnosed was 69.
The participants' average exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), particulate matter of less than 10 um, and less than 2.5 um, in diameter (PM10 and PM2.5 ) was calculated using data taken from the US Environmental Protection Agency air quality monitoring stations, mapped according to area of residence. According to Times of India, it showed that half of the study participants lived more than 1,500 meters away a major interstate motorway, less than 10 percent are living within a 300 meter radius of one. Then, the participants' risk of death from any cause was estimated, according to disease stage and tumor cell type.
After considering all of these factors and those who can potentially exacerbate their condition, the result of the calculation showed that early stage patients with higher exposure to pollutants survived an average of 2 to 4 years compared to 5 to 7 years for those with low exposure, However, the magnitude of heightened risk was greatest for patients with early stage disease, among whom average survival was 2.4 years for those with high PM2.5 exposure (at least 16 ug/m3) and 5.7 years for those with low exposure (less than 10 ug/m3), for example.
Overall, patients with early stage disease had a 30 percent greater risk of death of any cause from NO2; 26 percent greater for PM10; and 38 percent greater for PM2.5. Meanwhile, newsmax.com also reported that since this was an observational study, there aren't really concrete conclusions that can be drawn about cause and effect, the researchers said. However, they noted that the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies air pollution as a cancer-causing agent.
"This study, along with two other previously published analyses on the impact of air pollution on cancer survival, provide compelling initial evidence that air pollution may be a potential target for future prevention and intervention studies to increase cancer survival," Dr. Jaime Hart wrote in an accompanying journal editorial.
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory had failed to find the hypothetical sterile neutrino, which was supposed to be the fourth type next to three types of neutrino namely the muon, electron and tau. In the past few decades, there was a hint that the particle existed. On the other hand, in the current study, no evidence was found of the existence of the said particle. This finding is very significant in the world of physics.
The study was printed in the Physical Review Letters. The study was investigated by Francis Halzen, Professor of Physics at University of Wisconsin-Madison and the principal investigator for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and many other colleagues.
Neutrinos are also referred to as ghostly particles. They are tiny and almost massless particles that travel at near light speeds. They are difficult to find. They are born from violent astrophysical events such as exploding stars and gamma ray burst. Neutrinos are one of the universe's essential ingredients. They also help scientists to comprehend the most fundamental questions in physics, according to PBS.
John Conway, a professor of physics at the University of California, Davis explained that neutrinos are really pretty strange particles when you get down to it. He further explained that they are almost nothing at all because they have almost no mass and no electric charge.
In the new study, there was no evidence found that the sterile neutrino existed. Halzen said that that in two independent analyses of data from the huge Antarctic detector---each comprises of a year's worth of data or about 100,000 neutrino events---the striking feature related with the sterile neutrino was nowhere to be found, according to IceCube.
In case, there is a discovery of the fourth kind of neutrino, it would help in explaining some puzzles of the existence of more than three types of neutrinos. It would also help in resolving the mystery of the origin of dark matter and antimatter/matter asymmetry in the Universe. Another thing, Halzen said that failure to detect the said neutrino means physics stays in the dark about the origin of the minute neutrino mass, or why they have mass in the first place.
Meanwhile, Olga Botner, a professor of physics and astronomy at Uppsala University in Sweden stated that this new result highlights the resourcefulness of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. He further stated that it is not only an instrument for exploration of the violent universe yet allows detailed studies of the properties of the neutrinos themselves.
German scientists discovered an antibiotic that is produced by a type of staph bacteria, which can be found in about 10 percent of human noses. This antibiotic could fight against superbugs and kill dangerous skin infections.
The study was published in Nature. It involved 90 participants wherein the scientists analyzed the nasal bacteria in them. This revealed a strain of bacterium called Staphylococcus lugdunensis. The scientists discovered that the bacterium generated antibiotic compound. They succeeded in synthesizing it in the laboratory.
The researchers named it lugdunin, which can prevent S.aureus from growing. They modeled it in mice. They applied it to the skin of the mice with S.aureus. They found that it reduced or removed the infection. According to scientists, it was also effective against antibiotic-resistant strains like MRSA.
Andreas Peschel, a professor at the University of Tubingen in Germany explained that the human body could be a source of many new antibiotics. The university has filed for a patent on the new antibiotic, according to USA Today. Peschel added that they have found a new concept of finding antibiotics. They have preliminary evidence at least in the nose that there is a rich source of many others. She is certain that they will find new drugs there.
Jack Gilbert, a microbial ecologist at the University of Chicago in Illinois said that this is extremely exciting as it delivers evidence that a microbial war is ongoing in the human body. He further said that the study shows that certain organisms can be leveraged to produce novel drugs that could add to the human arsenal of weapons against drug-resistant (microbes), as noted by Science Mag.
Meanwhile, Kjersti Aagaard, an associate professor at Baylor College of medicine in Houston said that the antibiotic discovery is a wonderful observation that speaks to the power of innovation and sound scientific insights. He further said that when they regard the human body, as well as the world around, as an elegant ecosystem, there will be endless wonders to be found at our fingertips or the tip of the human nose.
A supernova iron, the iron-60, was suggested to be found in sediment cores taken from the Pacific Ocean floor according to a team of researchers from Germany and Austria. The team describes the analysis of the core samples and explains the evidence they hold of an ancient supernova in a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Iron-60 is extremely rare on this planet according to the researchers. It has a half-life of just over two and a half million years. This means that any iron-60 present just before the Earth was formed would have disappeared a long time ago.
Since there is no known natural means to produce the iron-60, the logical origin of this type of iron today would be the arrival from space, Phys. Org reported. Previous research has shown that micrometeorites and materials sent millions of miles across space due to a supernova may possibly be the sources of the iron.
The study started when one of the team members discovered an information about magnetotactic bacteria that lives in ocean sediments. This type of bacteria absorbs iron and as sediments build, the bacteria die and leave bits of iron behind the layers of the sediments. Since these sediment layers may have been built millions of years ago, it is possible that they contain a type of iron from space millions of years ago including the iron-60, Physics World reported.
The team of researchers obtained core samples taken from the Pacific Ocean and searched its content of iron-60. Among the more common iron-56 and other materials, the researchers used an accelerator mass that is capable of isolating single atoms. The team found the concentration levels of iron-60 from single atoms broken to small clusters of atoms. Findings show that the greatest concentrations were from a time approximately 2.2 million years ago, which coincides with a massive marine die-off.
The researchers hypothesize that the iron-60 is more likely from a supernova rather than micrometeorites. It is because micrometeorites tend to harbor iron in magnetite or silicate not from hydroxides, where magnetotactic bacteria absorb iron from.
The researchers have found something weird and unusual on the mysterious star KIC 8462852, which is known as Tabby's Star. It has become even stranger according to the new analysis from the Kepler Space Telescope. The astronomers cannot explain the dimming of the mysterious star.
Ben Montet of the California Institute of Technology, an astronomer and Josh Simon of the Carnegie Institution found that the mysterious star dimmed during that time at an unprecedented rate of 0.341 percent each year. They analyzed the first four years of Kepler's mission, wherein it stared constantly at KIC 8462852 as well as 150,000 other stars while looking for exoplanets transits, according to Astronomy Now.
The researchers examined closely the full-frame images of Tabby's Star taken during the Kepler's mission. The star's luminosity decreased by about 0.34 percent per year for the first 1000 days. Then, on the following 200 days, its flux lowered by 2 percent and then leveled off. In the four years of Kepler's mission. The star faded approximately by 3 percent. This is such as the big amount in such a small period of time.
Montet said that the part that really surprised him was just how rapid and non-linear it was. He further said that they spent a long time trying to convince them this wasn't real.
Meanwhile, according to Bradley Schaefer from Louisiana State University, who examined the old photographic plates that date back to the 19th century earlier this year, he claimed that Tabby's Star had faded an exorbitant 19 percent within the past 100 years. On the other hand, some astronomers were not convinced on his findings. They said that the dimming was the result of flawed data.
Montet said that in order to settle this controversy, you needed either a long baseline or high precision data. He further said that Kepler has the latter and then measured the rate of dimming in the Kepler data to be about twice what Schaefer found, which is different, yet not necessarily inconsistent, as noted by Gizmodo.
Zika virus is reportedly linked to a birth defect that involve muscle weakness and stiffness of joint. The birth defect, arthrogryposis, was found in a small number of babies infected with Zika virus inside their mothers' wombs according to a study. Researchers suggest that all babies affected by Zika virus infection inside the womb should be followed and evaluated for bone and muscle problems.
Researchers analyzed the information from seven babies born in Brazil who had arthrogryposis. Six out of the seven babies had microcephaly reportedly. All of them had signs of being infected with Zika virus while they were in the womb while two of them were tested positive for the virus in their cerebrospinal fluid.
Movement is important for the normal development of joints and muscles among babies inside the womb. The lack of movement in the womb could lead to arthrogryposis, Nationwide Children's Hospital reported. Researchers believe that Zika virus could have caused neurological problems that affected the ability of the fetuses to move around the womb.
Upon examining the joints of babies under detailed imaging scans, the researchers did not find abnormalities in their joints. Because of this, researchers hypothesized that the babies' arthrogryposis were likely from a neurological basis. This means that the babies had problems in the brain and nerve cells that control the contraction and relaxation of muscles around the joints.
It is important to note, however, that the study only found an association between Zika virus infection and arthrogryposis. Larger studies about the link between arthrogryposis and Zika virus infection need to be conducted to better understand the neurological problems that may underlie the condition according to researchers.
Zika virus infection during pregnancy has already been linked to birth defect microcephaly, Live Science reported. It has also been found to cause eye problems, hearing loss and impaired growth according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The list of health complications associated with the virus is now referred to as Congenital Zika Syndrome.
Online gaming is suggested to boost teenagers' school grades according to a new research from RMIT. However, the study also found that students who regularly visit Facebook or chat sites are more likely to fall behind in Math, Science and reading.
Associate Professor Alberto Posso from RMIT's School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, believes that online gaming allows students to apply and sharpen what they learned in school. He revealed that students who play online games regularly scored 15 points above average in Math and 17 points above average in Science, The Guardian reported.
Posso also said that online gaming requires solving puzzles to level up. It involves using some of general knowledge and skills in maths, science and reading, all of which are being taught in school during the day. Posso went on to suggest that popular video games, those that are not violent, should be incorporated by teachers into teaching.
Meanwhile, aside from online gaming, teenagers who use Facebook or chat everyday scored 20 points lower in Math than students who never used social media. Posso discussed that students lose time that could be spent on studies when they are regularly using social media. However, the findings may also indicate that these students are struggling with Math, Science and reading so they go online instead, ABC reported.
Posso suggested to blend the use of Facebook into classes to help students who are engaged with it. It is important to recognize other factors that could impose a major impact on teenagers' progress according to Posso.
The study used the testing results collected by Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). PISA conducted examinations to more than 12,000 15-year-old Australians. They were given tests in Math, Science and reading. Their online gaming activities and other online use were also surveyed. While online gaming and the use of social media may affect students' learning, the most important step is for schools to determine the main drivers of educational underperformance according to the study.
RALEIGH, N.C. A young black man shot to death while leaving a house party allegedly by the host's white neighbor was described by his mother Tuesday as loving, funny, and so careful that his family called him "Safety 101."
Kouren-Rodney Bernard Thomas was killed early Sunday when a man living two doors down from the party called police to complain of "hoodlums" in his neighborhood, and then fired a shotgun out of his garage, according to authorities and 911 tapes.
The suspect, Chad Cameron Copley, has been charged with murder.
"This man took my baby's life," the victim's mother, Simone Butler-Thomas, said in a phone interview from her home in Louisburg.
Thomas, 20, was walking with a friend, David Walker, to their car parked down the street early Sunday when the shot came from the suspect's house, said Butler-Thomas, who talked with friends and witnesses to find out what happened.
She said the young men had arrived at the house party to find it had spilled outside, and decided to leave after about 15 minutes because the friend heard there were no girls there.
"He didn't deserve this. No child deserves it," she said while stifling sobs. "These people with guns, they just figure that when there's a bunch of black kids, they're hoodlums. These kids were not hoodlums. They were raised in families with mothers and fathers. They went to school. They were young."
Raleigh Police said Copley, 39, was arrested hours after he fired a shotgun from inside his garage and hit the victim. Jail records show he was being held without bond on a murder charge.
Copley's lawyer, Raymond Tarlton, asked that his client not be judged until more facts are available.
"It's under investigation. We'd caution restraint and ask folks not to rush to judgment," he said by phone, declining to discuss any details.
During a 911 call from Copley's house shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday, a man said "we've got a bunch of hoodlums out here racing," and told the dispatcher he was taking action.
"I am locked and loaded. I'm going outside to secure my neighborhood," the man said. He asked for officers to come, but refused to give his address and hung up.
On a second call from the Copley home about seven minutes later, the man said he fired a shot, and that someone was hit.
"We have a lot of people outside of our house yelling and shouting profanity. I yelled at them 'please leave the premises.' They were showing firearms so I fired a warning shot. And, uh, we got somebody that got hit."
Asked who was outside, the caller says: "There's black males outside my freaking house with firearms."
Walker denied this.
"It was silent," he told The News & Observer in Raleigh. "No fighting and no arguing and no one waving guns."
The host, Jalen Lewis, also denied seeing anyone with a gun among the 50 or so people at his party. He told WTVD that Thomas was near Copley's mailbox when he was fatally shot.
Police spokesman Laura Hourigan said state law prevents authorities from confirming the caller's identity.
No one answered the door Tuesday at Copley's tree-shaded, two-story home in a northern subdivision of Raleigh. In the door of the attached garage, cardboard replaced a shattered glass window pane whose shards remained on the driveway, which runs roughly 40 feet to the mailbox at the street.
A GoFundMe page seeking donations for funeral expenses shows Thomas smiling widely in a dress shirt and black apron after a 2015 event he worked as a caterer.
His mother said she had moved with her three sons to North Carolina in 2001 for their safety.
"I brought my kids down here when they were babies because I didn't want to have my children raised in New York. I wanted them to have a life and be safe," she said, her voice cracking.
"He's a loving, loving boy. He was funny," she said. "We called him 'Safety 101' because he ... wouldn't start the car unless everybody had their seatbelts on and their cell phones away."
Thomas had a job at McDonalds, a girlfriend attending East Carolina University, and was weeks away from moving into his first apartment, she said.
"He loved life," she said. "He loved his family. He loved his friends. He was not a street boy."
___
Follow Jonathan Drew at: https://twitter.com/JonLDrew
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan easily dispatched a Republican primary challenge Tuesday night from an opponent praised by GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, in what Ryan called a victory for "political leadership that is inclusive, not divisive."
The Associated Press called the race for Ryan shortly after 8:30 p.m., a half hour after polling places closed in Wisconsins partisan primary election.
With all precincts reporting, Ryan's rout was apparent: He beat Delavan businessman Paul Nehlen 84 percent to 16 percent.
The primary battle took place in Wisconsins First Congressional District, which Ryan, R-Janesville, has represented since 1999. The district runs along the Illinois border from Janesville to Racine and Kenosha.
Ryan addressed the media in Janesville Tuesday night after polls closed. He cast his win as an affirmation by Wisconsin voters of his leadership style and his policy proposals, including his "Better Way" agenda.
"In times as uncertain as these, it is easy to resort to division. It's simple to prey on people's fears," Ryan said. "That stuff sells, but it doesn't stick. Most of all, it doesn't work."
Tuesday brought Ryans first public remarks since Trump ignited his latest public firestorm earlier in the day while speaking in North Carolina. Trump said Second Amendment people might stop Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton from picking anti-gun U.S. Supreme Court justices if she becomes president, in what some interpreted as a veiled call to violence against Clinton. Trump defended his remarks as simply calling for gun-rights supporters to take political action to stop Clinton.
Ryan, asked Tuesday night about Trump's remarks, appeared to endorse the former interpretation, calling them "a joke gone bad."
"I hope he clears it up very quickly," Ryan said. "You should never joke about something like that."
As Ryan romped to victory Tuesday night, Democrat Ryan Solen, a U.S. Army veteran from Mount Pleasant, won his party's primary to advance to the general election in the 1st District. Libertarian Jason Lebeck also will be on the ballot.
Nehlens primary challenge was not expected to put Ryan in danger of losing his seat. Polls found Ryan with a wide lead in the race and showed him to be extremely popular with Republicans in the district.
But they created a surprising headache for Ryan at a time when he has many other issues with which to contend -- starting with an internal battle in the GOP over its presidential nominee.
A political newcomer, Nehlen mounted an energetic challenge to Ryan despite his massive deficit in campaign resources and name recognition. He drew support from former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and conservative commentators Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin.
Nehlen, an executive with a water-filtration company, aligned himself with Trump during the campaign. It made the primary race a proxy war for forces within the GOP that support Ryans business-friendly brand of conservatism versus the partys nationalist, populist wing, which backs Trump.
Trump and Ryan, the nations two leading Republicans, have sparred publicly and often throughout the campaign, with Ryan frequently criticizing or disavowing controversial remarks by Trump. Still, Ryan remains on record supporting Trumps candidacy.
National attention focused on Wisconsins First District last week when Trump initially refrained from supporting Ryan's primary candidacy and used his Twitter account to praise Nehlen. But a few days later, Trump said at a rally in Green Bay that he supports Ryans re-election bid.
Nehlen has mimicked Trumps rhetoric and stances on issues such as free trade, Muslim immigration and border security. Nehlen drew condemnation from many in both parties for calling for a discussion about deporting all U.S. Muslims -- a statement he later walked back.
Many Nehlen supporters likened the race to 2014, when former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was defeated by a tea party primary challenger, David Brat.
But the comparisons seem to end beyond the fact that both Cantor and Ryan were top-ranking House Republicans.
Cantor was frequently criticized for being absent from his district, while Ryan has made a point of returning to his Janesville home each weekend and holding public events in the district.
Ryan also showed no sign of being caught off guard by this primary challenge. His massive campaign war chest, with nearly $10 million in the bank at the last reporting date, enabled him to air a blitz of ads in the lead-up to Tuesdays primary.
Was Donald Trump calling for Hillary Clintons assassination when he spoke on Tuesday in North Carolina? The New York Times sure seems to think so.
This was Trumps apparently offensive quote: Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment. By the way, and if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I dont know.
Suppose the phrase Second Amendment people had been replaced with any other special-interest group. Would there be any claims that Trump was threatening assassinations?
In a Newsweek interview on Monday, Hillary Clinton excoriated the lobbying power of these very same Second Amendment people. We need to elect leaders with the courage to stand up to the gun lobby, she declared. It is a remark that she has made time and again. But presumably Clinton isnt suggesting that standing up to the gun lobby takes a special kind of courage because this lobby has a particular capacity for violence?
Based on her stand, shouldnt Clintons response be that Trump is encouraging Second Amendment people to lobby to block her appointments? Why would anyone claim he is encouraging her assassination?
The reaction to Trumps statement comes across as a type of political Rorschach test for liberals, revealing their own biases more than anything else. Are people up in arms over Trumps statement because the right to self-defense has been conflated with being able to go around shooting people? Have people been conditioned to take everything literally?
Lets take a brief test.
During his 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama said, If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun. Were you really worried that Obama was talking about real weapons being brought into the U.S. Capitol?
Trump said in January, I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldnt lose voters. Do you think that the police should have surrounded Trump to make sure he didnt start shooting people?
In 2008, Hillary Clinton justified staying in the Democratic nomination contest past the end of May because We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. Was Clinton really suggesting that someone assassinate Obama?
Does anyone seriously believe that Obama or Trump or Clinton were literally threatening actions with a gun?
For those who argue that Trump should have been more careful in making his statement Tuesday, did Obama and Trump need to specify that they werent literally talking about real guns being used? Should Clinton have made it clear she wasnt claiming that NRA members have been actually physically threatening politicians with violence?
Trump was clearly right about what a Clinton presidency would mean for the Second Amendment. Until 2008, Washington, D.C., had a complete handgun ban. It was also a felony to put a bullet in the chamber of a gun. This effectively constituted a complete ban on guns. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down these laws.
In June, ABCs George Stephanopoulos asked Clinton about the Heller decision. She said: I think that for most of our history, there was a nuanced reading of the Second Amendment until the decision by the late Justice (Antonin) Scalia and there was no argument until then that localities and states and the federal government had a right, as we do with every amendment, to impose reasonable regulation.
Clinton went on to talk about her push for expanded background checks, as though the Heller decision was a natural segue. But Heller only concerned complete gun bans. Clinton needs to explain what made those bans reasonable. Why was it reasonable to imprison someone for five years for defending his family?
If Trump had referred to a group other than Second Amendment supporters on Tuesday, its unlikely that anyone would have taken these extreme interpretations seriously. But the media mischaracterize Trumps statements at every opportunity and maligns individuals who believe in the right to self-defense.
Otto Marine said arbitration proceedings have commenced under the London Maritime Arbitrators Association Terms 2012 against Vettal Mega Services for failing to pay charter fees for tugboats Swordfish 5 and Go Enif.
At the same time, another arbitration proceeding is ongoing against Robert Kntuzen Shipholdings over payment defaults of two bareboat charters for a sum of around $2.83m.
Meanwhile, Singapore-listed Otto Marine is itself in the midst of getting acquired by its executive chairman Yaw Chee Siew to take the company private and is expected to be delisted from the stock exchange upon completion of the transaction.
"Sibolga Port plays an important role for the connectivity of people living in North Sumatra and Aceh," Budi was quoted as saying.
Pelindo I said earlier it had prepared budgetary allocations for the expansion of the port. The construction activities would begin in 2017, it added.
If a space rock hits the atmosphere, and no one is around to hear it, does the tabloid press still report it as an Earth-shattering event? Of course!
This pretty much summarizes a large-ish meteor impact over the South Atlantic Ocean, which occurred on Feb. 6, and was recorded by the Fireball and Bolide Reports page of NASA's Near Earth Object Program.
PHOTOS: Russian Meteor Strike Aftermath
The event itself is notable because it is the largest atmospheric impact recorded since the famous Chelyabinsk bolide that exploded over Russia in 2013, causing widespread structural damage and injuries to the city with a population of 1 million.
This recent Feb. 6 event unleashed an energy equivalent of 13,000 tons of TNT exploding instantaneously (a.k.a. a "13 kiloton" explosion); the Chelyabinsk impact ripped through the Ural Mountain skies with a whopping energy of 440 kilotons.
Initially noticed by NASA's Ron Baalke and then investigated by Bad Astronomer Phil Plait, it quickly became clear that the high-altitude impact was likely caused by a chunk of space rock approximately 5-7 meters (16-23 ft) wide. The Chelyabinsk impact was caused by a rock nearly 20 meters (65 ft) wide.
The Feb. 6 meteor most likely burned up the majority of its mass during atmospheric entry, any pieces falling as small meteorites safely into the ocean.
ANALYSIS: How Many Tiny Asteroids Buzz Earth?
This didn't happen over a populated region and, as far as I can tell, there have been no eyewitness reports from mariners or pilots who happened to be in the area at the time. Though this is certainly an important and scientifically interesting event, the impact on the lifeforms of Earth (barring a few unlucky fish 600 miles off the coast of Brazil) was minimal. But the fact that NASA "failed" to tell the world about the impact has gotten some news outlets excited.
"Space agency fails to warn the world about massive blast, even though it's the largest atmospheric explosion since the Chelyabinsk meteor," writes Mirror.co.uk.
But possibly the best headline comes from another UK news outlet, The Express: "FRONT-room-sized meteor came out of nowhere and exploded with force of Hiroshima bomb." Because your front room (British to US translation: living room) is now a universal standard of meteoroid measurement. Noted.
NEWS: Russian Meteor: Chelyabinsk Asteroid Had Violent Past
The Mirror also wandered down the conspiracy path, questioning how NASA even recorded the Feb. 6 impact, highlighting Plait's analysis that the atmospheric impact was likely detected by classified military technology.
Normally, atmospheric explosions are recorded by seismic monitors, microphones and/or satellite observations. As Plait pointed out, as the impact was in open ocean, it's not likely that seismic monitors would have been used to record the impact energy. As the military has pretty obvious reasons for monitoring atmospheric explosions, it seems likely the data came from a classified source, probably satellites.
Though an interesting energetic event, Feb. 6 isn't the only time the Earth has been hit by space rocks since Chelyabinsk. Every single day Earth is peppered with around 100 tons of space debris. The vast majority of this mass is no bigger than a grain of sand, and on a clear night you might be lucky to see these tiny specks burn up in the high atmosphere as meteors.
As they slam into the upper atmosphere, these tiny pieces of space rock create a shock wave which, through rapid heating of atmospheric gases, incinerates the debris, erupting in a fast blaze of light. These are called meteors (or "shooting stars). Larger (and rarer) pieces of space rock will hit the atmosphere as a meteor and may explode as a bolide (as the Chelyabinsk event dramatically showcased), some pieces hitting the ground as meteorites.
ANALYSIS: Why I'm Sad Asteroid 2011 MD Missed Earth
Monitoring the regularity of these larger impacts is key for scientists to better understand our Earth's interplanetary environment and although the Feb. 6 event is now grabbing the headlines, remember that most large impacts will happen over water (as the Earth is 70 percent ocean) and impacts of space rocks of around Chelyabinsk meteoroid dimensions are (statistically-speaking) a once in a century thing. Oh, and as for NASA not reporting a bolide impact that no one saw, well, it looks like the tabloid press has that covered.
Just going for a jog along city streets already felt vulnerable for a lot of women. Then two joggers were murdered recently, one in NYC and the other in Massachusetts, prompting many nervous runners in the metro area to respond by purchasing bras that conceal weapons.
The aptly-named Booby Trap bras are not messing around.
RELATED: 10 Techs Transforming Sports
Last Tuesday, 30-year-old Karina Vetrano went for a solo run in Howard Beach, N.Y. On Sunday, 27-year-old NYC resident Vanessa Marcotte went for an afternoon run while visiting family in Princeton, Mass. Both were found murdered. The killings, which police said may not be connected, have sparked fear among female joggers -- and an uptick in sales of Booby Trap bras.
The "Just in Case" Booby Trap bras contain a sheath in the center designed to hold either a small knife or container of pepper spray -- each sold separately. The bras, made from a poly blend called Supplex, are about $50 for the pepper spray version or about $54 for the knife one, reports NBC New York. Both pockets are constructed from Neoprene, although the knife version also contains a magnet to hold the weapon in place.
RELATED: Finally, A Really Smart Sports Bra
Company founder Jennifer Cutrona explained online that she created the bra after being jumped while running on a trail. "The little pocket knives I had collected over the years were all at home in the drawer with my pepper spray," she wrote. Although she got away from the guy, the experience changed her perspective.
"I needed something I could pull in less than a second," she wrote. This week Cutrona told the New York Post that sales of her bras "are blowing up."
The small curved knife that fits inside the bra costs about $13 and has holes so it can be slipped over a finger for grip. Cutrona recognizes that an attacker could use the knife against the wearer, telling the Post that she recommends practicing with it 50 times before donning the weapon. (The company also makes a unisex pocket sleeve.)
RELATED: 'Emergency Bra' Lifts, Supports, Saves
Currently she's partnering with Mace to develop a bra with a built-in 911 call button that she expects will be available from her Texas-based company by December.
Meanwhile, police are urging residents near the areas where the murdered women were found to be careful and vigilant. For some that means skipping the headphones, carrying trackers and running in groups.
The Booby Trap Bras motto: Stay safe, stay active. Mine: Stay sharp.
WATCH VIDEO: Are Runners Overdoing It?
Sam Cossman likes volcanoes. A lot. So much so that, whereas most of us would consider it thrill enough to watch a lava flow from a safe distance -- ideally through a telescope or pair of binoculars -- Cossman prefers getting up close and personal. As in descending into a volcano's crater and taking an up-close and personal look at the lava lake inside. His website documents some of his adventures; or, for a taste, check out the video below:
There is method to what might appear to be Cossman's madness. The expedition shown above, into what is known locally as "The Entrance to Hell," used GoPros and drones to produce a virtual, 3-D model of an active volcanic lava lake. And now the self-described "volcano diver" is descending into Nicaragua's Masaya Volcano, just outside Managua, in order to install some Wi-Fi.
RELATED: Volcano Explorer
Specifically, Cossman, working with General Electric and the Nicaraguan government, will, according to a report in The Verge, descend approximately 1,200 feet into the volcano's crater and set up about 80 wireless sensors that "will gather real-time data about Masaya's temperature, atmospheric pressure, gravity and the variety of different gasses like carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide." The data will then be uploaded to an open-source database called PreDix, which GE owns, where the volcano's behavior can be monitored 24/7.
There is no guarantee of success. Although Cossman naturally wears advanced protective clothing, the conditions remain highly dangerous and unpredictable. As he told Business Insider last year: "Cameras melt, your gas mask melts, even the gas masks that are designed to purify the air at that level of particulate matter, they can't. The lava is very unpredictable, you might be half way down and see it crust over, but then it builds up pressure and explodes, turns into this raging explosive force."
Only one of the drones that he used on that earlier expedition returned in working order.
RELATED: Rarely Seen Sub-Antarctic Volcano Erupts
Still, the incentive is strong. One of Nicaragua's most active volcanoes, Masaya most recently erupted in 2012.
In a post on GE's Facebook page, volcanologist Guillermo Caravantes said that, "We could potentially have millions of lives at risk. It could happen at any time and the problem is, we are not able to predict when this could happen."
Said Cossman to The Verge: "The goal is essentially to install all these sensors and create the most effective early warning system in the world."
WATCH: Why Some Volcanoes Erupt and Others Don't
In 1992, NASA and Japan launched satellite missions to measure sea levels. Pouring over the data from the satellites could lead to the conclusion that global warming is causing seas to rise at a slightly slowing rate of a little more an inch every decade.
The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991 sent tens of millions of tons of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere. By reflecting heat and cooling ocean temperatures , a new study has shown how the eruption masked the worsening effects of industrial pollution on global sea levels during the two decades since.
An uptick in sea level rise caused by greenhouse gas pollution during the past two decades has been hiding behind a volcano.
Modeling-based research published Wednesday in Scientific Reports showed the problem of rising seas is far more pressing than that, with sea level rise caused by greenhouse gas pollution continuing to accelerate.
"Pinatubo decreased the apparent starting point of sea level," said John Fasullo, a climate scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research and University of Colorado who led the new study.
Warm waters expand, which is a major cause of sea level rise, and the researchers concluded that sea levels would have been about a quarter of an inch higher in 1992 had the volcano not erupted one year prior.
In addition to revealing a fascinating effect of one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in recent history, the findings are a reminder that worsening climate-changing pollution will continue to take a heavier toll on coastal neighborhoods and roads and other infrastructure.
RELATED: Volcano Explorer
Even the best-case scenarios published by scientists in recent years suggest seas will rise 1 to 2 feet this century, though 4 feet or even more is possible, which would cripple many coastal regions.
"This continued rise is exactly what you'd expect as the greenhouse gas concentration keeps on rising," Slangen said.
The findings generally confirmed those from previous research, which has used longer-running tide gauges and other sources of data to show that seas are rising at an accelerating clip because of industrial activities.
"When you talk about sea level, there are many factors associated with it," said Rutgers University professor Ben Horton, who wasn't involved with the research. "The effect of Pinatubo has been quite long lasting."
RELATED: Here Are 10 Striking Images of Future Sea Levels
The research helped to precisely quantify how the eruption masked an acceleration in sea level rise that has been caused by fossil fuel burning, deforestation and farming during the two decades since satellite measurements began.
"The first decade of the satellite record shows a larger rate of change than the second decade," said Aimee Slangen, a sea level change scientist at Utrecht University who was not involved with the new study.
"If you keep in mind that the rate in the first decade is larger than it would have been in the absence of Pinatubo," Slangen said, "what this (study) means, really, is that there has not been a slowing of sea level rise in the second decade."
More From Climate Central:
This article originally appeared on Climate Central, all rights reserved.
When is joking about assassination not a joke?
Some observers, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, say that GOP candidate Donald Trump was joking when he suggested that gun rights supporters would perhaps use violence against Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
The statement came at a Trump rally Tuesday in North Carolina.
"Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment," Trump said. "By the way, and if she gets to pick - if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know. But I'll tell you what, that will be a horrible day."
RELATED: 20 Science Questions for US Prez Candidates
Representatives of Clinton's campaign said the statement was dangerous, and many viewers took it as raising the idea of a possible threat of violence against Clinton. There's also the reaction of a man sitting just behind Trump, whose expression of surprise and shock and then laughter was captured on video.
CNN reported Wednesday that the U.S. Secret Service has contacted the Trump campaign about the incident and had "more than one conversation" about the issue.
Trump later said he was referring to gun-rights supporters voting against Clinton, although it's clear from the statement that it refers to Clinton picking judges, which happens after a candidate wins the general election and becomes president.
RELATED: How Trump Uses Conspiracies To Win
Jason Steed is a former English professor turned attorney who wrote his doctoral dissertation on humor theory in film and literature. Steed believes there could be several explanations:
-That Trump misspoke, something other public figures (such as vice president Joe Biden) have done in the past.
-That Trump was making a joke.
-That Trump was serious.
"When we are joking, we are never just joking," Steed said. "The humor we use plays a role I how we define who we are."
Steed notes that humor is a way of floating an idea that normally would sound inappropriate or hurtful. He said that a racist, or in this case, perhaps a taboo joke, serves two purposes by assimilating people that think it's funny, and simultaneously alienating those who believe it is offensive.
Then again, maybe Trump wasn't joking.
"What he said and how it was received is dangerous because it floats an idea that we would all like to think is unthinkable," Steed said. "But floats it in a way to open up the door to the unthinkable."
WATCH: Why Can We Laugh Before We Speak?
Spain's recent general elections failed to end a government gridlock and has left the country once again without a ruling party in parliament. One of the issues tying up lawmakers is the fate of Catalonia, the autonomous region that has been petitioning for independence since the 19th century.
In today's edition of Seeker Daily, Laura Ling reports on what life is really like in Catalonia and its capitol city of Barcelona.
Those who have been to the city of Barcelona generally agree: It's the single coolest city on the planet. The architecture, the food, the people -- everything works. Greater Barcelona, the metropolitan area around the city, is the region's economic hub and one of the largest tourist destinations in country.
As for Catalonia itself, it's one of Spain's 16 autonomous communities but has long been a kind of first among equals, with its own unique culture and language -- Catalan. Around 7.5 million people, roughly 16 percent of Spain's population, live in Catalonia.
RELATED: Wandering Through Beautiful Barcelona
Compared to the rest of Spain, Barcelona is culturally and ethnically diverse. Around a quarter of the city's population aren't Catalonian at all. More than a third of Catalonians speak Catalan in the countryside, but in Barcelona that number is only about two percent.
The region's GDP of more than $200 billion is higher than any other autonomous region. Many major industries -- like food production and construction -- rely heavily on tourism, which has actually protected residents from economic hardships in the rest of Spain. In fact, even as national GDP declined, Catalonia's GDP simultaneously grew -- and unemployment dropped.
The region's thriving economy is the primary reason separatists want to break away from Spain. Proponents of a split argue that Catalonian taxpayers are keeping the rest of the country afloat, even as they receive fewer public services. According to a 2014 poll, nearly 80 percent of Catalonia residents want independence. But the recent election and continuing divisions in Parliament suggest that a referendum vote is still a long way off.
-- Glenn McDonald
Learn More:
BBC: Catalonia vote: 80% back independence - officials
CNBC: Catalonia is critical contributor to Spain's economy
Catalan News Agency: Barcelona is the fourth European city with the most tourists after London, Paris and Rome
Catalan News Agency: Third quarter unemployment figures set Catalonia's rate at 19.10% and Spain's at 23.67%
Statement by Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin M. Drilon on the exchange of opinion between the Executive and the Judiciary
"I am appealing for a more rational debate on the issue regarding the government's aggressive campaign against drugs. Let us debate with facts and reasons. There is no argument that cannot be solved by rational debate. Let reason and civility govern the exchanges of opinions on issues."
"Dahan-dahan po tayo sa pagsasalita. Huwag natin idaan sa init ng ulo."
"We must all realize that it is the future of our whole country, not just a city, that is at stake. Any action and statement that will result in a constitutional crisis will not bring us anywhere - worse, it will only weaken our democratic institutions."
"All three branches of government must work together, if our war against crime, drugs and corruption is to be truly successful."
Press Release
August 10, 2016 Hontiveros: Imprisonment awaits hospitals violating
anti-hospital deposit law PASAY CITY - Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros is pushing for a 4-6 year imprisonment for hospital administrators and officials who are guilty of violating the Anti-Hospital Deposit Law. Hontiveros, who is the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health, filed Senate Bill No. 216 that seeks to amend the existing Anti-Hospital Deposit Law and impose stricter penalties. "Emergency-case patients are in life-and-death situations", Hontiveros explained. "The state must do its best to provide hospital and medical services to the people. The government must guarantee that they will not be denied hospital treatment just because they cannot give an advance payment," Hontiveros said. Hontiveros' bill proposes a 4-6 year imprisonment for erring hospital administrators and officials who demand any deposit or other form of advance payment, as a prerequisite for admission or medical treatment of an emergency patient. In addition, from the current PhP 100,000, Hontiveros' bill seeks to raise the maximum penalty to PhP 1,000,000. The Senator explained that harsher penalties will ensure compliance, especially if it includes eventual revocation of hospitals' licenses to operate. "Upon three (3) repeated violations committed pursuant to an established policy of the hospital or clinic or upon instruction of its management, the health facility's license to operate shall be revoked by the Department of Health", includes the bill filed by Hontiveros. However, Hontiveros was quick to say that her bill provides tax deduction for hospitals that will admit indigent or poor patients in cases of emergency. "I am confident that majority of our hospitals are compliant with the law. We will make sure that their efforts in partnership with government hospitals to help close the public health care gap are duly recognized," she said. Early this year, University of Santo Tomas (UST) Hospital came under fire when Andrew Pelayo took to social media to air his grievance regarding his wife's miscarriage due to the hospital's refusal to provide treatment before any deposit was made. "Kahit saan natin tignan, mas mahalaga ang buhay ng tao kaysa anumang deposito. Ang deposito ay mababayaran. Ang buhay na nawala ay hindi maibabalik o matatawaran," Hontiveros concluded.
Press Release
August 10, 2016 Tugade assures Senate of nationwide rollout of the 5-yr driver's license by December After its launch in Metro Manila next month, the five-year driver's license will be rolled out nationwide before the end of the year, Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arturo Tugade today assured senators hearing a bill which seeks the grant of presidential emergency powers to unknot the traffic mess. Upon questioning by Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto, Tugade replied that the new driver's license which will be valid for five years will be made available throughout the country before 2016 ends. Recto is principal author of the bill extending the validity of the license to drive from three years to five years. Recto said the issuance of driver's licenses with a longer validity period must be rushed in regions outside Metro Manila "because licenses issued in NCR account for only 25 percent of the total." "Ang karamihan nasa probinsya," Recto said, citing the official report that of 5.6 million licenses and permits to operate a motor vehicle last year, only 1.4 million were processed by Land Transportation Office (LTO) branches in Metro Manila. Asked by Recto why the new license cannot be launched nationwide in one go, Tugade said his agency will still have to access the national database of persons who have been issued licenses to drive. "Kasi ho ang kinakailangan dyan yung teknolohiya kung saan alam natin na yung sistema ng LTO at LTFRB ay kaakibat yung Stradcom. Bago ka gumalaw ng figures or data sa Stradcom system, kailangan ng usapan yan," Tugade said. He was referring to the private contractor which designed and operated the computer and IT system used in issuing driver's licenses for years before its contract was terminated by the Aquino administration. Stradcom reportedly had filed a suit compelling government to pay what it owes the company for work done. "Ganun pa man, nakausap namin ang Stradcom at pumayag sila na i-calibrate ang sistema at uumpisahan sa Metro Manila (ang ) 5 years (na lisensya). Hopefully kung magagawa yan ilalahat natin ang sistema nationwide," Tugade said. Challenged by Recto to cut the red tape in transportation offices, Tugade said the renewal system for the five-year licenses will be "technology-dictated." "Kung wala kang violation, citation at wala kang nagawang illegal, yung renewal mo ay technology dictated na. Di na kailangan ng physical presence sa LTO o LTFRB," Tugade said. Recto welcomed this as it would mean that applications and renewals can be done online. "Instead of pila for hours, using the apps in minutes, tapos na." Tugade also told members of the Senate Public Services Committee that LTO will be setting up more kiosks in its offices so that car registration can be done in a do-it-yourself fashion. "Applicants will just follow the process, fill-in the blanks, then they will just be interacting with the machine. You automatically address the problem of fixers," Tugade said. Recto welcomed this scheme "as it is in consonance with the digitization drive being done by the newly-formed Department of Information and Communication Technology." Asked by Recto if the passage of the bill lengthening the validity period of driver's licenses would provide the impetus for the accelerated delivery of new licenses, Tugade said, "hindi na kailagan kasi ibibigay na po namin yan."
UC Berkeley police believe theyve finally solved the 1992 homicide of Grace Asuncion, a junior who was stabbed to death in a campus building.
Police identified John Iwed, an Alameda resident who died of a drug overdose less than a year after Asuncions death, as the killer in the cold case. Iwed, who was 24 when he died, had been a suspect in the investigation, but police had ruled him out after interviewing him.
In a statement released Tuesday, police officials said they recently reinterviewed witnesses and came upon new information that pointed to Iwed.
We identified Iwed as a suspect early on in the case but did not have enough corroborating evidence to charge him at the time, said Sgt. Sabrina Reich, a UC police spokeswoman, in a statement.
New information made us confident we had identified the right person.
Reich said the Alameda County district attorneys office had reviewed the new information and determined they would have charged Iwed in the killing if he was still alive.
Asuncion, 20, was a premed student who was working in the Eshleman Hall offices of the campus Pilipino American Alliance the afternoon she was killed, on Feb. 7, 1992. Shed been stabbed multiple times in the neck, and her body was found by a custodian. She had not been raped or robbed.
Her death sparked campus-wide anger and concern around a lack of security in Eshleman Hall, which was located at the edge of campus on Bancroft Way and housed offices for student government and other groups. The building was demolished in 2013 and rebuilt.
The university settled a wrongful-death lawsuit with Asuncions family, paying $750,000.
Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.
Not long after the homicide, Iwed apparently confessed to his wife that he thought he had killed Asuncion. An attorney hired by Asuncions family said Iwed admitted that hed taken drugs and gone into the campus building loaded.
In their statement, UC Berkeley police said, We never gave up on the Grace Asuncion homicide case. Our students safety is important to us and we wanted to be able to help bring a resolution to the case.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
GREENWICH, Conn. On July 28, Harry Brant, son of Greenwich, Conn. billionaire Peter Brant and former model Stephanie Seymour, was charged with resisting arrest and drug possession after allegedly refusing to pay a $27.85 taxi fare. He ran off on foot.
Police described Brant as sweating profusely and pale in color. When he was told he was being placed under arrest and that he should place his hands behind his back, Brant allegedly yelled out "No! No!" and attempted to run away from the officers, police said.
"Officers were able to grab a hold of Brant and take him to the ground," the police report states. "Brant continued to resist officers' attempts to place him under arrest by tensing his muscles while swinging his arms and kicking his legs. Officers were finally able to place him in handcuffs."
Pretty much how it looked A photo posted by Harry Brant (@harry_brant) on Aug 5, 2016 at 4:13pm PDT
If that doesn't paint a vivid enough picture, check out Brant's Instagram. A couple days after his scheduled Aug. 4 arraignment (it was rescheduled for Aug. 16), Brant took to social media for a little comic relief.
He posted photos of models, including Paris Hilton, being escorted by guards held down by police with captions like "Pretty much how it looked."
Let's be real... It looked like this. A photo posted by Harry Brant (@harry_brant) on Aug 6, 2016 at 9:01am PDT
The morning after looked like this A photo posted by Harry Brant (@harry_brant) on Aug 6, 2016 at 3:41pm PDT
Most of Brant's followers shared in his humor and commented encouragement like "I love you even more now," and strings of laughing emojis.
This is not the first brush with the law for the Brant family. Peter Brant Jr., 22, was arrested in March after an incident at John F. Kennedy Airport in which he allegedly assaulted a police officer. According to a Port Authority statement, a severely intoxicated Brant Jr. became belligerent when JetBlue staff prevented him from boarding an afternoon flight to West Palm Beach, Fla.
Related: Stephanie Seymour arrested again, broke utility pole
Related: 'Severely intoxicated' Peter Brant Jr. in JFK tussle
Seymour recently was arrested as well. Greenwich, Conn. Police charged her following two motor vehicle accidents on Jan. 15 that police said occurred while she was intoxicated. Police said Seymour smashed a 2015 Range Rover into a utility pole on Stanwich Road, breaking it in half, then drove off. Some time later she allegedly backed into another vehicle off Exit 5 of I-95.
Seymour was placed into the states alcohol education and accelerated rehabilitation program as part of an agreement with the court.
kborsuk@scni.com
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Dali17 Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Dali17 Show More Show Less 3 of 3
Salvador Dali did most of his surrealist painting and mustache twisting in his native Spain. But during the wartime 1940s, Dali hid out in Pebble Beach, where he was a regular among the artists, illustrators and oddballs who populated old Carmel.
That temporary legacy now has a permanent home at Dali17, an exhibit of 570 works that has taken over the Museum of Monterey. The dripping clock paintings, etchings, lithographs, sculptures and tapestry display belong to Pebble Beach resident Dmitry Piterman, a Ukrainian American businessman who became obsessed with Dali while a student at UC Berkeley.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Artist Shepard Fairey is in San Francisco this week and painting two public murals in the city, in support of the opening of his show, "American Civics," at the San Francisco Art Exchange.
The show takes on social justice themes, and Fairey will mural-ize two of those artworks on the sides of San Francisco buildings. The first artwork to go up is of Cesar Chavez, titled "Workers' Rights," and will go up at 453 Hayes St. Fairey and his team will work at that location from noon until dark on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Fairey is well known for his "Hope" posters that helped bolster President Obama's election campaign in 2008 and for his clothing brand, Obey Clothing, featuring Fairey's artwork.
Theron Kabrich, co-founder of the San Francisco Art Exchange, helped arrange the show, which is Fairey's artistic take on photographs by Jim Marshall. Kabrich said that he's been wanting to work with Fairey for a long time and that finding the walls for the murals have been a part of the planning for the show.
After searches by both the Art Exchange and Fairey's team, the two wall locations finally came through with the idea to have the murals be up as permanent installations.
"The cool thing about these murals is that Shepard's really never done a wall in the city of San Francisco," Kabrich said in a phone interview. "He's done all these cities around the world, but never in San Francisco, and so these are the first murals San Francisco is getting from Shepard.
"I believe (the murals) will be tourist attractions, especially the Cesar Chavez mural that's going up. Cesar Chavez is very much a part of the city and this area, and that is going to be an ongoing monument for people to visit."
A photo posted by Shepard Fairey (@obeygiant) on Aug 9, 2016 at 4:22pm PDT
Fairey will also be painting a mural of Fannie Lee Chaney, titled "Voting Rights Act" (seen above), at 701 Alabama St. on Thursday and Friday, from noon until dark. The work is meant to reflect voting rights, with Fairey using a Marshall photo of Chaney that was taken in 1964 on the day Chaney learned her son and his two friends were killed by the Ku Klux Klan, for registering African Americans to vote.
Kabrich said that 10 percent of the sales made from the show will go to benefit various charities that encompass the themes of the show, which include gun control, income inequality, mass incarceration, voting rights and workers' rights.
"Shepard's a very important artist with a good heart, high integrity, strong mission and an excellent artist," Kabrich said. "He's putting up big murals for free because he's trying to get messages across and that's why he's done murals around the world about important people and important issues that have to be cared about."
Fairey will be at the San Francisco Art Exchange at 458 Geary St. in San Francisco on Saturday, from 2 to 4 p.m. "American Civics" will run until the end of September, with limited edition prints for sale.
Evan Sernoffsky /
A 47-year-old woman was attacked on a street in San Franciscos Tenderloin neighborhood Tuesday by three men who threw a cloth bag over her head and viciously pummeled her, police said.
The victim was walking near Larkin Street and Golden Gate Avenue around 6:30 p.m. when she was suddenly hit on the head by a large object. Three men proceeded to cover the dazed womans head with a bag and punch her repeatedly, police said.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Rays of sunlight shine down through a glass skylight, past thick layers of inhabited rain forest foliage tree limbs, butterflies, birds and frogs and eventually refract through yellow-tinged water and a thin plate of glass onto onlookers below.
Its a Wednesday afternoon in the first-floor tunnel of the California Academy of Sciences Amazonian flooded forest exhibit.
A crowd of children, parents and friends gazes up through the lighted tunnel at a group of long, slender arapaima fish as they scatter and dive and regroup.
The visitors point and look on in awe. They pay special attention to two unexpected animals that dive down into the scene before them: A pair of wet-suit wearing volunteer scuba divers who, decked in face masks and oxygen tanks, begin to scrub the glass walls of the tunnel, as three-feet long fish and a turtle swim overhead.
The exercise is a part of a twice weekly routine to keep the aquarium in pristine condition. SF GATE recently sent a 360 camera down with the dive team to catch their perspective on the tank (move your cursor or smartphone around to explore what the diver sees).
Unlike your childhood goldfish bowl, the 100,000-gallon flooded rain forest tank is built into the foundation of the academy building. It therefore cant be regularly emptied, cleaned and refilled like an everyday tank, so a team of scientists and engineers work around the clock to keep it in ideal form for its marine inhabitants.
Its a difficult task, one only made more challenging by the fact that the aquarium is meant to replicate a real-life hot and humid Amazonian flooded forest ecosystem in the middle of San Franciscos cool and foggy Golden Gate Park.
Brenda Melton understands this challenge all too well. As curator of the aquarium, she oversees the animal health, husbandry and engineering departments that work together to ensure tank conditions are kept perfect to keep the animals alive and thriving.
In addition to the most difficult challenge, which she said is the complex system required for feedings, Melton said designing the mix of fish that can healthily coexist in the tank, continuously tracking animal health and keeping the tank itself in liveable condition have kept her and her team busy.
But, she said, its a challenge well worth it.
The academys four-story Osher Rainforest experience is set up to offer the public a glimpse into the wildlife from four important biodiverse forest ecosystems throughout the world.
Not everyone gets to visit a rain forest in their lifetime, Melton said. Its a way to allow people to see these important parts of the world that they would otherwise not be able to see.
Heres how the team keeps things in running in the flooded forest floor:
A team of engineers uses a system of water pumps and filters to keep conditions such as clarity and cleanliness at the desired levels for the animals health.
A system of sand filter pumps runs throughout the week to filter out the water. Twice a week the team of engineers backwashes the system, exchanging about eight percent of the old water with fresh water each time. A team of volunteer scuba divers also jumps into the tank to manually clean its walls twice a week.
But the goal isnt to make the water too clean.
With the flooded forest we dont want it to be too clear. We want it to be realistic, said Arnel Bautista, chief engineer for the exhibit. So we use ozone to make it clear, but not too clear. Its a balancing act for aesthetic and animal-health reasons.
To keep water the perfect temperature, aquarium owners usually have to use heat lamps. But Bautista said thats not the case, even when trying to keep the exhibits water at the perfect, Amazon-like 80 degrees.
With this exhibit, we usually have to cool the water down, he said.
Heat from exhibit lights, skylight and the pumps warm the water to the point that it must be regularly chilled.
Meanwhile, the animal health team works with the organisms directly, rather than the conditions they live in.
To make sure the fish are all fed and dont end up eating one another, or eachothers food the team schedules elaborately staggered feedings, with groups of fish lured into different sections of the exhibit at the same or somewhat overlapping times. The exhibits turtle is drawn into a corner while smaller fish scatter about near the waters surface, awaiting feed from a worker hanging over the waters edge.
Monitors also check in on each animal on a regular basis to make sure each organism is getting what they need.
Before new animals are added to the exhibit they must go through a quarantine period where they are monitored for disease and behavior before being given clearance to go in the tank.
Exhibit scientists can only allow a strategic combination of animals in the tank that they know will live well together. Any indication of health or behavior issues and the new creature wont make the cut.
Melton said in order to to make sure everything runs smoothly the staff must maneuver very closely and cohesively much like the very animals in the aquarium they tend to.
Kevin Schultz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kschultz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kevinedschultz
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Two Oakland police officers who exchanged racist and homophobic text messages are facing suspensions, and the Police Department will conduct refresher training for all officers on the citys nondiscrimination policies, officials said Wednesday.
The two officers were among several who Mayor Libby Schaaf said in June had come under investigation for exchanging questionable texts, part of what she denounced as a frat house culture in the Police Department.
Schaaf said all the officers involved were African American, but she did not describe the texts other than to say that some officers had been engaging in hate speech.
A source who saw the texts said one showed a Ku Klux Klan figure on a cereal box with the message, Brad, I heard you got boxes of these in your cupboards. Another text appeared to show a racial epithet for African Americans with the message, N are doing our job for us, referring to recent homicides in Oakland, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity because the case is a personnel matter.
Some officers received the messages and failed to report them, Schaaf said at a June 17 news conference. She declined to say whether any command staff were involved, citing state laws that protect officers privacy.
The officers whose suspensions were announced Wednesday were not identified, and the city did not say how long they would be suspended. City spokeswoman Karen Boyd said the officers could contest their punishment through the Police Departments grievance procedures.
The city has wrapped up its investigation of the texts, Boyd said. She did not say whether more suspensions were possible.
Days after the June news conference, the Oakland Black Officers Association released a letter denouncing the mayor for exposing the race of the officers involved.
Mayor Schaafs statements subjected the African American commanders to unnecessary negative scrutiny and can possibly have (an) adverse impact on their ability to lead, the letter said.
City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, who like Schaaf has been outspoken about the frat house culture in the Police Department, said Wednesday that she agreed with the associations letter.
All the times that white officers have engaged in misconduct, the administration didnt identify them by race, Kaplan said.
But civil rights attorney John Burris, who frequently sues Oakland and other cities over police misconduct, said that in this case, the mayor was right to specify the officers race.
It should be publicly known that this type of text message will not be tolerated from any officer, Burris said.
A spokesman for the Police Department declined to comment, referring all inquiries to City Administrator Sabrina Landreth. The mayor put her in charge of day-to-day operations of the Police Department in mid-June after Chief Sean Whent resigned and two acting chiefs left the job in the space of a week.
Whent left amid revelations that several current and former Oakland police officers were connected to a teen sex worker and that some may have had sex with her when she was underage.
In announcing the two officers suspensions, Boyd said some officers who were implicated in the texting case appeared to be unclear of their obligation to report this misconduct. As a result, she said, the Police Department will hold a refresher training on the citys policies against discrimination and harassment, and the obligation of city employees who know of possible violations to report it.
Burris said the text messages were a symptom of a longtime cultural problem in the Police Department. The department has been under the direct control of a federal judge and court monitor since 2012, an arrangement stemming from a 2003 lawsuit settlement over alleged beatings and corruption by a group of West Oakland police officers who called themselves the Riders.
Although the text message scandal may seem minor compared with the sexual misconduct investigation, Burris said, it gives Schaaf a chance to set higher standards for officers behavior.
Kaplan, however, said the texting case could distract attention from bigger priorities in the department.
I hope this other work that we have not heard updates on hiring a new chief and investigating allegations of widespread sexual misconduct is not being neglected, Kaplan said.
Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan
A federal court jury convicted a high-ranking member of the Nuestra Familia prison gang of racketeering Tuesday but deadlocked on his guilt for gang-related murders in the deaths of two people found in a burning Oakland apartment in 2011.
The jury in Oakland convicted another gang member of a 2012 murder in San Jose, and found two other men guilty of racketeering.
The lead defendant, Henry Cervantes, 52, of Lodi, was released from federal prison in 2010 after serving time on another racketeering charge. By 2011, prosecutors said, he had become the regiment commander of Nuestra Familia in Oakland.
He was charged with murder in aid of racketeering in the September 2011 fatal stabbings of Johnny Navaerette, 73, a paroled killer, and Renee Washington, 56. Their bodies were found in a second-floor apartment on the 3100 block of Coolidge Avenue in Oakland after firefighters extinguished a fire there.
Cervantes lawyer, John Philipsborn, said Tuesday there was no question that Cervantes had been at the crime scene but considerable doubt that the killings were related to gang activity. Jurors failed to reach a verdict on the murder charges, which carried terms of life in prison.
The jury convicted Cervantes of destroying the Oakland apartment and of overseeing the gangs drug-dealing activities. He could face a life term on the drug-related charges.
The Alameda County district attorneys office initially charged Cervantes with the two murders in Superior Court, but dismissed those charges when the federal government filed the racketeering case. County prosecutors havent said whether they plan to refile the murder charges.
The federal jury also found Alberto Larez, 48, of Salinas guilty of racketeering as a Nuestra Familia leader, and convicted him of the August 2012 murder of Martin Chacon in San Jose. Prosecutors said Larez and two cohorts suspected Chacon of cooperating with police and lured him to a meeting, where he was shot to death in his car. Larez faces a life sentence.
Also convicted of racketeering were Jaime Cervantes, 33, of San Mateo and Andrew Cervantes, 60, of Stockton. Eight more defendants have pleaded guilty to related charges.
Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
Police were looking to collar a pit bull and its apparent master after they both attacked a man in the entrance of an apartment building in San Franciscos Tenderloin neighborhood Tuesday.
The 60-year-old victim suffered multiple lacerations, which police attributed to the assailant and his dog, an Argentinian pit bull, said Officer Carlos Manfredi, a San Francisco Police spokesman.
Fremont Police Department / Fremont Police Department
A 21-year-old San Ramon man who allegedly drugged and raped women he met on social networks such as Tinder and Facebook has agreed to plead guilty and will be sentenced to 20 years in state prison, authorities said.
Kwangmin Jin pleaded no contest to six counts of rape of an unconscious victim and agreed to the sentence as part of a deal with prosecutors, the Fremont Police Department said Tuesday.
San Francisco Police Department / San Francisco Police Department
A paramedic with the San Francisco Fire Department scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday for allegedly setting off an explosive device in a neighbors planter was instead arrested outside court after police found bomb-making materials during a search of his home, authorities said.
James Novello, 32, faces 26 charges in connection with a blast in his neighborhood last week that neighbors said happened after a lengthy dispute over street parking.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
After four years of mediocre ratings with a talk format that host Gil Gross called a hodgepodge, KKSF (910 AM) is now a Spanish-language station, with programming from ESPN Desportes. ESPN had been on KTRB (860 AM), which switched to conservative talk shows from the Salem Radio Network on July 4.
Gross, one of several KGO hosts who landed at KKSF after KGO dismissed most of its talkers in December 2011, said he was covered by a great contract, and could afford to joke about losing his job when iHeart Media pulled the switch on July 22. He wrote online: So apparently youve been confused by my decision to do the show in Spanish. It was the only way I could think of to show up Trumps speech. He added: Ironically, one of the last (ratings) books showed us up 25 percent in the target 25-54 demo. If the idea was to quit while were ahead, we walked away from the table winners.
But KKSF was ranked 31st in the market, and with KGO returning to talk, its hodgepodge, including local hosts Cory Callewaert; Joel Riddell; The Dog House with JD, Elvis and Natasha; and the syndicated Stephanie Miller and Alan Colmes, was doomed.
Drama: The Maltese Falcon is a classic film from 1941, based on the 1929 novel by Dashiell Hammett. But has it ever been a radio production? The California Historical Radio Society came awfully close recently in Alameda, as a performance of the story, done radio style, highlighted the groups annual Radio Day by the Bay. At the Kofman Auditorium, there was music from the Golden Gate Radio Orchestra, auctions of radio goodies and the announcements of the 2016 inductees into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame. But for fun, it was hard to top director (and former DJ) Terry McGoverns quite faithful take on the murder mystery set in San Francisco.
Sam Van Zandt of KBAY nailed Sam Spade, channeling Humphrey Bogart without imitating him, and Celeste Perry, most recently on KOSF (and still on KOFY-TV), was perfectly tempting and duplicitous as Brigid OShaughnessy (portrayed in the movie by Mary Astor). Other familiar radio voices included Trish Robbins and Trish Bell.
If some cast members flubbed a few words, they could be forgiven, as they had learned that the audience included Julie Rivett, Hammetts granddaughter.
I enjoyed it a lot, Rivett said afterward, noting that shed just witnessed an adaptation of the movie, not the novel. You have to get yourself away from Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor, and allow them to be Sam Spade and Brigid OShaughnessy. As things progressed, I started hearing their own voices.
Rivett, who has co-edited several volumes about Hammett, enjoyed a 2008 audiobook version of the novel, but had never heard it as a radio play, although a 1943 Lux Radio Theater production, starring Edward G. Robinson, is on YouTube. The movies considered a little talky for modern standards, she said, but I think one of the best parts today was at the end, when theyre all in the apartment and theyre completely talky, and it translated to radio so perfectly.
The generally excellent cast dressed up in authentic 40s finery. The only contemporary touch was a laptop operated by Rick Banghart to play sound effects, music and vintage commercials. Elsewhere onstage, a table held a replica of the Maltese Falcon, on loan from its nest at Johns Grill. (The restaurant got a shout-out in McGoverns script. Hey, product placement!)
The production is available on the radio societys channel on YouTube.
Jazzy: Peter Fingerote has completed a book begun by Herb Wong, the jazz DJ, critic and educator who died in 2014 at age 88. He had been working with his friend Fingerote on Jazz on My Mind: Liner Notes, Anecdotes and Conversations From the 1940s to the 2000s.
The book features Wongs writings dating back to the 1940s, including artist profiles and interviews ranging from Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday to Joshua Redman and Denny Zeitlin. Wong hosted Jazz Perspectives on KJAZ from 1959 to 1996.
Wheels on fire: Kim Wonderley, morning traffic anchor on KCBS, is also a rock musician. When not reporting on traffic jams, she jams on guitar and vocals with the Flywheels. Theyve completed an album, Im for the Flowers, which Wonderley calls a legacy project for guitarist Eric Scott, who died last year, just after finishing the record. Now the Flywheels need a push to finish artwork and packaging, and to produce vinyl pressings (as well as CD and streaming options). Theyve started a Kickstarter campaign. (To join, go to the Flywheels Facebook page.)
I want to get it out there for Eric, said Wonderley. Its great to have the last year of his life be not about cancer, but about music.
Our aim is true: Im joining a group of musicians for Elvis vs. Elvis at the Makeout Room on Aug. 25. Yep: songs of Presley and Costello. One guess which side Im singing on
Hall monitor: Tweet from Carolyn McArdle of KISQ (The Breeze), watching KGO-TV on her studio monitor: Well @SueHallTraffic you have the cutest outfit on today! Go girl!
Moments later, McArdles morning co-host, Jack Kulp, tweeted: How come you never comment about MY cute outfits?
Days later, Hall lost her morning traffic gig; she continues as a fill-in, and remains on 102.7 the Wolf in Santa Rosa and part time on KOIT.
Ben Fong-Torres is a freelance writer.
MIAMI Golly, it all makes sense now. The courier made a simple mistake. He was supposed to pick up Brandon Crawfords bat from Mondays seven-hit game and deliver it to the Hall of Fame, but he absentmindedly grabbed every bat from the visiting clubhouse at Marlins Park.
One night after Crawford tied the National League record with seven hits, the Giants and Marlins combined for that many Tuesday. The Giants had three none by Crawford, using a different bat and lost 2-0.
Hours later, the eight-game lead they had built in the National League West was gone. The Dodgers beat the Phillies in Los Angeles to forge a tie, ending the Giants 86-day reign alone atop the division.
Crawford shrugged at the possibility before he left the ballpark, saying, Theres a lot of season left. If the division is tied, its not going to ruin our season. Were going to keep coming out, getting after it.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press Show More Show Less 3 of 3
Crawford went hitless in four at-bats with two strikeouts, stranding two teammates in the first inning and again in the eighth.
The Giants cannot use the old thats baseball saw to explain how easily their bats can be silenced.
The problem is, this offensive slump is like a virus that has infected the entire team. The deeper the season gets, the harder it is to believe the Giants will find a cure.
Just go down the lineup.
Denard Span went 7-for-15 in three games at Philadelphia, a sign he finally might become a spark atop the order. In five games since then, he is 5-for-24 with 15 groundball outs.
Brandon Belt has 10 RBIs in 22 second-half games with 31 strikeouts in 77 at-bats.
Hunter Pence is lost, swinging at anything that moves. In his past six games, he is 3-for-24 with 12 strikeouts.
Joe Panik is 4-for-40 since he returned from his concussion.
Even Crawford has scuffled around his seven-hit game.
Buster Posey, who sat Tuesday after catching all 14 innings Monday night, has been producing. Angel Pagan has been consistent, too. He had two of the Giants three hits Tuesday, Conor Gillaspie the other. All were singles.
For the second time in three days, the Giants were blanked over seven innings by an opposing starter, this time Tom Koehler.
Manager Bruce Bochy, back from an overnight hospital stay, can do only so much with the lineup when so much of it is struggling. He probably should give Pagan a shot at leadoff for a while, but he fully supports Span.
Weve tweaked it, he said. Thats fair to say if you look at the lineups. You dont want to do too much. You want some stability. You want them to settle in. Theyll get it going. Theyre too good hitters not to. Their resumes show it.
The front office can do little more. The onus is on the hitters and their coaches to find a way out of this.
Matt Moore took his first loss with the Giants. He has had an odd start with San Francisco. In both games, he has allowed two runs in six innings but has 11 walks in the 12 innings.
He walked Dee Gordon on four pitches to start his night, Martin Prado singled and they scored the games only runs. The key hit was an RBI double by Giancarlo Stanton on a fastball that broke his bat yet still cleared Pagan in left field.
Hes probably one of the strongest guys in the game, Moore said. It doesnt surprise me. Hes had a broken-bat homer.
Moore did well to last six innings and spare most of the bullpen a night after Mondays draining win.
Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: hschulman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hankschulman
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey lied to reporters when he said he did not believe any senior member of his staff knew about the plot to block traffic to the George Washington Bridge, one of his aides told a colleague in a text message that was part of a court document filed Wednesday.
Are you listening? the aide, Christina Renna, texted a colleague. He just flat out lied, Renna wrote. Then she added that if certain emails were discovered, it could be bad.
WILMINGTON, N.C. Donald Trump said Tuesday that Second Amendment advocates might find a way to stop Hillary Clinton from rolling back gun rights if shes elected, setting off a political firestorm as Democrats quickly accused him of encouraging violence against his opponent.
Speaking at a rally in Wilmington, the Republican nominee said, incorrectly, that his general election opponent wants to abolish, essentially, the Second Amendment.
He continued: By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know.
Trump did not elaborate on his meaning. But within minutes, Clintons campaign and an outside group backing her candidacy denounced her competitors remarks as an attempt to incite violence.
This is simple what Trump is saying is dangerous, said Robby Mook, Clintons campaign manager. A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way.
The pro-Clinton group Priorities USA blasted out an email with the subject line: Donald Trump Just Suggested That Someone Shoot Hillary Clinton.
The Trump campaign was equally quick to dispute that interpretation of his remarks, saying he was simply touting the amazing spirit of Second Amendment supporters.
Its called the power of unification Second Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power, said Jason Miller, Trumps senior communications adviser. And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it wont be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump.
Catherine Milhoan, a spokeswoman for the Secret Service, said, We are aware of his comments. She declined to answer any additional questions about Trumps remarks.
The Second Amendment provides a constitutional right to citizens to own firearms. Clinton supports some new restrictions on gun ownership but does not advocate overturning the amendment.
The GOP candidates distortion of Clintons position on the Second Amendment and his comments Tuesday prove how dangerous Trump really is, said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
What Donald Trump said today is repulsive, literally using the Second Amendment as cover to encourage people to kill someone with whom they disagree, said Gross, whose group is named for James Brady, a White House press secretary wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.
Trumps remarks immediately set off a firestorm of criticism on social media and threatened to upstage discussion of his economic policy speech the day before and his swing through the key battleground state of North Carolina.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., a leading advocate for stronger gun safety laws, called Trumps comments disgusting and embarrassing and sad.
This isnt play, Murphy wrote on Twitter. Unstable people with powerful guns and an unhinged hatred for Hillary are listening to you, @realDonaldTrump.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the liberal Democrat who has tangled frequently with Trump online, said on Twitter that Trump makes death threats because hes a pathetic coward who cant handle the fact that hes losing to a girl.
The National Rifle Association, the powerful pro-gun lobby that has endorsed Trump, posted a pair of tweets in support of the Republican nominee.
One, using the hashtag for the Second Amendment, read: @realDonaldTrump is right. If @HillaryClinton gets to pick her anti-#2A SCOTUS judges, theres nothing we can do. #NeverHillary.
The second read: But there IS something we will do on #ElectionDay: Show up and vote for the #2A! #DefendtheSecond #NeverHillary.
But even some Trump supporters appeared taken aback by the nominees comments. A video of the rally shows a man seated behind Trump open his mouth in disbelief and turn to his companion with a puzzled look on his face after Trump made the remark.
Campaigning in Pennsylvania, Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, said Trump was very clear in what he meant.
Donald Trump is urging people around this country to act in a manner consistent with their convictions in the course of this election, and people who cherish the Second Amendment have a very clear choice in this election, he told Philadelphias NBC affiliate.
Trumps comments came a few weeks after one of his campaign advisers said Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason.
The Secret Service is investigating those remarks, made last month by Al Baldasaro, a New Hampshire state lawmaker and an adviser to Trump on veterans issues. Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said then that neither Trump nor his campaign agrees with Baldasaros comments.
Trumps comments Tuesday were reminiscent of the Second Amendment remedies floated in 2010 by Sharron Angle, a Senate candidate from Nevada who was criticized for seeming to allude to a call for violence.
BALTIMORE With startling statistics, a federal investigation of the Baltimore Police Department documents in 164 single-spaced pages what black residents have been saying for years: They are routinely singled out, roughed up or otherwise mistreated by officers, often for no reason.
The 15-month Justice Department probe was prompted by the death of Freddie Gray, the black man whose fatal neck injury in the back of a police van touched off the worst riots in Baltimore in decades. To many people, the blistering report issued Wednesday was familiar reading.
Every once in a while, a great innovator comes along with an idea so revolutionary, it not only disrupts an industry, it changes the world: how we get places, how we meet people, and in the case of entrepreneur showman Jeff Beacher, how we get drunk.
At our performances, we have midgets dressed like Oompa-Loompas who are attached to ziplines -- they fly around dropping bottles of booze on tables, he says.
Welcome to Beacher's Madhouse, a vaudeville cabaret show where flying vodka-laden Oompa-Loompas are probably the sanest thing you will see. On any given night over the past decade, audience members have seen acts like the worlds oldest stripper shaking what her mama gave her, followed by Mini Kim Kardashian and Mini Kanye West "giving birth" onstage to a tiny bundle of joy, Mini Amanda Bynes.
And laughing their asses off one table over are some of the biggest stars on the planet.
Beacher built his madhouse as an outlet for his creativity and, really, just a way to have some fun. After I graduated high school, I went to community college for about a month before I dropped out. School wasnt for me," he tells Entrepreneur. "I was a guy with a high EQ and not the highest IQ. Some people are really good actors and actresses, some are really good accountants. I just happen to be the best in the world at marketing. I just knew it as an instinct. Im just wired that way. It is something that I love.
Related: 10 Instagram Branding Lessons From Mexican Drug Lords
Over the years, his Madhouse has enjoyed residences in The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, at The Hard Rock and MGM casinos in Vegas and has toured the country bringing its unique brand of insanity to a theater near you. As you might imagine, the journey of this weird and wonderful show has been bumpier than, well, the journey of a little person ziplining around a nightclub. After a run at the MGM that Beacher says nearly killed him, he pressed pause on the crazy machine to take some time to regain his health and his sanity.
This September, after over a year-long break, the show is returning to the Hollywood Roosevelt, promising to be bigger and more bizarre than ever. With less than a month to go before the curtain rises, Entrepreneur spoke with the master of the Madhouse about its colorful history and its freaky future.
In the beginning
"I started the show based on the fact that I never went to college. I felt like I missed out -- I never had the frat house parties. So I created this party where you could sit at a table, have drinks and have a really crazy experience. It started on Broadway. We had one midget and some dancers and we did a lot of audience interaction. What I didnt realize was that I created what everyone calls 'experiential.' I started engaging the audience in everything that was going on."
Related: 18 Movies Every Entrepreneur Should Watch
Famous faces in the crowd
"Weve had nights with 40 celebrities in the audience in a room that holds 150 people. Theres a lot of networking and follow through to make that happen. But in the end, you have to have a really good product or else no one is going to want to come see it."
Famous faces on the stage (in miniature form)
"Whenever we do a Mini Katy or Mini Miley, the real stars love it. When Kim Tripp, who played Mini Kim Kardashian, passed away a couple of months ago, the real Kim Kardashian tweeted a really sweet message for her."
The (Mini) Kiss off
"The only time I got a legal letter is when we had Tiny Kiss, a midget band who dressed like Kiss. I got a letter from Kisss attorney and I called him back myself and told him Im not backing down. A week later, I get another call: 'Hey, this is Gene Simmons.' I said sure it is, and hung up. And he called back and said, 'No, this is really Gene Simmons.' And I recognized the voice and it was really him. I was like, 'Oh shit.' He said, 'I heard youve been spoofing Kiss,' and I was like, 'Yeah, but it is all in good fun.' And he said, 'Is it cool if I come down to the Hard Rock to see it?' So he came down and got on stage and played with them, so it was awesome. It turned into a great relationship and were still friends to this day."
Related: KISS Co-Founder Gene Simmons Says To Be Successful, Think 'Me' First
Wiring of a madman
"I was adopted, which I think had a lot to do with the way I am wired. My parents died when I was very young, which I didnt realize at the time gave me insecurity and abandonment issues. I was adopted by an amazing family, and that made me always want to be the best. I wanted to prove to my father that hey, you made the best decision in adopting me."
The price of success
"I became so obsessed with succeeding, with being the coolest person in the room and having the coolest room packed with models and celebrities that I stopped taking care of myself. By 2014, I was 410 pounds. We had a $100 million, 20-year deal with the MGM to open a theater there, but my life was going in the wrong direction. On the outside, it was great -- we were selling out every night. But on the inside, I was an absolute complete disaster. Emotionally, mentally, spiritually, physically. So I had to make a change."
Related: 7 Funny Quotes with Serious Leadership Lessons
Get it together
"I focused on getting my mind and body clear. And I did that. Between 2014 and 2015, I lost 215 pounds. Two of my best friends, Larry Rudolph, who manages Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears and Steven Tyler, and his fiancee Jennifer Barnet, who owns XCYCLE, sat me down and got me on an exercise program. One thing Ive been proud of my entire life is that I dont do drugs. But the problem was that I thought, well if Im not doing drugs, Im healthy! It's OK to eat or gamble, not realizing that those were my drugs. It was just filling voids.
"I made the decision to leave the MGM and went back to L.A. to be happier and healthier. We had a huge financial deal with MGM, but I needed to get out of the Vegas environment. How did people react? Any time you have an idea, there are four people that tell you it is a great idea, four people who tell you thats the worst idea ever and two people who dont care. But I did it and a year and a half later, Im in the best physical, emotional and financial shape Ive ever been in."
The future
"My original goal was that I wanted to have 30 theaters around the world, to have Beachers in every major city. I was obsessed with the live experience and didnt want to put anything online because people are always copying us. But I realize now that that online is how we can be in every home in America. When we re-open, well also be launching an online portal, a cross of Maxim meets Ripleys Believe It or Not. There will be gorgeous girls, celebrity content, interviews, a three-headed turtle, the worlds tallest man -- all the craziest oddities in the world from our show. We were stuck in the $7 to $10 million revenue mark for years under the old model. Now I believe with touring, online content, branding and merchandising, were putting ourselves in the direction of a billion-dollar company."
The show must go on
"I want to leave something behind that lasts, I want to do something that can live on when Im gone, similar to Walt Disney. I was a very angry person back in the day, and Ive learned that a more nurturing, loving environment will bring out the best in people around you. The people around you are the most important asset in your business. You need to make sure that theyre good people who have your best interest at heart and you need to take care of them as well."
President Beacher?
"P.T. Barnum is a huge inspiration to me. A lot of people say Donald Trump is like P.T. Barnum. No, I have no aspirations to be president, but I do have a Mini Donald Trump in the show! And a Mini Hillary. Theyre getting ready to wrestle."
Related:
Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com
NEW YORK Republican Donald Trump and his allies are suggesting that rival Hillary Clintons emails may be responsible for the death of an Iranian nuclear scientist who was executed for spying for the United States, even though there is no credible evidence of any such link. Some emails released by the State Department that had passed through Clintons home server appeared to reference the scientist, Shahram Amiri.
Trump is using the people are saying sentence structure he often favors to make accusations:
Many people are saying that the Iranians killed the scientist who helped the U.S. because of Hillary Clintons hacked emails, he tweeted Monday night.
Trumps vice presidential candidate, Mike Pence, said its absolutely essential that we get to the bottom of this.
It would be heartbreaking, Pence said on The Sean Hannity Show Monday, if someone who had cooperated with the United States, lost their life because of the recklessness and the carelessness of Hillary Clinton using a private server. He added that none of that is clear, but the American people have the right to know.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a prominent Trump supporter, doubled down on the claim Tuesday as he introduced Trump at a rally in Wilmington, N.C. Accusing Clinton of lying and being extremely careless.
Iran executed Amiri this week for spying for the United States, acknowledging for the first time that the nation secretly detained and tried a man who was once heralded as a hero.
The emails released by the State Department provide information similar to what U.S. officials had already discussed publicly at the time.
There was public reporting on this topic back in 2010, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said. Former Secretary Clinton discussed this issue in public at that time. So, this is not something that became public when the State Department released those emails.
The FBI has said it was possible foreign hackers gained access to Clintons personal email account. It found no evidence that Clintons server was hacked when she was secretary of state, although the FBI director said that if it had been hacked investigators probably would not be able to detect any evidence of such a break-in.
Tweeted back Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill:
Many people are saying=I made this up.
Merrill added that after Trumps Monday morning speech to the Detroit Economic Club and sticking closely to his script the muzzle was bound to come off.
Trumps speech was designed in part to reassure Republicans unnerved by a disastrous week of self-inflicted feuds with an assortment of people, from grieving Muslim American parents to the leaders of his own party.
Clintons decision to store her emails on a private server in her New York home sparked an FBI investigation and has become a dominant issue in the presidential campaign. The FBI recommended against prosecuting her.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
SACRAMENTO Aoife Beary paused as the anguish became too much. She tried to stifle the sobs as she pleaded with California lawmakers on Wednesday to support a bill she hopes would prevent the kind of tragedy she endured.
Beary was one of the 13 students who plunged five stories when a balcony at a Berkeley apartment collapsed last year. Most of the young people, like Beary, were visiting from Ireland. Six of them died in the fall on a night they were celebrating Bearys 21st birthday.
I miss my friends so much, said Beary, who suffered a traumatic brain injury, broken arms, a broken pelvis, a broken jaw, a collapsed lung, broken ribs and other injuries in the June 2015 fall. I had known them since we started school together at 4 years of age. We had grown up together. And now my birthday will always be their anniversary.
California lawmakers are considering a bill that would require the Contractors State License Board to study whether it should require contractors to report to the board any settlements or judgments related to faulty work. SB465 would also require the Building Standards Commission to study whether existing building standards for apartment balconies need to be updated. Both studies would be reported to the state Legislature by Jan. 1, 2018.
In addition to the studies, SB465 would require contractors to disclose within 90 days to their regulator the Contractors State License Board if they were convicted of a felony or a crime related to their work as a contractor.
The bill was significantly watered down this year after it was defeated in 2015 amid industry opposition.
I cannot believe why you are even debating this bill, Beary said. People died. You should ensure all balconies are scrutinized in this state to prevent this from happening again.
Contractors are not required to report to the board any settlements related to defects in their work, which supporters of SB465 say is routine in other professions.
The firm that constructed the Berkeley balcony, Segue Construction of Pleasanton, had a history of settling construction defect cases. Segue agreed to $26.5 million in legal settlements for construction defect cases between 2012 to 2015.
The licensing board said it was unaware of the cases because state law does not require the company to report them.
The bill, by Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, and Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, failed last year in the Assembly Business and Professions Committee after the legislation initially attempted to require contractors to report defective construction settlements and lawsuits to the licensing board. SB465 was revived this year and now only requires the licensing board to study whether the public would be best served if contractors were required to report lawsuits or settlements involving allegations of defective work.
That change led opponents, like the California Building Industry Association and the Southern California Contractors Association, to remove their opposition to the bill. No one spoke in opposition to SB465 on Wednesday, when the Assembly Appropriations Committee heard the bill.
The committee did not vote on the bill Wednesday, but will have to decide by Friday if it moves forward. Several Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the committee indicated Wednesday that they planned to vote in favor of the bill.
If the bill passes the committee, SB465 has to be approved by the full Assembly and Senate by Aug. 31.
So many lives have been changed, said Jackie Donohoe, the mother of Ashley Donohoe of Rohnert Park, an Irish American who was killed at age 22 in the Berkeley fall. Thats why its so important for this bill to pass.
Donohoe said she warned her daughter not to drink and drive or drive too fast, and always asked that she text when she arrived somewhere.
My daughter did all those things, she said. I would never in a million years think to say, Ashley, dont walk out on a balcony in the United States of America.
Donohoes niece, Olivia Burke, 21, was also killed in the collapse. Donohoe said the tragedy has forever changed the familys lives, robbing them of milestones, like her husband walking her daughter down the aisle in a wedding in which she anticipated Burke would have been a bridesmaid.
Her father did carry her up the aisle, she said. He carried her coffin up the aisle. And her beloved friend and cousin Olivia did follow her. She came after her in her coffin.
Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 FRANCISCO LEONG/AFP/Getty Images Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Helder Santos/Associated Press Show More Show Less 3 of 3
LISBON, Portugal Wildfires raged unabated in Portugal on Wednesday, killing at least four people, burning down dozens of houses and sending people fleeing in panic, as well as charring huge areas of forest.
The National Civil Protection Service reported 14 major wildfires burning out of control in mainland Portugal where almost 4,500 firefighters were in action in a massive operation, supported by 28 water-dumping aircraft and 1,300 vehicles. Even that wasnt enough, however, and the government requested help from other European Union countries.
BAGHDAD A fire tore through the maternity ward of a Baghdad hospital late Tuesday, killing 13 newborns and injuring at least 25 people, according to health officials in Iraq.
The blaze broke out at 11:50 p.m. Tuesday, but firefighters did not arrive at Yarmouk hospital until 90 minutes later, Dr. Ahmed al-Hadari, a spokesman for the health district that includes the facility, said at a news conference. A committee has been formed to investigate the incident, and so far we dont know the reasons of the incident, he said. We are waiting the results of the investigations.
More than 25 babies and women suffered burns or smoke inhalation and were evacuated to other hospitals. Several of the mothers were awaiting cesarean sections.
Other officials said the episode had begun when an oxygen bottle exploded in a corridor, setting off an electrical fire, but those accounts could not immediately be confirmed.
Outside the hospital, near the entrance to the obstetrics ward, several of the victims relatives gathered Wednesday morning and said they suspected arson noting that the hospital had recently undergone a change in leadership and that there were reports of a dispute between the former and current directors of the hospital although they did not have evidence to suggest that the fire was intentional. Asked whether the fire might have been intentionally set, al-Hadari declined to comment, saying that it was up to investigators to determine the cause.
One mother, Mariam Thijeel, who gave birth to a son, Yaman Muaad, on Tuesday via cesarean section, said, I heard that there was a fire in the hospital.
There was screaming, she said. The power was cut off, and then the doors got locked on us, and there was no man in the newborn section, and we could not save any babies.
She described a scene of panic and chaos, and said that people in the hospital tried desperately to find someone with keys to the wing that was on fire, the doors of which were locked. We asked the help of one of the employees, but she said, I cannot help you with anything, because its a fire, Thijeel said.
She said that an ambulance did not arrive until one hour and a half after the fire, adding that she blamed authorities for an inadequate response.
The cost of the governments war against the Islamic State and a drop in the price of oil have led to cutbacks in hospital funding in Iraq.
SHISUN VILLAGE, China The three miners befriended a lonely, luckless man and offered him work down an iron mine in eastern China.
After working together for 10 days, the three pushed a 220-pound boulder down a steep tunnel, crushing the man to death. They reported it as an accident.
Days later, three men and a woman turned up at the mine, saying they were the dead mans relatives and demanding compensation. The mine owner offered them $110,000 if they agreed not to report the death to officials.
Prosecutors and the police now say that this death, in Shandong province in 2014, was one of many in which a sophisticated network of grifters dispatched isolated, hard-up men, some mentally impaired, and dressed up their deaths as accidents to swindle compensation from mine owners.
The investigation led the police to Shisun Village in southwestern China, where mine murders for cash appear to have become a cottage industry. Of the 74 suspects indicted in late May in 17 killings, up to 40 were from Shisun Village, prosecutors said. The police said they were still investigating reports of another 35 possible victims.
But Shisun is not the only place where such cases have cropped up.
A search of court judgments online and news reports of court verdicts turns up dozens of instances across China of gangs killing vagrants and workers in dark, isolated chambers far underground, and using the deaths to defraud mine owners. There have been at least 34 such cases over the past two decades, Caijing Magazine, a prominent business weekly, estimated in June.
The allegations have prompted anguished debate across China about the social and legal failings that led people to make a living by killing vulnerable strangers, and fanned speculation about whether the crimes were inspired by a bleak cult movie with a similar plot.
The other side of the equation that kept the business humming is the mine owners, who paid handsome sums to the impostor families in order to keep the deaths quiet. If a fatal accident were reported, the owners feared, safety regulators would shut down the mine for months while they investigated, several mine owners told police after the killings came to light.
If these killings sound like the plot of a thriller, that may be no coincidence.
A similar case inspired the 2003 film Blind Shaft, a Chinese drama about two men who kill fellow miners for their compensation. In what seems to be an endless loop of life imitating art imitating life, some officials have said that the movie became an instruction manual for the recent killings.
BENGHAZI, Libya U.S.-backed Libyan forces said on Wednesday they have taken over the Islamic State groups headquarters in Sirte, the militants final bastion in Libya, breaking a weeks-long stalemate with the help of U.S. air strikes.
The fighters said that they had seized control of the sprawling convention center that was used as Islamic States headquarters in the coastal city. The fighters, who are mainly from the nearby city of Misrata, launched their offensive against the Islamic State in June. They also said that they had seized the citys main hospital of Ibn Sina from Islamic State militants.
Music, August 3: Battle of Hastings
Good Riddance
Hastings is closing?! Well, waah-fucking-waah. Based on my employment there, I'll bet that their demise goes deeper than their merchandising problems. They changed managers, who were usually petty and incompetent, more often than most of us change our underwear. The 21-to-35-year-old male employeesI won't call them menhuddled in the back room, almost got into fistfights over who played Batman best and discussed 'chicks' in the most vile and vicious language I've ever heard. ... If a young gangsta-looking Latino came in, the managers just assumed he was there to steal so, instead of helping him find a product, they assigned security people to follow him around the store. In short, the place reeked of Eau d'Low Budget. No big loss.
Ed Fields
Santa Fe
Wrong to Celebrate
I was appalled by Alex De Vore's cynical celebration of the closing of Hastings. I've read SFR for 16 years, and I think this marks a new level of snarkiness for the paper. While I wholeheartedly agree that Hastings has devolved into a weird hodgepodge of wares, we should never rejoice in the loss of a business, even if it is a chain. De Vore commits the cardinal sin of journalism: burying his lede. In the penultimate paragraph, [he] finally acknowledges that the employees of Hastings will lose their jobs and their paychecks. But then he goes on to trivialize their hardship by saying that their jobs couldn't have paid very well and he's "sure you'll probably do better someplace else." For their sake, I hope he's right.
David Miles
Santa Fe
Big-Box Bummer
I'm going to miss [Hastings]. I also have to consider all the job loss that is happening, and that makes me sad. I am happy for the smaller businesses that will get some more customers through this. Our video rental stores, our bookstores, they're all slowly going away. I miss Borders, too. Guess who bought them and liquidated? The same company that bought Hastings. So, yes, I will miss Hastings. It was my go-to place for comic books and previously viewed movies and anime comic books. It was also the best place for National Free Comic Book Day.
Julie Hephzibah Doolittle
via Facebook
Isn't Very Eloquent
While I understand free speech, I don't understand why [Alex De Vore] felt the need to disrespect not only Hastings but the people who shop there as well. He belittled the employees, telling them that they should aspire to something better than working at Hastings (not a direct quote as your writer isn't very eloquent). Not only did he belittle the employees, but he also wrote in a very hard to follow, poorly written style that relied upon expletives to get his point across. I suggest either sending your writer back to school to learn how to be a journalist or find a real writer. I'm sorry if this is rude, but I find it hard to stay objective when my friends and family are being attacked, especially in this horrible time when they are faced with unemployment.
Crystal Rice
San Antonio, Texas
Cover, August 3: High Bar
When I was a younger judge, a party in a small-claims court case looked up to the bench and asked me if I was a Republican or a Democrat. I replied, "You first." When he had finished yipping that it was an unfair question, I asked if it wouldn't be better to base his opinion of me on how well I listened, whether I seemed to care about him and the other party's arguments in the case, and whether I seemed to know the law and come up with an understandable decisionrather than pre-judging me for my political affiliation before the trial started. That's the nutshell description of the problem with how we pick our judges.
...Over the long run of many governors, merit selection has resulted in a pretty even split among appointees, all of whom have been vetted for nominal qualification. The fly in the ointment is the partisan contested race that follows, where entry into the contest has nothing to do with judicial qualificationsat least for challengers. ... My work on nominating commissions as a court representative has convinced me that the prospect of an election, together with NM judges being the worst-paid in the country, is keeping a lot of skilled and honorable candidates out of public service.
I know more than a couple very qualified lawyers who would be great additions to the court, and who expressly will never apply because of the statewide election. I have done it, and have watched this year's candidates spend more time out of the courthouse campaigning than doing the work they love enough to have applied for appointment. ... I hope New Mexico might at last find a way to give our talented lawyers who are interested in public service in the judiciary more encouragement and opportunity.
Roderick Kennedy
New Mexico Court of Appeals
BOSF, July 27: Best Place To Take a Walk without Actually Getting Anywhere
Give it a Try
We are happy that labyrinths were included in this year's Best of Santa Fe categories, and we congratulate Christ Lutheran for their beautiful labyrinth. Unfortunately, Andrew Koss' article was dismissive of the art and opportunity that labyrinths may provide for people. His concluding statement read: "Once you reach the center, take a seat and contemplate a life wasted walking labyrinths." We believe this statement suggests that labyrinths are meaningless and neglects any understanding of labyrinths in general. We encourage Santa Feans to discover the many unique labyrinths in town and find their own meanings.
Chris Harrell
Labyrinth Resource Group of Santa Fe
News, July 27: History Repeating on the Gila
Free the Gila
People in New Mexico need to understand that these water projects ultimately serve the needs of housing developers. ... Necessary services are neglected and New Mexico is left with a weak education system and taxpayers are poorer as they pay off bonds for years. Any new jobs that are attracted to the state will be designed to take advantage of a low-income, uneducated population willing to work for a starvation wage. We already have more than 12,000 call center jobs in the Albuquerque metro area alone. The Albuquerque Journal, a conservative publication, describes these centers [as] ... "stressful office environments, highly standardized work and unstable, low-paying jobs." Is this the future we want for our children and grandchildren? Stand up and say "NO" to these developers.
Devin Bent
SFReporter.com
CORRECTION
"Signal Revolt" (Aug. 3) included a quote from a letter sent to the city manager. The writer was referring to construction of an earlier tower at the same site, not the most recent construction.
SFR will correct factual errors online and in print. Please let us know if we make a mistake, editor@sfreporter.com or 988-7530.
Mail letters to PO Box 2306, Santa Fe, NM 87504, deliver to 132 E Marcy St., or email them to editor@sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specic articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.
Santa Fe Reporter
If Hillary Clinton ever makes a campaign stop in Santa Fe, shell have a place to crash.
As of 2012, the Democratic presidential nominee has an open invitation from Valerie Plame Wilson and Joe Wilson to visit them in the City Different, where the couple lives in what the New York Times describes as a "sprawling adobe house on a ridge overlooking the Sangre de Cristo Mountains."
Clinton maintained close ties with the Wilsons while she served as secretary of state, long after the couple had fled Washington for the private sector, according to emails declassified by the State Department amid a federal investigation of the presidential candidate's personal server. Requests for favors and meeting arrangements are intermingled with intimate well-wishes and fawning praise. Nuclear weapons, the Iraq War, Benghazi and Naomi Watts all make appearances in the messages, which span 2009 to 2012.
Plame Wilson, the former CIA operative, these days writes spy novels and advocates for Global Zero, the international nuclear disarmament movement. Wilson, a diplomat who served as an advisor to Bill Clinton on Africa affairs, does consulting work, often lending his international expertise to nonprofits and private companies.
On numerous occasions, as Politico first reported, Wilson reached out to Clinton concerning his work for Symbion Power, an electrical engineering company that does business in Africa and the Middle East. The company in 2009 had trouble securing a contract administered by USAID for a hydroelectric project in Afghanistan.
Those already working on the project "should just get out and let companies like Symbion, who have a proven track record get in there and roll up our sleeves," Wilson wrote. Clinton forwarded the message to her staff, and a month later, USAID opened up the bidding process to Symbion. The contract ultimately went to a different company. That same year, Wilson also alerted Clinton to Symbion's bid for a contract to install power lines in Tanzania. This time, the company was successful.
Wilson in 2011 messaged Clinton again about Symbion's work in Africa, asking her to resolve a dispute with General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt on a call. (Wilson filed a lawsuit against Symbion last year, claiming the company failed to pay him and misrepresented itself as an American company.)
Other strings were easier to pull. In a 2012 message, Wilson encourages Clinton to meet his friend, the television producer Kirk Ellis, at a national fine arts reception. "He is a leader in the rich cultural and art world here in Santa Fe and a genuinely nice person," Wilson wrote.
A day later, Ellis responded, "Can never thank you enough for arranging that intro."
In 2011, Plame Wilson personally invited Clinton to a Global Zero summit at Yale University, where the candidate attended law school. "We would be truly delighted and honored if you could consider attending this special event that will be so effective toward inspiring and igniting young people's passion and concern about the nuclear threat," she wrote.
Clinton couldn't fit Yale into her schedule, but ensured the couple that her office would be "well-represented for such a significant event."
Other messages from the Wilsons express foreign policy concerns, past and present. When it looked like the US Senate would fail to ratify a new arms-reduction treaty with Russia, Wilson made clear his and Plame Wilson's alarm.
In his longest and perhaps most remarkable memo to Clinton, Wilson details a trip he made to Baghdad in 2010, illustrating scenes of destruction and devastation resulting from the US-led invasion of Iraq.
"I have struggled to find the correct historical analogy to describe a vibrant, historically important Middle Eastern city being slowly bled to death," he wrote.
Wilson characterizes the war as a complete failure. In a memorable passage, the former diplomat expresses his disgust over "horribly bellicose" and "racist" t-shirts sold at a base exchange. "Shirts with mushroom clouds conveyed the Baghdad weather as 32,000 degrees and partly cloudy. Others referred to Arabs as camel jockeys and those were the least offensive," he wrote.
Wilson and Plame Wilson unwillingly entered the national spotlight in 2003 after a conservative journalist, informed by a leak from the Bush administration, revealed Plame Wilson's identity as a spy. It is widely believed that Plame Wilson's outing was in retaliation to column Wilson wrote in The New York Times debunking the administration's claim that Saddam Hussein sought to purchase yellowcake uranium from Niger, a central piece of George W Bush's justification for invading Iraq.
It wasn't always business. A handful of emails show diplomat-to-diplomat camaraderie between the secretary of state and the former ambassador. Wilson offered his condolences the day after the 2012 attack on the US embassy in Libya, which killed four Americans. He knew one of the victims, former Navy SEAL Glen Doherty, from an effort to curb the influence of Christian Dominionism in the US military. Of Ambassador Chris Stevens, Wilson wrote, "He knew the risks, and as you and the President noted, was willing to take them to make the world a little bit better."
On a more light-hearted note, consider this subject line Clinton sent to Wilson in 2012: "I met Naomi Watts last weekend and we talked about you and Valerie and how amazing you both are!" She left the body of the message blank. (Watts portrayed Plame Wilson in Fair Game, the feature film adaptation of the former spy's memoir.)
Wilson responded the next morning. He wished Secretary Clinton luck during a meeting scheduled that day with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. "I don't know how you find the time to write us when you are so busy saving the world! You are the one who is amazing," he wrote. "Have a great holiday season. We will be at Renaissance weekend this year. Best to WJC and Chelsea. Much love."
Santa Fe Reporter
Calls to turn federally managed lands over to states have demonstrated a zombie-like persistence, appearing in multiple state legislatures over recent years (orchestrated by a Koch brothers-funded program) and most recently in the party platform emerging from the Republican National Committees convention last month.
The move prompted a swift response from the Outdoor Industry Association, a group which now runs its own political action committee to support pro-conservation and outdoor recreation candidates, and has contributed to Sen. Martin Heinrich in the past. Their letter to the RNC chairman began with the stats that tend to open most eyes: The association counts more than 1,300 members and calculated a $646 billion economic impact and 6.1 million jobs supported in their latest round of research, published in 2012.
That business depends on access to America's public lands, and the policy of transferring those lands back to states puts that access at risk. The trade association aims for balanced and reasonable policies, says Alex Boian, senior director of government affairs for OIA, but these lands are the backbone of the outdoor industry, and any threat to them is an existential threat to that industry.
"The answer is not to turn these lands over to states, disguised as better management, but is instead to continue to seek improvements in the practices and processes that lead to conflict in the first place," he wrote to the RNC chairman.
Research shows that states can't afford to manage public landsthe costs of fighting wildfires alone, which ran at $155 million in New Mexico in 2011, could bankrupt state budgetsso the result would likely be the sale of the lands to the highest bidder, and the end of public access.
"Studies have shown that transferring these lands is not necessarily going to be profitable in the long runthat states aren't going to be able to manage them, that it's going to be a losing economic battle," says Tania Lown-Hecht, communications director with the Outdoor Alliance. "Even if you do sell off all this land and open it up for oil and gas drilling, those rural communities aren't necessarily benefitting from that."
Instead, that money would go to big companies, and, briefly, to the state government.
The "public land heist," as the Outdoor Alliance calls these bills, she says, seems to stem from broader, more deeply entrenched problems.
"I think in some ways the public land heist is a symptom of greater inequality," she says. The increasing divide between rich and poor has also seen a widening gulf between urban and rural communities.
"There are a lot of macroeconomic forces that have left rural communities behind, and I think public lands become a flash point for a lot of bigger, cultural issues, a lot of which are pinned on government," she says. As a result, we see more anti-government sentiment, and that leads to a desire to get federal management off these lands. The irony is that selling them off would kill the goose and end the supply of golden eggs.
Headwaters Economics analyzed the localized effects of public lands and found a relationship between access to wild lands and an uptick in the job market, employment rate and per capita incomeall fuel many communities in New Mexico could use. Those jobs haven't come just in the tourism industry, but in companies drawn to the quality-of-life benefits those areas offer employees.
States could make money on the initial sale of those lands for extractive activities, like oil and gas, says Ray Rasker of Headwaters Economics, but oil and gas prices would have to be higher. As far as states maintaining them, if the costs of fire fighting are figured in, he says, "it just doesn't make sense at all."
In 2000, when the Baca Ranch in New Mexico went up for sale, Congress rolled out an alternative management plan that called for a management trust running the Valles Caldera's resources in a way that monetized what they couldcattle ranching, recreation, timberwithout eradicating the area's scenic value or wildlife diversity. The trust was initially responsible for wildfire fighting costs, but that obligation was transferred back to US Forest Service. Shortly after that, fires burned 53,000 acres and cost $56 million to suppress.
In response to inconsistent funding, the need for infrastructure improvements and concerns that the required self-sufficiency was unattainable, Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich introduced legislation to move the caldera to National Park Service management in 2013. It passed in 2014.
The Clinton campaign has issued a policy paper calling for doubling the outdoor recreation industry over the next 10 years, listing the goals of increasing access to public lands, launching an initiative to revitalize city parks, and dedicating a portion of Small Business Administration loans to entrepreneurs in the outdoor industry. It also clearly states her opposition to disposing of or selling off public lands.
Whether Trump gets on board with his party's stated platform still looks 50/50, Boian says. He's previously opposed it, then in a recent speech said the idea was worth considering.
"The outdoor economy is an important way that we create economic benefit from public landthere's that oft-quoted $1 in every park creates $10 for local communitiesbut these places aren't just money-makers. They're also part of the fabric of what it means to be an American. They're a real gold mine both culturally and economically," says Lown-Hecht. "There's definitely a lot of really compelling policy arguments for why we should keep public land public, but I think another thing the [outdoor] industry doesn't always look at right away is that these places are our heritage as a country. We own them collectively. You own them. I own them. Why would you give that up?"
Santa Fe Reporter
Those noxious BPAs and the toxic fumes. Plastic, you vicious evil meanie-poo! We hate you! For fashion and accessories, though? Its super fantastic! Flashback to Belgium 1909. Slow zoom into chemist Leo Baekeland munching on creamy chocolates while concocting the first purely synthetic plastic.
Hallelujah! Bakelite was born!
By the 1920s, bakelite bangles were de rigueur. Now cut to 2016perhaps the year of plastic?
One of my all-time favorite artists and accessory designers is Ineke Otte of the Netherlands, who fashions the most gloriously weird and original jewelry all out of plastic. Lobsters, rats, goldfish, mussels, moss, seaweed, bananas, broccoli, windmills! And 94-years-young style icon Iris Apfel rocks the mussel necklace with sparkling panache.
For 2016 Spring/Summer (SS), luxury Spanish brand Loewe has created crystal-clear, see-thru pants. Genius? YES! Comfy? I think not. Would you wear 'em strolling thru Whole Foods? I would, but that's why they call me "Shamey Amy."
Even in the olden times at London Fashion Week 2015, Christopher Kane made a choker out of plastic rainbow-colored cable ties and said, "They made me think of restraint and madness."
Plastic = Insanity? Cue up 1982 doc Koyaanisqatsi.
2016 SS Moschino has a super cutie pie plastic "Slippery When Wet" dress. From a brilliantly cut Louis Vuitton frothy and foamy confection of a mini-frock to an Anya Hindmarch bag to Prada ... yadda yaddathere is mucho off-gassing on the runways!
In 1946, French line Sun Jellies created the ubiquitous jelly shoe (yeah, they were the first, not you Jelly Bean of the bitchin' '80s. Sorry).
A leather shortage in France was indeed the catalyst for these plastic-fantastique bags and shoes. Limitations can birth brilliance in art, food and design.
Grab some Sun Jellies and dance a wee jig why doncha! They cost about the same as three lattes.
On the eco, save-the-world tip, Adidas has collaborated with ocean awareness partner Parley and has unveiled a sneaker made entirely of recycled ocean plastics. They dropped in June 2016 and are waaay limited edition; let the Googling begin!
On home soil, Poppy and the Golden Fleece by local talent Jennabel Pichnar ik has been cooking up some rad plastic brooches that would make Judy Jetson swoon. Her medium is entirely plastic earth. You know, the stuff of the Meow Wolf melodious and phosphorescent shrooms. She counts Elsa Schiaparelli as one of her biggest inspirations. Couple that with a 1960s nod to Mod dipped in a 1940s palette, and we have a postmodern fiesta of fabulosity!
Each and every piece is one-of-a-kind couture and made by hand, and they can only be obtained from the creator herself via lacerags.bandit@gmail.com. Next I'll talk about how chemtrails are actually the most incredible moisturizer.
Santa Fe Reporter
Belt Tightening Ordered
On Tuesday, Gov. Susana Martinez told state agencies to
amid a budget shortfall. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have urged Martinez to call a special session to consider other belt tightening measures.
Revealing Emails
Several of Hillary Clintons declassified emails show the former secretary of state has
with former Ambassador Joe Wilson and CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson.
Trump Still Worries Mexicans
Donald Trump continues to
at the same time his
. High profile
. Now, SFR comes with interviews from some folks in Mexico who fear the worst come November while it seems
agrees: This clown's gotta go.
Solar Plan Inked for Facebook
Public Service Company of New Mexico
to give Facebook a set energy price for solar power for the next 25 years if the social media decides to build its data center in New Mexico. The deal still has to be approved by the Public Regulation Commission.
Bus Drivers Needed in Santa Fe
The Santa Fe Public School District is once again short
ahead of schools reopening August 17.
PED Delayed Superintendent's License Renewal for Months
Public records show the superintendent of Bernalillo Municipal Schools
. Allen Tapia blames the Public Education Department for not processing his renewal on time.
Lingering Concerns a Year After Toxic Spill
State officials, meeting at a roundtable in Farmington on Tuesday, are urging the Environmental Protection Agency to
after last years Gold King Mine spill near Silverton, CO.
Epic Geography Fail
Frequent
that Delta Air Lines considers flights from Albuquerque to Pennsylvania to be international travel. The company has apologized. They say they're investigating, but maybe they just need to look at a map.
Santa Fe Reporter
Shaan Stevens, the Singapore-based businessman who is a key Crown witness in the fraud trial of Ngatata Love, says he returned to New Zealand to give evidence because he felt it was his "civic duty".
Stevens is at the heart of the Crown's case because along with Love's partner Lorraine Skiffington, he was a director of Pipitea Street Development, a company he established for the pair. PSD was paid $1.5 million plus GST by Auckland-based property developer Redwood Group in relation to property interests on Pipitea Street in Wellington owned by the Wellington Tenths Trust, a Maori incorporation.
Love, who was chairman of the Tenths Trust at the time, faces one Crimes Act charge of obtaining by deception and one charge under Section 4 of the Secret Commissions Act. Skiffington got a permanent stay on charges against her because of her ill health.
Stevens began his evidence on Monday but was interrupted when Love was taken to hospital with a heart condition. In the High Court today he said he transferred $1.4 million of the Redwood Group fee to trusts owned by Love and Skiffington, which they used to purchase a house in Plimmerton. Stevens had felt it should be used by the Tenths Trust to cover costs related to the Pipitea development but he felt powerless to refuse given that Love was on the board of the Hui Taumata Trust, one of the biggest clients of his consultancy firm Guinness Gallagher.
Hui Taumata has since been wound up but its 2009 financial accounts show its board was stacked with high-profile New Zealanders, including former Governor-General Paul Reeves, Ngai Tahu leader Tipene O'Regan, Ngati Tuwharetoa leader Tumu Te Heu Heu, former Ernst & Young chairman Rob McLeod, former Business New Zealand boss Phil O'Reilly, former union boss Ross Wilson, and company director June McCabe.
The trust was among many initiatives that Love, a former head of Te Puni Kokiri, drove as one of the nation's most influential and well-connected Maori leaders. He was knighted on the advice of former Prime Minister Helen Clark
Asked why he had returned to New Zealand to give evidence at the trial, Stevens told BusinessDesk outside the court that he felt it was his civic duty.
"I was concerned about what I saw," he said. Stevens said he couldn't discuss details of the case outside of his evidence in court.
Guinness Gallagher is now based in Singapore and has clients including the World Bank. Its projects range across Asia including Cambodia, Indonesia, and Tashkent.
BusinessDesk.co.nz
Comments from our readers
No comments yet
Add your comment:
Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.
Related News:
SKO - FY23 Interim Results Announcement Date - 23 November 2022
Downer awarded $490 million road maintenance contract
SKC - 2022 ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS AND TRADING UPDATE
TCL - Result of AGM
TradeWindow secures U.S. footprint with FoodChain ID
October 28th Morning Report
October 25th Morning Report
Mainfreight Investor Day / Market Update
GFI - Greenfern - Offer closes 27th Oct
MCY - Quarterly Operational Update
Two Wellington accountants serving prison terms on 110 counts of tax fraud have exhausted the last avenue of appeal against their convictions.
The Supreme Court rejected the appeal by Barrie Skinner and David Rowley, who had sought to have the court recognise that their personal tax returns between 2006 and 2010 should be deemed to have been correct under section 109 of the Tax Administration Act.
Some of the 110 charges on which they were convicted included allegations that they had knowingly provided false information to the Inland Revenue Department in their tax returns for those years. The pair attempted to argue that under s109, "certain decisions of the Commissioner of Inland Revenue are deemed correct in a court or in any proceedings, including an assessment of income tax".
This could have seen the tax returns in question "deemed correct" by the court. That and other arguments failed in the Court of Appeal, but Skinner and Rowley were granted leave to appeal to the Supreme Court on the s109 issue.
A panel of five Supreme Court judges rejected that argument unanimously, holding that s109 "does not apply in criminal proceedings".
The pair were jailed for eight and a half years in August 2012 on frauds that netted them some $2 million and involved filing false tax returns on behalf of their clients where they claimed fake expenses in excess of $9 million and were also found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
BusinessDesk.co.nz
Comments from our readers
No comments yet
Add your comment:
Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.
Related News:
SKO - FY23 Interim Results Announcement Date - 23 November 2022
Downer awarded $490 million road maintenance contract
SKC - 2022 ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS AND TRADING UPDATE
TCL - Result of AGM
TradeWindow secures U.S. footprint with FoodChain ID
October 28th Morning Report
October 25th Morning Report
Mainfreight Investor Day / Market Update
GFI - Greenfern - Offer closes 27th Oct
MCY - Quarterly Operational Update
NEW DELHI: India is likely to sign a treaty with the US for speedier action to boost investment agreements, Parliament was informed today.
The US has expressed desire to sign a treaty similar to the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) signed with Japan and Korea, Minister of State for Finance, Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
"However, Japan and Korea FTAs were signed based on the earlier Model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) text of India but the negotiations with the US will be on the basis of the new Indian Model Bilateral Investment Treaty text," Meghwal said.
He was replying to a question on whether the US has been pressuring India to accede to a treaty similar to FTA that the country had signed with Japan and Korea.
Meghwal said technical discussions with the US side have been held on the ongoing basis to speed up the pending bilateral investment treaty.
Earlier, the US had expressed concerns that the absence of a bilateral investment treaty with India is an impediment to expanding trade between the two countries.
The US has pitched for tax certainty and fairness, less regulatory burden, adequate infrastructure and power as well as access to legal services.
Richard Rahul Verma, the US Ambassador to India, in February had urged the government to permit US law firms and lawyers to set up base in India, calling for "reciprocity".
He contended that there was no citizenship requirement for Indian lawyers who wish to establish offices in the US.
"We think it is important because it would contribute to economic growth and foreign direct investment," he had said.
Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had also called for re-negotiating India's bilateral investment pacts and replace them with new ones.
"India proposes to renegotiate all those bilateral investment pacts whose initial validity has expired and to replace them with new Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs)," she had said in Parliament last month.
Read Also: Parliament Clears GST, PM Says Will Empower States, End Corruption
Subbulakshmi To Be Honored At UN On Independence Day
NEW DELHI: India is planning to start extensive research on the use of solar power to bring about a "revolution" in this field, Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave said today.
Dave told Lok Sabha that during the Paris Climate summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that there were 122 countries in the world where sunlight was available 10 months of the year.
Since India is one of the prominent countries among these 122 nations, it has to take the lead of research on solar power, he said.
"We are looking for a revolution similar to the mobile phone revolution which took place in India. 25 years ago people could not imagine how we would use the mobile phone now," he said during Question Hour.
Dave said if India could get success in the research on solar power, the country can end the burning of wood forever.
The Minister also said that India was 2 per cent ahead on the commitment given during the Paris meet on carbon emission and could say with confidence that "we will be able to reach the target on time".
Under the Paris agreement, the developed countries have committed to mobilise USD 100 billion per year and agreed to enhance it beyond USD 100 billion per year post 2020.
"Green Climate Fund has been set up under the UNFCCC as an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the convention. No specific assistance has been received by India so far from the GCF for implementing INDCs," he said.
Read Also: Parliament Clears GST, PM Says Will Empower States, End Corruption
Subbulakshmi To Be Honored At UN On Independence Day
NEW DELHI: Parliament today passed a bill which empowers banks to confiscate security in the case of loan default, a development that assumes significance in view of the episode surrounding industrialist Vijay Mallya.
The Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws and Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Bill, 2016, will not, however, apply to loans for agricultural land as well as student loans.
The bill, approved by Lok Sabha last week and cleared by Rajya Sabha today, amends four laws -- Sarfaesi Act, DRT Act, Indian Stamp Act and Depositories Act.
Replying to a debate on the bill, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley emphasised the need for "firmness coupled with fairness" in recovering bad loans.
He said the banks must be empowered to take effective legal action against defaulters and the insolvency law, securitisation law and DRT law are steps in that direction.
"So far the laws were in favour of the defaulters. We tried to correct the balance. There should be firmness, coupled with fairness in recovery of loans," he said.
He said banks should take a "compassionate view" on education loan defaults but there will be no waiver and somebody will have to pay.
The Minister further said that fears regarding farm and education loans are "exaggerated".
Jaitley said banks are supposed to give loans and "if banks start squeezing loans", there will be no economic growth.
"The cause of worry is when loan becomes either NPA or stressed asset or the activity in which the loans are invested is not generating money," he said adding in some cases there will be willful default.
The development assumes significance as it comes against the backdrop of the episode involving Mallya, who owes Rs 9,000 crore to banks, but has left the country to take refuge in England.
Jaitley said if loan has been taken it must be repaid.
The Minister said stressed assets were mostly in sectors such as steel, power and textile.
The law simplifies the procedure which ensures quick disposal of pending cases of banks and financial institutions by Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT).
DRTs will have to dispose a case in 180 days and the affected party will have to deposit 25 per cent of the amount if he or she chooses to appeal against the order. There are around 70,000 loan related cases pending in the DRTs.
To further stress his point, he said 20 people sitting on bank money prevent the lender from giving credit to another 20,000 people.
It should not happen that a bank manager has to keep awake all night after he clears a loan, he said.
In an apparent reference to Mallya, the Finance Minister
wondered why the Supreme Court permitted the defaulter to be represented by his lawyer.
"The most controversial case going on is of the person who has not paid and has now moved on to London...And the kind of unusual facilities which were given even by the apex court when they said even in a hearing for a willful defaulter.
Read Also: Parliament Clears GST, PM Says Will Empower States, End Corruption
Subbulakshmi To Be Honored At UN On Independence Day
MUMBAI: Indian IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been ranked among the top 100 brands in the US in asurvey by a leading brand valuation firm.
"Brand Finance has ranked TCS as the 58th most valuable brand in the US and as one of only four globalIT services companies recognised as a top 100 brand in the US, with 78.3 points, earning an AA+ rating," the global software major said in a statement here on Wednesday.
As the world's leading brand valuation and strategy consultancy, Brand Finance evaluates the financial value of a company's brand name, intellectual assets and trademark vis-a-vis firms across industries.
"Our brand value grew 286% to $9.04 billion in 2016 from $2.3 billion in 2010, marking the fastest growth across the IT services industry during this period," the outsourcing major asserted, citing the annual 'Top 500 US Brands' survey of the consultancy.
According to Brand Finance Chief Executive David Haigh, TCS has emerged as a dominant force in the IT services industry and is the strongest brand in the sector.
"Its (TCS) brand power is indisputable," Haigh said in the statement.
The study also revealed that the company's customer focus has been central to its success, with improving scores for brand investment and staff satisfaction.
"The ranking reflects the extent we are rooted in the US community, focused on the impact we can have for our customers and society," said Surya Kant, President of TCS in North America, Britain and Europe.
The $16.5 billion IT behemoth has significantly invested in the US over the past year to further its business growth and brand strength.
"Our new facilities such as the Digital Reimagination Studio at Santa Clara in California are fostering enhanced digital initiatives with customers," the statement noted.
The company has also been a top recruiter of IT services talent from the colleges in the US.
Read Also:
U.S. Welcomes Passage Of GST Bill
India At Top Of Wikipedia's Priorities
By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent.
Agree
Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said the Benghazi attacks have been exhaustively investigated. "While no one can imagine the pain of the families of the brave Americans we lost at Benghazi, there have been nine different investigations into this attack and none found any evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing on the part of Hillary Clinton."
Best Canadian Blog
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
About Kate
Why this blog?
Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me "what Canadians think". In all that time they never once asked.
This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio - "You don't speak for me."
(goes to a private mailserver in Europe) I can't answer or use every tip, but all are appreciated!
Katewerk Art
Support SDA
I am not a registered charity. I cannot issue tax receipts.
Reconnaissance Man
Economics for the Disinterested
...a fast-paced polar
bear attack thriller!
Want lies?
Hire a regular consultant.
Want truth?
Hire an asshole.
Weather Shop
Click to inquire about rates.
Dow Jones
What They Say About SDA
"Smalldeadanimals doesn't speak for the people of Saskatchewan" Former Sask Premier Lorne Calvert
"I got so much traffic after your post my web host asked me to buy a larger traffic allowance." Dr.Ross McKitrick
Holy hell, woman. When you send someone traffic, you send someone TRAFFIC. My hosting provider thought I was being DDoSed. - Sean McCormick
"The New York Times link to me yesterday [...] generated one-fifth of the traffic I normally get from a link from Small Dead Animals." Kathy Shaidle
"Thank you for your link. A wave of your Canadian readers came to my blog! Really impressive." Juan Giner - INNOVATION International Media Consulting Group
I got links from the Weekly Standard, Hot Air and Instapundit yesterday - but SDA was running at least equal to those in visitors clicking through to my blog. Jeff Dobbs
"You may be a nasty right winger, but you're not nasty all the time!" Warren Kinsella
"Go back to collecting your welfare livelihood."Michael E. Zilkowsky
Intelliweather
Seismic Map
Comments Policy
Read this
Best Of SDA
Hide The Decline
The Bottle Genie
(ClimateGate links)
You Might Be A Liberal
Uncrossing The Line
Bob Fife: Knuckledragger
A Modest Proposal (NP)
Settled Science Series
Y2Kyoto Series
SDA: Reader Occupation Survey
Brett Lamb Sheltered Workshop
Flakes On A Plane
All Your Weather Are Belong To Us
Song Of The Sled
The Raise A Flag Debacle
(Now on Youtube!)
(.mwv Video)
Abuse Ruins Life Of Girl
Trudeaupiate
Kleptocrat Jeans
Child Labour
I Concede
Small Dead Feminist
Protein Hoser: THK Interview
The Werewolf Extinction
Dear Laura (VRWC)
We Wait
Blogging The Oscars
Jackson Converts To Islam
Just Shut The HELL Up
Manipulating Condi
Gay Equality Rights
Chief Minister Andrew Barr has called on the federal government to abandon its same-sex marriage plebiscite, describing it as expensive, unnecessary, and "divisive".
The Legislative Assembly passed a motion on Wednesday reiterating its call for a free vote in federal parliament, and urging for a "free, positive and respectful" discussion on marriage equality.
Andrew Barr has called on the federal government to drop plans for a same-sex marriage plebiscite and proceed with a free vote. Credit:Jeffrey Chan
Should the plebiscite proceed, the motion called on Mr Barr's government to "demonstrate that the ACT is Australia's most lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and questioning (LGBTIQ) friendly jurisdiction by supporting the case for marriage equality".
Mr Barr said he would do all he could to be a leading voice for same-sex marriage, federally and locally.
A Braddon naturopath gave cannabis oil and tinctures to his 15-year-old girl to help her sleep and improve her eyesight, a court has heard.
But after his daughter went to police and said she was having trouble sleeping, suffered severe headaches and felt unsteady on her feet, last November officers raided Ryan Franzi's home and clinic.
The man has pleaded guilty to possession, supply and manufacture of a drug product. Credit:Jeff Chiu
His daughter told police Franzi, 39, would put three drops of "jungle juice" under her tongue almost every night and also took some himself.
Police say she told them she avoided taking the liquid when no-one was watching, and sometimes spat it out before going to bed.
A Canberra man who raped his wife in front of their young child has been sentenced to more than two years behind bars.
A jury found the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, guilty in March of sex without consent and an act of indecency.
A Canberra man has been sentenced to more than two years' in prison for raping his wife. Credit:Louie Douvis
In sentencing the man, Acting Justice David Robinson said it must be clear to the offender sex was a matter of choice, and not subjugation.
His wife, who he wed overseas in an arranged marriage, went to bed about 11pm one day in January last year, court documents say.
The nurses union had ongoing and serious concerns about the ability of the hospital to meet demand not only in the future, but now, she said.
Nurses union secretary Jenny Miragaya said Labor should follow suit and deliver on the promise it made before the 2012 election.
But medical professionals continued to strongly endorse the Liberals' promise to spend $395 million on a new building at Canberra Hospital.
Labor has rejected the immediate rebuild of Canberra Hospital as unnecessary, and accused the Liberals of treating money set aside for the tram as a "magic pudding".
The women and children's hospital was only opened in 2012 but already had capacity problems, and it had already reached its projected 2020 birth rate. Emergency department presentations rose every year, resulting in an "over-capacity protocol" to accommodate patients in corridors and patient lounges. A mental health short-stay unit had opened in the emergency department this year without proper staffing, without hand-washing facilities in the "safe assessment pod", with poor access, and without an agreed model of care, she said. The nurses union was so concerned about safety hat it had called this year for a review, but the government had rejected the call, she said.
Her comments followed the enthusiastic reaction of Australian Medical Association ACT president Professor Stephen Robson to Mr Hanson's hospital promise, describing it as a "fantastic initiative" and crucial for a hospital at breaking point.
Also on Wednesday, the ACT Chair of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Sivakumar Gananadha said surgeons welcomed the promised increase in the public operating theatre space.
But Health Minister Simon Corbell said advice to the government in 2015 said better use of existing beds would provide Canberra Hospital with the capacity it needed for another five to 10 years.
The government had "always had a plan" to upgrade the hospital "in due course, and the current time frame is in the next five to 10 years".
Liberal deputy leader Alistair Coe has added further fuel to the Glebe Park land purchase, questioning whether Land Development Agency chief executive David Dawes had the power to buy the land without first going to the board.
Mr Dawes approved the purchase of the land last year, paying $4.2 million to developers Barry Morris and Graham Potts. Mr Dawes says the purchase did not need separate authorisation from the board because it related to the already approved City to the Lake project. He advised the board after the event, in September 2015.
Deputy Liberal leader Alistair Coe says the Land Development Agency was guilty of sloppy governance at best. Credit:Graham Tidy
Auditor-General Maxine Cooper said she planned to have the audit ready by the end of September, but the timing could be affected "by the need to share potential conclusions and findings with relevant parties".
In the ACT parliament on Wednesday, Mr Coe said the government had "seemingly paid $3 million more than what they had to and in addition to that they've not had a clear delegation or authority".
Left-leaning lobbyists and businesses will soon have a new $8 million home in Manuka, as the Canberra-based Australia Institute prepares to move into its new digs.
The art deco building, Endeavour House, was late last year sold for a tidy $8 million to Ethical Property Australia; a joint venture of ethical investors between the Donkey Wheel Trust and the United Kingdom-based Ethical Property.
Ben Oquist, Executive Director, The Australia Institute at the institute's new digs: Endeavour House, Manuka. Credit:Karleen Minney
With deep historical ties to the political establishment, the building was also once the home of the architects, surveying and engineering firms behind the New Parliament House project throughout the 1980s.
But it is now set to become a home for left-leaning lobbying groups, non-government organisations and progressive businesses, the Institute's executive director and former Greens political staffer Ben Oquist said.
Unclear guidelines saw paramedics take a man suffering a fatal heart attack to the wrong hospital, an error that has since prompted a review within the ambulance service.
Experts say the delay in taking the patient to Canberra Hospital, which has specialist cath labs, did not play a role in his death.
But the mistake has prompted fears from coroner Karen Fryar that a delay could prove fatal in other cases, and the ACT Ambulance Service has since moved to ensure it does not happen again.
John Cadar Throckmorton was suffering a heart attack when paramedics were called for assistance in October 2015.
He was transported to the closest emergency department at Calvary Hospital immediately.
The 2016 census program, described as the "worst-handled census in history", will cost Australian taxpayers about $470 million over five years.
In the lead-up to the census, Australia's top statistician David Kalisch assured Australians that the Australian Bureau of Statistics was "ready" and had "the best security features [for which] you could ever ask".
Those security features were developed by IBM, which was paid more than $9.6 million in 2014 to design, develop and implement the "ecensus".
There is a rising threat of power outages over the next decade if Australia is to meet its global carbon reduction commitment, which will force the closure of brown and black coal power stations across the eastern states.
At the UN-sponsored talks on climate change held in Paris earlier in the year, under COP21, Australia undertook to reduce carbon emissions by 26-28 per cent below the level of 2005 by 2030.
To achieve this target in the electricity sector it will result in the closure of an estimated 800 megawatts of brown coal power stations in Victoria and 560 megawatts in Queensland, according to a forecast drawn up for the forthcoming COAG meeting of energy ministers. In NSW, the owner of the aging Liddell Power Station has committed to closing it in 2022, which is the end of its economic life.
In Victoria, an 800Mw reduction would be equal to around a third of the Loy Yang A Power Station in the Latrobe Valley or half the output of the Hazelwood station.
Weak advertising demand has again weighed on Fairfax Media's results, which have been propped up by the growth of its real estate business Domain Group.
The company, which publishes The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, released its full-year results on Wednesday showing revenue in its news business Australian Metro Media continued to slide, falling 5 per cent to $574 million.
Fairfax executive Chris Janz said the proposed changes mean the company is "now within reach" of its goal to create a sustainable publishing model. Credit:Michel O'Sullivan
Underlying earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation in the news business fell 45 per cent, or $17 million, to $13.8 million.
Chief executive Greg Hywood said Metro Media's advertising revenue fell 15 per cent over the year, reflecting "weakness in retail, communications and finance categories".
RV giant Apollo is poised to open its first retail sales outlet in Melbourne, in the northern suburbs "caravan mecca" at Campbellfield, the gateway to the Hume Highway.
Apollo snapped up a three-year lease on a 2165-square-metre space at Peter Joss' business estate at 1872-1878 Hume Highway, which had only recently been vacated.
Apollo Caravan has purchased 1872-1878 Hume Highway in the "caravan mecca" at Campbellfield.
Its retail arm, Apollo Caravan & RV Sales, will join a suite of existing dealers, including Black Series Camper Trailers and Avan Campers, which are already selling vans in Campbellfield.
The area is popular with caravan and RV dealers as it is close to the Western Ring Road and the route north popular with campers and the growing army of grey nomads.
He's a prominent billionaire politician with a reputation for provocative comments, vulgar insults and sexual innuendo, to say nothing of a hairstyle that can't be ignored.
Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president? Yes, but Italians could be forgiven if they had someone else in mind. The description could easily be applied to their former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Silvio Berlusconi: Italian for Trump? Credit:Mauro Scrobogna
"Tocca a voi" is a comment Italians often make to Americans these days, which translates as: "It is your turn."
Europeans have been fascinated by Trump's high-voltage campaign, but they are also concerned about it. An international poll taken last spring and published in June by the Pew Research Centre found 85 per cent of those polled in 10 European countries had no confidence in Trump's ability to do the right thing on the world stage.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has a reputation for being one of the best statistical agencies in the world.
But the failure of the census website to collect information from millions of households on Tuesday night is a hammer blow to public confidence in, arguably, the bureau's most important survey.
The federal minister responsible for the ABS, Assistant Treasurer Michael McCormack, said the website was shut down after co-ordinated attempts from offshore to "frustrate the collection of data".
One of the many troubling questions raised by the inability to deal with those predictable attacks is: can the 2016 census be salvaged?
Australia could learn a lot from the fact that a number of American cities are successfully reducing the role of criminalisation in their drug policies.
This is something that should be addressed at the Drug Summit in Sydney today.
Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation president Dr Alex Wodak supports American LEAD initiative.
This cross-party summit, to be held at Parliament House in Macquarie Street, will consider the context of the illicit drug policy and evaluate its efficacy. In particular, the summit will debate the merits of harm-minimisation and highlight new strategies to deal with the scourge of drug misuse and addiction.
Seattle and King County in Washington (which 10 years ago was experiencing huge, racially-charged drug problems) are currently pioneering a pre-sentencing diversion program for minor drug law violations and other low-level offences. This promising new program is known as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion and it's something we should be looking at.
Dixon "Dick" Falconer never had any other intention than being a newspaper man. He started selling newspapers as a schoolboy, on trams on the Summer Hill-Dulwich Hill line, and after finishing his schooling at Canterbury Boys' High he joined the staff of the Bulletin as a cadet journalist. From there he developed into fine "knockabout bloke", a good reporter, hard drinker, keen punter, regional newspaper owner, racehorse and greyhound owner, news executive, Federal press secretary, and lecturer, trainer and mentor for younger journalists. He covered big stories, including the tension in New Guinea in 1963, when Indonesia wanted to take over sovereignty from the Dutch, to the mean and petty stories, such as vice and corruption in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley, which was to blow up years later in the Fitzgerald inquiry.
Falconer knew how to take a knock. Once, while sitting in a restaurant on the Greek island, he saw the media personality Maggie Tabberer sitting alone at a table. He walked up to greet her, she turned and said: "Dick Falconer ! Would you kindly p--- off! I am talking to a Greek tycoon, who has just gone out for a moment, and the last thing I want is for an Australian reporter to come up and talk to me, see you in Sydney, Dick, but p--- off before he comes back !"
Dick Falconer, a former Herald news man who went on to set up a training school for journalism cadets.
Dixon Alexander Falconer was born in Sydney on August 23, 1928, son of a builder, Keith Falconer, and Della (nee Freudenstein). He had an older sister, Dawn. At Canterbury Boys' High, he displayed an aptitude for writing and won a prize for English. He moved with his parents when they resettled in Brisbane and took to beach life readily, becoming a member of the Surfers' Paradise Surf Life Saving Club. He also joined the staff of the Courier-Mail. In 1949 met Jean Kreutzmann, who was working in the ticket office in Brisbane's Metro Theatre, and married her in January, 1953, at St John's Anglican Cathedral.
Falconer moved on as a reporter, taking over the crime beat for the Courier-Mail and Sunday Mail but in common with journalists of that ilk took on anything and became a valuable general reporter. His first child, Lyndell, was born in September, 1954. But Falconer was restless. In 1955 he moved with his wife and child to Toowoomba, on the Darling Downs, joined a group of journalists to found a newspaper, the Downs Star. He also, with two other journalists bought a share in a racehorse and was never to lose an interest in events on the track. His second child, Janet, was born in May, 1956.
So a Melbourne pub has been forced to rebrand its party titled "Eat Sleep Rave Pussy Repeat" after punters slammed the promoters on their Facebook page for encouraging rape culture.
Several women posted they were boycotting the venue. "This just really solidifies why it is such a problem and incredibly unsafe space," one person wrote.
Meanwhile, there's the news that police are investigating boys at St Michael's Grammar School, in St Kilda, over allegations they shared photos of their female peers, some reportedly nude. Fairfax Media reports a 16-year-old male student is believed to have created a Dropbox folder that contained photos of several girls from the school. A parent told Fairfax: "The boys are creating their own pornography and become desensitised."
We saw similar behaviour last week in a video of Melbourne Grammar boys at "Tinder Bootcamp", rating girls' appearances out of 10. One boy commanded his peers not to invite any girl "under a seven" to the formal. Candidature for an invite boiled down to one thing: looks.
Fans of Sydney's "lump on The Rocks" (as described by the National Trust in the 1970s) have generated a bit of noise since the government's decision against heritage listing the Sirius building.
The Herald's Elizabeth Farrelly penned her latest railing attack on the government following the decision, describing the building as a treasured example of the Brutalist style that is "at once elegant and sexy a style that esteems strength and raw honesty, but especially as juxtaposed against the delicacy of glass, the sway and spike of nature, the play of light".
My own view of the Sirius building is that it's about as sexy as the car park at my local supermarket.
Granted, the building occupies an, ahem, "interesting" place in our city's fleeting architectural pantheon, more for want of candidates than anything else.
Andrew Thornley North Parramatta So the much vaunted online census crashed at peak time. Is anyone really surprised? Now let us brace ourselves for online voting. Or maybe they will learn that latest, digital and cheapest is not always best. If something ain't broke don't fix it; just resource it adequately. Greg McCarry Epping Asking millions of people to log on to a single website in one night simply doesn't make sensus. Peter Fleming Ryde
It's a pity that the opening night of "Census Online" was such a flop. Hopefully, there will be more rehearsals before "Election Online" opens. Carolyn Wills Cremorne Gold in the Census Olympics!! Hard copy 1 Internet 0. June Dibbs Mona Vale Well, I've handled the census form alright, but to maintain the euphoria of coming up with the right answers to myriad intrusive questions, can we have a few other similar form-filling recreations?
How about a same-sex plebiscite in September, a referendum on indigenous inclusion in the Constitution in October, a cabinet tossing out of Malcolm Turnbull in November, followed by a nice wrap up to the year with a Christmas election to get things sorted once and for all in Canberra? Rosemary O'Brien Georges Hall Reminds me of the debacle years ago when the UK put online the enumeration schedules of the 1901 census, after they had been "closed" to public access for a hundred years. Much anticipated by family historians around the world, the site collapsed within a couple of hours and did not go live again for several months! Graham Lewis Lindfield I'm told that due to cyber-fraud, passwords are now safer on a post-it note under your keyboard, then stored on your PC. Perhaps the ABS should print out the census results and delete the online data.
Tim Schroder Gordon ABS A Breathtaking Shambles. Pasquale Vartuli Wahroonga If the Government wants to promote some new policy that makes them look good, they spend millions in advertising it. If they really do need to inform the public about an important program like the census, there's not a cent to spare. Ian Shepherd Elizabeth Bay
In our house we are civic minded; we don't mind paying tax. We like elections. We love census night. Since we cannot log on tonight because it's too busy, tomorrow will feel like we've missed Christmas. What a way to incense us. Nicholas Benson Newtown On the ninth day of August, the government sent to me, a link to the census website. Twelve willing completers
Eleven "server not responding"
Ten settings checked out
Nine internet connections queried
Eight mobile phones tried
Seven calls to helpline
Six laptops checked (again)
Five quirky ringtones downloaded
Four hours of life wasted
Three iPads locked out
Two family conflicts And a fine for a night of our lives
Deborah Tait Gosford I've just lost control of my census. Steve Baker Engadine Back to snail mail for me. David Hackforth Willoughby
Listening to the head of Census 2016 trying to convince Australians that its hacked computers weren't really hacked was as excruciating as John Hewson lecturing Mike Willesee on GST charges on cakes and George Brandis tying himself up in knots over metadata. Where is there a train to throw yourself under when you really need one? Paul Miles Gorokan Strangely enough, my paper copy of the census form did not crash while I filled it out at the diner table last night. True, I was worried that at some stage my black ballpoint pen might give out, but following technical advice I had a back-up. Rob Wills Point Lookout (Qld) Will Turnbull do an Abbott and shirt-front those pesky international hackers?
Rod Tuck Katoomba The census fiasco was Labor's fault. Joan Kunze Penrith Making most of luck requires taking risks Ross Gittins provides a stimulating insight into wealth creation in his article ("Judged on merit, you better be lucky", August 10). Luck is certainly important but Ross failed to mention the even more important factor of personal attitude to risk. Luck can't work if you're afraid to throw the dice. So many successful people have been prepared to take more than their fair share of risk. Some succeed and some don't but the successful ones usually have the resilience to take even more risk if luck fails them the first time.
There are many studies which seek to explain different attitudes to risk. The origins can be as wide-ranging as hormonal, genetic, environmental and learned. Many successful people get their first apparent break early in life when they're more willing to take risks. Evolution has left older people happier to remain home by the fire. William Lloyd Denistone Ross Gittins is half right. "Luck is as important as hard work", but more important is what you make of the good luck and of the bad luck. Often the possibilities of good luck can be frittered away. Similarly with bad luck. It all depends on the interpretation. A bad fortune moment for some, will be seen as good fortune by others. The now-dead passenger, elated by his luck at being the last person able to squash onto the crowded train that crashed, could be seen as unlucky. But he may have been lucky. He had not yet been told of his incurable illness that would result in a painful drawn-out death.
In hindsight, his unlucky mate, unable to work his way onto the train, no matter how hard he tried, considered himself quite lucky. Some are lucky, some are unlucky. There is good luck and bad. Interpretation depends on your point of view. Life is what you make of it. Joy Cooksey Harrington Bullying a sign of the times? Interesting how the increase in the harassment of special needs students ("Schools accused of failing children with disability", August 10) coincides with the introduction of the department's Every Child, Every School policy which sees these students integrated into mainstream classes. I wonder if there was this amount of bullying when there was extra funding for small, special-needs classes?
Peter Miniutti Ashbury It is about time private schools, which generally exclude vulnerable students and, except for the wealthiest, receive more government money per student than public schools for disadvantaged students, were made to report their bullying and abuse in the same way that public schools must. Using the MySchool data we can then compare resources available and cohorts taught. Let's not bash the public system unless we have the evidence from the private system too. Brenton White Mosman Dads honoured Very nicely put, Gina Williams. I doubt if any reader could have put it better ("Dad hashtag hammers cheap shot", 10/8). Cheap shots are easy, they might get a laugh, and the moment passes. Deep hurt lasts a long time and one has to learn to live with it, move on, and remember the good that's in your life. I had an adopting father also, his name was Feliks, he married my single mother after World War II and we couldn't have asked for a better human being to have come into our lives. He was a good man, he worked hard as a manual labourer after we came to Australia and never belittled anyone. I try to honour him in my writing, and that's the secret. Celebrate the life of Cyril in your songs. I hope you get nominated for Australian of the Year.
Peter Skrzynecki Eastwood Thank you Gina Williams for your heart-warming and fitting riposte to Bill Leak's atrocious cartoon. His support of the #indigenousdads hashtag does not excuse his poor taste originally. Andrew Macintosh Cromer Warped priorities "Minister Wiranto is the new co-ordinating minister for security so Australia will seek to have a close and co-operative relationship with him," trumpets Justice Minister Michael Keenan ("Minister ignores alleged Timor war crimes", August 10).
So our support for a man who is alleged to have facilitated severe human rights violations using the Indonesian military and government-backed militias, and was indicted for crimes against humanity by the UN-sponsored East Timor Serious Crimes Unit in 2003, is in our "national interest"? Sad. Mark Paskal Clovelly Balibo is a name I cannot forget yet various governments since 1999, in order to curry favour with Indonesia, have chosen amnesia over reality. I grieve for our "lost" reporters ("Minister ignores alleged Timor war crimes", August 10). Alastair Browne Cromer Heights
Food for thought With all the glum and depressing international news around at the moment it is good to see the media release showing Italian police comforting an elderly couple in Rome. The police were apparently responding to neighbours concerns after they heard crying ("Italian police solve elderly couple's distress with some home-cooked pasta", August 10). What a stroke of luck that there happened to be a photographer handy to capture the moment. Food for thought or tacky police PR in action. Bob Harris Sawtell
Time of no moment No extra time to examine unique Indigenous artifacts at the Randwick light rail depot site ("Delay to construction of $2.1b CBD light rail line", August 10). No extra time to consider any changes that might save more of Moore Park's iconic trees. But hey presto! An extra five months can be added to the City project schedule to sort out some wayward utilities without any delay to the completion date of the CBD-eastern suburbs light rail project. Almost as good a trick from the state government as adding a one-kilometre tunnel to WestConnex at no extra cost. Doug Walker Baulkham Hills Roberts out of line Can Malcolm Roberts program a computer, make a television? (Free-speech fundamentalists break free of good conscience", August 8.) Can he invent Wi-Fi, make a Sat Nav work using the theory of relativity, or discover fundamental particles using the Large Hadron Collider? If, as I suspect, the answer to all these questions is "no", then on what basis does he have the effrontery to challenge the scientists who have given us everything in the modern world. The overwhelming scientific evidence supports human-induced climate change. If he chooses to accuse scientists of conspiracy on this subject perhaps he would like to stop benefiting from all their inventions too.
Averil Drummond Brunkerville E-tag rip-off It's worse than the e-tag people just trousering our interest Dave Horsfall (Letters, August 10).Any company worth its salt offers at least 10 per cent off for paying upfront (which is what we are all obliged to do with e-tags).Not necessary, it seems, when your company basks in near-monopoly status. Lloyd Swanton Wentworth Falls Joke's on us too
How can Australians possibly criticise Americans for selecting Trump as a presidential candidate when we elect Derryn Hinch and Malcolm Roberts to the Senate. ("Tough diplomacy ahead if Trump prevails," August 10.) John Walsh Watsonia Scale of Olympian heights Who really is the Greatest - Muhammad Ali or Michael Phelps? ("Michael Phelps makes it to 21 gold after two hours in the pool", smh.com.au, August 10.) Paul Hunt Engadine
Paul McGeough is right to say that Donald Trump is offering false hope by promising to magically restore lost industries through higher tariffs.
Trump, like Pauline Hanson in Australia, combines anti-immigration rhetoric with disillusionment with previous trade deals which have not delivered on exaggerated promises of jobs and growth. But it is too easy to dismiss all Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement critics as protectionist or anti-trade.
The TPP agreement could mean a huge increase in prices at the chemist. Credit:Louie Douvis
The text has been agreed between the US, Australia and 10 other Pacific Rim countries but no governments have so far passed its implementing legislation, and the US Congress is unlikely to do so.
Most US criticism of the agreement has been led by social movements reflected by Bernie Sanders. In Australia, the opposition has come from a wide range of community groups, from pro-trade bodies like the Productivity Commission, and also from prominent economists like Peter Martin and John Quiggin.
A new coal mine planned for the NSW Southern Highlands would lose money on every tonne produced and clock up a net cost to the owner of more than half a billion dollars, two new reports say.
Hume Coal, owned by Korean steel giant POSCO, wants to develop an underground mine near Berrima, about 130km south-west of Sydney.
At its peak, the mine would produce about 3 million tonnes a year, with about 80 per cent of it the higher-valued coking coal used in steel making. Since the coal seam sits below an aquifer the operation will need to use techniques not used previously in Australia, and extract only about one-third of the available resource.
Tim Buckley, an analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, estimated total costs will reach $130 per tonne of coal over the proposed 19-year life of the mine, well above the $112 a tonne POSCO is likely to sell it for.
Television personality Andrew Denton has criticised MPs Kevin Andrews and Tony Burke for their role in scuttling voluntary euthanasia laws in Australia, decrying "subterranean forces" preventing reforms to help the sick and dying.
In a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, Denton said he was seeking "to light a fire" on the issue because Catholic MPs responsible for overturning controversial 1990s Northern Territory assisted dying laws continued to block any national change in Parliament.
Denton called for a new set of carefully written laws which could only be used by sufferers of terminal illnesses and which gave doctors protection if they followed strict criteria for assisting patients to die.
Doctors and nurses who are personally opposed to euthanasia, including for religious or moral reasons, would not be required to assist their patients to die.
A leading expert in electronic voting says proposals for an overhaul of Australian elections could be slowed by Tuesday's census debacle, calling for a parliamentary committee to carefully consider security, verification and capacity as part of any new consideration.
Former NSW Electoral Commission director of information and technology Ian Brightwell said the Australian Electoral Commission would have to be prepared to allow significantly increased external scrutiny of its processes and systems if it follows calls by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for further moves towards electronic voting at federal elections.
Responsible for the implementation of the NSW iVote electronic system, used in the 2011 and 2015 state elections, Mr Brightwell has worked for two decades in management of technology in election processes.
He said the Australian Bureau of Statistics' mishandling of the census would be a lesson for the election authorities and politicians, but that public education was needed to build confidence in electronic systems before more people could vote using computers.
Chinese fighter-plane hangars revealed in disturbing new satellite images of the South China Sea would allow Beijing to rapidly shift military hardware on to artificial islands to control the key waterways, Australia's former national security adviser says.
The remarks by Andrew Shearer, who served as Tony Abbott's national security adviser, came amid rising concern among military experts that China could declare a so-called "air defence identification zone" (ADIZ) in the South China Sea, requiring foreign military aircraft to ask permission before flying through.
The presence of about 70 hangar spaces for strike fighter aircraft indicates Beijing is at least giving itself the option of declaring a zone, dramatically raising the stakes with countries including Australia. The stationing of fighters could be used to enforce the zone.
The RAAF routinely flies patrols over the South China Sea, meaning its planes would need to challenge China were any zone declared.
The Australian census has not been compromised and will not need to be re-run, the Turnbull government says, despite a crippling series of cyber attacks leading the country's chief statistician to shut down the census website on Tuesday night.
As a partisan wrangle erupted over the fiasco, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull promised a "thorough" post-census review would uncover what went wrong. But he defended the Australian Bureau of Statistics' decision to err on the side of caution in order to protect people's data.
Meanwhile, Treasurer Scott Morrison dismissed suggestions the census might need to be abandoned and repeated after millions of Australians were unable to fill in their forms on the official census night.
"There is no compromise of integrity of the information. There is no need, for any statistical reasons, for a re-run of this census," he said. "That is the clear advice by the statistician and so the census can proceed as it always has."
A Nauru detention centre guard has admitted hurling rocks at a group of young children, which allegedly struck a five-year-old boy in the face, cutting his lip and chipping teeth, official documents show.
Doctors say the Iranian boy, Mohammad Mahdi Eskandarikhah, now aged 6, has not been properly treated or assessed for suspected autism and should be immediately brought to Australia.
The release of the documents, obtained by Doctors for Refugees, coincides with video in which young children at Nauru speak of "broken hearts" at being bullied and neglected on the remote island.
It forms part of a broader pattern of systemic abuse and neglect of children, most recently evidenced in Guardian Australia's release on Wednesday of 2000 incident reports detailing trauma suffered at Nauru.
If you engage in a conversation with a criminal on a public street can you be described as consorting?
That is the question at the heart of the court appeal launched by Charlie Maxwell Forster, an intellectually disabled young man who was the first person to be jailed under the state government's controversial consorting laws.
Mr Forster, now 25, was found guilty of habitually consorting with convicted offenders despite official warnings, after he was caught in separate conversations with three men he was friends with in Inverell, in northern NSW, in 2012.
He has asked the NSW Supreme Court to overturn his conviction, saying the sentencing magistrate Michael O'Brien erred in his interpretation of the term consorting.
In a hearing on Wednesday, Mr Forster's barrister David Randle said it was unclear whether all conversation could be construed as consorting or what the "minimum level of interaction need be".
An extensive search and rescue team has found no trace of a camper four days after he went missing from a campsite in the Hawkesbury area.
Chinese national Tiemuzhen Chalaer was last seen on Sunday morning, but his absence was not discovered until Sunday night when his friends returned home from the camping party. They then alerted police.
Tiemuzhen Chalaer went missing in bushland in the Hawkesbury area on Sunday,
Their campsite at Lower Portland, near the intersection of the Wheelbarrow Ridge track and Greens Road, was surrounded by dense and hilly bushland, and close to the Colo and Hawkesbury rivers.
Mr Chalaer, 24, was last seen walking into the bushland between 6.30am and 9am.
Members of the Obeid clan were "embarrassed and humiliated" in the witness box during a high-profile corruption inquiry and deserve damages for the hurt caused, the NSW Supreme Court has heard.
As the family's multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Independent Commission Against Corruption enters its final days, their barrister told the court that questions put to former Labor MP Eddie Obeid and his sons were "designed to humiliate" them.
Obeid snr and three of his five sons - Moses, Paul and Eddie junior - are suing the ICAC, its former head David Ipp, QC, former counsel assisting Geoffrey Watson, SC, and two ICAC officers for damages for misfeasance in public office.
They claim they were unfairly targeted by an explosive 2012 inquiry into a $30 million coal deal, which led to criminal charges against Obeid snr and Moses.
DigitalAttackMap says these botnets can generate huge floods of traffic to overwhelm a target.
"These floods can be generated in multiple ways, such as sending more connection requests than a server can handle, or having computers send the victim huge amounts of random data to use up the target's bandwidth. Some attacks are so big they can max out a country's international cable capacity."
Loading
Adding to many people's fears about the security of the census website before the attack, the information gained from these sites during an attack is sold on online marketplaces that specialise in information gained from these DDoS attacks, DigitalAttackMap said.
A North Fitzroy chef viciously bashed by two thugs who chased him from a tram stop near his house in Melbourne's inner north says he is now fearful of using public transport.
Police are hunting for the offenders after the vicious assault on one of Melbourne's busiest tram lines left a young father with a fractured skull.
The 27-year-old victim was waiting for a tram on Nicholson Street, close to the Brunswick Road intersection, to head into the city and see friends around 9.20pm on 13 May.
He noticed two men in a Toyota Supra at nearby traffic lights, and suspects they were watching him for some time.
Police are investigating a pornography ring at a Melbourne private school which involved boys sharing explicit images of young naked girls.
A 16-year-old male student at St Michael's Grammar School is believed to have created a Dropbox folder which contained photos of several girls from the St Kilda school.
The folder was accessed by other male students, and is believed to have included nude photos of students in Years 10 and 11.
It follows a string of recent scandals at other private schools involving young male students circulating explicit and offensive content about girls on social media.
Police have charged a West Swan man who allegedly committed a lewd act and defecated outside a Midvale hairdressing salon, while dressed in women's clothes.
Security footage captured by the WA Salon Supplies business, showed a man climbing into a white utility before stripping off his clothes and appearing to pleasure himself.
The man, who appeared to be wearing high heels and a bra, then looked to defecate, and reach for toilet paper - a used portion of which he casually tossed away.
The owners of WA Salon Supplies posted the footage on the Perth Have A Whinge Facebook page, in the hope someone might recognise the man.
Washington: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday accused Republican opponent Donald Trump of inciting violence with his call for gun rights activists to stop her from nominating liberal US Supreme Court justices.
Clinton's comments added to a growing outcry over Trump's remarks on Tuesday at a North Carolina rally, which some interpreted as a call for violence against his White House rival. His remarks also fuelled widespread concerns about his ability to stay on track.
"Words matter, my friends," the former US secretary of state, who rarely engages in direct back-and-forths with her Republican rival, said at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa. "And if you are running to be president or you are president of the United States, words can have tremendous consequences.
"Yesterday, we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that crossed the line," she said, citing "his casual inciting of violence".
London: It is not something he would have at all wished for himself, but at the age of 25 Hugh Richard Louis Grosvenor has been left contemplating the fact that overnight he has become Britain's most eligible bachelor.
Following the sudden death of the Duke of Westminster at the age of 64 on Tuesday, the young account manager has inherited his father's title and estate, making him one of the richest men in the world.
Until now the new Duke had lived a life of relative obscurity for someone so gilded - save for a memorable 21st birthday party rumoured to have cost several million. But his sudden elevation will put him in the spotlight as never before, raising the question; just who is the seventh Duke of Westminster?
By inheriting the bulk of his father's fortune, estimated at 8.3 billion ($14 billion) by Forbes, the new Duke becomes the third richest person in Britain and the 68th wealthiest in the world.
US Special Operations forces are providing direct, on-the-ground support for the first time to fighters battling the Islamic State in Libya, US and Libyan officials said, coordinating American airstrikes and providing intelligence information in an effort to oust the group from a militant stronghold.
The positioning of a small number of elite US personnel in the coastal city of Sirte deepens the involvement of Western nations against the Islamic State's most powerful affiliate.
Brigadier-General Mohammed al-Ghasri, second left, spokesman for Al Bonyan Almrsos military operation fighting in Sirte, speaks at a news conference in Misrata, Libya. Credit:AP
US officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a mission that has not been announced publicly, said that US troops are working out of a joint operations centre on the city's outskirts and that their role is limited to supporting forces loyal to the country's fragile unity government.
Robyn Mack, a spokeswoman for US Africa Command (AFRICOM), said small numbers of US military personnel will continue to go in and out of Libya to exchange information with local forces but declined to provide details.
For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser
WILLEMSTAD:-- The home of the President of the Central Bank Emsley Tromp is being searched by the anti-corruption team and Kingdom Detectives (RST) in Curacao. The operation began early Wednesday morning.
SMN News learned that a trust company is also being searched on Wednesday. According to a report in the Telegraaf, the investigation that is currently taking place has to do with tax fraud and money laundering. However, SMN News could not confirm this with local authorities on St. Maarten and Curacao. SMN News further learned that the trust company that was searched on Wednesday is Itrust owned by Gregory Ellias, the man that is behind the Curacao Music Festival. However, it must be clear that the search at the Trust Fund has to do with finding the monies Tromp has at the ITRUST and it does not necessarily means that the owner of ITRUST is involved in the ongoing investigation.
According to well-placed sources, the same team arrested the former director or GIRO Bank Eric Garcia for money laundering, it is also understood that Garcia is still behind bars and he even lost his job at HIRO bank in Curacao when Tromp realized that the operations of the bank were not in accordance with the law.
The spokesman for the Prosecutors Office Gino Bernadina said August 10 2016 the anti-corruption unit (TBO) and the Kingdom Detectives Cooperation Team (RST), led by the Prosecutor's office, conducted seven (7) searches at two (2) addresses, a trust company and a house on Blauwdruifweg. These searches took place in the presence of a judge of instruction and are in connection with a financial investigation into fraud that started earlier this year. E.T. Is being suspected of committing fraud related to his personal finances. Documents and data carriers were confiscated during the searches. No arrests have been made. The investigation is in full swing.
Dutch Government did not live up to its promise to send Curacao Minister of Finance a letter on the Division of Assets.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Finance Richard Gibson is planning to travel to Curacao as early as Wednesday to meet with the Minister of Finance there to further discuss the division of assets and the amounts of monies owed to St. Maarten. Gibson told reporters last week that the Dutch Government had promised to send a letter to Curacao Finance Minister but to date, they have not done so even though he has been in touch with them to remind them of the promises made to St. Maarten. Minister Gibson said he is not sitting back and wait on the Dutch government to send the letter but instead he has made arrangements to travel to Curacao as early as Wednesday to meet with Curacao Finance Minister to further discuss the matter. The Minster also reminded reporters that the monies owed to St. Maarten is due by December 31st, 2016 but he is doing his very best to get Curacao to turn over St. Maartens share since he wants to keep the 2016 budget balance. He said so far the budget of 2016 is in line and that government actually spent fewer monies this year.
Finance Ministry doing its best to present a balanced budget for 2017 on time.
The Minister of Finance also said that his Ministry is aiming at presenting a balanced budget for 2017 on time for the very first time. He said that he is hoping to keep the budget at the same amount as 2016. He said that his staff is scrambling at the moment to get all the elements that have to appear in the budget that meets the requirement of the law.
The Minister said it has been a struggle for his Ministry and staff because of the global economic gloom. He said things are not what they had expected to be. Gibson said in the USA they were expecting an economic growth of 3 percent which was reduced to 2 percent by the experts and now the US GDP growth is at 1%. This new information he said will affect St. Maarten because people would have to adjust their spending including travel.
The Minister said that these are things St. Maarten cannot control but this will transcend into people having disposable income and they will have to curtail their travel plans. This he said this will bring the economy under pressure. However, he said that St. Maarten will do what has to be done to produce a balanced budget on time for 2016. The Minister also made clear that based on the plans and agreements to construct the new hospital, the buildings and land belonging to SMMC will have to be sold and he expects SMMC to pay the government the back taxes that they owed. Gibson said that there were measures put in place, such as the indexation of the casino fees.
One of the things the Minister is hoping to protect is to the finances for social institutions and those institutions will not have to deal with any budget cuts.
In 1982 the wild population was down to just 22 individuals; Nesting pairs in Path of Fire
A fire that began on August 31 with an illegal campfire is within eight miles of 3 nests with young California condor hatchlings. The months-old young are not yet able to fly and could not escape the flames on their own.
The Soberanes fire has roared through nearly 70,000 acres of wildland, destroying 57 residences and 11 outbuildings.
Biologists report that none of the condors living in the area has yet been killed by the fire, but one of the feeding stations where they leave dead animals for the birds has been destroyed.
The fire is moving south across coastal Monterey County toward the remote sections of the Los Padres National Forest where the condors nest. This is also the location of a "condor sanctuary" site with pens, trailers and a cabin that scientists use when they release condors that have been hatched in zoos.
Biologists have spent 30 years painstakingly nurturing the California condor back from the brink of extinction. They are America's largest land bird, with a wing span reaching up to 9 feet. Due to habitat loss, hunting and lead poisoning, the majestic birds' population had dropped to just 22 nationwide by 1982. In a desperate gamble to save the birds, federal biologists captured all the remaining wild condors in 1987 and began a breeding program in zoos. The birds' young have been gradually released back into the wild.
There are now 82 condors living free in the Big Sur area.
Kelly Sorenson is the executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society, a nonprofit group that helps lead condor recovery efforts in Big Sur. He told Paul Rogers at the Mercury News that biologists are hoping they won't need to go in and rescue the young birds from the nests. The chicks are 3- to 4-months-old and won't be able to fly on their own for another two or three months
"At this point it wouldn't make sense to pull the chicks out of the nests because we'd have to figure out how to raise them," Sorenson said. "We might do it as a last resort. We are going to be watching day by day."
The chicks are still being fed by their parents.
Adult condors regularly travel up to 100 miles in a day, so they would likely just leave area until the fire was out and the other plants and animals returned. Two adults did disappear in the 2008 Basin Complex Fire that burned 162,818 acres in Big Sur. Their transmitters were never found, leading researchers to believe they may have been overcome by smoke or flames.
In that same blaze, fire burned all around a redwood tree where one condor chick was still in a nest. That bird survived. Nicknamed Phoenix, it is still flying today as an adult along the Big Sur coast.
Experts say that despite the current fire risk, lead poisoning remains the main threat of condor deaths. Condors are scavengers and they eat deer, wild pigs, ground squirrels and other animals that hunters or ranchers may have shot, ingesting lead fragments from the ammunition.
In 2013, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law banning all lead ammunition in hunting in California beginning in 2019. Since then, Sorenson's group has handed out $100,000 in non-lead ammunition to ranchers and hunters around the Big Sur-Pinnacles area. That, he said, has resulted in a decline in lead poisoning deaths in recent years.
Last year was a milestone in the recovery effort. For the first time, in three decades, more condors were born in the wild, 14, than died in the wild, 12.
Joseph Brandt, Pacific Southwest Region U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 30-day old California condor chick
As of Dec. 31, 2015, there were 435 California condors living in the world. Of those, 268 live in the wild, and 167 live in captivity in places where they are bred and hatched, including the San Diego Zoo, Los Angeles Zoo, Oregon Zoo and World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho.
For hikers and tourists interested in seeing the magnificent birds, the Big Sur fires have not yet caused more condors to move inland.
"We're definitely getting smokier air. But in terms of the birds behavior we're not seeing any changes," said Rachel Wolstenholme, condor program manager at Pinnacles National Park. "Some days there might be 40 here, and some days there might be zero. On most days you have a 50-50 chance of seeing a condor."
You can help California Condors by donating to one of the Condor breeding or protection programs. To find out more, go to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service condor page at
http://www.fws.gov/cno/es/calcondor/CondorResources.cfm
alpha-En Corporation to Host Press Conference With United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano
TARRYTOWN, NY (Marketwired) 08/10/16 (OTC PINK: ALPE), an innovative clean technology company enabling next-generation battery technologies through the production of high purity lithium metal, announced today it will host a joint press conference with U.S. Senator and Yonkers Mayor at its new corporate headquarters and product development center in Yonkers, New York.
This event is being organized to publicize awareness and support for the bipartisan legislation Made in America Manfuactoring Communities Act, that will benefit local businesses in New York State and the City of Yonkers by bringing together resources of multiple federal agcencies that drive business development in the local community. The legislation will stimulate the manufacturing industry and help create well-paying jobs in Westchester County by creating a permanent program that designates local regions as Manufacturing Communities, which would put them in the front of the line to receive federal economic development funding specifically for the purpose of investing in manufacturing.
We are pleased and honored to welcome Senator Gillibrand and Mayor Spano to our new corporate headquarters and product development centeter for a press conference to supporting manufacturing business development initiatives, said Jerry Feldman, Executive Chairman of alpha-En. As an emerging and publically traded clean technology company with novel disruptive technology we will benefit from the supportive legislation sponsored by Senator Gillibrand and Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) and we will capatilize on the are honored to have the opportunity we have to make a profound impact, environmentally and economically, for our community, the nation and the world, here in Yonkers, NY.
The press conference will take place at 12:30 p.m. today, at alpha-Ens new facility in the innovative iPark Hudson technology and office campus which was the original manufacturing headquarters for Otis Elevators.
Michael Feldman
alpha-En Corporation
914-418-2000
Rob Fink
Hayden IR
646-415-8972
alpha-En Corporation (OTC PINK: ALPE) is an innovative clean technology company focused on enabling next generation battery technologies by developing and bringing to market high purity lithium metal and associated products produced in an environmentally sustainable manner. For more information, please visit .
Except for the historical information herein, the matters discussed in this news release may include forward-looking statements, as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements reflect managements current knowledge, assumptions, judgment and expectations regarding future performance or events. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such statements are reasonable, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as they are subject to various risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to vary materially. alpha-En Corporation assumes no obligation to update the information in this release. Reference to the Companys website above does not constitute incorporation of any of the information thereon into this press release.
Michael Feldman
alpha-En Corporation
914-418-2000
Rob Fink
Hayden IR
646-415-8972
Midokura Announces Robust Overlay Connectivity for Multiple OpenStack Clouds
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (Marketwired) 08/10/16 , the global innovator in software network virtualization, today announced the latest release of , a scalable network virtualization solution designed for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) clouds. The new release provides the most robust network virtualization overlay solution for connectivity between multi-site OpenStack clouds, and delivers a modern Software Defined Networking (SDN) approach to container orchestration engines, including Kubernetes and Docker Swarm.
Enterprise organizations across the globe continue to adopt Midokuras network virtualization solution to make cloud adoption easier and to retain a tight grip over their networks and applications, said Pino de Candia, CTO of Midokura. Our latest iteration of the Midokura Enterprise MidoNet (MEM) technology is designed to address real market needs, including the ability to connect multiple OpenStack clouds and support the containers movement.
The award-winning MEM technology offers an intelligent, software-based network abstraction layer between the hosts and the physical network, allowing operators to build isolated networks in software overlaying pre-existing hardware-based network infrastructure. Designed for distributed computing, MEM provides per-tenant network control so operators can create and make changes to the virtual network without disturbing the physical infrastructure via the intuitive MidoNet Manager. Whats more, MEM Insights provides end-to-end operational tools, including advanced analytics and dynamic visualization of the virtual network.
Significant new features and functionality in the latest MEM release provide enhanced scalability, simplicity and security. The new version also includes the following:
The new MEM router peering feature provides overlay connectivity between multiple sites where OpenStack is deployed, say between Data Center #1 and #2, with VXLAN tunneling. This enables direct connectivity between multiple sites, forgoing the need for constant backup procedures in other disaster recovery scenarios and reduces control traffic and broadcast storms across multiple sites.
A new feature in the MidoNet Manager provides correlation of the overlay with current and historical events happening in the underlay. This feature enables real-time visualization of the fabric topology in relation to the logical switches and routers, the connectivity scheme about the virtual and physical switch ports in the underlay. This new level of insights provides the ability to examine a series of events and root causing networking issues and/or failures.
MEM delivers enterprise-class networking to any Container as a Service (CaaS) platform, beginning with Kubernetes, to make networks as agile as needed. Unlike other container networking implementations, MEM allocates subnets by namespaces, allowing for the spawning of as many pods per node as needed with no limit.
The new MEM release includes drastic memory improvements, as memory usage has been improved by 75% for the MidoNet agent. More efficient use of memory by the VMs can lead to better application stability and improve application response time.
The next phase for the off-premise cloud services market is the meta-cloud, said Cliff Grossner, Ph.D., senior research director for data center, cloud and SDN at IHS Markit. In a recent IHS Markit survey, enterprise respondents indicated they expect to use on average eight different cloud service providers by 2018, to create their own customized cloud of clouds and meet specialized needs. No doubt, solutions allowing enterprises to deploy and manage application workloads across multiple clouds will be in high demand.(1)
Midokura will showcase its latest MEM technology with Intels Open Security Controller at Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, from August 16-18, 2016. Come see Midokura at booth #174.
The new release is available immediately. To register for a free trial, visit: or contact for details on support, services and cost.
Midokura also offers an of its core MidoNet technology, which is quickly gaining in popularity among organizations of all sizes in over 120 countries. To learn more about open source MidoNet, visit: .
. unveils network virt tech w/ connectivity for multiple #OpenStack clouds & rich SDN for container engines
Founded in 2010, Midokura was an early global leader in network virtualization. The companys pedigree includes Amazon, Cisco, Google and VMware. With its Midokura Enterprise MidoNet (MEM) solution, Midokura offers the industry a complete overlay technology that integrates with cloud platforms, such as OpenStack. Now gaining awareness in 122 countries, the source code for MidoNet is freely available at . MidoNet delivers the first truly open, vendor-agnostic network virtualization solution available to the OpenStack community. Midokura is a contributing member of the OpenStack Networking (Neutron) Project and the Kuryr Project.
Midokura has offices in San Francisco, Tokyo and Barcelona, and is on the web at . Follow us on Twitter: .
(1) Information based on IHS Markit Technology Cloud Service Strategies and Leadership North American Enterprise Survey, June 2016. Information is not an endorsement of Midokura. Any reliance on these results is at the third partys own risk. Visit for more details.
Lila Razzaqui
Kulesa Faul, Inc.
(650) 825-5452
Sikhs in Canada under the banner of the human rights group, Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), has filed a defamation suit against Captain Amarinder Singh, one of their homelands foremost politicians.
Captain Singh was the Chief Minister of Punjab from 2002 to 2007 and now is the standard bearer of the Congress party in his state.
SFJ in its defamation suit is seeking one million dollars from Captain Singh for the linking the human rights group to Pakistans dreaded secret service known as ISI.
The 14-page writ filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice also seeks a permanent injunction preventing Capt Singh from republishing or facilitating the republication of the alleged defamatory statements, made by him.
Capt. Singh has 60 days to submit a reply, failing in which a judgment can be given against him.
SFJ legal adviser Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said that they would serve this court notice on Capt Singh in India using the Hague Convention protocols.
Claiming injury to SFJ's reputation, the lawsuit states that by "making defamatory statements Capt. Singh has caused reputational damage to SFJ's status as non-profit organization and has hindered its ability to address ongoing issues of significance to Canadian Sikhs.
"On April 24, 25 and 26 Captain Singh made various defamatory statements against SFJ which were published in several online media and read by thousands of individuals", further states lawsuit.
The comments were allegedly made after earlier this year, after SFJ had blocked Capt. Singhs scheduled visit to Canada by petitioning Ottawa to stop his political campaign, which was seeking foreign support and donations.
After his campaign was blocked in Canada, Capt. Singh hit back against SFJ saying it was playing in ISI's hands.
"We gave (the) Indian MP an opportunity to prove his allegations of SFJ-ISI nexus, however, Captain Amarinder not only repeated the allegations, but he also alleged that anti India elements in the Canadian government who support Khalistan were behind spoiling his political campaign" said Pannun, a lawyer.
Amarinder had then allegedly remarked "SFJ is playing into the hands of the anti-India forces like the ISI to embarrass India and project as if rights violations was the norm of the day in the country (India) like some dictatorships in different parts of the world".
"During a 2007 visit Capt Singh addressed the Sikh gathering while Khalistan banners were flying high behind him, But now he ridicules those who support the Sikh home land", he said arguing, "we will not allow Indian politicians to define and mislabel the Sikhs' movement for independence of Punjab", added attorney Pannun.
With little support for Sikh militancy in India, Pakistan spy agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is using Sikh militants who are taking refuge in Pakistan to gather political support from their community in Canada with a view to reviving the Khalistan movement.
Capt Singh was basing his comments apparently on an Indian intelligence report accessed by media on the activities of groups in Canada engaged in pro-Khalistani activities last Spring.
That report saidthat the ISI is using Sikh extremists for anti-India activities.
Inputs indicate that Pakistans ISI is using Sikh extremists based in Canada for pro-Khalistan and anti-India activities, the report says.
Apart from ISI activities, political lobbying by Sikh groups is also a major concern for Indian intelligence agencies.
The Sikhs have a strong influence on Canadian politics due to their large population, the report said while adding that prominent Canadian leaders have been taking part in events organised by groups sympathising with the cause for the Khalistan movement.
The issue of Sikh extremism and activities of sympathisers in Canada was taken up at a recent meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on terrorism between India and Pakistan held in Delhi on March 19, 2015.
The report was prepared ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Canada from April 14 to 16.
Stating an instance of the ISI backing the cause of some of the extremists groups in Canada, the report says that an associate of Jagtar Singh Tara who was deported from Thailand in December 2014 travelled to Pakistan to plan Taras escape from Thailand with the help of the ISI.
Guest Commentary
By Farid Rohani
We dont blame all Arabs every time OP
EC pushes up (or down!) the price of a litre of gas. We dont blame Mexicans if fruit prices go up or the Japanese when B.C. lumber mills close for lack of demand. We accept the free market principles of supply and demand and we deal with price fluctuations as best we can.
So why do we blame immigrants, and specifically the Chinese, for spiking real estate prices when the real problem is lack of supply and increasing demand?
Its a dangerous tendency, and one that threatens to undermine the very ideals of citizenship and plurality that have made Canada so admired around the world. Our countrys heritage includes every ethnicity on earth. The principles that define us as Canadians include those of dignity and kindness, tolerance and compassion. The elements that underpin our democracy include a respect for liberty, for freedom of movement and for the potential of a market driven economy under the rule of law.
But these principles and values are not guiding the current discussion. Instead we see outbursts of ignorant emotionalism and incipient racism.
Its important, first, to define the immediate problem. The economic power of recent immigrants and foreign purchasers has showcased excessive economic advantage while denying many the ability to be part of a vibrant, growing cosmopolitan city. Many of the young people and professionals who make up our citys core are feeling frustrated by our failure to find a solution to affordable housing.
Yet, instead of working together to address the challenges of inequity, many are retreating to the more familiar ground of racial accusations. They use the seeming intractability of these problems to build scapegoats. Even people who may have been acting in goodwill have been guilty of launching dubious studies that rely on selective facts and the dangerous sweep of ethnic stereotyping.
In an age when terrorism is also a serious social issue, and when certain people have chosen to target ethnicity or religion in that conversation, this raises a risk that I feel personally. I, who have been proud to call Canada my home for more than four decades, have an Arabic name one that might easily become part of a database of potential security targets, not for anything I have done, but merely because of my heritage.
This is a perversion of the Canadian experiment, and one we must deal with quickly, and together. We cannot promote prejudice against any racial or ethnic group without betraying ourselves. The vitriolic accusations against others can lead only to hate and a division that will harm us all.
We need a solution, of the sort that can only be found through joint action. We cannot continue to speak from both sides of our mouths, on the one hand promising economic hope and jobs, while at the same time isolating recent immigrants and visitors from normal social intercourse based on mutual respect.
Certainly, government must be forceful in addressing issues such as the disruptive influence of laundered money. At the same time, we must all stay focused on the economic principles of a liberal democracy, of supply and demand. We must remember the values of immigration and the benefits of building a progressive society in which people of diverse backgrounds can live and prosper together as members of one city and country.
This responsibility rests upon all levels of government, as well as upon community leaders and the media. All must work together to refresh the spirit of optimism, while rejecting any narrative where facts are manipulated to become food for racist agitators or dismissive special interest groups.
The only way to resolve deep social and economic problems is by forging a unity of purpose.
Racism has deep roots. Without a conscious, deliberate, and sustained effort, we are all at risk from its destructive influences. It can only be overcome through open dialogue and close association among those of opposing points of view.
So, I address this appeal to all politicians, pundits and community leaders: the realization of our collective potential depends on the character and initiative of every individual. No action plan can succeed if leaders fail respond in their own capacity. I respectfully and urgently call upon my fellow Vancouverites of whatever background to look at current real estate situation with new eyes and with a new resolve to set ethnicity aside to embrace all of your neighbours, new and old, in the search for a lasting solution.
Farid Rohani is a life member of The Laurier Institution.
Students at Kwantlen Polytechnic University can learn about Punjabi culture through the introductory bhangra course the first of its kind in Surrey through modern and traditional folk dancing and music.
As a longtime fan of bhangra music and dance, I am delighted that KPU can now bring this exciting cultural practice to KPU students, said KPU provost and vice-president, academic Dr. Salvador Ferreras, whose PhD is in ethnomusicology.
Bhangra is a popular folk dance that started from Punjab region of North India.
Bhangra instructors Gurpreet Sian and Rayman Bhuller are both accomplished musicians. Head of the music program at the South Asian Arts Society, Bhuller has been teaching dhol for more than 15 years and helped develop the curriculum for the societys dhol drumming courses.
This studio-based course will also dive into the history and folklore associated with Bhangra dance and music, says Sian.
There are no prerequisites for this course. For more information and to register, visi
The Walking Monk, who was featured in the National Film Board production, The Longest Road welcome everyone from all religious, spiritual and secular backgrounds come.
Bhaktimarga Swami will be at the Ram Mandir (#12, 8473 124th Street) August 19 from 5-7pm.
He has walked across Canada four times and other countries, including Ireland, Guyana, Fiji, Israel and Mauritius. Currently, he is walking across the United States. In his Tales From the Trails, he shares some of his hiking adventures. He welcomes questions from the audience.
Event sponsors include Surrey Interfaith Council, Village Surrey Transition Initiative, the Ram Mandir, ISKCON (the International Society for Krishna Consciousness), and VISHWA (Varad Ashram Intercultural Service Humanitarian World Association).
The program will be followed by a celebration of Janmastami, Lord Krishnas birthday, and a free dinner at the Mandir.
To learn more about the Walking Monk, visit www.thewalkingmonk.net.
High school football: Follow along as area teams continue playoffs journeys
It's high school football playoff time in Indiana and Michigan. Follow along with live updates of South Bend area playoff games Friday night
Welcome to SwanseaOnline - your home for the best news, sports and what's on coverage of the city.
Never miss a Swansea story with our daily newsletter Sign up to comment on our stories here
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter | Swansea City news | Ospreys news | InYourArea
View of a purported "fossil" in the famous Mars meteorite known as Allan Hills 84001. Doubters argue that the feature is too small to be a sign of Mars life.
Twenty years ago, NASA scientists and their colleagues announced they had spotted possible signs of Mars life in a meteorite. The claim ignited a scientific controversy that lingers to this day.
In 1996, researchers led by David McKay, Everett Gibson and Kathie Thomas-Keprta from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston suggested that they might have found microbial fossils in a meteorite from Mars known as Allan Hills 84001 (ALH 84001). (Cosmic impacts on Mars can be powerful enough to blast rocks off the Red Planet, a fraction of which crash on Earth, the moon and other bodies in the solar system.)
The meteorite was first discovered in 1984 by geologists riding snowmobiles through the Allan Hills region of Antarctica. Scientists think ALH 84001 originally formed 4 billion years ago on Mars and landed on Earth about 13,000 years ago. [The Search for Life on Mars (A Photo Timeline)]
Such magnetite particles are not known or expected to be produced by nonbiological (abiotic) processes. As such, the study team members said these crystals might constitute evidence of the oldest life-forms known, with profound implications for the presence of life in the universe.
"I think the approach the group took of combining several lines of evidence was innovative and made the argument more compelling at the time," said Andrew Steele, an astrobiologist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C.
Soon after the 1996 announcement was made, Timothy Swindle, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona, conducted an informal poll of more than 100 scientists to see how the scientific community felt about the claims.
"On average, scientists thought that it was a completely open question whether or not there's been life on Mars, and were skeptical ... but didn't think it was ridiculous," Swindle said.
Still, these claims drew major questions. Decades later, scientists are still dueling over these and similar finds.
The doubters' view
Skeptics picked apart each of the four lines of evidence presented in 1996. For instance, doubters noted that carbonate globules and organic molecules seen in ALH 84001 might have formed without the need for Martian microbes, while wormlike features that resemble fossils could actually have been uneven patches in the coating used to prepare the samples for electron microscopy.
"The questions posed by the team were very difficult to refute at first, and only by a global scientific effort involving many research groups around the world [have] other interpretations become more likely," Steele told Space.com.
Still, one line of evidence stubbornly resisted doubters.
The Allan Hills 84001 meteorite, which researchers claimed in a 1996 Science publication, may hold evidence of ancient Mars life. This interpretation is still under dispute today. (Image credit: NASA/JSC/Stanford University)
"When the ALH 84001 announcement first came out, I was intensely skeptical of all the lines of evidence for life on Mars except one the magnetite," said Chris McKay, a planetary scientist at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, and no relation to David McKay (who died in 2013 at age 76).
"At the time of the ALH 84001 announcement, there was no known abiotic process that could produce such magnetite crystals," Chris McKay told Space.com. "So this line of evidence was quite interesting."
However, he noted that subsequent research has shown that shockwaves can generate such magnetite crystals. This weakened the case that ALH 84001's crystals were created by life, he said.
Magnetite crystals from Mars might more persuasively indicate life if they're found in string-of-pearl formations, as they are when created by bacteria on Earth, Chris McKay said. "If we find these chains on Mars, it would be compelling evidence of past magnetotatic bacteria," he said. However, so far researchers have not detected such strings, he added.
Perhaps the biggest issue raised by the 1996 study "is that we really do not have a good working definition of what constitutes life," Thomas-Keprta told Space.com. "At the most fundamental level, we still do not know whether the difference between animate and inanimate is simply a difference in kind or degree. In absence of such a definition, the search for evidence of life of Mars is plagued by ambiguities."
Swindle concurred. "We've learned how hard it is to demonstrate that any fossilized feature is the result of biology," he said. [5 Bold Claims of Alien Life]
NASA's next step could be to send an upgraded rover to take soil samples and test them for ancient life. (Image credit: by Karl Tate, Infographics Artist)
The legacy of Allan Hills 84001
Even if ALH 84001 did not conclusively prove the existence of life on Mars, the research did benefit science, researchers said.
"The interest resulted in the Mars Exploration Program being reinstated," Gibson told Space.com. "The Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Phoenix lander, Curiosity rover, Mars Express mission with its Beagle 2 Mars lander all can be traced to the ALH 84001 research. The excitement of the possibility of potential past or present life on Mars is too important for humans to ignore."
In addition, "the ALH 84001 announcement, despite whether you are a believer of the hypothesis or not, has clearly been the guiding idea for the development of the new interdisciplinary field of astrobiology," Gibson added. "This must be viewed as positive for the field of scientific discoveries."
Steele agreed with Gibson. "Without this paper, the field of astrobiology may never have come to exist," Steele said.
The scientists behind the 1996 study "continue to support our original hypothesis," Thomas-Keprta said. Gibson concurred, adding that "no scientific data has been presented to date that disproves any of the four original lines of evidence presented in 1996. Interpretation of the data is where the disagreement arises."
"I think the way the story evolved was the way science is supposed to work," Swindle said. "I am skeptical that they found evidence of life, but their paper generated a huge amount of very good science in testing it, so I think it was a great paper."
"The features seen in ALH 84001 probably don't come from life, but the possibility of life on Mars is still there," Swindle said.
Follow Charles Q. Choi on Twitter @cqchoi. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebookand Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Thousands of meteorites weighing about a pound are thought to fall to Earth every year, but many of these events go unnoticed, because the small rocks land in uninhabited forests or open ocean waters.
Pieces of natural space debris typically rocky shards of comets or asteroids occasionally survive their journeys through Earth's atmosphere and strike the ground, but how often does an event like this actually occur?
While large impacts are fairly rare, thousands of tiny pieces of space rock, called meteorites, hit the ground each year. However, the majority of these events are unpredictable and go unnoticed, as they land in vast swathes of uninhabited forest or in the open waters of the ocean, Bill Cooke and Althea Moorhead of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office told Space.com.
In order to understand meteorite impacts on Earth, it is important to know where the chunks of rock come from. Meteoroids are rocky remnants of a comet or asteroid that travel in outer space, but when these objects enter Earth's atmosphere, they are considered meteors. [Photos: Fireball Drops Meteorites on California]
Most (between 90 and 95 percent) of these meteors completely burn up in the atmosphere, resulting in a bright streak that can be seen across the night sky, Moorhead said. However, when meteors survive their high-speed plunge toward Earth and drop to the ground, they are called meteorites.
The Perseid meteor shower one of the most popular meteor showers of the year is expected to put on a particularly breathtaking show Aug. 11 and 12, when the Earth passes through the trail of debris created by Comet Swift-Tuttle. However, viewers should not expect to find any meteorites lying on the ground after this spectacular meteor shower.
"Perseids come from Comet Swift-Tuttle and are very fragile, being an ice-dust mix," Cooke said. "They are not strong enough to survive passage through the atmosphere at 132,000 mph (212,433 km/h) and so never produce meteorites they are totally vaporized by the time they make it to 50 miles (80 km) altitude." [Perseid Meteor Shower 2016: When & How to See It]
Unpredictable catastrophes
Most meteorites that are found on the ground weigh less than a pound. While it may seem like these tiny pieces of rock wouldn't do much damage, a 1-lb. (0.45 kilograms) meteorite traveling upward of 200 mph (322 km/h) can fall through the roof of a house or shatter a car windshield.
When the Grimsby meteorite landed in Ontario, Canada in 2009, for example, it broke the windshield of an SUV. In another incident, meteorites crashed into the back end of a Chevy Malibu in Peekskill, New York, in 1992, Cooke and Moorhead said. Thankfully, no one was injured during these events.
However, the pieces of rock falling from the sky are not even the greatest concern regarding meteor impacts, Cooke said.
"What causes the most damage is the shock wave produced by the meteor when it breaks apart in [Earth's] atmosphere," Cooke said. "So, you don't have to watch for the falling rocks you have to worry about the shockwave."
For example, the Chelyabinsk meteor an asteroid the size of a six-story building that entered Earth's atmosphere in February 2013 over Russia broke apart 15 miles (24 km) above the ground and generated a shock wave equivalent to a 500-kiloton explosion, Cooke said. It injured 1,600 people.
This is a sample of a meteorite that was found following the Chelyabinsk event in Russia in 2013. Several small stones were found in the area after the massive impact. (Image credit: Qingzhu Yin, Univ. California-Davis)
Another major collision was the Tunguska meteorite, which was larger than Chelyabinsk and 10 times more energetic. The meteorite exploded over the Tunguska River on June 30, 1908, and flattened 500,000 acres (2,000 square km) of uninhabited forest. Because of its remote location, the event is an example of a meteorite that would have gone undetected had it not been so large, Cooke and Moorhead explained.
Generally, astronomers are unable to predict meteorite impacts, largely because meteoroids traveling in outer space are too small to detect. However, even large meteorite events that originate from asteroids, which can be tracked in space, are unpredictable.
Fortunately, between 90 and 95 percent of meteors don't survive the fall through the Earth's atmosphere to produce meteorites, Moorhead explained. This is because most meteorites are believed to come from comets, which are more fragile than asteroids.
"Only those meteoroids that happen to be made of stronger material produce meteorites," she said. For example, "if the [meteoroid] is a chunk of an asteroid, instead of a chunk of a comet, it's likely to be a little denser, a little stronger and more likely to produce a meteorite."
Also, if the meteor is approaching Earth at a slower speed, the rock will likely survive its collision with Earth's atmosphere, Moorhead added. In other words, the meteor will not burn up completely, and some remnant meteorites will fall to the ground.
"We actually get a few meteorites from the moon and Mars," Moorhead said. "These [meteorites] are actually chucks of the moon and Mars that have been blown off those planets by impacts and then spent a long time in space before finally hitting Earth as a meteorite."
Although predicting these events is nearly impossible, there are a couple different ways in which researchers can measure how many meteorites fall to the Earth. For example, in uninhabited areas like the Sahara Desert or atop glaciers in Antarctica, it is fairly easy to find meteorites on the ground and date them based on the amount of weathering they've experienced, Moorhead explained. Because these areas are largely undisturbed, the meteorites that lie there provide scientists with a general idea of how many of the space rocks might have hit the Earth over a period of time.
While skywatchers will not be able to hunt for meteorites after this week's Perseids meteor shower, the dazzling trail left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle will provide spectacular light show, which can best be seen in clear skies of the Northern Hemisphere on the nights of Aug. 11 and 12.
Follow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.
Optimization
Are you frustrated with a slow pc or a hard disk not performing as it should?
Try SLOW-PCfighter to speed up boot time on a slow PC, or try a free scan of FULL-DISKfighter to recover space on a full disk. The latest offering is DRIVERfighter to update your driver updater. Get complete PC optimization and extend the life of your PC with these must-have software tools.
Islamic State, on the other hand, has never waited for the approval of locals. If it had tried to win hearts and minds rather than just overrun villages, it wouldn't have grown as rapidly as it did in the early stages until fall 2014. But that brutal strategy is now coming back to roost.
There is no city or village in Syria or Iraq where a majority of the population is enthusiastic about the Islamic State, according to some who have fled as well as informants on the ground. Blood donations for injured fighters, for example, had to be collected by force.
Most normal residents are simply trying to stay out of the way and survive. They are afraid, plus they assume IS will disappear in the long run anyway. Local leaders and presumably many foreign jihadists remain loyal to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but there are otherwise few who continue to support the Islamic State of their own volition. Winning over local populations was never part of IS' plan.
Against that backdrop, liberated areas in northern Syria have seen women in particular celebrate their newly won freedom in more radical ways than one might expect in their conservative surroundings. The image of 19-year-old Souad Hamidi, who beamed as she tore off her niqab, went around the world. "Look at what we're wearing," one woman shouts in a video. "Thank you for liberating us. Thank you that I can wear red! I will always wear red!"
Hairdressers with nothing to do for the past year or two were euphoric about the sudden flood of customers. The men wished to shave off their beards. They wanted trendy haircuts, cropped short and gelled; away with the obligatory shag of IS times. Men could be seen playing cards and backgammon on the streets again, demonstratively smoking.
A Persistent Threat
Still, Islamic State has by no means disappeared. As long as the murderous air strikes by Syrian and Russian jets continue, and Sunnis continue to live in mortal fear of Shiites, IS could still return even after a total loss of its "caliphate."
The terrorist organization had been almost entirely defeated in Iraq once already. It went underground in 2008 and had been forgotten almost entirely by the time it suddenly resurrected itself in 2012, more dangerous than ever before. For the IS propaganda apparatus, this now serves as proof of its own invincibility. "Were we defeated when we lost the cities in Iraq and were in the desert without any city or land?" Islamic State spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani recently asked in an incendiary speech. "And would we be defeated, and you victorious, if you took Mosul or Sirte or Raqqa? Certainly not!"
The Islamic State was able to regain its strength four years ago because Saddam Hussein's former intelligence officers had joined forces with the Islamists -- war professionals who rose quickly, developed a long-term strategy and shaped its tactics. IS also exploited the circumstances, including a war in Syria and politics of sectarian discrimination in Iraq that excluded Sunnis from power and public offices.
The tragedy of the Washington-led battle against IS now is the fact that it is so shortsighted in its focus on military strikes. The coalition is ignoring the underlying conditions that could make a return of the Islamic State possible later.
Only days before diplomats from dozens of countries pledged to intensify the fight against IS at a meeting in Washington in early July, US Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Moscow. His suitcase was full of concessions the US was prepared to make to Russia that would allow the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad to remain in power, at least for now.
The problem is that as long as Assad continues to rule, the rebellion against him will not end. Assad's presence will hinder any true agreement with the various opposition factions in the country -- and that's the kind of unity necessary to banish the Islamic State.
Instead, the US allows itself to be taken advantage of, time and again, by groups that are also using the fight against the Islamists for their own purposes. On July 19, American bombs killed more than 50 civilians in the northern Syrian city of Manbij, which is under IS control. The Americans had obtained the target coordinates from the Kurdish-led SDF militia, which in addition to fighting IS, is trying to drive Arabs out of the areas located between its Kurdish strongholds.
Even today, Washington's anti-terror strategists still haven't come to understand the inner-workings of the Islamic State. Indeed, many still consider it to be strong even at its weakest points. "Where al-Qaida was hierarchical and somewhat controlled, these guys are not," former CIA chief Michael Hayden recently told the Washington Post. "They have all the energy and unpredictability of a populist movement." That, however, is precisely what they do not have.
Seddique Mateen was at a Hillary Clinton rally, why and who is responsible for that mistake? This election season has been very eventful to say least.
On Tuesday, while Donald Trump was making blood boil with his Second Amendment comment, Clinton was busy having to manage a scandal of her own.
The former Secretary of State held a campaign rally in Kissimmee, Florida just miles from Pulse, the gay nightclub where 49 innocent people perished in a terrorist attack.
Omar Mateen used a SIG Sauer MCX[6] semi-automatic rifle and a 9mm Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol to perpetrate the deadliest terrorist attack in America since September 11, 2001.
Mrs. Clinton opened the event by thanking the police officers, first-aid responders, who rushed to help the many victims. She said:
I know how much people, family members, loved ones and friends are still grieving and I want them to know that we will be with you, as you rebuild your lives, as you rebuild hope for the future because we cant ever let that kind of hatred and violence break the spirit, break the soul of any place in America!
While Clinton was talking, many reporters were quick to put the focus on Mr. Mateen, the father of the mass murderer, who was sitting right behind her with a bright red cap on and cheering the candidate for president. The questions that were raised by most people went like this: Why was Seddique Mateen there, and how on earth did he get there?
While Mateen has never been arrested or charged with any crime, he holds some very controversial views and has made some disturbing comments in the past. In an old Facebook video, he stated:
God will punish those involved in homosexuality, its not an issue that humans should deal with.
Seddique Mateen, who has a YouTube channel, often appears in military uniform and talks about being the leader of a transitional revolutionary government of Afghanistan and believes his own intelligence agency will take control of the country. A Clinton campaign official issued a brief statement saying that they were not aware that Mateen was present at the event. The statement read:
The rally was a 3,000-person, open-door event for the public. This individual wasnt invited as a guest, and the campaign was unaware of his attendance until after the event.
On Clintons campaign website, it is stated:
The only information requested to the RSVP for the Kissimmee rally was a first and last name, email address, phone number and ZIP code. An RSVP was not required for the event.
After the rally had ended, Seddique Mateen spoke to local media where he flashed a huge Clinton banner and explained why he came to the event. He said:
Why should they be surprised? I love the United States, and Ive been living here a long time. Hillary Clinton is good for United States versus Donald Trump, who has no solutions.
Mateen told reporters that he wished his son had joined the U.S. Army and fought against ISIS instead of taking the lives of 49 Americans.
Bouemrdes, August 10, 2016 (SPS) - Secretary General of the Polisario Front and President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) Brahim Gali called on Tuesday, in Boumerdes, the United Nations Security Council to take firm and urgent measures to put an end to the Moroccan escalation in the last African colony.
Speaking at the opening of the 7th edition of the Summer University of the executives of the Polisario Front and SADR, the Sahrawi President underlined that the Security Council must urgently take concrete and firm measures to put an end to the Moroccan attitude which constitutes a serious violation of the charter of the United Nations, a shameless interference in its prerogatives and a threat for the international peace and stability.
In the face of the intransigence and escalation of the Moroccan occupier which is ignominiously supported by France and the international sides known for their colonial past, the United Nations is called to fully assume its responsibilities in the completion of the decolonization process in Western Sahara, Africas last colony, he said.
In this regard, he urged UN to take the necessary measures and to impose sanctions on the occupation State to bring it to conform to the international legality and to fix the date of the organization of a self-determination referendum of the Sahrawi people. SPS
125/090/700
London, August 10, 2016 (SPS) - The human rights organization Amnesty International (AI) launched a camping for a fair civil trial for the 23 Sahrawi human rights activists, including 21 detained by the Moroccan occupying forces in the prison of Sale in Rabat, accused in the case known as Gdeim Izik.
The organization launched Tuesday an urgent action on its site and through correspondences to call on the international public opinion to join it to exhort the Moroccan authorities to ensure that the new civil trial of the 23 Sahrawi human rights activists is fair and complies with the international standards.
Amnesty also calls to exert pressure on Morocco so that all the statements obtained by torture are excluded from the legal proceeding.
The campaign also includes the immediate liberation of the Sahrawi political prisoners, pending the civil trial unless there are valid reasons to detain them.SPS
125/090/700
According to Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser to the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV), the renewable energy market is changing rapidly, with growing opportunities for landowners to capitalise on rising demand.
Renewable energy offers opportunities for small and large businesses alike, he says. For farmers looking to build resilience into their business renewable energy offers an income that is independent from the risks of agriculture.
According to Juliet Davenport OBE, founder of Good Energy, renewable energy now makes up nearly a quarter of the UKs electricity production, with a 21% increase between 2013 and 2014. However, the UK still imports 60% of its energy requirement, and with the weaker Pound that will make imported power more expensive, she adds. Although the Brexit vote could undermine investors confidence in the short-term, the UK energy market is changing fast, with a sharp increase in the number of small-scale sites.
In 2000 our electricity came from about 1,000 sites now its closer to one million, says Ms Davenport. That is hard for the National Grid to manage, especially as most of that is solar photo-voltaics, so its a challenge to match up supply with demand peaks and troughs. Were going to need much more flexibility in the system.
Entries have now closed and a solid turnout is on the cards, with 25 shearling or aged rams, up to 30 ram lambs, 18 empty ewes or shearlings - these are mainly sold in twos or threes and are of particular interest for cross-breeding and four ewe lambs.
The 2015 Charollais showcase saw 16 shearling rams sold at an overall average of almost 460 per head, while 13 ram lambs averaged over 335. Breed stalwart Charles Marwood, of the Foulrice flock near York, led the way at 640gns with a home-bred shearling ram, while his daughter Deborah Whitcher, who runs the Galtres flock in the same area, was supreme champion with a shearling ram sold for 500gns.
Ram lamb prices peaked at 600gns for a brace of entries from local breeders D&J Norman, of Kirkhouse, Cockermouth.
All three principals will again be represented at the 2016 renewal, which has attracted 12 consignors in total, eight from the Northern region, along with four Scottish entries.
This years pre-sale show has a local adjudicator in Robert Wilson, of Streethead Farm, Ivegill who is making his debut in the Charollais judging arena, though the family he farms with his father and mother John and Jeanette, and brother Euan - remain true champions of the Charollais breed.
They have been successfully using Charolais rams as terminal sires since 2000, running them with a flock of 300 Mule and Texel-x-Mule ewes, producing over 500 prime lambs.
Robert, 37, explains:
We usually buy two or three rams a year, mostly from another local breeder Jonathan Wales, of Thackwood Farm, Raughton Head. They have always done the job for us and suit us well. They just seem to click onto our Mules. We get very few bare-skinned lambs.
All our lambs go direct to St Merryn Foods in Wales and then on to Tesco. We are selling them between 19kg and 23kg and quality is obviously key. We are probably heading more towards Texel-crosses because we get more E and U grades from these and more value.
Large numbers of performance recorded rams from some of the breeds leading flocks will be on offer at all three of the mainland GB national sales, with many also carrying breed leading genetics for key traits such as growth rate and muscle depth.
Texel Sheep Society chairman David McKerrow said commercial demand for the breed underpinned these major sales with the top end pedigree demand the icing on the cake for the breed.
As breeders our members have long recognised the need to produce commercially relevant, fit for purpose sheep suited to the commercial sector. Indeed over the last 42 years since the breed was imported to the UK it has been the breeds commercial attributes which have seen it rise to be the number one sire in the country.
Easy fleshing, quick growing lambs with consistent quality carcasses are what draws buyers back year after year and the feedback from commercial producers is that no other breed can match the Texel for these key attributes, he added.
Mr McKerrow said that buyers attending the National Sales at Lanark, Welshpool and Worcester, could be assured of finding rams to suit them from across the UK. The great thing about the Texel breed is the adaptability of it to a wide range of farming systems and climatic conditions.
Wherever you go in the UK youll find Texel sired lambs thriving and often producing the leading prices in local markets. The strong maternal characteristics of the breed have also made it popular among commercial farmers, with more than 12.5% of the national flock now being Texel sired ewes.
Importantly, he added, recent research has shown that using pedigree Texel rams can significantly increase margins compared to using non-pedigree Texels.
The research, undertaken by Tim Byrne, Peter Amer and Tom Kirk of AbacusBio found that using a pedigree Texel ram as opposed to a commercially produced one is worth more than 100 a ram over a four year working life.
On top of this using a performance recorded Texel ram as opposed to a non-recorded ram adds more than 250 a ram to a commercial producers bottom line over a four year working life, significantly increasing the income a flock can generate.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
STAMFORD A long-awaited plan for downtown student housing received the final stamp of approval from the University of Connecticuts Board of Trustees Wednesday.
I am very pleased that this long and tortured process is coming to fruition, Mayor David Martin said. I am so excited to have UConn students living here by next fall.
A student housing development was first promised to the city three years ago when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced plans to provide funding to help expand UConn-Stamfords campus and course offerings.
The university has since struggled to find the right location for the dorms.
It first sought proposals for campus housing projects in 2014, requesting plans for a development that could house between 200 and 400 students.
UConn had previously considered the property at 59 Broad St., which officials realized did not meet the universitys needs and is now a three-story building next to Targets garage entrance.
Developer Randy Salvatores mixed-use development under construction adjacent to the Government Center was chosen this year as the dorm site out of a pool of 11 other applicants.
Salvatores development, located at 900 Washington Blvd., is only about a block from UConns campus at Broad and Franklin streets.
We are excited that the project is moving forward and look forward to welcoming hundreds of new students into our property and the Stamford downtown community, said Salvatore, president of RMS.
The planned structure will be comprised of 116 units, including 10 studios, 49 single-bedroom units and 57 two-bedrooms, and will house up to 350 students. Amenities include a meeting room, private study rooms and a second-floor lounge.
Each unit will include bedrooms, a kitchen, laundry facilities, bathrooms and a living room.
UConn has agreed to lease the residential portion of the building and most of the parking for 25 years, with options to renew later. Retail space on the ground floor will be retained by developer RMS.
This is wonderful news not just for UConn, but for the city of Stamford, UConn President Susan Herbst said in a statement. This reflects the tremendous demand weve seen for the programs at our Stamford campus, and will give our students in the region the opportunity for a more traditional college experience, while benefiting from all the things Stamford has to offer.
The student housing development received its final city approval last month when the Zoning Board voted unanimously to move the project forward.
UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said the first group of 290 students could move in as soon as the fall 2017 semester.
nora.naughton@scni.com; twitter.com/noranaughton
The League of Women Voters of Connecticut takes seriously its role of looking out for the integrity of the voting and electoral process.
We naturally became concerned when catastrophic budget cuts were proposed for the State Elections Enforcement Commission, the elections watchdog agency set up in the wake of the Gov. John Rowland scandal and charged with the authority to protect the integrity of the electoral process. The SEEC and other watchdog agencies were intentionally given protected budgets for the express purpose of insulating them from political retribution and being made into mere pawns for whatever political authority controlled their budgets at a given time.
A jointly written letter dated July 6 to the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management by the states watchdog agencies SEEC, the Office of State Ethics and the Freedom of Information Commission points out the catastrophic nature of the proposed budget cuts and their apparent illegality. Nevertheless, Secretary Ben Barnes, in his response, nearly a month later, declares the laws protecting those agencies budgets from political attack not germane to his decisions to reduce those budgets. Such a conclusion appears to render the protective laws no more than window dressing, to be disregarded at will by the use of clever rhetoric as a substitute for the intent and purpose of the law. The League of Women Voters of Connecticut urges a prompt review of this issue by the attorney general.
In the same letter, Secretary Barnes attempts to characterize his cuts as insubstantial and claims that the watchdog agencies were not unfairly or disproportionally targeted. The notion of proportionality calls for a comparison of how the holdbacks were distributed. We have reviewed the budget books and observe that the holdbacks to legislatively allocated budgets across all state agencies appear to have been assigned on no more than an arbitrary basis. Holdbacks in personnel budgets of state agencies ranged from a low of .3 percent to a high of 3.67 percent. This yields an average cut of 2.2 percent with a standard deviation of .653. Cuts in other expenses ranged from 1.45 percent to 3.63 percent. These cuts had an average of 1.73 percent with a standard deviation of .32. The correlation between the value of cuts to personnel budgets and Other Expenses budgets was essentially negligible. That is, the budget cuts made under the holdback scheme imposed by Secretary Barnes do not appear to follow any policy purpose or trend other than where he thinks he might be able to reallocate money. Such a process undermines the legislature and expresses precisely the problem the watchdog budget laws were designed to prevent.
While the League of Women Voters of Connecticut is anxious to see our states budget return to full functionality and sustainability, we object to disabling our state watchdog agencies from doing their jobs effectively, robustly, and sustainably. The confidence of the voters in the process and the outcome is at stake.
Dan M. Smolnik is director of government affairs for the League of Women Voters of Connecticut
Recently, we helped a large mechanical contractor turn around its business. And we were successful in taking the company from loss to profit. However, the problem wasn't solved because, before we arrived, the owners had taken out several business and personal loans to keep the company afloat.
Related: If Your Business Flops, It's Probably Due to One of These 7 Causes
As a result, shortly after it started making a profit, the company hit a cash-flow crisis. At first, the owners, couldnt understand why, if they were making money, they had a problem with cash. Further, they wanted to know why they weren't paying down the principle on the loans they had accumulated. Simply put, they wanted to know why they werent making money?
The answer lies in understanding the differences among profit, cash flow and return on investment (ROI). We explained to the owners that their accountant was correct; the company was profitable. The number on the bottom of their income statement was positive. In short: If the revenue you realize each month exceeds the expenses that generated that revenue, you are profitable.
And, this is good. However, it does not necessarily mean that you have positive cash flow.
A business may be very profitable, but if its inventory, accounts receivable and/or fixed assets are growing rapidly, it may not have a positive cash flow. Growing these three accounts requires cash. In the case of our mechanical contractor, the company was growing for the first time in years. The owners were spending cash to buy inventory, among other things. However, these are all balance-sheet accounts that do not immediately affect the income statement. Therefore, they have no impact on profitability.
It is absolutely possible for a business to be profitable and hemorrhaging cash at the same time. Our contractor in fact didnt have cash -- one of the reasons it wasn't able to pay down the balances on its loans. That's why we moved to stem the problem by instituting collection procedures and other processes that helped the contractor manage its crisis, come through this short-term struggle and avoid a future disaster.
If you find that your company is in a similar situation, ask your accountant to analyze your monthly cash flow over the past couple of years. It is possible that your cash is being spent to grow assets. If this isnt the case, we suggest that you have an independent third party do a thorough check for embezzlement.
Weve seen thieves pull amazing stunts to make the books look right on the surface even as they siphon cash out of the business.
Related: 5 Ways To Boost Your Business' Cash Flow
It is also possible to have a profitable business, and even a positive cash flow, but not have a good ROI. While our contractor's actual number was much larger, lets say the owners initially funded the enterprise with a $150,000 investment. Lets also assume that they hadnt put any further cash into the business.
Now, lets assume that their annual profit was $1,500 and that this was also the cash flow. ROI is calculated as: profit divided by investment. So, in our company's case, the ROI would be 1 percent -- hardly an impressive performance. At this rate, it would take 100 years to earn back the original investment. Depending on the specifics of your own business situation, we suggest that you target at least a 10 percent to 20 percent return on investment.
To return to our clients initial question, they are now making money. The business is profitable. The next question is, how profitable? This is often measured by return on sales (ROS) which is calculated as profit divided by sales. The appropriate ROS target is a function of the specific situation, but for many businesses, a 10 percent ROS is a good target (obviously, more is better).
It is important to understand profitability and to make sure that this translates into an acceptable positive cash flow. As a finance expert told us, You cant buy beer with profit; you can only buy beer with cash. Finally, make sure that your ROI is acceptable. If you are achieving your target ROS, but still not getting the ROI you need, the reason is likely that you need to grow your sales without making an additional investment. In other words, you need to improve your asset utilization (sometimes expressed as "sales divided by assets").
Assessing the financial health of your business is not a one-dimensional exercise. However, if your ROS is acceptable, your profit is translating into cash flow and you have a good ROI, you can rest assured that the financial health of your business is good.
Related: 3 Ways to Track the True Value, Not Just Return on Investment, of Your Content Marketing
By the way, our client is on track to be completely debt free in four years. Given the amount of debt he began with, this is a spectacular achievement.
Related:
Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
T he Government today rejected two British firms bids for the East Anglia trains contract, handing a 1.4 billion deal back to the incumbent operator Abellio.
Abellio has overseen the biggest rise in passenger complaints in the UK over the past year.
The Dutch-state operator will run the route from Liverpool Street to Stansted airport, Cambridge and Norwich for the next nine years, after ministers rejected competing bids from London-listed rivals National Express and FirstGroup.
Thats despite Abellios Greater Anglia route attracting 57% more passenger complaints in 2015-16 compared with a year earlier.
Last year, Abellio was also ranked most-complained-about trains operator on Twitter, with 72,861 negative tweets, or one in six of train complaints registered on the social media site.
The operator has promised to cut journey times by 10%, with four daily 90-minute journeys between London and Norwich on weekdays and offer free Wi-fi.
It will also oversee a 1.4 billion investment to add 1040 carriages in trains manufactured by Bombardiers plant in Derby, Britains last trains manufacturing plant, which employs about 1600 people.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling claimed: We are making the biggest investment in the railways since the Victorian era.
But the City pointed out the deal might be a poisoned chalice. Joe Spooner at Jefferies said: Because the East Anglia franchise was bid for ahead of Brexit but [will] be operated in a potentially softer UK economy post the Brexit decision, bidding groups may now be happy to see this franchise awarded to competitors, despite the costs and effort to bid.
Backing up that theory, NatEx and FirstGroups share prices slipped by a penny or less, while normally such contract losses would trigger a double-digit fall for NatEx and a little less for FirstGroup.
Nonetheless, First said it was disappointed not to have been awarded the East Anglia rail franchise.
A s the row erupted around David Camerons plan to give a gong to Vitol boss Ian Taylor last week, most outside the wealthy world of oil trading will have scratched their heads and asked who?
Those in the know, however, were shocked. After all, this was the executive whose oil trading giant has been behind possibly more controversies than even Glencore, that other controversial commodities trader.
From claims of tax avoidance to kickbacks in Iraq, to doing business with a Serbian warlord, on the rare occasions this most private of companies has hit the headlines, it has rarely been in a good way.
As the newspapers began digging up such tales from the past, Conservative donor Taylor wisely requested his name be withdrawn from the honours list.
However, the episode highlighted to an unknowing public just how well-connected Vitol, and Taylor, are.
Because, make no mistake, be it politicians, oil explorers or in the case of Libya anti-Gadaffi militiamen, Vitols connections with anyone who might help it get an oil deal done are unrivalled.
In the industry, this much is well-known. But what is less commonly realised is quite how closely Vitols connections run with the worlds most famous financial trader, the billionaire philanthropist George Soros a man whose interests push hard for clean corporate behaviour.
Vitols links to the Hungarian famed for breaking the Bank of England have been extending dramatically as the company seeks to use deep-pocketed partners to spread its financial risks around the world.
Power play that left workers less than happy Some workers say that the Immingham power plant, one of the biggest of its kind in Europe, has not been the happiest of places to work at since Vitol and Soros took charge. Says one: When Vitol took over three years ago, Ian Taylor came to the site and told us how much better off we would be under the Vitol flag, but it didnt take three months before people started leaving. It is how I imagine working in Victorian times to have been. The management team lord it over everyone and if they could get away with it, wed be doffing caps to them. He adds that the plant is more money-driven and staff contracts have been changed to be more bonus-focused. He also claims that a major failure has been reported to the Health and Safety Executive in the past few weeks. Vitol denies staff are paid commission and says safety is of an industry-leading standard. The incident reported to the HSE did not involve any injuries, it adds. Ownership of the plant is complex, held through multiple companies and a tax-efficient limited liability partnership. But the most recent accounts suggest the takeover has been lucrative, with a 140 million dividend paid in one year alone. The two LLP owners paid just 4.7% tax on profit from those dividends. One Immingham firm reports that 432 million of the plants 502 million turnover came from arms-length energy trading deals with Vitol. Vitol says the complex ownership structure was in place when it bought the plant and denies it was designed to cut its tax bill.
From Africa to Australia and even the UK, Soross Quantum investment fund and Vitol have been quietly striking partnership deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars as part of an apparent push by Vitol to spread its influence beyond its traditional oil trading to other parts of the energy chain.
Take the UK, for example. When the US owner of Lincolnshires vast Immingham Combined Heat and Power plant was looking for an exit in 2013, Vitol stepped in. The price was never disclosed but accounts now put the giant, gas-powered plants value at 733 million.
Vitol bought the operation, and then turned to Soros to take on part of the risk.
The latters Quantum fund now directly owns more than 13% of the installation, and is thought to hold a further stake indirectly through its investment in one of Vitols many offshore subsidiaries, VIP Power Sarl.
Quantums stake in this critical piece of UK energy infrastructure has never been reported.
Five thousand miles away, in Nigeria, Taylor recently completed another major Vitol deal. This time it was for the creation of a huge new company called OVH Energy, which will own some 350 service stations in Nigeria as well as 84,000 tonnes of fuel-storage capacity.
Again, the transaction was worth hundreds of millions of dollars and, again, the identities of its underlying investors are not widely known.
Stock Exchange statements regarding the transaction mentioned Vitols partner in the deal, London-based Helios Investment Partners.
One of the investors in each of Helioss three investment funds is Soross Quantum fund. Vitol says it only dealt with Helios staff, and not Quantum or Soros, on the deal but the connection remains nonetheless. Helios declined to comment.
It was not the first time Soros and Vitol had invested together in Africa. Again in a joint venture with Helios, Vitol bought Shells African downstream oil franchise Vivo Energy, which works in 16 African countries, operating 1650 service stations and supplying jet fuel to airports across the continent.
In Australia, too, Vitol and Soros seem to be working hand in glove. This time, it involves another former Shell business, Viva Energy Australia.
A further massive operation, including more than 900 service stations and a refinery and port in Geelong, it was bought in 2014 for $2.6 billion (2 billion) through the offshore Vitol Investment Partnership in which Taylors operation partners up with a select few wealthy backers.
It is claimed that Soros Quantum is a key one. Vitol would not confirm Soross involvement.
Soros is, of course, a big wheel in the world of corporate transparency. The NGOs backed by his philanthropic organisation Open Society Foundations regularly campaign for businesses to be more transparent, particularly around complex ownership structures that may facilitate tax avoidance or other forms of corruption, largely in poor, mineral-rich countries.
However, you could argue the opaque nature of offshore structures such as those used by Vitol to invest in places like Kazakhstan are precisely the type such initiatives are aimed at countering. Vitol invests in the region partly through a Dutch company called Ingma. It is co-owned by two offshore vehicles, the ownership of which is unclear.
Vitol strenuously denies claims that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, his son-in-law Timur Kulibayev or others owing their positions to them are beneficiaries, but refused to identify who they actually are.
It says the Ingma structure complies with Dutch disclosure rules, and that Vitol complies with anti-bribery and corruption legislation.
Soros himself does not comment on his Quantum funds own investments, and declined to comment for this article.
Which makes one wonder who is the least forthcoming about their business dealings, Soros or Vitol?
I f youve been watching the Olympics this weekend, you may have spotted red, circular bruises decorating many of the athletes and wondered: What is that?
Most notably, US swimmer Michael Phelps was spotted with large red marks on his shoulders and back as he took to the pool for the mens 200m butterfly.
What are the red marks?
Theyre not artfully applied war paint, nor are they the result of a paintball injury - they are the result of a Chinese practice called cupping, which involves placing heated cups on the skin.
How is cupping administered?
The therapy can be performed in different ways, but traditionally, the practice involves placing a burning cotton bud inside a glass cup.
Once the flame extinguishes, the drop in temperature creates suction which sticks the cups to the patient's skin when they are applied to an area of the body.
The suction, which typically lasts for a few minutes, promotes blood flow by pulling the skin away from the body, leaving large red spots. These marks are likely to last two or three days.
Undergoing traditional cupping treatment in Hong Kong / Getty
What are the benefits of cupping?
Cupping is thought to draw blood to the affected area, reducing soreness and speeding healing of overworked muscles - hence the popularity with athletes.
Its also thought to keep injury at bay and speed recovery.
US gymnast Alexander Naddour told USA Today that it is "the secret that I have had through this year that keeps me healthy," adding that "it's been better than any money I've spent on anything else."
However, there is limited scientific research to back up the purported benefits of the alternative therapy.
The technique, which Michael Phelps has praised over Instagram, has not undergone clinical trials, so there is no real way of establishing whether results are due to a placebo effect.
Rachel Vreeman, MD, director of research at the Indiana University Center for Global Health and co-author of a series of books on medical myths told Health.com that we should be sceptical.
Michael Phelps in numbers
She said: "There are no health benefits to cupping documented in the scientific literature.
The only study I have seen ... with any impact related to cupping is one that rigorously examined various therapies for back pain, and suggested that any impact from cupping was likely related to a placebo effect."
Where to watch the Rio Olympics in London 1 /13 Where to watch the Rio Olympics in London Rio Lounge at the Brazil Embassy 14-16 Cockspur St, SW1Y, londres.itamaraty.gov.br
A very interesting one: just off Trafalgar Square sit the Embassy of Brazil. While usually inaccessible for most of us, they're opening up their doors to the public to screen much of what's on. It'll be open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 7 pm. Regent's Place Regents Place, NW1, regentsplace.com
Regent's place is going all out with a Brazilian style opening carnival and a host of activities, which include an assault course, an adults sports day and clearly the highlight a mini golf tournament. Exchange Square Broadgate, EC2A, broadgate.co.uk
The Viramundo band and dancers will be keeping everyone in carnival spirits, while all the sports will be on screen throughout the two weeks. The Scoop Queen's Walk, SE1, lbcsummerfestival.com
One to head to as it's this years Official Fanzone. Being by the Thames makes it a picturesque spot to enjoy what's on, and they'll be hosting a few sporting events too, for those who who feel they've got an inner Olympian that simply must come out. Wiki Commons/The Car Spy Beach East Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, E20, beacheast.co.uk
Beach East calls the Queen Elizabeth Olympic park home, so it's an appropriate spot to watch the games. The beach is bigger this year than last, so there's little risk of overcrowding, even during the games. Though you sadly can't take a picnic in this summer, there are plenty of food and drink stalls for those feeling peckish. St Katharine's Dock St Katharine Marina, 50 St Katharine's Way, E1W, skdocks.co.uk
From 10.30am until 8pm daily, big screens will show the games for the free. St Katharine's Dock is full of restaurants and bars, should you need refreshing between matches. Bluebird 350 King's Road, Chelsea, SW3, bluebird-restaurant.co.uk
This top Chelsea restaurant will be screening the matches throughout the games. Bluebird is the kind of place to come if you're in the mood for a serving of champagne and nibbles with your sport. Canada Square Park Canada Square Park, E14, canarywharf.com
Throughout the games, this Canary Wharf spot will be screening the all the games for free. If you're hungry, pop by nearby restaurants Roka, SticksnSushi and The Parlour. Merchant Square Harbet Rd, Paddington, W2, merchantsquare.co.uk
Everyday throughout the games, you'll be able to enjoy the games on the big screen for free. While London can't rival Copacabana beach, at least here you'll have the Thames nearby. Paddington Central Sheldon Square, W2, paddingtoncentral.com
As well as daily screenings, the Paddington Central offering is picking up on what the games are, at least partly, about: physical excellence and well-being. Expect to see the nearby restaurants offering health snacks and bites to eat.
Does it hurt?
Although cupping does involve small breaks in the surface of the skin that can be slightly uncomfortable the sensation is very short lived and quite minimal - it often looks worse than it feels.
Does it actually work?
David Colquhoun, professor of pharmacology at University College London told The Independent that cupping doesnt give athletes an advantage over their opponents.
He said: "Not at all. If anything they'll have a slight disadvantage because they're wasting time getting cupped."
Basically there is no medical evidence to back up the benefits of cupping.
But if its helped Michael Phelps clinch his 19th Olympic Gold medal, it cant do any harm to try ahead of your next swimming session.
Follow us on Twitter: @eslifeandstyle
T he mother of a teenage carer stabbed to death by a knife-wielding gang today begged for help to catch his killers.
Andrew Oteng-Owusu, 19, was found by his mother Tina Ababio crying out for help as he lay dying on his own doorstep in Sharratt Street, Bermondsey, with blood pouring from a leg wound.
He had been stabbed around 50 yards from his family home, close to Millwalls Den stadium, in an apparent ambush and staggered upstairs to their first-floor balcony.
Neighbours on his estate rushed to give him first aid before he was taken to Kings College Hospital at 11.40pm on Wednesday. He underwent emergency surgery but died 12 hours later.
A week on from the murder, detectives say they aware not aware of any motive for the murder of the gentle giant who had never been in trouble with police. Nobody has been arrested in connection with the killing.
'Gentle giant': Victim Andrew Oteng-Owusu / Metropolitan Police
Mrs Ababio, who is on dialysis, said: I dont know who would be capable of taking his life.
Andrew was a very gentle, humble and polite young man, helpful to everyone he knew, especially in the neighbourhood.
He was a wonderful carer for me and my only child and loved by everyone who knew him because of his nature.
Detective Inspector Mick Norman, leading the murder inquiry, said: Andrew had not been in trouble with the police before and there are few clues as to why this might have happened.
What we do know is that he was stabbed on the other side of the estate, at the junctions of Hornshay Street and Lovelinch Close.
He then staggered home where he banged on the front door before collapsing.
We are appealing for any witnesses or anyone with any information, no matter how small, to please come forward.
In particular we are very keen to trace a young black man who, after the stabbing, walked with Andrew to the block of flats where he lived.
He is aged in his late teens or early to mid-20s and was wearing a white T-shirt. If you can help, please approach us in confidence.
Mr Oteng-Owusu was a former pupil at St Thomas the Apostle Catholic College in Peckham.
A post-mortem examination held at Greenwich Mortuary gave his cause of death as a single stab wound.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the incident room at Lewisham police station on 020 8721 4961 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
P olice are hunting a thug who knocked a commuter unconscious after bumping into him at a London train station.
The 22-year-old traveller was punched repeatedly before being kicked as he fell to the floor.
British Transport Police said the attack was only stopped when a worker at Harrow on the Hill station rushed to help.
The attacker, who had already argued with a group of men on the station stairs, launched his assault after bumping into the man at the ticket area, police say.
Following the attack, the man was left unconscious and received cuts, bruises and a broken cheek bone.
Police have now released CCTV images of a man they want to trace in connection with the July 24 incident, which happened just before 2pm.
Assault: A 22-year-old man was punched unconscious / British Transport Police
Detective Constable Chris Church said: This was a seemingly unprovoked assault and it is important this violent individual is brought to justice.
He added: I would also like to thank the brave member of staff who intervened and stopped the man attacking this victim.
Had he have not done that, the injuries could have been far worse.
Anyone with information can text police on 61016 or call 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 204 of 9/8/2016, or ring Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
A former Catholic priest and childrens home worker who committed 27 sex crimes against 13 children across parts of London has been jailed for 12 years.
Philip Temple, 66, sexually assaulted a number of boys and one girl in his care between 1971 and 1977 when he worked for Lambeth and Wandsworth councils.
He then became a priest and served at Christ the King Monastery, Vita Et Pax in Cockfosters, where he abused two children, including an altar boy.
The abuse took place in Temple's bedrooms at three care homes and in children's bedrooms, dormitories and bathrooms after he became ordained, the court heard.
Temple ordered several children to keep quiet about the abuse, telling one victim he was "special" and another that it was "our little secret", the court heard.
He bribed at least one boy, described by a social worker as "Philip's favourite", with sweets for his silence.
In a statement read out in court, one victim said: "I feel like I have been robbed of my childhood and sometimes when I see other children in the street I wish I could go back in time and be a child again."
Mitigating, Lee Sergent said Temple was aware "all the apologies in the world won't make things right.
Temple, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to 20 counts of non-recent sexual assault at Croydon Crown Court on Wednesday, April 6 and admitted seven further counts at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday.
He also admitted two counts of perjury during two trials in 1998 and 1999 which resulted in his acquittal at the Croydon hearing.
Judge Christopher Hehir branded Temple a wolf in shepherds clothing as he jailed him for 12 years at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday.
He also said he viewed Temples move to become ordained as an aggravating factor in his crimes.
Judge Hehir said the offences spanned "two distinct phases" of Temples life: when he worked at three care homes from 1971 and 1977, and between 1993 and 1999, after he was ordained.
Temple did not react as the judge ordered officers to "send him down.
Judge Hehir personally apologised to a victim who was abused as a teenager when Temple was a priest.
He told the victim he was sorry justice was not done during previous trials in 1998 and 1999.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court he smoked, drank heavily, self-harmed, rarely ate and became a recluse after the previous trials, culminating in a suicide attempt.
He said he had seen Temple as a father figure and had even given him a Father's Day card one year.
A Nigerian mother who paid a man 1,000 to pose as her newborn babys father in a bid to dodge deportation was caught out by online pictures of the real dad cradling his son at a naming ceremony, a court heard.
Faust Abolore, 29, allegedly hired Anthony Ezekpo, 44, in a plot to gain British citizenship, using his name on the babys birth certificate and a subsequent passport application.
She claimed they lived together at a bogus address in Chandlers Drive in Erith in an attempt to fool Greenwich council officials.
But Inner London crown court heard the babys real father, Nigerian national Peter Gentry, was photographed at the naming ceremony, on September 15, 2014, in the role of the doting dad.
On trial: Anthony Ezekpo, left, allegedly gave false information in using his name on the babys birth certificate. Right, Samson Awoyinka is accused of making a false statement in counter-signing a passport application / Tony Palmer/Square Mile News
Ezekpo actually lives on the outskirts of Newcastle, and Abolore wired 1,000 to his bank account the day the birth certificate was signed, jurors heard.
He was enlisted as part of a fraudulent scheme to get British citizenship for her to remain in the UK, said prosecutor Adam Gardner.
A man turned up with her at council offices in Greenwich to register the birth and get a birth certificate. The man putting himself forward as the father was not Mr Gentry but Mr Ezekpo, and they both said they lived together.
Abolore gave birth to her son at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich on August 6, 2014, and a photo on her phone shows Mr Gentry cradling the newborn child.
They were living together in Columbus Square, Erith, having entered the UK illegally, the court heard, and Abolore was facing deportation.
Once she had the birth certificate with Ezekpos name on it, she submitted a passport application signed by Ezekpo and counter-signed by Samson Awoyinka, 29, it is alleged.
Mr Awoyinka said he knew Mr Ezekpo for five years from his church congregation, said Mr Gardner.
This was not true, he barely knew the man. He then admitted he signed the passport application and went to Greenwich.
Abolore, who was arrested in September last year, refused to consent to a paternity test.
She had a great deal to hide, said the prosecutor. She knew if she gave consent to the DNA test it would reveal the truth that Mr Ezekpo was not the father and her application for a passport and birth certificate were all lies.
Abolore, of Colombus Square, Erith, and Ezekpo, of Litchfield Street, Winlaton, Gateshead, deny conspiracy to breach immigration law and giving false information when registering a birth. Abolore also denies seeking leave to remain in the UK by deception.
Awoyinka, of Havil Street, Southwark, denies making a false statement.
The trial continues.
A motorcyclist has died after a collision with a car on a busy main road during the morning rush hour in west London.
Emergency services rushed to the scene after the biker was involved in a collision with a vehicle in Roehampton shortly after 7am.
Police and paramedics battled to save the man, whose age is not known, but he was pronounced dead at the scene in Roehampton lane.
Pictures from the scene show firefighters, police and an ambulance crew inside a cordon not far from Queen Marys Hospital.
Officers said the driver of the car was not injured, stopped at the scene and is assisting police with their enquiries.
The motorbike and car collided at the junction with Upper Richmond Road and Clarence Lane at about 7.20am.
A Met Police spokesman said the man's next of kin have yet to be informed.
Officers await a post-mortem examination and formal identification.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact police on 101.
T his is the moment police confront a knife-wielding attacker on the streets of south London after he stabbed a man in the chest.
Hoa Duc Nguyen was confronted by officers armed with Tasers after he knifed a 25-year-old man and chased him down Victoria Road in Surbiton.
Minutes later, police found Nguyen nearby, clad in a red jacket and standing calmly next to a group of people who had no idea what he had just done.
But, as police tried to arrest him, Nguyen began swinging the knife in their direction.
Brave: Police confront the armed man / Kingston police
Dramatic footage from the scene in March showed him refusing to drop the blade before a Taser brought him to the floor.
On August 5, the 39-year-old, of no fixed address, was sentenced to 20 months in prison after admitting GBH and possession of a bladed article.
Speaking afterwards, PC Paolo Resteghini, from Kingston CID, said: I would like to praise the bravery of the victim.
He defended himself from the attacker and, despite being injured, ran away - a decision that I believe saved him from further injury.
During the investigation he was able to provide me with outstanding evidence which I have no doubt led to Hoa Duc pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity.
I would also like to praise the bravery of my response team colleagues. They went into danger and were able to detain the suspect before any further incidents took place.
T wo women have been arrested by Scotland Yard detectives over an alleged scam involving airside security passes at Heathrow.
The two women, aged 20 and 24, are both thought to work at the airport and were held after police investigating fraud uncovered the suspected misuse of the passes.
Scotland Yard declined to give further details but Heathrow said that it had taken appropriate action.
The Department of Transport said that it was also aware of this issue and that airport security was kept constantly under review to protect the public.
The incident, revealed by Sky News, is not thought to involve the illegal sale or cloning of passes, but will inevitably raise concerns that any weaknesses could be exploited by terrorists or other criminals.
The alleged scam was discovered after a fraud investigation was launched at the airport two weeks ago. The two women were arrrested on suspicion of fraud and money laundering.
Airside passes are issued to many of Heathrows 70,000 workers and can give access to areas of the airport where luggage and cargo is loaded onto planes as well as other sensitive security areas.
Those given the passes are forced to undergo strict vetting and include flight crews, shop and restaurant staff, baggage handlers and those working with cargo or in aircraft hangers.
Scotland Yard confirmed the arrests and said that the two women had been released on bail until November.
A spokesman added: They have been arrested in relation to an allegation that money has been fraudulently taken from a bank account. Other matters have come to light during the enquiries and form part of the ongoing investigation.
Heathrow said it was unable to comment on the specifics but had taken appropriate action while the police probe continued.
The Department for Transport said: We are aware of this issue. Safety and security of passengers is our priority
We keep aviation security under constant review, but as this matter is the subject of an ongoing police investigation we are unable to comment further at this time.
A plane was forced to make a priority landing at Heathrow this morning after a passenger became ill during the flight.
The British Airways flight from Denver was brought straight in by air traffic controllers, pushing all the waiting planes backwards in the queue.
The pilots of flight BA218, a Boeing 747, made the priority landing request while flying over the Irish Sea.
The flight was met by medical teams at the terminal when it landed at 11:30am.
A British Airways spokesman said: "The pilots requested medical services to meet the flight, after a customer became unwell on board."
T hirty-five firefighters battled a large blaze at a converted house in Hampstead this morning.
A five room flat on the fourth floor of a Fitzjohns Avenue building caught light shortly before 10.15am, with smoke pouring from the roof.
Around half the flat was damaged while the roof was also badly damaged in the blaze.
Passer-by Joe Anderson said one elderly woman who had difficulty walking needed to be helped from the building as the fire began.
Blaze: Six fire engines are at the scene / Joe Anderson
He said: "At first people were standing just idly underneath the building with children, prams and dogs.
"A colleague of mine went over to tell them they should move away.
"One of those underneath was an elderly man who said his wife was still inside.
"She was the old lady who had to be helped out."
Emergency: Fire crews say the roof caught light / London Fire Brigade
He added: "There was a lot of smoke coming from the building, mainly out of the top skylight."
Six fire engines dealt with the incident, which was brough under control shortly after 12.55pm.
Station manager, Winston Douglas, said: "When the initial crews arrived they were faced with a challenging and rapidly developing fire which had spread to the roof of the building.
"Thanks to aggressive firefighting, and despite difficult conditions, our crews managed to confine the fire to the flat where it had started and stop it from spreading to neighbouring homes in the building."
Pictures from the scene showed a string of engines queued up on the leafy street, where flats can fetch more than 1.5 million.
A nightclub worker has died in hospital two days after being caught in a ferocious blaze which tore through the venue he loved, it emerged today.
Friends today said Tomas Ceidukas had been helping to rescue others trapped inside Studio 338, near the O2 in Greenwich, after it was engulfed by flames at noon on Monday.
Tributes were have been paid to the 28-year-old, with club managers saying: Our hearts are smashed and broken.
Mr Ceidukas, who moved to London from Lithuania five years ago to work in music events, lost his fight for life in hospital at around 8pm yesterday.
Greenwich Gas Works on Fire
In a statement, the club said: Tomas fought for as long as he could given the extent of his injuries. He was as strong as an ox but it was too much even for him.
Rescue bid: Emergency services take a man away from the scene of the fire in Greenwich
Colleagues released a picture of Mr Ceidukas, taken on the beach in Ibiza during a holiday for staff and their families last summer, saying: He was the happiest guy on the island.
But instead of spending his time off clubbing he stayed with the family and played with the kids by the pool, always making sure everyone was having a great holiday, helping with the food and generally just being Tomas.
He was so pure and beautiful. An inspiration to us all, always positive, never complaining, working through the night to make sure the parties were the best they could be.
We are all so devastated to lose him like this.
Inferno: Flames engulfed the club in Greenwich (Patrick Swift ) / Patrick Swift
Close friend Tiesiog Grecius said she had been told Mr Ceidukas had helped escort people from the burning club, which had recently udergone a major refurbishment, before becoming trapped as black smoke and flame enveloped the building.
She told the Standard: He was a help for everyone. That was the kind of guy he was, so brave.
Club regular Lara Vermont wrote on the venues Facebook page: His last moments were spent saving a place that he probably loved.
We will be back in Studio 338 and when we are, we will be back for Tomas. In the months to come, we will not forget.
The blaze tore through the nightclub in Greenwich (Patrick Swift ) / Patrick Swift
Clubber Marcus William Donnelly added: RIP you poor soul, you gave your life to save others. God bless your soul.
Mr Ceidukas, who lived in east London, grew up with his large family in Lithuanias second city Kaunas, and began working at the Ibiza-style superclub in November 2013.
Raminta Vizbaraite, who had known him since he was six, told the Standard: Im heartbroken, Im devastated and I cannot express my pain. I lost my childhood friend in such a horrific death.
London's Air Ambulance attempts to land near to the scene of a huge fire in Greenwich / @Tunny82/Twitter
He was such a positive person with such a good heart. Like everyone he came to London for better money and a better life.
Mr Ceidukas was rescued by firefighters using breathing apparatus soon after they arrived at the blaze at the 3,000-capacity club. He was airlifted to hospital suffering from serious burns.
Detectives from Greenwich CID are investigating the cause of the fire along with the Health and Safety Executive and the London Fire Brigade, No cause has yet been found.
Fourteen people were arrested on Monday on suspicion of arson but released without charge shortly afterwards.
Anyone with information is asked to call the police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
L ondon firefighters rushed to a field for an unlikely callout - after a combine harvester went up in flames.
The farm vehicle caught light yesterday at around 2pm on a field in beside Crockenhill Road, sending black smoke billowing across the Orpington area.
Fire fire engines were dispatched to deal with the flames, made worse after around 10 tonnes of wood chippings caught light.
Walter Dunlop said: "Something happening in Orpington tonight down by the park. Ambulance, police, fire service, helicopter as well. No idea what's going on."
A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade said the blaze was under control by 3.45pm.
The cause of the fire is currently unknown.
D onald Trump ignited a political firestorm after appearing to suggest gun rights activists could assassinate Hillary Clinton.
The Republican presidential nominee said gun rights supporters might still find a way to stop his opponent if she should defeat him and name anti-gun Supreme Court judges.
Democratic Party members accused the billionaire Republican of openly encouraging violence against his election opponent.
But his campaign rushed out a statement blaming reporters for suggesting he had urged attacks on his rival.
He claimed that Mrs Clinton wanted to "essentially abolish the Second Amendment" - despite her repeatedly saying that she supports the right to own guns but backs some stricter controls.
Hillary Clinton speaks to supporters in Florida / REUTERS/Chris Keane
Mr Trump then noted the power Mrs Clinton would have to nominate justices to the US's top court.
"By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people - maybe there is, I don't know," Mr Trump told supporters at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina.
"But I'll tell you what. That will be a horrible day."
Mrs Clintons campaign manager Robby Mook said: "This is simple - what Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way."
But Mr Trump reacted by saying: "Give me a break."
He told Fox News that everyone in his audience knew he was referring to the power of voters and "there can be no other interpretation".
Mr Trumps running mate, Indiana governor Mike Pence, said his boss was talking about the election choice for pro-gun voters, not encouraging violence.
But Mr Trump's foes were unconvinced and unforgiving.
Tim Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, said: "I think it was just revealing and I don't find the attempt to roll it back persuasive at all."
Priorities USA, a committee supporting Mrs Clinton, said Mr Trump had "suggested that someone shoot Hillary Clinton".
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which has also endorsed her, said Mr Trump was encouraging gun violence "based on conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton".
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, tweeted: "@realDonaldTrump makes death threats because he's a pathetic coward who can't handle the fact that he's losing to a girl."
A n outspoken Labour MP has taken a swipe at her own party after it selected four male mayoral candidates.
In a series of tweets, Jess Phillips suggested female Labour members could "serve the tea" to male politicians.
Her comments came after the party announced Steve Rotheram would be their Liverpool mayoral candidate.
Mr Rotheram joins Bristol candidate Marvin Rees, Manchesters candidate Andy Burnham, Sion Samuels in the West Midlands and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan in an all-male cast.
Ms Phillips tweeted after Mr Rotheram's selection: "All the mayors can go an actual man date now. We can serve the tea.
Make space for a woman. We are not furniture."
So @jeremycorbyn when I asked months ago if we could meet to talk about equality in mayoral race. Do you think should have met me?
But Ms Phillips' views were not echoed by other female Labour MPs, with Diane Abbott and Angela Eagle tweeting their congratulations to the candidates.
Ms Phillips, who is MP for Birmingham Yardley, has been an outspoken critic of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party.
In June, she was involved in a heated argument with Mr Corbyn's strategy chief Seumas Milne after she claimed to have been threatened by supporters of the Labour leader.
The party has been hit with accusations of bullying and sexism in recent months.
Jeremy Corbyn was also criticised last year for male appointments to senior posts in the shadow cabinet.
The Evening Standard has approached the Labour Party for comment.
T he father of foreign secretary Boris Johnson has called for cruel halal meat to be either labelled or banned.
Stanley Johnson, a former Conservative MEP, author and journalist, wrote in the Independent that he would be happy to see halal meat excluded from the UK after leaving the EU.
Currently, there is a religious exception to the EUs 2009 Slaughter Regulation requiring all animals to be stunned before slaughter.
This allows for halal meat, a market worth 2.6bn in Britain alone, to be killed by hand without being stunned first.
Mr Johnson said: I dont believe that religious convictions, however deeply held, justify unnecessary cruelty to animals.
I would be happy to see specific UK legislation, drafted to replace the EU Slaughter Directive, explicitly preclude the religious exemption from pre-stunning requirements.
He claimed that most people eat halal meat on a daily basis without realising, as it is sold unlabelled in major supermarkets and outlets.
Mr Johnson, holder of the RSPCAs Richard Martin Award for Outstanding Services to Animal Welfare, argued that Britain leaving the EU might allow the government to at least implement a national labelling scheme.
If the consumer actually knows what he or she is buying, we would I believe in very short order see a major reduction of halal products without at the same time offending the sensibilities of religious groups, he said.
Well-judged post-Brexit action by the UK in the field of animal welfare and the environment may act as a spur and a stimulus to our continental, but no longer-EU, partners to up their own game.
Last week, Ukip leadership candidate Bill Etheridge said that he would call for a ban on kosher and halal meat if he becomes the partys next leader.
T his is the first picture of a four-year-old boy who died after an incident in the swimming pool of a luxury holiday park in Cumbria.
The boys heartbroken father has paid an emotional tribute to his "little angel".
Gavin Hurle posted a moving message alongside photographs of his son on Facebook.
It read: "Rip my little Angel daddy loves you so much xxxx."
Luca, from South Gloucestershire, was rushed to hospital in a critical condition on Monday.
He was transferred to Liverpool's Alder Hey Hospital but later died.
The circumstanced around his death are not yet clear but loved ones claim he drowned in the pool at Old Park Wood holiday park in Grange-over-Sands.
A JustGiving page has been set up to raise 2,000 for Luca's family following his death. Nearly 500 has been raised so far.
Sophie Wheeler, who set up the appeal, wrote: "Little four year old Luca drowned while on holiday with his family.
"You can show your support to Luca's family by donating to help celebrate his life. Taken too soon. Sleep tight angel x."
'Little angel': Luca Hurle, 4, died following an incident at a luxury holiday park in Cumbria (Gavin Hurle/Facebook ) / Gavin Hurle/Facebook
Friends of Mr Hurle have paid tribute to Luca on social media.
Linda Woodhead wrote: "Absolutely heart breaking Gav, so sorry for your loss, much love to you and your family RIP little fella."
Joanne Cole wrote: "I'm so sorry to hear about your horrendous news. I can't even imagine what you are all going through right now. Everyone's here for you and you'll all be in our thoughts tonight. Xx."
Yvonne Vobes added: "I cannot even imagine what you are going though. Thinking of you and sending thoughts and prayers to you and all.
"I have no words but please know we are here for you and sending our love at this difficult time. XxxxxX."
It is understood Luca was staying with his family in a lodge on the site, described on its website as "a luxury, private holiday park" set within the grounds of the Holker Estate.
Cumbria Police confirmed on Tuesday that the boy had died.
In a statement, the force said: "Police can confirm that the four-year-old boy involved in this incident has sadly died.
"Detectives are continuing to investigate the incident but the death is not being treated as suspicious.
"Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time."
It is understood the boy was staying with his family at a lodge on the site, described on its website as "a luxury, private holiday park" set within the grounds of the Holker Estate.
An indoor heated swimming pool is available to guests at Old Park Wood.
A park spokesman said: "Our thoughts are with the boy and his family at this time."
T wo flights have landed safely after bomb alerts were reported on board planes bound for Brussels, Belgian media reports.
Fears were radio-ed to the ground shortly before 7pm.
Belgian prosecutors launched an investigation but concluded there was no concrete threat, said broadcaster RTBF.
One of the flights touched down at Brussels Zaventem airport, the site of an Islamic State terrorist atrocity earlier this year.
The other landed in Toulouse, France, RTBF said.
Belgium has been on high alert since three co-ordinated terror strikes plotted by Islamic State claimed the lives of 32 people in Brussels on March 22 this year.
T he daughter of Martin Luther King today led a backlash against Donald Trump amid claims he implied someone should shoot Hillary Clinton.
Bernice King, whose father was shot dead in 1968, said the Republican presidential candidates remarks were disturbing and dangerous.
Mr Trump made the comments in North Carolina while discussing the possibility of Mrs Clinton, the Democratic candidate, appointing liberal judges to the Supreme Court. This could allow for a reinterpretation of the Constitution and the Second Amendment the right, upheld by gun rights supporters, to bear arms.
He told the rally at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington: Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment.
Trump implies that Clinton should be assassinated
"By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know.
In a video of the speech, a man behind him is left open-mouthed. The main political group backing Mrs Clinton quickly sent out a message saying: Donald Trump just suggested someone shoot Hillary Clinton.
Mr Trumps aides said he was telling gun rights supporters to vote to ensure Mrs Clinton did not win and in an interview later with Fox News, he said: There can be no other interpretation. I mean, give me a break.
Mrs Clintons campaign manager said: A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way.
Slammed: Bernice King hit out at the Republican candidate's comments
Ms King, 53, tweeted: As the daughter of a leader who was assassinated, I find Trumps comments distasteful, disturbing, dangerous.
Even Paul Ryan, the House speaker and most powerful Republican in Congress said it sounded like a joke gone bad. The US Secret Service was also drawn into the controversy, saying it was aware of the comments.
The new row comes after the worst period in Mr Trumps campaign, with polls giving Mrs Clinton a 10-point lead. This month, he has urged Russia to spy on his rival and insulted the family of a dead Muslim American war hero after they criticised him.
Mrs Clinton leads the billionaire in three swing states, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Iowa, which he has to win to stand a chance of clinching the White House.
Even Utah, which has not voted Democrat since the 1960s, could choose Mrs Clinton over Mr Trump because the largely Mormon population are offended by him, polls show.
A police officer accidentally shot a 73-year-old woman dead during a "roleplay" firearms training exercise.
Mary Knowlton was one of two members of the public taking part in a community event in Florida last night who were randomly selected for a shoot/dont shoot scenario.
The exercise was aimed at helping people make decisions on using lethal force.
Witnesses said Knowlton was playing the victim in the exercise when she was shot with live ammunition by a police officer, who was playing a bad guy.
Knowlton, a librarian, later died in Lee Memorial Hospital, Fort Myers.
Ms Knowlton died in hospital / WFLA
Punta Gorda Police have not released the identity of the officer or the circumstances of how the woman was shot.
Describing the shooting as a horrible accident, Police chief Tom Lewis said: I am devastated for everyone involved in this unimaginable event.
If you pray, please pray for Marys family, and for the officers involved. Everyone involved in this accident is in a state of overwhelming shock and grief.
Knowlton was one of 35 members of the public participating in the two hour event held by Punta Gorda Police.
Police confirmed the investigation into the shooting had been taken over by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The officer involved has been placed on administrative leave pending the result of the investigation.
T he father of a Google employee found dead and stripped naked after going for a jog has issued an appeal to track down her killer.
John Marcotte, 64, has spoken out about the pain of losing his only child Vanessa, 27, in a horrible set of circumstances.
He said: How can anything ever be alright again when your only child has been horribly murdered?
I ask people to pray that whoever did this is caught. She was the best kid in the world.
She was 100 per cent into her job. She graduated top of her class. She knew how smart she was.
Ms Marcotte, who worked for Google in New York City, was last seen at 1pm on Sunday when she went for a run in the woods near her mothers house in Massachusetts.
Her body was found by police with sniffer dogs at 8pm the same day, with burns on her hands and feet. Police are also investigating a sexual assault.
District Attorney Joseph Early said: People should be concerned, we are asking them to use an abundance of caution.
Much-loved: Ms Marcotte worked for Google in New York City and enjoyed sports
We have a horrible set of facts, horrible set of circumstances and we are going to do everything we can to make sure that this investigation is carried out.
A Google spokesman said: Vanessa Marcotte was a much-loved member of the Google team, working in our New York office for the last year and a half, and known for her ubiquitous smile, passion for volunteer work and love of Boston sports.
We are deeply shocked and saddened, and our thoughts are with her family and friends.
It comes just a week after a similar murder in New York City, where Karina Vetrano, 30, was found sexually assaulted and strangled near her home after going for a run.
Her mother Cathy had a message for the fugitive killer at a press conference on Sunday, stating: I guarantee you you will pay forever.
Mr Early said there is nothing at this point to connect the murder to that of Ms Vetrano last week, who was also killed while jogging near her home in Queens, New York.
T hese photos depicting the same locations a year apart are a dramatic illustration of Europes migrant crisis.
They show key spots on the migrant trail across the continent during the autumn of 2015 - when numbers making the journey were at that their peak - compared with how the locations look now.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants fled Syria, Africa and Afghanistan to travel through Turkey and the Balkans towards Germany, France and other EU states in September and October last year.
In distressing images from the time, crowds of desperate refugees huddle together on roads and train tracks as they made their way out of Serbia.
Loading....
But in the new photos the once crowded spots have become completely unrecognisable country roads and deserted railway lines.
Loading....
The site of an empty road near the Serbian village of Berkasova (above) is a far-cry from shocking scenes of families thronging the tarmac in October 2015.
Loading....
A deserted railway line surrounded by lush green fields at Croatias Tovarnik station is a world away from dramatic scenes pictured as crowds of migrants battled to board a train in September last year.
Loading....
Shocking images showed volunteers in hazmat suits and masks clearing up waste left by migrants at the same station.
Loading....
Another showed a group of men sat cross-legged by a fire on the tracks.
Loading....
Emotional images also depict a woman sat on a gravestone in Tovarnik while others clad in plastic rain macs stood around the rubbish-strewn cemetery. A year on all evidence of the visitors had been cleared away.
C hristopher Nolans Dunkirk trailer has been ruined by a smiling extra.
The smirking soldier has distracted eagle-eyed fans from the drama in the first look at the hotly anticipated WWII blockbuster.
The one minute clip shows thousands of soldiers cowering on a boat as they face impending death from an incoming of German bombers.
The group react in horror as they attempt to take cover but one man appears to look happy as he joins his comrades on the ground.
Fans hit out at the extra with some accusing him of looking as though he was unaware of what was going on while others branded him the worst extra ever.
One fan posted: "I would have liked that Dunkirk teaser even more if it weren't for that happy extra at the end."
Another wrote: That one guy in the Dunkirk trailer just sort of enjoying himself, almost smiling at the end.
A third commented: Dunkirk extra looking positively delighted about prospect of being bombed by Nazis."
Tom Hardy, Harry Styles, Mark Rylance, Cillian Murphy and Sir Kenneth Branagh are absent from the trailer which features a group of the 1,500 extras who were employed to recreate Operation Dynamo on the beaches of Dunkirk.
The film will mark Styles' first foray into acting, and co-star Rylance said he is "shaping up".
The Oscar winning actor told the Evening Standard: No, he doesnt need tips. He is shaping up.
I didnt know anything about him really other than my 12-year-old niece played me a music video. She adores him. There are girls all over the place trying to get to him he is one handsome fella with an incredible smile and eyes.
Whats really surprised me is hes really witty, really funny he really makes me laugh. Hes been ever so brave, not making any fuss.
Nolan is the second director to recreate the evacuation of 300,000 Allied troops after Leslie Norman's 1958 film of the same name which starred John Mills, Richard Attenborough, Bernard Cribbins and Robert Urquhart.
Dunkirk is set for UK cinema release in summer 2017.
Follow @StandardEnts for more entertainment news.
E d Sheeran is facing a new copyright lawsuit over his song Thinking Out Loud.
Heirs of the composer for Marvin Gayes Lets Get It On are claiming that Sheerans chart-topping song copies core elements of the 1973 classic.
The lawsuit has been filed by the heirs of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the lyrics to Gayes well-known track and created its musical composition.
Filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, the lawsuit asks for damages to be assessed at a jury trial.
The Defendants copied the heart of Let's and repeated it continuously throughout Thinking, the court papers claim.
The melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic compositions of Thinking are substantially and/or strikingly similar to the drum composition of Let's.
Thinking Out Loud was hit in the UK and the US when it was release back in 2014, reaching number one on the UK singles chart.
It was also the first song to spend a full year inside the top 40 and the first to be streamed 500 million times on Spotify.
A separate lawsuit has been filed against Sheeran for $20 million over his single Photograph, which songwriters Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard allege is note-for-note the same as Matt Cardles 2012 song, Amazing.
Evening Standard Online has contacted Sheerans representatives for comment.
H omeland actor and Pulitzer prize-winning dramatist Tracy Letts today told how he had not felt like a playwright until his work was performed in the capital and longs to return to the London stage.
The writer of August: Osage County, Killer Joe and Bug, which was revived in a sold-out production starring James Norton and Kate Fleetwood at Found 111 in March, plans to bring his latest show, Mary Page Marlowe, to London following a New York run.
Letts, 51, said: The city [London] has been so important in my development as an artist.
"When I wrote Killer Joe in 1993, it was quite successful in Chicago, but it wasnt until it came to London at the Bush, and then the West End, that I really felt like a playwright for the first time in my life.
Bug premiered at the Gate Theatre [1996] and when August came to the National Theatre [2008], I was here for the entirety of the run because I wanted to absorb the whole experience.
Letts, the only person to win both a Tony award as an actor in 2013 for Whos Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? and a Pulitzer prize as a playwright, for August: Osage County in 2008, is next on screen in Wiener-Dog, released on Friday.
Written and directed by Todd Solondz and starring Danny DeVito, Ellen Burstyn, Greta Gerwig and Julie Delpy, it is a black comedy about a dachshund and its owners.
Letts joked that it was easy playing one half of a bickering married couple opposite Delpy because she is French and therefore crabby by nature.
He said: We laughed a lot working on the film. I accepted the role without seeing a script, and the first and last reason was Todd Solondz.
"Hes a unique artist. I admire Todds world view and particular sense of humour. Anybody who works outside the vanilla pudding mainstream will find it hard to get their stuff made and Todd doesnt even enjoy it.
"He doesnt like any part of the process, from writing to directing. Every few years, he just feels like he has to make a film.
Letts, who played CIA director Andrew Lockhart in Homeland, said he enjoyed reaching new audiences as an actor, but could never stop writing.
J amie Dornan has revealed that he was shooting scenes for the Fifty Shades of Grey sequel in Nice the day after the terror attacks.
The Irish star has spoken out about the b***** awful situation the cast and crew were in as they were contractually obliged to keep shooting despite the Bastille Day massacre.
Speaking to Coming Soon, he said: It was, as you can imagine, a b***** awful situation. Youd be affected by it wherever you were in the world.
The first thing that everyone had to work out was is everybody safe, is the whole crew and cast safe.
While the majority of the cast and crew stayed further along the Cote DAzure, Dornan had opted to stay in nice with his family.
Most of the cast and crew were actually staying in Monaco so there's a little bit of distance there, but my family and I wanted a little bit more space so we were actually staying in Nice, he said.
Despite the horrific attacks, in which 84 people lost their lives, filming resumed the very next day.
Then you have the strange thing of the next day still trying to make a movie thats costing millions of dollars to put together, Dornan said.
TODO: define component type brightcove
Theres this contractual obligation to work the next day, which is a very strange environment to work in.
After the attacks, Fifty Shades producer Dana Brunetti let fans know that everyone involved in the film was safe and sound.
He wrote on Twitter: Back safe in my hotel room. Thanks for everyones concern and messages.
As far as I know everyone from out cast and crew is safe. Thanks for everyones concern.
R obert Downey Jr. has welcomed co-star Tom Hiddleston to Instagram by joking about his relationship with Taylor Swift.
The Iron Man star posted the now infamous snap of Hiddleston wearing an I heart T.S T-shirt to celebrate the British actor joining the social media site.
Poking fun at the 35-year-old, Downey Jr suggested that his T-shirt might actually be in reference to his character Tony Stark.
He wrote: Join me in welcoming the biggest T. Stark fan of them all to Instagram! @twhiddleston.
Hiddleston, who is currently in Australia shooting scenes for Thor: Ragnarok, launched his Instagram account on Tuesday.
Just one day after posting his first snap, the actor had clocked up over half a million followers.
He has some way to go to catch up to girlfriend Taylor Swift, who has an impressive 88 million followers on the photo-sharing site.
While the actor has a number of big films coming out, he has reportedly missed out on the role of James Bond.
Author Frederick Forsyth recently claimed that an anonymous source told him there was "no way" Hiddleston would ever be handed the role.
He told the Mail on Sunday: "I got a tip the other day which I'll share with you.
"I understand (Bond producer) Barbara Broccoli is absolutely no way going to pick Tom Hiddleston. No. Way."
Taylor Swift's Fourth of July celebrations 2016 1 /9 Taylor Swift's Fourth of July celebrations 2016 Loved up Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston make their Instagram debut Brittany Maack/Instagram Girls just want to have fun Gigi Hadid, Cara Delevingne and Taylor Swift take to the water slide Cara Delevingne/Instagram Say cheese Karlie Kloss and Taylor Swift are snapped at the end of the water slide Taylor Swift/Instagram Ready, set...GO Karlie Kloss and Taylor Swift dive down the giant inflatable slide Taylor Swift/Instagram Patriotic Gigi Hadid, Cara Delevingne and Taylor Swift show off their patriotism Taylor Swift/ Instagram Hold on tight Taylor Swift holds on to Tom Hiddleston as they speed down a water slide Cara Delevingne/Instagram Celebrations Taylor Swift and Ruby Rose try to hold on to the American flag Taylor Swift/ Instagram
Follow @StandardEnts for more entertainment news.
C ampaigners have called for Channel 5s Celebrity Big Brother to be axed following scenes of sex and full frontal nudity.
After a week of particularly explicit content, Mediawatch-UK have slammed the show for having to resort to low brow activity to keep viewers interested.
Speaking to the Daily Star, a spokesperson said: If Channel 5 needs to resort to this sort of controversy to maintain any interest in Celebrity Big Brother, then perhaps the format needs to be allowed to die a bit more quietly.
Despite the show being aired after the watershed, campaigners are concerned that minors are able to view episodes on Channel 5s online on-demand service by simply stating that they are over 18.
Whats most concerning here is Channel 5s on-demand service that allows children to watch such programmes with just a box tick to say theyre old enough, they added.
Ofcom received 54 complaints following Monday nights episode, which saw Marnie Simpson and Lewis Bloor walk around the communal bathroom fully nude.
An Ofcom statement read: We have received 54 complaints about Celebrity Big Brother from last night. We will assess these complaints before deciding whether to investigate or not.
Producers opted not to censor the nudity, which followed sexual scenes earlier in the episode.
Celebrity Big Brother 2016: the biggest dramas 1 /26 Celebrity Big Brother 2016: the biggest dramas Emotional phone calls Stephanie Davis broke down after receiving a call from her dad Channel 5 Jeremy evicted Jeremy McConnell was evicted, leaving Stephanie in the house Channel 5 Heart to heart Jeremy and Stephanie got especially close when she appeared to leave boyfriend Sam Reece on national TV Jeremy McConnell and Stephanie Davis Harsh truths Gillian McKeith entered the house to re-educate the 'toxic' housemates Channel 5 Christopher evicted Christopher Maloney left the house in the evictions Channel 5 Mutual feelings Stephanie Davis told Jeremy McConnell that she loves him back Channel 5 Dirty cocktails Christopher Maloney gagged and retched as he drank disgusting cocktails in grim task Channel 5 Fake exit Gemma Collins and Danniella Westbrook repeatedly tried to leave through the fire exit Channel 5 Love admission Jeremy McConnell confessed that he'd fallen in love with Stephanie Davis Channel 5 Kristina Rihanoff evicted The Strictly star was the third celebrity to be evicted Channel 5 Kiss and make-up Scotty T and Megan McKenna shared a kiss in the bath - after arguing over potatoes Channel 5 Angie threatens to leave A sleep-deprived Angie raged to Big Brother about wanting to take her stuff and go home Channel 5 David Gest quits David Gest decided to leave the series due to illness Ian West/PA Nancy Dell'Olio evicted Nancy became the second person to be evicted from the series Channel 5 Security called Megan McKenna unleashed her frustrations, causing Big Brother to call security to calm her down Channel 5 "I'm hungry!" The lack of food got to Megan McKenna, who ranted about being served mashed potatoes in the puppet master task Channel 5 Jonathan Cheban leaves After suffering from anxiety and claustrophobia, Kim Kardashian's friend decided to exit the house Angie gets bad news Angie Bowie decided to remain in the series after hearing about David Bowie's death Rex Getting close Stephanie Davis and Jeremy McConnell have caused stirs for their close 'friendship', despite Davis having a boyfriend outside the house Channel 5 Winston McKenzie evicted Former UKIP spokesman Winston McKenzie became the first celebrity to be evicted Channel 5
While 34 of these complaints related directly to the nude shower scene, 10 were about Stephen Bears bullying and sexual advances.
Further complaints were made about offensive behaviour, explicit sexual discussion and use of the word psychopath.
Saira Khan became the second person to be evicted from the Celebrity Big Brother house on Tuesday evening.
Channel 5 have declined to comment to Evening Standard Online.
At first glance it may look like Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has lost the fight with Elon Musk, who fired him immediately after buying Twitter. But look closer: Agrawal is actually the winner as he forced Musk to complete a $44 billion deal which Musk wanted to avoid.
Irritated over raising of Pakistani flags by anti-India elements at Lal Chowk on a regular basis, Tanzeem Merani has devised a new strategy to pay Pakistani supporters back in their own coin.
Tanzeem Merani and her father Aamir Merani have threatened to sit on a hunger strike if they are not allowed to unfurl the tricolour in Srinagar. (ANI photo)
By India Today Web Desk: The upcoming 70th Independence Day celebration at Lal Chowk (in Srinagar), where flashing of Pakistani flags during anti-India protests has become a fashion, is going to be a patriotism-flavoured event.
Irritated over raising of Pakistani flags by anti-India elements at Lal Chowk on a regular basis, Tanzeem Merani has devised a new strategy to pay Pakistani supporters back in their own coin. This year, 13-year-old Tanzeem Merani has vowed to go to Lal Chowk, along with her parents and four-year-old brother, to unfurl the tricolour. Tanzeem's father Aamir Merani has also decided to join his beloved daughter.
advertisement
Quite undeterred, the girl and her father have even threatened to sit on a hunger strike if they are not allowed to unfurl the tricolour in Srinagar.
"Kashmir hamara hissa hai, wahan jaane ke liye hume koi permission nahi chahiye, ye humara right hai. (Kashmir is integral-part of India. We don't need anyone's permission to go there. This is our fundamental right)," Tanzeem "told reporters today.
Tanzeem and her family will leave for Jammu and Kashmir on August 11 from Ahmedabad and will arrive in Srinagar via Delhi on August 14.
Tanzeem's father Aamir Merani has also decided to join his beloved daughter.
KASHMIR ON BOIL
Kashmiri separatists, supported by Pakistan, have thrown an open challenge to the Indian government by waving not only Pakistani but also Lashkar-e-Toiba flags in Srinagar's Nowhatta (Downtown) area.
Kashmir has had curfew for over 30 days after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani by security forces on July 8. Many people have been killed and thousands are injured during the violence.
More than 3,300 security personnel have been injured in over 1,000 violent incidents in the state since July 8. As many as 29 installations including police stations, police posts and other government establishments have been set ablaze and 51 damaged by the Pakistan-supported protesters.
ALSO READ:
Rajnath: No hesitation in saying Kashmir unrest is Pakistan's doing
--- ENDS ---
The annual Nebraska Vietnam Veterans Reunion will make a rare visit to Omaha Thursday through Sunday.
For 32 years, the reunion group which is not affiliated with any other veterans organization has met, usually in one of the states medium-size cities. In the past two years, theyve met in North Platte and Norfolk.
This year, they are coming to Omaha for only the third time. They are hoping to boost interest by visiting the states largest city.
Most of our clientele is outstate, west of Lincoln, said Jaime Obrecht of Lincoln, a member of the reunions board of directors. Each year, we try to pick up new people.
Typically, the gathering attracts about 300 veterans at a family-friendly reunion that is heavy on social events like golf, hospitality suites and tourist visits but also features helpful seminars from groups including the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
One of the headline events will be a pair of town hall-style Faces of Agent Orange sessions moderated by Maynard Kaderlik, a Minnesota veteran who is chairman of the Vietnam Veterans of America Agent Orange committee.
Faces of Agent Orange is the VVAs national campaign to boost awareness of possible health threats that wartime exposure to herbicides poses to the children and grandchildren of veterans of the Vietnam War.
For years, the VA has paid benefits to Vietnam veterans who contract several diseases including several forms of cancer, diabetes, ischemic heart disease and Parkinsons disease that have been linked to exposure through scientific studies.
It has long been suspected, but never proved, that veterans exposure to Agent Orange may cause birth defects and genetic maladies in their children and grandchildren. The Vietnam Veterans of America is supporting federal legislation that would direct the VA to study the impacts of veterans chemical exposures on their offspring.
It was some of the deadliest dioxins that anyone can have in their bodies, Kaderlik said. We feel like we brought this home and passed it along through our wives to our children.
The two-hour sessions, one at 1:30 p.m. Friday and the other at 9 a.m. Saturday, will give veterans a chance to tell their stories.
Other sessions will include a writing workshop geared to veterans, a presentation by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, a seminar on art therapy for post-traumatic stress, and the story of the USS Kirk and the evacuation of Vietnam in 1975.
Were providing an event we hope energizes people, Obrecht said.
Obrecht said about 350 people have registered for the conference so far, but walk-ins are strongly encouraged. The registration fee is $50 and includes a T-shirt, admission to all speakers and workshops, three evenings of entertainment as well as tickets to the Thursday evening barbecue and the Sunday breakfast program.
The gathering takes place at the Ramada Plaza hotel and convention center, 3321 S. 72nd St. For more information, visit the groups website at vetsreunion.com.
Contact the writer: 402-444-1186, steve.liewer@owh.com
Ill never forget one of the scariest car accidents that Ive had.
My now-husband and I were in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Somehow, Id taken the wrong turn and got lost. We were trying to go to the movies and wanted to go to a specific movie theater. While driving, and trying to figure out how to get myself back on course, I changed lanes.
The problem was that a motorcycle driver was in the lane Id rapidly switched to. I didnt see him a culmination of things. Traffic was tight. He was dressed in all black. And, I was an inattentive driver. Id taken a quick look in my mirror, but admittedly, not a very thorough one as I was distracted looking at street signs and other things.
It was a stupid, stupid accident and preventable. I wasnt very old in my early 20s and I was sure he was dead as he laid on the pavement for what must have been seconds, but felt like minutes. He got up, cursing at me. He was fine, but he did go to the hospital to be checked out. It could have ended tragically.
I got a hard lesson about paying attention while driving and watching for motorcyclists.
Ever since, I am more mindful of sharing the road and that both drivers of cars and motorcyclists can do a lot to improve our own safety.
This week, the Nebraska Department of Roads and the Nebraska State Patrol are reminding drivers to be aware of the increased motorcycle traffic on state roadways. Motorcyclists are traveling to Sturgis, South Dakota, for the annual revelry.
The Department of Roads Highway Safety Office said, to date in 2016, 13 people have been killed in crashes involving motorcycles. There were 26 people killed in crashes involving motorcycles on Nebraska roadways for all of 2015, with 20 motorcycle fatalities recorded in 2014 and 14 in 2013.
The message: Be mindful about sharing the road.
Earlier this summer, the Panhandle Trails Intercity Public Transit sent some tips for sharing the road.
Drivers should:
Be on the lookout for motorcyclists at all times; though a motorcycle is a small vehicle, its operator still has all the rights of the road as any other motorist. Allow the motorcycle the full width of a lane at all times.
Always signal when changing lanes or merging with traffic.
If you see a motorcycle with a signal on, be careful: motorcycle signals are often non-canceling and could have been forgotten. Always ensure that the motorcycle is turning before proceeding.
Check all mirrors and know the location of your vehicles blind spots for motorcycles before changing lanes or merging with traffic, especially at intersections.
Always allow more follow distance at least three to four seconds when behind a motorcycle. This gives them more time to maneuver or stop in an emergency.
Be fully focused on the task of driving and in control of their vehicles at all times.
Never drive distracted or impaired.
Riders should:
Wear a DOT-compliant helmet and other protective and reflective gear.
Obey all traffic laws and be properly licensed.
Use hand and turn signals at every lane change or turn.
Wear brightly colored clothes and reflective tape to increase visibility.
Ride in the middle of the lane where you will be more visible to drivers.
Never ride distracted or impaired.
If your interested in additional information, it can be found at www.nhtsa.gov/Safety/Motorcycles.
Countries & Areas
Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe
This page may have been moved, deleted, or is otherwise unavailable. To help you find what you are looking for:
Enter Search Term(s):
Still cant find what youre looking for? Send us a message using our contact us form. To report a broken link or other problems with the website, please include the URL.
Thank you for visiting state.gov.
In the last three months, 400 Indians, who were traveling to various countries like Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador through a West-Asia country, were denied boarding.
Officials said that the profiling checks will help filter people trying to cross borders illegally
By Ankur Sharma: The immigration bureau at Delhi airport is planning to conduct surprise profile checks of passengers headed to Latin-American countries before boarding to stop illegal immigration.
The move has come after reports that middle-eastern airlines were denying boarding to Indian passengers based on their profiles.
AIRLINES NOT ALLOWING BOARDING TO THOSE WHO HAVE 'LESS MONEY'
According to the reports, airlines were not allowing boarding to passengers that have 'less money' to stay, are confused about hotel booking or have no clear reason to travel to various countries.
advertisement
Most of these nations have visa on arrival facilities for Indians. Government agencies said that in last three months, 400 Indians have been denied boarding who were traveling to various countries like Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador through a West-Asia country.
According to a senior immigration official, this matter has been taken up with the Ministry of External Affairs recently.
Officials are claiming that passengers having poor background mostly from Punjab were traveling to these countries to enter into United States via Mexico with the help of a human trafficking gang.
"In last three months, almost 400 passengers who travelled from Delhi via Dubai to various countries have been denied boarding and finally they came back to Delhi as inadmissible passengers. Most of these passengers were from Punjab and having poor background. Passengers revealed during questioning that they were supposed to travel to countries like Bolivia, Ecuador and Panama city. But, they didn't reach their final destination and in between airlines or immigration staff sent them back doubting their profiles," a senior immigration official said. Immigration Bureau official claimed that to curb human trafficking menace, they will have surprise check of documents just before boarding.
Also Read:
Emirates flight from India crash-lands, catches fire at Dubai airport as landing gear fails
SpiceJet launches Independence Day sale; offers tickets at a starting price of Rs 399
--- ENDS ---
Wednesday, 10 August 2016 23:50:57 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo
Brazil s foreign trade secretariat (Secex) has started an anti-circumvention probe into imports of Chinese low-carbon flats or heavy plates falling under the 7208.51.00, 7208.52.00 and 7225.40.90 HS codes.
The Brazilian government said it found sufficient evidence of unfair commercial practices by Chinese exporters and has decided to investigate the duty-evasion practices.
Secex said it has considered the period of April 2013 to March 2016 to analyze the duty-evasion practices.
Brazilian imports of titanium and chrome-added heavy plates were also included in the probe.
In the first six months of the current year, Colombia exported 69,591 mt of ferronickel, up 10 percent, with a value of $161.7 million, decreasing by 33.8 percent, both year on year, as announced by the Colombian National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE). In June this year, the country's ferronickel exports amounted to 15,419 mt, rising by 40 percent, while the revenue from these exports was $36.8 million, up 0.5 percent, both compared to June last year.
Wednesday, 10 August 2016 13:41:34 (GMT+3) | Istanbul
The European Commission has announced that it has ordered the registration of certain heavy plate of non-alloy or other alloy steel from China for the purpose of ensuring that, should its current investigation result in findings leading to the imposition of an antidumping (AD) duty, this duty can, if the necessary conditions are fulfilled, be levied retroactively on the registered imports.
According to the commissions statement, the registration request was made by the European Steel Association (EUROFER), which requested that imports of the product concerned are made subject to registration so that measures may subsequently be applied against those imports from the date of such registration. EUROFER estimated in its complaint dumping margins of 28 percent to 73 percent for imports of the product concerned from China , while it also stated that since the initiation of the proceeding in February this year, a further increase of approximately 15 percent for China is observed.
The antidumping investigation was launched in February this year following the application lodged by EUROFER and covers the period from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
The products in question currently fall under Customs Tariff Statistics Position Numbers 7208 51 20, 7208 51 91, 7208 51 98, 7208 52 91, 7208 90 20, 7208 90 80, 7225 40 40, 7225 40 60 and 7225 99 00.
In June, France 's production in manufacture of basic metals and fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment, decreased by 0.7 percent compared to May, after a month-on-month increase of 1.2 percent in May. In the April-June period, the countrys production in manufacture of basic metals and fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment, fell by 0.4 percent compared to the previous quarter.
On the other hand, in June production of France 's motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers industry saw a decrease of 0.6 percent on month-on-month basis after a 1.4 percent month-on-month fall recorded in the previous month, while the output of the domestic construction industry decreased by 0.2 percent month on month in the given month after an increase of 0.6 percent in May from April. In the April-June period, output of the motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers industry increased by 0.5 percent and output of the domestic construction industry fell by 0.1 percent, both quarter on quarter.
Wednesday, 10 August 2016 23:51:48 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo
Brazil s largest steelmaker Gerdau saw its net profit decline 30.6 percent in Q2, year-on-year, to BRL 184 million, the company said on Wednesday while releasing its quarterly results.
Net revenues in Q2 fell 4.7 percent, year-on-year, to BRL 10.2 billion, thanks to lower sales volumes at its Brazil and specialty steel businesses, it said.
Sales volumes in Q2 totaled 4.2 million mt, 0.7 percent down, year-on-year, while crude steel production in the same quarter decreased 2.9 percent, year-on-year, to 4.3 million.
Gerdau said cost of sales in Q2 diminished 4.3 percent, year-on-year, to BRL 9.1 billion.
Adjusted EBITDA in Q2 was BRL 1.2 billion, 0.8 percent up, year-on-year, while gross margin in Q2 was 10.6 percent, down from 11 percent in the same quarter of the year prior. EBITDA margin in Q2 rose to 11.7 percent from 11.1 percent in Q2 2015.
1 USD = BRL 3.13 (August 10)
Wednesday, 10 August 2016 09:47:45 (GMT+3) | Shanghai
China 's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has announced that during last week (August 1-7) the overall average finished steel price in China increased by 0.9 percent week on week.
In the given week, average prices of rebar , channels and high-speed wire rod in China rose by 1.1 percent, 1.0 percent and 0.9 percent week on week, respectively.
In the same week, the average price of non-ferrous metals in China increased by 0.1 percent week on week. The average price of nickel (Ni> = 99.2%) rose by 1.1 percent compared to the previous week.
Meanwhile, Pakistan 's iron and steel imports in June amounted to 382,296 mt, up 21.3 percent on month-on-month basis and rising by 69 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. In the given month, the value of Pakistan 's iron and steel imports was $197.38 million, increasing by 28.5 percent month on month and up 11.3 percent year on year.
US-based Castrip LLC has been committed to the development and promotion of ultra-thin cast sheet technology all over the world and has chosen Shagang Group as its strategic partner in China . Shagang Groups ultra-thin cast sheet production line will be the first such production line built outside of North America. It will be able to produce hot rolled sheet with maximum widths up to 1,590 mm and with thicknesses in a range of 0.7-1.9 mm.
Blog Archive Apr 2010 (22) May 2010 (25) Jun 2010 (8) Jul 2010 (12) Aug 2010 (18) Sep 2010 (19) Oct 2010 (29) Nov 2010 (30) Dec 2010 (18) Jan 2011 (13) Feb 2011 (21) Mar 2011 (23) Apr 2011 (19) May 2011 (31) Jun 2011 (36) Jul 2011 (46) Aug 2011 (26) Sep 2011 (12) Oct 2011 (15) Nov 2011 (17) Dec 2011 (7) Jan 2012 (18) Feb 2012 (4) Mar 2012 (12) Apr 2012 (18) May 2012 (10) Jun 2012 (21) Jul 2012 (8) Aug 2012 (15) Sep 2012 (7) Oct 2012 (17) Nov 2012 (20) Dec 2012 (10) Jan 2013 (58) Feb 2013 (59) Mar 2013 (60) Apr 2013 (98) May 2013 (134) Jun 2013 (204) Jul 2013 (293) Aug 2013 (351) Sep 2013 (363) Oct 2013 (347) Nov 2013 (374) Dec 2013 (440) Jan 2014 (544) Feb 2014 (475) Mar 2014 (525) Apr 2014 (527) May 2014 (470) Jun 2014 (408) Jul 2014 (472) Aug 2014 (522) Sep 2014 (441) Oct 2014 (471) Nov 2014 (496) Dec 2014 (535) Jan 2015 (535) Feb 2015 (520) Mar 2015 (579) Apr 2015 (657) May 2015 (679) Jun 2015 (673) Jul 2015 (728) Aug 2015 (803) Sep 2015 (923) Oct 2015 (921) Nov 2015 (801) Dec 2015 (791) Jan 2016 (782) Feb 2016 (835) Mar 2016 (929) Apr 2016 (864) May 2016 (946) Jun 2016 (1044) Jul 2016 (882) Aug 2016 (1035) Sep 2016 (966) Oct 2016 (918) Nov 2016 (854) Dec 2016 (885) Jan 2017 (879) Feb 2017 (777) Mar 2017 (896) Apr 2017 (872) May 2017 (850) Jun 2017 (851) Jul 2017 (971) Aug 2017 (1040) Sep 2017 (998) Oct 2017 (1144) Nov 2017 (1046) Dec 2017 (838) Jan 2018 (873) Feb 2018 (769) Mar 2018 (885) Apr 2018 (808) May 2018 (827) Jun 2018 (820) Jul 2018 (840) Aug 2018 (854) Sep 2018 (844) Oct 2018 (851) Nov 2018 (870) Dec 2018 (912) Jan 2019 (919) Feb 2019 (827) Mar 2019 (957) Apr 2019 (913) May 2019 (1007) Jun 2019 (934) Jul 2019 (949) Aug 2019 (936) Sep 2019 (910) Oct 2019 (920) Nov 2019 (874) Dec 2019 (908) Jan 2020 (941) Feb 2020 (848) Mar 2020 (898) Apr 2020 (848) May 2020 (822) Jun 2020 (787) Jul 2020 (819) Aug 2020 (858) Sep 2020 (841) Oct 2020 (873) Nov 2020 (811) Dec 2020 (780) Jan 2021 (765) Feb 2021 (716) Mar 2021 (819) Apr 2021 (805) May 2021 (815) Jun 2021 (824) Jul 2021 (830) Aug 2021 (832) Sep 2021 (791) Oct 2021 (754) Nov 2021 (683) Dec 2021 (693) Jan 2022 (694) Feb 2022 (654) Mar 2022 (740) Apr 2022 (745) May 2022 (748) Jun 2022 (701) Jul 2022 (704) Aug 2022 (702) Sep 2022 (699) Oct 2022 (665)
IT officials claim that they uncovered documents that show that Tanwar owns farmhouses and benami properties through his associates.
By India Today Web Desk: In yet another setback to Aam Aadmi Party, tax officials have claimed that party legislator Kartar Singh Tanwar allegedly hid assets worth Rs 130 crore.
Income Tax Department had last month conducted a raid at Kartar Singh Tanwar's residence in south Delhi.
WHAT IT OFFICIALS SAY
IT officials claim that they uncovered documents that show that Tanwar owns farmhouses and benami properties through his associates. Tax officials said they had information about tax evasion and money laundering in Tanwar's property deals.
advertisement
The AAP legislator, who is a property dealer, was reportedly unable to explain how much he paid for his south Delhi farmhouse.
POLITICAL WAR BETWEEN AAP AND MODI GOVT
The raid on Tanwar's residence had added fuel to the already ongoing political war between the AAP and the Modi government.
About a dozen AAP legislators have either been arrested or are facing charges in various cases since the party took charge in Delhi on February 14 last year.
Also read:
Yet another AAP MLA in trouble: I-T officials raid Kartar Singh's house
--- ENDS ---
Aurelian Mihai Zsanto, the man who intermediated the meeting between the journalists with Sky News and the alleged arms smugglers in Romania, said on Wednesday, after he was heard at seat of the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), that he was tricked by the British journalists, as they told him it was a documentary and in the end there will be a mention about the story being fictional.
"Honestly speaking, as a Romanian, I have immense regrets because I let myself fooled, I was tricked by these people and they ruined my image, they ruined Romania's image," Aurelian Szanto said.
He told the Romanian journalists how he got to intermediate the meeting between the Sky News team and the alleged arms smugglers. "What I am saying is entirely true and I am doing it for my image and for Romania's image, in the first place because I am Romanian and I am proud of it. Everybody makes mistakes in life, everybody does stupid things. I was contacted through a person who has contacts with the Sky trust if I agreed to shoot a documentary on Romania's soil in respect to arms trafficking taking place on the Eastern European continent. As I do not know about these things, because I work with another trust, I tried to find out what it was all about. The person in question told me it was a documentary that the Sky trust would make in Europe about these arms smuggling acts, to inform the population, so that it may be vigilant and look for suspects. They told me the following: we want to have two people presenting us some arms and through the presentation of the respective weapons to draw the attention on how these sales are done," Aurelian Szanto said.
Szanto, who lives in the UK and works as a freelancer, maintains that he has a friend in Romania about whom he knew he had hunting arms, so he phoned him and asked him if he agreed to do this documentary, in exchange for some money, "for acting, presentation and translation." He explained that the British journalists told him that this filming must take place in a remote place, "hidden from the world's eyes," and that the documentary would mention that the place is at the border with Ukraine. The man also maintains that the Sky News journalists guaranteed him that the mention about the material being fictional would be displayed at the end of the documentary. According to him, the British journalists asked him that the persons starring the documentary be as "real" as possible, namely wear masks and military outfit.
Moreover, the man said that the Sky News team was made up of four reporters, among whom Stuart Ramsay, however that he did not know them directly and talked to them through a friend. Aurelian Szanto maintained that he and the other Romanians received from the British journalists a few thousand euros, without mentioning the exact amount, while sources with the investigators said that it would be 2,000 euros.
After the Sky News story was broadcast, Aurelian Szanto says he contacted his friend in the UK and scolded him, and the latter promised him to talk to the Sky trust because something was not all right. "The arms presented are legally registered, they do not make the object of smuggling. They weren't loaded during filming. (...) Honestly speaking, as a Romanian, I have immense regrets because I let myself fooled, I was tricked by these people and they ruined my image, they ruined Romania's image," Aurelian Szanto concluded.
Prosecutors with the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) on Wednesday conducted seven searches at addresses in Targu Mures and Bistrita Nasaud in a case opened after allegations of arms trafficking made in the Sky News story. Aurelian Szanto, the one who intermediated the meeting between the British journalists and the alleged Romanian arms smugglers, was heard at the DIICOT seat. Moreover, this intermediary admitted his act in the hearings. Other four persons will also be brought in for hearings at the DIICOT main seat, namely the men who appear wearing masks in the Sky News story.
In this case, the prosecutors have started a criminal investigation into deliberate smuggling and violations of arms and ammunition legislation. The first results of the investigation reveal that the arms were legally owned for hunting and belonged to one of the masked men. The story was "staged" by the British journalists, who told the alleged smugglers what to say when filmed, in exchange for some sums of money.
Agerpres
Hathaway recently shared a picture on her Instagram account with a very important message about the way women are criticised for their post-natal bodies.
By India Today Web Desk: Sharing a powerful message about the flak women face for their pregnancy and post-pregnancy bodies, Hollywood star Anne Hathaway has shared something rather powerful.
The Princess Diaries actress who welcomed her son in the month of April this year, penned down an Instagram post featuring a pair of jeans.
With her jeans cut into a pair of shorts, her post read, "There is no shame in gaining weight during pregnancy (or ever). There is no shame if it takes longer than you think it will to lose the weight (if you want to lose it at all)."
advertisement
Also Read: Kim Kardashian reveals how she lost 27 kilos post pregnancy
"There is no shame in finally breaking down and making your own jean shorts because last summer's are just too dang short for this summer's thighs," she further wrote.
The picture shared by Anne Hathaway. Picture courtesy: Instagram/ Anne Hathaway
During her recent appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Hathaway had shared how she was "horrified" when a trainer asked her to lose weight instead of congratulating her for becoming a mother.
Also Read: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer took a short maternity leave, and is being criticised for it. Right or wrong?
The incident reportedly, left the actress extremely emotional as she "walked away and cried" from the premises of the gym. She also confessed that she did not return to the gym right away.
While the trainer's words might have discouraged her back then, they most definitely motivated her to pen down her powerful Instagram post.
"There is no shame in finally breaking down and making your own jean shorts because last summer's are just too dang short for this summer's thighs. Bodies change.Bodies grow.Bodies shrink.It's all love(don't let anyone tell you otherwise.)Peace xx noshame #lovewhatyouhavebeengiven" her post further read.
(With inputs from IANS)
--- ENDS ---
MARYLAND HEIGHTS It will be a while longer before anyone breaks ground on one of the largest pieces of undeveloped land in the region.
City officials are pausing their efforts to craft a regional development plan while they deal with stormwater issues in the low-lying 1,800 acres along the Missouri River.
After soliciting proposals and hearing interest from six developers with much of the attention on a plan encompassing the whole area pitched by attorney Alan Bornstein and Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke the city now says no one will break ground without an areawide stormwater plan.
Until we get that, were dead in the water, Maryland Heights City Councilman Ed Dirck said during a workshop Tuesday evening with the City Council and planning commission. Wonderful ideas, but until we get that, thats all they are.
The land, surrounded by major roadways and now protected by a 500-year levee, appeared primed for development. But building the infrastructure to manage stormwater in the levee district has given developers pause after the city followed up to discuss their plans.
Officials had hoped to select a preferred development proposal as soon as next month, but City Administrator Jim Krischke estimated it could take as long as six months to come up with a plan for stormwater management. After that, the city may solicit a new round of proposals, but it will stay in contact with developers that have already participated.
We do have developers were comfortable with, but in six months time they may move on, Krischke told the Post-Dispatch.
One engineers estimate put a stormwater management system for the Maryland Park Lake District, the area between Creve Coeur Lake park and the river, at $20 million to $25 million, Maryland Heights Community Development Director Wayne Oldroyd told the council and commission.
The city will have to work with the Howard Bend Levee District, which built the river defense that opened up the flood plain for development, on a stormwater system. Hashing out the responsibilities of the entities involved will be an intricate, detailed, legally messy process.
Its going to take some time, Oldroyd said.
The levee district is in charge of managing water within its boundaries through pumps and other infrastructure, but its ideas thus far have been more piecemeal than the city would prefer, Krischke said. The city wants a more comprehensive system that enables areawide development
While Maryland Heights will definitely need to participate in the design, it is too early to say whether the city will help pay for the improvements, Krischke said. We as a city want to do this the right way and do it right the first time.
David Stokes of the Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, which supports flood plain preservation to help reduce flooding elsewhere, said the delay was good news in that its not bad news.
But he said conservation and environmental groups should have a hand in crafting the stormwater plan so it is designed with some of their goals in mind and not just done to benefit a few developers.
Veteran theater actor Ken Page, who plays the regal African king Amonarso in the Munys current production of Elton John and Tim Rices Aida, stepped out of character at Tuesday nights performance.
Tuesdays show, which coincided with the two-year anniversary of Ferguson teenager Michael Browns shooting death, was disrupted for about 25 minutes by about 40 protesters, according to Muny spokesman Kwofe Coleman. The protest started at the beginning of the second act and took place at the rear of the audience area.
After the protest, Page, a St. Louis native, took to the stage with his co-star, Michelle Williams, to address what had happened, while evoking the names of Michael Brown, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, drawing mixed reaction from the audience.
We ask this, in the name of our creator, who created each and every one of us, whether the name is Michael Brown, Hillary Clinton or, God forbid, Donald Trump ... sorry ... Im just saying. Now I had to be a little political. Come on. But I want us to raise our spirits, seriously, because we have to. That was more or less a joke (before). But its not an issue of who you support or what you know and who you think you are and who you think someone else is. Im addressing right here in this moment who we are, which are spirits on this earth just trying to get through this journey, said Page, a Broadway veteran who has appeared in The Wiz, Guys and Dolls, Cats and Aint Misbehavin.
Page continued: The idea of this show is about that. When we say we all live Elaborate Lives (a song in the show) were not talking about the price of your shoes or the tag in the back of your clothes. Were talking about the idea of how we live life on this planet and how we must respect each other. Its imperative. Life goes on, whether we like it or not. Nobodys perfect, whether we like it or not. Were gonna disagree, whether we like it or not. Sometimes were gonna agree whether we like it or not. But tonight what Im going to ask of our audience and our brothers and sisters who are protesting, we all know that black lives matter. And that is because God created us all.
Some took Pages words as a slam of Trump; others appreciated his words.
In a statement from Page, released Wednesday, he said: Last night, as we resumed the show, I invited the audience to come together in unity and peace. I asked that we understand whats important, to whom its important and why its important. I was not supporting or disparaging any public figure or candidate, and I regret that is what is being interpreted. I only mentioned these figures in the context of sharing the idea that differences can be overcome, and we can create community, unity and peace. We then began Act 2, and were thrilled by the audiences warm embrace of our beautiful show.
Austin Smith, who was sitting in section B, took videos of the protest and of Ken Pages comments. He also posted to Twitter (with video clips): ...Ken Page gives audience more than what they paid for after #BlackLivesMatter protest stops show.
Leslie Elpers took video of the comments from her season-ticket seat in the fourth row.
I thought (his statement) was perfect, she said. They couldnt go straight from the situation that happened into the middle of the second act, so it was necessary. Something needed to be said.
Bijlani made a beeline for Aminabad's kebab treasure while he was there to promote Jhalak Dikhla Jaa, Season 9.
Arjun Bijlani just couldn't resist getting a taste of Lucknow's famous kebabs while in the city. Picture courtesy: Instagram/arjunbijlani
By Shreya Goswami: Everyone who visits Lucknow heads straight to Aminabad to get a taste of the city's famous kebabs, and actor Arjun Bijlani is no different.
Bijlani, who played the lead role in Naagin, was in 'the city of Nawabs' to promote Jhalak Dikhla Jaa's new season, since he's one of the 12 participants on the popular dance-reality show.
According to a TOI report, Bijlani's team had arranged a whole array of kebabs for the actor even before he had landed in the city: "The moment I checked into the hotel in Lucknow, I was ready to enjoy the famous kebabs, which my team had arranged for me in advance. But the real fun of having Lucknow's non-vegetarian dishes is in purane Lucknow ki galliyan. So, I went to Tundey's in Aminabad for dinner and tried everything that they had to offer!"
Tundey is a place in Aminabad, Lucknow, which offers the best kebabs in the city. Picture courtesy: Instagram/vish.almighty
advertisement
Also read: 8 meatilicious kebabs you must try out immediately
However, as everyone knows, Aminabad is perpetually crowded thanks to the very delicacies Bijlani went there to eat. Seeing one of their favourite TV actors there, crowds of fans gathered around him to click selfies. Bijlani's whole focus, however, was on the lip-smacking food on display.
Arjun Bijlani had to tackle a huge crowd of fans while he indulged in Tundey kebabs in Lucknow. Picture courtesy: Instagram/arjunbijlani
"I somehow juggled between the selfies and the food. Soon enough, the crowd became unmanageable and I had to run from that place but not before I had eaten everything I wanted to, to my heart's content."
We are glad Arjun Bijlani got to eat his fill of Lucknow's famous kebabs, which we're sure will fuel his performance in Jhalak's new season.
Watch this video Arjun Bijlani took with his crowd of fans in Lucknow:
Once again #lucknow u guys were jus awesome.thank you so much for this.i guess I'm doing something right.. #jhalakdikhlaja9 #jdjhothai @colorstv ?? A video posted by Arjun Bijlani (@arjunbijlani) on Jul 30, 2016 at 10:41am PDT
--- ENDS ---
FERGUSON A day of peaceful commemoration of the second anniversary of Michael Browns death was marred Tuesday night when gunfire broke out after a protester was struck by a motorist.
After a quiet morning vigil and evening church service, the night turned violent when a car going north on West Florissant Avenue struck a protester who had ventured into the street.
Others among the roughly 75 protesters began trying to cut off the car, which then reversed direction and tried to head south to avoid the crowd, according to several witnesses.
At that point, witnesses said, several protesters pulled out guns and began chasing and firing at the fleeing car.
I just started screaming, and the bullets started flying, and I started screaming some more, said Heather DeMian, of St. Charles, a regular protester who has been live-streaming Ferguson protests.
It appears the driver did not intentionally strike the protester, according to Ferguson spokesman Jeff Small, who said the woman is being very, very cooperative with police.
By all accounts, her version of what happened seems to fit the version of what happened to a person driving down a busy West Florissant Avenue and not seeing a person standing there, Small said.
He said there were bullet holes in the womans car, but no one in the vehicle was injured.
Small said no arrests were made, and that the extent of the injuries to the protester who was struck is unknown because the man was taken from the scene in a private vehicle.
Two people who were shaken up as the crowd fled the gunfire were taken to a hospital by ambulance.
Muny protest
Also Tuesday night, the Muny production of Aida in Forest Park was disrupted for about 25 minutes by about 40 protesters, according to Muny spokesman Kwofe Coleman.
The protest started in the back of the theater, with banners and chanting. There was no property damage and no injuries, Coleman said.
He said protesters arrived just at the start of the second act. Some climbed onto the scaffolding at the rear of the stage in an area that is off-limits to the public.
Coleman said two protesters in that area were arrested, and two arrests were made outside the theater. A police spokesman acknowledged there were arrests but declined to say how many.
Peaceful service
Earlier Tuesday evening, about 45 people gathered for a short and peaceful memorial service at Wellspring Church in Ferguson, which has held discussions about race since Browns fatal shooting on Aug. 9, 2014, by then-officer Darren Wilson.
Half a dozen candles sat at the front of the church, as the service began with a slow song played on the keyboard. Leaders of different faiths went to the pulpit to call for peace and an end to the killing of young African-Americans.
Are you just coming here to remember? Or will you make a pledge to get in the way? the Rev. Cassandra Gould, of Quinn Chapel AME Church in Jefferson City, asked the congregation.
She said that just remembering, creating hashtags and lamenting the deaths of black and brown children were not enough. People must get out and protest, as they have done at the front doors of police departments and municipal courthouses, she said.
Because of his blackness, he got in the way, Gould said of Brown, and until being black does not mean were getting in the way, people who have privilege need to get in the way.
The 45-minute service ended with attendees joining in the song Lift Every Voice and Sing.
Tuesday morning, the events started quietly with music in the Canfield Green apartment complex at the spot where Brown was killed just before noon.
Three children and their grandmother, who goes by the name Momma Fatou, began making music with African drums and shakers in front of a banner for the Michael Brown Chosen for Change Foundation.
As they played, more people began congregating alongside several dozen teddy bears and other stuffed animals piled in a line in the center of Canfield Drive to mark where Brown died.
Organizers with the Michael Brown Chosen for Change Foundation planned about 90 minutes of music, reflections and poetry Tuesday before 4 minutes of silence. The number of minutes represented the estimated number of hours Browns body lay on the street in the apartment complex after he was killed.
Browns shooting by Wilson stirred protests and rioting after various narratives emerged about the circumstances surrounding his shooting. His death sparked an investigation that cleared Wilson of wrongdoing. But it also forced a consent decree between the U.S. Department of Justice and the city of Ferguson, and a national conversation about unfair policing of African-Americans.
Crowd grows
On Tuesday, as the children beat the drums and shook the shakers, the crowd grew into a mix of mostly familiar faces and groups. There were members of the Brown family, including Browns father, Michael Brown Sr., and Browns mother, Lezley McSpadden. Michael Browns tearful grandmother held a poster asking people not to forget her grandson.
Among the public officials and clergy were members of the group WeCopwatch, now a nationwide group that videotapes police actions to maintain accountability though police were nowhere in sight.
After the children finished with their drums, Momma Fatou, whose given name is Artie Jennings Hamilton, told the crowd that the sound of the drum was a call to act in African culture.
Today you are here to celebrate the second anniversary of Michael Browns death by someone in a policemans outfit who did not have the comfort of this community in his mind, she said.
As the vigil progressed, about 120 people gathered together. One of them, Janice Brown, Browns cousin, said she and her teenage daughters, a niece and a goddaughter, first made a stop at a nearby memorial stone erected last year.
We shed some tears there, she said of losing her cousin, whom she called Mikey Mike.
She said she wants him to be remembered in a positive way. Even though it was a horrific ordeal, I want his legacy to be a positive legacy and how things are trying to change. Were not totally there yet.
Former state Rep. Betty Thompson said she was there to fight for unity. Over the weekend she had been honored with the Michael Brown Social Justice Award by the Chosen for Change Foundation.
Not only do we have to fight the crimes of racism and bigotry, we have to fight black-on-black crime, she said.
Thompson said had lost both a son and a grandson to such violence. Both were victims in two separate armed robberies.
Weve got to stop the violence, she said.
Just before noon, several members of the Brown family along with Thompson sat on chairs before the line of stuffed animals.
Michael Brown Sr. spoke briefly about his son.
My son built families up, opened the eyes of the world and let them know this aint right, he said. This color is not a disease. This color is beautiful. Black is beautiful.
Nassim Benchaabane and Stephen Deere of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the correct direction the car that hit the protester was traveling.
American conservatives have long faced a serious dilemma: What to do about Donald Trump? To withdraw support and denounce his outrageous comments is to risk antagonizing his supporters at a time when every vote counts to keep Republicans in control of Congress.
On Tuesday, that already vexing question became even more urgent when the Republican presidential nominee seemed to suggest that people with guns take matters into their own hands to stop his opponent from reaching the White House.
At a rally in Wilmington, N.C., Trump told supporters it would be a horrible day if Democrat Hillary Clinton got to appoint Supreme Court justices.
If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks, Trump said, adding, Although the Second Amendment people maybe there is. I dont know.
His campaign explained that Trump was merely referring to the organizational capabilities of gun-rights supporters. Given his history of inflammatory rhetoric, theres good reason to question his meaning. The kindest explanation is that it was a bad joke, blurted out by a man whose lack of impulse control is well-documented.
The darker explanation is almost inconceivable: A man whose more rabid supporters are violence-prone suggesting that someone with a gun might take action to defend the cause.
A few hours after Trumps remark blew up on social media, the Secret Service, which has its own Twitter account, felt compelled to tweet, The Secret Service is aware of the comments made earlier this afternoon.
Agents will have to decide whether it was a bad joke or hostile suggestion. Either way, it adds to a growing body of evidence indicating Trump is not fit for the nations highest office. Good men and women, particularly those who call themselves conservatives, must summon some guts.
Very few Republican leaders have had the integrity to come out against Trump. They like their jobs and dont want to lose his supporters votes. Among the exceptions is Sen. Mark Kirk, running for re-election in a blue state, who has called Trump too bigoted and racist for the people of Illinois.
Its harder in red states like Missouri. Sen. Roy Blunt has criticized some of Trumps comments, but is standing behind his candidacy. So are Missouris six GOP House members. So is Republican gubernatorial nominee Eric Greitens.
Eight years ago, GOP nominee John McCain stood up to a hostile crowd to defend Democrat Barack Obama: I have to tell you. Sen. Obama is a decent person and a person you dont have to be scared of as president of the United States.
Now McCain, running for re-election to the Senate from Arizona, is standing behind Trump, even though Trump mocked his service as a prisoner of war.
Few profiles in courage are being written here. The party of Lincoln is shaming itself.
Can we be assured that the plant will not pollute our land or water supply so that we are not discovering something decades later like so many areas in Missouri?
The girl and her associate Shakil Malik used to obtain the secret PIN number of unsuspecting persons on the pretext of helping them inside ATM booths, and later withdraw money from the account.
The aspiring model has been arrested by the Delhi Police.
By Tanseem Haider: Delhi Police today arrested a girl, an aspiring model, from Nand Nagri area in the Capital and her associate from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh for cheating people and stealing ATM cards.
Twenty-two-year-old Deepali (name changed) and her associate Shakil Malik used to obtain the secret PIN number of unsuspecting persons on the pretext of helping them inside ATM booths, and later withdraw money from the account.
HOW THEY WERE CAUGHT
advertisement
Their modus operandi came to light after the ATM cheats 'robbed' a lady at the PNB ATM kiosk in Indira Vihar on July 15, 2016.
A young girl volunteered to help a lady who was struggling to withdraw cash inside an ATM booth. With her consent, the girl took the ATM card and swiftly swapped it with another card. When the lady reached home, she was shocked to receive an SMS informing her of a withdrawal of Rs 25,000 from her account.
LUCK RAN OUT
The ATM card stealing duo's luck, however, ran out soon. The same victim came face to face with the girl and her associate when she was taking a stroll near the very same ATM booth on Sunday (August 7). The lady promptly informed the police who apprehended Deepali and Shakil from the spot.
During interrogation, the girl confessed that she had conned several people as she needed money to make a portfolio of her pictures to fulfil her modelling ambitions. She had approached a famous fashion photographer from Mumbai for the same and he had asked her for Rs 2.5 lakh.
Interestingly, the girl claims to have learnt the art of 'How to hack ATMs' from Google.
Deepali used Shakil as her driver and shared the booty with him. As many as five cases of such ATM frauds in P S Mukherjee Nagar have come to light.
MODUS OPERANDI
The duo, Deepali and Shakeel, would come in Santro car and do a recee of their potential victims.
They usually targeted those ATM's which were 'out of order' or unable to dispense cash.
When they spotted an old lady or a gullible person, the girl would enter the ATM booth posing as a customer with an ATM card.
Then, on the pretext of helping him/her, she would find out the PIN number and later swap her card with the customer.
ALSO READ:
Kerala: Watch how scammers steal your ATM details from a kiosk
--- ENDS ---
LONDON MARKET CLOSE: FTSE makes weekly gain but banks weigh on Friday
Friday, October 28, 2022 - 17:08
The FTSE 100 managed a weekly gain, despite underperforming peers on Friday, while strong results from oil majors lifted the mood in New York, shaking off poor numbers from Amazon.
Central banks move into focus again next week. The Federal Reserve announces its rate decision on Wednesday, with the Bank of England following on Thursday.
The FTSE 100 index closed down 26.02 points, or 0.4% at 7,047.67 on Friday, but finished the week 1.1% higher.
The FTSE 250 ended down 165.25 points, or 0.9%, at 17,916.67 - closing the week up 4.1%. The AIM All-Share closed down 4.09 points, or 0.5%, at 805.37, finishing 2.7% higher over the past five days
The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.5% at 703.81, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 1.0% at 15,378.84, and the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.5% at 12,320.39.
The pound was quoted at $1.1595 at the London equities close Friday, up slightly from $1.1573 at the close on Thursday. Though sterling's marked rise tempered slightly on Friday, the currency has gained 3.2% over the past week.
Markets have so far taken confidence from the new UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
In the FTSE 100, Centrica added 5.2% after it announced the reopening of the Rough natural gas storage facility off the east coast of England.
Centrica, which owns British Gas, said the facility is operational for winter. The facility increases the UK's storage capacity by 50% despite it operating at just 20% of its previous capacity.
GSK closed up 2.3% after it said its majority owned ViiV Healthcare venture has received the European Medicines Agency's validation for its marketing authorisation application for HIV prevention, and said its MAA for respiratory syncytial virus adult vaccine has also been accepted.
NatWest was the worst performer. It plunged 8.3% as it reported strong income growth in the third quarter, boosted by both increased lending and higher interest rates, but the bank warned it is keeping a close on eye on any change in behaviour from its customers.
In the three months to September 30, operating profit before tax rose to 1.09 billion from 976 million a year before.
Putting a cap on the bank's profit, NatWest set aside 247 million in the quarter to cover an expected increase in bad loans, which is reversed from a 221 million gain the year prior.
Lloyds fell 3.3% in negative read across.
Glencore fell 1.0% as it trimmed annual guidance for some of its commodities after a disappointing third-quarter performance dominated by supply chain disruptions in Kazakhstan, extreme weather in Australia, and strikes in Canada and Norway.
In the FTSE 250, ASOS tumbled 11%.
The stock was rocked by a Telegraph report which stated some hedge funds have shorted the stock, just days after retailer Frasers bought a stake.
Elsewhere in London, China-focused investment trusts fell.
JPMorgan China Growth & Income fell 2.9% and abrdn China Investment dropped 3.5%.
Investor sentiment turned sour as Chinese cities doubled down on Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
Stocks in New York were firmly in the green at the London equities close, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 2.0%, the S&P 500 index up 1.7% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.8%.
After disappointment from tech stocks, oil majors put some shine on this week's US corporate earnings calendar.
Exxon Mobil revenue in the third quarter of 2022 jumped 52% to $112.07 billion from $73.79 billion a year prior. Attributable net income soared to $19.66 billion from $6.75 billion. The oil major's bottom line rose 10% from $17.85 billion in the second quarter.
Chevron posted pretax earnings of $14.80 billion, up from $8.06 billion the year before. Revenue increased to $66.64 billion from $44.71 billion the year before.
Exxon shares rose 1.8%, while Chevron was up 0.3%. Amazon slid 10%, after its poor numbers overnight.
Wall Street also shook off a higher inflation reading for the US on Friday.
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Fed's preferred inflationary measure, the core personal consumption expenditures index, which excludes food and energy, shot up 5.1% year-on-year in September, quickening from a 4.9% hike in August.
"The Fed's favoured measure of inflation is heading higher, rather than lower, while employment costs continue to rise at double the rate experienced over the past 15 years. The market is probably right to expect the Fed to slow the pace of rate hikes from December, but this is by no means guaranteed," analysts at ING commented.
On Thursday, the European Central Bank on Thursday lifted its benchmark interest rates by 75 basis points, as expected.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended up 0.2%.
The euro stood at $0.9943 at the European equities close Friday, lower against $0.9984 at the same time on Thursday.
Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP147.54 late Friday, higher compared to JP145.90 late Thursday.
Gold was quoted at $1,640.91 an ounce at the London equities close Friday, down sharply against $1,662.60 at the close on Thursday. The precious metal has an inverse relationship with the greenback, weakening as the dollar strengthens.
Brent oil was quoted at $93.34 a barrel at the London equities close Friday, down from $94.75 late Thursday.
In Monday's UK corporate calendar, there are full year results from self storage company Lok'n Store and kidney disease-focused diagnostics firm Renalytix.
In the economic calendar, the EU will publish its latest GDP and CPI readings.
Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Action from Stratford Town vs Redditch United
Evo-Stik Southern League, Premier Division
Stratford Town 2
Redditch United 4
STRATFORD were made to pay for a dismal start as they slipped to defeat in their first home game of the new season on Tuesday night.
Two goals inside the opening six minutes from Danico Johnson and Reece Hewitt gave Redditch the perfect start, but it was game on when Town replied with a header from former Reds defender Jordan Cullinane-Liburd.
Stratford were in the ascendancy but all their good work was erased a minute before half-time when poor defending was again punished with Javi Roberts finishing with aplomb.
Town looked more threatening in the second period and Richard Gregory netted on his 100 appearance for the club to set up a rousing finale with 14 minutes left but the Reds added their fourth on 89 minutes though substitute Liam Spink.
Town striker Edwin Ahenkorah, right, takes on Redditch defender Cameron Young. Photo: Mark Williamson
Town had made two changes to the line-up which drew at St Ives on Saturday, with Kieren Westwood and Mike Taylor starting.
But any hopes of a positive start vanished after two goals found the Town net before they had settled down.
The first goal, after one minute 40 seconds, was a howler from Emmitt Delfouneso, with Johnson dispossessing the Town defender ten metres outside the penalty area and then the striker slotted home under keeper Niall Cooper.
Stratford were shellshocked and it got worse after six minutes when another flowing move sliced through the defence. Max Loveridge provided a slick ball into the feet of Hewitt just inside the area and the former Bromsgrove man guided his shot expertly into the far corner.
Moments later, Reds former Birmingham City striker Clinton Morrison slammed a close-range shot against the post.
But after that Stratford took charge as Gregory fired over.
They were rewarded on 25 minutes when Will Grocotts trickery left Eli Bako on the seat of his pants and Cullinane-Liburd rose above the Reds defence to meet his right-wing cross with a towering header into the roof of the net.
Stratford's Jamie Sheldon looks to squeeze past Redditch's Duane Courtney. Photo: Mark Williamson
Mike Taylor threatened an equaliser, only to smash a right-footer inches over the bar, but Town hit the self-destruct button to concede a third goal on 44 minutes.
Again Town lost the ball and Reds sub Reece Hales galloped forward before slipping a pass to the alert Roberts to tuck home from the inside left channel with another precise effort.
Town pushed forward after the break, and Taylors header from Jamie Sheldons right-wing cross flew into the grasp of keeper Bradley Catlow.
The keeper was again in the right place to gather Grocotts 25-yarder but he was helpless when Delfouneso smashed a low shot a foot wide.
The Reds counter-attacked when Hales almost bundled home and Johnson was denied by Guy Clarks superbly-timed challenge.
But Stratford set up a grandstand finish when Gregory showed the instincts which have brought 66 goals in his 100 matches for Town to net on 76 minutes.
A patient passing move finally created room for Westwood to find Gregory and though he was falling to the ground he still managed to guide his right-footed strike into the corner of the net.
Town pushed again to level and sub Edwin Ahenkorah fired a rising effort which Catlow tipped over on 82 minutes but the Reds had the final word with their fourth goal a minute from time.
Johnson won a lost cause down the left, evaded a defender and surged into the penalty area before rolling the ball into Spink to smash home from eight yards.
TOWN: Cooper; Cullinane-Liburd (Ahenkorah 67), Francis, Clark, Westwood; Grocott, Delfouneso, Sheldon, Gregory, Tulloch; Taylor. Subs: Brathwaite, Brooks, Evans.
REDDITCH: Catlow; Young, McDonald, Courtney; Jones, Hewitt, Loveridge (Spink 69), Roberts, Bako (Hales 26); Morrison (Luckie 63), Johnson. Subs not used: Cowley, Dudley.
Referee: Mark Howes.
Attendance: 327
Jean-Christophe Novelli will be at this years Stratford Town Centre Food Festival
CELEBRITY chef Jean-Christophe Novelli will be the star turn at this years Stratford Town Centre Food Festival.
The award-winning French chef, who appeared on the second series of ITV's Hell's Kitchen, will take to the stage on Sunday, 25 September - the final day of the three-day festival.
The festival begins on Friday, 23 September, and is organised by Stratforward BID in association with French market operator, Geraud Markets.
It is expected to attract thousands of visitors to the town, with last years big names being TV chefs James Martin and Simon Rimmer.
Jean-Christophe said: It has been great working in partnership with Stratforward and Groupe Geraud to deliver an event of this scale, especially to a town as historic as Stratford.
I'm excited to meet the locals and give them a few demonstrations, hopefully they will pick up some new tricks to take home to the kitchen!
The festival will see Stratford town centre packed with at least 100 stalls showcasing the best of local food and produce.
Highlights will include chef demonstrations, workshops and the popular Food and Ale Trails, which allow 200 daily ticketholders to pop into selected businesses across the town for tasty free samples.
The Local Producers Area on Waterside is a new feature on the Friday and Saturday, and local chefs will showcase the towns own culinary talent at The Waterside Cookery Theatre, and there will be some hands-on workshops for both children and adults.
Stratforward events manager Ruth Wood said: Were all really excited to welcome Jean-Christophe Novelli to this years Stratford Town Centre Food Festival.
We have a queue of volunteers eager to look after him for the day and the Stratforward team have all become fanatical foodies since his arrival was announced. It must be that winning combination of culinary skills and Gallic charm.
AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) said today that members of the United Auto Workers (UAW), Local 3303, have ratified a two and a half year labor agreement covering about 1,200 hourly production and maintenance employees at the company's Butler (PA) Works. AK Steel said that UAW officials notified the company that the contract was ratified in voting held on August 8 and 9, 2016 in Butler. The agreement will be in effect until April 1, 2019.
"We are pleased to have reached a labor agreement at Butler Works ahead of the expiration date," said Roger K. Newport, Chief Executive Officer of AK Steel. "This early resolution positions us well to meet the future needs of our customers, as we continue to drive our sales of more value-added and innovative products."
Butler Works produces a wide range of flat-rolled steel products, including electrical steels that are among the most energy efficient in the world, as well as a variety of stainless and carbon steels.
More than 40 customers on Tuesday received an update from Delta that they would be flying the last leg of their journey on a private jet.
Delta, in partnership with its wholly owned subsidiary, Delta Private Jets, quickly initiated a program to schedule seven flights on Tuesday evening from Atlanta to New York-JFK, Washington-Dulles, Los Angeles, Houston-Hobby, Miami, Chicago-OHare and Dallas-Fort Worth. Jets from throughout the DPJ fleet were made available for the flights, from large aircraft to light jets.
Delta reached out to customers in various situations, including its most frequent fliers, corporate travelers and customers flying for leisure.
The effort was just one of multiple initiatives Delta teams have been working on around the clock to take care of customers as the airline works to resume normal operations.
When you have a disruption of your entire fleet for one day, you have a lot of people who are out of place, a customer noted. The fact that Delta is putting private jets in the mix to try to get as many customers as they can to where they are going is very impressive.
As part of the experience, Delta provided Porsches to transfer customers from the concourses at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to the Delta Private Jets aircraft through its pioneering partnership with the automotive manufacturer.
This was an all-hands-on-deck effort by the Delta Private Jets and Delta teams, including Reservations, Airport Customer Service and Global Sales, working closely together to quickly set our plan into action, said David Sneed, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Delta Private Jets. Taking care of our customers and employees is always our top priority in all decisions we make. We are thrilled that Delta customers had an opportunity to enjoy the Delta Private Jets experience.
Ground transportation and the delivery of checked luggage was also arranged for customers upon landing at their destination to ensure customers had the support they needed to reach their final destination.
It has been a privilege and honor for all Delta Private Jets and Delta colleagues to assist our customers during the disruption to their travel plans, said Matthew Kahn, Director of the Operations and Client Center Delta Private Jets. This is a wonderful example of our partnership and shared goals of providing unique and innovative travel solutions for customers.
By PTI: Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 10 (PTI) A Romanian national, who along with two other foreigners is suspected to be involved in the hi-tech ATM robbery in which a number of people lost money here, has been arrested in Mumbai, police said today.
The accused, whose pictures were released by the police here yesterday, was taken into custody by the Mumbai Police late last night.
advertisement
A Romanian national has been taken into custody in Mumbai in connection with the ATM robbery. A team of Kerala Police has left to Mumbai to take him into custody, a senior police official said.
"The Mumbai Police will first produce him before a court there and only then we will get him in custody," he told PTI.
However, he did not divulge any further details.
Kerala Police yesterday zeroed in on three foreign nationals, who are suspected to be the key players behind the hi-tech ATM robbery, and decided to seek Interpols help.
The trio, found installing an electronic device inside an ATM kiosk of a public sector bank at Vellayambalam here, had been caught in the CCTV installed there.
According to police, the three foreign nationals were from Romania and had come to India on June 25 and reached Kerala on July 8.The three had come on tourist visas and had taken rooms in a hotel here for two days.
Police also seized from the hotel two scooters and three helmets, suspected to have been used by the trio.
The state police shared their photos and other available details with their counterparts in other states which led to the arrest of one among them, police said.
So far, more than 20 people had lodged complaints saying money was withdrawn from their account.
As per the preliminary assessment, about Rs 2.5 lakh had been lost, police said.
It is suspected that the electronic device at the ATM counter enabled the fraudsters to collect the secret pin code and card details.
Many of the customers who were duped came to know about the fraud after they received a text message on Monday, informing that money was withdrawn from their accounts. PTI LGK UD VS DV
--- ENDS ---
Herbalife (NYSE: HLF), a global nutrition company, has won approval from Chinas Ministry of Commerce to operate in three additional provinces with a population of about 57 million, which will contribute to our growth plans in the country.
The Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia provinces, which include three provincial capital cities and 16 districts, have completed their service outlet reviews that permit Herbalife to conduct direct selling activities.
Chinas Ministry of Commerce granted the permits after reviewing the current business practices of Herbalife in the country. Herbalife has 300,000 service providers in China and licenses to operate in 25 other provinces.
These approvals are a testament to our success in China and our future growth plans, said Michael O. Johnson, chairman and CEO of Herbalife.
To meet increasing demand, in July Herbalife began operations at its newest facility in Nanjing, a 372,000-square-foot factory that will double Herbalifes production capacity in China. Herbalife also operates factories in Changsha and Suzhou, and the three facilities combined can produce 60 million units annually. Altogether, Herbalife employs more than 1,300 people in China, including 124 at its new facility in Nanjing.
Our business continues to expand as more consumers see Herbalife as a trusted, convenient and accessible nutrition brand, said Jerry Li, senior vice president and manager of China operations for Herbalife. Our nutrition clubs and preferred customer loyalty program are aimed at engaging Chinese consumers in improving their well-being and weight.
Besides the three provinces, Herbalife is licensed to operate in these 25 provinces: Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guizhou, Beijing, Fujian, Sichuan, Hubei, Shan'xi, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Jilin, Henan, Chongqing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shanxi, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Hunan, Anhui, Guangxi, Hainan and Yunnan.
Herbalife also has manufacturing facilities in Lake Forest, California, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The latest sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows that iOS returned to growth in the US, accounting for 31.8% of smartphone sales in the second quarter of 2016, a 1.3 percentage point increase versus the same period a year ago.
From a brand perspective, Samsung accounted for 35% of smartphone sales, and Apple 31.8%. Following in third was LG at 14%, with Motorola fourth at 5%. Combined sales of the iPhone 6s/6s Plus totalled 15.1%, making this the top selling device in the quarter, while the Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 edge accounted for 14.1% of smartphone sales. The iPhone SE became the third best-selling phone at 5.1%, contributing to the overall growth of iOS during the period.
"For LG, these latest figures represent a steady upward trend over the past two years, doubling in share from the 7% figure in the second quarter of 2014," said Lauren Guenveur, Consumer Insight Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. "For Motorola, however, this represents a share similar to what we saw before the launch of the original iteration of the Moto X in the 3rd quarter of 2015, and down from 10% from the 1st quarter of 2016."
LG leverages LG G5 and prepaid market The LG G5 was released in the US on April 1, 2016, as the first "modular" phone on the market. In its first quarter of sales, the LG G5 was the 10th best-selling smartphone in the US at 2.2% and the best-selling LG smartphone in the market at 15.3%. It supplanted the LG G4, which had been LG's top-selling phone since the third quarter of 2015.
LG's growth in the US has not been completely dependent on its latest flagship, but also on other changes seen in the market over the past two years. "Looking beyond the LG G5 and its predecessors, LG's next best-selling devices are in the mid- and lower-range of the market, including the LG K7, LG Leon, and the LG Sunset/Sunrise," Guenveur continued. "These models are not typically available through the Big Four carriers but smaller, prepaid carriers like MetroPCS, Boost Mobile, and TracFone. In the six months ending June 2016, LG is the top-selling manufacturer on MetroPCS (40%), Boost (31%) and TracFone (34%)."
Moto's transition-driven lull Motorola continues to foster a close relationship with Verizon while also making a push to the smaller carriers including Tracfone, Consumer Cellular, and Republic Wireless. 46% of Motorola smartphones purchased in the second quarter of 2016 were connected to Verizon, and 44% to a smaller carrier rather than AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile. The Moto G and Moto E are the best-selling Moto phones connected to these smaller carriers, while the Droid Turbo 2 remains the top-selling device connected to Verizon. So, what accounts for Motorola's lower share this quarter?
"Any manufacturer announcing a new flagship phone will see sales fall in the period proceeding, since consumers want to see if the latest device is a worthy upgrade choice," Guenveur suggested. "Also, a sales lull was expected during the period of ownership transition from Google to Lenovo. The first real test for the new Moto will be the launch of the Moto Z Droid, announced in June as the first truly "modular" phone and exclusive to Verizon."
Global Market Data In Great Britain, the iPhone SE was the top selling device in the quarter at 9.2%, followed by the iPhone 6s at 9.1%. Together they contributed to iOS growth of 3.1 percentage points to 37.2% in the second quarter of 2016. iOS also experienced continued momentum in France, at 20.6% of smartphone sales. In Germany, iOS sales increased for the first time since the third quarter of 2015, up one percentage point to 14.2% of smartphone sales from 13.2% in the June period last year. These three markets combined, plus very slight declines in Italy and Spain, led iOS to grow across the EU5 by 0.7 percentage points. This represents the first period of increase since the three months ending November 2015.
In Urban China, 17.9% of smartphone sales in the period were iOS, a drop of 1.8 percentage points from 19.7% in the second quarter of 2015. iOS share decline has also pushed Apple behind Huawei at 25.7% and Xiaomi at 18.5%. While the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus remain the top selling smartphones in the region, pressure from Huawei's Mate 8, P9, Xiaomi's RedMi Note 3 and Mi 5, and Oppo's R7 has led to increased competition in the market.
For more on US market activity, see Lauren Guenveur's latest blog post at: http://www.kantarworldpanel.com/global/News/LG-flourishes-while-Moto-struggles
To view complete global OS data and an optional PDF file, please visit: www.kantarworldpanel.com/global/News/iOS-Returns-to-Growth-in-the-US-EU5
TWIN FALLS, Idaho, Aug. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Canyonside Irwin Realty is now serving the Magic Valley real estate market as the newest member of the Coldwell Banker global franchise network, and the firm will now do business as Coldwell Banker Canyonside Realty.
The company was acquired in 1988 by Bob and Betty Veeh from Dick Irwin, who have since sold the company to the top performing team of agents Gary and Beverly Shook. Coldwell Banker Canyonside Realty has three offices with 49 independent sales associates.
"We were impressed with Gary and Beverly's passion for expanding their business in concert with the Coldwell Banker brand," said Budge Huskey, president and chief executive officer of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. "We are proud to have Coldwell Banker Canyonside Realty join the Coldwell Banker network and look forward to increasing our brand presence in south central Idaho."
"We consider Coldwell Banker to be the premier international real estate brand," said Gary Shook. "We are confident that our association with Coldwell Banker will allow us to better equip our agents as well as serve our customers and clients through the unmatched resources and marketing power offered by Coldwell Banker."
Magic Valley is home to world-class outdoor recreation activities, including the I.B. Perrine Bridge, which is one of only two bridges in the U.S. that permits base jumping. "With short distances to National Parks and larger cities, Twin Falls is a great place to call home," Shook added. "The region has also benefited from the opening of St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center. We are seeing more retirees moving into the area because of the convenience the medical facility and our relatively low cost of living.
"We are still experiencing a shortage of inventory at the lower end of the market because homes that are priced right and in good condition are selling fast," Shook said. "However, inventory at the middle to high end of the market is now at a healthy level. The city has experienced its own expansion and growth with existing companies like Glanbia and Con Agra; along with new companies like Chobani and Clif Bar opening factories and plants in the area, in the last few years. We are optimistic about the growth pace of our local economy."
About Coldwell Banker Canyonside RealtyColdwell Banker Canyonside Realty has three locations: 800 Falls Ave, Ste. 1, Twin Falls, ID, 83301 and 520 Main, Gooding, ID, 83330 and 220 State Street South, Hagerman, ID, 83332. They can be reached at the Twin Falls main office: 208 734-6500. Each office is independently owned and operated. Since 1906, the Coldwell Banker organization has been a premier provider of full-service residential and commercial real estate brokerage services. Coldwell Banker Real Estate is the oldest national real estate brand and franchisor in the United States, and today has a global network of approximately 3,000 independently owned and operated franchised broker offices in 47 countries and territories with almost 85,000 affiliated sales professionals.
CONTACT INFORMATION: Gary Shook208-539-7027[email protected]
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/canyonside-irwin-realty-joins-coldwell-banker-real-estate-network-300311373.html
SOURCE Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Dreyfus High Yield Strategies Fund (NYSE: DHF), Dreyfus Municipal Income, Inc. (NYSE MKT: DMF), Dreyfus Strategic Municipal Bond Fund, Inc. (NYSE: DSM) and Dreyfus Strategic Municipals, Inc. (NYSE: LEO) each announced that certain fund statistics, as of June 30, 2016, are now available. The information will be posted to www.dreyfus.com and can be accessed at: https://public.dreyfus.com/products-performance/closed-end.html.
To order a hard copy of this information, call 1-800-334-6899.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160810006073/en/
For Press Inquiries:
The Dreyfus Corporation
Melissa Cassar
212-635-6038
or
For Other Inquiries:
MBSC Securities Corporation
The National Marketing Desk
200 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10166
1-800-334-6899
Source: The Dreyfus Corporation
HOUSTON, TEXAS -- (Marketwired) -- 08/10/16 -- Greenfields Petroleum Corporation (the "Company" or "Greenfields") (TSX VENTURE: GNF)(TSX VENTURE: GNF.DB) announces the following:
Loan Restructuring
The Company has signed a Ninth Amending Agreement ("Amendment") to its loan agreement dated November 25, 2013 ("Loan Agreement") with its senior lender ("Lender"), which will be effective upon the approval by the Company's shareholders of an increase in its share capital and of its Lender as a new control person, and approval by the Company's debentureholders of conversion of the Company's convertible debentures into common shares of the Company, all as described in the Information Circular ("Circular") dated July 18, 2016, and available on SEDAR.
Pursuant to the Amendment, the maturity date under the Loan Agreement will be extended until March 31, 2018, and the loan principal amount plus accrued and unpaid interest originally due December 31, 2015, will be converted to principal ("Restructure Amount"). The Company will issue to the Lender up to 2,220,000 common shares (hereinafter "Debt Shares") in the Company for each $1,000,000 of Restructure Amount, and 1,200,000 common shares for each $1,000,000 of any additional advance provided by the Lender within a specified period of time. For additional information on the number of Debt Shares to be issued, please refer to the Circular.
Additionally, for each Debt Share issued related to the Restructure Amount, the Company will issue to the Lender an equivalent number of Common Share purchase warrants upon the terms as described in the Circular.
The Eighth Amending Agreement signed on July 13, 2016, and described in the Circular, previously extended the maturity date under the Loan Agreement to August 31, 2016.
About Greenfields Petroleum Corporation
Greenfields is a junior oil and natural gas company focused on the development and production of proven oil and gas reserves principally in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Company plans to expand its oil and gas assets through further farm-ins, and acquisitions of Production Sharing Agreements from foreign governments containing previously discovered but under-developed international oil and gas fields, also known as "greenfields". More information about the Company may be obtained on the Greenfields website at www.greenfields-petroleum.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. More particularly, this press release may include, but is not limited to, statements concerning the Loan Agreement, the Company's intention to evaluate refinancing options and the Company's strategy. In addition, the use of any of the words "initial, "scheduled", "can", "will", "prior to", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "should", "forecast", "future", "continue", "may", "expect", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained herein are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company, including, but not limited to, the ability to secure a suitable shareholder of Bahar Energy Limited, expectations and assumptions concerning the success of optimization and efficiency improvement projects, the availability of capital, current legislation, receipt of required regulatory approval, the success of future drilling and development activities, the performance of existing wells, the performance of new wells, general economic conditions, availability of required equipment and services, weather conditions and prevailing commodity prices. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct.
Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties most of which are beyond the control of Greenfields. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results, performance or achievements could vary materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These risks include, but are not limited to, risks associated with the oil and gas industry in general (e.g., operational risks in development, exploration and production; delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures; the uncertainty of reserve estimates; the uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to production, costs and expenses, and health, safety, political and environmental risks), commodity price and exchange rate fluctuations, changes in legislation affecting the oil and gas industry and uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures. Additional risk factors can be found under the heading "Risk Factors" in Greenfields' Annual Information Form and similar headings in Greenfields' Management's Discussion & Analysis which may be viewed on www.sedar.com.
The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and Greenfields undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. The Company's forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts: Greenfields Petroleum Corporation John W. Harkins Chief Executive Officer (832) 234-0836 Greenfields Petroleum Corporation A. Wayne Curzadd Chief Financial Officer (832) 234-0835 [email protected] www.greenfields-petroleum.com
Source: Greenfields Petroleum Corporation
Ford adds special interior and exterior upgrades to offer stylish, value-oriented trucks with the STX Appearance Package for 2017 F-Series Trucks
Positioned between XL work and XLT mid-level models, STX available for 2017 F-150 and Super Duty
Customers can order the STX package on F-150 in either SuperCab or SuperCrew and on Super Duty in any cab configuration from Ford dealers today
DEARBORN, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ford, Americas truck leader, is giving entry-level truck customers a new option to find the truck of their dreams with great infotainment features and stylish design at an affordable price.
The STX Appearance Package will be available for 2017 F-150 and Super Duty trucks, building on the success of the previous generation F-150 STX. This will be the first time F-Series Super Duty is offered with the STX package.
STX is for customers who want the utility of an F-Series truck in a stylish, well-optioned package at a competitive price, said Doug Scott, Ford truck group marketing manager.
Positioned between the XL and XLT models, STX adds a stylish exterior and many interior features that arent normally available on the entry level F-150:
20-inch machined-aluminum wheels with dark gray painted pockets
Black billet-style grille with body-color surround and black mesh insert
Body-color front fascia and front and rear bumpers
SYNC 3 with 8-inch center stack touch screen and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
Privacy glass
Unique black sport cloth seats with Flow-through Console and steering column-mounted shifter
STX Sport Box decal
Fog lamps
Manual driver and passenger lumbar support
The F-150 with the STX package is available with the 2.7-liter EcoBoost, 5.0-liter V8 and 3.5-liter EcoBoost.
The Super Duty STX Appearance package brightens up the exterior with chrome features and unique badging. The package is available with either the 6.2-liter V8 gas engine, or the 6.7-liter Power Stroke diesel, and adds the following to the XL trim:
Bright chrome grille
Chrome front and rear step bumpers
STX fender vent badge
Unique aluminum wheels
Steering wheel-mounted cruise control
Bright hub covers (SRW only)
AM/FM stereo with single CD/MP3 player
Available in either SuperCab or SuperCrew configurations on F-150, and in all cab configurations in Super Duty, the STX package bundles numerous features together to give customers a great value truck.
The STX package is available to order through dealers on both models now.
The F-150 STX starts at: $35,615.
F-250 STX starts at $34,910, and F-350 STX starts at $36,080.
About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is a global automotive and mobility company based in Dearborn, Michigan. With about 201,000 employees and 67 plants worldwide, the companys core business includes designing, manufacturing, marketing, financing and servicing a full line of Ford cars, trucks, SUVs and electrified vehicles, as well as Lincoln luxury vehicles. At the same time, Ford is aggressively pursuing emerging opportunities through Ford Smart Mobility, the companys plan to be a leader in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience and data and analytics. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford and its products worldwide or Ford Motor Credit Company, visit www.corporate.ford.com.
For news releases, related materials and high-resolution photos and video, visit www.media.ford.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160810005743/en/
Ford Motor Company
Jessica Enoch
313.407.4598
[email protected]
Source: Ford Motor Company
Iranian scientist Shahram Amiri speaks with journalists as he arrives at the Imam Khomini airport in Tehran in this July 15, 2010 file photo. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi
By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati
DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iranian security forces may have pressured nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri, hanged last week for spying for the United States, to admit to crimes he did not commit, his mother said in an interview this week.
Amiri leapt to the global spotlight in 2010 when he claimed first that U.S. agents had abducted him and then that he was in the United States of his own free will.
The same year, he returned to Iran where he was welcomed as a hero but then detained and tried on charges that he divulged nuclear secrets.
"When I was saying goodbye to him before his execution, he told me not to be sad as he had done nothing wrong," Marzieh Amiri told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"He asked me to tell everyone that he was innocent. He was saying his conscience was clear," she said.
Her son's closed-door trial was unfair and he was not properly represented, she said. She did not know the full name of the lawyer, who as a result could not be reached for comment.
"They should have held a public trial," she said. "I am not angry with the government or the Supreme Leader (of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei). I am angry with extremist security forces who were on his case, trying to prove he was a spy and who maybe forced him to confess to things he hadn't done."
Iranian judiciary officials could not be reached for comment. Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, spokesman for Iran's judiciary, told reporters Amiri received a fair trial and the case followed standard judicial procedure.
"He ... had contacted Iran's number one enemy, America, and had given our most secret and vital information to them," Mohseni Ejei said on Sunday, according to the state broadcaster.
"I AM AN IRANIAN"
In June 2010, Iranian state television showed Amiri, then 32, saying in a video he was in Arizona after U.S. and Saudi intelligence forces kidnapped him a year earlier during a religious pilgrimage abroad.
In a second video soon afterwards, Amiri said he was in the United States voluntarily and wanted to dispel "rumors" that had been spread about him.
"I am an Iranian, and I have taken no step against my homeland," he said.
As a young man with a talent for electronics in the Iranian city of Kermanshah, Amiri would tote his toolbox to friends' houses and fix their broken appliances, his mother said.
He won a coveted scholarship from the defense ministry to further his studies and eventually became a researcher in radiation safety at the defense ministry-affiliated Malek Ashtar University of Technology, visiting sites associated with Iran's nuclear program.
According to a U.S. official involved in the case, the Central Intelligence Agency recruited Amiri in Iran and helped extract him using the pilgrimage.
But U.S. officials had doubts about the depth of Amiri's knowledge and access to the most sensitive information.
Amiri was questioned, given a new identity and a home in Arizona, and paid around $5 million, the officials said.
However he began telling his handlers he missed his young son and wanted to return to Iran, though they warned he likely would face imprisonment or worse and might never see his son.
Arriving in Tehran in July 2010, he was greeted by his son, reporters and Iran's deputy foreign minister. Someone placed a wreath around his neck and he flashed a "V" for victory while clutching his son.
CLEAR CONSCIENCE
Marzieh Amiri said her son was free on his return and even took a vacation in Iran with his family. "But one day they suddenly arrested him ... When we followed up, (the security forces) said, 'It's for his own protection. He is our guest'."
He was held in isolation in Tehran, his mother said. His wife filed for divorce, and he became nervous and suffered from high blood pressure
"His loneliness was killing him," she said, adding she visited him once or twice a month. "He told me he prefers to die as he could not tolerate the isolation any more."
Last week, officials brought his corpse to Kermanshah. Rope marks on his neck indicated he had been hanged, his mother said.
(Additional reporting by John Walcott and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish)
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A former governor of Mexico's northern Nuevo Leon state will be tried for alleged improprieties linked to tax incentives his administration gave to South Korean carmaker Kia Motors to build a plant, a local government source said on Tuesday.
In June, an anti-corruption prosecutor accused former governor Rodrigo Medina and 30 others including former officials, family and friends, of corruption that drained some 3.6 billion pesos ($195.87 million) from state coffers.
A judge late was set to rule on Tuesday that Medina should face trial although the timing was not yet clear, the source said.
Current independent Governor Jaime Rodriguez's administration has been demanding that Kia renegotiate some of the incentives pledged in an accord struck in 2014 under Medina.
In June, his government said it had reached a deal with Kia to cut the tax breaks it would receive for building its first Mexican plant in the state from 28 percent of the amount invested by the firm and its suppliers to 10.5 percent.
Kia Motors started production at its $1 billion factory in Mexico on May 16, with plans to increase its total production capacity to 300,000 vehicles a year, from this year's projected 100,000.
($1 = 18.3800 Mexican pesos)
(Reporting by Gabriela Lopez and Anahi Rama; Editing by Kim Coghill)
By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal
COLOMBO (Reuters) - The Maldives legalized criminal defamation on Tuesday in a move criticized by the United Nations and which the opposition said was aimed at stifling dissent.
Best known as a paradise for wealthy tourists, the Indian Ocean archipelago has been mired in political unrest since Mohamed Nasheed, its first democratically elected leader, was ousted in disputed circumstances in 2012.
President Abdulla Yameen's administration went ahead with the defamation law despite criticism from the United Nations, rights groups and Western nations including the United States, Britain, Germany and the European Union.
The United Nations said it was "very worried" about the law.
The law criminalizes defamatory speech, remarks, writings and other actions including a gesture and targets actions against "any tenet of Islam" in the Muslim-majority country.
The bill was passed by a 16-vote majority led by Yameen's ruling Progressive Party of Maldives.
Those found guilty will be fined between 50,000 Maldivian rufiya ($3,200) and 2 million rufiya ($130,000) or face a jail term of between three and six months.
Publications, including websites, found carrying "defamatory" comments could also have their licenses revoked.
"So basically it's crippling freedom of expression including on the basis of defamation of religion, national security and social norms," said Mona Rishmawi, chief of the Rule of Law branch at the U.N. human rights office.
The opposition coalition said in a statement the new law would seriously hinder investigative journalism.
"The bill prevents journalists from reporting allegations if the accused refuses to comment, preventing coverage of speeches at political rallies, and gives government authorities sweeping powers to target the media," it said in a statement.
Transparency Maldives, condemning the bill, said its passage through parliament had not addressed the serious concerns raised by local media organizations, political parties, civil society groups and international organizations.
Zaheena Rasheed, editor at Maldives Independent news website, said the law was clearly aimed at muzzling the media after a series of threats, murder attempts, numerous death threats and physical attacks on news organizations.
"This is a final push to shut down the remaining media outlets. We have fought really hard. We are not giving up. We are going to contest the bill at the Supreme Court on its constitutionality," she said.
The move comes as the United Nations urged the Maldives not to carry out planned executions for convicts on death row and to uphold a moratorium it had respected for decades amid raising concerns over the rule of law. [L4N1AQ3VB]
(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
By Amanda Becker and James Oliphant
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday accused Republican opponent Donald Trump of inciting violence with his call for gun rights activists to stop her from nominating liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices.
Clinton's comments added to a growing outcry over Trump's remarks on Tuesday at a North Carolina rally, which some interpreted as a call for violence against his White House rival. His remarks also fueled widespread concerns about his ability to stay on track.
"Words matter, my friends," the former U.S. secretary of state, who rarely engages in direct back-and-forths with her Republican rival, said at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa. "And if you are running to be president or you are president of the United States, words can have tremendous consequences."
"Yesterday, we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that crossed the line," she said, citing "his casual inciting of violence."
Trump insisted in an interview with Fox News that his remarks were a call for political, not physical, action.
There is tremendous political power to save the Second Amendment, tremendous," the New York businessman said. "And you look at the power they have in terms of votes and thats what I was referring to, obviously thats what I was referring to, and everybody knows it."
The U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment guarantees a right to keep and bear arms.
"I cant think of anything remotely comparable to it. No one tells a joke about the opponent getting shot. Ive never heard it," said Bob Shrum, a top aide for Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000 and John Kerry's in 2004.
REPUBLICANS SHAKEN
High-profile Republicans and rank-and-file voters appeared shaken on Wednesday after a string of Trump misfires, struggling with how to best reject his divisive candidacy. Some pledged to withhold their endorsement and others backed Clinton.
Some, including MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida, called for party leaders to replace Trump on the ticket.
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll taken Aug. 5-8 - before Trump's latest controversy - showed that nearly one-fifth of 396 registered Republicans said they want Trump to drop out of the race and another 10 percent said they "don't know" whether the Republican nominee should or not.
Clinton's campaign, seeing an opening, has moved to bring disenchanted Republicans into the fold by announcing an official intraparty outreach effort on behalf of the Democratic nominee.
Clinton's campaign now has a website for Republicans and political independents to sign up to pledge their support, listing 50 prominent Republicans and independents who have endorsed her.
On Monday, 50 Republican national security officials signed an open letter questioning Trump's temperament, calling him reckless and unqualified to be president.
Other top Republicans, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine this week, have disavowed Trump but said they cannot back Clinton.
James Rohrscheib, 74, a registered Republican and retired U.S. Navy officer from Washington state, told Reuters the reality is the Nov. 8 election will be a "tough one."
"Im in a quandary as to who I am going to vote for," Rohrscheib said.
Trump has dismissed the defections and criticism as an unsurprising reaction of the so-called Washington elite to his drive to change the status quo.
One group that appears unswayed is Trump's donors. Reuters interviewed nine major Trump donors on Wednesday, and not one said his Second Amendment comment had given them pause.
Trump Texas fundraising co-chair Gaylord Hughey called the interpretation of his remark as condoning violence "ridiculous" and "ludicrous."
"Its just another issue the press has really twisted to make headlines," Hughey said.
But Mike Smith, a Republican voter and Reuters/Ipsos poll respondent, said the support Trump is still receiving from Republicans "almost seems obligatory rather than voluntary."
"Im almost at the point where I think Im going to vote for Hillary. I don't like her," said Smith, a 74-year-old retiree who lives in Clearwater, Florida. "But Mr. Trump is making me very nervous."
RESET ABANDONED
Republican strategist and Trump supporter Ford OConnell said Trump has "dug himself a deep hole" with voters and to win the election he will need to "make it a referendum on Hillary Clinton and the 'rigged system.'"
Trump sought to do just that by using an economic policy speech in Detroit on Monday to correct a series of missteps that included a prolonged clash with the parents of a fallen Muslim American soldier. But his remarks Tuesday undermined that effort.
"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks," Trump said at the rally in North Carolina. "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know," he continued.
A federal official familiar with the matter denied a media report that the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates threats against presidents and candidates, had formally spoken with the Trump campaign about his remark.
Trump's comment and the resulting backlash occurred as Reuters/Ipsos polling showed some 44 percent of 1,162 registered voters believe Trump should exit the race, and that as of Tuesday, Clinton led Trump by more than 7 percentage points, up from a 3-point lead late last week.
Strategists and Trump detractors agreed that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to remove Trump from the Republican ticket.
"Its wishful thinking to believe the Republicans are going to replace its nominee after the convention. People are grasping at straws," Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist unaffiliated with Trump, told Reuters.
A more likely scenario would be a replay of the 1996 presidential race, when the Republican Party essentially deserted nominee Bob Dole, who was badly trailing President Bill Clinton, to focus on congressional races.
(Additional reporting by Alana Wise, Emily Flitter, Ginger Gibson, Susan Heavy, Doina Chiacu, Grant Smith, Eric Beech and Jonathan Allen; Writing by Amanda Becker; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis)
By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: Abul Bazandar, the tree man of Bangladesh has no bark-like warts in his body anymore. His eyes shines with joy as his ten fingers can work now.
Over ten operations have been completed in during last 7 months and last saturday the bandage was opened. He feels his fingers unknown. The doctors said, this is a milestone in the history of the medical treatment.
advertisement
Above all, the days of Bazandar family passing in the cabin of the hospital were over. Abul never thought about such a miracle during his admission at the burn and plastic surgery unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
The first operation was done on 20th February. His physicians also were not so hopeful about the success of Bazandars operations.
Abul Bazandar is now sure to go back home ,his native village Paikgacha of Khulna soon.
DR. Samnta Lal Sen said, Bazandars all bark-like warts of his body have been removed by operation. His main operation have already been ended. Now the treatment of beautification is going on. In last five months there was no side affect found in his body after operation. Everything is going on well. We are hopeful about his complete and successful recovery.
Interview of Treeman Abul Bazander :
Reporter: How are you?
Abul Bazandar: I am well now and with God's grace I will be able to move and work. I have come here with the blessings of Media. Doctors have treated me well. I feel happy that I will be able to hold my daughter again.
Reporter: At this stage it is seen that there is no bark like warts in your hand like before, do you feel the pain of the surgery?
Abul Bazandar: No. I don't feel the pain all the time but sometimes while exercising it pains. Though it vanishes within an hour or so. Doctors has advised me to do some exercises and asked me to apply balm on the wounded areas.
Reporter: Do you feel the differences between the two stages, the former and present?
Abul Bazandar: Yes, I feel much better than before. It was not so easy before as I could'nt even fold my hands. Now I can work better.
Reporter: What are the doctors saying now?
Abul Bazandar: Doctors are expecting that my hands will be in normal gradually. Another operation would be conducted.
Reporter: How long will it take to leave the hospital?
Abul Bazandar: At first doctors said it would take more than a year but within last seven months it has developed a lot. The rewcovery of my legs will take longer as only one operation has been conducted on it. So more than three to four months would be needed.
advertisement
Reporter: Earlier you felt you would never be cured in your life, but now you are a better. How does it feel?
Abul Bazandar: I had no hope of being cured. I am fine now with Gods grace. I hope my daughter will become a someday and stand beside the deprieved and treat them free.
ALSO READ:
Bangladeshi Tree Man Abul Bazandar gets financial aid for house
--- ENDS ---
By Josh Smith
KABUL (Reuters) - American soldiers helping Afghan troops fight Islamic State in Afghanistan were forced to abandon equipment and weapons when their position came under fire, a U.S. military official said on Tuesday.
Islamic State fighters have circulated photographs of a rocket launcher, grenades, ammunition, identification cards, an encrypted radio and other equipment that they said they had seized.
U.S. military spokesman General Charles Cleveland said the loss had happened during fighting in Nangarhar, a province in eastern Afghanistan, in July in which at least five special forces soldiers were wounded, but he denied that any American positions were overrun.
"We have been able to determine that the I.D. card and most of the pictured equipment was lost during recent operations in southern Nangarhar," he said in a statement.
Cleveland said a location set up to deal with casualties - a routine step in any operation - had come under "effective enemy fire" and the soldiers moved to a safer position.
"In the course of moving the (casualty collection point) to a safe location, some equipment was left behind," he said.
Despite the sensitive nature of some of the items, Cleveland said he did not expect there would be "any measurable operational impact" from the loss.
"For understandable reasons, the lives of soldiers were not put at risk to recover the equipment," he said.
At the time, military officials said five soldiers were wounded by small arms fire and shrapnel during fighting that spanned July 24 and 25.
Two of the wounded returned to duty and the three others were expected to make a full recovery, Army General John Nicholson said in July.
U.S. troops and aircraft have been taking a more active role against Islamic State after President Barack Obama authorized more military support for the Afghan government.
(Editing by Robert Birsel and Robin Pomeroy)
A woman carries fire wood on her head as she walks below Eskom's elecricity pylons in Soweto, South Africa, August 8, 2016. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
By Nqobile Dludla
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - More workers at South African state-run power utility Eskom joined a strike over pay, their union said on Wednesday, in defiance of a court order preventing the industrial action at the state-run firm.
The company has branded the stoppage by thousands of National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) members which started on Monday illegal because its members are prohibited by law from striking, but said its operations had not been affected so far.
The labour dispute is the latest problem to beset Eskom, which has struggled to meet power demand in Africa's most industrialised country due to its aging power plants and grid. However, it has managed a year without rolling blackouts that have hurt the economy in the past.
"Our message to the whole nation is just to keep calm. We are handling the situation, currently the situation is under control," Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said, adding that he could not divulge the firm's contingency plans.
Phasiwe said the court order prohibits NUM and two other unions from going on strike as part of the Labour Relations Act, which bars workers deemed to provide an essential service from going on strike.
NUM said on Tuesday that all of its 15,000 members at the utility, or close to a third of Eskom's workforce, would stop work on Wednesday.
The union's spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu said its members were on strike in provinces where Eskom runs its biggest plants, including in Mpumalanga province.
"Our members are aware that for them being involved in this strike there are consequences and they are saying they are fighting for the right cause," said Mammburu.
Asked whether union members will be dismissed if they do go on strike, Phasiwe said workers would not be fired en masse but that each case will be handled on its own merit.
He said talks with the union had not yet collapsed and both parties were due to meet this morning for further discussions.
The utility is offering pay increases of 7 to 9 percent while NUM on Tuesday lowered their wage demand to 8.5 to 10 percent from 12 to 13 percent.
The stoppage at Eskom coincides with a strike over wages by around 15,000 workers in the petrochemical industry that has been going on since last week but has so far not caused any significant fuel shortages.
(Editing by James Macharia and Louise Heavens)
Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
By India Today Web Desk: When it comes to setting a world record people go out of their way to do the most outlandish things. In one such case, Bengaluru based entrepreneur and proprietor of Vinay Fashions, Anuradha Eshwar, got into the Guinness Book Of World Records for creating the world's largest blouse.
Stitching the mammoth 30-feet high and 44-feet wide blouse was not an easy feat, the Bangalore Mirror quoted Anuradha Eshwar as saying, "It took five people and 72 hours to tailor this blouse."
This blouse takes the cup for its record proportionshttps://t.co/pSuTdEivS3 pic.twitter.com/35JYu1C55W Bangalore Mirror (@Bangaloremirror) August 8, 2016
advertisement
She calls it the 'big catori blouse' which was tailored using 280 m of printed cotton cloth and 20 m of orange polyester piping. The blouse which was displayed at St Sophia Convent High School, Nagarabhavi, in Bengaluru, also made it to other record books, including the Limca Book of Records, the India Book of Records, the World Records India, the Universal Record Forum World Records and the Golden Book of World Records.
Anuradha's main source of inspiration was her son, Vinay, an engineering student, who has already set four world records. He made it to the Limca Book of Records for a collection of '173 dragon fly pictures in 42 minutes'. For making the smallest Crochet mat, he entered the World Records India and the Universal Records Forum's National Record.
--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: Bigg Boss has revived many a career. From Karishma Tanna, Upen Patel, Gautam Gulati, Aarya Babbar to Shweta Tiwari, there are numerous examples to prove the same. But there is one actor who is regretting his decision to sign on Bigg Boss. And his name is Akashdeep Saigal. The same actor who played Tulsi's son Ansh Gujral in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and showed a lot of promise.
advertisement
Akashdeep, who participated in Bigg Boss 5 in 2011, had an ugly spat with Bigg Boss host Salman Khan. He had accused Salman of hitting him on the show and also demoralising him. That was 5 years back. But if the actor has to be believed, he is still paying the price of that tiff.
Also read: Bigg Boss 10 to have 8 celebrities, 8 commoners?
On being asked whether he had moved on after his spat with Salman, this is what he had to say: "Totally," adding, "But I don't know if he has. I never hired any PR to destroy a career. I don't have a petty mind. I don't take 10 people along with me to make myself seem more powerful," he told Bollywood Life.
If you look at Akashdeep's Wikipedia profile, there's hardly a substantial show/film in his list of works.
Over to Salman Khan.
--- ENDS ---
The two planes which has received possible bomb threat landed safely at the Brussels' Zaventem airport.
By Reuters: Two aircraft landed safely at Brussels' Zaventem airport after receiving bomb threats, the Belgian state broadcaster VRT reported on Wednesday evening.
State prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt said his office had received information about possible bomb alerts and had opened an investigation, but declined to provide details. He said the bomb squad had not been called to the airport.
advertisement
BOTH PLANES LAND SAFELY
An airport police spokeswoman said no bomb alerts were in place and that there was no problem at the airport.
VRT said both planes, one of which was flying from Oslo, landed safely.
Also Read: Emirates flight from India crash-lands, catches fire at Dubai airport as landing gear fails
WHAT HAPPENED
A reporter at Belgian broadcaster Woestijnvis/Proximus TV, Bart Raes, tweeted that he was on the flight from Oslo and that the pilot had received the bomb threat 20 minutes before the plane was due to land.
Raes said that passengers were informed of the threat and had to wait 10 minutes before being allowed to leave the plane after it landed.
Belgian media said some other planes had been diverted to other airports.
This March, Islamist bombers killed 32 people in suicide attacks at Brussels airport and a metro station. Many of those who carried out last November's attacks in Paris, which killed 130 people, were based in Belgium.
Also Read:
Brussels attacks: Here are the 10 big developments
Brussels bombings claim casualties from over 40 countries
ISIS threatens to bomb Miss Universe pageant in its new tutorial video
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) The Cabinet today gave its nod for signing and ratification of an agreement between India and Croatia on economic cooperation.
"India and Croatia had earlier signed an agreement on trade and economic cooperation in September, 1994, with an aim to promote and develop bilateral trade and economic relations. Signing of the new agreement between India and Croatia would be a step in continuity as the existing agreement expired in November, 2009," an official statement said.
advertisement
Indias bilateral trade with Croatia during 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 was USD 152.01 million, USD 148.86 million and USD 205.04 million respectively.
The average bilateral trade growth was 17.44 per cent during the last three years, the statement added. PTI BKS ABK
--- ENDS ---
The trial of a man accused of killing George Taiaroa is expected to heat up today with the first of the Crowns key witnesses expected to take the stand.
Quinton Winders, 45, has pleaded not guilty to killing 67-year-old Taiaroa, who was shot dead while operating a stop-go sign at roadworks in Atiamuri, north of Taupo, in 2013.
The New Zealand political spectrum is relatively narrow compared to America, according to Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller.
Todd is set to talk about his recent travels to both the American Republican Party and Democratic Party conventions at an open meeting at the Papamoa Community Centre on Monday night.
Police reinforcements for the Far North are too little too late, and need to be permanent, and numbers boosted across the country, says New Zealand First Leader and Northland MP Rt Hon Winston Peters.
New Zealand First would urgently train many more police to boost the national force as we did previously (we introduced 1000 extra frontline police and 235 backup staff over three years from 2005-2008).
New Zealand lags behind Australia on the number of police per capita. We should at the very least catch up to them.
More police is the answer, not putting out fires, thats just a half-hearted measure. The tide of crime has been coming in under National for eight years as it has been starkly reminded in Northland.
The government has been sitting on its hands and is now looking for a quick fix.
Northlanders are sick of the manipulated figures the government keeps producing. Its a lie that burglaries are down.
The facts are that Northland is under-staffed in policing.
New Zealand First checked under the Official Information Act. Of Northlands 22 stations, only seven had more than a single officer on continuous duty over four consecutive Fridays and Saturdays over December and January. For a vast area of New Zealand with 156,000 people, there was only an average of 43 police on duty at 7am and again at 11pm. On one occasion it peaked at 67, but on another, it was only 17 on duty.
"This provides nothing less than a welcome mat for criminality. Getting nabbed under National is more a matter of bad luck because of Nationals ghost-cops and ghost stations.
"Since 2008 when National became government reported criminal offences in Northland have leapt 66% from 11,593 in 2008 to over 19,274 last year. But over the same time arrests fell from 3,144 in 2008 to 2,735 in 2015.
"Additional police data lays bare the truth about Nationals police neglect that is being replicated all over provincial New Zealand. It is so bad that burglars stand a 97% chance of getting away with it in Northland and we must ask how many serious crimes are going unreported.
"The governments excuse will be to say that the reporting system has changed with a host of PR spin. The inescapable truth is that our thin blue line is broken and we need more police working in our communities and not just the large towns.
"New Zealand First is committed to doing just that," says Mr Peters.
Police Communications and Resource Deployment System (CARD) Data for Northland (2008-2015):
Crime Crimes Reported (K6) Arrests Made (K9) Percentage Burglary 17319 522 3% Wilful damage 3985 517 13% Theft (ex-shop) 3804 1419 37% Assault (Grievous, Serious & Minor) 3452 1570 45% Car Conversion 3013 138 5% Theft (ex-car) 2031 67 3% Intimidation 1620 349 22% Trespass 1297 406 31% Firearms offences 514 149 29% Drugs 453 410 91% Robbery 424 91 21% Child Abuse 279 26 9% Fraud 125 22 18% Sexual 112 36 30% Kidnapping 36 4 11% Endangering/Interfering 32 11 34% Bylaw Breaches 29 186 641% Animal Cruelty 11 3 27% Receiving 6 10 167% Homicide 3 3 100% Immigration 1 2 200%
SOURCE: Office of Winston Peters
Like a lot of kids, when Patrick Edmonds used to get home from school hed munch down on chippies and biscuits.
But that all changed when the 10-year-old joined Sport BOPs Active Families programme back in November; these days the biscuits and chips are out, while healthier snacks like popcorn are in.
Ethnic Communities Minister Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga says Language Line has logged more than half a million calls to its telephone interpreting service.
This is a significant milestone for the service. Since it began in 2003 Language Line has helped more than half a million people with little or no english get access to essential services, Mr Lotu-Iiga says.
Language line is funded by the Immigration levy and costs just over $800,000 a year to operate.
The interpreting service receives around 1,100 calls each week from people and organisations including Police, Ambulance, Work and Income, Housing New Zealand and Inland Revenue.
It plays a key role in responding to the needs of New Zealanders for who English is a second language. And it is one of a number of services which help them settle in to life in New Zealand, Mr Lotu-Iiga says.
Language Line, the New Zealand Migrant and Integration Strategy and the Ethnic Communities Development Fund all help migrants feel they belong here, Mr Lotu-Iiga says.
The service has grown from 6 participating agencies to 108 and offers immediate access to interpreters speaking 44 languages, with Mandarin, Samoan and Korean requested most often.
Source: Office of Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga.
By PTI: From K J M Varma
Beijing, Aug 10 (PTI) China will accord a head of the state welcome to Myanmars top leader Aung San Suu Kyi when she visits here next week, which the official media said is a "small diplomatic victory" for Beijing, considering she is visiting the Communist nation first before going to the US.
advertisement
Myanmars State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi is "expected to be received as a head of state" when she arrives here on August 17, state-run Global Times reported.
She will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang during her visit.
Observers say that the head of the state welcome is in recognition to the 71-year-old Myanmari leaders status as the de-facto leader of the government even though she is only State Counsellor and Foreign Minister.
While this is her first visit trip outside ASEAN, (Association of South East Asian Nations) in which Myanmar is a member, she is visiting China ahead of her visit to US aimed to recalibrate China-Myanmar relations under the new Myanmar government, it said.
"It is also seen by analysts as a small diplomatic victory for China over speculations that bilateral ties might take a blow under the new administration, given Chinas close ties with the former military-backed government and Suu Kyis identity as a democracy icon long hailed by the West," it said.
This will be Suu Kyis second trip to China. She met with Xi the first time through a party-to-party channel in June 2015 before Myanmars general election in November.
Her China visit also comes two weeks before the 21st Century Panglong Conference, a peace conference involving the Myanmar government, the military and ethnic armed groups.
Chinas support is seen as vital in resolving Myanmars decade-long ethnic conflicts, it said.
China-Myanmar share long volatile borders and Beijing has deployed military at the border last year after five people were killed several others wounded in firing from a Myanmar jet reportedly while pursing Kokoang rebels.
"Choosing China as her first destination outside of ASEAN reinforces Suu Kyis image as a pragmatic politician who prioritises national interests above ideology and one who is careful in balancing Myanmars relations with China on one side and the West on the other," Ji Qiufeng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University, said.
The de facto Myanmar leader is tasked with reviving Myanmars economy and attaining national reconciliation with ethnic rebel forces.
"Both Myanmar and China know, as Myanmars northern neighbour, China can help Myanmar in ways that the US cannot," Ji noted.
advertisement
Suu Kyi last visited the US as the leader of the opposition in September 2012.
Suu Kyi is expected to discuss a broad range of topics with the Chinese leaders, including setting the tone for bilateral relations and facilitating trade and other economic cooperation. PTI KJV UZM AKJ UZM
--- ENDS ---
The Australian-first Aerostructures Innovation Research Hub (AIR Hub) will bring together the best of Victorias aerospace research, design and manufacturing leaders to work with industry on the next generation of air mobility.
By PTI: From Lalit K Jha
Washington, Aug 10 (PTI) Amid increasing religious intolerance across the globe, the US today said when a government denies religious liberty, citizens who have done nothing wrong turn into criminals.
"When a government denies religious liberty, it turns citizens who have done nothing wrong into criminals, igniting tension that breeds contempt, hopelessness, alienation," Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told reporters at a news conference here to release the annual report on International Religious Freedom for the year 2015.
advertisement
"Our message is simple. Societies tend to be stronger, wealthier, safer and more stable when their citizens fully enjoy the rights to which they are entitled," he said.
Far from a vulnerability or weakness, religious pluralism shows respect for the beliefs of every citizen and gives each a tangible reason to contribute to the success of the entire society, Blinken said.
That is why no nation can fulfil its potential if its people are denied the right to freely choose and openly practice their faith, he asserted.
"Now, it used to be that our annual reports focused almost exclusively on the actions of states, but weve also seen certain non-state actors, including terrorist organisations like Daesh, al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab, Boko Haram posing a major threat to religious freedom," Blinken said.
"There is, after all, no more egregious form of discrimination than separating out the followers of one religion from another, whether in a village, on a bus, in a classroom, with the intent of murdering or enslaving the members of a particular group," Blinken said.
Religious freedom, he underscored, is a core component of maximising that potential for people to express themselves freely to maximise their own potential.
US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, Rabbi David Nathan Saperstein, said the report highlights the chilling and sometimes deadly effect of blasphemy and apostasy laws in many places of the world, as well as laws that purport to protect religious sentiments from defamation.
"Roughly a quarter of the worlds countries have blasphemy laws, and more than one in 10 have laws or policies penalising the apostasy, and the existence of these laws has been used by governments in too many cases to intimidate, repress religious minorities," Saperstein said.
"And governments have too often failed to take appropriate steps to prevent societal violence sparked by accusations of blasphemy and apostasy," he said.
"In Pakistan, the government continued to enforce blasphemy laws, for which a punishment can be death for a range of charges," Saperstein said.
advertisement
"Christians as well as Muslims were arrested on charges of blasphemy in the last year. In 2016, after a Hindu convert to Islam was accused of blasphemy, two Hindu youths were shot and one died from his wounds in ensuing communal violence," he said.
"We remain deeply concerned, also over authorities targeting and harassment of Ahmadi Muslims for blasphemy, violations of anti-Ahmadi laws and other crimes," he added. PTI LKJ ASK ASK
--- ENDS ---
PHOENIX, N.Y. -- A police raid in Oswego County led to the arrest of a man accused of having marijuana, cocaine and thousands of dollars in drug money.
Jared M. Kempston
Jared M. Kempston, 23, of 104 State St., Phoenix, was charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance (more than 1/2 an ounce), third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, and second-degree criminal possession of marijuana. All are felonies.
The Oswego County Drug Task Force said that around 8 a.m. on Friday July, 29, it's investigators raided Kempston's home with Phoenix police.
After executing a search warrant, investigators seized 5.1 pounds of marijuana, 17 grams of cocaine and $10,627 in suspected drug money, police said. Authorities did not share details of their investigation or say what led them to Kempston.
Police said the seized drugs have a street value of about $25,000.
Kempston was arraigned in Volney Town Court and released on his own recognizance.
Verona Theft Photos.JPG
Authorities released photos of two men they are trying to identify in the theft of two generators in July.
(New York State Police)
The thefts occurred at Don Hull & Son Sales on state Route 365 in the town of Verona.
VERONA, N.Y. -- The New York State Police released several security camera photos Wednesday of two theft suspects and asked for help identifying the men.
State police said they are trying to identify the men as part of their investigation into the theft of two Honda generators from a business. The machines were stolen on July 6 from Don Hull & Son Sales on state Route 365 in the town of Verona.
The photos released by police appear to show the suspects inside the business.
State police asked anyone with information about the theft to contact 315-366-6048.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A 10-year-boy was critically injured Tuesday afternoon when while riding a bicycle he darted into an intersection and crashed with a car, Syracuse police said.
The crash occurred at 2:27 p.m. at the intersection of East Genesee Street and South Beech Street.
Police said Maniyumza Daforose, 21, of Syracuse, was driving west in the 1900 block of East Genesee Street and is believed to have had a green light at the intersection with South Beech Street.
Daforose drove through the intersection. As he went through the intersection a 10-year-old boy, who was riding bicycles with a friend, was going north on South Beech Street. The boy rode through the intersection and crashed with the car, police said.
Daforose stopped and called 911, police said. When officers and American Medical Response responded they found the boy unconscious in the street with multiple injuries.
The boy was rushed by ambulance to Upstate University Hospital. He is listed in critical condition. Police did not identify the youth.
Officer's with the department's Traffic Section are continuing to investigate the crash and have interviewed several witnesses. The 1800 block of East Genesee Street reopened around 6:45 p.m.
Police asked anyone with information about the crash to contact 315-442-5130.
JAMESVILLE, N.Y. -- The 2016 Canine Carnival is expecting to draw nearly 20,000 people Saturday to Jamesville Beach Park.
The seventh annual event will be held 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. More than 50 animal rescues will be there and organizers hope to find homes for hundreds of pets.
The first Canine Carnival was held at Wegmans Good Dog Park in Liverpool in 2010 and featured about 20 rescues and vendors with attendance of about 1,400 people. The popularity of the event has continued to grow each year.
This year's event will feature more than 130 booths and vendors, some from as far away as California.
"It's one of the largest animal events in the country," Organizer Wayne Mahar said.
The carnival will start at 10 a.m. with a Blessing of the Pets from a local pastor. The event will feature exhibitions and demonstrations. There will be dog agility and obedience by Syracuse Obedience Training Club, reptiles from MaxMan Reptile, CPR demonstrations and more.
The highlight of the carnival is the VIP Dog for Adoption Walk, which will be held at 12 p.m. The Pet Education Tent, which was introduced last year, will return with lectures on how to be an animal advocate and how to perform first aid on pets. The Red Cross Bloodmobile will also be on site for blood donations.
Proceeds from the Canine Carnival go to the Priscilla Mahar Animal Welfare Foundation, a non-profit organization donating money to local animal rescues and organizations. The Priscilla Mahar foundation has donated nearly $135,000 to date to animal welfares and rescues in CNY.
The carnival is free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own pets. All dogs must be on a short leash at all times within the carnival area.
Common Council flood
Common Councilors speak with city, state and federal officials about new flood maps impacting Syracuse. Left to right: Susan Boyle, Steve Thompson, Nader Maroun, Jean Kessner, Joe Nicoletti
(Chris Baker | cbaker@syracuse.com)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Last week, Tecia Evans learned her home would be added to a flood zone along Onondaga Creek, meaning she'll have to purchase flood insurance. For Evans -- who has lived in the same house on Coolidge Ave. for 56 years -- that was the last straw.
"I'm leaving New York. I'm done," Evans said, clearly frustrated. "I'm just trying to be a good citizen, to maintain my big old family house. It takes a lot already. This would just be sucking me dry."
Evans was one of about 35 people who attended a public meeting at City Hall Tuesday evening regarding new flood maps in Syracuse.
The federal government recently added 876 properties to Syracuse's flood zone. For property owners who have a mortgage -- like Evans -- that means they'll now have to purchase flood insurance.
The majority of those properties are on the city's South Side in a neighborhood already hit hard by economic woes and an influx of crime.
"And they wonder why there are so many abandoned properties here," Evans said.
Evans said she's watched as quality of life in her South Side neighborhood has vanished. No longer can she sit on her porch or barbecue in her yard and feel safe. She won't even rent the other unit in her two-family home for fear of the type of person the neighborhood might attract.
Evans bought the home from her parents years ago and has 12 or 13 years left on her mortgage, she said. She also owns the vacant lot next door and maintains both. She became disabled after a medical issue several years ago, she said, and is on a fixed income.
She won't be able to afford flood insurance, she said, and plans to sell her house and move.
At Tuesday's meeting, officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the city's engineering department fielded questions from Common Councilors, residents and neighborhood advocates.
Walt Dixie was among those who spoke. He is the executive director of Jubilee Homes, a non-for-profit seeking to revitalize the South Side. Of the 100 or so properties Jubilee owns on the South Side, 61 were added to the flood zone. That includes a new Price Rite grocery store that opened in the neighborhood this year.
Syracuse United Neighbors Executive Director Rich Puchalski addresses the Common Council at a meeting about new flood maps on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016. Behind him is Jubilee Homes Executive Director Walt Dixie.
Dixie pointed out that no representatives for Central New York's Congress members were present at the meeting.
He asked councilors to find a way to delay the insurance requirement, since it was being "rammed down our throats." He also asked for more detailed information, which officials said would be available at an upcoming meeting at the Southwest Community Center in September.
"If you come to the Southwest Community Center with a discussion like this, all hell is going to break loose," Dixie said. "Give a breakdown of costs so when people walk out of there they won't be confused."
Charles Vanderpool also spoke. He lives on Brookford Road near Meadow Brook in a property added to the flood zone. He bought his home in 1986 and still has a mortgage after putting his kids through college. At 76, he's retired and on a fixed pension, he said.
Vanderpool recently called an insurance agent who told him a flood policy on his home would cost about $1,200 and would likely increase. He has four years left on his mortgage, which means he'll spend around $5,000 on insurance before he can get rid of it. He has no plans to move.
When Vanderpool bought the home he installed a check valve and a sump pump in the basement to keep the house dry, he said. Those things won't help with his insurance premiums, though.
"It's just another way for someone to make money," he said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will host another meeting at the Southwest Community Center sometime in the first week of September. An exact date has not yet been determined.
It's been a rough and confusing morning for the Coldplay fans in the country.
By India Today Web Desk: While the speculations around Coldplay's concert in India have been going on for quite some time, this morning brought with itself a confirmation about the same--courtesy, a tweet by Google India.
Posted through the official Twitter handle of the tech giant, the post confirmed that the British band will be performing at Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority(MMRDA) Grounds on November 19, 2016.
Also Read: 5 times Coldplay frontman Chris Martin's love for India knew no bounds
advertisement
The information obviously, stirred a whole new wave of excitement among the band's Indian fans. But weirdly enough, the tweet by Google India's official account--what seemed like an official confirmation--was deleted a few minutes later.
The tweet by Google India. Picture courtesy: Twitter/ Google India
(An intern's idea of a prank, maybe?)
So just when it seemed like the lights had finally guided them home, Google India went ahead and un-fixed our hearts.
Also Read: This picture of Sonam Kapoor chilling with Coldplay will make you so freaking jealous
--- ENDS ---
An elderly couple in South Dakota, US, died minutes apart in the same room at a nursing home they were admitted together.
By India Today Web Desk: From movies like The Notebook and Barfi!, romantics take home a common dream: to have a love story that ends with partners dying together in old age. For a couple in America, married for over six decades, this ending came true.
South Dakota's 86-year-old Henry De Lange Jr, who was fighting prostate cancer, breathed his last barely 20 minutes after his wife, Jeanette, passed away at 5:10 pm on July 31. Jeanette, 87, was a patient of Alzheimer's disease.
advertisement
The couple died in the same room at the nursing home they were admitted together.
Also read: Chinese couple, married for 80 years, finally got their wedding photo-shoot done
Straight from the pages of The Notebook
Married in 1953, Henry, a Korean War Veteran, and Jeanette, a musician, shifted to Platte, South Dakota, where they lived with their five children.
Jeanette had been in nursing home care since 2011 and her husband visited her "once a day, twice, or maybe three times a day". However, following a worsening health condition, Henry was admitted to the same nursing home and shared a room with Jeanette.
One of their sons, Lee De Lange, said there was a divine quality to having both parents die at nearly the same time.
"We're calling it a beautiful act of God's providential love and mercy," said Lee. "You don't pray for it because it seems mean but you couldn't ask for anything more beautiful."
The family gathered with Jeanette and were reading the Bible at the time she passed away.
Also read: Bittersweet love story of a Muslim woman and Hindu man has gone viral for all the right reasons
"We read Psalm 103. We didn't quite get done," said Lee. "She passed away very, very peacefully. Incredibly peacefully."
Lee said his brother told his father "Mom's gone to heaven" and that he did not have to fight anymore. He could let go and join her if he wished, Lee told CNN affiliate KSFY.
Twenty minutes later, at 5:30 p.m., Henry De Lange did just that.
His children remember him briefly opening his eyes and looking at his wife before he died.
In another strange coincidence, Lee said when he looked at the clock in the room it had stopped at the exact time Henry passed away.
No one could explain why the battery-operated clock stopped just then. "Amazing. A sign from God that was the right time."
Also read: This sweet love story will make you believe in destiny
--- ENDS ---
This page no longer exists or may have been moved.If you believe this is a mistake please email
By Amanda Hicks of TCPalm
With its variety of beaches and diverse marine life, the Treasure Coast and its surrounding areas are the perfect place to grab a mask and snorkel to explore the underwater world.
While it's no surprise Bathtub Reef Beach was chosen as the best place to snorkel by our readers, plenty of other spots are equally spectacular.
Blue Heron Bridge, Pepper Park and Sebastian Inlet made the top four in a recent reader poll at TCPalm. While these spots have plenty of fish and other aquatic animals, Bathtub most likely took the lead because of its rock formations.
Located in south Stuart, Bathtub Reef Beach is a spot for snorklers of all ages because the reef works like a barrier, protecting the beach from waves. While more experienced snorklers tend to swim on the east side of the reef where the water is deeper, novice snorkelers might want to explore the beach side.
Like Bathtub, Blue Heron Bridge in Riviera Beach often is crowded with snorkelers and scuba divers. It's a great place to see marine life less common in the other areas, specifically giant starfish, sea urchins, spotted eagle rays, lionfish and more. Blue Heron is a bit farther away but it's worth the extra drive time.
Pepper Park in Fort Pierce probably was chosen as a favorite spot because of the large schools of fish, stingrays and sea turtles.
MORE | Scroll down for a map of readers' favorite snorkel spots and video of underwater highlights at the Blue Heron Bridge.
Lifeguard Andrew Ritchie, chief of marine safety in St. Lucie County, said Pepper Park always is packed with boats by the reef when the conditions are good.
"From here and south are the best places to go," he said. "It's awesome. Especially when you get about 200 yards off shore; it's great."
Visibility at Pepper Park is slightly less than the other spots, mostly because of the particles around the rocks and reef. Divers can call the lifeguard tower in St. Lucie County at 772-229-2850 to find out about the conditions. In Martin County, call 772-225-4317.
While southeast Florida has many beautiful places, new divers and tourists who don't usually snorkel are advised to start out at a place comfortable to them.
GETTING STARTED
Josh Schulz, of Deep Six Dive and Watersports, who also is a frequent free diver, offers some recommendations for new snorklers.
"Start out at a familiar beach," he said."And always go with other people. You never want to go by yourself."
Beginners should go to a dive shop and talk to someone about getting the right gear. Department stores often have inexpensive snorkeling packages, but if the gear doesn't fit right, it can make the experience less enjoyable.
"It's imperative a mask fits properly," said Kirk Neville, owner of Kirk's Dive and Surf Jensen. "It's impossible to have fun if a mask is uncomfortable or leaking."
MORE | Read more of TCPalm's "Best Of" series
Snorkels come in different sizes, but they don't need to be specific to the diver.
"As for fins, you want something that's going to give you good propulsion and won't give you blisters," Neville said. "I suggest a mesh bag to carry everything and also defog for the mask."
Masks tend to fog quite frequently but a bottle of mask defogger is a cheap and easy fix. This also is important because it is hard to wipe a foggy mask while treading water, and divers can get tempted to stand on the reef. This is harmful to the reef and will get snorklers in trouble if they are seen by marine officers.
All divers and snorkelers are required to display a "divers-down flag," which is attached to a buoy. This alerts boaters to stay away from the area.
Florida statutes define divers as anyone who is wholly or partially underwater and is equipped with a face mask and snorkel or "underwater breathing apparatus." The law requires divers to "make reasonable efforts" to stay within 100 feet of the flag in inlets like Blue Heron and Sebastian Inlet State Park, and within 300 feet when diving in the ocean.
Neville said snorkelers can expect to spend about $110 for good snorkeling gear and accompanying necessities.
WHAT TO DO
Other important things to keep in mind are the tide, conditions and visibility. Typically, the best time to snorkel is at high tide with sunny skies, and the water needs to be fairly flat.
Divers can check websites such as www.surfline.com, www.fl.usharbors.com, www.sinkfloridasink.org to find out the water visibility. It lets snorklers and divers know how many feet deep they can go and still see their surroundings clearly, so the higher the number, the better.
Visibility also is important so snorklers can see what is around them. With fish come sharks, and the chances of seeing one in the water at some point is fairly high.
"If you see a shark, just leave it alone," Schulz said. "It's most likely not going to bother you, but I always carry a (leg) knife just in case."
Shark sightings are fairly common among frequent divers and most of the time, it's not a fearful experience.
Neville, who has taught scuba diving in the deep ocean to see sharks, said he never has seen one be aggressive toward humans.
"The term 'shark attack' in Florida is misused," he said. "When sharks bite swimmers and surfers, it's completely mistaken. The splashing gets their attention when there's fish in the area."
If bait fish are present, sharks might be near. If the fish are jumping out of the water, there's probably a shark or tarpon chasing them. Looking for jumping bait fish is a way to be cautious.
Perhaps a more unpleasant and potentially dangerous experience is encountering the blue-green algae that recently has been taking over Treasure Coast waterways. Check TCPalm's "How's the Water?" advisory, which is updated daily and informs readers about bacteria, vibrio, algae and other unsafe water conditions.
TIME TO GO
There are plenty of other places on our list that have less marine life for those who are not yet ready to risk close encounters but still want to enjoy the snorkeling experience.
Bathtub, DuBois Park in Jupiter and public beaches like Jensen Beach and Pepper Park are all spots that have lifeguards, which can help new snorklers feel more comfortable.
Luckily, most snorkeling locations on the Treasure Coast have areas for beginners and experts.
Love of the water is a part of the culture of southeast Florida. Snorkelers can observe sea animals, reefs, plants and more, which also makes the experience educational. Snorkeling is not only a pleasurable hobby but it lets divers see and feel things that many people will only hear about.
READERS PICK TOP SNORKELING SPOTS
1. Bathtub Beach, Stuart
2. Pepper Park, Fort Pierce (Urca de Lima shipwreck)
3. Blue Heron Bridge, Riviera Beach
4. Sebastian Inlet State Park
5. Breakers Reef, West Palm Beach
6. DuBois Park, Jupiter
7. House of Refuge, Stuart (Georges Valentine shipwreck)
8. Jensen Public Beach
9. John D. Macarthur State Park, Jupiter
10. Breconshire, Vero Beach (Boiler shipwreck)
11. Red Reef Park, Boca Raton
12. South Jetty at the Palm Beach Inlet
13. Peanut Island, West Palm Beach
14. Cato's Bridge, Jupiter
15. Riomar, Vero Beach
16. Hobe Sound Public Beach
17. Peck Lake Park, Hobe Sound
WHAT'S BEST ABOUT OUR THESE SPOTS?
Jensen Public Beach is a great spot to find sand dollars. The dead ones can be collected and bleached for a souvenir. Snorkelers also can be more lax about watching for sharks since the lifeguards do a good job of that.
DuBois Park in Jupiter is protected by lifeguards and the water is very clear most of the time. It also is mainly shallow water, making it a good spot for kids to snorkel.
Sebastian Inlet State Park is a location with divided areas for snorkelers of every caliber. There's a shallow lagoon in the inlet protected by rocks for beginners and there's a hole by the jetty that goes from 20 feet to 30 feet deep, which is recommended only for experienced snorkelers. Most people stay in the inlet where manatees are sometime seen. The current is often very strong and divers should stay close to the edges of the inlet.
Despite being the only Indian state with a cow protection department, death of hundreds of cows in the shelter house at Hingonia raises questions on the functioning of local bodies.
The cow shelter generally has a high mortality rate because many cows brought in are ill but that is no excuse the way so many cows died during past two weeks.
By Rohit Parihar : Death of hundreds of cows in a state-run cow shelter cum rescue centre at Hingonia near Jaipur reveals a deep rooted malaise that has set in functioning of local bodies department which owns it as despite the intervention of Rajasthan High Court, senior bureaucrats have never cared to take care of cows.
The cow shelter generally has a high mortality rate because many cows brought in are ill but that is no excuse the way so many cows died during past two weeks. It was because of hunger after they were stuck in the slush created after rains and there was no one to take care of them.
advertisement
The cows were almost abandoned after the labour supposed to feed them and clean the shelter accommodating 8000 cows were not paid dues for weeks together.
The tragic part is that Rajasthan is the only state in India with cow protection department. As a setback, its head Otta Ram Dewasi and Urban Development and local bodies Minister Rajpal Shekhawat, both had cow shelter low on priority.
WHO ALL CAN BE BLAMED?
It is bureaucrats who need to be taken to task, apart from blaming the ministers. Although the government has suspended two officials who went on leave during time of crisis, it is the role of senior IAS officers, previously pulled up by the high court, which requires questioning.
In a big slap to the state government and indirect indictment of its incompetent and corrupt bureaucracy, the high court has asked an IPS officer Dinesh MN, IG, special operation group to visit Hingonia and submit the report on why so many cows were left to die.
OFFICIALS WAKE UP TOO LATE?
That high court chose Dinesh over Manjit Singh, principal secretary, Local Self Government and thus directly responsible for the Hingonia showed an extreme disillusionment of the high court with the way cow shelter issues has been dealt with for so long. Singh, incidentally, visited the cow shelter too late once only after the situation was exposed by the media and his efforts were more to make the place ready for a visit of the chief minister besides controlling the damage.
Dinesh earlier was asked by the HC to probe corruption in Hingonia and he charged the accused. With crores to spend on welfare of cows and fodder, there is always a high level of corruption associated with Hingonia. But then Dinesh was with Anti-corruption bureau and his presence there had just begun to scare corrupt among senior bureaucrats when he was shifted out of ACB allegedly under pressure of such officials.
Cows trapped in slush has not happened the first time. Yet, the way the payments were not released to contractors forcing labourers to call it a day showed that officers were just not concerned even with ruling party's top priority of welfare of rescued cows. The situation was allowed to degenerate with senior officials turning a blind eye to the condition. That is why, the deaths continue with the infection spreading quickly across malnourished cows. It is surprising that top officials of local self-governance who were earlier summoned by the high court over mismanagement of Hingonia, have been allowed to go scot free.
advertisement
Also read - No country for cows: Cattle rot, die in hordes in BJP-ruled Rajasthan
Raje herself is very upset over the death of cows and she is facing attacks from her critics within party like Ghanshyam Tewari and from opposition by Sachin Pilot, PCC president who has questioned very commitment of the BJP to protect cows. Congress has organised protest marches and others are lodging cases with police and ACB.
--- ENDS ---
SHARE
Glenda Burgess, Jensen Beach
Letter: Ruth Pietruszewski's excellent service
Martin County voters will soon cast a vote for their choice of candidate for various government positions. Incumbent Ruth Pietruszewski is one who has done an outstanding job and deserves to be retained in office.
Her educational background, with as AS degree in computer programming and analysis, and bachelor's degree with a major in public administration enabled her to become a certified Florida collector. She has had 22 years of executive-level government experience and a total of 25 years of experience in business.
Her outstanding performance has earned an "Excellence in Financial Operations" award and an "Innovation and Continuous Improvement Award" for her office. Since she has held office, the Tax Collector Department has had perfect audits.
Ruth has streamlined operations of the tax office and increased efficiency resulting in eliminating waste. During her four years in office she has returned over $22 million back to the appropriate Martin County taxing authorities. Ruth is a proven performer who deserves to be rewarded by being re-elected.
Vote Ruth Pietruszewski on Aug. 30.
SHARE
John Mcphee, 43, 100 block of Hilton Drive, Fort Pierce; destroying, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence; possession of cocaine; possession of cocaine with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver.
Joseph Lawson, 24, 100 block of Banyan Drive, Port St. Lucie; out-of-county warrant, Martin County, violation of probation, grand theft.
David Mejia, 37, 2400 block of Southeast Trail Avenue, Port St. Lucie; driving while license suspended, third or subsequent offense.
Morris Atkins, 44, Hollywood; warrant for court order to revoke bond, battery, battery by strangulation, false imprisonment.
Jamelle Maultsby, 19, West Palm Beach; warrant for failure to appear, possession of marijuana over 20 grams.
Leo Surette, 56, 1900 block of Southwest Hillman Street, Port St. Lucie; warrants for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (domestic), child abuse by intentional infliction of mental or physical injury.
Nathaniel Davis, 19, 4600 block of Southwest Carib Street, Port St. Lucie; warrant for lewd or lascivious battery.
Willie Brinson, 25, Miramar; driving while license suspended, habitual offender.
Demetrious Hogan, 25, 3300 block of Avenue K, Fort Pierce; warrant for battery by detainee.
Amber Kimmel, 42, 8700 block of 20th Street, Vero Beach; warrant for uttering a forged instrument.
Darrell Barton, 33, 2300 block of Southeast Pinero Road, Port St. Lucie; warrant for violation of probation, organized fraud.
Calvin Paige, 19, 600 block of Ixoria Avenue, Fort Pierce; warrant for violation of probation, falsely impersonating an officer.
Bryon Klein, 50, 300 block of Duxbury Avenue, Port St. Lucie; warrant for violation of community control, attempted burglary of a dwelling.
Joshua Toussaint, 28, Tamarac; making false report of a bomb.
Ashley Snyder, 25, 1700 block of South Ocean Drive, Fort Pierce; warrants for fraudulent attempt to obtain duplicate prescription for a controlled substance, obtaining or attempting to obtain a controlled substance by fraud.
German Rodriguez, 42, no street address/city; lewd/lascivious behavior/exhibition by an offender over 18 on victim less than 16. (
Jerry Molina, 29, Hialeah; warrant for failure to appear, driving while license suspended.
Mary Ramirez, 52, 400 block of Southwest Tabor Street, Port St. Lucie; warrants for grand theft, organized fraud. Arrested in Martin County.
Nicholas Van-Tassel, 36, 500 block of Palomar Street, Fort Pierce; grand theft. Arrested in Martin County.
Cayla Sheats, 28, 200 block of North Jenkins Road, Fort Pierce; warrant for violation of probation, dealing in stolen property, possession of oxycodone, burglary of a dwelling, possession of alprazolam. Arrested in Martin County.
Robert Hickson, 23, 2800 block of Anthony Street, Fort Pierce; out-of-county warrant, Brevard County, battery. Arrested in Martin County.
Algae blooms collect at the back of a canal in the Indian River Lagoon Aug. 6, 2016, near the Pebble Bay neighborhood in Vero Beach. (MOLLY BARTELS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)
SHARE Algae blooms collect at the back of a canal in the Indian River Lagoon on Saturday near the Pebble Bay neighborhood in Vero Beach. While scientists aren't sure what kind of algae it is, it is not the blue-green algae that has plagued the St. Lucie River in Martin County. (MOLLY BARTELS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS ) Related Coverage Rain dissipates brown lagoon algae in Indian River County
By Tyler Treadway of TCPalm
VERO BEACH The brown goo in the Indian River Lagoon is a nontoxic algae, but it can lead to oxygen depletion and fish kills, a scientist said.
Small but high-density patches of Scrippsiella trochoidea, like the recent blooms in Vero Beach, can occur throughout the lagoon, said Charles "Chuck" Jacoby, supervising environmental scientist at the St. Johns River Water Management District.
The algae, which can tolerate high or low salinity and a wide range of temperatures, forms seedlike cysts that sink to the bottom of the lagoon and wait for favorable conditions long, sunny days and plenty of nutrients in the water to come back to the surface and bloom.
It's likely more blooms will pop up during the summer, particularly after heavy rains wash nitrogen and phosphorus into the water, Jacoby said.
"The blooms are flashier and don't last as long as other algae blooms because they tend to go up and down in the water quicker," he said. The cells "have a tail like a whip," Jacoby said, "so it can migrate. You'll see a slick of the algae at the surface of the water, then it will go away as the cells swim down into the water."
The cells are larger and not as numerous as in the massive blue-green algae blooms plaguing the St. Lucie River around Stuart, Jacoby said.
"There aren't as many elephants as there are grasshoppers," he said.
Blooms first were reported July 31 in canals and at docks on the barrier island, concentrated in the Pebble Bay neighborhood and behind waterfront homes on Tradewinds Drive.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection Tuesday night released test results on algae samples taken Aug. 1.
VERO LAGOON ALGAE
Description: Free-floating, single-celled algae, aka microalgae
Color: Brown, reddish-brown
Shape: Pear-shaped, with whiplike tail (flagella)
Range: Cold to tropical coastal and estuarine waters worldwide
Toxicity: Not toxic
Environmental threat: Blooms have high density, which can shade and kill sea grass, lead to oxygen depletion and fish kills
Sen. Joe Negron talks during a public meeting regarding the toxic Lake Okeechobee discharges in Stuart. (FILE PHOTO)
SHARE
By Tyler Treadway of TCPalm
One significant factor is missing from state Sen. Joe Negron's plan to build a reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee and stop discharges to the St. Lucie River, say environmental scientists.
The water sent south to the Everglades has to be clean.
Negron's plan unveiled Tuesday calls for water stored in a 60,000-acre reservoir to flow through existing man-made marshes, called stormwater treatment areas, en route to Everglades National Park. Right now, and during most rainy seasons when there are Lake O discharges, those stormwater treatment areas are full of water flowing off farmland south of the lake.
"When the reservoir is built, it's got to be written into the operation schedule that water from the lake gets priority, or at least shares the STAs with water coming off the farmland," said Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart. "It's got to be in black and white that only when all else fails that water is sent east to the St. Lucie River and west to the Caloosahatchee River."
With that caveat, scientists say Negron's plan will work.
"The size of the reservoir he's outlined is adequate and the money he's calling for, the $2.4 billion, sounds about right to buy the land and build the project," Perry said. "Both the size and the amount of money pretty well match up with what we at the Rivers Coalition estimated."
Either of the two general sites for the reservoir Negron identified one in the center of the Everglades Agricultural Area and the other to the east will work, Perry said.
Negron's plan is consistent with the findings of a University of Florida Water Institute study of ways to stop the discharges, said Wendy Graham, the institute director, as long as it includes ways to get clean water to the Everglades.
"However, as they say, 'The devil is in the details,' which are not yet available," Graham added.
Negron's plan is not "the end-all for solving the problem, but it's a giant first step," said Nathaniel P. "Nat" Reed of Jupiter Island, a former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior and the dean of Treasure Coast environmentalists. "The whole system above Lake Okeechobee and below the lake is out of whack. This is a triumphant first step that will lead to other steps."
Negron's plan calls for the state and the federal government to split the $2.4 billion cost. He'll propose in the 2017 legislative session, when he'll be president of the Senate, using $100 million in Amendment 1 funds each year over 20 years to generate the state's $1.2 billion share.
Also, Congress would have to add the plan to the water projects it approves every two years.
MORE | Joe Negrons plan to reduce Lake Okeechobee discharges would need sugar land
Patrick Murphy, left, and Marco Rubio (FILE PHOTOS)
SHARE
By Ledyard King, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON It looks like U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio's allies were serious when they assured him he'd get plenty of financial help if he ran for a second term.
In the past few weeks, independent groups have spent more than $3 million boosting Rubio's candidacy and attacking his likely Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy.
Murphy's supporters have countered with more than $1.3 million for the congressman, whose House district includes the Treasure Coast.
Combined, outside interests have poured nearly $180,000 a day into the Florida Senate race over the past month, an amount that figures to accelerate exponentially after the Aug. 30 primary. State residents can expect a barrage of TV and mailed ads that will last to Election Day on Nov. 8.
Rubio, who initially said he wouldn't run for re-election but later changed his mind, faces his most serious Republican primary challenge from Manatee County developer Carlos Beruff. Murphy's top rival for the Democratic nomination is Orlando U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson.
Super PACs, permitted under a landmark 2010 Supreme Court ruling to spend unlimited amounts of money supporting or opposing individual candidates, have become a major force in politics, especially in presidential campaigns.
But prominent, wealthy Republican donors who are disenchanted with GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump will spend less on that race and more on down-ballot races like Florida's Senate contest, analysts say. The Florida race will play a key role in determining control of the congressional chamber.
Billionaire GOP donor Charles Koch has said he's so disillusioned with Trump that he'll focus his resources on keeping the Senate in Republican hands. That means Rubio likely will be a major beneficiary of spending by the Koch-affiliated super PAC, Freedom Partners Action Fund.
Daniel A. Smith, a University of Florida political scientist who specializes in campaign finance, said Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's surge in the polls is another reason GOP-tilting super PACs likely will be more active in congressional races.
"Campaign dollars are finite and strategic actors such as the (U.S.) Chamber of Commerce and others are not going to waste their money on a candidate who doesn't have a good shot of winning," he said, "And right now, Donald Trump's odds are fairly low, so they're going to do their mightiest to make sure allies such as Marco Rubio stay in office."
It's why the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Karl Rove-backed Senate Leadership Fund each spent about $1.5 million last month on separate ads attacking Murphy following news reports that he had inflated his work credentials.
"Murphy will have no shortage of financial support from Washington Democrats, and we intend to do what is necessary to prevent them from buying the woefully unaccomplished Murphy a seat in the U.S. Senate," said Ian Prior, spokesman for the Senate Leadership Fund.
Polls show Rubio leading Beruff in the primary and beating Murphy and Grayson in hypothetical general election matchups. Rubio said after bowing out of the Republican presidential nomination race in March that he wouldn't run for re-election. But he reversed course after prominent Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., lobbied him to change his mind and said they'd support him.
Murphy already is getting a boost from top Democrats, including President Barack Obama, in his primary battle with Grayson.
The Senate Majority PAC spent $1 million in July on ads showcasing Obama's support for Murphy. Floridians for a Strong Middle Class, a pro-Murphy super PAC, also spent more than $300,000 on ads in August.
"Marco Rubio and his allies are not telling the truth about Patrick Murphy and we aren't going to let their attacks go unanswered," said Shripal Shah, spokesman for Senate Majority PAC, when the group's ad was released.
Smith, the UF political scientist, said it's hard to know how much the torrent of ads funded by outside groups will sway voters in the general election three months from now. But they could have an impact in the primary, a traditionally low-turnout election.
"The outside money can certainly play a role, especially in those races where the candidates aren't as well-known, where people don't have firmed-up opinions of them " he said.
Promotional image for the upcoming film "The Unknowns - Talent is Colorblind." Full production should begin this winter in the Miami area. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY GORDON JOHNSON PHOTOGRAPHY)
Anthony Westbury Columnist SHARE Promotional image for the upcoming film "The Unknowns - Talent is Colorblind." Full production should begin this winter in the Miami area. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY GORDON JOHNSON PHOTOGRAPHY) Promotional image for the upcoming film "The Unknowns - Talent is Colorblind." Full production should begin this winter in the Miami area. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY GORDON JOHNSON PHOTOGRAPHY) Promotional image for the upcoming film "The Unknowns - Talent is Colorblind." Full production should begin this winter in the Miami area. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY GORDON JOHNSON PHOTOGRAPHY) Promotional image for the upcoming film "The Unknowns - Talent is Colorblind." Full production should begin this winter in the Miami area. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY GORDON JOHNSON PHOTOGRAPHY)
The Highwaymen movie is back sort of.
Over the past year there's been a great deal of talk about making a movie about the group of 1960s black landscape painters in Fort Pierce, where the story began.
Producer Walter T. Shaw of Fort Lauderdale had planned to shoot the film in the same locations where the artists, who took to Florida's highways to sell their landscapes, lived and worked.
Yet financing issues with the $8.5 million production and what Shaw called obstructive attitudes from city officials in Fort Pierce caused the producer to announce in November that production would move to Savannah, Georgia.
Shaw said at the time the Georgia state film commission would back the production to the tune of $2.7 million, something Florida officials were unable to match, especially for such a low-budget movie. Shaw said he'd found Savannah locales that closely resembled Fort Pierce.
In late July, the plans changed again.
Shaw's Top Cat II Productions announced that "after months of behind the scenes negotiations ... the major feature film 'The Unknowns Talent is Colorblind,' will be filmed in Florida" only this time it'll take place in Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
While state film commission officials offered only limited financial aid to make the film here, it was the black business and faith communities in Miami who really stepped up to plug the financial gap, Shaw said.
"We were swamped with people wanting to keep this feature film in Florida," he said.
When full production begins this fall, filming will take place over 35 days around Thanksgiving in the Miami neighborhoods of Liberty City, Overtown and Little Haiti, as well as west Pompano and Fort Lauderdale. Shaw is hoping for a late 2017 general release.
Bringing the film back to Florida wasn't just about money, Shaw said. He wants as many surviving Highwaymen as possible to be able to visit the set during production. Age and infirmity among some of the painters would have made traveling to Georgia difficult.
Real-life Highwayman Al Black will narrate the movie and founder Alfred Hair's widow, Doretha Hair Truesdale, 73, also will contribute.
"I'm supposed to be a consultant," she told me with a chuckle. "I don't really know what that means, but I'm excited. It's a really inspiring story, especially in these times. It shows that with perseverance and hard work you can do anything.
"I was 22, Alfred was 23 and we didn't know we couldn't (make a living from art). We just went out and did it. Alfred taught other people how they could survive by painting. Every one of them has a different version of the story today," she said laughing.
Truesdale said she won't believe the movie is actually happening until shooting begins.
"I'm waiting patiently," she said, noting this is the third or fourth film production to try to tell the Highwaymen story.
It's looking good so far.
Shaw has signed up well-known actors including Sam Rockwell ("Lawn Dogs," "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," "The Green Mile"). He will play white landscape artist A.E. "Bean" Backus, who encouraged Hair's artistic ambitions. Khandi Alexander ("What's Love Got to Do With It," "There's Something About Mary," "ER," "CSI: Miami," "Treme" and "Scandal") will play Harlem Renaissance author Zora Neale Hurston. Keith Stanfield ("Straight Outta Compton") will star as Alfred Hair. Veteran Hollywood director Bill Duke ("Sister Act") is to helm the project.
I hope this third location will prove to be the charm for the movie. It's a story about hope, talent and pushing against the odds that really needs to be told.
Yes, I do wish the movie was going to be made on the same Fort Pierce streets where Hair and friends hung out more than 50 years ago. I also wish Fort Pierce locals could more directly benefit from the production (the film will hire at least 600 extras, Shaw told me). Yet if it's finally made and better yet if it's good, any quibbles about the setting will soon fade to black.
And if it's a success, I'm sure Fort Pierce will benefit from plenty of visitors eager to see where it all started.
An Elite Airways flight at Vero Beach Regional Airport. (ADAM NEAL/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)
SHARE Ryley Neal (center) walks up the aisle of an Elite Airways plane during a flight from Vero Beach to Newark, N.J. on July 14. (ADAM NEAL/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)
By Adam Neal of TCPalm
It didn't take long for my family to appreciate the convenience of Elite Airways' direct flight from Vero Beach to Newark, New Jersey.
From the five-minute home-to-airport commute to the quick luggage pickup outside the Vero Beach Regional Airport and everything in between our experience lived up to the hype of the city's first commercial passenger service since the mid-1990s.
Like many Indian River County residents, my family typically flies out of Orlando. We fly a few times a year, mostly to my home state of Michigan. We have family and friends fly into Florida multiple times a year.
When I was asked last year to be the best man in a July upstate New York wedding, I started to calculate the time and money.
A 90-minute drive to Orlando International Airport.
Pay nearly $100 to park our car there.
Possibly another $150 for a nearby hotel if we have an early morning flight.
The hassle of getting our two young children and luggage through the 14th-busiest airport in the country, as well as possibly having to navigate through a layover at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson the world's busiest airport, according to 2015 preliminary traffic data the Airports Council International released in April.
So I was open to alternatives.
Then, in October, Portland, Maine-based Elite Airways officially announced its commercial passenger service in Vero Beach. We jumped at the opportunity to fly out of our town.
Elite CEO John Pearsall personally responded to our web-based inquiry about summer flights, signing his email only with "John."
That's customer service.
We booked Elite online at the lowest-advertised one-way price of $149 per ticket. It was the lowest price I found for any flights from Orlando to the New York or New Jersey airports. The online booking process earlier this year was a bit clunky and difficult to use, but Elite has since upgraded its website to streamline the experience.
Our flight time changed twice by a total of three hours after we booked because Elite added new service to Naples and Bar Harbor, Maine. Elite emailed and called me to verify the changes both times.
Neither of these preflight hiccups were issues for us. It's the cost of doing business with a growing, 4-year-old company.
The anticipation of flying out of Vero Beach was over when we arrived at the city airport an hour early for our 6:30 a.m. flight on July 14.
We had our bags checked, boarding passes in hand and were through security in less than 15 minutes. The terminal waiting room was cozy, but it had plenty of space.
We boarded the plane with no issues. Nearly every seat of the 50-passenger plane was filled during both flights.
We were pleasantly surprised at how smooth the small jet felt during takeoff, cruising speed and landing. Plus, the vibrant reds, yellows and oranges that met the blue skies during our dawn takeoff over Vero Beach were breathtaking.
The overhead bins, aisle and gray, leather seats were slightly smaller than those on some major commercial airlines. We didn't mind since it was only a 2 -hour flight.
The flight attendants on both flights were extremely nice and helpful, especially to us as parents flying with twin toddlers.
There were only two minor incidents on our return flight.
The Newark Liberty International Airport did not list Elite on any terminal signs, which caused our Uber driver to do a lap before finding the correct one. (It's Terminal B, Level 3 for future reference.)
There also were no signs or personnel at our gate until 1:25 p.m. on July 21 five minutes before our scheduled departure. It caused many passengers to continually look at the main flight information board to ensure the gate hadn't change.
Again, minor growing pains that did not overshadow the amazing experience we had.
If Elite continues to grow, especially to Michigan, they will have me as a customer for life.
SHARE Photo provided Connor and Tanya Harrington. Photo provided Connor Harrington at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., to discuss Tourette's. Photo by Fran Foster Tourette Association Youth Ambassador Connor Harrington days before going to Northern Ireland to address the Tourette Alliance conference.
By Fran Foster, The Newsweekly
When Connor Harrington started elementary school, his teachers told him to sit still and be quiet.
That's quite a struggle for most children let alone one with Tourette syndrome.
"I remember fourth grade was really bad for me," says Harrington, who is now 14. "I would hide under my desk or under a table and couldn't control my symptoms. The teacher would clear out the classroom and the principal would call my father. He would have to come and drag me out from underneath the desk."
Tourette syndrome is a neurological disorder that causes repeated, involuntary physical tics and vocal outbursts. There are a few different tic syndromes Tourette's is the most severe.
Tourette's is a hereditary disorder. After Connor was diagnosed when he was 7, they determined that his father Roger Harrington and his younger brother Ian also carry the gene.
Connor's mother Tanya Harrington realized she needed to gain knowledge on how to manage her family member's diagnoses. The Harringtons also have three older daughters, Katherine, Elizabeth and Courtney none of whom are affected.
"I remember a teacher calling me in and saying Connor was going to fail the class," said Tanya. "I asked if he didn't understanding the material. It came down to the teacher saying he was disruptive and would send him out of the classroom.
"I knew then that I needed to be an advocate for my son and other children in the classroom, and as a parent."
Go-to mom
She became actively involved in the Tourette Association of America, Florida Division, and began a crusade to help make families and educators aware of how to manage the disorder. She is one of the go-to mothers who help others cope with and manage Tourette's.
"I have probably spoken to thousands of people over the course of the past few years explaining the verbal and physical attributes, and ways to work with the child as opposed to ignoring or punishing," said Tanya.
One of the first things she did was to move Connor to a private school with fewer students and more one-on-one instruction. She talked with his teachers so they would understand the symptoms and that "sitting still" really isn't an option.
She now serves on the board for the Florida Chapter of the Tourette's Association as well as a new organization in Northern Ireland, the Tourette Alliance.
Connor began attending The Willow School on 43rd Avenue in Vero Beach and it was a life changer for him. He credits two teachers with helping him overcome his learning challenges and see his potential.
"Mr. Govinda Reinhalter and Ms. Felicia Turner changed my life," Connor says with sincere appreciation. "They not only taught me how to write legibly but also to dream of my future. I wanted to be an astronaut but that isn't feasible with Tourette's. But Ms. Felicia showed me all the other ways I could participate in science. I want to go to college at MIT."
Ambassador
Connor found his passion for advocating for those with disabilities at a young age. After several years of peer counseling and public speaking about Tourette Syndrome and its associated conditions, Connor was appointed as a Tourette Association of America Youth Ambassador this year.
He lobbies for research funding and anti-bullying programs. He regularly gives talks on Tourette Syndrome, and meets with congressmen and senators. He's also a source of motivation for other young adults and their parents.
"My mom would be on the phone with a parent who would be frustrated and didn't understand what her child was experiencing, and (mom) would say, 'Here talk to Connor,' and hand me the phone. That's how it really got started.
"I talked to one kid that said he felt so alone no one understood him. I knew how he felt. I told him that it's just having those around you understand that it isn't controllable although you can try to distract yourself.
"I can now feel a tic coming on and try to switch it to something else. For instance, if I feel a neck tic coming on at school, I will twitch my toes to try to subdue the other tic. The verbal ones are more difficult."
Understanding
Part of the process is for both parents and children to learn to manage the symptoms.
"It's difficult as the verbal tics are loud and usually inappropriate, like in church or school," Tanya said. "There might be a simple tic like stuttering or a complex one usually an indication of Tourette's versus another tic disorder when they might curse, yell or become repetitive."
Evidently, Connor had a verbal tic from a Red Robin commercial that lasted awhile.
Currently, Connor and Tanya are in Northern Ireland at the Tourette Alliance conference, where approximately 100 people will come together to discuss the challenges of Tourette's. Connor will be addressing the audience about his experiences.
"The best thing to do both for the parents and the children is to talk about it," says Connor. "When I talk to other people like myself, they understand that I know what they are feeling and it helps them realize they are not alone. It's the same for the parents with my mom. Most of all, you have to keep a sense of humor about it. It's okay to laugh about saying Red Robin over and over and over."
For more information on the Tourette Association of America, Florida division, visit www.tsa-fl.org or call 727-418-0240. If you are interested in the Northern Ireland association, you can visit their website at www.tourettealliance.org.
SHARE Press-Journal, Aug. 14, 1936 Miss Elinor Amundsen was selected as Miss Vero Beach in a contest sponsored by Modern Woodmen of America. She will represent Vero Beach in the 'Florida Cavalcade of Beauty' held in Daytona Beach Sept. 6 and 7 where Miss Florida will be named. Press-Journal, Aug. 9, 1946
90 YEARS AGO: 1926
Freak waves appear
VERO BEACH On the same day: A giant, powerful, comber wave appeared seemingly from nowhere and dragged swimmers out from the Lake Erie shoreline near Buffalo, N.Y. At least seven people managed to free themselves. Two swimmers were killed. In Monhegan, Isle of Maine, two children were swimming and instantly sucked out by a strong undertow following a wave of enormous size; like the one experienced in Buffalo. Their bodies have not been recovered. In Vero Beach, several bathers reported having felt the kick of an unusually strong undertow and current, which pulled two swimmers and their automobile tire-tube raft out in it. They fought to get safely back to shore.
80 YEARS AGO: 1936
Carved gavel
VERO BEACHA. E. Conway, of Vero Beach, hand carved a gavel from a manatee rib. The gavel will be presented at the National Encampment of Spanish War Veterans to be held in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., at the end of this month.
70 YEARS AGO: 1946
Buying snowshoes
VERO BEACHThe War Assets Administration has distributed a pamphlet about their sale of snow shoes. C. A. Berggren, owner of Berggren's Variety Store in Vero, received a pamphlet and is debating on stocking and selling some of the snowshoes in his store.
60 YEARS AGO: 1956
Ocean pollution
VERO BEACHRobert H. George, mayor of Golden Beach, Fla., is crusading against the dumping of oil-laden ballast water by passing oil tankers in the Atlantic Ocean. E. G. Thatcher, executive secretary of the Vero Beach Chamber of Commerce wrote to George commending his efforts. A meeting of high Washington officials will be held in Miami this fall to address the problem. Among those scheduled to attend are: A. C. Richmond, commandant of the Coast Guard and David W. Kendall, assistant secretary of the treasury, under whose jurisdiction the Coast Guard operates.
50 YEARS AGO: 1966
An annex
VERO BEACHAn annex is to be built in back of the courthouse. The annex will face north and be located at the south end of the courthouse. The building is expected to cost over $100,000 and the second floor will remain unfinished. The county has the cash funds to pay for the building's construction as well as needed furnishings.
30 YEARS AGO: 1986
Crack affects all
INDIAN RIVER COUNTYCocaine deaths made national headlines when two famous athletes recently succumbed to the drug's dangers. Indian River County has a share in this tragic news with local deaths and incidents being attributed to the effects of cocaine. They include: Mark Frost's Nov. 24, 1985 cocaine overdose; a fatal shooting of suspected cocaine dealer Lamar "Blackie" Wynn Jr. by a Vero Beach police officer during a June 7 arrest; a protest in Gifford followed this death with residents demanding an investigation into the shooting and an end to street sales of crack cocaine in Gifford; a 24-year-old Gifford man set fire to his home because of mental health issues related to cocaine addiction; two suspects were arrested and convicted by jury for heading the largest drug ring ever broken in Indian River County.
10 YEARS AGO: 2006
Taser death
INDIAN RIVER COUNTYFleeing from deputies, a 33-year-old Wabasso man died after being stunned with a Taser during a scuffle, authorities said. The family of Glen Thomas wants answers about the 50,000-volt shock he received during the altercation and whether that shock contributed to his death or if other factors, such as a plastic bag reportedly found in his throat, were the cause of death.
Thank you for reading!
Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.
The woman was raped by two of her friends and dumped along the Delhi-Gurgaon road.
By Indo-Asian News Service, Tanseem Haider: A Delhi woman in her 30s was gangraped in Gurgaon by two of her friends while returning from a party, police said on Wednesday. One of the accused has been arrested.
The incident took place on the night of August 7-8, a police officer confirmed.
WOMAN THROWN OUT OF MOVING CAR
On Sunday, Aman, the accused and victim's friend, picked up the woman from her house and planned to take her to meet his friend in Gurgaon. He stopped the car on the way and started misbehaving with the woman.
advertisement
When the victim started to protest, her another friend, who works as an engineer in a private company, also joined him. The two then started misbehaving with her and threw her out of the moving car when she started to protest.
However, the three men came back in the same car and raped the woman in the moving car at gun-point.
WOMAN THREATENED
They threatened her with dire consequences if she revealed she had been raped.
The woman approached the police on Monday evening. The police arrested one of the accused on Tuesday while the other was absconding.
Also read:
4 women raped, 9 harassed everyday in 2012-2015: Delhi Police report
Uttar Pradesh: Four-year-old Dalit girl kidnapped and raped in Hapur district
--- ENDS ---
Cutting the cable-TV cord has turned me into a remote-control minimalist. I cant stand having more than one remote on the coffee table just to watch TV, especially with only one set-top box in the living room. But the main TV remote must always remain in reach because neither the Roku nor the Amazon Fire TV remotes include TV-power or volume-control buttons.
For fellow minimalists, a device called Sideclick aims to be the solution. Its a small, programmable IR blaster that clips onto the remote for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV or Googles Nexus Player. Effectively, it combines TV- and streaming-device controls onto a single unit.
After shipping to its Kickstarter backers earlier this year, Sideclick now available to the public for $30. But while its overall a slicker solution than juggling two separate remotes, consolidating does involve a few trade-offs.
How Sideclick Works
Sideclick comes with eight programmable buttons, and while they each have icons to suggest specific usessuch as power, volume, and channelyoure free to assign these buttons to any function from any IR remote.
Pressing the top and bottom buttons sets Sideclick to pairing mode, indicated by a small LED light that turns solid red. To pair a button, hold it down for a moment, point your TV remote at the Sideclick from about an inch away, and then press the button whose function you want to assign. The LED light blinks three times and then goes solid to let you know the pairing has completed.
Jared Newman Sideclick includes eight programmable buttons, which should be more than enough for TV functions.
Pairing the entire row of Sideclick buttons took less than a minute, and once paired, the buttons operate like those on a regular TV remote. The unit is powered by a pair of AAA batteries.
While Sideclick is easy to set up and use, I did have one issue with performance: In my tests, Sideclick didnt cover the same distance as the remote on my 2015 Vizio E-Series television. My couch is about 12 feet away from the television, which seemed to be just on the outer edge of Sideclicks comfortable range. Remote functions still worked if I pointed Sideclick directly at the TVs IR receiver, located at its bottom-left corner, or if I leaned forward by a foot or two. But overall my TV remote was much better at relaying button presses from the same couch.
Design Trade-Offs
For a mechanism made entirely of plastic, Sideclicks design is pretty elegant. You start by lining up a set of five plastic tabs on the remote with their corresponding slots on the cradle, then slide the cradle up to lock the two parts into place with a satisfying click. Pulling up on the cradles middle tab allows you to release the two partsa move thats only a little confusing on the first attempt.
Originally, Sideclick planned to construct separate attachments for each streaming remote, none of them compatible with one another. That approach turned out to be too expensivean initial Kickstarter campaign with a higher funding goal failedand it would also have required an entirely new Sideclick every time you upgraded streaming boxes.
In the end, Sideclick settled on selling a single IR blaster that can attach to any of the companys streaming remote clips. The benefit to this approach, aside from being easier to manufacture, is that you dont have to spend as much to use Sideclick with different streaming devices. Additional clips sell for $8 to $10, depending on the device.
Jared Newman Sideclicks base (at bottom) can clip onto any of the companys cradles, including this one for Amazons Fire TV remote.
On the downside, I suspect that Sideclicks adaptable design makes the product feel cheaper. Both the Roku and Fire TV remotes had a tendency to wobble in their cradles, and the two pieces flex away from each other when pulled on. (Amazons smaller Fire TV Stick remote felt sturdier.)
Theres also no avoiding the fact that a Roku or Fire TV remote is less comfortable to hold when a Sideclick is attached. The contraption is wider than any typical remote, and users with small hands might have trouble reaching every button without changing their grip. Personally, Id love to see a smaller version of the Sideclick with nothing but volume and power buttons, though I bet some people are pining for an expanded version as well.
One other nitpick for Roku users: Attaching Sideclick blocks the headphone jack on Roku 3 and Roku 4 remotes. At least the Roku remote is easy enough to remove from its holster.
Who needs a Sideclick?
Compared to a universal remote such as Logitechs Harmony, Sideclick is simpler and less expensive, since it doesnt require a hub to translate different input signals. It also doesnt make you learn a new arrangement of buttons for your streaming device, and it maintains access to device-specific features such as voice control on Roku and Fire TV.
That said, some streaming devices have started to render the TV remote obsolete on their own, thanks to HDMI-CEC. Remotes for both the fourth-generation Apple TV and Nvidias Shield Android TV, for instance, can wake your TV from sleep and adjust volume on supported televisions. The Apple TV can also turn your TV off when you put the streamer to sleep. If those are the only devices in your living room, you might not need a separate remote with other TV functions. In fact, those two devices have become my solution for remote control minimalism in the last year, with Apple TV in the living room and the Shield in the basement.
Still, other streaming device makers dont seem interested in putting TV controls on their remotes, at least not yet. So for anyone using a Roku, Fire TV, Google Nexus Player or older an Apple TV, Sideclick is the next-best thing.
Didi Chuxing on Monday announced a historic deal to acquire the Chinese ride-sharing operations of rival Uber, which threw in the towel after years of unsuccessful efforts to grow its business in what may prove to be the worlds most challenging technology market.
Under the agreement, Didi Chuxing acquired all of Uber Chinas assets, including its brand, data and business operations.
The deal calls for Uber to receive 5.89 percent of the combined entity with preferred equity interest, which is the equivalent of a 17.7 percent stake in Didi Chuxing. The deal calls for Baidu and other Chinese investors to get 2.3 percent stake in Didi Chuxing. Didi Chuxing also will get a minor stake in Uber.
Didi Chuxing Chairman Cheng Wei will join the board of Uber, and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick likewise will join the Didi Chuxing board.
The agreement calls for Uber China to maintain independent branding and business operations, while Didi Chuxing will integrate the managerial and technological expertise of the two firms.
Didi Chuxing will continue to expand overseas, said Jean Liu, president of the company.
Stop the Bleeding
The sale was necessary for both companies, said Egil Juliussen, principal analyst for automotive technology at IHS Markit.
Fierce competition was taking a toll on Ubers international growth strategy while eroding Didi Chuxings price integrity.
Both companies were losing a lot of money due to discounting to gain market share and building economies of scale, Juliussen told the E-Commerce Times. This super-competitive trend will stop, and Didi Chuxing is expected to be profitable soon.
Uber reportedly lost about US$1 billion in China last year. The sale of its Chinese business will allow it to focus on expansion into other Asian markets, including India and other Southeast Asian countries, Juliussen said.
Breaking into China is tough for tech companies, said Akshay Anand, an analyst for Kelley Blue Book.
In fact, Uber progressed further in China than most other tech companies dream of, he told the E-Commerce Times.
Didi Chuxing benefited from Chinese government actions that provided a more favorable competitive environment, Anand added.
China is an extremely competitive market due to tremendous amount of entrepreneurial activities that are not present in other markets except the U.S., Juliussen said. Hence, it is nearly impossible to compete with an established Chinese player.
Chinese Regulations
The timing of Didi Chuxings Uber deal is not coincidental. The agreement was announced just days after the Chinese government officially legalized ride-sharing with a new framework. It sets up regulations that will help establish safety, along with competition guidelines that have caused havoc in emerging ride-sharing markets around the world.
The regulations center around a set of standards regarding who can participate in ride-sharing services and how they can operate in major markets, according to a Bloomberg report.
Among the guidelines: Drivers must have at least three years experience behind the wheel; user data must be stored within China for at least two years; and cars must be retired from operations after driving 600,000 kilometers.
Ride-sharing so far has penetrated just 1 percent of the Chinese market, Didis Liu recently said in an appearance at Code 2016.
Didi has 87 percent of the private car and 99 percent of the taxi-hailing market in China, the company has claimed. The service completed 1.43 billion rides in China in 2015, and it offers transportation to more than 300 million people in China across 400 cities.
On Tuesday night, Australian residents were required to fill out the national census, which is held every five years to collect a range of demographic information. This year's census was the first that allowed Australians to fill out the form online, and in what didn't come as a surprise to many, the website providing the online form crashed spectacularly during the early evening.
At around 7pm local time on August 9th, the Australian government's census website appeared to fail under the load of people wishing to submit their forms after dinner. The website began throwing up unusual errors when residents attempted to submit their forms, before the entire website was taken offline.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) was quick to blame a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack for their unresponsive website, with chief statistician David Kalisch claiming these "malicious" attacks came from an "international source". This theory was easily debunked when some users noticed the census website had been set up to not respond to traffic from outside Australia during the census night.
The government then blamed a more generic denial of service attempt, which caused a router to become "overloaded" under the weight of a mysterious malicious force preventing the collection of demographic data.
While the Australian government was looking to place the blame elsewhere for the failure, savvy citizens predicted load issues when the ABS stated its census website capacity. The website could only support up to one million form submissions per hour, which the ABS suspected was "twice the capacity" they expected to need on the day.
A quick look at Australian population data would have suggested that one million submissions per hour would not satisfy the requirements of the Australian public. There are more than 10 million households in Australia, and around 70 percent were expected to fill out the form online, with approximately one million filling it out before August 9th. This left around six million to fill out the form during the day.
Considering the work and eating habits of most Australians, it was clear that most people would be filling out the census form during peak internet usage times (typically 7 to 9pm). With up to six million expected to submit the form over two hours, a rated capacity of one million submissions per hour would obviously not be enough.
To make matters worse, the Australian government spent around AU$10 million ($7.7 million) on the online census website, including $400,000 on load testing. The entire process has ended up being a costly and embarrassing failure for Australia and their government's understanding of online infrastructure.
Both Apple and Google announced plans to release more emojis that promote gender equality, especially when it comes to women. This includes female versions of various jobs and sports, and the Unicode Consortium even added a pregnant woman to its list of new emojis.
Emojis are the way to express ourselves when texting, and while these new additions are great for women, there still aren't enough characters to properly capture all the emotions of motherhood.
That's why three working mamas decided to develop their own emoji keyboard that allows mothers everywhere to better describe their lives.
Called EmojiMom, the keyboard extension allows users to express what motherhood is really like. This is because it gets really real with characters such as one for pumping in the bathroom while at work, a woman in labor, a crying baby on an airplane and even one for IVF.
While some of them truly reveal the hardships of pregnancy and being a mom, others take a more lighthearted approach, like the teasing ones of saying no to sushi and a pregnant woman having a glass of wine.
Sarah Robinson, Hannah Hudson and Natalie Ralston decided to create the app after experiencing their own real parenting moments, such as when one of their babies urinated on her work clothes in the first few days of going back to work post-baby. It was during moments like that that these mothers wished they had an emoji to describe the situation or how they were really feeling.
Sure, there is already the cute baby emoji that is all smiles, but what about the crying baby, the peeing baby sans diaper and the baby spitting up on their mom?
So, the ladies teamed up with an illustrator and and developer to then make EmojiMom to make the emojis a reality on behalf of parents not just moms who really need them in their lives.
The emoji keyboard also features ones when daddy goes crazy, a sweet one of daddy sleeping with the baby skin-to-skin and being up with the baby at night while mom catches some Z's. The women have plans to add more dad-specific ones over time.
Of course, since it's women who enjoy the beautiful moments and hardships of pregnancy and childbirth, this app is really focused on the soon-to-be and already moms of the world. These include everything from pregnancy tests to sonograms, doctors appointments and having "baby brain." There are also the emojis that compare the growing baby with fruits, depending on how many weeks pregnant the woman is.
Then, when its time for the baby to come, there are many emojis to describe the birthing process, complete with ones for twins and postpartum emojis like nipple cream and hospital underwear. There are also plenty of options for the baby, with various skin tones, including bath time, crying, sleeping, happy and having a dirty diaper.
Now, moms can communicate with other moms and describe the real feelings and moments of motherhood thanks to these emojis.
EmojiMom is available to download only for iOS for $1.99.
Source: Today
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Google wants clients from emerging markets to enjoy the features of its Maps app and to do so, it has prepared two neat features for the Android variant of the service.
Not only is Google Maps for Android getting a Wi-Fi-only option, but a new support for SD card data download is in tow as well. Testing for the Wi-Fi-only option started last month, but the storing of map data is entirely new.
Some might expect more radical upgrades from Google Maps, but the two new features will be a game changer to owners of budget handsets who have limited storage capacity, as well as to those whose pre-paid data plans make them wary of any overage of traffic.
Overseas travelers will benefit from the Wi-Fi option, as it will ensure that users avoid data roaming and stay within their home country data plans.
Offline support for Google Maps has been a great addition to the service for some time now, and tourists commended the possibility of downloading the data for a city before reaching it. However, keep in mind that such downloads can be a heavy burden, especially for entry-level smartphones. Here is where the extra SD card support comes in to save the day, allowing users to save important space on their phone.
In its blog post, Google explains how helpful the new features are.
The company points out that basic handsets usually come with internal storage capacities of 4 GB, which is half or one-eighth the capacity of a premium model. This makes it difficult to cram videos, music, apps and photos into the mobile devices.
Google Maps users will no longer have to delete precious memories to "download and use offline areas when they need them most," thanks to the new features that permit the downloading of "offline areas to an external SD card."
Google also boosted the number of transportation variants in Maps. This means that travelers to Southeast Asia can now tap into Go-Jek and Grab. Additional services are now supported for other markets, with notable names such as Hailo, MyTaxi and Gett for Poland, Ireland, Austria, Italy, Israel and Russia.
While the Wi-Fi-only option and the SD storage capability have landed just on the Android version of Maps, the latter will be available on both Android and iOS.
With the new features of its app, Google makes its way into the hearts and navigational needs of mobile-exclusive internet users.
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Facebook is moving to dismiss ad blockers on desktop, announcing that it has tweaked its technology to bypass such software. On the bright side, ad preferences options may offer a silver lining.
From now on, Facebook's new technology will render ad blockers useless on its desktop site, which means that even if you have an ad blocker installed, you will still see ads on Facebook. The company already bypassed ads on its mobile apps a while back, trying to fight a whopping mobile ad blocking surge, and now it's pushing the scheme onto its desktop site as well.
At the same time, Facebook is also updating the ad preferences to add more tools designed for individuals to tailor their ad experience. With the new tools in place, Facebook users will be able to take themselves off certain customer lists for ads, albeit they won't be able to evade ads completely.
"We've designed our ad formats, ad performance and controls to address the underlying reasons people have turned to ad-blocking software," Facebook notes.
The company says that after asking users why they choose to use ad blockers, it learned that most resorted to the practice as a means to avoid disruptive and annoying ads.
In this context, Facebook thinks that making ads better, as opposed to blocking them altogether, will be a win-win for everyone. Users will no longer see disruptive ads, while businesses and publishers will be able to keep their services free thanks to ads.
"As we offer people more powerful controls, we'll also begin showing ads on Facebook desktop for people who currently use ad-blocking software," the company adds.
The new ad preferences mean that if you don't want to see ads for a certain category such as cars, clothes and others or from certain companies, the new tools will make it easier for you to tailor your experience. If you don't have any choice but to see ads on Facebook, at least you can customize it so that you see ads for things you might actually be interested in.
According to Facebook, its updated ad preferences and other advertising tools put more control in users' hands.
To pull this off and successfully bypass ad-blocking software on the desktop, Facebook will make it harder for an ad blocker to distinguish between a sponsored ad and a legitimate status update on the desktop version of Facebook.
The advertising industry has long been complaining that ad blockers are amounting to billions of dollars in lost revenue each year, affecting businesses and publishers worldwide. Some publishers even chose to make their content unavailable to those who use ad blockers, sparking an ad-block controversy on the tech scene.
On the other hand, many consumers use ad-blocking software because ads consume more mobile data, cause web pages to load more slowly and drain their devices' batteries.
From Facebook's point of view, an acceptable middle ground to appease both parties would be to improve advertising and allow users to continue enjoying free content and services as long as they agree to targeted ads tailored to their preferences.
What's your stance on the matter? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Quadrooter vulnerability, which was recently revealed by security firm Check Point, is said to have made 900 million Android devices open to hackers through a combination of four security exploits. However, according to Google, Quadrooter is not the massive security threat that is being made out to be.
The reported security issue is said to affect Android-powered smartphones and tablets featuring Qualcomm chipsets, covering high-end and popular devices such as Google's Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, Samsung's Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, the HTC One, the BlackBerry Priv and the OnePlus 3.
Check Point said that the vulnerability is linked to the software that handles graphics, alongside the programming for the communication of the various components of the devices. Through exploiting the issue, hackers could breach through the defenses of an Android smartphone or tablet and gain control over different features.
Google, however, is claiming that the Quadrooter vulnerability should not be a problem. As previously reported, Google is patching up three of the four exploits through its August update for Android, with the fourth exploit to be issued a solution in the September update. These updates will fix the problem for Android users who regularly update their devices, but as widely known, there is a high level of fragmentation among Android devices, with a significant percentage not installing the most recent updates as they roll out.
Google adds that the Quadrooter vulnerability will be additionally mitigated by the Verify Apps feature for Android, which is activated by default on all devices powered by Android Jelly Bean. Before apps are installed, the Verify Apps feature scans them to detect if there are any security threats bundled with the apps, preventing them from launching if it does. Users with pre-Android Jelly Bean devices can opt to activate the feature manually, but with 90 percent of Android devices running Android Jelly Bean or later, it means that most users are protected against Quadrooter.
"The Android malware monster will never die," according to Computer World's JR Raphael, with companies such as Check Point revealing what they claim to be massive security threats and then conveniently sell antivirus software or detectors that solve the said problems. However, these companies often fail to mention that the exploits pose little to no threat at all to Android users in the real world.
Raphael cautions Android users from being ignorant on how big or small of a threat the reported security issues on Android are and should have the knowledge and logic to figure out which exploits are the problematic ones and which ones are not.
That said, it is always the better idea to upgrade to the latest version of the Android operating system, install Android security updates as soon as they roll out and avoid downloading and installing apps from shady sources.
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
For those who are looking forward to the Apple Car, the first vehicle-related patent of Apple will come as a surprise.
Apple Car enthusiasts might have been expecting the first vehicle-related patent of Apple to be for a groundbreaking new design on the chassis, engine or any such component. However, the patent that Apple received is not something that can be readily associated with a possible "car of the future."
According to the approved patent filing acquired by Patently Apple, the patent is for a steering device for an articulated vehicle, which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivoting joint that allows it to make sharp turns. For those having trouble imagining it, examples of such vehicles are semitrucks, which have joints in the middle of their bodies that bend when they make turns.
The invention covered by the patent is for a steering device that will provide a better connection to two compartments of an articulated vehicle while also providing improved steering, with the steering device placed inside an enclosure that will provide ballistic protection. The invention looks to solve the problem with the currently used steering devices that are vulnerable to external impact, such as effective fire when in war situations.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office granted the patent to Apple, but the original application was approved to a Swedish subsidiary of global defense company BAE Systems last year. BAE Systems manufactures and sells military vehicle systems, with its primary products being armored all-terrain vehicles, infantry fighting vehicles and turret systems.
According to military tech author Russell Phillips, the proposed technology covered by the patent could be used to improve military trucks such as the Bandvagn 202, which is used by the Swedish army. The new steering device would help in controlling the front and back units of the vehicle at the same time so that when the vehicle is steered to go left, the wheels at the back will turn right to help make the turn.
The question being asked right now is what would Apple do with such a military-focused patent in relation to the rumored Apple Car?
It should be noted that many consumer technologies were first designed for military purposes before being adopted in devices used by civilians, such as autopilot navigation and GPS.
The proposed steering device, if it will be incorporated into the Apple Car, will definitely give Apple's rumored vehicle a different look compared with the electric cars currently out in the market such as those sold by Tesla Motors.
Nevertheless, the approved patent goes to show that Project Titan, Apple's rumored vehicle development division, is beginning to release unique work, with many more expected to be unveiled soon.
Fans who are hoping for an Apple Car release in the near future should not hold their breath, though, as a report last month revealed that the expected launch was pushed back by one year to 2021 due to the many challenges that Project Titan has faced.
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Mazda North America has announced the global debut of the 2017 Mazda6, which brings a number of new features to the midsize sedan.
The Japanese carmaker has been producing the Mazda6 since 2002. The car looks good, is loaded with tech and safety equipment and it's great to drive but there is still room for more improvements.
The 2017 Mazda6 looks stylish and sporty and Mazda has not made a lot of changes to the exteriors of the car apart from the slightly reshaped side mirrors. Customers will now have an extra Machine Gray Metallic color option for the sedan.
Mazda claims that the Mazda6 is one of the most engaging models and offers one of the best handling in its segment. The 2017 Mazda6 raises the standard with the company's new G-Vectoring Control (GVC) in North America.
Mazda suggests that GVC provides unified control of the transmission, engine, body and chassis, enhancing the overall driving experience. Drivers of cars with GVC benefit from the accurate handling of their vehicle even in slippery conditions.
Mazda engineers have also upgraded the sound insulation of the car.
"Using improved door seals, tighter tolerance between panels and sound insulation materials added to the underbody, rear console, headliner and doors, the aim for Mazda6 was to outclass common midsize-segment cars with its attractive design and establish a unique 'Mazda Premium' positioning," says Mazda.
The new Mazda6 also comes with thicker front glass that effectively blocks wind noise.
The Premium Package Grand Touring models of the Mazda6 get Nappa leather seats in black or off-white with distinct piping, steering wheel heaters, fresh satin-finish metal trim and heated rear outboard seats.
The carmaker has also upgraded the display screen, which has higher brightness. The driver information display is now in color.
The 2017 Mazda6 now includes Blind Spot Monitoring, Traffic Sign Recognition and Lane-Keep Assist. The entry-level Mazda6 Sport models are now equipped with Mazda Connect.
Under the hood of the latest Mazda6 is a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine that delivers 184 horsepower. The midsize sedan is available in six-speed manual and automatic transmission options in North America.
Mazda has also beefed up security aspects of the car. The 2017 Mazda6 is equipped with a Forward Sensing Camera, which can detect pedestrians at the front of the car and apply emergency brakes if the need arises.
The 2017 Mazda6 will arrive at dealers in September this year. Mazda has not provided information on how much its latest car costs but the company may announce the pricing soon.
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Heavy to extremely heavy rainfall kept normal life affected in Rajasthan's Chittorgarh, Bhilwara, Pali and nearby areas where Army and NDRF have been deployed for rescue and relief works.
By Press Trust of India: Seven persons, including six children, were killed in rain-related incidents in Rajasthan, while flood situation improved considerably in Assam today even as MeT department has forecast downpour in Odisha and West Bengal as a low pressure over Bay of Bengal has intensified into a depression.
Six children, aged 8 to 12 years, were today playing near a pit filled with rainwater when they accidentally slipped into it and drowned in Rajasthan's Barmer district while a 25-year-old man was swept away by heavy flow of water on the bank of a river in Pali district.
Heavy rain in Rajasthan.
This is platform of Jodhpur railway station. @sureshpprabhu @omthanvi pic.twitter.com/cZKLax1TzL Vijay Kedia (@KediaRaigarh) August 10, 2016
advertisement
Heavy to extremely heavy rainfall kept normal life affected in Rajasthan's Chittorgarh, Bhilwara, Pali and nearby areas where Army and NDRF have been deployed for rescue and relief works.
One hour rain and #Jodhpur city has come down @VasundharaBJP are you really doing something about it? pic.twitter.com/6CNOkI411I Kiran Khokhar (@IndianChicdotIn) August 10, 2016
Scattered rains in few areas of the national capital contributed to high humidity level causing trouble to the Delhiites. The maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded at 35.5 and 28 degrees Celsius, both a notch above normal.
A cloudy day has been predicted for Delhi tomorrow.
Gayatri (60), Doodnath (65) and Ramjanm Rajak were yesterday killed after being hit by lightning in different parts of Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district, even as light to moderate rainfall occurred in several parts of the state.
In Odisha, heavy rainfall is likely to occur in many parts of the state in the next 24 hours with gusty wind prevailing along and off the coast.
The downpour will occur as a well marked low pressure over Northwest Bay of Bengal today intensified into a depression.
MeT department has predicted heavy downpour also in Gangetic West Bengal for the next two days.
In flood-hit Assam, the situation has improved "considerably". Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said the number of affected people in Jorhat and Kokrajhar districts was 3,794 and the number of relief camps have come down to four in the state.
Rajasthan: Heavy rains trigger flood-like situation in Jodhpur, streets flooded, water enters office areas pic.twitter.com/jqryPu2F9U ANI (@ANI_news) August 10, 2016
In Bihar, temperatures dipped with light to moderate rainfall in parts of the state bringing much needed respite from the sultry weather conditions.
Hot and humid conditions today prevailed in Punjab and Haryana despite rainfall took places at several places.
Chandigarh, joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, recorded maximum temperature of 34.9 degree Celsius, two degrees above normal.
ALSO READ:
More than 33 lakh people affected in Bihar floods, toll reaches 95
Mumbai crippled again: Heavy rain leaves railway stations flooded, delays flights
--- ENDS ---
advertisement
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 rules them all when it comes to display quality, according to experts from DisplayMate.
Samsung's latest flagship phablet is making huge waves for good reason, rocking impressive specifications all around, inside and out.
In a new report titled "Samsung Galaxy Note 7 OLED Display Technology Shoot-Out," DisplayMate president Raymond Soneira praises the Note 7's display as the best ever for a smartphone.
First off, the expert highlights just how crucial an innovative and powerful display is for a top-end smartphone. The most successful smartphones have always boasted top display technology, because it's essential for how things look on the smartphone.
The quality of a device's screen is paramount to how readable text is, how good graphics and photos look and how well the display works in bright sunlight or other lighting conditions. The "crown jewel" of a smartphone is its display, and Samsung excels in this department.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 rocks a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a high QHD resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels, rendering gorgeous clarity, vividness and accuracy. The screen is also curved, bending on both sides, allowing users to view and control the curved edges from both the front and the sides.
Taking the Galaxy Note 7's display for a spin, DisplayMate found a number of remarkable qualities. For instance, while most smartphones offer one color mode and no option to change it, the Galaxy Note 7 enables users to control four color modes, depending on their preferences. This could come particularly in handy in certain scenarios, such as tapping into a 4K UHD TV's top-notch 4K video content via the smartphone's Digital Cinema mode.
In terms of the color range it can reproduce, the Galaxy Note 7 tops display performance for the widest color gamut. The Note 7's display also excels in other categories such as high contrast ratio, peak brightness, lowest screen reflectance and others.
DisplayMate notes that the Galaxy Note 7's display shows improvements in virtually any aspect compared with its predecessor, the Galaxy Note 5, and the company's current flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S7.
"The Galaxy Note 7 provides many major and important state-of-the-art display enhancements, with mobile OLED display technology now advancing faster than ever," concludes Soneira. "The Galaxy Note 7 is the most innovative and high-performance smartphone display that we have ever tested."
DisplayMate also points out that the Galaxy Note series typically leads the way in display technology, with Samsung implementing and refining the technology in its subsequent Galaxy S flagships. This means that the Galaxy Note 7's impressive display features should make their way to the future Galaxy S8 as well.
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Piltdown Man was one of the biggest archaeological discoveries in history when it was discovered in 1912.
It was hailed as the missing evolutionary link between apes and humans, giving us a better understanding of how we evolved. There was just one problem though: it was a hoax.
Of course, we had already known that since 1953, but we didn't know who was truly behind it. Now, thanks to multi-disciplinary collaboration between experts ranging from palaeobiologists, historians and even ancient DNA specialists, we know who the culprit is: Charles Dawson, the one who "discovered" the skull and just him alone.
The research, published in Royal Society Open Science, details how the team compared the methods used on multiple forged specimens dug up near the Sussex village of Piltdown from 1912 to 1916, and eventually found what they describe as highly consistent modus operandi:
The same reddish-brown stain that was used to make the bones look old
The specimens had appropriate local gravel packed into their crevices
Dentist's putty was used to fix the teeth and gravel in place
Such a fixed strategy for fooling experts at the time points to the fact that a single person conducted the operation, said Isabelle De Groote from Liverpool John Moores University.
Of course, to appreciate this conclusion, you have to understand the hoax.
A Hoax Of Historic Proportions
The story begins in 1912, when Charles Dawson, a professional lawyer and amateur fossil hunter, discovered fragments of a human-like skull, an ape-like jawbone with two worn molar teeth, various stone tools and fragments of animal fossils at Plitdown in East Sussex, England. All of these fossils had the same feature: a reddish-brown stain (which we know is a product of Dawson trying to pass these off as real human fossils).
Since Dawson wasn't in the field himself, he brought his findings to someone who was, paleontologist Arthur Smith Woodward, and together, they announced their find. The discovery was monumental for two primary reasons: for the scientific community, the skull suggested that humans evolved large brains early on and entirely reset what researchers thought they were looking for from a "missing link." In fact, it was hailed as the missing evolutionary link between apes and humans. For England, however, it was a matter of pride. Germany had just discovered Homo heidelbergensis a few years, and increased their attempts to find a human ancestor in their own country as a result.
Unfortunately, Dawson didn't get to enjoy his rise to fame as he died four years later in 1916. However, one year before doing so, he wrote to Woodward claiming that he discovered three more fossil fragments (including a molar) from another skull at a second site just a couple miles from the first one.
However, there was something off about the "findings" this time around.
The Hoax Exposed
As with most scientific discoveries, there were some doubts about the discovery of the Piltdown Man. It was accepted as the real deal, but there was one particular cause for concern: the site of the second excavation, Piltdown 2, was never discovered, and Woodward never submitted the findings until after Dawson's death.
Time passed, and in 1953, the scientific community was met with upsetting news: Dawson's "historic finding" was a hoax.
Using the then-new technique of fluorine dating, a team of researchers at the British Museum found that the bones were not all of the same age. Specifically, they found that 50,000 years old and the ape-like jawbone was just a few decades old far younger than the 500,000 years of age at which Dawson tried to pass them off. As for how he managed to pass them off at the age? Potassium Dichromate, giving the bones the previously-mentioned reddish-brown appearance.
Now, with his lie exposed, what was poised to be one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time became one of the greatest scientific hoaxes of all time.
Who Was Behind It?
In the world of science, answering one question often leads to several more being asked in this place. It was very much the same in this instance, though the question became: "Who was behind it?"
Dawson was obviously the prime suspect, but there were several more who were eyed for their possible involvement.
Leading the list was Woodward, the same man who brought forward the initial discovery. There was one problem with this hypothesis, though: up until his death in the 1940s, he had spent the majority of his time search for more of those same fossils.
Other suspects, were Martin Hinton, a British Museum staffer who held a grudge against Dawson, a French priest named Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and even Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who lived near Piltdown and was opposed to the theory of evolution.
In the end, however, it was Dawson, and Dawson alone who was found to be responsible for the hoax: not only was he the only person to ever find these fossils while he was alive, but no more Piltdown fossils were ever discovered after his death. He knew that scientists were looking for "a large brain, ape-like face and jaws, and heavily fossilized materials that indicated great antiquity" so, that's what he gave them.
In fact, it turns out Dawson had experience at doing this, too, as he was apparently responsible for at least 38 forgeries, such as a stone axe, a fake flit mine at the Lavant Caves and what he claimed was one of the first bronze statuettes linked to Roman times.
"He clearly had been doing this for a very long time," Groote said.
Why?
A hoax this great would have no doubt left his career in shambles had he lived long enough to see it exposed, so why bother taking that risk in the first place?
Some suggest that it was for the scientific recognition, particularly his goal to become a member of the Royal Society. For what it's worth, he certainly tried to earn recognition through legitimate means, having previously written more than 50 publications. In fact, he and and his wife wrote letters asking for his recognition, and while he was nominated a fellow, his nomination for election was not successful. The only time his career made any notable progress was after Piltdown.
Amusingly enough, the paper outing him as the sole perpetrator was published on the 100th anniversary of his death.
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Lenovo Vibe K5 Note Sales Cross INR 100 Crores On Flipkart | TechTree.com
In just a week since its launch, Lenovo's new smartphone Vibe K5 Note has reached INR 100 crores of revenue, according to a recent release. This revenue was achieved in its first weekend of sales.
The Vibe K5 Note comes with the TheaterMax controller along with the ANTVR glasses. For gaming enthusiasts, Lenovo has tied-up with Amkette to bring the Evo Pad 2 as a precision controller for TheaterMax gaming. About 30% of the K5 Note consumers also opted for the TheaterMax accessories in the inaugural sales.
K5 Note has a 139.7mm (5.5) Full HD display with a 178o wide viewing angle and 1080p resolution configured 3-mic system and state-of-the-art Wolfson audio codec. It also features a 1.5w speaker enabled by Dolby Atmos combined with a 13MP PDAF rear camera and an 8MP wide angle 1.4m pixel selfie camera.
The Secure Zone, being a feature that allows you to secure all your information allowing total privacy of your personal information. The K5 Note is also more secure with fast 0.3sec fingerprint sensor for hassle-free authentication to unlock the device. The VIBE K5 Note packs a 64-bit 8-Core 6755 processor clocked at 1.8GHz, up to 4 GB RAM and a high-capacity 3,500mAh embedded battery with a storage of up to 160GB (32GB internal) along with USB-OTG support.
The Lenovo K5 Notes is exclusively available on Flipkart and comes in two variants 3GB RAM edition and 4GB RAM Edition. Pricing for the K5 Note starts at INR.11999 and comes in platinum silver, champagne gold and graphite gray color option
TAGS: Lenovo Vibe K5 Note, Killer Note 5
Elecciones presidenciales
El pais mas grande de la region elige este domingo a su proximo mandatario. Tras no lograr hacerse con la mayoria de los votos en los comicios del 2 de octubre, Luis Inacio "Lula" Da Silva y Jair Bolsonaro se disputan la Presidencia en una balotaje que enfrenta tendencias y valores contrapuestas. Con equipos en el terreno, Telam presenta una cobertura exclusiva con noticias, analisis, opinion, fotos y mas.
O Globo will broadcast the last presidential debate on Friday night. Voting intention surveys show that Lula da Silva is the favorite to win the ballot. | Read More
Donald Trump stirred up a storm on Tuesday when he said that gun-rights backers could stop Democratic Party's Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, hinting at her assassination by gun-rights supporters.
By AP: Donald Trump on Tuesday said that Second Amendment advocates might find a way to stop Hillary Clinton from rolling back gun rights if she's elected, setting off a political firestorm as Democrats quickly accused him of encouraging violence against his opponent.
HERE IS WHAT HE SAID
Speaking at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, the Republican nominee said incorrectly his general election opponent wants to "abolish, essentially, the Second Amendment."
advertisement
He continued: "By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know."
The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Trump did not elaborate on his meaning. But within minutes, Clinton's campaign and an outside group backing her candidacy denounced the celebrity businessman's remarks as an attempt to incite violence.
"This is simple - what Trump is saying is dangerous," said Robby Mook, Clinton's campaign manager. "A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way."
The pro-Clinton group Priorities USA blasted out an email with the subject line: "Donald Trump Just Suggested That Someone Shoot Hillary Clinton."
Watch the video here (Credits: Youtube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcxkkrNSv-4
SOME SAY HE WAS ONLY TOUTING SPIRIT OF SECOND AMENDMENT SUPPORTERS
The Trump campaign was equally quick to dispute that interpretation of his remarks, saying he was simply touting the "amazing spirit" of Second Amendment supporters.
"It's called the power of unification - Second Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power," said Jason Miller, Trump's senior communications adviser. "And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it won't be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump."
Catherine Milhoan, a spokeswoman for the Secret Service, said, "We are aware of his comments." She declined to answer any additional questions about Trump's remarks.
Also Read: Donald Trump speech beats Hillary Clinton in TV viewership
DANGEROUS TRUMP?
The Second Amendment provides a constitutional right to citizens to own firearms. Clinton supports some new restrictions on gun ownership, but does not advocate overturning the amendment.
The GOP candidate's distortion of Clinton's position on the Second Amendment and his comments Tuesday prove "how dangerous Trump really is," said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
advertisement
"What Donald Trump said today is repulsive, literally using the Second Amendment as cover to encourage people to kill someone with whom they disagree," said Gross, whose group is named for James Brady, a White House press secretary wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.
TRUMP SLAMMED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Trump's remarks immediately set off a firestorm of criticism on social media and threatened to upstage discussion of his economic policy speech the day before and his swing through the key battleground state of North Carolina.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat and a leading advocate for stronger gun safety laws, called Trump's comments "disgusting and embarrassing and sad.
This isn't play. Unstable people with powerful guns and an unhinged hatred for Hillary are listening to you, @realDonaldTrump.; Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 9, 2016
"
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the liberal Democrat who has tangled frequently with Trump online, said on Twitter that Trump "makes death threats because he's a pathetic coward who can't handle the fact that he's losing to a girl."
The National Rifle Association, the powerful pro-gun lobby that has endorsed Trump, posted a pair of tweets in support of the Republican nominee.
advertisement
The second tweet read, "But there IS something we will do on #ElectionDay: Show up and vote for the #2A! #DefendtheSecond #NeverHillary."
EVEN TRUMP SUPPORTERS BLASTED HIM
But even some Trump supporters appeared taken aback by the nominee's comments. A video of the rally shows a man seated behind Trump open his mouth in disbelief and turn to his companion with a puzzled look on his face after Trump made the remark.
Campaigning in Pennsylvania, Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, said Trump was "very clear" in what he meant.
"Donald Trump is urging people around this country to act in a manner consistent with their convictions in the course of this election, and people who cherish the Second Amendment have a very clear choice in this election," he told Philadelphia's NBC affiliate.
Trump's comments came a few weeks after one of his campaign advisers said "Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason."
The Secret Service is investigating those remarks, made last month by Al Baldasaro, a New Hampshire state lawmaker and an adviser to Trump on veterans' issues. Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said then that neither Trump nor his campaign agree with Baldasaro's comments.
advertisement
Trump's comments Tuesday were reminiscent of the "Second Amendment remedies" floated in 2010 by Sharron Angle, a Nevada Senate candidate who was criticized for seeming to allude to a call for violence.
Also Read:
Hillary Clinton takes on rival Donald Trump, says his promises are false
Trump fires back at Obama, says Clinton 'unfit' for government
Did Donald Trump marry an 'illegal' immigrant? Melania Trump in the midst of an immigration row
--- ENDS ---
Stoked by the flight attendant's love, this stray dog kept waiting for her at a hotel entrance. Impressed by the pup's persistence she made arrangements to adopt him.
By India Today Web Desk: Decades have passed since a dog named Hachiko's incredible story of love and loyalty slipped into history, but here's similar story of loving pup named Rubio.
Flight attendant Olivia Sievers frequently travels from her home in Germany to Argentina for work. On one such visit to Argentina, roughly six months ago, she made friends with a stray pup.
advertisement
She gave him some food, and played with him for a while but the stray pup who had never been showered with so much affection, fell head over heals for the loving flight attendant.
Since then, every time Sievers visited Argentina, the pup whom she named Rubio, would somehow find his way and patiently wait for her outside the hotel she stayed in.
"I tried to change my way because I didn't want that he follow me back to the hotel," she told Noticiero Trece. "But it was not possible. He always came back and followed me. I tried one hour, but he always watched me and followed me. He was really happy that somebody gave him attention."
Touched by Rubio's persistence, Sievers contacted a rescue group to take him to a shelter care for dogs. However, his heart belonged to Sievers and found a way to escape the shelter and was back to waiting at the hotel entrance.
This time Sievers made up her mind to adopt him. She filled out the necessary paperwork to take Rubio along with her Germany. A pet adoption group shared a photo of Rubio making the long journey last week, with the caption: "Mom Olivia, here I come!!!! Wait for me!"
Also read: Dog guards grave in China
Delhi ragpicker feeds and takes care of 400 dogs daily
Hero dog: German shepherd saves 7-year-old girl from rattlesnake, gets bitten
Microchip helps reunite UK dog with owners after 5 years
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Panaji, Aug 10 (PTI) Goa government today told the state Legislative Assembly that they are in the process of forming a cyber cell which will monitor possible threats to the state-run websites.
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told the House that till date 17 Goa government websites were hacked on different occasions, but the hackers had only defaced the front page, while leaving the internal data intact.
advertisement
"Looking at the increase in number of cyber security threats and concerns, the department of Information and Technology is in the process of setting up a cyber cell in-house which would monitor the cyber treats in the government websites," Parsekar said during Question Hour while responding to a query by Congress MLA Mauvin Godinho.
The CM said currently Central government-appointed agency is monitoring the threats to the (government) websites.
"The state has not formed any cyber security policy, but as far as the government websites as well the State Data Centre (SDC) is concerned, the various security guidelines laid by the Central government are being put in practice or implemented," he told the House.
As per information provided on the floor of the House, the websites that came under attack by hackers were of departments like health, captain of ports, water resources, accounts, NRI commission, agriculture, fisheries, central library, sainik welfare and others. PTI RPS GK IKA BAS
--- ENDS ---
The 4th biennial Tea Culture Festival, which this year will be called the 4th Tea Culture Week, kicks off December 21 and will run for seven days instead of four, as in previous years.
It will be held at four venues in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong Province: Bao Lam District, Bao Loc Town, Da Lat Town and Duy Linh District.
Bui Thang, chairman of the Bao Loc Town People's Committee, was quoted in Lam Dong newspaper as saying late last month that the event's main focus is the promotion of tea culture of B'Lao (the former name of Bao Loc Town) rather than festivities.
The major events, including the international tea seminar and exhibition of local tea enterprises, will be held in Bao Loc Town, which has been dubbed by local media as "the capital of tea."
Other events which will praise tea growers and present the culture of tea to visitors will also take place in the other three venues, The Thao & Van Hoa reported on December 7. The festival, which has been held every two years since 2006, aims to bolster respect for Vietnam's traditional tea culture, promote the domestic and regional tea industries, and boost the tea trade. RELATED CONTENT First international tea fest to be held in northern Vietnam
Central Highlands hosts tea festival
Tea festival to feature record setting exhibit
With more than 24,000 hectares dedicated to the cultivation of tea, Lam Dong Province accounts for over 20 percent of the country's total tea farmland and 90 percent of it in southern Vietnam, government data showed. Tea is one of Vietnam's 28 main exports, according to General Statistics Office.
Stephen Twining shows how to make a cup of tea for the best taste. Photo: Khanh An
Twinings, a 310-year-old British tea, will be sold in Vietnam starting this month, Natural JSC, its sole distributor in the country, said Monday.
Stephen Twining, a 10th generation member of the Twinings family, was in Ho Chi Minh City to share how to make the drink he called a wonderful gift of nature for the best taste.
Speaking at the launch in HCMC Monday, he said: Green tea is perfect to enjoy in the afternoon and peppermint is perfect after dinner.
Twining has travelled extensively in India and Sri Lanka picking and buying tea leaves.
In 1837 the company received its first royal warrant for tea and was appointed the supplier of teas to the queens household.
Twinings was established in 1706 by Thomas Twining, who also opened the worlds first dry tea and coffee shop that still remains open in London.
Vietnam became the latest addition in the global marketing reach of the British brand, which is now available in 116 countries.
Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang (R) at a meeting with the country's top prosecutors in Hanoi July 8, 2014. Photo: Thai Son
President Truong Tan Sang has instructed prosecutors to clean up the justice system by minimizing wrongful charges and strictly punishing police brutality.
Sang told a Tuesday working session in Hanoi with leading officials of the Supreme Peoples Procuracy, the countrys top prosecution unit, that there have not been many such cases of violating justice procedures going on, but the damage would be huge.
Wed have around one case at an agency a year, involving one person. But those people are destroying the system and the peoples confidence in the government.
Quite several cases of people apologize by their authorities years after their wrongful charges have been reported lately, many more since the biggest of its kind came to public knowledge last year.
Nguyen Thanh Chan from the northern province of Bac Giang was released last November after serving ten years into a life sentence for the murder of a local woman that he did not commit.
His wifes investigation forced the real murderer, another local man, to give himself up last October.
The Supreme Court officially cleared his name in January this year.
But Chan is still filing petitions for compensation and accusation and for investigation against several officers that he claimed had made death threats and beat him during the questioning to force him to plead guilty.
In the latest episode of corporal punishment, a police officer in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak was arrested earlier this month as a suspected thief died of cerebral trauma under his count.
Phu Yen Province in south central Vietnam meanwhile is rehearing a trial on a fatal police brutality case after prosecutors criticized the initial sentences as overly lenient.
Three convicted officers in April were sentenced to between 18 months to 5 years in prison for beating a local man to death while questioning him for his alleged involvement in a burglary in May 2012.
Two other officers were let off with suspended sentences.
During the meeting, President Sang also ordered relevant agencies to retry the officers harshly after the media reported widespread public discontent following the first instance court.
Commenting on reduced number of crimes provided by the prosecutors Tuesday, Sang said the number did not reflect the true picture, that the crimes have become more serious, better-organized and each involved more people.
The prosecutors reported that corruption crimes have reduced more than 10 percent this year, drug crimes 2.6 percent and justice violations 14.7 percent.
Corruption has reduced in number but one could involve a lot of people, who would turn out to be involve other cases when it come to court, Sang said.
Duong Chi Dung could not run by himself. So we cannot say that corruption has reduced." -- Vietnam's President Truong Tan Sang told the Supreme Peoples Procuracy officials at a meeting July 8
He refers to the multi-million-dollar graft case committed by Duong Chi Dung, former chairman of state-owned shipping giant Vinalines, and other former executives as a good example.
The Supreme Peoples Court last May upheld death sentences handed to Dung and the former general director Mai Van Phuc after convicting them of embezzling VND10 billion ($474,000) each in the case.
Eight other defendants from the company received up to 22 years in jail.
Dungs younger brother Duong Tu Trong, 52, deputy chief of Hai Phong Police, has been arrested with six other police officers in the northern port city of Hai Phong for helping Dung escaped the country when the scandal first broke in May 2012. Dung was arrested by Interpol in Cambodia.
Duong Chi Dung could not run by himself, Sang said. We cannot say that corruption has reduced.
He admitted that crimes have risen due to difficult economic situation, and poor government control.
The President also stressed the need to perfect the legal system in line with the 2013 Constitution, urging the procuracy sector to work with other judicial agencies on draft laws in order to make the law enforcement effective.
A Lang Son court Tuesday awarded death sentences to nine men and life to two others for smuggling a total of 280kg of heroin from the northern province to China in 2013 and 2014.
Brothers Chu Dinh Tuyen, 39, and Chu Van Vien, 33, the gangs kingpins, were among those to get capital punishment along with their seven henchmen aged 31-38.
Nong Thi Chang, 25, and Chu Duc Son, 38, were the two to get away with life sentences.
Officers from the Ministry of Public Security in 2014 caught two members, Le Xuan Viet and Nguyen Van Tam, with 15kg of heroin in Hoa Binh Province.
Subsequent investigations led to the arrest of the others. The gang confessed to smuggling a total of 280kg of heroin from northwestern provinces to China on 22 occasions, earning more than VND10 billion (US$456,000).
A total of 19 people were involved, including four other Vietnamese who are still at large, an unidentified Chinese who was arrested in China and a deceased Vietnamese.
Vietnam has some of the worlds toughest drug laws. The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is punishable by death.
Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine also face the death penalty.
Tran Van Them, who was just cleared of a murder charge in 1973, at his house in Bac Ninh Province. Photo: Phuong Loan
An 80-year-old man in Bac Ninh Province in northern Vietnam has been cleared of a wrongful murder sentence he was given more than 40 years ago.
The Supreme Peoples Court Tuesday said that Tran Van Them, who was sentenced to death in 1973, is innocent.
Weve decided that Them was wrongly charged and sent to jail, senior judge Bui Van Hoa said.
Them would get a public apology and compensation soon, he said.
In July 1970 Them and his cousin traveled to nearby Vinh Phuc Province on a business trip when the latter was found dead with head injuries in a vacant tent along the road where they had stopped for the night.
Them said they had been robbed, but local authorities insisted he was the prime suspect and detained him.
They convicted him of murder in 1973 and the Supreme Court upheld the conviction a year later.
But in 1975 a teenage boy from Vinh Phuc, who had been staying at an education camp, owned up to the killing, and the Supreme Court ordered a fresh investigation and Thems release.
Them has, over the years, filed multiple pleas to clear his name, but it has taken until now, when he is very weak and can only walk with assistance, for his vindication.
His neighbors said he has been very poor and struggling to even find enough food to eat. His wife died early after working hard to raise six children on her own during the nearly six years that he was in jail.
Them said he did not want to recall the difficulties of the past.
My only wish is that the authorities proclaim loudly to my neighbors that I was wrongly charged so that I do not have to carry the shame of killing my cousin any longer, Tuoi Tre quoted him as saying.
Nguyen Thanh Chan at his home in Bac Giang Province. He was released in November after serving ten years of a life sentence for a wrongful murder conviction. Photo courtesy of VnExpress
Nguyen Thanh Chan from Bac Giang Province said in his appeal to the supreme court the amount comes from VND280,000 ($13) of daily income he could have earned during his 3,700 days in jail and the cost of the his wifes tireless fight for his freedom, including her medical fees.
He was arrested on September 20, 2003 for the murder of a local woman and released November 4 last year. An announcement from the Ministry of Public Security and the Supreme Peoples Court officially cleared his name late January.
Chan told news website VnExpress that he was the familys breadwinner and worked different jobs including cargo transport on horsecart, alcohol production, rice milling, pig breeding and running a small cafe.
He said his wife Nguyen Thi Chien had traveled to different agencies, filed numerous appeals and conducted her own investigation that forced the real murderer to confess and surrender.
She heard the relatives of Ly Nguyen Chung, a 26-year-old local, talk about him in relation to the murder. She secretly recorded their conversation and pieced the story together and then filed a petition accusing Chung of the crime in August.
Her evidence forced authorities to summon Chung, who turned up two months later after switching phone numbers and whereabouts, including a jaunt to China.
Chung had left the village soon after the murder and lived thousands of kilometers away in the Central Highlands.
The wife developed mental problems during her fight for justice and had to visit the National Psychiatric Hospital in Hanoi several times.
Her medical fees totaled some VND60 million and the struggle left her owing banks and relatives around VND500 million, Chan said.
He also said that police had seized from his family a bicycle, a shoulder pole for carrying water, some shoulder poles for cargo transport, some clothes, and he demanded their return.
His family has not received any official statement about compensation.
They are still working with investigators from the Ministry of Public Security about his accusations that some police officers made death threats to force him to plead guilty.
Chans children said him going to jail turned their life upside down. Besides public hostility, they were also deprived of care as the mother was too busy fighting for justice and three of them only finished ninth grade.
Like us on Facebook and scroll down to share your comment
Police have identified and are searching for suspects in the murder of four people, including three children, in northern Vietnam on Tuesday, a source told Thanh Nien.
The public security ministry has sent a special task force to help local police in Lao Cai Province to investigate what it now said to be a "robbery murder of extremely serious nature."
The four victims are Tan Thi May, 22, her daughter Tan Mai Phuong, 2, her newborn Tan Thuy Van, and her niece Tan Thuy Chi, 6.
May's husband Tan Ong Nai told the police when he and his parents returned from their fields at 9.30 pm Tuesday, his house was locked.
When Nai managed to enter the house, he could not find his wife and daughters. However, he detected a loaded musket in the kitchen, which had been rigged to fire when the kitchen door was opened.
He reported to the local police who launched a search through the night. They first found Phuong's body under big rocks in a stream near the house.
At 6.30 Wednesday they found the bodies of May and two children Phuong and Chi in three different locations near the house. Big rocks weighing 20-50 kg each were placed on their bodies, the police said.
A pet dog was slashed to death.
According to Nai, more than VND10 million in cash was missing.
The investigation is going on.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that gun rights activists could act to stop Democratic rival Hillary Clinton from nominating liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices, igniting yet another fire storm of criticism just as he sought to steer clear of controversy.
"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks," Trump said at a rally. "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know," he continued.
The U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear firearms.
Before the remark, Trump had been emphasizing his case against Clinton, who is leading in national opinion polls in the race for the Nov. 8 election. Some in the audience in North Carolina who were seated behind Trump could be seen wincing when he made the comment.
Clinton's campaign called the remark "dangerous."
"A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way, it said.
When asked to clarify what Trump meant, his campaign said he was referring to getting supporters of the Second Amendment to rally votes for Trump in the election.
"Its called the power of unification 2nd Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power," the Trump campaign said in its statement.
Immediately after Trump made his comment, many on social media accused him of effectively calling for Clintons assassination. In just three hours, 2nd amendment became the top trending topic on Twitter, with more than 60,000 posts mentioning the term.
Introducing Trump later at another rally in North Carolina, in Fayetteville, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani accused the news media of taking the remark out of context to help Clinton get elected.
"What he meant by that was you have the power to vote against her," Giuliani said to cheers. "You have the power to speak against her. You know why? Because you're Americans."
"It proves that most of the press is in the tank for Hillary Clinton," he added. "They are doing everything they can to destroy Donald Trump."
The U.S. Secret Service, which provides security details for both Trump and Clinton and rarely comments on political matters, when asked for a response on Trump, said: The Secret Service is aware of the comment."
Trump later told Fox News Channel's "Hannity" program that nobody in that room" thought he meant anything other than to rally support against Clinton.
"This is a strong powerful movement, the Second Amendment," Trump said. "Hillary wants to take your guns away. She wants to leave you unprotected in your home. This is a tremendous political movement."
By day's end, Trump was drawing criticism on several fronts, another chapter in a campaign marked by bitterness and partisanship.
Michael Hayden, a former CIA director who on Monday was among 50 Republican national security experts to denounce Trump in a letter, said on CNN, "Youre not just responsible for what you say. You are responsible for what people hear.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a liberal firebrand who loves tweaking Trump, tweeted that the Republican nominee "makes death threats because he's a pathetic coward who cant handle the fact that hes losing to a girl."
Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway fought back in a tweet of her own, calling Warren a "disgrace."
Gun rights an issue
Gun rights, which have long stirred strong emotions in America, have been a particularly potent issue in the 2016 presidential campaign as violence has convulsed some U.S. cities.
Donald Trump speaks to the Trask Coliseum at University of North Carolina in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Trump has planted himself firmly on the side of gun owners with a "law and order" campaign. Before his remark about Clinton on Tuesday, he had said Islamic State militants who killed 130 people in France last year could have been stopped if some of the victims had been armed.
The Clinton campaign has challenged Trump when in the past he has accused her of planning to abolish the Second Amendment if elected president. Clinton, in her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, said, "I'm not here to repeal the Second Amendment," saying she wanted "common-sense reforms" to gun laws.
Tuesday's speech came on the heels of a discordant week on the campaign trail for Trump, a businessman seeking his first public office. He came under fire from within his party for belatedly endorsing fellow Republicans in re-election races and a prolonged clash with the parents of fallen Muslim American Army captain Humayun Khan.
On Monday, Trump seemed to be heeding Republican advice to stick to a message of criticizing Clinton and other Democrats while putting forward economic policy proposals in a speech in Detroit.
Trump's vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, asked if he believed Trump was inciting violence toward Clinton, told NBCs Philadelphia affiliate: Of course not. No."
But Democrats called Trump's remarks another sign of a candidate unfit for the White House.
Dont treat this as a political misstep. Its an assassination threat, seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy & crisis," U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, said in a tweet.
Overall sentiment on social media posts on Trump's remarks was more negative than positive, at a ratio of 2.5 to 1, according to the social media analytics firm Zoomph. #ProtectHillary was also one of the top trending hashtags on Twitter.
The 50 prominent national security officials said in their letter on Monday that Trump would be "the most reckless president in American history."
"He appears to lack basic knowledge about and belief in the U.S. Constitution, U.S. laws and U.S. institutions, including religious tolerance, freedom of the press, and an independent judiciary," their statement said.
A Bihar police officer hurled abuses at a local BJP leader's son for driving without valid papers. He was caught-on-camera saying, " I will push you on the ground and thrash you."
By Rohit Kumar Singh: A Bihar police officer was caught on camera hurling abuses and threatening a person who was found driving without valid papers during a vehicle checking drive being carried by Supaul district police.
The police officer has been identified as Arvind Singh, posted as ASI at Kishanpur police station.
The person who faced the abusive rant of the the police officer is Jayant Kumar, son of a local BJP leader. When Jayant contested the "goonda" police official for the manner in which he spoke, Arvind Singh lost his cool and threatened to thrash and kill him.
advertisement
GOONDA OR POLICE?
"I will push you on the ground and thrash you. ( hurl abuses) Don't argue with me. Just pay challan and leave", said the angry cop who was caught on camera.
Jayant kept on pleading with the police officer to let him go as he did not have money to pay for the challan but the furious cop was in no mood to let him off the hook hurled more abuses.
"Just pay the challan and leave. Your challan has been cut or else give the keys of your vehicle. I am respecting you but you are not adhering to what I am saying.(.pushes Jayant). Take him to the police station.(hurl abuses)", the police officer was seen saying on the camera.
This erring police officer has once again exposed the brute manner of Bihar policing and raises questions that are such cops not "goondas" in uniform.
Also Read:
Bihar police brutality: Traffic cop drags woman by her hair to the station
Unrest in Bihar police over suspension of 10 SHOs, threaten mass leave if order not revoked
Bihar: 10 police officers suspended for not implementing prohibition law
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) The government today pitched for establishing an international clean energy data grid and asserted that information related to green and unclean energy should be put in public domain.
Noting that it is essential for the common man to realise that the energy being used is unclean, for the world to shift to clean energy, Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave said such a shift will come only through data that is stored and analysed properly.
advertisement
"India has given a call for the establishment of an International Clean Energy Data-Grid that is corruption-free.
"An international grid is a must as common man has the right to access data. The data must pertain to both production as well as consumption patterns of a society," an official statement quoting Dave said.
He was speaking at the day-long national conference on energy data: management, modelling and GIS mapping organised by NITI Aayog here.
Dave asserted that the world will have to understand the difference between clean and unclean energy.
"Data on green energy and unclean energy should be made available in the public domain. Till the common man realises that the energy being used is unclean, the day will never come when the world will shift towards using clean energy.
"Such a shift will come about only through data that is stored and analysed properly. Facts projected through correct data will lead us in the right direction," he said.
Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modis initiative to establish an International Solar Alliance (ISA), the Environment Minister emphasised that solar energy is the answer to energy requirements of the future.
"Dave also strongly advocated for disciplined consumption in every field, be it in the consumption of power to reduce the burden on power production," the statement added. PTI TDS DIP ZMN DIP
--- ENDS ---
Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission
NEW ROADS At his first city council meeting since his indictment, Mayor Robert Myer denied any wrongdoing in the allegations he misused a city-issued credit card.
The mayor instead spent more time touting the economic and community development successes the city has enjoyed under his leadership to the dozens of residents and city leaders who packed the council chambers Tuesday night for the special meeting.
"The allegations seem to be spearheaded by opponents not interested in what is good for the city of New Roads but we have moved the city forward despite their attempts," Myer said in a prepared statement at the start of the meeting. "I take pride in what we have accomplished this last six years."
"We are a shining example of what can happen if we work together," he said.
+2 New Roads mayor indicted on counts of malfeasance in office NEW ROADS New Roads Mayor Robert Myer was indicted Wednesday on multiple counts of malfeas
The special meeting was called at the behest of Councilman Kurt Kellerman, who in a statement to The Advocate last week said Myer's indictment had further damaged the community's trust in city government.
The city's previous mayor, Tommy Nelson, was convicted in 2011 of racketeering, wire fraud, lying to investigators and the use of telephones in aid of racketeering. He was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
"I've had several citizens call me asking about credit card usage and I told them I didn't know," Kellerman said during the meeting. "So I wanted to bring it up for discussion with the council."
Myer was indicted last week on nine counts of malfeasance in office and a count of abuse of power on allegations he used a city-issued credit card for personal use and allowed the city's former finance director, Cherie Rockforte-Laviolette, to make more than $9,000 in personal charges on the card in exchange for sexual favors between 2011 and 2014.
The total amount is unknown at the time, but according to the monthly credit card statements The Advocate reviewed for 2011-2014, the mayor made nearly $134,000 in questionable charges.
Prosecutors also presented a case against Rockforte-Laviolette last week but the grand jury did not reach a decision in her case. Rockforte-Laviolette left her position with the city in November 2014, city officials have said.
"I deny I've done anything illegal or wrong nor have I given someone permission to do anything illegal," Myer said Tuesday night. "This past week has been a very trying time for myself and my family. However, this is minor in comparison to how I feel about what it has done to our great city."
Kellerman had hoped to persuade the council to support his suggestion that an independent audit be conducted of the city's credit card use for the past five years. The councilman was angling for an itemized account of the credit card use highlighting personal charges made on the card and whether they were reimbursed.
But a majority of the council said they wouldn't support spending more money to have auditors comb through the financial records again when that information should already be included in the city's previous yearly audits.
"Then I offer the motion (the auditor) present those reports back to the council and if he doesn't have it, then we get an independent audit done," Kellerman suggested.
His motion was supported unanimously by the council.
Kellerman also asked for clarity from the city attorney as to who would be responsible for the mayor's legal bills as his case advances through the court system.
City Attorney John Wayne Jewell said, "He can't use city funds to pay for an attorney unless the charges are thrown out and he's vindicated. At which time, he can ask the council if he can be reimbursed for them by the city."
Tuesday's meeting lasted barely an hour. Myer and most city officials declined interviews with reporters after the meeting had adjourned.
Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
Your notification has been saved.
There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry asked for state approval for both a car allowance of $700 per month and for reimbursements for mileage a request the governor's top budget official said smacked of "double-dipping."
Documents show that Landry originally requested a monthly car allowance that is afforded to statewide elected officials. He also requested the ability to file mileage reimbursements.
The request for an allowance plus the reimbursement was rejected by Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, and Landry didn't pursue the arrangement any further.
Landry currently drives a privately owned car and gets reimbursed for his mileage, his spokeswoman Ruth Wisher said. Such an arrangement is typically capped at 99 miles per day. Landry's office denies that he tried to double up on automobile arrangements from the state.
During a meeting of the Press Club of Baton Rouge earlier this week, Dardenne said he traces tensions between himself and Landry back to that issue.
"He made a request of me that I refused," Dardenne said. "He was essentially double dipping on a request for an automobile allowance. ... I told him, 'No, it would be one or the other.' I don't think he appreciated that."
Typically, elected officials opt to use a state-owned vehicle and a fuel card for the gas consumed for official business, or they use their personal vehicles and receive a $700 monthly allowance that covers mileage and related expenses. They cannot receive the additional mileage reimbursement if they get the personal car allowance, according to Dardenne.
In the denial letter, which The Advocate obtained in response to a request made to the administration, Dardenne writes to Landry that he will grant the attorney general a $700 monthly vehicle allowance but deny his request for any additional mileage reimbursements.
"As you know, you are entitled by statute to have a state-owned vehicle assigned to you, which would allow for home storage and fuel," Dardenne writes as an alternative. "You may still exercise this option."
Dardenne, who is commissioner of administration for Gov. John Bel Edwards, said he has never heard back from the attorney general's office and wasn't sure what type of vehicle arrangement Landry has been using or whether he has a state-owned vehicle.
Wisher said the attorney general bought a vehicle and receives a mileage reimbursement for his work travels. Wisher noted that Landry did not request a state-owned vehicle, and Dardenne confirmed that the attorney general has never sought to receive the monthly car allowance for which he was approved.
"It is obvious the Governor and Jay are trying to distract the press from the largest tax and spend plan passed in the history of this state with suggested innuendos," Landry said in a statement. "While I remain committed to fighting crime, corruption, and abuse of Medicaid they remain committed to liberal tax and spend policies."
The dust-up appears to be the latest salvo between the Democratic governor's administration and Landry, who has emerged as a key figure in GOP politics in Louisiana.
During budget negotiations in the Legislature earlier this year, Landry pushed for more control of funding for his office a move that the Edwards administration fought, citing the power of the governor and legislators over the state's purse strings. For several weeks, Landry and the governor's office traded barbs over the effort.
The Advocate reported last week that Landry has hired the daughter of one-time challenger Geri Broussard Baloney, looking past Quendi Baloney's criminal record. Broussard Baloney, a Democrat, had endorsed Landry in his runoff race against former Attorney General Buddy Caldwell.
In response to the Advocate story, Landry pointed to Dardenne, a Republican who secured his current position after he endorsed Edwards in last fall's runoff against Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter.
"A plum six-figure job far more than the job has ever paid entitles Dardenne and his golden retirement parachute to feast on over one million of our tax dollars over the rest of his life expectancy," Landry said in a scathing response to the article.
At the Press Club meeting, Dardenne said he was puzzled by Landry pointing to him.
"He has continued to drag me into this thing, it seems like," he said. "I think he has had a problem with me from the early days of the administration."
Political insiders have speculated that Landry is increasingly positioning himself to run against Edwards in the 2019 governors race. Landry has denied the conjecture.
In the long annals of the unhealthy special relationship between the State Capitol and its host city of Baton Rouge, John Bel Edwards is going to be significantly different for the city.
The tragic events of July first the shooting of Alton Sterling and the ensuing protests, and then the slaughter of three good men by domestic terrorist Gavin Long are the last things that Edwards would have wanted, but his handling of these situations has rightly drawn praise.
Part of that is the genuineness of the man. He said that it might not be a good thing for a governor to cry, but God knows that these crises called for tears as well as action. He probably bonded more with his new Baton Rouge neighbors than any of his predecessors in decades during these extraordinary events.
As a Democrat astride a biracial political coalition, helped in last fall's election by GOP divisions, he sure-footedly dealt with the separate but related challenges of the Sterling protests and the subsequent Long attack. Brokering a quick federal intervention to oversee the Sterling shooting investigation short-circuited political maneuvering.
As the son and grandson of sheriffs, brother of a sitting sheriff and a police chief in Tangipahoa Parish, he had credibility with the public safety community and used it, pushing an impartial federal investigation and then giving the Baton Rouge Police Department backing during its reaction to protests.
But the governor is also showing both political sensitivity and ham-handedness on other issues.
The announcement of a new interstate ramp to ease the traffic blockage at Washington Street in Baton Rouge ruffled the feathers of the exquisitely sensitive party hacks at the Louisiana GOP. The governor mentioned the role of the local Republican congressman, Garret Graves, amid general bipartisan praise for the funding for the project; yet Graves wasn't there, and aides said he received very late notice of the event, after-hours the day before.
The governor talks a bipartisan game, but he and his staff appear to organize his schedule as a mostly one-man show. Government is different from a permanent political campaign, a lesson not yet learned.
Ironically, the GOP complaints were public, but the politician most out-of-joint was probably Mayor-President Kip Holden, a fellow Democrat. The Edwards event was replete with praise for Cedric Richmond of New Orleans, the Democratic congressman whom Holden is running against in the fall election. It was a pretty clear use of a government event to push the Democrats' interests in sustaining its incumbent.
If Holden is fading in power locally because of term limits, the mayor is almost certainly right in his skepticism about public investment in a new emergency room in north Baton Rouge. "The governor has said very clearly that he wants to see an emergency room in north Baton Rouge," said Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne on Monday at the Press Club.
Medical professionals would mostly disagree, given the high costs of a stand-alone ER, and given the profound need for alternatives like primary care and higher-level urgent care provision in those neighborhoods.
Dardenne said the administration is going to renegotiate contracts with the public-private partnerships that replaced the old charity hospitals; Our Lady of the Lake is the LSU partner in Baton Rouge. Does that mean leaning on OLOL and LSU for the political symbol of an ER that is less sustainable financially, but more fruitful politically? That might be a mistake for Edwards, however attractive the stance may seem today.
Above all, though, Edwards deserves credit for pushing for funding for higher education, which is important for the state at large, and particularly vital for Baton Rouge's future in a technology age. LSU and Southern University, as well as other state higher education institutions, were cut and cut again in the years of Gov. Bobby Jindal, himself a Baton Rouge native who set the community back.
If colleges and universities get more support, Edwards will benefit in the capital city from his tough budget battles at the State Capitol.
It is going to be a green Dasara as the theme this year is 'water conservation'.
By Rohini Swamy: The royal city of Mysuru is preparing for Dasara this year. It is going to be a green Dasara as the theme this year is 'water conservation'.
LITTERATEUR CHANNAVEERA KANAVI TO BE CHIEF GUEST
There was also a proposal to invite Sachin Tendulkar as the chief guest for the State celebration of Dasara, called the 'jumbo savari', but after much discussion, CM Siddaramaiah decided that the honour should be bestowed on noted litterateur Channaveera Kanavi.
advertisement
The decision to hold a green Dasara was taken to pay heed to the difficulties faced by the people staying near Cauvery catchment area which received inadequate rainfall.
PALACE ON WHEELS TRIP INCLUDED
This year the Dasara committee has promised to be vibrant and innovative which also includes a special trip on the 'Palace on Wheels'. Apart from this, special tours on charter planes and helicopters has been planned. All this will be the added attraction apart from the regular attractions that include the torchlight parade and the Jumbo Savari.
Every year, the Mysore Dasara culminates with the royal 'jumbo savari' which is the high-point of the celebrations held within the Mysore palace.
The state ceremony includes offering pooja to Goddess Chamundeshwari who is the family deity of the Mysuru's royal family. During the celebrations, the state invites a special guest who along with the chief minister offer prayers to Goddess Chamundeshwari. The deity is made of solid gold and the entire howda (a canopied seat) is made of nearly 800 khan of solid gold. The howda is taken around the palace on the back of the chosen royal elephant 'Arjuna' along with 12 palace elephants.
This year, the Karnataka government hopes to rope in tourists from France too. The Mysuru royal family has a special place for the French in their hearts as many of the artillery used by the Wodeyar royals during warfare were imported from France.
--- ENDS ---
In 1953, I integrated Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. My admission, as the first black student on a campus today serving more than
Tuesday night's Alliance for Good Government U.S. Senate forum in New Orleans was just about everything you'd expect from a gathering that tried to accommodate all 24 candidates; it was long, unwieldy, but also intermittently revealing.
Not everyone showed up. U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany and Treasurer John Kennedy sent surrogates to speak on their behalf, but questions were reserved for the candidates themselves, and there were still enough of those to fill two consecutive panels. A few of the highlights:
1) The alliance has chapters in New Orleans and its surrounding suburbs, and a couple of candidates who hail from other parts of the state and who have accents to show it did their best to cozy up to the locals. Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, a populist Democrat from Bossier City who's hoping to tap into the city's large Democratic electorate, introduced himself by reminiscing about his days in the Louisiana Legislature.
"I don't ever remember voting against the New Orleans delegation," he said. "I've always tried to help."
Troy Hebert, a political independent from Jeanerette, said New Orleanians may well remember him from his stint at the state's alcohol and tobacco control commissioner. There are "a lot of thirsty people" in the area, he slyly noted.
Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, a Mandeville Republican attempting to run on Donald Trump's coattails, even tried to make some sort of connection. He cast himself as a local boy who had a paper route, before pivoting to his predictable rant about how immigration policy amounts to the purposeful ethnic cleansing of America.
2) The stage was crowded with political unknowns, but even some of the experienced candidates had trouble finding their bearings.
Asked about two federal programs he'd target as a U.S. senator, Campbell zeroed in on corporate tax breaks that don't produce a bang for the buck. But when the questioner asked him to name two such federal programs, he offered instead to identify state-level giveaways he'd eliminate. "I haven't gone through the federal budget," Campbell finally admitted.
Hebert, who jokingly referred to Campbell's flub as a Rick Perry moment, didn't do much better when asked his thoughts on whether the GOP-led Senate should hold a hearing on Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee to replace the late Antonin Scalia. Hebert made an impassioned speech against Washington's paralyzing partisanship but never answered the question.
The most sure-footed candidate in the first group, it turned out, was New Orleans lawyer Caroline Fayard, a Democrat who has never held government office. In arguing that the Senate should consider the Garland nomination, she cited its duty to advise and consent, and said doing so would amount to an endorsement of the Scalia's strict constitutionalism. She also named two specific tax provisions she'd fight to change, including the much-criticized carried-interest loophole that benefits some of the nation's richest investors.
The night ended just as well for Fayard, who snagged the group's endorsement.
3) The evening's second panel featured the crowded race's two well-known tea party-inspired Republicans. The interesting thing here was that retired Col. Rob Maness actually made U.S. Rep. John Fleming of Minden, a leader of the House's absolutist Freedom Caucus, sound relatively moderate in tone, if not in platform.
This group was asked whether income inequality is a major problem, and Maness called widespread concern over the trend "a mountain out of a molehill." Fleming argued that the gap is in fact the worst in decades, but said the best government solution is the conservative standby of cutting taxes and regulations.
Maness, of Madisonville, labeled the widely accepted idea that human behavior has led to climate change "a hoax," while Fleming said only that there's still a lot of debate. But Fleming argued against major government efforts to address the problem, insisting that it's "ridiculous" to "try to micro-mange human behavior by using our laws."
The most crowd-pleasing line on the topic, though, came from a little-known Democrat out of South Lettsworth named Pete Williams. Clearly referencing Duke, a member of the earlier panel, Williams said that "global warming is real. And if the other guy were here, I'd say global warming thawed him out."
The New Orleans City Council will once again delay a vote on the hotly contested issue of how short-term rentals should be regulated in the city.
After their plane crashed into shark-infested waters, two Hawaiian pilots swam 30 km to the shore. Here's how they beat the odds and survived.
By India Today Web Desk:
Two Hawaiian pilots were stranded in the sea for 21 hours when their aircraft crashed into the shark-infested Pacific. Swimming more than 30 kilometres to the shore, they battled dangerous jellyfish and a shark, and they survived it all.
David McMahon, 26, and Sydnie Uemoto, 23, managed to survive after their two-engine plane crash-landed in the ocean between the Hawaiian islands.
advertisement
Battered and bruised, and miles away from the nearest shore, the two swam through the night, fighting dangerous jellyfish and a deadly shark, when they were finally picked up by rescue teams.
WHAT, WHERE AND HOW
The Mokulele Airlines pilots were en route from Oahu to the Big Island on the afternoon of July 15.
Both the pilots are experienced fliers and none of them panicked when one of the plane's engines started to stall mid-flight.
When the second engine also failed, they started going down. As the plane started to come down, all they could do was send distress signals, after which they disappeared from Coast Guard's radar.
"I remember hitting the water and that noise and seeing the water come up over the windshield," Sydnie told Mileka Lincoln of Hawaii News Now.
These were their first hours after their plane went down into the sea.
Sydnie, who sustained a head injury in the crash said she was dazed and terrified to leave the plane that was quickly sinking.
"I realized I was bleeding and I told David, 'I can't go in the water'. I was like, 'I'm bleeding and there's sharks'. And he said, 'You can't think about that right now'," Sydnie said.
Within minutes the plane was under the water. The pilots said they were initially confident that they would be rescued soon.
But when aircraft after aircraft passed them by, they soon realized that the high waves of the ocean and the glaring sun were hiding them from the rescue team.
The worse was yet to come as David's life jacket had got ripped and was deflating.
THE STRUGGLE
Thirty kilometres away from the shore, all they could see in the distance was the faint outline of the Hawaii mountains. So, they began desperately swimming in that direction.
The pilots, who did not know each other before they took off, started pushing each other to keep going.
Working as a team, they began swimming together. David was kicking and resting his neck on Sydnie's ankles while she used her arms to carry on swimming.
advertisement
As night started to fall, the Pacific started to get colder. The 26-year-old David wanted to give up.
"I remember just asking Sydnie, 'Sydnie, I need to stop. I'm freezing. I'm exhausted. I can't kick anymore.' And so, she would stop every once in a while. But she was like, 'We can't stop. We got to keep going'."
If this was not enough, the pair soon was swimming through swarms of jellyfish which stung them, leaving scars down Sydnie's arms.
Battling jellyfish was not the only thing they had to fight. Soon, they spotted a shark circling beneath the pilots, sending chills of horror down their spines.
David noticed it first, a black shadow around six or seven feet long was swimming below them.
Soon Sydnie also spotted the danger. "My heart started beating hard and I was freaking out. I was like, 'Should I swim faster? What should we do? And we're so far from land,'" Sydnie said.
The shark circled them for a tense 15 minutes as the pilots figured out their next move.
Thankfully the shark left them alone without troubling them. Breathing in fear throughout the night, they finally saw some light of the day.
advertisement
THE RESCUE
The rescue teams were out again searching for the missing pilots and next morning, an air force P3 plane visiting New Zealand, spotted the debris of their crashed plane.
Photo: Twitter - @Primal
A tour helicopter then spotted more wreckage and reported it to the Coast Guard who sent out a helicopter and spotted two people in the water wearing life jackets.
After 21 grueling hours of struggle in the Pacific, the pilots were finally rescued.
Photo: Twitter - @USCGHawaiiPac
--- ENDS ---
Letters to Lindy. By Alana Valentine. Directed by Darren Yap. Merrigong Theatre Company in association with Canberra Theatre Centre. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre. Until August 13. Bookings 6275 2700 or canberratheatrecentre.com.au.
Letters to Lindy is a rather extraordinary play. Writer Alana Valentine has used some of the thousands of letters that were sent to Lindy Chamberlain following the disappearance in 1980 of her baby daughter Azaria at what was then called Ayer's Rock. She has crafted them into a powerful dialogue between Lindy (Jeanette Cronin) and what can only be described as public opinion.
Jeanette Cronin, as Lindy, is always at the centre of the extraordinary Letters to Lindy. Credit:Lisa Tomasetti
That public opinion was organised and filed by Lindy over the years that included her conviction for murder, time in prison, separation from her family, the conviction overturned, divorce, remarriage and a never-ending grief. It now sits in the National Library of Australia, but in this play it appears on stage, in many cardboard boxes, on a slightly surreal set by James Browne that suggests the ordinariness of a suburban home.
That public opinion ranged from those who thought Lindy had murdered her daughter to those who were convinced that, as Lindy said, a dingo had taken her baby. Valentine's script does not shy away from the abusive, nor from the dingo jokes that were rampant at the time and the first flurry of excerpts from the collection are a shock. They are hurled at Cronin's Lindy by the other three cast members who deftly and expertly take on a string of other characters, male and female, throughout the play.
Two friends who set up a cannabis grow house in Canberra's south in a bid to help ease their financial hardship have avoided serving time behind bars.
Hidden cameras installed following a tip off helped police bring down the hydroponic set up of more than 40 plants, which Zoran Milenkovic, 41, and Tomislav Tomas, 42, established inside a Fisher house in late 2014.
The cannabis grow house was set up in a rental property in Fisher. Credit:ACT Policing
Police said they found the cannabis plants spread throughout rooms in the house as well as lighting, irrigation, climate control, and exhaust systems. Plastic sheeting was attached to the floor, walls and roof.
Milenkovic and Tomas each pleaded guilty to one charge of cultivating a trafficable quantity of cannabis and were sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Alison and Shuji Yamazaki first met in Canberra when he was a student. She went teaching in Japan in 1990, met up again with Shuji and six weeks later had moved to Tokyo to be with him.
They've been together for 26 years, married for 20 and have a 16-year-old daughter Miho. The couple also has a thriving business , Wabi-Sabi Designs in which they import modern and vintage textiles from Japan.
Indigo-dyed materials from Wabi-Sabi Designs.
They established the business in the national capital in 1995 when they moved back to Australia.
"We wanted to share the beauty of genuine Japanese crafts and textiles with people here and to encourage them to have a go themselves," Alison said.
Banned Sydney trainer Sam Kavanagh believes he has been given a life sentence over cobalt use and labelled "the greatest cheat in racing".
Kavanagh said his cobalt case had destroyed his career and he had been bullied on social media and in the media.
"It's ruined my family. It's ruined my friends," Kavanagh told a Victorian inquiry on Wednesday.
"Right now I've got a life sentence and I don't believe I deserve one and it's destroyed me and my family."
Australia's first attempt at an outsourced cloud-based census was always going to be fraught. (The Australian Bureau of Statistics previously hosted the eCensus in its own private cloud but this year outsourced the job to its IT partner, IBM, to the tune of $9.6 million).
Anyone who has ever launched a tech start-up knows that launch-day disasters are par for the course. But unlike most start-ups, it's hard for the ABS or IBM to argue that the outages were proof of staggering success, given we're all being forced to be there.
The federal government has more to lose here than just accurate polling data. In light of recent concerns that the de-anonymizing of the census is a massive surveillance overreach, it really needed a win. But the outages have been read by many on social media as just deserts.
The ABS confirmed that they had to shut down the website on Tuesday night to protect personal data. The privacy commissioner today announced his "first priority is to ensure that no personal information has been compromised as a result of these attacks."
Ricci Martin, the youngest son of Dean Martin, who performed a tribute show to his father and wrote a memoir about growing up in Beverly Hills, died on Wednesday at his home in Kamas, Utah. He was 62.
His family announced his death, saying the cause had not been determined.
The cause of Ricci Martin's death has not been determined. Credit:Mindy Small/FilmMagic
In the 1970s, Mr Martin released a single, Stop, Look Around, and an album, Beached, produced by Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys.
Mr Martin joined the band Dino, Desi and Billy in the 1990s, taking the place of his brother Dean Paul Martin, who died in 1987 when his Air National Guard F-4 Phantom fighter crashed in California during a storm.
Hindus in Islamabad do not have a functional temple in the city, they have to travel to Rawalpindi to offer their prayers. On Pakistan's National Minorities Day, letters will be written to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to revive an abandoned temple.
By India Today Web Desk: Hindus in Islamabad might finally get a place to pray if the campaign, kick-starting on Pakistan's National Minorities Day, is able to revive an abandoned Hindu temple.
Pakistan celebrates National Minorities Day on August 11 to highlight the contribution and services made by the minority communities towards nation building.
Hindus in Islamabad are planning to revive a temple in Saidpur village which currently is a tourist site. Almost 850 Hindus living in the city will have a place for religious gatherings. They were earlier barred from performing religious rituals in Saidpur's Rama Mandir which was built by Raja Mann Singh in 1580s.
advertisement
The Hindu residents have to go to Rawalpindi to offer their prayers in the temple.
Also read: Two Hindu boys shot in Pakistan's Sindh province over blasphemy allegations
"The sanctity of the holy place will be restored and Hindu families living in Islamabad will finally have a place to pray," said PTI lawmaker Lal Chand Malhi, who is leading the campaign as reported by Express Tribune .
Malhi said that letters requesting revival of the temple will be written to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain. The issue will also be addressed to to Islamabad Mayor Ansar Aziz who is the custodian of the site, on August 11.
Malhi has said that the campaign aims to force the government and its departments to allow Hindus to make the temple operational. But if no response is received, the community members, political parties and civil society will open it for prayers.
According to Capital Development Authority records, the centuries old temple had a dharamshala as well but during renovation, it was converted into a public toilet.
The PTI lawmakers also said that the carvings in the walls of Lakshmi and Kali were painted over by the CDA in 2006.
Islamabad Mayor is ready to support the request once it is received. He said he will be more than happy to help Hindus living in Islamabad to get access to the temple.
Also read: Hindu doctor found dead under mysterious circumstances inside ICU of Pakistan hospital
--- ENDS ---
So it's down to this: not only are we a country that can't run a census (and remember even the Romans could do it) but we could soon be a country that effectively relies on foreign aid to run its biggest state's electricity system.
While the NSW Government and its army of financial advisers will laugh all the way to the bank if federal treasurer Scott Morrison approves the sale of AusGrid - the nation's biggest electricity distribution grid - to a Chinese consortium, the rest of us should pause and think about how this changes Australia's status in the world.
As more major electricity assets face sale to foreign investors, will Australia eventually need foreign aid to provide basic services? Credit:Glenn Campbell
For most of our short life as a nation we have proudly run foreign aid programs to help less fortunate nations with their needs for education, roads, clean water and functioning health systems.
In effect, we've been willing to invest in those nations for little to no financial return because they can't afford to themselves.
Oh dear. One of our nation's most trusted and respected public institutions, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, is rightly writhing in embarrassment after its colossal failure in executing one of its key tasks, conducting the five-yearly census.
The ABS' discomfort is heightened by the fact that many had voiced concerns about changes to the census methodology. First, the bureau's decision to store names and addresses for longer than previously fuelled fears privacy might be breached. Second, the shift to a primary reliance on the digital lodging of data created consternation the system would be insufficiently robust which proved the case under the combined load of millions of people trying to connect to the ABS site and of a malicious cyber bombardment. By announcing the changes in a media release the Friday before Christmas, the ABS gormlessly invited suspicion it was seeking to avoid scrutiny. The ABS failed then, and has since, in communicating the reasons for the changes and in reassuring the public.
Earlier this week, The Age urged resistance to calls to boycott the census, arguing it is in people's enlightened self-interest to participate, because the augmented data collected will improve the ability of all in the public policy debate including bureaucrats, politicians, academics, media, research organisations and individuals to better create opportunities throughout our economy and society.
It is crucial this situation be retrieved. The ABS and the government must verify the security of the significant amount of data collected before the site was shut down on Tuesday evening. Investigations by the Privacy Commissioner and the Australian Signals Directorate, an intelligence agency within the Department of Defence, will aid in this.
IMPORTANT: please print this form to fill out and physically return via post. After all, who'd collect sensitive personal data via a public-facing website?
What is your gender?
1. Male
What is your sweet hacker handle?
An extended timeframe for the referendum to recognise Indigenous people in the constitution - a delay rendering a 2017 vote unlikely - has been embraced by the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples as acknowledgement that a "historical opportunity" should be approached in the right way and not rushed.
The 50th anniversary of the successful 1967 referendum, falling in May, had been proposed as an ideal occasion but the Referendum Council announced on Tuesday that further consultations would see it deliver recommendations to the government and opposition in mid-2017, later then expected.
Rod Little, co-chair of National Congress, welcomed the move to maximise consultation with Aboriginal people and questioned the previous possibility of holding the vote on the May anniversary as it would "muddy the waters" of the 1967 legacy if it failed.
"It's affirming what we've always said. Basically, this whole thing is an historical opportunity for this nation and things seem to be a little rushed and then things seem to have drifted a little," he told Fairfax Media.
The Turnbull government has no intention of watering down or delaying its changes to media ownership laws, despite signs the package will struggle to pass the Senate, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield says.
Senator Fifield called on Labor to make up its mind on cross-media ownership laws, saying jobs will be at risk unless the Opposition supports the government's changes.
The government introduced legislation earlier this year to abolish the "reach rule" - which prohibits television networks from broadcasting to more than 75 per cent of the population - and the "two-out-of-three rule" which bans media proprietors from controlling a newspaper, television and radio station in the same market.
A deal with Labor is seen as the government's best hope of achieving reform, given the Senate crossbench, dominated by the Pauline Hanson and Nick Xenophon blocks, is viewed as hostile to deregulation.
Violent extremism will continue unabated in NSW if hate speech laws are not overhauled, a group of more than 35 ethnic leaders have warned.
The unprecedented coalition of ethnic groups has banded together in protest at the state government's perceived inaction on legislation reform.
Ethnic leaders launch their campaign at NSW Parliament on Wednesday. Credit:Daniel Munoz
Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton revealed to Fairfax Media almost a year ago that racial vilification laws would be strengthened and streamlined in a bill to be introduced in early 2016.
But the bill, proposed after the Parramatta terror attack, has never eventuated.
4/8
Terry Burstall (centre) with Stan Hodder (left) and Peter Dettman (right) at Long Tan in 1966. Terry Burstall enlisted in the Australian army in 1966 and was sent to Vietnam. Stan Hodder was sent back to Vietnam for a second tour of duty in 1970. Credit:Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial
The Queensland government has announced it will legalise ride sharing services such as Uber across the state.
Fairfax Media understands that, while ride share will be legal, drivers will face more regulations to match the established taxi industry, which will include background checks.
After Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk ordered the delivery of the final 'Opportunities for Queensland Transport' report, a state government-ordered review designed to shape the taxi and ride sharing industries into the future, be brought forward to the end of July, Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe indicated the report, and the government response, would be delivered in August.
The Premier confirmed on Thursday morning via her Facebook page that her government would legalise ride-sharing services from September 5.
University of Sunshine Coast (USC) researchers are testing the use of drones to combat the effects of erosion on beaches.
The project is part of a collaboration with Sunshine Coast Council launched in April, which involves researchers collecting data on wave movements at Mooloolaba and Maroochydore beaches.
Dr Javier Leon with the $800 drone used to collect data on the wave movements at Mooloolaba and Maroochydore beaches. Credit:University of Sunshine Coast
The locations were chosen due to their popularity with tourists and because they are particularly subject to chronic erosion - when waves and tides wear away the sand and sediments which form the beach.
The Sunshine Coast Council constantly replenishes both beaches, but enlisted the help of USC researchers to calculate the best times and places to dump the extra sediments.
An air and water search is under way to find a diver missing near Queensland's Moreton Island.
Police say the 44-year-old man was diving from a charter boat at Henderson Rock, on the eastern side of the island off Brisbane, when he failed to resurface around 2.20pm on Wednesday.
Police are co-ordinating the search, which features 10 vessels and four aircraft.
AAP
By PTI: New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) In a new twist to the turmoil in Kashmir, the NIA today claimed it was being orchestrated by Pakistan-based LeT and that it was gathering further evidence of the terror groups role in fuelling the unrest, triggered by the encounter killing of a militant leader.
Armed with a confessional video of a captured LeT militant, Inspector General of NIA Sanjeev Singh told reporters that since the summer this year, the banned outfit, with the "help of Pakistani forces deployed on the border", pushed heavily armed terrorists into India with the direction to mix with the local people, create disturbance, and attack police and security forces.
advertisement
The video shows 21-year-old Bahadur Ali, a resident of Raiwind in Lahore, spilling beans about LeTs role in the disturbances. He is also shown speaking about the LeTs sophisticated communication network and assistance rendered to it by the Pakistani army.
Ali, who was arrested on July 25 this year from Yahama village in Handwara in North Kashmir, was in one of the groups allegedly instructed to take advantage of the current situation and throw grenades at the security forces by mixing with the protesters.
"During communications with Ali, Alpha-3 (a communication centre in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir) told that the LeT cadres had been successful in fuelling large-scale agitation in Kashmir after Eid subsequent to the death of Burhan Wani.
"Further investigation is continuing on the disclosure of Bahadur Ali regarding his role in the present unrest in Kashmir," Singh said.
The anti-terror probe agency also said it is gathering further evidence regarding the role of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba in the ongoing turbulence in the Valley for the last 33 days.
The National Investigation Agencys (NIA) comments came a day after India handed over a "strong demarche" to Pakistan over its continued support to cross-border terrorism in India.
NIA also showed to the media a video of Ali alias Saifullah, a Punjabi-speaking man, talking about his family, the time he spent in the terror outfit and his crossing over to the Indian side of the border.
Ali told his interrogators that he was informed by his handlers from a control room code-named Alpha-3, believed to located at a high altitude somewhere in PoK, about the unrest in the Valley following the killing of Burhan Wani, a Hizbul Mujahideen militant on July 8.
His handlers from the control room asked him to throw grenades at the security forces and also informed him that other cadres of the terror group had managed to sneak into the Valley, mingled with protesters and were fuelling tension in the Valley.
This is for the first time that NIA has shown a video statement of a captured militant. Pakistan had earlier this year shown a video statement of Kulbhushan Yadav, an Indian national arrested in Balochistan in March over charges of spying for the Indian intelligence agencies. (MORE) PTI SKL SK SK
--- ENDS ---
advertisement
Every day, Ken Morgan gets off at his local railway stop, Jewell, and sees pink slips fluttering on windscreens in the station car park.
PSOs patrol the carpark daily, and Morgan like thousands of Melburnians last year has been fined.
Ken Morgan outside the Jewell railway station car park in Brunswick. Credit:Josh Robenstone
"I see other cars fined almost every day. People don't bother fighting them," says Morgan. He got fined a couple of years ago, took it to court and won.
"My defence was you couldn't just arbitrarily fine people when there were no signs," says the 54-year-old father of three who runs a South Yarra tour company.
A flight attendant who spilt a tray of drinks on a passenger has sparked a chain reaction that has ended up with a personal injury suit being lodged in the Victorian Supreme Court.
Jennifer Green, 71, is suing Singapore Airlines after a flight attendant allegedly spilt a tray of drinks into her husband's lap causing him to "jerk" into her, injuring her leg.
The Greens were on Singapore Airlines flight 228, from Melbourne to Singapore.
She claims the injury aggravated her diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
In a writ filed to the Victorian Supreme Court on July 20 Ms Green's lawyer called for unspecified damages from the airline.
Melbourne Express: Thursday, August 11, 2016
Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Were working to restore it. Please try again later.
Dismiss
Bali: Australia will strengthen the regulation of stored value cards as part of its crackdown on terrorism funding following revelations jihadists used prepaid money cards in the 2015 Paris attacks.
Justice Minister Michael Keenan told a counter-terrorism financing summit in Bali on Wednesday that this was one of the reforms recommended by a review of Australia's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing legislation.
The terrorists responsible for the Paris attacks, which killed 130 civilians, used prepaid money cards with small amounts on them to fund the carnage.
French Finance Minister Michel Sapin reportedly said at the time that this method made it hard to track their spending.
New York: Two million people in the Syrian city of Aleppo lack access to running water because of escalated fighting, the United Nations has said, beseeching combatants to declare a humanitarian pause to permit emergency deliveries of aid and to fix damaged pumps.
"The UN is extremely concerned that the consequences will be dire for millions of civilians if the electricity and water networks are not immediately repaired," the organisation said.
"The UN stands ready to assist the civilian population of Aleppo, a city now united in its suffering," the statement said. "At a minimum, the UN requires a full-fledged cease-fire or weekly 48-hour humanitarian pauses to reach the millions of people in need throughout Aleppo and replenish the food and medicine stocks, which are running dangerously low."
The statement also denounced the military targeting of hospitals and clinics, which it said "continues unabated, seriously jeopardising the health and welfare of all citizens of Aleppo."
Bali: Justice Minister Michael Keenan has urged Australians to ensure they are donating to legitimate charities after a report revealed there was a high risk of terrorism funding being channelled through non-profit organisations.
The warning comes days after the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade suspended the funding of World Vision programs in the Palestinian Territories after Israel claimed the head of the charity in Gaza was bankrolling Hamas.
Mohammed Al Halabi, right, is seen talking to children in his work as Gaza program manager for World Vision. Credit:World Vision International
"We do make very large donations to charities and the nature of that money is that a lot of it goes overseas," Mr Keenan said at a counter-terrorism summit in Bali.
"So clearly that is something that we need to be concerned about and we have seen an example highlighted in the Middle East as recently as this week that some of that money can be diverted to the wrong purposes."
The speculation started within days of Seth Rich being gunned down in what District of Columbia police think was an attempted robbery near his townhouse in northwest Washington.
Some on the internet wondered if Rich was killed because of his work as a staffer with the Democratic National Committee, even suggesting he had handed WikiLeaks the 20,000 emails that embarrassed the DNC and forced the ouster of its chairwoman. Others suggested he was helping the FBI expose wrongdoing in the presidential election, and that made him a target.
On Tuesday, WikiLeaks shoved those conspiracy theories into the mainstream when it announced on Twitter a $US20,000 reward for information leading to a conviction in Rich's killing on July 10. It adds to a $US25,000 reward offered by D.C. police, customary in all District homicides.
Rich's father, Joel Rich, said he was offended by what he termed "bizarre" reports that are circulating on internet discussion and message boards. Rich and his wife, Mary Ann, who live in Nebraska, where their son grew up, visited the location of the shooting last week and appealed for help in finding the killer.
By PTI: New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) In a new twist to the turmoil in Kashmir, the NIA today claimed it was being orchestrated by Pakistan-based LeT and that it was gathering further evidence of the terror groups role in fuelling the unrest, triggered by the encounter killing of a militant leader.
Armed with a confessional video of a captured LeT militant, Inspector General of NIA Sanjeev Singh told reporters that since the summer this year, the banned outfit, with the "help of Pakistani forces deployed on the border", pushed heavily armed terrorists into India with the direction to mix with the local people, create disturbance, and attack police and security forces.
advertisement
The video shows 21-year-old Bahadur Ali, a resident of Raiwind in Lahore, spilling beans about LeTs role in the disturbances. He is also shown speaking about the LeTs sophisticated communication network and assistance rendered to it by the Pakistani army.
Ali, who was arrested on July 25 this year from Yahama village in Handwara in North Kashmir, was in one of the groups allegedly instructed to take advantage of the current situation and throw grenades at the security forces by mixing with the protesters.
"During communications with Ali, Alpha-3 (a communication centre in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir) told that the LeT cadres had been successful in fuelling large-scale agitation in Kashmir after Eid subsequent to the death of Burhan Wani.
"Further investigation is continuing on the disclosure of Bahadur Ali regarding his role in the present unrest in Kashmir," Singh said.
The anti-terror probe agency also said it is gathering further evidence regarding the role of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba in the ongoing turbulence in the Valley for the last 33 days.
The National Investigation Agencys (NIA) comments came a day after India handed over a "strong demarche" to Pakistan over its continued support to cross-border terrorism in India.
NIA also showed to the media a video of Ali alias Saifullah, a Punjabi-speaking man, talking about his family, the time he spent in the terror outfit and his crossing over to the Indian side of the border.
Ali told his interrogators that he was informed by his handlers from a control room code-named Alpha-3, believed to located at a high altitude somewhere in PoK, about the unrest in the Valley following the killing of Burhan Wani, a Hizbul Mujahideen militant on July 8.
His handlers from the control room asked him to throw grenades at the security forces and also informed him that other cadres of the terror group had managed to sneak into the Valley, mingled with protesters and were fuelling tension in the Valley.
This is for the first time that NIA has shown a video statement of a captured militant. Pakistan had earlier this year shown a video statement of Kulbhushan Yadav, an Indian national arrested in Balochistan in March over charges of spying for the Indian intelligence agencies. (MORE) PTI SKL SK SK SK
--- ENDS ---
advertisement
Less Gas Now In San Francisco
New housing units are taking the place of former gasoline stations
SAN FRANCISCO - August 10, 2016: NACSonline reported that it's getting harder to fill up in San Francisco, as the valuable corner lots of gas stations are being snapped up by real estate developers for housing complexes. By 2017, the Bay Area will have 40% fewer gasoline stations than in 2007, KGO-TV reports. During the past six years, 23 gas stations have closed or will close in San Francisco.
In the greater Bay Area, hundreds of gasoline stations have stopped selling fuel since the turn of the 21st century. Jeff Lenard, vice president of strategic industry initiatives at NACS, told the station that the number of gasoline stations across the United States has been declining, largely because selling fuel isnt profitable. The average markup on a gallon of gas is about 20 cents, and after expensescredit card fees, rent, labor, depreciationyou usually make about five cents a gallon," Lenard said.
I was very surprised how slim the margins are on the gas, added Brian Spiers, who has owned a gas station. Spiers had purchased one a decade ago to tear it down and build housing, but with the economic downturn, ran it as a gas station for a while. I ended up developing that property into a 115-unit mixed-use condominium building, he said.
Tom Radulovich, executive director of Livable City, thinks that updating building codes would allow gas stations to be relocated in a way that would meet the needs of todays drivers. Theres also a lot of restrictions on where you can relocate a gas station, so on the one hand, we say preserve them. But on the other hand, once they get displaced there is often no place for them to go, he said.
Independence Day is nearing and the security forces are taking no chances. Everything that moves, or does not - from trees and windows, to residents and beggars - will be under the radar of security agencies.
Police teams will be deployed near the trees at Red Fort to rule out any security breach.
By Mail Today: Security near the Red Fort has been beefed up in preparation for the Independence Day celebrations.
Everything that moves, or does not - from trees and windows, to residents and beggars - will be under the radar of security agencies who will take no chance as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hoist the national flag and deliver his speech.
advertisement
SECURITY PERSONNEL DEPLOYED AT EACH TREE
For better security, police has also got over 3,000 trees pruned in and around the venue.
These trees will be thoroughly checked and will be guarded by security personnel.
"There are around 3,140 trees in and around the Red Fort premises. All the trees are now pruned and lights are being installed on them. Around 2,400 trees are located inside the Red Fort premises and the rest are along the periphery. Security personnel will be deployed at each tree to rule out any security breach," officer said.
Mail Today had earlier reported that the Delhi Police is hiring additional 500 CCTV cameras, which keep a watch on the venue.
PM MODI ON TARGET OF A TERROR OUTFIT
According to a senior Delhi police officer, the Prime Minister is on the target of a terror outfit and they are always looking for new ways to attack him. Based on the inputs from other intelligence agencies we have mapped all the residents, trees and other vital set-up near the venue, he said.
Officials said that the panaromic view that the PM will face has been kept in mind and all buildings facing the Red Fort are being checked. According to Delhi Police, close to 600 balconies and 100 windows open to a clear view of the monument.
"Security personnel will be deployed at such locations during the speech," senior police officer said. Police have also divided areas facing Red Fort in several categories so that in case of emergency, a quick response team can immediately identify the house and reach the spot. NSG commandos will be present atop buildings facing the fort. All borders will be sealed at midnight the day before and opened only at 2pm on Independence Day.
Also Read:
Exclusive: Intelligence agencies warn of drone attack at Red Fort on Independence Day
PM Modi wants a week-long Republic Day-like Independence Day
SpiceJet launches Independence Day sale; offers tickets at a starting price of Rs 399
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Anisur Rahman
Dhaka, Aug 9 (PTI) Indian High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla today met Bangladeshs main opposition BNP chief Khaleda Zia and and conveyed that India stands firmly with the country in its fight against terrorism.
This was Shringlas first meeting with former premier Zia since he took charge here in January this year.
"The High Commissioner discussed with our leader issues related to bilateral relations and other matters of common interest," Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) spokesperson Sabihuddin Ahmed told reporters after the meeting at Zias Gulshan office here.
advertisement
The BNP Secretary General Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and two other senior BNP leaders were present during the meeting that lasted for about one and a half hour.
"During the meeting, the High Commissioner said India was committed to partner Bangladesh in its economic development with a pragmatic and mature approach based on sovereignty, equality, trust and understanding for mutual benefit of both countries," an Indian High Commission official said.
"The High Commissioner said terrorism and extremism appeared as a major impediment to development. India stands firmly with Bangladesh in its fight against terrorism," the official said.
The discussion on terrorism comes amid a series of murders of intellectuals, writers and minorities in this Muslim- majority nation. PTI AR ASK ASK
--- ENDS ---
Another fantasy bites the dust.
Despite breathless, reverential, tender, loving coverage for his opponent from a few corners of the right-wing media world, Paul Ryan isnt going anywhere. He handily bested his primary challenger, businessman Paul Nehlen, by upwards of 80 points at press time.
There was no reason to expect any other outcome. Ryan led in every poll, and his approval ratings in his district are consistently high. In fact, hes one of the most popular Republicans in the Badger State; after assuming the Speakership, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that moderates and independents liked him more than ever.
But there was no point tell that to the right-wing media figures who set up camp in Nehlen and Co.s fantasy land. The same pundits who seem wholly convinced that Trump is definitely going to be president also hopped on the Nehlen Train -- which may raise some questions about their prescience. Nehlens campaign operated in an alternate universe of chem trails and conspiracy theories. Thanks to his loss, that universe is a little smaller.
But though Nehlens campaign is now over, the media figures who fueled it are unlikely to feel chastened. Breitbart, an increasingly hilarious collection of Trump fanfic, touted Nehlens candidacy with breathless glee -- and was braced for his defeat long before the final numbers rolled in.
Ann Coulter Lights Wisconsin on Fire for Paul Nehlen Against Paul Ryan, read a headline on Aug. 6. This is It, This is Your Last Chance to Save America.
Sorry, America. Ann Coulter thinks youre doomed.
An Aug. 9 headline on the site quoted Nehlen as saying, Paul Ryan is a soulless, globalist snake, and we smoked him out of the snake hole.
That, in retrospect, is so wrong its adorable.
When Breitbart wasnt providing succor to Nehlens campaign, he found lots of friendly attention from a blog called TheConservativeTreehouse -- mostly known for its efforts to smear Trayvon Martin. Bloggers there love Nehlen, and refer to his race as The Battle of Janesville. Nehlen loves them too; he tweeted out their stories about his race, as well as one suggesting Philando Castile -- the African-American Minnesota man shot and killed by police in July -- had it coming.
Nehlen got a little less help from his most prominent endorser. In May, Sarah Palin promised CNN she would work to boost Nehlens bid.
If by work she meant post about on Facebook a few times, then she made good on her word. The governor-turned-reality television star never set foot in the district.
Collectively, Coulter, Palin, and Breitbart set Nehlen up for the nights humiliation. Even Trump, for the most part, stayed out. He flirted with Nehlen a bit early last week, tweeting at him to thank him for his kind words. But by the end of the week, hed officially endorsed Paul Ryan -- at an event Ryan skipped. Nehlen put on his favorite tie and drove three hours to attend that Trump rally in Green Bay, according to the Washington Post , but couldnt get in.
They held me from going in. I said, I have a ticket. Im on the list to get into VIP, Nehlen told the paper. And they said, Nope, youre not, and they pushed me back out.
It would have been hard to watch if he hadnt spent his campaign race-baiting and conspiracy-mongering. But, alas, thats what he did. Nehlen referred to the Black Lives Matter movement as #RadicalLeftWingTerrorism. And he floated the idea of deporting all Muslims living in the U.S.
Im suggesting we have a discussion about it, thats for sure, he told a Chicago radio station on Aug. 4.
Unsurprisingly, white nationalists dig the guy .
Nehlen wrapped up his pre-primary media blitz with a hit on Alex Jones show. He appeared shortly after Jones plugged his Anthroplex product to boost male vitality.
Everybody should get behind him, the 9/11 truther said soberly.
He is the head of the snake and were going to take him off, were going to cut the head off the snake, Nehlen told Jones.
Jones then noted that the polls suggesting Ryan would win are absolutely staged.
Were sendin a message here, Nehlen replied.
Somethings going on here with these polls, Jones reiterated.
Tonights results will give Jones plenty to chew on. For the rest of us, 2016 got slightly less silly.
A House Republican task force has found that officials from the U.S. militarys Central Command altered intelligence reports to portray the U.S. fight against ISIS and al Qaeda in a more positive light than lower-level analysts believed was warranted by the facts on the ground, three officials familiar with the task forces findings told The Daily Beast.
A roughly 10-page report on the controversy is expected to be released by the end of next week, two officials said. While it contains no definitive evidence that senior Obama administration officials ordered the reports to be doctored, the five-month investigation did corroborate earlier reports that analysts felt the leaders of CENTCOMs intelligence directorate pressured them to conclude that the threat from ISIS was not as ominous as the analysts believed, the officials said.
The investigation is ongoing but the report substantiates the claims that intelligence reports were altered, one official familiar with the report explained to The Daily Beast. Another official said that the investigation could remain open even after report is released.
The task force, led by members of the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees and the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, was created after The Daily Beast first reported that more than 50 analysts had filed a formal complaint alleging their reports on ISIS and al Qaedas branch in Syria were being inappropriately altered by senior officials. Some told The Daily Beast they felt they were working in a hostile, toxic office where they felt bullied to draw conclusions not supported by the facts.
Some of the intelligence made its way into briefings presented to President Obama. However, administration officials have consistently said that they have confidence in CENTCOMs reports and that they dont believe White House policy was guided by false or misleading analysis.
The House committee cannot directly punish officials found to have acted inappropriately. But the fact that the appropriations committee was part of the investigation implies that if the military doesnt respond to the findings, lawmakers could punish CENTCOM by curtailing funds.
CENTCOM officials told The Daily Beast they cannot comment on the report as they have yet to receive it. There also is separate Department of Defense Inspector General investigation into the claims which is ongoing and could release its findings as early as this fall, one official said. The DoD IG report could make recommendations that CENTCOM must act on.
But some of CENTCOMs intelligence analysts already are concerned that the DoD IG report will not have as much teeth as the House Republican task force report. These military analysts told The Beast that the head of CENTCOMs intelligence directorate, Maj. Gen. Steven Grove, and his civilian deputy, Gregory Ryckman, had deleted emails and files from computer systems before the inspector general could examine them.
Even the House Republican investigation faced obstacles to its work. Analysts told The Daily Beast that CENTCOM officials were, at times, in the room while they spoke to House investigators, making some feel they could not speak candidly.
What remains unclear is what led CENTCOM to call for more positive conclusions. Was it a decision by Grove or Ryckman or did come from higher up?
As part of a normal deployment rotation, Grove left CENTCOMs intelligence directorate this summer and now is stationed at the Pentagon as director of the Army Quadrennial Defense Review Office. He has been replaced by Maj. Gen. Mark R. Quantock. Ryckman remains in the same position.
After the analysts complaints emerged publicly, President Obama, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, and current CENTCOM commander Army Gen. Joseph Votel have called for what Carter described as unvarnished intelligence.
At a rally on Tuesday, the Republican presidential candidate casually suggested that the Second Amendment people might be able to stop Hillary Clinton from installing Supreme Court judges who would attempt to take away their gun rights. To many viewers, those words sounded like a threat. Just as he did after the whole baby incident , Trump is insisting thats not what he meant and blaming the media for deliberately misinterpreting it. But this time, the stakes are a lot higher.
Thankfully, Trump has a loyal media servant in Hannity, who somehow scored a big interview with the candidate in primetime Tuesday night. First, the host cited an alleged tightening in the general election polls and touted Trumps conservative credentials, accusing Republicans who have said they wont vote for him of helping Hillary. But soon, after a few more minutes of Clinton-bashing and yet another relitigation of the baby thing , he moved on to the big story of the day.
Speaking of unfair, Hannity saidbefore agreeing with his guest that the media is fundamentally unfair because they wont admit they are voting for Clinton in the same way he openly supports Trumphe played the clip of Trumps Second Amendment comments.
So, obviously you are saying that theres a strong political movement within the Second Amendment and if people mobilize and vote they can stop Hillary from having this impact on the court, Hannity told Trump. But thats not how the media is spinning it.
Obviously.
Nobody in that room thought anything other than what you just said, Trump replied. "This is a strong powerful movement, the Second Amendment. Hillary wants to take your guns away. She wants to leave you unprotected in your home. This is a tremendous political movement. The NRA, as you know, endorsed me, theyre terrific people. Wayne [LaPierre] and Chris [Cox] and all the people over there and they tweeted out, basically they agree 100 percent with what I said.
There can be no other interpretation. Even reporters have told me, Trump added. I mean, give me a break. He didnt name those reporters, but of course, Hannity didnt ask him to. Trump said, if anything, this whole controversy is a good thing for him because it will inform more people about his pro-gun stance.
Despite what Trump believes, there have been other interpretations, including former CIA director Michael Hayden, who told The Daily Beast , "If someone outside the hall had said it, I suspect the Secret Service would've considered it threat and detained the individual for questioning."
As for Hannity, he unsurprisingly declined to even play devils advocate with Trump on the issue, nor force him explain what makes him think Hillary wants to take your guns away when her campaign has repeatedly said she has no intention of repealing the Second Amendment or preventing law-abiding gun owners from keeping their firearms.
But none of this should be surprising from a pundit like Hannity who, earlier today, posted an article on his website that attempted to explain away Trumps dismal poll numbers with an interesting bit of logic.
Consider the two candidates Facebook accounts: Trump has over 10 million likes while Hillary has just over 5 million, the piece reads. How about when the two candidates live stream their events? Trump averages 30,000 live viewers per stream while Clinton receives on average, a measly 500 viewers.
The big conclusion: Dont let the polls discourage you.
Rihannas Facebook page currently has close to 82 million likes. Maybe she should be our next president?
When Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Vin Diesel last locked biceps, they threw each other through a half-dozen walls and nearly flattened Rio. That was, of course, in the fictional world of Fast 5, but now it seems some of that silver screen hostility has bled into the real world. And the fate of one of the most beloved and lucrative film franchises in Hollywoodas well as the universe itselfmay hang in the balance.
On Monday, The Rock posted an angry message on Instagram directed at certain unprofessional candy asses on the set of Fast 8, the eighth film in the Fast and the Furious franchise:
This is my final week of shooting #FastAndFurious8. Theres no other franchise that gets my blood boiling more than this one. An incredible hard working crew. UNIVERSAL has been great partners as well. My female co-stars are always amazing and I love em. My male co-stars however are a different story. Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others dont. The ones that dont are too chicken shit to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses. When you watch this movie next April and it seems like Im not acting in some of these scenes and my blood is legit boilingyoure right.
Now, there are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and you do not fuck with The Rock. This is the guy who, when asked how he knew the U.S. had taken out Osama bin Laden before anyone else, responded, I got friends in high places and low places. Hes also goddamn enormous.While rumors spread that The Rock was pissed at Scott Eastwood, who by all accounts screams entitled douchebag, TMZ is now reporting that it was none other than franchise leader Vin Diesel, aka Dominic Toretto, who did not smell what The Rock was cooking.
The Rocks rant about unprofessional male co-stars was targeted at Vin Diesel, the gossip site reported, and the 2 had a secret meeting on the Fast 8 set Tuesday to hash things out. Production sources tell TMZ ... when the Rock went nuts on social media Monday night, claiming certain male co-stars were not stand up guys and too chicken shit to confront him ... he was referring to Vin. Were told The Rock has butted heads with Vin during the production, in part because V.D. is a producer and has made decisions that didnt sit well with the former wrestling champ, they added (The Rock is also a producer on the film). Our sources say The Rock and Vin had a meeting on the Atlanta set mid-day Tuesday ... partly because tensions were running so high it was almost impossible to shoot scenes. We do not know if they resolved their issues.
TMZ previously reported that many of the cast members were upset with The Rock for his subgram, since it made each and every one of them a suspect. Various other tabloids have reported a clash of egos on set, with E! News writing that shooting on Fast 8 wasnt easy for anyone but was especially hard on The Rock.
Things on set just didn't feel exactly the same this time around, an insider told E! And while Johnson is the best guy on the planet to work with, hes also a very emotional guy and likes things to go as he sees fit [while] also being fair.
Perhaps the boys co-star, Furiosaaka Charlize Theroncan help squash the beef. She knows a thing or two about em, after all.
Heres an unsettling thought. If North Korea conducts a fifth nuclear test, South Korea should immediately move to arm itself with nuclear capabilities, Won Yoo-chul of the ruling Saenuri Party told Seouls semi-official Yonhap News Agency last week. The existing policies are insufficient to stop the Norths technology development.
Such sentiments are becoming commonplace. Suppose you have a dangerous neighbor with a gun, said Chung Mong-joon, when he was a ruling party lawmaker in 2013. You have to take measures to protect yourself. And being a gun control advocate isnt going to help you.
A majority of South Koreans, living in a democratic state that looks peaceful, want the most destructive weapons on earth. Their dangerous neighbor across the Demilitarized Zone has had them for more than a decade, 54 percent of those questioned in a January Gallup Korea poll said they favored developing nuclear weapons. U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trumps frequent calls this year for South Korea to arm itself with nukes have helped incite and ignite more demands that Seoul restart its nuclear weapons program.
And who can blame the South Koreans? Their desire to possess these devices, long predating Trump, is not just a reaction to the Republican candidate. The increasingly shrill calls for nukes are, more generally, a rebuke of continually ineffective U.S. policies seeking to contain Pyongyang, and they have implications for security far beyond North Asia.
This is not the first time that South Koreans have been thinking about a bomb of their own. Seoul secretly began a nuclear weapons program in the early 1970s during the rule of strongman Park Chung-hee, the father of the current president. The government ostensibly ended the effort, due in large measure to pressure from Washington, after Parks assassination in 1979.
Then, in 2004 South Korea admitted it had, among other things, covertly enriched uranium from 1979 to 1981 and extracted plutonium in 1982. Both experiments with fissile material had only military applications and were clear violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the global pact that South Korea ratified in 1975.
The admissions early last decade were not entirely voluntary. Seoul made the disclosures only after the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, started asking pointed questions.
North Korea had been trying to weaponize the atom since at least the mid-1960s, and that was one of the reasons the South wanted its own bomb.
Katharine Moon, the widely followed Korea scholar at Wellesley College and Brookings, points out in comments to The Daily Beast that South Koreans are continually involved in competition with their cousins in the Northwhatever the NKs do, we will do better, is how she characterizes the never-ending peninsular rivalry.
And Moon notes other factors: South Koreans live in a highly militarized society, they have a fascination with technology and power, they desire the status of a nuclear-armed state, and they are concerned America will not defend them.
In fact, Seoul started its first secret nuclear program as it became worried that Nixon, as the Vietnam War was ending, was leading America out of the region.
Now, the South Korean desire for a deterrent is spiking as North Korea, maybe the most destitute state today, continues bomb and missile programs while the U.S., perhaps the strongest nation in history, looks helpless to stop them. The popular attitude, therefore, is an implicit vote of no-confidence in the leadership of the worlds sole superpower, South Koreas only protector.
Jean Lee, a Seoul-based journalist and global fellow of the Wilson Center, notes the high poll numbers for going nuke are largely emotional responses, and, indeed, specific nuclearization proposals from South Korea often lack logic.
For instance, Daesung Song of Seouls Konkuk University, while speaking at a conference in Georgetown University in June, outlined a four-stage ladder for his country. The first step is bringing back U.S. tactical nukes to Korea; second is borrowing a bomb; third is purchasing a nuke from abroad, including the U.S.; and fourth is conducting self-production of nuclear weapons for survival.
With regard to Songs first step, the U.S. had tactical nuclear weaponsgravity bombs, artillery shells, and landminesin the South until 1991, and then took them away to put them on platforms that were on, under, and over the sea.
It makes no military sense to redeploy the tactical nuclear weapons from their hard-to-find sea, sub, and air platforms and put them into a bunker in South Korea, Bruce Klingner of the Heritage Foundation told the Korea Times at the beginning of this month. The Washington-based analyst argues that bringing them back to the Korean peninsula would only increase the time to deploy these weapons and provide a high value target for North Korea to preemptively attack during times of heightened tension.
Songs other ideas dont work either. His concepts of renting or buying bombs are just plain silly, and developing one, his fourth stage, would be ultimately disadvantageous. True, the South, as a technical matter, could build its first nuclear device fast. South Korean military officials in 2013 said they would need only six months. That sounds about right because their country is awash in fissile material and technical expertise.
To develop an arsenal, however, would mean withdrawal from the non-proliferation treaty and accepting the global condemnation and punishment that would follow. Won Yoo-chul, the Saenuri figure, notes that North Korea withdrew from that treaty, but that is not a smart comparison. The North was and remains an isolated state and does not care if it is shunned, but South Korea is highly integrated into the international system and needs friends. The South, therefore, would lose its coveted place in global councils, and, more to the point, the sanctions that would inevitably follow could severely damage its export-dependent economy, now ranked the worlds 11th largest.
Plus, the U.S. would probably walk away from the South, making the country far more vulnerable than it is today. An already isolationist American public would ask why 28,500 Americans troops now in the South are needed when Seoul had its own nuclear deterrent. And this is not a theoretical concern, because Mr. Trump has questioned Americas pledge to defend South Korea and has implied there would be no need for the U.S. to stand with a nuked-up South.
Some South Koreans point out the U.S. has a strong friendship with nuclear-armed Israel, but the situations are different. Israel is not a signatory of the nonproliferation treaty, the U.S. does not base troops there, and Israel does not especially need outside help. South Korea, however, relies on the American tripwire force and the cooperation of American ally Japan.
Moreover, Seoul relies on American nukes. South Korea already has the backing of the best nuclear force on the planet with its ally, the U.S., notes South Korea-based Robert Collins, who works closely with American forces on the Korean peninsula, in an e-mail to The Daily Beast.
Will the calls for Seoul to build the bomb eventually fade? The Wilson Centers Jean Lee notes in an e-mail to The Daily Beast that support for nuclearization is weakest among those in younger age cohorts. They clearly feel more removed from the issue than their parents and grandparents, she notes of the 19-to-29-year-olds.
Yet South Koreas desire to possess its own deterrent is likely to grow in the years immediately ahead. Sung-Yoon Lee of the Fletcher School of Tufts University tells The Daily Beast that the nuclear taboo is not that strong in the South.
And there is another issue. Popular passions ebb and flow, yes, he writes, however the ominous trajectory of Pyongyangs growing nuclear threat over the past quarter century can only impel South Korea to reassess its nuclear posture, perhaps as soon as some time in the coming decade.
Washington, therefore, cannot maintain ineffective North Korean policies over the course of decades and hope to maintain a strong alliance with Seoul. And it is not only the South Koreans who are watching.
Unfortunately, the lack of confidence in Washington is increasingly shared across East Asia. American leadership is failing at a critical moment, dismaying friends, emboldening aggressorsand laying the groundwork for fast proliferation.
If South Korea goes nuke, Collins anticipates other nations will do the same. So in rapid fashion expect states to break out from the global non-proliferation treaty, spreading the bomb around the region, and probably beyond.
The top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was told in late 2012 that a non-profit watchdog group had requested information about Clintons email, including the number of accounts she used, according to documents released Wednesday.
The aide, Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills, and other Clinton advisers knew at the time that the secretary was using a private email system to conduct official business. But despite the information request, the State Department told the group that it had found no responsive records.
This is evidence that Cheryl Mills covered up Hillary Clintons email system, Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, a conservative group that sued for information about that original 2012 request, said in a statement. She was aware of the [Freedom of Information Act] request about Clintons email accounts and allowed a response to go out that was a plain lie. And you can bet if Cheryl Mills knew about this inquiry, then Hillary Clinton did, too.
A Clinton campaign spokesperson didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mills was alerted to the request, from the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), via an email from a State Department spokesman, Brock Johnson, on Dec. 11, 2012. Mills was told that the group had filed a significant request seeking records sufficient to show the number of email accounts of or associated with Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton
More than two years later, the fact that Clinton had been using a private account during her tenure finally came to light. House investigators looking into the terrorist attacks on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, discovered Clinton emails using a .com account. The existence of the private email setup was first reported by The New York Times.
CREW had looked into Clintons email setup after revelations that Lisa Jackson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, had been using a private email account.
The State Department inspector general had previously reported on CREWs request and the departments failure to find any records, which the IG called an inaccurate and incomplete response. But the email to Mills, whom the IG did not identify by name, is the first public documentation on the matter and will provide Clintons critics with more evidence that she and her aides were not forthcoming.
The IG criticized officials for coming up with little or no response to CREWs requests and those from other outside groups even though the information they sought was clearly available.
Judicial Watch has already deposed Mills and other top Clinton aides under oath in a lawsuit seeking information about how and why Clintons email system was set up. Now, Judicial Watch wants the judge in that case to force Clinton to give a deposition, as well.
This is all the more reason for Mrs. Clinton to finally testify under oath about the key details of her email practices, Fitton said, pointing to the evidence that Mills was aware of inquiries on the subject while Clinton was still in office.
As the world learned during an audition tape montage that played during Saturday Night Lives 40th anniversary blowout last year, the show notoriously passed on several comedians who went on to be superstars, including Jim Carrey, Stephen Colbert, and Kevin Hart. But SNLs prickly producer Lorne Michaels is also guilty of firing some of his most successful cast members with little warning and even less explanation.
This week, ahead of the upcoming 42nd season, SNL decided to give the boot to Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah, both of whom had been with the show since 2010. Garnering less attention was the decision to fire Jon Rudnitsky, who barely made an impression with his one season as a featured player.
But Killam, and, to a lesser degree, Pharoah, were major cast members who made significant impacts on the show over the past six years. When Splitsider meticulously calculated the screen time for each cast member at the end of season 40, Killam came in first with 11.47 percent. Pharoah, who took over the role of President Barack Obama after Fred Armisen left the show in 2013, did not fare as well with just 6.33 percent. However, that was before he really came into his own this past year by delivering the definitive impression of Dr. Ben Carson.
At the start of last season, SNL made a big announcement that Killam would be playing long-shot presidential candidate Donald Trump. But after just a handful of appearances, he was replaced by Darrell Hammondin retrospect an ominous harbinger of what was to come. On Monday, Killam revealed in an interview with Uproxxs Mike Ryan that he doesnt fully know why he was let go and said he expected to return for what would have been the final season of the seven-year contract cast members agree to when they join the show. While those contracts prevent performers from leaving the show before their seven years are up, they can still be fired at any time.
And SNL has a rich history of firing cast members who, by all measures, were thriving on the show. There have also been several recent examples of cast members who were clearly talented but perhaps just the wrong fit. Stand-up goddess and DNC agitator Sarah Silverman was apparently let go via fax after just one season. Rob Riggle found himself in the wrong season at the wrong time before getting pushed out and moving on to become a Daily Show correspondent. And then there was Jenny Slate, who never seemed to recover from letting the word fuck slip out during a sketch on her very first episode. She was not asked to return for a second year.
As Slate told Marc Maron in one of his SNL-obsessed podcast interviews, she found out she had been fired by reading an article on Deadline Hollywood. No one from the show even had the courtesy to call and let her know. Besides creating the viral hit Marcel the Shell and generally being the best voice in every animated movie, Slate went on to star in the critically-acclaimed film Obvious Child.
But cast members who were veritable SNL staples got similar treatment. When The Daily Beast spoke to Adam Sandler a couple of years ago, he told us how both he and his friend Chris Farley were fired from the show during the summer of 1995.
We kind of quit at the same time as being fired, Sandler said. It was the end of the run for us. The fact that me and him got fired? Who knows. We were on it for a few years, had our run, and everything happens for a reason. We kind of understood because we did our thing. It hurt a lot at the time because we were young and didnt know where we were going, but it all worked out.
Sandler went on to become one of the biggest comedy movie stars of all time, but after appearing in several hit films, Farley tragically passed on just two years later. In Live From New York the oral history of SNL by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales, Norm Macdonald tells the story of discovering he had been fired from both the show and his Weekend Update postat the direction of NBC Executive Don Ohlmeyermere hours after he found out Farley had died. But no one would come right out and say that he was off the show. Lorne has a hard time telling you bad stuff, he explained.
According to countless interviews from that book and Marons podcast, which has become the destination for former cast members to dish about their time on the show, Lorne Michaels has a hard time telling people much of anything.
Just this week, on a new episode of WTF, Seth Meyers told Maron how he was hired to join the show as a featured player in 2001. Echoing the stories of many other cast members, Meyers said that when he met with Michaels following his audition, he was not overtly offered a job. Instead, the executive producer made him wait outside his office for more than an hour before telling him he should come back soon to see how he looks in wigs. It was only after flying back to L.A. that Meyers figured out this meant he had the gig.
A similar thing happened when Meyers was picked to succeed Jimmy Fallon on Late Night. After a New York Post article named him as a front-runner for that job, he had a phone conversation with Michaels that he described as a follow-up call to a call that never happened. When Meyers brought up the rumors, Michaels said, Well, I think youll be good at it as if he already knew he was getting this major career opportunity.
In the world of SNL, it seems, there is no formal celebration when you get your dream job. So therefore, it follows that there should be no memorial service when its gone. If you are never told that you have the job, then how can you be upset when you lose it?
As anyone whos seen the love letter to comedy that is Mike Birbiglias new movie Dont Think Twice, Saturday Night Live is still the most coveted job out there for rising comedians. But those lucky enough to roam the hallowed halls of Studio 8Hincluding the inevitable new hires to be announced later this summershould know the risks.
For every epic Will Ferrell or Kristen Wiig send-off, there will be those who are kicked to the curb without anyone even showing them the door.
Parents of Hamid Ansari, who is lodged in a jail in Pakistan, have been seeking appointments with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and PM Narendra Modi to appeal for intervention at the highest level for the release of their son.
By Smita Sharma: "I just imagine what will be the condition of my son. Every prisoner draws a line on the walls of the cell to remind themselves of the day they will be released. For my son it is this uncertainty, that he does not know when he will come out though he has completed his term. I am grieving and in trauma. I wish I had feathers to fly and bring back my son."
advertisement
56-year-old Fauzia Ansari, a lecturer in a junior college in Mumbai, is in deep pain but her spirit is feisty. She is prepared for a fight. The fight to get her young son Hamid Ansari lodged in a jail in Pakistan, back home to safety. News poured in last week that Hamid had been assaulted in jail. Since then the worried family has been seeking appointments with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to appeal for intervention at the highest level.
With a bandaged left foot, writhing in pain, Fauzia stood at Vijay Chowk, outside Parliament under the sharp sun to make her voice heard through media. Her husband, Nehal Ansari, a former manager of a public bank sought voluntary retirement to search for his son who went incommunicado since he crossed over to Pakistan via Kabul in 2012. And it is only after four years of painful search, did the family learn on January 13 this year that Hamid was lodged in a Peshawar prison. But the family has still not heard his voice.
Don't miss my story with the family of Nehal Ansari, jailed in a Peshawar jail for 4 years. @SushmaSwaraj ji do help! A family needs you. Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) August 10, 2016
I watched your program. We hv sought consular access to Hamid Nehal Ansari. We are earnestly trying for his early release. @sardesairajdeep Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) August 10, 2016
THIS IS THE EPISODE SUSHMA SWARAJ IS TALKING ABOUT
NO CONSULAR ACCESS, ASSAULTED IN PAKISTAN CELL
Despite a mutual prisoners' agreement that allows consular access to Indo-Pak prisoner's lodged in each others' jails within 90 days of arrest, Islamabad has not allowed this formality to Indian High Commission officials.
Hamid's father Nehal Ansari says "We tried consular access for Hamid but could not succeed and are trying our level best to see if we can go to Pakistan for a short term."
Since his VRS, Nehal Ansari who had an LLB degree, has been actively practicing and taking up cases of illegal immigrants caught in different countries without any documentation.
Meanwhile Senior Lawyer Qazi Mohammad Anwar and his assistant Rakshanda Lal are providing legal representation to Hamid on humanitarian grounds. When local media printed news of the assault Fauzia spoke to Rakshanda and learnt that this was not the first time her son had been attacked in prison.
"Hamid was beaten very frequently in jail just for being an Indian. The inmates who attacked said we will make you pay what is happening in Kashmir. The lawyer told me that Hamid is beaten up not just by fellow prisoners but also by the warden who should take care that no prisoner should attack each other. But he used to slap Hamid daily," say Fauzia as she holds back her tears.
advertisement
CROSSED OVER FOR LOVE, LODGED IN PESHAWAR JAIL
A software engineer and MBA, Hamid will turn 31 years of age on September 16. His elder brother Khalid is a doctor. But at 27, Hamid chose to travel across the LoC in the fall of 2012. He went into Kabul first from where he spoke to his family through an Afghan mobile number.
Within a week he entered the bordering Kohat area in Pakistan, but without legal documents.
And that November his life changed forever. Family friends say he had met a Pakistani girl on Facebook and he crossed over simply for his love.
Jatin Desai a journalist and family friend associated with Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy, recalls that before undertaking the secret dangerous journey, Hamid had come to him seeking help. He had been told that the girl Saba was to be married off to someone else as an honour killing settlement in the family. And Hamid had to reach to save her. Jatin advised Hamid against the travel but he went ahead nevertheless. Hamid was soon arrested by the Pakistan Army. The girl or her family belonging to the tribal areas never came forward in his defence.
advertisement
"There is always tense relation between India and Pakistan but both countries need to realise humanitarian aspects. Today's youngster use technology, Twitter, Facebook so easily they become friends. A Pakistani girl can be a close friend of an Indian boy through online medium. Both countries need to ease out the visa complexities," says Jatin Desai.
PRISON TERM SERVED, BUT NO SIGNS OF RELEASE
After media reports emerged of assault on Hamid, the matter came up for hearing in a Peshawar court. The judge asked the jail superintendent to give a written guarantee that no further attacks would take place.
But the Ansari family says that while they respect the law and understand that Hamid crossed over illegally, but instead of safety measures which cannot be guaranteed, his release date should be set.
Hamid has already served four years in jail -a year more than the prison term handed to him. And as images of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh who lost his life in a Pakistani prison haunts the family, they fervently pray that the uncertainty surrounding their younger son's release ends sooner than later.
advertisement
Also Read:
Mumbai resident attacked thrice in Pakistan jail, Sushma Swaraj asks Indian envoy to help
Indian man arrested with fake IDs attacked twice in Pakistan jail
They tortured me like an animal: Punjab's secret agents tell how they risked their lives
--- ENDS ---
Its a tenet of the intelligence business that spies are supposed to avoid the political fray, declaring allegiance to no party or candidate, and speaking the unvarnished truth to whomever is in power.
Donald Trump has turned that tradition on its head. Compelled by a candidate whom they say poses a unique threat to U.S. foreign policy and security, dozens of current and former intelligence professionals have in the past few months lept into the political arena in an unprecedented, coordinated effort to keep a presidential nominee from being elected.
This is new territory for American spies, who, when they do criticize politicians, tend to do it retrospectively in score-settling memoirs or op-eds, and not in the heat of a presidential campaign. But just as the 2016 election has departed from tradition in so many ways, intel professionals are now feeling unleashed to try to block Trump and help his opponent get elected.
Longtime spies and security experts have derided Trump as a Russian stooge; an unrepentant demagogue whose rhetorical attacks on Muslims have alienated the very people the U.S. wants to enlist in an international fight against terrorism; and a neophyte whose whose militant ignorance and hostility to expertise makes him fundamentally unfit to hold the nations highest office.
Many intelligence officials are horrified by a candidate who is not just a foreign policy ignoramus, but who seems so contemptuously uninterested in discussing nuances and complexities. I cant imagine having to be his intel briefer, Matthew Waxman, who served in top positions at the Defense Department and the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration, told The Daily Beast.
Waxman was one of 50 former national security and foreign policy officials , who have all served in Republican administrations, to sign an open letter this week declaring that Trump would put at risk our countrys national security and well-being.
That letter was preceded by one in March, signed by 121 GOP national security experts and former officials , who said Trump is a fundamentally dishonest person who would use the authority of his office to act in ways that make America less safe, and which would diminish our standing in the world.
And last week, in a blistering op-ed in The New York Times, former CIA deputy director Michael Morell endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and argued that Trump is already damaging our national security by promising to ban Muslims from entering the United States, an idea that clearly contradicts the foundational values of our nation, [and] plays into the hands of the jihadist narrative that our fight against terrorism is a war between religions. Morell is presumed to be on a short list for CIA Director in a future Clinton administration, and some read his op-ed both as a condemnation of one candidate, and an attempt to ingratiate himself with another.
On occasion, top intelligence officials have endorsed a presidential candidate. In 1996, for instance, former CIA Director James Woolsey backed Republican Sen. Bob Dole over Woolseys former boss, incumbent president Bill Clinton. And intelligence veterans who campaigned for would-be presidents have come back to government to serve them: The current CIA Director, John Brennan, was a retired intelligence officer when he became Sen. Barack Obamas national security adviser in the 2008 campaign.
But half a dozen former officials and historians told The Daily Beast that theyd never seen so many intelligence professionals come forward in opposition to a candidate as they have with Trump.
It is the volume this time that is completely new, said Timothy Naftali, an intelligence historian and professor of national security studies at New York University.
Trumps critics are especially unnerved by the mutual admiration society he has formed with Russian President Vladimir Putin , himself an ex-spy who joined the KGB in 1975, in his early twenties, and served until the fall of the Soviet Union.
I believe Trumps apparent bromance with Putin offends the core of anyone familiar with that former KGBer, which means practically anyone in the U.S. intelligence community past or present, Naftali said. When you add to that Trumps apparent inability to understand that we need the help of Muslims around the world and at home to defeat violent Islamic extremism, the deep concern about a Trump presidency expressed by top intelligence professionals is hardly surprising.
If the spooks have broken with tradition, they say that its because Trump himself has departed so radically from acceptable behavior for a presidential candidate.
A very broad array of national security and intelligence officials see Trump as outside the zone of reasonable policy disagreement and character fitness, Waxman said.
Several have said they dont think the public opposition to Trump from the intelligence community is out of line, despite its unprecedented nature.
If these people had made these statements while still in office, it wouldve been a terrible precedent, said Joel Brenner, the former inspector general for the National Security Agency and the former head of U.S. counterintelligence in the George W. Bush administration. But theyre not in office, and theres nothing new in having retired officials speak their minds. Theyre doing their duty as citizens in the face of a hateful and horrifically dangerous candidate.
Brenner continued, The question is why the leaders of the Republican party havent said the same thing. They know its true.
Like elected officials, intelligence vets have seen the inner workings of government close enough to form an opinion on how Trump is likely to perform in office.
A lot of these folks have seen White House decision making up close under several presidents. They know that the entire White House soon comes to reflect the style and temperament of the president, and that there are very few checks there on his discretion in foreign policy and intelligence matters, said Stewart Baker, a former general counsel at the NSA and the top policy official at the Homeland Security Department during the last Bush administration. So theyre worried that Trumps willingness to rethink longstanding security principles on the fly will lead to big and potentially dangerous changes in policies that they lived under throughout their careers.
Not all ex-intelligence officers have sided against Trump. Retired Gen. Michael Flynn, who ran the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2012 to 2014, is a top national security adviser to the Republican nominee and was a finalist to be his running mate. Flynn has railed against Clinton for her use of a private email server, and at one point demanded that she withdraw from the race until the Justice Department had reached a decision on whether to prosecute her. (Last month, the department declined to do so on the recommendation of the FBI director , James Comey.)
But Flynn is alone among his colleagues in backing Trump. And his withering assaults on Clinton are another sign that the old inhibitions on intelligence officials entering the political ring have fallen away.
In some respect, the road to this hyper-political environment was paved by retired military officers, like Flynn, whove taken up the partisan mantle when they step out of uniform. In 2006, half a dozen retired generals blasted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfelds handling of the Iraq War, a public campaign of criticism that some likened to a revolt. And at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia in July, retired Gen. John Allen spoke on behalf of Clinton.
Retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey criticized Allen and Flynn, who spoke at the GOP convention in Cleveland, for politicizing national security affairs. As generals, they have an obligation to uphold our apolitical traditions, Dempsey wrote in a letter to The Washington Post . They have just made the task of their successorswho continue to serve in uniform and are accountable for our securitymore complicated.
Neither Flynn nor Allen will put on the uniform again. But they could return to public service, as could any number of intelligence veterans who are openly parting ways with Trump or backing Clinton.
Baker, the former NSA general counsel, said taking a side now risks the credibility of intelligence professionals in the next administration.
If [Trump] wins and comes into office thinking that the intelligence community has joined the opposition, it will be bad for the IC and the country, Baker said. On the other hand, he said, an endorsement of Clinton by a top former official, like ex-CIA official Morell, raises questions about whether professionals can be impartial.
Its hard to be comfortable, if Hillary Clinton wins, with someone getting the CIA job by dint of overt partisan campaigning. Thats not the way we want the job to be won, and certainly not how we want the job carried out, Baker said.
Clearly, the rules have changed. And perhaps former officials have been taking their some of their cues from the top. Privately, intelligence officials and some lawmakers have worried that Trump may leak classified information he receives in a security briefing thats offered to all presidential nominees.
Brennan, the current CIA director, has said publicly that he wouldnt carry out orders from any president to torture prisoners, effectively putting him at odds with Trump, who has said he would bring back brutal interrogation techniques such as waterboarding. And while Brennan hasnt endorsed a candidate, theres little doubt whose side hes on.
As Bloombergs Eli Lake recently reported, the director is campaigning to continue in his post in a Clinton administration . And in an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington in June, Brennan seemed to suggest that he wanted as little to do with candidate Trump as possible .
When PBS journalist Judy Woodruff asked Brennan if would personally give the intelligence briefing that Trump and Clinton are offered, the director grinned slightly and promised to fulfill my CIA responsibilities to the best of my ability. And if there is a need for me to be personally involved in this, I willI will try to carry out my responsibilities.
Brennan paused, then said, And if theres not a need, I will not, prompting laughter from the audience.
On Wednesday the FSB, the successor organization to the KGB, declared that it had prevented terrorist attacks in Crimea over the weekend.
According to the security service, an FSB agent was killed in a firefight with saboteurs on Saturday night near Russian-occupied Armyansk, a town close to the frontier with mainland Ukraine. Several Russian and Ukrainian citizens were arrested, the report claims, and a cache of explosives and weapons was discovered.
According to the FSB, some of the weaponry, which included improvised explosive devices and magnetic mines, belongs to Ukrainian special forces units. A Ukrainian citizen from Zaporizhia, one Yevgeny Panov, allegedly an agent of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defenses Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), was detained and is supposedly confessing to his captors.
On Sunday night, the FSB claimed that Ukrainian special forces made two attempts to cross the frontier under cover of massive fire from Ukrainian troops and armored vehicles. A Russian soldier reportedly was killed.
This information, although not independently verified, may track with rumors circulating earlier this week of Russian military patrols roving around in the north of Crimea, with some witnesses saying that they have heard sporadic gunfire. An informed source meanwhile told Rosbalt, a Russian news site, that there had been a clash on the frontier on Sunday night, likely the event that the FSB now frames as a terrorist incursion by Ukrainian commandos.
Kiev denies all reports of fighting on the frontier or incursions into Russian-occupied Crimea. But Vladimir Putin is furiousor pretending to be. He says that Kiev is not searching for paths to negotiations, but is moving to terror. From the Russian side, during the course of preventing terrorist attacks in Crimea, two soldiers died, we cannot pass this by.
For the better part of a year, the war in Ukraine, has been frozen but oven-ready, as former NATO press officer Ben Nimmo once put it, with regular upticks in violence and provocations not quite leading to full-scale melt-downs.
That changed over the last week, however, with whispers inside Ukraine and among the foreign press corps that another big clash may be in the final stages of preparation with the locus of unusual activity in, yes, Crimea. Tatar activists on the peninsula noted that Russian military hardware had been moving towards the northern towns of Dzhankoy and Armyansk, near the frontier with Ukrainian-controlled territory.
At the same time, verifiable video evidence emerged of large quantities of Russian military hardware on the move in the south of Crimea.
Columns of armored personnel carriers, military ambulances, fuel tankers, trucks, signals and engineering vehicles have been recorded in the port town of Kerch which handles ferry arrivals from Russia. They have also been spotted in the Crimean regional capital of Simferopol, and outside a military training range near the southern town of Feodosia.
In Sevastopol, RFE/RLs Crimean Service filmed the Mirazh, a Nanuchka-class missile corvette, at anchor in the bay. Incidentally, it was the Mirazh that sank a Georgian coastal patrol boat exactly eight years ago today.
According to the report, checkpoints have been set up around the peninsula. At one such roadblock outside Simferopol, the report describes Russian traffic cops and troops from the Russian Interior Ministry stopping buses, checking drivers documents and peering through passenger windows.
Meanwhile, there are also reports from northern Crimea that Internet services have been out of action, and may not be restored until August 10. Areas without service include Dzhankoy and Armyansk, prompting suspicion that communications have been purposefully cut by the occupying regime for purposes as yet unknown.
Oleh Slobodyan, an adviser to the head of the Ukrainian State Border Service, reported last night that border guards had indeed observed a high level of activity from Russian armed forces near the administrative border. On six occasions we observed flights of Russian military helicopters and, on one occasion, an unmanned aerial vehicle. Slobodyan said that Russian troops had used searchlights to light up Ukrainian positions.
In response, Ukraine has deployed additional troops and military hardware to the Kherson region, adjacent to the administrative border with Crimea.
Adding to the unease, the Kerch city administration posted a brief announcement on Monday, requesting tourists refrain from traveling to Crimea in the coming days. According to the announcement, the Kerch ferry is overloaded with tourists, who may well be arriving for summer holidays albeit with less-than-savory company, namely the Night Wolves biker gangPutins own state-blessed Hells Angels who played a symbolic role in the lead-up to the 2014 annexation of the peninsula when they drove through the peninsula on a wave of anti-Maidan agitprop.
Over the weekend, huge queues reportedly formed at crossing points on the frontier while the occupying security forces closed one of the three checkpoints. But by this morning, all routes were supposed to be open to traffic again.
In Donbas, the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, where Russias other military incursion has been much bloodier than that in Crimea, the situation also has heated up, with July going on record as the deadliest war month in almost a year.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenkos administration counted 42 soldiers killed and 181 wounded. Violence is recrudescent mainly in southern parts of the region, near the city of Starohnativka, a key flash point during last summers major campaign, but the majority of attacks are taking place around several other locations, with focus alternating between them. On Monday night Shyrokyne, on the Azov Sea coast east of Mariupol, saw particularly intense shelling, with the Ukrainian military reporting more than 200 artillery and mortar rounds raining down on Monday night.
Fighting also rages every night around several other hot spots, chiefly Novotroitske, on the highway between Mariupol and Donetsk; Maryinka and Krasnohorivka, west of the separatist-held regional capital; Avdiivkato the north; and Zaitseve and Luhanske, to the north and east of Horlivka.
Heavy artillery and mortars are in play every day, and there are also reports, confirmed by journalists and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has a monitoring mission on the ground tasked with recording ceasefire violations, of the use of inaccurate, but wildly destructive Grad rockets.
Artillery and rockets are falling not only on the Ukrainian military, but on civilians on both sides of the front line, with at least one wounded every day and deaths reported each week.
Amid all this, there are mixed signals from Ukrainian officials.
On Sunday, Col. Andriy Lysenko, military spokesman for Ukraines Presidential Administration, declared that the Ukrainian armed forces expected a new offensive at any time, possibly within the next week.
Lysenko said that heavy military equipment could be seen maneuvering across the entire front line.
In contrast, Anton Gerashchenko, MP and adviser to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, told reporters:
I can say openly that we do not anticipate war or attack by the Russian Federation on Ukraine in the near future. Putin has realized that continuing a military occupation of Ukraine does not bring the anticipated results for him. Putins strategy relies on bargaining with Ukraine over the return of Donbas provided that we abandon all attempts to ever regain Crimea.
Ukrainian military intelligencenow accused by the FSB of plotting sabotageis rather sanguine about the movements in occupied Crimea. On Monday Vadim Skibitsky, spokesman for Ukraines GUR, told Ukrainska Pravda that the movements seen in Crimea were preparations for the Kavkaz-2016 exercise, an annual drill in Russias southern military district. This would correspond with the sightings of convoys headed to the training range near Feodosia.
Skibitsky did note, however, that such preparations could be used to mask mobilization for attacks, was done when the same exercise was held on the eve of Russias 2008 summer war with Georgia.
Skibitsky also said that troops were being deployed in the Dzhankoy area, but that this was a planned rotation of forces. Such rotations of units take place every six months, he said.
One of the units filmed driving armored personnel carriers through Kerch seemingly supports this analysis. Dr. Igor Sutyagin, a Russian military expert at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, told The Daily Beast that he recognized the insignia of the 127th Reconnaissance Brigade, a unit formed last year in Sevastopol.
So what is actually going on?
While the last month in Donbas has certainly seen a more sustained level of violence and death, it is hard to gauge when a watershed moment comes in the war.
So far this year we have seen Ukrainian troops make marginal advances near all of the locations named above. We have seen increased deployments of anti-aircraft weaponry by Russian forces, and a new willingness to shoot down OSCE drones with them. We have even seen reports that indicate the introduction of armed drones by Russia, which made several attacks on Ukrainian positions behind the lines, but have not been spotted for several months now.
So is the current, more sustained surge in violence an indicator of anything to come, or just another wave of fighting that will subside like previous ones? And what are Putins options in not letting the death of two Russian soldiers pass?
On the other front with Crimea, the movement of Russian troops and hardware is certainly a threatening display of force, and these assets would indeed add to the pressure on Ukrainian forces in the event of an all-out Russian offensive. But its still unlikely that Russia would try to invade mainland Ukraine from across the isthmus.
With only a small land bridge connecting the peninsula to the mainland and few crossing points across the lagoons of the Syvash, it would be difficult for Russia to mount an invasion here without a serious commitment of air and sea power.
Russia is already close to a year into a mainly aerial campaign in Syria, where Turkish-backed rebels have recently gained ground in Aleppo, breaking a month-long siege of the eastern part of the city in spite of intense Russian sorties to hold it. Moreover, several elite military units involved in the Crimea takeover in 2014, such as 810th Marine Brigade, have been deployed to Syria from Sevastopol. Would they now be recalled to their home base?
An amphibious assault into Ukraine from the peninsulaRussian armored personnel carriers fitted with snorkels have been filmed on the moveis another possibility, but the Ukrainian military has had nearly two and a half years to reinforce the frontier.
Moscow neednt invade Ukraine again to harm it, however. These military maneuvers in Crimea, and suspect FSB reports of terrorism, still count as a form of psychological warfare designed to hurt Ukraines already bruised and battered economy, and perhaps also force Kiev into making a dangerous mistake that might cost it further. The worst would be reacting to a provocation in such a way that Russia can plausibly present itself as the victim rather than the aggressor.
The Russians have made extensive use of psy-ops throughout the conflict, hand in hand with a massive propaganda campaign. Measures include the mass distribution of SMS messages to whole districts on the eve of battle, spreading panic and confusion, or the dissemination of HD videos of Ukrainian captives being abused and their corpses being desecrated.
Then again, August is the cruelest month in Russian history. It was in August 2014 that Russian regular forces mounted a large-scale invasion of Donbas to prop up their faltering proxies. Before that, from the outbreak of World War I in 1914, through the failed coup detat in Moscow in 1991, the 1998 financial crisis, the beginning of the 1999 Second Chechen War, the Kursk submarine disaster in 2000, to the 2008 summer war with Georgia, with dozens of terrorist attacks and natural disasters to boot, many Russians believe in the phenomenon of an August curse. And one wonders if superstition can give way to self-fulfilling prophecy.
It is possible, for instance, as a result of all the heightened anxiety, to conceive of Ukrainian commanders overreacting to troop movements at the Crimean frontier or shelling attacks in Donbas. (The Georgians made this miscalculation in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, after all.) Russian-backed forces could always mount retaliatory attacks or grant the Kremlin the opportunity to decry Ukrainian aggression and go to war under the pretext of self-defense or humanitarian urgency, perhaps unilaterally deploying peacekeeping forces.
The geopolitical situation at present also doesnt bode well for Ukraine. Many of Kievs most stalwart defenders are either out of office, such as Carl Bildt and Radek Sikorski, the former foreign ministers of Sweden and Poland, respectively, or are moving on to other postings, such as the tireless U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt.
And Europe seems both exhausted with Kievs sluggish pace of reforms as well preoccupied with larger and more immediate concerns, such as the migrations crisis, the rise of far-right political elements within their own borders, jihadist terrorism, Brexit, and the possibility of further withdrawals from the EU.
Rapprochement with Moscow is everywhere occurring, from Ankara to London to Washingtonat least where Syria is concerned. (The current lame-duck commander-in-chief, whose predecessor dealt with the Georgia crisis with months left into his second term, is in no discernible mood to leave office in a state of renewed confrontation with his Russian counterpart.) In Brussels, the desire to let bygones be bygones and lift sanctions on Russian officials and institutions in order to return to a status quo ante of commercial trade and foreign direct investment is profoundly felt.
Into this air of disillusionment stalks a certain U.S. presidential candidate who openly flatters Putin and has intimated that recognizing Crimea as Russian Federation territory (because hes heard that Crimeans want it to be so) and lifting all punitive economic measures for its seizure might be part of his administrations foreign policy objectives.
With the Olympics still on in Rio, and Donald Trump still on television, whod even notice or care if a short little war broke out again in Europe?
One of Britains richest men, Gerald Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, a friend of the royals and the owner of vast swaths of prime London property, including the lions share of Mayfair and Belgravia, has died aged 63, of a heart attack.
While unexpected, the death has not come completely out of the blue.
He was a depressive and had been unwell for many years, a source tells The Daily Beast.
His only son (who is his third child), Hugh, 25, will now inherit the title and the vast Grosvenor fortune, due to the ancient British law of primogeniture, which favors eldest sons.
Prince Charles was said today to be deeply shocked by the dukes sudden death, while Buckingham Palace confirmed the queen had sent a personal message of condolence to the dukes wife and children.
According to Forbes, the duke had a fortune of 8.3 billion, making him the 68th-richest person in the world, and the third-richest person in the U.K. However, he has frequently been cited as the richest person in the U.K., depending on property values of the day.
He was commonly regarded as the richest British-born, full-time resident, as other claimants to the title are either based and pay tax overseas or were born outside the U.K. David and Simon Reuben, for example, with a fortune estimated at 13B, were born in India and live in Monaco, and the Hinduja family (worth about the same) are also immigrants to the U.K. who live, in practice, all over the globe.
A close friend of the Prince of Wales, the duke acted as an informal mentor to William on Charless request. His wife, Natalia, is Prince Williams godmother and they were closely involved in William and Harrys lives after Dianas death.
Gerald was a stalwart supporter of the monarchy, and was always ready to put his assets at the service of the Windsorsjust last week, William and Kate borrowed his private jet to fly to a holiday villa in the south of France.
He was also an executor of Princess Dianas will.
His son and heir, Hugh, 25, who now becomes the Seventh Duke of Westminster, is cut from a similar cloth. He is a close friend of William and Kate Middleton and is Prince Georges godfather. Much like the young royals, he guards his privacy fiercely, has never given an interview and has no presence on social media.
Acquaintances tell The Daily Beast he is a polite and reserved character, little-known outside a circle of close friends.
Although his father was brought up in studied and deliberate simplicityGerald was raised on a beef farm on an island in the middle of Lough Erne in Northern IrelandHugh has been aware of his destiny from an early age.
There was still a deliberate attempt by his parents to provide a normal context to his lifehe was sent to a local state primary school but then attended a private secondary school, as did his three sisters. He did not board, as Gerald hated his school days at Harrow, leaving with just two O-levels.
His father threw a 21st birthday party for him at the family seat in Chester, for which the dress code was black tie and neon. Presents were banned but those who insisted were permitted to add to the young mans wine collection.
Whilst lavish, rumors that the event at Eaton Hall cost 5 million are said to be wide of the mark.
Hugh, a student at Newcastle University, told his local paper The Chronicle in one of his only publicly recorded comments: The party was simply amazinga birthday and a party I will never forget. It is the beginning of a new era in my life and I look forward to the challenges that lie ahead.
The Grosvenorswhose fortune dates back to their acquisition of 500 acres of swampy land in the 1600s that would become Eaton Square, Mayfair, and Belgravia and the heart of Georgian Londonare intimately connected with the royal family.
Hughs oldest sister, Lady Tamara, is married to Edward van Cutsem, brother of William van Cutsem, another close friend of Williams who is also a godparent to George.
There are two other sisters: Lady Edwina, 34, married to television presenter and historian Dan Snow, and 23-year-old Lady Viola.
As Donald Trump told a Wilmington, N.C., crowd on Tuesday afternoon that maybe Second Amendment people could prevent a President Hillary Clinton from nominating Supreme Court justices, a red-shirted man with white hair, seated behind the GOP nominee, dropped his jaw in stunned bafflement.
It was the look of disbelief heard round the world. And it seemed to indicate that, despite the campaigns best efforts to deny Trump suggested armed violence, his own supporters had, indeed, heard it the way everyone else did.
CNN managed to find the white-bearded manDarrell Vickers of Oak Island, N.C.and on Wednesday afternoon he played defense for the Cheeto-colored candidate all while confessing hed have physically punished Trump for making such a remark in public.
I cant believe he said it, Vickers recalled of his initial reaction to Trumps comments. I was just absolutely taken aghast.
The retired engineer said that he likely wouldve given Trump a southern-style punishment for his remark. Had we had a chance to talk to him, I would have taken him to the shed, he told anchor Brooke Baldwin. Down here in the south, we dont curse in front of women, we dont drink liquor in front of the preacher, and we dont make jokes like that in public.
However, it wasnt Trumps dangerous rhetoric that drew Vickerss ire, but rather the fact that his joke could be easily misinterpreted by the liberal media.
We would have taken Mr. Trump to the shed and said, Dont say things like that because people will misconstrue it. But it was clear to my mind, and to the people around me, that he was trying to make a joke; and, unfortunately, people like some of the mediafor instance, like, Huffington Postwill take that and screw that up and distort it.
Pressed on the fact that he believes the comments were simply a joke, Vickers played the role of dismissive Trump surrogate: Well, he wanted to make a point. And the point is that Hillary Clinton is going to cause us to have problems with the Second Amendment and with gun rights, etc., and it was clearly a joke, not something that I would have taken seriously. Theres no one that I know who would have taken that seriously.
Ultimately, even though Vickers is convinced Trump made an off-color joke worthy of a whooping, he still concluded that I believe he has the kind of integrity that we need in this country. Hes honest and I am convinced he has the moral fiber to lead this country.
Dave Clarks split with Princess Beatrice is being talked up as temporary by some of her friendsbut sources tell The Daily Beast that Clark is very much set to move on from the 10-year relationship.
News of the split only emerged this weekend, although it is believed the decision to part ways was made as much as a month ago after Beatrice gave her former beau an ultimatum to propose or walkand he chose the latter.
Beatrice, who recently turned 28, was keen to marry (as have many of her friends in recent years) but Clark, 32, was clearly more ambivalent.
To be honest, it caught us by surprise, said one acquaintance of Clarks of the separation. I always thought it was hard to see how Dave could not marry her as they had been together so long.
Adding to Clarks decision was the fact that Prince William and many members of the extended family have made no secret of the fact that they do not like or trust him. Clark is a capable and popular guy well known among his friends for being a catchhe may be forgiven for asking himself if he needed the grief of marrying a Windsor.
Ironically enough, it is William who first introduced Dave to Bea. He got to know him at St Andrews University and was at first taken by the Americans friendly and outgoing manner.
However, William subsequently came to believe Clark to be indiscreetthe worst of crimes in Williams eyesand pointedly did not invite him to his wedding.
However, people who know Clark speak of a warm and amenable character who has never sought to trade off his royal connections.
Clark, the son of wealthy corporate lawyer, has had a stellar career, first in finance, then at Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic, and now with Uber.
He started off in the ride-sharing behemoths London office but relocated to New York last year.
Rather than sign up for a long-distance relationship, Beatrice went with Clark in a clear sign of her devotion. Her parents were big fans of Clark, and, at her fathers urging, Bea took a business course in San Francisco, where Uber has its headquarters, before taking an investment banking job in Manhattan when Dave relocated there.
It has been reported Beatrice left the company a month ago, around the time she and Clark split. There has been some dispute as to whether she was let go or left voluntarily.
However, having built a new life in New York, she plans to continue to be based in the city and is now reportedly working with friends to establish a business consultancy service.
Beatrice has been widely portrayed as a dilettante in the British press, with the Daily Mail calculating that between December 2014 and December 2015 the princess racked up 18 foreign jaunts including a trip on Roman Abramovichs 1.5 billion super-yacht in Ibiza.
The subtext was always that she was simply killing time waiting for a proposal. And the reason for the delay was often attributed to the fact that prior to the birth of Princess Charlotte, Beatrice was sixth in line to the throne and technically needed to seek permission from the queen before accepting a proposal of marriage (although most palace sources say it is nonsense to imagine the queen would ever have blocked Beatrice from marrying her choice of suitor after witnessing firsthand the disastrous results of royal interference in the marriages of Princess Margaret and Prince Charles).
It seems that instead a more prosaic reason was to blame: Clark simply wasnt ready. And so although after Charlottes birth it was widely assumed that Clark would propose, he never did. And now he never will.
By PTI: New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani will be going to Siachen Base camp on Raksha Bandhan while seven other women ministers of the Narendra Modi government will be visiting soldiers elsewhere that day.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said Irani will visit the Siachen Base Camp on August 18.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, Women and Child Welfare Minister Maneka Gandhi will visit borders areas and interact with the soldiers.
advertisement
Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Commerce; Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Minister of State in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries; and Anupriya Patel, Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will be also meeting soliders on Raksha Bandhan. PTI PR DIP ZMN DIP
--- ENDS ---
Sharmila, who has been a symbol of struggle against the AFSPA was force-fed in a hospital with tube attached to her nose. Photo: Reuters
By Indrajit Kundu: An embodiment of insurgency-wracked Manipur's fight against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), human-rights activist Irom Sharmila Tuesday ended her 16-year hunger strike against the 1958 law.
Held in custody in a hospital in Imphal and force-fed with a tube attached to her nose, Sharmila had become the symbol of the protracted struggle against the AFSPA, which critics denounce as draconian.
advertisement
The 44-year-old activist terminated her protest with a plunge into power politics. "From today onwards I have ended my fast," she told reporters. "I want to join politics as I've been called the Iron lady of Manipur and I want to live up to that name."
REPEAL OF AFSPA TOP PRIORITY
She vowed to unseat her state's Chief Minister, Okram Ibobi Singh.
"I am being the real embodiment of a revolution and I want to be the CM of Manipur to help people," she remarked as she invited independent candidates to join her for Manipur's assembly elections due next year.
The repeal of the AFSPA, she insisted, would be her top priority if she was elected.
Sharmila launched her hunger strike in November 2000 after a battalion of the Assam Rifles allegedly gunned down 10 civilians in a village near Imphal. Back then, she pledged she would not end her fast till the AFSPA, which shields armed forces from prosecution, was revoked. The law, though, still remains in place. Her move to call off what was her indefinite hunger strike originally and venture into politics has left many surprised.
BUT WHY POLITICS?
"I'm quite surprised by her move. Maybe she wants to gauge the public mood and made that announcement," said Samrendra Singh, overlooking the empty courtyard of his house in Malom village, the scene of the November, 2000 massacre.
Singh lost his son, then 17, in the shootings 16 years ago.
Sharmila has been revered as a goddess at Malom for her protest against the AFSPA. Her "sacrifice", Singh said, could "never be wiped away".
At the same, he expressed his aversion to her political plans. "We have placed her at a pedestal above gods. She is above politics. A politician only thinks of the next election.
"A statesman like her thinks about the next generation. So why does she want to join politicians?" wondered Singh.
Several others echoed the same views. "We feel distraught at her decision though we still expect her to carry on the fight against AFSPA and we still believe in her for what she has done," said Chelsea.
Also Read:
All you need to know about Irom Sharmila
Sharmila's Choice
--- ENDS ---
Irom Sharmila today said that she won't go back home till her demand of repealing the 1958 law is met.
By India Today Web Desk: In her first interview after breaking epic 16-year-long fast against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) law, human rights activist Irom Sharmila today said that she won't go back home till her demand of repealing the 1958 law is met.
The Iron Lady of Manipur said that the people of Manipur doesn't understand her, she wants people to know her as a normal person.
advertisement
Irom even made her intentions and ambitions clear by saying that she wants to be the Chief Minister of Manipur as she wants to bring some positive change. "From today onwards I have ended my fast," she had told reporters. "I want to join politics as I've been called the Iron lady of Manipur and I want to live up to that name," Irom Sharmila said.
Sharmila launched her hunger strike in November 2000 after a battalion of the Assam Rifles allegedly gunned down 10 civilians in a village near Imphal. Back then, she pledged she would not end her fast till the AFSPA, which shields armed forces from prosecution, was revoked. The law, though, still remains in place. Her move to call off what was her indefinite hunger strike originally and venture into politics has left many surprised.
7 BEST QUOTES FROM IROM SHARMILA'S SPEECH:
These people dont understand me; I want to become a harbinger of peace not just for Manipur but for the entire world. Want to spread peace around the world, not just Manipur. I'm at peace after taking out the feed tube after 16 years, Will not go back home till my demand of repealing AFSPA is met. India may understand me, But Manipuris don't. Manipuris don't understand my struggle Want to contest elections, become Chief Minister of the state. I just want people to know the real me,I want to live a normal life. I want equality among people, will be messenger of peace. I don't want to be Jesus Christ or Mahatma Gandhi; I am a normal person.
IROM SHARMILA: SHUNNED BY FAMILY, OPPOSED BY SUPPORTERS
The 44-year-old activist might have been hailed as an icon for her epic fast but after ending the hunger strike, back home she found herself unwanted.
Her decision to take the political route to continue struggle against AFSPA did not go well with her own family too. Reportedly, she was even heckled in Shamu Makhong area yesterday.
EVEN AFTER 16 YEARS, SHARMILA KEEPS HER MOTHER WAITING
Sharmila has not visited her house at Kongpal Kongkham Leikai, on the edge of Imphal city, even once all these years.
advertisement
Despite breaking her fast with a dab of honey on Tuesday, the 44-year-old 'Satyagrahi' made it clear that she would not go home till AFSPA is repealed and preferred to stay in an ashram till then.
Her associates said to avoid any emotional outbursts Sharmila had not been meeting her mother during the fasting period.
Elder brother Singhajit said their mother is waiting for the moment of her victory which will come only when AFSPA is repealed.
WATCH VIDEO HERE
ALSO READ | Iron Lady Irom Sharmila ends 16-year fast for power politics
All you need to know about Irom Sharmila
--- ENDS ---
Following persistent demand by Opposition, the government agreed to have a debate on the ongoing crisis in Kashmir in the Rajya Sabha.
By India Today Web Desk: The Rajya Sabha took up the debate on Kashmir situation with Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi's absence in the House during the sensitive debate.
"The crown of India (Kashmir) is burning. You must have felt the heat on your head, if not the heart," Azad said initiating the debate.
"Situation in Kashmir has worsened after you have come to power," said Azad while targeting the BJP.
advertisement
"You call J-K an integral part of India, but there needs to be an integration of hearts as well between the rest of the people and J-K. There needs to be integration between Centre and State government," said Azad.
PM Modi broke his silence on Kashmir unrest yesterday while launching the fortnight-long celebrations of India's 70th Independence Day in Madhya Pradesh.
"The use of pellet guns should be stopped," said Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party.
OPPOSITION'S DEMAND
Following persistent demand by Opposition, the government agreed to have a debate on the ongoing crisis in Kashmir in the Rajya Sabha. Home Minister Rajnath Singh will discuss the matter in Parliament today.
The demand, which was initially made by Leader of Opposition, Ghulam Nabi Azad, urged the government to hold an all-party meet to discuss the ongoing crisis in the Valley and send a delegation to the state right away.
WHAT PM SAID
PM Narendra Modi in his speech yesterday said that the freedom that is cherished by every Indian also belongs to the people in Kashmir. He said India loves Kashmir while some people are trying to cause the region harm.
"Kashmir, which we give so much love to... some people there are causing it a lot of harm," Modi said in comments aimed at calming the situation in the Valley, which has been on the boil for more than a month over the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8.
Modi invoked former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee whose doctrine of 'insaniyat (humanity), jamhuriyat (democracy) and Kashmiriyat' had succeeded in bridging the divide between the Valley and India more than a decade ago.
SITUATION IN KASHMIR
More than 55 people have been killed in the weeks of demonstrations and clashes between Kashmiri protesters and security forces. The violence has left thousands injured. Hundreds, who have been hit by pellets, have partially or fully lost their eyesight.
Also read:
PM Modi on Kashmir unrest: Kashmiris have the same freedom that any other Indian does
Ready to discuss Kashmir in Rajya Sabha tomorrow: Rajnath Singh
--- ENDS ---
advertisement
Two teenagers were arrested early Tuesday after police say they robbed a Subway and attempted to rob a convenience store.
According to Bryan police, College Station police responded to a Subway in the 600 block of University Drive around midnight Monday. Witnesses said two men robbed the store at gunpoint. One was wearing a Texas A&M hoodie and one was wearing a dark hoodie and carrying a dark Levis backpack. Authorities said the two took cash and fled.
One hour later, Bryan police responded to a Stripes convenience store in the 4300 block of Boonville Road. An employee told police two men matching the description of the two at Subway held at her gunpoint, but she refused to open the register. The suspects left the store.
According to police reports, a Bryan police officer went to the Stripes on Texas 6 and noticed a car with passengers dressed similarly to the suspects in the Subway robbery. Police say one person was counting cash in the car. Officers say a significant amount of loose cash, more than 20 small plastic bags of marijuana, a Xanax pill and two black air soft handguns were found in the car.
A 22-year-old was in the car, but was not arrested. Christopher Jeremy Salazar, 17, and a 16-year-old were charged with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison and $10,000 in fines, and possession of a misdemeanor amount of Xanax. Salazar also faces a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge.
Rallying his party in a state that has not gone to a Democratic presidential nominee since 1976, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine declared Tuesday that he and Hillary Clinton are not conceding anything.
This team, the Clinton-Kaine team, we are serious about Texas, Kaine said at an event for campaign volunteers in Austin. We are very serious because we know the kind of work that you do.
While Clinton leads Trump in many national polls and in several battleground state polls Kaine warned Democrats against growing complacent ahead of November. The election, he said, has been a season of surprises that requires resilience from Democrats across the country.
Texas Democrats know tough, he told volunteers. This is not a territory where its always smooth sailing.
Kaine is making a two-day swing through Texas, mainly for fundraising. He was set to attend a fundraiser later Tuesday in Austin and today in Fort Worth and Dallas.
In the 2012 presidential election, Republican Mitt Romney defeated President Obama in Texas, 57 percent to 42 percent.
The campaigns decision to hold a semi-public event in a state not normally competitive in general elections was unusual. About 300 Clinton campaign and state party volunteers turned out for the event inside a sweltering warehouse on Austins east side.
While it was Kaines first trip to Texas as Clintons running mate, he is not unfamiliar to Texas Democrats. He paid special attention to the state when he ran the partys national committee from 2009 to 2011.
Texas is critically important, Kaine said, recalling his early days as DNC chair. The first meeting we did, we brought it to Austin to show, hey, were going to go after Texas, and its big and its complicated and its hard, but were serious about this.
Kaine voiced many familiar criticisms of Republican nominee Donald Trump, portraying him as a youre fired president and Clinton as a youre hired president. He also dinged state Republicans while criticizing Trump, saying Texans are not strangers to divisive campaigns.
Later Tuesday evening, Kaine dropped in on a taqueria on Austins east side to mingle with the dinner crowd. Introducing himself as just Tim, the running mate went from table to table shaking hands, taking pictures and striking up small talk over topics ranging from how much he hears about public education on the campaign trail to his familiarity with some Austin city officials.
Kaine spoke extensive Spanish with both the diners and the employees at the restaurant, Taqueria Chapala. He made a point of meeting the workers behind the counter and waving through a window to a cook in the kitchen, who smiled and nodded.
Kaines longest interaction was with one diner who appeared to invite him to sit down and have a conversation. Over the next few minutes, the two went back and forth in Spanish, with Trumps name coming up at least once.
The conversation seemed to center on Trumps comments, made during his announcement speech last year, that characterized people entering the country illegally as having criminal intent. My people work, the man said.
Kaine responded by calling the Latino community a community of faith, family and work and a source of strength for our country. He also noted there are big differences between the Clinton-Kaine ticket and Trump on immigration.
I want to fight for the community, not against the community, Kaine said.
The Texas Attorney Generals Office and University of Texas at Austin on Monday asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit brought by three UT-Austin professors seeking to keep guns out of their classrooms despite the states new campus carry law.
In two separate court filings, lawyers for the university and the state argue that the professors claims that the law violates their First Amendment rights are unfounded. They also argue that the federal court doesnt have jurisdiction to rule on the state law.
Professors Jennifer Lynn Glass, Lisa Moore and Mia Carter have argued that the law, which went into effect Aug. 1, will stifle discussion in their classrooms. The law made it possible for people who have concealed handgun licenses to carry their weapons into classrooms and most other campus buildings. The professors say they fear that guns present during class discussions will cause people to censor themselves out of concerns for their safety.
UT-Austin, however, argues that incidental impact on free speech does not violate the First Amendment.
Even if the ... policy had some incidental impact on Plaintiffs speech, that impact does not implicate any interest that the First Amendment protects, the university argues.
The professors have asked U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel to allow them to personally ban guns in their classrooms. They are also seeking a temporary injunction to prevent guns in their classrooms before fall classes start on Aug. 24. Yeakel held a hearing on the matter last week but didnt rule. He gave both sides until Monday to file additional briefings to clarify their stances. Both sides can submit rebuttals by Wednesday. A ruling on the injunction should come soon after that.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says university professors could face disciplinary action if they dont allow handguns to be brought into their classrooms.
Paxtons court filing this week was part of a motion to dismiss a federal lawsuit brought last month by three professors at the University of Texas at Austin seeking to block the so-called campus carry law, which took effect Aug. 1.
Texas has allowed licensed concealed handguns in public since 1995 but had previously made college buildings off limits.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
March 5, 1941 - August 6, 2016
"Collecting things you lovethat are authentic to you and your housebecomes your story." --Designer Erin Flett
A joyful and committed collector of cars, refrigerator magnets and friends from every walk of life, Tom Pennell died Saturday, August 6, 2016, at age 75.
Born in Crosby County, Texas, on March 5, 1941, Tom was welcome by Ila Sheldon "Pete" Pennell and Martha Maud Pennella cotton farmer from the Texas Panhandle and a homemaker, respectively. His siblings include Wesley Wade Pennell and Joy Nell Pennell Lipscombboth now deceasedas well as Joe Pat Pennell (and wife Susan), Kenneth Ila Pennell (and wife Betty) and Johnny Charles Pennell (and wife Vickie). Thanks to a long-running drought, the six Pennell children grew up in extremely impoverished circumstances, moving constantly around the area (with their parents) in search of better economic opportunities and higher quality farmland. But while Tom was as hardworking as the rest of his family, he much preferred reading to farm chores. As a young man, Tom loved to zip around the Panhandle on his scooter and began working on cars during his time at Post High School, from which he graduated in 1958.
In order to better his circumstances while also serving his nation, Tom enlisted in the United States Air Force for a four-year commitment (1963-1967). During this time, Tom also met Sharon Kay Smith Pennell, and married her in 1966; their union lasted forty-four years, until her death on May 30, 2010. Together, they are the parents of a daughter and a son, Andrea Lynn "Andi" Pennell Scott (and husband Tim) and Richard Allan Pennell (and wife Judi). Happy to simply be together, Tom, Sharon, and their children made many lifelong friends in joining such organizations as First Christian Church of Bryan and the Masonic Orderwith Tom reaching his 32nd degree as a Freemason. In addition to these pursuits, Tom loved being a Ham radio operator (call sign: KB5GX) and a member of the Brazos British Motorcar Register. Indeed, Tom owned a blue 1980 MGB which he loved to take to car shows and rallies. He also enjoyed collecting and servicing his guns, and he and Sharon were both known as avid collectors of refrigerator magnets.
After his time in the Air Force, Tom worked as a teletype repair man for the Western Union, and when that position became obsolete, Tom stayed on as a telecommunications troubleshooter and eventually, as a fiber optic repairman. His love of reading helped Tom stay up-to-date for decades in his professional career. Funny and always friendly, Tom loved to tinker with anything as he endeavored to help others, including his beloved family and many close friends. He was witty and caringwith a thick skin, a big heart and a sensitive souland he considered serving others to be his way of demonstrating his devotion to God.
Surviving Tom and remembering him now are his children and their spouses: Andi & Tim Scott and Richard & Judi Pennell, as well as three of his siblings and their spouses (Joe Pat & Susan Pennell, Kenneth & Betty Pennell, Johnny & Vickie Pennell) and his brother-in-law, Val Lipscomb. His beloved grandchildren also mark his passing; they are Elissa Jacquelyn Scott and Edward Sheldon Pennell. This tightly-knit family is joined by a mourning network of nieces, nephews, cousins, extended family and friends. Tom was predeceased by his parents, his sweetheart of 44 years (Sharon), his brother, Wesley Pennell and sister, Joy Nell Pennell Lipscomb.
The Life Celebration for Tom Pennell will begin with Visitation from 5-7pm on Thursday, August 11, 2016 at Hillier Funeral Home in Bryan. Funeral services will then be held on Friday, August 12th at 2pm, at First Christian Church of Bryan. Interment will be at Bryan City Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the Pennell family requests that memorial donations be directed to the American Cancer Society and Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, in Dallas (call 214.559.7650). As you join us in remembering Tom, please bring along a refrigerator magnet which you can leave with usa tribute to Tom's hobby of collecting.
Share your memories of Tom and leave condolences at www.hillierfuneralhome.com.
The Muslim ban, the David Duke denial, the "Mexican" judge flap, the draft dodger denigrating John McCain's military service, the son of privilege attacking an immigrant Gold Star mother and the constant revisionism and lying about past political positions taken are but a few of the lowlights that have punctuated Donald Trump's chaotic chase for the presidency.
Any one of these offenses would have disqualified any other candidate for president. But the Republican nominee remained competitive against a historically weak Democratic nominee on the promise of bringing radical change and dramatic disruption to Washington.
That appears to be changing. Post-convention polls show Trump falling behind by double digits both nationally and in must-win swing states like Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Virginia.
And the political ride will only get rockier for Trump in the coming days after he suggested that one way to keep a conservative Supreme Court after Hillary Clinton got elected would be to assassinate her or federal judges. Trump and his supporters have been scrambling wildly all day to explain away the inexplicable, but they can stop wasting their time. The GOP nominee was clearly suggesting that some of the "Second Amendment people" among his supporters could kill his Democratic opponent were she to be elected.
The presidential candidate that House Speaker Paul Ryan endorsed tried to explain away his suggestion of an assassination by telling Sean Hannity his comments were meant to unite supporters before the election. It's too bad for Trump and his supporters that his comments related to what Hillary Clinton would do after being elected and nominating Supreme Court justices that gun owners would not like.
We are in uncharted waters but that does not mean that the way forward is not clear. It is.
The Secret Service should interview Donald Trump and ask him to explain his threatening comments.
Paul Ryan and every Republican leader should denounce in the strongest terms their GOP nominee suggesting conservatives could find the Supreme Court more favorable to their desires if his political rival was assassinated.
Paul Ryan and every Republican leader should revoke their endorsement of Donald Trump. At this point, what else could Trump do that would be worse than implying the positive impact of a political assassination?
The Republican Party needs to start examining quickly their options for removing the Republican nominee.
A bloody line has been crossed that cannot be ignored. At long last, Donald Trump has left the Republican Party few options but to act decisively and get this political train wreck off the tracks before something terrible happens.
Front-page photo of Hillary Clinton seemed to be familiar
I saw the picture of Hillary Clinton on the front page ( Eagle , July 29) and was reminded of pictures of Adolf Hitler during World War II. There is more than one similarity, though.
Think about it.
CHARLENE RITTER
Bryan
Amazing that Obama thinks Trump is unfit to be president
I find it amazing that President Barack Obama thinks Donald Trump is unfit for the presidency. Obama is the most destructive and divisional president we have every had. Obama is the most unfit person to ever be president.
Obama should have looked in the mirror eight years ago to see who is most unfit to be president.
He has been such a loser for America.
DICKIE RYCHETSKY
College Station
Which fork in the road will America take in November?
Our democracy is at a crossroads right now or, rather, at a fork in the road.
Neither of our presidential candidates are well liked, but we have to deicde which one would be the better for our country.
What road at the fork will we take?
TY GORMLEY
Bryan
Republicans should stop beating up on Hillary Clinton
Kudos to The Eagle (July 31) for honoring Hillary Clintons historic nomination for president by the Democratic Party. She is more than qualified for this position.
As to this constant attack of having a lot of baggage, flaws and foibles to the point of being called a crook and lock her up, however, I have had enough. Apparently, her biggest crimes are Benghazi and an email cover up. And that has been in the past eight years you know, since the Republicans started freaking out about this well-liked and respected woman who they knew would be running for president again.
The Republicans sensationalism of Benghazi has been disgraceful and the repetitive hearings are held to hurt her ratings, as admitted by a Republican.
And emails? Really? If you take time to read about it, the State Department has been criticized repeatedly for its antiquated computer technology. Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice both confessed to using private email for government business. Bob Gates said he had a hard time figuring out was and was not classified.
Look, I understand with someone such as Trump Republicans are angry and embarrassed, but quit taking it out on Hillary. She has given her whole life to public service with good and bad results, but she has always tried.
In the words of Khizr Khan, what sacrifices have you made?
SALLY JOHNSON
Bryan
Where have all the highway workers on Rudder Freeway gone?
Where are they? Where did all the workers go? Where are the workers on North Earl Rudder Freeway who work for the Texas Department of Transportation?
Last week, nothing was done on the entrance/exit ramps. No workers in sight, no equipment moving. Surely theyre not gone because of the weather no rain in weeks. Or is it too hot?
Did they all go on vacation at the same time? Why dont they finish one project before starting another?
Good Grief.
CHARLIE RAY
Bryan
The CEO of Hiranandani Hospital and four other doctors were arrested when a kidney racket in the reputed hospital was exposed by the Mumbai Police.
By Vidya : The Mumbai Police today arrested the Chief Executive Officer and four other doctors of the LH Hiranandani Hospital in connection with an alleged kidney racket which came to light last month.
CEO Dr Sujit Chatterjee, medical director Dr Anurag Naik, Dr Mukesh Shetye, Dr Mukesh Shaha and Dr Prakash Shetye were arrested under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, he said. The arrested doctors were produced before the 66th court at Andheri Metropolitan court today.
advertisement
Police had sought maximum police remand saying that a committee had been set up to look into the involvement of the doctors. Public Prosecutor Sudhir Sapkale said, "From day one when other accused were produced police had doubt about the involvement of doctors in the case and it was when the committee established that there was case of negligence under the TOHA only after that the police moved in and arrested them."
Advocate Abad Ponda appearing for the accused doctors argued that the main accused in the case has already been granted pre arrest bail. He said, "The man who actually forged all documents in case is roaming free so why have the doctors been arrested? Police has to show some material to say that the doctors were involved. What Mumbai Police is doing right now is arresting the doctors and then saying that they will produce the evidence later."
He asked magistrate Ashwini Lokhande to look into the remand copy where it says that the reason why police wanted the remand of all accused doctors as they could find out if any money transaction had taken place between doctors and other accused. He even argued that it is not the doctors responsibility to check if the man and woman were related and if their documents were not forged. "It is the job of the ethics committee to look into this. The four doctors have no duty under the penal code or that of the TOHA to check documents" he added.
Ponda said, "The company Hiranandani hospital had not been made a party. It is their own case that Nilesh Kamble is the main accused. So vicarious liability on the CEO cannot be established." "Putting doctors behind bars is not just dangerous but it is not even needed. What is to be recovered at their instance that police want the remand?" asked ponda.
He even said that the arrests were politically motivated.
EXPOSE OF THE RACKET
The racket came to light when the police were tipped off that a kidney transplant operation had been scheduled on July 14 at the privately-run Hiranandani Hospital where donor and recipient were not related.
advertisement
DETAILS OF THE CASE
The operation on Brijkishor Jaiswal, the recipient, was stopped as police found that the woman who was donating him the kidney was not his wife, contrary to the papers submitted by the duo.
The woman had pretended to be his wife only to be able to donate the kidney to Jaiswal, according to the police.
Police then started probing if anybody else had received kidney using similar subterfuge and if the hospital authorities were involved.
The police has said that the doctors were arrested based on the state health department report that pointed to their alleged involvement in the racket.
ALSO READ: Kidney racket: Two senior doctors questioned
--- ENDS ---
Joella Cabalus It Runs in the Family premieres at the 2016 Vancouver Queer Film Festival August 16 at the International Village (Tinseltown). Special guests at the premiere include Joella Cabalu and Jay Cabalu.
The film follows Cabalu and her gay younger brother Jay on a road trip from Vancouver to Oakland, California to Manila, Philippines. On the way, they meet their other queer relatives to see how they have reconciled their Catholic faith, family relationships and sexuality.
I am so excited to finally be able to premiere this film in Vancouver at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF). VQFF was the first festival that I attended as a filmmaker and it holds a special place in my heart because its where my documentary career launched, says Cabalu.
The film has been shown in Asian American film festivals in San Francisco, Oregon, New York and Houston. It also won the Audience Choice Award at the Seattle Asian American Film Festival.
Show starts at 9 p.m. To buy tickets visit http://queerfilmfestival.ca/films/it-runs-in-the-family/
To watch the trailer visit https://vimeo.com/151863064
Congratulations to the Town of Rocky Mount, Assistant Town Manager and Harvester CEO Matt Hankins and to Harvester staff and supporters for the music venues latest and biggest award.
Last week, the Harvester Performance Center received the Southern Economic Development Councils 2016 Community Economic Development Award for communities under 5,000 people in the 17-state region represented by the council.
The prestige of winning an award presented by economic development professionals representing 17 states is quite significant, Hankins said. Many more communities have fewer than 5,000 residents than are on the other end of the scale, so to win recognition over so many other communities is an amazing honor for town council, the staff, the Harvester and our residents.
More and more music lovers and musicians are learning of the Best Live Music Venue in the region and are making their way here to see for themselves.
The Harvester was the winner of the 2016 Virginia Economic Development Association Community Economic Development Award, which led to its submission for this latest regional award.
This award was a real surprise, Hankins said. I had no idea that the VEDA (Virginia Economic Development Association) moved on to a regional level.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe sent a letter of congratulations to the town for the tremendous growth in business due to the development of the Harvester Performance Center.
Rocky Mount serves as an exemplary model for towns across the Commonwealth, and I commend Mayor Steven Angle, Vice Mayor Greg Walker, members of Rocky Mount Town Council and staff for their leadership and vision, McAuliffe said.
The list of accolades the Harvester is growing quite long, proving that the vision for the Harvester is extremely beneficial for the town and is paying off in spades in terms of our local economy and growth.
The music venue has definitely put our little town on the map.
When the Franklin County Agricultural Fair returns in September, pet and livestock shows will be featured on each day of the third annual event.
In many ways, the pet and livestock shows are what help to make an agricultural fair special and give it that distinctive atmosphere, said David Rotenizer, chairman of the 2016 Franklin County Agricultural Fair. The early deadline for registering your animal or critter is Friday, Aug. 19, but entries can be made through the day of each show.
The shows include a dog show, small critters and poultry show, sheep and goat show, and beef and dairy show.
On Wednesday, Sept. 14, the Dog Show will begin at 5:30 p.m. with adult and junior showmanship classes that will be judged on the ability of the handler; 13 exhibition and breed classes that will be judged solely on the animal; and performance classes.
Ribbons will be available for the top six animals in each class with Grand Ribbons going to the Best in Show and Best Junior Showman. Registration on Wednesday begins at 4:30 p.m.
On Thursday, Sept. 15, the Agricultural Fair will host the Small Critters and Poultry Show. Registration will begin at 3:30 p.m. with the show starting at 5:30 p.m.
Classes will include adult and junior showmanship; nine small critter exhibition and breed classes (rabbits, rats, mice, hedge hogs, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, ferrets, and other), along with other competitions for Cutest Critter, Smallest Critter and Hairiest Critter.
A Poultry Show at the same time will judge adult and junior showmanship, as well as different types of large bird chickens, bantams, ducks and turkeys.
Ribbons will be available for the top six animals in each class with Grand Ribbons going to the Best in Show and Best Junior Showman.
The Sheep and Goat Show will take over the shelter at the fairgrounds on Friday, Sept. 16. Registration will start at 3 p.m. and the show will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Adult and junior showmanship classes will be judged on the ability of the handler with exhibition and breed classes for sheep (market lambs and ewes) and goats (market goats, meat does and dairy goats).
Ribbons will be available for the top six animals in each class with Grand Ribbons going to the Best in Show and Best Junior Showman.
The Beef and Dairy Show will wrap up the weekend on Saturday, Sept. 17. Registration begins at 3 p.m. with the show at 5 p.m.
This show will include adult and junior showmanship classes, as well as 15 different exhibition and breed classes. Ribbons will be available for the top six animals in each class with Grand Ribbons going to the Best in Show and Best Junior Showman.
To learn more about the Pet and Livestock shows, contact Cynthia Martel with the Virginia Cooperative Extension, Franklin County Office at (540) 483-5161, or email at cmartel@vt.edu.
Visit the fair website to download and complete the appropriate show packet and return it with the entry fee as directed.
For more information about the Franklin County Agricultural Fair, visit FCAgFair.com and follow on Facebook at FCAgFAir.
For questions, call (540) 483-3030 or e-mail Info@FCAgFair.com.
The fair will be held Wednesday, Sept. 14 through Saturday, Sept. 17 at the Franklin County Recreation Park on Sontag Road.
Kiran and Sarah met and fell in love over the goodies at Krispy Kreme, and the cafe is now a part of their wedding.
Kiran and Sarah's wedding photoshoot included a shot of them sharing white hot chocolate and doughnuts at their local Krispy Kreme branch. Picture courtesy: Instagram/lucaskrausphotography
By Shreya Goswami: There are many ways a love story can start, but rarely does it start around white hot chocolate and doughnuts. Kiran Skariah and Sarah Daniel's love story, however, is quite different.
This couple met and fell in love at their local Krispy Kreme cafe, in Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia. And now, the same branch of the American global doughnut company is also a major part of their wedding.
Kiran and Sarah got married on 6 August 2016. Picture courtesy: Instagram/paulaboardman
Kiran and Sarah are fondly referred to as the 'Krispy Kreme couple'by family and friends. Picture courtesy: Instagram/kiranskariah
advertisement
This delicious love story started on 6 June, 2014, when Sarah was waiting tables at the Krispy Kreme branch. According to News.com.au, Kiran walked into the cafe that day to get his favourite drink, white hot chocolate. Sarah served him the drink, and both of them realized that they had been family acquaintances for nearly 18 years!
Kiran proposed to Sarah at an event at their local Parkside Church. Picture courtesy: Instagram/kiranskariah
Also read: Doughnuts inspired by Pokemon Go? Yes, they exist
As their love story matured, Kiran and Sarah were constantly referred to as the 'Krispy Kreme couple' by family and friends. Last year, the couple even made a 'meetiversary' video at their Liverpool Krispy Kreme branch to commemorate the day they met. And guess what meal they ordered on their anniversary? White hot chocolate and doughnuts!
The couple tied the knot at their local church, and then went to Krispy Kreme for a photoshoot. Picture courtesy: Instagram/paulaboardman
The couple has both a sweet tooth and a sweet spot for Krispy Kreme, especially the branch where they met. So, after Krian proposed to Sarah last December, the couple decided that the cafe just had to be a part of their wedding. After their wedding ceremony at the Parkside Church (both their families are members), the whole wedding party moved to Krispy Kreme, Liverpool for a photoshoot to relive and recreate the memories of the first day they met.
Kiran and Sarah's wedding cake was inspired by Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Picture courtesy: Instagram/paulaboardman Kiran and Sarah's wedding cake was inspired by Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Picture courtesy: Instagram/paulaboardman
Kiran and Sarah also started their married life with a doughnut cake inspired by Krispy Kreme. The 'Krispy Kreme couple' even commented that they would have doughnut-covered cards for their birthdays! Clearly, the cafe that played cupid for this couple is forever going to be a part of their 'happily-ever-after' life.
Watch Kiran and Sarah's beautiful proposal video:
--- ENDS ---
A spate of recent deadly flooding is focusing attention on climate threats. Climate models predict more floods associated with global warming. As reported by the Weather Network, As the earths climate changes, fatal floods seem to have become an increasingly prevalent threat.
According to a report from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction floods accounted for 30 percent of the worlds top ten deadliest natural disasters in 2015. The economic cost is also substantial. Floods are the most expensive natural disasters in the US. Since 2005, The US insurance industry has paid out an average of $3.5 billion each year for flood claims.
Flooding is one of the corollaries of climate change and the situation is expected to get far worse. As reported by the Independent, one study suggests that at least one billion people will be at risk by 2060. As if to corroborate the current day reality of this threat here are four recent major flood events taking place around the world.
1. Sudan
The Nile River has reached its highest levels in more than 100 years. As a result, 13 of Sudans 18 provinces have been hit by flash flooding and heavy rains. The floods have caused at least 76 fatalities, destroying over 3,200 homes in the province of Kassala an area hit the hardest. The United Nations reports that 80,000 people are impacted by the flooding to date.
2. Pakistan
Karachi, Pakistan continues to be hit with days of torrential rain, leaving nearly 50 percent of the city without power. At least 10 people have perished in the floods.
3. Macedonia
A violent deluge swept through Stajkovci, Macedonia, killing an estimated 20 people including one child. Winds peaked at 80 kilometers per hour, and landslides prevented about 70 vehicles on a highway from moving.
4. India
Indias powerful monsoon rains have contributed to a death toll nearing 100, with roughly a million others seeking shelter in government relief camps. Districts in the state of Bihar are among the most seriously impacted. Trees have been uprooted and telephone cables have been destroyed. At least 17 rare one-horned rhinos have died due to the flooding passing through Assams Kaziranga National Park.
What we know so far about alleged Iowa serial killer Donald Studey
Sheriff's deputies were often called to the home in Fremont County, Iowa. This year, Donald Studey's daughter reported him as a serial killer.
Currently Reading
Cliff dancing, Facekinis and other intriguing photos out of China
The minister lauded Indonesia for holding the international meet just when several countries were battling terror activities.
By Anil Kumar: In an apparent jibe at Pakistan over the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju today pointed out that there was a clear difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist.
'THOSE WHO AID TERRORISTS MUST BE ISOLATED'
Addressing the International Meeting on Counter Terrorism in Bali in Indonesia, the Union minister said : "It needs to be ensured that terrorism is not glorified and is not patronized by any state. One country's terrorist cannot be a martyr or a freedom fighter for any other country. A terrorist is a terrorist. Those who provide support, encouragement, sanctuary, safe haven or any forms of assistance to terrorism or terrorists must be isolated. Strong possible steps need to be taken not only against the terrorists and terr organizations but also against those individuals, institutions, organizations, or nation who support them," he said.
advertisement
The minister added, "The will and mandate of the international community against proscribed and wanted terrorist and their organizations must be respected and implemented. If the world is to free itself of terrorism, we will have to rid ourselves of the notion that there is distinction between good and bad terrorists."
STATEMENT ON TWITTER
The minister also took to micro-blogging site Twitter to clear its stance on terrorism. He lauded Indonesia for holding the international meet just when several countries were battling terror activities.
In a statement, he said, "India congratulates Indonesia for hosting this timely and important meeting to discuss the menace of terrorism that is plaguing the entire world today, India condemns in strong possible terms, the heinous terrorist attacks in Jakarta, Paris, Nice, Brussels, Istanbul, Dhaka, Baghdad, Orlando and in various parts of Jammu and Kashmir, and at Indian Air Force base Pathankot in Punjab this year, which cannot be justified under any circumstances".
Earlier, Rajnath Singh had attacked Pakistan for declaring Wani a 'martyr'. At a SAARC meet in Islamabad, Singh said that there were no 'good' or 'bad' terrorists.
The International Meeting on Counter Terrorism is first of its kind and aims at strengthening international cooperation network.
--- ENDS ---
Legislators in Nebraska have already been publicly discussing their plans for cutting income tax rates during the next legislative session. Some say such efforts should be coupled with property tax reform. Pairing the two efforts would break the states budget at a time we are projected to be facing a greater than $350 million shortfall in the next budget cycle. Nebraskans only have to look to our neighbors to the south to see the folly of such imbalanced plans.
The experience of Kansas should provide Nebraskas leaders and citizens plenty of reasons to avoid going down the same reckless path, and to pursue a more balanced approach to tax reform.
Much like their counterparts in Kansas, those in Nebraska pushing for income tax cuts promise that doing so brings economic and job growth, but the actual results of Kansas action make those promises ring hollow.
The Kansas Legislature cut income taxes on most businesses and for wealthier individuals in 2012, with the promise that it would put the states economy in overdrive. However, the results more closely resemble an old truck stuck in neutral slowly rolling backwards into the pond.
Since the cuts took effect, the Sunflower State has suffered budget shortfalls, credit downgrades, depletion of the states rainy day fund, school funding crises, and increases in both property and sales taxes.
Kansas also lags behind neighboring states, and the U.S. as a whole, in job growth. According to recent job numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Kansas had negative job growth from May 2015 to May 2016 (-0.35). Nebraska and other states in the region have maintained steady (albeit slow) job growth over the past few years.
The tax cuts have not benefited all Kansans either. The former Kansas state budget director, Duane Goossen, finds that the combination of increased state fees, such as vehicle licensing, as well as property and sales taxes (increased to fill budget gaps created by the income tax cuts) have actually resulted in a net tax increase for people making less that $42,000 annually. The primary beneficiaries of the tax breaks are those making greater than $500,000 who averaged a $25,000 tax break.
Cuts in income taxes in Nebraska would likely also lead to both higher property taxes for landowners and more budget problems for Nebraskas public schools. When the Kansas state government cut its aid to schools, and local and county governments due to shrinking income tax revenues, those entities became more reliant on property taxes and other fees to continue to perform their necessary services. A majority of Kansas counties have seen property tax levy increases since the 2012 income tax cuts, with 17 of the 20 highest increases occurring in rural counties.
Schools in Nebraska are already the third most dependent on property taxes for funding in the country, as the state provides the 49th most funding per pupil in the U.S. For those who were not lucky enough to attend Nebraskas great schools, there are 50 states. Rather than creating more budget problems, Nebraska leaders should focus on fully funding our states schools, roads and other essential services.
The Nebraska Legislature recently attempted property tax reform during the 2016 legislative session, but ended up with a property tax credit paid for out of the state general fund to local and county governments. In other words, their last try at property tax relief only added to the current budget shortfall. Property tax relief should be targeted to those who need it most, like homeowners and family farmers, based on income.
Tax reform in Nebraska should be balanced. Calls for coupling property tax cuts and income tax cuts are irresponsible and would be akin to cutting off two legs of a three-legged stool, especially when the state is already on the floor.
Brian Hanson is a senior policy associate for the Center for Rural Affairs in Lyons.
The Nebraska Department of Economic Development is showing the proper way a state agency should respond to audits.
Instead of being on the defensive, the department is tightening up its management practices, according to Director Courtney Dentlinger.
The department recently underwent three audits. One by the state auditors office was released last week. The other two, by the federal government and the Legislatures Performance Audit Committee, havent been released yet.
The state audit found significant deficiencies in the agency. No misuse of state funds was found, Dentlinger said.
Among the findings were:
- The allocation of $6 million in housing grants needed closer monitoring of how the money was spent.
- A $4.2 million contract with Invest Nebraska Corporation needed better oversight.
- Written policies were needed for overseas trade missions and how travel expenses are handled.
- The audit questioned a $14,285 payment to the agencys former director, Brenda Hicks-Sorensen, when she was let go by Gov. Pete Ricketts in October.
Among the management changes the agency is making, Dentlinger said, is the creation of a business and finance division and the hiring of a chief financial officer. In addition, another staff attorney and an internal auditor are being hired and the Department of Administrative Services will handle human resources and accounting for the agency.
These are good steps by the Department of Economic Development and shows that officials are taking seriously how they are using state funds.
Economic development is an important mission. State officials need to be constantly looking for ways to bring more business to Nebraska and build the states economy.
It also, however, is an area that could be prone to abuse of funds if it is not monitored closely. Economic development involves a lot of travel and the building of connections. Expenses must be watched closely so that costs are kept down on trips funded by the taxpayers.
In addition, grant money also needs close monitoring. If not, its too easy for corruption to sneak in and for the funds to not go toward the intended purposes.
Too many agencies have fought auditors recommendations in the past. Its good to see the Department of Economic Development embracing the suggestions and looking for better management practices.
Dentlinger is still fairly new to the department having only been there since December. Her work and leadership so far look promising. She is taking the right attitude toward the audits and should be commended for being open to their recommendations.
Expenses, especially travel expenses can spiral out of control, as was seen with the Nebraska Tourism Commission earlier this year, if close monitoring and proper policies arent in place.
It appears that the proper steps are being taken to make sure that doesnt happen in the Department of Economic Development.
Was there a murder 100 years ago at Yardley's Continental Tavern?
Frank Lyons began excavating the basement of the Continental Tavern in Yardley. He found a gun, bloody corset and part of a woman's purse.
By PTI: (Attn.editors: The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with PRNewswire. PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.) LeEco Super TV Viewing Experience Awaits Aspiring Buyers
NEW DELHI, August 9/PRNewswire/ -- LeMall and Flipkart to Offer Amazing Discounts on the Super3 Series by LeEco Global Internet and technology conglomerate LeEco has ushered in an era of content integrated Ecosystem TVs in India by launching its stunning Super3 series Ecosystem TV -Super3 X55, Super3 X65 and Super3 Max65. There is a great window of opportunity that will be available to purchase these TVs between August 10-12, 2016.
advertisement
During these days, LeEco Super3 TV series will be on pre-sale on LeMall as well as Flipkart and interested consumers will be assured that the SuperTV of their choice will be delivered at their doorstep. By buying the Super TV in the pre-sale, users will not only be able to cut through the entire process of going through a flash sale but also get some amazing offers.
Users buying the LeEco Super TVs with an HDFC credit card will get an assured cashback. In addition to this, users will be able to avail EMI options while buying LeEco Super TV.
Acting fast on this offer has an added advantage as the first 100 users will get the super stylish LeMe Bluetooth headset for free.
Super3 X55 - 139.7 cm (55), LeEco Super3 X65 - 163.9 cm (65) and Super3 Max65 - 163.9 cm (65) will come at attractive prices [http://in.lemall.com/in ]. All three Super TVs come with 2 years of VIP Content Membership.(MORE) PRN AKG
--- ENDS ---
Its time to turn up the heat as the Edwardsville Municipal Band makes its way to center stage at City Park at 8 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 11. Featuring songs such as, The Midnight Fire Alarm, selections of Frank Sinatra, and pieces from Broadways Music Man, this performance is sure to be one you dont want to miss.
The show will kick-off with alto saxophone soloist Jerry Cobetto as he performs Harlem Nocturne, followed by a march, Washington Post, by John Phililp Sousa and an overture to A Midsummer Nights Dream. The first half closes with music from Frank Sinatra in Salute to Ol Blue Eyes, by John Moss, including Ive Got You Under My Skin, Strangers in the Night, Thats Life, and The Lady is a Tramp. The second half of the show will also feature songs from the Broadway musical Music Man, which includes Seventy-Six Trombones, Till There Was You, The Wells Fargo Wagon, Lida Rose, and Marian the Librarian. The show will conclude with The Midnight Fire Alarm, by Harry J. Lincoln.
Director James Kerfoot said The Midnight Fire Alarm, is sure to be a crowd pleaser.
The last one we play is Midnight Fire Alarm, and that will be kind of a peppy tune. Its a descriptive piece about a fire alarm, complete with siren and everything. That should be fun, Kerfoot said.
Every performance features a soloist or an ensemble prior to the whole bands performance. This weeks soloist, Cobetto, hasnt played with the band for three or four years, and Kerfoot said the audience can expect to hear a jazzy sound from his performance.
We have a soloist (Jerry Cobetto) playing, Harlem Nocturne, and that will be a popular one I think. Hes been with the band for probably close to 40 years, Kerfoot said.
With its tenth concert of the summer series in full swing, Kerfoot said he is expecting a good crowd come Thursday night.
I think we should have a pretty good turnout. Last week was better than I expected with the heat. Heat kind of gets some people home, but we had a good turnout and I expect another one this week, Kerfoot said.
Compared to previous shows, Kerfoot said this performance will rank with the other most popular ones so far, given the wide arrangement of songs.
I think itll be right up there with one of our better ones. I think we have a good selection of music and the audience will enjoy the different styles that were playing. Theres some Frank Sinatra, some oldies like Scarborough Fair. Theres a nice one called American River Songs, and its an outdated, turn-of-the-century type music but in a modern arrangement, Kerfoot said.
Kerfoot said this weeks show will appeal to any and all ages and he hopes the audience will enjoy what the band is bringing to the table.
I think theyll enjoy the variety of music and just enjoy the atmosphere of an outdoor park while listening to summer music, Kerfoot said.
For more information about the Edwardsville Municipal Band, visit the bands website at www.edwband.com.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Nandi Nanti and Tim Beekelar (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
The global economic slowdown has become a big issue that is influencing the growth of the domestic economy. The economic downturn in Indonesias main export destinations will no doubt affect the countrys industrial sector, including industrial estates.
The development of industrial estates boosts the economy of surrounding areas. However, the global economic slowdown has discouraged investors from expanding or increasing investment in their businesses and this unfavorable situation has hurt the sale of industrial land.
If we refer to the sales target of 700 hectares set by the Industrial Estate Association (HKI) for this year, then ideally in each quarter, there should be at least 175 ha of land in industrial estates being sold to meet that full-year target.
The chairman of HKI, Sanny Iskandar recently estimated that the sale of industrial land would be only about 100 ha in the first quarter, far below the initial target.
According to him, the sale of land in industrial zones remains weak because many investors are still refraining from developing and constructing their production facilities. There are many investors who have not yet built their plants in the industrial estates, he said in Jakarta in April.
Through a number of economic policies launched by the government in recent years, investors have been enticed to invest their money in Indonesia. Sanny is optimistic that the slow growth of the industrial estate business in the first quarter will be offset in the next quarter. He hopes at least that in the second quarter of this year there will be a pickup in land sales in industrial zones.
Sannys optimism is based on progress made by a number of industries such as automotive components, food and beverages, and consumer products to start the process of construction of their production facilities in industrial zones. Some large automotive companies usually purchase approximately 100 ha of land at once to build a factory, he said.
That optimism has convinced him not to revise the growth target of industrial estates this year. We are still aiming for growth in industrial estates of 700 ha in 2016, double last years 350 ha. With such expected growth, per quarter sales this year will be about 200 ha, he said.
Meanwhile, based on data from the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), until the end of last year there were 99 industrial estates across the country. Of the 99 industrial estates, some 50,254 ha have been developed as sites for industrial production plants, while another 29,076 ha are still at the construction stage.
Advantages
The presence of industrial estates provides an attraction for investors. The reason being that an industrial estate, based on the definition cited in Government Regulation No. 24/2009, is a zone in which industrial activities are centered and equipped with facilities and supporting infrastructure, developed and managed by an industrial estate company.
With the availability of infrastructure and facilities in an industrial zone, investors no longer need to bear the cost of infrastructure development. The government also benefits as it is easier to prepare the supply of electricity, gas and other facilities as the industries operate in one location.
The next advantage is that the industrial estates also assist the government in regulating the growth of specific industries in one zone, so the industry grows in an orderly arrangement and not sporadically, through the master plan of industrial zones approved by the local government.
Aside from that, the development of industrial zones in a region creates focus and efficiency in the provision and operation of infrastructure and facilities. This is true since each developer of an industrial estate is obliged to build, manage and maintain the infrastructure facilities along with the industrial activities in the park.
With the availability of infrastructure and facilities in the industrial parks, investors no longer need to bear the cost of infrastructure development. The government also benefits as it is easier to prepare the supply of electricity, gas and so on as the industries grow in one united zone, Sanny said.
So the administration of Gresik regency in East Java expects investment funds coming into the region will continue to grow, as it has developed a number of industrial zones in its territory. This was expressed by the Gresik Regent Sambari Halim Radianto, who has claimed the contribution of investment in the region will continue to grow until 2019, triggered by among other things the presence of several industrial estates in Gresik.
The continuous development of industrial zones in Gresik, like JIIPE and others will elevate the investment figures for Gresik, said Sambari as quoted by surya.co.id.
If we trace the development of industrial estates in the early growth period of 1970-1989, this sector was actually started by a number of central and local government-owned companies. The industrial zone development in the period began with studies in the Industrial Zone Development Plan in Cilacap, Central Java, in 1969.
However physically, the development of industrial zones in fact began in Jakarta, with the construction of the Jakarta Industrial Estate in Pulogadung covering an area of 500 ha, which kicked off in 1970.
The Pulogadung Industrial Estate is a business entity that is 50 percent owned by the central government, in this case the Finance Ministry of Finance, while the other 50 percent is owned by the Jakarta administration.
This was followed by the development of seven industrial estates owned by the central and local governments plus one more underway. They were PT Surabaya Industrial Estate Rungkut in Surabaya, East Java; PT Kawasan Industri Cilacap, Central Java; PT Kawasan Industri Medan, North Sumatra; PT Kawasan Berikat in Jakarta and PT Krakatau Industrial Estate in Cilegon, Banten. In Lampung the local provincial government is currently working on the development of an industrial park at the Register I Waypisang, Ketapang, South Lampung regency.
The development of industrial estates by private companies started to bloom in the period of 1989-2009, after the issuance of Presidential Decree No. 53/1989 concerning industrial zones, which offers the opportunity to the private sector to develop industrial parks. This period was called the era of the rise of industrial estates, said Fahmi Shahab, executive director of the Indonesian Industrial Estate Association (HKI).
Batam as a free trade zone (FTZ) is one region with a large number of industrial estates. Based on recent data, there are 21 industrial estates now in operation in Batam.
Currently Batams status is being prepared to be transformed from an FTZ to becoming a special economic zone (SEZ).
Along with the plan to change the status, the entire industrial estate space listed in the Batam Indonesia Free Zone Authority (BIFZA) will become part of the SEZ. The number could continue to grow depending on need, allowing for the SEZ to be expanded.
Optimism
Now, in the era of the leadership of President Joko Jokowi Widodo, the development of industrial zones seems to be experiencing a new era of optimism, following the issuance of a number of economic policy packages to support their growth. There is optimism among people for equitable growth in the regions, given that the development of industrial estates generates a huge multiplier effect for the surrounding area.
Before the policy packages were launched by the government, companies engaged in the development of industrial estates in Indonesia often complained about licensing issues, which were still considered an obstacle and a burden. While in some countries one-stop service licensing authorities have been established, such as in Thailand with its Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT).
Responding to complaints from businesspeople about licensing, the government moved quickly by accelerating the licensing process to only three hours. BKPM has pledged to continue improving service
for the three-hour investment licensing process.
When it was launched on Oct. 26, 2015, only three permits were available under the accelerated licensing services, namely Taxpayer Identification Number (NPWP), Deed of Company Establishment and Land Booking Certificate.
At the end of 2015, the three-hour service expanded to eight permits plus the Booking Land Certificate. The five additional permits under the three-hour service are the Company Registration Permit (TDP), Importer Identification Number (APIP), Customs Office Identification Number (NIK), Foreign Workers Recruitment Plan (RPTKA) and Expatriate Work Permit (IMTA).
The BKPM is also preparing to include construction permits and investment licenses. This policy breakthrough aims to provide ease for industrial estate investors.
According to BKPM head Franky Sibarani, industrial estate investors who have obtained an investment permit from the investment board either in Jakarta or the provinces can begin the construction of their factories without having to wait for construction permits from provincial administrations.
Another regulation that will push the growth of industrial estates is the governments plan to remove the requirement to obtain a permit based on an environmental impact analysis (EIA/AMDAL).
This plan was revealed by Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya last March. She said the government would reduce permit requirements for companies who wanted to operate in industrial estates, part of which is the removal of the EIA permit.
Earlier this year the government enacted Government Regulation (PP) No. 142/2015 concerning Industrial Estates as a revision of the PP 24/2009, which in some circles was considered a luxury facility for the development of industrial estates and companies operating in them. This is because the PP enacted on Dec. 28, 2015, granted tax incentives in accordance with the grouping of Industrial Development Zones (WPI).
WPI are grouped into four regions, namely developed WPI covering Java; developing WPI including southern Sulawesi, eastern Kalimantan, northern Sumatra except Batam and Karimun, as well as southern Sumatra. The more developed a WPI, the smaller its tax incentives and shorter its period.
On the other hand, investors in WPI Potential II or WPI Papua and West Papua will receive the largest tax incentives with an even longer period. The statutes related to the size of incentives will be regulated in a Finance Minister Regulation (PMK), which is currently being finalized.
Article 41 of the regulation states that the provision of tax incentives is determined by the Finance Ministry. Article 42 says the ease of construction and management of electricity is set by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry. Article 43 covers granting regional incentives, such as reduction or exemption of local government taxes like Fees for the Acquisition of Rights to Land and Buildings (BPHTB), Tax of Land and Building before being transferred to an industrial enterprise, Street Lighting Tax (RPM) and others.
The new policy also states that the Issuance of Principle Permit, Industrial Zone Permit (IUKI), and Industrial Zone Extension License will not be charged, in contrast to the old regulation, which does not explain such provisions.
100 cities
Jababeka is one of the most prominent industrial estate developers in the country. Through its founder, Setyono Djuandi Darmono, the company has decided to develop at least 100 new townships, based on the development of industrial parks in a number of provinces in Indonesia.
The company, which was established in 1989, is the first developer of industrial estates to go public in Indonesia, as it was listed on the Jakarta and Surabaya Stock Exchange in 1994. The companys core business is to develop industrial zones that are supported and enhanced with infrastructure and township management services. The key to the companys strategy is to create businesses that produce a critical mass so that they can create other businesses. Jababeka Group runs its businesses through three pillars, namely Land and Property Development, Infrastructure and Services and Leisure & Hospitality.
One of the major works of Jababeka can be seen in Kota Jababeka in Cikarang, Bekasi, West Java, covering an area of 5,600 ha. Kota Jababeka in Cikarang now has grown from a plain land into a bustling city with a thriving community. Located 35 kilometers east of Jakarta, strategically situated along the corridor of Bekasi-Cikampek, Kota Jababeka has been filled with a number of either light, medium, or automotive industrial companies.
Today, with a population of more than 1 million people, Kota Jababeka has turned into an independent city with a complete and self-sufficient industrial park, comprising of 1,700 national and multinational companies from 30 countries that employ more than 700,000 workers and 4,300 expatriates. Some tenants that call Kota Jababeka their home base include Loreal, ICI Paints, Mattel, Samsung, Unilever, United Tractors, Akzo Nobel and Nissin Mas.
After the success of Kota Jababeka in Cikarang, Jababeka is also developing an integrated township in TanjungLesung called Tanjung Lesung SEZ, which serves the tourism industry, and caters to hospitality and leisure. TanjungLesung is located about 180 kilometers southwest of Jakarta.
Next, through its expansion into Central Java, the company works closely with Indonesia Sembcorp Development Pte. Ltd., a subsidiary of Sembcorp (Singapore) in developing Kendal Industrial Park called Park by The Bay, located approximately 21 kilometers west of Semarang In Kendal. Together with Sembcorp, PT Jababeka Tbk. plans to develop a special textile industry cluster zome that is integrated from upstream to downstream as part of the Kendal Industrial Park. Based on the plan, the zone will be a pilot project of the first fashion township in Indonesia.
Chairman of Jababeka, Setyono Djuandi Darmono, said that the development of Kendal fashion city is expected to begin in 2016. Later the fashion city will also boast centers of textile design and technology with the provision of cheap textile raw materials. A bonded logistics center is also planned to be built.
In the first phase, the project will use 100 ha of land out of the total Kendal Industrial Park area of 2,700 ha. While the total accumulated investment required is estimated at Rp20 trillion (US$1.53 billion) after taking into account the price of land, infrastructure, and investment incurred by potential tenants.
Besides Cikarang, Tanjung Lesung and Kendal, Jababeka through its subsidiary Jababeka Morotai is also entrusted to develop Morotai Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Morotai, North Maluku.
Based on Government Regulation No. 100 of 2012 on the amendment of Government Regulation No. 2/2011 on the Implementation of Special Economic Zones, no later than 90 days after the enactment of Government Regulation No. 50/2014 dated 1 July 2014 on Special Economic Zones of Morotai, the Morotai Island regency administration has to establish a business entity as the developer and manager of the Special Economic Zone in Morotai.
And through the local regents decision, Decree 538.3/191/PM/2014 was signed on Sept. 18, 2014,
which stipulates that Jababeka Morotai is the business entity that will develop the Morotai SEZ.
Currently, the company continues to assess investor partners who can participate in developing the Morotai SEZ, which has been included in the Masterplan for Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesias Economic Development (MP3EI). To develop the Morotai SEZ, Jababeka is ready to disburse Rp 6.8 trillion, which will be used to develop a 1,200 ha area.
Besides the required infrastructure, an industrial park, residential estates, business areas, resorts, a logistics center, as well as agriculture, fisheries and tourism industries will be developed. To build the industry of fisheries and agriculture, the company will implement an integrated system of fish farming, so that the fishermen can catch fish efficiently and at the same time they can keep the freshness of the fish longer.
In addition to fisheries, Jababeka Morotai will also implement Taiwanese technology to develop agricultural products such as edamame, shitake mushroom and Japanese rice, demand for which is currently on the rise.
***
The writers are observers of industrial estate development. This is the full version of an article that appeared in The Jakarta Posts Indonesian Infrastructure Outlook on Aug. 8
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Tangguh Chairil (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
The House of Representatives special committee set up to amend the Terrorism Law is considering granting counterterrorism enforcement powers to the Indonesian Military (TNI). Such authorization could lead to a predicament.
The TNI has played a crucial role in the joint operation to capture Indonesias most wanted terrorist, Santoso, and his followers in the Central Sulawesi regency of Poso. TNI soldiers shot Santoso dead in an exchange of fire recently, ending a manhunt that lasted for years.
In his press statement TNI Commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo argued that terrorism was not an ordinary crime, but a crime against the state, which therefore required a change in approach that prioritizes early detection and preventive measures.
Gatot cited the theory of Israeli counterterrorism expert Boaz Ganor, according to which criminal law is not sufficient to address terrorism, because it is designed to organize daily life.
By contrast, according to Ganors way of thinking, the law of warfare is more suitable for combating terrorism, because methods of military operations are often required in counterterrorism.
What Gatot fails to explain is that Ganors theory actually presents a series of dilemmas around how the state should respond to terrorist activities. One of them concerns the dominance of a military component in counterterrorism policy: Military means against terrorist organizations may be effective, but they could also induce the terrorists to escalate and exacerbate their actions.
The success of military actions in damaging the terrorists ability to perpetrate attacks will only increase their motivation to commit acts of terror. All the more so when offensive actions are taken against terrorist activists or facilities. On the other hand, if no actions are taken in retaliation for a terrorist attack, the terrorists will have little incentive to preempt/stop such attacks. Ganor calls this dilemma the boomerang effect.
The boomerang effect, I will argue, is present in the context of terrorism in Indonesia. Prior to 2011, the targets of terrorist attacks in this country were mostly places of foreign, Western interests and residents. Since then, the attacks seem to have shifted to targeting authorities, especially police officers.
This phenomenon shows that terrorist organizations are retaliating against the police for arresting and killing their members. Indeed, counterterrorism squad Detachment 88 (Densus 88) which has had considerable success in disrupting terrorist deployment and operations throughout the country is part of the National Police.
Densus 88 has been accused of excessive use of force and human rights violations in counterterror operations and of torture against people in custody. Their methods have not only infuriated terrorists but also raised concerns among the Muslim population, who link the war on terrorism with an attack on Islam as well as human rights groups.
If the police whose use of physical force is normally limited to low-level, non-lethal engagement often resort to deadly force when facing terrorists, then what sort of expectation is to be put on military personnel whose training is to eliminate the enemy in the most effective combat manner possible?
The boomerang effect is part of the collateral damage of counterterrorism in the war model, where the emphasis on restraining terrorism is stronger than on maintaining liberal democratic rights.
The war model in counterterrorism employs the exercise of military force and strategies with the intention of eradicating terrorism as dictated by the law of warfare, while consequently any constitutional or legal consideration is solely secondary. The armed forces response to terrorism is guided by military doctrine, whose nature often falls outside of acceptable democratic standards.
On the other hand, even the most democratic states with commitment to civil liberties, national and international law are vulnerable to perversion by terrorist organizations that bait the states into causing collateral damage among the civilian population. The terrorists could exploit civilian casualties as supposed proof of the immorality of the state.
Restraining collateral damage, therefore, must be the number one priority before involving the TNI in counterterrorism.
Only when that requirement is fulfilled may the TNI be called in for specific military roles in counterterrorism, such as military support to civil authorities, preventive operations, interception of terrorists and arms shipments, hostage rescue, intelligence gathering, preemptive intervention, targeted strikes and retaliatory raids.
As a precautionary measure, every involvement of the TNI must be treated as an integrated part of the overall counterterrorism strategy. In this context, TNI elements as well as National Police elements must be placed under the operational control of the Indonesian National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) as counterterrorism coordinator.
BNPT needs to ensure synergy between Densus 88 and the TNIs elite forces, such as Denjaka, Sat-81/Gultor, and Satbravo-90, to avoid overlapping engagement: Densus 88 carries out normal counterterrorism operations, and when the threat escalates into a matter of national security, then the TNIs special forces are deployed. This should be clarified in the form of a government regulation.
Involvement of the military in counterterrorism is inevitable. However, to restrain collateral damage to civilians, there must be strict regulations to the military means in the war on terrorism concerning the circumstances, conditions, degree and manner in which the use of force may be applied.
***
The writer lectures at the Department of International Relations at Binus University, specializing in international security. He obtained a masters degree in defense studies from the Indonesia Defense University and a masters degree in intelligence studies from the University of Indonesia.
---------------
We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com. For more information click here.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
HIV-positive US actor Charlie Sheen wants celebrities to come forward if they have contracted the virus to help lift stigma.
There is a lot of prejudice against HIV-positive people and I hope to change that, Sheen said in a recent interview with German Playboy as quoted by AFP.
The Platoon and Two and a Half Men star revealed that he was HIV-positive in an interview aired on US national television last November.
(Read also: Charlie Sheen's ex-fiancee sues actor over HIV exposure)
He says he did not endeavor to be a public advocate for the cause, but that the role was more thrust upon him. "People approach me on the street and congratulate me on having the courage," he said. "Whether I want to or not, it is important to teach about sexually transmitted diseases."
Last April, Los Angeles police opened a criminal investigation against Sheen claiming that he had threatened to kill his ex-fiancee Scottine Ross.
Sheen says he has turned his back on his bad-boy days and wants to use his time productively. I want to stay healthy and do good. I want to make peace with the past, live in the present and look toward the future," he said. (tif/kes)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Asmara Wreksono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
To commemorate BJ Habibies 80th birthday and his contribution to science and technology in Indonesia, Orbit Ventura, Catec (Cultural Arts and Technology Empowerment Community) and the Habibie Center will hold the Habibie Festival on August 11-14 at Museum Nasional (National Museum).
Ilham Habibie, the former presidents son, said in an official video, The main purpose of the Habibie Festival is to show BJ Habibies contributions in various fields.
Aside from BJ Habibies birthday celebration, the festival is being held to unify the various organizations affiliated with Habibie and celebrate Indonesias 60-year journey. It is also intended to be a forum at which the public can learn about the latest developments in Indonesian science and technology. It is a collaboration between various organizations, government, institutions, corporations and the community.
(Read also: Former president BJ Habibie reveals third movie based on life of late wife)
The festival will showcase innovations from the STEAM community (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) in Indonesia. The festival is also hosting the Berkarya!Indonesia movement launch with the tagline Membudayakan Teknologi (Familiarize Yourself with Technology.)
The Habibie Festival is open to members of the public of all ages. Families will be able to enjoy various events from exhibitions, talkshows, film screenings, workshops for adults and children alike, also science challenges. Prices are as follows: Adults Rp 5.000 (US$0.38), children Rp 2.000, and foreigners Rp 10.000.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Ni Nyoman Wira (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
A comic book in which characters are based on members of Bandung-based industrial rock band Koil is set to be launched during Popcon Asia 2016 at the Jakarta Convention Center in South Jakarta. The event is slated for Aug. 12-14.
Titled Koil: Dragonian Warriors, the comic book is set in a city during a post-apocalyptic world governed by a tyrant. The main characters include a wanderer and a government agent who work together to release the power of past warriors who refused to obey the tyrant. Koil members, vocalist Otong, guitarist Doni, bassist Adam and drummer Leon, are said to be visually portrayed in the comic.
A preview of the 150-page comic book can be seen at kosmik.id.
(Read also: Koil to release comic book in August)
The cover of "Koil: Dragonian Warriors".(KOIL/-)
Koil: Dragonian Warriors started off as fan-art that later turned into a collaborative project between the band and KillerKomik consisting of Patra Aditia as illustrator, Anky Prasetya as writer and Indra Arista as editor. Professional colorist Arif Prianto joined in as well to create the cover.
Koil has been offering a distinctive style of music since 1993. After releasing their first album, Koil, in 1996, the band continued with Megaloblast in 2001. The single Mendekati Surga (Getting Nearer to Heaven) was quite a success. (kes)
Leon, one of the characters in "Koil: Dragonian Warriors".(KOIL/-)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, August 9 2016
Indonesias largest lender by assets, Bank Mandiri, is planning to revamp its loan portfolio composition by disbursing more to consumer borrowers, as the lender has seen mounting rotten loans in the commercial segment.
The publicly listed state-owned bank is optimistic about increasing its consumer loan composition to 20 percent of its total disbursed loans by 2020, while those disbursed to the commercial segment are expected to decline to 25 percent from 29 percent at present.
In doing so, Bank Mandiri would focus more on expanding its mortgage and vehicle loans, on the back of growth in the two sectors in the second quarter of the year, the lenders director Pahala Mansury said.
Consumer loans will be our backbone for years to come, especially in the growing vehicle loan sector, Pahala told reporters recently at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) building.
Bank Mandiris vehicle loans grew 21.4 percent year-on-year (yoy) to Rp 18.9 trillion (US$1.5 billion) in the first half of this year, company data showed. That compares with 10.5 percent overall loan growth during the period with outstanding loans of Rp 610.9 trillion by the end of June.
Mortgage loans made up the most of Bank Mandiris disbursed loans between January and June with
Rp 27.6 trillion in total, a 5 percent hike from the same period last year.
Pahala said the governments 1 million houses initiative, aimed at providing adequate housing for low-income people, could stoke demand for mortgage loans from Bank Mandiri, which is one of the banks appointed to channel government-backed mortgages (FLPP) for the program.
He said the bank was also mulling over deploying a cross-selling strategy to lure more individuals into becoming consumer borrowers.
Apart from consumer loans, corporate and micro loans were also seen as prospective segments to grow in the future, Pahala added.
In the first six months of the year, Bank Mandiri disbursed 37.7 percent of its loan portfolio for corporate borrowers, followed by 29 percent in the form of commercial loans, 13.9 percent for consumer loans, 11 percent for the small segment and 8.4 percent for micro loans.
Bank Mandiri expects its loan growth to stand at around 10 to 12 percent this year amid concerns over rising bad loans that pressured the lenders net profits to drop by 28.7 percent yoy in the January-June period to Rp 7.1 trillion.
The decline was primarily caused by Bank Mandiris move to increase loan-loss provisions in a bid to anticipate the risk of bad loans, which amounted to Rp 9.9 trillion in the second quarter of the year, up from Rp 4 trillion in the corresponding period last year.
Bank Mandiri also saw its non-performing loan (NPL) ratio increase to 3.74 percent in the first quarter of the year, from 2.43 percent during the same period last year.
The lenders corporate secretary Rohan Hafas said the increasing NPL ratio was mainly driven by rotten loans in its commercial segment.
Commercial borrowers suffered in the first six months of the year due to slowing business in the mining and plantation sectors, Rohan said recently.
Bank Mandiri data showed that the NPL ratio in the lenders loans for the commercial segment was the highest in the first semester of the year, amounting to 6.69 percent. The NPL ratio in corporate, consumer and micro loans stood at 1.72 percent, 1.87 percent and 4.12 percent, respectively. (mos)
---------------
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Hans Nicholas Jong (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, August 9 2016
In the wake of a major drug distribution scandal that has left many parents fearful over their young childrens immunity, the government is preparing a regulation that will enable the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) to sanction violators.
The government is drafting a presidential regulation (Perpres) and a bill on food and drug monitoring that will give the BPOM the power to impose heavy fines on official institutions that breach procedures and standards.
BPOM chair Penny Kusumastuti Lukito, who was recently appointed by President Joko Jokowi Widodo, admitted that the agency had failed to prevent the nationwide spread of fake vaccines, with hundreds of babies receiving false immunization over the course of the last 13 years.
No matter how many resources we deploy to monitor [food and drugs], without a strong deterrent effect, it means nothing, Penny told a press conference on Monday.
Penny noted that the power to impose heavy sanctions, such as heavy fines, would be integral to one of the agencys most urgent tasks: ridding the market of ersatz vaccines.
The fake vaccines sparked national outrage among parents who feared their children had been exposed to the fakes after the National Police uncovered a counterfeit vaccine operation ring.
So far, fake vaccines have been found in seven locations, including Banten, Jakarta and West Java. The BPOM previously reported that it had found five types of counterfeit vaccines, namely Tuberfullin, Pediacel, Tripacel, Harfix and Biosef, all of which were discovered in each of the three provinces.
The scandal was the pinnacle of a series of mishaps that have dogged the nations health care of late.
Last year, the inadvertent substitution of anesthetic Buvanest Spinal for antihemorrhagic Asam Tranexamat Generik caused the deaths of at least two patients in a hospital.
During its investigation, the BPOM discovered that the producer of the drugs, Kalbe Farma, the largest pharmaceutical firm in the country, was responsible for the accidental swap during production.
However, the agency only ordered the company to recall and temporary stop producing the drugs.
Penny said the agency had limited authority to impose sanctions and limited resources, given its lack of a firm legal basis.
She said the BPOM is generally only able to issue administrative sanctions in the form of recommendations. Our recommendations are supposed to be followed up by local administrations, but only around 14 percent are. As such, it would be better if the body that monitors [food and drugs] were able to issue heavy punishments, she said.
Indonesian Health Consumers Empowerment Foundation (YPKKI) chairman Marius Widjajarta said that the agency in fact already had ample capacity to carry out its tasks. The regulations on food and drug monitoring are already good, the BPOM only has to enforce them, he told The Jakarta Post.
For instance, he said, the BPOM should punish producers and distributors of drugs that fail to submit their reports on drug distribution and logistics every three months, as required.
Most of the reports dont have any substantial content, and the BPOM should therefore punish them, Marius said.
Meanwhile, House of Representatives Commission IX overseeing health and manpower said that the BPOM was weak and needed reinforcement.
Why was the BPOM established in the first place simply to be hamstrung? Irma Suryani Chaniago of the NasDem Party asked the Post.
For instance, Irma said, the BPOM usually only seizes illegal food and drug for a limited period of time. Usually just three months. The agency is also unable to monitors the sanctions given by the police.
_______________________________________
To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10 2016
When her first child was born at a private hospital in Malang, Nuansa Putri, a 34-year-old civil servant, immediately believed the pediatricians statement that baby formula would make her son, Dean, grow strong and healthy.
The midwife who took care of Dean told Nuansa that if she did not immediately produce breast milk, her son would go hungry and lose weight.
The midwife offered Nuansa a famous brand of formula, saying it was an imported product with a quality similar to breast milk. The new mother trusted the midwifes words and let her son drink it.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
Prosecutors on Wednesday demanded judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court sentence Agung Podomoro Lands (APL) former CEO, Ariesman Widjaja, to four years in prison for allegedly bribing Jakarta councilor Muhammad Sanusi in connection with a reclamation project in Jakarta Bay.
We demand the judges sentence Ariesman to four years imprisonment and a Rp 250 million (US$19,131) fine, with his detention period deducted, said prosecutor Ali Fikri as reported by tribunnews.com.
The case is related to the alleged effort of PT APL, one of the developers of islets in Jakarta Bay, to have a compulsory contribution reduced. The contribution was for the Jakarta administration based on property sales on the reclaimed land.
The contribution percentage was expected to be set during the deliberation of a reclamation bill at the Jakarta City Council. The original draft bill reportedly stipulated that the contribution was 15 percent from property sales, while the company reportedly sought to have it reduced to 5 percent.
The City Council stopped deliberation of two bills on the reclamation soon after the arrest of Sanusi and APL official Trinanda Prihantoro by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) late March, which was followed by the surrender of Ariesman. (bbn)
By PTI: (Attn.editors: The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with PRNewswire. PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same). LeEco Superphones Witness Smart Sales Uptick on Day 1 of Freedom Day Sale on Flipkart BANGALORE, August 10, 2016/PRNewswire/ -- LeEco Superphones have emerged as users favourite in the just opened Freedom Day sale on Flipkart. This cheering response can be attributed to the fantastic offers on LeEco Superphones and also because of the much awaited grey variant of the immensely popular Le 2. The Grey Le 2 is flying off the shelves in no time, an evidence of the over-whelming response from users. Adding to this are the never-before offers including, No Cost EMI, Extra on exchange and 10% additional cashback, making the popular Superphones easy to own. In the Freedom Sale on Flipkart during August 10th - 12th where several smartphone brands vie for consumers attention with great deals, LeEco Superphones are standing out. Thanks to shopping carnivals such as Freedom Sale by Flipkart, users can purchase their favourite Superphones from the convenience of their homes or even on-the-go. The irresistible offers make it doubly compelling. The sale which is now underway, will last till August 12th, 2016. MORE PRNewswire GSV
--- ENDS ---
advertisement
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Moekti P. Soejachmoen (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10 2016
The government has promulgated the Tax Amnesty Law since July 1 and issued a number of implementing regulations afterwards. As a result of the implementation, state revenue in the short term is expected to increase from the payment of penalties imposed on those who apply for the tax amnesty. In the long run, economic growth is expected to accelerate as an impact of the inflows of repatriated funds.
To ensure that the economy can benefit from the repatriated money, the law requires that such funds be locked in Indonesia for at least three years and invested in both financial instruments and real sectors.
The repatriated money can be seen as exogenous capital inflows to Indonesia both in the form of portfolio investment and direct investment. Following the standard model of Mundell-Fleming, the impact of capital flows can be contractionary to the economy. Inflows in the form of bonds decrease the rate on non-bonds and reduce the cost of financial intermediaries. However, this positive impact will be offset by the impact of currency appreciation on external demand, which results in lower net exports and translates into lower domestic output. In the end, capital inflows will lead to slower economic growth.
On the other hand, emerging economies experience different impacts in which capital inflows have an expansionary effect on the domestic economy. In emerging economies, especially those with relatively underdeveloped financial systems, capital inflows will increase liquidity in the economy that translates into lower rates, more credit and more domestic output. This impact is more dominant than the impact of currency appreciation on net exports. Meanwhile, in more advanced countries, the impact of currency appreciation can outweigh the impact of lower rates and result in slower economic growth.
The impact of repatriated funds also depends on the type of investments. Direct investment has a more stable and long-lasting impact on the economy than portfolio investment because the nature of the former typically used to acquire or establish manufacturing facilities or infrastructure makes it more difficult to liquidate or pull out from the country. Meanwhile, portfolio investment referring to investments in financial assets, such as bonds and stocks has shorter investment periods and is easier to pull out. Therefore, the larger the portfolio investment compared to direct investment will make the economy more uncertain and vulnerable.
Prior to the implementation of the Tax Amnesty Law, casual surveys conducted by banks on their high-net worth customers suggested that many taxpayers intended to repatriate their assets to Indonesia as direct investments as they wanted to use the money to either expand an existing business, establish new ones or invest in property. These people were reluctant to invest in the financial sector because of the limited options of financial instruments in Indonesia and because the rate of return is not competitive enough compared to holding their assets abroad.
However, until last week, the implementing regulations on the investment of repatriated money did not cover direct investment or real sector investment. The only option for those who apply for the tax amnesty is investing their repatriated funds in the financial sector. The existing financial instrument is able to accommodate taxpayers need to reinvest in their own businesses or create new businesses through discretionary funds managed by investment manager companies.
Investing in property through the financial sector is also possible by using the Real Estate Investment Trust (DIRE). However, these instruments are more complicated than directly investing money in a company or buying property and can discourage taxpayers from repatriating their assets.
Another concern surrounding the impact of repatriation money on economic growth relates to what will happen to the money when the three-year period ends in March 2019. Will there be a massive capital outflow? Has the government prepared any mitigation efforts to anticipate this?
If a massive capital outflow does occur, the domestic economy will be hit hard and economic growth could sharply decline. Moreover, 2019 is an election year and therefore the economic crisis that could occur because of a massive reversal capital outflow could be a double hit along with political uncertainty. The worst-case scenario is that the 1998 economic and political crisis could reoccur in Indonesia. We do not want that to happen.
The risk of massive capital outflows can be minimized if more repatriation money is invested in the real sector than in the financial sector. To increase taxpayers preference for real sector investment, the government should ensure that the development of infrastructure and priority sectors occurs as planned and that the investment and business climate in Indonesia is conducive. In addition, prudent macroeconomic policy is needed along the way so that the Indonesian economy in 2016 is strong enough to overcome any hiccups.
As the future depends on what we do today, it is necessary for the government to issue implementing regulations on real sector investment as soon as possible. Not only will it affect taxpayers decisions on whether to just declare their offshore assets and pay higher rates or to repatriate their money to Indonesia and pay lower rates, but it will also affect their decisions on whether to invest their money in the financial sector or real sector.
With different penalty rates applied for different time periods of the tax amnesty, the window for taxpayers to pay the lowest penalty rate is until Sept. 30 and certainty on real sector investment will help taxpayers make a decision.
As funding for infrastructure and the priority sector is urgently needed, the success of the tax amnesty, mainly represented by a large amount of repatriated money, is very important and we still have eight weeks until the first window of the policy ends.
____________
The writer is head of the Mandiri Institute.
--------------
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
A change.org petition protesting University of Indonesia (UI) rector Muhammad Aniss measures to cleanse the Depok campus of stray dogs and cats has attracted almost 7,000 signatures within a day.
The creator of the petition, Iin Sofjan, made it in response to a Facebook posting from animal lovers group Garda Satwa Indonesia, which said that UI had again taken stray cats and dogs away from the campus in an attempt to control their numbers.
The four-legged animals were caught, put in sacks and tranquilized, the petition says.
The Garda post from Aug. 8 says that one of the dogs that was tranquilized and taken away was not a stray but belonged to a campus security guard.
The petition urges the university to cooperate with animal lover communities on campus to conduct regular sterilization and adoption programs.
UIs technical unit of work and environment safety and health said they appreciated the animal lovers concerns but said the measures were taken in response to a student being bitten by a dog.
They said the operation was carried out in cooperation with the South Jakarta Maritime, Agriculture and Food Resilience Agency.
We have carried out control operations three times since 2015. The caught animals are given to the agency and put into a quarantine facility. If the animals are declared healthy, we put them into an adoption program, a press release read. (evi)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
The Indonesian Army is prioritizing the modernization of the country's primary weaponry defense system for Army personnel guarding border areas.
The modernization aims to strengthen defense against current threats on the country's borders, including in four outer islands, namely Natuna (Riau Islands), Morotai (North Maluku), Biak (Papua), and Selaru (Southeast Maluku), said Army chief of staff Gen. Mulyono on Wednesday.
"Our priority is to provide [modern] weapons to the Army's Special Forces and particularly Army riders who guard the border areas," Mulyono told journalists.
Speaking at an event with Indonesian media, Mulyono explained that the Army's priority programs in 2016 were mainly aimed at strengthening the country's defense against both international and national threats.
In the international scope, the efforts aimed to prevent another hostage situation in regional waters, as well as to step up defense against escalating tensions in the South China Sea, which affected the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in Natuna waters, Mulyono said.
Meanwhile in the national scope, the Army aims to enhance defense capability to tackle drug smuggling, to face separatism cases such as in Papua, as well as to improve defense against terrorism threats, Mulyono added. (bbn)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10 2016
Many people would not have thought that Daoed Joesoef is already 90 years old because of his active role as a national observer and critic. Despite some limitations, he continues to express his thoughts through writing and remains committed to launching a new book, Anak Tiga Zaman (Child of Three Generations).
I wish that I could have met my target to launch the book today. But I forget that Im not that young anymore, he said on Monday at an event to celebrate his 90th birthday at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) office in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Rod McGuirk (Associated Press) Canberra Wed, August 10, 2016
Australia's first attempt to conduct a census online was in disarray after several cyberattacks on the website, an official said Wednesday.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics shut down the site to protect data on Tuesday night after four denial-of-service attacks that came from somewhere overseas, chief statistician David Kalisch said.
"It was an attack," Kalisch told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "It was quite clear it was malicious."
The 2 million Australians who managed to access the site on Tuesday before it was shut down were assured that their private data was secure.
"There has been no attack on the information, it was an attack on the system. The information is secure and safe," Kalisch said.
Australia's Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim said in a statement he was investigating the cyberattack "to ensure that no personal information has been compromised."
Australian security officials were attempting to determine the source of the attacks, Kalisch said.
Kalisch said "a gap" in the digital defenses of the bureau of statistics had been fixed and the site would be reopened Wednesday.
The census is conducted every five years. The decision to conduct the national survey online and to keep the information for four years before it was destroyed instead of the usual 18 months heightened privacy concerns this year.
Several senators announced that they would risk fines by refusing to include their names and addresses in their census forms. Officials attempted to allay fears by boasting that the bureau of statistics had never been hacked.
The site was shut down after a fourth cyberattack Tuesday evening, and people who telephoned the bureau of statistics for an explanation were told by a recorded message to call back on Wednesday.
While the census focuses on people's circumstances on Aug. 9, forms started to be accepted a week before that date and will continue to be until September. Traditional paper census forms were provided to householders on request.
Conducting most of the survey online was estimated to save 100 million Australian dollars (US$76 million).
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post) Nusa Dua, Bali Wed, August 10, 2016
Country representatives attending the second Counterterrorism Financing Summit have agreed to assess regional terrorism risks, which will be focused on terrorism financing methods and channels.
"This summit has achieved the same perception, wishes and goodwill that there is a need to prevent, identify and combat terrorism financing. As a country consisting of thousands of islands, Indonesia in particular is really worried about terrorist activities, said Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) head Muhammad Yusuf on Wednesday.
By collaborating with Australia and other countries in the region, it will be easy for us to overcome the problem, especially terrorist financing," he went on.
Indonesia and Australia are co-hosting the Counterterrorism Financing Summit, which is taking place in Nusa Dua, Bali, from Monday to Thursday.
Yusuf further said the PPATK had discovered a huge amount of money, suspected to be used to fund terrorism, flowing into Indonesia from other countries.
According to PPATK data, he said, the money came from at least 10 countries. He refused to give more details, specify the amount of money or name the originating countries.
Yusuf said some of the money had been distributed for charity and social activities and that many organizations receiving it were not aware that their funding sources were terrorist organizations. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Hans David Tampubolon (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10 2016
Let's eat: Chefs Tobie Puttock (left) and Rinrin Marinka prepare to taste traditional West Sumatra cuisine before remaking the dishes for the Asian Food Channels cooking show Wonderful Indonesian Flavours.
There has always been a perception among culinary enthusiasts that traditional Southeast Asian food is complicated and hard to prepare.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post) Nusa Dua, Bali Wed, August 10, 2016
The twenty countries in attendance at the International Meeting on Counterterrorism have agreed to strengthen cross border cooperation to tackle terrorist threats.
"We agreed there is a need to prevent cross-border movements of terrorists through closer intelligence cooperation and border security," said Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto, who chaired the meeting, in a press conference during the meeting on Wednesday.
He said countering the cross-border movement of terrorists needed cooperation among countries.
Ministers and senior officials from 23 countries, including Australia, Belgium, Singapore, the US and the Philippines, attended the International Meeting on Counterterrorism. Representatives of ASEAN, Interpol and the UN were also present.
Wiranto said all participating countries also agreed to encourage global information sharing and collaboration on deradicalization programs. They also called on the UN to increase its role in counterterrorism efforts and assistance in tackling the root problem of terrorism, as well as finalizing the comprehensive convention on international terrorism.
Wiranto explained that many important issues had been discussed during the meeting, including terrorist organizations use of digital technology to garner followers.
"Cyber technology should be utilized to prevent terrorist networks from using the internet as means of propaganda, recruitment, cyberattacks and cybercrime," Wiranto said.
He said the return of foreign fighters to their home countries would be monitored through intelligence cooperation and information sharing as well as border controls.
"Countering extreme ideology through counter narrative and deradicalization programs should be promoted. It is also important to strengthen practical cooperation to detect and deter terrorism financing," he stressed. (ebf)
TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
Footage showing the last two minutes of Wayan Mirna Salihin's life after drinking the fatal glass of Vietnamese coffee has been shown by a digital forensic expert at the trial of murder suspect Jessica Kumala Wongso.
The footage of the Jan. 6. incident at the Central Jakarta cafe was played by Digital forensic expert Adj. Sr. Comr. Mohammad Nuh Al-Azhar at a Central Jakarta District Court hearing on Wednesday. In the footage Jessica is seen at 4.23 p.m. changing her sitting position from the edge to the center of the bench, allegedly to avoid being seen by the CCTV. At 5.03 p.m., Jessica can be seen moving her position again to the edge of bench.
She waited for her friends Mirna and Juwita Boon, alias Hani, who arrived at 5.18 p.m. Mirna sat in the center of the bench, with Jessica on her left and Hani on her right.
"After sitting, Mirna moved the glass near her and mixed the coffee with a straw that had been put in the glass. Judging from the pixel movement, she seems to open the straw cover before stirring it," Nuh said.
After drinking the coffee, Mirna seemed to close her nose and mouth with her hand and waggle her hand.
At 5.19 p.m., Hani moved Mirna's glass near to her mouth and nose. At 5.20 p.m. Mirna is seen lying on the cafe bench, slowly losing consciousness.
In the 56 minutes from the coffee being served by the waiter until it was drank by Mirna, Jessica did not leave the table. "No one seemed to be accompanying her at the table. The coffee was totally under her 'authority'," Nuh said. (bbn)
NIA IG Sanjeev Kumar said in a press briefing that arms and ammunitions training given to LeT terrorist Bahadur Ali shows the involvement of military experts.
By India Today Web Desk: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday said that LeT terrorist and Pakistani national Bahadur Ali, who was captured recently in North Kashmir, was regularly guided by the control room of terrorist groups in PoK with the help of Pakistani forces.
NIA is probing the role of LeT in the present unrest in Kashmir Valley which has come up after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani.
advertisement
"Arms and ammunitions training given to LeT terrorist Bahadur Ali show the involvement of military experts," NIA IG Sanjeev Kumar said in a press briefing in Delhi.
Communication devices used by Bahadur Ali.
IG Kumar disclosed that Bahadur Ali was recruited by Jamaat-ud-Dawa and was subsequently radicalised by LeT.
NIA released a video of Ali's confession and said that this was one of many revelations made by Bahadur Ali.
MAP used by Bahadur Ali.
Ali, in the video, confessed that there were 30-50 trainees from different parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan at the LeT's training camps. He claimed that Pakistani military officers came to meet him while he was leaving for India. They were referred to as Major Saab and Captain Saab.
IG Kumar also said that Bahadur Ali crossed into Indian side on either 11th or 12th June along with two LeT cadres.
Code used by Bahadur Ali.
Pakistani military and other forces were also running a command centre called Alpha-3 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), to run terrorist operations in India.
The LeT terrorists were using advanced made-in-Japan ICom wireless sets.
Also Read:
Another Kasab? Arrested terrorist Bahadur Ali confesses he is from Pakistan
Nabbed LeT terrorist exposes Pakistan, he was sent to India to create unrest in Kashmir
--- ENDS ---
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Pandaya (The Jakarta Post) Rome Wed, August 10 2016
After President Joko Jokowi Widodo signed the ratification of the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) in May, Indonesia can rest assured of global partnership in its effort to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The long due event heralded Indonesias stronger commitment to combat IUU fishing largely blamed for the worlds dwindling fish stocks and the missing US billion dollars worth of marine resources vital for food security.
Now, Indonesia is among 34 countries, plus the EU, that have joined the agreement that aims to block access of IUU fishing products to the legal market.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
Culture and Education Minister Muhadjir Effendys controversial plan to extend school hours for elementary and high school students will have a positive impact on students in terms of both academic achievement and personal development, parents have said.
Wiwin Darwinah, a parent from Ciputat, South Tangerang, said only expensive private schools offered full-day school at present and that Muhadjirs idea would provide better education for children of low-income families, who could only afford to send their children to public schools.
Students from rich families can also afford to pay private teachers for extra lessons, while the poor cant afford it, said Wiwin, who is a mother of a sixth-grader and ninth-grader, both of whom attend public schools.
Meanwhile, Mustiana Dewi from Bekasi, West Java said that her daughter, who studied at a private junior high school in Bekasi, took more classes at her full-day school. She added that the program encouraged her daughter to spend more time on positive activities at school instead of hanging out with friends at malls.
Critics say many public schools are not yet ready to implement the plan and that it is only appropriate for schools in urban areas, particularly as Muhadjir has said that full-day school would encourage parents to send their students to school by themselves and pick them up on their way home from work. (rez/bbn)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Wed, August 10 2016
Trading day: Indonesia Infrastructure Finance (IIF) independent commissioner Edwin Gerungan (left), IIF president director Arisudono Soerono (second left), Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) transaction monitoring and compliance director Hamdi Hassyarbaini (second right) and IDX valuation director Samsul Hidayat open trading activities at the bourse on Tuesday. IIF has raised Rp 1.5 trillion (US$114 million) from bond issuance so far this year. (JP/Jerry Adiguna)
Indonesia Infrastructure Finance (IIF) has channeled almost double the amount of funds it did in 2015 during the first seven months of this year, a success it attributes to the governments efforts to accelerate infrastructure projects.
IIF president director Arisudono Soerono said that as of earlier this week, the firm, partly owned by the Indonesian government and World Bank, had disbursed Rp 7 trillion (US$532 million) in financing, 75 percent higher than the Rp 4 trillion it channeled last year.
This year, [we] really feel the difference. I think the [governments] efforts to accelerate infrastructure programs really help, as land procurement is now handled more seriously while ministries and government institutions are showing better communication, he said on Tuesday on the sidelines of the opening of the first trading session at the Indonesia Stock Exchange.
Apart from IIF, the government also owns another infrastructure financing firm, Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (SMI). The former has been focusing on financing development, mainly for new and renewable energy based power plants, toll roads and telecommunications infrastructure, among others.
Earlier this year, President Joko Jokowi Widodo issued two policies to expedite hundreds of projects listed as national strategic projects and a mega power plant project. They comprise 225 projects in 13 sectors, such as railways and toll roads, and receive special backing and attention from the government, as stipulated by presidential regulations (Perpres) No. 3/2016 and No. 4/2016.
The goverment-endorsed Committee for Acceleration of Priority Infrastructure Delivery (KPPIP) head, Luky Eko Wuryanto, previously said the government would need Rp 4.8 quadrillion to fund the projects until 2019, with only Rp 1.98 trillion of which able to be covered by the state and regional budget.
Arisudono said the governments interventions, for instance through the issuance of supporting regulations, had helped push progress of various major infrastructure projects across the country.
Now, land procurement can be completed faster as the Law of Land Acquisition [for Public Facilities] has been better implemented, he said.
The Rp 7 trillion of financing the IIF disbursed from January and July, went to, among others, the construction of three gas power plants and several hydro power plants, Arisudono added.
One of the state priority projects partly financed by IIF this year is the Palapa Ring broadband cable central package, which will lay down 2,700 kilometers of underwater fiber optic cable that will connect Kalimantan, Sulawesi and North Maluku.
The Palapa Ring is one of the unrealized projects of the previous government that has been carried over and undertaken this year.
IIF targets to disburse Rp 10 trillion by year-end. On a more optimistic measurement, Arisudono, the firm could reach Rp 14 trillion with extra effort.
The firm is now bidding to finance the building of five airports, mostly in eastern Indonesia for state-run airport operator Angkasa Pura I, and various toll road sections in Java and Sumatra, details of which are yet to be disclosed.
To finance the rest of the projects, IIF sources its funding from the World Bank, banking syndicates, domestic bank loans as well as securities.
Last June, it issued bonds to raise a maximum of Rp 2 trillion, which were eventually limited to be sold to raise up to Rp 1.5 trillion.
Arisudono said the firm may issue another series of bonds in January or February next year.
JP/ Stefani Ribka
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
The Indonesian Geothermal Association (INAGA) has said innovative breakthroughs are needed to speed up developments in the geothermal industry to achieve the countrys target of geothermal power plants producing 7,000 megawatts (MW) by 2025.
INAGA chairman Abadi Purnomo acknowledged that the 7,000 MW geothermal power plant target was quite ambitious because Indonesias current total geothermal capacity stood at only 1,493.5 MW. Hence, there was a shortfall of 5,500 MW, which must be obtained within 10 years, or 550 MW per year, he went on.
"Of course, this large target requires a very large investment, which amounts to US$4 million to $5 million per MW," he said during the fourth Indonesia International Geothermal Convention and Exhibition (IIGCE) at the Jakarta Convention Center on Wednesday.
To attract investment in the geothermal sector, Abadi said, innovations were needed, including attractive electricity rates for geothermal developers, a guarantee that state power company PLN would act as an off taker and purchase the electricity and legal certainty.
Abadi reminded that exploration was a key activity in the geothermal business chain. He believed Government Regulation (PP) No. 59/2007 on in-direct use exploitation would encourage investors to carry out exploration drilling activities.
He further said PLN had conveyed its commitment to realize the target set by the government by purchasing power in accordance with the rates set by the government.
"The INAGA has striven and will continue to work with the government to develop geothermal energy in Indonesia for the benefit of all the countrys people," he went on. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Thomas Lembong Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
Having just handed off at the Trade Ministry and taken over at the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), now is a unique moment for me to comment on Indonesias trade and investment, two issues that are actually closely interlinked.
I believe that we can expect a lot of continuity in our governments international trade policy, notwithstanding that a new trade minister was appointed in the recent Cabinet reshuffle. New Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita has moved swiftly to implement President Joko Jokowi Widodos instructions during the first plenary Cabinet meeting post-reshuffle: (1) that there is only the vision of the President and Vice President, and (2) the importance of solidity in the Cabinet, by which I believe he means teamwork.
First, Minister Enggar has instructed the leadership of the Trade Ministry to continue all the programs on the international side, such as our pursuit of trade agreements with the European Union and with Australia. Second, with the big-hearted spirit and self-confidence that comes from being a highly successful person, Minister Enggar then invited me to continue to contribute to our international trade agenda. Obviously, Im delighted to oblige. The first follows the vision of President Jokowi; the second is a welcome gesture toward Cabinet teamwork.
President Jokowi has now publicly stated many times that he has distilled his economic reform philosophy down to two fundamental principles: openness and competition.
President Jokowi and Vice President Jusuf Kalla understand very well the meanings of trade diversion and investment diversion. In short: right now, a lot of factories are shutting down in Indonesia and the Philippines and moving to Vietnam.
Why? Because Vietnam has trade agreements with the EU and the US, while Indonesia and the Philippines do not. By the way, the EU and the US are two of the worlds top export destinations, each being a roughly US$17 trillion-per-year economy.
Under Vietnams trade agreements with the EU (CEPA), and with the US (TPP), Vietnamese exports enjoy 0 percent tariffs when entering the EU and the US markets. Meanwhile, the EU and the US apply 10-17 percent tariffs on Indonesian and Philippine exports. Hence, Vietnamese exports are immediately 10-17 percent cheaper than Indonesian and Philippine exports, just on tarriffs.
Indonesian and Philippine exports cannot compete under such tariff disadvantages. As a result, investment (in factories) and the exports that will be produced by those factories are being diverted from countries that have no trade agreements (Indonesia, the Philippines), to countries that have trade agreements (Vietnam).
That is why both the Philippines and Indonesia are now racing to complete CEPAs with the EU, and are likely to have little choice but to pursue the TPP with the US. This is one example of what President Jokowi means when he says that we live in an era of competition.
Indonesia is competing against Vietnam and the Philippines. Nobody will want to invest in factories in Indonesia if exports from Indonesia suffer a price disadvantage of 10-17 percent versus exports from Vietnam just on tariffs. Boosting Indonesias exports requires investment (in factories, etc.), and to attract such investment requires trade agreements with important export destinations like the EU and the US. Hence the close interlinkage between investment and trade.
I feel that Pak Enggar is an excellent choice to replace me as trade minister. We need to remember that economic reforms not only need to be formulated technocratically, but also need to be disseminated to political parties and to governors, district chiefs and mayors. As a veteran of domestic politics, Pak Enggar will be much better than me at disseminating our trade sector reforms to political stakeholders. Through teamwork, my hope is that we can combine the best of both worlds: his clear strength in domestic politics, with my now-established strength in the international arena.
More broadly, the recent Cabinet reshuffle significantly enhances President Jokowis political position. Not only have the Golkar Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN) joined the government, President Jokowi has also pulled in more closely both Minister Enggars NasDem Party and Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wirantos Hanura Party.
In my view, the more ambitious the economic reforms that we want to pursue, the stronger our President needs to be politically to push those reforms through. For me, pulling these political parties in is a forceful way to make them take greater ownership of the Presidents economic reform agenda.
With President Jokowis strengthened political coalition and teamwork between Minister Enggar and me (as well as Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto and others), Im extremely hopeful that Indonesias pursuit of its international trade agenda will exhibit the Olympic ideals currently playing out in Rio de Janeiro: citius, altius, fortius faster, higher, stronger.
_____________________________________
The writer is head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM).
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post) Nusa Dua, Bali Wed, August 10, 2016
Australian Attorney General George Brandis has said cooperation between countries was key in a successful fight against terrorism.
He praised the International Meeting on Counterterrorism in Nusa Dua, Bali, which he said had prompted closer international antiterrorism cooperation.
"This forum, which brings together ministers, senior officials, and technical experts from around the world, is a unique opportunity to engage and open dialogue between international and regional partners on key security issues and to discuss how together we can work to address the problems," he said on Wednesday.
"At the time when terrorist networks seek to exploit national borders and use the Internet to plan and execute violent extremism, there has never been more important time for countries than to work together, to share experiences and intelligence data and information to cut what we all know to be a truly global threat," Brandis said.
Ministers and senior officials from 23 countries, including Australia, Belgium, Singapore, the US and the Philippines, attended the meeting. Representatives of ASEAN, Interpol, and the UN were also present.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla gave the keynote speech at the opening of the meeting.
The one day meeting is being held back to back with the 2nd Counter Terrorism Financing Summit that is being hosted by the same venue from Monday until Thursday. Indonesia and Australia are co-hosting the summit. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10 2016
Residents of Jakarta and Queensland, Australia, are set for closer encounters, not only because of the proximity of the two nations, but also because the respective administrations are mulling closer cooperation.
The cooperation between the two cities will be mainly focused on people-to-people contact rather than simply on the government-to-government level, said Mayor Paul Pisasale of the city of Ipswich in Queensland, adding that this would ensure stronger and more enduring bonds between the two regions.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
A digital forensics expert showed CCTV footage during the trial of Jessica Kumala Wongso, who stands accused of murdering her friend Wayan Mirna Salihin, on Wednesday at the Central Jakarta District Court.
Expert Adj.Sr.Comr Mohammad Nuh Al-Azhar showed CCTV footage recorded on Jan. 6 this year that showed Jessicas suspicious movements while she was waiting for almost an hour before Mirna and another friend Juwita Boon aka Hani arrived at Olivier restaurant for their meet-up.
Excerpts of the footage showed Jessica before her friends arrived. The footage showed that at 4:22 p.m., Jessica sat down on the edge of a bench. About one minute after that, Jessica moved to the center of the bench so her position was in line with decorative plants. Her body was blocked by the plants but her hand movements could be seen, Nuh said.
Jessica is seen pushing a centerpiece away from her. She arranged three paper bags on a table until all of them were in line. At 4:29 p.m., Jessica opened her bag with two hands.
"She opened her bag while her head turned to the left and right continuously. Looking at the pixel movement, she seemed to put something on the table," Nuh said.
Before Mirna and Hani arrived, Jessica ordered Vietnamese coffee for Mirna. According to the footage, Jessica moved Mirna's Vietnamese coffee to the other side of the table
Jessicas lawyer, Otto Hasibuan, told the court that he doubted Nuhs statement could reveal the truth behind Mirnas death.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post) Nusa Dua, Bali Wed, August 10, 2016
A professor on international terrorism from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Rohan Gunaratna, said monitoring terrorists financial activities was the key to a successful fight against terrorism.
"Finance intelligence is a very powerful tool in the fight against terrorism because money is the life blood of terrorists," he said on Tuesday.
Citing an example, Gunaratna said a terrorist leader was found to have sent 22 payments totaling Rp 1.8 billion (US$137,247.48) from Turkey through Western Union to Indonesia. For the Thamrin attacks in January this year, at least Rp 70 million had also been sent from Turkey to Indonesia, he went on.
Gunaratna said terrorism was a regional challenge because Indonesia and other countries in the region, such as Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, were currently struggling to combat terror threats.
He praised the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), which he said had built a very close work relationship with the police.
This has helped the police to prevent many attacks and to dismantle many terror attacks. Now, Indonesia is leading the way in building a regional framework [in the fight against terrorism]," said Gunaratna.
(Read also : Terrorist financing getting stronger: experts)
He also appreciated Indonesia's initiative to work with other countries in the region to fight terrorism. "Traditionally, historically, the fight against terrorism has only been between government agencies. But for the first time, PPATK has invited industries, such as banks, financial institutions, even private sector partners and academics, to join the effort," said the expert, who is also the author of Handbook of Terrorism in Asia Pacific.
Gunaratna is one of the experts sharing their expertise on countering terrorism during the 2nd Counter Terrorism Financing Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Tuesday.
PPATK deputy chairman Agus Santoso said the meeting aimed to strengthen regional cooperation in combating terrorism.
"Fighting against terrorism cannot be done by one country alone. We have to work together with other countries in the region. Thus, Indonesia is taking the initiative to build regional risk assessment with six other countries that border Indonesia, such as Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines," he noted. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Erika Anindita Dewi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
The National Police have decided not to pursue their report against human rights activist Haris Azhar, because they want to focus on the work of the independent team assigned to assess the veracity of his claims.
"As the reporting party, we have put our report against Haris on hold to focus on assessing the truth of the accusation regarding Freddy Budiman's testimony - which was told to Pak Haris," Boy told a press conference at a restaurant in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The drug kingpin was executed on Nusakambangan prison island, Cilacap, Central Java, on July 29. In a conversation with Haris two years ago, Freddy reportedly said that his drug operation was supported by personnel from three institutions: the National Police, the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN).
The three institutions filed a report against Haris last week, accusing him of violating the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions Law.
The independent team plans to question several parties mentioned in Freddy's story. The team, led by National Police general supervision inspectorate chief Comr. Gen. Dwi Priyatno, comprises National Police Commission (Kompolnas) commissioner Poengky Indarty, Setara Institute chairman Hendardi and University of Indonesia political communications expert Effendi Ghazali. (evi)
Just when he thought he was lucky enough to have escaped death in the horrific crash-landing incident, this Malayali man hit a one million dollar jackpot.
By India Today Web Desk: Almost every lottery win story is incredible, but there are some stories that just seem too good to be true. Here's one such incredible story of a Malayali man who had a brush with death when Emirates flight crash-landed in Dubai last week.
Just when he thought he was lucky to have escaped death in the horrific incident, 62-year-old Mohammad Basheer Abdul Khadar, hit a one million dollar jackpot.
advertisement
Mohammad Basheer, an Indian national, purchased the ticket on the ticket on Eid on his way for a vacation with his family in Thiruvananthapuram on board EK521 Emirates flight, reports the Gulf News.
Working as a fleet administrator with a car dealer in Dubai, he regularly bought raffle tickets. On Tuesday, exactly a week into the crash-landing episode, his ticket number 0845 was drawn in the Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire, and to his utter surprise, he won the lottery.
This bumper win also comes four months before he retires, Gulf News quoted him as saying,"I have been working in Dubai for 37 years, and I have always felt like this is my country. I live a simple life, and now that it's my time to retire, I feel like God gave me a second life when I survived the plane crash, and blessed me with this money to follow all this up by doing good thing."
He has a married daughter and 21-year-old son who became paralysed after an accidental fall just 13 days after birth.
When asked about his plans with the lottery win, he told the NewsMinute , "I have no great plans about how to spend the money. But I know what dignity of labour is all about, so once I retire from Dubai, I would like to go back to Kerala and start a small agricultural unit. I have seen what my son went through and would like to help children with medical issues."
He plans to come back to India after his retirement and find a job where he provide medical and financial support to children from backward communities in Kerala.
--- ENDS ---
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar says Indonesia has so far installed 1,494 Megawatts (MW) of geothermal power plants, making up 5 percent of the total 29,000 MW of geothermal potential in the country.
According to Arcandra, this means that the government can speed up the development of geothermal energy so it will account for 23 percent of the nations total energy mix, from the current 5 percent, by 2025 as stipulated by Government Regulation (PP) 79/2014 on National Energy Policy.
Indonesia aims to achieve 7,200 MW of geothermal energy by 2025.
"This target is actually not really ambitious, considering the total 29,000 MW of geothermal energy potential that we have. However, the installed capacity is now only 1,494 MW or 5 percent of total potential," Candra said, during the opening of the 4th Indonesia International Geothermal Convention and Exhibition (IIGCE) on Wednesday.
Candra said that in 2016 alone, installed geothermal power was expected to reach 1,653 MW. The additional capacity would come from Lahendong VI geothermal power plant with a capacity of 25 MW in North Sulawesi, 110 MW from Sarulla geothermal power plant in North Sumatra and 30 MW from Karaha geothermal power plant in West Java, among others, he said
"In total, there will be an additional capacity of 215 MW in 2016," he said.
To achieve its geothermal energy target, the minister said, the government would redefine geothermal energy development so that it was no longer considered a mining business. This would allow geothermal exploration activities in forests. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Abdul Sattar and Munir Ahmed (Associated Press) Quetta, Pakistan Wed, August 10, 2016
Many Pakistanis were in deep mourning on Tuesday, a day after a suicide bombing that targeted lawyers killed 70 people in the city of Quetta, touching a chord in the country's long-simmering culture war. By targeting lawyers, Islamic radicals appeared to take aim at a pillar of the country's budding civil society and a symbol of the supremacy of secular law in a modern state.
Across the country, many courts were closed and lawyers staged rallies in support of their colleagues.
But in Quetta, the capital of the southwestern province of Baluchistan, the streets were deserted. Shops were shuttered, and markets and schools closed to mourn those killed. "People are scared, and they ask, 'for how long the violence will continue?'" said Mohammad Saleem, who works at the market.
Senior attorney Mohammad Ashraf stood with several fellow lawyers outside a Quetta court building, a spot where he had often gathered for breaks with many of the lawyers killed in the bombing. The perpetrators "cannot be called humans," he said with anger. "We request that the government tracks down and punishes all those who killed innocent lawyers and other people," he added.
Tariq Lodhi, a former head of Pakistan's main civil spy agency, told The Associated Press that the attack was carried out by militants to "terrorize lawyers and judges," who are handling cases involving militants accused of carrying out attacks in the country.
A prominent local lawyer, Bilal Kasi, the president of the Baluchistan Bar Association, was on his way to work when he was shot dead by gunmen early Monday. After his death, around 100 lawyers gathered at Quetta's government-run Civil Hospital, where a suicide bomber attacked those mourning.
Survivors later described scenes of panic as the blast ripped through the emergency room, littering it with body parts.
Two journalists who had been covering the event for Pakistani TV were killed, but many of the dead and wounded were lawyers.
In a statement, Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar a breakaway faction of the militant Taliban group said its fighters killed Kasi and dozens of lawyers at the hospital. Ahsan's group has been behind several attacks in Pakistan in recent years, including a deadly Easter Sunday bombing in a park in the eastern city of Lahore that killed at least 70 people.
But in what was likely an opportunistic statement, the Islamic State group also claimed responsibility for the Quetta attack later on Monday. There have been instances of competing claims in previous attacks in Pakistan.
It was not the first time that militants in Pakistan have targeted lawyers. Last year, gunmen in the northwestern city of Peshawar killed Samiullah Khan Afridi, a former lawyer for the Pakistani doctor who helped the US find Osama bin Laden. Earlier this year, the son of the supreme chief justice of Sindh High Court was kidnapped, and a suicide bomb attack outside a courtroom in Pakistan's north-east killed 11 people in March.
The Quetta bombing was, however, the deadliest attack to hit Pakistan's legal community.
Bilal Kasi, the first lawyers targeted, was among the most outspoken lawyers in Baluchistan province and was popular for campaigning for improvements to the judiciary. Tahir Hussein, an advocate, said his friend Kasi practiced criminal law and was not involved in any cases involving militants. He did not believe that militants had specifically targeted lawyers.
"Terrorists do not differentiate between doctors and engineers and lawyers or policemen. They kill people to spread fear," Hussein said.
Yet lawyers also represent a powerful segment of Pakistan's civil society, which has played a key role in turning popular opinion against Islamic militant groups such as the Taliban. Many Pakistanis, particularly religious conservatives, tolerated or even supported the Taliban and opposed the military's campaign against militants. But this changed in the wake of a series of brutal attacks against civilians, such as an attack on a school in Peshawar that killed 156 people in 2014.
Pakistan's growing civil society has been vocal of its opposition to the narrow, rigid interpretation of Islam espoused by groups such as the Taliban. Many of the lawyers killed were pursuing cases involving human rights violations.
The legal community has also emerged as a powerful political actor in Pakistan. In 2007, lawyers launched a campaign against then-President Pervez Musharraf for sacking the chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. Later, political parties joined the campaign and Musharraf was forced to quit in 2008 and Chaudhry was reinstated.
For militants, lawyers are representatives of a civil society that increasingly rejects their hard-line interpretations of Islam, and agents of the Pakistani state, which has declared open war on Islamic militant groups.
The government does not publish statistics, but dozens of militants are known to have been tried in military and civilian courts in the past year alone.
The Quetta hospital bombing was planned to inflict the maximum number of civilian casualties. It follows a series of large-scale attacks on civilian targets this year, including the storming of a school in north-eastern Pakistan in January, when 20 people were killed, and the Easter Sunday bombing.
The brutality of such attacks have undercut militants' support base, but they also underscore concerns that insurgents are still capable of striking in major cities, despite government claims of dismantling various terror networks.
Outside the courtroom later Tuesday, Sanaullah Zehri, the chief minister in the Baluchistan province, struck a defiant note. He pledged the government would trace and punish those linked to the hospital attack, vowing that the "blood of innocent people will not go to waste."
___
Associated Press Writers Ahmed in Islamabad and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report. (**)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10 2016
Oil and gas giant Pertamina is looking to Iran to boost production to support Indonesias increasingly high oil consumption.
On Monday, Pertamina signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) in Tehran, Iran, which allows the former to conduct a six-month study on two of Irans oil fields.
The two fields consist of the Ab-Teymour and the Mansouri fields, the latter of which consists of Asmari and Bangestan reservoirs. The two oil fields have a current production rate of 74,500 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and reserves of over 5 million barrels of oil.
After the six-month study of NIOCs data on the two fields is over, Pertamina will be obliged to submit a preliminary proposal on how to develop the two onshore fields.
Iran is one of Pertaminas priorities. We are serious about investing in its upstream sector and will continue to support Iran in its efforts to increase production. On the other hand, [the MoU] is also part of our companys efforts to support our national energy security, Pertamina executive director Dwi Soetjipto said in a press release.
Pertamina has been eyeing Irans oil ever since international sanctions against the country were lifted in January, in exchange for disabling much of its nuclear infrastructure.
A recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that Irans production has risen to 3.56 million bopd since then. The last time Iran achieved such crude-oil production was in November 2011. The new figure indicates that the worlds sixth-largest oil producer coming in after Saudi Arabia, Russia, the US, China and Canada is ready to move on from production stagnancy after being crippled by sanctions for years.
Apart from the development of Irans upstream sector, Pertamina has previously agreed to purchase 600,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from NIOC.
There are still many opportunities for our two companies to work together. For example, in drilling and oil services, crude and condensate oil production, LNG refinery development, petrochemical sector and other activities, Dwi said.
As Indonesias oil consumption keeps rising, Pertamina must find ways to fulfill domestic demand, which is estimated to reach 1.6 million bopd.
In the first half of the year, oil production increased by 11.3 percent to 305,000 bopd, boosted by its overseas oil fields in Algeria, Malaysia and Iraq, data from the state-owned company shows. Overseas fields produced 85,000 bopd in the January-June period.
The company also recently acquired a 24.5 percent stake in Frances second-biggest oil company Maurel & Prom (M&P) for US$200 million. Through the agreement, Pertamina will have the right to leverage around 6,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) produced by M&P, which carries out most of its business through the exploitation of onshore assets in three African countries: Gabon, Tanzania and Nigeria.
Pertamina will also receive 200,000 barrels of Premium, the brand name of subsidized gasoline, from Russias Rosneft Oil Company each month until December, making up a total of 1.2 million barrels of Premium.
--------------
To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Paul Newberry (Associated Press) Rio de Janeiro Wed, August 10, 2016
This is the one Michael Phelps really wanted, and it showed.
With challengers all around, he simply wouldn't be denied.
After touching the wall first barely he held up one finger. Then he sat on a lane rope, egging on the roaring crowd at the Olympic Aquatics Center with both hands, before emphatically pumping his fist in the direction of his fiancee and their infant son.
Once again, the gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly belongs to Phelps.
Being the 20th gold of his career only added to the satisfaction.
Making up for one of the few losses in his staggering career, Phelps held off Japan's Masato Sakai by a mere four-hundredths of a second. The winning time was 1 minute, 53.36 seconds, but that was of little concern. The only thing that mattered was getting to the wall first.
Four years ago, Phelps mistimed his finish in the swooping stroke he does better than anyone, gliding to the wall a little too long after his final stroke. That allowed Chad le Clos of South Africa to stunningly win gold in an event that Phelps had dominated for the better part of a decade.
Phelps retired after the London Games, so it looked like he wouldn't get a chance to make up for his defeat. But when he decided about a year later to start competing again, the 200 fly was clearly the title he wanted more than any other.
Le Clos was in the final again, thoroughly inspired himself by his mother and father, both battling cancer and in the stands cheering him on.
But the South African could only manage fourth this time, finishing behind bronze medalist Tamas Kenderesi of Hungary.
In what was shaping up to be another very good night for the Americans, Katie Ledecky took the most challenging step toward a feat that's only been done one other time.
Ledecky held off Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom to win the 200 freestyle and give the American star her second gold of the Rio Games.
Debbie Meyer is the only female swimmer to capture the three longest freestyle events at a single Olympics, winning the 200, 400 and 800 at Mexico City in 1968. Ledecky looks like a lock to match Meyer, having already won the 200 and 400 titles and an overwhelming favorite in the 800, where she's the world-record holder and far faster than anyone else in the world.
Fifth at the first flip turn, a bit faster than she usually goes out, Ledecky powered to the front on the third lap and grittily shooed off a hard-charging Sjostrom coming to the wall.
Ledecky touched in 1:53.73. The silver went to Sjostrom in 1:54.08, while early leader Emma McKeon faded to the bronze in 1:54.92. World-record holder Federica Pelligrini of Italy was fourth.
"That was a really tough race and it hurt really badly," Ledecky said. "I'm pretty sure it's the closest I've come to throwing up in the middle of a race. I'm just so glad I got my hand on the wall first and it was all worth it."
Ledecky knew this was the most vulnerable of her three individual events. She crushed the world record in the 400 and everyone expects her to do the same in the 800.
The 200 may be the shortest race of the bunch but it's definitely the hardest for Ledecky, requiring her to show both her speed and endurance against a far more competitive field.
"The 200 is a much more stressful race than the 400 and 800, and it always just feels good when it's over," she said. "I took it out pretty fast and kind of forced everybody to try to do that. Once I was ahead I knew I wasn't going to let it out of my hands. I knew I wasn't going to be able to see most of the field on the last 50, so I just had to dig deep."
Phelps hustled off the deck after his victory celebration, having only about an hour to get ready for his second race of the night anchoring the US in the 4x200 freestyle relay.
Conor Dywer was leading off for the Americans, followed by Townley Haas and 11-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte, competing in his first event of these games.
Phelps was picked to finish up, looking to claim gold medal No. 21.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
State electricity company PLN is set to acquire a stake in state energy giant Pertamina in PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE) as part of efforts to speed up geothermal power supply to the electricity firm.
Pertamina currently holds a 100 percent stake in PGE. Pertamina president director Dwi Soetjipto said the company was currently conducting due diligence on the acquisition, highlighting its willingness to sell some of its stake in PLN for the greater good of the nation.
It is expected that the acquisition will help accelerate the development of geothermal power plants in Indonesia.
Soetjipto said Pertamina's goal was to help PGE grow and help the government tap into the countrys 29,000 MW of geothermal energy potential.
"Currently, PGE itself has only installed 450 MW. We are targeting that in the next three to four years, it can reach above 1,000 MW," Dwi said on the sidelines of the 4th Indonesia International Geothermal Convention and Exhibition (IIGCE) on Wednesday.
PLN President Director Sofyan Basyir said the acquisition plan was partly to meet the 7,000 MW geothermal power plant target set by the government. In total, only 1,600 MW of the nations geothermal energy potential is being utilized.
[With the acquisition] we will have a greater ability to conduct geothermal explorations," he said, adding that the plan would likely decrease the high prices of geothermal power. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Evi Mariani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
The Jakarta Police have made the details of the investigation into the rape allegation from an intern at the Central Jakarta municipality office public. They divulged personal and forensics information to the local media on Tuesday, while casting doubt on the credibility of the victim's story.
Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono said they had analyzed three CCTV recordings and found that the man accused of raping M, the intern, was not at the building at the time of the alleged rape.
From the CCTV recordings, we found A was in a hotel in Tanah Abang. He was with his two colleagues working on a land issue at the hotel, Awi said as quoted by kompas.com.
High school student M, 17, reported that A, assisted by H and Y, raped her on the sixth floor of the building at about 12 p.m. From witness testimony, the police said they found that H was not on duty and at his house, while Y was not on the sixth floor at that time.
The police said they questioned 21 colleagues who confirmed the findings.
Awi said the police confronted the victim with H and Y but M did not recognize either of them, she only recognized A.
During a forensics examination, he said the police also did not find any new injuries that could indicate she had been raped.
Sri Wiyanti Eddyono, a lecturer at Gadjah Mada Universitys School of Law in Yogyakarta, said the polices move to confront the victim with the accused men was very improper in dealing with sexual violence cases. They should refer the victim to psychological counseling, she told thejakartapost.com.
She said the police were obliged to find sufficient evidence, but there was the possibility that the police had discovered evidence that did not confirm the victims account.
Sri, who was a lawyer at the Legal Aid Foundation of Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (LBH APIK), said for young victims, inconsistent reports were possible.
Perhaps the same event happened with the same person but at a different time, or there was another event the victim associated with the event she reported to the police. For the victims best interest, especially for young victims, the police should investigate the case with sensitivity and they should not have divulged the process to the public, she said.
Especially if the disclosure created a stigma for the victim, Sri went on to say.
Last week, Ms parents reported a man identified as A, a civil servant at the Central Jakarta municipal office to the police. The victim said she was assaulted by three men during a lunch break in an empty room in the municipality building. They made her unconscious and when she woke up, she found herself naked in the room.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10 2016
A government-sanctioned team has told the National Police to halt Operation Tinombala in Poso, Central Sulawesi. The team has offered itself up as a mediator to coax the remaining 16 terrorists allegedly hiding in the jungle to lay down their arms and surrender.
The 16 terrorists, the followers of recently killed terrorist Santoso, will be asked to voluntarily turn themselves in to authorities.
The team, consisting of 13 prominent figures, made the call after its recent visit to Poso attained guarantees from the family members of the remaining terrorists that the terrorists would surrender to the police if President Joko Jokowi Widodo issued a legal assurance that they would receive amnesty from the State Palace.
From interviews with residents in Poso, the team, which was setup by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), found that individuals linked to the Santoso group were tired of fighting the government. They want peace and reconciliation to bring about recovery in Poso after the death of Santoso, the team claims.
The governments decision to extend the security operation to hunt Santosos followers will cost a lot of money and bring back old wounds that could create new conflict in the future, the team says. So far, it has cost around Rp 60 billion (US$4.6 million).
We will work with the National Police as well as the National Counterterrorism Agency [BNPT] to bring the 16 people in through a soft approach. Poso needs a soft recovery approach after facing 18 years of restless [conflict], team member Busyro Muqoddas told a press briefing on Tuesday.
Established on July 15, the team flew to Poso to collect data in order to push for a reconciliation process after the death of Santoso. The team also received an assurance from local clerics, both Muslim and Christian, that the remaining terrorists would be treated well after their capture and return to society.
The team is also focused on pushing for economic recovery in Poso as part of the reconciliation process. The team has also received assurances from the private sector that they could give jobs to Santosos followers in the aftermath of the peace process.
The years-long security operation has also affected the local economy, especially farmers who make a living from the jungle.
The hunt for Santoso has been the most expensive counterterrorism operation in the nations history, having dragged on since 2007 under different names. Operation Tinombala is also the first such operation to see military involvement.
The proposal to terminate the mission is currently being discussed at the House of Representatives due to budget constraints.
During its time in Poso, the team also met with locals who had received injuries while the operation was going on in their area.
National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian is said to support the teams moves in Poso. The National Police will ensure the security of the team members while they finish their field investigation.
However, the team has yet to receive an answer from Tito on whether he will terminate the operation while the team works on the reconciliation process over the coming months.
Another team member, Bambang Widodo Umar, said the team would also recommend that the National Police apply a more humane approach in the future.
Komnas HAM commissioner Siane Indriani, a member of the team, said the team had found that Santoso and his followers fought the government after they were disappointed over the result of the Malino agreements that ended all legal processes of alleged perpetrators during conflict in Poso.
They are part of the conflicts residue. They feel there was injustice in terms of law, said Siane.
The team proposes that the remaining 16 followers of Santoso be given amnesty without having to face legal charges.
__________________________________________
To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Thomas Lembong (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10 2016
Having just handed off at the Trade Ministry and taken over at the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), now is a unique moment for me to comment on Indonesias trade and investment, two issues that are actually closely interlinked.
I believe that we can expect a lot of continuity in our governments international trade policy, notwithstanding that a new trade minister was appointed in the recent Cabinet reshuffle. New Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita has moved swiftly to implement President Joko Jokowi Widodos instructions during the first plenary Cabinet meeting post-reshuffle: (1) that there is only the vision of the President and Vice President, and (2) the importance of solidity in the Cabinet, by which I believe he means teamwork.
First, Minister Enggar has instructed the leadership of the Trade Ministry to continue all the programs on the international side, such as our pursuit of trade agreements with the European Union and with Australia. Second, with the big-hearted spirit and self-confidence that comes from being a highly successful person, Minister Enggar then invited me to continue to contribute to our international trade agenda. Obviously, Im delighted to oblige. The first follows the vision of President Jokowi; the second is a welcome gesture toward Cabinet teamwork.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Farida Susanty (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
The government reiterated on Tuesday its commitment to accelerate the completion of major infrastructure projects across the archipelago, among President Joko Jokowi Widodos priority programs, in the face of a number of hurdles to their progress.
In a seminar organized by The Jakarta Post, stakeholders expressed their optimism over the future of infrastructure development in Indonesia, where economic growth has been hindered by infrastructure bottlenecks.
Toll Road Regulatory Agency (BPJT) head Herry Trisaputra Zuna said the government would not go about business as usual regarding land procurement and tenders for the governments toll road projects in an effort to beat the pressing deadlines.
The government, for example, has started to shorten the tender process for toll road projects from around 12 months to five months to ensure construction can start soon, Herry said. Land acquisition, meanwhile, is expected to be completed gradually as the construction stage goes on.
Under normal conditions, the Serang-Panimbang toll road is expected to be completed by 2019. We need to acquire land to meet that deadline, Herry said, referring to the 83.9-kilometer toll road in Banten, a national strategic project.
Earlier this year, President Jokowi issued two policies to expedite hundreds of projects listed as national strategic projects, alongside a large-scale electrification program. They comprise 225 projects in 13 sectors, such as railways and toll roads, and have received special backing and attention from the government, as stipulated by presidential regulations (Perpres) No. 3/2016 and No. 4/2016.
Despite the Presidents move to cut fuel subsidies to fund infrastructure projects at the beginning of his administration, land issues and red tape have long hampered the countrys infrastructure projects. The issues have also hindered Indonesia from growing at its potential of beyond 7 percent annually. Indonesias economy grew at a stronger-than-expected rate of 5.18 percent year-on-year (yoy) in the second quarter.
The government-sanctioned Priority Infrastructure Development Acceleration Committee (KPPIP), tasked with expediting infrastructure projects, has also set an ambitious target of seeing the groundbreaking of its 30 priority infrastructure projects by 2018.
The government will take care of the permit for the projects - we dont need investors to hurry hither and thither, KPPIP director for water resources Henry Toruan said.
The KPPIP cited projects that had begun after government intervention, including the construction of a 2 x 1,000 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Batang, Central Java.
The US$4.2 billion project, which will build Southeast Asias biggest power plant, had been delayed since 2011 as a result of land-acquisition issues. Although the projects tender was originally won in 2011, land acquisition problems plagued the project up until March this year when the Supreme Court voted to reject a challenge to a Central Java gubernatorial decree that allowed a 125,146 square-meter site to be used for the power plant.
The project is part of the governments ambitious plan to procure an additional 35,000 megawatts (MW) for the electricity grid by 2019.
State electricity firm PLN, meanwhile, stated it was still upbeat over the progress of the electrification project, despite only 195 MW having been added to the grid as of last month.
People say we are running behind schedule, but building po-wer plants does take time, PLN corporate secretary Bambang Dwiyanto said.
The local arm of US-based technology company General Electric (GE) meanwhile said the government was on the right track regarding infrastructure development.
We have been involved in a number of PLN projects. We want to invest more in Indonesia, GE Indonesia CEO Handry Satriago said.
Meanwhile, state infrastructure financing company Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (SMI) pledged to serve as a catalyst for investment in infrastructure projects.
We want to get banks to be more aggressive in entering infrastructure [projects], SMI project development and advisory director Darwin Trisna Djajawinata said.
_______________________________
To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News.
For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Irina Titova and Vladimir Isachenkov (Associated Press) St. Petersburg, Russia Wed, August 10, 2016
Turkey's president cozied up to his "dear friend" Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in a visit intended to send a message to his allies in the West, whom he blames for what he considers a lack of support after a failed coup.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pressed the United States to extradite the man he claims was behind the failed insurrection, and has sought more funds and visa-free travel from the European Union, but it's unclear what leverage improved ties with Russia could give him.
Putin, in turn, expects Turkey to become more accommodating of Russia's interests in Syria and move faster on major energy projects demands Ankara could find difficult to meet.
After their talks in St. Petersburg's ornate Konstantin Palace, both leaders emphasized their shared desire to rebuild ties, but it remained unclear if they could reach common ground on the Syrian crisis. While Moscow has backed Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout the nation's civil war and further bolstered that support by launching an air campaign last September, Turkey has pushed for Assad's removal and helped his foes.
Putin said he and Erdogan would have a separate discussion on Syria later Tuesday involving top diplomats and intelligence officials.
Repeatedly calling Putin his "dear friend," Erdogan refrained from mentioning any sticking points after the talks, saying he expects ties to fully blossom again soon. He said Turkey is ready to implement a natural gas pipeline project proposed by Moscow and a deal for Russia to build Turkey's first nuclear power plant.
Both projects were announced years earlier, but had been held back by commercial disputes even before Turkey's downing of a Russian jet at the Syrian border last November.
The shoot-down, which Putin called a "treacherous stab in the back," brought relations to a freezing point where they remained for seven months until Erdogan apologized to Russia in June. Putin responded by ordering his government to start rebuilding ties with Turkey, and when Erdogan faced the botched coup attempt on July 15 the Russian leader quickly offered his support.
Erdogan emphasized that pledge of support, saying "it was very important for us psychologically. It offered us moral support and showed Russia's solidarity with Turkey."
While Putin also spoke of rebuilding ties, he sounded more cautious, warning that it will take time to fully restore them.
Moscow has accused the Turkish government of turning a blind eye to the flow of weapons and supplies to the Islamic State group and other extremists in Syria. While the Kremlin has tempered its rhetoric amid the rapprochement, Putin will most certainly push Erdogan to cut support for the rebels engaged in a fierce battle with Assad's forces in Aleppo.
Moscow could use economic levers to force Turkey to compromise on Syria. Turkey badly needs the flow of Russian tourists to resume, and Turkish farmers, construction companies and other businesses badly need to regain access to the Russian market, which has been shut to them after the plane's downing.
Putin said Tuesday that charter flights to Turkey could resume "in the near future," but added that "painstaking work is ahead to revive trade and economic cooperation."
"This process has been launched, but it will take some time," the Russian leader said.
While ties with Russia can't substitute Turkey's economic and security cooperation with the US and the EU and its membership in NATO, Erdogan clearly hopes to use the Russia card to strengthen his hand in disputes with his Western partners.
Turkey has pressed the United States hard to extradite Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric the government blames for the failed coup. Gulen has repeatedly denied any involvement.
The dispute has strained US-Turkish ties, with some Turkish officials implying Washington could have been behind the coup. The Obama administration has strongly denied that.
Speaking after the talks with Putin, Erdogan reiterated his contention that Gulen was behind the failed insurrection and alleged that the coup plotters were also responsible for the crisis in relations with Russia. He didn't touch on Ankara's demand for Gulen's extradition.
The failed coup saw renegade Turkish military officers using jets, helicopters and tanks try to take power in a night of violence that left more than 270 people dead. Since then, about 18,000 people have been detained or arrested and nearly 70,000 others suspected of links to Gulen have been suspended or dismissed from the civil service, judiciary, education, health care and the military.
Turkish officials have fumed at expressions of concern over the sweeping crackdown from European officials and rights groups, and accused the West of failing to show support for a democratically elected government. Ankara also lashed out at the EU for failing to uphold its end of an EU-Turkey agreement on migration.
The deal, struck in March, helped stem the flow of migrants from Turkey to the nearby Greek islands in exchange for an EU pledge of funds and visa-free travel for Turks. But plans to ease visa rules have run into trouble and Erdogan accused the EU earlier this month of failing to deliver the promised funds.
In contrast with his criticism of the US and the EU, Erdogan heaped praise on Putin for offering support after the coup, saying: "We are strongly determined to take our relations to the pre-crisis and even higher level."
Putin responded in kind, saying that "higher interests of our peoples, our nations require the restoration of our ties."
___
Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara and Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report.
Sharmila continues her vow to not meet her mother till she achieves her goal- to get AFSPA repealed from Manipur.
By Indrajit Kundu: The burden of being Manipur's Iron Lady has weighed heavily on Irom Sharmila's frail shoulders. "I don't want to be seen as some Goddess. They want me to be a statue without a voice, it hurts," she said after breaking her fast on Tuesday.
But moments after her historic move, murmurs of dissent became louder on the streets of Imphal. Sharmila knew it would be an unpopular decision and the backlash was instant.
advertisement
Even though she broke her fast, Sharmila continues her vow to not meet her mother till she achieves her goal- to get AFSPA repealed from Manipur. "I miss her a lot" she says but despite being released on bail, she does not want to stay at her home.
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED Soon after she concluded her press-conference outside the JNIMS hospital special ward on Tuesday, she was whisked away by Manipur police commandos. She was first taken to the residence of Dr Thiyam Suresh, the former state health director who is known to be close to Sharmila. But locals protested against her and did not allow her to see the doctor. Dejected, the 44-year-old went to the local ISKCON temple escorted by securitymen. Later she was taken to the Imphal City police station for security reasons before being eventually brought back to the hospital where she had spent her last 16 years. Thus, despite walking free Irom Sharmila has nowhere to go, disowned by her own people. Her supporters say they are trying to fix an accommodation for her with help from the local branch of International Red Cross Society in Imphal. Meanwhile, members of the Sharmila Kanba Lup (SHAKAL) or the Save Sharmila Campaign that has steadfastly stood by her side all these years met on Wednesday afternoon to decide their future course of action. "We are all shocked. I wept for her and the people of Manipur. She should have waited for some more days to listen to the voice of the people. She was fasting for a long time and we regret that but then it was for the people of Manipur. We are very disappointed with her unilateral decision," says veteran anti-AFSPA activist Ema Ngambi. "Manipuri women have been fighting against AFSPA for the past 36 years even before Irom began her fast. So our fight will continue with or without Sharmila ," she adds. Reenu Takhellambam lost her husband in police firing in 2007. Mother of a 10 year old son, Reenu is a member of EEVFAM, the organisation of Manipuri widows and mothers of men killed by security forces. He too echoes Ngambi's disappointment over Sharmila's move. "If she marries or becomes a politician, it's her personal decision. But we are really hurt today. We have worked with her very closely. We have always supported her. But she took this decision without consulting any of us. She may have sacrificed a lot, but we as victims of AFSPA have suffered too. Without her, we too can fight. We love Manipur too," says Reenu. Hailed as an icon of Manipur for long, Sharmila today finds herself unwanted within hours after announcing her course-correction. But the Iron Lady remains resolute. "They are yet to understand my struggle, but they will one day, " she says.
ALSO READ:
Exclusive: Shunned by supporters, Irom Sharmila says India may understand me, Manipuris do not
Heres why honey is the thing Irom Sharmila broke her fast with
--- ENDS ---
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Panca Nugraha and Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Lombok/Medan Wed, August 10 2016
In the wake of the governments war against narcotics, airport authorities have foiled crystal methamphetamine, locally known as sabu-sabu, smuggling operations at several airports at least five times in the past month.
The most recent case involved three Malaysian citizens, one of whom was a pregnant woman. The three were arrested by customs and excise officers at Lombok International Airport on allegations of attempting to smuggle 1.9 kilograms of sabu-sabu into the island.
They allegedly attempted to smuggle the meth by hiding packages of the drug inside their underwear.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Dylan Amirio (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10 2016
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating on e-commerce platforms are gradually shifting their business focus toward online sales, which are more profitable and less pricey.
Bandung-based shoes producer S. Van Decka owner Fauwaz Fauzan said that his business was able to attract up to 600 orders per month through e-commerce platforms such as Lazada and Matahari Mall. He cites that it is more cost-effective and quicker to do business through e-commerce platforms, which guarantee faster growth.
The main costs for SMEs to open their own stores or distribute at physical retailers mainly entail paying rental space for the store, the transportation of products from production hubs to the store itself and paying workers wages.
Now that we sell our shoes on online marketplaces, we can make up to Rp 60 million [US$4,560] a month and process up to 50 orders a day. Van Decka has been on Lazada since 2014, where previously we used to just distribute to resellers and waited longer until we made a profit. It wasnt effective. Going online is, Fauzan said.
SMEs contribute 59 percent to the countrys gross domestic product (GDP) and account for 97 percent of jobs, with spending on information and communications technology is projected to reach $1.5 billion this year, from an overall national ICT expenditure of $29.5 billion, according to data from the International Data Corporation (IDC).
Other SMEs, such as Medan-based coffee seller Kopi Sidikalang, which only recently entered several e-commerce marketplaces despite having been active since 1945, agrees that selling online is much more convenient for both the buyer and the seller, as all transactions are direct.
Kopi Sidakalang owner Awi elaborated that the main advantage of e-commerce platforms was that the dispatch of products tended to be quicker, thus increasing the amount of sales he can make every day.
The signs were clear too when we saw that online sales through our website were performing better than anything else, Awi noted.
As one of the primary players in the Indonesian e-commerce market, Lazada Indonesia currently houses 15,000 SMEs in its marketplace.
Lazada Indonesia co-CEO Florian Holm explained that to empower SMEs in Indonesia, apart from giving them a platform to do business more efficiently, the firm had recently launched a new Buatan Indonesia (Indonesian Made) campaign, aiming to promote quality local products to the market.
This campaign is also the first part of a project that involves selling Indonesian products to foreign markets, which will be done with the help of Lazada Malaysia, he said.
Meanwhile, Indonesias biggest online marketplace, Bukalapak, currently has 1 million SMEs and 17 million users, 4 to 5 million of whom are active users.
By the end of the year, we aim to reach 2 million [SME] sellers, Bukalapak CEO Achmad Zaky said in May. With a number of parties, we will conduct training throughout the country to help more SMEs go online.
--------------
To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Suherdjoko (The Jakarta Post) Semarang Wed, August 10 2016
A female junior high school student in Semarang regency, Central Java, was allegedly raped by two men after being given an intoxicating beverage in a field near Siwarumas Park in Samban, Bawen district.
Following the incident, the alleged perpetrators left the 14-year-old girl half-naked in the field. She later sought shelter at a mosque before being found by local residents who took her to the hospital.
The incident occurred late at night on Monday last week. The girls parents reported the case on Saturday and the two suspects were nabbed three hours later.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10 2016
State-owned telecommunications firm Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) is optimistic it will meet its ambitious target of double-digit growth in three key aspects of its business performance this year on the back of bullish growth in the countrys telecommunications sector.
Telkoms financial report shows that the company, during the first six months of the year, saw its revenue go up by 15.5 percent year-on-year (yoy) to Rp 56.4 trillion (US$4.3 billion), while earnings before taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) surged by 31 percent yoy to Rp 19.8 trillion and net profit jumped by 31.6 percent yoy to Rp 9.8 trillion.
Telkom finance director Harry Zen said the company was upbeat about maintaining such levels throughout the year.
"With such achievements, we are hopeful we will achieve our target of triple double-digit [growth] by year-end," he said.
For the first time in its history, Telkom has set a goal of annual double-digit growth in revenue, EBITDA and net profit, as it is upbeat about the growth of the telecommunications sector in the country.
The sectors share of the nations gross domestic product increased by 8.47 percent yoy in the first semester, making it the second best performing sector in the country after finance. The figure is also higher than the country's overall economic growth at 5.04 percent during the same period.
Most of the time in the past, Telkom, whose initial operation can be traced back to the mid-19th century, booked either single or double digits for either revenue, EBITDA and or net profit but never double digits in all categories. The firm, with its subsidiary Telkomsel, currently dominates the local telecommunications market with 152.6 million mobile phone subscribers, more than half of the nation's 250 million population.
Harry noted the continuous progress of the biggest telecommunications operator in the country came mostly from data or internet business that surged by 42 percent in the period. Hence, to maintain this momentum, the firm is building additional base transceiver stations (BTS) to provide improved data connection nationwide, as well as abroad in places such as Singapore.
This year, the firm has allocated Rp 25 trillion for capital expenditure, mostly to build BTS to provide the most technologically up-to-date version of 3G and 4G connection nationwide. In the first semester, it has disbursed Rp 12.1 trillion to build 15,344 BTS to add to its existing 102,389 units. For other usual operational activities, the firm disbursed Rp 1.6 trillion.
Harry said the funding for capital expenditure came mostly from internal cash, "We prioritize funding from internal cash but we're still open to bank loans. We still have Rp 3.25 trillion that we got from treasury stocks as well and still have another 1.7 billion treasury stocks that we could sell up to November 2018."
He added that the firm so far had a plan to issue bonds although it is still allowed to raise up to Rp 5 trillion from the sale of debt papers until July next year.
Besides improving data business in the country, the firm also plans to expand operations in neighboring Singapore by building a data center facility and telecommunications hub, scheduled for completion in the third quarter of the year.
"We've engaged with noted vendors in Singapore and progress is on track," he said.
The data center is a five-story building built on a 8,000-squaremeter (sqm) plot of land with gross floor area of 20,000 sqm in Jurong and has gone through the tender from Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (iDA), Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) and Jurong Town Corporation (JTC).
--------------
To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post) Nusa Dua, Bali Wed, August 10, 2016
A large portion of the money used by terror groups in Indonesia comes from overseas, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) revealed on Tuesday.
PPATK deputy chairman Agus Santoso said the center had detected a large amount of money sent by entities in several countries abroad, including Australia and Middle Eastern countries, to fund terrorism in Indonesia.
They transferred the money. They had many ways of sending the funds, for example, through our migrant workers in Malaysia, Singapore and Middle Eastern countries. The money can be directed to Indonesia through various countries such as Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and many more," he said.
Agus refused to give more details on the amount of money transferred from abroad to finance terror activities in Indonesia. He said the PPATKs intelligence data could not be made public, as it could be given only to law enforcement bodies such as the National Polices Densus 88 counterterrorism unit to track terrorist activities.
(Read also : Monitoring financial flows key in fight against terrorism: Experts)
"As a financial intelligence unit, the PPATK will provide information on networks with suspicious transactions. If a law enforcement process stands alone, it wont be successful because terrorists will neither confess to nor open their links. They might claim that they work alone, but, from their transactions, we can give evidence that they are not working alone," Agus said.
He further said the PPATK adhered to international fund transfer instructions in which every single rupiah, or a single dollars worth of transaction, must be reported to the center. "We also have cross border cash carrying procedures. Those who bring cash money across borders must be asked to reveal the source of their money," he said.
Agus was speaking during the 2nd Counter Terrorism Financing Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali. Delegates from at least 55 countries attended the meeting.
Agus said the PPATK was currently mapping out the sources of finance for terror groups in Indonesia and their membership in any terrorist-related organization.
"From Densus 88, we have a list of names of terrorists and suspected terrorists. From their transactions, we will know with whom they have made financial transactions," he said. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post) Nusa Dua, Bali Wed, August 10, 2016
Indonesia is facing tough challenges countering terrorism as financial support for terrorist groups has been getting stronger of late. Indonesia must cooperate closely with countries in the region to prevent widespread terrorism, an expert has said.
Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) deputy chairman Agus Santoso said on Tuesday terrorists had many ways of financing their activities.
"They can finance their activities independently by selling herbal food or books but then, they can shift to criminal acts, such as robbery or hacking. They can get funds in many ways, mixing illegal money with legal money," Agus said.
He was speaking during the 2nd Counter Terrorism Financing Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali. Delegates from at least 55 countries attended the meeting.
Agus explained that financing for terrorism came not only from small businesses but also from larger companies.
"The companies operate in various fields such as textile manufacturing, construction and many more. It is obvious the worlds terrorist networks have been supported with big capital," Agus said.
He further said that the educational background of terrorists also influenced their method of building up their financial sources.
"Robbery may be committed by terrorists who graduated only from elementary school, while terrorists with hacking skills may have a diploma. For those who have a company, it is probable they have a higher educational background," he added.
Co-hosted by Indonesia and Australia, the Nusa Dua summit is to follow up the first meeting held in Australia last year. The PPATK has cooperated with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) to track terrorist financing. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
A hotel association has warned the government and the legislative body that Indonesian tourism will collapse should the House of Representatives pass a bill prohibiting alcohol in the country.
The bill, introduced by the United Development Party (PPP) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), both Islamist parties, does not take into account voices from players in the tourist sector.
Despite the uproar from businesspeople in the tourist sector, like the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI), the House has continued with the bills deliberation.
"If the bill is passed, our business will be done. The tourists, who mostly come from Europe, drink alcohol all the time. It will be very inconvenient for them if they can't find alcohol," PHRI head Hariyadi Sukamdani told thejakartapost.com on Wednesday.
If passed, the law will be the first to impose a full nationwide ban on the production, distribution and consumption of drinks with an alcoholic content of 1 to 55 percent.
Hariyadi said even with a recent regulation on the distribution of alcohol issued by Rachmat Gobel, the former trade minister, business had suffered negative impacts. Many foreign tourists complained about the difficulty of finding alcoholic drinks.
"No matter how beautiful the country is, if they can't find alcohol, they won't want to come here," Hariyadi said.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Josh Lederman and Catherine Lucey (Associated Press) Wilmington, N.C. Wed, August 10, 2016
Donald Trump ignited a fresh political firestorm Tuesday by declaring gun rights supporters might find a way to stop Hillary Clinton if she defeats him and then names anti-gun Supreme Court justices. Democrats pounced, accusing him of openly encouraging violence against his opponent.
The Republican presidential nominee has been working this week to move past distracting campaign disputes, but once again he put himself at the center of a blazing controversy.
First, he falsely claimed that Clinton, his Democratic opponent, wants to "essentially abolish the Second Amendment." She has said explicitly and repeatedly that she supports the Second Amendment right to own guns, though she does back some stricter gun control measures.
Trump then noted the power Clinton would have to nominate justices to the Supreme Court.
"By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people maybe there is, I don't know," Trump told supporters at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina. "But I'll tell you what. That will be a horrible day."
Trump's campaign sought to quell the controversy with a statement that blamed the "dishonest media" for misinterpretation. And Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, said Trump was talking about the clear election choice for pro-gun voters, not encouraging violence against Clinton.
"Of course not," Pence said in an interview with NBC Philadelphia. "Donald Trump is urging people around this country to act consistent with their convictions in the course of this election."
Yet from Trump's foes, the reaction was swift and unforgiving.
Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, called the comments "dangerous." Priorities USA, a super PAC supporting Clinton, said Trump had "suggested that someone shoot Hillary Clinton." Across the country, Democratic House and Senate candidates piled on, working to tie Trump's comments to their GOP opponents.
And the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which has endorsed Clinton, said Trump was encouraging gun violence "based on conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton."
Tweeted Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat: "@realDonaldTrump makes death threats because he's a pathetic coward who can't handle the fact that he's losing to a girl."
The National Rifle Association, the gun lobby that has endorsed Trump, came to his defense. The group wrote on Twitter that "there's nothing we can do" if Clinton is elected while urging voters to defeat her in November.
The controversy immediately overwhelmed Trump's intended campaign-trail focus: the economic plan he unveiled just a day earlier and was promoting during a series of rallies in the most competitive general election states. It also reinforced the concern, voiced by many worried Republicans, that he cannot stay disciplined and avoid inflammatory remarks that imperil not only his White House prospects but the re-election chances of many GOP lawmakers.
Clinton's supporters are hoping the latest Trump trip-up will lead yet more of his fellow Republicans to defect. A day earlier, Maine Sen. Susan Collins became the latest to declare she won't vote for her party's nominee, explicitly pointing to his "constant stream of cruel comments."
The US Secret Service, responsible for both Clinton's and Trump's protections, said it was aware of what Trump had said but declined to say whether it planned to investigate.
Contrary to Trump's remarks, Clinton has made her support for gun rights a key piece of her stump speech in a bid to pre-empt attacks from Trump and groups like the NRA. Still, she supports reinstating a federal assault weapons ban, expanding background checks and barring purchases by domestic abusers, among other steps.
"I'm not here to repeal the Second Amendment," she said in her Democratic National Convention speech. "I'm not here to take away your guns. I just don't want you to be shot by someone who shouldn't have a gun in the first place."
Clinton spent Tuesday in Florida calling for emergency public health action on the Zika virus while visiting the Miami area dealing with the first U.S. outbreak. At a local health clinic, she urged Congress to cut short its summer recess and immediately pass funding for a Zika response.
"Everybody has a stake in this. And that's really why I'm here," Clinton said. "We don't want to wake up in a year and read more stories about babies like the little girl who just died in Houston."
It's an issue that could affect votes in this crucial swing state where she has held a small advantage in recent polls. So far, Trump has not addressed the issue in depth, though he told a Florida television station last week that Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, "really seems to have it under control in Florida."
Obama, Clinton and Democrats blame Republicans for politicizing the legislation by adding a provision to a $1.1 billion take-it-or-leave-it measure that would have blocked Planned Parenthood clinics in Puerto Rico from receiving money.
Republicans, in turn, say the administration has not spent money that has already been provided and it's the Democrats who are playing politics in an election year.
___
Lucey reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Lisa Lerer and Jonathan Lemire contributed to this report.
___
Follow Josh Lederman at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP and Catherine Lucey at https://twitter.com/catherine_lucey
___
What political news is the world searching for on Google and talking about on Twitter? Find out via AP's Election Buzz interactive. http://elections.ap.org/buzz (**)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Sarah El Deeb and Zeina Karam (Associated Press) Beirut Wed, August 10, 2016
Minutes after news broke of a coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, government-held areas in Syria broke out in celebratory gunfire, heralding what they believed was the removal of the leader they blame for fueling their country's five-year civil war.
Erdogan survived the insurrection, and judging by the surprise reversal of rebel fortunes in Aleppo this week, so has his government's support for the Syrian opposition. But Turkey, post-coup, is realigning, and as tensions with the West soar, Erdogan has shown a desire to mend fences with Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
On Tuesday, following talks in St. Petersburg, Russia, with President Vladimir Putin, the Turkish leader agreed to hold a separate discussion on Syria, involving top military and intelligence officials.
The meeting Erdogan's first trip abroad following the July 15 failed coup attempt comes amid boiling tensions over the contested northern city of Aleppo near the Turkish border, with both nations supporting opposing sides.
Here is a look at the Turkish involvement in Syria and how Turkey's latest post-coup realignment may play out:
HISTORY OF RELATIONS
Erdogan was among the first world leaders to demand Assad step down, calling him a "murderous butcher" after his forces opened fire on demonstrators months after protests against him erupted in 2011. It was a dramatic shift in relations between the two leaders, who had developed close personal ties and overseen the dramatic rapprochement between their two countries after they nearly went to war in the late 1990s over Syria's hosting of the main Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan.
Erdogan had personally pushed back against US pressure to isolate Assad at the start of the Iraq war. As Washington accused Damascus of allowing foreign fighters into Iraq, Erdogan invited Assad to vacation in Turkey, maintaining that good relations were necessary with his neighbor, who was helping him against Kurdish rebels seeking independence.
Erdogan also personally mediated between Israel and Syria in 2008 to resume peace talks, at a time when Ankara was on good terms with Israel.
Erdogan, whose Justice and Development Party has roots in Turkey's Islamic movement, is a strong backer of the Muslim Brotherhood, a global Islamic group that played an important role in the uprisings in Egypt and Syria, starting in 2011.
As a man who prided himself on being the main democratic leader with Islamist credentials in the region, this and his early bet that Assad's days were numbered, may be the single most important reasons behind the irreparable rift between the two leaders.
SUPPORT FOR REBELS
While residents in Assad strongholds celebrated the coup attempt against Erdogan as it unfolded last month, thousands of Syrians in Istanbul demonstrated in support of the Turkish leader. That's because Erdogan's government has been one of the most hawkish supporters of the predominantly Sunni Muslim insurgency against Assad. The country hosts most of the Syrian opposition and has served as a staging area for the fighters, providing them with offices, training facilities, intelligence and other logistical support.
As the only NATO country bordering Syria, its air bases have been used for coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State group. Border controls were an issue between Washington and Ankara, as foreign fighters trickled into Syria from Turkey in droves during the early years of the conflict.
Last year, amid growing frustration with US inaction on Syria and casting aside Washington's concerns about aiding extremists groups, Turkey and Saudi Arabia started a new and aggressive strategy to help rebel groups bring about the fall of Assad.
After years of being at odds, the agreement struck between the two regional powerhouses led to the setting up of a joint command center in the Syrian province of Idlib. That coalition, called the Army of Conquest, wrestled control of Idlib province from Assad's forces last year, ushering in a Russian aerial campaign that began in September to help Assad's flailing forces.
"The Army of Conquest was a Turkish-led project, said Faysal Itani, a researcher with the Washington-based Atlantic Council.
That alliance, led by al-Qaeda's branch in Syria, managed to breach the government siege on Aleppo this week.
An Aleppo activist said thousands of ethnic Turkic fighters, who have become an important feature of the battleground in Syria funneling through Turkey, were the decisive factor in the battle. Borders were also kept open for the wounded to travel out of Syria, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter to the media.
WILL THE FAILED COUP AFFECT SYRIA?
It's too early to tell whether the political turmoil in Turkey following last month's failed coup will affect Turkish involvement in Syria's civil war. But the massive and surprisingly well coordinated counteroffensive by rebels in Aleppo this week appears to have been supported at least in part by Turkey.
For years Turkey has built up insurgent groups in Aleppo province, which it used as a tool against Assad and its Kurdish enemies.
Aleppo is the most important battleground for Turkey, because of its proximity and its historic ties. The breach of the siege in Aleppo was a tactical win for Turkey, Itani said.
Ahmed Ramadan, a member of the Turkey-based Syrian opposition, said it is unlikely the Turkish-Russian rapprochement will undermine Ankara's support for the rebels. He said it was time for Moscow to realize there is no military solution in Syria.
"Aleppo battle pushes the political process forward and not the other way around," he said.
Erdogan, so far, has shown no sign of throwing in the towel.
"We don't want Syria's disintegration, but the departure of Bashar Assad," the Turkish leader said in an interview with Russia's Tass news agency. He added, however, that "mutual action by Russia and Turkey" was necessary to solve the Syrian conflict.
MENDING TIES
Tensions between Turkey and Russia peaked in late 2015 after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane it said had entered Turkish airspace from neighboring war-torn Syria. In June, Erdogan sent a much-anticipated letter of apology to Putin.
Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat and visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, said the issue of Syria is the most difficult topic facing the two leaders as they met Tuesday, and mending ties is unlikely to cause dramatic changes in Ankara's policies toward Syria given its large investment and public support for the Syrian opposition over the years.
Still, Turkey has had to down scale its ambitions in Syria amid lack of enthusiasm from the international community for regime change, Ulgen said.
That may make Turkey more willing to push opposition groups it has influence over, on the political track, he said. "That is something Turkey and Russia could agree on," he said.
Syria and its allies have blamed Turkey and Saudi Arabia for the failure of previous rounds of talks to try to end Syria's civil war, by backing opposition demands for Assad's removal.
For that reason, the latest rebel gains in Aleppo battle are significant for Turkey as well as the opposition.
While the opposition demonstrated its military abilities, "Turkey demonstrates to the international community that it has something to bring to the table," Ulgen said.
AL-QAEDA ON THE RISE
The breach of the siege in Aleppo was a tactical win for Turkey and its allies, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, in which the rebranded al-Qaeda played an important role. Known as Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front, before breaking ties with al-Qaeda, the rebel alliance was key to the battlefield victory.
"Turkish thinking about Jabhat al Nusra has always been that it could be folded into the broader insurgent movement and thus was a manageable potential threat," Itani said. "If that is what's happening, then good for Turkey. But the group has a longer-term goal in mind to dominate the insurgency."
"It would not be in Turkey's interest at all to have al-Qaida controlling northern Syria," he said.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, August 10, 2016
Vice President Jusuf Kalla has told the Culture and Education Ministry to review its plan to extend elementary and junior high school hours, saying that the plan is viable but cant be applied at all schools.
Kalla said many private schools had implemented the full-day system, but many aspects would have to be considered before it was extended to all schools. He made the comments on the sidelines of the forth Indonesia International Geothermal Convention and Exhibition (IIGCE) at the Jakarta Convention Center on Wednesday.
He urged the minister to asses which schools were ready to conduct trials in certain areas. "Try it first in particular areas, if the results are good, we can carry out the plan gradually. Because I'm sure not all regions need it. For example, in rural areas some students might need time to help their parents."
Newly installed Culture and Education Minister Muhadji Effendys controversial full-day school plan has drawn mounting public criticism. The extra school hours will purportedly guarantee students safety until their parents finish work. They will partly be used for character-building activities. The idea of the full-day school system came from Finland, which according to Muhadjir is home to the best human resources due to the countrys character-based education. (dmr)
Actor Megan Fox gave birth to a baby boy on August 4. Fox and hubby Brian Austin Green named their son Journey River Green.
By India Today Web Desk: Actor Megan Fox and husband Brian Austin Green have welcomed their third child. Fox gave birth to the baby boy named Journey River Green on August 4, 2016, said reports.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles star and Green, are also parents to three-year-old son Noah and two-year-old son Bodhi.
ALSO READ: Lindsay Lohan opens up on physical fight with fiance- I'm scared what Egor might do to me
ALSO READ: Suicide Squad movie review- Warner Bros' suicide mission to destroy the DC Cinematic Universe
The 30-year-old Megan confirmed her pregnancy in April at Cinemacon, when she stepped out sporting a visible baby bump.
advertisement
Though Fox filed for divorce from Green, whom she has been with for more than 10 years, in August 2015, sources close to the couple insist they have called off their split.
In April this year, the duo were photographed holding hands on the beach during a family vacation in Hawaii, where they were married in 2010.
From celebrating Megan's 30th birthday to lunch outings with their two sons, the couple have been clicked by the shutter bags many times.
--- ENDS ---
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, August 11, 2016
The Indonesian Army has said it is ready to deploy its personnel to secure the release of 10 abducted Indonesian sailors should a deal on joint land-based operations with the Philippines and Malaysia be reached in the future.
Since the first hostage-taking incidents in March, the Army has prepared its troops including its Special Forces (Kopassus) and Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad), said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mulyono on Wednesday.
"All Kopassus and Kostrad personnel, as well as Alutisista have been readied to be deployed at any time we are ordered to conduct military operations," Mulyono said.
During a trilateral meeting between the defense ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines in Bali last week, Indonesia proposed coordinated land-based operations to pursue militants who have taken Indonesian and Malaysian hostages onto Philippine land territory.
Mulyono, however, said the Philippine Constitution could not allow foreign troops to enter its territory and thus he had forbidden the Army from participating in the operation to rescue the 10 Indonesian sailors held hostage by militants in the southern Philippines.
However, Mulyono assured the public that the militaries of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines had drafted a joint strategy on how to anticipate and prevent another hostage-taking incident from occurring in the regional waters.
In early July, three Indonesian sailors were abducted in Malaysias Sabah waters, less than a month after the kidnapping of seven Indonesian crew members by Abu Sayyaf militants in the waters off the southern Philippines. (bbn)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, August 11, 2016
Attorney General M. Prasetyo has been reported by a coalition, dubbed Remove the Death Penalty (HATI), to the Prosecutors Commission for alleged violations during a recent round of executions.
The HATI coalition, which consists of the Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) and the University of Indonesia Law School's Indonesian Judicial Monitoring Society (Mappi), accused Prasetyo of violating two laws on clemency and notification of execution.
Afif Abdul Qoyim, a member of the coalition who was a lawyer in the legal team of one of the executed convicts, Humphrey Jefferson Ejike Eleweke, said his client had applied for clemency on July 27, prior to his execution.
"Based on the Clemency Law, the execution should not have been carried out before Jeff's clemency plea had been either accepted or rejected. However, until the very last second, the President's final decision still hadn't been received," Afif, of the LBH, said as quoted by kompas.com. By law, prosecutors must inform the convict 3x24 hours ahead of the execution, he added.
"On Tuesday July 26 at around 3 p.m., Humphrey was informed that the verdict was final and binding. [Therefore] the execution should have been carried out in the afternoon of July 29, not in the early hours of the morning," Afif said.
He questioned the accelerated process of Eleweke's execution, adding that Prasetyo had appeared hasty in the decision to conduct the execution. (liz/bbn)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin (The Straits Times/ANN) Singapore Wed, August 10, 2016
More than 200 new dengue cases have been reported in Singapore for the seventh consecutive week, according to the latest figures from the National Environment Agency's (NEA) dengue website.
There were 212 cases of the mosquito-borne virus in the week ending Aug 6 - nine fewer cases than in the previous week. Another 20 cases were recorded from Aug. 7 to 3 p.m. on Aug 8.
A total of 10,352 cases have been reported since the start of the year, with the figure crossing the 10,000 mark at the beginning of August.
Last week, a 79-year-old Singaporean man living in Eastwood Drive in Bedok became the seventh victim of dengue in 2016. He was admitted to hospital on July 30 and died on Aug 4 after his condition deteriorated.
Four people died of dengue fever in 2015.
While NEA said the number of cases have been fluctuating within the same range the past couple of weeks, it warned that Singapore is still in the traditional peak dengue season and that it is anticipating an upward trend of cases in the coming months.
A spate of infections at the start of the year had led experts to warn that it could led to a record 30,000 cases in 2016, surpassing the high of 22,000 cases recorded in 2013.
As of Monday, there were 47 active dengue clusters- down from 51 in the previous week.
Twelve have been classified as high-risk, with a cluster in Telok Kurau remaining the highest risk with a total of 102 cases, including seven in the last fortnight.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Julie M. Aurelio (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) Wed, August 10, 2016
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is stepping up its screening of incoming foreigners after the discovery of an alleged syndicate trafficking Vietnamese workers to the Philippines.
The agency recently interviewed scores of overstaying Vietnamese who had said they were illegally recruited by an agency to work as house helpers in the Philippines.
BI spokesperson Tonette Mangrobang said it was the first time they had heard of the Philippines as a destination for human trafficking victims.
We interviewed the Vietnamese nationals. We were surprised that we are not just a source of trafficking victims, but we are also becoming a destination, she said in a phone interview.
The BI made the discovery after a batch of 69 Vietnamese turned themselves in to the agency, wanting to legalize their immigration status and be declared as indigents.
The overstaying foreigners admitted to BI intelligence personnel that they all came to the Philippines to work as house helpers, vendors, porters and carpenters in the provinces, earning P5,000 (US$271.9 a month).
Enticed to work in the Philippines, they reportedly arrived three years ago and did not secure an extension of their visas.
According to Mangrobang, the Vietnamese worked in provinces such as Cagayan, Pangasinan, Bataan, Zambales, Batangas, and Leyte.
They did not travel in groups but in one, two or three persons per flight, she said.
The BI spokesperson added that it was unusual for foreigners to be employed as blue collar or domestic workers.
For a foreigner, this is the first time that we heard that they are employed in these jobs, usually we encounter them as owners, businessmen, investors. Not as laborers, Mangrobang said.
Mangrobang said the 69 Vietnamese nationals were allowed to leave the country last Sunday after being declared as indigents.
But they would be placed on the BIs blacklist and would not be able to return to the country until they have paid their outstanding immigration arrears for overstaying in the country.
The Vietnamese embassy sought our help in having these people declared as indigent. They are really scared that the BI will crackdown on illegal aliens, thats why they came forward, Mangrobang said.
With the conventions gone and the primaries a memory, the next major moment for this election is most likely the debates. While Trump may have hit a rough patch in terms of controversy he can bounce back if he emphasizes key points. Reminding the electorate about the gravity and importance of Supreme Court picks, which the next President will do. Furthermore, he must emphasize the corrupt nature of the Clinton camp and finally the importance of keeping America safe and reminding Independents that he is the candidate of law and order. As we head closer and closer to the election, this could make the difference between winning or losing the election.
Mr. Trump, after a rough week, must remind voters of the power the Supreme Court yields in our democracy. This is a pivotal election, our next President may be picking up to two new Supreme Court judges. Thus for those who value morality and family values it is essential to have someone who will pick conservative justices and those who make decisions based on the constitution not judicial activism. This is not something Hillary Clinton would do. In all likelihood Clinton would pick liberal justices. Thus on the Supreme Court Trump should emphasize he will indeed pick conservative constitutionalists.
Donald Trump should also hammer home to voters, especially independents, that the Clintons have a history lacking in trustworthiness. Whether lying on the email question or having a private insecure server in the first place, Clinton has shown a lack of trustworthiness. Clinton has taken money from Sharia regimes in Saudi Arabia and from dictators to the Clinton foundation. In addition, the Clinton support for trade deals which are now controversial like TPP should be emphasized. Unlike Clinton, Trump wishes to renegotiate the NAFTA deal. This stance will resonate with the voters in Steel mills towns and farms across America.
Finally, on national security Mr. Trump should show that he places national security/law and order front and center and thats why unlike Clinton he has called for a pause in the Syrian refugee program. Clinton wants to increase the Syrian refugee population not decrease it. Even our FBI director has emphasized the risk in this refugee population to America. In addition, Trump has stood with the Police while some on the left and in Black Lives Matter have promoted a culture of lawlessness. Trump should definitely remind the public that he is the law and order candidate whose main goal is to keep America secure.
Mr. Trump has tapped into a populist movement throughout America. He should continue to promote the themes which propelled him this far. His message has a massive appeal. Trade deals and Immigration are intertwined with these aspects of policy and Trump should both now and at the debates make this case. He should emphasize this and stick to the pressing issues facing America and how he will be the law and order candidate. By doing this, he may well become the next President of the USA.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh also told the Rajya Sabha that sending an all-party delegation to Kashmir, another demand repeatedly made by the Opposition, was also under the governement's consideration.
By Maha Siddiqui: Under intense pressure from the Opposition to look for a 'political' solution to the current unrest in the valley, the government has finally relented on having an all-party meeting on the subject on August 12. Home Minister Rajnath Singh also told the Rajya Sabha that sending an all-party delegation to Kashmir, another demand repeatedly made by the Opposition, was also under the governement's consideration.
advertisement
In a discussion that went on for about six hours, leader of opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad was seen directly attacking the Prime Minister for having once again spoken outside Parliament on a contentious issue he should have addressed on the floor of the House. He also said he was not impressed with the PM relying on Atal Bihari Vajpayee's proposed principles of 'insaniyat, Kashmiriyat, jamooriya' to tackle Kashmir. He said those words "sounded good only when coming from Vajpayee who believed in them," not from those who didn't.
There was also a great thrust from the Opposition today to look into the aspect of alienation of Kashmiris. While CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury stressed on addressing this issue earnestly so as to bridge the trust deficit, Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav suggested that "Pakistan was poisoning the minds of the youth" which was leading to alienation despite the pumping of funds in the state.
Derek O'Brien warned the government that clamping down on internet services will push the Kashmiri youth further away. He said, "the issue of internet penetration and Burhan Wani are linked because Burhan Wani was more dangerous on the Internet than he was on the streets. I feel Burhan Wani is more dangerous in his grave than his living room. And Burhan Wani is more dangerous when he is dead than he was alive."
This was the fourth time the issue of the unrest in the valley was raised in the Rajya Sabha and it appeared that there was a general consensus that all-stakeholders be engaged in discussions, even the separatists if need be. At this, MP from Jammu Jitender Singh added that no dialogue can then be completed without a word with the Kashmiri Pandits. As the rains lashing outside the confines of the House even as the discussion was on, brought the temperatures down, many hoped their suggestions both from their 'heads and heart' will help calm down the simmering valley.
Also read - Rajnath Singh: No power in the world can take Kashmir away from us
--- ENDS ---
Following a victory at the City Planning Commission, developer Samy Mahfar took his battle to rezone a portion of East Houston Street to the City Council this morning. He was met with strong opposition from City Council member Rosie Mendez, Community Board 3 and community activists.
Mahfar has filed an application to map a C2-5 commercial overlay in a residential (R8) district, extending from Suffolk Street to the middle of the block between Clinton and Attorney streets. The change, impacting the south side of East Houston only, would allow him to establish a restaurant or retail store in the ground floor of a 13-story rental building hes planning at 255 East Houston St. Under current zoning, only community facilities (such as a school or a medical office) are allowed in this area.
The planning commission approved the application over the objections of the community board and the Manhattan Borough President. At todays hearing of the Councils Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises, Mendez said, I am greatly concerned about this application. While a vote has not yet been scheduled, Mendezs opinion is likely to weigh heavily on her colleagues when the time comes to approve or deny the zoning change.
The District 2 council member said she participated for six years in a painstaking rezoning of 111 blocks of the Lower East Side, including the area now under review. Main goals of that process, she explained, were curtailing out-of-scale development, protecting neighborhood character and preserving community-based services. The new project will be replacing a building that housed low-income daycare centers for 40 years.
The developer argues that it makes little sense to restrict ground floor uses along a thoroughfare that already features many different kinds of shops and food/nightlife establishments. But Mendez said theres no question the community wanted street-level spaces along this part of East Houston Street to be reserved for community facilities. There is by no means, said Mendez, a shortage of places to eat and drink in my neighborhood. Yet facilities meant to provide services for people living in the area have become harder and harder to find.
Mahfars attorney, Nick Hockens, told committee members that his client respects the intent of the community boards 2008 rezoning. But he disagreed that restricting commercial uses on the south side of East Houston Street was intentional. A zoning change, Hockens asserted, would allow property owners to earn more revenue from ground floor spaces and make both market rate and affordable housing development more feasible. [This project would create 88 residential units, including 18 affordable apartments].
He also repeated claims made before the Planning Commission, saying that repeated efforts to find a tenant for the community facility failed. There is no demand for a community facility on East Houston Street, Hockens said. The developer has no interest in leasing the new 5,000 square foot space to a rowdy bar, he added. One potential tenant is a Sherwin Williams paint store. Other options, he said, are a diner or a simple restaurant. Mendez asked Hockens whether Mahfar would give preference to a not-for-profit tenant. We would like a market-rate tenant, he responded.
Samy Mahfar also answered questions this morning. The property, he said, was listed with two brokers (Sinvin and Wexler Healthcare Properties). At different times, it looked like leases might be signed with the Blue Man Group and the Cooke Center. Those deals both fell through. Mendez was skeptical about Mahfars efforts. She asked to see documentation and inquired whether advertisements were taken out to market the space. When she asked whether there would be a willingness to talk with a not-for-profit organization interested in the space, Mahfar said hed be happy to entertain the possibility.
At todays hearing, Community Board 3 District Manager Susan Stetzer noted that the Lower East Side has lost three nursing homes in the past few years. She also said the board, was never made aware that there was a problem in securing a community facility and never received a request for help. CB3 submitted letters from the executive directors of Henry Street Settlement, University Settlement and Educational Alliance. They all expressed an interest in finding additional space on the Lower East Side and said no one contacted them about the availability on East Houston Street.
Enrique Cruz, a CB3 member testifying as head of ALBOR, said its clear to him what Mahfar is attempting to accomplish. He believes the developer is simply not satisfied accepting a lower rent that a community facility might bring. What this gentleman is trying to do, said Cruz, is get $150/square foot. Thats the bottom line. He wants the community to pay for it by foregoing a community facility.
Theres disagreement as to whether Mahfar is to blame for the permanent displacement of the daycare center. In its May resolution, Community Board 3 wrote, the daycare (center) was forced to be vacated due to the open violations and the applicants failure to address them. Cruz has said he knows what transpired because he was a former partner in the neighboring project at 265 East Houston St. Mahfar declined to make repairs, said Cruz, after the work next door caused the foundation to shift. [Mahfar did not address the issue this morning. But he told the planning commission that the neighboring developers were at fault for delaying repairs. He said the city, which controlled the daycare center space, chose to terminate the lease and consolidate daycare programs.]
Council members also heard testimony from Harry Bubbins of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. There is absolutely no benefit to the public in this rezoning, he argued. It is inconceivable that an applicant with such a checkered history would be so readily accommodated by the City Planning Commission. [Tenant advocates and local residents have been at odds with Mahfar for many years, accusing the property owner of subjecting tenants to unsafe living conditions and harassment.] Bubbins highlighted Mahfars retention of Capalino+Company, the high-powered lobbyist. Here a single developer has hired a well-connected lobbying firm that is a strong fundraiser for and supporter of the mayor, said Bubbins.
The most colorful remarks of the day came from Paul Young, who co-owns a building just to the west of Mahfars development site. He told Council members that approval of the zoning change, would only be seen as an emblem of sleazy New York politics. Young added that he didnt have the money to pay off politicians, not very subtly intimating that the vote was already decided. If youre stupid enough or naive enough to believe that whats going into this space is not going to be a giant bar with screaming people all night long, said Young, youre even dumber than I think you are.
His comments prompted a strong response from Donovan Richards, the subcommittee chairman. I just want to correct you, he said. Its not a done deal. This is why were holding a public hearing. No one has been paid off in this room We make the final decision and that decision has not been reached.
Four suspects were arrested in an alleged blessing scheme in Chinatown. Cops said one woman was ripped off of $280,000 and jewelry on Grand Street. [Channel 2]
Red Square, the East Houston Street rental complex, has reportedly been sold for $100 million. [EV Grieve]
Rivington House co-owner, the Slate Group, faces new controversy over its redevelopment of the Bedford-Union Armory site. Now an investor, Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, has also come under fire. [Daily News]
In an exclusive story, WABC-TV touts Don Lees plan to reopen Park Row, which has been shut down since 9/11. What the story doesnt mention: Don Lee is a candidate for the state assembly seat in Lower Manhattan. [Channel 7]
More on very preliminary planning for an expanded pedestrian and bike path on the Brooklyn Bridge. [Gothamist]
Theres a new documentary called, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail. Its the story of a Chinatown bank that beat criminal charges. [Chicago Tribune]
Adventures in urban design: students nationwide imagine an alternative, sustainable future at Essex Crossing. [Curbed]
Our friends at the Living Theatre are hosting an open dress rehearsal tomorrow at University Settlements Performance Project in celebration of their upcoming Know Your Rites national tour. It is the first time the company has traveled to multiple American cities in many decades; it is also the first full-fledged production they have presented since co-founder Judith Malinas passing, in April of 2015.
The play, titled Seven Meditations on Political Sadomasochism, is a revival of one of the companys celebrated pieces. According to their indiegogo page, it is a visceral examination of the social contract between the governed and the government. It was written after Malina and members of the company were imprisoned-and some tortured-by the Medici dictatorship in Brazil in 1973.
The 3-week tour will also feature workshops, ritualistic street performances and readings from Malinas writings and excerpts from her last book, Full Moon Poems.
Artistic Director Brad Burgess told us, The sadistic nature of this election is very clear on many fronts I thinkWe talk about politics as anarchist pacifists, in a way that we dont have to talk about voting only, or candidates or parties as the way to have political dialogue. Our hope is that we can engage in dialogue and action that encourages people to consider being more politically active on their own behalf and on behalf of others.
As far as new leadership roles within The Living Theatre as the company moves forward, Burgess said, we do things as collectively as possible, especially as we figure out how to do things without Judith, for the first time in the companys history since she started it in 1947. No one directed this play for instance, since it was a revival, we learned it together guided by the folks who had done it before.
The troupe is running an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for the tour.
University Settlement, 184 Eldridge Street | 7:30pm to 10:30pm | $10 suggested donation
Both Jocelyn (who works on the blog with me) and I were taken by surprise with the new format of the blog- from clicks to scroll. There are changes involving Picasa, WordPress and Google all of which help power the blog. We are working through the glitches now and hope that we will be able to deliver a blog that runs smoothly as a scroll, with photos that can be enlarged for more detailed views, with easy access to "comments" and other blogs, and easy to read captions on all devices from desktop computers, to iPads to mobile devices of all sorts.
We love that you all love the blog and find it informative and useful, and we want it to be as easy to use as possible. Changes will occur and we beg you to have a bit of patience until all is ironed out.
As for the sling on my left arm- I had a clumsy fall off my horse a couple weeks ago - the low branch that swept me off Rutger's back has been removed from its Catalpa tree and my arm is on the mend. Not to worry!!! Thanks for the concern however. --Martha
If youre ever in or around Maine, please try to visit Acadia National Park. Its a beautiful 47-thousand acre Atlantic coast recreation area primarily on Mount Desert Island. Acadia is filled with pristine woodlands, rocky beaches, clear ponds and so much more. I visit every time I am up at Skylands - I love hiking its many trails and always enjoy the stunning views, and tranquility - especially now that my grandchildren, Jude and Truman, can join me.
This weekend is the annual Friends of Acadia Benefit Auction. The mission of Friends of Acadia is to preserve and to protect Acadia National Park and its surrounding communities.
Acadia National Park is very important to me and my family, and we are happy to support Friends of Acadia during this centennial year. With a special challenge grant under the FOA Second Century Campaign, we hope to encourage and inspire others to join us and give back to Acadia. By making a gift, donors can help the FOA meet its overall goal of 25-million dollars. Lets all try to preserve Acadia National Park - a truly magical place. Enjoy these photos.
This Mumbai-based journalist, who set out to travel around the world, was stranded in China with all his finances exhausted, when Mumbai's famed dabbawalas came to his rescue.
By India Today Web Desk:
What happens when you're bitten by wanderlust? You pack your bags and try to see the world. At least that's a Mumbai-based journalist planned to do, until he ran out of money and had to be rescued by the famous and efficient dabbawalas of the city of dreams.
Journalist Vishnu Chapke, 33, once interviewed a man who circumnavigated around the world by sea. The thought fascinated Vishnu, the son of a farmer, so much that he decided to quit his job and travel across the globe.
advertisement
THE TRAVELLER
Vishnu covered north-east India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and China by both road and railways in a span of just four months.
"Every year I used to go hitch-hiking. I did it in Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Sikkim and Nepal. This year, my plan was to travel within the North-East, without money or minimum money.
"On March 19, I started my journey from Thane station. I had travelled in Mumbai, Kolkata, Assam, and Manipur. The rule was very simple: Ask for lifts from vehicles and ask locals for accommodation.
I sent requests for shelter on Facebook and friends helped me. It went smooth, without any money," Vishnu told the DNA newspaper."
After spending all his savings and provident fund money, he was left completely broke and the rest of his journey was crowd-funded.
DABBAWALAS TO THE RESCUE
"There was a time when my Vietnam visa was set to expire and I could have been in serious trouble with the authorities. Cambodia and Japan refused visas. A Chinese journalist helped me get a visa for China," Vishnu told Times of India.
After he reached China, he contacted Subhash Talekar, a dabbawala he once interviewed for a newspaper article.
According to Subhash, "Earlier this month, Vishnu touched base with me from China on WhatsApp as he had no money for international calls. His trip sounded crazy and gutsy. We wanted to help in whatever way we could."
The dabbawalas decided to circulate handouts to their 2,000 customers in South Mumbai, with Vishnu's plea for donations.
And far away from his home, he found himself anything but alone with these dabbawalas coming to his aid.
NOW WHAT
This gesture has given Vishnu hope and strength to carry out his travel endeavours with new zeal. He is now trying to figure out how to board a cargo vessel that will take him to Australia where he plans to cycle from one coast to the other.
advertisement
Vishnu does odd jobs in exchange for food and shelter and is still chasing his dreams. Since he is out there on a tight budget, you can help him with donations too.
Here's his Twitter handle.
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) NDMC vice chairman and former BJP MLA Karan Singh Tanwar today alleged that his pension has been blocked for over two years and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is "doing politics" over the issue.
"The former MLAs and metropolitan councillors are being deliberately disgraced by denying them their legitimate pensions. I have not got a single penny of my pension since 2013," he alleged at a press conference.
advertisement
The BJP leader said he has learnt from "reliable sources" that legitimate pension is being withheld on the "instructions of Kejriwal" so that "I can be victimized and my self-respect is crushed and a clear message is given to Opposition that not a leaf can move without his wish".
Tanwar said he was Councillor of Delhi Cantt Board from 1979 to 1983, Metropolitan Councillor from 1983 to 1990 and elected as Delhi MLA during 1993-1998, 2003-2008 and 2008-2013.
He claimed an approximate Rs 8 lakh is is due to be paid to him as pension.
He has written to Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung seeking his intervention into the issue. PTI GJS TIR ZMN TIR
--- ENDS ---
Another year, another Woody Allen movie, but this time, the veteran New Yorker has most definitely got his groove back.
True, the past twenty or so years havent always been great for the legendary filmmaker. Churning out a brand new film every year takes its toll, and more often than not, the results havent been great.
Happily though, Cafe Society is one of the few exceptions to this sad new rule.
He may have been basically doing the same thing over and over for the past half-century, but you can always guarantee that when Allens good, hes great.
Punchy characters, human stories and always underpinned by his beautifully unique sense of wit; its a hefty recipe and one that, thanks to being well balanced, makes his latest effort his best since 2011s heavily-celebrated Midnight In Paris.
Although not quite as flashy, Cafe Society still very firmly grabs you from the get-go, lunging effortlessly into 1930s Los Angeles and charting the comedic misadventures of a young Jewish New Yorker (Jesse Eisenberg, standing in for Allen himself - surprise surprise), attempting to make a start in the movie business with the help of his estranged uncle (Steve Carell), a hotshot Hollywood talent agent.
The story takes a few shakes and shimmies from here, largely morphing into a tale of out-and-out romance, spanning many years and many cities, but always somehow staying wildly on target.
Allens infamous for deleting numerous subplots and characters in the editing room, once even reshooting an entire movie after being unhappy with the result, so his works too often feel somewhat disjointed. Cafe Society however, escapes almost entirely unscathed.
In fact, as Eisenbergs naive go-getter Bobby finds himself hopelessly pining after Kirsten Stewarts cute-but-taken secretary Veronica, you really begin to get a sense of the Allen of the past shining through. The cleverly wrapped cynicism of his comedy remains, but for the first time in a while, theres a genuine sense of romanticism involved too.
And, despite the period setting, this isnt just echoed through some sort of nostalgia trip like previous recent efforts either. This is a tale of love and loss that really feels genuine and masterfully woven together underneath; theres a real emotional weight that lingers, far beyond the final frame.
Part of this lands on the shoulders of the fantastically likeable Eisenberg, and his seasoned chemistry with the otherwise fine Stewart, but mostly it just really feels like Woody finally has his groove back again.
Roughly half way in, Allen pulls the story back around to New York, framing such a jump with one simple shot: a classical glimpse of Manhattan, buzzing with life, as seen (much like a particular famous Allen moment) from below the Queensborough Bridge. A pang of jazzy horns and were back in his masterworks of the 70s. Its almost like he never left.
Sure there are a few mismatched moments that bubble away underneath the romance: a hammy 30s gangster turn from Corey Stoll that disappears in the edit, a throwaway Blake Lively who is bafflingly underused, but in the long run, Cafe Society is an unquestionable hit.
To see Allen back to his almost-best and still cracking wise in the city that made him is an absolute delight, and flaws or not, it remains one of his most beautiful films in a long, long while.
Cafe Society is released in the UK 2nd September.
According to the study by marbles.com the Staffordshire town offers the affordable prices that uni students dream of. Out of the 50 cities researched, the cheapest pint is located in Keele at just 2.50. Overall, this town, home to Keele University, can also boast some of the most inexpensive rent and travel costs as well. Other affordable towns include Leeds, where the cheapest kebab is located, Colchester, home to the lowest priced gym pass and Loughborough, with cinema tickets for a mere 4.50. Stay far away from the London area universities if youre worried about high costs; the last nine towns on the list are all located there, meaning they are considered to be the most expensive places to attend uni. A cinema ticket could cost you about 12.00, and a pint runs at 4.00 on average. Check this infographic out for the full list.
Unfortunately, The Content Is Not Here
You have arrived at this page because the page or post you were looking for no longer exists. Please check our main navigation pages for other content:
Home Page
Tentang Situs Slot Online Resmi MGS88 Nama Situs MGS88 Minimal Deposit Rp. 10.000,- (Sepuluh Ribu Rupiah) Proses Deposit 2 Menit Metode Deposit Bank Transfer, Pulsa, E-Wallet Judi Online Terbaik Slot Online, Judi Bola, Casino Online, Togel Online, Tembak Ikan Provider Slot Gacor Mudah Maxwin Pragmatic Play, PGSoft, MicroGaming, Habanero Slot Gacor Gampang Menang Gates of Olympus, Sweet Bonanza, Wild West Gold, Starlight Princess Win Rate 98%
RTP Live Slot Gacor Tertinggi Hari Ini Terbaru Terlengkap
Selamat datang di halaman RTP live dan informasi soal slot gacor hari ini dari situs MGS88 yang setiap hari selalu update. Berdasarkan RTP Live MGS88, Anda bisa mendapatkan informasi tentang slot online yang saat ini yang sedang Gacor atau onfire dengan persentase yang terbukti akurat, ini bisa menjadi rekomendasi anda sebelum memilih permainan slot online di situs MGS88. Cek RTP Slot sekarang juga bosku
Klik Provider Slot Untuk Mengetahui RTP Slot Secara Real Time
Selamat datang bagi kalian yang sedang mencari situs RTP Live terlengkap dan terkini hari ini. Sangat sesuai jika Anda mengunjungi website MGS88 RTP live untuk informasi tentang permainan slot yang lagi gacor dengan slot RTP yang terupdate. Persentase kemenangan yang kami berikan tentunya diambil dengan data yang sangat valid dan hanya untuk permainan slot yang tersedia di situs MGS88. RTP yang tersedia juga akan selalu diperbarui setiap hari berdasarkan level kemenangan yang diberikan kepada member kami.
Memang sih untuk bermain slot itu tergantung hoki dari setiap pemain, Namun RTP live atau bocoran slot dari yang kami sediakan ini adalah data autentik dari banyaknya pemain yang telah bermain dan mencapai kemenangan tinggi. Sederhananya, kalau banyak pemain yang menang di dalam 1 permainan slot, karena itu permainan slot tersebut akan mempunyai persentase RTP yang sangat tinggi.
Namun kami tegaskan sekali lagi, ini bukan sebuah paksaan kami situs MGS88 untuk anda bermain di game slot yang mana. Ini bisa dijadikan sebagai referensi atau tolok ukur, boleh dicoba kalau anda mempunyai feel yang kuat dalam memainkan permainan game slot. Anda dapat mengakses kapan saja dan di mana saja selama anda siap bermain. Jangan ragu untuk bertanya ya seputar pola putaran terhadap kami, sebab kami juga menyediakannya loh.
Apa itu RTP Live?
RTP Live ialah informasi mengenai persentase tertinggi saat ini dari hasil RTP Live dengan bocoran kemenangan pemain saat ini. RTP Live merupakan singkatan dari Return To Play atau bisa juga diartikan sebagai Return to Player. Karena itu, para pemain slot sekarang jika ingin mengetahui seberapa besar kemenangannya, bisa dengan memainkan permainan yang akan dimainkannya dan bisa untung dengan mudah dan tentunya maksimal.
Apa itu RTP Slot?
RTP Slot juga dikenal sebagai return to player atau pengembalian ke Pemain. RTP slot ialah persentase dari nilai pengembalian semua uang yang dipertaruhkan pemain dari waktu ke waktu. Dengan kata lain, RTP juga dianggap sebagai salah satu fitur slot yang mengembalikan uang pemain saat pemain kalah.
Persentase digunakan untuk menghitung RTP dalam permainan slot. Misalnya, jika slot memiliki RTP 97%, itu berarti untuk setiap 100.000 koin yang hilang di slot, slot dapat mengembalikan 97.000. Jika Anda mengetahui RTP sebuah permainan slot, Anda dapat memutuskan permainan slot mana yang akan dimainkan tanpa kerugian besar.
Apakah Angka Persentase RTP Slot Itu Penting?
Biasanya pemain slot itu tidak memperhatikan RTP dalam permainan yang akan dimainkan, biasanya setelah anda mengisi saldo utama anda akan langsung buru-buru memainkannya. Yang terakhir 90-96% mempengaruhi jumlah kemenangan. Semakin tinggi jumlah RTP yang digunakan, semakin luas peluang untuk mendapatkan keuntungan.
Akan namun itu segala tak secara 100% menjamin kemenangan kau dalam bermain, RTP itu cuma sebagai kalkulasi pengeluaran anda saja selama bermain slot.Dengan adanya RTP, kau dapat mengerjakan pengaturan atas uang yang akan kau pertaruhkan nanti pada ketika bermain.Untuk itu pada ketika kau bermain slot dan telah mengalami banyak kekalahan di satu permainan, direkomendasikan kau pindah ke permainan slot lainnya yang RTP nya lebih tinggi dari permainan yang tadi kau mainkan.
Keuntungan Menggunakan Bocoran RTP Slot Hari Ini
Situs MGS88 Akan dengan senang hati akan beberapa keuntungan yang didapatkan jika anda bermain slot dengan menggunakan RTP Live yang telah disediakan. Berikut Keuntungannya :
Peluang Kemenangan Meningkat Tentu saja, saat bermain slot online, menang adalah hal yang paling penting. Di sinilah RTP berperan sebagai metode atau metode baru yang akan membantu Anda memilih permainan slot persentase tinggi. Mendapat variasi dalam Memainkan Game Slot Pastinya banyak pemain slot online yang hanya memainkan 3-5 permainan slot saja. Namun dengan RTP Live slot akan memberikan banyak game slot lain yang bisa anda coba. Tentunya semua permainan slot memiliki potensi kemenangan yang besar, jadi jangan hanya mengandalkan beberapa permainan saja. Menambah Pengalaman Dalam Bermain Slot Keuntungan terakhir adalah Anda tentu saja menambah pengalaman dan keahlian dalam permainan slot online. Dengan berbagai macam permainan slot yang dimainkan, Anda pasti mengetahui karakteristik dari setiap permainan slot yang Anda mainkan. Akibatnya, Anda pasti bisa dianggap sebagai pemain slot yang andal, yang pasti akan meningkatkan peluang Anda untuk menang besar menggunakan RTP.
Daftar 8 Situs Dengan RTP Slot Live Tertinggi Hari Ini
Ada banyak penyedia mesin slot online di internet. Tetapi tidak semuanya memiliki peluang tinggi atau RTP Live Slot yang sangat tinggi. Tapi jangan khawatir, berikut ini adalah situs slot gacor yang akan memberikan bocoran slot dengan RTP Live Tertinggi:
RTP Live Slot Pragmatic Play (RTP Slot 97.85%) RTP Live Slot PG Soft (RTP Live 96.15%) RTP Live Slot Habanero (RTP Slot 95.89%) RTP Live Slot CQ9 (RTP Live 98.83%) RTP Live Slot Spade Gaming (RTP Live 94.99%) RTP Live Slot Micro Gaming (RTP Slot 95.39%) RTP Slot Live Top Trend Gaming (RTP Live 96.14%) RTP Slot Live JOKER123 (RTP Live 97.45%)
Itulah Daftar 8 Provider Slot Gacor dengan RTP Live teratas diatas tentunya kami analisa terlebih dahulu. Anda bisa membuktikannya langsung dengan mengklik banner atau meprovider game slot yang sudah tersedia di atas. Saran kami yaitu Anda harus memainkan semua penyedia slot di atas untuk mencapai peluang kemenangan terbaik.
Daftar Slot RTP Live Tertinggi Sering Kasih Jackpot
Selain mempertimbangkan RTP Slot Gacor yang ada, sebenarnya ada banyak faktor penting untuk menang dalam permainan judi online. Sebab ada banyak game yang memiliki fitur dan mekanisme unik dan bisa membantu anda meraih Jackpot yang sangat besar.
Berikut ini akan kami ulas daftar 5 game slot paling populer karena sering memberikan jackpot:
RTP Live Gates of Olympus Gates of Olympus adalah game slot teraneh dan terbaik di Indonesia. Karena permainan mesin slot ini paling populer karena kakek Zeus dapat mengizinkan pengganda x500. Selain itu, fitur dan mekanik Gates of Olympus juga sangat menguntungkan untuk memenangkan Grand Jackpot. Secara teoritis, RTP slot langsung Gates of Olympus bernilai 96,50%, yang berarti peluang Anda untuk memenangkan MaxWin cukup tinggi. RTP live Sweet Bonanza Sweet Bonanza adalah permainan slot terpopuler kedua. Game slot bertema buah dan permen yang lezat ini sepertinya akan menarik banyak perhatian karena tergolong slot gacor yang mudah menang. Secara teoritis, slot Sweet Bonanza RTP bernilai 96,48%, yang berarti peluang Anda cukup tinggi untuk memenangkan jackpot. RTP Live Wild West Gold Wild West Gold adalah permainan slot bertema koboi yang juga populer di kalangan penggemar konspirasi. Permainan slot Wild West Gold sendiri kerap menawarkan kejutan jackpot bagi para pemainnya. Selain itu, nilai RTP Live Slot menunjukkan indeks tertinggi hari ini, yang berarti sangat layak dan sangat direkomendasikan. RTP Live Starlight Princess Slot Starlight Princess ini memiliki gaya dan fitur yang mirip dengan Gates of Olympus. Perbedaannya hanya pada desain dan karakter gamenya saja, karena memiliki fitur dan mekanik yang sama tentunya RTP slot teoritis pada game slot ini sama yaitu 96,50%. RTP Live Cash Elevator Mungkin sebagian dari Anda baru mengenal slot Cash Elevator. Namun dari data benchmark yang diungkap, ternyata banyak sekali yang menikmati permainan slot ini. Dengan fitur dan mekanisme unik seperti Lift up and down asli, slot ini juga memiliki slot RTP Live dasar 96,64% yang juga memiliki mekanisme yang sangat menguntungkan untuk memperlancar tingkat kemenangan besar.
Bocoran Jam Main Slot Gacor Hari Ini
Dalam bermain permainan slot online itu tidak bisa dilakukan dengan sembarangan yah. Jadi, Jika anda bermain pada waktu tertentu seperti yang akan kita bahas sesaat lagi, ada kemungkinan anda untuk mendapatkan kemenangan lebih tinggi. Jam RTP Slot Gacor merupakan bocoran jam main slot yang akan memberikan anda kapan waktu yang pas dalam bermain game slot.
Tentu saja seluruh provider slot online memiliki jam tertentu dalam memberikan peluang kepada para pemainnya untuk mendapatkan kemenangan. Disini kami akan memberikan anda Bocoran Jam Slot Gacor yang Paling Akurat Hari ini:
Jam Slot Gacor Pragmatic Play 02:30 WIB - Jam 05:25 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Habanero 14:26 WIB - Jam 17:38 WIB Jam Slot Gacor CQ9 00:45 WIB - Jam 05:53 WIB Jam Slot Gacor PG SOFT 14:25 WIB - Jam 17:35 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Joker123 17:41 WIB - Jam 20:42 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Microgaming 22:30 WIB - Jam 00:35 WIB
MGS88: Situs Judi Slot Online Gacor Pay4D Resmi dan Terpercaya
MGS88 adalah situs game slot online Gacor terbaru yang bermitra dengan Pay4D, Pay4D sendiri merupakan daftar situs game slot online terpercaya dengan berbagai macam permainan judi yang mudah dimenangkan seperti Game Bola, Casino Online, Slot Pay4D, Tembak Ikan dan Pay4D Online Permainan togel seperti Singapura, Hongkong, Sydney dan lain-lain. Tujuan utama kami adalah menjadi situs judi online Pay4D yang menyediakan layanan judi online terbaik di Indonesia.
Kami juga salah satu situs resmi PAY4D di Indonesia yang pasti akan membayarkan semua kemenangan kepada semua member kami, karena kepercayaan dari semua member kami adalah prioritas utama kami sebagai mesin slot 4d Asia terbaik di Asia, khususnya di Indonesia.
Dalam melakukan sistem transaksi sistem simpanan dapat dilakukan dengan mudah melalui mobile banking dan electronic banking berupa bank BCA, BSI, BRI, BNI, Cimb Niaga, Permata dan Mandiri. Selain itu, transaksi e-wallet juga tersedia melalui Dana, Gopay, LinkAja dan Ovo serta dapat digunakan untuk pulsa tanpa dipotong.
Untuk mempermudah dan kenyamanan dalam melakukan registrasi atau melakukan setiap transaksi, MGS88 menyediakan layanan live chat dan Whatsapp terhubung langsung dengan customer service online 24 jam.
Mengenal Istilah Dalam RTP SLOT
Di slot RTP Live Anda akan melihat berbagai fitur yang mungkin tidak Anda pahami masing-masing. Namun jangan khawatir, disini sebagai situs slot gacor MGS88 kami akan memberikan penjelasan lengkap mengenai tentang istilah yang ada di RTP SLOT dibawah ini.
On July 3rd this year, Shikha alleged that Mari Gowda had verbally abused and threatened her outside the government guest house in Mysuru at an Iftar party which was being attended by the Siddaramaiah.
C Shikha now finds herself transferred as the Commissioner for Social Welfare Department.
By Rohini Swamy: Lady Deputy Commissioner C Shikha, who raised her voice against a former Zilla Panchayat president and close aide of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, has now been transferred.
C Shikha had filed a case against Mari Gowda alleging that he verbally abused her and threatened her. Shikha now finds herself transferred as the Commissioner for Social Welfare Department.
Former Zilla Panchayat president K Mari Gowda.
advertisement
QUESTIONS RAISED
It is believed that Shikha had completed her tenure of three years as a deputy commissioner of Mysuru and in accordance to the rules she has been shifted to another department. But many question the timing of this change of guard.
On July 3rd this year, Shikha alleged that Mari Gowda had verbally abused and threatened her outside the government guest house in Mysuru at an Iftar party which was being attended by the Siddaramaiah. Shikha was on protocol duty at that event when Mari Gowda and his associates allegedly tried to block her from entering the place and also used abusive language.
Many question the timing of this change of guard.
Mari Gowda, who had been absconding since the incident on July 3, was forced to surrender before the Nazarbad Police in Mysuru on August 3 after his bail plea was rejected by the Karnataka High Court.
Now, D Randeep who served as the deputy commisioner of Vijaypura District will take charge as DC Mysuru.
ALSO READ:
Karnataka: Congress suspends Chief Minister's aide for abusing lady IAS officer
--- ENDS ---
An aide to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Congress's growing isolation proved decisive in making a compromise possible.
By Reuters: It took him more than two years, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has finally discovered the art of the deal.
Realising that a frontal assault wasn't securing the votes needed for India's biggest-ever tax reform, Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley changed tack this spring, government and ruling party sources have told Reuters.
First, they sought to build a coalition among the nation's 29 state governments to isolate the Congress party, which despite losing heavily to Modi in 2014 had blocked a new Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the Upper House of Parliament.
advertisement
Then, Jaitley held a series of meetings with Congress leaders whose outcome was uncertain right up to the last minute, sources close to the finance minister said.
He yielded to their demands - accepting, verbatim, a clause they proposed for the constitutional amendment needed to make the GST happen, according to a member of the Congress team that included former finance minister P. Chidambaram.
"Negotiations take place only if both sides are willing to be flexible," senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said. "Both sides were pragmatic."
An aide to Jaitley said Congress's growing isolation proved decisive in making a compromise possible.
STRIKE A DEAL OR LOSE CREDIBILITY
"They had got themselves into a corner," said the finance ministry official, who was privy to the talks. "They had two options: strike a deal and come out with your reputation intact, or lose your credibility."
Last week's unanimous Upper House vote to pass the 122nd amendment to the Constitution brings the wheel full circle - the GST was proposed by Chidambram a decade ago but was stalled by political rivalry.
Introducing a unified sales tax across India's market of 1.3 billion people would mark a bold act of integration at a time of disintegration elsewhere, as Britain exits the European Union and a protectionist, Donald Trump, runs for the US presidency.
The GST vote also addresses how India, as a federation, can implement a one-size-fits-all sales tax - something the United States and EU have been unable to do - by creating a GST Council that brings the centre and the states together.
Tough bargaining on the rate and scope of the tax lies ahead, yet at least the atmosphere has improved, with Chidambram praising Jaitley's "friendly and conciliatory tone".
That could revive projects that foundered early in Modi's rule, including land and labour reforms.
EARLY STANDOFF
Despite winning India's biggest mandate in 30 years, Modi has struggled to advance his agenda.
Congress, though reduced to a rump opposition, has resisted. As the largest party in the Upper House that represents the states, it had blocked the GST and derailed Modi's Land Acquisition Bill which critics branded as being "anti-farmer".
advertisement
While that tactic proved effective, it wasn't winning public support. Congress took hits in state elections and in June lost the Upper House votes it needed to be sure of stopping the GST.
This was the cue for Jaitley to court the states, with key swing state West Bengal soon declaring its support. In July, he targeted Bihar, while at the same time re-engaging with Congress after nine months of radio silence.
Jaitley's promise to the states to compensate revenue losses for five years, made at talks in New Delhi on July 26, won them over, West Bengal's Finance Finister Amit Mitra told Reuters.
Congress moved to cut a deal, while Modi and Jaitley were ready to offer concessions - including scrapping a levy of 1 percent on the movement of goods between states - that experts say would actually make the GST a better tax.
On the morning of July, 27 Congress submitted a written proposal, with new wording on resolving GST disputes between the centre and the states. Modi's cabinet approved identical tweaks that same evening.
When it came to the August 3 vote, there were 203 votes in favour, and none against. The amendment passed the lower house on Monday, also unanimously.
advertisement
It was a first for Modi, who called the GST a "Great Step towards Transformation".
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) Armed with the confessional statement of an alleged Pakistani LeT operative, NIA today blamed the banned terror organisation for fuelling the continuing unrest in Kashmir.
The anti-terror probe agency also said it is gathering further evidence regarding the role of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba in the ongoing turbulence in the Valley for the last 33 days.
advertisement
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) said the questioning of Pakistani terrorist Bahadur Ali, who was captured recently in North Kashmir, had thrown up leads showing involvement of LeT in aggravating the situation in the Valley.
The NIAs comments came a day after India handed over a "strong demarche" to Pakistan over its continued support to cross-border terrorism in India.
"NIA is further investigating the role of Lashkar in the present unrest in Kashmir," Inspector General of NIA Sanjeev Singh told reporters here.
NIA also showed to the media a video of Ali alias Saifullah, a Punjabi-speaking man, talking about his family, the time he spent in the terror outfit and his crossing over to the Indian side of the border. He was arrested on July 25 by the state police from a village in Handwara after he had managed to give Army the slip at the Line of Control in June this year.
Ali told his interrogators that he was informed by his handlers from a control room code-named Alpha-3, believed to located at a high altitude somewhere in PoK, about the unrest in the Valley following the killing of Burhan Wani, a Hizbul Mujahideen militant on July 8.
His handlers from the control room asked him to throw grenades at the security forces and also informed him that other cadres of the terror group had managed to sneak into the Valley, mingled with protesters at other places and were fuelling tension in the Valley.
This is for the first time that NIA has shown a video statement of a captured militant. Pakistan had earlier this year shown a video statement of Kulbhushan Yadav, an Indian national arrested in Balochistan in March over charges of spying for the Indian intelligence agency. MORE PTI SKL SK SK
--- ENDS ---
Body washes up on Koh Lanta beach
PHUKET: Police are investigating the body of an identified man found washed up on a beach at Koh Lanta today (Aug 10).
tourismdeathmarinepolice
By Eakkapop Thongtub
Wednesday 10 August 2016, 05:13PM
Beachgoers discovered the body on Koh Lantas popular Klong Dao Beach this morning. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub
Police were notified after the body was found by beachgoers at the tourist-popular Klong Dao Beach at the northern end of the island this morning.
Police arrived with rescue workers to find the body of the man lying face down on the beach.
The man, shirtless and bald, was dressed in long jeans with the number 96 emblazoned on back right pocket on right thigh, and a belt with Chinese writing on it.
The man also had a yellow rubber band on his left wrist with Chinese writing on it.
We found no injury on the body and no identification on him, Maj Somchai Nuwnmai of the Koh Lanta Police.
We will check with other police stations to see if anyone has filed for a missing person report that matches the description of the unidentified body, he added.
Police believe the man had been dead for at least two days before his body was discovered today.
We believe the man died in another area and was brought to this area by waves, Maj Somchai added.
There are many possibilities as to what caused this mans death. He may have fallen off a boat or drowned while swimming, he said..
The body was taken to Koh Lanta Hospital for doctors to determine the time and cause of death, Maj Somchai concluded.
Family appeal for help in finding man 80, missing in Patong
PHUKET: A concerned couple on holiday in Phuket have appealed for help in finding an 80-year-old family member, who was last seen at their hotel in Patong on August 3
patongpolice
By The Phuket News
Wednesday 10 August 2016, 03:54PM
Mr Prayoon was described as about 160-centimetres tall and dark-skinned. Mr Prayoon is subject to bouts of forgetfulness, it was reported. Photo: PR Dept
Mr Prayoon was described as about 160-centimetres tall and dark-skinned. Mr Prayoon is subject to bouts of forgetfulness, it was reported. Photo: PR Dept
Praditsakan and Kanjana Danaisuthikul appealed for help in finding Ms Kanjanas father, Prayoon Trisak. Photo: PR Dept
Praditsakan and Kanjana Danaisuthikul made their public appeal at the Phuket Provincial Public Relations Office in Phuket Town yesterday (Aug 9), calling for help to find Ms Kanjanas father, Prayoon Trisak.
Mr Prayoon was described as about 160-centimetres tall and dark-skinned. Mr Prayoon is subject to bouts of forgetfulness, it was reported.
He disappeared from the hotel at about 2am and we reported to Patong Police to help us find him that same day, said Ms Kanjana.
As of today, we still have not been able to find him, Ms Kanjana told The Phuket News today (Aug 10).
The Danaisuthikul are offering a small cash reward for information that leads to finding Mr Prayoon.
People with information that could lead to finding Mr Prayoon are urged to contact Mr and Mrs Danaisuthikul at 098-8284159 or 062-3803387; Patong Police Station at 076-342719; or the Damrongdhama Centre (Ombudsmans Office) at 076-0213203.
Although Pakistan has strong denied India's accusations of cross border terrorism, the government promised to investigate the claim.
Rajnath Singh at the SAARC ministerial meet in Islamabad, condemned Pakistan's support of terrorists Photo: PTI
By Indo-Asian News Service: Pakistan on Tuesday rejected India's claim of cross-LOC infiltration after Pakistani envoy was summoned and served a "strong demarche" against the issue, as bilateral ties took another dip.
PAKISTAN REFUTES ALLEGATIONS OF CROSS BORDER TERRORISM
In response to a media question regarding summoning of Pakistan's High Commissioner to India to protest cross-LOC infiltration, a Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson said, "We strongly reject Indian claim of any cross-LOC infiltration. Pakistan remains committed to the policy of not allowing its territory for any terrorist activity against anyone."
advertisement
"However, it is necessary to establish veracity of the Indian claim. Details in this regard will be gathered," the spokesperson added.
Days after India and Pakistan clashed over the turmoil in Kashmir at a SAARC meet in Islamabad, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar summoned Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit and "issued a strong demarche on continuing cross border terrorism from Pakistan," a Ministry of External Affairs statement said.
LeT TERRORIST CAPTURED IN KASHMIR
The demarche made specific reference to LeT (Lashkar-e-Toiba) terrorist and Pakistan national Bahadur Ali who was apprehended recently, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
The demarche stated that Pakistani national Bahadur Ali alias Abu Saifullah was arrested by Indian authorities in Jammu and Kashmir on July 25 along with weapons, including an AK-47 rifle, live rounds of ammunition, grenades and grenade launcher, as well as sophisticated communication equipment and other material of Pakistani and international origin.
It said Bahadur Ali, born on December 17, 1995, is son of Mohammed Haneef, a resident of Jia Bagga village in the Lahore district of Pakistan's Punjab province.
"Bahadur Ali has confessed to our authorities that after training in Lashkar-e-Toiba camps, he was infiltrated into India," the demarche said.
"He was thereafter in touch with 'operations room' of LeT, receiving instructions to attack Indian security personnel and carry out terrorist attacks in India."
CONDEMNATION OF PAKISTAN SPONSORED TERRORISTS
The demarche said India "strongly protests against the continued infiltration from Pakistan of trained terrorists with instructions to carry out attacks".
This was contrary to assurances given by Pakistani leaders at the highest level, it added.
It also said that Bahadur Ali wrote to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi seeking legal aid and assistance to meet his family.
"We are prepared to grant the Pakistan High Commission consular access to Bahadur Ali," the demarche concluded.
ONGOING INDIA-PAKISTAN TENSION
The Indian action comes less than a week after a SAARC ministerial meet in Islamabad saw the bilateral tensions over Kashmir come to the fore. Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had slammed the "use of excessive force", referring to the unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, while Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh criticised the "glorification of terrorists as martyrs".
advertisement
Both sides did not hold a bilateral meeting, and Rajnath Singh also did not stay for a lunch for the SAARC interior ministers as his Pakistani counterpart, despite giving the invite, left early.
Pakistan had also observed a Black Day last month to protest the deaths in Jammu and Kashmir and also termed Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani a "martyr".
The killing of Wani on July 8 has led to a spiral of protests and violence in Kashmir, leaving over 50 people dead in clashes with security forces.
ALSO READ: Pakistan blacks out Rajnath Singh's tough talk on terror at SAARC meet
--- ENDS ---
Government offices to shut down as Thais celebrate Mothers Day
PHUKET: Many Thais will have a three-day weekend as the nation celebrates HM Queen Sirikits 84th birthday on Friday, August 12, which is also celebrated throughout the nation as Mothers Day.
culturealcohol
By The Phuket News
Wednesday 10 August 2016, 08:58AM
All government offices except essential services will shut down on the national holiday this Friday (Aug 12). Image: The Phuket News
Phuket City Mayor pays homage to HM Queen Sirikit on Mother's Day last year. Photo: The Phuket News / file
To honour the auspicious holiday, as Her Majesty celebrates her Seventh Cycle birthday, all government offices will close, including Phuket Immigration Office, the Employment Office, the Land Transport Office and all three District Offices in Phuket.
All main bank branches will close, but branches in shopping centres will remain open.
All Royal Thai Police and Tourist Police stations will remain open and some local consulates will remain open to serve their respective citizens.
There will be no ban on the sale of alcohol on Friday, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Col Teeraphol Thipjaroen told The Phuket News.
The sale of alcohol sale is permitted on Mothers Day. The alcohol ban is for the major Buddhist holidays only, he said.
According to an announcement by the Prime Ministers Office on January 22, 2015, the sale of alcohol is prohibited on five specific religious days: Makha Bucha, Visakha Bucha, Asanha Bucha Day, Khao Pansa and Wan Org Pansa days. (See story here.)
Also, officials at the Phuket Public Health office told The Phuket News, We normally only hold a campaign asking people to refrain from drinking alcohol to honour of HM The King on his birthday. There will not be any such campaign for Mothers Day.
For a list of just some of the major events happening around Phuket to celebrate HM The Queens birthday and Mothers Day, click here.
Islamabad has warned Punjab, along the Indo-Pak border, of a potential terror attack with at least two suicide bombers.
By Indo-Asian News Service: Islamabad has issued an alert for a possible attack at the India-Pakistan border in Punjab province.
THE THREAT
Pakistan's National Counter Terrorism Authority on Tuesday, in a letter to Home Secretary of Punjab, said: "Reportedly, Tehreek-e-Taliban, Fazal Ullah group is planning to target parade at Wagah border in Lahore or Ganda Singh Border in Kasur on August 13, 14 or 15."
advertisement
It also said at least two suicide bombers have been dispatched to carry an attack on the border.
"Extreme vigilence and heightened security measures are suggested to avoid any untoward incident," it said in a statement.
ACTION TAKEN
Security have been heightened in Pakistan ahead of August 14, the country's Independence Day.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will chair a high level security meeting on Wednesday to discuss the National Action Plan.
Talking to Dawn, a government official privy to the meeting, said a point-wise discussion was expected with the top brass.
"Everything under the sun which has something to do with NAP implementation will be taken up and discussed," said the official.
--- ENDS ---
11AAA semis will be awesome and more from HS football quarterfinals
The Class 11AAA high school football playoffs should be awesome, and 11B and nine-man teams also offer plenty of excitement.
Saddened by Panchu Arunachalam's demise, several K-Town celebrities including superstar Rajinikanth, Dhanush, Siddharth and Radikaa Sarathkumar have mourned the sudden death of the veteran writer-producer.
By India Today Web Desk: Veteran writer-producer Panchu Arunachalam passed away yesterday (August 9) in Chennai. He was reportedly suffering from blood cancer. He was 75 and is survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.
Saddened by his sudden demise, a string of K-Town celebrities including superstar Rajinikanth, Dhanush, Siddharth and Radikaa Sarathkumar have mourned the death of veteran writer-producer Panchu Arunachalam.
advertisement
ALSO READ: Veteran writer-producer Panchu Arunachalam breathes his last
ALSO READ: Veteran actor Jyothi Lakshmi passes away
Several celebrities took to Twitter to mourn the demise of Pancu Arunachalam, popular for writing over 100 Tamil films, including blockbusters like Murattu Kaalai, Sakalakala Vallavan and Apoorva Sagodharargal.
Here's what they wrote:
Actor Rajinikanth made his 30th tweet saying: "Panchu sir... I really really miss you. May your soul rest in peace."
Actor Dhanush:
Rest in peace panchu arunaachalam sir. ??????????????? Dhanush (@dhanushkraja) August 9, 2016
Actor-comedian Santhanam:
Filmmaker AR Murugadoss:
# RIP PANCHU sir, The Master story teller best in dual action subject, always wanted to work with him bt, lots of respect for ur work sir A.R.Murugadoss (@ARMurugadoss) August 9, 2016
Director Aishwaryaa R Dhanush:
Actor Siddharth:
Actor Radikaa Sarathkumar:
Radikaa Sarathkumar (@realradikaa) August 9, 2016
Calling it a "big loss" for everyone, National Award-winning writer Dhananjayan Govind, who made the documentary "The Creator With Midas Touch" on the veteran, tweeted: "Panchu Arunachalam sir was born on 22nd March 1941, 75 years old now. Big loss to everyone and I am still unable to believe as I spoke recently."
Dhananjayan Govind (@Dhananjayang) August 9, 2016
While late filmmaker K. Balachander might have launched superstar Rajinikanth, Panchu was responsible for taking the 65-year-old star to the masses. They worked together in 23 films, including Kazhugu, Pokkiri Raja and Paayum Puli among others.
Arunachalam also came to be known for his association with Kamal Hassan, and they worked together in 13 films. Some of these were titles like Aboorva Sagodharagal Thoongadhey Thambi Thoongadhey and Uyarndha Ullam.
That apart, the writer-producer was also responsible for launching the career of music maestro Illayaraja. He introduced the latter in 1976 Tamil film Annakili.
--- ENDS ---
advertisement
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to hold bilateral meetings with US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping along the sidelines.
By Smita Sharma: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to visit Hangzhou in China to attend the G20 summit on 4th-5th September. He is expected to hold bilateral meetings with US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping along the sidelines.
He will then head to Laos for the ASEAN Summit from 6th to 8th September. But Modi will make a stop over first in Vietnam enroute China, a move that will not go unnoticed by Beijing.
Beijing to watch closely Modi's Vietnam stop over
advertisement
China has been engaged in maritime conflict with countries including Philippines, Vietnam over sovereignty issues in the South China Sea. It recently rejected an international ruling by a permanent court of Arbitration after Philippines dragged it to an international UN court.
India advocates freedom of navigation and respecting international laws in the South China Sea Waters.
Meanwhile sharing his assessment Vietnamese envoy to India said that the situation in South China Sea is much worse today.
Also read: Amid China's military build-up, Vietnam discreetly moves rocket launchers into disputed South China Sea
Replying to a question at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Delhi, Ambassador Ton Sin Thanh appreciated India's position over the South China Sea dispute and added "We do not welcome any militarisation in the region but welcome constructive engagement by other countries to make situation peaceful."
On a cautionary note he added, "We think situation in South China Sea is getting worse with the militarisation, with the reclamation that changed the status quo in SCS. We think that ruling of PCA (permanent court of arbitration) is a good development. But situation is not quite stable since territorial issues hasn't been settled yet. Firstly, we need compliance of all parties with the international law and specially UNCLOS."
Since 2009, India has combined trips to China with visits to other countries with difficult relations with Beijing, just like Chinese leaders make stopovers to Pakistan, Maldives, Srilanka when slated to visit India with the message not lost.
But this visit to Vietnam is a bilateral visit of any Indian Prime Minister after fifteen years.And as India Veitnam complete a decade of strategic partnership, defence and security cooperation is expected to be high on PM Modi's agenda.
Envoy says Vietnam interested in Defence supplies from India
India Today caught up exclusively with the Vietnamese Envoy to Delhi.Ambassador Ton Sin Thanh stressed that Narendra Modi's visit should not be seen as some message to Beijing.
He also said that despite tensions over South China Sea conflict and other territorial and other issues, both India and Vietnam would want good relations with China.
advertisement
Also read: China, Philippines warms up for talks to resolve SCS row
Reports also suggest that talks are on for sale of the Brahmos cruise missiles to Vietnam. The envoy replying to the question denied any such information but did emphasise that Vietnam is looking at The Indian defence manufacturing market for supplies In future.
Here's a transcript of the conversation:
QUESTION. Modi's visit has not been officially announced yet. But what are the expectations?
ANSWER. This visit is very important only bilateral visit on his overseas journey this time in attending G20 and ASEAN summit.
Hope it will open a new page of strategic partnership between india and Vietnam
QUESTION. Like the Pakistanis stop over in Islamabad Enroute India, is there a message for China in the Vietnam stop over?
ANSWER. We Always have good relation with India. This is a process of strengthening relation between india and Vietnam.We do not see any connection with the other event.
QUESTION. India has been advocating freedom of navigation in South China Sea. While Beijing rejected an international ruling. How will this impact relations?
ANSWER. It doesn't impact in negative term. Vietnam-India have good cooperation in many areas including defence and security and in also maintaining peace and security in regional issues.so f there is a problem in South China Sea, india Vietnam have very good cooperation.continue to have oil gas exploration in this region.support each other in international and regional arena.we can help each other whether it is difficult or good situation
QUESTION. Are talks on and in What stage to buy Brahmos missiles from India?
advertisement
ANSWER. Don't have information but we appreciate good achievement of india in developing defence or military equipments.we think we can have good supply from india for our self defence .
--- ENDS ---
The first reported case this year of West Nile Virus in Wyoming involved an adult from Goshen County, according to the Wyoming Department of Health. Though, there have not been any reported cases of Zika in Wyoming, the Wyoming Department of Health said it is still important to take precautions.
West Nile Virus first appeared in Wyoming in 2002. Reported cases of infection within a year have ranged from two with no deaths to 393 with nine deaths.
West Nile Virus is spread by mosquitoes when they feed on infected birds and then bite people, animals or other birds. Most individuals who are infected with West Nile Virus do not have symptoms. Individuals that do, experience fever, headache, skin rash, swollen lymph nodes and body aches.
The Wyoming Department of Health suggests several precautions residents should take to avoid getting the virus. Mosquitoes tend to prefer to feed at dawn or dusk. People should avoid spending time outside during these times. When outside, shoes, socks, long pants and long-sleeved shirts should be worn. It helps if the clothing is light-colored and made of tightly woven materials. Mosquitoes also breed in shallow, stagnant water. Standing water should be drained or removed. The use of insect repellent is strongly suggested whenever outdoors.
As for the Zika virus, the Wyoming Department of Health has issued travel warnings as the virus reaches the U.S. Anyone traveling to Miami, Fla., especially pregnant women or those who may become pregnant, should pay attention to Zika-related travel warnings.
Zika can be passed to babies during pregnancy and may cause microephaly, a serious brain-related birth defect. It is mostly spread through bites of certain types of mosquitoes.
It is not expected to spread to Wyoming, but people should stay informed when planning to travel. The mosquitoes that spread the disease do not make their home in Wyoming and it has not been confirmed in any Wyoming resident.
Hot Springs County Nurse Manager Marie McDougall said individuals should follow the rules for protecting themselves.
Thats going to be your best protection, she said.
An opportunity for foodies and beer lovers to get lost in a world of food and drink from a hand-selected range of food trucks and breweries from around New Zealand.
Naresh Khanna who shot to fame with Sony TV's Babul Ka Aangan Choote Na passed away on Monday.
By India Today Web Desk: Popular TV director Naresh Khanna, 52, who shot to fame with Sony TV's Babul Ka Aangan Choote Na, passed away on Monday following a heart attack.
The director was on his way to Mumbai from Delhi when he started feeling uncomfortable. His co-passengers took him to Delhi's AIIMS hospital, where he breathed his last.
Babul Ka Aangan Choote Na revolved around the life of a 24-year-old woman. But the show was much talked about because of the performance of Rahil Azam who played the dual character of a woman and man because of a split personality disorder.
advertisement
"He was one of the most passionate directors who I have worked with. I am shocked to hear about his death. May he be granted peace. It is a tragic loss for the industry for sure," Rahil told Telly Chakkar.
The director has also directed many Garhwali films like Chakkarchaal, Batwaru, Subero Gham and Bhully Aye Bhully.
--- ENDS ---
R Balakrishnan, better known as R Balki, quits as MullenLowe Lintas Chairman and CEO to pursue career as full-time filmmaker. Here are some of the brilliant commercials he has given us.
By India Today Web Desk: R Balakrishan, better known as R Balki in the advertising industry and to Bollywood, has quit as the Chairman and CEO of MullenLowe Lintas group. Balki, revered for his ability to dig out insights and turning it into easily communicable, relatable, moving advertisements has been as successful in Bollywood as a filmmaker as he has been as a creative director/chief creative officer.
advertisement
About the decision to quit, Balki said, "We've been planning this for some time now. It has been a long process of succession planning that concludes with my move. The agency is at its strongest today and I leave feeling satisfied, proud and excited," in a statement. Balki joined then Lowe Lintas in 1994.
MullenLowe Lintas Group created a poster, what looks like a print ad, cleverly using a wordplay on Balki's name and posted on their Facebook page to announce the news of Balki stepping down. Here's the poster that says "OUR BALKI"
Photo courtesy: FacebookMLLintasGroup
Now, let us take a look at some of the brilliant commercials he has given us:
It takes a man of impeccable imagination to convince people, especially mothers who makes the household decision of which detergent to buy, that stains are good. Wondering what we are talking about?
The "Daag ache hai" campaign for Hindustan Unilever's Surf Excel detergent, where the brand urges users to celebrate dirt stains, was Balki's brainchild. Here's a Surf Excel commercial:
And here's a video where Balki speaks about the idea:
If you remember Tata Tea, it would first be for the "jaago re jaago re jaago re" track in the background of its commercials, and then for the actual product. "Jaago re" campaign was helmed by R Balki. Taking a simple idea -- tea refreshes the consumer -- to a revolutionary tagline "har subah sirf utho mat, jaago!" which translates to "instead of simply getting up every morning, wake up!" is Balki's genius.
He placed the same idea in different situations, and chose youngsters to tell the audience to wake up against rampant practice of bribery and to ask them to vote responsibly. Here are two Tata Tea ads:
Aditya Birla Group's Idea cellular service was a mammoth client to then Lowe Lintas Group. From "An idea can change your life" to the various shifts in their branding, Lintas and Balki have been constant.
Balki's "Walk when you talk" idea and "Diwali" ad in 2013 for Idea cellular were much talked about. Here are those commercials:
advertisement
As a filmmaker, Balki has already completed four projects in Bollywood. He started his journey as a director with Cheeni Kum starring Amitabh Bachchan and Tabu in the lead roles. His next was Paa in which Amitabh Bachchan played a progeria patient named Auro and acted as real life son Abhishek Bachchan's son. These two movies were critically acclaimed and Balki was lauded for his talent. Balki worked again with senior Bachchan in his next, Shamitabh, and roped in Tamil superstar Dhanush and Kamal Hassan's daughter Akshara to play pivotal roles in the movie. His latest outing was Ki and Ka which had Arjun Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor in the lead.
We wish R Balki all the success!
--- ENDS ---
With a dress or without one, take a look at the ladies who managed to hit the headlines with their antics.
By Hemul Goel: Call it love, adulation or the start of a career as a professional fangirl, but you can't deny the existence of a special breed of people who have the talent to leave everyone behind, with their attention-grabbing tactics and manner of expression.
Rakhi Sawant
Also read: Everyone is going crazy over Rakhi Sawant's 'sexy' Narendra Modi dress, and not in a good way
advertisement
In attendance at a pre-Independence Day party in Chicago, USA, Sawant was seen wearing a 'sexy' black number emblazoned with pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, strategically placed on her butt and bust.
Rakhi Sawant in her Modi dress. Picture courtesy: Instagram/@rakhisawant151
Meghna Patel
It seems like some women can't seem to stop themselves when it comes to the Indian PM, as Vadodara native and actress Meghna Patel stripped in support of Modi. Covering the essentials with lotuses--which is the symbol of Bhartiya Janta Party--the actress did a special photoshoot holding a poster of NaMo for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Also read: Meghna Patel: Model, who posed semi-nude in support of Modi, joins NCP
Meghna Patel stripped for the PM. Picture courtesy: Twitter/@Ajaykumar265
Tanisha Singh
While Rahul Gandhi's baby face has always given him the stature of the chocolate boy of Indian politics, the Gandhi scion received a lot of attention from model Tanisha Singh who not only stripped in favour of the Congress in 2014 but also called him "My love, My cutie pie," in subsequent tweets.
Tanisha Singh's subtle attempts at campaigning for Congress. Picture courtesy: Twitter/@ImTanishaSingh
Putin's Army
Internationally, a 2011 video emerged of a group of girls--who called themselves Putin's Army--for a campaign called I'll Rip It for Putin that urged women to tear their clothes in support of Putin and for a chance to win an iPad 2.
--- ENDS ---
Water quality has been a major issue surrounding the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, but in the ocean and lagoons, not the pools.
Water quality has been a major issue surrounding the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, but in the ocean and lagoons, not the pools. (AP Photo)
By AP: Green, not gold, was the color of the day at the Olympic diving venue. (Rio Olympics: Full Coverage)
Sure, China won their third consecutive gold medal on Tuesday, but the buzz was about the color of the water in the diving pool - a murky green.
That was in stark contrast to the pool's light blue color the previous day and also that of the clear water in the second pool used for the water polo competition at Maria Lenk Aquatic Center. (Rio 2016: Games bus carrying journalists hit by gunfire, no casualties)
advertisement
British diver Tom Daley, who earned bronze in men's synchronized 10-meter on Monday, tweeted a photo of the two pools next to each other and captioned it, "Ermmm...what happened?!"
Water quality has been a major issue surrounding the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, but in the ocean and lagoons, not the pools.
A statement from Olympic organizers said water tests were conducted and there was no risk to athletes. They couldn't explain the color change, but said it's being investigated.
Rio spokesman Mario Andrada said the green was caused "by a proliferation of algae".
"This was because of heat and a lack of wind," he said. "We did all the chemical tests. The pool will be blue tomorrow (Wednesday).
"If it were green and yellow, we would know it was a patriotic thing," Andrada joked, referring to Brazil's national colors.
Canada team leader Mitch Geller suspected the cause was algae that multiplied quickly in the day's warm and sunny conditions.
"Everybody was scratching their heads going, 'What's going on?'" he said. "I think that the filter is busted, but I'm not sure. It's not really dangerous. It's not like it's toxic or dirty or any of that. It seemed to get worse over the course of the competition."
The kale-colored water wasn't just a cosmetic nuisance; it was so dark that divers couldn't see the bottom of the pool.
"They're used to seeing the water," Geller said. "The visuals are really, really important in diving."
Chen Ruolin, who teamed to win gold with Liu Huixia, said it didn't affect them.
Paola Espinosa of Mexico, competing in her fourth Olympics, noticed the pool getting increasingly darker throughout the six-round competition. But she said the water didn't smell or affect her skin.
"I haven't seen anything like it before," Espinosa said. "But it's Brazil and everything is green down here, so maybe it was a decoration to make it look pretty."
American Jessica Parratto wears contacts and said the water didn't burn her eyes.
Bronze medalists Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion of Canada tried not to laugh as they gazed at the water from atop the 33-foot tower. They liked that the dark green color offered a helpful contrast with the blue sky.
advertisement
"The only thing we said is don't open your mouth in the water, just in case," Benfeito said.
Geller said a Canadian pool expert was coming in Wednesday and he would offer to help Rio organizers chemically treat the water if there's a problem with the filter.
"I don't know what it's going to look like tomorrow," he said. "I hope it's not a swamp."
--- ENDS ---
By AP: This is the one Michael Phelps really wanted, and it showed. (RIO 2016 FULL COVERAGE)
With challengers all around, he simply wouldn't be denied.
After touching the wall first - barely - he held up one finger. Then he sat on a lane rope, egging on the roaring crowd at the Olympic Aquatics Center with both hands, before emphatically pumping his fist in the direction of his fiancee and their infant son. (Michael Phelps ready to reclaim that lost butterfly gold)
advertisement
Once again, the gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly belongs to Phelps.
Being the 20th gold of his career only added to the satisfaction. (Rio 2016: Mystery behind Michael Phelps' purple blotches finally solved)
Making up for one of the few losses in his staggering career, Phelps held off Japan's Masato Sakai by a mere four-hundredths of a second. The winning time was 1 minute, 53.36 seconds, but that was of little concern. The only thing that mattered was getting to the wall first.
Four years ago, Phelps mistimed his finish in the swooping stroke he does better than anyone, gliding to the wall a little too long after his final stroke. That allowed Chad le Clos of South Africa to stunningly win gold in an event that Phelps had dominated for the better part of a decade.
Phelps retired after the London Games, so it looked like he wouldn't get a chance to make up for his defeat. But when he decided about a year later to start competing again, the 200 fly was clearly the title he wanted more than any other.
Le Clos was in the final again, thoroughly inspired himself by his mother and father, both battling cancer and in the stands cheering him on.
But the South African could only manage fourth this time, finishing behind bronze medalist Tamas Kenderesi of Hungary.
In what was shaping up to be another very good night for the Americans, Katie Ledecky took the most challenging step toward a feat that's only been done one other time.
Ledecky held off Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom to win the 200 freestyle and give the American star her second gold of the Rio Games.
Debbie Meyer is the only female swimmer to capture the three longest freestyle events at a single Olympics, winning the 200, 400 and 800 at Mexico City in 1968. Ledecky looks like a lock to match Meyer, having already won the 200 and 400 titles and an overwhelming favorite in the 800, where she's the world-record holder and far faster than anyone else in the world.
advertisement
Fifth at the first flip turn, a bit faster than she usually goes out, Ledecky powered to the front on the third lap and grittily shooed off a hard-charging Sjostrom coming to the wall.
Ledecky touched in 1:53.73. The silver went to Sjostrom in 1:54.08, while early leader Emma McKeon faded to the bronze in 1:54.92. World-record holder Federica Pelligrini of Italy was fourth.
"That was a really tough race and it hurt really badly," Ledecky said. "I'm pretty sure it's the closest I've come to throwing up in the middle of a race. I'm just so glad I got my hand on the wall first and it was all worth it."
Ledecky knew this was the most vulnerable of her three individual events. She crushed the world record in the 400 and everyone expects her to do the same in the 800.
The 200 may be the shortest race of the bunch but it's definitely the hardest for Ledecky, requiring her to show both her speed and endurance against a far more competitive field.
"The 200 is a much more stressful race than the 400 and 800, and it always just feels good when it's over," she said. "I took it out pretty fast and kind of forced everybody to try to do that. Once I was ahead I knew I wasn't going to let it out of my hands. I knew I wasn't going to be able to see most of the field on the last 50, so I just had to dig deep."
advertisement
Phelps hustled off the deck after his victory celebration, having only about an hour to get ready for his second race of the night anchoring the U.S. in the 4x200 freestyle relay.
Conor Dywer was leading off for the Americans, followed by Townley Haas and 11-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte, competing in his first event of these games.
Phelps was picked to finish up, looking to claim gold medal No. 21.
--- ENDS ---
Alarmed by the number of selfie deaths in the country, the government has decided to take a number of initiatives and introduce guidelines to prevent them.
By Soudhriti Bhabani: The never-ending pursuit of the perfect shot to share on social media has sparked a troubling trend in India - death-by-selfie. Careless photo-takers have been tipping over boats, falling off cliffs, getting hit by trains and crashing cars, with the alarming numbers garnering government attention.
Headed by a selfie-loving Prime Minister, the Centre is set to introduce a raft of measures to identify such danger zones at tourist sites across India. "I have written to all state governments, requesting them to introduce safety precautionary measures and declare 'Selfie Danger Zones' at tourist sites. We are taking up the issue very seriously," Union Minister of Culture and Tourism Mahesh Sharma told Mail Today on Tuesday.
advertisement
INDIA WORLD LEADER IN SELFIE-RELATED DEATHS
"I would urge everyone not to risk their lives for taking selfies at any dangerous location." According to reports, India led the world in selfie-related deaths in 2015, accounting for more than half of such fatalities globally-15 out of 27.
A Japanese tourist died last year after he succumbed to head injuries from slipping on the Taj Mahal's stairs while trying to snap a self-portrait.
Seven teenagers drowned in a lake in Nagpur when they stood up for a selfie and flipped their boat.
The spate has continued this year too.
54 DEATHS SINCE 2014
Going by reports, as many as 37 deaths have occurred till August, taking the total number of such casualties to at least 54 since 2014.
In January this year, 18-year-old Tarannum Ansari and her two friends fell into the sea while snapping selfies near Mumbai's Bandra Fort. A bystander, Ramesh Walanju, 37, saved her friends but was swept away while trying to find Ansari. Both drowned.
The same month, 16-year-old student Dinesh Kumar was run over when he tried to take a selfie in front of a speeding train in Chennai.An ambulance driver and his friend died last month after falling 250ft into a gorge near the Charmadi Ghats in Karnataka while taking selfies.
RISKY AREAS TO BE DEMARCATED, SAFETY AREAS TO BE MARKED
"For the safety and security for tourists - both domestic and international- we are forming specific guidelines and will ask the state governments and other agencies to demarcate areas (at tourist destinations and historical monuments) which are considered 'risky' for any such activities," an official said.
He said the ministry would ask the state governments and Union Territory administrations to put up signs at all the unsafe spots, informing tourists about the dangers ahead. It will also provide training to guides and guards deployed at all the sites, which either come under the Ministry of Tourism or the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) that functions under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture.
The tourism ministry is instructing officials and agencies to work out all possible steps to avert selfie-related mishaps. "The guidelines will include steps like putting up safety nets around all identified SDZs so that if anyone suffers a fall, fatalities can be avoided.
CCTVs TO BE INSTALLED
advertisement
There will be arrangements of emergency medical assistance at all Selfie Danger Zones too," an official said, pointing out that there will be deployment of security guards to closely monitor the sites.
CCTV cameras will be installed to monitor movements of tourists at these treacherous spots.
The governments of Maharashtra and Karnataka have already adopted measures to create awareness through signage at the danger zones.
Mumbai Police had identified 16 'no selfie zones' in the city to combat the menace with two people drowning near the Bandra Worli Sea Link this year.
The Centre has issued guidelines on safety and security of tourists for state government and UTs and also launched a national campaign.
Several states, such as Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala and Maharashtra have deployed tourist police teams. These personnel have been drawn from the state police forces and from among ex-servicemen, sources said.
Also Read:
UP: Another athlete falls and drowns while taking selfie
How selfie in Ganga led to the death of 7 students
Elbow pain? You probably have the selfie elbow. Know the cure and causes
Couple drowns in sea while taking selfie in Kanyakumari
advertisement
--- ENDS ---
A Romanian man involved in a sensational ATM heist from an SBI kiosk in Thiruvananthapuram has been arrested in Mumbai.
Gabriel Marian was taken into custody on Tuesday night from Mumbai. He admitted to being a part of a Romanian gang and identified two others involved in the crime as Bogdean Florian and Christian Victor. A fourth accused is yet to be identified.
Mumbai Police, who detained Marian while he was withdrawing money from an ATM in Station Plaza, handed him over to Kerala Police.
Marian is expected to be brought to Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday or Thursday.
The accused reportedly admitted to have done the heist with his friends who were in the Kerala capital last month for about two weeks.
They are believed to have stayed at a beach destination in Kovalam.
They placed electronic equipment in the SBI kiosk which enabled them to get the details of card holders who withdrew money from the ATM.
Using the stolen data, the gang withdrew money from Mumbai.
On Sunday, a few ATM cardholders got SMS alerts on mobile telephones stating money had been withdrawn from their accounts.
Around 50 people had complained to the police about it. The total loss to these bank customers has been put around Rs 2.50 lakh.
When they checked the visuals of CCTV cameras, officials spotted two foreigners working on the 'smoke alarm' inside a SBI ATM.
The police then got their records form the hotel where they stayed.
The police have urged all those who used their ATM card form this kiosk to change their pins and have directed all the banks to ensure that their kiosks do not contain any external fixtures.
The Congress on Wednesday accused the BJP of orchestrating protests in Itanagar following the alleged suicide of former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Kalikho Pul, with AICC Secretary K. Jayakumar saying the saffron party will be to blame if the law and order situation goes out of control.
The Congress very strongly condemns the action of the BJP. The protests are not by Puls supporters. The protests have been orchestrated by the BJP. It will be liable for any casualties that take place, Jayakumar, who reached Itanagar on Tuesday after Puls alleged suicide, told THE WEEK.
After the news of Puls death was out, scores of protesters gathered outside the residence of Chief Minister Pema Khandu. Alleging foul play in Puls death, they demanded a probe into it. They also pelted stones at the residence of Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein and at the bungalows of a few MLAs. An under-construction building in the official premises of Mein was set on fire by the protesters.
Following the protests, police deployment was increased in the VVIP zone and the residence of the chief minister, which Pul was yet to vacate and where his body was found hanging from a ceiling fan, was also heavily secured by the police in view of the large numbers of protesters converging to the spot.
The Congress also alleged that the BJP, by harming the law and order situation in the state, is again trying to impose Presidents rule. They want to create a situation that will help them impose Presidents rule, Jayakumar said.
He went to the extent of blaming the BJP and Governor J.P. Rajkhowa for Puls alleged suicide. The situation that drove Pul to committing suicide was created by the BJP and the Governor. He was a simple man, a quiet person, who was motivated to rebel against the Congress by the BJP, and in the end, he was frustrated and depressed, he said.
According to Congress sources, Pul wrote a 60-page note, which was discovered after his death. He must have written it over several days. It is not something that he could have written overnight, a source said. The contents of the note, which is in the custody of police, are yet to be known.
On Wednesday, Puls body today taken to his native village in a chopper for the last rites to be conducted.
Pul, 47, had rebelled against former chief minister Nabam Tuki and managed to form his own government with the help of the BJP in early 2016. However, the Supreme Court, in July, ruled his government unconstitutional and reversed the clock to reinstate Tuki. The Congress later won over the rebels, including Pul, and Khandu emerged as the chief minister.
The first 1,000 MW unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) built with Russian equipment was dedicated to the nation on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying this marked the start of Indo-Russian collaboration in the nuclear energy field and that bigger atomic power units would be built.
Speaking on the occasion, Modi said the successful completion of the first unit at Kudankulam is not just another fine example of the strength of the special and privileged strategic partnership between the two countries.
"It is also a celebration of our abiding friendship. In years ahead, we are determined to pursue an ambitious agenda of nuclear power generation. In our journey of cooperation, we plan to build a series of bigger nuclear power units," Modi added.
He said five more 1,000 MW units would be built at Kudankulam with Russian partnership.
Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa jointly dedicated to the nation the first 1,000 MW unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP).
The dedication happened via video conferencing with Modi in New Delhi, Putin in Moscow and Jayalalithaa in Chennai.
[Combo] Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa addressing on the occasion of the dedication of Kudankulam plant unit-I through video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin at Secretariat in Chennai | PTI
The KNPP is located in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu, around 650 km from here.
"The story of human development has been of wide spread technological advancement and growing economic prosperity. But, as we all know, it has not been without burden on our environment," Modi said.
Modi said he has a vision for India achieving economic development respectful of Mother Earth.
He said the Kudankulam nuclear power plant is part of India's plan to scale up its clean energy and also signals the commitment to build pathways of partnership for green growth.
Modi said the success of the project demonstrates the common resolve to grow the Indo-Russian relationship in new dimensions.
The Indian Prime Minister said the nuclear plant demonstrates the common resolve to keep the ties between India and Russia firm and steady.
"Above all, it showcases your personal commitment, consistent support and strong leadership in transforming the substance and character of our relationship. The people of India associate naturally and with great ease with the people of your great country," Modi told Putin.
Wishing `Long Live Indo-Russian Friendship' Modi told Putin that he is looking forward to meet him at the ensuing G-20 meeting in China.
Modi also thanked Jayalalithaa for her participation in the event.
In his address, Putin said the cooperation in the field of nuclear power is important part of the privileged strategic partnership between India and Russia.
"Our work together in this sector has great importance for our countries' development," Putin said.
"This is not just about building a nuclear power plant and putting it into operation, but is a large-scale project to develop a new high-tech nuclear sector in India. This work involves the transfer of skills and training of personnel and specialists in this area," Putin added.
Putin said Russia is one of the world leaders in the field of nuclear technology and the atomic power plants built by his country are reliable.
According to him, the General Framework Agreement and loan protocol for third stage of the project would be signed by the end of this year.
In her address Jayalalithaa said: "The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is a monument commemorating the long-standing, abiding and deep friendship between Russia and India."
According to her, the successful commissioning of the Kudankulam project is an object lesson on how the fears and apprehensions of the local population can and should be allayed, through a process of engagement and reassurance, and by building community assets and infrastructure.
Twenty-five years ago, when the world had started to call Somalia a stateless society, thousands of fleeing Somalians found a home in Finland. Among them was a 17-year-old girl, the daughter of a truck driver, and her two siblings. Fadumo Dayib now holds three masters degrees, two from Finland and one from Harvard. Dayib, 42, is going back to Somalia, not as a refugee going home, but as a presidential candidate. I have finally understood the value of walking away in order to walk back to what matters the most. I am going home to reclaim Somalia and Somaliness, says her campaign tagline.
Finland gave her a life and a family, but as a refugee she lived there like an unwanted person. Dayib always wanted to go back to Somalia. In 2005, she joined UNICEF and started working in Putland, Somalia, for a brief period of six months. After Somalia, she went to Fiji and Liberia, working with UNICEF for several years. She is now doing her PhD at the University of Helsinki specialising in women's governmental participation and empowerment in post-conflict societies. Her educational background and the support from the Somali diaspora in the US are all aiding her campaign. But in a country like Somalia, home to Al-Shabaab, one of the deadliest terrorist organisations in the world, participating in the election is not easy especially for a woman. Al-Shabaab has already warned against conducting the elections.
Somalia was recently in the news in India when Prime Minister Narendra Modi compared the infant mortality rate among tribal children in Kerala's Attappadi region with that of Somalia. It led to thousands of memes and funny comments on social media, most of them making fun of Modi and the Somalis. Life, however, is not a joke for the Somalis. Of the 11 million Somalis, 75 per cent are under the age of 30 and 68 per cent of them are unemployed, forcing many of them to join pirates or Al-Shabaab.
On a positive note, Somalia is no longer at the top of the fragile state index. Since September 2012, there is a permanent central government under President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Elections to the parliament will take place between September 24 and October 10, and the presidential elections are scheduled for October 30.
Dayib, with her multiethnic background, wants to fight intense clannism in Somalia, which she says is the major reason behind its downfall. But unfortunately in the upcoming election, 14,000 delegates representing various Somali clans will cast their votes for members of the lower house, while the regional states will select the members of the upper house. And both houses will elect the president. With her slogan My clan is the Somali flag and my allegiance to Somalia, Dayib hopes to spring a surprise and get elected as the next president of Somalia.
On August 9, Palestinian journalists decried Google Maps' depiction of the Isreal-Palestine area. Google had reportedly removed the name 'Palestine' from the area, demarcating the West Bank and Gaza regions as disputed territories.
In response, a Change.org campaign, called Google: Put Palestine on your Maps, was signed by more than 2,00,000 people. Palestinian Twitterati spoke out against it through #PalestineIsHere.
Google has just removed Palestine from its maps. But we will always resist and prove our presence #PalestineIsHere pic.twitter.com/ISHYVYGxCj Rana (@ranaaa_d) August 9, 2016
However, reports state that this isn't a recent development. The name 'Palestine' has been missing from Maps for the past five months. Google has been accused of 'siding with Israel'.
Being a political issue, Google has mostly played it fair, marking disputed borders with dotted lines. In some cases, the maps are localised according to the region's politics. For instance, Chinese Maps users see Arunachal Pradesh as part of its territory, while it is part of India for Indian users.
More than 150 areas around the world are under territorial dispute today. Here are five major disputes that still cause political furore:
Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh: India and China
The situation: India has two major border disputes with China, Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh. AP is under Indian government control, but China lays claim to it. Aksai Chin is claimed by India, but is controlled by Chinese administration. The Indo-Chinese war of 1962 sparked off when China constructed a highway across Aksai Chin. In 1996, the two countries established a Line of Actual Control. Indian and Chinese forces are still involved in skirmishes in both the regions.
Maps: China's Google Maps version includes AP and Aksai Chin in China. To India, AP is her northeastern-most state, while Aksai Chin is in Jammu and Kashmir. To the rest of the world, both the areas are demarcated as disputed territories. In 2009, India lashed out at Google when it 'accidentally' updated places in AP with Chinese names. It was immediately rolled back after issuing an apology.
Crimea: Tension between Russia and Ukraine
Google changes the names of cities and towns in the Russian Crimea.
Who gave such authority to Google ? pic.twitter.com/GoHriOrKTW _ (@marina_saniram) July 28, 2016
The situation: Crimea, south of Russia, has a population of 2.2 million. In 2014, Russia annexed the peninsula, and declared the country 'fully integrated into Russia' in 2015. However, Ukraine and many UN nations do not recognise this claim, and a fight over the region's sovereignty is still on. In 2015, Ukraine declared that Russia was occupying Crimea. Sanctions have been in place against Russia. Only Arabat Spat and the Syvash Sea regions of Crimea are still controlled by Ukraine.
Maps: In July 2016, Russia accused Google of changing names in Crimea in accordance with a diktat given by Ukraine to 'remove all Soviet symbols and names from Ukraine territory'. Google rolled back the change under pressure. In 2014, Google had marked Crimea as a disputed area. But Google Maps Russia marked it as part of Russia.
Kashmir: The raging India-Pakistan issue
The situation: The 720-kilometre-long border line has been a cause of worry for the sister nations ever since they gained independence. Parts of Kashmir are occupied by each of the countries. According to the Indian government, about 60 per cent of the state is under Indian administration.
Maps: The entire J&K region is firmly within Indian territory, according to Google Maps India. But the rest of the world sees the border regions demarcated with dotted lines, including regions of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.
Senkaku Islands: claimed by China, Taiwan and Japan
The situation: The East China Sea dispute involves the Senkaku islands, a group of five islands stretched across seven kilometres, rich in oil reserves. In 1971, Japan took over administrative control of the region from the United States. This is disputed by China and Taiwan, claiming that the islands have been a part of the nations since the 1500s. This has led to rising tension among Asia's largest economies. Most recently, China encroached on the island's air space, souring relations with Japan.
Maps: In 2013, Japan noted that the disputed region had Chinese names on Google Maps, which was 'incompatible with Japan's stance'. Currently, the islands are named in accordance with all three countries: Senkaku for Japan, Diaoyu for China, and Diaoyutai for Taiwan.
Western Sahara: The Moroccan Wall
The situation: In Africa, Morocco took over former Spanish colony Western Sahara in 1975. The Polisario Front, led by native Sahrawis, fought for its liberation for 16 years. The 2500-kilometre Moroccan Wall cuts the region by half, separating areas controlled by Morocco from those under the Polisario. In 1991, the UN helped the two reach a truce. Morocco is yet to hold 'an agreed referendum on independence' of Western Sahara, and is the de facto administrator now.
Maps: In February 2016, Airbnb received flak for demarcating disputed territories wrongly. The company's map displayed listings in the Western Sahara as under Moroccan region. Google Maps, however, clearly indicates the border as disputed territory. Online petitions stating that there is no 'Western Sahara, only Moroccan Sahara' have come up in the past, asking Google to remove the demarcation.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that gun rights activists could act to stop Democratic rival Hillary Clinton from nominating liberal US Supreme Court justices, igniting yet another fire storm of criticism just as he sought to steer clear of controversy.
"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks," Trump said at a rally. "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know," he continued.
The US Constitution's Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear firearms.
Before the remark, Trump had been emphasising his case against Clinton, who is leading in national opinion polls in the race for the November 8 election. Some in the audience in North Carolina who were seated behind Trump could be seen wincing when he made the comment.
Clinton's campaign called the remark "dangerous."
"A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way," it said.
When asked to clarify what Trump meant, his campaign said he was referring to getting supporters of the Second Amendment to rally votes for Trump in the election.
"Its called the power of unification2nd Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power," the Trump campaign said in its statement.
Immediately after Trump made his comment, many on social media accused him of effectively calling for Clintons assassination. In just three hours, 2nd amendment became the top trending topic on Twitter, with more than 60,000 posts mentioning the term.
Introducing Trump later at another rally in North Carolina, in Fayetteville, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani accused the news media of taking the remark out of context to help Clinton get elected.
"What he meant by that was you have the power to vote against her," Giuliani said to cheers. "You have the power to speak against her. You know why? Because you're Americans."
"It proves that most of the press is in the tank for Hillary Clinton," he added. "They are doing everything they can to destroy Donald Trump."
The US Secret Service, which provides security details for both Trump and Clinton and rarely comments on political matters, when asked for a response on Trump, said: "The Secret Service is aware of the comment."
The Secret Service is aware of the comments made earlier this afternoon. U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) August 9, 2016
Trump later told Fox News Channel's "Hannity" programme that "nobody in that room" thought he meant anything other than to rally support against Clinton.
"This is a strong powerful movement, the Second Amendment," Trump said. "Hillary wants to take your guns away. She wants to leave you unprotected in your home. This is a tremendous political movement."
By day's end, Trump was drawing criticism on several fronts, another chapter in a campaign marked by bitterness and partisanship.
Michael Hayden, a former CIA director who on Monday was among 50 Republican national security experts to denounce Trump in a letter, said on CNN, "Youre not just responsible for what you say. You are responsible for what people hear."
US Senator Elizabeth Warren, a liberal firebrand who loves tweaking Trump, tweeted that the Republican nominee "makes death threats because he's a pathetic coward who cant handle the fact that hes losing to a girl."
Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway fought back in a tweet of her own, calling Warren a "disgrace."
Gun rights an issue
Gun rights, which have long stirred strong emotions in America, have been a particularly potent issue in the 2016 presidential campaign as violence has convulsed some US cities.
Trump has planted himself firmly on the side of gun owners with a "law and order" campaign. Before his remark about Clinton on Tuesday, he had said Islamic State militants who killed 130 people in France last year could have been stopped if some of the victims had been armed.
The Clinton campaign has challenged Trump when in the past he has accused her of planning to abolish the Second Amendment if elected president. Clinton, in her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, said, "I'm not here to repeal the Second Amendment," saying she wanted "common-sense reforms" to gun laws.
Tuesday's speech came on the heels of a discordant week on the campaign trail for Trump, a businessman seeking his first public office. He came under fire from within his party for belatedly endorsing fellow Republicans in re-election races and a prolonged clash with the parents of fallen Muslim American Army captain Humayun Khan.
On Monday, Trump seemed to be heeding Republican advice to stick to a message of criticising Clinton and other Democrats while putting forward economic policy proposals in a speech in Detroit.
Trump's vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, asked if he believed Trump was inciting violence towards Clinton, told NBCs Philadelphia affiliate: "Of course not. No."
But Democrats called Trump's remarks another sign of a candidate unfit for the White House.
"Dont treat this as a political misstep. Its an assassination threat, seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy & crisis," US Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, said in a tweet.
Overall sentiment on social media posts on Trump's remarks was more negative than positive, at a ratio of 2.5 to 1, according to the social media analytics firm Zoomph. #ProtectHillary was also one of the top trending hashtags on Twitter.
The 50 prominent national security officials said in their letter on Monday that Trump would be "the most reckless president in American history."
"He appears to lack basic knowledge about and belief in the US Constitution, US laws and US institutions, including religious tolerance, freedom of the press, and an independent judiciary," their statement said.
A distressed 16-year-old girl in Haryana tried to set herself ablaze after her father committed suicide on hearing of her sexual harrassment.
By India Today Web Desk: In yet another incident of crime against women being reported from Haryana, a 16-year-old set herself on fire after her father committed suicide. The incident was reported from Dharodi village in Haryana's Jind district on Tuesday.
FATHER'S SUICIDE
The girl's father, Dilbagh, committed suicide after the girl told him of how a boy had been torturing her on a daily basis and had proposed marriage to her. Dilbagh, a father of five daughters, on hearing of how his daughter had been subjected to sexual harassment, consumed poison and committed suicide, fearing social insult. He was distressed by the boy's regular torture and threat to kidnap his daughter when she refused his marriage proposal.
advertisement
AFTERMATH OF FATHER'S DEATH
The girl, a student of class 11, on hearing of her father's death, poured kerosene on herself and set herself ablaze. She has been admitted to the PGI Rohtak with severe burns and her condition is said to be critical.
The girl's uncle, Shakti, said that a complaint regarding the incident and harassment of the girl has been registered and that the police are investigating the case. ACP Wasim Akram said that the boy had proposed marriage to the girl and that he had been in regular touch with the girl on her phone. Akram said that the police are investigating the matter and that depending on the investigations, action will be taken against the boy.
ALSO READ: Woman drugged and raped by 20 men in Haryana's Gurugram
--- ENDS ---
A small number of dati leumi residents of Beit Shemesh held a protest outside City Hall on Tuesday, 5 Menachem Av, questioning why the city is not allocating a kindergarten for the dati leumi sector in their area.
One parent, Mr. Yossi Yankowitz, questions why after repeated attempts to contact City Hall requesting a kindergarten in their area no response is forthcoming. The city appears unwilling to accommodate the request because the neighborhood in question is chareidi.
When City Hall was contacted, officials explained in line with the character of the neighborhood, which is chareidi, all the kindergartens operating are run by private NGOs and not the city. Yossi however remains determined and began gathering support, now representing the parents of 35 children. He adds he has also tried making progress with the Ministry of Education, but here too, no response.
Yossi explains it is worse, for at one point they found a solution on their own but the city torpedoed it. He explains the head of the citys education portfolio offered an apartment used for a kindergarten today, and then he got a court order to oust the kindergarten from the building. Yossi adds the city manager did finally meet with him, promising the kindergarten would be established but he refused to put it in writing.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has ordered the hiring of additional women in the states religious councils. The High Court of Justice recently ordered hiring a deputy director-general for the nations Batei Din system.
According to the new directive issued by Mandelblit, at least 30% of the employees of the nations religious councils must be women. According to Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) quoting the Hiddush NGO), at present, women only represent 4% of all the employees in the nations religious councils.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
MK (Likud) David Amsellem is under fire for initiating a bill that would prohibit launching an investigation against a ruling Prime Minister for alleged petty crimes, crimes that do not carry a jail term of over 6 months imprisonment. In his Facebook post, Amsellem adds PM Netanyahu was not aware of his intentions to release the bill as PM Binyamin Netanyahu is under investigation in a number of such cases.
Amsellem insists he did this on his own without the prior knowledge of PM Netanyahu. He explains over the past 30 years there was not a single Prime Minister who was not too busy with such investigations, which detract from his responsibilities of running the nation. This includes PMs Yitzchak Rabin, Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert, and Arik Sharon.
Realizing that if a Prime Minister may be guilty, the bill also includes a clause that the statute of limitations would not apply to crimes committed by a Prime Minister so an investigation can be placed on hold until a Prime Minister is out of office.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
A humanitarian aid worker in Gaza has been arrested and charged with using his position to provide material assistance to Hamas terrorist/military efforts. This is the second such indictment of a Palestinian aid worker in Gaza in less than a week.
Waheed Borsh was arrested on 10 Tammuz by the Israel Police and Shin Bet agents and indicted in a civilian court in southern Israel on Tuesday, 5 Menachem Av. He was charged with assisting Hamas, an internationally-recognized Islamist terrorist organization.
Borsh, from Jabalya in Gaza has worked for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Gaza as an engineer since 2003. His areas of responsibility include demolishing houses damaged during armed conflicts and clearing the rubbish from sites after demolition.
The UNDP, an agency of the UN, is one of the worlds largest multilateral development agencies. It conducts development and rehabilitation projects for the Palestinian population of t Gaza, which include assisting in the rehabilitation of housing damaged during armed conflicts.
During the Waheed Borsh investigation, it was discovered that he had been instructed by a senior member of the Hamas terrorist organization to redirect his work for UNDP to serve Hamas military interests.
Borsh confessed that he did indeed carry out activities that aided Hamas. For example, last year he helped build a military jetty in northern Gaza utilizing UNDP resources to be used by Hamas naval forces.
Also in 2015, he acted to persuade UNDP managers to prioritize the rehabilitation of housing in areas populated by Hamas members. Borsh was acting in response to a request by Hamas.
Additionally, Borsh disclosed information regarding cases in which Hamas would blatantly and aggressively exploit UNDP humanitarian activities for its own purposes. For example, when weapons or terrorist tunnel openings were discovered in houses being handled by the UNDP, Hamas would take control of the site and confiscate the arms and other materials. This violates clear UN procedures according to which UNMAS is supposed to be immediately notified as the United Nations Mine Action Service is the UN body in charge of dealing, inter alia, with explosive remnants of war. Borsh also disclosed information on Hamas tunnels and military bases which he had been exposed to during his work in Gaza.
Notably, according to Borsh, other Palestinians who work for aid organizations are also working for Hamas.
This case along with last weeks case in which Hamas operative Mohammed El-Halabi infiltrated the World Vision humanitarian aid NGO in order to divert funds and other resources for use in Hamas military/terrorist efforts demonstrates how Hamas exploits the resources of international aid organizations at the expense of the civilian population of Gaza.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo: Shin Bet Spokesman Unit)
Deputy Minister of Regional Cooperation (Likud) Ayoub Kara visited the headquarters of United Hatzalah on Monday afternoon 4 Menachem Av in order to explore the options of adopting the cooperative model developed by United Hatzalah and transposing it to a regional scale. Kara is a Druse-Israeli who hails from the town of Dalyat al-Carmel and has been working tirelessly since the election to better the relations between Israel and its regional neighbors. Kara spoke very highly of the organization and its efforts to bridge the cultural gaps in Israel and provide a comfortable working environment for people of all faiths and religions.
I am happy to be here, touring the headquarters of United Hatzalah, an organization which puts the saving of lives as its primary goal ahead of politics, religion, and anything else. This organization, in my opinion, exemplifies and upholds as an ideal all basic human rights.
Kara went on to say that the cooperative model used by United Hatzalah, which builds connections between people over the basic human concept of saving lives, is one that he believes can unify people in what has become one of the tensest areas of unrest in the world. I think that here is where people can connect and join together and work together with everything going on around us. The (lifesaving) technology which I saw here firsthand in the command center and in United Hatzalah needs to be spread around the entire world, because this organization can create a consensus in a world that is entirely made up of landmines.
Utilizing the model of United Hatzalah, Kara believes that cooperation among countries in the Middle East is possible. My dream is to create a partnership, a true partnership, with the Palestinian Authority that will include funding courses for EMTs and having volunteers work together. Additionally, we need to spread this out to the Arab states around us, and through that we will enter into an era of a new direction for partnerships, with new connections and new opportunities for cooperation.
We will invite the Palestinians first, and we hope that they will join us. In the near future we also hope to join together with the 30 or so countries that are in the Saudi Arabian Coalition. This is a very new development, but one that is possible. We need to spread the message that saving lives is more important than the fighting which takes place throughout the region, Kara said.
Kara also praised the advanced technology that is being used to save lives every day across the nation. The technology that United Hatzalah has here is something that I believe to be vital and that we must spread around to the other states in the region. In specific, we need to spread it to the Arab Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, but also as far away as Morocco.
The message that I am taking with me today after my visit, which is very important, is to spread the word of the work that United Hatzalah does to every country which I visit. I believe that through spreading cooperative works like this, focused on the idea of saving lives, we can achieve regional cooperation. We will take this organization and lift it up on wings. We should have made a much bigger effort to embrace United Hatzalah a long time ago, because there is no greater calling than the saving of lives.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo: United Hatzalah)
Islamic extremist group Taliban have besieged the capital city of Helmand, Lashkar Gah. Afghan officials warn Centre of the imminent collapse of the city without support from the government.
By Reuters: The Taliban are tightening their noose around the capital of disputed Helmand province in southern Afghanistan which has seen sustained fighting, residents and local officials say.
Security officials and local leaders offered differing assessments of the risk of the city of Lashkar Gah falling, with military commanders asserting that the situation has stabilized. But officials in the besieged city are increasingly pessimistic.
advertisement
APPEAL FOR HELP FROM GOVERNMENT
"If we don't receive support from the central government, the province will collapse soon," said provincial council chief Karim Atal.
The Taliban are seeking to make Lashkar Gah the second provincial capital they have captured since their extremist Islamic rule was toppled in a US-led campaign in 2001. The insurgents briefly held the northern city of Kunduz last October before being driven out by U.S.-backed Afghan troops.
Atal said Afghan security forces in the province, which have undergone major reorganization this year, are capable but he said there was a lack of attention from leaders in Kabul.
As part of its national strategic plan, much of the Afghan government's focus in the past month has been on a campaign against Islamic State militants in eastern Afghanistan.
"If the government does not support Helmand, we will call on our people to grab weapons and fight against the Taliban," Atal said.
IMPACT OF TALIBAN SIEGE ON CITY
Lashkar Gah continues to be flooded with civilians fleeing the fighting that has nearly surrounded the city. The Taliban have seized some areas only a few km from the city center, said Omar Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor.
A major highway between Lashkar Gah and Kandahar has been closed on and off for days by Taliban checkpoints and roadside bombs, he said.
Many in the city point to U.S. air strikes as a decisive factor in preventing the Taliban from overrunning the whole province. In the past two weeks U.S. warplanes have conducted around 25 air strikes in the province, while hundreds of coalition advisers try to bolster Afghan troops.
Fighting has consumed much of Nawa-i-Barakzayi district immediately to the south of Lashkar Gah, district police chief Ahmad Shah Salem said.
"Contact has been lost with police in some places," he said. "The Taliban have conquered some of our checkpoints. So far we haven't received reinforcements, as well as food and ammunition. If we do not receive reinforcement soon, the district will collapse."
advertisement
STEPS TO BE TAKEN
Officials from the Defense and Interior Ministry visited Lashkar Gah on Tuesday. Provincial police chief Brigadier General Aqa Noor Kentoz said reinforcements were scheduled to arrive soon.
The commander of the army's 215 Corps, General Maiwand Faqir, said counter-offensives against the Taliban have been complicated by hundreds of roadside bombs and the presence of civilians, but he said his troops had everything they needed.
ALSO READ: You'll give it to Taliban: Indian sues US car dealership for $1 million over refusal to sell him Mercedes
--- ENDS ---
Regavim, the Israeli legal watchdog issued a statement congratulating the Civil Administration on the swift action taken to demolish five illegally built, European-funded structures in Umm-el Khair, just days after Regavim filed a complaint against them. In recent years, the European Union has unilaterally built over a thousand illegal structures across Area C in violation of international law.
Josh Hasten, Regavims international director commented: Regavim commends the Israeli authorities for the swift demolition of five illegally built European Union funded buildings in Umm-el Khair. This mornings action comes after years of lobbying against the EUs rampant illegal building across Area C in total disregard for international law, Regavims work is beginning to bear fruit with a large increase in demolitions of European structures. We will not stop until there is a total European exit from all Israeli territory.
Regavim is a legal advocacy organization, dedicated to ensuring responsible, legal and accountable use of Israels national land. By investigating claims on the ground level, Regavim protects national land interests, presenting its findings in the form of white papers and legal action, in addition to briefing the press and diplomatic corps.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Kamal Hatib, deputy of Israel Islamic Association Northern Branch Leader Sheikh Raed Salah has been released from custody on Tuesday, 5 Menachem Av, and sent to house arrest for five days.
Hatib was taken into custody a day earlier on suspicion of inciting terrorism and making public racist slurs in his column in the Arabic media. He was taken into custody in Kfar Kana in the Nazareth area.
Hatibs attorney told reporters upon his release that he was sent to house arrest simply to prevent him from taking part in a protest on behalf of hunger-striking security prisoner Bilal Kaiyad.
Raed Salah has been arrested and imprisoned by Israel on a number of occasions http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/415472/sheikh-raid-salah-enters-prison-to-serve-his-jail-term.html for his pro-Hamas activities, which includes fundraising. It has often been alleged the Israel Islamic Association Northern Branch is nothing but a legal Israeli authorized charitable front for Hamas. This led to the Security Cabinet banning the organization http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/361956/photos-security-cabinet-bans-the-northern-branch-of-the-israel-islamic-movement.html after sufficient evidence was gathered to substantiate the allegations.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]
At approximately 1:50PM on Tuesday, 5 Menachem Av, a female Arab terrorist was detected with a knife at a Maaras HaMachpelah checkpoint.
Bchasdei Hashem, alert border police detected the threat in time and were able to neutralize the would-be attacker with pepper spray, then taking her into custody.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photos: Media Resource Group & Police Spokesman Unit)
A chareidi resident of Elad was taken into custody on suspected tax fraud, allegedly failing to pay NIS 1.5 million in income tax. The suspect was operating a car rental in his name and that of his wife and brother who is institutionalized.
The suspect was arraigned in the Petach Tikvah Magistrate Court and sent to house arrest until Thursday, 7 Menachem Av, permitting authorities to continue the investigation without his interference. Restrictions were also placed on him including bail which he and a third party had to place in the custody of the court.
The 38-year-old man was the subject of a multi-agency investigation including VAT inspectors from Petach Tikvah.
The vehicles rented by him are in his name, his wife and the institutionalized brother. The court also ruled the suspect is banned from leaving the country during the coming five months.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
If youre one of the people left stranded by Deltas outage, you have options.
The airline is waiving fees, offering refunds and giving out travel vouchers to those who were scheduled to fly on Aug. 8 or Aug. 9. Over those two days, more than 1,200 Delta flights around the world were canceled due to a power outage that crippled its booking and communications systems.
Heres what you can do:
GET A REFUND:
If your flight was canceled by Delta or delayed more than three hours, and you decide not to reschedule, you can ask the airline for your money back.
RESCHEDULE YOUR FLIGHT:
Delta wont charge its ticket change fee, which can cost as much as $500, even if your flight was not canceled. But if you book the rescheduled flight to take place after Aug. 12, you may have to pay more for airfare.
Delta Air Lines Inc. recommends rescheduling flights on its website or app since its phone lines may be busy.
GET VOUCHERS FOR FUTURE TRAVEL:
As a bonus, Delta is giving away $200 in travel vouchers to those whose flight was canceled or delayed more than three hours. The voucher can be used within a year on any Delta-operated flight.
The vouchers can only be used by the person who was stranded. So if you were traveling for work, the voucher is yours to keep for that next family vacation. However, some companies might require employees to apply the credit toward their next work trip, although that is usually a small percent of companies.
Apply for the voucher at delta.com/wecare.
(AP)
Moving beyond Obamacare, political activists are looking to state ballot questions to refocus the nations long-running debate over governments role in health care.
This fall, California voters will decide whether to lower some prescription drug prices, while Coloradans will vote on a state version of a single-payer government-run health system, similar to what Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders proposed in his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Sanders supports both the California and Colorado initiatives, said spokesman Michael Briggs.
We are in the process of building a new organization to keep a lot of the energy going, he said. Backing those kinds of ballot initiatives is one of the major things that we are focusing on.
Pharmaceutical companies and insurers are spending millions of dollars to defeat the two ballot questions.
The measures are among the more far-reaching health care questions to be decided by voters around the country on Election Day. With ballots still being finalized in some states, other questions may include raising tobacco taxes, expanding use of marijuana for medical treatment and allowing terminally ill patients to have physician assistance in dying.
A proposal in Ohio to limit drug costs didnt make it on the ballot this year, but proponents are pushing for a vote in 2017.
Californias Proposition 61 would bar drug companies from charging state programs more than the discounted price paid by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
There would be exemptions, however. For example, it would not apply to medications purchased through private insurers who contract with the state to cover beneficiaries in the Medi-Cal program for low-income people.
Opponents of Californias Proposition 61 prescription drug initiative have reported $69.6 million in contributions, mainly from pharmaceutical companies. Thats more than seven times the $9.4 million that supporters have raised. Those amounts guarantee national visibility for the battle over the measure.
In Colorado, a measure known as Amendment 69 would create ColoradoCare, a government-financed system that would cover most state residents, largely replacing private insurance. Seniors would continue to rely primarily on Medicare.
Opponents have raised $3.6 million, more than five times the $678,000 reported by supporters. The nations second-largest insurer, Anthem, donated $1 million to the opposition.
As envisioned, Colorados new public health care system would be paid for with tax increases and with federal and state money that now goes to programs such as Medicaid, and for subsidized insurance under President Barack Obamas health care law. Federal approval would be needed under a provision of the Obama law that takes effect next year, allowing states to redesign their health care systems.
The tax increase features a new 10 percent levy on wages and other income. Employers would pay two-thirds of the new payroll tax, with workers responsible for the rest. The taxes would raise $25 billion in 2019, the earliest the program could start.
With the presidential campaign consumed by questions about the candidates character and temperament, the traditional debate over issues has been downplayed this year. Republican Donald Trump has pledged to repeal Obamas health care law, while Democrat Hillary Clinton would build on it. The California and Colorado initiatives steer the conversation away from the highly scripted back-and-forth on Obamacare.
The two proposals are strikingly different, said John McDonough, a former U.S. Senate Democratic aide who worked on the federal health overhaul. The Colorado plan seeks a total transformation of the health care system, while the California initiative reflects concerns about the rising cost of many medications.
Which ballot question has a better chance? Of the two, I probably think the prescription drug piece, because people have so much anger and antipathy toward the pharmaceutical industry, said McDonough, now a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Supporters of the California drug costs proposal say it would save state taxpayers money; opponents say such savings are not a sure thing and the whole scheme could prove to be unworkable. Supporters of ColoradoCare say it would guarantee coverage for all and reduce administrative costs; opponents fear it would lead to more tax increases.
Both proposals face strong business opposition, but that does not worry the Sanders camp.
Hes been involved in longshot campaigns for most of his career, said spokesman Briggs.
(AP)
Judicial Watch today released 296 pages of State Department records, of which 44 email exchanges were not previously turned over to the State Department, bringing the known total to date to 171 of new Clinton emails (not part of the 55,000 pages of emails that Clinton turned over to the State Department). These records further appear to contradict statements by Clinton that, as far as she knew, all of her government emails were turned over to the State Department
The new documents reveal that in April 2009 controversial Clinton Foundation official Doug Band pushed for a job for an associate. In the email Band tells Hillary Clintons former aides at the State Department Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin that it is important to take care of [Redacted]. Band is reassured by Abedin that Personnel has been sending him options. Band was co-founder of Teneo Strategy with Bill Clinton and a top official of the Clinton Foundation, including its Clinton Global Initiative.
Included in the new document production is a 2009 email in which Band, directs Abedin and Mills to put Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire and Clinton Foundation donor Gilbert Chagoury in touch with the State Departments substance person on Lebanon. Band notes that Chagoury is key guy there [Lebanon] and to us, and insists that Abedin call Amb. Jeffrey Feltman to connect him to Chagoury.
Chagoury is a close friend of former President Bill Clinton and a top donor to the Clinton Foundation. He has appeared near the top of the Foundations donor list as a $1 million to $5 million contributor, according to foundation documents. He also pledged $1 billion to the Clinton Global Initiative. According to a 2010 investigation by PBS Frontline, Chagoury was convicted in 2000 in Switzerland for laundering money from Nigeria, but agreed to a plea deal and repaid $66 million to the Nigerian government.
Clintons top aides favors for and interactions with the Clinton Foundation seem in violation of the ethics agreements that Hillary Clinton agreed to in order to be appointed and confirmed as Secretary of State. For example, Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton on January 5, 2009, in a letter to State Department Designated Agency Ethics Official James H. Thessin:
For the duration of my appointment as Secretary if I am confirmed, I will not participate personally and substantially in any particular matter involving specific parties in which The William J. Clinton Foundation (or the Clinton Global Initiative) is a party or represents a party.
As preparation for Hillarys upcoming visit to Asia, Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, on Feb. 11, 2009, sends Hillary a copy of his upcoming testimony before Congress in which he would condemn any U.S. efforts to criticize Chinese monetary policy or enact trade barriers. Several days later, Hillary asked Abedin about Roach possibly connecting with her while she was in Beijing: I forwarded you my email to him about connecting in Beijing. Can he come to the embassy or other event? Morgan Stanley is a long-time financial supporter of the Clintons.
The emails also reveal that Abedin left then-Secretary Clintons daily schedule, a presumably sensitive document, on a bed in an unlocked hotel room. An email on April 18, 2009, during a conference in Trinidad and Tobago, from aide Melissa J. Lan to Huma Abedin asks for the Secretarys day book binders. Abedin replies: Yes. Its on the bed in my room. U can take it. My door is open. Im in the lobby.Thx. Moreover, the emails show the annoyance of another Clinton aide that the schedule was sent to an authorized State Department email address and not to an unsecured non-state.gov account.
The emails reveal that Clinton campaign adviser and pollster Mark Penn advised Clinton on NATO and piracy. Another major Clinton fundraiser, Lana Moresky, also pushed Clinton to hire someone for a position at State. Clinton directed Abedin to follow up and help the applicant and told Abedin to let me know about the job issue.
The emails show that Hillary Clinton relied on someone named Justin (presumably Justin Cooper, a Bill Clinton and Clinton Foundation employee), to set up her cell phone voicemail, rather than having State Department personnel handle it. This was in a February 11, 2009, email from Clinton aide Lauren Jiloty to Clinton, using Clintons [email protected] address.
This is the ninth set of records produced for Judicial Watch by the State Department from the non-state.gov email accounts of Huma Abedin.
The documents were produced under a court order in a May 5, 2015, Freedom of Information (FOIA) lawsuit against the State Department (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00684)) requiring the agency to produce all emails of official State Department business received or sent by former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin from January 1, 2009 through February 1, 2013, using a non-state.gov email address.
No wonder Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin hid emails from the American people, the courts and Congress, said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. They show the Clinton Foundation, Clinton donors, and operatives worked with Hillary Clinton in potential violation of the law.
In June, Judicial Watch uncovered two batches (here and here) of new Clinton email records through court-ordered discovery.
Twice in May, Judicial Watch uncovered new Clinton emails, including emails that show Clinton knew about the security risk of her BlackBerry (see here and here).
Recently, Judicial Watch released other State Department emails (one batch of 103 pages, the second of 138 pages), with newly discovered Clinton emails also going back as far as January 2009.
In March, Judicial Watch released Clinton State Department emails dating from February 2009 that also call into question her statements about her emails. Those emails contained more evidence of the battle between security officials in the State Department, National Security Administration, Clinton and her staff over attempts to obtain secure BlackBerrys.
Hillary Clinton has repeatedly stated that she believes that the 55,000 pages of documents she turned over to the State Department in December 2014 included all of her work-related emails. In response to a court order in other Judicial Watch litigation, she declared under penalty of perjury that she had directed that all my emails on clintonemail.com in my custody that were or are potentially federal records be provided to the Department of State, and on information and belief, this has been done. This new email find is also at odds with her official campaign statement suggesting all work or potentially work-related emails were provided to the State Department.
It appears all but unavoidable, that doctors in Israels government-run hospitals will walk off the job as threatened on Thursday morning 7 Menachem Av. The hospitals targeted in the strike will operate on a limited Shabbos schedule. The Israel Medical Association (IMA) feels this appears to be the only way to send a clear message to the Health Minister and Ministry officials that if funds are not infused into the nations ailing health system, it will collapse.
The secretary of the IMA, attorney Leah Wafner explains This is not about additional money for doctors but a fight to save the nations public health system and the quality of healthcare. She adds that the strike will impact regular hospitals as well as psychiatric and geriatric hospitals. Wafner explains there is a dire need to hire additional doctors and personnel to shorten lines and improve patient care.
Wafner adds the Arrangements Law not only doesnt include an increase for the nations healthcare system but there is budgetary cut.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Chareidi women, kindergarten teachers and assistants from around Israel, protested outside the Har Nof apartment of Interior Minister Aryeh Deri on Tuesday night the eve of 6 Menachem Av.
The quiet of Kablan Street was thrust aside by protestors who arrived at about 23:30, making sure their voices were heard, literally.
They held signs calling on the minister and director-general of the ministry not to make a mockery of them.
Police were on hand to make order and a number of askanim arrived in an effort to understand what the protest was about and then tried to reach an understanding with protestors.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
During an interview with Galei Tzahal (Army Radio), Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan explained five new police stations are opening in the capital, in eastern areas of the capital.
Speak to Galei Tzahal on Wednesday, 6 Menachem Av, the minister explained there is not enough police patrolling and enforcement in the eastern areas of the city and this is about to change, referring to areas that are predominately Arab. Erdan added National sovereignty begins by exercising our sovereignty over Jerusalem.
The minister plans to open stations in Ras al-Amud, Jabil Mukhaber, Silwan, Issawiya, and Tzur Bachar. These areas, which are in the capital, do not have any police stations. Erdan adds that an additional 1,200 policemen will be required to man these stations, all part of a four-year plan.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The Director General of Telangana police has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the links related to the crimes and properties of most wanted gangster Nayeemuddin.
By Ashish Pandey: An SIT was constituted today to probe the killing of notorious Maoist renegade-turned-gangster Mohammed Nayeemuddin and investigate "various criminal activities" conducted by him and his associates in Telangana.
The Director General of Telangana police has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the links related to the crimes and properties of most wanted gangster Nayeemuddin.
READ: Shadnagar encounter: Telangana counter intelligence sleuths gun down dreaded gangster
advertisement
In a major success, police on Monday gunned down Mohammed Nayeemuddin, wanted in a string of cases including the murder of an IPS officer in 1993, in a chance exchange of fire outside Shadnagar town in Mahabubnagar district of state.
Nayeemuddin (45), also known as Nayeem alias 'Balanna', was wanted for the last several years in cases of murder, killings for gain, extortion and kidnapping and had been evading arrest.
Nagi Reddy, Inspector General Police, North Zone, would be in-charge of the SIT, comprising officers from various districts, constituted by the Director General of Police Anurag Sharma.
READ: Dreaded Maoist renegade shot dead outside Telangana
The SIT consists of B Srinivasa Reddy, Addl. DCP, Crimes, Cyberabad; Sridhar, Inspector of Police, Begumbazar, Hyderabad city; S Sudhakar, Inspector of Police, Tr PS, Uppal; Shakir Hussain, Inspector of Police, Wanaparthy Circle; Rajashekar Raju, Inspector of Police, Korutla Circle, Karimnagar; Samala Venkatesh, Inspector of Police, CCS, Sangareddy; P Madhusudhan Reddy, Inspector of Police, Kodad Circle; and and Seetharam, Inspector of Police, Armoor Circle.
The Special Investigation Team would begin functioning immediately and investigate from where the seized material has originated, especially land documents, arms and ammunition and explosives, a release from the office of Telangana DGP said.
SEIZED ITEMS
During the searches, Cyberabad West police on Monday seized Rs 2.8 crore cash, 1.93 kilos of gold jewellery, including gem-studded watches, a .022 mm pistol, three 9 mm pistols, 10 gelatin sticks, 138 live rounds, 200 mobile phones, 350 SIM cards and land documents pertaining to properties and an Audi car from a house of Alkapuri, which is believed to be a hideout of slain gangster Nayeem.
Police also arrested 11 persons including 9 minors (among them two sons and a daughter of Nayeem) from the house on Monday late night.
The Cyberabad East police also recovered 38.5 lakh cash, 3 pistol, 22 live rounds, and land documents during a raid in Vanasthalipuram area at the city outskirts. The Nalgonda police also recovered cash and documents rated to various properties from the hideouts of Nayeemuddin.
--- ENDS ---
Captain Shadi Bashir, 24, is suspected of stealing no less than 77 fragmentation grenades and 13 anti-tank missiles from the IDF, working along with his driver. The case does not appear related to terrorism.
According to the allegations against Bashir, the stolen military merchandise was sold to the drivers father, Mohammad Zoabi, known in criminal circles.
Bashir is a company commander in the IDFs Bedouin Reconnaissance Battalion. He is a resident of Zarzir and arrested a number of weeks ago following an undercover probe. Bashir reportedly told military authorities he was acting under duress as his life and that of his family were threatened if he did not cooperate.
The driver, Adi Zoabi, denies the charges against him and is not cooperating with investigators. The three are scheduled to be indicted in a military court on Thursday, 7 Menachem Av.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Multi-billionaires are not normally the most apologetic of people. But Masayoshi Son, the Japanese tycoon who is taking over Cambridge-based software company ARM Holdings in a 24.3billion deal, seems only too keen to practise the very British art of saying sorry when one hasn't done anything wrong.
'I am terribly sorry I am not a UK subject. Even so, my love for ARM as a British company is unreserved,' he says when I challenge him about being the latest in a string of foreign buyers swallowing up our great businesses.
Son denies he is an asset-stripper, and is pledging to invest and create jobs.
There is scepticism over whether he can be held to his promises and there are worries over the enormous level of debt he is shouldering.
Prodigal Son: Billionaire inventor Masayoshi Son and Pepper, a robot that reads emotions
The timing of his offer has also led to accusations of opportunism.
Critics claimed he was exploiting the turmoil in the markets post-Brexit, when sterling fell sharply, in order to grab a great British company on the cheap.
'I'm not knowledgeable about politics, I focus on technology,' he says.
'After Brexit, it's true, the currency became 12 per cent cheaper. But the ARM share price went up 15 per cent, so how could we be taking advantage? We are looking at a long-term investment.'
The Brexit camp was quick to pounce on the takeover as evidence the UK remains attractive to overseas investors.
Son claims he didn't think about it much either way. Perhaps he is too canny to risk annoying a large chunk of the British population by expressing a view.
'I think Brexit is a very complicated situation. I am one of the few people who says: 'I don't know, I don't care.'
'What I believe in is hundreds of years of the British people's intelligence and their hard work. Whatever the complications, sooner or later the British people will overcome them.'
MASAYOSHI SON, 58 Family: Lives in Tokyo, Japan, with his wife and two children. Education: University of California, Berkeley. Day in the life: 'I wake up early and I don't eat breakfast. Every meal is a business meal, I have a business lunch and dinner. I work until 2am then I get five or so hours' sleep.' His estimated wealth is now around 10billion. Hobbies: 'Being an entrepreneur is my job and my hobby. I'm always enthusiastic about the business, it's not work. It's my excitement, it's my life. No gym. My exercise is brain exercise.' Predictions: ARM will be as big as Apple or Facebook. Robots will allow humans to live lives of unimaginable luxury and machines will be more intelligent than people within 40 years.
The tycoon was born in 1957 into a poor family in a small town on Kyushu Island, the southernmost of the four islands of Japan. His father raised pigs and illegally made sake, the fiery Japanese wine, to supplement the household income.
Son's fascination with technology took hold in adolescence. In the mid-seventies, he even slept with a magnified photograph of a computer chip developed by Intel under his pillow, because he loved the design so much.
Despite his intelligence, he felt Japanese people looked down on him because he has a Korean heritage and name a factor, perhaps, in fuelling the outsider mentality that led him to become an entrepreneur rather than just another salaryman.
At 16, he moved to the US where he stayed with relatives and went to the University of California, Berkeley.
Like many an aspiring young inventor, he wrote down his ideas in a notebook. Unlike most teenage brainboxes, he sold the patent for one of them, an electronic translator, for nearly $1million to Sharp.
That precocious coup sent him on the route to becoming one of the world's richest men, with a fortune now estimated at around 10billion.
At the tender age of 19, he had mapped a 50-year business plan. By 2010, aged 52, he had drawn up a plan for the next 300 years.
That blueprint includes investing in 5,000 companies by 2040, by which time he will be in his eighties. If it all goes according to the script, there will be plenty more deals after ARM.
The core of his empire is SoftBank, which despite the name is not a bank but a global technology giant.
He set up the business in 1981, after heading back from the US to Japan with his wife Masami Ohno.
It was driven by necessity as much as ambition. The newly-weds, who met at university, had no money coming in and Masami was pregnant with the first of their two daughters.
If she was worried, she needn't have been. By 1994 her husband was a billionaire.
US home: Son is understood to have paid 90m for this nine-acre Silicon Valley mansion
However he went on to lose a fortune in the dotcom crash of the early noughties. Since then Son has rebuilt his fortune. His investments include a 38billion stake in Chinese shopping website Alibaba which he bought in 2000 for a bargain 12million and he owns the Japanese arm of mobile phone group Vodafone.
Not everything has worked out as planned. He bought a 77 per cent holding three years ago in US internet telecoms firm Sprint, but losses continue to rack up and it is groaning under 25 per cent of borrowings.
Eyebrows have been raised in the Square Mile over the total debt across the Son empire around 85billion though he is untroubled.
In any case, he reckons money isn't everything. SoftBank is valued at 54billion on the Japanese stock market but its website quixotically claims it is there not just to make profits but to contribute to 'people's happiness and joy'.
Son himself is capable of generous gestures. In 2011 he gave his 90million pay package and donated his basic salary of just over 980,000 a year until retirement to earthquake and tsunami victims.
He can, of course, afford it. Not long after, he was reported to have paid 90million for a nine-acre Silicon Valley mansion.
Talks: Son leaves Downing Street with ARM chairman Stuart Chambers last month
The white, neoclassical pile in wealthy Woodside, with a domed entrance hall and pool, set in a hilltop estate, was in 2013 said to be the most expensive US house sale on record.
SoftBank's latest eye-catching venture is the development of a robot called the Pepper, which can apparently read human emotions.
Some 10,000 of the robots, which cost Japanese buyers about 1,300 not counting maintenance, insurance and running costs, have been sold.
The humanoids, which are capable of holding conversations and of moving independently, have proved extremely popular.
More than a thousand companies are using them for tasks such as selling coffee and working as hotel receptionists.
But there are limits to the tasks they will perform: the user agreement warns owners they must not install their 4ft tall metal companions with salacious or violent apps.
ARM's technology is largely invisible to consumers but its chip designs power most of the world's smartphones. It is perfectly placed to profit from the 'internet of things' intelligent devices such as street lamps that switch on when a car approaches or fridges that will automatically order milk when you're about to run out.
Son says he had been watching ARM for a decade, but once he had made up his mind to launch a bid he did so at warp speed.
He called ARM chairman Stuart Chambers, who was in the middle of a sailing holiday off the coast of Turkey, then flew to Istanbul airport by private jet, flanked by armed security guards.
The pair met and hammered out the outline of a deal at the Pineapple restaurant on the waterfront at the seaside resort of Marmaris.
Less than a fortnight later, Son, who spent several days installed in a suite in the Berkeley Hotel in London's Knightsbridge, had launched his bid for the British firm. He says that unlike other foreign buyers such as Kraft, which took over Cadbury he wants to invest in the company and create hundreds of new jobs in Britain.
ARM currently employs 4,000 people worldwide, of which 1,700 are in the UK, most of them in Cambridge. Son has committed to double the number in the UK.
Up to 100 people working for SoftBank may be shipped over here as part of that agreement and it is not clear whether any existing ARM staff will lose their jobs.
He has also pledged to keep ARM's headquarters in the UK and to increase the funding, though he won't say by how much.
He says: 'We will sign a legally binding contract and provide that to the Takeover Panel and the UK courts so they will have an enforceable power to make it happen.' Accountant Grant Thornton will act as an independent monitor.
'Anyone who knows me knows my promise is as good as a contract,' he says. 'I am doing this because not everyone in Britain knows me.
'I want to create an ecosystem of start-ups around Cambridge. It can be like Silicon Valley, and that will be a good thing for Britain I want to make Britain proud. I really believe ARM can be bigger than Google or Facebook, if we invest and take the opportunities.'
Britain has so far not managed to produce a world-beating technology company.
If you own a car and live in an area with a high proportion of ethnic minority households the chances are you're being charged higher insurance premium prices regardless of any other factor, according to new research.
The impact can push premiums as much as 450 higher than the national average, regardless of the driver's own ethnicity, the report suggested.
The shocking revelation has come from Thompson Solicitors, a legal firm with expertise in the motoring field that's been campaigning for insurers to be more transparent about how much they're charging customers.
The car insurance 'ethnic penalty': New research commissioned by law firm finds a 'strong statistical relationship' between ethnic minority prevalence and higher insurance premium by postcode across the UK
Trevor Phillips, one of the authors of the report and the founding chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said there was 'no hesitation' linking regions with higher proportions of ethnic minority households with higher premium prices based on the figures provided to the analysis team.
'It is clear from our research that the ethnic penalty exists in all regions and in areas of affluence as well as poorer areas,' he commented.
The Association of British Insurers moved to rubbish the report on Wednesday with a series of tweets condemning the research as 'flawed' and based on 'statistical coincidence'.
Thompson Solicitors said the study was carried out by analysing data sourced from the AA website for all 125 postcodes areas in the UK.
This research concluded that people who live in multi-ethnic districts pay what the law firm dubbed an ethnic penalty in higher-than-average motor premiums of up to 458.
Data analysts Webber Phillips said there is a strong statistical relationship accounting for 60 per cent of the variation - between ethnic minority prevalence and higher insurance premiums in a postcode.
The study found that the additional cost affects an estimated 12 million people more than one in five UK residents - regardless of the drivers own ethnic origin and concluded that the variations cannot be accounted for by prevalence of crime, or fear of crime, available claims data or relative affluence.
In the report, Webber Phillips stated: 'What we can say with confidence is that the process of premium setting has definitely produced an inequality of outcome to the detriment of black and ethnic minority groups.'
Tom Jones, head of policy at Thompsons Solicitors, which commissioned the research, said: 'We decided to look into this issue because of the huge variations in premiums across the country and concerns raised with us that there might be a link with ethnicity.
'This report confirms our fears that the process by which car insurers calculate premiums produces a wholly skewed result.
'It is outrageous that insurers whether deliberately or through a lack of concern - should allow an outcome that is to the detriment not only of people from ethnic minority backgrounds but anyone else who lives in those areas.'
Last week, the ABI confirmed that the average car insurance premium paid in the second quarter of 2016 was 434, up 5 (one per cent) on the previous quarter and 39 (10 per cent higher) more than the same quarter last year.
'Motor insurance profits are huge and now we now have evidence that they are making those bloated profits through bias and stereotyping,' Jones added.
'There are plenty of other reasons for it but this makes the point once and for all that we need greater transparency and accountability in what is a captive market for a product that is compulsory for everyone who wants to drive a vehicle in the UK.'
Trevor Phillips added: 'It is clear from our research that the ethnic penalty exists in all regions and in areas of affluence as well as poorer areas.
'Publicly available government data demonstrates that high levels of vehicle crime are unlikely to be linked to ethnicity; and our analysis shows that the ethnic penalty persists even in areas populated by prosperous minorities.
'In certain subsets, the correspondence between high premium levels and postcode areas with a high ethnic minority prevalence rises to 90 per cent - meaning that higher premiums in these areas is almost entirely accounted for by ethnicity.
'We examined the effect of other factors, such as fear of crime and available claims data, but we did not find that these factors carried any significant weight in our model that is why we had no hesitation in concluding that an ethnic penalty exists.
'Insurance companies urgently need to examine their procedures either to demonstrate this is not the case, which we think is unlikely, or to ensure new processes are put in place that eliminate discrimination.'
People who live in multi-ethnic districts pay a penalty of higher-than-average motor premiums of up to 458, according to Thompson Solicitors
The ABI strongly disputes the findings. An initial post on Twitter read: 'report by people with no understanding of insurance paid for by firm with vested interest in compensation culture.'
The ABI's official account then followed by stating: 'Car insurers have never, and will never, set prices based on ethnicity as it is both ethically wrong and prohibited by the Equality Act.
'Thompsons report makes serious accusations using a flawed analysis and based purely on a statistical coincidence.'
Phillips responded to the ABI's statements shortly after, saying: 'They appear not to have read the report or to understand what we are saying.
'A parallel would be the under-representation of black students in University, which has been acknowledged as a problem by both this PM and her predecessor. Nobody is saying it occurs because lecturers are bigots, but an inequality of outcome does exist and universities are trying to find out why.
In this case, the insurers appear to be refusing to entertain the possibility that there is a problem in effect, an ethnic penalty - and dont want to look into it because they may not like what they find.
'The solution to this is simple: they should be transparent and publish their data.'
report by people with no understanding of insurance paid for by firm with vested interest in compensation culture https://t.co/cXDdgU5YOD ABI (@BritishInsurers) August 10, 2016
Car insurers have never, and will never, set prices based on ethnicity as it is both ethically wrong and prohibited by the Equality Act ABI (@BritishInsurers) August 10, 2016
Thompsons report makes serious accusations using a flawed analysis and based purely on a statistical coincidence ABI (@BritishInsurers) August 10, 2016
Thompsons' report full of holes and admits it "cannot attribute causation". best read alongside this: https://t.co/NKhSQ43FgV ABI (@BritishInsurers) August 10, 2016
Thompsons Solicitors seconded Phillips' calls for more transparency with a response of its own, adding: 'Thompsons commissioned this report as we feared following an initial review of the available data that direct or indirect discrimination may be taking place.
'The ABIs response is to be expected but they do not publish data on the factors they cite as influencing claims experience.
'Our simple reply to the insurance industry is: disprove our research. Publish your data and be transparent in how you calculate claims.'
Keith Vaz, MP for Leicester East, has already committed to quizzing the ABI on the matter.
'I am deeply concerned with this report and Trevor Phillips findings which will worry Britain's five million ethnic minority community,' he said.
'I will be seeking an early meeting with the ABI to ask them about what they will be doing to address these concerns.'
The AA has also responded the study, distancing itself from the research by claiming the postcode data was taken from its website without permission.
A spokesperson said: 'To conclude that car insurance premiums are directly influenced by regional ethnicity is disingenuous. Premiums are based on claims experience.
'A range of factors influence that experience and thus premiums, including: local accident rates; damage to cars; likelihood of cars being kept in public areas (ie on street); occupation, theft rates.
Ed Van Cutsem and Lady Tamara Grosvenor pictured at their 2004 wedding
Billionaire landowner the Duke of Westminster, who has died aged 64, leaves behind an estate worth 9billion to his four children.
His Grace's eldest daughter, auburn-haired Tamara, 36, is married to Blackrock managing director Ed Van Cutsem, 43, who is a close friend of Prince William and a barrel-chested gym enthusiast. They're known among Norfolk's turnip toffs as Dosh and Pecs.
Venture capitalist Guy Hands, the 250million boss of Terra Firma, has received planning permission to make alterations to his home in tax-friendly Guernsey.
Among his proposals is a plan to create an estate office and build an 'equestrian stable block'.
Presumably horse-riding is a pastime of his blonde hotelier wife, Julia. The sight of podgy Hands, 56, straddling some poor nag's back would likely prompt a door-knock from the RSPCA.
On top of his 8.7million-a-year post at Lloyds, wolfish banker Antonio Horta-Osorio also serves as chairman of the Wallace Collection, one of London's finest displays of art. How did he land that coveted post?
He was appointed last year by David Cameron, with whom he was on cordial terms.
Having already fixed her steely glare on executive pay, I suspect puritanical vicar's daughter Theresa May may feel less well-disposed toward old roue Antonio, 52, than her clubbable predecessor.
There is a refreshing dash of flamboyance about Ken Olisa, the new deputy chairman of the Institute of Directors.
Merchant banker Ken, 66, once dubbed the most powerful black man in Britain, has a passion for gingham shirts and silk bow ties.
Meanwhile, the Institute's chignon-haired chairman, Lady Judge, 69, cuts a dash in high-neck ruffled tunics and towering heels. Isn't the fusty IoD blessed to have these dazzling peacocks at the helm?
Millionaire Habitat founder Sir Terence Conran describes Concorde as 'the single most important piece of design in my lifetime'.
The cigar-chomping design guru, 84, was particularly thrilled when asked to redesign Concorde's interiors for its 2001 relaunch.
Every year before jetting off on their sunshine break to Cyprus, Peter and Julie Haynes made sure they had travel insurance.
It was particularly important because Peter has suffered from serious heart conditions.
For the past few years they've used a specialist firm, AllClear, because it covers all ages and health problems.
Ahead of their most recent trip last October, the couple spent 50 minutes carefully filling in its online forms.
Recovery: Peter and Julie Haynes were left 36,000 out of pocket after their insurer AllClear refused to stump up after Peter suffered an heart attack while on holiday in Cyprus
Peter, 74, listed how he had suffered from angina, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and had had minor heart surgery.
The couple, of Peterborough, Cambs, thought the 180 policy meant they did not have to worry if the worst happened on their ten-day trip.
So it was devastating when Peter did have a heart attack in Cyprus and AllClear refused to pay the 36,000 bill for the treatment that saved his life.
Despite the Haynes' painstaking precautions, AllClear said it had checked Peter's medical records and found he'd failed to tell the insurer about two aspects of his medical history that had slipped his mind.
The couple's story is a stark warning to the millions of over-65s heading abroad this summer.
Many believe they have made every effort to get the right travel insurance in place. But a combination of vague policy wording, computerised forms and forgetting an old ailment can leave customers facing huge bills.
Peter and Julie, 72, travel to Paphos every year and stay in the same hotel with friends.
They've become well- known to the staff and the trip in October started off just as swimmingly as always, with games of bowls in the day and relaxing at local restaurants in the evening.
Emergency: Peter needed a triple heart bypass and had to be taken to a hospital 100 miles away from his holiday resort
But late on their second night, Peter, a retired engineer, started to feel unwell. 'I was feeling hot and bothered,' he says. 'I went into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror and saw a strange shade of yellow. That's the last thing I remember.'
Julie roused the couple's friends, one of whom is a former nurse, and they called an ambulance. At a clinic, a doctor diagnosed Peter as having suffered a heart attack and he was stabilised.
But after a few hours doctors decided he needed a triple heart bypass and rushed him to another hospital 100 miles away in Nicosia.
To Julie's relief, Peter started to make a recovery after the operation. It was only then that their thoughts turned to the bill.
The first complication was that they had been taken to a private hospital. In a public hospital, a large chunk of the fee for emergency treatment would have been covered by the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) scheme, but in a private hospital you're liable for the full cost.
Julie was told by medics that everything would be covered by the insurance. But a few days later the staff started pestering Julie for cash.
They said AllClear was dragging its feet and at one point a group of men even offered to take her to a cash machine to withdraw money.
Not declaring pre-existing conditions on a travel insurance policy can mean it's useless
Then, six days after Peter's surgery, Julie received a devastating phone call. AllClear's underwriters had checked Peter's medical records and found he'd missed off two conditions listed in his notes.
Ten years earlier, Peter had suffered cramping in his legs after exercise. He was diagnosed with intermittent claudication (a narrowing of the arteries), which was cured by a course of pills.
He also had a heart problem called left ventricular failure. Peter can't remember being diagnosed with this condition and thinks it may be related to a stent he had fitted in a minor operation something he did declare. Despite the Haynes' protests, AllClear is refusing to pay a penny towards Peter's treatment.
The insurer says that even though he declared four heart and circulatory conditions and answered 15 supplementary questions, its policy makes clear that customers must declare every condition they've suffered.
A combination of vague policy wording on travel insurance documents, computerised forms and forgetting an old ailment can leave customers facing huge bills
Peter says: 'I really tried hard to fill in the forms honestly. These conditions were bunched in my mind with other heart problems I've suffered over the years.
'If I was in a position to take out travel insurance again, I would ask my GP for a letter that outlines my medical history. I wish I'd spoken to someone at the insurance company, rather than having to do everything online, as perhaps that would have jogged my memory.
'I am, however, incredibly grateful to the staff at the hospitals who saved my life.'
Penny O'Nions, a financial adviser who used to work as a doctor, says it is vital to get hold of your medical notes. For a physical copy, you must apply to your GP in writing or email. There may be a fee.
Dr O'Nions says: 'If you're in your 70s and have suffered a series of health problems, you may easily forget one or two of them and sometimes patients do not take everything in when a doctor explains a condition.'
An AllClear spokesman says: 'While we have every sympathy for Mr and Mrs Haynes, we have been open and transparent in continually warning travellers of the issues of not declaring all of their medical conditions and the costs associated with private medical care in Europe.'
The insurer agreed to pay Julie's hotel bills and the couple's flights home.
Stock Spirits revolt ends as Britain's first Polish boss of a big UK company is appointed
Stock Spirit's Miroslaw Stachowicz will become the first Polish boss of a top UK firm
The revolt at vodka maker Stock Spirits seemed to draw to a close yesterday with its new boss becoming the first Polish chief executive of a big British company.
Miroslaw Stachowicz, 54, known as Mirek, was appointed a non-executive director of the spirits group in November last year.
The yoga-loving, father-of-two stepped up as interim chief executive in April when predecessor Chris Heath was forced out.
This position has now become permanent. As part of the appointment the chief executives's job will move from Buckinghamshire to Warsaw.
It ends a year of dispute led by activist investor Luis Amaral, 54, the biggest shareholder in Stock Spirits, through Western Gate Investments.
He complained the firm was based in the UK and should move to Poland, closer to most of its customers.
Amaral was accused of a conflict of interest because he is also one of Stock's biggest customers through his Eurocash shop chain.
Stachowicz said: 'It is a source of pleasure for me that I am the first Polish chief executive on the London Stock Exchange.
'We're in the middle of a root and branch review of the company and we've started on the majority of changes we want to make. We've got the early signs of a recovery for Stock Spirits.'
Stachowicz, who speaks Polish, English and Russian, has an MA in political science and journalism.
The interim results showed profit increased to 15.4million from 9.3million.
Kapil Sharma and Jacqueline Fernandez got hitched on the sets of The Kapil Sharma Show. It was a part of an act that the two did recently while the actress was there to promote her movie A Flying Jatt.
By India Today Web Desk: Comedy king Kapil Sharma has always tried wooing all his female guests on The Kapil Sharma show, from Deepika Padukone to Aishwariya Rai Bachchan; Kapil has tried his luck with every stunning beauty from the film industry.
Also read:Hrithik Roshan on The Kapil Sharma Show: 5 best moments from the episode
And the wooing begins. Picture courtesy: Twitter/preeti_simoes
advertisement
And looks like now it is ex Miss Srilanka, Jacqueline Fernandez's turn to be charmed. The one-sided love story of Kapil and Jacqueline started when the actress had come on the show to promote her movie Dishoom.
When they went on a date. Picture courtesy: Twitter/preeti_simoes
But now, things have taken an interesting turn. In an upcoming episode of the show, viewers will be surprised to see a very married Kapil and Jacqueline. Yes, you read that right. The two get married on the sets of the show as a part of an act.
The two even went on a long drive. Picture courtesy: Twitter/preeti_simoes
The creative director of the show, Preeti Simoes, even posted some pictures from the set on her Twitter handle.
Kapil too was not far behind as he posted a picture of himself with Jacqueline Fernandez. Even the host's mother was also present to give the 'newly-weds' her blessing.
u make me the happiest man @Asli_Jacqueline promise me u take me shopping,outdoor,gifts n will take care of me 4ever pic.twitter.com/6bgXln562d KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) August 9, 2016
Kapil had captioned the picture as "U make me the happiest man @Asli_Jacqueline, promise me u will take me shopping, outdoor, gifts, n will take care of me 4ever."
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Hoshiarpur (Pb), Aug 10 (PTI) Punjab police today claimed to have arrested three members of outfit Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF).
Those arrested were identified as Jaspreet Singh, alias Jassa, resident of Handowal Kalan, Hardip Singh alias Deepa of Jallowal and Kuldeep Singh alias Deep, of local Sheikhan Mohalla, police said.
Two pistols and four live cartridges were recovered from them, they said.
advertisement
Police said seven alleged members of KLF, including those arrested, were booked under relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967.
According to police, Harjap Singh, currently in the US, and Avtar Singh, who is in Italy, were allegedly instigating Sikh youths of the state to indulge in "anti-social activities".
They were in touch with the three arrested along with Bikramjit and Balwinder who are still at large, they said.
A case under relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967 (amendment 2012) and the Arms Act has been registered against all the accused in Chabbewal police station, police said. PTI CORR CHS DBS ZMN DBS
--- ENDS ---
The model has gone ahead and penned down an emotional post about the incident.
By India Today Web Desk: Just when one thinks that the LGBTQ community is finally garnering the acceptance and love it deserves, comes a news as heart-breaking as this.
After recently being detained at the Dubai airport, Canadian model Gigi Gorgeous took to her Instagram account and posted a note about the same.
Gorgeous who was stuck at the Dubai airport for a total of five hours was reportedly, detained on the pretext of her being a transgender. Referring to the incident as "one of the scariest moments" of her life, the model expressed her anguish on how someone "can be denied entry somewhere just because of who you are."
advertisement
Also Read: Meet the transgender makeup artist who believes beauty is genderless
Terming the act as "seriously disgusting" and "very scary" Gorgeous' words were posted alongside a picture of her embracing a friend, Nats Getty.
"After being detained and held at the Dubai airport for over five hours, this was the moment my baby came to rescue me," she wrote.
According to a quote given to TMZ, Gorgeous recalled an officer telling her, "I was told you are transgender. You cannot come into the country."
Also Read: This city created history by launching India's first spa for transgenders
The 24-year-old model who was named Gregory Allan Lazzarto before her tranisition to Gigi Loren in 2014, assured her Instagram followers that she was now on her way to "somewhere much more accepting. Safe and sound and happy."
See her complete post right here.
(With inputs from IANS)
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 10 (PTI) The Kerala Congress (M) parting ways with the Congress-led UDF signify the "total disintegration" of the opposition front, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today said.
"We had said this before the Assembly elections itself that the UDFs three pillars-- Congress, IUML and KC-M--will disintegrate after the (Assembly) polls. It has happened now. But none believed us then," he told reporters here.
advertisement
KC-M supremo and former state finance minister, K M Mani, had recently severed three-decade old ties with the UDF, citing "insults andhumiliations" meted out to the party leadership. He had said that his party would keep equal distance from UDF, LDF and BJP-NDA.
He (Mani) had also stated that if they (UDF, LDF, BJP-NDA) do good, he would appreciate them which means they see goodness even in NDA, Vijayan said.
RSS which controls the NDA-BJP had initiated the Gharwapsi (home coming) campaign under which re-conversions to Hinduism had taken place, he said.
"The Christian community had been attacked and was the worst hit," he said, adding Manis stand would pave the way for KC-Ms "total collapse".
On the UDF MLAs convention held today in front of the secretariat against the "anti-people" policies of the Left government, the Kerala Chief Minister said the agitation was to save their face. PTI UD/LGKVS SRY
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Yoshita Singh
United Nations, Aug 10 (PTI) Voicing concern over recent developments pertaining to capital punishment in Maldives, the UN Human Rights chief has exhorted the government to refrain from carrying out planned executions and uphold the de facto moratorium that has been in place in the country for over six decades.
"The Maldives has long provided important leadership on global efforts to bring an end to the use of death penalty, so it is deeply regrettable that a series of steps have been taken to resume executions in the country," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein said in a press release.
advertisement
Last November, the High Court decided that the President may no longer exercise the power of commuting death sentences to life imprisonment.
In June this year, capital punishment regulations were further amended to allow for hanging in addition to lethal injections as methods of execution.
Further, in July, the Supreme Court issued an order, cancelling the stay order issued by the High Court and reiterated that its decisions on death sentences are final.
"The death penalty is not effective in deterring crime," Zeid said, adding "a judiciary that is unable to consistently apply fair trial standards and is marred by politicisation, must not be allowed to have the final say in matters of life and death."
"There are currently 17 individuals on death row in Maldives. Some cases raise serious due process concerns, with three of them at imminent risk of execution," he said.
"Maldives has upheld the right to life for more than 60 years," the High Commissioner said, urging the leaders and the people of the Maldives "to continue to uphold the moratorium on the death penalty and work towards prohibiting the practice altogether." PTI YAS AYP
--- ENDS ---
These real PA creatures could become cryptids if we don't save them
US-backed Libyan militias say they have taken over the Islamic State group's headquarters in Sirte, the militants' final bastion in Libya.
In this Monday, Aug. 1, 2016 frame grab from video, Brigadier-General Mohammed al-Ghasri, second left, spokesman for Al Bonyan Almrsos military operation fighting in Sirte, speaks at a news conference in Misrata, Libya.
By AP: US-backed Libyan militias say they have taken over the Islamic State group's headquarters in Sirte, the militants' final bastion in Libya.
The fighters said on Wednesday that they had seized control of the sprawling convention center that was used as IS's headquarters in the coastal city. The militia fighters, who are mainly from the nearby city of Misrata, launched their offensive against IS in June.
advertisement
A statement on the forces' Facebook page declares that "Sirte is returning to Libya."
US warplanes have launched a series of airstrikes targeting IS positions in the city. The air support came in response to a request for assistance from Libya's U.N.-brokered government after battles in Sirte stalled.
The militants seized control of the city, the hometown of Libya's former dictator Muammar Gadhafi, in 2015.
--- ENDS ---
Larvick to address Republican women
Jon Larvick, president of the Shepherd Military Affairs Committee, will address Wichita County Republican Women during the group's Aug. 15 meeting at Luby's Cafeteria, 1801 Ninth St. Lunch is at 11:30 a.m., the meeting begins at noon.
Larvick will discuss the role of the SMAC, the upcoming 75th anniversary of Sheppard Air Force Base and encroachment issues.
The cost of the lunch is $12, and reservations must be made by Aug. 14 by contacting Annette Barfield at 940-642-8420 or annettebarfield@aol.com.
Seminar to present rental information
Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas will offer a free landlord/tenant information seminar from 2-3:30 p.m. Aug. 15 in room 204 of the Wichita Falls Public Library, 600 11th St.
The seminar will include information on written leases, deposits, evictions and other rental issues, including 'rent-to-own' agreements. Speakers will include Justices of the Peace Michael R. Little, Marc H. Newman and Janice Ralston Sons.
Desk and Derrick to meet Aug. 18
The Desk and Derrick Club will hold its monthly meeting at noon Aug. 18 at Luby's Cafeteria, 1801 Ninth St.
Greg Norman, of Norman Browning Exploration & NBX Energy in Wichita Falls, will be the speaker. His topic will be 'The Soldier Mound Tannehill & Stockwether Fields, Dickens County Classic Examples of Two Major Eastern Shelf Play Types.'
Reservations should be made by Aug. 16 by contacting Geneva Wood at Gawood3@aol.com or 940-767-5197. Cost for the lunch is $12.
Vendors invited to Bowie festival
Vendor spaces are available for the 21st annual Chicken and Bread Days Heritage Festival Oct. 1 in Bowie. The festival will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. downtown.
The deadline for vendor reservations is Sept. 26. All vendor spaces are outdoor, 10-by-10-foot spots. Art and craft spaces only $20, and food vendor spaces $25. There is an additional $10 fee for electricity. Vendors supply their own tables, chairs, canopies and extension cords. Setup begins at 7:30 a.m. the morning of the festival, with takedown starting at 4 p.m.
Visit www.MainStreetBowie.com for vendor applications or contact the office at 940-872-6246.
SBDC will offer Quickbooks training
America's Small Business Development Center at Midwestern State University will offer training on Quickbooks Online from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Aug. 25 at the MSU Dillard Building Room 159.
Business consultant Lynda Cannedy will teach the course, which is aimed at those thinking about switching from Quickbooks Desktop to Quickbooks Online. Cannedy will cover getting started, navigating the program, recording transactions and reporting.
Cost for the training session is $95, which includes a light breakfast. To register, call 397-4373.
Bootcamp set to energize fundraisers
The Nonprofit Center of Texoma will present a 'Fundraising Bootcamp' from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 26 at the Nonprofit Center, 2301 Kell Blvd., Suite 218 (second floor of Wells Fargo Bank in Parker Square).
Carole Rylander, a certified fundraising executive since 1990, will lead the training, which is intended to reignite the passion for fundraising while helping participants develop daily, weekly and monthly goals specific to their nonprofit.
Cost is $60 per person and includes lunch. To register, go to nonprofitcenterwf.org or call 322-4961.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Cliff Lipson Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Show More Show Less 3 of 3
"Supergirl: The Complete First Season": The series struggled its first year, because it didn't fit the traditional mold of a CBS series. The network whose viewers on average are older than the planet Krypton tends to launch the kind of procedural dramas that the core audience loves. Along comes "Supergirl." Not only is the comic book genre aimed at young viewers, but Supergirl is the youngest of all the heroes fighting crime these days on all TV services. Because the series tried to appease both audiences the first year, it struggled. But, the show gets new life as it moves to the CW Network, home of several comic book-inspired shows.
"Addicted to Fresno": If this were a narcotic, it would be a baby aspirin. The film about sisters who clean rooms at a Fresno hotel isn't dark enough to have the kind of creepy punch that would make it comically addictive. It's more of a comic placebo. The generally annoying Judy Greer and the under-appreciated Natasha Lyonne play sisters Shannon and Martha. Shannon is a sex addict who has moved back to Fresno to live with her sister while going through rehab. Martha is the level-headed one who has spent her whole life taking care of members of the family. Other than a couple of good performances, the only thing "Addicted to Fresno" has going for it is the novelty of the setting. Don't watch it looking to see a lot of Fresno landmarks, because the movie was filmed in Los Angeles. Only a few scenes of Fresno were cut into the film.
Friday-Sunday
The Steamer No. 10 Theatre is bringing back Shakespeare in Lincoln Park. And the performances are free The theater has cast professional actors and some of its most promising CAST (Creative Arts at Steamer Ten) students for "Taming of the Shrew." Jacqueline Donnaruma directs the play, which opens Friday evening on the east lawn of the Sunshine School on Delaware Avenue. The play runs through Aug. 21. 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday. Free. Sunshine School east lawn, 116 Delaware Ave., Albany. Rain date at Steamer 10, 500 Western Ave., Albany; 438-5503; http://www.steamer10theatre.org/category/shakespeare
Thursday
They're called "pre-code" films, movies made during the years between the advent of movies with sound and the enforcement of the Motion Pictures Production Code in 1934. Pre-code films were sexier and saucier than their post-code counterparts, and often featured liberated, strong women characters. This week, the Pine Hills Film Colony will screen "Millie," a 1931 film starring ingenue Helen Twelvetrees that's considered one of the best pre-code films. The film is part of Pine Hills' "Murder, Morals and Music" series; movies are screened the second Thursday of each month through December.
7 p.m. Thursday. $10. Madison Theater, 1036 Madison Ave., Albany. 438-2094; http://bit.ly/2aQUeOC
Friday
Faculty and young musicians in the annual Catskill High Peaks Festival will take part in the "Music from High Peaks" showcase. The concert will feature a number of chamber music combos, including cello chorus, solo and duo piano, quartets, sextets and the High Peaks Chamber Orchestra. Performers will play works by Bach, Grieg, Dvorak, Chopin and Gershwin. The show is part of the festival's Summer Performance Schedule, which wraps up with "Bach and His Heirs," a free Aug. 14 performance at the Carey Institute for Global Good in Rensselaerville 7 p.m. Friday. $15-$25. Bridge Street Theatre, 44 W. Bridge St., Catskill. 800-843-0778; http://www.catskillhighpeaksmusic.org
Saturday
It's all about that banjo at Caffe Lena. Saratoga's venerable folk haunt is hosting the fifth annual Banjo Revelry this week, featuring Bob Altschuler, Hilary Kostanoski-Hawke, Lorraine Lee Hammond and Glenn Nelson. Altschuler, the show's host, performs and records with Thirteen Feet of Bluegrass and Three Quarter North. Kostanoski-Hawke, who's from Brooklyn, is in the M Shanghai String Band, Dubl Handi, the Me Oh My Ohs, and Hilary Hawke & the Flipsides. Hammond will perform with her husband, guitarist Bennett Hammond. The Boston Globe called them "gentle masters of folk melody." Nelson, from Massachusetts, is in two bands, Wide Open Spaces and Acoustic Planet. 7 p.m. Saturday. $10-$35. Caffe Lena at The Grove at Neumann, 233 Lake Ave., Saratoga Springs. 583-0022; http://www.caffelena.org
Friday-Saturday
Pascal Rioult was a track and field star in his native France; he was working as a P.E. teacher when he discovered modern dance and, just a few years later, he was in New York City, performing in Martha Graham's company. After her death, Rioult founded his own troupe, which explores neoclassical movement and mythological themes through his inventive lens. At PS21 this weekend, the company performs "On Distant Shores," in which Rioult reimagines the backstory of Helen of Troy, and "Views of the Fleeting World," set to J. S. Bach's "The Art of Fugue," which replicates the simplicity and serenity of Japanese woodblock prints. The program also includes "Bolero," Rioult's interpretation of Maurice Ravel's much-loved (and much-used) work. He makes it brand new with a series of choreographic phrases that build and repeat, as the dancers embody the music note for note. PS21, 2980 Route 66, Chatham. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. $35; PS21 members, $30; students, $18. 392-6121 or http://www.ps21chatham.org
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Albany
As city workers repair the damage from last week's sinkhole, lawmakers are questioning how to prevent similar failures in the future.
The sinkhole, which followed the failure of an 85-year-old valve on a main water line under Elberon Place, could cost well over half a million dollars to fix, water department Commissioner Joe Coffey said.
The Department of Water and Water Supply perhaps could have had additional funds to shore up an aging infrastructure if the city had not "raided (water department) funds to the tune of $2.5 million since 2014," Common Councilman Frank Commisso Jr. said.
"We are pulling needed funds from the water fund that could be spent preventing sinkholes," Commisso said.
Coffey disputed Commisso's charge, saying the city provides the water department with offices, legal services, and IT and human resources support.
The water department spent $3.7 million on water and sewer upgrades and will spend $9 million on improvements this year, much of it from state grant money, according to Mayor Kathy Sheehan's office.
The department receives its revenue from water rates, which have not increased since at least 2012, according to the city budget.
Commisso highlighted portions of the 2015 city budget that indicate the Water Authority reimbursed the city's general fund $50,000 in 2013, $750,000 in 2014, $750,000 in 2015, and $1,150,000 in 2016. If the water department had paid its 2013 levels, it would have had an additional $2.5 million now, Commisso said.
Coffey said that due to the operating agreement that the water department signed with the city, the water board sends money to the city for needed services. An additional $400,000 was paid to the city last year to pay for cooperation with the city engineering staff, for example.
"It's not like we're giving it back to the mayor's fund," Coffey said.
Coffey and Dennis Gaffney of the mayor's office could not explain why the water department apparently reimbursed the city only $50,000 in 2013, but they said those fiscal decisions were made under the previous administration of Mayor Jerry Jennings.
The water board's rate consultant, William Kahn, of the accounting firm UHY Advisors, said he participated in examining reimbursements between the water board and the city last year.
"As rate consultant to the board, I would be the first to challenge any unfairness in the reimbursements between the board and the city," Kahn said. "There are elements of fairness in the allocations."
Commisso said the amount of money that the water department pays to the city has not been publicly discussed.
"When you've had two major sinkholes in a short amount of time," he said, "then maybe now's the appropriate time to revisit that decision."
Commisso pointed to a 2016 audit by the state comptroller's office criticizing the city of Troy, whose water budgets "contained increasing amounts of inter-fund transfers to the general fund to subsidize the general fund's operations."
Assemblyman Jim Tedisco has called for new funding for infrastructure after linking the Albany sinkhole with recent water and sewer main failures in the Capital Region.
"It's pretty clear from what we've seen in Troy, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and then Albany, that this is a lurking monster that's not going away," the Glenville Republican said.
The Safe Water and Infrastructure Action Program would give all municipalities an annual fund to fix their water infrastructure, he said. Much like the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program, SWAP would give an amount based on a formula that factors in population, miles of sewer and gas lines, and age of the system.
The program would shift $200 million a year from regional economic development councils to the fund.
"If we keep acting reactively and not proactively, this is going to destroy the economy of New York state," Tedisco said.
He said several municipalities have expressed support for SWAP and passed local resolutions including Saratoga County, Troy and the towns of Clifton Park, Ballston, Glenville, Halfmoon, Malta, East Greenbush and Corinth.
Dan Shapley, water quality program manager at Riverkeeper, said the water quality watchdog will be advocating for "something like the Tedisco model" in the fall.
"The real merit it has is that it would give communities like Albany, Amsterdam and Troy a reliable, predictable source of money each year to replace pipes before they fail," Shapley said.
Commisso acknowledged it can be hard to ask the public to care about sewers.
"When I flush my toilet and it goes down the drain, 99 out of 100 people don't care about what happens," Commisso said, "unless there's a sinkhole."
jlawrence@timesunion.com 518-454-5467 @jplawrence3
SCHENECTADY - A Schenectady man found guilty of selling more than 100 grams of heroin in Albany County will serve 16 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney's office said Wednesday.
District Judge Thomas McAvoy sentenced Raymond P. Baker, 37, will be under government supervision for eight years after he leaves prison, prosecutors said.
By PTI: New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) Afghanistan has sought more military supplies from India including attack helicopters as it steppped up its offensive last week against terror groups killing 300 Islamic State terrorists, the top US and NATO commander in the war-ravaged country said today.
General John Nicholson, here on his second visit, said India has been making "enoromously valuable" contribution in strengthening Afghan security forces and the US favours the military support.
advertisement
India has already provided four Mi-25 helicopters to Afghanistan and US Commander said the country needs more military aircraft to deal with Taliban and various other terror outfits.
Welcoming Indias contribution to restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan, Nicholson said terror outfits like the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad are not only a threat to Afghanistan but to the region, including India, and the US was putting pressure on Pakistan to contain these groups. He said the Taliban also "enjoys sanctuaries" in Pakistan.
"We consistently encourage Pakistan to take action against terrorist groups that operate from its territory and close down their safe havens," he told journalists.
Nicholson, who heads the US operations in Afghanistan, met National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and Defence Secretary G Mohan Kumar and discussed a range of issues including situation in Afghanistan and terror threat to the region.
The US commander said Afghan forces, supported by the US, had launched a major offensive against Islamic State terror outfit two weeks back in which around 300 IS fighters were killed.
"In the course of the operation they killed a number of top leaders of the organisation and upto 300 of their fighters. Obviously its difficult to get an exact count, but what this amounts to is about 25 per cent of the organisation at least, and so this represents a severe setback for them. It reduced their territory," he said.
The US Commander said military training by India to thousands of Afghan security personnel has helped that country in significantly enhancing its military capability which is in tune with the objective of the NATO and the US. More PTI MPB SK
--- ENDS ---
Terence L. Kindlon, 69, one of the most high-profile and outspoken lawyers in recent Capital Region history, announced his retirement back in April.
Kindlon a Marine who was shot in the head during the Tet Offensive in 1968 and was awarded a Purple Heart has worked death penalty cases and some of the most recognizable trials in the region.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Boston
Authorities asked for the public's help Tuesday as they struggled to find the killer or killers of a New York City woman whose body was found in woods near her mother's home in central Massachusetts after she went out for a run and didn't return.
Residents of Princeton, a sleepy town of 3,500 about 40 miles west of Boston, were urged to use caution after Vanessa Marcotte's body was found Sunday. Marcotte, a 27-year-old account manager at Google, was visiting her mother.
Police said they did not know if the attack was random or if Marcotte was targeted.
The Massachusetts State Police said they have set up an anonymous tip line and urged anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area Sunday afternoon to call police.
"We are asking for the public's help in finding the person or persons who killed Ms. Marcotte," state police wrote on their Facebook page. "No tip is inconsequential or irrelevant; no matter what it is, please call the tip line, because it may be valuable to investigators seeking justice for Ms. Marcotte."
How did Pixar's beloved "Toy Story" children's movies lead to the foul-mouthed, sexually explicit comedy "Sausage Party," from the screenwriting team of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg?
"We're both crazy about 'Toy Story,' and we talked about it all the time as the only comedic trilogy that gets better with each movie," Goldberg said in a phone interview. Rogen added: "We became obsessed with these Pixar movies. Their quality, tone and style were so much fun that we thought we should try to make one of those."
Their animated tale, however, is decidedly R-rated, much like their comedic take on the apocalypse ("This Is the End") or high school ("Superbad"). "Sausage Party," which they wrote with Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir, is the story of a supermarket hot dog who leads other products on a quest to understand the true nature of their fate when they leave the store they will be sliced, diced and devoured by humans. Rogen voices Frank, the hot dog, and Kristen Wiig plays his love interest, Brenda, a bun. Much double (and sometimes single) entendre humor ensues.
Animated movies for adults have a long history, including the first X-rated one, "Fritz the Cat" (1972); the sci-fi fantasy anthology "Heavy Metal" (1981); and last year's existential "Anomalisa." But they don't come around often, and big-budget, computer-animated films of the DreamWorks Animation and Pixar ilk have yet to venture into R-rated territory. For this reason, Rogen and Goldberg were intent on "Sausage Party" having the professional quality and detailed sheen of the best computer animation.
More Information At a glance "Sausage Party" Stars: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig Directors: Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon Opens: Friday See More Collapse
"We kept saying, in order for this to work, it really has to look as good as people are expecting," Rogen said, "or else it's just a bunch of dirty jokes."
And that is the film's grandest joke: It looks just like the computer-animated films parents take their children to, but it is definitely not for children. The film's distributor, Columbia Pictures, has been extra cautious with the marketing, stamping a large, bold "Rated R" on billboard ads and movie posters so there's no confusion. Although in at least one instance, a "Sausage Party" trailer was mistakenly played before a screening of "Finding Dory" in California.
"A lot of kids grew up fast that day," Rogen said.
The audience at South by Southwest was a more appropriate fit. A work-in-progress version played at that Austin, Texas, festival in March to an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response, with audiences cheering the irreverent jokes and food-on-food sex.
Rogen voiced the blob BOB in the 2009 film "Monsters vs. Aliens," which was directed by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon. Rogen approached Vernon with the idea for "Sausage Party," initially pitched as a film in which hot dogs escape their packaging to have sex with buns. Vernon was immediately interested.
"When he started pitching it, I thought, oh my God, this is something I've wanted to do since I was 13 years old," Vernon said in a phone interview.
He mentioned that contemporary animators frequently crave the opportunity to make movies about more mature subject matter, but are rarely given the chance.
"People who make these movies are adults with adult senses of humor," he said. "We have a lot of funny stuff in our heads that we want to do, and probably 75 percent of it can't go into a children's movie. So over the long term, if the only place you get to work as an adult is in a child's world, you've got a lot of screwed-up thoughts in your head that you want to get out on paper."
Goldberg joked about the twisted humor of animators: "I'm about to have a child," he said, "and the only rule I have moving into being a parent is that my child will never date a disgusting, disgusting animator."
Vernon directed "Sausage Party" with Greg Tiernan, who owns the Vancouver animation company Nitrogen Studios with his wife, Nicole Stinn. It is known for producing the series "Thomas & Friends," about Thomas the Tank Engine.
Making "Sausage Party" with Nitrogen meant the producers could keep the costs low with a budget of $20 million, a fraction of the production costs for a film like "Finding Dory." Nitrogen used a lean crew. "There's not too many middle men," Tiernan said.
To add a sense of varied design to a film mostly set in a supermarket, the filmmakers turned the store's aisles into distinct worlds influenced by the work of a handful of filmmakers. They pay homage to Sergio Leone Westerns, Jackie Chan action films and war movies like "Saving Private Ryan."
And they got "The Little Mermaid" composer Alan Menken to write a song for the opening scene.
Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter.
Vernon said the filmmakers told him: "We're looking for an Alan Menken Disney song. We need you to satirize yourself."
The look of the characters was a much-discussed topic of conversation leading up to the making of the film.
Rogen said they went through hundreds of designs for some of the main characters, including the hot dog he plays.
"At first, he looked really gross, too meaty," Rogen said. "So we had to tone down the meat texture a little bit. We asked, should he wear shoes or gloves? Should his arms be these black tubes, or should his arms be made out of sausage as well?"
The taco voiced by Salma Hayek created some of the greatest design challenges.
"It's a super-awkward shape," Rogen said. "We asked, where do her legs come from, and where do her arms go? What does it look like when she's sideways?"
The overtly sexual look of some characters came up particularly in the design of Brenda the bun's mouth.
"At some point, one of the animators showed us a design where she had that mouth once you saw it, you could never un-see it," Rogen said. "There was a point we were worried that the MPAA wouldn't let us have that in commercials."
COLONIE Bridget Sheppeck remembers her first day at Shaker Junior High School, the pit in her stomach, the anxiety of meeting new kids and dealing with new teachers.
"We'd all gone to the same school since kindergarten, so we'd had like the same people for seven years," she said. "So to come to a new school with new people, it was really scary."
There was one thing that helped, though. The day before school began, a group of older girls got together and offered Sheppeck and other incoming students a tour of their new school, explaining where the library and locker rooms were, whose classrooms were where, and how to master the seemingly simple but sometimes frustrating intricacies of the locker combination.
As Sheppeck and three of her peers Catherine Lapham, Meghan Schramm and Sadie Valente prepared to leave junior high behind for the intense new world of high school, they wanted to offer the same helpful orientation, but for a group of students who would benefit much more than others: those who are new to the English language.
"We know it must be really hard to go to a new school, and not know the language or how to do certain things," said Valente, another incoming freshman. "We wanted to help make their transition to the junior high school easier."
As part of a Girl Scouts service project, the girls created a digital orientation and audio tour that will allow junior high students to scan barcodes at 20 locations around the school and hear helpful recordings in the district's six most common languages after English: Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Urdu.
The Quick Response codes (commonly known as QR codes) will hang on laminated posters outside the auditorium, cafeteria, library, health office and locker rooms, among other places. The North Colonie district's English as a New Language department has six iPads equipped with QR reader apps for the students who don't have smartphones.
Once a code is scanned, the app will launch an audio recording with helpful facts and tips for new students where to find bus maps, how to enter a locker combination, how to take out a library book, where to line up for trays in the cafeteria, and more.
Some recordings may sound absurdly simple, Schramm said, but something as basic as how to get food in the cafeteria can be enormously helpful for a student who never used one in their home country.
"I was from the hall that had all the ENL students," she said. "It was interesting because after class sometimes, they would look so confused because they didn't know they had to get a tray and get in line to eat, because it's just so new and they can't really ask anyone."
School districts across the state are struggling to accommodate an influx of English language learners, or ELLs, as the State Education Department has dubbed them. Many of them are immigrants and refugees, who data show are more likely than their peers to miss school, drop out and score lower on state tests.
In the Capital Region, the highest concentration can be found at Albany city schools, where roughly 1 in every 10 students is new to English. But the suburbs are also seeing their fair share of immigrant and refugee students.
The North Colonie Central School District has hired four new full-time English as a New Language teachers in the past four years to help with its growing population, which included 195 students at last count. That represents 3.6 percent of all students in the district, an increase from 3.1 percent a year ago and 2 percent a decade ago.
As they were brainstorming their orientation project, the girls initially wondered if a PowerPoint presentation and walking tour would be sufficient. But they realized such an endeavor would require at least six translators and wouldn't be easily replicable year after year.
Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter.
After looking into the cost of audio headsets similar to the kind used by museums, they realized they would need to find something cheaper and more sustainable. QR codes and free scanning apps fit the bill. They recruited friends and community members proficient in the six languages to record the scripts.
"If students rip them down, all we have to do is print them out, re-laminate them, and hang them back up," Schramm said.
Kathleen Skeals, the district's assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said the audio project has inspired district officials to consider easier alternatives for its back-to-school registration process.
"I would love if they would consider expanding their project so that all the documents we give out at registration had these scannable codes," she said. "It can be unbelievably complicated for parents to fill out these forms, believe it or not. They ask about pesticide notification, previous schooling, how to access student records. It can be quite a big undertaking."
The girls have already thought about other uses for the recordings. Other schools in the district could customize them to their use, they said, or even create something similar for English-speaking special education students, who may just need an orientation or instructions in pared down language.
bbump@timesunion.com 518-454-5387 @bethanybump
Albany
An Ohio lawyer who represents an estimated 3,500 people in a class-action lawsuit against DuPont is urging the state Health Department not to downplay the health risks of a dangerous chemical that contaminated drinking water supplies in eastern Rensselaer County.
Robert A. Bilott, in a letter sent this week to the state agency's Bureau of Water Supply Protection, said a fact sheet it posted on its website early last week fails to cite information from validated scientific studies that found a "probable link" between six serious diseases, including cancer, in people who were exposed to drinking water contaminated with PFOA.
The Health Department's information sheet was posted on the agency's website Aug. 1 and said "nearly all people in the United States have PFOA in their blood" and that "some human health studies have found associations between PFOA exposure and health effects. Others have not. The studies that found associations were not able to determine with certainty if the health effects were caused by PFOA or some other factors. These studies did not show that PFOA caused diseases."
Bilott said the information is misleading, neglects to include any citations to the scientific studies that were conducted on PFOA exposure in humans, and ignores recent information on the health risks of PFOA exposure that have been put forth by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the European Union. He said the agency also is citing "outdated" information on PFOA from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
Dr. Nathan Graber, director of the state Health Department's Center for Environmental Health, said the agency is "not trying to downplay" the health risks of exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid or other perfluoronated chemicals, and that the science on the effects of the chemicals is evolving. "It was only put on the Web and it's only one piece of all the information we've put out to the community," Graber said.
"We're trying to be objective about providing to the public information they can use in making decisions about their health," Graber added, explaining the fact sheet challenged by Bilott was intended to provide information ahead of blood test results released last Thursday. "Essentially, there's always uncertainty and there's always things that we don't know because of the emerging science ... a lot of gaps in the data that's available."
The Health Department's information sheet was posted on its website several days before the agency conducted a public meeting in the village of Hoosick Falls and announced that the levels of PFOA in adult residents of the village are more than 30 times the national average. In older residents, the levels of PFOA in their blood stream were significantly higher, at roughly 91 parts per billion. The national average is about 2 ppb.
"The agency's recent document includes language suggesting that people should 'expect' to find PFOA in their blood," Bilott said. "Although it may be true that PFOA has been found in blood across the country, that data does not suggest or imply that there is any 'normal' or acceptable 'background' level of PFOA in human blood, as PFOA is a man-made, non-naturally occurring substance, and its presence in any human blood is the result of non-naturally occurring contamination."
Bilott said the Health Department's newest information does not provide any links, or citations of, the findings of a science panel that was formed as a result of the class-action litigation with DuPont and other manufacturers of PFOA. The panel conducted a comprehensive health study on the exposure to PFOA of people in the Ohio and West Virginia areas where PFOA was manufactured for decades. The scientists issued a peer-reviewed report that concluded the chemical has a "probable link" to six diseases: kidney cancer; testicular cancer; ulcerative colitis; thyroid disease; preeclampsia/pregnan-cy-induced hypertension; and medically diagnosed high cholesterol.
DuPont paid for the study by a group of scientists known as the "C8 Science Panel," and, as a result of the panel's findings, the company has to concede in the personal injury lawsuits that PFOA causes cancer.
Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter.
It's the second time Bilott has urged the Health Department to strengthen its characterization of the health effects of PFOA. In December, he criticized the agency for distributing a fact sheet to residents stating "Health effects are not expected to occur from normal use of the water."
Graber said the advisories for PFOA exposure set by the federal government are conservative estimates based largely on animal studies and they include statistics that take into account humans will face exposure to the chemical from sources other than water.
In May, the EPA issued a new health advisory setting a long-term exposure limit of 70 parts per trillion for drinking water, down from the 400 ppt level recommended by the agency in 2009 for short-term exposure.
"There's always emerging literature and we've recognized that in all of our documents," Graber said.
blyons@timesunion.com 518-454-5547 @brendan_lyonstu
By Reuters: Vietnam has discreetly fortified several of its islands in the disputed South China Sea with new mobile rocket launchers capable of striking China's runways and military installations across the vital trade route, according to Western officials.
Diplomats and military officers told Reuters that intelligence shows Hanoi has shipped the launchers from the Vietnamese mainland into position on five bases in the Spratly islands in recent months, a move likely to raise tensions with Beijing.
advertisement
The launchers have been hidden from aerial surveillance and they have yet to be armed, but could be made operational with rocket artillery rounds within two or three days, according to the three sources.
Vietnam's Foreign Ministry said the information was "inaccurate", without elaborating.
SELF-DEFENCE?
Deputy Defence Minister, Senior Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh, told Reuters in Singapore in June that Hanoi had no such launchers or weapons ready in the Spratlys but reserved the right to take any such measures.
"It is within our legitimate right to self-defence to move any of our weapons to any area at any time within our sovereign territory," he said.
CHINESE BUILD-UP
The move is designed to counter China's build-up on its seven reclaimed islands in the Spratlys archipelago. Vietnam's military strategists fear the building runways, radars and other military installations on those holdings have left Vietnam's southern and island defences increasingly vulnerable.
Military analysts say it is the most significant defensive move Vietnam has made on its holdings in the South China Sea in decades.
Hanoi wanted to have the launchers in place as it expected tensions to rise in the wake of the landmark international court ruling against China in an arbitration case brought by the Philippines, foreign envoys said.
The ruling last month, stridently rejected by Beijing, found no legal basis to China's sweeping historic claims to much of the South China Sea.
Vietnam, China and Taiwan claim all of the Spratlys while the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei claim some of the area.
CHINA DEFIANT
"China has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly islands and nearby waters," China's Foreign Ministry said in a faxed statement on Wednesday. "China resolutely opposes the relevant country illegally occupying parts of China's Spratly islands and reefs and on these illegally occupied Spratly islands and reefs belonging to China carrying out illegal construction and military deployments."
The United States is also monitoring developments closely.
"We continue to call on all South China Sea claimants to avoid actions that raise tensions, take practical steps to build confidence, and intensify efforts to find peaceful, diplomatic solutions to disputes," a State Department official said.
advertisement
STATE-OF-THE-ART SYSTEM
Foreign officials and military analysts believe the launchers form part of Vietnam's state-of-art EXTRA rocket artillery system recently acquired from Israel.
EXTRA rounds are highly accurate up to a range of 150 km (93 miles), with different 150 kg (330 lb) warheads that can carry high explosives or bomblets to attack multiple targets simultaneously. Operated with targeting drones, they could strike both ships and land targets.
That puts China's 3,000-metre runways and installations on Subi, Fiery Cross and Mischief Reef within range of many of Vietnam's tightly clustered holdings on 21 islands and reefs.
While Vietnam has larger and longer range Russian coastal defence missiles, the EXTRA is considered highly mobile and effective against amphibious landings. It uses compact radars, so does not require a large operational footprint - also suitable for deployment on islets and reefs.
"When Vietnam acquired the EXTRA system, it was always thought that it would be deployed on the Spratlys...it is the perfect weapon for that," said Siemon Wezeman, a senior arms researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
There is no sign the launchers have been recently test fired or moved.
BATTLE OF 1988
China took its first Spratlys possessions after a sea battle against Vietnam's then weak navy in 1988. After the battle, Vietnam said 64 soldiers with little protection were killed as they tried to protect a flag on South Johnson reef - an incident still acutely felt in Hanoi.
advertisement
In recent years, Vietnam has significantly improved its naval capabilities as part of a broader military modernization, including buying six advanced Kilo submarines from Russia.
Carl Thayer, an expert on Vietnam's military at the Australian Defence Force Academy, said the deployment showed the seriousness of Vietnam's determination to militarily deter China as far as possible.
"China's runways and military installations in the Spratlys are a direct challenge to Vietnam, particularly in their southern waters and skies, and they are showing they are prepared to respond to that threat," he said. "China is unlikely to see this as purely defensive, and it could mark a new stage of militarization of the Spratlys."
Trevor Hollingsbee, a former naval intelligence analyst with the British defense ministry, said he believed the deployment also had a political factor, partly undermining the fear created by the prospect of large Chinese bases deep in maritime Southeast Asia.
"It introduces a potential vulnerability where they was none before - it is a sudden new complication in an arena that China was dominating," he said.
advertisement
--- ENDS ---
A European Summer Camp for young people with Williams Syndrome took place in Ireland for the first time this summer.
Cashel man Donal Carroll was among those who took part in the summer camp.
Williams Syndrome is a rare genetic disorder that causes multiple development problems.
This can include heart problems, narrowed blood vessels, musculoskeletal problems, and learning disabilities. The syndrome is estimated to occur in about 1 in 20,000 births, and affects approximately 100 families in Ireland.
The camp attended by Donal took place at the University of Limerick in early July. It was designed for people with Williams Syndrome between the ages of 13 to 30 and focused on the theme, Our Music, Our Culture. The theme was chosen because, as founder and Honorary President Ann Breen explained, Almost all people with Williams Syndrome have hyper-sensitive hearing and some have perfect pitch and extraordinary musical talents.
Alongside Donal, some 80 people from 11 different European countries were in attendance at the camp, which has been taking place around Europe since 2005.
This marked the first time ever that the European Federation of Williams Syndrome Associations held its annual gathering in Ireland.
Funded through the Erasmus + Youth Exchange programme, the camp focused on informal learning opportunities.
Participants took part in activities that included music workshops, theatre workshops, flora and fauna trails, an introduction to Gaelic games, and day-trips to Bunratty Castle and the Cliffs of Moher.
The young people in attendance were also encouraged to showcase the music and culture from their home countries.
Further information is available at: www.williamssyndrome.ie
Leargas is the national agency in Ireland that coordinates funding for the Erasmus + Youth Exchange programme. The programme builds upon learning for participants from year to year.
The Williams Syndrome Association of Ireland is a registered charity and each individual works on a completely voluntary basis.
The aim of the association is to promote the general welfare of children suffering from Williams Syndrome and to provide practical help and support for children and families affected by Williams Syndrome.
Almost 200 people gathered in Nenagh last Saturday to remember one of the town's best known and best loved teachers, the late Brian McDermott.
Mr McDermott, affectionately known as Mr McD, taught in St Mary's Secondary School up to his untimely death in 2014 at a relatively young age from heart failure.
He was remembered by friends, colleagues, former colleagues and former students on a 6km walk along the town's riverbank which was organised by former student Aisling Horrigan.
Ms Horrigan said the fact that so many people turned up for the inaugural Walk with me and Remember McD, showed the respect and influence Brian McDermott had had on all those whom he had met.
Our lives were truly enriched by Mr McDs kind and gentle presence, and he will live on in our hearts forever, she said.
During the walk, teacher Karen Maguire read Mr McDermott's favourite poem, The Lake Isle of Inisfree by WB Yeats, at St John's Well near Scott's Bridge on the Borrisokane road. Brian was school liaison officer for Dromineer Literary Festival
Aisling used the walk to raise awareness of heart disease and, while there was no registration fee for the walk, those taking part were asked to give a donation to the Irish Heart Foundation.
She revealed this Monday that, so far, more than 1,500 had been raised for the charity, with donations still coming in.
She paid tribute to the foundation and the help they gave her organising the walk, and to Paddy Seymour of Nenagh Walking Club who led the walk.
Ms Horrigan also thanked all those who had donated prizes for the raffle or who helped in any way.
She also thanked her family and friends for their patience and help over the past couple of weeks, saying: I couldnt have done it without you.
You have permission to edit this article.
Edit Close
[August 10, 2016] 95% of Louisiana Virtual Charter Academy Students Benefitted Academically in 2016
Students at Louisiana Virtual Charter Academy (LAVCA), a full-time online public charter school, began their 2016-2017 school year today, as the program marks its 6th year of operation in the state. According to a spring 2016 survey conducted by Edge Research, 95% of the families with students enrolled in the school during the 2015-2016 school year felt that their child had benefitted academically from the curriculum. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160810006205/en/ LAVCA is open to all students in grades K through 12 who reside in Louisiana. The rigorous and engaging curriculum offered by the school includes courses in language arts/English, math, science, history, world languages, art and music, as well as elective and Advanced Placement courses for high school students. State-certified teachers provide instruction, guidance and support, and regularly interact with students and parents via email, web-based classrooms, online discussions, phone and face-to-face meetings. As a public school option, there is no tuition. "By far the best outcome has been our ability to advance at our own pace," said Nicole Grimes, whose child is an accelerated learner. "The curriculum is excellent and ensures that my son is being challenged enough to reach his full potential." At LAVCA, students have the ability to accelerate through subjects at which they excel, while students who need more time to grasp a concept can work at a pace that's comfortable for them. Students who need extra instructional support or who are interested in face-to-face instruction can also take adantage of the blended learning centers located in the Baton Rouge, Monroe, and Lafayette areas.
"We look forward to welcoming our new and returning students this year," said Dr. Perry Daniel, Head of School at Louisiana Virtual Charter Academy. "Our program has always been fully committed to providing an option for Louisiana families who are looking for an alternative and enriching academic experience for their children." Earlier this summer LAVCA challenged enrolled families to prevent summer 'brain drain' by offering students free access to LearnBop, a self-paced solution that simulates a one-on-one, personalized math tutoring experience. The award-winning online program will continue to be available free of charge throughout the fall and can be used alongside the regular math curriculum to build math skills or prepare for high-level exams.
At LAVCA, students have the opportunity to participate in year-round field trips and school activities organized by teachers that blend academics and socialization. In addition, students can also choose to participate in dozens of extracurricular activities and clubs that cover a wide variety of interests. LAVCA is still accepting enrollments for this fall. To learn more about enrollment requirements visit http://lavca.k12.com/ and follow on Facebook. About Louisiana Virtual Charter Academy Louisiana Virtual Charter Academy (LAVCA) is an accredited, full-time online public school program that serves students in grades K through 12. LAVCA is available tuition-free to Louisiana students through a partnership between K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's largest provider of proprietary curriculum and online education programs, and Community School for Apprenticeship Learning Inc. (CSAL). Founded in 1997, CSAL is a not-for-profit with a mission to provide students with real-world experiences by giving them access to alternative forms of instruction. For more information about LAVCA, visit http://lavca.k12.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160810006205/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 09, 2016] Agilent Technologies to Build New Facility in Colorado, Increasing Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Capacity
Agilent Technologies (News - Alert) Inc. (NYSE:A) today announced it has acquired 20 acres in Weld County, Colorado, on which it plans to build a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. The expansion will enable the company to more than double its commercial manufacturing capacity for nucleic acid active pharmaceutical ingredients. "The products manufactured at this site will be used by our customers to improve the lives of patients suffering from a variety of diseases," said Skip Thune, general manager of the company's Nucleic Acids Solutions Division. "At Agilent, we are committed to meeting the ever-increasing needs of our customers for oligonucleotides." Researchers believe oligonucleotides (short DNA and RNA molecules) hold the potential to treat various forms of cancer, diabetes, muscular dystrophy and other disorders. Thune noted that the expansion would result in about 150 to 200 new, permanent high-paying jobs. "Colorado is thrilled to welcome Agilent Technologies to the state," said Gov. John Hickenlooper. "This expansion will enhance Colorado's skilled workforce and dedication to research and development firms. We look forward to supporting Agilent's innovative work in our state." "The Agilent project is a huge win for the Town of Frederick, Weld County and all of Northern Colorado," saidMike Freeman, chairman of the Weld County Commissioners. "The project adds diversification to our thriving economic base, plus significant new jobs and tax base. It also showcases what an amazing growth region Northern Colorado is due to the diverse workforce and business-friendly environment."
"The impact of new high-paying jobs and millions of dollars in investment will trigger a huge positive ripple through the local economy, pumping new revenue into everything from restaurants to housing," added Tony Carey, mayor of Frederick. "Winning this project shows the tremendous assets of Frederick and Weld County, and we welcome Agilent to our community." "Local support paved the way for the Agilent project, and it's a great example of local governments working together to proactively accomplish a significant economic development project," said Tom Haren, chairman of the Upstate Colorado Economic Development Board.
Upstate Colorado coordinated the project with the Town of Frederick, Weld County and the State of Colorado to accommodate the needs of Agilent. About Agilent Technologies Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A), a global leader in life sciences, diagnostics and applied chemical markets, is the premier laboratory partner for a better world. Agilent works with customers in more than 100 countries, providing instruments, software, services and consumables for the entire laboratory workflow. The company generated revenue of $4.04 billion in fiscal 2015 and employs about 12,000 people worldwide. Information about Agilent is available at www.agilent.com. NOTE TO EDITORS: Further technology, corporate citizenship and executive news is available at www.agilent.com/go/news. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160809006523/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 10, 2016] Emergence of 5G Network Will Boost the Test and Measurement Market in Malaysia Until 2020, Says Technavio
Technavio's latest report on the test and measurement (T&M) market in Malaysia provides an analysis on the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook from 2016-2020. Technavio defines an emerging trend as a factor that has the potential to significantly impact the market and contribute to its growth or decline. Anju Ajaykumar, a lead analyst from Technavio, specializing in research on test and measurement sector, says, "Malaysia's positive investment climate, especially in the manufacturing sector, is expected to have a favorable impact on the market. The ease of doing business in the country is attracting large foreign investments in the manufacturing sector, led by countries such as Japan, China, Germany, and Singapore. In 2014, foreign investments accounted for approximately 60% of the total approved investment." Malaysia is rapidly gaining popularity as a regional machinery and equipment (M&E) manufacturing and distribution hub in Asia due to the continuous inflow of both foreign direct investment (FDI) and domestic investment in various sectors. Semiconductor, electrical and electronics (E&E), automotive, oil and gas, aerospace, medical, and food processing are the major sectors in the country. Exports of M&E have exceeded USD 8.97 billion in 2015 and are expected to grow at an average annual growth rate of 6.7% to reach USD 16.1 billion by 2020. Export destinations include Singapore, the US, and China. Imports have also increased from USD 10.6 billion in 2000 to USD 18.2 billion in 2013, indicating a dynamic and rapidly growing manufacturing sector in Malaysia. The top three emerging trends driving the T&M market in Malaysia according to Technavio heavy industry research analysts are: Malaysia as a data outsourcing destination
Emergence of 5G network
Interoperability era for T&M equipment Malaysia as a data outsourcing destination T&M equipment are extensively used in data centers to ensure adequate capacity, performance, and reliability of data centers and their networking infrastructure. T&M equipment such as electrical energy loggers, infrared imaging systems, cable testing for both copper and fiber installations, return loss testers or more sophiticated optical time-domain reflectometers are extensively used in data centers. The high standards that data centers adhere to also require testing and measurement, thus calling for T&M equipment. Therefore, the T&M vendors in Malaysia are increasingly focusing on the data center market in the country and offering specialized T&M equipment due to the expanding potential of the market.
Several countries such as South Korea and Singapore are aspiring to capture the market by providing a conducive business environment and infrastructure. Malaysia is also a major player in the race to acquire a major market share in this high-potential market. The country's effort to establish itself as the preferred destination for regional investors is fueling its endeavor to become a regional hub for data center and cloud services. It is expected that data center space in the country will increase from 0.5 million sq. ft. in 2015 to 5 million sq. ft. by 2020, driven by broad trends of expansion, efficiency, and consolidation. "One of the major initiatives is the EPP 3 under the NKEA of business services, which aims to make Malaysia the favored destination for data center investors and increase the internationally certified data center space in the country. This will be achieved by addressing the demand and supply of data center services, as well as raising awareness of the local data center industry," according to Anju.
Emergence of 5G network The need to support demand for broadband services over mobile networks as well as the emergence of IoT has triggered the development of 5G networks. These networks enable the use of unused frequency bands, such as the V band, to transport large amounts of data. The emergence of 5G network will drive the demand for wireless test equipment market. The 5G networks have multi-point connectivity with distributed MIMO. These can deliver several MIMO streams while a single device is connected to multiple sites at the same time, thereby achieving a downlink throughput of as much as 100%. Network operators are collaborating with testing companies for 5G technology testing and development. Interoperability era for T&M equipment The extensive range of electronic and electrical products in use today has led to the need for higher interoperability of T&M equipment among end-users, which will eliminate the need for a particular manufacturer's products for a lifetime. "The need for interoperability applies to heterogeneous sets of products such as smoke alarms, video monitors, home gateways, and home networking or automation products, as well as homogeneous sets of products such as routers and switches," asserts Anju. Browse Related Reports: Global Test and Measurement Market 2016-2020
Test and Measurement Market in Australia 2016-2020
Test and Measurement Equipment Market in APAC 2015-2019 Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact [email protected] with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160810005017/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 10, 2016] Law Offices of Howard G. Smith Commences Investigation on Behalf of Embraer S.A. Investors
Law Offices of Howard G. Smith announces an investigation on behalf of investors of Embraer S.A. ("Embraer" or the "Company") (NYSE: ERJ) concerning the Company and its officers' possible violations of federal securities laws. Embraer designs, develops, manufactures and sells aircraft and systems in Brazil, North America, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Europe and internationally. In 2014, Brazilian authorities filed a criminal complaint against an Embraer sales consultant who admitted to soliciting and paying bribes on behalf of the Company, all with the consent of its executive management. In addition, U.S. authorities investigated the Company and several former Embraer officers for potetial violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA").
In July 2016, Embraer disclosed that its Chief Executive Officer, Frederico Curado, would be stepping down. Shortly thereafter on July 29, 2016, Embraer reported a loss of $99.4 million for the quarter, $200 million of which was set aside for the aforementioned FCPA investigation. Embraer also lowered its 2016 guidance for its executive jet business. On this news, Embraer's share price fell sharply, nearly 14% to close at $18.27 per share on July 29, 2016.
If you purchased Embraer securities, have information or would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Howard G. Smith, Esquire, of Law Offices of Howard G. Smith, 3070 Bristol Pike, Suite 112, Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020 by telephone at (215) 638-4847, toll-free at (888) 638-4847, or by email to [email protected], or visit our website at http://www.howardsmithlaw.com. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160810005781/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
By PTI: Mumbai, Aug 10 (PTI) Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, which presently registers 90 per cent of its sales from online channel in India, is planning to double offline presence over the next few months.
"For us, online is the dominant channel and we are trying to build a base for offline in India. We had a partnership with Redington last year (for distribution) and four weeks back, tied up with Innocomm and Just Buy Live," Xiaomi India Head Manu Jain said here.
advertisement
Jain added that with these two new partners, the company now sells its products via 5,000 shops and plans to double the figure in a few months.
Xiaomi launched Redmi 3S and Redmi 3S Prime in the country priced at Rs 6,999 and Rs 8,999, respectively.
The phones will be initially available at Mi.com and Flipkart.
Xiaomi, which sells over 1 million phones a quarter in the country, did its first sale for Redmi 3S yesterday on Flipkart and Mi.com and sold out all 90,000 units.
"For the first sale that we did yesterday, we wanted to bring the highest possible quantity and we brought 90,000 units. Everything was added to cart in a few minutes and it took two-and-a-half hours to ship out everything," Jain said.
Xiaomi chose open sale, instead of the usual flash sale yesterday, as the company brought significantly higher volumes than it ever did, Jain said.
Xiaomi will have another open sale on August 17 for Redmi 3S and Redmi 3S Prime with similar number of units.
Both the phones have been manufactured in India at the companys Andhra Pradesh facility.
"We are scaling up the facility at Andhra Pradesh. We are adding more lines and more capacity to the same plant and once we exhaust it, we are thinking of adding more factories along with our partners Foxconn," he said. PTI DS DK JM ABK SDM
--- ENDS ---
[August 10, 2016] Lee Memorial Health System Partners with Aegis Health Group to Evaluate Employer Engagement in Southwest Florida Market
Lee Memorial Health System (LMHS), a leading healthcare system serving the Southwest Florida community since 1916, today announced an agreement with Aegis Health Group to evaluate the system's employer-directed population health strategy. For nearly three decades, Aegis has assisted hundreds of hospitals and health systems with effective employer engagement, population health and physician relationship solutions.
"We engaged Aegis to help us advance our employer engagement strategy," said Kevin Newingham, Chief Strategy Officer of Lee Memorial Health System. "Their experience, knowledge and best practices will help us accelerate development and increase impact of our employer-focused efforts." Initial activities focus on Aegis completing a strategic and operational evaluation to help LMHS determine an employer engagement strategy that will best support the system's broader strategic objectives. This strategy includes strengthening relationships with local employers, businesses and other community organizations to promote better health among employees and meet their individual needs with available services. After identifying LMHS's strategic goals and evaluating market opportunities, Aegis provides a strategic plan for implementation and execution.
"We are honored to assist such a forward-thinking healthcare provider as Lee Memorial Health System in further positioning the system as the leading resource for improving health in the community," said Phillip Suiter, President and CEO of Aegis Health Group. "We believe that LMHS's efforts are critical not only to health improvement in Southwest Florida but also to a decrease in overall healthcare costs." About Lee Memorial Health System Since the opening of its first hospital in 1916, Lee Memorial Health System has been a health care leader in Southwest Florida, serving the needs of the community. Today, LMHS is a non-profit, integrated health care services organization committed to the well-being of every individual served, focused on healthy living and maintaining good health. Because we care, services are conveniently located throughout the community in four acute care hospitals, two specialty hospitals, outpatient centers, walk-in medical centers, primary care and specialty physician practices, and other services across the continuum of care. Learn more at www.leememorial.org. About Aegis Health Group For 27 years, Aegis Health Group has assisted hundreds of hospitals and health systems with proven-effective employer engagement, population health and physician relationship solutions. Its award-winning employer engagement and population health strategies enable hospitals to grow market share, reduce outmigration and increase revenue by identifying the health risks of local employees and consumers within the community. Complementing this is Aegis' data-driven physician relationship management solution that strategically aligns hospitals and their medical staff in a way that drives service-line growth, increases referrals, enhances patient care and provides timely issue resolution. Further information about Aegis Health Group, a privately-held company based in Brentwood, Tennessee, is available at www.AegisGroup.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160810005283/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 10, 2016] MEDIA ADVISORY: Facebook to host free workshop for St. John's businesses
First event in special privacy series with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada ST. JOHN'S, NL, Aug. 10, 2016 /CNW/ - On Monday, August 15, Facebook's Boost Your Business event will take place in St. John's, Newfoundland, a session dedicated to teaching local small business owners how to optimize their presence on the world's largest social network. The event will be co-hosted by Startup Newfoundland & Labrador and the St. John's Board of Trade, with special guests Seamus O'Regan, MP for St. John's South-Mount Pearl, Brent Homan, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and Mark Matz, Public Safety Canada.
As a special segment of the program, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from, and speak directly to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and Public Safety Canada. This segment is a unique opportunity for business owners to better understand how to implement effective privacy and security measures for their small business.
The Boost Your Business workshop will include a training session led by a Facebook small business expert on the latest best practices and strategies for success. Attendees will be learn ho to use Facebook to grow their business and connect with current and potential customers.
A question and answer session will follow, featuring a panel of local small business owners, who will share their Facebook tips, tricks and suggestions. PolkaDot Place Play Cafe, Found Consignment Boutique and Sustain Nutrition have been selected to join the panel as best-in-class examples of businesses using Facebook. WHAT:
Free workshop on how to use Facebook to grow your small business. Business owners can register at: http://fbsaintjohns.eventfarm.com/
WHO:
Erin Elofson, Director, Facebook Canada
Kevin Chan, Head of Public Policy, Facebook Canada
Seamus O'Regan, MP of St. John's South-Mount Pearl
Brent Homan, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Mark Matz, Public Safety
Local small business owners A Facebook spokesperson and local business owners will be available for interviews. WHEN AND WHERE: St. John's Monday, August 15, 2016
Delta St. John's Conference Centre
120 New Gower Street
St. John's, NL A1C 6K4
10:00am -12:30pm NDT *All media who wish to attend must RSVP by 5:00p.m. NDT on Friday, August 12, 2016 to [email protected] About Facebook Canada Founded in 2004, Facebook's mission is to make the world more open and connected. More than 21 million Canadians use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what's going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them. Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc. All other brand or product names mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. SOURCE Facebook Canada
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 10, 2016] New Energy Capital Hires Two Principals Continuing Growth of the Clean Infrastructure Investing Platform
Clean energy infrastructure private equity firm New Energy Capital Partners announced today that it has hired Jeph Shaw and Ian Marcus as Principals in its Hanover, New Hampshire office. Mr. Shaw was previously an Associate with the firm before earning an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and subsequently participating in the Management Leadership Development Program at SunEdison (News - Alert), where he focused on investment and financing activities at the TerraForm YieldCo affiliate. Mr. Marcus joins from Morgan Stanley & Co. where he was a Vice President on the Solar Desk within the North America Power & Gas Unit in its Commodities Division. While at Morgan Stanley, Mr. Marcus originated, structured, and principally invested in solar projects in the residential, commercial, community, and utility ectors.
Scott Brown, CEO of NECP, said, "Jeph and Ian bring significant industry experience to our team and will help NECP continue to deploy capital efficiently and effectively. We have worked with Jeph for many years and welcome him back to the team as a Principal. Likewise, we have known and worked with Ian in his previous positions and have a great deal of respect for his industry knowledge." Prior to his tenure at Morgan Stanley, Mr. Marcus worked in project finance in the Residential and Small Commercial business unit at SunEdison. He holds a BA from Dartmouth College.
About New Energy Capital Partners New Energy Capital Partners is a private equity firm that invests in projects and companies in the renewable power, alternative fuels, energy efficiency and renewable resource markets, focusing on the deployment of proven technologies in highly structured transactions. NECP manages the New Energy Capital Cleantech Infrastructure Fund and the New Energy Capital Infrastructure Credit Fund, and advises the Alliance Fund II. NECP is based in Hanover, New Hampshire and has offices in Boston, Massachusetts and Denver, Colorado. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160810005995/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 10, 2016] OT Cuts EMV Production Time to Just 5 Days with its X-Press Solution
Oberthur Technologies (OT), the No. 1 provider of chip payment cards in the United States, announced today the U.S. launch of its X-Press Solution which provides turnkey, expedited EMV-card supply within five days for card orders up to 25,000. OT is a one-stop shop for card issuers with large or small card orders at national banks, credit unions and community banks. "OT's X-Press Solution offers card issuers unmatched high-quality chip cards at a fraction of the standard lead time," said Martin Ferenczi, President for North America at OT. "We thoroughly revamped our production processes to expedite chip-card supply based on feedback from issuers wanting to rapidly provide EMV fraud reduction benefits to cardholders." The X-Press Solution features full product support for MasterCard, Visa, American Express (News - Alert) and Discover chip cards. This market-first solution will be based at OT's 100,000-square-foot ISO 9001 and 14001 certified Manufacturing Supercenter located in Exton, Pennsylvania, which has produced more than a quarter of a billion chip cards. OT's X-Press Solution provides best-in-class card design and EMV technical support. A dedicated customer service team manages the entire process. Fully calibrate .pdf proofs are delivered within 24 hours and optional plastic samples in 48 hours. The X-Press Solution provides the speed, quality and service needed for flawless EMV migration.
OT globally has shipped more than two billion EMV credit and debit cards from its network of four regional secure manufacturing hubs and 39 card personalization centers. Having established its U.S. footprint in 1996, the company is the No. 1 provider of chip payment cards in the U.S. market. OT has been personalizing EMV cards since 2010 in its bi-coastal personalization service centers located in Northern Virginia and Southern California. For more about EMV in the USA, visit www.oberthur.com/emv.
ABOUT OBERTHUR TECHNOLOGIES OT is a world leader in embedded digital security that protects you when you connect, authenticate or pay. OT is strategically positioned in high growth markets and offers embedded security software solutions for "end-point" devices as well as associated remote management solutions to a huge portfolio of international clients, including banks and financial institutions, mobile operators, authorities and governments, as well as manufacturers of connected objects and equipment. OT employs over 6,300 employees worldwide, including almost 700 R&D people. With a global footprint of 4 regional secure manufacturing hubs and 39 secure service centers, OT's international network serves clients in 140 countries. For more information: www.oberthur.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160810005259/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 10, 2016] Pfizer, with a Market Share of 76%, Will Dominate the Global Pneumococcal Vaccine Market until 2020, Says Technavio
Technavio's latest report on the global pneumococcal vaccine market provides an analysis on the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook from 2016-2020. Technavio defines an emerging trend as a factor that has the potential to significantly impact the market and contribute to its growth or decline. Barath Palada, lead analyst from Technavio, specializing in research on vaccines sector, says, "The global pneumococcal vaccine market is growing faster than the global vaccine market and is expected to post a CAGR of 13.69% during the period 2016-2020. In 2015, the major revenue contributor to this market was the Americas, followed by EMEA. However, there are major opportunities for the market in APAC to grow at a rapid rate and increase its revenue contribution to the global market during the forecast period." The global pneumococcal vaccine market is a monopoly, with Pfizer holding around 76% of the overall market share. The company's vaccine, Prevnar, reported record sales of USD 6.25 billion in 2015 and grew by nearly 40% compared to the previous year. The strong growth is mainly due to the rapid uptake of Prevnar 13. In the US alone, the revenues for the vaccine increased by 87% in FY2015, as compared with FY2014, owing to the success of commercial programs. The top five emerging trends driving the global pneumococcal vaccine market according to Technavio healthcare and life sciences research analysts are: Expansion of marketing territories
Emergence of protein-based combination pneumococcal vaccines
AMC for pneumococcal vaccines
Bio-terrorism
Public-private initiatives Expansion of marketing territories PCVs are available in a few developing countries through GAVI alliance partners. As the cost of the vaccine is very high, only eligible countries will get access through an approval process. Till date, from the existing 73 AMC eligible countries, only 15 countries (21%) are not approved to have access to the vaccines. "Although these regions have shown interest in introducing pneumococcal vaccine in the near future, only South Korea, India, Comoros, and Tajikistan have shown interest to apply and get access to GAVI suppor in 2016 based on the eligibility standards and on DTP 3rd dose coverage, which must be greater than 70% as per the application guidelines," according to Barath.
Emergence of protein-based combination pneumococcal vaccines There is an increasing number of new pneumococcal protein-based vaccines, which are undergoing clinical trial evaluations. These protein-based vaccines consist of serotype-independent subunit vaccines containing purified proteins and antigens that are expressed by recombinant bacteria. These vaccines will avoid the problems of serotype replacement by directly targeting proteins that are highly preserved among many pneumococcal serotypes.
Another conserved virulence factor, pneumolysin, has shown to help protect against the infection when given in combination with other proteins. Derivatives of pneumolysin toxoid are currently being evaluated in clinical trials. Thus, the emergence of protein-based pneumococcal vaccine in combination with other vaccines will have a positive impact on the market. AMC for pneumococcal vaccines The pneumococcal AMC encourages the production and development of affordable vaccines tailored to the needs of developing countries. In June 2009, the governments of the UK, Italy, the Russian Federation, Canada, Norway, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation collectively guaranteed a total of USD 1.5 billion to fund a pilot AMC against pneumococcal diseases. The aim was to decrease mortality and morbidity due to the disease and to prevent a projected seven million deaths by 2030. The objectives of the pneumococcal AMC is to bring about effective pneumococcal vaccine for developing countries by ensuring the original purchase price for a limited quantity of novel vaccines that signifies value for money and incentivizes manufacturers to invest in scaling up production capacity to meet the vaccine demand in developing countries. Bio-terrorism Bioterrorism refers to an intentional release of bacteria, viruses, fungi, or toxins from living organisms to cause illness or death among people, animals, or plants. This is a result of globalization; wherein new contagious diseases have evolved. This has created space for the development of new vaccines to combat bioterrorism. Developed nations are taking measures to check the potential threat of bioterrorism. Bioterror-induced outbreak of diseases may lead to mass vaccination programs, creating large demand for vaccines, including pneumococcal vaccine. Public-private initiatives "There has been a significant increase in public-private partnerships in developing countries. Immunization programs by various governments are effectively backed by global organizations such as the WHO, UNICEF, and GAVI. More research and technical expertise is being used in public-private partnerships for better developments. All these initiatives will help the global pneumococcal vaccine market grow and will further contribute to achieve the immunization-related global goals," asserts Barath. Browse Related Reports: Global Meningococcal Vaccines Market 2016-2020
Global H1N1 Vaccines Market 2016-2020
Global Human Vaccine Market 2016-2020 Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact [email protected] with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160810005356/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 10, 2016] Popularity of Li-ion Batteries Will Impact the Global Power Tools Market Until 2020, Says Technavio
Technavio's latest report on the global power tools market provides an analysis on the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook from 2016-2020. Technavio defines an emerging trend as a factor that has the potential to significantly impact the market and contribute to its growth or decline. Anju Ajaykumar, a lead analyst from Technavio, specializing in research on tools and components sector, says, "The global power tools market should grow significantly during the forecast period, driven by rise in construction activities in the US and Asian countries, such as India and Indonesia. India aims to become the next major manufacturing hub with the help of government incentives and policies. Power tools manufacturers are attempting to leverage this opportunity and planning to expand their operation in the country." There has been a notable rise in the number of knee and hip replacement surgeries worldwide. As a result, the demand for power tools has increased in the medical sector. In 2010, there were 719,000 knee replacement and 332,000 hip replacement surgeries in the US. The total number of knee replacements alone tripled between 1993 and 2009, and hip replacements doubled during the same period. As of 2014, it was estimated that 7 million Americans had either a knee or hip replacement surgery, which accounted for over 2% of the total American population. The top three emerging trends driving the global power tools market according to Technavio heavy industry research analysts are: Technological advancements in power tools
Li-ion batteries replacing Ni-Cd technology
Growing DIY activities to accelerate sales in consumer segment Technological advancements in power tools The market has presence of international and regional players. The major market players update the technology and register patents to improve the overall efficiency of the tool. For instance, Bosch launched a pocket-sized laser measures in 2015, which can conveniently change with the user movements. The product has great functionality and range that provides real-time measurements with greater accuracy. Milwaukee Tool launched a digital platform for the jobsite tools in 2015. "DeWalt launched a Bluetooth platform. This enables power tools to operate within a virtual fence after which the tools cannot be operated. In addition, these tools can be connected to the mobile through Bluetooth, after which the battery charge and temperature of the tool can be displayed. This will enhance the tool and battery life, therefore, improving the overall efficiency," according to Anju. Li-ion batteries replacing Ni-Cd technology The sales of cordless tools have increased over the last decade. End-users from the construction and individual customers segment prefer cordless tools over the conventional tools due to ergonomic advantages. Although there has been an increase in sales in the cordless tools, there was always a concern regarding the heavy weight of tools and the battery discharge rate of Ni-Cd. Ni-Cd batteries last for about 30 minutes on full charge, which takes more than 2 hours to charge. Whereas, the Li-ion batteries need less than an hour to charge completely and can last for more than an hour. In addition, one of the major advantages of the Li-ion battery is the light weight that helps in better tool handling. Growing DIY activities to accelerate sales in consumer segment There has been an increase in adoption of power tools in Europe and the US in the recent years for DIY projects and tasks. In Benelux, power tools shipments in 2015 totaled up to 9.8 million and should increase to 10 million units in 2016. Benelux tools market alone was valued at USD 826.4 million in 2015 and is expected to reach USD 859.1 million in 2016. An increase in the residential construction activities in Europe and the US is expected to drive the demand for power tools in the consumer segment. "This trend has triggered the use of power tools in the individual consumer segment. Although the trend is not popular in APAC, it is well-accepted among the European and American countries, which has increased revenue in the individual customer segment. In addition, the growth of the e-commerce will ease the availability of power tools to consumers," asserts Anju. Top vendor offerings:
Company Products Offered Makita Drills and fastenings Tools for metal working Dust extraction tools Pneumatic tools Robert Bosch Cordless power tools Drills and impact drivers Grinders and metal working tools Benchtops Dust collection and control tools Planners Stanley Black & Decker (News - Alert) Corded tools Fasteners Fastening tools and compressors Techtronic Power equipment accessories and hand tools Floor care equipment Source (News - Alert): Technavio
Browse Related Reports: Global Electrical Equipment Market for the Power Distribution Industry 2016-2020
Global Power Rental Market 2016-2020
Global Surgical Power Tools Market 2016-2020 Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact [email protected] with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160810005015/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 10, 2016] SL Green Announces Agreement with Midtown TDR Ventures to Resolve One Vanderbilt Litigation
SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE: SLG), New York City's largest office landlord, today announced an agreement with Midtown TDR Ventures whereby the litigation regarding SL Green's One Vanderbilt, an iconic new office tower under construction adjacent to Grand Central Terminal, will be withdrawn. The settlement will resolve the legal claims against SL Green and the City of New York that Midtown TDR Ventures asserted to invalidate the Vanderbilt Corridor rezoning amendment and the One Vanderbilt special permit, thereby eliminating uncertainty surrounding the building. The new office tower and $220 million in planned transit improvements will move forward as planned, and as approved by the New York City Council. "This is a major milestone for the future of East Midtown, clearing the way for One Vanderbilt to deliver state-of-the-art Class A office space and a $220 million investment in Grand Central's transit infrastructure," said Marc Holliday, CEO of SL Green Realty Corp. "We're pleased that the new ownership of Midtown TDR Ventures shares our commitment to development in East Midtown and worked with us to quickly reach this agreement. With demolition nearly complete and ork already underway on public improvements, One Vanderbilt is well on the way to becoming a reality."
One Vanderbilt is bounded by Vanderbilt Avenue and Madison Avenue between East 42nd and East 43rd Streets in Manhattan's East Midtown business district. The skyscraper will be 1,401 feet tall, and will contain 1.7 million gross square feet of Class A commercial space. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), One Vanderbilt's architecture and building materials pay homage to the landmarked Terminal and the surrounding East Midtown business district. One Vanderbilt features open floor plans, efficient use of space, and the highest level of sustainable design in New York City. As part of the development, SL Green will invest $220 million in public infrastructure in and around Grand Central Terminal. About SL Green Realty Corp.
SL Green Realty Corp., an S&P 500 company and New York City's largest office landlord, is a fully integrated real estate investment trust, or REIT, that is focused primarily on acquiring, managing and maximizing value of Manhattan commercial properties. As of June 30, 2016, the company held interests in 119 Manhattan buildings totaling 44.7 million square feet. This included ownership interests in 28.1 million square feet of commercial buildings and debt and preferred equity investments secured by 16.7 million square feet of buildings. In addition, the company held ownership interests in 31 suburban buildings totaling 4.9 million square feet in Brooklyn, Long Island, Westchester County, Connecticut and New Jersey. For more information, please visit: http://slgreen.com/ SLG-GEN View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160810005629/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 10, 2016] Toppan Photomasks Approves New Advanced Production Capacity And Technology Project For 65-nm To 14-nm Nodes In China
ROUND ROCK, Texas, Aug. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Toppan Photomasks, Inc. (TPI), the world's preferred global partner for photomasks, announced today the approval of the next phase of investment for its recently expanded factory in Shanghai, China operated under Toppan Photomasks Company Limited, Shanghai (TPCS), a wholly-owned subsidiary. TPI's new US$80 million investment in this factory further demonstrates Toppan's long-term commitment to its customers in China's rapidly growing semiconductor industry. This comes after the company's previous US$20 million investment in the expansion of TPCS Shanghai II, which is now operational and ramping as the only available commercial mask shop with a full range of technology product offerings in China. "TPI's Shanghai factory provides our mainland China customers a two-day cycle time advantage over other suppliers, thereby speeding their time to market. Today's announcement builds upon that speed and cycle time advantage while extending TPI's capability down to the 28-nm node for both photomask production and wafer fabservices support," said Mike Hadsell, chief executive officer for TPI. "Our factory capability will be further extended down to the 14-nm node to meet the requirements of this quickly evolving market. In addition, our facility has sufficient expansion space to support our customers' growth over the next decade and beyond."
The recent expansion of the Shanghai facility, a sub-class 1 clean room located in a new manufacturing facility adjacent to the company's existing operation, was constructed to allow for phased growth. The next phase of technology focus will be on 65-nm to 14-nm logic and advanced memory (DRAM and NAND) design features using industry standard equipment for proven capability and reliable supply. Upon completion of today's announced project, 40 percent of the clean room space will remain available for future expansion. About Toppan Photomasks
Toppan Photomasks, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. a diversified global company with revenue in excess of US$13 billion in calendar 2015. Toppan Photomasks is part of the Toppan Group of photomask companies. As the world's premier photomask provider, the Toppan Group operates the industry's most advanced and largest network of manufacturing facilities and offers a comprehensive range of photomask technologies and research and development capabilities to meet the increasingly sophisticated and divergent product-and service requirements of the global semiconductor industry. Toppan Photomasks is headquartered in Round Rock, Texas. For more information, visit www.photomask.com .
About Toppan Printing's Photomask Business
Toppan Printing is the world's premier photomask manufacturer. The company supports the global semiconductor industry, from the initial launch of the semiconductor manufacturing process through commercial production, by providing state-of-the-art photomask technology. Toppan is the only global photomask manufacturer providing the highest quality products in a timely manner to customers across Japan, the United States, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.toppan.co.jp . Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160809/396965 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/toppan-photomasks-approves-new-advanced-production-capacity-and-technology-project-for-65-nm-to-14-nm-nodes-in-china-300311563.html SOURCE Toppan Photomasks, Inc.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 09, 2016] Edmunds Launches New Innovative Ad Product for Car Dealers on Facebook and Instagram
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Edmunds, the leading car information and shopping network, today launched Edmunds Ad Solutions, a new mobile-optimized ad product for dealers to target in-market car shoppers on Facebook and Instagram. Ad Solutions uses exclusive first-party shopping data from Edmunds to serve shoppers with highly relevant native ads on Facebook and Instagram to drive buyer-traffic directly to dealer sites. The data also is used to identify and target "lookalike" shoppers -- individuals who show similar shopping behavior -- on those premium partner sites. Edmunds engineers worked closely with Facebook's solutions engineering team to design and build an end-to-end automatic ads buying system that leverages Facebook's marketing APIs and dynamic ads platform. As a result, Edmunds Ad Solutions gives subscribing dealers added exposure to Edmunds' vast audience of highly qualified shoppers. A national pilot found that Edmunds Ad Solutions delivered 20 times more click-through traffic to dealer sites when compared to a Google rich media gallery display automotive click-through benchmark study, November 2015 -December 2015. Dealers in the pilot program also enjoyed up to a 61 percent increase in new visitors to their sites, as well as a 50 percent increase in overall visitor site engagement. "Edmunds Ad Solutions is proving to be an indispensable tool for a dealer's comprehensive digital marketing strategy," said Edmunds.com Vice President of Dealer Sales, Scott Fanelli. "Not only does it get dealer inventory in front of Edmunds' rich audience of in-market shoppers, it also gives them exposure to other shoppers who perform similar ready-to-buy behaviors on other sites. There's no better way for a dealership to expand its inventory's digital footprint to an audience of relevant shoppers." Edmunds Ad Solutions is specificall optimized for mobile devices, which have quickly become a popular tool for car shoppers. According to a Facebook IQ study, 71 percent of all respondents used mobile during the purchase process. And 58 percent say that in the future their smartphone is likely to be the only device they use for all their vehicle research. It's no surprise, then, that early testing found an overwhelming 90 percent of Edmunds Ad Solutions traffic comes from mobile devices.
"Edmunds Ad Solutions is one of the best ways that dealers can keep their inventory top of mind for consumers from the beginning of their online shopping journey, right through the moment they're ready to purchase," said Mike Miller, digital marketing manager at John Elway Dealerships. "The product delivers serious and engaged customers who spend far more time on our vehicle detail pages than other paid marketing campaigns. The bottom line: Edmunds is helping us to deliver highly targeted ads that are getting the right cars in front of the right buyers." With millions of visitors every month Edmunds has built a powerful network that both shoppers and car dealers have come to trust. An estimated 59 percent of all new car shoppers will visit Edmunds at some point in the car shopping process, and a study by CDK Global found that shoppers who visit both Edmunds and dealer sites are four times more likely to buy than shoppers who visit a dealer's site only.
Dealers interested in subscribing to Edmunds Ad Solutions are urged to reach out to their Edmunds account executive, or contact [email protected]. About Edmunds, Inc.
Car shopping destination Edmunds.com serves millions of visitors each month. With Edmunds Price Promise, shoppers can buy smarter with instant, upfront prices for cars and trucks currently for sale at 10,000 dealer franchises across the U.S. Shoppers can browse not only dealer inventory, but also vehicle reviews, shopping tips, photos, videos and feature stories on both Edmunds' wired site and on its acclaimed mobile apps. Regarded as one of the best places to work in Southern California, Edmunds.com was also named one of "The World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2015 in Automotive" by Fast Company. Edmunds welcomes all car-shopping questions on its free Live Help Line at 1-855-782-4711 and [email protected], via text at ED411 and on Twitter and Facebook. The company is based in Santa Monica, Calif. and has a satellite office in downtown Detroit, Mich., but you can find Edmunds from anywhere on YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+ and Flipboard. Contact:
Aaron Lewis
Edmunds.com Corporate Communications
Media Hotline: 310-309-4900
[email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130612/MM31390LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/edmunds-launches-new-innovative-ad-product-for-car-dealers-on-facebook-and-instagram-300311353.html SOURCE Edmunds.com
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 09, 2016] UrtheCast Reports Strong Second Quarter 2016 Financial Results
IFRS Revenue of $21.0 million in Q2 increased by 322% over the prior year (non-IFRS revenue of $15.9 million increased by 218%)
Non-IFRS adjusted EBITDA of $5.0 million , an improvement of 377%
Reaffirming our full-year guidance for 2016 of non-IFRS revenue of between $55 and $60 million and non-IFRS adjusted EBITDA of between $4.2 and $6.2 million VANCOUVER, Aug. 9, 2016 /CNW/ - UrtheCast Corp. (TSX:UR) ("UrtheCast" or the "Company") today announces financial results for the three and six months ended on June 30, 2016. The Company is pleased to report Q2 non-IFRS revenues of $15.9 million (IFRS - $21.0 million), a 218% increase over Q2 2015 non-IFRS revenue of $5.0 million (IFRS $5.0 million). The Company's non-IFRS adjusted EBITDA was positive $5.0 million in the quarter compared to a loss of $1.8 million in 2015. Non-IFRS earth observation imagery revenue increased by approximately 130% from Q1 of fiscal 2016, growing from $1.3 million to $3.1 million. Non-IFRS engineering and value added services revenue also increased at the same rate from Q1 of fiscal 2016, growing from $5.5 million to $12.8 million. At June 30, 2016, the Company had total cash balances of $31.4 million and working capital of $28.4 million. This continued significant year over year growth allows us to reaffirm our full year 2016 guidance to achieve non-IFRS revenue between $55 million and $60 million (representing an IFRS revenue range of $78 million to $83 million) and non-IFRS adjusted EBITDA guidance between $4.2 million and $6.2 million in fiscal 2016. "Our financial results are beginning to reflect both the strong revenue momentum and significant operating leverage in our business," explained Wade Larson, CEO and co-founder. "We continue to see a strong expansion of our sales pipeline for our current business as well as significant progress toward realizing our goals for UrtheDaily and OptiSAR." Business Highlights UrtheDaily Update The Company announced a strategic partnership with OmniEarth, Inc. ("OmniEarth") in support of UrtheCast's planned UrtheDaily Constellation, expected to be capable of imaging the global landmass every day at 5 meters GSD. The UrtheCast-OmniEarth partnership includes collaborative system development, the sharing of intellectual property, and joint customer marketing activities. Based in Arlington, Virginia , OmniEarth is a leading data analytics company and a large consumer of Earth imagery. OmniEarth specializes in image processing, data fusion, and predictive analytics, in essence turning big data into actionable intelligence. One of OmniEarth's leading products is a tool for water utilities that estimates water demand, but the company has also served the energy industry, the agricultural sector, and the U.S. Federal Government. OptiSAR Progress UrtheCast will receive $5.0 million from the Government of Canada's Technology Development Program ("TDP"), as part of a $54 million contribution program for the development of new satellite technologies. UrtheCast's contract for the $5.0 million portion of the TDP award is scheduled to be paid out evenly over five years on a reimbursement basis as eligible costs are incurred.
from the Government of Technology Development Program ("TDP"), as part of a contribution program for the development of new satellite technologies. UrtheCast's contract for the portion of the TDP award is scheduled to be paid out evenly over five years on a reimbursement basis as eligible costs are incurred. UrtheCast issued a Request for Proposal ("RFP") to U.S. companies interested in a long-term strategic partnership to serve the United States Government, further to the Company's announcement on May 6, 2016 . The RFP solicits prospective U.S. commercial partners with strong U.S. Department of Defense and Intelligence Community footprints to help deliver data and services from UrtheCast's planned 8-satellite UrtheDaily Constellation and 16-satellite OptiSAR Constellation to U.S. Government user agencies.
. The RFP solicits prospective U.S. commercial partners with strong U.S. Department of Defense and Intelligence Community footprints to help deliver data and services from UrtheCast's planned 8-satellite UrtheDaily Constellation and 16-satellite OptiSAR Constellation to U.S. Government user agencies. Technically, significant progress has been made on the dual band, multi-aperture SAR-XL payload and the high-resolution optical dual mode camera with both completing their preliminary design reviews. Also, at the OptiSAR mission level, the Mission Requirements Review was completed and the spacecraft is now under full development. UrthePlatform Update Starting in April we began delivering Deimos-1 imagery of the entire contiguous US cloud-free to the platform on a monthly basis. This complements an already existing 5year archive of contiguous U.S. imagery on the platform.
UrtheCast's Deimos-2 data has been incorporated into the UrthePlatform's offerings, beginning with imagery from the San Francisco Bay Area , with additional Deimos-2 data of other areas expected to be added in the future. UrtheCast expects to soon make Sentinel-2 data, from the European Space Agency's Copernicus Programme, available for UrthePlatform users. SELECTED FINANCIAL INFORMATION The following table provides selected financial information of the Company, which was derived from, and should be read in conjunction with, the unaudited consolidated financial statements for the three and six months ended June 30, 2016.
Three Months ended June 30, Six Months ended June 30,
2016
2015
2016
2015 Revenue $ 20,973 $ 4,975 $ 33,125 $ 8,233 Other operating income
695
1,385
695
4,065
21,668
6,360
33,820
12,298 Operating costs
Direct costs, selling, general and
administrative expenses
13,915
4,992
29,042
8,116 Research expenditures
1,493
3,172
3,229
5,102 Depreciation and amortization
6,392
102
12,956
165 Share-based payments
565
647
1,123
1,351
22,365
8,913
46,350
14,734 Operating loss
(697)
(2,553)
(12,530)
(2,436) Acquisition costs
-
(3,030)
-
(3,030) Net finance costs
(580)
(59)
(1,101)
(129) Foreign exchange (loss) gain
(210)
(34)
(402)
169 Loss before income taxes
(1,487)
(5,676)
(14,033)
(5,426) Income tax recovery
1,210
-
2,656
- Net loss
(277)
(5,676)
(11,377)
(5,426) Other comprehensive (loss) income
(1,498)
(16)
(3,457)
(2) Comprehensive loss $ (1,775) $ (5,692) $ (14,834) $ (5,428) Net loss per share basic and diluted $ (0.00) $ (0.08) $ (0.11) $ (0.08)
Three Months ended June 30, Six Months ended June 30,
2016
2015
2016
2015 NON-IFRS REVENUE:
Revenue per income statement $ 20,973 $ 4,975 $ 33,125 $ 8,233 Non-cash revenue
(5,079)
-
(10,413)
- NON-IFRS REVENUE
15,894
4,975 $ 22,712 $ 8,233 ADJUSTED EBITDA:
Net loss $ (277) $ (5,676) $ (11,377) $ (5,426) Add back (subtract):
Depreciation and amortization
6,392
102
12,956
165 Net finance costs
580
59
1,101
129 Income tax recovery
(1,210)
-
(2,656)
- EBITDA
5,485
(5,515)
24
(5,132) Non-cash revenue
(5,079)
-
(10,413)
- Non-cash operating costs
3,811
-
7,877
- Share-based payments expense
565
647
1,123
1,351 Deimos acquisition costs
-
3,030
-
3,030 Foreign exchange losses (gains)
210
34
402
(169) ADJUSTED EBITDA $ 4,992 $ (1,804) $ (987) $ (920) As previously announced, UrtheCast will host a conference call regarding its 2016 first quarter financial results at 5:00 p.m. ET (2:00 p.m. PT) today, August 9, 2016. The live conference call will be available by calling toll-free at +1 866-696-5910, or by toll call at +1 416-340-2217. The participant pass code is 4686716. An archived version of the conference call will be made available on the Company's investor website (investors.urthecast.com) following the live conference call. ABOUT URTHECAST CORP. UrtheCast Corp. is a Vancouver-based technology company that serves the rapidly evolving geospatial and geoanalytics markets with a wide range of information-rich products and services. The Company currently operates four Earth Observation sensors in space, including two cameras aboard the International Space Station and two satellites, Deimos-1 and Deimos-2. Imagery and video data captured by these sensors is downlinked to ground stations across the planet and displayed on the UrthePlatform, or distributed directly to partners and customers. UrtheCast is also developing and anticipates launching the world's first fully-integrated constellation of multispectral optical and SAR satellites, called OptiSAR, in addition to its proposed UrtheDaily constellation, which the Company believes will together revolutionize monitoring of our planet with high-quality, medium and high-resolution, and high-coverage and high-revisit imagery in all weather conditions, any time of day. Common shares of UrtheCast trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange as ticker 'UR'. For more information, visit UrtheCast's website at www.urthecast.com. Non-IFRS Financial Measures The Company prepares its financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"), as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. This release includes certain non-IFRS financial measures, such as non-IFRS revenues, EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA. The Company uses these non-IFRS financial measures as supplemental indicators of its operating performance and financial position. These measures do not have any standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS and therefore are unlikely to be comparable to the calculation of similar measures used by other companies, and should not be viewed as alternatives to measures of financial performance calculated in accordance with IFRS or considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These non-IFRS financial measures should be read in conjunction with the Company's financial statements and accompanying MD&A. Forward Looking Information This release contains certain information which, as presented, constitutes "forward-looking information" or "forward-oriented financial information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information involves statements that relate to future events and often addresses expected future business and financial performance, containing words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect" and "guidance", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could" or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions and includes, but is not limited to, statements relating to: UrtheCast's expectations with respect its current sensors and proposed OptiSAR and UrtheDailyTM constellations; financial guidance for the 2016 financial year; anticipated cash and financing needs; its plans for and timing of expansion of its product offering and value-added services, including providing additional data sources on the UrthePlatform; its future growth and operations plans, including with respect to the RFP; expectations regarding its sales funnel; and anticipated trends and challenges in its business and the markets in which it operates. Such statements reflect UrtheCast's current views with respect to future events. Such statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by UrtheCast, are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors could cause UrtheCast's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others: any delays or failures in the design, development, construction, launch and operational commissioning of the proposed OptiSAR or UrtheDailyTM constellations; the Company being unable to convert the Memoranda of Understanding in respect of funding of the OptiSAR constellation into binding, definitive agreements; failures aboard the International Space Station ("ISS") or the Deimos-1 or Deimos-2 satellites; failure to obtain, or loss of, regulatory approvals; uncertainties and assumptions in UrtheCast's revenue forecasts; as well as those factors and assumptions discussed in UrtheCast's annual information form dated March 29, 2016, (the "AIF"), which is available under UrtheCast's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information is developed based on assumptions about such risks, uncertainties and other factors set out herein, in the AIF, and as disclosed from time to time on UrtheCast's SEDAR profile. UrtheCast undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by Canadian securities laws. Readers are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. SOURCE UrtheCast Corp.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 09, 2016] Construction Underway for New Affordable-Housing Community for Military Veterans Struggling with Homelessness
Struggling military veterans will have access to new housing and resources to help end the cycle of homelessness, as construction is now underway for a new, affordable-housing community in Minneapolis. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160809006480/en/ Veterans, project partners and community leaders herald the start of construction for Veterans East during a groundbreaking ceremony at the construction site. L to R: Andrew Johnson, Minneapolis City Council Member; Peter McLaughlin, Hennepin County Commissioner; Elizabeth Niemyer, Rear Admiral US Navy (Retired), Chief Program Officer, UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans; Mary Tingerthal, Commissioner, Minnesota Housing; Elizabeth Flannery, CEO, Community Housing Development Corporation; Patrick Kelly, Capt. US Navy (Retired); Director, Minneapolis VA Health System; Warren Hanson, President and CEO of Minnesota Equity Fund; Chris Laurent, Senior Vice President, Cinnaire; Tim Moore, veteran and resident of Veterans Housing Community; Dale Forsberg, president, Watson-Forsberg General Contractors (Photo: Matt Page). During a ceremonial groundbreaking for Veterans East, veterans groups, project partners and community leaders heralded the new development as vital in helping end homelessness among military veterans in Minnesota. According to Heading Home Minnesota, a public-private partnership to end homelessness, more than 10,000 Minnesotans are homeless on any given night, including more than 279 veterans. Funding for the $14.3 million veterans' community, developed by the Community Housing Development Corporation (CHDC), was secured through a collaboration of public- and private-sector partners. "We are pleased to begin construction on this important new community that will serve veterans who have struggled with homelessness," said Elizabeth Flannery, president of CHDC. "So many partners have come together to help Veterans East become a place for veterans to call home." Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) is the largest private investor, providing $5.2 million in equity through a partnership with Minnesota Equity Fund, using Low Income Housing Tax Credits approved by the state. Minnesota Housing, the other major investor, is providing $7.7 million in deferred loan funds for the new development. Additional funding includes $500,000 from Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) of Des Moines; $350,000 from Hennepin County; $260,000 from CHDC affiliates; and $290,000 in energy and sales tax rebates. "This new community will be a model for providing permanent husing and services for military veterans," said Minnesota Housing Commissioner Mary Tingerthal, who co-chairs the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness. "We are honored to join with so many partners to help end veteran and chronic homelessness."
"We are grateful for the opportunity to play an integral part in helping make a difference in the lives of military veterans who have given so much for our country," said retired Rear Adm. Elizabeth S. Niemyer, Chief Program Officer, UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans, a UnitedHealth Group company that provides health care services for nearly 2.9 million service members, military retirees and their families. "This is an important new housing community that will have a tremendous impact in serving military veterans in our state for years to come." When completed in Summer 2017, the new 100-unit efficiency apartment community will provide permanent supportive housing for veterans struggling with homelessness. Through partnerships with the Veterans Administration, CHDC, BDC Management Company and Hennepin County, Veterans East will include onsite services to assist residents with health care, case management, life skills, financial management, benefits assistance, education and employment resources.
"This is a proud moment for our community," said Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin. "The men and women who will be living at Veterans East have endured many sacrifices while serving our nation, and Veterans East will provide housing and support services to help lift them up and out of poverty." The five-story property will feature a lobby with security, community room with gas fireplace and kitchenette, laundry facility and resident parking. Watson-Forsberg is the general contractor, and LHB is the architect. The $5.2 million investment by UnitedHealth Group is part of more than $240 million the company has provided since 2011 to finance affordable-housing communities with supportive services throughout the United States. These investments have included $29 million for affordable housing in Minnesota, including $7.2 million for the recently completed CommonBond Veterans Community at Fort Snelling. "MEF (News - Alert) provides a vehicle for socially motivated corporations like UnitedHealth Group and financial institutions to make economic investments in well-designed, high-quality affordable-housing developments in growing communities throughout Minnesota," said Warren Hanson, MEF president and CEO. "Our partnership in this new veterans development will help meet the critical need to provide military families with quality, permanent housing with supportive services." About Community Housing Development Corporation (CHDC): CHDC has provided stability to Minnesota residents and communities for more than 25 years as a nonprofit developer and owner of 44 properties with more than 4,300 affordable units. CHDC's properties provide housing for more than 5,000 residents. CHDC was founded on the belief that long term, nonprofit ownership is the best way to sustain high quality affordable housing. Its mission is to develop quality housing for people earning low incomes. About the Minnesota Equity Fund (MEF): MEF is a subsidiary of the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund (GMHF), a non-profit Community Development Financial Institution. GMHF provides loans, equity investments, grants and technical assistance to create affordable housing in Minnesota. MEF is a strategic partnership between GMHF and Cinnaire, a nationally recognized syndicator of low-income housing tax credits with over $3 billion under management. About Minnesota Housing Finance Agency: Minnesota Housing finances affordable housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income Minnesotans while fostering strong communities. Find out more at www.mnhousing.gov, Twitter (News - Alert) @mnhousing and at www.facebook.com/minnesotahousing. About UnitedHealth Group: UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) is a diversified health and well-being company dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and helping to make the health system work better for everyone. UnitedHealth Group offers a broad spectrum of products and services through two distinct platforms: UnitedHealthcare, which provides health care coverage and benefits services; and Optum, which provides information and technology-enabled health services. For more information, visit UnitedHealth Group at www.unitedhealthgroup.com or follow @UnitedHealthGrp on Twitter. Click here to subscribe to Mobile Alerts for UnitedHealth Group. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160809006480/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 09, 2016]
iLandMan and OGsys Integrate Land and Accounting Systems
LAFAYETTE, La., Aug. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Oil and gas software firms iLandMan and OGsys, Inc. have entered into a developmental business agreement to offer a fully integrated land management and accounting solution for exploration and production companies.
This state of the art technology relationship promises to unite land teams and accounting departments through a truly integrated technical approach, where data meaningful to each side of the company can be appropriately shared between them.
"OGsys clients and prospective clients have requested that our firm link seamlessly with iLandMan among others. We've heard many times over that full land-life-cycle management, from leasing, to mapping, to divisions of interest, must beoffered in a seamless connection," said OGsys President Chuck Blanton. "The accuracy and efficiency that result from such an integration is invaluable to all."
iLandMan President, Tim Supple, explains, "No longer do today's land departments need to settle for a sub-par land system tied to their previously chosen accounting system. This solution will empower these companies to have the most accurate tract and formation-based data in the industry flow directly to a powerful accounting system with ease."
Currently in development, a cloud-based OGsys platform will soon be released, offering E&P companies additional accounting and operations management options. For those desiring total cloud technology, the iLandMan/OGsys connection will provide functionality unheard of in the industry.
About iLandMan: iLandMan is the only online, real-time, tract and formation-based lease management software for exploration and production companies. The company has offices in Lafayette, Houston, and Oklahoma City.
About OGsys: Since 1982, OGsys has been providing user-friendly, intuitive oil and gas accounting software that accelerates answers to critical questions impacting daily productivity and overall success. The company has offices in Fort Worth and Houston.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160809/396990LOGO
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160809/396989LOGO
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ilandman-and-ogsys-integrate-land-and-accounting-systems-300311549.html
SOURCE iLandMan
[August 09, 2016] Alterra Power Announces Results for the Quarter Ended June 30, 2016
(under IFRS and all amounts in US dollars unless otherwise stated) VANCOUVER, Aug. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Alterra Power Corp. (TSX: AXY) ("Alterra" or the "Company") is pleased to report its financial and operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2016. For further information on these results please see Alterra's Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis. At June 30, 2016, Alterra consolidated 100% of the results of operations from its Icelandic subsidiary HS Orka, while Alterra's interests in the Toba Montrose, Dokie 1 and Shannon renewable power projects were accounted for as equity investments. In certain statements in this news release, Alterra's results are disclosed as Alterra's "net interest", by which the Company means the effective portion of operating results that the Company would have reported if each of HS Orka (66.6%), Toba Montrose (40%), Dokie 1 (25.5%), and Shannon (50% sponsor equity interest) had been reported in accordance with Alterra's actual share of ownership at June 30, 2016 and for the three and six months then ended. Management believes that net interest reporting provides the clearest view of Alterra's performance. Highlights for the quarter and subsequent period include: Continued strong generation at Toba Montrose: Toba Montrose achieved record second quarter generation at 121% of budget, an increase from the comparative quarter (118% of budget).
Toba Montrose achieved record second quarter generation at 121% of budget, an increase from the comparative quarter (118% of budget). Deep drilling project at HS Orka: The last major contract was signed for a 5,000 meter deep drilling program at the Reykjanes plant in Iceland . The rig has been deployed to site and drilling will commence in August.
The last major contract was signed for a 5,000 meter deep drilling program at the Reykjanes plant in . The rig has been deployed to site and drilling will commence in August. Jimmie Creek project completion: Construction of the 62 MW hydro project was completed on time and within budget with first test power generated on June 10, 2016 . Jimmie Creek commenced commercial operations on August 1 and began selling power to the British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority under a 40-year power purchase agreement.
Construction of the 62 MW hydro project was completed on time and within budget with first test power generated on . Jimmie Creek commenced commercial operations on and began selling power to the British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority under a 40-year power purchase agreement. Flat Top wind development project: On June 15, 2016 the Company acquired the 200 MW Flat Top wind project for consideration of $0.9 million , with further payments to be made on completion of agreed milestones. The project, located in the counties of Comanche and Mills in Texas , is currently under development with construction expected to begin in late 2016 or early 2017. Concurrent with closing, the Company placed a $1.5 million security deposit with the project's transmission service provider.
On the Company acquired the 200 MW Flat Top wind project for consideration of , with further payments to be made on completion of agreed milestones. The project, located in the counties of and in , is currently under development with construction expected to begin in late 2016 or early 2017. Concurrent with closing, the Company placed a security deposit with the project's transmission service provider. Solar development portfolio: In July the Company reached an agreement to acquire an 80% ownership interest in a two-project 20 MW DC portfolio of solar farms under development in the Midwestern USA . Both projects are contracted under long-term, investment-grade power purchase agreements.
In July the Company reached an agreement to acquire an 80% ownership interest in a two-project 20 MW portfolio of solar farms under development in the Midwestern . Both projects are contracted under long-term, investment-grade power purchase agreements. Distributions: The Company received distributions during the quarter from equity investments of $3.6 million from Shannon and Blue Lagoon hf (plus a separate $0.3 million return of capital from Shannon). Subsequent to the quarter, the Company received distributions of C$9.4 million from Toba Montrose GP and Dokie GP and $0.4 million from Shannon.
The Company received distributions during the quarter from equity investments of from Shannon and Blue Lagoon hf (plus a separate return of capital from Shannon). Subsequent to the quarter, the Company received distributions of from Toba Montrose GP and Dokie GP and from Shannon. Adjusted EBITDA and revenue: Consolidated revenue increased by 2% to $13.8 million and net interest revenue increased by 5% to $18.5 million , respectively. The increase in revenue is primarily due to increased generation at Dokie 1, generation from Shannon and the strengthening of the Icelandic Krona. Consolidated and net interest Adjusted EBITDA decreased by 8% to $10.8 million and 10% to $8.5 million , respectively, primarily due to increased development spend on new early-stage projects and the weakening of the Canadian dollar. Financial Results The following table shows Alterra's net interest in select operating and financial results for the quarter, in addition to key financial information extracted from the consolidated results.
For the three months ended HS Orka Toba Montrose Dokie 1 Shannon Development and Head Office Net Interest Total Consolidated Results June 30, 2016(a) (66.6%) (40%) (25.5%) (50%) Generation (MWh) 184,011 110,014 16,841 76,205 387,071 276,293 Total revenue 9,189 6,900 1,368 1,088 18,545 13,797 Gross profit (loss) 2,392 5,028 466 (1,111) 6,775 3,591 Adjusted EBITDA(b) 4,465 5,550 807 (67) (2,228) 8,527 10,765
For the three months ended HS Orka Toba Montrose Dokie 1 Development and Head Office Net Interest Total Consolidated Results
June 30, 2015 (66.6%) (40%) (25.5%)
Generation (MWh) 204,814 108,051 15,700 328,565 307,529
Total revenue 9,005 7,398 1,258 17,661 13,522
Gross profit 2,588 5,498 298 8,384 3,887
Adjusted EBITDA(b) 4,378 6,011 650 (1,554) 9,485 11,679
(a) Here and elsewhere, all tabular amounts (except generation) are expressed in thousands of US dollars. (b) Here and elsewhere, adjusted EBITDA ("Adjusted EBITDA") is defined by the Company as earnings before interest, taxes, foreign exchange, depreciation and amortization, as well as adjustments for changes in the fair value of holding company bonds (Sweden) and derivatives, write-offs of development costs, other income (expense) except business interruption insurance proceeds, amortization of below market contracts, value assigned to options granted, share of results of equity investments, the Company's proportionate interest in Adjusted EBITDA of its equity investments, research and development costs for deep drilling program and non-recurring items (insurance deductibles, litigation and arbitration costs). Adjusted EBITDA has been calculated on a consistent basis with the comparative quarter. The Company discloses Adjusted EBITDA as it is a measure used by analysts and by management to evaluate the Company's performance. As Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS measure, it may not be comparable to Adjusted EBITDA calculated by others. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA is not a substitute for net earnings. Readers should consider net earnings in evaluating the Company's performance. Readers should also consider the risks and assumptions in estimates of Adjusted EBITDA discussed under the heading "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Information". For a reconciliation of consolidated Adjusted EBITDA to Alterra's condensed consolidated interim financial statements refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the three and six months ended June 30, 2016 available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Consolidated Results Revenue was $13.8 million for the quarter, up 2% from the comparative quarter primarily due to the strengthening of the Icelandic Krona. The Company recorded net income of $3.4 million, down from the comparative quarter ($6.8 million), resulting primarily from changes in non-cash items such as the change in fair value of holding company bonds (Sweden). Consolidated cash and cash equivalents at June 30, 2016 was $11.7 million of which $9.1 million is held in the Company's Icelandic subsidiary ($10.3 million and $6.4 million respectively at December 31, 2015). The Company's consolidated working capital deficit at June 30, 2016 was $153.2 million compared to a working capital deficit of $123.3 million at December 31, 2015. The working capital deficit is primarily due to the fair value of the holding company bonds (Sweden) being classified as short-term (the bonds mature within twelve months). Net Interest Results Alterra's net interest revenue increased by $0.9 million to $18.5 million primarily due to increased generation at Dokie 1, generation from Shannon and the strengthening of the Icelandic Krona. Net interest EBITDA decreased 10% to $8.5 million due to development spend on early-stage projects along with the weakening of the Canadian dollar. The net interest cash position at June 30, 2016 was $14.8 million. Operating Results The Company achieved 94.3% of its budgeted generation for the quarter, led by Toba Montrose.
Q2 2016 Generation (MWh)
Total
Net Interest
Facility Budget (a)
Actual
Budget (a)
Actual
% of Budget Reykjanes 148,840
144,378
99,127
96,156
97.0% Svartsengi 134,645
131,915
89,674
87,855
98.0% Toba Montrose 226,971
275,034
90,788
110,014
121.2% Dokie 1 68,131
66,043
17,373
16,841
96.9% Shannon 226,698
152,410
113,349
76,205
67.2% TOTAL 805,285
769,780
410,311
387,071
94.3% (a) Includes planned maintenance outages. "We are pleased with the continued solid performance of our operating assets in the quarter as well as the recent achievement of commercial operations at Jimmie Creek," said Lynda Freeman, CFO of Alterra. "We are now fully geared towards our next phase of growth with the advancement of Flat Top as well as a solar development portfolio and other development projects." Alterra will host a conference call to discuss financial and operating results on Wednesday, August 10, 2016 at 11:30 am ET (8:30 am PT). North American participants dial 1-888-390-0546 and International participants dial 1-416-764-8688; the conference ID is 17047515 The call will also be broadcast live on the Internet at http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=1235231&s=1&k=5FFBEFA29195B7323A9D2B993ADE39F9 The call will be available for replay for one week after the call by dialing 1-416-764-8677 and entering replay PIN 047515# Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Information
Certain of the statements and information included in this news release constitute forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements or information. This information may involve known and unknown risks, assumptions and uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the future results, performance or achievements implied by such statements or information. Specifically, forward-looking statements within this news release relate to, among other things: success of the deep drilling program at Reykjanes, successful development and construction of our pre-operational projects and properties, including Flat Top and our solar development portfolio, and the timing of the same, marketing of power and ability to secure power purchase or offtake agreements in respect of the same; success, timing and receipt of future payments and financial milestones, our ability to successfully refinance certain bonds, results of operations, and financial position. These statements and information reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant operational, business, economic and regulatory uncertainties and contingencies. These assumptions include, among others, the expected power generation from our operations, the success and timely completion of planned development, expansion and construction programs, and modeling and budgeting based on historical trends, our ability or inability to obtain financing or refinancing to pursue our growth strategy and business plans, current conditions and expected future developments. Forward-looking statements and information also involve known and unknown risks that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed by such statements or information, and the Company has made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. These risks include volatility of renewable energy resources, inherent risks in operating and constructing power plants and development programs related to the same, contractual risks related to credit facilities, partnership and power purchase agreements, prospective power, currency and commodity price fluctuations, health, safety, social and environmental risks and risks related to reliance on third parties. Additional risks, assumptions and influential factors are set out in the Company's management discussion analysis and Alterra's most recent annual information form, copies of which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, given the inherent uncertainties in such forward-looking statements and information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, described or intended. Investors are cautioned against undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements or information, which apply only as of their dates. Other than as specifically required by law, Alterra undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information to reflect new information. SOURCE Alterra Power Corp.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 09, 2016] Chubb launches end-to-end risk management solution for cyber threats in Asia Pacific
SINGAPORE, Aug. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Chubb announced today the launch of its Cyber Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)solution in the Asia Pacific region, kick-starting with Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160124/325256LOGO In today's connected environment, cyber security is a widespread concern. Despite the higher incidences and losses associated with cyber breaches, businesses may not fully understand their cyber and data privacy risks until an event occurs. Beyond a simple policy, Chubb's Cyber ERM is structured to offer an end-to-end loss control and risk management solution to clients from helping them understand what leads to cyber incidents and how to prevent them prior to the policy inception; to offering guidance in the case of a cyber incident to minimize losses and manage reputation.
Chubb's Cyber ERM solution has the following benefits for clients: Access to Chubb Global Cyber Practice, a specialist network of cyber risk professionals from around the world, coupled with the personalized touch of local underwriters. Chubb's underwriters help clients understand and measure their risk exposures, in order to customize coverage more effectively.
Simplified policy structure and language, bringing together in one wording the key elements of first party cover and third-party cyber liability cover, including: business interruption loss, data restoration, cyber extortion, liability arising from privacy and security incidents, as well as crisis response expenses
Dedicated 24/7 incdent response teams to assist clients in a crisis resulting from a covered cyber incident
Tim Stapleton , Vice President and Cyber Insurance Product Manager, Overseas General Insurance at Chubb, "When a cyber event happens, companies need the certainty of having a specialist on their side. Chubb was a pioneer in the cyber insurance marketplace when it began to offer its first cyber risk product in 1998. With our experience in this field, we are well equipped to deliver truly global solutions to address the current and future cyber risk challenges faced by various organizations, regardless of size, industry or location." Marcel Van Peenen, Regional Professional Indemnity & Cyber Liability Manager for Chubb in Asia and Advisen's 2015 'International Cyber Risk Industry Person', said, "Cyber attacks are on the rise and taking a serious toll on businesses. According to various reports, Asia Pacific businesses have lost billions of dollars in revenue due to cyber attacks in recent years. Against this backdrop, companies can no longer ignore the reputational and financial risks posed by cyber threats. Through Cyber ERM, we're moving beyond insurance to offer a loss control and risk management solution. Our dedicated cyber teams in Asia collaborate with clients to deliver tailor-made solutions to meet their specific needs."
"Our newly enhanced cyber solution caters to both large and small clients in the Australian market. The name Cyber Enterprise Risk Management underscores how cyber threats have become an enterprise-wide issue and not just a concern for IT departments of businesses. In Australia, we're seeing a steady increase in submission flow, buying habits and claims activity related to cyber. We will continue to build our capabilities and solutions to address the needs of clients in this evolving segment," said Andrew Taylor, Chubb's Cyber Product Manager for Australia and New Zealand. Product highlights are summaries only. Please see the actual policy for terms, conditions and exclusions. Products and services may not be available in all locations, may vary by location, and remain subject to Chubb's underwriting criteria. About the New Chubb Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With operations in 54 countries, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London and other locations, and employs approximately 31,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: new.chubb.com.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 10, 2016] AceBot.ai Secures $650,000 Institutional Seed Funding from Accel Partners
SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AceBot.ai, the popular Slackbot that drives productivity for teams that use Slack, has secured a $650,000 seed round from Accel Partners. Over the past several years, chatbots as well as Slackbots (chatbots native to the popular messaging app Slack) have become increasingly sought after due to how they let users perform commands by interacting with the bot. Despite launching roughly six months ago, AceBot has already made a name for itself within the Slackbot ecosystem through the way it makes things like managing daily to-dos, tracking expenses, running polls, and collecting ratings so easy. This is evidenced by their growing customer list that includes internationally-recognized companies like IBM, PayPal, and Airbnb. Accel Partners was one of the earliest venture capital firms to realize the potential of Slack and invested in their series A round in 2009. Now, with Slack firmly established as one of the world's most popular messaging apps, they have turned their sights towards building out the ecosystem by funding companies like AceBot. Shekhar Kirani of Accel comments, "Accel was an early investor in Slack and investing in AceBot was a logical next step to help boost team productivity and collaboration. Messaging apps have a higher userbase in enterprises than social networks. Conversational AI is gaining more tractin than GUI. With thousands of active teams, we believe that AceBot is on the trajectory for rapid growth and has the potential to become a must-have productivity bot for every departmental user out there."
The partnership between AceBot and Accel Partners is mutually beneficial, as AceBot Co-Founder and CTO Ralph Vaz insisted on receiving funding from a firm that cared about the overall vision of his company. "I'm truly honored to work with a well respected firm like Accel Partners," comments Vaz. "Not only do they have a repeated track record of investing in early stage companies that go on to experience success like Facebook, Dropbox, and Spotify, they sincerely believe in our vision. When analyzing who to partner with over the past several months, we made it a point to select a firm that believed in where we are today and where we plan to be three to five years into the future."
What's next for AceBot? "We'll use the funding to continue to develop what we like to call 'contextual intelligence'. Imagine being able to talk to a bot that not only maintains your tasks, expenses, etc. but also understands its professional context, adding the intelligent quotient that most bots currently lack. With AceBot, we hope to achieve just that," said AceBot's Co-Founder and CEO Ravindra Krishnappa. About Accel
Founded in 1983, and managing over $8.8 billion in capital, Accel Partners funds companies from inception through growth stage to build world-class businesses. Accel today invests globally using dedicated teams and market-specific strategies for local geographies, with offices in Palo Alto, California, New York City, London, and Bangalore, as well as in China via its partnership with IDG-Accel. For more information, visit http://www.accel.com/ About AceBot.ai
AceBot.ai is a Slackbot built for one common goalto drive your team's productivity and make them more efficient. With skills that help teams report expenses, manage daily tasks, conduct polls, and rate policies, your team can get more done faster without having to leave Slack. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/acebotai-secures-650000-institutional-seed-funding-from-accel-partners-300311501.html SOURCE AceBot.ai
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 10, 2016] Former Syngenta Executive, Scott McKinnon, Joins Farmers Edge in Australia to Expand Access to Big Data for Growers
Farmers Edge, a global leader in precision agriculture and independent data management solutions, announced today the appointment of Scott McKinnon as General Manager of Australian Operations. A former Syngenta executive and 20+ year veteran of global agriculture technologies, McKinnon will lead the market development and expansion of Farmers Edge beyond its current base in New South Wales (NSW) to meet the demand for integrated precision agriculture solutions across Australia. The Australian agriculture economy is expected to surpass $60 billion this year creating strong demand for innovative precision agriculture tools that will enable growers to capitalize on the growing market opportunity. In increasing its Australian presence, Farmers Edge will expand access to the data-driven, decision support platform needed to sustainably optimize yields and profits for the country's broad-acre and winter cereal growers. With variable cropping conditions throughout the country, we're seeing strong demand for agtech from Australia's growers to assist with their decision making and profitability," said Sctt McKinnon, General Manager, Australia at Farmers Edge. "Farmers Edge brings an integrated solution that allows all Australian growers to derive value in the country's thriving agricultural sector. Now, as we bolster our team on the ground, we can continue to meet the needs of our customers and expand into new markets."
Easily integrated with growers' existing equipment and programs, the Farmers Edge Precision Solutions platform provides a comprehensive turnkey system that includes: Variable Rate Technology, soil sampling and analysis, field-centric weather, in-field telematics and data transfer, high-resolution satellite imagery, field-centric data analytics, and access to FarmCommand - an integrated farm management platform. "For Farmers Edge, Australia represents a significant growth market for data-driven, precision agriculture to flourish," said Wade Barnes, President and CEO of Farmers Edge. "As we continue to rapidly grow and address new crops in Australia, Scott's expertise in market development and expansion is critical for us to scale operations and meet the strong demand for our integrated precision agriculture platform."
About Farmers Edge
Farmers Edge is a global leader in precision agriculture and independent data management solutions. Leading the development and application of new technologies on the farm since 2005, Farmers Edge is defining the future of agriculture through innovation. For more information on Farmers Edge, please visit: http://www.farmersedge.ca View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160810005203/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 10, 2016] SpineCenterNetwork.com Adds Reading Neck & Spine Center to Its National List of Credentialed Spine Centers in August
DALLAS, Aug. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Spine Center Network, the only national listing of spine centers that meet credentialing criteria, added Reading Neck and Spine Center to its list of credentialed spine centers. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160809/396852LOGO
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160809/396853 SpineCenterNetwork.com currently features 15 multi-disciplinary spine centers that meet the credentialing criteria of the network. The most recent spine center to be added in August is Reading Neck and Spine Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. The spine center combines under one roof a board-certified orthopedic spine surgeon who is fellowship-trained in spine surgery, a board-certified specialist in non-surgical treatment options and spinal injections, X-ray, and a team of affiliated spine therapists with a full exercise gym. The network is a byproduct of meetings with insurance company medical directors and employers who were looking for a list of spine programs in various parts of the country that emphasized conservative care first, explains Bob Reznik, MBA, president of Prizm Development, Inc. "Dartmouth Medicl Atlas has documented tremendous treatment variation in spine surgery rates around the nation," says Reznik. "Some spine practices are surgical mills that emphasize spine surgery too often. Meanwhile other clinics can emphasize injections that go on for months. Then there are other clinics that overdo therapy, hanging onto the back pain sufferer until symptoms like numbness in a hand or foot become permanent."
The real problem with spine care is specialty bias according to Reznik. "If the back pain sufferer starts with a surgeon, they can be told they need surgery," Reznik explains. "If they start with a spinal injectionist, they can get an excessive number of injections. Others can get stuck in a non-surgical silo for palliative therapy that accomplishes nothing. The key is a multi-disciplinary spine center that ensures the patient gets the right type of care at the right time." According to David Abraham, MD, a founder of Reading Neck and Spine Center, the multi-disciplinary approach eliminates a lot of the fragmentation and frustration experienced by those with back or neck pain. "Too many times the person with back or neck pain has to drive to a doctor's office, then back into the car for a drive to a diagnostic center, then to a different location for therapy," says Dr. Abraham. "Because the clinicians are not connected, the patient has to explain their problem multiple times to providers who don't communicate with each other or share the same patient chart. This fragmentation can result in the patient being told different diagnoses and treatment plans. "
Spine Center Network is particularly helpful to health insurance plans and employers who want to identify regional spine centers. As a free community service, all these centers mail out at their own cost a 36-page Home Remedy Book to thousands of back pain sufferers annually. More information can be found at SpineCenterNetwork.com. CONTACT:
Bob Reznik, MBA
817-481-2450
Email To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/spinecenternetworkcom-adds-reading-neck--spine-center-to-its-national-list-of-credentialed-spine-centers-in-august-300311298.html SOURCE SpineCenterNetwork.com
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 10, 2016] Top U.S. Defense/Intel Cybersecurity Experts and U.K. and Israel Cyber Chiefs to Speak at 7th Annual Billington CyberSecurity Summit
CHEVY CHASE, Md., Aug. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 30 distinguished speakers will participate in the 7th Annual Billington CyberSecurity Summit to examine priorities going forward for the Federal government, military and the 45th President. The summit takes place Sept. 13 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington, D.C. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160810/397152LOGO "For the last six years, our mission has been to convene top cybersecurity thought leaders to enhance cybersecurity. At this year's summit, a who's who of cyber experts will focus on priorities both in the US, Israel and the United Kingdom," said Thomas K. Billington, Chairman and Founder of Billington CyberSecurity. Billington has delivered on its promise of enhancing cybersecurity. Just last month, the inaugural Billington Global Automotive Cybersecurity Summit publicly addressed for the first time the automotive industry best practices. The summit also made news when U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced that the Federal government will release its own best cybersecurity practices for the auto industry. At the 7th annual summit next month, speakers from NSA and the military will include Admiral Michael Rogers, Commander, U.S. Cyber Command, Director, NSA/Chief, CSS; as well os other NSA cybersecurity officials, military cybersecurity commanders, and Department of Defense cybersecurity officials. (For names, titles and affiliations of all speakers, please scroll down.) Ciaran Martin, CEO, National CyberSecurity Centre, GCHQ, U.K., in an exclusive keynote, will outline the U.K.'s new strategy in cybersecurity. His keynote comes just weeks before the National Cyber Security Centre is officially launched in October and will offer a preview to attendees of the UK's cyber mission. Dr. Eviatar Matania, Head of the National CyberDirectorate, Prime Minister's Office, Israel, in his keynote, will outline how Israel forged a national cybersecurity strategy. Another highlight of the summit is the "All-Star Service CyberCommanders Panel." Moderated by Michael Sulmeyer, Director, Cyber Security Project, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School for Government, Harvard University, the panelists to date are: Major General Paul Nakasone, Commander, Cyber National Mission Force, U.S. CyberCommand Major General Christopher P. Weggeman, Commander, Twenty-fourth Air Force and Commander, Air Forces Cyber (AFCYBER), Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas Dr. Michael Papay, VP and CISO, Northrop Grumman View te complete agenda here.
At this information-rich day, leaders from government, the military and private industry will receive briefings on cybersecurity threats and solutions from the National Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Department of Justices, the Department of Defense and leading private sector cybersecurity companies. Agenda and Registration Information
GOVERNMENT AND MILITARY SPEAKERS Admiral Michael Rogers, Commander, U.S. Cyber Command, Director, NSA/Chief, CSS
Tony Scott, Federal CIO, Admin. for E-Government and Info. Technology, OMB (invited)
Dr. EviatarMatania, Head of the National Cyber Directorate, Prime Minister's Office, Israel
Aaron Hughes, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy, DOD
James Trainor, Assistant Director, Cyber Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Andy Ozment, Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity and Communications, DHS
Donna F. Dodson, Chief Cybersecurity Advisor, NIST and Director, NCCOE, NIST
Brigadier General (ret.) Gregory Touhill, Deputy Assistant Secretary, CS&C, DHS
CiaranMartin, CEO, National Cyber Security Centre, GCHQ, U.K.
Richard Hale, Deputy CIO for Cyber Security, Department of Defense
Sanjeev"Sonny" Bhagowalia, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Systems and CIO, Department of the Treasury
Michael Daniel, Cybersecurity Coordinator, The White House
Major General Paul Nakasone, Commander, Cyber National Mission Force, U.S. Cyber Command
Major General Christopher P. Weggeman, Commander, Twenty-fourth Air Force and Commander, Air Forces Cyber (AFCYBER), Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas
Major General Loretta E. Reynolds, Commander, U.S. Marine Corps Cyberspace Command (invited)
Neal Ziring, Technical Director, IAD, National Security Agency Curtis Dukes, Director, Information Assurance Directorate, National Security Agency INDUSTRY SPEAKERS Kevin Mandia, CEO and Board Director, FireEye
John Scimone, SVP and Global Chief Information Security Officer, Sony Corporation
Jeffrey Massimilla, Chief Product Cybersecurity Officer, General Motors Company
Dr. Michael Papay, Vice President and CISO, Northrop Grumman
Thomas K. Billington, Founder and Chairman, Billington CyberSecurity
Maj. Gen. (Ret.) USAF Earl Matthews, Vice President, Enterprise Security Solutions, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
John Worrall, Chief Marketing Officer, CyberArk
Kiersten Todt, Executive Director, Presidential Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
Malcolm Harkins, Global CISO, Cylance
Karen Evans, Co-Chair, CSIS Cyber Policy Taskforce
Deborah Golden, Principal, Federal Cyber Risk Services Leader, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Michael Brown, Rear Admiral, United States Navy (Retired), Vice President and General Manager, Global Public Sector, RSA, the Security Division of EMC
Andy Zembower, Sr. Director-Operations, Cyber and Intel Solutions Division, General Dynamics Mission Systems
Steven Grossman, VP, Program Management, Bay Dynamics
Mark McLaughlin, Chairman, President, and CEO, Palo Alto Networks
Michael Daly, Chief Technology Officer, Raytheon Cybersecurity and Special Missions View speaker biographies here. Sponsor Opportunities: Find out about becoming a sponsor, please email Peggy Holland at [email protected] or call 301-641-4150. She can help you with sponsor options and pricing. 7th Annual Billington CyberSecurity Summit Sponsors: The Premier Sponsor is Palo Alto Networks Platinum Sponsor is Northrop Grumman Exclusive Diamond Sponsors: Cisco, CyberArk, Cylance, Deloitte & Touche LLP, General Dynamics, FireEye, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Raytheon, Tanium Diamond Sponsors: RSA, Bay Dynamics Gold Sponsors: Fortinet, NTrepid Exhibitors: Anomali, Dark Trace, IEEEXplore UK Cyber Innovation Zone: Armourcomms, Axelos, Bolden James, Contextis, CSIT, Garrison Technology, Huntsman Security, Improbable, Miracl, RIPJar, SiloBreaker, Titanic Systems Media Sponsors: CSFI, The CyberWire Find out more about the summit. This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/top-us-defenseintel-cybersecurity-experts-and-uk-and-israel-cyber-chiefs-to-speak-at-7th-annual-billington-cybersecurity-summit-300311848.html SOURCE Billington CyberSecurity
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
The struggle is real for direct and indirect salespeople to transition to selling cloud services. Network is so much easier because it is transactional and replacement services. Cloud, however, is about selling change. Certainly you can sell hosted VoIP as cheap dial-tone replacement. Good luck with that. It is a disservice to the customer and yourselves.
The transition starts by changing the conversation that you have with your clients. Microcorps CEO Karin Fields says it starts with a simple question beyond pipe: What are you doing for audio, web, and video conferencing?
If it is a bandwidth discussion, turn it to a discussion about what type of traffic. Do you have a VoIP phone system? Are you using videoconferencing? How many software apps are in the cloud?
You could start by asking them about Office365: Are you currently using Office365? If not, why? Or who hosts your email service? Hosted Microsoft (News - Alert) Exchange is still a money maker at even $6 per inbox. (It is about incremental revenue anyway. Email, backup, broadband, voice, conferencing, etc. it adds up to a sticky customer and a larger commission. If you sell cross-vendor solutions, it adds commission protection for your revenue. (Relying solely on one vendor for more than 50 percent of your income is a mistake I made early on that I did not repeat.)
To get somewhere different you have to try new things, including being uncomfortable asking new discovery questions. WCC (workflow or UCaaS+) will not be replacement services, like Office365 is for email. It will change workflow in the business. It will change communications in the organization. (Internal email decreases when organizations use Slack.)
Selling something like SD-WAN or WCC is selling change; it is also selling outcomes. To do that, you have to know about the business, call flow, workflow, and business goals. If some employees are virtual, how does that affect collaboration? Is the goal more virtual workers? Is the goal more collaboration?
Selling network is easy. In fact, the one that sells them SD-WAN will eventually own the whole account. The one who sells them WCC will know so much about the customer that the network is irrelevant.
Peter Radizeski is president of Tampa, Fla.-based telecom consulting firm RAD-INFO (News - Alert) Inc. (www. rad-info.net).
Edited by Alicia Young
Ayscom, Procera Partner
Procera Networks (News - Alert) Inc. has a new partner. Ayscom has joined the Procera Premier Partner Program. Ayscom provides test and monitoring solutions in Spain and Portugal. "Service providers are constantly looking for the best virtualized analytics tools to drive their big data projects," said Federico Hornillos, engineering director at Ayscom. "Being part of Procera's Premier Partner Program, and having access to its eVolution technology, gives Ayscom the ability to offer more comprehensive network and subscriber intelligence for our service provider and enterprise customers."
PlanetOne Erects Cloud Unit
Master agent PlanetOne Communications has established a dedicated cloud practice to help agents, managed service providers, and preferred vendors to identify, pitch, and close cloud sales opportunities. The practice will be led by Jim MacWilliam, a new addition to PlanetOne who previously worked for Birch Communications and FusionStorm. PlanetOne is standing up the new practice now given its cloud business in the last year has grown from 5 to 35 percent of its business. Weve closed record-setting deals with a number of our preferred partners, including MegaPath, Mitel (News - Alert), and Rackspace, says PlanetOne CEO and founder Ted Schuman, and motivated and inspired our channel partners to replicate this success and expand their business, expertise, reach, and profits with cloud services.
SkySwitch, Socket Are Integrated
SkySwitch, which provides a white-label platform for hosted PBX (News - Alert) resellers, now has an integration with the Socket quote-to-cash application. While there are several partners with which a reseller can offer a white label Hosted PBX Solution, many view their responsibility to their resellers as ending with what happens on the telephone said SkySwitch President Eric Hernaez (News - Alert). SkySwitch goes further by providing resellers with solutions that address the nuts and bolts of their business, with advanced tools for provisioning, diagnostics, and even sales and marketing.
TBI Blogs on IT Health Care Challenges
A new TBI blog by marketing manager Rachel Bruce addresses the five challenges with health care IT. That includes compliance, M&A, remote employees and BYOD, incorporation of new technologies, and the adoption of telemedicine, she says. In some industries, employee-owned equipment, even just a smartphone or tablet, can be the Trojan horse that breaches the network and costs a company millions, she writes. These issues have hit the health care industry particularly hard. As an industry labeled as conservative and slow-to-adopt, the health care network, from medical device and insurance carriers to physicians and hospitals, has been inundated with breaches and technology challenges.
Edited by Alicia Young
For years, scientists have been heralding the artificial intelligence revolution. Weve been able to program robots and vacuums, play chess, and even win at Jeopardy. But, before now, technology has not been able to produce artificial intelligence that can do one of the most fundamental human skills: communicate. The emergence of natural language generation is changing all of that.
Natural language generation is artificial intelligence that mimics the way humans communicate. In real-time, the technology reviews vast sets of unstructured data from multiple sources, analyzes it, draws conclusions, and ultimately generates a natural language report summarizing the key findings. The reports are told in a compelling narrative that could have been written by a human.
NLG platforms can be tailored to analyze data like industry experts (whether that is doctors or weathermen) in order to generate insightful reports. The technology can even identify what information is important and then tailor the language based on audience. For example, imagine if you are visiting a loved one in the hospital. All of his or her medical information is in a medical chart at the foot of the bed, but you dont understand the technical terms or abbreviations. NLG platforms could review the medical chart, and generate a report for you (a non-medical professional) in laymans terms to explain your loved ones health: from diagnosis to treatment.
More and more data is being generated every day; and the lack of experts with the ability to analyze this data is already becoming apparent. Gartner (News - Alert) forecasts that by 2020, about 1.7 megabytes of new information will be created every second for each person on Earth. But less than 0.5 percent of data is ever analyzed; much of this due to the lack of experts. According to McKinsey, the United States alone faces a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with analytical expertise and 1.5 million managers and analysts with the skills to understand and make decisions based on the analysis of big data.
Training NLG platforms to think and act like experts helps alleviate this burden. Once the process of capturing the experts analytical skills and expertise in NLG platform algorithms is completed, they can be liberated from having to spend their days analyzing data. The best and brightest will be free to do what they are trained to do engineers to build, doctors to heal, scientists to discover.
In an age where corporations are constantly competing in new spaces, and theres an inability for many industries to continue their growth trajectories on the back of human capital alone, AI and NLG platforms provide much-needed solutions. Fortunately, companies are investing in these technologies. Since 2011 venture capital investments in companies developing and commercializing AI-related products and technology have exceeded $2 billion and tech companies have invested billions more acquiring AI startups.
Already, NLG platforms are being incorporated across industries. Take the financial sector as an example. Financial advisors spend significant time interpreting data to provide their investors; NLG technology is now being deployed to digest mass amounts of financial data and generate tailored reports that explain the performance of individual stock portfolios, saving hours and hours of analytical work. These financial advisors are liberated from having to spend their days reporting past performance and free to spend their time researching investment strategies and providing clients insights and advice.
NLG platforms are also helping utility companies, as companies are making large-scale investments in control technology and systems integration. NLG is acting as a virtual monitoring team in a control center, diagnosing issues, and generating content on everything from work orders to media alerts on outages. Some companies are even providing personalized usage reports for smart meter customers. In collaborating with the technology, employees are able to be more efficient with their time, and spend less of each day on mind-numbing monitoring or administrative tasks.
Matthew Gould is CSO and co-founder of Arria NLG (www.arria.com).
Edited by Alicia Young
When it comes to selling cloud services, VARs should not overlook the enormous market potential small to mid-sized businesses have to offer. Main Street requires the same storage, processing, and security as Wall Street, and they're much easier to approach.
How big is this market? A World Bank Group study suggests there are 365-445 million micro, small, and medium enterprises in emerging markets: 25-30 million are formal SMEs; 55-70 million are formal micro enterprises; and 285-345 million are informal enterprises. This represents an enormous and often untapped market that is waiting for cloud services if someone could just explain the cloud in a manner in which SMBs may relate to its business benefits.
Picture yourself as the owner of a small to mid-sized organization. Often your services are predicated on offering tangible goods and services. Those services range from an inventory that can be physically handled or inspected by customers, to services that produce a definite and measurable outcome. When it comes to setting up their IT support systems, naturally they gravitate toward a physical box in the office that is connected to a number of desktop devices.
These tangible IT devices are viewed as one of the capital expenses that can physically be depreciated on the balance sheet. It's sometimes difficult for these business owners to grasp the concept of virtualizing their entire back office IT functions. But times are changing quickly, and those value-added resellers who can relate the features, advantages, and benefits of cloud services stand to gain considerable revenue from an underserved market.
The ABCs
When approaching small to mid-sized businesses, resellers need to highlight the pain points of maintaining their own IT infrastructure as well as underscore the business benefit of outsourcing this utility. There are myriad horrors waiting to descend upon the servers stored under desks, in closets, or in the basement. These situations can range from soaking the server with a runaway mop bucket to a brick oven fire in the pizza restaurant two doors down, taking out the entire strip mall containing your office. The challenges that a small to mid-sized business faces are unique, but not uncommon when it comes to the solution for preserving IT assets.
For many SMBs the cloud is a scary, autonomous service that may only be embraced by the likes of juggernauts such as Amazon, The Home Depot, and Walmart. But nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, SMBs are often using cloud services without even realizing it. Companies that utilize QuickBooks have already taken their first steps into the cloud by embracing finance-as-a-service. It's not a far leap of faith to extend the same trust that they have within their accounting application and point out the benefits of storing and protecting all their data and applications offsite.
If You Offer IT, They Will Come
Here are a couple of examples of how smaller organizations are currently reaping the benefits of cloud services.
A fifth-generation business, E.N. BISSO is one of Louisiana's top suppliers of tugboat and towing services. The company supported its fleet of 15 vessels for docking and undocking of ocean-going vessels and barge combination units via a small data center in its main location, linked to a small branch office. However, maintaining the IT infrastructure became more than a full-time job, pulling staff away from implementing more strategic maritime applications and achieving its virtualization goal. E.N. BISSO moved half of its physical servers in a colocation environment, with virtual machines running in the cloud utilizing VMware cloud and vCloud Director to manage services from any internet connection. The flexible cloud-based offering ensured the company could still virtualize physical devices, while freeing staff to focus on more business-critical concerns. In addition, E.N. BISSO leveraged disaster recovery services, ensuring the replication and backup of files.
Hendrix Orthodontics is a small, growing practice facing many of the same Infrastructure Lifecycle Management challenges associated with most large businesses. The company faced a choice: Undertake an expensive infrastructure upgrade likely to recur every five years or evolve into a more centralized, secure, and HIPAA-compliant IT environment. Hendrix elected to transition approximately 50 PCs and three data servers from its unsupported Windows XP operating system into the cloud, in addition to hosting its company files, patient records, charts, and x-rays.
SMB Cloud Services Cheat Sheet
Below is a quick reference guide taken from real-world examples to help VARs succeed in selling cloud services.
Listen to the customers problem, then position the relevant solution. Be sympathetic - understand what bothers them.
When a business owners says, I need a new server, we are doing development and testing, it is prime for a cloud service.
When you hear, Every time I gain a new customer, I have to buy a new mini workstation, the VAR needs to position the cloud so customers can avoid the hassle.
Offer to protect companies business apps such as email, HR, payroll, and SQL databases by replicating and storing data in the cloud.
If not knowing where the cloud is makes them feel uncomfortable, give them the data center address and let them know they can visit/look at the space and their racks whenever they want. Even the cloud has a physical address.
Replacing hardware is a capital expense. Mention that hardware purchases take up valuable office space and also consume valuable capital that can be used for other important business functions. Transitioning to an operational expense model frees up cash flow to make other relevant purchases.
Underscore that the life expectancy of hardware is 3-5 years; they are responsible for replacing, maintaining, patching and upgrading software licenses. The cloud provider does all this for them.
Emphasize that data and application redundancy are huge benefits of being in the cloud.
Small to medium-sized businesses IT services should be viewed in the same manner as electricity, plumbing, and even internet services. They are all a necessary utility. No self-respecting business owner would build a power plant in the basement and maintain his or her own electrical services or construct a server farm to establish internet connectivity. Given this mentality, why would those individuals want to build and maintain an IT infrastructure and applications when there is an existing service that can do it more efficiently and affordably?
The cloud is now a ubiquitous and common denominator that's easily accessible by any size business. The same processing power, redundancy, and data security that is available to Amazon and Walmart is also available to the mom and pop shop on Main Street. Through intelligent user-friendly interfaces, SMB organizations can tap into the power of the cloud to alleviate many daily frustrations, while also preserving their dream and legacy.
Blake Allen is business development manager at Venyu (www.venyu.com).
Edited by Alicia Young
What you need to know about Powerball and the $825 million jackpot
Google Pixel 7 features coming to Pixel 6 heres what to expect
Google has announced that the Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are getting some of the Pixel 7s new features, and older Pixel phones are even getting a few updates. Here's what we know so far.
Robot vacuum buying guide: What you need to know
Not sure where to start your search for a robot vacuum? It doesn't matter how little or how much you want to spend, there's a cleaning robot out there for everyone.
New PlayStation Plus release dates revealed here's when it's due
While the new three-tier PS Plus is due to arrive in Asian markets in May, US users will have to wait until mid June, with Europeans the last to get the upgrade.
Australia is a truly massive place, yet most of us seem to huddle around our capital cities, reluctant to leave the comfort of the coast.
This is especially true for bands, many of whom will play show after show in their local pub or fly across the country before theyd ever think to pile into a van and head out to tour a few regional venues. But if your band isnt making the most of the countless venues dotted across our wide open plains, youre missing out.
To encourage more bands to get out there and explore, weve spoken to a couple of people in the industry who have jumped headfirst into regional touring, and want to encourage more Aussie acts to do the same.
James Clarke is the Director of touring and events company Aeroplane Agency, and one of the organisers of Up The Guts, the massive regional tour happening right now thats cutting its way from Hobart to Darwin, right through central Australia. James was inspired to take a trip up the guts of Australia when approached by Jack Parsons, fellow Up The Guts co-founder and the frontman of The Pretty Littles.
He came to me and said, Id love to put the Littles through central Oz, and even if its just for a bit of food and a bed each night, I just want to do some regional touring through central Australia.
Shaun Adams books the longstanding Karova Lounge in Ballarat, a beloved mainstay of the regional touring scene, and also tours acts regionally. He originally found himself drawn to the venue by the idea of building up a smaller music community.
This was something I starting doing just over 10 years ago. I didnt really have an idea what the end goal was, apart from wanting to see my fave national touring acts playing in Ballarat, and playing some small part in growing a local music scene.
With plenty of experience between them, theyve given us their thoughts on why you and your band should add some regional venues to your next tour.
Its An Adventure
Firstly, theres the thrill of actually living the classic band dream of hitting the road for a cross-country tour, something that Australia doesnt embrace as much as the idea of a trip across the US or Europe.
Our trip was inspired by the late 70s, early 80s rock and roll era. I wouldnt say it wasnt as hard back then, but there was a lot more passion going around, wanting to hit the road. Just jumping in a van and doing it not really the way that the music landscape is today. It was part of an adventure.
A regional tour like Up The Guts is a pretty exciting thing to be a part of, if youre a muso. You get to tour 15 dates in a short amount of time, the same way bands get to go to Europe or the States and do a huge run of shows.
Its been crazy. We had snow in Tassie, now weve got the warm sunshine and everyones just really wanting some hot weather and were getting there, its good.
Even better, it can be a bonding experience for everyone involved.
The tour is a pretty tough run, were doing effectively 15 shows in 18 days. Were playing shows in places like Castlemaine and Bendigo on a Tuesday or Wednesday night, and we played Whyalla on a Sunday which was a great vibe. Its all hands on deck here, theres no doubt about that, but we have the most fantastic group of people. Forget about the music; by the time the 17 of us had the Tassie leg done, everyones best friends and chipping in, cooking and helping out.
Its truly just a really great opportunity for these guys to travel through Australia and see their own backyard, and share music to a wider regional audience that might not have heard it before.
There have just been too many great moments over the years, Shaun tells us, but I was thinking today about when The Living End played here under the guise of The Long Necks. One of the biggest bands Australia has ever produced, and they are playing a bunch of shows in these small pubs in regional Victoria they were amazing.
Theres A Demand
Rural venues may be relatively isolated, but that doesnt mean the communities there arent hanging for bands to visit.
The East Coast model is so tried and tested, James tells us, but thats not to say there isnt a hunger and demand for live music throughout the Territory and stuff like that as well.
There are a lot of regional communities with venues that are no more than a 150 200 cap, but theres an audience of 20,000 people there.
Were just already feeling really confident about pushing this harder for next year, and building a bit of a brand around Up the Guts but also around those communities that are through that little Australian beltway that are just starved of live music. Well play tonight at The Desert Cave, and I think this will be the first gig in Coober Pedy in about four months.
We stopped by a tiny little place in Port McDonnell, which is just south of Mount Gambier on the coast, and its just an absolutely incredible little town. We went to the bar for a pub feed, and it was absolutely pumping, and they said, Oh, weve love you to play here.
Find New Fans, And Loyal Fans
Bands could be shifting a lot of merch to people who have literally never heard their music before, James says. These people may not have heard of Scott ^ Charlenes Wedding or ScotDrakula before, but have had such a great experience that now theyre a fan, and they can proudly say that the band came to their town.
Its a rewarding experience in other ways, too, as there are always a few die-hard fans dotted about where youd least expect them.
We had one guy drive three hours from Port Lincoln to Whyalla to see Scott & Charlenes Wedding, and Craig picked him out in the crowd because he was wearing a t-shirt that they only did a run of for their Japan tour. He said, Oh, that dude was in Japan! and the guy told him Yeah, I drove three hours from Port Lincoln to come see you, and Im driving back tonight. Stuff like that is really heartwarming, and I think that has a profound effect on artists.
I think if you can just get out and share your music with different people, its an inspiration to come to some of these towns, and that can feed in to your work as well.
It Doesnt Just Help The Bands
Its not all about the band, either, as the local community gets just as much out of it.
The more regional touring we can do, the more we can get people out socialising, James says. It stems directly into the drug and alcohol abuse that are issues in regional areas. It stems into depression, due to the sheer reality that a lot of these areas are quite isolated. So the more you can bring those social interactions to regional towns, the better it is for everyone.
I also think that its really important to change the culture back a little. Big festivals are fantastic, but you pay your $300 and you go to a festival for three days and everyone gets shitfaced and thats that.
We are very lucky in Melbourne where we get to go out on any day of the week and see great quality live music. I think its really important to inspire people to be leaders in their own towns and create that culture outside of big cities.
With Up The Guts especially, it isnt just about playing gigs.
Im currently sitting at the Coober Pedy School with 17 artists, about to go teach some young kids about their skills in music which is pretty amazing. We just arrived at Coober Pedy this morning and weve done ten shows, this is our 6th workshop in 12 days, so obviously weve gone all the way from the deep south in Hobart and were making our way up the spine now, so were doing pretty well.
So, Why Did It Stop?
Regional touring is so important, Shaun tells us, but regional venues in Australia as a whole have seen a bit of a drop off of acts touring regionally, and maybe some acts, managers and booking agents are forgetting the importance of a regional fanbase.
The industry and touring cycles change so quickly, but I think acts forget they can develop genuine longterm fanbases outside of metro areas especially when their careers are building and they have radio play on triple j, or they have just played a festival like Meredith or Groovin the Moo.
It could all just be a matter of perception, he claims.
Maybe we are in a time where regional touring is not cool, or it isnt the right perception for acts, and they would rather sell out multiple shows in the capital cities. But I do feel a regional audience is a lot more honest, and maybe care less about trends or the latest single being played on the radio.
The Challenges
There are, of course, some difficult aspects to taking your band to the outback, but James insists theyre worth tackling.
The reception has been amazing. That said, its also been challenging in some towns. I really think its a perception thing, theres a certain culture just bred into regional towns about not necessarily going out to see gigs.
It may not always be a profitable exercise, either at least not immediately.
Obviously, just in terms of the numbers and size of the audience, this certainly isnt going to be a financially profitable tour in year one, at least because were putting on great shows. Weve got amazing backline production on us; its not just a pop-up gig in a pub, its a full show and when people come to the gig (that was $12) they come up to us afterwards just ecstatic to have that level of quality live music out in their town they just dont get it normally.
Overall its been incredible, and weve met such great local people, who are so enthusiastic about being part of a project like this. If we get nothing else out of this, and can at least carve a path for more things like this to happen, then Ill be happy.
Shaun agrees that the benefits are well worth any negatives.
Acts do have to make some sacrifices to tour regionally, such as not being able to make as much money as they would in the capitals, but I think the rewards certainly outweigh any of that.
Advice For Getting Out There?
One of the greatest resources to touring regional Australia is triple j unearthed, says Shaun, who believes it isnt that hard to get noticed. Look up the places you want to tour, type in the postcode and engage with the local acts. See whats going on, and before you know it you will be playing a town hall, venue, or even someones backyard.
James agrees that any band who might be up for it should just get stuck right in.
For bands who want to tour regionally: just DIY. I read an amazing article by Steve Albini about the way he goes about his business, and its just all about DIY have a go. Regardless of whether its going to be a profitable tour or not, you never know the opportunities that might stem from there, whether it be new connections, or people hearing and buying your music.
The reward, he says, comes from just having a crack.
Id say just team up with some people who might have some connections in establishing a new route, and have a go and get your music out there as best as you can. And do it yourself, do it on a shoestring budget, because its definitely possible and its a lot more fun that way.
Following in the footsteps of Hilltop Hoods, Melbourne crooner Missy Higgins is embarking on a tour with some of Australias leading symphony orchestras for a handful of shows at the end of the year.
While the performances will showcase some of her greatest hits, Higgins will also be debuting a number of new tracks.
Melbourne folk artist Ben Abraham will be joining the tour, and recently reformed Brisbane band George will also be joining Higgins for the Perth leg of the tour.
MISSY HIGGINS NATIONAL TOUR DATES
Thursday, November 3
State Theatre Sydney with Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Friday, November 18
Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre with Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Sunday, November 27
The Plenary Melbourne with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Saturday, December 3
Kings Park Perth with The West Australian Symphony Orchestra (Special guests GEORGE)
Saturday, December 10
Bird in Hand Winery Adelaide with Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Fan Pre-sale via www.missyhiggins.com
Begins: Fri 12 Aug (10am AEST) Ends: Sat 13 Aug (10am AEST)
(or ends earlier if pre-sale allocation exhausted)
Frontier Members Pre-Sale via frontiertouring.com/missyhiggins
Begins: Mon 15 Aug (11am AEST) Ends: Tue 16 Aug (11am AEST)
(or ends earlier if pre-sale allocation exhausted)
General public on sale from 10am Wednesday, August 17
Tickets from www.missyhiggins.com
Kansas City's most prolific activist and the most controversial writer for The Kansas City Star are in a battle over info related to the tragic death dominating news headlines this week.Take a look:Meanwhile, it's clear thatwhile traditional news sources in KCMO seems to be missing the story.Developing . . .
"The groups each do their part to meet the needs of their community and find ways to mediate conflict before it turns violent. One trained volunteer holds group meetings to help people with their mental health issues. Others step forward to provide clothes and shoes and job information, as well as stepping in when there is a conflict. Another group is knocking on doors of people who have committed violent crimes, to check on them and encourage them as they are out of prison."
Police count 64 murders so far this year in Kansas City, Missouri compared to 51 at this time last year. The clearance rate is less than 50% which means that odds favor murderers. The murder total at this time of year is higher than at any point in the past five years . . .Given debate among police, a scourge of domestic terror attacks aimed at law enforcement and low voter turnout . . . These local groups shared their perspective @ 12th & Oak today:Deets . . .A lot of haters denounce the efforts but the fact is that most of Kansas City is content to let the slaughter continue with very little notice or objection and at the very least these residents are engaged at hoping to find a solution.You decide . . .
It is maddening to be lectured about our Constitution and about what American law should be by aliens in the United States, Kobach agreed.
My ancestors came here in the 1600s, I think I know a little bit about what its all about here, Talk show caller Sarah interjected.
Well, you know, Kobach said, I think the worst is what happens regularly in Topeka, where illegal aliens come in and lecture the legislators on why they need to continue getting in-state tuition. And we saw it at the DNC, when they bring illegal aliens on the stage. Its just unbelievable.
The somewhat recent adventure of Kansas SecState Kobach features the greatest Trump supporter in all of Kansas and a former law professor getting fed up with lessons from the left . . .Money line . . .##########Only quoted because he could be the next Kansas governor if Trump wins OR maybe he'll continue his reign as sleepy Sunday talk show king if Hillary doesn't deport him.Developing . . .
QUITE A FEW KANSAS CITY VOTERS OBJECT TO THERESA GARZA SERVING AS AN ELECTION OFFICIAL GIVEN HER VOTING AND RESIDENCY PROBLEMS DURING HER FAILED CAMPAIGN FOR CITY COUNCIL!!!
The fate of Kansas City Democracy swings in the balance as word of Theresa Garza monitoring elections terrifies the community.The basics . . .Actually, it was much worse than failed . . . She didn't just lose, she wasMore insight into Theresa's political history . . .Again, this prospect of this lady monitoring elections has some voters justifiably scared and many hope community sentiment will take her out of her inappropriate running for this political work.Developing . . .
"Sly's Rock the Block at Union Station is Saturday night. I wonder if it will be marred with violence yet again this year as it has for the last three? I'm sure the PD will unfortunately have to pull many resources and officers away from needed areas to deal with this, as the last two years the tactical teams were needed to disperse large disturbances and parties armed."
EVERY YEAR ROCK THE BLOCK HAS HOSTED FIGHTING AND DAMAGE TO SURROUNDING PROPERTY . . . THIS YEAR THE PARTY WILL BE CLOSER TO THE TOY TRAIN AS MAYOR SLY'S ADMINISTRATION HAS REJECTED ADVICE TO HOLD THE EVENT AT ANOTHER LOCATION THAT COULD BE SECURED MORE EASILY!!!
Against the advice of the biz community and despite an exceptionally violent Summer 2016 . . . Mayor Sly continues a troubled party tradition that has proven to be a disaster over the years.is slated for this weekend and right now we have just a quick word of warning about the event from a. . .This party is the culmination of Mayor's Nights for this year which wasMeanwhile . . .And so, we offer this word of warning in hopes that Kansas City residents can avoid any trouble and also realize the violent history of this event.Developing . . .
Craig Glazer: Is It Too Late For Donald Trump?
The media for the most part was in love with the Trump ride. Endless press coverage of his family, his speeches, his interviews, anything Trump for the past year. Donald made the impossible run for the presidential Republican nomination and defeated 16 other candidates, many with big names like Jeb Bush. It was the political upset of the modern era.The world watched while his opponent, Hillary Clinton was under attack after attack with scandal after scandal. Hillary is a professional politician and America seemed to want to try something new. For a time it seemed that Trump could actually win the white house. Then reality set in a couple weeks ago. The Republican convention gave Trump his first lead in most polls since the two were clearly the nominees. He lead by as many as 4 to 6 points in many national polls. Then came the Democratic convention, it seemed troubled with Bernie Sanders followers ready to nearly riot over the newest scandal involving the DNC computer gate helping Clinton win the nomination over Bernie. In the end it all seemed to go away. To make matters worse for Trump he couldn't control his mouth and attacked anyone and everyone who bad mouthed him during the DNC Show. It all backfired on Donald.Leaders in the nation decided Trump really could win and he was dangerous, to them, maybe to world peace, and anything else they could think of to destroy the guy. Media soon came up with what might be the best attack, "he might be mentally ill" that was a good one.Regardless of what is true or not, Trump is now 12 points down in most polls. Its a huge number. Can he fight back? Is it over? He is still the media giant, still gets most of the attention over Clinton, but now much of it is negative.Yes there will be debates in September and millions will watch, but barring some major news that destroy Clinton again, I'm afraid its over. Trump has just put off too many groups including women in his own party. His hill is just too steep.What looked like a tight battle is now looking like a landslide for the Clintons. People are just too afraid of Donald Trump today.I'm sure Hillary will do a solid job as president, Trump will return to his vast business and media empires, and we had a nice 'reality' show to watch all summer long and then some. The show is now basically in re-runs. Cancelled. Shucks!#############
Chastain on light rail plan "could be illegal" lie by City Attorney, Bill Geary
Now listen up stupid voters of Kansas City, City Attorney, Bill Geary, testified in a public council hearing that the light rail ballot question "could be illegal," or perhaps is illegal, or might be illegal, or just sorta maybe is illegal. This politically motivated bull crap from the city's top attorney was designed solely to confuse voters and undermine the light rail election.And, the noon deadline has now passed... for the city attorney to explain his false assertion...and with it his credibility.No one can doubt Geary's conspicuous silence only proves he has no legal argument to back up his phony contrived assertion that the light rail petition "could be illegal" and grounds for the council to repeal it, if approved by voters.And no one can doubt either that insiders at city hall, including Mayor Sly James, (who will all be afraid to debate me face to face during the campaign) put Geary up to it.But rather than waste anymore time and energy filing a complaint against Geary, with the Missouri Bar Ass. and the OCDC (Official Chief Disciplinary Counsel and agency under the Missouri Supreme Court), I will instead turn my attention to the light rail campaign (web site coming soon).In that campaign we hope to convince the Kansas City community that this light rail petition, if approved by voters, will build our city a world class public transportation system that will not only save Kansas City, but make it great again.Clay Chastain...Degreed electrical engineer (who was on the Dean's honor roll and passed, on his first try, the Professional Engineering Exam), worked in Kansas City as an engineer for Black & Veatch, Control Systems, and General Motors, is a KCMO registered voter and part-time resident, restored 25 historical houses in Kansas City, helped save Kansas City's Union Station from demolition, won the only light rail election in the city's history, and is currently the leader and designer of the light rail ballot question (petition) now before Kansas City, Missouri voters in November.##########
57,098 identified refugees and migrants were on the Greek territory on Wednesday while 90 arrivals were reported in the last 24 hours
57,098 identified refugees and migrants were on the Greek territory on Wednesday while 90 arrivals were reported in the last 24 hours.
According to the Refugee Crisis Management Coordination Body's figures, 21,777 of the refugees are in northern Greece, 9,881 are hosted in the region of Attica and 2,698 are hosted in facilities of central and southern Greece. 7,638 refugees and migrants are hosted in several facilities rented by the UNHCR, 2,756 in non-organised facilities 2,300 persons are living outside organised facilities.
10,042 refugees and migrants were recorded on the eastern Aegean islands.
Read more here.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
Flight bookings to the UK were boosted by 7.1% after the referendum vote to leave the European Union
Flight bookings to the UK were boosted by 7.1% after the referendum vote to leave the European Union, according to the latest data from ForwardKeys which monitors future travel patterns by analysing 14 million reservation transactions each day.
In the face of worldwide economic uncertainty, terrorism and air traffic disruption, the aftermath of the referendum requiring Britain to leave the Eurozone, flight arrivals have seen an uplift during the last month, driven by demand coming from the US and Asia Pacific.
In the 28 days before the 23 June poll, flight reservations were running 2.8% behind the same period last year. In the month after the Brexit decision, they were up 4.3%.
Bookings from Europe were up 5.0%, buoyed by the pounds fall against the Euro following the referendum. Non-European arrivals were up by an even bigger margin, increasing 8.7%.
The 10% drop in the value of sterling after the referendum sharpened interest in the UK as a holiday destination from countries around the world. Bookings from Hong Kong rose 30.1%, the US was up 9.2%, Canada was up 7.4% and the United Arab Emirates was up 7%.
Major driver
The most favourable exchange rate in decades is probably the major driver for the uptake in bookings to Britain. During the analysed period, ForwardKeys identified positive and passive reactions from source destinations after the Brexit referendum.
The number of bookings from the USA and Canada increased considerably, likely related to good economic growth and depreciation of Sterling.
While Chinese bookings have been steady before and after the 23rd of June, Hong Kong showed a substantial increase. This difference could possibly be explained by the need of a visa by Chinese travellers while HongKongers do not, in addition to the strong ties the peninsula holds with its former ruler.
Looking ahead, the post-Brexit bounce is also lifting bookings through to the autumn. Olivier Jager, ForwardKeys Co-founder and CEO said: Its now confirmed that Brexit had an immediate, positive impact on inbound tourism to the UK, which is converting into better than anticipated arrivals. In the months ahead, our data will show whether this post-Brexit bounce is sustained.
Read more here.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
Her name is Sherin Khankan. Born in Denmark to a Syrian father and a Finnish mother, the well-known author and political commentator has started a new mosque in Copenhagen, Denmark. Named as Mariam Mosque, it is led entirely by women imams. Speaking to Danish newspaper Politiken, Sherin Khankan, the woman behind the mosque who calls it a feminist project, said she started Mariam because she never felt at home in the existing mosques. Although, Mariam will be open to both men and women.
I have never felt at home in the existing mosques. The new grand mosques are unbelievably beautiful, but I have the feeling of being a stranger when I am there. We women stand up in the balcony and look down on what is happening. Many women and young people dont even go into the mosques as you enter into a male-dominated and patriarchal space in which a man has the floor, a man leads prayers, men are in focus and dominate. That is why we are now setting up a mosque on womens terms., she said. Sherin Khankan told Agence France Presse that we have normalised patriarchal structures in our religious institutions and this is not just in Islam, but also within Judaism and Christianity and other religions. She added that she would like to challenge that.
Khankan is confident that her project will ease the barriers between traditional Islam and a more modern rendition of the faith that can better relate to young worshippers. Many imams in this country belong to the traditional school which does not account for the culture we live in. Instead, they help to construct contradictions between being a practicing Muslim and a young person in Denmark. But you can love and honour several cultures and influences at once without betraying one or the other camp.
Read more here.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
Kuwait-based Equate Petrochemical Company has continued its global growth through its wholly owned subsidiary MEGlobal with the launch of work on a new world-scale ethylene glycol (EG) manufacturing facility in Freeport, Texas, US.
The ground-breaking ceremony was attended by senior officials from Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), Equate, MEGlobal and the State of Texas, said a statement.
With this plant, Equate is the first Kuwaiti petrochemical company to invest in the US, said a statement from the company.
Equate is the worlds second largest EG producer with 12 per cent of the global market share, it said.
The new facility, to be completed during 2019, will increase Equates monoethylene glycol (MEG) capacity by 750,000 metric tonnes annually and will enhance the companys global presence to meet customer needs, it added.
Through its existing plants in Kuwait and Canada, Equates current EG production capacity exceeds 2 million metric tonnes annually. The plant will utilise Dows Meteor technology as part of its production process, it stated.
On the side-lines of the ground-breaking ceremony, attendees toured Dows US Gulf Coast cracker construction at the adjacent Oyster Creek site, it said.
Equate president and CEO Mohammad Husain, said: Building on our acquisition of MEGlobal during 2015, this step is part of our strategic expansion plans as an international petrochemical enterprise.
The new facility will benefit from overall integration in terms of low cost advantaged shale-gas, strategic location, feedstock availability and operational excellence, he said.
The new plant will enable us to meet rising demand for EG throughout the world, especially in the US and Asia. We are pleased to be the first Kuwaiti petrochemical company to have an industrial investment in the US through this EG facility, he added. TradeArabia News Service
The Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) has revealed that Brazilian imports from the Arab World amounted to a total of $2.6 billion during the first half of 2016.
The positive statistics reflect the strong trade relations between the countries which serves as further encouragement for more bilateral exploration of potential business ties in the near future, said a statement from ABCC.
Out of all the Arab countries, Oman registered the most growth in Brazil in first half of 2016 at 37.40 per cent while the UAE followed at 5.04 per cent increase over the same period in 2015, it said.
Saudi Arabia led with the highest percentage and amount exported at 24.68 per cent totalling $658 million, Qatar second at 14.25 per cent with $379 million, followed by the UAE at 9.40 per cent with 250.63 million, Kuwait at 6.72 per cent totalling $179.30 million; Oman at 2.14 per cent reaching $56.95 million, and Egypt with 0.71 per cent at $18.88 million, it added.
The majority of the Arab Worlds imports are still composed of oil and mineral fuel which makes up 67 per cent of the total amount at $1.8 billion. This is followed by fertilisers at 21.88 per cent with $583 million; organic chemicals at 1.59 per cent amounting to $42.14 million; plastic at 1.51 per cent reaching $40.14 million; and salt, sulphur, earth and stone at 1.50 per reaching $40.01 million, said a statement.
Fertilisers registered the highest growth in the first half of 2016 at 31.26 per cent followed by organic chemicals which recorded a 5.78 per cent increase, it said.
Dr Michel Alaby, secretary general and CEO of ABCC, said: These numbers reflect the thriving economic ties between Brazil and the Arab World.
We look forward to further strengthening our partnerships and examining other potential areas of collaboration that will prove to be mutually beneficial in the future. We believe there are a lot of wonderful possibilities on the horizon and we can create an environment that will foster transparency and growth for all parties, he added. TradeArabia News Service
The UAE has ranked first in the region and eighth globally in the smart electronic services index, part of UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) E-Government Development Index (EDGI) Survey 2016.
The UAE prominently featured major developments in its e-services, said UN DESAs Vincenzo Aquaro, chief E-Government Branch, Division for Public Administration & Development Management.
Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, director general of UAEs Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), said: We have been consistently working hard to achieve the best for our country and citizens. The inclusion of the UAE among the leaders in this field is a great honour as we belong to a country that does not accept less than the topmost position, and we tirelessly strive to achieve leadership and excellence, following the wise directives of our leaders that is embodied in UAE Vision 2021 and its National Agenda.
The TRA has been working hard to achieve its visions where UAE will be a world leader in ICT Sector and rise to the ranks of developed nations in this sector, he added.
Remarkably, in 2016, there are more countries with very high EGDI values 29 countries in total, stated Aquaro, noting the UAE together with Switzerland, Slovenia and Lithuania among the top-tier performers in the development of eServices. This achievement reflects the growth of national capabilities in e-government.
Countries in all regions are increasingly embracing innovation and utilizing new information and communication technologies to deliver services and engage people in decision-making processes, Aquaro noted.
The UAE ranked 29th in the overall index for the development of e-government services issued by the UN recently and eighth in the e-services index, which placed the country closer to its biggest goal of becoming the first worldwide in e-Smart Services based on National Agenda indicators. TradeArabia News Service
Saudi Arabias Al-Harithy Company for Exhibitions plans to launch a number of new events this year and in 2017 in partnership with the world renowned organisers Messe Frankfurt.
The latter part of 2016 will see the launch of the premiere Materials Handling & Logistics Exhibition and Conference from 28-29 November, 2016 at the Park Hyatt, Jeddah. The show covers the profiles of intralogistics, warehousing, supply chain, ports, ports equipment and related products and services.
The largest gathering for the industry of its kind in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it will be the only focused platform where the entire industry will meet to share and discuss the latest upcoming projects within the region from small & medium enterprises to larger companies, a much broader audience will gather under one roof.
SCLF The Supply Chain and Logistics Forum will be a concurrent feature alongside Materials Handling and Logistics focusing on the opportunities and challenges which the new environment presents.
ACEs flagship Saudi International Motor Show the longest automotive exhibition in the Kingdom will be held from 11-15 December. Leading names in the automotive industry will be presenting their latest car models.
Saudi Arabia has placed development of a domestic automotive industry at the center of an ambitious industrial diversification strategy, and named the auto sector as one of five priority industries in a national industrial cluster development strategy.
2016 will conclude with the annual Jeddah International Trade Fair the only multi-sectoral show in the Kingdom being organised for 28th year that will be held 20-23 December and is a platform for countries to display their industrial potential.
Saudi Arabia has eased restrictions on foreign investors to let them own 100 percent of retail and wholesale businesses. The volume of foreign investments on smart applications is expected to flow into the Kingdom in the next two years is estimated at more than $10 billion (SR37.5 billion).
The year 2017 will commence with the launch of the 3rd edition of Furnidex Arabia from 22-25 January. Buoyed by construction boom and growing investment in the real estate sector, Saudi Arabias furniture industry has become one of the most vibrant segments in a country whose growing population would reach to more than 30 million people in 2025.
Automechanika Jeddah will be the second edition from 31 January 2 February, 2017 being orgaznized after the overwhelming success of the premiere event in 2016. The first edition was a testament not only to the potential of the Saudi Arabian automotive aftermarket industry, but also to the enthusiasm of exhibitors and trade visitors alike where the level of satisfaction was 85 per cent and 91 per cent respectively.
Saudi Building and Interiors will be held from 18-21 March as a comprehensive showcase for the building and construction industry, The Saudi government plans to work with the private sector and enter into a new series of international partnerships to complete, improve and link its infrastructure internally and across borders.
Food, Hotel and Hospitality Arabia is yet again the longest established show in this industry sector being organised for 22nd year from 10-13 April.
One of the fastest growing business sectors in Saudi Arabia is the food and beverage industry. Due to the increase in food products imports to cater to its growing population, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has emerged as an ideal investment hub for the key local and international players in food trade and the outlook for the consumer sector remains bright.
Addressing the ever increasing safety and security requirement globally and that of the Kingdom will be Intersec Saudi Arabia from 2-4 May. TradeArabia News Service
ACE, Al-Harithy Exhibitions, Messe Frankfurt
Year on year, the objectives of Security, Safety and Fire Protection companies to penetrate or increase their market share in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have shown an exponential growth. Due to this growing demand, Intersec is to hosts its first edition in the Kingdom targeting a market forecasted to increase from 7.8 billion to $ 15.4 billion by 2018.
Catering to increasing needs of the consumers 2017 will witness the innovative Consumer Electonics Show from 5-9 October. The show will have on display the latest electronic gadgets from laptops, computers, computer accessories, cameras, smart phones to multi-media and the household segment will have all that is required for an ideal home like refrigerators, air conditioners, dishwashers and a complete paraphernalia of related products and services.
ACE exhibitions besides, being a pioneer in the exhibition industry has not only brought exhibitions in different and a variety of industry sectors, but has also provided both the public and private enterprises with investment opportunities, enabling transfer of technologies and providing jobs to the Saudi workforce in a multitude of business segments, said Zahoor Siddique, vice president ACE. TradeArabia News Service
The Supreme Court of Norway has ruled that a TV cable distributor was not retransmitting broadcasts when it received content via an encrypted fibre connection and proceeded to broadcast it to the public. Norwaco is an umbrella organisation for collecting societies in Norway, with membership including musical and television content producers. Get AS is a distributor of cable services, which does not produce original television content itself, but puts together packages of channels which are offered to subscribers. The subject of the dispute before the Court was the retransmission of music rights on the channel, TV Norge.
Until 2009, Get AS retransmitted encrypted but generally available satellite broadcast from TV channels, including TV Norge. Get AS also received signals for cable broadcasts from other satellite broadcasts. Between 2005-09 the rights for the channels were cleared by Norwaco. In 2009, the way in which TV Norge signals were received by Get AS changed; having been previously transmitted in satellite signals in the same broadcast that satellite viewers of the channel received directly, the signals were now sent in an encrypted fibre connection. After this technical change, Get AS stopped clearing with Norwaco for retransmission of the TV channels on the basis that they no longer retransmitted the content as per s34 of the Norwegian Copyright Act, and therefore no remuneration was due to the umbrella collecting society.
Get AS then issued a notice of proceedings in 2012,claiming that they were entitled to distribute TV Norge; Norwaco counterclaimed that Get AS must pay compensation for retransmission. The Oslo District Court and Bogarting Court of Appeal agreed with Get AS that they were entitled to distribute the channels and that no compensation was due. The Supreme Court of Norway agreed, dismissing the appeal, ordering Norwaco to pay 1,026,565 Kroner (around 92,000 GBP).
The relevant law
The key applicable legislation was 34 Norway's Copyright Act, which provides that:
Work that is lawfully included in the broadcast may, through simultaneous and unaltered retransmission, be made available to the public when the party who retransmits meets the conditions of the extended collective licence pursuant to section 36, subsection 1. The author's exclusive right to retransmission may only be exercised through an organisation that has been approved pursuant to section 38a.
[This translation is taken from the translation of the judgment; Norwaco is an approved organisation for the purposes of 38a]
Also integral to the reasoning of the Supreme Court was the interpretation of Article 11bis of the Berne Convention , which sets out the exclusive rights of authors to authorise broadcasting and communications to the public, but which leaves it to the Member States to provide in their local legislation the conditions under which the rights may be exercised.
The issues
Transmission or retransmission? IPKat is not sure
he can tell the difference
Norwaco argued that an author has the exclusive right to dispose of their own works, including authorisation of retransmission, which must be cleared with collecting societies. They argued that the decisive factor when applying 34 is not whether there has been a retransmission of the same physical signal broadcast via cable, and that the Court of Appeal erred in interpreting the EU's SatCab Directive 93/83/EEC as implying that there must have been an initial broadcast in order for the signal to be retransmitted.
Get AS argued that retransmission assumes that there has been a prior broadcast; 34 is a relevant limitation of authors exclusive rights. The transmission of the copyright-protected content must be cleared, but under the agreement between Get AS and the TV-producing companies it is the producers that must ensure the necessary clearances are in place. This, argued Get AS, removes the need for an extended collective license agreement if the broadcaster is willing and able to clear the rights directly with the rightholders. A terrestial network, satellite, cable and internet distribution of content can all be primary channels; as such, the transmission by Get AS is not properly construed as a retransmission of a broadcast, which originally happens on a different primary platform.
Justice Webster concluded that the correct application of 34 is where there is a lawful broadcast of the content, transmitted to the public simultaneously and unaltered. Stated otherwise, there cannot be a retransmission without a transmission:
[T]he term broadcasting transmission herein implies that the work must have been transmitted by TV or radio signals that have been intended for the public.
The signals received by Get AS were sent encrypted over fibre optic cable, that is, not in a medium of transmission intended or accessible for the public, and were therefore not retransmitted.
If there had been a retransmission, then 34 provides that the author must exercise his exclusive rights through an approved collective arrangement, such as Norwaco. The effect of Article 11bis of Berne is to give a legal basis to handing over copyright protection to collecting societies, as a limitation on the rights of individual authors but, as 34 provides, this has been limited to retransmission.
As Justice Webster makes clear, the typical case envisaged by 34 is where broadcasts are transmitted over-the-air and picked up in a neighbouring country, and this is indeed an issue which has been faced by Norway, Sweden, and the Nordic Countries in the past. Signals transmitted from communication satellities between the states as a solution were not broadcast to the general public and therefore their transmission onward to audiences was not treated as retransmission within Article 11bis of Berne. Similarly the SatCab Directive, part of the EEA Agreement, does imply that for retransmission to take place, there needs to be an original transmission.
This is not to say that Get AS are relieved of any obligation to clear copyright authorisation, but it is the responsibility of SBS broadcasting, and, as expressd above, is negotiated with original rightholders rather than through the collection society. Get AS is independently responsible if SBS fails to do so.
In a dissenting judgment, Justice Arntzen argued that copyright should be technologically neutral. He considered that retransmission should be understood broadly to relate to the copyrighted content without emphasis being placed on the actual signals broadcast. Since the ultimate copyrighted content of the broadcast is the same, there would be a retransmission of signals when they are broadcast by Get AS, notwithstanding that they were received by Get via an encrypted communication. For Justice Arntzen, that the signals were received in closed transmissions and not available to the public was not a significant factor for which reason to discriminate when determining whether a retransmission had taken place.
Comment
This judgment has the apparent potential to undermine the position of collecting societies and umbrella groups such as Norwaco. If transmissions of the same intellectual content sent to distributors via fibre optic encryption and then broadcast publicly on usual cable connections are not characterised as retransmissions, revenue could be channelled away from collecting societies, with a shift towards the rightholders negotiating content distribution for themselves.
Movenpick Hotels & Resorts has become the first hotel company to roll out Oracle Hospitality Opera Cloud Services, a platform for next generation hotel management that offers multiple centralised business functions.
After a successful pilot project at Movenpick Hotel Egerkingen in Switzerland, the upscale hospitality companys collection of properties in Jordan has become the first full hotel cluster to adopt and implement the software in the Middle East.
In our estimation, Opera Cloud will become the industrys standard software for years to come, said Michael Nugent, regional director of Movenpick Hotels & Resorts in Jordan. We would like to extend our gratitude to Zara Holding, the owner of all Movenpick Hotels & Resorts in Jordan, for supporting this innovative project which allows guest recognition across the brand. Access to one guest profile allows us to anticipate the needs of our guests, no matter at which Movenpick hotel they check in to.
The five properties in Jordan are located in Petra, Aqaba, Tala Bay and the Dead Sea. Apart from the significant guest focus benefit, an additional advantage of the software is the ability to easily cluster efforts. Sales, marketing, reservations, revenue management, business intelligence and accounting functions can be fully centralised to streamline operations.
Movenpick Hotels & Resorts offers exceptional guest experiences at its properties, said Bernard Jammet, senior vice president for hotels at Oracle Hospitality. It is the first hotel chain globally to embrace a complete transition to the cloud for its hotel operations platform. We are delighted to see Movenpick leverage the centralised guest profile in Opera Cloud to enhance guest recognition across its properties. With Opera Cloud, Movenpick is reducing IT cost and complexity, while accelerating global expansion, elevating guest experiences and improving operational efficiencies.
As Movenpick Hotels & Resorts prepares for a period of substantial growth in the next five years, sophisticated commercial systems that offer 360-degree visibility are paramount to the companys continued success. Movenpick Hotels & Resorts plans to have its existing portfolio operating on Opera Cloud by 2018. All new resorts and hotels will automatically launch with the new property management system in place. - TradeArabia News Service
COMESA is assisting its member States to strengthen the analytical capacity of their Financial Intelligence Units through capacity building initiatives and provision of hardware and software. The aim is to boost their financial security access system and surveillance.
The initiative is being implemented by COMESA under the Maritime Security (MASE) regional programme which is financed by the European Union through the 10 European Development Fund (EDF 11). The MASE programme aims at fighting against money laundering and financial crimes in the region
Madagascar has so far been the highest beneficiaries of the programme which includes support to join the Eastern and Southern Anti-Money Laundering Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) and alignment of its laws. This is in addition to infrastructure and telecommunications enhancement for its Financial Intelligence Unit, known as SAMIFIN.
On Monday, August 8, 2016, COMESA Secretariat conducted a sensitization workshop for Anti Money Laundering and Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) in Madagascar. It targeted stakeholders institutions involved in combating Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing.
Madagascar Minister of Justice, Charles Andriamiseza opened the workshop with a call for joint efforts by all member States to fight money laundering if the battle has to be won.
It is not possible for a single country to fight the vice single handedly because the crimes have no respect for borders, the Minister said. There is no country that can escape from Money laundering/Terrorist Financing, which is a common challenge in the 20th century hence, the need to join hands in this global fight. Madagascar is not exceptional and cannot escape this, Mr Andriamiseza said.
Besides training Madagascar Financial Intelligence Unit, (SAMIFIN) COMESA will also provide assorted information communication technology equipment including computers, servers and software valued at over USD 100,000.
The Minister said the opening up of Madagascar to the international arena gives the country an opportunity for development and forging of future partnerships which are cardinal to the fight against Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing in the country, the COMESA region and the world at large.
He assured the workshop participants that the government has put in place systems to fight corruption and other financial crimes with the adoption of the Anti-Corruption law by parliament and conviction of Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing related crimes.
Madagascars commitment to adhere to the ESAAMLG membership and other legal frameworks to assist in stolen assets recovery are examples of the governments commitment, the Minister said.
The Head of Governance, Peace and Security at the COMESA Secretariat, Ms. Elizabeth Mutunga, emphasized the importance of strong commitment by the governments, strong and efficient institutions and a high level of coordination among the stakeholders to curb money laundering/terrorism financing.
We applaud the government of Madagascar for its strong commitment to fight money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism and for the measures that have been put in place to eliminate the vice which is detrimental to national and regional development, Ms Mutunga said.
She emphasized the importance of aligning AML/CFT laws to international standards as outlined by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that ensures all countries have laws and regulations that are aligned to international standards given transnational nature of the crime.
The Director of SAMIFIN, Lamina Bototsaradi said the country had significantly benefited from the MASE programme and in particular on ICT enhancement and support in facilitating its application to become full members of ESAAMLG.
The selection: Wednesday, 10 August 2016
SADC Trade Protocol: Mauritius workshop on MRE system (GoM)
A sensitisation workshop on the SADC Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation System of the SADC Trade Protocol and Non-Tariff Barriers organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, in collaboration with the Customs Department and the SADC Secretariat, opened at the Customs Department of the Mauritius Revenue Authority. For the first cycle of the self-reporting (2015), Member States were expected to submit annual reports showing progress made on implementation of the Protocol relative to status reported during the previous year as well as implementation plans for 2016. The aim of the workshop is to assist Mauritian stakeholders to identify implementation gaps and prepare the annual plan for 2016.
Central Corridor: Traders find solutions to NTBs but sticky issues persist (New Times)
Fresh information shows that transporters on the Central Corridor now save up to 78% of weighbridge stoppage times, thanks to an April directive by Tanzanian President John Magufuli for transit trucks to stop only three times instead of eight at weighbridges in the country. The announcement, by the Central Corridor Transit Transportation Facilitation Agency, comes hardly a month after members of the East African Business Council highlighted several issues, including delays in clearing goods, corruption and theft at the Port of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania. According to the agency, its own analysis revealed that from June 2015 to April 2016 transporters spent an average of 222.4 minutes (3.42 hours) on weighbridges between Dar-es-Salaam and the borders between Tanzania and Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda up to DR Congo. But there is a new hurdle. [Tanzania takes over Central Corridor Chairmanship from Rwanda, Hail transport time, cost drop on Central Corridor (editorial comment, Daily News)]
Port of Mombasa: operational performance, week ending 3 August (Business Daily)
Operational performance at the terminal registered an average ship working time from first sling to the last sling of 1.96 days while ship average waiting time was 0.35 days and dwell time was 3.93 days. Average gross move per ship was 36 per hour and average gross move per crane was 16 per hour. Containers delivered by road during the week were 10,677 TEUs while those evacuated by rail were 240 TEUs only. Imports population breakdown at the port: 1,896 TEUs were for the local market (Kenya) while 4,441 TEUs were for the transit countries. As usual Uganda had the lion share of the transit throughput with 3,508 TEUs followed by Tanzania 292, South Sudan was third with 243 TEUs and DRC imported 172 TEUs. Other countries were Rwanda with 143 TEUs, Somalia 46 TEUs, Ethiopia had 23 TEUs and last was Burundi with 14 TEUs.
Zimbabwe: Import restrictions fuel rampant smuggling in Beitbridge (The Chronicle)
Smuggling of commodities into Zimbabwe has escalated following the implementation of Statutory Instrument (SI) 64 of 2016 with the Government losing millions of dollars every week in unpaid customs duty. The instrument restricts the importation of some goods produced locally. But rampant smuggling activities are taking place at illegal crossing points dotted along the Limpopo River, The Chronicle can reveal. At Nottingham Estate, about 40km west of the border town, the news crew observed a one tonne truck being loaded with smuggled goods shortly after 8PM. The goods, which were concealed under a consignment of oranges, included alcoholic beverages and boxes of cooking oil. The smugglers are taking advantage of the dry Limpopo riverbed to cross the border using 4x4 vehicles. [Business slumps at Beitbridge as border post is deserted]
EALA to probe Burundi's ban on cross-border trade (New Times)
The East African Legislative Assembly plans to launch an independent investigation into Burundis recent decision to ban Rwandas products entering its market. The findings will inform the assembly and the Heads of State in the region on possible remedies. This was announced yesterday, by Daniel Kidega, the EALA Speaker after a meeting with Senate president Bernard Makuza. The two also discussed the EAC funding, where countries are urged to develop the necessary funding mechanisms for projects to avoid relying on donors.
COMESA: helping Madagascar, member states combat money laundering
The initiative is being implemented by COMESA under the Maritime Security regional programme which is financed through the European Development Fund (EDF 11). The MASE programme aims at fighting against money laundering and financial crimes in the region. On Monday, the COMESA Secretariat conducted a sensitization workshop for Anti Money Laundering and Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) in Madagascar. Madagascar has so far been the highest beneficiary of the programme which includes support to join the Eastern and Southern Anti-Money Laundering Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) and alignment of its laws.
Regional leaders to meet on money laundering (The Chronicle)
The Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) and the SADC Council of Ministers will meet this month for their bi-annual task force meeting. The 32nd task force meeting of the senior officials will be held from 28 August to 1 September in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, organisers said. The task force meeting will be followed by the council of ministers meeting on 2 September and the public/private sector dialogue, will take place from 2-3 September.
Nigeria: Olusegun Awolowo worried about neglect of ECOWAS free trade (The Guardian)
Executive Director, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Olusegun Awolowo, has urged Nigerian exporters to maximise the economic potentials inherent in ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme, to enhance economic growth in the country. The export promotion council boss, who spoke recently at capacity building workshop for exporters in Kano, revealed that survey conducted by the council on progress in Nigeria on some multilateral and bilateral trade agreements entered with some countries indicated poor impact, largely due to what he considered as lack of awareness of most of the pacts. On the contrary, President of the Trans Sahara Trade Development Association, Muntaka Isa, insisted that low participation of businessmen particularly in the Northern part of the country was not unconnected to cumbersome procedure and heavy taxes and duties imposed by Nigerian Customs services.
Mauritius hosts regional workshop on communicating scientific information to policy makers (GoM)
A five-day regional training workshop on 'Communicating Scientific Information to Policy Makers' opened yesterday. The objective is to improve decision making and the development of policies based on the scientific data, products and bulletins that are generated under the Monitoring for Environment and Security in Africa-Indian Ocean Commission project. Organised by the Mauritius Oceanography Institute, the workshop is being attended by around 30 participants, namely National Focal Point from Indian Ocean Commission member states and Eastern African countries as well as the technical focal points from the National Beneficiary Institutions. The MESA project is a contractual project between the MOI and the African Union Commission with funding and endorsement from the European Union.
Fighting deforestation in the Miombo woodlands of Southern Africa (World Bank Blogs)
The 2016 Miombo Network workshop, hosted by Mozambiques University Eduardo Mondlane from 27-29 July, drew over 90 participants from eight African countries - South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, and Kenya - as well as from the US, UK, Portugal, Finland, and Brazil. The participants represented a diverse cross-section of governments at the national and subnational level, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, and academia.
SADC, Germany sign technical and financial cooperation agreement
IGAD training workshop on international water law
AU's Fridays of the Commission workshop, 19 August: Lessons from the response to El Nino Eastern Africa and Southern Africa
The evolving dynamics of Africa's regional economies: Ajen Sita (EY Africa) interviewed (Forbes)
Afreximbanks plan for Kenya regional office hit by tax war (Business Daily)
Brexit lessons for EAC about Tanzania (Business Daily)
How SA living standards have changed: analysis of selected living standards indicators (Standard Bank)
GDP per capita and disposable income per capita (national level, real terms): We use national GDP per capita over the past 15 years and divide it into 3 time periods: 2000-2005; 2006-2010 and 2011-2015. We show that living standards for South Africans improved the most during the period 2000-2005, with GDP per capita growth of 10%. The period 2011-2015 recorded the lowest per capita growth at just 2%. Similarly, analysis of disposable income per capita shows that average income for South Africans grew the slowest in the period 2011-2015, at 3%, versus 12% in 2000-2006 and 5% in 2006-2010. [The analysts: Kim Silberman, Siphamandla Mkhwanazi, Zaakirah Ismail]
Financing Africas infrastructure deficit: from development banking to long-term investing (Brookings)
In this paper, we first take stock of recent initiatives [including PIDA] to scale up infrastructure in Africa through the construction of new (greenfield) investment. While progress has been made on the origination front, especially for regional infrastructure investment, the financing has yet to materialize. The paper then critically reviews the literature on informed versus arms length debt and draws lessons for infrastructure financing. Considering the differences in investors preferences that Africa faces, the paper argues that Africas success to fill its greenfield infrastructure gap hinges upon a delicate balancing act between development banking and long-term institutional investing. [The analysts: Rabah Arezki, Amadou Sy]
Multilateral Development Banks Climate Finance 2015 Joint Report (AfDB)
Among the regions, non-European Union Europe and Central Asia received the largest share of total funding at 20%; with South Asia receiving 19%; Latin America and the Caribbean 15%; East Asia and the Pacific 14%; the EU 13%; Sub-Saharan Africa 9%; and the Middle East and North Africa 9%. Multi-regional commitments made up the other 2% of the total. On a sectoral basis, the largest recipient of adaptation funding was for water and wastewater systems (27%), followed by energy, transport and related infrastructure (24%), and crop and food production (18%). Renewable energy received the bulk of mitigation finance (30%), lower-carbon transport received 26%, and energy efficiency activities 14%.
14 airlines close shop in Nigeria amid forex hike (The Guardian)
No fewer than 14 airlines have withdrawn their services from the country due to low patronage on account of the economic recession. The airlines, including Iberia, United Airlines and Air Gambia, are among the 50 that operated the Nigerian routes some months ago. Besides, foreign airlines operating in the country are estimated to have lost about N64 billion in the wake of the new foreign exchange policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
T20 policy recommendations to the G20 (China Daily)
About 500 think tank experts, politicians and representatives of international organizations from 25 countries worldwide met in Beijing for the Think 20 (T20) Summit that ran from July 29 to 30 to contribute their wisdom to the G20 Hangzhou Summit on building new global relationships. Extract: The T20 should strengthen its own capacity building. Some experts suggest that the T20 should initiate a more institutionalized think tank alliance to provide more systematic and issue-oriented intellectual support for the G20. Others suggest that the G20 should even establish a G20 Institute funded by the G20 members and composed of relevant experts of the G20 members.
US disappointed with Chinese export subsidies says EXIM chairman (Reuters)
A senior US trade official on Tuesday complained that China's rising export subsidies were damaging American businesses and criticised the US political system for failing to adapt to competition from China. US Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg told reporters in Beijing that China gave its exporters 10 times more financing than the US did in 2015, predicting the issue would be on the agenda at the G20 summit in Hangzhou next month. In 2015, US EXIM approved $12.4bn in export financing. During his trip to Beijing, Hochberg met with the Export-Import Bank of China, which he said extended $30bn last year and he said another agency benefitting exporters, Sinosure, gave $471bn last year to aid Chinese business and investment overseas. He said he was disappointed China has yet to sign up to a global framework regulating export subsidies.
US-China trade surprise (AEI)
China: Disappointing July imports suggest cooling domestic demand (Reuters)
Indias new stance at RCEP may benefit China (LiveMint)
Ghana: Making a case for the ratification and implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTC Accra)
The 2016 Brookings Financial and Digital Inclusion Project report: advancing equitable financial ecosystems
China mulls venture into Rwanda's banking sector (New Times)
tralacs Daily News archive
Catch up on tralacs daily news selections by following this link .
SUBSCRIBE
To receive the link to tralacs Daily News Selection via email, click here to subscribe.
This post has been sourced on behalf of tralac and disseminated to enhance trade policy knowledge and debate. It is distributed to over 350 recipients across Africa and internationally, serving in the AU, RECS, national government trade departments and research and development agencies. Your feedback is most welcome. Any suggestions that our recipients might have of items for inclusion are most welcome.
Tell us what you think.
Vacation Agent Magazine
A version of this article appears in print in the July 2015 issue of Vacation Agent Magazine. Subscribe
These killings have been condemned by Human rights groups who say that the convictions may have been based on forced confessions. Even the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad Al Hussein, said there were serious doubts about the fairness of the trials, as well as respect for due process and other rights of the accused.
Hossein Abedini, the UK spokesperson for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) , which is a coalition of Iranian opposition political organizations functioning as a parliament in exile, condemned the executions and urged the UK to hold Iran accountable. He said, Under President Hassan Rouhani, who has presented himself as a moderate, human rights violations have rapidly deteriorated. In total, around 120,000 people are believed to have been executed since 1981 for their political or religious beliefs, and the figure has escalated since Rouhani became president.
Abedini also declared the UKs relative silence as shameful, saying, Things have deteriorated and worsened as far as human rights are concerned. There have been 2,500 hangings [since Rouhani came to power in 2013, many juveniles and women have been executed, and religious minorities, especially Christians, are suffering in Iran very badly There is no freedom for religious minorities; they cannot practice their religion [and they suffer] very brutal and cruel human rights violations.
Its dangerous to be a Christian in Iran. Open churches are forbidden, and converting from Islam is a crime, punishable by death for men, and life imprisonment for women. More than 100 Christians were arrested or imprisoned last year, and there have been reports of torture. Irans human rights abuses and violence is facilitated by laws allowing legal persecution of minority communities like Christians and Bahai Muslims.
There is no religious freedom in Iran, said Abedini. The regime itself is the most ungodly regime. In 2014, President Rouhani himself described executions under his rule as the fulfilment of Gods commandments.
However, Abedini said the majority of Muslims want to distance the brutal punishments from true Islam. We believe this is only a fundamentalist regime carrying out [executions] in the name of God and in the name of religion, he said. Islam is a religion of compassion and mercy. [The executions are] absolutely abhorrent, and have got nothing to do with true Islam.
This weekend is the anniversary of the 1988 executions of political prisoners in Iran, and this protest also speaks to that crime, as the strikers call for the British government to not only to hold Iran to account for its wider human rights violations, but also to recognize and condemn this massacre. Amnesty International documented the disappearance of more than 4,400 prisoners, though opposition groups say as many as 30,000 were killed.
Omid Ebrahimi, whose father was held as a political prisoner in Iran for a decade, and who lost several members of his mothers family, who were executed during this time. For us, this was one of the darkest days in the history of human beings, Ebrahimi told Christian Today. And for this, we call upon all western governments, and in particular the British government, to condemn the massacre. Ebrahimi insisted that The regime hasnt changed at all, and added, This can only be solved one way, and thats a regime change.
Conservative MP Matthew Offord, who joined a number of political and church leaders at the NCRIs annual conference in Paris last month, sent a message offering his best wishes to those on hunger strike, adding that the mass execution of Sunni political prisoners is deeply disturbing.
Four bishops and others issued a joint statement prior to the NCRIs annual conference, setting out their grave concern at Irans human rights situation. They said, Repression of Christians has not only continued but intensified during the presidency of Hassan Rouhani. The statement also said, In such circumstances, we call on all Western countries to consider the deplorable situation of human rights in Iran, particularly the painful situation of Christians and the intensification of their oppression, in navigating their relations with Iran. We call upon them to precondition improvement of those relations on the cessation of oppression of Christians and on a halt in executions.
Second for Emma Pallant at 70.3 Budapest
Posted by: John Levison
Posted on: Saturday 30th July 2016
|
|
|
Bertrand Billard and Lisa Hutthaler win in Budapest
World Duathlon Champion Emma Pallant is second in Hungary
A strong turnout of British Pro athletes saw mixed results today at IRONMAN 70.3 Budapest.
On the 'down' side, both Stuart Hayes and Will Clarke appear to be DNF's after the second of four run laps.
They arrived at T2 together in a group covering positions 6th-10th, but at that point were already seven minutes down on the pace-setting Frenchman Bertrand Billard. Billard was hunted down on the run by Horst Reichal (GER), but he ran out of road and with 1:15:50 and 1:13:04 runs respectively, the win went to Billard. Ivan Tutukin (RUS) produced the fastest run (1:10:42) to complete the podium.
Things were more positive in the women's Pro race (and that's not just a sly dig at the winner... see what I did there?).
Austria's Lisa Hutthaler had built a lead of almost four minutes by the end of the 90km bike over the home pairing of Anna Halasz and Erika Csomor. The Briitsh Pro trio of Emma Pallant, Vanessa Raw and Alice Hector were only around 30 seconds further back, with Pallant perhaps the most likely to be able to close down that sort of margin, having run 16:07 for 5000m this year.
Emma was able to close approaching two minutes of her deficit over the first 5km lap, well inside the rate she needed, but (perhaps?) that early pace was a touch too fast, and the margin held relatively stable over the next 15km. Hutthaler would cross the line three minutes in front with Pallant in second, while Halasz would get the better of the veteran Csomor to be the first Hungarian athlete to complete the podium. In her first race for some time, Vanessa Raw had a solid return in fourth to separate the locals, having started the race with modest expectations.
Off to #Budapest to race the 70.3, happy to be back at finally, not expecting too much just yet but to have fun :) @IRONMANtri Vanessa Raw (@NessRawArt) July 28, 2016
Also of note - in the men's 55-59 division, perhaps one of the best Age Group performances I've ever seen? If you've been around as long as I have, the name Rob Barel will be known to you. The guys has been awesome since the mid-80's - check out his triathlon.org profile.
Well, today Rob won the M55-59 division. No surprise there, even without knowing who else was in the race, he's that good that it would be expected. But, Rob finished in... 4:06:51 (25:10 / 2:12:11 / 1:25:50) and won his AG my almost 30 minutes.
And in December this year, Rob will be... FIFTY NINE YEARS OLD.
Yes, next year he moves up to M60-64. If you are racing him, I'd suggest you set your sights on Silver.
IRONMAN 70.3 Budapest - Saturday 30th July 2016
1.9km / 90km / 21.1km
MEN
1st - Bertrand Billard (FRA) - 3:41:11
2nd - Horst Reichal (GER) - 3:41:46
3rd - Ivan Tutukin (RUS) - 3:43:05
4th - Viktor Zyemtsev (UKR) - 3:43:55
5th - Daniil Sapunov (UKR) - 3:43:59
WOMEN
1st - Lisa Hutthaler (AUT) - 4:06:36
2nd - Emma Pallant (GBR) - 4:09:31
3rd - Anna Halasz (HUN) - 4:12:16
4th - Vanessa Raw (GBR) - 4:14:57
5th - Erika Csomor (HUN) - 4:16:16
11th - Alice Hector (GBR) - 4:51:00
The three-day protest started Saturday to coincide with the anniversary of the 1988 massacre in which 30,000 political prisoners were slaughtered in the country has brought together groups of Anglo-Iranians and British supporters, angered by the mass executions of Iranian nationals last week.
The National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI) points out that more than 2,500 people have been hanged since Hassan Rouhani assumed the office of president in 2013. Protesters urge the UK government to condemn executions and torture in the country.
Omid Ebrahim, an 18 year old protester, told the Standard that, We are striking in solidarity with prisoners in Iran. No matter how hard this is for us, it is nothing compared to the conditions they are facing.
In an article posted on their website, the NCRI said, Hunger strikers and protesters are urging the UK government to categorically condemn the incessant cruel hangings that are taking place unabatedly in Iran and act with its Western allies to press for an immediate halt to the executions and torture in Iran.
The strikers were joined by many supporters, as they demanded that the UK government speak out against the treatment of political prisoners in Iran.
The strikers were joined by many supporters, as they demanded that the UK government speak out against the treatment of political prisoners in Iran.
Sinclair reports that, They also called for the government to recognise the victims and perpetrators of the 1988 massacre in Iran, in which state-sanctioned killings of political prisoners were carried out over several months leaving thousands of people dead.
The Association of Iranian Political Prisoners, UK, issued a statement, The participants urge the UK government to categorically condemn incessant cruel hangings and act with its western allies for an immediate halt to the executions and torture in Iran, and added, They also call on the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Security Council to form an international court to prosecute the officials of the regime responsible for these crimes.
On the final day of the three-day demonstration, the protesters held a mock execution.
One of them, 18-year-old Omid Ebrahimi, said, My dad was very active in Iran and spent 10 years in prison there. He was there at the time of the 1988 massacre and he whenever he talks about the memories he had and the friends he had that were taken from him and executed during this massacre I am astounded. He also said, Four of my mums relatives were executed by the regime two during the massacre and all of this motivates me to follow in the footsteps of my parents, because they are trying to raise awareness of the fact the regime is still there many high ranking members who took a leading role in the massacre still hold key positions in the hierarchy of the regime.
Another demonstrator, Naghmeh Rajabi, 29, said: It is personal because I was victim of Iranian regime. My aunts were executed by the Iranian regime and I never got to meet them and its a person thing for me. Living in a free society as an Iranian woman in exile, it is my responsibility to speak for the women who dont have a voice and dont have the basic minimum human rights.
Demanding that those who took part in the 1988 massacre be held accountable, the protesters also want to raise awareness of the plight of political prisoners in Iran. Their protest came less than a week after the execution of at least 20 Kurdish Sunni political prisoners in the countrys Gohardasht (Rajai-Shahr) Prison.
UK spokesperson for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Hossein Abedini said: The situation inside the prison where the recent executions took place is very worrying and many people, many prisoners are on hunger strike there and there is very tight security. There is a very worrying situation if the silence continues and robust measures are not introduced immediately.
Ebrahimi said that despite going without food for three days, the protesters were in good shape compared with prisoners in Iran.
We are on hunger strike with political prisoners who are also on hungers strike, but they are in worse conditions, they are tortured they are awaiting executions and we are doing it in a country where we are out of harms way and we are not under threat, he said.
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, August 9
In view of the upcoming Independence Day celebrations, the Government Railway Police (GRP) carried out a search operation at Amritsar railway station here today.
Davinder Singh Randhawa, SHO, GRP, said police teams were carrying out search operations on a regular basis at the station in view of the celebrations on August 15. A dog squad was pressed to service to find out any suspicious elements. The luggage of passengers was also checked at all platforms of the railway station, said Randhawa. He said the GRP had received instructions from higher ups to keep a close watch 24 hours a day in order to thwart any untoward incident. He said security had been tightened at the railway station.
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 10
Panchkula-based Ashok Mittal, who was arrested by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the UT police yesterday for allegedly duping a Mohali businessman of Rs 19 crore, was today sent to a three-day police remand by the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate.
The police had demanded a five-day of the accused, but the court granted a three-day custody after hearing arguments from both sides.
The prosecution told the court that it wanted to recover cheques, passport and several important documents relating to the case from the accused.
Mittal was arrested after his anticipatory bail was first rejected by a local court and then by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The case of fraud was registered against him in October last year. Mittal, his wife Chetna Mittal and others were booked on the charge of cheating following a complaint by Vikas Walia, who had alleged that the accused took Rs 19 crore from him on the pretext of providing him diamonds from Belgium at 25 per cent less rate than that in the market.
The accused couple had failed to provide him diamond and even refused to return Rs 19 crore to the complainant.
As they entered the final day of their hunger strike, protesters staged a mock execution outside Downing Street. They demand that the UK government condemn the horrific executions being carried out in Iran.
Irans supreme leader in 1988, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, beginning a five-month purge. The majority of those executed came from the main political opposition party, the Peoples Mujahedin of Iran. Many were members of the minority Sunni Islamic community.
Mortimer reports that, Over the weekend groups of Anglo-Iranians and British supporters marked the anniversary in protest over the more than 2,500 people they say have been hanged in the country since the start of Hassan Rouhanis presidency in 2013.
The National Council of the Resistance of Iran, who organized the protest, said, The hunger strikers and protesters are urging the UK government to categorically condemn the incessant cruel hangings that are taking place unabatedly in Iran and act with its Western allies to press for an immediate halt to the executions and torture in Iran.
The NCRI also said they, called on the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Security Council to refer the human rights dossier of the mullahs regime to the International Criminal Court for the prosecution of its leaders including the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani.
Their President-elect, Maryam Rajavi, described the 1988 massacre as an appalling crime against humanity and said it was time for the UN to end their silence and bring the record of the Iranian regimes crimes before the International Criminal Court.
I would like to send my best wishes to all of you who are protesting against the horrific events we have seen happening in Iran over this past few weeks. said Conservative MP Matthew Offord, adding, The mass execution of Sunni political prisoners is deeply disturbing and has rightly been condemned.
Oxford concluded by saying, A few weeks ago, I spoke to over 100,000 people who attended the annual National Council for Resistance in Iran conference in Paris. It was a great opportunity for myself and fellow parliamentarians to express our concerns over these events and we will continue to stand with you all and highlight your concerns in Parliament.
Charu Chhibber
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 10
Opening a snacks bar selling foods high in fats, salt and sugar (HFSS) on the premises of its hospital is more important for the UT Health Department than providing medicines to patients.
The fact came to light today when a 24x7 snacks bar was inaugurated at the Civil Hospital, Sector 45, by Dr Vanita Gupta, Director, Health Services, amid much fanfare and the presence of Senior Medical Officer (SMO) of the hospital, Dr Krishna Chaudhary, and SDM, South, Kriti Garg, among others.
(Follow Chandigarh Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
Interestingly, the snacks bar serves all sorts of HFSS foods, including chips, aerated drinks, sandwiches, biscuits, samosas, patties, burgers and beverages the very foods which doctors tell their patients to avoid, are being sold right at the entrance of the hospital. Even the Director, Health Services (DHS), who was the chief guest on the occasion, was seen relishing the much-debated junk food after the inauguration along with the guests of honour.
What will we do of the snacks if our patient loses the battle against life in wait for medicines while we run around the town looking for the same in the absence of a pharmacy at the hospital, says Sahil Khan, a resident of Burail, whose grandfather is admitted to the emergency ward of the hospital.
Notably, all three civil hospitals of the city - Civil Block Hospital, Sector 22; Civil Hospital, Sector 45; and Civil Hospital, Manimajra, were converted from civil dispensaries by the Health Department with a view to providing better facilities to the patients. However, years have passed by but no chemist shop has been opened on the premises despite repeated promises by the Health Department and more recently, by
the Director, Health Services, UT. The issue was even highlighted by Chandigarh Tribune four months ago.
ALBR launched in hospital
Aadhar-Linked Birth Registration (ALBR) was also inaugurated at the Civil Hospital, Sector 45, by the Director, Health Services. The facility was launched last week in the city. Chandigarh became the first UT to launch ALBR and second amongst all states/UTs after Haryana.
Promises galore
Hospital SMO Dr Krishna Chaudhary said a space in the hospital had been earmarked for a pharmacy. She, however, said the rest was up to the DHS to decide.
UT Health Secretary Anurag Aggarwal had recently stated that the tenders had been received for chemist shops, and soon, work would start on the in-house pharmacies in all three civil hospitals.
Notably, Dr Vanita Gupta, Director, Health Services, had informed four months ago that tenders had been opened and there would be medical stores at all three hospitals soon. She could not be contacted on Wednesday for her comments despite repeated calls and messages.
Akash Ghai
Tribune News Service
Mohali, August 10
About one-and-a-half-year after leaving the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Mohali Mayor Kulwant Singh and 10 councillors of the Mohali Municipal Corporation belonging to the Azad Group returned to the Akali Dal fold, here today.
Mohali Deputy Mayor Manjit Singh Sethi, who had contested the MC election as an Independent also rejoined the party along with another Independent councillor Harwinder Kaur Lang.
(Follow Chandigarh Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
Earlier, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal welcomed Kulwant Singh and others with a siropa (robe of honour) in the presence of Education Minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, Dera Bassi MLA NK Sharma and hundreds of Akali Dal workers at a function held at the partys head office in Sector 28, Chandigarh, this morning.
Terming Kulwant Singhs return as ghar vaapsi, Sukhbir Badal quipped that they (Kulwant and others) had gone on a holiday. Today, they returned home, he said. Giving an indication of Kulwant Singhs position in the party, Sukhbir said he was very close to him. People ask me to give them tickets to contest the elections and when I ask Kulwant to do so, he refuses, said Sukhbir.
When asked who would be the SAD candidate from Mohali in the Assembly election, Badal said, Hune kyon dassiye (why should we reveal it now).
After rejoining SAD Kulwant Singh said, The development of Mohali will remain my priority. I will perform all duties given to me by the party high command, he said.
Kulwant Singh had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election on a SAD ticket from Fatehgarh Sahib in 2014 and left the party early last year ahead of the MC elections following the denial of ticket to his loyalists. He had then formed a new party Azad Group and contested that won 12 seats.
Cong stand on supporting Kulwant as Mayor
The Congress councillors, 15 in number, had helped Kulwant Singh become the Mayor of Mohali. We had supported Kulwant Singh on the issue of development. Now, we will clear our stand on Thursday, said Mohali MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu.
SAD councillors absent from function
While Mohali Mayor Kulwant Singh, along with the Deputy Mayor and 12 other councillors, joined the party fold, 17 SAD councillors of the Mohali MC were conspicuous by their absence at the function. The Akali-BJP councillors had decided to skip the function. Definitely some grudges are there among the councillors in question, some Akali councillors said on the condition of anonymity. Notably, the MC House meetings had witnessed differences between the Kulwant Singh group (who had become the Mayor with the support of Congress councillors) and SAD-BJP councillors so far.
Chandigarh, August 10
Mohali Mayor and real estate developer Kulwant Singh, who was expelled from Shiromani Akali Dal last year, today rejoined the party here in the presence of party's President and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Addressing the media, Sukhbir said he regards Kulwant Singh as his younger brother "who for a little while went away from the party fold but has now returned to his mother party which would further strengthen it in district Mohali."
Describing Singh as a "dynamic" leader, Sukhbir said he carried out an "all-round development" in Mohali and helped it to occupy a top position among the tri-cities of Mohali, Panchkula and Chandigarh.
Singh (55) was expelled from SAD following differences with the then party leader Balwant Singh Ramoowalia over ticket distribution for municipal corporation elections.
After his expulsion, he formed Azaad group and contested elections and subsequently became Mayor of Mohali.
Singh, a leading real estate developer in Mohali, had also unsuccessfully contested 2012 assembly polls on a SAD ticket from Fatehgarh Sahib seat.
Twelve other municipal councillors, including Amrik Singh, Phoolraj Singh, Harpal Singh Channa, Sarabjit Singh, also joined Akali Dal today. PTI
Amritsar, August 10
The Gharinda police is still groping in dark over the alleged murder of a youth identified as Gurjinder Singh, a resident of Rorawala village, whose body was found near a drain here on Monday. His brother Baljit was also admitted to the hospital after he claimed to have received injuries.
Investigating officer Tejinder Singh said according to police officials there were no injury marks on the body of the victim as well as his brother, who was admitted to a private hospital for treatment. Moreover, Baljit was yet to record his statement.
He said the matter aroused suspicion. Nevertheless, investigations were under progress to ascertain the truth. Things would be clear once Baljit recorded his statement and police got the post-mortem report of the deceased, he added. TNS
Events in Quetta on Monday demonstrated that Pakistan remains vulnerable to meticulously planned urban terrorism of particularly grotesque dimensions.
It began with the targeted killing in the morning of senior lawyer Bilal Anwar Kasi, gunned down while travelling in his car. That was the opening salvo for mayhem on a much wider scale.
A suicide bomber struck at the gates of the Civil Hospitals emergency department where a large number of people had gathered after his body was brought there.
At least 70 people died in the blast, and 100 were injured. Many of the dead included lawyers; several of them senior members of the fraternity who, it is said, were more vocal than most about human rights violations taking place in the province. Two cameramen from DawnNews and Aaj TV were also among the dead.
Violence in Balochistan is multifaceted and perpetrated by a variety of actors, including separatists, religious extremists and others, but the modus operandi in this case appears to indicate the involvement of religious extremists. And there has indeed been a claim of responsibility, albeit unsubstantiated, by at least one such outfit.
After a lull of several months, there have been indications that extremist groups are once again active in the city, with lawyers being the target in most incidents.
In June, the principal of the University of Balochistans law college was assassinated. On August 1, two Hazara men were shot dead. The next day, a lawyer was murdered in broad daylight by gunmen on a motorcycle. In response, pillion riding and the display of weapons in Quetta were banned. However, such cosmetic measures do little to thwart those bent on carnage.
Clearly, there has been an intelligence failure of grave proportions even more so given the overt security footprint in a garrison town like Quetta.
While the immediate target may well have been the legal community, with the murder of Bilal Anwar Kasi acting as bait, there is little to illuminate the motive behind the atrocity.
Ongoing legal proceedings against individuals accused of terrorism could have been the trigger, but such large-scale attacks are typical of the blowback that militants had launched after the state began to go after them.
Moreover, lawyers, doctors and teachers are seen as part of the intelligentsia, and when they are targeted especially through such wholesale slaughter it casts a pall of gloom over society, especially in a province that has seen a heartbreaking decimation of its educated class through violence.
Such attacks also belie the claim by security forces and law-enforcement agencies that they have brought terrorism under control through intelligence-based operations.
Years of myopic and ultimately self-destructive policies have created a witches brew of militant groups and proxies in Balochistan acting at the behest of various quarters, not all of whom are foreign.
Do the authorities even have a road map that sees the people of this beleaguered province as more than cogs in a security state?
Editorial in Dawn
K.V. Prasad
A minor traffic jam inside Parliament House held up the vehicle of the high-profile Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu recently for a brief while. The snarl in a way reflects the current status of the Telugu Desam Party, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Naidu, who two decades ago held a sway over national politics is now fighting for funds for a state shrunk in size as opponents and people are breathing fire amid growing perception of an indifferent BJP-led Central government.
Naidu, once thought as a possible replacement for Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda during the United Front days, and who extracted favour after favour from the Centre for his rock-solid support to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance Government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is now meandering through a crisis. Naidu, who won a majority to become the Chief Minister of bifuricated Andhra Pradesh in May 2014, is being painted into a corner in the state. In the state, revenues are falling, commitments on the financial front increasing and a grandiose plan to build a modern Singapore-like capital Amravati adding to burgeoning woes.
Over the past two years, the state is knocking every possible door in the corridors of power in Delhi to seek implementation of a special status for Andhra Pradesh, a promise made in Parliament by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while moving the Bill to divide the state and create Telangana. The Centre now is less than enthusiastic in granting such a status, even though as the leaders in the opposition then Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu extracted a promise out of the government of the day. Finance Minster Jaitley now finds the assurance difficult to keep on two grounds. First, technical interpretation of recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission on categorisation is states plus devolution of greater share of central funds to the states, and the other political such a status to Andhra will encourage other states to make similar demands.
Sensing a political opportunity to build upon the feeling that the Centre under BJP is looking askance to the legitimate demand of Andhra, opposition Congress moved the pieces.
It gradually increased the political heat in the state and in a deft move brought a Private Member's Bill in the Rajya Sabha demanding such a status. The architect of the Bill was K V.P. Ramachandra Rao, the chief strategist for the all-powerful former chief minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Minutes before the Bill was to put to vote, the Finance Minister objected to the legislative competence of the House as being a Money Bill. The Bill was lost but not the message.
The Congress in the state virtually forced the TDP on the backfoot, so much so that Naidu had to instruct his team in Delhi to whip Centre's insouciance on the issue onto the national stage.
Having come to office after over a decade in wilderness on the strength of his image as a performer and efficient administrator, the current regime nowhere near matches that perception.
Dexterous political moves by opponents, lack of finances and inadequate support from the lead partner is creating problems for the TDP and Naidu. Naidu returned from Delhi after meeting the Prime Minister in a not-too-happy frame of mind. The message from the Modi-led government is that a package equivalent to requirement is in the works, but there will be no special status. Unlike the previous NDA government, where the support of allies, especially the likes of the TDP, was crucial, the current regime is not hemmed in by such compulsions. A clear majority of its own and a plan to be a pan-India party, the BJP-led government is in no mood to entertain its allies beyond the boundary. In its grand scheme of things, the BJP is determined to expand its footprint across the southern coastline. It tasted success in Kerala this summer, experimented in Tamil Nadu and is preparing to increase its strength in Andhra Pradesh. While it is perfectly legitimate for a political party to work towards the objective, the nature of its relationships with allies is far from cosy elsewhere too.
Of the major allies in the government the Shiv Sena, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Lok Janshakti Party of Ram Vilas Paswan the association can at best be described as uncomfortable. Equations with the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab lead to an intermittent speculation that the decades'-old ties may snap anytime now.
Even though there is little to suggest that the ties between the SAD, under Parkash Singh Badal-Sukhbir Singh Badal with Modi- Shah leadership is under strain, the talk resurfaces ever so often. Part of the discomfort got articulated during the recent meeting of the Inter-State Council, when Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal's stinging observations on the attitude of the Centre, was a telling comment. It is another matter that Sukhbir Badal made amends the next day. A prominent SAD law-maker recently sharing anguish over the southward slide in the relations with the BJP in a conversation with a western diplomat, can be seen as a cursor to alterning panorama in Punjab.
In Maharastha, the BJP-Sena alliance is under strain. While periodic acerbic statements by the Sena leadership could be explained as posturing ahead of next year's Brihanmumbai Municipal elections, ties between the Sena chief Uddhav Thackrey and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis cannot be categorised as cordial. Allies of the BJP today would either have to reconcile with the Orwellian philosophy that while all are equal, some more equal than others (read the BJP), or chart their own course.
kveprasad2007@gmail.com
G Parthasarathy
FOLLOWING the visit of Home Minister Rajnath Singh to Islamabad, the time has come for a dispassionate analysis of where we stand, as we prepare for a scheduled visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Islamabad in November, for the SAARC Summit. We need to understand the dynamics of internal developments in Pakistan and its foreign policy imperatives. I had occasion to meet well-informed Pakistani politicians, former diplomats, academics and retired generals in recent days. Pakistan is going through difficult political times. It is being shunned and distrusted by the US and its Western allies; regarded as an untrustworthy country by Gulf Arabs and Iranians alike; and reviled by neighbours Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India for sponsoring terrorism. Its sole friends appear to be China and Turkey, which is just recovering from a coup.
Pakistan is finding scant international support for its territorial claims in J&K. It is facing a hostile reaction from Afghanistan for its efforts to fence the Durand Line, which no Afghan and many Pakistani Pashtuns do not recognise as international border. There have been escalating tensions and clashes along the Pak-Afghan border, as Pakistan tries to regulate cross-border movement by constructing a gate at the Torkham border. It is evident that its army chief, Gen Raheel Sharif, who is due to retire on November 30 and evidently looks forward to an extension, loathes PM Nawaz Sharif and seems determined to get him ousted for the involvement of his sons and daughter in the Panama bank accounts scandal. Raheel Sharif, whose uncle and brother were killed in the 1965 and 1971 conflicts, detests India. He has acted independent of the government and parliament in conducting military operations in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province bordering Afghanistan, apart from continuing massacres and illegal abductions in Baluchistan.
It is in these circumstances that the killing of terrorist Burhan Wani has led to both the army and Nawaz virtually competing with each other in raising domestic passions by embarking on a propaganda barrage against India. Home Minister Rajnath Singhs counterpart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who has his eyes on Nawazs job with army backing, was hardly likely to miss the opportunity to appear more hostile than his boss, Nawaz, during the SAARC meeting. Moreover, anti-India rallies were organised by the likes of Hafiz Saeed, across Pakistans capital. Mr Rajnath Singh made a blunt presentation about Pakistans role as a state sponsor of terrorism and narcotics smuggling. These were, in any case, the main subjects on the agenda. Mr Rajnath Singh was also careful in not violating any SAARC convention. He did not name Pakistan in his speech.
Given the present political climate in Pakistan and the ongoing power struggle between Nawaz and Raheel Sharif, Pakistan will continue with this charade, till the situation in the Valley becomes normal. The Americans have already called on Pakistan to end its support to terrorist groups operating from its soil, in India and Afghanistan. British columnist Owen Bennett Jones has tendered similar advice in the highly respected Karachi-based Dawn newspaper. But, underlying all this, I sensed from comments by Pakistani friends that their much-touted Zarb-e-Azb military operations have not only displaced 1.8 million Pashtun tribals from their homes, but some 40,000 tribals have fled into Afghanistan. Many of them are preparing for retribution across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. There are, predictably, allegations that intelligence agencies of India and Afghanistan are hand in glove in fomenting violence in Pakistan.
It is clear that we should be prepared for a continuing propaganda barrage from Pakistan. We, in turn, should prepare for a well-planned diplomatic and political offensive against Pakistani military actions, excesses and rights violations during army operations in Baluchistan, the tribal areas of Pakhtunkhwa and on the hapless Mohajirs of Karachi. The Mohajirs, after all, migrated from India and still have familial and other ties with relatives and friends in India. It also needs to be noted that Pakistans annexation of Baluchistan after the Partition was effected by duplicity, deceit and military force. Baluchistans ruler, the then Khan of Kalat, refused to accede to Pakistan. His successor also holds that Pakistanis are in illegal occupation of the province. The people of Baluchistan have waged armed struggles against the Pakistan State since 1948. In the most recent and ongoing military conflict since 2003, thousands of Baluch freedom fighters have been killed and an estimated 15,000 people are missing. The army has defied orders of Pakistans supreme court to produce those illegally abducted by it. Baluch grievances are not only political, but also driven by exploitation of their natural resources and denial of equitable employment and other opportunities by the ruling Punjabi elite.
New Delhi also needs to review its approach to dealing with militancy in the Kashmir valley. While successive governments in Srinagar keep demanding more and more money for projects, especially after floods, there has to be much more accountability on how these funds are spent. While it is good to keep channels of communications open across a wide cross section of society, to convey genuine interest in addressing their grievances, it would be unrealistic to expect anything positive from any high-profile engagement with the Hurriyat. Two Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders went against the wishes of Pakistan and its proxies Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq and Abdul Ghani Lone. Pakistan-sponsored terrorists killed both of them. One doubts if the present Hurriyat leaders will, in these circumstances, show the courage to question what Pakistan orders them. But a carefully calibrated process of engagement with a wide cross section of society in J&K is imperative, with enough political space being given to the Chief Minister to act credibly.
Lastly, the security forces need to carefully review their tactics and imaginatively use minimal force necessary to deal with any situation. We are in for a long haul in the Kashmir valley.
The Rajya Sabha has passed a Bill to decriminalise attempt to suicide. Section 309 of the IPC provides for one-year imprisonment for a failed suicide bid. As far back as 1971 the Law Commission had recommended repeal of Section 309. The Janata Party government tried to implement the recommendation in 1978 but it fell before both House could pass the Bill. The world over the new thinking takes a kinder view of suicide. It is recognised that the victim has a psychiatric problem and should not be treated as a criminal. He needs sound counselling, not a jail term.
Reflecting this viewpoint, the Bombay High Court in the 1987 Maruti Shripati Dubal case had termed Section 309 as unconstitutional. In the P Rathinam case (194) the Supreme Court ruled that a person could not be forced to live a distressed life and hence Section 309 violated Article 21. However, in the 1996 Gian Kaur case a five-judge Constitution Bench overturned the Rathinam case judgment, saying the right to life could not be construed ever as a right to die. In 2011 the Supreme Court recommended to Parliament to consider decriminalising attempt to suicide. The Mental Health Bill seeks to nullify the punishment Section 309 imposes.
The Bills broader purpose is to guarantee every person the right to affordable, quality treatment for mental illnesses, which include mental conditions associated with any substance abuse, a disorder of thinking, mood, perception, orientation or memory and excludes mental retardation. In 2005 it was officially estimated that 6-7 per cent of the countrys population suffers from mental disorders. Public health is a state subject and the Centre consulted states before moving the Bill. Punjab was among the four states that did not fully support the Central move to repeal Section 309. The Centre should give financial help to states to provide mental health services up to the district level. More than changing Section 309 society needs to be educated that mental distress, disorders and derangement are inevitable by-products of a stressful social order. As a society we need to move beyond stigma and, instead, develop sympathy.
Tribune News Service
Kurukshetra, August 10
Four people were killed when a car collided with a pick-up van near Shahbad Markanda town of this district on Tuesday night.
The three injured were rushed to the PGI, Chandigarh. The car was on its way from Delhi to Punjab.
Shahbad DSP Gurmail Singh said the deceased had been identified as Mamu Chhaliya and Ahito Awami of Nagaland and driver Surinder Singh of Delhi.
Pick-up van driver Ajit Singh, who was driving the vehicle on the wrong side, was a resident of Landi village in Kurukshetra district.
The impact of the collision was so severe that the four people died on the spot. The bodies were taken to the LNJP hospital here for post-mortem.
Thirty-five year old Abdollahi, was a Kurdish political prisoner from Bukan. He was arrested in March 2011 in Mahabad by the regimes Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) intelligence unit, and was charged with Moharebeh (waging war against God). He was sentenced to death. On May 29 he began a hunger strike which lasted 32 days to protest his unjust sentence.
At the same time, five ordinary prisoners were hanged. They were identified as Jahangir Razavi-Zadeh, Kamran Pourfat, Towhid Pour-Mehdi, Amir Azizi and Gabriel Canani.
Mr. Razavi-Zadehs wife, Parisa Hatami, the mother of a three-year-old child, is at risk of execution.
Following the transfer of Mohammad Abdollahi and the six ordinary inmates to solitary confinement, a number of families who had come for a final visit with their children, staged a protest in front of the prison. They were told, Do not gather here. We will call you later to come and pick up their bodies.
MOIS agents also threatened the protesting families that sharing information on the execution would lead to their not being able to get their loved ones bodies. This was followed by a brutal raid on the rally where a number of families were arrested.
In a statement on Tuesday, Shahin Gobadi of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said, The mullahs have resorted to a killing spree that has continued for the past few weeks. This clearly indicates further despair and isolation of the regime which has found no solution other than to resorting to further executions and suppression in the face of increasing internal and international crises. This is the very same regime that resorted to the massacre of 30,000 political dissidents, mainly activists of the PMOI (MEK), in 1988. It once again proves that the notion of moderation and reform within this regime is nothing but a total myth.
The Iranian Resistance called on the United Nations, particularly the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as other international human rights organizations to take urgent action to prevent these executions, when on Monday morning Mohammad Abdollahi was forced out of the prison yard of Ward 12 of Orumiyeh Central Prison and into solitary confinement. The Ministry of Intelligence told his family to come to Orumiyeh Prison for their last visit. Meanwhile it was learned that six ordinary prisoners of Orumiyeh Central Prison were transferred to solitary confinement, to await execution. The call went unanswered.
Indecisiveness by the international community against these criminal executions emboldens the leaders of the regime to continue their crimes. They must be prosecuted and punished for 38 years of killings and crimes against the Iranian people. said a statement from the Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, issued August 8.
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh/Kurukshetra , August 10
Encouraged by the response in Punjab in the run up to the Assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has launched efforts to broaden its base in neighbouring Haryana as well.
The party has already launched an online membership drive from August 1 and is holding a three-day training camp for party functionaries at Kurukshetra from August 12 to 15.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will inaugurate the camp, Ashutosh will address the workers on second day, while Kumar Vishwas will be the chief guest of the concluding session, said Nipun Kapoor, president, AAP Panchkula unit.
The party functionaries would be trained on the use of RTI, information and technology and social media for strengthening the party in the state.
We have already launched a programme AAP Ka Parivaar as prelude to the training camp. Under the programme, we have been visiting door to door to propagate partys ideology. We note down names of those who want to associate with the party and make them our members, she said.
The party had waived the earlier condition of membership of Rs 10 for enrolment, said Babita Talwar, president of the Kalka unit of AAP.
Vishal Khubber, in charge of AAPs Kurukshetra Parliamentary constituency, said selected volunteers would be sensitised about political planning to take on the ruling BJP and other political opponents in the state. Nearly 600 selected volunteers had been invited for the training and sensitisation programme.
In a major setback to the party, almost the entire state leadership had quit in May last year. Leaders, including, state convener Ashawant Gupta, state secretary Paramjit Singh Katyal, SP Singh and party spokesperson Rajiv Godara had left the party against the alleged one-upmanship of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
They were against the expulsion of Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, among the founder members of AAP.
Ravinder Saini
Tribune News Service
Mahendragarh, August 10
A suspected cattle smuggler was killed and another was injured in a shootout with the police near a village in Haryanas Mahendragarh in the small hours of Wednesday, the police said.
The police were informed at 2 am that some people were trying to steal cattle and load them into a pick-up truck. Two police teams were immediately sent to the scene of crime.
The suspects fired at the police teams when they caught up with them near Mori village. When the policemen fired back, the suspects left their vehicle behind and ran into fields nearby.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
One smuggler was found dead in the vehicle and two were eventually arrested. A fourth however fled.
A policeman also had a narrow escape in the firing.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Hamid Akhtar claimed that the suspects belonged to a gang of smugglers and were from Mewat district.
The police are currently questioning the arrested suspects to find out the wherabouts of their gang member. They found two pistols and a mobile phone from the suspects and impounded the pick up.
Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 10
The criterion for appointing principals in Haryana colleges has come under judicial scanner. Acting on a bunch of four petitions, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the Principal Secretary, Higher Education Department, to file an additional affidavit on the issue.
Taking up the petition filed by Ramesh Kumar and other petitioners against the State of Haryana and other respondents, Justice Rajiv Narain Raina asked him to explain whether the state government had adopted the UGC recommendations on minimum qualifications for appointment to the post of principal in colleges, especially the academic performance indicators (API) system.
He has also been asked to spell the steps taken to amend service rules where the API scoring system was not mentioned, after the state government adopted the UGC guidelines on the API score in 2011.
Justice Raina added the affidavit would also disclose why the state government, after making the API record system applicable, asked the Haryana Public Service Commission to go ahead with the selection advising it that the API score of one year was required to be applied in case the result was not declared by June 30, 2013.
And, if the interviews were conducted prior to June 30, 2013, the API record system would not be applicable. Would this amount to an admission that rules stood amended with effect from July 1, 2013, and, thus, the UGC API record system became intrinsic in the recruitment processes for appointment of principals thereafter.
He was also asked to apprise the court why was the letter issued only with respect to present selection against seven vacancies/posts of principal/deputy directors for which the government had sent requisition on December 21, 2011, to the HPSC.
When the decision of far-reaching consequences has been taken in the adoption memo to improve standards of appointments as envisioned by the UGC, why was the requisition sent on December 21, 2011, without mentioning mandate of the API score system as intrinsic part of the recruitment process.
The Principal Secretary was also asked to examine why the state government did not pay due attention and kept silent on the issue, when petitioner Dr Ramesh Kumar even before the interviews brought to the state governments notice in writing that the API system was mandatory.
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 10
The Haryana State Pollution Control Board has approved the proposal to install new continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations in nine cities of the state.
While stating this here today, a spokesman of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board said these monitoring stations would be installed during this year for further strengthening of the real time Ambient Air Quality data generation in and around Delhi NCR. These would be installed in Panipat, Sonepat, Dharuhera in Rewari district, Bahadurgarh, Karnal, Kaithal, Yamunanagar. Additional stations would be installed in Gurgaon at Manesar and near sector-55 and 56 in Faridabad. He said for continuous monitoring of the industries and to generate the real time monitoring data, the board laid emphasis on installation of online monitoring system in the highly polluting industries.
The spokesman said in the first phase, 100 large and medium scale highly polluting industries or projects and CTDF have been covered for installation of online monitoring system. So far, 69 industries have installed online monitoring devices and 28 industries have already started displaying online data for effluent and air emissions by installing server in the board or through cloud server hired by them.
He said with a view to ensure ease of doing business, the board had simplified the procedure for obtaining Consent to Establish (CTE) and Consent to Operate (CTO) under the Water Act, 1974; the Air Act, 1981 and authorisation under the Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2008. He said that the period of Consent to Operate had been increased from two years to five years for Red category and from three years to 10 years for Orange category of industries or projects. Similarly, the period of CTE had been increased to five years or more for all categories of industries. This would save time and cut the hassle of obtaining Consent to Establish and Operate year after year from the Board.
He said as per the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974; Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and the Hazardous Waste (MH and TM) Rules, 2008, a time limit of 120 days had been prescribed to decide the CTE and CTO authorisation applications.
However, to achieve the objective of the Haryana Enterprises Promotion Policy, 2015, the Board had issued the instructions for clearances of CTE applications and CTO applications within 60 days under normal circumstances. He said the board had recognised 12 laboratories of private sector and two laboratories of public sector under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 to facilitate industries for analysing their samples of effluent or air emissions for consent purposes besides their own four laboratories during the year 2015-16 and 2016-17, respectively.
The spokesman said the board had persuaded the Public Health Engineering Department, the Haryana Urban Development Authority and the Urban Local Bodies Department and issued the directions for installation of new Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) as well as upgrading existing STPs for treatment of sewage effluent in the areas of their jurisdiction.
Our Correspondent
Sundernagar, August 10
Following a protest from residents of Rewalsar town for not providing treatment to the victim of the accident, which occurred yesterday, the medical department has shifted all employees posted at the Community Health Centre (CHC), Rewalsar, and issued a notice of termination to a doctor who was posted at the CHC on contract.
A car fell into a gorge near Rewalsar town yesterday. With the help of local residents all five occupants of the car, who were injured in the accident, were shifted to the CHC, Rewalsar, immediately, but there was no medical staff to attend the victims. Later, one woman died while being shifted to the Zonal Hospital, Mandi, and four others were also admitted to the same hospital.
Annoyed over the CHC employees attitude, local residents blocked traffic for about three hours and broke the lock of the CHC and raised slogans against the government, the Health Minister and Excise and Taxation Minister Parkash Chaudhary. The situation was defused late in the evening only after the SDM, Mandi, and the CMO reached the spot and gave an assurance of action against the staff.
Today, when the body was brought from the hospital to Rewalsar after its postmortem, the residents once again blocked traffic, raised slogans against the government and burnt an effigy of the government. The market remained closed in protest.
The angry mob wanted to cremate the body of the victim in the compound of the CHC, but with the intervention of district administration officials it was not cremated. However, traffic remained blocked for about three hours and was restored in the afternoon.
The residents said CHC employees were never available whenever there was any emergency. Though the government had upgraded it from Primary Health Centre to CHC, the required staff and facilities were never provided to patients.
Desh Raj Sharma, Chief Medical Officer, Mandi, said employees posted at the CHC had been shifted and the only doctor had been issued a notice of the termination of services. He said an inquiry had already been ordered in this regard and legal action would be initiated against the other employees soon.
New Delhi, August 10
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today challenged in the Delhi High Court an order permitting the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to retain the documents which were seized from his premises in connection with a money laundering case.
Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva allowed Virbhadras application to challenge the May 16, 2016, decision of the adjudicating authority and also noted the objection of the ED to the maintainability of the plea as well as the main petition.
Virbhadra, in his amendment application, has contended that the retention of documents was permitted without allowing him to file a reply to the EDs plea before the adjudicating authority to retain the seized material.
In his main petition, he has sought the reasons for carrying out the search and seizure at his premises and to quash the proceedings against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
He has sought quashing of an April 19 order of the adjudicating authority and the May 12 decision of the appellate tribunal dismissing his plea to provide him with the reasons to believe which formed the basis for the search and seizure of the documents.
On July 8, the High Court had directed the ED to place before it in a sealed cover the documents which formed the basis for the search and seizure of the material from the CMs premises. His counsel today claimed that the ED had not yet complied with the courts July 8 order. The court, thereafter, directed the agency to comply with the order and listed the matter for further hearing on November 10.
The High Court had earlier pulled up the ED saying it could not act as a super investigator and not share records with it. The court had said it would peruse the records only to see whether reasons to believe for the search and seizure have been placed by the ED before the adjudicating authority as Virbhadra was contending that there was no reasons for carrying out the search and seizure.
However, it had made it clear that it would not disclose the reasons to the petitioner.
In his main petition, Virbhadra has contended that reasons for initiating the search are ex-facie illegal, arbitrary and liable to be quashed.
He saidhe was made a party in a plea by the ED for retention of documents, without forming any reason to believe and by mechanically issuing the notice. PTI
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, August 10
For some these might just be threads blessed with sacred verses to love and protect brothers, but NEXT, a leader and innovator in the electronic retail space, knows the power of a Rakhi too well. With the NEXT ka Salaam Raksha ka Paigam campaign, Indias one of the most trusted electronics retail chain brings a much sought-after opportunity for its consumers to express their gratitude to soldiers. It plans to reassure the brave men, the love and respect they command in the hearts of the countrymen, by sending personalised messages and Rakhis.
While each Indian citizen wishes to honour the soldiers, not many get a chance to do so.
NEXT retail is planning to bridge this gap with the new campaign, NEXT ka Salaam Raksha ka Paigam.
To participate, all that consumers have to do is to visit the nearest NEXT store and write personalised messages to soldiers and it will be collected by them and further sent to the soldiers.
Ehsan Fazili
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, August 10
Clashes and demonstrations were held today at various places across Kashmir in which nearly a dozen protesters were injured even as curfew and restrictions continued to remain in place across the Valley for the 33rd day.
Clashes between protesters and police personnel took place in Baramulla and Kupwara districts of north Kashmir, Qoimoh area of Kulgam district in south Kashmir and many places in Srinagar district. The overall situation in the Valley remained normal and under control, said a police spokesman.
At least six persons were injured when the police and CRPF resorted to a lathi charge and teargas shelling to disperse a group of demonstrators trying to block the Kupwara-Sogam road.
One of the protesters, identified as Shabir Ahmad Lone of Lassipora village, was hit by a teargas shell. He was taken to the district hospital in Kupwara, where his condition was stated to be stable.
Demonstrations were held near Sangrama in the Tarzoo area of Sopore in Baramulla district, the police spokesman said. He added that a group of over 300 protesters was chased away by the police. There was no report of injury in the police action.
After clashes on Tuesday night, there were reports of demonstrations in the Qaimoh area of Kulgam district today in protest against the arrest of two youths from the area.
Protests were held by residents of Kehunsa village in Bandipora district of north Kashmir against the alleged excesses of security forces personnel. The issue was reported to have been settled without further trouble.
Demonstrations were held in the Tattoo Ground and Noor Bagh areas of the summer capital. The protesters were chased away, the police spokesman said.
The areas falling under seven police stations of Srinagar and the Batamaloo area continued to remain under curfew since the trouble started early last month. Restrictions remained in force in other parts of the city.
Curfew continued in Anantnag in south Kashmir, which passed off peacefully. Restrictions remained in force in other districts of south Kashmir, including Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian.
Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Baseer Ahmad Khan today reviewed the law and order situation, medicare facilities, power and drinking water facilities and availability of essential commodities.
New Delhi, August 10
Lashing out at the BJP-led NDA government for not being able to bring any solution to the prevailing unrest in Kashmir yet, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Wednesday said the blood spilled in the Valley was drawing vultures from Pakistan.
CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury told the Rajya Sabha that if there is a trust deficit, the government had to create an atmosphere of trust in Kashmir.
No solutions have been found in over 32 days of turmoil in Kashmir and use of pellet guns has also not stopped despite repeated requests. Vultures only come down when they smell blood. Blood is being spilled in Kashmir and thats why vultures are coming in from across the border, he added.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
Yechury urged the government to discuss the issue with an open mind and listen to all ideas, adding that confidence-building is required for that.
The problem can be addressed only if you initiate this political dialogue on the central issue, of promises made to the people of Kashmir. How are you going to implement that? I have been urging the government that this only can come through in an atmosphere of trust. I want the government to seriously ponder because the point is to solve the problem in Kashmir, which is actually a wound for all of us, he added.
The Opposition leaders had voiced concern over the Valley being curfew-bound for over a month and demanded a stop to the use of pellet guns.
They also demanded a parliamentary delegation to be sent to Kashmir to deliberate with all sections and an all-party meet to find a resolution.
The Trinamool Congress earlier on Wednesday said Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was more dangerous on internet than on streets, adding that he was more dangerous dead than alive.
Burhan Wani was more dangerous on internet than on streets. Hes more dangerous dead than alive. It is very important at this stage not to make a distinction between Kashmir-the land and Kashmir-the people, TMC MP Derek O Brien told the Rajya Sabha.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said there is murder of humanity and democracy in Kashmir.
Kashmiriyat and Insaniyat are murdered by pellet guns. We all should find a solution to this. Everyone in Kashmir is a victim of militancy. Many of us have lost their near and dear ones, he added.
There should be an all-party delegation that needs to be sent to Jammu and Kashmir. It should be announced during Parliament session, he added.
Asserting that using force is not the way, Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav said they had to strive hard to win hearts of Kashmiris, adding that the use of pellet guns must be stopped immediately. Kashmir is angry with us. But we should bring it back with love, otherwise history wont forgive us, he told the Rajya Sabha.
Ramgopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party called for sending a strong message to Pakistan not to meddle in Kashmir. He alleged that Pakistan and the ISI are involved in misleading the youth of the Kashmir Valley. He said the neighbouring country is sponsoring and supporting those involved in anti-India activities.
Terming the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir as complex, Yadav said it is high time we fought against powers that were trying to destabilise peace and security in Kashmir. ANI
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, August 10
The first group of 340 pilgrims left for Medina in Saudi Arabia in a direct Air India flight to perform Haj early today morning.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti accorded a warm send-off to the first batch of pilgrims of J&K from the Srinagar International Airport.
Interacting with the pilgrims, Mehbooba wished them well and smooth conduct of Haj-e-Baitullah. She also asked them to pray to Allah for peace and progress of the state as well as safeguarding its people from the tragedies and miseries of violence and bloodshed, an official statement said.
Minister for Haj and Auqaf Syed Farooq Andrabi, DGP SP Mishra, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Baseer Khan and senior officers of civil and police administration and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) were present on the occasion.
Meanwhile, the second flight carrying another 340 Hajis left the Srinagar International Airport in the afternoon. As many as 6,457 Hajis from J&K are scheduled to perform Haj this year. They will be flown to Medina from the Srinagar International Airport in 20 flights with two flights operating each day.
All arrangements for transportation, boarding and lodging, luggage checking and security at Srinagar Haj House and hassle-free screening of baggage, refreshments, nimaz, distribution of travel documents and issuance of boarding passes at the Srinagar Airport are in place for the Haj pilgrims, the statement said.
At least five people in the latter category of prisoner are currently being held in Iran. Meanwhile, the country remains in the midst of a domestic crackdown which has led to the arrest and imprisonment of a wide range of individuals, including activists, journalists, and persons with only Iranian citizenship who are nonetheless perceived as maintaining pro-Western sentiments or connections to foreign nationals.
The crackdown became particularly visible last November, about three months ahead of the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which has contributed to hardliner paranoia about Western cultural and economic infiltration. At that time, several Iranian journalists were arrested en masse.
On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that one of these journalists, Isa Saharkhiz had finally received a sentence from the Iranian judiciary, after his trial was delayed following his being hospitalized as a result of long hunger strikes during which he was denied medical treatment. Three other journalists, plus a foreign-based journalists brother, were sentenced to sentences ranging from five to 10 years in April. Those cases are currently awaiting appeal.
Presently, Saharkhiz is facing the shortest sentence out of the group of five, having been sentenced to three years two for insulting Iranian authorities and one for spreading propaganda. As with the other four convicts, there is no indication of any cause for the initial arrests other than journalism that was arguably unfavorable to the regime.
The justifications for arrests of certain dual nationals have reportedly been even flimsier. Among those currently in custody is Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been accused of being one of the leaders of a vaguely defined infiltration network aimed at the soft overthrow of the Islamic Republic. The accusation seems to stem from her British citizenship and the fact that Zaghari-Ratcliffe works for a Western-based charity, the Thomson Reuters Foundation. And as her British husband Richard Ratcliffe has pointed out in advocating for her release, the foundation does not even do work in Iran. The only apparent purpose for Zaghari-Ratcliffes travel to Iran was to visit with her parents, accompanied by her two year-old daughter, who is now stranded in Iran while her mother awaits trial.
Iran does not recognize dual citizenship, meaning that dual citizens who are arrested in the country do not have access to consular assistance. Nonetheless, international advocacy has been known to effectively put pressure on Iranian authorities in prior instances in which foreign nationals were subject to apparent wrongful imprisonment. With that in mind, some British politicians have taken action on Zaghari-Ratcliffes case, and a petition has received signatures from tens of thousands of British citizens.
In the wake of this attention, there are reports that indicate British Prime Minister Theresa May has personally taken up the issue. The BBC indicated on Tuesday that according to British officials, May raised concerns about Zaghari-Ratcliffes case in a telephone conversation with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The officials added that May had also broached the subject of other cases involving dual nationals and had stressed the importance of resolving these cases as we worked to strengthen our diplomatic relationship.
However, if this was indeed a major topic of conversation between May and Rouhani, it appears that Iranian authorities have essentially ignored it. Reuters quoted a top Iranian official as saying that the telephone conversation involved the British governments expression of interest in expanded economic relations and regional cooperation. Iran and Western powers have remained at odds over issues like the Syrian Civil War, although the international community has made concerted efforts to include Iran in the dialogue. Meanwhile, Tehran has complained about the slow pace of its own economic recovery in the wake of last summers nuclear agreement, but the Iranians have taken few recognizable steps toward improving conditions for foreign investors.
Tehrans public dissatisfaction with the deal, combined with its apparent failure to take steps to strengthen it, has contributed to critical commentary in the West describing that deal as a failure or as abandonment of important leverage over the Iranians. This criticism was reiterated on Tuesday in the form of an editorial by first US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, published in the Philidephia Inquirer. In it he said that the nuclear agreement had resulted in no progress since its conclusion one year ago.
Ridge explained: In return for modest, reversible concessions on the nuclear issue alone, the blood-drenched ayatollahs received sanctions relief from the United States and Europe to the tune of tens of billions of dollars, which has served, above all else, to further finance the Iranian regimes illicit, inhumane, and destabilizing activities. If the regime decides to abandon the deal, it will emerge stronger than ever before, laughing in the face of the Wests foolish compliance.
If it turns out that the Iranian account of Mrs. Mays conversation with Mr. Rouhani is more accurate than the account given to British media, it will be easy for opponents of recent Western foreign policy to argue that that conversation is further evidence of the same foolish compliance. That is to say, the British government and other Western powers face criticism for actively pursuing expanded trade relations and regional compromise at a time when Iran is arguably holding Western nationals hostage and also continuing its recent trend of arbitrary imprisonment and human rights violations against its own people.
Meanwhile, other reports suggest that the supposed Western neglect of these circumstances may still reach greater levels. For instance, on Tuesday Reuters reported that an Iranian activist who has been living as a refugee in Britain since 2009 was arrested during a trip to Italy, based on a warrant issued by Iranian authorities. Mehdi Khosravi stands accused of spreading corruption, a vaguely defined crime in Iranian jurisprudence, which could carry the death penalty. Khosravis advocates have emphasized, some of them in letters directly to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, that this is exactly the fate that can be expected of the arrestee if he is extradited to Iran.
Italy was among the first countries to arrange state visits and visits from trade delegations in the wake of implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, which lifted sanctions related to the Iranian nuclear program and theoretically opened up the Iranian market for various forms of formerly banned trade. The rush to invest in Iran, as well as the general Western focus on the nuclear agreement, has prompted a number of human rights organizations to accuse Western governments of giving diminished attention to Irans human rights abuses.
Naturally, those Western entities who are aggressively pursuing expanded trade ties are doing so on the assumption that Tehran will not cancel the nuclear deal, as Tom Ridge warns it might. But there is a growing body of evidence that that warning is well justified. On Tuesday, The Algemeiner reported that Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, issued a statement insisting that despite the agreement with the West, Irans nuclear work is still ongoing and is in fact on the verge of dramatic expansion
This is in keeping with an order by Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Ali Larijani, directing Salehi to prepare a plan for such an expansion in nuclear enrichment. Larijani also recently declared that there was no way left for Iran other than to respond in kind to perceived American aggression in the wake of the nuclear deal. Meanwhile, by most accounts Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has been putting more and more distance between himself and the agreement, suggesting that he might be on course to withdraw an endorsement that was only begrudgingly offered in the first place.
Shahira Naim
Tribune News Service
Lucknow, August 9
The Uttar Pradesh Police late last night arrested three more persons in connection with the gang rape of a mother-daughter duo at Bulandshahr on the intervening night of July 29-30. However, the arrests raise more questions than they answer.
Within hours of the Allahabad High Court seeking a progress report as regards probe into the case, the state police claimed to have arrested the mastermind of the case, Salim, along with Sajid and Zubair. All of them belong to Kannauj and not to any criminal tribe, as claimed by the police earlier.
Another accused is said to be absconding and hiding somewhere in Jharkhand, claimed the police.
Earlier, the police theory revolved around the crime being the handiwork of the Bawaria tribe, who, according to IG (Law and Order) HR Sharma, became more active in the rainy season.
Addressing the media in Noida today, IG (Meerut zone) Sujith Pandey, entrusted with the investigation into the case by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, claimed the gang rape survivors had identified the three accused.
Violating Supreme Court guidelines, the Meerut IG even produced father of the minor rape victim before the media to buttress his claim. However, later the victims father contradicted the police version saying the survivors did not identify the accused as it was too dark and the police were in a great hurry.
The IG said some personal articles of the rape survivors, including jeans, T-shirt, were recovered from Sajid. He said the police had conclusive proof against the accused and it would be produced in the court at the appropriate time.
Sources claim the three accused arrested earlierRahisul of Sutari village in Bulandshahr, Shabit of Hapur and Jabar Singh of Gautam Buddha Nagarhad not mentioned names of the persons arrested yesterday.
On the intervening night of July 29-30, more than six armed men blocked the National Highway 91 near Dostpur village in Bulandshahr and stopped a car carrying a family to Shahjehanpur.
They tied the men and gang-raped the minor girl and her 35-year-old mother.
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 10
Expressing concern over the situation in the Kashmir valley and pledging to win back peoples confidence, the Rajya Sabha today unanimously passed a resolution, appealing to all sections in Jammu and Kashmir to work towards restoring normalcy and harmony.
The House conveys its deep sense of anguish and concern over the loss of lives and critical injuries caused by the deteriorating situation. The House is of the firm and considered view that while there cannot be any compromise on national security, it is equally an imperative that urgent steps are taken to restore order and peace for the alleviation of the sufferings of the people, read the resolution which was passed at the end of a daylong discussion.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
In his reply, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would attend an all-party meeting on Kashmir scheduled for August 12. No power in the world can take Jammu and Kashmir away from us, he said adding, talks will be on PoK, not on Kashmir when we speak to Pakistan.
Warning that pro-Pakistan slogans would not be allowed, Rajnath said, I request the people in Kashmir not to stand on Indian soil and raise anti-India slogans.
Referring to the Prime Ministers absence from the House, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad slammed Modi for speaking about the turmoil-hit Valley while in Madhya Pradesh. Expressing admiration and respect for former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who spoke of resolving the Kashmir issue through jamhooriyat, insaniyat and Kashmiriyat, Azad said: it sounds odd when those who do not believe in it use the same words, an obvious reference to the PM.
It is only when the pain is felt from the heart that it will reach the people of Kashmir, the former Jammu Kashmir Chief Minister said. The situation in Jammu and Kashmir is sensitive. It is imperative that the House speaks as one on the issue, Leader of the House Arun Jaitley pleaded.
Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) leader, said: There is a need to address the trust deficit in the Valley. Please start the process of political dialogue. Please stop using pellet guns. Explaining the trust deficit, Nazir Ahmed Laway (PDP) said "delegations come and go, nothing ever is done."
Dr Karan Singh said it was naive to believe that the solution to the Kashmir problem could be found overnight. It is a mammoth humanitarian, political and economic problem. Let us put our heads and hearts together and solve it.
Pointing out that the Kashmiri Youth wanted to be beneficiaries of India's success story, Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh said, Most children who are killed in the Valley are from the poorest of the poor sections while those provoking trouble have their children living in metros and abroad. Congress MP Vivek Tankha said the return of Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley would help resolve the issue.
"Pro-Pakistan slogans will not be allowed. I request the people in Kashmir not to stand on Indian soil and raise anti-India slogans." - Rajnath Singh, Home Minister
"It sounds odd when those who do not believe in insaniyat, jamhooriyat and Kashmiriyat use these words. Pain felt from the heart alone reaches the people." - Ghulam Nabi Azad, Cong Leader
Tribune News Service
Imphal, August 9
Former Arunachal Chief Minister Kalikho Pul reportedly committed suicide at his official residence here today, weeks after the Supreme Court ordered him to step down after a brief stint, triggering protests by his supporters.
The post-mortem was conducted at a government hospital in Itanagar. The cremation will take place at Puls native place in Anjaw district tomorrow with state honours, as decided by the state Cabinet. The government has declared a three-day state mourning. A magisterial probe into the death has been ordered.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
Pul's body was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his bedroom this morning. He was to vacate the official accommodation today. Pul served as the Chief Minister from February to July 13 this year, after having led a rebellion within the Congress Legislature Party against the then CM Nabam Tuki. Pul became CM with the support of 18 dissident Congress MLAs, 11 BJP legislators and two Independents.
His government was dismissed following the Supreme Court verdict on July 13 that reinstated Tuki as CM. Pul and other dissidents returned to the Congress fold even as Pema Khandu replaced Tuki as CM.
The Congress today blamed the 'undemocratic practices' of the BJP for Pul's death. As news of Pul's death spread, scores of his supporters and well-wishers gheraoed the Chief Minister's bungalow and demanded a probe into the 'unnatural' death.
A mob headed towards the official residence of Deputy CM Chowna Mein, less than 100 metres away, damaged the outer wall and 10 vehicles parked on the premises.
Ahmedabad, August 10
Gujarat BJP on Wednesday appointed Jitu Vaghani, an MLA from Bhavnagar West constituency and a Patel, as its state unit president in place of Vijay Rupani who became the Chief Minister recently.
Jitu Vaghani has been appointed as president of state BJP, party spokesperson Harshad Patel said.
Vaghani, 46, a relatively young Patel face of BJP, was earlier state units youth wing president.
He has also worked as secretary of the party state unit in the past.
Vaghani belongs to Leuva Patel community among Patels.
His name was finalised by party president Amit Shah, and central party communicated it to the state unit, which declared it here.
Vaghani won the election as an MLA for the first time in 2012. In 2007, he had lost against Congresss Shaktisinh Gohil.
Vaghani has apparently been chosen as party state unit president as BJP has made non-Patel leader Vijay Rupani chief minister of the state.
Rupani belongs to the Jain community.
While the newly-appointed Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel belongs to Kadva sub-caste of Patels, Vaghani is from Leuva Patel sub-caste.
The BJP has chosen Vaghani apparently to give a message to Patel community, who are agitating for reservation in the state for last one year. PTI
New Delhi, August 10
A suspected militant of the Lashkar-e-Toiba in custody of the National Investigation Agency had been trained by Pakistans army, the agencys head said on Wednesday.
NIA Inspector General Sanjeev Kumar told the press on Wednesday: LeT terrorist and Pakistani national Bahadur Ali, who was captured recently in north Kashmir, was regularly guided by the control room of terrorist groups in PoK with the help of Pakistani forces.
Ali crossed over into India in June with two other militants, the NIA said.
Arms and ammunition training given to Ali shows the involvement of military experts, Kumar said.
Kumar claimed that Ali told them during questioning that there were a few army officers in plain clothes who checked their preparedness against a checklist.
He claimed that Ali had said that the LeT had 30-50 trainees from various parts of the country, even from Afghanistan, at its various training camps.
The NIA is also investigating the LeTs role in the ongoing unrest in Kashmir in which 54 people have been killed. The unrest was sparked by Indian security forces killing Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. Thousands have been injured in the violent protests.
Ali was arrested on July 25 after a shootout. Agencies
Bijay Sankar Bora
Tribune News Service
Imphal (Manipur), August 9
Irom Chanu Sharmila (44), Manipurs mascot of protest against the imposition of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act,1958, today ended her nearly 16-year-long fast by sipping honey at Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences here, a couple of hours after a court granted her bail in an attempt to suicide case.
Talking to mediapersons, Sharmila said she wanted to contest against Manipur Chief Minister Ibobi Singh and defeat him in his constituency (Thoubal)
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
Earlier, she was produced in the heavily guarded court of Justice Lamkhanpau Tonsing, Chief Judicial Magistrate, Imphal West district, at 11 am. She told the court she would end her fast and that she be set free as she now wanted to join electoral politics to achieve her goal.
#WATCH: Irom Sharmila ends her fast after 16 years. She was on hunger strike, demanding repealing of AFSPA.https://t.co/ndGmoEuZu8 ANI (@ANI_news) August 9, 2016
She was granted bail on a bond of Rs 10,000 after a three-hour hearing.
The court examined two prosecution witnesses, a member of the medical team taking care of Sharmila and an investigating officer and fixed August 23 as the next date of hearing when the accused will be examined under Section 313 of the CrPC, according to the court-appointed defence counsel, Laishram Rebeda.
Even if released from judicial custody (in a hospital ward), Sharmila would need medical care for a while, he said.
In solitary confinement at the high-security hospital ward, Sharmila was being forced-fed through the nose. None, including her family members and supporters, was allowed to meet her.
After the court hearing, she was whisked away in an ambulance back to the hospital. Virtually mobbed by mediapersons in the court premises, her attempt to brief the media did not materialise.
As soon as Sharmila was granted bail, disappointed members of Meira Paibi (women torch-bearers), who have been supporting Sharmila all along, said by deciding to end her fast without consulting civil society members, Sharmila had destroyed their hope to see the AFSPA withdrawn from the state.
Meira Paibi leader Momon, said: By deciding to end her fast, she has shattered the dreams of the people of Manipur to see the AFSPA scrapped. The decision is driven by self-interest and not the people's larger cause. She did not bother to consult us despite our unwavering support. The police did not allow Meira Paibi members to meet Sharmila.
Dubai, August 10
A 62-year-old Indian, who was on board the Emirates plane that crash-landed here, might be the luckiest man alive as he has won a million dollars in lottery, just six days after miraculously surviving the accident.
Mohammad Basheer Abdul Khadar from Kerala was among the 300 people on board the Emirates flight EK521, which crash-landed and burst into flames at the Dubai airport last Wednesday.
The Dubai expatriate struck gold on Tuesday when his lucky ticket number 0845 was drawn in the Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire at Concourse A at Dubai International Airport, winning him USD 1 million (dirham 3.67 million), Gulf News reported.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
Khadar had purchased the ticket on Eid on his way for a vacation with his family in Thiruvananthapuram.
A fleet administrator with a car dealer group in Dubai, Khadar had made it a habit to purchase a raffle ticket whenever he travelled to his home country.
Khadar became a millionaire after purchasing his 17th ticket, just four months before he was due to retire in December, he told the daily.
I have been working in Dubai for 37 years, and I have always felt like this is my country. I live a simple life, and now that its my time to retire, I feel like God gave me a second life when I survived the plane crash, and blessed me with this money to follow all this up by doing good things, Khadar said.
Khadar said he planned to return to India after his retirement to find a job that involved helping people in need.
He wants to help children in Kerala who are in need of financial help and medical support.
I am blessed to have finally won with Dubai Duty Free and cant wait to share the news with my family. If you ask me about my plans, I obviously want to help the children in Kerala who are less fortunate than others and need some financial help and medical support, he said.
Khadar, a grandfather, earns dirham 8,000 (Rs 1,45,212) a month. However, he had to struggle a lot for the treatment of his 21-year-old son who became paralysed after an accidental fall just 13 days after birth.
I had to spend a lot of money on his treatment. Some years back I had to take a loan of Rs 1.8 million for a major surgery for him. I have managed to pay it back, said Khadar.
He said he was thankful for his job that also helped him get his daughter married.
I will continue to work till I can. Nothing else can give you the satisfaction of your hard-earned money, he said.
In 2007, Indian national Sadanand Raghavan, a mechanic in Sharjah, scooped dirham 5 million in a Mashreq Bank raffle. PTI
Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, August 10
Maharashtras historical Ajanta and Ellora caves will see more Japanese investments. A Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Maharashtra Government and the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) allows for construction of a Japanese village near the caves in a bid to attract Japans tourists.
Maharashtra Tourism Minister Jayakumar Jitendrasinh Rawal said in a statement that the state government would provide land for the village.
This is the third phase of development of the two historical sites with Japanese assistance in the last decade. According to the information provided by the Maharashtra Government, JICA has spent more than Rs 250 crore in the past 15 years to help improve infrastructure at the tourist site.
The Maharashtra Government has been conducting a Buddha Tourism Circuit with the caves as its highlight since the past a few years. Tourism department officials claim some 20,000 tourists from Japan, Korea and other parts of Asia visited Maharashtra last year as part of the Buddhist circuit.
Sources claim that the state governments plan to construct a Buddha theme park put on the backburner some years ago may also see light of day.
Kudankulam (TN), August 10
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday jointly dedicated to the nation the 1,000 MW Nuclear Power Plant-I here, assuring it was one of the safest atomic plants in the world.
Speaking on the occasion through video conferencing from New Delhi, Modi said Kudankulum 1, an Indo-Russian project, was an important addition to the continuing efforts to scale up production of clean energy in India.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
"I have always deeply valued our friendship with Russia and it is fitting that we jointly dedicate Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) Unit 1. This also signals our joint commitment to build pathways of partnership for green growth," he said.
Putin, speaking from Moscow, said it was a big event for all.
"The power plant is updated with most modern Russian technologies. It is not just construction and commissioning of the power plant. It is well known that Russia is one of the world leaders in nuclear technology and we are glad to share with our Indian colleagues our technology," he said.
Joining the event from Chennai, Jayalalithaa said KNPP was a "monument commemorating the long standing, abiding and deep friendship between Russia and India and that she had supported implementation of the project, at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district, all through her 10 years in office".
The KNPP had been set up using the Russian VVER type reactors based on enriched uranium and its second unit was expected to start operations later this year.
The completion of the first unit was delayed in view of strident protests by local people, who raised safety concerns, before it became operational.
The Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) VVER-1000 had gone critical in July 2014 and the commercial operations started from December 31 the same year, with the unit coming to the aid of the then power starved Tamil Nadu.
The Cumulative Generation of Unit I since the date of commercial operation is 6,498 million units (MU) with its capacity factor peaking to 100 per cent in June this year.
The Prime Minister said the dedication of KNPP-I marked another historic time line in Indo-Russia relations.
"In successful completion, it is not only another fine example of the strength of our special and privileged strategic partnership, it is also a celebration of our binding friendship. It is only a start of our cooperation in this field," he said.
Modi said five more units of 1,000 MW each would be built at the KNPP.
Today's event is also a joyful occasion for the team of Indian and Russian scientists and technicians. We salute their dedication and hard work and congratulate them for the fruits of their labour," he said.
Jayalalithaa said nuclear power was "clean, green and firm power", which a rapidly growing state like Tamil Nadu, aspiring for higher growth rates and shared prosperity, really needed.
"The dedication of the KNPP is a major milestone in Indo-Russian cooperation. Throughout my 10 years in office as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu I have always extended support to the implementation of the Kudankulam project while at the same time laying focus on allaying the fears of the local people by convincing them about its safety," she said.
Noting that a nuclear power plant takes long time to be built and commissioned than conventional units, she said very high safety standards were needed to be observed.
"The smooth commercial operation of this project, overcoming many obstacles--economic, political and social, global, national and local--stands testimony to the unwavering commitment to the project of the governments of Tamil Nadu, India and Russia," Jayalalithaa said.
Successful commissioning of the project was an object lesson on how the fears and apprehensions of the local population could be and should be allayed through a process of engagement and reassurance and by building community assets and infrastructure, she said.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister recalled that when the commissioning of the first unit was getting delayed due to prolonged agitation by the locals, she had taken up the matter with Central government and the fears and concerns were heeded and addressed. PTI
Mumbai, August 10
The Maharashtra government is considering the use of drones to monitor, identify and control vehicles breaking traffic rules.
Minister of State for Home (Urban) Deepak Kesarkar said initially, drones would be put in place on a pilot basis on the Mumbai-Pune expressway.
A meeting was held between officials of the Home Department and Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation earlier this week at the Mantralaya here, which was attended by Kesarkar and PWD (undertakings) minister Eknath Shinde.
Kesarkar said the Mumbai-Pune Expressway has become a death trap with a large number of road casualties reported lately.
Incidents of road accidents have increased due to indiscipline and rash driving. We do not have control over rash driving as the length of the express way is long and there is insufficient police staff for surveillance, Kesarkar said.
He said while there is a need to control vehicular traffic, doing so by using a CCTV camera has its own limitations. Thus, the idea of using drones has been mooted.
The drones will be used at load line of the ghat on the expressway, where setting up of CCTV cameras is not possible, he said.
Mostly heavy loaded trucks jump lanes to overtake other big vehicles. This causes a traffic jam. The drones would click photos of such instances and the Transport department will take action against errant drivers, he added.
The minister said that even small vehicles would not be spared if found violating lane discipline.
He said the site of using drones has not been decided as yet but the MSRDC would submit its report suggesting requirement within the next 15 days.
Initially, four to five drone will be hired from private companies for the expressway. Depending upon the result, the Home department is considering to use drones across Mumbai, he said.
Along with CCTVs, usage of drones in the island city would take the burden of traffic police riddled with various woes, Kesarkar said. PTI
Ridge says, Last week, Irans Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei accused the United States of failing to honor pledges in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Citing the futility of negotiations with the Americans, he distanced himself from the nuclear deal he once supported.
The one-year anniversary of the agreement recently passed, and the era of good feelings that U.S. negotiators believed lay ahead, never came into being.
Tehrans change in tune should come as no surprise. Ridge continues, Intelligence reports have long warned that the regime continued its attempts to obtain illicit nuclear material right up to the brink of implementation of the deal. And while the accord did institute constraints on Irans uranium enrichment program and its capacity for producing weapons-grade plutonium, the vast majority of Irans nuclear infrastructure remains in place.
During a recent panel discussion in Paris, Robert Joseph, former U.S. special envoy for nuclear nonproliferation, spoke to this very issue, cautioning that the JCPOA had only compelled Iran to dismantle some of its enrichment centrifuges, but allowed them to stay safely in-country, ready to be re-engaged at the first opportunity.
Compared to the world communitys successes with other nuclear threshold states, such as Libya, who demonstrated genuine commitment by fully opening up their country to impartial international inspections. According to Ridge, Iran has come nowhere close to this.
He says, The lack of transparent monitoring has been a major point of unease among critics and initial supporters of the nuclear agreement alike. The deal only establishes international surveillance of declared nuclear enrichment sites, failing to address the likelihood that illicit nuclear development is taking place in secured locations, undetected by foreign intelligence agencies.
Iran successfully hid its nuclear efforts from the international community once before. In 2002, the Iranian resistance group Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) revealed the secret details of the Iranian nuclear program. If it werent for this intelligence breakthrough, the regime would likely be armed with nuclear weapons now.
Nuclear limitations aside, its hard to imagine that the hoped-for shift in Tehrans foreign policy will materialize. The strategic contours are set by the supreme leader himself, whose support for Syrian dictator Bashar Assad is unwavering. Various credible reports indicate that thousands of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members are now operating in Syria. Ridge declares, and adds, Western policymakers should have recognized that the theocracy is inherently incapable of reform. If history is any guide, Tehran will exploit every weakness in the nuclear agreement as part of its relentless effort to deceive its enemies. And, it will use the current environment of Western complacency to intensify regional adventurism and support for extremist thought.
Western leaders trusted that the moderate regime in Tehran would also give more regard to human rights, as part of the deal. Instead, political opponents and activists continue to be arrested, tortured, and executed in ever increasing numbers. During Hassan Rouhanis administration at least 2,600 prisoners, including many dissidents have been executed.
Ridge believes the deal led to no progress. In return for modest, reversible concessions on the nuclear issue alone, the blood-drenched ayatollahs received sanctions relief from the United States and Europe to the tune of tens of billions of dollars, which has served, above all else, to further finance the Iranian regimes illicit, inhumane, and destabilizing activities. If the regime decides to abandon the deal, it will emerge stronger than ever before, laughing in the face of the Wests foolish compliance.
He warns, Let Khameneis bellicose rhetoric stand as a warning and a call to action. Every interested American should urge the next president to chart a different, sensible course for American policy toward the fundamentalist regime in Iran. This course should, at last, reflect American values by identifying itself with the Iranian people and their cry for democracy and freedom.
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service
Kolkata, August 9
At the height of his charisma, Narendra Modi failed to make any dent in Manipur. There is no chance of Mamata Banerjee making inroads in the state, W Tiken, a senior Imphal-based journalist told the TNS during a phone conversation this evening.
Earlier today, the West Bengal Chief Minister addressed a rally in Tripura capital Agartala. With an important section of Congress MLAs led by Sudip Roy Barman, son of former Chief Minister Samir Ranjan Barman, switching loyalty to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) led by Banerjee, the TMC is seen as a genuine threat to Left Front which is in power in the state since 1998.
But those who are airing the view that the TMC leader has chosen Tripura as the launch pad for expansion of her party in other north-eastern states to help her realise the ambition of becoming a pan-Indian political figure has got it quite wrong.
The state leaders are very powerful in the North-East region. A party in power in Delhi may still have some attraction for the local leaders and their constituents. But a regional party of another state have no chance here, Tiken, who had edited Imphal-based English daily Peoples Chronicle, said.
Meiteis, the dominant people of Manipur, shared a closed cultural affiliation with Bengal through the medium of Vaishnavism. But things are different now, an observer here said.
N-E states such as Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh also hardly present a picture that may appear conducive to the growth of TMC. In fact it is the other way round. The ethnicity-based politics of the region makes TMC the most unlikely contender for finding a footing in these states.
The Bengali majority Tripura on the other hand has always reflected political trends of West Bengal.
Mamata Banerjee herself has not been speaking about expansion beyond Tripura in the NE region. However, a section of the media has blown up her rally in Agartala as something that can create ripples in the entire NE region, Manas Paul, an Agartala-based media professional said.
New Delhi, August 10
The Congress on Wednesday raised questions over Prime Minister Narendra Modis remarks about insaniyat, jamhooriyat and Kashmiriyat and said appeal should go out to Kashmiris from the heart and not only from the lips to enable integration of minds and heart.
As the Rajya Sabha took up a discussion on the prevailing situation in Kashmir, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad pitched for sending an all-party delegation to the Valley besides an appeal by Parliament for end to violence which is being witnessed there for the last 33 days.
We should appeal for peace and tranquility from here for a better future of Kashmir. This kind of unison voice should go from Parliament. That apart, an all-party delegation should go there, the Congress leader said, adding the announcement regarding it should be made immediately as the session is coming to an end in two days.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
Initiating the discussion, Azad said criticised the Prime Minister for his delayed comments on the Kashmir situation and said even those were made at a rally in Madhya Pradesh rather than in Parliament.
We are discussing the Kashmir issue for the fourth time.
The Prime Minister should come. The Prime Minister chose Madhya Pradesh to speak on Kashmir. He did not come to this House, he said, adding that since when has Madhya Pradesh become the capital of the country?
Azad took a swipe on Modi regarding his statement on 'insaniyat (humanity), jamhooriyat (democracy) and Kashmriyat, saying such statements only suited former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Such words sound weird if it comes from someone who does not believe in them, he said.
The former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir said such words should come from the heart and not only from the lips.
Referring to the oft-repeated assertion that "Kashmir is integral part of India", Azad said there should also be "integration of minds and hearts".
"...we are not feeling the love and affection, pain and agony, else the statement would not have come from Madhya Pradesh," the Congress leader said in an apparent reference to Modi's comments made at a rally yesterday.
"If it comes from the heart, it will reach Kashmir. It is mere lip-service and hence will not reach Kashmir," he said.
Azad said while Modi keeps sitting in his room in Parliament since morning to evening, he did not make any statement on Kashmir during the past three discussions on the issue in the House.
Azad said violence has increased in the Valley ever since the BJP has come to power in alliance with the PDP, remarks which triggered a brief uproar as ruling party members reacted sharply.
He said successive governments have fought against militancy in the Valley, but "perhaps you give statements for votes. You have only been indulging in fuelling the fire and not dousing it. Since the day you came to power, Kashmir is on fire...I don't want to go into reasons".
As members of the treasury benches objected to it leading to an uproar, Finance Minister and Leader of the House Arun Jaitley said the situation in Kashmir is "sensitive" and "therefore it is imperative, as far as possible, we speak in one voice".
He urged members from all sides not to touch historical issues where "we have difference of opinion ... this is not the occasion to discuss those issues ... members should speak from the national point of view.
The Congress leader from the troubled state asserted that while there is an issue of separatism, "Kashmir is not communal, it is secular. There is a difference between seperatism and communalism."
Higlighting that Kashmir is a "complex issue", Azad said politics comes first, economic developement at second place followed by employment.
Taking a dig at the Prime Minister, Azad said, He tweets if something happens in Africa. Even if something happens in our enemy country, Pakistan, he issues condemnation. It is not wrong to show sympathy if humanity is hurt anywhere in the world. But in our own country, when the Crown of India is burning, does the heat not reach... he should have spoken.
Citing media reports, he said Modi spoke on Kashmir on the insistence of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. Had the CM not spoken, even today, the PM would not have spoken, he added.
Just dont love Kashmir for its beauty, love it for its people
Referring to Modis comment that all Indians love Kashmir, the Congress leader said, One should not love Kashmir for its beauty and nature alone. One should love people out there as well.
Love the people who live there. Love the children who lost their vision due to pellet injuries..., he said while insisting on a political solution.
Talking about the 33-day-old unrest, Azad said things are not flowing from democracy but through the barrel of guns, pellet guns.
He said there has been curfew for the last 33 days and thousands of people including civilians and security forces have been injured in the violence.
The problem in Kashmir is not a normal law and order issue like in any other state, Azad said, while underlining that the Centre should come forward to help the state as it is dependent on New Delhi for everything, including security, development and even salaries.
While talking about the continuing problem of Kashmir, he said a lot needs to be done to strengthen the relationship between the Centre and the state.
He wondered what happened to reports of various committees, including one headed by late Justice Shabir Ahmed, which made several recommendations for strengthening the integration.
The report was submitted in 2009-10. Still nothing has been done, he said.
Earlier, Azad associated himself with the views of BSP leader Satish Mishra on Dalit issue and took a jibe on the Prime Minister for making statement on the issue from Telangana and not in Parliament.
Shamsher Manhas counters Azad
Shamsher Singh Manhas, a BJP member from Jammu and Kashmir, criticised Azad, saying instead of talking about the real problems of Kashmir, he spent most of his time on criticising the Prime Minister.
He said he felt that pain of Kashmiris who were suffering as he contended that only a handful of people of the valley are playing in the hands of separatists.
Referring to the contention that the trouble in Kashmir is because of unemployment, Manhas said youth in Jammu and Ladakh, two other regions of the state, are also unemployed but they have not picked up guns and raised anti-India slogans.
Jammu shares 500 km border with Pakistan. Everyday Pakistan does one or the other thing. ... 55 per cent of population of the state lives in Jammu. More than 7 lakh youth are unemployed. Could they not have picked up the gun? Could not they have raised anti-India slogans? There is a difference between nationalism and separatism, he said.
Manhas said the same was true for Ladakh region.
To stress his point that only handful of people are influenced by separatists, he said 61 per cent of people voted in elections, which proves they have faith in democracy.
Insisting that locals in the Valley would have to fight the menace, Manhas said, What is the reason behind turmoil?
We should go into reasons.
Talking about the incidents of stone-pelting, the BJP leader wanted to know from where stones come and who provides them to youth. He said huge amount is spent on stone pelting.
He said the Modi government had taken a number of initiatives over the last two years, including announcement of a package of Rs 80,000 crore and decisions to set up institutions like AIIMS, IIT, IIM.
Entire Kashmir is not in turmoil. You have Gujjars ... they are living peacefully. Separatists are creating entire turmoil. ... handful of people are working on behest of separatists. Kashmir is not burning, he said.
He said Modi is following former Prime Minister Vajpayees path for development of Kashmir.
Every effort is made for development of J&K. Our government is constantly on the job, he said.
He also questioned Azad as to why people who came from West Pakistan in 1947 have not been given citizenship of India even though Congress ruled the country for nearly 55 years.
The BJP member called upon political parties to sit together and find a solution to the problem. PTI
Mumbai, August 9
Controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik has been indicted by the Mumbai police that found him to be allegedly involved in unlawful activities with possible terror links, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said today.
Fadnavis said a watertight case was being prepared against the Islamic televangelist, whose organisation Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) is also under the scanner, and efforts would be made to extradite him. Naik is currently abroad.
The Mumbai police, tasked with probing his alleged provocative speeches, submitted its report to the state government today.
The police were asked to probe Naiks speeches available online to see if any of them could have encouraged youths to join terrorist groups amid reports that his preachings inspired some of those involved in the Dhaka terror strike.
The report has made observations about him (Naik) making (critical) comments on other religion and belittling theman action that would cause disharmony in society. The report also has details of countries that have banned him or his organisations.
The government is examining the report that has several aspects that are in the domain of the Centre, Fadnavis told reporters here.
The report would be sent to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and further action would be taken as per its guidance, said Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio.
There are many revelations in the report about illegal and unlawful activities (allegedly involving Naik and IRF) and activities which are not in the interest of the nation.
The report has shed light on aspects like his relation with Firoz Deshmukh (a terror accused). It also talks about its links with the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (a front of Pak-based terror outfit LeT) and the Indian Mujahedeen and other activities that are illegal, he said.
Fadnavis said the police department had given proofs against the 50-year-old Mumbai-based physician-turned-preacher. PTI
Tribune News Service
Lucknow, August 10
Refusing to buy the UP Governments version on the Bulandshahr gang rape incident, the Allahabad High Court today directed the state government to file a status report on the case by 2 pm tomorrow.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice DB Bhonsle and Justice Yashwant Verma today attached another petition demanding a CBI probe into the matter filed by NGO We the People being heard by the Lucknow Bench of the High Court to the suo motu case being heard by it.
Advocate General Vijay Bahadur Singh said there was no laxity in solving the case hence there was no valid ground for ordering a CBI probe.
However, the counsel for the petitioner countered the argument by presenting a supplementary affidavit listing several equally heinous crimes committed in Bulandshahr recently, showing a pattern of rising crime.
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 10
Claiming to be trapped amid pro-Pakistan elements, who were forcing them to join anti-India protests or face death, Sikhs in 39 villages of Kashmir have appealed to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Sikh organisations to rescue them.
The families told The Tribune that they had been living in fear in the wake of killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani for over a month now. They claimed they could not move out of the houses and the state police and the Army had also not come to their aid. The villages with thick Indian population were Shomay, Chatragam, Monghama, Town Tral (where Wani was killed) and others in the Pulwama district.
They said for over a month Pakistani flags were fluttering in villages and on mobile towers. The matter has been taken up by the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) and the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), but so far the security forces have not reach the families.
SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar reportedly spoke to Ahmed Shah Geelani, Kashmir separatist leader, after which the Sikhs were spared from participating in a rally few days ago in protest against Wanis killing.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa, general secretary, DSGMC, has sought immediate attention of the Union Home Minister on the matter. In a letter to Rajnath, Sirsa has highlighted the plight of the Sikh families in Kashmir.
He said the Sikhs in 39 villages had told him that they were the only pro-India population left there. Sirsa said the Sikhs were forced to raise pro-Pakistan slogans to save their women relatives. He claimed that pro-Pakistan elements had pasted posters outside their houses saying there was no place for pro-India people in the Valley.
Sirsa has even given details of some of the suffering families and the kind of slogans raised against them and India in the Valley. He asked the Home Minister to rush forces in the villages and save the families.
Sirsa, general secretary of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee and advisor toDeputy Chief Minister, Punjab, in a letter to the Union Home Minister has given details of the alleged horror in which Sikh families were living.
He said: Following long protests and shutdown in Kashmir, the Sikhs in 39 villages had told me that they were the only pro-India people left there.
Give them minority status, says Bajwa
Chandigarh: Rajya Sabha member and former Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa on Wednesday demanded minority status for Sikhs and special status for Punjabi language in Jammu and Kashmir. Participating in a special discussion on Kashmir in the Rajya Sabha, he reminded the House that the Sikhs did not migrate from Kashmir even after the Chirtti Singhpura massacre in which 35 members of the community were gunned down. About 1.25 lakh Sikhs spread across 70 villages live in the Valley while their population was about 2 lakh in the Jammu region. Bajwa said Punjabi was spoken by almost all Kashmiri leaders, including Karan Singh, Farooq Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad. He recalled that Punjab was a victim of terrorism for 15 years during which about 33,000 persons lost their lives, 90 per cent of them being Sikhs.
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 10
Ludhiana Member of Parliament Ravneet Singh Bittu asked the central government on Wednesday to ensure peace in Punjab.
Speaking during Zero Hour in Lok Sabha, Bittu cited repeated desecrations of Guru Granth Sahib and Quran and also recent attack on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Brig (retd) Jagdish Gagneja to buttress his argument on deteriorating law and order situation in the state.
The acts of violence and attempts to fan trouble have been puzzling, the Parliamentarian said, asking for additional paramilitary forces in the state.
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 10
To exploit the religious sentiments after the sacrilege incidents, certain radical groups based in the US, Canada, Italy and Germany have recruited and funded youths to carry out specific attacks in Punjab.
This startling revelation came to light with the busting of two terror modules, one in Hoshiarpur and another in Jalandhar. Two NRIs Harjap Singh from the US and Avtar Singh from Italy, both belonging to Chabbewal and Bullowal, respectively, in Hoshiarpur allegedly carried out the recruitment in the last several months.
The Punjab Police have alerted Interpol to declare them wanted. On target of the modules were persons accused of sacrilege and some leaders of organisations such as the RSS. The fresh recruits have allegedly bought weapons from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh.
One of the modules is under investigation on the suspicion of attacking RSS leader Brig Jagdish Gagneja (retd). A youth from Jalandhar, identified as Pali, is among the recruits. He was paid around Rs1 lakh via foreign funding. He is in the custody of the Jalandhar police. A .32 bore gun has been recovered from him. The police are matching his description with the suspects caught in two CCTVs.
The counter-Intelligence wing of the state police carried out the operation. Officials said the accused in Hoshiarpur were about to attack a person accused of sacrilege in Adampur in few days.
They claimed the groups were operating at the behest and active support of the Pakistan-based ISI. The Hoshiarpur module was of five persons. The police have arrested Jaspreet Singh, Hardeep Singh and Kuldeep Singh, all alleged members of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF).
Two other fresh recruits, Bikramjit Singh and Balwinder Singh, are on the run. They are reported to be members of the banned KLF.
Lok Nath Angra, IG-Zone-II, Jalandhar, said: The arrested youths are in the age group of 21-23. They did not study beyond class 12. The two NRIs were in touch with them and managed to exploit their religious sentiments to carry out attacks.
Hoshiarpur SSP Kuldeep Singh said the accused were being questioned. DSP Harminder Singh Khalon said three pistols and some cartridges had been seized.
Intelligence officials say one of the groups accused of funding the youths was in the forefront of the protest against the visit of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to the US and state Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh to Canada recently.
The intelligence wing had alerted the Ludhiana police about the possible attack on a woman, Balwinder Kaur, accused of sacrilege. She was killed on July 26. It has also come to light that some persons sympathetic to radicals had held a meeting in Ahmedgarh before the attack where the task was given to a volunteer. Accused Gurpreet Singh Jaggowal and Nihal Singh later surrendered before the police.
(with Sanjeev Kumar Bakshi in Hoshiarpur)
PK Jaiswar/Gurbax Puri
Tribune News Service
Tarn Taran, August 10
A notorious gangster was shot dead, reportedly by a rival gang, near Pandor Gola village in Tarn Taran on Tuesday night.
Dilbagh Singh alias Lambu, 30, who hailed from Patti but had shifted to Jogewal village in Jandiala Guru, had recently come out of the Patti jail on bail in a murder case.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
The assault also left one man injured, who was rushed to an Amritsar hospital.
Senior police officials, including DIG Border range AK Mittal visited the spot. Around 100 shots were fired that pierced Dilbaghs body and the SUV in which he was travelling.
SSP Manmohan Singh did not respond to the repeated calls. SP (D) Jagmohan Singh said investigations were under way and no one had lodged a complaint. He said the police were about to register an FIR. He said they were trying to establish the ownership of the vehicle. The initial investigation showed that Dilbagh was kidnapped before being shot at in a gang war, he added.
The police suspect that rival gang member Ravinder alias Shooter and his accomplices had killed Dilbagh.
Sources said the members of the Sonu Kangla and Bichhu gangs were involved in gang war. The incident led to panic in the area.
Ruchika M Khanna
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 10
The Punjab Government is now wooing the urban masses, especially the sagging industry. From allowing country homes in the lush greens of villages to the conversion policy in industrial estates and focal points; and from lowering power tariff on existing small and medium industry to 50 per cent exemption on stamp duty for conveyance deeds, the Cabinet meeting that took place under Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal tonight was clearly aimed at wooing the urban voters by its sop culture.
Among the most important decisions were the go-ahead for a conversion policy allowing plot holders in industrial estates and focal points to convert the land for residential, retail and institutional use; and a new policy allowing for country homes to be built by the states elite amid verdant green fields.
Under the policy, any developer having minimum 30 acres of land in rural areas can now build and sell farm houses, having a minimum area of one acre and a maximum of 2.5 acres. These farmhouses will have to be built as per the green building norms, having water harvesting structures and accommodating low density habitation (35 people to an acre). Official sources in the Housing Department, which had brought the policy for Cabinet approval today, said considering the high inventory available with realtors in Punjab and the demand for high-end farmhouses on the lines of Sainik Farms in Delhi, the new policy had been prepared. The developer will be allowed to construct swimming pools. The cap on saleable area has been kept at 65 per cent. This is the first time that licences will be granted for building farmhouses. The government expects the concept to pick up in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Patiala.
The conversion policy was also brought in by the Housing Department. Only plots located at a distance of 100 m from red industries will be allowed for conversion. The conversion charges to the tune of 25 per cent of collector rate for residential use minus collector rate for industrial use, whichever is more, would be applicable in case of hotels and hospitals.
In case of residential flats, the collector rate of residential use minus the collector rate of Industrial use would be applicable. Two-third of the collector rate of commercial use minus the collector rate for industrial use would be applicable in case of commercial use to determine the conversion charges.
One-tenth of the collector rate of residential use minus the collector rate for industrial use would be applicable in case of institutional buildings.
Chandigarh/Hoshiarpur, August 10
In a major swoop ahead of Independence Day, security agencies and Punjab Police have busted a Khalistani terror module with links to NRIs and Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The module was busted in Hoshiarpur district.
Punjab Police have arrested three suspects, all linked to the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), and booked two NRIs on charges of trying to revive terrorism in Punjab. The case has been registered at Chhabewal police station, 10 km from Hoshiarpur.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
In a joint operation, central security agencies and Punjab Police recovered three pistols, ammunition and explosives and nearly 15 bullet-proof jackets from their hideout.
The terror suspects are from the KLF--an insurgent group which was part of the separatist Khalistan movement in Punjab in the 1980s.
The NRIs booked are US-based Harjap Singh Japi, who is linked to radical Sikh organisation in the US--Sikhs for Justice--and Italy-based Avtar Singh. Both NRIs hail from Hoshiarpur district.
Police sources told IANS that further investigations were in on and some other people had been taken in custody and were being interrogated. The module is also being linked to terror and separatist outfits in the neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir.
We are trying to find out if this module had any plans to carry out a strike on or around Independence Day, a senior police officer said.
Punjab Police Inspector General Loknath Angra confirmed the arrests and busting of the terror module.
The module was busted following inputs from security agencies, based on phone call intercepts coming to some people at Handowal village in Hoshiarpur district.
The calls used to be made to one Jaspreet Singh of Handowal village, who was a gatka teacher in a gurdwara at Chhakowal Shiekhan. Avtar Singh (from Italy) met Jaspreet at the gurdwara on October 11, 2015. Avtar returned to Italy in June this year and used to call Jaspreet.
Avtar and Harjap Singh, who is based in the US, were in touch with Jaspreet and motivated him to revive the Khalistan movement in Punjab. They even sent him money, religious literature and T-shirts. Jaspreet roped in two more youths, Hardeep Singh and Kuldip Singh, for the purpose, an investigating officer told IANS.
After tracking their activities for a few days, Punjab Police and central agencies took Jaspreet and Hardeep in custody. Kuldip was taken in custody based on the questioning of these youths.
The conspiracy was unearthed earlier this month and the case registered on August 6, police officials said. The suspects have been booked under various sections of the Arms Act, IPC and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
The names of at least four other Khalistan sympathisers have been revealed, who are part of this module. These people were trying to collect explosives and ammunition. Investigations are in progress, sources said.
Besides the three KLF activists and two NRIs, the other names mentioned in the FIR are Vikramjit Singh and Balwinder Singh of Gurdaspur district.
Police sources said the suspects had revealed during interrogation that the weapons and bullet-proof jackets had been brought from Pakistan via the border belt in Tarn Taran district. IANS
Vishav Bharti
Tribune News Service
Nara (Hoshiarpur), August 10
Mehal Singh of Kotli Khas village is requesting the police to let him meet Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal once. Along with 20 fellow villagers, he wants to bring his villages multi-crore Cooperative Bank scam to the knowledge of the CM. In the past less than a month, it is for the second time when this sangat has tried for the CMs darshan. Earlier, they met him at Beenewal on July 20, but nothing happened.
Inside the hall, raj nahi sewa reads the huge hoarding in the backdrop with the CM sitting on his red royal chair. The rows have been earmarked for panchayats. There is no other state where you will find such a programme. Works for which you have to shuttle from one office to the other are done within an hour here, the Punjabs octogenarian CM addresses briefly the panchayats of 10 villages of Hoshiarpur near Nara village. It is 11 am and this address kicks off the second Sangat Darshan programme of the day.
Looking at Mehal Singhs enthusiasm, more people gather around him. The common demand here is the CMs darshan. If a small group identifies themselves as unemployed multi-purpose health workers, another group of youngsters from Nara village is a bit hesitant to tell the CM that the panchayat do not allow them to play on the village playground.
If youngsters will not have a place to play, they will certainly take to drugs, a young Sukhbir Singh says. Vandana Devi is in tears and says she was duped of Rs8 lakh, but the police favoured the accused. Gurmail Singh of village Chak is carrying a pile of revenue records to support his contention of how the local patwari duped him. Harbhajan Lal from Chak village is carrying his 12-year-old mentally challenged daughter with a hope that the government will come to his rescue.
Outside the hall, the sangat is swelling. The local police in civil dress are getting a little jittery. They hurriedly start collecting applications and passing them on to their seniors, who assure the people that action will be taken. Please let us meet the Chief Minister once, Mehal Singh requests police officials. Charanjit Singh, a young IPS officer, who identifies himself as part of the Chief Ministers security, once again assures the villagers of prompt action on their complaints. Thus, most of the sangat is managed by the police at their own level.
Mehal Singh, meanwhile, gives police the slip. Along with members of a panchayat, he intrudes into the inner circle and appears before the CM and narrates his tale of woes. The CM directs the SSP to register a case against the accused. SSP sahib ji, the Deputy Commissioner calls from the public address system. Mehal Singh is then one-to-one with the SSP. He walks out of the hall with the hope that he will get some relief.
The electronic media is meanwhile busy with panchayats asking them to pose with cheques and say something positive about the government.
One after another panchayats start getting an audience with the CM. Shelter for cremation grounds, pakkian galiyan, funds for mahila mandals, gym kits, there are some of the common demands. Deputy Commissioner Anandita Mitra in her mixed Punjabi accent asks panchayats to list one or two important demands and then offers prompt solution to each problem. Cheques worth lakhs of rupees are being signed and distributed on the spot.
The next panchayat turns up. Aao ji aao, ki sewa kariyae, Badal asks. The demands are almost identical to the previous ones. The cheques are signed instantly.
Ram Lobhaya, a tailor master from Nara village, tells his both sons are well educated but they dont have jobs. Aaj kal padhe-likhyan nu naukriyan kitthe mildiyan, he says. He doesnt have any demand. He is here just for the CMs darshan. Is there any benefit of Sangat Dasrhan, we ask him. Kehnde ne votaan painiyaan agle saal, tahin aaya Chief Minister, he replies in sheer innocence.
The following telegram which His Most Gracious Imperial Majesty the King-Emperor has been pleased to address to the Maharaja of Patiala in response to the message of the Sikh gathering at the Patiala War Anniversary celebration, will be read with gratification not only by the Sikhs themselves but by all classes of the people in this Province. His Majestys gracious telegram is as follows:-- Your Highness' telegram of the 5th August conveying the stirring message form yourself and the great Sikh nation has impressed me deeply. It is a further proof of the loyal and gallant spirit which the Khalsa have invariably displayed in battle and in times of stress and danger. This noble spirit has never risen so high as in the wide flung battle fronts of this great war. I thank you all for your touching expressions of devotion to your King-Emperor and for the sacrifices you have already made.
Ajay Ramola
Tribune News Service
Mussoorie, August 10
Tibetan-American fitness freak Lopsang Dokpatsang will visit his alma mater Wynberg Allen School in Mussoorie on Thursday and Friday to interact with students for creating awareness towards fitness.
Dokpatsang, an acclaimed nutritionist and film artiste, has held the title of Mr New York thrice (1992, 1998 and 2001). He is in India for Quality World Health Nutrition Tour. He holds the distinction of working for the Dalai Lama as a body guard on a few occasions. He is a US citizen. He has represented Nepal in the SAF Games on the insistence of the then prince of Nepal, who was his friend.
I am in New Delhi and looking forward to visit the school in Mussoorie where I spent my formative years. It is after 30 years that I am going to visit the school. I am curious to see the changes the school has undergone over the years, he said.
He will share his experience of becoming Mr New York with the students. Lobsang has also acted in a few Bollywood films, namely Qayamat with Ajay Devgan, Talaash with Akshay Kumar, and Janasheen with Feroz Khan. He will be playing the lead role in a film titled The New York Police Officer and Monk. The English movie will also be available in Tibetan and Hindi and will be released by the end of this year. Dokpatsang plays a cop from New York who comes to India for spiritual healing and his life changes after meeting a monk.
I am blessed with multiple identities. I am a Tibetan born in India (Darjeeling) and studied in Mussoorie, he says.
Another reason behind his India visit is to inspire the youth of the country, especially Tibetans, and help them with his expertise as per the directions of the Dalai Lama, he says.
Dokpatsang is the first Asian to win the Mr New York bodybuilding competition against all odds as he was rebuffed in the beginning by many who said that no Asian can have a body like those who were competing. It was after such comments he resolved to train and compete in the completion to win it three times.
I had to leave for the USA before completing my 10th grade to study in New York University film School where I met many Hollywood film stars such as Richard Gere, he says.
Students of Wynberg Allen School are eager to meet him.
New Delhi, August 10
The National Green Tribunal (NGT), in a bid to expedite cleaning of the Ganga, today directed the Uttarakhand government to demarcate flood plains of the river from Gaumukh to Roorkee in the state and submit a compliance report.
A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, which favoured a strict timeline for the demarcation of flood plains in the state, also sought a report on the total number of hotels in this stretch from the Harish Rawat government.
A flood plain is an area of land adjacent to a stream or a river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.
The NGT allowed the state government to seek the assistance of the Roorkee-based National Institute of Hydrology for identification of flood plains.
The state government shall inform the tribunal whether cities, including Haridwar, Rishikesh, Joshimath and Roorkee, located on the stretch from Gaumukh to Roorkee have installed sewage treatment plants or not, the Bench, also comprising Justice M S Nambiar, said.
The order came after the state government informed the NGT that it has not been able to finalise a detailed flood plain map and sought one year to complete the exercise.
The tribunal has now posted the matter for hearing on October 20. It had earlier directed the National Mission for Clean Ganga, the implementing wing for rejuvenation of the river, to apprise it about the expenditure details of the Rs 20,000 crore budget granted to it for cleaning and protection of the Ganga.
It had also issued notices to the Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal governments to explain how they proposed to deal with the pollution caused in the river that flows through their jurisdictions and submit action plans in this regard.
The NGT has divided the work of cleaning the river in different segmentsGaumukh to Haridwar, Haridwar to Kanpur, Kanpur to border of Uttar Pradesh, border of Uttar Pradesh to border of Jharkhand and border of Jharkhand to Bay of Bengal.
On December 11 last year, the tribunal had imposed a complete ban on the use of polythene bags and plastic of any kind from Gaumukh to Haridwar along the river from February 1 and decided to slap a penalty of Rs 5,000 per day on erring hotels, dharamshalas and ashrams discharging waste into the river.PTI
Tribune News Service
Dehradun, August 10
Twenty seven students from various universities of the United Kingdom (UK) met Governor KK Paul at Raj Bhavan here today. They are here on a two-week course on Health and well-being: the theory and practice of yoga organised by Doon University. The course, organised as part of the British Council programme, enables students to know about the Indian culture, especially yoga and spiritualism.
The Governor discussed yoga and other cultural aspects with them. The students told the Governor that their keen interest in learning yoga had brought them to Uttarakhand. They were part of the audience at lecture sessions on the third day of the toppers conclave at Raj Bhavan today.
The Governor presented the students with mementos. Doon University Vice-Chancellor VK Jain, Registrar BM Harbola and British Council Assistant Director Himanshu Mittal were present.
BD Kasniyal
Pithoragarh, August 10
Zainab Fatima, a Muslim student who topped the MA (Sanskrit) final examination of Kumaon university, wants to do research in the Vedas and share their wisdom and knowledge with her community members. She says the secrets of life are hidden in the Vedas. When we can study English in India, why not Sanskrit?, asks Fatima, a resident of Jaspur town of Udham Singh Nagar district.
Fatima says she started studying Sanskrit from Class VI though no body knew the language in her area. Sometimes, she had to face sharp queries from her relatives for taking up Sanskrit as a subject. My father always supported me and encouraged me to study the language. It is because of his support that I have topped the MA (Sanskrit) exams in Kumaon University the results of which were declared on Wednesday, adds Fatima.
Her relatives also discouraged her from studying beyond intermediate. She had to leave regular study and pursue education as a private student. However, her father Shamshad Husain, who runs a shop of repairing pressure cookers and stoves in the Kashipur market, encouraged her to pursue studies.
Fatima has also qualified C-TET and U-TET after B.Ed. At present she is teaching in a school in Jaspur town. Teachers who guided her say she is a brilliant student and though she was appearing as a private student she always remained in touch with her guides. She is a brilliant student and will excel further in Sankrit studies. She wishes to do Ph.d in Sanskrit. I hope she understands the rhythm of the Vedas and share their wisdom and knowledge with the community around her, says Dr Vinay Vidhayalankar, teacher of Sanskrit at MB PG College at Haldwani.
Brasilia, August 10
Brazil's Senate voted early on Wednesday to indict President Dilma Rousseff on charges of breaking budget laws and put her on trial in an impeachment process that has stalled Brazilian politics since January.
With the eyes of the world on the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, senators in the capital Brasilia voted 59-21 against the suspended Leftist leader in a raucous, 20-hour session presided over by Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski.
A conviction would definitively remove Rousseff from office, ending 13 years of Leftist rule by her Workers Party, and confirm that interim President Michel Temer will serve out the rest of her term through 2018.
Rousseff's opponents needed only a simple majority in the 81-seat Senate to put her on trial for manipulating government accounts and spending without congressional approval, which they say helped her win re-election in 2014.
A verdict is expected at the end of the month and will need the votes of two-thirds of the Senate to convict Rousseff, five votes less than her opponents mustered on Wednesday. The vote showed the movement to oust Rousseff has gained strength in the Senate, which had voted 55-22 in May to take up the impeachment proceedings initiated in the lower house in December. It also looked like game over for Rousseff who lost crucial ground instead of winning over more senators.
Temer has urged senators to wrap up the trial quickly so he can move ahead with a plan to cap public spending, reform an overly generous pension system and restore confidence in government finances. Reuters
Dhaka, August 10
In a relief to Bangladesh's former premier and opposition leader Khaleda Zia, a court today granted her bail in nine cases, including one for sedition and others for a deadly transport blockade.
Metropolitan Sessions Judge Kamrul Hossain Mollah granted Zia bail in the sedition case filed by a Supreme Court lawyer over her remarks against liberation war martyrs.
Speaking at a discussion on December 21 last year, 70-year-old Zia had "expressed doubts" about the casualty figures of the 1971 liberation war with Pakistan.
Zia's BNP is a crucial ally of fundamentalist Jamaat-e- Islami, which was opposed to Bangladesh''s independence from Pakistan.
The ruling Awami League, 1971 veterans and members of the martyred families had sharply reacted to Zia's comments with some of them even calling her as the "agent of Pakistan".
The court came up with the bail order after Zia surrendered before it seeking bail in the case. The court also granted bail to Zia in eight arson attack cases filed with Draussalam Police Station. PTI
Washington, August 10
The defamation Bill passed by the Maldivian Parliament is a serious setback for freedom of expression in the country, the US has said.
The Maldives Parliament passed the Bill that criminalises defamation yesterday despite US-led international concern that it risked undermining basic freedoms in the country.
The defamation bill passed by the Maldivian parliament today is a serious setback for freedom of expression in the country, State Department Spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau said yesterday.
When the bill was first introduced to parliament about two weeks ago, the American embassy in Colombo, had jointly with five diplomatic partners, released a statement voicing concern about the erosion of fundamental freedoms and the institutions of democracy in Maldives, including freedom of assembly and press.
The United States values freedom of expression as a key component of democratic governance. Democratic societies are not infallible, but they are accountable, and a free exchange of ideas is the foundation for accountability, Trudeau said.
We continue to express our support for all Maldivians struggling to preserve their hard won democratic institutions and rights, she said.
Earlier, the Maldivian journalists groups had also said that the bill would have a direct negative impact on the media.
The bill is a threat to constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression and freedom of press, the groups had said.
They have asked that the bill be amended to not give courts of law the authority to formulate the policies and regulation on how media should cover reports and rulings issued by courts and tribunals, they said.
Other amendments suggested include exclusion of articles related to national security, religious education and religious sermons and allowing the regulating body to investigate defamation cases against media personnel, prior to taking the cases to court.
The ruling party has defended the bill, saying it will not be withdrawn and that it was not a threat to anyone except journalists who fabricate stories.
After decades of autocratic rule, Maldives became a multiparty democracy in 2008.
However, President Yameen Abdul Gayoom is accused of reversing the democratic gains by misusing courts, police and the bureaucracy to silence dissent.
Street protests are banned in the country and people who post criticise government on social media are arrested.
Former president Mohamed Nasheed who travelled to the Britain on a medical leave from prison earlier this year has been given asylum by the UK.
Nasheed has also formed a united opposition front with other leaders in exile and supporters of those imprisoned to force Gayoom to resign. PTI
By Peter Hammarstedt on 9 August 2016 for Sea Shepherd Global -
Image above: A 2006 photo of the Sea Shepherd ship "Bob Barker". From ( http://teakdoor.com/world-news/115479-japan-wont-go-awhaling-year-cant-6.html ).
.
SUBHEAD: In partnership with marines from Gabon the Sea Shepherd boarded and commandeered boat with illegal catch.On the 6th of August, the Spanish long-line fishing vessel Alemar Primero was boarded in waters belonging to the Central African island state of Sao Tome and Principe by Sao Tomean authorities, assisted by Sea Shepherd crew and law enforcement officers from Gabon.Although the long-liner was licensed to fish for 'tuna and similar species' inspections revealed that their fish holds were filled with sharks, predominately blue sharks that are classified as 'near-threatened' by the IUCN.Many of the shark's fins had already been detached from their bodies, a suspected violation of the European Union Finning Ban (1185/2003) and its amendment (605/2013), which requires sharks to be landed with their Fins Naturally Attached (FNA).Sao Tomean authorities ordered the long-liner to retrieve their fishing gear, release their catch and proceed to Sao Tome for investigation. With four marines remaining on board for security, the long-liner was escorted to Sao Tome by the Sea Shepherd vessel M/Y Bob Barker.On the 7th of August, the Alemar Primero arrived in the fishing village of Neves where it will remain, pending investigations, while the M/Y Bob Barker resumes patrols.Since April 2016, under the name Operation Albacore, Sea Shepherd has been assisting the Government of Gabon to tackle Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing by providing the use of the M/Y Bob Barker as a civilian offshore patrol vessel operating in Gabonese waters, under the direction of the Gabonese Government.In August Sao Tome and Principe partnered with Operation Albacore, sending two marines and one fisheries observer from Sao Tome to join Sea Shepherd crew, Gabonese marines and Gabonese fisheries enforcement officers on board the M/Y Bob Barker, to further detect and deter IUU fishing in the Gulf of Guinea.
HONG KONG, August 10
Vietnam has discreetly fortified several of its islands in the disputed South China Sea with mobile rocket launchers capable of striking China's runways and military installations across the vital trade route, according to Western officials.
Diplomats and military officers said that intelligence shows Hanoi has shipped the launchers from the Vietnamese mainland into position on five bases in the Spratly islands in recent months, a move likely to raise tensions with Beijing.
The launchers have been hidden from aerial surveillance and they have yet to be armed, but could be made operational with rocket artillery rounds within two or three days, according to the three sources.
Vietnam's Foreign Ministry said the information was "inaccurate", without elaborating.
Deputy Defence Minister, Senior Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh, said in Singapore in June that Hanoi had no such launchers or weapons ready in the Spratlys but reserved the right to take any such measures.
"It is within our legitimate right to self-defence to move any of our weapons to any area at any time within our sovereign territory," he said.
The move is designed to counter China's build-up on its seven reclaimed islands in the Spratlys archipelago.
Vietnam's military strategists fear the building runways, radars and other military installations on those holdings have left Vietnam's southern and island defences increasingly vulnerable.
Military analysts say it is the most significant defensive move Vietnam has made on its holdings in the South China Sea in decades.
Hanoi wanted to have the launchers in place as it expected tensions to rise in the wake of the landmark international court ruling against China in an arbitration case brought by the Philippines, foreign envoys said.
The ruling last month, stridently rejected by Beijing, found no legal basis to China's sweeping historic claims to much of the South China Sea.
Vietnam, China and Taiwan claim all of the Spratlys while the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei claim some of the area.
"China has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly islands and nearby waters," China's Foreign Ministry said in a faxed statement on Wednesday. "China resolutely opposes the relevant country illegally occupying parts of China's Spratly islands and reefs and on these illegally occupied Spratly islands and reefs belonging to China carrying out illegal construction and military deployments."
The United States is also monitoring developments closely.
"We continue to call on all South China Sea claimants to avoid actions that raise tensions, take practical steps to build confidence, and intensify efforts to find peaceful, diplomatic solutions to disputes," a State Department official said.
State-of-the-art system
Foreign officials and military analysts believe the launchers form part of Vietnam's state-of-art EXTRA rocket artillery system recently acquired from Israel.
EXTRA rounds are highly accurate up to a range of 150 km (93 miles), with different 150 kg (330 lb) warheads that can carry high explosives or bomblets to attack multiple targets simultaneously. Operated with targeting drones, they could strike both ships and land targets.
That puts China's 3,000-metre runways and installations on Subi, Fiery Cross and Mischief Reef within range of many of Vietnam's tightly clustered holdings on 21 islands and reefs.
While Vietnam has larger and longer-range Russian coastal defence missiles, the EXTRA is considered highly mobile and effective against amphibious landings. It uses compact radars, so does not require a large operational footprint also suitable for deployment on islets and reefs.
"When Vietnam acquired the EXTRA system, it was always thought that it would be deployed on the Spratlys...it is the perfect weapon for that," said Siemon Wezeman, a senior arms researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
There is no sign the launchers have been recently test fired or moved.
China took its first Spratlys possessions after a sea battle against Vietnam's then weak navy in 1988. After the battle, Vietnam said 64 soldiers with little protection were killed as they tried to protect a flag on South Johnson reef an incident still acutely felt in Hanoi.
In recent years, Vietnam has significantly improved its naval capabilities as part of a broader military modernisation, including buying six advanced Kilo submarines from Russia.
Carl Thayer, an expert on Vietnam's military at the Australian Defence Force Academy, said the deployment showed the seriousness of Vietnam's determination to militarily deter China as far as possible.
"China's runways and military installations in the Spratlys are a direct challenge to Vietnam, particularly in their southern waters and skies, and they are showing they are prepared to respond to that threat," he said. "China is unlikely to see this as purely defensive, and it could mark a new stage of militarisation of the Spratlys."
Trevor Hollingsbee, a former naval intelligence analyst with the British defence ministry, said he believed the deployment also had a political factor, partly undermining the fear created by the prospect of large Chinese bases deep in maritime Southeast Asia.
"It introduces a potential vulnerability where they was none before it is a sudden new complication in an arena that China was dominating," he said. Reuters
Stop the GATE madness
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
August 10, 2016
The recent policy decision by the People's National Movement Government to revamp the Government Assistance for Tertiary Expenses (GATE) programme is indeed a most welcomed and long overdue move.
The fact of the matter is that adult citizens of this country both under and over 50 years of age have been abusing and dismembering this State funded programme for years.
As someone who has been involved in tertiary education in the country for over ten years, I can provide prima facie evidence/proof of that afore-mentioned conclusion. The stark reality is that as per my grade report sheets of many years, the record shows/reveals that there were some students who had taken my course titled "Caribbean Studies" once, twice and even three times, period.
Sometimes, I wondered why students even venture to turn up and sit the final exam. Their answer(s) was/were a total disaster and as their lecturer, I had to endure the pain of grading their supreme nonsense. I had NO other choice but to suffer peacefully through that exercise.
The stark reality is that Trinbagonians both under and over 50 years of age are and have been spoiled/accustomed to too much freeness from the State, period. This writer is firmly convinced that if those students who repeatedly failed my course had to pay out of their own pockets, as in salary, every time there is a repeat; or in other words, if the tuition cost was immediately deducted from their salary, then, none of that repeat free nonsense would exist.
As long as the money does not and did not affect, as in lessen, their personal disposable income, these Trinbagonians both under and over 50 years of age just did not care, period.
In addition, this writer would feel safe in guesstimating that over 85 per cent or more of these 'lucky' students do not come from households whose monthly income lies between $10,000 to $20,000. These are NOT poor student/people. They are NOT among the "least of these" in our society. That must be clearly understood. They are NOT among the "have-nots" in our society. They are the "haves."
These 'lucky' students are well-paid public servants, teachers, law enforcement employees, private sector employees, etc. They are NOT catching hell, 24-7-365, period. They are de jure members of the middle-class, well-off people. And to prove/validate this factual reality, this writer is publicly advising the Minister of Education that when the tertiary education semester starts in early September 2016, that he should send internal auditors/advisors to monitor and count the exact number of cars in the parking lot, for example, of Cipriani College of Labour and Continuing Studies, between 7 p.m. - 8 p.m. when these 'lucky' students are in class. The same must be done at other tertiary educational institutions who receive taxpayers money via GATE. Enough is enough. This Trinbago academic tertiary chupidness, as in madness, must stop NOW, period.
The stark reality is that 95.99 per cent of students, as in adults, both under and over 50 years of age in tertiary education DRIVE to attend class after leaving their full-time, well-paid job. That's a fact. This writer would not dare to indicate the model of car these students/adults drive, except to emphasize that they are NOT a poor person's vehicle, period.
The fact of the matter is that NO employee in the URP, CEPEP or OJT State-sponsored/funded programmes could afford to drive the cars these 'lucky' students/adults driveat least per legal means.
At this juncture, I would like to sincerely "thank" all of those students who voluntarily gave me a ride either into Port-of-Spain to catch a taxi to get home or who dropped me off in my front door after class. "Thank you."
However, the time has finally come for everyone to bite the harsh economic bullet. Reality check is on, big time. This tertiary education freeness must stop and it must stop NOW, period.
Now is the time for all Trinbagonians to clearly understand/realize that when the GATE programme was introduced by the then Patrick Manning (may he rest in eternal peace) government in 2004, money was no problem. Today, however, money is the problem. Ipso facto, revamping GATE is the only solution, period.
Indeed, this writer must hasten to bring to the fore that Trinbagonians both under and over 50 years of age are more than willing to pay from their salary $3,000 to $5,000 and counting to buy a bikini-clad costume to wear on carnival days. Why, because they have got the additional expendable disposable income by not paying for their tertiary education. Let the government pick up the slack. Now, because of the global financial/economic hard, albeit uncertain times, this same government is forced to say to the citizens of this country: "My fellow citizens, we all must pick up the slack." That's it. No more mass in yuh mass!
As usual, Trinbagonians would rank and rage (and some will agree) at and with this new policy decision but as the academic dust clears, everyone would come to the sane conclusion that revamping the GATE program was indeed necessary/vital to maximize the public good and the public purse.
In the final analysis, the public policy decision to revamp the GATE programme was the modus operandi of "government of the people, by the people and for the people" at its zenith.
Shem Hotep ("I go in Peace").
Share your views here...
[August 09, 2016] NetComm Wireless Launches New R&D Facility in the US
SYDNEY, Aug. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NetComm Wireless Limited (ASX: NTC), a leading global developer of data communications technologies, today announced that it has established its first research and development (R&D) facility outside of Australia with the launch of its new R&D centre in Sunrise, Florida, United States. The establishment of this new R&D centre is a natural extension of NetComm Wireless' commitment to the US market, particularly in light of the Company's announcement of a major contract win within the US in respect of its fixed wireless business. The facility currently employs two teams of approximately 30 experienced software, hardware and radio frequency (RF) engineers. The selection of the Sunrise area in Florida became an obvious choice. It is a significant technology hub attracting a substantial number of multinational technology based companies and has a large pool of talented telecommuniations engineers.
"NetComm Wireless has experienced tremendous growth in recent years and we will continue to invest in the R&D resources needed to accelerate the expansion of our business in the US and globally. Our new R&D centre will allow us to meet the specific needs of our US based customers and partners, while strengthening our product design, development and testing capabilities," said David Stewart, CEO and Managing Director, NetComm Wireless. The Company has also announced the expansion of its R&D facilities in Sydney and Melbourne.
NetComm Wireless is exhibiting at CTIA Super Mobility 2016 from 7-9 September, 2016. Book a meeting and visit stand 5152 to find out more about NetComm Wireless' latest 3G/4G LTE M2M, Fixed Wireless and Fibre to the distribution point (FTTdp) technologies. Enquiries to: NetComm Wireless Communications
Phone: +61-2-9424-2000 or email: [email protected] About NetComm Wireless NetComm Wireless Limited (ASX: NTC) is a leading developer of Fixed Wireless broadband, wireless Machine-to-Machine (M2M)/Industrial IoT and Fibre and Cable to the distribution point (FTTdp / CTTdp) technologies that underpin an increasingly connected world. Employing our Listen. Innovate. Solve. approach, we provide solutions for the unique requirements of leading telecommunications carriers, core network providers, system integrators, government and enterprise customers worldwide. For over 30 years, NetComm Wireless has engineered new generations of world first data communication products and is now a globally recognised communications technology innovator. Headquartered in Sydney (Australia), NetComm Wireless has offices in the US, Europe/UK, New Zealand and Japan. For more information, visit www.netcommwireless.com. Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20150324/8521501794LOGO
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[August 10, 2016] RiskIQ Joins IBM Security App Exchange Community
RiskIQ, a leader in external threat management, today launched RiskIQ PassiveTotal App For IBM (News - Alert) QRadar, which integrates with IBM security intelligence technology to achieve fully integrated external threat context to security incidents. Joint customers can accelerate incident remediation seamlessly by accessing internet datasets as they investigate offenses in IBM QRadar. RiskIQ scans and collects external internet data at massive scale-datasets the RiskIQ's PassiveTotal App uses to create a feedback loop in which QRadar is constantly being updated with the latest threat data. The new application is freely available to the security community through the IBM Security App Exchange, a marketplace where developers across the industry can share applications based on IBM Security technologies. As threats are evolving faster than ever, collaborative development amongst the security community will help organizations adapt quickly and speed innovation in the fight against cybercrime. RiskIQ PassiveTotal App For IBM QRadar leverages IBM Security QRadar, the company's security intelligence platform which analyzes data across an organization's IT infrastructure in real-time to identify potential security threats. Leveraging QRadar's new open application programming interfaces (API), RiskIQ PassiveTotal App For IBM QRadar allows users to reduce the number of alerts they need to manage, speed up incident response and prevent cyberattacks. "You cannot prevent attacks on-and from-assets you don't know about," said Elias Manousos, CEO of RiskIQ. "RiskIQ's PassiveTotal increases the visibility your IBM QRadar security intelligence deployment has while ou perform your analysis and incident response. By bringing in key external data elements you can reduce the time to resolution, as well as time to detection for the threats coming your way, all from within the IBM QRadar interface."
RiskIQ PassiveTotal App For IBM QRadar uses RiskIQ reference sets, which are created automatically, make the integration completely bi-directional, enabling the security operations team to create IBM QRadar rules based on external internet data and thus get automatically alerted to offenses. As the alert is triaged and put into an incident response workflow, the external information is available for fast resolution. Data enrichment applied to both threat detection and IR functions benefits the security team as a whole. About RiskIQ
RiskIQ is a cybersecurity company that helps organizations discover and protect their external facing known, unknown and third-party web, mobile and social digital assets. The company's External Threat Management platform combines a worldwide proxy network with synthetic clients that emulate users to monitor, detect and take down malicious and copycat apps, drive by malware and malvertisements. RiskIQ is being used by leading financial institutions and other companies to protect their web assets and users from external security threats and fraud. We are headquartered in San Francisco, backed by growth equity firms Summit Partners and Battery Ventures. For more information, please visit www.riskiq.com. About IBM Security IBM's security platform provides the security intelligence to help organizations holistically protect their people, data, applications and infrastructure. IBM offers solutions for identity and access management, security information and event management, database security, application development, risk management, endpoint management, next-generation intrusion protection and more. IBM operates one of the world's broadest security research and development, and delivery organizations. For more information, please visit www.ibm.com/security, follow @IBMSecurity on Twitter (News - Alert) or visit the IBM Security Intelligence blog. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160810005604/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Sorry!
This content is not available in your region
[August 10, 2016] Landmark Partnership Improves Access to Eyewitness Accounts of Genocide
ANN ARBOR, Mich., Aug. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ProQuest has partnered with USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education to distribute a streaming version of the Visual History Archive, dramatically improving access to 53,000 video testimonies of genocide survivors and witnesses. This streaming version includes new ProQuest search capabilities that enable users to locate specific terms and related ProQuest content -- a billion searchable items spanning dissertations, news, periodicals, scholarly journals and ebooks -- thereby improving contextual discovery. For libraries, a dedicated Internet2 connection and cache server is no longer required for Visual History Archive access, reducing costs and eliminating download delays. Visual History Archive encompasses more than 112,000 hours of testimony from survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides, including Armenia, Rwanda, and Nanjing. Interviews have been conducted throughout 63 countries and in approximately 40 anguages, exploring life before, during and after genocide. The archive's scope is immense: streamed non-stop 24/7, it would take 13 years to watch all the testimonies in their entirety. However, with 62,000 manually indexed search terms, researchers can refine results to the minute-per-segment level.
ProQuest's partnership with USC Shoah Foundation aims to broaden the use of the Visual History Archive. As part of its commitment to add value, ProQuest is transcribing English-language testimonies; this complements existing indexing methods, and will help users retrieve testimonies about specific points of interest. Additionally, the Visual History Archive will grow yearly. In 2016 alone, 1,000 testimonies from the Cambodian and Guatemalan genocides as well as the Holocaust will be added.
In late 2017, ProQuest will enable the video testimonies to be fully cross-searched with the breadth of ProQuest content including its vast historical collections, such as historical newspapers, periodicals, magazines, government records, and other primary source materials. For example, libraries that subscribe to ProQuest Historical Jewish Newspapers or History Vault, with its extensive content about World War II, can provide a richer experience for their students and researchers by adding the Visual History Archive to their collections. "The USC Visual History Archive is an unparalleled resource that empowers researchers to learn history first-hand from the people who were there," said Susan Bokern, ProQuest Vice President, Product Management. "We are honored that the USC Shoah Foundation has entrusted ProQuest to add value to this important primary source and make it more widely accessible and discoverable to students and researchers globally." The Visual History Archive is available for trial or purchase now. For more information visit proquest.com. About ProQuest (http://www.proquest.com) ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable information. Key to serious research, the company's products are a gateway to the world's knowledge including dissertations, governmental and cultural archives, news, historical collections and ebooks. ProQuest technologies serve users across the critical points in research, helping them discover, access, share, create and manage information. The company's cloud-based technologies offer flexible solutions for librarians, students and researchers through the ProQuest, Alexander Street, Bowker, Dialog, Ex Libris and SIPX businesses and notable research tools such as the RefWorks citation and reference management platform, the Pivot research development tool and the Ebook Central, ebrary, EBL and MyiLibrary ebook platforms. The company is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with offices around the world. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160810/397111
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120620/DE27948LOGO-a To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/landmark-partnership-improves-access-to-eyewitness-accounts-of-genocide-300311787.html SOURCE ProQuest
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Mondays Australian Story profiles teenager Georgie Stone, hoping to stop the need for young transgender people to go to court.
This episode is introduced by Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews.
Teenager Georgie Stone is taking on the system to try to help save the lives of other transgender teenagers.
I feel like I can actually help people, she says. Im hoping after seeing my story they can see a happy, free 16-year-old who came out the other side.
Georgie, 16, went through harrowing court ordeals to get permission for treatment that would enable her to transition and she doesnt want other teenagers to go through the same ordeal.
We all know that transgender children are more at risk of suicide and self harm between the time of coming out and then accessing treatment, she says.
The Family Court is expensive and often delays mean that teenagers cannot get into court before its too late and they hit puberty.
I would have killed myself if my voice had broken. It would have meant people could no longer take me on face value.
The director of the Gender Service at the Royal Childrens Hospital in Melbourne, Dr Michelle Telfer, says many of her clients feel the same way.
The court process causes delays, its very stressful, its pathologising for them. Going to court usually means that theres something wrong, youve done something wrong or theres something wrong with your family, and in these situations its just not the case.
Australian Story follows Georgies race against her biological clock to get a court order before her voice broke and she developed further masculine traits.
Georgie is now lobbying politicians in a bid to have them introduce legislation that would overturn the need for young transgender people to go to court.
Australia is the only country in the world where children must be assessed by a court as to their competency to consent to treatment.
The Gender Service at the Royal Childrens Hospital has 200 new referrals this year.
Melbourne lawyer Paul Boers, who has appeared in eight pro bono cases this year, says he does this because many families cannot afford treatment and kids lives are at stake.
If they dont get treatment, well theyre in trouble so I guess I do the cases for humanitarian reasons but I dont have the resources to do them all, he says.
Paul Boers said the court just rubber stamps the recommendations of the teenagers treating specialists.
My hope is that sooner rather than later theres going to be an end to this madness having to go the Family Court, he said.
I know the Family Court wants an end to these cases. Ive appeared before many judges who have said to me from the bench I dont believe this should be in the Family Court, I dont believe that these childrens parents and these children should have to come to court.
The Chief Justice of the Family Court, Dianna Bryant, said perhaps the matter needs to be reconsidered.
Well the laws the law at the moment and theres only the two circumstances in which it can be altered. I cant do anything about it unless someones prepared to challenge the existing case law, or unless the government is prepared to legislate, she says.
The program features home video footage following Georgie from a toddler through to the present.
Monday August 15 at 8pm on ABC.
It was a case of back to the future for one of 7TWOs Olympics presenters who accidentally told viewers the Equestrian finals were right here on 7TWO in beautiful Barcelona, where the city is sparkling today!
Could it be that the poor bloke was one of those left behind in Sydney commentating via monitor?
Not like 1992 when he was probably flown to Barcelona.
UK drama Safe House has been renewed for a second season with True Blood star Stephen Moyer leading a new cast and new story.
The first season starred Christopher Eccleston.
Moyer will star as a charismatic yet impulsive ex-police officer Tom Brook who runs a police safe house, which stands by the edge of the sea on the rugged coastline of Anglesey.
He will be joined by actress Zoe Tapper as his partner Sam.
The drama is written by Ed Whitmore (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, He Kills Coppers) and Tracey Malone (Rillington Place), and directed by Marc Evans (Hinterland, Collision).
Tom and Sams world is turned upside down when news of a shocking crime breaks. Years previously Tom investigated a series of abductions perpetrated by an assailant known as The Crow, who took wives away from husbands as they helplessly watched.
On hearing breaking news of a crime bearing the same hallmarks Tom immediately goes to the crime scene, revealing to the police that terrifyingly he believes The Crow is active again.
Filming begins in Wales, Liverpool and Manchester later this month.
ITVs Controller of Drama Victoria Fea said, Were delighted to be working on a brand new series of Safe House with Eleventh Hour Films.
The format lends itself beautifully to creating a suspenseful drama with a new set of characters in a new safe house. As always Ed and Traceys scripts are gripping and compelling with twists and turns that shock and take you by surprise.
US drama Zoo has been renewed for a third season.
The series based on the best-seller by author James Patterson, stars James Wolk amid a wave of violent animal attacks against humans.
The series has averaged 4 million US viewers and is already the longest-running original summer scripted drama on CBS.
In Australia the series struggled on TEN before being moved to ONE.
Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals recently called upon the series to stop using wild animals in its production, and draw upon technology instead.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
The third and final season of The Musketeers begins tonight on BBC First.
The 10 part series features Tom Burke, Santiago Cabrera, Howard Charles, Alexandra Dowling, Rupert Everett, Ryan Gage, Tamla Kari, Matthew McNulty and Luke Pasqualino.
In war-torn France, a sinister new battle awaits the Musketeers. The swashbuckling hit series returns for a thrilling third series as the intrepid foursome face their greatest challenge yet.
Heroes on the battlefield, the Musketeers return from the Spanish front to a Paris seething with resentment. Food shortages and profiteering have turned the poor into a powder keg about to explode. And, lurking in the shadows of the city, a dangerous new enemy threatens to light the fuse.
The corrupt Governor Feron, played by Rupert Everett, has been running Paris for his own ends, aided by the brutal Red Guard. As the Kings illegitimate half-brother, he has been twisted by a bitter sense of entitlement.
But behind Feron hides an even greater menace. Lucien Grimaud is a vicious gangster with a powerful hold over the governor. High taxes have turned the aristocratic establishment against a seemingly indifferent King, and Grimaud is conspiring to exploit the monarchys weakness. While Feron might be reasoned with, Grimaud deals only in chaos and rage.
Ordered to the heart of this simmering crisis, the Musketeers face their most treacherous test yet. Its a task that will challenge their allegiances to the crown, throw their personal lives into turmoil and compromise their loyalty to those they love and to each other.
Thursdays at 8.30pm from August 11 on BBC First.
[August 10, 2016] Fitch Downgrades Community Health Systems to 'B'; Outlook Stable
Fitch Ratings has downgraded Community Health Systems, Inc.'s (CHS) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'B'. The Rating Outlook is Stable. The ratings apply to $15.6 billion of debt outstanding at June 30, 2016. A full list of rating actions follows at the end of this release. KEY RATING DRIVERS Write-Down Reflects Operational Challenges: CHS acquired rival hospital operator Health Management Associates (HMA) in a 2014 deal that added about $7 billion of debt to CHS's capital structure. Since the close of the transaction, growth in EBITDA has been hampered by operational issues at the HMA hospitals, and ongoing government investigations and lawsuits. In second quarter 2016 (2Q16), CHS recognized a $1.4 billion goodwill impairment charge; we believe this reflects lower earnings prospects for the company's hospitals than at the time of the HMA acquisition. Restructuring Proceeds Reduce Debt: Progress towards deleveraging has been slow since the HMA acquisition; total debt/EBITDA is about 6.4x, versus 5.2x prior to it. So far in 2016, CHS has paid down about $1.5 billion of debt with the proceeds from the spin-off of Quorum Health Corporation (QHC) and the sale of a minority interest in several hospitals in Las Vegas. This was the first substantial debt repayment since the HMA acquisition. The company plans to divest another 12 hospitals before the end of 2016, and expects to apply the proceeds to debt reduction. Assuming the company executes on these transactions as planned, debt will be about $2.3 billion lower at the close of 2016 versus the January 2016 level, which is equal to about one-turn of EBITDA. More Profitable Hospital Portfolio: Fitch's $2.38 billion and $2.26 billion EBITDA forecast for CHS for 2016 and 2017, respectively, reflects the loss of a cumulative $380 million in EBITDA as a result of the company's portfolio pruning program. The largest portion of EBITDA divested was the 38 hospitals involved in the QHC spin-off. That transaction, plus the sale of the 12 hospitals the company plans to divest in late 2016, should result in a more profitable business profile, since the remaining group of hospitals are higher margin and are located in larger markets with better organic growth potential. Headwinds to Less Acute Volumes: CHS's legacy hospital portfolio is exposed to rural markets and therefore headwinds to lower acuity patient volumes. Volume trends in these markets are highly susceptible to weak macro-economic conditions and seasonal influences on flu and respiratory cases. Health insurers and government payors have been increasing scrutiny of short-stay admissions and preventable hospital readmissions. CHS has made some headway in turning around the company's hospital industry-lagging volume trends, but these challenges have proven difficult to overcome. Repositioning Portfolio Should Help: Repositioning the portfolio around larger, faster growing markets should help CHS's organic volume growth by reducing exposure to these lesser acuity volumes. Much like CHS's peers in larger hospital markets, the company is shifting the investment focus to building comprehensive networks of inpatient and outpatient facilities in order to capture share in certain targeted markets. This is a strategy that is aligned with secular trends in healthcare delivery, and should benefit the operating profile. However, successful execution of this repositioning is not without challenges. Management in part attributed weak 2Q16 volume performance to distraction during the QHC spin, and the HMA hospitals stubbornly lag the legacy CHS hospitals in volume performance, although the gap has been incrementally closing. Progress in Resolution of Legal Issues: CHS has been dealing with government investigations and lawsuits related to the issue of short-stay hospital admissions. CHS has made good progress in resolving the legal issues facing the legacy CHS hospitals, which did not involve financial fines significant enough to threaten financial flexibility and provided some comfort that the scope of the potential HMA fines or penalties will be similarly manageable. KEY ASSUMPTIONS Fitch's key assumptions within the rating case for CHS include: --Top-line growth of negative 5.3% and negative 8.7% in 2016 and 2017, respectively, reflects completed and planned hospital divestitures. Underlying same-hospital growth of 2%-3% is driven primarily by pricing. --EBITDA before deduction of non-controlling interest of $2.38 billion and $2.26 billion in 2016 and 2017, respectively, assumes that operating EBITDA margin recovers about 50 bps by the end of 2017 versus the June 30, 2016 latest 12 months (LTM) level, mostly as the result of divesting less profitable hospitals. --FCF margin recovers to 1.4% in 2016 and 2.5% in 2017, benefiting from lower cash interest expense due to debt re-payment, and lower capital intensity based on management's projections for capital expenditures of about 4% of revenues in 2016. --The company divests another 12 hospitals in late 2016, raises net proceeds of $850 million and uses the cash to repay debt; thereafter, debt levels ae fairly constant through the projection period assuming minimal cash towards acquisitions and share repurchases.
--Total debt/EBITDA is sustained between 6.0x and 6.5x. RATING SENSITIVITIES
Maintenance of the 'B' Issuer Default Rating (IDR) considers CHS maintaining total debt/EBITDA at or below 6.5x, an operating EBITDA margin of at least 12% and an FCF margin of 1%-2%. A downgrade could result from leverage sustained above 6.5x and a breakeven FCF margin. Risks to the operating outlook include the inability of management to execute on operational improvements necessary to improve organic volume growth and profitability. This could be evidenced by difficultly completing the remaining planned divestitures and associated debt pay-down, negative growth in organic adjusted admissions, and/or lack of progress toward resolution of HMA's legal issues.] LIQUIDITY At June 30, 2016, sources of liquidity included $461 million of cash on hand, $935 million of available capacity on the senior secured credit facility cash flow revolver and LTM FCF of about $64 million. CHS's EBITDA/interest paid is solid for the 'B' rating category at 3.3x and the company had adequate operating cushion under the bank facility financial maintenance covenants, one of which requires net secured debt leverage maintained at or below 4.25x. Despite a forecasted decline in EBITDA, Fitch expects the company to remain in compliance with the financial maintenance covenants through the projection period. Upcoming debt maturities include the A/R facility maturing in 2017 with $673 million outstanding at June 30, 2016, and $1.5 billion in bank term loans and $700 million of secured notes maturing in 2018. FULL LIST OF RATING ACTIONS Fitch has downgraded the following ratings: Community Health Systems, Inc.: --IDR to 'B' from 'B+'. CHS/Community Health Systems, Inc.: --Senior secured credit facility to 'BB-/RR2' from 'BB/RR2'; --Senior secured notes to 'BB-/RR2' from 'BB/RR2'; --Senior unsecured notes to 'B/RR4' from 'B+/RR4'. The 'B+' IDR of CHS/Community Health Systems, Inc. has been withdrawn. The Rating Outlook is Stable. The 'BB-/RR2' rating for CHS's secured debt (which includes the bank term loans, revolver and senior secured notes) reflects Fitch's expectations for 72% recovery under a hypothetical bankruptcy scenario. The 'B/RR4' rating on CHS's $6.1 billion senior unsecured notes reflects Fitch's expectations for principal recovery of 36%. In the U.S. healthcare sector, Fitch consistently uses a going-concern approach to valuation as opposed to assuming a liquidation value; intrinsic value is assumed to be greater than liquidation value for these companies, implying that the most likely outcome post-default would be reorganization rather than liquidation. The going-concern cash flow (measured by EBITDA) estimate assumes an initial deterioration that provokes a default, which is somewhat offset by corrective actions that would take place during restructuring. Fitch assumes a 37% discount to its 2016 forecasted EBITDA less distributions to non-controlling interests of $2.3 billion for CHS, resulting in a post-default cash flow estimate of $1.4 billion. Fitch applies a 7x multiple to CHS's post-default cash flow estimate of $1.4 billion, resulting in a going concern enterprise value (EV) of $10.1 billion. The 7x multiple is based on observation of both recent transactions/takeout and public market multiples in the healthcare industry. Administrative claims are assumed to consume 10%, or about $1 billion of going concern EV, which is a standard assumption in Fitch's recovery analysis. Also standard in its analysis, Fitch assumes that CHS would fully draw the $1 billion available balance on its bank credit revolver in a bankruptcy scenario and includes that amount in the claims waterfall. Fitch applies a waterfall analysis to the going-concern EV based on the relative claims of the debt in the capital structure. Fitch estimates EV available for claims of $9 billion, net of a standard assumption of 10% for administrative claims. At June 30 2016, about 60% of consolidated net revenue resides in the guarantor group, so Fitch assumes that 60% of the going-concern EV, or $5.4 billion, is recovered by first-lien secured holders, leaving $3.6 billion of non-collateral value to be distributed to unsecured claimants. Based on $9.5 billion of total secured claims (which includes the bank term loans, revolver and senior secured notes), the resulting first-lien secured deficiency claim of $4.1 billion is added to $6.1 billion of senior unsecured claims, resulting in $10.2 billion of total unsecured claims, recovery of which is assumed on a pro rata basis. Summary of Financial Statement Adjustments - Financial statement adjustments that depart materially from those contained in the published financial statements of the relevant rated entity or obligor are disclosed below: --Historical and projected EBITDA is adjusted to add back non-cash stock-based compensation. In 2015, Fitch added back $59 million in non-cash stock-based compensation to the EBITDA calculation. Additional information is available on www.fitchratings.com. Applicable Criteria Corporate Rating Methodology - Including Short-Term Ratings and Parent and Subsidiary Linkage (pub. 17 Aug 2015)
https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=869362 Recovery Ratings and Notching Criteria for Non-Financial Corporate Issuers (pub. 05 Apr 2016)
https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=879564 Additional Disclosures Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form
https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr_id=1010199 Solicitation Status
https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1010199 Endorsement Policy
https://www.fitchratings.com/jsp/creditdesk/PolicyRegulation.faces?context=2&detail=31 ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON (News - Alert) THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE 'WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM'. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OF CONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160810005901/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
The University of Houstons Hobby School of Public Affairs is named in honor of former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby. The school was approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in August 2016.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Tuesday granted official approval for the University of Houstons Hobby School of Public Affairs.
The school, named in honor of former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby, will build on the existing educational and research programs of the Center for Public Policy, which was founded at UH in 1981.
Todays designation officially moves the Master of Public Policy Degree from the UH College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences to the Hobby School of Public Affairs and approves the addition of a Master of Public Policy degree as a dual degree with the Graduate College of Social Works Master of Social Work.
I believe that the Hobby School will continue to diversify the offerings of our Tier-One campus. I am thrilled that the work done by so many continues to drive great change at our University. Students who come to UH for their education will leave well-equipped for a future in public policy, said Paula Myrick Short, UH senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.
Public policy schools strive not only to serve the community but to create a center to foster research and teaching partnerships that expand traditional academic approaches to teaching and research, said Jim Granato, professor and executive director of the school.
"We need more bright minds in the public policy arena in Texas and beyond, said State Rep. Garnet Coleman, who was instrumental in obtaining both state and private funding to make the Hobby School a reality and whose district includes UH. This designation allows the University of Houston to expand its public affairs degree offerings and prepare more students to take on the challenges we face as a state and a nation.
The Hobby Center for Public Policy will be housed in the Hobby School and will continue its research projects, including its polling operations; government internship programs in Houston, Austin and Washington, D.C.; and its Certified Public Manager program.
Associated faculty represent a variety of disciplines including political science, business, psychology, social work, economics, decision and information sciences and education.
Bill Hobby has devoted his life to public service. He has served as as a naval officer, journalist, parliamentary expert, governmental policymaker, university agent, Lieutenant Governor of Texas, university professor, and Chancellor of the University of Houston System. Hobby has served as the Sid Richardson Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs in Austin (1991-1995) and was a Member, Visiting Committee, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 1995-2001; University of Houston System Chancellor (1995-1997); and Commissioner of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (1993-1994). He also has served appointments to the boards of Rice University (1989-1993), Southwest Airlines (1990-2007) and St. Edward's University (1990-1995).
No Ukrainian servicemen were killed, but five soldiers were wounded in ATO area in eastern Ukraine over the past day.
Spokesman for the Presidential Administration on the ATO Oleksandr Motuzianyk said this at a briefing in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
No Ukrainian servicemen were killed, but five soldiers were wounded as a result of armed hostilities in ATO area in eastern Ukraine over the past day, he said.
He added that five militants had been killed and seven militants had been wounded over the past day.
ol
Sanctions against Russia are not planned to be lifted in the near future, taking into account the situation in eastern Ukraine.
This was stated by German Government Commissioner for Cooperation with Russia Gernot Erler, DW reports.
"In recent weeks, we have noted almost daily violations of armistice and ceasefire, which have resulted in numerous casualties on both sides," he stressed.
In addition, all 28 EU Member States share the view that the issue of lifting the sanctions may be raised only after the full implementation of the Minsk agreements.
As a reminder, the European Union early July decided to extend economic sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine for another six months, until January 31, 2017.
ol
Ukraine must not delay the launch of a key electronic system to monitor the assets and interests of politicians and public servants as it is one the main requirements to get visa-free regime with the EU.
This is stated in the press release of Transparency International global anti-corruption organisation.
"Ukraine must not delay the launch of a key electronic system to monitor the assets and interests of politicians and public servants," the statement reads.
In its press release, the organisation recalled that when Jose Ugaz, Chair of Transparency International, had met with the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, the President had committed to launching the e-declaration system in August.
It is time for Ukraine to take serious steps to combat the endemic corruption in both its political and business sectors. President Poroshenko promised that this simple electronic platform would be launched in August and that anyone who lied on the forms would be criminally liable, said Transparency Internationals Ugaz.
He also stressed that Poroshenko must hold to his word and ensure that this happens despite the fact that it faced strong political opposition from those interested in avoiding transparency.
ol
Almost 15,000 kilometers, more than 24 hours en route, significant difference in time, summer instead of winter - Australia, until recently, has remained for Ukrainians a distant and mysterious country, in spite of a rather large and active Ukrainian diaspora.
Every cloud has a silver lining. The annexation of Crimea, sanctions against Russia, MN17 tragedy, conflict in the East brought our countries closer. In late 2014, a Ukrainian delegation headed by the President visited the country-continent, and as soon as in March of the next year the Embassy of Australia was opened in Kyiv, and the Ukrainian cargo plane Mriya flew to the Australian distant lands in May of the same year. The promotion of bilateral contacts and support on the international arena grew into ambitious projects in the aerospace and energy industries.
In early July, parliamentary elections were held in Australia, which brought another victory to the ruling coalition. Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia Mykola Kulinich told about peculiarities of post-election prospects of the Ukrainian-Australian relations in an exclusive interview with Ukrinform.
CONTINENTAL MENTALITY AND FOREIGN POLICY
- Parliamentary elections have been recently held in Australia. Although the Liberal-National Coalition (LNC) has managed to remain in power, a significant progress of the Labourists, who literally were snapping at the ruling coalitions heels, cant be ignored. What changes in the Australian governments policy may occur? How this will affect the foreign policy of Australia, what Ukraine should expect in this context?
- One of specifics of these elections, as well as a peculiar feature of Australian political life in general, is that the fact that the issue of foreign policy is on the periphery of public attention.
As for me, the specifics of mentality and worldview have an impact on many states located on the islands of Britain, for example. And as for Australia, a huge area of the country occupying the entire continent should be taken into account. With this regard, the Australians feel themselves totally self-sufficient. A continental mentality reigns here, instead of the island one.
Thus, one should not expect any crucial changes in the foreign policy of the new Australian government, as the Liberal-National Coalition declared no new foreign policy strategy in its election program.
- Have you already assessed the new parliaments composition who from the friends have remained? And weather the Ukraine-Australia friendship group is efficient with regard to Australia?
- Friends of Ukraine have remained in the new composition of the Australian parliament, but they number not many people Among them, Craig Laundy, the Chairman of the Ukraine-Australia friendship group, who has become a parliamentary deputy minister for industry, science and innovation. This is an extremely important position, considering the fact that the government of Malcolm Turnbull has declared the support for the development of innovation activities as one of his priorities.
Also, many members of this association from the parliamentary opposition have remained, in particular, Michael Danby, Richard Marles, who was the shadow minister for migration and border security in the previous parliament, and at present he is the shadow defense minister. By the way, it is worth noting that Richard Marles ran for the constituency in Geelong (satellite city of Melbourne), where a sufficiently powerful and numerous Ukrainian community lives, which support he traditionally counts on. Therefore, it gives reasons to the community to expect a response support.
- The issues of foreign policy were not in focus during the election campaign, but recent events in the world (Brexit, NATO Warsaw summit, Russian policy in Ukraine and Syria, the Arbitration on dispute in the South China Sea, preparations for elections in the United States, etc.) certainly havent remained unnoticed for Australians. Which side does Australia support? What kind of support Ukraine can count on in this context?
- Despite of the fact that foreign policy card during the election campaign was not practically played, it is worth noting that going beyond the above-mentioned "continental" boundaries and attempts to play a greater role in geopolitics have become a current trend in the political life of Australia in recent years. Therefore, the Australian elite, including the political one, is trying to attract more Australians to "global thinking", which they lack.
As to the issue on which side Australia is, then it has traditional allied commitments in line with the ANZUS Security Treaty, which was concluded in 1951, and which still operates.
For us, its very important that Australia supports Ukraine, supports sanctions against Russia, supports in general our idea of confrontation against foreign aggression and advocacy of universal values
AUSTRALIA-RUSSIA: PRINCIPLES AND TRANSPARENT HINTS
- At present people in the world are speaking a lot about the importance of establishing a dialogue with Russia, especially in the context of the fight against terrorism, abolition of sanctions policy, or at least gradual abolition. Australia traditionally has stronger trade ties with Russia rather than with Ukraine, so should Ukraine worry that it might lose its ally in the Asia-Pacific region?
Sanctions in their own are not a very popular tool within a country, which applies them, as this is a free-will refusal from trade and other relations, or at least their curtailment with a beneficial economic partner.
In addition, it is worth noting that Ukraine has never been the object of concentration of Australian interests, contrary to Russia, which they see as a Pacific country, and therefore, as an important partner.
However, a question of principles arises here as it is one thing when it comes to trade and economic expansion as a way to promote the interests, and another thing is when someone starts a war. Then these are the challenges to interests and encroachment on traditional values, which are extremely important to Australians.
Australia is a country with strong and self-reliant economy, with powerful own resource basis.
- Recently the whole world has commemorated the second anniversary of MH17 tragedy. Ukraine and Australia together with other countries joined the MH17 crash investigation group. Do Ukraine and Australia have common positions? What is a formula for bringing those guilty to responsibility?
Australia, as well as Ukraine, really joined the international group to investigate the tragedy that occurred over the territory of Ukraine. Both countries are interested in identifying perpetrators and their just punishment.
At present members of the investigation group are approaching the final stage of their work. There is an agreement that they will announce about results of the investigation as soon as this autumn. I have no information about any contradictions within the group, and this is a reason to believe that our position with Australia is consolidated.
As for the issue of brining those guilty to criminal responsibility, then it can be carried out in two ways: in line with the national legislation by one of the countries, or by means of ad hoc international tribunal,
NUCLEAR FUEL, ANTONOV AIRCRAFTS AND WOOMERA ROCKET LAUNCH SITE
Ukraine and Australia signed an Agreement on peaceful use of nuclear fuel. What is the current state of this agreement? When Ukraine should expect first supplies of Australian uranium to Ukraine?
Surely, this deal is of great importance for Ukraine, as well as for Australia. Thats why the signing of the agreement on supplies of raw materials for nuclear fuel gives a significant support for the nuclear sector of Australia. Another important issue is the fact that Ukraine could become a country that will compensate for the non-supplies of nuclear raw materials to Russia.
For Ukraine, in turn, the signing of such an agreement is a vital step. As we bought nuclear fuel form Russia, with which we suspended trade relations for well-known reasons. Australia also expressed its willingness to cover 30 to 70% of our needs in nuclear fuel that can actually make it a strategic supplier of nuclear fuel for the Ukrainian nuclear power plants. Thats why this document is a huge economic basis for building our political cooperation, because it is not of purely economic character, but it also largely solves the issue of energy security for Ukraine, which is a component of national security.
As for the current state of this agreement, this document is a political frame agreement. Commercial contacts are needed to be established to realize supplies.
- The arrival of Ukraines Mriya cargo aircraft in Australia made a furor. Will this trend have a practical continuation?
- I am sure that it will have, because we have already moved to the first concrete steps towards the implementation of possible cooperation between SE Antonov and Australian partners. And this cooperation could be of various forms.
However, in my opinion, the Australian Antarctic Division is the unique and most likely partner for cooperation. This structure, which is based in Hobart (Tasmania) and which apart from its other tasks, provides logistical support to the most of Antarctic stations.
SPIRIT OF LIBERTY OF UKRAINIANS AND AUSTRALIANS
- The Ukrainian community in Australia was traditionally a powerful factor of influencing the Australian-Ukrainian ties. How significant are the tools of influence of our diaspora today?
- This country is extremely interesting for me thanks to the work with the community. This is the first time when I work with the Ukrainian community abroad in fact, there was no established community either in Korea, nor in Japan. These are our compatriots, they all have their own history, and this is the history of not only Australia, but the history of Ukraine as well: they do not lose the ties with culture, language, homeland. Of course, they strongly support Ukraine. Much can be achieved due to the active support of the Ukrainian community in Australia and us.
Thus, for instance, Id like to stress that the parliamentary support for Ukraine is based mostly due to our community in Australia, as it is a significantly strong electoral force. Event in spite of a rather small number about 40,000 people taking into account good self-discipline, similarity, the Ukrainian community plays an important role in political fight, as we can see.
- Many democratic countries, especially those where influential Ukrainian communities exist, provide humanitarian, consultative and military assistance to Ukraine. What position does Australia adhere to on this matter?
- Australia also provided military, technical and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in difficult times, when the Russian aggression against our country begun. These were uniform, first aid kits and related materials. In addition, the training program was launched for the Ukrainian military at Australian military schools. This program is fully funded by the Australian government, it still is ongoing and is extremely interesting, useful for our officers. As Australia is a country with the experience of participation in armed conflicts, particularly, in current conflicts involving irregular military formations, the war in Iraq, Afghanistan etc. On the other hand, the Australian military is also interested in our combat experience of participation in modern hybrid war.
Ivan Yusypiuk, Canberra
iy
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the situation in Ukraine with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who currently chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
This is reported by the press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
According to the statement, the parties continued to discuss topical issues related to promotion of the implementation of the Minsk package of measures to settle the situation in the occupied part of Donbas.
It was also noted (without specifying by whom) the need to synchronize the steps for a political settlement with solving the security issues, Moscow reports.
As stated by the Russian Foreign Ministry, the conversation was initiated by the German side.
ol
Russian de facto authorities in Crimea have fully resumed operation of three checkpoints in the occupied Crimea.
Spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Oleh Slobodian posted this on Facebook.
"The situation at the entry-exit checkpoints on the administration border with the temporarily occupied Crimea remains dynamic and has not undergone major changes. The regulatory bodies of the occupying state have fully restored crossing operations at the entry-exit checkpoints Chonhar, Kalanchak, and Chaplynka," Slobodian wrote.
ol
September 26-27, 2016, Krakow, Poland, will host the 2nd European Cybersecurity Forum - CYBERSEC, the Annual Public Policy Conference dedicated to strategic aspects of cybersecurity.
This is reported by the Forum organizers.
The invited experts will focus on building a regional cybersecurity system for Central and Eastern Europe, cyberdefence of NATO member states, cyber education and cyber innovations as well as public-private partnerships, the statement reads.
As noted, the ever growing number of cyberattacks is a "dark side" of the fourth industrial revolution. It is a problem that realistically jeopardise states and millions of citizens alike. It also gravely affects the private sector which is increasingly becoming a direct or indirect target of cyberattacks, suffering huge financial losses as a consequence. The dynamics of hostile acts in cyberspace will only increase in the coming years; therefore, it is so crucial to enter into a dialogue now that takes into account a cross-stakeholder and comprehensive approach to the problem. European Cybersecurity Forum will aim to develop ideas and make strategic decisions in this area.
This years CYBERSEC Forum will bring together more than 600 delegates, including key policy makers, the representatives of international organisations, expert circles, and leading media as well as world's leaders in the private sector.
The discussions will be held in several sections. State Stream will be devoted to facilitate strategic cross-stakeholder co-operation among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in order to develop a regional cybersecurity system. The Military Stream will focus on issues related to cyberdefence of NATO member states. Discussions will draw upon conclusions of the July NATO Summit in Warsaw, during which a declaration of strategic cooperation between NATO and the EU in the area of cybersecurity and hybrid threats was made, and cyberspace was recognized as an operational domain of warfare. The Future Stream will examine the challenges posed by an increasing shortage of cyber professionals. Under the Business Stream, the experts will concentrate on creating mechanisms for effective public-private partnerships and the cybersecurity of industrial control systems.
CYBERSEC 2016 will culminate in the publication of recommendations for strengthening the cybersecurity of the European Union and NATO.
India is ready to cooperate with Ukraine in the field of education and invites Ukrainian youth to study in the country.
Indian Ambassador to Ukraine Manoj Kumar Bharti said this during a visit to Sumy region, Ukraine.
"The program, which the Indian Embassy offered to Ukrainians, includes 25 different areas of education. Within the program there are 65 courses (for example, English, IT or law-making), the study period is from 2 weeks to 3 months," the ambassador said.
According to him, in order to take part in this program a student has to enter its website or the website of the Indian Embassy, download the form, fill it in English and send to the Embassy of India. This must be done within three months before the start of the program, because all 65 courses start at different time. India takes care of all expenses for travel, study and accommodation.
ish
Some 240 young Somalis have taken part in vocational training courses offered by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Kismayo, the third largest city and the main commercial hub in the region. Successful graduates have found employment in the construction sector and have established small businesses to contribute to rebuilding their community.
The training courses were made possible thanks to the Countering violence and extremism through skills training and livelihoods support for at-risk youth in Kismayo project, funded by the Government of Japan.
With 70 per cent of the population in Somalia under the age of 30, creating jobs for youth is considered one of the greatest challenges to the countrys economic recovery. In the last few years, local authorities have worked hard to restore economic and political stability, but after decades of conflict, there is still a shortage of skilled labour.
Jonathan Eischen, who managed the project, highlighted the case of the Brothers Welding Group, six young men who have benefitted from the project. "UNIDOs methodology focused on providing practical on-the-job skills training through the integration of small-scale community infrastructure rehabilitation. Practical training exercises for the group of six youth included design and production of steel trusses for a new roof for a government maintenance yard, repair of a gate, and the fabrication and installation of a parking sunshade at the Kismayo International Airport, he said.
As soon as they finished the course and received tools and equipment from UNIDO, they quickly secured their first job, and began making a large industrial-size garbage can for a local hotel. They reinvested their income back into the operations of their enterprise, and soon began producing windows, doors, poles for Internet installation, and doing small repair jobs in the community. Having gained a good reputation in the community for the quality of products and work, they are now also receiving raw materials in advance from local vendors who trust their business. The young guys have doubled their income since starting the Brothers Welding Group, and are supporting a total of 32 dependents.
We are very happy to see our business run successfully, and we are very grateful to UNIDO for the skills we were provided with, said one of members of the Brothers Welding Group who did not want his name mentioned.
Eischen explained that UNIDO conducted post-training surveys which suggested that the project offered a fresh start to many young people, including women who constituted 30 per cent of project beneficiaries. Women who received tool-kits reported new confidence in their ability to increase household income and subsequently improve food security and access to education for their children.
The graduates indicated that thanks to vocational and dedicated conflict minimization skills training, they developed capacities to not only engage with community members from different clans, gender and age groups but also received more respect from their community and were less likely to join local armed groups.
According to Eischen, another project, which started in April and is also funded by the Government of Japan, is focusing on helping stabilize communities and restore livelihoods of at-risk youths living along border areas between Somalia and Kenya.
More details about this project can be found in the brochure.
For more information, please contact:
Jonathan Eischen
UNIDO Project Manager
email
Angelina Jolie is not going to teach as a professor at the Georgetown University; this is what a Washington D.C. spokesperson confirmed on Saturday.
The announcement came out days after news broke out and stirred up the excitement among students, faculties, and residents that The Tomb Raider is coming to their place as a visiting professor.
US Weekly reported on August 5 that Jolie allegedly signed on to teach as a visiting professor at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security. However, Rachel Pugh, the institute spokesperson clarified that there are yet no plans of Georgetown having Angelina Jolie to teach.
The rumor came out following Mrs. Smith's visit to London School of Economics in fall where she taught "Women, Peace and Security", a one-year master's degree program. The course is the first of its kind both in the US and in the whole world wherein Jolie shares her lectures, knowledge, and workshops.
Jolie said in a statement that she believes in the importance of the wider discussion about women's rights and the women's protection against unequal justice brought about by their awful situations such as sexual violence.
Jolie launched the program last year together with William Hague, the U.K. foreign secretary. Hague like Jolie is also a London School of Economics unpaid professor, The Washington Post reported.
Angelina Jolie is a mother to six and a 41-year old actress, who was known for her several character roles; one of which was Mrs. Smith from the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith, a 2005 movie with her real-life partner Brad Pitt.
A Georgetown University expressed her excitement over having Angelina Jolie and William Hague as visiting professors, but they still are waiting as of the moment for they are not receiving any news from the LSE and Georgetown managements about their visit. She assured that they are both welcome should they decide to conduct teaching sessions on the campus, The Daily News reported.
Watch this video and find out more about Angelina Jolie's rumored Georgetown teaching.
It does not take much for some celebrities and artists to earn a degree. While some endeavor to attend school, some get recognized for their achievements and works in the arts.
Take for example Kanye West. West has found a way to earn a doctorate degree without even stepping inside a classroom or lifting a text book. Schools of higher education, such as the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has recognized his accomplishment as a musician and an artist.
He is now officially called Dr. Yeezus, according to Business Insider. Before he became famous, Kanye West was born in Atlanta, Georgia. As a child, he studied in Nanjing, China at the Nanjing University. He was educated there because his mother worked through an exchange program. When asked about his grades from Nanjing, he said "I got A's and B's. And I'm not even frontin." He does know the language but have already forgotten most of it.
At an early age, his love and skill for poetry would be his mark in the music world. Growing up in Chicago, he knew that the hip hop scene would be his platform. When he needed to go to college, he received a scholarship to attend the American Academy of Art in Chicago. He then transferred to Chicago State University to study English.
At 20 years old, he dropped out of school because he felt that it took him away from writing his music. His career started officially with Roc-A-Fella records but now the world knows him as Dr. Yeezus. Kanye West is famous and has become what many consider to be a studio name.
Although he only attended college for a short period of time, he was still honored for his works in music. West called the honor a "humanization" and promised his degree would make students' lives easier.
Watch Kanye West's full doctorate speech here:
Now that federal government has a smaller role in public school education, state and local governments should take advantage of this freedom and flexibility. If states want to see economic gains in the future, political leaders should focus on improving school quality.
According to Education Next, students who learn more in school are the ones who stay longer in the educational system and become more skilled as well as productive participants in the state's workforce. While there may be some who will migrate to other states, majority of these students have been noted to join the labor market in their own state.
Their contribution would directly lead to economic strength. In the long run, each state would receive a good return rate on successful efforts to enhance school quality.
In the publication's study, it was revealed that there is a strong relationship between the achievement component of the knowledge capital of a state's adult workers and economic growth. States who suffered from low math achievement levels on their workforces, such as Alabama, Mississippi, Utah and Nevada, had disappointing rates of economic growth.
On the other hand, states such as North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Texas, Massachusetts and Virginia have significantly higher levels of math achievement. This, in turn, gave them higher rates of economic growth.
There are other states that had low rates of economic growth despite its workers having high achievement rates. However, the overall results claim that achievement levels have a positive correlation with economic growth.
Some believe that the correlation may just be a causal relationship since students may learn more when their state is performing well in the economic area. The publication noted that there is a weak correlation between increased spending on schools and higher levels of achievement.
It was added that education reforms would take 10 years to be fully effective and that the labor force would only improve as new and more skilled workers replace the old ones.
UTSA professors STEM education program making massive gains in Mexico schools UTSA, Guadalupe Carmona's Campus Viviente uses low-cost technologies, innovative teaching-learning approach to improve STEM education (Photo courtesy: Guadalupe Carmona, Campus Viviente) Share this Story
(Aug. 10, 2016) -- Guadalupe Carmona, UTSA associate professor of interdisciplinary learning and teaching, and her research team are providing schools across Mexico with a low-cost, revolutionary approach to teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) concepts, and its paying off big-time.
Carmona is the director and principal researcher for Campus Viviente, a research and education program housed at UTSA. The interdisciplinary, international program is designed to give students of all economic backgrounds a leg up on learning and understanding STEM.
UTSA and Campus Vivientes shared philosophy is one of inclusiveness, collaboration and equity, where there is a true commitment for all students to succeed, regardless of their background, prior performance, or socioeconomic status," Carmona said. We believe that providing top-tier support to students so they develop a deep and meaningful understanding of STEM concepts is fundamental to keeping pace with the high demands of the workplace and academia in the 21st century.
The UTSA professor has helped municipal governments implement the program in several elementary, middle and high schools across Mexico. In 2013 alone, Campus Viviente programming was implemented in nine high schools across the state of Coahuila. Since then, Carmona said, the academic performance results from the first cohort of Coahuila Campus Viviente students have been on the upswing.
By the end of the first year of implementation, the students scoring in the top achievement levels on standardized tests for maths doubled compared to peers in a control group not using the Campus Viviente approach and curriculum. In the second year, that number was four times larger.
Carmona credits the success to Campus Viviente's approach. During implementation, the program provides teachers with specially tailored, culturally sensitive models to aid their instruction. Each model helps tie the STEM concepts to students home lives and their communities. This helps close the gap between formal and informal learning. Coahuila, for example, is home to a large mining community, and so Campus Vivientes model presents the STEM concepts within this context to make the learning meaningful to students.
The high school students in Coahuila were excited because they could connect advanced math, science, engineering and technological concepts to what was happening in their lives outside of school," Carmona said. "They can see how what they are learning in school can be used in their current lives and in their future jobs. This excitement has translated into real, measurable success..
In keeping with its mission of equitable learning, Campus Viviente provides each classroom with a self-contained digital learning environment housed in a USB drive. The drive contains dozens of educational resources - such as learning tools, software, and curricula - for students and teachers. All the resources are freely available to use and modify under a Creative Commons copyright for further customization and dissemination. All resources are currently available in Spanish and English, and can also be extended to other languages and cultures.
The Campus Viviente program is designed to be accessible by students and educators from all backgrounds, Carmona said. The resources can be booted onto any computer from a standard USB drive. No Internet connectively is required to access the programming. I have yet to meet a student or school for whom these resources are out of reach.
The UTSA programs success has encouraged several universities and school systems to adopt Campus Vivientes approach. Its currently implemented in the Mexican states of Coahuila, Durango, Michoacan and Quintana Roo. As more teachers begin to adopt the programs model, Carmona said she has seen a strong community begin to build online, with teachers sharing tips and experiences with each other.
I have been in education for more than 20 years, and I have never seen quantifiable results as encouraging as the ones recorded in Coahuila, Carmona said. Weve seen the teachers and students extending STEM learning beyond the classroom, and sharing their knowledge with their parents and the rest of the community. That makes me especially proud to be part of a program and university committed to sharing knowledge.
The first cohort of Campus Viviente students from Coahuila graduated this summer. Carmona attended the graduation ceremony as a guest of the local government.
Carmona is also working with UTSA and North East Independent School District to develop a local Campus Viviente program.
----------
UTSA and Campus Vivientes research partners include: La Secretaria de Educacion y Cultura del Estado de Coahuila (the Secretary of Education and Culture for the State of Coahuila), La Universidad Autonoma de Coahuila (Autonomous University of Coahuila), Universidad Juarez del Estado de Durango, Secretaria de Educacion del Estado de Michoacan, La Secretaria de Educacion y Cultura del Estado de Durango (the Secretary of Education and Culture for the State of Durango), and la Universidad de Quintana Roo (the University of Quintana Roo). It has been funded with the support of AHMSA International, Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together, Fondo Mixto de Fomento a la Investigacion Cientifica, USAID, and the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT).
UTSA and its College of Education and Human Development host the Campus Viviente program. For more information, contact Guadalupe Carmona at guadalupe.carmona@utsa.edu.
Learn more about how UTSA is leading efforts to enhance ties with Mexico and its National Council for Science and Technology.
Connect online at Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.
All the latest Uttoxeter news
Story Saved
You can find this story in My Bookmarks.
Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.
On 3-5 October 2017 Kyiv is going to host the Space and Future Forum to network international experts and youth, many of whom will also participate at the first CosmoHack in the world. Joinfo provides media coverage of the Forum, and some of its topics were already discussed ...
Miller Retires as UW General Counsel; Evans Receives Interim Appointment
With University of Wyoming Vice President and General Counsel Rick Miller returning to retirement, President Laurie Nichols has appointed Deputy General Counsel Tara Evans as interim general counsel.
Rick has served the university well for many years, and we wish him the very best in his retirement, Nichols says. I have great confidence that Tara will provide strong leadership for our legal office until we are able to complete a search for a successor.
Miller, who returned to the university in 2013 as vice president and general counsel after retiring as vice president for government, community and legal affairs in 2010, is completing a lengthy UW career. He previously served as director of the Wyoming Legislative Service Office, on the staff of former Gov. Mike Sullivan and as a U.S. Air Force judge advocate.
Miller will be available to provide advice to the legal office and to assist in the transition through the fall.
Evans has been with the university since 2008, when she began working as a special assistant to the president. The UW alumna, with a bachelors degree in molecular biology and a law degree, also worked as an assistant attorney general for the state of Wyoming.
Nichols says she intends for Evans to serve as interim general counsel for the remainder of the current fiscal year, at which time a determination will be made regarding a search.
SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Ventura County Sheriff's Office Department.
By Christian Martinez, christian.martinez@vcstar.com
Three Oxnard residents were arrested early Wednesday in connection with burglary in Camarillo, according to the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies were called just before 4 a.m. to the 1700 block of Calle Tierra Vista in the Spanish Hills neighborhood after homeowners saw people with flashlights in their backyard, authorities said.
Juliet Marcos, 24, was found in her vehicle parked in front of a house and Jesus Fabian, 23, was found getting out of a victim's vehicle, authorities said. Authorities allege Fabian was involved in a vehicle burglary when they arrived. Both suspects were detained in separate patrol cars, authorities said.
A third suspect, Gilberto Zuniga, 24, was seen running in the area, so deputies chased and detained him a short distance away, authorities said. Meanwhile, officers said, Fabian kicked out the window of the patrol car and fled through backyards.
A sheriff's helicopter and police dog were used to search for Fabian, who was found hiding in some brush, authorities said.
All three suspects were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a crime and burglary, authorities said. It was later discovered that Zuniga was allegedly involved in another residential burglary but was scared off by the homeowner, authorities said. He was booked on an additional burglary offense, authorities said.
Fabian was additionally arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest and vandalism to the patrol car, authorities said.
Star file photo
SHARE
By Anne Kallas
The Fillmore City Council voted unanimously to extend its ban on medical marijuana delivery, dispensaries and cultivation until after the Nov. 8 election when California voters will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana.
The state already allows the sale of marijuana with a doctor's recommendation to treat a number of illnesses. But the Adult Use of Marijuana Act would not only legalize marijuana, it would also impose a sales and a cultivation tax.
At the urging of Councilman Douglas Tucker, the Fillmore council also asked city employees to look into how the election could affect the city legally, and prepare options for the council to consider.
"We want to be sure we have something in place if (Proposition 64) passes. We want to be proactive," he said.
About 100 people crowded into council chambers with some taking seats in an overflow area in the Fillmore City Hall, most of whom expressed support of the medical marijuana ban.
About two-thirds of the crowd stood in unison before Fillmore Unified School District Superintendent Adrian Palazuelos read a resolution adopted by the school district's governing board asking for a ban because "it is harmful to the development of the adolescent," among many reasons.
Ben Kalka decried the ban as an extension of "the failed drug policy of 1971 that has cost this country hundreds of billions of dollars. I don't have any personal issues that require the use of medical marijuana, but if I did I would use it."
Fatima Bazoto is in support of the ban. "We do not want this substance in our backyards. People can steal it and it's too close to innocent kids who could make the wrong decision. Please do not bring this substance into this town," she said to applause.
Fillmore Mayor Dianne McCall repeatedly asked the anti-medical marijuana proponents to stop clapping and cheering.
City Attorney Tiffany Israel explained that most cities ban clapping or other displays at meetings after members of the crowd shouted that they were practicing their right to free speech. "This is a business meeting of the council," she said, explaining that clapping and other displays slowed the process of the meeting.
"Cheering and clapping is intimidating to people who might want to speak on the other side. It's really not fair," Councilman Rick Neal said.
After hearing from about 20 people, the council addressed the issue that has become a hot topic in Fillmore, especially in light of the July 29 raid on a marijuana growing operation on Grand Avenue, just outside Fillmore city limits.
The council has already placed a measure on the November ballot that would levy a 15 percent sales tax in addition to taxes imposed by the state to marijuana. The city currently has a total ban on delivery and cultivation of marijuana.
Neal asked whether professional delivery of medical marijuana would be safer than "having it delivered by people with guns."
Councilwoman Carrie Broggie replied, "I don't know if having a delivery service will stop bad guys. That element will still be there."
McCall said that allowing the delivery and cultivation of medical marijuana would strain already thinly stretched public safety resources. "By adding a layer of additional oversight we may be exacerbating our problems," she said. "I see the real human side and it's a thing to be considered. But I have concerns about opening this door. We would be enabling our youth to have more access to marijuana."
She said the council will revisit the issue of marijuana after the November election.
Earlier in the meeting, the council heard from Police Chief Dave Wareham, who said the crime statistics reported for the first half of 2016, was on pace to be lower than those reported in 2014, when the city was named the 17th safest city in California.
The rate so far for 2016 is 4.83 crimes per 1,000 people compared with 4.96 crimes per 1,000 people in 2014, he said.
"That's our benchmark to be on that list. The safety of the community is our mission at the police department," Wareham said.
SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Ventura County Sheriff's Office Department.
By Megan Diskin of the Ventura County Star
Deputies are investigating Tuesday afternoon's the robbery of a bank in Oak View.
The Ventura County Sheriff's Office said a robbery alarm went off at 3:47 p.m. at Rabobank, 410 N. Ventura Ave.
Officials said the bank was robbed by a male, but there was no further description. Authorities said they received reports that no weapon was seen during the incident.
A sheriff's helicopter responded to help deputies on the ground. A police dog also was on the scene, authorities said.
No injuries were reported.
After searching the area, officials said they were not able to locate the robber.
SHARE STAR FILE PHOTO
By Anne Kallas, Special to The Star
Change is coming to a deeply divided Port Hueneme City Council, where two seats are open in November and only one incumbent is running.
With Mayor Doug Breeze leaving his seat on the council after two terms, Councilwoman Sylvia Munoz Schnopp, a 31-year resident of the city, will be the only incumbent running for re-election.
Others who have taken out papers to run are Port of Hueneme Director of Marketing and Public Information Will Berg, former Councilman and Mayor Ellis Green, local businessman Oscar Sandoval and risk-management specialist Steven Gama.
Berg said a seat on the council would not present a conflict of interest with his job at the port. The city and port have had a tumultuous relationship, especially after the council in 2014 added to the ballot a business tax measure that was opposed by the port. Measure M was defeated at the polls by a wide margin.
"There is no conflict. I'm not a decision-maker at the port. If I was a commissioner, that would be different. But I am just a staff person," said Berg, adding that he plans to retire from his port job in the coming year. "Any time there would be an issue that the city and port addresses, I would recuse myself."
The City Council has been a divided body since the election of Councilmen Tom Figg and Jim Hensley in 2014. Figg and Hensley were stripped of their appointments to outside commissions and committees in November 2015, with the majority of the council Breeze, Munoz Schnopp and Councilman Jon Sharkey saying the newcomers' conduct was disruptive.
"Their behavior is unacceptable," Breeze said in November. "The staff feels they're being bullied. There have been veiled threats against people's jobs. Who wants to work in that environment?"
The entire council and city staff have been required to participate in performance improvement sessions given by the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority, which provides workers' compensation insurance, all-risk property insurance and general liability coverage. The authority has said it could suspend the city's liability insurance or drastically raise rates if action isn't taken to stem the tide of claims against the city.
Berg, a 17-year resident of the city, said he is running for a seat "to bring collaborative solutions to bridging the social and economic gaps between the various local jurisdictions that have kept us from moving forward."
"I care about our community and want to leverage the resources of the port and the naval base that will generate a stronger economic impact for the city," Berg said.
Munoz Schnopp, who is running for her third term on the council, has served as mayor twice. She said among the pressing issues the city is facing are the numerous vacancies in the city government. Port Hueneme has been without a permanent city manager since December 2015, and other top positions are being filled on an interim basis, including the public works director, finance director, community development director and housing authority director.
"As a fiscal conservative and city leader, I consider the hiring of a permanent city manager and filling the remainder of vacant positions with qualified candidates to be very important issues for the city. We are in the process of filling one position, with efforts underway for the remaining positions," Munoz Schnopp said.
Green, who lost his seat on the council in 2014, said he remains committed to the city he has called home for 12 years.
"Our biggest challenges, presently, are City Council integrity, accountability and teamwork. Our inability to deal with these deficiencies have created a fiscal crisis of epic proportions involving erosion of financial reserves, outstanding liability claims by the federal government HUD and lawsuit concerns by the JPIA," Green said.
Sandoval, who has lived in Port Hueneme for six years, said he is also concerned about the strained relations between council members.
"I have yet to see any meaningful change in our city. Instead of working to better our city, many of the city's elected officials have allowed their squabbling and interpersonal issues to interfere with a duty to serve Hueneme residents, all the while leaving many of the real issues that we face unresolved." Sandoval said.
Gama, a 20-year resident of Port Hueneme who specializes in risk management, said he wants the city's government to be open.
"I am running for City Council to ensure public safety is the city's No. 1 priority," he said. "I also want to institute political reforms, achieve fiscal security and save our beach. My priorities are based on crystal-clear transparency; good or bad, open and honest. We need an inclusive governance where the residents have a voice in the city's future."
Star file photo Rincon Island is off the Ventura County coast north of the city of Ventura.
SHARE
By John Scheibe of the Ventura County Star
Faced with the possible termination of its lease, an oil company that operates on Rincon Island filed for bankruptcy protection in Dallas on Monday.
Rincon Island Limited Partnership "took this step to protect its key oil and gas leases from a wrongful attempted termination by the state of California," David Zdunkewicz, a bankruptcy attorney in Houston, wrote in a news release sent out Tuesday.
The bankruptcy was filed as California state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, sent a letter to the California State Lands Commission, urging that it terminate Rincon Island Limited Partnership's lease to operate on Rincon Island, located off shore from Mussel Shoals in northern Ventura County.
Jackson said the company "has not produced oil or gas on Rincon Island since October of 2008." California State Lands Commission staff found "there is an increased risk of an oil spill due to a natural increase in well pressure that has caused oil to flow without mechanical assistance" in the area around Rincon Island, Jackson stated in her letter.
Zdunkewicz could not be reached for comment after the notice of the company's bankruptcy filing was released.
Also on Monday, state regulators issued an emergency order to Rincon Island Limited Partnership to quickly make repairs to its facility around the island. This includes plugging two oil wells "to prevent environmental harm and protect the public," according to a news release from the state's Department of Conservation.
"The facilities on Rincon Island have not been properly maintained," said Ken Harris, an oil and gas supervisor with the state of California.
As part of the emergency order issued by state's Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, Rincon must bring an oil rig and other equipment to the island to complete the repair work.
"Getting a rig to the facility will require the use of a vessel," since the causeway from the mainland to the facility is in disrepair and must be recertified for the passage of heavy vehicles and equipment," the Department of Conservation said this week.
Sheri Pemberton, a California State Lands Commission staff member, said in an email on Tuesday in response to the bankruptcy filing that commissioners "are still evaluating the situation and are unable to comment at this time." Pemberton's email was sent as State Lands commissioners met Tuesday in San Pedro.
Jackson, meanwhile, released a short statement on Tuesday saying "while we are still working to determine the implications of this bankruptcy filing, the health and safety of our residents, and the prevention of another environmentally and economically disastrous oil spill, remain my chief concerns."
Tuesday's meeting in San Pedro came nearly four months after the commission notified Rincon Island Limited Partnership that it had 60 days to fix a list of problems found by state regulators at the site.
Inspections by state regulators showed "a failure to perform the required maintenance over a number of years on the wellheads, piping, tankage and safety systems," said Mark Meier, chief counsel for the State Lands Commission, in a letter to the company.
Assemblyman Das Williams, D-Carpinteria, who has introduced legislation (Assembly Bill 2729) to strengthen state laws for idle oil wells, said recently that state regulators are worried about the environmental danger posed by unplugged wells and the damage that an oil spill would cause.
State officials also worry that should an oil company suffer financial hardship or declare bankruptcy, that it might just walk away from unplugged wells, leaving taxpayers with the costs to properly cap them.
Such concerns have only increased as the price of oil has fallen, Williams said.
California has more than 21,000 idle oil and gas wells, according to Williams' office. More than half of them have been idle for 10 years or longer and 4,700 have been unused for 25 years or more.
The state Senate's Natural Resources Committee, approved AB 2729 in June.
ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Jesus Hernandez and his wife Soledad share a laugh in front of the Seabreeze stage at the Ventura County Fair as they prepare to renew their vows with dozens of other long-married couples on Tuesday. The Oxnard couple has been married for 79 years.
SHARE ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR LaVonne and Patrick Askay, of Ventura, discuss the secret to their 73-year marriage with Pastor Jim Johnson, of Good Shepherd Church in Camarillo, as the crowd prepares for the annual renewal of vows ceremony at the Ventura County Fair on Tuesday. ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Dave and Barbara Austin, of Ventura, renew their wedding vows in the company of several other long-married couple at the Ventura County Fair on Tuesday. The Ventura couple has been married 46 years. ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Gary and Anita Hensley, of Ventura, share a kiss after renewing their wedding vows at the Ventura County Fair on Tuesday. The Ventura couple will celebrate their 48th wedding anniversary on Wednesday. ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Robert and Mickey Molina (from left), married 50 years, and Gary and Anita Hensley, married 48 years, join dozens of other long-married Ventura County couples as they prepare to renew wedding vows at the Ventura County Fair on Tuesday.
By Mark Storer, Special to The Star
Don and Millie Seidler knew they wanted to get married, but the odds weren't in their favor.
"We lived in Chicago, and in Illinois, you had to be 21 to get married," said Millie. Her father asked Don what he would do if he refused to approve the marriage.
Don's reply?
"He said he'd just drive us to Wisconsin where the legal age was 18," Millie said.
The two were married in Illinois with their families' blessings in 1944.
The Seidlers, who live in Leisure Village in Camarillo, were at the Ventura County Fair on Tuesday along with about 30 other couples to renew their vows and celebrate their 72 years of marriage at an event the fair has been holding for more than 20 years.
Al and Leticia Perez, who run a nonprofit called MarriageWell.com, have been involved the last couple of years in helping organize the event.
"We brought a lot of married couples with us who have been married a very long time," Al Perez said, adding that more than 1,600 years of marriage were represented at the event. "It's such a great thing for us to be here honoring good marriages and really encouraging younger people that they can do it too. If these folks can be married for so long, they can, too."
Among those attending were Jesus and Soledad Hernandez of Oxnard and a number of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The couple is believed to be the longest married couple currently living in Ventura County. They've been married for 79 years "and two months today," said Mary Lou Sandoval, the couple's daughter.
"My parents love to celebrate this, and it's a real blessing for us to have them here," she said. Jesus Hernandez will turn 101 on Saturday.
"I look around here and see people, perhaps a little bit nervous at first, but then they turn to smiling and soon, everyone here, old and young, is all smiles," said Barbara Quaid, Ventura County Fair CEO. "I love this event and it's really what we're all about at the fair: making memories with people who have become family over the years."
Quaid said she believes Ventura County is one of the few fairs where this ceremony is performed.
Ask couples like the Seidlers and the Hernandezes what it takes to keep such a long marriage, and you won't get any secrets or hidden information.
"It takes a lot of laughter, hard work, love and patience," said Don Seidler, and Millie agreed.
"It takes patience, love and respect," said LaVonne Askay, who was renewing her vows with her husband, Patrick. The couple has been married for 73 years, and Patrick volunteered at the fair for 43 years and for a time, as a fair director. The Askays still live in Ventura and have two children, four grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
The second longest married couple in Ventura County, Harold and Helen DeNoon, were also on hand for the event. They've come to the fair to honor their marriage vows for many years, they said.
"We're happy to do it," Helen said. "It's a joy for us to share the time that we have. That's what so much of marriage is, is sharing and respect."
Pastor Jim Johnson of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Camarillo officiated at the ceremony and told several of his own stories about marriage to his wife Linda.
"There's no secret to marriage, it just takes a lot of love, a lot of laughter and a lot of communication," Johnson said.
Heres a peek at the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) in London thanks to our friend, Retna photographer Erik Kabik (Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com).
This year, EDC returned to Las Vegas but also make stops in New York, Chicago, Puerto Rico, Orlando, and for the very first time, London.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Expanding to London allowed Insomniac to share the signature EDC experience with fans who werent able to make it stateside for EDC Las Vegas. Attendees experienced a fully immersive audiovisual experience with multiple stages of world-class music, over-the-top production, carnival rides, and Insomniacs signature performers, all in the heart of England!
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
Photo: Erik Kabik/ RETNA/ www.erikkabik.com.
The seven-year-old, three time Best of Las Vegas Award-winning Sin City Comedy & Burlesque, will return to The Cabaret at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. The Local Comedic Showcase, Tease from the Strip, will be extended to two nights a week (Pictured: Tara Sherwin Photo credit: Vanessa McGrath).
Photo credit: Vanessa McGrath.
Sin City Comedy & Burlesque continues to entertain guests with a unique mix of comedy and burlesque not seen on stages since the days of Vaudeville. Comedian and Emmy Award Winning-writer John Padons vision of changing the landscape of comedy continues to be a reality as Sin City Comedy & Burlesque is now the longest running comedy show in Las Vegas. SCCB features an ever changing lineup of nationally known comedians and some of Las Vegas sexiest showgirls its a unique blend of laughter and sexy.
Photo credit: Vanessa McGrath.
In June, Sin City Comedy & Burlesque moved across the Mezz level of Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino to The Cabaret. This new sexy, intimate venue provides the perfect atmosphere and old Vegas charm to compliment this unique show. Seating is a mixture of classic cabaret style with comfortable leather chairs, couches and cocktail tables; standard general admission seating and if you prefer theres plenty of room to stand at the bar as well.
Along with the venue change Sin City Comedy & Burlesque also introduced to Las Vegas the only rising comedy showcase on the Strip Tuesday nights called Tease from the Strip hosted by Comedian John Hilder. Tease from the Strip showcases many of Vegas rising comedians with an eye toward molding future comedic stars as they compete for a nightly cash prize. The showcase has been so successful in its initial weeks that it has been expanded to Tuesday and Thursday nights immediately following Sin City Comedy & Burlesque. Tease from the Strip has no cover charge and offers 2 for 1 drinks for locals. Comedians looking to participate in the showcase must sign up at the end of any showcase.
Sin City Comedy & Burlesque has become a Las Vegas fixture, said Pete Housley, Director of Operations. The show is aptly named and the move to The Cabaret truly makes this a unique offering than a standard comedy club vibe. Tuesdays and Thursdays now offer even more laughs with the free comedy showcase and of course buy one get one free drinks.
HEXX Kitchen + Bar at Paris Las Vegas will welcome attendees and exhibitors of the MAGIC Convention with a prix fixe menu available exclusively from Monday, Aug. 15, through Wednesday, Aug. 17 (Pictured: Grilled King Salmon Photo credit: Anthony Mair).
Prepared by Executive Chef Matthew Piekarski, HEXXs MAGIC menu starts at $34.95 per person. The first course presents four different options including HEXXs signature simple salad topped with candied cocoa nibs; roasted tomato bisque; Maryland crab cakes or chilled jumbo shrimp, both for an additional supplemental charge.
Entree options include HEXXs classic burger, topped with aged Wisconsin cheddar; chicken & apple-cheddar waffles, topped with bourbon maple syrup; grilled king salmon, served with Manhattan clam chowder; a 14-ounce rib-eye or the roasted branzino, both for an additional supplemental charge. For dessert, guests will have the option of taking home one of HEXX Chocolate and Confexxions craft single origin chocolate bars, for the discounted price of $4.95 per bar.
Overtime hours and regulations refer to time worked in excess of regular working hours in Vietnam
Understanding overtime can be of critical importance for calculating costs for businesses operating in the country.
Vietnam Briefing briefly discusses the laws and compensation that regulate overtime hours as well as a comparison with Vietnams neighboring countries.
When companies turn to Vietnam to establish their manufacturing operations, it is important to not only consider the laws on regular wages, but also the policies on overtime that will be applicable to the workforce and style of a given operation. One of the benefits of Vietnam is that wages are low in comparison to the rest of the region, particularly China.
Overtime and night work policies in the socialist republic are essentially the same as those currently employed in China. The Vietnamese government enumerates all of these regulations in the new Labor Law of 2019 (Law No. 45/2019/QH14) and Decree 145/2020/ND-CP. Understanding how these laws and guidance shape costs is of utmost importance for investors seeking to maximize Vietnams potential as a low-cost destination for manufacturing.
Triggering overtime
The first consideration that an employer must make is to ensure a thorough understanding of when overtime is applied. Understanding this threshold will allow for the optimization of production targets to customers cost and time constraints.
Pursuant to the regulations mentioned above, regular working hours cannot exceed eight hours a day, 48 hours a week. For employees working in heavy or hazardous conditions, the law stipulates that employers are responsible for limiting their working limit due to exposure to dangerous substances or chemicals as per the national technical regulations and relevant laws. If a worker exceeds these limits, overtime compensation will be applied.
In addition to working beyond a set threshold of hours, overtime compensation may be triggered and influenced by the time and date that employees are engaged. Key triggers of overtime beyond hours worked include weekends, public holidays, and night hours defined as between 22:00 and 6:00.
Overtime compensation
In the event that a company triggers overtime, they will be obligated to compensate employees beyond the wages that are outlined in their contract. This is applicable to all employees regardless of the wages that are offered. The following are the percentages in excess of standard that are to be applied in the event that certain work-related thresholds are crossed.
Note: there are limitations on the number of overtime hours an employee is allowed to work. As per the new labor code, overtime hours cannot exceed 40 hours per month from the previous 30. The new labor code also supplements cases where employers are permitted to organize overtime work for up to 300 hours per year these include manufacturing and export of electric and electronic products as well work requiring high technical qualifications.
In cases where an employee works extra hours at night, they are paid extra in accordance to the applicable regulations. Further, employees who are given time off in compensation for working extra hours will need to be paid the difference between their wages during normal working hours and overtime work. Finally, employees who work night shifts should be paid at least 30 percent higher than normal.
Pregnant women, women with babies, and minor employees
Women that are in their 7th month of pregnancy and women with babies under 12 months are not allowed to work overtime, work at night, or take long-distance business trips. Further, pregnant women that are performing heavy work, must either be transferred to lighter work or decrease daily work time by an hour, while maintaining the same total pay.
The Vietnam Labor Code also establishes strict regulations for minor employees, which are workers under the age of 18. They are prohibited from working in dangerous conditions or with potential exposure to toxic substances. The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) also establishes a limit on which industries and what kind of work minors can undertake.
Minor employees between the ages of 15 and 18 can work a maximum of eight hours a day and 40 hours a week. They are only permitted to do overtime and night work in certain industries, as specified by the Ministry. For workers under the age of 15, regulations establish maximum hours at four hours a day and 20 a week, with no overtime or night work permitted. Working hours for those under 13 years of age is further reduced to one hour per day.
Vietnam vs China
The Labour Law of China establishes similar regulations for their employees. Employees working overtime must be paid at a rate of at least 150 percent; for work done during rest day/weekend, 200 percent; for work during a holiday, 300 percent. China has stricter rules regarding the amount of overtime work than Vietnam. Chinese workers are limited to only an hour of overtime work per day and three hours if it is a special circumstance. The monthly limit is 36 hours.
As Chinese wages continue to rise and the economy transitions towards a more efficiency-based structure of production, Vietnam and the wider ASEAN region has increasingly been tapped as the next factory of the world. Those looking to explore opportunities in ASEANs growing manufacturing base must be aware of the nuances found within the region and tailor their operations accordingly.
Note: This article was first published in August 2016 and has been updated to include the latest developments
Photo source Vietnamnet
Vinaconex Water Supply Joint Stock Company (Viwasupco) has decided to cancel the pipeline contract for Song Da Water Project - Phase II with Chinese contractor Xinxing Co., Ltd. (Xinxing) due to concerns over the quality of the ductile iron pipes.
The plan will be submitted for prime ministerial approval. Previously, the PM agreed to the Hanoi Peoples Committees proposal to suspend signing the contract with Xinxing to reconsider relevant problems.
Previously, Viwasupco planned to invest in Song Da Water Project - Phase II. Chinese pipe-maker Xinxing won the contract by bidding 11.8 per cent under the investors asking price. Under the VND588 billion ($26.25 million) contract, Xinxing was to supply ductile iron pipes for the projects 21-kilometre pipeline.
However, the selection of a Chinese contractor for a crucial water project faced protest from residents. Adding salt to injury, Singaporean Acuatico Pte., Ltd. decided to divest its 43.2 per cent stake, equalling 21.8 million shares, in Viwasupco as a reaction to a Chinese contractor winning the pipeline contract.
Chinese contractors are known for bidding low to win contracts, then asking for more, citing unexpected cost overruns. Most Chinese-contracted projects are likely to reach completion behind schedule, amassing further costs.
The infamous Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway project in Hanoi, for instance, is expected to cost 57 per cent more than the initial investment estimate. Notably, China Railway Sixth Group is the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor who initially estimated the project to cost $553 million, but the total investment has already risen to $868 million.
In addition, the construction of infrastructure for the project was expected to finish by the end of 2015 so that it may officially go on stream in March 2016. However, as of now, construction has yet to be completed.
Another example is Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Plant - Phase 2, invested by Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel JSC (TISCO), with Chinese contractor China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC).
The plants construction was kicked off in 2007 under an EPC contract with the initial investment capital of VND3.8 trillion ($170.4 million). However, in 2009, the projects expected cost increased to VND8 trillion ($361.4 million).
In 2012, MCC decided to abandon the project and returned to China because the investor had difficulty arranging capital after disbursing more than VND4.5 trillion ($216.35 million). Thus, the projects construction has been delayed for four years.
Accordingly, it was reported that construction of the 60-hectare racecourse has started last July and will be completed within two months.
The racecourse also includes a 30-hectare parking lot and a grandstand that can accommodate 50-60,000 people.
Dai Nam JSCs chairman cum general director Huynh Uy Dung recently told the media that the company had sent the complete legal documentation and reported the project to Binh Duong provinces management authorities.
After completing the legal and administrative hurdles, the construction of the racecourse will be wrapped up in about mid-October 2016, and the racecourse will be ready to operate.
Dung also said that the racecourse will welcome local and international visitors and become a hotbed to the countrys new generation of talented racers. Also, the company has strict policies prohibiting gambling at the racecourse.
The picture painted to and by the media is rather rosy; however, something is out of place behind the scenes.
In a talk with the VIR late last week, director of the Binh Duong Department of Planning and Investment Nguyen Thanh Truc said that he only learned about the project through the media.
Truc affirmed that the department had yet to receive any files or legal documents related to Dai Nam JSCs racecourse.
Earlier, deputy director of the Binh Duong Construction Department Nguyen Loc Ha said that he was told the racecourse project already had a construction proposal and is in the process of legal setup for the licensing procedures.
An investment consultant told VIR that in light of the amended 2014 Investment Law, if Dai Nams racecourse project does not include gambling, it will only need to secure approval by the provinces Peoples Committee.
According to Clause 33 of the 2014 Investment Law, the investor must submit the project records to the local investment registration agency (here the Binh Duong Department of Planning and Investment).
After receiving these documents, the agency will go through the necessary procedures to submit them to the provincial Peoples Committee for approval.
If the media reports were true, Dai Nam JSC has not followed the regulations on investment activities.
Since the project is of a large size and involves the building of a grandstand with a carrying capacity of several dozen thousands of spectators, strictly adherence to investment and construction regulations is very important.
The two will also improve service quality at Hanoi Railway Station. Tourists traveling in a group, for example, will have staff assigned to assist them. Trains from Hanoi - Lao Cai province, Hanoi - Ninh Binh province - Thanh Hoa province - Nghe An province - Ha Tinh province - Quang Binh province - Hue city - Da Nang city - Hoi An city, and Hanoi - Hai Phong city will also be improved to international standards.
They will also research the building of more railway lines to new tourism destinations and introduce related packages including travel and accommodation.
In the first half of this year, while the number of domestic passengers traveling by air has increased dramatically the number traveling by rail is on the decline.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), domestic airlines carried about 25 million tourists, a 29.7 per cent increase year-on-year, with domestic air passengers increasing 33 per cent.
In the same period domestic airlines such as Vietjet Air opened more domestic air routes, such as Hai Phong city - Phu Quoc Island, Hai Phong - Da Lat, Hai Phong - Buon Ma Thuot, and Thanh Hoa - Nha Trang. Meanwhile, Jetstar Pacific opened routes such as Hue - Nha Trang, Hanoi - Chu Lai, and Hanoi - Quy Nhon.
Flight frequency also increased, especially during the summer. Vietjet, for example, added more than 5,700 flights and offered over 1 million promotional tickets. Vietnam Airlines added 2,115 flights, equal to 662,000 seats.
While airlines are recording good growth the prospects for the railway sector are the opposite. Revenue from railway travel in first half was VND1.954 trillion ($87.6 million), or just 77.5 per cent of revenue collected in the same period last year.
Ms. Phung Thi Ly Ha, Deputy Director of Haraco, told a meeting on July 16 to review railway activities in the first half that the sector is facing fierce competition from airlines.
A one-way flight from Hanoi to Da Nang costs VND600,000 ($26.9) against a sleeper ticket on the train for VND700,000 ($31.38). But if tickets were to be cut substantially the sectors profitability would suffer.
The railway sector has indeed made many improvements to its ticketing and services at stations and on trains.
The improvements have failed to win over passengers, however, and the sector must create a better travel experience at a cheaper price if it hopes to reclaim market share.
The K-care package has been approved by the Ministry of Finance to provide financial access to early-stage cancer treatment up to VND1.2 billion ($54,795) per policy.
Bao Viets close co-operation with the global pharmaceutical firm ROCHE, who have partnerships with 95 local hospitals nationwide, guarantees access to advanced treatments. Risks covered include cancer diagnosis (both at early and late stages), hospitalisation and death.
According to the Ministry of Health (MoH), by 2020 Vietnam will have 189,000 people will be diagnosed with cancer in the country. The number of deaths from the disease is expected to reach 82,000 by that time, equal to 43.5 per cent of the total number of cancer patients. Currently, Vietnams mortality rates from cancer are among the highest in the world.
Financing treatment remains an acute problem for Vietnamese cancer patients. The MoHs data claims that after 12 months of treatment, 34 per cent of patients cannot afford medicines, 22 per cent cannot pay travelling expenses and 24 per cent can no longer afford to pay their rent and household bills.
The arrival of K-care is expected to lessen the burden on Vietnam Social Insurance, who paid over VND4.4 trillion ($201 million) for cancer treatment in 2015. The insurance bill for six common types of cancer is estimated to equal to some 0.22 per cent of the countrys GDP. To mitigate these costs, in January 1, 2015, the Ministry of Health reduced the cost of 28 cancer treating pharmaceuticals to only 30-50 per cent.
At the product launch, Bao Viet Insurance and Vietnam Reinsurance Company donated VND100 million to the Supportive Fund for Cancer Patients the Bright Future, and pledged ongoing support to the organisation.
Bao Viet Insurance is the current leader in healthcare insurance with a market share of 29 per cent. They are followed by VASS Assurance Corporation with 14 per cent, Petrolimex Vietnam Insurance (PVI) and Bao Minh Insurance Corporation both with 12 per cent.
HMAS Perth searches for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 in the southern Indian Ocean in April 2014 AFP/Abis Nicolas Gonzalez
The Boeing 777 disappeared on Mar 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people onboard. An extensive underwater hunt in the southern Indian Ocean has not yet found the crash site, fuelling speculation it may be outside the current search zone, particularly if someone was at the controls at the end of the flight.
A manned plane could have been glided down, allowing it to enter the water outside the 120,000 square kilometre (46,000 square mile) area being searched, some experts have suggested.
But extensive testing by aircraft manufacturer Boeing and new Australian defence department data analysis both suggest that - regardless of the possible actions of one or both of the pilots - the jet dived into the ocean at high speed, The Australian reported.
Once MH370 ran out of fuel and the engines flamed, it slowed before plunging down towards the water in a series of swoops - dropping from 35,000 feet at a rate of between 12,000 feet a minute and 20,000 feet a minute, Boeing said, according to the report.
The sharp dive was confirmed by a new data analysis by Australia's defence department involving signals sent automatically between the plane and a satellite, the head of the agency leading the MH370 hunt said.
Australian Transport and Safety Bureau chief Greg Hood said this supported the view MH370 "was likely to have crashed in the 120,000 square kilometre (46,000 square mile) area now being searched," the paper said.
The area was defined under the ATSB's "most likely" scenario that no-one was at the controls and the plane ran out of fuel.
"The Australians leading the search do not doubt that the pilot may well have been responsible for the jet's disappearance but they say critics of the search strategy are wrong to assume that means they are looking in the wrong place," the report added.
Malaysian officials said last week that one of the pilots used a home-made flight simulator to plot a very similar course to MH370's presumed final route, but warned this did not prove he deliberately crashed the plane.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of talks at Konstantinovsky Palace outside Saint Petersburg. (AFP/Alexander Nemenov)
Erdogan's visit to Putin's hometown of Saint Petersburg is also his first foreign trip since the failed coup against him last month that sparked a purge of opponents and cast a shadow over Turkey's relations with the West.
"We lived through a very complicated moment in the relations between our states and we very much want, and I feel our Turkish friends want, to overcome the difficulties," Putin told journalists at a joint press conference after the encounter.
The Kremlin leader insisted it would take "painstaking work" and "some time" to return to previous trade levels as Russia looks to roll back a series of economic sanctions against Ankara, but both sides said they wanted to restart major energy projects hit by the crisis.
Erdogan said that he hoped Russian-Turkish relations would become "more robust" and stressed how important it was that Putin offered his support after the coup.
"We will bring our relations back to the old level and even beyond, both sides are determined and have the necessary will," he said.
The shooting down of a Russian fighter jet by a Turkish F-16 over the Syrian border last fall saw a furious Putin slap economic sanctions on Turkey and launch a blistering war of words with Erdogan that seemed to irrevocably damage burgeoning ties.
But in a shock reversal late June, Putin accepted a letter expressing regret over the incident from Erdogan as an apology and quickly rolled back a ban on the sale of package holidays to Turkey and signalled Moscow would end measures against Turkish food imports and construction firms.
Now in the wake of the failed July 15 coup attempt, there are fears in Western capitals that NATO-member Turkey could draw even closer to Moscow - with Erdogan bluntly making it clear he feels let down by the United States and the European Union.
Putin was one of the first foreign leaders to phone Erdogan offering support after the coup attempt and shares none of the scruples of EU leaders about the ensuing crackdown.
BACK TO BUSINESS?
Relations between Turkey and Russia - two powers vying for influence in the strategic Black Sea region and Middle East - have historically not been straightforward.
Yet before the plane downing crisis, Moscow and Ankara managed to prevent disputes on Syria and Ukraine harming strategic cooperation on issues like the TurkStream gas pipeline to Europe and a Russian-built nuclear power station in Turkey.
Those projects were all put on ice with trade between the two countries falling 43 per cent in January-May this year to US$6.1 billion and Turkey's tourism industry seeing visitor numbers from Russia fall by 93 per cent.
Now with Russia mired in economic crisis due to Western sanctions over Ukraine and low oil prices along with Turkey's outlook flagging, both men want to get business started again.
Erdogan said that he now wanted to see the TurkStream project "done as fast as possible", while Putin said construction could start "in the nearest future".
The Turkish leader also insisted that the two sides were once again targeting a very ambitious trade turnover of US$100 billion by 2024.
SKIRTING SYRIA
The earlier uptick in relations between Turkey and Russia was built on a macho friendship between Putin and Erdogan, two combative leaders in their early 60s credited with restoring confidence to their nations in the wake of financial crises but also criticised for clamping down on human rights.
But after such a bitter dispute - which saw Putin accuse Erdogan of stabbing Russia in the back and profiting from an illegal oil trade with the Islamic State group - it will take a lot for the pair to reheat relations.
The two strongmen leaders conspicuously skirted one major issue dividing them and that lay at the heart of their falling out - the war in Syria.
Putin and Erdogan said they would start discussing the conflict after the press conference but the Russian leader insisted both sides were committed to finding a peaceful solution.
Russia is flying a bombing campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad while Turkey is fiercely opposed to the Syrian leader.
Erdogan insisted in an interview with Russian media ahead of the talks that Assad must still go - a position opposed by Putin - but said that the conflict could now become the focus for renewed cooperation between the two sides.
With the initial price of VND14,290 ($0.64) per unit, the auctioned share volume will be valued at VND2.38 trillion ($106.6 million).
After the sale, VEAMs chartered capital will increase to VND13.28 trillion ($595.5 million), equalling 1.33 billion shares. Accordingly, the state will hold 51 per cent of the chartered capital with 678 million shares, and strategic shareholders will hold 36 per cent, equalling 478 million shares.
VEAM employees will hold 0.49 per cent of the company stakes. The rest will be sold at the company's IPO on HNX.
Regarding strategic shareholders, Vietnam N.A Motor Co., Ltd. (N.A Motor), which spent VND1.25 trillion ($55.8 million) on acquiring a 97.7 per cent stake in Vietnam Motors Industry Corporation (Vinamotor) in January, registered to buy the assigned 36 per cent at the price of VND10.050 ($0.45) per unit, equalling VND5 trillion ($223.8 million).
As of now, only N.A Motor has expressed interest in becoming VEAMs strategic shareholder, indicating a one-sided end to N.A Motor.
Established in 1990, VEAM specialises in manufacturing agricultural machinery, components, and assembling automobiles and motorbikes. The company has 20 subsidiaries nationwide, including Song Cong Diesel Limited Company, Southern Vietnam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Company Ltd. and An Giang Mechanical JSC, etc.
In addition, the company currently holds a 30 per cent stake in Honda Vietnam, a 20 per cent stake in Toyota Vietnam, and a 25 per cent stake in Ford Vietnam. Furthermore, it owns numerous sizeable land plots in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Haiphong, Dong Nai, and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, among others.
According to the companys financial report, in 2015, it acquired a net profit of VND3.66 trillion ($163.8 million), VND3.39 trillion ($151.7 million) of which was distributed as dividend.
Regarding N.A Motor, established in 2005, the company specialises in distributing cars and motorbikes, selling spare parts, vehicle insurance, as well as providing vehicle maintenance and repair services. The company is currently expanding its operations to the real estate sector. N.A Motor, with its solid finances, commits to making Vinamotor become the countrys leading car manufacturer and distributor.
illustration photo
Online retailer Lingo.vn suspended its operations last week. The news gave rise to quick rumours about the company running out of money and the investor refusing to put more in. Lingo.vn, established in 2014, is a subsidiary of digital content creator VMG Media JSC. According to from the parent companys financial statements, the operation incurred a loss of VND150 billion ($6.7 million) until the end of June 2016.
Since 2015, e-commerce in Vietnam has seen thinning competition, as many businesses closed shop and backed out of the market, including online retailer Deca.vn and IDG Ventures-backed Project Lanas three e-commerce sites Lamdieu, Beyeu, and Foreva, which sold fashion items and cosmetics, maternity and newborn goods, and underwear, consecutively.
Meanwhile, all of Rocket Internets e-commerce ventures in Vietnam changed hands. Food ordering service Foodpanda was taken over by local start-up Vietnammm, online clothing and accessories retailer Zalora was sold to Central Group, and Lazada was taken over by Alibaba.
Contrary to the market trend, a number of new companies have recently entered the e-commerce fair. Examples include VNG's $17 billion investment into tiki.vn, a purchase of 38 per cent in May, or real estate tycoon Vingroup's launch of e-commerce site adayroi.com last August.
Of all the Vietnamese start-ups that secured funding from investors since the beginning of the year, there is only one from the field of e-commerce. Flash sales platform Topmot.vn last week announced that it had secured $1 million funding from a consortium of individual investors, a member ofwhich is a cofounder of US flash sales site Gilt Groupe. Topmot, launched in June, is the only flash sales site in Vietnam at the moment. It currently runs about 40 campaigns a week, each starting at 10 AM every day with a maximum time span of five days.
According to Nguyen Dac Viet Dung, chairman of online marketplace sendo.vn, the Vietnamese e-commerce market is reordering itself.
Big companies, such as Lazada, Sendo, and Tiki are receiving heavy investments, while smaller companies are closing or focusing on niche markets. This is normal and has happened in other markets, he elaborated.
The remark was somewhat echoed by Erik Jonsson, founder of Topmot and former CEO of Zalora Vietnam. E-commerce in Vietnam is not easy, said Jonsson in a recent interview with news site dealstreetasia.com. There is less and less room for me too modelsas the market grows, more players are added and competition increases. Unless you solve a specific problem or bring unique value to your customers, it will be hard to grow and thrive in the long-run against competitors that may have deeper pockets than you do.
Data from the Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency (VECITA) showed that in 2015 the total revenue from B2C e-commerce in Vietnam was $4.07 billion, up 37 per cent on-year, and accounted for 2.8 per cent of the total retail of goods and services in the country.
A foreign family crosses a street in downtown HCMC. Vietnam saw a big leap in tourist arrivals from Italy, Spain, the UK, Germany and France in the first seven months of this year Photo: Uyen Vien/SGT
According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), 846,300 foreign tourists came to Vietnam in July, up 41.2% over the same month last year. The cumulative figure for the January-July period was 5.55 million, a 24% year-on-year increase.
Data showed that Italian tourist arrivals in the seven-month period rose 30.5% year-on-year to 27,425; Spain by 24.2% to 22,835; the UK by 23.4% to 147,673; Germany by 17.5% to 97,421 and France by 13.2% to 142,214.
In July alone, the number from Italy was 3,026, Spain 4,797, the UK 19,365, Germany 10,550 and France 18,193, representing year-on-year increases of 32.7%, 30.4%, 15.7%, 21.2% and 9.5%.
Citizens from the five European countries are allowed to enter and stay in Vietnam for up to 15 days without a visa.
Tourist arrivals from other important markets also grew strongly in the first seven months, with Hong Kong up a staggering 111.8%, China 54.5%, Thailand 37.2%, and South Korea 37%. On the other hand, a drop of 17.6% was recoded in the number of Cambodian tourists.
Given the strong growth in South Korean arrivals, an executive of the Tourism Authority of Thailand in Seoul recently told the Bangkok Post that Vietnam would be Thailands main rival in the competition for Korean tourists.
Last year, 1.37 million Koreans visited Thailand while 1.1 million came to Vietnam.
But Vu The Binh, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA), said Vietnams tourism sector cannot compete with Thailands on any international markets. Tourists from Korea may surge this year, but next year it would be still unpredictable.
Binh said Vietnams tourism sector does not develop in a sustainable manner. Thailand, in contrast, has a long-term plan and proper investment strategies to develop its tourism industry. Around 30 million international visitors arrive in Thailand a year while Vietnam only targets several million tourists from abroad, he said.
Binh said his association expects Vietnam to receive nine million international arrivals this year, exceeding the target of 8.5 million.
remaining of
Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.
Though Bass Pro Shops has been rumored to be nearing a deal to buy Cabela's, a financial analyst who follows the company says he thinks a more likely scenario is a sale of Cabela's World's Foremost Bank credit card operation.
Andrew Burns, a senior research analyst with D.A. Davidson, called a sale of the credit card operation, which is based in Lincoln, "the most likely option" of Cabela's strategic review.
Burns, who spoke to the Journal Star on Wednesday, said such a sale would free about $400 million that Sidney-based Cabela's could then use to buy back stock, a move that would please investors.
Cabela's has for the most part remained mum about any plans for a potential sale since last fall, when activist investor Elliott Management disclosed that it had acquired an 11 percent stake in the company.
In December, the company said it would explore strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value.
Earlier this summer, Cabela's acknowledged for the first time in a securities filing that those alternatives could include "a sale of Cabelas or one of its businesses, including a sale of the bank or its assets."
Should the bank be sold, it would likely be to a financial services company -- Burns threw out TD Bank as one possibility -- which would not be good news for Lincoln, where Cabela's has about 700 employees, most of whom work in the credit card operation.
Such a sale would result in a "significant consolidation of operations," he said.
"I can't imagine it would not result in some headcount reduction," Burns said.
The New York Post last month, quoting anonymous sources, reported that a deal to sell Cabela's retail operations to rival Bass Pro Shops was just days away from being finalized. The newspaper also reported that Cabela's had negotiated a separate deal to sell World's Foremost Bank to a different buyer.
Burns said he's not sold on Bass Pro buying Cabela's. He said one complicating factor is a significant overlap of stores in several markets. Another is the personalities of the owners -- the Cabelas on one side and Bass Pro owner Johnny Morris.
"There's a decent probability of one of them backing away" from a deal, Burns said.
He said that if Bass Pro does buy Cabela's, he could see the company wanting to keep World's Foremost Bank, which would be good news for Lincoln. However, Cabela's being bought by Bass Pro would not be good for Sidney, likely resulting in major cuts to the company's 2,000-strong workforce there.
Burns stressed that it's tough to predict what will happen with Cabela's, because it is such a complex business, with a retail operation that specializes in selling firearms as well as its own bank.
While there is a wide range of potential outcomes, "some form of change is likely," he said.
As to when that change is likely to occur, Burns said the longest strategic review he's seen a company undertake lasted just under a year. Cabela's started its process about eight months ago.
"I think you could see something happen in the third quarter," he said.
Cambodias main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, has announced it will create what is in effect a shadow cabinet in preparation of an expected victory at the next election, scheduled for 2018.
Son Chhay, the CNRPs chief whip, said the party would create 10 committees to mirror those of parliament with the aim being to prepare the circumstances in which we believe that the CNRP will win the election and lead the country.
The party must be clear about the principle of implementing policy when we have a leadership role, so we are creating 10 committees first, then we will create more committees, he said.
The committees will cover issues such as human rights, finance, foreign affairs and education.
The CNRP has come under fire from critics who have argued that the party has not produced a coherent set of policies since it formed in 2012.
Ou Virak, founder of the Future Forum think tank, said to effectively run the country the opposition needed to play catch up with the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party in terms of the ability to govern.
An effective opposition party is a party which has [enough resources] to lead the country a government needs to have a prime minister, ministers in each ministry and a party platform. When you have the resources, you also need to have a plan and knowledge of how to lead, he said.
More than half the men and women who have left the United States to join the conflict in Iraq and Syria may actually be battling against the Islamic State terror group instead of fighting for it.
That conclusion is based on a new report by the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), as well as on court records and information previously shared by intelligence and law enforcement officials.
"That pathway is fairly well-trodden. The scale of it surprised us a little bit," said ISD Policy and Research Manager Henry Tuck, who co-authored Shooting in the Right Direction: Anti-ISIS Foreign Fighters in Syria & Iraq. ISIS is an acronym for Islamic State.
The report, released Tuesday, looked at the nationalities and motivations of foreign fighters who traveled to the region through the end of 2015 specifically to fight IS or other known terror groups. It found 114 of these fighters were from the U.S.
That figure alone would represent a sizeable chunk almost 46 percent of the approximately 250 Americans who, according to U.S. law enforcement officials and the intelligence community, have sought to take part in the overall conflict.
But the percentage of American foreign fighters battling IS may be higher still perhaps more than 50 percent in large part because officials admit not all of the Americans who tried to go to Syria and Iraq actually made it.
In fact, statistics kept by the George Washington University Program on Extremism indicate as many as 47 would-be foreign fighters have been arrested in the U.S. and charged with IS-related offenses.
Authorities look the other way
While the U.S. has worked to cut down on the flow of foreign fighters to IS and other terror groups, travel to Iraq and Syria itself is not necessarily illegal, though the State Department advises against it.
"Private U.S. citizens are strongly discouraged from traveling to Syria to take part in the conflict," a State Department advisory warned earlier this year. "The U.S. government does not support this activity."
But the accounts of anti-IS foreign fighters included in the ISD report show few met with much, if any, resistance.
"We don't find too many stories of people getting stopped when they're leaving," said ISD's Tuck. "They might get taken aside and asked a few questions about where they're heading, what their plans are, but not too many people being turned away at the airport."
Some Americans fighting IS claim they have even been given verbal support from State Department officials in Iraq.
One such American, Matthew VanDyke, spoke with VOA via Skype in February 2015.
"This is really a full-time-plus job," VanDyke said at the time, describing his efforts to recruit U.S. combat veterans to offer specialized training to the Assyrian Christian fighters in northern Iraq. "It's going quite well."
State Department officials tell a different story.
"We do not endorse nonessential travel to Iraq by private U.S. citizens," one official told VOA when asked about VanDyke's claims.
Still, the ISD study found many anti-IS foreign fighters, whether from the U.S. or Europe, reported similar experiences.
"The advice will be, don't go, but it won't necessarily be explicitly illegal,'" Tuck said.
And while the anti-IS foreign fighters are not considered a threat to the homeland, there are reasons for U.S. officials to worry.
"We don't like any ad hoc foreign fighting," said Patrick Skinner, a former intelligence officer now with the Soufan Group, a New York organization that provides strategic security intelligence services to governments and multinational organizations.
"It's less the specific cause and more the general passion and armed militancy," he said. "The rising tide of extremism on all sides lifts all dangerous boats."
Who are they?
The report found a few primary routes to the conflict. One involved traveling through Turkey to Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan, where many of the anti-IS foreign fighters joined up with local forces. Other anti-IS foreign fighters reported traveling to Iraq via Europe or the Gulf States.
Many of the anti-IS foreign fighters also appear to have had an additional advantage. More than 30 percent were military veterans, many of whom had taken part in Western operations in Iraq and described the region "as a kind of second home," the report found.
Many of them also expressed a desire to "finish the job."
"They believe it is their personal responsibility to ensure the region's security if the international community and their own governments are unable to do so," the report said.
Researchers also found some commonalities between the foreign fighters battling against the IS terror group and those who seek to join it.
"These fighters fighting against ISIS have very different overall motivations," Tuck said. "But I think some of the more personal, some of the more individual, factors are quite similar in some ways."
"It might be a lack of belonging, a lack of purpose. They don't feel like they're doing enough with their lives," he said.
A special tribunal dealing with war crimes committed during Bangladesh's independence war against Pakistan in 1971 on Wednesday sentenced a former lawmaker to death and seven others to life in prison for murder and other crimes.
The tribunal sentenced Sakhawat Hossain, a former parliament member belonging to the Jamaat-e-Islami party, to death on Wednesday. He and one of the other defendants were present in the court. The six others were tried in absentia.
Hossain was a central committee member of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami party at the time, and was accused of acting as a local commander of a group that aided Pakistani soldiers. He left Jamaat-e-Islami and joined the Bangladesh Nationalist Party headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. At the time of the court case he was involved with Jatiya Party headed by former military dictator H. M. Ershad.
His lawyers said they will appeal.
Bangladesh says Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed 3 million people and raped 200,000 women in 1971.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina initiated the process of prosecuting suspected war criminals in 2010 by forming the tribunal. More than 20 people have already been convicted, and five men, mostly Jamaat-e-Islami's top leaders, have been executed.
Jamaat-e-Islami party openly campaigned against Bangladesh's independence in 1971 and formed militia groups to help the Pakistani army crush the uprising.
A retired Australian army officer on Wednesday won a 50-year struggle to gain official recognition for the bravery of 10 soldiers who fought under his command during Australia's most costly battle of the Vietnam War.
Harry Smith, 83, was presented at Parliament House with a recommendation by a review tribunal for nine soldiers to be decorated for the first time and a 10th soldier to have his medal upgraded for courage shown during the Battle of Long Tan in a Vietnamese rubber plantation on Aug. 18, 1966.
Smith, a retired lieutenant colonel, led a company of 105 Australian soldiers plus three New Zealanders supported by artillery that won a rain-drenched, three-hour battle against more than 2,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, the Australian government said.
Eighteen Australians were killed and 24 wounded, while the Vietnamese were estimated to have lost hundreds of troops.
Within hours of the battle ending, Smith said he recommended to his commanding officer that 20 soldiers under his command be decorated.
Initially, only eight battle veterans were honored, including Smith. He was awarded the Star of Gallantry, the highest honor after the Victoria Cross.
He has since campaigned relentlessly to have others recognized. Wednesday's verdict of the Defense Honors and Awards Appeal Tribunal -- an independent court established five years ago to investigate such cases -- brings the number to 16, Smith said. The government accepted the recommendation.
Smith said he was happy with the decision despite the tribunal dismissing his application for another soldier to be awarded his first decoration and another two decorated soldiers to have their honors upgraded.
"Justice has been done," Smith said. "I learnt from my years in the army that you have to keep on fighting and you eventually win."
Three of the 10 veterans to receive new honors have died since the war.
Australia deployed more than 60,000 military personnel to Vietnam between 1962 and 1973, of whom 521 were killed. The Battle of Long Tan anniversary next week has become Australia's official Vietnam Veterans Day.
The Brazilian Senate has voted to begin the impeachment trial of embattled President Dilma Rousseff, a move that could officially hand over power to her former vice president current interim president Michel Temer.
Senate debate stretched into the early hours of Wednesday morning, but the results were clear-cut, with a 59 to 21 majority voting in favor of moving forward with the impeachment proceedings. The Senate needed just a simple majority to decide on taking Rousseff to trial, but a two-thirds majority will be needed in the final vote, which will come after the trial in late August.
The Senate suspended Rousseff in May after allegations emerged that she illegally fudged the numbers on the countrys budget to make it seem like a slump in the economy wasnt as bad as it actually was during her 2014 re-election campaign. Throughout the impeachment process, Rousseff has maintained that she did nothing wrong and called it a coup.
Rousseff has denied she broke budget laws and maintains she is the victim of a right-wing conspiracy to overthrow her government that advanced the interests of Brazil's poor.
In her written defense last month Rousseff said Brazilians knew an honest woman was being put on trial and she called the impeachment proceedings a "farce" and her alleged crimes no more than "routine acts of budgetary management."
Her conviction would end her 13-year reign over Brazil, and leave the largest economy in Latin America in the hands of her conservative former vice president.
Since the Senate suspended Rousseff on May 12, Brazils stock market and currency have strengthened based on investor speculation that Temer, who has laid out policy proposals that favor private business, will be better for the economy.
Temer has implored the Senate to move quickly, saying that the "people need to know who the president is."
If Rousseff is found guilty, Temer will become the president until the next election is held in 2018.
The images from the summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro have been strikingly beautiful. But underlying all that beauty is great turmoil as Brazil is in the grip of a crippling political and economic crisis. Ordinary Brazilians are feeling the pinch, especially those who live in the Rio slums called "favelas."
Huberto Sousa spent most of his life renting beach chairs to tourists on Copacabana beach. Then in October 2010 he decided to open a bar in the favela of Cantagalo, where he was born and raised.
I always wanted to work for myself rather than to work for others because I am lazy and I dont want a boss getting on my nerves. And this way I would be able to choose my own hours and earn my own money instead of earning it for someone else, said Sousa.
Known in the neighborhood as the king, Hujberto opened the Kings Castle and business took off.
2010 was a unique moment in Brazilian history. The economy was booming and many Brazilians moved out of poverty and into the middle class. Between 2003 and 2013, the median household income grew 87 percent in real terms. But the good times didnt last.
The good times were when the middle class people from down there would come and socialize with people from the favela, and it was cool because it was a mix of those people. That was the best time, but it started to drop off about 2014. And people would say they dont have the money, said Sousa.
Brazils economy hit a wall. Some blame rising debt and cuts in government spending. Others think of it as a convergence of economic forces cuts in spending, consumption and investment.
Blame aside, Brazilian economist Rodrigo Magalhaes said the impact was felt hardest among people who had recently moved up into the middle class.
When the recession began it broke the expectation of these people because in the last 10 years they had seen the situation getting steadily better and then it all collapsed, said Magalhaes.
Public services like hospitals and public schools also have been hit hard. At the Amaro Cavalcanti school in Rio, the sign on the gate says The struggle has only just started.
Across Brazil, teachers like Fabiola Camargo have been on strike. And students have been occupying schools for weeks.
We have not had a raise since 2014. The occupations are supporting the strikes just as much as the strikes are supporting the occupations because they both were wanting improvements in education. It is as if the federal government and the city of Rio wants to stop investing in schools," said Camargo.
Unemployment in urban areas is reaching 8 percent and Brazil's GDP is expected to dip another 2 percent this year. Economists dont see any quick solution - a reminder that while the favela Cantagalo may have a beautiful ocean view, the outlook isnt always pretty.
Three small words "maybe there is " uttered by Republican Donald Trump as an off-the-cuff comment have shaken up the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
Speaking Tuesday in Wilmington, North Carolina, Trump said Democrat Hillary Clinton would appoint liberal Supreme Court judges who would take away Americans' constitutional right to own guns.
"By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people maybe there is, I don't know."
It is unclear whether Trump was joking when he said "maybe there is." But his opponents immediately interpreted it to mean that Clinton or the judges should be assassinated.
'Should not suggest violence'
"What Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook tweeted.
Social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, erupted over the Trump comment.
But Trump denied having any thoughts of violence when he spoke.
"Give me a break," he told Fox News. "This is a political movement ... a strong and powerful movement, the Second Amendment. Hillary wants to take your guns away. She wants to leave you unprotected in your home. And there can be no other interpretation."
The National Rifle Association also was quick to run to Trump's rescue.
"There is something we will do on #ElectionDay: Show up and vote for the #2A #DefendtheSecond #NeverHillary," the gun rights organization tweeted.
Campaign 'restart'
This newest controversy has all but wrecked Trump's apparent efforts to "restart" his chaotic campaign. He made a relatively straightforward speech Monday in Detroit in which he spelled out his economic plans if elected.
Trump has a reputation of veering away from his prepared remarks for ad-libs and off-the-cuff remarks that he says the media distort.
Clinton has said, "There is no other Donald Trump. This is it."
But Trump tried Tuesday to paint Clinton as the one who has no self-control, calling her volcanic and impulsive and someone who is "wacky and makes bad decisions."
Trump got back to business when he said that if he is elected, he would charge American companies that move their factories overseas a 35 percent tariff on goods they export to the United States. He also promised to cut government regulations for people who want to start new businesses.
Clinton was in Miami, Florida, where four new cases of the Zika virus, suspected to have been spread by mosquitoes, have been reported.
She urged Republican leaders to immediately call the House of Representatives into special session and pass a bill funding the fight against Zika. She said this is an epidemic that will only get worse.
The Senate has passed a Zika funding measure, but the House recessed before it could pass one and reach a compromise with the Senate on a final bill.
Lauren Kintner, chief policy adviser to Gov. Pete Ricketts and wife of embattled state Sen. Bill Kintner, is a "consummate professional," Ricketts said Wednesday.
"She's incredibly intelligent. She's got lots of experience. She knows policy inside and out," he said. "I just can't say enough good things about Lauren Kintner."
Ricketts and others have urged Bill Kintner to resign from the Legislature after he acknowledged using his state laptop to have cybersex last summer with a woman who immediately attempted to extort money from him.
Last week, the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commissioner fined him $1,000 for misusing state property.
It's a difficult situation for everyone involved, including staff in the governor's office, Ricketts said Wednesday during an unrelated news conference at the Capitol.
Lauren Kintner served as policy research director under former Govs. Mike Johanns and Dave Heineman and now holds that job with the Ricketts administration.
"She is, I will tell you, one of the most capable people that we have in state government," Ricketts said.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are weighing whether to convene a special session this fall to react to Bill Kintner's cybersex scandal. Many say he should be expelled from the Legislature if he refuses to resign.
Ricketts could call a special session himself, but said he is deferring to senators on the matter.
The Legislature has never called itself into special session, but it could do so with support from 33 members.
It's unclear whether an apology Sen. Kintner sent to fellow senators Tuesday will help his case.
"I have embarrassed the institution in which we serve and I have put you in an uncomfortable situation," he wrote. "I want you to know that I am sorry for that. I apologize for placing you and the Legislature in a difficult position."
Members of the Legislature's Executive Board plan to discuss the issue Aug. 19.
"This is something for the Legislature to deal with. This is their member," Ricketts said. "They don't like it when the governor's branch interferes with them, just like I don't like it when the Legislature tries to micromanage the executive branch."
Ricketts, who says he urged Kintner to resign last year after learning of the allegations, said he met with the senator who lives in Papillion again after the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission's decision Friday.
Again, he said, he asked Kintner to resign.
"Hopefully he's considering the words that I gave him."
Kintner was first elected to the Legislature from District 2 in 2012 and was reelected in 2014.
The sound of battle has long gone. But the ghosts remain in Ukraine's Independence Square, where more than two years ago police and protesters clashed for weeks amid acrid black fumes billowing from burning tires.
In Ukraine's Maidan where sniper rounds once cracked, there are now foreign tourists. Where 53 people were slain either with clean shots by expert marksmen or gunned down at closer range by less skillful assassins, there are now snaking lines of school kids visiting from other Ukrainian cities.
The kids listen in various states of indifference or interest to the guides explaining the events that led to the ouster of President Vladimir Putin's satrap Viktor Yanukovych.
That ouster triggered the Russian land-grab of Crimea and what Ukrainian and Western officials say is Moscow-fomented separatism in the country's mainly Russian-speaking eastern region of Donbas.
For all of the calm now in Maidan, Ukrainian officials fear the Kremlin is limbering up for another destabilizing offensive in the east. They say it is part of Moscow's hybrid war involving dirty tricks and misinformation to snap Ukraine back into the Russian orbit and prolong a state of uncertainty to hinder the government in Kyiv from accomplishing the political reforms Maidan protesters demanded.
Mounting tensions
And tensions are increasing, not only in the Donbas but on the Ukraine-Crimea frontier following the off-and-on closure over the weekend of all three border crossings by Russia. Kyiv accused Moscow on Tuesday of stepping up military activity on the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014 within weeks of Yanukovych's fall. More helicopter gunship sorties reportedly are being flown along the border, as well as surveillance drone flights.
Ukraine's general staff is reinforcing units in Kherson, the Ukrainian region bordering Crimea, and residents say they have spotted anti-tank rocket launchers being transported by Ukrainian forces.
The Russians also are building up in Crimea. The deputy chairman of the outlawed Crimean Tatars' Mejlis, or council, Nariman Dzhelalov, wrote on his Facebook page August 7: "Witnesses report that large groups of Russian military hardware have been massed near Armyansk and Dzhankoy [in northern Crimea]."
On Wednesday, Russia's Federal Security Service claimed it had thwarted an armed Ukrainian incursion into Crimea that aimed to sabotage critical infrastructure. The FSB said a Russian soldier and an intelligence employee had been killed in clashes, and a group of Ukrainian saboteurs had been arrested.
That drew a curt denial from Yuriy Tandit, an adviser to Ukraine's security service SSU. "Ukraine is not trying to regain Crimea by force," he said.
The mounting tensions along Ukraine's border with Crimea coincide with a weeks-long uptick in fighting in the Donbas, where a Ukrainian soldier was killed Monday and five others wounded.
To the outside world, the confrontation in the Donbas is another one of Moscow's "frozen conflicts" subverting former Soviet countries on Russia's periphery, such as Georgia and Moldova, and blocking them from moving on from their Communist pasts and, in Ukraine's case, from joining Western institutions.
Frozen isn't how it feels for Ukrainians living or fighting in the east more than two years after pro-Moscow separatists seized government buildings in Donetsk and Luhansk, and 18 months since Ukraine and Russia concluded an armistice, known as Minsk 2.
Rising violence, civilian deaths
U.N. officials worry at the rising civilian casualty toll: in June, 57 people were wounded and a dozen killed. Last month, eight civilians were killed and 65 injured.
Monitoring groups suspect the numbers of civilian casualties are higher. July was an especially deadly month for Ukraine's military, with 42 soldiers killed and 181 wounded.
Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, a spokesman for Ukraine's presidential administration, says that from Sunday to Monday, pro-Moscow separatists launched 47 attacks on Ukrainian positions; more than 50 attacks were recorded Monday to Tuesday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blamed Ukraine for the jump in fighting, claiming he is "seriously concerned" about the escalating violence.
Some Ukrainian officials worry the increased violence is a prelude to full-scale fighting and the world may be witnessing the start of another land-grab launched by Russia during an Olympics. They point out it was during the Winter Olympics in the southern Russia city of Sochi in 2014 that Putin and his generals planned the annexation of Crimea.
Something bigger
Other analysts and Ukrainian officials suspect what is happening in Donbas is part of a two-year destabilizing pattern that has seen a rise in provocation, only to be followed by a period of quiet. Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) accuse both sides of violating the cease-fire.
Motuzyanyk told VOA that Kyiv is only responding to Moscow-directed provocation. He says the separatist and Russian forces number 45,000 on Ukrainian territory, a mixture of local recruits, former Russian servicemen and current Russian military.
And he argues the separatists' political leaders are "just puppets and have no say about what happens." He adds, "The military forces are commanded directly by Moscow."
The Ukraine spokesman says, "It is disappointing to see the Russians using heavy artillery again. It is summer now and it easier to move vehicles and to launch military actions. And there is a huge possibility we might see something bigger, but we have large forces along the contact line. And in order to breach it, they would have to amass even more forces."
Both sides appear readying for that "something bigger" by redeploying forces.
A 73-year-old woman was shot and killed by a police officer during a gun demonstration in the southern U.S. state of Florida.
Mary Knowlton was hit by a live round fired by an officer during a role-playing exercise at an event hosted by the Punta Gorda Police Department for about 35 members of the community.
Authorities didn't immediately say how a gun with a live round came to be used at Tuesday evening's demonstration. They noted that blank rounds are typically used in such classes. The officer, who wasn't immediately identified, has been placed on administrative leave, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating.
Knowltons husband of 55 years witnessed the shooting and is "devastated," her son, Steve Knowlton, told the Associated Press.
Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis called the shooting a "horrible accident," and said that everyone involved is in a "state of overwhelming shock and grief."
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will travel next week to Serbia and Kosovo, where the government recently named a highway after one of the vice president's sons.
Beau Biden, who died May 30, 2015, of brain cancer at age 46, served a stint in 2001 as an interim legal adviser in post-war Kosovo.
In June, the Kosovo government decided to name a segment of the Gjilan-Ferizaj road that leads to Bondsteel, the American military base in Kosovo, after Beau Biden.
The White House, which announced on Tuesday the vice president's Aug. 15-17 visit to the Balkan countries, said Joe Biden would also hold meetings with each country's president and prime minister. The statement did not say what subjects would be discussed.
In March, Biden met with Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga at the White House, where he thanked Jahjaga for her "efforts to counter violent extremism and her leadership in strengthening Kosovo's democracy."
Last November, Biden traveled to Croatia to discuss the influx of migrants, energy issues and the fight against terrorism with Croatian officials and European Council President Donald Tusk.
Turkish officials say at least eight people have been killed in twin attacks by Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey. The bombings Wednesday also wounded dozens more.
Rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, detonated a roadside bomb in the town of Kiziltepe, in Mardin province, killing three people and wounding at least 25, including at least five children.
At the same time, a car bomb explosion targeting police in a historic part of the city Diyarbakir killed at least five civilians and wounded 12 others.
Both bomb attacks were aimed at passing police vehicles but ended up killing mainly civilians.
The bombings came hours after an earlier attack, also blamed on the PKK, killed four soldiers and wounded nine others near the border with Iraq.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter offered condolences to the victims of the attacks in a statement expressing Washington's solidarity with Turkey in combating terrorist activity. Both countries consider the PKK a terrorist organization.
"We stand shoulder to shoulder with our Turkish allies in strongly condemning these despicable attacks, which appear to have targeted Turkish security personnel," Carter said. "The United States remains committed to cooperating closely with Turkey," both in the coalition of nations fighting against Islamic State extremists in the region and within the NATO alliance.
Since hostilities with the PKK resumed last year, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. Human rights groups say hundreds of civilians also have died.
Africa's Lake Tanganyika has more biodiversity than the Galapagos Islands. It is the worlds longest freshwater lake and is home to many of the colorful freshwater fish (called cichlids) that fill home aquariums. Hundreds of the species that call the lake home can only be found there.
But those species are being threatened by human activities. Commercial fishing practices are playing a role but the biggest threat has been around longer than the fisheries, according to a study in PNAS that threat is climate change.
Getting to the core
Lake Tanganyika, which laps the border of Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Zambia, provides anywhere from one-third to one-half of the animal protein that local villages need. Commercial fishing began in the lake in the 1950's, and now hauls in over 200,000 tons of fish a year. But in the 1990s, fishermen and local villages started noticing that the catch was declining.
There has been debate in academic circles whether overfishing or climate change is primarily responsible for the decline in fish populations seen over the last few decades. Past research has shown that the lake's surface water temperature has been increasing over the last 150 years. In an email to VOA, Jouko Sarvala, professor emeritus in the biology department at Finland's University of Turku, noted that although the temperature of the lake was rising, local fisheries reported an increase in their catches between the 1950s and 1970s. For the next two decades, the size of catches fluctuated in response to changes in fishery practices. It wasnt until the early 2000s that fishermen started noticing a clear decline.
In order to assess the impact of climate change on the fishery, a group of U.S. researchers extracted sediment cores from various locations in Lake Tanganyika. The layers of mud contain fossils which tell the story of rises and falls in fish populations. The researchers compared those shifts with temperature data that goes back 150 years.
They found the fluctuation of the fish population followed the natural warming and cooling cycles of the lake. But the researchers also saw a population decrease that followed the overall warming that began 150 years ago, around the Industrial Revolution. That indicated that the decline in fish had begun well before commercial fishing began in the area.
What this tells us is that the fish are responding primarily, not exclusively, [to climate change]. Fishing is certainly an important part of the equation and we have to take it into account when developing any management strategy but it ... really comes down to climate change, explains Andrew Cohen, a professor in the department of Geology at the University of Arizona and lead author of the study.
Sarvala acknowledges the study establishes, for the first time, a credible relationship between increasing lake temperature and decreasing fish populations, confirming that currently, both climate and fishermen are impacting the lake.
Habitat lost
Peter McIntyre, an associate professor of zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who also participated in the study, estimated a 38% loss of habitat for the fish and snails in the lake. Thats a staggering loss and something that had not been documented before, he tells VOA.
Most of the aquatic life lives in a bathtub ring of biodiversity along the coasts or at the very bottom of the lake says McIntyre. This is because having a maximum depth of almost 1500 meters makes it difficult to disperse oxygen throughout the lake. Oxygen enters the surface water from the air and is usually mixed to depths of 100 meters by winds. The temperature of the water decreases as you go deeper into the lake meaning the water also becomes heavier as you descend. Climate change causes the outside temperature to rise also warming the surface water, making it lighter. The difference in density between the much lighter surface water that holds oxygen and the cold water that holds nutrients means the wind can't mix the water to normal depths. Oxygen doesnt go down as far and fish food doesnt come up.
Maybe oxygen was getting down to 100 meters in some places 50 years ago, now its only getting down to say 70 meters, Cohen explains. So, a lot of the bottom habitat where the water had been rich in oxygen where animals could live, its no longer usable habitat.
Global changes, local effects
The effects of climate change are visible on all scales, from the melting of ice sheets in the Arctic to mice going extinct because their habitat is underwater. Just like the polar bears and mice losing their ecosystems, the people who rely on the fish from Lake Tanganyika cannot do much to stop climate change, but theyre working on strategies to mitigate the effects.
Ismael Aaron Kimirei is a principal researcher and center director for the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (TFRI). TFRI advises the Tanzanian government on all fishery related matters. Kimirei tells VOA in an email that their main concern is how to make changes in fishery management and affect policy so that this important source of protein remains accessible. The fisheries of the lake are open access. Basically anyone can go in and fish and there are no regulations in terms of how much one should fish, he explains. If the warming continues, and the fishing is not regulated, sustainability of the fisheries will be a riddle.
TFRI is working with other universities and organizations to study the effects of climate change on the lake and inform local communities and policy makers. Kimirei hopes that explaining the situation will get them involved in the decision making process. The fishery industry is the third most important economic activity in the Kigoma region and the lake is the major provider of protein for the country, he notes. However, we have noticed that most poor families now cannot afford a daily intake of fish protein as a result of hiking prices and reduced supply of the commodity.
Focusing on local communities is how Colin Apse, the freshwater conservation director for the Nature Conservancys Africa Program, is trying to increase their resilience. His efforts involve community based fishing organizations that promote sustainable fishing techniques such as fishing nets that let juvenile fish escape. Apse clarifies that even though climate change has been driving the fish decline longer, removing juvenile fish from the population and inundating coastal areas with sediment have had a larger impact in recent years. These are the threats they can focus on, he explains, while also recognizing that climate change is a driver that these local villagers cannot control.
I am happy that the [study] authors recognize that while climate change may be at the center of the decline, the increase in fishing effort cannot be ignored, says Kimirei. In view of these results, much darker days are expected if the lake continue[s] to warm and the fishing ... continue[s] unabated.
Thailands military is looking to extend its government oversight following Sundays referendum approving a new, junta-backed constitution, legal experts say. But, one adds, the vote didnt directly endorse military leadership.
The draft charter which won 15 million of the 25 million votes cast, or 61 percent strengthens the militarys influence. A controversial clause enables a military-appointed 250-member Senate to join with the lower houses 500 elected members in selecting a new prime minister in the next election.
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said at a Tuesday press conference that a general election would be held in 2017. He reiterated the point in a nationally televised address Wednesday in which he also called for unity.
"I would like us to leave our differences, those feelings of like and dislike, acceptance or disagreement in the ballot boxes and walk forward," said the prime minister, who leads the National Peace Keeping Council (NCPO). "The referendum may be over but your mission and our mission is not over yet."
The referendum was the first to test public support since a May 2014 military coup led by the prime minister, the armys chief at the time. Sundays turnout was estimated at almost 60 percent. The government had tamped down opposition to the charter before the referendum.
The United States and European Union have called for an open election as soon as possible, and for unrestricted political debate leading up to it.
Thais last went to the polls in 2011 and elected the Pheu Thai Party, led by Yingluck Shinawatra. That government was ousted in 2014.
Assessing vote
Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, said Sunday's outcome highlighted voters desire to move to general elections.
It was not a direct endorsement for the legitimacy of the military government. But Thai people dont really vote for a document. They are used to voting for individuals. So the overall result suggests that people want to have their say at the polls. Its a way of going forward to the polls, towards elections.
Henning Glaser, a lecturer in law at Thammasat University, said the new constitution reflects a trend in Thailand of "anti-electoral" charters, similar to those in the United States and Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries.
"Thai constitutionalism is always or has always been fundamentally anti-electoral," Glaser said. "However, looking at this draft constitution we see a kind of radicalization of this anti-electoral stance."
The Pheu Thai Party opposed the charter. Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva personally opposed the draft, leading to splits within his party.
Weak parties
Glaser said the main political parties, such as Pheu Thai and Democrat, also known as Phak Prachathipat, will be weakened under the new constitution.
"In terms of the election law, bigger parties will lose. This affects especially Pheu Thai and Phak Prachthipat parties, while middle-sized parties will relatively gain in elections, Glaser said.
We have a weak parliament consisting of weak politicians and political parties, which are highly fragmented. We will have a weak government, too," he said.
The 250-member appointed senate will include six military leaders and senior defense officials for at least five years.
We have very probably a government which will be represented by the powers supporting the government right now," Glaser said, predicting the power bloc would rule into 2017 "if theres no major interruption."
The latest charter is Thailands 20th since becoming a constitutional monarchy in 1932 and the second written since May 2014. The first was voted down by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) last September.
Controlling power
Suchit Bumbongkam, a Chulalongkorn University professor of politics who collaborated in writing the earlier draft charter, said the military leaders will not relinquish power easily.
"They will continue to play a very vital role in setting up the government" and "overseeing national security issues," the professor said. "It might be possible that one of the leaders of the NCPO would be the prime minister."
Under Thailands current interim constitution, Prayuth replaced martial law, imposed soon after the May 2014 coup, with Article 44, a law granting the leader absolute power. Rights groups have described it as "draconian."
The law and others enacted by the military since taking power grants soldiers the power of arrest, prevents political gatherings of more than five people and allows for media censorship.
David Streekfuss, director of the Council on International Educational Exchange - Thailand, said such laws are expected to remain in place even after a new government comes to power.
"Hundreds of laws and announcements, directives all remain legal ... even after an elected government " comes to power, Streekfuss said. "All these things that we see the suppressing freedom of speech will stay in play. So you get more than just a constitution by voting for this draft, youd get the NCPO forever and ever."
But analysts say voters were willing to let the military take a central role while Thailand undergoes a transition against the backdrop of the popular but ailing 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulaydej.
Chualonglongkorn Universitys Thitinan said many Thais are hoping the transition will be peaceful.
People "want to see some kind of peaceful and viable transition and thats why theyve cut some slack for the military," he said.
People can now send messages to President Barack Obama using a new Facebook Messenger bot, White House officials say.
The White House's Messenger bot, a first of its kind for any government the world over, will make it as easy as messaging your closest friends, says a press release from the White House. So, head on over to the White House's Facebook page and click "Message" to get in touch with the president.
Prior to the 1880s people contacted the White House by actually going there or using mailed letters.
"Abraham Lincoln was able to have regular office hours where people would come and wait outside his office, which was over in the residence, said President Barack Obama in a news release.
Telephones replaced personal visits and some letter writing, and in 1994, the White House launched its first website, allowing people to contact the president electronically.
A few hundred people gathered for a moment of silence on Tuesday at the spot in the central U.S. city of Ferguson, Missouri, where Michael Brown was killed by a police officer two years ago.
Later Tuesday, a few dozen people marched in protest, sometimes blocking traffic and chanting "no justice, no peace." An order to clear the street by police led to a shouting match between the two sides, The Associated Press reported.
Brown, 18, was shot by officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014, an incident that led to months of protests, sometimes violent, in Ferguson.
His father, also named Michael Brown, spoke at the memorial Tuesday.
Michael Brown Sr. said the teen's death opened the eyes of the world to concerns about law enforcement's treatment of minorities.
"My son built families up, opened the eyes of the world and let people know that this ... this ain't right. It ain't right. It's broke. It's wrong," he said. This color is not a disease. This color is beautiful. Black is beautiful.
Local resident Gerry Jasper told Reuters she attended the memorial to support the Brown family.
Jasper said Ferguson has struggled over the past two years but that change must come.
"Some days were really tense, but some people have the right to speak their mind and people have to stop dying," Jasper said.
Brandy Shields, 19, went to school with Brown and remembered him as a kid who never got into trouble.
At the memorial service, Shields comforted a young girl who was crying, according to an AP report.
It'll get better, Shields told the child. We have to make it better, but it'll get better.
The fatal police shooting of Michael Brown helped spark the Black Lives Matter movement, which rebukes police treatment of minorities.
The movement has grown following several other killings of black men and boys by police, including the deaths of Eric Garner in New York, Tamir Rice in Cleveland and Philando Castile in Minnesota.
The city had been under federal scrutiny since the August 2014 shooting of Brown, who was black and unarmed, by white police officer Darren Wilson.
Wilson was cleared of wrongdoing by the Justice Department in the shooting. A St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict him as well.
However, a Justice Department investigation that found patterns of racial bias in Ferguson's police and municipal court system.
In March, the U.S. Justice Department and Ferguson reached an agreement that resolved a lawsuit filed by the federal government against the city over reforming its mostly white police department.
The federal government, alleging a pattern and practice of unconstitutional police conduct, sued the city in February after city leaders voted to change the terms of a deal negotiators had been hashing out for months.
The City Council in the St. Louis suburb approved the agreement, which calls for the hiring of a monitor to ensure that Ferguson follows the requirements.
New diversity training will be instituted for police, software will be purchased, and staff will be hired to analyze records on arrests, use of force and other police matters. All patrol officers, supervisors and jail workers will be outfitted with body cameras.
The 1991 Eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines was the second largest of the 20th century. The eruption, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), ejected more than five cubic kilometers of material into the atmosphere, some of it nearly 35 kilometers into the atmosphere. "Fine ash fell as far away as the Indian Ocean," according to the USGS, "and satellites tracked the ash cloud several times around the globe."
Around Mount Pinatubo, a blanket of ash, in some cases over 200 meters thick filled deep valleys, and the violence of the eruption reduced the mount to a volcanic caldera (crater), 250 meters shorter than it had been before the eruption.
New research released Wednesday says that the volcano not only covered up a huge area of the Philippines.
It has also been covering up evidence of sea level rise.
Blanket of cooling ash
The new study was led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
It notes there has been general agreement that sea levels over a little more than two decades have been fairly consistent, rising about 3 millimeters per year.
But the paper notes that we first began measuring the rate of rising sea levels in 1993, just two years after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo when the effects of that eruption were still having a significant impact on the environment.
According to the USGS Web page, "Nearly 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide were injected into the stratosphere in Pinatubo's 1991 eruptions, and dispersal of this gas cloud around the world caused global temperatures to drop temporarily (1991 through 1993) by about 1F (0.5C)."
Those colder temperatures literally slowed the rate of sea level rise, skewing statistics from the get-go. One of the authors of the research John Fasullo from NCAR told VOA, "The main point of the paper is that the eruption changed the timing of sea level rise since 1991 and thus prevented an estimate of acceleration..."
Sea level rise accelerating
Three millimeters a year admittedly isn't much, but Fasullo says it's likely going to get worse. "In the absence of a major volcanic eruption," he says, "we can expect progressively increasing rates of rise in the coming decades." He says it's hard to predict exactly how much faster sea levels will rise in the coming years, and natural variability in the weather will impact the rate.
But he adds the important thing to take away from his new work is "acceleration is real and ongoing and that the timing of the eruption of Mt Pinatubo has limited our ability to quantify acceleration directly from the altimeter record."
Fasullo told VOA that climate scientists all over the world are working on getting new numbers that are "the focus of significant field work in Greenland and Antarctica, and major modeling efforts."
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has reaffirmed its committment to Turkey as a valued member of the 28 nation alliance in attempt to allay Turkey's concerns that it does not have the full support of the West.
"Turkey is a valued ally, making substantial contributions to NATO's joint efforts. Turkey takes full part in the alliance's consensus-based decisions as we confront the biggest security challenges in a generation," NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said Wednesday in a statement.
Lungescu issued the statement in response to "speculative press reports" about last month's aborted coup in Turkey and Turkey's NATO membership. "NATO counts on the continued contributions of Turkey and Turkey can count on the solidarity and support of NATO," she said.
NATO released the statement one day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The meeting fueled speculation that Turkey's strong relationship with the West could be weakening.
Turkey, the second largest military power in NATO, is an important ally with the West as it confronts unprecendented levels of instability in the Middle East.
Erdogan has been extremely critical of the U.S. and the European Union (EU) for not being more supportive of Turkey after the failed coup attempt. He has also brushed aside warnings from the West to exercise restraint and to respect human and democratic rights as he executes a broad crackdown that has netted thousands of people.
But Lungescu reassured Erdogan NATO has not wavered in its support of Turkey.
"The NATO secretary-general spoke to the Turkish Foreign Minister on the night of the attempted coup and later with President Erdogan, strongly condemning the attempted coup and reiterating full support for Turkeys democratic institutions. He expressed support for the elected government of Turkey and respect for the courage of the Turkish people," said Lungescu.
Sen. Bill Kintner passed up an opportunity to apologize Friday to his District 2 constituents for his cybersex indiscretions.
Now, some in his district want more. They want him to resign. And they want a quick election scheduled to replace him.
Some Cass County residents are circulating a petition at the Cass County Fair this week asking him to resign.
"The people of Cass County deserve to be represented by someone who can devote their full attention to effectively advocating for our issues without the distraction of defending against this controversy. Voters want to vote, said Marsha Babcock of Elmwood, chair of the Cass County Democrats.
She said if Kintner resigns before the end of the month, candidates would have the opportunity to petition to get on the fall ballot, and that would allow District 2 to select a new representative, she said.
A delay would preclude that option and leave replacement of the senator up to the governor should Kintner resign or be expelled.
Two Republican Cass County commissioners, a Republican mayor and former opponent, and a host of Democrats, also say he should resign. They believe Kintner has embarrassed his district.
"He may think God has forgiven him and his wife has forgiven him, but I don't think he is representing our voters and our constituents in a decent manner," said Janet McCartney, a Cass County commissioner and a Republican.
Fellow Commissioner Jim Peterson, also a Republican, said Tuesday Cass County citizens deserve to have a senator who hasn't acted as Kintner has.
Kintner engaged in cybersex a year ago using his legislative laptop. The governor knew of the allegation and ordered a State Patrol investigation last summer. It became public knowledge when the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission was nearing its decision to fine him $1,000 for violating the law as it applies to using state property.
Kintner has admitted to the act but said he believes God wants him to stay put and continue to advocate for limited government, lower taxes and public safety.
"To further avoid any more embarrassment to our county, it's only fitting that he resign," Peterson said.
The people Peterson has talked to in District 2 appear to feel the same, he said.
"I have not talked to anyone in the last 10 days that hasn't agreed with my feeling that he should resign," Peterson said.
Plattsmouth Mayor Paul Lambert, a Republican, said Ricketts wants Kintner to resign, and he would agree with Ricketts.
Lambert was appointed to the District 2 seat in 2011 by then-Gov. Dave Heineman to replace Sen. Dave Pankonin, who resigned. Lambert was then defeated in the 2012 election by Kintner after Heineman endorsed Kintner over Lambert.
Lambert said he's heard from voters who are upset with and disappointed in their senator.
"If I was in that position, I would know what the right thing to do would be," Lambert said. "But I'm not there so it's not up to me."
Mary Harding, a Nebraska Public Power District Board member from Plattsmouth, said putting the public first should be a priority.
Kintner's situation was kept secret so long that now the time is short for people who want to select another representative.
"For me, it's about our right to vote," she said. "We don't need to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a special election or special legislative session."
Bud Clouse of Plattsmouth said he has signed the petition. He has heard a lot of feedback on Kintner from people he knows, and he has joined the ranks encouraging him to resign.
Clouse, a Democrat, said Kintner has shown he represents only a group of special interest politicians and not the average citizen in his district.
"He broke the law in a way that Nebraskans in the past have found politically career ending," he said.
Kintner did not immediately reply to a text seeking his response. But he said Friday that any constituent who wants an apology can contact him and talk to him about it.
A new batch of U.S. State Department emails from Hillary Clinton's earliest days as secretary of state in 2009 shows close connections between the country's top diplomatic agency and the charitable Clinton Foundation that she founded with her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
Clinton, now the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and leading in her race against Republican Donald Trump, has long denied that donors to the charity, which funds humanitarian programs across the globe, had special access and influence at the State Department during her tenure there from 2009 to 2013.
Previously undisclosed emails released Tuesday by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group and frequent Clinton antagonist, show exchanges of emails between her aides and officials at the foundation.
In one instance, an executive at the foundation, Doug Band, emailed two Clinton aides, Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, asking for assistance connecting Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire and top donor to the foundation, with someone at the State Department to discuss his interests in Lebanon.
"We need Gilbert Chagoury to speak to the substance person re Lebanon," Band wrote. "As you know, he's a key guy there and to us and is loved in Lebanon. Very imp."
Abedin responded, "It's jeff feltman," referring to Jeffrey Feltman, who was the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon at the time. "I'm sure he knows him. I'll talk to jeff."
Band asked Abedin to call Chagoury immediately if possible. "This is very important," Band wrote.
In another email, Band lobbied the Clinton aides for a State Department job for someone else. Abedin told him, "Personnel has been sending him options."
Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said, "No wonder Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin hid emails from the American people, the courts and Congress. They show the Clinton Foundation, Clinton donors and operatives worked with Hillary Clinton in potential violation of the law."
The Clinton campaign said the emails did not relate to her work at the foundation before she became secretary of state.
The newly released emails are separate from the thousands of work-related emails that Clinton turned over to the State Department after she left office.
Those emails became the subject of a long-running investigation over whether she mishandled classified information on the emails that ran through an unsecured private email server she used as secretary of state rather than a more secure government email server. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation recently concluded that she was "extremely careless" with the national security material, but that no criminal charges were warranted.
The Republican National Committee is trying to strengthen its outreach to black voters by hiring a new national director of African-American engagement and bringing on new advisers and strategists to bolster its efforts to bring in more minority voters.
Ashley Bell, who was one of the 18 black delegates at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, started this week as an RNC senior strategist and national director of African-American engagement.
Bell is also founder and co-leader of the 20/20 Leaders of America, LLC, a bipartisan group of African-American leaders and elected officials "united to elevate issues disproportionately affecting communities of color above partisan politics,'' according to the group's website. Its Democratic leader is Mayor Aja L. Brown of Compton, California.
Bell said if Republicans can get personal conversations started with the African-American community about issues that blacks care about, their candidates may have a chance in contests against Democrats. It's healthy for blacks to have actual choices between the two major parties, he said.
"If we leave every African-American voter where they feel they have a legitimate choice, then we've won the day,'' Bell said.
He will be joined by Elroy Sailor and Shannon Reeves. Sailor, who used to work for Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, said he will serve as an advisory capacity to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus while Reeves, a political science professor at Alabama A&M University, will work with the party on creating a database of black voters.
All of them have important jobs to help convince black voters to consider the GOP that extends beyond this November's election, Sailor said.
"Ashley is focused on tactics, strategies, elections; Shannon is focusing on the X's and O's, the number, the data; I'm focused three-dimensionally on institutional infrastructure, sustainability,'' he said. "So when you look at the approach, it is a very comprehensive, that is a winning approach.''
The Republican Party has made a focus on getting more minority voters into its ranks, in part because racial and ethnic minorities are expected to make up a majority of Americans within about 30 years.
"We are growing our long-term commitment to engaging with black voters and being the party that promotes new models to solve old problems,'' Priebus said.
The number of African-American voters has increased steadily: 12.9 million in 2000, 14 million in 2004, 16 million in 2008 and 17.8 million in 2012. In the last presidential election year, 2012, blacks for the first time voted at a higher rate, 66.2 percent, than did whites, with a rate of 64.1 percent, or Asians or Hispanics, with rates of about 48 percent each.
Few of those votes went to Republican candidates; most African-American voters do not identify themselves as Republican. Exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and the networks showed that only about 6 percent identified themselves as GOP voters in 2004, and 4 percent did so in 2008 and 2012.
"We are growing our long-term commitment to engaging with black voters and being the party that promotes new models to solve old problems,'' Priebus said.
Russia's Defense Ministry says it will halt firing around the Syrian city of Aleppo for three hours each day so humanitarian aid can be delivered to the ravaged city.
Russia made the announcement Wednesday, saying the "humanitarian windows" would run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time starting the following day. The cease-fire is to include aviation and artillery strikes.
The United Nations on Tuesday called for weekly breaks of 24 to 48 hours for delivery of humanitarian aid. When informed of Russia's announcement, U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said during a news conference that he "will look at any kind of suggestion which enables humanitarian aid to be delivered," but that addressing the volume of need in Aleppo will take a full 48 hours.
O'Brien's latest comments come one day after he said more than two million people in Aleppo have no access to running water or electricity.
"To meet that capacity of need, you need two [traffic] lanes and about 48 hours to get sufficient trucks in." He said truck convoys are more efficient than air drops for the amount of aid the civilians of Aleppo require. "Six weeks of air drops is the equivalent of one truck convoy, to Deir Ezzor for example. Purely practical matter."
Need for medical treatment
In addition to efficiency, he said people in need of urgent medical treatment must be evacuated, a process that will take multiple hours and safe access to roads.
O'Brien also noted on Tuesday that the United Nations has supplies "ready to roll" and can deliver them if given safe passage and a sufficient time window.
Attacks this week have severely damaged Aleppos electric and water infrastructure, while the main supply routes to both the eastern and western parts of the city have been cut in recent weeks, making an already severe humanitarian situation much worse.
OBrien warned that the humanitarian situation across the country is dire. Conditions across the rest of Syria are difficult and increasingly difficult, he said.
U.S. General Sean MacFarland, the top commander for the coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, told reporters Wednesday that the humanitarian disaster in Aleppo is "a model of how I don't want to fight in Mosul [Iraq]."
"We want to conduct a campaign to liberate Mosul in a way that leaves the city largely intact and its people in good health," MacFarland said. "That does not seem to be the overriding consideration in the fight for Aleppo."
Political process in limbo
The U.N.s Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, also briefed Security Council members Tuesday. In a private discussion held by video link, diplomats said de Mistura wants to restart the third round of intra-Syria talks as soon as possible, but that the right environment must exist.
De Mistura said last month that he hoped to resume the talks at the end of August; but, the escalation in Aleppo has cast doubt on that possibility, with several Western diplomats saying there could not be substantive negotiations without a stop to the fighting.
Russias U.N. envoy, Vitaly Churkin, said that while Moscow hopes the situation in Aleppo will improve, we do not believe that there need to be any preconditions for talks.
Fighting surges on
Meanwhile, the Syrian government has reportedly sent several thousand reinforcements to mount a counterattack south of Aleppo, in a bid to recapture territory taken by rebel factions in recent days.
Syrian state TV broadcast an urgent plea for volunteers, amid reports the army and its Lebanese Hezbollah allies were bringing in reinforcements to try to retake a strategic corridor south and west of the city.
Heavy fighting took place along Aleppos southern outskirts of Khan Assel, Khan Toman, Atareb and Sarmada, and there were reports of heavy government and Russian airstrikes of rebel forces defending a supply corridor into the city.
According to Syrian government media, the Syrian military and its militia allies stopped rebels from advancing through a destroyed housing complex south of the city, demolishing dozens of armed vehicles; however, Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut, discounted any major advance by the government or rebels in Aleppo.
I dont believe that either side will prevail in the battle for Aleppo, despite the recent attack or the counterattack by government forces or their allies, he said.
He argued that a decisive victory by either party precludes the possibility for a negotiated settlement, and said, An equilibrium will need to be maintained, whereby all local allies will be losers and their regional and international backers will have to reach a negotiated settlement for the distribution of the spoils.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of choosing terror over peace following "attacks" in Crimea that he says were orchestrated by Ukrainian military and intelligence forces.
"The attempt to provoke an uptick in violence, to provoke conflict is nothing but an attempt to distract public attention," Putin said in a press conference in Moscow on Wednesday.
"We will, of course, do everything to assure the security of infrastructure, citizens and will take additional measures to provide security, including serious additional measures," he said.
But, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko rejected Putin's claims, calling them "equally cynical and insane." He said, "We would never ever use terror to de-occupy Crimea."
"Ukraine is devoted to restore its sovereignty and territorial integrity exclusively through political and diplomatic means. That includes [the] de-occupation of Crimea," Poroshenko said Wednesday.
The FSB says it foiled "terrorist attacks" in Crimea by Ukrainian military and intelligence forces during the weekend. The security agency says two of its officers were killed during the clashes with groups it says were sent by the Ukrainian defense ministry.
Authorities say they found 20 homemade explosives, ammunition and mines in the area of the attack.
In a statement, the FSB said "the aim of the sabotage and terrorist attacks was to destabilize the social and political situation" ahead of next month's elections in Russia and Crimea.
It said several Russian and Ukrainian citizens were detained, including one it identified as a Ukrainian intelligence officer.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 following the ouster of Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych following pro-EU demonstrations.
The head of the Scottish government has reached out to Germany, the European Union's most populous member, as she tries to keep Scotland in the bloc and is arguing that Scotland should be able to remain part of the EU without leaving the United Kingdom.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told German broadcaster ARD that "because we are in unprecedented circumstances, we should be prepared to think about unprecedented solutions. And that's the spirit that I will have in any discussions.''
The U.K. as a whole which includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland voted narrowly to leave the EU in a June 23 referendum, but voters in Scotland voted by a wide margin to remain in the 28-nation bloc.
"I would have thought it was very positive for the wider European Union for a part of the United Kingdom, if not the whole of the United Kingdom, to want to stay and continue to be part of the European family of nations,'' Sturgeon said on Tuesday.
The Scottish leader, who already has traveled to Brussels to press the same argument, met in Berlin on Tuesday with Germany's deputy foreign minister, Michael Roth. He is responsible for European issues at the German Foreign Ministry.
Sturgeon reiterated her stance that a new referendum on Scottish independence from the U.K. remains ``one option'' for Scotland to stay in the bloc.
Roth said the meeting was a "very pleasant and constructive conversation between two dedicated pro-Europeans.''
"I hope that the U.K. finds a way forward that will benefit Europe as a whole in the end,'' he said.
Prime Minister Theresa May's new British government hasn't yet formally set in motion the process of leaving the EU, and it remains unclear what future relationship it will seek with the bloc.
A Minnesota woman is positioned to become the first Somali-American state legislator after winning a key primary Tuesday in Minneapolis.
Ilhan Omar won the primary for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) party, defeating Phyllis Kahn, who has served as state legislator for 40 years.
Omar is likely to win the November election in the largely liberal district.
"The fact that we made relentless campaigns and for Allah's sake, we finally made it," Omar told VOA's Somali service after her victory was announced Tuesday night. "We worked very hard to unite our district people and their votes."
Wiping away tears, Omar was greeted by Somali and non-Somali supporters as she walked into her victory party, and chants of "Ilhan" rang out.
Speaking to the crowd, Omar said, "Tonight we made history and it marks the beginning of the future of our district, a new era of representation. Tonight is about the power of you."
Afterward, she gave another victory speech in Somali.
Hafsa Muse Nuh, one of Omar's supporters said, "It is an amazing moment which I was expecting. The fact that she is a Muslim, a Somali, a refugee makes her victory historic."
Early years in Africa
Omar, 33, was born in Somalia and lived in a Kenyan refugee camp for four years after her family fled the civil war that devastated the Horn of Africa nation.
She ultimately moved to Cedar-Riverside, a largely Somali-American neighborhood in Minneapolis, where she has lived for nearly two decades and became a political activist.
In November, Omar will face Republican Abdimalik Askar in the race to represent District 60B of the Minnesota House of Representatives.
The Minneapolis area is home to the country's largest Somali-American community. In 2013, another member of the community, Abdi Warsame, won a seat on the Minneapolis City Council, becoming the highest elected Somali-American nationwide.
The United States flag has had 50 stars to represent the 50 states since Hawaii joined the Union in 1959. However, if a movement growing in Washington, D.C., picks up steam, the flag could one day have a 51st star.
D.C. statehood is a political movement advocating for the creation of a state out of what is currently the District of Columbia. The origins of the movement date to the 1700s.
Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution grants Congress power over a district "not exceeding ten Miles square" from which to govern the country. However, this setup has created a unique stretch of land now home to more than 672,000 people who pay federal taxes but have only "shadow" members in Congress two in the Senate, one in the House who have no voting rights.
According to many residents, that's the definition of "taxation without representation" which, by the way, was one of the primary reasons behind the American Revolution in 1776.
D.C. residents were granted the right to vote for president in 1961, but the D.C. government cannot spend money it raises from local taxes and fees without approval from Congress.
Weary of 'half measures'
D.C. shadow Senator Paul Strauss, ranking member of the New Columbia Statehood Commission, says it's time for that to change.
"D.C. residents are tired of half measures," he said. "They're tired of having their rights ignored. We want to become a state."
Headed by the district's mayor, Muriel Bowser, the commission held a constitutional convention in June to present a draft constitution for the proposed state, currently dubbed New Columbia.
The issue of D.C. statehood is a personal one for Josh Burch. The native Washingtonian is a co-founder of Neighbors United for D.C. Statehood, a nonpartisan, citizen-led, pro-statehood organization.
"When I turned 18, I knew what it was like not to have a vote that mattered," Burch said. "And I can't in good conscience sit on the sidelines and have my children turn 18 and not do anything to ensure that they're treated fairly and equally as American citizens."
Burch got involved in the D.C. statehood movement in 2011 after some political horse-trading. President Barack Obama reportedly approved ending the district's right to fund abortions for low-income women in order to pass a budget deal with then-Speaker of the House John Boehner. Many in the district were furious that the president made the deal without input from D.C. residents. Forty-one people, including then-Mayor Vincent Gray and six members of the D.C. Council, were arrested during protests following the decision.
Matter of civil rights
That's part of the reason Burch considers D.C. statehood a civil rights issue as much as it is a political one.
"We have to stand up for ourselves and say, 'No, this is a moral issue, this is an American issue, and a free people deserve to have an equal voice and an equal vote in our democracy,' " Burch said.
Burch also said that even though it is clear the Founding Fathers did not intend for the District of Columbia to be a state, they no longer have what he called the "moral high ground" on the issue.
"What has happened is there are now 672,000 people that are disenfranchised, contrary to anything that our founders would have wanted," Burch said. "So we can't give up, we can't give in and say that it's OK to say that the decision of people 250 years ago is OK for us now."
However, the movement has a solid number of opponents.
One of the major arguments against D.C. statehood comes at the constitutional level. Roger Pilon, founding director of the Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, has spoken extensively on why turning the District of Columbia into New Columbia is unconstitutional.
"The problem is, the Constitution still remains the Constitution, and so much of what is done today, especially through the federal government, is, under a properly read Constitution, unconstitutional," he said. The document, he said, lists "no power that the federal government has to create a new state" out of the district.
'Weighty' votes
Pilon warned that the new state could have too much influence on federal government operations, as it would take over responsibility for public services like ambulances and road maintenance. He also suggested that turning the district into the 51st state could leave a select few with far more political power than the rest of the country.
"The problem with creating this new state is that you would leave in place this small enclave and you would have a few people there the first family, for example and you would have other people, too, who still under this amendment would have the right to vote for electors for the presidency," he said. "But since there are so few of them, their votes would be vastly more weighty than the votes of the people in the rest of the country."
However, advocates point out that D.C. has more residents than either Vermont or Wyoming, and those states have the same representation in Congress as populous states like New York and California.
There is a partisan element to this debate as well. In citywide elections, D.C. residents have only elected Democrats to open offices, so statehood would almost guarantee the addition of two Democratic senators and one Democratic House member to Congress. That means the issue will never come up for a vote as long as Republicans control the Senate or the House.
Previous efforts to establish D.C. statehood have all failed. One attempt made it to the House floor in 1993, but it failed to pass, 277-153.
A $20 million federal lawsuit filed on behalf of four people arrested during protests following the death of Michael Brown accuses the city of Ferguson and its attorneys of constitutional violations and malicious prosecution.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday, on the two-year anniversary of Brown's fatal shooting by an officer. It names the city of Ferguson, prosecutors Stephanie Karr and Patrick Chaissang, and multiple city police officers.
The plaintiffs were acquitted of wrongdoing earlier this year. The lawsuit claims the St. Louis suburb spent more than $120,000 in prosecuting cases against protesters who took to the streets in 2014 following Brown's death.
A message seeking comment from the city was not immediately returned.
The suit was filed by the law firm Dowd & Dowd and the nonprofit Arch City Defenders.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton made an open plea Wednesday for support from Republicans and independents, hoping to capitalize on what her campaign contends was a suggestion from Republican Donald Trump calling for violence against her.
Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, created a new web site, togetherforamerica.com, looking for names of new voters. It said she "understands the complex and volatile world we live in, and she has the temperament to be president and commander-in-chief. Donald Trump does not."
She made the appeal hours after Trump told voters at a rally Tuesday that Clinton would "decimate the Second Amendment," which guarantees Americans the right to bear arms. He said gun rights are at stake in the election, because of a vacancy on the Supreme Court and the potential for the next president to name other new justices who could rule in favor of more restrictions on gun ownership.
But then he told a cheering rally in North Carolina, "By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, [there's] nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people ... Maybe there is. I don't know."
The Clinton campaign and Democratic opponents of Trump said his comment was a suggestion for violence against her, while Trump said it was nothing of the sort. His Republican supporters described it as an ill-conceived comment, perhaps a bad joke, but they said he certainly was not calling for gun violence against her if she wins the election, now less than three months away.
Trump blames media
CNN reported Wednesday that the Secret Service, which guards President Barack Obama and U.S. presidential candidates, discussed the matter with the Republican contender.
On his Twitter account, Trump blamed the news media for the latest uproar.
The National Rifle Association, which endorses Trump, defended him on Twitter and cast the election as a decision about the Second Amendment. The country's biggest gun lobby launched a $3 million television advertising campaign against Clinton, calling her "out of touch" for living under Secret Service protection while calling for new gun restrictions.
Clinton backs common-sense reforms
Clinton said during her speech at the Democratic National Convention last month that she does not want to repeal the Second Amendment or take away people's guns, but she does advocate "common-sense reforms."
"I just don't want you to be shot by someone who shouldn't have a gun in the first place," she said.
Republican House leader Paul Ryan told reporters that Trump's comment Tuesday sounded like a "joke gone bad."
"You should never joke about something like that," he said.
The back-and-forth comments over Trump's gun remark came as yet another major news organization, Bloomberg News, said its latest national poll shows Clinton with an edge in the race for the White House, 50 to 44 percent.
The nonpartisan website realclearpolitics.com, which compiles an average of multiple polls, shows Clinton, seeking to become the first female president in the U.S., with a 7.7-percentage-point lead over Trump, a real estate mogul making his first run for elected office.
The winner of the November 8 election will become the 45th U.S. president, succeeding Obama when he leaves office in January.
WATCH: Trump Crossed the Line, Clinton Says
A Turkish admiral posted in the United States has disappeared and is reportedly seeking asylum after being sought by Turkish authorities to return home and participate in legal proceedings following charges of military espionage.
Turkish Navy Rear Admiral Mustafa Ugurlu, posted at NATO's Allied Command Transformation headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, is reported to have turned in his identification papers and disappeared on July 22.
Ugurlu was ordered home by Turkish authorities last month after an attempted coup July 15.
A Turkish official told Reuters news agency that two other officers stationed in the U.S. were called back to Turkey after the coup attempt, but neither of them was ordered into detention.
A U.S. Navy official told reporters more than 100 Turkish military personnel are in the United States some at the NATO base and some taking part in exchanges at U.S. military institutions.
Military officers
Ugurlu was among hundreds of Turkish military officers released from their duties July 22.
U.S. agencies such as the State Department, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Department of Homeland Security have not yet commented on Ugurlu's case.
NATO has referred reporters to the Turkish government for information about Ugurlu.
In Turkey, Ugurlu was implicated along with a number of other navy officers in a 2011 conspiracy case based in Izmir. The detention order for Ugurlu, which should have forced his return to Turkey, was from that court.
Ugurlu's case could further strain ties between the United States and Turkey.
Ankara already has asked for the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric living in exile in the United States. It accuses Gulen, who is based in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, of the plot to take down President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The United States has replied that it must have evidence against the cleric, who is a former ally of the president, if it is to justify turning him over to Turkey.
Rose Marie Watters, died July 31, 2016. Rose Marie Watters lived a long and adventurous life. She grew up in Havelock and told us so many stories about running around town as a kid, going to the Joyo Theater and staying all day for a nickel. She loved Havelock and up until she left Lincoln when she was about 82 years old she regularly gathered socially with the "Havelock Ladies."
One of Rose's first adventures was to California in 1941 when her and a friend drove to California and landed in Long Beach working in the shipyards during the war. They explored their way around old Los Angeles like it was their backyard. Rose eventually made it back to Lincoln after having married and having her first child, Nancy.
She became the first woman bartender in the city while working at the Intercom Club in the old Cornhusker Hotel. She loved her time at the Intercom and had many fond and funny memories and made many life-long friends from her time there.
She married again and traveled to Morocco with her husband to live on a U.S. Air Force Base where she had a son, Dave. Nancy and Rose's mother also went to live with her at the base. As one might imagine, their time in Morocco was full of new experiences and a culture just a tad bit different than Nebraska. Lincoln came calling again about a year later. Always determined, she continued working to make the family financially comfortable.
Eventually, she married again, had a daughter, Paddy, and not long after we all moved to the suburbs in 1967 to Hickory Lane and a new home that cost $17,000. Rose lived in that house for about 40 years. She was unlucky in marriage, but worked various service jobs until she found a position at Square D as a machine operator. She stayed there for over 20 years and made enough money for her family to be solid middle America. As a mother she instilled our sense of right, respect for others, independent judgment, self-determination, work ethic and thrifty use of money.
Rose made many friends along her journey and developed lifelong friendships at each stop. After retirement, she continued caring for her lawn, shoveling the snow and dancing a 3-4 times a week at the Playmor Ballroom with Bobby Lane and his orchestra. The travel bug went into full gear and she and friends journeyed to China, Europe, Africa, Caribbean, Key West, Canada, Mexico, as well as many trips around the States to see her family and friends. She spent her last ten years split between Texas near Paddy and California near Dave. Rose's final domicile was in Laguna only a few minutes from her son's house.
She loved going to concerts and musicals and she always looked forward to the Sunday drive to the ocean with her favorite treat, a white chocolate mocha. For her 90th birthday we had a Frank Sinatra impersonator and dinner in her honor and it was so good to see her enjoy herself with her friends and family. Old age and dementia finally took control and she went comfortably with her family around her. We will all miss her very much.
Preceded in death by daughter Nancy Zuger. She is survived by son, Dave Bartlett (Watters) and daughter Paddy Feller (Watters). Daughter-in-law Anne Marie Sharrar Bartlett and son-in-law Matt Feller. Grandsons: K.C. Grimm, Brad Matthew Feller and Daniel Edward Feller. Granddaughters: Amanda Marie Feller, Megan Marie Bartlett, Amy Lynne Bartlett and Marcella Rose Bartlett.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said officials from the foreign ministry and military will travel to Russia Wednesday to discuss potential solutions to the conflict in Syria.
The announcement comes just a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would work toward restoring full relations with Turkey, but cautioned that rebuilding trade ties will be time consuming.
"Ahead of us lies painstaking work to resuscitate trade and economic cooperation. This process has already started but it will take some time," Putin said Tuesday after meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Saint Petersburg.
Erdogan said the two countries will restore their yearly trade target of $100 billion and will speed up the resumption of charter flights.
The Turkish leader also said he is ready to build a natural gas pipeline with Russia and negotiate a deal to construct Turkey's first nuclear power plant.
Supporting opposite camps
Marc Pierini, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe and former EU ambassador to Turkey, told VOA there are no guarantees that Russia and Turkey can overcome their differences over the Syrian conflict. The two countries support opposing sides in the civil war.
Whether one day they can come to some sort of understanding on this, I doubt," he said. "It may take a little more than just a meeting. Maybe counter terrorism cooperation will resume, and it will be a first step. But I doubt you can see a long-term relationship if Turkey doesnt change its position on [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad.
Erdogan is turning to Russia after post-coup criticism from the West and in an effort to mend relations with Moscow after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter plane along the Syrian border last year.
"Your visit today, despite a very difficult situation regarding domestic politics, indicates that we all want to restart dialogue and restore relations between Russia and Turkey," Putin told Erdogan.
Alexander Baunov of the Carnegie Moscow Center said, It is significant for both because both of them have to bargain hard with the West. Putin is about sanctions and about normalizing the relations, about bringing them more [to] business as usual."
"Erdogan wants, of course, that after crushing the coup he is criticized too much by the Western politicians, journalists and media," Baunov added. "For him to bargain means to show that he can get closer to Russia and alienate himself from the West.
EU relations
Erodgan was livid after Western nations that condemned the coup attempt last month also criticized him for his massive crackdown in response to the putsch.
Cavusoglu denied that the Erdogan meeting with Putin was intended to send a message to Western leaders, whom the Turkish government has accused of not fully supporting Turkey after the failed coup attempt last month.
"Unfortunately the EU is making some serious mistakes, They have failed the test following the coup attempt," Cavusoglu said Wednesday in an interview with the state-run Anadolu agency. "Support for EU membership used to be around 50 percent of the population, I assume it is around 20 percent now."
Russia was quick to condemn the Turkish insurgents. More than 270 people died during the failed attempt by some elements of the military.
Erdogan has accused Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is exiled in the U.S., of orchestrating the coup. On Tuesday, Erdogan warned the U.S. that if it fails to extradite Gulen, it would cause great harm to relations between the countries.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters Tuesday in Washington, "This [extradition] is not a process that is influenced by emotion or political rhetoric. It's actually governed by a treaty."
Erdogan viewed the Western response to the crackdown as betrayal, says Moscow State Institute of International Affairs Victor Mizin.
So, what he decided, it's some kind of his version of 'pivot to the East,' promoting the relations with such countries like Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, says Mizin.
But the relationship with Russia is the most important tactically, and not just for Turkey.
Now it's very important [for Russia] to turn this country which was the spearhead of NATO against the Soviet Union in the past, and where so many intelligence assets or radars had been placed to monitor Russian military activity, to draw it back to Russia and to resume good relations, says Mizin.
Jet downing
The face-to-face talks in St. Petersburg are expected to focus on restoring economic ties that were severed after Turkeys F16 shot down Russias SU24, resulting in the deaths of one jet pilot and a rescue pilot killed during a recovery attempt.
The incident sparked finger pointing, Russian sanctions, and fears of a wider conflict between Russia and the NATO member. Moscow accused Ankara of supporting terrorism while Turkey accused Russia of violating its airspace and bombing civilian targets inside Syria.
But, a surprisingly fast rapprochement came in late June after Erdogan gave a long demanded apology, expressing regret to the families of the two pilots in a letter to Putin. More recently, he accused the pilots of the Turkish F16 of being involved in the coup. They were earlier arrested.
Political analysts say while Erdogans quick 180-degree turn was motivated by the economic damage caused by lost Russian trade, tensions with his Western allies in Europe and the United States have spurred the face-to-face meeting with Putin.
Not all common ground
Some minority calls inside Turkey for Ankara to seek a strategic partnership with Russia to replace ties with the United States and the European Union are unlikely to gain ground.
At the same time I think it would be unrealistic to think that Turkey could be banished or ousted from NATO as certain American experts, especially on the conservative side, would suggest because, as I said, strategically, Turkey is too important, says Mizin.
While progress in the talks is expected on economic issues, the conflict in Syria remains a sticking point.
VOA's Natasha Mozgovaya and VOA's Nike Ching contributed to this story.
The top commander for the coalition fighting Islamic State says the terror groups foreign fighter stronghold in Syria likely will be in complete control of the Syrian Democratic Forces in a week to weeks.
The pocket of enemy resistance shrinks on a daily basis in Manbij, U.S. Gen. Sean MacFarland told reporters at the Pentagon via teleconference from Baghdad. I dont give it very long before that operation is concluded.
MacFarland, who has led the coalition in its fight against Islamic State since last September, said the coalition is learning how to shape the fight for Raqqa, Islamic States self-proclaimed capital in Syria, based on the current fight for Manbij.
Manbij will inform us as to how we are going to fight in Raqqa, as Ramadi has informed how well fight up in Mosul, the general said Wednesday.
Captured by IS forces in 2014, Manbij has served as a key transit point for foreign fighters and the trafficking of stolen goods.
Military officials have stressed the importance of the city for months, with MacFarland noting that IS has a lot of foreign fighters there, and they havent cut and run.
Officials in Afghanistan and the United States military have dismissed concerns the capital of restive Helmand province or any other district there was on the verge of collapse to the Taliban.
The largest Afghan province has been the scene of fierce battles between the insurgents and Afghan troops in recent weeks.
Residents say the Taliban has made rapid advances and lately the fighting has been taking place in districts around the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, effectively besieging the city.
The conflict has also uprooted thousands of families in Helmand, according to the provincial government.
But Afghan and American military officials dismiss concerns the insurgent group is on the verge of capturing another urban center like they briefly seized control of northern Kunduz city last year.
We do not believe Lashkar Gah, or the province of Helmand, is about to fall. We remain confident that the Afghan forces are fighting effectively and that they will continue to secure Lashkar Gah, U.S. Army Col. Michael Lawhorn told VOA on Wednesday.
In the past two weeks, he said, the U.S. military has conducted approximately 25 airstrikes in support of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces in Helmand.
Airstrikes
Local officials say that the airstrikes have killed scores of Taliban fighters and deterred their advances.
In recent days, the Taliban has repeatedly blocked the main road linking Lashkar Gah to Kandahar province in the south and have blown up bridges, hampering efforts to send reinforcements for Afghan forces battling the insurgents.
Both sides claim to have inflicted heavy casualties on the opposition but it is difficult to verify fighting details through independent sources.
Our brave Afghan security forces will not allow terrorists and criminals to turn Helmand into their hideout, said Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi on Wednesday. He added that all security institutions are determined to spare no effort in securing Helmand.
The Afghan province, which borders Pakistan, producing opium and income from the illegal drug, is funding the Taliban insurgency. Afghan officials and insurgent sources credit Taliban advances in Helmand to a newly created commando-style Taliban unit of several hundred fighters.
The so-called Red Brigade unit uses night-vision technology and snipers to launch lethal attacks against Afghan forces, Afghan commanders and Taliban officials have said in recent days.
Taliban insurgents also launched coordinated attacks Wednesday in two districts in Kunduz and neighboring province of Baghlan, capturing key security outposts and bases, according to Afghan officials and insurgent spokespeople.
The United States is painting a bleak portrait of religious freedom around the world, particularly condemning some Islamic societies that have adopted laws that harshly penalize blasphemy and apostasy.
One quarter of all the countries in the world have some form of anti-blasphemy law, one out of 10 punishes people for apostasy, State Departments Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein told VOA Wednesday in an interview, so this is a serious problem because often this has death penalties that are attached in them or very severe punishments. And we see this in countries all across the globe.
Saperstein underscored that the very nature of all these laws punishes people for expressing their core beliefs, when those core beliefs turn out to be offensive to whoever has the political power in the country. No one should be punished for expressing their religious views if they do so in a peaceful manner.
The report said that "false accusations, often lodged in pursuit of personal vendettas or for the personal gain of the accuser, are not uncommon. Mob violence as a result of such accusations is disturbingly common."
"Around the world," the State Department said, "governments continued to tighten their regulatory grip on religious groups, and particularly on minority religious groups and religions which are viewed as not traditional to that specific country."
Countries singled out
The report singled out numerous countries, alleging that governments targeted people for a variety of offenses, including online articles or public statements that allegedly defamed the Prophet Mohammed or desecrated Islam's holy book, the Quran, in some way.
The report said that in Pakistan, 40 people remain on death row for blasphemy, many of them religious minorities.
It said Sudan detained 27 Muslims last November, all "adherents of a school of Islam that maintains that the Quran is the sole source of religious authority, and that rejects the sanctity of the hadiths contrary to the governments official view of Islam."
The State Department said Mauritania imprisoned Mohammad Cheikh Ould Mohammad, better known as MKheytir, after he allegedly criticized the Prophet Mohammad and "implicitly blamed the countrys religious establishment for the plight of the countrys forgeron (blacksmith) caste, which historically has suffered discrimination." Protesters in the country called for the death of a human rights activist who defended him
The report said that last year two non-state actors, the Islamic State and Boko Haram, "continued to rank amongst the most egregious abusers of religious freedom in the world."
It said Islamic State jihadists have committed what U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry believes to be "genocide against Yazidis, Christians, Shia, and other vulnerable groups in the territory it controlled." The report said it was "responsible for barbarous acts, including killings, torture, enslavement and trafficking, rape and other sexual abuse against religious and ethnic minorities and Sunnis in areas under its control."
Daesh kills Yazidis because they are Yazidi, Christians because they are Christian, Shia Muslim because they are Shia, said Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, using another name for Islamic State group, Daesh is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed at these same groups, and in some cases also against Sunni Muslims, Kurds, other minorities.
Blinken emphasized theyve not only killed, theyve sought to erase the memory of those theyve killed, destroying centuries-old religious cultural sites.
The State Department said Boko Haram in Africa "continued to launch indiscriminate, violent attacks targeting both Christians and Muslims who spoke out against or opposed their violent ideology."
It noted that "Boko Haram claimed responsibility for scores of attacks on churches and mosques, often killing worshipers during religious services or immediately afterward."
The report denounced Iran, where it said government officials executed 20 individuals "on charges of moharebeh, translatable as 'enmity towards god,' among them a number of Sunni Kurds." It said a number of other prisoners, including several Sunni preachers, are still being held while awaiting a government decision whether to implement their death sentences.
The State Department also disparaged religious freedom in China, saying that Beijing "ordered the demolition of several state-sanctioned Protestant and Catholic churches and the removal of over 1,500 crosses as part of a government campaign targeting so-called 'illegal' structures."
Meanwhile, it said Russia "continued to grant privileges to the Russian Orthodox Church that it did not accord to others," limiting the activities of Muslims and other minority religious groups, such as Jehovahs Witnesses, Pentecostals and Scientologists.
The State Department said religious freedom is gradually improving in Vietnam and praised the European Union for appointing two officials to monitor anti-Semitism and combat anti-Muslim hatred. The report lauded Kenyan Muslims for shielding Christians when al-Shabab militants attacked a bus they were riding on.
The deadly protests that rocked Ethiopia in the past week stem from a diverse host of regional grievances but they reflect a shared sense of marginalization that may be bringing two of the country's largest ethnic groups together, analysts say, warning that there could be more unrest on the horizon.
Nearly 100 people were killed as security forces crushed the demonstrations over the weekend, according to opposition political parties and Amnesty International. Security forces opened fire on protesters, activists say.
The Ethiopian government blames the opposition in and outside the country for organizing what it calls "unauthorized protests by anti-peace forces." According to a statement by the government communications office, some protesters were carrying lethal weapons, including explosives. Opposition leaders deny the allegations, stating that the protesters were peaceful and unarmed.
The dispute in central Ethiopia dates back to November 2015. Demonstrators opposed a government plan to expand the municipal boundaries of the capital, Addis Ababa, into the Oromia Region. Farmers in the region were particularly upset, worrying that it could mean an end to their livelihood. The protests claimed the lives of more than 400 people, according to Human Rights Watch. Video showed security forces beating unarmed protesters and using live ammunition.
The government put the capital expansion on hold, and protests quieted down but the grievance did not go away.
In early July, another wave of protests began, this time farther north in the city of Gonder, in the Amhara Region.
The main complaint by people in Amhara is that they want three districts Welkait, Telemt and Tsegede to be reintegrated into the Amhara Regional State, said Alemante Gebreselassie, professor of law emeritus at the College of William & Mary in the eastern U.S. state of Virginia.
Currently, the three districts are under the Tigray Regional State. Members of a group known as the Welkait committee also identify as ethnic Amhara and want to be part of the Amhara Region administration.
Negussu Tilahun, spokesperson of the Amhara Region, said these administration issues are cross-regional and the Amhara Region alone can't find answers.
"The Amhara Region cannot take ownership in trying to answer these questions because it will not find answers and it is not constitutional," he said in an interview with VOA Amharic Service.
If questions raised go beyond regional administration, he added, people should try to find answers through the federal court system.
Decades-old dispute in Gonder
Last month in Gonder, members of the Welkait committee were arrested. Residents took to the streets demanding their release, resulting in clashes with police and destruction of property.
The Welkait committee is demanding the reversal of the 1991 decision to place Welkait in the Tigray Region, said committee leader Colonel Demeke Zewdu, in an interview with VOA Tigrigna Service prior to his arrest.
"The people have been opposing this in different forms until now," he said. Under the Tigray Region administration, the people didn't gain any benefits. Land has been taken away from them and they don't have socio-economic advantages. The society feels like it is regarded as second-class citizens."
Since the 15th century, the region known as Begemeder, which includes modern-day Gonder, had been autonomous and separate from the Tigray Region, said Gebreselassie.
Gebreselassie believes the move was an effort by Ethiopia's post-1991 leaders, who were from the minority Tigrayan ethnic group, to expand their homeland, an accusation echoed by protesters.
Oromia, Amhara solidarity
Decades of rivalry between the Oromo and Amhara may be giving way to solidarity, said Awol Allo, a fellow in human rights at the London School of Economics.
At rallies in the city of Bahir Dar, protesters were seen carrying signs that read "Stop Killing Oromo People" and "Free Bekele Gerba." Gerba is the deputy chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress, an opposition party whose leaders are currently in prison.
Youth are key to this movement, Allo said. "[This is] a generation that would say it doesn't matter what force is used, I am determined to make my demands and to make my voice heard."
Ethiopia's Constitution states that regional borders can be redrawn.
The constitution gives the basic rights of people for self-administration and where they can identify themselves as a home," said Soleyana S. Gebremichael, an Ethiopian lawyer and human rights advocate. So the question of Welkait is directly related with that. People identify themselves as Amharas and they consider themselves as Amharas. They wanted to be administered by the region with their own language and promote their culture accordingly.
Government response could intensify tension
The government has defended its use of the military and police force and restricted access to the internet, in particular social media.
People have already learned how to go around that using proxies, using VPN. So the initial batch of videos came in using proxies and VPN. It seems to me that when authorities noticed that the information is still getting out thats when they moved to shut down the entire internet," said Mohammed Ademo, a journalist with Al Jazeera and the editor of Opride.com, a news website that focuses on Oromo issues.
Organizers continue to work the old-fashioned way, by word of mouth, said Gebremichael.
"The organizing had been done at the grass-roots level, so with or without the internet, she said. People already had the urgency of going out to protest and then presenting their question and petitioning the government. That's what we saw in the past weekend because the internet was down for 48 hours and the protests happened anyway."
Leaked reports published Wednesday are detailing more than 2,000 allegations of sexual assault, child abuse and attempted self-harm at Australian detention centers on the nearby island of Nauru.
More than half of the incident reports published by the Guardian Australia newspaper involve alleged assaults against children, who make up about 18 percent of the detainees held on Nauru. The reports reveal numerous incidents of sexual assaults and harassment of children, and stories of detainees harming themselves.
One of the leaked reports involves a child who had written in her school book that she was tired of the camp and wanted to die.
According to the newspaper, the reports cover a period between mid-2013 and October 2015.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said authorities would examine the material "to see if there are any complaints there or issues there that were not properly addressed." His government also said the reports were allegations.
Hundreds of asylum seekers are being held on Nauru or a second detention center on Papua New Guinea, where they were sent after being intercepted at sea by Australian naval vessels. The refugees are barred from resettling in Australia, even if they are granted refugee status.
Human rights groups have long called on Canberra to end the detention program and resettle the detainees in Australia or elsewhere, citing previous reports regarding conditions at the refugee camps; but, the government says it has halted the asylum seekers' attempts to reach Australia over dangerous seas.
The wife of a detained human rights lawyer in China has accused Beijing police of harassing her landlord and forcing him not to renew her lease.
Wang Qiaoling recently went to Tianjin, east of Beijing, to find out about the trial of her husband, Li Heping. He is one of several rights lawyers detained since July 2015. When she got home Tuesday, the owner of her building told her to move out.
The property owner was under the orders of local police, Wang Qiaoling told VOA on Wednesday.
"Pressed by police, the landlord is under lots of pressure, she said. I have talked to him before he told me he could not renew our lease, and I thought I would start looking, even though I know police would force us to move again. However, when rights lawyers were put on trial July 29, I was not allowed to leave home for five days. Now I have to move out tomorrow, it is hard to find the right apartment."
Chinese authorities have not commented on the allegations.
Wang said she has filed a "request for information" with the local police station, asking for an explanation as to why she was not allowed to leave home.
"I have to file the request. It is horrible that they detained me for 28 hours without any legal procedure, she said. Then they told me I had to go home. If I do not go home, they would carry me to a car and force me to go home. They then forbid me to leave the apartment."
Wang's husband, Li Heping, was arrested in July 2015 during the government crackdown against human rights lawyers who had taken up sensitive cases in which clients challenged the government.
Since the arrests, the lawyers have been deprived of legal counsel of their own choosing and have not been allowed to see their families.
China put four human rights defenders on trial last week, each of whom received a prison sentence of 3 years to 7 years for state subversion.
One of those sentenced was Zhou Shifeng, director of Beijing's Fengrui Law Firm.
Wang's husband works for the same firm. The court told Wang last week that her husband's case had been sent back for further investigation.
Violence hangs like an ominous cloud over national elections in Zambia, a copper-rich, landlocked southern African nation that has been recently battered by drought and economic woes.
Incumbent President Edgar Lungu of the ruling Patriotic Front party (PF) faces a serious challenge from opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema from the United Party for National Development (UPND) in Thursdays presidential vote. Lungu, who is widely considered a populist, narrowly beat Hichilema, a businessman, in a January 2015 snap election held after the sudden death of President Michael Sata.
This years election campaign has been marred with multiple clashes between supporters of the two main parties, prompting the head of the electoral commission to call the violence unprecedented. Unlike its southern African neighbors, Zambia has long been hailed as a bedrock of peace and democracy.
Risk of violence is very high
Many analysts say the presidential race is too close to call, but they agree on one grim prediction.
The risk of violence is very high, analyst Dimpho Motsamai told journalists at the Institute of Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africa.
The political violence is coming from both sides; that is very important to highlight. It is coming both from the PF and the UPND in particular. It really speaks about a politics that is very unhealthy; the relationship between the opposition and the government, its just a very unhealthy political relationship, its very antagonistic, and anything that happens is dealt with in a very antagonistic fashion, Motsamai said.
Lungus predecessor, Guy Scott, was Satas vice-president and is no friend of Lungu. During Scotts short tenure as acting president after Satas death, he fired Lungu from his post as secretary-general of the ruling party. He recently endorsed Hichilema.
Scott was deemed ineligible to contest the election because the constitution requires that both parents of presidential candidates are Zambian by birth or descent. Scott, a Zambian citizen, is white and was born to British parents.
Do or die moment for Zambia
Scott struggled to pinpoint why a nation praised for peace, and which watched with horror its neighbors political strife, is now struggling. He said, it boils down to bad economics and poor leadership. In the past year, copper prices have fallen and food prices have risen amid a crippling drought, all tinder for a fire of discontent.
Why its gone so bad, its hard to say, I think, he told VOA News by phone from Lusaka. People were upset at Mr. Satas death, they were upset at the people running around with knives and guns, and they were unhappy with the economic downturn, of course, last year, which has still failed to right itself in Zambia and which has led to a lot of unemployment and has strengthened the elite at the cost of the poor. It has a vaguely Venezuelan flavor to it, in that respect.
Motsamai says the vote could be a do or die moment for Zambia. The tension is also heightened by new election rules that say the winner needs to gain more than 50 percent of the vote to win without a runoff.
A lot of hopes are hanging on the candidates to do the right thing once they are in office. But also, the presidential race is particularly a tight one, Motsamai said. UPND in the last election went quite far, they in fact said the elections were rigged. They are unlikely to concede defeat without a fight.
Several people converged at Africa Unity Square today to press the government to find abducted political activist Itai Dzamara of Occupy Africa Unity Square who disappeared 17 months ago.
Patson Dzamara, the brother of Itai, Jestina Mukoko of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, who was once abducted by state security agents, and several other activists said they would hold such events until the former journalist-cum protest leader is found.
Riot police known for their alleged heavy handedness today left Africa Unity Square after some children, who participated in the event, tried to give them flowers and cakes as a sign of love.
Dzamara said they decided to bring children to ensure that they are not attacked by the police.
Itais wife, Sheffra Dzamara, told Studio 7 that she is living a painful life with her two minor children who no longer have a father.
She urged the government to release her husband.
Dirk Frey, an activist who used to engage in protests together with Itai Dzamara at Africa Unity Square before his abduction, said they will continue to mark the vision and spirit of Itai Dzamara.
Stanley Zvorwadza, the chairperson of the National Vendors Union who led the young children to handover the flowers to the riot police that were at Africa Unity Square, warned the government to desist from abductions.
Director of Zimbabwe Activist Alliance, Lynette Mudehwe who was among those that gave solidarity messages at the event, called on President Mugabe to value Zimbabweans the same way he values his own family.
Itai Dzamara was abducted on March 9th in 2015 after calling for the resignation of President Mugabe for allegedly failing to run Zimbabwe.
Although the courts instructed state security agents to investigate Dzamaras disappearance and give his family regular updates of their findings, Patson Dzamara claims that the police have defied the court order.
Police spokesperson Charity Charamba was not reachable for comment.
Some youth believed to be suspected Zanu PF supporters have invaded Garowa Farm Number 8 in Tengwe, Mashonaland West province, owned by the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Associations secretary-general Victor Matemadanda.
Matemadanda was recently arrested for being part of a group of former freedom fighters that wrote a scathing communique after a meeting in Harare claiming that President Robert Mugabe is to blame for Zimbabwes current social, economic and political problems.
He said told Studio 7 that the 60 youth invaded the farm on Saturday allegedly under the instructions of Hurungwe North Zanu PF Member of Parliament, Sarah Mahoka, who has declared to clampdown on anyone that criticizes the president.
Mahoka and Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo were not available for comment as their mobile phones were unreachable.
Matemadanda confirmed that his farm has been raided by the youth though Mashonaland West police spokesperson Inspector Clemence Mabgweazara could not shed light on the issue.
Matemadanda claimed that police have failed to deal with the invaders, adding that it is unfortunate that the farm is being used to settle personal and political scores.
He said what the youth are doing is an indication that the land reform program is not for ordinary Zimbabweans but for Zanu PF members only.
Zanu PF political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere recently told a party meeting in Karoi that his party would take back farms of people who abandon the former liberation movement like recalled Zanu PF Hurungwe West Member of Parliament, Temba Mliswa.
Matemadanda and most of his colleagues that include war veterans spokesperson Douglas Mahiya are on $300 bail pending trial for undermining President Mugabe after they issued a communique calling the president to step down.
Most of the war veterans boycotted the main event to mark Heroes Day in Harare yesterday, which was addressed by President Mugabe.
One sip of this soup is like getting wrapped in your warmest, coziest sweater. Between the thick chunks of vegetables, tender cubes of potato, juicy shreds of chicken (take your pick of boneless breasts or thighs), and thick, creamy broth, it truly doesnt get more comforting than chicken potato soup.
As the temps begin to dip, this is a family-friendly soup to keep on repeat all through fall and winter.
Zimbabwes rural teachers will next week embark on a 200 kilometer march against political violence, poor salaries and government failure to improve education facilities in the countryside.
The protest will start in Murehwa district, Mashonaland East on August 15 and proceed for 10 days to the capital city, Harare, said the Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe.
We call upon all teachers and parents based in the areas which we will walk through, to join us and march for the betterment of rural education, the Union said in a statement on Wednesday.
It is also demanding a monthly pay adjustment of between $700 and $800, a 100 percent increment in teachers rural allowances as well as restoration of maternity leave for teachers on probation.
Moreover, it wants infrastructural development in rural schools and communities, an end to all forms of violence against rural teachers and a dissolution of the government if its demands are not met.
RTUZ secretary-general Robson Chere told Studio 7 that many rural teachers were being subjected to political violence by Zanu PF supporters for demanding a better life from the government.
Chere noted that education standards were falling as a result of failure by the government to fix the economy.
Some pupils in rural areas travel more than 20 km to school daily, learning in deplorable infrastructure. Teachers are faced with the brunt of an economically, socially and politically bankrupt government and those based in rural areas are the worst affected.
Photo: Getty Images
It was announced yesterday that Sebastian Stan will star in the upcoming adaptation of We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and today we found out from The Hollywood Reporter about a few more residents of the lonely manse from Shirley Jacksons 1962 novel. Taissa Farmiga and Alexandra Daddario will put their horror hats back on to star alongside Stan in this movie about a family that keeps itself isolated from the nearby townspeople by using dark magic, but will potentially be brought down from within when a scheming cousin (Stan) shows up to swindle them out of their fortune. The two actresses will play agoraphobic sisters who find themselves at odds after Stans character arrives at the house, and with Daddarios haunting, translucent blue eyes and Farmigas demonstrated ability to play a panic-stricken housebound teen, were optimistic about how the pair will play as creepy shut-ins with deadly secrets to keep.
Colton Haynes. Photo: Sean Zanni/Getty Images
Colton Haynes graces the cover of the September issue of Out magazine, where he addresses his protracted coming-out process. Haynes publicly came out recently in an article for EW, saying that he wasnt ready to do so earlier. There were a lot of remaining questions, including Hayness photo shoot for the March 2006 issue of XY magazine, where hes engaging in some heavy, half-naked making out with his then-boyfriend. He more pointedly addresses what happened in the Out profile, saying that at 17, he was thrilled to do that photo shoot. This was, like, the cover of Vogue for me. I was like, This is it! Im going to be in a magazine! Haynes said. I truly thought it was going to be this serious moment in my career, and I knew it would earn me enough money to get to L.A.
While he would get to L.A., that photo shoot would haunt his career. It would be the evidence that made it look like Haynes was refusing to come out of the closet after he booked his first major gig on Teen Wolf. I looked like I was fucking gay-bashing, Colton said. Like I hated myself or I hated the gays, which was never the intention at all. I was just young and trying to make it in this town and doing what these people were telling me to do. Indeed, his earlier years in Hollywood sound rough: His agent dropped him when he learned Haynes was gay, and afterward, told him to advertise on RentBoy.com, an escort website, as a way to earn money.
I feel really bad that I had to lie for so long, Haynes said. But I was told that was the only way I was going to be successful. When youre young in this industry, people take advantage of you, and they literally tell you that your dreams are going to come true. If you believe that, youll do anything. And you do believe it, especially if youre from Kansas. The struggles of working as an out-of-the-closet gay actor in Hollywood can, at least, be something that he and Noah Galvin can agree on.
Photo: David Ramos/2016 Getty Images
While #PhelpsFace will likely take the title of most enduring meme of the 2016 Olympic Games, the most important GIF comes courtesy of sudden superstar Laurie Hernandez, who achieved two crucial honors last night in Rio: becoming a gold medalist in the womens gymnastics team all-around competition the first repeat gold in that category ever for an American squad and becoming Team USAs Olympic Sweetheart. Hernandez was the most animated member of the Final Five on the podium when her team was receiving its gold medals.
She inspired a nation to adopt the mantra You got this before undertaking any considerable challenge in their daily lives.
Adopting the @lzhernandez02 "I got this" before doing anything that scares me from now on. #Olympics pic.twitter.com/ecJ5eJx7T9 Hannah Sampson (@hannahbsampson) August 10, 2016
And she made us all believe joy is possible again in the abominable year that is 2016 when she played to the camera like a media-trained young professional beyond her 16 years.
This should cheer anyone up. https://t.co/I4PdRXnTz8 Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) August 10, 2016
But it was the move she made just before setting it off in her floor routine last night that encapsulates the spirit of American exceptionalism and the most dominating performances of our top athletes in Rio.
Laurie Hernandez, in her first major international competition, winked at the judges before the biggest floor routine of her elite gymnastics life. And then she crushed it. Laurie Hernandez winking is Michael Phelps getting revenge on Chad le Clos for beating him in the 200-meter butterfly event at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Laurie Hernandez winking is Lilly King wagging her finger at a Russian swimmer caught for doping, and then saying on TV that Americans compete clean after beating said Russian in head-to-head competition. Laurie Hernandez winking is Katie Ledecky being undefeated so far in major international competitions. Laurie Hernandez winking before a routine is a gamble that had the potential to pay off big. Laurie Hernandez winking is America.
The wink is our new handshake, our new national gesture of greeting. So if you meet someone new today, make sure to give them a confident wink and start the conversation with You got this, because thats what Laurie Hernandez would do. And Laurie Hernandez is a winner.
Harley galore. Photo: Hot Topic, Warner Brothers, DC Entertainment
In 2011, Supernatural writer/producer Adam Glass had an odd idea. DC Comics had hired him to pen a revamp of Suicide Squad, a series that had been intermittently published since 1987 and was known for its cast of villains. In assembling his lineup, he wanted to include a character whod been kicking around in the Batman mythos since she first appeared on Batman: The Animated Series in 1992: the Jokers sometimes-paramour Harley Quinn. Though shed never been a member of the Squad before, Glass thought shed add a manic flair and much-needed comic relief.
The powers that be were skeptical.
I gave them the script and they said, We love everything except Harley Quinn, Glass recalls. They were like, Shes a Batman villain! Why should she be on the Suicide Squad? Nevertheless, Glass was allowed to move forward with his concept, and Harley made her team debut in September 2011s Suicide Squad Vol. 4, No. 1. As is common with comics, the publisher released variant covers alternate versions with different images on the front. A few months into the series, DCs co-publishers, Jim Lee and Dan DiDio, noticed something unexpected.
Harley covers sold better than any of the other characters, DiDio recalls. And the best-selling [paperback collection of issues] was the one that captured her origin story. So when we saw that she had some real interest and the more we put her in the book, the better the book did it seemed to generate some sensibility for us, saying, Theres more there.
DiDio hasnt been the only person to make that observation. Departments throughout DCs parent company, Warner Bros., have noted Harleys popularity and realized they have a hit property at their disposal. The character just made her big-screen debut via Margot Robbie in last weekends underwhelming Suicide Squad, bringing Harley an unprecedented level of visibility. A spinoff movie is already being discussed, but regardless of whether thats realized, consumers should expect to see a whole lot more of the character in the coming years: Warner Bros. and the retailers who sell their products are investing heavily in the Clown Princess, and theyre ready to laugh all the way to the bank.
I refer to her as the fourth pillar in our publishing line, behind Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, says Lee. Harley currently stars in four series three eponymous ones and Suicide Squad. Only Batman and Superman have comparable numbers of monthly appearances, and Wonder Woman doesnt come close, making Harley DC Comics most prominent (and bankable) female character.
Lee and DiDio say thats not going to change anytime soon, and with good reason: Harley tears up the comics charts month after month. For example, in April DC released four different comics issues starring Harley: Harley Quinn No. 27, Harley Quinn and Her Gang of Harleys No. 1, Harleys Little Black Book No. 3, and Harley Quinn & Suicide Squad April Fools Special No. 1. The latter had more retailer orders than any DC comic other than Batman, and all four of them beat the orders for Superman and Wonder Woman. The April Fools special had an estimated 75,354 orders for comparison, Marvel Comics top Spider-Man title had 1,711 fewer than that.
Yet while the comics division of Warner Bros. may only have gotten serious about Harley in 2011, other parts of the company have known about her power for a while. Weve been huge fans of Harley Quinn from her inception, says Kevin Kiniry, vice-president of DC Collectibles, which is responsible for items like action figures and statues. He says shes always a top seller and that she can go toe to toe with Batman and the Joker as one of the most fan-requested and sought-after characters. As a result, there are more collectibles coming out in the next few months: among them, a line based on artist Amanda Conners comics drawings of her and a statue series called Harley Quinn Red White & Black.
But the best indicator of Harleys value to WB is found in their consumer products division, which handles the licensing of the character for a dizzying array of merchandise. She appears on nearly 70 items at Hot Topic; shows up in toys from Lego, Funko, and Mattel; has hats from New Era; and even graces two Six Flags rides: Georgias Harley Quinn Spinsanity and New Jerseys Harley Quinn Crazy Train. Warner Bros. consumer products president Pam Lifford calls Harley a very important part of our DC franchise brand strategy and says they became acutely aware of her importance after a much-cited 2015 Google analysis that declared her the most popular Halloween costume in America. Indeed, Lifford says Harley costumes are the consumer products divisions biggest hit.
The major question mark for WBs Harley strategy, then, lies in film. Shes already a key part of the companys animated output, starring in the kid-oriented web series DC Super Hero Girls and next summers animated movie Batman and Harley Quinn, but the future is less clear for Robbies live-action incarnation particularly following the response to Suicide Squad, which had a massive (but misleading) opening weekend yet was defined by its abysmal reviews. Even so, it would seem that a stand-alone movie featuring one of DC Comics most marketable characters (and starring one of Hollywoods buzziest actresses) remains a calculated risk worth taking.
When Vulture caught up with Robbie at the Suicide Squad premiere, we asked about the rumors. There are conversations, she said. I really wanna continue it. I think theres so much more you can do with the character.
No matter the spinoff movies fate, that last sentence seems to sum up WBs general philosophy about their hit piece of intellectual property and if something can be done, its a safe bet theyre going to do it. As David Webster, vice-president of purchasing for New York-based retailer Midtown Comics, reiterates, demand for Harley comics and products is tremendous. A given vendor will call me up and say, Were doing more Harley Quinn stuff now could you move more of that product? he explains. And Ill always say, Yeah.
Theyll say, You dont see an end? And I say, Not right now.
From Troilus and Cressida, at the Delacorte. Photo: Joan Marcus
There are some things that the Public Theater founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 and known for a long time as the New York Shakespeare Festival cant avoid. The occasional Troilus and Cressida is one of them. In every way, this mid-career work, probably written between Hamlet and Othello, is what Shakespeare scholars call a problem play. That the accuracy and authenticity of the text are still in doubt wouldnt matter if the version we have of it were sensible, but its not. Bits of Chaucer, The Iliad, and medieval romance are potted together like a particularly odd bouillabaisse; with each spoonful you have no idea what you might be asked to swallow. One fishy ingredient is the romance of the title characters, youthful Trojans whose fidelity is tested when Cressida is surrendered to the Greeks in exchange for a prisoner. Another lump bubbling around in the broth is the story of the great Greek fighter Achilles, who has lost interest in combat and instead languishes in his tent with his male varlet, Patroclus. And then there is the Trojan War itself, featuring all the familiar big names from Helen to Hector, doing selections from their greatest hits. These three stories barely intersect, let alone meld, which is why the play doesnt even have a genre. In the 1609 quarto its called a history, in the First Folio a tragedy, and in an epistle appended by a wishful publisher a witty comedy. Theyre all right, all wrong.
Whats a Shakespeare festival to do? First, hire the director Daniel Sullivan, an expert de-muddler, to offer the best case possible. Next, hire actors who, at a minimum, can make the verse flow clean. Then, put the director and cast together to develop characterizations that ring fresh and clear. (In a large cast, I especially enjoyed Corey Stoll as a Ulysses straight from the Pentagon, Sanjit De Silva as a snarky Aeneas, Forrest Malloy as a saturnine Menelaus, and Alex Breaux as an aptly cloddish Ajax.) Finally, cut the text judiciously and stage it clearly (the simple, effective set is by David Zinn) to clarify if not eliminate the chaos of the scene-switching, loose threads, and multiple points of view.
But perhaps its best not to do more than that. In his 2010 Delacorte production of The Merchant of Venice, another problem play of uncertain genre, Sullivan found ways to fold even the extreme discursiveness of its plot and style back into a coherent whole. Sensibly, he for the most part doesnt try that here; it would never work. Rather, he invests each separate element with as much distinct flavor and contemporary resonance as possible. The courtship of Troilus and Cressida, aided by her louche uncle Pandarus, turns out to make a surprisingly apt, ditzy-sweet rom-com, at least at first; hes shy and tongue-tied, shes sharp and self-doubting:
TROILUS: What offends you, lady?
CRESSIDA: Sir, mine own company.
TROILUS: You cannot shun Yourself.
CRESSIDA: Let me go and try.
Meanwhile, it takes just some skin and a smooch to make the relationship of Achilles and Patroclus feel both contemporary and timeless. Shakespeare clearly establishes them as lovers, but we later learn that the reason Achilles remains in his tent is that he has promised his Trojan girlfriend he wont fight. Sullivan does not stage or slant any of this to allow easy recourse to modern categories of sexuality: We are forced to consider the meaning of the mens love as an exigency instead of an identity. Sullivans treatment of warfare, in modern dress with modern arms, does much the same thing. Without comment he intensifies the plays peculiar contrast of viciousness and comity; enemies by day, the Greeks and Trojans are tablemates by dinner. What, we may wonder now, with our hatreds so seemingly solid state, can this mean?
Making these story lines, or parts of them, vibrate with tension is quite a victory, but doing so cannot win the war of Troilus and Cressida. It is still a blur, and when Sullivan does try to unite the play by underlining a few themes and motifs, the effect borders on camp. Cressidas servant, Alexander, becomes in this reading a fey stylist helping her try on kicky jackets while watching the news on a laptop; the hilarious (but ultimately tragic) Pandarus of John Glover is halfway to Paul Lynde. The warriors are so buff and masculine, on the other hand, that they might be models for Agamemnon & Fitch. Im not complaining, and Bill Heck makes a terrific Hector, illuminating an idea of soldierly dignity that is not much seen these days. But in such a strongly character-based context, the sudden descent into generic violence two-thirds of the way through feels like overkill. Also like overreaching: The ceaseless report of gunfire in Central Park, as effective as it is, drags the play in yet another direction it doesnt want to head. Terror, we have surely learned, is a least common denominator.
* * *
Men on Boats, by Jaclyn Backhaus, is another genre enigma. To the extent that it dramatizes a real event the ten-man Powell Expedition of 1869 that survived a harrowing trip down the Green and Colorado Rivers its a history. In fact, it reads like an adventure diary. But the stylish Clubbed Thumb and Playwrights Horizons co-production (first seen last year at the Wild Project) comes across onstage as a comedy. Its hard to say whether this is because or in spite of its gender-reversed casting; all ten men (and a few other characters) are played by women.
The effect is marvelously destabilizing both as history and theater. The stalwartness and selfishness of the adventurers their cockiness and cluelessness become biting satire when sent up by women. On the other hand, the deliberately corny performance style, which lends the production the air of an amateur civic pageant, prevents you from taking anything too seriously. Its a tricky balancing act: The anachronistic dialogue (We won the lottery with our boat. Party boat!) and implicit gender commentary (three of the vessels are named for women, and the fourth is called the No Name) keep raising issues the dialogue does not resolve, or even address. Thats probably a good thing, because too much earnest issue-mongering would surely sink the delicate craft of the play before its 100 minutes were up.
The terrific performances, amusingly detailed but seriously inhabited, also help to keep it afloat. Somehow the actors manage to convey sarcasm without actually being sarcastic. (Its a reaction that happens not as they speak but when their lines hit the audience.) And then, during the several interludes of heavy action rapids and waterfalls and river turnings marvelously staged by the director Will Davis as little oratorios the sarcasm completely evaporates. Like Powells men (well, some of them) emerging at last into the wonder of the Grand Canyon, the play lands in an unanticipated place of real, if fleeting, feeling.
Troilus and Cressida is at the Delacorte Theater through August 14.
Men on Boats is at Playwrights Horizons through August 21.
I buckled myself into the driver's seat of a Lincoln police cruiser and looked nervously at Officer Grant Powell.
Can I flip this car over? I asked.
Theres no way thatll happen, he assured me with a smile.
Game on.
I stomped on the gas, Powell grabbed the handle above him, and I hit the first curve of the coned course at about 30 mph.
Dont press on the brake around this turn, Powell said, surprisingly calm.
I whipped the car to the left, my body throwing itself into the center console and the tires squealing as I gripped the wheel. It felt like wed go off course.
You can go a bit faster, Powell encouraged.
I maneuvered out of the turn and sped up. The next curve quickly approached, and I slammed on the brakes, turned the wheel and hit the gas all in the span of a few seconds while the tires screamed. We made it around the sharp curve without hitting a cone.
Damn, this is awesome.
Finally, the straight-away -- I hit the gas harder this time, getting into the 40s before slamming on the brakes right before hitting the giant stop cones.
You probably went for it more than anyone else I rode with, Officer Chris Ehrhorn would say after my fifth trip around the course.
Again, please.
***
During Day 3 of the spring 2016 Citizen Academy 3.0, the Lincoln Police Department trusted 12 regular people to drive their cruisers. The three-hour class on how to operate emergency vehicles during pursuits was a highlight for many of the Citizen Academy students.
This is the greatest day of my life, community advocate Steph Janiak proclaimed with a smile.
Police Capt. Mayde McGuire, who organized all 10 days of the citizen academy, seemed as happy as Janiak.
"I'm excited to see you guys out there."
LPD brought back the program after a years-long hiatus.
We felt that part of being transparent in light of 21st century policing was to allow citizens to have a better understanding of police functions, McGuire said. We wanted to create a conduit of communication between law enforcement and the community the department serves.
Nineteen people, including community advocates, college students, attorneys and one print journalist, spent three hours a week for 10 weeks learning how the department operates.
Participants also visited Lincoln Fire and Rescue and the new Lancaster County jail.
Each class had a different topic.
One day, the class toured Fire Station 1 downtown and climbed a firetruck ladder. Lessons that day included these: 85 percent of LFR's calls are for medical emergencies, and 60 percent of cardiac arrest victims survive, a rate much higher than for other cities Lincoln's size.
Another day, the class broke into groups of two and shadowed correctional officers at the jail, walking side-by-side with inmates awaiting trial or sentencing, learning how to operate security in the jail and watching people who were arrested be processed.
But for many academy-goers, the time at the Lancaster County Sheriffs Office shooting range for three hours of shoot/no shoot training and information on Lincoln's "use of control" policy was the most important.
***
I stood in the LSO range, a gun loaded with blanks in my hand. The Kevlar vest weighed me down and the gun felt foreign, even though I had shot before.
Dispatch has just called you; theres a report of a suspicious person in the parking lot of a car shop, Sgt. Ryan Dale told me. Now go.
He opened the door, and my heart nearly jumped out of my throat.
What am I doing?
The sun had already gone down, and I couldn't see much. I walked slowly to my left, my back against the buildings wall, as I scanned the parking lot. A black figure crouched by a car, rummaging through a backpack.
Hi, Im Officer Nichole Manna with the Lincoln Police
What do you want? the man interrupted angrily.
He stood and started walking toward me, picking up his pace as he got closer, his hands still in the bag.
What's in that bag?
Sir, please drop the bag," I shouted, my voice shaky. "Let me see your hands.
I dont want to get it dirty, he replied.
I tried to reason with him, but he started running toward me. I backed up.
Dont turn your back.
I reached down and touched my gun.
I thought I was prepared, but before I knew it, he was a foot in front of me and I nearly fell over. I cant remember what he said, but he pulled a wallet out of the bag.
Oh thank God.
I let my guard down, and before I could think again, he pulled a handgun and shot me six times from a couple of feet away.
What could you have done to change this situation? Dale asked.
I had no answer.
***
I think one of the most unexpected things I learned was how little information these agencies are running on in terms of what somebody reports and what their response is, Janiak said after the shoot/no shoot training. Theyre making those split-second decisions based on little to no information. Going outside in the dark, youre looking for a suspicious person, figure it out and its really intense because that entire time youve got a real person in front of you and youre thinking, Is he reaching for a cellphone or is it a gun? That to me was probably one of the most eye-opening experiences.
Participant Micheal Thompson also left class that day with a new perspective.
When we did the simulation, I shot the guy, he said. I think the average citizen really doesnt understand those pressures, they dont see what leads up to those incidents.
Thompson is a member of the city's Police Advisory Board, which reviews complaints against LPD and makes recommendations on policy changes. The board also advocates for people while keeping the police department transparent and holding it accountable, Thompson said. Two other advisory board members participated in the academy as well.
Just because we may see something on TV or in the paper, it really doesnt give you what actually led up to it, he said. When youre looking at the police department, fire department and county corrections, those guys are under a lot of stress.
This will allow me to ask some additional questions, he said. "On the other hand, if the police officer tells us something and it doesn't sound right, I can now say, 'Well, in Citizen Academy, we were told it should be handled this way.'"
***
On the day we toured the Lancaster County Correctional Center, most of us were pretty nervous and out of our comfort zones. We couldn't bring our cellphones, keys or notebooks into the jail and were told to follow a dress code that barred shorts and low-cut shirts.
We spent three hours walking around the jail, two academy participants paired with one correctional officer.
An inmate whistled when we walked through an open pod. Others stared at us and I looked away shyly, realizing I had written about many of the guys now sitting at tables in front of me.
Lindsay Spaulding, a community advocate for victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse, walked through with an open mind and said she was surprised to see how clean and well-run the county jail is.
It was amazing at how confident the guards were, she said. The ability to go two on one with a guard in there and be with the inmates was terrifying at first, then completely normal once we got in there. I was completely surprised by that.
The experience allowed Spaulding to put herself in the officers' shoes.
Its not something Ill easily forget.
The jail can hold as many as 786 inmates and on this day -- June 9 -- it held 603, Jail Administrator Brad Johnson told the class. At least 26 correctional officers work on first and second shifts, with 21 on third.
"Once you get a look behind the scenes, you see how much they are assigned with so few people," said Sheri Irwin Gish, executive director of communications, marketing and external relations at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
***
LPD is planning a Spring 2017 Citizen Academy and is looking for people who reflect Lincoln's diversity and want to learn about the department.
To me, it seems so logical that as a community member who depends on these entities, (people should) do the class. Its a good experience, said Melinda Stone, development director at the Eastmont Towers Foundation and a Citizen Academy graduate. Theres lots of ways to get involved, like volunteering, but having this understanding is so important for citizens, especially if we are making decisions of what their budget is.
Stone said her biggest takeaway has to do with how she'll vote.
I understand now the need to have better facilities, more staffing and I see how they are good stewards of our tax dollars."
Spaulding said the program helped her understand local emergency responders.
I still hold onto some of the views that I had before. I still think police brutality exists in this country and thats still a huge issue ... but what I learned through this is that our police department does a lot to train their officers on how to combat stereotypes ... they told us what the police go through in training to break down stereotypes and learn how to act to that. Thats huge.
An online application will be created later this year for those wanting to attend the next class. There is no cost and applicants can go to the city website for more information when it's available.
I think if you go in with an open mind and are willing to let the experience change you, youre going to learn so much, Janiak said.
the national interest
This Is Not the Political Violence That Should Scare Us
This Is Not the Political Violence That Should Scare Us
Three prison workers received medical treatment and the Nebraska State Penitentiary was locked down after an inmate assaulted them Tuesday afternoon, according to a Nebraska Department of Correctional Services spokeswoman.
Around 2 p.m., a maximum-security general population inmate began punching a correctional officer in the face, Dawn-Renee Smith said in a news release.
Two other staff members in the area were struck while trying to help the officer, Smith said.
They subdued the inmate using physical force, she said.
The first staff member was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Smith said.
The two assisting staff, who also suffered non-life-threatening injuries, also "sought outside medical attention," Smith said.
The department will conduct the criminal investigation and forward results to the Lancaster County Attorney's Office.
Smith did not release the names of the staff members and the inmate involved.
In addition to Tuesday's incident, multiple reports indicate general unrest among the population and threats of physical violence toward staff, Smith said in the release.
State penitentiary officials locked down the prison Aug. 2 after a group of inmates converged on staff and refused to leave the yard.
A tower guard fired a warning shot to break up the incident, officials said.
After Tuesday's incident, prison officials locked down the medium/maximum housing units in the facility, Smith said.
That means movement is strictly limited, and the affected units house about half the inmate population.
Their meals will be served in their cells tonight. No visits will be held on Wednesday.
The penitentiary's administrators will continue to monitor the situation to determine when movement will resume, Smith said.
In the release, Director Scott Frakes said lockdowns such as this one are safety measures to protect staff, inmates and the public.
"Though perceived as punishment, I don't authorize lockdowns to punish people," Frakes said. "They are done to regain control of a facility, or, in this case, prevent actions that could lead to people getting hurt."
Twelve people were arrested or cited in Lincoln on July 29 as a part of the National Johns Suppression Initiative aimed at reducing sex trafficking.
They included a Lincoln Public Schools teacher, a man who taught classes at the University of Nebraska at Kearney and a Lincoln attorney, according to the Lincoln Police Department.
The operation by agencies across the country rescued 32 underage girls lured into human trafficking, helped 58 adult victims find services and made 71 arrests for human trafficking and 1,358 for sex solicitation, according to the Cook County Sheriff's Office in Illinois. More than 1,300 charges were given ranging from ordinance violations to felonies.
This is the 12th national operation, which Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart launched in 2011 to target buyers of sex.
Since then, more than 5,800 johns have been arrested by more than 70 agencies in 12 states.
In Lincoln, seven people were arrested for solicitation of prostitution and four for prostitution.
Dwain Borchers, 58, who retired in 2011 as wrestling coach at Northeast High School and was still teaching physical education there, was among those arrested. Lincoln Public Schools confirmed Borchers was employed with the school system when he was arrested but no longer is. He worked for LPS for 23 years.
Police arrested Cory Walcott, chairman of the Military Science Department at UNK. Walcott taught at the school through an arrangement with the ROTC and was paid by the corps, said UNK spokeswoman Kelly Bartling. He has resigned since the arrest, she said.
Vincent Valentino, 66, was also cited in the bust, police said. Valentino represents clients in discrimination and governmental litigation and worked as a prosecutor for 15 years.
Neither Borchers, Walcott nor Valentino has been charged.
Arrested for felonies in the local operation were Maurice Briggs, 40, of Ralston, who was arrested on suspicion of pandering, and Scottie Hodtwalker, 47, of Lincoln, who has been charged with felony solicitation of prostitution for having a prior conviction.
The Journal Star is naming those arrested on suspicion of committing felonies, the former prosecuting attorney and the two who were in positions of authority at schools.
Lincoln Police Officer Katie Flood said no minors were rescued or involved in the local operation. The ages of the four women charged with prostitution range from 23 to 36.
In Illinois, Cook County Sheriff's investigators arrested a 15-year-old trying to buy sex. The Las Vegas Metro Police Department rescued 22 girls, police in Oakland, California, arrested a john who left his 7-year-old daughter in the car and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation rescued a 12-year-old girl who had been abducted in Texas and trafficked to Tennessee.
Sixty percent of arrests stemmed from online advertisements, Dart said.
The initiative also focused on ensuring all victims of sex trafficking were connected with appropriate social services.
Prostitution is defined as a person willingly exchanging sex for money. Sex trafficking happens when a commercial sex act takes place through force, fraud or coercion by a trafficker.
This is the third time in the past year Lincoln police have gotten involved in the nationwide initiative.
In September, they arrested 16 men, two for felony solicitation of prostitution. In February, 13 people were arrested, including six would-be sex buyers and two people for pandering after driving women to hotels for prostitution.
The Texas Rangers are investigating whether an offer by McLennan County Commissioner Will Jones to personally reimburse his primary opponents $1,250 filing fee in exchange for his withdrawal from the race warrants criminal prosecution.
The Tribune-Herald first reported Jones offer to West resident Ben Matus in January. Jones went on to reclaim his Precinct 3 slot by winning almost 56 percent of the vote in the Republican primary against Matus, a former West City Council member and an auto repair instructor at Texas State Technical College.
It is unclear why an investigation is being launched six to seven months after the allegations surfaced, but Jones attorney, Jim Dunnam, confirmed that Texas Ranger Patrick Pena has interviewed Jones as part of the Rangers investigation.
Jones declined comment on the investigation Tuesday, deferring to statements he made about the incident in January.
He has cooperated with law enforcement and everybody who has asked him for information in an official capacity, Dunnam said. He has answered all the questions. It is my understanding that from day one, he has fully cooperated and he has been open and candid about everything that happened.
Matus initially said Tuesday he had heard nothing else about Jones offer since the March primary election. Later, however, when asked if he had been interviewed by a Texas Ranger, Matus said, I will have to decline comment about that. Matus continued to decline comment when asked other questions about the investigation, including whether he asked McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reynas office to pursue the matter.
Pena declined comment Tuesday, saying Department of Public Safety policy precludes him from discussing open cases.
Neither Reyna nor his first assistant, Michael Jarrett, returned phone calls to their office Tuesday.
Matus said in January that Jones texted him several times and called him in December.
He was serious. He offered to pay me to drop out of the race, Matus said at the time. He kind of blindsided me. He told me I was wasting my time and money, and I kind of got agitated. It is my time and my money. He said it is a losing cause, but it made me want to run against him even more.
Jones said in January he offered to reimburse Matus the cost of his filing fee if Matus would pull out of the race.
I did say that I would refund his money, and I told him that would be a good idea for him, Jones said at the time. There is no way it could be considered a bribe. There is nothing wrong about it.
When asked in January how he would describe the offer, Jones said: Again, I dont think what I said was a bribe. It was a simple business transaction. The guy obviously has nothing to run on, thats the thing. I called him up and said, Why do you want to run against me? He said he didnt know. Wouldnt you want to do some research before you file to run for an office and to know what the job entails?
Matus said he had an app on his cellphone that records all his incoming calls. Jones offer to reimburse Matus the price of his filing fee is part of an eight-minute call recorded by Matus on Dec. 1, two weeks before the primary filing deadline. Matus allowed the Tribune-Herald to review the recording.
After Matus said he was told that his filing fee was not refundable, Jones said on the recording, I will refund your money. My wife and I have talked about this and if you want out, I will refund your money.
Matus also has a text message sent by Jones on Dec. 15 that says: You can still withdraw your name today. My offer still stands.
Matus said he chose at the time not to file a complaint or report the incident to the district attorneys office.
Recusals
Judge Matt Johnson of Wacos 54th State District Court said Tuesday that Reyna approached him last week about getting a special prosecutor appointed to look into potential criminal charges against Jones. Reyna, who said he would recuse his office from involvement in the matter, suggested an assistant from the attorney generals office for the appointment.
But, before Reyna could recuse his office, Johnson recused himself and took no action on the request because of his friendship with Jones, the judge said.
Johnson asked Billy Ray Stubblefield, the regional administrative judge, to appoint a judge to hear the potential case against Jones. Stubblefield appointed retired State District Judge James E. Morgan, of Comanche, to preside in an unfiled cause: In the Matter of Will Jones, according to an order filed Aug. 3.
Morgan said Tuesday afternoon he had not appointed a special prosecutor in the matter.
Jones, who is unopposed in the November general election, will take the oath of office in January. As part of their oaths of office, county and state officials are required to file what is known as an anti-bribery statement, which says, in part, that they have not directly or indirectly paid, offered, promised to pay, contributed or promised to contribute any money or thing of value, or promised any public office or employment for the giving or withholding of a vote at the election at which I was elected or as a reward to secure my appointment or confirmation.
I still feel comfortable taking the oath, Jones said Tuesday. I dont have any problem with the oath whatsoever.
Dunnam said he thinks it is important that the voters were aware of the allegations against Jones and returned him to office.
This was evidently an issue in the campaign, and the voters basically noted that it was not something that they thought was significant, Dunnam said. I think they appreciated his cooperation and honesty about it.
According to the Texas Penal Code, a person commits the offense of bribery if he intentionally or knowingly offers, confers, or agrees to confer on another, or solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept from another any benefit as consideration for the recipients decision, opinion, recommendation, vote or other exercise of discretion as a public servant, party official or voter.
A political candidate is considered a public servant under Texas law.
Bribery is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Attempted bribery is a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
An Arizona man remained in the Lancaster County jail Tuesday night after a state trooper found 19 bags of methamphetamine in his car during an Interstate 80 traffic stop early Tuesday, according to court documents.
The Nebraska State Patrol trooper pulled over 22-year-old Adrian G. Vazquez, of Nogales, who was eastbound just west of Lincoln for going 83 mph in a 65 mph zone just after 1 a.m., the trooper wrote in an affidavit.
Vasquez, the only person in the car, told the trooper he didnt have his license on him and gave the trooper a rental agreement, the affidavit said.
During a check, the trooper discovered Vasquez was wanted on a warrant out of Arizona for violating his parole.
After learning this, the trooper asked to search the rental car, which was registered to someone else, the affidavit said.
The trooper said he found a bag with less than an ounce of marijuana between the drivers seat and the center console.
In the trunk, the trooper found a black traveling bag containing the bags of meth.
The troopers affidavit didnt specify the total amount of meth found in the vehicle.
Vasquez was taken to jail on suspicion of possession of meth with intent to distribute.
Prosecutors charged him Tuesday afternoon, and a judge set his bond at $100,000.
William Boyd Ridings was sworn in Tuesday as the new representative for Precinct 4 on the Bellmead City Council, after a 3-1 vote to appoint him to the open seat.
Two residents applied for the position that was vacated by Ernest Butch Anz, who left his post for health reasons after about two months in office.
Bellmead resident Sandy Jordan also sought to serve in the seat for the remainder of the term.
Ridings, 67, who is retired, said hes not a rocket scientist, but he would be proud to serve and help in any way. He said he has lived in Bellmead just about all his adult life and lived in Precinct 4 for the past 40 years.
The term for the vacant seat ends in May 2018. Precinct 4 includes Brame Park and much of the citys area on the east side of Interstate 35, bounded by Loop 340 and State Highway 31.
Before selecting the new council member, the council asked each candidate a few questions.
Mayor Pro Tem Doss Youngblood questioned Jordans residency.
Jordan, 67, a real estate broker, said she has been working to obtain a home since late last year. Jordan said she has possession of the property, which is located in Precinct 4, but there is an issue with the title and she has not moved in.
Youngblood asked if she lived in Precinct 4.
Im pretty much homeless right now, Jordan said, adding she is bouncing between locations until her home is ready.
Youngblood also asked if she planned to resign her seat from the Bellmead Economic Development Corp. if elected.
Jordan said she has been active in the corporation since its inception and had not considered resigning.
Youngblood said that per city charter, no more than three council members can serve on the board of the corporation, and there are already three board members on the council.
City Manager Bo Thomas said that rule is actually found in the corporations bylaws, not the city charter.
Before taking a motion to select a new council member, Mayor Gary Moore read the section of the charter outlining residency requirements for council members, which states a person must live in that precinct for at least two years.
Thomas said after the meeting that Jordan met the residency requirements to serve.
Council member Alfreda Love made a motion to select Jordan as the new Precinct 4 council member, but her motion failed because of a lack of a second. Council member Mark Pace then made a motion to select Ridings.
Love was the only member of the council to vote against Ridings selection. Council member Travis Gibson was not at the meeting.
Also during the meeting, Jordan was the only person to speak at the first public hearing on the citys proposed tax rate. The city plans to keep the tax rate the same, at 30.3761 cents per $100 of property value.
The effective tax rate, which is the rate that would bring in the same amount of money to the city as the tax rate in the current fiscal year, is 28.6441 cents per $100 of property value. The rollback rate, the highest the county could have adopted without triggering a possible election to approve the rate, is 30.4050 cents per $100 of property value.
Jordan said the city is in need of many things, and the council needs to consider how they will pay for those items in the coming years.
I think that the tax rate has been held down for a very long time, she said.
The second public hearing on the rate is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Aug. 16 at the Bellmead City Hall council chambers, 3015 Bellmead Drive. The council is set to vote on the tax rate Aug. 30.
Residents May 7 voted for the city to roll the tax rate back almost 2 cents, from 31.86 cents per $100 of property value to the current rate. Moore collected the required signatures to trigger the referendum. Voters then approved the lower tax rate of 30.3761 cents per $100 of property value.
-----
If you go
What: Second public hearing on Bellmeads proposed tax rate of 30.3761 cents per $100 of property value
When: 6:30 p.m. Aug. 16
Where: Bellmead City Hall, 3015 Bellmead Drive
Two Texas State Technical College students suffered stab wounds after an altercation in a campus residence hall late Wednesday morning, TSTC Provost Adam Hutchison said.
At about 10:30 a.m., witnesses reported hearing a loud altercation on the second floor of Lavaca Hall, off Second Street on the schools campus. The disturbance led to the stabbing with a small knife before both students were taken to an area hospital with injuries.
I heard screaming when I was laying in my bed, so I woke up and I look through the peep hole and I see (one student) knock on the door and I see (another student) answer the door, TSTC student Jimmy Fite said. (One student who knocked on the door) said, Why did you rip me off? This is a robbery, and the other kid said, No, this isnt a robbery.
A fight broke out in the residence hallway before Fites neighboring resident shut his dorm room door, Fite said. The disturbance continued before the student reopened the door.
This time, he is holding a small, almost like a Swiss Army knife, Fite said. Then all of a sudden, all the cops are here.
Fite said he saw the student inside the dorm room stab the other student multiple times. The student who allegedly stabbed the other student also suffered a stab wound to his hand, witnesses said.
Hutchison confirmed two TSTC students were involved and injured in the reported stabbing. TSTC police are investigating the incident as both students were rushed to a local hospital.
About 3,000 students are on campus for summer courses, Hutchison said. He said the schools main priority is the safety of all students and guests on campus.
Police are still working the scene to make sure they collect all the evidence, but we have also contacted our counseling department to make sure we have people available in case anyone, employees or students, need someone to talk to, Hutchison said. As far as I understand it, this was an isolated incident and there are not any other threats at this point.
The campus remained open throughout Wednesday and classes and activities conditioned as scheduled. College officials credited TSTC police for their quick response and containment of the situation.
No information about the students involved was available by Wednesday evening. TSTC officials said the incident remains under investigation.
Radio commentators and politicians stirring up the uninformed and the gullible would have everyone believe that the greatest threats to Texans in coming years are the loss of our guns and religious liberty. But a far more likely threat to our republic is the tightening of public transparency laws regarding what government actually does with our tax dollars.
For instance, down in the border town of McAllen, neither everyday taxpayers nor the press can learn just how much the city spent in taxpayer dollars to hire Enrique Iglesias to sing during the citys Dec. 5 holiday parade. And as The Texas Tribune reports, other governmental entities are beginning to show the same lack of public disclosure, such as a Kaufman County school districts hiding details regarding a food-service deal.
We remember when such information was readily available, all to the benefit of the public paying the bills. Now its no longer a sure thing. In an astonishingly bungled 7-1 Texas Supreme Court decision last year, the high court made it easier for private companies to keep their lucrative contracts with governmental entities hidden, especially if contract details might leave such companies vulnerable to competitors.
Our advice: If private companies fear such disclosures, they shouldnt contract with governmental entities, which should be all about transparency and accountability.
We brand the ruling bungled because the Texas Supreme Court sided with a contention by the aerospace manufacturer Boeing that the release of information concerning its lease with the Port Authority of San Antonio might aid Boeings competitors. However, as the sole dissenting justice on the court made clear, the lease at issue has been fully executed since 1998, continues until 2018 and is not currently or imminently subject to any competitive bidding process.
Whats more, dissenting Justice Jeff Boyd accurately noted that Boeing has not identified any particular federal contract for which it is currently or will soon be competing or any competitor against whom it is or will be competing for such a contract. Nor has Boeing shown any actual specific advantage that any competitor would receive by obtaining the information. And while he acknowledged that competition among aerospace firms might be unlike other competitive ventures, thats still no justification for hiding from the public the finer arrangements with the port authority.
Finally, while its still debated between legal experts, the prevailing opinion of state attorneys general in the past has generally held that exceptions to the Texas Public Information Act are invoked to protect a governmental bodys ability to handle certain transactions (such as real-estate matters, at least during the negotiation process) not to protect private parties that may be conducting business with government.
Were surprised tea-party types have not raised an uproar about this. Those who believe in transparency should rally to the side of Republican state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione and Democratic state Rep. Terry Canales, reportedly working with open-records advocates on legislation to patch up this hole created by the Texas Supreme Court during the next session. As Capriglione recently noted, Accountability starts with your ability to see how the government spends your money.
The courts decision also gives us good reason to balk at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trumps list of nominees for the U.S. Supreme Court, given that Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett is among them. Fair or not, our states high court is regularly accused of siding with corporations against individuals. In this case, though, its ruling commits a sin running counter to the interests of Texas public at large.
God is a Republican
Trib columnist Glynn Beatys Aug. 5 column is wrong in stating, Neither party has a monopoly on God. First, he uses the Bible to point out that life begins at conception. He acknowledges that abortion is the taking of human life and murder. He clearly understands abortion kills a human being and is against God. Then he denies the Democratic Party platform is against God.
Sorry, but the Ten Commandments have no qualifiers on Thou shall not kill.
The Republican Party is pro-life, as stated in its 2016 platform. In contrast, the Democratic Party platform stresses protecting and advancing reproductive health, rights and justice. It says Democrats believe unequivocally, like the majority of Americans, that every woman should have access to quality reproductive health care services, including safe and legal abortion regardless of where she lives, how much money she makes or how she is insured. We believe that reproductive health is core to womens, mens and young peoples health and well-being.
In fact, the Democratic Party is extreme on abortion. Their almost limitless support for abortion includes opposition to simple abortion clinical safety procedures, support for taxpayer-funded abortion and rejection of pregnancy resource centers that provide abortion alternatives. The old Clinton mantra of safe, legal and rare has been reduced to just legal. Democrats are against any laws that limit abortion.
While both parties have their problems, the Republican platform protects life from conception to natural death. Beaty should heed the Bible warning, Isaiah 5:20-21: Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. Woe unto them who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight.
Sixty million American babies are dead from legal abortion, the population of several states combined. The Democratic Party celebrates death. This does not sit well with my God, the God of life. Protecting life is godly and biblical, and the Republican Party platform clearly protects life. The Republican Party has taken the godly position,
Ellen Staniszewski, Thornton
Keep em in lockup!
Well, so much for gun control. First, I am very pro-Second Amendment. I am appalled that the liberals and Democrats scream for more gun control. Yet President Obama commutes the sentences of two felons, one of whom was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
What we need is not more gun-control legislation, just enforcement of the laws we have. And let the sentences of those convicted run their course. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for those two felons to land back in our criminal justice system. I pray no one becomes a victim in the interim.
Doug Jones, Woodway
ASHLAND Dr. Lacey Mink started college as a business major, but an assignment put her on the path to her ultimate career choice as a chiropractor.
The Valentine native had to find a small business owner to study for a class project at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She chose a chiropractor in Lincoln who was originally from her hometown. The doctor eventually offered her a job as an assistant, and Minks future as a chiropractor was set.
I fell in love with it, she said.
It wasnt the first time Mink had thought about chiropractic as a career. She lived next door to a chiropractor while growing up in Valentine and researched the subject before college. But she wasnt sure that was the path she wanted to take, so she majored in business instead.
After graduating from UNL, Mink attended Logan Chiropractic, now known as Logan University, in St. Louis. With her doctor of chiropractic degree in hand, she went back to the same chiropractic office where she had worked during college.
She spent three and a half years as an associate chiropractor in Lincoln before setting up her own practice, Family Chiropractic Solutions, last February in Ashland.
Minks husband, Ryan Mink, grew up in rural Greenwood and attended Ashland-Greenwood Public Schools. After the couple lived in Lincoln for a few years, they realized they were spending more time in Ashland and Greenwood than in Lincoln. So they moved to Ashland where they can spend more time with family and enjoy outdoor activities, she said.
Operating a business in a small town has its benefits, Mink said.
You can connect with people and talk with them more, she said.
Mink hopes to connect with more people when she holds a ribbon cutting and open house on Friday, Aug. 19 from 5:15 p.m. to 7 p.m.
At the open house, the public can learn about what Mink has to offer at Family Chiropractic Solutions.
Mink focuses on spinal remodeling, where adjustments, special postural care, traction devices and other methods realign spines that become out of place over time.
I would say were extremely focused in that area alone, she said.
Millions of people suffer from back pain, a leading reason why patients seek chiropractic care.
The stats on low back pain and neck pain are through the roof, she said.
Minks goal is to reduce pain by correcting the changes in the spine that occur when it is out of position. Once the spine is back in position, treatment will keep the spine stabilized, like an orthodontic retainer does after braces are removed from teeth.
Its a new position for the body, she said.
Prevention is also a key part of Minks practice, as well as improving overall health.
I like that theres this field where we can help people get more balance, she said.
Mink also enjoys the idea of following her mothers footsteps into the health care field. Her mother is a nurse.
Like my mom, I like caring for people, she said.
ALVO The Alvo Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department will be hosting the Best Little Car Show in Nebraska Aug. 13.
This is the 15th year for the show to be held on Main Street in Alvo.
Alvo Fire Chief Rick Koutecky is inviting all car collectors to drive to Alvo and spend the day. Registration begins at 8 a.m. and will continue until noon. Pre-entry fee is $12 and day of the show fee is $15.
The first 50 entrants will receive dash plaques he said.
The public is invited to view the cars from 12 to 4 p.m. Trophy awards will be held at 3:30 p.m. Awards will be given to Best Mopar, Best Chevy, Best Ford, Best Import, Best Interior, Best Paint, and Best of Show.
The morning will begin with an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast served in the fire station from 7 to 10 p.m.
Lunch will be served beginning at 11:30 a.m. continuing throughout the afternoon at the fire station. Custom t-shirts will also be made during the show.
First and second place trophies will be awarded in each class at the end of the day.
Classes include Street Rods, American Stock; American Modified; Corvette, Mustang, Trucks, Motorcycles, and Import Stock.
We had a good turn out last year, he said. We are hoping for the same thing this year.
Koutecky said earlier that with Highway 63 scheduled to be resurfaced next year, they would have to move the location for the car show.
We are working out details just where to have it, he said. But we plan to have one.
For more information, contact Koutecky at 402-326-1714 or 402-781-2959.
A 34-year-old Lincoln woman who was accused by police of selling cocaine will not be charged. Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly said there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the charges against Brooke Kimball.
She was arrested with three other people when Lincoln police officers served search warrants at two homes over the weekend, according to probable cause affidavits for their arrests.
Kimball has been released from jail.
Prosecutors charged four other people with selling cocaine after police served four search warrants during the narcotics investigation. Those warrants were at 846 Lamont Drive, an apartment at 7110 Van Dorn St., an apartment at 8301 Sunridge Road, and at 3101 N. 58th St.
The searches came after an undercover officer bought 149.9 grams of cocaine over four months from a man who said his supplier was Lance Allen, 38, documents say.
In total at all four addresses, officers found about 9 ounces of cocaine; three guns, one of which was stolen from AAA Pawn in December; numerous boxes of ammunition and a loaded magazine; paraphernalia; and more than $14,000 believed to have been obtained through selling narcotics, documents say.
Allen, a convicted felon, was charged Friday with delivering a controlled substance, delivering a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school, possession of money while violating state law and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.
Desiree Blanchard, 35, Lawrence Allen, 35, and Roaul Brown, 45, were charged with possession with the intent to deliver cocaine. Brown was also charged with possession of money while violating state law.
Ciara Dykes, 20, was arrested on suspicion of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, but prosecutors have not yet charged her.
All five have bonded out of jail.
Motorists who use 16th and 17th streets to skirt the edge of downtown will have more company soon.
Beginning Thursday, some 25,000 University of Nebraska-Lincoln students will begin moving back into dormitories and fraternity and sorority houses on campus, causing traffic slowdowns and backups in high-traffic areas.
The move-in will close lanes on both one-way streets -- 16th heading south and 17th heading north, UNL spokesman Steve Smith said.
Students and parents should plan for delays, because parking near many residence halls is limited, Smith said.
Classes for the 2016-17 academic year begin Aug. 22.
Construction will continue into the school year on several projects on campus, as well, which could add to traffic slowdowns. Work continues on the $33 million 17th Street Dining Complex just north of Knoll Hall, which will continue into 2017, and on construction of a new $84 million home for the College of Business Administration overlooking 14th and Vine streets.
Work continues on several projects on East Campus, including a new residence hall to replace aging Burr and Fedde halls.
Meanwhile, construction is winding down on two large off-campus student housing projects, where students will also be moving in over the next week. Combined, 8N Lofts at Eighth and N and Aspen Lincoln at 18th and P streets will add 1,200 beds to the space available for students living downtown.
On campus, members of UNLs sororities can begin moving into their chapter houses on Thursday, while women participating in Greek recruitment activities can move onto campus beginning at noon on Sunday.
Upperclassmen in fraternities can move into chapter houses next week, on Tuesday and Wednesday, while first-year students who pledged this summer can move into the chapter houses on Aug. 18.
Officials said alley construction south of R Street in the area will cut off access to parking lots used by some members of UNLs Greek community, pushing more unloading onto the street.
Next week, students assigned to even-numbered floors in UNLs traditional, apartment and suite-style residence halls can begin move-in on Aug. 18, while students assigned to odd-number floors will move in on Aug. 19.
To make move-in easier, UNL is asking families to bring no more than two vehicles and not bring everything at the beginning of the semester, if possible.
Nancy Hicks Reporter Nancy Hicks reports on Lincoln city government, but shes been following the leaders of local and state government for more than 40 years. Follow Nancy Hicks Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today
Ed Binder is retiring. Again.
Binder is a familiar face, sitting behind the front desk as you enter the County-City Building on South 10th Street, where he greets everyone with a ready hello and instructions on how to get to a specific office if you need a little help.
Binder, 92, has been volunteering at the information desk for 19 years, and before that he helped in the assessor's office and before that he helped create the volunteer of the month program.
And before that he was a state leader.
Binder is a retired major general in the Nebraska Army National Guard, the adjutant general who led the guard from 1973 to 1983, during the tough recruiting years after the Vietnam War and in 1978 when women were given the same opportunities as men.
In 1982 Binder assigned Roma Amundson to command the 67th Signal Detachment, the first female commander of a National Guard unit in the state.
Amundson, now a Lancaster County commissioner, helped honor Binder during Tuesday's County Board meeting.
Binder will end his volunteering years at a reception on Thursday, his 93rd birthday. The reception will be 11 a.m. to noon in Room 113, on the first floor of the City-County Building.
Cut lobbyist and Casady, LIBA suggests
Coby Mach, president and CEO of the Lincoln Independent Business Association, suggested cutting two expenses during the city's budget hearing on Monday -- the $105,000 the city spends on lobbying and the $167,000 salary for the public safety director position.
Tom Casady is the city's public safety director and Eric Gerrard and the O'Hara Lindsay lobbying firm handle lobbying for the city.
The council must find about $2 million in cuts a year -- from a $180 million tax-funded budget -- in order to avoid the small property tax rate hike that is part of Mayor Chris Beutlers proposed two-year budget. Thats around a 1 percent cut.
One of the ideas approved by the Republican majority of the council -- to cut about $1.2 million from the business and safety special revenue fund -- has met with great resistance from a number of businesses.
That fund is made up primarily of fees paid by businesses for permits and inspections and using that fund for other purposes could lead to higher fees.
So Mach offered some additional potential cuts from the mayors budget plan to replace using the building and safety fund.
Rather than having someone representing Lincoln interests during the legislative session, the city could handle lobbying by sending department heads or even council members to talk with senators, Mach said. The mayor himself is a former state senator, Mach noted.
Mach did not point out that LIBA has two registered lobbyists, who are compensated for their work and who spend time at the Legislature during the session, as any effective lobbyist must. One of those lobbyists is Mach himself.
When faced with tough choices the city could look at the public safety director position, since the city already has a police and fire chief and assistant chiefs, Mach suggested.
And the average cost for a full-time employee in the Fire and Rescue Department will top $100,000 for the first time next year, he said.
But Casady countered that Lincoln police and fire departments are lean at the top, compared to departments in similar-size cities.
You dont have to take my word for it. You can look at organizational charts, Casady told the council after Monday's hearing.
And Rick Hoppe, the mayors chief of staff, justified Casadys role and salary as public safety director. Casady is the city's highest-paid employee.
Since Casady became the public safety director, coordination between 911, the fire department and the police department has improved a great deal, Hoppe said.
Casady built enough confidence with the public that voters passed a quarter-cent sales tax increase, which will fund the new 911 radio system, three fire stations and one fire/police station.
"We think he is worth every single penny being invested in him in making our public safety forces the envy of many communities across the nation. Tom has done a great job," Hoppe said.
Benefits can be costly
One of City Councilman Jon Camps favorite examples of costs associated with city employees this budget season is the City-County Health Department, where there is $1.4 million in accrued sick leave and vacation time that would have to be paid out if everyone eligible for retirement retired this year.
Judy Halstead, director of the department, has also used health insurance costs to highlight how unexpected changes can affect her budget.
The city pays $20,000 a year on the premiums for an employee using a family health insurance plan. So if one of her employees, who has been covered by a spouse's health insurance plan, decides to switch to city health insurance next winter, it adds $20,000 to her budget, she said.
Health insurance is a big-ticket item in the city budget. The city will spend about $29.5 million next year on its share of health insurance premiums for city workers. The city's share ranges from 80 percent to 100 percent, depending on the type of plan and the union involved.
Your Ultimate Investing Toolkit
Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools:
Portfolio Monitoring
Top Stock Lists
Premium Reports
Stock Screeners
Live News Feed
Premium Support
Free for your first month.
The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation provides a range of financial products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Securities Services, Market and Wealth Services, Investment and Wealth Management, and Other segments. The Securities Services segment offers custody, trust and depositary, accounting, exchange-traded funds, middle-office solutions, transfer agency, services for private equity and real estate funds, foreign exchange, securities lending, liquidity/lending services, prime brokerage, and data analytics. This segment also provides trustee, paying agency, fiduciary, escrow and other financial, issuer, and support services for brokers and investors. The Market and Wealth Services segment offers clearing and custody, investment, wealth and retirement solutions, technology and enterprise data management, trading, and prime brokerage services; and clearance and collateral management services. This segment also provides integrated cash management solutions, including payments, foreign exchange, liquidity management, receivables processing and payables management, and trade finance and processing services. The Investment and Wealth Management segment offers investment management strategies and distribution of investment products, investment management, custody, wealth and estate planning, private banking, investment, and information management services. The Other segment engages in the provision of leasing, corporate treasury, derivative and other trading, corporate and bank-owned life insurance, renewable energy investment, and business exit services. It serves central banks and sovereigns, financial institutions, asset managers, insurance companies, corporations, local authorities and high net-worth individuals, and family offices. The company was founded in 1784 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
National Bank of Canada provides various financial products and services to retail, commercial, corporate, and institutional clients in Canada and internationally. It operates through four segments: Personal and Commercial, Wealth Management, Financial Markets, and U.S. Specialty Finance and International. The Personal and Commercial segment offers personal banking services, including transaction solutions, mortgage loans and home equity lines of credit, consumer loans, payment solutions, and savings and investment solutions; various insurance products; and commercial banking services comprise credit, and deposit and investment solutions, as well as international trade, foreign exchange transactions, payroll, cash management, insurance, electronic transactions, and complimentary services. The Wealth Management segment comprises investment solutions, trust services, banking services, lending services, and other wealth management solutions. The Financial Markets segment offers corporate banking, advisory, and capital markets services; and project financing, debt, and equity underwriting; advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, and financing. The U.S. Specialty Finance and International segment provides specialty finance products; financial products and services to individuals and businesses in Cambodia; and investment solutions, guaranteed investment certificates, mutual funds, notes, structured products, and monetization. It provides its services through a network of 384 branches and 927 banking machines. National Bank of Canada was founded in 1859 and is based in Montreal, Canada.
The following companies are subsidiares of Ecolab: AO Ecolab, Abednego Environmental Services, Abednego Environmental Services LLC, Abednego Mexico Holdings LLC, Abednego de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Alcide Corp., Anios America S.A., Anios Diffusion SAS, Anios Manufacturing SAS, Aqua Environmental Limited, Bioquell, Bioquell Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Bioquell Global Logistics (Ireland) Ltd., Bioquell Holding SAS, Bioquell Inc., Bioquell Limited, Bioquell SAS, Bioquell Technology (Shenzhen) Ltd., Bioquell Technology Canada Ltd., Bioquell UK Limited, Bro-Tech Limited, CALGON LLC, CID LINES NV, CID Lines, CID Lines Beijing Animal Hygiene Co Ltd., CID Lines France Sarl, CID Lines Iberica SL, CID Lines LLC, CID Lines Mexico S.A. DE C.V., CID Lines R&D NV, CID Lines Sp. z o. o., CORPAK MedSystems, Cascade Water Services, Champion Technologies, Chamtech L.L.C., Chemlawn, Chemstar Corporation, Cirlam BVBA, Copal Holding NV, Copal Invest NV, Cymru Holdings Limited, DERYPOL SA, DMD, E&M Bio-Chemicals LLC, ECOLAB NL 10 B.V., ECOLAB PEST FRANCE SAS, EPN Water Col Ltd., Ecolab (Antigua) Ltd., Ecolab (Aruba) N.V., Ecolab (Barbados) Limited, Ecolab (China) Investment Co. Ltd, Ecolab (Fiji) Pty Limited, Ecolab (GZ) Chemicals Limited, Ecolab (Guam) LLC, Ecolab (Proprietary) Limited, Ecolab (Schweiz) GmbH, Ecolab (St. Lucia) Limited, Ecolab (Taicang) Technology Co. Ltd., Ecolab (Trinidad and Tobago) Unlimited, Ecolab (U.K.) Holdings Limited, Ecolab A.E.B.E., Ecolab AB, Ecolab AU2 Pty Ltd, Ecolab Acquisition LLC, Ecolab ApS, Ecolab Argentina S.R.L., Ecolab Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Ecolab B.V., Ecolab Bahrain S.P.C., Ecolab CDN 2 Co., Ecolab CDN 4 ULC, Ecolab CH 1 GmbH, Ecolab CH 2 GmbH, Ecolab CH 3 GmbH in Liquidation, Ecolab CH 6 GmbH, Ecolab Chemicals Limited, Ecolab Co. Compagnie Ecolab, Ecolab Colombia S. A., Ecolab DE 1 GmbH, Ecolab Deutschland GmbH, Ecolab Digital Center Private Limited, Ecolab EOOD, Ecolab East Africa (Kenya) Limited, Ecolab East Africa (Tanzania) Limited, Ecolab East Africa (Uganda) Limited, Ecolab Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Ecolab Engineering GmbH, Ecolab Europe GmbH, Ecolab Export GmbH, Ecolab FR 1 SAS, Ecolab FR 4 SAS, Ecolab Finance Company Designated Activity Company, Ecolab Food Safety & Hygiene Solutions Private Limited, Ecolab G.K., Ecolab Global Business Services LLC, Ecolab GmbH, Ecolab Gulf FZE, Ecolab HK 1 Limited, Ecolab HK 2 Limited, Ecolab Hispano-Portuguesa S.L., Ecolab Holding Italy S.r.l., Ecolab Holdings (Europe) LLC, Ecolab Holdings Inc., Ecolab Holdings Mexico S. de R. L. de C. V., Ecolab Hygiene Kft., Ecolab Hygiene d.o.o., Ecolab International SDN BHD, Ecolab Israel Holdings LLC, Ecolab JVZ Limited, Ecolab Korea Ltd., Ecolab LLC, Ecolab LUX & Co Holdings S.C.A., Ecolab LUX 1 Sarl, Ecolab LUX 2 Sarl, Ecolab LUX 4 Sarl, Ecolab LUX 7 Sarl, Ecolab LUX Sarl, Ecolab Limited, Ecolab Ltd., Ecolab Lux 10 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 12 SCA, Ecolab Lux 13 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 14 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 15 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 16 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 17 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 9 Sarl, Ecolab Lux Partner LLC, Ecolab MT Holdings LLC, Ecolab MT Limited, Ecolab Malta 1 Limited, Ecolab Malta 2 Limited, Ecolab Malta GPS, Ecolab Manufacturing IE Limited, Ecolab Manufacturing Inc., Ecolab Manufacturing UK Limited, Ecolab Maroc Societe a Responsabilite Limitee, Ecolab NL 11 B.V., Ecolab NL 15 BV, Ecolab NL 16 B.V., Ecolab NL 23 B.V., Ecolab NL 3 BV, Ecolab Name Holding Limited, Ecolab New Zealand, Ecolab Peru Holdings S.R.L., Ecolab Pest Deutschland GmbH, Ecolab Philippines Inc., Ecolab Production Belgium B.V., Ecolab Production France SAS, Ecolab Production Italy Srl, Ecolab Production LLC, Ecolab Production Netherlands B.V., Ecolab Production Poland sp. z o.o., Ecolab Pte. Ltd., Ecolab Pty Ltd., Ecolab Quimica Ltda., Ecolab S. de R.L. de C.V., Ecolab S.A., Ecolab S.A. de C.V., Ecolab SAS, Ecolab SIA, Ecolab SNC, Ecolab SRL, Ecolab Sdn Bhd, Ecolab Services Argentina S.R.L., Ecolab Services Malaysia SDN. BHD., Ecolab Services Poland Sp. z o, Ecolab Sociedad Anonima, Ecolab Sp. z o, Ecolab Spain Services S.L.U., Ecolab Temizleme Sistemleri Limited Sirketi, Ecolab U.S. 2 Inc., Ecolab U.S. 6 LLC, Ecolab U.S. 7 LLC, Ecolab US 1 GP, Ecolab USA Inc., Ecolab Viet Nam Company Limited, Ecolab Water Holding LImited, Ecolab a.s., Ecolab d.o.o., Ecolab s.r.l., Ecolab s.r.o., Ecolab y Compania Colectiva de Responsabilidad Limitada, Ecolab-Importacao E. Exportacao Limitada, Ecolabone B.V., Ecolabtwo B.V., Endoclear Equipamentos Medicos Hospitalares Ltda., Enviroflo Engineering Limited, Food Protection Services, GCS Service, Gallay Medical & Scientific Pty Ltd, Gallay Medical & Scientific Pty Ltd., GallayTrac Pty. Ltd., Georgia-Pacific - Paper Chemicals Business, Gibson Chemical Industries, Green Harbour Mainland Holdings Ltd, Henkel-Ecolab, Hicopla SL, Holchem Laboratories, Huntington Laboratories, Hydenet SAS, INTERNATIONAL WATER CONSULTANT B.V., Immobiliare R.E.O.P.A. SRL, Instrunet Hospital SLU, Jianghai Environmental Protection Co., Jianghai Environmental Protection Co. Ltd., KATAYAMA NALCO INC., Kay BV, Kay Chemical Company, LHS (UK) Limited, Laboratoires Anios, Laboratoires Anios S.A.S., Laboratoires Anios-Distribution SAS, Les Produits Chimiques ERPAC Inc., Lobster Ink, Lobster Ink Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Lobster International S.A., MOBOTEC AB LLC, Master Chemicals OOO, Meratech Rus Group LLC, Microtek Dominicana S.A., Microtek Italy S.R.L., Microtek Medical B.V., Microtek Medical Holdings, Microtek Medical Holdings Inc., Microtek Medical Inc., Microtek Medical Malta Holding Limited, Microtek Medical Malta Limited, Midland Research Laboratories, NALCO (SHANGHAI) TRADING CO. LTD., NALCO AB, NALCO ACQUISITION ONE, NALCO ACQUISITION TWO LIMITED, NALCO AFRICA (PTY.) LTD., NALCO ASIA HOLDING COMPANY PTE. LTD., NALCO BELGIUM B.V., NALCO CHINA HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO COMPANY OOO, NALCO DANMARK APS, NALCO DE MEXICO S. de R. L. de C.V., NALCO DELAWARE COMPANY, NALCO DEUTSCHLAND GMBH, NALCO DUTCH HOLDINGS B.V., NALCO EGYPT LTD., NALCO EGYPT TRADING, NALCO ESPANOLA MANUFACTURING S.L.U., NALCO ESPANOLA S.L., NALCO EUROPE B.V., NALCO FINLAND MANUFACTURING OY, NALCO FINLAND OY, NALCO FRANCE SAS, NALCO FRANCE SNC, NALCO GLOBAL HOLDINGS B.V., NALCO GLOBAL HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO HOLDING B.V., NALCO HOLDING COMPANY, NALCO HOLDINGS G.m.b.H., NALCO HOLDINGS UK LIMITED, NALCO HONG KONG LIMITED, NALCO INDUSTRIAL OUTSOURCING COMPANY, NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES (NANJING) CO. LTD., NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES (SUZHOU) CO. LTD., NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES (THAILAND) CO. LTD., NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES CHILE LIMITADA, NALCO INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS B.V., NALCO INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO INVESTMENTS U.K. LIMITED, NALCO ISRAEL INDUSTRIAL SERVICES LTD, NALCO ITALIANA HOLDINGS S.R.L., NALCO ITALIANA MANUFACTURING S.R.L., NALCO ITALIANA SrL, NALCO KOREA LIMITED, NALCO LIMITED, NALCO MANUFACTURING BETEILIGUNGS GMBH, NALCO MANUFACTURING LTD., NALCO NETHERLANDS B.V., NALCO OSTERREICH Ges m.b.H., NALCO OVERSEAS HOLDING B.V., NALCO PAKISTAN (PRIVATE) LIMITED, NALCO PHILIPPINES INC., NALCO PORTUGUESA (QUIMICA INDUSTRIAL) UNIPESSOAL LDA, NALCO PWS INC., NALCO SAUDI CO. LTD., NALCO TAIWAN CO. LTD., NALCO TWO INC., NALCO U.S. HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO UNIVERSAL HOLDINGS BV, NALCO WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS LLC, NALTECH INC., NANOSPECIALTIES LLC, NLC PROCESS AND WATER SERVICES SARL, Nalco (BN) SDN BHD, Nalco (China) Environmental Solution Co. Ltd., Nalco Anadolu Kimya Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Nalco Canada ULC, Nalco Company LLC (1), Nalco Contract Operations LLC, Nalco Deutschland Manufacturing GmbH, Nalco Japan G.K., Nalco Libya, Nalco Middle East FZE, Nalco Polska Sp. z o. o., Nalco Production LLC, Nalco Real Estate GmbH, Nalco Schweiz GmbH, Nalco US 1 LLC, Nalco Wastewater Contract Operations Inc., Nalco Water India Private Limited, Nalco Water Pretreatment Solutions LLC, Nalco Worldwide Holdings S.a.r.l./B.V., National Wiper Alliance Inc., Nigiko, Nuova Farmec S.r.l., Oksa Kimya Sanayi A.S., Oy Ecolab AB, PT Ecolab International Indonesia, PT Ecolab Technologies and Services, Purate business - AkzoNobel, Purolite, Purolite (China) Co. Ltd., Purolite (Int.) Ltd, Purolite (Pty) Ltd, Purolite AG, Purolite GmbH, Purolite Ileri Kimyasal Ticaret Ltd, Purolite KK, Purolite LLC, Purolite Ltd, Purolite NZ Limited, Purolite Private Limited, Purolite Pte. Ltd., Purolite Pty Ltd, Purolite S. de R.L. de C.V., Purolite SAS, Purolite SRL, Purolite do Brasil Ltda, Purolite s.r.o., Purolite sp. z o.o., Purolite C Corporation, QazSorbent LLP, Quantum Technical Services LLC, Quimicas Ecolab S.A. de C.V., Quimiproductos S.A. de C.V, RP Adam Ltd, Research Fumigation Co., Royal Pest Solutions, Shield Holdings Limited, Shield Medicare Limited, Soluscope International Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Soluscope SAS, Swisher Hygiene, TechTex Holdings Limited, Technical Textile Services Limited, Terminix, Ultrafab, VanBaele Hygiene AG, Wabasha Leasing LLC, Zhe Jiang Purosoft Home Appliances Sale Co Ltd, and vanBaerle Hygiene AG.
Read More
1 hour ago
Elon Musk takes over Twitter but where will he go from here?
Elon Musk has taken control of Twitter after a protracted legal battle and months of uncertainty. The question now is what the billionaire Tesla CEO will actually do with the social media platform. Musk gave one indication of where he's headed in a tweet Friday, saying no decisions on content or reinstating of accounts will be made until a content moderation council is put in place.
Read Article
Royal Bank of Canada operates as a diversified financial service company worldwide. The company's Personal & Commercial Banking segment offers checking and savings accounts, home equity financing, personal lending, private banking, indirect lending, including auto financing, mutual funds and self-directed brokerage accounts, guaranteed investment certificates, credit cards, and payment products and solutions; and lending, leasing, deposit, investment, foreign exchange, cash management, auto dealer financing, trade products, and services to small and medium-sized commercial businesses. This segment offers financial products and services through branches, automated teller machines, and mobile sales network. Its Wealth Management segment provides a suite of advice-based solutions and strategies to high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals, and institutional clients. The company's Insurance segment offers life, health, home, auto, travel, wealth, annuities, and reinsurance advice and solutions; and business insurance services to individual, business, and group clients through its advice centers, RBC insurance stores, and mobile advisors; digital, mobile, and social platforms; independent brokers; and travel partners. Its Investor & Treasury Services segment provides asset servicing, custody, payments, and treasury services to financial and other investors; and fund and investment administration, shareholder, private capital, performance measurement and compliance monitoring, distribution, transaction banking, cash and liquidity management, foreign exchange, and global securities finance services. The company's Capital Markets segment offers corporate and investment banking, as well as equity and debt origination, distribution, advisory services, sale, and trading services for corporations, institutional investors, asset managers, private equity firms, and governments. The company was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
Waterford Fine Gael Senator John Cummins has described the progress which has been made on the purchase of the former Waterford Crystal site for...
Port of Waterford has estimated that it would generate 3.5m this summer with the return of cruise ships for the first time in two...
Christmas is such an important time for family reunions, but there are many of us for whom Christmas is also a time when those...
WATERFORD is the most sunny city in Ireland and the county is second in the sunshine league, being pipped to first place by our...
When it comes to clashes against North Melbourne, Hawks star Jordan Lewis knows what will be coming.
The blueprint for Saturday afternoon's match that neither team can afford to lose for very different reasons has been left dog-eared from one hard-edged battle after another between the teams. Lewis and his skipper, Luke Hodge, copped bans for striking after their round five encounter last year.
"We expect that from North Melbourne," said Lewis on Tuesday of the Kangaroos' physicality.
"Especially against us. They like to try to get under our skin.
Australians might have been pulling their hair out in frustration as they tried to access the census on Tuesday night, but their Prime Minister had no such difficulty.
Malcolm Turnbull proudly announced via Twitter at 7.17pm that he had completed the form online, adding that it was "[very] easy to do".
His fellow citizens did not respond lightly, with many taking to Twitter to vent their anger.
Thanks to the Journal Star for its timely and appropriate tribute to Lower Platte South Natural Resources District General Manager Glenn Johnson on his retirement ("Johnson left a legacy of partnership," July 25). As noted in the editorial, Glenns many years of service to Nebraskas natural resources is marked by leadership of the first order, consensus building and dedication to the common good.
Following the conclusion of the National nCEN training on 6th July 2016, Vanuatu Customs now joins Fiji Customs as the only two Customs Administrations in the Pacific region, and only 20 others in the World, to have implemented this Customs intelligence system. This historical event is a result of continuous consultation between Vanuatu Customs and the World Customs Organization (WCO) since early 2015. As Vanuatu is a member of the WCO, the system was provided free of charge while the training was delivered complimentary by the WCO.
Intelligence is the core to any Enforcement agency. Unfortunately Vanuatu Customs has never had an enabling tool, let alone, a computer system to assist with strengthening its intelligence capacity. Volumes of intelligence data are stored manually on the Customs computer network. However due to lack of automation, it is rather ineffective and cumbersome to conduct the analysis required to identify systematic trends on Customs offences. Furthermore, it is currently difficult for front line Officers to effectively identify past offenders as such information is not readily accessible.
The National Customs Enforcement Network (nCEN) is a system developed by the WCO to assist Customs administrations with the collection and storage of law-enforcement information at the national level. The system also possesses the additional capability to exchange this information at the regional and international levels. Through the adoption of nCEN, Customs now has the ability to manage information on all aspect of their law-enforcement functions. These include details of offences, suspect persons or business entities, now held securely within a modern national system which is accessible through the Government network. The Information Communication Interface (Icomm) included in nCEN, allows Vanuatu Customs to legally exchange data with Fiji Customs by means of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two administrations in 2015. Furthermore, Icomm allows Vanuatu Customs to transfer the non-nominal components of the intelligence data directly to the global CEN database which is accessible by more than 150 Customs administrations globally.
With the proposal for Customs to assume responsibility for primary line processing of passengers at air and sea ports, the use of an intelligence computer system is essential to ensure Customs has the ability to identify suspects and to develop risk profiles. Thus replacing manual methods which are ineffective, and hinder the processing speed of passengers at arrivals and departures. With the advent of nCEN, advance passenger information received from airlines can be processed via the system to alert Customs to persons of interest.
Vanuatu Customs is committed to continuously improving and modernizing its procedures and operational techniques. The introduction of nCEN in Vanuatu is another example of this commitment which enables Customs to take large strides towards good governance, and the improved facilitation of people and goods across the border, resulting in better controls and ultimately sustainable development and economic growth.
Customs would like to thank the WCO for the delivery of the recent training in Vanuatu and the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer for their assistance in hosting the system at the Government data centre.
Don Welch, an award-winning Nebraska poet and longtime English professor at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, died Saturday at his Kearney home. He was 84.
Welch, who had a bronze sculpture dedicated to him on the UNK campus in 2001, taught at UNK from 1959-97 and authored several published poetry collections.
His many national honors included the prestigious Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, judged by the poet William Stafford.
Although he officially retired from the English department in 1997, Welch continued to teach in the UNK Department of Philosophy until 2008.
Welch published more than 30 books of poetry, and more than 300 of his poems appeared in magazines and journals throughout the United States.
Memorial services will be at 2 p.m. Aug. 20 at UNK.
A Nobel Prize-winning economist and a Swiss anti-corruption expert have quit a Panamanian government commission tasked with investigating the countrys financial industry, according to the Toronto Star.Economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, former committee chairman, and anti-corruption expert Mark Pieth, said the committee set up in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal wasnt being given full independence.In a letter to Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela, Stiglitz and Pieth said they worried the government would hamper the panels investigations and keep its final report a secret, the Star reported. Stiglitz and Pieth wrote that the government wouldnt commit to publicly release the panels final report, instead claiming that any findings would be the property of the government. The Panamanian government itself, the letter claimed, was to have sole responsibility for any public announcements.How can a group allegedly committed to transparency write a report that is not transparent? Stiglitz said in an interview with the Star. It would undermine our own credibility. Evidently they wanted us to be part of a charade to convince people they were serious when in fact they werent.In their letter to Varela, Stiglitz and Pieth said the committee should be disbanded, the Star reported. And Stiglitz said that he and Pieth were likely to issue their own independent report.A spokesperson for the Panamanian government said that officials regretted the resignations, and that the government understands both resignations stemmed from internal differences, the Star reported.
LUX Center for the Arts has hired Susan McIntosh Kriz as executive director. Kriz brings 20 years of executive management experience to the LUX.
As business development director for Leadership Resources, Kriz worked with individuals and organizations to engage high-payback solutions to meet complex development needs. She also served as director of the Lincoln Partners for Public Art Development, a start-up organization that includes a public/private committee that advises the City of Lincoln regarding public art.
Krizs experience also includes 19 years of service as senior vice president of the Arbor Day Foundation, managing growth from 13 people to a staff of over 350. She oversaw all financial, operational and logistical functions, including accounting services, human resources and talent acquisition, technology and computer development, corporate and direct marketing initiatives, public relations campaigns, membership services, fundraising and development programs, and capital improvements. Kriz is a University of Nebraska graduate, earning both a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Business Administration.
Joining Kriz is Joe Shaw in a newly created position as associate director. Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Shaw has a journalism degree from California State University, Los Angeles. He spent 25 years in Southern California, winning awards as a nonprofit communicator at the Braille Institute, the AIDS Service Center in Pasadena and more recently as president of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, leading efforts to save the last privately owned parcels of wetlands in Huntington Beach. Shaw served on the Huntington Beach City Council from 2010-2014 and moved to Lincoln in January 2015.
Kriz can be reached at susankriz@luxcenter.org and Shaw at joe@luxcenter.org. Visit the LUX online at luxcenter.org.
Fort Polk, LA (71446)
Today
Thundershowers overnight following a period of rain early. Low around 60F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..
Tonight
Thundershowers overnight following a period of rain early. Low around 60F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required.
Your Full Name: (optional)
Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required.
Advertisement
By West Kentucky Star Staff
Aug. 10, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY
By West Kentucky Star Staff Aug. 10, 2016 | 05:39 AM | PADUCAH, KY
The Paducah City Commission had a busy meeting Tuesday evening, giving attention to floodwall infrastructure, local boards, new police officers, public works equipment purchases, and alcohol sales at certain types of businesses.
Pump Station Rehabilitation:
Due to the deteriorating condition of flood wall pump station #2 at 1416 North 6th Street, the city has been moving forward getting the rehabilitation and reconstruction plans in order. The total project is estimated to be more than $5.1 million which includes construction and engineering costs. The rehabilitation would include replacement of discharge pipes, the rehabilitation of various mechanical components of all seven pumps and motors, and the replacement of the sluice gate.
The larger-scale flood wall project which includes pump station #2 has been fully vetted through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but so far, the city has not been receiving in-kind credit for work completed because they have not received the Project Partnership Agreement. As the city waits for that final administrative piece, work on the pump station must begin as soon as possible.
Therefore, Commissioners approved a municipal order to authorize a Memorandum of Understanding between Corps and the city for work to be completed and get the City in-kind credits for the work. The Board also approved a municipal order to amend a previous MOU to incorporate in-kind credits regarding work on pump station, #9.
Commissioners also approved a municipal order to apply for a Community Infrastructure Fund grant through the Delta Regional Authority for $1,014,500, which includes a mandatory administration cost of $14,500 to be paid to the Purchase Area Development District. Grants Administrator Sheryl Chino says, Our project is a good candidate based on the guidelines. The City also plans to apply for a Community Development Block Grant next spring for the project.
City Software:
Also at the meeting, Assistant to the City Manager Michelle Smolen, who is the project manager for the Enterprise Resource Planning software project, provided the Board of Commissioners with an update. The project officially kicked off July 28 with the City departments and the vendor, Tyler Technologies. This is a multi-year phased project as city departments transition to the new software that will bring efficiencies to city services and enhancements to customer service.
The Citys current software system has been running since 1995. Smolen says the first phase is underway with the transition of the expenditure side of the Finance Department. Smolen says, From the initial meetings, departments have been excited to improve the services we provide and the way we provide them. City Manager Jeff Pederson says, The staff effort in this transition is taking place along with the provision of normal services. This puts a strain on the department in the review and implementation mode, but we are focused on the end game and the improvements.
Other highlights during the Commission meeting:
Circuit Judge Tim Kaltenbach conducted the swearing-in ceremony for Paducah Police Officer Jordan Murphy who transferred to Paducah from the Louisville Metro Police Department.
Boards and Commissions:
Oscar Gamble appointed to the Board of Adjustment.
Albert Parker reappointed to the Municipal Housing Commission.
Mike Stone reappointed to and Durwin Ursery appointed to Paducah-McCracken County Industrial Development Authority.
Rosa Scott and Phyllis Clymer reappointed to the Paducah Civic Beautification Board.
Ordinance approved authorizing the final subdivision of Ridgewood Villas and accepting the dedication of right-of-way. Ridgewood Villas is located at Lakewood Drive and Bleich Road. The Paducah Planning Commission held a public hearing for the subdivision plan March 2 with the Planning Commission approving a resolution at its July 18 meeting making a recommendation for the final subdivision plat.
Ordinances approved for the purchase using the Kentucky State Contract of the following equipment to be used by the Engineering-Public Works Department:
2016 wheel loader in the amount of $155,492.00
2016 backhoe loader in the amount of $112,988.60
2016 rubber track loader in the amount of $51,498.71
2017 Ford F550 side loader in the amount of $100,014.71
Ordinance introduced (vote August 16) to accept the grant award in the amount of $7396 from the Law Enforcement Service Fee program. The funds will be used by the Paducah Police Department to operate a DUI enforcement program. There is no required match for this grant.
Ordinance introduced (vote August 16) to amend Chapter 6, Article II of the Paducah Code of Ordinances to allow distilleries and bed and breakfast businesses to obtain a Non-quota 3 Retail Drink License. The Kentucky General Assembly passed Senate Bill 11 during the 2016 legislative session allowing the change. For distilleries, this license will allow on-premise consumption of distilled spirits, wine, and malt beverages by the drink from 6 am to 3 am the following day. For bed and breakfast businesses, it allows the same privilege as long as the business has an innkeeper who resides on or adjacent to the premises during the period of visitor occupancy.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Aug. 09, 2016 | 05:19 PM | HOPKINSVILLE, KY
The man accused of killing his two sisters in Hopkinsville Sunday morning has been arraigned in Christian District Court.
According to WKDZ Radio, a Christian County judge entered not guilty pleas on behalf of Robert Rogers Tuesday and set a preliminary hearing for Monday at 1 pm.
Rogers faces two counts of murder in the deaths of his two sisters, Joanne Rogers and Carolyn Coleman. Hopkinsville police said both women were stabbed at Joanne's 7th Street home Sunday morning. Joanne died at the scene. Coleman later died at a Nashville hospital.
According to police, Robert Rogers was found inside the home with blood on him and on his clothing. He remains at the Christian County Jail.
On the Net:
RACINE The Racine City Councils Executive Committee met in closed session Tuesday evening to discuss Machinery Row without taking action, and few officials were willing to say anything about the meeting.
Machinery Row is the proposed mixed-use, riverfront redevelopment along Water Street. Machinery Row developer Rodney Blackwell, through his Davenport, Iowa-based company Financial District Properties, has proposed redeveloping two former J.I. Case Co. buildings at 820 and 900 Water St. into housing and commercial space.
In early June, Blackwell said he and city officials had worked out an adjustment to their development agreement that would give him more time to repay a $4.5 million city loan the city made in December 2014. With 20 riverfront acres as collateral, the city made that loan when Blackwell was trying to secure $9 million in state historic tax credits and faced an end-of-year deadline to show the state he controlled the property.
The loan came from the intergovernmental sewer agreement shared-revenue fund. Loan terms also required the city to buy buildings at 526 and 615 Marquette St. for a combined $1.8 million.
Originally, FDP was to have repaid the loan by Jan. 31, but the City Council granted an extension to April 30. City Administrator Tom Friedel said that before they reached the revised deadline, Blackwell asked for a second extension, of four months, to repay the city loan he used to buy the property.
Friedel said earlier hed like to give Blackwell that extra time, until Aug. 31 but not to go beyond that date.
After Tuesdays meeting, Friedel said, Were negotiating an extension. Thats what we have been at for a while. Its complicated.
Asked if the project looks positive, Friedel replied, Its positive. Were still talking.
Mayor John Dickert said, Well never quit. Its too important for our people.
District 6 Alderman Sandy Weidner said, I did say that this whole discussion needs to be more public, and said that would result in a better project.
In the meantime, while the city and Blackwell negotiate a loan extension, FDP is paying the city 1 percent quarterly interest on the loan.
Rita Redmond was a true lady who felt that every pupil had something to gift to the world
RACINE Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Russ Feingold spent part of his primary Election Day among political pals here Tuesday.
The veteran Wisconsin politician visited Racine County Democratic campaign headquarters, 606 Sixth St., early Tuesday evening, and was greeted by Racine Mayor John Dickert, state Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, and about 50 admiring supporters.
On Tuesday, Feingold faced a longshot Democratic primary challenge from Kenosha private detective Scott Harbach for the right to face incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson in the Nov. 8 general election.
Johnson has visited Racine County several times this summer, usually campaigning with U.S. Rep. and House Speaker Paul Ryan, who faced his own primary challenge Tuesday.
At Democratic headquarters, located next to Roberts Roost restaurant on Sixth Street, Feingold told the crowd he voted earlier in the day in Middleton and was traveling throughout the state to connect with voters.
Dickert, in his eighth year as mayor, recalled meeting Feingold, who represented Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate from 1993 to 2011, in 1987, when Feingold was a state senator.
I have found that he listens and responds to the things that are of interest to us, Dickert said to the enthusiastic cheers of supporters.
Mason said he was inspired to run for the state Assembly by Feingold, and that there was a void when Feingold stopped serving in the Senate.
When he left, you felt like something left the politics in this state, Mason said.
The party line
Feingold said he returned to the political arena because he believes very wealthy interests are taking over the country to the detriment of hard-working, middle class citizens.
Were going to turn that around and were starting today, Feingold told the crowd. If you work hard you should be able to pay your bills and enjoy your life.
Feingold reiterated his oft-repeated campaign stances to support raising the minimum wage, providing day care for working families, and protecting Social Security.
He also urged the crowd to become educated on issues and involved in what could be a landmark election.
There is so much at stake right now, Feingold said. We need to make sure this country isnt divided. This election is off the charts important. People know that they are making history.
In a statement Tuesday, Johnson contrasted his business background with Feingold's political career as the general election officially kicked off.
I am proud of the work our team and the Republican Party of Wisconsin have done, and Im confident the grassroots army weve built will propel us to victory in November," Johnson said. "The choice in this election is clear: between an Oshkosh manufacturer and outsider like me, and a career politician who has made his living on the taxpayers dime and doesnt know the first thing about creating jobs or keeping local communities safe.
MOUNT PLEASANT Supporters of Republican congressional candidate Paul Nehlen were improperly electioneering too close to polling places Tuesday, according to multiple complaints in Mount Pleasant and elsewhere throughout the 1st Congressional District.
With Nehlen facing House Speaker Paul Ryan in Tuesdays primary, Nehlen supporters attempted to put signs out and distribute literature within 100 feet of the entrance to polling places, in violation of state statute, Mount Pleasant Village Clerk Stephanie Kohlhagen said.
In one case at Mount Pleasant-Caledonia Memorial Park, 9614 Northwestern Ave., a supporter became argumentative and belligerent with election officials and claimed he received prior zoning approval, Kohlhagen said.
Some Nehlen supporters came in from out of state. About 8 a.m., a man was observed outside the polling place at the Mount Pleasant Village Hall, 8811 Campus Drive, posting large Vote for Nehlen signs. The mans car had a Tennessee license plate.
The sign was removed soon after, but the man returned and walked near Village Hall carrying a Vote for Nehlen sign, and after he left, another man returned to take his spot. Poll workers determined he was in compliance with state law.
A 19-year-old Texas man, who was flown in by the Nehlen campaign, walked around with a sign at Mount Pleasant Village Hall Tuesday morning. He said he was paid in food and travel, among other things, to walk around with the sign at the polling place Tuesday. The man went to two other locations in Mount Pleasant Tuesday morning.
This is better than working at a gas station, the 19-year-old said.
State law prohibits electioneering on public property within 100 feet of the entrance to a polling place, Reid Magney, spokesman for the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said in an email. That means no political signs or literature, etc., on public property in that area.
Mount Pleasant Police Capt. Tom Petersen talked to the Texas teen to explain the 100 foot-rule. Petersen used a measuring stick and cones to mark the 100-foot points from the entrance to the polling place.
Were marking it off so he understands whats 100 feet, Petersen said. He cannot come within 100 feet of this door. Nor can he impede with anybody and campaign. You cant stop people and impede traffic and try to persuade people.
Mount Pleasant also prohibits placing signs on village property without the villages permission, Kohlhagen said.
Nehlen campaign spokesman Noel Fritsch said he didnt know of any of the campaigns signs being placed on public property without permission. Everyone should abide by the local jurisdictional authority, he said.
Fritsch confirmed the campaign brought in people from out of state to help, but said dozens of people from Wisconsin also helped Nehlens efforts.
In a separate statement, Fritsch accused Speaker Ryans dwindling network of supporters of carrying out orders to prevent Mr. Nehlen and his supporters from carrying their message.
Complaints elsewhere
The state Elections Commission also received Nehlen-related electioneering complaints in Janesville. In Burlington, City Clerk Diahnn C. Halbach reported several Nehlen campaign signs were posted Tuesday morning near a polling place at United Methodist Church, 857 W. State St., and were promptly removed.
There were no further issues after that, Halbach said.
Racine City Clerk Janice Johnson-Martin said the city had received no complaints about Nehlen signs or campaign workers as of mid-afternoon Tuesday.
Stephanie Jones, Andrew Dawson and Mark Feldmann contributed to this report.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/08/2016 (2271 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A Winnipeg documentary written and directed by Metis writer Katherena Vermette and filmmaker Erika MacPherson won the Coup de coeur du jury award at Montreal First Peoples Festival on Monday.
The pairs National Film Board documentary this river examines a volunteer organization that searches the Red River for clues relating to missing members of the indigenous community. Described as an indigenous perspective on the experience of searching for a missing loved one, the 20-minute film will have its Winnipeg premiere on Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, as part of The Decolonizing Lens, a film-screening and discussion series.
The film was jump-started by the experiences of Vermette and Kyle Kematch, who each endured the heartbreak of losing a loved one in separate incidents.
SUPPLIED Metis writer Katherena Vermette and filmmaker Erika MacPherson won the Coup de coeur du jury award at Montreal First People's Festival on Monday.
Kematch, whose sister went missing more than five years ago, now works with Drag the Red, a volunteer organization that searches for clues in the river.
MacPherson was in Montreal to accept the award.
Producer Alicia Smith celebrated the films all-woman crew.
Im humbled by the generosity and grace of Winnipegs Drag the Red community and honoured that they welcomed us to witness and document their crucial work, said the documentarys producer, Alicia Smith, who also noted that the films crew was made up entirely of women.
randall.king@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @FreepKing
If you value coverage of Manitobas arts scene, help us do more.
Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow the Free Press to deepen our reporting on theatre, dance, music and galleries while also ensuring the broadest possible audience can access our arts journalism. BECOME AN ARTS JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2016 (2270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A Winnipeg mother accused of kidnapping her two children will remain behind bars, for now.
Sandra Giesbrecht, 44, has been in custody since her June 22 arrest on two counts of abduction and one count of fleeing from police.
Provincial court Chief Judge Margaret Wiebe denied bail to Giesbrecht, who appeared in court via closed-circuit video Wednesday. The judge also reinforced a no-contact order that prevents Giesbrecht from communicating with her children or their father.
Sandra Giesbrecht
Because the Crown was opposed to Giesbrechts release, Crown attorney Alanna Littman had to prove it was necessary to detain Giesbrecht to ensure her appearance in court, to ensure the safety of the public or to maintain public confidence in the administration of justice.
Wiebe denied Giesbrechts bail on all three grounds. Outside the courtroom, a group of about 10 of Giesbrechts supporters, who gathered to hear the decision, decried it as unfair.
Evidence and details of the judges reasoning presented during the bail hearing cant be published under a court-imposed publication ban thats designed to protect the accuseds right to a fair trial.
Defence lawyer Mike Cook had argued in favour of Giesbrechts release on bail.
Winnipeg police arrested Giesbrecht on a Canada-wide warrant following a short pursuit with officers after her nine-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter had been missing for five days. Their father had been granted full custody of the children after a lengthy custody dispute, and Giesbrecht was ordered to have no unauthorized contact with them. At the time of her arrest, police said they found evidence to suggest Giesbrecht had been wearing a disguise a wig was found on the floor of the Ford Expedition SUV Giesbrecht was driving.
Queens Bench Justice Cathy Everett awarded full custody of the children to their father, lawyer Jacob Giesbrecht, April 8 after a four-week trial. Sandra Giesbrecht was only allowed to have supervised visitations once a week after the judge found her to be an emotionally unstable manipulator.
She was also ordered to pay monthly child support.
Child and Family Services seized the children in January because of concerns they were being emotionally and psychologically abused by their mother. There had been two previous criminal complaints in 2014 and 2015 made against the father for alleged sexual abuse of his daughter. A lengthy investigation by police and CFS found there was no merit to the complaints and deemed they were the mothers attempts to manipulate custody.
Giesbrecht has indicated she plans to appeal Everetts decision.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2016 (2270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Manitobans have lately been more diligent at paying down their non-mortgage debt, but the average delinquency rate in the province remains well above the national average, according to a new report released today.
In its latest quarterly Canada Industry Insights report (previously known as the Market Trends report), credit-monitoring agency TransUnion said the serious debt delinquency rate in Manitoba the rate of debt accounts 90 days or more past due dipped to 3.16 per cent in the second quarter of this year.
Thats down from 3.19 per cent in the first quarter. However, it was still higher than a year earlier, when it was 3.13 per cent.
Ryan Remiorz / The Canadian Press files The average debt load in Manitoba remains smaller than in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec, a report says.
At 3.16 per cent, Manitobas average delinquency rate was well above the national average of 2.72 per cent. And thats been the case for at least two years, said Jason Wang, TransUnions director of research and analysis in Canada.
You want to be on the lower side when you compare it with the Canada average, Wang said. We havent done a deep analysis of whats causing this within Manitoba, but well definitely look at that.
Wang said if he has any advice to offer Manitobans, it is to try to pay down higher-interest-rate debts first.
If they foresee any kind of financial trouble down the road, talk to their lenders. Most lenders are open to this kind of communication, he said.
The TransUnion report shows Manitobans continued to take on more debt in the second quarter. They were carrying an average of $17,722 in non-mortgage debt, which was an increase of 1.63 per cent from the previous quarter, when the average was $17,438, and an increase of 3.47 per cent from a year earlier, when it averaged $17,127.
Wang said, once again, Manitobas year-over-year increase was higher than the Canadian average increase of 2.9 per cent. But, at least, it wasnt way out of line with it, he said.
Also of note: even though Manitobans took on more debt in the second quarter, the average debt load in the province was still smaller than in any of the other five provinces covered in the report British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec.
Alberta, which has been hit hard by a prolonged slump in oil prices, had the highest average debt load, at $27,583, while the national average was $21,580.
Wang cautioned against reading too much into the fact average debtloads in Manitoba are lower than in the other five provinces.
It just could be because of the culture of Manitoban residents and whether they like to use cash more, or credit more, he said. (But) all things being equal, the less debt the better.
Wang said its encouraging consumers in Ontario and B.C. took on more debt in the second quarter but their average delinquency rates declined slightly from a year earlier.
With more than half of Canadas credit-active population residing in these two provinces, their stable performance is a positive for the overall economy, he said.
murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca
RACINE Veterans Outreach of Wisconsin announced Wednesday that 1624 Yout St. is the proposed location for the James A. Peterson Veterans Village.
Veterans Outreach is planning to place 15 tiny houses on the property by moving them in three phases of five houses each. The property also will have a community building with showers, toilets, a food pantry and a meeting room where residents can meet with counselors and financial planners.
I think it will have a huge impact, said Jeff Gustin, co-founder and director of Veterans Outreach. Because were not just giving them a place to stay, were not just one thing that were doing, were providing a whole package to give them a hand up.
The community building, which formerly housed Teamsters Local 200, will have separate, locking shower rooms for females and males.
In addition, the veterans will not be allowed to drink or do drugs while living there and they will be subject to drug and alcohol tests. There will be video surveillance of the area. Gustin said there is no time limit on how long the veterans can stay, although they hope it will be less than two years.
We want them to recover from homelessness in a way they never see it again, Gustin said. We want to break the cycle.
During the planning process, members of Racine-based Veterans Outreach went door to door in the surrounding neighborhood asking for residents to sign a petition supporting the project. Gustin said all but one person to whom they spoke was fine with the project.
This is not a shelter, Gustin said. (Veterans) will have to submit to background checks. Well know the residents of the veteran village ... well know their service records.
Veterans Outreach, 2234 Northwestern Ave., has one house completed and five houses being built offsite. Gustin said the organization knows of at least four homeless veterans who could use benefit from the tiny houses.
For many veterans, their discharge status can prevent them from getting some benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Well serve somebody with a less than honorable discharge, Gustin said, adding they wont serve a veteran with a full dishonorable discharge. We dont feel that somebody that got into a little trouble should have their whole military career wiped out, because they were still brave enough to put on that uniform.
Gustin said the property needs to be surveyed before they apply for a permit from the city. He hopes the first five houses will be ready before winter but there currently isnt any set timeline.
Gustin said there will also be a member of the organization living in one of the tiny houses as a on-site manager but they havent determined who that will be.
Officials support project
District 7 Alderman Raymond Dehahn, who represents the area where the tiny house village is proposed, said he doesnt have a problem with the concept.
What (Veterans Outreach is) proposing is a good fit, Dehahn said, adding it gives veterans a sense of belonging. Whats the alternative, sleeping on the street or in someones bushes? We do so little for our vets.
Dehahn added its a win-win for everyone.
Racine Mayor John Dickert said the tiny house village will help homeless veterans get to that next step.
Tiny houses helped solve a problem that were having with veterans who dont want to go to any other facility because they feel for some reason that they should not be imposing, Dickert said, adding the services for the veterans will help them better their lives.
It gives them a chance to get counseling. It brings them to a point where were doing counseling and assessment and half the problem that we have right now is a lot of the veterans are not getting assessment, the mayor said.
Anthony Nudo, commercial real estate agent for Berkshire Hathaway, told The Journal Times last week that the Yout Street property was listed at $119,900 and an offer had been accepted. Gustin said the offer is contingent on city approvals for the housing project.
Veterans Outreach is trying to raise $125,000 for the project and has a GoFundMe online site, where the organization has raised just less than $10,000.
Gustin said the organization in total has raised more than $60,000 in donations.
Veterans Outreach is planning a car and bike show fundraiser starting at noon on Aug. 27 at Witts End, 11601 Highway G, Caledonia. The entrance fee is $5 for those showing their cars or bikes; $20 for vendors for a 10 by 10-foot space; and $35 for vendors for a 10 by 20-foot space. The show is open to the public, but the organization is asking for a $3 donation.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2016 (2270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Fresh off his appointment to the Senate in May, Murray Sinclair has been named the recipient of a prestigious award for his distinguished record of public service.
He will receive the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Businesss 2016 Award for Excellence in Aboriginal Relations for his work as chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The TRC released its sweeping report and 94 calls to action last year after six years of hearing testimony about Canadas residential schools.
JP Gladu, the councils president and chief executive officer, said Sinclairs work with the TRC is a watershed moment for the country.
Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press files Sen. Murray Sinclair will receive the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Businesss 2016 Award for Excellence in Aboriginal Relations.
When you think about the clarity that he has brought to the national conversation around the truth of indigenous issues and people in this country and their history and setting it up through all of the recommendations to reconcile, it is outstanding, Gladu said. It gives Canadians at least the ones that want to understand better the clarity to understand exactly how our peoples have been impacted through colonialistic practices and racism and all these things.
Throughout Sinclairs career as a lawyer, Manitobas first indigenous judge, co-commissioner of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, chairman of the TRC and now a senator he has not necessarily been closely associated with the business community.
But Gladu said, What he has been able to do is allow organization like the CCAB to have more of a platform to reach out to our mandate on how the business sector can help reconcile with our indigenous people.
Sinclair received his law degree from the University of Manitoba in 1979 and was called to the bar in Manitoba the following year.
He was appointed associate chief judge of the Manitoba provincial court in 1988 and to the Manitoba Court of Queens Bench in 2001. Sinclair was also chairman of the pediatric cardiac surgery inquest into the deaths of 12 children that was released in 2000 and led to changes in pediatric heart surgery in Canada. He has also served as an adjunct professor at the U of M.
The CCAB, which has been around for 35 years, works to achieve full participation of indigenous peoples in Canadas economy. Its membership includes about 500 companies, more than 70 per cent of which are aboriginal-owned and operated.
This year, First Nation, Metis and Inuit people are expected to contribute $30 billion to Canadas economy. About $12 billion of that comes from indigenous businesses.
Number 92 of the TRCs calls to action urges corporate Canada to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a reconciliation framework and to ensure co-operation, consent, equitable access to jobs, training and education opportunities for indigenous people, as well as education for business leaders and staff on the history of aboriginal people.
Past recipients include Cisco Canada executive Willa Black; Mary Simon, who was recently named the minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs special representative on Arctic issues; Phil Fontaine; and Paul Martin.
These are natural bridge-builders that are opening up the conversation, Gladu said. Without empowerment through knowledge and understanding, you cant build successful businesses. These are Canadians who have opened up the conversation so broadly and have been so impactful in their work business is just one of the wonderful things that come out of it.
martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2016 (2270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
KENORA A fresh water research facility once in danger of closing has seen its federal funding revived by the Liberal Trudeau government.
Almost $2 million will flow from Ottawa to the Experimental Lakes Area over the next two years, Winnipeg South MP Terry Duguid said Wednesday.
The federal government announced the revival of funding to the research facility to the tune of $1.7 million over two years at an event on the shore of Lake of the Woods in Kenora, Ont. with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister.
JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS (From left) Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister and Kenora MP Bob Nault speak prior to a $1.7 million federal investment announcement into the IISD Experimental Lakes Area on the shore of Lake of The Woods in Kenora, Wednesday, August 10, 2016. IISD Experimental Lakes Area is a research facility where scientists conduct research on lakes and ecosystems.
The Manitoba government has committed over $6 million over the next six years to Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), which took over operations of the ELA in 2014. Of that funding, $900,000 is specifically devoted to the research facility, Pallister confirmed on Wednesday. Ontario has also agreed to spend $2 million a year over four years on the facility.
The Experimental Lakes Area is a group of 58 lakes about 75 kilometres northeast of Kenora, where research is done on whole bodies of water rather than in a lab. Founded in 1968, for more than four decades the lakes were a crown jewel of Canadian science as one of the only places in the world where experiments can be conducted on whole ecosystems.
The funding was discontinued in 2013 under the Conservative Harper government, which cut the $2 million it annually flowed to the facility, much to the dismay of scientists in Canada who pointed out the programs unique nature, and numerous protests were staged. The facility was in danger of closure before the Institute for Sustainable Development stepped up to take over operations with funding from the Ontario and Manitoba government.
Manitobas premier wasnt ready to condemn his former boss for the decision. Pallister was the Conservative MP under Stephen Harper for Portage-Lisgar from 2000 to 2008. When asked if he thought the funding cut was a mistake, Pallister replied, every government has to make difficult decisions.
I think it is important to be respectful of the decisions that others have made. We obviously take a different approach as a provincial partner in this important exercise, Pallister said.
In the 2016 federal budget, Ottawa set aside $197 million for freshwater and ocean science, including monitoring and research activities and support for the Experimental Lakes Area. Some of that is earmarked to hire 135 new scientists, biologists, oceanographers and technicians, including some which will be dedicated to the Experimental Lakes Area .
Matthew McCandless, the executive director of the IISD, said no research was lost when government funding for the Experimental Lakes Area was in limbo, but is thrilled with the fedeal governments commitment to return funding.
There was no interruption in the research at all, it was something we felt as an organization, the legacy of the Experimental Lakes Area was very important and we need to make sure there was no interruption, he said.
McCandless said with the extra funding, more scientists will be hired and focus will be put on examining the impact of climate change on fresh water lakes, as well as the impact of plastic disposed in lakes has on the ecosystem.
There is a lot of concern about plastics, plastic particles in the water and what happens once they are in the water, what happens when they are in the environment. Climate change, we certainly know from the decades of monitoring it that the climate of this area is changing, he said. What that means for ecosystems is what the research will focus on.
with files from Mia Rabson
kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2016 (2270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA The federal government is getting back into the business of the Experimental Lakes Area.
Kenora Liberal MP Bob Nault will be joined today by Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne at an event on the shores of the Lake of the Woods to announce more than $1 million in federal money for the unique research facility.
It will be part of a long-term contribution agreement from Ottawa for the ELA, which will continue to be run by the Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development, which took over operations in 2014.
Wayne Glowacki / Winnipeg Free Press files Researchers use a seine net to catch fish on Lake No. 239, part of the Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario. Ottawa discontinued funding for the ELA in 2013.
The funding fulfils a pledge made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau more than a year ago to restore and even expand upon the federal funding for ELA that was discontinued in 2013. In the 2016 federal budget, Ottawa set aside $197 million for freshwater and ocean science, including monitoring and research activities and support for the ELA. Some of that is earmarked to hire 135 scientists, biologists, oceanographers and technicians, including some who will be dedicated to the ELA.
The ELA is a group of 58 lakes, about 75 kilometres northeast of Kenora, where research is done on whole bodies of water rather than in a lab.
Founded in 1968, the lakes were a crown jewel of Canadian science for more than four decades as one of the only places in the world where experiments can be conducted on whole ecosystems.
Scientists working for the federal government and based out of the Freshwater Institute at the University of Manitoba conducted research that looked at the human impact on freshwater, and several discoveries helped drive public policy on things from acid rain to hormone use to phosphates in dish soap. Work at the ELA is credited with helping save Lake Erie.
In 2012, the ELAs future was put in jeopardy when the federal government announced it was pulling the plug on $2 million in annual funding. The program was to be closed if another operator couldnt be found.
Scientists in Canada and around the world objected, pointing out the programs unique nature, and numerous protests were staged. In 2013, an agreement was signed that would see the program transferred to the Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development, funded mainly by the Ontario government with a small contribution from Manitoba. The official takeover took place in 2014.
We really are proud to be supporting them. Its a world-class facility Sustainable Development Minister Cathy Cox
Ontario agreed to spend $2 million a year for four years, and Manitoba is providing $250,000 a year for six years. Six government scientists were transferred to the institute to work on ELA, and another 11 who had worked there earlier were hired.
mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2016 (2270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Manitoba came through Wednesday with the final piece in a western Canadian partnership for a $32 million Marine Observatory in Churchill to study arctic oil spills.
Everybodys provided their funding, the projects moving forward, said the lead scientist on the project, David Barber, a University of Manitoba professor and Canada Research Chair in Arctic systems science. We just need to finalize whos going to build the thing. Itll be in the next 12 months.
On Wednesday, Manitoba pledged $9 million towards construction of the observatory.
JULIANA KUSYK Conceptual drawing for the proposed Churchill Marine Observatory.
This project is an important part of our vision for a strong, diversified northern economy, Education and Training Minister Ian Wishart said in the provinces announcement.
The Churchill Marine Observatory will create up to 21 permanent jobs, boost tourism and transportation in the region and enhance Manitoba and Canadas reputation as a world leader in Arctic research, Wishart said.
The provincial funding will flow through the University of Manitoba.
Led by the U of M, the project includes collaboration from the University of Calgary and the University of British Columbia with major funding from the federal Canadian Foundation for Innovation and co-ordination from Polar Knowledge Canada, an arms-length agency of the federal Indigenous and Northern Affairs department. Funding is also in place from the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Manitoba was the last major funder to make its announcement.
This whole project has been about four years in the making and it was established by the previous government and followed up by this one and its very nice theyre renewing their commitment to it, Barber said by phone.
In the next 12 months we hope to get the building put together, and functional and operating so we can use it for science, Barber said.
The announcement comes just weeks after Omnitrax revealed it would close the Port of Churchill, shedding more than 50 jobs.
Churchill mayor Mike Spence said the observatory is good news but he stressed the importance of placing the announcement into a wider context.
The community of Churchill has four pillars, theres the port and the rail line, thats one. Theres the Churchill regional health authority, thats two and theres tourism and then research and education, thats three and four. Theres been talk about this for some time and the federal funding came through over a year ago. This is not going to replace the port or the people employed there and nobody should see it as a trade off, the mayor said.
In 2014, the three universities applied for funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, to cover nearly 40 per cent of the $31.7 million proposal and triggered the commitments from the three provinces. Manitoba is the lead province with the most funding involved; Alberta put up $2.5 million and B.C., $300,000.
This is a project led by Manitoba, located in Manitoba and the other provinces are partners with us, Barber said. The lions share is here in Manitoba.
The observatory will study the potentially profound environmental effects of industrializing the Arctic.
About 20 scientists will live and work in Churchill to develop ways to detect oil in ice-covered waters, study the impact of oil on the northern ecosystem and come up with new technology to clean it up, in the event of a real spill.
Plans call for the observatory to be built on the estuary of the Churchill River where it flows into Hudson Bay.
With archeological and environmental assessments still to be conducted and building permits to be granted, scientists say the building must also be constructed and operated in a way that doesnt impede beluga or polar bears.
Beluga gather every summer in the estuary, while the shore is part of the polar bear migration route to Hudson Bay.
Its a good news story in terms of being able to bring more science to Churchill and to understand a lot of the complexities going on around climate change and transportation there, Barber said.
Meanwhile, the OmiTrax layoffs took effect Monday, said the opposition NDP, which also issued a statement about Churchill Wednesday. The NDP criticized the Conservative government for inaction on both the ports closure and a related decision to cut back rail service, the only overland route to the remote town of about 800 on Hudson Bay.
The PC government has been under intense pressure, along with the federal government, to save Churchill.
Pallister refused to bail out Omnitrax, which he accused of trying to leverage tax dollars in subsidies to keep the port open. I dont respond ever to threats, Pallister said.
Once completed, the Churchill Marine Observatory is expected to serve as a year-round hub for scientific research and technology development in the north, with involvement from universities in Canada, the United States and Europe.
alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2016 (2270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Local developer Andrew Marquess says hes not in default on any loans on a 900-unit Fort Rouge development and he still owns the land and remains involved in the project.
Marquess said media reports that hes no longer involved in the mixed development are false.
Im not removed as the developer on this in any shape or form, Marquess said during a phone interview Wednesday afternoon with the Free Press. I own the land. I have the mortgages on the land
SUPPLIED Artist rendering of first 40 townhouse units, now under construction by Sunstone Resort Communities, at the former Fort Rouge Yards near Rathgar Avenue.
To make this out that Im out and Sunstone is in and somehow First National is running this show is factually not true.
The Free Press earlier reported a Toronto lending firm, First National Financial, which holds two mortgages on Marquesss property and a $10-million loan guarantee to another project lender, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, had hired another local developer, Sunstone Resort Communities, to take over the construction and marketing of the project.
Marquess called First National Financial an incredibly supportive partner, that is also funding the construction, but could not explain why the Toronto firm had hired Sunstone and not himself.
If (First National) is happy, then Im happy and everyones happy about moving forward, Marquess said.
I am not in default. I own it and I always have. Sunstone has no ownership in it. First National doesnt own it.
Marquess said bringing in Sunstone is a positive development for the project but he remains the owner and the developer.
He said he was in meetings Tuesday and too busy to respond to Free Press questions about Sunstones involvement in the project and his own ongoing role.
I dont have to justify to anyone how I run my business, Marquess said. I dont have to justify in a newspaper article who ultimately is the project manager on the site.
Repeated calls from the Free Press to officials with First National Financial in Toronto were not returned.
Sunstone CEO Bill Coady told the Free Press Tuesday his firm had been hired by First National six months ago to assist in developing and executing the relaunch of the entire site it was all about execution, getting the thing going and getting some positive air under the wings of the project.
Marquess and his firm, Gem Equities, acquired the Fort Rouge property in 2008, where he proposed to develop a 900-unit townhouse, condominium and commercial development alongside the Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor on the former Fort Rouge rail yards. But theres been little visible development on the property.
Marquess said Wednesday most of the delays on the project were the result of his obligation to city hall to construct a bus station for the new transit corridor. He said he had decided months ago he would not be the general contractor for the project. He said he is happy Sunstone was brought in to be the general contractor and marketing manager.
Im not in default. The loans are up to date. The FCM loans are up to date, Marquess said. Im happy that Sunstone is doing the marketing and that construction is getting done. This is all good news. And, I own the land.
While Marquess is responsible for the underground infrastructure for the project, it was Sunstone that started construction four months ago on a 40-unit townhouse condominium the first building on the site, near Rathgar Avenue and Argue Street.
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2016 (2270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Recent interest in Churchills transportation woes has brought forth ideas to solve its unique problems. None has mentioned safety. Perhaps this is because many of those offering solutions havent lived or worked in the North.
Some may argue Churchill plays no economic role. However, as arctic ice covers less and less area due to climate change, Churchill, with proper land access, will be in a strategic position to ship goods to Europe and Asia from the Prairies.
Whatever your perspective, shipping goods to Churchill involves a considerable distance by ground transport over a variety of difficult terrain, often in challenging weather conditions. By air, Winnipeg to Churchill is about 1,000 kilometres and to Churchill from Thompson about 400 km. The rail line to Churchill from The Pas is 1,010 km. Road options exist, but all have engineering and safety factors that require attention. The result of surveys to determine the best route out of Thompson (or Gillam) will very likely come up with a road distance well in excess of 500 km.
SUPPLIED This 1988 picture of the Port of Churchill from Fort Prince of Wales shows Jim Collinson with a gun he carried for security.
Although I have a warm spot in my heart for Churchill, having visited there many times since 1967, two events remain etched in my mind that have a bearing on a ground-transportation route. In mid-January 1971, I landed at Churchill with a 62 km/h wind and a temperature of -40 C. That equates to about -64 C, when exposed skin can freeze in less than two minutes. In July 1973, I landed at Landing Lake (on floats), east of the south end of runway 33 and barely got in ahead of a fast-moving and not uncommon fog bank coming in from the bay.
These memories highlight the realities of weather extremes along the Hudson Bay coast. Whether by road or rail, there are clearly severe weather-related risks, much less so for rail.
If a road is to be constructed, there may be a need for repeater stations to provide sufficient connection for radios or cellphones to work in the event of a problem or an emergency. Any route near Hudson Bay is relatively easier to construct due to the existence of limited permafrost under old beach ridges that are high enough to remain above anticipated rising sea levels. Given the snow and winds at times, the likelihood of whiteouts, especially along the coast and in areas with little tree growth, is a factor that must be addressed carefully to ensure transport safety.
Travellers will also need to contend with polar bears relaxing in summer and migrating in the fall (until Hudson Bay freezes over at Cape Churchill). The prime polar bear denning area sits amongst and within the beach ridges nearer to Churchill, so special attention is needed there to ensure the bears and transport units dont meet. The most significant denning area is protected by a national park but not all dens are within it. There are also two caribou herds along the coast that could be affected by a road.
These realities will require careful attention regardless of the actual route that might be developed, although a more inland route would avoid most polar bear issues.
Winter roads have been in operation in northern parts of Canada for many years. Beyond repeater stations, thought might be given to temporary camps where travellers stranded by mechanical or weather problems could seek refuge. In more open areas, large and clear markers would assist in dealing, to a degree, with a limited whiteout. As a minimum, survival equipment should be mandatory for all those navigating the roads. Personal vehicles are a different matter: abandoned cars along more southerly winter roads illustrate the safety risks. Consequently, they may be required to have entrance permits subject to carrying appropriate communication and survival gear.
It is not clear whether a road for trucks or a rail line is best-suited to serve Churchill. Careful analysis will help in the decision. Whichever solution is chosen, the route will need analysis to determine the nature and extent of safety measures to make transport as safe as possible. The route to Churchill from Thompson or Gillam is not like other parts of Manitoba: the risks are considerable, unique and extreme.
Manitoba has been managing winter roads for 45 years, but beyond part of a winter road into Shamattawa, they pass through different terrain than that to be found in accessing Churchill. Given the combination of weather, wildlife and terrain involved, when determining the preferred type of transport and the route location, safety deserves priority and must be included in the multitude of factors impacting the decision.
Jim Collinson is a management consultant specializing in energy, economic, and environmental issues who has held assistant deputy minister positions in the federal and Manitoba governments.
Opinion
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2016 (2270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Many Republicans and zealous Bernie Sanders supporters would like nothing more than to lock up Hillary Clinton for all sorts of real and imagined transgressions. But theres no chance of that. Clinton is the first woman to be designated as a presidential nominee by either major U.S. political party, and the odds are fairly good she is heading to the White House, rather than prison.
This was not the case for the first woman who ran as a candidate for the American presidency, who really was locked up.
On Nov. 2, 1872, three days before that years election, Victoria Woodhull, who was a candidate for the Equal Rights Party, was arrested and incarcerated in a New York City jail. Her crime: she published (and then violated state law by using the postal service to distribute) allegedly scandalous articles in her weekly newspaper. One of the articles was about an alleged affair between Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, a popular Brooklyn minister, and Elizabeth Tilton, the wife of Beechers friend, journalist Theodore Tilton (who wrote a fawning biography of Woodhull and in all probability had an affair with her).
BRADLEY & RULOFSON Victoria Woodhull, c. 1860s, was the first woman to run as a presidential candidate.
Born in 1838 to an impoverished Ohio family, Victoria Claflin was a precocious child who claimed she had supernatural abilities. Her parents eagerly exploited her. She travelled with her siblings as part of a medicine show in which her faith-healing and fortune-telling skills and spiritualist powers were honed and marketed. At 15, she married Dr. Canning Woodhull, a notorious drunk and womanizer who was 12 years her senior. The unhappy union, which produced two children, lasted until 1864. She kept the Woodhull name.
Accompanied by her younger sister, Tennie, Woodhull relocated to New York, where the two young women befriended the septuagenarian railway baron, Cornelius Vanderbilt. Depressed after the death of his wife, as well as losing millions of dollars to stock speculators, he was taken by them, especially 23-year-old Tennie, who offered him physical and spiritual comfort. By 1870, he had helped them to establish the first female brokerage house in New York and then supported their newspaper venture.
Woodhull was a provocative personality. She was a feminist, supporter of the suffrage movement and labour rights and a proponent of free love. Despite what her many detractors maintained, she did not promote unbridled lechery, as historians Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace point out, but rather addressed womens inferior and unequal status in marriage and in all aspects of life. In her newspaper and on the lecture circuit, she took a positive view of sex and campaigned for birth control and legalized prostitution and did so while being fashionably avant-garde for the era. She kept her hair short, wore ankle-length skirts, and mannish cut jackets and neckties.
Early in 1871, she was invited to address the House of Representatives judiciary committee. She gave a convincing presentation that the recently adopted 14th and 15th Amendments to protect the civil and suffrage rights of African-Americans could be extended so women could be granted the right to vote. Though that was not to happen for close to 50 years, she attracted sufficient attention from the newly formed National Woman Suffrage Association. A year-and-half later at the NWSAs convention in New York, the delegates formed the Equal Rights Party and selected Woodhull as their presidential candidate.
Like Clinton, Woodhull was insulted by her enemies in the press as a witch and portrayed in political cartoons as Mrs. Satan. In 1872, she was 34 and hence one year shy of the 35-year-old constitutional age requirement to be U.S. president. The Equal Rights Party had selected as her running mate Frederick Douglass, the former slave and abolitionist, except it had not bothered to ask him first. He ignored Woodhull and the party and campaigned for the Republican incumbent (and eventual winner), Ulysses S. Grant. And even if she had not been locked up on election day, she could not have voted for herself and neither could the women who supported her.
It is not known how many popular votes the Woodhull-Douglass ticket received, though the number was likely not much more than a few thousand. Nothing came of the obscenity charges against Woodhull.
Since 1872, many more women have run for U.S. president; some (such as Clinton in 2008) as contenders for Democratic and Republican parties, but the majority for third or fringe parties. As the 2016 Democratic party presidential nominee, Clinton has finally broken the glass ceiling, as she has alluded to it, with one more big challenge to come in November.
Victoria Woodhull, no doubt, would have been supportive and sympathetic.
I announce myself as candidate for the presidency, Woodhull said in 1872. I anticipate criticism; but however unfavourable I trust that my sincerity will not be called into question.
Despite all of the heavy political baggage Clinton is currently carrying around, that sentiment holds true for her, as well.
Now & Then is a column in which historian Allan Levine puts the events of today in a historical context.
A lot of Wisconsin residents would like to opt out of having Scott Walker as their governor. But all the personal choice arguments in the world will not get you out of paying Wisconsin state taxes, no matter what you think of his policies or how he allocates your tax money.
Opinion
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2016 (2270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
For five years, a Winnipeg Parking Authority employee says, hes been telling the city there are certain areas where parking tickets are being handed out unfairly. For five years, seemingly, his concerns have gone unheeded.
That is, until he took the Winnipeg Free Press and traffic-ticket crusader Todd Dube from Wise Up Winnipeg on a ride-along to point out bait zones where ticket enforcers lay in wait to hand out costly tickets.
Ambiguous, contradictory or hidden signage means there are areas where parking officers can hand out $300 dollars worth of tickets per hour. After the Free Press published a list of those bait zones, the city councillor responsible for the Winnipeg Parking Authority had something to say.
Coun. Jeff Browaty: responded to bait zone accusation
Coun. Jeff Browaty said Tuesday he will be presenting a motion at city council asking the parking authority to spend some time and energy producing an official list of the highest ticketing locations (for reasons other than expired meters and parking over time in a limited-time area). Publicizing this list and, where needed, improving signage and other indicators required to make it more obvious should reduce the number of people getting tickets. (Note: there is no commitment to followup on the complaints made public by Wise Up Winnipeg or from those interviewed in the Free Press.)
Mr. Browaty also said he will suggest, for areas where people are receiving a high number of tickets because of fire hydrants, the city could, as a courtesy, make them more visible by painting the curb. I would stress it is only a courtesy and not a legally binding requirement. Snow clearing that doesnt make the paint as visible as desirable would not be a reason to not issue a ticket.
Well, its a response, at least and given the citys record on parking tickets, a lacklustre approach is perhaps not surprising.
The city had to write off $11.5 million in parking ticket revenues earlier this year because the tickets were issued incorrectly. Some of them dated to 1992, but it wasnt until August 2015 that the problem was discovered, when a justice of the peace threw out a parking ticket because it didnt comply with the Summary Convictions Act.
Michael Jack, the citys chief operating officer, said no refunds will be paid for any parking tickets already paid because, in the citys mind, that money was collected legally.
Small point: its not actual legal if it didnt comply with Manitoba law.
But wait, theres more. In December 2015, it was discovered that tens of thousands of invalid parking tickets were issued during winter parking bans during the past three years because someone in the citys legal department missed a key provision of the Highway Traffic Act. Again, Mr. Jack said no refunds would be issued to motorists who had already paid fines.
All right the moral of the story seems to be: dont pay parking tickets on time just wait until theyre thrown out when they fail to comply with the law.
Who could blame Winnipeggers for feeling like city hall and the parking authority are relying on what could be considered illegal and deceitful practises in order to create revenue? And who could blame Winnipeggers for feeling frustrated when the councillor responsible offers a response that promises to publicize a list of areas to avoid and paint curbs as a courtesy.
Good government, Winnipeg.
WILSON Just about everyone at this little country church has been coming for years, either because they grew up in one of the nearby farming towns, or because they married someone who did.
When we get strangers, said Arlene Jandt, who has attended Trinity Lutheran Evangelical Church in Wilson since her baptism there 75 years ago, we know it right away.
If theres a single reason why Trinity is still standing, why its outlived so many other country churches, its the loyalty of core parishioners. The congregation first met in 1866 in a log cabin for a service conducted in German.
An ever-changing group of families has been meeting ever since and this week, parishioners are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the first gathering.
Beginning Sunday morning at 10, there will be a special service, an anniversary lunch and a re-enactment of the congregations founding.
Well be in costume, said Andy Straseske, Trinitys pastor.
Theyre coming together, essentially, to celebrate a tradition of coming together.
The first parishioners spent four years attending services in one home or another, moving into a wood-frame church, on what later became County Road 12, in 1870. Their current home was built in 1914 on the same road, and is a testament to the relative health of the congregation a century later.
A bulk of red brick with a new facade, the church sits on a patch of tightly mowed grass that interrupts a long stretch of cornfield. The pastor lives at the back of the property in a white house guarded by trees. Inside the church, the original altar and stained glass windows dont yet look 102.
The stained glass is beautiful, said Lila Salwey, who has attended the church for 55 years.
Weve got one of the prettiest altars around, Jandt said.
Dont make it sound like were bragging, Pastor Straseske said and waved their words away.
But even here, numbers are dwindling.
The parishioners who have been here the longest among them 98-year-old Violet Herold are old enough to remember how women in hats and men in suits used to fill the pews on Sundays.
The women sat on one side, and the men sat on the other, said Sandy Koeller, who has attended for 45 years.
Now the balcony rarely gets used, Straseske said, and its the same with the pews in the back.
So many of the parishioners have seen children or grandchildren grow up and move away, or simply lose touch with religion. Sports, they say, has started to take over Sundays.
Society is just not as church-minded as it used to be, Straseske said.
But their church is growing, the congregation says, in small ways.
The kitchen in Trinitys basement just got new countertops and a new refrigerator. More notably, in 2009, an entrance hall was added to the church, with an elevator for parishioners who cant use the stairs.
And there are opportunities like the celebration Sunday to reflect on the idea of 150 years and to draw others into the church.
The congregation realizes Trinity cant go on for a whole lot longer unless new people come in. Every year, it seems, they lose parishioners to rest homes or to the church cemetery down the road.
Some have died, said LeAnn Salwey, Lilas daughter-in-law, who married into the church 25 years ago. They dont get replaced.
Ask the congregation about the history of their church, and about its future, and the conversation gets wistful like that, like a cloud passing over the sun.
Unlike many country churches, Lila Salwey reminds her friends, were fortunate to still be a church.
To paraphrase an old saying, you can lead Minnesotans to a primary election but you cant make them vote.
Turnout for Tuesdays primary was predicted long ago to be slow, given the lack of statewide or national races on the ballot, or high-profile local and regional races in most areas of the state.
The Winona area was no exception, with just a few local races on the ballot: the Winona mayoral race, a Winona County Board of Commissioners seat, and two judicial seats one each in Wabasha and Houston counties.
Based on visits to polling sites and anecdotal evidence Tuesday formal turnout numbers will be tallied and released later this week most Winona County residents were working, at home, out and about, on vacation, or anywhere else except at the ballot boxes.
Kate von Rohr, an election judge at the Winona City Hall, said that while site volunteers were expecting a slight surge after work hours, they hadnt seen much turnout throughout the day.
Its very slow for the primary, von Rohr said.
Regardless of the turnout, volunteer poll workers found ways to make the time count, ranging from the distractions they carried with them to treating Tuesday as preparation for what is sure to be a much wilder day in November.
We were calling this our warm-up for the general election, von Rohr said.
Sarah Olcott, who has lived in Winona for 14 years, was voting at Winona State Universitys Kryzsko Commons around 9:30 a.m. She said she was driven to vote because Winonas size means that even seemingly smaller public issues can impact a large number of people.
It affects us all because were so close, Olcott said.
She cast ballot number six at her location.
Michael and Jaime Hanratty took their young son, Aiden, to their polling place at Madison Elementary around 2 p.m. New to the area in May, the Hanrattys have been interested in becoming involved in community and civic life.
Part of (voting) is to show Aiden how important it is to be an involved citizen of a community, Jaime Hanratty said.
Other voters Tuesday, like Patricia Neal, were motivated by impressions of incumbents. Neal voted at her Southeast Tech polling place around 10 a.m., where she said she would like to see a new face for Winonas mayor.
Brenda Terpstra, a poll worker at the Southeast Tech location, has been working Winona elections for the last 12 years. The retired educator said she can remember when she used to have to count ballots instead of having machines count for them not that hand-counting would likely have affected the workload on Tuesday.
But as a frequent poll worker, Terpstra said, slow days have never discouraged her.
I believe in the democratic process, Terpstra said. (Im) proud of the way elections are conducted.
She added: Get out and vote.
Judge Carmaine Sturino and Tim Guth of Caledonia will advance to Novembers general election in Minnesota 3rd Judicial District.
Sturino, who was appointed to the bench in October after the retirement of longtime Judge James Fabian, won with 10,390 votes. Guth of Caledonia had 4,762 votes and Daniel Moulton of Chatfield had 3,531 votes.
The 3rd Judicial District comprises 11 counties in southeast Minnesota.
Guth has been in private practice since 1993, serving mostly criminal defendants in Houston and Winona counties. Hes also a public defender in La Crosse, Buffalo, Monroe, Jackson, Crawford and Vernon counties in Wisconsin.
Moulton has lived on a farm in Chatfield his entire life and has practiced law in Rochester for more than 30 years. Hes a city attorney for several communities in the area.
Before her appointment, Sturino spent 14 years as an attorney, practicing exclusively in the 3rd District, including work as a public defender, prosecutor, private attorney and conciliation court referee.
Want to appear in Beauty and the Beast? The Baraboo Theatre Guild says, be our guest.
The community theater troupe will present the tale old as time Nov. 3-6 and 10-13 at the Al. Ringling Theatre. Auditions will begin in two weeks.
The musical is based on the 1991 film of the same name, which was in turn adapted from the French fairy tale. Beauty and the Beast tells the story of a prince who is transformed into a hideous beast as punishment for his cruel and selfish ways, and an adventurous young woman named Belle whom he imprisons in his castle. In order to become human again, the Beast must earn Belles love before its too late.
Seven new songs were written for the stage musical. Beauty ran on Broadway for 5,461 performances from 1994 to 2007, becoming Broadways ninth longest-running production in history.
Auditions for the local production will be held at Baraboo Arts Banquet Hall & Convention Center on Aug. 26 and 30, as well as Sept. 1. There is one part for kids ages 7-10. Other roles call for older performers, from freshmen in high school through adults.
Selections from the musical will be sung. A prepared audition piece is not necessary. On Aug. 26 and 30, kids will audition from 6-6:30 p.m. women will follow at 6:30, with men auditioning at 7:30 p.m. On Sept. 1, there will be no auditions for kids. Women will audition at 6 p.m., followed by men at 7.
Some poor souls go a lifetime without finding love. But one lonely sap had it even worse: He spent 10 days in an airport.
Last month, a 41-year-old Dutchman headed to a Chinese airport to meet a 26-year-old woman he had met online. What started with high hopes ended in heartbreak as the lovesick Alexander Cirk never met his girlfriend and had to be treated for exhaustion. Its not unusual to find courtship exhausting, but if youre getting carted around in an airport in a wheelchair with an IV drip, youre doing it wrong.
CCTV reports that Cirk arrived at Changshas airport hoping to meet a woman named Zhang. He had encountered her online two months earlier, and they hit it off. After sending her a copy of his travel papers, Cirk camped out in the arrivals terminal and waited. Subsisting on instant noodles and soda, he lasted 10 days before being hospitalized.
Its not unusual for a gal to keep a guy waiting. Sometimes women like to be fashionably late. Its a fellas duty to wait patiently, smile understandingly and pretend not to be enraged. After all, romance cant bloom without a sprinkle of duplicity. But when you find yourself doubled over with a case of noodle-induced gut rot, its time to move on.
Before he was confined to a wheelchair, Cirk was noticed by Chinese media. They learned his story, found Zhang and attempted to play Cupid. Zhang told Hunan ETV by phone that she had not expected Cirk to come to Changsha. This development represented a good news, bad news situation for Cirk: On the down side, she wasnt coming. But on a positive note, she may be an actual female and not an undercover government agent investigating international sex trade.
Zhang claimed she was unable to meet Cirk because recent cosmetic surgery had made it inconvenient for her to step outside. She added that while the couple seemed bound for marriage early on, he became a bit indifferent towards me.
Lets review: He traveled thousands of miles and was willing to live on ramen noodles and Sprite to meet her. She and I have very different definitions for indifferent.
Despite being tired and wheelchair-bound, Cirk remained interested in Zhang. He told Hunan ETV he was still determined to have a good talk with the woman I love, (and bring her) back to my hometown.
He learned an important lesson about women. They may say they value spontaneity, but they get weirded out when you unexpectedly fly to their country and camp out in the airport.
In time, Cirk may also learn a tough lesson about online dating. Things are not always what they seem. Profiles are easy to falsify. The fawning beauty giving you come hither looks may be the avatar of some old guy in boxers trying to get your credit card number. Hence the old I cant be seen in public because my face is bursting with Botox excuse.
Either way, this couple found out how easy it can be to miscommunicate. Zhang said she hadnt heard from Cirk after his arrival. But he had left her messages online, which went unseen when the surgery prompted Zhang to turn her phone off. So what, it was cosmetic ear surgery?
Despite all of these difficulties, there is hope for these lovebirds. Zhang said she wants to continue the romance, and will meet the Dutchman when she recovers from her operation.
Its reassuring when hopeful people demonstrate their belief in love. But this particular romance should serve as a cautionary tale for anyone looking to see an online relationship take flight. Remember, heartbreak can be terminal.
For the first time in its 11-year history, the Midwest Cream Cheese Competition is this year being held in the summer.
Judging for the annual event is Friday at The Watermark, 209 S. Center St., beginning at 5:30 p.m. Entries begin arriving at 4:30 p.m. and spectators are welcome to attend free of charge.
The reason for the summer event has been a learning experience, with planners hoping to pair the competition with an evening wine tasting event at downtown shops. Although the wine tasting did not materialize, the cream cheese competition remains.
We originally had the event in the spring, paired with our home business expo, said Beaver Dam Area Chamber of Commerce president Phil Fritsche. More recently we held it in the fall, and that was a good time to have it as well. In pairing it with a wine tasting we wanted to have good weather to allow people to walk from business to business, and to taste some of the entries after the wine tasting was over. We usually try to have events on the same dates and times, but this time our experiment didnt quite work out as wed hoped it would.
The cream cheese completion, however, will stand on its own, with the added bonus of including some summertime recipes that might not appear any other time of year.
Response has been generally good.
Weve had a lot of women, and some men, who have come back multiple times to participate, said Fritsche, and there have been some really wonderful recipes. We guess there are about 10 recipes in each category this year, and some of the cooks have said this gave them a reason to try a different kind of a recipe than they did when it was a colder season. So were expecting some different kind of recipes this time around.
The deadline to enter was Aug. 5.
Another change is the venue, with the citys new community center as the new location.
The chamber has been very supportive of The Watermark being constructed, so we want to support it, said Fritsche. Weve always supported having things downtown, so it has been a good fit to have the event there. The more the community uses that building, the more people will be exposed to it and see it as a resource for them.
The facilitys pantry will be used for warming the things that should be served hot and to stage the food for presentation.
Categories are long-standing and include cheesecake, dips and best new cream cheese recipe.
Anything thats not a cheesecake or a dip falls into the last category, Fritsche said. That includes a wide variety of types of recipes. That could include desserts, or entrees, or soups ... Its been an interesting category, and certainly the most varied.
Prizes are $200 for first place, $100 for second place and $50 for third place. Best new cream cheese recipe contest judging begins at 5:30 p.m. Greatest cream cheese dip contest begins at 6:15 p.m. Ultimate cheesecake contest judging begins at 7 p.m. An awards presentation will be held starting at 9 p.m.
Over the last 11 years the chamber has compiled some of the best recipes into a cookbook, which is now near its standing binders capacity. In addition to 50 recipes from the Kraft test kitchen, 12 winning recipes (three winners and a runner-up) have been added each year. The cost of the book is $20 and recipes from the following years are available for $3 per year.
Kraft, the maker of Philadelphia Cream Cheese and a major local employer, is a donor for the event.
So despite the lack of a wine tasting, the Great Midwest Cream Cheese Competition is set to go, and all are invited to not only watch the judging, but to sample the entries for free.
It will be a good time for all who attend, in a new location, with some delicious tasting treats to sample, Fritsche said. I invite everyone to come on down to The Watermark and enjoy the fun.
With thousands of leases set to expire in the coming days and city crews preparing to pick up hundreds of tons of garbage, clothing and furniture left behind by tenants, UW-Madison and local officials are once again ramping up their efforts to reduce waste during the rush of Downtown move-out days.
The push to find a better use for the usable stuff left behind on curbs and in dumpsters has become a hallmark of the big mid-August move, in which many leases Downtown and around campus will turn over on Sunday.
Once again, UW-Madison sustainability groups and local organizations will set up donation sites around student neighborhoods and high-rise apartments so items go someplace other than a landfill.
The university will also collect sealed, non-perishable food, as well as other unopened household goods such as dish soap or toiletries, which will be given to the campus new student food pantry, the Open Seat.
Those items can be dropped off at any of the donation sites.
UW-Madisons main collection area will be a donate and take site in campus parking lot 45, at 165 N. Mills St., where people can drop off their clothing, furniture and household items.
In a twist on the tradition of collecting free stuff left on curbs known as Hippie Christmas, visitors can pick up items dropped off by others.
The site also accepts e-waste, including televisions, computers and phones, whether theyre working or not.
It will be open from Aug. 12-17, though daily hours vary a full listing of hours at the donate and take site, as well as other locations, is available at go.madison.com/moveout.
For renters in the Mifflin and Bassett Street area, St. Vincent de Paul has a donation site in the parking lot of U-Hauls Downtown location at 602 W. Washington Ave., which will be open Friday through Sunday.
Those in campus-area apartment buildings wont have to go far to find a place to donate.
Goodwill will place collection bins at more than a dozen buildings.
Locations include: The Embassy, the Equinox, Varsity Quarters, Grand Central, 420 Gorham, X01, Humbucker, La Ville, Park Regent, Vantage Point, Lucky, the Regent, Henry Street Apartments, Highland, the Hub and Towers on State.
A judge on Tuesday reduced a Pardeevilles man bond from $50,000 to $5,000 in the lead-up to his October trial on charges of first-degree child sexual assault.
Charles Leonard Siegler Jr., 32, appeared in Columbia County Circuit on Tuesday to address final scheduling of his trial. Siegler has been held in the Columbia County Jail since his November 2014 arrest.
What (defense attorney) Mr. (David) Geier is proposing seems to be a reasonable accommodation, said Judge W. Andrew Voigt, that essentially buys Mr. Burdon another month to prepare and possibly find a way to resolve this case in a way that sometimes a fresh set of eyes can.
The case, originally handled by Assistant District Attorney Brenda Yaskal, was passed to Assistant District Attorney Cliff Burdon when Yaskal left the office earlier this summer. The situation pressed Burdon for time with a trial scheduled for Sept. 19-22.
Without going into the details of the accusations, Voigt noted that this is not a one-day disorderly conduct case.
In November 2014, Siegler was arrested on charges of first-degree child sexual assault and repeated sexual assault of the same child, accused of assaulting a 12-year-old girl and a 10-year-old girl two months earlier.
At the time, Siegler was under community supervision as a registered sex offender, convicted in Sauk County in 2004 of felony child enticement. He served six years in prison with 10 years of extended supervision.
With the cash bond set at $50,000 right now, said Burdon, giving his take on potential bond reduction, I would be recommending $49,999.99.
There is no question in the courts mind, that reducing a cash bond from $50,000 to $5,000 is a big deal, said Voigt. Its a big deal for a lot of reasons. Its a big deal for the defendant; its a big deal for the court. And I think we all understand the scope of what we are talking about here.
Even if approved for a reduced bond, Geier would need to have his prospective housing pre-approved by a probation agent, as well as intense supervision with a long list of conditions set by both the court and the Department of Corrections.
As I said, I think that given the passage of time, and while the court is significantly and definitionally concerned by the nature of these allegations, said Voigt. I think we are at the point in time when I think that the court is obligated to at least attempt to find a number that, theoretically, Mr. Siegler could reach.
Given that Siegler has only been the subject of allegations and no proof has been given past the probable cause offered at his preliminary hearing, and that in the past 18 months in jail has not been in any additional trouble, Voigt lowered the cash bond to $5,000.
If Siegler posts that amount, he would be freed pending trial with requirements to report to his probation agent, have no contact with the alleged victims, no initiating contact with any juvenile, a curfew recommended and if possible, for the DOC to track him through electronic monitoring, Voigt ruled.
While I appreciate Mr. Burdons argument about the maximum consequence being a motivation for Mr. Siegler to flee, I dont have any information to say that he is likely to flee. The greater concern is how he will behave upon his release, said Voigt.
Obviously all of this is conditioned on the agent approving some place for him to reside. If the agent doesnt approve of a place for him to reside, theres no point in him marshalling the resources to post cash if hes just going to sit at the jail anyway.
Sieglers trial is scheduled for Oct. 24-27.
Air safety
There is no alternative to improving the quality of our countrys aviation
Portage is no longer the only public school district in the state to forgo membership to the Wisconsin Association of School Boards.
The Portage School Board on Monday renewed membership in WASB at a cost of $5,865.
The issue that had generated much debate among members in previous meetings received none prior to the vote. WASB membership renewal was part of the Finance Committees report that passed 6-1, with member Connie Shlimovitz as the lone dissenting vote.
Portage in August of last year became the only district to cancel membership citing concerns with WASB advocacy in the state Capitol. The decision for non-renewal followed several items in the state budget opposed by public school officials across Wisconsin, namely the expansion of the private school voucher program.
The absence of discussion about renewing WASB membership surprised President Matt Foster, who had all along been the most vocal in support of rejoining WASB. The board had discussed the issue in June to little effect, as several members said they believed the cost of membership would be better served in the district until WASB proved itself effective in influencing lawmakers in Madison.
Reversing course Monday were members Dan Garrigan, Steve Pate and Chad Edwards Edwards who in June called WASB useless from an advocacy standpoint. Garrigan in June said he did not see a change for the district in 2015-16 during its non-membership, aside from the district saving $6,000.
Garrigan and Pate along with Fred Reckling serve on the Finance Committee that made the recommendation, though Pate could not attend the Aug. 1 meeting in which the recommendation was made. Subbing for Pate that day was Foster.
But, as Foster pointed out after Mondays meeting, all board members had access to the Finance Committees report before Mondays vote so Im assuming theyre OK with it now.
Pate, originally the most critical of WASB advocacy, said in June he was more receptive to rejoining WASB than he was last year, and after the meeting Monday said he believes its time that Portage gave WASB another opportunity.
Were going into another budget cycle so Ill be aware of what theyre doing, Pate said. Hopefully theyll be more aggressive.
Well see if we can at least hold our own in the next budget cycle.
Pate added he believes Portages non-membership sent a strong message and he commended WASB Executive Director John Ashley for making the trip to a Portage board meeting last year to address local concerns with WASB.
Sometimes people have to make it known they see some problems, Pate said of the boards year-long stand against WASB. Im always willing to give people another chance.
Shlimovitz said after Mondays meeting she was disappointed the board decided to rejoin WASB. We did just fine without them, and Im sure there are other ways to put that money to good use in schools.
I dont think anythings changed in the last year, Shlimovitz said. Nothing has changed for me, so in my eyes (cancelling) is still a cost-savings method.
As for the lack of board discussion on the subject Monday, Shlimovitz said she believes any issue that had generated so much debate in the past should be voted on as a separate item.
I always feel that way. Theres often so many individual items listed that if you oppose just one of them you have to vote down the whole report, she said, noting that to oppose rejoining WASB on Monday she had to vote against paying monthly bills she otherwise supported.
Foster said hes happy Portage is back in WASB, mostly for the access to meetings and seminars. Personally it helped me find out what other districts are doing regarding coursework and policies, so to me, its a good learning tool to improve myself as a board member.
It is kind of expensive, but as Ive said before, what we take out of (membership) is how we get our moneys worth.
Foster said he, too, would be keeping a closer eye on WASB advocacy, but added its hard to compete with big-money lobbyists who influence policy in Madison.
I hope they improve in advocacy (and we) take advantage of what they offer for us to improve as board members. Thats our job: to improve for the district.
Dale Carnegie is credited with saying, A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. This is a thought provoking quote for those of us who like discussing politics. Once a person has chosen a position, it is nearly impossible to change his or her mind and we need to stop trying. The British say, It is best discussed before breakfast, which means that it is best not discussed at all.
However, it never hurts to look back on some of the quotes of famous folks regarding politics. As we all know, John F. Kennedy said, Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country. Now, theres a thought that has been lost in the entitlement atmosphere of our time. The most alluring thing a candidate can do, these days, is to list the free things he or she is going to give us in exchange for our vote.
President Kennedy also said, Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer.
At one point in his career, President Bill Clinton said, I tried to walk the line between acting lawfully and testifying falsely, but I now realize I did not fully accomplish that goal.
President Richard Nixon said, Ill speak for the man, or against him, whichever will do him the most good. Nixon also said, I would have made a good Pope. I think most of us had and have serious doubts about that.
George Washington said, I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.
A very clever man, Albert Einstein said, Never do anything against conscience, even if the state demands it. Thats not always easy in the world today, just ask the Little Sisters of the Poor.
Winston Churchill said, The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
The famous news commentator, Edward R. Murrow, is quoted as saying, A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.
Franklin D. Roosevelt is credited with saying, Im not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues. Thats a pretty important talent for any administration.
I like the words of Harry S. Truman, Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source if terror to all of its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear. He also said, The buck stops here.
I think there is so much wisdom in quotes that I have labored over cryptograms every day for years, hoping to find that special inspiration to carry with me until the next day, when there is another cryptogram in the paper or I find one in my many books of cryptograms.
Benjamin Franklin said, Lifes tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late. But in response I say, Now, isnt that the truth?
Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading.
Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy
Bandarjhula folks demand their alternative settlement
Bandarjhula folks in Chitwan district have asked Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to make arrangement for providing them with alternative settlement.
Cant work on polls sans local body report: EC
The Election Commission has made it clear once again that it will not be able to hold the elections until the government implements the report of the Federalism Implementation and Restructuring Committee, which is doing its work.
Chhakka Panjaa to break the mould
Actors Deepashree Niraula and Deepak Giri travelled to Dharan on Monday on a promotional tour for the upcoming feature film, Chhakka Panjaa. The movie is based on the story of migrant Nepali workers.
Children held at Australian camp suffer assaults, sexual abuse: leaked documents
More than 2,000 incidents, including sexual abuse, assault and attempted self-harm, were reported in about two years at an Australian detention center for asylum seekers in Nauru, more than half involving children, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
China News on Women
Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page
Chinese Prez Xis visit depends on Nepals expectations
A visiting professor of a Chinese think tank has said that the Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Nepal will depend on the expectations of Nepal government and Nepali political parties.
India and Russia celebrate commissioning of Kudankulam 1
10 August 2016
Share
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin today inaugurated unit 1 of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant. Together with J Jayalalithaa, chief minister of Tamil Nadu, where the plant is based, the two leaders conducted the inauguration via a video conference.
Modi in a video conference with Putin and Jayalalithaa (Image: Indian Prime Minister's Office)
The unit is already in service, having started commercial operation on 31 December 2014. Output from Kudankulam 1 is being supplied to India's southern grid and divided between five states: Tamil Nadu (56%), Karnataka (22%), Kerala (13%), Andhra Pradesh (5%) and Puducherry (3%).
The Kudankulam plant's site director, R S Sundar, said during today's inauguration that unit 2 will be ready by end of this month. Both units are Russian-built VVER-1000 pressurized water reactors.
During the video conference, which included a link to the plant site in Tirunelveli, Modi said India and Russia plan to build a series of nuclear power plants. "Today's event is a joyful event for the Russian team of engineers in India and Russia. We salute them for their relentless work," Modi said. "I have a vision for India where [the] achievements of our economic development will benefit Earth. Kundankulam. The success of this plant demonstrates a common resolve to build new ties."
Putin said the unit had been built with the latest Russian nuclear power technology. "It is not just construction and commissioning of the power plant. It is well known that Russia is one of the world leaders in nuclear technology and we are glad to share with our Indian colleagues our technology," he said.
Cooperation between India and Russia to build the plant has its origins in an inter-governmental agreement signed in 1988 by the then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev. First concrete for unit 1 was poured in March 2002, with that for unit 2 following four months later. The units were originally scheduled to begin commercial operation in December 2007 and December 2008 respectively.
Although unit 1 was completed in March 2011, its commissioning was delayed due to protests and legal action following the accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant the same month. Plant owner Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) announced in July 2013 that the unit had achieved first criticality. It was connected to the grid in October that year. Unit 2 - India's 22nd nuclear power reactor - achieved first criticality last month.
Indian news agency IANS said today Russia's latest VVER-1200 reactor technology is likely to be used for future units. IANS quoted former NPCIL chairman M R Srinivasan as saying Russia's commissioning last week of Novovoronezh 6 "is of interest for India". Srinivasan added: "We expect to build the larger size units at the second site that is likely to be made available for Russian reactors."
During Modi's visit to Moscow in December last year, Modi and Putin said in a joint statement that cooperation between the two countries on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy was a "cornerstone" of their strategic partnership. Putin said negotiations were at an advanced stage for Kudankulam 3 and 4. Modi said India plans to have 12 Russian nuclear reactors at two sites.
Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said today that the 12 units in India will include up to eight reactors "in the Kudankulam area". Talks are now being held, Rosatom said, on a general contract for construction of Kudankulam 5 and 6, which is expected to be signed this autumn.
The Indian cabinet said in January that commercial negotiations between NPCIL and US-based Westinghouse on the construction of six AP1000 units at Mithi Virdi in India are on course to be finalized this year.
Mithi Virdi, in the Bhavnagar district of Gujarat, is intended to host up to six AP1000s built in three stages. NPCIL commenced site works in 2012, and Westinghouse and NPCIL signed a preliminary commercial contract in September 2013. Mithi Virdi is on a list of ten proposed sites for new nuclear power plants given in-principle approval by the Indian government in April 2015.
According to today's Rosatom statement, Putin and Modi are next scheduled to meet at the BRICS summit to be held in Goa in October. BRICS is a grouping of major emerging economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
Related topics
Tika R Pradhan is a senior political correspondent for the Post, covering politics, parliament, judiciary and social affairs. Pradhan joined the Post in 2016 after working at The Himalayan Times for more than a decade.
Reprocessing plant siting work halted in Lianyungang
10 August 2016
Share
The municipal government of Lianyungang in China's Jiangsu province has announced the suspension of site selection work for a planned Sino-French nuclear fuel reprocessing project. The move follows public protests against the project.
In a 6 August statement, CNNC Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing (CNFR) said, "At present, the Sino-French nuclear fuel cycle cooperation project is in the early stages of the project work. In accordance with the requirements of the national nuclear project, site selection work has started in Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Gansu and other provinces."
However, the Lianyungang municipal government announced today that it had decided to suspend site preparatory work. The move followed protests in the city after media reports suggested the project would be built in Lianyungang.
Site selection studies for the reprocessing plant are being conducted by Nuclear Science and Technology Co Ltd. The company's general manager, Xue Weiming, told Science & Technology Daily that the site will be finalized on the basis of scientific evidence, soliciting public opinion, agreement with the local government and ultimately by national decision-makers. "The site selection for the nuclear fuel cycle project will involve careful consideration of various factors, including seismic geology, rock formation, floods, man-made and external hazards," he said. "Our site work always demands scientific evidence and effective communication - the precautionary principle in decision-making."
China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and France's Areva signed an agreement in November 2007 to assess the feasibility of setting up an 800 tonne per year reprocessing plant for used fuel in China. The plant would be operated by Areva.
In November 2010, an industrial agreement on the project was signed, while in April 2013 a further agreement was signed setting out the technical specifications for the plant. Then in March 2014 another agreement was signed to continue planning the project and to complete the business case for it. A memorandum of understanding followed, in June last year, which Areva said "formalizes the end of technical discussions, defines the schedule for commercial negotiations and confirms the willingness of both groups to finalize the negotiations in the shortest possible timeframe."
CNFR was established in 2011 to take responsibility for site selection and other preparatory work.
Jinta county, north of Jiayuguan in Gansu province, had earlier been touted as a potential site for the complex, which will reportedly occupy three square kilometres.
Construction of the reprocessing facility is expected to start in 2020 and be completed in 2030.
In addition to the reprocessing plant, the site will also house a used fuel storage facility with the capacity to hold 3000 tonnes of fuel. In addition, a high-level liquid waste vitrification facility is also planned.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
Related topics
Income Disparity
Income disparity is the difference in household income between the lower and higher ends of the distribution. A wide gap between those who are considered rich and those who live in poverty within a country is indicative of socio-economic inequality. The extent of income disparity changes based on the time in history, the society, and the economic structure of a country. Some nations experience a large gap in income distribution where the bottom 10% of the population earns less than 2% of the total countrys income. These countries are all located in Latin America with the exception of one, the United States.
Income Inequality In Latin America
It is quite evident that Latin America is the region with the greatest disparity in the world. When the richest 10% earn over half of all available income, that does not leave much to distribute among the remaining 90% of the population. In Bolivia, the poorest 10% of the people earn only .9% of all the income in the nation, in Brazil and Honduras it is 1%, and Colombia and Panama are only 1.1%. All of the Latin American countries on this list have experienced great changes in economic policy over the past few decades, but it has done little to reduce the gap. Why?
Latin America is a post-colonial world that developed out of European colonization and exploitation of indigenous communities. Little has changed since then. During the late 1800s, access to education and ownership of land titles were available only to the upper echelon of the society. This system set them up for personal economic growth and laid the foundation for inequality. Indeed, the rich-poor gap continues along lines of ethnicity with those of European descent having far more economic privilege than those of indigenous descent. Deeply embedded structural violence works against those individuals who are trying to claw their way out of poverty.
This effect is seen in Costa Rica where only 1.4% of the national income is distributed among the poorest 10%, Paraguay and Peru with 1.5%, Ecuador and Argentina with 1.6%, Chile (1.7%), and Uruguay and the Dominican Republic (1.9%).
Income Inequality In The United States
Income inequality in the US is the same as that found in Chile, 1.7% of the nations income is divided among the bottom 10%. The US is the only developed country on this list. The number of rich people are growing, the number of poor people is growing, and the middle class is decreasing. Today, middle-income families earn practically what they earned during the 1970s.
The history of this country is similar to that of its neighbors to the south. The land was taken over by colonists who exploited indigenous populations and promoted slavery to make profits. This history has resulted in the current reality, a country where women earn less than men and non-whites earn less than whites. The income disparity was not always so pronounced (though it has always existed); right after World War II, the incomes were fairer that at any other time in history. This fact was due in large part to an economic structure that included a large workforce, social policies (like social security and minimum wage), infrastructure construction, access to education, and housing projects. Since then, that economic structure has declined. Some economists suggest it has been because of globalization and increasingly competitive marketplaces.
Consequences Of Income Inequality
Too much disparity within the population can have some seriously negative consequences. These countries typically have large numbers of social and health problems, little access to education, and obstructed economic growth. Some of the social and health problems include: obesity, mental illness, decreased life expectancy, homicide, incarceration, and drug use. Poor public and social health decreases economic productivity, and increases government spending on healthcare, police, and prisons.
What is Water Access?
One of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals was to reduce the number of people without access to sustainable and safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 50%. Access is defined by distance and amount of water available. If the water source is less than 0.6 miles away and consistently provides at least 20 liters of water per person in the family, the household is considered to have access to water. Safe drinking water is free of chemicals and microbes that cause disease and is obtained via a household connection, community tap, protected well or spring, and rainwater collection.
Lack of Access to Water
Nearly 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water around the world, another 663 million cannot access improved water sources. These people are overwhelmingly located throughout sub-Saharan Africa although there are one Pacific island and one Middle Eastern nation on the list of countries with the worst water infrastructures. Papua New Guinea tops that list, only 40% of the population has access to an improved water source. The next six countries are in Africa: Equatorial Guinea (48%), Angola (49%), Chad (51%), Mozambique (51%), Madagascar (52%), and DR Congo (52%). Next is Afghanistan with only 55% of its population having access to improved water sources. This is followed by Tanzania (56%) and Ethiopia (57%).
Consequences of Little or No Access to Water
The consequences of lacking access to clean and safe water, improved water sources, and improved sanitation services are astounding. It affects education, health, hunger, poverty, and the economy. Children seem to bear the burden of inadequate access to water. Of the 1.6 million people who die annually from preventable, diarrhoeal diseases (like cholera), 90% are under five years old. A further 1.5 million people are annually diagnosed with Hepatitis A. This figure is all due to unclean water. In the countries previously listed, an estimated 80% of illness is attributed to poor water and sanitation conditions.
When children are fighting for their lives due to disease and malnutrition (from parasites in water), they are unable to attend school. In fact, a total of 443 million recorded school days is lost every year as a result of water-related illness. This problem is amplified for girls. Girls are more often responsible for collecting water than boys, and when the water source is far away, they miss school to make sure the household has water.
Adults and children who are forced to spend their time collecting water are unable to contribute to the economy by participating in the workforce. Either they do not obtain an education that allows them to go on and contribute to the formal employment sector, or they are consumed with thoughts of collecting water. According to UN estimates, African countries alone lose 40 billion hours annually in efforts to obtain household water.
What is Being Done?
Many non-profits, non-governmental organizations, and government agencies are working together to eliminate this problem across the world, including in the countries mentioned above. The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF) have joined forces via the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation which is used to measure progress against development goals. WHO also invests in research in order to illustrate the cost effectiveness for governments to invest in providing or improving water and sanitation conditions. They also work with other non-profits, research facilities, and governments to support water access and treatment efforts. UNICEF manages Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) teams in order to promote access to clean water, improved toilets, and hygiene practices.
Hope for the Future
Despite all of the negative numbers and consequences, there is hope. The Millennial Goal was met three years ahead of schedule. With a 2015 deadline, the population of people without access to water and improved sanitary facilities was cut in half by 2012. This means that governments and organizations everywhere have used the Millennial Goal indicators as a tool for improving living conditions for citizens. The fact that the goal was reached ahead of schedule indicates that ensuring water access is important to governments and was taken seriously. The countries listed in this article represent a portion of the estimated 11% of the global population that is still without access to water.
The living conditions of people earning an average income of $1.50 or less, which is the internationally recognized poverty level is dehumanizing. These are the situations experienced by the citizens of countries like Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In countries like Guinea, Uganda, Honduras, Djibouti, Laos, Georgia, Bolivia, and Colombia there are citizens are earning less than $2 every day. Some of the challenges which the citizens in countries experiencing extreme poverty levels face include;
Malnutrition
It stands out as the most common result of poverty. This effect is commonly visible among children with low-income family backgrounds. Access to nutritious meals is a luxury which poor families rarely enjoy. It is because they cannot afford decent meals and mostly take only one meal a day. Highly nutritious food is expensive and therefore, the poor people are sidelined by the fact that it is an expense they cannot afford. In addition, people in poverty-ridden countries do not eat enough to sustain them and they are not productive.
Poor Health
Reduced or deteriorating health conditions are the most experienced effects of poverty. The poor wellbeing conditions are usually because these people do not have enough funds to cater for proper nutritional needs. Proper feeding on healthy foods naturally fights and prevents diseases. Poor sanitation standards spread out in most parts of these countries like Uganda increases the spread of illness.
Life expectancy and child mortality
Life expectancy is highly affected by high levels of poverty. In most of these countries with high levels of poverty like Gabon, life expectancy is almost 30 years below the average of developed countries like Germany and France and the overall worldwide life expectancy. Shockingly, child mortality at birth in poor countries like Guinea, Honduras, and Djibouti are extremely high.
Measures Initiated
South American countries like Bolivia and Columbia have taken steps to bring change to the poverty levels. The adoption of scientific measures like the development of genetically modified organisms is one of the primary approaches to curb food shortages. Food generating projects are expensive to undertake, but if utilized by some developing countries like Honduras it can help reduce malnutrition.
In some developing countries like Laos and Georgia they are initiating infrastructural development as an income-generating strategy. These income-oriented projects provide jobs for the citizens and raise their productivity. These projects include the building of highways, power stations, and irrigation plants which are labor-intensive.
It is recommendable to develop human resources in third world countries. Developing literacy levels by investing in educational facilities like schools, vocational colleges, and technical training institutions help impart and instill skills to people through learning. There are campaigns for good health to the citizens through building health centers, hospitals, and dispensaries to ensure a healthy nation. These measures are all active efforts to eradicate poverty levels.
Good health, high levels of education and practical skills can engage in employment activities and also better manage self-employed businesses thereby promoting the fight against poverty. Adoption and implementation of these strategies can help alleviate the extreme poverty levels in these countries.
Equity risk premium, or equity premium, is the excess return that stock market investors can accumulate at a risk-free rate, most commonly through government treasury bonds. In a nutshell, the risk premium rate is the lending rate minus the treasury bill rate. In general, risk premiums are generally inversely proportional to the price point for risky assets.
Premiums vary depending on the level of risk in each country's economy, and they also change over time as market risk fluctuates. The equity risk premium on loans for any given country is determined by taking into account a number of factors, including economic risk, volatility of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the status of infrastructure and communication systems, and historical data. The ten countries discussed below are international leaders in low equity risk premium lending rates. All were lower than 2.5% in the year 2015.
Moldova (-6.4%)
Although the Republic of Moldova is one of Europe's poorest nations, and despite continued political instability and bank fraud, the country's economy has been growing steadily since 2001. Moldova has made considerable economic reforms since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Exports to the European Union (EU) have been increasing since the signing of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) accords. Prices have been liberalized and subsidies on basic consumer goods have largely been phased out. The privatization of Moldova's agricultural land has also had a positive effect on the economy.
Zambia (-5.8%)
Zambia's economic success is a result of advanced banking standards, high commodity prices, and political stability. Since 2000, Zambia has been able to significantly reduce poverty through national and international program implementation. Governmental power is kept in check by a floating exchange rate and open capital markets. Copper output continues to increase, while diversification of exports and an increase in tourism also promote continued economic stability.
Egypt (0.3%)
Egypt has made great strides to rebuild, reform and improve its economy after years of political upheaval. Recent political stability has revived the tourism industry, providing much-needed revenue. Additional incentives have been put in place to encourage more dynamic investments and create new jobs in the private sector. Successful reform of fuel subsidies has also greatly contributed to an already diverse and vibrant economy.
Sri Lanka (0.3%)
With an economy driven by agriculture, apparel, and tourism, Sri Lanka has made great strides towards privatization in recent years. There have been extensive reforms of tax, tariff and foreign investment laws. The expanding services sector has also spurred economic growth, particularly in the last five years.
Mexico (0.4%)
Constitutional reforms in energy, education and telecommunications have been a boon to the Mexican economy. Recent efforts have been made to enhance regulatory efficiency and liberalize investment regimes. Banking stability continues to attract increasing numbers of foreign investors, and the financial sector has retained its competitiveness in the face of recent global financial challenges.
Malaysia (1.5%)
Malaysia has recently undertaken expansive structural reforms to encourage creative entrepreneurship. In 2015, the government began an innovate multi-year drive to reduce and eventually eliminate fuel subsidies. The public finance sector remains stable, and there is continued improvement in regulatory efficiency.
Iceland (1.7%)
Iceland's economy took a major hit during the 2008 banking crisis, but the country has made great strides recently in the areas of public finance and policy reform. Iceland's banking system has undergone a major restructuring. Combined with a strong legal framework, minimal corruption and a competitive regulatory system, Iceland's economy is bouncing back.
Hungary (1.7%)
Hungary has embraced the modernization of trade and investment during their transition to a free-market economy. New regulations allow for innovation and flexibility in business practices. In 2015, the government responded to a drop in oil prices worldwide by lowering domestic regulated energy prices. Agriculture subsidies are also being drastically reformed.
Canada (2.3%)
Canada's strong economic fundamentals and financial prudence have served it well in recent years. Its banking sector has remained stable in spite of global and domestic financial challenges. Open-market policies and a focus on global trade and investment have also kept the economy growing.
Uruguay (2.4%)
Uruguay is a standout country compared to most others in Latin America because of its longstanding intolerance for corruption and its history of open economic practices. International investors are attracted to improvements in regulatory efficiency, and financial institutions are being revamped to encourage greater use of services by the general public.
The Zoolander 2 screenwriter flew to Los Angeles to be with his wife
Jennifer Aniston and husband Justin Theroux recently enjoyed a secret, low-key anniversary celebration, with Theroux flying to Los Angeles to spend it with the 47-year-old actress.
The event took place on August 5th as the 44-year-old actor took a brief break from filming the upcoming season of The Leftovers.
An insider revealed to People magazine: Justin flew from Australia to LA to spend their anniversary week with Jen. They relaxed at home, had dinner with friends and had a small anniversary celebration at home.
Aniston also feels like they had been husband and wife long before tying the knot, saying: We felt married for so long. Married life is so normal and fun and not much different.
The Cake actress who was previously married to Brad Pitt says Theroux makes her very happy and comfortable. She also praises his uncanny sense of humor and thanks the constant laughter for keeping her young at heart.
She said: Im lucky because Justin is the funniest person Ive met, and we make each other laugh. Laughter is one of the great keys to staying youthful.
The former Friends star is also thankful to have reached her 40s, as she feels much wiser and healthier than ever before.
I feel better in my 40s. Not only do you feel better in your body physically, but youre mentally better. Because, say, in your 20s, you didnt know s**t. For me, in my 30s, I was just trying to figure it all out. Then when you hit 40, youre like, Oh, OK. I got this.
There are women whove hit 50 who are stunners, like shocking. We just take better care of ourselves, she revealed.
Pentagon's Cyber Command given greater role and responsibilities
The Obama administration is preparing to elevate the status of the Pentagons Cyber Command. It will be tasked with developing offensive strategies to combat cyber attacks and drafting policies to punish cyber criminals while placing a particular emphasis on combating ISIS.
Cyber Command is currently part of the National Security Administration but will be separated out into its own unified command. Other examples of this command structure include the militarys Central and Pacific commands. That will empower officials within Cyber Command to have a larger voice for advocating for the offensive and defensive use of cyber strategies in future conflicts.
Cyber Command was created in 2010 and is now subordinate to the U.S. Strategic Command which is tasked with missile defense, space operations, and nuclear weapons. The looming change in command structure reflects the growing role that cyber strategies play in modern warfare. Officials who spoke to Reuters cautioned that the exact details of the plan are still being debated, and that President Obama has not yet given final approval.
The Pentagon has previously acknowledged that is has employed cyber attack to combat ISIS, although the exact nature of these attacks is unknown. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work commented in April that, We are dropping cyberbombs. We have never done that before.
Many had previously predicted the growing role of Cyber Command. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said previously in a speech that the Pentagon planned to spend an additional $35 billion on cyber strategies over the next five years. Adapting to new functions will include changes in how we manage ourselves in cyberspace, Carter commented.
Navy Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the current head of Cyber Command, also created Joint Task Force Ares last month to improve the militarys efforts to combat ISIS on cyber fronts. The task force is made up of operations and intelligence officials from throughout the armed services.
The role of the NSA is largely dedicated to monitoring and intelligence gathering. The new Cyber Command is expected to have much more of an offensive role, dealing directly with the fallout from cyber attacks and responding in kind if ordered to do so.
This change directly reflects the rapidly evolving nature of modern warfare and is a specific response to the success of ISIS online. The militant group controls limited territory in the Middle East but has proved very successful at spreading its message and philosophy worldwide through online channels. James Lewis, a security expert working at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that the new command structure, Reflects the maturing of Cyber Command and its own capabilities.
A 73-year-old retired librarian playing a "bad guy" role in a Florida police community event was shot multiple times by a Punta Gorda officer
Mary Knowlton was one of two volunteers randomly chosen to participate in a shoot-dont shoot exercise, but was killed Tuesday night when a Punta Gorda, Fla., police officer shot her multiple times with live ammunition rather than blank rounds. Knowlton was playing the bad guy in a scenario that was intended to demonstrate the split-second decisions police have to make on the job. The exercise was part of the Citizens Academy event, an eight-session, interactive course for local residents that attempts to teach them about the roles of various city departments and services. About 35 people were taking part in the Tuesday event.
According to Punta Gorda police public information officer Lt. Katie Heck, the shoot-dont shoot scenario has been part of the program for 2 years. We have done them for the last two Leadership Charlotte police nights, Punta Gorda Citizens Academy, and then this was the first police night hosted by our Chamber of Commerce. In each session, four individuals went through the scenarios with no injuries or incident.
Knowlton was rushed to a nearby Fort Myers hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the killing.
Mary Knowltons Facebook page said she lives in Punta Gorda but had been a librarian in Savage, Minn. A longtime friend said that Knowlton had a love of books and tried to instill that in children. So much is on the Internet now, said Carolyn Hartwigsen. But, books are so important to have in childrens hands. That was important to her.
Police Chief Tom Lewis said he was devastated for everyone involved in this unimaginable event. The police officer involved in the shooting has not been identified, and has been placed on administrative leave while an investigation takes place.
A young man wanted to make a point about racism in the United States, but his plan backfired when he was exposed for a liar by police. 20-year-old Khalil Cavil of Texas was working at the Saltgrass Steak House in Odessa when he claimed he was discriminated against because of his Muslim name. Cavil took
Eager to welcome China president to Nepal: PM
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said that Nepal was eager to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping to the country any time soon.
Fire displaces three resettled families in NH
Three resettle Bhutanese families in Manchester, New Hampshire were driven from their center city apartment building late Saturday night by a fire that police department said to be suspicious.
Wrexham University Backs Calls For More Construction Workers
This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Aug 10th, 2016
Wrexham Glyndwr University has backed a campaign urging more people to lay foundations in a career in construction.
The Welsh construction industry is set to grow at nearly triple the UK average, with more than 27,000 jobs expected to be created in the coming five years, according to the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).
Wrexham Glyndwr University, which offers a Bachelors degree in Construction Management, is encouraging those who are interested in starting a career in the industry to visit the universitys open day on Saturday, August 20th from 10am-2pm.
Dave Cheesbrough, Construction Management programme leader at Wrexham Glyndwr University, emphasised that the UK needs more qualified construction managers as there is a lack of chartered practitioners in the industry.
He said: The Welsh Government has identified a need for greater numbers of qualified construction managers in Wales. The university is therefore helping to fill this skills gap in North Wales, and in the North West of England.
North East Wales has a thriving construction industry and were encouraging anyone interested in developing a career in construction to join our BSc (Hons) course.
The CITB has also launched Go Construct, an awareness campaign to encourage more people to consider a career in construction.
The BSc Construction Management degree, available full-time or part-time, is fully accredited by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and affiliated to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
Sarah Morgan, a part-time estate agent in Ruthin and Denbigh, decided to study BSc Construction Management in Wrexham to change career direction.
She said: I applied for the course to expand my knowledge of the construction process and broaden my transferable skills for career progression.
The course allows people, with and without practical experience, to understand all construction methods, and also incorporates encompassing aspects such as environmental, economic and managerial processes which provides a holistic understanding of the entire process.
To gain insight and experience of working in the industry Wrexham Glyndwr University students visited HMP Berwyn which is currently under construction. The project is being undertaken by contractors Lendlease and more than 800 local workers are currently employed on the site.
Rita Patel Miller, community engagement and training manager of Lendlease, has commended the close working relationship and support between LendLease and Wrexham Glyndwr Universitys Built Environment courses.
For more details visit www.glyndwr.ac.uk or attend Wrexham Glyndwr Universitys open day on Saturday, August 20.
Foreign forces foiled merger
Chairman Kamal Thapa has claimed that the force involved in toppling the KP Sharma Oli-led government was responsible for foiling the merger plan between his Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal and the RPP.
Two babies were accidentally administered nitrous oxide instead of oxygen during resuscitation at a Bankstown-Lidcombe hospital operating theatre in Sydneys southwest. The nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, was incorrectly labelled as oxygen on the theatres gas supply wall units.
A boy, delivered by emergency caesarean section, died 57 minutes after he was born on July 13. A girl is in a critical condition with serious brain injuries, after being given nitrous oxide in late June. She is expected to suffer severe disabilities for the rest of her life.
The boys parents, Youssef and Sonya Ghanem, were not told for a week how their son died. It was almost a month before the girls parents were informed of what happened.
The gas lines were installed in mid-July 2015, 18 months after an oxygen bottle ran out during the resuscitation of a newborn baby in early 2014. BOC Limited, a major medical gas supplier and contractor to Australian hospitals, was engaged to install, test and commission the piped oxygen supplies.
A Root Cause Analysis (RCA) investigation began on June 23 into problems with the resuscitation of the girl, but it was not until a day after the death of the boy that a hospital paediatrician raised concerns about the gas lines. Eight days later, on July 21, BOC conducted a gas purity check and the theatre was closed.
BOC issued a statement claiming it was not involved in the original installation of the pipes, saying they were wrongly identified before its work at the hospital in 2015. The original pipes were fitted during the late 1990s.
The New South Wales (NSW) state government, which did not publicly release any information on the disaster until July 25, has responded by going into political damage control.
The government commissioned an interim inquiry headed by NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant, suspended BOC from installing, commissioning or testing works at public hospitals, and stood down a Bankstown-Lidcombe hospital engineer.
NSW Health is also conducting a combined RCA investigation into the incidents, headed by Professor Michael Nicholl, the clinical director of Women, Children and Family Health at Northern Sydney Local Health District. Its report is scheduled for release on August 25.
State Health Minister Jillian Skinner described the death of the boy and injuries to the girl as a devastating error and said both families would be compensated.
Joe Kharma, an uncle of the boy, denounced Skinners response. Speaking to 2GB radio, he said: I cant understand how its just a devastating error to the minister. Youre dealing with someones baby. Emotions are through the roof and all they can do is play the political game of covering up everything.
Kharma said the parents were distraught. Their son lived for less than an hour, he said. Were speechless. All we want is justice I cant describe to you enough the feeling and the visuals we go through seeing a little white coffin go six feet into the ground. What makes it harder now is the fact that we know he was killed for nothing. They just kept pumping poison into him.
Pre-empting the outcome of the RCA investigation, Skinner told the media that BOC, who was responsible for the commissioning and installation of the line, along with a hospital engineer in the first instance, will be found to be involved.
The RCA investigation and a future coronial inquest, she continued, would help identify whether hospital managers or staff contributed to the tragedy. If so, theyll be held to account, she declared. In other words, Skinner and the government are looking for scapegoats to deflect attention from their own responsibility in creating the conditions that produced the tragedies.
Many questions remain unanswered. What testing was done on the gas lines before their commissioning? Why wasnt the problem identified after the injury to the girl in June? Why did it take eight days, after a hospital paediatrician raised doubts about the wall outlets, before they were tested by BOC?
Mistakes were clearly made but they cannot be divorced from the conditions created in public hospitals by decades of under-funding and cost-cutting by federal and state governments, Liberal and Labor alike.
Doctors, midwives and other health workers, as well as hospital engineers and medical gas supply contractors, are constantly being told they must do more with fewer resources. This generates extreme pressure on staff to cut corners to get jobs completed, inevitably leading to errors.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation recently reported that the South Western Sydney Local Health District, which covers the Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital, was not meeting state targets for neo-natal care beds. Located in a rapidly growing working-class area, the facility should have had a minimum of 13 special care nursery beds by this year, but it only has 10.
A midwife who worked at the hospital for seven years said the maternity unit midwives were understaffed and run off their feet. She told the Bankstown-Canterbury Express: I believe that a major problem is that when midwives are on maternity leave the hospital cannot employ anyone to replace them. The positions are kept on hold. And when they come back they usually come back only two days a week so the other three days cannot even be filled.
According to the newspaper, the midwife warned people not to jump to conclusions and blame maternity staff over the tragic mistake.
The NSW Labor Party opposition has condemned the government investigation as inadequate. It called for the health minister to resign and declared it would move for a parliamentary upper house inquiry. This is so much hot air. Labor at federal and state levels, whether in government or opposition, has helped cut public health spending and slash jobs, while boosting private health industry profits.
Early this year, the Australian Medical Associations 2015 annual report card for Australian hospitals warned that the health system faces a funding black hole in 2017 because of last years Liberal-National cost-cutting measures. The cutbacks, which Labor has endorsed, will slash federal funding by $1.7 billion over four years and an estimated $57 billion in the next decade.
Dozens of refugees who are being detained indefinitely in two Ontario jails mounted a hunger strike last month to expose the horrific treatment to which they and thousands of others newly arrived in the country are being subjected by the Canadian government.
On July 11, a group of about 50 refugees imprisoned at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ontario, and the Toronto East Detention Centre started refusing food.
According to the refugee-rights groups No One Is Illegal and the End Immigration Detention Network, the hunger strikers were demanding an end to the governments policy of indefinitely detaining refugees in prisons, including maximum-security facilities. They were also protesting brutal prison practices including lockdowns and solitary confinement.
On the weekend of July 30-31, detainees at the Lindsay facility began accepting food.
Karen Cocq, a leading member of both refugee-rights organizations, explained that some migrants are locked up in prison for 2, 3 or 5 years and dont have access to health services and medication.
The refugee-rights groups had been urging Liberal Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale to meet the prisoners, a demand he rejected despite urgent warnings by a group of medical specialists that the strikers health was in danger.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) issued a statement saying it took notice of the circumstances and was working closely with the detainees in order to resolve quickly and safely the hunger strike. But pro-refugee activists charged that prison authorities, likely under CBSA instructions, are doing everything in their power to break the strike.
One of the strike organizers was deported at the end of July, after 26 months behind bars. Others were threatened with transfer.
Goodale refused to meet with the hunger strikers, let alone address their concerns. Instead, he penned a column for the Huffington Post in which he whitewashed the CBSA and the criminal character of indefinite detention, a measure that tramples on basic human rights, the UN Refugee Convention, and international law. He called for reform of the detention system, including the building of new federally funded facilities for detainees. These would effectively serve as prisons, but cost the government less.
Most of the refugee detainees have fled political repression or desperate conditions in countries that have been ravaged by imperialist-imposed economic restructuring programs and imperialist war, as in the Middle East. They are being detained without trial or charge on administrative grounds, such as the CBSAs claim that their identity cannot be verified or that they constitute a flight risk.
Their imprisonment makes a mockery of the attempt by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to portray himself and his Liberal government as progressive and a friend of refugees.
Last December, the media gave Trudeau wall-to-wall coverage when he met the first planeload of Syrian refugees on the tarmac of Torontos Pearson Airport. The prime minister made a show of handing out winter jackets, Canadian flags, and teddy bears to the refugees and told those who were fleeing the war and social devastation caused by Canada and the other imperialist powers that they were now home.
Trudeaus pledge to bring 25,000 carefully selected Syrian refugees to Canada, a tiny fraction of the 4 million who have fled the country and the millions more who have been internally displaced, was an election ploy. It was aimed at appealing to the groundswell of popular support for the refugees and at camouflaging the Liberals right-wing agenda, including plans to strengthen Ottawas military-security partnership with Washington and expand Canadas participation in the US-led war in Iraq and Syria.
While the government now boasts about having fulfilled its pledge to accept 25,000 Syrian refugees, many of those who arrived last winter were privately sponsored and are now facing government demands that they pay up to $10,000 for their relocation to Canada. Moreover, no sooner was the 25,000-target met than the government slashed the staff working on applications, leaving thousands who were in the processing of applying to come to Canada stranded in miserable conditions in refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and other countries.
Behind its progressive and humanitarian facade, the Trudeau Liberal government has continued the aggressive, militarist foreign policy that the Harper Conservatives pursued on behalf of Canadian imperialism. It is also upholding the reactionary changes that Liberal and Conservative governments have made to the refugee determination process over the past two decades.
Although Canada has never been a haven for migrants and asylum seekers, recent years have witnessed a dramatic assault on their rights. Under the Chretien-Martin Liberal government, a law was passed that strips anyone who arrived in Canada via a safe third country of the right to even apply for refugee status.
In 2012, the former Harper government tabled the draconian Refugee Exclusion Act (Bill C-31), which legalizes mandatory incarceration for refugees designated as irregular arrivals. Under this law, which was presented as a way to reduce the flow of bogus refugees and people-smuggling, migrants, including children, can be detained for a year pending a governmental review of their case.
This legislation, which was drafted by the Conservatives but is now being implemented by the Trudeau Liberals, effectively strips refugees of basic democratic rights, including freedom from arbitrary detention, the right to freedom and security, and habeas corpus (the right to have a detention challenged quickly and by an independent court or judge).
In 2015, the Conservatives, with Liberal support, rushed through a new anti-terrorism law (Bill C-51) that dramatically increases the coercive powers of the state. This includes granting the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) the power to break virtually any law in thwarting purported threats to public security. As a result of Bill C-51s expansive new definition of activities deemed to undermine the security of Canada, the CBSA and government have much greater leeway to reject refugee claims and deny applicants permanent residence status. Bill C-51 also entrenches in law the state power to incarcerate non-residents indefinitelya practice the UN Human Rights Commission has explicitly condemned.
As a result of the past two decades of regressive changes to Canadian policy, thousands of migrants are victims of what the government calls preventive detention. Many are being held in maximum-security prison facilities, often alongside criminals or in segregation units even though they have been charged with no crime.
Immigration detention is one of the fastest growing forms of incarceration in Canada. The Canadian government jailed more than least 87,300 refugee claimants and other migrants without charge between 2000 and 2014. Of these, more than 4,000 were minors under the age of 18.
On any given day, some 400 migrants are held in detention in Canada, including more than 200 in Ontario jails. Over one third of all migrant detainees are held in provincial prisons, and the rest are imprisoned in one of three CBSA-run immigration-holding centers in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
The conditions of detention, while largely concealed by the government and the corporate media, are atrocious. Since 2000, at least 15 people have died while detained by the CBSA, including 3 since the Liberals came to power just nine months ago.
Refugee claimants are usually detained on the basis that because their identities cannot be confirmed, they constitute a security threat.
Many refugees refrain from giving border agents much information because they fear being quickly sent back to their war-torn countries. In 2012, as part of Bill C-31, the government established a list of 27 countries deemed safe. Refugee claimants from these countries are deported through a fast-tracked process, with no right to appeal a negative decision.
For those refugees who are lucky enough not to be imprisoned, life is often extremely harsh. They live in poverty with difficulty finding jobs or decent housings in metropolitan cities where a two-bedroom apartment can easily cost C$1,500-C$2,000 per month, if not more. Many face language barriers and social isolation, while trying to cope with psychological distress arising from the traumatic experiences that they endured in their country of origin. Government cuts to health care and public services have only exacerbated this stark reality.
On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met at the Constantine Palace in the Russian city of St. Petersburg. The meeting was the first between the two presidents for almost a year and the first visit abroad by Erdogan since the failed coup of July 15.
Following the shooting down of a Russian jet by a Turkish fighter over Syria last November, relations between Turkey and Russia had reached a low point. But on June 29, Erdogan sent Putin a letter of apology in an attempt to initiate a rapprochement. Since then, relations have rapidly improved.
A day after Erdogans letter, following a phone conversation between the Russian and Turkish presidents, the Russian government lifted its ban on tourist flights to Turkey. The Turkish and Russian foreign ministers met in the Russian city of Sochi on July 1.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Putin described Erdogans visit as a sign of normalizing ties. He said to the Turkish president, Your visit today, despite the very difficult political situation in Turkey, says that we all want to resume our dialogue, rapprochement, in the interests of the peoples of Turkey and Russia. Erdogan agreed, saying, Turkey-Russia ties have entered into a very different and positive phase.
There are many indications that the July 15 coup was, at least in part, a reaction to Turkeys new rapprochement with Russia. It was the Russian government that warned Ankara about the imminent coup, allowing Erdogan to escape and appeal to his supporters. Now the visit to St. Petersburg, which was scheduled before the coup, comes as Ankaras relations with the United States and the European Union have almost reached the breaking point.
There is no doubt that Washington supported the coup, and Erdogan is openly accusing Washington of having done so. He is demanding the extradition of exiled Islamic leader Fethullah Gulen, who resides under US government protection in Pennsylvania.
Erdogan is charging Gulens Hizmet movement with having organised the coup. He is at the same time taking advantage of mass opposition within Turkey to the coup to forge an alliance of national unity with two main bourgeois opposition parties, the Kemalist Republican Peoples Party (CHP) and the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). He is utilizing this alliance to purge his political opponents and suppress the extreme class tensions within Turkey while he carries out a new foreign policy orientation.
In the foreground of the new rapprochement between Russia and Turkey are economic issues. Erdogan arrived with a huge delegation. Following the talks, it was announced that Turkeys first nuclear power plant, built with the aid of Russia, would be completed, and the Turkish Stream pipeline project, which is to carry Russian gas via the Black Sea and Turkey to south-eastern Europe, would be restarted.
Last year, Moscow and Ankara set the goal of increasing their mutual trade volume to $100 billion by 2023. According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, trade between the two countries had increased by nearly 18 percent to over $30 billion between 2010 and 2014. Last year, Russia was the second-largest destination for Turkish exports and the third-largest source of imports.
In the first six months of 2016, however, after Russia imposed economic sanctions following the shoot-down of its jet over Syria, Turkeys exports to Russia dropped by 60.5 percent. Moscow also banned package tours and charter flights to Turkey after the November crisis, costing Turkey $840 million in tourism revenue.
In the US and other NATO countries, there are mounting fears that Erdogans visit might signal a strategic reorientation by one of the most important members of the military alliance. This could undermine not only Washingtons military encirclement of Russia, but also its attempt to overthrow the Assad regime in Syria.
The BBC web site posted a commentary that declared: In view of the current frost in the AKP governments relations with both the US and the EU, President Recep Tayyip Erdogans decision to choose Russia for his first official visit abroad since the botched coup appears rich in symbolism. And Western leaders will be looking on nervously.
George Friedman, former head of the Stratfor private intelligence service and a staunch opponent of Russia, spoke very frankly about those concerns. The hopes that they [Turkey] would help us in Syria seem to have gone up in smoke, he said in a video interview. On the other side of the equation we are trying to contain Russia. When they shot down the Russian plane we were hoping we would be in a close alliance with Turkey again. Now thats gone. So both our plans for blocking Russian expansion, our plans for blocking ISIS have been dealt a severe blow.
Both Putin and Erdogan indicated in St. Petersburg that they might work together in Syria, where they had up to now been at cross-purposes, with Turkey siding with the US against Russia and the Assad regime.
A day before the visit, Erdogan said in an interview with Russias TASS news agency and state television Rossiya 24 that the Russian Federation was the primary actor in bringing peace to Syria, adding, I think that we, Russia and Turkey, should resolve this [Syria] issue by taking a step together.
He described his impending meeting with Putin as a rebirth and declared: Now, I believe, we have a chance to reconsider everything, to open a new page in Turkey and Russia relations. I believe we have a lot to do as two important actors in all areas, including cultural, trade, political, military, economy. I have no doubt in this matter.
After the meeting in St. Petersburg, Putin said Russia and Turkey had a common goal of resolving the crisis in Syria. He remarked that their views on the question had not always coincided, but said that the two states had agreed to discuss further and seek solutions. I think it is possible to align our views and approaches, he concluded.
There remain many unresolved differences, such as the attitude to Kurdish forces in Syria and Turkey. Erdogan has accused Russia of arming the Kurdish PKK. Turkey, for its part, has supported Islamist groups in Syria that are also active in Russia. On the question of Crimea, Turkey is supporting Crimean Tatars who are hostile to Moscow.
One of the first responses to Erdogans visit came from Berlin. While the German press has generally been very hostile to Erdogan since the failed coup, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier took a more careful approach. It is good that after the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey last year, there is a rapprochement now, he told the German daily Bild, adding, There wont be a solution to the civil war in Syria without Moscow and without Iran, Saudi Arabia or Turkey.
The enormous number of people in the UK depending on food banks for emergency food parcels is set to escalate.
Latest figures from the Trussell Trust, which operates more than 420 food banks across the UK, show a 2 percent rise in demand for the year 2015/2016 over the previous year. Some 1,109,309 food parcels, which provide three days of rations to tide people over an emergency, were distributed.
The rise in number of parcels runs parallel to the increasing levels of austerity imposed by successive governments following the financial crisis of 2008. In the year 2008/2009, immediately following the financial crisis, the Trussell Trust distributed just 25,899 emergency food parcels. Now it has reached 1 million emergency food parcels a year, with the Trust warning that this must not become the new normal.
The Trust, in collaboration with Hull University, has used data mapping to show an unfolding correlation between food bank use and areas with high numbers of people in skilled manual work, whohave long-term illnesses or disabilities. It also noted that the main drivers for people turning to food banks were problems with benefit payments and low incomes.
These figures showing increasing dependency on food banks are backed up by a report issued in July by researchers at Oxford and Chester universities and authored by Dr. Elisabeth Garratt, a research fellow at the Centre for Social Investigation at Nuffield College, Oxford. They studied users at a Trussell Trust food bank in West Cheshire, which handed out nearly 2,900 parcels last year.
The report, titled #stillhungry, Who is hungry, for how long, and why?, highlighted the impact of austerity and hunger on children, revealing that one in three of recipients of food parcels during the year of study was a child.
Dr. Garratt said, We find that emergency food referrals rose in 2016 and there is every indication that food banks are here to stay. These findings show there are huge levels of povertyeven in a country as wealthy as ours.
The report claims to represent the most systematic and detailed exploration yet conducted of people receiving emergency food in the UK. Over forty percent of referrals reflected problems in the benefits systemwhether changes, delays or sanctions. Problems of low incomes and debt were also prevalent.
The Trussell Trust also released a press report on July 25 highlighting the impact school holidays have on parents. For many parents, the summer break puts increased financial pressure on already tight budgets and increases their anxiety over how to feed their children, particularly as there are no breakfast clubs or free midday meals for their children.
The report noted that around 20 percent of parents, with children between the ages of five and sixteen, would skip meals over the school holiday period to be able to feed their children. For younger parents aged between 25 and 34, the figure rises to a third. In total, around 1.5 million parents will miss some meals over the school holiday period. It also pointed out that last year, the Trust gave out an additional 5,000 emergency food parcels to children in July and August compared to the previous two months.
Trussell Trust Food Bank Network director Adrian Curtis said, Families who rely on free school meals during term time can find themselves facing hunger in the school holidays, when there is an extra financial pressure to provide main meals. No one knows the full scale of hunger in the school holidays yet, but these figures make one thing clear: many families are closer to crisis than we think. It should be a wake-up call to us all that so many children will have a parent expecting to skip a meal or more this summer so they can feed the family.
To try to address the need for food aid over the summer holiday, the Trussell Trust has initiated a pilot project of holiday clubs providing meals and other support, and plans to set up 50 over the next two years.
The evidence from the Trussell Trust showing increased reliance on food banks is confirmed even more sharply by Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS). A recent CAS report, Living at the Sharp End, noted: Last year Scottish CABs [Citizens Advice Bureaus] gave advice relating to food banks on over 7,400 occasionsan increase of 47 percent on the previous year. During 2014/15, 1 in every 42 Scottish CAB enquiries featured advice regarding food banks.
The extent of poverty was such that Almost two thirds of our survey respondents (63 percent) said they sometimes cut down on gas and electricity and 71 percent said they sometimes cut down on food.
Commenting on the report, CAS head of policy Susan McPhee said, It is clear that the social security system is simply not working for the most vulnerable people in our society.
That those attending food banks have multiple problems related to their level of poverty was also revealed in a recent survey published by the Rutherglen and Cambuslang Food Bank in the city of Glasgow. Of the almost 2,000 people fed in the past financial year, 433 were children.
In the survey, recipients of food parcels at the food banks three outlets were asked about problems paying for fuel usage. Of those experiencing fuel poverty, 90 percent were using pay-as-you-go meters (the most expensive method of buying fuel), 40 percent had gone without electricity for up to a week, and 18 percent without gas for a similar period. Another gruesome statistic involved two food bank clients unable to afford gas for more than a month.
Half of people reporting fuel poverty had experienced Job Centre sanctions (in which their benefits are cut or delayed as punishment). Others reported that paltry Universal Credit payments did not go far enough or that debt was the reason for their fuel shortages.
Some 79 households were given a 25 top-up for pay-as-you-go electricity or gas meters, but this was only made possible due to a 680 donation made to the food bank.
Ian Robertson of the Rutherglen and Cambuslang food bank committee explained, This survey, while short and limited in scale, shows clearly that food and fuel poverty are linked, with the vast majority of food bank clients being obliged to use the most expensive forms of energyprepayment meters.
The imposition of Conservative Theresa May, a hard-line Thatcherite, as prime minister following the Brexit referendum vote to leave the EU, indicates the determination of the ruling elite to maintain the policy of imposing austerity on the working class. This can only mean the exponential increase in the use of food banks will continue.
Guardian columnist Owen Jones has been forced to defend himself, after his barely veiled support for the right-wing coup against Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn met with widespread hostility.
The Guardian acts as a sounding board and propaganda sheet for the clique around former party leader Tony Blair that is playing the leading role in the attempted inner party putsch.
Jones has a particular function in seeking to make political capital from his self-declared role as a man of the left, who has supposedly come out against Corbyn solely in the interests of the party. He made his first major intervention on this theme in a July 14 column, describing the majority of Labour MPs as those who simply worry Labour would be defeated badly at a general election.
He explained that his initial support for Corbyn was based on his expectation that he would shift Labours political direction without winningmuch as Bernie Sanders has with the Democrats in the USand lay the foundations for a leadership challenge from Labours left wing new intake in a few years time.
Corbyns victory was a shock, which he was intent on reversing. Commenting, the World Socialist Web Site noted on June 27 that Jones wrote of the national crisis and political paralysis caused by the Leave vote in the June 23 referendum on membership of the European Union, echoing criticisms by the Blairite opponents of Corbyn that he had not done enough to secure a Remain vote.
He then explained, There was a plan that, along with others, I subscribed to. The general election was scheduled to take place in 2020; two years or so before, a younger left-wing member of the new intake would take Jeremy Corbyns place.
The Brexit crisis meant this timetable was no longer feasible. We wrote, The implication is clear. Corbyn has to go and Jones will provide the rationale for the right-wing plotters seeking this end.
Jones reply to his critics confirms this appraisal, puts flesh on who was involved in his plan to replace Corbyn and makes clear that he is a bitter opponent of anything that threatens the domination of the working class by the Labour and trade union bureaucracy.
On August 1, in a blog entry, Questions all Jeremy Corbyn supporters need to answer, Jones declares, Labour and the left teeter on the brink of disaster and attributes this to Corbyns leadership of the party.
In reply to his critics, he concludes his piece, Im beyond caring. Call me a Blairite, Tory, Establishment stooge, careerist, sellout, whatever makes you feel better. The situation is extremely grave and unless satisfactory answers are offered, we are nothing but the accomplices of the very people we oppose.
Jones is indeed an establishment stooge and a careerist, whose use value to the ruling class is that he is not identified as an overt Blairite.
No subject is as important to him as is the life and thought of Owen Jones. Therefore the first half of his latest piece consists of an extended self-justification, including a detailed biography replete with links to what he thinks are his more important pronouncements. He stresses his intimate connections to the Corbyn camp as proof of his supposed left political credentials. After leaving Oxford university in 2005, I worked in the office of the now Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell for two-and-a-half years, and helped to run his (abortive) leadership campaign in 200607, he begins, ending by stressing, I was at the first Corbyn campaign meeting, and the last campaign meeting, too This isnt a milieu that I know well: its a milieu Im part of.
This does not reflect well on Jones, but rather demonstrates the political opportunism of Labours left milieu now grouped around Corbyn. Moreover, as Jones makes clear, even within this grouping he sets himself up as a political policeman--cautioning against anything that might be deemed to be a leftist excess.
Jones states, When Corbyn stood for the leadership, the expectation --including Corbyn himself was that he would lose, but do well enough to shift the terms of debate. Corbyns victory was therefore entirely unwelcome. It would raise political expectations that the left would act on their declared opposition to austerity and militarism, rather than hiding behind the coattails of the Labour right who lead the party.
Jones explains that he submitted a long detailed suggested strategy for his [Corbyns] leadership to follow on August 29 last year, to which he provides a link, entitled, My honest thoughts on the Corbyn campaign and overcoming formidable obstacles.
His policy prescriptions amount to suggestions that Corbyn junk anything that might put him on a collision course with the right for being unacceptable to the ruling class. To cite just three examples:
* Concerns about immigration cannot be addressed by sticking our fingers in our ears, or only emphasising the benefits of immigration.... UKIP voters must be love-bombed, not treated as closet racists, but as people who feel abandoned by the political elite and who have burning concerns on issues ranging from housing to jobs...
* A Corbyn-led government has to pick its battles, because it already has enough of them. Take NATO: the merits of membership are so far from the mainstream of political debate, it would be pointless and self-defeating to pick a fight over it. Instead, Labour should suggest a more constructive role for Britain within the Alliance.
* Some people think that the left somehow hates being British or English. That simply is not true. A new approach to British and, separately, English traditions and values should be emphasised...
Taken together, this constitutes the essential pillars of the platform of the Blairite wing of the party and the focus of its attacks ever since Corbyn took office. And even though Corbyn capitulated to the right whenever these issues were to be fought out, this was not enough to satisfy Jones. When it became clear such a strategy was not going to be put into practice, I fell into despondency, he writes. After a few days, I was in a pit of despair.
Jones restates his preference for someone from the new intake of Labour MPs to have taken over from Corbyn before the scheduled 2020 general election, but this time he identifies Clive Lewis in, say, 2018 as his choice. Jones previously cites Lewis as my friend... who I campaigned for years before the election...
Lewis, as an infantry officer graduate from the elite Sandhurst Military Academy in 2006, who in 2009 was sent to Afghanistan for three months, fit the bill. Someone with a military background, he was also a useful asset as he was, in the parlance of Labours right wing, a clean skin. He did not vote for the Iraq war as he was not an MP during the time.
Although Lewis remained in Corbyns shadow cabinet, as more than 60 Blairites left it to begin the coup, Lewis abstained on the vote for the renewal of the Trident nuclear missile system during the recent parliamentary debate. During the recent debate on the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war, he put down a marker to insist that criticism of the invasion must not act as an impediment to the predatory aims of British imperialism. The lesson for the future was of ensuring the highest standard of proof for taking our country to war.
The Jones/Lewis plan was to co-opt the groundswell of support won by Corbyn due to his stated opposition to austerity, militarism and war by replacing him with someone more acceptable to and in tune with the right wing of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP). In a recent video interview conducted by Jones, Lewis said that when MPs such as he nominated Jeremy Corbyn [as a leadership candidate] we were saying we dont want our party to shift to the right, we wanted Jeremy Corbyn in there to bring the debate back to the centre [emphasis added].
For years, Jones has attended innumerable conferences and public meetings at which he insisted that the hope of a leftward shift in the Labour Party was the only realistic hope for the working class.
The Irish Look Left magazine in January 2014 summarises an interview with Jones in which he boasts that he can trace his familys radical roots back to a gunrunner for Garibaldi, through to a Russian Revolution-inspired train driver who took part in the 1926 British General Strike, a grandfather who joined the Communist Party in the 1930s, and a great-uncle in the Independent Labour Party. He himself is literally an offspring of the Militant Tendency in the Labour Party, where his parents met in the 1960s. His mother was once editor of the newspaper of the Militant-dominated Labour Party Young Socialists, while his father became a Militant organiser in South Yorkshire and was present at the 1984 Battle of Orgreave during the Miners Strike where he watched police charging and batoning miners. Jones was born just two months later.
Jones father left the pseudo-left Militant Tendency, which operated for decades as an entry group in the Labour Party claiming that it could be won for socialism, that same year in the face of a purge by the Labour right wing.
Surveying his parents political lives, Jones asserts, They were left smashed and defeated by what happened to the left and labour movement in the 1980s, they saw defeat after defeat, and decline, and they dropped out of politics. He has routinely cited his parents political demoralisation following the expulsion of the Militant and the inevitable failure of its stated objective of transforming Labour into a revolutionary party as proof that there is no alternative to an interminable campaign to rebuild the Labour left.
Jones insists in Look Left that any movement that exists outside of the Labour Party must intersect with the Labour left, Venn diagram-like, because as long as theres a trade union link theres a Labour Party, essentially, and potential for it to represent working class interests.
Jones has now made clear that his real concern has always been to preserve the stranglehold of the labour bureaucracy. Corbyn, McDonnell and Jones were political bedfellows as long as this was viewed by Jones as a means of preserving the illusion of a potential leftward evolution of the Labour Party. But last year Corbyn was swept to office as a distorted expression of a real shift to the left among workers and young people that saw hundreds of thousands join the party to take up the fight against the right wing. Now, in the midst of an unprecedented witch-hunt, thousands more have joinedtaking Labours membership over half a million.
Faced with this development, Jones sides with the coup plotters with the express aim of preserving Labour as a trusted political instrument of British imperialism in the name of ensuring its electability.
It must be understood that Jones is overt in stating his fundamental concerns, but his fallout with his former allies does not mean that these concerns are not shared by Corbyn and McDonnell. For the past 11 months, Corbyn has made preserving the unity of the Labour Party his goal and still maintains, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, that Labour can be refashioned into an opponent of austerity, militarism and war. In propagating this lie he remains allied with Jones and Lewis even as they conspire against himjust as he continues to offer an olive branch to the rest of the PLP while they plot his downfall.
This week marks two years since President Barack Obama initiated the latest US war against Iraq and Syria, launched in the name of combating the Islamic State militia. The American president cast the new military intervention as not only a continuation of the global war on terrorism, but also a crusade for human rights, invoking the threat to Iraqs Yazidi population and insisting that he could not turn a blind eye when religious minorities were threatened.
The toll of this supposed humanitarian intervention has grown ever bloodier. According to a report released this week by the monitoring group Airwars to mark the anniversary, more than 4,700 civilian non-combatant fatalities have been reported as a result of the US-led Coalitions air strikes (95 percent of which have been carried out by US warplanes). More innocent Iraqi and Syrian men, women and children have been slaughtered by American bombs in the course of two years than the total number of US soldiers who lost their lives during the eight years of the Iraq war launched by President George W. Bush in 2003.
All of Washingtons lies and pretexts about its latest war in the Middle Eastas well as the decade-and-a-half of wars waged since 9/11have been exploded in the course of the past several days as the US government and media celebrated purported victories by rebel forces in the battle for control of Aleppo, Syrias former commercial capital.
That the rebel offensive has been organized and led by an organization that for years constituted Al Qaedas designated Syrian branch, and the operation was named in honor of a Sunni sectarian extremist who carried out a massacre of captured Syrian Alawite soldiers, gave none of them pause. So much for the hogwash about terrorism and human rights!
The scale of the military gains made by the Al Qaeda-led forces in Aleppo are by no means clear. They have, however, apparently succeeded in placing under siege the western part of the city, which is under the governments control and where the overwhelming majority of the population lives. The rebels have killed and maimed hundreds of people with mortar and artillery rounds.
Washington and its allies, the Western media and the human rights groups that accused the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad of crimes against humanity for bombing the jihadists in eastern Aleppo are now indifferent when these imperialist-backed terrorists are killing civilians in the western part of the city.
Sections of the Western media have gone so far as to celebrate the exploits of rebel suicide bombers for providing a strategic advantage for the Western-backed militias. Among the most dishonest and duplicitous accounts of the recent fighting are those that have appeared in the pages of the New York Times, whose news coverage and editorial line are carefully tailored to serve the predatory aims of US imperialism.
In a Monday article on Aleppo, the Times wrote that the challenge to government control had been mounted by rebels and their jihadist allies. The article continued: A vital factor in the rebel advance over the weekend was cooperation between mainstream rebel groups, some of which have received covert arms support from the United States, and the jihadist organization formerly known as the Nusra Front, which was affiliated with Al Qaeda.
The newspaper reports this as casually as if it were publishing a report on the late artist formerly known as Prince. The Nusra Front changed its name to the Fatah al-Sham Front and announced its formal disaffiliation from Al Qaedawith the latters blessingjust one week before it launched the offensive in Aleppo.
There is every reason to believe that this rebranding was carried out in consultation with the CIA in an attempt to politically sanitize direct US support for an offensive led by a group that has long been denounced by Washington as a terrorist organization.
The Times never names any of the mainstream rebel groups it says are fighting alongside the Al Qaeda militia, suggesting that they constitute some liberal progressive force. In point of fact, one of these groups recently released a video showing its fighters beheading a wounded 12-year-old child, and virtually all of them share the essential ideological outlook of Al Qaeda.
The Financial Times of London carried one of the frankest reports on the Aleppo rebel offensive, noting that it may have had more foreign help than it appears: activists and rebels say opposition forces were replenished with new weapons, cash and other supplies before and during the fighting. It cites reports of daily columns of trucks pouring across the Turkish border for weeks with arms and ammunition, including artillery and other heavy weapons.
The newspaper quotes one unnamed Western diplomat who said that US officials backed the Al Qaeda-led offensive to put some pressure back on Russia and Iran, which have both provided key military support to the Assad government.
The Financial Times also quotes an unnamed military analyst as stating that the character of the fighting indicated the Al Qaeda forces had received not only massive amounts of weapons, but also professional military training.
Significantly, even as the fighting in Aleppo was underway, photographs surfaced of heavily armed British commandos operating long-range patrol vehicles in northern Syria. Similar US units are also on the ground. These are among the most likely suspects in terms of who is training Al Qaedas Syrian forces.
They would only be reprising the essential features of the imperialist operation that gave rise to Al Qaeda 30 years ago, when the CIAworking in close alliance with Osama bin Ladensupplied similar support to the mujahedeen fighting to overthrow the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan.
While the blowback from that episode ultimately gave us September 11, the present operation in Syria holds far greater dangers. In what is now openly described by the corporate media as a proxy war in which Al Qaeda serves as US imperialisms ground force, Washington is attempting to overthrow Russias key Middle East ally as part of the preparations for a war aimed at dismembering and subjugating Russia itself.
The frontrunner in the US presidential contest, Democrat Hillary Clinton, has repeatedly signaled that she intends to pursue a far more aggressive policy in Syria and against Russia, making neo-McCarthyite charges of Vladimir Putins supposed subversion of the US election process a central part of her campaign.
Whether Washington can wait till inauguration day next January to escalate its aggression is far from clear. The rebel gains in Aleppo may be quickly reversed and the fighting could end with the US-backed Al Qaeda militias deprived of their last urban stronghold.
US imperialism is not about to accept the re-consolidation of a Syrian government aligned with Moscow. Pressure will inevitably mount for a more direct and more massive US intervention, threatening a direct clash between American and Russian forces.
Fifteen years after launching its war on terror, Washington is not only directly allied with the supposed target of that warAl Qaedabut is preparing to unleash upon humanity the greatest act of terror imaginable, a third world war.
Right-wing businessman Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (popularly known as PPK) has formally taken office as president of Peru after narrowly defeating the right-wing populist candidate Keiko Fujimori in the June 6 elections. At 77, he is Perus oldest-ever head of state.
Between election day and the official takeover on July 28 (Perus Independence Day), the incoming president and his team engaged in negotiations for the selection of ministers and other key figures in his administration. Like Kuczynksi himself, those selected for his administration come from the higher echelons of Peruvian and international big business, with the bourgeois media forced to admit that the political background of most of Kuczynskis cabinet is not quite political.
Topping the slate in the new government is prime minister Fernando Zavala, former vice minister of economy when the ministry was chaired by Kuczynski himself under former president Alejandro Toledos right-wing pro-US government. In the interval between leaving and returning to a high state post, Zavala occupied seats on the boards of directors of six major corporations, including the brewery Backus and Johnston (where Kuczynski was on the board as well and had shares), which belongs to the multinational SABMiller.
Prior to becoming president, Kuczynski publicly resigned from the directorates of the assorted corporations over which he presided. However, a report states that he is still on the boards of several foreign companies, including one that is listed in the fiscal paradise of the British Virgin Islands, Dorado Asset Management.
Heading the Ministry of Economy is the free market economist Alfredo Thorne, formerly of JP Morgan Chase, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. The Ministry of Commerce and Tourism will be chaired by Eduardo Ferreyros Krupps, a pro-free market manager who also chaired Comex, the main private association of foreign trade businesses. The Ministry of Mining and Energy and the Ministry of Production will be chaired by former business advisors Gonzalo Tamayo and Bruno Giuffra, respectively. The Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion will be chaired by Cayetana Aljovin, a notorious lobbyist who was accused, along with her husband, of using public money to bail out a bankrupt bank in the 1990s.
It was reported that Thorne held a private reunion with the most powerful association of Peruvian businessmen, in which he laid out the regimes first proposals, among them the loosening of restrictions on business investment. It has been reported that the president might ask the Congress for a fast track, that is, special powers to eliminate such restrictions and accelerate all permissions on investments and business projects.
Perus principal economic activity is the export of minerals, and it was one of the countries that benefited most from the so-called commodities boom. The enormous demand for minerals from China and other countries fueled a growth of GDP which reached almost 6 percent annually.
Now, with the end of the commodities boom, the IMF has called attention in a recent report to the fact that Peru has not found another important source of income: With the end of the commodities super cycle, Peru needs a new growth machine. The report also points to indications that corporations like BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Freeport-McMoran and Glencore will reduce their investments in Peru in the coming years.
Behind the backs of the Peruvian people, Kuczynski has developed proposals which have only been presented to the foreign financial markets, such as the floating of $8 billion worth of bonds.
The appointments made by the new president have been hailed by the bourgeois media. Nonetheless, the reality is that the new Kuczynski administration is possibly the weakest government in the countrys history. It is headed by a successful businessman with no real political base, who won the election by less than 50,000 votes and is neither supported nor even well known in large parts of the country
A clear sign of the governments weakness and isolation is the rejection it has suffered at the hands of Fuerza Popular, the party of Kuczynskis electoral rival Keiko Fujimori, which has an overwhelming majority in the congress, with 73 seats. It has been reported that the fujimoristas plan to block and oppose the proposals of Kuczynski and his ministers, unless he indicates his intention to pardon their candidates father, ex-president Alberto Fujimori. He is presently jailed for his role in massacres and other human rights crimes, political repression and corruption during his decade of quasi-dictatorial power that ended in 2000.
Kuczynski has signaled his willingness to appease the fujimoristas. He has said that he would grant Fujimori house arrest if the congress passes a law granting this benefit to all those over the age of 75. He has also refused to meet with the main youth group that organized mass marches against the return of fujimorismo, despite the fact that he signed a pledge to them that he would not in any way free Fujimori (the father).
The countrys main union federation, the CGTP, issued a statement expressing concern over Kuczynskis choice of ministers. I do not remember any cabinet so committed to big business as this one, said CGTP official Juan Jose Gorriti.
Nonetheless, the CGTP, like the Peruvian left, supported Kuczynski against Fujimori in the elections, supposedly to prevent the return of the fujimorista dictatorship. It never occurred to the CGTP bureaucracy, it seems, that supporting a multimillionaire businessman could lead to the creation of a cabinet in his image and likeness.
In reality, the mission of the whole Peruvian pseudo-left was to channel the growing opposition amongst the youth and working class against Fujimori towards the Wall Street candidate and, in the case of the CGTP, curry some favor with the new government.
The CGTP also lent its support in 2011 to the election of President Ollanta Humala (who is leaving with a less than 30 percent approval rating), hailing his supposedly pro-working class program. When Humala predictably ditched all his promises and sided with the bosses and transnational mining companies, the CGTP blamed other forces inside his government that obstructed the governments real program.
More significant is the silence of the Frente Amplio de Izquierda (Broad Front of the Left, FAI), the coalition of left parties, whose leader Veronika Mendoza released a video making an unconditional call for a vote for Kuczynski in order to avoid a return of fujiimorismo .
Now that the cabinets formation has revealed the disastrous consequences of this support to Kuczynski, Mendoza has made some slight criticism. She declared, however, that the FAI will meet with premier Zavala to consider their coincidences in policies. It is also reported that the FAIs economy team has met with minister Thorne to see if they can offer economic proposals.
Workers and youth will never gain anything by following pseudo-left coalitions such as the FAI or the treacherous union bureaucracy of the CGTP, except disasters like Kuczynskis big business government. These organizations are completely integrated into the capitalist state machine and will not hesitate to support Kuczynskis government when it enters into open clashes with the working class.
On July 19, the Atlantic Council, an American think tank, published a 25-page strategy paper titled Arming for Deterrence calling for a massive NATO military build-up against Russia. Poland in particular is to be made into a stronghold for a war with Russia.
The paper is a kind of postscript to the NATO summit held in Warsaw in July. It calls for measures that go even further than the summit resolutions.
The authors of the paper, General Sir Richard Shirreff, a former high-ranking NATO General, and Maciej Olex-Szczytowski, a Polish banker, describe Russia as the most serious geopolitical and military threat to NATO.
They claim Russia has the military capability to rapidly attack the Baltic states and Poland with the Russian armys Baltic fleet reputedly in a position to cut communications and connecting routes between the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, Poland and other NATO countries. At the same time they argue that NATO is insufficiently prepared for war when it comes to command structures and military equipment.
While Russia does not appear willing to attack NATO for the moment, this could change unexpectedly should a crisis break out in Russia itself oras a reaction to US foreign policyin another part of the world, they say.
Although the authors claim the danger comes from Russia, their arguments show that in reality it is they who advocate a war of aggression against Russia, whose defence capabilities would be disabled as quickly as possible with the help of Poland and the Baltic states.
At least half of the paper consists of concrete proposals for a fast and comprehensive armament of Poland that already plays a leading role in war preparations against Russia. Polands Civic Platform (PO) government raised the military budget to 2 percent of the countrys gross domestic product (GDP) in 2014. The current right-wing nationalist government of the Law and Justice Party (PiS) has since raised it to 3 percent of GDP (around 14.2 billion US dollars).
The Atlantic Council supports this course, but calls for it to be implemented more rapidly and resolutely, and for greater participation from the private defence sector. In addition to concrete measures regarding the modernization of the Polish army and the acquisition of fighter jets and other military technologies, the authors propose a number of steps for the Polish government that can only be seen as active preparations for a war.
They include:
A declaration by the Polish government stating that it will come to the aid of the Baltic states and Romania in the event of a Russian attack;
The publication of a list of potential targets for military strikes by Poland, especially Kaliningrad;
That the Polish government reserves the right to attack targets in Kaliningrad and other areas with conventional weapons should Moscow threaten nuclear war;
The nuclear armament of Poland, in particular its F-16 fighter jets;
A declaration by Poland that it will attack targets deep inside Russia with cruise missiles and rockets should it be attacked itself;
A declaration by Poland that it will launch cyber-attacks against Russia, with targets including the Moscow subway system, the St. Petersburg power supply and the broadcaster RT;
A declaration by Poland that in the event of a Russian attack, it will send special forces into Russian territory to assist NATO and destroy missile defence systems;
That Poland demonstrate its ability to deploy its military and quickly send troops into the Baltics and Romania.
The authors also call for a credible joint defence plan under the leadership of NATO headquarters and for the unification of Polish armed forces with those of the Baltic states and other willing NATO forces. While this has implications for national sovereignty, they write, Political issues aside, Poland is well-placed, by virtue of the size of its armed forces, to act as lead nation for a Baltic division under command of NATOs Multinational Corps Northeast.
Poland itself should expand its regular armed forces and increase its active troop strength from the current 100,000 troops to 150,000. To this end, the Polish government should prevent many Polish citizens capable of military service from migrating to other EU countries.
At the same time, the paramilitary units under state control should be expanded, a policy that the PiS government has already made a key component of its efforts to build up the military in recent months.
The authors of the paper hope that the strength of these units will be increased from the current 35,000 to as much as 90,000. According to the authors, in order to raise these numbers, the government can draw on the roughly 400,000 men now active in various paramilitary organizations.
The authors fail to mention that these paramilitary organizations are made up of militant right-wing nationalists. Significantly, however, they name the Forest Brothers as an example to follow.
The Forest Brothers were right-wing partisans in the Baltics who collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War. After the war, they waged a guerrilla war against the Soviet Union with the support of Western intelligence services until the mid-1950s.
The authors are clear that not all NATO members will support their proposals. Without naming names, they repeatedly warn of insufficient agreement within the alliance. In the past, the German government in particular has been against permanently stationing NATO troops in Eastern Europe. France and Italy also criticize the aggressive position toward Russia and advocate the easing of Western sanctions.
The Atlantic Council paper calls on Poland to take a stand within the EU against plans for a common European army. It does not elaborate on this point, but its meaning is clear: Within the EU, Poland should take a more offensive position than Berlin, which calls for an EU army and, following a Brexit (British exit), work to push the EU in the direction of developing a military union. The authors of the Atlantic Council, however, insist that an EU army would weaken NATO, especially if Britain were no longer part of the EU.
Notably, both authors of the paper maintain close ties to the weapons industry and the military.
Shirreff was, until 2014, a high-ranking NATO general. This year he published the book 2017: War with Russia, which predicts imminent war with the worlds second-largest nuclear-armed power. Furthermore, he recently founded the consulting firm Strategia Worldwide Ltd., which employs numerous ex-military officers who until recently occupied high-ranking posts in the British military and NATO. Among them is Rob Weighill, who boasts on the firms website that in 2011, he planned the attack of NATO forces against Libya.
More than anyone else, Olex-Szczytowski embodies the close connection between finance capital and militarism in Poland. Since the late 1970s, he was active in important international banks. From 1983 to 1986, he was a member of the Polish government-in-exile in London, which based itself on the Polish constitution of 1935 that legitimized the dictatorial regime of General Jozef Pisudski.
In the 1990s, he played an important role in mass privatizations and the Polish governments business with Western banks. In the 2000s, he led the Military Property Agency and in 2012-14 was an economic advisor to then Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski.
In his speech Monday to the Economic Club of Detroit, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump embraced traditional right-wing nostrums about cutting taxes for the wealthy and slashing regulations on big business, claiming that the American economy would boom if only the wealthy were allowed to have their way completely.
The Trumps speech was a travesty of analysis, as he simply did not address the overriding economic issue confronting world capitalism: the deep economic slump triggered by the 2008 Wall Street crash, from which the world economy has yet to emerge. He said nothing about the financial collapse, the trillion-dollar bailout of the banks that followed, or the long-term consequences of that financial heart attack for world capitalism as a whole.
Remarkably, in a speech about economic policy delivered in Detroit, Trump made no mention of the auto industry bailout pushed through by the Obama administration, centered on the slashing of wages by 50 percent for new hires.
He did refer to the appalling social conditions in the city where he gave his speech, while indicting the Democratic Party as responsible. But he was silent on the most recent catastrophe, the bankruptcy of Detroit, which led to wage cuts, mass layoffs and the destruction of pensions and health benefits, in which politicians of both big-business partiesthe Republican governor and state legislature and the Democratic mayor and city councilplayed major roles.
The Republican candidate rattled off a string of figures about the dismal state of the US economy, prepared by his speechwriters, demonstrating that labor force participation, median household income and economic growth rates are down, while food stamp use, poverty and black youth unemployment are up.
His solutions, however, consisted of a combination of right-wing Republican boilerplatecut taxes on business and the rich, slash regulations, end all restrictions on oil drilling and coal miningand strident economic nationalism.
In effect, he was addressing two audiences. For the businessmen and right-wing political operatives who filled the seats at the invitation-only meeting, Trump offered trillions in tax breaks plus deregulation. For manufacturing workers and the unemployed, a major target of his election campaign, he offered tub-thumping and completely empty pledges to revive American steel, automobile, coal-mining and other heavy industries by excluding foreign imports and waging trade war against economic rivals of American capitalism.
It was notable that his business audience applauded loudly for the promised tax cuts, but largely sat on their hands when Trump declared his opposition to NAFTA and other trade deals, and pledged that Americanism, not globalism would be the watchword of a Trump administration. The giant Detroit-based General Motors and Ford, like their corporate counterparts elsewhere, operate globally, pitting workers in every country against each other in a race to the bottom for wages, benefits and working conditions.
There is little doubt that were Trump to enter the White House, he would do nothing to curtail the overseas operations of giant US corporations, while he would move rapidly to cut their taxes, along with the taxes of wealthy families and the estate taxes that only a tiny fraction of the super-rich (the top 0.2 percent) actually pay.
There were relatively few policy details in the hour-long speech, but Trump did indicate that he was shelving the tax cut proposals he made during the campaign for the Republican nomination in favor of the plan adopted by House Republicans, which calls for reducing income tax brackets to three and cutting the top tax rate from 39.6 percent to 33 percent.
The direct impact of these cuts would be a bonanza for the wealthiest families, while taxes would decline only marginally or not at all for middle-class and working-class families. According to the Tax Foundation, families in the top one percent would see a 5.3 percent increase in after-tax income, while middle-income families would gain 0.2 percent, and families in the bottom 40 percent would gain nothing at all.
Trump proposed the complete abolition of the estate tax, which has gradually eroded over the years as bipartisan congressional action has raised the amount of estates that are exempt from tax from $1.35 million for a couple in 2001 to $11 million today. Only 52,000 estates paid the tax in 2000, but this has dropped to one-tenth that number, only 5,000 estates, in 2013. One major beneficiary of abolishing the death tax, as Trump labeled it, would be his own children, since they would be able to inherit his fortune (assuming it exists) tax-free.
The only specific measure Trump proposed for Americans who are not rich was a tax break for childcare expenses. Even this would benefit primarily the upper layers of the middle class, since it would be structured as a tax deduction rather than a tax credit, meaning the nearly 70 percent of the population who do not itemize deductions on their tax returns would gain nothing.
For those who could claim it, the benefit would be heavily skewed to higher-income families. By one calculation, a family making $500,000 and spending $10,000 a year on childcare would net nearly $4,000. A family making $50,000, with the same childcare expenses, would get back only $1,500, even though they would need the money more.
Dwarfing even the impact of his tax cuts for the wealthy and abolition of the estate tax is Trumps proposal to cut the corporate income tax rate from its current (purely nominal) rate of 35 percent to only 15 percent. This would funnel trillions into the coffers of giant corporations.
Moreover, those companies that have parked some $2 trillion in profits in offshore accounts awaiting more favorable tax treatment in the US would be allowed to pay a rate of only 10 percent if they repatriated the funds to the United States. This one tax break would be worth $500 billion to a handful of corporate giants like Apple, Cisco Systems and General Electric.
Accompanying his Detroit economic speech was Trumps naming of an economic advisory team consisting largely of fellow billionaires, including oil man Harold Hamm, hedge fund boss John A. Paulson, real estate mogul Steven Roth, and Steven Feinberg, cofounder of the private equity firm Cerberus.
Two names on this list bear special note, given Trumps repeated efforts to present himself as the advocate of manufacturing workers: Dan DiMicco, former president and CEO of Nucor Corporation, the leading operator of US mini-mills, the pioneer in the campaign to slash steelworkers wages and benefits; and Wilbur Ross, the financial speculator and asset-stripper who took much of the US steel industry through bankruptcy, reaping billions in the process, and pillaging workers pension funds.
Carl Icahn, the notorious corporate raider and union-buster of the 1980s, was only left off the list of advisers because he has launched a super PAC on behalf of Trump, and claimed that for legal reasons he could not be formally associated with the campaign.
Trumps policies and list of corporate advisers and backers demonstrates that his claim to defend the interests of US manufacturing workers is so much hot air. He is given credibility only by the trade unions and the Democratic Party, which have long specialized in the type of nationalistic demagogy in which Trump is now outbidding them.
When Trump rants and raves against China and Mexico, he is only following in the well-worn trail blazed by the AFL-CIO unions, and particularly the United Auto Workers and United Steelworkers, as well as Democratic Party politicians like Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.
It was notable that during the week leading up to Trumps speech on the economy, the Clinton campaign staged a series of events attacking him from the right, claiming that his economic nationalism was bogus because Trump-branded products were being manufactured in many foreign countries and not in the United States.
In her remarks on economic issues, Clinton made it clear that her so-called jobs plan would not include a single job to be created by the federal government, by launching a public works program. All spending and job creation would be routed through the private sector. In other words, Clinton, like Trump, rejects any interference with the capitalist market except to prop up various industries and business through tax credits and federal contracts.
A debate has broken out in Australias political and media establishment over whether a state-owned Chinese company, State Grid Corp, should be barred from buying a 99-year lease to operate Ausgrid, which is being privatised and provides Sydneys electricity.
Competing with State Grid, Cheung Kong Infrastructure, the largest publicly-listed infrastructure company in Hong Kong, is also waiting for government clearance to purchase the $10 billion lease for 50.4 percent of Ausgrid.
A looming decision by Treasurer Scott Morrison on the bids under foreign investment laws is being described in the media as the first major foreign policy test for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls Liberal-National government since it barely scraped back into office in the July 2 federal election.
This is not an easy decision, Morrison said this week. National security out ranks everything. His comment, ranking geo-strategic and military-intelligence concerns over economic interests, reflects mounting pressure from the US for the Turnbull government to line up unequivocally behind Washingtons plans for a military confrontation with China.
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whom Turnbull ousted last September, joined the fray yesterday, saying he would not like to see Australia cede control of the electricity network to a foreign company. The intervention by Abbott, who publicly aligned himself closely with Washington, underscores the ongoing rifts within Turnbulls shaky government.
Among the headlines in the Australia media this week have been unsubstantiated allegations by anonymous senior government officials that Chinese spies have been caught by the intelligence services conducting brazen espionage in Australia over the past year.
This agitation underscores the underlying dilemma for Australias ruling elite because China is its largest export market and an increasing source of investment. Moreover, Turnbulls government has staked its future on delivering jobs and growth via agile engagement with Chinese and other Asian profit-making opportunities.
Many of the figures calling for State Grid to be blocked are openly framing the issue in the context of a possible conflict with China. One of the most prominent is Peter Jennings, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a government-funded think tank.
Jennings said a Chinese-controlled Ausgrid could become vulnerable to being shut down by cyber-attack. You have to be concerned in a future world where we might find ourselves in a much more hostile relationship with China: Could they do us damage domestically by hacking into our electricity grid in Sydney? Jennings told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Jennings role is significant because he was also conspicuous in last years controversy over the leasing of the commercial port of Darwin to the Chinese company Landbridge. That agreement provoked barely concealed hostility from Washington. President Barack Obama reportedly told Turnbull to let us know next time during a meeting in Manila last November. Darwin is the focus of a major US military build-up in northern Australia as part of the broader pivot to Asia aimed at confronting China.
In an opinion piece published by the Australian last weekend, Jennings declared: Under the increasingly authoritarian Xi Jinping, China is becoming more assertive. By ignoring international law Beijing has effectively taken over the South China Seaan area close to the size of the Mediterraneanwhich is vital to Australian trade.
In reality, it is the US that has moved aggressively against China, with plans to deploy 60 percent of its navy and air force to Asia by 2020, and line up countries throughout the region against Beijing. As part of this drive, Washington has stoked longstanding territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and orchestrated the recent Philippines challenge to Chinese claims in an international arbitration court whose jurisdiction Beijing did not recognise.
Jennings reported concerns held at the most senior levels of American government about cyber attacks on US electricity utilities. He cited a policy statement issued in July by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, warning that the vulnerability of cyber enabled systems presents an assailable flank which competitors are likely to probe, infiltrate and potentially attack.
State Grid already part-owns electricity or gas networks in South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory. It was also cleared by the federal governments Foreign Investment Review Board to bid last year for Transgrid, a New South Wales (NSW) electricity distributor. But that offer was ultimately rejected by the NSW state government, which sold the lease to Canadian interests after the Darwin port controversy erupted.
On the other side of the Ausgrid debate are figures, including former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr, warning of the risk of economic damage, including possible retaliation by China. Carr, who currently heads the Australia-China Relations Institute at University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), said if the Ausgrid bids were rebuffed, it would be a colossal blow to the NSW budget, to infrastructure spend, and to the states economy.
In an Australian Financial Review opinion piece, James Laurenceson, the deputy director of the UTS institute, said Australia badly needed Chinese investment to fill domestic funding shortfalls produced by declining foreign investment. In 2015 alone, British investors pulled a massive $70.2 billion more out of Australia than they put in, he warned.
Chinese investment in Australia remains comparatively small, accounting for $46.6 billion in 201415, or less than 2 percent of incoming foreign investment, compared to $860.3 billion, or 28 percent, from the US. But bids by China-based companies have risen sharply in recent yearsup by 68 percent in 2014 15.
Any halt to that flow could aggravate concerns on global financial markets, where the credit ratings agencies have threatened to cut the countrys AAA borrowing rating unless severe cuts are made to government spending. A Moodys spokesman told the Australian the ratings agency was considering the effect on NSWs rating of delaying the Ausgrid transaction.
Chinese government-linked academics have also warned of adverse consequences if Australia discriminates against Chinese investment. Han Feng, from the China Academy of Social Sciences, said: This will have a negative impact on the long-term investment relationship and its not good for the China-Australia relationship.
Washington has already displayed its readiness to intervene in Australian politics. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was ousted in 2010 by Labor Party and union powerbrokers later identified in WikiLeaks cables as US embassy protected sources. Rudd had suggested the US make concessions to accommodate China. Julia Gillard, who replaced Rudd, provided the Australian parliament as a venue for Obama to formally announce the pivot in November 2011.
Labor leader Bill Shorten, one of the key players in the Rudd coup, has weighed into the Ausgrid debate on a nationalist and protectionist basis, suggesting that a Chinese purchase could eliminate Australian jobs and drive up domestic electricity prices.
Whatever the government decides on the Ausgrid bids, the divisions in ruling circles will only intensify. The tensions reflect the increasingly precarious position of Australian capitalism, caught between its key strategic ally and its largest customer, under conditions of deepening world slump and mounting geo-strategic conflicts.
Under conditions of plunging global demand for steel and an escalating attack on the jobs of steelworkers throughout the world, the United Steelworkers (USW) union in the United States is working closely with the Obama administration to impose protectionist measures against China and other countries.
While doing nothing to stop the attack on jobs, the USW is seeking to whip up anti-Chinese hatred and provide ideological support for US imperialisms increasingly aggressive war preparations against China, which will be accelerated whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump wins the election.
The USW has filed several legal actions in conjunction with US- and foreign-based steelmakers operating in the United States, including US Steel, ArcelorMittal USA, AK Steel Corp., Nucor Corp. and Steel Dynamicsalleging that other countries are dumping low-cost steel or unfairly subsidizing their domestic steel industries.
Last Friday, the US Commerce Department set import duties on hot-rolled flat steel from Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Britain, Brazil, the Netherlands and Australia of as much as 34.3 percent for five years. This followed last months Commerce Department ruling for final duties on cold-rolled steel from Brazil, India, South Korea, Russia and the United Kingdom. The US International Trade Commission (USITC) is scheduled to make a final ruling on the tariffs next month.
Hailing the rulings, USW President Leo Gerard said, The hot-rolled steel trade case and others like it are vital to saving steel jobs and our communities. But they're only part of the solution. Chinese excess steel overcapacity is causing terrible injury world-wide and remains a long-term threat.
In testimony before the Congressional Steel Caucus last April, Gerard warned that protectionist measures were vital to Americas readiness for war. Manufacturing, and the critical steel sector, is vital to Americas national and economic security. In terms of national security, its not just the steel that goes into our ships, tanks, armored personnel vehicles and other weapons. Its the critical infrastructure that supports our warfighters and our nation.
Gerard was beating the drums for trade war and world war side-by-side with top executives from ArcelorMittal and US Steel who were at the time demanding sweeping wage and benefit concessions from workers and destroying thousands of jobs.
The USW and the steel bosses claim that China is overproducing steel of all types and causing global overcapacity, which has led other countries to sell their products below cost in the United States. The USW has also sought to corral workers behind sections of the Democratic Party opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, on the basis that the agreement, which in fact excludes China, would provide a backdoor for Chinese steel to enter the US market.
In determining their own independent standpoint, workers must critically examine the meaning of overproduction, as the WSWS has explained before. There is no overcapacity in relation to human and social need. There is plenty of demand in the US and around the world for steel to repair decaying infrastructure and build new bridges, roads, schools, hospitals, residential and office buildings, along with trains, buses and cars.
Under capitalism, however, production is not carried out for human need but for profit. For the giant steel companies and the powerful financial institutions that control them there is an overproduction of steel in relation to the extraction of sufficient levels of profit. In order to restore their high returns on investment what is necessary is the closure of large sections of the global steel industry, the elimination of millions of jobs and the decimation of workers communities and lives.
Throughout the 20th Century the ruling classes of the world also utilized far more violent and destructive ways to reduce overcapacity. The productive forcesboth technological and humanmust be destroyed so that the capitalist orderbased on the accumulation of private profitcan be maintained. That is the logic of the USWs anti-Chinese agitation and jingoism.
Echoing Donald Trumps claims that US politicians have foolishly negotiated trade agreements that put the US at a disadvantage, Gerard said, The US is a nation that adheres to the rule of law and believes that every other nation wants to be like us and act like us. That simply is not the case and Americans across the countryfrom both political partiesare rising up this year to make clear that their elected leaders need to change course. He added that it was time for China to face a real cost for its alleged unfair trade.
The presentation of the US, which has carried out illegal invasions, renditions, torture and assassinations, as an international model of a law-abiding country would be laughable if it were not so sinister. The USWs call for the US government to ensure that the trade policies of foreign competitors are consistent with international rules echoes Obamas declaration that the US, not China, should write the rules of 21st century trade. These remarks ushered in the Pivot to Asia and the freedom of navigation military operations by the US in territorial waters claimed by China, which could quickly descend into a clash between two nuclear-armed nations.
The anarchy of the capitalist system and the irrational division of the world into rival and competing nation states makes any harmonious coordination of world steel production impossible. Instead in every country, the ruling class and their servants in the trade union bureaucracies are promoting the snake oil of economic nationalism, which would only lead to a more catastrophic collapse of world trade, and ultimately war.
Germany's IG Metall union now holds rallies to denounce Dirty Chinese steel. Faced with the planned mass layoffs at Tata Steel plants across the country, the British Unite union issued the following appeal to then Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron for tax breaks for British steel firms, trade barriers for Chinese steel and a Buy British mandate for government-backed construction projects.
The USW, like other industrial unions in the US, including the United Auto Workers, has long used economic nationalism to divide US workers from their brothers and sisters, and justify their corporatist collusion with the steel bosses. In the 1980s and 1990s, the USW mounted an anti-Asian campaign against Japanese steel, complete with bumper stickers saying, Remember Pearl Harbor. Gerard and other union executives worked with billionaire asset strippers like Wilbur Ross (a major Trump supporter now) to restructure the steel industry and destroy the jobs and pensions of hundreds of thousands of workers. In return, the USW was given control of billions of dollars in retiree health care benefits, known as VEBAs, which have been used as an investment vehicle for the union executives.
In his testimony to Congress last week, USW Vice President Tom Conway boasted how the union had worked systematically to destroy wages and conditions won over generations of struggle. In the wake of several waves of predatory steel imports over the past 30 years, our members and retirees have sacrificed to make the American steel manufacturing industry the most competitive steel industry in the world. We agreed to company consolidations, workforce reductions, and changes in workplace rules to increase productivity. We negotiated agreements that encouraged companies to put money back into the mills.
Conway noted that for the first quarter of 2016 steelworker wages were almost $50 million less than they were in the first quarter of 2015. In addition to blocking any struggle against layoffs and mill closures, the USW spent last year preventing a unified struggle by 35,000 steelworkers whose contracts were running out at US Steel, ArcelorMittal and Allegheny Technologies (ATI). The USW deliberately isolated 2,200 locked-out ATI workers while dragging negotiations out for months before ramming through a new round of concessions. Workers at all three companies now face plant closures, mass layoffs, stagnant wages, skyrocketing healthcare costs and steep cuts to retirement benefits for both new hires and current retirees.
The global economic crisis is throwing billions of workers around the world into struggle. In recent months strikes and other protests have erupted against the threatened layoff of 1.8 million steelworkers and coal miners in China; steelworkers in Mexico and India have struck at ArcelorMittal and Tata Steel respectively; and Australian, Canadian and US workers are facing huge job cuts.
In opposition to the nationalism and warmongering of the trade unions and right-wing politicians like Clinton and Trump, steelworkers throughout the world must coordinate their struggles to defend the social right to a good-paying and secure job for all. The only alternative to the anarchy of capitalism and the descent into world war is the program of international socialism. The major industries and banks must be put under the collective ownership and democratic control of the working class and the world economy reorganized based on a scientific plan to produce for human need, not private profit.
That is the perspective of the Socialist Equality Party in the US and its sister parties around the world.
Latin America
Bolivian peasants seize natural gas installation
On August 4, protesting peasants seized a natural gas pumping field in Santa Cruz province, in eastern Bolivia. At issue are peasants demands for title to the land that they have already occupied, and the paving of a road to give them access to local markets.
Following a two-day standoff with government troops, the occupiers voluntarily left the gas field in return for a government promise of negotiations over the two issues.
Bolivia is a major exporter of natural gas to Argentina, its southern neighbor, much of if it delivered from the occupied field. By some estimates, the country lost $400,000 due to this two-day occupation.
Bolivian oil workers strike
In Bolivia, on August 3, the Federation of Employees of the Oil Workers Health Fund launched a 72-hour strike, but it was observed by only about half the workers. Striking employees confronted non-strikers in the Santa Cruz headquarters of the Health Fund (CPS).
The main issue involved in this protest strike is the corruption that allegedly exists in the CPS itself. Its administrator, Victor Hugo Villegas is accused of spending only 1.6 percent of investment funds allocated for 2016. The strikers, led by union leader Cristina Morales are demanding Villegas removal. An opposing faction in the union, led by Roque Perez opposed the job action.
While the Health Fund was able to provide medical care during the strike, the strike by administrative employees impacted clinics across the oil-producing regions.
Teachers protest in Mexico City
On August 3, some 1,500 members of the Mexican Coordinating Committee of Education Workers (CNTE) marched through Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City and rallied at historic central square (El Zocalo) to announce that the new education cycle will not begin unless the government rescinds its education reform. CNTE leaders described the negotiations taking place with the Enrique Pena Nieto administration over the education reform law as going backwards.
The teachers had reached the Fine Arts Museum when they were stopped by police from advancing to the Zocalo. Following a brief interval, the police did allow the march to pass, in what appears to have been a last-minute concession made to the teachers by government officials.
The CNTE has also threatened to block refineries operated by the national oil company PEMEX and even to block the US-Mexico and Guatemala-Mexico borders.
Big business is demanding that the government do something about the nearly 100 days of teacher barricades in Southern and Central Mexico, which they claim have caused the loss of millions of dollars in profits.
Government threat to Ecuador teachers union
The Ecuadorean government is threatening to shut down the teachers union (Union Nacional de Educadores, UNE), in retaliation for public statements made earlier this year by UNE officials to the International Labor Organization and the UN human rights Committee on government violations of freedom of association.
Last week, the government of President Rafael Correa gave UNE 15 days to explain why it should not be shut down for violating government Decree 16 (that applies to nonprofit organizations) for having undertaken actions that are prohibited in the Constitution, without specifying particular charges.
Peru: Teachers strike in Piura
Last Wednesday, education workers in the northwestern State of Piura, belonging to the United Education Workers Union (SUTE, Piura) announced a teachers strike for this week.
The strike is over nonpayment of medical benefits and class preparation wages, an amount that represents US$25,000 per teacher (80,000 soles). There are 20,000 teachers in the region.
The United States
School district asks judge to block Yuba City, California teachers strike
On August 5, officials for the Yuba City Unified School District in northern California asked the Public Employment Relations Board to request that a judge block a strike by more than 700 teachers when school opens on August 11. The Yuba City Teachers Association (YCTA) countered with an unfair labor practices filing, charging the district with intimidating teachers and making unilateral changes to the contract.
Teachers voted by an 85 percent margin on May 17 to reject the districts 3.5 percent wage increase and in a second vote registered a 95 percent margin to strike. The YCTA is seeking a 13 percent raise.
The school district has been conducting training sessions for replacement teachers and teachers have responded with mass pickets chanting dont cross the line to potential strikebreakers attending the classes.
Teamsters union orders return to work in two-month Connecticut lockout
Teamsters Local 1035 officials ordered an unconditional return to work August 3 for some 120 drivers and warehouse workers who were locked out for eight weeks at Hartford Distributors in Manchester, Connecticut. Management at the beer distributor imposed its final contract offer that included a 75 cent per year wage increase over the course of a five-year agreement.
The contract includes an increase on commissions for drivers. But it also implements the companys demand to impose the cost of health care premiums on new-hires, something that had been free. The maximum load per truck was increased to boost productivity.
In earlier negotiations, the company included contract language requiring workers to give up their right to strike. It is not clear this issue was resolved in the final company offer.
Canada
Strike spreads against BC Nurses Union
Last week, servicing staff employed by the BCNU joined administrative staff who went on strike against that union on July 22 after being locked out that same day.
The workers, who are represented by Unifor, include lawyers, educators and health and safety advocates, voted unanimously to go on strike last week, but BCNU has indicated they will seek to have their jobs designated as essential services in order to circumvent a strike. Unifor has said that they were forced into taking this action because of the heavy-handed tactics employed by BCNU.
Striking administrative staff are represented by the Movement of United Professionals (MoveUP) who are facing proposed cuts to sick leave and other benefits in what the employer has termed its final offer.
I look up to Deepika Padukone: Diana Penty
Actress Diana Penty is proud of her "Cocktail" co-star Deepika Padukone, who is set to make her Hollywood debut in "xXx: The Return of Xander Cage".
Indias dilemma
India needs to design and implement a national refugee law to ensure comprehensive national security
You are the owner of this article.
If all goes as planned, Yakima County authorities next year may begin enforcing a ban on all marijuana businesses in unincorporated areas of t
Language and treatment
Communication holds a place of paramount significance in medical treatment. While we boast of being a nation with multi-cultured diversity, how efficient are we at communication?
If you are sending a Letter To the Editor, please be sure to follow these rules:
Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy.
The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party.
We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste.
Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters.
Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month.
The Israel Medical Association (IMA) plans on going ahead with a strike on Thursday, despite their original demands being met.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
The IMA initially announced a labor dispute over intentions to regulate department heads. However, after the main issues had been addressed they changed their reason to protesting "the state of the health system."
Regardless of the motivations to strike by the IMA, barring any last minute changes, there will be a strike in public hospitals on Thursday, resulting in dozens of cancelled surgeries, with many departments working on a limited, emergency basis.
Photo: shutterstock
The labor dispute was declared by the IMA two weeks ago. At the time, the doctors asked to cancel a clause in the Economic Arrangements Law which determines that senior doctorsat the department and unit management levelwill not be able to practice in private clinics, but rather would stay in public service and in return, receive significant raises in their salaries.
In addition, the IMA came out against the plan to limit the tenure of hospital administrators and officials in the public health system to a period of 12-13 yearscompared to the current situation, where administrators are not limited by time. An additional motivating factor to the strike as mentioned by IMA heads is Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman's plan to put into effect a law that will enforce significant discipline on hospital administrators who exceed their set budget.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health announced that it has decided to remove the clause within the Economic Arrangements Law preventing department heads from working in private clinics. In response, however, the IMA has chosen not to back down from their intention to strike, and the strike is expected to commence regardless.
At a press conference Tuesday, Dr. Leonid Eidelman, chairman of the IMA, changed his reasoning for the strike and claimed: "The struggle is not about salary, but rather the development of the health system, perception of doctors, shortening of lines and advancement of medicinethe Economic Arrangements Law is cutting back health in the country."
Monsoon continues to wreak havoc
At least two people died and dozens more were displaced by floods and landslides triggered by incessant rains across the country in the past 48 hours.
ANKARA - The EU is making serious mistakes in its response to Turkey's failed coup and if the West "loses" Turkey it will be because of its own mistakes, not Ankara's good ties with Russia, China or the Islamic world, Turkey's foreign minister said on Wednesday.
In an interview with the state-run Anadolu agency, Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey's rapprochement with Russia was not meant as a message to the West. He said support for EU membership in Turkey had fallen because of the bloc's sympathetic attitude towards those who carried out the July 15 coup attempt.
A memorial service for Captain Hadar Goldin, whose body was abducted by Hamas terrorists in 2014 during Operation Protective Edge, took place on Tuesday in which the family urged the government to do more to secure his return to Israel.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
With tears streaming from their eyes, Hadars parents, Lea and Simcha, shook hands with hundreds of mourners who attended the service for their son.
The memorial took place in the military cemetery in Kfar Saba marking two years after his remains were snatched. Hadar was killed in Gaza and his body has remained in Hamas hands ever since.
Hadar, you were a lighthouse and now that you are no longer here suddenly that lighthouse has gone, said Hadars older sister, Ayelet.
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon attend memorial service (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
Tzur, Hadars twin brother, called upon politicians to do everything they can in order to secure the return of his brothers body: Every day that passes is another one in which we have not fulfilled our obligations to our civilians.
The government failed to secure his release most recently during the Turkey reconciliation deal when it came under massive political and public pressure to make any deal conditional upon the return of Hadars body and other Israeli civilians and soldiers in Hamas captivity.
Despite the Goldin familys expressions of disappointment at the failure of government ministers invited to attend the service to confirm arrival, which was published in Yents sister newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth two days ago, three government ministers did indeed show up.
They included Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Tzachi Hanegbi and Yoav Galant. In addition, former Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan also attended to pay their respects.
Our commitment to Hadar has not ended. We still have one task before us - to bring him home together with Oron Shaul, said Minister Shaked at the ceremony. We will not rest until we have done what is required of us.
The IDF published an aerial photograph via Twitter on Tuesday detailing a marina built by Hamas's military wing in the northern Gaza Strip, which was financed with funds siphoned from the United Nations Development Agency (UNDP).
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
The aerial photograph depicts the marina extending into the sea, not far from Zikim beach in Ashkelon, as well as a command and observation tower.
Aerial photograph of Hamas port (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
According to the indictment filed following an investigation by the Shin Bet, Waheed Borsh, a 38 year-old engineer from Jabalia north of Gaza City, funneled aid resources from the UNDP to the construction of the marina, which the Hamas naval commando unit can use for future operations and training.
A senior naval official told Ynet that over the past year Hamas has invested significant resources into its commando unit with the focus being on improvement following conclusions drawn from the failed raid on Zikim beach during Operation Protective Edge.
According to the IDF's assessments, Hamas's secret naval arm utilizes sophisticated diving equipment, underwater combat tactics and has hundreds of fighters who train on the Gazan beach and in the sea itself.
Waheed Borsh, accused of stealng UN funds (Photo: AFP, Shin Bet)
Borsh's interrogation also yielded further information that Hamas exploited UN aid for its own purposes. For example, when weapons caches or tunnel entrances were discovered in homes being restored by the UNDP, Hamas would take control of the job site and the materials discovered. This is in contradiction to UN policies which clearly dictate that weapons discovered are to be reported and destroyed.
Hamas has denied the accusations, claiming: "These allegations are false and baseless. These accusations are part of the Israeli plan to tighten the siege on the Gaza Strip by going after the international aid organizations operating in Gaza and putting pressure on them. We are warning the Israeli occupation against the continuation of this policy, and call on the international community to shoulder its responsibility for these Israeli measures, which will lead to serious consequences if they continue."
The Foreign Ministry said that Borsh's arrest should send a message to the UN Secretary General and its aid agency heads. "We expect the UN, and especially the aid organizations, to unequivocally condemn Hamas for abusing aid mechanisms and to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches those who really need it, and not Hamas terrorist leaders."
The Federation of Local Authorities in Israel on Wednesday announced that municipal systems would go on strike starting August 31 over planned changes to the Economic Arrangements Law that they say could seriously harm local authorities.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
The strike will, in practice, also affect the education system, as it will include all municipality and local council employees: janitors, teachers' assistants, maintenance crew, security guards and secretariesmaking it almost impossible to operate the educational institutions.
The municipality heads claim that the amendment to the law, which the government is scheduled to discuss on Thursday, will include some NIS 2 billion in budget cuts to local authorities.
The mayors at the press conference (Photo: Jorge Novominsky)
According to the Federation of Local Authorities, the legislation's draft details measures including cutbacks to budgets meant for high schools and for adding more classrooms; establishing a government property tax fund, a move which means local authorities will receive less of that tax revenue; and the partial nationalization of the Maintenance of Cleanliness Fund whose budgets go to local authorities.
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, Netanya Mayor Miriam Feirberg, Be'er Sheva Mayor Ruvik Danilovich, Holon Mayor Moti Sasson and the head of the Federation of Local Authorities Haim Bibas, who is also the mayor of Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, held a press conference on Wednesday to announce the strike.
The group mayors claimed that the planned cuts would "hurt the basic services that local authorities provide to all citizens."
"On August 31, we'll begin preparations, and when the school year begins (on September 1), we'll go on an all-out strike, because there's no other choice," Bibas said. "The Finance Ministry needs to wake up."
Bibas said the Teachers' Association, parents' organizations and the Education Ministry have all expressed their support to the local authorities' cause.
"The Finance Ministry crossed all the lines with the Economic Arrangements Law," he added. "It's playing a zero-sum game."
"The government has a responsibility towards the citizens and in its decisions it is systematically cutting funds from education, welfare, culture and sports," said Danilovich.
Russia was the first country to condemn the attempted coup in Turkey and publically support Recept Tayyip Erdogan's regime. The Turkish president, for his part, publically thanked President Vladimir Putin at the start of his press conference in St. Petersburg and even referred to him as his "dear friend."
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
"This is a position of principle for us," said Putin in response to Erdogan. "We completely oppose any anti-constitutional activity. I hope that under your leadership the Turkish people will deal with the attempted coup."
Presidents Putin and Erdogan in Russia (Photo: EPA)
Putin received the Turkish president in a meeting that symbolized the end of a crisis between the two countries following the downing of a Russian jet by Turkey near the Syrian border. Relations rapidly deteriorated following the incident, with the Russians imposing economic sanctions on Turkey. Erdogan also sharply attacked Putin following the incident.
Economic interests, however, prompted Turkey to adhere to the Russian demand of apologizing over the incident. In an interview with Russian media, Erdogan said, "I consider this visit a new beginning in the relations between our countries. I would like to extend a warm greeting to Vladimir Putin and the Russian people, on behalf of myself and the Turkish nation."
Another factor that may be bringing the countries closer together is Turkey's ire toward the United States, primarily over its refusal to extradite Fethullah Gulen, who according to Erdogan, was behind the attempted coup. Russia, which is interested in reducing the global power of the United States, would be happy to stand together with Turkey, in light of the new reality.
One of the biggest questions is whether Ankara and Moscow will succeed in bridging the gaps between them in terms of the desired solution in Syria. Until now, they were on opposite sides, with Moscow supporting Assad and Turkey working against him. If the two parties can succeed in coming to an agreement, it could greatly improve the chances of coming to a political agreement in Syria.
The family of Baha Aliyan, a terrorist who who became a symbol of the recent wave of terror, almost secured the release of their dead son being held by Israeli authorities but refused to abide by the funeral terms, according to the Jerusalem Police.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
Alyan, from Jabel Mukaber in the capital, was one of the terrorists who murdered three Israelis in a deadly attack on the 78 bus in the Jerusalem last October.
Aylan, who on October 13, 2015 boarded a bus with fellow-terrorist Bilal Abu Ghanem, armed with guns and axes, was killed during the attack by security forces while Ghanem is currently standing trial.
'Symbol of Intifada' - The terrorist Baha Alyan
Since the attack, which claimed the lives of Haviv Haim, 78, Richard Lakin , 76, and Alon Andrei Govberg , 51and wounded several others - Alyan became one of the more prominent symbols of the escelation of violence. His legacy became one to which other like-minded Palestinians aspired and his actions transformed him into a role model worthy of emulation.
His family were since invited to lecture at a number of schools where they glorified his legacy and his actions.
At the beginning of the week Alyans family reportedly reached an agreement with senior officials in the Jerusalem Police regarding the return of the terrorists body. According to the agreement, only 30 people would be permitted to participate in the funeral and the burial site would be in one of the cemeteries in the Old City. The family also agreed to deposit a financial guarantee to ensure that it abided by the terms.
Scene of attack in Armon HaNatziv (Photo: Reuters)
However, according to the family, the police reduced the number of attendees allowed and instructed that Alyan be buried in a different cemetery next to Wadi al-Joz As a result, so the family claims, these changes are the reason that no agreement has been reached.
The Jerusalem Police however, categorically deny that any changes were made to the conditions presented to the family.
Bodies of terrorists have been released in the past for burial after families have agreed to certain preconditions such as discrete funerals at night, the prohibition of incitement and the deposit if financial guarantees.
Alyan speaks to a school in East Jerusalem
After the funeral of terrorist Alaa Abu Jamal from Jabel Mukaber turned into a display of hatred and incitement in May, with some 200 East Jerusalem residents crowding outside the cemetery and calling out "Allahu Akbar" and "In blood and spirit we will avenge you, shahid, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan instructed the police to stop returning terrorists' bodies to their families for burials.
As a result of the incitement another condition was added by the police , namely that they be the ones to select the location of the burial.
Erdan echoed the police statements that no changes had occurred on the Israeli side. According to the police, the family is simply unwilling to abide by the terms outlined by the police which accounts for the reason that Alyan will not be returned at this stage.
BERLIN - A series of controversial remarks by US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump show that the world should be concerned if he is elected president, a spokeswoman for German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Wednesday.
Steinmeier, unlike Chancellor Angela Merkel who has said she will not comment on the US election, is not neutral on the issue because he believes it is important to draw attention to the dangers posed by Trump, said spokeswoman Sawsan Chebli.
"He is indeed not neutral on this question because he thinks that if you follow what Trump is saying then you need to be really anxious about what could become of this world ... if (he) does in fact become president," Chebli told a regular government news conference.
SOFIA, Bulgaria - A French citizen with ties to the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris has told a court in Bulgaria he is a victim of injustice.
Mourad Hamyd was arrested on a French arrest warrant in Bulgaria for allegedly planning to join the Islamic State group in Syria or Iraq.
He is the brother-in-law of one of the men who attacked the satirical newspaper in January 2015. He was initially suspected of a role in that attack, but his classmates launched a successful campaign to clear his name.
Hamyd agreed Wednesday to be extradited to France, but shouted "This is unjust!" before entering the courtroom.
At the end of the hearing he added: "I think that I am a victim of injustice. I have been declared a terrorist only because of suspicions."
BERLIN - A German court has convicted a former monk and religion teacher of sexually assaulting a boarding student at a Benedictine monastery in the southern state of Bavaria more than a decade ago.
The Munich state court said Wednesday that 46-year-old Juergen R., whose last name wasn't given in accordance with German privacy laws, was sentenced to seven years in prison.
The former monk was defrocked and expelled from the Ettal Abbey monastery, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, after being found guilty last year of sexually abusing the same victim, now 24, and two others in 2003-2004. He was sentenced to probation in that case.
The current case arose from testimony given in the first, but involved more serious charges from the 2004-2005 school year. The court said the defendant confessed during his trial.
Minister of the Interior Aryeh Deri (Shas) recently announced "great news for the ultra-Orthodox public": From now on, anyone who has studied six years in a large yeshiva or a kolel, and has passed three tests by the Chief Rabbinate, or someone who has certain rabbinical ordinations provided by the Chief Rabbinate, will be counted as someone who holds an academic degree, and thus will be up for consideration for "high quality" positions in Israeli municipalities.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
We should take note of the fact that this is great news for about half of the ultra-Orthodox public, since women are forbidden from studying in kolels or becoming rabbis. This is, of course, not due to any intellectual deficits with ultra-Orthodox women, but due to the ultra-Orthodox sector's unequal perception of the two sexes.
This little fact also shows us why the Interior Minister's revolutionary move is actually a step backwards. "It cannot be," Deri said, "that a (young person) who finishes a degree in the humanities will be able to contend and be selected, and would be favored ahead of a (yeshiva student) who studied and (continued his education) in Judaism." Why not? Perhaps because the humanities are nonsense, and there's no real reason for those studying non-academic nonsense to be thought of as less valuable than the nonsense college graduates.
"If you dare hint that these same men should go serve in the military, they will surely be insulted and return to the kolel." (Archive photo: Motti Kimchi)
Or maybe it's that Mr. Deri doesn't care what you study, just that you do. And maybe it doesn't really matter very much to him how your studies go: Lots of exams, very few exams; many papers, few papers; a closed study community that learns obedience, an open community that learns the proper implementation of doubtit may just all be the same to the interior minister. What's important is that you "study."
Those who doubt this is truly good news can always be appeased with the ultimate ultra-Orthodox carrot used to sooth secular Israelis: This is one of many incentives the state can give ultra-Orthodox men to cause them to willingly take a break from their holy unemployment schedules and join the job market. If you dare hint that these same men should go serve in the military, they will surely be insulted and return to the kolel.
If you were to tell these men that studying a serious profession (let's say, computer science, not the humanities) would mean conforming with the secular world's rules, according to which they must study and make a livingwhich would mean accepting the tutelage of teachers with two X chromosomes, studying in the same class as women, and generally playing by rules that all those not in their holy group already must abidethey will be insulted and return to their kolels, and you secular people will have to provide for them till the end of time. You've been warned.
The problem with Deri's reform is that it distorts equality under the guise of providing equal opportunities. First, it determines that different types of knowledge are all equally valuable; it determines that there's no difference between modern universities and their development of new knowledge and the ancient, static nature of ancient religious texts; it doesn't distinguish between academic standards of testing and screening processes and the way kolels conduct their business.
If we go by Deri's logic, why not call those who have studied Maimonides' medical book a doctoron the condition that they be certified by other people who've also studied the same books? After all, it's inconceivable that a young person who finished medical school should be seen as having a higher degree of importance to someone who studied books by one of the greatest Jewish religious thinkers in history. You can legitimately claim that a college degree shouldnt be required for "quality positions" in municipalities. You cannot, however, claim that these two sets of knowledge are equivalent.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri.
Second, Deri's move isn't meant to give acknowledgement to a valuable knowledge baseit seems obvious that he believes the knowledge gathered during studies at a yeshiva is much more valuable than that accumulated by university studentsbut is just another clever maneuver meant to allow yeshiva students to have their cake and eat it too, as well as allowing rabbis to keep their flocks in their graspsince they will now hold the power to determine who gets "quality" municipal jobs and who doesn't.
These rabbis have already decided that no woman is qualified. You can once again look the other way. You can keep maintaining the crumbling yeshiva world, with womenas alwayslosing out on the benefits. But I ask you: Isn't it time we opened our eyes?
Prithvi Man Shrestha is a political reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering the governance-related issues including corruption and irregularities in the government machinery. Before joining The Kathmandu Post in 2009, he worked at nepalnews.com and Rising Nepal primarily covering the issues of political and economic affairs for three years.
Israeli activists campaigning to bring the Falash Mura (Ethiopians who claim Jewish lineage) from Ethiopia to Israel have been receiving recently reports about the severe distress facing those who remain in transit camps in Gondar following escalating conflicts in the region.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
Falash Mura have spoken of their fear for their well-being and the serious difficulty in acquiring food and even in leaving their homes. According to various reports, some of them were injured in clashes, and ten Israeli volunteers have been evacuated from the camp because of the danger.
In recent days, Ethiopian security forces have shot dead some 100 persons. The forces have been attempting to suppress anti-government demonstrations in the Oromiya and Amhara regions. The riots in Ethiopia have caused the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem over the weekend to publish a travel warning for these areas.
Falash Mura in Gondar (Photo: Nitzan Hafner)
Because of the security situation, there is great fear amongst Ethiopian emigrants living in Israel that their family who remain in the Gondar regionand whose immigration Israel refuses to permit.
The chairman of "The Fight to Bring the Jews of Ethiopia," Yitzhak Mola, sent on Tuesday a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayahu in which he wrote, "We once again demand that you hasten the government's decision without further delays and bring the Jews of Gondar and Addis Ababa urgently, before disaster strikes."
Forces in Addis Ababa (Photo: Reuters)
In the letter, titled "The Jewish community in Ethiopia is in mortal danger," Mola wrote that the campaign that he heads receives "inquiries from families in Israel worried about the danger to the lives of members of their families, members of the Jewish communities in Ethiopia, due to the worsening security situation in the country."
One of those sending inquiries is Surfal Almo, 22, a discharged soldier from the Paratroopers whose four half-siblings remain in a camp in Gondar. They've been refused immigration to Israel for the past decade. "We're very afraid and worried," said Almo. "About half a year ago, one of my sibling died there from disease, and we don't want to lose another sibling because of the chaos in the country. They live in fear, afraid to leave the house. They have problems buying food. They're under a kind of siege. There have been exchanges of gunfire and confrontations not far from where they live."
Surfal Almo visiting his siblings who are not granted permission to immigrate
Almo, who immigrated to Israel in 2006, claims, "The state needs to do everything to bring them here." He is furious about the treatment that he claims that members of the community receive: "There was a terrorist attack in Paris, and the authorities gave a press conference and called on the Jews to come. Now, there's a situation of immediate and real moral peril in Ethiopia, and none of the politicians care."
Almo and Mola are both critical of the government's delay in deciding to bring some 9,000 of the Falash Mura waiting in camps in Gondar and Addis Ababa to Israel. Most of those waiting have relatives who have already immigrated to Israel. The project to bring the Jews of Ethiopia was apparently frozen by the prime minister half a year ago. After political pressure from Likud MKs David Amsalem and Avraham Neguise, in April it was agreed that the decision to bring the remaining Jews would be carried out.
Protests in Addis Ababa (Photo: Reuters)
However, since the coalition's expansion, the debate on this topic to organize the operation has been repeatedly deferred. How it should be carried out is a source of disagreement between activists and MKs on the one hand and representatives of the Prime Minister's Office on the other. The final number of Falash Mura to be brought is also a bone of contention. Thus, the program has yet to be implemented, despite the fact that nine months have passed since it was authorized , beyond the original planned timeline.
The Fight to Bring the Jews of Ethiopia is planning to hold a protest requiring the immediate implementation of the government's decision in light of the security situation.
Viper Flight
Maj. Gen. Michael Kim, mobilization assistant to the Air Force Reserve Command commander, prepares for his first F-16 Fighting Falcon flight Aug. 8, 2016, with the 301st Fighter Wing at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Texas. Kim experienced the F-16s combat capability while on a routine training mission.
This Account has been suspended.
National consensus must to address national issues
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said on Tuesday that national consensus is a must to address national issues.
Politics and the young
The stereotypical image of youth politicians as violent goons needs to change
Proposed multiple-entry visa sparks disputes
The Chinese governments proposal to issue multiple-entry temporary visas to traders from outside Rasuwa district too has got local entrepreneurs worried as they fear that their business will be affected.
Taking Nepali fashion to new heights
As the preparations for the Couture Fashion Nepal gathers steam, organisers speak about why the event will be a milestone for the Nepali fashion industry
Latest News
Washington, DC - Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL Brett McGurk and his deputy, Lt. Gen. Terry Wolff, arrived in Baghdad, Iraq today to meet with senior Iraqi government and security officials and representatives from the U.S.-led Coalition. While in Iraq, they will also travel to Erbil to meet with senior officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government. During all his meetings, Mr. McGurk will discuss the Coalitions ongoing support for Iraqi-led efforts to defeat ISIL, with a particular focus on the planning and preparation for the liberation of Mosul.
Following Iraq, Special Presidential Envoy McGurk will depart for Rabat, Morocco for meetings on August 15. Morocco is a strong partner in the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL and Special Presidential Envoy McGurk will meet with senior officials to provide an update on the campaign and discuss how we are intensifying Coalition efforts to degrade and destroy ISIL. While in Morocco, Mr. McGurk will also meet with Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, to discuss cooperation in the global campaign to defeat ISIL.
Yuma News
Yuma, Arizona - The Yuma Police Department would like to inform the public of the times the school zone flashing lights will be activated during school days for Gila Ridge, Desert Mesa, Castle Dome and Otondo schools on 24th Street. The flashers will be activated warning drivers that the speed limit is 25 MPH in the school zone from 8:05 A.M. until 8:50 A.M. and from 3:35 P.M. until 4:10 P.M.
On early out days in the afternoons the flashing lights will be activated from 2:05 P.M. until 2:40 P.M. If you are driving in these areas during these times please be watchful of your speed and watch for children crossing the street.
Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business.
Thai and Bolivian nationals arrested with 3.5 kg cocaine
Narcotics Control Bureau of Nepal Police on Wednesday arrested a Thai and a Bolivian national with 3.5 kilograms of cocaine from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.
Theatre artist Sunil Pokharel admitted to Norvic ICU
Nepal's prominent theatre artist and director Sunil Pokharel has been admitted to Thapathali-based Norvic Hospital after he suffered a seizure attack on Tuesday night.
For someone who is an introvert and a loner of sorts, friends come in as angels to make life blissful. Times will change for sure but what will remain constant for another 69860000 million years is the special bond between friends.
And thanks to FBI mean Facebook for helping people re-connect with long lost friends. The letters FB occupy a very special place in my heart for it also means FRIENDS and BONDING to me.
I feel so proud of myself for deriving such a beautiful full form for FBI think I must fix up an appointment with Mark and suggest him to change FACEBOOK to FRIENDS & BONDING.wondering who Mark is? Mark Zuckerburg is the brain behind such a genius networking website yaar
Theres none to laugh at my poor jokelet me keep it to myself
Jokes apart, with the help of FB, I have been able to virtually bridge the geographical distances between me and my friends, who are spread across the globe. I feel like thanking Mark a zillion times for creating such an incredible platform that helps people catch-up with old pals and even make new ones. What a genius he is!
A lot of controversies do surround Facebook for its credibility and its influence on people at largeand many have become FB addicts. Moreover, there are many, who refrain from getting hooked to social networking sites fearing they would becomes addicts.
However, I would beg to differ. In a way yes FACEBOOK has influenced regular users great deal and we tend to spend most of our times clinging onto our accounts to update the latest on our personal and even professional front. But that holds true for any other habit that becomes a part of our lifestyle. It is entirely up to us to ensure we dont go overboard! Isnt it?
I have least complaints about FACEBOOK and I believe its nothing less a boon to people who have friends far and wide; it is faster, easier and undeniably one of the cheapest mediums of constant communication. Of course, nothing brings bigger happiness than catching up with pals in person. But considering a busy schedule and the helpless physical separation one can do little but succumb to the inevitable. In such a scenario FB comes in handy.
Now let me shift the focus to friendsguess I have said too much about Facebookdoes that show how addicted I am to FBNo..Not allMay be!
I dont feel the need to celebrate friendship on the day that is solely dedicated to them and which falls on the first Sunday in the month of August. Friends are forever and eternal. What is more important than tying a friendship band and buying goodies for friends is that one needs to keep up the special bond through thick and thin. So to flood `Happy Friendship Day` messages on your friends FACEBOOK wall seems like a dud idea! Oh noNot againFB again finds a mention here.
Back to friends.there is this friend of mine who keeps posting weird status messages- My tummy feels sicksomething is cooking inside it.Have been visiting the loo regularly since morning. On reading his message I get to know he needs to visit a doc for sure.There is another crazy friend who keeps posting his love at first sight messages he might have posted 59478573 thousand times earlier. And like always I know he has yet again fallen in loveonly to fall in love once again the next day!
Recently, I viewed pictures of my school friends baby and those made me wonder and realize how old I have turned! But I was happy to see my darling friend put on oodles of weight, yet looking as pretty as ever before. I could even feel her baby in my arms. Oh what a wonderful feeling it was.
It has been months I have moved out of my cityyet I have traveled far and wideand even to the UKthere is where another friend of mine staysand I could see myself virtually traveling to the English countryside after seeing pictures posted by him on FB.
Virtual phones calls and traveling is cheaper, isnt itat least they dont burn a hole in your pocket! That is one of the reasons why I love FB.FB literally helps me save money that seldom manages to come to my handsit hardly does
Whateverif you think despite I having said I am not going to talk about FACEBOOKI ended up discussing it.I think I owe a lot to it for it has given me a wider horizon to get instantly connected to my friends who are very special. But one question that I need to ask myself is whether I am really a FB addict?I guess I amand I dont mind being oneas long as I am able to be in constant touch with my buddies.and btw are you too a FB crazy person like me? Let me clarify- here by FB I meant FRIENDS & BONDING!
What did you think?
Addis Ababa: Regional protests that began last year in Ethiopia have spread across the country, and despite successive crackdowns analysts say dissatisfaction with the authoritarian government is driving ever greater unrest.
Demonstrations began popping up in November 2015 in the Oromia region, which surrounds the capital, due to a government plan to expand the boundaries of Addis Ababa.
The region`s Oromo people feared their farmland would be seized, and though the authorities soon dropped the urban enlargement project and brutally suppressed the protests, they badly misjudged the anger it triggered.
Protests have since swept other parts of Oromia, and more recently to the northern Amhara region, causing disquiet in the corridors of power of a key US ally and crucial partner in east Africa`s fight against terrorism.
"Since it came to power in 1991, the regime has never witnessed such a bad stretch... Ethiopia resembles a plane going through a zone of extreme turbulence," independent Horn of Africa researcher Rene Lafort told AFP.
Despite what he described as the "state of siege" imposed on the Oromia region in recent weeks, the protests have refused to die down, and demonstrators have been challenging government more and more openly.One rally was even held in Addis Ababa on Saturday, a rare event for the seat of power of a nation ruled by a regime considered among the most repressive in Africa.
More than 140 people were killed when security forces put down the original Oromia land protests, shot or tortured to death, according to rights groups.
A fresh crackdown over the weekend led to the deaths of almost 100 more, according to an Amnesty International toll, with live fire used on the crowds.
"This crisis is systemic because it shakes the foundations of the model of government put into place 25 years ago, which is authoritarian and centralised," Lafort explained.
The protesters have different grievances but are united by their disaffection with the country`s leaders, who largely hail from the northern Tigray region and represent less than 10 percent of the population.
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn heads the Ethiopian People`s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which won all the seats in parliament in elections last year.
Although he comes from the minority Wolayta people, he is surrounded in government by Tigreans, who also dominate the security forces and positions of economic power.
Getachew Metaferia, professor of political science at Morgan State University in the United States, described the state as "controlled by an ethnic minority imposing its will on the majority," a crucial factor in understanding the protests.
More than 60 percent of the country`s almost 100 million people are either Amhara or Oromo.
"There is no fundamental discussion with the people, no dialogue... the level of frustration is increasing. I don`t think there will be a return back to normal," the professor added.
The country`s rulers have cultivated the skyrocketing growth and rapidly improving health outcomes that have changed the face of a nation whose famines weighed on the world`s conscience in 1980s.
But their grip on civil liberties has tightened: Ethiopia ranked 142 of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders` press freedom index this year, and social media used to organise rallies is regularly blocked by the authorities.
The use of anti-terror laws to jail opposition critics has also provoked ire, combined with more local issues such as the targeting of Amharan politicians campaigning for a referendum on a district absorbed into Tigrean territory.The West has largely avoided direct criticism of the country`s rights record because Ethiopia is credited with beating back Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shabaab militants in Somalia, but the protests put its allies in an awkward spot.
"Ethiopia`s leaders have lost the vision of Meles. They are showing signs of nervousness and don`t place trust in their own people," said one European diplomat on condition of anonymity.
After toppling dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991, Meles Zenawi ruled with an iron fist until he died in 2012, and Hailemariam took over.
More used to its image as an oasis of calm in a troubled region, the government is swift to blame foreign "terrorist groups" for the unrest, usually pointing the finger at neighbouring Eritrea.
Hailemariam last Friday announced a ban on demonstrations which "threaten national unity" and called on police to use all means at their disposal to prevent them.
Merera Gudina, leader of the opposition Oromo People`s Congress, said the nebulous movements were not affiliated with traditional political parties and were focused above all on claiming back freedoms the government has long denied.
"We are nine months into this protest. I don`t think it will stop," he told AFP. "This is an intifada," he said, using a term which means uprising.
State of New York: When arsonists reputedly set fire to some Donald Trump "lawn art" outside a New York family home, the man billed as the only conservative artist in America came out swinging.
Scott LoBaido simply erected a bigger version of the sculpture -- a giant "T" covered in stars and stripes -- on the same patch of lawn on Staten Island to whoops and cheers from the neighbors.
"I don`t care who you vote for, got a Hillary (Clinton) supporter over there, God bless you," he told the crowd. "Just respect, respect my opinion to vote for who I want to."
LoBaido called it his version of Norman Rockwell`s "Freedom of Speech" painting, which was inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt, and described the 2016 election campaign as "a horror show."
"The hatred, the violence is just out of control," said the New York artist, whose patriotic art has been displayed across Staten Island and the United States.
He created the "T" image after Trump supporters were insulted for wearing the Republican nominee`s official campaign attire.
"May be it means tolerance, may be it means terrific, may be it means Trump," he said. "It just went crazy."
T-shirts of the image sell like hot cakes, but when he installed the first "T" on friend Sam Pirozzolo`s lawn, he and his supporters were incensed when it was burnt down at the weekend.
New York police confirm they are investigating the reported arson. So far no arrests have been made.
As the replacement went up on Tuesday, onlookers chanted "USA, USA, USA" and a woman protester yelling "Love Trumps Hate" was jeered.
"I`m not going to be intimidated by anyone else. This is my property, this is my right to do so and this is a work of art," said optician Pirozzolo outside his large, detached home.
While the previous sign was 12 feet (3.7 meters) tall, the new one is 16 feet, and will stay put "until my wife tells me to take it down," the father of two joked.
The Republican nominee even called Pirozzolo after the suspected arson, going on speaker phone to talk to his children.
Trump, "was a gentleman," Pirozzolo said shortly before the White House candidate stormed into fresh controversy over remarks about his Democratic rival Clinton.
"We were very surprised," he told reporters. "He said `how are you, how are your wife and children, is everything ok?`"
The neighbors called the lawn art beautiful.
"I do wish that may be it was fire-proof," said Nicole, a 27-year-old teacher who declined to give her second name.
"As we see all over the news and all over, the anti-Trump supporters are very violent, vicious people," she added.
She, like Lillian Christ, 74, said it was a question of free speech -- sacrosanct in America and enshrined in the first amendment of the nation`s Constitution.
If it had been a Clinton poster, Trump-supporting Christ said she would have felt the same way.
"It doesn`t matter which candidate it was, it`s the same thing, it`s not fair," she said.
While some Trump supporters in the neighborhood voiced concern as he slumps in the polls following a series of missteps, they believed he could still win the White House in November.
"The last five or six days, I know that`s not the highest bar to set, but I think he`s done a great job staying on message," said Joseph Borelli, a city council member and co-chair of the Trump campaign in New York state.
"As long as he keeps doing that, we will be fine."
Within hours, Trump sailed back into choppy waters over remarks that critics interpreted as incitement of violence against Clinton.
"Neighbors keep an eye on this baby!" LoBaido told the crowd.
Nusa Dua: Charities that send financial aid to trouble spots sometimes have the funds "hijacked" by militant groups to carry out attacks, an international counter-terrorism meeting was warned today.
A report by Indonesian and Australian authorities detailed the risk faced by non-profit organisations. It also urged countries in the region to cooperate more closely to halt the flow of funds from militants, particularly from the Islamic State (IS) group.
"These are often very legitimate organisations who are sending money to trouble spots around the world to help civilians who are suffering," Paul Jevtovic, head of Australia's financial intelligence agency, told the meeting on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
"Unfortunately the intelligence tells us that some of these funds do not get to their intended destination and are in fact hijacked by terrorist groups and used for propaganda and/or actually committing terrorist acts."
The "unscrupulous nature" of terror cells meant that they would intercept funds intended for people in need and for hospitals, he added, without naming specific groups.
Jevtovic however stressed that non-profit organisations have a "critical role to play" helping civilians in war-torn areas, and he was not aiming to "denounce the importance of charities".
The warning came after an Israeli court last week charged the Gaza director of the World Vision non-governmental organisation with passing millions of dollars to the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas and its armed wing.
The US-based Christian aid organisation has said it has "no reason to believe" the allegations against Mohammed al-Halabi.
The report on terrorism financing in Southeast Asia and Australia noted two cases in Australia from the mid-2000s that involved charities raising almost USD 750,000 which was sent to foreign-based terror groups for organisational funding.
In Thailand some non-profit groups had diverted money to fund propaganda in the insurgency-torn south, where Muslim rebels seeking greater autonomy have been waging a campaign against the Buddhist-majority state, the report said.
The report, put together with collaboration from other Southeast Asian nations, also urged countries in the region to combat money flowing into the region to fund terror attacks.
Islamabad: Pakistan on Wednesday issued a terror alert, warning that the Pakistani Taliban was planning to strike on the Wagah border with India around the Independence Day ceremonies of the two neighbours.
In a letter, accessed by IANS, Pakistan National Counter Terrorism Authority wrote to Punjab Home Secretary over the possible attack at the Wagah Border between August 13-15.
"Reportedly, Tehreek-e-Taliban, Fazal Ullah group is planning to target parade at Wagah border in Lahore or Ganda Singh Border in Kasur on August 13, 14 or 15," the letter stated.
It also warned that at least two suicide bombers had been dispatched to carry out the attack.
"Extreme vigilance and heightened security measures are suggested to avoid any untoward incident," the letter said.
The letter comes as Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a high-level security meeting.
On November 2, 2014, a suicide bombing had taken place at Wagah border following the daily border ceremony in Pakistan. The attack, which led to dozens of fatalities, was claimed by three militant groups.
Pakistan has already heightened its security at sensitive places across the country following the recent terror attack in Balochistan, which left over 70 people dead, making it the deadliest this year.
Top military commanders in the country believe the terrorist threat is taking on a brutal shape due to "a growing nexus between hostile actors in the neighbourhood and facilitators within the country".
At a corps commanders` conference held at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, the generals reviewed the threat perception and discussed measures for countering the security challenges.
Islamabad: Pakistan's intelligence agencies are working hard to defeat the designs of enemies and eradicate the menace of terrorism, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday, two days after 74 people were killed in a deadly suicide bombing at a hospital in Quetta.
Addressing the National Assembly Sharif said the mindset behind the Quetta attack was the same one that had targeted Pakistanis in numerous terrorist attacks in the past.
"This incident [Quetta attack] was properly planned," he said, adding that "such a mindset does not want peace in the country, especially in Balochistan".
He said Pakistan's intelligence agencies are working day and night to defeat the designs of the country's enemies.
"Pakistan's military and political leadership are on the same page to eradicate the menace of terrorism," Dawn newspaper quoted him as saying.
"We will put to rest all these challenges."
Sharif's address to the National Assembly comes a day after Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai asked the Prime Minister to sack officers from the security and intelligence agencies if they fail to trace out the elements involved in the deadly Quetta attack.
The PkMAP chief had termed the Quetta attack an intelligence failure and had demanded to fix the responsibility of the blast in a debate held on the subject in the National Assembly.
He had asked the premier to "act as the real chief executive and take bold decisions".
At least 74 people were killed on Monday and over 100 injured after a suicide bomber struck the emergency ward of Quetta's Civil Hospital, where scores of people had gathered to mourn the death of Balochistan Bar Association (BBA) president Bilal Anwar Kasi in a gun attack earlier in the day.
The attack was claimed by Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan splinter outfit Jamaatul Ahrar and the Islamic State militant group.
Hong Kong: Vietnam has discreetly fortified several of its islands in the disputed South China Sea with new mobile rocket launchers capable of striking China's runways and military installations across the vital trade route, according to Western officials.
Diplomats and military officers said that intelligence shows Hanoi has shipped the launchers from the Vietnamese mainland into position on five bases in the Spratly islands in recent months, a move likely to raise tensions with Beijing.
The launchers have been hidden from aerial surveillance and they have yet to be armed, but could be made operational with rocket artillery rounds within two or three days, according to the three sources.
Vietnam's foreign ministry said the information was "inaccurate", without elaborating.
Deputy defence minister, senior Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh, told Reuters in Singapore in June that Hanoi had no such launchers or weapons ready in the Spratlys but reserved the right to take any such measures.
"It is within our legitimate right to self-defense to move any of our weapons to any area at any time within our sovereign territory," he said.
The move is designed to counter China's build-up+ on its seven reclaimed islands in the Spratlys archipelago. Vietnam's military strategists fear the building runways, radars and other military installations on those holdings have left Vietnam's southern and island defenses increasingly vulnerable.
Military analysts say it is the most significant defensive move Vietnam has made on its holdings in the South China Sea in decades.
Hanoi wanted to have the launchers in place as it expected tensions to rise in the wake of the landmark international court ruling against China in an arbitration case brought by the Philippines, foreign envoys said.
The ruling last month, stridently rejected by Beijing, found no legal basis to China's sweeping historic claims to much of the South China Sea.
Vietnam, China and Taiwan claim all of the Spratlys while the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei claim some of the area.
"China's military maintains close surveillance of the situation in the sea and air space around the Spratly islands," China's defense ministry said in a faxed statement to Reuters.
"We hope the relevant country can join with China in jointly safeguarding peace and stability in the South China Sea region."
The United States is also monitoring developments closely.
"We continue to call on all South China Sea claimants to avoid actions that raise tensions, take practical steps to build confidence, and intensify efforts to find peaceful, diplomatic solutions to disputes," a State Department official said.
Guwahati: Here's some positive news from India's magnificent Northeast!
Little kids studying at a primary school in Assam recently decided to come together for a noble gesture.
They voluntarily decided to give up their mid-day meal for one day so that milk can be bought to feed eight orphaned baby rhinos, who were rescued from the flooded Kaziranga National Park.
The children in question belong to the Nepali Khuti Banuwa LP School situated near Oriole Park, east of Bokakha.
The headmaster of the school was quoted by a report as saying that the children wanted to help the baby rhinos after seeing their plight.
The baby rhinos were finding it difficult to survive without their mothers milk, the report said.
While the money saved from not giving a day's meal to students was not enough to feed all the baby rhinos, other people also pitched in with money when they came to know about the children's gesture.
Head of the Centre for Wildlife Rescue and Conservation (CWRC), Rathin Barman, was quoted as saying, Never have I come across an instance where I was told by the teacher that children below 12 had on their own given up a meal for the sake of wildlife.
Unilever says lockout of factory continues
Consumer goods manufacturer Unilever Nepal Limited (UNL) said on Tuesday that a lockout continues due to disruptions caused by trade union leaders.
Golaghat: The verification of rhino horns to check their genuineness and updating of the complete inventory of horns kept in various treasuries in the custody of Assam government since 1980, begins from tomorrow.
The first treasury to be opened will be Golaghat with the highest number of rhino horns in government custody with most from Kaziranga National Park, an official release said here today.
The Rhino Horn Verification Committee, under the chairmanship of former Assam State Information Commissioner Mohan Chandra Malakar, arrived here today for the purpose.
The 12-member committee has four wildlife experts, two representatives from media, one RTI activist, one forensic scientist beside four high officials of Assam Forest Department.
The forensic experts have set up a field lab at the Golaghat circuit house for scientific verification. The entire verification process will be streamed live for transparency.
The committee will visit every treasury of Assam where the horns are stored and are expected to file the report within 60 days, it said.
The rhino horns are scattered in 12 treasuries of Assam, the maximum being in Golaghat followed by Nagaon, Guwahati and Tezpur.
London: In a bizarre incident, a man breaching security protocols chased a flight on the runway of Madrid airport in a hope to catch it in last minutes.
A video-shared by ground crew at Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport- that has gone viral on Facebook shows an unidentified man breaking through the fire escape, picking his bag and chasing a Ryanair flight to Gran Canaria at the airport.
The incident reportedly took place on August 5 around 9.00 PM (local time), a day before the video surfaced on the airport's trade union Facebook page.
The 48-second video- which got 68 thousand views- criticised his actions and opined that passengers in Madrid "behave" similar way when they don't "arrive in time".
"This is how passengers in Madrid behave when they don't arrive in time for their flights. This particular passenger was missing a Ryanair's flight and, unbelievably, skipped several security protocols established by AENA in their airports," the post read.
The man, who was not named by police, was arrested upon reaching the Canaria Island in Spain. He was later released after he was cleared of any terror motives but would still face punishment for violating security protocols, the Guardian reported.
Ankara: Turkey accused the EU on Wednesday of "encouraging" the plotters on the night of the July 15 coup in an escalating row that has raised questions over Ankara`s future relationship with the bloc.
A day after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a highly symbolic visit to Russia, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkish people`s confidence in the EU had "unfortunately fallen" in the wake of the coup, saying the bloc "failed a test" on the night of the putsch.
"Let me say openly, this is because the EU adopted a favourable position to the coup (and) encouraged the putschists," the minister told reporters during a televised briefing in the capital Ankara without expanding further.
He claimed support for the EU -- which Turkey has sought to join since the 1960s -- had plummeted to some 20 percent.
Relations between Brussels and Ankara have become increasingly strained since Turkey launched a crackdown, imprisoning and dismissing tens of thousands within the military, judiciary and education in the wake of the putsch which it has blamed on US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.
The EU has urged Ankara to act within the rule of law while condemning Erdogan for suggesting the country could bring back the death penalty, abolished in 2004 as part of Turkey`s reforms to join the union.
Ankara has expressed astonishment that no EU official has visited Turkey in the wake of the coup.
Cavusoglu`s comments came a day after Erdogan travelled to Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin for the first time since Ankara downed one of Moscow`s warplanes in November, triggering a diplomatic crisis between them.
It was his first foreign trip since the failed coup, but the foreign minister said it was not a move to turn Turkey`s focus to the East.
"Our relations with Russia are not a message to the West. We worked very hard to have good relations with Europe for 15 years," he said, warning that any deterioration in ties would not be Turkey`s fault.
"If the West one day loses Turkey -- whatever our relations with Russia and China -- it will be their fault."
Russia and Turkey would work together on military, foreign affairs and intelligence, he said, stressing that both were united in seeing the need for a political solution in Syria.
Ankara: A Turkish rear admiral on a NATO assignment in the US has sought asylum in the country after Ankara sought his detention following the failed July 15 coup, state-run media said on Wednesday.
Turkish authorities have ousted thousands of military personnel including nearly half its generals and admirals since a rogue military faction tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power.
Rear Admiral Mustafa Zeki Ugurlu is the subject of a detention order in Turkey and has been expelled from the armed forces, the Anadolu news agency reported.
He has requested asylum from US authorities, it added, without giving its source. He had been stationed at NATO`s Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia, the news agency said.
Ugurlu had not been heard from since July 22 when he left the base, Anadolu said.
Izmir`s chief prosecutor Okan Bato told Anadolu he was not able to get a statement from Ugurlu after seeking the prosecution of two admirals from the chief of staff.
NATO said on Wednesday that Turkey`s membership of the military alliance was "not in question", despite the tumult in the country.
Anadolu did not say whether the United States had accepted Ugurlu`s claim, believed to be the first of its kind since July 15, which comes at a time of strained relations between Washington and Ankara.
The Turkish government has repeatedly pressed Washington to extradite Pennsylvania-based preacher Fethullah Gulen whom it blames for the coup bid, warning Washington that relations could suffer over the issue.
"If the US does not deliver (Gulen), they will sacrifice relations with Turkey for the sake of a terrorist," Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters during a televised briefing in the capital Ankara on Tuesday.
Gulen strongly denies the accusations and his lawyer on Friday said Ankara had failed to provide "a scintilla" of proof to support its claims.
Since July 15, tens of thousands of people from the military, judiciary, civil service and education establishment suspected of links with Gulen and his Islamic movement have been sacked or detained.
Allahabad: The Allahabad school whose manager didn't allow students to sing the National Anthem, has been sealed.
MA Convent School's manager Zia-Ul-Haq had refused to allow students to sing the National Anthem claiming that 'Bharat Bhagya Vidhata' line is against Islam. Zia-Ul-Haq has already been arrested.
The students will be shifted to other schools, a report in TOI said.
A probe is under way to find out how MA Convent School was allowed to run for two decades without proper affiliation.
A major controversy had broken out on Sunday over ban on National Anthem on this Allahabad school.
People from various sections of society had slammed the school management for the move.
New Delhi: Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday said in Rajya Sabha that slain Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani was more dangerous dead than alive.
The statement was made by its Rajya Sabha MP MP Derek OBrien while the House was discussing the current situation of unrest in Kashmir.
Earlier, the House had agreed to discuss Kashmir after a notice was given by Congress party. Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad first spoke on the issue followed by other leaders from across parties.
Derek OBrien attacked Pakistan and started by saying, My advice to Pakistan is that please do not meddle in our internal affairs, please do not shed crocodile tears. Please do not say you have love for people of Kashmir. Please do not give us bhashans (lectures) from your generals, politicians and your establishment.
He then spoke further on the issue and urged the government not to distinguish between Kashmir the people and Kashmir the land. Kashmir is non-negotiable so Kashmir and its welfare should also be non-negotiable, OBrien added.
The Upper House is discussing Kashmir for the second time since the Monsoon Session of Parliament began.
It also had two short duration discussions. The situation in the Valley is tense since the killing of Burhan Wani, a Hizbul Mujahideen militant, on July 8. Some parts of the state are still under curfew. More than 55 people have lost their lives and thousands others have been injured in the clashes that ensued Wanis death.
New Delhi: The Home Ministry has initiated an inquiry against an NGO run by controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik for alleged violation of Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act.
The move comes a day after the Mumbai Police indicted Islamic preacher Naik for involvement in unlawful activities and possible terror links.
A standard questionnaire has been sent to Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) after preliminary inquiry found the NGO run by Naik allegedly received about Rs 15 crore during a five-year period preceding 2012.
The IRF has been asked to furnish details of its bank accounts, including the designated FCRA account, and amount of foreign contributions received and utilised by it since inception, official sources said.
The preliminary probe has found that most of IRFs foreign funds came from the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and a few other Middle-East countries.
The Home Ministry probe will cover the allegations that foreign funding to IRF was used for political activities.
It will also look into allegation that the NGOs funds were used to induce people towards converting to Islam and attract youths towards terror, the sources said.
Meanwhile, sources said, legal opinion tendered recently to the Home Ministry has favoured declaring IRF an unlawful association under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The grounds for such a ban may include spreading hatred among religious communities and forced conversions by members.
Though IRF will be given a month to reply to the questionnaire, which seeks to know if NGOs are following FCRA rules, sources said, adding intelligence agencies have already pointed to a major violation by IRF as it is receiving and utilising funds for religious and religion-linked purposes despite being registered under educational purpose.
Sources said once the reply is received, a Home Ministry team will inspect the IRFs accounts. A show-cause notice may be issued if the inspection confirms FCRA violations.
The Home Ministry will move for cancellation of IRFs FCRA registration if the reply to the show-cause notice fails to satisfy it.
Any organisation declared as unlawful is banned from recruiting members and faces closure of all its offices and interests across the country.
With PTI inputs
New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi may be discharged on Wednesday from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
According to doctors, Sonia Gandhi is recovering fast from shoulder injury and her overall condition is improving towards normalcy.
She has been admitted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital for more than seven days. The hospital has said all her systemic functions are stable.
Gandhi had undergone a surgery on her left shoulder. She has been doing mild exercises as part of post-operative physiotherapy.
69-year-old Gandhi was shifted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital last Wednesday from the Army Research and Referral Hospital, where she was rushed soon after her arrival from Varanasi around midnight on Tuesday.
She had to cut short her roadshow in Varanasi after she was taken ill. She had fractured her left shoulder during the roadshow. The Congress president was shifted out of the ICU last Thursday.
Gurgaon: A 16-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped by two persons in a flat at South Delhi's Kalkaji area, police said on Wednesday.
The class 10 student of a government school in Gurgaon was allegedly held captive in the flat on Saturday and Sunday (August 6 and 7) by accused Karan Singh and Sanjay Kumar who gangraped her even as two of their associates, Mahesh and Kala, filmed the entire act on mobile phones.
Praveen Malik, SHO, Badhshahpur police station, where the victim lodged a complaint on Monday, said Karan, a native of Palra village, was known to her, while Sanjay was a native of Dhani Shkohpur and Mahesh and Kala were residents of Karan's village.
According to the victim, Karan had picked her up from a Gurgaon bus stand on Saturday and taken her to Kalkaji temple on his motorcycle.
"The victim alleged that after the visit to the temple, Karan took her to a flat in the same area and later, three of his friends joined them.
"Subsequently, while Karan and Sanjay took turns to rape her, Mahesh and Kala videographed the act. They also threatened her with dire consequences if she reported it to anyone," said the SHO.
The victim was released after being held in captivity for two days. She reached home at Badshahpur in Gurgaon on Monday and narrated the incident to her parents who lodged the police complaint, he added.
The victim had initially alleged that Mahesh had raped her as well but later, before a magistrate, she accused Karan and Sanjay of rape and Mahesh and Kala of filming the act on mobile phones with the intention of blackmailing, said Malik.
Medical examination of the victim has confirmed rape, said the SHO, adding that a case under sections 363 (abduction), 365 (abducting with an intent of secretly and wrongfully confining a person), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was lodged against all the four accused, while Karan and Sanjay were also booked under section 376D (gangrape), IPC.
No arrest has been made as the accused are absconding, he said.
New Delhi: The government on Wednesday said that it has ordered inspection of all old bridges after the collapse of Mahad Bridge in Maharashtra.
"NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) has asked its field units to get all old bridges under its jurisdiction inspected through Project Director/Independent Engineer/ DPR Consultants for their fitness," the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement.
The ministry clarified that Mahad Bridge in Maharashtra was not under the jurisdiction of NHAI.
"Responding with extreme sensitivity to the collapse of Mahad Bridge and as explained earlier in various forums, it is again clarified that the collapsed bridge is not under the jurisdiction of NHAI," the statement added.
The instruction from the ministry has come on the heels of the collapse of Mahad Bridge on August 3, 2016.
The tragedy has resulted in 21 deaths.
The British era bridge had caved in last Wednesday in Raigad District of Maharashtra making the government launch a massive hunt of the victims on land, river, creek and the Arabian Sea.
Upper Karnali land acquisition hits price snag
Land acquisition for the much-awaited Upper Karnali Hydropower Project has hit a snag after the developer and owners of 49 hectares of private land failed to agree on the compensation amount.
New Delhi: Lambasting Kashmiri separatist leaders for misleading the youth to lay down their lives in the name of jihad, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said that why don't they ask their children to lay down their lives for this holy cause.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, MoS Jitendra Singh said, ''If jihad is so sacred and guarantees a place in 'jannat' then why the separatists keep their kids in safe heavens.''
Rejecting the popular perception that the Kashmiri youth is misguided and harbours anti-India sentiments, Singh said, ''The youth of Kashmir wants to be the beneficiary of India's success story.''
Singh made these remarks while participating in a debate on the Kashmir situation.
Singh had earlier attacked the separatists for inciting the innocent Kashmiri youth for political gains and using them as pawns.
"The separatists, who mislead youth to give up their lives in the name of jihad, should have been questioned that if what they are doing is so holy then why don't they ask their children to lay down their lives for this holy cause," Singh, who was inspecting the progress of the Chenani-Nashri tunnel construction work here, had told reporters.
Alleging Pakistan for fermenting problem in the Valley, he said, "There is no doubt and we have been getting proofs also that Pakistan has been indulging in a conspiracy in Kashmir. But from our point of view, it is necessary to sensitise the youth, who have now become aware that they must take advantage and the region must be benefitted by the development taking place under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi."
As far as Kashmir is concerned, he said, "The Government of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have made it clear that the Centre will provide all help to the state government."
"The state government is making all efforts to deal with the present situation in coordination with various agencies, and the situation is gradually improving," said Singh.
New Delhi: Congress on Wednesday took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his "absence" from Parliament, saying "India has been forced to come to terms with a PM-mukt Parliament".
"When PM Modi assumed office, he had said that Parliament is a temple of Democracy and he kow-towed before entering the august building for the first time. A year into his term, on one of his numerous trips to the USA, he said, the Constitution is the only holy bookfor his Government.
"But, today, India has been forced to come to terms with a 'PM-Mukt Parliament'. PM Modi's actions show his disdain for the Parliament and its affairs", the party said, targeting PM-Mukt Parliament'. PM Modi's actions show his disdain for the Parliament and its affairs", the party said, targeting Modi by using a parody of his call for 'Congress-mukt Bharat' he had made during the Lok Sabha poll campaign.Congress-mukt Bharat' he had made during the Lok Sabha poll campaign.
Titled "India has a 'PM-Mukt' Parliament", the commentary has been posted on the party's website.
The party alleged that the Prime Minister loves to speak, "but, unfortunately, not in national interest but for vote bank politics."
It claimed that for all his "grandstanding", the Prime Minister was "chided" into making a rare appearance in the Lok Sabha during the final stages of the GST Bill, after it was debated threadbare in the Rajya Sabha.
"This was the first time in over 122 occasions when a Constitutional Amendment was passed in both the Houses of Parliament that the Prime Minister was absent. An embarrassed PM Modi made an appearance in the Lok Sabha after the GST bill was debated, to save face," it said.
The party said this year there has been violence in Kashmir, vigilantism by Gau Rakshaks and systematic violence against Dalits, "yet the Prime Minister did not make a statement in Parliament, but chose to address these issues outside."
The party said MPs are representatives of the people and the Houses of Parliament represent people's will.
"When there are serious atrocities, the Prime Minister must address the representatives of the people, who will then hold the Government accountable," it said.
"Is the Prime Minister's absence indicative of his disregard for the temple of our Democracy? There have been numerous occasions when the PM has been in the Parliament building, but chose not to attend the session. Prime Ministers of the past had made it a point to attend Parliament", it said.
"Instead of paying lip service, Mr Modi should actually give Parliament, and through it the 125 crore Indians, the respect it deserves," Congress said in the commentary.
Washington: In 2015, India witnessed religiously motivated killings, assaults, coerced religious conversions, riots and actions restricting the right of individuals to change religious beliefs, a US State Department report on religious freedom said on Wednesday.
"Minority religious groups expressed concerns about government discrimination and suggestions by government officials that Hinduism should be taught in public schools. Government officials at the federal, state, and local level made discriminatory statements against members of religious minority groups," the annual State Department report on International Religious Freedom for the year 2015 said.
"Members of minority groups who were victims of religiously motivated violence or other animus complained of police inaction regarding such incidents," it said, adding that attackers frequently acted with impunity, and, according to some victims, police resisted filing criminal complaints and in several instances threatened to falsely incriminate the victims.
The State Department said religious groups expressed concern about statements by certain government officials suggesting Hinduism should be taught in schools.
"They also complained about police inaction in incidents of violence or hostility against their members and unequal application of some laws by the government. Religious groups reported incidents of hate speech by government officials," the report said.
According to the report, there were reports of religiously motivated killings, assaults, coerced religious conversions, riots, and actions restricting the right of individuals to change religious beliefs.
This happened despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pledge that he would ensure "complete freedom of faith" in the country.
This is the first time that the State Department has commented on the status of religious freedom in India with a full year under the Modi government.
"On several occasions, such as at a meeting in February with Christians in New Delhi, Prime Minister Modi publicly stated he would defend religious freedom," the State Department said in its report which documents the allegations of violence against the Christian community in various parts of the country including Punjab.
"Christians who reported that they were victims of religiously-motivated violence or other animus voiced concern about the lack of police action against such incidents, as well as of hostility by the police towards Christians.
"According to the All India Christian Council and the Evangelical Fellowship of India, police resisted filing criminal complaints and had in several instances threatened falsely to incriminate the victims," said the report.
The report said police clashes with Sikh protesters in Punjab led to the death of two protesters.
In the absence of Secretary of State John Kerry, the annual report was released by the Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Police arrested Christians under charges of forced conversions and disrupting the peace.
Legal cases related to religiously-motivated violence and riots continued to go forward, it said.
"Local authorities disrupted church services and exercised control over events organised by Christian groups. The central government declined to restore or pay compensation for religious buildings damaged in communal riots taking place in past years," it added.
The State Department said hundreds of legal cases related to the burning of a train and subsequent violence in Godhra, Gujarat in 2002, which resulted in the deaths of more than a thousand Muslims and Hindus, remained pending.
"An appeal by Zakia Jafri against a Gujarat High Court judgement not to pursue charges against state officials for their alleged role in the violence remained pending," it said.
Fast-track courts assembled for the purpose of trying cases related to 2008 anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal, Odisha continued to hear cases but did not issue any verdicts during the year, the report said.
According to the All India Christian Council, a total of 255 court cases pertaining to the Kandhamal violence remained pending.
On September 8, some of the Christian survivors of the Kandhamal violence held a press conference in New Delhi to discuss their fear of persecution, it said.
The State Department said the US embassy and consulates general continued to advocate tolerance, pluralism, and religious freedom in discussions with the country?s leadership, as well as with state and local officials.
"During his January visit, at a speech at a town hall event in New Delhi, and during remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, a few weeks later, President (Barack) Obama underscored the importance of religious freedom to India's success, urging it not to become ?splintered along the lines of religious faith," the report said.
"The US Special Representative to Muslim Communities also spoke on the importance of religious tolerance at a conference for countering online radicalisation and recruitment to violence during his visit to Delhi in November," it reported.
The US Department of State submits the report in accordance with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
In its last report for the year, the State Department had noted that there had been restrictions on "free expression" on basis of religion in India.
Islamabad: Needling India yet again, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had said that he is "obliged" to become the voice of the "oppressed" people of Kashmir and would "leave no stone unturned" to make the world understand the "plight" of the people in the Valley.
Sharif also shot off letters to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UN High Commissioner for human rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, urging efforts to end "persistent and egregious violation of basic human rights" of the Kashmiri people and also to implement UN Security Council resolutions.
Sharif also chaired a preparatory meeting for the upcoming UN General Assembly (UNGA) attended by his foreign affairs advisor Sartaj Aziz, special assistant on foreign affairs Tariq Fatemi, foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Pakistan's permanent representative in the UN Maleeha Lodhi, and Pakistan's ambassador to the US Jalil Abbas Jilani and other senior officials.
The meeting reviewed the agendas+ to be included in the next session of UN General Assembly in which the premier is expected to participate, said a statement from his office.
"It is an obligation for me as prime minister of Pakistan to become the voice of Kashmiris who have been oppressed in Kashmir. I will leave no stone unturned to make the world understand the plight and the legitimate struggle of the people of Kashmir," said Sharif.
The meeting observed that "Kashmir remains an unfinished agenda+ of the UN and accordingly India must realise that Kashmir is not its internal matter, rather it is a matter of regional and international concern".
Sharif said that the denial of right of self-determination for Kashmiris is one of the persistent failures of the UN.
"The right of self-determination is the basic right of Kashmiris and we will make every effort to make Kashmiris a captain of their own ship," the statement quoted Sharif as saying in the meeting.
Last week, Sharif had said Kashmir was witnessing a "new wave of freedom movement" and asked his country's diplomats to apprise the world that Kashmir was "not an internal matter of India".
With PTI inputs
New Delhi: National Investigating Agency (NIA) on Wednesday confirmed that the captured Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist Bahadur Ali was sent to India to take advantage of current situation in Kashmir.
Addressing a press conference, IG NIA Sanjeev Singh said, the LeT terrorist and Pakistani national Bahadur Ali, who was captured recently in north Kashmir, was regularly guided by the control room of terrorist groups in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir with the help of Pakistani forces.
The NIA official said the LeT centre at PoK is situated at a high altitude and named as Alpha 3.
Stressing on Pakistan Army's involvement in training the LeT cadre, NIA said, "The sophisticated arms, ammunitions and equipment recovered from terrorist Ali show that he was trained by military experts."
Pakistani national Bahadur Ali alias Abu Saifullah is a son of Mohd Haneef resident of village Jia Bagga, Tehsil Raiwind, district Lahore in the state of Punjab, Pakistan. He was born on 17, 1995 in the village of Jia Bagga and was arrested by Indian authorities in Jammu and Kashmir on July 25, 2016 with weapons AK-47 rifle, live rounds, grenades, grenade launcher etc as also sophisticated communication equipment and other material of Pakistani/international origin, the NIA said.
When Ali was arrested, security officials recovered AK-47 guns, radio sets, compass, GPS, and possessed very sophisticated equipments such as GPS, compass, maps and Japanese Icon sets.
The IG said Ali was sent to India to take advantage if the unrest in the Valley and mix with the locals and create disturbance and attack security forces with grenades.
The NIA is probing the role of LeT in the present unrest in Kashmir Valley which started after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani.
Divulging further details about the captured terroirist, the NIA official said, Ali was recruited by Hafiz Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawaah and subsequently LeT radicalised him.
During interrogation Ali revealed that he underwent all the three training camps of LeT. He said that there were 30-50 trainees at training camps of LeT from different parts of the countries including Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Bahadur Ali said that there were a few Army officers in civilian clothes who checked their preparedness.
The Lashkar cadre crossed into Indian side on either 11th or 12th June along with two LeT cadres, NIA confirmed.
Bahadur Ali was arrested by Indian authorities in J&K on July 25.
New Delhi: Vietnam on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Hanoi, possibly in the first week of September, will open a "new page" in bilateral relations even as it welcomed India's stand on the ruling of an international tribunal on the South China Sea dispute.
Vietnamese Ambassador to India Ton Sinh Thanh said the situation in the South China Sea region was "getting worse" with militarisation.
"We expect that Prime Minister Modi's visit will be soon. It will open a new page in the bilateral relationship. We hope the visit will upgrade ties to a more comprehensive level. Preparation for the visit is going on," he said during a media interaction at the Foreign Correspondents Club here.
He did not announce any date when asked whether the trip would be around Modi's visit to China to attend the G-20 meeting or ASEAN summit in Laos in the first week of September.
The visit will be the first by an Indian PM in the last 15 years.
The envoy reminded that the two countries were gearing up to celebrate milestones in the form of the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations and 10 years of the establishment of strategic partnership.
Thanh said Vietnam "appreciates" India's position on the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling whereby it "recognises" the international court as well as the UN Convention on Law of Seas (UNCLOS).
"The most important part is that India respects international law and especially freedom of aviation and navigation. Other countries should not use force or threat of force in the South China Sea," Thanh said.
Stressing that Vietnam deplores "militarisation", the envoy said the court ruling, which holds the potential to reduce the area of dispute, needs to be complied with.
"The situation in the South China Sea is getting worse with militarisation and so the ruling is welcome. The situation is not stable and territorial issues have not been settled yet," Thanh, the country's ambassador to India since 2014, said.
Asked whether Brahmos would be on the table during Modi's visit, Thanh said while Vietnam appreciates India's "achievements" in the defence sector, "whatever we buy is for self-defence".
Referring to the 100-million-dollar line of credit extended to Vietnam for defence procurements during President Pranab Mukherjee's visit last year, he said the contractor has been chosen and the construction of the naval patrol boats would start soon with that amount.
He said Vietnam, which will host the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit next year, would welcome India's membership in the grouping provided there was a consensus to lift the moratorium imposed on any such new joining.
Thanh added that Vietnam was trying to manage good relations with both India and China and that mutual ties between any two countries should not be seen as "against" a third country.
"On bilateral disputes, we are ready to talk bilaterally while on multilateral disputes we are ready for negotiations involving two more parties. But if needed we may explore other legal options," he said.
New Delhi: After security forces officials gunned down Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani, now it seems his father Muzaffar Wani is emerging as the new face of protest in Kashmir valley.
Reportedly, Muzaffar Wani has overshadowed all the separatist voices including Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Last Friday, Burhan's father Muzaffar led a procession of thousands in Pampore district of J&K.
Hundreds of Kashmiri people turned up to hear him ignoring a call by the Hurriyat factions to march to Hazratbal in Srinagar, according to a report in TOI.
An umbrella separatist group which was formed recently had given a call for 'Dargah chalo' on Friday. This group includes Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik too.
Reportedly, Wani was the main attraction at the protest and he was escorted by several armed militants, the TOI report added.
Burhan's sister to join protest?
According to eyewitnesses, Burhan Wani's father told protesters that he was ready to offer his only daughter only daughter for the fight against "Indian occupation" after "sacrificing" his two sons.
Burhan Wani's brother Khalid was killed in cross-firing between militants and security forces in a forest in Tral in 2010.
Burhan Wani was gunned down by Indian security forces on July 8.
New Delhi: The Opposition on Wednesday discussed the 'deplorable' situation in Kashmir and the alleged thrashing of Dalits' by a new group of so called cow vigilanteas and sought the Centre's explanation in this regard.
Speaking in the Upper House, the Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said, ''I appreciate PM Modi's statement on Kashmir and his appeal to Kashmiri youth for shunning the path of violence. But we all want to know why it took the PM so long to break his silence on the issue''
Leading the Opposition charge on the issue, the Congress leader said, ''The PM tweets and expresses his condolences if anything happens in a far-off nation, but he addressed the Kashmir situation from MP and not from the Parliament.''
The PM chose to speak on Kashmir from MP and not from the Parliament. This is something which we fail to understand...we all want to know as to when MP has become the centre point of the national politics instead of Parliament, he added.
We have been repetitively demanding that PM should come and make statements on such issues in the Parliament, Azad said.
Cornering the Prime Minister further, Azad said, ''Everyone in Kashmir is a victim of militancy. Many of us have lost their near and dear ones due to this militancy in Kashmir.''
A militant is a militant, no matter where he comes from. Law and order is not sole responsibility of Kashmir Police, paramilitary forces are also involved, Azad said in Rajya Sabha.
Giving a piece of advice to PM, he said, ''Don't just love Kashmir for its beauty, love Kashmir for its people, love the children and people who lost their eyes due to violent protests there.''
There is a difference between communalism and separatism, the Congress leaders added.
Shifting his focus to the issue of Dalits' thrashing, Azad said , ''We did not hear PM's statement on Dalit issues here in the Parliament. We got to hear about his views from Telangana.''
On his turn, CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury urged the central government to work out a political solution to problems in the restive Kashmir Valley.
"We have to end the violence and the current bloodshed in Kashmir. And start a political process to bring an end to the problems of people of Kashmir," Yechury said in the Rajya Sabha.
While Trinamool Congress MP Derek OBrien attacked Pakistan and said, My advice to Pakistan is that please do not meddle in our internal affairs, please do not shed crocodile tears. Please do not say you have love for people of Kashmir. Please do not give us bhashans (lectures) from your generals, politicians and your establishment.
However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitely sought to defend the Centre by saying ''J&K is facing a sensitive situation today, there's a need for all of us to speak in one voice.''
Under fire from a united Opposition, the government had earlier agreed to discuss the unrest in Kashmir in the Rajya Sabha first thing Wednesday.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh accepted Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azads proposal to suspend zero hour the following day and start the discussion at 11 am. It will the second discussion on the Kashir crisis this session.
New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday claimed that arrested Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Bahadur Ali was trained by military experts in Pakistan.
NIA said Bahadur Ali, who was arrested from Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir, was directed to take advantage of the volatile situation in Jammu and Kashmir following the death of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani in a shootout.
NIA Inspector General Sanjeev Kumar Singh said: "Arms, ammunition and equipment recovered from Ali and four other LeT terrorists killed on July 26 in Monibal (Jammu and Kashmir) established involvement of military experts."
Giving example of sophisticated Icom communication hand sets recovered from the terrorists, the officer said the engineering modifications done on Icom RT sets (Made in Japan) to cover a whole range of very high frequency (VHF) requires a high degree of training in electronics.
The officer also said that providing specific grid references for the route to be followed and use of global positioning system (GPS), and compass and topographical sheets during movement also establish that these LeT terrorists were trained by military experts.
Grid reference is a map reference indicating a location in terms of a series of vertical and horizontal grid lines identified by numbers or letters.
Ali informed the interrogators that he was constantly guided and directed by the LeT control centre Alpha-3 which was available on the prefixed frequency on the Icom hand sets being carried by the terrorists.
"Ali`s statement and other evidences confirmed that Alpha-3 is a fixed communication centre established at a high altitude peak in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir which is operated with support from Pakistani armed forces," the officer said.
The officer said tghat once the terrorists are inside Indian territory, Alpha-3 guides, directs and controls their operations. "Whenever required, Alpha-3 arranges tactical and material support through previously identified contacts."
Ali, revealed to investigators that Alpha-3 told him that LeT cadres had been successful in fuelling large-scale agitation in Kashmir after Eid following the death of Burhan Wani.
Following the July 8 death of Wani, a 22-year-old social media savvy Hizbul Mujahideen commander, Kashmir has witnessed a total lockdown in the Valley for more than a month now.
Ali, resident of Zia-Bagha village in Lahore district of Pakistan, also informed interrogators that his group of terrorists was launched after being staged forward at their Dett (detachment) near the Line of Control between India and Pakistan.
He informed that this Dett is headed by a senior LeT member who provides arms and ammunition as well as other accessories like GPS, night vision devices, compass, grenade launchers, rubber maps, matrix sheets, food packets, dry ration, and medicines, among other things.
Ali was launched from Mandakuli Dett which was dealt by an LeT commander Abu Haider.
Singh said the captured terrorist underwent three mandated training processes organised by LeT. He was recruited in Jamaat-ud-Dawa by a close aide of the terror outfit`s chief Hafiz Sayeed in 2008-2009 at the age of 13-14 years and subsequently radicalised by LeT.
The NIA has said that this is an ongoing investigation to gather details about the role of LeT in the current situation in Kashmir.
Imphal: Manipuri human rights activist Irom Sharmila, who on Tuesday ended her 16-year-long fast, on Wednesday said those opposing her decision have misunderstood her.
They misunderstood me, about my real being, Sharmila told ANI news agency while reacting to news of protests against her in Manipur.
Sharmila, who had been on hunger strike demanding the removal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act [AFSPA], further rued that those who have been opposing her decision have failed to connect with her heart.
"They have been seeing me from their own version without connecting with my heart," she said.
Speaking about her next move, Sharmila said her next plan is to enter into politics for the power and choice to repeal this draconian law (AFSPA).
On being asked whether she had been approached by any political party, Sharmila said, They (JDU) came here, even though I won't join their party, they ensured me of their full support.
While ending her hunger strike yesterday, Sharmila had said that she wants to join politics and become chief minister one day to help the people.
"I want to be the CM of Manipur to help the people," she had said.
Will meet demands of indigenous people: PM
The government and the indigenous nationalities would formally observe International Day of the Worlds Indigenous Peoples from upcoming year.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday convene an all-party meeting over a deadly unrest in Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Rajnath Singh was replying to a debate on Kashmir where over 55 people have been killed and thousands injured in over the month-long unrest in the valley.
The turmoil began after the July 8 killing of rebel commander Burhan Wani by security forces.
Patna: Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his assertion over the ongoing violence in the Kashmir Valley, Janata Dal (United) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said the former should use his brain instead of lip-service on the issue, and added he failed to refer about the Kashmiri Pandits.
Kumar expressed disappointment that Prime Minister Modi did not talk about the issue of Kashmiri Pandits in while addressing a public rally after unveiling a statue of freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad at his birthplace in Alirajpur.
"If front of whom is Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing his pain? You have the responsibility to rule the country. It was you who made promises before the Kashmiris. We were expecting that while talking about freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad, he would also talk about the pain of Kashmiri Pandits. But the pain of Kashmiri Pandits wasn`t mentioned, which is an issue of grave concern," Kumar told ANI.
Kumar insisted that PM Modi should address the Kashmir issue taking the Parliament and all the parties in confidence.
"Modi should use his brains instead of lip-service on the issue on Kashmir. Take the Parliament in confidence; take the confidence of all the parties. Because the government is led by you, you are running the government there. If the situation has been hampered then taking the moral responsibility Modi should try to better the situation there," he added.
PM Modi yesterday broke his silence on the ongoing violence in the Kashmir valley following the encounter of Hizbul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani and said that a handful of misguided people are hurting the great tradition of Kashmir and appealed to the youth to join him in fulfilling the dream of making the place the world`s paradise.
"A handful of misguided people are hurting the great tradition of Kashmir. I appeal to the Kashmiri youth come along, we will together realise the dream of making Kashmir the paradise of the world. We give so much love to Kashmir, while some people are causing it a lot of harm," he said.
The PM further said the Centre as well as the BJP-PDP coalition government under Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is making all efforts to solve the problems of Kashmir through development.
New Delhi: In yet another shocking incident of crime against women, a Gurgaon girl was gangraped in Delhi's Kalkaji area.
The teenage girl was lured by two of her acquaintances and was held hostage for over two days. During this period, she was repeatedly gangraped by the two.
The two boys also made the MMS of the act to blackmail her.
What happened actually?
The class X girl from Badshapur was lured out of her school by her acquaintance Karan Singh, who convinced her to accompany him to Delhi on Sohna-Delhi bus, along with the other accused, Sanjay.
After they reached Kalkaji in Delhi, she was held hostage in a room where the two boys repeatedly raped her, according to a report in TOI.
After two days in captivity , the accused allegedly put her in a Gurgaon-bound bus on Monday morning and sent her back to her parents.
She broke down before her parents and told them about the heinous crime.
An FIR has been registered in this regard. However, all the accused are still out of police net.
Bhopal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday visited Bhabhar, Madhya Pradesh the birthplace and vilage of revolutionary leader Chandrashekhar Azad, thereby becoming the first ever Indian PM to visit the birth place of the late freedom fighter.
While PM Modi was on his way, an incident took place which left PM's security in shock.
When PM Modi's convoy was heading towards the memorial of fearless revolutionary Chandrashekhar Azad from his village, it entered a Muslim-populated area, a fact security personnel knew beforehand.
And then what happened was not expected. Read further.
Suddenly, Modi's car was surrounded by mob lead mostly by Muslims, who were chanting slogans of 'Modi Modi' for their Prime Minister.
Before anybody would have realised the gravity of the situation, Modi stopped his car and came out in the crowd. He not only met few elderly people from the crowd very warmly but also greeted them before finally leaving for his destination.
Having the Prime Minister between them, the enthusiasm of the crowd was unbound.
Though PM's security personnel were alarmed to have Modi between the crowd, they handled the situation well.
New Delhi: Don`t forget about people of Jammu while discussing problems in Kashmir where a battle is raging between nationalism and separatism, a BJP MP told Parliament on Wednesday.
Shamsher Singh Manhas, from Jammu, was aghast over why "everyone is speaking about Kashmir and not Jammu".
"Jammu and Kashmir is not about Kashmir only. It is Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh that make the state," Manhas said as the upper house discussed the situation amid a bloody unrest in the valley.
More than 55 people have been killed in the valley in the unrest that broke out after security forces killed a rebel commander. The violence has left thousands injured.
Manhas said Jammu, which shares some 500 km of border with Pakistan, also had its share of problems.
"The region has 55 percent of population in the state. Some seven lakh educated youth are employed. They could have also picked the gun. They could have also shouted for freedom," he said, adding the people in Jammu "have always believed in democracy".
But in the Kashmir Valley, "it is a battle between nationalism and separatism". "People in Kashmir are following separatist dictates," he said.
Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday said that life has come to a complete standstill in Jammu and Kashmir and there was a need for the Centre and the PDP-BJP government in the state to stop the situation from deteriorating further.
Leader Majeed Menon said,"There is curfew everywhere in Kashmir and even in Jammu, life has stopped and no strict action has been taken neither by the State Government and nor by the Central government."
"We have had talks with the Prime Minister as well as the Home Minister and even appealed in the house as well as outside house," Menon told ANI.
Menon further said that even after an all-party meeting and a visit by all-party delegation has not normalised the situation in the Kashmir Valley.
Prime Minister Modi earlier said on Tuesday that only dialogue and development can ensure peace in Jammu and Kashmir.
"Every Indian loves Kashmir. The azaadi (freedom) that every Indian feels, Kashmir can feel too," he said at a rally organized atrevolutionary Chandrashekhar Azad`s village at Bhabra in Madhya Pradesh`s Alirajpur district.
The Prime Minister said he was pained to see young men pelting stones on security forces in Kashmir."The boys, who should be holding laptops, bats and balls in their hands and dreams in their hearts, are ones carrying stones," he said."Whatever Kashmiris want for betterment of their livelihood, the Centre will help," he said.
Srinagar: Militants fired at a security picket guarding a minority village in Shopian district of Kashmir, a police official said on Wednesday.
"Militants opened fire on a security picket at Zainapora in Shopian last night around 9.30 PM," the police official said.
No damage was reported in the incident.
In another incident, a vehicle of the security wing of the police was damaged when it caught fire last night at Kursoo in Rajbagh area of the city, the official said.
He said the vehicle was deployed for the security escort of state health minister Bali Baghat.
The vehicle was stationary when the incident took place.
The official said the cause of the fire is being ascertained.
New Delhi: Pointing out that building trust among people of Jammu and Kashmir was the only way to integrate the bordering state with the rest of India, D.P. Tripathi of the NCP said on Wednesday that an all-party meeting should be arranged to discuss and resolve the problem of unrest in the Kashmir Valley.
Participating in a debate on the unrest in the valley, which was triggered by the killing of Hizbul Mujaheedin commander Burhan Wani on July 8, Tripathi said only building trust among the people of Kashmir will improve the overall situation there.
"What is so wrong in calling an all-party meeting over Kashmir and sending a delegation there," the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) member asked the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government.
Extending support to the Union government in resolving the matter, Tripathi said that the people of Kashmir working or studying in other parts of the country must be given "due respect" as it would help in building the trust.
He also cautioned the Narendra Modi government against preparing a list of Kashmiri students to single them out.
"The government must take note of this," he said, adding that students from Kashmir must not be seen with suspicion.
He also urged the central government to extend full support to the Jammu and Kashmir government in dealing with the situation in the state.
Thiruvananthapuram: A Romanian national, who along with two other foreigners is suspected to be involved in the hi-tech ATM robbery in which a number of people lost money here, has been arrested in Mumbai, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, whose pictures were released by the police here yesterday, was taken into custody by the Mumbai Police late last night.
A Romanian national has been taken into custody in Mumbai in connection with the ATM robbery. A team of Kerala Police has left to Mumbai to take him into custody, a senior police official said.
"The Mumbai Police will first produce him before a court there and only then we will get him in custody," he told PTI.
However, he did not divulge any further details. Kerala Police yesterday zeroed in on three foreign nationals, who are suspected to be the key players behind the hi-tech ATM robbery, and decided to seek Interpol's help. The trio, found installing an electronic device inside an ATM kiosk of a public sector bank at Vellayambalam here, had been caught in the CCTV installed there.
According to police, the three foreign nationals were from Romania and had come to India on June 25 and reached Kerala on July 8. The three had come on tourist visas and had taken rooms in a hotel here for two days.
Police also seized from the hotel two scooters and three helmets, suspected to have been used by the trio.
The state police shared their photos and other available details with their counterparts in other states which led to the arrest of one among them, police said.
So far, more than 20 people had lodged complaints saying money was withdrawn from their account.
As per the preliminary assessment, about Rs 2.5 lakh had been lost, police said.
It is suspected that the electronic device at the ATM counter enabled the fraudsters to collect the secret pin code and card details.
Many of the customers who were duped came to know about the fraud after they received a text message on Monday, informing that money was withdrawn from their accounts.
Kochi: A joint team of Kerala and Mumbai Police have arrested one Romanian national in connection with the hi-tech ATM robbery in which several people lost about Rs 4.5 lakhs in Thiruvananthapuram.
According to reports, the Hollywood-inspired ATM robbery was executed by three Romanian nationals who entered inside an ATM, stole data and robbed people of nearly Rs 4.5 lakhs in Kerala capital.
Mario Gabriel, 47, the Romanian citizen, was arrested from a hotel at Worli in Mumbai. He is being interrogated by the Mumbai police. The police said that two others have managed to flee the country.
An investigation by the Kerala Police found that three Romanians - Christine Victor, Mariyan Gabriel and Florin - are behind the hi-tech ATM theft. The three reached the Kerala capital as tourists.
They stayed in three luxurious hotels in the city. The three went out from the hotel in two-wheelers.
Two vehicles used by them has been recovered from Kovalam. The three stayed in three different hotels so that no one would suspect them. However, the three used to meet in different places of the city.
The racket was busted after many people filed a complaint with the police, following messages they had received on their phone intimating them about transactions, which they had not carried out.
The investigators claim that the suspects are part of an international racket, which hacked crucial data and stole people's money from ATMs in Mumbai and Delhi.
An SIT team had earlier left for Mumbai to carry out further investigations after which it arrested one Romanian national.
The states Special Investigation Team had earlier obtained CCTV footage from the SBI ATM at Althara Junction near Vellayambalam, where all the fraudulent transactions were carried out.
The video showed three people attaching an electronic device at the ATM counter, enabling the fraudsters to collect the PIN code and card details.
The device that was fixed above the ATM machine, had a micro camera and another device was placed in the card slot of the machine. According to the police, the micro camera might have helped in getting the ATM PINs.
This is one of the biggest ATM heists that the state has witnessed and the modus operandi followed is eerily similar to a 2009 Malayalam movie Robinhood starring Prithviraj.
Will pay full attention to control price rise: PM Dahal
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said that the new Cabinet will get full shape within next few days.
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday that the Congress-led UDF was set to disintegrate with the departure of the Kerala Congress (Mani) from the alliance.
"When we told you during the election campaign that the UDF will disintegrate after the election, you did not take us seriously. Now it has happened," Vijayan told the media.
It was the first time Vijayan briefed the media after the weekly cabinet meeting after being sworn in on May 25.
"The UDF comprises of three pillars (Congress, Indian Union Muslim League and KC-Mani) and one pillar has crumbled. With that, the UDF will also crumble," added Vijayan.
On Sunday, K.M. Mani, the former Finance Minister who leads the Kerala Congress (Mani), ended his 34-year truck with the United Democratic Front and decided to sit as an independent group in the assembly.
"He (Mani) said he will offer support based on issues. This is dangerous because he will support even the NDA as he has got two members in Parliament," Vijayan said.
With Mani leaving, the UDF's tally in the 140-member assembly has fallen from 47 to 41.
Mumbai: The ill-fated British-era bridge across Savitri river, whose collapse claimed 26 lives, was to be dismantled in December this year as part of Mumbai-Goa Highway expansion project, Maharashtra Government Wednesday said as search continued for people who went missing after the crash.
"The bridge was to be dismantled in December 2016 as part of Mumbai-Goa Highway widening project. However, it unfortunately got washed away due to heavy rainfall in upper regions of Mahabaleshwar (from where the river originates)," PWD Minister Chandrakant Patil told reporters here.
The structure at Mahad, about 170km from here in adjoining Raigad district, crashed on the night of August 2.
Two State Transport (ST) buses and a few private vehicles using the bridge on the busy highway fell into the flooded Savitri river. So far, 26 bodies have been recovered, while nearly 14 are still missing and feared dead.
Rescuers continued their efforts, braving high water current and crocodile hotbeds in the river, to trace the missing, even as anxious relatives expressed anger over the pace of the search operation, which entered eight day today.
"Search operation is on like before with same positioning and deployment of security forces. The crew of NDRF, Navy, Coast Guard and local divers are at work," Raigad Resident Deputy Collector Satish Bagal told PTI.
Patil said there are about 2,300 bridges in the State, of which 100-odd are from the British era and from the time of 17th century warrior-king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
"All these bridges will be inspected twice every year. A three-member committee of experts from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) has commenced its study about the collapsed bridge and the report is expected by the next Cabinet meeting due on August 23," he said.
The process of launching judicial inquiry into the crash is also underway, Patil said. "A workshop will be conducted for the PWD engineers for methodology to be used for inspection of the bridges."
Patil said it will have to be decided whether dilapidated bridges should be repaired or reconstructed. "A bridge division will be created in each administrative division of the State to take care of the bridges."
On solatium to the deceased, he said the State Cabinet, in this particular case, has reduced the waiting period for granting compensation to next to the kin to two months (from seven years as per existing rules), he said.
If the missing people are not traced within two months, the State will declare them dead and award solatium.
He said Maharashtra State Road Development Corp has given a compensation of Rs 14 lakh each to the kin of deceased travelling in the ST buses and Rs 10 lakh each to the family of deceased in other vehicles involved in the tragedy.
Mumbai: With Mumbai Police indicting Islamist preacher Zakir Naik for involvement in unlawful activities and possible terror links, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is expected to press for his extradition.
Commenting on the Police report on Naik, Fadnavis said, After studying the report submitted by Mumbai Police Commissioner it was found that many unlawful activities have been pointed out towards the organisation Islamic Research Foundation headed by Zakir Naik.
Certain activities are attribute to him as well. So the state government is now studying report and we will share it with the Union Home Ministry and decide the further course of action.
Last month it was reported that Naik's IRF had converted around 800 people to Islam by paying them a hefty sum from the donations made to the organisation from across the world.
Naik, 50, is at the centre of a storm with calls for imposing a ban on his TV for allegedly inflammatory speeches.
Zakir Naik and his sermons have come under the scanner post the Dhaka cafe terror attack, after it was revealed that two of the terrorists were inspired by him.
Naik, who is in Medina in Saudi Arabia, was supposed to return to India but has delayed his return amid probes by various agencies into his activities.
Imphal: A powerful blast triggered by an Improvised Explosive Device allegedly targeting a BSF camp near Imphal in Manipur took place on Wednesday.
No casualties were reported in the blast in Moirang Purel village near Imphal.
Three civilians, including a seven-year-old child, were reportedly injured.
The incident comes a day after Manipuri activist Irom Charu Sharmila ended her 16-year long fast, which she began to protest against the Armed Forces (Special Powers Act).
The controversial act gives the armed forces extraordinary powers in 'disturbed' regions, including immunity from legal action.
The AFSPA is in force in all parts of Manipur except in seven Imphal districts. The state has often been used as a transit route by terrorist outfits based in Myamar.
With inputs from ANI
Imphal: A four-year-old girl was injured when insurgents attacked a Border Security Force patrol at Maphou village in Imphal on Wednesday.
The BSF personnel who were deployed to guard the Maphou dam escaped unharmed in the remote-controlled blast that took place around 9 a.m.
The girl, Bembem, was rushed to a private hospital. She was out of danger now, sources said.
Police and paramilitary officials rushed to the site, sources said.
The attackers escaped through the Maphou mountain in Ukhrul district. No combing operation was launched since the police feared the militants might have escaped to their camps.
Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam Gangmei instructed all the police stations as well as camps of the paramilitary forces and central forces to be on alert.
Director General of Police L.M. Khoute has ordered all police stations and Manipur Rifles camps to be on duty round the clock. Leaves of all security personnel have been cancelled.
Wednesday's attack comes after a series of bomb blasts in Manipur ahead of the Independence Day celebrations. The insurgent groups try to sabotage the celebrations every year.
Last week one security personnel and a two-year-old girl were injured when a bomb was detonated in the heart of Imphal city. One bomb was also recovered the following day.
Two powerful bombs were also exploded at the border town of Moreh on Monday. There was no casualty, officials said.
Itanagar: The mortal remains of former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Kalikho Pul were taken on Wednesday to his native village Hawai in remote Anjaw district bordering China for the last rites.
BJP MLA from Tezu Mahesh Chai accompanied the body of Pul along with his relatives in a helicopter which took off at 7:30 am for Hayulian as hundreds of supporters of the leader gave a tearful adieu to him.
The state government has declared a three-day state mourning and a holiday tomorrow when the last rites of Pul would be performed with full state honours at Hayuliang, the constituency he represents.
A pall of gloom descended in the state capital on Tuesday morning after the news of Pul's death.
Lok Sabha MP Ninong Ering, AICC secretary Jay Kumar along with senior party leaders, MLAs and admirers of Pul gathered at the Raj Bhavan helipad here in the morning from where Pul's mortal remains were flown to his native village.
Pul allegedly committed suicide at the chief minister's official residence here on Tuesday, weeks after he was ordered by the Supreme Court to step down after a brief stint, sparking violent protests by his supporters who torched a building and damaged cars.
He is survived by three wives and seven children.
The state government had requisitioned two sorties of Skyone helicopter to carry Pul's body and his relatives to Hayuliang.
Imphal: Amid reports that some militant groups were unhappy with her for breaking her 16-year-long hunger strike against AFSPA, Irom Sharmila on Tuesday said let them clear their doubts with her blood.
"(Some) people can't be convinced right now. Let them kill me the way people killed Gandhi and accused him of being anti-Hindu. People also killed Jesus," Sharmila told reporters when asked to comment on any pressure or threat on her over the decision.
"With my blood let them wash their doubts and emotions,"she said after being released on bail.
She was surrounded by a posse of policewomen who escorted her from the hospital, a room of which was converted into jail.
The activist has, however, refused any security and said she wants to settle down in an ashram.
Manipur's 'Iron Lady' ended her 16-year-long hunger strike, the world's longest such campaign, and declared that she wants to become the chief minister so that she could repeal the contentious Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
Outside a government hospital, a room of which was turned into a jail for her, the 44-year-old iconic rights activist turned emotional as she licked honey from her palm to end the fast that she undertook in protest against the AFSPA.
During her fast she was force-fed through a nasal tube to keep her alive. Now the familiar Ryles tube hanging from her nose was missing as she broke the fast.
"I want to be the chief minister of Manipur to make positive changes.. If I become chief minister, the first thing I will do is to remove the AFSPA," she said.
Itanagar: Locals on Wednesday morning paid homage to former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Kalikho Pul, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances at his residence on Tuesday.
Locals, along with many other dignitaries, paid floral tributes to the former chief minister at his official residence. The police honoured him with a gun-salute. Mortal remains of Pul were then taken to his hometown in Anjaw district.
T. Taki, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA said that Pul's death was a big loss for Arunachal, and asked for a police investigation to find out the truth.
"His journey from a night security guard to a chief minister of the state is an example for the country," Taki told ANI.
Paying tribute to late chief minister, Congress party member Ninong Ering said that Pul was a people's chief minister.
"He will always remain in the hearts of the people. The way he developed the state is appreciable," Ering told ANI.
"I am very shocked that he took very extreme step. A probe should be conduct for the satisfaction of the people and his family members,"
The former Arunachal chief minister was found dead at the Chief Minister's official residence, which he had not vacated yet.
He was chief minister from the period February to July 2016. News reports suggest that he committed suicide at his residence, but the police is yet to confirm.
According to initial reports, Pul was suffering from depression and was extremely upset after his appointment was struck down by the Supreme Court.
In a setback to Pul, the Supreme Court had earlier on July 13 restored the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh, declaring the actions of Governor J.P. Rajkhowa "illegal" and "violative of the constitutional provisions".
46-year-old Pul became the eighth chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh in February 2016.
Having lost his parents at an early age, Pul went on to learn carpentry, sell furniture and serve as a casual night chowkidar at Rs 212 per month. He also sold paan and beedi to attend a night school.
Amritsar: Punjab is slowly becoming a hot bed for terrorists.
Punjab Police have busted a major terror plot by arresting three suspected terrorists from the Hoshiarpur district, reports said on Wednesday.
The police also seized three pistols and a dozen of bullet proof jackets from them.
Early this year, Pakistan-based terrorists attacked an Air Force Base here in Punjab, triggering an encounter.
Seven security personnel and three infiltrators were killed in the terror attack on Pathankot airbase carried out by JeM on January 2.
The militants were associated with Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group.
Recently,reports had emerged that terror outfits Lashkar-e-Toiba and JeM have set up terror camps in Pakistan's Punjab province, which is adjacent to the Indian borders.
The report had said the terrorists are being trained by Pakistani Army.
It further stated that the terrorists belonging to the dreaded Pak-based terror groups are trying to infiltrate and planning to execute Pathankot-type attack in India.
Chennai: The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Principal District Judge, Coimbatore, to visit the premises of Isha Yoga Centre near that city to conduct an inquiry with the inmates about their willingness to stay there and submit a report on Thursday.
A division bench comprising justices S Nagamuthu and V Bharathidasan gave the direction on the Habeas Corpus petition filed by parents of two women living in the premises of Isha yoga centre, 27 kms from Coimbatore.
The Principal District Judge, Coimbatore, who is also the Chairman of District Legal Services Authority, is directed to visit the centre by 3 PM today and conduct an inquiry with the inmates and other 'detenues' and submit a report to the court tomorrow, the order said.
On August 1, a retired professor Kamaraj and his wife had petitioned the Coimbatore Collector alleging that their two daughters had been held captive at Isha Yoga centre near Coimbatore and were made 'sanyasins'.
However, on August 5, Isha Foundation issued a press release refuting the allegations.
"We would like to clearly state on record that all the above allegations of holding captives, brainwashing, and forcing individuals into sanyas or brahmacharya are absolutely false," the Foundation, running the Centre, had said in the release.
Woman assaulted over dowry
An 18-year-old woman is undergoing treatment at a Nepalgunj hospital after she was brutally assaulted by her husband and her mother-in-law for allegedly failing to bring enough dowry.
Hyderabad: An SIT was constituted on Wednesday to probe the killing of notorious Maoist renegade-turned-gangster Mohammed Nayeemuddin and investigate "various criminal activities" conducted by him and his associates in Telangana.
The Special Investigation Team would begin functioning immediately and investigate from where the seized material has originated, especially land documents, arms and ammunition and explosives, a release from the office of Telangana DGP said.
Nagi Reddy, Inspector General Police, North Zone, would be in-charge of the SIT, comprising officers from various districts, constituted by the Director General of Police Anurag Sharma.
45-year-old Nayeemuddin, wanted in a string of cases including the murder of an IPS officer in 1993, was killed in an alleged exchange of fire with police in Shadnagar town of Mahabubnagar district on Monday.
The incident had occurred when police teams, tracking a case of attempted extortion registered in Nizamabad district, came under fire from a suspiciously moving SUV near Millennium Colony on the outskirts of Shadnaga.
Police yesterday conducted searches at different places in Nalgonda district ? Nayeemuddin is a native of this district ? and arrested nine persons, including four of his family members, on the charge of land-grabbing and extortion.
The SIT consists of B Srinivasa Reddy, Addl. DCP, Crimes, Cyberabad; Sridhar, Inspector of Police, Begumbazar, Hyderabad city; S Sudhakar, Inspector of Police, Tr PS, Uppal; Shakir Hussain, Inspector of Police, Wanaparthy Circle; Rajashekar Raju, Inspector of Police, Korutla Circle, Karimnagar; Samala Venkatesh, Inspector of Police, CCS, Sangareddy; P Madhusudhan Reddy, Inspector of Police, Kodad Circle; and and Seetharam, Inspector of Police, Armoor Circle.
Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court has asked the Uttar Pradesh government to produce by Thursday a status report on the investigation in the Bulandshahr gang-rape case after it failed to submit the report on Wednesday.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice DB Bhosale and Justice Yashwant Varma, which has taken suo motu cognizance of the sexual assault on a minor girl and her mother, had on August 8 directed that the status report be submitted on August 10.
However, when Advocate General Vijay Bahadur Singh made a request for more time to submit the status report, the court ordered that the same be produced "tomorrow, by 2 pm in a sealed cover".
The court has taken a grim view of the incident that took place on July 29, when a car carrying six members of a Noida family to Shahjahanpur in western UP was stopped by criminals on a highway in Bulandhshahr district and the 13-year-old girl and her mother were gang-raped in the fields nearby after being dragged out of the vehicle.
The incident evoked a huge outcry and the Samajwadi Party government in the state drew widespread criticism over the law and order situation in UP.
Besides seeking a status report, the court has sought to know from the state government whether it was "willing to hand over the investigation of the case to the CBI" and "what steps the state would like to take to avoid such incidents in future".
Kanpur: Students at IIT here boycotted classes for the third day on Wednesday demanding action against a doctor and the workers of the health centre at the institute over the death of a 26-year-old research scholar, even as his family demanded a CBI probe into the case.
IIT Kanpur director Indraneel Manna said the college authorities held two rounds of talks with the agitating students and they have sent the demands of the family to the HRD Ministry.
The students are boycotting classes over the death of research scholar Alok Pandey. The IIT administration had claimed that the scholar died due to a cardiac arrest, whereas the students of the hostel and his brother Adarsh Kumar Pandey alleged that Alok died after he was given an injection by a doctor at the centre without conducting any tests.
Alok's brother has demanded a CBI probe into the incident and compensation of Rs 50 lakh to the family of the deceased, Manna said.
Alok, a PhD scholar of Material Science at the IIT, had complained of severe chest and neck pain on Monday after which he was rushed to the institute's health centre. As his condition deteriorated he was referred to a cardiology centre. However, he died on the way to a hospital.
Adarsh lodged a complaint on the basis of which a FIR was registered under section 304 A(causing death by rash or negligent act) against Dr Shailendra Kishore, the warden in-charge, Guide Kamal Kekar and the hospital administrator, Kanpur SSP Shalabh Mathur said.
He also alleged that the scholar was mistreated and tortured in the hostel, Mathur said, adding a probe is on in this connection.
Manna said a team of three specialist doctors from as many medical colleges of the city has been formed to probe the death and submit a report in two weeks.
He also said that they held talks with the students till around 1 am and again this morning but they are sticking to their demands for action against the health centre officials.
"We are holding meetings over this and will soon decide the course of action," Manna said.
Meanwhile, police personnel have been posted outside the campus.
Lucknow: A Dalit man and his daughter were attacked by a temple priest in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal district.
The shameful incident happened, after the 13-year-old girl was stopped from drinking water from a handpump in the temple premises by the priest, on account of her being a Dalit.
When the minor girl's father confronted the priest, he was attacked by the latter with a trident.
Meanwhile, police have registered a case against the priest under SC/ST Act after the Dalit family protested. The temple priest has been arrested.
Though inhumane attitude towards Dalits have been common in India, however, of late spate of recent attacks on Dalits in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh have been hogging the deadlines, all thanks to the political parties.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public rally in Hyderabad on Sunday and expressed concern over the recent attacks on people from Dalit community and urged the opponents to stop politicising in the name of Dalit.
RSS said the right-wing Hindu nationalist group have being doing its best services to integrate Dalit societies into the main stream adding those attacking Dalits are anti-national.
New Delhi: A Dalit youth was allegedly beaten to death in the Lakhimpur district of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday over suspicion of being involved in a case of theft in the area recently.
According to reports, the 22-year-old Dalit youth, who belonged to a very poor family, was mercilessly thrashed by a mob and beaten till his death.
He was also paraded naked on the streets by the irate mob, which also pressed the victim to disclose his caste identity.
His dead body was abandoned on the road.
A case has been registered under the provisions of SC/ST Act and the matter is being probed by the local police.
No arrest has been made in this regard as yet.
In a similar incident, a Dalit man and his daughter were attacked by a temple priest in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal district.
The shameful incident happened after the 13-year-old girl was stopped from drinking water from a handpump in the temple premises by the priest as she was a Dalit.
The fresh attack on the Dalit youth comes a day after PM Narendra Modi appealed people not to target the members of the backward community and directed state governments to take stern action against the so called cow vigilantes.
Dehradun: Security has been heightened at public places in Uttarakhand ahead of the Independence Day celebrations, a police official said on Wednesday.
While there were no immediate inputs from intelligence agencies of any terrorist movement in the state, the arrest of four Islamic State militant group sympathisers in Roorkie earlier this year had cautioned the security forces here, the official said.
The arrested persons had revealed to the National Investigative Agency that rekki for "a certain operation" was undertaken by them at Haridwar, Dehradun and Roorkie, an Intelligence official told IANS.
This has alerted the police, intelligence agencies and the security personnel in Uttarakhand and security was beefed up at malls, shopping arcades, bus and railway stations.
Security has also been spruced up at government offices and buildings as part of the precautionary measures.
Baghdad: At least 20 newborn babies were killed on Wednesday in a fire at a hospital in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a police source said.
The accident occurred when a fire broke out in the maternity wards of Yarmouk Hospital, the source told Xinhua news agency.
The children died of suffocation in the wards, the source said.
The accident was being investigated, but initial reports said it was caused by electrical contact, the source said.
Washington: About 45,000 jihadists have been killed in Iraq and Syria since the US-led operation to defeat the Islamic State group began two years ago, a top general said Wednesday.
"We estimate that over the past 11 months, we`ve killed about 25,000 enemy fighters. When you add that to the 20,000 estimated killed (previously), that`s 45,000 enemy (fighters) taken off the battlefield," said Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, who commands the US-led coalition campaign against IS.
MacFarland said estimates for the overall remaining strength of IS vary from about 15,000 to 30,000 but said the jihadists are having increasing difficulties replenishing their ranks.
"The number of fighters on the front line has diminished. They`ve diminished not only in quantity but also in quality -- we don`t see them operating nearly as effectively as they have in the past, which makes them even easier targets for us," MacFarland told Pentagon reporters from Baghdad via a videocall.
"As a result their attrition has accelerated here of late," he added.
Officials also estimate IS has lost 25,000 square kilometers (9,650 square miles) of the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria, or about 50 percent and 20 percent respectively in each country.
The US-led military effort against the Islamic State group started exactly two years ago, aimed at halting the jihadists as they swept across Iraq and Syria.
MacFarland was upbeat about the eventual recapture of Mosul in Iraq and Raqa in Syria, saying it would herald the "beginning of the end" of the campaign.
Diyarbakir: At least seven civilians were killed on Wednesday in two separate bomb attacks blamed on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in Turkey`s southeast, a regional security source said.
Four were killed in a car bomb attack in the centre of the city of Diyarbakir while another three civilians lost their lives in a near simultaneous bombing in Kiziltepe in Mardin province to the south, said the source, who asked not to be named.
Both bomb attacks had been aimed at passing police vehicles, the Dogan news agency said. NTV television said 25 people were wounded in the Mardin attack and 13 people wounded in Diyarbakir.
The authorities believe both blasts have been carried out by the Kurdistan Workers` Party (PKK), a Turkish official said.
Hundreds of members of the Turkish security forces have been killed by the PKK in attacks since the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in July last year.
Earlier Wednesday, five Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack blamed on PKK militants in Uludere in the southeastern Sirnak province close to the Iraqi border.
Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK first took up arms in 1984. It is proscribed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
The PKK has kept up attacks after the July 15 failed coup during which a rogue military faction tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power.
The government has vowed there will be no let up in the fight against the PKK even in the wake of the coup.
Beijing: China Wednesday warmed up for talks with the Philippines to resolve differences as Beijing welcomed Manila's special envoy to make joint efforts to improve bilateral relations and restore dialogue amid tensions over the South China Sea tribunal verdict.
"As neighbours of traditional friendship, China and the Philippines should make joint efforts to improve bilateral relations, restore dialogue and cooperation and push for the sound and steady growth of bilateral relations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a statement.
Manila's special envoy Fidel Ramos is on a five-day visit to Hong Kong.
"It is learnt that during his stay in Hong Kong, Ramos will meet his Chinese old friends. The Chinese side is open to all forms of contact between the two sides and welcomes a visit to China by Ramos as a special envoy at an early date," she said.
The tribunal appointed by the Permanent Court of Arbitration quashed China's claims over the South Chia Sea and gave a verdict in favour of the Philippines which contested Beijing's claims.
Besides the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have counter claims.
While rejecting the tribunal verdict, China said it is open for bilateral talks with Manila to resolve the dispute.
Designated by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as a special envoy, Ramos arrived in Hong Kong on Monday to start his visit to China after the South China Sea arbitration case has frozen the two countries' ties.
On his arrival in Hong Kong, he said the purpose of his visit to China is not for negotiations but to "rekindle" the Sino-Philippine friendship.
"We are here on a mission of goodwill and are not involved in any negotiations or official transactions," he said.
Ramos said that the people he want to first meet with during his trip is Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, a major think-tank based on China's southern island of Hainan Province.?
"I have always been optimistic and looking for the best results. But of course that also depends on the attitude of the Chinese officials," he said, adding that his Chinese friends include very successful businessmen.
Ramos said he will not discuss the particular issue of the South China Sea arbitration with his Chinese friends but seek to improve economic and tourism cooperation between the two countries.
Ramos, served as the Philippine President from 1992 to 1998.
After his retirement, Ramos became a key figure who proposed the Boao Forum for Asia, an international think tank backed by China which was also based in Hainan.
Los Angeles: A former sanitation worker was sentenced to death on Wednesday for murdering nine women and a teenage girl as the "Grim Sleeper" serial killer who preyed on prostitutes and drug addicts in a Los Angeles crime spree dating back 30 years.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Kathleen Kennedy imposed the death sentence recommended in June for Lonnie David Franklin Jr., 63, by a jury. A month earlier, it had convicted him on 10 counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
Franklin was convicted of shooting seven women to death from August 1985 to September 1988, then strangling a 15-year-old girl, and strangling or shooting two other women in a second round of killings between March 2002 and January 2007.
Before Franklin was arrested the killer was dubbed the "Grim Sleeper" because he seemed to have taken a 13-year break between the two spates of murders.
Franklin also was found guilty of attacking an 11th victim, who survived being shot, raped, pushed out of a car and left for dead in 1988. She testified against him at trial.
Prosecutors said Franklin stalked the streets of South Los Angeles, preying on prostitutes and drug addicts in a crime spree beginning at the height of a crack cocaine epidemic in the area. His victims` nude or partially clothed bodies were found dumped in alleys and trash bins.
Franklin did not testify in his own defence. During the trial, his attorneys sought to raise doubts about DNA evidence and suggested another "mystery man" was behind the killings.
Authorities said after Franklin`s 2011 indictment that they had evidence tying him to several more unsolved slayings, some of which occurred during the presumed lapse in killings.
Prosecutors in the penalty phase of the trial were permitted to present testimony about four such cases.
Washington: Igniting a new controversy, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said that gun rights activists could stop Hillary Clinton from winning the polls and picking new Supreme Court judges, a remark strongly criticised as a threat of violence against his Democratic rival.
"Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Though the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know," Trump said at an election rally in Wilmington, North Carolina yesterday.
The US Constitution's Second Amendment guarantees a right to bear firearms.
Trump's comments were interpreted by many as a threat of violence against his Democratic rival with Clinton campaign decrying the remark as "dangerous."
"This is simple -- what Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to the be president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way," said Robby Mook, Clinton's campaign manager, in the statement.
Trump, however, defended his comments, insisting that he was asking his supporters to use the power of their vote to stop Clinton from appointing justices who could restrict their Second
Amendment rights.
He claimed that the support for Second Amendment is a "strong powerful movement" and dismissed any other interpretation of his comments.
"This is a political movement. This is a strong, powerful movement, the Second Amendment. And there can be no other interpretation. Even reporters have told me. I mean, give me a break," Trump told Fox News.
Trump's "Second Amendment" remarks was criticised by several lawmakers, former national security officials and media.
Michael Hayden, a former CIA director who was among 50 Republican national security experts to denounce Trump in a letter, told CNN, "If someone else had said that said outside the hall, he'd
be in the back of a police wagon now with the Secret Service questioning him."
"You are not just responsible for what you say. You are responsible for what people hear," he said.
Brussels: The European Union and Turkey have overcome strains in the past and can still save a crucial deal stemming migrant flows to Europe, Ankara's envoy to Brussels said Wednesday.
In an interview with AFP, Turkey`s ambassador to the EU, Selim Yenel, said the EU should also not fear it will lose out from Ankara`s rapprochement with Moscow at Tuesday`s summit in Saint Petersburg.
"I am always an optimist," Yenel said when asked about prospects for the migrant deal as the two sides prepare to resume contacts after the August holidays.
"When September comes, I think we can manage to find a way out," he said.
EU leaders have expressed mounting fears that the deal, sealed in March, could collapse as a rift deepens over Ankara`s crackdown on tens of thousands of people after last month`s failed coup.
Turkey has angrily rejected EU criticism that its post-putsch purges might violate rights norms Ankara must meet under the agreement in return for visa-free travel for Turks and accelerated negotiations for bloc membership.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday accused the EU of having "adopted a favourable position to the coup (and) encouraged the putschists." He did not elaborate.
Brussels has also fired a shot across Ankara`s bow by warning that reinstating the death penalty in the wake of the coup would torpedo its bid for EU membership.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will approve any decision by parliament to restore capital punishment that was abolished in 2004 as part of Turkey`s efforts to join the 28-nation bloc.
Yenel said the vehement EU reaction was premature.
"We are just debating it. It`s not even in the parliament. We know our international obligation. We know what will happen if the death penalty is accepted," the ambassador said.
Ankara has warned it could withdraw from the migrant accord if Europe fails to allow visa-free travel for Turks by October.Under the migrant plan,
Turkey agreed to take back Syrians who make it to Greece, in return for being allowed to send one from its massive refugee camps to the EU in a more orderly redistribution programme.
Yenel dismissed speculation that Ankara`s ties with the west could be at risk after Erdogan visited Russia on Tuesday to mend fences with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
"I am surprised that people are worried about our rapprochement," he said.
Several European countries have closer energy and trade ties with Moscow than Ankara despite EU sanctions over Russian actions in Ukraine, he argued.
Yenel recalled that relations between Ankaras and Brussels went through "much worse" in 1997 when Turkey stopped all political dialogue with the EU for two years when it was excluded from talks that saw Poland and other eastern European countries eventually join the bloc.
"We've all gone through difficult periods. This is not that bad," Yenel said.
Diyarbakir: Five Turkish soldiers were killed today in an attack blamed on Kurdish militants in the restive southeast of the country, a local security source said.
Eight other soldiers were wounded after a homemade bomb exploded while a military convoy was passing in Uludere, close to the Iraqi border, the source said.
The bombing was blamed on militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) with whom the Turkish military has renewed fighting since the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in July last year.
The Turkish army's hierarchy has been badly hit in the purge since the July 15 failed coup during which a rogue military faction tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power.
Nearly half of all generals have been imprisoned or dismissed, raising concerns about the coordination of the fight against Kurdish rebels.
More than 600 Turkish security force members have been killed by the PKK since the collapse of a ceasefire last year, according to a toll given by state-run Anadolu news agency on July 31.
The government has responded with military operations against the group, killing more than 7,000 militants in Turkey and northern Iraq, the agency said. It is not possible to independently verify the toll.
Activists claim innocent civilians have also been killed in the offensives.
Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK first took up arms in 1984. It is proscribed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
Washington: Hillary Clinton on Wednesday sternly warned her Republican presidential rival Donald Trump about his "casual inciting" of violence, saying his startling remarks suggesting gun rights supporters could act against her "crossed the line."
It was the Democratic nominee`s most forceful denunciation after Trump caused a firestorm by suggesting to supporters in North Carolina on Tuesday that "Second Amendment people" -- those who support gun rights -- could take action to stop Clinton from appointing US Supreme Court justices as president.
"Yesterday we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments by Donald Trump that crossed the line," Clinton told a rally in Des Moines, Iowa.
"Words matter, my friends. And if you are running to be president, or you are president of the United States, words can have tremendous consequences."
Trump and his campaign had quickly sought to douse the flames, insisting the Republican flagbearer was merely urging gun rights supporters to reject her candidacy at the ballot box.
Clinton appeared to reject the Trump campaign`s defense, warning of the dangers of reckless language during a presidential race.
She slammed Trump`s "casual cruelty to a gold star family," referring to the billionaire`s clash with the parents of a Muslim American soldier who was killed in action.
"His casual suggestion that more countries should have nuclear weapons, and now his casual inciting of violence," she added.
"Every single one of these incidents shows us that Donald Trump simply does not have the temperament to be president and commander in chief of the United States."
With Team Trump seeking to dig the candidate out of a deepening hole, former New York mayor and Trump backer Rudy Giuliani insisted the uproar was triggered by "the Clinton spin machine."
But the Secret Service, tasked with protecting the president and presidential nominees, was taking Trump`s remarks seriously and has spoken with Trump`s campaign about them, CNN reported.
In an unnerving example of campaign security tensions, an animal rights activist appeared to rush the stage as Clinton spoke Wednesday, but was tackled and removed by security.
Secret Service agents jumped up to protect the candidate, then retreated after the protester was escorted out.Clinton meanwhile launched an open appeal Wednesday to independents and Republicans repulsed by Trump over his string of controversial statements.
The campaign unveiled a new website, togetherforamerica.com, that lists dozens of Republicans and independents who back Clinton, including former director of national intelligence John Negroponte and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.
"Regardless of party, voters are increasingly concerned that Trump`s tendency to bully, demean and degrade others sends the wrong message to our children," Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said in announcing the effort.
Lawmakers, former national security officials and other critics expressed concern that Trump had advocated violence, possibly in jest, against Clinton or her Supreme Court nominees.
"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks," Trump, 70, said Tuesday. "Although the Second Amendment people -- maybe there is, I don`t know."
Trump on Wednesday steered clear of the controversy at a Virginia rally, although he reiterated that the Second Amendment remained "under siege."
Trump has suffered what critics insist is a long string of missteps that have marred his campaign since he officially won the nomination last month, prompting several Republicans to reject his candidacy.
He has clearly roiled the party with his unorthodox remarks, with some Republicans frustrated at his apparent inability to stay on message.
A Reuters/IPSOS poll Wednesday found that 19 percent of Republican voters want the real estate tycoon to drop out of the race, while 70 percent think he should stay and 10 percent say they don`t know.
The RealClearPolitics national poll average shows Clinton leading Trump by 48 percent to 40 percent.
Fifty prominent Republican national security experts announced in an open letter this week they would not vote for Trump, saying he "lacks the character, values and experience" to be president.
Six GOP senators including Susan Collins and a number of House Republicans have disowned him too.Meanwhile, Clinton was enduring a fresh round of criticism over her emails from her time as secretary of state, which have been a thorn in her side and hurt her trustworthiness among voters.
Conservative watchdog Judicial Watch released a batch of emails that raise questions about the State Department`s relationship with the Clinton Foundation.
The Trump campaign seized on the latest emails to blast Clinton as "corrupt," with critics saying the messages showed the foundation sought improper preferential treatment from the department.
Tripoli: Libyan forces battling to oust Islamic State (IS) from Sirte said they had made major advances on Wednesday, capturing a convention centre previously used as a base by the jihadist group, as well as the city`s university and hospital.
"Our forces have complete control of the whole of the Ouagadougou (convention) complex - they even advanced some distance beyond the complex," said Rida Issa, a spokesman in the forces` media office.
If the gains are confirmed, it would mark the biggest advance the forces have made for weeks. They come 10 days after the United States began air strikes over Sirte, which fighters say have eased their advance on militants encircled in the centre of the city.
The capture of the Ouagadougou complex would also be an important symbolic victory. The large domed building is a landmark in Sirte, the hometown of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and was used for meetings and religious instruction by Islamic State after they took control of the city last year.
Forces aligned with Libya`s U.N.-backed government launched their campaign for Sirte in May. Their advance slowed as they approached the centre of Sirte, and the forces, led by brigades from the city of Misrata, have suffered heavy casualties from IS landmines and snipers.
Clashes have been sporadic, with heavier fighting interspersed with lulls that last for several days.
Since Aug. 1, U.S. drones and fighter jets have carried out a total of 29 strikes, targeting several IS emplacements on Monday and a gun-mounted pick-up truck on Tuesday, according to statements by U.S. Africa Command.
In Wednesday`s clashes, the government-backed forces said they had also advanced to a cluster of unfinished blocks just west of the centre of Sirte known as the "bone buildings, which had been used by Islamic State snipers.
At least three fighters from the government-backed forces were killed and 11 wounded, Issa said, adding that he expected the toll to rise.
Earlier in the day, Libyan forces said they had lost a fighter jet over Sirte. Issa said the cause of the crash and the fate of the crew could not be confirmed, but Islamic State claimed it had shot down the jet, killing a pilot, according to a statement on a website close to the group.
Libyan militants returning from combat in Syria`s civil war helped implant Islamic State in Libya in 2014, but IS has struggled to win support or hold territory as most local people regard it as a malign import dependent on foreign fighters.
Washington: Pressure from high-profile Republicans and rank-and-file voters mounted on Wednesday to reject Donald Trumps candidacy as his campaign dealt with fallout from his remark that gun rights activists could stop Hillary Clinton from nominating liberal US Supreme Court justices.
Nearly one-fifth of 396 registered Republicans in a Reuters/Ipsos August 5-8 poll released on Wednesday want Trump to drop out of the race for the White House and another 10 percent "don`t know" whether the Republican nominee should or not.
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida, wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post saying the party was in "uncharted waters" and called for leaders to start looking for ways to remove Trump from the ticket.
Clinton`s campaign announced an outreach effort to woo support from disenchanted Republicans for the Democratic nominee. John Negroponte, former director of national intelligence under President George W. Bush, and former Republican US Representative Chris Shays of Connecticut were among those that announced their support on Wednesday.
"Donald Trump lost me a long time ago," Shays told MSNBC in an interview. "He does and says everything my mom and dad taught me never to say and do. He doesn`t understand the basic requirements of being president of the United States. And, frankly, he`s dangerous."
Clinton`s campaign now has a website for Republicans and political independents to sign up in support of Clinton. It lists 50 prominent Republicans and independents who have endorsed her so far, including Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Trump, a New York businessman, was seeking to reset his campaign this week with an economic policy speech after a series of missteps that included a prolonged clash with the parents of fallen Muslim American Army Captain Humayun Khan.
But Trump`s remark at a Tuesday rally that gun rights activists could prevent Clinton from placing liberal justices on the U.S. Supreme Court immediately sparked a torrent of criticism on social media that he was effectively calling for Clinton`s assassination.
"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks," Trump said at the rally at the University of North Carolina. "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know," he continued. The US Constitution`s Second Amendment guarantees a right to keep and bear arms.
Clinton`s campaign called Trump`s remark "dangerous." Trump`s campaign said the comment was misinterpreted and that he was encouraging gun activists to use their political power.
"What he meant by that was you have the power to vote against her," former New York Mayor Giuliani said late on Tuesday when introducing Trump at another rally.
Trump`s comment and the resulting backlash occurred as Reuters/Ipsos polling showed already deep divisions among U.S. voters over Trump`s candidacy.
In addition to the poll showing 19 percent of registered Republicans want Trump to drop out, a separate Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll showed that some 44 percent of 1,162 registered voters believe he should exit the race.
Earlier this week, 50 Republican national security officials had signed an open letter questioning the real estate mogul`s temperament, calling him reckless and unqualified.
Other top Republicans, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine this week, have disavowed Trump but said they cannot back Clinton, either.
Trump has dismissed the defections and criticism by Republicans as an unsurprising reaction of the so-called Washington elite to his drive to change the status quo.
Even Republicans calling for Trump`s ouster from the Republican ticket acknowledge it would be difficult at this juncture to replace him ahead of the November 8 election.
Party rules would require hosting another nominating convention or having delegates vote following the same process used at a formal convention. In addition, some states require that nominee names on ballots be certified earlier than others. The deadline in Ohio is Aug. 10; Florida is September 1. Both are critical battleground states.
Moscow: Russia`s Federal Security Service said on Wednesday it had thwarted two armed Ukrainian attempts to get saboteurs into Crimea and dismantled a Ukrainian spy network inside the annexed peninsula.
The FSB accused Ukrainian special forces of planning to carry out terrorist attacks inside Crimea targeting critical infrastructure and said an FSB employee and a Russian soldier had been killed in clashes with Ukrainian forces.
"The aim of this subversive activity and terrorist acts was to destabilise the socio-political situation in the region ahead of preparations and the holding of elections," the FSB said in a statement.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 in an operation that triggered US and European Union sanctions. Ukraine says it wants the strategically important peninsula back; Moscow says the matter is settled and closed forever.
The FSB said it had tackled one group of saboteurs in an operation that spanned Saturday night and the early hours of Sunday morning and that an FSB employee had been killed while trying to detain them.
It said it had found 20 homemade explosive devices, ammunition, mines, grenades and specialised weapons it said were commonly used by Ukrainian special forces.
It said it had detained a Ukrainian spy network in the process, detaining citizens of both Ukraine and Russia.
In the early hours of Monday, it said Ukraine had attempted to infiltrate two groups of saboteurs into Crimea by force, but that the FSB and other agencies had repelled the attempts.
It said one Russian soldier had been killed in what it called a "massive firefight" when Ukrainian forces with the support of armoured vehicles had tried and failed to break into Crimea.
Security had been beefed up in areas popular with tourists, at key infrastructure, and along the border between Crimea and rump Ukraine, the FSB said.
Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused Ukraine of waging "terror" over alleged attempted incursions into annexed Crimea that Kiev has fiercely denied.
Russia`s security agency announced it had thwarted "terrorist attacks" in Crimea by Ukrainian military intelligence and beaten back an armed assault, claims that have ratcheted up tensions first sparked by Moscow`s 2014 annexation of the strategic Black Sea peninsula.
The FSB said in a statement that one of its officers was killed in armed clashes while arresting "terrorists" on the night of August 6-7 while a Russian soldier died in a firefight with "sabotage-terrorist" groups sent by the Ukrainian defence ministry on August 8.
"This is very alarming news. In fact, our security services prevented an incursion into the territory by a sabotage-reconnaissance group from Ukraine`s defence ministry," Putin said.
The Kremlin leader accused the authorities in Kiev of "practising terror" and pledged not to leave the deaths of the two Russian officers unanswered.
"From the Russian side there were losses -- two servicemen killed. We obviously will not let such things slide by," Putin said.
"This is a very dangerous game. We will of course do everything to assure the security of infrastructure, citizens and will take additional measures to provide security, including serious additional measures."
Moscow and Kiev have been locked in a bitter feud since the Kremlin seized Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 after Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted.
Ukraine`s national security council chief Oleksandr Turchynov branded the allegations as "hysterical and false" and said Moscow was trying to stoke fear in Crimea.
Ukraine`s defence ministry also dismissed the allegations as "nothing more than an attempt to justify the redeployment and aggressive actions" of Russian forces in the region.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring the frontier between mainland Ukraine and Crimea did not report any incidents.
But it said road traffic was halted this earlier this week and border guards appeared to be on "heightened alert".
In its statement, the FSB -- which controls Russia`s border guards -- said it had "foiled terrorist attacks on the territory of Crimea prepared by the intelligence directorate of the Ukrainian defence ministry".
"The aim of the sabotage and terrorist attacks was to destabilise the social and political situation" ahead of elections in Russia and Crimea next month, it said.
The security agency said that in the August 6-7 raids, several people were detained, including a Ukrainian military intelligence officer, and a cache of explosives was discovered.
"On the night of August 8 2016 special operations forces from the Ukrainian defence ministry carried out two more attempts to make a breakthrough by sabotage-terrorist groups," it said.
The assault included "massive firing from the side of the neighbouring state and armoured vehicles" but was beaten back by the Russian authorities, the statement said.
The FSB said it had stepped up security measures around the peninsula following the alleged incidents.
Russia seized Crimea in 2014 after sending in thousands of special forces troops to take control of Ukrainian bases and holding a hastily-organised referendum that was rejected by the international community.
The move shattered ties between the two ex-Soviet neighbours and sent relations between Moscow and the West plummeting to their lowest point since the Cold War.
Since its annexation by Russia, Crimea has remained largely peaceful.
However, a separatist conflict -- that the West and Kiev blame on Moscow -- has killed some 9,500 people in two regions of Ukraine`s industrial east.
Fighting in the east between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels is still rumbling on as a peace deal to end the violence fails to make progress.
Putin said the alleged incidents in Crimea meant he would not hold a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and mediators German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French leader Francois Hollande on the conflict at the G20 summit in China in September.
Russia is gearing up for nationwide legislative elections on September 18 and Putin has previously warned his security officials that "foreign enemies" are seeking to disrupt the vote.
Sanaa: Saudi-led coalition warplanes launched fresh air strikes against Shiite rebels across Yemen on Wednesday despite international concerns over the escalation after the suspension of peace talks.
The coalition resumed strikes days after UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait between representatives of the government and the Iran-backed Huthi rebels ended without a breakthrough.
The coalition, which has been battling to prop up Yemen's government against the Huthis since March 2015, hit rebel positions across northern Yemen, said coalition officials and tribal sources.
That came a day after coalition jets struck targets around Yemen's rebel-held capital, Sanaa, for the first time in three months.
The United Nations said it was alarmed at the resumption of air raids.
"The secretary-general is deeply concerned about reports of increased fighting between various parties in Hajjah, Saada and Sanaa provinces including over the past few days," said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
"The reported escalation in fighting exacerbates the already dire humanitarian and human rights situation and the suffering of the Yemeni people."
France said its Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault spoke by phone with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir and emphasised the importance of a ceasefire to pave the way for a political solution in Yemen.
Iran, which Riyadh accuses of supporting the Huthis, denounced the international community's "inaction" while Saudi Arabia carried out what it called "atrocities" against Yemenis.
It called on the UN and countries that supply arms to Saudi Arabia to make "effective efforts to stop these attacks and... Protect civilians."
The renewed violence came as the Pentagon said it had approved the possible sale to Saudi Arabia of up to 153 tanks, hundreds of machineguns and other military gear in a deal worth USD 1.15 billion.
State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said she was "very concerned" by Tuesday's casualty reports, but did not directly comment when asked about worries that US weapons being sent to Saudi Arabia could be used against civilians.
Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted missiles fired from Yemeni territory towards two of its southern towns on today morning.
Kabul: The Taliban's deputy shadow district governor Abdul Rahman and 13 other insurgents were reportedly killed in a military operation in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province on Wednesday.
Kunduz police said 21 other insurgents were also injured.
According to the police, the operation was conducted in Imam Sahib district of the province and was supported by the Afghan air force.
It added that two security soldiers were also killed and three others injured.
No further details were provided by the police in this regard.
Hong Kong: Vietnam has discreetly fortified several of its islands in the disputed South China Sea with new mobile rocket launchers capable of striking China`s runways and military installations across the vital trade route, according to Western officials.
Diplomats and military officers told Reuters that intelligence shows Hanoi has shipped the launchers from the Vietnamese mainland into position on five bases in the Spratly islands in recent months, a move likely to raise tensions with Beijing.
The launchers have been hidden from aerial surveillance and they have yet to be armed, but could be made operational with rocket artillery rounds within two or three days, according to the three sources.
Vietnam`s Foreign Ministry said the information was "inaccurate", without elaborating.
Deputy Defence Minister, Senior Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh, told Reuters in Singapore in June that Hanoi had no such launchers or weapons ready in the Spratlys but reserved the right to take any such measures.
"It is within our legitimate right to self-defence to move any of our weapons to any area at any time within our sovereign territory," he said.
The move is designed to counter China`s build-up on its seven reclaimed islands in the Spratlys archipelago. Vietnam`s military strategists fear the building runways, radars and other military installations on those holdings have left Vietnam`s southern and island defences increasingly vulnerable.
Military analysts say it is the most significant defensive move Vietnam has made on its holdings in the South China Sea in decades.
Hanoi wanted to have the launchers in place as it expected tensions to rise in the wake of the landmark international court ruling against China in an arbitration case brought by the Philippines, foreign envoys said.
The ruling last month, stridently rejected by Beijing, found no legal basis to China`s sweeping historic claims to much of the South China Sea.
Vietnam, China and Taiwan claim all of the Spratlys while the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei claim some of the area.
"China`s military maintains close surveillance of the situation in the sea and air space around the Spratly islands," China`s defence ministry said in a faxed statement to Reuters.
"We hope the relevant country can join with China in jointly safeguarding peace and stability in the South China Sea region."
The United States is also monitoring developments closely.
"We continue to call on all South China Sea claimants to avoid actions that raise tensions, take practical steps to build confidence, and intensify efforts to find peaceful, diplomatic solutions to disputes," a State Department official said.
STATE-OF-THE-ART SYSTEM
Foreign officials and military analysts believe the launchers form part of Vietnam`s state-of-art EXTRA rocket artillery system recently acquired from Israel.
EXTRA rounds are highly accurate up to a range of 150 km (93 miles), with different 150 kg (330 lb) warheads that can carry high explosives or bomblets to attack multiple targets simultaneously. Operated with targeting drones, they could strike both ships and land targets.
That puts China`s 3,000-metre runways and installations on Subi, Fiery Cross and Mischief Reef within range of many of Vietnam`s tightly clustered holdings on 21 islands and reefs.
While Vietnam has larger and longer range Russian coastal defence missiles, the EXTRA is considered highly mobile and effective against amphibious landings. It uses compact radars, so does not require a large operational footprint - also suitable for deployment on islets and reefs.
"When Vietnam acquired the EXTRA system, it was always thought that it would be deployed on the Spratlys...it is the perfect weapon for that," said Siemon Wezeman, a senior arms researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
There is no sign the launchers have been recently test fired or moved.
China took its first Spratlys possessions after a sea battle against Vietnam`s then weak navy in 1988. After the battle, Vietnam said 64 soldiers with little protection were killed as they tried to protect a flag on South Johnson reef - an incident still acutely felt in Hanoi.
In recent years, Vietnam has significantly improved its naval capabilities as part of a broader military modernisation, including buying six advanced Kilo submarines from Russia.
Carl Thayer, an expert on Vietnam`s military at the Australian Defence Force Academy, said the deployment showed the seriousness of Vietnam`s determination to militarily deter China as far as possible.
"China`s runways and military installations in the Spratlys are a direct challenge to Vietnam, particularly in their southern waters and skies, and they are showing they are prepared to respond to that threat," he said. "China is unlikely to see this as purely defensive, and it could mark a new stage of militarization of the Spratlys."
Trevor Hollingsbee, a former naval intelligence analyst with the British defence ministry, said he believed the deployment also had a political factor, partly undermining the fear created by the prospect of large Chinese bases deep in maritime Southeast Asia.
"It introduces a potential vulnerability where they was none before - it is a sudden new complication in an arena that China was dominating," he said.
Hanoi: Vietnam is working on a scheme to grant electronic visas for foreign visitors from next year, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said.
The government had allocated some 200 billion Vietnamese dong ($8.97 million) to speed up the implementation of the scheme so that the e-visa system can be launched on January 1 next year, Xinhua news agency quoted Phuc as saying on Tuesday.
The move aims to attract more tourists and boost the domestic tourism industry.
Phuc asked the ministries of finance, public security and foreign affairs to define e-visa fees and ensure that foreign tourists are warmly welcomed in the country.
The e-visas will be issued to applicants in a printer-friendly email after they fill out an online application form.
This system, it is believed, will further speed up the entire visa process, according to Kenneth Atkinson, chairman of the Tourism Working Group under the Vietnam Business Forum.
Currently, a Vietnamese tourist visa can be obtained upon arrival at the country's international airports where tourists have to wait in long queues, or through Vietnamese embassies or consulates.
Last month, in an attempt to attract more visitors, Vietnam renewed the 15-day visa waiver policy for citizens of Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Italy for another year.
By 2020, Vietnam targets to attract 10 million to 10.5 million international visitors with tourism revenue reaching $18 billion to $19 billion each year.
Farmers Business Network has raised $20 million in venture funding in a round led by food company Campbell Soups new $125 million food and agriculture investment fund Acre Venture Partners.
The round is an extension to the startups $15 million Series B in May 2015, or a Series B-2 round in the words of Charles Baron, co-founder and vice president of product for the company. Farmers Business Network will use the new funding to further expand its team, which has already increased to 90 from 56 in February of this year.
The California-based company brands itself as an independent farmer-to-farmer network cooperative, providing farmer members with data support services, agronomics, and data aggregation support. Launched in 2014, the company reports that its membership has tripled in the last year with farmers subscribing in new states like Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, and Oklahoma.
Funding for precision agriculture startups helped to drive the top line investment numbers during the first half of this year, according to AgFunders Mid-Year 2016 AgTech Investing Report. The space captured $333 million across 58 deals involving 99 unique investors.
In February, Farmers Business Network debuted its FBN Procurements platform, offering farmers access to better pricing information for some 200 chemical products. The platform is designed to take some of the confusion and mystery out of purchasing crop inputs while cultivating more transparency and fairness in the market. After researching price disparities in the chemical inputs market, FBN concluded that farmers could pay up to 300 percent difference for the same product and even 40 percent difference within an hours drive.
One of the main hurdles for the procurement platform has been whittling down the delivery time to meet farmers needs. Now, the program offers 1-3 day delivery for in-season products, says Baron.
To further aid the companys campaign for price transparency and the democratization of information, Farmers Business Network recently launched a platform that allows farmers to upload their invoices and receipts anonymously. If Farmers Business Network receives a sufficient number of price reports, it posts the information for its network to review.
What does Farmers Business Network place such importance on price transparency and competition in inputs?
This is a very hard year for farmers, says Baron. Not only was there an excess of corn acres planted, but we may also have a bumper crop. Corn was already in a weak price environment and looking even more bearish. The University of Illinois released a series of studies showing how input prices have risen in absolute and relative bases in the last 10 years and are taking an even higher share of farmers revenue. This combination has been extremely difficult for farmers.
Despite the undisputed squeeze on farmers margins, some companies have had no qualms about letting their disapproval of FBNs procurement platform and price transparency platform.
Paul Schrimpf, the editor of CropLife publication, described it as the devil known as price transparency, in an article in February. He painted images of growers storming into retailers offices with price sheets and demanding lower input prices.
There has been a strong reaction from the industry who are very opposed to price transparencyand just in this simple form where we provide lists of prices from different states for comparison, argues Baron. Its not even the level where we are providing actual basic invoices from farmers showing what they are being quoted. Farmers have been very frustrated and fed up with this for a long time.
Acre Venture Partners (AVP) general partner Gareth Asten stands behind Farmers Business Networks mission to democratize input prices. For him, the same spirit behind the companys transparency crusade is one of the main drivers behind the $125 million fund.
Weve known FBN for a long time and wanted to invest from the get-go, Asten tells AgFunderNews. What they stand for, how they align with the interests of the farmers, how they think about price development and disrupting whats inside of the ag ecosystem today; those things align philosophically with what we think about the future of the farm system.
Acre Venture Partners takes first strides
Since closing the fund in February 2016, AVP has made eight investments including Back to the Roots, Juicero, TerraVia, and Solazyme. The other four investments remain unannounced for the time being. And while many media outlets have described AVP as Campbells venture arm, Asten eagerly notes that while the mega packaged foods maker is the funds sole limited partner, AVP stands completely independent from Campbells and has full autonomy.
Although AVP had its heart set on backing Farmers Business Network, theyve considered a few other plays in the big data and precision ag space.
There certainly is a need for continued capital and expertise in the space, but for us in particular, we like that information gives power, and power is knowledge. Farmers Business Network takes information and makes it more useful. The democratization of information is something that we think is really, really key in an environment where information has been tightly held.
Farmers Business Networks pricing model also allows farmers of any skill-level and scope to engage with the networks information and data services, he notes.
In the broader agtech market, drones, mechanical innovations like precision harvesting, and other technologies that serve up better outcomes, also interest AVP. When it comes to CPG, Asten says theyre keeping a close eye on developments in the microbiome space that may have applications to human health and nutrition.
And while there is an ever-growing bounty of new startups hitting the scene, Asten believes it will take more than just a handful of technologies to help address the major pressures on our current and future food systems.
The value in Farmers Business Network
To be successful, however, each company will need to demonstrate value.
In my experience and I dont speak for everyone farmers are very open to new technology and new sources of information to help them make better decisions, says Asten. The question is at the end of the day is how do you create something that is valuable for the farmer where they can identify a very discrete value-to-action orientation?
Achieving this result will, of course, require many innovators to include the farmer at the drawing board. A common mistake among many companies is creating the solution before theyve really understood the problem instead of asking farmers questions about the problems they actually face on a day-to-day basis, he says.
I think thats whats unique about FBN. One of their taglines is Created by Farmers, For Farmers, but its really true, he adds.
Farmers Business Networks growing employee roster will mostly consist of field representatives serving a variety of capacities, with an emphasis on providing direct farmer support.
They will be doing a bit of everything, explains Baron. Our field team really builds the community. They help farmers use the system, help with data, and they are now helping with the procurement program.
Its employees are stationed throughout the US, including Montana, Ohio, and Arkansas, and its planning a substantial expansion at its Sioux Falls center, which currently houses 27 employees.
This latest round of capital brings the companys total funding to $48 million and included existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byer, GV (Google Ventures), and DBL Partners.
Have news or tips? Email Media@AgFunderNews.com
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and President of Russia Vladimir Putin will hold talks on August 10 around political, trade-economic and humanitarian issues, and will also discuss international and regional issues, the Kremlins Press Service reported.
During the high level talks it is scheduled to discuss main issues of cooperation in political, trade-economic and humanitarian areas, discuss the progress of integration processes in the Eurasian territory, the Kremlins statement reads.
It is expected that opinions will be exchanged on international and regional issues.
Earlier this week Vladimir Putin visited Baku, where he had a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. When the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement was being discussed, Vladimir Putin announced that Russia will strive for Azerbaijan and Armenia to find a mutually acceptable solution.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. The Russian and German foreign ministers, Sergei Lavrov and Frank Walter Steinmeier, have discussed the settlements of conflicts in Syria and Ukraine by telephone at the German sides request, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, TASS reports.
"The ministers exchanged views on the situation in Syria and international assistance to settling the conflict in that country with a focus on resuming the inclusive dialogue between the government and the opposition within the framework of the Geneva process; as well as on ways of raising the efficiency of struggle against terrorist and extremist organizations and the solution of humanitarian tasks," the ministry said.
Lavrov and Steinmeier also discussed the Minsk-2 package of measures designed to implement the Minsk agreements for settling the Donbass crisis.
"They stressed the need to synchronize steps on the way to a political settlement of the intra-Ukrainian conflict with the solution of security issues," the ministry said.
The Russian and German foreign ministers considered separate aspects of Russian-German relations, including the schedule of forthcoming bilateral contacts.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has signed a decree on August 10 on the dissolution of the National Security Council Staff and the repeal of the Presidential instruction NK-139 of 2008, August 25.
The Presidents also instructed the Presidential Chief of Staff and the Secretary of the National Security Council until September 1 to present the Councils Secretariats statute and structure for approval.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. At least 11 newborn babies have been killed in a fire at a hospital in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, the country's health ministry says, BBC reported.
The blaze broke out overnight inside the maternity department at the Yarmouk hospital, in the west of the city.
Nineteen women suffered burns and smoke inhalation and were transferred to another hospital for treatment.
The ministry said the fire was probably caused by an electrical fault. No other details were immediately available.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Iranian oil exports have boosted to as high as 2.5 million barrels per day a landmark development that could mean the country has already regained a crucial global oil market share that it had lost as a result of multiple years of sanctions, NIOC reported.
"Oil exports have increased to 2.5 million barrels per day," said Irans First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri. "The sons of the Iranian nation have been able to move again the wheels of the countrys oil production that had stopped [as a result of the sanctions] and thus regain the old [share] of the markets, Jahangiri told a meeting of education officials.
He emphasized that several oil producers specifically the Persian Gulf states have come across "enormous" problems as a result of the plunging prices of crude oil over the past few years.
However, Irans economic stability prevailed due to an efficient management, Jahangiri added.
In mid-January, a series of economic sanctions that had been imposed on Iran for multiple years were removed after a deal between the country and the P5+1 the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany was implemented.
The sanctions barred foreign investments in the Iranian oil industry and also limited a low ceiling of 1 million bpd on the countrys oil exports.
Before the sanctions were lifted, Iran said it had made the necessary preparations to boost its oil production capacity to pre-sanctions levels.
Irans Petroleum Minister, Bijan Zangeneh had repeatedly emphasized that the country was determined to regain its share of the oil market that it had lost as a result of the sanctions within a short period of time.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. The European Union should end accession negotiations with Turkey completely due to President Tayyip Erdogan's "undemocratic initiatives" and his support for reintroducing the death penalty, Denmark's government party said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
"The red line is crossed for what should be a minimum for an EU candidate country," foreign policy spokesman for the Liberal Party, Michael Aastrup Jensen, told Reuters.
"It should lead not only to a pause in the negotiations but to a downright stop, and a removal of Turkey from the list of candidate countries," he said.
The foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comments.
On Sunday, Austria's foreign minister threatened to block EU negotiations with Turkey.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Two people have been arrested for obstruction of media freedom and mass disturbances overnight July 29-30 in Sari Tagh.
The Special Investigations Service continues investigating the criminal cases on misconduct, obstruction of media freedom, excessive force and violence during overnight July 29-30 events in Sari Tagh, Yerevan.
The SIS told ARMENPRESS 20 reporters were victims of the incidents, 17 of them have already been questioned.
On August 10, two people were arrested for obstruction of media freedom (obstructing reporters from their duty) and hooliganism.
Investigation continues.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs that on August 10 the USD exchange rate was 476.25 AMD which is an increase of 0.06 drams compared to the previous day.
Armenpress reports that the Euro increased by 4.02 drams forming 532.02 drams. British pound increased by 3.74 drams forming 621.74 drams, Russian ruble dropped by 0.02 drams reaching to 7.35 drams on August 10.
The prices for precious metals are as follows: the price for silver per gram is 301.64 AMD, gold-20,533.11 AMD, and platinum-17,501.38 AMD.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Hillary Clinton has retained most of the bounce she received after the Democratic National Convention and now enjoys a 6-point lead over Donald Trump in a two-way contest among likely voters, reports Bloomberg Politics.
The Democratic presidential nominees advantage in a new Bloomberg Politics national poll is smaller than in some surveys conducted the week after her convention, including some that sampled registered voters, a broader group. When third-party candidates are included, her lead in this poll shrinks to close to the margin of error.
The findings suggest damage has been done to one of Trumps main calling cards, his business expertise, with 61 percent of likely voters saying theyre less impressed with the Republican nominees business acumen than when the campaign started.
Clintons lead over Trump of 50 percent to 44 percent in a two-way contest is boosted by a greater consolidation of support among Democrats than Republicans have shown for their candidate. She wins 94 percent of the Democratic vote, including 93 percent of Democrats who backed Senator Bernie Sanders in the primary race, while Trump gets 87 percent of the Republican vote.
In a four-person race that includes Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein, Clinton leads Trump 44 percent to 40 percent.
Johnson, a former New Mexico governor, gets 9 percent, while Stein, a physician, receives 4 percent. Both scores are below the 15-percent average needed in national polls to be included in this falls presidential debates.
The survey was conducted before Trump ignited new furor on Tuesday when he suggested the Second Amendment people could stop Clinton from enacting liberal policies that would be upheld by federal judges she would nominate if elected president. The Second Amendment protects Americans right to bear arms, and some Democrats condemned Trumps remark as a death threat. Trumps campaign said he was referring to gun-rights advocates voting against Clinton.
The poll confirms Clinton emerged from the noisy campaign week that followed her convention in a stronger position than Trump. That edge could prove valuable, if she can maintain it, during a period when there are no major events on the political calendar until the first debate on Sept. 26.
The question following a convention bounce is how much of it will stick, as memory of the event and excitement fades, said pollster J. Ann Selzer, whose Iowa-based firm Selzer & Co. oversaw the survey. For Clinton, the contest is far from settled, but she is on solid ground.
Clintons voters are more positive about her candidacy than those backing Trump are about his, with 56 percent saying their alignment with her is more an act of support than to stop Trump. His fans, meanwhile, are more motivated by their disdain for her, with 56 percent saying their backing of Trump is more a vote against her than support for him.
In the two-way contest with Trump, Clinton's strongest demographic groups are non-whites (66 percent), those in the Northeast (65 percent), those under 35 years old (61 percent), the unmarried (60 percent), the college-educated (59 percent), and women (55 percent).
Trump does best among white men with no college degree (76 percent), evangelicals (59 percent), the non-college educated (52 percent), married people (50 percent), those in the South (50 percent), and men (48 percent).
Among those 65 and older, Trump beats Clinton, 50 percent to 46 percent. Independent voters, always a critical group in presidential elections, back Clinton over Trump, 48 percent to 41 percent.
Differing methodologies in this and other polls might result in differences in how that independent vote is measured. This poll has traditionally asked party affiliation by offering three options: Republican, Democrat, and independent. Some polls press independents on whether they lean toward one of the two parties, resulting in higher numbers for both parties and a lower number for independents than in this poll. This poll measured Republicans at 25 percent of the general population, Democrats at 27 percent, and independents at 42 percent.
Conducted Friday through Monday, the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points among likely voters and 3.1 percentage points on questions that included the full sample of 1,007 U.S. adults. On subgroups, such as just Clinton or just Trump voters, the margin of error is higher.
The electoral environment documented in the survey shows a strong desire for change, even as 50 percent of adults approve of the job President Barack Obama is doing.
Nearly seven in 10 adults, 68 percent, say the country is headed in the wrong direction, with almost half of that group blaming Democrats and 22 percent pointing the finger at Republicans. Thirty percent said they arent sure who is to blame.
A solid majority of likely voters, 56 percent, say the U.S. is in a dark and dangerous place, a figure that includes 87 percent of Trump supporters. Four in 10 say the country is in a strong position for progress on the economy and national security, including two-thirds of Clinton supporters.
The poll shows a possible falloff in participation among younger voters, following the exit of Sanders from the race. Among those younger than 35, just 46 percent say theyll definitely vote in November. Thats down from 60 percent in June, and 54 percent of Clintons younger supporters say they are really voting against Trump rather than casting an affirmative vote for her.
The results indicate Trump should probably avoid statements such as the one he made during his nomination acceptance speech, when he said, I alone can fix the nations problems. More than eight in 10 likely voters say instead a leader should consult with many to accomplish major goals, while just 12 percent say they prefer a leader to formulate ideas alone and give direction on what to do and how to do it.
With pre-Election Day voting starting in some states as soon as late September, most voters are firm on whom they will cast their ballots for.
More than three-quarters of likely voters say their minds are made up and they cant be persuaded to support a different presidential candidate. Trump and Clinton supporters are equally adamant about this, at 82 percent each.
Clintons supporters are slightly more enthusiastic about her candidacy than Trumps are about his, with 62 percent saying theyre very or fairly enthused, while 55 percent of Trumps say that. Fifty-one percent of likely voters say they could never support Trump, while 44 percent say that of Clinton.
With some Republican strategists suggesting that their party should accept a likely White House loss with Trump and instead focus on keeping control of Congress, the poll shows a closer contest there. On the so-called generic ballot that asked whom likely voters support for the U.S. House in their district without any candidate names being offered by the pollster, 47 percent of likely voters picked Democrat or leaned that way, while 44 percent selected Republican or leaned that way.
Both Clinton and Trump continue to record favorability ratings that are historically low for presidential nominees, with 40 percent of adults viewing her positively and just 33 percent viewing him that way.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Defense Minister of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan presented the newly appointed commander of the 2nd Army Corps, Colonel Davit Manukyan to the Commanders on August 9 during the ceremony held in Vardenis Cultural Center, press service of the Ministry told Armenpress.
Davit Manukyan said it is a great honor for him to take over this post and ensured the Army Corps Commanders will continue serving for the benefit of the National Army with the same devotion.
The former commander of the 2nd Army Corps, Mayor-General Poghos Poghosyan expressed gratitude to the staff and the representatives of local government bodies for the joint works and cooperation.
At the end of the ceremony Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan highly appreciated the level of preparedness of the Corps commanders and the units and expressed confidence the Corps units will continue fulfilling their military tasks completely and with joint efforts.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Armenia expresses gratitude to Russia for its political and diplomatic efforts on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said at the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, reports RIA Novosti.
Vladimir Vladimirovich, I would like to personally express my gratitude to You for the efforts that Russia makes on the political-diplomatic settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Of course, it is very important the agreements to be implemented. We are ready for that, the Armenian President said.
Serzh Sargsyan also expressed gratitude to Putin for the meeting invitation.
During the meeting the Russian President will inform the Armenian President about the results of the meeting with the Azerbaijani President which was held on August 9.
At the meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku we, of course, could not cover the acute issue that You have mentioned, which is the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement. Of course, I will inform You the results of our talks in Baku with pleasure, the Russian President said.
President Serzh Sargsyan has paid a working visit to Russia on August 10.
During the visit the Armenian President met Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is expected to discuss political, trade-economic, humanitarian, other core issues of bilateral mutual cooperation, as well as issues related to the development of integration process in the Eurasian area during the meeting. The two Presidents will exchange views on other international and regional issues as well.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Defense Minister of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan has visited one of the military units located in the northeastern border of Armenia on August 9.
The Defense Minister got acquainted with the social conditions, the organization of the military service of the military unit, press service of the Ministry informed Armenpress.
Seyran Ohanyan has followed the military trainings of the servicemen, and encouraged the best servicemen with symbolic gifts.
The Armenian Defense Minister also visited the military positions of the frontline, and met the servicemen and the officers while on their military duty.
The Defense Minister summarized the achievements of the Armenian Armed forces acquired during the first half of 2016 academic year. He also referred to the conclusions drawn after the April four-day war, as well as the military cooperation with the allied and partner states.
The Armenian Defense Minister also answered to journalists questions.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin has noted the high economic effect of Armenias integration with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), reports TASS.
"Armenia for us is a strategic partner in the Caucasus and we systematically build our relations of alliance along the most sensitive lines and in the international scene, the CIS space first and foremost," Putin said during narrow format negotiations with his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan on August 10.
"Incidentally, I was very pleased to see that and I would like to congratulate you. Ive taken a look at last years statistics. Since Armenia joined the EAEU your GDP has grown 10%," Putin said.
He believes this is a very positive sign. Putin voiced the hope that the positive trend will be maintained.
Sargsyan said that in January-June 2016 Russian-Armenian trade was up 12% and commodity export to Russia reached a record-high. He attributed the growth to Armenias accession to the EAEU. Sargsyan said his country had no major problems in bilateral relations with Russia.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. The commanders of the volunteer squads and a number of soldiers, who have participated in the April military operations, were hosted in the Armenian Defense Ministrys administrative complex on August 10, press service of the Ministry informed Armenpress.
Welcoming the guests, Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan said in the time of danger the Armenian people are always united to face the threats.
During our modern history we have managed to create a state, army, security system and to make the Armenian army the core for security provision and for us to be united across it. The elimination of operations unleashed against the NKR in early April is evidence that the Defense Army is fulfilling its military tasks. But when the Army is being united with military friends, volunteers, it becomes stronger, more powerful and establishes a great base for forming the future security system, the Defense Minister said.
The volunteers said during the April events, as well as the days of the situation stability they had the same feelings and emotions, but they stated that there are more powerful soldiers with high spirit in the military positions. The volunteers said this fact had encouraged them a lot since todays generation is ready to defend the Motherland at any cost.
At the end of the meeting Seyran Ohanyan awarded dozens of volunteers with medals for their input on ensuring the NKR peoples security.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. On August 10 the meeting between the Presidents of Russia and Armenia was held in Moscow, Armenpress was informed by the Kremlins official website.
Armenpress presents the full talk:
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Dear Serzh Sargsyan, friends, it is a great pleasure to see you here in Moscow.
Armenia is Russias strategic partner in the Trans-Caucasus region, and we work consistently to develop our alliance in all, even the most sensitive areas, and on the international stage, in particular in the CIS region, where we work together in the CSTO and now in the Eurasian Union too.
I would like to congratulate you and say what a pleasure it is to see that over the year since Armenia joined the Eurasian Economic Union, your GDP has increased by 10 percent, as documents show. This is a very positive result, of course. I hope that this positive dynamic will continue.
We have many other bilateral matters to discuss, therefore I am very pleased to see you. Welcome!
President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan: Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich.
I am very pleased to see you again. We have made it a tradition to meet at this time of the year to discuss the state of our alliance and exchange views on the most topical issues on the bilateral and regional agendas, and of course, examine the state of progress on our earlier agreements.
I am pleased to see that despite the regional and global economic difficulties, our bilateral trade has increased by 12 percent over the past six months and Armenian exports to Russia are up by 90 percent and have set a historic record over this period. Of course, the opportunities the Eurasian Economic Union offers have played a big part in this. This is very good to see.
Over this time, we have carried out an intensive program of high-level visits and we have no serious problems in our bilateral relations. All issues that do come up are settled rapidly.
Vladimir Vladimirovich, I would like to express my personal gratitude for the efforts Russia makes in finding a diplomatic solution to the Nagorno Karabakh issue. It is absolutely crucial here to ensure that all agreements reached are implemented. We are ready to do this.
Thank you for that meeting, it was a pleasure.
Vladimir Putin: You know that we had to discuss this important and sensitive issue you just mentioned during my meeting with President of Azerbaijan Aliyev in Baku. We discussed the settlement in Nagorno Karabakh. It will be my pleasure, of course, to brief you on the results of my meeting in Baku.
Serzh Sargsyan: Thank you.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. During the talks between the Presidents of Russia and Armenia a great attention has been paid to the Karabakh conflict settlement taking into account the trilateral St. Petersburg summit and the meeting results with the Azerbaijani President on August 8, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the meeting with his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan in Moscow on August 10.
Russia is interested in decreasing tensions in relations between our neighbors. We will continue doing all we can to help undo the Karabakh knot in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group and through direct contacts with Yerevan and Baku. We hope that Armenia and Azerbaijan will be able to settle their disagreements through compromise without winners and losers, the Russian President said, the Kremlins official website reported.
He said the meeting with the Armenian President was held in a friendly and constructive environment.
Serzh Sargsyan told me about the recent events I would say tragic events in Yerevan related to the hostage situation.
I would like to emphasize and reiterate that Russia strongly condemned this action by militants right from the start. We consider unacceptable any attempts to resolve difficult domestic political issues through illegal, unconstructive actions, Putin said.
Putin said during our talks today they discussed ways of further developing the bilateral relations, including the trade and investment ties.
Russia is Armenias leading partner. We account for a quarter of the republics trade. Regrettably, in 2015 our bilateral trade fell by a little more than 11 percent. This was mostly due to unfavorable developments in the global raw materials and financial markets.
However, analysts noted positive signs in January-May of this year, notably an increase in trade. Although small, it still constitutes a trend and, as I said, we are happy about it. Now we must keep it going.
Imports of food and other agricultural products from Armenia have grown considerably, by 86 percent. Investment cooperation is going strong Russias total investment in the Armenian economy has exceeded four billion dollars. It amounts to 40 percent of all foreign investment in Armenia.
About 1,300 Russian companies are operating in Armenia around one third of all joint ventures with foreign capital. They are working in key sectors of the economy gas, transport, telecommunications and finance, Putin said mentioning the names of several largest investors such as Gasprom, Rosatom, Russian Railways.
The Russian President said Armenias entry in the Eurasian Economic Union in January 2015 gave fresh impetus to bilateral contacts.
We have seen a high level of cooperation in educational, scientific and cultural exchanges. About 3,500 students study at the Russian-Armenian University and at eight affiliates of Russian universities. The first academic year has come to an end at Moscow State Universitys affiliate in Yerevan. The founding of a Russian-language grammar school in Yerevan is under consideration.
We also discussed some issues of cooperation within the CSTO now chaired by Armenia. The next CSTO summit is scheduled to take place in Yerevan in October and Russia is certainly planning to attend it, the Russian President concluded.
Argentina claims it inherited the windswept Falkland Islands from Spain when it gained independence in the 19th century
Britain's new Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday called on Argentina to discuss running more flights to the disputed Falkand Islands and lifting restrictions on oil exploration in the area.
It was May's first public overture to Argentina over the fiercely contested islands in the South Atlantic since she took over as prime minister last month.
She wrote to Argentina's President Mauricio Macri in a letter published by Argentine media. He has sought to strengthen his country's ties with Britain and other foreign powers since he took office in December.
"It is my sincere hope that, where we have differences, these can be acknowledged in an atmosphere of mutual respect and with the intention to act in a way that benefits all those concerned," May wrote.
"This includes making progress towards new air links between the Falkland Islands and third countries in the region, and the removal of restrictive hydrocarbons measures."
Currently, the only direct commercial flights connecting the islands to the outside world go via Chile with the South American airline LAN. Most of those flights are forbidden to enter Argentine airspace due to the Falklands dispute.
Under the previous 12 years of leftist government, Argentina restricted hydrocarbon exploration in the zone.
Argentine Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra said Macri has also written to May.
"We've begun discussing the possibility of establishing new flights. We've been exploring ways to do it. It still is not settled," she said in a statement.
"The United Kingdom has expressed interest in looking at the issue of the hydrocarbon law. Our legal departments are studying the matter," added Malcorra, who is a candidate for UN secretary general.
Argentina argues that it inherited the windswept islands from Spain when it gained independence in the 19th century.
But Britain says it has historically ruled them and that the islanders should have the right to self-determination.
Britain and Argentina fought a war in 1982 after Argentine forces occupied the islands.
Story continues
The conflict killed 649 Argentine soldiers, 255 British soldiers and three islanders.
Macri has maintained Argentina's claim to the islands but has softened the tone from the combative approach of his predecessor and political rival, Cristina Kirchner.
He said in July during a visit to Brussels that "our claim will never change," but hoped for dialogue with Britain on the issue.
Former Chilean President (2010-2014) Sebastian Pinera gestures during a press conference in Caracas on January 26, 2015
Chile's ex-president Sebastian Pinera on Tuesday denied accusations that he paid bribes to Argentine officials to help his former airline business.
Argentine prosecutors are investigating claims that a company run by Pinera paid a million dollars to the country's former transportation minister in 2006, according to court documents.
The payment was allegedly aimed at securing the minister's approval to launch operations in Argentina by Chilean airline LAN. Pinera was its director and main shareholder.
"This accusation is either very irresponsible or very malicious," Pinera told a news conference on Tuesday.
Pinera later served as president of Chile from 2010 to 2014.
The case was lodged against him last week, brought by plaintiffs including former LAN directors and Argentine authorities.
LAN merged last year with Brazilian carrier TAM to form LATAM, the region's biggest airline.
Visitors walk down the Main Street of Disneyland Paris on August 6, 2015 in Marne-la-Vallee, where the theme park's operator blamed "difficult" external factors like the terror attacks in Paris and Brussels for a drop in sales last quarter
The operator of Disneyland Paris said Tuesday that sales in the last quarter fell as security concerns hit tourism, following terror attacks in the French capital and Brussels.
Strike action and poor weather also led to Euro Disney posting a nine-percent drop in sales to 327 million euros ($363 million) between April and June, it said in a statement.
It blamed "difficult" external factors, including the jihadist shootings and suicide bombings in Paris that left 130 people dead in November and the Brussels attack in March that killed 32 people.
Tourism in France has taken a further battering more recently after an Algerian driver plunged his lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in the city of Nice on July 14, killing 85 people.
Euro Disney's turnover for April-June was down 13 percent to 182 million euros, with visitor numbers dropping 11 percent and the average visitor spending two percent less.
The group added that operating costs had gone up due to efforts to "improve the visitor experience" as Disneyland Paris gears up for its 25th anniversary next year, as well as extra security costs following the attacks.
Real estate activities were the only cause for cheer, earning three million euros in the quarter thanks to land sales compared to a million euros a year earlier.
Tanks drive during the Northern Thunder military exercises in Hafr al-Batin, on March 10, 2016
The United States has approved the possible sale to Saudi Arabia of up to 153 tanks, hundreds of machine guns and other military gear in a deal worth $1.15 billion, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
The announcement coincided with news that Saudi-led coalition warplanes had resumed air strikes on Yemen's capital for the first time in three months, killing 14 people and shutting the airport after UN-brokered talks were suspended.
State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said she was "very concerned" by Tuesday's casualty reports, but did not directly comment when asked if the State Department worried US weapons being sent to Saudi Arabia could be used against civilians.
"We regularly talk to our partners and our allies around the world. You know, civilian casualties are obviously of grave concern to us," she said.
According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), Riyadh had requested the possible purchase of up to 133 American M1A1/A2 Abrams tanks that would be configured to Saudi needs, plus another 20 to replace damaged tanks in their fleet.
Additionally, the deal would include 153 .50-caliber machine guns, 266 7.62mm M240 machine guns, smoke grenade launchers, armored recovery vehicles and a range of other hardware.
The US State Department has approved the "possible" sale and notified Congress on Monday, the DSCA said.
Congress has 30 days to block the sale, though is unlikely to do so.
"This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a strategic regional partner which has been and continues to be a leading contributor of political stability and economic progress in the Middle East," the DSCA said in a statement.
"The addition of these tanks and recovery vehicles to the (Saudi military's) inventory will enhance Saudi Arabia's ability to support its soldiers in the field and to defend the Kingdom's borders."
- 6,400 dead -
The Pentagon announcement made no mention of the conflict in Yemen, where the Saudi-led coalition intervened in March last year after Shiite Huthi rebels and allied forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh overran Sanaa.
Story continues
Tuesday's raids included a strike on a food factory in Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa, medics said.
Factory director Abdullah al-Aqel gave a higher toll of 16 killed and 10 wounded, adding that all the victims were workers.
The Al-Aqel factory, which makes potato chips and is near a military equipment maintenance center targeted in the raids, was struck during working hours, he added.
The UN says more than 6,400 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Yemen since the coalition air campaign began last March.
The fighting has also driven 2.8 million people from their homes and left more than 80 percent of the population needing humanitarian aid.
Saudi Arabia also forms part of the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
Last November, the United States approved a $1.29 billion deal to replenish the Saudi air force's arsenal, depleted by its bombing campaign in Yemen.
Cattle crowd inside a feedlot operated by JBS, the world's biggest producer of beef, on August 22, 2012 in Wiley, Colorado
Brazil's JBS, the world's biggest meat company, has said it will move its headquarters to Ireland but Irish officials reacted dismissively to the announcement on Wednesday, saying it would not bring jobs and investment.
The plans announced this month by JBS, which will reportedly see more than 30 billion euros' ($34 billion) worth of its assets being shifted to Ireland on paper, make it the latest to take advantage of Ireland's favourable corporate tax rate.
"Ireland does not encourage such transactions. Ireland does not encourage the location of brass-plate operations," an Irish finance ministry spokesman told AFP.
"We only have and want real substantive FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) -- the kind that brings real jobs and investment into Ireland," he said.
Like several multinationals drawn to low-tax Ireland, the funds for the newly-created JBS Foods International will be managed abroad -- Britain in this case.
The announcement was made by JBS to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week.
The ministry spokesman said Ireland was working with other countries to address concerns over so-called "inversions", which allow multinationals to channel profits through low-tax jurisdictions, as it did not have the power to prevent such deals unilaterally.
"The Irish government has made clear that we would welcome any changes made by the other administrations to address inversions," he said.
Irish economist Jim Power branded the move "a total joke" that would bring further unwelcome scrutiny of Ireland?s 12.5 percent corporation tax.
"The bottom line is that this is the sort of business Ireland should be running a mile from ?- the government should be working harder to prevent deals such as this; they are bad news for Ireland.?
It is also unclear what effect the 30 billion-euro transfer will have on Ireland?s economic growth data.
When the country?s Central Statistics Office announced growth of 26.3 percent for 2015 -- skewed by inflows as a result of several corporate inversion deals -- the figure was widely ridiculed as "leprechaun economics".
Story continues
Ireland's low corporate tax rate is frequently criticised by other EU member states but the government has worked to close tax loopholes.
The country hosts the European headquarters of US tech giants including Google and Facebook.
JBS last year bought Northern Ireland-based poultry producer Moy Park for $1.5 billion.
JBS is the world's biggest beef producer.
Reuters
There is a greater chance of the U.S. Federal Reserve raising interest rates too far and tipping the economy into a recession, strategists and fund managers told the Reuters Global Markets Forum (GMF). "The biggest risk is that the Fed overdoes it since inflation tends to react quite slowly to higher rates, likely even more so this cycle given still not fully understood distortions to the economy caused by the COVID pandemic," said Nick Brooks, head of investment and economic research at ICG. While rate futures markets are still pricing in a 75-basis-point hike at the Fed's meeting next week, they now expect only a half-point increase in December and no more than a half a point further over the next two meetings.
By Ankit Ajmera (Reuters) - Online used-car startup Carvana, known for delivering vehicles through vending machines, said on Wednesday it closed a $160 million Series C funding round that brought the total raised to nearly half a billion dollars. The company said the funding was led by a U.S. institutional investor, along with existing and new investors, but declined to name them. Carvana, set up in 2013, said it would use the proceeds to support its expansion in the United States to more than 20 markets by the end of this year, up from 15 currently, and to double its inventory to more than 10,000 vehicles. The company operates automated towers holding several cars. A customer can buy a car online and can either pick it up from the "vending machine" or have it delivered. At the machine, customers are required to enter their details on a tablet, after which they get a coin. When the coin is inserted into the machine the ordered car is automatically delivered from the machine. The company did not disclose its valuation during the latest round of funding, but said its current valuation stood at a premium of more than 50 percent to the previous fundraising round. Carvana's valuation would have probably been a little higher in a better economic environment, Chief Executive Ernie Garcia said in a statement. Phoenix-based Carvana reported revenue of $140 million in 2015. The company is projecting revenue of more than $350 million in 2016. Carvana's rivals have also raised millions as the ability of online used-car startups to provide online financing and deliver cars to a buyer's home has proven to be popular. New York-based Vroom has raised $168 million so far from investors including T Rowe Price and Priceline Group Inc Chief Executive Jeffery Boyd. Vroom, also launched in 2013, reported revenue of $900 million in 2015. Another competitor, Mountain View, California-based Beepi Inc, had raised about $149 million as of the end of June, with the latest round of $70 million led by China's biggest automaker, SAIC Motor Corp. Beepi, launched in April 2014, has not revealed its revenue for 2015, but has said it increased by more than 10 times. (Corrects 12th graph to say Beepi is based in Mountain View, California not Los Altos, California) (Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
Whether you're a venture capitalist or just a bill-paying Joe, you're probably wishing you were in Eric Martin's shoes right now.
Wal-Mart's $3.3 billion acquisition of e-commerce company Jet.com was potentially a flush exit for early employees and its familiar big-name investors like Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital and Fidelity. But it was also a probably huge windfall for 10 people who like Pennsylvania's Eric Martin won significant equity in the company.
Martin won 100,000 insider stock options in Jet.com last year as part of a contest aimed to get users to refer the most family and friends to the membership-based site. That means he'll likely get some sort of slice of Jet's $3.3 billion price tag, along with nine other contest winners, who each got 10,000 insider stock options.
It's a nice surprise for a family man who spent about $18,000 to refer about 8,000 customers to Jet in early 2015, surpassing more than 200,000 other contestants for the prize. Martin said he can't disclose the value of his shares, and he doesn't know how the Wal-Mart deal will pay out for him. (The terms of the deal weren't publicly disclosed.)
"Up until today, it was all just a hope and a wish and a dream," he said. "I don't think I'm some genius person that I thought Jet was going to work out. It was a gut instinct."
Martin, a devout Christian, said he hopes to live a lifestyle that "glorifies God," not money. He doesn't live like a millionaire, except for the occasional crab leg, though some reports have valued his Jet.com shares upward of $20 million.
But Jet.com has changed his life, Martin said, giving him the credibility to pursue a career in digital marketing, and inspiring a "gamefied" approach to his new start-up, Ideadash.
Story continues
Martin, a self-proclaimed addict to Bloomberg Businessweek, was inspired to sign up for Jet by a January 2015 cover story. He then referred his wife (the main Jet shopper in the household) to sign up.
Martin saw that his rank immediately shot up in the contest. After referring a few close family and friends, he was able to estimate how many referrals the top candidates had, and after talking to another contestant on Facebook, he guessed he needed at least 4,000 referrals to win the whole thing.
"I was working out one night during the contest, I was really thinking about it. I wasn't really questioning at the time whether it would worth something or not," Martin said. "I thought, 'I think I can win. Should I win? Should I do this?' I think I prayed about it a little. If it's going to me or someone else, I thought, why not do it?"
Martin used sites like Swagbucks.com and Facebook ads to get referrals, and was able to pay his way to the top 10 with about $3,000. He figured that if he could win 10,000 shares for $3,000, anything less than $300,000 would be worth it for the top spot so he went all in until he got a call from Jet.com co-founder Marc Lore.
Since future of his Jet shares remains unclear, Martin is focused on the big picture.
"The overarching theme of my life is 'the great idea,'" Martin said. "Ideadash was born out of frustration on my part, no way to get your ideas out there in a way to get some sort of financial gain or return. ....But even if this Jet thing is worth a lot of money, way down the ladder, I don't want to live in a way where all I care about is money. I hope I never care about money."
More From CNBC
The EPS Control and Planning Segment (CAPS) continues on steady path toward system acceptance test
MCLEAN, Va. Aug. 9, 2016 Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) successfully deployed the Enhanced Polar System (EPS) Control and Planning Segment (CAPS) hardware in December 2015 to operational sites at Clear Air Force Station (CAFS), Alaska and Schriever Air Force Base (SAFB), Colorado paving the way for System Acceptance Testing in the spring of 2017.
The U.S. Air Force's EPS provides secure, jam-resistant satellite communications coverage to users in the North Polar region to support national objectives. CAPS is a next-generation ground system that receives telemetry and supplies configuration commands, mission planning and cryptographic planning for the two EPS polar-orbiting payloads.
Northrop Grumman deployed the CAPS operations and test equipment hardware strings (racks that enable testing) to SAFB in Colorado, which is responsible for hosting the software and tools necessary for CAPS functionality. Northrop Grumman also deployed the satellite interfacing and routing equipment to CAFS in Alaska, which is responsible for maintaining the communications interface with the EPS constellation. Completing these milestones prepares EPS CAPS for the System Acceptance Tests.
"Our EPS CAPS team continues to execute the program and deliver capability on this nationally strategic program," said Joe Ensor, vice president and general manager, space intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems division, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems. "Working closely with our customer, we are delivering innovation on an extremely complex effort to ensure mission success."
The CAPS design leverages Northrop Grumman's foundational payload control and planning proficiencies in use throughout the company from various heritage programs. These proven competencies establish a pathfinder for an affordable, scalable mission control capability for any variety of future protected satellite communications architecture options the company may pursue.
Northrop Grumman was awarded a contract in November 2012 to develop, build and deploy EPS CAPS. The Military Satellite Communications Systems (MILSATCOM) directorate at the Air Force's Space and Missile System Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is acquiring EPS and EPS CAPS.
The 18-month CAPS base contract was for segment design and risk-reduction efforts, which were successfully completed, on time, in May 2014. This current contract covers the next 48 months to complete CAPS development, deployment and initial sustainment. Primary design, development and testing are being done in Redondo Beach, California, with additional CAPS work performed in Orlando, Florida, and Needham and Marlborough, Massachusetts.
Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in autonomous systems, cyber, C4ISR, strike, and logistics and modernization to customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.
Dublin, Aug. 10, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Hip Fractures and Replacements - Forecast for the USA 2016-2026" report to their offering.
Hip fractures are defined as a break in the upper quarter of the femur. The extent and exact location of the damage determines the resulting treatment.
Hip fractures most commonly occur in those with low bone mineral density (BMD). While hip fractures can occur at any age, they are most common in those of older age (> 65 years) due to osteoporosis - the most common cause of low BMD.
This report provides the current incidence population for Hip Fractures across the USA split by gender and 5-year age cohort. Along with the current incidence, the report also contains an overview of the risk factors for Hip Fractures, diagnosis and prognosis along with specific variations by geography and ethnicity.
Providing a value-added level of insight from the analysis team, several of the main surgical treatments and co-morbidities of Hip Fracture's have been quantified and presented alongside the overall incidence figures. These sub-populations within the main condition are also included across the 10-year forecast snapshot.
Main symptoms and co-morbidities for Hip Fractures include:
- Osteoporosis and osteopenia
- Female
- Older age
Reasons to Buy:
- Able to quantify patient populations in the USA's Hip Fracture market to target the development of future products, pricing strategies and launch plans.
- Gain further insight into the incidence of the subdivided types of Hip Fractures and identify patient segments with high potential.
- Delivery of more accurate information for clinical trials in study sizing and realistic patient recruitment for the USA.
- Provide a level of understanding on the impact from specific co-morbid conditions on Hip Fracture incident population.
- Identify sub-populations within Hip Fractures which require treatment.
Key Topics Covered:
1. Introduction
2. Cause of the Disease
3. Risk Factors & Prevention
4. Diagnosis of the Disease
5. Variation by Geography/Ethnicity
6. Disease Prognosis & Clinical Course
- Hip replacements and joint repairs
7. Key Co-morbid Conditions/Features Associated with the Disease
8. Methodology for Quantification of Patient Numbers
9. Top-Line Incidence for Hip Fractures in the USA
10.Location/Type of Hip Fracture
11. Osteoporosis and Other Comorbidities of Hip Fractures
12. Joint Surgery and Replacement for Hip Fractures
- Transcervical fractures and Joint Repairs
- Pertrochanteric fractures and Joint Repairs
- Hip Replacements by ICD Admission Code
13. Utilisation of Health Care Resources for Hip Fractures and Treatment
14. Abbreviations used in the report
15. Patient-Based Offering
16. Online Pricing Data and Platforms
17. References
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/zmg94k/hip_fractures_and
Copenhagen, 2016-08-10 10:58 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Carlsberg Group has signed an agreement regarding the sale of its 59% share of Carlsberg Malawi Limited (CML, previously The Bottling and Brewing Group Limited) to Castel Group.
The registration of the transaction is pending certain regulatory and corporate approvals.
The transaction is in line with Carlsberg Groups new strategy to fully exploit and leverage its strengths while positioning itself for future growth. As part of the agreement, the Group has agreed a license agreement with CML to continue to produce and sell Carlsberg in Malawi.
Executive Vice President Asia, Graham Fewkes says: In line with Carlsberg Groups new strategy, we have evaluated all businesses in order to focus our efforts against a narrower and more precisely-defined set of priorities. We will continue to be present in Africa, and I am happy that our partners will continue to provide our great beers to the people of Malawi.
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 10, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Robert Pugach, MD of Western States HIFU and physician partner of HIFU Prostate Services, LLC traveled to London to observe five focal HIFU prostate treatments with Mark Emberton, MD who is widely considered the global expert in focal HIFU ablations for prostate cancer. Dr. Pugach is the most experienced HIFU physician in the western United States and has treated over 400 patients with HIFU since 2006.
HIFU, or high intensity focused ultrasound, uses sound waves to precisely target and treat cancerous prostate tumors while sparing healthy tissue which preserves important quality of life functionality including erections and urinary continence. Unlike surgery and radiation that can lead to high rates of impotence and incontinence, HIFU offers patients similar efficacy rates with significantly reduced risk of co-morbidities.
Focal HIFU opens a new chapter for patients seeking prostate cancer treatment while avoiding the side effects of urinary incontinence or erectile dysfunction seen with older treatments like radical robotic surgery and radiation. By fusing high resolution MRI images with real time ultrasound in the operating room, we can use the remarkable precision of the Sonablate 500 HIFU device to destroy areas of cancer while leaving other areas of the prostate intact, said Pugach. Spending time with Professor Emberton was one of the most rewarding professional educational experiences in my career. Im glad to be able to offer focal HIFU to patients who travel to Western States HIFU from all areas of the United States and throughout the world.
Focal HIFU represents a breakthrough in the treatment of localized prostate cancer, similar to recent targeted treatment shifts in breast cancer care for women. Often referred to as the male lumpectomy, focal HIFU only targets the cancerous portions of the prostate and can be customized based on the diagnosis treating half or a quarter of the prostate while leaving healthy tissue in prostate unharmed. Patients return to a normal lifestyle within days following the single, outpatient treatment.
Dr. Pugach partnered with HIFU Prostate Services, the US leader in implementing and managing HIFU practices in coordination with physicians to make HIFU available near Los Angeles. HIFU Prostate Services, which is headquartered in Charlotte, NC, has nine Sonablate HIFU systems in the country and has partnered with the leading HIFU physicians across the country.
Partnering with HIFU Prostate Services was a natural extension of my practice as I have worked with their team of HIFU veterans since I first started treating patients outside of the country over 10 years ago, said Pugach.
We are proud to work with physicians, like Dr. Pugach, who are really committed to equipping themselves with the most thorough and detailed knowledge of the Sonablate technology so that they can offer patients the best HIFU treatment possible, John McLean, chief operating officer, HIFU Prostate Services.
About HIFU Prostate Services, LLC
HIFU Prostate Services (HPS) is the first, largest, and most experienced HIFU team in the U.S. and was founded to provide men access to a less invasive treatment option for prostate cancer that has the ability to eliminate cancer and preserve patient quality of life. Our mission is to deliver the highest quality of care, support, and technology to the patient and to the urology community for the treatment of localized prostate cancer using Sonablate HIFU. The company is headquartered in Charlotte, NC and has established partnerships with physicians and urology practices throughout the country. More info: http://www.hifuprostateservices.com.
About Robert Pugach, MD
Dr. Robert Pugach is the medical director of Pacific Coast Urology Medical Center, the first urology practice centered on minimally invasive treatments of urological conditions. It continues to be at the forefront of new, innovative technologies like high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). Pugach is also active in many medical executive capacities, including his position as a member of the Board of Trustees of the California Medical Association, a member of the Medical Executive Committee of the Los Alamitos Surgery Center and an active member of the American Association of Clinical Urologists (AACU). He served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Community Hospital of Long Beach and led the effort to re-open this valuable neighborhood hospital. He was also honored as an educator with a lifetime membership in the Harvard Mens Health Forum. Lastly, Pugach received a Bachelor of Science Degree from New York University. Upon completing his medical studies at the College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, he went to New York University-Booth Memorial Medical Center where he completed a general surgery residency. He completed his urology training at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine-Montefiore Medical Center in New York.
About Pacific Coast Urology
Pacific Coast Urology is one of the leading practices in the United States in procedures that minimize discomfort and allow patients to achieve the same benefits as with more invasive procedures. It has pioneered minimally invasive therapies for many urological conditions and remains at the forefront of new advances. Pacific Coast Urology strives to always provide special, personalized care that puts patients at the center of what the practice does. Dr. Pugach performs HIFU at Los Alamitos Surgery Center near Los Angeles, CA. For additional information visit www.pacificcoasturology.com.
As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ
Yes, its hard to to tell when one enters the city limits
Yes, they will make the city more inviting
Maybe ... does it really matter?
No, the signs in place are fine
No, it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars
Vote
View Results
And Singapore balks on Lockheeds jets sale.
The recent drubbing in Singapore bank stocks is turning Southeast Asias biggest lenders into bargains for money managers including Aberdeen Asset Management Plc. DBS Group Holdings Ltd. lost S$3.6 billion ($2.7 billion) in market value in seven days from July 28 when its client Swiber Holdings Ltd. signaled it was in financial trouble. Read more here.
The island nations permanent secretary of defense development informed the U.S. in mid-June that it was delaying final steps toward purchasing four of the fighters by about 2022, with an option to buy eight more, according to the information presented to Pentagon officials last month as part of their regular reviews of the costliest weapons program. Read more here.
Singapore bondholders and lenders, already stung by Swiber Holdings Ltd.s woes, face mounting pain as a drop in oil leaves more companies in the industry starved for cash. Investment bank UOB Kay Hian Pte warned last week that the sector may suffer a "cascade" of defaults. Read more here.
More From Singapore Business Review
Oil prices slid Wednesday on news that US commercial crude reserves rose unexpectedly last week, sparking jitters over the global supply glut.
"US inventories saw another surprise build, adding to concerns of oversupply," noted CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler.
At about 1600 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for September delivery slid 83 cents to $41.94 per barrel.
Brent North crude for October lost 77 cents to $44.21 a barrel compared with Tuesday's close.
The US government's Department of Energy (DoE) reported that commercial crude stockpiles climbed 1.1 million barrels in the week to August 5.
That confounded market expectations for a drop of 1.5 million barrels, according to analysts polled by Bloomberg News.
Rising stockpiles indicate weaker demand in the world's top oil consumer, and tend to push prices lower.
The increase was however far less than the 2.1-million-barrel gain given by industry body the American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday.
Oil prices have been fluctuating since entering a "bear" market last week, falling more than 20 percent and closing below $40 a barrel for the first time since April.
They rebounded after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said Monday that it would hold talks on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum in Algeria from September 26 to 28, ahead of a planned meeting due at the end of November.
The announcement was seen as a hint OPEC could take action to stabilise the crude market, amid rumours it may freeze output.
Analysts said investors remained unsure about what to expect from the OPEC meeting.
The last time OPEC met in April it could not come to an agreement about the production freeze and its members have been pumping crude at record high levels.
OPEC reiterated in its August monthly report on Wednesday that it expects the market to rebalance in 2017 as output from outside the group declines and demand rises.
This would be a vindication of OPEC'S Saudi-led strategy since 2014 of squeezing non-OPEC suppliers by keeping production at high levels despite low prices.
Story continues
OPEC forecast that global oil demand will grow to 95.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2017 from a projected 94.3 million bpd in 2016, thanks mainly to countries outside the OECD group of richer nations.
On the supply side, 2016 output from non-OPEC countries will decline by 790,000 bpd, a smaller drop than predicted before, the cartel said.
burs-rfj/har
Ukraine will ask the UN Security Council to hold an urgent meeting if tensions continue to rise over Russia's accusations that Kiev orchestrated a plot to attack infrastructure in Crimea, the ambassador said Wednesday. "We stand ready for any provocative developments," Ukraine's Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko told reporters. "The convening of the Security Council is being considered," he added. "As soon as it comes to the point, we will do it immediately." Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused Ukraine of waging "terror" over alleged attempted incursions into Crimea, ratcheting up tensions over the annexed territory. Russia's security agency announced it had thwarted "terrorist attacks" in Crimea by Ukrainian military intelligence and beaten back an armed assault, claims Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko dismissed as "senseless and cynical." As a non-permanent member of the Security Council, Ukraine has the right to call a meeting on any matter considered to be a threat to international peace and security. Since Ukraine joined the council in January, it has held only one meeting on the crisis in the country. Yelchenko said he was ready to revive proposals for a UN peacekeeping force to be deployed to east Ukraine or for the creation of a special UN mission for Ukraine and the appointment of a special UN envoy. Those proposals have failed to gain traction at the United Nations because of objections from Russia, a veto-wielding member of the Security Council.
Pro-government forces said they captured the Islamic State group's headquarters in their main Libyan stronghold of Sirte on Wednesday, scoring a major victory in a push to oust the jihadists from the city. IS fighters remained in several parts of the city, officials said, but seizing control of their headquarters has been the key goal of the forces loyal to Libya's Government of National Accord. The taking of the headquarters followed rapid gains by pro-government forces through the city on Wednesday and after the United States last week launched air strikes on IS positions in Sirte at the GNA's request. The city's fall to IS in June last year raised deep concerns in the West, with fears the jihadists were gaining an important foothold just across the Mediterranean from Europe. "The Ouagadougou centre is in our hands," the operations centre for pro-GNA forces said, referring to the Sirte conference centre where IS had set up base. Reda Issa, a spokesman for the forces, said IS jihadists remained in three residential areas of the city and in a villa complex near the seafront. "The announcement of the liberation (of Sirte) will only be made once the entire city is liberated," he told AFP. The capture of the headquarters came after a lightning advance on Wednesday that saw pro-GNA forces seize the University of Sirte campus just south of the conference centre and the Ibn Sina Hospital to the north. - US raids hit jihadists - The operations centre said 16 pro-GNA fighters were killed in the battle for Sirte. It was unclear how many IS fighters may have been killed, but the centre said earlier that at least 20 jihadists had died in fighting for the university campus. The operations centre also said pro-GNA forces had lost contact with one of their military planes, without providing further details. The IS-linked Amaq news agency said the group's fighters had downed a warplane in Sirte, resulting in the pilot's death. Pro-GNA forces entered Sirte -- 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli -- in June, after IS seized the city amid the chaos that followed the 2011 ouster of Moamer Kadhafi. Their advance slowed as the jihadists hit back with sniper fire, suicide attacks and car bombings but on Sunday pro-government forces said the "countdown" had begun for the final assault on IS's holdout positions in the city. Washington launched its air strikes on August 1, with President Barack Obama saying it was "in America's national security interest" to help the GNA "finish the job" of ousting IS from Sirte. In a statement on Wednesday, the US Africa Command said 29 strikes had been carried out against IS positions as part of "Operation Odyssey Lightning" as of Tuesday. The pro-GNA operations centre said further US raids were carried out on Wednesday but did not say how many. The raids targeted IS positions, destroyed two armoured vehicles and stopped an explosives-laden car before it could reach loyalist forces, it said. - West backing government - The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that US commandos were working from a joint operations centre on the outskirts of Sirte, the first time they have directly supported Libyan forces in the anti-IS fight. Quoting US officials speaking on condition of anonymity, the Post said the US forces were operating alongside British troops, helping to coordinate American air strikes and providing intelligence. The Pentagon would not comment on the specifics of the Post story, but has previously acknowledged small US teams are in Libya. GNA chief Fayez al-Sarraj had told Italy's Corriere della Sera in an interview published Wednesday that his government had asked only for "air strikes which must be very precise and limited in time and geographical scope". "We do not need foreign troops on Libyan soil," Sarraj said. Western powers are backing the GNA in a bid to bring stability to Libya, which has been wracked by turmoil since Kadhafi was ousted and killed in October 2011, with rival governments vying for power and armed groups battling to control vast energy resources. As well as fears over IS, Western nations are also deeply concerned over the fate of Libya's vast oil reserves, the largest in Africa. On Wednesday six Western countries including Britain, the United States and France called for control of all oil facilities in Libya to "be transferred unconditionally and without preconditions or delay" to the GNA. The countries expressed particular concern about "reports of increasing tension" near Zueitina, one of Libya's largest coastal oil facilities.
Norwegian police said Tuesday they had found no proof of insurance fraud as they closed a new inquiry into the 1990 Scandinavian Star ferry fire which killed 159 people, and was believed to have been arson. The Scandinavian Star car and passenger ferry caught fire in April 1990 as it sailed overnight between Oslo and the Danish port of Frederikshavn, killing a third of the 482 people on board. Blame was initially placed on a Danish trucker who had previously been convicted of arson attacks and who perished in the ferry blaze, but there was not enough evidence against him. Norwegian police reopened the investigation in 2014 to examine claims that the fire was part of an insurance fraud scheme. Experts and families of the victims had noted that several fires flared up on the ferry after the trucker's death, and suggested the blazes were set as part of an insurance fraud. In February, the former head of the Danish maritime transport authority, Flemming Thue Jensen, accused two crew members of causing the blaze. After two years of additional investigations, Norwegian police said Tuesday they had found no new evidence to support an indictment or theories of sabotage and insurance fraud. The smaller fires observed after the trucker's death were likely caused by the extreme heat on the ferry, police said, citing technical experts. "In this kind of affair this complex, dating back 24 or 26 years, ... we can unfortunately not expect to have answers to all the questions," police commissioner Hans Sverre Sjovold told reporters. The group "Foundation for Arson Investigation into Scandinavian Star" has contested the inquiry's conclusions.
Singapores National Day Parade (NDP) 2016 held on Tuesday (9 August) at the National Stadium for the first time in a decade.
This years NDP marks the 51st anniversary of the Republics independence, which came on 9 August 1965. The current National Stadium was opened on 30 June 2014, replacing the former one that was on the same site.
Speaking to Yahoo Singapore, 36-year-old administrator Norjannah Zainal, who attended the parade with her husband and two children said:
I thought that this years NDP was very grand and nice. Its definitely a memory that I will always cherish Ive had many relatives participant in the marching in past NDPs and this year my cousin is actually marching together with SAF (Singapore Armed Forces).
She added: I think this will be my favourite NDP venue because it is indoors and more comfortable as there are individual seats.
Pre-school teacher Irene Tan, 29, who has attended past parades at the old National Stadium and the Marina Bay Floating Platform described this years parade as awesome because its at the new stadium.
Tan, who attended the parade with a friend, said: My favourite part of the NDP was the song Count On Me Singapore when everyone was doing the sign language together. I think its great that we are trying to be a more inclusive society, catering to people who have special needs.
Teaching assistant Dorcas Pillay, 49, was at the parade with her husband and two daughters.
She described the parade as very well-organised and always entertaining, adding that: The National stadium actually is better because we can have a few more thousand people. Thats why I managed to get the ticket, because at the floating platform its so hard to get one.
My favourite part was when we were all carrying the giant Singapore flags as we sang the National Anthem. To me its like we are working together as one, regardless of race and religion. We are all working to build a better Singapore, she said.
Over 50,000 people attended this years parade, which lasted about two-and-a-half hours.
The seventh month marks the Ghost Month in the Chinese calendar, and as Singaporeans and a multi-racial country, we are accustomed to the ritual of burning offerings. Also referred to as the Hungry Ghost Festival, the Chinese believe during this time, the souls of the dead roam the earth.
According to custom, the ghosts can get up to mischief if ignored, so all sorts of offerings are made during this period. Hence, the Taoists and Buddhists burn hell money and paper offerings, such as cars, watches and jewellery to appease their deceased family members taking care of their material needs even in the afterlife.
But thats not all, there are also some things you should and should not do as both good and evil spirits will be roaming around.
Even if you dont believe in the supernatural, it might be wise to take heed to these beauty superstitions passed down by the older generation. Better safe than sorry, right?
1. Dont wear red clothes
As red is one of the colours known to attract ghosts, we would advise you against wearing Red during this month to avoid getting their attention.
2. Refrain from wearing black or dark nail colours
Traditionally, only the dead have nails that are black. Black nails may lead the spirits to think that you are one of them and may lead you back to hell as well.
If you really love your dark nail colours, consider adding some brighter colours to avoid making it look too dark!
3. Dont cut your hair at night
Haircut at Flamingo Hair Studio
This custom used to be more applicable in the past when electricity was absent. You can imagine that a haircut can be quite dangerous if done in the dark.
To avoid ghosts from causing any accidents, haircuts are generally discouraged once night falls.
4. Dont leave your clothes out to dry overnight
They say that ghosts will try on the clothes and infiltrate your homes when you bring the clothes in.
5. Dont keep long hair, especially if it covers your forehead.
Haircut by CLEO Hair & Make
Story continues
It is believed that a humans yang energy is focused on the forehead. If you cover your forehead with your hair, your yang will decrease and the probability that you will meet spirits will be higher.
Keep your forehead as bare as possible so the light from your forehead can shine bright and ward off the spirits.
7. Do not take pictures in the evening
Unless you want to see something spooky photobomb your selfies.
8. Avoid getting engaged or married in the 7th month
Other than the fact that 7th month is regarded to be inauspicious, it probably would be quite spooky if extra guests turned up for your wedding.
9. Avoid swimming
You may have heard of horror stories when experienced swimmers get their legs pulled by an unknown presence underwater and breaking free only at the last minute!
Even if you dont believe in ghosts, well, we think it is still better to be safe than sorry.
10. And of course, dont stay out late
Ghosts are at their strongest at night, as the yin energy from the moon increases their power.
Avoid going out late at night as they may just follow you home and disturb you while you are out!
Visit beautyundercover.sg for hair and beauty tips.
Have you noticed how annoying small business cliches seem to generate instant experts? Its as if repeating the same half true cliches that appear everywhere validates a voice.
I cant resist pointing out these three cliches below. Pointing out whats wrong with them, why they are only half true, and why they are also dangerous. So here we go.
1. Do What You Love
What business to start? Supposedly you should just do what you love.
However, just imagine how many business failures came from people who loved, saycooking, graphic design, fashion, music, cars, travel, etc. but still failed. Doing what they loved did not make these millions of failures successful. It takes more than that.
I can guarantee you that the cliche do what you love and youll never work a day in your life was not floated by somebody running a business.
The truth is that doing what you love isnt enough at all. Doing something that people will pay for is way more important. Do not what you love, but what your customers love. Give value. Focus strategically on a realistic market and offer that market benefits that are worth enough money to cover your costs. Then you have sufficient resources to do it right, and way more important you execute properly.
The half truth here is that if you have everything else right, doing what you love is a significant advantage. It can help you get through long days and tough times. But youll also have to deal with sales, marketing, production, administration, and running a business.
2. Passion, Persistence, and Perseverance
Just keep trying and youll succeed is terrible business advice, and, unfortunately, way too common as well. I shudder to think how often some aging entrepreneur stands up in front of hopefuls, microphone in hand, suggesting that all it takes is sticking to it.
Thats terrible advice. Every one of those hackneyed presentations from successful entrepreneurs should be matched with equal time from some might-have-been entrepreneur who stuck with it, following the worn and tired advice, until stubbornly losing business, home, relationships and dreams.
The half truth here is that in some cases, every so often, a business that seems to be failing just needs more time, some adjustments, or a pivot. And when that happens, it can lead to a successful entrepreneur who is right, not lying, when she tells others that sticking to it was essential.
The hard part is figuring out which story youre in. There is no virtue in sticking to a plan that isnt working. And theres no success in sticking to a bad business that isnt working. And sticking to it can be equivalent to running your head into a brick wall, over and over.
3. The Cult of the Business Idea
Most of us seriously overvalue the role of the business idea, as if a good idea guarantees success (it doesnt) and a mediocre idea, or old idea, or copying somebody elses idea guarantees failure (they dont).
Apple wasnt the first personal computer manufacturer, Google wasnt the first Internet search engine, and Starbucks wasnt the first upscale coffee place. Excel wasnt the first spreadsheet. The new Mini-cooper, a new version of a cool car from the sixties, followed the Volkswagen idea of five years earlier, a new version of a cool car from the forties. And Fiat did the same thing seven years later, with a new version of the Fiat 500. Good ideas get copied all the time.
The half truth here is that mediocre ideas are worse than good ideas and bad business ideas are disastrous. The good idea is an advantage, for sure.
What really matters in all the cases above and millions of others is not the idea, but the execution. The vast majority of new businesses rest not on a new idea but a new spin, new angle, new variation, or simply doing something better. Is that new restaurant you like a new business idea, or just good execution? Most businesses displace other businesses, instead of creating something new.
If you were asked right now if yourbusiness provides excellent customer service, odds are youd probably say you do. Right?
In fact, your customer service is beyond compare. The best.
Of course, it is.
Well, its that head-in-the-sand mentality that causes the disparity like the restaurateur who cant figure out why customers dont like his or her awesome food or the shop keeper who cant understand why no one appreciates the quirky over priced inventory that just wont sell.
In reality, statistics tell us customers are generally not as happy with the your customer service as you are.
Thats what GetFiveStars.com founder Mike Blumenthal discovered when he asked consumers and local merchants the same question:
What percentage of local merchants provide excellent customer service?
Real Life Customer Service Reviews Fell Below Expectations
The numbers say it all. On average, 61.9 percent of local merchants surveyed by Blumenthal believed they offered great customer service.
Moreover, most small business owners suggested that 75 percent of customers have excellent customer service. That means the average small business owners believes 3 out of every 4 local businesses are out there offering great customer service.
Ah, but what do the customers think? It should come as no surprise by now that customers have a somewhat different view.
Blumenthals survey of customers asked that same question answered that , on average, just 55.8 percent of local merchants are offering great customer service.
The most common response he received from consumers was 55 percent.
So customers believe just less than every other small business out there is offering less-than-excellent customer service.
The difference in perceptions is natural, Blumenthal said in a recent interview with Small Business Trends. Its called a cognitive bias. After all, what small business owner wouldnt believe he or she is offering great customer service?
But if you truly want your company to offer unparalleled service to its customers, of course , you must get beyond this natural instinct.
If you let your biases interfere, thats not a rational business behavior, Blumenthal explains.
In fact, Blumenthal adds, you wont ever know what your customers really think about your service or anything else about your business for that matter unless you ask them.
Its not about fishing for complaints but more about providing a forum for your customers to talk about their experiences before they actually lodge a complaint or create a negative online review.
You can also work on the operations side of your business to really improve customer service giving your customeers less to complain about.
To take care of that mean old cognitive bias, Blumenthal suggested telling yourself: Were pretty good, BUT
See Also: 6 eCommerce Customer Service Benchmarks for Your Business
Make excellent customer service a process. Train every employee within your company to be prepared to handle any complaints.
Have a plan for addressing a low customer feedback score or negative feedback. We need to be prepared in a systematic way. Train every employee to deal with it, Blumenthal added.
This article is part of a series highlighting data collected by Blumenthal on small businesses, customer service and specifically, customer complaints and your response to them.
Admissions
Virtual College Fair Introduces Students, Parents to Admissions Counselors
CollegeWeekLive and the National Society of High School Scholars are hosting an event where students and families can live chat with admissions counselors from higher education institutions across the country.
CollegeWeekLive, a website where students and colleges connect online, is partnering with the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS), an international honor society, to host a virtual college fair. The partners are hosting the Back to School Event for students and families to live chat with admissions counselors to ask questions about admissions.
On August 25 there will be admissions counselors from more than 80 colleges and universities spread across the country. Participants have the opportunity to ask about programs, careers, scholarships and campus life to help guide them in their college selection. Additionally, there is a chance to win a $1,000 monthly scholarship that can be secured by logging in to the virtual college fair and visiting five college profile pages on the site.
Were excited to partner with NSHSS to help provide students with an edge in the college admissions process and give them the insights to find the right college match, said Sumant Mauskar, president of CollegeWeekLive, in a statement. This is also a tremendous opportunity for universities to connect with high-achieving, highly motivated students from around the United States.
Further information about the Back to School Event, including a list of participating institutions, is available on the CollegeWeekLive site.
STEM
Teachers and Boeing Engineers Create NGSS-Aligned Lessons for Grades 4-8
Airplane maker Boeing has teamed up with online community Teaching Channel to create and distribute 10 science and innovation curriculum modules that meet Next Generation Science Standards. The modules were created by teachers in grades 4-8, each of whom were teamed up with a Boeing engineer. All focus on design challenges, such as tuning blade design to optimize a wind turbine, developing a glider payload to support a mobile camera and adapting a skateboard to absorb maximum energy on impact.
Each module is intended to cover two weeks of classroom time and emphasize engineering design thinking and problem-based learning.
The teams didn't go into their work unprepared. Before the work began in 2014, both the teachers and the engineers were trained by learning scientists at the University of Washington's Institute for Science and Math Education. The institute also created a design template used by participants to support development of the curriculum to align to standards and current research on science learning and teaching.
The resulting content was tested out in the classroom by the teachers themselves in Puget Sound and Houston. In 2015 a second group of teachers taught the lessons and gave feedback for improving the modules. Science experts from Teaching Channel and other organizations were also brought in to evaluate the modules and ensure alignment with the NGSS standards.
In a recent Teaching Channel blog article describing the modules, Kate Cook Whitt, an assistant professor of education at Thomas College in Maine, described the evolution the lessons went through to better fit the science standards. For example, a module called "Soft Landing," started with a somewhat traditional egg drop challenge.
"Although the original design challenge was centered on the authentic problem of protecting an astronaut during landing, the students didn't spend much time thinking about or developing questions around this authentic problem," Cook Whitt wrote. Eventually, she noted, the curriculum underwent multiple forms of revision to better address performance expectations and support student learning.
Teaching Channel has also developed companion videos for lessons within many of the units. The purpose of those is to show teachers how to shift their instructional practices to help students gain an understanding of engineering practice and the design mindset.
The curriculum, including the videos, is available on the Teaching Channel website.
Grants
Texas Instruments Commits $5.4 Million to Power STEM
Educators and nonprofits in Texas, California and Maine will use TIs Power of STEM Education grants to provide professional development opportunities and introduce STEM programs.
The philanthropic arm of Texas Instruments (TI) is committing $5.4 million to improve public school education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
Formally known as the Power of STEM Education (POSE), the grants from the Texas Instruments Foundation will be distributed to nonprofit partners and educators in communities across the United States where TI has a major manufacturing presence. Special emphasis was given to support the primary and secondary school programs that emphasize opportunities for girls and minorities, who are underrepresented in the STEM field.
"Our focus is on collaborative strategies to improve teaching effectiveness and student success in STEM education," said Andy Smith, executive director of the TI Foundation and TI director of corporate philanthropy, in a statement. "We seek out effective partners who share our goals, make strategic investments and develop long-term relationships with educators and their organizations to support proven, successful programs that can be scaled and replicated."
A majority of the POSE grants will be distributed in North Texas:
Other endowments will be given to Teaching Trust; Lancaster, Mesquite, Plano and Richardson school districts; the University of San Antonio; the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity; and more nonprofits and educators throughout North Texas. TI and the TI Community Fund will issue close to $549,000 to fund programs that emphasize employee engagement, such as volunteering and mentoring students.
In California, grants will be distributed to several Bay Area organizations to establish partnerships and further training. Recipients include Breakthrough Silicon Valley, We Teach Science and many more.
Lastly, Maine is receiving grants to fund collaborative programs between the states two largest school districts. The South Portland School District and the Portland School District will implement a STEM academy for grades 8-10, focusing on minority and female students.
Further information about the grants can be found on the TI site.
- Al-Shabaab militants attacked a military base in Lower Shabelle, Somalia
- Somali National Army soldiers inside the base engaged the attackers in gunfight and repulsed them
- Somali government forces did not release the number of casualties on both sides only adding that one civilian was injured
Militant group al-Shabaab raided a Somali military base in Lower Shabelle, Somalia on Wednesday, August 10.
The militants engaged in a fierce gunfight with the Somali National Army (SNA) inside the base.
The SNA soldiers managed to repulse the al-Shabaab militants.
Al-Shabaab militants attacked an army base in Somalia and engaged in a fierce gunfight with the Somali soldiers.
READ ALSO: Al-Shabaab explosions cut off communication between KDF camp and Kenya
Somali government did not release the number of casualties on both sides but confirmed that one civilian was injured in the attack.
Militant group al-Shabaab raided a Somali military base in Lower Shabelle, Somalia on Wednesday, August 10.
READ ALSO: These Are The Five Kenyans Wanted For Planning Terror Attacks
The al-Shabaab terror group claims it will bring its war on Kenyan soil after they were defeated by Kenyan forces in the Operation Linda Nchi that was launched in 2011.
Operation Linda Nchi was aimed to destroy al-Shabaab and end their control of southern Somalia and the capital Mogadishu they used to launch terror activities in Kenya and Somalia.
In January 2016 al-Shabaab militants raided the KDF camp in El Adde near the Kenyan border and inflicted heavy losses.
The terror group went even far to release a propaganda video on how they managed to infiltrate the camp.
Al Shabaab claimed it killed more than 100 soldiers but Kenya has not given the exact number of casualties it suffered in the attack.
Cover photo: Radio Shabelle
Source: TUKO.co.ke
After being briefly out of the spotlight, the nuclear deal the U.S. signed with Iran is once again in the election-year glare. A new rift between the White House and Israel has been ignited, and Tehran hanged a nuclear scientist and alleged spy once, which once again brings scrutiny to Hillary Clintons use of email when she was Secretary of State.
Related: The Story of the Iran Deal Is Coming Back to Bite the Democrats
In the space of about a week, an Israeli Cabinet member has likened President Obama to an appeaser of Hitler, the administration has been awkwardly trying to explain the secret delivery of $400 million to Tehran just before it released four Americans from captivity, Donald Trump has had to walk back claims that he saw video of the plane delivering the controversial cash, and Senator Tom Cotton is blaming Hillary Clinton and her cavalier use of email for the execution of an Iranian nuclear scientist who may have worked for the CIA.
On Aug. 3, The Wall Street Journal broke the story of the U.S. shipping pallets of euros, Swiss francs and other currencies to Iran on the same day in January when the Americans were freed.
The right is calling it a ransom. The White House says the money represents the resolution of a financial dispute between the two countries that has festered since the Iranian hostage crisis.
Related: Kerry Just Confirmed the GOP's Worst Fears About the Iran Deal
The legal wrangle was before an international tribunal, and the U.S. maintains that if it hadnt cut a deal to deliver this first tranche of a $1.7 billion settlement stemming from an arms sale that was suspended after Irans Islamic revolution in 1979, Uncle Sam might have wound up shelling out billions more.
But the secrecy surrounding delivery of the money and the so-called coincidence of it being delivered on the same day the Americans were set free have made for some dubious optics.
Still, that didnt stop Obama from taking an ill-timed victory lap. At a press conference last Thursday, the president said, The country that was most opposed to the deal acknowledges this has been a game-changer.
Story continues
Related: Trump Calls Iran Deal Incompetent as Khamenei Calls for Israels Demise
The reaction from Israel was beyond harsh. In a diplomatic bombshell, its Defense Ministry issued a statement likening the deal with Iran to the 1938 Munich Pact with the Nazis that Britains prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, signed.
The Munich agreement did not prevent the Second World War and the Holocaust, precisely because their basic assumption, that Nazi Germany could be a partner to any kind of agreement, was wrong, the statement said in part.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to smooth waters, but the fury of the White House led outspoken Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman to retract his statement and apologize.
Then on Sunday, Iran announced that it had executed nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri for spying for our number one enemy the Great Satan, i.e. America.
Amiri was mentioned in the batch of Clinton emails the State Department released last year after a Freedom of Information request.
Yesterday, Trump tweeted, Many people are saying that the Iranians killed the scientist who helped the U.S. because of Hillary Clinton's hacked emails."
As the Clinton campaign tries to appear responsible and presidential, the last thing it needs is new controversies about Iran.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
* Brexit impact not major, could hit UK, M&G (Shanghai: 603899.SS - news) businesses
* May consider acquisitions in U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) ., Africa
* H1 operating profit up 6 pct, beats expectations (Recasts with CEO, M&G comments on Brexit, adds M&A comment, analyst, updates shares)
By Carolyn Cohn
LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Insurer Prudential could shift more funds from its asset management business to Dublin or Luxembourg to maintain access to the European Union's single market after Britain's vote to leave the bloc, its asset management boss said on Wednesday.
Prudential (HKSE: 2378.HK - news) , like other British insurers, has experienced volatility in its share price from the uncertainty caused by the Brexit vote at the end of June. But the life insurer is concentrating its growth efforts on Asia, which contributes around a third of its operating profit.
"At the group level, the immediate impact of Brexit will not be material," chief executive Mike Wells told reporters on a conference call.
"Asia has been and will continue to be the growth engine of this group."
But Prudential said in a statement accompanying its first-half results that its UK-domiciled operations, including fund management division M&G, could be hit by Brexit.
M&G chief executive Anne Richards told reporters the company could increase the number of its funds domiciled in Dublin and Luxembourg, depending on the outcome of Brexit negotiations.
"What we are trying to do is...give ourselves options so we are in a position to react and adapt."
M&G said shortly after the Brexit vote that it was looking at expanding its operations in Dublin.
Under current rules, asset managers need an EU base to sell investment funds to continental European retail investors but it is not clear how this will work post-Brexit.
Wells said Prudential could look to buy firms in the United States and Africa, after completing a purchase in Zambia, marking its entry into a fourth African market.
Story continues
The company reported a forecast-beating six percent rise in first-half operating profit to 2.06 billion pounds ($2.69 billion) earlier on Wednesday, led by Asian growth.
Analysts had expected group operating profit of 1.88 billion pounds, according to a consensus forecast compiled by the company.
Progress in Asia helped to offset lower profit from M&G.
Operating profits in Asia rose 15 percent to 743 million pounds. M&G's operating profit fell 10 percent to 225 million pounds, and Prudential said M&G continued to experience "significant net outflows" in the first half.
Prudential's shares rose 1.5 percent to 1,412 pence by 1042 GMT, making it one of the top gainers in the FTSE 100 index . They earlier touched a 3-1/2-month high.
Barrie Cornes analyst at Panmure described the results as "excellent", reiterating his "buy" recommendation on the stock. He raised his target price for Prudential to 1610 pence a share from 1545 pence.
Prudential said it increased its interim dividend by 5 percent from a year earlier, to 12.93 pence per share. ($1 = 0.7663 pounds) (Additional reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain; editing by Keith Weir and Jane Merriman)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union states agreed to cancel budget fines for Spain and Portugal and to set new deadlines for them to rein in their excess deficits, their representative body in Brussels said on Tuesday. The widely anticipated decision confirms proposals made by the European Commission in July to waive the sanctions, despite both countries having last year breached the EU deficit limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product. The EU Council said in a statement that Spain would have two more years, until 2018, to bring the deficit below 3 percent. Portugal would have one more year, to 2016, to reduce its deficit to 2.5 percent. The waivers, using a provision for exceptional circumstances, come against a backdrop of rising anti-EU and anti-austerity sentiment across Europe and follow a decision to grant France similar leniency when it missed deficit targets last year. Both Madrid and Lisbon must take "effective action" by Oct 15 and submit a fiscal report by that date, the Council said, confirming the recommendation made by the European Commission in July. Spain may find it difficult to adopt new measures by mid-October as it is struggling to form a government after two inconclusive national elections in December and June. After the summer break, the Commission will decide whether to freeze some EU funds to Spain and Portugal next year, a procedure within the remit of EU fiscal rules. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; editing by John Stonestreet)
We can help you make sense of the agribusiness industry, extending from chemicals and fertilizers used as inputs into agriculture, to the commodities, food and by-products that are an output to farming, with policy and regulation applied at every step of the value chain.
Ares Management is reportedly seeking to raise more than $45bn for its latest batch of funds.
Insurer Prudential could shift more funds from its asset management business to Dublin or Luxembourg to maintain access to the European Union's single market after Britain's vote to leave the bloc, its asset management boss said on Wednesday.
Prudential, like other British insurers, has experienced volatility in its share price from the uncertainty caused by the Brexit vote at the end of June. But the life insurer is concentrating its growth efforts on Asia, which contributes around a third of its operating profit.
"At the group level, the immediate impact of Brexit will not be material," chief executive Mike Wells told reporters on a conference call.
"Asia has been and will continue to be the growth engine of this group."
But Prudential said in a statement accompanying its first-half results that its UK-domiciled operations, including fund management division M&G, could be hit by Brexit.
M&G chief executive Anne Richards told reporters the company could increase the number of its funds domiciled in Dublin and Luxembourg, depending on the outcome of Brexit negotiations.
"What we are trying to do is...give ourselves options so we are in a position to react and adapt."
M&G said shortly after the Brexit vote that it was looking at expanding its operations in Dublin.
Under current rules, asset managers need an EU base to sell investment funds to continental European retail investors but it is not clear how this will work post-Brexit.
Wells said Prudential could look to buy firms in the United States and Africa, after completing a purchase in Zambia, marking its entry into a fourth African market.
The company reported a forecast-beating six percent rise in first-half operating profit to 2.06 billion pounds earlier on Wednesday, led by Asian growth.
Analysts had expected group operating profit of 1.88 billion pounds, according to a consensus forecast compiled by the company.
Progress in Asia helped to offset lower profit from M&G.
Operating profits in Asia rose 15% to 743 million pounds. M&G's operating profit fell 10% to 225 million pounds, and Prudential said M&G continued to experience "significant net outflows" in the first half.
Prudential's shares rose 1.5% to 1,412 pence by 1042 GMT, making it one of the top gainers in the FTSE 100 index . They earlier touched a 3-1/2-month high.
Barrie Cornes analyst at Panmure described the results as "excellent", reiterating his "buy" recommendation on the stock. He raised his target price for Prudential to 1610 pence a share from 1545 pence.
Prudential said it increased its interim dividend by 5% from a year earlier, to 12.93 pence per share. (Reuters)
Source: www.businessworld.ie
About us
Becoming a millionaire may seem like an unobtainable dream. Ive been there and felt like it was unattainable and something that would never happen to me.
Then I started reading, studying and mimicking countless different successful millionaires.
In reality, its a lot more common than you think and completely possible if you have the right mentality to become rich. Here are 20 signs based on observations from several millionaire friends of mine, that youre destined to become successful.
1. You started making money at a young age.
One of the most common traits that the wealthy have in common is that they began earning money at young age. For example, a 12-year-old Mark Cuban sold trash bags door-to-door, Warren Buffett sold packets of gum to his neighbors when he was just 6-years-old and Richard Branson bred and sold parakeets as pets at the age of 11.
This is the eighth of a 12-part series on our blog highlighting the 12 major development issues. In case you missed it, last month we discussed women in development, which can be found here. This month we are focusing on appropriate technology.
The term appropriate technology has been around since the early 1950s and was coined to address the most effective technology to be used in developing areas, or to be socially and environmentally acceptable within industrialized nations.
Within the credit union movement, access to affordable and appropriate technology varies depending on local infrastructure, financial resources and credit union business plans. Members of Guadalupe Credit Union in rural New Mexico may not have access to internet services, making online banking impossible. Many lack even a cell signal and will drive 45 minutes to an hour to reach a financial institution of any kind. The credit union is considering a mobile branch to reach these remote communities.
As credit unions grow, they seek to become more innovative in adopting new technologies to increase efficiency and to give a better member experience. More than ever before, credit unions are seeking technology to help members manage their money with online applications and mobile devices. Will brick and mortar become a thing of the past? Will credit unions that focus heavily on technology lose what being a credit union means? Will these cease to grow?
The European Food Standards Agency (EFSA) has proposed modifications to the maximum levels of copper in feed for some animal groups.
It recommends a reduction in the maximum copper content in feed for piglets, cattle and dairy cows, and an increase in feed for goats.
The proposed levels would reduce the amount of copper released into the environment, which could potentially play a role in reducing antimicrobial resistance.
EFSAs Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) recommends that copper content in complete feed for piglets should not exceed 25 mg per kg (down from 170 mg/kg).
The maximum content of copper in complete feed for dairy cows and cattle should be reduced from 35 mg/kg of feed to 30 mg/kg, the Panel says.
For most other animal groups the currently authorised upper levels are unchanged except for goats where the Panel recommends an increase.
The recommended levels are considered sufficient to satisfy the nutritional needs for copper of these animal groups.
The EFSA estimates that the reduction of copper in feed for piglets would reduce the release of copper into the environment through manure by 20%.
In the scientific opinion, experts also suggest that reducing copper in feed could help to reduce antimicrobial resistance in pigs and in the environment.
This is because some studies indicate as one of several hypotheses that the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance could potentially be linked to the genetic proximity of some antibiotic and copper resistance genes.
When the firehouse catches fire
Early in his career, Coreys work on the first antiviral treatment for herpes paved the way for HIV therapies that in 1996 turned the virus from a certain death sentence to a chronic disease. But while antiretroviral drugs lower the level of HIV to undetectable levels, they are not a cure. The virus persists in a dormant state in reservoirs throughout the body. If therapy is stopped, HIV roars back.
One of the challenges of boosting the immune system to attack that HIV reservoir is that HIV attacks the immune system first. It targets a type of helper T cell involved in initiating an immune response.
HIV kills the human cells that normally control infections, said Dr. Thor Wagner of the University of Washington and Seattle Childrens Hospital, who, with Corey, is working on the defeatHIV CAR T-cell project. Its like a firehouse that catches on fire. Its a tough fire or infection to fight.
Still, Wagner said, its feasible to engineer T cells that can both kill HIV-infected cells and be resistant to HIV infection, adding that such CAR T cells in combination with other strategies might help achieve HIV remission.
Scientists already have proof that the immune system can cure HIV or at least drive it into long-term remission. Just as bone marrow transplantation provided the first definitive example of the human immune systems power to tame and even cure cancer, it did the same for the first and so far only HIV cure, that of Timothy Ray Brown.
In 2007 and again in 2008, the Seattle-born Brown, living in Berlin, underwent two grueling bone marrow transplants to treat acute myeloid leukemia. Because he also had HIV, his German doctor sought out a stem cell donor who carried two copies of a rare gene mutation that confers natural resistance to the virus. Brown stopped taking antiretroviral drugs after the first transplant in 2007 and continues to show no signs of HIV.
Until now, attempts to duplicate Browns cure in other people with HIV who also needed a bone marrow transplant for cancer have not been successful; most of the very ill patients died either of the cancer or the transplant. But new information presented at the conference in Seattle and last month at a large AIDS conference in Durban, South Africa, offers hope that Browns cure can be repeated.
You turned my sadness to pride
A transplant, already a high-risk procedure for cancer patients, is even risker for people who also have HIV, with mortality rates approaching 60 percent, according to Dr. Annemarie Wensing, a clinical virologist at the University Medical Center in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Thats why Wensing and others, including Dr. Gero Hutter, the oncologist who cured Brown, formed a collaborative project called EpiStem to guide clinicians throughout Europe doing stem cell transplants in people with both cancer and HIV.
The project also studies the effect of bone marrow transplantation on HIV. In Durban and again in Seattle, Wensing reported on three patients who survived both the cancer and the transplant. Two now show no signs of HIV after extensive and sensitive testing and one shows just traces of the virus. Because just one patient had an HIV-resistant donor, Wensing hypothesizes that graft-vs.-host disease may have helped clear or at least reduce the HIV reservoir, much as a graft-vs.-leukemia effect is critical in achieving a cancer cure or remission.
But while the three EpiStem patients HIV may be cured or in remission, the only way to tell for sure is to take them off their antiretroviral medication, as was the case with Brown. But that has not yet been done, in part due to lessons learned about the physical and emotional effects of stopping the anti-HIV drugs.
In March 2013, as part of a carefully monitored research study at Bostons Brigham and Womens Hospital, Gary Steinkohl went off antiretroviral therapy three years after having a bone marrow transplant for cancer. His hopes of becoming only the second person in the world after Brown cured of HIV were dashed when the virus came back eight months later.
New Delhi : The Home Ministry has initiated an inquiry against an NGO run by controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik for alleged violation of Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act.
The move comes a day after the Mumbai Police indicted Islamic preacher Naik for involvement in unlawful activities and possible terror links.
A standard questionnaire has been sent to Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) after preliminary inquiry found the NGO run by Naik allegedly received about Rs 15 crore during a five-year period preceding 2012.
The IRF has been asked to furnish details of its bank accounts, including the designated FCRA account, and amount of foreign contributions received and utilised by it since inception, official sources said.
The preliminary probe has found that most of IRFs foreign funds came from the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and a few other Middle-East countries.
The Home Ministry probe will cover the allegations that foreign funding to IRF was used for political activities.
It will also look into allegation that the NGOs funds were used to induce people towards converting to Islam and attract youths towards terror, the sources said.
Meanwhile, sources said, legal opinion tendered recently to the Home Ministry has favoured declaring IRF an unlawful association under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The grounds for such a ban may include spreading hatred among religious communities and forced conversions by members.
Though IRF will be given a month to reply to the questionnaire, which seeks to know if NGOs are following FCRA rules, sources said, adding intelligence agencies have already pointed to a major violation by IRF as it is receiving and utilising funds for religious and religion-linked purposes despite being registered under educational purpose.
Sources said once the reply is received, a Home Ministry team will inspect the IRFs accounts. A show-cause notice may be issued if the inspection confirms FCRA violations.
The Home Ministry will move for cancellation of IRFs FCRA registration if the reply to the show-cause notice fails to satisfy it.
Any organisation declared as unlawful is banned from recruiting members and faces closure of all its offices and interests across the country.
Source : Zee News
Were excited to announce that metalbulletin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com.
A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving metals market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets.
Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials.
If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details.
MINDEF Website is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance.
Updates will be posted on the MINDEF Facebook and Twitter pages during this period.
For NS-related queries, please contact NS Call Centre at 1800-3676767 (or +65 6567 6767 from overseas).
For MINDEF website-related queries, please contact digitalmedia@defence.gov.sg.
For media queries, please contact the Duty Media Relations Officer at +65 9228 6190.
We apologise for the inconvenience caused. Thank you.
Ugandan firms have not taken as much advantage of the US governments African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) to grow.
The US Ambassador to Uganda H.E Deborah Malac says this is mainly a result of the negative perception Ugandans have towards it.
She made the remarks during a press briefing at the US Embassy ahead of the 2016 AGOA forum scheduled to take place on 26th September, in Washington DC.
AGOA provides duty-free access to the US Market for eligible products giving beneficiary countries an upper hand over non AGOA countries.
Ambassador Malac says AGOA provides benefits to Ugandan companies and one of the tools to help the country achieve middle income status.
Currently, there are 37 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa benefiting from AGOA and exporting more than 6,000 items to the US duty free.
Story By Judith Atim
Civil Society Organisations have lashed out at the inspector general of police Gen. Kale Kayihura for failure to respect court summons.
This follows Gen.Kayihuras failure to appear before Makidye Magistrates Court as expected.
According to a statement from the Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy (CCEDU) coordinator Crispy Kaheru, Gen.Kayihuras nonappearance casts doubt on the institution of police or his willingness as a person for respects judicial processes.
Kaheru says Gen. Kayihuras failure to respect the summons is in contempt of court and to a large extent demonstrates profound contempt for rule of law in Uganda.
The Police Chief and seven of his commanders were meant to appear before the Makindye Magistrates Court this morning over charges of torture but did not show up.
The case has been adjourned to the 29th /August for court to hear and determine whether the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) should take over these proceedings.
Story By Benjamin Jumbe
The situation at Makindye Chief Magistrates Court turned violent this afternoon as supporters of the Police Chief (IGP)Gen. Kale Kayihura resorted to throwing stones at the lawyers for the complainants.
Abudallah Kiwanuka, one of the lawyers was stoned, while the lead counsel and Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago was holed up inside the magistrates chambers but was later freed after police tried to get the lawyers to safety one at a time.
The IGP and seven of his commanders were to appear before court this morning but nver showed up and no reason was given to court.
Relatedly, the three youth who filed the petition in court last month to have Gen.Kayihura and his officers summoned for alleged torture have also not appeared. The trio had initially claimed to be part of the group of opposition Forum For Democratic Change supporters who were clobbered by police officers as they celebrated the release from jail of former presidential candidate Dr. Kiiza Besigye.
Yesterday the three; Andrew Sebitosi, Rodgers Ddiba and Joseph Kaddu called a press conference held at Makerere University in which they accused some high ranking government officials of bribing them to give false testimony against Kayihura in court.
However, they were represented by a team of over ten lawyers who informed court that they had reliable information that their clients were under immense pressure and lived in intimidation from the public.
At exactly 10:00am, Chief Magistrate Richard Mafabi entered court and the case file of Uganda Vs Gen Kayihura and 7 others was read but no accused person took to the dock, despite objections by prosecution.
Instead, the magistrate overruled the prosecutions objection and allowed the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) represented by Happiness Ainebyona time to make a formal application requesting to take over proceedings of this case.
The lawyers had asked court to reject the DPPs request which had been presented in a letter dated 9th August, 2016 saying the law requires the DPP to either make an oral or formal application to court for purposes of taking over private prosecutions.
The magistrate said the constitution mandates the DPP to take over criminal prosecutions in this country.
The lawyers had also cited fears that once the DPP takes over, he will order police to investigate the alleged torture incidences yet police cannot investigate itself.
The case has been adjourned to the 29th /August for court to hear and determine whether the DPP should take over these proceedings.
Outside the court premises, Gen. Kayihuras supporters held placards and kept chanting and praising him in protest of his court appearance.
Story By
The government of South Sudan has rejected a proposal by the United States for deployment of an additional 4,000 troops by the UN Security Council to the country.
In a press statement issued on Wednesday, the government spokesman Michael Makuei, has said the proposal expected to be voted on this Friday by the Security Council is giving the UN ability to govern and seriously undermines South Sudans sovereignty.
He adds that an attempt to undermine this sovereignty may begin with South Sudan, but could end up with many African countries being turned into new colonies.
Last week IGAD said South Sudan had agreed to a regional force, but Makuei disagreed arguing that the government had not been consulted.
Deadly fighting in the capital, Juba, last month raised fears of a renewed civil war after a failed August 2015 peace deal and worsened a humanitarian crisis.
Meanwhile the Deputy executive director Uganda Media Centre Col Shaban Bantariza says Uganda will not stop hosting refugees from neighboring countries.
This comes as the country continues receiving refugees from South Sudan following renewed clashes that erupted in July.
He says the country has the best refugee policy on the continent and will continue offering a conducive environment for asylum seekers.
He however admits that government is constrained in terms of resources to meet the needs of growing numbers but quickly adds that the best way to solve the refugee crisis is addressing the cause of insecurity back in their home countries.
Story By Benjamin Jumbe
Welcome! You have come to the right place. Khmerization is a home to the Cambodian daily news, which is updated twice daily. Please take a tour and enjoy yourself. Thank you.
To contact Khmerization please send an email to:
August 10, 2016Train Ride and Tickets, 570-340-5204 Media Contact: Bill Nalevanko , 570-241-8258
Special Events Across the U.S. Will Celebrate the National Park Service 100th Anniversary in August
Scranton, Pennsylvania The National Park Service invites visitors of all ages to join in the celebration of its 100th birthday throughout the month of August. With special events across the country, and free admission to all 412 national parks from August 25 through August 28, the NPS is encouraging everyone to #FindYourPark / #EncuentraTuParque for the centennial.
August our birthday month will be a nationwide celebration of national parks, and were inviting everyone to the party, said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. We like to think that we look pretty good for 100, and with so many events and activities to commemorate this milestone, we hope all Americans will join us to celebrate the breathtaking landscapes and inspiring history in our nations parks and public lands. Whether it is in a distant state or in your own community, there are hundreds of ways and places to find your park!
On Thursday, August 25, we will feature a special "Wish NPS a Happy Birthday Create a Birthday Card" event. Visitors will create a birthday card to the NPS, which will be displayed at the park from the August 25 through the Railfest event weekend and the week following. Additionally, park visitors will receive a free NPS Arrowhead tattoo (while supplies last) on August 25 and during Railfest weekend.
Railfest 2016 Scheduled to Continue Centennial Celebration
Steamtown National Historic Site will host Railfest 2016 at the park on Saturday and Sunday, September 3 and 4 of Labor Day weekend. "Railfest is a great family-friendly event focused on our rich railroading history," said park superintendent Debbie Conway." This year's event will help commemorate two special milestones: the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service and the 30th anniversary of the creation of Steamtown NHS. The return of our Baldwin #26 steam locomotive to operating service this year will certainly be a focal point for Railfest 2016, and help make this Centennial and anniversary year special." The NPS site works with numerous partners to present this annual end-of-summer event, which is a celebration of railroading that features visiting railroad equipment displays this year including a display featuring New Hampshire's Mt. Washington Cog Railway's "Peppersass" cog locomotive which is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2016 special shop demonstrations and, of course, train rides on both days of the event. Special event hours are 9:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m. each day. The park entrance fee is $7 daily for all, ages 16 and older; children age 15 and younger are admitted with an accompanying adult at no charge. Passenger excursions to Moscow, Pa. are scheduled on each event day. Each trip will operate with historic diesel locomotives, depart the Steamtown Boarding Platform at 12:30 p.m., and has a planned return to Scranton at approximately 3:00 p.m. Excursion fares are $24 for adults 16 to 61, $22 for seniors 62 and older, and $17 for children ages 6-15, and include the park's daily entrance fee. Children 5 and younger accompanied by an adult require a "no-charge" ticket. More schedule information on the event is available at www.nps.gov/stea/planyourvisit/railfest.htm.
A sampling of additional events is available on the National Park Service website, and many more can be found at FindYourPark.com and EncuentraTuParque.com.
Entrance Fees Waived for the NPS Birthday through the Weekend
Park entrance fees will be waived nationwide from August 25 through August 28 to encourage everyone to celebrate the NPS 100th birthday. Usually, 127 of the 412 national parks charge entrance fees that range from $3 to $30. The entrance fee waiver does not cover amenity or user fees for activities such as camping, boat launches, transportation, or special tours.
To continue the national park adventure beyond these entrance fee free days, the $80 America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands Pass allows unlimited entrance to more than 2,000 sites, including all national parks, throughout the year. There are also a variety of free or discounted passes available for senior citizens, current military members, fourth grade students, and disabled citizens.
Find Your Park to Celebrate the Centennial
On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the act that created the National Park Service "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for future generations."
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of that moment and to look ahead to the next 100 years, in early 2015 the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation launched the Find Your Park / Encuentra Tu Parque movement. Inspiring people from all backgrounds to celebrate and support America's national parks and community-based programs, #FindYourPark / #EncuentraTuParque invites people to discover and share their own unique connections to our nation's natural landscapes, vibrant culture, and rich history.
Located in downtown Scranton, Pa., Steamtown NHS is open daily from 9:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m; special event hours on September 3 and 4 are 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. From I-81 follow exit 185 (Central Scranton Expressway); then, follow the brown and white signs to the park entrance at Lackawanna and Cliff Avenues (GPS: N 41.41, W 75.67). General park information is available by phoning (570) 340-5200 during regular business hours, or by visiting the park website anytime at www.nps.gov/stea.
www.nps.gov/stea
About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 412 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at www.nps.gov, on Facebook , Twitter , and YouTube www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice. Find YOUR park at FindYourPark.com!
Fence Crafters, Inc., South Florida's leader in residential and commercial fence sales, design, installation, manufacturing, maintenance and repair, has landed the exclusive Palm Beach County rights to sell Ply Gem Fence and Railing products.
By: Fence Crafters, Inc.
Full Service Fence Co. in Riviera Beach, Florida
Contact
Lou Yodice
Fence Crafters, Inc.
***@fencecraftersinc.com Lou YodiceFence Crafters, Inc.
End
-- Ply Gem vinyl fencing is the industry standard because it's exceptionally durable, highly attractive, low in maintenance, comes in a full range of styles, and is manufactured by Ply Gem Fence and Railing, the widely recognized 70-year-old pioneer of building products. Ply Gem vinyl fencing products are also building-code rated and backed by the best limited lifetime warranty in the business, yet are competitively priced compared to lesser-quality generic brands. And Fence Crafters, Inc. in Riviera Beach is now the only fence company in Palm Beach County where you can get Ply Gem vinyl fence products."This is quite a coup for Fence Crafters, Inc.," says Lou Yodice, president of the more than 25-year-old family-owned and operated company. "Residential and commercial vinyl fencing comprises a great deal of our business, and landing Ply Gem only bolsters our leading position in the South Florida market. We're honored to add this industry mainstay to our long list of fencing-related products and services."Ply Gem vinyl fencing products can be installed for a variety of residential and commercial applications and are available in a broad array of designs including: Privacy fences in semi-private designs, solid and solid with accents. Picket fences with closed pickets, scalloped, straight or in specialty designs. Ranch rail fences in both standard and specialty designs.Fence Crafters, Inc., is located in Riviera Beach, Florida, with residential and commercial customers from Broward County to the Treasure Coast. Services include design, manufacturing, installation and repair of all types of residential, commercial and industrial vinyl fencing, wood fencing, aluminum, steel, PVC, composite, chain link and more for privacy, security, decoration, boundary and containment. More at http://www.fencecraftersinc.com/ plygem-vinyl- fencing
Self-guided tour takes visitors to galleries, cafes, and inspires with art of all kinds
By: Newburyport ArtWalk
Contact
Julie Cook
***@cookbowe.com Julie Cook
End
-- Explore Newburyport's thriving art community through special exhibits, artist discussions, painting class demonstrations and more during the third ArtWalk of 2016 on Saturday, August 20 from 11-6 p.m. Enjoy a leisurely self-guided tour that winds through Newburyport's historic downtown to more than 20 galleries and partner sites that are celebrating the beauty and culture of the North Shore.The public is invited to take part in ArtWalk's free events, browse a variety of artwork in traditional and contemporary styles, shop, dine, and soak in all that the Cultural District has to offer. Throughout the year, there are also spontaneous individual gallery and group pop-up events.A free brochure/map of all venues is available at participating galleries, the Newburyport Chamber of Commerce, the passageway between State and Inn Street and at ArtWalk Partners' locations.Among the special activities planned for August's ArtWalk are:* Connor Summers Gallery: Connor Summers Gallery is pleased to have new still lifes and pastels by Janice Eaton Updike. The public is invited to meet artist from 3-6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 20. Additionally, the gallery will be showing work by Michael Updike, Gordon Pryzbyla, Margaret Bernier, Marcia Hermann and Cathy Connor. 48 Market Street, Newburyport* Indigo Artist Studio/Alan Bull Studio: "" will be featured at Indigo Artist Studio on August 20. Indigo introduces the monumental woodcuts of Maine artist, printmaker, Keith Rendall. For most of his career, Rendall has created large-scale prints, woodcuts and etchings of creatures found among the waterways of Maine. Using beautiful Japanese papers and framed with his own hand-carved frames, these unique prints are not to be missed. Mary Arthur Pollak's new carborundum prints, influenced by the plants and patterns of the tidal waters, exemplify spring and summer in Maine. In addition, Newburyport artist, teacher and illustrator, Alan Bull will show his latest large paintings and his popular 2017 truck painting calendars will be available to order. Refreshments and great art from 11-6pm. 53 Middle St., Newburyport.* Valerie's Gallery: Meet two of our artists, Maggie Bokor and Colleen Kidder, at the August ArtWalk. Maggie Bokor, an artist from South Portland, ME, who creates elegant sterling silver jewelry, will be here from 1-5 p.m. Ipswich oil painter Colleen Kidder will be on hand from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Stop by to meet these talented artisans. 26 State Street, Newburyport* 36 Liberty Street Studios: Take in the dreamlike paintings with collage elements of artist E. Tobin Eckian on the first floor. Guest artist Sam Kimball will also showcase his paintings at 36 Liberty St. Upstairs on the second floor of this shared studio space is Portrait and Fine Art Photography by Kiki Larouge. 36 Liberty Street, Newburyport* Firehouse Center for the Arts: "," an exhibit of photographs by Robert Chiller and members of the Chiller Photo Project, is on view at the Institution for Savings Art Gallery at the Firehouse until September 11, 2016. The show represents a diverse group of photographers whose areas of specialty include architecture, abstract imagery, still life, landscape, portrait, and event photography. Market Square, Newburyport* Newburyport Art Association:On Saturday, Aug. 20 from 1-4 p.m., artist Steven Lush will be leading a demonstration and class on "." All are welcome to watch or sign up to participate (Members $15, Non-members $20).Lush, whose painting style is "painterly" in that he adds detail in the process, works in watercolor, oil, gouache and occasionally pastels. 65 Water Street, Newburyport* Sweethaven Gallery: J. Ann Eldridge's intaglio prints & drawings will be on display at Sweethaven Gallery in "" through Sept. 18.Ann is a state-juried member of the League of NH Craftspeople. Her work can be found in galleries around New England and she participates in a number of juried retail shows. Sweethaven will host an opening reception with light refreshments served from 12-6 p.m on Aug. 20. 25L Inn Street, Newburyport* Spirit of Newburyport:John William Brown has a gift for capturing the Port City's natural beauty. For the August ArtWalk, he is featuring his Newburyport Harbor with Mural Series of digital images from 2016. 32 Water Street, Newburyport* Paula Estey Gallery (PEG): "," an exhibition featuring contemporary art by painter Jennifer Jean Costello with PEG artists Miranda Updike, Kate Sullivan, Jessica Hachmeister, David Stone, Regina Valluzzi, Pat Forbes and Joanne Tarlin, has been extended for ArtWalk. 3 Harris Street, NewburyportAbout ArtWalkThe 2016 Newburyport ArtWalk events are held on four Saturdays this year. They are free and open to the public. A collaborative of galleries offer special exhibitions, artist demos, lectures, tours, and visual art, all within easy walking distance. Local restaurants, cafes and coffee shops also display original art on a rotating basis. ArtWalk 2016 participants include: 36 Liberty St. Studios, Alan Bull Paintings, Connor Summers Gallery, Firehouse Center for the Arts, Indigo Artist Studio, Newburyport Art Association, Paula Estey Gallery, Sisters We Three, Somerby's Landing Sculpture Park, Spirit of Newburyport, Studio 5, Sweethaven Gallery, Valerie's Gallery, and The Walsingham Gallery. ArtWalk partner businesses include: 17 State Street Cafe, Atomic Cafe Coffee Roasters, Commune Cafe (formerly Caffe di Siena), Plum Island Coffee Roasters, Chococoa Baking Company & Cafe, the Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce, Middle Street Foods, and The Tannery Marketplace. Follow along on http://www.facebook.com/ NewburyportArtWalk to stay informed of the latest activities.
Aviation expert brings leadership and technical skills to newly created national position
By: HNTB Corporation
End
-- Loy Warren, PE, rejoined HNTB Corporation as a senior vice president in the new position of national airfield engineering leader. He is a nationally-recognized expert who brings nearly 35 years of aviation leadership to the firm. He previously worked at HNTB from 1991 to 2003.He is based in Plano, Texas, but his national role will take him across the country."We are pleased to welcome Loy back to HNTB," said Doug Mann, FASLA, HNTB corporate development president. "Loy's prior experience, outstanding technical expertise and extensive client relationships will bring great value to our clients as they deliver complex aviation terminal, airfield, and freight infrastructure programs."Warren's areas of specialty include all aspects of airport development, such as planning, sustainability and environmental mitigation, program management, design and construction for terminal, airfield and landside development. He served as the principal services lead on numerous complex airport programs across the country, including Denver International Airport, Salt Lake City International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Dulles International Airport. He was a program leader in the TSA Baggage Screening and Security Mobilization Program after 9/11."Loy is a tremendous addition to HNTB's aviation team. His insights and practical experience will be of great value to the firm and our aviation clients," said Laddie Irion, HNTB national aviation market sector leader and senior vice president.Prior to re-joining HNTB, Warren served two other consulting firms as a leader for national airport practices. His responsibilities included business and technical management of multiple airport contracts simultaneously, while recruiting and leading a high-performing team of airport development professionals. His role as project executive on large development programs has included advisory services to airport executive management on risk mitigation, quality, financial management, environmental permitting, phasing and FAA integration.He holds a Bachelor of Science, civil engineering from the University of Missouri. He is a registered professional engineer in Texas, Michigan, California, Colorado and Arkansas.Warren frequently serves on industry panels and delivers papers/presentations for airport organizations such as American Association of Airport Executives, Airports Council International and Airport Consultants Council. He served on the World Business Partners Board and Steering Group; Technical and Operations Committee for ACI-NA. For, ACC, he served as panel member to write FAA's guidance for non-federal navaids and the 2005 and 2015 updates to FAA AC 150/5100-14D on airport procurement and contracting for architecture/engineering services. He also has actively served the American Society of Civil Engineers on airport standards and development issues throughout his career.Currently, HNTB is working on some of the most high-profile aviation programs in the country, including on-call Capital Improvements Project at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport; South Terminal C, Phase 1, at Orlando International Airport; Terminal Redevelopment Program Denver International Airport; and terminal planning for the new Mickey Leland International Terminal at Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport.HNTB Corporation is an employee-owned infrastructure firm serving public and private owners and contractors. With more than a century of service in the United States, HNTB understands the life cycle of infrastructure and addresses clients' most complex technical, financial and operational challenges. Professionals nationwide deliver a full range of infrastructure-related services, including award-winning planning, design, program management and construction management. For more information, visit http://www.hntb.com
Focus on Exchange Programs, Research Collaboration, & International Student Transfer
By: Saint Monica University
Contact
JJ Asongu
***@smuedu.org JJ Asongu
End
-- Saint Monica University (SMU): The American International University in Cameroon today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the US-based Morgan State University (MSU) in Baltimore, State of Maryland. The MOU, which was signed today at the MSU campus by presidents of both universities, will lead to the exchange of students and faculty, the transfer of students to complete their degrees at the other university, as well as collaboration in research."As an American-style university, we are excited to partner with a reputable US-based institution such as Morgan State University,"said Prof. Januarius Jingwa (JJ) Asongu, President and Chief Executive Officer of SMU. "As a younger university, SMU has much to benefit from and contribute to this relationship. It's really a win-win for both institutions and ultimately our students. Our students are particularly attracted by the possibility of having first-hand experience of an American university through exchange programs and the ability for them to complete their degrees in the United States."The MOU focuses on joint educational and research activities; exchange of teaching and research personnel; interchange of ideas and practices, including joint research cooperation and curriculum development;exchange of academic materials and other information, subject to any applicable and/or desired non-disclosure agreements; exchange of students for study and research; ability of students to transfer between universities, pending transcript evaluation; exchange of faculty members for research, lectures, and discussions;collaboration in education, research and community outreach projects; establishment of joint programs, including research and community outreach programs; and any other areas of co-operation to be mutually agreed upon by both parties.Both institutions have agreed to make every reasonable effort to encourage direct contact, educational, and research cooperation between their constituents, including students, faculty members, departments, and research centers/institutes, and will endeavor to cooperate in the fields, with which both institutions are concerned.Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified Doctoral Research Institution offering more than 70 academic programs leading to bachelor's degrees as well as programs at the master's and doctoral levels. As Maryland's Public Urban Research University, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. More information about the university is available at http://www.morgan.edu Saint Monica University (SMU) is a leading private university in Cameroon. It is an American-style non-ecclesiastical Catholic institution, offering career-focused programs that are at the intersection of the liberal arts, science and technology. It is dedicated to providing educational opportunities for the intellectual, social, entrepreneurial and professional development of a diverse student population. SMU is focused on the student experience and helping our students achieve their educational and career goals, and contributing to a more sustainable society. We offer various certificates and diplomas as well as bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through the School of Arts, Education, & Humanities (SAEH); School of Business & Public Policy (SBPP); School of Health & Human Services (SHHS); and School of Science, Engineering & Technology (SSET). SMU is accredited in the United Kingdom by the Accreditation Service for International Schools, Colleges, and Universities (ASIC) with Accreditation No: AS22357/0614 and is listed on the UK Register of Learning Providers (UKRLP) with the UK Provider Reference Number (UKPRN): 10048183. SMU is also fully accredited in Cameroon by the National Commission on Private Higher Education at the Ministry of Higher Education (MINESUP) with the Ordinance of Creation No: E14/0028/MINESUP/SG/DDES and the Ministerial Letter No: 15-09643/L/MINESUP/SG/DDES/ESUP/SDA/MM authorizing SMU to offer over 60 undergraduate and graduate diploma and degree programs. SMU is a member of many international academic organizations including the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), Global Universities In Distance Education (GUIDE), and the Talloires Network. For more information about SMU, visit our website: http://www.smuedu.org or write to us at admissions@smuedu.org.
By: Coronation
Media Contact
Coronation
clientservice@ coronation.co.za Coronation
End
-- By Martha ChaukeDeveloping countries like South Africa need FDI (Foreign direct investment). They are investments in a business by an investor from another country for which the foreign investor has control over the company purchased. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) defines control as owning 10% or more of the business. Increased FDI in developing countries contributes to the country's economic development because of external capital and increased revenue. This helps developing countries create employment opportunities for its citizens and invest in local skills development and new local industries.The developing government is able to use the capital infusion and tax revenue generated from FDI for economic growth by improving the physical and economic infrastructure of the country. These include building roads, educational institutions, developing transport and communication systems and also subsidising the creation of domestic industries. The result is making it possible for all citizens to benefit from the FDI. Besides from the monetary aspect; FDI affords developing countries a learning experience which in turn leads to additional growth paths.South Africa is currently losing Barclays bank, which owns Absa bank; as an investor. Major newspapers are reporting that the country's wealthiest individuals are taking their money out of the country because they are weary of the country's economic future. To top things up, according to the latest World Investment Report 2016 ( http://unctad.org/ en/PublicationsLibrary/ wir2016_en.pdf ) FDI into South Africa is sitting at $1.8 billion, the lowest in 10 years, owing to factors such as lacklustre economic performance, lowercommodity prices and higher electricity costs.Policy uncertainty by the government has a major part to play in the economic misfortune and lack of foreign investment confidence from Western industrialised countries which happen to be the country's major source of FDI. South African households are extremely indebted while the government is short of funding both resulting in limited investment and domestic consumer growth. The future will only start looking brighter for South Africans once the country improves on domestic investments in the form of foreign direct investment.According to risk analysts, South Africa has risk factors which prevent it from being a lucrative investment market which include the prevalence of white-collar crime and corruption and the increasingly inevitable outcome that South African bonds will be downgraded to "junk" status. Not to mention that South Africa is Africa's most targeted region for cybercrime. Risk analysts also conclude that South Africa is still a good place to do business. There is plenty of slow and steady money to be made in the country. South Africa's fundamentals are not as bad as they seem. If you are confident South Africa is worthy of your investment, click HERE ( http://www.coronation.com/ global/ ) for investment insights.
Rishabh, 21, a resident of Janakpuri in Delhi was returning home from a party in his fathers Honda City. Travelling at 100 kmph, Rishabh who was drunk at the time hit 3 different persons at different locations, across a 1.5 km stretch after which he stopped and was arrested.
Rishabh was involved in multiple hit and run cases on Monday. Eyewitnesses noted that he first hit 40-year-old Kameshwar Prasad, a government employee who was taking his morning walk.
The Honda City rammed into him with such speed that he was thrown ahead for several meters. Rishabh did not stop there; he sped ahead and then hit another 40-year-old named Santosh who was out cleaning cars in a residential area. Rishabh sped away once again to go onto the wrong side of the road and rammed into 67-year-old Ashwani Anand, a property dealer also out for his morning walk.
It was after a chase that the police patrolling team managed to intercept the speeding Honda City. Delhi Police claims that Rishabh was in such a drunken state that he could not even stand straight. Liquor bottles were found inside the car while the vehicle is registered in the name of Rishabhs father which has now been seized.
CCTV footage from the area show the Honda City ram into Anand. While Anand could see the car speeding towards him he tried to escape impact by running towards a pavement. However, the car hit him but did not stop and sped ahead. Santosh who is critically injured is not in any position to give his statement.
Rishabh, a student of business administration at a Delhi college has been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder besides other charges of drunk driving under IPC and Motor Vehicle Act.
Janakpuri hit-and-run: Happened in front of my eyes, says Delhi Police constable https://t.co/94FGg2FnFn pic.twitter.com/sje3ESn8gY The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) June 14, 2016
This incident comes a few weeks after a teenager driving Mercedes E-Class killed a person crossing the road in Delhi.
New-generation Honda Jazz has completed its first year in India. Offered in a choice of petrol and diesel engine options, new Jazz is one of the most successful offerings from Honda Car India. In its first year, Honda sold 47,335 units of Jazz (almost 12,000 units of which were CVT variants) in India.
Apart from being a best-seller, Jazz also enjoys a special place in the heart of its makers and fans. To celebrate this special car, Honda Car India organized a special drive from Jaipur to Samode.
The day started with us reaching Jaipur (hardly 200 kms from Tapukara, where the Jazz is manufactured). By noon, everyone who was part of this drive, had congregated at a hotel in Jaipur. Post lunch, we were given a brief description about the day ahead.
Soon the fleet of five Honda Jazz were flagged off from Jaipur. Our task for Day 1 was to reach Samode Palace, which was about 60 kms from the start point. To make our drive more interesting, Honda officials had arranged some exciting activities enroute.
An empty plot land, just outside the walls of Samode Palace, was our first pit stop. Here, we were split into five teams and given three tasks which were to be performed as a team.
The first task at hand was to utilize the versatile storage space of Honda Jazz. In this task, using Jazzs Magic Seats, we had to place a cycle inside the car, some pots of plants, and make a person sleep completely flat with cushion under his head and cover him with a blanket. All three had to be done in sequence.
In order to finish this task, first we lowered the rear seats, placed the cycle in Jazz boot. After removing the cycle, the rear seats were back in its original position. We then lifted the thigh support and placed the pots in the space between front and rear seats. For the third task, we used the front passenger seat, which was reclined 180 degrees and headrest removed. Our team managed to perform all three in just 48 seconds!
Second task for the day was to fit luggage of different sizes into the boot of Honda Jazz. Depending on the size of the luggage, you were awarded points. The team which manages to score the most, wins. We managed to fit in one full-sized suitcase and four small ones.
After seeing the photos above, if you are wondering that why an empty plot of land was arranged for these activities as the same could have been performed in the parking lot of the hotel in Jaipur or at the Samode Palace, well here comes task no 3.
In task 3, each team member had to do a slalom run over the parking cones. If you touch a cone or miss doing a slalom over a cone, penalty of 10 seconds was added to your time. The team which manages to finish the slalom in least time, wins.
The point of performing the three tasks above was to show us how versatile and fun car Honda Jazz is. Not only it has great storage options, but it is also a powerful and efficient family car. With the tasks completed, all teams headed to Samode Palace, where we were also going to spend the night.
Located about 60 kms north of Jaipur, Samode Palace is a four-century old architectural beauty which has reminisce of Mughal as well as Rajasthani art. Hidden among the hills, the palace takes you far away from modern day civilization. Below is a short video of how we were welcomed at the Samode Palace.
After a brief discussion about the day, all of us retired to our respective rooms for a few hours. In the evening, Honda Car India had arranged for a cultural program inside the Durbar Hall of the Palace which was followed by Rajasthani dinner.
Next day, our job was to drive the Jazz back to Jaipur, but in The Amazing Race style. Similar to the globally hit TV series, we were given a clue at the start of the race. Our job was to find the answer, perform the task, and get the next clue. In all, there were five tasks to be done. The team which finishes first, will be announced winner. Honda called this activity Jazzing in Jaipur.
After a group photo, all participants were flagged off from Samode Palace. Below are the instructions and our first clue.
After a brief discussion, and searching on Google, we figured the place hidden in the clue is Amer Palace in Jaipur. Soon we set course for our new destination, and left Samode Palace. We took a little over an hour to reach Amer Palace and finish the first task.
After we showed the above image to a Honda official, we were handed over the next clue, as below.
We soon figured that the second clue is talking about none other than the famous Hawa Mahal. Located in the middle of the old city, reaching there was a task in itself. Honda Jazz CVT which we were driving, managed to make the task a breeze. It is the perfect solution for those who are tired of commuting during peak hours or on a busy road. We put on some music, and jazzed our way to Hawa Mahal in no time.
After showing the image above, we got our next clue.
This one was a bit tricky, as Jaipur is a place filled with such eateries. Google didnt help much this time. Clueless, we turned to locals for help. All gave the same answer Laxmi Mishthan Bhandar. It was very close to Hawa Mahal.
Apart from having their famous kachoris, we also bought some sweets before heading out.
Again we turned towards locals for help to figure out this clue. The answer was Kishan Lal Govind Lassiwaala.
After having a glass of Lassi, we headed towards solving our last clue.
As mentioned in the clue, this was actually the easiest of them all.
Once we reached the fuel station, a Honda official who was waiting there, told us that we were the first ones to arrive and thus are the winners of Jazzing in Jaipur.
The drive through Jaipur to Samode and back, including some fantastic activities planned by Honda Car India, showed us how versatile and fun the Jazz is as a family car.
Based on the Maruti Baleno on sale in India, a new variant has been launched called Baleno Cross
The hatchbacks with rough road package and gimmicky suffixes to the nameplate didnt really work in India as the customers were willing to pay extra for proper crossover SUVs. There are still some hatchback-based instant crossovers in our market but they mostly spend their time on the sidelines.
These species of spruced up hatchbacks may have better luck in some international markets. Suzuki thinks a slightly more rugged version of the Baleno hatchback would be well received in South American markets. The Suzuki Baleno Cross has been introduced in Colombia and from the looks of it, it doesnt even have what we call as the rough road package.
The Baleno Cross receives a sportier and more expressive front bumper which is seen on the India-spec facelift, special dual-tone alloy wheels, side rub strips and roof carrier. There are no black lower body cladding, raised ground clearance or faux skid plates. It looks more like a dealer-level accessorized version than a new standalone variant in its own right.
Interior is also identical to that of the regular Baleno save for updated colour theme for the fabric. The colour of the upholstery is matched with the exterior paint. There are no other changes whatsoever.
Suzuki Baleno Cross Engine
Suzuki Baleno Cross for the Colombian market is powered by the K14B 1.4-liter petrol engine which is tuned to produce 95 hp and 130 Nm of torque. The motor can be specified either with a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic gearbox. The Colombian Baleno Cross comes equipped with standard dual front airbags, ISOFIX mount and ABS with EBD. The higher end variant offers 6 airbags and LED DRLs.
Maruti Suzuk India Ltd., is the sole manufacturer of the Baleno hatchback for the entire world. The Colombia-spec model is shipped from here and is converted into a cross of the local market by adding a few accessories. The Cross variant is not likely to be introduced in India.
The Maruti Baleno for India received a facelift recently with subtle revisions. The hatchback competes with Hyundai i20, Tata Altroz, Honda Jazz and VW Polo. The Baleno has been dominating its segment since its inception and has clocked sales of over 7.2 lakh units. The hatchback is so popular in the India that one unit is sold every 3 minutes!
Its primary rival, the i20, is set to receive a vastly improved replacement in the coming weeks. The battle between the titans is set to get fiercer.
Japanese automakers Suzuki and Toyota announced a partnership last year on a global level to exchange products and technologies. The first fruit of this joint exercise will be seen in the Indian market where Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) will rebadge and sell four of Maruti Suzukis segment leading products. The products in question are the Maruti Baleno, Ertiga, Ciaz and Vitara Brezza.
A few days ago, we reported that the Toyotas version of Baleno is ready to hit the showrooms towards the end of this month, and now we have learnt that the car in question will be called as Glanza. According to our sources, production of the Toyota Glanza hatchback has commenced at Suzuki Motors new Gujarat plant. The plant which is set up by Suzuki Motor Corporation to manufacture and sell cars to its Indian subsidiary Maruti Suzuki will also sell Toyota badged Baleno to TKM initially.
We have also learnt that production of Toyota Blanza would be shifted to one of TKMs two plants in Bidadi, near Bangalore, once the automaker sorts out component sourcing. Such a move would not only improve Toyotas capacity utilization but also would free up production capacity at Suzuki Motors Gujarat plant so that it can cater to Marutis high demand.
Coming back to the Toyota Glanza, it will be available in Zeta and Alpha trim levels (names of the variants could be different) with the 1.2-liter K12B as the sole engine option. Like in the Baleno, the petrol motor will be mated to either to a 5-speed manual gearbox or a CVT. The engine produces 83 PS and 115 Nm of torque. The engine will be BS6 compliant.
It is to be noted that the Maruti Baleno has just received the 1.2-liter DualJet (K12C) engine update along with Smart Hybrid (SHVS) system. It remains to be seen when will this update seen on the Toyota Glanza. As far as features are concerned, both Toyota and Maruti versions will be identical.
Visually, the Toyota Glanza will feature revised front grille and bumper to have a Toyota brand identity. The sheet metal parts and interior will be carried forward without any change. The premium hatchback will be pitted against its donor car, Hyundai Elite i20, Honda Jazz. The rebadging exercise would allow Toyota to establish its presence in volume rich segments in India. Price of Toyota Glanza will be higher than respective variants of Maruti Baleno.
Despite having around 5,000 registered vehicles Uber has suspended its auto rickshaw hailing service in Delhi even as Ola, launched in November 2014 continues to offer the service. Introduced in April 2015, Uber auto rickshaw service has been temporarily removed to deal with specific problems that need to be ironed out before being reintroduced.
With around 5,000 registered vehicles as on date Uber faces competition from Ola that offers autos in six cities and plans further expansion to three additional cities by the end of this year. Uber riders were asked to stay away from Ola locations while another reason for the temporary suspension was that there were no licenses in this space. Auto permits were only issued to individuals. The government has not introduced a policy wherein licenses were offered to fleet ownership or corporate under this scheme.
OLA Auto seems to be winning the three wheeled space.
Delhi has restrictions for only 1,00,000 auto permits which has resulted in a huge grey market for auto permits while in some cities it was noted that cost of auto permits were so high that it was practically equal to the cost of the vehicle itself. Besides these problems, Uber also had to contend with training driver fleet and added spending on market and customer acquisition while having to keep prices competitive.
Also Read Using Ola or Uber much cheaper than owning a car Report
Uber launched uberAUTO allowing passengers the option of paying by cash after it ran into trouble with regulators over payment facility by credit cards. Uber had to stop credit card payments and entered into a contract with online wallets such as Paytm. Earlier this year, Uber once again introduced credit card payments with a two step authentication process and cash payment option for taxi rides.
via ETAuto
"You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." This old adage is one that already preschoolers seem to follow, as a new study by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich psychologist Markus Paulus, now demonstrates.
In a series of experiments, Paulus, who is Professor of Developmental Psychology and the Psychology of Learning in Early Childhood at LMU, has looked at the question of whether 3- to 5-year-olds take a strategic approach when they ask one another for a favor. The results of his study have now been published in the journal Developmental Psychology, and the title of the paper, "It's Payback Time," answers the question in no uncertain terms.
One of the issues in child psychology that has received a lot of attention in recent years is the question of the motives that shape the social behavior of preschool children. The cognitive mechanisms that underlie social behavior in preschoolers, and the extent to which they employ strategic thinking in their interactions with each other are subject to intense debate.
Paulus shows in his latest study that 3- to 5-year-olds expect reciprocity from someone who has previously benefitted from an act of generosity of their own part. In the experimental set-up, the subject first allocated unequal shares of a resource to two recipients, and could subsequently ask either of the two for a share in the resources they controlled. In the latter situation, the subject always made the request to the recipient who had benefitted more from their previous generosity.
"So even preschoolers seem to be aware of the relative amounts of social capital they build up in their relations with other, and they make strategic use of this knowledge," Paulus says. "Reciprocity is a very important element of social life and is essential for the stability of a society. The study shows, for the first time, that young children already demonstrate the expectation that acts of generosity will be reciprocated by the recipient in their social behavior."
Experiencing financial difficulties and worrying about debt at university increases the risk of mental health conditions such as depression and alcohol dependency, according to new research from the University of Southampton and Solent NHS Trust.
The research, published online in the Community Mental Health Journal, found that symptoms of anxiety and alcohol dependence worsened over time for those who were struggling to pay the bills. Those who were more stressed about their debt had worsening levels of stress, anxiety and depression.
Additionally, mental health issues and alcohol dependency predicted higher levels of financial stress and vice versa, suggesting the possibility of a 'vicious cycle' occurring.
Dr Thomas Richardson, a visiting academic at the University of Southampton and Principal Clinical Psychologist at Solent NHS Trust, led the study. He said: "The findings suggest a vicious cycle whereby anxiety and problem drinking exacerbate financial difficulties, which then go on to increase anxiety and alcohol intake. Interventions which tackle both difficulties at the same time are therefore most likely to be effective."
The study asked more than 400 first-year, undergraduate students, from universities across the UK, to assess a range of financial factors including family affluence, recent financial difficulties (for example being unable to afford bills or having to borrow money) and attitudes towards their finances, at four time points across their first year at university. The fact that this study was at a number of time points allowed researchers to examine which came first: financial difficulties or poor mental health.
The study also found that students who had considered not going to university or had considered abandoning their studies for financial reasons had a greater deterioration in mental health over time.
Andy Jones was studying occupational therapy but unfortunately had to stop due to depression and not being able to financially support himself. He said: "When I was not very well, I was not able to work part-time so was unable to supplement my income during university. Having financial difficulties increased my day to day stress levels and something usually had to give and it was usually my academic studies. It was a vicious cycle."
Dr Richardson, who has conducted staff training at universities in the south on debt and mental health, added: "Coming to university can be a stressful and daunting time for young people and finances can cause a lot of worry. We might not be able to change how much debt students are in but we can work with them to help them manage their finances and worries about money in order to mitigate the impact of these worries on mental health."
The University of Southampton has received good feedback about the services it provides to students who experience financial difficulties. Support is available through a drop-in centre, a fund to support students experiencing financial difficulties, advice and information from our Financial Information and Advice team, and access to a range of mental health support options..
Nicky Passmore, Director of Student Services, said: "It's important to us that our students can focus on their studies, and not be adversely affected by financial difficulties or mental health issues. We are proud of the range of services available and students know that our door is always open if they need help."
Currently, we are experiencing a new phenomenon with youth consumption of e-cigarettes all around the United States. For the second consecutive year, e-cigarettes were the most popular product among youth. FDA's newest statistics indicate that more than 3 million middle and high school students were users of e-cigarettes in 2015, representing 540,000 more consumers than in 2014. New flavors appear to be one of the main reasons why teens are getting hooked on this product. In 2013-2014, 81% of the current e-cigarette youth users, pointed to the appealing flavors of e-cigarettes as one of the main reasons of why they started using them, stating that they used e-cigarettes "because they come in flavors I like." This is even more concerning when we see how quickly this market is growing. In a report released in January 2014, researchers found that every month, an average of 240 new flavors are added to the e-cigarette market.
Although tobacco companies claim that new flavors are simply a response to adult users' demand for variety, flavored tobacco products primarily serve to attract new users, particularly kids, and to get them addicted. As shown by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, an industry publication stated, "While different cigars target a variety of markets, all flavored tobacco products tend to appeal primarily to younger consumers." Even the industry leader Lorillard, which sells flavored e-cigarettes such as kool-aid and gummy bears, has admitted that "kids may be particularly vulnerable to trying e-cigarettes due to an abundance of fun flavors such as cherry, vanilla, pina-colada, and berry."
Previous bans on flavored tobacco
Cigarettes with specific characterizing flavors were prohibited by the FDA in 2009, with the goal of halting the tobacco industry's strategy and reducing the number of children who start to smoke and become addicted to different tobacco products. It was no secret that before this ban, tobacco companies marketed cigarettes with flavors, images and names in order to appeal to a younger audience. The flavored cigarette ban not only occured in the US but has been a trend in various parts of the world. For instance, in 2012, Brazil became the first place to ban all tobacco flavors. Likewise, in 2014, the European Union passed theTobacco Products Directive, which took effect on May 20, 2016, prohibiting flavored cigarettes, except for menthol, where the ban is delayed till 2020.
Almost seven years have passed since the FDA's prohibition, and the results have been favorable. In 2006, the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) indicated that 30.2% of male high school students and 21.3% of female smoked cigarettes, while the NYTS in 2013 showed that the smoking prevalence in male students had dropped to 14.1% and to 11.2% in females. The statistics appear to show that the ban on flavored cigarettes has been helpful in reducing prevalence. However, it is important to take into consideration that the ban was not the only change in tobacco regulation. In the last couple of years, there were other policies which could have also been helpful, such as taxation and the restrictions on tobacco sales, labeling, advertising and promotion.
E-cigarette consumption increases overall consumption
The FDA's ban on flavored cigarettes did not apply to e-cigarettes, which still can come in different flavors such as cotton candy, fruit punch, and chocolate. This is considered to be one of the main reasons why e-cigarette consumption has had such a huge increase. Indeed, studies regarding youth expectations about other flavored tobacco products such as bidis and hookahs, have found that young consumers prefer flavored tobacco over the regular tobacco because they consider flavored tobacco to taste better and be safer. So even though the ban on flavored cigarettes seemed to help in the reduction of youth use, the tobacco industry quickly found another product to replace it and keep targeting kids. This growing use of e-cigarettes can add to the problem by keeping overall youth tobacco use on the rise. A new study from the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that there are more young tobacco consumers than before, if we include e-cigarettes. The study published in July 2016 states that among 12th grade students in Southern California, the combined current cigarette and e-cigarette use in 2014 was 13.7%, which was greater than 2004, were cigarette use was 9% (before e-cigarettes were available).
advertisement
New FDA Measures
This year, the FDA issued a final rule that includes e-cigarettes regulation, and which takes effect today (August 8). It regulates the manufacture, import, packaging, labeling, advertising, promotion, sale, and distribution of e-cigarettes. Among the restrictions to e-cigarettes are the prohibition to sell them to all of those under 18 years of age and to give away samples of e-cigarettes including their components and parts. However, the FDA did not ban the different flavors of e-cigarettes, and its spokespeople said that they would consider future regulation related to flavors based on a further study about the health risks and benefits of vaping.
Beyond the health risks and benefits of e-cigarettes, it would be important to consider the ban of all flavors given that the statistics show that a high percentage of young people who use e-cigarettes started because of their attraction to these. Even though the FDA wants further studies, the ban of flavored e-cigarettes has already been proposed by various international health authorities, such as the World Health Organization, which suggested the prohibition in its recommendations for regulating e-cigarettes.
What to consider in flavored e-cigarette banning?
In order to regulate flavored e-cigarettes, it is important to take into account that even when they are seen as a new way to introduce young people to tobacco use, e-cigarettes can also be considered less harmful than cigarettes and thus, as a new way to help older smokers quit cigarette smoking. Several authors have marked this duality and have proposed different ways to regulate them. For example, O'Neill Institute Senior Scholar Eric N. Lindblom in his article "Effectively Regulating E-Cigarettes and Their Advertising -- and the First Amendment," states that one way to stop young people's use of e-cigarettes is by banning the flavors which attract youth, which can help discourage them from trying "e-cigs" and not affect its use as an alternative to smoking by current cigarette users. Lindblom, like others, propose the ban of flavors that appeal to youth in order to protect children's health. Others argue against this stating that a ban on flavors limits adult choice and eliminates products that adults may prefer. Additionally, they argue that flavor options exist for different age restricted consumer products and therefore they shall be allowed in e-cigarettes as well. While it is true that adults should be allowed to decide what they want to consume, the government needs to take appropriate measures to ensure the well-being of children when their health is at stake. Similar arguments were made by the tobacco industry and other groups when the government was looking to ban cigarette flavors and yet the government went through with the prohibition of flavors in cigarettes. What is to come?
This year has been important for e-cigarette regulation with the FDA finally publishing a series of rules which can be applied to these products. It will be interesting to see the impact of the new policies on the e-cigarettes market, particularly in youth consumption. The ban of e-cigarettes for those under 18 years of age could be enough to curb the growth in consumption but that still remains to be seen. If in the years to come there is no substantial decrease, it may be necessary to start thinking on banning flavored e-cigarettes, just like it was done with cigarettes.
Levels of a widely used class of industrial chemicals linked with cancer and other health problems -- polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) -- exceed federally recommended safety levels in public drinking water supplies for six million people in the U.S., according to a new study led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).
The study will be published August 9, 2016 in Environmental Science & Technology Letters.
"For many years, chemicals with unknown toxicities, such as PFASs, were allowed to be used and released to the environment, and we now have to face the severe consequences," said lead author Xindi Hu, a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard Chan School and Environmental Science and Engineering at SEAS. "In addition, the actual number of people exposed may be even higher than our study found, because government data for levels of these compounds in drinking water is lacking for almost a third of the U.S. population -- about 100 million people."
PFASs have been used over the past 60 years in industrial and commercial products ranging from food wrappers to clothing to pots and pans. They have been linked with cancer, hormone disruption, high cholesterol, and obesity. Although several major manufacturers have discontinued the use of some PFASs, the chemicals continue to persist in people and wildlife. Drinking water is one of the main routes through which people can be exposed.
The researchers looked at concentrations of six types of PFASs in drinking water supplies, using data from more than 36,000 water samples collected nationwide by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from 2013-2015. They also looked at industrial sites that manufacture or use PFASs; at military fire training sites and civilian airports where fire-fighting foam containing PFASs is used; and at wastewater treatment plants. Discharges from these plants -- which are unable to remove PFASs from wastewater by standard treatment methods -- could contaminate groundwater. So could the sludge that the plants generate and which is frequently used as fertilizer.
The study found that PFASs were detectable at the minimum reporting levels required by the EPA in 194 out of 4,864 water supplies in 33 states across the U.S. Drinking water from 13 states accounted for 75% of the detections, including, in order of frequency of detection, California, New Jersey, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Georgia, Minnesota, Arizona, Massachusetts, and Illinois.
advertisement
Sixty-six of the public water supplies examined, serving six million people, had at least one water sample that measured at or above the EPA safety limit of 70 parts per trillion (ng/L) for two types of PFASs, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Concentrations ranged as high as 349 ng/L for PFOA (Warminster, PA) and 1,800 ng/L for PFOS (Newark, DE).
The highest levels of PFASs were detected in watersheds near industrial sites, military bases, and wastewater treatment plants -- all places where these chemicals may be used or found.
"These compounds are potent immunotoxicants in children and recent work suggests drinking water safety levels should be much lower than the provisional guidelines established by EPA," said Elsie Sunderland, senior author of the study and associate professor in both the Harvard Chan School and SEAS.
Other Harvard Chan authors of the study included Philippe Grandjean and Courtney Carignan.
Funding for the study came from the Smith Family Foundation and a private donor.
PFASs and reduced immune response
Another Harvard Chan School study, led by Grandjean, adjunct professor of environmental health, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, also suggested negative health impacts of PFAS exposure. That study looked at a group of about 600 adolescents from the Faroe Islands, an island country off the coast of Denmark. Those exposed to PFASs at a young age had lower-than-expected levels of antibodies against diphtheria and tetanus, for which they had been immunized. The findings suggested that PFASs, which are known to interfere with immune function, may be involved in reducing the effectiveness of vaccines in children.
Funding for this study came from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH (ES012199); the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (R830758); the Danish Council for Strategic Research (09-063094); and the Danish Environmental Protection Agency as part of the environmental support program DANCEA (Danish Cooperation for Environment in the Arctic).
The transient form of genetic information, the RNA, is processed in a similar manner in the cells of both organisms. These mechanisms seem to be at work throughout the whole animal kingdom. Scientists from the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) and their international partners showed this in a genome-wide study on flatworms whose results have now been published in the scientific journal eLife.
Stem cells are cellular all-rounders and can differentiate into any tissue. They hold great potential for regenerative medicine, which is why they are subject to intense study. Planarians, small free-living flatworms, are especially interesting for researchers due to their remarkable ability to regenerate any lost body part through their many stem cells.
The specific activation of certain genes is responsible for the special abilities of stem cells. Genes are transcribed into the transient RNA format, which in turn serves as a blueprint for proteins. Additionally, the RNA is usually processed through a mechanism called "splicing": sections of the RNA are recombined anew, and so-called "intron" sequences are cut out from the RNA, while "exon" sequences are retained. Where there is a selection of different versions of exons, the cell may choose from among them in a targeted manner. This "alternative splicing" may result in the creation of different versions of a single protein with different properties.
Until now, it was not known whether alternative splicing also controls stem cell properties in planarians. To learn more about this process postdoctoral researcher Dr. Jordi Solana who works in the lab of Prof. Nikolaus Rajewsky at the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology (BIMSB), part of the MDC, collaborated with by Dr. Manuel Irimia of the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona and the team of Prof. Benjamin J. Blencowe of the University of Toronto. The researchers recently published their findings in the scientific journal eLife.
Solana is interested in the stem cell biology of the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. He is working in the team of Nikolaus Rajewsky, which is known for its expertise in systems biology and uses flatworms as model organisms. On this project he joined forces with Irimia, who specializes in RNA splicing. "At a level of detail unparalleled thus far, we analyzed which genes are being transcribed in either the mature cells or stem cells of the flatworms and then processed by alternative splicing," said the researchers.
The researchers identified splicing processes that operate only in the stem cells of the worms, and identified numerous alternative exons responsible for stem cell-specific protein variants. Surprisingly, introns were often not removed from the RNA, which meant that no more functioning proteins could be generated. The researchers also found small exon snippets -- "micro exons" -- in fully developed cells.
In subsequent experiments, the scientists switched off the proteins that control alternative splicing. One of these proteins is MBNL, which suppresses the production of stem cell-specific protein variants. They also discovered that the CELF protein counteracts MBNL by stimulating the production of these variants. During development from a stem cell to a tissue cell the two factors competed for predominance. This interaction between MBNL and CELF has been previously described only in mammalian cells.
"In our study we identified new mechanisms that we weren't aware of from the usual studies into mammalian stem cells. With this knowledge, it's now possible for us to look in a targeted manner for the same processes in human cells," says Solana.
Group leader Prof. Nikolaus Rajewsky, who is an expert on the systems biology of RNA, says: "I found it particularly fascinating that it's impossible to understand how MBNL without knowing about the function of CELF. Maybe other splicing factors compete or cooperate in a similar way."
The scientists' work also raises fundamental questions about the function of stem cells in animals. Solana: "To find the antagonism between MBNL and CELF in flatworms is interesting from an evolutionary biologist's perspective. For the first time, we described mechanisms in stem cells in organisms from extremely distant branches of the evolutionary tree. What we found is probably a fundamental process throughout the animal kingdom."
While the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pandemic fuels tuberculosis (TB) outbreaks, it does not drive the development and transmission of multidrug-resistance in TB patients as previously suspected, according to a study published in eLife.
The findings, from a collaboration between Norwegian, British and Argentinian scientists, also show that TB drug resistance is not more likely to evolve in HIV-positive patients compared to HIV-negative patients.
"It is already known that a parallel HIV pandemic amplifies the TB epidemic, with ongoing efforts around the world to tackle these potentially fatal diseases," says lead author Vegard Eldholm, a research fellow at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
"Among the estimated 1.5 million people who died from TB in 2015, about 200,000 cases involved multidrug-resistant TB and 400,000 were HIV co-infected. However, it is not clear exactly how much of an effect HIV has had on drug resistance in the most common form of TB, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)."
To explore the impact of HIV co-infection on Mtb drug resistance, Eldholm and his team analysed the genomes of 252 TB isolates from patients belonging to the largest outbreak of multidrug-resistant TB in South America to date.
The isolates were collected from patients with known HIV status from the mid-1990s until 2009. The team used the genomes to create a time-labelled phylogenic tree, a diagram showing the inferred evolutionary relationships among the mutations within the sampled patients. They then applied a new mathematical model optimized for TB to reconstruct how the disease spread among individuals. Finally, they combined the results of both methods to estimate the length of the TB latent period -- the time from infection to infectiousness -- and identify the patients in who TB strains evolved drug-resistance mutations.
"We saw no significant differences in the rate at which mutations occur in the genomes of strains in HIV-positive and negative patients. This suggests that drug resistance is not more likely to evolve in HIV-positive patients," says co-corresponding author Francois Balloux, Professor of Computational Systems Biology at University College London.
While the team's reconstruction of disease transmission among individuals did not reveal a significant impact of HIV co-infection on the ability of patients to transmit TB, their estimates of TB latency confirm that HIV co-infection accelerates the development of active TB.
"HIV prevents some cells from doing their job in the immune system, meaning the body is unable to fight off a large number of infections," Eldholm explains.
"The disease therefore provides TB with a pool of susceptible hosts, amplifying the rate of co-infection. Indeed, for this reason, HIV patients at a major hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina, played a central role in fueling South America's largest multidrug-resistant TB epidemic in the early 1990s," he adds.
Biomedical scientists have revealed the inner workings of a group of proteins that help to switch critical genes on and off during blood-cell production, in a finding that could lead to the development of new and improved cancer drugs.
One of the proteins involved is linked to breast cancer, which is the most common cancer for women and kills more than half a million women around the world each year. Existing breast cancer treatments do not target this protein specifically.
Researcher Dr Daniel Ryan from The Australian National University (ANU) said the study could help explain how existing breast-cancer drugs work inside human cells.
"There are treatments for breast cancer which are in use today that are effective but we still don't know how they work," said Dr Ryan, from the John Curtin School of Medical Research.
"This research shines a light on an important set of proteins that could be targeted by these drugs and superior treatments yet to be developed."
The research is part of an international collaboration -- involving ANU, the University of Sydney and The University of Pennsylvania in the US -- that seeks to understand the mechanisms for gene regulation, particularly in relation to diseases such as cancer and blood disorders.
"By creating better targeted treatments for breast cancer and other serious diseases, we'll have better outcomes for patients because we'll be able to reduce toxicity and the risk of drug resistance," Dr Ryan said.
The research team described how a special group of proteins form into an enzyme that turns genes on and off to produce essential elements in the body, such as blood cells and stem cells.
"This enzyme is like a car and the proteins are the different parts that are used to make it. By knowing how these parts fit together, we can understand how the car works and hence we're in a better to position to fix it when something goes wrong," Dr Ryan said.
"We still need to pull the enzyme apart and explore the interactions between the various proteins involved to really grapple with this complex molecular machinery.
"Our ongoing research will help to advance our knowledge of how genes are regulated -- a phenomenon that is not only vital to normal functions in the body, but also a key factor in many diseases."
Researchers from Aalto University and the University of Wisconsin utilised a TMS-EEG device, which combines transcranial magnetic stimulation and EEG, to examine how the brain activity of people in the restful non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep is affected by whether they dream or do not dream.
When the NREM sleep of subjects had lasted at least three minutes, researchers gave magnetic pulses that induced a weak electric field and activated neurons. After a series of pulses, the subject was woken with an alarm sound, and they were then asked whether they had dreamed and to describe the content of the dream.
'It is traditionally thought that dreaming occurs only in REM sleep. However, as also our study demonstrates, subjects woken from NREM sleep are also able to give accounts of their dreams in more than half of cases,' Post-doctoral Researcher Jaakko Nieminen from Aalto University explains.
'EEG showed that the deterministic brain activity produced by magnetic pulses was notably shorter in people who did not dream, i.e. were unconscious, than in people who had dreamt. We also observed that the longer the story about the dream, the more the subject's EEG resembled that measured from people who were awake,' Dr Nieminen explains.
Assessment of consciousness may help in treatment of brain injury patients
Dr Nieminen performed the measurements with his research colleague Olivia Gosseries at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Sleep and Consciousness, which is headed by Giulio Tononi. The measurements were carried out during a period of over 40 nights and a total of 11 subjects participated. Due to sleeping difficulties and other challenges, reliable measurements could only be acquired from six subjects. During the night, subjects were woken a maximum of 16 times.
'Consciousness in different physiological states (e.g. during wakefulness, sleep, anesthesia and vegetative state) has previously been researched with TMS-EEG measurements. We wanted to eliminate all other differences related to the different states as thoroughly as possible, and for this reason we focused on the narrow physiological state of NREM sleep,' Dr Nieminen notes.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation is already utilised in such things as the treatment of depression and pain. According to Dr Nieminen, in the future the precise data provided by TMS-EEG measurements on the state of consciousness may also help in the treatment of brain injury patients who are unable to communicate.
The research results were published in Scientific Reports.
Invasive plants are a problem around the world, but are they just a nuisance or are they killers? So far there are no documented cases of native plants becoming extinct purely because of an alien plant invasion. However, researchers Paul Downey and David Richardson argue in a paper published this month in AoB PLANTS, 'Alien plant invasions and native plant extinctions: a six-threshold framework', that traditional methods of modelling extinction do not work well for plants. Focusing purely on extinction can distract plant conservationists from growing problems. Instead they propose six thresholds that species cross before they become extinct.
"The main reason why there is no clear evidence of extinction that can be exclusively attributed to plant invasions is that invasions have not been around long enough" said Dave Richardson of the Centre for Invasion Biology (CIB) at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. "Our research shows that plant extinction is an agonizingly slow process" he adds. "However, red flags are evident in numerous locations around the world -- species that now exist in fragmented populations, with radically reduced opportunities to reproduce."
It's this difference in timescale between human or animal activity and plant activity that the authors identified as a key problem in traditional models of extinction.
According to Dave Richardson, "There's often a substantial time lag between the introduction of an alien species and the manifestation of impacts attributable to invasions of that species. This results in an 'extinction debt' -- effects that place species firmly on a trajectory towards extinction that takes time to become obvious. Whereas many invasive animals (notably predators on islands) have caused extinctions of native animals very soon after the invaders arrived, processes leading to extinction in plants are orders of magnitude slower."
"Also, proving that every last individual of a plant species has been lost (i.e. gone extinct) is extremely difficult, especially for species which have long-lived seed banks in the soil, or can regenerate from underground structures. The extinction of a species is the result of a sustained level of threat across the entire distribution of a species, over a prolonged period. Demonstrating that alien plants cause the extinction of native plants requires a series of conditions to be met, many of which are either not measured, or have not been examined for long enough."
The study by Downey (Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra) and Richardson reviewed the evidence for impacts of alien plant invasions on native plant species worldwide. They identified six thresholds along the extinction trajectory of plant species affected by invasive plants.
Plants die quicker than they can be replaced by their offspring in some locations. Plants disappear from some locations entirely, but potential offspring remain as'propagules', seeds or spores that could regenerate a new cohort of individuals. Some locations lose both individual plants and their propagules. With no plants or seeds, this is a local extinction. The last locations hosting a species lose their individual plants, but in some places seeds or spores remain in the soil. The species is entirely lost in the wild with no individuals or propagules. The only survivors are held in botanic collections. Extinction. The remaining plants are lost, and the remaining seeds or spores are no longer capable of becoming new plants.
Although Downey and Richardson found no evidence for extinctions driven solely by plant invasions, they found abundant evidence for progression along the extinction trajectory driven by the effects of invasive plants. Using these thresholds as guides could help conservation efforts massively.
"If we wait until we have sufficient evidence to show that extinctions are occurring, it will be too late to save a great number of species," Paul Downey explained. "Also, land managers need to know when to undertake alien plant control to protect declining native plants before it is too late."
Moving to a plant-based model for plant extinctions will mean changing what kinds of data scientists collect in their fieldwork.
"The results of this work show that we must shift attention away from the end point of the extinction trajectory when assessing the impact of factors such as invasions on native plants, to give due consideration of the full series of processes that drive declines of populations of native species" said Downey. "We need a radical overhaul of the indicators used to track the impacts of plant invasions."
Richardson added, "Using only information on extinction rates when assessing the impacts of plant invasions on native plant species is extremely short-sighted. There is absolutely no doubt that alien plant invasions are eating away at native plant biodiversity. Many native plant species -- probably HUNDREDS of species -- are precariously close to being functionally extinct and survive as the "living dead."
With a trick of engineering, scientists at the Gladstone Institutes improved a potential weapon against inflammation and autoimmune disorders. Their work could one day benefit patients who suffer from inflammatory bowel disease or organ transplant rejection.
The Body's Natural Defense
Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) reside in bone marrow and have been found to secrete anti-inflammatory proteins that help regulate the immune system. More than 500 clinical trials are trying to use these cells to fight diseases, but so far, many have failed.
Scientists think this failure may be because, like a match needs to be sparked to create a flame, MSCs must be triggered by pro-inflammatory proteins to produce their immune-suppressing effects. Some studies have tried soaking MSCs in a bath of pro-inflammatory chemicals before injecting the cells into a patient. However, the effects are short-lived, wearing off after just a few days.
"The success of therapies involving MSCs depends on the cells' environment," explained Todd McDevitt, PhD, a senior investigator at Gladstone. "A patient taking anti-inflammatory medication may not have high enough levels of inflammation to trigger the cells. We engineered the MSCs to ensure that they are consistently activated, so they can reliably dampen the immune response for longer."
Engineering A Better Method
In the new study, published in Stem Cells Translational Medicine, the scientists engineered tiny sugar-based particles that they loaded with pro-inflammatory proteins and stuck into the middle of clusters of MSCs. The particles slowly delivered the inflammatory trigger to the cells in a steady dose. This method increased the amount of anti-inflammatory proteins produced by the MSCs, enhancing the suppression of immune cells. In short, the cell-protein packets worked better and longer than other treatments.
"No one has successfully used biomaterials to deliver pro-inflammatory signals to control how MSCs affect the immune system," said first author Josh Zimmerman, PhD, a former graduate student in the McDevitt lab. "Our research suggests bioengineering has real potential to improve the anti-inflammatory and therapeutic abilities of MSCs. The next step is to test this method in a mouse model of autoimmune disease."
Marian Hettiaratchi from Georgia Tech also took part in the research. Funding was provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, the National Science Foundation Stem Cell Biomanufacturing Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program, and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, through UCSF-CTSI UL 1 TR000004.
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have identified a weakness in the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) of all Linux operating systems since late 2012 that enables attackers to hijack users' internet communications completely remotely.
Such a weakness could be used to launch targeted attacks that track users' online activity, forcibly terminate a communication, hijack a conversation between hosts or degrade the privacy guarantee by anonymity networks such as Tor.
Led by Yue Cao, a computer science graduate student in UCR's Bourns College of Engineering, the research will be presented on Wednesday (Aug. 10) at the USENIX Security Symposium in Austin, Texas. The project advisor is Zhiyun Qian, an assistant professor of computer science at UCR, whose research focuses on identifying security vulnerabilities to help software companies improve their systems.
While most users don't interact directly with the Linux operating system, the software runs behind-the -scenes on internet servers, android phones and a range of other devices. To transfer information from one source to another, Linux and other operating systems use the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) to package and send data, and the Internet Protocol (IP) to ensure the information gets to the correct destination.
For example, when two people communicate by email, TCP assembles their message into a series of data packets -- identified by unique sequence numbers -- that are transmitted, received, and reassembled into the original message. Those TCP sequence numbers are useful to attackers, but with almost 4 billion possible sequences, it's essentially impossible to identify the sequence number associated with any particular communication by chance.
The UCR researchers didn't rely on chance though. Instead, they identified a subtle flaw (in the form of 'side channels') in the Linux software that enables attackers to infer the TCP sequence numbers associated with a particular connection with no more information than the IP address of the communicating parties.
advertisement
This means that given any two arbitrary machines on the internet, a remote blind attacker without being able to eavesdrop on the communication, can track users' online activity, terminate connections with others and inject false material into their communications. Encrypted connections (e.g., HTTPS) are immune to data injection, but they are still subject to being forcefully terminated by the attacker. The weakness would allow attackers to degrade the privacy of anonymity networks, such as Tor, by forcing the connections to route through certain relays. The attack is fast and reliable, often taking less than a minute and showing a success rate of about 90 percent. The researchers created a short video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4Ns5wla9DY) showing how the attacks works.
Qian said unlike conventional cyber attacks, users could become victims without doing anything wrong, such as downloading malware or clicking on a link in a phishing email.
"The unique aspect of the attack we demonstrated is the very low requirement to be able to carry it out. Essentially, it can be done easily by anyone in the world where an attack machine is in a network that allows IP spoofing. The only piece of information that is needed is the pair of IP addresses (for victim client and server), which is fairly easy to obtain," Qian said.
Qian said the researchers have alerted Linux about the vulnerability, which has resulted in patches applied to the latest Linux version. Until then, Qian recommends the following temporary patch that can be applied to both client and server hosts. It simply raises the `challenge ACK limit' to an extremely large value to make it practically impossible to exploit the side channel. This can be done on Ubuntu, for instance, as follows:
1. Open /etc/sysctl.conf, append a command "/net.ipv4/tcp_challenge_ack_limit = 999999999."
2. Use "sysctl -p" to update the configuration.
Titled "Off-Path TCP Exploits: Global Rate Limit Considered Dangerous," the paper is available on Qian's lab website (http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~zhiyunq/pub/sec16_TCP_pure_offpath.pdf). In addition to Cao and Qian, Zhongjie Wang, Tuan Dao and Srikanth V. Krishnamurthy from UC Riverside, and Lisa M. Marvel, from the United States Army Research Laboratory, contributed to the work. The work is funded by Army Research Laboratory (ARL Cyber Security CRA) and Nation Science Foundation under Grant 1464410.
Malignant cancers strike certain organs, such as the colon or breast, more often than others. In an Opinion publishing August 9 in Trends in Cancer, researchers propose that this vulnerability in some organs may be due to natural selection. Humans can tolerate tumors in large or paired organs more easily than in small, critical organs, such as the heart, and so the larger organs may have evolved fewer mechanisms to defend against cancerous cells.
"The organs that are the most important to keeping you alive and capable of reproduction, such as the heart, brain, or uterus, may enjoy a better protection against cancer, all other things being equal," says Frederic Thomas, an evolutionary biologist at the Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Cancer Research in France. "We are not saying that this is the main factor to explain the different susceptibility of organs to cancer, but it is a factor that contributes with others."
Many oncologists have explained the difference in rates of organ cancer by looking at either external risk factors, such as smoking or UV light exposure, or internal factors, such as how often cells must divide in an organ. Thomas and his coauthors, including senior author Beata Ujvari, an evolutionary ecologist at Deakin University in Australia, now propose this evolutionary theory to supplement the current understanding.
The team suggests that natural selection has favored strong anti-cancer protection for small organs that are critical to human survival and reproduction. "Organs that are large or in pairs could potentially accumulate larger numbers of oncogenic manifestations without being impaired, whereas small and important organs like the pancreas could be easily compromised with only a few tumors inside," says Thomas. Therefore, so the theory goes, the pancreas should be better at defending against cancer compared to an organ like the kidney, if all other factors are equal. Anti-cancer protection mechanisms vary from organ to organ, but in general, they make an organ resistant to tumor formation.
The researchers also recommend that cancer biologists think of individual organs as specialized islands with their own environmental conditions (such as the level of oxygen, acidity, or water), where the survival of cancer cells depends on is the hospitality of the local environment. "Malignant cells are living entities -- it's just impossible that they are not influenced by the ecological conditions," says Thomas. "It clearly means that certain organs are more favorable than others to malignant perturbation."
Thomas, Ujvari, and their colleagues are now working to test their hypothesis. "A complete analysis requires that we take into account all the possible confounding factors," emphasizes Thomas. "We cannot just look at existing statistics on cancer and the size of the organs and make a correlation to see if it works or not." Currently, the team is running a long-term experiment with mice to measure the accumulation of cancerous and precancerous mutations inside different organs. The research is part of a new international collaboration between Deakin University and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).
"It's a novel hypothesis that deserves to be explored," says Thomas. "We hope this paper will stimulate research in that direction."
Clinical research often excludes females from their trials under the assumption that "one size fits all," that a painkiller or antidepressant will be equally effective in subjects of either sex, but a growing number of scientists are criticizing this approach. In an Essay published August 9 in Cell Metabolism, one group argues that hormones and other variables make a difference in how potential therapeutics behave, and both males and females must be accounted for in trials to move medical advances forward.
"Right now, when you go to the doctor and you are given a prescription, it might not ever have been specifically tested in females," says Deborah J. Clegg, a Professor of Biomedical Science at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in California. "Almost all basic research -- regardless of whether it involves rodent models, dogs, or humans -- is predominately done in males. The majority of research is done with the assumption that men and women are biologically the same."
One reason females are excluded from studies, she says, is that across the menstrual cycle there are fluctuations in hormones such as estrogens and progesterone, in essence creating a different hormonal milieu or profile depending on the phase of cycle, which may potentially impact the research. Often overlooked in male-only studies, these sex hormones are implicated in all biological processes, including sensitivity to fatty acids, or the ability to metabolize simple sugars. These differences have implications for all clinical trials, whether they are testing the effects of a drug or a body's ability to tolerate an organ transplant.
It is important to remember that chromosomal differences also exist between the sexes, says Clegg. There is little research examining whether drugs behave differently in the presence of an XX chromosome as opposed to an XY chromosome. Even genome-wide studies often don't take chromosomes into account, even though sex chromosomes are an integral piece of an individual's genomic makeup.
While researchers appreciate that there are sex differences in disease risk, less is known about how or why these sex differences occur or how they extend to the transsexual community. Clegg's lab is currently investigating the impact of gender reassignment surgery on cardiovascular disease risk. Women are traditionally protected against cardiovascular diseases when compared to men; however, it is unclear whether a transsexual woman (a man who has transitioned to become a woman) is at a lower or higher risk for heart disease due to the presence of endogenous male chromosomes overlaid with exogenous female hormones.
"This is an important population of individuals to study, as they will begin to enlighten us about the optimal hormonal profile to protect us from disease risk not only in this population, but also with respect to men and women. It is important to begin to understand if there is a role for hormones, chromosomes, and/or their interactions with respect to disease risk.
The NIH has only recently begun addressing these issues by instating the Office of Research on Women's Health (doi:10.1038/509282a). Clegg says that though well intended, many researchers don't know how to properly include sex as a variable in their experiments. Often, they will include females in their study without addressing if they're pre- or post-menopause, whether they're on birth control pills, or if they're taking hormone blockers. These are all aspects that can impact the hormonal profile, adding another variable that's not accounted for in the experiment's outcome. "Without addressing all of these variables in your analysis, you're still not accurately reflecting the impact of hormones and chromosomes in your research," she adds.
Clegg is hopeful that in the future, clinical trials can change. "It would be great if there were drugs that were specifically tested and dosed based on sex," she says. "There are so many variables in medical research that can't be solved by placing all women, regardless of age, into one category and certainly can't be solved by excluding us completely. With the goal of personalized medicine, it is important to begin to address and focus on sex as a biological variable."
The White House wants to cut U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80 percent by 2050, but the goal raises questions about one of the greatest sources of those pollutants, light-duty vehicles (LDVs). The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has taken a close look at what specific combination of measures national experts have determined is needed to slash LDV emissions from 1,514 million metric tons (MMTs) to 303 MMTs of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) per year and meet this larger emissions-reduction goal.
Just lowering gasoline consumption in conventional vehicles with internal combustion engines will not be enough to meet these GHG emissions targets. A recent review of scientific and engineering literature by Chris Gearhart, director of NREL's Transportation & Hydrogen Systems Center, explores the potential that advances in internal combustion engines, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and battery electric vehicles have to significantly decrease GHG emissions when paired with the adoption of alternative low-carbon energy sources.
In the U.S. transportation sector, LDVs account for 63 percent of petroleum use and 61 percent of GHG emissions. If travel patterns continue to increase at the current rate, the number of vehicles and the distance they travel, known as "vehicle-kilometers traveled" (VKT), are projected to reach 6.3 trillion kilometers by 2050.The significant time lag between vehicle technology development and commercial deployment makes multiple strategies even more crucial in attempts to reduce transportation-related energy use and GHG emissions.
"Impacting climate change will require a dramatic reduction in GHGs emitted by LDVs," Gearhart said. "We don't want to argue about what LDVs fair share of emission reductions might be, but rather ask, what will it take to get to that 80 percent target?"
"Implications of Sustainability for the U.S. Light-Duty Transportation Sector," appears in the journal MRS Energy & Sustainability-A Review Journal, and surveys key topics in materials research and development in the context of scientific, technological, and sociological complexities relating to energy, the environment, and sustainability. The paper reviews 74 key publications in the field to assess the consensus of the scientific and engineering community on this topic.
Gearhart's paper examines the potential each strategy has to reduce vehicle energy intensity (EI) and carbon intensity (CI), investigating improvements that can be applied to traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, as well as to advanced vehicles. Even with optimization of vehicle weight, aerodynamics, tire rolling resistance, transmissions, and idling and climate control loads, it was determined that ICE-based LDVs-including hybrids-could only meet GHG targets by replacing a large percentage of gasoline with low-GHG biofuels.
The potential of fully electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is explored by Gearhart. In parts of the country that already generate more than 70 percent of their electricity from renewable and/or nuclear energy, fully electric vehicles may already meet the 2050 GHG emissions targets. Similarly, 48 percent of hydrogen used for transportation fuel would have to be produced from renewable sources, such as solar or wind, in order to meet GHG targets.
In addition, the paper looks at the possible impacts of vehicle connectivity and automation. While these ascendant technologies may create some opportunities to decrease EI or CI, the conventional wisdom is that their greatest potential impact will be changes in VKT. A dramatic impact on GHG emissions by 2050 would require widespread deployment of autonomous vehicles in the next few decades, and it is still uncertain how quickly these vehicles will enter the market.
"Aggressive targets require aggressive innovation, which aligns well with the work we do at NREL," Gearhart said. "A whole-system approach, including the full spectrum of LDV technologies, will be crucial to meeting those 2050 goals."
NREL transportation expertise helps government, industry, and other partners develop and deploy components and systems needed for market-ready, high-performance, low-emission, fuel-efficient passenger and freight vehicles, as well as alternative fuels and related infrastructure.
NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for the Energy Department by The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.
Platelets are small anucleated blood cells responsible for stopping bleeding. They detect blood vessel damage and agglutinate, creating aggregates and stopping the blood loss. This process is called hemostasis (from the Greek "haimatos" -- blood, "stasis" -- stop). Platelets become able to aggregate and plug the wound upon activation. Scientists consider that the platelet is one of the simplest cells in the human body, because the goal of its life is to decide whether activate or not. But despite this relative simplicity, numerous questions remain about the mechanisms of its functioning. The article is devoted to the platelet activation process. Its lead author is professor of the Department of Medical Physics of MSU, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Mikhail Panteleev.
There are two kinds of activated platelets: "ordinary" ones (capable of aggregation) and "super-activated" (procoagulant platelets, able to accelerate coagulation). When activated, the aggregating platelets change their shape from discoid into an amoeboid one, with multiple "legs" (filopodia) to improve interacions and spreading on the surface. These platelets form the main body of the platelet thrombus. The super-activated platelets become spherical and enlarged (they are also called 'balloons'). They are able to enhance the clot and accelerate the blood clotting reaction. One of the mysteries in the field of hemostasis and thrombosis is how these cells get divided into two kinds when activated? What determines a platelet's fate? The team of scientists figured out a crucial puzzle of the platelet signaling.
The central player in this decision turned out to be mitochondria. It is believed that mitochondria -- the organelles that are present in almost all animal (and plant) cells -- including platelets provide them with energy due to redox reactions.
'But it seems that platelets need mitochondria not only for energy, or even not at all for energy, but for a quick suicide,' begins Mikhail Panteleev the story.
Scientists managed to show how the platelet's programmed death (mitochondrial necrosis) follows a chain of processes leading to the transition of the platelets into the super-activated state. In other words, to get super-activated, a platelet must die, as its mission begins from the moment they are 'dead'. For this reason, platelets are also called "kamikaze cells."
'It was not clear before how a platelet makes the decision of what type to become. We have deciphered the sequence of events: how the signal goes within the platelet, and how the cell decides to die,' Mikhail Panteleyev tells.
Together with the colleagues from Dm. Rogachev Scientific and Medical Center, Center for Theoretical Problems of Physicochemical Pharmacology, Russian Academy of Sciences and the Faculty of Therapeutics, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, researchers found that the activation process is as follows. A platelet has many activators, but the chief among them are: collagen, ADP and thrombin. Platelets detect different concentrations of an activator, and respond with a varying frequency of the calcium impulses in the cytoplasm. This phenomenon is called calcium oscillations. Platelets' mitochondria absorb and store the calcium, and when its concentration exceeds the critical level, the process of the mitochondrial necrosis (a rare version of programmed cell death) of platelets starts: calcium and reactive oxygen species are released from mitochondria, ATPases begin to destroy ATP instead of synthesizing it, the cell cytoskeleton collapses, and the platelet size greatly increases. As a result, at the outer membrane of the enlarged spherical platelet, a lipid called phosphatidylserine appears, which is responsible for rapid blood clotting. And all this is happening within seconds.
Last year, the same group of researchers published in the Molecular BioSystems an article about the theoretical mechanism of mitochondrial necrosis, and in the present paper this process has been experimentally proven.
Moreover, another article by Mikhail Panteleyev and his colleagues from the Faculty of Physics and Faculty of Fundamental Medicine, MSU, was accepted for publication ("Systems biology insights into the meaning of the platelet's dual-receptor thrombin signaling"). Scientists explain an exciting puzzle of the platelet intracellular signaling structure: it was the first to show that the same activator influences two receptors in the platelet to achieve maximum sensitivity.
Using a unique combination of advanced computational methods, University of Wisconsin-Madison chemical engineers have demystified some of the complex catalytic chemistry in fuel cells -- an advance that brings cost-effective fuel cells closer to reality.
"Understanding reaction mechanisms is the first step toward eventually replacing expensive platinum in fuel cells with a cheaper material," says Manos Mavrikakis, a UW-Madison professor of chemical and biological engineering.
Mavrikakis and colleagues at Osaka University in Japan published details in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Fuel cells generate electricity by combining electrons and protons -- provided by a chemical fuel such as methanol -- with oxygen from the air. To make the reaction that generates protons faster, fuel cells typically contain catalysts. With the right catalyst and enough fuel and air, fuel cells could provide power very efficiently.
Someday, fuel cells could make laptop batteries obsolete. Mere tablespoons of methanol could potentially provide up to 20 hours of continuous power. But alternatives to the expensive platinum catalyst in today's fuel cells haven't emerged because scientists still don't fully understand the complicated chemistry required to produce protons and electrons from fuels.
And finding a good catalyst is no trivial task.
advertisement
"People arrived at using platinum for a catalyst largely by trial and error, without understanding how the reaction takes place," says Mavrikakis. "Our efforts developed a big picture of how the reaction is happening, and we hope to do the same analysis with other materials to help find a cheaper alternative."
At first glance, the chemistry sounds straightforward: Methanol molecules awash in a watery milieu settle down on a platinum surface and give up one of their four hydrogen atoms. The movement of those electrons from that hydrogen atom make an electric current.
In reality, the situation is not so simple.
"All of these molecules, the water and the methanol, are actually dancing around the surface of the catalyst and fluctuating continuously," says Mavrikakis. "Following the dynamics of these fluctuating motions all the time, and in the presence of an externally applied electric potential, is really very complicated."
The water molecules are not wallflowers, sitting on the sidelines of the methanol molecules reacting with platinum; rather, they occasionally cut in to the chemical dance. And varying voltage on the electrified surface of the platinum catalyst tangles the reaction's tempo even further.
advertisement
Previously, chemists only simulated simplified scenarios -- fuel cells without any water in the mix, or catalytic surfaces that didn't crackle with electricity. Unsurprisingly, conclusions based on such oversimplifications failed to fully capture the enormous complexity of real-world reactions.
Mavrikakis and colleagues combined their expertise in two powerful computational techniques to create a more accurate description of a very complex real environment.
They first used density functional theory to solve for quantum mechanical forces and energies between individual atoms, then built a scheme upon those results using molecular dynamics methods to simulate large ensembles of water and methanol molecules interacting among themselves and with the platinum surface.
The detailed simulations revealed that the presence of water in a fuel cell plays a huge role in dictating which hydrogen atom breaks free from methanol first -- a result that simpler methods could never have captured. Electric charge also determined the order in which methanol breaks down, surprisingly switching the preferred first step at the positive electrode.
This type of information enables scientists to predict which byproducts might accumulate in a reaction mixture, and select better ingredients for future fuel cells.
"Modeling enables you to come up with an informed materials design," says Mavrikakis, whose work was supported by the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. "We plan to investigate alternative fuels, and a range of promising and cheaper catalytic materials."
The results represent the culmination of six years of effort across two continents. Jeffrey Herron, the first author on the paper, started developing the methodologies during a summer visit to work under the paper's second author, Professor Yoshitada Morikawa in the Division of Precision Science & Technology and Applied Physics at Osaka University.
Herron, who completed his doctorate in 2015 and is now a senior engineer for The Dow Chemical Company, further refined these approaches under Mavrikakis' guidance over several subsequent years in Madison.
"A lot of work over many years went into this paper," says Mavrikakis. "The world needs fuel cells, but without understanding how the reaction takes place, there is no rational way to improve."
Bisphenol S, a chemical used to manufacture polycarbonate water bottles and many other products such as epoxy glues and cash receipts, is an increasingly common replacement for bisphenol A, the of which was discontinued because of concerns about its harmful effects on the reproductive system. In a new study, UCLA researchers have found that BPS is just as harmful to the reproductive system as the chemical it replaced. BPS damages a woman's eggs and at lower doses than BPA.
While looking for replacements to toxic chemicals, manufacturers tend to choose substitute chemicals that, while technically different, often share similar physical properties. Due to increasing consumer pressure, companies have replaced BPA with other related compounds now found in many "BPA-free" products. However we do not know how safe these substitutes are. These uncertainties led the researchers to ask whether BPS could impart detrimental effects on reproduction similar to BPA's.
The researchers exposed a common laboratory model, the roundworm, to several concentrations of BPA and/or BPS that approximate the levels of BPA and/or BPS found in humans. They followed the worms through the duration of their reproductive periods and measured their fertility.
The researchers observed that compared to the controls, worms exposed to either BPA or BPS, or combination of the two, had decreased fertility. Surprisingly, these effects were seen at lower internal BPS doses than those of BPA suggesting that BPS may be more damaging to the reproductive system. This was especially significant when they examined the viability of young embryos.
These findings are also a cause for concern in humans as the same reproductive processes that are disrupted by BPS in roundworms are found in mammals. Furthermore, as noted above BPS products are already found in a plethora of consumer products.
"This study clearly illustrates the issue with the 'whack-a-mole' approach to chemical replacement in consumer products," said Patrick Allard, assistant professor of environmental health sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and the study's senior author. "There is a great need for the coordinated safety assessment of multiple substitutes and mixtures of chemicals before their use in product replacement. But the good news is that a number of governmental programs and academic labs are now moving in that direction."
The small smattering of bright blue stars in the upper left of this vast new 615 megapixel ESO image is the perfect cosmic laboratory in which to study the life and death of stars. Known as Messier 18 this star cluster contains stars that formed together from the same massive cloud of gas and dust. This image, which also features red clouds of glowing hydrogen and dark filaments of dust, was captured by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) located at ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile.
Messier 18 was discovered and catalogued in 1764 by Charles Messier -- for whom the Messier Objects are named -- during his search for comet-like objects [1]. It lies within the Milky Way, approximately 4600 light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius, and consists of many sibling stars loosely bound together in what is known as an open cluster.
There are over 1000 known open star clusters within the Milky Way, with a wide range of properties, such as size and age, that provide astronomers with clues to how stars form, evolve and die. The main appeal of these clusters is that all of their stars are born together out of the same material.
In Messier 18 the blue and white colours of the stellar population indicate that the cluster's stars are very young, probably only around 30 million years old. Being siblings means that any differences between the stars will only be due to their masses, and not their distance from Earth or the composition of the material they formed from. This makes clusters very useful in refining theories of star formation and evolution.
Astronomers now know that most stars do form in groups, forged from the same cloud of gas that collapsed in on itself due to the attractive force of gravity. The cloud of leftover gas and dust -- or molecular cloud -- that envelops the new stars is often blown away by their strong stellar winds, weakening the gravitational shackles that bind them. Over time, loosely bound stellar siblings like those pictured here will often go their separate ways as interactions with other neighbouring stars or massive gas clouds nudge, or pull, the stars apart. Our own star, the Sun, was most likely once part of a cluster very much like Messier 18 until its companions were gradually distributed across the Milky Way.
The dark lanes that snake through this image are murky filaments of cosmic dust, blocking out the light from distant stars. The contrasting faint reddish clouds that seem to weave between the stars are composed of ionised hydrogen gas. The gas glows because young, extremely hot stars like these are emitting intense ultraviolet light which strips the surrounding gas of its electrons and causes it to emit the faint glow seen in this image. Given the right conditions, this material could one day collapse in on itself and provide the Milky Way with yet another brood of stars -- a star formation process that may continue indefinitely (eso1535).
This mammoth 30 577 x 20 108 pixel image was captured using the OmegaCAM camera, which is attached to the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile.
Note
[1] Messier 18 is also listed in the New General Catalogue as NGC 6613.
Page Content
An employee who is off duty isn't necessarily beyond an employer's reach. But how should an employer address off-duty misconductin broad company policies, such as anti-harassment and discipline policies, or in stand-alone off-duty company policies?
"What I would prefer to see is off-duty conduct included in the various policies for which it is most relevant," said Anthony Byergo, an attorney with Ogletree Deakins in Seattle and Kansas City, Mo.
"So, the anti-harassment policy should clearly mention that it covers behavior both on- and off-duty, and on and off the work premises," he said. "Likewise, the discipline policy should include mention [of] conduct on- or off-duty that harms the business interest or reputation of the company, including outside employment that creates a conflict of interest or criminal activity that would disqualify the employee from employment."
When a business prefers to adopt a separate policy addressing off-duty conduct, the employer should be careful to craft it narrowly, said Jason Habinsky, an attorney with Haynes and Boone in New York City. "If the policy is too broad, employers risk running afoul of state laws protecting employee privacy and federal law prohibiting employees from interfering with employees' protected concerted activities."
What Conduct Should You Address?
Lorie Birk is vice president of member services in Scottsdale, Ariz., for the Mountain States Employers Council and a lawyer licensed to practice in Arizona, California and Texas. She said the off-duty conduct that might need to be addressed in workplace policies may include:
Sexual harassment.
Arrests.
Off-the-clock work while on medical leave or off duty.
Marijuana usage.
Anti-Harassment Policy
An anti-harassment policy can be broad enough to cover when co-workers are socializing and one employee starts to harass another based on gender, race, national origin or other prohibited factor, according to Jay Hux, an attorney with Fisher Phillips in Chicago.
Even off premises and off hours, an employer will want to investigate if a boss sexually harasses a subordinate, for example.
Employers should clarify that harassment will not be tolerated while traveling for business, Habinsky said. "Employers should also communicate with supervisors that they are expected to be professional at all times around their subordinates and that they will face consequences for violating the company's anti-harassment policies."
Harassment of co-workers also should not be tolerated on social media, Birk noted.
HAMILTONU.S. Steel Canada Inc. is rejecting advances from the Essar Global fund, saying it isnt qualified to purchase the company formerly known as Stelco, which has been seeking a buyer under a lengthy court-supervised process.
The Hamilton-based company says Essar Global was previously eliminated as a contender in the court-supervised sales process in part because it failed to provide sufficient evidence that it has the financial ability to buy and operate U.S. Steel Canada.
The Ontario Steel Investments group a vehicle set up by Essar Global didnt announce Tuesday what it would pay for the business, which has its operations in southern Ontario at Hamilton and Nanticoke.
However, Ontario Steel said its offering to assume $954 million in employer liabilities under U.S. Steel Canadas pension plans and a commitment to contribute $25 million per year toward so-called post-retirement benefits for both active and retired employees.
The same group has also offered to buy Essar Steel Algoma Inc. in Sault Ste. Marie, in northern Ontario, which is also under court protection.
U.S. Steel Canada said Tuesday that the Essar consortiums terms are substantially similar to what was previously rejected by the company and the province.
The Ontario government also has an important role in determining what happens to U.S. Steel Canada because of its huge pension liabilities.
Both Essar offers for Algoma Steel and U.S. Steel Canada would also require an agreement with the United Steelworkers, which has current and retired members at both Ontario steel companies.
The union hasnt commented publicly on Essar Globals proposal for U.S. Steel Canada, but one of its locals is working on a framework agreement at Algoma Steel.
U.S. Steel Canada has been operating under protection from the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act since September 2014. Last Friday was one of the interim deadlines within a court-supervised sales process.
The company said Tuesday its not considering any further proposals from Essar and will avoid any distraction that could be detrimental to the company, its employees and pensioners, at a time when the restructuring process is progressing, and negotiations with the current bidders continue.
SHARE:
Sorry your wife died. Can we sell your house?
Thats not exactly what the note said, but thats the message Launi Smith Bowie received when she fished the letter from two Vancouver-area realtors out of her fathers trash can last week. Days earlier, her mother Audry Smith collapsed at a family birthday party and later died. The loss was totally unexpected, Bowie said.
And so was the message her 73-year-old dad, Ted, got from the veteran realtors Leanne de Souza and Linda Shaver who knocked on his door days after his wifes death. Handwritten on a store-bought condolence card with the realtors business cards attached, the note said: Sorry to hear of your wifes passing. Please let us know if we can help in any way with your real estate needs when the time is right. Thanks.
Though the realtors insist they meant no harm and truly felt sympathy, Bowie said her 73-year-old father was distressed by their letter.
My dad is beyond devastated and still really recovering from shock, Bowie said on the phone from Surrey, B.C. You dont know either of my parents. Im not sure why youre sending them a sympathy card.
At first she was outraged, and posted the note on Facebook. But in the ensuing days, after news outlets picked up the story, Bowie said she feels the vitriol directed at the realtors has gotten out of hand.
In a joint interview with the Star, De Souza and Shaver said they spoke with Bowies dad at his house while canvassing door-to-door in his South Surrey neighbourhood. They said he expressed interest in learning how much his home would sell for, and then mentioned the recent death of his wife, to whom hed been married for 51 years.
Our sympathy was very heartfelt. It was very emotional to hear his loss, said de Souza. The realtors said they left quickly thereafter, and sent a follow-up card.
Shaver and de Souza veterans in the business with 10 and 30 years experience, respectively said such cards are common practice.
In response to the incident, the Real Estate Council of British Columbia has started an investigation. A spokesperson for the organization declined to comment on Tuesday.
The two realtors said they have received death threats and horrific emails and text messages after their business-linked condolence note was reported by Vancouver media. De Souza said some have called her, as Bowie did in the Facebook post that gave rise to the controversy, an ambulance chaser.
In hindsight, both of them said that she shouldnt have enclosed the business cards on the letter, but feel the harshness of the public blowback has been unwarranted.
Ive had people call me names that you would find unbelievable, De Souza said.
Shaver added, Its too vile.
They have since apologized to Ted and his family.
Bowie said she understands that the realtors are remorseful, and doesnt want them to suffer from negative public attention.
These two women have been pretty attacked on social media. I just never imagined it would go to that extent. I was hoping that the real estate industry overall would take notice, but not that these women would be so vilified, she said.
Not the greatest judgment call on their part, but I do believe they totally get that now.
Read more about:
SHARE:
OTTAWAA Canadian warship deployed at sea on a NATO mission has been hit by an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease, the Star has learned.
Some 20 sailors aboard HMCS Charlottetown came down with the contagious disease in recent days, which can cause painful sores and lesions on the tongue and gums as well as on hands and feet.
A military spokesperson confirmed the outbreak and said that personnel were being treated to ease the symptoms of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD).
Members with HFMD on board HMCS Charlottetown are being treated to help alleviate their symptoms as required, Capt. Nicola LaMarre told the Star.
The frigate sailed from Halifax on June 27 to take part in Operation Reassurance, Canadas contribution to NATO deterrence deployments in Eastern Europe.
In mid-July, the ship was in the Black Sea where it participated in NATO operations, including exercises to hone anti-submarine warfare skills.
Its back in the Mediterranean Sea and spent the weekend docked in Souda Bay, on the Greek island of Crete, for a scheduled port visit.
As HMCS Charlottetown returned to sea Tuesday, there were just two active cases of hand, foot and mouth disease on the frigate, LaMarre said.
None of the cases of HFMD on board HMCS Charlottetown have caused serious illness or impacted operations. All of the members are being treated by the medical personnel on board the ship in accordance with established medical protocols, she said.
Canadian frigates, which sail with a crew of just over 200, dont usually carry a doctor. Instead, medical care is provided by a physicians assistant, who can consult with doctors onshore. There is no vaccination or specific treatment for hand, foot and mouth disease, though medication can be taken to relieve the symptoms.
Treatment is supportive and focuses on management of complications, said LaMarre, of the Canadian Joint Operations Command, which oversees domestic and international military operations.
The disease can be spread by close contact close personal contact, coughing or sneezing and touching infected surfaces, such as a door handle, making the confines of the frigate vulnerable.
Aboard the ship, none of those hit by the disease was quarantined and several continued working in the ships galley, raising concerns among some aboard, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Crew members were being told that it will pass in a few days and not to worry, the source told the Star.
However, LaMarre said that quarantine measures were not seen as necessary.
He said prevention measures have been put in place to contain the outbreak, such as frequent hand washing, avoiding close contact with those who have the disease, and cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces.
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, the disease is considered benign and self-limited.
While typically a childhood condition, it can strike adults, too. Lamarre said the navy is gathering information about the cases on board.
SHARE:
OTTAWACanadas top judge says the best way to one day see an aboriginal person named to the Supreme Court of Canada is for governments to appoint more indigenous judges to lower courts.
In an exclusive interview with the Star, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said the countrys highest court requires high-level judging and considerable judicial experience, and while she welcomes ethnic diversity and more aboriginal judges in the system, she suggested they must work their way up.
She said the challenge for aboriginal aspirants to the high court is the same that women faced three or four decades ago when there were virtually no women on the bench. And so how did the government go about changing that to the point now where were four women on the Supreme Court of Canada? They started appointing people at the trial level.
But the difficulty we have with racial minorities, indigenous people is that were just beginning this process of getting the judges in place on the trial benches and so on.
The federal government has launched a new judicial selection process, striking an independent advisory board to recommend candidates to fill the top court vacancy announced in March by retiring Justice Thomas Cromwell, of Nova Scotia, who steps down at the end of August.
Trudeau wants the seven-member advisory board to recommend jurists of the highest calibre who must be functionally bilingual and representative of the diversity of Canada.
The new process has again shone a light on the lack of diversity in Canadas judicial ranks.
McLachlin was consulted by the government as it devised the new selection process. She will also be consulted by the advisory board as it canvasses for Cromwells replacement. She was careful not to express an opinion on the governments changes, saying reforms to judicial selection for greater transparency have been an ongoing project, and it is up to the government to set its criteria, including the bilingualism requirement. Im not about to comment on that because its not my business.
However, she did endorse the functional bilingualism prerequisite as desirable even though she herself was not fully, functionally bilingual when first appointed in 1989 to the Supreme Court of Canada by then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. That came after she actually started working in the law in French, she said.
Most of the judges at the top court are completely bilingual now and those who might lack something are working very hard to improve their skill and the court works very well this way, she said.
Let me put it this way. Its possible for the court to function without everyone being bilingual. Weve done it in the past and I think weve done our job well. However, I believe that functional bilingualism is very helpful and desirable.
But the question of diversity on the court is more complicated.
McLachlin pointed to her own experience. She was first appointed to the County Court of Vancouver where I thought maybe thats where Id spend the rest of my days. And then I worked my way up through the trial court and through the court of appeal, and finally to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Now women make up about 35 per cent of Canadian judges, she said. Weve been able to achieve a significant measure of diversity on the gender front and, she stressed, have judges who are reflective of this high calibre of judicial experience, intellectual experience and judgment and familiarity with the law and judging. So weve been able to have it all.
McLachlin is encouraged by a host of very accomplished indigenous lawyers and professors who she said are the result of proactive programs in law schools and universities and better educational standards. However, she did not suggest any of those are in a position to be vaulted onto the top bench from the bar, as has been the case with some Supreme Court judges in the past: Suzanne Cote, Ian Binnie, John Sopinka.
Asked if there are any current sitting aboriginal judges that could sit on the high court, McLachlin dodged.
I cant say; I havent done a survey. Well see who applies, and what comes of it.
Osgoode Hall law dean Lorne Sossin said while bilingualism is an asset that should be encouraged and supported, to make it a requirement effectively acts as a barrier to many talented aboriginal candidates and others from Southeast Asian, and East Asian communities.
He said the governments heart and mind is in the right place because it seeks to boost transparency and diversity, but he asks why the ability to speak an indigenous language isnt viewed as an asset for a court that remains remarkably homogeneous.
Sossin wrote Tuesday in Policy Options that Canada has never had Supreme Court justice who is indigenous, who is from a visible minority, who has a religious background that is not Christian or Jewish, or who self-identifies as other than heterosexual. Suffice it to say, the Supreme Court of 2016 simply does not reflect the Canada of 2016 not even approximately.
Most people agree appointments should be based on merit but Sossin says the concept of merit signifies different things to different people.
For some, it can be measured objectively (for example, academic degrees, career achievements, and demonstrated legal expertise). For others, it can also encompass more holistic aspects of a potential jurist, such as empathy, imagination, humility, resilience and interpersonal/intercultural skills. But where do gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion, culture and life experience fit into these understandings of merit?
In an interview, Sossin said unquestionably there are indigenous candidates in Canadian courts, law faculties and in law practice that the government could appoint that could both enhance the quality of the (Supreme) court, its stature and its expertise and at the same time see the first member of an indigenous community appointed to the court. Absolutely. But I dont think the bilingualism requirement assists in that process.
On the other hand, he said, an aboriginal appointment to the high court would not merely tick a box on diversity and inclusion it would bring much needed perspective on indigenous law and treaties that are a fundamental aspect of the Constitution, one that weve always had to interpret because weve never had anyone who can speak in a first-person understanding of the language and culture from which those treaties emerged.
SHARE:
It appeared like a vision sniffing around a tree, wriggling itself under a plant, strolling along the metal fence with a swagger that did not subside despite a dogs barks metres away.
The at-first unidentifiable white animal was in Paula Gianasis Richmond Hill backyard late last month. It had the shape of a small raccoon, but certainly not the colour, so Gianasi followed it and took pictures from afar with the hope of later finding out what it was.
The next day I thought, I have to find out what it is, because Ive lived here 37 years, Ive seen every animal under the sun, Ive seen a lot of wild animals, but I have never seen . . . Gianasi said, trailing off.
She called animal control services, the Town of Richmond and finally her local newspaper, which published an article and photos shed taken of the white animal, speculating it could be a possum.
But as soon as York University professor Suzanne MacDonald, who specializes in urban wildlife behaviour, saw the photos, she says she knew it was an albino raccoon.
I knew right away thats not a colour variant found in raccoons so it had to be albino, she told the Star in an email Tuesday, adding albinism occurs in one in every 10,000 animal births.
They are more common than you might think, she said, but the babies dont usually survive very long due to health problems, like blindness, so we dont see very many of them.
When Gianasi heard what it might be, the encounter felt even more unusual. In church Tuesday, she joked it was her spirit animal. Shes called it Neige, which is French for snow.
It is special I feel very special that I saw this beautiful creation that is rare, Gianasi said.
Shed had an inkling it may not be a possum because its tail was thicker. And an email with the photos she sent to neighbours and relatives jokingly surmised the animal was an albino raccoon.
The slow stroll started to make sense, given its possible blindness and even deafness.
I felt so sad, Gianasi said, speaking of the poor health that could be plaguing it. Im looking out every morning . . . Im hoping that, you know, its OK.
Nathalie Karvonen, director of the Toronto Wildlife Centre, said that, from Gianasis account of the animals behaviour, there was clearly something wrong with it.
She pointed to a spate this year of raccoons suffering distemper, a neurological disease causing them to be drowsy and unusually unafraid of humans or other animals, and which eventually kills them, but said it could be a host of problems.
Karvonen, too, guessed the animal was an albino raccoon at first glance of the pictures Gianasi took. The raccoon has a very characteristic body shape . . . and (its) the only representative of the procyonidae family in North America, she explained.
Gianasis sighting wasnt the only one in the area, noted Gail Lenters, founder of the Shades of Hope animal refuge in Pefferlaw.
In May, a wildlife removal company she knows well found a baby albino raccoon in a Richmond Hill attic, Lenters said, adding her refuge also took one in this year, but it died hours later.
I suppose its possible it could be the same one, she said of the one in the attic and the one believed to have been seen on Gianasis lawn.
Lenters said the one in Gianasis photo despite the resolution being unclear appeared to be a raccoon. She saw it online.
It crossed my desk, actually, and I saw it. It gave me a smile, Lenters said.
Read more about:
SHARE:
With a dozen green and white balloons sent drifting into evening sky, a mother, a family and a community said goodbye to 11-year-old Finnigan Danne.
Over the weekend hundreds of local volunteers, police canine units and officers on horseback searched for the boy who went missing Saturday in Dundas, Ont.
I want you to know that I was thankful to see so much love for my son, and for his family, and it is all of you who I will say is responsible for locating my son, said Finnigans mother Vanessa Velke standing next to Finnigans father, Neal Danne, and his brothers, Sebastian and Colin.
Tuesday night, a sombre crowd of more than 500, holding candles and balloons huddled around an intersection a short distance from where Finnigans body was found.
Its heartbreaking, said 49-year-old Chris Hayden of Dundas. He volunteers for a group who called off a watershed cleanup Sunday to put their waders and boots to use for an even nobler cause.
They searched all the way up Spencer Creek, up and down the neighbourhood streets, and when Finnigan was finally found, Hayden was busy canvassing the neighbourhood with a photo.
I think we were all convinced we were going to find him alive and well, said Hayden.
Dundas mother Taylor Baxter, says the first day of school will be the hardest. Her daughter attended Sir William Osler Elementary School with Finnigan, and she fondly remembers staff guiding him out before the other students every day at 3:15 p.m.
He was an icon of the school. You knew that everything was OK when Finn came out He was beautiful, not a care in the world. It was too soon, too short.
The Vigils Facebook page, asked residents to bring candles, food, gift card or donations for the family.
The tragedy has brought the community together, said Dundas resident Courtney Christie. The vigil brings a lot of closure for the community, Christie said.
So far, support has come in at an astounding pace from Dundas residents, Christie said. Even former community members now living as far away as the United Kingdom have been donating to help out the family. Local churches, the Dundas Metro supermarket, restaurants and other businesses are donating food and needed items to the family.
Finnigan, a small boy who suffered from alternating hemiplegia, had had left his home at about 10 a.m. Saturday, said Hamilton Police. An Amber Alert was issued 27 hours after he went missing. His body was discovered about 200 metres from his home in a 1.5 metre-wide culvert at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
Canadian Press reports indicated that he may have been searching for his cat which had gone missing Saturday morning.
As Velke addressed the community she reminded them that Finnigans death was going to have an impact on his disease
It was such a rare syndrome that nobody really knew about any of it. Finnigan and all of you here today are going to make a difference in alternating hemiplegia, she said.
On Wednesday, friends and family will gather from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. at the Turner Family Funeral Home, 53 Main St. in Dundas. The funeral service will be held Thursday at 4 p.m. at the same location.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to the Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood Foundation, 2000 Town Center, Suite 1900 Southfield, MI 48075.
SHARE:
Downsview residents awoke on August 10, 2008 to a cataclysmic explosion.
Burning asbestos and scrap metal from the nearby Sunrise Propane plantwhat remained of itlittered Wilson Ave. and Keele St. The blast was heard ten kilometres away.
12,000 residents were forced to flee in what was later described as a chaotic evacuation. Over a hundred firefighters battled the massive blaze.
Two died that morning: 55-year-old veteran firefighter Bob Leek and 25-year-old plant worker Parminder Singh Saini. Dozens were injured. Houses and businesses near the blast site were wrecked.
The cleanup bill totaled $1.9 millionand the city was left on the hook for the damage, as Sunrise Propanes insurance didnt cover all of it.
Investigators later found that Sunrise was notorious for swapping propane loads between trucks by pumping it from truck to truck, a faster method than emptying it to a buried storage tank and then having a second truck load up. It shaved minutes off of their turnaroundand the plants safety.
Sunrise Propane and its two directors were convicted on nine charges relating to environmental damage and not following a provincial order relating to safety.
Six years after the explosion, over 6,000 residents near the plant won a $23 million class-action lawsuit to compensate for their losses.
Read more about:
SHARE:
FERGUSON, MO.Michael Browns death opened the eyes of the world to concerns about law enforcements treatment of black people, Browns father said Tuesday during a memorial service marking the two-year anniversary of the shooting.
A few hundred people gathered for the service and moment of silence along Canfield Drive in Ferguson, Missouri, the spot where the black, unarmed 18-year-old was fatally shot by officer Darren Wilson after a confrontation on Aug. 9, 2014. It led to months of sometimes-violent protests in Ferguson.
A state grand jury declined to press charges against Wilson, and the U.S. Justice Department later cleared him, concluding that he had acted in self-defence. He resigned in November 2014.
Browns death also was a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement, which rebukes police treatment of minorities and has grown since several other killings of black men and boys by police, such as Tamir Rice in Cleveland and Philando Castile in Minnesota.
Browns father, also named Michael Brown, said in a brief speech that the anniversary is a sad day for him and his family, but for the world, too.
My son built families up, opened the eyes of the world and let them know this aint right, he said. This colour is not a disease. This colour is beautiful. Black is beautiful.
The 2014 shooting also led to a Justice Department investigation that found patterns of racial bias in Fergusons police and municipal court system. The federal agency and the city agreed this year to make sweeping changes.
This month, more than 60 organizations affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement published a list of six demands and 40 recommendations for how to achieve policing and criminal justice reforms.
Brandy Shields, 19, went to school with Brown and remembered him as a kid who never got into trouble. Shields comforted a little girl who was crying at the service.
Itll get better, Shields told the child. We have to make it better, but itll get better.
Later Tuesday, a crowd of a few dozen protesters marched from Canfield Drive to a busy intersection thats been the site of protests before.
Law enforcement officials were on hand as the group periodically blocked traffic and chanted no justice, no peace and other slogans.
Read more about:
SHARE:
NICOSIA, CYPRUSA mosaic floor dating to the 4th century and depicting scenes from a chariot race in the hippodrome has been uncovered, the only one of its kind in Cyprus and one of only a handful in the world, a Cypriot archaeologist said Wednesday.
Cyprus Antiquities Department archaeologist Fryni Hadjichristofi told The Associated Press that out of the many hundreds of ancient mosaic floors discovered around the world, only around seven depict similar chariot races at the hippodrome. What distinguishes this mosaic is its ornate detail and the fact that it depicts complete scenes from race in which four chariots, each with a team of four horses, are competing. This may be representative of different factions in competition with each other in ancient Rome.
The hippodrome was very important in ancient Roman times, it was the place where the emperor appeared to his people and projected his power, said Hadjichristofi.
The mosaic is 11 metres long and four metres wide but hasnt been fully uncovered yet. Its possibly part of a villa that may have belonged to a wealthy individual or nobleman when Cyprus was under Roman rule. The mosaic, about 30 kilometres west of the capital Nicosia, also sheds new light on the ancient past of the islands interior, about which little is known.
Most of the important ancient finds on the island are located near the coasts, where cities and towns flourished in antiquity. The earliest village found in Cyprus dates as far back as the 10th millennium B.C.
A small piece of the mosaic was first discovered by an area farmer tilling his land back in 1938. Authorities marked the area, but full-fledged digs didnt proceed until almost 80 years later because of work at many other sites the Antiquities Department had prioritized, said Hadjichristofi.
Hadjichristofi said the area, abutting a river, has long been known for its fertile ground and bountiful orchards.
Cyprus had been a wealthy island in antiquity, producing copper from where according to a prominent theory the island got its name timber from its then-ample forests as well as pottery, many examples of which have been found in neighbouring countries, said Hadjichristofi.
We know that Cyprus was once wealthy, the latest discoveries confirm this, she said.
Last month, crews working on a sewage system in the coastal city of Larnaca discovered another rare Roman-era mosaic depicting Hercules Labours.
Read more about:
SHARE:
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA A retired Australian army officer on Wednesday won a 50-year struggle to gain official recognition for the bravery of 10 soldiers who fought under his command during Australias most costly battle of the Vietnam War.
Harry Smith, 83, was presented at Parliament House with a recommendation by a review tribunal for nine soldiers to be decorated for the first time and a 10th soldier to have his medal upgraded for courage shown during the Battle of Long Tan in a Vietnamese rubber plantation on Aug. 18, 1966.
Smith, a retired lieutenant colonel, led a company of 105 Australian soldiers plus three New Zealanders supported by artillery that won a rain-drenched, three-hour battle against more than 2,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, the Australian government said. Eighteen Australians were killed and 24 wounded, while the Vietnamese were estimated to have lost hundreds of troops.
Within hours of the battle ending, Smith said he recommended to his commanding officer that 20 soldiers under his command be decorated.
Initially, only eight battle veterans were honoured, including Smith. He was awarded the Star of Gallantry, the highest honour after the Victoria Cross.
He has since campaigned relentlessly to have others recognized. Wednesdays verdict of the Defence Honours and Awards Appeal Tribunal an independent court established five years ago to investigate such cases brings the number to 16, Smith said. The government accepted the recommendation.
Smith said he was happy with the decision despite the tribunal dismissing his application for another soldier to be awarded his first decoration and another two decorated soldiers to have their honours upgraded.
Justice has been done, Smith said. I learnt from my years in the army that you have to keep on fighting and you eventually win.
Three of the 10 veterans to receive new honours have died since the war.
Australia deployed more than 60,000 military personnel to Vietnam between 1962 and 1973, of whom 521 were killed. The Battle of Long Tan anniversary next week has become Australias official Vietnam Veterans Day.
SHARE:
A giant, graffiti-filled storm sewer beneath a Walmart parking lot in upstate New York may have housed a shocking setup: An underground laboratory used for making methamphetamine, police said.
Authorities in Amherst, a suburb of Buffalo, have opened an investigation into the suspected meth lab some 3.6 metres under the superstore parking lot, along a busy thoroughfare that leads to the towns shops, according to local news reports.
I was completely astounded, Amherst Highway Superintendent Patrick Lucey told the Buffalo News. Its like, are you kidding me? Its just not something you run across.
Anywhere at any time somewhere where theres the opportunity and the motive, it can happen. But this was definitely something new.
Amherst police, assisted by state law enforcement, made the discovery beneath the parking lot Monday afternoon during a preventative patrol, according to CBS affiliate WIVB.
Routine patrol, thats what we do every day, Amherst Police Capt. Scott Chamberlin told the station, adding: We check in various areas that people who might be up to no good, might be using for no good.
Crews in hazmat suits were seen climbing from a manhole, pulling out wooden pallets that, police said, were used to stand above the water flowing through a culvert that leads to a main drainage line in town.
Shoppers gathered nearby to watch investigators sort through evidence pulled from the lab, which was deep inside the storm sewage tunnel.
Chamberlin said crews fished out aerosol spray paint cans, plastic soda bottles and various chemicals including a liquid we believe is methamphetamine.
But police said the contents posed no immediate safety threats, according to WIVB.
Well talk to the proper authorities to figure out what we need to do to make sure thats not accessible anymore, Chamberlin told the station.
We were shocked when we found out about this, Erica Jones, a Walmart spokeswoman, told The Washington Post in a statement Wednesday. Its upsetting and unacceptable. Were glad the police have responded and well continue to help them with their investigation. Anyone who has information that can help should reach out to police.
Investigators plan to see whether Walmarts surveillance video shows people accessing the sewer, according to The Associated Press.
No arrests have been made.
The New York state Intelligence Center, which tracks meth labs across New York state, has released warnings about such clandestine laboratories.
Erie County District Attorneys Drug Task Force, which investigates drug crimes in Amherst, says on its website that meth labs are highly explosive and flammable threatening nearby properties and that the chemicals used in them are extremely toxic.
A Meth lab can be located anywhere, it states. The house next door, hotels, motels, RVs, campers, trailers, public storage facilities, the highway, forests.
According to data from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the only other known clandestine meth lab in Amherst was found in 2009, about 6.4 kilometres from Walmart.
Its a concern; I mean its unbelievable in this area, this isnt a bad area, Steve Harding, an area resident, told WIVB after the recent discovery, adding: This isnt the kind of thing youd expect in a place like this, thats the bottom line.
Town workers were surveying the apparent crime scene Tuesday.
Lucey, the highway superintendent, told the Buffalo News that the suspected meth-makers travelled some 244 metres from the culverts opening to get to the apparent lab.
Police said it was tall enough for people to stand up and walk through.
They did have a working surface. They just werent playing in the water, basically, Lucey told the newspaper, referring to the pallets pulled from the drain. He added: They must have had their own lighting system, too, because, as I look in here now, its dark.
Had authorities not discovered it, he said it could have been disastrous.
It could have been very dangerous. It was very dangerous, Lucey told the Buffalo News. Forget cooking and making their lab, just the gases themselves and the environment that they were working in was a very dangerous situation.
Certainly, they werent thinking, he added.
Read more about:
SHARE:
Thursday is a special day not only for Tamil-Canadians and Newfoundlanders, but for all Canadians alike, for it was 30 years ago that 155 Tamil refugees were found drifting off the shores of St. Shotts, Newfoundland by three local finishing boats.
The rescue on that fateful day on Aug. 11, 1986, not only allowed 155 Tamils to start a new life in Canada, but it was also a turning point in Canadian refugee and immigration history.
Capt. Gus Dalton and his crew from Admirals Beach, St. Marys Bay, Nfld., along with two other fishing trawlers, found two decrepit life boats overfilled with Tamil refugees. They were dropped off at night by an unscrupulous human trafficker, and were told to go west toward Montreal.
Dalton called the Canadian Navy to assist, and each of the boats immediately started dumping their catch of cod, in order to find space in their trawlers to rescue the Tamil refugees. They emptied their canteens, and fed the ever grateful newcomers who were at sea for three days.
The CCG Leonard J. Crowley, a Coastguard patrol vessel, arrived shortly afterward to help. The Tamils were taken to shore in St. Johns and then to Memorial University where they received food, lodging and were processed as refugees.
Canada has not always been so welcoming of non-European refugees and immigrants who arrive at our shores. In 1914, the Komagata Maru arrived in Burrard Inlet on the western coast of British Columbia, carrying 376 passengers from the Punjab, India, comprising mostly Sikh men. They were held at sea for two months before being forced to leave Canadian waters. Upon return to India at least 19 passengers were killed and countless others were imprisoned.
This spring, after 101 years, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered an unequivocal and sincere apology in the House of Commons for the Komagatu Maru tragedy.
A tragic echo of this incident occurred in 1939 when 908 Jewish refugees aboard the MS St. Louis were denied entry in Canada. The Jewish refugees returned to Europe where many faced Hitlers death camps.
Canada would not make the same mistake again in 1986 or thereafter.
The Tamil arrival was not without controversy. Like all refugees, they feared the worst, and initially lied about where their voyage originated. They were Tamils, born in Sri Lanka, and faced countless atrocities before they were forced to flee due to the outbreak of the civil war in 1983. Most had sought asylum in Germany, and due to the draconian refugee protection laws in that country, they were looking for a more free and secure place.
Some Canadians were outraged, and accused the refugees of fraud, queue jumping, and were called undesirable. As the controversy heated up, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney muted those who called for the return of the refugees.
He was unequivocal and he spoke for all Canadians when he told the national media, we are not in the business of turning away refugees. Within days, all of the 155 Tamils were settled in Montreal and Toronto, where they started careers, families and new lives.
However, the welcome that awaited the Tamils in 1986 was not there in 2009 and 2010 when 76 Tamils on board the MV Ocean Lady and 492 Tamils on board the MV Sun Sea arrived in British Columbia. Both of these groups were vilified and labelled as terrorists.
The 2011 federal election campaign even used images of the MV Sun Sea to demonize refugees. Due in part to the negativity surrounding the arrival of the MV Ocean Lady and MV Sun Sea, their cases continue to linger in the courts and many of the refugee claimants continue to live in limbo.
Thirty years from their arrival in St. Shotts, the Tamils are returning to Newfoundland, where their Canadian journey started, this time as Tamil- Canadians, who built extraordinary lives to thank the people of this great province and our country for doing the right thing.
They are joined by many members of the Tamil community, from those who were in leadership positions in 1986, to those in leadership positions today, to future Canadian leaders born to refugee parents who put this project together. All of them are coming together to mark a remarkable journey that in many ways defined the 300,000 strong Tamil-Canadian community.
Our country will never be the same again, and collectively our doors should always be open, not just to those who come to our shores, but those taking extraordinary risks to cross other shores in search of refuge. We must understand that people in normal circumstances do not risk their lives and the lives of their families to flea for reasons such as economic stability. They do so out of desperation and as a last resort.
Canadians were moved by the story of Alan Kurdi, the three year old Syrian boy who drowned and was found lying dead on the beach. In recent months, we have taken the right steps in welcoming 25,000 Syrian refugees, but much work needs to be done, and Canada must do more to help those in dire need.
We thank the great people of St. Marys Bay, Newfoundland, for their generosity and we thank Canadians across the country who open their hearts whenever the need arises. Equally, as Canadians, we should commit to never repeating our history of turning away those who come to our shores seeking refuge, and we should commit to doing more for those escaping turmoil.
Gary Anandasangaree is the Member of Parliament for Scarborough-Rouge Park
SHARE:
For more than 40 years, prisoners on Aug. 10th pay tribute to all those who have died while in custody. On this day in 1974, Eddie Nalon committed suicide in an administrative segregation cell at Millhaven Institution, sparking this annual vigil and call for justice.
If that call had been answered years ago, many young lives, including those of Ashley Smith, Eddie Snowshoe, Chris Roy, Devon Sampson, and, more recently, Terry Baker, might have been spared.
The growing disgust of citizens, advocates, and human rights bodies to allowing prisoners to languish in isolation, away from meaningful contact with others, should encourage an immediate end to this practice. The damage this type of confinement does to physical and mental health is well documented, and international bodies have defined periods of administrative segregation in excess of 15 days as a form of torture.
But this is not the only kind of prison death that demands action. The violence endemic to prisons, often borne of the hopelessness, overcrowding, and idleness, which can manifest in brutal and often deadly combat, needs to be addressed.
A recent court decision that acknowledged prison stabbings are reasonable as self-defence, due to the high levels of violence, implicitly admits prisons are intolerably violent. But prisons in Germany, Norway and other countries do not suffer this same degree of violence, which is dangerous to both prisoners and correctional officers.
The Correctional Investigators Report released last week identified 65 inmate deaths in a single year in the federal prison system alone. Even deaths resulting from natural causes should be subject to further inquiry. Lawsuits and other inquests are challenging whether underlying mental and physical illnesses received adequate treatment.
The Mandela Rules on the treatment of prisoners call for health care to be provided by agencies ordinarily responsible for health and not by agencies specifically responsible for prisons. Canada falls short of meeting that standard, except in Nova Scotia and Alberta.
Too often security and prison management issues lead to prescribed medicines being unavailable, limited, or arbitrarily changed by the prison. Prisoners wait long periods for illnesses to be diagnosed since access to medical services are limited. Chronic diseases, such as diabetes, are not managed with the same care as in the community, which can lead to serious complications.
The process of dying behind bars is a sad one. The tragedy of a terminal prognosis is compounded for family members and prisoners when they receive palliative care in custody. Now that Canadians have the right to receive physician-assisted death to relieve suffering, prisoners should have equal access to this option without delays. It would be even more just and humane to allow compassionate releases of those terminally ill so they could die with the support of loved ones. Other countries routinely allow such releases, so why cant Canada?
Prisoners experience many other forms of injustice. Access to justice and legal materials is inadequate. Prisoners grievances are resolved only after lengthy delays. The parole system in which most prisoners are held until their release is required by statute is essentially dysfunctional. Prisoners are being held to the end of their sentences, when they routinely face peace bonds, which essentially lengthen their sentences. Prisoner net pay is reduced despite increasing prices of available products, such as stamps. Prisoners are forced to endure double-bunking in cells designed for one. Rehabilitative programs and skills training are limited, such that correctional plans are not completed prior to parole eligibility.
And finally, residual liberties can be denied in manners that likely violate Charter-guaranteed fundamental principles of justice. The governments promised criminal justice system review should address these and other deficiencies of the current corrections system.
Let us hope that Canadians pause on Aug. 10th to take note of the many injustices experienced by our fellow citizens in custody. As Fyodor Dostoevsky said, the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons. It is long past time to fix our broken corrections system.
Catherine Latimer is the executive director of the John Howard Society of Canada, a charity dedicated to just, effective, and humane responses to crime.
SHARE:
Canadas Liberal government wants to get back into United Nations peacekeeping. Unfortunately, theres not much peace to keep.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan is in Africa this week scouting out the terrain. The UN has 12 peacekeeping operations on the go in the continent. Some, like those aimed at keeping the peace between Israel and its neighbours, have been in place for decades. Others, like the missions in Congo, Mali and South Sudan, are more recent. None is easy.
The bloody war centred on the Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance, has killed more than 5 million people including 102 UN peacekeepers. In total, the UNs African operations have claimed the lives of 1,212 peacekeepers.
Why is Ottawa so anxious to reinvolve itself? The answer is largely political. In the run-up to last years election, the Liberals calculated that the voters were weary of full-bore wars like the Afghanistan conflict and wanted to return to a time when Canada, through the UN, played the role of helpful fixer.
To meet that desire, Justin Trudeaus Liberal platform promised a greater emphasis on peacekeeping.
Certainly, it would have been hard to promise less. Canadas previous Conservative government was not enamored of the UNs blue-helmet operations. Currently, of the roughly 101,000 UN police and soldiers involved in peacekeeping around the world, only 106 are Canadian.
But Stephen Harpers Conservatives also governed at a time when the UN was taking a more aggressive military stance in the world. The Afghan War, for instance, may have been prosecuted largely by NATO countries. But it was authorized by the UN.
Similarly, the 2011 Western airstrikes that deposed Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi carried the imprimatur of the UN Security Council.
Modern peacekeeping isnt very peaceful either. In Mali, for instance, UN troops routinely come under attack from Islamist rebels. In one incident this week, a roadside bomb killed one peacekeeper and wounded four others.
In short, the dividing line between the war on terror and much of UN peacekeeping is fuzzy.
What will Canada do? The government has made it clear it wants to re-engage in peacekeeping in Africa. It also said it hasnt made up its mind where or in what form. Perhaps Sajjans visit this week to countries in central and eastern Africa will give him some ideas.
Hes bringing along two advisers with dissimilar views on military intervention. One is Romeo Dallaire, the former general and senator who, as the commander of a largely toothless UN force, helplessly witnessed the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Dallaire is an eloquent proponent of the so-called responsibility to protect doctrine, which holds that the world has a duty to intervene in the internal affairs of a sovereign state when the government there is mistreating its own people.
The other is Louise Arbour, the former supreme court justice and war crimes prosecutor, who later became the UNs high commissioner for human rights.
Initially, an adamant supporter of the responsibility to protect doctrine, she has softened her views in recent years, arguing that sometimes, as in Libya in 2011, military intervention to promote human rights can end up making matters worse.
In an interview earlier this year with Canadian Press, Arbour warned against what she called nostalgia either for the peacekeeping era associated with former prime minister Lester Pearson or the responsibility to protect era associated with former external affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy.
Instead, she called for a principled pragmatism in foreign affairs which, if I understand her correctly, means concentrating on small practical things that can make lives better rather than the grand overarching goals of justice and human rights that politicians so often prefer to proclaim.
Both Dallaire and Arbour promise to be useful companions as Sajjan tours Africa looking for just the right place to insert Canadian troops. Like the minister, himself a veteran of the Afghan War, they recognize that UN peacekeeping isnt what it used to be.
Thomas Walkoms column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
SHARE:
Its interesting that, in a recent letter to the Star, Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca thinks theres significant progress when it comes to developing greater public transit in the GTA. In many ways hes not wrong but I always get the feeling that when politicians in Canada talk public transit, theyre only half committed.
Expanding and funding public transit in Ontario has been very poor. The current Liberal government, while funding more infrastructure and public transit projects than most previous governments, still comes up short when it comes to getting people out of their cars and into trains and buses.
After all, if they were totally committed, half of Mississaugas GO stations would not be idle for most of the day, only offering people public transit for peak periods or rush hours. If you dont offer people access to public transit, then theyll drive their cars and we have the horrendous traffic problems to prove it.
There should be a network of rail lines connecting major cities across Ontario but there dont seem to be any plans for that. Have we even got shovels in the ground for Mississaugas light rail project slated for Hurontario Road? Is a much-needed east-west project for that city been planned?
If politicians in this province and this country are serious about providing better public transit, then they need to ante up and vastly improve access and availability. As a province we are less competitive and spend more time getting to and from work than most Europeans who can rely on dependable, accessible and extensive public transit networks.
To say were doing all sorts of things and investing more than any other government is great but full commitment means making existing GO routes available all day and new rail links being created all over the province.
Without those, people will continue to drive their cars.
Gareth Skipp, Mississauga
Read more about:
SHARE:
Re: This election is for you, mom, Aug. 4
This election is for you, mom, Aug. 4
Judith Timson blithely ignores polling that shows more than 60 per cent of Americans think Hillary Clinton is untrustworthy. Mothers may tell little white lies to their children about the tooth fairy, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, but Hillary is perfectly comfortable lying to the American public, the U.S. Congress and to grieving mothers whose sons were killed in Benghazi.
Where was Ghazala Khans outrage over that?
John Turner, Stoney Creek
SHARE:
Cruise lines are offering investors something they don't like to offer to passengers: big, fat discounts.
Shares of Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCLH) - crushed by some uneven quarterly results and a more pessimistic view of the outlook for the balance of the year - are off 9% today, bringing the stock's year to date drop to 34%. Carnival (CCL) , also tilting lower Tuesday, has lost 17% in 2016. Royal Caribbean (RCL) , lower by 4% on the day, has given up nearly a third of the value it claimed at the start of the year.
So... is it time for investors to board cruise lines?
Hey, they're cheap, with the sector, as a whole, trading at about 16 times earnings, lower than the market average. There's an argument to be made that their biggest problems --health concerns, safety worries and higher fuel costs-- are either transitory and/or manageable. And they've been operating with real discipline --check out Royal Caribbean's touted "double double" plan for financial performance-- and you'll see the industry cutting costs and resisting discounts on bookings. Say "hello" to your yeoman purser.
All fairly compelling arguments. But the reality is, cruise operators have been on a downtrend all year --most have violated the trend lines that technical analysts attend to-- and are likely to stay in that pattern, at least for the time being. Cheap as they are, cruise operators are going to offer the same value proposition at year end as they are here just past the midpoint of the calendar.
In fact, the calendar is a big factor in cruise line operators' ability to reverse their stocks' fortunes. The end of summer is effectively the end of cruise season. Expectations for third quarter financial performances, which capture the critical late summer cruising season, can be as much as double the forecasts of the second quarter. But they hit the end of that third quarter and experience a big falloff in bookings.
Carnival, which recorded a blowout second quarter, is slated to post third quarter numbers Sept. 20. The company has an uneven record versus forecasts. Granted, the stock is cheap at just 14 times earnings, and it's been doing what it can to maximize passenger revenues. It's got a fuel hedging program that is helping insulate its exposure to volatile fuel costs.
Royal Caribbean, which reported Aug. 2, with a 3% revenue miss included in the performance, is scheduled to report Nov. 11. The company has the greatest exposure to the beaten down British currency, with 30% of its revenue generated in the pound. Like all of the other major cruise line operators, it reports in U.S. dollars.
The forex overhang is a significant for all the players, as has been the rise in fuel costs. Carnival, even with its hedges in place, probably suffers something on the order of 17 cents a share from the combined forex/fuel headwind.
The three big cruise line operators are, in effect, an oligopoly. No one of them can lay claim to really controlling the cruise market. But the scattering of small players that play in the market don't significantly damage their market share, so they've really got the market to themselves. It's not exactly Coke versus Pepsi. It's more like the market for batteries, film or razor blades. If they each maintain pricing discipline --not starting price wars by discounting berths or sneaking cheap prices into their packages-- they don't have to worry that their yields will go south.
But trends are working against the industry as a whole. Customers' tastes can be fickle. The Caribbean, which used to be the destination of choice for U.S. cruise takers --for certain operators, it used to represent 50% of their bookings-- has declined. It's now closer to a third of bookings for the operators that participate in that market. That fickleness hurts predictability.
Meanwhile, no one - and we mean no one - seems to want to go to the Mediterranean, owing to worries about terrorism and health, among other things. Those things may diminish with time - remember when the ebola scare was a paramount concern? - but they're manifest right now.
Additionally, the industry drives new or higher priced bookings from one great source --new boats. You build a boat, it's full of gee-whiz features, and passengers clamor. That's a plus for pricing. But the industry's new embrace of spending discipline and cost cutting is limiting the growth of capacity gains.
There's still some opportunities for cruise line operators. Only one in five Americans has ever booked a cruise, so there's a high ceiling on potential business. However, at the end of the day, predicting the recovery for the cruise line business might require an economist. And one who's adept at prognostications.
Tell me when the pound is going to recover, and maybe we can predict the cruise businesses' reversal of fortune.
No
Yes, a light case
Yes, two or more light cases
One serious case
Two or more serious bouts
Vote
View Results
The Bank of England said on Wednesday it will make up a shortfall in its government bond-buying scheme with a second round of purchases in November, after efforts to boost the economy with renewed quantitative easing fell flat this week.
The central bank confirmed it had offered to buy 1.72 billion ($2.24 billion) of long-dated government bonds, or gilts, as part of its 70 billion quantitative easing program. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney expanded that program on Aug. 4 to pull the economy out of the swoon induced by June's Brexit vote to leave the European Union. The objective was to push investors to look for better returns from lending to companies rather than relying on fixed-income instruments.
But Tuesday's gilt buying round raised just 1.17 billion, as insurance companies and pension funds chose to hang on to the income-generating paper, rather than sell at record-low yields. The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilt fell to a low of just 0.56% as the bond auction got underway and it was down 5 basis points at 0.53% as of Wednesday morning.
In a statement issued Wednesday morning, the Bank of England said: "The Bank will incorporate the 52 million shortfall from yesterday's uncovered operation within the second half of the current six-month purchase program. As set out in the Market Notice of 4 August 2016, details of these purchases will be announced on 3 November 2016."
However, some analysts believe the central bank will find it just as tough to find willing sellers at the next round, because pension funds and insurance companies need the income from the bonds to fund pension payouts.
Although the bank pays above the market price to attract sellers, continued high prices and low yields will make it hard to justify buying new paper to replace the old and many funds are restricted from making alternative investments.
During the last few months Tesla (TSLA) should have been a short seller's dream come true, but instead has only added to the frustration of company skeptics. It's a reminder that the debate on the automaker is unlikely to be resolved any time soon.
Tesla so far in 2016 has announced a dilutive secondary offering, dumped news of a below-expectations quarter in terms of deliveries on the Sunday of a holiday weekend and announced a balance-sheet challenging deal for SolarCity (SCTY) , a money-losing company with strong ties to CEO Elon Musk. Against that backdrop there have also been a series of crashes linked to Tesla's Autopilot technology --including one fatality-- which caused Consumer Reports to accuse the automaker of using its customers as "guinea pigs" to beta test software.
The latest issue comes out of China, with Tesla on Wednesday confirming reports that one of its vehicles had crashed in Beijing while in "autopilot" mode. While the details, including whether the fault lies with the software or the operator, are so far unclear, the incident has led to claims by Chinese customers that the feature was being sold as a fully-autonomous operation, not as a lane assist cruise control.
Yet shares of Tesla barely flinched Wednesday, trading off 1.8% at mid-day during a session where the indices are all in the red. That continues a pattern as shares of Tesla, currently trading at about $224 apiece, are barely changed on the year. Shares of Tesla have actually outperformed the stocks of General Motors (GM) and Ford (F) so far this year, despite those two companies having considerably more positive news flows in 2016.
The explanation for this seeming inconsistency is simple: Tesla since the day it went public has never been about current quarter or even current year results, it is a bet either for or against an ambitious --and expensive-- vision of the future. Tesla has been one of the most actively debated stocks on message boards and social media, and both believers and skeptics long ago dug in deep. What 2016 has shown is there seems to be very little that can be said to move the needle dramatically in either direction.
That should change in the years to come, as Tesla nears its self-imposed deadline to ramp up production and bring its more affordable Model 3 to market. Tesla doesn't necessarily even need to meet those deadlines; the company has a long history of missed targets and even bulls concede the company's likely overpromising this time around. History has shown the most important thing the company must do is give investors reason to believe Tesla will get to the finish line eventually.
For all the drama Tesla the brand has held up remarkably well. Though the company did not provide an updated number during its second quarter call, as of earlier this year it had well more than 300,000 deposits for its upcoming Model 3. And the crashes seem to have done little to dent the public's interest in self-driving technology or Tesla's reputation.
A survey conducted by AlixPartners in late July, after rounds of negative headlines, found that "new Silicon Valley manufacturers" are the most-trusted sources for self-driving technology, with public awareness that Tesla's developing a self-driving car jumping from 23.1% of respondents to 55.3% from May to July.
If seems that if Tesla can get its car to market, there will be buyers.
Financially the situation is far from certain. Tesla in its recent 10-Q disclosed it would burn $1.1 billion in cash in the third quarter due to CapEx requirements related to vehicle development and its Gigafactory battery plant, as well as repaying the principle on convertible notes. Tesla had about $3.25 billion on hand as of June 30, but CEO Musk has admitted that the company could require a "small equity capital raise" in the quarters to come.
Skeptics would note that the source of some of the unexpected cash burn, demand by convertible holders to cash out, could be a sign of trouble. Even if equity investors remain confident, the cashouts seem to say that traditionally more conservative bond holders are beginning to get cold feet.
For now large institutional managers have stayed on board, presumably more fearful of missing out on the upside of success than they are concerned with the chance of failure. But if jitters among bond investors spread to equity funds it would pressure Tesla shares, potentially making it harder for the company to return to markets for more capital.
Tesla to date has not had any trouble raising cash, and shareholders in growth companies will often accept the dilution that comes with new offerings if it is seen as providing the fuel to create an even larger enterprise in the future. It's going to take time for the story to play out. In the meantime expect the debate to rage on.
Theres a lot to love about boots. Not only can they add a badass touch to almost any outfit, but theyre also incredibly durable, standing up to wear and tear and looking better for it. However, with so many boot styles and options available, finding your ultimate pair can be challenging. After all, theres a lot to consider, including style, comfort, and quality. Luckily, were here to help make your decision a whole lot easier with a roundup of the best boots for men.
RELATED: How to Wear Mens Boots
RELATED: 20 Best Work Boot Brands for Men
1. Morjas
Stockholm-based mens boot brand, Morjas makes high-quality and timeless designs for fashion-conscious gents. Founder, Henrik, was tired of only finding bland and overpriced shoes in the market, so he created his own. In keeping the designs classic, each boot will look just as good now as it will in 20 years. Additionally, by using expert craftspeople and quality materials, including rubber soles, Goodyear welts, and signature leathers, theyll wear exceptionally well as they transport you through lifes many adventures.
SHOP: Morjas
ADVERTISEMENT
2. Myrqvist
If you love good-quality boots that will last for years, let us introduce you to Swedens fastest-growing footwear brand, Myrqvist. The appeal of Myrqvist is their attention to detail and dedication to quality. They value craftsmanship and want to create stylish yet timeless footwear that will last for decades. The shoes are handcrafted in Portugal with the best leathers and designs that will make you feel and look good, mostly made using the Goodyear Welted construction. There is also no middleman, with the company preferring to produce and sell the shoes directly to the consumer. This is an excellent way to ensure value and quality as retailers add a markup to shoes.
SHOP: Myrqvist
ADVERTISEMENT
3. Amberjack
Take a step away from cookie-cutter mens boots with a pair of Amberjacks. This New York-based brand switched things up, combining science and fashion to create the most comfortable and stylish boots. They use luxury full-grain leather sourced from an ISO-certified tannery and revolutionary dual-density soles that combine athletic and hiking technology for cushioning and structure. Environmental and societal sustainability is also a focus with plastic-free packaging, a fair wage factory, and sustainable tanning practices.
SHOP: Amberjack
4. Grenson
Its almost unfair how perpetually fashionable some of Grensons boots are. The companys famous for both its scotch grain leather shoes and three-tiered welt styles. Here you have a brand that has been around since the mid-17th Century, with a range of shoes that are at once timeless and on-trend. We suggest the Cosmo boot from the triple welt range for a shoe like no other.
SHOP: Grenson
5. Timberland
Best known for the original yellow boot introduced in 1973, Timberland today outfits consumers from head-to-toe with collections that reflect the brands rich heritage of craftsmanship. In the 90s, hip-hop artists began wearing Timberland boots as part of their style, and it has since become an icon in footwear. The Timberland boot has proved its worth as a fashion staple thats both rugged and stylish.
SHOP: Timberland
6. Trickers
Practical, sturdy, and elegant, three words at the center of Trickers boot design principles. The brands country range reinforces these principles while looking unlike any other. Trickers approach to manufacturing screams tradition, so each shoe feels unique as if its handmade just for you. You get the feeling that very few brands make a product like this anymore.
SHOP: Trickers
7. Belstaff
Another British label with a proud history is Belstaff. The brands heritage is deeply embedded with motorbiking subculture. The classic Belstaff look is the black, brutalist biker boot. Although originally made for bikers and Amelia Earhart, Belstaff boots today cut a stylish silhouette and pay homage to their authentic and adventurous spirit.
SHOP: Belstaff
8. Clarks
Founded in 1825, Clarks biggest moment was in 1950 when Nathan Clark designed the desert boot. Inspired by boots from the bazaars in Cairo worn by British army officers, the simple suede ankle boots almost instantly took off. Today, Clarks continues to design classic and contemporary shoes and has a place in many mens wardrobes.
SHOP: Clarks
9. Churchs
Churchs has managed to reinvent itself throughout the years and remains relevant today. But, as with so many boots, it is the style that pays tribute to the brands heritage that is clearly best. Churchs Shanghai-style footwear defined mens fashion in 1929. Today, its still a bold shoe style that works well for casual and semi-formal occasions.
SHOP: Churchs
10. UGG
The classic Australian sheepskin boot is where UGG draws its inspiration for its signature shoe. There is some dispute as to whom the Ugg Boot trademark rightfully belongs, although UGGs take on the style is iconic. The boots are not only a statement of style, but they also keep you warm in the winter. Today UGG makes more than just the classic sheepskin boot, although its entire range takes cues from the original idea.
SHOP: UGG
11. Wolverine
Founded in 1883, G.A. Krause had a dream of someday opening his own tannery and shoe company. Today the brand has become an enterprise and produces a line of motorcycle wear for Harley-Davidson. Wolverines famous 1000 mile range has its roots in the early 1900s and got its name from a guarantee that they will give you a thousand miles of wear. After you wear some Wolverines, you will feel like the hardest working man around.
SHOP: Wolverine
12. Blundstone
Blundstone is an impressive brand that was first founded in 1870 and is still going strong. It has humble beginnings, starting in Hobart, Tasmania, but has since become known worldwide for its comfortable, durable boots that can be worn in various conditions. They are renowned for their exceptional quality, and purchasing a pair of Blundstones is an investment because of the longevity you will get from them. They are built to last, have non-slip outsoles and leather uppers, and are also stylish.
SHOP: Blundstone
13. Carhartt
Carhartt boots are for the working man who wants shoes that can handle all terrains, providing protection and comfort. The great thing about this brand is that they are affordable and durable. You can choose from a selection of boots designed with specific features, depending on your needs, from the composite toe or non-safety toe work boots to designs that use waterproof-breathable technology or are slip-resistant. There are various casual styles to choose from that will keep you protected on the job site.
SHOP: Carhartt
14. Dr. Martens
Doc Martens or Dr. Martens is a brand that is stylish and versatile. It was founded in the 40s and has garnered a legion of loyal fans because they are comfortable, will last a lifetime, and have become a statement piece of footwear. It is the type of shoe you can wear with anything, but it is also highly functional. The superb quality makes this a sought-after boot, and it can be worn by everyone, from warehouse workers or those who spend their days outdoors. Some of the boots are slip-resistant, they have cushioned soles, and you can choose from leather or vegan leather.
SHOP: Dr. Martens
15. Florsheim
Florsheim has a long and interesting history, starting back in 1892 with The Florsheim Shoe Company in Chicago. They continue to be one of the leading brands for good quality and stylish shoes and have partnered with several fashion-forward menswear designers over the decades. You can pick from a wide range of dress boots or more casual styles to suit your preference.
SHOP: Florsheim
16. Red Wing
If you looking for boots and prefer traditional construction that has a timeless design, Red Wing has all of this and more! As the name suggests, the company is based in Red Wing, Minnesota, and was founded in 1905. The brand provides a wide range of good-quality products that are durable, functional, and made to last. The workboots have been tried and trusted for 100 years, and they focus on the best safety technology and materials of the utmost quality. As a bonus, all of Red Wings boots look cool!
SHOP: Red Wing
17. Alden of New England
From the other great shoemaking region of the world, Alden of New England makes a style of boots inspired by the hardworking culture of Massachusetts. Founded in 1884 by Charles H. Alden, the brands signature dress boots offer little in the way of embellishments, instead letting the graceful design and some simple stitching do most of the talking.
SHOP: Alden of New England
18. Crockett and Jones
Like so many brands in this list, Crockett and Jones hail from Northampton in the UK. Also, like many of the best boot brands, they are still making a range of shoes by hand. For a style that will impress, have a look at the brands Islay boot. Its a full brogue derby boot that manages to marry the rugged nature of a boot with the intricate elegance of a brogue.
SHOP: Crockett and Jones
19. Bogs
Bogs is a fantastic brand for men who are looking for practical, durable, and stylish boots. The company has a wide range of products on offer, from work boots with steel toes to farm boots and everything in between. There are various styles, including slip-on and lace-up, and there is impressive inclusivity with sizing. This is also a fantastic company if you are focused on sustainability, as the rubber factories they use minimize waste. Bogs incorporate green practices for their leather and partner with BLOOM to integrate algae-based EVA footbeds.
SHOP: Bogs
20. Caterpillar
Caterpillar, or CAT, is a well-known company for work boots, and their products are practical and look good. The company has a long and interesting history and has continued to evolve and expand its product line. Now, you can find a wide range of boots on offer, including alloy toe work boots for safety and Chelsea work boots. There is something to suit every preference, in a range of neutral colors and shoes engineered for comfort.
SHOP: Caterpillar
21. Julius Marlow
Australian brand Julius Marlow has some of the most stylish boots on offer. The company was founded in 1993 when Marlow opened his business in Collingwood. Marlow creates highly sought-after and stylish shoes at affordable prices with the utmost quality in mind. The brand also prides itself on its innovation, diversity, and products challenging conformity. Here you can find everything from dress boots to work boots.
SHOP: Julius Marlow
22. Adelante Shoe Co.
Adelante Shoe Co. will be your new favorite destination for quality, hand-crafted shoes. The story behind the brand is an interesting one, and came into existence after the founder, Peter, visited Latin America, witnessed poverty and inequality, and decided to give back; the shoes are handcrafted in Guatemala. The company sells connective products to fund sustainable economic development in Latin America. Shoes are made-to-order and can be of any width and size and shipped directly from Guatemala in approximately three weeks. The boots are exceptional and affordable, and the brand also gives back.
SHOP: Adelante Shoe Co.
23. Danner
Danner is a brand synonymous with superior quality, and its longevity is a testament to that. It was founded in 1932 and has become the go-to place for mens boots designed for adventure and exploration. Charles Danner, the founder of the company, had a respect for the landscape of the wild Pacific Northwest and wanted to create shoes that could handle tough terrain. They are exceptional and built to last. There are boots for work, hunting, hiking, and more, in various sizes and designs. Crafted in Oregon, United States, practicality meets style with Danner boots!
SHOP: Danner
24. Fracap
Italian handmade shoe brand, Fracap, is a great location to shop for boots. The company has a long and interesting history dating back to 1908, when the first pair of handmade shoes were made under the family name, Cappello. The name has changed, but the dedication to quality has not. The shoes are made in a factory in the small town in Puglia called Monteroni, remaining in the place where the family was born. Their boots are handmade, and there are several styles to choose from and various colors.
SHOP: Fracap
25. Astorflex
Handmade Italian shoe company Astorflex deserves recognition. Founded in the 19th century Astorflex is owned by Fabio Travenzoli, whose family started it. At Astorflex, they are passionate about good footwear and stick to traditional methods of Ideal stitching; the outer stitching along the edge of the sole. The lining and insoles are in vegetable-tanned calf leather, and the soles are produced with natural rubber; the combination ensures the utmost quality.
SHOP: Astorflex
26. Diemme
Diemme creates functional and stylish boots that are comfortable and practical. Their story began in 1992 and was founded and managed by brothers Dennis and Maico Signor. These are authentic Italian shoes, made at the Calzaturificio Diemme factory in One di Fonte, Veneto. The focus is on sustainability and producing high-quality footwear built to last. They also believe in products with an exceptional level of comfort. The footwear includes everything from Chelsea boots to performance footwear like hiking boots.
SHOP: Diemme
27. R.M. Williams
Australian brand R.M. Williams is one of the best mens boot companies. It was founded by R.M. Williams, who created his first pair of elastic-sided mens boots in 1932. The brand has continued to evolve but remains true to its origin, creating shoes that are handmade and built to last. They are also designed for adventure and to withstand the temperatures and rugged terrain of the Australian outback. Made on-demand designs include the Comfort Craftsman Boot and Burnished Macquarie Boot.
SHOP: R.M. Williams
28. Xtratuf
Xtratuf is best known for its fishing boots and deck shoes, making this the ideal place to shop if you want practical and functional footwear. Founded over 50 years ago, these boots are built to keep your feet dry and comfortable, despite harsh weather conditions. They have become an Alaskan icon because they are reliable and durable, crafted with a special slip-resistant Chevron outsole. Choose from a range of colors to suit your preference.
SHOP: Xtratuf
29. Chippewa Boots
The history of Chippewa Boots can be traced back to 1901 in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. While these boots have an appealing aesthetic, they are also designed to be durable and long-lasting, built to withstand harsh conditions. This is achieved by using the highest quality materials and focusing on expert craftsmanship to deliver the quality the brand has become known and respected for.
SHOP: Chippewa Boots
30. Durango
Comfortable and flexible are two commonly used adjectives to describe Durango boots. With over 50 years of experience in the footwear business, this brand has withstood the test of time. There are several styles to choose from, including cowboy boots or western boots that are stylish and comfortable. A wide range of colors and prints are used to create these boots, letting you find a pair that best suits your preference and allows you to express yourself.
SHOP: Durango
31. L.L Bean
Founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean, L.L Bean has a long and interesting history associated with it. It is an appealing company to shop for boots because these designs are built to be of unbeatable quality and for the outdoors. Suppose you are planning an adventure or intend to go exploring? In that case, you will find everything you need at L.L Bean, including Rain Boots, Leather Gore-Tex Cresta Hiking Boots, and for when you finally get to put your feet up, a pair of super-comfortable shearling-lined Chukkas. You can also choose a boot on not only size but width, ensuring you get the perfect fit.
SHOP: L.L Bean
32. Magnanni
It doesnt get better than luxury handmade Italian shoes, and Magnanni is one of the best. The company was founded in Spain in 1954 and remains family-owned and operated. The range of boots is stylish and ideal for formalwear; they are the type of shoes you want to show off. The superior quality comes from their attention to detail, expert craftsmanship, and the unbeatable quality fabrics used to create each shoe. They are also hand-painted. In addition, you can expect incredible comfort.
SHOP: Magnanni
33. Merrell
Merrell boots are built for the outdoors and are an excellent place to purchase hiking boots or outdoor gear. Established in 1981 by Clark Matis and John Schweizer, their products are designed to be flexible, durable, and built for performance. The company offers an impressive collection of practical and functional boots, including winter, hiking, and waterproof boots, which are available in various colors and styles.
SHOP: Merrell
34. Nunn Bush
Founded in Milwaukee in 1912, Nunn Bush has a wide selection of footwear, including boots. From Chukka boots to Chelsea boots, the designs are simple and timeless, lending themselves well to various occasions. The company focuses on providing customers with products that are good value, stylish, comfortable, and of the utmost quality. In addition, they state that their Midwestern values of hard work and fair play are what they continue to rely on.
SHOP: Nunn Bush
35. Original S.W.A.T
As the name suggests, Original S.W.A.T was created to produce footwear that could be used by elite law enforcement individuals like S.W.A.T teams. Founded by Terry Mackness in 1999, this is the year the first Original S.W.A.T boot was created, and in the decades since, the company has evolved to include several styles, like the Alpha Series. It remains one of the top places to shop for comfortable, durable, and high-quality footwear.
SHOP: Original S.W.A.T
36. Muck Boot Company
The Muck Boot Company designs shoes that are functional and practical, letting you go about your activities without worrying about keeping your feet dry. They are 100 percent waterproof, allowing you to venture into the mud or wet terrain, and there are several designs, depending on your preference and need. These include the Muck Original, ideal for those who want light-duty performance footwear, or the Chore, which can handle the toughest conditions.
SHOP: Muck Boot Company
37. Thomas & Vine
Thomas & Vine was established in 2001 and continues to be a popular place to shop for excellent boots for men. They have found the perfect balance between creating comfortable, stylish, and affordable shoes, and there is a lot to like about this brand. You can choose from a wide range of authentic leather products, including classics like Chukka boots or Business Casual shoes that are great for the workplace. In addition, the shoes come with a 12-month warranty.
SHOP: Thomas & Vine
38. To Boot New York
To Boot New York offers a stylish range of boots in classic colors and designs that lend themselves well to various occasions. These include your go-to casual boots and those made for formal occasions. The shoes are of the utmost quality and crafted in Italy, and the brand is tried and trusted, having been in existence for over 50 years.
SHOP: To Boot New York
39. Twisted X
Founded in 2005 and created with sustainable methods and with comfort at the forefront of each design, Twisted X brings something special to the mens footwear market. Comfortable footwear does not mean boring, though, and there is a wide range of different styles to choose from, including fun designs with colorful laces or unique detailing. It is also a brand that gives back, donating 10 percent of profits to causes they support.
SHOP: Twisted X
40. Milwaukee Boot Company
Milwaukee Boot Company is known for its midwest work ethic: getting down to the job and focusing on high-quality leather craftsmanship. The company consists of a small and hardworking team with headquarters in Milwaukee, where it is family-owned and run. They also sell directly to the consumer, with the mindset that they are sticking it to the middleman.
SHOP: Milwaukee Boot Company
41. Georgia Boot
Georgia Boot has marketed itself as Americas Hardest Working Boot. The company offers an affordable range of mens work boots designed to withstand tough conditions and the test of time. It was founded in 1937 and has remained one of the most sought-after brands, offering a selection of waterproof boots and styles designed for the job while also providing comfort, which is driven by technology.
SHOP: Georgia Boot
42. Whites Boots
Whites Boots has been around for a long time; established in 1853, the company remains one of the go-to places for heavy-duty boots that are practical and comfortable. These boots are handmade, with hand-sewn stitch down, and undergo 25 unique stages before their completion. This is impressive, but the expert craftsmanship is also evident in the superb quality, providing you with a shoe that is built to last.
SHOP: Whites Boots
43. Eastland 1955
At Eastland 1955, you can find a range of designs and styles, including chukka boots and cap toe boots. The company was founded in 1955, hence the name, and remains a family-owned business based in Freeport, Maine. It has been in the family for three generations, and the same attention to detail and quality has not changed.
SHOP: Eastland 1955
Applied Predictive Technologies is doing an all-night data-dive to benefit the Capital Area Food Bank in Arlington, VA on May 21, 2014. (Jeffrey MacMillan/Jeffrey MacMillan )
The Washington area has seen a string of fast-growing companies get gobbled up by out-of-town players. So when analytics outfit Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) was sold to MasterCard for $600 million last year, it looked like yet another successful local act was about to be swallowed by a national behemoth.
That doesnt appear to be happening at least not yet.
On Wednesday morning, APT announced its intention to keep its headquarters in Northern Virginia and hire 368 new employees. The company plans to relocate to a larger location across the street from its current headquarters in Ballston. The company had been courted by North Carolina and the District.
The partnership that we have with MasterCard has been a phenomenal extension and expansion of how we can support our clients, and were thrilled to be on the growth path that weve had, APT chief executive Anthony Bruce said.
[What does this Ballston firm have that drew $600 million from MasterCard?]
The company was lured in part by more than $6 million in grants, tax breaks and other public incentives patched together by the state and county governments all of it contingent on certain local growth targets promised by the company.
APT stands out among Northern Virginias business heavyweights in that its revenue doesnt come from the government. The company employs complex algorithms to test real-world business problems, setting up experiments and observing how seemingly insignificant tweaks to operations can affect sales. It helps Fortune 500 companies optimize such things as product pricing, store hours, incentive programs and other details.
[APT has a legion of geeks that help analyze data so companies can make better decisions]
Keeping APT local has been a point of focus for state and local officials in Northern Virginia. The state has been trying to diversify beyond government work for years a dependence that served it well when the federal government ramped up following the 2008 financial crisis but came back to bite it when budgets stalled in Congress in 2012.
Helping businesses in growing sectors grow in your home is the best strategy, said Maurice Jones, Virginias secretary of commerce and trade. The prevailing wages of [APTs employees] are really high, so the return on investment to the taxpayer is superlative.
Arlington County officials are also looking to fill vacant office buildings, a problem for the region in recent years.
One of our overall goals is to work on our vacancy rate and really grow our tech sector, which is doing really well, Arlington County Board Chair Libby Garvey (D) said.
APT executives declined to comment on the companys employee count, but the firm reported having just over 250 in a survey submitted to The Washington Post late last year.
That would mean the companys planned new hires should more than double the size of the companys local employment base from the beginning of 2016 a huge influx of coveted technology jobs for one of the regions wealthiest business hubs. The countys economic-incentive programs require APT to create 54 new jobs by July 2018, an additional 63 by July 2019 and a total of 368 new jobs over the next five years.
A former employee at the burrito chains Dupont Circle store says she was harrassed and fired because she was pregnant. (Keith Srakocic/AP)
Chipotle Mexican Grill was ordered to pay $550,000 to a former employee of its Dupont Circle store after a jury ruled she had been discriminated against, and ultimately fired, for being pregnant.
Doris Garcia Hernandez, 31, who worked at the Chipotle on M Street NW, says her supervisor began restricting access to drinking water and forbidding routine breaks after she informed him that she was pregnant in November 2011, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She was fired a few months later, after leaving work early to go to a prenatal doctors appointment.
A jury of eight deliberated for three hours before issuing its decision last week. The award includes $50,000 in compensatory damages and $500,000 in punitive damages.
This is a victory for working women, said Christine Tschiderer, an attorney for the Washington Lawyers Committee who helped represent Hernandez. It sends a clear message to employers that pregnancy is not incompatible with the workplace.
A spokesman for Chipotle said the company does not plan to appeal the courts decision.
We maintain that Chipotles actions in this case were legal and appropriate, but we are moving on from this issue, Chris Arnold said in an email.
Hernandez says her supervisor, identified as David Hahn in court documents, harassed her in a variety of ways. When she needed to use the bathroom, for example, she was required to tell each employee in the store where she was going, and then wait for permission to leave her post. There were no such rules in place for non-pregnant workers, according to the complaint.
Hernandez was fired in January 2012. In her complaint, the mother of three says she told Hahn days in advance that she would need to leave early. He ignored those requests and on the morning of the appointment, told her she couldnt go. She did anyway.
The next morning, Hahn fired Hernandez in front of other employees in the stores lobby. Prior to announcing her pregnancy, Hernandez had received positive performance reviews for her work at the store, where she made tortillas and salsa, rolled burritos and prepped vegetables, the complaint says.
Hahn, who voluntarily left Chipotle shortly after firing Hernandez, testified on behalf of the company during the four-day trial, court documents show. During his testimony, Hahn said he had not imposed a separate bathroom policy for Hernandez, and that he had fired her for reasons unrelated to her pregnancy.
Calls to Chipotles attorneys to reach Hahn went unreturned.
The outcome of the proceedings comes as yet another blow for the fast-casual chain, which has been scrambling to recover after a series of E. coli and norovirus outbreaks linked to illnesses late last year. In February, Chipotle was ordered to pay three former general managers roughly $600,000 after a federal grand jury determined the company had discriminated against and fired the women because of their gender.
Hernandezs troubles at Chipotle spurred the D.C. Council to pass the Protecting Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which requires employers to provide pregnant workers with basic accommodations, such as access to drinking water and more frequent bathroom breaks.
The new law and last weeks verdict are particularly important in helping low-wage workers and immigrants fight gender and pregnancy discrimination, said Jonathan Smith, executive director of the Washington Lawyers Committee.
No woman should be forced to choose between a prenatal appointment and her job, Smith said.
(Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images; Illustration by The Washington Post)
The lawyer gave Donald Trump a note, written in Trumps own handwriting. He asked Trump to read it aloud.
Trump may not have realized it yet, but he had walked into a trap.
Peter, youre a real loser, Trump began reading.
The mogul had sent the note to a reporter, objecting to a story that said Trump owned a small minority stake in a Manhattan real estate project. Trump insisted that the word small was incorrect. Trump continued reading: I wrote, Is 50 percent small?
This [note] was intended to indicate that you had a 50 percent stake in the project, correct? said the lawyer.
Thats correct, Trump said.
For the first of many times that day, Trump was about to be caught saying something that wasnt true.
I own 30 percent, Trump admitted.
It was a mid-December morning in 2007 the start of an interrogation unlike anything else in the public record of Trumps life.
Trump had brought it on himself. He had sued a reporter, accusing him of being reckless and dishonest in a book that raised questions about Trumps net worth. The reporters attorneys turned the tables and brought Trump in for a deposition.
For two straight days, they asked Trump question after question that touched on the same theme: Trumps honesty.
The lawyers confronted the mogul with his past statements and with his companys internal documents, which often showed those statements had been incorrect or invented. The lawyers were relentless. Trump, the bigger-than-life mogul, was vulnerable cornered, out-prepared and under oath.
Thirty times, they caught him.
Trump had misstated sales at his condo buildings. Inflated the price of membership at one of his golf clubs. Overstated the depth of his past debts and the number of his employees.
That deposition 170 transcribed pages offers extraordinary insights into Trumps relationship with the truth. Trumps falsehoods were unstrategic needless, highly specific, easy to disprove. When caught, Trump sometimes blamed others for the error or explained that the untrue thing really was true, in his mind, because he saw the situation more positively than others did.
Have you ever lied in public statements about your properties? the lawyer asked.
I try and be truthful, Trump said. Im no different from a politician running for office. You always want to put the best foot forward.
In his presidential campaign, Trump has sought to make his truth-telling a selling point. He nicknamed his main Republican opponent Lyin Ted Cruz. He called his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR! in a recent Twitter message. I will present the facts plainly and honestly, he said in the opening of his speech at the Republican National Convention. We cannot afford to be so politically correct anymore.
Trump has had a habit of telling demonstrable untruths during his presidential campaign. The Washington Posts Fact Checker has awarded him four Pinocchios the maximum a statement can receive 39 times since he announced his bid last summer. In many cases, his statements echo those in the 2007 deposition: They are specific, checkable and wrong.
Trump said he opposed the Iraq War at the start. He didnt. He said hed never mocked a disabled New York Times reporter. He had. Trump also said the National Football League had sent him a letter, objecting to a presidential debate that was scheduled for the same time as a football game. It hadnt.
Last week, Trump claimed that he had seen footage taken at a top-secret location and released by the Iranian government showing a plane unloading a large amount of cash to Iran from the U.S. government. He hadnt. Trump later conceded hed been mistaken hed seen TV news video that showed a plane during a prisoner release.
But, even under the spotlight of this campaign, Trump has never had an experience quite like this deposition on Dec. 19 and 20, 2007.
He was trapped in a room with his own prior statements and three high-powered lawyers.
A very clear and visible side effect of my lawyers questioning of Trump is that he [was revealed as] a routine and habitual fabulist, said Timothy L. OBrien, the author Trump had sued.
The Washington Post sent the Trump campaign a detailed list of questions about this deposition, listing all the times when Trump seemed to have been caught in a false or unsupported statement. The Post asked Trump whether he wanted to challenge any of those findings and whether he had felt regret when confronted with them.
He did not answer those questions.
LEFT: Timothy L. OBriens book Trump Nation: The Art of Being the Donald. RIGHT: Andrew Ceresney, top, and Mary Jo White, bottom, who represented OBrien in the suit Trump brought against him. (Open Road Integrated Media; Mark Lennihan/AP; Seth Wenig/AP)
In 2005, OBrien, then a reporter for the New York Times, had published a book called Trump Nation: The Art of Being the Donald. In the book, OBrien cited people who questioned a claim at the bedrock of Trumps identity that his net worth was more than $5 billion. OBrien said he had spoken to three people who estimated that the figure was between $150 million and $250 million.
Trump sued. He later told The Post that he intended to hurt OBrien, whom he called a lowlife sleazebag.
I didnt read [the book], to be honest with you. . . . I never read it. I saw some of the things they said, Trump said later. I said: Go sue him. It will cost him a lot of money.
By filing suit, Trump hadnt just opened himself up to questioning he had opened a door into the opaque and secretive company he ran.
OBriens attorneys included Mary Jo White, now the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Andrew Ceresney, now the SECs director of enforcement. The lawsuit had given them the power to request that Trump turn over internal company documents, and they used it. They arrived at the deposition having already identified where Trumps public statements hadnt matched the private truth.
The questions began with that handwritten note and the 50 percent stake that wasnt 50 percent.
The 30 percent equates to much more than 30 percent, Trump explained. His reasoning was that he had not been required to put up money at the outset, so his 30 percent share seemed more valuable.
Are you saying that the real estate community would interpret your interest to be 50 percent, even though in limited partnership agreements its 30 percent? Ceresney asked.
Smart people would, Trump said.
Smart people?
Smart people would say its much more than 30 percent.
Trump inflates the numbers
TRUMP: I got more than a million dollars, because they have tremendous promotion expenses, to my advantage. In other words, they promote, which has great value, through billboards, through newspapers, through radio, I think through television yeah, through television.
And they spend again, Id have to ask them, but I bet they spend at least a million or two million or maybe even more than that on promoting Donald Trump.
LAWYER: But how much of the payments were cash?
TRUMP: Approximately $400,000.
LAWYER: So when you say publicly that you got paid more than a million dollars, youre including in that sum the promotional expenses that they pay?
TRUMP: Oh, absolutely, yes. That has a great value. It has a great value to me.
LAWYER: Do you actually say that when you say you got paid more than a million dollars publicly?
TRUMP: I dont break it down.
On to the next one.
I was paid more than a million dollars, Trump said when Ceresney asked how much hed been paid for a speech in 2005 at New York Citys Learning Annex, a continuing-education center.
Ceresney was ready.
But how much of the payments were cash?
Approximately $400,000, Trump said.
Trump said his personal math included the intangible value of publicity: The Learning Annex had advertised his speech heavily, and Trump thought that helped his brand. Therefore, in his mind hed been paid more than $1 million, even though his actual payment was $400,000.
Do you actually say that, when you say you got a million dollars publicly? Ceresney asked.
I dont break it down, Trump said.
As the deposition went on, the lawyers led Trump through case after case in which hed overstated his success.
Donald Trump, right, is interviewed by Larry King during a taping of "Larry King Live" on Oct, 7, 1999. (Marty Lederhandler/AP)
The lawyer played a clip from Larry Kings talk show, in which King asked Trump how many people worked for him. Twenty-two thousand or so, Trump said.
Are all those people on your payroll? Ceresney asked him.
No, not directly, Trump said. He said he was counting employees of other companies that acted as suppliers and subcontractors to his businesses.
Another one. In OBriens book, Trump had been quoted saying: I had zero borrowings from [my fathers] estate. . . . I give you my word.
Under oath:
Mr. Trump, have you ever borrowed money from your fathers estate?
I think a small amount a long time ago, Trump said. I think it was like in the $9 million range.
Another one. In one of his own books, Trump had said about one of his golf courses: Membership costs $300,000. I think its a bargain.
Under oath:
In fact, your memberships were not selling at $300,000 at that time, correct?
Weve sold many for two hundred thousand, Trump said. Then, Trump pushed it upward: Weve sold many for, I think, two-fifty.
But this was not the place to push it.
The lawyer had an internal Trump document that showed the true figure $200,000 per membership, Ceresney said.
Correct, Trump acknowledged. Right.
Trump passes the blame
LAWYER: You didnt correct it when you read the book?
TRUMP: Well, I did correct it, and she didnt correct it.
But you could have her in as a witness, and Im sure well bring her in as a witness because what she wrote was I asked her to change it to billions of dollars in debt, and she probably forgot.
LAWYER: And when you read it, you didnt correct it?
TRUMP: I didnt see it.
LAWYER: You didnt see it.
TRUMP: I read it very quickly. I didnt see it. I would have corrected it, but I didnt see it.
In some cases, Trump acknowledged he was wrong but not that he was at fault. Instead, he sought to turn the blame on others.
This is somebody that wrote it, probably Meredith McIver, Trump said at one point when confronted with another false statement. That is a mistake.
McIver, a staff writer with the Trump Organization, blazed into the public eye last month for having inserted plagiarized material taken from Michelle Obamas 2008 convention speech in the convention speech of Trumps wife, Melania. McIver said it had been an innocent mistake.
But in this deposition more than eight years earlier, Trump was blaming her for a mistake in one of his own books, How to Get Rich. In the 2004 book, co-written with McIver, Trump described his massive debt load during a low period in the early 1990s. I owed billions upon billions of dollars $9.2 billion to be exact, the book said as it retold the story of his rise back to success.
Trump signs copies of his new book "How to Get Rich" in New York in 2004. (Ramin Talaie/Corbis via Getty Images)
The depth of that financial hole made it seem even more impressive that Trump had climbed out again. But the figure was wrong. His actual debts had been much less.
I pointed it out to the person who wrote the book, Trump said, meaning McIver.
Right after she wrote the book?
Thats correct, Trump said.
Then the lawyer showed Trump another book hed written with McIver, three years later.
In fact, I was $9 billion in debt, Trump read aloud. A similar error, repeated. It was McIvers fault again.
She probably forgot, Trump said.
And when you read it, you didnt correct it?
I didnt see it, Trump said.
You didnt see it.
I read it very quickly, Trump said about a book he was credited with writing.
Trump makes unsupported claims
LAWYER: When you wrote, OBrien . . . threatened sources by telling them he can, quote, Settle scores with enemies by writing negative articles about them, what was the basis for that statement?
TRUMP: Just my perception of him.
I dont know that he indicated anything like that to me, but I think he probably did indirectly. Just my dealing with him.
In other cases, the lawyers prodded Trump into admitting that he had made authoritative-sounding statements without any proof behind them. These statements were another kind of untruth.
They were not necessarily false. They might have been true.
But Trump said them without knowing one way or the other.
What basis do you have for that statement? Ceresney asked in one case, about an assertion from Trump that OBrien had been reported to the police for stalking.
I guess that was probably taken off the Internet, Trump said.
On to the next one.
You wrote, OBrien . . . threatened sources by telling them he can, quote, settle scores with enemies by writing negative articles about them, Ceresney asked, reading Trumps words from a legal complaint. What was the basis for that statement?
Just my perception of him, Trump said. I dont know that he indicated anything like that to me, but I think he probably did indirectly.
The most striking example was a question at the very heart of the legal case: What was Trumps actual net worth?
Trump had told OBrien he was worth up to $6 billion. But the lawyers confronted him with other documents from Trumps accountants and from outside banks that seemed to show the real figure was far lower.
The lawyers asked: Have you ever not been truthful about your net worth?
Trumps answer here was that the truth about his wealth was in essence up to him to decide.
Trump outside the 92-story Trump International Hotel and Tower underway in Chicago in 2007. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)
My net worth fluctuates, and it goes up and down with markets and with attitudes and with feelings, even my own feelings, Trump said. But I try.
The interrogation finally ended after two days. Trumps attorney made a final demand.
I want the record to be crystal clear that every single word, every question, every answer, every word, is confidential, said the attorney, Mark Ressler.
In 2009, a judge dismissed Trumps case against OBrien. Trump appealed, but in 2011 that was denied, too.
Along the way, this once-confidential deposition became part of the public record when OBriens attorneys attached it to one of their motions.
In a brief statement this week, Trump said he felt the lawsuit was a success, despite his loss.
OBrien knows nothing about me, Trump said. His book was a total failure and ultimately I had great success doing what I wanted to do costing this third rate reporter a lot of legal fees.
OBrien, now executive editor of Bloomberg View, said Trump got that wrong. The publisher and insurance companies covered the cost.
Donald Trump lost his lawsuit and, unlike him, it didnt cost me a penny to litigate it, he said.
1 of 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail View Photos The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November. Caption The GOP presidential nominee is pressing his case ahead of Election Day. Nov. 7, 2016 Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at SNHU Arena in Manchester, N.H. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.
Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report.
Dear Dr. Fox: Can you share your philosophy or professional views on how we can keep animals well and prevent their suffering?
L.O., the District
DF: I contend that all animals should be treated humanely and that their basic biological, psychological and emotional needs be met, whether they are companion animals, farm animals or captive wild species.
Resistance to adopting humane alternatives to how animals are raised and killed by the pig, livestock and poultry industries, with their disease-promoting concentrated animal feeding operations, is problematic.
Government support of this agribusiness sector and allied pharmaceutical food industry complex puts consumers and the environment at grave risk. It must be confronted by the medical and veterinary professions, and be supplanted by more humane, ecological and healthy food production systems and informed consumer choices.
Above all, I see my mission as helping to heal the human-nonhuman bond, which involves education and inspiration through promoting understanding and respect; a relationship with the environment; and ethical animal breeding and rearing. We must focus on optimal nurturing of the body, mind and spirit of every creature under our care and assumed dominion.
These basic animal rights are the core principles of holistic, preventive medicine. Combined with veterinary bioethics and applied veterinary ethology, it optimizes the provision of animals behavioral needs. For details, see my books, Healing Animals and the Vision of One Health and Animals and Nature First.
LIVES OF SUFFERING
Dear Dr. Fox:I have a 13-year-old pug. He sneezes and coughs from his throat rather than his lungs. Im told it is his trachea.
He has been on various medications. The latest is a high dose of steroids, which hes been on for almost a week with no relief. Hes been coughing and sneezing for months now.
J.M., Cumberland, Md.
DF: I am so sorry for your poor dog. So many dogs afflicted with the condition called brachycephaly a foreshortened muzzle or squashed-in face suffer lives of misery.
Brachycephalic animals are unable to breathe easily, so they cannot enjoy much physical activity. The pressure created by the abnormally narrowed nasal orifices and the excess of soft palate tissue in the pharynx (back of the throat) set up such a negative pressure that the trachea (wind pipe) collapses.
Pulling hard when the dog is wearing a collar may aggravate this; I advise a no-neck-pressure harness for all the afflicted breeds, including bulldogs, boxers, Boston terriers and pugs. These dogs also have protruding eyes, which make them more injury- and infection-prone. The large, domed heads mean difficult births, often calling for emergency surgical intervention. Many of these breeds are more popular than ever.
Remedial surgery to reduce the amount of soft palate tissue and widen the nasal orifices can help provide these poor dogs with better quality of life. But the ultimate solution is to stop breeding those with extreme brachycephaly and change the breed standards to stipulate longer muzzles and snouts.
In Britain, a committee that includes the British Veterinary Association, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Kennel Club and breed club representatives has been set up to address this long-neglected, human-caused genetic abnormality, which can result in much suffering. The American Veterinary Medical Association, of which I am a member, and the Humane Society of the United States, for which I once served as a vice president, should follow suit, along with the American Kennel Club.
KEEP EARS, TAILS INTACT
Dear Dr. Fox: I would like to address the response you received from Brandi Hunter, vice president of public relations for the American Kennel Club, which you printed in your column recently.
Hunter states, The AKC is dedicated to the well-being of all dogs; it in no way condones or supports substandard care.
Would you consider the painful and systematic ear and tail docking the AKC insists certain breeds have to maintain their vision of how a dog looks under the widely accepted dog standard substandard? The AKC inflicts a selfish vision of how some breeds should look, which is not the way they are born to look. The maiming of these helpless animals is animal abuse and absolutely unethical.
Hunter also mentions various breeder education courses. Do they mention in these courses that the tail is actually part of the animals spine, and dogs ears are full of nerves? I cannot begin to imagine the pain these dogs experience and the potential health and emotional issues caused by these procedures.
J.R., Arlington County
DF: I sent your letter to the American Kennel Club. This is the reply that I received:
Canine Legislation Position Statement: ear cropping, tail docking and dewclaw removal
The American Kennel Club recognizes that ear cropping, tail docking and dewclaw removal, as described in certain breed standards, are acceptable practices integral to defining and preserving breed character and/or enhancing good health. Appropriate veterinary care should be provided.
This position statement is ethically unacceptable, except insofar as the removal of extra, nonfunctional dewclaws on the hind legs, which is not cosmetic but needed to stop them being torn when the dog runs.
Tail docking and ear cropping should be phased out and breed standards changed, but the AKC is clearly pandering to breed clubs and those dog show judges who see nothing wrong with such mutilations. For more details, see my article Dog Mutilations, posted on my website, drfoxvet.net.
In more dog-friendly (and, in my opinion, less barbaric) cultures, such as in the United Kingdom, veterinarians amputate dogs tails only for medical reasons, and certain breed standards that involve ear cropping and tail docking are not evident in dog shows.
BIRDS IN A GILDED CAGE
Dear Dr. Fox:I was happy to see you remind us that captive animals are not necessarily pets. In this case, it was regarding reptiles and amphibians. Do you consider birds captive animals, as well?
Why is it acceptable to take a creature with the awesome ability to fly, clip its wings, cage it and call it a pet?
The only captive animals Ive kept were fancy mice during my daughters childhood. We tried to keep their habitat as natural as possible, and we tried to keep them busy hunting for food and nesting materials. We kept a wheel available, but it was rarely used. I always hoped that meant they were not going stir-crazy enough to need it!
S.P.K., Louisville
DF: For many people, bringing any animal into the home is like taking in a new family member to be treated with respect and understanding. For others, regrettably, they are disposable commodities live toys for the kids who soon lose interest when there is a lack of parental supervision and example.
In general, animals adapt best to living with us if they have no fear. In the process of domesticating animals such as white mice, rabbits, ferrets, canaries and parakeets, there are genetic changes that mean less vigilance and less fearfulness and fright-flight-fight reactivity, and therefore less stress and potential suffering. This makes these animals easier to socialize, and they develop an emotional bond with people. Freedom from fear is a basic animal right.
Another right is a proper, safe environment. For any bird, captive and wild but not releasable, such as an Amazon parrot, or domesticated, such as a canary, this means a safe place to fly, preferably a large flight cage or room. Clipping or pinioning their wings is more for convenience than their safety, and it amounts to a cruel and unnecessary mutilation. Yet another right for highly social avian species such as parakeets is group housing, so that they have the security and enrichment of one anothers company.
Any bird in a cage except briefly for medical purposes is an abomination. Many suffer, developing stress-related diseases, physical problems from lack of activity and behavioral problems, such as feather-pulling and self-mutilation.
Michael W. Fox, author of a newsletter and books on animal care, welfare and rights, is a veterinarian with doctoral degrees in medicine and animal behavior. Send letters to animaldocfox@gmail.com or write to him at United Feature Syndicate, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, Mo. 64106.
1 of 25 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Must-haves for back-to-school shopping View Photos To help you get started, we enlisted five parenting gurus to pick items for kids of all ages. Caption To help you get started, we enlisted five parenting gurus to pick items for kids of all ages. Preschool and kindergarten The whimsical Oh Joy! bandages are part of designer and lifestyle blogger Joy Chos collaboration with Target ($3, target.com ). Oh Joy! Wait 1 second to continue.
With the first day of school on the horizon, theres no time like the present to stock up on gear for your young scholar.
Back-to-school shopping is like a rite of passage, says Elizabeth Thorp, editor of the comedy site PYPO and founder of Poshbrood, a blog that features mom-tested travel spots.
But figuring out what to buy can be time-consuming and stressful, not to mention expensive. This year, the National Retail Federation predicts that back-to-school spending in the United States will total $75.8 billion, up from last years $68 billion.
To help you get started, we enlisted five parenting gurus to pick must-have items for kids of all ages, from preschoolers to college-bound teens.
Preschool and kindergarten
Joy Cho, the designer and lifestyle blogger behind Oh Joy!, says its never too early to start prepping your pint-size pupil for learning. This is the age where children are transitioning from being toddlers, where you have to help them with everything, to being big kids, she says. Theyre forming distinct personalities and preferences (exciting!) but still require parents to do most of the selecting. Because Chos 5-year-old daughter, Ruby, is so little and doesnt always like to choose all her things, I get stuff knowing that we need it or as I come across things, Cho says. I do a lot of shopping online, as opposed to the massive, Lets get all this stuff all in one day! route.
Chos preferred brown-bag alternative is Packit ($20, packit.com), a freezable lunch cooler that keeps food fresh for nearly 10 hours. It makes you feel a little more at ease, knowing that their lunch is going to remain cold until the time they need to eat it, she says.
To help kids get used to putting on their own shoes, Cho recommends a pair of cute Velcro or slip-on shoes, such as this nautical pair of espadrilles from the shoe company Toms ($36, toms.com). Those have been a great one for us, because the Velcro is only one strap [and] easy to slip on, she says. Preschool kids can figure it out.
(Rockets of Awesome )
For busy parents, Cho likes the idea behind Rockets of Awesome, a new clothing subscription service that sends on-trend, seasonal kids clothes directly to your home. The boys and girls collections, offered in sizes 2 to 14, feature clothes from $12 to $36 (rocketsofawesome.com).
(Nature Play Art)
Nature Plays jumbo crayons are a hit with Ruby ($4 for a set of 12, store.natureplayart.com). The triangular ones, for me, are key, Cho says. The easy-to-grasp crayons are fashioned for little kids fingers and, as a bonus, their shape prevents them from rolling off tables and desks, saving parents (or teachers) the extra cleanup. Ill also stick several in my bag and have them ready for when we are out in public spaces, she says.
Cuts and scraped knees are no fun at any age, but bright, patterned Band-Aids make the healing process a little more colorful. Chos whimsical Oh Joy! bandages are part of her collaboration with Target ($3, target.com). Kids love them, but millennial moms are also excited to use them, because theyre not cartoon characters or over-the-top kid-like, Cho says.
Elementary school
Its Simon Isaacss job, as co-founder and chief executive of Fatherly, a fast-growing parenting website, to have his finger on the pulse of millennial parents and, by extension, their kids. For our roundup, he selected five fun, gender-neutral items that can inspire and stand up to busy grade-schoolers.
Mix Legos with electronics, and youll get the LittleBits STEAM student set ($300, amazon.com), an educational tool kit designed to help kids get excited about science, technology, engineering, art/design and math (STEAM) subjects through hands-on activities. Isaacs says its great for after-school play and an easy way to get kids into STEAM education without necessarily being behind a screen.
One of Isaacss top choices for the next school year is the OmieBox ($39.50, omielife.com). A product of a successful Kickstarter campaign, this lunchbox, designed for little ones, includes a durable, dual-insulation system that keeps compartments temperature-controlled (hot or cold) for roughly four hours perfect for kids lunchtime. The set is dishwasher-friendly and includes several removable dividers to allow it to fit all types of food. Theres a million different ways to configure it, depending on what foods and types of things you are packing, he says.
(Yoobi x i am OTHER )
Look beyond the school-supply aisles when putting together your childrens pencil boxes. Yoobis latest back-to-school collaboration with Pharrell Williamss brand, I Am Other, features pens and other products with messages that promote confidence and creativity and celebrate otherness ($10 for bundle of pens, pencils and highlighters, yoobi.com). Bonus: With every Yoobi product purchased, one is donated to a classroom in need. Think of it as Toms shoes meets Staples, he says.
Young kids, especially elementary school students, have a tendency to put a lot of wear and tear on their backpacks. The durable, water-resistant Patagonia Kids Bonsai Backpack ($59, patagonia.com) will withstand the elements and the toughest schoolyard dragging. Its a really rugged, great pack, Isaacs says.
Nothing says the start of school like a fresh pair of sneakers. Isaacs recommends the Los Angeles-based, unisex shoe brand AKID ($80, shop.nordstrom.com ). The fashion-forward kicks, which feature fun prints such as pineapples and tie-dye, are super-rugged, Isaacs says, and great for keeping up with the kids at recess. Your kid will probably be the only one on the playground with it, he says.
Middle school
Jessica McFadden has back-to-school shopping down to a fine art. It all begins two weeks before the first day of school, says the mother of three and writer behind the popular blog A Parent in Silver Spring. We go through the kids school-supplies lists first, then tackle their closets and then go through their hand-me-downs from other siblings, McFadden says. That being said, there are always things that dont make school-supply lists that youll want to stock up on before the school year starts.
Kids tend to really put value in their tennis shoes, McFadden says. Or, as they call it, their shoe game. She recommends a pair of low-top mesh sneakers from the Nike Roshe series ($65-$160, nike.com) or Adidas Bounce series ($65-$135, adidas.com), which are often on sale online. They are colorful, on-trend and breathable, which helps prevent stinky preteen feet.
No more lost-and-found mishaps with these custom name labels from Minted ($16 for 72 labels, minted.com). They are so much more effective than just writing your kids names with a Sharpie on the label, says McFadden, who uses them on her three childrens clothing. They last through multiple washes and are really small but very easy to read. They are especially helpful for kids who wear uniforms.
Middle school is a popular time for parents to send their kids to school with a cellphone for the first time. McFadden recommends investing in a waterproof, drop-resistant case, such as the LifeProof Fre ($50-$90, lifeproof.com).
Embrace your kids personal interests with a shirt from SnorgTees ($12-$20, snorgtees.com). McFadden says kids love the sites quirky and pop-culture-inspired tees, which riff off popular TV series such as Gilmore Girls and Doctor Who and are silly and ironic while still being appropriate for school. Its great for when youre in that no mans land, between being a kid and a teenager and still want to embrace your childhood but not look too babyish at the same time, she says. SnorgTees are always at the top of her teens drawer.
(Case It )
A game-changer for her 12-year-old son was the Mighty Zip Tab by Case It ($22, caseit.com). I bought him a standard three-ring binder in a cool color, per the school list, but after two months it was falling apart, McFadden says. Her middle-schooler took a cue from the older students and requested a zip-around three-ring binder with a strap. Its so much more convenient to lug around and keeps things in place, she says.
High school
Before Elizabeth Thorp, the PYPO editor, commits to big back-to-school purchases, she scopes Basket, a price-comparison app, to find the best and closest deal. You just search what you want, be it pens, pencils, even sauvignon blanc, and it will pull up all the stores that are near you and tell you which stores offer the cheapest price, she says.
Another of her tricks is to purchase certain school supplies while vacationing in another state, if that states sales tax is lower. In Maine, things are a lot cheaper, compared to Washington, so Ive started stocking the kids up on the core items, like Number 2 pencils, Thorp says.
As for apparel, she suggests waiting a week or two after school starts before making big purchases. Teens go to school and notice what the other kids are wearing that they didnt know about and inevitably want.
Teens are on their phones. A lot. Whether it be Snapchat or Pokemon Go thats draining their battery, its a good idea to invest in a case that doubles as a backup battery pack, such as Mophies Juice Pack Reserve case ($60, mophie.com). In my era, the 1980s, I had to find a payphone. Now, you can just throw the case in your backpack and recharge it throughout your day, Thorp says. Oh, my battery ran out is no longer an excuse.
For girls, Thorp recommends the Girl Crush 17-month agenda ($20, bando.com) for the new school year. It fits this recent movement of girl power, Thorp says, like the United State of Women convention and Michelle Obamas amazing speech at the Democratic National Convention. It also keeps teens accountable and prepared for when they have to handle their own appointments. Its hardcover, affordable and includes upbeat, positive messages, Thorp says. Think of it like an assignment notebook mixed with a diary.
Backpacks can be a way for teens to express their personalities. Thorp recommends JanSport High Stakes backpacks ($40, jansport.com), which feature wraparound, attention-grabbing graphics, such as graffiti art, American flags and beachscapes. When I was growing up, I had a plain red backpack, she says. Here, theres a bag for every personality. The packs are teen-tested and parent-approved. Weve used ours a bunch of times, and they are still in great condition, Thorp says.
To encourage teens to stay hydrated, Thorp likes the stylish, metallic 17-ounce reusable bottles from Swell ($42, swellbottle.com). Offered in a variety of sizes and customizable from the cap down, the bottles look good, are environmentally friendly and encourage kids to drink water, whether theyre at sports games or in between classes, she says.
Keychains arent just for little kids any more. This cute leather tassel from Urban Outfitters ($26, urbanoutfitters.com) includes a concealed USB charging cord for an iPhone. High school kids can clip it on their keys, purse or backpack and have it with them, wherever they go, Thorp says. Its leather, cute and expensive-looking.
College
Lisa Heffernan, co-founder of the popular parenting blog Grown & Flown, is well versed in all things college. She and her business partner, Mary Dell Harrington, were inspired to create the site, geared toward parents of kids ages 15 to 25, in 2005 after sending their eldest off to college. We were dealing with a lot of issues surrounding this age group that we were not seeing touched on anywhere, Heffernan says.
When it comes to outfitting a college freshman, one thing to keep in mind, Heffernan warns, is that it is simply going to be more expensive than previous years. Many students need laptops, mini-fridges and other dorm furnishings. We like to call it the mother of all back-to-school shopping trips, Heffernan jokes.
To keep costs under control, make a budget and figure out with your teen which items are necessary and which are splurges. That being said, its okay if your teen doesnt have every single thing upon move-in. Only buy the things that you know 100 percent theyre going to use, Heffernan says. Its not 1984. As teens get used to their living situation, have them order things online that they need.
Heffernan recommends an ultra-compact personal safety device, such as a ROBOCOPP personal alarm ($15-$20, robocopp.com), as added security for teens late-night walks home from the library or elsewhere. This tiny device can be attached to a keychain or backpack and can make as much noise as an ambulance when activated. One of the biggest issues that is really making college parents nervous right now is the notion of sexual assault, Heffernan says. While there is nothing that can 100 percent ensure against it, these devices might help in some circumstances.
(First Alert )
Ask your teen to lock away prescription medicine, passports, emergency cash, jewelry and other valuables. You just dont want those kinds of things sitting around, getting lost or getting lifted, she says. Her pick is the First Alert Deluxe Digital Security Box ($50, firstalertstore.com), a small, flat steel box that can fit inside a desk drawer. The device also boasts an emergency override system, in case your teen forgets the passcode.
(Herschel Supply Co.)
A sturdy backpack is a staple for college students, who are often lugging laptops and textbooks long distances. In high school, kids jump out of a car and run straight into a building that has covered walkways, Heffernan says. In college, thats not going to happen. Teens are going to walk across campus in the pouring rain. The Herschel Supply Co. Pop Quiz Backpack ($90, shop.herschelsupply.com) is trendy and water-resistant and was designed with students in mind, with features such as a padded laptop sleeve.
Phones are the No. 1 safety device. Kids are on the go all day, and you do not want them having a dead phone, Heffernan says. She prefers the compact, affordable external charger from Jackery ($30, amazon.com), which can easily be thrown into a backpack or purse.
Dorm rooms are noisy and can make it impossible to study and sleep, Heffernan says. A solution to escape the chaos without leaving the bedroom is a pair of Bluetooth headphones from Urbanears ($99-$119, urbanears.com). Offered in a selection of colors, they provide up to 14 hours of solid play time before a charge is needed.
Anne Arundel County
The following were among incidents reported by the Anne Arundel County police. For information, call 410-222-8050.
GLEN BURNIE AREA
HOMICIDES
Hideaway Loop, 400 block, 10:24 p.m. July 31. A Glen Burnie man, 22, with gunshot wounds to his upper body was found lying in a parking lot. The man was taken to a hospital, where he died of his injuries.
ASSAULTS
Crain Hwy. and Fifth Ave., 4:10 a.m. Aug. 1. Three males in sport-utility vehicle pointed what appeared to be a handgun at a pedestrian. A Severn man, 20, and two Severn youths, were charged with first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, trespassing and disorderly conduct.
THEFTS/BREAK-INS
Baltimore Washington Blvd., 7500 block, 4 a.m. July 30. Two youths were seen leaving a high school in a vehicle, after they had jumped a fence and entered the school through an unlocked door. A Severn male youth, 17, and a Glen Burnie woman, 18, were charged with fourth-degree burglary and trespassing.
WEAPONS
Pioneer Dr. and Severn Orchards Cir., 5:30 p.m. Aug. 3. Several shots were fired from a vehicle apparently struck a silver sport-utility vehicle. No one was injured.
LINTHICUM AREA
THEFTS/BREAK-INS
Pinnacle Dr., 800 block, Aug. 2. During a surveillance for suspected theft of rooftop air conditioners, seven industrial units were found in the bed of a vehicle. Two Curtis Bay men, 37 and 47, and a woman, 32, were charged with destruction of more than $1,000, theft of more than $10,000, second and fourth-degree burglary and trespassing.
Annapolis
These were among incidents reported by the Annapolis Police Department. For information, call 410-268-9000.
HOMICIDES
Royal St., 900 block, 9:26 p.m. July 28. Officers responded to a report of a vehicle that had crashed into a building. Officers found the driver had been shot. He was taken to a medical center, where he died from his injuries.
ROBBERIES
W. Washington St., 3:05 p.m. Aug. 1. A man was robbed of cash.
ASSAULTS
Newtowne Dr., 700 block, 4 p.m. Aug. 1. During an argument, one of the two involved left and returned with a firearm.
Newtowne Dr., 700 block, 9:45 p.m. Aug. 2. A woman, 33, was shot in the arm. An investigation was continuing.
THEFTS/BREAK-INS
Americana Dr., 700 block, July 29 to Aug. 1. Two kayaks were stolen from a dock.
Bridle Path Lane, 300 block, 6 p.m. July 31 to 7:50 a.m. Aug. 1. Cash was stolen from a vehicle.
Bridle Path Lane, 300 block, 9 p.m. July 31 to 6:30 a.m. Aug. 1. A vehicle was entered, but nothing was reported stolen.
Cedar Park Rd., 1200 block, 11 p.m. July 27 to 6:45 a.m. July 28. Cash was stolen from a vehicle.
Frederick Douglass St., 1000 block, 10:30 p.m. July 31 to noon, Aug. 1. Someone entered a home, opened drawers and threw property on the floor. Nothing was reported stolen.
Landings Ct., 8:30 p.m. July 31 to 9:10 a.m. Aug. 1. A wallet was stolen from a vehicle.
Regent St., 1400 block, 4:40 p.m. Aug. 1 to 6:30 a.m. Aug. 2. A pair of sunglasses were stolen from a vehicle.
Rockwell Ct., 10 p.m. Aug. 1 to 7 a.m. Aug. 2. A wallet was stolen from a vehicle.
Rosecrest Dr., 9 p.m. July 31 to 10:20 a.m. Aug. 1. Cash and an iPod were stolen from a vehicle.
Roselawn Dr., 100 block, 6:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. July 27. Video games and equipment, cash, jewelry, a vehicle jump box, a rifle and three shotguns were stolen from a home.
Roselawn Rd., 100 block, 4 a.m. Aug. 2. A purse was stolen from a vehicle.
Tyler Ave., 1100 block, 9 p.m. July 27 to 8 a.m. July 28. A purse was stolen from a vehicle.
Water St., 2:30 a.m. Aug. 2. A television was stolen from a home.
Winslow Ct., 6:30 p.m. Aug. 1 to 7 a.m. Aug. 2. Someone entered four vehicles; nothing was reported stolen.
Howard County
These were among incidents reported by the Howard County Police Department. For information, call 410-313-2236.
COLUMBIA AREA
ROBBERIES
Columbia Rd., 5600 block, 3:56 a.m. July 30. An armed male stole a phone and wallet from another male and fled.
Dobbin Rd., 6400 block, 5:16 a.m. Aug. 2. A masked male robbed a delivery person of his wallet, assaulted him and fled.
ASSAULTS
Cradlerock Way, 7200 block, 1:38 p.m. July 31. During her arrest for shoplifting at a grocery store, a woman assaulted a security guard and police officer. A Columbia woman, 27, was charged with second-degree assault and theft.
THEFTS/BREAK-INS
Brook Way, 5200 block, 10:49 p.m. July 30. Electronic devices were stolen from a home.
Hayshed Lane, 8500 block, 7 a.m.-4:27 p.m. July 29. Jewelry was stolen from a home.
Pamplona Rd., 9500 block, 10:38 a.m. July 30. Two bicycles were stolen from a garage at a residence, and coins were stolen from a vehicle.
Stevens Forest Rd., 5700 block, 5:56 a.m. July 29. Air bags were stolen from five vehicles overnight.
MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS
Oak Bush Terr., 8400 block, 10:31 to 11:16 p.m. July 28. A 2011 black Ford Escape was stolen.
ELKRIDGE AREA
DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY
Greenfield Rd., 6200 block, 7 to 9 p.m. July 28. A vehicle in a garage at a home was damaged; nothing was stolen.
ELLICOTT CITY AREA
THEFTS/BREAK-INS
Church Lane, 5 p.m. July 28. Four males approached an 86-year-old man at his home and asked whether he needed work done on his driveway. While the man was talking to them, one went into his home and stole cash and jewelry.
Main St., 8000 block, July 31. Four bottles of liquor were stolen from a restaurant that had been damaged during a flood. When a woman was approached by an officer, she threw one of the bottles toward the officer. An Ellicott City woman, 29, was charged with second-degree assault, fourth-degree burglary and theft.
Ramblewood Rd., 3100 block, 4:30 to 9 p.m. July 27. Cash and jewelry were stolen from a home.
Resort Rd., 11100 block, 6:58 a.m. July 31. A window was open and a screen damaged at a business; nothing was reported stolen.
West Spring Dr., 3200 block, 10 p.m. July 26 to 8:55 p.m. July 28. A laptop computer was stolen from a home.
DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY
Normandy Woods, 3100 block, June 27 to Aug. 1. An apartment was damaged.
JESSUP AREA
ROBBERIES
Preston Ct., 8200 block, 9:49 p.m. July 30. Four people assaulted a woman and stole her shoes.
LAUREL AREA
ROBBERIES
Covered Wagon Dr., 9600 block, 10:45 p.m. Aug. 2. After a man tried to take photos of a group of males standing by his vehicle, they stole the phone and fled.
MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS
Freestate Dr., 8800 block, 12:30 p.m. Aug. 1. A 2004 silver BMW X5 was stolen.
MOUNT AIRY AREA
THEFTS/BREAK-INS
Watersville Rd., 8:15 a.m. to 6:17 pm. July 28. Several items, including prescription medication, were stolen from a home.
SAVAGE AREA
THEFTS/BREAK-INS
Howard Hills Dr., 8800 block, 3:44 p.m. Aug. 2. A window was broken at a home and lights turned on; no other information was reported.
THE DISTRICT
Driver dies after
car strikes Metrobus
A driver was killed Wednesday afternoon in a fatal crash involving a car and a Metrobus in Southeast Washington.
A Metro spokesman said that the bus was traveling toward Foggy Bottom about 2:30 p.m. and that a Nissan Altima struck it from behind on Alabama Avenue.
The cars driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said 17 people were on the bus. He said four people were treated for injuries that were not considered to be life-threatening.
Victoria St. Martin
Man fatally shot near Gallaudet University
A man was fatally shot about 2 a.m. Wednesday in Ivy City near Gallaudet University in Northeast Washington.
D.C. police officers heard a gunshot and went to the 900 block of Mount Olivet Road NE.
The victim, whom police have not identified, was pronounced dead at the scene, spokeswoman Aquita Brown said.
Perry Stein
Second man arrested
in fatal Shaw shooting
Police arrested a second man Tuesday in connection with a shooting during a dice game in Shaw last week.
On Aug. 3, officers went to the 600 block of N Street NW after a report of a shooting and found two men with gunshot wounds, D.C. police said. Derryk Johnson, 19, of Northwest Washington and another victim were taken to hospitals. Johnson died of his injuries, authorities said.
Marc Butler, 19, of Suitland, Md., was charged with first-degree felony murder while armed.
Justin Wm. Moyer
MARYLAND
U.S. agency approves
flood aid request
Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Wednesday that the U.S. Small Business Administration had approved his request to declare a disaster in Howard County after a flood last month in Ellicott City that killed two people, destroyed a half-dozen buildings and damaged many other buildings.
The action allows businesses, homeowners and renters to apply for low-interest flood-recovery loans. We acted very quickly, and they acted very quickly, Hogan said of the federal response. The governor made the request Tuesday.
Destruction caused by a flash flood along Main Street in Ellicott City, MD, July 31, 2016. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post)
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Wednesday that the U.S. Small Business Administration has approved his request to declare Howard County a physical disaster area following a flood last month in Ellicott City that killed two people, destroyed a half-dozen buildings and caused extensive damage to many others.
We acted very quickly, and they acted very quickly, Hogan said of the response time from the federal government.
The governor made the request Tuesday.
The approval allows businesses, homeowners and renters to apply for low-interest loans to repair damages from the flood.
[In flood-devastated Ellicott City, Md., a vow to rebuild the historic downtown]
Hogan made the announcement after touring the commercial district for the first time since the day after the June 30 disaster. He was joined by Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman (R).
Hogan said the area looks totally different, noting that roads are clear of mud, buildings have been shored up and huge holes that were in the roadway have been filled.
Shoppers can save on sales tax during Maryland Tax-Free Week, which begins Sunday and runs through Saturday.
Comptroller Peter Franchot (D) has been promoting what he calls the second most popular shopping week of the year in Maryland by stopping in stores across the state to encourage shoppers to take advantage of the deals.
On Wednesday, he was joined by Gov. Larry Hogan (R) in two stores in Frederick.
Businesses love it, it gives them a shot in the arm, Franchot said. It helps the state get into a shopping mode. . . . Its a win-win.
Shoppers who buy clothes and footwear priced $100 or less, per item, do not pay the states 6 percent sales tax during the tax-free week.
The discovery of a potentially deadly bacteria at the Prince Georges Hospital Center should not impact the hospital operators bid for state approval of a new regional medical center in Largo, officials said Wednesday.
Dimensions Healthcare Systems, the nonprofit corporation that operates county hospitals, is asking health-care regulators to sign off on construction of a state-of-the-art hospital to replace the aging Cheverly facility where the pseudomonas germ was detected in the neonatal intensive care unit.
The unit has been shut down while the source of the bacteria is investigated, and nine patients were transferred to Childrens National Medical Center.
[NICU shuttered after bacteria found in nasal swabs of infants]
Approval of the regional medical center has been delayed amid questions about the facilitys proposed governance, financing and, most recently, its size and scope. Dimensions and its partner, the University of Maryland Medical System, say they will submit their modified application by Aug. 31.
Maryland and Prince Georges County are planning a new regional hospital campus in Largo. (Courtesy of Prince Georges County)
This is not the type of incident that would have any direct impact on the CON [Certificate of Need] project review process, said Paul Parker, director of the Center for Health Care Facilities Planning and Development for the Maryland Health Care Commission.
Maryland Health Care Commissioner Robert E. Moffit told project planners in May that the size of the medical center needed to be reduced before he can recommend the project for approval. He asked for specific details about how UMMS would take over Dimensions role as operator of the hospital facility a transition that is being closely watched by state elected leaders, including Gov. Larry Hogan (R).
[New management sought in quest for state-of-the-art regional hospital]
Since its founding in 1982, Dimensions has battled strikes, near-bankruptcy, lawsuits and severe reductions in patient volume, as more and more Prince Georges County residents sought health care elsewhere.
With the poor and uninsured making up an increasing share of its patient load, the organization has struggled to maintain its physical plant, dispel negative perceptions about the quality of its services and prove to state regulators that it makes sense to build a new hospital.
Officials from UMMS and Dimensions say they are working together and remain committed to the taxpayer-funded regional medical center project.
Since the discovery of the bacteria, UMMS epidemiology experts have been working closely with a team at the hospital center to find the source of the germ and decontaminate it, officials said.
The neonatal intensive care unit at Prince Georges Hospital Center in Md. was temporarily shut down on August 9 after tests discovered the potentially deadly pseudomonas bacteria. Nine babies were transferred to nearby Childrens National Medical Center in D.C. (Video: WUSA9 / Photo: Mark Gail/The Washington Post)
Dimensions provided little new information on Wednesday about where in the hospital the bacteria was detected, except to say that they think the contamination is isolated to one specific area, near the NICU.
Depending on the outcome of the germ investigation, Dimensions and the Prince Georges Hospital Center could face administrative consequences or be required to submit a plan to correct the practices that may have caused the contamination, state officials said.
But the sanctions would probably not rise to the level of suspending the hospitals license an extreme measure that, officials said, could jeopardize state clearance for the new hospitals certificate of need.
Local leaders said they are confident that will not happen.
This is a bacteria that can be found in many hospitals, and people work hard to keep it at bay, said Prince Georges County Health Officer Pamela Creekmur. Since this scenario can happen at any hospital, I dont see it should impact the CON.
A Northeast Washington man was arrested Tuesday and charged in the death of a woman found slain last week in her home in the Wheaton area, the Montgomery County police said.
Kwasi Sadler, 23, who lives on Sheriff Road NE, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Linda Cheryl Johnston, 72, the police said.
Johnston was found dead Aug. 3 in her home on Arcola Avenue in the Wheaton Hills neighborhood. She had worked as an administrative assistant for a defense contractor and was a church member with an interest in biblically linked archeological sites in the Middle East, a friend said.
Her body was discovered after neighbors noticed they had not seen her and contacted the police. The cause of death was not clear.
Police said they found trauma to her body. The nature of the trauma was not specified, but the Maryland medical examiners office ruled the death a homicide, the police said.
Johnston owned the brick house in the neighborhood north of downtown Wheaton but rented out a portion, according to friends and neighbors.
She drove a car and parked it in her driveway, but neighbors said they had not seen it since she was found.
Police on Tuesday night did not specify whether Sadler and Johnston knew each other.
The arrest was announced around 11 p.m., and police described no motive at the time. They said additional information would be given Wednesday morning.
A mural dedicated to Freddie Gray is shown near the location where he was arrested in Baltimore. (Win Mcnamee/Getty Images)
Baltimores top law enforcement and political leaders on Wednesday vowed a sweeping overhaul of the city Police Department after a searing rebuke of the agencys practices, which the Justice Department said regularly discriminated against black residents in poor communities.
Officials promised improved community relations, a purge of race-based policing and a modernized department that better trains officers and holds them accountable. But they warned that reforming an agency entrenched in a culture of unconstitutional policing would be a slow process and could cost millions of dollars.
Police reform wont happen overnight or by chance, Vanita Gupta, principal deputy assistant attorney general, said at a news conference officially unveiling the Justice Departments 163-page report. Its going to take time, and its going to require a focused and sustained effort.
[For Baltimore, many examples of what police reform could look like]
The Justice Department explicitly condemned many long-standing discriminatory enforcement practices by Baltimore police that allowed for illegal searches, arrests and stops of African Americans for minor offenses. But the highly critical report is also an indictment of zero tolerance and broken windows policing, which seek to quell crime by targeting minor offenses. Once heralded as groundbreaking crime-fighting strategies, they are now the subject of intense scrutiny amid the national debate over racially biased law enforcement.
Vanita Gupta, principal deputy assistant attorney general, delivers a statement on the findings of a scathing Justice Department report on the Baltimore Police Department. (Reuters)
The powerful thing about this report is the way in which it validates what many of us have been saying about zero-tolerance policing in Baltimore for a very long time, said Sherrilyn Ifill, the president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, who lived in the city for 15 years. There are many of us who recognized that it was making the community less safe.
Often listed among the countrys deadliest cities, Baltimore has long struggled with racial strife, poverty and high crime. The citys population had dropped significantly by the 1980s, as the crack epidemic drove the homicide rate to among the highest in the nation.
As political leaders in Baltimore sought ways to stem the bloodshed, City Council member Martin OMalley won the 1999 mayoral election with a tough on crime platform. Confronting a decade of 300 or more homicides annually, OMalley adopted the zero-tolerance policing strategy of New York City.
Arrests soared topping 108,000, prompting lawsuits and forcing judges to free prisoners to avoid overcrowding at the city jail.
Homicides dropped to 261 in OMalleys first year in office. But the numbers leveled off and then crept back up to 282 in the last year before he took office as Maryland governor in 2007.
[Strip searches, lock up all the black hoodies: Excerpts from Justice Dept. report]
A decade ago, with new leadership in the mayors office, the city abandoned zero-tolerance policing. The new administration concluded that it was not reducing crime and had badly damaged community relations.
The Justice Department, after its 14-month investigation, said despite that change, the old practices persisted.
The Departments current relationship with certain Baltimore communities is broken, the report states. This fractured relationship exists in part because of the Departments legacy of zero tolerance enforcement, the failure of many BPD officers to implement community policing principles, and the Departments lack of vision for engaging with the community.
In a statement released Wednesday, OMalley, who made a failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination this year, defended his record. He said the Justice Departments report doesnt consider data and trends on enforcement levels, discourtesy, excessive force, and police involved shootings prior to 2010. The statement also said the report doesnt consider efforts by his administration to reform the police department and improve training.
Such a review would have shown reductions in each of categories of police misconduct even as Baltimore closed down open air drug markets and achieved historic reductions in violent crime, the statement said. Make no mistake about it enforcement levels rose when we started closing down the open air drug markets that had been plaguing our poorest neighborhoods for years. But after peaking in 2003, arrest levels declined as violent crime was driven down.
The Justice Department found that zero-tolerance policing in Baltimore focused too much on the raw numbers of arrests and stops, which resulted in disproportionate stops of black residents over petty crimes such as loitering or trespassing.
The report cites several examples of how the enforcement strategy went wrong: a boy with no criminal record arrested for loitering outside his home; a black man in his mid-50s stopped 30 times in less than four years; and a police sergeant telling a patrol officer to make something up when there was no reason to stop and question a group of black men sitting on a corner.
These and similar arrests identified by our investigation reflect BPD officers exercising nearly unfettered discretion to criminalize the act of standing on public sidewalks, the report says.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D) said that while the findings of the report are challenging to hear, the investigation created a crucial foundation that will allow the city to change the department.
The report and its follow-up will help to heal the relationship between the police and our communities, Rawlings-Blake said.
Now that the investigation is complete, city officials will work with the Justice Department to implement a series of court-mandated reforms outlined in what is known as a consent decree. The mayor said it could cost the city $5 million to $10 million annually to make the suggested changes, which include improved training and new technology and equipment to modernize the police force.
[ Everybody is still in pain. But is it finally getting better in riot-scarred Baltimore? ]
The court-enforced order will be independently monitored.
City Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said he has already fired officers as a result of the Justice Departments investigation. Davis also said he would not tolerate policing that is sexist, racist or discriminatory.
Change is painful, growth is painful, he said, but nothing is as painful as being stuck in a place that we dont belong.
Baltimore has long struggled with strained relations between residents and police, but the need to ease those tensions became more urgent after the death of Freddie Gray in April 2015. Gray, 25, suffered a fatal spine injury in police custody, triggering demonstrations and riots that flung the city into the national debate over race-based policing and fatal law enforcement encounters involving black men.
Prosecutors dropped charges against three of the six officers charged in the Gray case after a city judge acquitted the other three in bench trials.
[Federal probe finds Baltimore Police Dept. racially discriminated in practices that target blacks]
Grays death prompted a number of police reforms, including installing cameras in the back of police vans, accelerating the citys body-camera program and developing new policies on the use of force.
Wednesdays report which focused on agency-wide, institutional practices is separate from a specific, ongoing probe into Grays death.
Perry Stein and Wesley Lowery contributed to this report.
BUTLER Butler will observe its 175th anniversary with the Butler Days Festival beginning Thursday and continuing through Sunday.
Thursday, the Butler United Methodist Church will host a hog roast beginning at 4:30 p.m. at the church. The church will then host the popular Allen Family in concert at 7 p.m.
Lynn Kaiser will lead a walk through Butler Cemetery at 6 p.m. In a battle of the badges, Butler Police and Butler firefighters will play a charity softball game at 7 p.m. at the high school softball field. This event will collect donations of money, cat food and dog food for the DeKalb County Humane Society.
Craft and food vendors and a food pantry bake sale will be open Friday and Saturday.
From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Craig Berndt and Mike Brown will present a historical display celebrating both Indianas Bicentennial and Butlers 175th anniversary at Butler City Hall, 215 S. Broadway. The display also will be open Saturday.
The DeKalb County Historical Society Museum, in the former Butler Carnegie Library at 201 E. Main St., will have free admission from noon to 4 p.m. Friday. Sons of American Legion Post 202 will serve sausage sandwiches and onion rings from 5-8 p.m. Friday.
The Lamb of God Mennonite Church on West Oak Street will host the Dixie Melody Boys in concert at 6 p.m. The Fraternal Order of Eagles will host a cornhole tournament for adults at 6 p.m.
The third annual Butler Days light parade begins around 9 p.m. For this event, individuals, groups, businesses and churches are invited to decorate vehicles and floats with Christmas lights.
After the parade, Mount Pleasant United Methodist Church is sponsoring a showing of the movie Faith of Our Fathers on West Oak Street.
The Butler Fire Department will host a pancake-and-sausage breakfast from 7-9 a.m. Saturday at the fire station. Butler United Methodist Church is sponsoring a 5K run at 8 a.m., to benefit the Butler Community Food Pantry.
Entries for the Butler Days car show will be accepted from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Butler Church of Christ parking lot, 173 W. Oak St. Judging will begin at 1 p.m.
DeKalb County Historian John Bry will host horse-drawn historic tours of Butler from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Entertainment for children will be from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday. Farmers & Merchants State Bank will host a sawdust find. Other activities include archery tag, arrowhead making and a graffiti wall.
The Butler Days talent show is from 2-4 p.m., with the overall winner having the opportunity to open for Choice at Butler Elementary School at 6:30 p.m.
At 2 p.m., festival guests can enjoy a piece of Butlers 175th birthday cake, sponsored by the Butler City Council. Magician Kenny Wilcoxson will present illusions at 2:30 p.m.
Christs Church will host a fish fry from 4-7 p.m. at the church, 127 W. Main St. S&Js Fireworks will present a fireworks show at dusk at the elementary school.
A community worship service will take place from 10-11 a.m. Sunday in the tent on East Oak Street. A fellowship meal, sponsored by the Butler Church of Christ, will be served at the church at 11:30 a.m.
The Baltimore Police Department has engaged in years of racially discriminatory policing that targeted black residents, illegally detaining and searching people and using excessive force, the Justice Department concludes in a report released Tuesday.
In a scathing review that includes the historical backdrop of Baltimores racially divided past, civil rights investigators declare that a legacy of zero tolerance enforcement that started in 1999 and officially ended a decade ago continues to drive the policing strategy of the city.
The federal investigators found that officers are poorly trained and that the department has fostered a culture in which complaints against police are often ignored. Most of the unconstitutional stops occurred in predominantly poor black neighborhoods, the report says, and some people were stopped simply because police perceived them as disrespectful.
The Justice Department concluded that the police forces relationship with certain Baltimore communities is broken.
[See the Justice Department report on Baltimore police]
Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, center, speaks during a news conference after her office dropped remaining charges against the three Baltimore police officers who were still awaiting trial in Freddie Grays death on July 27. (Steve Ruark/AP)
Racially disparate impact is present at every stage of BPDs enforcement actions, from the initial decision to stop individuals on Baltimore streets to searches, arrests, and uses of force. These racial disparities, along with evidence suggesting intentional discrimination, erode the community trust that is critical to effective policing, the 163-page report says.
The Justice Department is scheduled to announce the findings of its year-long review on Wednesday at Baltimore City Hall. A copy of the report was first posted by the New York Times. The Justice Department later made the report public.
The civil rights inquiry was announced the month after 25-year-old Freddie Gray died of a spinal cord injury suffered in police custody after running from officers who confronted him in a high-crime area. That incident sparked protests and rioting in the city, and it drew attention to what residents said was a long frayed relationship with law enforcement.
Six officers charged in connection with Grays death were either acquitted or had their cases dropped.
In the report released Tuesday, Justice Department investigators did not focus, however, on Grays death in particular. That is part of a separate, ongoing federal investigation. Instead, they assessed generally how police do their jobs in Baltimore.
Baltimore police officials cooperated with federal authorities, and the report notes that police have already taken steps toward solving the departments problems, including revising its use-of-force policies and beginning to equip officers with body cameras.
Because of the Justice Departments investigation, the city probably will have to agree to certain reform proposals, including the possibility of a federal monitor. Baltimores police commissioner, Kevin Davis, worked in Prince Georges County, Md., when its department was being monitored by the Justice Department, and he was involved in implementing reforms there.
[Strip searches, lock up all the black hoodies,: Excerpts from the report]
Spokesmen for the Justice Department declined to comment; the Baltimore Police Department did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Under Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the Justice Department has been aggressive in trying to encourage change in local police departments.
The department sued the city of Ferguson, Mo. alleging that the police and court system there routinely violated the civil rights of black residents when officials balked at a tentative agreement. That ultimately persuaded local leaders to agree to policy revisions and more training for members of the citys police force. Justice also reached a comprehensive settlement with the city of Newark to resolve years-old allegations that city police officers used excessive force, stopped people without just cause and even stole peoples property.
Justice Department reviewers in Baltimore found fault at virtually every level of policing from training to patrol to investigating complaints and the report concludes that the department encouraged illegal stops as a crime suppression technique.
Baltimores former mayor, Martin OMalley, instituted zero-tolerance policing in 1999, a practice that filled the jails and resulted in more than 100,000 arrests a year. After OMalley left office in 2007, city leaders cut arrests to about 40,000 and publicly stated that arresting large numbers of people had little impact on curbing crime.
But the Justice Department found that the ingrained strategy continued. Police routinely detained and arrested people without cause, the report says, and even strip-searched them in public. Officers accused of misconduct rarely, if ever, suffered consequences, it says, because of an internal affairs process that was broken.
Police stopped pedestrians and motorists more often in African American neighborhoods, and often without reasonable suspicion. The report says 44 percent of all stops over five years were concentrated in just two small, mostly-black communities, meaning that hundreds of African Americans were stopped at least 10 times, and seven were stopped more than 30 times.
According to the report, one 22-year-old black man was detained merely for walking through an area known for high crime and drugs; another man wearing a hooded sweatshirt on a cold night was stopped because an officer thought it could be possible that the individual could be out seeking a victim of opportunity. One black man in his mid-50s was stopped 30 times in less than four years, the report says, and none of the stops resulted in a citation or criminal charge.
The report says many of the departments raced-based policing practices were encouraged by supervisors who told officers to target African Americans.
The department also was found to have engaged in two kinds of illegal arrests: those without probable cause and those involving people standing legally on public property who were cited for minor offenses such as loitering or trespassing without proper notice. African Americans make up 63 percent of the citys population but account for 86 percent of criminal charges issued by police.
The report hammers the departments use-of-force practices. It says officers often employed excessive force on people with mental-health problems, juveniles and people who were restrained and presented no threat to police.
When it came time to review such misuses of force, the department failed to hold officers accountable, the report says. Out of nearly 3,000 force incidents logged over a six-year period, the report says, only 10 were thoroughly investigated and just one was declared excessive.
The report faults supervisors monitoring of officers, saying that federal reviewers did not identify a single stop, search, or arrest that a front-line supervisor found to violate constitutional standards even though incident reports describe facially unlawful police action.
The department discourages the public from filing complaints through a cumbersome process and frequently closes out complaints with little effort to reach the person who complained, the report says.
A cultural resistance to accountability has developed in the department that leaves serious misconduct unpunished, even in the case of officers who have a reputation for violating department rules and constitutional protections, the report says.
Wesley Lowery, Clarence Williams and Keith L. Alexander contributed to this report.
Prince Georges County police said they are investigating a fatal shooting in Clinton.
At around 3 p.m., the department tweeted that it was responding to the scene of a homicide in the 6000 block of Butterfield Drive. There, the department tweeted that an adult male was found shot, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Further information about the shooting was not immediately available.
Police asked anyone with information about the shooting to call 1-866-411-TIPS.
Montgomery County police charged a 23-year-old D.C. man Tuesday with first-degree murder in the killing of a Wheaton woman found dead in her home this month.
Police charged Kwasi Sadler in the killing of Linda Cheryl Johnston, 72. Johnston was found in her home in the 2700 block of Arcola Avenue on Aug. 3. An autopsy showed that she had been stabbed. Detectives say Johnston was probably killed on July 31 or Aug. 1.
[Woman, 72, killed inside Wheaton home]
Sadler was arrested Tuesday, and police said he acknowledged killing Johnston.
According to an arrest affidavit, Sadler and his girlfriend made purchases with Johnstons credit card around the time of her death. Detectives also alleged that Sadler had his girlfriend call Johnstons bank to have the personal identification number on Johnstons debit card changed.
Detectives also noted that Johnstons 2007 gold Toyota Prius was seen in the District on Aug. 2, driven by a man who fit Sadlers description. Detectives obtained several security videos of Sadler allegedly purchasing items with Johnstons debit card at stores in Montgomery and Prince Georges counties. One video showed Sadler leaving the stores parking lot in a gold Prius, police said. At the time, police said, Sadler was also wearing a red shirt, similar to the one worn by employees of the Target retail store, which is where Sadler worked.
Detectives linked Sadler to a tenant who lived in the basement of Johnstons home. The tenant told police that Johnston ordered her out of her home by July 30. During an interview at police headquarters on Saturday, detectives reviewed the womans cellphone records and found several calls to Sadlers cellphone, including three calls on Aug. 1, around the time Johnston was killed.
A Montgomery County police spokeswoman said no additional arrests have been made.
Johnston lived in the Wheaton Hills neighborhood, just north of downtown Wheaton. Police were called to Johnstons home after neighbors had not seen her.
When police arrived, they found Johnstons body wrapped in a sheet in a bedroom with blood splattered on the walls near her body, according to charging documents. Detectives determined that there was forced entry through the basement door. Johnstons wallet, purse and car keys were missing.
Johnston owned the house but rented out a portion of it, friends and neighbors said. She lived on a fixed income and Social Security benefits, and recently had filed for bankruptcy protection, according to court records.
Police said Sadler provided detectives with the location of Johnstons vehicle. They found it in Wheaton near Layhill Road and Glenallan Avenue.
Sadler is being held without bond and was expected to appear Wednesday in Rockville District Court, according to a police statement.
Police said they arrested a second man Tuesday in connection with a shooting during a dice game in Shaw last week.
About 10 p.m. on Aug. 3, officers responded to the 600 block of N Street NW after the report of a shooting, D.C. police said in a statement. There, they found two men suffering from gunshot wounds, and transported 19-year-old Derryk Johnson, of Northwest, and another victim to area hospitals, the statement said. Johnson died of his injuries, while the second victim was admitted in stable condition, according to the statement.
[D.C. police arrest suspect in fatal shooting during dice game in Shaw]
Police said in an affidavit that three people were driving around the city that day plotting a robbery when they spotted the dice game on N Street. Court documents didnt say whether the assailants obtained any money; Johnson and the other victim were shot moments after they approached.
On Tuesday, authorities arrested 19-year-old Marc Butler, of Suitland, who is being charged with first-degree felony murder while armed, police said. Over the weekend police arrested 19-year-old Marcus Martin, of Southwest, who is being charged with first-degree felony murder.
Police said they are looking for another man in connection with the shooting as well.
Jose Lopez Torres was sentenced Wednesday for his role in a murder and attempted murder. (Courtesy of U.S. attorneys office)
Jose Lopez Torres laughed when he recalled brutally stabbing to death a fellow gang member who begged for his life.
Spare my life, Ill go very far away, Torres recalled Nelson Omar Quintanilla Trujillo saying as a group of MS-13 members surrounded him in a Fairfax County park.
Yes, youre going away far. Kill him, Torres said he replied and then laughed.
That boast was recorded by federal authorities, and on Wednesday, Torres was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Alexandria to a life sentence plus 30 years in federal prison for his role in the death of Trujillo as well as the attempted slaying of another gang member.
His conviction was part of a sweeping federal case against Northern Virginia members of the El Salvador-based gang, in which six defendants pleaded guilty and six more were found guilty at trial. Torres and Jesus Alejandro Chavez, also sentenced Wednesday, are the first of those who went to trial to receive their punishments.
Here is what you need to know about MS-13, a street gang with an international reach. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)
[MS-13 members convicted of three Northern Virginia murders]
Both Trujillo and the man Torres tried to kill, identified only as Peligroso, which means dangerous in Spanish, were suspected of betraying the gang.
These people are not people, because the death that my brother suffered is not the kind of death that can be done by someone who has a heart, Ruth Ascencio, Trujillos sister, told the court in Spanish as she asked for the longest possible sentence. These people dont deserve to be out on the street.
Torres, 26, became an MS-13 member in El Salvador at age 9 and had risen to second in command of his local Alexandria clique after he illegally immigrated to the United States, prosecutors said.
He orchestrated the slaying of Trujillo, who was lured to Holmes Run Park in October 2013 under the pretense that he would get a beating for minor transgressions against the gang. Instead, Torres instructed seven others to hold Trujillo down and stab him to death with a knife and machete and then bury the body in the woods.
Trujillo was a human being who was more than just a gang member, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia K. Martinez, and Torres deserves more than a life sentence.
Chavez was sentenced Wednesday to two life sentences plus 10 years in prison for the June 2014 fatal shooting of a man he believed had insulted MS-13. Chavez had gotten out of prison just eight days earlier on a violent robbery conviction.
The Alexandria native had joined MS-13 in prison, and prosecutors said he was eager to prove himself on the street. While looking for rival gang members in the Chirilagua neighborhood of Alexandria, Chavez and fellow MS-13 members provoked a fight with Julio Urrutia and his friend. Urrutia shoved one of Chavezs accomplices; Chavez responded by shooting him in the neck. Urrutia died two days later in the hospital.
The victim was not a gang member, Martinez said, but merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.
U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee said Chavez, 26, had been in and out of the criminal justice system since age 10.
You . . . are a menace to society, he said.
Lee rejected a request from Chavezs family for a prison near the Washington area, saying he assumed that the Federal Bureau of Prisons would want to separate the defendants in the case.
The lengthy sentences for both men, Lee said, were intended to shield the public and to send a message.
We are not going to let MS-13 rule our parks, our schools, our neighborhoods, he said.
This story has been corrected to reflect that Torres was sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison.
A program for troubled youth in Woodbridge, Va., is closing after a resident was charged last week with killing two of its counselors in a similar fashion within a five-month period, a local social services official said.
The announcement came Tuesday night during a contentious public meeting where Woodbridge residents questioned social services and police officials about Youth Quest Independent Living, which is in the Dominion Middle Ridge Apartments.
A Prince William County supervisor called the meeting after 19-year-old Ronald Francis Dorsey Jr. was charged with murder Friday in the deaths of Lizeth Lopez, 36, and Erica Janelle Hickson, 37, prompting worries among nearby residents.
Police said the two counselors were abducted during evening shifts and strangled on the YouthQuest site, and then their bodies were dumped near the apartment where Dorsey lived as part of the independent living program for foster children and juvenile offenders between ages 17 and 21. As many as eight young people live in four rented apartments at the site, county social service officials said Tuesday.
Lopez disappeared on April 17, and her body was found April 29. Hickson was abducted during a shift on Aug. 4, and her body was discovered the next day.
Maj. Steven J. Thompson of the Prince William police said at the meeting that Dorsey was interviewed along with most everyone else in the area after Lopezs killing. But at the time, we had nothing that said that Mr. Dorsey committed that crime, and he wasnt considered a suspect.
A woman who spoke during the community meeting but did not give her name because of privacy reasons described herself as Lopezs friend. She said that there was not enough security for counselors after Lopezs killing in April. YouthQuest is run by a for-profit company called Intercept Youth Services based in Richmond.
Liz was a huge advocate of the program, she said of YouthQuest. But these girls were then put back on without any security, and then somebody else had to die, somebody with a son. It was reckless.
Intercept officials declined to attend the meeting and declined to answer any questions about the program or its security measures after the first counselors death. YouthQuest programming director Natalie Elliot on Wednesday declined to address whether the Woodbridge location was permanently closing, but she did say that there are no youth living there anymore. She would not say when or where they were moved.
[Killing of 2 counselors raises questions]
In a brief statement, Elliott also called the womens deaths an unthinkable tragedy and said the company was committed to the safety and well-being of all of our clients, staff and the community at large.
Courtney Tierney, director of Prince Williams Department of Social Services, said Intercept had operated in the county without incident for 16 years.
Tierney said it was a very complicated process to place a young person in a program like YouthQuest, involving social services or court services and the provider. Funding for the program comes from the state, Tierney said, with some matching funds from the county.
Darrell Jordan, chairman of the northern region of the Virginia Department of Social Services, said that the vast majority of the roughly 85 YouthQuest clients around the state are teenagers who were aging out of foster homes and had no criminal history. However, he could not say whether Dorsey had a criminal background.
Several people who attended Tuesdays community meeting expressed concern about having the program as a neighbor without receiving notice. Police and social services officials at the meeting said there was no law requiring such notice and emphasized that problems are rare.
A few people who had been in the foster system also rose to speak Tuesday night, saying they didnt want the events at the Woodbridge program to be used to stigmatize foster children or programs designed to serve them.
The Washington Post reviewed online records of Intercepts independent living programs from the state Department of Social Services, showing dozens of violations over the past six years. Several involved the YouthQuest program failing to adequately screen clients or readmitting clients after violent behavior, the records show. In each case, deadlines were given for the program to correct the problem, but the resolution could not immediately be determined.
Search warrants show detectives concluded by May 10 that Lopez probably was abducted on the job because she failed to clock out from work or fill in work logs past 10 p.m. during the Sunday evening shift she was working.
Youth counselors were responsible for making sure that residents were in the apartments YouthQuest leased and were abiding by its rules. The counselors would walk or drive between the apartments, according to a search warrant.
Investigations that have not been described in court filings led detectives to Dorsey, who was arrested Friday after the discovery of Hicksons body.
A teen who was part of the program and was friendly with Dorsey said she was unaware of his having any problems in the program. She said that during the couple of months she spent in the YouthQuest program in Woodbridge, they would hang out together.
He was a very chill person, said the teen, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe behavior while she was a minor. I was totally shocked when I found out he had been arrested for the murders.
The teen said that after Lopezs death, the largely female staff of counselors was frightened. YouthQuest responded by having a male counselor available on call to accompany them on their rounds, the teen said.
The teen also said she thought the program was well run overall.
Altovise Hester formerly worked as a day counselor and site supervisor for Intercept at a Chesterfield County group home called Summit House, which served 10 youths. Hester said she left in 2014 after she was injured on the job by a youth and she grew increasingly frustrated by the organizations staffing cuts, which she attributed to cost savings.
Hester said one of youths in her all-girls program threw a five-pound water bottle at her in January 2014 because she was frustrated with a manager. The bottle struck Hester in the back, bruising a kidney and her spine, she said. Hester said she took workers compensation and never returned to active employment.
Hester said such incidents were rare in the girls program but said she had heard of staff facing problems at facilities that catered to boys. Hester said the program did not have dedicated security she and other employees would called Chesterfield County police if there was a problem. At times, the low staffing made her concerned about security, she said.
They sent us to a mandated course to learn how to restrain someone, Hester said. Other than that, we were the security.
Metro workers make repairs on the rails of the outbound Orange and Silver Line tracks near the Ballston station. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
Metros 10-month SafeTrack maintenance plan may become even more extensive as officials weigh the possibility of adding weekend shutdowns or postponing the programs conclusion as the agency continues its investigation and performs inspections in the aftermath of last months derailment at East Falls Church.
Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld said Wednesday that the agency has already taken significant steps toward revamping the track maintenance protocols that failed to prevent the July 29 derailment of a Silver Line train, but also acknowledged that it had been a mistake to keep the section of track where the crash occurred open so that SafeTrack work could continue.
Metro believes track defect caused Friday derailment
There was a balance there of service versus the work that needed to be done, Wiedefeld said at a news conference. And that balance probably was tilted more toward service than it should have been.
Still, Metro officials dispute a narrative from federal regulators that they had been aware of the imminent risks on the track where the derailment occurred. The derailment happened while the train was passing through an interlocking, the mechanism that allows trains to shift between the tracks.
The Federal Transit Administration said this week that its inspectors had encouraged Metro to include that particular stretch of track in the SafeTrack schedule.
In scathing report, FTA blasts Metro track maintenance program
But Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said federal inspectors had not specifically communicated to Metro that there was an acute need to take that particular interlocking out of service.
If [Wiedefeld] or [Metros chief safety officer] had known about a safety condition, trains would not have run, Stessel said. There is no evidence that FTA specifically requested that this interlocking not be used and there have been lots of outside eyes looking at track here.
In a statement Wednesday, the FTA shifted blame back to Metro, saying it was the ultimate authority on the safety of its tracks.
The FTA highlighted concerns with the overall track condition along the Ballston to Vienna line, and WMATA agreed to move the most at-risk section earlier in its SafeTrack program, an FTA spokesman said in the statement. However, as our track condition report indicates, WMATA has systemically failed to conduct proper safety inspections on crossover tracks. We flagged this area of track as a concern, and ultimately WMATA must ensure that all infrastructure along that corridor including crossover tracks are in a safe condition.
In inspections since the derailment, Metro officials have identified at least six other interlockings that they say they believe need near-term repair work. To perform those repairs, they will need to shutter segments of the system and theyre looking at weekend closures in order to do that.
Metro officials have already decided to close a stretch of track between Shady Grove and Grosvenor-Strathmore stations this weekend so that the interlocking at Twinbrook can be repaired.
[Metro officials may have known of track defect in 2009, NTSB officials say]
The prospect of a lengthier or more disruptive SafeTrack schedule follows a scathing federal report this week that blasted the agencys track inspection and repair protocol for systemic safety deficiencies, citing last months derailment of two rail cars as an example of how the agency continues to prioritize service over safety. The 36-page report resulted from months of investigations into Metros track maintenance practices.
The FTA, charged with providing safety oversight of Metros rail system, called for 12 corrective actions the transit agency must take to overhaul its track maintenance program, such as hiring more track inspectors and revamping the training program for repair workers.
Wiedefeld said that he had already been generally aware of the problems raised in the FTA report, and that many of the issues cited are already being addressed. He listed four contracts that have been awarded, or are in the process of being awarded, to overhaul the systems training manuals and track inspection training program, as well as hiring outside engineering consultants to conduct a comprehensive asset inventory.
Those contracts, Wiedefeld said, will go a long way toward solving the most significant problems raised by federal inspectors. Specifically, trainers with the University of Tennessees Center of Transportation Research are scheduled to visit Metro next month to conduct two weeks of intensive training on how to perform track inspections, categorize defects and prioritize repair work. By next summer, Wiedefeld said, the training curriculum for track inspectors will be completely rewritten, with trainers getting new procedures on how to teach other workers. The program will be audited by outside experts.
Wiedefeld said problems with the interlocking involved in the derailment, which federal officials said had been known to Metro since 2009, were never brought to his attention.
It was never brought up as an issue one way or the other, he said.
Of his employees approach to reporting problems, he said: I wish I could snap my fingers and they would all be on the same page at the same time.
Wiedefeld also said that a specialized vehicle capable of catching the wide gauge problem that caused the July 29 derailment was out of service because it was undergoing routine maintenance, not because it was broken. The vehicle is scheduled to operate twice per year once in February, and once in August.
Wiedefelds news conference came as Metro board members have expressed mixed opinions on whether the agency is headed in the right direction.
Metro Board Chairman Jack Evans, who met with Wiedefeld and top-level staff Wednesday morning, said Wiedefeld plans to release a cost estimate in September for the SafeTrack work and accompanying measures meant to improve safety.
Whether its tens of millions or hundreds of millions, were looking at a big-ticket item here to continue to do this, Evans said. Where is this money going to come from? Ill tell you this: Its going to be the federal government or the three jurisdictions.
For lawmakers, Metros recent woes mean tougher prospects on the Hill
Evans has expressed outrage and frustration in recent days over the findings of the FTAs track maintenance report, but at Wednesdays news conference he took a more diplomatic tone.
Once the investigation into the derailment is concluded, Evans said, he will be watching to see if there are individuals who failed to complete necessary tasks and should be terminated.
Evans reiterated the point that SafeTrack will not alleviate all of the safety issues in the beleaguered system. I dont want anybody to have the impression that we will have a new system and everything will be hunky-dory, he said.
He said he remains confident in Wiedefelds leadership, calling his public mea culpa on excluding the problematic interlocking from SafeTrack honest and forthright, and adding that he believes the Metro board also holds responsibility for the degraded track that led to the derailment.
Board member Christian Dorsey, who represents Virginia, said he continues to support Wiedefeld and gives him time to instill permanent improvements.
I have a degree of patience that accepts that this will take some time and progress wont come without setbacks, Dorsey said Wednesday. But it is beyond frustrating that these safety lapses and issues seem largely preventable.
Others were less generous.
Metro Board member Corbett A. Price said restoring Metro to a state of respectability requires a total restructuring. He said he supports any changes to SafeTrack that would improve the safety of the system, but incremental changes are not enough.
Thats great and we should do that, but were reacting, said Price, who represents the District. We need to get ahead of the situation. These situations exist out there some of them have existed for years. There are people in the organization who know the problems. They have to be the ones to come forward to say this is an issue this has been an issue.
The FTA report requires Metro to take a hard look at its overall approach to safety issues, he said.
Heres what expanded federal oversight of Metro safety will entail
Meanwhile, he said, Wiedefeld should examine whether some long-tenured staffers are up to the task of restoring the system. He reiterated his belief that Wiedefeld needs to populate his staff with those who are willing to fulfill his agenda, not those who are vested in the ways of the past.
Hes the CEO of a company. Hes been there for a very short period of time. Its a very troubled company. Hes not going to get instantaneous results, he said. Theres a lot of people there who are going to have to take responsibility for their actions and if not, youre going to have to remove them. You cant waste time.
Underscoring the urgency of the task facing Metro, he said: The clock is ticking.
Virginia election officials said Wednesday that they will reveal the names of nearly 13,000 felons who over the past few months have regained and then lost their right to vote, part of a still-raging drama fed by presidential politics.
The planned disclosure represents a partial about-face for the administration of Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), which announced in April that it would restore voting rights to about 200,000 nonviolent felons who had completed their sentences.
McAuliffe officials would not release the names of those felons, despite requests from registrars, GOP lawmakers and the media.
Last month, Virginias Supreme Court ruled that McAuliffe overstepped his authority by issuing the clemency order. Since 13,000 of the 200,000 felons had already registered to vote, the court ordered the state to once again put their names on its list of banned voters.
[Ex-felons: Why dont they want us to vote?]
At a meeting Wednesday, the State Board of Elections voted 2 to 1 in favor of a resolution saying that the state had fully complied with everything the court had ordered.
Elections Commissioner Edgardo Cortes later said that the state would release the list of 13,000 names because federal law requires that voter cancellation data be disclosed.
The names, which will be posted on the state governments website, could provide a potent political tool against McAuliffe for Republicans, who even without the list managed to ferret out the names of some murderers and sex offenders whose rights McAuliffe had accidentally restored.
The disclosure also will allow registrars and others to confirm whether the state has stricken the 13,000 recently restored felons from its voter rolls.
McAuliffe said the voting-rights restoration order would move Virginia away from a harsh lifetime disenfranchisement policy that hit African Americans particularly hard.
[McAuliffe vows to dodge court ruling, restore voting rights anyway]
Republicans said the order was really a bid to add Democrat-friendly voters to the rolls ahead of Novembers presidential elections, when the governors close friend and political ally Hillary Clinton will be on the ballot.
The lawsuit filed by GOP lawmakers said McAuliffe lacked the power to restore voting rights en masse instead of individually, as all previous governors have done.
Doubts about whether the 13,000 felons have again been stripped of their voting rights persist among McAuliffes critics, in part because of the errors and missteps in the administrations attempt to enforce the governors order before it was ruled unconstitutional.
Among the skeptics is Clara Belle Wheeler, vice chair of the three-member State Board of Elections, who pressed unsuccessfully Wednesday for far more disclosure: She wanted the government to release the names of the more than 200,000 felons who were originally said to be eligible to regain the right to vote.
[Clemency order comes under scrutiny as errors are discovered]
Wheeler was the holdout in Wednesdays board vote. She said the declaration of compliance was premature because the 13,000 names had not been released, much less checked for accuracy against voter records. Election officials said they expected to post the names online Wednesday or soon thereafter.
Theres no list of the 13,000. . . . It hasnt happened, Wheeler said. I want to make sure I have all the information that I need if Im called to the Supreme Court to swear that I complied with the order.
James B. Alcorn, chairman of the board, said the court had ordered the state to update its master list of prohibited voters to include the more than 200,000 felons who had been covered by McAuliffes order. My understanding is it has been, he said.
The administration will provide the felons names and addresses, without dates of birth or criminal history. Republicans could try to look up their criminal records and go public with any examples that are of concern.
The people of Virginia can now hold the governor accountable, said Matthew Moran, spokesman for House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford).
At the meeting, Wheeler pressed Cortes on whether the state has a list of every felon who would have been covered by McAuliffes clemency orders.
Is there a list somewhere, a master list, of all 213,874 individuals on the prohibited-voter list? she asked.
Cortes declined to respond directly, saying only that registrars can access a state database that includes criminal records to check the eligibility of anyone who registers to vote.
We work in databases. We dont work in a singular list fashion, he told reporters after the meeting. Its pulling information from all sorts of places.
Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) this week became the first Republican member of Congress to publicly support Libertarian Gary Johnson over GOP nominee Donald Trump.
The endorsement meant the retiring congressman had to resign from the Virginia Beach Republican Party, whose members are required to support the party nominee.
Rigell, whose says his congressional district includes more members of the military than any other, is the son of a Marine veteran who served in Iwo Jima. Rigell himself served in the Marine Corps Reserves and inspired his son and two nephews to become Marines. He said his service makes him particularly critical of Trump and spurred his support for Johnson, who he hopes will gain enough traction in the polls to participate in the presidential debates.
The Washington Post spoke to Rigell on Wednesday about the election and Virginias diminishing clout in Congress.
When did you first realize you couldnt vote for Trump?
I dont see him as a man of being of reputable character. I never have. . . . The Khan comment, thats what really got me off the sidelines. [With U.S. Navy assets in my district], we have a heavy and disproportionate sacrifice. I know many, many families. We have grieved with them and held them. To see a man try to somehow put in context the sacrifice of a Gold Star family with his quote-unquote sacrifice of creating jobs, thats when I said, No, Im done.
What do you think of Trumps recent remark about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Second Amendment supporters?
It was absolutely intentional on his part to put uncertainty in this. Hes raising the whole specter of violence. Its the antithesis of the man or woman that should lead this country. . . . Theres a Navy veteran his name is Coby Dillard. He is one of the most thoughtful conservatives that I know. Hes got a big pain tolerance. Frankly, you have to if youre African American and in the Republican Party. [The GOP has] lost Coby. . . . I think [Trumps nomination] is going to be a permanent breach of what it means to be a Republican.
You endorsed Gary Johnson. Will you campaign for him? Will you fundraise for him? I noticed your name is misspelled on his website. What do you think of that?
Well, isnt that humbling? [Laughs] Well get that straight. I really believe that leaders need to be counted. I want to properly use the influence that I do have. I will help Governor Johnson to the extent that he wants me to help him. He was effusive, Id say, in his expression of thanks. . . . I really didnt think that much of it. And then the phone started blowing up, so here we are.
Youre not seeking re-election, but youre in the middle of a media blitz and some in the party have welcomed your message. I wonder if you regret not running again.
Oh no. . . . Theres a season to life. My major purpose was to take the gavel from Nancy Pelosi. We did that.
You endorsed Rep. J. Randy Forbes, but as you know, Del. Scott Taylor defeated him, tapping into some of what has animated Trump supporters. Do you feel out of touch?
I dont think thats the case, I really dont. About 40 percent of the people [in my district] wanted Trump, which is to say 60 percent wanted somebody else. I think if this vote was done over today I really believe it would be somewhere like 35.
Scotts a friend of mine, Im campaigning with and for him. It is true even after saying that the loss of [Forbes] as chair of the seapower subcommittee [of the House Armed Services Committee] and replacing that person with a freshman, youre so far down from the dais they cant even see you.
ANGOLA The Steuben County Industrial Guild will host a training session on active shooter situations in the workplace on Thursday.
The training will take place in the Angola Training Center, 306 W. Mill St., from 9-11 a.m.
Steuben County Sheriffs Office Detective Sgt. Chris Emerick will present a seminar on workplace violence and what to do in an active shooter situation.
Topics will include:
What is an active shooter;
Appropriate actions to take when confronted with an active shooter and to assist responding law enforcement officials;
Recognizing potential workplace violence indicators;
Actions to take to prevent and prepare for potential active shooter incidents; and
How to manage the consequences of an active shooter incident.
This seminar is free. Reservations are requested by emailing jessica@steubenedc.com or call 665-6889.
CALIFORNIA
Grim Sleeper killer receives death penalty
A serial killer known as the Grim Sleeper was sentenced to death Wednesday for the murders of nine women and a teenage girl that went unsolved for years as the body count grew in a poor section of Los Angeles haunted by the scourge of crack cocaine.
Lonnie Franklin Jr., 63, was sentenced in Los Angeles County Superior Court after emotional family members of his victims spoke about the pain they had endured for decades.
I cant think of anyone Ive encountered in all my years in the criminal justice system that has committed the monstrous crimes that you have, Judge Kathleen Kennedy told Franklin.
The killings occurred for more than two decades during the crack epidemic, and community members said that police didnt seriously investigate because the victims were black and poor and because many were drug users and prostitutes.
Associated Press
Lonnie David Franklin Jr. was convicted of 10 counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder for the 'Grim Sleeper' killings. (Al Seib / Pool/European Pressphoto Agency)
Teenager is killed after firing at police officer
Los Angeles police say an officer investigating a report of people tagging a wall with gang graffiti killed a 14-year-old boy after the teen fired at the officer during a brief foot chase.
Deputy Chief Robert Arcos told reporters Wednesday that a witness said the youth fired at one of two officers Tuesday night. The officer was not hurt.
Arcos said an investigation of the shooting in the Boyle Heights neighborhood was ongoing and included video from body cameras worn by both officers.
Associated Press
NEW YORK
Police remove climber from Trump Tower
A 20-year-old unidentified Virginia man who scaled the Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday for more than two hours using what looked like suction cups and a climbing harness was pulled inside through a window by police who had tried to coax him into the building during the escapade.
The 58-story Fifth Avenue tower is the headquarters of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
In a video that was uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday, a man discusses climbing the tower in a message addressed to Trump. He called himself an independent researcher seeking a meeting with Trump to discuss an unspecified matter.
Reuters
LIBYA
U.S.-allied forces seize Islamic State bastion
U.S.-backed Libyan forces said Wednesday that they have taken over the Islamic States headquarters in Sirte, the militant groups last bastion in Libya, breaking a weeks-long stalemate with the help of U.S. airstrikes.
The fighters said they had seized control of the sprawling convention center used as the Islamic States headquarters. The fighters, who are mainly from the nearby city of Misurata, launched their offensive in June. They also said they had seized the coastal citys main hospital.
The government-supported operation also said that it lost contact with one of its warplanes and the pilot. In an online statement, the Islamic State asserted responsibility for shooting down the plane and killing the pilot.
Since Aug. 1, U.S. warplanes have launched airstrikes against Islamic State positions in the city. The air support came in response to a request from Libyas U.N.-brokered government after battles in Sirte stalled.
The Islamic State seized control of Sirte last year.
Associated Press
AFGHANISTAN
Taliban reportedly closing in on key city
Afghan troops are being deployed to the capital of the key southern province of Helmand amid intense fighting with the Taliban in surrounding areas and fears that the city could fall within days, officials said Wednesday.
According to Kareem Atal, head of Helmands provincial council, Taliban insurgents have completely surrounded Lashkar Gah after weeks of intense fighting in the province. Army and police units have been pulled back from checkpoints farther afield and brought back to reinforce the city. Also, new forces are arriving, he added.
Helmand is a strategically important province for both the government and the Taliban, whose insurgency is in its 15th year. The province produces opium, which is the raw material for most of the worlds heroin and which funds the insurgency.
Southern Afghanistan is considered Taliban heartland. During the Talibans 1996-2001 rule of the country, it made neighboring Kandahar province the seat of the regime.
In an indication of the seriousness of the Helmand situation, senior Kabul officials, including the deputy interior minister and the deputy chief of the military staff, were in Lashkar Gah, along with elite Afghan forces, said Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. We know that the threats are high, he said.
Dawlat Waziri, a Defense Ministry spokesman, said the U.S. military is providing air support.
In September, the Taliban seized the northern city of Kunduz for a few days before being was pushed out by Afghan forces, who were backed by U.S. airstrikes.
Associated Press
TURKEY
At least 12 killed in Kurdish rebel attacks
A wave of Kurdish rebel attacks targeting police and soldiers in Turkeys mainly Kurdish southeast killed at least 12 people Wednesday, as Turkey was still dealing with the aftermath of a coup attempt.
Officials said rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, launched simultaneous bomb attacks targeting police vehicles in the city of Diyarbakir and the town of Kiziltepe, killing eight people, while four soldiers were killed in an attack near the border with Iraq hours earlier.
The attack in Kiziltepe was caused by a roadside bomb that went off as a police bus was passing by. Three people were killed and at least 25 were wounded, including at least five children ages 2 to 5, an official said.
At the same time, a car bomb targeting police in a historic part of the city of Diyarbakir killed at least five civilians and wounded 12, the governors office said.
The blasts occurred hours after an attack, also blamed on the PKK, killed four soldiers and injured nine near the border with Iraq. The private Dogan News Agency said the attack targeted military vehicles.
Clashes between the PKK and Turkeys security forces resumed last year after a tenuous cease-fire collapsed.
Wednesdays attacks, however, came as the country is still reeling from a coup attempt on July 15 that left at least 270 people dead.
Associated Press
Fire in Baghdad hospital kills 12 babies: A fire ripped through a maternity ward at a Baghdad hospital, killing 12 newborn babies, officials said. The director of the Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad, Saad Hatem Ahmed, said the initial investigation indicated that it was an electrical fire. Ahmed said 29 patients and eight babies were moved from the ward where the fire broke out and transferred to another hospital. Electrical fires are common in Iraq because of shoddy maintenance and poor wiring.
4 killed as wildfires rack Portugal: Wildfires raged unabated in Portugal, killing at least four people, burning down dozens of houses and charring huge areas of forest. The National Civil Protection Service reported 14 major wildfires burning out of control in mainland Portugal. A wildfire that swept into Funchal, capital of the Madeira Islands, killed three people and left more than 300 requiring treatment for smoke inhalation and minor burns, officials said. Meanwhile, a forest watchman was killed on the mainland when a blaze engulfed the trailer in which he was sleeping.
From news services
FORT WAYNE The step was unnecessary.
Bill Mallers, business manager for Northwest Allen County Schools, likes to take it anyway.
Mallers presented the NACS board with the legal advertisement for the 2017 budget during its meeting on Monday. Mallers said that most schools dont show the legal notice. They simply advertise the budget and make a formal presentation after the fact.
Weve just done an extra step, Mallers said. Ive always felt its important to make them aware.
The district is advertising a $69.9 million budget for 2017. Higher student enrollment will increase the general fund and the district anticipates a 3.8 percent increase in the capital projects, transportation and bus replacement funds. Mallers said the district will benefit from a decrease in the debt service fund, thinking it was either the 95-96 Carroll High School addition or the Hickory Center building that was coming off the books.
The advertisement has the budgets five funds broken down as follows: general fund ($45,186,100); debt service ($14,214,527); capital projects ($5,975,219); transportation ($3,450,182) and bus replacement ($1,107,650).
The maximum estimated levy is $24,215,412 and the district estimates losing around $1.9 million in property tax cap losses despite the advertisements aggressively high estimate of $5.8 million. Mallers said those estimates come from the state and that the state is strategically estimating those numbers high. The district is planning to work its budget around its own estimate, Mallers said.
Last years approved budget was just over $67 million and Mallers anticipated an increase of about 4 percent for this year.
A public hearing is set for Monday Sept. 12 with potential adoption on Monday, Oct. 10. Both will take place as part of regularly scheduled NACS board meetings.
In other board news:
The district approved the acceptance of three donations. The Eel River Elementary PTO donated $1,525 for new playground equipment. The Maple Creek Middle School PTO donated $10,310 to replace television monitors in the building. The Allen County Farm Bureau donated $1,500 to help cover expenses from the Carroll FFA.
The board approved payment from the capital projects emergency appropriations in the amount of $37,186 for HVAC control repairs at Carroll Middle School. Mallers said the work will take two months to fix but that a Band-Aid fix is in place for the start of the school year.
We were fortunate it happened the Friday before school started and not the Friday after it started, NACS Superintendent Chris Himsel joked.
Thursday is the first day of school for students. NACS board president Kent Somers wished all the students and staff well-wishes for a safe and productive year.
The next NACS board meeting is Monday, Aug. 29.
For 32 years, a group of Republican and Democratic foreign-policy experts has gathered here each summer to debate strategic issues facing the country. This year the bipartisan group had a strange imbalance: None of the Republicans was prepared to argue the case of the GOP nominee, Donald Trump.
Trump would probably be pleased to know that he failed to muster support from the Aspen Strategy Group, as this gathering is known. In a sense, hes running against the elite foreign-policy establishment that the group represents. He is happy to lose the Aspen primary if that strengthens his populist appeal in November.
Trumps shadow hung over the meeting here. Fifteen prominent Republicans who had served in past GOP administrations met Sunday for a private soul-searching session that one attendee described as painful and empathetic. The next day, eight of them joined in signing the public declaration by 50 top GOP former national security officials warning that Trump would be the most reckless President in U.S. history.
Were seeing a mass exodus of senior and experienced Republicans from Trump on national security. They are deserting him because he has denigrated NATO, appeased [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and shown little faith in American power, argued Nicholas Burns, director of the Aspen Strategy Group, who served as undersecretary of state under President George W. Bush. Burns had earlier announced that he would support Hillary Clinton for president.
The number of influential Republican officials saying that they can't vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton is growing as Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) pledges she won't vote for Trump. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
Trump seemed to relish this defection by the establishment. He described the 50 signers of the declaration as nothing more than the failed Washington elite looking to hold onto their power and thanked them for coming forward so everyone in the country knows who deserves the blame for making the world such a dangerous place.
What does the foreign-policy elite discuss in a time of anti-elitism? Partly, this years Aspen gathering (of which Im a member, along with several other journalists) explored why experts had missed early warnings of the public anger over trade and immigration that have fueled Trump.
But the conversation focused mostly on the technical details of strategic planning: How should the National Security Council staff be organized to give better foresight and maximize efficiency? How can U.S. technology be leveraged to deter Russia and China? A convention of machinists likes to talk about its tools; so too with this collection of experts.
Whats unusual about the Aspen group is that in a time of deep political polarization, it struggles for bipartisan consensus. Explains Peter Feaver, a Duke University professor who served on Bushs NSC staff: Principled disagreement of the sort that happens in the ASG opens the door to both pragmatic compromise . . . and persuasion, where you actually learn from the other side. However elitist this may sound, such a consensus-building process is part of what makes American democracy work.
Stephen Hadley, who served as national security adviser during Bushs second term, is a prime exemplar of quiet, principled, bipartisan public service. He didnt sign the letter denouncing Trump, and he cautioned me here that foreign-policy experts should pay careful attention to the growing public anger that globalization was a mistake and that the elites have sleep-walked the country into danger.
This election isnt just about Donald Trump, Hadley argued. Its about the discontents of our democracy, and how we are going to address them. The genius of our political system is that these discontents are being worked out this year within our political parties. Whoever is elected will have to deal with these discontents. If not, the anger against the system may be played out next time in the streets, as in the 1960s.
Philip Zelikow, a University of Virginia professor who also served in the Bush State Department, argues that the global engagement Trump resists can be summed up in two simple sentences: The future of America depends on partners and friends in the world. The future of America depends on doing business in the world. Most Americans, even Trump supporters, would endorse these principles if they could be articulated more clearly, he says.
With Trump running so hard against the traditional foreign-policy consensus, theres an unusual opportunity for Clinton to rebuild this framework in a way that speaks to voters discontent and also reweaves the narrative of American power for the 21st century.
Prominent Republicans are helping Clinton make her argument. But she has to convince skeptical voters that updated global engagement on trade, security and economic issues as discussed by this group of professors and diplomats in a pristine mountain resort will benefit the ordinary citizen.
Read more from David Ignatiuss archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
The writers, both Democrats, represent Rhode Island and Massachusetts, respectively, in the U.S. Senate.
For years, ExxonMobil actively advanced the notion that its products had little or no impact on the Earths environment. As recently as last year, it continued to fund organizations that play down the risks of carbon pollution. So what did ExxonMobil actually know about climate change? And when did it know it?
Reasonable questions particularly if ExxonMobil misled its investors about the long-term prospects of its business model or if the company fooled consumers into buying its products based on false claims.
So now the attorneys general of Massachusetts and New York are investigating whether ExxonMobil violated state laws by knowingly misleading their residents and shareholders about climate change. Those investigations may be making ExxonMobil executives nervous, and their Republican friends in Congress are riding to the rescue. House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) and his fellow committee Republicans have issued subpoenas demanding that the state officials fork over all materials relating to their investigations. They also targeted eight organizations, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Rockefeller Family Fund and Greenpeace, with similar subpoenas, demanding that they turn over internal communications related to what Smith describes as part of coordinated efforts to deprive ExxonMobil of its First Amendment rights.
Take a breath to absorb that: State attorneys general are investigating whether a fraud had been committed something state AGs do every day. Sometimes AGs uncover fraud and sometimes they dont, but if the evidence warrants it, the question of fraud will be resolved in open court, with all the evidence on public display. But instead of applauding the AGs for doing their jobs, this particular investigation against this particular oil company has brought down the wrath of congressional Republicans and a swift effort to shut down the investigation before any evidence becomes public. So far, both AGs and all eight organizations have refused to comply. We say, good for them.
Lets call this what it is: a master class in how big corporations rig the system. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Smith has received nearly $685,000 in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry during his career. Now he is using his committee to harass the investigators and bully those who dare bring facts of possible corporate malfeasance to their attention. Undoubtedly, the oil industry wants no further attention, much less court-supervised discovery, into whether it has spent decades deliberately deceiving the public about the harms associated with its product. So here come Smith and his Republican colleagues with threats of legal action designed to sidetrack state investigations and silence groups petitioning the government to address potential wrongdoing.
Theres plenty for the AGs to investigate. The Union of Concerned Scientists, for example, issued a 2015 report, Climate Deception Dossiers: Internal Fossil Fuel Industry Memos Reveal Decades of Corporate Disinformation, and a 2007 report, Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air: How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobaccos Tactics to Manufacture Uncertainty on Climate Science. Both reports document how the industry has protected its bottom line by funding front organizations and scientists to put out junk science contradicting what peer-reviewed scientists, and even the industrys own experts, were saying about how its products affected the environment. Union of Concerned Scientists President Ken Kimmell rightly dismissed the committees request, saying, Mr. Smith makes no allegation that UCS violated any laws or regulations, and his claim, that providing information to attorneys general infringes on ExxonMobils rights, is nonsense.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman are also fighting back. In separate letters, they told Smith that they have no intention of complying with the committees request. The Subpoena brings us one step closer to a protracted, unnecessary legal confrontation which will only distract and detract from the work of our respective offices, Schneiderman wrote.
Smith is not the first fossil-fuel-backed Republican in Congress to come to the industrys defense. In May, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), recipient of $1.8 million in oil and gas industry contributions since 1989, called the state AGs investigation a misuse of power and politics at its worst. The greater abuse comes when congressional committees appear to operate at the behest of the industries they are meant to oversee.
Congressional investigations and hearings have a unique ability to focus a nations attention and bring facts of public importance to light. As committee chairmen, Smith and Inhofe can direct their committees authority as they see fit, but using that power to stifle lawful state investigations doesnt advance the First Amendment, it tramples on it.
So we have an alternative suggestion. If Chairmen Smith and Inhofe are concerned about the First Amendment rights of ExxonMobil, they should each call a hearing, ask ExxonMobil executives to testify, and give them the opportunity to set the record straight. A committee chairman could do little more to protect any persons right to speak freely than to give that person the chance to testify before Congress. We would love to hear what they have to say.
James Hoefler is a professor of political science at Dickinson College specializing in American politics and public policy.
The 2016 presidential election has been notable for the rhetorical vitriol pervading the campaign, and unfortunately Donald Trumps suggestion Tuesday that Second Amendment people might be able to offer some sort of corrective to a Hillary Clinton presidency is merely a continuation of this well-established pattern.
At a July rally in Raleigh, N.C., Trump supporters can be heard chanting Hang that b----! Michael Folk, a Republican legislator from West Virginia, added his voice to the chorus several days later, tweeting that Clinton should be hung on the Mall in Washington, DC.
Al Baldasaro, a Republican legislator from New Hampshire and a retired Marine who serves as a Trump adviser, joined the fray, stating in a radio interview that, Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason. Licking County, Ohio, Commissioner Duane Flowers chimed in at a public meeting shortly thereafter, saying that Clinton should be hanging from a tree.
Do any of these statements cross the line of protected speech under the First Amendment? Probably not.
The relevant federal statute here 18 USC Section 879(a)(3) makes it a felony to threaten a presidential candidate with death or bodily harm. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has ruled that speakers should be accorded fairly wide latitude to express themselves in ways that do not pose a real and imminent threat.
For example, in the weeks prior to the 2008 presidential election, California resident Walter Bagdasarian posted the following on a public message board: [Barack] Obama . . . will have a 50 cal in the head soon. Bagdasarian followed this post with another, which began: Shoot the n--. The Secret Service investigated and found weapons in Bagdasarians home, including a .50 caliber rifle.
Bagdasarian was convicted, but his conviction was overturned by the 9th Circuit Court, which ruled that Section 879 could only be invoked if the speakers words went beyond expression of an opinion to constitute a serious expression of intent to inflict bodily harm. The court reasoned that while Bagdasarians posts might be loathsome and menacing they did not reach the level of a true threat.
While it is within the purview of the Secret Service to investigate those who have made menacing comments regarding Clinton, those comments probably fall within the realm of protected speech, if only because Bagdasarians patently more egregious speech was found to fall within the limits of protected speech.
Even before Tuesdays comments about the Second Amendment, however, Trumps own speech raised serious constitutional questions. After a protester threw a tomato at a February campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Trump encouraged those in the crowd to take action.
If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously, okay? Just knock the hell I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. Shortly thereafter, John McGraw was charged with assault and disorderly conduct after reportedly sucker-punching a non-violent Trump protester at a North Carolina rally.
Did Trump cross the First Amendment line with his comments? We look for guidance to the Supreme Courts most recent case to test the limits of this sort of speech: Brandenburg v. Ohio. In that 1969 decision, the court set forth a three-part test to determine the contours of First Amendment sanctuary: Was criminal action (1) intended, (2) imminent and (3) likely?
Trumps intention seems genuine and unambiguous, especially in the context of his comments after a protester was ejected at a February rally in Las Vegas, when Trump said: Id like to punch him in the face. Perhaps these were rhetorical flourishes, but it would be hard for anyone who watched videos of these events to come to the conclusion that Trumps intentions were anything less than sincere.
Trumps language also seems to qualify with regard to imminence. That Trump supporters have acted along these lines at subsequent rallies would suggest that criminal acts advocated by Trump qualify as imminent in the literal sense of that term.
Trumps speech also seems to meet the harder-to-establish likelihood test. At the very least, Trumps offer to pay the criminal defense costs of anyone who followed his advice would seem to increase the likelihood that someone would act on that advice.
We all celebrate the First Amendment and its broad protections of speech, as egregious and unpresidential as that language might sometimes seem. But all political liberties come with limits, and a case could be made that Trumps brutal entreaties have exceeded that limit. Should he continue to exhort violence at his rallies, it may be his own legal defense needs, rather than those of his followers, that he will need to worry about.
IT HAS been three months since the efforts of a Montgomery County high school principal to crack down on student drinking were undermined by higher-ups. Good, then, that some school officials seem to be worried that those events may have sent the wrong message about underage drinking. We hope their concerns lead to policies that put everyone on the same page in how to confront this critical issue.
Community uproar over the May events at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School prompted the school board to undertake a review of its policies on student drinking and drug use. The principal at the school had repeatedly warned that students who violated the rules to keep the prom alcohol-free would not be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies. When she tried to follow through with students who had thumbed their nose at the rules, she was overruled by then-school superintendent Larry A. Bowers, who cited circumstances and board policy.
What is perhaps most sad about the incident is that the interference came at the behest of parents who, rather than setting the right example for their children, seemed not to place a high priority on following rules. Not being able to walk across a stage is a small price to pay to try to keep young people safe. Montgomery County too often has seen the deadly consequences of teen drinking, with at least three teenagers dying in alcohol-related crashes in less than two years. We hold our breath every year, but its like Groundhog Day, school board member Patricia ONeill said of the tense spring season of proms and graduation parties when seniors are most vulnerable.
As part of its study, the school board is looking at the experiences of surrounding jurisdictions, including those that limit offending students from involvement in school activities or from graduation events. Board members also would do well to check in with the chaperones who worked this years prom at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and who noticed a marked difference in student behavior because of the principals warning about significant school consequences. For the first time in years, The Posts Donna St. George reported, there were no ambulances at the after-prom party or mopping up of vomit. Its now up to the school board to decide what kind of message it wants to send.
Protesters demonstrate over what they say is unfair distribution of wealth in Ethiopia at Meskel Square in Addis Ababa on Aug. 6. (Tiksa Negeri/Reuters)
OVER THE weekend, Ethiopia reminded the world of how it treats those who dare demonstrate against the government. At least 90 protesters were shot and killed by Ethiopian security forces in the regions of Oromia and Amhara. As demonstrations unusually reached into the capital of Addis Ababa, the regime censored social media posts and blocked Internet access.
This fresh outburst of repression follows months of unrest in the Oromia region over government plans to expand the Addis Ababa capital territory into the lands of the Oromo, the countrys largest ethnic group. According to Human Rights Watch, Ethiopian security officers have killed more than 400 people in clashes over the Oromia land dispute since protests broke out in November. Tens of thousands more have been detained. The clashes represent the worst ethnic violence that Ethiopia has seen in years. That the unrest is spreading to regions beyond Oromia underscores the depth of anger against the ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front party.
The weekends bloodshed should prompt the West to reconsider its aid to the regime. Ethiopia has been hailed as a model of economic development and touts its progress on global anti-poverty indicators as proof that its developmental democratic style is working. But the repeated use of force to silence dissent threatens development by sowing seeds of future unrest.
The United States has long relied on Ethiopia as a partner in the fight against al-Shababs terrorism in Somalia and sends the country tens of millions of dollars in development assistance, tiptoeing around Ethiopias human rights abuses and resistance to democratic reforms. On Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa remarked that it was deeply concerned and expressed its deep condolences to those who suffered as a result but stopped short of explicitly urging the Ethiopian government to refrain from using excessive force against its citizens. The Obama administration should encourage a credible investigation into the killings and publicly make clear that Ethiopias continued crackdowns are unacceptable.
Europe is on the verge of helping to provide Ethiopia with even more aid. Ethiopia is one of the key countries to which the European Union is offering cash for cooperation, meaning aid and trade incentives in exchange for helping to keep refugees and migrants from reaching Europe. Now Ethiopia is providing a litmus test of the stated E.U. commitment to human rights. If Ethiopia continues its pattern of abusing its citizens and stifling dissent, and if it fails to credibly investigate the recent killings, the European Union should make clear to the regime that it risks being dropped from the migrant agreements.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said in response to criticism of the regimes human rights record that building democratic culture will take some time. But we are on the right track. Its improving. Thats hard to square with the continued killing and jailing of protesters.
Regarding the Aug. 8 editorial Metros latest missteps and embarrassments:
The editorial board called on D.C., Maryland and Virginia officials to establish a safety authority that will have real teeth in providing oversight of Metro. As co-chairs of the WMATA-Metro Work Group in the Maryland General Assembly, we have been involved in talks related to the establishment of the independent safety commission required by federal law. We support this federally required mandate but believe that if we want to give it real teeth, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authoritys inspector general should be removed from Metros chain of command and placed under the new safety commission. WMATAs inspector general has failed to adequately expose Metros failings. Moving the position under the safety commission would create an oversight agency much stronger, more robust and more effective than if we simply added a new team of safety inspectors.
Erek L. Barron, Bowie
Marc A. Korman, Bethesda
Erek L. Barron, a Democrat, represents
Prince Georges County, and Marc A. Korman,
a Democrat, represents Montgomery County,
in Marylands House of Delegates.
Every couple of years or so, I feel the need to whine about the plight of newspapers. Its August. Im Trumped out. So todays the day.
Except that HBOs John Oliver beat me to it with the best defense of newspapers ever. His recent Last Week Tonight With John Oliver monologue about the suffering newspaper industry has gone viral in journalism circles but deserves a broader audience.
Besides, its funny.
Leavening his important message with enough levity to keep the dopamine flowing, Oliver points out that most news outlets, faux, Fox and otherwise, essentially rely on newspapers for their material. This includes, he says, pulsing with self-awareness, Oliver himself. Hes sort of part of the problem, in other words, but at least he knows it, which makes it okay, sort of.
The problem: People want news but they dont want to pay for it.
Consequently, newspapers are failing while consumers get their information from comedy shows, talk shows and websites that essentially lift material for their own purposes.
But somewhere, somebody is sitting through a boring meeting, poring over data or interviewing someone who isnt nearly as important as he thinks he is in order to produce a story that will become news. As Oliver points out, news is a food chain, yet with rare exceptions, the most important members of the chain are at the bottom, turning off the lights in newsrooms where gladiators, scholars and characters once roamed.
Some still do, though most are becoming rather long-ish in the tooth. (You can actually get that fixed, you know.)
That any newspapers are surviving, if not for much longer in any recognizable form, can be attributed at least in some part to the dedication of people who really believe in the mission of a free press and are willing to work harder for less tweeting, blogging, filming and whatnot in addition to trying to write worthy copy. Most of the poor slobs who fell in love with the printed word go unnoticed by any but their peers.
An exception is Marty Baron, the unassuming executive editor of The Post, recently featured in the film Spotlight, about the Boston Globes stories under Barons leadership uncovering sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
Its a good movie, not just because of great casting and acting but because its a great tale about a massive investigative effort that led to church reform and the beginning of healing for victims. (Not to worry, my pay comes as a percentage of the money I make for the company. This wont make a dime of difference.)
My point shared by Oliver is that only newspapers are the brick and mortar of the Fourth Estates edifice. Only they have the wherewithal to do the kind of reporting that leads to stories such as Spotlight. What happens to the news when there are no newspapers left?
We seem doomed to find out as people increasingly give up their newspaper subscriptions and seek information from free-content sources. And though newspapers have an online presence, its hard to get readers to pay for content.
As Oliver says, now is a very good time to be a corrupt politician. Between buyouts, layoffs and news-space reductions, theres hardly anyone paying attention.
Except, perhaps, to kitties.
In a hilarious spinoff of Spotlight called Stoplight, Oliver shows a short film of a news meeting where the old-school reporter is pitching a story about city hall corruption. The rest of the staff, cheerful human topiaries to the reporters kudzu-draped mangrove are more interested in a cat that looks like a raccoon.
And then theres Sam Zell, erstwhile owner of the Tribune Co., who summed up the sad trajectory of the nations interests and, perhaps, our future while speaking to Orlando Sentinel staffers in 2008. When he said he wanted to increase revenues by giving readers what they want, a female voice objected, What readers want are puppy dogs.
Zell exploded, calling her comment the sort of journalistic arrogance of deciding that puppies dont count. . . . Hopefully we get to the point where our revenue is so significant that we can do puppies and Iraq, okay? [Expletive] you.
Yes, he said that.
Moral of the story: If you dont subscribe to a newspaper, you dont get to complain about the sorry state of journalism and puppies you shall have.
Read more from Kathleen Parkers archive, follow her on Twitter or find her on Facebook.
An election commission official displays a ballot to the media while counting votes during a constitutional referendum vote at a polling station in Bangkok on Sunday. (Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)
Regarding the Aug. 6 editorial Thailands Potemkin referendum:
In Sundays referendum on the draft constitution, about 29 million Thais exercised their voting rights in a transparent and peaceful manner, as many Thai and foreign observers attested. The draft constitution may not be perfect, but Thai voters supported it because they want to rectify flaws in Thai democracy that have led to broken politics, abuse of power, rampant corruption, a dysfunctional parliament, government shutdowns, street violence and chaos. People want good governance and respect for the rule of law. Most important, they want peace and stability.
Thai citizens made their wishes known with more than 60 percent voting in support of the charter. The government also will recognize the concerns of those who were not in favor of the draft.
All major political parties have voiced respect for the outcome of the referendum and expressed their desire to move forward. This spirit should be welcomed, as it shows how far Thailand has come from where it was a few years ago. All parties concerned should find a way to work together and move the country forward for the benefit of all Thais. Organic laws to facilitate political parties and elections will be enacted, paving the way for elections in 2017.
We hope our friends in the United States who may disagree with certain parts of the charter will at least respect the decision and the will of the Thai people.
Pisan Manawapat, Washington
The writer is Thailands ambassador
to the United States.
An appeals court on Wednesday put on hold an earlier ruling that residents without a photo ID could still vote if they attested to their identity in an affidavit, striking a blow to activists concerned that many in Wisconsin will be blocked from voting.
Advocates for voting rights have had recent legal victories with rulings against voting-restriction legislation in North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin.
A federal ruling last month said Wisconsin residents who had trouble obtaining the necessary identification would still be able to vote with an affidavit. But the appeals court on Wednesday said that state lawyers challenging that ruling were likely to be successful.
Wisconsin has battled for years over its voter-ID law, and the latest bout of legal wrangling has left the situation decidedly unclear for voters in November.
In a separate case, a district court judge declared unconstitutional several of Wisconsins voting rules and ordered reforms to the process by which voters can obtain IDs from the Division of Moter Vehicles. That decision also is being appealed.
This year more states than ever will require potential voters to show photo ID in order to vote in the election. Here's why this is so controversial. (Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)
Given the back-and-forth, experts say there remains concern about how much information will trickle down to voters and election administrators. Wisconsin recently made $250,000 available for a public information campaign, although it remains unclear what voters will be told about the rules.
We know there will be confusion, said Rick Hasen, a University of California at Irvine professor who specializes in election law.
Dale Ho, director of the Voting Rights Project for the American Civil Liberties Union, said as many as 300,000 registered voters in Wisconsin lack acceptable photo ID, although he acknowledged that not all of them would vote and that some could obtain documentation without much trouble. The ACLU had sued over the law.
As to whether requiring ID could tip the election in favor of the Republicans who support the law, Ho said: Obviously, the people behind these laws think it can help them. Whether or not it can, from our perspective, it really doesnt matter. Were just trying to make sure everyone can vote.
So, too, is, Anita Johnson, who spends her days stopping passersby at festivals, speaking to church groups and passing out literature with a simple question: Are you voter-ID ready?
She is determined to make sure that no voters in her home state of Wisconsin show up to cast a ballot in November only to learn that they will need to produce an identification card they dont have. The 70-year-old community organizer even drives prospective voters to the DMV to make sure they can navigate the bureaucracy to get the necessary documentation.
A lot of people still dont know that you need an ID to vote with, Johnson said.
[Federal judge rules that Wisconsinites without ID can sign affidavit to vote]
The stakes are high in Wisconsin because November would mark the first time the law would be enforced during a presidential election.
The numbers are large enough in a close swing state like Wisconsin to make the difference, said Robert Kraig, the executive director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin, which is among several groups suing in different cases over the law.
In 2012, President Obama beat Mitt Romney by more than 200,000 votes in the state. But other presidential elections in Wisconsin have been closer. In 2004, Democrat John F. Kerry defeated George W. Bush by just 11,384 votes. In 2000, Al Gore beat Bush by 5,708 votes.
In recent days, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has opened a significant lead on Republican Donald Trump in Wisconsin. A Marquette University Law School poll of Wisconsin registered voters released Wednesday found that 46 percent supported Clinton, compared with 36 percent who supported Trump. The poll, conducted Aug. 4-7, found Clinton with an even bigger lead over Trump among likely voters: 52 percent to 37 percent.
Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) told a local TV station in April that the photo-ID law would make a little bit of a difference in pushing his state toward whomever the Republican nominee might be. A former aide to a Republican state senator testified in a trial that GOP lawmakers were excited that voter-ID requirements might help them win.
Hasen said the decision blocking the affidavit-in-lieu-of-ID option for Wisconsin voters will probably be challenged with the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, and perhaps even the Supreme Court.
While the legal jousting continues, Johnson said she is still trying to get people their IDs, and bracing for confusion and frustration on Election Day. Even state lawyers in arguing that the law be kept intact while they appeal asserted that implementing a process by which voters could use an affidavit to attest to their identity would introduce confusion.
When the law was enforced in the April primary, there were reports of long lines in some places, although the parties have haggled over the reasons for that. Johnson said she observed no significant problems in the primary this month, though she attributed that to low turnout and feared what would happen in November.
You know whats going to happen? People will say: I still don't know what Im going to do. Im just not going to vote, Johnson said.
Proponents of the voter-ID requirement, which was signed into law by Gov. Scott Walker (R) in 2011, say that it is a necessary step to prevent fraud and that it at worst causes a simple trip to the DMV for those who dont have an ID. The law requires voters to produce one of several acceptable forms of photo ID when they vote. Lawyers for Wisconsin wrote in one legal filing that the law is part of a Wisconsin election system that is fundamentally fair, easy-to-navigate, and open to all. [Appeals court says Texas voter-ID law discriminates against minorities]
Opponents say it is an unnecessary imposition that disproportionately affects poor, minority voters, and its true aim is not to prevent fraud an imagined problem but to prevent would-be Democratic voters from casting ballots.
Johnson, a Clinton supporter, said she has driven between 10 and 15 people to the DMV to get IDs, and she has informed hundreds of others of the requirement. Those facing the most serious challenge, she said, are people without birth certificates which are required to get a Wisconsin state ID.
On a recent weekday, Johnson allowed a Washington Post reporter to tag along as she attempted to get an ID for a homeless man staying in a Milwaukee shelter.
The man, 44-year-old Richard Walker, does not have a birth certificate although he does have an Illinois ID, a Social Security card and a letter from a Wisconsin food assistance program establishing his residency at the Milwaukee shelter. Wisconsin has a process for confirming his birth information with Illinois, although Walker seemed to need Johnsons help getting it started.
When DMV clerks twice questioned Walker about whether he had a birth certificate, Johnson interjected, saying Walker wanted to petition, a term that the clerks understood to mean he wanted them to ask Illinois to verify his birth information. Walker, an undecided voter, left with a letter saying that if his information checked out, he would be mailed a photo ID. A clerk told him he would leave with no such ID that day. A district judge has since ordered reforms to the process.
Walker may face other obstacles to voting. Records show that he is a convicted felon and registered sex offender, although court records and officials said he does not appear to be on probation or parole. Wisconsin allows convicted felons to vote if they are off paper, meaning they have completed any incarceration, probation or supervision that was a part of their sentence. Wisconsin Election Commissions Administrator Michael Haas said that having to register as a sex offender would not itself qualify as being under supervision for voting purposes.
Johnson who did not know the details of Walkers criminal past said his case is atypical, although it did show the difficulty some might face in obtaining an ID.
He just doesnt know the terminology, she said. They would never suggest the petition process.
The lawsuit alleged that Wisconsins voting regulations are problematic in a host of other ways, and a district judge largely agreed, ordering the state to undo, for example, many restrictions on early voting.
Wisconsin, in presidential election years, has the second-highest turnout in America, said Scot Ross, the executive director of One Wisconsin Now, another group involved in the lawsuits. Why would you want to change that?
At a rally in Wilmington, N.C., Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said rival Hillary Clinton wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment. He warned of Clintons ability to pick Supreme Court justices if she wins, saying there would be nothing you can do, folks. (The Washington Post)
At a rally in Wilmington, N.C., Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said rival Hillary Clinton wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment. He warned of Clintons ability to pick Supreme Court justices if she wins, saying there would be nothing you can do, folks. (The Washington Post)
Donald Trump was ticking through a list of reasons to support him over Hillary Clinton on Tuesday when he decided to linger on one.
If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks, Trump said with a shrug at a rally here after accusing Clinton of wanting to strip Americans of their gun rights. He paused, then softly offered a postscript: Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know.
The denouncements came swiftly from Clintons campaign and her allies and from outside politics. The insinuation, critics said, was that Trump was inciting his followers to bear arms against a president in the future. And Trumps response was just as swift: Hed said nothing of the sort but was merely encouraging gun rights advocates to be politically involved.
The pattern has repeated itself again and again. First come Trumps attention-getting expressions. Then come the outraged reactions. The headlines follow. Finally, Trump, his aides and his supporters lash out at the media, accusing journalists of twisting his words or missing the joke. It happened last week, when Trump appeared to kick a baby out of a rally, then later insisted that he was kidding. It happened the week before, when he encouraged Russia to hack Clintons emails, then claimed he was just being sarcastic.
And with each new example, Trumps rhetorical asides grow more alarming to many who hear them and prompt condemnations from an ever-wider universe of critics. On Tuesday, for instance, even Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), one of Trumps most ardent defenders, struggled to fully embrace his comments. Sessions insisted in an interview on CNN that Trump did not mean to encourage violence, but he acknowledged that Trumps words were awkwardly phrased.
1 of 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail View Photos The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November. Caption The GOP presidential nominee is pressing his case ahead of Election Day. Nov. 7, 2016 Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at SNHU Arena in Manchester, N.H. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.
People from other corners weighed in, too. As the daughter of a leader who was assassinated, I find #Trumps comments distasteful, disturbing, dangerous, tweeted Bernice King, daughter of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. His words dont #LiveUp. #MLK.
The Secret Service acknowledged Tuesday in a tweet that agents were aware of the episode.
Trumps most dedicated fans said they understood what he was saying, and they scoffed at the reaction of Democrats and the headlines from newspapers and news shows.
In no way was he threatening Hillary, said Sarah Smith, a 72-year-old retiree who attended the rally in Wilmington where Trump made the remark. Anybody who thinks that is delusional.
James Renaud, 66, said he took the comment at face value, meaning gun owners have to mobilize lest Clinton is able to stack the Supreme Court. It was just off-the-cuff talking.
And Keri Malkin, 49, said she didnt hear it that way at all, suggesting that the insinuation that the comment was a threat against Clinton was engineered by her supporters.
Hillary lies a lot, so its no surprise that her supporters would lie, Malkin said.
The number of influential Republican officials saying they cant vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton is growing as Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) pledges that she wont vote for Trump. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
[In North Carolina, Trump hits the trail hard but late where he needs to win big]
But Trumps rhetorical asides appear to be taking a toll among the electorate overall. Many voters find his remarks distasteful, even given his explanations. The possibility that he was joking or being sarcastic, or that he meant something other than what some people heard, doesnt alter the growing view that Trump is reckless with his words.
Each day brings new polls showing the Republican nominee lagging Clinton nationally and in several key battleground states. The surveys show widespread uncertainty about whether Trump has the temperament to serve as president a doubt that his ever-replenishing supply of rhetoric continues to feed.
Dont treat this as a political misstep, tweeted Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a Clinton supporter and a staunch gun-control advocate. Its an assassination threat, seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy & crisis.
Trump has made concerted efforts to counter such concerns; Monday, he delivered an economic policy address in Detroit that many anxious Republicans had hoped would reset a campaign that had flailed for more than a week after Trumps attacks on the Muslim American family of a U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq.
But part of the pattern of Trumps controversies is that they often step on his efforts to broaden his appeal, as they seemed to in this instance.
He also sometimes grabs the media spotlight away from Clinton when hed be better off letting her keep it. That happened Tuesday, too, when Clinton was dealing with an unwelcome distraction: the revelation that the father of the gunman in the mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub in June had secured a prime seat at her rally Monday in Kissimmee, Fla.
On Tuesday, it was not immediately clear whether Trump was inciting gun owners to use their weapons against judges or a sitting president or was encouraging some other action. Trump spokesman Jason Miller released a statement just moments after the comment, swatting down the idea that the mogul was doing anything other than encouraging political action.
At an event in Fayetteville, N.C., later in the day, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani defended Trump while introducing him. What he meant by his comment, Giuliani said, was that you have the power to vote against Clinton.
Later Tuesday, Trump appeared on Fox News, where he described the strong, powerful movement in the United States to protect the Second Amendment. There can be no other interpretation, he said. Even reporters have told me. I mean, give me a break.
Meanwhile, Clinton and her supporters on Capitol Hill and in the pro-gun-control community said they saw Trumps words in a very different way.
@realDonaldTrump makes death threats because hes a pathetic coward who cant handle the fact that hes losing to a girl, tweeted Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a regular Trump critic.
This is simple what Trump is saying is dangerous, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement. A person seeking to be the President of the United States should not suggest violence in any way.
The campaign also quickly dashed off a fundraising solicitation after the episode, emailing supporters: We dont know how many children were watching him today, absorbing the kind of violence and hate that Trump is peddling.
What may have been lost in the flap was the substance of Trumps accusation against Clinton: that she wants to overturn the Second Amendment, and plans to appoint judges and justices to the federal judiciary who would help her do that.
Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment, he said. By the way, and if she gets to pick if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know.
Clinton has never said she wants to eliminate the Second Amendment. Even if she did, neither the president nor the Supreme Court nor lower-level federal judges have the power to do so. There are two ways to alter the Constitution. One requires a two-thirds vote of Congress and then approval by three-fourths of the nations state legislatures. The other requires calling a constitutional convention and, again, approval by three-fourths of the states.
One common thread linking many of Trumps more controversial comments and actions is that he denies having said or done them. Trump claimed never to have mocked a disabled New York Times reporter, despite a widely disseminated video clip showing him making jerking movements with his arms. He claimed that he never said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is not a war hero, despite a Q&A in which he said just that.
He said he never advocated intervention in Libya, though he did.
Trump also relies regularly on the turn of phrase many people are saying to make pronouncements without offering evidence backing them up.
On Monday, for instance, he tweeted: Many people are saying that the Iranians killed the scientist who helped the U.S. because of Hillary Clintons hacked emails.
Mr. Trumps tweets speak for themselves, said Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks.
Trump and his allies often blame the media for misconstruing his words. The statement issued by his campaign after his Tuesday comments appeared under the heading: Trump Campaign Statement On Dishonest Media.
Sullivan reported from Washington. Abby Phillip in Austin, David Weigel in Washington and Jenna Johnson in Wilmington contributed to this report.
HUNTERTOWN Smiles.
For three days, Jenny McComb had one on her face. She also saw a lot of them on others.
McComb, the chairperson of the Huntertown Heritage Days Festival committee, categorized last weekends festival as a success. Easy to do since 2015 went without a festival.
Now, McComb is focusing on the future of the festival. Notably, how to make it better and how to get more people involved.
We need somebody younger than me, the 75-year-old McComb joked with what little voice she had left. We need the experience of us older people and we also need the younger people and their skills on the computers and their ideas. It needs to be flexible and have ideas for everybody in order for it to be good. I think we showed that with a small group, you can get a lot done if you want it. It just depends on how bad we want it.
I thought the parade was good. The carnival was good. We had good acts in our event tent, but those events too far away (from the carnival) to be well attended. It will be better in time if it could all be closer together and have more things in the park. We also know you cant have the beer tent in the park, but the festival is not totally dependent on the beer tent, but it is something that a lot of people like. We will have to work on it.
McComb and the rest of the committee, which includes John Widmann, Kelli Brandt, Barb Wagner, Angie Keck and Diane Harris, met on Tuesday to go over the pros and cons of the festival. The committee, which meets on the second Tuesday of each month at Huntertown Town Hall, is inviting the community to its September meeting in hopes of getting new ideas from the public.
I want anyone who is concerned or wants to see anything in this town, to get together at that meeting and see what we can hash out, McComb said.
Some of the feedback collected over the weekend centered on moving the festival to a date earlier in the summer. Harlan Days runs at the same time and the festival is the third in a run of events in Allen County that includes the Three Rivers Festival and the Allen County Fair.
McComb said June was a popular suggestion, but weather concerns and the high volume of graduation parties could hinder attendance. July is also possible, but the warm weather of July isnt too different from August, McComb said.
Huseman Amusement Co. provided the 3-day carnival, which McComb said resulted in a positive investment. She also said the company was concerned about the popularity of an August festival was non-committal on a return next summer. The company does have more rides and games that could be a part of a future festival. In all, there were nine rides, divided equally among rides for kids and rides for teens.
Even though we made over the minimum to have the carnival, they need to make more than that too, McComb said. It was a big chance we took and it won out. I am glad we took the chance to show people what can be done.
The festival was themed as a celebration of Indianas bicentennial. Parade floats were to depict the celebration and two displays, one on states history and another on the towns history, were also on display. Those, however, were off sight from the carnival and sparsely attended.
You have some of the old guard that loves that kind of history, but that doesnt always appeal to the younger people. We have to come up with things that appeal to everyone, McComb said.
Other activities included a fish fry from the Huntertown Lions Club, a ballroom dancing demonstration, animal exhibits from Marks Ark and Soarin Hawk Raptor Rehab, and performances from Pottsies Past Time Band and the High Roller Band. The 200-inning wiffle ball game was canceled due to a lack of participation.
The main goal of the committee is more involvement. McComb said the festival could not have happened without help from the Huntertown Lions Club, the Friends of Huntertown Parks Inc., the Huntertown Historical Society, the Huntertown Fire Department and donations from local businesses.
We need the whole community, if they want this, to get together and help us out here, McComb said. We have too few people in each organization. We are going to have to see how we can get them all working together, and we did as much as possible, but we need more people in each of these organizations. The people we have just arent enough to put on an event like this as is should be.
Linda Eviston was the winner of the adult category of the pie baking contest with her cherry berry pie. Lorna McComb was second and Theresa Brown was third. In the 18-and-under category, Jasper Schroeder took first with a blueberry lemon pie and Bella Hensley was second with a peach pie.
The Our Hope Lutheran Church Mens Club provided the cash prizes of $30 for first, $20 for second and $10 for third in both categories. Thirteen total pies were entered. McComb was also pleased that four males entered pies, including John Bobay, Jim Bobay, Larry Wells and Jim Fortman. In all, the 13 pies were auctioned off for $240, which goes to the festival.
The winning parade float was the American Heritage Girls from St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church. Our Hope Lutheran School Church and School placed second and Garrett State Bank placed third. Chandra Gates State Farm Insurance provided the cash prizes of $50 for first, $30 for second and $20 for third.
I love this community and I want to see wonderful things happen for it. We want to try to do something for everyone. We just need some help if its what they want. I urge people to join different organizations, come together and lets see what we can do for this town, McComb said.
Putting up Hillary Clinton yard signs in Texas eight years ago was like playing a game of Whac-A-Mole.
They would get stolen. It was real horrible, said Bonny Krahn, 60, a precinct chair and two-time Democratic convention delegate for Clinton. Obama stickers were keyed off my car. I mean, just really bad stuff.
But I havent seen any of that this time around, she said with a wide smile.
Democrats say something is shifting in deep-red Texas. In a state with the second-largest Hispanic population in the country, Clintons Republican opponent, Donald Trump, has galvanized Latino voters in a way rarely seen. While few believe Clinton will win Texas this year, they are bullish that she will perform better than any recent Democratic presidential candidate.
That makes Texas, along with a growing list of red states where Clinton and her allies are investing time and money, fertile ground to raise funds, expand the partys strength, elect new candidates down the ballot and perhaps win a governing majority in one or both houses of Congress.
Texas is one of the reddest of red states, a place where Republicans have won every statewide office easily for two decades. But will Latino voters change that? (CNAM & Midnight Films as part of PBS Election 2016, funded by Latino Public Broadcasting and CPB)
A two-day swing this week by the partys vice-presidential nominee, Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.), adds to the evidence that the campaign is seeking to expand the partys reach into new, more hostile corners of the electoral map.
Standing on a wooden crate in the middle of a sweltering converted barn that serves as the Democrats Travis County coordinated campaign office, Kaine stated it plainly to campaign volunteers: Were serious about Texas. Were very serious about Texas.
That trip coincided with several other forays into red states this week. Campaign aides told Democratic leaders in Arizona and Georgia on Monday that they would begin sending money to pay for organizing staff. And in Utah, Clinton published an opinion piece directed at Mormons in a church-controlled newspaper.
[Clinton expands battleground state map with push into Arizona, Georgia]
[In North Carolina, Trump hits the trail hard but late where he needs to win big]
Texas Republicans scoff at the idea that Democrats will be competitive this year, or that Clintons campaign is doing more than sandwiching campaign events in between high-dollar fundraising stops.
Their actions are nothing more than AstroTurf, said Michael Joyce, communications director for the Republican Party of Texas. State Land Commissioner George P. Bush is doing a fantastic job running our victory effort this year, and our grass-roots activists are working hard across the state to keep Texas red for election cycles to come.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine speaks with customers and workers at Chapala Mexican restaurant during a campaign stop in Austin on Aug. 9. (Ricardo B.Brazziell/AP)
Indeed, a real financial investment by a Democratic presidential nominee in Texas in television ads and staff would be unprecedented in the modern era of billion-dollar campaigns. And so far beyond national cable television buys the Clinton campaign has not shelled out for ads. Nor has it invested much in funding field organizers outside of its recently installed state director, Jaclyn Uresti.
And Clinton officials cautioned not to read too much into Kaines itinerary, in particular, which will stray more regularly from the battleground map than Clintons. Among other reasons, he is likely to accept more invitations from interest groups, including giving a speech to a Baptist gathering in New Orleans on Thursday, to free up Clinton to focus on the contested states.
Still, Democrats insist that they see real targets in Texas. And with Kaine as messenger, the Clinton campaign is sending a clear signal that they see opportunities to put their thumb to the scale.
As chairman of the Democratic Party during President Obamas first term, Kaine gave special attention to Texas, eyeing a time in the future when the states demographics made it ripe for statewide and national Democratic candidates.
We always look at Texas in the Democratic family, Kaine told Clintons volunteers Tuesday. When I was Democratic Party chairman, the first meeting we did, we brought it to Austin to show, hey, were going to go after Texas.
Fluent in Spanish, Kaine is also credited with successfully leveraging Virginias growing Hispanic population to hasten that states leftward shift.
At Taqueria Chapala in Austin on Tuesday afternoon, Kaine small-talked his way through the room until he arrived at a man who identified himself as Carlos, sitting alone and hunched over a platter of food.
Kaine launched the conversation in Spanish. Quickly, Carlos invited him to sit at the booth. For two minutes, Kaine and the man talked about immigration reform and worry.
He says Mexicans sell drugs, Carlos told Kaine, referring to Trump. My people work. My people work.
Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, said that Kaine more than anybody else . . . understands the potential of Texas because of his ties to the Hispanic community in Virginia. He was able to drive up Hispanic turnout and solidify Virginia as a blue state.
Among the goals in Texas are a competitive U.S. House race, where Pete Gallego seeks to retake a seat he lost in 2014 to Republican Will Hurd. And there are a dozen other statehouse seats and more county judge posts and sheriff elections that could benefit from the attention.
Because Trump is increasing interest substantially in this election, the presidential race is helping us in down-ballot races significantly, Hinojosa said. It comes down to this: If we can get Hispanics to vote in this state, it would be impossible for the Republicans to elect anyone.
Democrats have been promising a Latino voting juggernaut in Texas for years, but it has yet to materialize. Latino turnout is low in the state and nationally. Democrats claim, as they have before, that there is evidence of a turnaround on the horizon.
In the heavily Latino border district where Gallego hopes to retake his seat, his campaign said that voter registration data from January to May shows a 25 percent uptick in registration compared with 2012.
Trumps controversial comments in which he called Mexican immigrants killers and rapists are at the core of the antipathy toward him by Latinos in Texas.
With the presidential election itself, I would feel pretty good, Gallego said in an interview. But if you add in the Trump phenomenon, its gets exponentially better because Mr. Trump has stirred the pot significantly along the border to the point that he has become a local issue.
[Clinton expands battleground state map with push into Arizona, Georgia]
According to the campaign, Kaines exploits in Texas are the demonstration of its commitment to a true 50-state strategy, which rests on a commitment from Clinton to rebuild the Democratic Partys infrastructure top to bottom.
[Republican officials say Trump could lose to Clinton in key battleground states]
Even while Democrats have held on to the presidency and managed to keep the Senate for six of the eight years of the Obama administration, the party has been decimated at the state and local levels.
Democrats control 11 state legislatures nationwide down from 26 in 2009. The party holds 18 governors mansions compared with 28 in 2009.
In Trump, Democratic operatives cautiously see an opportunity for the Clinton campaign to exploit the potential for a wave election, where the presidential ticket could help lift all boats.
John Wagner contributed to this report.
When Hillary Clinton and her vice-presidential running mate, Tim Kaine, took a celebratory bus tour through crucial Ohio after the Democratic National Convention, they got some unexpected company: Republican Sen. Rob Portman.
Portmans embattled reelection campaign had dispatched a squad of volunteers to Clinton-Kaine rallies in Columbus and Youngstown. There, they passed out literature touting his endorsements by several traditionally Democratic unions, signed up 400 new supporters and gathered more than 100 requests for yard signs, said Corry Bliss, Portmans campaign manager.
The campaign also featured Portmans outreach to Clinton supporters on its Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Portman is betting that a significant number of Ohioans in this turbulent election season might do something voters have not done in a long time: divide their preferences between the two parties as they work their way down the ballot. Breaking that pattern may be key to the survival of some endangered Republicans and possibly to the GOPs hopes of maintaining control of the Senate. Its a clear acknowledgment of the fear that Republican nominee Donald Trump is pushing away some voters and of the threat he poses to the rest of his party.
[Even under oath, Trump struggled with the truth]
Former Ohio governor Ted Strickland, the Democratic nominee for the Senate in Ohio, speaks in Columbus, Ohio. (Jay Laprete/AP)
Voters like to insist that they cast their ballots on the basis of the candidate, not the party. And the largest single bloc of voters is the 39 percent who identify as independent, according to a study of 2014 data by the Pew Research Center.
But their behavior in the voting booth speaks differently.
Split-ticket voting, once common, has in recent elections been rare in this polarized country. In 2012, for instance, only 6 percent of congressional districts just 26 out of 435 went for one party in the presidential race and another in picking a House member.
It was the lowest rate in 92 years and a far cry from the zenith of split-ticket voting, which happened in Richard M. Nixons landslide of 1972, when 44 percent of the districts in the country voted one way for president and the other for the House.
Ohio is a good example of the trend. It has not split its preferences for the White House and the Senate since 1988, when it voted for Republican George H.W. Bush and to reelect then-Sen. Howard Metzenbaum (D).
There are some signs that Portman may be succeeding. The latest NBC News-Wall Street Journal-Marist poll, for instance, shows the senator holding a five-point lead over the Democratic nominee, former governor Ted Strickland, despite how Clinton has pulled ahead in Ohio by a similar margin.
A month ago, that same survey had the Senate and presidential races tied in the state.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton leads her Republican opponent Donald Trump by 8 points in a new Washington Post/ABC News poll. The poll also found a majority of voters see both candidates as dishonest. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)
Republican incumbents are in tight races in six states that President Obama carried in 2012. In addition to the Ohio contest, those are Florida, Illinois, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Democrats need five seats to take back a Senate majority or four, if they also hold onto the White House, giving Kaine a tie-breaking vote in the chamber.
That both parties have nominated relatively unpopular candidates for president is the main force that could disrupt what has become the typical straight-ticket dynamic.
Trump has higher negative ratings than any standard-bearer in history; were he not in the race, that dubious distinction would go to Clinton. Also scrambling the equation is how more and more leading Republicans are turning their backs on Trump.
GOP senators on the ballot this year are, by and large, performing better than Trump in the polls. They have their own organizations and bases of support.
[Why some Republican politicians are really coming out against Trump]
The unfavorable levels at the top of the ticket set up a condition that might enhance more ticket splitting than we have seen in recent elections, said Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion in Pennsylvania.
In his own state, Borick noted, Clinton appears to have a double-digit lead over Trump in the latest surveys, but the battle between Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R) and Democrat Katie McGinty is a dead heat.
Pat Toomey seems to be holding on better to Republicans and winning more swing voters than Donald Trump, Borick added. If Trump becomes so unacceptable to a number of Republicans that they cant vote for him, that might become a scenario where ticket-splitting perks up a bit.
What they cannot afford, however, is for the bottom to drop out from under their presidential nominee.
In New Hampshire, on the other hand, Trumps unpopularity appears to be dragging down the reelection prospects of Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R), despite her efforts to distance herself from him and his caustic comments about her.
The latest WBUR poll shows Trump running 15 points behind Clinton in the Granite State and Ayotte doing almost as poorly, with a 10-point deficit against Gov. Maggie Hassan (D).
[Paul Ryan weathers his primary, but GOPs populist storm still rages]
Voters overall may be more unsettled and therefore, up for grabs than in the recent past.
An average of national polls taken in July, for instance, showed that 12 percent of the electorate had not made up its mind between Trump and Clinton a higher share of undecideds at that point in the cycle since 1992, said Karl Rove, who was then-President George W. Bushs chief political strategist.
Were going to see a larger group of voters in play than we have before, said David Winston, a Republican pollster and longtime adviser to the congressional leadership. Well have to reach these campaigns that are not used to ticket-splitting, and teach them how to do it.
Some Democrats, however, are skeptical, especially given Trumps stumbles since the convention, and the growing numbers of Republican leaders who are saying they will not vote for him.
I dont think [Trump] diminishes the numbers of swing voters, but his inability to speak beyond the base of his primary electorate has put him in a corner, said Joel Benenson, Clintons pollster and chief strategist.
House Republicans are already appealing to voters to cast their ballots for Republicans in Congress as a brake on Clinton.
If we fail to protect our majority in Congress, we could be handing President Hillary Clinton a blank check, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) wrote in an urgent fundraising appeal earlier this month. The awkward implication was that Trump is unlikely to win.
That kind of calculation in which ticket-splitting becomes a kind of check and balance is known as strategic voting.
It rarely happens almost never happens but this year is such an unusual situation that you could actually imagine it happening, said Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster who is working on gubernatorial and Senate races nationwide.
He added, however, that the dynamic is not likely to become clear until late in the campaign, possibly in the final weeks of October. And there remains the potential for voters to be so turned off by the presidential nominees that many decide to stay home.
Meanwhile, the effort to poach across party lines is working both ways.
In Ohio, for instance, Strickland campaign spokesman David Bergstein called Portmans hopes for a split-ticket path to victory a fantasy strategy.
But Strickland will be reminding Trump voters about Portmans record of supporting free trade.
By the time this election is over, every voter in Ohio, across Appalachia and the Mahoning Valley, will know that Portman is the best senator China has ever had, Bergstein said.
Portman, meanwhile, is boasting of his endorsement by unions that traditionally support Democrats, including the Ohio Teamsters.
This year, our endorsements are all over the map, said Fred Crow, political coordinator for the 2,800-member Teamsters Local 436 in northeast Ohio.
Among the rank and file, I think there is going to be a lot of ticket-splitting, Crow added.
When youre on maternity leave with full pay from your employer you probably dont expect a mortgage lender to reject your loan application on the grounds that your income doesnt count because you havent returned to your job.
Yet thats what a woman says she experienced when she and her husband sought financing to complete renovations on a house in Philadelphia. And shes hardly alone. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, there have been in excess of 200 cases alleging maternity-related discrimination against women seeking mortgages in the past six years.
Some cases that have gone to settlement involve companies prominent in banking and mortgages, including Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Bank of America, PNC Mortgage and MGIC, the mortgage insurer. In all agreements, the accused companies denied wrongdoing.
[More Harney: Dont assume you are frozen out of the mortgage market]
Under the Fair Housing Act, enacted in 1968, it is unlawful to discriminate in real estate transactions, including mortgage lending, on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability or familial status. That means lenders cannot deny or delay a loan simply because an applicant is on maternity leave but is otherwise qualified.
In the Philadelphia womans case, which resulted in a conciliation agreement July 29 with Citizens Bank N.A. and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, the problem was that her pay stubs contained the wording short term disability, she told me. That troubled an underwriter at the bank, who suspected that she might not return to her job full time, she said, even though she and her employer were both willing to provide a letter specifying her return date. Without having her income counted in the application, the bank concluded that she and her husband would not qualify for the financing they requested. The woman, whose name was redacted from the agreement, asked that she not be identified when I interviewed her.
Im getting full pay on maternity leave, she said she explained to the loan officer. This is not 1950, and you shouldnt be penalizing me! Citizens the 13th-largest retail bank in the country, according to its website denied discriminating against the woman but agreed to make $115,000 in payments: $40,000 to her and $75,000 to an unnamed fair housing advocacy group. The bank also agreed to conduct fair lending compliance sessions with its staff and to adopt a parental leave policy.
[More Harney: Congress agrees on changes that may make condos easier to buy and sell]
In a statement, Citizens said, we follow fair lending practices and are committed to ensuring equal access and consideration for all customers while providing ongoing training for colleagues. The bank ultimately came through with the financing requested by the woman and her husband, but only after she had returned to her job, she said. By then, she had filed a complaint with HUD.
Shanna L. Smith, president and chief executive of the National Fair Housing Alliance, says there needs to be much better training for [lenders] about how to deal with interrupted income for loan closings when a woman is pregnant and [on] paid maternity leave. In one case brought by Smiths group and now pending at HUD, a loan originator in Arkansas told an applicant that even though she was on paid maternity leave, she would have to be back at work for the loan to close, according to Smith.
Curiously, interrupted income situations dont seem to be a problem for lenders when it is a factory or seasonal male worker, Smith said. But for a pregnant woman, the treatment too often is different: Underwriters dont seem to be able to calculate qualifying incomes properly. This is especially so, Smith said, when loan originators or underwriters have been with the bank a long time and are operating on decades-old rules that could require a woman to return to work before a mortgage went to closing.
Although discrimination like this is relatively uncommon given the large numbers of applications that are funded for pregnant women and those on maternity leave, it still occurs. If you or someone you know encounters it, contact HUDs fair lending office at 800-669-9777.
As the mortgage applicant in Philadelphia put it so well, this is no longer the 1950s. Federal law requires fair treatment of anyone on maternity or parental leave. Banks need to get it.
Ken Harneys email address is kenharney@earthlink.net.
Tokyo's first female governor, Yuriko Koike, was the first woman to run for the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party in 2008. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)
Tokyos first female governor, Yuriko Koike, found an overflowing inbox when she took office last week: Fix the 2020 Tokyo Olympic preparations, clean up the government of the worlds largest city, eliminate the day-care shortage thats keeping women from the workplace, and restore Tokyos financial center to its former glory.
Oh, and do it all against the wishes of an old boys club that did not want her elected in the first place. (One of them even suggested it would be wrong to elect a woman who wore too much makeup.)
But Koike, a staunch conservative known for her nationalist positions, is not coming into office promising to make nice.
There will be no occasions on which I will compromise, she said in an interview in her new office Wednesday, her first with a foreign news organization since being elected, when asked about how she would proceed with a legislature that is not exactly enamored with her.
Instead, she invoked the maxim of one of her role models, Britains Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher, about acting on conviction, not by consensus.
Former defense minister Yuriko Koike, center, and her supporters celebrate during her gubernatorial election victory at her election office in Tokyo last month. (Shizuo Kambayashi/AP)
In Japanese society, you try to build consensus and try to keep harmony, but I would like to convince people to change for the sake of our society, Koike said. I learned that from Mrs. Thatcher. Koike, who is fluent in English, chose to speak mostly in Japanese.
She is taking on one of the most high-profile roles in Japan, running a megalopolis that has almost 14 million people and an economy bigger than Swedens.
[ Tokyo elects first female governor to tackle Olympic-size tasks ]
She comes to the office with a strong mandate. She ran as an independent after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, in which she served, chose a lesser-known (male) candidate. She crushed him with a landslide victory.
Despite having spent nearly a quarter-century in public office, serving as national security adviser and minister for the environment, Okinawa and then defense, Koike, 64, won the governorship because she was viewed as an outsider.
She has two pressing tasks, analysts say. One: to restore order to the shambles that is the 2020 Olympics. And two: after two governors had to resign over financial scandals, to promote transparency in the Tokyo government.
The preparations for the 2020 Olympics have lurched from one fiasco to another. The official logo was scrapped after allegations of plagiarism, then plans for a stadium designed by architect Zaha Hadid were torn up because of costs.
Most recently, French prosecutors and the Tokyo organizers have launched an investigation into $2 million in suspicious payments made to a Singapore company.
Then there is the inevitable overspending. The budget for the next Summer Games has more than tripled, to more than $10 billion, and the public has become concerned that politicians have been awarding contracts to their cronies.
Its true that weve had some trouble relating to the Olympics, said Koike, who will travel to Rio de Janeiro for the closing ceremony, and handover, on Aug. 21. Her term runs until July 30, 2020 six days after the Olympic Games begin.
Koike said that many of the problems with the Olympics stemmed from the fact that it was not clear who was in charge: the organizing committee headed by former prime minister Yoshiro Mori, the Japanese Olympic Committee, the central government or the Tokyo metropolitan government.
We need to make it clear whos making the decisions, she said. Koike has already established a headquarters within the Tokyo government to make it clear who is in charge, that the buck stops with her. As the governor of the host city, Id like to take the leadership of the Olympics and Paralympics.
[Do Japanese really work themselves to death? In some cases, yes.]
Koike has an unusual background for any Japanese politician, male or female.
Her grandfather founded a trading company in Seattle in the early 19th century, and her father was involved in the oil trade, sparking Koikes interest in the Middle East. As a college student, she studied Arabic in Cairo and then completed a degree in sociology there. While in Egypt, she married a fellow Japanese student, but the marriage did not last long.
Upon her return to Japan, she put her language skills to work, interviewing Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi and Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, before becoming a news anchor. She entered parliament in 1992.
Koike was Japans first defense minister, but only briefly, serving 55 days.
In 2008, she became the first woman to run for the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party, and, by extension, the countrys top job.
But Koike has not been particularly outspoken about womens issues. Regardless, she faces an official Japan plagued by rampant sexism, where male politicians comment on how much makeup she wears and how she dresses.
While all women worldwide face greater scrutiny compared to their male counterparts, the pressure on Koike to be effective will be especially harsh, said Shihoko Goto, a northeast Asia specialist at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
So far, though, she seems unafraid and confident enough to overcome obstacles her own way, Goto said.
Indeed, Koike is throwing down the gauntlet. As the new governor, I will make policies, and I doubt that my ideas will be opposed by the assembly, she said.
[In Japan, suspect in mass stabbing wanted disabled people euthanized]
There is talk in Tokyo that Koike will launch a new political party before next years assembly elections.
If she can form her own party and put her own people in the legislature, I think shell be able to move forward with her reforms, said Lully Miura, a political analyst at the University of Tokyo. The governor alone cannot make any difference. History has proven that.
But for all of her bravado, Koike will have to deal with an assembly dominated by a Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition, where many of the representatives overwhelmingly men are annoyed that she did not adhere to deferential etiquette by calling on them before she ran for governor.
She will need the legislature on board to implement changes to the running of the Olympics and the city government, as well as making good on other campaign pledges such as eliminating the wait list for day care, improving facilities for the rapidly aging population, and reinvigorating Tokyos position as a major financial center.
But Koike will have to pick her battles and decide whether to champion the Olympics or to improve transparency in the Tokyo government not both or risk pushing the old guard too far, Miura said. Otherwise, shell find herself mired in scandals, just like her predecessors.
Yuki Oda contributed to this report.
Read more
Yuriko Koike: Germany and South Korea readjust toward Russia and China
Japans emperor signals desire to stand down, citing failing health
Japanese leader hails trade deal, says it will boost economy and entire region
Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
North Koreas Neo Viagra is billed as an herbal medicine, but a test carried out for the Washington Post shows it contains the same active ingredient as is found in genuine Viagra. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)
North Korea has made some eye-popping claims over the years about its pharmaceutical products. Like the injections that cure everything from bird and camel flu to diabetes and spontaneous gangrene.
And like Neo-Viagra, North Koreas purportedly herbal version of Pfizers superstar medicine. According to the box, it not only counteracts sexual dysfunction in both men and women, but relieves back pain and high blood pressure.
Well, chuckle no more. It turns out that Neo-Viagra might actually work.
A Washington Post reporter visiting Pyongyang in May bought a box of the North Korean-produced medicine to treat erectile dysfunction, then sent it to a Pfizer lab in Massachusetts to be tested.
Surprisingly, each dose of Neo-Viagra brown granules in a vial that looks like traditional Korean medicine turned out to contain 50 milligrams of sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra. The little blue genuine Viagra pills come in 50- and 100-milligram doses.
Lab analysis of the product known as Neo-Viagra . . . did detect the presence of sildenafil, said Yasar Yaman, Asia-Pacific director for Pfizers global security team. Sildenafil is the active ingredient in Viagra, however this is a different formulation to the sildenafil found in authentic Pfizer tablets.
Pfizer couldnt say whether the medicine would actually work or was safe because it had not conducted any clinical trials, and the reporter was not successful in convincing any male acquaintances to try it.
But the fact that Neo-Viagra, made by the state-owned Korea Oriental Instant Medicinal Center, is being marketed as an herbal medicine when it contains the synthetic drug sildenafil, poses a threat to patient health and safety, Yaman said.
[ North Korea claims it can cure MERS (and a whole bunch of other things) ]
After testing the medicine sent to it by The Post, Pfizer said it was currently reviewing whether to take any action against the North Korean manufacturers for patent or copyright infringement.
Neo-Viagra is sold in North Korea and surrounding areas it has been spotted for sale in northeastern China for between $12 and $15 for a box of three vials.
The box, which features a photo of trees around a lake, claims to immediately revive sexual ability (15 to 30 minutes) for men and women. It also claims to be effective for back, shoulder and knee pain; relieving paralysis; and alleviating kidney malfunction, sciatic neuralgia, high blood pressure and brain artery hardening.
Visiting reporters went on a state-organized tour of a maternity hospital in Pyongyang, while North Korean minders carefully monitored their conversations with the hospital's staff. (Jason Aldag,Anna Fifield/The Washington Post)
This product has been officially recognized in many countries for its excellent effect in immediately increasing stamina and it is believed to be better than American Sildenafil (Viagra), the information sheet inside the packet says.
The box even has customer reviews on the back. A 35-year-old man, identified as Woo, raved about the product: I was able to have a cute baby after using 10 boxes of this medicine, whereas all I had before was dead sperm."
While the claims are almost certainly exaggerated, not all of North Koreas boasts are empty, said Lee Hye-kyung, who worked as a pharmacist at a hospital in North Korea and is now licensed to practice in South Korea.
Dont underestimate North Korea, Lee said. The only real difference between pharmacists in North and South is infrastructure in the North they dont have electricity or raw ingredients, but their technical skills are good.
Indeed, North Koreas pharmaceutical factories have largely ground to a halt along with the rest of the industrial sector, and many pharmaceutical products are imported from China to be sold in the markets. Medicines for chronic outbreaks are donated by humanitarian organizations, such as the drugs to treat multi-drug resistant tuberculosis that are imported from South Korea.
[ How North Korea got itself hooked on meth ]
When it comes to Neo-Viagra, although its packaging is entirely in Korean, it appears to be a product made for export.
Neo-Viagra and other medicines among them Kumdang, which when injected can purportedly cure MERS and avian flu are not prescribed for domestic use but are used to earn foreign currency, said Kim Jung-ryong, a South Korean doctor who worked in the inter-Korean industrial park on the northern side of the border for seven years, until 2012.
Websites based in China and Russia have been selling Kumdang; Neo-Viagra; Tetrodocain, which purports to treat an array of diseases including tuberculosis and HIV; and Chonghwal, which is said to do the same job as Viagra.
This is a source of pride as well as cash, said Kim. For North Korea, the propaganda effect is as important as making profits, he said. A new drug invented in North Korea using North Korean technology can boost pride among people if it is promoted as being effective against serious illnesses.
But for cash-strapped North Korea, the importance of finding new sources of revenue should never be discounted.
Over the years, North Korea has been nabbed counterfeiting everything from Marlboros to Benjamins. In the mid-2000s, it was making imitation Viagra in authentic-looking boxes, although the pills were round and white instead of blue and diamond-shaped.
After several high-profile busts of methamphetamine shipments and $100 supernote trade in the mid-2000s, North Korea appears to have cleaned up its act. This is not necessarily because North Korea is no longer involved in illicit activities, but more likely because it has diversified into new areas, said Sheena Chestnut Greitens, an expert on North Koreas illicit activities.
Theyre highly creative and highly adaptable. Theyre always developing new layers of business, said Greitens, who is affiliated with the Brookings Institution. If one of their businesses gets busted, theyve already been testing others.
By experimenting with new money-making schemes, North Korea has been able to skirt new layers of sanctions aimed at cutting off its ability to finance its nuclear and missile programs.
North Korea is marketing Neo-Viagra as an herbal product even though it contains a synthetic pharmaceutical. But it could become a new and valuable source of revenue.
If this stuff works, and even if theyre only selling it across the border to China, that could be very appealing to Chinese consumers, Greitens said. Chinese consumers have been known to flock to all sorts of purportedly aphrodisiac products, from ginseng and caterpillar fungus to deer or ox penis.
While each area of business in itself wont solve North Koreas economic problems, together they added up.
I think its by having this cluster of activities and abilities that has helped them as sanctions have been applied, Greitens said. With the newest round of sanctions, my guess is that theyre doing the same thing: looking for ways to navigate around them.
As it navigates, North Korea is also refining its products. Regular visitors to Pyongyang say the packet used to carry a warning: See your doctor for an erection lasting more than 24 hours. That, at least, has now disappeared.
Yoonjung Seo contributed to this report.
Read more
North Korean missile lands perilously close to Japan
U.S. sanctions North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
The secret life of Kim Jong Uns aunt, living in the U.S.
Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Iraqis jump off the ruins of an old building into the Tigris River to beat the heat in Baghdad on Aug. 1. The temperature in Baghdad reached 117 degrees. (Ali Abdul Hassan/AP)
Record-shattering temperatures this summer have scorched countries from Morocco to Saudi Arabia and beyond, as climate experts warn that the severe weather could be a harbinger of worse to come.
In coming decades, U.N. officials and climate scientists predict that the mushrooming populations of the Middle East and North Africa will face extreme water scarcity, temperatures almost too hot for human survival and other consequences of global warming.
If that happens, conflicts and refugee crises far greater than those now underway are probable, said Adel Abdellatif, a senior adviser at the U.N. Development Programs Regional Bureau for Arab States who has worked on studies about the effect of climate change on the region.
This incredible weather shows that climate change is already taking a toll now and that it is by far one of the biggest challenges ever faced by this region, he said.
These countries have grappled with remarkably warm summers in recent years, but this year has been particularly brutal.
Using The Post's Snapchat account, reporter Hugh Naylor shared pictures and videos from a camp for displaced people in Baghdad where record-shattering temperatures cause suffering. (Hugh Naylor, The Washington Post)
Parts of the United Arab Emirates and Iran experienced a heat index a measurement that factors in humidity as well as temperature that soared to 140 degrees in July, and Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, recorded an all-time high temperature of nearly 126 degrees. Southern Moroccos relatively cooler climate suddenly sizzled last month, with temperatures surging to highs between 109 and 116 degrees. In May, record-breaking temperatures in Israel led to a surge in heat-related illnesses.
Temperatures in Kuwait and Iraq startled observers. On July 22, the mercury climbed to 129 degrees in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. A day earlier, it reached 129.2 in Mitribah, Kuwait. If confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization, the two temperatures would be the hottest ever recorded in the Eastern Hemisphere.
[Two Middle East locations hit 129 degrees]
The bad news isnt over, either. Iraqs heat wave is expected to continue this week.
Stepping outside is like walking into a fire, said Zainab Guman, a 26-year-old university student who lives in Basra. Its like everything on your body your skin, your eyes, your nose starts to burn, she said.
Guman has rarely left home during daylight hours since June, when temperatures started rising above 120 degrees and metal objects outside turned into searing-hot hazards.
People escape the searing summer heat at a swimming pool in in Basra, Iraq, on Aug. 1. The temperature that day reached 120 degrees. (Nabil Al-Jurani/AP)
About that time, Aymen Karim also began feeling trapped.
The 28-year-old engineer at a government-run oil company in Basra said employees were ordered to stay home for several days in the past month. He and his family try not to go outside before 7 p.m.
Were prisoners, Karim said.
Bassem Antoine, an Iraqi economist, said the weather has inflicted serious damage to the countrys economy. He estimates that Iraqs gross domestic product about $230 billion annually has probably contracted 10 to 20 percent during the summer heat.
Iraqi officials say scores of farmers across the country have been struggling with wilting crops, and general workforce productivity has decreased.
Hospitals, meanwhile, have seen an uptick in the number of people suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis displaced by battles between government forces and Islamic State militants have endured the heat in tents and other makeshift shelters. Humanitarian organizations have been unable to reach all of them because of budget constraints, restrictions by Iraqs government and risks associated with operating in war zones.
A lot of these people are probably dying, but its hard to know, said an official at an aid organization who was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly and so spoke on the condition of anonymity.
In Baghdad, the capital, the temperature measured at the international airport has reached 109 degrees or higher nearly every day since June 19. The city has been 10 and even 20 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year.
[Persian Gulf may be too hot for human survival by 2090]
The government has declared multiple mandatory official holidays because of the heat. When that happens, many public employees turn up to work anyway because of the air conditioning available at government offices.
Most Iraqi homes and businesses suffer daily power cuts for 12 hours or more, and most Iraqis unlike their rich neighbors in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are too poor to afford 24-hour air conditioning anyway. Such a luxury requires paying expensive fees for gas-powered generators.
During daylight hours, Baghdads streets are empty, but some businesses remain open. Its either sweat at work or starve at home, said Eissa Mohsen, who owns a fruit stand in the Karrada area of downtown Baghdad.
Look over there! Thats an air-conditioning unit, but I cant afford to pay the generator fees to run it, he said at his shop on a recent day.
The immediate cause of all this misery is a stubborn high-pressure system, but a fundamental shift in the countrys weather patterns appears to be taking place, said Mahmoud Abdul-Latif, spokesman for Iraqs meteorological department. In Baghdad, he said, the number of days with temperatures at 118 degrees or higher has more than doubled in recent years.
If you look back 40 years ago, youd have these temperatures for four or five days, but then the wind would kick up dust and that would cool the surface. Thats just not happening now, he said.
Climate scientists say this shouldnt be surprising.
A study published by the journal Nature Climate Change in October predicted that heat waves in parts of the Persian Gulf could threaten human survival toward the end of the century. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and the Cyprus Institute in Nicosia recently predicted a similarly grim fate for the Middle East and North Africa, a vast area currently home to about a half-billion people.
The regions governments are generally not prepared to deal with rapidly growing populations and climactic shifts, said Francesca de Chatel, an Amsterdam-based expert on Middle Eastern water issues. For years, she said, they have failed to address these problems adequately despite warnings from climate experts and U.N. agencies, and it may be too late now.
The United Nations predicts that the combined population of 22 Arab countries will grow from about 400 million to nearly 600 million by 2050. That would place tremendous stress on countries where climate scientists predict significantly lower rainfall and saltier groundwater from rising sea levels. Already, most countries in the region face acute water crises because of dry climates, surging consumption and wasteful agricultural practices.
Analysts point to inadequate government handling of an unprecedented drought in Syria as a trigger for the countrys devastating civil war, which has produced extraordinary refugee flows that have spilled into Europe.
Last year, Iraqis rallied in Baghdad against their governments inability to provide enough electricity during another scorching summer heat wave. Little, if anything, resulted from those demonstrations. According to some estimates, Iraqs population of about 33 million people will nearly double by 2050.
The countries in the region are not prepared to cope with the effects of climate change, said de Chatel.
Such a blistering future doesnt seem like a far-off possibility to 33-year-old Arkan Farhan, who lives with his family near Baghdad in a tin hut at camp for people displaced by the Islamic State.
Last month, he said, he contracted typhoid from a communal water source that has become particularly crowded and filthy this summer. To cool off, his sons use it to fill a pan for bathing.
This month, his 69-year-old father, Jassam, was taken to the hospital after passing out from the heat.
Fortunately, he was only bruised. He didnt break any bones, Farhan said of his father while sitting in his sweltering shack. Iraqis are strong people. But this heat is like a fire. Can people live in fire?
Mustafa Salim in Baghdad and Sheikha al-Dosary in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, contributed this report.
Read more:
Its official: We can now say global warming has made some weather events worse
Before his tragic death, nature photographer shot iconic images of climate changes threat
Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
HUNTERTOWN As a boy, Kerry Shank would work the fields on his family farm.
The work wasnt always exciting, but, every once in a while, Shank and his family members would come across original arrowheads and spearheads from Native American tribes that inhabited Allen County thousands of years ago.
Shank said he has between 400 and 500 such stones, a portion of which he had on display with all the other historical items during the Huntertown Heritage Days Festival on Saturday afternoon.
These stones date back thousands of years. They were not made 300 or 400 years ago, Shank said. I got into a habit of finding these stones and would walk for miles to find these stones.
The festival was themed around Indianas bicentennial celebration and the Huntertown Historical Society put together a pair of exhibits; one on the states history and another on the history of the town and its families.
Shanks collection was paired with an exhibit on the 29 Indian reservations that inhabited Allen County.
Its a great exhibit. I dont think people realize the history behind this town, Shank said. My grandma Sloffer was a descendent of William T. Hunter and his family was the founder of Huntertown. People forget the history part of it and I was brought up to love the history part of it. I read about it and I think its great to have this exhibition.
Shank said his family has been in Huntertown since the late 1930s. His family farm is located on Woods Road, about a mile west of downtown Huntertown.
If you go down Woods Road, it might as well be named Shank Road because there are a lot of relatives on that road. The family still lives in the community. We are still a family that gets along pretty well, he said.
Shirley Underwood is the long time director of the Huntertown Historical Society, which started out of a need to preserve the artifacts, photos and stories that make Huntertown what it is.
We were losing all that (history) and we didnt want to, Underwood said. We put it all together and this (historical display) is what we have come up with. This shows the picture of what Huntertown looked like when it first came into being. We put this together to show people the knowledge of what happened before the bicentennial.
The society has binders of information on each family and displays on each were visible in the pavilion behind Huntertown Elementary School on Saturday. Another exhibit in the Huntertown Fire Station provided a variety of informational posters on Indiana and Allen County facts, including one on the history of one-room school houses in Allen County.
We need to do research on some older families that we havent done them on. We have family histories that go back to the 1800s and we would like to find out the stories and pictures that go with those histories.
Underwood said that old pictures are sought and that the historical society only makes copies of those items and does not keep them.
World War II veteran Keith McComb put together a WWII slide show as part of Saturdays events and a proper American flag disposal demonstration was also held.
A fast-moving cataclysm underway in and around Aleppo has brought together all the major actors in Syrias civil war for what may be the most crucial battle of the five-year conflict, and it is testing whether U.S.-Russian cooperation to end it is a pipe dream.
North of the city in which the government holds the western side and U.S.-backed moderate opposition forces have occupied the east since 2012 the opposition has lost control of its only lifeline for resupply under relentless pummeling by Russian and Syrian aircraft and artillery.
The road to Turkey also provided the only path for humanitarian aid or an escape route for at least a quarter-million civilians trapped inside Aleppo, who the United Nations said this week have been left without food, medical supplies or running water.
So dire is their situation that talks initiated by the Obama administration with Russia this summer about coordinating their Syria counterterrorism efforts have been put on the back burner, superseded by urgent negotiations with Moscow over reopening the road to Turkey, according to U.S. officials.
Russias U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, confirmed the negotiations following a closed-door Security Council meeting Tuesday, but he said certain problems remained, including Russias insistence that no rebel supplies be allowed to pass. So far, progress among the United States, Russia and the United Nations has been slowed by disputes over how far from the road weaponry must be positioned and who would monitor observance of the agreement and man checkpoints.
In Geneva, Russias U.N. representative charged that those supporting the opposition were promoting false hysterics over the humanitarian situation, Russias Interfax news agency reported.
Meanwhile, in Aleppos southwestern outskirts, an opposition force dominated by Islamist terrorist fighters, under brutal Syrian and Russian fire, has pushed through a government encirclement to the rebel-controlled part of the city. There, the more moderate opposition fighters now risk being subsumed or driven out by the militants.
The militants appear to have already begun setting up their own judicial councils and aid-distribution networks inside Aleppo, said Hassan Hassan, a Syria expert at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy.
They want to dominate the area and control the people in it, and they are really trying to boost their legitimacy among the locals by demonstrating their military [power] and winning hearts and minds, Hassan said of the group now known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, or Front for the Conquest of Syria.
Two weeks ago, the Front changed its name from Jabhat al-Nusra and said it was severing its affiliation with al-Qaeda, a move Western officials described as a cosmetic change to mask ulterior motives.
As Front forces increasingly mix with civilians and moderate opposition groups and the remaining civilian population inside the city, the administrations hopes of separating them and joining Russia in bombing the extremists appear to have dimmed. Overlaps have spread throughout northwest Syria, as moderate fighters some reluctantly, some less so have flocked to relationships of convenience with the better-armed and more successful extremists trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad.
That led to the near-collapse of a countrywide cease-fire barely a month after it was negotiated in February by Washington and Moscow, who both had promised to impose it on their Syrian partners on the ground. Only al-Nusra, now the Front, and the Islamic State were exempt. But as Assads forces lost ground in continued fighting against al-Nusra, their Russian backers began bombing again. The United States charged that Russia and Assad were using al-Nusra as a smokescreen to strike moderate opposition forces; Russia countered that it was hard to tell them apart.
We have long been calling on our American partners to influence their proteges in order to stop them . . . associating with al-Nusra, as well as to make it clear where these moderate groups, which have pledged to observe the cessation of hostilities regime, are located, Alexei Borodavkin, Russias representative to U.N. organizations in Geneva, said this week.
Last month, Secretary of State John F. Kerry brought to Moscow a proposal for the United States and Russia to share intelligence, map out where the preponderance of various opposition forces were located, and coordinate in targeting agreed terrorists. The plan, which U.S. officials said gained White House approval over strong Pentagon disagreement, also called for Russia to force Assad to stop his own bombing. Officials spoke on the condition of anonymity about closed-door negotiations with the Russians and the rapidly changing situation on the ground.
A Joint Implementation Group of senior U.S. and Russian military and intelligence officials has now been formed, and maps have been agreed upon.
But, as so often is the case in Syria, events on the ground have outpaced the plan.
First came the Syria-Russia offensive northwest of Aleppo, completing government encirclement and severing of the Castello Road, the only rebel and humanitarian supply route into the eastern half of the city.
Then, last weekend, Front-led opposition fighters on Saturday drove pro-government forces out of Aleppos southwestern Ramouseh area. Although the advance raised hopes that supplies to besieged neighborhoods could enter along a southern route, fighting has still been too intense in recently captured areas to allow passage of food and other aid, said Firas Mashhadi, an activist in eastern Aleppo who supports the rebellion.
Mashhadi and others contacted by telephone there said that Russian and government warplanes have intensified attacks in response to rebel gains.
Rebels said they want to expand their assault to the western districts of Aleppo that are controlled by the government. They hope to consolidate their gains before an anticipated counterattack by pro-government forces, including Iraqi Shiite militiamen and fighters from Lebanons Hezbollah.
The assault has raised the possibility that opposition forces could impose their own siege on government areas of the city. Such concerns have reportedly caused price increases for food and other goods in government-loyal districts that have until now been largely protected from the fighting.
Battles are ongoing to secure roads and other entry points to Aleppo, and we are trying to expand areas controlled in the southwestern parts of Aleppo to fortify our positions, said Capt. Abdulsalam Abdulrazak, spokesman for the Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki rebel group that is linked to the umbrella Free Syrian Army.
Abdulrazak criticized the United States for what he called a lack of support for opposition forces in Aleppo. Despite calls from inside the administration and from allied governments to step up assistance to the rebels including antiaircraft equipment that would allow them to challenge the enormous strategic advantage Assad has from his own and Russian planes and helicopters officials said the White House remains reluctant to do so.
Rebel leaders inside Aleppo, noting the gains that Front-led forces have made in challenging government troops on the ground, and their willingness to endure heavy casualties under withering airstrikes, rejected the notion that the radicals will take over from them.
Adeeb Alsen, of the Jabhat Shamia rebel force, acknowledged that Front troops are participating in the assault. But, he said, we do not think that it has ambitions of trying to become the dominant force that controls Aleppo for itself.
Jeff White of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said the rebel advances in Aleppo underscored the persistent weakness of Assads ground troops. The fundamental problem for the regime is that it can take territory by using its [and Russias] firepower, but holding that territory then becomes very difficult, he said.
Naylor reported from Beirut. Zakaria Zakaria in Istanbul contributed to this report.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated comments by Adeeb Alsen, a member of the Jabhat Shamia rebel force. He said fighters with Jabhat Fatah al-Sham are participating in the opposition assault in Aleppo, not leading it. This article has been corrected.
Read more:
How Russian special forces are shaping the fight in Syria
In memo, U.S. diplomats urge more aggressive stance on Syria
Syrias Jabhat al-Nusra splits from al-Qaeda and changes its name
NATO went out of its way Wednesday to insist that Turkey whose president this week visited Moscow and promised a new level of cooperation with the man he repeatedly called his dear friend, Russian President Vladimir Putin remains a valued ally whose alliance membership is not in question.
In a statement posted on its website, NATO said it was responding to speculative press reports regarding NATOs stance regarding the failed coup in Turkey and Turkeys NATO membership.
Not only does Turkey make substantial contributions to NATO joint efforts, it said, Turkey takes full part in the Alliances consensus-based decisions as we confront the biggest security challenges in a generation.
The extraordinary statement, and the perceived need to issue it, highlighted the Wests growing nervousness over the fallout from last months coup attempt. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkeys friendship and alliance with the United States required the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric and permanent U.S. resident whom Erdogans government has blamed for masterminding the insurrection.
[Hes 77, frail and lives in Pennsylvania. Turkey says hes a coup mastermind.]
U.S. officials from President Obama on down have said they have no control over extradition requests, which must go through an impartial legal process.
Erdogan has also expressed resentment toward Western allies that have cautioned against the mass detentions and firings of alleged Gulen supporters in Turkey since the coup attempt.
The alliance statement pointed out that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had spoken to Erdogan and other officials since the attempt, strongly condemning the actions of a rogue military faction and reiterating full support for Turkeys democratic institutions.
Erdogan, in a Tuesday news conference with Putin, noted that the Russian had been the first foreign leader to call him.
His visit to Moscow marked full restoration of relations after last years Turkish shootdown of a Russian warplane operating over Syria. After long blaming Russia for entering Turkish airspace and refusing to apologize, Erdogan apologized last month. Putin then said Russian sanctions against Turkey would be lifted, and the two held long talks this week in the Kremlin.
[This filtered image of more than a million people captures the mood in Turkey]
Russia and Turkey remain on opposite sides of the Syrian conflict, with Turkey and the rest of NATO supporting opposition against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, whom Russia has backed with military supplies and its own bombing campaign.
For much of this year, the United States has led Western efforts to try to negotiate with Russia over a political settlement for Syrias civil war, while flying its own airstrikes against the Islamic State in other parts of the country. At the same time, NATO relations with Russia have been strained over Russian military incursions in Ukraine, including its annexation of Crimea, and aggressive behavior on the alliances eastern flank.
But during their Moscow meeting, Erdogan and Putin said they would increase bilateral military and intelligence cooperation in Syria.
In an interview Wednesday with Anadolu, the Turkish news agency, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that while his government was seeking a solution with its NATO allies on Syria, Turkey had to increase defense cooperation with other countries, as the alliance had let Turkey down.
Read more:
Turkeys Erdogan pivots to Putin as tensions rise with the West
What the West struggles to understand about Turkey and Erdogan
Turkeys purge marks endgame in Islamist civil war
Russia on Wednesday accused Ukraine of preparing a series of terrorist attacks and of igniting border clashes on the disputed Crimean Peninsula, the latest in a worrying trend of violent incidents along the line of contact between the two countries.
In a sign that the accusations could lead to an escalation, Russian President Vladimir Putin, after a meeting in Moscow with his Armenian counterpart, declared that Ukraine had gone over to the practice of terror and, referring to the death of two Russian servicemen in the alleged attacks, said Russia will not walk past something like this.
This is a very dangerous game, he said, saying security measures on the peninsula would be increased following the attacks.
Ukraine denied the accusations and alleged that Russia was building up its forces in Crimea to turn the peninsula into an isolated military base.
The accusations came after several days of reports of border closures and heightened military presence from Russian-controlled towns south of the administrative boundary between Crimea and Ukraine. They also come amid a rise in shooting and shelling attacks between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists in the countrys southeast, as well as mounting casualties.
In its statement Wednesday, Russias Federal Security Service said that it had disrupted a secret network of pro-Ukrainian saboteurs who planned to attack crucial infrastructure on the peninsula with explosives and other weapons. An employee of the agency died as the suspects were being arrested, it said.
The agency also claimed to have prevented two more attempts by Ukrainian saboteurs to cross the administrative border under the protection of Ukrainian artillery, which killed a Russian serviceman.
Russia annexed the peninsula in March of 2014 following a revolution in Kiev, Ukraines capital.
In a statement, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry called the Russian accusations an attempt to justify the dislocation and aggressive actions of military units of the Russian Federation on the territory of the currently occupied peninsula.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which maintains a monitoring mission in Ukraine, reported unusual closures of border crossings and, on the eve of the supposed clashes, noted that border guard personnel were on heightened alert, carrying assault rifles and continuously searching the area with binoculars.
This week, online activists have published videos on social networks of Russian trains carrying army vans to the Kerch Strait, the waterway between Crimea and southern Russia. There have also been isolated reports of Internet outages in the Crimean border city of Armyansk, where the fighting is supposed to have taken place.
Read more:
Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
It's double the Fonz!
Henry Winkler was in Wisconsin this week and stopped by to see an old friend, The Fonz. The actor visited the statue of his famous Happy Days character in Milwaukee and tweeted a picture of himself with his arm around the multi-colored life-size statue, beaming widely.
"OH YES I visit when I'm in Milwaukee," Winkler wrote.
OH YES I visit when I'm in Milwaukee pic.twitter.com/75GVCPL2YX
- Henry Winkler (@hwinkler4real) August 9, 2016
Fans of the actor replied to the happy photo with pictures of themselves with the bronze statue.
From Cosmopolitan
A 27-year-old woman was killed in broad daylight after going for a jog near her mothers home in Princeton, Massachusetts, ABC News reports. Vanessa Marcotte died less than a week after another New York City resident, Katrina Vetrano, was killed while jogging in Queens, though there is no evidence to connect the two crimes at this point.
Marcotte lived in New York City and was visiting family in Princeton when she decided to go on a run; she was last seen at 1 p.m. Sunday. According to Fox 25 Boston, her body was found that night, a half mile from her mothers house, and she had burns on her head and feet. Police say they are considering this a homicide investigation, and they arent sure if the attack is random; they estimate she was killed between 1 and 4 p.m. and are determining whether she was sexually assaulted.
We are concerned about the safety of our town residents and the visitors, Princeton Police Chief Michele Powers said in a press conference. Pay attention to your surroundings. There is no information about suspects at this point. If you have any information, police urge you to contact them at (508) 453-7589.
Marcotte graduated from Boston University in 2011 with honors and studied communications. She was working at Google as an account manager at the time of her death. Vanessa Marcotte was a much loved member of the Google team, working in our New York office for the last year and a half, and known for her ubiquitous smile, passion for volunteer work, and love of Boston sports, a Google spokesperson said in a statement. We are deeply shocked and saddened, and our thoughts are with her family and friends.
I am just in complete disbelief, Larry Kim, her former employer at the marketing firm WordStream, told the Boston Globe. She was a wonderful young woman and very ambitious and had a brilliant career cut short.
Follow Megan on Twitter.
Related:
Washington (AFP) - About 45,000 jihadists have been killed in Iraq and Syria since the US-led operation to defeat the Islamic State group began two years ago, a top general said Wednesday.
"We estimate that over the past 11 months, we've killed about 25,000 enemy fighters. When you add that to the 20,000 estimated killed (previously), that's 45,000 enemy (fighters) taken off the battlefield," said Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, who commands the US-led coalition campaign against IS.
MacFarland said estimates for the overall remaining strength of IS vary from about 15,000 to 30,000 but he noted the jihadists are having increasing difficulties replenishing their ranks.
"The number of fighters on the front line has diminished. They've diminished not only in quantity but also in quality -- we dont see them operating nearly as effectively as they have in the past, which makes them even easier targets for us," MacFarland told Pentagon reporters via a videocall from Baghdad.
"As a result, their attrition has accelerated here of late," he added.
Officials also estimate IS has lost 25,000 square kilometers (9,650 square miles) of the territory it once held in its self-declared "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria, or about 50 percent and 20 percent respectively in each country.
The US-led military effort against the Islamic State group started exactly two years ago, aimed at halting the jihadists as they swept across Iraq and Syria.
MacFarland was upbeat about the eventual recapture of Mosul in Iraq and Raqa in Syria, saying it would herald the "beginning of the end" of the campaign.
But critics have blasted the pace of the war, which got off to a slow start and, despite more than 14,000 air strikes and an intense effort to train partner forces, still has not routed IS from much of its territory.
MacFarland, who has headed the US-led coalition for almost a year, said he had seen major progress.
Story continues
"You don't hear the word 'stalemate' anymore. That's because over the past year with our partners, we were able to seize the initiative," MacFarland said.
"We now talk about maintaining the momentum of the campaign in both Iraq and Syria. In other words, we spend more time thinking about what we will do to the enemy than we spend thinking about what the enemy might do to us."
Experts do foresee the eventual collapse of IS, but the jihadists are fighting back by calling on followers to launch attacks across the globe and are likely to persist for years as a terrorist organization.
The androgynous look is not everyones cup of tea. While it is smart, suave and sexy; it is also difficult to pull off, especially when youre thinking of manning up with an unusual pantsuit. There are some Bollywood actresses, who wore different suits and nailed the look, inspiring us to ditch our dresses for once. Here are 5 Bollywood actresses, who looked stunning and sexy when they suited up!
Kangana Ranaut: Kangana is known to wear outfits that probably no other actress would wear, and still look ravishing all the time. She can carry off everything from a simple saree to a complicated gown with equal ease. During the photoshoot for a leading fashion magazine, Kangana worked her attitude perfectly with a metallic, slightly oversized pantsuit by Rajesh Pratap Singh to give us the perfect retro look.
Anushka Sharma: While actresses are battling it out for top roles in Bollywood and Hollywood, Anushka is busy working with all the top actors and directors in the industry, while also running her own production house. Known for her casually chic style, Anushka decided to do something different for the cover of this magazine. She wore a striped white shirt with a striped pantsuit. With messy hair and gold accessories to complete the look, she looked stunningly classy!
Sonam Kapoor: Sonam Kapoor has often suited up, and it is still different every single time. At a recent event, Sonam unleashed her quirky sense of style and turned heads yet again. The actress wore an oversized Roksanda blazer and tied her hair up in multiple buns. She ditched the regular pants for a pair of neat culottes. And once again, we are floored by Sonams choice of outfit!
Jacqueline Fernandez: Jacqueline sure knows how to flaunt her perfect curves in the right way. While promoting Dishoom, the actress slipped into a funky, multicolor, striped pantsuit by Karn Malhotra. The vertical stripes made her look taller and slender, while the colors made it look super trendy. Needless, to say, she looked drop dead gorgeous.
Story continues
Priyanka Chopra: Priyanka is on a roll with her international achievements. To celebrate being recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world by Time magazine, the actress wore something that made her look like a boss on the red carpet. For the Times 100 Gala, Priyanka wore a crisp, white pantsuit by Olcay Gulsen. She ditched the blouse and accessorized her bare neckline with a black-and-white diamond necklace.
Also read:
5 actresses who set temperatures soaring in a bikini on their vacation
Price to earnings (P/E) and price to sales (P/S) are the first ratios that come to an investors mind for narrowing down a list of undervalued stocks. However, the price-to-book ratio (P/B ratio), though underrated, is also an easy-to-use valuation tool for identifying low-priced stocks with high-growth prospects.
The P/B ratio is calculated as below:
P/B ratio = market capitalization / book value of equity
Explaining the P/B Ratio
To begin with, it is important to understand what book value is. Book value is the total value that would be left over, according to the companys balance sheet, if it goes bankrupt immediately. In other words, this is what shareholders would theoretically receive if a company liquidates all its assets after paying off all its liabilities.
It is calculated by subtracting total liabilities from total assets of a company. In most cases, that would equate to the common stockholders equity on the balance sheet. However, depending on the companys balance sheet, intangible assets should also be subtracted from total assets to determine the book value.
By comparing book value of equity to its market price, we get an idea of whether a company is under- or overpriced. However, like P/E or P/S ratio, it is always better to compare P/B ratios within industries.
A P/B ratio less than one means the stock is trading at less than its book value, which can also mean the stock is undervalued and therefore a good buy. Conversely, a stock with a ratio greater than one can be interpreted as being overvalued or relatively expensive.
But there is a caveat. A P/B ratio less that one can also mean that the company is earning weak or even negative return on its assets, or the assets are overstated, in which case the stock should be shunned because it may be destroying shareholder value. Conversely, the stocks share price may be significantly high thereby pushing the P/B ratio to more than one in the likely case that it has become a takeover target, a good enough reason to own the stock.
Story continues
But, the P/B ratio isn't without its limitations. It is useful for businesses like finance, investments, insurance and banking or manufacturing companies with many liquid/tangible assets on their books. However, it can be misleading for firms with large R&D expenditures or high-debt companies or service companies or those with negative earnings.
In any case, the P/B is not particularly relevant as a standalone number. One should also analyze other ratios like P/E, P/S, and debt to equity before arriving at a reasonable investment decision.
Screening Parameters
Price to Book (common Equity) less than X-Industry Median: A lower P/B compared with the industry average implies that there is enough room for the stock to gain.
Price to Sales less than X-Industry Median: The P/S ratio determines how much the market values every dollar of the companys sales/revenues a lower ratio than the industry makes the stock attractive.
Price to Earnings using F(1) estimate less than X-Industry Median: The P/E ratio (F1) values a company based on its current share price relative to its estimated earnings per share a lower ratio than the industry is considered better.
PEG less than 1: PEG ratio links the P/E ratio to the future growth rate of the company. PEG ratio portrays a more complete picture than the P/E ratio. A value of less than 1 indicates that the stock is undervalued and investors need to pay less for a stock that has robust earnings growth prospect.
Current Price greater than or equal to $5: They must all be trading at a minimum of $5 or higher.
Average 20-Day Volume greater than or equal to 100,000: A substantial trading volume ensures that the stock is easily tradable.
Zacks Rank less than or equal to #2: Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) stocks are known to outperform irrespective of the market environment.
Value Style Score equal to A or B: Our research shows that stocks with a Value Style Score of A or B when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 offer the best opportunities in the value investing space.
Here are five of the eight stocks that qualified the screening:
Dean Foods Company DF is a leading processor and distributor of milk and other dairy products in the U.S. as well as a leading manufacturer of various specialty food products. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 and a Value score of A. The companys projected 35 year EPS growth rate is 12%.
Horizon Pharma plc HZNP, a biopharmaceutical company, carries a Zacks Rank #2 and a Value score of B'. The companys projected 35 year EPS growth rate is 12.80%
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation NTT provides a variety of telecommunications services, including telephone, telegraph, leased circuits, data communication, terminal equipment sales and other services. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 and a Value score of A. The companys projected 35 year EPS growth rate is 20.7%.
Korea Electric Power Corp. KEP, also known as KEPCO, is an integrated electric utility engaged in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity as well as development of electric power resources in South Korea. This Zacks Rank #1 stock has a 35 year EPS growth rate of 25% and a Value score of A.
Impax Laboratories Inc. IPXL is a specialty pharmaceutical company with a presence in the generic as well as branded product markets. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 and a Value score of A. The companys projected 35 year EPS growth rate is 20.3%.
You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge.
The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your trial to the Research Wizard today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.
Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.
Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.
Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance.
Zacks Restaurant Recommendations: Inaddition to dining at these special places, you can feast on their stock shares. A Zacks Special Report spotlights 5 recent IPOs to watch plus 2 stocks that offer immediate promise in a booming sector. Download it free
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
KOREA ELEC PWR (KEP): Free Stock Analysis Report
NIPPON TELE-ADR (NTT): Free Stock Analysis Report
DEAN FOODS CO (DF): Free Stock Analysis Report
IMPAX LABORATRS (IPXL): Free Stock Analysis Report
HORIZON PHARMA (HZNP): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
HUNTERTOWN The Huntertown Heritage Days is behind us and what a success it was.
Jenny McComb and all the folks who worked so hard to pull it off deserve kudos from all of us citizens who enjoyed it. We love ya, Jenny!
The Treasure is still begging to be found. The sum of $318.37 can be yours by following the trail of clues in the Northwest News. We start with $300 to make it fun and $18.37 to commemorate the founding of Huntertown in 1837.
The Treasure is hidden on public land or public access property within the Huntertown city limits. The dentists of Lima Road Dentistry are supplying the clues and the cash. Check out their web site at WeBabyChickens.com for the complete rules and the previous clues. Both are also available in the last three issues of the Northwest News.
The fourth clue usually generates a scramble to the hiding spot. Once the Treasure is found and it is verified, a sign will be posted at the location as soon as conveniently possible to alert other hunters. The news will also be posted at WeBabyChickens.com and the electronic message sign at the Empire Center at 9019 Lima Road.
Recent winners are:
2008 Carrie Ferguson, Ashtin Kurtz, Alexis Money
2009 Samara Perfect, Debbie Greer, Noah and Aiden Jones
2010 Debbie Greer, Samara Perfect, Noah and Aiden Jones
2011 Barry and Dedra Leffers
2012 Amelia, Landin and Riley Brinker AND Lucas and Matt Tester
2013 Erika, Trevor, and Josh Whedon
2014 Lucas and Matt Tester
2015 Lucas and Matt Tester
Ready, set , here is Clue 4:
Were all the way down to clue number four.
Perhaps a simple cipher will help you score.
DFEBS DBOZPO SE USFF is the coded tidbit.
Keep your feet on the ground. Its no time to quit!
Two green partners stand by themselves. It rests in ones hands.
Both occupy the south edge of Diocesan lands.
A parkway is near. East is P26T76R, say what?!?!
As you find the Treasure a bean leaf may brush your butt!
On Monday, OPECs President Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada provided fresh indications of talks between oil exporting countries in the bloc in order to arrive at an agreement on controlling crude production. Slack global demand and a fall in prices of oil may have led to producers considering such a move, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Opinion remains divided about the likelihood of oil exporting countries reaching an agreement on controlling production. However, several market watchers believe that simply a discussion among the key stakeholders would be enough to boost sentiment. Adding oil stocks from sectors with relatively lower risk may be a good idea in such an environment.
OPEC President Sounds an Optimistic Note
Qatars minister of energy and industry and OPEC president Dr. Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada sounded optimistic about the market for crude. In a statement made in Vienna, he said that he expected demand for crude to firm up in the second half of this year. Additionally, he emphasized that the worldwide supply of crude would decline during this period.
Additionally, Dr. Al Sada also said that OPEC was closely watching the situation in oil markets and was regularly discussing with member countries about the possible methods that could be used to introduce a modicum of stability into the market for oil. More importantly, he said that the blocs members would most probably meet during the 15th International Energy Forum to be held in end September in Algeria in order to discuss the imposition of controls on production.
Prices Fall on Higher Domestic Production Outlook
Crude prices declined on Tuesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) raised its short outlook. According to the EIAs new estimates, U.S. output will come in between an average of 8.73 million barrels in 2016 and 8.31 million barrels next year. This is higher than its earlier estimate of 8.61 million and 8.2 million for 2016 and 2017, respectively.
Story continues
However, market watchers believe that the very prospect of discussions between OPEC members could curb the price fall. Additionally, oil market participants await the release of EIA data on Wednesday. According to a survey undertaken by The Wall Street Journal, the EIAs report will likely reveal that domestic crude inventories declined by 800,000 barrels during the week ended Aug 5. During the week ended Jul 29, crude output in the U.S. dropped for the first time in four weeks by 55,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 8,460,000 bpd.
Our Choices
While some amount of skepticism continues to prevail among investors, it is increasingly likely that OPEC will soon enter into a discussion on controlling output. Meanwhile data and projections show that the demand supply gap is likely to come down at least on the domestic front.
This looks like a good time to pick select oil stocks. However, it may make for a better choice to pick companies with relatively safer businesses like refining and marketing or pipelines. At the same time, it is important to pick winning stocks.
This is where our VGM score comes in. Here V stands for Value, G for Growth and M for Momentum and the score is a weighted combination of these three scores. Such a score allows you to eliminate the negative aspects of stocks and select winners. However, it is important to keep in mind that each Style Score will carry a different weight while arriving at a VGM score.
We have narrowed down our search to the following stocks based on a good Zacks Rank and VGM score.
Murphy USA Inc. MUSA is a retailer of gasoline products and convenience store merchandise primarily in the United States.
Murphy USA has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and a VGM Score of A. Its earnings estimate for the current year has improved by 46.9% over the last 30 days. Its earnings estimate for the current year has improved by 7.6% over the last 30 days.
NGL Energy Partners LP NGL is a limited partnership operating a vertically integrated propane business with three operating segments: retail propane; wholesale supply and marketing; and midstream.
NGL Energy Partners has a Zacks Rank #1 and a VGM Score of A. The company has expected earnings growth of more than 100% for the current year. Its earnings estimate for the current year has improved by 5.9% over the last 30 days. The forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) for the current financial year (F1) is 14.92, lower than the industry average of 16.78.
Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. CELP offers pipeline inspection and integrity as well as environmental services across North America.
Cypress Energy Partners has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and a VGM Score of A. It has a P/E (F1) of 26.49, lower than the industry average of 30.17.
CONE Midstream Partners LP CNNX is an owner, operator, developer and acquirer of natural gas gathering and related midstream energy assets.
CONE Midstream Partners has a Zacks Rank #2 and a VGM Score of A. The company has expected earnings growth of 23.1% for the current year. Its earnings estimate for the current year has improved by 3.3% over the last 30 days. It has a P/E (F1) of 11.59, lower than the industry average of 17.50.
Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP BWP is a master limited partnership engaged in the transportation, processing and storage of natural gas.
Boardwalk Pipeline Partners has a Zacks Rank #2 and a VGM Score of B. The company has expected earnings growth of 35.4% for the current year. Its earnings estimate for the current year has improved by 8.7% over the last 30 days. It has a P/E (F1) of 14.23, lower than the industry average of 17.50.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
BOARDWALK PIPLN (BWP): Free Stock Analysis Report
CONE MIDSTREAM (CNNX): Free Stock Analysis Report
CYPRESS EGY PTR (CELP): Free Stock Analysis Report
MURPHY USA INC (MUSA): Free Stock Analysis Report
NGL ENERGY PART (NGL): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
Think your family has enjoyed every ride at Walt Disney World, cast every spell at Universal and seen every show at SeaWorld? With constant competition between theme parks to attract new guests, Disney parks and resorts always roll out new wow factors to give you a reason to return. Check out these six new attractions around Orlando, Florida, that recently opened (or are scheduled to debut soon) in 2016.
[See: 10 Top Budget-Friendly Disneyland Hotels for Frugal Families.]
The New Frozen Ever After Ride
Where: Epcot, Walt Disney World
Enjoy a "Summer Snow Day" with Queen Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff and other memorable characters from the animated film "Frozen" on this new family water attraction. The journey starts on the docks of Arendelle from the animated film. Onboard, guests can mix and mingle with Kristoff's troll family of "boulders" before taking in Queen Elsa's alluring icy palace and singing along to "Let It Go." Oscar-winning composers Bobby and Kristen Lopez even created new lyrics to the film's songs for the attraction.
Skull Island: Reign of Kong
Where: Islands of Adventure; Universal Orlando
A motion picture legend, King Kong has returned to Florida's Universal Orlando Resort. "It's amazing to have Kong back at Universal," says executive producer Mike West of Universal Creative, "This is his home," he says. Skull Island: Reign of Kong, transports guests through an interactive and themed queue to a mysterious island aboard a massive expedition truck. During the adventure, one of five guides take families into the jungle to meet creatures such as winged bats, dinosaurs, serpents, insects and, of course, an up-close look at the 30-foot-tall King Kong goliath himself.
[See: 10 Top Value Summer Vacations for Families.]
The "Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular" Display
Where: Disney's Hollywood Studios
The new Star Wars Galactic Spectacular fireworks show debuted at Disney's Hollywood Studios with high-tech lighting, pyrotechnics and other effects. With spectacular nighttime fireworks, music and iconic "Star Wars" characters, from Wookies to Ewoks, it's easy to unleash your inner Star Wars enthusiast while you enjoy saga-themed adventures. And as you catch the dazzling spectacle, you're bound to feel the Force. Gather your alliance together as you listen to John Williams' iconic theme song.
Story continues
The Tree of Life Awakening and Rivers of Light Attractions
Where: Disney's Animal Kingdom
At night, Disney's Animal Kingdom and its signature attraction, the Tree of Life, "awakens" with bright lights and rich color. Disney fan and video blogger John Saccheri describes the scene as "breathtaking, a stunning visual extravaganza swarming with animated imagery." Later this year, the Rivers of Light nighttime spectacular will debut on the natural stage of the Discovery River with illuminated lanterns.
According to Michael Jung, a creative portfolio executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, "Rivers of Light" will ramp up a magnificent finale with bursts of light as animal images soar above -- signifying the ancient belief that when animals passed from one world to another they danced in the sky and became beautiful rivers of light.
The Mako Roller Coaster
Where: SeaWorld Adventure Park Orlando
SeaWorld's newest roller coaster is Orlando's tallest, fastest and longest. Mako's 200-foot crest is visible throughout the park, and the squeals and cheers of satisfied amusement park-goers rings through the area as riders zip past. The coaster hits speeds of 73 mph as it zooms and twists across a two acre track. "Mako glides smoothly over the tracks, free of jarring and shaking," says theme park fan Cristen Curley Edwards, noting her knees continued to tremble after the ride was over.
[See: 8 Things to Avoid at Disney This Summer.]
The Heroes and Legends Exhibit
Where: John F. Kennedy Space Center
The immersive Heroes and Legends exhibit at the John F. Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will serve as a reimagined entrance to the building beginning Nov. 11. Also featuring the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, the Heroes and Legend attraction will showcase the heroism of America's early space pioneers. "We've been focusing on a story to create a 'launch pad' for our visitors that sets the stage for their full-day experience," says Therrin Protze, chief operating officer of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
Dave Parfitt is a reformed academic with a PhD in neuroscience, and began writing about his family travel adventures after surviving a trip to Walt Disney World as father of two budding princesses. As owner and editor of AdventuresbyDaddy.com, Dave offers family travel advice and escapist fun from Dad's point of view. You can follow Dave on Twitter @AdventuresByDad, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.
More From US News & World Report
From Good Housekeeping
Grandville, Michigan, resident Morrie Boogart might be ill and bedridden, but that doesn't stop him from working hard to give back to his community. That's right - prepare to be inspired, because at 91 years old, Boogart, a hospice care patient with skin cancer and a kidney mass, spends his days knitting hats to give to the homeless.
According to Michigan CNN affiliate WXMI, Knitting hats for the homeless has been a passion of Boogart's for more than 15 years. And in that time, he's made more than 8,000 of them. He tells WXMI that he's slowing down now (he can only complete one hat every two days from his bed at the Cambridge Manor hospice care facility), but he also says that learning to knit is the best thing that ever happened to him."The only time I'm not doing it is if I fall asleep," he told the news station.
As Boogart completes his hats - which he says he makes with a "rim" around the bottom to keep the ears of the homeless warm - they're delivered to shelters throughout the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area. His care facility is currently accepting yarn donations to help him continue with his craft.
Boogart might not know how much time he has left, but he's sure to spend every last possible second of it donating his time and effort to knitting hats for the homeless. "Why do I do it? It just makes me feel good," he told WXMI.
Consider our hearts officially melted.
[h/t WXMI]
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2016 / Abattis Bioceuticals Corp. (ATTBF) (CSE:ATT) (the "Company" or "Abattis"), is pleased to announce that it has entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with the Jiangsu Regent Granary Trading Co., Ltd. ("Jaingsu"). Jaingsu is one of a select few that is exporting Canadian beef to China. They also export granola, dried fruit and will also include Abattis' line of Phytnos Superfruit tonics and VitaGum in mainland China. Jaingsu will utilize its network and sales experience to cultivate a market for Abattis' offerings. Jaingsu has certain sales revenue targets under the agreement; failure to achieve such targets will allow Abattis to terminate such agreement.
The key benefit is mainly access to our own distribution personnel in China. The market is vast and demand is very high for North American health products and technology that Abattis can offer.
The Company also announces that Michael Yung the Chief Executive Officer of Abattis has resigned. Mr. Yung will be replaced by Mr. Rene David on an interim basis while the board of directors appoints a new CEO.
These are exciting times for Abattis and the state of the Medical Cannabis industry and we wish to thank Mr. Yung for assisting with our most recent sales and marketing effort into Asia where we have made great progress from our recent trips to Shanghai and Korea. We wish Mr. Yung the best of luck with his new project.
About Abattis Bioceuticals Corp.
Abattis is a specialty biotechnology company that aggregates, incubates, integrates, and invests in the botanical drug development industry. The Company develops and licenses natural health products, medicines, extractions, and ingredients for the biologics, nutraceutical, bioceutical, and cosmetic markets - some of which will contain cannabinoid compounds. The Company also has an extensive pipeline of high-quality products and intellectual property for the rapidly expanding botanical drug market. We follow strict standard operating protocols, and adhere to the applicable laws of Canada and foreign jurisdictions. For more information, visit the Company's website at: www.abattis.com.
Story continues
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
"Rene David"
Rene David, CFO/COO and interim CEO
For further information, contact the Company at (604) 336-0881 or at news@abattis.com.
NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION
This press release contains forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks various risk factors discussed in the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com. While the Company may elect to, it does not undertake to update this information at any particular time.
SOURCE: Abattis Bioceuticals Corp.
NextShark
Jahrah, who only has a first name as customary in Indonesia, went out to collect rubber on Sunday morning in the forest in Jambi Province on Sumatra Island, Indonesia. The search parties only found success a day later, on Monday, when they discovered a 22-foot-long (6.7-meters-long) python with a bulging stomach resting in the woods. Her family then reported her missing to the local authorities, and a search has been carried out since then, Anto, the local villages chief, said.
Afghanistan rushed military reinforcements to Helmand as Taliban insurgents closed in on the besieged capital of the southern opium-rich province, with fighting intensifying in outlying districts, officials said Wednesday.
Pitched battles were reported late Wednesday in Nawa district, just a few kilometres south of Lashkar Gah city, compounding fears that the provincial capital could fall despite stepped up US air strikes to beat back the insurgents.
Fierce fighting in recent days across Helmand, seen as the focal point of the insurgency, has sent thousands of people fleeing to Lashkar Gah, sparking a humanitarian crisis as officials report crippling food and water shortages.
"We have sent reinforcements to Helmand," defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri told AFP.
"Intense fighting is going on in Helmand but our troops are trying to repel the Taliban offensive."
The turmoil convulsing Helmand, blighted by a huge opium harvest that helps fund the insurgency, underscores a rapidly unravelling security situation in Afghanistan.
Around 30,000 people have been displaced in Helmand in recent weeks, local officials said, with many fleeing to Lashkar Gah forced to abandon their lentil, maize and cotton farms during the lucrative harvest season.
Panicked Lashkar Gah residents said the city was practically besieged, with roads from neighbouring districts heavily mined by the insurgents.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it had downscaled its staff in Lashkar Gah, with some non-medical staff relocated from the city.
"In Helmand, #Afghanistan, we're still running Boost hospital... as fighting nears," the international medical charity said on Twitter.
"We've shared coordinates of our 300 bed hospital to approaching warring parties in Helmand."
Heavy fighting also gripped Nad Ali district, where government troops sought to dislodge insurgents who overran a neighbourhood only a few kilometres from Lashkar Gah.
Story continues
The Taliban effectively control or contest 10 of the 14 districts in Helmand, the deadliest province for British and US forces in Afghanistan over the past decade.
The United States has stepped up air strikes supporting Afghan forces on the ground, highlighting the intensity of the battle in Helmand.
NATO officially ended its combat mission in December 2014, but US forces were granted greater powers in June to strike at the insurgents as President Barack Obama vowed a more aggressive campaign.
Washington has deployed several hundred troops in Helmand in recent months.
The Taliban briefly captured northern Kunduz city in September last year, the first urban centre to fall to the insurgents in a stinging blow to Afghan forces.
As fighting escalates in Helmand, NATO and Afghan officials have repeatedly insisted that they will not allow another city to be captured.
By Nqobile Dludla JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - More workers at South African state-run power utility Eskom joined a strike over pay, their union said on Wednesday, in defiance of a court order preventing the industrial action at the state-run firm. The company has branded the stoppage by thousands of National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) members which started on Monday illegal because its members are prohibited by law from striking, but said its operations had not been affected so far. The labour dispute is the latest problem to beset Eskom, which has struggled to meet power demand in Africa's most industrialised country due to its aging power plants and grid. However, it has managed a year without rolling blackouts that have hurt the economy in the past. "Our message to the whole nation is just to keep calm. We are handling the situation, currently the situation is under control," Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said, adding that he could not divulge the firm's contingency plans. Phasiwe said the court order prohibits NUM and two other unions from going on strike as part of the Labour Relations Act, which bars workers deemed to provide an essential service from going on strike. NUM said on Tuesday that all of its 15,000 members at the utility, or close to a third of Eskom's workforce, would stop work on Wednesday. [L8N1AQ41Q] The union's spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu said its members were on strike in provinces where Eskom runs its biggest plants, including in Mpumalanga province. "Our members are aware that for them being involved in this strike there are consequences and they are saying they are fighting for the right cause," said Mammburu. Asked whether union members will be dismissed if they do go on strike, Phasiwe said workers would not be fired en masse but that each case will be handled on its own merit. He said talks with the union had not yet collapsed and both parties were due to meet this morning for further discussions. The utility is offering pay increases of 7 to 9 percent while NUM on Tuesday lowered their wage demand to 8.5 to 10 percent from 12 to 13 percent. The stoppage at Eskom coincides with a strike over wages by around 15,000 workers in the petrochemical industry that has been going on since last week but has so far not caused any significant fuel shortages. (Editing by James Macharia and Louise Heavens)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's state-run power utility Eskom said on Wednesday it had suspended two senior managers as part of an investigation into the leaking of documents in a court case involving Koeberg, Africa's only nuclear power plant. The station and plant managers at Koeberg were temporarily suspended for allegedly distributing documents containing information relating to Koeberg's production plan and its steam generator replacement, Eskom said. The utility said the leaked information could affect a court case between Eskom and Westinghouse Electric Company, which is contesting a 4.3 billion rand ($323 million) contract awarded to Areva in 2014 to replace steam generators. Westinghouse, the world's largest nuclear fuel producer and part of Japan's Toshiba group, had contested Eskom's decision to award the contract to Areva, saying the process was flawed. Areva won the contract to replace six steam generators at the country's only nuclear power plant, Koeberg, near Cape Town. The nuclear generators are expected to be installed by 2018. "The potential prejudice caused to Eskom by the unauthorised actions of the suspended personnel is currently being assessed," Eskom said in a statement. In an unrelated incident, a drone crashed on the Koeberg site in contravention of the nuclear safety regulations and was returned to its owner without the investigation having been completed, Eskom said. The utility said it had suspended the Koeberg safety officer so that it can investigate the incident, which it reported to the police. Koeberg is designated as a National Key Point, protected by law against sabotage as a site of national strategic importance. ($1 = 13.3020 rand) (Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by James Macharia and Adrian Croft)
The past week saw CA-based low cost carrier Virgin America VA report lackluster Q2 results with both earnings and revenues lagging expectations. On the other hand, Latin American carrier Copa Holdings CPA performed impressively in the second quarter, coming up with better-than-expected earnings as well as revenues.
On the non-earnings front, American Airlines Group AAL stole the limelight by virtue of its improved unit revenue forecast for the third quarter and the tentative pay-related deal pertaining to its ground employees. Other notable highlights in the week included the disruption at Delta Air Lines DAL due to a power outrage and United Continental Holdings UAL July traffic numbers with load factor (% of seats filled with passengers) improving as capacity expansion was outpaced by traffic growth.
TRANSPORTATION-AIRLINE Industry Price Index
TRANSPORTATION-AIRLINE Industry Price Index
(Read the last Airline Stock Roundup for Aug 03, 2016).
Recap of the Past Weeks Most Important Stories
1. Virgin America, which is expected to be acquired by Alaska Air Group ALK by year-end, reported lower-than-expected earnings and revenues in the second quarter of 2016. Earnings declined 36.3% from the year-ago quarter (read more: Virgin America Q2 Earnings & Revenues Miss).
2. Copa Holdings second-quarter earnings (on an adjusted basis) of 51 cents per share were well above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 23 cents. Earnings were however significantly below the year-ago figure of 93 cents. Quarterly revenues declined 8.2% on a year-over-year basis to $494 million. Revenues, however, beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $483 million.
The year-over-year decline was primarily due to the 8.6% decline in passenger revenues. Operating revenue per available seat mile declined 7.7% and yield per passenger mile decreased 14%. Average fuel price per gallon declined 21.3% year over year. Passenger traffic (on a consolidated basis) climbed 6.2% and capacity contracted 0.4% during the quarter. Load factor climbed 490 basis points to 78.3% as traffic expanded while capacity contracted.
Story continues
3. Delta Air Lines had to call off over 400 flights and delay several due to a power outage in Atlanta on Aug 8. The outage affected the computer systems which disrupted the companys operations worldwide (read more: Delta Air Lines: Power Outage Disrupts Operations).
4. Shares of American Airlines were boosted by the tentative labor deal with the TWU-IAM Association, covering 30,000 of its ground employees. The TWU-IAM Association, formed in 2013, is an alliance between the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). The deal, covering 12 organized workers groups in maintenance, fleet service and other ground services, increases pay by an average of 22%, according to the union (read more: Here's Why American Airlines Stock is Popping Today).
On a separate note, American Airlines revealed July traffic numbers wherein revenue passenger miles (RPMs: a measure of traffic) declined 0.3% while available seat miles (ASMs: a measure of capacity) climbed 2.3%. Load factor declined 210 basis points to 85.2% as traffic contracted while capacity expanded. American Airlines now expects total revenue per available seat mile (RASM: a measure of unit revenue) decline in the band of 3% to 5% for the third quarter (previous outlook had called for a decline in the range of 3.5% to 5.5%). The carrier still expects third-quarter pretax margin, excluding special items, in the band of 12% to 14%.
5. United Continental maintains its consolidated passenger unit revenue decline projection for the third quarter in the band of 5.5% to 7.5%. Traffic measured in revenue passenger miles stood at 20.7 billion in Jul 2016, up 1.2% from a year ago. On a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (or available seat miles/ASMs) inched up 0.7% to 23.7 billion. Meanwhile, the load factor increased to 87.5% from 87% a year ago.
Performance
The following table shows the price movement of the major airline players over the past week and during the last 6 months.
Company Past Week Last 6 months HA -0.13% 30.21% UAL 7.68% 0.21% GOL 13.04% 279.96% DAL 2.34% -14.14% JBLU 0.88% -15.55% AAL 3.86% -6.82% SAVE 2.81% -5.82% LUV 2.98% 5.40% VA -0.13% 102.06% ALK 0.55% -2.77%
The table above shows that most of the airline stocks traded in the green over the past week leading to the NYSE ARCA Airline index appreciating 4.32% at $87.96. Shares of GOL Linhas GOL gained the most (13.04%).
Over the course of six months, the NYSE ARCA Airline index appreciated 14.91% on the back of huge gains at GOL Linhas and Virgin America.
What's Next in the Airline Space?
We expect more traffic updates in the coming days. On the earnings front, GOL Linhas is slated to reveal its second-quarter results on Aug 15.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
GOL LINHAS-ADR (GOL): Free Stock Analysis Report
DELTA AIR LINES (DAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
COPA HLDGS SA-A (CPA): Free Stock Analysis Report
ALASKA AIR GRP (ALK): Free Stock Analysis Report
UNITED CONT HLD (UAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
AMER AIRLINES (AAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
VIRGIN AMERICA (VA): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
We expect Alibaba Group BABA to beat expectations when it reports first-quarter fiscal 2017 results on Aug 11.
Why a Likely Positive Surprise?
Our proven model shows that Alibaba Group is likely to beat on earnings because it has the right combination of the two key ingredients.
Zacks ESP: Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, stands at +28.95%. This is a meaningful indicator of a likely positive earnings surprise.
Zacks Rank: Alibaba Group has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Note that stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), #2 (Buy) or #3 have a significantly higher chance of beating earnings estimates. The Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Rank #4 or #5) should never be considered going into an earnings announcement.
The combination of Alibaba Groups Zacks Rank #3 and +28.95% ESP makes us reasonably confident of an earnings beat.
What is Driving the Better-than-Expected Earnings?
The Chinese eCommerce company, which operates as a platform for third-party sellers, neither sells goods directly to merchants nor holds inventory. Alibaba Groups strong market position in China, uninterrupted growth in mobile business, unfazed improvement in commerce retail business and improving gross merchandise value (GMV) should boost fiscal first-quarter earnings.
Additionally, Alibaba is witnessing increasing monetization rates. The company, which focuses not only on foreign brands but also other high-profile merchants on its platforms, is building up its online marketing inventory on both mobile and PC. As a result of a higher monetization rate, its profits, too, are going up.
Some of the current buoyancy surrounding the shares of Alibaba owes its excitement to the Chinese eCommerce goliaths dominance in the mobile search market and matching product development efforts.
ALIBABA GROUP Price and EPS Surprise
ALIBABA GROUP Price and EPS Surprise | ALIBABA GROUP Quote
Story continues
Other Stocks to Consider
Alibaba Group is not the only firm looking up this earnings season. We also see likely earnings beats coming from these companies:
Alamos Gold, Inc. AGI has an Earnings ESP of +100.0% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company is slated to report second-quarter 2016 earnings results on Aug 10, 2016.
Eaton Vance Corp. EV has an Earnings ESP of +1.82% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company is expected to report third-quarter fiscal 2016 earnings results on Aug 17, 2016.
Synopsys Inc. DSW has an Earnings ESP of +6.90% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company is expected to report second-quarter 2016 earnings results on Aug 30, 2016.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
EATON VANCE (EV): Free Stock Analysis Report
DSW INC CL-A (DSW): Free Stock Analysis Report
ALAMOS GOLD INC (AGI): Free Stock Analysis Report
ALIBABA GROUP (BABA): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
Once upon a time, the idea of cutting the cord was terrifying. How can you possibly give up live television?! All those channels?! These days, however, the prospect of not cutting the cord and actually paying for cable TV is far more terrifying. Services like Netflix and Hulu will give you all the TV content you want, and for many people that will suffice. But if need your local channels and you're afraid to cut the cord and lose them, you should know that you don't have to lose anything.
For $13 shipped, you can get a 1byone 25 Miles Super Thin HDTV Antenna what will give you all of your local network channels in crystal clear full HD.
Here's what you need to know:
Free for Life - Never pay your cable or satellite fee for television again! You can get all local channels crystal clear and absolutely free! The 1byone antenna can pull in all of your local news, sitcoms, kids and sports programs
Full HD - 25-Mile range to access from broadcast tower. It delivers full 1080p HD to any digital-ready TV
Longer Cable, Easier Setup - A 16.5-foot coaxial cable makes it easier for you to place it at the position with the best reception in your house. Especially useful for customers whose TV's are quite far away from the windows
Easy Operation - Fast and easy set up with 3 steps - Unwrap, Plug it in and Scan channels
Buyer Guarantee - We stand behind our products 100% with a 12-month warranty. Please Note: Freeview reception is dependent upon environmental factors, we cannot guarantee reception in all conditions. We do offer a 30 day money back guarantee on all new items in order for you to test the suitability in your area
The 1byone 25 Miles Super Thin HDTV Antenna costs $12.99 on Amazon right now, and it qualifies for free Prime shipping.
Trending right now:
See the original version of this article on BGR.com
Now that the filmmakers behind The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story have declared case closed on one of the most famous trials in U.S. history, theyre turning their attention to the next crime.
The target for Season 2: Hurricane Katrina.
The writers room is right now working on Katrina, executive producer Brad Simpson teased during American Crime Storys panel at the Television Critics Associations summer press tour Tuesday. DV [Devincentis] returning to work with Ryan [Murphy].
One of the biggest questions surrounding such a famous disaster has been which major political players will be portrayed in the fictionalized, scripted series.
Also Read: Emmy Nominations: 'People v OJ Simpson' Creators Want to 'Stop While We're Ahead'
Yes, youll have the famous people, and also people who werent famous during Katrina, Simpson said, declining to confirm whether people like George W. Bush, president at the time in 2004, would be included.
Were looking at it to be tonally and thematically incredibly different [from Season 1], Simpson continued. Really its going to be about two things, one is just the intensity of what its like to be there on the ground, to be in the pressure cooker, but also thematically, the bigger crime that Katrina was something that was predictable, that we werent prepared for, but we knew was going to happen. It turns a lens back on America, and shows some uncomfortable truths about it. Were about to get scripts in, so well know who the main characters will be.
The producer also declined to confirm whether any of the cast of Season 1 including Sarah Paulson, John Travolta, Cuba Gooding, Jr. and David Schwimmer will return to take on new roles, in the grand tradition of Ryan Murphy anthology series.
'People v OJ Simpson': 9 Weird Facts It Didn't Include (Photos)
OJ Simpson Nicole Brown cash
Marcia Clark
Marcia Clark FX
CNN
Johnnie Cochran FX
OJ Simpson If I Did It book cover
Lance Ito FX
Lance Ito Margaret York Getty Images
Kato Kaelin Wendie Jo Sperber golf Getty Images
Getty Images
Kato Kaelin Getty Images
Mark Fuhrman YouTube
Johnnie Cochran FX
OJ Simpson Statue FX
oj fact check black fist juror
FX
oj simpson fact check generic FX
Story continues
Previous Slide Next Slide
1 of 17
If you think the details in the show were crazy, wait until you see what FX left out
The most shocking part of FX's "The People v OJ Simpson" is that the most amazing details were true. And the show didn't even include some of the strangest facts about Simpson's life -- although some made it into ESPN's recent "OJ: Made in America" (pictured). Here are nine bizarre details FX left out.
View In Gallery
Related stories from TheWrap:
Emmy Nominations: 'People v OJ Simpson' Creators Want to 'Stop While We're Ahead'
TCA Awards: 'People v OJ Simpson,' 'Mr Robot' Lead Pack With 4 Nominations
'Deadpool,' 'People v OJ Simpson' Help Fox Top Q3 Revenue Mark
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. AEO is expected to release second-quarter fiscal 2016 results on Aug 17. Last quarter, the company had delivered a positive earnings surprise of 22.2%. In fact, the bottom line has outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for six straight quarters now, with a trailing four-quarter average of 12.3%. Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement.
AMER EAGLE OUTF Price and EPS Surprise
AMER EAGLE OUTF Price and EPS Surprise | AMER EAGLE OUTF Quote
Factors Influencing this Quarter
American Eagle has been gaining from its growth strategies, including merchandise-related initiatives as well as actions taken to improve operational performance. Moreover, the company has been strengthening its global presence for some time now after witnessing strong profitability at its overseas licensed stores, with little capital requirements. These factors, along with a splendid earnings history keep the company in good shape for its upcoming earnings release.
However, American Eagle is up against a challenging apparel industry, which is plagued by intense competition and a fall in mall traffic. Additionally, high dependence on external suppliers and macroeconomic headwinds remain deterrents for the upcoming results. Thus, we would prefer to wait and see if American Eagle can counter these headwinds and keep its solid streak alive in the quarter to be reported.
The company had earlier projected comparable-store sales growth in a low single-digit rate for the second quarter, with earnings per share in the band of 2021 cents per share.
Earnings Whispers
Our proven model does not conclusively show that American Eagle is likely to beat estimates this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1, 2 or 3 for this to happen. This is not the case here, as you will see below:
Zacks ESP: Earnings ESP for American Eagle is currently pegged at 0.00%. This is because the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are both pegged at 21 cents.
Zacks Rank: American Eagles Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) increases the predictive power of ESP. However, the companys ESP of 0.00% makes surprise prediction difficult.
We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.
Stocks that Warrant a Look
Here are some companies you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat:
L Brands, Inc. LB, scheduled to report earnings on Aug 17, currently has an Earnings ESP of +1.70% and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Lowe's Companies, Inc. LOW, scheduled to report earnings on Aug 17, currently has an Earnings ESP of +2.13% and a Zacks Rank #2.
The Gap Inc. GPS, slated to report earnings on Aug 18, currently has an Earnings ESP of +6.38% and a Zacks Rank #3.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
LOWES COS (LOW): Free Stock Analysis Report
AMER EAGLE OUTF (AEO): Free Stock Analysis Report
GAP INC (GPS): Free Stock Analysis Report
L BRANDS INC (LB): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
We still have no clue what American Horror Story Season 6 is about, but we can identify another member of the cast.
AHS vet Sarah Paulson confirmed Tuesday at the Television Critics Association summer press tour that she is indeed a member of the top-secret Season 6 ensemble. The current Emmy nominee for her role as Marcia Clark in The People v. O.J. Simpson declined to provide any details about who she is playing in the latest chapter of Ryan Murphys horror anthology.
PHOTOSAmerican Horror Storys 15 Most Terrifying Moments of All Time
This makes Paulson the fourth AHS alum to confirm a sixth-season return; Cheyenne Jackson announced his participation in June; Lady Gaga revealed in March that shell be back, though she didnt say how or when, and Angela Bassett let news of her return slip during a February interview with Larry King.
Earlier in the day, FX Networks CEO John Landgraf when pressed about Season 6s hush-hush premise told reporters that his marketing team went out and created many more trailers than youve actually seen for hypothetical seasons of American Horror Story, in different genres, different places. One of them is accurate, and the others are all misdirects.
Launch Gallery: American Horror Story's 15 Scariest Scenes Ever
Related stories
The Strain EPs Tease 'Major Story Turn' -- Plus, Could Season 4 Be the End?
Donald Glover Reveals Why He Skipped the Community Series Finale: 'It's Important That Things End'
American Horror Story Season 6 Theme: The Truth Is Out There?
By Laila Kearney
(Reuters) - Amtrak has begun settling lawsuits brought by passengers on a speeding train that crashed in Pennsylvania last year, killing eight people and injuring about 200, according to court filings and attorneys for passengers.
The Amtrak train was traveling through Philadelphia on May 12, 2015 with 243 people on board when it entered a curve at more than twice the recommended 50 miles-per-hour speed and derailed, mangling one train car and knocking another two on their sides.
Two of the dozens of lawsuits brought by passengers and train employees involved in the incident have settled, according to filings in federal court in Philadelphia on Monday.
The agreements appeared to be the first settlements of lawsuits filed against the U.S. passenger rail service over the accident.
One settlement involved claims from passenger Jessica Baen, a New York resident, who suffered a concussion, cracked ribs and other injuries after being flung from her seat and who was briefly knocked out in the crash, according to her lawsuit.
After regaining consciousness, Baen saw a passenger crushed and another covered in blood amid the twisted seats and spilled luggage, the lawsuit said.
Adam Barrist, Baen's attorney, confirmed the lawsuit had been settled but said he was barred from disclosing the financial amount or any other details.
"This case was resolved to my client's satisfaction, but we're under a strict confidentiality agreement," he said on Wednesday.
The second settlement resolved a lawsuit brought by passenger Adriana Passamano, a New Jersey woman who sustained a jaw injury and permanent physical damage.
"Our client is very satisfied with the result," Passamano's attorney Thomas Kenny said in an email. "Her family went through great pain and suffering throughout this terrible ordeal and is just happy to move on with her life."
Amtrak declined to comment on the lawsuits and other payouts to those involved in the crash.
Story continues
Federal law limits Amtrak's total liability to $295 million for any single crash.
The engineer driving the train was likely distracted by radio traffic when the crash occurred, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report released in May.
The incident could have been prevented if the track had been outfitted with a safety system known as positive train control, the agency's report concluded.
(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Frances Kerry)
Hokah Librarian Shari Carlson said she wants more people to know the library exists.
Community feedback has underscored lack of awareness of all the library does, and even that it exists at all. To that end, Carlson proposed putting up a permanent sign on the front of city hall letting everyone know the library is there.
Initially, Carlson thought of using the existing sign frame already mounted on the city hall, but a wrap-around or insert would possibly be too heavy, and amongst other challenges, the sign is mounted too high for effective use. She noted the existing sign frame often sits empty.
During the time that I have been at the library, Carlson said, I think maybe three times Ive seen the sign used for a community announcement.
The council demurred, in part it seems, because of a proposed community sign by the local Lions Club that wasnt entirely clear at the meeting. Carlson also proposed mounting a sign on city halls railing, which seemed to curry favor.
After a protracted conversation, the council unanimously voted to remove the existing community sign from its high location on city hall and mount it to the railing. Another sign, a permanent one for the library, will be affixed to city hall itself.
As part of the vote, the council also approved the color of the library doors being repainted green to match the librarys new logo (as well as the new sign), which were recently done by Thorson Graphics.
Carlson also said shes in monthly meetings with the other four county librarians to work toward consistent policies amongst the five locations. Patrons, she said, share many of their services, and it would also foster a fairer comparison mechanism when it comes to county library funding.
These include a consistent length of check-out times for materials, as well as general behavioral expectations. Grant collaboration is also on the table for discussion, she said.
Samantha Mullen, of the citys recreation board, came before the council to propose a run/walk fundraiser.
Mullen said the thought was to go from Twin Creeks to the city ball diamond, then to the city pool, then to Como Falls, and then all the way back again.
We didnt know if that would be possible, Mullen said.
She wasnt sure if the trail would be walkable for such an event, and she noted they wanted to keep the event off the highway.
The council informed her that such a circuit wouldnt be an issue, and when Mullen said she had considered asking the fire department if it could do it the morning of Fall Fest (as opposed to waiting until the spring), she was further assured that it would be fine in the morning, as Fall Fest events didnt start until noon.
Representatives of the recreation board, she said, would be walking the proposed trails to determine length. The plan is to make sure that at every recreation stop, as opposed to other run/walks, there would be the opportunity to do something, such as Frisbee throws and selfies at the falls posted on Facebook. More details will follow at a later time.
I think it will probably be a family thing, Mullen said.
Go ahead, was the word from the council.
Park bathroom
Councilor Matt Vetsch gave an updates on the bathrooms in Veterans Park.
The council had previously talked about making it one bathroom because its frequently unlocked and the victim of vandalism. Its roof is also in need of repair, amongst other items.
Vetsch said, looking at the structure, as he previously informed the council he would do, a total reconstruction would be in order, as opposed to reconfiguring what currently exists.
It might be better off to just build something new closer to the path, Vetsch said.
Power service for the nearby park shelters is also located in the bathrooms, he said.
The matter remained officially unresolved at the meeting.
In other news
There will be public meetings to discuss the citys budget, the first of which was Aug. 10 and another on the 23rd at 6 p.m. in the council chambers.
Rita Christianson, a former Hokah City Council member, was in attendance and addressed the council. With water rates and other city expenses going up, Christianson said, she wanted the council to keep some matters in mind during their budget discussions.
She questioned, while noting how great as it is to have a public library, if the city can afford a library anymore. She also questioned the need for both a city administrator and a city clerk (opining they might be collapsed into one job), as well as staffing levels across the board, especially in the police department.
I dont know what we can afford and what we cant afford, Christianson said.
A public meeting, in which the city will discuss upcoming proposed highway projects with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, will be held today (Thursday) at 3 p.m. in the council chambers.
The Trump phenomenon cant be explained through factual reporting and reasoned analysis on his positions. Whats really going on here is an exercise in the art of propaganda. Effective propaganda isnt about facts and policy, its about emotion.
In Trumps case, the emotions being provoked are fear and rage.
Trump seems to come by this talent naturally. His methods for stirring up the masses, though, are tried and true and have been used over and again throughout the course of history.
Propaganda has been deployed by politicians in both parties, not to mention advertisers and public relations professionals. But seldom has there been a candidate who has used it so deftly. He also takes it to extremes, said Aaron Delwiche, a professor in the Department of Communication at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and an expert on the subject.
He does not hesitate to demonize large groups of people, he said. That, I think, is new. You would have been more likely to hear that rhetoric on Internet forums and on talk radio.
This story is part of The Misinformation Industry. Illuminating the sometimes-misleading methods used by special interest groups to gain support for their agendas. Click here to read more stories in this series.
Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email.
Appeal to fear
Trumps view of America in his convention speech was widely described as dystopian. The New York Times editorial board wrote that his intention was to terrify voters into supporting him.
Our convention occurs at a moment of crisis for our nation, said Trump. The attacks on our police, and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our very way of life. Any politician who does not grasp this danger is not fit to lead our country.
What followed was a litany of alarming statistics, many of them since refuted by fact-checkers, laying out just how dire the situation is for Americans. The economy is in the Dumpster. Terrorists frolic in our midst. Immigrants are endangering our safety.
Story continues
Together, we will lead our party back to the White House, and we will lead our country back to safety, prosperity, and peace, he said. We will be a country of generosity and warmth. But we will also be a country of law and order.
In 1932, another budding politician used an appeal to fear to rally the masses, notes Delwiche on his handy website, which delves into these techniques. That was Adolf Hitler. Its absurd to compare Trump to Hitler, but its important to grasp how powerful the fear card can be.
By playing on the audience's deep-seated fears, practitioners of this technique hope to redirect attention away from the merits of a particular proposal and toward steps that can be taken to reduce the fear, writes Delwiche.
The professor bases his website largely on the work of the short-lived Institute for Propaganda Analysis, created in 1937 to educate the public about the dangers of the propaganda. The privately funded institute was staffed by social scientists, opinion leaders, historians, educators, and journalists. It ran out of money in 1942.
Appeals to fear work better if there are recommendations for reducing the threat. Trumps proposals to ban the immigration of Muslims to the U.S. and build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and make Mexico pay for it are simple solutions that have no doubt appealed to his followers.
Shes the Devil
Trump is famous for his name calling, which is also an effective technique, according to information published by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis.
In addition to referring to Clinton as the Devil, Trump also calls her crooked Hillary. Hes also called U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, his former primary opponent, lyin Ted. Hes called Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida little Marco and Jeb Bush low-energy Jeb. Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is called goofy and Pocahontas.
Why is such a seemingly juvenile practice so effective?
The name-calling technique links a person, or idea, to a negative symbol, Delwiche writes. The propagandist who uses this technique hopes that the audience will reject the person or the idea on the basis of the negative symbol, instead of looking at the available evidence.
This is closely related to scapegoating, another effective technique. An excellent example: Trump blaming the ills of the nations economy on immigration Mexicans crossing the border. Hes also had harsh words for China.
But Hillary Clinton is the true enemy, as portrayed by Trump and his supporters.
Tell a lie often enough
Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitlers propaganda minister in Nazi Germany, knew that the facts were often inconvenient, and in the end, irrelevant when the goal was to whip the masses into a frenzy.
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it, he is alleged to have said.
PolitiFact, the fact-checking website, awarded Trump the 2015 Lie of the Year award for a series of false statements. The site rated 76 percent of 77 statements Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire.
No other politician has as many statements rated so far down on the dial, reported the website.
Among them, his claim that thousands of people in New Jersey cheered as the World Trade Center came down on Sept. 11, 2001. Public safety officials say it never happened.
Trump has flummoxed the fact checkers.
The Poynter Institute quoted Glenn Kessler, the Washington Posts fact checker, as saying: Trump is unusual in that even though hes corrected or fact-checked, he keeps saying it, says it over and over.
Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email.
Loaded words
Trump also uses whats known as glittering generalities, a propaganda device common to politics. It is basically name calling in reverse. His campaign slogan, Make American Great Again, is an illuminating example. Great how? And for whom?
Glittering generalities are words that have no specific meaning. They appeal to the emotions and are associated with high-minded ideals and beliefs. They inspire us, yet are usually not accompanied by specifics.
The close of Trumps convention speech marked the pinnacle of his use of the technique.
To all Americans tonight, in all our cities and towns, I make this promise: We Will Make America Strong Again. We Will Make America Proud Again. We Will Make America Safe Again. And We Will Make America Great Again.
Well, who cant get behind that?
John Dunbar is deputy executive editor and political editor for The Center for Public Integrity. He is also creator of The Misinformation Industry, a project that looks at propaganda and other misleading communication techniques used in the mass media.
This story is part of The Misinformation Industry. Illuminating the sometimes-misleading methods used by special interest groups to gain support for their agendas. Click here to read more stories in this series.
Related stories
Copyright 2016 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
A specialized team has been recruited with external support from experts
MONTREAL, QC / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2016 / Argex Titanium Inc. (RGX.TO) (the "Corporation" or "Argex") is pleased to announce that activities have resumed at its R&D centre in Valleyfield.
Due to the suspension of activities in 2015, renovation work was required and the equipment had to be reconditioned in recent weeks before activities could resume. In the interim, a specialized technical team was recruited. The team will be supported by external experts.
"Given the current state of advancement of Argex's technology, our goal in the coming months will be to integrate each unit of the process, from ore selection at the entrance to reduction of water consumption, integration of heat sources and improvement of reagent consumption level, in order to optimize and confirm the parameters of the titanium dioxide products (TiO2)," said Carroll Moore, Chief Operating Officer of Argex. "We will benefit from a new team of internal and external engineers, chemists and technicians who will collect ongoing data with a view to commercial production of industrial-grade titanium pigment. We have also introduced internal and external data analysis services that will save us time and money."
"We plan to refine the Argex technology in order to set a new standard for the titanium industry," added Mazen Alnaimi, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Argex. "Given our experience in marketing and operation of commercial chemical plants, we are aiming for a future 1:2,000-scale demonstration plant design, followed by the construction of a 25,000-tonne commercial unit. This 50% reduction from the earlier design will tangibly reduce the risks associated with scaling."
About Argex Titanium
Argex Titanium Inc. has developed an advanced chemical process for the volume production of high-grade titanium dioxide (TiO2) for use in high-quality paint, plastics, cosmetics and other TiO2 applications. The Corporation's unique proprietary process uses relatively inexpensive and plentiful source material from a variety of potential vendors to produce TiO2, along with other valuable by-products. Argex's process provides a significant cost and environmental advantage over current legacy TiO2 production methods.
Story continues
Contact:
Nicole Blanchard
Corporate Communications and Investor Relations
Argex Titanium
(514) 843-5959
nblanchard@argex.ca
Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE: Argex Titanium Inc.
(HACKETT, Ark.) An Arkansas deputy died Wednesday after being shot while responding to a call at a house, the sheriff said.
Sebastian County Deputy Bill Cooper was pronounced dead at a hospital around 1:15 p.m., Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck said during a news conference. Hackett Police Chief Darrell Spells was also shot and suffered superficial wounds.
Hollenbeck said the suspect, 34-year-old Billy Monroe Jones, wanted to cause a ruckus ahead of a court appearance.
The sheriff said Jones was due in a Fort Smith courtroom Wednesday for a hearing on whether a previous suspended sentence should be revoked. Court records show he has had a drug conviction along with a handful of minor charges.
After the shooting, the suspect barricaded himself inside the house for more than 4 hours before being arrested.
Authorities said the injured officers went to the home, about 6 miles from the Oklahoma border, after Jones pointed a weapon at his father, who called 911.
After the shootings, dozens of police vehicles, including a SWAT truck, quickly descended on the area. The shootings occurred in a rural, wooded area near Hackett, a town of about 800 residents.
James Markward, who lives nearby, said he heard a commotion early Wednesday.
It woke me up this morning, the gunshots. Of course I didnt know what was going on, the 72-year-old told The Associated Press in telephone interview. My neighbor called me and asked if I was shooting, and I said No, not me.'
Markward said the shooting suspect once helped him split wood, but said he hadnt seen the man in a few years.
As far as I know, he was all right, he said.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he didnt have details about the shooting but said it underscored the danger that the states law enforcement officers face.
Its a risky business and it really illustrates the importance of our support for law enforcement, Hutchinson told reporters at an event in North Little Rock.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, whose district includes part of Sebastian County, also didnt have details about the incident but echoed the governors support for police statewide.
This has to stop, Westerman said. Its a shame the price that law enforcement officers are paying right now and, again, I dont know any details about whats happening here, but my heart and prayer is with them and their families.
Ahead of the official full trailer launch for Denis Villeneuves sci-fi drama, Arrival later this month, the folks at Paramount have dropped a teaser TV spot check it out above. Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker star in the film that was titled Story Of Your Life when Paramount plunked down $20M to acquire U.S., Canada and China rights in a then-record Cannes deal in 2014. The anticipated film will have its world premiere in compeition at the upcoming Venice Film Festival.
Eric Heissere wrote the script based on a 1998 short story by Ted Chiang about an expert linguist (Adams) who is recruited by the military after a group of mysterious spacecrafts begins to hover over Earth. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, her job is to communicate with the aliens aboard the pods and determine if they are friend or foe. In a race against time for answers, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and possibly humanity. Renner plays physicist Ian Donnelly and Whitaker is the colonel who accompanies them to make contact.
The teaser above shows the ominous pods and provides some insight into how Adams Louise Banks views the importance of communication amid the threat of war as she is about to experience her first close encounter.
Villeneuve here is following up last years Emily Blunt-starring drug-land drama Sicario which started its career in Cannes and went on to three Oscar nominations. Arrival has been positioned in the awards corridor with a November 11 domestic release set. 21 Laps, FilmNation and Lava Bear Films are producers.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwqSi_ToNPs&w=970&h=546]
Related stories
Venice Film Festival: Lido To Launch Pics From Ford, Gibson, Malick & More As Awards Season Starts To Buzz - Full List
Toronto Lineup Offers Lots Of Potential Oscar Contenders And Clues About Telluride
Paramount And European Union Finalize Deal Over Anti-Trust Investigation
There are no suspects in an early Aug. 2 assault that sent a Dakota man to the hospital with serious injuries.
The Winona County Sheriffs Department received a call at 10:35 a.m. Aug. 2 from Gunderson Health System in La Crosse reporting the admission of a 47-year-old man with serious head injuries, sheriff Ron Ganrude said.
On arrival in La Crosse, deputies learned the man had been brought to the hospital by friends after being found in his driveway about four feet from the drivers side of his pickup, Ganrude said.
Deputies were told that man had been at a Dakota bar Monday night, leaving between 11 and 11:30 p.m. after an uneventful evening.
The man said he had returned home between midnight and 1 a.m. Tuesday, pulled into his driveway, got out of his pickup and was hit from behind by an unknown assailant. He was knocked to the ground and said it hurt too much to move and remained where he fell until he was found and assisted by a neighbor that morning.
The man suffered a wound to the top of his head and had a large lump on the side of his head. Surgery was scheduled for Aug. 3, Ganrude said.
Ganrude said the man had no idea of who assaulted him or why. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Winona County Sheriffs Department at 507-457-6368.
Australian publisher Fairfax Media reported a loss of close to Aus$900 million (US$692 million) Wednesday but remained upbeat on signs that its digital and non-print businesses were performing strongly.
Fairfax -- which owns The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review -- booked a net loss after tax of Aus$893.5 million for the year to June 30.
This compared to a net profit of more than Aus$80 million in the previous corresponding period.
The media giant, like its international peers, has for years been battling declining advertising and revenues, particularly in traditional print divisions.
Chief executive Greg Hywood struck a positive note despite the loss, saying his company's push towards digital was succeeding, with star performer the real estate-focused Domain Group reporting a 33 percent jump in revenue.
"Digital and non-print earnings now constitute more than 40 percent of Fairfax's EBITDA (underlying or operating profit)," Hywood said in a statement.
"On current trends, next year this will be closer to 60 percent, reflecting the continued growth in digital and non-print earnings."
The company's share price closed lower, dropping 4.52 percent to 95 Australian cents.
Total revenue slipped two percent for the period, while underlying profit came in at Aus$132.5 million, a 7.6 percent decline.
Advertising revenue in the metro media division dropped 15 percent.
The firm declared a final dividend of two cents for a total payout for the year of four cents.
Fairfax, the main rival in Australia to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, has shed thousands of staff and restructured its operations in recent years to focus more on its digital operations.
The publisher last week said it would book nearly Aus$1 billion in pre-tax impairment charges for the 2016 financial year, with a sizable chunk from major Australian metropolitan newspapers.
By Ian Simpson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Baltimore officials on Wednesday pledged to carry out sweeping police department reforms after a scathing U.S. Justice Department report found that officers in the majority-black city routinely violated the civil rights of black residents.
Vanita Gupta, the head of the Justice Department's civil rights division, said Baltimore and federal officials have agreed on a legal framework for police department changes that would be overseen by an independent monitor.
The report on the 2,600-officer department released on Tuesday found that black residents were regularly subjected to stops as pedestrians and motorists, arrests, strip searches and excessive force in violation of U.S. constitutional rights and federal anti-discrimination laws.
The 163-page report was prompted by the April 2015 death of a black man, Freddie Gray, from a neck injury suffered in police custody.
Gray's death was one of a series of incidents in various cities in the past two years that have raised questions about racial discrimination in U.S. law enforcement.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who is black, told a city hall news conference that Baltimore would implement a reform plan in the next few months.
"It's not going to be easy to reform the department, and it's not going to be quick," Rawlings-Blake said.
Rawlings-Blake said the police department had already revised 26 procedures, including changes in policies, training, a body-camera program and use-of-force guidelines.
Gupta said she expected quick progress toward a final agreement with the city on police reforms. Rawlings-Blake said Baltimore expected to spend between $5 million and $10 million a year to implement the agreement.
The framework agreement called for improved training of officers and data collection to ensure they are adhering to legal and constitutional standards. It also highlighted technology to allow better monitoring of officers, and strategies to rebuild relationships with city residents.
Story continues
The report found that police stopped black residents three times as often as white residents. Sixty-three percent of Baltimore residents are black, but the report found blacks faced 86 percent of charges by police. Black motorists accounted for 82 percent of traffic stops even though they make up only 60 percent of drivers.
In one of numerous incidents cited in the report, police stopped a female motorist merely for a missing headlight. Officers performed a strip search, including a body-cavity probe, and no evidence of wrongdoing was found.
The report said police had made more than 300,000 recorded pedestrian stops from January 2010 to May last year in the city of about 621,000 people, mostly in black neighborhoods. It said seven black men were stopped more than 30 times apiece during that period.
Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, who is white, said the department already has fired six officers this year as part of reform efforts.
Police arrested Gray for fleeing unprovoked in a high-crime area. He suffered a fatal neck injury in a police van. His death sparked protests and rioting.
Six officers were charged in Gray's death. Four trials ended without a conviction. Prosecutors dropped the remaining charges last month.
Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the Baltimore branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People civil rights group, called the Justice Department report long overdue.
"We're going in the right direction, but it's going to be a while for the community to trust the police," Hill-Aston said.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Will Dunham)
Embattled Bangladesh opposition leader Khaleda Zia was granted bail on Wednesday after she appeared in court on a string of new charges over a deadly transport blockade, a prosecutor said.
Hundreds of her supporters gathered outside the metropolitan sessions court in Dhaka chanting anti-government slogans, as the 70-year-old arrived to seek bail in the nine cases.
"We opposed the bail saying that police have found her involvement in the nine cases. But the judge granted her bail in all the cases," Dhaka's chief prosecutor Abdullah Abu told AFP.
"Although she was granted bail, the court has taken cognisance of all the charges against her," he added.
The new charges take to 30 the number of cases against the former two-time prime minister, mostly related to alleged violence and graft, her lawyer Masud Ahmed Talukder said.
Her party says the cases have been fabricated and are aimed at keeping Zia, a bitter rival of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, under political pressure.
Eight of the new cases relate to the nationwide transport blockade last year orchestrated by Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Islamist allies in a failed bid to force Hasina to resign.
The blockade unleashed a wave of bloody violence, leaving about 150 people dead as opposition activists fire-bombed hundreds of buses and trucks and police responded by firing live rounds.
A pro-government lawyer has also filed a new case of sedition against Zia for publically questioning the official death toll during Bangladesh's war of independence against Pakistan in 1971.
The government says three million people were killed when then East Pakistan broke away to become Bangladesh. Independent researchers however say the overall toll was much lower.
Hasina has vowed to prosecute BNP officials for last year's violence. Around 15,000 opposition supporters and dozens of senior BNP officials were arrested as part of a crackdown in the wake of the unrest, weakening the party.
Story continues
Last month, a court sentenced Zia's eldest son and heir apparent Tarique Rahman to seven years in jail after convicting him over a money laundering case.
Rahman, who lives in exile in London, will be automatically banned from contesting polls unless he surrenders to a Bangladeshi court.
Experts said Hasina could call a general election in 2017, two years ahead of schedule, if Zia is convicted in any of the cases and therefore barred from politics. Two of her graft cases are in the final stages of hearing.
The BNP boycotted the 2014 general election, leaving the field clear for its rivals.
(Adds details, background)
Aug 10 (Reuters) - Peabody Energy Corp said on Wednesday its five-year business plan had been approved by its debtor-in-possession lenders, the first step towards emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Peabody, the biggest U.S. coal miner, filed for bankruptcy protection in April after a sharp drop in coal prices left it unable to service its $10.1 billion debt, much of it incurred for to expand in Australia.
The bankruptcy ranks among the largest in the commodities sector since energy and metal prices began to fall in 2014.
The St. Louis-based company said it was aiming for total annual sales of 194 million to 197 million tons between 2018 and 2021, up from an expected 168 million tons in 2016. Revenue over the period is expected to be $4.4 billion to 4.6 billion.
Peabody said it would review its assets in Australia to run a "smaller but more profitable" basis.
The company said in May it would sell its interest in undeveloped assets in Queensland for A$104 million (now $80.6 million) to Sydney-based Pembroke Resources, backed by private equity firm Denham Capital.
($1 = 1.2908 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Amrutha Gayathri in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey and Ted Kerr)
By Huw Jones
LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - New rules need to be better tested by regulators for any impact on lending and markets, a banking lobby said ahead of a meeting next month to finalise the latest wave of reforms aimed at preventing another financial crisis.
The Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA) said it has written to the watchdogs, requesting an end to duplication and conflicts in rules already rolled out, and for them to study how the demands will mesh with reforms in the pipeline.
During the 2007-09 crisis, leaders of the Group of 20 economies (G20) called for higher levels of bank capital, a step the Basel Committee of regulators implemented with "Basel III".
Balance sheets have since shrunk as banks shed risky assets, the GFMA said in a statement.
"While in many cases changes to the business models of banks and the structure of markets were intended, in other areas it is likely that the cumulative impacts go beyond those anticipated and may negatively affect the functioning of the financial system," it said.
The Basel Committee, which declined to comment, meets next month as it works to an end-of-year deadline for its key remaining reforms. These include stricter parameters for calculating how much capital big banks should hold.
The GFMA, which comprises regional associations like European banking lobby AFME, refers to these reforms as "Basel IV", meaning they represent a step change in capital requirements, a view regulators reject.
A report from Oliver Wyman commissioned by the GMFA, said one potential unintended consequence for Basel's rules may rise from "liquidity" buffers of cash and bonds that banks must be able to draw on alongside their core capital.
"While these rules work to increase stability and ensure liquidity at individual banks, this may happen at the expense of overall market liquidity," the report said.
The impact of other reforms, such as tougher "margin" or collateral requirements should be included, it added. "However, until all these reforms are finalised and fully implemented, the full impact cannot be determined."
Story continues
The GFMA does not detail any specific rule change it wants.
Basel is already looking at the impact, calibration and coherence of its rules, and has eased some.
G20 leaders have also agreed that new rules must not lead to a significant rise in capital at banks.
Regulators say industry assessments often assume the harshest capital treatment, and don't fully take into account the benefits of tougher rules in reducing the likelihood of costly crises.
(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Alexander Smith)
Leading Canadian telephone operator BCE Inc.s BCE subsidiary, Bell Canada, has decided to acquire the remaining assets of Q9 Networks Inc., a Toronto-based provider of outsourced hosting and data solutions to Canadian business and government customers from its partner investors. The deal is expected to help BCE gain an edge in the increasingly competitive market of hosting and cloud services.
The Latest Deal
BCE had taken over 35.4% of Q9 Networks in Oct 2012 wherein a group of investors Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Providence Equity Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners and Montreal-based parent of Bell Canada, CTV television bought the data centre operator for $1.1 billion, including assumed debt. BCE shelled out $180 million while the other three investors contributed $420 million for the initial stake buyout.
The latest transaction, valued at approximately $675 million including Q9 Networksnet debt but excluding Bell's existing ownership interest, is slated to close by the end of 2016.
Growth Prospects
The transaction will drive BCEs investments in the data centre and cloud services industry . The acquisition is also expected to help Bell Canada compete with domestic and international providers in the emerging outsourced data services sector. Bell Canadas Business Markets and Q9 Networks managed data solutions and interconnected broadband fibre connectivity services are offered via a network of secure, high-capacity data centres. The deal should follow-up the ongoing existing co-operation between BCE and Q9 since their 2012 acquisitions and integrated operations in 27 centres.
Several analysts also believe that the deal will boost BCEs wireline organic revenues in 2017, considering the total size of $4.5 billion of BCEs business market revenue.
The Bottom Line
The company did not disclose the amount it paid to its partners for the remaining stake of Q9 Networks, stating that the deal only includes Q9 Networks net debt. Analysts estimate the amount at $175$190 million for the outstanding equity based on Q9s net debt of $500 million since its 2012 sale. Moreover, the companys Q9 Networks buyout is exposed to certain risks such as closing conditions, termination rights and uncertainties including limitation and regulatory approval.
Story continues
Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider
BCE currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Investors interested in the telecommunication sector may consider better-ranked stocks such as NTT DOCOMO, Inc. DCM and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation NTT , both of which carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and Intel Corporation INTC with a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
BCE INC Price
BCE INC Price | BCE INC Quote
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
NIPPON TELE-ADR (NTT): Free Stock Analysis Report
BCE INC (BCE): Free Stock Analysis Report
NTT DOCOMO -ADR (DCM): Free Stock Analysis Report
INTEL CORP (INTC): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
It turns out civility and efficiency does have a price after all, and its $45.
That was the cost of registration for the historic workshop, Running Effective Meetings and Leading with Civility, which took three-and-a-half hours in one of three locations across the state: Bemidji (July 13), Staples (July 14), and Mankato (July 28).
Historic because, for the first time in their collective histories, the meetings were presented in a collaborative effort by the Association of Minnesota Counties, the League of Minnesota Cities, the Minnesota School Boards Association, and the Minnesota Association of Townships.
Chairs and leadership from each of those entities were invited, although as the Association of Minnesota Counties Education Director Toni Smith said, the leadership was free to invite those within their respective boards and councils who might also want to attend.
A series of workshops aimed at efficiency and civility in political and educational discourse, which themselves are studded with meetings, Smith helmed Understanding Conflicts in Groups.
We see conflicts in all these entities, Smith said, and theyre all elected by the citizenry.
If there are rays of hope in what can often seem like a virulent quagmire, it might well be a reminder of observable data, invisible data, hidden agendas, reacting to conflict, even how a board is physically seated around its table.
We looked at it as an obligation to offer them some kind of background, Smith said of the workshops, which included not only rays of hope, but also a healthy dose of handouts and online resources.
Houston County Board of Commissioners Chairman Judy Storlie said she made the six-hour journey to the tiny town of Staples for an important reason.
We need help, Storlie said, and I thought I should go get it. The more I can learn the better, and I think its really important for our meetings to run properly and to get rid of these outbursts.
It was a surprise to her to run into a term those in Houston County have spoken about frequently: Hidden agendas.
Were always accused of hidden agendas, she said, so they were talking about people with hidden agendas, and then they said, Every county board member has a hidden agenda, every school board member, and they went through all the different things: Its to make the school district, the county, whatever, the best it can be.
Its a message shes since brought back to the board of commissioners she leads.
That just really struck home with me, she said, because if youre going to have a hidden agenda, thats what your hidden agenda should be.
The Houston County Board has had approximately eight hours of strategic planning this year alone meetings which have attempted to shape the vision, goals and path of the county board as it moves forward into an unknown future.
The hardest part of that, she said, is we couldnt get communication going.
That included voicing opinions to each others; what are each commissioners hopes and dreams from the board?
Storlie said she had recently done just such a strategic planning process with Hiawatha Valley Mental Health Center, where shes on the board of directors, and it was completely different.
It was the most incredible strategic planning, she said. We set goals, we were on board, everybody was putting in. It was just excellent.
Everybody within that organization, she said, had input, and the board was there to offer direction. Its a template that should work for the county board, but divisions have prevented that from happening.
That was, to a large degree, why Storlie wanted to venture to Staples.
She was immediately struck by an ice berg. Not a literal one, a metaphoric one, but somehow just as effective.
They showed an ice berg, Storlie said, and how the top is the part that people see, but you dont realize whats all underneath it. Thats kind of like what county boards are like. You see the meeting, but theres a whole lot of other work involved underneath.
Ice bergs werent the only things she struck that night in Staples.
Heres one thing that really struck me, Storlie said. Roberts Rules of Order has something that is for smaller boards.
You dont need the fuller, more frequently used, version, she said. This one takes its essence and distills it down to a simple, less cumbersome level. The basics you need to run a meeting.
And thats why weve never adopted (Roberts Rules of Order) as a county, she said. Because it has too many ins and outs of things that make it cumbersome.
The county tends to lean toward Roberts Rules, she said, and tends to follow them closely, but she reiterated theyve never been officially adopted by the board. Thats because, she explained, once theyre adopted, they must be followed to the letter every one of them. That can be so cumbersome, and so complicated, the board has even had someone come in and try to train them.
A smaller board version, she said, offers some hope it could happen in the future. Shes working on finding out how to order the more relevant version.
Oh, I would bring that (back to the board), she said. Absolutely.
Hopefully, she said, there will be a video compilation of the workshops by the associations from each of the three locations. Then the public can be involved, which is important.
They really stressed for the public to have their time at the meeting, she said, but to keep it structured. Structure is so important in your meeting. Once you start interacting back and forth like this, you lose control of the meeting.
First and foremost, she said, the county board should be thought of as a business meeting. Theyre conducting business. Thats something she knows, and many have said, but it was good to hear it again.
It maybe should be, instead of just saying, The county board meeting, Storlie said, it maybe should say, The county board business meeting, or something like that.
Another piece she found important was a scored conflict analysis of groups, which is different than the more commonly known personality tests one is scored on. Storlie said shes done those before, but never one geared to a group as a whole. She wants to have it administered to the Houston County Board.
But it cant be done by just me, Storlie said. I need to bring somebody in to do it.
Perhaps, as with much of the other information she absorbed in Staples, its possible she might be met with resistance, but that doesnt mean shell give up. And, shes not unique in that respect: No one should give up.
You still have to move forward with it, Storlie said. You have to take little pebbles, and put little pebbles out at a time. Eventually, you can build a whole road. But youve got to start somewhere.
Okay so Michael from Hanger Clinic fit his client with this Black and White Imperialist cover. then he lit it up. Absolutely love working with fun and creative prosthetists! #regram from@mccauley_m: LED lights I put inside an Alleles cover for a patient today, this is why i love my job #alleles #amputee #prosthetics #oandp #hangerclinic #prosthesis #legs #legsfordays #amputation #prostheticcover Okay so Michael from Hanger Clinic fit his client with this Black and White Imperialist cover. then he lit it up. Absolutely love working with fun and creative prosthetists! #regram from@mccauley_m: LED lights I put inside an Alleles cover for a patient today, this is why i love my job #alleles #amputee #prosthetics #oandp #hangerclinic #prosthesis #legs #legsfordays #amputation #prostheticcover
As many people missing a limb will tell you, its hard to find prosthetics that allow you to show off your personal style. Enter British Columbia-based brand Alleles.
Founded in 2013, the brand was founded in an effort to create fashion-forward prosthetic leg covers that people can afford and with an aim to empower amputees through providing choice of self-expression.
Over the past three years, the brand has steadily been gaining recognition for their stunning designs , which have even been featured on the runways of Toronto and New York fashion weeks. And even cooler, some of this years Paralympians, like German sprinter and long jumper Vanessa Low, will sport the prosthetics during the summer Games in Rio.
Scroll through the gallery above to see some of our favourites and let us know which ones you like best by tweeting @YahooStyleCA.
All photos via Instagram/alleles
Berlin (AFP) - Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere is preparing to unveil a slew of new anti-terror measures, reports said Wednesday, after two attacks in July claimed by the Islamic State group.
The new measures to be announced Thursday include speeding up the expulsion process for asylum seekers convicted of crimes, Bild daily reported, quoting anonymous security sources.
The minister is also planning to introduce "threat to public security" as a new reason for deporting migrants.
Doctors will also have their confidentiality obligations lifted in special cases that would allow them to inform authorities should their patient be a potential threat to the population, added Bild.
The tougher stance comes after the two attacks by migrants in the southern state of Bavaria -- an axe rampage on a train in Wuerzburg and a suicide bombing in Ansbach.
In Wuerzburg, the 17-year-old attacker was shot dead by police after injuring five people. In Ansbach 15 people were injured after a failed Syrian asylum seeker detonated his explosive outside a music festival, killing himself.
De Maiziere is also expected to sign off next week on a declaration with regional interior ministers from Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and sister party Christian Social Union that calls for further security and anti-terror measures, according to RND media group which publishes more than 30 regional dailies.
These additional measures include imposing a burqa ban, scrapping the possibility of dual nationalities and boosting the presence of police in trains, as well as at train stations and airports.
Bernie Sanders pushed to oust Debbie Wasserman Schultz as chair of the Democratic National Committee after leaked emails appeared to show party insiders conspiring against his campaign. Now the Vermont senator is working to help Wasserman Schultzs opponent defeat her at the ballot box.
On Tuesday, Sanders tapped into his vast grassroots network to raise money for Tim Canova, Wasserman Schultzs Florida primary challenger. This race is very important, Sanders wrote in an email. If we can win this tough fight in Florida, it will send a clear message about the power of our grassroots movement. The message asks supporters to make a donation so that the Canova campaign can put it to use before the primary against Debbie Wasserman Schultz on August 30th.
Its no secret that Sanders isnt a fan of Wasserman Schultz. The senator endorsed Canova in May and has helped fundraise for him in the past. But Sanderss latest attempt to unseat Wasserman Schultz is a reminder that even after Sanders urged his supporters to rally around Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention last month, there is still bad blood on the political left. To many Sanders supporters, the former DNC chair represents everything wrong with the Democratic establishment. Hostility intensified after Clinton named Wasserman Schultz an honorary chair of her campaigns 50-state program in the wake of the email scandal, a move that Sanders supporters took as evidence of the kind of favoritism that corrupted the election. If it wasnt clear already, it is now: Defeating Wasserman Schultz remains a priority for Sanders.
Recommended: Trump's Second Amendment Comment Cannot Be Excused
Sanderss efforts will be a test run of the former presidential candidates post-campaign influence. The fundraising bid also stands to shed light on what kind of appeals are most effective as he uses his newfound fame to help progressive candidates across the country. Sanders explicitly mentions the email leak that led Wasserman Schultz to leave her DNC post in his message, noting that the emails showed that under Debbie Wasserman Schultz, DNC staff were not exactly fair and even-minded during the presidential primary. But, the senator adds, now that Debbie Wasserman Schultz has resigned, we have the opportunity to transform the Democratic Party and open up its doors to working people and young people. It will be interesting to how successful Sanders is at turning a scandal that might otherwise be wholly demoralizing into one that motivates his supporters to act politically.
Story continues
Theres a certain irony to all this. During the primary, Clinton was quick to talk up her party loyaltynot so subtly implying that she was more committed to helping Democrats fundraise and win elections than Sanders. In April, Sanders started fundraising for congressional candidates, and later expanded his efforts to help state legislative candidates. His fundraising for Canova is only a part of an ongoing effort to keep the political movement he started alive. But if Wasserman Schultz ever felt anxiety that Sanders wasnt doing enough to raise money for Democrats, this current scenario could not have been what she would have wanted.
Recommended: Why Trump-Loving Christians Owe Bill Clinton an Apology
Which raises the question: Will Sanders prove to be more motivated by a desire to see political enemies defeated than by any desire to help the Democratic Party? Working against Wasserman Schultz could end up increasing ill-will within the party, without much to show for it in the end. On the other hand, Sanderss extraordinary success collecting small-dollar donations during the primary election was partly due to the personal appeals he made to supporters who hung on his every word. The appeal he is making now is certainly personalSanders supporters believe that the senator was treated unfairly by the former DNC chair. That is likely to make message more effective, at least in terms of the amount of money Sanders is able to raise. Whether it will be effective at building the kind of Democratic Party that Sandersor for that matter, rank-and-file Democratswants to see in the future is another question altogether.
Read more from The Atlantic:
This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Two years ago Fiona Bigwood considered giving up riding. Today she's aiming for a medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Bigwood and her horse Orthilia posted a score of 77.157 percent on Wednesday to help the British dressage team into third place after the first half of the grand prix.
''I am so over the moon,'' Bigwood said. ''I just love that horse, I was very emotional after ... I have had many horses over the years but once you get a real friend like that it's something special.''
Bigwood, who was third best on the day, has to ride with an eye patch because the 40-year-old suffers from double vision as a result of an accident during a warm-up in April 2014.
''I think it's amazing how the body does adjust to these accidents,'' Bigwood said. ''I could get it operated on but I'd probably need several operations.''
''I might try after the Olympics now but I don't really notice it. I put the patch on and off I go ... you do adjust to it and life carries on.''
Bigwood, who admits she hasn't managed to get back on the horse she was riding when she had the accident, credits Orthilia with getting her through one of the darkest moments of her career and back in the saddle.
''When i had my accident, I wasn't allowed to ride anything that could be a little bit cheeky or naughty in case I fell again so I kept riding her because she would never do anything to hurt you,'' she said.
''All through my accident she was the one that kept me going, I was going to stop riding and that's why I think I have got such a lovely relationship with her. She is a friend ... she really is a friend to me. I love her to bits.''
Bigwood can also count on the support of one of her dressage rivals - husband Anders Dahl, who rides for Denmark.
The couple have three children together.
''It was lovely to be at the opening ceremony both of us,'' she said. ''What an experience is that? How many people can say that?
Story continues
''A couple of times he came and found me so it was quite sweet. He walked with the Danish team and when we were in the stadium he came and found me, so that was really nice.''
Germany, which won silver four years ago, leads the team standings ahead of Netherlands, which finished third in London.
Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin compete tomorrow for Britain, with the latter looking to defend her individual and team titles.
The results are calculated using the average of the three best riders' scores from each nation.
The six best placed teams progress on to the next phase, Friday's Grand Prix Special, when the team medals are decided.
Los Angeles (AFP) - The Los Angeles County Sheriff admitted Tuesday an African-American man shot dead by a deputy was not connected to a carjacking that led to the confrontation.
Donnell Thompson, 27, was gunned down on July 28 in the latest in a series of controversial shootings of black men by police that have sparked protests across the country.
The incident took place as officers were hunting a carjacking suspect who had allegedly fired at deputies, hitting their patrol car.
However the sheriff's department said in a statement Tuesday that it had determined "that there is no evidence that Mr Thompson was in the carjacked vehicle."
The admission, which comes on the second anniversary of Michael Brown's shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, prompted Thompson's family to call the killing racially motivated and demand a public apology.
A resident of LA's Compton neighborhood had called 911 after finding Thompson lying in his yard, the sheriff's department said, after deputies had already arrested the carjacking suspect.
One of Thompson's hands was hidden from view and he failed to respond to numerous commands, the department added.
Deputies were worried that he had been involved in the carjacking and was still armed, and when he finally stood up and charged at them, one of them fired at him, the department said.
No weapon was recovered, and the deputy has subsequently been reassigned to non-field duties.
Thompson's oldest sister, Matrice Stanley, told reporters outside a meeting of the LA County Board of Supervisors that her brother's "mentality was like a 16-year-old."
The 44-year-old nurse said she believed race had played a role in the killing of her brother, who went by the nickname "Bo Peep" and was just 5 feet 3 inches (1.60m) tall.
Video of the confrontation is inconclusive, according to Dawn Modkins of Black Lives Matter, who said that the family's lawyers would decide when and if to release it.
Story continues
Modkins said deputies "riddled him with rubber bullets" before fatally shooting Thompson.
She called for the Board of Supervisors to push plans forward for a civilian oversight commission, adding: "Our police and our sheriff's department can no longer be allowed to police themselves."
Compton station deputies had been patrolling early in the morning on July 28 when they stopped a motorist for a traffic violation.
After running the vehicle's plates they determined it had been stolen, the sheriff's department reported.
The motorist sped off, and deputies chased the vehicle to an apartment block, where Special Enforcement Bureau personnel were dispatched.
"Deputies encountered Mr Thompson shortly after the carjacking suspect who had opened fire on our deputies was arrested," the statement said.
The sheriff's department said it was conducting "an exhaustive review of the sequence of events" that will be presented to the Los Angeles district attorney's office.
Thompson's older brother Dwayne Hill said he wanted to "make sure my brother's name is being cleared" and demanded a public apology.
Blake Lively believes societys fascination with post-baby bodies is so unfair
Blake Lively believes societys fascination with post-baby bodies is so unfair
Pick up any magazine today and youre bound to find some kind of story about a beautiful celebrity and her impossibly stunning post-baby body. Whats perhaps even more popular are the pages that feature a post-baby workout.
Well, Blake Lively isnt too happy with this trend, and shes not going to remain silent on the topic (as if we would ever expect her not to speak her mind).
In a recent interview with Australias Sunrise, Blake got very real about what it was like to shoot her latest movie The Shallows, just eight months after she gave birth to her first child James. Blake called it a physical challenge more than anything else the long, grueling hours in the water, the extended scenes they shot, and more.
Then, the interviewer brought up the whole post-baby body thing, noting that if anyone wants to know how she landed her beautiful post-baby figure, it was because she did all that endurance training to shoot this movie. (The guy had also just referred to her as Mrs. Ryan Reynolds. Dude, come on!)
There's only one thing more terrifying than this... A photo posted by Blake Lively (@blakelively) on Jun 9, 2016 at 12:39pm PDT
Fortunately, Blake didnt hesitate to shoot back with a truth bomb:
Its so unfair, though Its so celebrated, This is what someone can look like after a baby! And I think a womans body after having a baby is pretty amazing.
She said theres no need to worry about getting yourself catwalk model-ready right afterwards. After all, you just accomplished one of the most amazing things in the world!
Youve just [performed one of the most incredible miracles] life has to offer. You gave birth to a human being. I would really like to see that celebrated.
We would, too, Blake! Also, how about we stop focusing so much on her body and turn our attention to how smashingly well her movie is doing at the moment? The Shallows got a 77-percent certified rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and the movie was said to feature a powerful performance by Blake Lively. It may look like your typical, silly shark movie, but critics are saying its so much more than that.
Story continues
...I clearly don't deserve this special treatment. A photo posted by Blake Lively (@blakelively) on Jul 15, 2016 at 4:29pm PDT
Besides, look at Blakes love for life in general. Shes clearly a successful, wildly happy, hard-working woman who happens to be a mother and a wife. Lets listen to her advice and celebrate womens bodies exactly the way they are post-baby or not.
The post Blake Lively believes societys fascination with post-baby bodies is so unfair appeared first on HelloGiggles.
GettyImages 136533689
With less than 100 days until the general election, conservative commentator Joe Scarborough on Tuesday night implored the Republican Party to fully disavow and remove Donald Trump from the party's ticket, pointing to a series of reverberating mistakes the New York businessman has made since accepting the presidential nomination as evidence the GOP "must dump" him.
"A bloody line has been crossed that cannot be ignored," Scarborough wrote in The Washington Post. "At long last, Donald Trump has left the Republican Party few options but to act decisively and get this political train wreck off the tracks before something terrible happens."
The "Morning Joe" anchor has appeared increasingly unnerved by Trump's refusal to tone down his occasionally authoritarian rhetoric. But Trump's suggestion Tuesday night that gun-rights advocates might try to stop Hillary Clinton from appointing Supreme Court justices was the tipping point.
"At this point, what else could Trump do that would be worse than implying the positive impact of a political assassination?" he asked.
Scarborough acknowledged that the GOP was in "uncharted waters" but said "that does not mean the way forward is not clear." He said it was time for the GOP to "start examining quickly their options for removing the Republican nominee."
During his Wednesday-morning broadcast, Scarborough continued to make his argument, again saying the real-estate magnate crossed the line into endorsing pseudo-fascist ideologies by leaving open the possibility of violence against Clinton. (Trump later said he was referring to political, not violent, action.)
"He crossed a lot of Rubicons yesterday," Scarborough said.
Scarborough and Trump's relationship wasn't always so fraught.
Earlier this year, the MSNBC host was accused of going too easy on Trump during interviews, calling pundits who failed to recognize Trump's success "jackasses."
Story continues
But Trump soured on Scarborough months ago as the MSNBC host became increasingly critical of the Republican presidential nominee, particularly over about his skepticism of the ability of a Mexican-American judge to properly oversee a lawsuit against him.
Nobody is watching @Morning_Joe anymore. Gone off the deep end - bad ratings. You won't believe what I am watching now! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 8, 2016
NOW WATCH: OBAMA: Heres the best advice George W. Bush gave me
More From Business Insider
Animals are known to have a therapeutic effect on those who interact with them. Because of this, one local non-profit program is looking to help people in Houston County gain these benefits. Shelley Ellingson created Windy Ridge Ranch Therapeutic Riding Center to make that easier for people in the area.
When I learned about Houston County residents traveling all the way to La Crosse, I wanted to make it easier for them to go, said Ellingson, who has volunteered with Horsesense For Special Riders, which is a program designed to get local residents with special needs to interact with horses.
Right now, the program relies on volunteers and the help of mentors. In order to be a PATH (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship) certified instructor, one has to pass tests, the horses have to pass standards, and they have to have 25 hours under a certified instructor. The facility needs to be approved, as well.
Windy Ridge is working toward this as a starting center in its second year and currently hosts mentors from Thunder Rode Therapeutic Riding in Decorah, Iowa, so they can help clients. Michelle McClain-Kruse is one of the mentors and she feels its great that the center is working toward its certification.
As well as the physical benefits, theres positive social interaction for the clients, McClain-Kruse said.
In the future, Ellingson hopes to increase the number of sessions for clients and have more volunteers, and also work toward certification for her and other teachers. By next year, Ellingson hopes she and her sister, Kerrie Hauser, will be certified instructors.
The ranch owns seven horses in total, with three of them in the program and two more training to be certified therapeutic animals. The program currently has 12 volunteers and is looking for more.
They are partnered with programs such as Houston County Human Services, a care provider for people with developmental disabilities and related brain injuries in Houston County called ABLE, and are a part of the La Crescent Area Healthy Community Partnership.
Clients get to learn how to groom a horse, along with basic riding skills, steering, voice commands and more, but the real benefit comes from the horses themselves.
The clients are increasing their confidence and this carries over into their house and work lives, Ellingson said. They get to interact with volunteers and each other and bond with the horses to gain physical and psychological benefits, as well.
The ranch has received grants from two organizations. United Way has given the group grants to help purchase materials and equipment for riders and the Minnesota Horse Council awarded one to work toward their instructor certification and to attend a workshop.
Houston County resident Nancy Nimmos daughter, Sarah Wiste, is in the program, and shes happy with the results of Sarahs participation thus far.
It really opens the kids up. They feel more comfortable and confident, Nimmo said. Its a wonderful program.
New York (AFP) - An 82-year-old former New England mafia boss, Frank "Cadillac" Salemme, was arrested and charged Wednesday with murdering a witness more than 20 years ago, US prosecutors said.
Salemme was arrested in Connecticut and was due to appear before a federal court in Boston later Wednesday.
Prosecutors said he was the "boss" of the New England La Cosa Nostra in the early 1990s until he was indicted with racketeering in 1995 and convicted in 1999.
He was convicted again in 2008 of lying to federal authorities about the 1993 murder of a Boston nightclub owner.
The Boston Globe said Salemme entered a witness protection program while cooperating in the prosecution of James "Whitey" Bulger, the notorious underworld Boston kingpin jailed for life in 2013.
Salemme's arrest comes a week after the FBI rounded up more than 40 East Coast reputed mobsters, spotlighting an Italian mafia purportedly alive and kicking in 21st century America.
The defendants were accused of orchestrating a vast criminal enterprise that stretched from Massachusetts to Florida, engaging in extortion, arson, fraud, illegal gambling, firearms trafficking and assault.
By Geert De Clercq PARIS (Reuters) - French firms Bouygues and Vallourec denied that members of their boards who are also on the board of EDF had a conflict of interest when they voted in favour of the French utility's Hinkley Point nuclear project in Britain. EDF's board narrowly approved the controversial 18 billion pound project in a 10-7 vote on July 28. EDF unions argue the project should be delayed because of its financial risk and said on Monday that conflicts of interest in EDF's board might have impacted the vote. They say three EDF board members are also on the boards of other firms that are EDF customers, which could benefit from Hinkley Point, and should therefore have abstained. Hours after the EDF board's decision, the British government announced a surprise decision to review the project, delaying its verdict until early autumn. EDF board member Colette Lewiner is also on the board of construction firm Bouygues, set to be one of the main contractors for Hinkley Point. "There was no conflict of interest with regard to Mme. Lewiner," a Bouygues spokesman said on Wednesday. He said Lewiner is an independent Bouygues board member with whom management cannot interfere. He added that Bouygues decisions about Hinkley Point are not taken at board level. Lewiner did not return a request for comment. In October 2013, a joint venture of Bouygues unit Bouygues Travaux Publics (TP) and British firm Laing O'Rourke said it had been confirmed as preferred delivery partner for the main Hinkley Point civil engineering and construction contract, valued at over 2 billion pounds. EDF board member Philippe Crouzet is also chairman of the board of Vallourec , whose Valinox unit makes tubes for nuclear power plants. A spokeswoman confirmed Vallourec sells steel tubes for steam generators to Areva , which will deliver the two Hinkley Point reactors. She would not reveal sales data for individual clients nor comment on Crouzet's Hinkley Point vote. She added that Vallourec's nuclear activities represent only about three percent of the group's worldwide turnover. "It is definitely not core business," she said. Vallourec says on its website it has been a partner of France's nuclear industry from the outset and will play a key role in renovating the country's nuclear power plants. Finally, EDF board member Christian Masset, secretary general of the French foreign affairs ministry, is also on Areva's board. Masset did not respond to a request for comment. Earlier this year, Areva board chairman Philippe Varin stepped down from his EDF board mandate after unions and the French press raised questions about a possible conflict of interest between the two positions. (Reporting by Geert De Clercq; Editing by Adrian Croft)
Brasilia (AFP) - Brazil's Senate voted Tuesday to open an impeachment trial against suspended president Dilma Rousseff, making her almost certain to be sacked for good.
The scandal is expected to end 13 years of leftist rule in Latin America's biggest economy, rocked by economic and political instability as it hosts the Olympic Games.
Here's how we got to this point:
- 2014 reelection -
On October 26, 2014, Rousseff was narrowly reelected Brazil's president, continuing the leftist policies of her more popular predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
She is later accused of fiddling government accounts at the time to mask fiscal problems. Rousseff denies the allegation, saying previous administrations did the same.
- 2015 recession -
In June 2015, Brazil tipped into its worst recession in at least a quarter of a century. The economy shrank 3.8 percent, and is projected to contract this year by a similar amount.
Rousseff's popularity tumbled. On December 2, 2015, Congress launched the impeachment process. A week later, the Supreme Court halted the push over procedural irregularities.
- 2016: The ire of March -
On March 4, Lula was briefly detained by prosecutors probing a corruption scandal involving state oil company Petrobras. Rousseff was chairwoman of Petrobras from 2003 to 2010, but has not so far been directly implicated in the scandal.
Lawmakers later relaunched impeachment proceedings after the procedural obstacles were resolved. Rousseff's main coalition partner, the centrist PMDB, quit the government, triggering an exodus by four other parties.
- Impeachment vote -
On April 17, Brazilian lawmakers voted to authorize impeachment proceedings against Rousseff. On May 12, the Senate voted to suspend her from office to face an impeachment trial.
Her vice president and rival Michel Temer names a pro-business government. Several members later resign after being named in the Petrobras affair.
- Trial approved -
On August 9, as Brazil hosts the Olympic Games, the Senate votes to formally open an impeachment trial. It is set to open around August 25 with a judgment vote five days later.
If two-thirds of the senators vote against her, she will be out. Various analysts say that is a certainty.
By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to indict President Dilma Rousseff on charges of breaking budget laws and to begin an impeachment trial that is expected to oust her from office and end 13 years of rule by the Workers Party. With the eyes of the world on the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, senators in the capital Brasilia voted 59-21 against the suspended leftist leader in a raucous, 16-hour session that began on Tuesday. Her opponents mustered five votes more than they will need to convict Rousseff at the end of the month, allowing interim President Michel Temer to serve the rest of her term through 2018. The result showed Rousseff had even less support in the Senate since the 55-22 vote to suspend her on May 12. She is charged with manipulating government accounts and spending without congressional approval, which her opponents say helped her win re-election in 2014. Wednesday's vote will strengthen Temer's hand as he tries to plug Brazil's fiscal crisis. Critics have blamed Rousseff for an economic recession that could be the country's worst since the 1930s. Temer, Rousseff's conservative former vice president, has urged senators to wrap up the trial quickly so he can move ahead with a plan to cap public spending and enact pension reforms in hopes of restoring investor confidence in government finances. Spokesman Marcio de Freitas said Temer is confident Rousseff's impeachment is irreversible and Wednesday's vote will give him more muscle to negotiate with Congress the reforms he believes are needed. Temer also hopes to be confirmed as president in time to attend the summit of the G20 group of leading world economies in China on Sept. 4, Freitas told Reuters. The move to replace Rousseff with the more business-friendly Temer has bolstered Brazil's currency against the dollar and boosted shares on the Sao Paulo stock market more than 30 percent since January, placing them among the world's best performing assets. The real strengthened to 3.13 reais to the dollar on Wednesday. It had weakened as low as 4.16 in January. Rousseff has denied wrongdoing and denounced her impeachment as a right-wing conspiracy that used an accounting technicality to illegally remove a government that improved the lot of Brazil's poor. "The cards are marked in this game. There is no trial, just a sentence that has already been written," Workers Party Senator Jorge Viana said in a speech to the chamber. The impeachment, he said, was driven by elite opponents of social welfare gains. Rousseff's critics say her interventionist economic policies and inability to govern led to the debacle in Latin America's largest country, and she should not be allowed to return. Her supporters argue that she is being ousted by politicians who are in many cases being investigated for receiving kickbacks in the graft scandal at state-led oil company Petrobras. Corruption allegations forced the resignation of three of Temer's cabinet members. In plea bargaining testimony published by local media over the weekend, jailed construction magnate Marcelo Odebrecht reportedly claimed Temer had received illegal campaign funding. The advance of the anti-Rousseff votes in the Senate would indicate that the corruption allegations have not hurt Temer's standing as the man to lead Brazil out of its present turmoil. (Additional reporting by Carolina Marcello, Lisandra Laraguassu and Bruno Federowski; Editing by Louise Ireland and David Gregorio)
SAO PAULO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Oi SA has scheduled a Sept. 8 shareholders' meeting to vote on proposals by minority investor Societe Mondiale, the bankrupt Brazilian phone carrier said in a securities filing late on Tuesday.
The shareholders will vote on Societe Mondiale's proposal to replace six of the nine members of Oi's board, including five appointed by majority owner Pharol SGPS SA, formerly called Portugal Telecom.
Societe Mondiale, a fund controlled by Brazilian investor Nelson Tanure, is also proposing to annul the March 2015 shareholders meeting, which gave final approval to the merger between Oi and Portugal Telecom.
The investor also wants the company to seek damage claims against former managers and Banco Santander Brasil SA , which advised Oi on the merger.
Oi filed for bankruptcy protection in June.
(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
The Mid-Century Modern home built for actor Brendan Fraser is back on the market, and you dont have to be an airhead to fall head over heels for the place. The star sold the spectacular home for $3 million in 2007, but its back on the market nearly a decade later with a significant price increase.
Now listed for just under $4.4 million in Beverly Hills, this 3,948-square-foot, four-bedroom home is an architectural gem inside and out. With a glass gate and modular design, the home has a distinct midcentury feel.
Stepping inside, each room makes perfect use of the gorgeous hilltop views. The shotgun-style kitchen is bright and airy with wraparound ceiling-level windows and features plenty of updates, including stainless-steel countertops and professional-grade appliances.
Unlike the dark dens we see in many homes, this den is hardly fit for a caveman. Jutting out from the rest of the property, the room has wall-to-wall, two-story windows.
The master suite has a simple contemporary design with a fireplace and built-ins.
Other amenities include a wine cellar, media room, gym, and dark room, where were hoping Fraser developed a lot of his gorgeous photos.
Fraser appeared in the History Channel miniseries Texas Rising last year and is currently filming a crime drama titled The Field.
Curb appeal realtor.com
Room with a view realtor.com
Cozy master suite realtor.com
The post Brendan Frasers Former Mid-Century Modern Home Back on the Market for $4.4M appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.
Related Articles
ray dalio
An employee of Bridgewater Associates who filed a sexual-harassment complaint against his supervisor has withdrawn the claim and started a new job at private-equity firm KKR.
With about $150 billion under management, Westport, Connecticut-based Bridgewater is the world's largest hedge fund.
Chris Tarui filed a complaint earlier this year with a Connecticut agency, alleging the harassment and describing Bridgewater as a "cauldron of fear and intimidation" that kept him silent.
Tarui, who raised money for the hedge fund, withdrew his claim earlier this week and did not receive any financial compensation from the firm, a Bridgewater spokesman said.
Bridgewater also agreed to withdraw Tarui's employment restrictions, the spokesman added. Typically, Bridgewater employees are bound to noncompete agreements. The supervisor who is alleged to have harassed Tarui is still employed at the hedge fund.
After the The New York Times last month reported on the complaint, Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio called the Times' story a "distortion of reality."
Still, the case has drawn scrutiny to Bridgewater's unique culture, which Dalio describes as radical transparency. At the fund, employee conversations can be recorded and viewed by other employees.
Like many companies, Bridgewater requires workers to agree to settle claims in private arbitration, keeping matters out of public view. The public agency filing in Connecticut, however, revealed the details of the allegations.
Reached by telephone, Tarui declined to comment. His LinkedIn page says that he started as a director at private-equity firm KKR this month. A KKR spokeswoman confirmed the move.
NOW WATCH: This indie rocker just took down a publicist whom she accused of sexual harassment
More From Business Insider
The discussion continues on the proposed frac sand ban in Winona County.
The Winona County Planning Commission continued a string of public meetings Monday night on a proposal that would ban sand mining for use in fracking, with conversation touching on health, land use, legal issues and jobs, with points for and against.
Most of the information, and several of the speakers, have been repeated over the past several public hearings. Monday, the commission heard from 10 speakers, including Winona County employees, and will continue its hearings Thursday evening before being expected to make a decision Aug. 15.
Speakers ranged from industry advocates for mining and farming, doctors, lawyers and environmental advocates, with their comments breaking predictably. For instance, Peder Larson, an attorney speaking on behalf of the Minnesota Industrial Sand Council, claimed that the county would be opening itself up to litigation and would be in a weaker position than the county attorneys office and ban advocates claim.
Larson said the county would be interfering with interstate commerce by restricting the sale of silica sand and had no rational basis for the ban given that there are alternatives through regulating individual sites.
We ask you to regulate the industry based on good science and according to the law, Larson said.
Conversely, Ed Walsh, a lawyer and Winona County landowner who is involved with the Land Stewardship Project and has advocated for the ban, said that the county would be in fine shape.
This county undeniably has the authority to prohibit industrial sand mining, Walsh said. He also derided the constant threats of litigation as disingenuous ways of preventing progress.
The discussion oscillated similarly on topics of the health matters, with advocates of a ban saying particulates are proved to be harmful and opponents of the ban saying there is no proof.
The most concrete information at the meeting regarded the commissions obligation to providing a recommendation to the Winona County Board of Commissioners.
Previously, there had been discussion of whether the commission could simply decide not to deliver a decision on frac sand mining.
Assistant Winona County attorney Stephanie Nuttall said the commission could only recommend to approve, disapprove or modify the ordinance.
Failing to make a recommendation is not an option for the planning commission, Nuttall said.
The county attorneys office also cleared up that the planning commission, at some level, would have to make the best decision they could based on the information theyve been collecting.
In response to questions about a likelihood of the county defending a ban against litigation, Winona County attorney Karin Sonneman said the commission and the county board were both responsible for establishing the record to defend the ban in court.
After that, its in the courts hands.
There is no set formula, there is no set answer, Sonneman said. Every case has to be examined on its own facts.
Other testimonies heard included Glen Groth, Winona County Farm Bureau president, and Tony Tomashek, vice president of Mathy Construction Co.
Groth maintained that frac sand would have no adverse effect on farming operations, while Tomashek said a ban worries people involved in other mining operations.
Were not in favor of a ban on any industry; it sets a bad precedent, Tomashek said.
Opponents of frac sand mining have been advocating for the ban for several months through a variety of methods, including speaking regularly at county board meetings. In response, the county kicked off the process April 26, when the board instructed planning staff and the county attorney to develop language for a ban on silica sand mining related to its use in fracking operations elsewhere in the county.
The amendment draws from several examples. It also clarifies the distinctions between restrictions on different types of mineral excavation, extraction and land alteration by defining some as commercial minerals compared to industrial minerals.
The amendment would establish a ban, as opposed to just regulating the mining through conditional-use permits issued by the county.
Buenos Aires (AFP) - Britain's new Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday called on Argentina to discuss running more flights to the disputed Falkand Islands and lifting restrictions on oil exploration in the area.
It was May's first public overture to Argentina over the fiercely contested islands in the South Atlantic since she took over as prime minister last month.
She wrote to Argentina's President Mauricio Macri in a letter published by Argentine media. He has sought to strengthen his country's ties with Britain and other foreign powers since he took office in December.
"It is my sincere hope that, where we have differences, these can be acknowledged in an atmosphere of mutual respect and with the intention to act in a way that benefits all those concerned," May wrote.
"This includes making progress towards new air links between the Falkland Islands and third countries in the region, and the removal of restrictive hydrocarbons measures."
Currently, the only direct commercial flights connecting the islands to the outside world go via Chile with the South American airline LAN. Most of those flights are forbidden to enter Argentine airspace due to the Falklands dispute.
Under the previous 12 years of leftist government, Argentina restricted hydrocarbon exploration in the zone.
Argentine Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra said Macri has also written to May.
"We've begun discussing the possibility of establishing new flights. We've been exploring ways to do it. It still is not settled," she said in a statement.
"The United Kingdom has expressed interest in looking at the issue of the hydrocarbon law. Our legal departments are studying the matter," added Malcorra, who is a candidate for UN secretary general.
Argentina argues that it inherited the windswept islands from Spain when it gained independence in the 19th century.
But Britain says it has historically ruled them and that the islanders should have the right to self-determination.
Story continues
Britain and Argentina fought a war in 1982 after Argentine forces occupied the islands.
The conflict killed 649 Argentine soldiers, 255 British soldiers and three islanders.
Macri has maintained Argentina's claim to the islands but has softened the tone from the combative approach of his predecessor and political rival, Cristina Kirchner.
He said in July during a visit to Brussels that "our claim will never change," but hoped for dialogue with Britain on the issue.
LONDON (Reuters) - Dutch-owned Abellio East Anglia has been awarded a renewed contract to run rail services in eastern England in one of the first such decisions made by Britain's new government. The deal included a 1 billion pound contract for Bombardier to supply new trains from its UK base, and would cut journey times on routes between London and the eastern English cities of Cambridge and Norwich, the UK's Department For Transport said on Wednesday. Theresa May became Britain's prime minister last month after Britain voted to leave the European Union in June. The new government has delayed some infrastructure decisions, such as Hinkley Point C, a plan to build the country's first new nuclear plant in decades. The award of the East Anglia rail franchise had originally been expected in June. Current operator Abellio East Anglia, owned by Dutch rail firm NS, will run rail services until 2025 after the government picked its bid over those of rival shortlisted British transport operators FirstGroup and National Express. The agreement includes a contract for Canadian train and plane maker Bombardier to build 660 new carriages at its Derby, central England factory, to expand capacity on the routes. Transport Minister Chris Grayling said the contract award would ensure work for Britain's rail industry. "This is part of our plan to make an economy that works for everyone -- not just the privileged few -- by ensuring prosperity is spread throughout the country," he said. Train services in some parts of Britain, which privatised its rail services in the 1990s, are being hit by a five-day strike this week. Southern, which runs trains from destinations such as Brighton and Gatwick Airport and is operated by Govia Thameslink Railway, part-owned by Go Ahead, has said only 60 percent of its services would operate during the week-long stoppage. (Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Keith Weir)
(Adds background)
LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Dutch-owned Abellio East Anglia has been awarded a renewed contract to run rail services in eastern England in one of the first such decisions made by Britain's new government.
The deal included a 1 billion pound ($1.3 billion) contract for Bombardier to supply new trains from its UK base, and would cut journey times on routes between London and the eastern English cities of Cambridge and Norwich, the UK's Department For Transport said on Wednesday.
Theresa May became Britain's prime minister last month after Britain voted to leave the European Union in June. The new government has delayed some infrastructure decisions, such as Hinkley Point C, a plan to build the country's first new nuclear plant in decades.
The award of the East Anglia rail franchise had originally been expected in June.
Current operator Abellio East Anglia, owned by Dutch rail firm NS, will run rail services until 2025 after the government picked its bid over those of rival shortlisted British transport operators FirstGroup and National Express.
The agreement includes a contract for Canadian train and plane maker Bombardier to build 660 new carriages at its Derby, central England factory, to expand capacity on the routes.
Transport Minister Chris Grayling said the contract award would ensure work for Britain's rail industry.
"This is part of our plan to make an economy that works for everyone -- not just the privileged few -- by ensuring prosperity is spread throughout the country," he said.
Train services in some parts of Britain, which privatised its rail services in the 1990s, are being hit by a five-day strike this week.
Southern, which runs trains from destinations such as Brighton and Gatwick Airport and is operated by Govia Thameslink Railway, part-owned by Go Ahead, has said only 60 percent of its services would operate during the week-long stoppage.
($1 = 0.7660 pounds) (Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Keith Weir)
London (AFP) - British workers on the Eurostar cross-Channel rail service will strike for seven days this month, including over a public holiday weekend, in a dispute over hours, a union said Wednesday.
Fifty-five members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will begin the action this Friday, which the company said would see a maximum of four train services cancelled each day of the strike.
Approved in a vote by RMT members, the walk-out will run from August 12 to August 15, and for three days over the weekend of August 27, which includes a public holiday in Britain.
The union claims that Eurostar is refusing to uphold a 2008 agreement over managing shift work and unsociable hours, to provide staff with a better work-life balance.
"Our members are sick and tired of waiting for this," Assistant General Secretary Mick Lynch told BBC radio.
He said the walk-out would cause "fairly severe disruption", but added: "We don't want to be on strike, we don't want our members and the public inconvenienced this way.
"We're ready to make an agreement today or tomorrow or whenever the company wants to speak to us."
A Eurostar spokeswoman told AFP the strike would result in the cancellation of a "maximum of two return trains a day, so four services".
"We will of course be using more of our continental crew," she said, noting that the strike only affects British staff, and the company would bring in French and Belgian employees.
Eurostar said it had been "working to find a joint resolution" with the RMT but refused to be drawn on any imminent talks.
"On the days of the strike we have made some small changes to our timetable to ensure that all passengers booked to travel will be able to on those days. Passengers affected will be notified in advance," a Eurostar statement said.
Separately, the RMT on Wednesday called off the rest of a five-day strike that began Monday on trains in southeast England, including London commuter services, over plans to downgrade the role of train conductors.
It said rail operator Southern had agreed to fresh talks.
Sofia (AFP) - The brother-in-law of one of the Islamic extremists behind the January 2015 attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday agreed to his extradition from Bulgaria but denied being a "terrorist".
"I want an immediate extradition to France," Mourad Hamyd, 20, told an extradition hearing in Sofia, calling his arrest an "injustice... I have been declared a terrorist on the basis of suspicions".
Hamyd was arrested last month in Turkey while allegedly trying to enter Syria to join jihadists. He was handed over to Bulgarian authorities on July 28 and France issued a European arrest warrant.
The warrant, seen by AFP, said that Hamyd, brother-in-law of Cherif Kouachi, was wanted for "conspiracy for preparation of acts of terrorism".
Jihadist brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi gunned down eight Charlie staff as well as several others in and around the building in the assault, which began three days of terror in Paris.
The warrant however makes no mention of Hamyd being suspected of having had any involvement in the attack.
He was questioned and freed shortly after that attack after being wrongly identified on social media as being one of the three killers.
The warrant says that Hamyd lived with his family in the northern French town of Charleville-Mezieres. In late July, his sister Khadija alerted the French authorities about his "disquieting disappearance".
He was tracked down to have taken a train through Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria -- a route that French prosecutors said "corresponds to the one traditionally taken by jihadist fighters wanting to join the Islamic State in Syria or Iraq".
A search of his computer also found "numerous and recent visits to sites with jihadist content".
The bespectacled Hamyd has three days to change his mind on the extradition. Otherwise the court will issue the extradition order on Tuesday and he will be handed over within seven days.
(Adds details, BSI outflows throughout)
By Guillermo Parra-Bernal
SAO PAULO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Grupo BTG Pactual SA on Tuesday missed second-quarter profit estimates for the first time in almost two years, as downsizing efforts by Latin America's largest independent investment bank curbed trading and money management income.
Net income totaled about 940 million reais ($299 million) in the second quarter, below an analysts' consensus estimate of 1.1 billion reais. Profit dropped 12 percent from the prior three months, falling below the 1 billion-real threshold for net income for the first time in five quarters.
Income from wealth management activities sank as Sao Paulo-based BTG Pactual sold control of Swiss subsidiary BSI SA and trading suffered with the spin-off of a commodities platform to ease capital needs. The downsizing also drove expenses down, yet at half the pace of revenue, which also suffered from weak asset management activity.
Return on equity (ROE) slumped to 16.1 percent in the quarter, the lowest in three years and below a 18.1 percent estimate.
Founder Andre Esteves, who steered the bank through an aggressive global expansion until his arrest in November in a corruption probe, had set a long-term goal for ROE of 20 percent. Esteves has denied allegations of his involvement.
The results suggest that BTG Pactual's decision to shed assets and dismantle risky but very profitable trading positions in the wake of Esteves' arrest may hamper the bank's ability to generate a more stable stream of revenue in coming quarters.
Esteves' arrest forced his partners to dispose of assets in the wake of massive client fund withdrawals. He returned to BTG Pactual in a senior advisory role in April, after a Brazilian judge freed him from months of house arrest.
"We went through a very stressful situation, although we were up to the task," Chairman Persio Arida said in a statement with the results. Once the BSI and commodities unit deals are finalized, BTG Pactual will see net equity reduced by about $1 billion, the statement said.
Story continues
BSI OUTFLOWS
Revenue totaled 2.595 billion reais last quarter, missing an estimate of 2.889 billion reais. Income from sales and trading dropped a bigger-than-expected 41 percent last quarter, while gains from wealth management activities plummeted 54 percent, more than expectations of a 47 percent decline.
However, corporate lending, as well as interest and other revenue lines, rose above expectations in the second quarter, despite a 15 percent reduction in BTG Pactual's loan book from the prior three months.
Assets fell 20 percent to 203.4 billion reais at the end of June, while potential loan losses remained at bay as BTG Pactual kept a coverage ratio of 192 percent last quarter.
Proprietary investments lost money for the fourth straight quarter. However, BTG Pactual's sharp balance sheet downsizing since November helped cut costly fund-raising and debt-servicing expenses.
BTG Pactual also said that BSI, now being bought by Switzerland's EFG International AG, saw net second-quarter new money outflows of 6.3 billion Swiss francs ($6.4 billion) amid sanctions over business ties to a scandal-hit Malaysian government fund.
Management led by co-CEO Marcelo Kalim will discuss the BTG Pactual results on a conference call early on Wednesday.
($1 = 3.1455 Brazilian reais) (Additional reporting by Joshuia Franklin in ZURICH; Editing by Sandra Maler and Richard Chang)
We have some bummer news for Ghostbusters fans (*cries*)
We have some bummer news for Ghostbusters fans (*cries*)
Were certainly in the middle of the lady-reboot renaissance, but it looks like we might have to pump the breaks a little bit: As of right now, there probably wont be a Ghostbusters sequel. If only we all had a Kevin nearby, so we could cry into his arms.
It unfortunately all comes down to numbers, and the Paul Feig Ghostbusters reboot isnt raking in the dough right now. While the movie got decent reviews, and people have certainly gone to see it, not enough people have made their way to the movies (also, Ghostbusters wont be released in China, the second biggest movie market in the WORLD, because of the subject material and the ~ghosts~).
According to BoxOfficeMojo, in the weeks since its release, Ghostbusters has made $180 million. It had a budget of almost $150 million, and would need to make at least $300 million to break even. It also sounds like it needs to make at least $300 million to warrant a sequel. The Hollywood Reporter suggests that, where the movie stands now, its expected to lose upwards of $70 million for Sony, the studio behind the project.
For those not great with the math and big numbers, just know that none of this adds up to being a good thing.
Still, the idea of a sequel isnt completely off the table. Also, the idea of a Ghostbusters ~universe~ is now being discussed, involving animated spin-off movies, video games, toys, and a bunch of other things to hype up the movie. Its possible that these ventures could make up some of the lost Ghostbusters money, and put a live-action sequel back on track.
And we desperately want that sequel! This Ghostbusters reboot clearly paved the way for more movies, from the fact that the ladies finally moved into the firehouse, to that very end post-credits tag. We want these hilarious ladies back, and bustin more ghostsand if it means we have to go see the movie 30 more times, thats just what were going to have to do.
The post We have some bummer news for Ghostbusters fans (*cries*) appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Two people were injured when a pickup truck crossed the centerline and struck a semi on Highway 27 in the town of Manchester last week.
William J. Meyers, 55, of Bangor, was driving a 2005 Chevrolet Silverado northbound just after midnight Aug. 2 when the vehicle crossed into the southbound lane and struck a semi operated by Ernest R. Stiles, 54, of Orion, Ill., according to the Jackson County Sheriffs Department accident report.
Meyers sustained incapacitating injuries and was transported to a hospital and later airlifted to another facility, although his current condition isnt known. Stiles suffered non-incapacitating injuries and also was medically transported from the scene, according to the report.
The reason for the crash wasnt provided in the report, although it notes Meyers was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. He was cited for operating left of center.
Highway 27 was shut down for cleanup of the semis materials and also shut down again for safety during removal of the unit.
The Jackson County Highway Department, Wisconsin State Patrol and Black River Falls Fire and EMS assisted the sheriffs department at the scene.
Los Angeles (AFP) - A massive wildfire has destroyed scores of buildings and threatens to raze several vineyards in California, where a prolonged drought has left vegetation tinder-dry, officials warned Tuesday.
The Soberanes fire, in the coastal Big Sur tourism hotspot, has incinerated 105 square miles (270 square kilometers) of the Los Padres National Forest since it started more than two weeks ago.
Some 5,000 firefighters are battling the blaze, which is just 50 percent contained, Rigoberto Herrera of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) told AFP.
The mountainous terrain in northern California has made the job particularly difficult, and the flames have destroyed 57 buildings with another 410 under threat, causing hundreds of homeowners to evacuate.
A bulldozer driver died battling the flames, said CalFire, while four vineyards under threat, according to Kim Stemler of the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association.
Investigations into the cause of the blaze are under way, although a camp fire is suspected of being the source.
Further south, the Pilot fire in San Bernardino county has doubled in size in just 24 hours to 11 square miles, while blazes in Colorado's Routt national forest and Boise, Idaho have consumed more than 150 square miles between them.
Robyn Broyles, of the National Interagency Fire Center, said the rest of the country was faring rather better than in previous years, however.
"Last year at the same time we'd already had 37,693 fires, compared with 35,646 this year, and in terms of area burned, it's half," she told AFP.
The statistics are skewed however by giant fires that were left to burn last year in vast, sparsely populated parts of Alaska.
By Alex Dobuzinskis
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department acknowledged on Tuesday its deputies were mistaken in last month's shooting death of an unarmed black man they encountered lying motionless on the ground and erroneously assumed was a carjacking suspect.
Relatives of the 27-year-old victim, Donnell Thompson Jr., whom they described as suffering from a learning disability, plan to bring a civil rights lawsuit against the county over the July 28 predawn incident, said their attorney, Brian Dunn.
The deputy who fired the fatal shots has been placed on leave, but an investigation into whether the shooting was justified under the circumstances is ongoing, the sheriff's department said in a statement.
The incident caps a growing series of high-profile deaths of unarmed black individuals by police in cities across the country that have reignited a debate over the use of lethal force by police officers and the role of racial bias in the U.S. criminal justice system.
Thompson was shot to death in Compton, a working-class town bordering the city of Los Angeles, as sheriff's deputies were searching for a carjacking suspect who had opened fire on officers.
Deputies discovered Thompson inexplicably lying in the front yard of a home, but he was unresponsive when they sought to gain his attention, according to the latest official account of the incident.
"We don't know why he was in the state he was in," sheriff's Captain Steve Katz said in a telephone interview.
The encounter grew confrontational when a deputy approached Thompson and spotted what was thought to be a weapon nearby, Katz said.
Believing Thompson to be the carjacking suspect, deputies closed in on him using armored vehicles, positioning one on either side of him, then lobbed a concussion grenade in his direction and fired a rubber baton at him.
At that point, Katz said, Thompson rose from the ground and charged toward one of the armored cars with his hand around his waistband, and a deputy in the turret of the vehicle shot him twice with a rifle, Katz said.
Story continues
Thompson was found to have been unarmed, and subsequent DNA and fingerprint testing showed no tie between him and the carjacking, the department said. The actual suspect was arrested a short time earlier.
But Dunn called the deputies' handling of their encounter with Thompson "a complete tactical blunder on every level."
"It quite possibly generated in his mind a belief that he was going to be harmed," he added.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; editing by Steve Gorman and G Crosse)
By Rod Nickel
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Canadian officials are in Beijing this week to try to convince China to back off a plan to toughen its standard for Canada's canola shipments, which has stalled C$2 billion ($1.53 billion) in trade, government and industry officials said on Wednesday.
China's quarantine authority AQSIQ told Ottawa in February that it would impose a stricter inspection standard for canola shipments starting April 1. It later postponed the move to Sept. 1. Canada is the world's biggest exporter of canola, used mainly to produce vegetable oil.
AQSIQ and other Chinese officials are meeting through Friday with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), as well as Canada's agriculture and trade departments, said Patti Miller, president of industry group Canola Council of Canada, which is also at the discussions.
"It's a pretty difficult time right now," Miller said in an interview from Beijing. "Both sides have been very open in expressing their desire to find a resolution, but there is a significant difference in opinion."
Canadian canola shipments for delivery in China after Sept. 1 have stopped, she said.
China has for years raised concerns about blackleg disease spreading from Canadian canola into Chinese crops of rapeseed, another name for the oilseed. Traders have suggested that China's real reason for a higher standard is that its domestic rapeseed oil stocks are high.
China's new standard would allow no more than 1 percent foreign material, such as straw, per shipment, compared with the current maximum of 2.5 percent. The tougher standard would raise cleaning costs and risk, exporters have said.
At stake for Canada is the potential loss of its biggest canola market for exporters including Richardson International, Viterra Inc and Cargill Ltd, just as farmers harvest a big crop.
For China, the dispute doesn't help its push for a free trade deal with Canada.
Guy Gallant, spokesman for Canadian Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay, said there are no plans for either MacAulay or Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland to join the talks.
Story continues
"There's an expectation from all that we meet in the middle here," Gallant said from Ottawa.
Whether Canada would retaliate if China follows through is a "hypothetical question," Gallant said. Both countries are members of the World Trade Organization.
The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa, CFIA and a spokesperson for Freeland could not be immediately reached for comment.
($1 = 1.3053 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba)
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2016 / Canarc Resource Corp. (TSX: CCM, OTC-BB: CRCUF, Frankfurt: CAN) is pleased to announce that it has retained Gordon Neal as Consultant, Corporate Development in order to assist the company with its corporate development, growth strategy and market presence.
Mr. Neal was previously the Vice President of Corporate Development for MAG Silver Corp for over 8 years and played a key role in Mag Silver's significant growth during that time. During his tenure, Mag Silver's share price grew from about 50 cents to over $16 per share. Gord has more than 25 years of experience in corporate development, capital markets, financing and marketing.
Prior to Mag Silver, he managed Neal McInerney Investor Relations, his clients included several major Canadian corporations and he was instrumental in facilitating more than $4 billion in debt and equity financings. His company grew to become the second largest full service Investor Relations firm in Canada with offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Los Angeles.
Mr. Catalin Chiloflischi, Canarc's CEO, stated:
"I am pleased to welcome Gord to our team as we prepare Canarc for a new phase of growth. His extensive experience and past success should complement our existing skill sets well. Canarc is now focused on acquiring gold-silver resource projects with expansion potential and gold-silver mining projects with production potential in the Americas. The Company is well funded with over $12 million cash and marketable securities as we embark on an ambitious new growth plan."
"Catalin Chiloflischi"
Catalin Chiloflischi, CEO
CANARC RESOURCE CORP.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Catalin Chiloflischi, CEO
Toll Free: 1-877-684-9700
Tel: (604) 685-9700
Fax: (604) 685-9744
Email: info@canarc.net
Website: www.canarc.net
About Canarc Resource Corp. - Canarc is a growth-oriented, gold exploration and mining company listed on the TSX (CCM) and the OTC-BB (CRCUF). The Company is currently focused on acquiring gold-silver resource projects with expansion potential and gold-silver mining projects with production potential in the Americas. Canarc is also working with a partner to advance its 1.1 million oz, high grade, underground, New Polaris gold mine project in British Columbia to the feasibility stage.
Story continues
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States private securities litigation reform act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking information that involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the merits of the mineral properties of Canarc, the future performance of Canarc, mineral resource estimates and the Company's plans and exploration programs for its mineral properties, including the timing of such plans and programs. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "has proven", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "potential", "appears", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "at least", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved".
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to the uncertainties inherent in the estimation of mineral resources; commodity prices; changes in general economic conditions; market sentiment; currency exchange rates; the Company's ability to continue as a going concern; the Company's ability to raise funds through equity financings; risks inherent in mineral exploration; risks related to operations in foreign countries; future prices of metals; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals; government regulation of mining operations; environmental risks; title disputes or claims; limitations on insurance coverage and the timing and possible outcome of litigation. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could affect the Company and may cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, do not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All statements are made as of the date of this news release and the Company is under no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable securities laws.
Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that the Company's activities will be in accordance with the Company's public statements and stated goals; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; that all required approvals will be obtained and that there will be no significant disruptions affecting the Company or its properties.
SOURCE: Canarc Resource Corp.
Captain America has returned home to Brooklyn.
Marvel unveiled its 13-ft, bronze statue of the superhero in Prospect Park Wednesday in honor of Cap's 75th anniversary.
For those not familiar with the deep back story of Captain America, Steve Rogers is originally from New York City and the Brooklyn borough. In the Marvel Studios films, Captain America (Chris Evans) has made a number of references to his ties to the borough. "I'm just a kid from Brooklyn," he says in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger and there's an endearing moment in this summer's Captain America: Civil War in which he bonds with Spider-Man (Tom Holland) over both of them being kids from New York.
LIVE on #Periscope: Live from the #CaptainAmerica ceremony at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, NY! #Cap75 https://t.co/oSBOwwgAhc
- Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) August 10, 2016
But according to The New York Post, some Brooklyn residents aren't happy about the statue. One resident quoted by The Post argued that it was harming the "serenity, calmness and beauty of the park." The paper also reported that green activists complained that the park was supposed to be a "non-commercial" zone - taking issue with a corporation like Marvel having a presence there.
Those upset won't have to be worried for long. It will be moved in two weeks to the plaza outside Barclays Center. The statue will stay there till late September before migrating outside to a new Bed Bath & Beyond in Sunset Park at some point in late October.
Check out a stream of the ceremony above, and follow Heat Vision on Facebook and Twitter for all things Marvel.
By Tom Polansek CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. meat processor Cargill Inc [CARG.UL] has stopped using an important antibiotic for people to prevent disease in most of its turkeys, the company said on Tuesday, the latest food maker to drop the drug over concerns about the impact on human medicine. Cargill has not used the drug, gentamicin, to prevent disease in turkeys that supply its two biggest brands, Honeysuckle White and Shady Brook Farms, since Aug. 1, the company said. Gentamicin was the only antibiotic Cargill used to prevent disease in turkeys, and by eliminating it from the brands, 50 million birds will be affected. The company did not remove the drug from its smaller turkey brands because they are produced to meet customers' specifications, a spokesman said. A number of food companies and restaurants have stopped using or are looking to curtail their use of certain antibiotics in livestock due to concerns about rising numbers of life-threatening human infections from antibiotic resistant bacteria dubbed "superbugs." On Tuesday, Yum Brands Inc investors filed a shareholder proposal encouraging the company to quickly phase out harmful antibiotics from its meat supply. The request came after McDonald's Corp said last week that it had removed antibiotics important to human medicine from its chicken months ahead of schedule. Veterinary use of antibiotics is legal, but as the number of human infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria increases, consumer advocates and public health experts have campaigned to end their routine use in farm animals. Cargill "weighed the desires of our customers and consumers to ensure the long-term effectiveness of antibiotics for people and animals when deciding to curb gentamicin use, John Niemann, president of the company's turkey business, said in a statement. The company will continue to use antibiotics to treat sick turkeys and to stop the spread of diseases within flocks that include sick birds. Cargill rival Perdue Farms has said it is raising more than half its turkeys without any antibiotics. Perdue and Tyson Foods Inc, the biggest U.S. meat processor, stopped using gentamicin in chickens in 2014. Gentamicin is injected into baby birds shortly after they hatch or into their eggs before hatching to prevent disease and death. Removing it is "a really important step if you want to quit using routine antibiotics in turkey production," said Steve Roach, food safety program director for advocacy group Food Animal Concerns Trust. In March, Cargill said it was trimming antibiotics from its cattle supply. (Reporting by Tom Polansek; editing by Diane Craft)
The city of Black River Falls will explore whether to establish a municipal court to handle prosecution of ordinance violations.
The city council plans to form an exploratory committee to discuss the proposal, which City Attorney Lisa Hirschman said she supports during the councils Aug. 2 meeting. Creating a municipal court would allow the city to directly handle ordinance violation cases rather than in Jackson County Circuit Court.
I think it would be nice to have a municipal court here, she said. Having a municipal court here would definitely streamline that process.
Hirschman said the process for resolving contested ordinance violation tickets currently takes a longer period of time for her than it would if the city had its own court, and moving to the municipal court system also would help alleviate the caseload on the countys circuit court system, which for years has grappled with a backlog.
Jury trials, however, are not heard in municipal court, and defendants would still need to appeal to have a trial conducted in circuit court in a municipal case.
Hirschman noted there likely would be significant upstart costs for a court, which would require a municipal judge, who does not have to be an attorney, and also a court clerk for assistance with administration. Other municipalities may want to collaborate to form a joint court, she said.
I do believe, though, that, and this is purely a personal opinion, that if you opened a municipal court, I think its very likely surrounding municipalities would get on board and contract with us to have a joint municipal court, she said, and that would help with costs.
There are 237 municipal courts in Wisconsin, including those in Tomah, Sparta, Arcadia and the Coulee Region Joint Municipal Court in Onalaska, according to data from the Wisconsin Circuit Court System.
A municipal court in Black River Falls would not make money, but it would allow the city to keep a larger portion of fines and fees collected through tickets.
That would be an additional revenue stream, Hirschman said.
The city wouldnt be required to hold court in city hall and could utilize the offices of an attorney if one is selected for a municipal judge position.
Were kind of maxed out here, Mayor Jay Eddy said at last weeks meeting. Were kind of looking for additional storage as it is.
Eddy said the city will form and approve the exploratory committee at an upcoming council meeting. Hirschman plans to draft a letter to Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Anna Becker to solicit her opinion on the possibility of a BRF municipal court.
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn said spending is akin to a deep recession during an interview on the FOX Business Networks Risk & Reward.
Capital spending is really in a terrible shape, he said. If you really analyze it, in a country thats supposed to grow you just had a 4% decline in capital spending, which is unheard of unless you have a deep recession.
In a statement Icahn released Tuesday, the billionaire investor said:
A capitalistic system cannot exist if government is at war with business.
Despite noting the U.S. is an over-regulated nation, which he believes keeps companies from investing, Icahn did say he agrees with some legislation.
There is good regulation. You really have to make sure that factories are safe and all that. But, whats happened now is regulation has run amuck. And I dont think theyre bad people, the regulators.
At one point in June 2015, Trump floated the possibility of offering the Secretary of the Treasury position to Icahn, who declined. The activist investor reiterated his point, saying he wouldnt accept a cabinet position, but would offer help if the GOP nominee asked.
Ive never worked for anybody in my life, its too late in the day for me to start working for anybody, Icahn said. But thats not the issue, you dont need me to work there. You need me maybe to talk to Donald once in a while, give him some advice.
Related Articles
man with a plan cbs
CBS president Glenn Gellar admitted the network's all-white male class of fall stars doesn't reflect well on its diversity efforts.
Were very mindful at CBS about the importance of diversity and inclusion," he said after being criticized by reporters during the Television Critics Association press tour on Wednesday, according to TVLine.
"We need to do better and we know it, Geller also said. We are definitely less diverse this year than last year, and we need to do better.
The network has six new shows for the fall season, all led by eight white males: Michael Weatherly of "Bull," Joel McHale on "The Great Indoors," Kevin James on "Kevin Can Wait," George Eads in the titular role on "MacGyver," Matt LeBlanc on "Man With a Plan," and "Pure Genius" stars Dermot Mulroney and Augustus Prew.
It doesn't stand up well to the diverse leads on the other broadcast networks' new shows.
In the network's defense, Gellar pointed out that CBS's diversity efforts are reflected in its returning shows and with the supporting casts on their shows as a whole. As an example, he pointed out that 11 of the 16 series regulars added to fall shows reflect a diversity of race and gender. "NCIS," "NCIS: New Orleans," and "Criminal Minds," for example, have added Wilmer Valderrama, Duane Henry, Vanessa Ferlito, Adam Rodriguez, and Aisha Tyler as series regulars.
Beyond the fall, Gellar reminded the reporters that its midseason drama, "Training Day," starred co-lead Justin Cornwell.
"Those arent just words, that is real action," he said.
He also pointed out that aside from leads, the network has made great strides in hiring diverse directors and writers.
NOW WATCH: LES MOONVES: Here is the biggest misconception about TV right now
More From Business Insider
By Carl O'Donnell and Greg Roumeliotis
Aug 10 (Reuters) - Buyout firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC is in advanced talks to acquire Drive DeVilbiss, one of the largest U.S. wheelchair manufacturers, for about $750 million, including the assumption of debt, according to people familiar with the matter.
A deal would represent CD&R's latest bet on the home care market, as longer life expectancy fuels demand for durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs, power scooters and other mobility and bariatric products.
CD&R has prevailed in an auction for privately held Drive DeVilbiss and could strike a deal in the coming days, the sources said on Wednesday. They cautioned that the negotiations could still fall apart at the last minute.
Drive DeVilbiss' top executives plan to join CD&R as minority investors in the deal, one of the sources said.
The sources requested anonymity because the negotiations are confidential. CD&R declined to comment, while a Drive DeVilbiss spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
Based in Port Washington, New York, Drive DeVilbiss is one of the fastest-growing manufacturers and distributors of durable medical equipment, according to its website. It has distribution facilities around the world.
The company has completed more than half a dozen acquisitions since 2011. In 2015, Drive DeVilbiss, at the time dubbed Drive Medical, acquired DeVilbiss Healthcare, which focused on products that aid breathing and sleep.
Founded in 2000, Drive DeVilbiss is partly owned by private equity firm Ferrer, Freeman & Co LLC.
CD&R has earned about five times its invested capital in healthcare investments that include VWR International, which supplies products and services to medical laboratories; Envision Healthcare, which provides outsourced medical services; and PharMEDium, a sterile compounding services company.
CD&R's previous investments in the home care sector include AssuraMed, a supplier of disposable medical products to chronic-disease patients. It sold that company to Cardinal Health Inc in 2013 for $2.1 billion.
(Reporting by Carl O'Donnell and Greg Roumeliotis in New York)
Mark Weinberger
In a recent interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Mark Weinberger, the CEO of professional-services firm EY, shared a counterintuitive perspective on retaining talent at his company.
Simply put, he expects people to leave after a relatively short stint at EY and move on to another job and it doesn't really faze him.
Here's Weinberger:
"I've changed our value proposition. In the old days it was: 'You come. You stay with us. You work with us. You get a pension.'
"Today we know our people are not likely to stay with us for their careers. They're going to have five, six, seven jobs throughout their careers."
Once employees leave, he said, "they're part of the extended EY family."
That means if they want to come back to EY, great; if not, that's okay, too.
Weinberger himself left EY and returned several times once to start his own business and once to become Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy.
Weinberger also told Businessweek that a whopping three-quarters of EY employees are millennials, which is part of the reason why he anticipates that they won't stay at EY for long.
Research behind Weinberger's observation is mixed. While some reports suggest millennials are the most inclined to job-hop out of any generation, others suggest that millennials are in fact less likely to switch jobs than other cohorts.
Meanwhile, one Bloomberg View columnist found that average job tenure stayed about the same 4.6 years between 1963 and 2014.
Regardless of whether job-hopping is increasing, the ability to accept some amount of turnover may be a crucial leadership skill.
In his book "Superbosses," Dartmouth business professor Sydney Finkelstein writes that managers who spawn new generations of talent within their industry (so-called superbosses) know that they can't hold on to employees forever. Instead, they know when it's time to let go of someone stellar who's moving onto something else.
In fact, the way superbosses become successful themselves is by creating industry-wide networks of people who have worked for them so that they're always well-connected.
Story continues
That idea is something Weinberger seems to embrace. He told Businessweek:
"If you can keep [your employees], great. If you can't, then hopefully they're a great representative of you, an ambassador of you out in their new jobs."
NOW WATCH: 9 phrases on your resume that make hiring managers cringe
More From Business Insider
unspecified 3
If you've checked Instagram or Facebook at all in the last month, chances are you've seen at least one selfie that looks like it was painted by Vincent van Gogh or Pablo Picasso.
That's because of a free app called Prisma.
Thanks to its bold, impressionistic filters, Prisma has quickly become the hottest photography app of the summer. The Russian startup behind the app, Prisma Labs, says that it has seen 42 million downloads since June 11 and "prismed" 1.2 billion photos.
What people who've used Prisma probably don't realize is that the app is actually an experiment in artificial intelligence. When you add a filter to a photo in Prisma, you're training a system of neural networks that analyze the photo and recreate it to look like a work of art. All of this happens in a matter of seconds.
In a recent interview with Business Insider, Prisma Labs CEO Alexey Moiseenkov said he plans to use the same technology to edit much more than just photos.
"The vision is to help people share more on the internet with the help of AI," he said.
From Russia, with love
Alexey Prisma
Moiseenkov, a 25-year-old graduate of Russia's Polytechnic University, leads a team of nine people at Prisma Labs in Moscow.
He got the idea for Prisma after stumbling on an open-source AI system called DeepArt last year. German doctoral students had built an algorithm that could redraw an image based on the style and brush strokes of a famous painting.
Moiseenkov thought the same AI system behind DeepArt could be made into a mobile filter app, but there was one problem: The algorithm was too slow at redrawing photos. He knew the app had to be as fast as using Instagram's filters.
After a few months of work, he said his team was able to make DeepArt's AI "1,000 times faster."
Once Prisma was released in the App Store on June 11, the app quickly rose on the top chart in the photo and video category. It eventually cracked the App Store's top 10 overall downloads in mid-July before arriving in the Google Play Store on July 24.
Story continues
What's impressive about Prisma's early success is that its popularity is based entirely on word of mouth. The app is most popular in Russia, India, and the US, according to the research firm App Annie.
"We did nothing at all," Moiseenkov said. "It's totally organic growth."
The app's subtle "Prisma" watermark on photos (which can be removed in the app's settings) helped it gain traction early on. Several celebrities, including Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and "Guardians of the Galaxy" writer James Gunn, helped spread the word on Instagram.
A photo posted by (@damedvedev) on Jun 23, 2016 at 11:16am PDT
Having a blast playing with the Prisma App, which takes the turning-photos-into-art app to a whole new place (not a paid ad, I just think it's cool). #prisma #prismapp #yondu A photo posted by James Gunn (@jamesgunn) on Jul 29, 2016 at 10:28am PDT on Jul 29, 2016 at 10:28am PDT
Moiseenkov attributes Prisma's viral nature to the fact that, at the end of the day, people want their photos to look interesting.
"Everybody in the world wants to create something a little bit better than average," he said. "And these filters and styles help people to improve their photos. It's deeply connected with my vision."
Monetization and the Facebook question
unspecified
Prisma isn't the first Eastern European filter app to go viral. Its story is similar to that of MSQRD, a Belarus startup that Facebook bought earlier this year for its Snapchat-like face masks earlier this year. Before that, Snapchat scooped up Ukrainian startup Looksery in 2015 to power its selfie filters.
Moiseenkov's recent visit to Facebook's headquarters in California has led some to speculate that Prisma would also be acquired by the social networking giant.
A Facebook spokesperson denied the rumor and said the company was not considering an acquisition of Prisma. Moiseenkov declined to comment on his visit beyond saying that the meeting was "really private."
Aleksej Gubarev, a Prisma investor and CEO of Servers.com, said in an interview that Prisma had been in discussions with several top US and Chinese tech companies, but declined to elaborate. He said Prisma was close to completing a round of funding, but wouldn't reveal how much was being raised.
Other current Prisma investors include Russian tech company My.com (where Moiseenkov previously worked as a product manager) and Gagarin Capital, which also invested in MSQRD.
File Aug 10, 12 16 53 PM
If Prisma isn't acquired, Gubarev said the app could quickly become profitable by selling sponsored filters.
It recently started experimenting with sponsored filters from the likes of Gett, an Uber competitor. Gubarev, whose company provides the cloud infrastructure for Prisma, said that between 10 and 15 companies are in the queue to pay for sponsored filters in the app.
Moiseenkov said his team at Prisma is mainly focused on building new features, not monetization.
"For now, I'm really into product," he said. "Not into the business side."
What's next
Prisma plans to add video support in the next couple of weeks. Moiseenkov said the feature is done, but the team is making sure its servers will be able to handle the update.
Beyond video, he said Prisma could one day help enhance photos and videos in other ways. An API is being built to let businesses use the app's filters for professional video production and prints, according to Gubarev.
Here's a teaser of the upcoming video filters in action:
When asked if he was worried about Prisma's novelty wearing off, Moiseenkov said he sees Prisma as a startup that uses AI to help people, not just as a filter app.
"I think it's only the beginning," he said.
More From Business Insider
The villain from The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise, Chad Johnson, made a much-needed apology to a fellow contestant on After Paradise on Tuesday. Chad, who was known for his violent outbursts on The Bachelorette, blew into Bachelor in Paradise and left a path of drunken destruction. In a belligerent stupor, Chad said horrible things to and about Sarah, a contestant who was born without a portion of her arm. Chad was later sent home for his drunken antics.
On After Paradise, Chad apologized to Sarah by saying, I should absolutely never have said that. I did not want to say anything like that. Sarah is here to promote her charity, shelift.org. Its to help people who are born without limbs.
Sarah responded by saying, Thank you. I think thats what I wanted. To hear it face to face, in person. However, Sarah may have preferred for an apology to have come sooner and more privately. She said, I know you apologized on Twitter and on ET, but, like, you know a lot of people who have my phone number and you didnt do anything about it.
Bachelor in Paradise airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
Watch the five craziest quotes from Bachelor in Paradise:
Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Cynthia LuCiette, on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Siblings Terrell and Faith were separated eight years ago, when they were moved to different foster homes. Faith's last name was changed, and the pair lost touch with each other.
But the pair stayed connected by more than just blood: They both ended up interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement. And they wound up meeting each other through a fellow foster child, New Jersey Trooper II Quaron Crenshaw, at the Rutgers Newark Campus Job Fair.
"It was amazing to be there to witness the moment they were reunited," said Tpr. Quaron Crenshaw in a Facebook post. "I am hoping they keep following their dreams and one day have a career in law enforcement."
Crenshaw is a recruiter with the West Trenton Division of the New Jersey State Police. The state cops shared the story on their Facebook page but did not reveal the siblings' ages, last name or hometowns.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Threats against police officers by Chicago gang members angry about the police shooting of an unarmed black teen last month were "unacceptable," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Tuesday, as debate over excessive force by law enforcement continues to roil U.S. cities.
On Monday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the Chicago Police Department had warned officers that leaders of three gangs had met and plotted to shoot police in response to the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Paul O'Neal on July 28.
The department said it was routine to send alerts when police were threatened, but did not provide further details or confirm that threats had been made by the gangs.
"The idea that a bunch of gang members would threaten violence against the men and women every Chicagoan relies on for their own safety is absolutely unacceptable," Emanuel said in response to the newspaper report.
A string of high-profile killings of black men by police in various U.S. cities in the past two years has renewed a national debate about racial discrimination in the criminal justice system and given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Protests erupted nationwide after the back-to-back killing of black men in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis, but after a rally in Dallas, Texas, a gunman shot dead five police officers in an ambush. Days later, three Baton Rouge police officers were also killed in an ambush.
Tensions over the shooting of O'Neal picked up last week after authorities released videos that captured the moments before and after police shot him.
No firearms were found on O'Neal, who was shot in the back, according to police.
The video footage released on Friday shows two officers firing at a stolen car driven by O'Neal after it sped past them, the car crashing into a police car, and O'Neal running into a backyard where he was shot. The shooting is not shown. It is against departmental policy to fire at or into a moving car when the vehicle was the only potential use of force by a suspect,
(Reporting by Justin Madden; Editing by Sharon Bernstein and Alan Crosby)
The Tri-County Chapter 1386 of the National Association of Active and Retired Federal Employees is scheduled to meet in Tomah on Thursday, Aug. 18.
The meeting will be held at Pizones Restaurant, 202 Superior Ave., and start at 11:30 a.m. for lunch with the meeting following at approximately noon. The guest speaker will be Kyle Klett, who will explain and demonstrate, Clear Captions, a screen display phone system available for the hard-of-hearing community.
Santiago (AFP) - Chile's ex-president Sebastian Pinera on Tuesday denied accusations that he paid bribes to Argentine officials to help his former airline business.
Argentine prosecutors are investigating claims that a company run by Pinera paid a million dollars to the country's former transportation minister in 2006, according to court documents.
The payment was allegedly aimed at securing the minister's approval to launch operations in Argentina by Chilean airline LAN. Pinera was its director and main shareholder.
"This accusation is either very irresponsible or very malicious," Pinera told a news conference on Tuesday.
Pinera later served as president of Chile from 2010 to 2014.
The case was lodged against him last week, brought by plaintiffs including former LAN directors and Argentine authorities.
LAN merged last year with Brazilian carrier TAM to form LATAM, the region's biggest airline.
By Antonio De la Jara SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's President Michelle Bachelet proposed a series of reforms to the private pension system late on Tuesday that would require heftier contributions from employers and independent workers in order to boost payments for retirees. Bachelet's televised announcement comes as Chile's six private pension funds, which manage $160 billion in assets, have come under fire from protesters who say they do not guarantee a dignified old-age and only perpetuate inequality. Bachelet proposed a 5 percentage point hike to the current 10 percent contribution rate within 10 years that would be paid for exclusively by employers. Contributions from self-employed workers would gradually become mandatory, she said. "This increase in contributions will allow us to build the foundation for collective savings with solidarity. Part of it will enable raising current pensions and the other part will be used to ensure more equity in future pensions," Bachelet said. Workers would be given more say on investment decisions made by the pension funds, known as AFPs, which would be forced to pay back contributors after periods of losses, Bachelet said. "Losing workers' funds cannot be business for anyone," said Bachelet, whose approval rating fell to an all-time low in June. Bachelet also proposed eliminating hidden fees charged by the funds, using a single mortality table for both men and women and strengthening a program that provides a minimum pension for Chileans who have not worked or contributed to a fund. She reiterated that she would continue to push for the creation of a public pension fund to give workers an alternative to the private system started in the 1980s during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Opponents of the AFPs plan to hold a protest on Wednesday. (Reporting by Antonio de La Jara; Writing By Mitra Taj; Editing by Paul Tait)
BEIJING (Reuters) - China will push for the commercialization of genetically modified soybeans over the next five years as it seeks to raise the efficiency of its agriculture sector, potentially boosting output of the crop by the world's top soy importer and consumer. China, which has spent billions of dollars researching GMO crops, has already embraced the technology for cotton but has not yet permitted the cultivation of any biotech food crops amid fears from some consumers over perceived health risks. In its latest five-year plan for science and technology to 2020, China for the first time outlined specific GMO crops to be developed, including soybeans - used in food products such as tofu and soy sauce and for animal feed - and corn. The blueprint, published on the government's website on Monday, recommended "pushing forward the commercialization of new pest-resistant cotton, pest-resistant corn and herbicide-resistant soybeans". The use of the technology for corn was flagged in April when an agriculture official said that Beijing could greenlight GMO crops in the next five years. Corn is used mostly for animal feed and industrial products like starch and sweeteners and a move to biotech crops could be less contentious than with soybeans. Support for new soybean varieties comes as China seeks to overhaul its crop structure. Farmers are being encouraged to switch from growing corn to soybeans and to rotate between crops. But analysts say boosting soybean production could be difficult without higher subsidies. China is expected to produce 12.5 million tonnes of soy in 2016/17 but will import a record 86 million tonnes, according to a forecast by U.S. agriculture officials. China permits the import of GMO soybeans for use in animal feed. Herbicide-resistant soybeans are already planted by most growers in the United States, the world's top soy producer. "You can't manually kill weeds on the large farms in the north-east," said an executive at a seed company in China. "If if you're going to rotate between soy and corn, herbicide-tolerant soybeans are needed for mechanization," he added, referring to the need for crops to be able to tolerate repeated exposure to weed killers applied by tractors. But cultivating GMO soybeans is likely to face strong resistance from consumers and a local industry that sells GMO-free soybeans at a premium to imported beans. "The major production areas for key commodity crops shouldn't be planted with GMOs," said Liu Denggao, vice president of the Chinese Soybean Industry Association. "Domestic soybeans are extremely desired and trusted by consumers for food." Commercialization of GMO soy is likely to take a backseat to GMO corn however, said Huang Dafang, professor at the Biotechnology Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The government has previously said it will roll out biotech varieties of industrial crops such as corn before moving to food crops like soya. "Corn is more important from a production point of view," Huang said. (Reporting by Dominique Patton; Editing by Richard Pullin)
Beijing (AFP) - A Chinese city said on Wednesday it would halt preparations for a possible Sino-French nuclear project after thousands of locals protested against it over the weekend, the latest official concession following environmental demonstrations.
After days of protests by angry residents, the government of Lianyungang said on a verified microblog that it would "temporarily suspend" selection of a location for a nuclear fuel processing plant.
Thousands of people massed outside government offices over the weekend, calling for the project to be cancelled on health grounds, and clashing with police, locals said.
French nuclear fuel group Areva in 2012 agreed to cooperate with state-run China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) to build a reprocessing facility in China, without stating the location.
Locals say that Lianyungang, a port city in the eastern province of Jiangsu, is a prime candidate, because a large new nuclear power station is being built by CNNC nearby.
The reprocessing project has reportedly been opposed by the US, which says it would harm efforts to limit the spread of materials that can be used in weapons.
Street protests against large projects have become a regular occurrence in China, sometimes causing climbdowns from officials.
Last year officials in China's Inner Mongolia region vowed to shut down several chemical plants after police were said to have used tear gas to break up environmental protests.
Huge protests in the northeastern city of Dalian in 2011 prompted authorities to announce the closure of another chemical plant, although it was apparently still operating two years later.
The Lianyungang protests highlighted local opposition to nuclear projects in China, which is increasing its atomic power capacity on a huge scale and encouraging state-run firms to build plants abroad.
Mainland China has 34 nuclear power reactors in operation, 20 under construction, and work is about to start on more, according to the World Nuclear Association.
Safety fears grew following a series of meltdowns at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant in March 2011 that were intensely covered by China's state-run media.
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f173316%2fap_690011942583
When it comes to love being in the air, no one's taking it more literally than Chinese couple Zhou Wenlong and Jiang Huizhu.
The lovebirds tied the knot on Tuesday in an unorthodox ceremony that saw them lying on a hammock that was suspended 180 meters in the air at the Shiniuzhai National Geopark in Hunan province.
SEE ALSO: China sets new world record with 1,007 dancing robots
The hammock hanged under one of the world's longest glass bridges that the Chinese media refer to as the Hero Bridge.
Image: Jiao zi/ imaginechina/ap
Zhou and Jiang chose the auspicious date of Aug. 9 to hold their wedding. The date marks the beginning of the Qixi festival, which is also known as Chinese Valentine's Day and falls on the seventh day of the seventh month in the Chinese lunar calendar.
Groom Zhou Wenlong hung on tight as he was lowered onto the hammock.
Image: Jiao zi/imaginechina/ap
In other parts of China, many Chinese couples celebrated their matrimony on the same day in other head-turning ways.
Image: qnb/Imaginechina/ap
A group of newlyweds in Shanghai screamed its way into wedded bliss with a roller coaster ride at the Happy Valley theme park.
NAIROBI (Reuters) - A Chinese tour guide stabbed and killed a tourist who was visiting Kenya's famed Maasai Mara Game Reserve after an argument over the seating arrangement for dinner, police and a lodge manager said on Tuesday. John Kiruti, manager of Keekorok Lodge, which is within the park, said the woman, also a Chinese citizen, sustained serious chest injuries in the incident late on Monday and died as she was being transferred to another tourist camp for treatment. Her husband sustained serious stomach injuries. "The tour guide who had brought three clients from his country for two nights differed with the couple ... over the sitting arrangement at dinner time," Kiruti said. "After a brief exchange of words, he drew a knife and stabbed the two, fatally injuring the woman and injuring her husband. Kiruti said the couple's two children, aged nine and 12 years old, watched as the incident took place. "The hotel staff rushed to restrain the guide. The kids are still in shock. We making plans to take them to Nairobi," he said. Police later arrested the guide. "We are holding him until investigations are over. It was a sad incident that is deeply regretted," Narok County Police Commander Abdi Galgalo said. (Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
In an architects rendering of the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX) in Seattle, imaginary students in light-filled rooms huddle over computers or chat in clusters, presumably discussing solutions to global challenges like sustainable development and mobile health. GIX, a graduate institute jointly run by the University of Washington and prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing, will start receiving applications this fall for the first class of students for a dual masters degree program to begin on its campus in 2017. The first on-the-ground project of a Chinese university in the United States, the program aspires to educate the next generation of innovators through project-based learning. It also represents a growing trend of globalization in Chinese higher education. But as Chinese universities pursue more collaborations and campuses abroad, early indications suggest that the architectural renderings are often more ambitious than the outcomes, and attracting students may prove harder than hoped.
While foreign schools including New York University, Duke University, and the University of Nottingham have swarmed into China over the past two decades to establish campuses, Chinese universities have had a limited presence overseas. That may soon change as Chinas leadership embarks on a campaign to increase its education-driven soft power, including establishing a campus of Xiamen University in Malaysia and an outpost of Soochow University in Laos. The question is whether non-Chinese students will find the latter appealing.
China U. is an FP series devoted to higher educations role as a major and growing node of connection between the worlds two powers. How will a new generation, fluent in China and in America, shape the future of bilateral ties?
Its clear enough why Chinas government is keen on the shift. Leadership in higher education has historically characterized major global powers, from Great Britain in the early 19th century to the United States in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Yet in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2015-16, Peking University and Tsinghua University, both hyper-selective schools in Beijing, were the only two Chinese universities among the top 100, ranking 42nd and 47th respectively. Thats limited Chinas ability to expose foreign students to Chinese culture and ideas.
Story continues
Its not for lack of trying. In a 1998 speech at Peking University, arguably Chinas flagship school, then-president Jiang Zemin announced a project to catapult Chinese universities into the upper echelons of international higher education by investing heavily in select universities. In a May 2014 speech at Peking University, Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated the goal of building world-class colleges and universities. Its a call that Chinas propaganda outlets seem to have picked up. In February, a headline in state-run English paper China Daily announced, Overseas campuses lead the charge in soft power push. A sense of rivalry with Western universities may also partially motivate this push. Kevin Kinser, a professor of Education at Penn State, said that there is a sense in China that, if this is something that Western countries are doing, then its certainly something that China should be competing to do as well.
As of December 2015, Chinas Ministry of Education reported a total of 98 Chinese programs and four Chinese institutions operating overseas. Its unclear how much of an uptick this represents from prior periods, but in March 2016, the president of the Chinese Society of Education, the nations largest academic group for education, said, the pace of going out [for universities] has clearly accelerated. These international projects differ in size and structure. In addition to the campuses in Malaysia and Laos, other initiatives include a collaboration in London on applied data science between Zhejiang University and Imperial College London, a branch campus of Beijing Language and Culture University in Tokyo, a Sino-Italian campus operated by Tongji University in Florence, and perhaps most prominently, GIX in Seattle.
GIX may be better positioned than most initiatives to attract students, given its specific focus on technology and a number of Chinese already interested in studying at the University of Washington (there were 3,616 enrolled in 2014). Courses and projects at GIX will draw on both Tsinghuas strengths in computer science and entrepreneurship and Seattles status as an innovation hub. Microsoft is providing $40 million of the programs funding.
While GIX has gotten more attention, Soochow University in Chinas coastal Jiangsu province was the first Chinese university to set up a physical campus abroad. Its campus in Vientiane, Laoss largest city, opened in July 2011. It did so in part to burnish its domestic reputation; as Wang Jiexian, the vice president of Soochow University in Laos, told the New York Times in Feb. 2014, Only by going out can we close in on the top Chinese universities, and we think Laos is a suitable location to begin. From Chinas perspective, it may have been a way to test the waters before other universities undertook projects abroad in better-known locations.
One of the main attractions for students at Soochows Lao campus is the opportunity to study Mandarin to improve employment prospects in a country where Chinas influence looms large, and where domestic education options are relatively sparse. In 2015, it was among ten schools in Asia where the number of students taking the HSK, a test of Chinese proficiency, more than doubled from the previous year. By the time they graduate, all our students will be able to speak Chinese, Wang told the Times. They can speak at least two languages, understand the cultures of the two countries, and work well in a Chinese company here.
The campus still has many obstacles to scale. The tuition for the Vientiane campus is up to five times that at a Laotian university. For now, after a year of study in Laos, students transition to the (even more expensive) Suzhou campus for their remaining years. And construction on a permanent campus, which began in 2013, has since been hindered by land disputes. The university aspires to enroll 5,000 students within the next ten to 20 years, but in 2014, the school had only 50 undergraduates and 100 night students. The campus declared scale may be intended more to reflect the projects importance than actual expectations of how many students will enroll.
An even more ambitious new Chinese campus is taking shape across 150 lush acres 30 miles from Kuala Lumpur at the Xiamen University Malaysia Campus (XMUMC). The original Xiamen University is located in Fujian, China. The project is a substantial investment, with a cost of over $300 million and endorsements by senior officials in both nations.
XMUMCs president, Wang Ruifang, has claimed that student interest has already surpassed his expectations, although the first class of 187 students who enrolled in late February falls far short of the 5,000 students from ASEAN nations and China itself that the university says it intends to enroll in 2020. Wang explained in an interview with Malaysias Sunday Star that he hoped our China factor will help lure students. But Wang has also noted the challenge of vying against the large number of existing universities in Malaysia. That means that the number of students who actually show up at Xiamen matters it is in a sense an index of the institutions reputation and of the countrys reputation as educators, said Alex Usher, the president of the consulting firm Higher Education Strategy Associates.
As it grows, the school eventually hopes to draw students from across Southeast Asia and to create a multi-cultural campus, according to the President of Xiamen University Zhu Chongshi. XMUMC offers eight of its ten academic programs in English, reaching out to a broader audience. Given Malaysias history of tensions between ethnic Malays and Chinese, the language of instruction and degree of affiliation with the Chinese community may affect XMUMCs soft power success. According to Usher, it could hinder their efforts if you get seen as being part of one community rather than the other. But Jackerson Ng, a current student at XMUMC originally from Malaysia, told FP by message that one of the factors that attracted him to the campus is that China is currently rising as a strong country in all aspects, [so] why not give this top university a try?
Exposing a younger generation, including potential foreign leaders, to Chinese perspectives can be a long-term investment to promote closer political, economic, and ideological ties. The current president of Ethiopia, Mulatu Teshome, received all of his higher education at Peking University. As president, he has shown interest in emulating the Chinese development model in Ethiopia. Nursultan Nazarbayev, the current prime minister of Kazakhstan, another nation that maintains warm relations with China, was a student at both Chinas Wuhan University and Beijing Language Institute. If campuses abroad can attract additional foreign students, the ranks of future world leaders with Chinese educations and friendly dispositions toward Beijing may grow.
But those Chinese values can be a double-edged sword; concerns over academic freedom have overshadowed previous Chinese educational ventures. Over 120 nations now host more than 480 Confucius Institutes, centers established to teach Mandarin and promote Chinese culture abroad by an affiliate group of the Chinese Ministry of Education known as the Hanban. These institutes have also found their share of controversy. In the United States, both Penn State and the University of Chicago closed the Confucius Institutes at their institutions over differences of opinion on research and course content. In June 2014, the American Association of University Professors Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure issued a statement noting the potential for excessive supervision from the Hanban and restrictions on academic freedom at Confucius Institutes.
Branch campuses abroad could potentially entail similar risks. Kinser said that since China is trying to present itself as sort of a modern and elite kind of country and developing a higher education system in that way, the effort could backfire if it gets hit with too many examples of places where it has restricted freedom.
The Chinese governments recent emphasis on promoting nationalism and party loyalty through its education system might also deter students. In February, the Ministry of Education issued a directive that encouraged educational institutions at all levels to embed patriotic education in their curricula and to remind all university students to always follow the party. The directive also sought to promote national values among Chinese students overseas through connections with the motherland, embassies and consulates, overseas student groups, and the broad number of students abroad so that they fully feel that the motherland cares. The diktats said nothing about Chinese campuses or programs abroad. But if overseas Chinese students are targeted for patriotic education, overseas schools that ultimately answer to Beijing could be subject to similar meddling.
The new campuses have gotten a mixed reception within China. Some appear to take pride in the projects as a sign of their countrys growing influence. On Weibo, a researcher at the University of Science and Technology of China wrote that XMUMC was helping to flip the script on decades of Malaysian government discrimination against ethnic Chinese. Others criticized the choice to establish campuses abroad as driven by university or government officials, not students or faculty. Finally, some saw the entire trend of Chinese universities trying to go global as futile. One commenter on another platform wrote, Currently Chinese universities fundamentally do not possess the basic conditions for internationalization.
Some in China also suspect that the branch campuses will require government funding, which could divert limited educational resources away from Mainland universities. While branch campuses can be effective in promoting soft power and raising a universitys profile, Usher said, Theyre effective to the extent that youre prepared to lose money at them. Collaborations abroad are expensive endeavors. For now, Chinese universities dont seem overly concerned with potential profits; XMUMC says it plans to funnel any money it might make toward scholarships and research in Malaysia.
The target student bodies for branch campuses remain unclear. Some see them as operating more like study-abroad sites for Chinese students. For example, Tongji University s program in Florence hosted 29 Chinese students for a spring semester program. Others, such as GIX, are likely to recruit more mixed student bodies. In the near term, none of that is likely to dissuade Chinese educational institutions from their grand plans. But the success of the early campuses that have taken the plunge will be an important indicator of whether President Xi can hope to shape global higher education in Chinas image.
Stringer/Getty Images
Getting ready for the habanero kissing challenge with my Mexican me. (Photo: Chris Harrison)
Well, we are two weeks into Paradise and things are already up and running in ways that no one could have ever foreseen. Couples are forming, drama is brewing, and the seeds of love have been planted in Mexicos fertile ground. Last week, we left off with Chad refusing to get into a car and leave Paradise, and you saw the rest of that play out at the end of beginning of this week. As I mentioned before, we knew that we were going to send Chad home as soon as he woke up, but didnt want to attempt to eliminate him while he was so intoxicated. We didnt expect the goodbye to be as explosive as it was. In fact, I expected Chad to be contrite and realize that he had taken it too far. But it was not meant to be.
Related: Bachelor in Paradise Recap: Bait and Switch
Even after he left, Chad still found a way to cause some drama. Apparently, he had been in contact with Leah prior to filming and had gotten her excited at the prospect of meeting him. When she got there, quite naturally, she looked for Chad because she wanted to see if the Chad she saw on TV was the real Chad. But unfortunately the Chad we saw on TV ended up being exactly the same as the real Chad. Leah was immediately put between a rock and a hard place. She tried to be honest by admitting she had someone in mind to go out with, but as soon as he was unavailable, everyone else couldnt help but feel like a second choice.
Leahs date with Nick was actually quite nice. They had a good time and got to experience some of the local flavor in Sayulita. As far as first dates go, it was great. But of course, things always take a turn in Paradise. Nick enjoyed his time with Leah, but Nick also wanted to explore his other options, particularly Amanda. When he got his date card, it was fair of Leah to hope to get a second date with Nick, but it was also fair of Nick to want to get to know Amanda. Sometimes everyone can do the right thing but because of the situation, people still get their feelings hurt. Thats Paradise, and thats life.
Story continues
At the end of the week, Leah and Jubilee both were sent home. I want to thank both of them for taking a second chance at love and I want to remind everyone out there that its very difficult to open yourself up in front of the world. Jubilee and Leah, while very different, both deserve all the happiness the world has to offer and I wish them both the very, very best.
The week started off with a bit of wild card. Josh Murray, who was engaged to Andi at the end of her season came down those stairs and right away caught the eye of many of the ladies in the house. Those who remember Andis season remember that Josh was the man who ended up getting engaged while Nick was sent home alone. Now, whether they wanted to or not, Nick and Josh seem to be stuck competing for the same woman all over again. Nick went out with Amanda, and then Josh went out with Amanda, and at this point its pretty clear that Amanda is simply more interested in Josh.
I think Amanda has a great head on her shoulders, and even though she is finding herself in something of a predicament, caught in the middle of the drama, I am sure she will find her way on to the right path and make the decisions that are best for her and for her beautiful children.
Evan and Carly certainly got off to a rocky start. At first they were clearly starting to hit it off, but then something went terribly wrong: a kiss. A kiss that Evan clearly really enjoyed didnt quite have the same impact on Carly. I think its actually quite common for people to have different perspectives on chemistry, but usually its not polar opposites. The sheer beauty of their date attempting to set the World Record for the Longest, Hottest, Habenero Kiss was the kind of miracle that seems to only happen in the summer in Mexico. Very few things were more visually jarring in the history of Paradise than the end of the Evan and Carly kiss. For that, America, I apologize on behalf of our entire team.
I applaud Carly for being honest, even though it was difficult. Last season, she felt led on by Kirk, whether he meant to or not, and now she wanted to be as up front as possible. Evan took it hard at first, but then obviously it mentally freed him up to go after Amanda. She is a single mom and he is a single dad, so in his mind, it made total sense, but in reality, Amanda has already chosen between two men, and the man she chose was Josh. Evan is going to have a lot of work to do if he wants to have a better ending in Paradise than he did last time around on The Bachelorette.
Two other new arrivals this week were Brandon and Christian. Christian hit it off right away with Sarah, but of course that put Daniel on the defensive. And Brandon hit it off with Haley, but the old twin switch trick fooled him, so he also has his work cut out for him. Nick is also finding himself on the chopping block. And Lace and Grant seem to be moving along well, but Lace and Grant are Lace and Grant, so theres just no way of knowing what is next for them.
Paradise is a wild ride and as you have seen, this is all just the beginning. Next week, some new arrivals will shake everything up all over again. And finally, I want to congratulate the new hosts of After Paradise, Michelle Collins and Sean Lowe. I know the show is in good hands and I hope you all have a tremendous amount of fun this season.
Until next week, Bachelor Nation!
Bachelor in Paradise airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC. After Paradise airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.
By Joseph Ax
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former aide to Chris Christie said in a text message that the New Jersey governor "flat out lied" when he said senior staff members were not involved in the "Bridgegate" scandal in 2013, according to a court filing on Wednesday.
The details were revealed in a document filed in New Jersey federal court by Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who is one of two former Christie allies facing trial next month on Bridgegate-related criminal charges.
Speculation has persisted for years about whether Christie or members of his staff were aware of an alleged plot to close two New York City-bound lanes at the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee as retribution against Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat who had refused to back the Republican governor's re-election campaign.
Christie addressed the controversy at a Dec. 13, 2013, news conference, a day after the state legislature issued several subpoenas in its investigation of the lane closures.
"I've made it very clear to everybody on my senior staff that if anyone had any knowledge about this that they needed to come forward to me and tell me about it, and they've all assured me that they don't," Christie said at the time.
Christina Renna, former director of Christie's intergovernmental affairs office, immediately sent a text message to Peter Sheridan, a member of Christie's re-election campaign, according to the filing.
"Are you listening? He just flat out lied about senior staff and Stepien not being involved," her first text said, referring to Bill Stepien, who managed Christie's two gubernatorial campaigns.
In a subsequent text, Renna said "it could be bad" if emails were later uncovered through a subpoena or court discovery.
Christie would apologize weeks later at another news conference, when he said he was firing his deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly, and that he had been "lied to" when he told reporters no one on his staff was involved.
Story continues
He also cut ties with Stepien, saying at the news conference that he had lost confidence in Stepien's judgment. Stepien has not been charged in the case.
"The governor's statements have been clear," a Christie spokesman, Brian Murray, said on Wednesday. "Nothing contained in this text message changes that in any way."
A lawyer for Renna, now vice president of the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey, said she would not address the issue until she testifies at the upcoming criminal trial for Baroni and Kelly.
Kevin Marino, a lawyer for Stepien, called the suggestion he might have been involved in Bridgegate "categorically false and irresponsible."
Sheridan, who works for the state Republican party, did not respond to a request for comment.
Jury selection will begin Sept. 12 for Baroni and Kelly, who face charges including conspiracy and fraud. Another former Port Authority official, David Wildstein, has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with federal prosecutors.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Bill Trott and David Gregorio)
The BloodCenter of Wisconsin is hosting blood drives in La Crosse County. Donations are especially needed in the summer due to an increase in accidents and a decrease in donors. Donors must be 17 or older or 16 if accompanied by an adult. A photo ID with birth date is required.
By Jonathan Allen
MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton urged federal lawmakers currently on summer recess back into session to pass a crucial funding bill to combat the Zika virus as she visited a health clinic at the heart of a local outbreak in Miami on Tuesday.
Lawmakers should pass the $1.1 billion bipartisan bill for the mosquito-borne virus, Clinton said, or come up with a new compromise. The funding comes as Florida grapples with at least 21 cases of locally transmitted Zika.
Florida is the first state to confirm local transmission by mosquito bite in the continental United States, but health officials expect additional small outbreaks, particularly in southern U.S. states vulnerable to mosquito-borne disease.
"I am very disappointed that the Congress went on recess before actually agreeing what they would do to put the resources into this fight," Clinton said. "If we pass this critical funding we can develop rapid diagnostic testing and even begin the hard work of developing a vaccine."
The measure stalled after House Republicans attached language that would prevent Zika funding for abortion providers like Planned Parenthood, mainly in Puerto Rico. It would also require the administration to move unused money from President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law to help combat Zika.
Obama had initially asked the Republican-led Congress to approve $1.9 billion in emergency funds.
Several Democratic U.S. senators had sent a letter to Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan urging them to summon lawmakers back from their recess to vote on emergency funding.
Florida Republicans Marco Rubio and Gov. Rick Scott have also called on Congress to come back and fund the Zika fight.
Congress has interrupted its own recesses at least eight times since 1998, most recently in 2013 when lawmakers returned early to debate the use of military force in Syria, according to congressional records.
Story continues
Zika was first detected in Brazil last year and has spread rapidly in the Americas. If contracted by pregnant women, the virus can lead to a rare and devastating birth defect called microcephaly. Brazil has reported more than 1,700 cases of microcephaly.
Clinton made her remarks after touring the Borinquen Health Center in Wynwood, the gentrifying Miami neighborhood in which Florida health officials have reported the Zika cases.
U.S. health officials have urged pregnant women to stay clear of the one square-mile affected area. Clinton's campaign staff gave out cans of mosquito repellent to reporters ahead of the visit.
After meeting doctors, Clinton inspected the leaflets and mosquito nets being handed out to residents and chatted with a pregnant woman who worked in the neighborhood who had gotten back her test results: negative for Zika.
Clinton, speaking to television cameras, said that people should visit a website set up by the federal government that contains Zika information.
"We don't want to unduly alarm people," she said after spelling out the website's address. "We want people to be informed."
(This version of the story adds additional details on Zika funding, quotes, background)
(Additional reporting by Amanda Becker and David Morgan in Washington; Editing by Bernard Orr)
Washington (AFP) - Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton launched an open appeal Wednesday to independents and Republicans repulsed by Donald Trump, after the party's nominee again sparked controversy with comments seen by some as a threat against her.
The latest Trump firestorm erupted when he suggested at a rally Tuesday in North Carolina that "Second Amendment people" -- those who support gun rights -- could take action to stop Clinton from appointing US Supreme Court justices as president.
After his comments were judged by many as courting violence, the Clinton team pounced by announcing a new "outreach to the growing number of Republicans and independents" who are prepared to vote for the former secretary of state on November 8.
The campaign unveiled a new website, togetherforamerica.com.
It lists dozens of Republicans and independents who back Clinton, including former director of national intelligence John Negroponte, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and Hewlett Packard Enterprise chief executive Meg Whitman.
"Americans are looking to the next president to help bring us together to tackle the big challenges facing the country, and Hillary Clinton's bipartisan support is the latest proof that she can work across the aisle to make us stronger together," campaign chairman John Podesta said in announcing the effort.
"Regardless of party, voters are increasingly concerned that Trump's tendency to bully, demean and degrade others sends the wrong message to our children."
Trump insisted that his "Second Amendment" comments referred to the power of gun rights supporters as a "political movement."
But lawmakers, former national security officials and other critics expressed concern that he had advocated violence, possibly in jest, against Clinton or her Supreme Court nominees.
"Hillary wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment" of the US Constitution, Trump, 70, told a rally at the University of North Carolina.
Story continues
"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks," Trump said.
"Although the Second Amendment people -- maybe there is, I don't know."
It was the latest in a long string of Trump missteps -- including his prolonged clash with the parents of a Muslim American soldier killed in action -- that have marred his campaign since he officially won the nomination last month, prompting several Republicans to reject his candidacy.
- 'History is watching' -
Former New York mayor and Trump backer Rudy Giuliani was forced into clean-up mode Wednesday, insisting the uproar was triggered by "the Clinton spin machine" and that Trump was indeed talking about the power of pro-gun voters to defeat her at the ballot box.
"What he intended was that they should vote against her," Giuliani told ABC.
The Secret Service said it was "aware of the comments" but did not say whether they merited an investigation, which some Democratic lawmakers have called for.
Trump has clearly roiled the party with his unorthodox campaign remarks, with Republicans frustrated at his apparent inability to stay on message even as he unveiled his revamped economic plan on Monday.
A Reuters/IPSOS poll released Wednesday found that 19 percent of Republican voters want the real estate tycoon to drop out of the race, while 70 percent think he should stay and 10 percent say they don't know.
The RealClearPolitics national poll average shows Clinton leading Trump by 48 percent to 40 percent.
Fifty prominent national security experts recently announced in an open letter that they would not vote for Trump, saying he "lacks the character, values and experience" to be president.
Six US senators including Susan Collins and a number of House Republicans have disowned him as well.
Dan Rather, the former CBS News anchor with half a century of political reporting experience, warned in a Facebook post that Trump's "Second Amendment" comments mark a "new low" in US politics, and that "history is watching."
"This cannot be treated as just another outrageous moment in the campaign," Rather said.
- Emails, again -
Meanwhile Clinton was enduring a fresh round of criticism over her emails from her time as secretary of state, which have been a thorn in her side throughout her campaign.
Conservative watchdog Judicial Watch released a batch of emails that raise questions about the State Department's relationship with the Clinton Foundation.
The Trump campaign seized on the latest emails to blast Clinton as "corrupt," with critics saying the messages showed the department and the foundation were engaged in improper preferential treatment.
Your shirt is made of what?
That question could become cocktail-party chatter when a Dutch designer releases her first line of clothing made from the excrement of cows.
Its not as crazy as it sounds: If consumers can get over the initial ick factor, they can help protect the environment by wearing finely tailored manure instead of letting it leach into rivers, lakes, and aquifers and release planet-warming methane into the atmosphere.
The unconventional idea was conceived by Jalila Essaidi, a 35-year-old designer and entrepreneur who was asked by provincial government officials to help reduce excess animal waste in the Netherlands, where farmers produce more manure than the available land can absorb.
Runoff from manure can pollute waterways with high levels of nitrogen and phosphate, producing algae blooms and fish kills, including those that have plagued Florida this year.
Essaidis patented technology removes cellulose and acids from cow dung and converts them into a biodegradable plastic called Mestic, after mest, the Dutch word for manure. Mestic can be made into paper, textiles, and other items, replacing petroleum-based products.
It is a chemical separation method which allows us careful control of the nutrient composition of both the solid and liquid fraction of manure, Essaidi wrote in an email. The farmer keeps the liquid fraction which now meets his desired nitrogen and phosphate levels. We take the solid fraction.
Essaidi said the same process could be used on manure from pigs and other livestock.
Ramon Sanchez, director of the sustainable technologies and health program at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard University, said the technology seems very feasible.
One advantage is that a cows digestive tract naturally breaks down cellulose, saving time, money, and energy.
RELATED: Meat Is Murdering American Rivers
The most energy-intensive and expensive part of the process is the pretreatment to break the [cell wall], but that is essentially what ruminants do to get energy from food, Sanchez said. The catch here is to see if there is enough cellulose left in dung to make it a cost-effective process.
Story continues
Food determines cellulose content. Dung from grass-fed cows probably has more cellulose than manure from cows raised in feedlots, where they typically eat corn, soybeans, and grains.
Dana Perls, senior food and technology campaigner at Friends of the Earth, is concerned that the patented technology has not been made available to the public.
These experimental technologies need to be transparent, particularly before being rubber-stamped as sustainable, Perls wrote in an email. We need to discuss potential concerns in addition to potential benefits, and we need strict and sensible health and environmental safety testing, regulations, and standards.
In June, Essaidi and colleagues used Mestic-derived fabric for a fashion show, and they plan to open a factory in the next two years to ramp up commercial production.
Plenty of big brands showed their interest in the material, said Essaidi, who declined to identify them. She added that her company soon will license the technology to several partners.
But will fashionistas buy it? Its easy to imagine the snickering on late-night television, with childish jokes about poo-poo pants or worse.
It depends on cultural traits and how well informed is the consumer, Sanchez said, adding that Mestic is perfectly safe. All of the bacteria and fungi in dung are killed during the process of extracting cellulose, and cellulose itself is a chemical compound that is absolutely clean and is unlikely to produce any adverse health effects.
It all comes down to marketing, he added.
If I were to launch a dress made out of the natural secretions from the Bombyx mori worm, it is very likely that this will trigger the ew factor, Sanchez said. However, what if I say that Im selling a silk dress? Both are exactly the same product. The impact of the ew factor depends on the level of information shared with the consumer.
Take the Pledge: Help Reduce the True Cost of Fast Fashion: Become a Responsible Clothing Consumer
Related stories on TakePart:
Heres Why We Trash 26 Billion Pounds of Clothing a Year
All-Beef, No Butcher: Meet the Minds Behind Lab-Grown Burgers
Eating Meat Contributes to Climate Changebut How Much?
Original article from TakePart
Codeblack Films has acquired the movie rights to Angela Davis: An Autobiography with plans to develop and produce an authorized Angela Davis biopic film, Variety has learned exclusively
The untitled film will be produced by Nina Yang Bongiovi, whose credits include Fruitvale Station and Dope. Sidra Smith, a producer on the 2012 documentary Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, and Codeblack Enterprises CEO Jeff Clanagan will also serve as producers on the project.
The 72-year-old Davis has been a prominent activist and radical beginning in the 1960s as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement. She will serve as executive producer along with her niece Eisa Davis, who is also writing the script.
Eisa Davis was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her play Bulrusher. She wrote and starred in the play Angelas Mixtape.
Clanagan launched Codeblack Films, a division of Lionsgate, in 2012 with the mission to serve the global black community through a diversified content portfolio targeted to the underserved African-American consumer.
Codeblack acquired theatrical rights in early 2013 to Free Angela and All Political Prisoners and partnered with BET Networks for a theatrical release. The documentary, which debuted at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival, centers on Davis being implicated in murder, kidnapping and conspiracy in connection with the Marin County Courthouse hostage-taking in 1970. She was acquitted two years later.
Related stories
Azealia Banks Starring in 'Coco' Movie, Directed by RZA
Codeblack Films Signs South Africa Output Deal (EXCLUSIVE)
(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.)
By Alison Frankel
NEW YORK Aug 10 (Reuters) - The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent an unequivocal message Wednesday to the shareholder class action bar: not in our backyard.
In an opinion by Judge Richard Posner, a three-judge 7th Circuit panel rejected a settlement that purported to resolve a shareholder challenge to Walgreens' 2014 merger with Alliance Boots. The settlement called for Walgreens to make six additional disclosures about the deal in its proxy materials and for plaintiffs' lawyers to receive $370,000 in fees.
The appellate court said those fees were completely undeserved. According to Judge Posner's opinion, the benefit to shareholders from the additional disclosures "was not meager; it was nonexistent," he wrote.
"The type of class action illustrated by this case - the class action that yields fees for class counsel and nothing for the class - is no better than a racket. It must end. No class action settlement that yields zero benefits for the class should be approved, and a class action that seeks only worthless benefits for the class should be dismissed out of hand."
The 7th Circuit's decision comes at a pivotal moment in litigation over M&A deals. Up until the summer of 2015, nearly every deal worth more than $100 million was followed by a class action claiming investors were being shortchanged.
Occasionally, in these "deal tax" cases, plaintiffs' lawyers uncovered serious conflicts of interest or other significant flaws in the sale process. More often, they reached settlements in which the target company agreed to make additional proxy disclosures in exchange for broad releases from future shareholder claims.
Judges in Delaware Chancery Court routinely approved these "disclosure-only" settlements, awarding plaintiffs' lawyers hundreds of thousands of dollars a case.
That ended last summer. In a series of decisions culminating in Chancellor Andre Bouchard's January 2016 ruling in In re Trulia, Chancery Court judges said they would no longer reflexively approve disclosure-only settlements that delivered no material benefit to shareholders.
Story continues
Plaintiffs' lawyers responded to the Delaware clampdown like the rational economic actors they are.
"WHACK-A-MOLE" JURISDICTION
As Cornerstone Research reported last week, shareholder suits challenging M&A deals have dropped off dramatically. In the first half of 2016, investors sued in the wake of 64 percent of deal announcements, down from a peak of 94 percent in 2013.
More significantly, the shareholder bar took its business out of Delaware Chancery Court.
Only 26 percent of the suits challenging M&A transactions were filed in Delaware in the first half of 2016. It is increasingly likely, in other words, that judges outside of Delaware - including federal judges - will hear deal-tax shareholder class actions.
But if those judges preside in federal courtrooms in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, they are now bound to apply Delaware's tough standard for disclosure-only settlements.
The 7th Circuit's Walgreens opinion explicitly endorsed Chancellor Bouchard's Trulia decision, which Judge Posner quoted at length. If plaintiffs' lawyers thought they could evade Trulia by suing in federal court in the 7th Circuit, they will have to think again.
"Plaintiffs lawyers like to play whack-a-mole - if you beat them in one jurisdiction, they go to another," said Ted Frank of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which represented a shareholder who objected to the Walgreens settlement and brought the appeal at the 7th Circuit. Judge Posner's decision, he said, will help put an end to such gamesmanship.
Frank said his group had been looking for a test case to challenge a disclosure-only settlement in the 7th Circuit, which is known for setting important class action precedent. Chancellor Bouchard's Trulia decision came out just before briefing was due in the Walgreens appeal. "The timing was perfect," Frank said.
The plaintiffs' firms in the Walgreens case - Pomerantz and Friedman Oster & Tejtel - argued that their settlement was a response to the problem of reflexive deal-tax litigation, not a symptom of it.
According to their brief to the 7th Circuit, the additional disclosures they obtained were meaningful to shareholders and the release they granted Walgreens was narrowly tailored, in contrast to the global releases Delaware judges have criticized.
The shareholder who objected "apparently concludes that because the settlement is a disclosureonly settlement, it must necessarily also derive from a merger strike suit," the plaintiffs' firms said. "That is false. Disclosurebased settlements can and often do provide salutary benefits, and the action and settlement present neither of the essential elements of the 'merger strike suit.'"
Judge Posner, whose opinion was written for him and 7th Circuit Judge Diane Sykes, analyzed each of the supplemental disclosures and concluded none of them added materially to the mix of information available to shareholders. (The third member of the panel, U.S. District Judge Staci Yandle of Benton, Illinois, sitting by designation, dissented from Judge Posner's opinion.)
The 7th Circuit questioned whether any disclosure-only settlement benefits shareholders, citing a 2015 academic study, "Confronting the Peppercorn Settlement in Merger Litigation." One of the authors of the study, Fordham law professor Sean Griffith, has begun litigating to block such settlements in Delaware and beyond.
He predicted Judge Posner's opinion would resonate even outside of the 7th Circuit. "You've got one of the most respected members of the federal bench saying Trulia applies," Griffith said. "This is a wonderful thing."
(Reporting by Alison Frankel. Editing by Alessandra Rafferty.)
japanese hayate destroyer
Its not often that you get a chance to see a World War II warship. It's even rarer that you get to visit a sunken one still resting in the ocean.
But thats exactly what researchers are allowing the public to do, as they prepare a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to explore the ocean depths.
During its mission to explore the uncharted ecosystems in the ocean near the Wake Atoll, a team from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) located the Hayate, a sunken destroyer of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Offering the public this rare chance to come along with their crew, starting at 4:30 p.m. EST, NOAA will be live-streaming the exploration around the wreckage of the destroyer.
The Hayate was unique in that it was sunk by American forces in the early stages of WWII. As the first Japanese warship to be sunk, the Hayate only had one survivor that was rescued after the Battle of Wake Island in 1941.
Watch the live stream below:
NOW WATCH: Watch a US Navy submarine rise through the ice in the Arctic Circle
More From Business Insider
What a difference a day makes the water in the Olympic diving pool went from blue to green in less than a 24 hours.
Read: If Looks Could Kill! Michael Phelps Gives His Rival an Evil Stare
On Monday, the water in the diving pool at Rios Maria Lenk Aquatic Center was clear blue.
By Tuesday it had mysteriously turned green, baffling everyone, including divers competing in the water.
British diver Tom Daley posted on Twitter: Ermmmm What happened?!
Olympic officials released a statement ahead of Tuesday nights dives to say that the water was still safe, but they could not yet explain the color change.
Organizing committee spokesman Mario Andrada told CBS News: We don't know exactly what happened. And we don't know yet why the pool changed colors. If it were green and yellow, we would know it was a patriotic thing. We did test the water using the same parameters we do every day, and the results were exactly the same as we got when the pool was blue."
Read: What is Cupping? Michael Phelps' Body is Covered With Purple Marks After Alternative Therapy
But by Wednesday the cause was clear, Andrada said, telling the Associated Press that the water changed color because of a proliferation of algae. It was caused due to the heat, humidity and lack of wind entering the outdoor venue, authorities said.
Officials have added chemical agents to the water to clear up the algae, returning the water to its usual color.
Watch: Watch Michael Phelps and U.S. Swim Team Star in Epic Carpool Karaoke Spoof
Related Articles:
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Congolese refugee Popole Misenga won over the Rio Olympic judo arena crowd Wednesday with a surprise victory, followed by a brave loss to the world champion.
Misenga, who is part of the unprecedented team of 10 refugees competing under the Olympic flag, defied the odds to defeat Indias Avtar Singh, ranked 71 in the world in the 90kg category.
Through to the last 16, Misenga faced Kwak Dong-Han of South Korea, the world champion and world number one.
The three-quarters full arena threw itself behind Misenga, who asked for asylum in Brazil in 2013, cheering his every move and booing the referee when a penalty went against him.
For four minutes of the regulation five minute bout, Misenga held his own in a defensive performance sprinkled with attempts to throw the champion. The crowd chanted: "Popole, Popole!"
The South Korean ended the drama with a sudden immobilization which had the refugee tapping out for an ippon.
When the opponents rose to their feet to bow, the applause for Popole made it sound as if he had been the winner.
"I think he did something heroic," said Geraldo Bernardes, the veteran coach of four Brazilian Olympic teams, who has overseen Misenga and fellow Congolese refugee Yolande Bukasa since they came to him penniless and traumatized.
- Pride -
Bukasa's Olympic experience was not so lucky, losing in the first round to Israel's Linda Bolder, who is 11th ranked in the world and went on to lose in the quarter finals.
But both refugees emerged from the mat beaming with pride in their journey from the horrors of the Democratic Republic of Congo's war to the Olympic Games.
"These fights are not just about judo," Bukasa said. "This is a fight for my life."
Bukasa said she hoped her family in Congo was sharing in her happiness -- but that she has no way of knowing.
"If they are alive, if they saw me, (my message is) I really miss them," she said.
Story continues
"My family has become the Brazilian people cheering for me."
Misenga said his credible showing in fending off the South Korean's fearsome arsenal of throws, forcing him to go for an immobilization, had inspired him to reach new heights.
"I managed to get in. I fought and won one fight, I fought the champion of the world and he didn't manage to throw me," Misenga said.
Having the crowd behind him was "very emotional," he said. "Brazil was rooting for me!"
Bernardes that the two refugees have had far less time to train than most Olympians.
Misenga's battling loss stood out, Bernardes said, because Kwak "has a very hard throw. Everyone respects and fears his throw. But he didn't manage to do the throw on Popole."
- Tough past, bright future -
Misenga and Bukasa arrived in Rio with the DR Congo team for the 2013 World Championships.
They grew up in the horrific wars ravaging their homeland and been subjected to cruel conditions while training for judo, including being locked up and given half rations after losing.
When their food vouchers in Rio were stolen by corrupt team officials, they ran.
Finally the pair came to the Instituto Reacao, a Rio de Janeiro NGO and training facility founded by Olympic bronze medalist Flavio Canto, whose other success stories include new gold medalist Rafaela Silva.
"They didn't have money or clothes or kimonos," Bernardes recalled.
Popole in particular was mentally scarred, the coach says. "He was brutal," he told AFP.
After so much suffering, the Olympics has opened a door to a new future.
Still pouring with sweat from his bout, Misenga laid down a challenge for himself -- and refugees everywhere.
"I'll become stronger to face the world champion again," he said.
"I'm sending a message to the children of the Congo and to refugees too: believe in yourself."
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton intervened in the Zika virus crisis on Tuesday, joining Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, in urging Congress to cut short its all-too-long summer recess and pass a $1.1 billion spending bill to help combat the spread of the dreaded disease in the continental United States.
Florida officials yesterday announced four more cases of Floridians who likely contracted the mosquito-borne virus in the relatively small, one-square-mile Miami neighborhood of Wynwood, the only area in the country reporting active transmissions of the disease. That brought to 21 the number of cases of people who contracted the disease locally, rather than while traveling overseas or having sex with a carrier.
Related: The Senate Dithers Again as Zika Virus Continues to Spread
The disease, which is spread by mosquitoes, already has affected Brazil, other Latin American countries and Puerto Rico, and now threatens the United States.
There have been numerous cases of pregnant women developing microcephaly and giving birth to infants with grotesquely deformed heads. The Centers for Disease Control is monitoring roughly 280 pregnant women infected with Zika in the U.S., while Brazil has reported nearly 3,600 pregnant women with Zika since the start of the year. Others who have contracted the infection have suffered from high fevers, rashes, pink eye and Guillain-Barre syndrome, a dangerous temporary paralysis.
While Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has generally downplayed the seriousness of the public health crisis, Clinton yesterday toured a Miami neighborhood health clinic near ground zero of the Zika outbreak and admonished lawmakers for having adjourned until after Labor Day without resolving a partisan impasse over the urgently needed spending bill.
I am very disappointed that the Congress went on recess before actually agreeing on what they would do to put the resources into this fight, Clinton told reporters gathered at the Borinquen Medical Center. I would very much urge the leadership of Congress to call people back for a special session and get a bill passed.
Story continues
Last weekend, Scott sharply criticized the federal government and lawmakers for dragging their feet in providing resources needed to combat the disease, including 10,000 Zika preparedness kits, mosquito spray and additional manpower to root out the mosquitoes. We still need the federal government to show up, Scott said during an appearance on NBCs Meet the Press. The President and Congress have to work together. This is a national, international issue. Its not just a Florida issue.
Related: U.S. lawmakers deadlock on Zika virus funds
There is currently no vaccine or treatment for the Zika virus, although federal and military research and studies are underway. However, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has warned that without adequate new funding, a larger Zika study being planned for 2017 will dramatically slow down.
If Clinton and Florida state and local officials are counting on a mid-summer response from a slumbering Congress, they are in for a disappointment. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have signaled a willingness to return before Sept. 6, but only if Democrats drop their objections to the Republican-crafted bill.
But Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and other Democratic leaders say the bill is unacceptable in its present form, including a ban on federal funding for Planned Parenthood in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory in the Caribbean that has reported nearly 2,000 cases of Zika infection.
Norman Ornstein, a political scientist at the American Enterprise Institute who has written widely on congressional gridlock, said that there is no excuse for lawmakers failure to act. He said the impasse highlights what has become an utterly dysfunctional legislative process.
Related: The US Military Has Declared War on the Zika Virus
Congress's failure to resolve the Zika funding impasse may reflect a larger political reality: Most Americans just dont care about it or else feel they are safe from the possible spread of the disease.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 65 percent of Americans say they are not worried that either they or a member of their immediate family will become infected with the Zika virus. Just over a third of those surveyed said they were at least somewhat worried, while only 12 percent said they were very worried about infection.
The poll only found elevated anxiety levels about Zika in Florida and Texas, where 43 percent of residents are very or somewhat worried. However, throughout the rest of the country, fear about the Zika virus is far less than what it was about the outbreak of the Ebola virus in 2014 or the swine flu epidemic in 2009, according to a Washington Post analysis.
Related: How to Protect Yourself From the Zika Virus
Whats more, a recent STAT Harvard survey found that only 44 percent of Americans interviewed were aware that Congress left town without passing the funding bill.
For most Americans, when it comes to Zika, its a case of out of sight, out of mind. Moreover, if their constituents are largely indifferent to the brewing public health crisis, there is little incentive for members of Congress to cut short their vacations and return to Washington to take long-overdue action.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
U.S. Rep. Ron Kind held off a challenge from the left in Tuesdays partisan primary, virtually ensuring the La Crosse Democrat an 11th term representing Wisconsins 3rd District.
Kind had 29,335 votes with nearly 90 percent of precincts counted; opponent Myron Buchholz, a retired teacher from Eau Claire, had 6,784 votes, or about 19 percent.
With no Republican or third-party candidate registered for the general election, Kinds will be the only name on the November ballot. It will be the first uncontested general election for Wisconsins 3rd District in 90 years.
First elected in 1996, the 53-year-old Kind is chairman of the centrist New Democrat Coalition and is ranked by the organization govtrack.us as one of the most conservative Democrats in the House.
Buchholz, 58, accused him of being disloyal to Democratic principles.
Kind, who declared victory shortly after 9 p.m., said he has no plans to change his bipartisan approach.
If Im not taking incoming from the far right and the far left, Im not adequately representing this district, Kind said. Im not surprised that Im going to get some criticism from far right opponents and far left opponents, but thats not the district I represent.
Buchholz, in his first bid for public office, ran as a progressive Democrat inspired by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. He focused largely on foreign trade, specifically Kinds support for the Trans Pacific Partnership, a multinational trade agreement that has become a lightning rod for economic anxiety.
Both Sanders and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton say they oppose the deal, as does Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Buchholz said trade agreements such as NAFTA have not resulted in prosperity for the average American. Instead, wages have stagnated and more than half of Wisconsin schoolchildren now qualify for free and reduced-price meals.
Kind, who was credited with corralling enough Democratic votes to get fast-track negotiation authority through the House, says the TPP is widely misunderstood and is crucial to establishing rules for trade that is already happening and ensuring U.S. companies have access to some of the worlds fastest-growing markets.
Buchholz, who decried the role of money in politics, was far outmatched by Kinds campaign war chest. Buchholz raised less than $27,000 and did most of his campaigning door-to-door. Kind, in his first primary challenge since 2006, brought in more than $1.6 million and reported spending more than $870,000 through the first half of the year.
Buchholz did not immediately respond to calls for comment Tuesday night.
Kind was one of three House incumbents from Wisconsin to face a primary challenge. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan easily fended off political novice Paul Nehlen, while fellow Republican Sean Duffy was leading Donald Raihala with 90 percent of the votes in his northwestern district.
Five-term Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore bested former state senator and convicted felon Gary George in the 4th District.
Conrad Hilton was released from prison on Aug. 1, a source close to the 22-year-old hotel heir confirmed to PEOPLE.
The younger brother of Paris Hilton was sentenced in June to two months in prison for violating his parole.
Hilton has been on parole since 2015 and admitted in court on June 6 to using drugs including marijuana, synthetic cannabinoids and cocaine, which was a violation of his parole.
In March 2015, he plead guilty to assault for making threats against both passengers and flight attendants on an international flight from London to Los Angeles in July 2014. According to a criminal report obtained by PEOPLE, witnesses reported that he shouted profanities at crew and passengers, including, "I am going to f---ing kill you!"
Hilton was ordered into a substance abuse treatment center in January for at least 90 days after allegedly failing drug tests and violating his parole.
By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Detainees at the Guantanamo military prison include fighters who sought to kill Americans, but also men who cooked, translated or had only tenuous militant ties but were nonetheless held for many years, according to a report released on Wednesday that is likely to fuel debate over closing the facility. The report is the first unclassified compilation describing more than 100 prisoners held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba as of November 2015. More than two dozen have since been transferred. Among detainees described in the 33-page Pentagon document are Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people. Others include Mahammad Mani Ahmad al-Qahtani, whom U.S. immigration authorities denied entry to the United States in August 2001 as he sought to be the 20th Sept. 11 hijacker, the report said. While al-Qahtani has often been referred to as the "20th hijacker," several other men have also made the claim. Al-Qahtani later fought in Afghanistan against the Northern Alliance, said the report released by Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte, who requested it from the Department of Defense. Ayotte, an advocate for keeping Guantanamo open, pushed the Pentagon for years to provide more than minimal information about inmates cleared for transfer. "Most of the detainees who remain at Guantanamo are the worst of the worst, as demonstrated by the fact that 93 percent of the detainees who remained there as of late last year had been assessed as a high risk for a return to terrorism," Ayotte said in a statement. Among those held for more than a dozen years were also Muhammad Said Salim bin Salman, who trained at an al Qaeda camp, but was on the frontlines "possibly as a cook." Another, Abdul Zahir, said he was a bookkeeper and translator for al Qaeda and the Taliban only because his family was threatened. President Barack Obama, who vowed to close the prison before leaving office in January, is downsizing it by transferring detainees not considered security threats to foreign countries. There are now 76 detainees, of whom 31 have been cleared for transfer. Overall, about 800 have been transferred, most under Republican President George W. Bush. Obama and other Democrats said holding prisoners for years without charge goes against U.S. values and makes Guantanamo a militant recruiting tool. Ayotte and like-minded Republicans call the prison essential for handling dangerous suspects. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; editing by Grant McCool)
San Jose (AFP) - Costa Rica on Wednesday expressed "concern" at neighboring Panama deciding to allow migrants to cross their common border, as it struggles with thousands of migrants blocked on its own territory.
"We are concerned that the migratory flow is increasing and now we have an additional concern with the official declaration by the Panamanian government that announced free passage for migrants on its territory," said Carmen Munoz, deputy minister for government and police.
Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela on Tuesday said his country would waive immigration restrictions for around 800 migrants who have recently crossed from Colombia and were in the Darien jungle on the border.
Many of the migrants are from Haiti and Africa, with some also from Cuba and Asian countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Varela said that, as a "humanitarian" gesture, they would be permitted to continue their journey north toward their target destination of the United States, meaning they would be let through into Costa Rica.
But Costa Rica is currently hosting around 2,500 migrants near its northern border with Nicaragua, which in November boosted security along the frontier to prevent undocumented migrants crossing.
Getting through Nicaragua is proving extremely difficult for the migrants, some of whom have paid upwards of $1,000 to people smugglers to attempt that leg of their trek.
Costa Rican lawmakers are pondering a number of measures to help cope with the influx.
One option being considered is to increase Costa Rica's tourist tax by five percent.
Could this new Netflix series be the next True Detective?
Could this new Netflix series be the next True Detective?
Remember the halcyon days of 2014 when True Detective started on HBO and practically *everyone* was obsessed with it? We could barely contain ourselves each week waiting for a new episode to air it was completely chilling. Similarly, we really loved The Killing (although the Danish original was, we have to say, a bit better), and have spent HOURS going through Netflix watching shows like Top of the Lake, Broadchurch, and even Making a Murderer.
Basically, its probably safe to say that we love a scary murder mysterybut then who doesnt?
Well, weve just uncovered a brand new show coming to Netflix this fall that looks like it could give all of those scary thrillers a run for their money.
Titled Paranoid, the show is an eight-part drama produced in conjunction with British TV channel ITV, and follows the fallout after the murder of a female doctor in a childrens play park.
The trailer for the series just premiered and we have to say that it looks set to be one wild ride.
Doesnt it look super creepy, but also totally addictive? Were already completely curious to see what occurs, and how the case is solved, it at all.
The show was created and written by Bill Gallagher, and stars Downton Abbeys Kevin Doyle (or Mr Molesley), Game of Thrones Indira Varma (or Ellaria Sand in the show), and British acting legend Lesley Sharp.
If the show is anything like True Detective, we know were going to watch this one with a friend or partner because we got hella creeped out.
Paranoid will come to Netflix following its run on ITV, and is expected this fall. Finally something to fill the void that was left by Stranger Things!
The post Could this new Netflix series be the next True Detective? appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Megan Short who was found dead Saturday in Pennsylvania along with her husband and three children, in an apparent murder-suicide was a symbol of strength and a doting mother, "consumed with love for her children," her cousin tells PEOPLE.
The bodies of Short, her 40-year-old husband, Mark, and their three children 8-year-old Liana, 5-year-old Mark and 2-year-old Willow were found inside the family's Sinking Spring home, according to investigators.
All five victims suffered fatal gunshot wounds, according to police. The family's dog was also shot to death.
It is still unclear who fired the fatal shots and police do not know what sparked the killings, which authorities have called a "tragic domestic incident." A handgun was discovered near either Mark or Megan, and police recovered a handwritten note from the scene (whose contents they have declined to detail).
Reports have suggested that financial difficulties may have sparked Saturday's fatal violence which one relative dismissed as impossible to PEOPLE and that Megan intended to divorce Mark.
Laurie Swingle McGuinness, Megan's cousin, wouldn't discuss a motive with PEOPLE.
"I know what was going on with Megan and Mark, I just don't know if it's my place to share her life's story right now," McGuinness says. "Yes, there were issues, but I know Megan, and if she felt the need to leave, it's because she exhausted all other options. Everything she did, she gave it her all. She tried.
"At the end of the day, her kids' well-being came first."
Robert McLaughlin, Mark's brother-in-law, previously told PEOPLE there is a "zero percent chance" the killings were "financially driven."
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
Cousin Remembers 'Strong' Mom Killed in Apparent Murder-Suicide: 'Yes, There Were Issues'| Crime & Courts, True Crime
McGuinness says the 33-year-old Megan "exuded beauty and strength her whole life," even when she learned from doctors that her youngest daughter, Willow, would need a heart transplant.
Willow survived the risky operation, which made national headlines and which was performed the week after she was born.
"As with everything else she did in her life, she was an amazing mommy," McGuinness tells PEOPLE of Megan. "I never missed a chance to remind her how strong she was especially over these last few years when faced with unfathomable circumstances regarding Willow."
Earlier this year, Megan penned an online column about her post-traumatic stress disorder, which she says developed following Willow's acute health issues.
"Making time to help yourself is a necessity," Megan reportedly wrote. "We easily recognize the trauma that our children go through, but we need to acknowledge and work through the trauma that we experience as well."
McGuinness says that Megan was "smart, graceful, and filled with strength" and helped inspire scores of other "heart moms all over the country," even authoring blog posts she hoped would "help other moms navigate the transplant world."
Eight months ago, Mark posted a picture of him and Megan on his Facebook page, with the caption, "She's still the most beautiful girl that I've ever met. I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have her as my life and the mother of my three amazing children."
Going from that moment to now has been devastating: McGuinness tells PEOPLE she is "completely heartbroken that the world lost such a beautiful soul and her beautiful special babies so senselessly."
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2016 / Cruz Capital Corp. (CUZ.V) ("Cruz" or the "Company") is proposing a non-brokered private placement of up to $2,200,000. The private placement would consist of up to 6,000,000 non flow-through units at $0.30. Each unit will consist of one common share and one transferable share purchase warrant exercisable at $0.45 for a period of three years. The private placement would also consist of up to 1,000,000 flow-through units at $0.40. Each unit will consist of one flow-through common share and one transferable, non flow-through share purchase warrant exercisable at $0.50 for a period of three years. The Offering is subject to approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV").
In addition other available prospectus exemptions, a portion of the offering may be completed pursuant to Multilateral CSA Notice 45-318, Prospectus Exemption for Certain Distributions through an Investment Dealer, and the corresponding blanket orders and rules implementing CSA 45-318 in the participating jurisdictions in respect thereof. As at the date hereof, the investment dealer exemption is available in each of Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick. Pursuant to CSA 45-318, each subscriber relying on the investment dealer exemption must obtain advice regarding the suitability of the investment from a registered investment dealer. There is no material fact or material change of the corporation that has not been generally disclosed.
As required by CSA 45-313, the attached table sets out the intended use of proceeds of the offering on a percentage basis. The intended uses of proceeds and/or the corporation's development capital needs may vary based upon a number of factors.
Flow-through funds will be allocated towards
existing Canadian properties 100% Non Flow-through funds allocation is as follows: Accounts payable, accrued liabilities and repayment of loans 30% Public company costs for one year (i.e. legal, accounting, transfer agent, filing fees, etc.) 10% For future identification, negotiations, acquisition,
and potential work commitments on mineral properties 30% Working capital 30% Total 100%
Contact Information:
Tel: 1.604.899.9150
Fax: 1.604.689.1733
"James Nelson"
President, Director
Cruz Capital Corp.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.
SOURCE: Cruz Capital Corp.
Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading.
Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy
Donald Trump is under fire for his comment that "Second Amendment people" can stop Hillary Clinton.
The controversial remark came at Trump's Wilmington, North Carolina, rally on Tuesday, when he appeared to suggest that gun rights supporters should take up arms against the Democratic presidential nominee.
"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks," Trump told the crowd, adding, "Although the Second Amendment people maybe there is, I don't know."
The remark, which some are calling an assassination threat, sparked many to speak out against the business mogul.
Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather posted a scathing rant about the GOP nominee on Facebook, saying he couldn't ignore Trump's statements.
"When he suggested that 'The Second Amendment People' can stop Hillary Clinton he crossed a line with dangerous potential," Rather wrote in his post Tuesday night. "By any objective analysis, this is a new low and unprecedented in the history of American presidential politics. This is no longer about policy, civility, decency or even temperament. This is a direct threat of violence against a political rival. It is not just against the norms of American politics, it raises a serious question of whether it is against the law. If any other citizen had said this about a Presidential candidate, would the Secret Service be investigating?"
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren also slammed Trump, tweeting that the GOP nominee "makes death threats because he's a pathetic coward who can't handle the fact that heas losing to a girl."
"Your reckless comments sound like a two-bit dictator," Warren said in a follow-up tweet. "Not a man who wants to lead the greatest democracy on the planet."
. @realDonaldTrump makes death threats because he's a pathetic coward who canat handle the fact that heas losing to a girl. a Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) August 9, 2016
Your reckless comments sound like a two-bit dictator, @realDonaldTrump. Not a man who wants to lead the greatest democracy on the planet. a Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) August 9, 2016
Related Video: VIDEO: Hillary Clinton on Donald Trump: 'We Were Not Friends'
Michael Hayden, a former CIA director who was among 50 Republican national security experts to denounce Trump in a letter on Monday, told CNN's Jake Tapper of Trump, "You're not just responsible for what you say. You are responsible for what people hear.a
He added, "That was more than a speed bump. That is actually a very arresting comment. It suggests either a very bad taste with reference to political assassination and an attempt at humor or an incredible insensitivity it may be the latter an incredible insensitivity to the prevalence of political assassination inside of American history. That is a topic that we don't ever come close to, even when we think we are trying to be lighthearted."
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who supports increased gun control measures, tweeted, "Don't treat this as a political misstep. It's an assassination threat, seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy & crisis."
And Clinton's running mate, Tim Kaine, warned voters that Trump was "temperamentally unfit to be president."
"Nobody who is seeking a leadership position, especially the presidency, should do anything to countenance violence, and thatas what Donald Trump did today," Kaine wrote in a Facebook post. "There is a beautiful phrase in the Gospel of Luke that says 'from the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks.' What comes out often reveals something important about who you are. I think Donald Trump revealed again today that he is temperamentally unfit to be president. As a nation, we should be pulling together. Countenancing violence is not something a leader should do."
Fresh data on dark money
Data journalism is crucial to the Center as we seek to put unarguable fact and depth of background into our work.
News applications developer Chris Zubak-Skees is something of a star-cum-quiet achiever in this area, constantly noodling with existing and prospective datasets and thinking of ways to display data that add value to our journalism and contribute to the core mission of shedding light on money in politics.
Anyone concerned about the flow of untraceable money into the U.S. political process will benefit greatly from the latest remarkable tool that Chris created, which we released last week. Users of The Nonprofit Network tool can trace grants made to dark money groups, organizations that participate in elections, but are not required to reveal the sources of their funding.
Creation of the tool has already generated stories of its own. And other organizations working in the area of promoting transparency have reached out to Chris and the team with rave reviews like these:
"Great job, we are working on building something like that as well. You beat us to it and This new research tool is excellent! Thank you for developing this resource.this is precisely the tool I needed to run additional queries on groups for which Id hit a dead end. and The tool you developed is fantastic! Its going to make researching organizations much easier. Ive already discovered things I didnt know.
Dirty bomb risks
National security reporter Patrick Malone and managing editor R. Jeffrey Smith send a shiver of concern down anyones spine with a piece co-published with our home town friends at the Washington Post and with the Texas Tribune on the ease of assembling a dirty bomb.
Its part of a long-standing project led by Jeff and with his team on nuclear proliferation and analysis of the ways in which fissile material is stored across the United States. Their work makes grim reading if you thought those issues were dealt with with after the Cold War.
Story continues
The piece spread rapidly across the net this week with citations in more than 23 U.S publications online.
Jeff elaborates: "It explains how a secret group in three states (actually a bunch of GAO auditors) was able to purchase the radioactive ingredients of a dirty bomb without difficulty despite regulations meant to prevent such illicit sales. While the GAO published a poorly-written and highly-vague report about it last month, Patricks wonderful reporting teased out key details, including the location where the regulatory controls fell apart (Dallas, Texas), and the type of radioactive materials that were involved. It can probably be termed a worrisome success for the federal auditors who conceived of the sting and carried it out, since it highlighted a gap in federal oversight that needs to be closed quickly.
Also on Jeffs team Lauren Chadwick published a strong account of how Afghanistans persistent use of child soldiers has been ignored by the Obama administration so it can keep aid money flowing there, despite a U.S. law that bars foreign aid for countries that employ child soldiers. It also ran in Foreign Policy magazine.
Recognition for our work
Encore kudos to Talia Buford and Kristen Lombardi, and environment editor Jim Morris, for their series Environmental Justice Denied, which received two Salute to Excellence awards last weekend from the National Association of Black Journalists; NABJ was meeting here in Washington with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Talia, Kristen, Susan Ferriss and Ben Wieder also put on a panel at the convention The Data Have a Familiar Face about how to create compelling narratives out of deep data research.
What were reading and thinking about
Im just about to finish a remarkable take on the Holocaust by Yale historian Timothy Snyder. His latest book Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning is a forensic analysis of the way conditions in eastern Europe became ripe for the Holocaust and what lessons they have for today.
Its something I drew on recently in a piece for The New European, a pop up newspaper which emerged on the pro-European side after the recent Brexit vote. Snyder, a long time collaborator with the late Tony Judt, offers a chilling view of the risks of the European Union being undermined by right wing forces and the wedges pushed into it by the tactics of Russian president Vladimir Putin and his tactics of hybrid war. Snyder, writing a year or more before Brexit, says: The EU not only embodies a tradition of learning from the Second World War, it also supports sensible climate policies and bolsters the sovereignty of small states. Its collapse would thus weaken the structures that separate the Europeans of today from a history of mass killing.
I welcome feedback on this note. Thank you.
Peter Bale
CEO, The Center for Public Integrity
pbale@publicintegrity.org @peterbale
This story is part of Inside Publici. Stories were working on, the impact of our investigations, news about our fundraising efforts, and other issues that shape our work. Click here to read more stories in this topic.
Copyright 2016 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
Aug 10 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines said it expects to return to normal operations on Wednesday after a power outage hit its computer systems on Monday, causing the cancellation of more than 1,600 flights over two days.
The company also said about 90 cancellations were expected at the beginning of Wednesday, and normal operations would resume later.
"We ... are working hard to achieve a normal operation by mid-day tomorrow," Delta's senior vice president for operations and customer center, Dave Holtz, said in an update posted on its website late Tuesday night.
The company said it would extend its travel waiver and its offer of compensation to travelers affected by the cancellations on Tuesday.
Delta, the No.2 U.S. airline by passenger traffic, had said that as of 5:15 p.m. EDT (2115 GMT) Tuesday it canceled about 680 flights, while about 2,400 had departed. That's on top of about 1,000 flights it canceled on Monday, stranding passengers at airports around the globe.
Delta's problems arose after a switchgear, which helps control and switch power flows like a circuit breaker in a home, malfunctioned for reasons that were not immediately clear, according to Georgia Power, a Southern Co unit that provides electricity to most counties in Georgia.
(Reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
By Jeffrey Dastin
(Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) on Wednesday canceled more than 300 flights and upended thousands of travelers' plans for the third day in a row after a power outage hit its computer systems, though it forecast a return to normal operations later this afternoon.
Delta, the No. 2 U.S. airline by passenger traffic, said systems that allow customer service agents to process check-ins and dispatch aircraft are now functioning normally. Most of Wednesday's delays and cancellations are the result of flight crews being displaced or running up against maximum allowed work hours, it said.
As of 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT), Delta said it had canceled 311 flights on the day, adding to the more than 1,600 cancellations since Monday. Another 2,540 flights departed on Wednesday, with 70 percent of them within 30 minutes of their scheduled times, the airline said.
"We're in the final hours of bouncing back from the disruption," Bill Lentsch, Delta's senior vice president for airport customer service and airline operations, said in an online posting.
The travel havoc at one of the world's largest carriers has brought into focus the vulnerability of airlines' technology infrastructure. Experts say mergers - and sometimes insufficient investment in back-end technology - have left airlines with a hodgepodge of systems.
What is more, a drive by companies to automate operations, from mobile boarding passes to check-in kiosks, means the impact of any single glitch will multiply.
Delta said problems arose when critical systems did not switch over to a backup source following a power surge and outage on Monday.
The airline is still investigating the cause, Chief Executive Ed Bastian said in an online video post, adding that the company has invested "hundreds of millions of dollars" in infrastructure upgrades and backup systems.
"I'm sorry we let you down. We'll do everything that we can to make certain this does not happen again," Bastian said in the video.
Story continues
"There have been no indications of a hack," Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter added in an emailed statement.
Shares were down 1.3 percent at $36.47 in late afternoon trading.
PASSENGERS FRUSTRATED
Frustrated fliers like Camille Davies-Mandel of Maplewood, New Jersey still faced multihour waits at airport lines on Wednesday.
"I have two kids with me, looking forward to getting to their cousins so they can seek out (characters) in Pokemon Go," she said in a telephone interview after waiting three hours to check in at Newark Liberty International Airport. She was unable to download a boarding pass online and missed her flight.
Davies-Mandel said she appreciated Delta's outreach on social media and messages from management, but she added "when you get on the phone and you deal with their customer service, that's a whole different experience," noting two calls took her four and a half hours.
Delta said it contacted some of its most frequent fliers who would be stuck in the disruption and offered them seats on its Delta Private Jets subsidiary to finish their journey.
Analysts expect passenger refunds, overtime hours for workers and other costs will reduce Delta's profit this quarter. Daniel McKenzie, an analyst with the Buckingham Research Group, said in a research note that earnings per share may be 5 percent to 10 percent lower, or 10 to 15 cents per share below his prior estimate.
"Delta still remains the best operation in the industry by a wide margin," McKenzie said, noting that the airline had canceled far fewer flights than rivals in recent years.
Other carriers have also suffered from technology issues.
Southwest Airlines Co (LUV.N) forecast on Wednesday a further drop in a key profitability metric for the quarter due to delays and cancellations of more than 2,000 flights after an outage hit its computer systems in July.
(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin, additional reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan and Arunima Banerjee in Bengaluru; editing by Maju Samuel and G Crossa)
By Jeffrey Dastin (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc on Wednesday cancelled more than 300 flights and upended thousands of travellers' plans for the third day in a row after a power outage hit its computer systems, though it forecast a return to normal operations later this afternoon. Delta, the No. 2 U.S. airline by passenger traffic, said systems that allow customer service agents to process check-ins and dispatch aircraft are now functioning normally. Most of Wednesday's delays and cancellations are the result of flight crews being displaced or running up against maximum allowed work hours, it said. As of 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT), Delta said it had cancelled 311 flights on the day, adding to the more than 1,600 cancellations since Monday. Another 2,540 flights departed on Wednesday, with 70 percent of them within 30 minutes of their scheduled times, the airline said. "We're in the final hours of bouncing back from the disruption," Bill Lentsch, Delta's senior vice president for airport customer service and airline operations, said in an online posting. The travel havoc at one of the world's largest carriers has brought into focus the vulnerability of airlines' technology infrastructure. Experts say mergers - and sometimes insufficient investment in back-end technology - have left airlines with a hodgepodge of systems. What is more, a drive by companies to automate operations, from mobile boarding passes to check-in kiosks, means the impact of any single glitch will multiply. Delta said problems arose when critical systems did not switch over to a backup source following a power surge and outage on Monday. The airline is still investigating the cause, Chief Executive Ed Bastian said in an online video post, adding that the company has invested "hundreds of millions of dollars" in infrastructure upgrades and backup systems. "I'm sorry we let you down. We'll do everything that we can to make certain this does not happen again," Bastian said in the video. "There have been no indications of a hack," Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter added in an emailed statement. Shares were down 1.3 percent at $36.47 in late afternoon trading. PASSENGERS FRUSTRATED Frustrated fliers like Camille Davies-Mandel of Maplewood, New Jersey still faced multihour waits at airport lines on Wednesday. "I have two kids with me, looking forward to getting to their cousins so they can seek out (characters) in Pokemon Go," she said in a telephone interview after waiting three hours to check in at Newark Liberty International Airport. She was unable to download a boarding pass online and missed her flight. Davies-Mandel said she appreciated Delta's outreach on social media and messages from management, but she added "when you get on the phone and you deal with their customer service, that's a whole different experience," noting two calls took her four and a half hours. Delta said it contacted some of its most frequent fliers who would be stuck in the disruption and offered them seats on its Delta Private Jets subsidiary to finish their journey. Analysts expect passenger refunds, overtime hours for workers and other costs will reduce Delta's profit this quarter. Daniel McKenzie, an analyst with the Buckingham Research Group, said in a research note that earnings per share may be 5 percent to 10 percent lower, or 10 to 15 cents per share below his prior estimate. "Delta still remains the best operation in the industry by a wide margin," McKenzie said, noting that the airline had cancelled far fewer flights than rivals in recent years. Other carriers have also suffered from technology issues. Southwest Airlines Co forecast on Wednesday a further drop in a key profitability metric for the quarter due to delays and cancellations of more than 2,000 flights after an outage hit its computer systems in July. (Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin, additional reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan and Arunima Banerjee in Bengaluru; editing by Maju Samuel and G Crossa)
Delta Air Lines DAL string of woes continued into Wednesday after the company cancelled 255 more flights, higher than its previous expectation of 90 flights. This comes after 775 cancellations on Tuesday and 1,000 on Monday. Delta had experienced a power outage on Monday, which went on to affect computer systems and thusly the companys global operations.
Southwest Air Lines LUV went through the same situation about three weeks before, when a router failure ultimately resulted in the cancellation of 2,000 flights and delays for another 7,000. In July, United Continental Holdings UAL also experienced a router issue, which resulted in a two-hour delay for all flights globally.
The airline industry is difficult to invest in, since it is exposed to many different macroeconomic factors, and is notably hurt whenever companies experience any kind of service disruption. World-renowned investor Warren Buffett once said that Investors have poured their money into airlines and airline manufacturers for 100 years with terrible results.
Lets take a look at some major airliners recent performance, and if they might be on track to prove Mr. Buffett wrong.
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines was down 1.6% in afternoon trading on Wednesday on the aforementioned news.
The company has seen downward earnings estimate revisions for every period in the foreseeable future. Current quarter estimates stand at $1.76 in earnings per share, down from the $1.88 estimate 60 days ago. Current fiscal year estimates stand at $5.92 per share, which is down from the $6.41 estimate 60 days ago.
Although Delta reported better-than-expected earnings in Q2, it has to deal with currency headwinds and a shift in consumer sentiment due to recent terror attacks. The airline industry sits in the bottom 8% of the Zacks Rank, so I wouldnt expect anything special in the near future.
DELTA AIR LINES Price and EPS Surprise
DELTA AIR LINES Price and EPS Surprise | DELTA AIR LINES Quote
Story continues
Delta currently sits at a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell),
Southwest Air Lines
Southwest Air Lines has brought its operations back to normal, but shares have not recovered to pre-outage levels. As we have discussed, the company has not yet settled an agreement with its unions, missed Q2 earnings estimates, has outdated technology, and is engaged in ticket pricing wars with fellow discount airliners which are hurting revenues.
The culmination of these concerns along with downward earnings estimate revisions makes it difficult to believe that Southwest is out of the woods. Current quarter estimates stand at $0.93 in earnings per share, down from the $1.09 estimate of 60 days ago. Current fiscal year estimates are down to $3.95 from $4.23 per share.
SOUTHWEST AIR Price and EPS Surprise
SOUTHWEST AIR Price and EPS Surprise | SOUTHWEST AIR Quote
Southwest currently sits at a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
United Continental Holdings
United beat Q2 earnings expectations, but saw a 21.1% and 5.2% respective year-over-year decline in earnings per share and revenues. However, the company did also buy back $694 million worth of shares, with $255 million remaining under its current program, and approved another $2 billion worth of buybacks.
The company will launch a business traveler focused service, United Polaris, later in the year. These new initiatives reflect increased management confidence in Uniteds outlook, but earnings estimate revisions still serve as some cause for concern.
Current quarter estimates are down to $2.84 per share from the original $2.97 estimate. Fiscal year estimates stand at $7.94, down from the previous $8.27 estimate. Given the companys storied history and potentially new source of revenue, United could still be worth keeping an eye on moving forward.
UNITED CONT HLD Price and EPS Surprise
UNITED CONT HLD Price and EPS Surprise | UNITED CONT HLD Quote
United currently sits at a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
JetBlue Airways
Like Southwest, JetBlue Airways JBLU is a discount airliner, operating an average of 800 daily flights and carrying 30 million customers annually. Concerns with the company include increasing maintenance costs due to its use of an older fleet and engines. Along with being subject to the same headwinds as industry peers, JetBlue is also losing revenue on competitive ticket pricing.
However the company did also report increased traffic growth in July, which is a healthy sign. Still, JetBlue has seen multiple downward earnings estimate revisions. Current quarter estimates are down three cents to $0.57, while fiscal year estimates are down 14 cents to $2.14.
JETBLUE AIRWAYS Price and EPS Surprise
JETBLUE AIRWAYS Price and EPS Surprise | JETBLUE AIRWAYS Quote
JetBlue currently sits at a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
American Airlines
American Airlines AAL recently made news when it reached an agreement with 30,000 employees, agreeing to provide them an average pay raise of 22%. As we noted with Southwest, union discontent can be a major source of concern for airliners, and this recent news serves to quell that concern for American.
Furthermore, American beat Q2 earnings expectations, posting its 11th consecutive positive surprise. Unlike discount airliners, it has benefited from the oil glut, and expects to save money due to lowered fuel costs. The company also bought back $1.7 billion worth of stock in Q2 and paid out $58 million in dividends.
American is pouring money into new airliners, having retired 31 aircraft in Q2 and investing $1.2 billion towards new aircraft during the quarter. However, like every other airliner, it has seen downward earnings estimate revisions. Current quarter estimates are down 19 cents to $1.54, while fiscal year estimates are down 25 cents to $5.44.
AMER AIRLINES Price and EPS Surprise
AMER AIRLINES Price and EPS Surprise | AMER AIRLINES Quote
American currently sits at a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Bottom Line
The airline industry as a whole has fallen on hard times, again. Each company has seen a drop in Passenger Revenue per Available Seat Mile (PRASM), which is a key metric for these companies. Furthermore, a stronger U.S. dollar, Brexit, and terror attacks are a few of the many factors that have impacted tourism and spending in general.
Although some companies are working on promising new initiatives, the airline industry has plenty of work ahead. Then again, it always does.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
SOUTHWEST AIR (LUV): Free Stock Analysis Report
JETBLUE AIRWAYS (JBLU): Free Stock Analysis Report
DELTA AIR LINES (DAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
UNITED CONT HLD (UAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
AMER AIRLINES (AAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
An Innovative Natural Solution to Beach Erosion Looks to Save South American Beaches
MIDDLETOWN, OH / ACCESSWIRE / August 9, 2016 / Heightened demand in South America for a solution to extreme beach erosion has brought a Middletown, Ohio Rotational Molding company into the spotlight of the media and public. They are desperate to save coastal property essential to tourism as well as many ocean front residences that risk destruction.
Granger Plastics Company is deep into negotiations to install The Sandsaver in some of the most eroded areas of the continent. The Sandsaver is a natural solution to beach erosion. The Sandsaver is a rotationally molded polyethylene block style module which both reduces erosion and builds beach at the same time. This practically indestructible part can be used over and over again to rebuild eroding beaches, can be installed permanently for ongoing beach renourishment or can be relocated to nourish multiple sites.
Granger Plastics offers an environmentally friendly beach re-nourishment option that actually builds beaches back while discouraging erosion. Decades of research have gone into creating The Sandsaver, a product braced to revolutionize the way the world maintains and builds back its coastlines. Granger Plastics outlines the research behind this product and the impact it could potentially have on endangered coastlines on www.sandsaver.com.
For years Granger Plastics Company has battled resistance, extortion efforts and the political red tape of permitting agencies. Though a more primitive prototype was installed decades earlier, in May of 2011 the first Sandsaver modules were installed on sand starved beaches of Arcadia on Lake Michigan. This installation was found to be decidedly effective by third party monitoring. The South American proposed installation is now garnering great support from various Governmental Agencies and Universities.
Granger Plastics Company welcomes inquiries from other areas suffering from beach erosion or paying for renourishment methods that are not working. The Sandsaver has great potential to work in many areas where other erosion control methods have failed or only provided very costly temporary solutions. Please visit www.grangerplastics.com or www.sandsaver.com for additional information.
Story continues
For more information, please visit http://www.grangerplastics.com
Contact Info:
Name: Shawn Cravens
Email: scravens@grangerplastics.com
Organization: The Granger Plastics Company
Address: 1600 M.A.D.E. Industrial Drive Middletown, OH 45044
Phone: (513) 424-1955
Video URL: https://youtu.be/7VA15Fk1afY
SOURCE: Granger Plastics Company
Diane Kruger is embracing her new single life.
Kruger, 40, split from her longtime beau, Joshua Jackson, in mid-July after 10 years together. In the weeks following their breakup, the actress said she is keeping a positive outlook.
Its all good all good, she told PEOPLE at the Chopard and Cinema Society debut of Disorder on Tuesday in New York City.
Kruger said she isnt dating anyone at the minute but that doesnt mean she isnt open to the possibility of new love.
If you have a suggestion, let me know? she joked with reporters.
Following the split, Kruger jetted off to Sir Lanka for a tropical work-cation to film a new commercial.
My best friend [Fabienne Berthaud], who directed Sky was directing the commercial, said. So it felt like at least we got to hang out. It was beautiful. Ive never been, and it was great.
Kruger shared photos of her envy-inducing getaway on Instagram, showing off the exotic scenery and numerous fun activities.
CNN host Don Lemon got into a heated argument with former Secret Service agent and current congressional candidate Dan Bongino regarding comments Donald Trump made during a campaign rally in North Carolina.
Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment, Trump said. By the way, and if she gets to pick, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know.
Many have criticized Trump for this, saying that he was basically suggesting that gun owners could respond to the possibility of a President Clinton in a violent manner. Trumps campaign pushed back against this, with Trump himself tweeting: Media desperate to distract from Clintons anti-2A stance. I said pro-2A citizens must organize and get out vote to save our Constitution!
It was an argument over what Trump actually meant that caused a lengthy and tense conversation between Lemon and Bongino. To suggest he was calling [for] violence means to me that you came into this with the idea that Donald Trump was calling for violence, let me make the case afterwards. You didnt come into this with a clear and open mind, accused Bongino. Im sitting at home, Im watching Donald Trump, Lemon pushed back. I have two ears, and I have two eyes and I can see the reactions of people behind me, and were not stupid. You should be ashamed of yourself, declared Lemon later.
Don, frankly, Im ashamed that youre talking to me as if Im a child when 12 years of my life spat back Bongino before being interrupted by Lemon. After shouting over each other, Bongino fired off, You dont know crap about this, Don. Youre a TV guy. I was a Secret Service agent. Now cut off my mic. Do what you want to do.
Im not going to cut off your mic, Lemon replied. Im going to tell you that youre sitting here and youre lying to the American people, youre lying to the American people, and you know that youre lying to the American people.
Story continues
On Wednesday morning, Trump tweeted his gratitude to Bongino, writing, You were fantastic in defending both the Second Amendment and me last night on @CNN. Don Lemon is a lightweight dumb as a rock.
CNN Host Says Fox News Had Staff Member Pretend to Date Him, Was Actually Spying:
Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Khalil Anonymous, on Twitter.
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. Donald Trump dismissed critics Tuesday who accused him of using violent rhetoric against rival Hillary Clinton, insisting that when he said Second Amendment people could stop Clinton from threatening gun owners rights, he was advocating political action, not violence.
The GOP presidential nominee told Fox News Sean Hannity that there can be no other interpretation of his remarks. Even reporters have told me, Trump told Hannity, according to a transcript. I mean, give me a break.
The firestorm started at a rally in Wilmington, N.C. Trump called his Democratic rival a liar and told supporters it would be a horrible day if she were elected and able to appoint judges to the Supreme Court.
If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks, Trump declared. As the audience began to boo, the New York real estate mogul quickly added, Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know.
At a rally in Fayetteville after the interview, Trump appeared to rework lines in his stump speech describing his Democratic rival as a threat to the Second Amendment. Still, the GOP presidential nominee did not disavow or even the mention the comments he had made earlier.
Trump repeatedly attacked Clinton as dangerous and warned supporters that she might undo the Second Amendment and take away other rights if she were to control potential vacancies on the Supreme Court. And he warned that the country might never recover. Were gone for like 75 years, Trump warned. Were gone as a country.
The Second Amendment, he added, is under siege.
Donald Trump applauds during a campaign rally in Wilmington, N.C. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)
While Trump did not address the controversy at the later rally in Fayetteville, he appeared to leave the rebuttal to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a longtime friend and political ally of the celebrity businessman who was traveling with the candidate Tuesday. Appearing onstage ahead of Trump, Giuliani immediately tore into the media, trashing coverage of the GOP nominees remarks and suggesting that the press corps was out to get Trump because they were in the tank for Clinton.
Story continues
At the same time, Giuliani accused the Clinton campaign of being corrupt for suggesting that Trump had implied violence against the Democratic nominee. I saw it. I heard it. I know what it meant. I know how the crowd reacted to it, Giuliani said. To buy that, youd have to be corrupt.
Giulianis remarks echoed the response of the Trump campaign, which slammed the dishonest media for coverage of the GOP nominees comments earlier in the day. Instead of inferring violence, a Trump spokesman said, the candidate was invoking the power of unification among gun rights supporters. Second Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power, said Jason Miller, Trumps communication director. And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it wont be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump.
At the same time, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Trumps running mate, who has often had to clean up the candidates remarks in recent weeks, similarly insisted that the GOP nominee was not inferring violence toward Clinton. Of course not, Pence told the NBC affiliate in Philadelphia during a campaign swing in Pennsylvania. Donald Trump is urging people around this country to act consistent with their convictions in the course of this election.
The Clinton campaign quickly seized on Trumps comments, calling them inappropriate. This is simple, Robby Mook, Clintons campaign manager, said in a statement. What Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be the President of the United States should not suggest violence in any way.
A person seeking to be the President of the United States should not suggest violence in any way. pic.twitter.com/Uu55CBCqdK Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 9, 2016
Other Democrats also fiercely condemned Trumps remarks. Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, who led the charge for new gun control laws in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting four years ago, called Trumps comments disgusting and embarrassing and sad.
This isnt play. Unstable people with powerful guns and an unhinged hatred for Hillary are listening to you, Murphy wrote on Twitter. Later, he added, Dont treat this as a political misstep. Its an assassination threat, seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy & crisis.
Dont treat this as a political misstep. Its an assassination threat, seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy & crisis. Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 9, 2016
While the Trump campaign and its allies tried to cast coverage of his remarks as a media conspiracy to boost Clinton, even some allies of the GOP nominee struggled to explain the candidates words. In an interview with CNN, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, one of Trumps earliest supporters in Washington, denied that Trump had threatened Clinton but allowed that the candidates words were awkwardly phrased. But he also added that Trump absolutely shouldnt joke about harming another candidate.
Its contrary to everything we believe in, Sessions said.
Five-fifty leading groups representing 10 million scientists called Wednesday on presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to address key science-related policy issues in advance of the November election.
The coalition, which includes the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAS) and the National Academy of Sciences, among other organizations, highlights a list of 20 topics like climate change, vaccinations and public health.
Collectively, those issues have at least as much impact on voters lives as the economic policy and foreign policy candidates are used to debating, says Shawn Otto, a science advocate and chair of the Science Debate nonprofit.
This years election comes at a pivotal moment for many issues of concern for the scientific community. Climate scientists, for instance, have warned that the next several years will be crucial to any effort to stem catastrophic global warming. Trump has called climate change a hoax and promised to cancel the Paris Agreement on climate change. While doing so would be easier said than done, the agreement is structured in such a way that a president could simply choose not to enforce it.
The White House also sets funding priorities through its federal budget requests, providing federal tax dollars for virtually every area of scientific research. And the President directs agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Departments of Energy and Interior.
In previous administrations, funding for science has been uneven. The 1990s under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton saw a bipartisan initiative to double funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), while President George W. Bush took a different approach, appointing officials with little scientific background to key positions, according to Otto.
President Obama has been a prominent advocate of addressing a range of science issues despite coming to the White House with little background in the area. Beyond his focus on policies like the Clean Power Plan and an effort to address the opioid crisis, Obama has also brought attention to science with efforts like the White House Science Fair.
The questionnaire from the scientific groups is non-partisan and both major party nominees responded to a similar request 2008 and 2012. Some scientists and science policymakers have taken a position against Trump, particularly his energy and environmental policies. Two former GOP EPA heads endorsed Hillary Clinton this week and others have criticized Trumps energy plan.
Presidents, through the face of government and its institutions, set the tone of the public discussion around science, says Otto. Science is never partisan, but it is always political.
Hours after CBS president Glenn Gellers contentious session at Television Critics Association, during which members of the press pushed him on the networks lack of diverse leads, the cast of Doubt took the stage at the summer press tour.
Laverne Coxs casting marks the first-ever transgender actor to play a transgender character in a series regular role on broadcast TV a milestone that Geller applauded during his Q&A earlier in the day.
Im really, really grateful to have a job as an actor, Cox said during the Doubt panel. Four years ago, I was standing in February of 2012 in New York City with an eviction notice in my handso Im just really happy to have a job.
In the upcoming legal drama, Cox plays Cameron Wirth, a trans Ivy League-educated lawyer. During the TCA panel, creators Tony Phelan and Joan Rater revealed that the shows case-of-the-week storylines will touch on violence and hate crimes against transgender people, along with rapes on college campuses. Rater also announced that a love interest for Coxs character that I think people will be interested in will be introduced in the first season.
Whats so exciting about Cameron for me and for being on CBS is that Im an avid TV watcherand growing up, I didnt see people like me on TV, Cox said of her history-making role. That piece is really wonderful that folks can have someone like Cameron who is Ivy League educated. Its wonderful to get to play a character and to be a black transgender woman in that position on CBS is really special.
Garnering laughter from the room, Cox quipped, And, she wears really cool stuff, too.
Cox stars in Doubt alongside an ensemble cast that includes Katherine Heigl, Steven Pasquale, Dule Hill, Dreama Walker, Elliott Gould and Kobi Libii.
The drama marks Heigls return to TV after her highly-anticipated post-Greys Anatomy vehicle State of Affairs, which was cancelled by NBC after one season. Heigl also served as an executive producer on the short-lived show.
Story continues
I actually loved being a producer. It was so fun for me and it was so engaging in a totally different way, Heigl said, adding that she wanted to be an EP on Doubt, as well. I really tried to let them let me be one and they said no so Im just an actor.
Asked by a reporter about her experience jumping from one show to another, Heigl admitted that the process is scary.
Its always kind of thrilling. You can deny that fact that over time this opportunity happens and this coalescing of events takes you to this moment right herejust to get the pilot made and then to get it picked upits a whole exciting process but its also terrifying and stressful, Heigl said. I think Im really just trying to stay focused on how much fun its been and how much I love Tony and Joan and their storiesIm really excited for people to see this, and I think people are really going to love this.
Cox shares the same sentiment as Heigl. CBS has a great track record in this sort of thing, the Orange Is the New Black actress said. Theyve been really wonderful in this process, and its really nice to be with a network that knows what theyre doing.
Related stories
CBS 'Toying' With Commercial-Free All Access Option
CBS Needs Concrete Action, Not Vague Statements, on Diversity
Matt LeBlanc Is 'Not Sure' About 'Top Gear' Return
Wisconsin collected the third-largest amount of unwanted prescription drugs during the latest national take-back day.
State residents turned over 62,618 pounds of drugs on April 30, just behind California at 64,320, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Texas led the nation with 79,418 pounds.
At 5.8 million residents, Wisconsin has just a fraction of Texas 27.5 million residents and Californias 39.1 million.
Nationwide, law enforcement collected 893,498 pounds of unwanted medications, a record since take-back days launched in 2010. La Crosse County residents contributed 760 pounds, up from 685 pounds during the one-day event in October.
Law enforcement and prevention specialists encourage residents to clean out medicine cabinets to reduce the chance of theft and abuse of painkillers, which can be a gateway to heroin use when theyre no longer available.
Getting rid of them decreases the chance for anyone to experiment, said Rita Von Haden, prevention specialist at Coulee Council on Addictions.
The amount of drugs collected in Wisconsin may reflect statewide public awareness campaigns to prevent prescription drug abuse, including the state Department of Justices Dose of Reality initiative, Von Haden said.
The county collected about 13,400 pounds of prescription drugs from 2010 to 2014 and about 7,000 pounds since the drop boxes were implemented in July 2014, Von Haden said.
The next national take-back day is Oct. 22, but residents can dispose of unwanted medications during business hours in drop boxes at the La Crosse, Onalaska, Holmen, Campbell, Bangor and West Salem police departments, and La Crosse County Sheriffs Department. The boxes also are available at Gundersen Health System pharmacies in La Crosse and Onalaska.
HBOs Game of Thrones took Emmy nominations in the Drama Series categories for its massive Battle of the Bastards and the heartrending The Door, but the competition is fierce. Downton Abbey and The Good Wife are favorites in their final seasons; Mr. Robot and UnReal are hot newcomers; and The Americans, Homeland, The Knick, and Ray Donovan are established stalwarts.
Game of Thrones (HBO)
Directing: Miguel Sapochnik, Battle of the Bastards; Jack Bender, The Door
Writing: David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, Battle of the Bastards
Death and battles are always certain on Game of Thrones.
I think Dan and David are particularly cognizant of that and always looking for a way to up their game, Sapochnik says. A pitched field battle is something theyve been wanting to do for a long time I think as far back as season one or two and so when we first talked about it, a key phrase for them was to make a strategic spectacle of it.
Sapochniks job was to interpret that idea.
I wanted to find a way to show both the psychological and tactical warfare that Ramsay brings to the table and at the same time find a way to remain at Jons side physically and mentally throughout the entirety of the sequence, he says. I also had my own preoccupations about luck and the horror of war, but those were secondary to the core themes.
The battle and scenes at Winterfell were filmed over a 25-day period.
The scripts always come in bigger than the final thing because I dont think David and Dan write with a filter, Sapochnik says. Part of the process is a negotiation between creative and production to refine the idea to its leanest and meanest and make it actually doable within the time and financial constraints. It actually makes it better most of the time.
For the death of fan-favorite Hodor in The Door, Bender wanted an image that was like rats overtaking a subway with the dead crawling on the ceiling in their nightmarish pursuit through a cave. But Bender says producers wanted to avoid a more graphic, horrific depiction of Hodors death.
Story continues
David and Dan said at an early meeting that we dont want the horror to overpower the emotional loss of Hodor, Bender says.
Downton Abbey (PBS)
Directing: Michael Engler, Episode 9
Writing: Julian Fellowes, Episode 8
For the penultimate episode of the series, Fellowes delivered some long-awaited take-downs of Lady Mary Crawley (Michelle Dockery).
We had two scenes, which had in a way been missing: The moment when Tom [Allen Leech] really tells Mary off and the final battle between her and Edith [Laura Carmichael], when Edith calls her a bitch, which every viewer must have known was coming, Fellowes says.
I loved both these moments because we, the audience, had expected and wanted them for so long I have always enjoyed writing for Mary, because Michelle has that wonderful gift of not caring if the public hates her, which is tremendously freeing for a writer. As for Tom, every now and then the public needs to have a character say what they are all thinking.
In directing the series finale, Engler wanted images that encapsulated the shows themes and relationships.
Julians script set that all up, but I felt a sense of responsibility to really make sure the visuals and the emotional expression of the actors was as vivid and clear and iconic as possible, he says, noting that sometimes the emotions of the characters and the actors playing them were in sync. Thats such a gift for a director and actors when the love and sense of family they share as a company can spill into the scene.
The Americans (FX)
Writing: Joel Fields, Joe Weisberg, Persona Non Grata
A question introduced in season one does Russian spy Philip (Matthew Rhys) have a son back in Russia? was left ambiguous at the time, but it returned to play a major role in the shows fourth-season finale with confirmation that Mischa would attempt to find his father in America.
We werent thinking theres definitely a son and we would spring it on the audience, Weisberg says of introducing the plot in the shows first season. It was in the middle of this season as we were writing the last arc of episodes that we started talking about it again, Fields says. Thats rare for us. Were pretty obsessive planners.
The Good Wife (CBS)
Writing: Michelle King, Robert King,End
In scripting the series finale, Robert and Michelle King say they had long planned to have Alicia (Julianna Margulies) slapped, that the victim was going to become the victimizer, but they werent sure until the final season which character would deliver it.
We auditioned a lot of different ideas: family members, colleagues men and women until we realized that Diane was the right choice, the Kings say. Not only did it allow us to spotlight two brilliant actors, Julianna Margulies and Christine Baranski, but it allowed us to play with the idea of Alicia turning a friend into collateral damage in the same way she was collateral damage in the political scandal that started the series.
Homeland (Showtime)
Directing: Lesli Linka Glatter, The Tradition of Hospitality
For this second episode of the shows fifth season, Glatter says she had a purposeful approach to shooting the scene where Carrie (Claire Danes) and her new boss, Otto During (Sebastian Koch), visit a Syrian refugee camp.
When Otto is giving his speech, so much of the scene is from Carries point of view, taking it in, versus it being about Otto delivering the speech, Glatter says. Theres some of that, too, but its not really the subtext of the scene, and thats whats always so interesting to me about Homeland and following Carrie Mathison through the world.
The Knick (Cinemax)
Directing: Steven Soderbergh, This Is All We Are
Though it marked the end for his character, Clive Owen says Soderbergh treated the second-season finale as any other episode.
He is very consistent and he directed the last episode as he did the first, Owen says. He respects actors and is very alive to what they are doing. I will miss his courage, focus, decisiveness, and intelligence.
Owen praises Soderbergh for his skill as a visual storyteller. He always finds an original perspective and never just shoots actors talking, Owen says. He looks at a scene and then finds the most interesting, original way to cover it and [does so] with such a clarity of intent.
Mr. Robot (USA)
Writing: Sam Esmail. eps1.0_hellofriend.mov
Alex Sepiol, executive vice president of development for NBCU Scripted Cable, still remembers reading the pilot script on a weekend and being taken aback by how Esmail gave voice to Elliot (Rami Malek) and the originality with which he wrote about technology and hacking.
The first time I read the Elliot-Krista therapy scene, the way he layered Elliots non-response with the running commentary of the voiceover, it was really a delicate dance, Sepiol says. It did capture the anger of a certain character but he was also able to do it with this detachment and perspective so you could understand him as a character. It was like a magic trick.
Ray Donovan (Showtime)
Directing: David Hollander, Exsuscito
Season finales are tricky due to viewer expectations, but for showrunner Hollander, directing the third-season ender also meant capping a season-long arc for the title character as Donovan (Liev Schreiber) acknowledges to Father Romero (Leland Orser) that he killed the priest who sexually abused him.
The beating heart of the story is Rays condition emotionally, Hollander says. I kept trying to find ways to photograph Liev in prayerful or suggestive-of-prayer positions before he landed finally in prayer.
But none of that works unless the performances are what they were, he says. I cant take credit for that.
UnReal (Lifetime)
Writing: Marti Noxon, Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, Return
A drama set behind the scenes of a reality dating show, UnReal benefits from viewer knowledge.
All you need is a hot dude in a suit standing at the top of a mansion driveway and people pretty much know whats going on, Shapiro says. There were so many visual signifiers that saved us from exposition.
The pilot that aired was actually the second one filmed for UnReal.
We ended up scrapping all the rewrites from our first shoot and going back to our original script with a splash more dark stuff, Noxon says. With Lifetimes support, we had the rare opportunity to course correct and get the tone right.
Related stories
Emmy Nominees: Broadcast Writers & Directors Strong in Late-Night
Emmys: When the Run Is Limited, Basic Cable Writers & Directors Go Big
Inside the Office of 'Homeland' Boss Alex Gansa
By Estelle Shirbon LONDON (Reuters) - Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, a British billionaire landowner and close friend of the royal family known by his title of Duke of Westminster, has died suddenly aged 64, a spokeswoman for his family said. The duke, who inherited vast tracts of land in central London and elsewhere, was Britain's sixth richest person with a fortune estimated at 9.35 billion pounds, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2016. A close friend of heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, the duke traced his family history back to distant ancestor Gilbert who came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066, according to the family estate's website. "It is with the greatest sadness that we can confirm that the Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor (64) died ... at Royal Preston Hospital," a family spokeswoman said late on Tuesday. "He was taken there from the Abbeystead Estate in Lancashire where he had suddenly been taken ill," she said, giving no further details. Prince Charles and his wife Camilla were "deeply shocked and greatly saddened" by the duke's sudden death, a spokeswoman said, while Queen Elizabeth and her husband Philip will send a private message of condolence to the Grosvenor family. The duke's wife Natalia is godmother to Charles's son William, the second-in-line to the throne, while the duke's son Hugh, who will inherit his title, is godfather to Prince George, William's three-year-old son. Cavendish Grosvenor had inherited the title aged 27, in 1979, along with hundreds of acres in two of London's richest districts, Mayfair and Belgravia, and thousands more in Scotland, Spain and elsewhere. According to media interviews over the years, the duke took pride in what he considered his responsible management of his estate. He was also one of Britain's major philanthropists, donating to thousands of charities and playing active roles in organisations such as the Royal National Institute of Blind People and St John Ambulance, a leading first aid charity. "In the context of eternity, if I'm lucky I might live on this Earth for 70 years," the duke said in 1995 in an interview on BBC radio. "That estate has been with us for 3, 4, 5, 600 years, so I'm only a mere flicker in the process of time and the process of history." The duke is survived by his wife Natalia and their four children, one son and three daughters. (Additional reporting by Michael Holden)
(Adds formal confirmation of court protection request in paragraphs 1-5) By Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Ana Mano SAO PAULO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - A Dutch court has accepted a request by Brazilian phone carrier Oi SA to put a Netherlands-based unit under protection from creditors, handing them a victory as they seek to recoup billions of dollars in losses.
In a securities filing, Oi said the Amsterdam-based commercial court accepted a request to put subsidiary Oi Brasil Holdings Cooperatief UA under a so-called "suspension of payment" procedure. The court also appointed an independent trustee to represent the interests of creditors in the subsidiary, the filing said.
Reuters reported earlier in the day that Oi had sought the suspension of payments and that the court had appointed lawyer Jasper Berkenbosch of law firm JonesDay as the trustee for Oi Brasil Holdings.
In recent months, several creditors including Aurelius Capital Management LP asked the Dutch court to start bankruptcy proceedings against the subsidiary. The court's decision is a "huge development because it forbids Oi's management from representing the company without the trustee's consent," a source directly involved in the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
New York-based Aurelius declined to comment. Efforts to contact officials at Amsterdam's commercial court and Berkenbosch of Jones Day for comment were unsuccessful.
Oi, Brazil's fourth-largest wireless carrier and the largest fixed-line operator, filed in June for creditor protection in a Rio de Janeiro court to restructure 65.4 billion reais ($21 billion) in debt.
The ruling makes it tougher for Oi to protect existing shareholders from potential heavy dilution by bondholders during bankruptcy proceedings in Brazil. It also gives more say to bondholders of Oi Brasil Holdings and Portugal Telecom International Finance Co, both Dutch-based subsidiaries of Oi, during reorganization talks.
Both subsidiaries issued a combined $6.33 billion in bonds. The ruling means Oi will have to deal with two different in-court reorganization processes in two different countries, a setback for the company, according to investors including Paolo Gorgo.
Apart from participating in the proceedings, the trustee will investigate Oi Brasil Holdings' prior and current management teams and enforce the company's claims against parent Oi and other affiliates. ($1 = 3.1555 Brazilian reais) (Additional reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam; Editing by James Dalgleish, Bernard Orr)
Ed Sheerans hit song, Thinking Out Loud, copied core elements of Marvin Gayes Lets Get It On, according to a new lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The heirs of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the lyrics to Gayes classic in 1973 and created its musical composition, are suing Sheeran for copyright infringement, claiming the Grammy Award-winning artist essentially duplicated the heart of Lets Get It On, Reuters reports.
The Defendants copied the heart of Lets and repeated it continuously throughout Thinking,' the lawsuit said, according to the news agency. The melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic compositions of Thinking are substantially and/or strikingly similar to the drum composition of Lets.'
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, asks for damages to be assessed at a jury trial, according to Reuters.
Sheerans wildly successful Thinking Out Loud was the first song ever to hit 500 million streams on Spotify, and it won Song of the Year at this years Grammy Awards.
Sheerans representatives did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.
The British musician is also being sued over his song, Photograph. Songwriters Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard, who are seeking $20 million, say Photograph is nearly identical to their 2009 song Amazing.
Last March, Marvin Gayes family was awarded nearly $7.4 million dollars after a jury ruled that Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke copied Gaye on their 2013 hit Blurred Lines.
State Sen. Jennifer Shilling will face Dan Kapanke in November for a second time after defeating him in the 32nd Senate District recall election five years ago.
Shilling, D-La Crosse, easily won Tuesdays primary against Democratic challenger Jared William Landry of La Farge, receiving 91 percent of the vote. La Crosse Republican Kapanke won his partys primary with similar numbers, receiving 90 percent of the vote against John Sarnowski of Onalaska.
I am very honored with the strong showing in todays primarys results, Shilling said Tuesday. Starting tomorrow, the main event starts.
Shilling, 47, will face off against the 68-year-old Kapanke, who is attempting to take back the seat he held from 2005 to 2011, and independent Chip DeNure of La Crosse. She won the 2011 recall election with 55.38 percent of the vote compared with Kapankes 44.58 exactly five years ago Tuesday to represent voters from La Crosse, Vernon, Crawford and Monroe counties.
The owner of the La Crosse Loggers, Kapanke focused his campaign on offering services to improve his constituents lives, particularly when it comes to transportation costs and finding qualified employees for Wisconsin jobs. Kapanke did not immediately return requests for comment Tuesday night.
The Senate minority leader said she hopes to put what she calls her Coulee Region common sense to work to find bipartisan solutions to the states problems.
I think people are hungry for problem solvers, Shilling said. Voters here in western Wisconsin like people who can reach across the aisle and work with those across the aisle.
Shilling will concentrate on building public-private partnerships for job creation, fostering innovation and building up the states health care and education systems.
I think theres still angst over the slow economy here in Wisconsin, and we can connect the dots better as far as workforce development and economic growth here in Wisconsin, Shilling said.
As she criss-crosses the district talking to voters, Shilling said, she will discuss plans to expand funding of public schools and infrastructure such as roads and broadband access.
We are in the early stages of developing a new budget, and the governor has certainly sent some early messages in funding our university system, she said. Many people here in Wisconsin are concerned about the direction the university has taken with these deep budget cuts.
Shilling criticized tax breaks that led to 11 taxpayers earning more than $35 million a year being able to claim $21.5 million in tax credits, tax breaks that 98 percent of Wisconsin residents dont qualify for.
As we look at tax relief, we need to be targeting working families here in the state and helping with child care looking at student loan debt, family medical leave, ensuring that women have access to reproductive healthcare, she said. Those are all things I will continue to work and defend and advocate for.
She added that she has also been hearing more and more about the states access to clean water and will work to be a good steward of Wisconsins natural resources.
The Egyptian Theatre is getting a facelift bankrolled by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
The HFPA has awarded a $500,000 grant to the American Cinematheque to restore the famous Hollywood Blvd. movie palace, it was announced Wednesday.
Less than a week ago, at their annual Grant Banquet, the HFPA awarded an additional $350,000 grant that would go towards retrofitting the theater so it will be able to screen 35mm nitrate film prints. This grant was made through The Film Foundation.
The $500,000 grant will go toward a variety of cosmetic changes, including replacing the carpet with a custom design that will mirror the theater's ornate ceiling, re-covering the theater's seats and replacing the concession stand. The 12 palm tree planters that sit outside and the historic murals of Egyptian deities on the walls also will be repaired.
The theater also will be technically upgraded with a 4K projector, replacing the current 10-year-old digital projector, and the sound system will be revised.
"The American Cinematheque is extremely appreciative of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's support of this historic landmark," American Cinematheque chairman Rick Nicita said in a statement. "We are dedicated to preserving this important landmark of Hollywood history where we continue to show movies on the big screen as they were meant to be seen."
Said HFPA president Lorenzo Soria: "The Egyptian Theatre is a very special place to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association - each year it welcomes our Golden Globe Foreign Language Film Symposium and celebrated foreign filmmakers. We want to make sure The Egyptian Theatre brings charm, culture and education to Hollywood for years to come, and continues to be a home away from home for our foreign filmmakers."
Movie exhibitionist Sid Grauman, who also was behind Hollywood's famed Chinese Theater, opened the Egyptian Theatre in 1922. The American Cinematheque purchased the Egyptian from the city of Los Angeles for $1 in the mid-1990s, under the stipulation that the theater should undergo an renovation.
Read more: New 'Chronicles of Narnia' Movie Planned by TriStar, Mark Gordon
By Rory Carroll
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Electric vehicle charging companies are calling for independent oversight of the $2 billion Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) is required to invest in clean car infrastructure, saying VW should not have the power to shape the nascent electric car charging space.
The German automaker agreed to invest the money, which includes $1.2 billion nationally and $800 million in California, as part of its penalties for equipping hundreds of thousands of its diesel vehicles sold in the United States with software designed to cheat tailpipe emissions tests.
While charging station companies called the money a potential "game changer," they worry that if it is misspent, it could hurt competition.
"The agreement shouldn't pick winners and losers, especially given that this emerging market transition will in no small part define 21st century transportation," twenty eight companies, including ChargePoint, EV Connect and Electric Vehicle Charging Association, said in a letter to the U.S. Justice Department on Friday.
The letter, seen by Reuters on Tuesday, said an independent administrator is key to ensuring that the program treats all industry participants, regardless of business model and technology, fairly.
VW did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"The program should be structured to benefit drivers in California and across the nation, not enable the settling defendants to enter or influence the markets for (zero emission vehicle) charging and fueling equipment and services," the letter said.
It said regulators should earmark some of the funds for a rebate program to incentivize employers, apartment owners, workplaces and other facility managers who want to install EV charging stations.
A shortage of charging stations at workplaces and multi-unit apartment dwellings is seen as a key hurdle to the widespread adoption of electric vehicles.
VW's plan for spending the $2 billion, which has yet to be released, will be overseen by the California Air Resources Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Tom Brown)
By Maher Nazeh and Saif Hameed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Thirteen prematurely born babies were killed in a fire that broke out early on Wednesday in a maternity ward in a Baghdad hospital and was probably caused by an electrical fault, Iraqi authorities said. Eleven or 12 other babies and 29 women were rescued from the Yarmuk hospital's maternity ward and transferred to other hospitals, Hani al-Okabi, a member of parliament who previously managed a health directorate in Baghdad, told journalists after visiting the hospital and speaking to the management. Firefighters and hospital staff took about three hours to put out the blaze that engulfed the ward, according to one medic. Yarmuk is a major hospital on the western side of the capital, with emergency care facilities among others. "My son's birth was difficult," Shaima Hussein, one of the grieving mothers, told Reuters TV at the gate of the hospital. She said she was not given a chance to rescue her newborn. "I came with milk powder for him, and then this happened ... They shut the electricity and the doors," she said. Hassan Omar said he was upset that the hospital would not give him information about his twins other than that he may have to have DNA checks to check if they were among the dead. "I went to the other hospital, they are not there, so where are they?" he said. Health Minister Adila Hamoud offered to resign if the investigation proved that the fire was caused by negligence at her department. She also announced in a statement the sacking of the hospital director. The incident intensified public accusations of state corruption and mismanagement. Pictures posted on social media showed the hospital in a state of neglect, with cockroaches crawling out from between broken tiles, dustbins overflowing with rubbish, dirty toilets and patients lying on stretchers in the courtyard. The relative of a patient who died recently in the hospital from meningitis said he saw a cockroach crawling along the tube of an oxygen mask. "It was so dirty," he said. "We had to bring our own bed sheets." Thirteen years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, the oil-rich Arab state still suffers a shortage of electricity, water, schools and hospitals. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has been trying for more than two years to tackle corruption in Iraq, which ranks 161 out of 168 on Transparency International's Corruption Index, but has encountered resistance from much of the political elite. Graft has exacerbated the effects on the economy of a sharp decline in oil revenue caused by falling crude prices and the costs of fighting Islamic State, the militant group that has controlled large parts of northern and western Iraq since 2014. (Additional reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Jacques Spitzer was having a great run. Hes the founder of Raindrop Marketing, based in San Diego, which scored triple-digit growth in each of the past four years. And yet, the success worried him. The problem: He had no idea what to pay himself. Believe it or not, growth became frightening, not fun, Spitzer says. I was afraid to touch our increasing profits until after each quarters taxes were filed. And even after the paperwork was done, Spitzer and his partner, Adam Wagner, still worried that their own salaries would screw up their company.
So they played it safe, paying themselves the bare minimum to cover their lean lifestyles.
When you start your business, calculating what to pay yourself is simple: Start with your sales and subtract operating expenses and taxes -- and thats what goes into your wallet. Most entrepreneurs cross their fingers and hope its enough to cover the bills. When your business expands, things get trickier. Sure, you could increase your take-home pay right off the top -- and pay the additional taxes that go with it. But what if business drops in the next quarter? Will your company have enough in the bank to cover its obligations?
Thats why I suggest that owners create something called a variable component to a compensation structure. Heres what that means in English: You set up a modest, recurring salary, along with an additional monthly payment based on a percentage of your companys earnings. But beware: If you dont have the right business structure, a system like this can still turn your taxes into hell. Be sure to consult with an accountant.
When Spitzer and Wagner sat down with their CPA, the team drew up a plan to cover all their costs. Its a good one, and can work for almost any entrepreneur. Here it is:
This plan accounts for everything: The cost of doing business, taxes and an uncertain future. The guys also have a plan for any excess funds: After they pay estimated taxes, they pay themselves a midyear bonus. Its based on the companys performance to date, as well as a conservative projection for the final two quarters. By doing it midyear, they have time to make any necessary adjustments by years end. Now, finally, theyre getting paid for all their hard work -- and have a reason to work even harder.
By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. human rights chief urged Ethiopia on Wednesday to allow international observers into restive regions where residents and opposition officials say 90 protesters were shot dead by security forces at the weekend. In his first comments on the incident, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that allegations of excessive use of force across the Oromiya and Amhara regions must be investigated and that his office was in discussions with Ethiopian authorities. Since January, when he said the killings of protesters first began, his office had "not seen seen any genuine attempt at investigation and accountability". "The use of live ammunition against protesters in Oromiya and Amhara, the towns there of course would be a very serious concern for us," Zeid told Reuters in an interview in Geneva. Unrest flared in Oromiya for several months until early this year over plans to allocate farmland surrounding the regional capital for development. Authorities in the Horn of Africa state scrapped the scheme in January, but protests flared again over the continued detention of opposition demonstrators. At the weekend, protesters chanted anti-government slogans and waved dissident flags. Some demanded the release of jailed opposition politicians. Information on the reported killings has been difficult to obtain, Zeid said. "So I do urge the government to allow access for international observers into the Amhara and Oromiya regions so that we can establish what has happened and that the security forces, if it is the case that they have been using excessive force, that they do not do so and promptly investigate of course these allegations." Zeid said that any detainee who had been peacefully protesting should be released promptly. The state-run Ethiopian News Agency said on Monday that "illegal protests" by "anti-peace forces" had been brought under control. It did not mention casualties. As in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which Zeid visited last month, it is vital that security forces employ non-lethal means during peaceful protests, he said. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Robel Habte, foreground (Getty Images)
Clearly, Ethiopian swimmer Robel Habte isnt Tongas Pita Taufatofua when it comes to the physique department.
But does Habte really deserve to be body-shamed?
Sure, at 5-foot-9, 179 pounds, Habte isnt the lithe, 6-foot-4, 194 pounds Michael Phelps is. But tubby? Fat?
Robel the Whale?
Those are excessive, and downright mean.
[Related: Independent Olympian uses marker on uniform to show disdain for IOC]
Habte swam in the 100-meter freestyle prelims Tuesday, was last in his heat of three and last in the field of 59 competitors; his time of 1:04.95 was 17 seconds behind the fastest man in the prelims, Australias Kyle Chalmers.
Ethiopian Dadbod
The 24-year-old hails from a land-locked country of long-distance runners, and told Reuters he intentionally chose swimming to be different.
I wanted to do something different for my country, thats why I chose swimming, he said. Everybody, every day you wake up in Ethiopia, you run. Not swimming. But I didnt want to run, I wanted to be a swimmer.
It didnt matter where I finished.
Despite his slow swim (Habte said his personal best is 59.08), the crowd at the aquatic center cheered him on as he finished.
I am so happy because it is my first competition in the Olympics, Habte said. So thanks for God.
Habte got a special invitation into the Olympics from FINA, swimmings world governing body, because he is from an under-represented country.
He has faced charges of nepotism from back home, however. Habte is the son of the countrys swimming boss and many Ethiopians are angry that a more deserving swimmer was not selected.
Robel is a symbol of racism, favouritism, incompetence that were currently fighting, one Ethiopian tweeted.
More Summer Olympics coverage on Yahoo Sports:
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie reacts to a question during a news conference after announcing the chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had resigned, a day after an internal investigation cleared Christie in the
A former aide to Chris Christie said that the New Jersey governor "flat out lied" when questioned by a reporter on the decision to close access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, text messages made public in a Wednesday court filing revealed.
Christie insisted during a December 2013 news conference that senior staffers and Bill Stepien, his campaign manager, assured him that they were not involved in the scandal widely known as Bridgegate.
But messages from Christina Genovese Renna, the former director of Christie's Intergovernmental Affairs Office, to Peter Sheridan, a campaign staffer, cast doubt on that claim.
Renna, while listening to the news conference, sent a text to Sheridan saying that Christie "lied" and acknowledging that "if emails are found with the subpoena ... it could be bad."
The messages came out in a court filing that's part of a trial over the lane closures, according to NJ Advance Media.
Here's the conversation from the court documents:
NEW court filing with texts between Christie aides, sent December 2013:
"Are you listening? He just flat out lied." pic.twitter.com/iqIXqD21Y2 Matt Katz (@mattkatz00) August 10, 2016
Christie said on Wednesday that the accusations that he lied were not true.
He has been campaigning on behalf of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. He was once under consideration to be Trump's running mate, and voiced his disappointment when the spot went to Indiana Gov. Mike Pence instead.
The Bridgegate scandal has been a black mark on his administration in New Jersey. While he is not on trial for fraud, two of his former deputies are.
Christie insisted that he wasn't involved in the scandal, and didn't know that the lanes in Fort Lee, New Jersey, were allegedly shut down as political retribution. The lane closures caused massive traffic backups after Fort Lee's mayor declined to endorse Christie for reelection.
Story continues
NOW WATCH: Hillary Clinton ripped Chris Christie while giving a speech in New Jersey
More From Business Insider
MADISON University of Wisconsin System leaders plan to ask Gov. Scott Walker and Republican legislators to lift a tuition freeze and give the system about $40 million in new money in the next state budget.
The Board of Regents is expected to approve the request at a meeting this month. System President Ray Cross gave reporters a preview of the request that asks Walker to allow the regents to set tuition and calls for an additional $42.5 million in state aid.
Cross said the new money would be used to shorten the time to graduation, expand programs that offer high school students college credits for completing certain courses and build more robust student internship programs.
The request asks for no new money to fund fringe benefit adjustments or utility bills. System officials dont anticipate a need because about 1,800 fewer system employees are on state health insurance, Cross said, choosing instead to get on their spouses plans. He also noted that the system has lost about 1,200 employees.
Its not an excessive request, Cross said. Its time to invest. Lets send a message that this is really important.
The last four years have been a time of tight finances for the system. Walker and Republican lawmakers froze in-state undergraduate tuition in the 2013-15 state budget after it was found schools were sitting on massive reserves while raising tuition year after year. Lawmakers extended the freeze for another two years in the current budget and cut $250 million from the system.
Walker has called for the tuition freeze to be extended for another two years and has warned the system that it shouldnt expect any additional state aid in the next budget. The governor is considering more money for the system if schools meet performance benchmarks, but he hasnt said what schools would have to accomplish to win more money or how much funding would be available.
The UW Systems budget is the highest it has ever been, Walker spokesman Tom Everson said Tuesday, and the next state budget automatically adds $50 million in base funding.
Joint Finance Committee co-chairman Rep. John Nygren said Tuesday he looks forward to working with colleagues, the UW system, and stakeholders to preserve the quality and value of Wisconsins public institutions.
The state budget goes through a similar process every biennium. The governor always proposes his budget before its sent to the Legislature for consideration and modifications, Nygren said.
Cross said the system remains an economic engine for the state and deserves more money, supporting his argument with data that class sizes are increasing and class availability is decreasing, which translates to students paying more because it takes longer to graduate.
Other components of the request include:
$454.6 million for building maintenance, renovation and construction. About $100 million would go toward maintenance. A new mechanical engineering building at UW-Platteville would be the only new structure; the rest would be for renovations. Cross said the current state budget allocated $86 million for buildings.
New statutory language allowing the regents to issue bonds backed by program fees to fund projects. The state building commission would release the bonds in amounts requested.
Allow the system to purchase academic-related items without going through the state Department of Administration.
The next state budget is a long way off. State agencies must submit their requests to Walker by mid-September, and he will release his version of the budget early next year. After that, it must go through a legislative committee before the full chambers, and ends up on Walkers desk, who can use his veto power. The whole process will likely wrap up next summer.
By Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - A former Guantanamo prisoner who was relocated to Uruguay nearly two years ago is being held by Venezuela's intelligence agency after traveling to Caracas in an apparent attempt to reunite with family, a lawyer familiar with his case said on Tuesday. Jihad Diyab was held for 12 years in Guantanamo without being charged and was released to Uruguay in 2014 as part of an arrangement to reduce the number of detainees at the U.S. military prison, according to California-based lawyer Jon Eisenberg. The Syrian national was not seen in Montevideo after mid-June and arrived in Caracas on July 26, Eisenberg said in a telephone interview. At that point Diyab asked the Uruguayan consulate to help him travel to Turkey where he was to meet with his family. Diyab was then arrested by Venezuelan security forces and has been held by the Sebin intelligence service without access to lawyers or visitors since approximately July 30, Eisenberg said. "I have not been able to make contact with him and have gotten no official response from the Venezuela government as to why he is being detained or where," said Eisenberg, who represented Diyab in a court challenge to a U.S. Defense Department policy of force-feeding Guantanamo prisoners that went on hunger strike. The Venezuelan Information Ministry, which frequently handles media requests on behalf of other state agencies, did not respond to an email seeking comment. Reuters was unable to obtain comment from the office of Venezuela's vice president, which oversees Sebin. Eisenberg stopped representing Diyab after he was released but has been advising him regarding ongoing efforts to secure the public release of videos showing Diyab being violently force-fed while he was in Guantanamo. News that Diyab had left Uruguay led a group of U.S. lawmakers to demand that President Barack Obama halt transfers of Guantanamo prisoners, arguing that they represented a security risk to Americans. Diyab was captured in 2002 near the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan and transferred to Guantanamo, according to a letter written in July by a group of U.S. Senators, who described him as a "weapons smuggler." Venezuela's government, which has been an ideological adversary of the United States since the 14-year rule of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, has been harshly critical of U.S. treatment of Guantanamo prisoners. Chavez in 2009 said Venezuela would be willing to receive Guantanamo prisoners as part of efforts to help close the prison and return the land housing the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the government of Cuba. (Reporting by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Tom Brown)
By Steve Stecklow and Alexandra Harney
LONDON/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - ACT Inc, maker of Americas most popular university entrance exam, is laying off its head of test security and plans to audit nearly 200 education centers after Reuters detailed widespread cheating in an ACT-owned college-prep program for international students.
Rachel Schoenig, who oversees a 14-person team that handles security for thousands of ACT exam centers in 177 countries, will leave the not-for-profit organization next month, according to people familiar with the matter. It is not clear whether she will be replaced.
In June, a leaked test forced ACT Inc, based in Iowa City, Iowa, to cancel sittings for its college-entrance exam in Hong Kong and South Korea. Reuters reported last month that Schoenig's unit had repeatedly recommended tightening security overseas before the breach and cancellations, but that ACT executives had rejected the recommendations.
Schoenig is among several top security officials to leave ACT Inc recently. A senior investigator in her unit, Cody Shultz, recently quit, according to people familiar with the matter. And ACTs head of information security, Shari Lewison, left the organization to take a job this month at University of Iowa Health Care, according to her LinkedIn page.
Schoenig declined to comment. Shultz and Lewison did not respond to requests for comment.
ACT spokesman Ed Colby declined to talk about the departures, saying he could not discuss personnel matters. Nothing has changed regarding ACTs commitment to test security and to providing a fair and level playing field for all examinees, nor to our ongoing efforts to improve our testing and security procedures, he said.
Marten Roorda, ACTs chief executive, declined to be interviewed for this story.
ACTs chief rival, the New York-based College Board, which administers the SAT, continues to battle its own security problems. Reuters reported last week that a major breach exposed hundreds of unpublished questions for upcoming SAT exams. A College Board spokeswoman said the organization was investigating what she termed a serious criminal matter.
Story continues
Reuters also reported in March that test-prep operations in East Asia were exploiting security flaws in the SAT, which is often reused overseas after first being given in the United States. Those cram schools harvest items from earlier exams, enabling students to practice on questions that are recycled for international versions of the test.
The SAT and ACT are used by thousands of U.S. colleges to help determine the fates of millions of student applicants.
The news agency last month also detailed cheating in the ACT-owned Global Assessment Certificate program. The program has about 5,000 students and operates at 197 centers, mostly in Asia. (http://reut.rs/2akY3uf)
Seven students who attended three different GAC centers in China described how school officials and proctors ignored and were sometimes complicit in cheating on the ACT. Eight teachers or administrators who have worked at seven different Chinese GAC centers also described cheating in program courses.
Andrew Todd, who heads the ACTs wholly owned subsidiary that oversees the GAC program, said Tuesday that he was a bit shocked by the cheating Reuters found.
What well have to do now is actually start an audit of all of the centers just to see how bad it is or how much evidence we can turn up, said Todd, group general manager of ACT Education Solutions Ltd, the Hong Kong-headquartered subsidiary. If the problem is as big as seems to be indicated, then our systems should be flagging it sooner.
Reuters also identified six GAC centers five in China and one in South Korea that had administered the ACT while also offering commercial test-prep classes aimed at helping students score well on the exam. ACT Inc policy prohibits test-prep businesses from administering the exam because doing so would give them an unparalleled ability to help their clients by leaking them the test, according to ACT Inc officials.
Todd said he couldnt recall such a policy. If it is a policy, I should have known about it, he said.
The vast majority of students in the GAC program take the ACT. The program itself is recognized by admissions offices at more than 60 colleges in the United States including state universities in New York, Michigan, Iowa and Missouri. Some U.S. colleges award credit for successfully completing the GAC program.
Todd said ACT Education Solutions had contacted all of the colleges affiliated with the GAC program and assured them we are dealing with the situation.
Officials at several universities contacted by Reuters including the University of Cincinnati and the University of Northern Iowa said they were troubled by reports of cheating at GAC centers.
The allegations made by Reuters in the article are obviously very concerning, Katharine Johnson Suski, director of admissions at Iowa State University, wrote in an email. Iowa State has enrolled 132 GAC students since 2009.
Suski said she plans to review the success rates of the universitys GAC students. We will also discuss the steps we will take moving forward and whether we are comfortable continuing our relationship with GAC and, if so, in what ways, she wrote.
(Edited by Blake Morrison.)
Last week, Matisyahu crafted a touching viral moment by singing "One Day" with a busker in a Maui coffee shop. At the time, Clint "Kekoa" Alama didn't know he was performing a Matisyahu song alongside the real Matisyahu. He certainly does now, as the reggae-rap musician arranged to forego a $50,000 warrant to have him join his band at its Hollywood Palladium concert Friday night (Aug. 12).
Stu Brooks, Matisyahu's bass player, producer and musical director -- already a jack of all trades -- has been the one orchestrating Kekoa's "supervised release" from a Hawaii jail. "Late night Sunday, Kekoa texted me saying, 'Hey in custody need to go to court ASAP if possible,'" Brooks tells Billboard. "At that point I felt the weight of the situation and sort of wondered, What exactly have I gotten myself involved in?"
After their chance encounter (Matisyahu was in Maui for the annual MayJah RayJah Music Festival) Kekoa and Matis' camp first discussed a follow-up performance via a Facebook Live chat, where the 27-year old busker revealed his legal complications. He'd turned himself in earlier this week and was being held on a probation violation after convictions for assault and other charges. But country prosecutor John D. Kim was willing to grant him a concession.
Matisyahu Talks Viral Coffee Shop Duet: 'I Didn't Want to Mess Up His Game'
The morning after Kekoa's dire text, all the pieces came together. A judge ordered the bail be "set aside" so Kekoa could get the "temporary release" necessary to play the L.A. gig. The judge ordered that the "bail be set aside" and the defendant be granted "temporary release" to perform with Matisyahu at the Palladium on Friday.
"We aim to have him sit in with us to do 'One Day' and introduce him to a sold out crowd in Hollywood," Brooks says. Authorities will oversee an Aug. 11 flight out of Maui and a return trip the day after the concert, where Matisyahu is opening for 311.
"It was easy to see that this was a nice young man, simply playing music to help spread a positive message and to help buy his next meal," Brooks says. "I could see kindness in his eyes. I think this is a chance to change someone's life."
In other news, today Matisyahu released a new track called "Love Born," produced, mixed and co-written by Brooks.
By Phil Stewart and Yara Bayoumy WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Turkish military officer on a U.S.-based assignment for NATO is seeking asylum in the United States after being recalled by the Turkish government in the wake of last month's failed military coup, U.S. officials told Reuters. The asylum bid is the first known case involving a Turkish military officer in the United States as Turkey purges military ranks after mutinous soldiers commandeered fighter jets, helicopters and tanks in an unsuccessful attempt to oust President Tayyip Erdogan. The case has the potential to further strain ties between the United States and Turkey, which is already demanding Washington hand over a U.S.-based Turkish cleric it alleges was responsible for the failed coup. The two U.S. officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the Turkish officer was working at the headquarters of NATO's Allied Command Transformation, located in Norfolk, Virginia. They did not name him or offer his rank. However, an official at Turkey's embassy in Washington said Turkish Navy Rear Admiral Mustafa Ugurlu had failed to report to authorities after Turkey issued a detention order for him last month. "On July 22, on that day he left his badges and his ID at the base and after that no one has heard anything from him," the official said, also speaking on condition of anonymity. The Turkish official said he was unaware of a subsequent asylum request. An April news article on the NATO website identified Ugurlu as the Norfolk-based command's assistant chief of staff for command and control, deployability and sustainability. The Turkish official said two other lower-level officers had also been called back from the United States to Turkey. "But there's no detention order for them," the official said. "One of them has gone back, and the other will go back shortly." MILITARY PURGES The purges within Turkey's military, which has NATO's second largest armed forces and aspires to membership in the European Union, has resulted in thousands of soldiers being discharged, including around 40 percent of generals. There are concerns within the Turkish opposition that the restructuring lacks parliamentary oversight and is going too far. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis declined comment, referring questions about Turkish military personnel to Turkey. The Norfolk mission where the Turkish officer was assigned is the only NATO command in North America, according to its website. It directs Allied Command Transformation's subordinate commands, including the Joint Warfare Center in Norway and the Joint Force Training Center in Poland. A spokeswoman at the Norfolk-based mission said 26 Turkish military personnel were assigned there, and she praised Turkey's contribution, including hosting U.S. and allies at its Incirlik Air Base, an important staging area for the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State militants in Syria. "We want to state that Turkey is a valued NATO ally that continues to make important contributions to the fight against ISIL," U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Karen Eifert said, declining comment on questions about an asylum request. ISIL is an acronym for Islamic State. A NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Turkey's internal reorganization of its military has not had a practical impact on NATO-led commands. "Turkey has notified NATO about the changeover of a number of Turkish military personnel. There has been no impact on the implementation of NATO-led operations and missions or on the work of NATO commands," the official said, declining comment on any asylum request. "I would refer you to the Turkish authorities for any further details on their staffing." U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it could not discuss individual cases, including whether an individual has requested a specific immigration benefit like asylum. The State Department declined comment. ANTI-U.S. SENTIMENT RISING The case comes as Turkey presses Washington to hand over U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Gulen, an ally of Erdogan in the early years after his Islamist-rooted AK Party took power in 2002, has denied any involvement in the coup, which came at a critical time for a NATO state facing Islamist militant attacks from across the border in Syria and an insurgency by Kurdish rebels. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said anti-American feeling among Turks was on the rise and "turning into hatred" and could only be calmed by the United States extraditing Gulen. Still, the U.S. and Turkish militaries have long had extensive ties, extending beyond the NATO alliance. One U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, estimated there were around 160 Turkish military personnel on assignment in the United States, including those at NATO in Norfolk and others at exchanges at prestigious U.S. military institutions. Navy Lieutenant Commander Patrick Evans said 123 Turkish military personnel were participating in the U.S. International Military Education and Training Program in the continental United States as of Aug. 9. Asked how many of those participants had been recalled to Turkey, Evans said: "We are aware of one student currently at the Army War College who received a recall notice to return to Turkey." The status of the student at the War College, located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was not immediately clear. Evans did not comment on any individual cases. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Aadditional reporting by Julia Hart, Julia Edwards, Jonathan Landay and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Cities large and small are leading the charge on the countrys transition to clean energy, driven by concerns that range from air pollution to the need to create jobs, according to a new report from the Sierra Club.
The report, part of the Sierra Clubs Ready for 100 campaign that is pushing cities to transition to 100% renewable energy, underscores the role urban areas play in addressing climate change. Cities produce more than 60% of the worlds carbon dioxide emissions, according to a United Nations report, and which makes urban zones a key point of leveraging fighting global warming.
But addressing climate change is often not the reason that cities accelerate their push to clean energy, according to the Sierra Club. In San Diego, one of the countrys most conservative big cities, a Republican mayor committed to transitioning to clean energy by citing how the commitment will help expand the citys clean tech sector. Leaders in Aspen, Colorado cited climate changes effect on the local economy: global warming has detracted from the local ski industry.
Read More: What Do Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Think About Science? Researchers Want to Know
No two cities will do this for the same reasons or get there the same ways, says Jodie Van Horn, director of the Sierra Clubs Ready for 100 campaign. Cities are the canaries in the coal mine for the fossil fuel industry as they move to 100% clean energy, so will the country.
The cities in the report show the many different ways urban areas are working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The majority of the cities plans include promoting energy efficiency. Some programs focus on requiring more efficient components in buildings while seeking to change behavior through public awareness campaigns. Some cities located in areas with abundant resources like wind and sunsuch as Georgetown, TXhave focused largely on switching to renewables, as much for the economy as for the environment.
Story continues
Read More: Scientists Are Making Stronger Links Between Climate Change and Extreme Weather
Im probably the further thing from an Al Gore clone you could find, says Jim Briggs, Georgetowns interim city manager in a statement. But we did [wind and solar] to get a competitive rate.
Citys energy policies play a significant role in countries across the globe, but they will be particularly important in the U.S., where local authorities wield significant control over energy and environmental regulation. Theyll need to pick up the slack while President Obamas Clean Power Plan, which sets standards for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in individuals states, remains on hold pending review by the Supreme Court.
Other cities listed in the report include Burlington, Vt., East Hampton, N.Y., Grand Rapids, Mich., Greensburg, Kan., Rochester, Minn., San Jose, Calif., and San Francisco, Calif. Many more have committed to reducing their carbon dioxide emissions significantly in the coming years and decades.
f35b
The Marine Corps' variant of the F-35 Lightning II is almost ready for its combat debut.
"We're going to start to see that airplane deploy here overseas after the first of the year," Gen. Robert Neller, commandant of the Marine Corps, said on Tuesday.
The "jack-of-all-trades" aircraft was designed to replace the Corps' Harrier, Hornet, and Prowler aircraft but has had significant snags.
Lockheed Martin's F-35 is America's priciest weapons system, and its development has become one of the most challenged programs in the history of the Department of Defense.
f35
Since its inception, in 2001, the F-35 has experienced setbacks that include faulty ejection seats, software delays, helmet display issues, and an inability to dogfight.
"We thought we were going to get that airplane a little bit earlier, but we didn't, but now we stood up our second squadron," Neller said during a discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Similarly, on July 29, when asked if the F-35B could fly combat missions to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the US Marine Corps' head of aviation said, "We're ready to do that."
Noting that the decision to deploy the fifth-generation jet into combat would come from higher command, Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, deputy commandant for aviation for the Marine Corps, said that the F-35B is "ready to go right now."
aei amanda f35
"We got a jewel in our hands, and we've just started to exploit that capability, and we're very excited about it," Davis said during a discussion at the American Enterprise Institute on the readiness and future trajectory of Marine aviation.
Davis, who has flown copilot in every type of model series of tilt-rotor, rotary-winged, and tanker aircraft in the Marine inventory, said that the F-35 is an airplane he's excited about.
Story continues
"The bottom line is everybody who flies a pointy-nose airplane in the Marine Corps wants to fly this jet," Davis said.
Last summer, then Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford declared initial operational capability for 10 F-35B jets the first of the sister-service branches.
"There were a lot of people out here in the press that said, 'Hey, the Marines are just going to declare IOC because it would be politically untenable not to do that,'" Davis said.
"IOC in the Marine Corps means we will deploy that airplane in combat. That's not a decision I was gonna take lightly, nor Gen. Dunford," he said.
f35
Ahead of IOC, Davis said that the Marine Corps "stacked the deck with the F-35 early on" by assigning Top Gun school graduates and weapons-tactics instructors to test the plane.
"The guys that flew that airplane and maintained that airplane were very, very, hard graders," he said.
Davis added that the jet proved to be "phenomenally successful" during testing: "It does best when it's out front, doing the killing."
The Marine Corps' first F-35B squadron is scheduled to go to sea in spring 2018.
f35a
Meanwhile, the Air Force, which has been the most bullish on the F-35's combat capabilities, declared its variant ready for combat last week.
Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, the F-35 program's executive officer, said that the Air Force's decision to declare the F-35A's IOC "sends a simple and powerful message to America's friends and foes alike: The F-35 can do its mission."
"The roads leading to IOC for both services were not easy, and these accomplishments are tangible testaments to the positive change happening in the F-35 program," Bogdan said.
As the Air Force is buying nearly 70% of the fifth-generation jets being made domestically 1,763 of 2,443 aircraft the Air Force sets the economies of scale for the tri-service fighter, with each plane costing a cool $100 million.
Lockheed Martin, considered a bellwether for the US defense sector, is expected to generate nearly a fifth of its $50 billion in 2016 sales solely from the F-35 program.
Currently the US Navy variant, the F-35C, is scheduled to reach IOC by February 2019.
NOW WATCH: America's $400 billion warplane has some major flaws
More From Business Insider
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f173063%2fgettyimages-586113532
A controversial Facebook community group 'Bloke's Advice' has been shut down following mounting pressure from the Australian community.
The 200,000-strong group's members were invited to share stories, anecdotes and jovial conversation the sticking point being that some stories and anecdotes were seen to incite violence toward women, made light of domestic abuse and encouraged assault.
SEE ALSO: Noted feminist Barack Obama challenges men to fight sexism
The invite-only group page garnered national attention after an organisation called The Red Heart Campaign started a petition via change.org for its removal. Campaign spokesperson Sherele Moody told Mashable Australia that their Facebook page received an intense level of vitriol and abuse after the petition launched.
Many of the 'Bloke's Advice' members took to messaging Moody directly as well as commenting on posts aimed toward encouraging victims of domestic violence to speak out and seek help.
An example of the type of messages Moody was receiving personally after starting the petition.
Image: supplied/sherele Moody
Despite an earlier statement from Facebook stating that the page would not be removed but that offensive comments and posts would be deleted, the page itself has now been removed entirely.
Screenshot of one of many offensive comments posted by a 'Bloke's Advice' member.
Image: Supplied/rED HEART CAMPAIGN
The ABC reports that a Facebook spokesperson confirmed the deletion of the page. "Since the recent media coverage of this group, there has been an increase in the number of posts that do violate our policies, and consequently the group has been removed," he said."Where there are a large number of posts in a group that violate our policies, we remove the entire group."
The new website is asking it's members for money to keep it afloat.
Image: sCREENSHOT FROM BLOKESADVICE.NET
Since its removal from Facebook, the organisation has created their own website and the group is requesting fiscal support from their members. Anyone can access the domain but only members who sign up get full access to the website.
Meanwhile, Moody is "very concerned that the people behind a page that incites sexual and domestic violence is asking Australians to donate money to help keep it in the business of harassing and demeaning women."
Story continues
"It's an absolute slap in the face to the one in three Australian women who are subjected to male physical violence and it makes a mockery of the memories of each of the 41 Aussie women who have been killed by Australian men this year," she said.
"If we have any hope of decreasing the sexist attitudes that underline violence against women in our country we need to hold every supporter of 'Bloke's Advice' and similar forums to account."
Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook is partnering with a charter school network to push out an innovative concept in 120 schools across the nation: student-directed learning.
The Facebook-Summit Public Schools partnership centers on a learning system co-created by the social media behemoth and charter network through an undisclosed amount of money, The New York Times reported.
Called the Summit Personalized Learning Platform, the software enables students to create their own timelines for completing projects and lessons for the year, supplemented with one-on-one mentorship by teachers.
In return, the system gives students wide berth to develop creative problem solving skills and learn time management on their own, the creators of the platform say. The software will be free of charge to schools.
The partnership launched last year, with 19 schools receiving resources to bring personalized learning into classrooms. The program has now substantially increased, with 100 new schools participating across 27 states.
The partnership is Zuckerberg's latest influence on public education in the US.
In 2010, he donated $100 million to fix the failing school system in Newark, New Jersey with the goal of turning around the schools in five years.
Multiple sources called the investment a failure and tore into Newark Public Schools for squandering his money and not delivering on any of the goals it set out to achieve.
For all the criticism of the Newark project, however, Zuckerberg doesn't appear any less committed to public school reform, although he seems to be employing a different strategy recently. In 2014, he committed $120 million to school districts around the San Francisco Bay Area, focusing on reform at the community level, rather than a heavy-handed, top-down approach, as the Newark reform plan has been described.
Story continues
His attempts to benefit schools with the Facebook-Summit partnership seem similarly guided.
Editor's note: This story previously stated that the schools are located in Silicon Valley. They are located in 27 states through the US.
NOW WATCH: Scientists just collected a mysterious 'purple orb' at the bottom of the ocean, but no one could anticipate what happened next
More From Business Insider
Following their recent entry into new bear markets, United States Oil Fund (USO) , which tracks West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures, and the United States Brent Oil Fund (BNO) , which tracks Brent crude oil futures, have been the center of much debate among commodities market observers.
For example, some professional traders do not see the current oil bear market lasting very long. Still, some concerned oil market participants believe oil is rallying without strong fundamental cause. A case can be made that oils rally is defying still troubling supply dynamics and tepid demand.
SEE MORE: A Factor that Could Hinder Oil ETF Investing
On Monday, oil was boosted by a familiar catalyst: Speculation that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could intervene to support prices. Oil prices bounced after Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sada, Qatars energy minister and holder of OPECs rotating presidency, said that OPEC members are in constant deliberations on stabilizing the market and prices are expected to rise in the later part of 2016, Bloomberg reports.
Trending on ETF Trends
U.S. Dollar Slips Below Short-Term Trend on Lower Fed Bets
How to Prepare for a Possible Gold ETF Pullback
Oil ETFs Jump on Saudi Speculation, IEA Demand Comments
Palladium ETF Revs up on Rising Chinese Car Sales
Industrial Metal ETFs: Time to Shine Like Precious Metal Rivals?
Those headlines arrived just days after reports indicating some big-name Wall Street banks are increasingly bearish on crude.
The Wall Street Journal surveyed 13 investment banks on their predictions for Brent prices, and the average result was $56 per barrel for 2017, which was about $1 per barrel lower than the survey the WSJ conducted in June. The investment banks also dont see oil prices bouncing back to $50 per barrel until the end of this year, which is a dramatic change from last years expectation that oil would hit $70 in 2016, according to OilPrice.com.
Still, some traders see oils recent pullback as a potential buying opportunity.
Story continues
Weve obviously bounced 8 percent off these lows. Sentiment was extremely strong, people have been staring at the rig counts; I dont think its a lagging indicator; ultimately we are in a place here, you heard the comments from OPEC they actually think the markets correcting itself, said Tim Seymour, managing partner at Triogem Asset Management, in an interview with CNBC.
SEE MORE: ETF Ideas for Profiting from a Pullback in Oil Stocks
Elevated levels of production remain an issue for oil as well. OPEC has kept up production to pressure high-cost rivals, such as the developing U.S. shale oil producers. The International Energy Agency expects it will take several years before OPEC can effectively price out high-cost producers.
For more information on the Oil ETFs, visit our Oil category.
United States Oil Fund
uso2
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.
julian assange
The family of slain Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich is calling on conspiracy theorists to stop speculating about factually baseless connections between his death and a WikiLeaks hack.
Since Rich was shot while walking home in Washington, DC, on July 10, online conspiracy theorists have speculated that his death may have been connected to the hack and subsequent leak of internal DNC emails.
The group WikiLeaks on Tuesday offered $20,000 for information leading to a conviction in Rich's case. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange took the offer a step further in an interview, suggesting that Rich was potentially a WikiLeaks source.
In a statement to Business Insider on Wednesday, Brad Bauman, a spokesperson for the Rich family, thanked investigators and implored high-profile figures to stop attempting to politicize Rich's death by perpetuating unfounded theories about the shooting.
"The family welcomes any and all information that could lead to the identification of the individuals responsible, and certainly welcomes contributions that could lead to new avenues of investigation," Bauman said.
He added:
"That said, some are attempting to politicize this horrible tragedy, and in their attempts to do so, are actually causing more harm than good and impeding on the ability for law enforcement to properly do their job. For the sake of finding Seth's killer, and for the sake of giving the family the space they need at this terrible time, they are asking for the public to refrain from pushing unproven and harmful theories about Seth's murder."
DC police have also attempted to carefully tamp unproven online speculation about Rich's DNC connection while seeking information from the public.
Following Rich's death, Metropolitan Police Department officials suggested that the shooting was likely the result of an attempted robbery.
MPD spokesperson Alice Kim told Business Insider on Tuesday that there was no evidence connecting Rich's death to his work at the DNC but that the department welcomed information.
Story continues
"At this time, there is no indication that Seth Rich's death is connected to his employment at the DNC. However, we welcome information that could potentially lead to the identification of the individual(s) responsible for his death and are pleased when any outside contributors help us generate new leads," Kim said.
Rich's death has garnered significant attention from some online forums and right-leaning outlets, as he was killed weeks before WikiLeaks' release of hacked internal emails in which top DNC staffers criticized and considered taking political action against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The FBI launched an official investigation into the hack, which experts linked to hackers with Russian ties.
NOW WATCH: Watch the RNC audience boo Ted Cruz for not endorsing Trump
More From Business Insider
BUYERS: Stella McCartney and Alasdhair Willis
LOCATION: Amagansett, NY
PRICE: $1,500,000
SIZE: 1,305 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
YOUR MAMAS NOTES: English fashion designer Stella McCartney, daughter of music legend Paul McCartney, of course, and her sartorially astute husband Alasdhair Willis, creative director of the venerable Scottish Wellington boot brand Hunter, plunked down $1.5 million for a humble if hardly inexpensive and decidedly not-chic waterfront cottage in the Napeague area of Amagansett, NY, a transaction first turned up by the East Hampton Press.
The petite and unpleasantly boxy bayside residence sits privately at the tail end of discreet and supermodel slim tree-lined lane with open views across the glimmering Napeague bay to the southern tip of Gardiners Island. The McCartney-Willises bought not only the .4-acre waterfront parcel on which the house stands but also a landlocked neighboring parcel of .33-acres that brings the total size of the property to .73 acres according to online marketing materials. The existing house measures in at a modest 1,350-square-feet with three bedrooms all with weirdly tiny windows and two perfectly ordinary but certainly serviceable bathrooms. Things get better and brighter in the combination living/dining room that features honey blond wide plank wood floorboards, a vaulted ceiling, and three sets of glass sliders on two walls. However, its back to blah in the adjoining galley-type kitchen thats clean and well maintained but also on the wrong side of puny with uninspired finishes and low-end, rental-grade appliances. The glass sliders in the living/dining room open to a north-facing deck that runs the full width of the house with a lovely elevated water view over a narrow stretch of scrubby dunes. The house would seem on the wee side for the McCartney-Willises who have four children between 11 and 16 years old and, as others have already speculated, its quite likely the existing house will get substantially expanded or perhaps even razed to make way for something larger and more stylishly outfitted.
Its not such a surprise the organic-minded and PETA-supporting fashionista would snatch up a house in the Hamptons since her father has owned an unassuming shingled cottage on an Amagansett cul-de-sac that few Hamptonites even know is there since the late 1990s when it was purchased for $498,000.
As far as we know the Britain-based couple continue to own a townhouse residence in Londons natty Notting Hill area as well as a 160-ish-acre country estate near Bishampton, Worcestershire, about 120 miles outside of London, that was bought sometime before they were married in 2003.
As a bone fide rock and roll heiress Miz McCartney might have easily rested comfortably on her family laurels but instead heads up a global empire that includes an eponymous high-end fashion label, perfume and skin-care products, a charming and pricey line of childrens clothing, and 17 stores located in plummy zip codes in some of the worlds most sophisticated cities.
Listing photos: Douglas Elliman
The day before Vanessa Marcotte went jogging near her mother's home in Princeton, Massachusetts, she had dinner with her father. It would be the last time he saw her.
"I went to eat with her at the Chop House Saturday night. After that, the next day, she was dead," John Marcotte told The Boston Globe Tuesday outside his home, with tears in his eyes.
Vanessa's body was found in a wooded area about a half-mile from her mother's home. A "preliminary review" of her body led detectives to believe it is a homicide, according to a news release from the Worcester County District Attorney's Office.
Authorities reportedly located her naked body with burns to the face, hands and feet, according to WCVB.
Father of Google Employee Killed While Jogging Tears Up Discussing Her: 'All We Want' Is Justice| Crime & Courts, True Crime
"I could only ask for your prayers, that they find [who] did this. That's all we want. That's all we want: justice," John told the Globe, adding, "I want my daughter remembered as a great kid. She's the best kid in the world."
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
Vanessa, a Google employee living in New York City, was visiting her family and last seen "walking or running" near Brooks Station Road in Princeton, officials said. After she didn't return home, a missing person's report was filed at 3:50 p.m. About four hours later, the Massachusetts State Police K-9 unit discovered her body.
John told the Globe that his daughter was smart and working her way up in her career. He thanked Google for its outpouring of support, and in an official statement, a Google spokesperson told PEOPLE, "Vanessa Marcotte was a much loved member of the Google team, working in our New York office for the last year and a half, and known for her ubiquitous smile, passion for volunteer work, and love of Boston sports.
"We are deeply shocked and saddened, and our thoughts are with her family and friends."
Vanessa's death has also shocked and saddened the small town she had returned to for a visit.
"People are traumatized," resident Diane Featherstone told the Globe. "Not just because it happened here, but because it happened."
As John told the Daily Mail, "How can anything ever be all right again when your only child has been horribly murdered?"
'Early in the Investigation'
On Tuesday, District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. told reporters that authorities have set up an anonymous tip line for anyone with information.
"Any information may be relevant," he said. "We're still early in the investigation."
"I must stress that we do not know if this is a random act," Early said previously. "We're asking the residents of Princeton to use an abundance of caution."
But he told reporters on Monday there is "nothing at this point" connecting Vanessa's death to Karina Vetrano, who was killed while jogging near her Queens home in New York City on Aug. 2.
Anyone with information on Vanessa's death should call Massachusetts State Police Hotline at 508-453-7589.
This is what our favorite couple from Anastasia would look like IRL
This is what our favorite couple from Anastasia would look like IRL
Though weve seen it 1 billion times (approximately), we cant help but fall in love with Anastasia over and over again. Were talking about the 1997 film that follows the journey of Anastasia Romanov (the last surviving child of the Russian Royal Family) as she works to reunite with the Dowager Empress (her grandmother). Along the way, she meets the hunky Dimitri and, together, they fight back against the evil forces of Rasputin (the films antagonist).
Basically, the entire movie is pure gold and we would not be opposed if it underwent a live-action remake especially now that illustrator Jirka Vaatainen has shown us what Anastasia and Dimitri would look like in real-life.
We now present you with the intrepid Anastasia:
anastasia 2
Shes even wearing her Together in Paris necklace!
And the swoon-worthy Dimitri:
anastasia 3
According to Seventeen, Vaatainen solely uses Photoshop to create his illustrations. Using traits from about 30 different people, the artist will blend together these elements until he achieves his vision.
So this is pretty much proof that we need a live-action Anastasia, right?
The post This is what our favorite couple from Anastasia would look like IRL appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Helsinki (AFP) - Is stripping down and getting sweaty with strangers your kind of thing? In Finland, despite an astounding two million private saunas, the hottest trend sweeping the sweat-tank loving country is public saunas.
They're Helsinki's coolest spots this summer, drawing Finns and tourists of all ages to unwind on wooden benches in slick waterfront locations where the mercury hits at least 80 degrees Celsius (176 degrees Fahrenheit).
A trendy new boutique sauna called Loyly (Finnish for "Steam") opened its doors on the capital's shoreline in May and was such an instant hit that an online reservation is a must on sunny days.
On a recent visit, a group of men and women who went to university together celebrated Linnea Remes' 27th birthday by having a sauna -- a normal thing for friends in Finland where saunas are an integral part of daily life and all major celebrations year-round.
Remes has a sauna at home up to four times a week so her birthday choice was not for want of a good sweat.
"We thought that this was a fun way to pass time together and enjoy ourselves," Remes told AFP on the seaside terrace where the group cooled off before another round in the hotbox.
- Finnish sanctuary -
While Finns strip down to their birthday suits in their private saunas, the public ones either offer different rooms for men and women or require swimsuits in unisex saunas.
The sauna can be a moment to destress or a complement to a good workout. A couple of rounds is typical, with a cool shower and maybe a drink in between, or preferably a dip into a lake or the sea. In winter, a roll in the snow is even better
But saunas have been used for bigger goals -- sealing business deals and even serious diplomacy. During the Cold War, Urho Kekkonen, who served as president for 26 years, negotiated with Soviet diplomats in the sauna of his official residence.
It is precisely the social aspect of a public sauna that explains its country-wide renaissance.
Story continues
Over the centuries Finns used saunas for washing, relaxing and even giving birth. But the modern luxury of running water in virtually all residences spelt the demise of the popular old public sauna as people started installing their own private hot rooms.
Nowadays most houses and new apartments in Finland come with a private sauna. Statistics Finland estimates there are more than two million saunas for a nation of 5.5 million people.
At the same time, one in five Finns today lives on their own.
- Common experience -
"Many people live alone nowadays but yearn for that sense of community and common experience. A sauna is the best for that, an intimate place where you can exchange ideas with whomever happens to sit next to you," said Raoul Grunstein, head of Allas Sea Pool, another new public sauna and spa set to open this month.
Grunstein has such faith in the appeal of public saunas that he and his partners invested 10 million euros ($11 million) in the spa, which has three saunas and three pools floating in the sea right on Helsinki's main market square opposite the presidential palace.
Like Loyly, the facility boasts striking Nordic design and architecture.
Loyly's owners -- lawmaker Antero Vartia and actor Jasper Paakkonen, known to international audiences for his role in the Irish-Canadian TV series Vikings -- spent big, investing 6.3 million euros ($6.9 million) in a cubic design that holds three traditional wood-heated saunas, one of them a chimneyless smoke sauna.
"The city's tourism authorities have told us they believe this will shortly become one of Helsinki's top three attractions," Paakkonen said.
At Loyly's, Priya Selvaraj, a 42-year-old professor visiting from Chennai, India, marvelled at the experience, including a courageous post-sauna dip into the Baltic Sea, where water was a downright chilly 11 degrees Celsius (52 degrees Fahrenheit).
"I have taken sauna treatments back home in the southern part of India... and it's not new to us," she said, "but to have a country or a city where it's thriving on spas...!"
- Burgers and saunas -
The sauna's appeal is so strong in Finland that even the US-based fastfood chain Burger King wants its Finnish shops to partake: it recently opened a sauna at one of its Helsinki restaurants, available for groups upon reservation.
The revival of public saunas goes back to 2011 when a few Helsinkians built Sompasauna, an unlicensed sauna made of waste materials in the middle of an old harbour-turned-construction site.
The city's first reaction was to tear it down.
But the free-of-charge, mixed and nude sauna appealed to many and its fans have rebuilt the small shack every spring.
This year the city honoured it as Helsinki's "cultural act" of the year.
KIEV When the rabbi of Chernobyl, Mordechai Twersky, felt he was dying in 1837, he set out on a long walk from Kiev. He made it about 30 kilometers to the west, where he came upon a rolling green field of wildflowers on the banks of the Irpin River, outside the village of Hnativka. It was there, he decided, that he would be laid to rest, having chosen the pastoral location, according to local lore, because there is no house of idol worship, and the sound of impure bells wont disturb my rest in the grave. A Jewish cemetery for residents of the nearby Jewish villages, known as shtetls, soon sprang up around the cyan mausoleum built to mark his grave. Two decades later, in 1859, the Yiddish author Shalom Aleichem was born nearby, and the cluster of Jewish settlements became the inspiration for his stories about Tevye the Milkman now more commonly known as the Fiddler on the Roof.
That time period was the tail end of what the historian Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern calls the golden age of the shtetl, in his 2014 book by that title the last time a network of Jewish villages, and their distinctive Yiddish-speaking economic, religious, and cultural life, could truly be said to have prospered in Ukraine. The final decades of the 19th century ushered in a period of Russian national expansion that brought with it a series of pogroms and expulsions, and eventually the Jews of Hnativka and neighboring Boyarka which some say appear in the Tevye stories as Anatevka and Boiberik disappeared. Though Twerskys mausoleum remains, the cemetery surrounding it has been demolished, its tombstones removed to build foundations for nearby homes.
The Ukrainian Jews pushed off their land often migrated to other villages and urban centers, under increasingly strained conditions. The turn of the century made life harder still. More pogroms, far worse than before, swept through Ukrainian cities in 1905, killing hundreds. And as vibrant shtetl culture became a thing of the past, the towns became associated in the public imagination with the villages from Shalom Aleichems stories: dire straits, with broken-down Jews, wooden huts, rotting shingles.
Story continues
Until now. The Anatevka shtetl is being rebuilt, this time as a home for Jewish internally displaced persons fleeing the ongoing war in eastern Ukraine. The settlements new founders are intent on bringing back a way of life that disappeared from the region long ago.
A view of Anatevka's fledging town center, Goodman Square.
I had this idea, to link the past and present, Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman told me on the steps of the shtetls brand-new wooden synagogue, which the resident refugees helped build.
Azman, one of the chief rabbis of Kiev, came up with the idea of rebuilding Anatevka about two years ago, at the height of the war in eastern Ukraine. At the time, thousands were fleeing their homes in Donetsk and Luhansk every day. Many of these refugees were Jewish, and the rabbi and his congregation at Kievs Brodsky Synagogue were doing their best to keep up with the influx of displaced people arriving at their door.
Well-acquainted with history, Ukraines Jews felt themselves to be in a particularly perilous situation; a Jewish self-defense battalion was formed to defend the community during Kievs most violent days, and Azman advised his congregants to leave the city, and if possible the country.
The Jewish community had pulled together funding for a temporary shelter for refugees at a summer camp in the Cherkasy region, away from the fighting, but Azman sought a more permanent solution. Hed bought the land adjacent to Twerskys grave last year without realizing the Chernobyl rabbi, an early member of a famed Hasidic dynasty, was buried next door. It was only when he arrived in Hnativka in the spring of 2015 to survey his new purchase that he realized he was standing on hallowed land. It was an accident. But there are no accidents There are now over a million refugees in Ukraine. It was a miracle that I bought land here, he said. By June 2015, construction of what is now the Anatevka Jewish Refugee Community had begun.
At their height, in the first half of the 19th century, shtetls were the unique habitat of some 80 percent of East European Jews, who constituted two-thirds of world Jewry at the time, Petrovsky-Shtern writes. The late 18th century partitions of Poland brought approximately 900,000 Jews into Russia, where the government immediately confined them to a region in the western part of the Russian empire known as the Pale of Settlement. There, large and small shtetls flourished.
Sequestering the Jewish population to a confined region had an enormous psychological impact on the development of East European Jewry, according to the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, a New York-based organization dedicated to the study of Jewish life, in its encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. While it would be a great mistake to see the shtetl as an entirely Jewish world, without gentiles, it is nonetheless true that Yiddish reinforced a profound sense of psychological and religious difference from non-Jews. The shtetls became vibrant economic and religious centers, trading goods, particularly liquor, among themselves, and various Hassidic dynasties used the towns as their centers of Jewish study, until the Russian expansion and other forces began infringing on their way of life.
Even so, a diminished version of shtetl culture endured in a small number of villages until World War II, which wrought devastation upon the Ukrainian Jewish community. It was the Holocaust that finally destroyed the Soviet shtetl, YIVO notes. Approximately 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews were murdered, accounting for about 60 percent of the prewar population. German forces shot and killed nearly 34,000 Jews in just two days at Babi Yar, just outside Kiev, in one of the worst massacres of the war. Allied victory did not bring an end to anti-Semitism in Ukraine, however, where Soviet leadership discounted crimes against the Jewish people as crimes against Soviet citizens at large. Babi Yar did not receive an official memorial until 1976.
Like many former Soviet nations seeking closer ties with the West, Ukraine has sought to commemorate its Jewish history as part of an effort to document a formative part of its national past, while also disproving Russian accusations of rising fascism. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Babi Yar massacre, for instance, which the country plans to commemorate with the unveiling of a new million-dollar memorial at the site. But the country is also grappling with accusations that a rising wave of patriotism in the wake of the 2014 Russian invasion has brought with it an accompanying swell of anti-Semitism. Nationalist groups have sought to rehabilitate ethnic Ukrainian heroes with less-than-reputable histories when it comes to Jews, for instance, and new decommunization laws mean many of those heroes now have streets named after them. Just a few months ago, in May, vandals were caught burning an Israeli flag at the Babi Yar site, the latest in a long string of anti-Semitic incidents at the site.
At the same time, however, the Jewish community has begun to play an increasingly visible role in Ukrainian politics and culture. The country elected its first Jewish prime minister, Volodymr Groysman, in April. The fact that no one batted an eye or thought it would politically useful to exploit that is very important, David Fishman, professor of Jewish history at the Jewish Theological Seminary, said of Groysmans appointment. A new museum is being planned for Babi Yar, and a prominent gallery will spend more than half of this year hosting an exhibit entitled Loss: In Memory of Babi Yar. Anatevka is part of this revival Azman and his congregation see it as an act of rebuilding and remembrance entirely in keeping with the nature of its namesake.
Azman hopes that one day five or six hundred people might live on the property, which today houses about 46 refugees of all ages in a two-story wooden barrack-style building. That would just about restore Anatevka back to its former glory the 1897 census records 926 Jews living in the village. It just depends on whether we will get enough money and strength from above, Azman said, sweating through his suited uniform and looking up at the sky. He had just returned from a trip to New York, where he courted investors for the project. I saw taxi ads for Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway, he says. Everyone invited me to go see it, but I didnt have the time.
A member of the Jewish community takes out a portrait of the Russian-born Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson from the Anatevka synagogue.
Young Jewish girls play on a trampoline during a break between classes at the Anatevka school.
A Jewish IDP walks over to continue construction on Anatevka's main synagogue.
Katia, a Jewish IDP from Luhansk, sits in the room she shares with her husband Itzak in Anatevka.
IDPs walk toward their homes in Anatevka.
Rabbi Azman (right) and his son Yossi (center) dance during a prayer in the new synagogue in Anatevka.
Moshe (center), an IDP from Donetsk, prays in the synagogue in Anatevka with the help of children from the Jewish community in Kiev.
Azman doesnt just want to rebuild the shtetl as a home for Jewish refugees he also wants to prove that it can return to being the religious center of its glory days. We want a physical and spiritual revival. We save people, we help them, feed them, Rabbi Azman told me. And spiritually too, we dont force them but we try to engage. Living in Anatevka also means living according Hasidic customs, in a practicing Orthodox Jewish community. The communal kitchen is kosher, and the children of Anatevka learn Hebrew in school boys are educated in the cheder, a religious school on the second-floor of the synagogue. While Yiddish hasnt completely died out, daily life is conducted in a mix of Russian and Hebrew. Mezuzahs decorative cases containing verses from the Torah dot every doorpost, and modest dress is encouraged. Three times a day, a group of men trudge from the refugee cabin to pray in the synagogue.
These expectations create a delicate dynamic in the shtetl, where many refugees are not practicing Jews. Most grew up during the Soviet era, when few synagogues were allowed to operate in the open and practicing Judaism could mean risking ones livelihood.
Yaakov, one of the elderly refugees living at Anatevka, fled his home in Luhansk with his wife Nadya in August 2014. I didnt know anyone. It was incredibly difficult, Yaakov said over coffee in the small room he and his wife, who is not Jewish, share. We left amid bombing. Yaakov reached out to the local synagogue, which brought him to the temporary refugee camp in Chernivtsy. Rabbi Azman soon told the small community gathered there that he had bought a piece of land for them.
Until 1986 I was an atheist, like a lot of people. But then I had a really difficult operation, and after that I started to believe, Yaakov says. For me its really interesting, Im starting to understand a lot of things. But I could never pass for a truly believing Jew. Since moving to Anatevka, Yaakov has joined the five other refugee men who pray at the synagogue every day. Nadya has been living with him for 50 years, over which time she has learned how to make the food at Passover and other high holidays but hasnt adopted it as her own. Like all of Anatevkas new residents, she and Yaakov were promised theyd soon have their own home, and that, rather than religion, is her primary concern.
Sonia Semenenko, 39, lived near the Donetsk airport, where some of the heaviest clashes between separatists and government forces took place. When the bombs started, we took our things and left it was May 26 when the first warplanes flew over, and by the 29th we were gone, she tells me as she pumps her sewing machine in the corridor of the refugee hotel, her young daughter Varya looking on. Everything burned, but by then we were already gone.
She didnt go to synagogue in Donetsk, but her father sometimes went. You know, Im just starting a new life. So for me, I dont feel anything yet, I dont believe. But my life is completely different now, she said. Life isnt so bad in Anatevka Azman and his partners have taken pains to provide for the community there. Theres a good school, and a kindergarten. You dont have to go anywhere. We have everything here, Sonya says. Her son, Yegor, just turned 13 and was bar mitzvahed at the Anatevka synagogue.
Left: Children from the Jewish community in Kiev make their way to the new school in Anatevka. Right: The family picture wall of Elena and Sergey, two IDPs from Luhansk, at their room in Anatevka.
Anatevka so far consists of five buildings: the synagogue, the refugee hostel, a carpentry shed, a single-family home that one refugee, Chaim, built for his family, and a large concrete pastel-colored day school, the Mitzvah-613 Lyceum, which admitted its first students in September. Theres also an aspirational town square, dubbed Goodman Square, in honor of a family of wealthy donors, which consists of a metal gate, two benches, and a tree-of-life sculpture displaying benefactor names. The villages website features a blueprint for the modern-day shtetl consisting of 17 buildings, including single-family units, a health care center, and a nursing home, but the community does not yet have the funding to finance all of those projects. All buildings in Anatevka sport commemorative plaques in English and Russian; down the single dirt road that winds through the complex, the foundation of a rehabilitation center for refugees has been laid. Azman hopes that one day there will also be a museum of Hassidic life.
This is a form of historical justice for this place, Azmans wife, Chana, tells me one sweltering Sunday morning in the synagogue, where three small classes of young boys are about to graduate from the cheder for the first time. Most of the boys are not refugees, but their families wanted to enroll them in Azmans religious school. Every day, a bus drives them from Kiev to Anatevka and back again. On Sunday, dozens of cars from the city lined up in front of the synagogue, the boys proud parents greeting the Rabbi on their way inside. Here in the past Jews were expelled, there were pogroms here, Chana says. Its more evidence that God watches over the Jewish people.
Reminders of Anatevkas dark history dot the premises. When they had just purchased the land, Azmans sons, Shmulik and Yosef, were taking a walk along the outskirts of the property when they came across old Jewish gravestones hidden among rubble on the side of the road. Anything made of stone in [Anatevka] was clearly not Jewish, Petrovsky-Shtern writes, except, of course, the tombstones.
In his study of Jewish religious figures, Wise Men and Their Tales, Elie Wiesel called the shtetl a small colorful Jewish kingdom so rich in memories, a place where life could never be truly extinguished. Enemies might periodically appear to murder the resident Jews, he wrote, but then as if out of nowhere, a man, a woman, or adolescent appeared, and life would once again begin flowing, binding the abandoned survivors into a community. They would rebuild their homes, open schools, arrange weddings and circumcisions, celebrate holidays all that, while waiting for the next catastrophe.
Azman hopes Anatevka will help Ukraine move on from its most recent catastrophe. Rebuilding a town here gives hope to Ukrainian people, too. Very little is being built in Ukraine now, he said. He hopes that Ukrainians will see him building Anatevka and think, If the Jews are building, then we have a future.
Amnon Gutman is a photographer who has been covering the conflict in Ukraine since 2014 and has been following the ongoing development of Anatevka since 2015.
Christ The Redeemer Brazil
Finance Insider is Business Insider's summary of the top stories of the past 24 hours.
To sign up, scroll to the bottom of this page and click "Get updates in your inbox," or click here.
The Bridgewater employee who filed a sexual-harassment claim has withdrawn it and left for the private equity firm KKR.
Chris Tarui filed a complaint earlier this year with a Connecticut agency, alleging the harassment and describing Bridgewater as a "cauldron of fear and intimidation" that kept him silent.
After the The New York Times last month reported on the complaint, Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio called the Times' story a "distortion of reality."
Meanwhile, investors just don't seem to be able to say no to hedge funds.
In macro news, Venezuela's president hopes the 'Jesus Christ of economics' can fix the country's economic disaster. And Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, is headed to trial.
Here in the US, the number of foreclosures in America is at an all-time low, and there's finally a tiny bit of good news for the 40 million Americans with student debt.
Here are the top Wall Street headlines at midday:
This could be the trigger for market mayhem Everyone should be paying close attention to risk parity funds again, says Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Delta's computer nightmare reveals the biggest problem in corporate America It's been a bad week for Delta.
There's a big misunderstanding about technology's impact on Wall Street The rise of financial technology is threatening Wall Street, right?
'They are hurting right now': The oil patch and has been decimated Oil prices have dropped over 20% since June.
Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Erdogan ate lunch off of plates with their faces on them Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan met Tuesday to discuss normalizing bilateral relations.
JIM GRANT: Gold isn't a hedge on chaos; it's an investment in chaos Jim Grant thinks that gold is misunderstood.
More From Business Insider
colorful easter eggs
Even if you know only the bare basics of investing, you've probably heard that you need to "diversify" your portfolio the technical term for not putting all of your investing eggs in one basket.
Seems easy enough. Avoid sinking all your money into Google stock and you should be set, right?
Not exactly.
"Diversification is not just about having a bunch of different mutual funds or ETFs or even stocks," Bob Gavlak, CFP and wealth adviser with Strategic Wealth Partners in Columbus, Ohio, told Business Insider. "A lot of people will say, 'Yeah, my portfolio is diversified,' and then I look at their portfolio and they have 10 different mutual funds, but all 10 of those mutual funds are large cap value mutual funds or something like that."
He continued:
"Just because you have a bunch of mutual funds or ETFs does not mean you are necessarily diversified the way that you should be depending on your investment goals.
"The importance of diversification is that when the markets work and they work in cycles certain asset classes or certain pieces of the world economy are going to be up when others are going to be down. The goal is to minimize your overall exposure to one asset class so if that asset class does not perform as well, there are others holding up the portfolio or keeping you more in line with your long-term investment goals."
Charles Schwab portfolio consultant Sean Moore previously told Business Insider he regularly sees this mistake. Investors put together a "collection" of investments rather than a portfolio. "You find that because investors don't understand what's going to serve their best big-picture objectives, and they purchase or select investments based on factors like past performance or names they recognize," Moore said.
Moore pointed out that "funds of funds," like target date funds, are available for investors who aren't completely secure in their own diversification strategies. "They're sometimes referred to as market or balanced funds," he explained. "Obviously it's not tailored to you specifically, but the idea is it's pre-diversified."
Story continues
Gavlak recommended investors ask themselves, "What do I need my investments to do for me in order to be successful?" From there, he said, you can better develop an investment strategy that's properly diversified among the appropriate set of asset classes rather than through different funds that may overlap.
NOW WATCH: Watch the Air Force drop 8 armored Humvees out of a plane from 5,000 feet
More From Business Insider
WASHINGTON Young people in America overwhelmingly support LGBT rights when it comes to policies on employment, health care and adoption, according to a new survey.
The GenForward survey of Americans ages 18 to 30 found that support for those policies has increased over the past two years, especially among young whites. But relatively few of these young adults consider rights for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender to be among the top issues facing the U.S.
According to the findings, 92 percent of young adults support HIV and AIDs prevention, 90 percent support equal employment, and 80 percent support LGBT adoption. Across racial and ethnic groups, broad majorities support training police on transgender issues, government support for organizations for LGBT youth and insurance coverage for transgender health issues.
GenForward is a survey by the Black Youth Project at the University of Chicago with The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The first-of-its-kind poll pays special attention to the voices of young adults of color, highlighting how race and ethnicity shape the opinions of the countrys most diverse generation.
In the past two years, support has increased from 69 percent to 84 percent among young whites for policies such as allowing gays and lesbians to legally adopt children. Support among this group for employment equality for LGBT individuals rose from 84 percent to 92 percent. The poll also suggests support for allowing adoption by gays and lesbians has increased among Hispanics over the past two years, from 65 percent to 75 percent.
Christie Cocklin, 27, a self-identified multiracial American from Providence, R.I., says that LGBT rights are just common sense.
People who dont identify as heterosexual are human like we are, and should be entitled to the same kind of rights, she said. I have friends who are LGBT and I feel that its discrimination to not allow them adoption or employment or whatever.
Young Asian-Americans, African-Americans and Latinos are more likely to support insurance coverage for transgender health issues in general than when certain specifics are mentioned.
Eighty-three percent of Asian-Americans support insurance coverage for transgender health issues, but only 63 percent say so when gender reassignment surgery and hormone treatments are specifically mentioned. Similarly, support for insurance coverage drops from 69 percent to 57 percent among African-Americans, and from 74 percent to 57 percent among Latinos. Sixty-two percent of young whites favored insurance coverage of transgender health issues regardless of whether that specifically included gender reassignment surgery and hormone treatments.
While young Americans favored LGBT rights on every issue in the poll, only 6 percent, including fewer than 1 in 10 across racial and ethnic backgrounds, consider the LGBT rights one of the top issues facing the country. Among those who self-identified as LGBT, 17 percent said it is one of the countrys top issues.
The poll of 1,940 adults age 18-30 was conducted July 9-20 using a sample drawn from the probability-based GenForward panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. young adult population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
The survey was paid for by the Black Youth Project at the University of Chicago using grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
Respondents were first selected randomly using address-based sampling methods, and later interviewed online or by phone.
Despite going double-platinum with no features with his 2014 studio effort 2014 Forest Hills Drive, J. Cole is a team player. Logging collaborations with DJ Khaled, Kendrick Lamar, Drake and Wale to name a few, the Fayetteville lyricist comes correct on any track co-starring another act.
As J. Cole heads to Jones Beach as a headliner for Billboard's Hot 100 Fest on Aug. 20 - 21, revisit his best collaborations below.
Billboard Hot 100 Music Festival
Wale "The Pessimist" feat. J. Cole
Pensive deep cuts are Cole's forte but for this Wale gem, the North Carolina rep opts for melodies instead of bars, singing on the hook, "Got a pocket full of lint again, but it make no difference to me/ Fallin' out with my friends again, but it make no difference to me/ Goddamn I'm hopeless/ Oh man I'm hopeless."
J. Cole "Mr. Nice Watch" feat. Jay Z
After inking a deal to Roc Nation, Cole calls on his label boss, Hov, for a stunt-worthy baller anthem off his major label debut, Cole World: The Sideline Story.
Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment "Warm Enough" feat. J. Cole
This summer-ready number features contributions from Noname Gypsy, Chance The Rapper and a pensive Cole, who tries to find penance for his mistakes. He tells his girl, "I know you probably think you're blessed to have a wonderful guy/ And that's the truth but at the same time a wonderful lie."
J. Cole's Top 5 Biggest Billboard Hits
J. Cole "Crooked Smile" feat. TLC
Inspired by his real-life twisted grill, Cole taps TLC's T-Boz and Chilli for a self esteem booster reminiscent of the ladies' 1999 offering "Unpretty."
J. Cole "Forbidden Fruit" feat. Kendrick Lamar
The self-produced Cole track not only features the Tribe Called Quest-sampled "Mystic Brew" by Ronnie Foster but an assist from K.Dot. Rumors floated around this year and last that the hip-hop fan favorites would release a joint project.
Story continues
A Tribe Called Quest "Can I Kick It? (J. Cole Remix)"
Cole didn't even need to touch the mic for this collaboration. A part-time producer on the low, he flips this hip-hop gem into a smooth chill session for the re-issue of ATCQ's People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.
The Come Up: 10 Motivational J. Cole Lyrics
Tyga "Let It Show" feat. J. Cole
The sunny soundscape offers a pretty canvas for T-Raww and Cole, who call out fake friends and ponder the consequences of fame on the Careless World: Rise of the Last King cut.
J. Cole "In The Morning" feat. Drake
This bedroom bumper features Cole and Drake channeling Romeo while asking their special ladies bluntly, "Can I hit in the morning?"
Jeremih "Planez" feat. J. Cole
Cop tickets to a Jeremih or J. Cole show and this love song is an immediate high note. The pair get lifted on the Frank Dukes and Vinylz-produced jam fit for the mile high club.
J. Cole "Power Trip" feat. Miguel
Cole delivers another ode to bae on the Miguel-assisted "Power Trip." Warning: this lyrical joyride will have you up all night.
BAMAKO (Reuters) - Five Malian soldiers have been found drowned in central Mali, days after they went missing during clashes with militants, army officials said on Wednesday. Four of the soldiers were found near Tenenkou on Tuesday and a fifth near the town of Mopti, about 75 km (50 miles) away on Wednesday, army spokesman Souleymane Maiga said. The soldiers were reported missing after an attack claimed by Islamist group Ansar Dine near the village of Tenenkou on Sunday, Maiga said. "Yesterday evening, residents alerted us to the presence of bodies at the river's edge," Hama Thokary, a nurse in Tenenkou, said. He did not know how many bodies had been found by the river, and was waiting for the army to collect them. Sunday's attack was the latest in a string of assaults claimed by Ansar Dine. The group said in a statement that it had ambushed the army, killing and wounding soldiers, according to SITE Intelligence Group. Fighting continued into Monday. Islamist militant groups took advantage of an ethnic Tuareg uprising in 2012 to seize northern Mali before a French-led intervention drove them back a year later. They have since reorganized and launch frequent attacks across the region. (Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; additional reporting by Cheick Dioura; Writing by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
A Florida police officer shot an elderly woman Tuesday night during a training seminar, in what officials are calling an accident.
Mary Knowlton, 73, was at a citizen police academy at the Punta Gorda, Fla. police station when she was shot during a two-hour long course, according to the Washington Post.
Officers chose Knowlton to role-play a lethal force scenario, intended to demonstrate police judgement in pulling the trigger, when she was shot with an officers loaded gun. Knowlton was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis called the incident a horrible accident, and that there was no word as to why the officer was carrying live ammunition. Our entire police department and all of our city leaders are absolutely devastated for everyone involved in this unimaginable event, Lewis said, according to the Post. I am asking that if you pray, you pray for Marys husband and family and for all of the officers and witnesses involved in this incident.
By Colleen Jenkins (Reuters) - A Florida police officer shot and killed a 73-year-old retired librarian in a "tragic accident" during an exercise with local residents that was meant to involve simulated lethal force, authorities said on Wednesday. Mary Knowlton was hit by a live round fired by Officer Lee Coel on Tuesday night during a role-playing exercise at an event hosted by the Punta Gorda Police Department for about 35 members of the community, the agency said in a statement. The married mother of two sons was a retiree from Minnesota and had signed up for the city's Citizens Academy as a show of support for law enforcement after deadly attacks on police in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, son Steve Knowlton told NBC News. The academy consists of a series of sessions designed to provide insight into city government and includes site visits to various agencies, according to Punta Gorda's website. Mary Knowlton's neighbourhood had recent break-ins, and she was playing the role of an intruder when she was fatally shot, said her son, who could not immediately be reached by Reuters. Police Chief Tom Lewis gave reporters few details about the revolver fired in the incident. It had been used in similar exercises before, and officials thought only blank rounds were available for it, Lewis said. "We were unaware that any live ammunition was available to that officer at the time," the chief said. Officer Coel, who has been on the force since March 2014, is on administrative leave while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates. The Punta Gorda Police Department said Coel is a frequent presenter at "shoot/don't shoot" role-playing scenarios, as well as at youth and neighbourhood events. "He's very grief-stricken," said Lewis, who added that counseling will be made available next week to others affected by the incident. Punta Gorda is a city of about 18,000 people located on Florida's west coast, about 30 miles (50 km)north of Fort Myers. The chief described Mary Knowlton as "a phenomenal person in this community" who attended many local events. "Everyone involved in this accident is in a state of overwhelming shock and grief," Lewis said in an earlier statement. (Reporting by Colleen Jenkins; Additional reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Jonathan Oatis)
A Florida woman was fatally shot by a police officer during an exercise as part of a citizens police academy on Tuesday, in an incident police called a "horrible accident."
Mary Knowlton, a 73-year-old librarian, died after being "struck with a live round" while participating in a "shoot-don't, shoot" role-playing exercise with Punta Gorda officers, police said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.
She died later at Lee Memorial Hospital.
The name of the officer who killed her has not been released.
"I am devastated for everyone involved in this unimaginable event. If you pray, please pray for Mary's family, and for the officers who were involved," Chief Tom Lewis said in a statement. "Everyone involved in this accident is in a state of overwhelming shock and grief."
About 35 citizens participated in the eight-session course, a series of free, interactive classes designed to give residents an up-close look at city government, according to the department's website.
Knowlton was randomly selected to take part in the scenario, in which participants made "decisions on using simulated lethal force in a live role play," police said in the statement.
Mother of Two Fatally Shot After Hours Long Standoff With Baltimore Police
A photographer for the Charlotte Sun witnessed the incident while covering the event for the newspaper, according to a post on the Sun's Facebook page.
Knowlton was playing the victim in the scenario and the officer, who portrayed a "bad guy," fired several shots at the woman, the post stated.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the incident, Lewis said in a news conference late Tuesday.
The officer involved has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation, Lewis added.
In a Facebook post, a woman who called Knowlton her aunt, described Knowlton as a "devoted Wife and Mother."
"How I loved her so much she will be forever missed by all," the post stated. My heart just breaksa"
Share price of Ford Motor Co. F increased to $12.19 on Aug 5 after the automaker and its joint ventures reported a 15% year-over-year improvement in China sales to 88,189 vehicles for Jul 2016. Sales increased 6% year over year to 652,836 units in the worlds largest automobile market in the first seven months of 2016.
Fords passenger car joint venture, Changan Ford Automobile (CAF) recorded a 20% year-over-year rise in vehicle sales to 69,074 units in Jul 2016. CAF sales rose 11% year over year to 503,719 units in the first seven months of 2016. CAFs performance was driven by strong sales of the Ford Escort and Ford Focus. Sales of Ford Escort surged 82% in July, while that of the new Ford Focus increased 13%.
Ford's commercial vehicle investment in China, Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC), sold 17,748 vehicles in Jul 2016. Notably, sales improved 6% from the figure recorded in Jul 2015. However, JMC sales declined 5% year over year to 139,262 vehicles in the first seven months of 2016.
In Oct 2015, Ford announced its plan to invest nearly 11.4 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) for research and development in China over the next five years. The automaker has been trying to augment its sales in the Chinese market by modifying its vehicles to meet consumer preferences. As a result, it has gained significant market share over the last few years. Ford plans to expand its portfolio of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles in the nation over the next few years. Further, it will launch the C-MAX Energi, a plug-in hybrid, and the Mondeo conventional hybrid in China this year.
FORD MOTOR CO Price
FORD MOTOR CO Price | FORD MOTOR CO Quote
Ford currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
Stocks that Warrant a Look
Some better-ranked automobile stocks include The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company GT, Visteon Corporation VC and Gentex Corp. GNTX, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
FORD MOTOR CO (F): Free Stock Analysis Report
VISTEON CORP (VC): Free Stock Analysis Report
GENTEX CORP (GNTX): Free Stock Analysis Report
GOODYEAR TIRE (GT): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
SunPower Corporation SPWR disappointed investors Teusday evening after posting its second quarter earnings results. The companys shares have lost over 30% in value since yesterdays earnings release, and the price loss is mainly attributable towards SPWRs lowered income guidance for this year. In May, the company had issued earnings guidance between $0 and $50 million for fiscal 2016. Now, Sunpower expects to post a net loss amounting to as much as -$175 million.
SPWR stock is a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell), so you may be better off by picking up some solar stocks that have been building earnings momentum in the form of positive earnings estimate revisions from analysts. The pay off on these stocks could be big if they surprise, and because of the positive EPS (earnings per share) revisions trending upwards this quarter, they have a strong chance of topping expectations. To capitalize on some potential gains, you should forget about SunPower for now and pick up these two Strong Buy ranked solar stocks instead.
Sunrun Inc-RUN
Sunrun Inc. develops and sells residential solar energy systems in the US. The company currently operates across 15 states and also offers leasing services on its solar products for no money down. Sunrun stock is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and it isnt profitable yet, but it is heading in the right direction with regards to growing revenues and minimizing net losses. Last year, company sales grew by 53% and net losses improved to -$28 million from -$71 million in 2014. In addition to demonstrating growth potential, there is value in owning RUN shares since they are currently trading at a price-to-book ratio of 0.65. A price-to-book below 1 suggests that a stock may be undervalued.
SUNRUN INC Revenue (Quarterly)
SUNRUN INC Revenue (Quarterly) | SUNRUN INC Quote
In the last 2 months, analysts have unanimously revised their EPS estimates upwards for the current quarter, current year, and next year. For the current quarter, EPS estimates have trended upwards over the last 60 days. In that span of time, the consensus for the current quarter has improved, going from -$0.47 to -$0.41. Our EPS consensus estimate for the current year has moved up as well, going from -$2.16 to -$1.54 over the last 90 days. Sunrun reports its Q2 earnings results on the 11th of August.
Story continues
Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited-YGE
Yingli Green Energy, also known as Yingli Solar, is a vertically integrated solar panel manufacturer with photovoltaic products in China. The companys manufacturing process covers ingot casting and wafering through solar cell production and solar panel assembly. The company has over 30 regional subsidiaries and its solar panels have provided 15 gigawatts (GW) in total installed capacity for customers worldwide. Like Sunrun, YGE is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The stock has a beta of 2.91, so expect more price volatility from an investment in this company. The company is highly leveraged, so unless it proves itself capable of making a profitable turnaround in the long run, you should definitely make an investment in this company with the hopes of realizing profits in the short term.
YINGLI GREEN EN EPS Diluted (Quarterly)
YINGLI GREEN EN EPS Diluted (Quarterly) | YINGLI GREEN EN Quote
Shares are trading for around $4, so compared to its four year share price high of about $80, YGE shares are trading at a significant discount. Yingli Solar has seen its EPS outlook improve significantly over the last few months. Three months ago, our earnings estimate predicted EPS of -$2.00 for the current quarter. The estimate has updated since then, and it now forecasts an earnings loss of -$0.30 per share. The current year estimate has also seen a large change over the last three months, going from -$8.28 to -$1.71. Yingli posted a significant beat on our EPS consensus last quarter, reporting EPS of $0.60 after subtracting nonrecurring items versus our estimate of -$0.97. This represents a beat of 161.86%, so hopefully the company can carry the optimistic EPS momentum going into its Q2 earnings report, which is scheduled to be released on the 23rd of August.
The Zacks Rank is a truly marvelous trading tool. Our ranking system has beaten the S&P 500, yielding an average return of 25% per year for the last 29 years! Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
YINGLI GREEN EN (YGE): Free Stock Analysis Report
SUNPOWER CORP-A (SPWR): Free Stock Analysis Report
SUNRUN INC (RUN): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
Paris (AFP) - French industrial production dropped for a second straight month in June, statistics bureau Insee said on Wednesday, alarming analysts who had been looking for a modest increase.
Output fell 0.8 percent in June, after dropping 0.5 percent in May, with oil refining posting the largest single decline after strikes in France's oil industry.
Connor Campbell, an analyst at Spreadex, called the latest French reading "alarming" and "far worse" than the May drop and the 0.3 percent increase that economists had been expecting for June.
Manufacturing output alone fell 1.2 percent in June after a revised 0.1 percent increase the previous month.
Stoppages at French refineries in early June in protest at a new French labour law pushed output in the refining and coking sector down by a massive 12.4 percent, Insee said.
The food, transport and capital goods sectors also all saw declines.
Energy and water extraction was one of the few bright spots in the data, rising by 1.9 percent.
For the second quarter as a whole, industrial production was down by 0.1 percent.
Wednesday's figures put a dent in economic recovery hopes for the eurozone's second-biggest economy after Germany.
Insee last month said the French economy failed to grow at all in the second quarter, dashing government hopes for a small expansion.
The finance ministry called the flat figure "disappointing", given that Insee had predicted 0.3 percent growth and the Bank of France 0.2 percent.
The government is still looking for full-year growth of 1.5 percent this year.
Frances Cannon is an artist whose empowering and beautiful Instagram feed is about to rule your world
Frances Cannon is an artist whose empowering and beautiful Instagram feed is about to rule your world
Few things are more important than self care, body positivity, and learning to love yourself, so when we came across this artists work, we were instantly blown away. Frances Cannon is a super popular Melbourne-based, feminist artist. Her empowering work has been turned into everything from tattoos to killer prints, and it isnt surprising. With nearly 60k followers on Instagram and new work posted regularly, shes basically a dream come true in so many ways.
Working hard or hardly working A photo posted by Frances Cannon (@frances_cannon) on Aug 9, 2016 at 7:59pm PDT
According to her website, Frances work examines what it is like to be a woman (and woman artist) in contemporary times; looking at ideas of body-love and body-loathing, anxiety, relationships, sex and sexuality, gender, and bodily functions. Were 100 types of on board.
We love spending our days scrolling aimlessly through Cannons feed. Plus, you can purchase tattoo designs! Its like we can feel the empowerment entering our bodies through our fingertips. Its rad AF.
Here are a few of our fave empowering and beautiful pieces by Frances Cannon!
1. This incredible workspace
A photo posted by Frances Cannon (@frances_cannon) on Aug 7, 2016 at 9:09pm PDT
Such major #goals.
2. This body posi print
A photo posted by Frances Cannon (@frances_cannon) on Aug 3, 2016 at 10:20pm PDT
Love, love, love.
3. This uplifting piece
A photo posted by Frances Cannon (@frances_cannon) on Jul 23, 2016 at 10:46pm PDT
This is *too* lovely.
4. This inspirational artwork
A photo posted by Frances Cannon (@frances_cannon) on Jul 23, 2016 at 10:39pm PDT
Need this one ASAP.
5. These realistic pieces
A photo posted by Frances Cannon (@frances_cannon) on Jul 28, 2016 at 10:25pm PDT
Ugh, our hearts.
6. This rad selfie
A photo posted by Frances Cannon (@frances_cannon) on Jul 21, 2016 at 8:34pm PDT
Five stars.
Story continues
7. This notebook shot
A photo posted by Frances Cannon (@frances_cannon) on Jul 21, 2016 at 7:47pm PDT
Truly beautiful.
8. This empowering ode to bellies
A photo posted by Frances Cannon (@frances_cannon) on Jul 4, 2016 at 3:45am PDT
All too necessary.
9. This hairy babe
A photo posted by Frances Cannon (@frances_cannon) on Jul 1, 2016 at 10:24pm PDT
Wonderfully unapologetic.
10. This relatable art
A photo posted by Frances Cannon (@frances_cannon) on Jun 27, 2016 at 11:16pm PDT
Self love takes time.
11. This stunning shot of one of her custom tattoos
A photo posted by Frances Cannon (@frances_cannon) on Jul 12, 2016 at 3:25am PDT
Such huge fans.
The post Frances Cannon is an artist whose empowering and beautiful Instagram feed is about to rule your world appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Bamako (AFP) - Renewed fighting pitted former Mali rebels against pro-government fighters for a second day Wednesday, the government and UN said, while the army separately found the bodies of five missing soldiers.
Fighting erupted Tuesday near the restive northeastern town of Kidal between ex-rebels from the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) and members of the pro-government group GATIA.
The Malian government said in a statement that lives had been lost but gave no details and expressed "deep concern" over the clashes.
It "condemns the resumption of hostilities", the statement said and called on the parties to stop, warning the situation was a "serious threat" to the implementation of a 2015 peace accord.
The two sides had clashed with heavy arms in Kidal itself on July 21-22, and again on July 30 around 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the east of the town, several sources said.
GATIA, the Imghad and Allies Tuareg Self-Defence Group, said in a statement that the violence was down to tribal differences between the Imghad and Ifoghas.
The CMA could not be reached for comment.
The clashes were confirmed to AFP by a source in MINUSMA, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the west African country, which helps maintain calm in Kidal.
"We have information on fighting" under way near Kidal, said the source, giving no further details.
Meanwhile Mali's army said it had recovered the bodies of five soldiers missing since an attack Monday in the Mopti region in the centre of the country.
Four bodies were found Tuesday and a fifth on Wednesday morning, said an army spokesman. "At this stage we cannot specify the cause of death. Our experts are still examining the remains," he said.
Another military official told AFP overnight that the four bodies had been washed up by the river, and a probe was launched to determine "if they were killed and thrown into the river or if they died by drowning".
Story continues
One military source blamed the attack on the soldiers on the Malian jihadist group Ansar Dine, which claimed a previous deadly attack against the army in the Mopti region on July 19, in which 17 soldiers died.
Ongoing international military intervention since January 2013 has driven Islamist fighters away from major population centres, but large tracts of the sub-Saharan country are still not controlled by Malian and foreign troops.
Jihadist groups early last year began to carry out attacks in central Mali as well as the north.
Mexico cocaine seizure Manzanillo Colima drug bust
In late July, Mexican police in Manzanillo, the biggest port on the country's west coast, intercepted 860 pounds of cocaine being smuggled inside a shipment of refrigerators.
The discovery was made by navy personnel and officials from the customs service, who uncovered the cocaine insider a container aboard a ship bound from Buenaventura, Colombia, and destined for Puerto Queztal in Guatemala.
The 860-pound shipment is not the only major drug bust that has taken place in Manzanillo recently.
Just a week prior to that discovery, Mexican marines intercepted 217 containers of spicy salsa bound from Ecuador to Sinaloa state, farther up Mexico's west coast, that had cocaine hidden inside. Though the exact size of that cocaine shipment wasn't confirmed at the time, Reuters reported that a little more than 13 tons was captured.
While Manzanillo is no stranger to illicit activity, the discovery of such a large amount of cocaine over a short period is a reminder that the port, the state that surrounds it, and much of Mexico's southwest coast are hotbeds for the drug trade and that competition between criminal organizations for control of that trade has driven violence to new highs.
Homicides in Colima Mexico January 2015 to June 2016
Colima, where Manzanillo is located, is one of Mexico's smallest and least populated states, and while it has had fewer homicides than many of Mexico's other states this year, the spike in violence that it has experienced over the last year outstrips much of the rest of the country.
In the first six months of 2016, Colima had a 338% increase in homicides compared to the same period in 2015, Mexican security analyst Alejandro Hope noted.
Through the first half of this year, Colima had a homicide rate of 39 per 100,000 people, which not only put it well above the national rate of 7.7 per 100,000 over the same period, but also exceeded the 29.3 per 100,000 rate in nearby Guerrero state, which has been racked by organized-crime-related violence in recent months.
Story continues
"In relative terms, this is probably the worst epidemic of violence since Ciudad Juarez exploded in 2008," El Daily Post editor Alejandro Hope wrote in late May. "This is even worse, in percentage than the security crisis in Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas in 2010-2011."
In Colima, the fighting is believed to be between the Sinaloa cartel of imprisoned cartel chief Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG). Those two cartels are generally considered to be Mexico's most powerful.
Like most cartel clashes, this one is over territory.
Mexico southwest drug smuggling violence map
In Colima and neighboring states along the Pacific coast, maritime smuggling "has always been important, and the physical infrastructure and transportation infrastructure from the coast to the center of Mexico, to Mexico City importantly, is vital to all kinds of trade, including illicit trade," David Shirk, a professor at the University of San Diego and director of the school's Justice in Mexico program, told Business Insider in May.
This geographic appeal as helped attract high levels of violence, as fragmented and weakened criminal organizations compete over not just coastal areas and inland smuggling areas, but also control of cultivation areas, particularly in Guerrero state.
Acapulco Mexico beach soldiers homicides violence
According to Hope, just south of Colima in Michoacan state, also a hub of drug trafficking, there were 480 homicides in the first five months of this year, 37% more than over the same period last year (though, Hope notes, it is still less than occurred in the first five months of 2014, when cartels and civilian self-defense groups were clashing).
Guerrero state, south of Michoacan on Mexico's Pacific coast, is the site of extensive heroin production, and competition between criminal organizations Sinaloa and CJNG among them helped give the state the second-most homicides in the country through the first five months of the year.
Acapulco, formerly a tourist mecca on Guerrero's coast, is now the most violent city in the country. Mexican forces off the coast of Acapulco seized nearly 1,900 pounds of cocaine aboard two vessels in late July.
While its hard to state precisely the amount of drugs smuggled over a period of time, recent seizures suggest that smuggling along Mexico's west coast has continued unabated amid the region's rising violence and despite the government's intense response in some parts of the area.
That is perhaps the surest sign that neither trend will decline any time soon.
NOW WATCH: There's a terrifying reason people are warned to stay inside at 5:45 p.m. in parts of Mexico
More From Business Insider
The candidate: Hillary Clinton
The gaffe: Whos that standing behind the Democratic nominee during a rally in Kissimmee, Florida? Oh, just Seddique Mateen, the father of Orlando nightclub gunman Omar Mateen and a man who has espoused pro-Taliban and anti-gay views, in addition to peculiar statements suggesting he holds some power in Afghanistan.
The defense: In a statement to WPTV, the Clinton campaign said, The rally was a 3,000-person, open-door event for the public. This individual wasn't invited as a guest and the campaign was unaware of his attendance until after the event. (Mateen also said he had just decided to go.)
Why it matters (or doesnt): This isnt a major gaffe by the candidate, but its sort of baffling. Sure, events are open to the public, but how did staffers allow their boss to get in a situation where she was standing in front of Mateen, sitting somewhat prominently in the grandstand? Hes not the name you want in headlines with Hillary Clinton. Perhaps Trump was right: We have no idea where they come from, we have no idea who the hell they are. We know they believe in certain things that we dont want to believe in.
The lesson: Screen anyone who might appear on screen.
Read more from The Atlantic:
This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Illustration by
Most of us wouldn't think twice before holding our partner's hand at the supermarket. A loving PDA in the confectionary aisle is sometimes just what you need after a long, hard day at work.
Well one couple have been reprimanded for doing just that.
On Monday evening, while Thomas Rees and Joshua Bradwell were buying food in a Sainsbury's store in Hackney, London, a woman complained about their behaviour to a security guard.
After they had paid, a security guard called them outside to tell them about the complaint that they had acted "inappropriately", the BBC reported.
The couple have since expressed their shock and anger over the incident. "It's really knocked me for six and I've spent the last day or so analysing how I'm perceived," Rees told the BBC.
The couple merely held hands and Rees said he may have even gasp! put his arm around Bradwell's waist, the BBC reported.
To the bigot who complained about my bf & I holdin hands & the security guard at @sainsburys who felt the need to 'talk' to us outside Thomas Rees (@doganddinosaur) August 8, 2016
Talking to the BBC, Rees said the couple "weren't all over each other" or "in the throes of passion".
"It was essentially just holding my boyfriend's hand as I do every day. I'm very much in love and that's how I express my love," he said.
"All it's done is strengthen the importance that if you love someone, irrelevant of their gender, that is love and you should express that love in whatever way you desire or wish to."
After tweeting about the humiliating incident, Sainsbury's offered Rees a 10 off voucher. A token gesture that would barely cover the cost of a nice dinner and wine for two.
A spokesperson for the supermarket said: "We sincerely apologise to Thomas and Josh. We are an inclusive retailer and employer and do not tolerate discrimination in our stores.
Story continues
"We will take appropriate action once we've concluded our investigation with our security contractor."
However, this isn't the first time customers have taken offence to gay people showing affection to each other in Sainsbury's.
In 2014, a young lesbian couple were threatened with ejection from a Brighton store after a customer complained that a kiss they shared was "disgusting". Students then held a mass "kiss-in" in protest at how the women were treated.
Since the incident, Rees said he'd like to know how the supermarket trains staff to deal with diversity. And maybe shoppers should get used to the fact that, in 2016, homophobia has no place in public.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
Swimming Pool Bans Women On Their Period
This Could Be The Silver Lining Of Brexit
New Stats Reveal Sexual Harassment At Work In The UK Is Rampant
Geraldo Rivera is coming out with both barrels blasting at Donald Trump, after the GOP presidential candidate made a controversial statement about Second Amendment people at a rally on Tuesday.
Former Celebrity Apprentice contestant Rivera fired up his Twitter account the next day, targeting longtime loyal friend Trump for the comments.
@realDonaldTrump is a longtime loyal friend-But his #SecondAmmendmentPeople bullst was dangerous incitement&blaming the media doesnt wash, Rivera said.
Also Read: Hillary Clinton Rips Donald Trump for 'Casual Inciting of Violence' in 2nd Amendment Remark
Trump caused an uproar during a rally in North Carolina on Tuesday, telling supporters that, if his political rival Hillary Clinton is elected, she would have the power to appoint judges to the Supreme Court.
If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks, Trump said. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know.
Trumps campaign issued a clarification that the GOP nominee wasnt encouraging anyone to kill Clinton. Even so, the comment was taken by some as a call to violence, and even reportedly prompted The U.S. Secret Service to discuss the matter with Trumps campaign, though Trump has subsequently denied that a meeting took place.
Also Read: Dan Rather Rips Donald Trump for 'Direct Threat of Violence' Against Hillary Clinton
On Wednesday, Clinton herself addressed the comment during a rally in Iowa, saying it was just the latest item on a laundry list of inappropriate comments that Trump had made and asserting that her competitor is unfit for the office of the President.
And now his casual inciting of violence, Clinton said. Every single one of these incidents shows us Donald Trump simply does not have the temperament to be president and commander in chief of the United States.
@realDonaldTrump is a longtime loyal friend-But his #SecondAmmendmentPeople bullshit was dangerous incitement&blaming the media doesnt wash Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) August 10, 2016
9 Sickest Donald Trump Burns at the Democratic Convention
Donald Trump Tries to Steal Dems Thunder by Hosting AMA Session
elizabeth banks democratic convention
Sarah Silverman Democratic National Convention: Day One
Al Franken Democratic National Convention: Day One
Michael Bloomberg Democratic Convention
Joe Biden Democratic Convention
Lena Dunham and America Ferrera Democratic Convention
Tim Kaine Democratic Convention
admiral john hutson dnc democratic convention
Barack Obama at Democratic Convention
Bernie Sanders Democratic National Convention: Day One
Story continues
Previous Slide Next Slide
1 of 11
Dems call Trump a con man demagogue who may be wearing wigs
Democrats at their national convention want to tell Americans that whatever they think of Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump is worse. They're doing it with a barrage of sick burns. Here are the best.
View In Gallery
Related stories from TheWrap:
Hillary Clinton Rips Donald Trump for 'Casual Inciting of Violence' in 2nd Amendment Remark
Dan Rather Rips Donald Trump for 'Direct Threat of Violence' Against Hillary Clinton
Donald Trump, Marco Rubio Blasted for Plans to Attend 'Extremist Anti-LGBT Summit' in Orlando
The following editorial appeared in Tuesdays The Washington Post.
Muslim passengers are escorted off U.S.-based airlines with alarming frequency these days, and while the circumstances of each incident vary, there is also a sameness to them. More often than not, someone on the plane a seatmate, a passenger a few rows away, a flight attendant feels uncomfortable. The trigger for that discomfort is a passenger who looks or seems to be from a Muslim-majority country. And the outcome, as far as is generally known, is a bland statement from the airline setting forth its policy of nondiscrimination.
In fact, public acts of discrimination, especially against Muslims, have spiked along with Donald Trumps venomous campaign rhetoric in this election season. That, coupled with travelers anxiety about the threat of terrorist attacks, has yielded repeated episodes of baseless suspicion on airplanes in other words, profiling.
Prodded to say something, passengers and airline personnel are quick to see something, but too often what theyve really seen is a person whose skin color or attire or language is a trigger for unfounded accusation.
The airlines have to do better. That means you, Delta Air Lines, for having removed a Pakistani American couple who were returning home to Ohio from a romantic 10th-anniversary trip to Europe on July 26. In Paris, a member of the flight crew said she felt uneasy at the gate because the woman, Nazia Ali, wearing a headscarf, was using her phone and her husband, Faisal, was sweating.
It means you, American Airlines, for having been involved in repeated instances of apparent ethnic and religious profiling. Those include an Italian economist from the University of Pennsylvania who was escorted off a plane in Philadelphia in May after his seatmate, convinced that his intent scribbling was Arabic, reported him to the flight crew. In fact, what she saw was math a differential equation.
It means you, Southwest Airlines, for having evicted a University of California at Berkeley student from an airplane in Los Angeles in April after another passenger heard him speaking Arabic on the phone. The student, an Iraqi refugee named Khairuldeen Makhzoomi, said a Southwest employee demanded to know why he had been speaking Arabic on the plane.
That small sampling of recent senselessness raises the question of whether airline employees are getting the message from management that discrimination based on race, religion or national origin is unacceptable and illegal. If any airline employees have been disciplined for having mishandled passengers either by indulging the prejudices of some or training groundless suspicions at others the airlines arent saying.
To the contrary, its fair to ask, as advocacy groups representing American Muslims have done, if the airlines, with a wink and a nod, are tolerating the occasional ugly and unjustified conduct of some employees and passengers. The unfortunate truth is that, in the absence of no-nonsense enforcement policies by the airlines, deplorable acts of profiling are likely to proliferate. Its up to the airlines to ensure that blameless passengers can travel freely, without fear of harassment, removal or reckless accusations.
FRANKFURT, Aug 10 (Reuters) - German property company IVG has appointed more advisors as it prepares for an initial public offering for its office properties portfolio which could be valued at up to 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 bln), people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The company has called in Bank of America Merrill Lynch , Berenberg and property specialist Kempen to join Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, three sources told Reuters on Wednesday. Additional investment banks are typically brought in a few weeks before the start of an IPO.
IVG, which went through insolvency proceedings in 2013 after costs for its landmark The Squaire office complex at Frankfurt airport overran, is also running a sale process for the office properties portfolio, which is called Officefirst.
However, indicative offers fell short of IVG's expectations, making an initial public offering of the unit more likely, several people familiar with the matter told Reuters last month.
Officefirst manages a commercial property portfolio worth 3.25 billion euros ($3.6 bln), the bulk of IVG's assets, including The Squaire.
A decision in principle on whether to pursue a sale or a stock market flotation is expected at the end of August, the sources said. An IPO could be announced in September and launched in October.
Officefirst and IVG's owners - funds including York Capital, Anchorage and Davidson Kempner - would look for proceeds of between 700 and 900 million euros from an IPO, two sources said. Officefirst is looking for a stock market valuation of around 1.5 billion euros, sources said.
($1 = 0.8955 euros) (Reporting by Alexander Huebner and Kathrin Jones; Writing by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Susan Fenton)
Gigi Gorgeous has been enjoying her moment in the spotlight for some time now. As one of the most visible transgender celebrities, shes been profiled in major media outlets, befriended by Kardashians, found success in modeling, and attracted more than 2.3 million subscribers to her YouTube channel, where shes documented her transition from male to female and become an inspiring role model.
But this week the Canadian 24-year-old has been garnering attention for something troubling: being detained by airport authorities in Dubai, she says, simply for being transgender.
After being detained and held at the Dubai airport for over 5 hours, this was the moment my baby came to rescue me, Gorgeous wrote in the caption to an Instagram post, in which she is embracing her friend Nats Getty. Yesterday was one of the scariest moments of my entire life and I wouldnt wish it upon anyone. How you can be denied entry somewhere just because of who you are is seriously disgusting and also very scary. This further proves the need for CHANGE. I am now on my way to somewhere much more accepting. Safe and sound and happy. I love you guys.
A photo posted by GIGI GORGEOUS ???????? (@gigigorgeous) on Aug 9, 2016 at 9:28pm PDT
Her post has so far been liked more than 76,000 times and has more than 4,600 comments the majority supportive but some chastising Gorgeous for seemingly being unaware of Dubais laws.
A request for more details from Yahoo Beauty was not immediately answered by the models manager. But according to what Gorgeous told TMZ, an immigration officer said to her, I was told you are transgender. You cannot come into the country. She added that her passport identifies her as being female.
Its unclear why Gorgeous would have wanted to enter Dubai a United Arab Emirates country thats known for its extreme anti-LGBT beliefs and laws. In 2014, two Brazilian transgender women made headlines when they were detained at a nightclub and forced to await trial after being charged with the crime of imitating women. And there have been countless incidents of gay men being detained not to mention threatened with the death penalty or life imprisonment simply for their sexuality.
Story continues
According to Muslim society expert Shaul Gabbay, executive director of the Global Research Institute Posner Center for International Development, in Denver, Muslim beliefs about homosexuality were likely at the root of Gorgeouss detainment if she was not seen by authorities as being a woman.
The bottom line is the suspicion of a man having relations with another man, Gabbay tells Yahoo Beauty. You have to remember that were not talking about a democracy here, so with any pretext or suspicion of anything they can basically detain a person at the airport. The overarching law [in Dubai] is Sharia law, or Muslim law, and homosexuality goes against one of the most important tenets in Islam.
Imitating a woman is another issue as well, he says, But the most important is the [possibility of] two men having a deviant relationship.
Gabby sees incidents like this as ways for authorities in Dubai which has extensive commercial and growing cultural ties with Western nations, including the U.S. to show they are doing their job well. Something like this detention, especially with someone [with such a big social media presence], could very easily be used by authorities to say, See? We are adhering to tradition here. It may cost some discomfort with the West, but it makes a very strong point in the Islamic world. Its basically a low-cost opportunity for them at a time when they are walking a very fine line with the West.
Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
"There was a saying in my house when I was growing up that was, 'Give your blessings away and you'll make room for more,'" says Golden Globe-winning actress Gina Rodriguez. "It's the way my world always has been." So it comes as no surprise that the actress and social activist has been tapped by beauty giant Clinique as one of the six faces of the newly launched Difference Maker global campaign, which plays off the name of the brand's famous Dramatically Different product range.
Using the idea that small changes can make a big difference (that goes for skin-care routines, too), Clinique chose six women - including The CW's??Jane the Virgin star, Rodriguez - who have had a positive effect on the community and people around them. Other Difference Makers include actress Erendira Ibarra, cyclist Victoria Pendleton, actress Jessica Nkosi, television host Nazan Eckes and actress Ning Chang. The??Clinique Difference Initiative will also back a number of causes, including Room to Read in the United States, and a number of similar literacy-driven charities globally.
(Beauty history side note: The concept for Clinique??was actually created by Vogue editor Carol Phillips in 1968, and the famous three-step skincare process relies on finishing with the yellow-hued Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion, a cornerstone of the brand's product range.)??
Read more: The Ins and Outs of Eyebrow Tattooing
"I always want to align myself with like-minded people, people that have the same mind-set as I do, who want to push positivity in the world," says Rodriguez, who will star alongside Mark Wahlberg and Kate Hudson in Deepwater Horizon, in theaters Sept. 30.??
A photo posted by Clinique (@clinique) on Jul 31, 2016 at 5:49pm PDT
And for proof that small changes can make a big difference, one need look no further than Rodriguez's own dramatic transformation into a blonde after recently wrapping production on the Alex Garland-directed science-fiction drama, Annihilation.
Story continues
"I was looking in the mirror and thought, 'I cannot shake this character,'" she says of the role which already required her to seriously chop her locks. To switch things up even further, Rodriguez opted for a lighter 'do. "Going blonde was a huge change for me!" she says with a laugh.
Read more: Jessica Nail Clinic Opens Remodeled Space on Sunset
JOHANNESBURG The unlikely new face of South African politics is white, and he speaks in the emphatic clicks of the Xhosa language.
Bullish and beaming, Athol Trollip, the presumptive mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africas sixth-largest metropolitan area, addressed a cheering crowd of supporters on Aug. 6. When the winds of change start blowing in this country, as they did on Wednesday, they are unstoppable, Trollip declared, switching easily between English and Xhosa, a Bantu language spoken mainly by black South Africans in the Eastern Cape region.
Trollips likely victory his election wont be certain until the parties have formed a coalition was seen as an embarrassing defeat for the party of his citys namesake. In last weeks local government elections, a record number of voters ditched Nelson Mandelas party, the African National Congress (ANC), which has been in power since the first post-apartheid elections in 1994, and cast their ballots for the opposition. In addition to black-majority Nelson Mandela Bay, the ANC also lost control of Pretoria, the nations capital. Nationwide, it saw its share of the vote slide to 54 percent, down from 62 percent in the 2011 local elections.
But there is an irony in the bad fortune of Mandelas party it could hasten the realization, however slowly and imperfectly, of Mandelas vision of a multicultural rainbow nation. Not only did an important majority-black city elect a white mayor in Trollip, but his party, the liberal Democratic Alliance (DA), has gradually begun to shed its image as a party for whites. Last year, the DA elected Mmusi Maimane, a 36-year-old part-time preacher who grew up in the Johannesburg township of Soweto, as its first black leader.
Susan Booysen, a politics professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, described the election as the dawn of a a new era in South African politics. It came with a big electoral bang, she said.
Story continues
Since the end of apartheid, politics in South Africa have been conducted largely along racial lines. The black majority has voted overwhelmingly for the ANC in every election while whites and other minorities have mainly voted for smaller parties like the DA.
During this years often nasty campaign, the ANC relied heavily on rhetoric intended to foment racial division. President Jacob Zuma, whose time in office has been marred by one scandal after another, warned that the DA would bring back apartheid while accusing Maimane of being a puppet of the white minority. In late July, at a campaign rally in Nelson Mandela Bay, he accused the DA of being snakes and the spawn of the racist National Party that ruled during apartheid. (In fact, the DA was born in 1959 of a complex set of mergers with parties that were both progressive and not.)
The ANC also accused Trollip of being a racist, and claimed that his family had abused black workers at their Eastern Cape farm. Trollip has strongly refuted the allegations, calling them a pack of lies.
But if the ANC overreached with some of its attacks, it was attempting to exploit a reputation for racial insensitivity on the part of the DA that is very real. Although most DA supporters arent racists, the party has long attracted a crusty, bigoted fringe whose social media presence has become a liability. In one particularly damaging incident earlier this year, a DA member named Penny Sparrow was expelled from the party after complaining on Facebook about the mess black monkeys had left on beaches in the coastal city of Durban.
This checkered past no doubt helps to explain why the DA has historically struggled to appeal to black voters: While South Africa is 80 percent black, the DA received only 6 percent of the black vote in the 2014 general election. But since then, the party has tried hard to diversify not just by electing a black leader but by focusing outreach efforts on formerly ANC-dominant areas.
Controversially, the DA has made the case that it, not the ANC, is the true political descendant of Mandela.
There is only one party in South Africa today that truly represents the values and vision that Madiba lived out, Maimane said on the eve of the election, using Mandelas Xhosa clan name, which is a term of respect in South Africa. That party is the Democratic Alliance.
This message may have helped the party broaden its appeal ahead of the vote, but the decisive factor in this election seems to have been the ANCs own record of failure. Not only has the party of Mandela disappointed many voters with its spotty provision of basic services like electricity and water, especially in rural areas and poor townships, it has presided over a deteriorating economy marked by worsening unemployment and frequent corruption scandals.
South Africas economy is expected to grow just 0.1 percent this year, while unemployment sits at a staggering 36 percent when those who have simply given up looking for work are taken into account.
Frans Cronje, the CEO of the Johannesburg-based Institute of Race Relations, said the election hardly marked a revolutionary swing to the liberal opposition. On the contrary, he said, it was a referendum on jobs and the economy areas where the ANC has clearly failed.
Every poll we have seen or done for years reveals that the issue South Africans want the government to address most is jobs, said Cronje. This has not been done, and the governments policies remain hostile to growth, investment, and job creation.
Still, the DAs unexpected victories in Pretoria and Nelson Mandela Bay as well as its impressive gains in Johannesburg, where depending on the outcome of coalition negotiations, it could end up leading the government underscored the newfound willingness of South African voters to look beyond race when electing their political leaders.
The race-baiting and populist rhetoric of the ANC failed badly in this election, said Cronje.
Younger voters in particular seemed immune to the ANCs racially-tinged criticism of the DA, something that has resonated with the voters in in the past.
They are prepared to overlook that, and just see the emerging DA, Booysen of the University of the Witwatersrand said of younger voters.
For long, we were slowly inching towards being a proper, lively, multi-party system that holds power to account, the South African author and political commentator Justice Malala wrote in a column this week. We are now hurtling that way. Its exhilarating.
Image credit: RODGER BOSCH/AFP/Getty Images
A security research company came forward with information detailing a potentially dangerous set of security flaws tied to Qualcomms chips that are used in a significant number of mobile devices, saying that more than 900 million Android devices are at risk. However, Google followed up on that research, saying that 90% of those devices should be protected against QuadRooter, even if the actual vulnerabilities arent patched.
DONT MISS: Googles new Nexus phones will be just as fast as the Galaxy Note 7
Unearthed by Check Point, the four vulnerabilities are yet to be patched by Google and its partners, even though Qualcomm already made the fixes available. Google deployed three of the four patches, while others are likely behind when it comes to security updates.
But it turns out that a feature thats available in Android versions including Android 4.2 and later can protect users against QuadRooter. That means 90% of active Android devices out there already have built-in protection against QuadRooter.
In order for hackers to hijack a users device with the help of QuadRooter, the user needs to install a malicious app from a third-party store first. But Google says its Verify Apps feature combined with Safety Net will block such apps from being installed.
"We appreciate Check Point's research as it helps improve the safety of the broader mobile ecosystem, Google told Android Central. Android devices with our most recent security patch level are already protected against three of these four vulnerabilities. The fourth vulnerability, CVE-2016-5340, will be addressed in an upcoming Android security bulletin, though Android partners can take action sooner by referencing the public patch Qualcomm has provided. Exploitation of these issues depends on users also downloading and installing a malicious application. Our Verify Apps and SafetyNet protections help identify, block, and remove applications that exploit vulnerabilities like these."
Story continues
Even so, to make sure youre truly protected against malicious threats on Android, remember one simple rule of thumb: Do not download apps from any place other than the Google Play store.
Trending right now:
See the original version of this article on BGR.com
Doom game
You probably havent heard of Denuvo, but for the past few months, its been the bane of video game pirates existence.
The Austrian companys anti-tamper tech has famously held firm against would-be pirates as of late, making it difficult for them to illegally download certain games without paying. (Check this Kotaku explainer for more.)
The tech is still relatively new, but major publishers like Electronic Arts and Square Enix have used it to protect big-name titles in the past year.
Over the weekend, though, the first real cracks in Denuvos armor appear to have emerged. As Vice and TorrentFreak report, a 19-year-old Bulgarian hacker going by the name Voksi discovered a workaround that made various Denuvo-enabled games available for free.
Voksi didnt totally crack the software instead building off an exploit involving a demo of the latest "Doom" game but he claims that more than 650,000 users were able to use his method before Denuvo fixed the workaround on Monday.
Soon after that fix, however, a pirate group named CONSPIR4CY is said to have legitimately cracked Denuvos defenses for "Rise of the Tomb Raider," which was released on PC this past January.
This kind of back and forth is typical among game hackers and the companies trying to resist them, so its likely that Denuvo will clear up these latest maneuvers before long. Whats notable here is that it took several months for someone to break the tech in the first place with normal DRM measures, pirates are often able to develop a workaround within hours.
Now, though, it appears as if Denuvo has been roped into the same cat and mouse game as everyone else. For those charged with thwarting piracy in media, its another reminder that this is game without a clear end in sight.
Denuvo was not immediately available for comment.
NOW WATCH: Sorry Apple fans the iPhone 7 is going to be boring
More From Business Insider
Harvey Keitel made a weekend jump over to Switzerland from Paris this past weekend to pick up a lifetime achievement at the Locarno Film Festival, which celebrates global independent cinema. The actor is currently shooting Madame, the new English-language film from director Amanda Sthers.
Keitel received the award Saturday night from his longtime friend and Bad Lieutenant director Abel Ferrara on the Piazza Grande in front of 8,000 fans.
The actor has long been celebrated by the festival, for both his ability to bring the indie film scenes of New York and Los Angeles to life as well as for having worked with Italy's top directors, from Ettore Scola to Paolo Sorrentino.
The next day, Keitel spoke with festgoers about his life and career. Guests were eager to find out what drew him to play so many iconic violent roles throughout his career, from the titular bad lieutenant in the Ferrara film to Reservoir Dogs' Mr. White.
"Violence is a real thing and true violence is horrible and hurtful and destructive. Any art discipline that shows violence for commercial reasons is wrong," Keitel replied thoughtfully. "But we have to know violence, we have to know danger, because it exists.
"I have a 12-year-old son in the world and he has to learn about violence. Kids are playing all these video games now and there is violence that is very not authentic, and I think dangerous," he said. "And I keep trying to help him to understand that when you get hit in the face or stabbed or shot, it hurts. You don't just get back up in the video game and continue to fight. So we have an obligation to display violence in an authentic way as part of the nature of things, and our choice to use it or not is something else. That's a moral thing."
After pausing for the audience, Keitel continued: "The reason I'm in storytelling is because a lot of violent things have happened in my life, physically and in an abstract sense. And to deal with all these issues of what hurts us, what harms us, and what is wonderful about life, that's our job to give back in the stories that we tell. The cinema or dance that exploits violence is to be shunned. We all know when that happens. But we also all know the authentic people who are trying to show us life as it is so we can relate to things as they are."
Story continues
Keitel also was asked about his opinion on Donald Trump, and he responded cagily, but underscored his faith in the American people: "It's a very vital time and Americans are very attuned to what's going on and Americans are really listening to what's going on, and are very able to protect our country to do the right thing. And we're all working toward that direction, to do what's right."
The festival screened Wayne Wang's Smoke on Sunday, starring Keitel and written by Paul Auster. The film won Locarno's audience award when it first screened in 1995, and an audience member asked Keitel why he thought it earned the honor. "When I read that screenplay it was very thick. I read it and it was maybe the longest screenplay I'd ever read," he replied. "And I was getting very bored reading it. And I was reading it thinking, 'What the hell is this about? I have no idea.' And finally I got to the end of it and thought 'Jesus, I'm so bored. But there's so much writing this writer did. There must be something about it that I don't perceive, and I thought, I better do it. And so I did it and in the doing of it I found out there was something special about it."
Read more: Locarno Film Fest: Harvey Keitel to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award
De La Soul have unveiled the dreamy "Drawn," the latest sampling off the group's upcoming LP And the Anonymous Nobody...
"Drawn" surprisingly opens with a hypnotic, five-minute melody flush with strings and Little Dragon's Yukimi Nagano's coo before De La Soul finally appear over the track's closing minute. On De La Soul's Facebook, Nagano described "Drawn" as "a dreamy journey about not taking anything for granted in life. About love and being lost in something dangerously good."
De La Soul member Kelvin "Posdnous" Mercer previously mentioned the experimental "Drawn" as an example of why they decided to crowd-fund their new album, raising over $600,000 from fans. "We couldn't do that on a regular label," the rapper said. "How you gonna present them with a song like this? They may think it's beautiful but then it's like, 'Okay, so, there's no chorus. For maybe the first three minutes of the record, you're nowhere to be found.'"
"Drawn" follows previous Anonymous Nobody cuts like "Trainwreck," "Royalty Capes" and the Snoop Dogg-featuring "Pain." Besides Snoop and Little Dragon, the LP boasts an eclectic assortment of guest performers, from Talking Heads' David Byrne, the Darkness' Justin Hawkins and their Gorillaz buddy Damon Albarn to Usher, Pete Rock and Roc Marciano.
And the Anonymous Nobody... is out August 26th.
Related
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f173285%2ftrumpvolleyball
Donald Trump may be headed to the White House, but there's one place he's not going: Rio.
Old footage recently began to circulate showing the candidate aggressively playing beach volleyball. But because he's Donald Trump, he doesn't do it in shorts and a t-shirt. He does it in classic Trump style, wearing jeans, a polo shirt, and a belt.
SEE ALSO: Hey America: It's August. Let's all take a nice long Trumpcation.
The billionaire plays volleyball the way billionaires do: incorrectly.
Here's a brief video of the incident, with the song "Playing With The Boys by Kenny Loggins added.
It's a sweet, nostalgic look back to Trump's more innocent days, a time before he called on voters to assassinate Hillary Clinton, tried to build a wall against Mexicans and dangled with nuclear weapons.
Awwww Trump.
image 20160809 18023 1yxnsz6
A new paper published in the Royal Society of Open Science names just one man as the culprit behind one of the biggest scientific crimes ever committed.
It all started in 1912, when Charles Dawson, a professional lawyer and amateur fossil hunter, discovered fragments of a humanlike skull, an apelike jawbone with two worn molar teeth, some stone tools, and fragments of animal fossils in a gravel pit in the UK. All of the fossils were stained a dark reddish-brown.
Dawson brought his discoveries to paleontologist Arthur Smith Woodward. When the two announced their find, it sparked major excitement in the scientific community. The skull, which scientists decided came from a creature nicknamed Piltdown Man who walked the earth up to 500,000 years ago, was hailed as the missing evolutionary link between apes and humans.
A few more fossil fragments were later excavated from the site, and one year before Dawson's death in 1915, he claimed that he had found fragments from another skull at a second site a few miles from the first one.
But something was a bit off about the findings.
One of the most famous scientific cons of all time
In the 1950s, scientists reexamined the bones using new technologies and found something odd: The bones were not all the same age.
The upper skull was only 50,000 years old and the jawbone, which scientists now think came from an orangutan, was only a few decades old. Further evidence suggested that the perpetrator had stained the fossils with a chemical to give them a reddish-brown appearance.
The Piltdown Man hoax quickly became known as one of the most famous scientific cons of all time.
Dawson was the obvious prime suspect, but did he act alone? Many suspected that Dawson had some help, as Jennifer Ouellette outlines in Gizmodo.
Woodward seems like a tempting choice for Dawson's accomplice, except that he had spent the remainder of his life continuing the hunt for more of these fossils.
Story continues
Some argued that French priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who was there when a canine tooth was found at the site, may have sneakily planted it there. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the legendary creator of Sherlock Holmes, was eyed as a suspect.
But the new paper clears all of the other suspects of any guilt, naming Dawson as the sole perpetrator in the case of the planted fossils. The paper points out that every specimen ever uncovered was found in Dawson's presence, and the sites suspiciously dried up after Dawson's death.
Dawson knew that the British scientists would expect to see "a large brain, ape-like face and jaws, and heavily fossilized materials that indicated great antiquity" so he gave them exactly what they were looking for.
And lead author Isabelle de Groote, a paleoanthropologist at Liverpool John Moores University, told Gizmodo that at least 38 other fake finds have been attributed to Dawson, including a stone ax, a fraudulent flint mine at the Lavant Caves, and what he claimed was one of the first bronze statuettes linked to Roman times.
"He clearly had been doing this for a very long time," she said.
A cautionary tale
For the new paper, the researchers used modern scanning technology and DNA analysis to investigate the fossils. They were able to conclude that the jawbone and teeth came from one orangutan, which they suspect might have come from a curiosities shop.
Another strange observation De Groote made about the fossils was that there was an off-white putty on the surface of the bones.
"This putty had been painted over and stained, and in some cases was used to fill in cracks and gaps that the forger accidentally created," Michael Price wrote in Science magazine. "Inside the crania and teeth, she found tiny pebbles stuffed inside hollow chambers sealed over with the same putty."
The paper was published on the 100th anniversary of Dawson's death. And the hoax leaves us with a valuable lesson.
"Piltdown Man sets a good example of the need for us to take a step back and look at the evidence for what it is and not for whether it conforms to our preconceived ideas," De Groote told Science magazine.
NOW WATCH: Archaeologists made a groundbreaking discovery that unveils the mysterious origins of real-life hobbits
More From Business Insider
Donald Trump
The chief controversy bothering voters about Donald Trump is his perceived mocking of a disabled reporter late last year, while the top controversy pestering voters about Hillary Clinton is her use of a private email server while she served as secretary of state, according to a poll released Wednesday.
The Bloomberg poll asked 1,007 Americans over the age of 18 about how much, or how little, a series of nine issues expressed by political opponents of Trump or Clinton bothered them.
For Trump, the top three included the incident involving his perceived mocking of a New York Times disabled reporter (an incident which has been featured in a series of anti-Trump ads), his recent criticism of the parents of a slain Muslim US soldier who spoke out against him at the Democratic National Convention last month, and his statement that "I alone" can fix the country's problems.
In addition to her use of a private email server and subsequent handling of sensitive information, voters thought Clinton's most bothersome issues were her handling of the 2012 Benghazi attack and that the Clinton Foundation accepted money from foreign governments while she was secretary of state.
Here is the full list for each candidate, ranked by total percentage of respondents who were bothered at some level:
Trump:
1. Perceived mocking of a disabled reporter:
Bothers a lot: 62%
Bothers a little: 21%
Total: 83%
2. His criticism of the Khan family:
Bothers a lot: 56%
Bothers a little: 19%
Total: 75%
3. Saying that "I alone" can fix the country's problems
Bothers a lot: 54%
Bothers a little: 21%
Total: 75%
4. Suggesting that the US might not automatically defend all NATO allies
Bothers a lot: 50%
Bothers a little: 24%
Total: 74%
5. Saying that he's sacrificed a lot in business after Khizr Khan said he has never sacrificed anything:
Bothers a lot: 48%
Bothers a little: 25%
Total: 73%
6. Trump University lawsuits:
Bothers a lot: 44%
Bothers a little: 27%
Story continues
Total: 71%
7. His praise of Vladimir Putin
Bothers a lot: 42%
Bothers a little: 27%
Total: 69%
8. His decision to not yet release his tax returns
Bothers a lot: 44%
Bothers a little: 24%
Total: 68%
9. Suggesting that Russian hackers should try and find Clinton's deleted emails
Bothers a lot: 45%
Bothers a little: 21%
Total: 66%
hillary clinton
Clinton:
1. Handling of sensitive information on a private email server:
Bothers a lot: 58%
Bothers a little: 22%
Total: 80%
2. Handling of the Benghazi attack in 2012:
Bothers a lot: 55%
Bothers a little: 20%
Total: 75%
3. Clinton foundation accepting money from foreign governments while she was secretary of state
Bothers a lot: 53%
Bothers a little: 21%
Total: 74%
4. Clinton's private speeches to Wall Street firms
Bothers a lot: 44%
Bothers a little: 22%
Total: 66%
5. Her handling of violence in the Middle East while she was secretary of state:
Bothers a lot: 43%
Bothers a little: 21%
Total: 64%
6. Her decision to flip her support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership:
Bothers a lot: 30%
Bothers a little: 34%
Total: 64%
7. Her decision to rarely hold press conferences
Bothers a lot: 28%
Bothers a little: 32%
Total: 60%
8. Voting for the Iraq War
Bothers a lot: 26%
Bothers a little: 29%
Total: 55%
9. Embracing President Barack Obama and much of his agenda
Bothers a lot: 36%
Bothers a little: 17%
Total: 53%
NOW WATCH: OBAMA: Heres the best advice George W. Bush gave me
More From Business Insider
By Lauren Hirsch and Lisa Baertlein
Aug 10 (Reuters) - The board of the $12 billion charitable trust that controls Hershey Co. will meet this week to discuss appointing new members, a spokesman for the trust's board said, as it embarks on its biggest overhaul in more than a decade.
Under a reform agreement announced last month with the Pennsylvania attorney general's office, its sole overseer, the trust will appoint up to nine new board members by the end of 2017. The agreement dictates that the trust must try to recruit members with training and experience in financial investments, in addition to education and social care -- a requirement that could influence its stance on any renewed bid by Mondelez International Inc for Hershey Co.
Hershey Co. rejected Mondelez's $23 billion bid in June without providing a reason publicly, though sources familiar with the deliberations said Hershey Co.'s board deemed the price offered to be too low for the trust to seriously consider it.
With two-thirds of the trust's investment comprising of Hershey Co. stock, some financial experts say it should consider opportunities to diversify its holdings and reduce its exposure to risks such as a major fall in commodities prices.
"If the trust is bringing financial people on board, I would expect that they would look at it primarily from a financial standpoint. And that is to say if [a deal] makes good financial sense, let's at least pursue a very good offer," said Bill Brill, a former member of the alumni board of the Milton Hershey School, which the trust funds and operates.
The reform agreement calls for the trust's board to be expanded from 10 members to 13, and for five members to resign in order for 10-year terms to be enforced. One trustee resigned last month, leaving a total of nine openings.
The attorney general's office has to be given 30 days notice under the agreement to review new trust appointments.
The trust is working with executive recruitment firm Heidrick & Struggles International Inc to identify and hire new trustees, sources familiar with the situation said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. Heidrick & Struggles declined to comment.
Story continues
The attorney general's office pushed for the reform agreement to improve the trust's governance amid allegations of profligacy, self-dealing, and disregard for term limits.
FEASTING ON HERSHEY CO.
The trust was set up more than a century ago by Hershey Co.'s founder Milton Hershey with a mandate to run a school for underprivileged children "in perpetuity", with the remainder in assets such as mutual funds and real estate.
Feasting on Hershey Co. stock has paid off handsomely for the trust thus far. The shares have returned a 384 percent gain for the trust, including dividends. The S&P 500 Index, by comparison, has posted a 133 percent total return.
However, some experts argue that more trustees with an asset management background are likely to express concern that a commodities shock or a sharp consumer shift to healthier food options could deal the trust a serious blow.
Hershey Co.'s growth has already slowed in the last two years as competitors such as Mars Inc. expand their offerings and premium players such as Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Spruengli AG entered the U.S. market.
"What's wrong with the Hershey Trust is that it has a breathtaking concentration in the stock of a single company," said Robert Sitkoff, a Harvard Law School professor specializing in wills, trusts, estates, and fiduciary administration.
Mondelez's offer was half in cash and half in stock, sources have said. This means the new board members of the trust, whose approval is needed for a sale of Hershey Co., could use such a transaction to substantially reduce its exposure.
"The (trust's) board is satisfied that the asset portfolio is being managed in a responsible manner," said Kent Jarrell, the spokesman for the trust's board. Hershey Co. declined to comment.
Even if the trust does decide to explore a sale of Hershey Co., it can still be overruled. In 2002, the trust put Hershey Co. up for sale, citing a need to diversify its holdings. At the last minute, it pulled the plug on a sale to chewing gum maker Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co for $12.5 billion, after the attorney general's office successfully petitioned a court to block the offer amid local community protests.
Pennsylvania state senator John Rafferty, the Republican candidate for attorney general in the upcoming November election, has said he does not think diversification is always necessary, and has expressed "serious reservations" about a potential sale to Mondelez.
Democrat candidate Josh Shapiro has said he will "vigorously protect Hershey's continued success in Pennsylvania" and protect it from "multi-national corporations and Wall Street investors willing to destroy Pennsylvania jobs for their own profit."
(Reporting by Lauren Hirsch in New York and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Greg Roumeliotis and Stuart Grudgings)
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) has awarded a $500,000 grant to fund maintenance and essential technical upgrades to the historic 1922 Egyptian Theatre, a designated historic cultural monument situated on Hollywood Boulevard, American Cinematheque announced Wednesday.
News of the grant comes less than a week after the HFPA announced at its annual Grants Banquet a separate donation of $350,000 to help make the theater capable of screening 35mm nitrate film prints, a grant that was made through the Film Foundation, which is coordinating the project.
The scope of the HFPA-funded renovation includes repair from water damage to the main roof and the portico ceiling and walls on the buildings exterior. Inside, water damage to various areas of the ceiling and side walls will be structurally repaired and then restored by historic restoration specialists.
The theaters 1998 carpet will be replaced by a custom-designed carpet that brings elements from the showpiece of the theater the ornate ceiling adorned with a scarab and other Egyptian icons - down to the floor. Other interior renovations include replacement of the concession stand and lighting, and recovering of the theaters seats.
Exterior renovations will include the repair of the 12 palm tree planters and the installation of a new lighting system to uplight the trees as well as the columns that flank the entrance. The historic murals of Egyptian deities on the walls will be repaired and repainted. Terrazzo will replace the existing outdoor carpeting to enhance the grand entrance to the building.
On the technical front, the ten-year-old digital projector will be upgraded to a 4K projector, and the sound system and projection booth electrical infrastructure will be revised.
Rick Nicita, chairman of the American Cinematheque said, The American Cinematheque is extremely appreciative of the Hollywood Foreign Press Associations support of this historic landmark. It has become a beloved icon of modern movie-goers in the nearly two decades our organization has owned and operated the theater.
Story continues
The Egyptian Theatre was the site of the first-ever Hollywood movie premiere under the supervision of Sid Grauman, who premiered some of the biggest hits of the silent era at the Egyptian. The Egyptian is the only historic theater on Hollywood Boulevard that has continually operated as a cinema to present day.
It also serves as the host of the HFPAs annual Golden Globe Foreign Language Film Symposium.
We are dedicated to preserving this important landmark of Hollywood history where we continue to show movies on the big screen as they were meant to be seen, Nicita added.
Related stories
Jamie Lee Curtis Tells HFPA Grants Banquet Attendees: 'Get Some Skin in the Game' for the Election
Sue Kroll Named Recipient of Sid Grauman Award
Golden Globes Timetable Set for 2017 Awards
Hillary Clinton on Wednesday slammed Donald Trumps comment about Second Amendment people as a casual incitement to violence.
Words matter, my friends, Clinton said at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa. If you are running to be president or you are president of the United States, words can have tremendous consequences.
The day before, Trump said at one of his own rallies that Second Amendment people could do something to prevent Clinton from appointing pro-gun-control Supreme Court justices as president. The comment was panned as a nod toward violence, though the Trump campaign insisted it was about the power of unification that activists on the issue could wield.
Yesterday we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that crossed the line, Clinton said Wednesday, grouping Trumps remark with other provocative things he has said. His casual cruelty to a Gold Star family, his casual suggestion that more countries should have nuclear weapons and now his casual inciting of violence.
Clinton further said the comment shows Trump lacks the temperament to be president.
At the Des Moines rally, the former secretary of state also addressed her campaigns announcement of several dozen Republican officials endorsing her, saying she was humbled and moved that they supported her.
I will work hard the next three months to earn the support of anyone willing to put our country first, she said.
(WASHINGTON) The State Department has turned over 44 previously-unreleased Hillary Clinton email exchanges that the Democratic presidential nominee failed to include among the 30,000 private messages she turned over to the government last year. They show her interacting with lobbyists, political and Clinton Foundation donors and business interests as secretary of state.
The conservative legal group Judicial Watch obtained the emails as part of its lawsuit against the State Department. They cover Clintons first three months as secretary of state in early 2009, a period for which Clinton did not turn over any emails to the State Department last year. The government found the newly disclosed messages during a search of agency computer files from longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
In one instance, Clinton exchanged messages with a senior Morgan Stanley investment executive whom she met with later that year at her office in Washington. They were among 246 pages of Abedin messages turned over to Judicial Watch.
Clinton campaign officials did not immediately answer questions about the issue.
The emails are separate from a larger batch of several thousand work-related emails that FBI officials recovered from Clintons private server. Clintons legal team turned over more than 30,000 emails from her server to the State Department last March but only after deleting another 30,000 messages that Clintons team deemed private and personal. The FBI plans to turn over the reconstructed Clinton emails to the State Department for public release.
The new Clinton emails include a February 2009 message to her from Stephen Roach, then-chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, saying he planned to testify to Congress that week and was happy to help in any way I can. Roach later met with Clinton over the summer for 30 minutes, according to Clinton calendars obtained by The Associated Press.
In another email, Clintons chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, informed her that National Security Agency and State Department officials discussed an attempt to develop a modified blackberry for Clinton that might be used when she worked in a restricted State Department office that did not allow private phones.
Clinton called the development good news, but she continued using a private Blackberry tied to her private server.
Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
Hillary Clinton
A surprising number of people who donated to former Republican primary candidates are jumping ship to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton rather than giving money to her rival, Donald Trump.
Donors who contributed $200 or more to the campaigns of Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Chris Christie, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina are overwhelmingly more likely to also have donated to Clinton than Trump, according to a New York Times report.
In some cases, the disparity is pronounced. Of the 397 donors to Jeb Bush, who switched to another candidate, 303 of them donated to Clinton.
However, donors to candidates considered to be outside the Republican establishment were far more likely to give to Trump. The Republican nominee received donations from 697 former Ted Cruz donors, compared to 65 for Clinton. Ben Carson donors flocked to Trump in similar numbers, 509 to 31.
All in all, Clinton has received $2.2 million from donors to Republican candidates, more than $600,000 than Trump, according to The Times' report, citing Federal Elections Commission filings through June.
The report comes as a number of influential Republicans publicly reject Trump's candidacy. Maine Sen. Susan Collins announced on Monday that she wouldn't support the New York businessman, joining some of her congressional colleagues.
On the same day, 50 former top Republican national security officials signed an open letter declaring their opposition to Trump.
NOW WATCH: Watch Joe Biden's full speech the most effective Trump takedown delivered at the DNC
More From Business Insider
From Road & Track
Are you looking for a race-prepped, turn-key historic racer to drive in the Monterey Motorsports Reunion this year? Well, we may have the car for you. This 1968 Chevy Camaro Trans-Am car is up for sale, and it's already been entered into the historic races at Laguna Seca next weekend.
The car, raced in period during the 1970 and 1971 Trans-Am Series, was put into storage in 1974. Discovered hiding inside a warehouse in Arkansas, the car received a full restoration, and a replacement 302ci V8 that runs on aggressive 110 octane race gas. Along with some other updates, including a nine-point roll cage, the car is fully prepped and ready to hit the rolling hills of Monterey.
Photo credit: Bring a Trailer
As long as the new driver is approved by the race coordinators, he or she can run this car, which already holds a spot in the field in the Trans-Am race group at the upcoming Reunion. This coincides with Monterey Car Week and the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, which means this car will be participating in one of the most significant motoring events of the year.
The car is currently being auctioned off at everyone's favorite car buying site, Bring a Trailer. It's currently sitting at $95,000, with three days still left to bid. That's a lot of cash, but no one ever said owning a race-ready historic Trans-Am car would be cheap.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has decided to give $500K to fund help in the restoration of the historic Egyptian Theatre, which has been around since 1922 and is getting a facelift. The money will go for maintenance and essential technical upgrades for the iconic theater on Hollywood Blvd. This comes on the heels of the HFPAs $350K donation to the theater to implement equipment so that it can show 35mm nitrate film prints. That money will go through The Film Foundation, which is coordinating the project. The announcement of the $500K donation was made by the American Cinematheque.
The Egyptian Theatre is the site of the first-ever Hollywood movie premiere under the supervision of master showman Sid Grauman. The American Cinematheque purchased the Egyptian Theatre from the city of Los Angeles for $1 in the mid-1990s, with the stipulation it would undergo a complete restoration, renovation and adaptive re-use remodel. The theatere also serves as the host of the HFPAs annual Golden Globe Foreign Language Film Symposium.
Heres how the HFPA donation will be spent:
It will be used to repair the main roof and the portico ceiling and walls on the buildings exterior due to water damage. Likewise, inside there was damage to various areas of the ceiling and side walls and that will have to be structurally repaired and then restored. The theaters 1998 carpet will be replaced and the concession stand and lighting will be replaced. Also, the theater seats will be recovered.
Exterior renovations will include the repair of the twelve palm tree planters and the installation of a new lighting system to uplight the trees as well as the columns that flank the entrance. The historic murals of Egyptian deities on the walls will be repaired and repainted. Terrazzo will replace the existing outdoor carpeting to enhance the grand entrance to the building.
On the technical front, the ten-year-old digital projector will be upgraded to a 4K projector, and the sound system and projection booth electrical infrastructure will be revised.
Story continues
Related stories
Hollywood Foreign Press Association Hands Out Millions With Help From Some Golden Globe Contenders
Hollywood's Historic Egyptian Theatre Undergoes Retrofit For "Rare" 35mm Nitrate Film Projection
Golden Globes Timetable: Nominations Set For December 12
"Miss Sunshine" director and cast at the recent press conference.
10 Aug There's a reason why Hong Kong director Clifton Ko has chosen Penang, Malaysia as the main location for his new movie, "Miss Sunshine" starring big names like Maggie Cheung and Annie Liu, and that is because the island feels like two different places at once.
As reported on Sinchew, the director, who appeared at the press conference held in Penang alongside some of the cast members recently, stated, "I began preparing for the movie six months ago. I could have chosen any other place but after taking into account so many things, I decided to do it in Penang."
"I like Penang. At a glance, it's like Hawaii. But it also feels like home, since there is a strong continuation of the Chinese culture in Penang," he said.
Clifton stated that while most productions would go to Thailand, he finds it easier to do it in Penang as there is no barrier of communication.
Singapore-based Malacca-born Christopher Lee (middle) is happy to
be working in Malaysia again (Photo source: Laksou).
Actress Michelle Wai, who also attended the press conference, admitted that she met new friends through the production.
"Our common topic was durian. We even went to durian hill on our break for freshly fallen durians," she said.
Apart from Maggie Cheung, Annie Liu and Michelle Wai, "Miss Sunshine" also stars Singapore-based Malaysian actor Christopher Lee, Shirley Yeung, Louis Cheung, Alex Fong and Tse Kwan-Ho.
(Photo source: Laksou)
By Brendan O'Brien MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan handily won a primary election for his congressional seat on Tuesday, a contest overshadowed by presidential candidate Donald Trump's brief refusal last week to endorse his fellow Republican. Ryan, who ran unsuccessfully for vice president in 2012, had roughly 84 percent of the vote compared with challenger Paul Nehlen's 16 percent, with 87 percent of voting areas reporting results, the Journal Sentinel reported at 11 p.m. local time. "I am humbled and honored that Wisconsinites in the 1st Congressional District support my efforts to keep fighting on their behalf," Ryan said in a statement. In the general election for the 1st Congressional District seat in southeast Wisconsin on Nov. 8, he will likely face Iraq war veteran Ryan Solen, who won the Democrat primary on Tuesday. Nehlen thanked his supporters in a brief Twitter post after the polls closed. "Truly an amazing journey," he said. The race became the center of attention a week ago when Trump refused to endorse Ryan during an interview with the Washington Post. In a sign of the tension between the politicians, Trump told the newspaper he was "not quite there yet" - echoing a phrase Ryan had used about Trump. On Friday, Trump endorsed Ryan and Senators John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire during a campaign stop in Green Bay, a show of support that could be a step to mend his frayed relations with fellow Republicans. Trump, a former reality TV star, has troubled many in the Republican establishment with his off-the-cuff, often insulting, style and controversial policies. These include a proposed ban on Muslims visiting the United States and his plan to build a wall along the Mexican border to keep out undocumented immigrants. Ryan, Ayotte and McCain had criticized Trump's feud with the family of Army Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004 and was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal for bravery. Trump had a running dispute with Khan's parents after they criticized him at last month's Democratic National Convention. (Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Additional reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Paul Tait and Richard Pullin)
Los Angeles (AFP) - Interviewing Hugh Grant -- the poster boy for a campaign against press intrusion and a notoriously prickly subject when the mood takes him -- can be an intimidating experience.
When the English actor sits down at a hotel in Beverly Hills to promote his latest movie, "Florence Foster Jenkins," he looks ill at ease but determined to be on form, politely offering coffee and forcing a smile.
"I'm lovely in some interviews, I'm a little ratty in others. For some reason I'm ratty with those showbiz shows -- 'Extra' or 'ET' -- they're too in my face," he explains.
"The big celebrity ones," he says, affecting a southern California "Valley Girl" accent. "I grind my teeth in them."
Grant, 55, is the most high-profile face of the Hacked Off campaign against criminality and corruption in the British tabloids for the last five years.
But he is something of a paradox -- on one hand campaigning to protect ordinary people from the worst excesses of Fleet Street and on the other taking a torch to his own privacy whenever a microphone is shoved before him.
In the week leading to his interview with AFP, Grant was all over the world's print and online media and volunteered several revealing anecdotes on America's late night chatshow circuit.
On James Corden's "Late Late Show," he gleefully told of an emotional breakdown during which he "couldn't stop crying for three weeks" -- a story he rounded off with an amusing vignette about a disastrous visit to a hypnotist.
"Maybe I didn't think that one through. Really I was just trying to get to the hypnotist anecdote which I thought was quite a funny one," he tells AFP.
- 'Full of fear' -
"With all of these things, you're on these shows, you've got to think of something funny to say and you make catastrophic mistakes all the time."
Story continues
Grant, whose breakthrough role came in the Richard Curtis-scripted "Four Weddings a Funeral" in 1994, has gone on to become one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood.
His 25 films have earned well in excess of $2 billion, not to mention a Golden Globe, yet he doesn't exactly brim with pride when asked about his back catalogue.
"I'm glad that some of them were successful and pleased people," he offers.
"I take the Richard Curtis line, because he's a great advocate of commercial films and how difficult they are to do well, as opposed to arty-farty films which tend to get more prizes.
"He argues it's a little easier to please a small audience in Hampstead or the Village in New York than it is to please a mass audience across the world, and there's a sort of snobbishness about that."
Grant says he was "full of fear" after being cast by director Stephen Frears to star alongside Meryl Streep in "Florence Foster Jenkins," the moving and hilarious biopic of a tone-deaf wannabe soprano which hits US theaters on Friday.
More than 30 years after his film debut, Grant still suffers from sudden, crippling attacks of stage fright, which he tries to keep at bay with morning runs and doses of the stress reliever Rescue Remedy.
He had a scene with Streep which had to be re-shot twice after he was hit by what he describes as a panic attack.
"You're doing an easy-peasy moment and you've rehearsed it well and suddenly they say 'Right, let's shoot it close up now, Hugh' and bang!" he says.
"Sweat, tension -- it's so ridiculous."
- 'Never quite as good' -
Grant thinks he would be fine "poncing about" on the stage, as his attacks are a unique affliction of film acting, brought on by "having my head in the little box in close-up."
Having started out in regional theater before touring London's club circuit with his own comedy revue, Grant claims to have enjoyed treading the boards.
"Not so much in the cinema, to be absolutely honest. I was talking to Kevin Bacon last night at a screening and we agreed you always go home a little sad," he says.
"You're marvelous in rehearsal and in the wide shot, which you never really use in the edit, and when it finally gets to your close-up, you always clench up a bit. You're never quite as good."
Grant's self-deprecation often seems calculated to deflect questions that require deeper self-analysis, though he admits to being a tough person to work with at times.
Jon Stewart famously banned him from "The Daily Show" in 2012 after the actor had a backstage tantrum over the cutting of a joke from a clip for his latest film.
The host described his interviewee as the worst guest ever, adding: "And we've had dictators on the show."
Grant also admits to riling colleagues by getting involved in parts of the filmmaking process that ought not to concern him, and says the habit of a lifetime resurfaced on the set of "Florence Foster Jenkins."
"I interfere in stuff that's none of my business, like where the camera should be," he says.
"But to be fair to Stephen Frears, he was very welcoming of that kind of stuff."
Pioneering Lifestyle and Home Brand JESSIE STEELE has Announced an Expanded Product Line and Fresh, New Collections of their Iconic Aprons, Kitchen Accents, Totes, and other Signature Accessories
BERKELEY, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2016 / Pioneering lifestyle and home brand JESSIE STEELE has announced an expanded product line and fresh, new collections of their iconic aprons, kitchen accents, totes, and other signature accessories. This brand reinvigoration - comes on the heels of efforts to curb widespread counterfeiting of the brand both in the United States and overseas.
"As our brand became more internationally recognizable, so did the grey market for our products," explains Jessie Steele founder and CEO Helena Steele. "We became an international brand at the start of a tectonic shift in world commerce. Lower quality imitations began flooding the marketplace, especially online, which hurt our loyal boutique vendors and eroded sales, diluting our brand. Protecting our reputation for high quality home goods and accessories, by protecting our brand assets and trademarks on a global scale has been an ongoing learning experience."
While Steele has recently partnered with - Cyber Investigations Services - to help eliminate current counterfeit product listings online, she took more creative measures to breathe life into the iconic brand Jessie Steele, with inspired new collections of both classic products and new expansions that, to Steele, are a natural evolution of the brand. The collections feature a fun, whimsical take on iconic time-honored designs from the 20th century, envisioned through Steele's modern eye. The new patterns and styles highlight the brand's unique blend of elegant modernity and festive celebration of the joys of family, home, and entertaining.
In addition to the brand's signature aprons, home and kitchen products, Steele is pleased to announce the re-launching of the brand's pajama line later this year, with modern pant and shorts sets that feature classic polka dots and European-style floral patterns for a soft, feminine touch to modern cuts. Also joining the JESSIE STEELE lineup for the first time in the United States will be the brand's umbrellas, which have been wildly popular across elite, boutique retailers in Japan, and which will be available in limited editions in the United States.
Story continues
"Despite our growth over the past decade, we are determined to keep the brand personal," adds Steele, who is still directly involved in all aspects of design and development. . "We continue to will always be dedicated to creating new fresh stories, woven from the threads of a past - lovingly re-imagined, in prints and styles that evoke another era. Jessie Steele will always Bring Happy Home."
Speaking to continued brand expansion, Steele notes that fans can expect to see a resort collection of tunics, totes, flip flops and other resort items, with the classic JESSIE STEELE flair and personal attention to detail. For more information or to shop the latest collections, visit http://jessiesteele.com.
ABOUT JESSIE STEELE
Launched in 2003 - lifestyle brand JESSIE STEELE has at its heart the brand's iconic aprons, which caused a global revival of a classic home accessory that is the very symbol of domesticity. Over a decade later, the brand has steadily expanded to include the gamut of fashion related home and kitchen products, and providing licensing to other home goods, gift-ware, and apparel, as well as custom collaborations with major retailers. The entire Jessie Steele collection is available online at their website, as well as in - specialty boutiques in more than thirty countries. For more information or to shop JESSIE STEELE'S latest collections, visit http://jessiesteele.com.
Press Inquiries
Jody Green | Frame PR | jody@frame-pr.net
Related Files
Jessie Steele Editorial_BrandBook_JS2016.pdf
SOURCE: Jessie Steele
Indian police said Wednesday they have arrested the head of an upmarket hospital in Mumbai and four doctors on suspicion of organ trafficking.
Police reportedly stopped a kidney transplant procedure at the L H Hiranandani hospital after finding that documents showing the donor was married to the intended recipient were forged.
They said the woman giving up her kidney was being paid, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
Organs can only be donated by close relatives or by non-relatives approved by a special committee in India, and buying and selling them is illegal.
"We have arrested the chief executive of L H Hiranandani hospital, Sujit Chatterjee, and four doctors," said Mumbai police spokesman Ashok Dudhe.
They have been remanded in custody until Saturday, he added.
It is not the first such case -- in June Indian police said they had uncovered an illegal organ donation racket run out of a top New Delhi hospital.
That case also involved forged documents showing that the donors and the recipients were related.
Staff at the Apollo hospital were arrested, although its management denied any role and said it was the "victim of a well-orchestrated operation to cheat patients and the hospital".
Millions of Indians suffer from kidney disease, mostly because of high rates of diabetes.
But a chronic shortage of organs available for transplant has fuelled a black market.
As the executive producer of Showtimes Emmy-winning Homeland, Alex Gansa has a more formal office on the Fox lot. But when it comes to getting the real work of his job done, he heads to the hideaway tucked behind his house in the Pacific Palisades. Its in this bright, airy loft where he hunkers down for three hours every morning and night to write the series page-turning scripts. The Internet is terrible up here, so Im really isolated with the page and with my books, he says. Its been such a sanctuary.
EVIL DOES IT
Through its five-season run to date, Homeland has a notorious lineup of villains whove driven the plot. When Shaun Toub, who played Javadi was being honored by an Iranian acting society, Gansa created a video presentation in his honor hoping it might further his campaign for an Emmy guest actor nod, which he didnt receive. As a consolation prize, we inducted him into the Homeland Villains Hall of Fame, he says, which at the time included Abu Nazir, William Walden, Tom Walker, and the villain of all villainesses, Dana Brody.
WRITE STUFF
When Gansa first came to L.A. along with his friend Howard Gordon (and Homeland executive producer), the duo started an SAT preparation company to make ends meet. As luck would have it, one of their first students was Tori Wilder, whose father, John, was a producer on St. Elsewhere. A week later, they found themselves pitching him spec scripts. A framed letter from him inviting the two men to come in for a meeting Gansa calls it a prized possession sits on the shelf behind his desk. Everybody has their own unique way of getting into the business, and this was ours, says Gansa.
WELL NOTED
Back in 1998, Gansa created a show called Maximum Bob that he had a short but glorious run on ABC, starring Beau Bridges as a judge who handed out outrageous sentences. We wanted to give him a prop that represented his extreme views, so we chose a burdizzo emasculator that was used to castrate sheep, he recalls. Now the prop serves another function: helping him remain calm during notes calls. Im trying to be as diplomatic as I can possibly on the phone, but Im squeezing this thing in my hands as a way of relieving my stress.
Related stories
Emmys: Is the TV Academy Selling Writers & Directors on Broadcast Shows Short?
Drama Writers' & Directors' Struggle for Emmy Gold Starts With Pitched Battle
'Homeland' Streams to Hulu Under 20th Century Fox Pact
By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) - People with sleep disorders like sleep apnea, insomnia or restless leg syndrome may have a poorer recovery after a stroke and higher risk of a second stroke, according to a review of existing research. The authors recommend screening for these sleep disorders among people who have had a stroke or mini-stroke. We have been aware in neurology for a couple of years already that breathing disturbances are a risk factor for stroke, said coauthor Dr. Dirk M. Hermann of University Hospital Essen in Essen, Germany. Sleep has restorative functions for the brain and is important for storing information we collect during the night, which explains why stroke recovery is so much affected by sleep disturbances, he said. But in stroke treatment and recovery, treating acute issues tends to take precedent over sleep studies, Hermann told Reuters Health. In 29 studies of whats known as sleep disordered breathing, such as sleep apnea, the researchers found that breathing issues tend to precede a stroke and are often tied to strokes that happen during sleep. Hypersomnia, or sleeping too much, mostly emerges after a stroke, and may resolve in a few months but overall fatigue can last for years, the researchers report in Neurology. Insomnia is also common for stroke survivors, and in most cases it was an issue for patients before the stroke occurred. In two studies, more than 10 percent of stroke survivors experienced restless leg syndrome within one month of their stroke. Stroke survivors with restless leg syndrome were also more likely than others to have diabetes. More than half of stroke patients have some sleep disordered breathing issue, like sleep apnea, before their stroke, and treating the issue with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine reduces stroke risk and improves outcomes after a stroke, the researchers write. People who suffer a stroke should be screened for any sleep problems, and sleep apnea should be treated. There is less evidence that treating sleep-wake disorders like insomnia or sleeping too much with medications improves stroke recovery, they conclude. People, especially doctors, should be aware of the link between sleep issues and stroke, Hermann said. We have to consider that we have quite good ways of diagnosing sleep disturbances and effective means of treating them, he said. Its up to national associations to define which way it is most appropriate to integrate sleep screening and treatment into stroke care, he said. Typical post-stroke workup involves testing for many risk factors including carotid atherosclerosis, atrial fibrillation, hypercoagulable states, hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes among others, said Karin Johnson, medical director of Baystate Health Regional Sleep Program in Greenfield, Massachusetts, who was not part of the new study. Obstructive sleep apnea not only worsens all of these conditions but even with adjusting for other causes doubles the risk of stroke, but many people are not currently tested for obstructive sleep apnea after having a stroke, Johnson told Reuters Health by email. Even if someone has normal good quality sleep, just being sleep deprived can also increase the risk of stroke and other cardiovascular conditions like heart attacks so for most people trying to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night is the best to give enough sleep to protect and strengthen our body, said Johnson, who is also an assistant professor of neurology at University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. If you have loud snoring, frequent urination at night, gasping arousals, disrupted sleep, unrefreshing sleep, daytime sleepiness or fatigue, or no symptoms but signs like difficult to control high blood pressure, a large neck, and obesity, ask you doctors to test you for sleep apnea so you can get treated early before other complications arise, she said. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2aEaqjz Neurology, online August 3, 2016.
As part of the National Constitution Centers on-going Interactive Constitution project, leading constitutional experts interact with each other to explore the Constitutions history and what it means today. These experts were selected with the guidance of leaders of two prominent constitutional law organizationsThe American Constitution Society and The Federalist Society.
In this common interpretation of the Second Amendment, Nelson Lund from the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and Adam Winkler from the UCLA School of Law explain the Second Amendments basic history and recent court cases about it.
Amendment II: RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS
Passed by Congress September 25, 1789. Ratified December 15, 1791. The first 10 amendments form the Bill of Rights
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Modern debates about the Second Amendment have focused on whether it protects a private right of individuals to keep and bear arms, or a right that can be exercised only through militia organizations like the National Guard. This question, however, was not even raised until long after the Bill of Rights was adopted.
Many in the Founding generation believed that governments are prone to use soldiers to oppress the people. English history suggested that this risk could be controlled by permitting the government to raise armies (consisting of full-time paid troops) only when needed to fight foreign adversaries. For other purposes, such as responding to sudden invasions or other emergencies, the government could rely on a militia that consisted of ordinary civilians who supplied their own weapons and received some part-time, unpaid military training.
The onset of war does not always allow time to raise and train an army, and the Revolutionary War showed that militia forces could not be relied on for national defense. The Constitutional Convention therefore decided that the federal government should have almost unfettered authority to establish peacetime standing armies and to regulate the militia.
Story continues
This massive shift of power from the states to the federal government generated one of the chief objections to the proposed Constitution. Anti-Federalists argued that the proposed Constitution would take from the states their principal means of defense against federal usurpation. The Federalists responded that fears of federal oppression were overblown, in part because the American people were armed and would be almost impossible to subdue through military force.
Implicit in the debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists were two shared assumptions. First, that the proposed new Constitution gave the federal government almost total legal authority over the army and militia. Second, that the federal government should not have any authority at all to disarm the citizenry. They disagreed only about whether an armed populace could adequately deter federal oppression.
The Second Amendment conceded nothing to the Anti-Federalists desire to sharply curtail the military power of the federal government, which would have required substantial changes in the original Constitution. Yet the Amendment was easily accepted because of widespread agreement that the federal government should not have the power to infringe the right of the people to keep and bear arms, any more than it should have the power to abridge the freedom of speech or prohibit the free exercise of religion.
Much has changed since 1791. The traditional militia fell into desuetude, and state-based militia organizations were eventually incorporated into the federal military structure. The nations military establishment has become enormously more powerful than eighteenth century armies. We still hear political rhetoric about federal tyranny, but most Americans do not fear the nations armed forces and virtually no one thinks that an armed populace could defeat those forces in battle. Furthermore, eighteenth century civilians routinely kept at home the very same weapons they would need if called to serve in the militia, while modern soldiers are equipped with weapons that differ significantly from those generally thought appropriate for civilian uses. Civilians no longer expect to use their household weapons for militia duty, although they still keep and bear arms to defend against common criminals (as well as for hunting and other forms of recreation).
The law has also changed. While states in the Founding era regulated gunsblacks were often prohibited from possessing firearms and militia weapons were frequently registered on government rollsgun laws today are more extensive and controversial. Another important legal development was the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Second Amendment originally applied only to the federal government, leaving the states to regulate weapons as they saw fit. Although there is substantial evidence that the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment was meant to protect the right of individuals to keep and bear arms from infringement by the states, the Supreme Court rejected this interpretation in United States v. Cruikshank (1876).
Until recently, the judiciary treated the Second Amendment almost as a dead letter. In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), however, the Supreme Court invalidated a federal law that forbade nearly all civilians from possessing handguns in the nations capital. A 54 majority ruled that the language and history of the Second Amendment showed that it protects a private right of individuals to have arms for their own defense, not a right of the states to maintain a militia.
The dissenters disagreed. They concluded that the Second Amendment protects a nominally individual right, though one that protects only the right of the people of each of the several States to maintain a well-regulated militia. They also argued that even if the Second Amendment did protect an individual right to have arms for self-defense, it should be interpreted to allow the government to ban handguns in high-crime urban areas.
Two years later, in McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010), the Court struck down a similar handgun ban at the state level, again by a 54 vote. Four Justices relied on judicial precedents under the Fourteenth Amendments Due Process Clause. Justice Thomas rejected those precedents in favor of reliance on the Privileges or Immunities Clause, but all five members of the majority concluded that the Fourteenth Amendment protects against state infringement of the same individual right that is protected from federal infringement by the Second Amendment.
Notwithstanding the lengthy opinions in Heller and McDonald, they technically ruled only that government may not ban the possession of handguns by civilians in their homes. Hellertentatively suggested a list of presumptively lawful regulations, including bans on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, bans on carrying firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, laws restricting the commercial sale of arms, bans on the concealed carry of firearms, and bans on weapons not typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes. Many issues remain open, and the lower courts have disagreed with one another about some of them, including important questions involving restrictions on carrying weapons in public.
Read more from these experts about Matters of Debate about the Second Amendment at the following links: Not a Second Class Right: The Second Amendment Today by Nelson Lund and The Reasonable Right to Bear Arms by Adam Winkler.
Note: This project is sponsored by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
Recent Second Amendment Stories on Constitution Daily
Constitution Check: Where does the Second Amendment stand now?
Podcast: Lund and Winkler talk about the Second Amendment
Town Hall Video: Debating the Second Amendmen
After a last-minute ad blitz created turmoil in the race, lawyer and anti-drunk driving advocate Jimmy Anderson emerged the winner of a three-way Democratic primary in Wisconsin's 47th Assembly District.
No Republican is running to represent the district, making Anderson the de facto winner of the seat. The 47th covers parts of Monona, Fitchburg, Madison, Cottage Grove, McFarland and the town of Dunn.
Anderson defeated Fitchburg Alds. Julia Arata-Fratta and Tony Hartmann after racking up endorsements from prominent progressives including U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan and former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. He earned 45 percent of the vote, edging out Arata-Fratta with 38 percent and Hartmann with 17 percent.
Rep. Robb Kahl, D-Monona, decided not to seek re-election after representing the district since 2012.
Anderson said he knocked on more than 5,200 doors throughout the course of the race and credited the people who volunteered for his campaign with pushing him "over the finish line."
"Its as much a victory for them as it for me," Anderson said.
Hartmann applauded Anderson's "diligent" work ethic, noting that Anderson had beat him to many of the 4,000 doors he knocked during the race.
Between now and November, Anderson said he plans to knock on more doors and help raise funds for other Democratic candidates.
"Once the session starts, its going to be about focusing on issues like education, the environment, making sure people get paid a living wage," he said.
The race turned negative in the days leading up to the primary, when an outside group ran a radio ad in support of Arata-Fratta claiming Anderson refused to sign the petition to recall Gov. Scott Walker in 2012.
Anderson, who requested the ad be taken down, said he couldn't sign the petition because he hadn't yet regained the ability to write after being paralyzed from the chest down in a car crash. The 30-second ad was credited to the Construction Trades Coalition.
Anderson and his family were hit in 2010 by a drunk driver in California. The crash left Anderson paralyzed from the chest down and killed his parents and younger brother.
Construction Trades Coalition treasurer Michael Ervin argued that Wisconsin law authorizes those "unable to sign due to physical disability" to authorize another person to sign on his or her behalf.
Arata-Fratta said the radio ad was "not something that I, or anyone with my campaign, approved of or paid for."
"For the most part, the race was pretty positive, but at the end it was unfortunate that it got as negative as it did," Anderson said. "I really hope the people who went after me with those ridiculous attacks, I hope they realize it wasn't a kind thing to do."
Anderson a California native and his wife decided to stay in Dane County after finishing their law and veterinary degrees in Madison. He founded a nonprofit, Drive Clear, aimed at preventing drunk driving and helping its victims. Having benefited from the highly politicized Affordable Care Act in the treatment of his injuries, Anderson was later inspired to run for office.
He outspent his opponents overwhelmingly, listing nearly $75,000 in expenditures on his Aug. 1 campaign finance report. Hartmann reported spending about $3,000, and Arata-Fratta about $6,200.
"He had a very professional team. He just was really motivated and he had a lot of resources," Hartmann said, alluding to the money spent on the race.
Hartmann also praised Arata-Fratta for a "spirited fight."
"I want to congratulate Jimmy Anderson on his victory tonight," Arata-Fratta said in an emailed statement. "Even though I am disappointed by the outcome, I am proud of the positive, grassroots campaign that I ran. I want to thank all of my supporters throughout the 47th Assembly District for all their amazing support. I look forward to continuing in my role as Fitchburg Alder and working for the citizens of the community at city hall."
Hartmann issued a challenge to Anderson to "improve the situation" at the state Capitol.
"We can put another progressive down at the Capitol, but if we dont start figuring out how to work together and knit this state back together, were in for a lot more heartache," Hartmann said.
Other notable primary results:
U.S. House District 1, Republican Primary
House Speaker Paul Ryan soundly defeated challenger Paul Nehlen, 84 percent to 16 percent.
"I am humbled and honored that Wisconsinites in the 1st Congressional District support my efforts to keep fighting on their behalf. Janna and I are grateful to have the support of so many in southern Wisconsin, and we are truly thankful for all of their hard work," Ryan said in a statement.
U.S. House District 8, Republican Primary
Mike Gallagher, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and former foreign policy adviser for Gov. Scott Walker's presidential campaign, defeated state Sen. Frank Lasee and Forestville village president Terry McNulty, with 73 percent of the vote.
State Senate District 4, Democratic Primary
State Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, fended off a challenge from state Rep. Mandela Barnes, D-Milwaukee, earning 58 percent of the vote to his 42 percent. Barnes gave up his Assembly seat to run.
State Senate District 6, Democratic Primary
State Rep. LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, defeated Milwaukee School Board member Michael Bonds and former legislative aide Thomas Harris, with 61 percent of the vote.
State Senate District 18, Republican Primary
Fond du Lac County Party Chairman Dan Feyen defeated Oshkosh businessman and former pastor Mark Elliott, 56 percent to 44 percent. Feyen will face Winnebago Count Executive Mark Harris, who won the Democratic primary, to replace outgoing Sen. Rick Gudex, R-Fond du Lac.
Water stocks have long been underrated in the investment world, since the basic necessity of life is most often for granted. We certainly cannot imagine a world without technology, but can we even survive in a world without fresh water? In the wake of drought conditions in California and other states this year, people can no longer be oblivious of the situation.
Demand for fresh water which accounts for a meager 2.5% of the worlds total water content is growing along with urbanization and ever-increasing global population. Today, a major part of water infrastructure in the United States is approaching the end of its useful life.
Are we nearing a time when we have to stop drinking water directly from the tap? Per the Natural Resource Defense Council, cities like Atlanta, Albuquerque, San Francisco, and Fresno have fair-to-substandard drinking water. If a city has substandard water quality, then tap water may be carrying a good number of contaminants. Consumers have started to question about the quality of the water they drink.
Upgrade and Replace Need of the Hour
In recent times, drinking and waste water infrastructure in the U.S. has been under the spotlight. The talking point right now is whether the amount of infrastructure investment planned by the U.S. government is equal to the sum required for replacing the aged and outmoded water infrastructure.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") last conducted its Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment back in 2011. The report outlined that an investment of around $384 billion will be required over the next 20 years to modernize and upgrade U.S. water and waste water systems. On the other hand, a careful analysis by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) showed that about $1 trillion will be needed over the next 25 years only to restore underground pipes.
Consolidation Holds the Key
The water utility space is highly fragmented, as there are a number of water utilities in the U.S. operating on various scales ranging from thousands of customers to millions. The disjointed water industry has raised concerns about whether the smaller systems are sustainable in terms of competence and adaptability.
A plausible solution is the consolidation and integration of local and regional systems into large-scale structures. This would free up access to the capital markets for infrastructure development in order to provide reliable water services. This also explains the frequent acquisitions taking place in this space right now.
Top Players in the Water Industry
Story continues
The growing scarcity of water will definitely lead the water utilities to prosperity, making them an enduring investment play. Big players in the water industry are getting even bigger through a number of acquisitions and large infrastructure spending.
The largest publicly traded water and waste water service provider in the U.S., American Water Works Company, Inc. AWK, has recently made several acquisitions of water systems near its service territories. The company is growing by both organic and inorganic means. In 2014, the water utility closed 13 acquisitions, adding almost 4,500 customers to its regulated business
Arizonas fastest growing private water utility, Global Water Resources GWRS, was founded to aggregate and consolidate small to medium-sized water and wastewater utilities in the southwestern U.S.Global Water serves 50,000 people, and is focused on creating renewable water systems where wastewater from homes is treated and used again for a variety of outdoor applications.
Another top performing water company is American States Water Company AWR. The company provides water services in 75 cities in California. The company is primarily focused on long-term military contracts. American States Waters unit, Golden State Water Company, recently won the California Public Utilities Commissions (CPUC) approval to acquire all operating assets of Rural Water Company.
California Water Service Group CWT is also a consistent performer, serving about 477,900 customers in 83 California cities. The companys unit California Water Service Company recently filed a General Rate Case with the CPUC, requesting authorization to increase water rates. The rate increase appeal was filed to reimburse planned expenditure of around $693 million in water supply sources, pipes, pumps, treatment plants, and other facilities that are needed to provide safe, reliable water services.
Share prices of each stock have increased significantly over the past year. AWK, GWRS, AWR, and CWT have gained 48.61%, 27.04%, 8.79%, and 48.53%, respectively.
These companies also have an impressive earnings track record, and are known for consistently sharing their profit with shareholders. These water utilities are also reliable dividend payers. All the stocks currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Bottom Line
Though the water industry has long been affected by low rates and geographical and functional fragmentation, the pressing need of the hour is to replace hundreds of years of old pipelines and pumps. Now that most are in agreement that water is an essential element to all living things, the big question in the country is how to modernize dated infrastructure.
In terms of investment opportunities, there is speculation that water will be the next oil. Moreover, recent droughts have definitely made us realize that water isnt as abundant as we think. So, why not add some cool water stocks to your portfolio to quench that investment thirst.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
AMER WATER WORK (AWK): Free Stock Analysis Report
CALIF WATER SVC (CWT): Free Stock Analysis Report
AMER STATES WTR (AWR): Free Stock Analysis Report
GLOBL WATER RES (GWRS): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
WUHAN, CHINA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2016 / China Automotive Systems, Inc. (CAAS) will host a conference call to discuss the results of the second quarter 2016, to be held Thursday, August 11, 2016 at 8:30 AM Eastern Time.
To participate in this event, dial 877-407-8031 domestically, or 201-689-8031 internationally, approximately 5 to 10 minutes before the beginning of the call.
About China Automotive Systems, Inc.
Based in Hubei Province, the People's Republic of China, China Automotive Systems, Inc. is a leading supplier of power steering components and systems to the Chinese automotive industry, operating through eight Sino-foreign joint ventures. The Company offers a full range of steering system parts for passenger automobiles and commercial vehicles. The Company currently offers four separate series of power steering with an annual production capacity of over 5.0 million sets of steering gears, columns and steering hoses. Its customer base is comprised of leading auto manufacturers, such as China FAW Group, Dongfeng Auto Group Co., Ltd., BYD Auto Company Limited, Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd. and Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. in China, and Chrysler Group LLC in North America. For more information, please visit: http://www.caasauto.com.
SOURCE: Investor Calendar
SHOUGUANG, CHINA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2016 / Gulf Resources, Inc. (GURE) will host a live webcast to discuss the results of the second quarter 2016, to be held Thursday, August 11, 2016 at 8:00 AM Eastern Time.
You can listen to the event online at www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=175247 or on the Gulf Resources website (www.gulfresourcesinc.com/events.html).
If you are unable to participate during the live webcast, the event archive will be available at www.investorcalendar.com or www.gulfresourcesinc.com/events.html.
About Gulf Resources, Inc.
Gulf Resources, Inc. operates through four wholly-owned subsidiaries, Shouguang City Haoyuan Chemical Company Limited ("SCHC"), Shouguang Yuxin Chemical Industry Co., Limited ("SYCI"), Shouguang City Rongyuan Chemical Co, Limited ("SCRC") and Daying County Haoyuan Chemical Company Limited ("DCHC"). The company believes that it is one of the largest producers of bromine in China. Elemental Bromine is used to manufacture a wide variety of compounds utilized in industry and agriculture. Through SYCI, the company manufactures chemical products utilized in a variety of applications, including oil and gas field explorations and papermaking chemical agents. SCRC is a leading manufacturer of materials for human and animal antibiotics in China and other parts of Asia. DCHC was established to further explore and develop natural gas and brine resources (including bromine and crude salt) in China. For more information, visit www.gulfresourcesinc.com.
SOURCE: Investor Calendar
IRVINE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 9, 2016 / Khang & Khang LLP (the "Firm") announces that a class action lawsuit was filed against K12, Inc. ("K12" or the "Company") (LRN). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares between November 7, 2013 and October 27, 2015 (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the Firm prior to the September 19, 2016 lead plaintiff motion deadline.
If you purchased shares of K12 during the Class Period, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esquire, of Khang & Khang, 18101 Von Karman Avenue, 3rd Floor, Irvine, CA 92612, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.
There has been no class certification in this case. Until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. You may choose to take no action and remain a passive class member.
According to the complaint, K12 issued false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: that the Company published misleading advertisements about students' academic progress, parent satisfaction, graduates' eligibility for admission into the University of California and California State University, class sizes, the individualized and flexible nature of K12's instruction, hidden costs, and the quality of the materials provided to students; that the Company submitted inflated student attendance numbers to the California Department of Education in order to receive additional funding; that K12 was open to potential civil and criminal liability due to these practices; that K12 would likely be forced to end these practices, which would have a negative impact on its operations and prospects; and as a result of the above, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. When this news was announced, shares of K12 dropped in value, causing investors harm.
If you wish to learn more about this lawsuit, or if you have any questions concerning this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, a prominent litigator for almost two decades, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.
Story continues
This press release may constitute Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions.
Contacts
Joon M. Khang, Esq.
Telephone: 949-419-3834
Facsimile: 949-225-4474
joon@khanglaw.com
SOURCE: Khang & Khang LLP
JERUSALEM, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Israel Chemicals (ICL) , one of the three major suppliers of potash to China, India and Europe, reported a better than expected second-quarter profit on Wednesday and predicted further gains from its specialty products units.
Growth in its essential minerals division, which includes its main businesses like potash, a crop nutrient, and phosphates, was marginal however and that would probably continue due to strong competition, Chief Executive Stefan Borgas said.
Israel's biggest chemicals producer earned 10 cents per diluted share, excluding one-off items, down from 13 cents per diluted share in the same quarter a year ago, but higher than the 6 cents per share forecast by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue jumped 15 percent to $1.4 billion, in part due to a stoppage a year earlier when workers went out strike, and beat a $1.26 billion forecast.
ICL, which has exclusive permits in Israel to extract minerals from the Dead Sea, said quarterly results benefited from a diversification away from core businesses into specialty products, like advanced additives and specialty fertilizers.
Sales at the specialty solutions business grew 15 percent in the quarter.
"This is a sustainable growth rate for the upcoming quarters as well," Borgas said on a conference call with analysts.
ICL, a subsidiary of Israel Corp, said it would pay a quarterly dividend of $60 million, or 5 cents per share.
The company in recent weeks has signed potash supply contracts with Chinese and Indian customers and said it was continuing to negotiate with additional customers in India.
"ICL's potash business in the second half of the year will experience higher sales quantities but lower average prices," it said.
Given falling potash and commodities prices it will accelerate the transition from extracting and producing potash to producing polysulphate at its mine in Britain. The steps, ICL said, are expected to reduce the mine's annual potash production, freeing up production capacity for manufacturing polysulphate.
Story continues
ICL had planned to end potash production in Britain in 2018 but Borgas said the plan would now come into effect as much as 12 months ahead of schedule.
Shares in ICL's New York listed shares were up 3 percent at $4.12 in morning trade.
(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch and Steven Scheer; Editing by Susan Fenton)
My Italian immigrant father taught me everything I need to know about work
My Italian immigrant father taught me everything I need to know about work
My father began working full-time at age 10, and he is still working hard at age 65. An Italian immigrant, my father instilled in me lessons about working, balancing your life, and building a career that aligns with your passions. He has always been my biggest inspiration, because his story is that of the sentimental American dream: he came to this country without money, without knowledge of the language, and without education. 50 years later, he is one of the smartest, hardest-working, and most successful people I know.
This is what he taught me about how to work hard and live well.
No job, however menial it may seem, is ever beneath you if its honest work.
waitress
My father taught me that no job is shameful if you do it honestly and diligently. When he was a fresh arrival in America, my father took a job at a sheet metal company. It was a job that didnt require an education, but it was a job and he performed it well. In fact, he excelled so much at that position that when the companys finances took a turn for the worst, he was one of the few new hires that was not laid off.
From him, Ive learned that even if a job seems like its beneath you whether youre overqualified or have to work with incompetent superiors no shame should ever be attached to good, honest work, no matter the field. Ive translated that into my everyday life, especially when I was an unemployed postgrad waitressing practically full time. Many customers, making polite conversation, asked me if restaurant service was the only thing I was doing after college clearly expressing that they thought the food service life was below me, and somehow embarrassing. It hurt me, but at the end of the day, I was always proud of my hustle and work ethic. And hey the cash tips didnt hurt either.
Story continues
Because it was honest work and I did it well, I took pride in it. My dad taught me that.
Show up early, and leave late.
Speaking of hustling and distinguishing yourself at work: my dad taught me that in order for your boss to notice you, you must go above and beyond to prove your worth. More than likely, there are dozens of people at any given time who would be all too eager to get your job especially in our economy and job market! So its almost necessary to do more work than youre expected to do. Now, there is a fine line between working hard and being taken advantage of, but those who work harder than others are usually the ones who keep their jobs when the going gets tough!
Never say no to an opportunity that scares you, or that doesnt seem perfect.
Restaurant
My father loves telling the story of how he serendipitously became the owner of a successful restaurant for over 40 years. In the 1970s, my dad was planning to open a franchise location, but then randomly got an opportunity to become part owner of a restaurant. At first, he didnt like the idea; it was a lot of money to spend, it was a less familiar industry, and the opportunity didnt seem perfect to him. After some consideration, he decided to take the plunge.
That restaurant evolved into a successful business for 40 years. It was the business that established my father as a savvy entrepreneur, and the place where he eventually met my mother. Without taking a chance on an imperfect job, he may never have landed what turned out to be a dream career. I take that story to heart and carry it with me all the time. I try to never write off opportunities because Im frightened, unqualified, or because I dont think it is a perfect opportunity. No job prospect is ever 100% ideal, but it always has the potential to turn into something amazing. Why turn down that possibility?
Save money, save money, save money.
My dad was full of wisdom about saving money when my sisters and I were growing up. When we were old enough to help out at the family restaurant, wed bus tables for a couple shifts a week to earn some pocket change. My father would then collect that money and save it in an envelope for us to have once we were older. Hed only give us a small portion of it for spending money. He instilled in us the value of a dollar, and taught us that saving a few hundred dollars could make financial emergencies much, much easier to deal with when they inevitably come along!
A good savings pile is also great for when you want to splurge on something you deserve, like a vacation or a new purse. Years later, the greatest contentment I feel is when I can transfer my paycheck into a savings account and watch the numbers grow, knowing Im investing in a safer financial future.
Work/life balance is essential, but its a precarious balance.
Father dinner
My fathers role as a restaurant owner meant that he was gone for 12 hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week. My dad was constantly working, but he was also a hands-on, present father who always wanted to spend time with his kids. Thats why he offered each of us the opportunity to work at the restaurant once we were old enough. My teenage years were spent taking shifts at the restaurant, spending time with my parents, cousins, and aunts altogether as a family. My dad made it very clear that he strongly desired to balance his work life and his family life, so he balanced them the only way he knew how: by blending them together.
In my own professional life, I struggle with work/life balance because Ive become a workaholic. Even though Im still learning how to organize these two aspects of my life, I remember my father and know that Ill always find a way to spend time with the people I love.
Dont work for your co-workers.
When I got a new job at the beginning of the year, I was plagued with the struggles of the position: the long hours, the bad commute, the terrible boss, and the dissatisfaction I felt. My only solace was my beloved co-workers: a lively group of people that became my little family. So when I started seeing opportunities to get a better, more satisfying position, I second guessed making a career move because it would mean leaving the people with whom I had bonded.
But my father made me think differently. He told me that while its important to have friends at work and to enjoy yourself, ultimately, you dont work for your co-workers. You work for yourself your career, your livelihood, your happiness. And I know that staying at a dead-end job because it was filled with fun people was not the right choice for me. I also reasoned that, if it came down to it, my co-workers wouldnt stay at a bad job just for me. Plus, co-workers can turn into real-life friends even after youve changed jobs.
At the end of the day, work is a huge part of your life so you should enjoy it.
Look no one really loves to work. Even I, a self-professed workaholic who held down four jobs this year, like nothing better than binge-watching Netflix in pajamas. But since work is sort of necessary in order to eat and buy shoes and stuff, you may as well like your job. And that doesnt mean you have to constantly search for the perfect job, that you must say no to opportunities that arent good enough, or that you have to deal with a terrible job just for the paycheck.
For me, and for my father, enjoying work means taking pride in everything you do, working hard to build a career you love, and not getting discouraged when things arent perfect.
It means waiting tables for years before you land a better job but finding ways to love the hard work and the struggle. It means youre tough and strong, and youll fight for the life you want. It means finding the delicate balance between what you need to do and what you want to do. It means never apologizing for ambition, or for your pipe dreams. It means embracing work as a part of life, and turning it into something you wont hate.
My dad, an immigrant who built his life from scratch, taught me how to do all of that, and more.
The post My Italian immigrant father taught me everything I need to know about work appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano had some tough words for Donald Trump on Wednesday when discussing his readiness for the presidency.
The presidents comments and what comes out of the presidents mouth are so very important, she said of the recent firestorm over Trumps suggestion that Second Amendment people could help thwart President Hillary Clinton in office.
The American people need to be focused on what does the president do, and how the president employs that bully pulpit is so very important, she continued.
Napolitano discussed Trump as part of an interview with Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric. The day before, Trump said at a rally that gun rights supporters could possibly keep Hillary Clinton from appointing Supreme Court justices who would undermine the Second Amendment. Trumps comments were widely interpreted as either a joke or a quip suggesting violence against the Democratic nominees potential administration.
Napolitano, a former Arizona governor, said she could only speculate that the number of threats or things of that nature have increased throughout the course of the heated presidential election and that, unfortunately, rhetoric plays a role. Rhetoric can be fuel to the fire.
Couric noted that Clinton has also been the subject of her own negative headlines amid this weeks release of emails that raise new questions about the nature of the relationship between the Clinton Foundation and Clintons State Department.
Napolitano noted that while she is a Democrat and is openly supporting Clinton for president, I think she made a mistake in how she set up her email with a private server for official State Department business. That mistake would continue to be an Achilles heel for Clinton, she said.
Still, Napolitano urged voters to weigh their questions about Clintons judgment against the entire picture now that we are seeing of a candidate who seems to articulate that he is his own best decision maker, that he knows more about ISIS than the generals do, that he can amend the Constitution really a lack of understanding about how our democracy is set up, and what would it be like to live under a Trump presidency.
Story continues
I would worry every night about what I would wake up to in the morning about what Trump had said or done, she said. In contrast, if Clinton were elected, Napolitano said, I would rest easy at night knowing she was making the kinds of judgments a president is called on to make.
I worked with her, I saw how she worked in the White House in the situation room, she said.
As for whether Napolitano, now president of the University of California system, would return to Washington if offered a position in Clintons potential Cabinet, she said, I dont play what-ifs.
Green Party candidate Jill Stein told CNBC on Wednesday she is the only 2016 presidential nominee who is free to provide the medicine the economy needs.
"As the only candidate that is not poisoned by corporate money lobbyists or super PACs, I can actually stand up for what it is we need," she said in an interview on "Squawk Box."
She said the United States needs an emergency jobs program like the New Deal "a green New Deal" to solve "the emergency of climate change," and a cancellation of student debt to "liberate a generation to lead us forward to the economy of the future."
She said she would also make higher education free and make health care universal through a Medicare for all system.
The student loan forgiveness program could be paid for through a quantitative easing program in which the Federal Reserve would buy up student loans and agree not to collect on the debt, according to Stein.
"So essentially it's an expansion of the money supply, but in a way that actually unleashes enormous productivity. This is basically the stimulus package of our dreams," she said.
To be sure, the Federal Reserve is an independent government agency that devises monetary policy in accordance with its dual mandate of promoting price stability and maximizing employment. The president cannot dictate the Fed's asset-buying programs.
Stein said the reduction in health costs by eliminating fossil-fuel emissions and creating a healthy food supply alone would pay for her green energy transition. A reduction in the United States' "bloated and dangerous" military budget would also contribute to the green New Deal, she added.
She said reducing the military budget would also discourage the United States from waging wars that have produced failed states and stoked migrant crises, and would therefore make the country more secure.
Stein and her running mate, human rights activist Ajamu Baraka, formally accepted the Green Party's nomination last weekend in Houston.
Following the Democratic National Convention, 5 percent of voters said they plan to vote for Stein, down from 6 percent prior to the event, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. The poll has a margin of error of 3.46 percentage points.
The good guys who dress in black may never meet the good guys who dress like they are in high school.
For some time, Sony has been tossing around the idea of a crossover movie featuring two of their biggest comedy franchises, 21 Jump Street and Men in Black, but Jump Street star Jonah Hill now says a merging of the movies is unlikely to happen.
"I had the idea," Hill told the Toronto Sun. "But I doubt that movie will get made."
The idea of a Jump Street/Men in Black crossover first came to public light via the Sony email hacks in 2014. In March of this year, The Hollywood Reporter exclusively reported that Muppets director James Bobin was in early talks to helm the movie. And in April, Sony teased that the film was tentatively titled MIB 23.
But now Hill says he thinks the film would be too complicated to make work.
"They're trying to make all the deals, but it's kind of impossible with all the Men in Black stuff. The Jump Street films were so fun to make and the whole joke of them was they were making fun of remakes and sequels and reboots and then now it's become a giant sequel, reboot," said Hill. "It's almost become what we were making fun of and it's hard to maintain that joke when it's so high stakes."
The idea of combining the properties is an appealing option for Sony, with MIB being a hit franchise that became too expensive because of the compensation packages of its stars and producers like Steven Spielberg. Jump Street, on the other hand, featured an in-credits scene which imagined a future history of the franchise exhausted by sequelitis. Many think a crossover might be a fresh way to keep both franchises alive.
Read more: It's All Too Much: 'Suicide Squad' and the Way DC Movies Connect Together
When it comes to epic pranks and acting advice, you can always count on Leonardo DiCaprio!
While preparing for his new role as former international arms dealer Efraim Diveroli in War Dogs, Jonah Hill says he got some helpful advice from his Wolf of Wall Street co-star.
WATCH: Leonardo DiCaprio Epically Scares Jonah Hill by Pretending to Be a Fan
"He said, 'Always meet them if you can, take what you want and leave what you don't,'" Hill recalled DiCaprio telling him with regard to portraying real life people on the big screen, during a Q&A panel hosted by The New York Times on Thursday.
"It's great if you can [meet the person]. You just have to do a lot of editing of who they actually are," he added.
Unfortunately, the 32-year-old actor wasn't able to utilize DiCaprio's suggestion for War Dogs, as Diveroli was serving a prison sentence at the time of filming and declined any involvement with the movie.
WATCH: Jonah Hill Trims Down, Shows Off Slimmer Physique With Girlfriend in Los Angeles
The film follows the story of two international arms dealers who secure a government contract to supply weapons for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. But, this wasn't the first time Hill has encountered some resistance from a real person he was portraying.
"Most of the time when I play somebody, they have a violent reaction against me playing them," he said.
Recently, DiCaprio pranked Hill on a street corner in New York, running up to his friend with his phone out, pretending to be a crazed fan and nearly startling his buddy half-to-death.
"It was funny! I was totally taken off guard," Hill recently told ET. "I was scared sh*tless."
Check out the hilarious moment in the video below.
Related Articles
(Add quotes, background on dispute)
Washington DC, Aug 10 (Reuters) - The federal judge hearing the U.S. Justice Department's case to block Aetna Inc's $34 billion purchase of Humana Inc has set a trial date for Dec. 5, later than the companies had requested.
Aetna and Humana are fighting the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit asserting that combining the two companies will harm consumers and raise prices.
Aetna had asked for a trial date in the fall, perhaps October, because of a Dec. 31 deadline for the deal's completion. The Justice Department has said that that deadline can be pushed back.
Judge John Bates, who will decide if the merger may go forward, said during a hearing on Wednesday that the companies had failed to define any harm in a later trial.
Bates said that the trial would likely end on Dec. 21 and that the case would most likely be decided in mid- to late January.
The Justice Department filed lawsuits on July 21 asking a federal court to stop Aetna's planned acquisition of Humana as well as Anthem's planned $45 billion purchase of Cigna.
Aetna has argued that a single question will dominate the trial: Does Medicare Advantage, which is managed by insurance companies, compete with Medicare, which is managed by the government? The government says that the two products do not compete while insurers argue that they do.
If Medicare Advantage competes against traditional Medicare, then Aetna's MA products compete against the government's Medicare and the deal is much likely to be deemed legal under antitrust law.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington D.C.; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Alan Crosby)
Dirk van Tichelt won his first Olympic judo medal Monday. (Getty)
Dirk Van Tichelt probably didnt envision one of the greatest days of his life ending in the hospital. But thats exactly where the Belgian judoka found himself Monday night hours after winning his first-ever Olympic medal.
Van Tichelt won bronze in the 73-kg judo competition on Monday. Naturally, he went off to Copacabana Beach that night to celebrate the achievement. And thats where things went awry.
Van Tichelt was reportedly assaulted by a thief on the famous beach, and was struck in the face. He was taken to the hospital after the incident.
The thief, who was reportedly Brazilian, came away with a cellphone, but, crucially, not with a bronze medal. That allowed Van Tichelt to take this epic picture the following day:
Dief in Rio steelt gsm en slaat Dirk Van Tichelt. Gevolg: blauw oog voor onze bronzen plak: https://t.co/kFpnQ36398 pic.twitter.com/rMuuoUoVF5 sporza (@sporza) August 9, 2016
The Belgian Olympic Committee released a statement confirming the details, and saying that Van Tichelt didnt require treatment at the hospital. He appeared at a media event the next day with a black eye, and, undoubtedly, a smile on his face.
Van Tichelt now has more than just a medal to commemorate his Olympic success.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Tuesday floated a theory that the Democratic National Committee staffer who was shot dead in the streets of Washington, D.C., last month had been targeted because the operative was an informant.
In an interview on Dutch television, the Australian cyber-activist invoked the unsolved killing of Seth Rich, 27, earlier this summer to illustrate the risks of being a source for his organization.
Citing WikiLeaks protocol, Assange refused to confirm whether or not Rich was in fact a source for WikiLeaks, which released thousands of internal DNC emails, some of them politically embarrassing. Experts and U.S. government officials reportedly believe that hackers linked to the Russian government infiltrated the DNC and gave the email trove to WikiLeaks.
But Assange was apparently interested in hinting about an even darker theory.
Whistleblowers go to significant efforts to get us material and often very significant risks. As a 27-year-old, works for the DNC, who was shot in the back, murdered just a few weeks ago for unknown reasons as he was walking down the street in Washington, Assange said on Nieuwsuur. BuzzFeed drew more attention to the interview in the U.S.
Somewhat startled, news anchor Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal said, That was just a robbery, I believe wasnt it?
No, theres no finding, Assange responded. Im suggesting that our sources take risks and they become concerned to see things occurring like that.
Why make the suggestion about a young guy being shot in the streets of Washington? van Rosenthal asked.
Because we have to understand how high the stakes are in the United States, Assange said, and that our sources face serious risks. Thats why they come to us, so we can protect their anonymity.
The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington have not established a motive for the killing but reportedly told the young mans family that he died during a robbery attempt turned tragic. His father, however, told Omaha CBS-affiliate KMTV he did not think it was a robbery because nothing was stolen: his watch, money, credit cards and phone were still with him.
Story continues
The WikiLeaks founder said that others have suggested that Rich was killed for political reasons and that his organization is investigating the incident.
I think it is a concerning situation. There isnt a conclusion yet. We wouldnt be able to state a conclusion, but we are concerned about it, he continued. More importantly, a variety of WikiLeaks sources are concerned when that kind of thing happens.
WikiLeaks further fanned the flames of conspiracy by offering a $20,000 reward for anyone with information leading to the conviction of the person responsible for killing Rich.
ANNOUNCE: WikiLeaks has decided to issue a US$20k reward for information leading to conviction for the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich. WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 9, 2016
Rich, who worked in voter outreach for the Democrats, was shot and killed just after 4 a.m. on July 10 a block from his home in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington.
Late last month, WikiLeaks published nearly 20,000 emails from DNC employees that exacerbated the tension between Bernie Sanders supporters and the Democratic establishment during the partys national convention in Philadelphia. The emails led to the resignation of several DNC leaders, including Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Snopes has debunked that claim that Rich was killed to prevent him from meeting with the FBI to discuss his plans to testifying against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The Metropolitan Police Department currently offers a reward of up to $25,000 for anyone who can provide information that leads to the conviction of someone for any murders in Washington.
Brad Bauman, a spokesperson for the Rich family, released a statement to Business Insider Wednesday saying that people trying to politicize the death of their loved one are doing more harm than good and preventing police officers from fully doing their jobs.
The family welcomes any and all information that could lead to the identification of the individuals responsible and certainly welcomes contributions that could lead to new avenues of investigation, the statement read.
That said, some are attempting to politicize this horrible tragedy, and in their attempts to do so, are actually causing more harm [than] good and impeding on the ability for law enforcement to properly do their job. For the sake of finding Seths killer, and for the sake of giving the family the space they need at this terrible time, they are asking for the public to refrain from pushing unproven and harmful theories about Seths murder.
Related video:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - African-American residents in Baltimore are routinely subjected to unconstitutional stops, arrests and excessive force by the Baltimore Police Department, a scathing federal report released on Tuesday said.
The 163-page U.S. Justice Department report details an investigation launched after the death of black detainee Freddie Gray last year that found the Baltimore Police Department engages in a pattern of conduct that violates the constitution or federal law.
"This pattern or practice is driven by systemic deficiencies in BPD's policies, training, supervision and accountability structures that fail to equip officers with the tools they need to police effectively and within the bounds of the federal law," the report said.
However, the department "has already begun laying the foundation for reform by self-initiating changes to its policies, training, data management, and accountability systems", it added.
A spokesman said the department would not comment until a scheduled news conference on Wednesday.
The report comes 16 months after police arrested Gray, 25, for fleeing unprovoked in a high-crime area. He suffered a neck injury in a police wagon while shackled and handcuffed, and died a week later.
The incident triggered rioting and protests in Baltimore, a majority-black city of about 620,000 people. It fueled a national debate on police tactics and stoked the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Six officers were charged in Gray's death, but four trials ended without a conviction. Prosecutors dropped the remaining charges last month.
The Justice Department's investigation after Gray's death found that the Baltimore Police Department had routinely made unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests.
"BPDs targeted policing of certain Baltimore neighborhoods with minimal oversight or accountability disproportionately harms African-American residents," the report added.
Story continues
The investigation found African-American pedestrians were stopped three times as often as white residents after controlling for the population of the area in which the stops occurred, the report said.
Police have also engaged in a pattern of using excessive force when dealing with individuals with mental health disabilities, juveniles and subjects who do not immediately respond to verbal commands, the investigation found.
The department "uses overly aggressive tactics that unnecessarily escalate encounters, increase tensions, and lead to unnecessary force, and fails to de-escalate encounters when it would be reasonable to do so," the report said.
Police in Baltimore also have frequently violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by detaining and arresting individuals who engaged in protected speech, the report said.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson, Julia Harte and Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Tom Brown, Sandra Maler and Gareth Jones)
The Canadian PM shared this photo of his wife. (Twitter/JustinTrudeau)
This year, Aug. 1 to 7 marked World Breastfeeding Week, and to show support, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted an intimate photo of his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, feeding their son Hadrien.
This World Breastfeeding Week, lets support mothers to breastfeed anytime, anywhere, the tweet reads, attributing the quote to Gregoire Trudeau.
This World Breastfeeding Week, lets support mothers to breastfeed anytime, anywhere. SGT #WBW2016 pic.twitter.com/vgRMhzVY1Z Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) August 6, 2016
And this isnt the first time the wife of the prime minister has come forward in support of breastfeeding. In a recent profile in Chatelaine magazine, she spoke candidly about continuing to feed her youngest son at age 2.
I know hes my last one; its a little hard to give it up, she says.
She later elaborated on this in an interview with Katie Couric for Yahoo, saying, I think its a womans choice. I breastfed my three babies. I also gave them formula. I think its a beautiful bond, and I encourage it, but I dont judge.
World Breastfeeding Week is aimed at raising awareness of the links between breastfeeding and the Sustainable Development Goals that were developed in September 2015 by a number of world leaders in an effort to end poverty and protect the planet.
By recognizing that breastfeeding is a key to sustainable development, we will value our wellbeing from the start of life, respect each other and care for the world we share, states the WBW website.
Joining Gregoire Trudeau, Alberta Cabinet Minister Stephanie McLean posted her own breastfeeding picture with the caption Breastfeed wherever yes even at work!
Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Tripoli (AFP) - Key dates since the Islamic State group moved into Libya in late 2014 amid the chaos that followed the ouster of Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.
Pro-government forces said they had seized control of the IS's headquarters in Sirte on Wednesday as they push to oust the jihadists from the coastal city.
First jihadist attacks
- November 19, 2014: The US says it is "concerned" by reports that radical extremists with avowed ties to IS are destabilising eastern Libya, having already seized vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.
- December 27, 2014: A car bomb claimed by IS explodes outside the diplomatic security building in Tripoli without causing casualties.
- January 27, 2015: IS claims an attack on Tripoli's luxury Corinthia Hotel that kills nine people, including five foreigners.
Since then IS has carried out multiple suicide attacks, including in February 2015 in Al-Qoba, near the eastern town of Derna, that killed 44 people and in January 2016 at a police school in Zliten, east of Tripoli, which killed more than 50.
IS videos of killings
- February 15, 2015: IS releases a video showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians, all but one Egyptian, captured in Libya, that it says was filmed in January. Egypt carries out air strikes on IS in its then stronghold of Derna.
- April 19, 2015: A new video shows the execution-style killing of 28 Christians originally from Ethiopia.
Sirte seized
- June 9, 2015: IS announces it has captured Sirte, hometown of Kadhafi, east of Tripoli.
- July 12, 2015: The group acknowledges it has been pushed out of Derna after weeks of fierce fighting with the town's Mujahedeen Council.
First US strikes
- November 13, 2015: The US bombs IS leaders in Libya for the first time and says it killed Abu Nabil, an Iraqi also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi. Libyan officials identify him as the IS chief in Derna.
- February 19, 2016: A US air strike on a jihadist training camp near Sabratha, west of Tripoli, kills about 50 people.
Story continues
- February 24, 2016: Some 200 jihadists briefly occupy central Sabratha, before being ousted by militias.
Offensive on Sirte
- March 30, 2016: The head of Libya's UN-backed unity government, Fayez al-Sarraj, arrives in Tripoli, despite the hostility of rival authorities.
- May 12, 2016: A vast offensive begins by forces loyal to the unity government to retake Sirte. On June 9 government forces enter the centre of Sirte and besiege the jihadists.
- June 4, 2016: Unity government forces say they have retaken a jihadist air base south of Sirte.
- July 23, 2016: Loyalist forces say they have seized a building used by IS to manufacture explosives.
- August 1, 2016: The US carries out its first air strikes on IS positions in Sirte, at the unity government's request.
- August 10, 2016: Pro-government forces say they seized the IS's headquarters at the Ouagadougou conference centre in Sirte. Some parts of the town remain in the hands of the jihadists.
Things are getting quite heated between Dutch and DAvin on this Fridays Killjoys (Syfy, 9/8c) though not in that good, sexy kind of way.
RELATEDZ Nation Season 3, Van Helsing and Other New Series Get Syfy Dates
In the episode Heart-Shaped Box, tensions rise and the entire team is tested when a lethal Level Six agent is captured. In the exclusive sneak peek above, DAv (played by Luke Macfarlane) argues in favor of healing the injured prisoner, while Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen) counters that the Level Six agent is no wounded animal but a weapon of war, so she isnt feeling merciful. At all.
Why is DAv taking this all so personally? Press play above to hear the duos full argument, and see if you can do the math.
RELATEDSyfys Krypton: Meet Supermans Grandpa and Other Key Characters
Elsewhere in the episode, Johnny secretly investigates Jelcos wall for Pawter.
Want more scoop on Killjoys, or for any other show? Email insideline@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matts Inside Line.
Related stories
Z Nation Season 3, Van Helsing and Other New Series Get Syfy Dates
Sharknado: The 4th Awakens Photo Recap: From Random to Ridiculous
Quotes of the Week: The Bachelorette, Zoo, Rizzoli & Isles, DNC and More
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- The remnants of the final two targets scattered in the dreary Brazilian sky, landing in dozens of places across the rain-soaked Olympic shooting range.
Fehaid Al-Deehani raised his shotgun overhead with a shout and turned toward the crowd, pounding his chest as he walked toward them.
No matter what his team was called, what flag was raised or anthem played, the gold medal belonged to him.
Competing as an independent athlete with Kuwait's Olympic committee suspended, Al-Deehani captured the first gold medal of his storied career by beating Italy's Marco Innocenti in the men's double trap finals Wednesday at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
''That was for my country, for the people who don't want us to participate in the Olympics,'' Al-Deehani said. ''I'm showing them that we are here and we got the medal.''
A proud Kuwaiti army officer, Al-Deehani is not just the most decorated Olympic athlete in his country, he is the only one to earn a medal. He won his first, a bronze, at the 2000 Sydney Games and another in London four years ago.
Rio was his sixth Olympics, but it would not be for Kuwait.
The Arab country has been engaged in an ongoing rift with the IOC, which has accused Kuwait's government of interfering with sports.
The IOC suspended Kuwait in October and the country countered will a $1.3 billion lawsuit against 14 board members of the Gulf state's Olympic committee and the national federations of several sports. A lawsuit against the IOC was thrown out by a Swiss court.
The IOC made a concession just before the Rio Olympics, allowing Kuwait's athletes to participate as independents under the IOC flag, should they qualify.
Al-Deehani refused to carry the IOC flag for the independent team during opening ceremony, saying he would only carry Kuwait's flag.
Once shooting started in Rio, Al-Deehani became intent on defying the IOC's decision by winning a medal for his country, not an independent team filled with Kuwaitis.
Story continues
Al-Deehani almost didn't make it past the semifinals, needing a shoot-off to get past American Joshua Richmond into the final six.
But Al-Deehani had the best score in the semifinals, hitting 28 targets to earn a spot against Innocenti in the gold-medal match. With at least silver in his grasp, Al-Deehani dropped to his knees and put his face to the ground before getting up and pounding his chest at the crowd.
''The feeling was much better than any before because you know if you are competing for the gold medal, you have at least the silver for sure,'' Al-Deehani said.
He didn't want to stop there, though.
His confidence soaring, Al-Deehani took an early lead in the final and overcame a couple of late missed shots to put himself in position for gold. Shooting first and leading by two, he knew gold was his if he hit both targets on his final turn.
Al-Deehani's shots were true and so was his heart as he pounded it numerous times at the crowd.
But sorrow tinged the joy once he stepped on the top step of the podium.
Wearing a plain blue sweatshirt, Al-Deehani raised his arms and smiled before receiving the gold medal, but turned somber as the IOC anthem played and the IOC flag was raised instead of his country's.
''It hurts very much,'' said Al-Deehani, who struggled to stifle tears as the IOC anthem played. ''I can't describe my pain. It is too sad.''
Steven Scott hit all 30 targets to defeat British shooter Tim Kneale for the bronze medal.
Tuesday night (Aug. 9) proved to be a major night for American gymnasts in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Not only did America win the team gymnastics title with an 8.209 lead over Russia, New Jersey also managed to come out strong thanks to 16-year-old Laurie Hernandez.
Hernandez, an Old Bridge native, gave New Jersey its first gold medal of the 2016 Olympics. The Puerto Rican gymnast received a 15.100 on the vault, 12.233 on the balance beam, and a 14.833 on the floor exercise. Laurie described her experience at the Olympics by saying, It was awesome. I mean, when we first walked out there it really hit me: Wow, were at the Olympics. As I started dancing for my floor routine, I felt calm, I felt normal, and I think that was a really good feeling.
While congratulations are definitely in order for the young Hernandez, there may be more on the way. During Saturdays individual apparatus competition, she will compete on the balance beam in hopes of winning yet another medal. If her track record is any consolation, she can definitely do it.
bering land bridge national park
Remember back in high school when you learned all those human history basics, like the fact that we share a common ancestor with the African ape or that the first Americans reached the continent by way of a grassy strip of terrain called the Bering land bridge that emerged as the ice retreated between Russia and Alaska?
Turns out that last bit might be wrong.
According to a new study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, the first people to reach the Americas most likely never even saw this route. Instead, they took an alternative, more westward path along the Pacific coastline across lands that are now underwater.
"It definitely challenges what most people learned in high school," Mikkel Winther Pedersen, the paper's lead author and an anthropologist at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, told Business Insider.
For centuries, people have considered the Bering land bridge to be the main highway that the earliest human travelers used to get to the Americas. Back in the 16th century, Spanish explorer Jose de Acosta posited that those early hikers made their way south while tracking massive herds of animals like deer and elk, whose meaty flesh would sustain them on their treacherous journey.
Here's a GIF showing how the area called Beringia emerged and disappeared over thousands of years:
The gist of this theory has remained pretty widely accepted among archaeologists, though certain parts of it like what types of animals and plants lived in the region at the time are still hotly debated.
One recent study, for example, suggested that while the first Americans did indeed travel throughout and even settle in Beringia, they certainly weren't eating any large game, since the landscape would have supported only small animals and perhaps elk. Still, Beringians would have had all the resources they needed to survive there, the authors of that paper argued two years ago in a post for The Conversation.
Story continues
The new study challenges that assumption, finding instead that the area simply didn't have the resources to support thousands of hungry humans at least not until thousands of years later.
willerslev_first_americans_paper_3 skitched (1)
But there's strong evidence that humans were present in the Americas long before then. In May a team of archaeologists uncovered a set of 14,550-year-old stone tools and butchered mastodon bones at the bottom of a Florida river firmly placing the first Americans in those lands 1,000 earlier than scientists once thought.
So the question for the new study's researchers was this: How did these mastodon-hunting Americans get there? Did they somehow manage to eke out a route along the barren terrain of the Bering land bridge? Or did they use another route perhaps the other ice-free pathway along what's now part of the submerged Pacific coastline?
To find out, the researchers dug ancient ice cores out of lakes in the region where ice once retreated and filled in with water, essentially forming frozen time capsules. It's a new and developing field of research called environmental DNA, or eDNA for short, that involves carefully inspecting all the genetic material hidden inside a sample of soil, sediment, or water.
"It was kind of like time travel," Pedersen said.
Trapped deep inside each ice core, the researchers found layers of sediment, each of which represented a distinct era in ecological time. They used the cores to get a glimpse of what the area looked like from roughly 15,000 years ago when the ice retreated and the lakes began to fill with liquid water up until about 12,600 years ago, when animals and plants began to establish themselves there.
"Putting this together we could suddenly see that well humans couldn't have used this corridor until 12,600," Pedersen said, "because they couldn't have walked along a thousand-kilometer stretch of land without having something to sustain them."
The finding could change history, Florida State University in Tallahassee archaeologist Jessi Halligan, and one of the authors of the study that uncovered the butchered mastodon bones in Florida but who was not involved with this paper, told Business Insider.
"This is a really big and important study," said Halligan. "It shows these first Americans couldnt have taken this corridor it simply wasn't viable at the time."
NOW WATCH: One of the most groundbreaking archaeological discoveries of the year was almost turned into a necklace
More From Business Insider
KELOWNA, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2016 / Lexaria Bioscience Corp. (LXRP) (CSE:LXX) ("the Company" or "Lexaria") has entered a letter of intent (LOI) to license its proprietary technology to CBDM LLC for the development and sale of a range of marijuana oil infused products in a potentially national-scale roll-out to Indian reservations across America and certain other U.S. territories.
Under the terms of the LOI, usage fees of $200,000 are contemplated for each product line introduced, over a five-year operating term per state. The Licensee can earn non-exclusive rights to sell up to five product lines on Indian reservations, through licensed medical or adult use retailers only. Currently, 35 states have federally recognized Indian reservations. The Licensee may also earn non-exclusive rights to sell these product lines in all areas of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada.
Technology license usage fees payable to Lexaria have the potential to reach as much as $36,000,000 over the term of the seven-year agreement, though the actual amount to be paid shall depend on the number of product lines and states the Licensee ultimately effects.
The LOI further contemplates a $175,000 per-state payment by the Licensee, to be paid in-kind to Lexaria by executing clinical testing in patients receiving products with Lexaria's technology. This clinical testing will be conducted and funded by researchers affiliated with the Licensee at a major US University and Lexaria will have access to study data and results. Lexaria's technologically enhanced products will be evaluated for their efficacy in alleviating certain symptoms associated with chronic disease to be studied, in concert with primary intervention treatment. Lexaria will begin collaborations with the Licensee and its affiliated university researchers on the basic design elements of the planned clinical testing. Lexaria will have no funding responsibilities for the clinical testing and does not influence its funding sources which are third-party to the Company.
Under this structure, total in-kind fees of $6,300,000 would grant the Licensee access to valid sales territories in each of the 36 states mentioned.
Additional information and details regarding these clinical testing plans will be announced in due course. Readers are cautioned that the clinical plans are currently in the preliminary design stages and will, like any other clinical testing in patients with chronic disease, likely take an as yet undetermined period of many months to complete and report.
"We are extremely pleased to have effected this LOI with our second prospective licensee in the medical and adult use marijuana edibles sector," said John Docherty, President of Lexaria Bioscience Corp. "Lexaria was recently granted its first patent allowance by the US Patent and Trademark Office, and is heartened to observe the response of the marketplace as it acknowledges the value of the Lexaria technology in improving flavor and performance of cannabinoids and other bioactive substances in consumer products. Lexaria feels confident that it will succeed in being awarded additional new patent allowances in 2016 and 2017 that will further strengthen its competitive position in the marketplace and its ability to effect additional revenue generating technology out-licensing agreements pursuant to its business plan within the cannabis sector and beyond."
Lexaria itself is not selling any products through this agreement. The LOI is expected to advance into a definitive agreement within 60 days though there is no assurance of this. Additional information will be released regarding the completion of the definitive agreement, and progress with the clinical testing, as they are confirmed and available. Readers are cautioned that a definitive agreement has not yet been reached and, even if reached, receipt of license usage fees is dependent upon the success of the Licensee in launching and operating their business.
About Lexaria
Lexaria Bioscience Corp. is a food sciences company focused on the delivery of active compounds that can behave as superfoods through its proprietary infusion technologies. Lexaria's technology enables higher bioavailability rates for CBD; THC; NSAIDs; Nicotine and other molecules than is possible without lipophilic enhancement technology. This can allow for lower overall dosing requirements and/or higher effectiveness in active molecule delivery. Lexaria hopes to reduce other common but less healthy ingestion methods such as smoking as it embraces the benefits of public health. www.lexariaenergy.com
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Lexaria Bioscience Corp.
Chris Bunka
Chairman & CEO
(250) 765-6424
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This release includes forward-looking statements. Statements which are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. The Company makes forward-looking public statements concerning its expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategy, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations, including statements that include words such as "anticipate," "if," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "could," "should," "will," and other similar expressions are forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: that any license arrangements may be entered into with other companies or partners, that the Company's technology will prove to be beneficial to third parties or to generate revenue for the Company. Forward-looking statements are estimates reflecting the Company's best judgment based upon current information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that other factors will not affect the accuracy of such forward-looking statements. Access to capital, or lack thereof, is a major risk and there is no assurance that the Company will be able to raise required working capital. Factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those estimated by the Company include, but are not limited to, government regulation, managing and maintaining growth, the effect of adverse publicity, litigation, competition, the patent application and approval process and other factors which may be identified from time to time in the Company's public announcements and filings. There is no assurance that the engagement of consultants or participation in the hemp oil sector or alternative health businesses will provide any benefit to Lexaria, or that the Company will experience any growth through participation in these sectors. There is no assurance that any in-kind payment; that usage payments of $200,000 per state; that $33,000,000 or any part thereof in cash usage fees, or that royalties of any kind, will ever be received by the Company from any Licensee. There is no assurance that clinical testing for chronic disease at a US university will be conducted nor that Lexaria's product will in any way be involved. There is no assurance that existing capital is sufficient for the Company's needs. There is no assurance that any planned corporate activity, business venture, or initiative will be pursued, or if pursued, will be successful. There is no assurance that any patent application in the USA or any other nation or under any treaty will result in the award of an actual patent; nor that an award of any actual patent will protect against challenges from unknown third parties. There is no assurance that any of Lexaria's postulated uses, benefits, or advantages for the patent-pending technology will in fact be realized in any manner or in any part. No statement herein has been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). ViPovaTM products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE: Lexaria Bioscience Corp.
Tripoli (AFP) - Libya's pro-government forces said they seized a university campus Wednesday as they press an offensive against the Islamic State group in its stronghold of Sirte, killing at least 20 jihadists.
Forces loyal to Libya's internationally backed Government of National Accord are battling to oust IS from Sirte, a coastal city the jihadists seized in June 2015.
After a series of advances into the city, pro-GNA forces have faced fierce resistance in their push towards the Ouagadougou conference centre, a complex from the era of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi where the jihadists have their headquarters.
"Our forces have taken complete control of the University of Sirte" campus, just south of the conference centre, the pro-GNA operations centre said in a statement.
"The bodies of at least 20 Daesh fighters were found after today's fighting," it said, using an Arabic acronym for the jihadist group.
The statement said surviving IS fighters had fled towards the conference centre and that clashes were continuing nearby.
The press centre also said pro-GNA forces had lost contact with one of their military planes that had been flying on Wednesday, without providing further details.
The IS-linked Amaq news agency said the group's fighters had downed a warplane in Sirte, resulting in the pilot's death.
Pro-GNA forces entered Sirte in June, but their advance slowed as the jihadists hit back with sniper fire, suicide attacks and car bombings.
They have stepped up the fight in recent days, and the Pentagon announced last week it had begun carrying out air strikes on IS positions in Sirte at the GNA's request.
On Sunday pro-government forces said the "countdown" had begun for the final assault on IS's holdout positions in the city.
By Ahmed Elumami TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan forces battling to oust Islamic State from Sirte on Wednesday captured a large convention hall complex in the city center, seizing a symbolic base where militants once held meetings and flew their black jihadist flag. Securing the Ouagadougou Conference Centre as well as hospital and university buildings would mark the biggest advance made by Libyan forces in weeks. The United States 10 days ago began air strikes on Sirte, which fighters say hastened their progress. "Our forces have complete control of the whole of the Ouagadougou complex, they even advanced some distance beyond the complex," Rida Issa, a spokesman in the forces' media office, said. Photos posted on the media office's Facebook page showed fighters with armed pickup trucks and a tank milling around next to the convention hall, which was pockmarked by shelling. The large domed building is a landmark in Sirte, hometown of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and was used for meetings and religious instruction by Islamic State (IS) after they took control of the city last year. Losing Sirte would be a major setback for the militants, already under pressure in Syria and Iraq. It would also be a boost for Libya's United Nations-backed government, which has struggled to impose its authority and faces ongoing resistance from hardline armed factions. Forces aligned with the government, which launched their campaign for Sirte in May, saw the advance slowed as they approached its center. Led by brigades from the city of Misrata, the forces have suffered heavy casualties from IS landmines and snipers. Clashes have been sporadic, with heavier fighting interspersed with lulls lasting for several days. IS militants are encircled in the center of Sirte but still control several residential areas, and the Misrata-led brigades have previously found it difficult to advance through neighborhoods in house-to-house fighting. Since Aug. 1, U.S. drones and fighter jets have carried out a total of 29 strikes, earlier this week targeting several IS emplacements and a gun-mounted pickup, according to statements by U.S. Africa Command. In Wednesday's clashes, the government-backed forces said they had also advanced to a cluster of unfinished blocks just west of the center of Sirte, known as the "bone buildings," which had been used by IS snipers and fighters had described as a major impediment to their progress. At least 16 fighters from the government-backed forces were killed and 11 wounded, Issa said. Earlier in the day, Libyan forces said they had lost a fighter jet over Sirte. Issa said the cause of the crash and the fate of the crew could not be confirmed. IS claimed it shot down the jet, killing a pilot, according to a statement on a website close to the group. POST-GADDAFI CHAOS Libyan militants returning from combat in Syria's civil war helped implant IS in the North African country in 2014, but the group failed to win widespread support or hold territory as most locals regard it as a malign import dependent on foreign fighters. The militant group took advantage of conflict between various factions of former rebels who emerged as powerbrokers after the fall of Gaddafi in 2011. The U.N.-backed government in Tripoli is the latest attempt to consolidate power and end the conflict. In addition to U.S. air strikes, Libyan brigades in Misrata and Sirte have been working with small teams of Western special forces who have provided intelligence and logistical support as well as strategic advice. A few dozen members of Italy's elite special forces are in Libya to collect intelligence, provide non-combat "support" to government-backed forces and help other allies present in Libya, such as British or American special forces, a source said on Wednesday. The Italian government delivered a brief document outlining the special forces mission in Libya to the parliament's intelligence services oversight committee last week, said the source, who had knowledge of the document. La Repubblica newspaper reported that Italians were teaching Libyans how to diffuse land mines in Sirte. The defense minister and prime minister's offices did not respond to requests for comment. (Additional reporting by Aidan Lewis in Tunis, and Massimiliano Di Giorgio and Steve Scherer in Rome; writing by Aidan Lewis; editing by Patrick Markey and G Crosse)
Misrata (Libya) (AFP) - In the fight against the Islamic State group in Libya, few communities have paid as heavy a price as Misrata.
The coastal city is home to powerful militias that formed in the 2011 uprising that overthrew Moamer Kadhafi and have played a key role in the war-torn country ever since.
Today, they are a crucial part of forces fighting to oust IS from its North African stronghold Sirte, 190 kilometres (120 miles) southeast of Misrata, Libya's third city.
In May, the jihadists came to within 100 kilometres (60 miles) of Misrata when they attacked the key crossroad town of Abu Grein.
"Every family in Misrata has a martyr," says Eshtewi Khalifa, whose cousin Abdelrahman al-Kissa, a 54-year-old former lawyer and onetime government minister, was killed in the battle in June.
Fighters from Misrata are at the forefront of efforts by forces allied with Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) to oust IS from Sirte, Kadhafi's hometown.
The jihadists seized control of Sirte in June 2015, raising fears of an IS stronghold just across the Mediterranean from Europe.
The UN-backed GNA, formed last year in an effort to end the political chaos that has plagued Libya since Kadhafi's ouster, has made defeating IS a top goal, winning broad international support.
It launched a major offensive in May to take Sirte from jihadist hands, with Misrata at its heart.
- 'It's time to fight' -
The operation's command centre is in the city, and Misrata's militias -- armed with tanks, MiG fighter jets and attack helicopters -- have formed the core of the pro-GNA forces.
At least 300 pro-GNA fighters have been killed and more than 1,500 wounded since the start of the battle, according to medical sources. Officials say most were from Misrata.
Abdelrahman al-Kissa's son Ali, 22, remembers bidding his father farewell as the ex-lawyer set off to fight in Sirte in early June.
"He told me 'I'm going to Sirte'... I told him 'Take care of yourself, and God willing, all will be well,'" Ali says.
Story continues
Two days later, the news came that his father was dead.
"He only went to the front once. He left on Monday and died on Wednesday," says Ali, a university student, as he looks through photographs of his father at the family home in Misrata.
"People here rejoice in their martyrs, but I hope the war will end," Ali says. "It's the hope of every Libyan today that this war will end and the country will stand up and be better."
Kissa had been a "minister for martyrs" with the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) during the anti-Kadhafi uprising and later the president of Libya's bar association.
But when he left to join the battle in Sirte, he told his cousin Khalifa: "My role as a lawyer is finished. It's time to fight."
- 'Countdown' to final battle -
Abdullah Ehmeda, 66, has seen four of his nine sons on the battlefront in Sirte, three as fighters.
The other, 30-year Abdelqader, was killed while covering the battle as a journalist.
Sitting on a blue sofa in his living room, Ehmeda holds a closely guarded copy of a local newspaper containing photos and an obituary of his son.
He opens the newspaper, looks at the photos with tears in his eyes, puts it aside and speaks with pride of his son, who married a year-and-a-half ago.
"His life story was full of events. He was wounded by a bullet in the 2011 (uprising), he was kidnapped in 2013 and he died in Sirte. His life was like that of many Libyans who defend their country and their brothers."
Pro-GNA forces have stepped up the fight against IS in recent days, and the Pentagon announced last week it had begun carrying out air strikes on IS positions in Sirte at the GNA's request.
On Sunday pro-government forces said the "countdown" had begun for the final assault on IS's holdout positions in Sirte.
For Ehmeda, defeating IS would help the people of Misrata deal with their losses.
"Of course it is not easy for anyone to accept that their son be killed, and we had hoped that the war would not continue for this long," he says. "But victory would ease the pain of losing Abdelqader and all the other martyrs."
Lifetime has ordered a television movie about the JonBenet Ramsey murder case, Who Killed JonBenet?
The cable net announced the project on Wednesday. Production has begun and the movie will air later this fall.
Lifetimes movie marks the third JonBenet Ramsey television project recently announced, joining CBSs six-part docuseries and Investigation Discoverys three-part special.
With the 20 year anniversary of Ramseys murder coming up this December, the six-year-old beauty queens tragic story has become the new TV trend, following the first half of the year that was consumed with O.J. Simpson.
Ramseys infamous 1996 murder remains unsolved, after her body was found in her Colorado home. The story became a global phenomenon and interest in her death has not faded overtime, especially with the recent surge of true-crime television programming.
The TV movie will provide a closer look into what exactly happened the day after Christmas 1996 when Ramsey was found beaten and strangled in the familys basement. With the addition of recently surfaced information, the film takes a fresh look at the events and the competing theories about the murder.
Who Killed JonBenet? stars Eion Bailey (Band of Brothers) as Detective Steve Thomas; Michel Gill (Mr. Robot) as Ramseys father John; and Julia Campbell (Romy and Micheles High School Reunion) as Ramseys mother Patsy. Newcomer Payton Lepinski will play Ramsey.
Who Killed JonBenet? is produced by EveryWhere Studios and Brightlights. Julia Eisenman, Tom Mazza, Anne Carlucci, Shawn Williamson and Jamie Goehring are executive producers. Jason Lapeyre will direct and Brian L. Ross penned the script.
Related stories
Indie Film 'Sister Cities' Lands at Lifetime
'UnREAL' Season 2: Executive Producers Explain a Rocky Season and Its Explosive Ending
Investigation Discovery Greenlights JonBenet Ramsey Series & Police Brutality Special
(Adds analyst comment, details on trials)
Aug 10 (Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co on Wednesday said it would continue a late-stage trial of its experimental breast cancer drug in combination with a widely used treatment even though an independent panel determined the combination therapy failed to meet its interim effectiveness goal.
The independent data monitoring committee recommended the trial continue without modification through the first half of 2017 despite the fact that its interim look at the data suggested the combination treatment was not delaying progression of the disease.
Lilly shares were down 1.2 percent in morning trading.
Leerink analyst Seamus Fernandez said continuation of the study, called Monarch 2, would allow Lilly to better understand abemaciclib, which is also being tested in a variety of other trials.
The Monarch 2 study included 669 patients who had previously failed to benefit from anti-estrogen treatment for metastatic breast cancer. It compared combined use of abemaciclib and anti-estrogen therapy fulvestrant with fulvestrant alone.
Lilly's drug is from the same new class of breast cancer treatments as Pfizer Inc's recently approved Ibrance, which brought in more than half a billion dollars in second-quarter sales. They work through a new mechanism, by blocking the proteins CDK 4 and CDK 6.
Lilly is evaluating abemaciclib as a single agent in breast cancer patients who have not derived enough benefit from prior treatments. Three other studies are testing abemaciclib with other drugs.
Abemaciclib, which was granted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) breakthrough therapy status for breast cancer last year, is also being tested for use in lung cancer.
After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
About 40,000 of the 220,000 American women diagnosed with breast cancer die each year, the CDC estimates.
(Additional reporting by Natalie Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by Will Dunham)
L.A.-based company E Squared and sound supervisor Tobias Poppe have joined the international co-production Retablo (Story Box), a coming-of-age drama which marks Peruvian writer-director Alvaro Delgado-Aparicios feature film debut.
Set-up at Lima-based Siri Producciones, the co-production also teams Frances EZ Films and Norways Dag Hoel Filmprod. Currently in post, after rolling for six weeks from April in the Andean highlands of Ayacucho, Retablo boast a high-profile Peruvian cast, led by Magaly Solier (Milk of Sorrow, Magallanes) and Amiel Cayo (The Debt). The film also toplines debutante actor Junior Bejar Roca.
Sound supervisor Tobias Poppe, in collaboration with E Squared, the company behind Hollywood films and franchises such as Godzilla, Argo, Transformers, and Kung Fu Panda, is co-producing Retablo in return for its sound services, Poppe told Variety.
Retablo is set in a rural community outside Lima, where Segundo Paucar, a 14-year-old-boy, wants to become a master story box maker, just like his father, in order to carry on the family tradition.
On his way to a community celebration in the Andes, he accidentally observes his father in a situation that shatters his whole world. Trapped in a chauvinistic environment, Segundo will try to deal in silence with all that is happening to him.
An organizational psychologist, Delgado-Aparicio wrote and directed the award-winning short film El Acompanante, a 2013 Sundance player, which competed at more than 80 international festivals.
During El Acompanantes festival career, we were able to meet several key people with whom we are now collaborating on Retablo, in terms of co-production, Delgado-Aparicio told Variety.
Tobias Poppe, whose recent credits include Need for Speed, felt attracted by the very moving and character-driven story and everything that comes with setting up a story in such an exotic and beautiful location like the Andes.
We are especially looking forward to making the world of the Andes come alive in its sounds, carrying the emotions of the characters, carving out fragile nuances to show their inner conflicts, he added.
Story continues
Co-penned by Delgado-Aparicio, alongside writer-director Hector Galvez (NN), Retablo was picked up by Sundance for its June 2013 Screenwriters Lab and continues to receive mentorship there.
Backed by the DAFO Peruvian Film Fund and the Sorfond Norwegian South Film Fund, the film also received support from the Cinereach Project at the Sundance Institute and the New Cinema Network at the Rome Film Festival.
According to Delgado-Aparicio, the Dardenne brothers and Abbas Kiarostami were top inspirations for Retablo, because of the honesty of their stories and how they tell them. He aims to launch the film at an international film festival and release it in Peruvian theaters by mid-2017.
Related stories
Lima Festival: Peru's Jonatan Relayze Readies Sci-Fi Road-Movie 'Huaquero' (EXCLUSIVE)
Sudaca Films' Mariana Rondon and Marite Ugas Prep 'Contactado' (EXCLUSIVE)
Peru's 'Panza de Burro' Omnibus Pic Heads to San Sebastian
Peruvian director-editor Jonatan Relayze, whose 2015s directorial debut, drama Rosa Chumbe, became a hit on the international festival circuit, is initiating his sophomore film, sci-fi road-movie El Huaquero.
Set on the North coast of Peru, mixing ancient civilisations with aliens, the film focuses on a grave robber -a huaquero in Quechua who finds an object that makes him to travel in time. [The term Huaquero refers more concretely to the people dedicated to the looting of the Inca or pre-Inca archaeological sites known as huacas]
Although El Huaquero, currently in development, will not be a Hollywood-style sci-fi film, it will include a huge number of digital effects, according to Relayze.
The films protagonist will be a solitary character, which at any moment feel like hes the only person alive in the world, he added.
Produced by Relayze and partner Eliana Illescas, at Peruvian prodco Yin Zhang Films, the project is looking for international co-producers and development funds.
Meanwhile, Relayze, who has worked as a freelance editor for international networks such as Discovery Channel, Al Jazeera and Channel 4 and was selected by the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2008, continues supporting Rosa Chumbes roll-out at international festivals.
Plaudits garnered by Rosa to date include best Peruvian film at the Lima Film Festival and a Montreal Fest Fipresci Prize and special mention for first feature film in 2015, plus best actress for Liliana Trujillo at Buenos Aires Bafici and best narrative feature at Austins Cine Las Americas festival in 2016.
Following Rosa, a mature officer who is forced to take care of her grandson after her daughter steal her savings, Rosa Chumbe offers a portrait of the city of Lima, where it entirely takes place, taking in topics such as alcoholism and abortion.
The film combines the realism of the city of Lima with a space for the fable, in Rosas moments of catharsis, when shes inebriated and experiences hallucinations, Relayze said.
Story continues
Cuzco and Madrid-based company Quechua Films handles both international festivals and international sales rights to Rosa Chumbe.
Facing market challenges for auteur movies, the film will receive a targeted theatrical distribution in Peru on a still to be confirmed date, having won a distribution award from the DAFO Peruvian Film Fund.
Peruvian art films have to compete in local theaters not only with Hollywood blockbusters but also with a more commercial Peruvian cinema which has established a strong foothold in the market. It is becoming more complicated for these kind of films to get a theatrical release, Relayze said.
Related stories
Lima Festival: L.A.-Based Sound Company E Squared Backs Peruvian Alvaro Delgado-Aparicio's 'Retablo' (EXCLUSIVE)
Sudaca Films' Mariana Rondon and Marite Ugas Prep 'Contactado' (EXCLUSIVE)
Peru's 'Panza de Burro' Omnibus Pic Heads to San Sebastian
Vincent and the End of the World is a dramatic comedy from director Christophe Van Rompaey (Moscow, Belgium) which world premieres Aug. 11 in the Piazza Grande at Switzerlands Locarno Festival.
Movie follows Vincent, a 17-year-old ecologist who drives his family crazy through his sermons on the importance of downscaling their carbon footprint and makes a point about it via numerous suicide attempts. His extravagant French aunt Nikki takes him on a trip to France, convinced Vincent just needs to get away from his suffocating mother. But she finds his problems are more than meets the eye and more than she can handle. Variety chatted to Flemish helmer Van Rompaey a few days before Vincents Locarno bow:
What was it for you that felt right about Spencer Bogaert playing the role of 17-year-old Vincent?
The character of Vincent needed to feel as real as possible, so I wanted to find someone who was not a day older than seventeen. I often have trouble believing actors who play the younger version of themselves. You can just sense they havent got that adolescent spontaneous feel anymore. Spencer Bogaert instinctively understood the character and got the audition right from the very first take. I could see and feel his youth, his anger, his brooding, his rebelliousness and his humor. And he also had a personal feel with the story, so I knew I had my lead.
The story in part deals with Vincents obsession with his family reducing their carbon footprint. Why did you want to hang the story on that social issue?
Its an issue that I myself have been actively aware of since my own teens. Vincent is, like many adolescents today and of course other people for that matter very concerned, even obsessed with ecological issues. He has grown up within the age of a global warming panic and is afraid that the world is heading for some sort of ecological doomsday. The fact that he seems unable to change any of these issues created the opportunity to illustrate how he was stuck in his angry adolescent phase, to show his inability to overcome his fears and grow up.
Story continues
Vincent stages suicide attempts to convince his family to see his viewpoint. Thats a powerful way of getting that point across is it not? Why suicide?
Also an issue we cant neglect in todays world. In a certain age category, its even the number one cause of death! Living in a country where these numbers are pretty high and the fact that there is also a personal side to it for me, make it relevant. Story wise, suicide seemed like the ultimate immature thing for Vincent to do. Its his way of refusing or avoiding to grow up. And hes very serious about it. Vincents whole crazy voyage with his aunt Nicole who herself is stuck in her own adolescence is a healing one.
How did the decision to make this film a dramatic comedy as opposed to strictly a drama or comedy affect the message?
Drama for me doesnt necessarily need to be told in a dramatic way. Contrast is a very interesting tool when telling stories. Its like life itself, with its ups and downs, its tears and laughter. For example: I could only imagine Vincent hooking up with and being inspired by an opposite character. His flamboyant, exuberant, extrovert French aunt helps him make his journey towards adulthood. He would not have gone to France with a silent uncle who suffers from terminal cancer so to speak.
What were some of the important parts of the script for you to nail? Were there moments you werent willing to sacrifice?
When Im working, I go in some sort of tunnel vision mode and then sacrifice isnt really part of the vocabulary. So of course every scene is important, but its obvious some key scenes like act turning points, midpoint etc.. get some special attention.
As the audience is watching Vincent at Locarno, what is it that you want to resonate?
Many issues are covered in this film, so there is a lot to reflect on. If I have to pick one: Theres always more ways to look at things and seeing or approaching things differently then what comes naturally can be a struggle which I am not unfamiliar with myself. So I guess, even when things seem dark, it is important to take a step back and reassess. There is always hope.
Related stories
Locarno: France's Pierre Menahem Talks Sales, Festivals, Trusting One's Own Taste
Locarno: Italy's Guido Chiesa on his Film Similar to 'Room', From Monster's POV
Locarno: 'Interchange,' 'The Last Family,' 'Glory' Close Sales (EXCLUSIVE)
Interchange, The Last Family and Glory led early sales announcements at an ever more hectic Locarno Festival where Moka and Paula drew positive critical plaudits boding well for break-out sales as top Locarno titles segue from the Swiss Alps to Toronto.
Harvey Keitel, Bill Pullman and Roger Corman collected career awards, lending an U.S. edge to an event which largely focuses on European arthouse and world cinema. The most significant industry presence was, however, that of Participant CEO David Linde who talked about his career as an independent producer and emphasised his belief and that of Participant founder Jeff Skoll in further growth in international markets as an estimated 5 billion people, largely in Asia and Africa, will come online for the first time in the next 5 years.
Attendance at Locarnos Industry Days, which ran Aug. 6-8, came in at around 1,100, on a par with 2015, after sustained rapid growth since their inauguration in 2009.
Further expansion may now come outside the festival. Already consolidating as Europes biggest big fest industry exec think tank, via its Step-In panels and work group discussion platforms, Locarno confirmed this week its fifth Locarno Industry Academy International, after events at Locarno itself, New Yorks Lincoln Center, Mexicos Morelia Fest and the Cinema do Brasil Boutique Cinema mini-mart.
Targeting sales, distribution and exhibition execs a market focus which runs through Locarno industry events the fourth Locarno International Academy will unspool Nov. 7-11 during Greeces Thessaloniki Festival, the countrys main movie event.
Negotiations on many main Locarno Piazza Grande titles Frederic Mermouds drama-thriller Moka, sold by Pyramide Intl, and The Match Factory-sold Paula, a bio of trail-blazing German painter Paula Modersohn-Becker, both of which drew upbeat reviews will only really kick in as buyers return to their offices and will stretch well beyond Toronto. Others Locarno movies, such as Films Distrbutions Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe and the Beta Cinema-sold Vincent and the End of the World, still have to run the critical gauntlet at Locarno or at least engender international reviews.
Story continues
So major industry news at Locarno cuts other ways: Sales on select fest players, often screening in its first days; Locarno title sales agent pick-ups; production announcements; acquisitions on titles at Venice or Toronto, as sales agents seek to position new bets at Locarno before the biggest of pre-fall fest markets.
In this sense, news was legion. As this years Locarno headed towards its final straits early Wednesday, Paris-based Reel Suspects confirmed that Interchange, a supernatural nourish procedural with sci-fi elements from Malaysias Dain Iskander Said had closed Spain at Locarno with Luis Bellabas Film Buro Producciones Internacionales. Reel Suspects has also licensed Switzerland (Preasens Film) and Taiwan (Deltamac). GSC Movies handles domestic theatrical distribution in Malaysia. Germany is in negotiation; Interchange is sparking a lot of interest in France, Reel Suspects Matteo Lovadina reported.
Produced by Aurum Film, in co-production with HBO Europe, the Mazovia Film Fund, Lightcraft and Universal Music Poland, Locarno competition entry The Last Family was sold by New Europe Film Sales to Swedens Folkets Bio. NEFS is now negotiating deals for France and the U.S., said CEO Jan Naszewski. Familys Polish distributor Kino Swiat plans a hefty release for an arthouse movie on around 200 screens with a $250,000 P & A spend, he added.
The fiction debut of Polands Jan Matusynski, The Last Family is inspired by the true story of surrealist painter Zdzisaw Beksinskis following his family life for 28 years as he paints and lives in a crummy Warsaw flat.
Title looks set to stoke further talk of Poland as a new talent hothouse, many of its biggest-name new directors segueing into fiction from documentary, like Matusynski. It is no coincidence that Locarnos First Look, a pix-in-post showcase won by Rwandan genocide portrait Birds Are Singing in Kigali, from Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze (Papusza), was dedicated this year to Polish Cinema.
Usually more refined arthouse items, Locarnos international competition contenders are often harder sells. But Glory, also in competition, may buck that trend. It certainly looks set to do nothing to damage the reputation of co-directors Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov for incisive, damning social observation of contemporary Bulgaria.
In first sales on Glory, clinched by Loic Magnerons Wide Management, I Wonder has closed Italy, Filmarti bought Turkey, Arti Film picked up Benelux, Bounty Films acquired Australia/New Zealand and JSC Europos Kinas secured rights to Lithuania.
The film quietly builds to a feeling of inexorable disaster, guided by terrific performances as well as spot-on editing, Varietys Jay Weissberg wrote of Glory.
Directors fest-laurelled debut, The Lesson, proved an standout sales title for Wide Management.
In pre-sales, Stefan Zweig, German actress-director Maria Schraders portrait of the novelists final exile in Brazil and New York, will be released in France by ARP. Films Distribution has closed Spain (Caramel Films), Brazil (Esfera Culturas), Denmark (Camera Film), as well as Greece (Videorama), Portugal (Alambique) and former-Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom).
Bowing in Austria (via Filmladen) on July 15 and Germany, with X-Verleigh distributing, five days later, Zweig earned a bullish two-country 1.79 million ($2.0 million) through July 31.
Also striking promising pre-sales, coming-of-age dramedy Vincent and the End of the World, from Belgian Christophe Van Rompaey whose Moscow, Belgium swept Cannes Critics Week in 2008 has closed France (ARP Selection), Belgium (Paradiso Filmed Ent.) and Switzerland (Cineworx). Further deals on the Alexandra Lamy starrer, most particularly to Germany, are under negotiations, said Thorsten Ritter, at Vincent sales agent Beta Cinema.
Among new Locarno fest entry acquisitions, Paris-based Luxbox added Locarno competition player By the Time It Gets Dark, from Thailands Anocha Suwichakornpong, to the prior-announced Marija, helmed by Switzerlands Michael Koch, which also contends for Locarnos Golden Leopard.
Of Venice pick-ups, Films Boutique revealed three titles: Heartstone, from Icelands Gumundur Arnar Gumundsson; Guilty Men, directed by Colombias Ivan D. Gaona, both debuts; plus Lav Diazs The Woman Who Left. M-Appeal will handle 4 Days in France, by French freshman Jerome Reybaud.
In further business, Film Movement announced acquisition of North America rights on Harmonium, Koji Fukadas Un Certain Regard winner; Brazils Rodrigo Teixeira at RT Features and director Karim Ainouz announced they are re-teaming on The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao.
Launching multiple initiatives this decade, Locarnos Industry Days may now have reached its optimum size with five programs overseen by four managers: Alliance For Development, a co-prod/networking meet; Industry Academy, a training facility; Locarnos StepIn think tank; and its First Look pix-in-post showcase and producers Match Me! networking forum.
Each activity interacts with the others with smooth coordination that allows the professionals to network and develop their business, considering that the Industry Days main goal is still promoting the films in the festivals official selection, Dresti said.
Related stories
Locarno: France's Pierre Menahem Talks Sales, Festivals, Trusting One's Own Taste
Locarno: Italy's Guido Chiesa on his Film Similar to 'Room', From Monster's POV
M-Appeal Acquires '4 Days in France' (EXCLUSIVE)
Switzerlands Locarno Festival, the biggest mid-summer movie event in Europe, is teaming with the Thessaloniki Fest to launch an inaugural Locarno Industry Academy International at the Greek Festival.
The Thessaloniki workshop will run Nov. 7-11, during the festival. Event underscores how some of Europes biggest movie events Cannes, Berlin and now Locarno are leveraging their expertise to expand beyond their own dates and location, launching or teaming on events throughout the calendar and world.
The largest example to date is the Cannes Festival and Cannes Film Markets co-creation with Argentinas Incaa Film Institute of Ventana Sur in 2009, quickly established as the regions biggest film mart-meet.
The Thessaloniki Industry Academy comes after Industry Academy events at Locarno itself, as well as at New Yorks Lincoln Center, Mexicos Morelia Fest and the Cinema do Brasil Boutique Cinema mini-mart.
Designed as the Industry Academys annual event in South East Europe and the Mediterranean region, it is open to attendees from South East Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa. Marion Klotz, the Locarno Industry Academy International manager, will design and develop the edition with Vanja Kaludjercic, who held posts at Les Arcs European Film Festival and the Paris Co-Production Village.
We are indeed in need of such experts and key players able to fully understand what is at stake in these regions, said Klotz.
That need is paramount when it comes to how to train the new generation of professionals and provide them with the proper tools to navigate the industry as well as improving the visibility and circulation of films produced in those countries, she added.
The Thessaloniki Industry Academy does not look like Locarnos only international move this year as Step-In, Locarnos world cinema co-prod, talent and screening forum, looks set to spearhead workshops in South Asia as it focusing on the region through 2018.
Story continues
Going international, Locarnos Industry Academy underscores two significant trends in international arthouse. One is the Academys focus on sales, distribution and exhibition, these sectors supplying participants, normally young execs in a still early phase of their careers. Over 2010-14, public funds in Europe spent by far most money on theatrical film production, an average annual (902.9 million: $1.0 billion). Development (45.4 million: $50.3 million), distribution (123.9 million : $137.5 million) and promotion (71.9 million : $79.8 million) fell short by comparison. Y
Yet there is a growing consensus that Europes industry barring countries where production funding has plummeted, such as Spain needs to channel far more training and resources into initiatives that help European movies that merit it achieve more audiences. On its own, production funding is not enough.
Maybe the question is whether there are too many films, said Nadia Dresti, Locarno Industry Days, as this years edition kicked into gear.
A second trend is underscored by the Industry Academys constituents. Attendance is stoked not only by speakers from the worlds most illustrious festivals but also young execs at even micro-budget distribution outfits. The idea that films justify themselves by their mere existence is now questioned by a new generation of executives who battle weekly for films, however rarefied, to find some sort of audience, and work heroically Mexico is one example to create alternative distribution circuits whose films can inspire, fascinate and entertain beyond core big-city arthouses.
The Industry Academys success, and rapid international rollout since a pilot edition at Locarno in 2014, suggests there are like-minded film buff executives at the commercial end of the arthouse industry the world over.
Related stories
Locarno: France's Pierre Menahem Talks Sales, Festivals, Trusting One's Own Taste
Locarno: Italy's Guido Chiesa on his Film Similar to 'Room', From Monster's POV
Locarno: 'Interchange,' 'The Last Family,' 'Glory' Close Sales (EXCLUSIVE)
James Liverani still can't talk about it without getting emotional. On Sunday, at the Paul McCartney concert at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, he was invited up onstage to play a song with the former Beatle during the pre-show soundcheck. A fan of the Beatles legend all his life who attended his first McCartney show at age 3, Liverani says he still can't believe it. "There's no words to describe that," he said.
And the love of McCartney and his music runs in the family. "My dad, Tom, has been at every American tour since '76 and me since '90," he said.
The 7 Best Moments From Paul McCartney's One on One Tour in New Jersey
Before going to this show, James Liverani -- who teaches music to children at Friends Academy on Long Island -- told his dad he would love to play a song with his idol. Since McCartney usually invites select fans up onstage at his shows, Liverani thought of a way to get McCartney's attention. "My dad wrote a sign that said, 'My son would be the coolest music teacher if he could play with his idol.' Mine just said 'Music Teacher' with a piece of sheet music on it."
The two went to the soundcheck and held up the signs. "So he finished up with 'Lady Madonna,'" Liverani said, "and [McCartney] said, 'We're pretty much done with soundcheck, but I'm reading this sign here,'" looking at the signs they were holding. "I remember looking over at my dad. Our jaws dropped," he said.
The Beatles' 'Revolver' Turns 50: Classic Track-by-Track Rundown
He said McCartney called out, "Well what do you play?" Liverani answered, "Bass." McCartney then quipped, "Well I play bass.'" He invited them to the stage and asked if he could play guitar, then found out he played right-handed. McCartney guitarist Brian Ray's technician brought him a guitar and McCartney said, "Do you know 'Get Back'?" "And I said, 'Yeah.' And he said, 'In A.'" His father joined in at the end of the song to sing the chorus, and they all hugged. McCartney told him, "You did good, James. You did good."
Story continues
"I don't know how I got through it, and it felt incredible living that dream," Liverani says. "I just remember holding my face a lot in amazement looking at [McCartney] and looking back at my dad who's been by my side at every show. [It] was incredible."
Even The Beatles Got Scared: Paul McCartney Talks Early Days in Trailer for New Ron Howard Doc
He said singing "Get Back" with McCartney also had a special meaning for him. "When I was 3 years old, I had the chicken pox and my parents still took me to my first Paul show at Giants Stadium." The site of Giants Stadium, which is now demolished, was right next to where the current MetLife Stadium stands.
"I got chills just saying that," Liverani said.
"It was really amazing, like full-circle," Tom Liverani added. The whole experience left a big impression on Dad too. "Doesn't get any better than this," Tom said. "This is amazing. So proud. So proud of him. He's a great musician, my son. He really is."
[[{"fid":"623558","view_mode":"media_original","type":"media","attributes":{"height":2748,"width":1548,"alt":"Paul McCartney soundcheck","class":"media-element file-media-original"}}]]
Paul McCartney performs with James Liverani during soundcheck before his concert at East Rutherford, New Jersey's MetLife Stadium on Sunday.Robert Gannon
The second official trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story premieres during the Olympics telecast tomorrow (the exact time has not been announced), but why wait that long for more shots of AT-ATs stomping on palm trees? Heres a 10-second teaser for the trailer, beginning with a good look at the new U-wing starship and ending with a shot of that dramatic beach battle shown in the poster. Watch it above.
Related: Our Rogue One Trailer Breakdown: Who Is Jyn? And Where Is Vader?
Mainly, the teaser re-introduces viewers to the motley crew of Rebels tasked with stealing the plans to the Death Star. Presented one by one, like an '80s sitcom intro, are our heroine Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones); no-nonsense warrior Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen); smart-aleck droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk); dreamy intelligence officer Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna); and blind Force-wielder Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen). Quick, somebody write them a theme song! (They couldnt be more different but theyll try to get along, cuz outer space is where they belong)
Related: Introducing Two Tubes, the Latest Character Revealed From Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Still not shown: Darth Vader, who will be voiced, as in the original trilogy, by James Earl Jones. (He showed up in an exclusive sizzle reel at Star Wars: Celebration in London, eliciting cheers from the crowd.)
To further whet fans appetites, Disney has released a gallery of high-resolution images from the film. Check it out here.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens in theaters on Dec. 16.
Watch the first trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story:
Not since the 2012 recall election have Democrats had a stronger chance to remove Gov. Scott Walker from office.
That goal has proven elusive for the minority party in Wisconsin. Not only that, but Democrats' repeated attempts to unseat Walker served as a sort of jet pack in his ascent to the national stage.
But his presidential bid ultimately failed. Since then, his standing among Wisconsin voters has faltered.
Democrats know better now than to underestimate Walker. But in his flagging poll numbers, they see an opportunity.
The questions that remain: Will Walker run again? And do Democrats have a candidate who can win?
What will Walker do?
Just a week after he exited the presidential race a move presented at the time as an effort to cut into now-GOP nominee Donald Trumps lead among the Republican candidates 62 percent of Wisconsin voters told the Marquette University Law School Poll they didnt want Walker to seek a third term in 2018.
Four months later, in February, that number was virtually unchanged. The Marquette poll hasnt asked about a third Walker term since then, but his approval rating in July was only one point higher than it was in February, at 38 percent.
With the exception of one poll in March, Walkers approval rating in Wisconsin has been below 40 percent since his short-lived presidential campaign.
Walker, for his part, shrugs it off.
Well, my approval rating is higher than Hillary Clinton and Donald Trumps, and one of them is going to win the state of Wisconsin, so I think its pretty clear that between now and November of 2018 my approval rating was pretty low five years ago, and we brought it back up again, Walker told reporters in Cleveland during the Republican National Convention last month, referencing his standing just before the recall election.
If he opts to run for governor again a decision he has said hell make after the state budget process is completed next year Walker said hell make clear to Wisconsin voters that, despite receiving national attention at events like the convention, his full and absolute intention would be to serve a complete term.
You see where the changes were in the polls and it was directly reflected to people being frustrated, I guess, in terms of our decision to run for president, he said. If we werent running for president as part of a future term, I think the poll numbers would be back up.
But Walker also dismissed the importance of the numbers.
Asked whether he would run for re-election with his current approval rating, the governor said he's never made decisions about poll numbers.
If I did, I never would have done the things Ive done in the past, he said, adding that he bases his decisions on what he thinks is right and wrong.
Do Democrats have a bench and does it matter?
As soon as Walker signaled his interest in running for re-election, Democrats started mobilizing.
Stop Scott Walker before he wins a third term, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin enjoined its donors in April.
Since then, who might challenge Walker or the Republican who runs in his stead has been nothing more than speculation, save for a few potential candidates who have said they are considering campaigns.
Most of the names are old standbys, with the exception of a handful of relative newcomers. The reemergence of names that havent gotten off the ground does nothing to quell criticism of the lack of a Democratic bench in Wisconsin. But party leaders insist theres no problem.
The Democrats' bench is weak, said Republican strategist Brian Fraley, head of the conservative firm Edge Messaging. But a lot can change in a year. And the Trump impact on the 2018 electorate can't be predicted at this point. Also, some mid-tier Democrat could get wind behind their sails over the next year.
Fraley noted two Democrats who have been largely written out of the speculation narrative: Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson and Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele.
Nelson, known statewide as a tireless campaigner, is running for the open seat in the 8th Congressional District, located in the northeastern part of the state including Appleton and Green Bay. Its a signal to most that hes decided not to pursue a gubernatorial bid.
And Abele, who fended off a primary challenge this spring from state Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, has said repeatedly he has no plans to seek the states highest office.
If Nelson is elected to Congress, Fraley said, his star rises quite a bit in a key part of the state. And Abele, should he change his mind, has vast personal resources to fund a run.
But too much of the Democrats' power remains concentrated in Madison and the city of Milwaukee. They're still relying on interest group and identity politics and that makes creating a winning statewide coalition difficult, Fraley said.
Fraley blamed outmoded candidate recruitment strategies.
For years, the Democratic pipeline was filled by local government, the trial bar and the unions. That dynamic has changed significantly over the last 20 years and the state Democratic Party never adapted, Fraley said.
Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now, pointed out that an overwhelming majority of Republican leaders in Wisconsin are members of Generation X Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, for example. Democrats need to do a better job of building for the future, Ross said.
The party should look to the strategies employed not only by Walker, he said, but his gubernatorial predecessors, Democrat Jim Doyle and Republican Tommy Thompson.
They did everything to put themselves in a position to be governor, for years and years. They were relentless, and it was all that they did, Ross said. It is not just going around the state and its not just raising money, and its not just trying to capture issues that can define you but its all three. And each one of them did that.
Democratic Party of Wisconsin chairwoman Martha Laning said shes thrilled with the number and quality of people interested in running.
My initial goal when I came in as chair was that we needed to build a much stronger infrastructure in the state, so that when we had our candidates come forward that we were there and ready to support them and be sure they had the resources they needed to run an incredible campaign and win, Laning said.
The party plans to use the 2016 election as a springboard and hopes to carry that momentum into a strong midterm showing something Democrats arent known for accomplishing.
Walker has only run for governor in non-presidential elections, said University of Wisconsin-Madison political science and journalism professor Mike Wagner.
Wagner also attributed the Democrats losses to Walkers strong base of support among Republican voters and that the Democratic Party has consistently fielded candidates from Madison and Milwaukee.
Those Democratic strongholds provide strong liberal candidates, Wagner said, but they also play into Walkers message of drumming up resentment toward the states largest cities.
The Democrats havent picked someone who, I think, has credibly convinced Wisconsinites who dont live in Madison or Milwaukee that theyre for them, Wagner said. Thats been a problem.
Who are the contenders?
A little more than two years away from the 2018 election, no candidates have officially entered the race.
UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden said a deep bench is helpful but is probably overrated, noting that Democrats had decent contenders before the 2012 recall and lost, just as they did in 2010.
He said Tom Barrett was seen as the most formidable Democratic opponent because he was from outside Madison and the Legislature, but he was unable to succeed.
Burden said both parties have a good set of prospects who could run in 2018, but winners sometimes come from unexpected places.
No one had heard of Ron Johnson when he first entered the Republican primary campaign in 2010, but he won that race and defeated an incumbent senator in the general election, Burden said. The larger political environment is at least as important as the candidate's biography.
Over the next year, interested Democrats will likely wait to see who else is exploring a run while trying not to wait until its too late to launch a credible campaign.
The following people have either expressed interest in running or have been suggested as possible candidates by those involved in the process.
Tim Cullen
The Janesville Democrat served in the state Senate from 1975 through 1987 and again from 2011 through 2014. He was Senate majority leader for several years in the 1980s and spent one year as head of the state Department of Health and Family Services under Thompson.
Cullen, 72, briefly considered running in the 2012 recall election against Walker, but opted not to, citing fundraising concerns.
Things are different now, Cullen said.
Theres more time to prepare for the 2018 race than there was in 2012. Plus, hes retired. He can devote himself full-time to the race, and he plans to take a cue from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders presidential campaign by soliciting small-dollar donations online.
Ive gotten a lot of encouragement, he said, adding that he talks almost daily to people throughout the state about a potential run. Im spending the rest of this calendar year exploring this and checking support and talking to people, getting people to talk to people for me and so forth.
While he is regarded as a moderate, Cullen said his voting record is pretty progressive. He argued his reputation comes from a willingness to compromise with both sides.
There certainly is a major division between the two parties today more than 30 years ago, but what I get a sense of out there is just this hunger to replace Gov. Walker, Cullen said. And maybe Im the person best positioned to do that. Thats what I hear more than anything.
People dont say to me, How do you feel about the minimum wage? or whatever. (I hear), if youll do it, weve got to get him out of there. I get that, this yearning to have a different governor, more than people zeroing in on particular philosophies.
Cullen said he thinks the sentiment would be the same if Walker doesnt run, arguing any Republican candidate would share a nearly identical philosophy with the governor.
Cullen said hes very serious about running, but wont make an announcement until after the presidential election. He highlighted transportation and public education as areas of focus.
In his last campaign finance report, filed in July 2015, Cullens campaign account had a $0 balance. He donated the bulk of the money left in his account to charity when he retired from the Senate in 2014.
Kathleen Vinehout
The Alma Democrat has served in the state Senate since 2007. She won 4 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary in the 2012 recall election, and briefly considered a bid in 2014. She decided not to run after injuring her arm in a car accident.
Vinehout, 58, has been traveling the state with a PowerPoint presentation discussing the state budget. As she considers a gubernatorial bid, she said, shes asking people whether they think she should run, what kind of candidate they want and what kind of campaign theyd like to see.
For Vinehout, 2018 offers a different set of circumstances than previous years. Her Senate term will be up, so shell have to choose between running for re-election and running for governor.
Regarding the state climate, the losses in 2010 and 2014 have given people insight into what a successful candidate looks like, and the reverse, what an unsuccessful candidate looks like, Vinehout said.
Voters are tired of hyperpartisan rhetoric and would rather see solutions, Vinehout said. Around the state, she said she hears dissatisfaction about public money flowing to charter and voucher schools and the approval of $250 million in public funds to help pay for a Milwaukee Bucks arena.
She said she sees similarities between herself and Sanders, and underscored the importance of running locally driven campaigns.
Vinehout would face an uphill battle in appealing to reproductive rights groups like Planned Parenthood, which rescinded its 2006 endorsement of her after she authored an amendment that would have allowed pharmacists to refuse to fill certain prescriptions, including contraceptives, based on their religious beliefs.
Before her service in the state Legislature, she was described as a pro-life Democrat and was the only Senate Democrat to vote against confirming several pro-choice appointees to the UW Hospital Board of Authority and the state Medical Examining Board.
She acknowledged that the amendment she authored as a rookie senator rankled some folks in the choice community.
Some people still remember that but if they look at my voting record, I dont think theyd see a problem, Vinehout said. There have been a lot of really anti-choice bills that have passed in the last six years that I have been very outspoken against and voted against.
As of last month, Vinehouts campaign had about $4,900 in the bank, according to her most recent campaign finance report.
Dana Wachs
Wachs, 58, was elected unopposed to the state Assembly in 2012. He faces his first contested state-level race this fall, and said he wants to make it through that election before he makes any decisions about seeking a higher office.
But that doesnt mean hes not seriously considering it. Wachs said hes flattered and honored by the people who have encouraged him to run. Attendees at the Democratic National Convention noticed the Eau Claire Democrat speaking frequently with former DPW chairman Mike Tate, and Wachs latest campaign finance report shows a payment in July to Tates consulting firm.
Wachs, a trial lawyer, touts 31 years representing people against really, very powerful groups and a history in politics dating to age 9, when he licked stamps for Hubert Humphreys 1968 presidential campaign.
In other words, hes spent a lifetime fighting for people. Thats something Madison needs more of, he said.
Wachs said hed like to see lawmakers take a more deliberative, thoughtful approach to passing legislation one that allows for more public input.
All that happens now is that bills are crushed through that building as quickly as possible with as little public oversight as possible, Wachs said. This is not what democracy looks like.
Wachs reported $27,000 on hand in his latest campaign finance report.
Joe Parisi
Parisi, 55, served in the state Assembly for six years before he was elected Dane county executive in 2011. His political career began when he was elected Dane County clerk in 1996.
Hes currently focused on running for re-election in 2017.
I always look for where I can make the biggest difference, and making that leap to county executive has been such a great experience, because you can actually identify challenges, put together solutions and see results, Parisi said.
Parisi has frequently contrasted Dane Countys policies and achievements with those of state government under Walker, and said he feels compelled to defend his community from Republican attacks. He touts accomplishments in office like cleaning up the countys lakes and managing a growing county population.
But the Dane County Democrat label could put him at a disadvantage in a statewide election.
Parisi said his intention is to serve as county executive, but hes not ruling out a statewide campaign.
Im not saying this to be coy. I dont have some great scheme in mind where Im going to say Im going to do this and then Im going to turn around and run for governor, Parisi said. The perfectly honest answer is I havent ruled it out. And thats as far as its gone.
The two biggest factors in his decision, he said, are determining where he feels he can make the biggest difference and how a campaign would affect his family.
In either position, Parisi said his number-one concern is expanding access to opportunities to succeed. Having dropped out of high school at 17, Parisi credits the support he received growing up in Madison with allowing him to turn his life around, graduate from college and eventually become county executive.
I dont know how many people still have the opportunity to turn their lives around like that. We need second chances, but we also need first chances, Parisi said.
Parisi reported $124,000 on hand in his county executive campaign account in July.
Jennifer Shilling
In the Senate since 2011, Shilling was elected to lead her Democratic colleagues in 2014. The La Crosse Democrat served in the Assembly for 11 years before entering the Senate.
Shilling, 47, has earned praise from colleagues on both sides of the aisle for her approach to Democratic leadership. Several potential contenders seem to be waiting to see what Shilling decides before they commit to the race, but her first priority is to pick up seats in the 2016 election. Shilling and her husband also have two young children.
Sen. Shilling is still focused on the fall elections and building toward a Democratic majority in the Senate, said her spokesman, Tony Palese.
Shilling, who faces a challenge from Republican former state Sen. Dan Kapanke in November, had $141,000 on hand, according to her latest campaign finance report.
Cory Mason
Mason, 43, has served in the Assembly since 2006. While hes a strong proponent of Democratic causes like raising the minimum wage, he had his most productive session yet in 2015-16, with five bills passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature. Mason, with state Sen. Dave Hansen, D-Green Bay, has led the charge in the statehouse to allow for student loan refinancing a proposal that hasnt passed, but has become a staple in Democratic campaigns throughout the country.
Mason and his wife have three young children, a factor that weighs heavily on campaign decisions. He said he is giving serious consideration to the idea and will likely decide by early next year.
The Racine Democrat ended July with a $56,700 balance in his campaign account.
Chris Taylor
Taylor emerged from a six-way primary in 2011 to succeed Joe Parisi in the Assembly. The former public policy director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, Taylor now serves on the Legislatures powerful Joint Finance Committee. Both outspoken and media-savvy, the 48-year-old Madison Democrat quickly made a name for herself. Like Mason, Taylor and her husband also have young children.
Taylor also has her eyes trained on the seat held for the last 54 years by state Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison. And as a lawyer, shes also interested in the possibility of running for attorney general.
Im very interested in running in the Senate and Im looking at the statewide possibilities although I still have young kids. Thats a big factor, Taylor said.
Still, she added, Democrats need candidates to step up and run and she wants to walk the walk.
I think, probably, the consideration of my family would lead me to look farther in the future for a statewide run, Taylor said.
In her latest campaign finance report, Taylor reported $69,000 in the bank.
Susan Happ
The Jefferson County district attorney emerged from a three-way Democratic primary to challenge then-Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel in the 2014 attorney general race, but lost with 46 percent of the vote.
Happ, 44, was elected DA in 2008 the first Democrat to hold the position in Jefferson County in 70 years. She touted her bipartisan appeal in the 2014 race and while shes disappointed in the outcome, she said running was a great experience.
Shes focused now on helping Democrats win in 2016 and doing her job as district attorney, she said.
Im keeping everything open. Im not ruling anything out, she said of the 2018 races for governor and attorney general. I want to get through 2016 and see what the political landscape looks like and see who some of the candidates are.
Happs campaign account had $36,200 on hand, according to her latest campaign finance report.
Tom Nelson
The Outagamie County Executive was a gubernatorial favorite until he announced in April he would run for the open 8th Congressional District seat. Nelson, 40, served in the state Assembly from 2004 to 2010 and as Assembly majority leader from 2008 to 2010. He ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor during Barretts 2010 bid against Walker and Kleefisch.
To run for governor in 2018, Nelson would either have to build a campaign from a loss or launch a campaign just a few months into his first term in Congress. Still, political observers havent scratched him off the list yet.
Kevin Conroy
Conroy, the 50-year-old CEO of Madison biotech company Exact Sciences, last considered a run for governor in 2009. He has since indicated he may still be interested in public office, and his name was frequently mentioned by Democrats looking at 2018.
His company is still recovering from plummeting stock prices since the launch of its colon cancer screening test, but shares started climbing back up this summer. Last month, he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he is not considering running for governor, opting instead to focus on his company. But one Democratic operative said, even after that interview, not to count Conroy out of the race.
Katherine Gehl
Gehl, the former president and CEO of Gehl Foods, is on the radar of political strategists, but hasnt signaled any plans to run. Asked by the Journal Sentinel in May about a future in politics, Gehl said, Well see.
On her website, Gehl presents herself as a public policy-minded business leader focused on the national debt, the tax code, comprehensive energy policy, K-12 education and investing in infrastructure. Gehl associates herself with moderate groups like No Labels and billionaire Peter G. Petersons Campaign To Fix the Debt. Her ties to those groups may put her at a disadvantage as a Democratic candidate, some party operatives said. She did not respond to an interview request for this article.
Chris Abele
Abele, 49, was re-elected as Milwaukee County Executive this year after a primary battle with state Sen. Chris Larson. The millionaire businessman was first elected to the post in 2011, succeeding Walker. Some political operatives arent convinced hes not interested in succeeding Walker in the governors mansion, too. But Abele has gone out of his way to shut down any speculation, pledging to serve his entire term as county executive.
Waiting for answers
Despite his current vulnerability, political operatives and observers agree Democrats are better off running against a new candidate than Walker. Incumbents are tough to challenge, and the governor has built a formidable campaign machine.
Its been 30 years since an elected Wisconsin governor lost a re-election bid, UW-Madisons Burden said.
Gov. Walker being on the ballot might even keep strong Democrats from running as theyve seen Tom Barrett and Mary Burke fall short in elections against him, UW-Madisons Wagner said.
While it might be easier for Democrats to coalesce around a high-profile personality former Sen. Russ Feingold, for instance Wagner said the party isnt necessarily in a bad place because it lacks an anointed candidate.
That doesnt always work out. Four years ago, we were saying when theres an open seat in the White House, Jeb Bush is going to coast to the nomination and maybe hell be given a hard time by Scott Walker or John Kasich. A lot of times, it doesnt work out for the candidate in waiting, Wagner said, adding that the open field allows the party to re-evaluate its core values and its message to voters.
Laning said DPW staff will be available as a resource to anyone whos interested in running.
Were the Democratic Party. The staff does not pick who our candidate is going to be, Laning said. The people pick.
The party will launch work on the 2018 campaign when the polls close in November, Laning said. Her goal is to make sure fundraising efforts start early and strong so the party has the resources and infrastructure to mount a successful campaign.
The strongest candidates are those who have the three Rs relatability, reliability and resources said Democratic strategist Joe Zepecki, who served as communications director for Burkes unsuccessful 2014 campaign against Walker.
(Democrats) have to present a compelling vision for how much better things will be when we have a progressive, middle class first agenda. The ideas and policies for how to grow our economy, improve the quality of education while making it more affordable, preserving our natural resources and on down the line are all there but the narrative strand that ties them all together and paints a picture for voters of what that Wisconsin looks like is essential, he said.
Between now and 2018, would-be candidates will watch a number of variables shake out: who else is running, in both parties; what is the partisan makeup of the Legislature; and who wins the presidential election.
Strong showings for Feingold and Clinton in Wisconsin could embolden more Democrats to consider running, Wagner said.
But anyone thinking seriously about a gubernatorial bid should start acting seriously sooner rather than later, One Wisconsin Nows Ross said.
Winning a campaign is about connecting with people. Its about raising the funds necessary to execute a plan that puts you in the best position to win on election day, and that is your single-minded focus, Ross said. And it doesnt just happen six months before an election or even a year before an election.
Especially when you consider what you are up against in terms of the most well-financed, most ruthless campaign machine thats ever existed in the state of Wisconsin.
Los Angeles (AFP) - A garbage collector convicted of the "Grim Sleeper" killings that terrorized southern Los Angeles for more than two decades was sentenced to death on Wednesday.
Lonnie David Franklin had been convicted of 10 counts of first-degree murder for the killings of nine women and a 15-year-old girl between 1985 and 2007.
During his three month trial which ended in May, the prosecution presented evidence that it said linked him to the killings of a further four other women, although authorities suspect Franklin is behind dozens more murders.
The court heard Franklin had committed crimes dating back to the 1974 kidnapping and gang rape of a 17-year-old girl in Germany while he was in the US military.
The 63-year-old was a "sexual predator" and "career criminal" whom DNA evidence showed had acted alone, Silverman said.
Franklin stalked the streets of South Los Angeles at a time when an epidemic of crack cocaine plagued the neighborhood, the authorities say.
Several of his victims were prostitutes and drug addicts whom he shot or strangled, dumping their bodies in alleyways or trash bins. He raped some before killing them.
Prosecutors said Franklin took advantage of some of his victims' addiction to crack to lure them to his backyard camper with money and drugs before killing them.
Investigators searching his home found nearly 200 pictures and videos of women, many of whom have not been identified.
Defense attorney Dale Atherton had urged the seven-woman, five-man panel to recommend life without parole, arguing that a death sentence would delay the healing process for the victims' families.
Franklin was given the moniker "Grim Sleeper" because of a 13-year gap in the murders.
Although he was arrested in July 2010 after his DNA was connected to some of the victims, appeals and judicial wrangling repeatedly delayed efforts to bring him to trial.
The killing spree was the subject of a 2014 HBO documentary by British filmmaker Nick Broomfield, who claims the Los Angeles police failed to properly investigate because the victims were mainly drug addicts and prostitutes.
It has been a decade since the last execution in California. Clarence Ray Allen was given a lethal injection on January 17, 2006 after being convicted of paying a fellow inmate to commit three murders.
Los Angeles (AFP) - A garbage collector convicted of the "Grim Sleeper" killings that terrorized southern Los Angeles for more than two decades was sentenced to death on Wednesday.
Lonnie David Franklin, 63, had been convicted of 10 counts of first-degree murder for the killings of nine women and a 15-year-old girl between 1985 and 2007.
"It's not vengeance, it's justice, Mr. Franklin," Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy told the serial killer before sentencing him to death for each count.
"There could never be a justification for what you've done. It's obvious that you have a deep-seated hatred for women that started long ago."
During Franklin's three-month trial, which ended in May, the prosecution presented evidence it said linked him to the killings of another four women, although the authorities suspect he is behind dozens more murders.
After the sentencing, Franklin's attorney Dale Atherton dismissed California's death row system as "a joke" and voiced doubts over whether the punishment would ever be carried out.
"The case is far from over. I seriously doubt he'll be executed -- he's already too old," the lawyer told AFP.
Franklin committed crimes dating back to the 1974 kidnapping and gang rape of a 17-year-old girl in Germany while he was in the US military, the court heard.
He showed little emotion during the sentencing, staring straight ahead as victims' relatives made statements to the court.
- 'True piece of evil' -
"I'd like to know why. What did (she) do to you?" asked the mother of Alicia Alexander, who was 18 when she was found naked under a mattress in an alley with gunshot wound to the chest.
Franklin turned and mouthed something inaudible, then turned back to stare ahead as she said she was thankful she had "lived to see this day."
"I'm one of your living victims," said Enietra Washington Margette, who gave evidence about surviving being shot by Franklin.
Story continues
"I really think you are truly a piece of evil. You're right up there with (Charles) Manson."
Laura Moore, who was not called as a witness during the trial, told the judge she was at a bus stop in 1984 when Franklin convinced her to accept a ride.
"He shot me six times and started laughing at me," she said.
"I just want to ask him why, why? I didn't do anything to him."
Franklin stalked the streets of South Los Angeles at a time when an epidemic of crack cocaine plagued the neighborhood, authorities say.
Several of his victims were prostitutes and drug addicts whom he shot or strangled, dumping their bodies in alleyways or trash bins. He raped some before killing them.
Prosecutors said Franklin took advantage of some of his victims' addiction to crack, luring them to his backyard camper with money and drugs before killing them.
Investigators searching his home found nearly 200 pictures and videos of women, many of whom have not been identified.
Deputy district attorneys Beth Silverman and Marguerite Rizzo, pushing for the death penalty, pointed to the "staggering number of murders" in the case.
- Killing spree -
"He routinely manipulated others to achieve his goal: doing evil," they said in a written submission.
Franklin earned the moniker "Grim Sleeper" because of a 13-year gap in the murders.
Although he was arrested in July 2010 after investigators connected his DNA to some of the victims, appeals and judicial wrangling repeatedly delayed efforts to bring him to trial.
The killing spree was the subject of a 2014 HBO documentary by British filmmaker Nick Broomfield, who claims the Los Angeles police failed to properly investigate because the victims were mainly drug addicts and prostitutes.
A defendant sentenced to death in California has a right to three lengthy and expensive stages of review, a complex appeals system and can petition the governor for clemency.
The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice reported in 2008 that the average time lapse between sentence pronouncement and execution was 17.2 years, attributing the majority of deaths among condemned prisoners to natural causes.
It pointed out, however, that the average could be misleading since only 13 people had been executed since the reinstatement of the penalty in 1978.
More than a decade has passed since California's last execution. Clarence Ray Allen received a lethal injection in January 2006 after paying a fellow inmate to commit three murders.
Seymour Amster, Franklin's lead defense attorney, said in a statement a life sentence without parole would have "saved millions of dollars from being spent in the often futile pursuit of eradicating a life from this earth."
An angry mob in southern India attacked two low-caste cousins who they suspected of slaughtering a cow, police said Wednesday, the latest such attack by self-styled protectors of the animals.
Mokati Elisha and Mokati Venkateshwar Rao from India's lowest Dalit caste were tied to a tree and beaten up on Monday by a mob of around 50 men when they were skinning a dead cow in a village in Andhra Pradesh state.
"When a bunch of villagers saw Elisha and Venkateshwar skinning a cow, they assumed that they had slaughtered a live animal," local deputy superintendent of police Lanka Ankaiah told AFP.
"In the spur of the moment, villagers got carried away by emotions and they beat up Elisha and Venkateshwar," he said, adding police had detained seven people so far.
Cows are considered sacred by Hindus and killing them is banned in most Indian states, but the cousins said they were hired to skin the animal after it died of electrocution.
Formerly known as "untouchables," Dalits are commonly tasked with removing the corpses of dead cows from streets, where the animals often roam freely.
The latest attack comes days after Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged a halt to attacks on Dalits, who lie at the bottom of India's deeply entrenched social hierarchy.
Anger has mounted among the Dalit community and violent protests have erupted over the public flogging of four villagers by cow-protection vigilantes late last month.
Footage showed the four half-naked Dalit men tied to a car as the activists took turns to thrash them with belts and batons at a crowded marketplace.
After Monday's attack, police said both cousins were undergoing treatment at a nearby hospital, with Rao having lost his hearing in one ear.
Elisha's son, Chanti Babu, said his father and uncle were covered in bruises by the time their families were able to rescue them.
"We got calls that they have been tied to a tree and were being beaten up. By the time we reached there, they had bruises already," Babu told AFP.
"Stones were pelted and sticks were used to beat them up for a crime they didn't commit."
From Town & Country
My first taste of Madeira was a Sercial style, estimated to have come from the early 1800s. It was sweet and sour with a distinct nuttiness, layered with a saturated flavor of apricot jam and just a touch of salty minerality. It was divine, strange, and mesmerizing at the same time.
I had found myself at a Christie's collectors "potluck," where each guest was invited to bring a bottle of Madeira from his or her collection to share. Dinner was in the private dining room at Boulud Sud, an esteemed New York restaurant that hosts a notable wine list of its own. After enjoying 19 different vintage Madeira wines I was hooked on the complexity of the liquid gold that- depending on the grape, age, and style-ranges in flavor from earthy to sweet, and fruity to briny.
As we tasted through all 19 of the mind-bogglingly-old wines, I found myself wondering what in the world is Madeira and how can it possibly be this old?
Photo credit: Emily Arden Wells
HISTORY
Before we get into why you should be drinking Madeira, a bit of context: Madeira is a rocky and devastatingly beautiful island that is part of an archipelago 500 miles off the coast of Portugal, once a critical stop for ships heading in or out of Europe on their trade routes. Madeira is also a delicious and complex fortified white wine that is often served with dessert and typically has flavors of toffee, roasted coffee, roasted nuts, cooked fruit, and browned sugar.
The island of Madeira was settled in the 15th century with prisoners from Portugal and later with settlers who brought grape vines with them from Europe. In the years following, the island of Madeira was known as "The Island of Wine." The earliest documentation of wine production is 1485, an industry that quickly became a powerful and profitable commodity for the English crown.
Madeira was first fortified with brandy in the 18th century, a process used to stop fermentation of the grapes, thereby allowing it to be transported and stored in barrels without refrigeration. Ships traveled from mainland Europe to the island and would stock up on wine before continuing on to their final destinations which included The East and West Indies, Africa, South America, and North America.
Story continues
Barrels of the wine were used as ballast in the ships and would age as the ships crisscrossed across the oceans, naturally heating and cooling with the different climates. It is exactly this process that makes Madeira so incredibly unique: "While light, heat, and oxygen are typically the three enemies of wine, heat and oxygen are part of what makes Madeira what it is, says wine writer Allison Levine. The Madeira wine trade peaked in the 19th century, and miraculously, some of these bottles still exist and can be enjoyed today.
North America became a favorite and extremely profitable market for Madeira wines Americans developed a taste for Madeira, and there was a great demand for wines in the colonies where they were initially unable to grow their own vines. Additionally, the wine benefited from extra time in the barrel while at sea, enhancing the wine's signature fruity baked and oxidized taste. Famously, George Washington celebrated his inauguration as the president of the United States with Madeira, and for years following, Americans toasted their independence with a swig of the boozy wine.
Collectors of vintage Madeira are a small group, but one that understands the value of their investment. "Madeira at auction offers collectors and enthusiasts the opportunity to access bottles with extraordinary [histories] at a price point not dissimilar to a prestige cuvee champagne. In our sale last December, we offered bottles from the mid-19th century with estimates starting around $300-400. There isn't really any other category within wine which offers such exceptional riches," says Christie's wine specialist Noah May.
"In addition, Madeira has already been through an oxidative process and doesn't oxidize once opened, so like a bottle of whiskey or Cognac, it can be enjoyed for months if not years. That means that a $400 bottle with a history that might run back to the time of Abraham Lincoln offers better value than anything on the market."
Before you start collecting Madeira older than your great-grandparents, let's start with the basics.
WHAT IT IS
There are four popular grape varietals: Malmsey or Malvasia, the sweetest grape variety that often has flavors of burnt caramel, chilies, and hoisin sauce; Bual, a medium-rich grape with flavors of vanilla, cinnamon, and sweet graham crackers; Verdelho, a drier grape with flavors of lemon, cucumber, and hay; and Sercial, the driest of the Madeira grapes that has flavors of walnuts, peaches, and smoked citrus. The majority of Madeira currently being produced is made from the Tinta Negra Mole grapes and has dominant flavors of toasted nuts and citrus. By law, each wine must be at least 85 percent of the grape on the label, otherwise it is released as a Blended Madeira.
In addition to grape varietal, Madeira is labeled based on the quality of the grape and by age. The lowest quality Madeira is "Rainwater" followed by "Finest" (3-year-old), "Reserve" (5-10 years), "Special Reserve" (10-15 years), and "Extra Reserve" (15-20 years). 20-Year-Old, 30-Year-Old, and 40-Year-Old wines are labeled according to their age statement, all of which must contain wine older than the age on the bottle, and are made from wines of the highest quality.
Photo credit: Emily Arden Wells
Today, there are two methods of making Madeira: Estufa or Canteiro. Both processes were developed to simulate the time spent in a barrel during a transatlantic crossing. The Estufa method heats large tanks or casks of wine multiple times to temperatures as high as 140 degrees Fahrenheit in order to caramelize the sugars and create the signature flavors of Madeira. This process is usually used for less expensive Madeira wines. The Canteiro method ages the wine in barrels that are kept in heated rooms or are aged directly in the sun, a process that lets the wine oxidate and caramelize within the barrel. This process can take anywhere from 20 to 100 years, and produces a much higher quality wine than the Estufa method.
WHERE TO START AND HOW TO PAIR IT
A Madeira novice is best off starting with a slightly older Madeira of the Verdelho or Bual variety. These wines are well balanced, have a nice range of sweet and savory notes, while a wine older than 10 years will be softer and well-rounded on the palate. Madeira is often served after dinner as a digestif, although "because of the variety of styles and grapes, Madeira pairs well with both savory and sweet foods," Levine says. Madeira pairs beautifully with cheeses, seafood, and flavorful savory dishes, so there's no need to save it until the end of the meal.
So you want to drink the old stuff? Keep an eye on the auction houses for old Madeira wines coming up for sale. "In recent years, the auction room has been a very good venue for starting a collection of Madeira," says May. "At Christie's we have been working with collectors and old families on the island of Madeira to bring previously unseen bottles to market. The range of wines we have been able to source has been nothing short of extraordinary: from mid-20th century bottles with very approachable estimates."
As for the most impressive bottle ever sold at the auction house?
Photo credit: Christie's
A JCA & CA/Kassab Terrantez 1715, which Christie's sold in December 2015 in New York for $19,600 against a pre-sale estimate of $10,00015,000. It was "the oldest bottle of Madeira that we ever offered at auction and possibly the oldest bottled Madeira in existence," says May.
The most incredible part of this 300-year-old wine? It had distinct flavors of bruleed orange and apple syrup, and with its well-balanced acidity, it was an impeccably well-preserved wine that was enjoyable even in 2015.
Try It in a Cocktail
Funky Cold Madeira
Created by Bob Peters of The Punch Room in Charlotte, NC
2 oz Coffee-Infused Madeira
.5 oz Homemade Honey Ginger Syrup
Instructions
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail coupe. Garnish with a sprig of fresh Chocolate Mint.
For the Coffee infused Madeira:
Use a french press to infuse the Madeira with a fair-trade organic Guatemalan coffee roasted by Pure Intentions Coffee, or another coffee with flavors of allspice, molasses, and dark chocolate.
For the Honey Ginger Syrup:
In a small pot combine 1 part honey with 1 part water with a few chunks of sliced ginger. Bring to a boil, strain out ginger, and let cool. Store in a non-reactive container, and keep for 1 month in the refrigerator.
Emily Arden Wells is the editor and founder of the cocktail and travel blog Gastronomista. Follow her at @xxGastronomista.
Making a Murderer subject Steven Avery is blaming his defense attorneys for his conviction.
They didnt do their job, Avery said in an interview with InTouch that aired on Good Morning America. They were looking out for the state.
After Making a Murderer aired on Netflix, Avery got a new lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, who is preparing an appeal she hopes will free him from the life sentence without parole he is serving in the murder of Teresa Halbach.
Also Read: 'Making a Murderer' to Return to Netflix With New Episodes
One way defendants can appeal is by contending they had inadequate representation, and Avery seems to be laying the groundwork for such a claim.
If they would do more investigating on the case, they would find all of this stuff, Avery said of his trial lawyers, Dean Strang and Jerome Buting, who were featured prominently in the documentary. If they did their job, I wouldnt be here.
Avery continues to maintain his innocence, and said he believes the truth will come out.
I know Kathleen will get down to the truth. Im not going to lose, he told In Touch.
Strang and Buting fascinated many viewers of Making a Murderer, which has spawned a slew of theories and counter-theories about whether Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, truly killed Halbach or were framed by police. Prosecutors say the right men are in prison for the murder.
'Making a Murderer': 8 Alternate Theories on Who Killed Teresa Halbach (Photos)
Scott Tadych Bobby Dassey Netflix
bobby dassey Netflix
Netflix
Ryan Hillegas Netflix
Netflix
Teresa Halbach Netflix
Twitter
Edward Wayne Edwards FBI
YouTube
Netflix
Avery brothers Netflix
charles and steven avery Netflix
earl avery Netflix
Andrew Colborn Netflix
Netflix
James Lenk Netflix
Making a Murderer Steven Avery mug shot Netflix
Manitowoc police
Steven Avery netflix Netflix
mystery man silhouette
Google Maps
Story continues
Previous Slide Next Slide
1 of 21
If Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey didnt kill Teresa Halbach, who did?
Theory No. 1.: It was Scott Tadych and Bobby Dassey
In January, a Reddit user posted a theory he first saw on YouTube, which claims Scott Tadych (Brendans mothers boyfriend at the time, now husband) and Bobby Dassey (Brendans brother) kidnapped, raped, shot and then burned Teresa Halbach in the privacy of the gravel quarry off of Jambo Road on Halloween evening.
View In Gallery
Related stories from TheWrap:
'Making a Murderer': 6 Steven Avery-Brendan Dassey Email Revelations (Photos)
'Making a Murderer': Steven Avery, Brendan Dassey Prison Emails Released After 5 Months
DENVER Humans aren't the only species whose members speak to their babies in the womb. Dolphin mamas appear to sing their own name to their unborn calves.
New research suggests that dolphin mothers teach their babies a "signature whistle" right before birth and in the two weeks after. Signature whistles are sounds that are made by individual dolphins, which the animals use to identify one another. Calves eventually develop their own signature whistle, but in the first few weeks of life, mothers seem focused on teaching their offspring their signature sound, the scientists said.
"It's been hypothesized that this is part of an imprinting process," Audra Ames, a doctoral student at the University of Southern Mississippi, said here on Friday (Aug. 5) at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. [Deep Divers: A Dolphin Gallery]
Dolphin chatter
Earlier studies had shown that mother dolphins start whistling their signature whistle much more in the days before birth, and then in the calf's first two weeks of life, Ames told Live Science. There are multiple theories about why, including that perhaps moms are trying to get babies to develop their own signature sound.
But no one had studied signature-whistle rates not only before and after birth, but also in the same dolphin mother, Ames said. She and her colleagues had the opportunity to do that in late 2012 and early 2014, when a baby dolphin named Mira was born to a 9-year-old mother at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, California.
The researchers captured a total of 80 hours of recordings from the two months before and the two months after the dolphin's birth. They recorded the mom and the calf as well as the five dolphins housed with them. It was important to capture the noises of the mother's peers to understand whether the communication was exclusive to the mother-baby pair, Ames said.
Learning mom's name
The recordings showed that the increased signature-whistle production was, in fact, the purview of the mother dolphin. She began increasing her signature whistle two weeks before the birth, possibly starting the learning process while her calf was still in utero.
Story continues
A seemingly related phenomenon has been observed during human pregnancies, according to Ames. "We actually do see that human babies develop a preference for their mother's voice in the last trimester," she said. "We don't know if that's something that's going on here, but it could be something similar." [Photos: World's Cutest Baby Wild Animals]
The mother dolphin also produced her signature whistle at high rates until two weeks after the calf's birth, after which she tapered off. Interestingly, Ames said, the other dolphins in the group didn't produce their own signature whistle at very high rates during the first two weeks of the calf's life. But after mama stopped the repetitions of her own whistle, the other members of the group started producing their own whistle at higher rates.
"What the other dolphins might be doing here is remaining quiet so the calf does not imprint on the wrong signature whistle," Ames said.
Baby dolphins don't usually develop their own signature whistle until they're around the age of 2 months, with much variation in timing, Ames said. The baby's whistle tends not to be similar to the mother's or to the other dolphins in the group.
"You don't want to have a signature sound that is going to be similar to someone else you're around quite often," Ames said.
Ames and her colleagues are now studying other sounds in the mother-calf repertoire of communication, and they're studying other marine mammals such as beluga whales as well as dolphins.
Original article on Live Science.
Editor's Recommendations
Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
New York (AFP) - A shaggy-haired man was scaling Trump Tower in New York Wednesday using suction cups and prompting a police response outside the Manhattan headquarters of the Republican nominee for US president.
"We are sending our units there to try to find out what's going on," a New York police spokesman told AFP.
Television footage showed the auburn-haired man with curls dressed in grey shorts, an olive T-shirt and white cap, using five suction cups to mount his ascent. He was also wearing a black backpack.
He was seen edging his way up the side of the building gingerly -- at times his feet dangling precariously as he gripped onto the suction cups -- on a hot and steamy afternoon with a heat advisory in effect.
The man, whose identity and motive was no immediately clear, was being watched by a crowd of onlookers, reporters and police, who cordoned off the block between Fifth and Madison Avenues, an AFP reporter said.
At one point, personnel cut a piece of glass above him in an attempt to reel him in, police said, but more than two hours after officers received the call he was still embarked on his ascent.
New York billionaire and real estate developer Donald Trump lives in a marble triplex at the top of the 68-story building, which is also the headquarters of his Trump Organization and election campaign.
The Republican nominee was outside the city on Wednesday, holding a rally in Virginia with another event planned later in Florida.
He unleashed a firestorm on Tuesday when he suggested that "Second Amendment people" -- those who support gun rights -- could take action to stop Hillary Clinton from appointing US Supreme Court justices as president.
Since he launched his controversial, media-saturated bid for the White House, the tower on New York's prestigious Fifth Avenue has become a magnet for tourists.
Members of the public are free to roam inside its public atrium until 10 pm most days as part of an agreement that allowed Trump to build 20 stories higher.
An unidentified man scaled Trump Tower in New York City on Wednesday before being apprehended by police.
The man told authorities his name was Steve and he was from Virginia, according to multiple reports.
The climber made it past the 20th level before police were able to safely, but forcefully, pull him into the building. Prior to that, the man reportedly was not obeying police commands.
Numerous windows had to be broken out of Trump Tower by police to reach the man, who scaled the glass facade using suction cups. He had a backpack and used a harness and rope to fasten himself to the 58-story Donald Trump-run skyscraper.
According to a video posted online yesterday of the alleged climber, the man, who was pro-Trump, was doing the stunt because he wanted to have a conversation with the GOP presidential nominee.
The tower is headquarters to Trump's Republican presidential campaign and his business empire. Trump also lives there, but he was in Virginia in the afternoon and was headed to Florida for an evening event, reported the Associated Press.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But Trump himself took to Twitter on Wednesday night, to thank the NYPD for saving the climber:
Great job today by the NYPD in protecting the people and saving the climber.
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 11, 2016
Several broadcast networks preempted their regularly scheduled evening news programming Wednesday evening to continue coverage of the Trump Tower climber as he was detained just after 6:30 p.m. ET.
ABC's World News Tonight, NBC's Nightly News and CBS' Evening News delayed their programming to cover the incident, which captivated social media for 2.5 hours on Wednesday.
All three programs aired at 7 p.m. ET in New York instead.
Twitter lit up with the news, and then jokes and memes about the event.
Jared Padalecki, who initially posted about the incident on social media (below), later took to his Facebook page to speak out on the resemblance, which was noted by more than a few fans.
Story continues
"To clear things up, this is NOT me trying to scale the Trump Tower in NYC. I am safe and sound in Vancouver filming #Supernatural. So please stop asking. ;)," the TV star shared.
See the reactions on social media below.
@fox5ny there is a man scaling Trump Tower! pic.twitter.com/48THanMgOk
- Jason Chu (@JasonC1219) August 10, 2016
Look at this idiot tryna climb the trump tower Lmaoo pic.twitter.com/sUGQtwXudH
- (@StevOLucci) August 10, 2016
Lots of commotion at trump tower in NYC #nevertrump pic.twitter.com/vm8AgxCaK3
- Sophie Collins (@Sophies_Word) August 10, 2016
@DooM49 someone climbs the trump tower the one day I'm in NYC pic.twitter.com/hOC6uQY2Bq
- Ethan Harms (@Harmzy09) August 10, 2016
The scene in front of Trump tower where a man is climbing up the building. Legit like 30 police cars and blocked off pic.twitter.com/KwZvafa2Xf
- heather (@hnb6458) August 10, 2016
Cops grabbed. pulled climber in just now. Wow. pic.twitter.com/z0oVljSzdB
- Ryan Parker (@TheRyanParker) August 10, 2016
I would like to wish #BizarroJarpad the best of luck in climbing the Trump Tower. #??? pic.twitter.com/NsfsjLGKgm
- Jared Padalecki (@jarpad) August 10, 2016
Trying to figure out this climber's next move.. Two windows down going to need a strategy fast
- Jordan Spieth (@JordanSpieth) August 10, 2016
Glad someone is climbing Trump Tower - he could really use the publicity
- Andy Cohen (@Andy) August 10, 2016
Can't imagine Donald Trump would be too happy about someone trying to climb over his wall #TrumpClimber
- Summer Ray (@SummerRay) August 10, 2016
BYE STEVE pic.twitter.com/bEragO6o9c
- TysonCBeckford (@TysonCBeckford) August 10, 2016
So a guy recklessly wasted time and valuable resources desperately trying to climb to the top for selfish attention? Trump move, man.
- josh groban (@joshgroban) August 10, 2016
Aug. 10, 3:45 p.m.: This story has been updated with the information that the climber has been taken into custody by police.
7:20 p.m.: Updated with Trump, Padalecki social media posts.
An unidentified man scaled Trump Tower in New York City on Wednesday before being apprehended by police.
The man told authorities his name was Steve and he was from Virginia, according to multiple reports.
The climber appeared to have made it past the 20th level before police were able to safely, but forcefully pull him into the building. Prior to that, the man reportedly was not obeying police commands.
Numerous windows had to be broken out of Trump Tower by police to reach the man.
According to a video posted online yesterday of the alleged climber, the man was doing the stunt because he wanted to have a conversation with the GOP presidential nominee and he was pro Trump.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Several broadcast networks preempted their regularly scheduled evening news programming Wednesday evening to continue coverage of the Trump Tower climber as he was detained.
ABC's World News Tonight, NBC's Nightly News and CBS' Evening News delayed their programming to cover the incident, which captivated social media for hours on Wednesday.
ABC confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that World News Tonight will air at 7 p.m. ET in N.Y. instead.
Twitter lit up with the news, and then jokes and memes about the event.
@fox5ny there is a man scaling Trump Tower! pic.twitter.com/48THanMgOk
- Jason Chu (@JasonC1219) August 10, 2016
Look at this idiot tryna climb the trump tower Lmaoo pic.twitter.com/sUGQtwXudH
- (@StevOLucci) August 10, 2016
Lots of commotion at trump tower in NYC #nevertrump pic.twitter.com/vm8AgxCaK3
- Sophie Collins (@Sophies_Word) August 10, 2016
@DooM49 someone climbs the trump tower the one day I'm in NYC pic.twitter.com/hOC6uQY2Bq
- Ethan Harms (@Harmzy09) August 10, 2016
The scene in front of Trump tower where a man is climbing up the building. Legit like 30 police cars and blocked off pic.twitter.com/KwZvafa2Xf
- heather (@hnb6458) August 10, 2016
Cops grabbed. pulled climber in just now. Wow. pic.twitter.com/z0oVljSzdB
Story continues
- Ryan Parker (@TheRyanParker) August 10, 2016
I would like to wish #BizarroJarpad the best of luck in climbing the Trump Tower. #??? pic.twitter.com/NsfsjLGKgm
- Jared Padalecki (@jarpad) August 10, 2016
Trying to figure out this climber's next move.. Two windows down going to need a strategy fast
- Jordan Spieth (@JordanSpieth) August 10, 2016
Glad someone is climbing Trump Tower - he could really use the publicity
- Andy Cohen (@Andy) August 10, 2016
Updated:
Aug. 10, 3:45 p.m.: This story has been updated with the information that the climber has been taken into custody by police.
The daredevil climber who attempted to scale Trump Tower on Wednesday is a 20-year-old man who traveled to Manhattan from Virginia and staged his stunt in the hopes of winning a meeting with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, police said.
William Aubry, chief of Manhattan detectives at the NYPD, identified the man in a Wednesday evening press conference only by his first name, Steve. He said the man drove to New York on Tuesday and was staying in a local hotel. Aubry said police were studying a video he posted to YouTube to understand the climbers motivation for making the risky vertical trek.
In the video, the climber describes himself as an independent researcher seeking to discuss an important matter with Trump.
His sole intention was to meet with Mr. Trump, Aubry said, adding that the man at no point posed a safety threat. He was taken to Bellevue hospital in Manhattan for a psychiatric evaluation, and it was not yet clear what charges he might face for his high-rise high jinks.
The 58-story tower houses Trumps campaign headquarters, but the candidate was not inside during the climb. The Spider-Man-like escapade began around 4 p.m., as the candidate was holding a rally in Virginia.
NYPD officers grab the climber. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)
Slideshow: Man scales Trump Tower with suction cups in NYC
Detectives and officers from strategic and critical response teams described a meticulously planned effort to isolate and apprehend the climber. Police positioned themselves above his perch, removed several glass panels and attempted to persuade him to surrender voluntarily , NYPD officials said.
The climbers ascent ended abruptly around 7 p.m., when emergency responders were able to yank him in through a 21st-floor window of the glass skyscraper after a harrowing two-hour negotiation. He had been hoisting himself slowly up the glass facade using giant, hand-held suction cups.
I reached out, took hold of his hand and said, Sir, you need to come with me, said Detective Christopher Williams of the Emergency Services team, one of two detectives who heaved the climber safely inside Trump Tower.
Story continues
During the climb, crowds gathered on the sidewalk below and flooded social media channels with photos, videos and live streams of the spectacle, quickly dubbing the climber the human fly. Traffic was halted as he suctioned his way up the building.
The Trump Tower human fly is now resting his legs while also trying to avoid cops that popped out of the vents pic.twitter.com/Mjv4dHjaom Clemzingis (@TheClemReport) August 10, 2016
The man made slow but steady progress up the side, by sticking the large suction cups above his head, then stepping into rope loops secured to handles on the suction cups with large carabiners. Police said the suction cups and other climbing gear was of a variety available at any outdoors store.
A man climbs up Trump Tower in New York, which houses Donald Trumps campaign headquarters. (Alex Cannon via AP)
The man was wearing khaki shorts, a black T-shirt and a backpack, which police said contained only climbing gear and multiple forms of identification with different names, which police are investigating.
Windows removed from 21st floor of #TrumpTower with highly trained @NYPDSpecialops officers speaking with climbing pic.twitter.com/os9J5Hy398 NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) August 10, 2016
Before the man was captured, law enforcement positioned below him installed large airbags to cushion the climbers landing in the event that he fell or jumped.
@NYPDSpecialops elite cops train for these kinds of things everyday. #NYPD #ESU best in the world at what they do. pic.twitter.com/FEdtL7sKaR James P. O'Neill (@NYPDChiefofDept) August 10, 2016
Police are still investigating the YouTube video posted by the climber. While they did not explicitly identify the video in Wednesdays press conference, their description of its contents matches that of a clip posted Aug. 7, titled Message to Mr. Trump (why I climbed your tower).
The man in the video, looking off-camera, wearing a hoodie and speaking in a monotone, asks for a meeting with Trump and says, I guarantee that it is in your interest to honor this request.
He goes on to say in the one-minute video: Believe me, if my purpose was not significant, I would not risk my life pursuing it.
The video ends with a plea to those who view it to please help make this video viral so that it gets to Mr. Trump.
Enables HPC-like Storage Performance on Existing SANs
SANTA CLARA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2016 / Flash Memory Summit 2016 -Mangstor Inc., a leading developer of high performance, next-generation, non-volatile memory storage solutions, today announced its SANConnect technology to connect NVMe over Fabric (NVMf) storage arrays to existing iSCSI or Fibre Channel (FC) SANs as a fast storage caching layer. SANConnect will be provided as a plug-in within the upcoming TITAN software release. It boosts performance of existing SANs by layering an intelligent, higher performance non-volatile memory cache paired with the low latency, high performance characteristics of Mangstor NVMf storage software.
Learn about SANConnect and TITAN software at Flash Memory Summit 2016 this week, in Mangstor's Booth #601, Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, California.
"Existing SANs based on FC or iSCSI have very high latencies which limit the performance of today's high performance applications that Mangstor has solved by adding NVMf arrays utilizing SANConnect as a fast caching tier," said Paul Prince, CTO for Mangstor Inc. "This technology continues our history of developing innovative non-volatile memory solutions by providing an evolutionary approach for introducing NVMf storage networks into existing datacenters."
Mangstor SANConnect technology brings the millions of random 4KB Read and Write IOPS performance and associated low latency of TITAN software as a caching layer to existing SANs. It provides a perfect migration strategy to the performance benefits of NVMf storage for customers with a high investment in traditional SANs and spindle-based storage. IT managers can upgrade their existing SANs to high performance storage fabrics in a phased manner without incurring the costs and complexities of uprooting and building such fabrics from the ground up.
NX-Series Storage Arrays are available through Mangstor's worldwide sales channel of distributors, resellers, system integrators and manufacturing representatives. Product information is available at www.mangstor.com. Sales and pricing information is available at sales@mangstor.com.
Story continues
All trademarks, registered trademarks, and/or service marks, indicated or otherwise, are the property of their respective owners.
About Mangstor Inc.
Mangstor Inc., founded in 2012 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, is a leading developer of next generation non-volatile memory storage products optimized for low latency, high performance applications. Its product portfolio includes MX-Series PCIe NVMe SSDs, NX-Series NVMf storage arrays, and TITAN NVMf storage target software. First presented at last year's Flash Memory Summit, the NX6320 array with TITAN software earned a Best of Show award as the Most Innovative Flash Memory Technology, and the first available storage array solution for NVMf.
About Flash Memory Summit 2016
The Flash Memory Summit program provides attendees with practical information on the current state of flash memory and its applications. Summit themes include: Solid State Drives (SSDs), Flash Memory Based Architectures, Enterprise Storage, Controllers, Enterprise Applications, PCIe SSDs, new non-volatile technologies, standards, testing, and applications. The Summit Program consists of a day of pre-conference seminars, followed by three days of panel discussions, keynotes, forums, paper sessions, tutorials, updates, and special sessions. The show is located at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, California, beginning Tuesday, August 9th and concluding on Thursday, August 11th.
Mangstor Media Contact:
Scott Harlin
Director of Marketing Communications
714-619-1795
sharlin@mangstor.com
SOURCE: Mangstor Inc.
The Manitowoc Company, Inc. MTW reported second-quarter 2016 adjusted earnings of 4 cents per share that beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny. Notably the company has swung to profit from the prior-year quarter loss of 4 cents per share.
Including special items, the company posted a loss of 4 cents per share in the reported quarter. It had posted earnings of 17 cents per share a year ago.
However, shares of the company fell around 16.8% and closed at $4.82 yesterday, after this maker of cranes and restaurant equipment posted a 4.2% year-over-year decline in sales to $457.7 million in the reported quarter. Revenues also missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $467.9 million. Sales were affected by a challenging market environment on a number of levels particularly in Mobile cranes in the Americas partly offset by strength in Tower cranes.
Operational Update
Cost of sales deteriorated 3.5% to $369.5 million in the quarter from $382.8 million in the year-ago quarter. Gross profit decreased 7.1% year over year to $88.2 million. Also, gross margin contracted 60 basis points (bps) to 19.3%.
Engineering, selling and administrative expenses decreased 7.7% year over year to $73.4 million. Adjusted operating income was $14.8 million compared with $15.4 million in the year-ago quarter.
Backlog
Backlog was $394 million as of Jun 30, 2016 as against $502 million in first-quarter 2016. Second-quarter 2016 orders of $349 million dropped from $417 million in the preceding quarter. This represents a book-to-bill of 0.8.
Restructuring Activities
On Aug 8, 2016, Manitowoc announced its decision to relocate its crawler crane manufacturing operations from Manitowoc, WI to Shady Grove, PA. This action will support the companys strategy of reducing its manufacturing capacity globally. Manitowocs crawler business intends to maintain its product engineering and related support functions in the Wisconsin area.
The company projects cash outflows of approximately $35-50 million in settlement of these expenses by the end of 2017. In addition, the company anticipates recognizing non-cash charges of approximately $105-120 million. In total, this initiative is predicted to generate annualized pre-tax cost savings of $2530 million.
Financial Updates
Manitowoc ended the quarter with cash and temporary investments of $40.8 million compared with $31.5 million at year-end 2015. Long-term debt was $275 million as of Jun 30, 2016 compared with $1,326.6 million as of Dec 31, 2015. Cash flow used in operations was $16.4 million in second-quarter 2016 as against cash flow of $55.5 million in the prior-year quarter.
Story continues
MANITOWOC INC Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
MANITOWOC INC Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | MANITOWOC INC Quote
2016 Guidance
Manitowoc slashed its full-year 2016 outlook. The company expects revenues to decline approximately 1012% from the previous guidance of flat revenues. It lowered adjusted operating income margins to approximately 12% from the prior view of around 4%. The company reaffirmed its capital expenditures guidance, estimated to be in the range of approximately $45$50 million for the year.
Zacks Rank
Manitowoc currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
Some better-ranked stocks in the sector include Astec Industries, Inc. ASTE, ACCO Brands Corporation ACCO and AO Smith Corp. AOS. All the three stocks hold a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
ASTEC INDS INC (ASTE): Free Stock Analysis Report
MANITOWOC INC (MTW): Free Stock Analysis Report
SMITH (AO) CORP (AOS): Free Stock Analysis Report
ACCO BRANDS CP (ACCO): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
India-set European-backed feature film In The Shadows will complete principal photography next week in the walled city of old Delhi.
The film is a psychological drama about a man who is trapped within the city walls and in his own mind. He attempts to break free to find a human connection. Feature debutant director, Dipesh Jain said: I want to tell a story that is simple to follow and connects emotionally, but structurally it is intricate, so the audience is forced to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
The cast includes Belgian actress Laura Verlinden (The Brand New Testament,) and Indian actors Manoj Bajpayee (Aligarh,) Neeraj Kabi (Ship of Theseus,) and Shahana Goswami (Midnights Children.)
U.K. producer Shuchi Jain of Exstant Motion Pictures produces alongside Germany based independent Swiss producer Lena Vurma, who is also the head of acquisitions for German distributor NFP (The Lunchbox, Toni Erdmann.)
The project emerged from the Indian National Film Development Corporations annual Film Bazaar event in Goa. The producers are in talks with Indian distributors for a theatrical release after the film bows at an international festival. An international sales agent is expected to be confirmed later this year.
Related stories
Netflix Taps Executives for India Roles
'Peepli Live' Co-Director Mahmood Farooqui Jailed For Rape
Rajinikanth's 'Kabali' Opens Strongly Worldwide
DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May raised concerns on Tuesday with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani over several cases involving dual British-Iranian nationals, including imprisoned aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, her office said. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 37, who was detained in early April as she tried to leave Iran after a visit with her two-year-old daughter, is accused by Iran's Revolutionary Guards of trying to overthrow the Iranian government. Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, has dismissed the Revolutionary Guards' accusation. During a telephone call, May, who took office last month after Britain's June 23 vote to leave the European Union, and Rouhani agreed their two countries should seek to advance their relationship. "The prime minister raised concerns about a number of consular cases involving dual nationals, including that of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and stressed the importance of resolving these cases as we worked to strengthen our diplomatic relationship," a spokeswoman for May's office said. Zaghari-Ratcliffe works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, a London-based charity that is independent of Thomson Reuters and operates independently of Reuters News. Several Iranian dual nationals from the United States, Britain, Canada and France have been detained in the past few months and are being kept behind bars on various charges, including espionage or collaborating with a hostile government. May and Rouhani also spoke about the implementation of the deal made between Iran and foreign powers about its nuclear programme, with May saying Britain would make efforts to enhance banking cooperation with Iran. Since international sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme were lifted in January, the world's big banks have continued to stay away because they fear being penalised by remaining U.S. sanctions over issues such as money laundering. May and Rouhani also agreed to work on forming closer ties at various levels, a top Iranian official was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA. The two discussed expanding economic relations, especially in the banking and insurance sectors, and regional cooperation, specifically in the fight against terrorism, Hamid Aboutalebi, Rouhani's deputy chief of staff tweeted, according to IRNA. (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in Dubai and Kylie MacLellan in London; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Megan Fox has given birth to baby No. 3.
Fox, 30, and her husband, actor Brian Austin Green, 43, have reportedly welcomed a baby boy named Journey River Green on Aug. 4, according to E! News. The couple also have two sons named Noah, 3, and Bodhi, 2.
Though the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows star didn't make an official announcement about her pregnancy, she let her belly speak for itself at CinemaCon in April when she wore a tight Versace dress that showed off her growing baby bump.
Read more: Molly Sims Pregnant With Third Child
Apparently the actress's newborn already has the ability to convince her do whatever he wants. While appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in June, she told the late-night host that "I feel you receive messages from the child if you're open to it."
She continued: "For instance, this baby wanted me to live somewhere else, so we're moving to a whole different place in Los Angeles because I feel like that's where this baby wants to be raised."
Fox's third child comes nearly a year after she filed for divorce from Green after five years of marriage. However, a source tells E! News that it's not happening "anytime soon."
Fox's rep did not immediately respond to The Hollywood Reporter's request for comment.
Read more: Ellie Kemper Welcomes Baby Boy
Meryl Streep chatted with Yahoo Movies in advance of her new movie, Florence Foster Jenkins. When Streep was speaking with us, we brought up an interview that her co-star Hugh Grant had done with CBS News Sunday Morning, specifically his response to the question: Are you a perfectionist?
I want more takes, Grant told News correspondent Tracy Smith. I want to try new lines. Then I want to interfere in the editing process and then I want to interfere in the advertising process. Everything. Everything. Pretty much Barbra Streisand in trousers, I am.
I would totally agree with that, said Streep, laughing. Florence Foster Jenkins is the first movie Streep and Grant have starred in together. Streep described her perception of the British actor going into the project. Well, you imagine, in the films that you watch [Grant] in, because hes so sort of easy and graceful and self-deprecating, it just looks effortless, the award-winner noted. And you would imagine maybe that he has glancing relationship with the work, but absolutely, its the opposite. He is laser-focused on what hes doing and what everyone is doing. Hes got a big brain and sort of a deep interest in the whole piece, so yes. Very involved with [director Stephen Frears], and I heard a lot about late-night emails.
But turnabout is fair play. If she was going to talk about her perception of Grant, we thought it would be only right to ask Streep what her perception of Meryl Streep is. I dont really look back that way, she told us. I am really focused on employment next month, you know, and keeping going. I dont know. I just have a relentless kind of curiosity about different kinds of people.
Hugh Grant Was a Little Bitter When He Didnt Get a Nomination for About a Boy:
Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Khail Anonymous, on Twitter.
Coatzacoalcos (Mexico) (AFP) - Mothers searching for missing loved ones said they have found seven clandestine gravesites with remains of an undetermined number of people in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, one of the most afflicted by drug gang violence.
Marcela Zurita Rosas, a participant in the search, said Tuesday the graves were found this week in a plot of land in the city of Veracruz, in an area near a major seaport.
"On Monday, we found three graves with bones and on Tuesday four more were found with remains of people who were murdered," she said.
Rosas, who has received training in forensic anthropology and search techniques, is a member of a group called El Solecito. It was formed by mothers who decided to organize their own searches for missing loved ones after growing tired of waiting for the authorities to act.
Rosas is looking for her son, Dorian Javier Rivera Zurita, who disappeared in Cordoba, Veracruz in October 2012.
The latest finds were made on the same plot of land where five decapitated bodies were found in 2015.
Mexico's federal police are guarding the property while forensic specialists remove the remains and transfer them to Mexico City for DNA analysis, said Rosas, expressing hope that "many people find their loved ones and can bury them."
A police officer taking part in the investigation said the remains were in pieces but were from at least two people.
Veracruz has been the scene of a deadly turf struggle between two violent drug cartels: the Zetas and the Jalisco Nueva Generacion.
One of the most shocking cases involved the disappearance in January of five youths, one of them a minor, who were picked up by police and turned over to drug traffickers and allegedly murdered, their remains incinerated and ground up in a mill.
Clandestine burial grounds have proliferated in Mexico alongside a surge in violence that has claimed 166,000 lives nationwide since 2006, according to official figures. More than 27,000 people have gone missing during that period.
The government statistics do not specify how many of those violent deaths and disappearances are linked to drug trafficking.
2016 Rio Olympics - Swimming - Final - Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final - Olympic Aquatics Stadium - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 09/08/2016. Michael Phelps (USA) of USA reacts after his team won the gold medal. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth
We all know that Michael Phelps is an amazing athlete, but according to The Washington Post, he's tied an Olympic record that's stood for over 2,000 years.
According to The Post, Leonidas of Rhodes, who competed in the ancient Olympics, holds the record with 12 individual Olympic titles. Phelps, of course, has 25 total Olympic medals, including a record 21 Olympic gold medals, but only 12 of those 21 have come from individual events, whereas the others came from relays.
Leonidas of Rhodes won gold medals in three events, in four straight Olympiads, which historians consider to be the all-time record.
ICYMI, Leonidas won the stadion, diaulos, and hoplite race at the 164-160-156-152 BC Ancient Olympic Games. 4 consecutive in 3 diff events Bill Mallon (@bambam1729) August 10, 2016
According to historians, Leonidas of Rhodes was the closest thing to an Olympic god, winning his last three gold medals at 36. He competed in the stadion (a track event similar to the 200-meter sprint), the diaulos (described as twice as long as the stadion, or about 400 meters), and the hoplite.
The hoplite, apparently, was the most unique, and just sounds cool.
The Post describes the hoplite race like this: "The hoplitodromos also called the hoplite race might be the most intriguing. Runners competing in the ancient race were required to wear a helmet, leg armor and carry a shield. With 50 pounds of added weight, it was a test of strength as much as speed or endurance."
But times have changed. Phelps already broke the modern record in London, held by Ray Ewry, who competed in the 1900, '04, and '08 Olympic Games. And now, he's about to break the all-time record.
NOW WATCH: Why Michael Phelps and other Olympians have big red circles all over their skin
More From Business Insider
By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi ZURICH (Reuters) - Amnesty International warned of a buildup of migrants on Italy's border with Switzerland and demanded clarification from Swiss authorities over reports by children that they had been sent back when trying to join their parents there. Switzerland said the buildup was due to an influx of African migrants seeking passage to north European countries such as Germany. Any individual requesting asylum would be granted the opportunity. Several hundred migrants have been sleeping near the train station in Como, Italy, since July after a Swiss clamp down on crossings. "We're concerned about reports from minors who by their own accounts were sent back to Italy at the Swiss border and were prevented from joining family members in Switzerland," Amnesty International Switzerland said in a statement on Tuesday. "If a minor has family members in Switzerland who could care for her or him, ultimately Switzerland should process that asylum request," the agency added. Some two-thirds of the nearly 7,500 migrants who reached Switzerland via the southern canton of Ticino have been turned back since early July, a steep rise from the one in seven denied entry earlier this year. That proportion was still rising in recent weeks. Swiss authorities said this was due to an influx of people -- mainly from Eritrea, Gambia and Ethiopia -- wishing to transit Switzerland from Italy to Germany or other northern European countries, which requires a valid permit. But any individual requesting asylum in Switzerland -- or communicating a desire to do so to border guards -- would be granted the opportunity, customs and migration authorities said. That practice hadn't changed in recent weeks, they said. Martin Reichlin of the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) said he would expect any child arriving at the border and attempting to join relatives in Switzerland to be delivered to the care of his organization. Authorities have a responsibility to inform minors of their rights, Amnesty said, and a systematic return of children would be incompatible with the U.N Convention on the Rights of the Child. "Recognizing the precarious circumstances for refugees in northern Italy, it's unacceptable to turn away especially vulnerable people," Amnesty said. Migrants turned back at the French and Swiss borders are beginning to pile up in Milan, the city's mayor, Giuseppe Sala, said on Tuesday. More than 3,000 migrants in transit to other European countries were stranded in Italy's financial capital. (Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi in Zurich and Steven Scherer in Rome; editing by Ralph Boulton)
Donald Trump issued a dramatic warning Wednesday afternoon to court voters concerned about the Appalachian coal industry.
Many coal miners were in attendance during Trumps speech at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon, Va. The Republican presidential candidate urged those in the mining community to turn out to vote on Nov. 8 even if they are frustrated with the system because, he said, the fate of their industry hangs in the balance.
It is the last shot for the miners. That I know, Trump said. And Im not like a neutral for the miners. Im not like, Oh, well hell be all right. Hillary will be a horror show, and Im going to be an unbelievable positive. But this is the last shot. The mines will be gone. The mines will be gone if she gets elected.
According to Trump, the election of Democrat Hillary Clinton would be the death knell for the mining industry.
You look at the bad judgment and now were going to put her in charge of our country we wont have a country left. So I just ask the people of Virginia and the people in this room, and in particular because were in such a mining area, give it one more chance. I know youre discouraged. Give it one more chance.
Throughout the speech, Trump presented himself as a champion of the fossil fuel industry. He contrasted himself with Clinton, who was endorsed early in the Democratic primary by the environmentalist group League of Conservation Voters.
The Manhattan billionaire referenced the moment in which Clinton claimed her policies would put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business as the country transitioned toward renewable energy. She later said she misspoke.
I dont know how to explain it other than what I said was totally out of context for what I meant, because I have been talking about helping coal country for a very long time, Clinton clarified, according to PolitiFact.
It was a misstatement because what I was saying is the way things are going now, they will continue to lose jobs. It didnt mean that we were going to do it. What I said is that is going to happen unless we take action to help and prevent it, she continued.
Story continues
Before the speech, World War II veteran Emory Altizer, 95, who has been a coal miner for 68 years, presented Trump with a flame safety lamp to demonstrate the industrys support for his economic plan and opposition to President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agencys energy initiatives.
When he wasnt hammering home common themes in his stump speeches Clintons private email server, securing the U.S.-Mexico border, etc. Trump spent a good deal of time empathizing with the plight of coal miners and other blue-collar workers who have fallen on hard times in recent years.
He recalled a conversation he had with several coal miners in which he asked whether the economic difficulties of their profession might ever compel them to take up a different career path. They told him that they did not want to do anything else, he said.
Trump said he could relate to the desire of coal miners to carry on a family tradition of working in a particular trade because he did just that, albeit in real estate.
I understood this very well because my father was in real estate, I went into real estate, it was sort of [you] do that. They said, Mr. Trump, we love mining. We dont want to do anything else. We love mining. I so understood that. It was so incredible. And they all said it like at the same time. They want to be miners. But their jobs have been taken away and were going to bring them back, Trump said to applause.
Coal miners holding up black and yellow signs that read Trump digs coal were seated behind Trump on stage, which was flanked by the American and Virginia flags.
NAFTA has been a disaster. Its been a disaster not just for Virginia but for virtually every state, Trump said of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Upstate New York, it looks like a war zone. Thats why I won, so much, and I got the upstate vote in numbers that nobodys seen before.
Trump, who easily won his home states primary, painted a picture of urban decay that would resonate with the coal miners: beautiful abandoned factories that had once been the lifeblood of small towns throughout the Northeast.
Upstate New York, you go to New England you see the factories, these beautiful old factories that you see, they were once thriving, thousands and thousands of people working, Trump said. And those people now are doing part-time jobs. Theyre working two jobs. Theyre making less money than they made 18 years ago.
tunisia_banner1
For the thousands of Tunisians who poured onto the streets to protest the despotic regime of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the day the dictator left power Jan. 14, 2011 represents a monumental victory. It was the moment they felt free for the first time in their lives.
Hatem Ben Salem does not share those fond memories. At the time of the uprising, he was in the government, serving as the countrys minister of education. I remember the moment they announced that Ben Ali fled the country, he says. I was in shock. For me Ben Ali was not just a person. He was the president of the country. He represented the prestige and the power of the state.
Unsurprisingly, Ben Salem took the revolution personally. Its still one of the biggest shocks of my life, he says. I said to myself that everything that I thought Id been building throughout my life was destroyed, everything that Id been building for the country, not for me personally.
For many Tunisians, the uprising ushered in a welcome new era, giving them a chance to build an open society based on the participation of all citizens. Since 2011, Tunisia has experienced three rounds of fair and free elections and adopted a new constitution. Freedom of expression and freedom of assembly have transformed how Tunisians perceive and exercise their political rights.
Yet the transition has been marred by many problems. The rise of Islamist militancy and the decline of the economy have proven traumatic. Unemployment remains high and corruption is still rampant. Revolutionary demands for justice and equal opportunity are far from fulfilled, and the optimism of the early post-uprising years is giving way to creeping disillusionment and a certain wistfulness for the days of the old regime. That nostalgia was reflected in the victory of Beji Caid Essebsi and his Nidaa Tounes party in the 2014 election. Essebsi was a veteran of the governments of both Ben Ali and his predecessor Habib Bourguiba, so his ascension to power emboldened other former regime figures and facilitated their return to politics.
Story continues
Map of northern Tunisia
Today, Ben Salem serves as director of the Tunisian Institute of Strategic Studies, a government think tank. He was named to lead the institute by Essebsi in 2015, a decision that drew criticism from those who saw the appointment as the return of yet another familiar face associated with the ousted regime.
Ben Salem saw in the presidents offer a chance for political rehabilitation. Though he had initially decided to stay away from politics after the revolution, the new post made him feel appreciated: He was still being trusted to do something important for his country in this case, helping to come up with ideas for fixing its persistent economic malaise.
One of the presidents main proposals for reviving the economy involves a controversial economic reconciliation law, first introduced in July 2015. The law has become a flashpoint for those who worry about overcoming the legacy of the old regime. As proposed, it would essentially allow those who profited from their closeness to a corrupt dictatorship to evade justice as long as they return the public funds they had diverted. The president and those who defend the law say it is an integral part of the transitional justice process, and that drawing a line under prosecutions of past malfeasance is a necessary precondition for attracting much-needed foreign investment.
When it was first proposed, however, the economic reconciliation law was met with a storm of criticism from activists, who worried, among other things, that its confidentiality provisions would prevent the public from learning details of corruption under the old regime. (The laws critics ultimately succeeded in having it removed from consideration by lawmakers, at least for a while.)
Amna Guellali of Human Rights Watch notes that the law, which was resubmitted to parliament just a few weeks ago, is not built around the idea of truth-telling. All the information obtained will be kept secret, preventing any future learning, teaching, or institutional reform based on the findings. Guelalli notes that a transitional justice law passed in 2013 contains provisions on human rights violations as well as economic corruption. The law created a Truth and Dignity Commission that, while criticized for some failings, provided a transparent mechanism for reviewing transgressions committed under the old regime.
Yes, there were corrupt people in the regime, says Ben Salem, who denies having profited from his place in the pre-revolutionary government. There were those who received bribes. But there were those who were not corrupt and who served the country like me. And there are many of them.
Ben Salem says he was subject to unfounded accusations in the aftermath of the uprising. I was interrogated because a teacher sued me, he says. Ben Salems accuser had been turned down for a promotion, a problem he blamed on corruption. At the time, I wasnt even minister of education. I was interrogated but they let me go because they had nothing on me. On the day he left his job as a minister of education, Ben Salem says, his assets consisted of $1,500 in his bank account and $2,000 in cash loaned to him by friends because he had recently built a house.
Corruption isnt the only grievance that some Tunisians harbor against Ben Ali and those who worked for him. The former regime was notorious for its persecution and systematic torture of political opponents.
Ben Salem admits that the Ben Ali regime may at some point have used terrorism as a pretext to persecute various groups, but he claims that he was far from all the political entanglements between Ben Ali and his opponents. My only involvement was when I was the general coordinator of human rights, and that lasted six months. I resigned because I couldnt do anything.
Nor is that all. Having served as Tunisias ambassador to various African countries, Ben Salem was part of the regimes propaganda machine. In interviews at the time, Ben Salem denied the existence of torture in Tunisia. There is no torture, he declared in one interview. This is an unacceptable phenomenon that Tunisia has always condemned.
Ben Salems claim contradicts what many local and international observers have noted. Torture was rampant in Tunisian prisons during the 23-year Ben Ali presidency, and blighted the lives of thousands, said Eric Goldstein, Human Rights Watch deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Ben Salem not only attempted to deny Ben Alis infamous history of torture. He also sought to polish the regimes image by claiming that press was free in Tunisia and that freedoms were respected. When asked about the interview, Ben Salem smirked. What would you imagine me to say as the ambassador of the Tunisian Republic in Geneva? Did you want me to say the opposite? Im proud of what I did. He insists that he has no regrets. We were in an information war. That was my conviction.
He says that he knew that the regime was flawed. But he was convinced that the system had to be fixed from within. He believed, he says, that the authoritarian regime had no future and that one day it would be reformed. I thought it would be reformed by us and not in the streets, he adds.
After finishing his studies in France and earning a doctorate in public law, Ben Salem returned to Tunisia. He said he had two choices. He could join the private sector, making money by practicing law. Or he could try to work for the government. I wanted to serve my country. I didnt believe in political opposition. I believed in the possibility of changing the system from within. I saw how those who joined the opposition ended up being marginalized and did nothing for Tunisia.
He started at the lowest level of politics, joining the Democratic Constitutional Rally party (known by its French acronym, RCD), as an ordinary member. He soon moved up to the post of mayor of the city of Manouba.
In pre-revolutionary Tunisia, the ruling party had a bad reputation among wide swathes of the population. Being a member, an RCDist, typecast you as an informant for the regime, and that you were not to be trusted. Ben Salem concedes that many RCD members were corrupt. But despite the bad reputation, he insists that the party represented an elite segment of Tunisian society, and that most of its members genuinely wanted to serve the country.
He says that he wanted to put his education and his experience at Tunisias service. I did not want to stay away and let the corrupt take advantage of the country. I was better than many others. I was protecting the country.
Ben Salem thinks that post-revolutionary Tunisia has been unfair to those with stories like his. He decries what he sees as the tendency to condemn everyone who served the regime, regardless of their actual actions. Come see what I own and what I have in my bank account, he says. But people dont want to do that. They would rather put everyone in the same basket.
If hes right about that, the logical answer would be to encourage transparency about the past, facilitating open discussion about old transgressions rather than obscuring them. In this respect, indeed, one could argue that the economic reconciliation law, presumably designed to enable the country to move on, will only lead to further demonization of former regime members. Whether or not Hatem Ben Salem actually has been involved in corruption or human rights abuses may never be known. If hes innocent, he has nothing to fear from any future investigation conducted by the Truth and Dignity Commission. But if the economic reconciliation law passes, the world may never know.
Photo credit: SOPHIA BARAKET for Foreign Policy
Read more from Tunisia: In Sun and Shadow:
Tunisias Glorious Confusion:The dawn of democracy is something to root for but the forces that have pulled the other Arab Spring countries back into upheaval still threaten to undo its progress.
Tunisias War on Islam: Is overzealous prosecution of the war on terror contributing to radicalization?
A Verdict on Change: This ambitious young judge wants to change Tunisias justice system. But he still has to type out his own verdicts.
The Storyteller: Shukrii Mabkhout is not just a novelist hes the biographer of modern Tunisia.
El Khadra Still Cant Breathe: This devastated community has been calling for help for years. Even in the new Tunisia, no ones listening.
Not Arab, and Proud of It: Tunisias long-suppressed Amazigh minority is finding its voice for the first time in years.
The Tourism Crash: Terrorist attacks have left the sector reeling but its problems actually go much deeper..
Crisis of Governance: Local Edition: In many ways, democratic Tunisia remains just as centralized as it was before the revolution. And thats a big problem for the mayor of Kasserine.
Tunisias Dying Jazz: New freedoms have brought art and religion into conflict, threatening to crush a tradition trapped in the middle.
Trouble in the Wild East: The border town of Ben Guerdane is a haven for smugglers. Locals would like to keep it that way.
Terms of Abuse: On paper, Tunisias revolution has boosted legal protections for women. Yet the reality is starkly different.
Five Years of the New Tunisia: From revolution to disillusionment and back again: Milestones on Tunisias rocky path to democracy.
The Mainstreaming of Tunisias Islamists: The Ennahda Partys latest moves put its political astuteness on show once again.
Kirill Zdorov/iStock.com
Hopeful home buyers can be denied loans for all kinds of reasons, from a poor credit score to low income. It sucks, but it makes sense: Lenders prefer giving cash to people who can pay them back. (Can you blame them?) Yet, sometimes people are turned away for dumb reasons. Take, for instance, the recent case of a Philadelphia mom who was denied a mortgage because she was on maternity leave. It was even paid maternity leave, with a firm date to return to her job. Whats up with that?
According to the Washington Post, the mom in question (who remains anonymous) had applied for financing with her husband to fund renovations on a house in Philadelphia. But due to her maternity leave, her pay stubs showed she was on short-term disability, which prompted the loans underwriter to surmise she might not resume working full timeeven though her employer was happy to submit a letter indicating the day shed return to the office.
And this mom is hardly alone: Over the past six years, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has documented over 200 cases alleging maternity-related discrimination against women seeking mortgages. In one case, a lender in Arkansas allegedly told the applicant that shed have to be back at work before her loan could close!
And this is a shame, because housing discriminationbased on gender, familial status, disability, race, and other factorshas been illegal since the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Yet apparently it still exists even at prominent mortgage companies, as evidenced by the cases against Wells Fargo, Bank of America, PNC Mortgage, and others.
As for why this happens, experts surmise its because some lenders have outdated notions of women in the workplace, presuming most will bail or scale back on their jobs once kids enter the picture, permanently reducing the familys income and eligibility for a loan. But its hardly the norm: Census data suggest that more than half of first-time mothers return to work within three months. Another study by the Department of Health and Human Services Maternal and Child Health Bureau found that the average maternity leave lasted a mere 10 weeks.
Story continues
Bottom line: These days, many moms return to the officeyet some mortgage companies have missed that memo. But luckily, some moms are fighting backlike the Philadelphia woman above, who has recently reached a conciliation agreement with the lender, Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. Although the company denied discriminating against her, it also agreed to conduct fair lending training sessions with staff.
And more should follow, Shanna Smith, president and chief executive of the National Fair Housing Alliance, told the Post: There needs to be much better training for [lenders] about how to deal with interrupted income for loan closings when a woman is pregnant and [on] paid maternity leave.
All of which may have women everywhere wondering: If they hope to buy a home, might maternity leave get in their way? And if so, what should they do? Probably the first step is just knowing that its wrong: Maternity leavepaid or unpaidis not a legitimate reason to refuse a loan.
It always helps when you know your rights, says David Reiss, research director at the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship at Brooklyn Law School. If your lender appears to be violating fair lending laws, you may want to raise the issue directly with your banker and ask to speak to the supervisor to ask the bank to clarify its policy. If your lender continues to enforce a discriminatory policy, you can reach out to the relevant regulators, including HUD and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Because after all, the last thing you should be worrying about when youve got your hands full with baby is whether or not you can buy a home.
The post Mom on Maternity Leave Denied a Mortgage: Could It Happen to You? appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.
Related Articles
By Mica Rosenberg and Brett Wolf
NEW YORK/ST. LOUIS, AUGUST 10 (Reuters) - In 2011, amid a crackdown on international money laundering, the U.S. Treasury Department tried to close a loophole that authorities said allows drug cartels to move bulk cash across borders on gift and other prepaid cards.
The department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) proposed that money stored on these cards count toward a U.S. requirement to report cross-border movement of cash of $10,000 or more.
But FinCEN later withdrew its proposed rule after pushback from the prepaid card industry, according to law enforcement sources. The move has not been previously reported.
In response to questions from Reuters, FinCEN spokesman Stephen Hudak said the rule was being reworked and would be resubmitted, possibly by 2017.
"It's not dead," Hudak said.
The lack of a rule has stymied efforts to crack down on cross-border crime, including drug trafficking and money laundering, law enforcement officials said. The U.S. Department of Justice estimated in 2009 that up to $24 billion in cash is smuggled into Mexico each year, some of it on prepaid cards.
The use of the cards has grown steadily in recent years. More than $623 billion was loaded on gift cards and other types of prepaid cards in the United States in 2015, according to data from the Massachusetts-based Mercator Advisory Group.
For a graphic on prepaid cards: http://tmsnrt.rs/2b8nCxO)
The prepaid card industry opposed the rule, saying it would have discouraged people from using the cards.
"Implementing onerous requirements on reloadable prepaid cards could disproportionately harm vulnerable consumers, who rely on these products as their sole means of access to the financial services system," said Brad Fauss, President and CEO of the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association.
In March 2013, two years after FinCEN proposed amending the Bank Secrecy Act with the new rule, industry representatives met with officials from FinCEN and the Department of Homeland Security at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which reviews regulations, according to a record of the meeting topic, date and attendees published on a White House website.
Story continues
Visa Inc., the world's largest payments network operator and a major brand on prepaid cards, was the most vocal opponent at the meeting, according to a person who attended. Any member of the public can request a meeting about a regulatory action under review, and the OMB views these meetings as listening sessions.
In November 2014, FinCEN withdrew its proposal.
FinCEN's Hudak declined to comment on the meeting. He said the agency withdrew the rule "for further consideration and analysis of the benefits and costs."
Meetings between OMB and parties with a stake in proposed regulations are common, and it often takes years for an agency to complete the review of proposed regulations. But it is unusual for agencies to withdraw rules once they are proposed. Over the past decade, less than 6 percent of draft regulations were withdrawn by the agency that proposed them, according to OMB statistics.
In exchanges with law enforcement officials, "FinCEN just regurgitated the same arguments that the industry put out there," said a law enforcement source who asked not to be quoted on relationships with regulators.
A Visa spokeswoman declined to comment on the meeting. She said Visa's prepaid cards "are in full compliance with the law and are designed to deter illegal activities such as money laundering."
LIMITED DATA
Prepaid cards come in a variety of forms. So-called "open loop" cards carry credit card company logos and are re-loadable. Gift cards that can be used at specific outlets are known as "closed loop" cards.
Fauss, president of the prepaid card association, said that, unlike cash, open loop cards can not be used anonymously because they require vendors to collect purchasers' identification.
Law enforcement officials said they have little information about how often the cards are used for illicit transfers, and the rule would have shed light on how often the cards are crossing borders.
During the routine 60-day public comment period on the rule in 2011, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement submitted one comment supporting the rule. Industry groups and card companies submitted a dozen opposing it.
The industry said it would be difficult to implement because, in order to check balances, border agents would need card scanners, which are expensive and invade customer privacy. It said cross-border tracking was unnecessary because card companies already have implemented load limits and other controls.
The industry also argued the rule could unfairly affect the poor. Prepaid cards can be used for U.S. government benefits and payrolls for workers without bank accounts.
This type of argument has been raised more broadly by financial institutions claiming overzealous money-laundering regulation has led to "de-risking," where banks pull out of certain lines of business and even parts of the world, leaving few options for some customers.
"The proposed rule could result in bank-issued prepaid cards being stigmatized as second-class financial products in comparison to debit cards and credit cards," wrote Alex Miller, Visa's then-associate General Counsel in one of the 2011 comment letters.
The industry also opposed bipartisan Congressional legislation in 2010 calling for controls on prepaid cards. The bills died after the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association lobbied against them, according to records compiled by the nonprofit organization Center for Responsive Politics.
Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, co-chaired a 2011 Senate Caucus hearing on money laundering that aired concerns about prepaid cards. He did not know FinCEN had withdrawn its proposed regulation until he and Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, sent letters last year to the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the OMB asking about it, a Grassley spokeswoman said.
"The long delays in finalizing regulations to crack down on this practice are frustrating to those of us who want to stop this way of laundering criminal proceeds," Grassley said in an emailed statement.
In 2011, Kumar Kibble, then Deputy Director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement testified in Congress that authorities had found hundreds of the cards hidden "in a compartment similar to those used to conceal cash, drugs and other contraband."
John Tobon, deputy special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Miami, said the cards can be used to pay couriers smuggling money, drugs or other merchandise as large cash transactions come under greater scrutiny.
He said the European Union has become concerned about the use of the cards in recent terror plots. The EU recently published a proposal that would increase regulation of the cards in member states.
"The regulations are absolutely still necessary," Tobon said.
(Reporting by Mica Rosenberg in New York and Brett Wolf of Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence; Editing by Amy Stevens and Lisa Girion)
By Lin Taylor LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - More than half of British women have been sexually harassed at work, according to a survey published on Wednesday, but almost 80 percent said they did not report the incident to their employer. Nearly one in five respondents said the perpetrator was their direct supervisor, and around a quarter said they felt they would not be taken seriously or believed if they reported the harassment. Young women between 18 and 24 fared worse than other age groups, with two-thirds experiencing workplace sexual harassment, according to the report by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and women's rights group Everyday Sexism. "The numbers are shocking and it should be a wake up-call," Alice Hood, head of equality at TUC told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Sexual harassment is still a really big problem for women in the workplace. It's certainly not gone away." She said many women did not report the incident because they were embarrassed, thought they would not be taken seriously, or feared it would damage career prospects. Sexual harassment can include sexual jokes or innuendos, the circulation of pornography, inappropriate touching or unwanted sexual advances, according to the report, which surveyed 1,533 women across Britain aged between 18 and 65. Almost a third of women said they had been the subject of sexual jokes at work, and one quarter said they had experienced unwanted touching, such as on the knee or lower back. "Things have not improved anywhere near as much as people would like to think," said Laura Bates, founder of Everyday Sexism. "It's so pervasive because it isn't being talked about. Women don't feel they are able to come forward, and when they do, it isn't being dealt with at all." Hood said employers must confront and deal with harassment through staff training, changing workplace culture and by implementing robust policies. "Maybe it's happening on email or social media - but it's still harassment and it still has a really humiliating effect on people experiencing it," she added. "Employers need to do much more - it is clearly a huge problem. The first step is taking it seriously ... so people know that harassment won't be tolerated." (Reporting by Lin Taylor @linnytayls, Editing by Emma Batha.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters that covers humanitarian issues, conflicts, global land and property rights, modern slavery and human trafficking, women's rights, and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org to see more stories)
From Woman's Day
How many people do you consider to be a part of your close circle of friends? Go ahead, take a moment and count 'em up-and then cut that number in half.
New research indicates that your set of friends is probably a lot smaller than you realize-and that we're pretty bad at knowing who our true friends are. A study published earlier this year in PLOS One revealed that for most people, only 50 percent of our friendly feelings are reciprocated. In other words, probably only half of the people you consider friends would call you a friend, and vice versa.
In the study, MIT researchers analyzed 84 people in a business management class and asked them to rank their relationships with their classmates on a scale of zero to five. A zero indicated no friendship or relationship at all, a three indicated friendship, and a five meant this person was one of their best friends.
When the results were tallied, 94 percent of the study volunteers predicted that their feelings would be reciprocated, but the researchers found that only 53 percent of those friendships were validated by the other person.
Similarly, an Oxford University study published earlier this year revealed that most of your Facebook friends don't care about you. The Facebook users in this study only considered a mere 28 percent of their social connections to be "true friends."
Photo credit: Getty Images
While the MIT study only included a small number of people, a recent article in The New York Times indicates that various studies analyzing the relationships of over 92,000 people over the past 10 years have found similar results: That friendship is only reciprocated about half of the time, or less.
There are a few potential reasons for this disparity, according to experts. First, friendship is hard to define, especially as an adult. Adults tend to see a friend as a serviceable thing in one's life, rather than a meaningful relationship.
"Treating friends like investments or commodities is anathema to the whole idea of friendship," Ronald Sharp, a professor who teaches a course on the literature of friendship at Vassar College told the New York Times. "It's not about what someone can do for you, it's who and what the two of you become in each other's presence." Social media seems to be intensifying the problem, Sharp explained. "The notion of doing nothing but spending time in each other's company has, in a way, become a lost art," Sharp said. "People are so eager to maximize efficiency of relationships that they have lost touch with what it is to be a friend."
Story continues
Another relationship expert quoted in the Times, researcher and psychologist Robin I.M. Dunbar, confirmed the study's findings with his own research, explaining that people can only have at most five close friends. "There is a limited amount of time and emotional capital we can distribute, so we only have five slots for the most intense type of relationship," Dunbar said. "People may say they have more than five, but you can be pretty sure they are not high-quality friendships."
The bottom line? It's worth identifying who, among the many people you encounter on a daily basis, truly enriches your life and makes time for you, because quality is much more important than quantity when it comes to friends.
(h/t Science Alert)
Ottawa (AFP) - A 33-year-old mother has been charged with sexually assaulting her own children -- a four-year-old and a teenager -- casting them in child pornography and prostituting the youngest daughter, police said Wednesday.
The woman, whose identity was withheld to protect the children, had been in custody on an assault charge that has been upgraded to attempted murder, the Niagara Regional Police Service said in a statement.
"This accused female is the biological mother of two female victims under the age of 18 years old, the youngest being four years of age," Constable Philip Gavin said.
"The charges are based on allegations that she was sexually assaulting both of her children," he said.
Some of the alleged assaults against her eldest daughter date back approximately six years ago, according to police. The victim would have been 12 years old at the time.
The woman is also accused of distributing sexually explicit images of her daughters "for her own personal gain," police said.
A total of six children between the ages of four and 17 were identified from pornographic images uncovered by police, and rescued.
Five men were also charged in the case, including the target of the alleged attempted murder.
As Donald Trump drops in the polls and alienates would-be allies, the National Rifle Association is standing by the Republican presidential nominee. The organization rushed to Trumps defense after the candidate wondered aloud at a rally on Tuesday whether Second Amendment people could do anything to stop Hillary Clinton getting to pick her judgesa comment widely interpreted as a thinly-veiled call for Clintons assassination.
In response, the NRA tweeted that Trump is right, noting that if Clinton gets to appoint Supreme Court justices theres nothing we can do. The NRA added in a second tweet: But there IS something we will do on #ElectionDay: Show up and vote. The tweet ended with the hashtag #NeverHillary. The gun-rights group echoed the explanation sent out by the Trump campaign, which suggested that his remarks referred to the political power of Second Amendment supporters, who will be voting in record numbers.
Thats not all the NRA is doing to show that it wants to see Clinton defeated. The organizations political-victory fund launched a roughly $3 million anti-Clinton ad buy calling the former secretary of state an out-of-touch hypocrite who would leave you defenselessness. Citing an NRA spokesperson, CNN reported that its the most expensive pro-Trump ad buy to date.
At a time when many prominent Republicans are attempting to distance themselves from Trump or are outright defecting to Clinton, the NRAs apparent loyalty is striking. Not everyone has been so quick to defend Trumps latest controversial remarks. House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters that Trumps Second Amendment remarks sounded like a joke gone bad, adding, You should never joke about that. I hope he clears it up quickly.
Recommended: How American Politics Went Insane
But how much does the NRAor other gun-rights supportersactually like Trump? Data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics suggests that, as of June 2016, Trump was far from the favorite Republican presidential candidate among gun-rights supporters. This group spent more money in support of Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, and others than they did for Trumpa figure which includes spending by the NRA. For the organization, as for many Republicans, its possible that Trump may be a candidate of last resort.
It can be difficult to determine where Trump actually stands on most policy issues, and guns are no exception. As The Intercept pointed out in January: Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has campaigned as an ardent advocate of expanding gun rights, but in the past he called for banning assault weapons and a longer waiting period for gun purchases.
Politico reported that after Trumps Second Amendment comments, Bob Owens, the editor of the website BearingArms.com, tweeted that Trumps words were neither nuanced nor clever but a threat of violence. As a REAL supporter of the #2A it's appalling to me. The article notes, however, that after a reporter asked the NRA about his tweet, he deleted that post, and wrote an editorial titled, No, Donald Trump Did Not Just Suggest Hillary Clinton Should Be Assassinated. Back in February, Owens bylined an article on the site declaring: Donald Trump Will Be the Death of the Second Amendment.
Recommended: Parsing Obama's Sexy, Sometimes Woke Summer Playlist
This isnt the first time the NRA has worked to help Trump. The NRA endorsed Trump in May. Its political arm launched a $2 million ad buy in support of Trump at the end of June featuring a survivor of the Benghazi attacks. The ad, though, explicitly acknowledges that Trump may not be a first choice for many voters. A lot of people say theyre not going to vote this November cause their candidate didnt win, the ad says. Text appears on screen that reads Stop. Hillary. Now. before flashing to: Trump 2016.
So why would reluctant gun rights advocates back Trump? Theres lot more at stake in November than just the White House, including the future make-up of the Supreme Court. As the NRA said in a Tweet responding to the controversy on Tuesday:
Its not just supporters of gun rights: Republicans all across the country will have to ask themselves in November whether its worth voting for a candidate who has so often strayed from their particular orthodoxy. Plenty of voters will ultimately opt to stand with the Republican nominee. But that doesnt mean theyll do it without reservation.
Read more from The Atlantic:
This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
By Shwe Yee Saw Myint and Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Two Myanmar labor rights groups looking after migrant workers said Myanmar authorities had blocked them from operating in Thailand because they had criticized recruitment practices as "legal human trafficking". Up to 3 million people from Myanmar are working in neighboring Thailand, many doing menial jobs, and contributing a significant portion to total remittances that amount to 5 percent of gross domestic product, according to a World Bank estimate. The two groups, Aid Alliance Committee for Myanmar Workers (AAC) and Myanmar Association in Thailand (MAT), need permission from their government to operate. But the groups said permission had been revoked after they called in a news conference last week for their government to crack down on Myanmar employment agencies, whose practices they said led to the mistreatment and even imprisonment of workers. "The embassy revoked the license it issued to us," Ye Min of the AAC told Reuters late on Tuesday. "We've decided to stop operations since we can't do anything without a license," Ye Min said, adding the AAC believed the embassy action was in response to their criticism at last week's news conference. The embassy did not respond to requests for comment but the permanent secretary at the foreign ministry, Aung Lynn, denied that the embassy in Bangkok has anything to do with the affair. He blamed the problem on infighting among activists and denied that their licenses had been revoked. Last week, the labor groups criticized arrangements for workers and called on the government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, who met migrant workers in Thailand on a visit there in June, to overhaul the system. "Only corrupt Myanmar officials and dishonest job agencies close to them are benefiting from existing policy and practices," Kyaw Thaung of the MAT told the news conference. The MAT likened the system to "legal human trafficking". Officials at the Myanmar Labour Ministry, which oversees arrangements for migrant workers, were not available for comment. Kyaw Thaung said that after the news conference, police told him an organization of employment agencies sending workers abroad had filed a defamation case against him. "I feel intimidated because of our open criticism of the malpractice and corruption by officials and job agents, he said. Kyaw Zaw, general secretary of the Myanmar Overseas Employment Agencies Federation confirmed it had reported Kyaw Thaung to the police. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party is drafting a law giving more legal protection to overseas workers, said Myo Zaw Aung, an NLD lawmaker. (Editing by Antoni Slodkowski and Robert Birsel)
Michael Phelps had plenty to celebrate Tuesday night. He also had reason to laugh.
With tears in his eyes, Phelps stood silently as the Star-Spangled Banner played following his gold-medal finish in the 200-meter butterfly. Inexplicably, the U.S. Olympic icon broke out in a fit of laughter.
But nobody really knew what caught Phelps eye.
Michael Phelps laughs following the playing of the national anthem. (Getty)
He cleared up the mystery in his post-race interview with NBC after taking yet another gold in the mens 4200-meter freestyle relay.
My boys from Baltimore were down on the other end, and back in Maryland, we all say O! for the Orioles during that part of the National Anthem. And all of the sudden I hear them roar O! and I knew exactly where I came from, and I just lost it because those guys came down from Baltimore and New York City to be here, and its just special to see those guys in the stands.
Clearly, hometown pride means a lot to Phelps, and he certainly has reason to smile these days. With three gold medals already under his belt in Rio and three events remaining, the 31-year-old looks like hes well on his way to finishing his Olympic career on quite a high note.
(Adds comment from defense lawyer for Robert Schulman)
By Nate Raymond
NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters) - A Long Island investment adviser and a former partner at a major law firm have been indicted on charges that they engaged in insider trading ahead of Pfizer Inc's acquisition of King Pharmaceuticals Inc in 2010, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Tibor Klein, who owned advisory firm Klein Financial Services, and Robert Schulman, a Washington, D.C., patent lawyer who at the time was with the law firm Hunton & Williams, were charged in an indictment filed in Central Islip, New York.
Prosecutors said Klein, who lives in Melville, New York, learned about the planned $3.6 billion merger from Schulman, who had been representing King Pharmaceuticals in patent litigation since 2009.
Prosecutors said that on the basis of Schulman's tip, Klein bought stock in King on behalf of himself, Schulman and his advisory clients, enabling them to make a combined $300,000 in profits when the deal was announced.
Klein had also tipped a broker in Florida about the expected merger, who traded on the information and split the more than $100,000 in profits he made with Klein, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors did not name the broker, but an earlier U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit identified him as Michael Shechtman, a former Ameriprise Financial Inc stockbroker and friend of Klein's.
Shechtman pleaded guilty in November 2014 to conspiracy to commit securities fraud in connection with the case.
Both Klein, 43, and Schulman, 58, were arrested on charges of conspiracy and securities fraud and are expected to appear later on Wednesday in federal courts in Central Islip and Alexandria, Virginia, respectively.
"We are extremely disappointed by the government's decision to charge Mr. Klein," said Christopher Bruno, his lawyer. "Mr. Klein intends to vigorously defend these charges at trial."
Christopher Mead, Schulman's attorney, in an email said the "evidence at trial will show that my client is innocent."
Story continues
The indictment followed an earlier civil lawsuit in 2013 by the SEC against Klein and Shechtman over the same trades.
The criminal case, though, differs in terms of the SEC's lawsuit by alleging that Schulman, who was most recently a partner at the law firm Arent Fox, intentionally tipped Klein.
The SEC had by contrast alleged that Klein misappropriated the information from Schulman, who during an August 2010 meal at his home after several glasses of wine became intoxicated and blurted out, "It would be nice to be King for a day."
The case is U.S. v. Klein et al, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 16-cr-442.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Marguerita Choy)
NATO on Wednesday took the unusual step of reaffirming that Turkey, a member state since 1952, is in fact still part of the alliance. Turkeys status, NATO said in a statement, is not in question.
But lately it seems like it is. Ankara and Moscow are rekindling their close ties after a nearly nine-month freeze, brought about by tensions over the civil war in Syria and Russian fury over Turkeys downing of a Russian jet that violated its airspace last November. For much of last fall, Vladimir Putin threw insults and economic embargoes at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accusing him, for example, of helping run the Islamic States oil-smuggling operations as economic ties and tourism between the two countries dwindled.
This week, though, the grimaces turned to grins as the two leaders sought to rededicate themselves to creating the strategic partnership theyve talked about for years and that would include high-profile energy projects like a natural gas pipeline and a nuclear power plant. Putin and Erdogan held an unusually friendly meeting Tuesday, and a Turkish military delegation is bound for St. Petersburg Wednesday to hammer out new defense ties between the two countries.
Turkey-Russia relations are much better than the past, Erdogan said after their nearly two-hour meeting in St. Petersburg, according to a press release put out by his office. Both sides are determined and have the required will to bring the relations to the previous levels and even take it beyond.
Putin was just as effusive, telling reporters that the meeting is of major significance for the future of bilateral relations.
The newfound thaw is a sign that Putin sees a chance to exploit divisions between Turkey and its partners in the West, especially the European Union, NATO, and the United States. Right when Ankara feels abandoned or betrayed by the West, Putin is again dangling juicy incentives to draw Erdogan closer into his embrace.
Story continues
I think [Putin] will use this fear in Ankara to offer both commercial deals and political deals to move Turkey closer to Russia, said Soner Cagaptay, the director of the Turkish research program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
What makes it worrisome, from a U.S. point of view, is that the marriage of convenience comes at a time when NATO is under fire from other quarters. War planners have already suggested that alliance members right now would have trouble defending the Baltic region from a Russian attack. And Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has questioned the alliances very utility and said he wouldnt necessarily help out allies like the Baltic states if they were invaded by Russia.
Putins dream would be to break up the NATO alliance, and Turkey is one of those weak links, said Michael Reynolds, a professor of Ottoman and Russian history at Princeton University.
Turkey and Russia are already moving closer on Syria, a major sticking point between the two counties because Ankara has long backed rebel groups attempting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a close Putin ally whom Moscow has dispatched troops and warplanes to defend.
On Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told the state-run Anadolu Agency that Moscow and Ankara now have similar views on the need for a cease-fire and access for humanitarian aid in the country. The remarks came as the Russian Defense Ministry announced a new cease-fire plan for the divided Syrian city of Aleppo involving a daily three-hour cessation of hostilities to allow humanitarian convoys to enter the war-ravaged commercial center, where as many as 2 million people lack access to clean running water, putting children at risk of disease.
Previous Russian plans for the creation of humanitarian corridors have been viewed with skepticism among the rebels and their backers, who believe Damascus uses the pauses to resupply troops. Cavusoglus remarks could signal a new openness toward working with Russia on ending the five-year civil war.
Turkeys rapprochement with Moscow comes as the country is trying to mend fences with other neighbors; it ended a six-year diplomatic spat with Israel recently. But it also comes just one month after an attempted coup that came close to toppling Erdogan and has significantly soured relations between Ankara and Washington. Since the failed coup, Turkey has jailed or detained thousands of soldiers, teachers, and journalists, arguing that they have ties to the network of Fethullah Gulen, a controversial cleric and Erdogan critic who lives in the United States.
Turkey blames Gulen and his followers for organizing the coup attempt and has sought his extradition from the United States. But U.S. officials have not been persuaded that Gulen orchestrated the botched military putsch and have said any extradition request would depend on the evidence a posture that has infuriated Ankara. Far-fetched allegations in the Turkish press have blamed a range of U.S. actors for the coup, including the Wilson Center, a Washington-based think tank.
For most Turks, the coup attempt, replete with jets bombing the capital city of Ankara and buzzing the streets of Istanbul, packed a huge psychological punch. It has left both the government and opposition parties reeling and looking for the support they feel has been lacking from the West, especially in Washington.
We dont appreciate enough how traumatic that was for Turkey the last time Ankara came under attack was 1402, when the army of Tamerlane occupied it, Cagaptay said. He called the failed coup the most traumatic event since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, just after World War I.
And yet, many Turks complain, erstwhile allies were critical of their elected government even while it fought to put down the coup attempt. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, for example, urged restraint when he spoke with his Turkish counterpart shortly after the failed coup. Putin, in contrast, was quick to call and offer Erdogan his unconditional support, Turkey says.
The United States has really handled the coup attempt horribly, and that has made a bad situation even worse, Reynolds said. That, he said, made some inside Turkey think, My God, we really would like to have closer relations with the Russians just to stick it to the U.S.
If the U.S. State Department is concerned about warming ties between Moscow and Ankara, its not showing it. On Tuesday, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said theres nothing wrong or unusual with Erdogan paying a visit to his Russian counterpart, even if the United States has sharp disagreements with Moscow. Its not a zero-sum game, she said.
A senior State Department official, speaking on background, took a similar attitude. We would no more judge Turkey going and visiting Moscow than Turkey should judge us going and visiting France, the official said. They do have a lot in common. They do have economic ties. They are doing business deals.
At any rate, many experts believe that Turkeys more than 60 years inside the NATO alliance will help anchor the country to the West despite Erdogans flirtation with Putin. And even if both Turkey and Russia are seized with anti-American or anti-Western sentiment right now, thats hardly glue enough for a lasting bond, others argue.
But for now Putin has been quick to seize the opportunity for rapprochement that was already in the air before the botched coup. He said Tuesday that Russia would start unwinding economic sanctions on Turkish firms and roll back travel restrictions. He also vowed to jump-start long-stalled energy projects between the two countries, saying that energy and energy projects constitute the key point in our bilateral ties. Turkey is Russias second-biggest customer for natural gas, after Germany, and one of the few markets in Europe poised to grow.
Taken together, that would essentially put the two countries back where they were last year, before Turkish F-16s and Russian intransigence threw a wrench in the works, Cagaptay said.
Russia wants to use this opportunity to make Turkey like what it was a year ago: a member of NATOs southern flank that doesnt always play with the United States, he said.
Photo credit: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
Brussels (AFP) - NATO said Wednesday Turkey's membership of the military alliance is "not in question" following the failed coup in July and stressed its "very clear position" of continued support for Ankara.
"Turkeys NATO membership is not in question," spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in a statement issued in response to "speculative press reports".
"NATO counts on the continued contributions of Turkey and Turkey can count on the solidarity and support of NATO," Lungescu said.
The statement comes the day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a highly-symbolic visit to Russia to mend fences with Moscow, sparking speculation that Ankara's close ties with the West could be at risk.
In Ankara, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu insisted the Russian visit had no wider agenda but did warn of the possible consequences if relations with Europe did not improve.
"Our relations with Russia are not a message to the West. We worked very hard to have good relations with Europe for 15 years," Cavusoglu said, as he blasted the European Union for having "encouraged the putschists."
"If the West one day loses Turkey -- whatever our relations with Russia and China -- it will be their fault," he said.
The Russian media on Wednesday hailed Putin's meeting with Erdogan as a major breakthrough, with past grievances forgotten in the interests of building new ties.
Early last month, NATO leaders including Erdogan had endorsed the alliance's largest military revamp since the end of the Cold War to counter a more assertive Russia in the fallout from the Ukraine crisis.
Turkey is NATO's second largest military power after the United States and is a crucial ally as the West faces unprecedented conflict and upheaval across the Middle East.
- Growing hostility to West -
In November, Turkish aircraft shot down a Russian fighter jet along the border with Syria, sparking a crisis in ties with Moscow and strong expressions of support from NATO.
Story continues
Recent reports in the Turkish media, picked up and amplified by the Russian press, have blasted Turkey's allies for their lukewarm condemnation of the coup attempt and suggested that they may even have had a hand in it.
Erdogan has sharply criticised the United States and the EU for not doing more to show support in the aftermath of the abortive putsch.
He has also bristled at their warnings that he should not undermine human rights and democratic norms in the subsequent crackdown which has netted thousands of people.
In the NATO statement, Lungescu recalled that alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg had telephoned Erdogan in the immediate aftermath of the putsch "strongly condemning the attempted coup and reiterating full support for Turkeys democratic institutions."
"He expressed support for the elected government of Turkey and respect for the courage of the Turkish people," she noted.
"He also conveyed his condolences for those who had lost their lives during the coup attempt."
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - NATO said on Wednesday that Turkey's membership was not in question and that Ankara could count on its solidarity and support after last month's failed coup, which has triggered deep purges in the alliance's second largest armed forces. "Turkey is a valued ally, making substantial contributions to NATO's joint efforts ... Turkeys NATO membership is not in question," the military alliance said in a written statement. The abortive coup on July 15, in which rogue soldiers commandeered tanks, fighter jets and helicopters in a bid to seize power, has raised concern about the stability of Turkey, a key member of the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State and battling an insurgency at home by Kurdish militants. Turkey has been incensed by the Western response to the attempted coup, viewing Europe as more concerned about the rights of the plotters than the events themselves and the United States as reluctant to extradite the U.S.-based Turkish cleric it holds responsible. President Tayyip Erdogan meanwhile met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Tuesday and said Putin's rapid phone call expressing solidarity after the failed putsch had been a "psychological boost". (Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Daren Butler)
Donald Trump 's presidential campaign has long had a rocky relationship with the rest of the Republican Party.
But in recent days, a growing number of current and former members of Congress have joined their fellow Republicans in opposing him.
At least 22 current or former Republican members of Congress have now voiced opposition to his candidacy, in some cases even endorsing Democrat Hillary Clinton .
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, in a Washington Post op-ed this week, wrote that "I will not be voting for Donald Trump for president. This is not a decision I make lightly, for I am a lifelong Republican." She cited Trump's comments about the Muslim parents of a fallen U.S. soldier and his questioning of the impartiality of a judge based on his Mexican heritage as among her reasons for denying her support.
Collins has some company within her party in the Senate when it comes to opposing Trump. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk, and Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse have said they will not support Trump's campaign. Kirk went so far as to rescind his previous endorsement and air an ad against Trump.
In the House, Rep. Richard Hanna of New York has said he will vote for Clinton, writing that "[Trump] is unfit to serve our party and cannot lead this country." In a first for the current Congress, Rep. Scott Rigell of Virginia has said he will vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson for president.
That is not to say Trump does not have support from the Republican Party's leadership in many respects. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have endorsed thew New York tycoon. But the number of defections within party ranks has raised eyebrows, and accelerated in recent days as Clinton has pressed to recruit Republicans and independents.
Here is a list of current and former congressional Republicans who have voiced opposition to Trump or are supporting another candidate, as compiled by CNBC:
Story continues
More From CNBC
By Rina Chandran KATHMANDU (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Last year's twin earthquakes in Nepal disproportionately affected single women, underlining the need for equal land ownership to increase their resilience in disasters, a women's rights activist has said. Of the more than 900,000 homes damaged and destroyed, about a quarter belonged to female-headed households. More than 500,000 women and girls were displaced and about 2,000 women were widowed, according to official data. "The deep gender inequality in Nepal meant that women, and single women in particular, suffered most in the aftermath of the earthquakes," said Lily Thapa, founder of Women for Human Rights (WHR), a group campaigning for single women's rights with about 100,000 members. "They could not make themselves heard and they received the least assistance, which left many vulnerable to abuse, trafficking and harassment," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Kathmandu. While the 2015 constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender and established equal property rights, a deep-rooted patriarchy still denies these rights to women, and to single women in particular. Nepal's categorization of single women - estimated by the charity to number 500,000 - includes those who are widowed, those who are unmarried above the age of 35, and those who are divorced. Early marriage, with 37 percent of Nepali women married before the age of 18, increases their vulnerability, Thapa said. The migration of millions of young Nepali men overseas to find jobs has also led to an increase in female-headed households to 26 percent in 2011 from 15 percent in 2001, according to census data. While women's ownership of land and property has improved in recent years, women are still much less likely to inherit land, to have land registered in their name, or possess documentation that supports their claim, Thapa said. Female ownership of land and/or property stood at 20 percent in 2011 compared with 12 percent in 2001. In rural areas, it is 18 percent compared with 27 percent in urban areas. TEMPORARY SHELTERS The quakes that struck last April and May killed 9,000 people and injured at least 22,000 in the Himalayan nation. Nearly a quarter of the 495 single women-headed households surveyed by WHR and Oxfam after the disaster said they had lost their property papers, and nearly half had lost their citizenship certificates. Many women have never had citizenship papers, marriage certificates or even birth certificates. Getting documentation can be daunting for single women, as large numbers are illiterate, Thapa said. After the quakes, these challenges were thrown into sharp relief as single women had to repair or rebuild their homes and care for the family. Many were unable to seek assistance. When WHR surveyed women several months after the quakes, more female-headed households than male-headed households were still in camps, Thapa said. "Women who were widowed in the quakes, for example, had to observe the mourning rituals for a year - staying indoors, not going into crowds. How could they go get relief or get new papers?" Thapa said. "There is a lot of social pressure on widows, on single women to observe rituals, to stay home, to remain dependent on men," said Thapa, a widow herself. Nepal appointed its first female president last year and its first female chief justice earlier this year, in signs that the country is becoming increasingly inclusive, following the end of 10 years of civil war in 2006. WHR is lobbying the government to include single women in the planning and implementation of disaster preparedness, response and recovery programs and resettlement plans. It is also asking the government to ensure that joint land ownership registration is made mandatory for married couples, and to promote women's registration on other forms of land documentation. "Strengthening single women's asset ownership is key to reducing their vulnerability to disasters and boosting their resilience," Thapa said. (Reporting by Rina Chandran @rinachandran, Editing by Emma Batha. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)
Ted Sarandos Winona Ryder
Netflix has to have big hits if it's going to survive, according to the company's head of content, Ted Sarandos.
At a recent roundtable with The Hollywood Reporter, Sarandos explained why while defending Netflix's $120 million Baz Lurmann show.
"We have a one-on-one relationship with our subscribers," he said. "If you don't like what you're watching on Netflix, it's just one click and cancel. So we have to make noise. Part of our business mandate is we're making 'event television,' and it ain't cheap. So we have to take those big swings every once in a while. We're not competing against ABC sitcoms, we're competing against Pokemon Go, we're competing against the $200 million blockbuster movies."
Sarandos said that Lurmann's "The Get Down" was not a "runaway budget," and that Netflix knew from the get-go that it was going to be expensive, but spectacular.
Netflix is releasing 600 hours of content in 2016, and not all of it is high-budget extravaganza. But Sarandos' comments highlight how necessary a few can't-miss hits are to stop people from canceling.
In its last quarterly earnings, Netflix put out disappointing subscriber growth numbers in the US due to higher-than-expected cancellations. Netflix blamed it on media chatter surrounding its price hike, but having shows that everyone is talking about is one way to make sure people keep paying, even if the subscription is two more dollars per month.
NOW WATCH: How different camera lenses affect how you appear in photos
More From Business Insider
Rome (AFP) - The head of Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) said Wednesday the country did not need foreign troops on the ground in the fight against the Islamic State group.
"We do not need foreign troops on Libyan soil," Fayez al-Sarraj said in an interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera daily.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that American special operations troops have for the first time started directly supporting Libyan forces battling the Islamic State (IS) group in their key stronghold of Sirte.
"Our men can manage alone once they have cover from the air. I only asked for US air strikes which must be very precise and limited in time and geographical scope, always carried out in coordination with us," he said.
Pro-GNA forces have been engaged in a military operation since May 12 to retake the coastal city located 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli. Sirte has been a stronghold of the jihadist group since June last year.
The United States has since last Monday been carrying out air raids on IS positions in the city at the GNA's request.
According to the Post, the US forces are operating alongside British troops, and are helping to coordinate American air strikes and providing intelligence to partner forces.
Sarraj warned IS "will use any means possible to send its militants to Italy and Europe" and said he "would not be at all surprised to discover that its men hide out on boats" of migrants headed for the Italian coast.
Rome has authorised the US to use its bases and air space for strikes in Libya against IS. The head of the GNA said he "may go to Russia soon", adding that his government had "good relations" with Moscow, but without providing further details on the possible trip.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2016 / Noram Ventures Inc. (TSX-Venture: NRM and Frankfurt: N7R) ("Noram" or the "Company") is pleased to report it has provided US$25,000 to support BEGO Advanced Materials Inc. ("BEGO") in its program with Colorado State University Foundation to advance the development of BEGO's new graphene production process (the "Process") using graphite from Noram's Jumbo Property in British Columbia.
The Process is the first known "bio-electro-chemical process" to produce graphene oxide and graphene. The Process relies upon naturally occurring microbes that act as catalysts and facilitators to exfoliate graphite into graphene oxide ("GO") and potentially graphene ("G"). The Process is an environmentally-friendly, green process that operates at ambient temperature and pressure, and does not use hazardous acids, bases, oxidants or reductants as compared to other graphene production methods. BEGO's goal is to make its Process one of the most cost effective ways to produce GO and G.
The agreement with BEGO provides that should Noram's Jumbo graphite prove to be a viable source material for producing graphene using the Process, then BEGO will grant Noram the exclusive rights to provide graphite material for any future commercial applications of the BEGO Process.
Michael Collins, P.Geo., and independent Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release on behalf of the Company.
"We are very pleased to be working with BEGO on this exciting project as it may fast track our ability to monetize the Jumbo graphite property. Graphene based materials have been shown to boost the energy density and recharge time of lithium-ion batteries, which makes our involvement in a project like BEGO synergistic with our lithium project in Nevada's Clayton Valley," said Noram's President, Mark Ireton.
About Graphene:
Graphene is a new material group that was first identified and named as such in 2004 by scientists at the University of Manchester, now known as The Home of Graphene. According to Dr. Aravind Vijayaraghavan, Lecturer in Nanomaterials, School of Materials and National Graphene Institute, who leads graphene research at the University of Manchester, "It's the strongest material in the world, it's the thinnest material it's bendable, stretchable, transparent, super light. The best conductor of heat, the best conductor of electricity..."
Story continues
About BEGO Advanced Materials Inc.:
BEGO is a private British Columbia company whose founders have developed a new proprietary process to produce Graphene Oxide (GO) and Graphene (G) from Graphite. The Process is the only known "bio-electro-chemical" process, which promises to scale well commercially and do so as a green and sustainable technology. BEGO's goal is to become a supplier of GO and G materials to application developers, including lithium-ion battery OEM's as BEGO believes GO and G could play a major part in the next generation lithium-ion batteries that will make electric vehicles more efficient by significantly improving the key performance parameters of lithium-ion batteries.
About Noram Ventures Inc.:
Noram Ventures Inc. (TSX-V: NRM and Frankfurt: N7R) is a Canadian based junior exploration company, with a goal of becoming a force in the Green Energy Revolution through the development of lithium and graphite deposits and becoming a low-cost supplier for the burgeoning lithium battery industry. The Company's primary business focus since formation has been the exploration of mineral projects that include the lithium projects in Clayton Valley in Nevada and the Jumbo graphite property in British Columbia. Noram's long term strategy is to build a multi-national lithium-graphite dominant industrial minerals company to produce and sell lithium and graphite into the markets of Europe, North America and Asia. Please visit our web site for further information: www.noramventures.com
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
/s/ "Mark R. Ireton"
President & Director
Direct: (604) 761-9994
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking information which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward-looking information in this news release includes statements regarding, among other things, the completion transactions completed in the Agreement. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, regulatory approval processes. Although Noram believes that the assumptions used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, including that all necessary regulatory approvals will be obtained in a timely manner, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Noram disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.
SOURCE: Noram Ventures Inc.
An aedes aegypti mosquitoes is seen in The Gorgas Memorial institute for Health Studies laboratory as they conduct a research on preventing the spread of the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases in Panama City February 4, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso
Florida Governor Rick Scott said Tuesday that the state is looking at what's now 21 cases of mosquito-transmitted Zika, that all appear connected to one neighborhood in Miami.
These are the first reported cases of mosquito-transmitted Zika in the continental US, though the outbreak has affected other US territories including Puerto Rico.
"Every day that passes that Congress and the president fail to come to an agreement hinders our national response to Zika," Scott said in a statement. "This is not only an issue affecting us here in Florida this is a national issue. Florida is just at the head of it with the first cases of local transmission of Zika."
The infections appear to have happened all in one neighborhood, called Wynwood, in Miami. In earlier statements, Scott specified that the location as bound by "NW 5th Avenue to the west, US 1 to the east, NW/NE 38th Street to the north and NW/NE 20th Street to the south."
Screen Shot 2016 07 29 at 4.20.18 PM
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised against pregnant women traveling to the area, and people living in the area should take steps to prevent mosquito bites. The CDC also said women in first and second trimesters of pregnancy who live or travel frequently to Wynwood should consider being tested for Zika.
Zika, which is transmitted mainly by mosquitoes, has been spreading around the Americas over the past year. The cases in Miami are the first time local transmission by mosquitoes has been reported in the continental US. Only about 20% of people who are infected with Zika ever show symptoms, which most commonly include fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes.
Here are all 54 countries and territories where local transmission of Zika has been reported as of August 3, not including Miami:
BI Graphic_Zika Virus Map And List (5)
NOW WATCH: Humans are finally starting to understand the octopus, and its mind-boggling
More From Business Insider
President Barack Obama is a bit of a night owl, known to spend the wee hours in the White House Treaty Room reading briefings, working on speeches, watching ESPN and eating almonds. And, according to the White House, Obama reads 10 letters sent to him by U.S. citizens every night.
It has been a part of his daily routine since taking office in 2009, White House chief digital officer Jason Goldman writes in a post for Medium.com. These 10 letters a day or 10 LADs, as theyre known to staff do more to keep the president in touch with whats happening around the country than just about anything else.
Until now, Goldman says, most of the letters chosen by the staff have been handwritten letters or emails sent through WhiteHouse.gov. But now those looking to send a note to Obama can reach him the same way your relatives reach you: by messaging him on Facebook.
The White Houses Messenger bot, Goldman boasts, will make it as easy as messaging your closest friends.
Well, not exactly. According to the administration, the White House receives tens of thousands of letters, faxes and emails each day.
But if yours is chosen, it will be read.
On June 13, for example, Obama read a letter from a Connecticut middle school teacher who reportedly asked him, How can we allow private citizens to buy automatic weapons? They are weapons of war.
And earlier this month, Obama shared a letter he received from Sherman Chester, a Florida man whose life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense was commuted by the president in December.
I hope youll take a minute to read and share Shermans letter, Obama wrote on Facebook. The more we understand the human stories behind this problem, the sooner we can start making real changes that keep our streets safe, break the cycle of incarceration in this country, and save taxpayers like you money.
The Facebook messaging initiative is part of the Obama administrations push to keep pace with the worlds rapidly changing technology. In recent years, the White House has created official Twitter and Facebook profiles for the president, and Obama has participated in online town halls and Reddit AMAs. (In June, first lady Michelle Obama joined Snapchat.)
Even the president himself has begun to fully embrace the technological revolution: After using a BlackBerry for most of his two terms on the Oval Office, Obama told Jimmy Fallon that he recently switched to a smartphone though its not exactly smart.
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f17204%2fscreen_shot_2016-08-10_at_6.32.05_pm
Jackie Chan and fight scenes are made for each other like chocolate and cake, but an action sequence on top of the Sydney Opera House looks pretty dangerous. And impressive.
The 62-year-old (!) is in Sydney, Australia to film scenes from his upcoming movie Bleeding Steel, while also involving himself in some speaking engagements.
SEE ALSO: What if 'Wonder Woman' is terrible, too? Because that seems likely now.
Chan was on top of the iconic, jaunty building on Wednesday afternoon, fighting the advance of a woman dressed in all black. It was cool.
The martial arts super star has a long history with Australia his family moving to the country's capital city Canberra when he was six years old. He stayed in Hong Kong to study drama, but has travelled regularly to Australia where his family remained, according to Fairfax Media.
Originally known as Chan Kong Sang, his western name Jackie originated from Canberra labourers in the '70s, according to the BBC. Chan worked alongside them, but they gave him the anglicised name "Jack." This eventually became Jackie, and the rest is history, as they say.
Following the death of his father in 2008, Chan paid tribute to his parents when he opened up the Jackie Chan Science Centre at the Australian National University in Canberra. Chan made significant donations to university's cancer research, leading to the building being named in his honour.
"Canberra took care of my parents for 46 years," Chan said at the time, according to ABC News. "It's about time I do something for Canberra."
Despite the connection between Chan and Australia, the last film he shot in the country was 1997's Mr. Nice Guy, which was filmed in the city of Melbourne.
As Q2 earnings season draws to a close, the overall picture is becoming clearer. We note a sequential improvement in the quarter despite of a negative year-over-year growth in both earnings and revenues.
So far, 414 S&P 500 members, which account for 85.2% of the indexs total market capitalization, have reported their results. Total earnings for these companies are down 4.5% year over year due 1% decline in revenues. While 70.3% of these companies beat earnings per share (EPS) estimates, 55.6% surpassed top-line expectations (as of Aug 4).
Per the Earnings Trends report, the general outlook for the energy sector remains bearish as the sector has registered a massive 76.9% decrease in earnings due to a 24.4% plunge in revenues, both on year-over-year basis. Excluding the impact of the energy sector, the S&P 500 index would witness earnings decline of 0.7% as revenues inch up 2.3%.
With the remaining companies slated to report their results soon, lets have a look at how some of these energy companies might fare this quarter.
Crescent Point Energy Corp. CPG is slated to release Q2 results on Aug 10. Our proven model does not conclusively show that Crescent Point is likely to beat on earnings this quarter. This is because the company has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) but an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. Both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are pegged at a loss of 11 cents. Though stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 have a higher chance on beating on earnings, a 0.00% Earnings ESP makes surprise prediction difficult.
CRESCENT PT EGY Price and EPS Surprise
CRESCENT PT EGY Price and EPS Surprise | CRESCENT PT EGY Quote
Africa Oil Corp AOIFF is expected to release Q2 results on Aug 10. The company has a Zacks Rank #3 but an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. Despite the companys favorable Zacks Rank, our surprise prediction is complicated by its 0.00% Earnings ESP.
AFRICA OIL CORP Price and EPS Surprise
AFRICA OIL CORP Price and EPS Surprise | AFRICA OIL CORP Quote
Story continues
Ultra Petroleum Corp UPLMQ is set to release Q2 results on Aug 10. The company has a Zacks Rank #2 but an Earnings ESP of 0.00%, which makes surprise prediction inconclusive.
ULTRA PETRO CP Price and EPS Surprise
ULTRA PETRO CP Price and EPS Surprise | ULTRA PETRO CP Quote
Ithaca Energy Inc IACAF is expected to release Q2 results on Aug 10. Our proven model does not conclusively show that Intercontinental Exchange is likely to beat on earnings this quarter. This is because the company has a Zacks Rank #3 but an Earnings ESP of 0.00% as both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate stand at a loss of 19 cents.
ITHACA ENERGY Price and EPS Surprise
ITHACA ENERGY Price and EPS Surprise | ITHACA ENERGY Quote
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
CRESCENT PT EGY (CPG): Free Stock Analysis Report
AFRICA OIL CORP (AOIFF): Free Stock Analysis Report
ULTRA PETRO CP (UPLMQ): Free Stock Analysis Report
ITHACA ENERGY (IACAF): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
Brazil is not only the home of the Rio Summer Olympic Games, but it is also a top destination for plastic surgery medical tourism. (Photo: Trunk Archive)
Rio: Its the place to watch the best athletes kick serious butt this month and its also the most popular place in the world to get a new butt of your own.
Brazil currently follows the United States as the second most-popular hot spot for cosmetic surgery and is a top booked destination for plastic surgery medical tourism this year a term used to describe travel outside of a home country to undergo medical procedures.
Why schlep for surgery? People are primarily drawn to the lower price tag. The Brazilian Butt Lift, a popular procedure that liposuctions fat from one area of your body to then augment your bum, costs about $14,000 at a private clinic in the U.S., as compared with $4,000 in Brazil, according to Medigo, a Berlin-based medical tourism agency.
Americans make up the largest percentage (20 percent) of patients traveling to Brazil for plastic surgery according to Medigos records, followed by the French (18 percent) and British (6 percent). The most popular procedures for these patients include butt augmentation, liposuction, tummy tuck, breast implants, and face-lift.
The land of legendary beaches is more culturally open to going under the knife than virtually any other place. Celebrities and those with means tend to nip and tuck in the U.S., but cosmetic surgery is more democratic in Brazil, where its essentially available to every income level of the population and where people feel freer to discuss and undergo procedures, says Renato Saltz, MD, a native of Brazil who is contributing plastic surgeon at RealSelf.com, as well as the president-elect of Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.
However, this isnt drive-through surgery; medical tourism agencies we consulted say that Brazilian butt lifts and other common plastic surgeries are typically booked about three months in advance for optimal availability. Any clinic purporting to be a walk-in option is a blaring red flag for a seedy place good surgeons are in demand and are typically booked out a couple of months at least, says Medigo.
Story continues
Theres no shortage of savvy surgeons though. Brazil has the highest per capita number of practicing cosmetic surgeons in the world; according to the Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery, more than 5,200 are qualified with the appropriate credentials, says Wendy Lewis, a longtime cosmetic surgery consultant and editor-in-chief of Beauty in the Bag. Brazil has a wealth of world-class plastic surgeons and dermatologists, and well-established clinics and hospitals, most notably in Sao Paulo, she says.
And in the past few years, the Brazilian love for a plump rump has gone international. Culturally, Brazilian women have always tended toward smaller breasts and an ample bottom as the ideal. Meanwhile, in the United States, the opposite aesthetic of big breasts and a small butt have always been the desired look but thats changing. Even in conservative areas like my practices in Utah, I see a lot of patients coming in not for large breasts now but for fat injections to their buttocks, says Saltz, whose patients often view his Brazilian heritage as a plus in that department.
Blame the ample bottom obsession on Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian, says Saltz. He credits these American celebs and not Brazilian culture with making big booties a desirable trait around the world. It also has a lot to do with Internet and globalization everybodys now sharing their bodies through selfies, and it [big butts] has become a global look that has grown exponentially, says Saltz.
If cheap plastic surgery sounds too good to be true, thats because it often can be. Medical tourism nightmares have sickened, disfigured, and even killed patients in South America, where regulations are often nonexistent, and waiver forms can bring a whole new meaning to the phrase proceed at your own risk.
Evita Sarmonikas, a 29-year-old Australian woman who traveled to Mexico to get butt implants, died soon after the procedure from complications related to internal bleeding. And after four patients (including a 35-year-old Hawaiian woman) died after receiving liposuction at a Dominican Republic clinic and 19 women were sickened by infections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a travel warning against medical tourism in the Dominican Republic.
Even celebrities arent immune to the dangers of medical tourism. Ushers ex-wife Tameka Foster (who was 38 years old at the time) suffered cardiac arrest while getting anesthetized for postbaby liposuction in Brazil and was put into a medically induced coma to survive. Doctors say the biggest surgical risk is actually the anesthesia, and there has been no shortage of malpractice cases that have resulted from botched jobs like this one.
Doctors in New York, Florida, Texas, and California have seen some of the worst complication cases of off-shore surgery, often taking place in Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Ecuador, says Lewis. The reasons are various, including unskilled surgeons, major infections due to poor hygiene standards, and complications related to traveling and exertion too soon after surgery.
Patients who have had vacation surgery go wrong and who are seeking help are not an unusual occurrence in Norman M. Rowes New York City office. Most times, treating them is a guessing game and doctors are not fans of playing that type of game. If the patient manages to get any records, there is often very little information presented, says Rowe, who adds that what meager details can be turned up usually have to be translated first.
There is also the regular risk of complications following any surgery no matter how responsibly done that has to be considered. As a surgeon we want to see our patients during the postoperative period, says Rowe. Plastic surgeries entail follow-up visits to the doctor to make sure everything is healing correctly. Speaking with a surgeon on the phone or via Skype is not the same thing as seeing the surgeon who operated on you face to face, adds Rowe.
If saving cash is your primary motivation, Lewis says that trekking across the globe is rarely worthwhile once you factor in all the extra costs. While the most expensive markets are the New York City and Los Angeles areas, another option to consider is exploring possibilities within the U.S. If youre on a budget, you may find youre better off traveling to the Midwest or Southeast, where you can identify many experienced, board-certified plastic surgeons whose fees may be more affordable, she suggests.
Or perhaps you can settle on watching those Olympic athletes kick butt while learning to appreciate your own caboose whatever its size or shape may be.
Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
This post has been updated.
On August 8, 2008, shortly after the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Summer Olympics, Russia and Georgia kicked off a five-day war. More than five years later, following the conclusion of the Sochi Winter Olympics and ouster of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in late February 2014, soldiers without insignia later confirmed to be Russian special forces appeared in Crimea, sparking a chain of events that ended with Moscow annexing the peninsula from Ukraine less than a month later.
Now, with the Rio Summer Games in full swing, tensions on Russias periphery are once again rising this time with Kiev, along Crimeas de-facto border with Ukraine.
The FSB, Russias state security service, said on Wednesday it had foiled two attempted incursions by Ukrainian special forces to launch attacks in Crimea on critical infrastructure over the weekend and on Monday. The FSB said one of its officers had been killed during a shootout on Saturday night, when a group of armed combatants were allegedly found just across the Crimean border with mainland Ukraine. A Russian soldier was also killed on Monday, according to the FSB, after coming under heavy fire from the Ukrainian side.
Ukrainian officials have flatly denied the accusations by the Russian security agency, dismissing the claims as fake, adding that the assertions from Moscow could be used as a pretext for further offensive operations. Over the weekend, reports circulated that Russia was moving military equipment and personnel to Crimeas northern border with Ukraine.
Putin wants more war. Russia escalates, desperately looks for casus belli against Ukraine, tests Wests reaction, Dmytro Kuleba, a spokesman for Ukraines foreign ministry, wrote on Twitter.
The alleged raid, and the denials from Kiev, drew the Kremlins ire, with Russian President Vladimir Putin telling reporters on Wednesday that Ukraines actions were stupid and criminal and Russia would take further security measures in Crimea.
Story continues
Instead of trying to find peaceful solutions, Ukraine has resorted to the practice of terror, said Putin.
The Russian president also added that given the raid it made no sense to hold planned talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at the G20 summit in China next month to discuss the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
In a stern reply to Putins comments, Poroshenko said in a statement on Wednesday that Ukraine strongly condemns terrorism and called on the Russian side to uphold its obligations under international law.
Russian accusations that Ukraine launched terror attacks in the occupied Crimea are equally cynical and insane as its claims there is no Russian troops in eastern Ukraine, said Poroshenko, referring to the area of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Volodymyr Yelchenko, Ukraines ambassador to the United Nations, drew parallels between the current situation in Crimea and the outbreak of the Russo-Georgian War in 2008, which also coincided with the Summer Olympics and a U.S. election.
This scenario looks very similar and very familiar, said Yelchenko. Thats why we stand ready for further provocative developments.
The war in Georgia began after an escalation of clashes between pro-Russian separatists and Georgian forces, who tried to seize back South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Georgia. But Russian troops quickly retook the area and pushed deeper into Georgian territory, stopping short of Tbilisi, the capital.
Throughout the more than two year-old war in Ukraine, Crimea has remained relatively unaffected by the still on-going conflict in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian and Ukrainian government forces. But this weekends military buildup and the alleged raid have inflamed already strained relations between Moscow and Kiev.
In its statement, the FSB said it also broke up and detained agents and accomplices working for Ukrainian military intelligence in Crimea. The only name released by the agency was Evgeny Panov, a Ukrainian citizen whom the security service described as a Ukrainian military intelligence officer. The FSB said he had made a confession, but gave no further information.
The agency said Ukraines aim with the incursion was the destabilization of the socio-political situation in the region during preparation for elections. Russia will hold parliamentary elections on September 18, with Crimea participating for the first time since it was annexed in 2014. Meanwhile, Kiev is preparing to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Ukrainian independence on August 24, with officials having suggested that the Kremlin may aim to spoil the commemoration.
The renewed hostilities in Crimea come as violence has surged during the summer months in eastern Ukraine despite a nominal ceasefire. More than 9,000 have died since the war began in April 2014, with more than 600 Ukrainian soldiers killed in fighting so far this year. According to recently released figures by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, civilian casualties have spiked to a level not seen since August 2015, prior to the implementation of the most recent ceasefire.
FPs Colum Lynch contributed reporting to this article.
Photo credit: SEAN GALLUP/Getty Images
By Caroline Stauffer RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Phillip Dutton's individual eventing bronze medal was not his first time on an Olympic podium, but it was his first medal for the United States. Dutton, 52, a six-time Olympian, twice took team gold representing Australia before he became a U.S. citizen in 2006 and began competing for the country he has lived in since 1991. "In Australia people learn to ride not quite so much in an orchestrated way... they learn to ride on their own a bit more," said Dutton, who grew up riding on his parents' sheep and wheat farm. "In America it's a bit more managed," he told Reuters. "The U.S. has had some great riders as well traditionally, hopefully there will be more medals ahead." Eventing, one of three Olympic equestrian competitions, requires galloping over giant obstacles in an open cross country field and also completing a dressage test and stadium jumping. Dutton needed to turn to sheer grit as well as skill to get through Monday's tough cross country course when he lost a stirrup but still managed to clear a difficult combination with the horse Mighty Nice. The 2004 Irish Sport Horse had a personal best in dressage, and was in fourth place with Dutton, who is based in Pennsylvania, going into Tuesday's final show jumping round. "I had a rail down and was thinking hopefully I'd stay in fourth, then the guy in front of me had two rails down," said Dutton, who was seen hugging Mighty Nice after the competition. Of four Americans, only Dutton and Boyd Martin, who was also born in Australia, finished cross country. That put team USA out of medal contention. The team event was won by France, with Germany second, whose team member Michael Jung nabbed his second consecutive individual gold with the horse Sam. Dutton's former team, Australia came third. Turning 53 next month, Dutton is older than most Olympic athletes, but in equestrian, where men and women of a wide age range compete together, he was not the most senior on the field. New Zealand's Mark Todd competed in his seventh Olympics at 60. "I try to watch what I eat, depending on what the day is like I do some other sports," Dutton said of his fitness regime. "He (Mighty Nice) may have another Olympics," he added. Dutton previously visited Brazil in 2007 for the Pan American Games, also held in Rio's Deodoro area. "The Brazilian people have tried really hard. It's not easy for them, a lot of other things need money to be spent on as well, but I can't be more pleased with how welcoming they have been," he said. (Reporting by Caroline Stauffer, editing by Susanna Twidale)
(Adds background, quotes, women's results) By Chris Gallagher RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Russia climbed to the top of the judo medal table on Tuesday as Khasan Khalmurzaev earned his country's second judo gold of the Rio Games in emphatic fashion, thrilling the crowd at the Carioca Arena. Ending his campaign with a bang, the European champion won his final two matches by ippon, judo's equivalent of a knockout, over Sergiu Toma of the United Arab Emirates in the semi-final and then American Travis Stevens in the final of the men's -81kg category. Russia had also won bronze in judo on Sunday, extending its strong run in the sport after claiming five medals total at the Olympics four years ago, including a London-best three gold. Khalmurzaev had praise for Stevens and how he pushed him to victory. "I know this opponent and I know he is strong, so I did all I could do to win this gold medal," he said. Khalmurzaev's triumph ended Stevens' dream of becoming the first man from the United States to win gold in judo. Despite settling for silver, it was third time lucky for Stevens after he had come home without a medal from the Beijing and London Olympics. Takanori Nagase won Japan's sixth judo bronze medal so far in Rio, though his country remains stuck on one gold - a figure that the traditional judo power surely wants to boost. Toma won the other bronze. In the women's -63kg category, Slovenia's Tina Trstenjak defeated Clarisse Agbegnenou of France to become her country's second Olympic judo champion. After breaking Brazilian fans' hearts by topping Mariana Silva in the semi-finals, top seed Trstenjak handily beat Agbegnenou by ippon less than two minutes into the final. Israel's Yarden Gerbi and Anicka van Emden of the Netherlands won bronze. Agbegnenou's silver snapped a medal drought for France, seen as a top contender in Rio but which had come up short in the first three days of judo action. "This medal does not have the right colour, but it is still beautiful," Agbegnenou said. "I wanted to open the (French judo) medal count with a nice gold medal but the silver medal is not bad either." France is one of just three countries fielding a full team of 14 judokas in Rio and was hoping for a repeat of its strong performance in London four years ago, when it claimed seven medals - tied for the most with Japan. (Reporting by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Alison Williams and Meredith Mazzilli)
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Olympic champion Nathan Adrian of the United States powered through to the men's 100m freestyle final with the fastest time of 47.83 seconds on Tuesday after only just making it out of the heats. Adrian came through in an outside lane to pip Australian Cameron McEvoy, who swum 47.93 and American Caeleb Dressel in 47.97. "People that are just stoked on USA -- it makes me so proud," said Adrian, who added the outpouring of support felt "a little bit like" the U.S. was the home team. In a tight second semi-final, Kyle Chalmers of Australia touched first in 47.88, ahead of Santo Condorelli of Canada who had the same time as McEvoy. World champion Ning Zetao of China failed to qualify for the final. There were huge cheers from the home crowd in Rio when the scoreboard showed that Brazilian Marcelo Chierighini had taken the last spot for Wednesday's final in eighth place. (Reporting by Mark Trevelyan/Alan Baldwin; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)
By Mark Trevelyan RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Michael Phelps claimed his second gold medal in one night and the 21st of his career as the United States won the men's 4x200 metres Olympic freestyle relay on Tuesday. The most successful Olympian of all time swam the final leg to extend his career tally to a total of 25 medals, also including two silver and two bronze. Earlier he had won gold number 20 with victory in the 200m butterfly. It was the fourth successive U.S. Olympic victory in the event. The Americans led throughout, with Conor Dwyer handing over to Townley Haas and Ryan Lochte. There was a huge roar from the Rio crowd when Phelps sprang from the block with a lead of 1.76 seconds over Japan, and 2.88 seconds over Britain. The Americans touched home in 7 minutes 00.66 seconds. For Britain, who had qualified first for the final, James Guy overhauled Takeshi Matsuda on the final leg to take the silver in 7:03.13, with Japan clocking 7:03.50. It was Britain's first medal in this event since they won a bronze in 1984, and made up for Guy's disappointment in failing to pick up a medal in the 200m and 400m freestyle. But the night belonged to the Americans and Phelps, who after four days of competition in Rio has won three gold medals at his fifth Olympic Games. (Reporting by Mark Trevelyan. Editing by Patrick Johnston)
Osman Ali does however hope for a change in future FFM events.
10 Aug Celebrated local filmmaker, Osman Ali says that he wishes not to be involved in the current Malaysia Film Festival (FFM) segregation fiasco.
However the director has said that he will continue to make more Malay films.
"I understand that both sides of the FFM issue have their own principles they believe in, but what is important is to champion Malay films," he was quoted as saying to Sinar Harian.
Added the "Langit Cinta" director, the local film industry is seen to be heading towards making more films that showcases the nation's diversity.
Osman said that he has been a loyal fan of FFM a long time now, but that is slowly fading as there seems to be controversies and issues surrounding it every year.
Following that, Osman hopes that a change will be seen in future FFM editions.
In fact, he also suggested to have two different festivals where one would be for Malay films only, while the other will be more 'global' by including both Bahasa Malaysia and non-Bahasa Malaysia films.
"For the latter festival, we can also invite other Southeast Asian films to compete in a special category."
FFM 28 will take place this 3 September at the Plenary Hall, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC).
(Photo Source: mStar)
T. Rowe Price Global Technology (PRGTX) a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) invests the majority of its net assets throughout the world in the common stocks of companies that generate a majority of their revenues from the development, advancement, and use of technology.
This Sector - Tech fund, as of the last filing, allocates their fund in three major groups; Large Growth, High Yield Bond and Small Growth. Further, as of the last filing, AMAZON.COM INC, WORKDAY INC and NXP SEMICONDUCTORS NV were the top holdings for PRGTX.
The T. Rowe Price Global Technology fund, managed by T. Rowe Price carries an expense ratio of 0.91%. Moreover, PRGTX requires a minimal initial investment of $2,500.
PRGTX has a history of positive total returns for over 10 years. Specifically, the funds returns over the 1, 3, 5 year benchmarks; 1 year 9.74%, 3 year 24.27% and 5 year 17.42%. To see how this fund performed compared in its category and other #1 and #2 Ranked Mutual Funds, please click here.
PRGTXs performance, as of the last filing, when compared to funds in its category was in the top 5% in 1 year, top 1% over the past 3 years, and in the 1% over the past 5 years.
Want key mutual fund info delivered straight to your inbox?
Zacks free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing mutual funds, each week. Get it free >>
View All Zacks #1 Ranked Mutual Funds
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Get Your Free (PRGTX): Fund Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
Ozzy Osbourne is being sued by his former songwriting partner and bassist Bob Daisley over unpaid royalties related to the Prince of Darkness' hit "Crazy Train."
Daisley has filed a suit against Osbourne and his company Blizzard Music Limited seeking $2 million he claims is due to him. But Osbourne's camp denies any wrongdoing and says the Australian musician's legal action is "tantamount to harassment," citing previous lawsuits he has all lost to Osbourne.
Ozzy Osbourne Enters 'Intense Therapy' For Sex Addiction, Marriage With Sharon Back on Track
As NME reports, Daisley's suit claims that "although royalties have been paid to Daisley over the years, an audit conducted in 2014 showed that Osbourne and his company had been improperly deducting undisclosed fees before distributing royalties to Daisley and improperly withholding Daisley's rightful share of royalties owed under the publishing agreements for the commercial exploitations of the songs."
"While Mr. Osbourne was benefiting from the songs co-authored by our client, the audit shows that he was systematically short-changing Mr. Daisley," Daisley's lawyer Alan Howard told NME. "Mr. Daisley had no choice but to bring this action to secure his fair share of the proceeds those songs have generated."
Ozzy Osbourne, Tour Guide? The Metal God (and Travel Show Star) Weighs In on His Global Must-Sees -- From the Alamo to Stonehenge
In a statement, Osbourne reps responded, saying, "For the past 36 years Mr. Daisley has been receiving bi-annual royalty statements and checks from Blizzard Music, totaling in the millions of dollars, which have been routinely cashed. Mr. Daisley has audited Blizzard Music accounts over the years using several different auditing firms who found no discrepancies. He has previously filed lawsuits in the UK and the US and has lost on each occasion.
"We understand that Mr. Daisley is now in retirement and that these funds are his main source of income, so it is his right to be diligent with his money, but after 36 years, this is tantamount to harassment. We would have hoped that after 36 years that Mr. Daisley would have lost his unhealthy personal obsession and resentment towards Mr. Osbourne's success. Blizzard Music and Mr. Osbourne plan to vigorously defend these proceedings."
Daisley co-wrote on a majority of the songs on Osbourne's debut 1980 solo album, Blizzard of Ozz (including "Crazy Train"), as well as Osbourne's following studio albums through the 1980s: Diary of a Madman, Bark at the Moon, The Ultimate Sin and No Rest for the Wicked. He also played bass on a number of the albums.
Participants in the Mrs. International pageant must pledge to be against same-sex marriage. (GIF: Getty Images/Yahoo Beauty)
Mrs. International is a beauty pageant based in Jacksonville, Fla., that celebrates the accomplishments of married women but only those who are married to men, note the rules. Contestants must also pledge to defend marriage as something reserved solely for a man and a woman, according to some who were blindsided by the requirement at the July 23 pageant.
I felt super-uncomfortable, one contestant, who requested anonymity, tells Yahoo Beauty about the document that was presented to be signed by all Mrs. International participants at the pageant orientation. The contract said, among other things (such as confirming that theres been no past history of posing nude and that there will be no gossiping), that should a participant win, she must agree to stand up against the idea of gay marriage.
Ive signed many different contracts for pageants, but have never heard of anything like this, defending a political position, the contestant notes. Its just bizarre. Pageantry is usually very gay friendly. If the Supreme Court says its OK, then who am I? I dont think Id ever participate [in this pageant] again.
A photo posted by Mrs.,Miss & Teen International (@intlpageants) on Jul 23, 2016 at 7:15pm PDT
Its true that pageants have generally been evolving when it comes to LGBT stances an openly gay woman will compete in the Miss America contest for the first time in history in September, and others have recently made history at state levels. And when Miss California 2009 Carrie Prejean famously noted, while competing at the Miss America pageant, that she believed marriage should be between a man and a woman, she was widely criticized; some even believed that her answer cost her the crown.
That would certainly not be the case at Mrs. International, where some participants discomfort with the required contract was exacerbated as they were apparently told about it while sitting and facing the pageant sponsors including two companies owned by gay couples. It was a very uncomfortable position to be in, admits the competitor. She says she did go through with signing the pledge, however, as dropping out at that point after having spent roughly $20,000 on training, travel, and hair and makeup just to get there would have been a bitter disappointment.
Story continues
Many others there faced the same dilemma, another source with knowledge of this pageant and the standard practices of other pageants tells Yahoo Beauty, also under the condition of anonymity.
Mrs. International 2016, Priscilla Pruitt, was crowned by her husband, Sean, and Mrs. International 2015, Farabe Algor. (Photo: PRNewsFoto/International Pageants, Inc.)
I am aware that contestants and state directors are complaining privately to each other and to trusted pageant friends, she says. What most of the contestants find particularly distressing is the fact that they were in a closed-door meeting with all the other contestants when they were asked to sign the document, and they had received no advance notice. So there they were at the pageant, having spent all that time and money to get there being told they had to sign the document right then in order to continue on. Adds the source: To my knowledge, this is the first time in pageant history that a pageant has required contestants to sign such a document.
The directors of the International Pageants which include the Mrs. as well as Miss and Miss Teen contests are husband-and-wife team Mary and Melvin Richardson of Virginia. Mary replied to an email seeking comment from Yahoo Beauty, saying only that she was out of the country. But Suzanne Huddleston, who works at the organization, does confirm for Yahoo Beauty that participants signed the document regarding marriage. Yes, they did, she says. Its not new. And its not the only thing in there. Its a two-page document.
Contestants say they were not given a copy of the document to keep after they signed it. And while there is no copy of it on the pageants website, and no apparent mention of the stance against same-sex marriage, the online rules and regulations section states that each contestant must be a naturally born female, married to a naturally born male.
Other contestants did not respond to requests for comment. But Drew Dunn, co-owner with his husband Thomas of Thomas Dunn Studios, a Mrs. International sponsor, tells Yahoo Beauty that he is aware of the anti-gay-marriage contract but not bothered by it. We are personal friends with [the directors] and go to their house for Christmas. Weve never felt any discrimination, and what they choose to put in their contract is OK with me, Dunn says. What they exude as people speaks higher than whats on a piece of paper. People have their own beliefs.
Drew adds that he and Thomas are very open about their marriage at the pageant and are about to become new fathers. Our friendship goes further than signing a contract, he says of the Richardsons. Another gay-owned sponsor did not respond to Yahoo Beautys requests for comment.
Still, others with extensive pageant-world knowledge say the requirement is beyond the pale. Its weird its really out there, Shanna Moakler, executive director of Miss Nevada and a former Miss USA who was a vocal critic of Prejean in 2009, tells Yahoo Beauty. While pageant contracts do typically include a morality clause, she says, they usually address issues like pledging not be appear intoxicated in public.
Pageantry is something I celebrate and support and the role of these winners is to be an ambassador for everybody, whatever race, color or creed, and a role model, says Moakler. So to have contestants sign a document like that is kind of against everything pageantry, in my eyes, stands for. Further, Moakler says, pageantry isnt just about holding a title, its also about helping women grow as people. Id want the women to be who they really are as people. To force them to make such a polarizing statement takes away from their year and puts them in a dangerous spot in the community.
Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
pain doctor pain treatment pills
Over the past decade, the US has undergone an opioid epidemic.
Prescriptions for opioid painkillers like oxycodone, hydrocodone, fentanyl, and morphine have skyrocketed and, with them, the number of overdoses related to opioids.
The trend has been decades in the making.
Increases in painkiller prescriptions are linked to a "big push" in the early 1990s from medical groups encouraging doctors to treat pain more aggressively, according to Dr. Ted Cicero, a professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis and an opiate-use researcher.
Though the increased focus on pain treatment resulted in increases in opioid prescriptions in most doctors initially, for years now, pain specialists have advocated using alternative treatments to alleviate their patients chronic pain.
Theres one problem: Health-insurance companies are increasingly cutting reimbursements for these alternative treatments or not covering them at all.
Steroid injections, joint injections, fluid injections, physical therapy, nerve blocks, and radio-frequency ablation are just a few of the treatments advocated by pain specialists in place of opioids. Such treatments are frequently called interventional pain treatments.
Every year, pain interventions go to the chopping block, and doctors have to figure out how to provide that treatment and make ends meet, Dr. Janet Pearl, the medical director of Massachusetts-based pain-management center Complete Pain Care and the secretary of the Massachusetts Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, told Business Insider.
A difficult choice for patients and doctors
pain doctor pain treatment
Story continues
The policies of insurance companies have forced doctors to increasingly offer pain patients a difficult choice, according to Dr. Shalini Shah, the director of pediatric-pain management at UC Irvine Health.
Pay for expensive alternative treatments out-of-pocket, use opioids and possibly suffer a myriad of side effects and risk opioid addiction, or choose to do nothing and live with debilitating pain.
Even if we want to climb a population out of the well of the opioid epidemic and give alternatives, we cant," Shah told Business Insider. "Patients cant afford the alternatives and insurance companies wont cover them."
In some cases, insurance companies have classified widely accepted procedures in recent years as experimental or investigational, therefore making them ineligible for reimbursement, despite decades of common use.
Pain physicians brought up one such procedure again and again in conversations with Business Insider: radio-frequency ablation. First used in 1931, the procedure entails a physician using electric currents to decrease pain signals from the specific nerve causing a patient pain.
While policies vary among insurance companies and even among different insurance plans at the same company doctors say they have increasingly found radio-frequency ablation on the chopping block, despite continued enthusiasm for the procedure.
Radio-frequency ablation has been well described in literature, scientifically studied extensively, and used to be covered, Shah said. Now insurance companies are saying ablation is experimental.
A 2016 United Healthcare policy called studies of radio-frequency ablation for conditions other than facet joint nerves limited, uncontrolled, and insufficient to support conclusions regarding efficacy or duration of effect.
There are currently five randomized trials using radio-frequency ablation for lower-back pain, the most common ailment treated by pain physicians. Three studies found positive results, one negative, and one ambiguous, leading an expert review in Medscape to conclude that the procedure is effective, given "careful patient selection."
"RFA [radio-frequency ablation] offers the most precise method currently available" for pain physicians to "control their patients' pain on a longer term basis," the review read.
The office building of health insurer Anthem is seen in Los Angeles, California February 5, 2015. REUTERS/Gus Ruelas/File Photo
United Healthcare; Anthem and various other Blue Cross Blue Shield-affiliated health-insurance companies; Aetna; and various Medicare-contracted payers have deemed the usage of radio-frequency ablation specifically for the sacroiliac joint which represents approximately 15% to 20% of all back pain, according to the Ainsworth Institute of Pain Management to be experimental or "investigational." This despite at least nine studies each showing significant levels of pain relief after using radio-frequency ablation for the sacroiliac joint.
This situation is not unusual, according to Pearl, who says that insurance companies have cut back on or cut completely previously accepted procedures under the rationale that doctors or researchers havent proven their efficacy.
'Draconian cuts'
The coverage issue hasnt gone unnoticed at a national level. In the January 2014 issue of Pain Physician, the official publication of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP), a cadre of pain specialists lamented the draconian cuts to numerous interventional pain treatments by commercial insurers and Medicare in a piece titled Declining Value of Work of Interventional Pain Physicians."
The article referred to reimbursement cuts ranging from 19% to 56% for various epidural injections by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Later that year, a similar group of pain specialists published an update to the cuts, noting that interventional pain physicians are struggling to keep their practices open and survive into the future because of increased regulations, expenses, and other issues.
All of the pain specialists Business Insider spoke to agreed that insurance companies have become increasingly restrictive in recent years, a situation that has made it difficult for them to provide the type of care and treatments they think is necessary for their patients.
I have to spend a lot of time figuring out what I can do for the patient rather than what I want to do for the patient and have the insurance pay for it, Dr. Houman Danesh, the director of Integrative Pain Management at Mount Sinai Hospital, told Business Insider.
Many pain specialists have begun offering their treatments at for-cash prices so that they can continue to treat their patients amid the restrictive insurance environment. While this may initially allow more people to receive these pain treatments, Danesh fears it may lead to a two-tiered healthcare system, where the affluent can afford alternative pain treatments, while the average person must either resort to low-cost generic medications like opioids or suffer the pain.
If patients are paying cash for more and more things, it becomes unaffordable for the average middle-class family, Shah said.
painkillers pain treatment
Shah was unequivocal when asked why she thinks non-opioid pain treatments have been restricted.
Simple. They cost more. It costs more for insurance companies for a physician to do a procedure on a patient or to do physical therapy. It is far cheaper for us to write a prescription for a 30-day supply of morphine. That's the only reason, Shah explained.
This reasoning is not unusual in healthcare, according to Dr. Stuart Schweitzer, a professor of Health Policy and Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Because insurers have a fiduciary responsibly to their millions of subscribers, insurers will frequently weigh a treatments cost into their coverage decisions, even if the treatments are medically efficacious, Schweitzer told Business Insider. Where that value-based decision-making runs into trouble is when insurers policies push patients toward dangerous or potentially addictive medications in lieu of equally effective medications that arent dangerous.
It would be scandalous if a patient had a dependency [on opioids] and the insurer told them they wouldnt pay for the counter treatment because it is cheaper for them for the patient to keep taking the dangerous drug, Schweitzer said.
And yet, that's exactly what many pain physicians contend is occurring.
If they don't allow us to treat pain effectively, then this is what you get. You go down to the lowest-cost option that is authorized, and it is painkillers, Shah said.
Part of the problem, says Dr. Neel Mehta, the medical director of pain management at New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medical College, is that in many cases, the pain cannot be completely eliminated, only managed. Alternative treatments advocated by most pain physicians are not typically one-and-done procedures, but instead may need to be done periodically to treat the pain.
Because of that, insurance companies may be making an unpopular but, in their minds, necessary judgment: If patients would have to undergo these treatments indefinitely, they may as well go on opioids, the lowest-cost option.
Opioids however, may only appear cost-effective in the short term.
That's the fallacy. If you look at the long-term cost of [opioids], plus monitoring, office visits and drug screenings its cheaper long-term to do the more advanced therapy, Dr. Timothy Deer, the cochair of West Virginias Expert Pain Management Panel, tasked with helping alleviate the opioid crisis in the state, told Business Insider.
Insurance companies do have an appeals process in place to ensure experimental treatments or denied treatments can be covered if certain conditions are met, according to Clare Krusing, spokeswoman for America's Health Insurance Plans, the health-insurance industrys trade group.
Shah said doctors appealing coverage decisions must fill out extensive paperwork, submit to "peer-to-peer" reviews with the medical director of the health plan and, in some cases, submit to a second "specialty-specific" review that starts the process all over again. Shah said the appeals process is "time consuming," "eats up countless days of work" and administrative costs for physicians, and rarely succeeds. It leaves patients back at "square one" managing their pain on high-dose opioids.
"Imagine doing this for almost every patient, especially if you practice in an HMO-heavy area such as California. It is exhaustive," Shah wrote in an email.
The success or failure of any payers appeals process comes down to the medical reviewer, according to Pearl. While some are receptive to pain specialists concerns, there are many that deny everything, Pearl said.
The problem with pain medicine
nih clinical center in bethesda
Health insurers base their coverage decisions on the available medical evidence around safety and effectiveness, according to Krusing. This evidence includes guidelines and recommendations from medical societies as well as peer-reviewed studies in the field. When doctors or hospital systems ask for a treatment to be covered, insurers will have their medical staffs evaluate that procedure based on the evidence.
The system seems sensible enough, but the field of chronic pain is ill-suited to such an approach for a number of reasons, according to pain specialists.
The first is that pain is inherently subjective, which makes measuring it (and the effect that a particular treatment might have) a difficult task, according to Danesh. Many insurance companies have policies that say doctors providing patients with pain injections must show that a patient experienced 50% to 80% pain relief before doing the treatment again, he added.
"Pain is so subjective," said Danesh, who added that percentage-pain-relief requirements seem arbitrary when patients convey to him major qualitative improvements in their life like being able to sleep through the night, even when the pain-relief level set by the payer isn't reached. He contends that insurance companies change the numbers because adjusting to the new policy and obtaining proper reimbursement takes doctors months to figure out.
Another issue is that there are a limited number of high-quality clinical studies for pain treatments. While this is partially because pain treatment is a relatively young medical discipline, the bigger issue is that pain studies are fundamentally difficult to recruit for, according to Mehta.
The kinds of studies that insurance companies want to see before approving a procedure are expensive, require large sample sizes, and, most importantly, require physicians to provide half of the study with the treatment and the other half with a placebo, says Mehta. Single- or double-blind studies, as they are called, are relatively standard practice for clinical trials for new treatments and are meant to prevent participants or researchers from influencing the results, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Asking patients in debilitating pain to risk receiving a placebo and waiting months to measure the treatment (or the placebos) effect is a big ask, according to Mehta, who says many patients opt to skip participating in clinical trials in favor of taking opioids or, if they have the means, paying out of pocket.
'Broadening' the treatment options
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director, Dr. Thomas Frieden, speaks at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia September 30, 2014.REUTERS/Tami Chappell
In theory, competition among insurers should fix the coverage problem, according to Schweitzer.
If consumers want the alternative pain treatments, they will move toward plans that cover them, thus pushing other insurers to cover them as well.
This scenario assumes that consumers are informed and in control of their policy decisions and that some insurers are substantially better than others about covering the treatments.
This doesnt appear to be the case, pain specialists told Business Insider. They maintained that while insurers may vary about which specific treatments they cover, they're all cutting back on coverage and reimbursements for alternative pain treatments as a whole.
The issue hasnt been limited to commercial-healthcare companies either. Coverage decisions and recommendations made by the government tend to have ripple effects across the industry, according to Schweitzer, with many insurers looking to the government for indications on what to cover. Guidelines and coverage recommendations released by the Centers for Disease Control And Prevention (CDC) and CMS have received significant pushback from pain specialists in recent years.
In a joint letter to the CDC in January, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA) raised several issues with the CDCs proposed guidelines for prescribing opioids.
The letter notes that many of the guidelines' recommendations, specifically about encouraging non-opioid approaches, are difficult to implement because many of those approaches are not covered by insurance. In addition, the letter took the CDC to task for what appears to be improperly characterizing treatments, including epidural steroid injections, radio-frequency ablation, and spinal-cord stimulation three core non-opioid pain treatments as being associated with rare, but serious adverse events and being linked to only short term benefits.
The letter argues that interventional approaches actually can provide short-term and long-term improvement and have an extremely small number of complications. Further, the letter argued that interventional treatments are not measured equally against opioids, noting that while interventional treatments must show 50% or more in improvement in pain relief, opioids are only required to show 30%.
In a time where we are supposed to not be prescribing opioids, the options to treat pain are narrowing. They need to be broadening, Pearl said.
NOW WATCH: The FDA just released new warnings about painkillers like ibuprofen here's what you need to know
More From Business Insider
millionaire
Palo Alto, in the heart of Silicon Valley, is turning into a place affordable for only "Joe Millionaires" and not the average Joe, warned former planning commissioner Kate Downing.
In her resignation letter, the former Palo Alto planning commissioner described how the city known for being an epicenter of the tech boom continues to do nothing to stop the bombastic rise in rent prices, which have creeped so high that Downing warns that not even a software engineer can afford them now:
"We rent our current home with another couple for $6200 a month; if we wanted to buy the same home and share it with children and not roommates, it would cost $2.7M and our monthly payment would be $12,177 a month in mortgage, taxes, and insurance. That's $146,127 per year an entire professional's income before taxes. This is unaffordable even for an attorney and a software engineer."
Part of that is because of the rise of the tech industry in a city that has incubated the early life of companies like Google and Facebook and is now covered in Palantir offices. In the last five years alone, the median home value of the town has doubled from $1.2 million to over $2.5 million, according to Zillow.
In her open letter, Downing in part blames the city council for not listening to the planning commission's recommendations.
Small steps, including adding two floors of housing instead of one in mixed-use developments, legalizing duplexes, and allowing areas like shopping centers to build housing on top of shops and offices, could have help curb the meteoric rise.
Rather, Downing says, the city council "ignored the majority of residents" who listed housing as their No. 1 concern.
As a result, professionals like Downing are being forced out of their homes when they can no longer afford them. If the city doesn't reverse course, then she cautions that those people who once made Palo Alto famous wouldn't be able to live there today:
Story continues
"I struggle to think what Palo Alto will become and what it will represent when young families have no hope of ever putting down roots here, and meanwhile the community is engulfed with middle-aged jet-setting executives and investors who are hardly the sort to be personally volunteering for neighborhood block parties, earthquake preparedness responsibilities, or neighborhood watch. If things keep going as they are, yes, Palo Alto's streets will look just as they did decades ago, but its inhabitants, spirit, and sense of community will be unrecognizable. A once thriving city will turn into a hollowed out museum. We should take care to remember that Palo Alto is famous the world over for its residents' accomplishments, but none of those people would be able to live in Palo Alto were they starting out today."
You can read the entire letter on Medium.
NOW WATCH: The outrageous homes that make this Silicon Valley town the most expensive zip code in America
More From Business Insider
Paris Jackson isn't camera shy when it comes to posing with her boyfriend, musician Michael Snoddy.
The 18-year-old daughter of Michael Jackson took to Instagram to share behind-the-scenes footage of a photo shoot she and Snoddy did for photographer Troy Jensen on Monday. Rocking a spiked leather jacket over a red dress and black boots, Jackson completed her rocker glam look with a shaggy cut and dark lipstick, as she embraced her beau from behind. Snoddy was also out to turn heads in a red furry jacket and ripped black skinny jeans, sporting a mohawk.
A video posted by Paris-Michael K. Jackson (@parisjackson) on Aug 9, 2016 at 5:34pm PDT
WATCH: Paris Jackson Fires Back at Instagram Haters, Says Her Dad Was 'Ripped to Shreds' -- 'I Will Not Let That Happen to Me'
"Such fun today," Jackson captured another collage.
She also posed for pics with DJ Caroline D'Amore on a bed.
#behindthescenes @parisjackson @itstroyjensen @davidreidhair A photo posted by Caroline D'Amore (@carolinedamore) on Aug 9, 2016 at 9:13pm PDT
Up all night with @parisjackson . #behindthescenes @itstroyjensen A photo posted by Caroline D'Amore (@carolinedamore) on Aug 9, 2016 at 9:05pm PDT
But it's Jackson's striking look that stole the show. "Incredibly gorgeous," makeup artist Steve Oraha captioned a solo shot of the late King of Pop's daughter in a bathtub, showing off her multiple hand tattoos.
Incredibly gorgeous @parisjackson @itstroyjensen @steveoraha @davidreidhair @willstyleux A photo posted by Steve (@steveoraha) on Aug 9, 2016 at 8:18pm PDT
Jackson hasn't been shy lately about packing on the PDA with Snoddy -- a drummer for the band Street Drum Corps -- sharing a kissing pic on Instagram on Sunday.
"Love him," she captioned the snap.
... And there's plenty more where that came from.
best birthday ever [:: my baby @nikiberger] A photo posted by Paris-Michael K. Jackson (@parisjackson) on Apr 3, 2016 at 11:06pm PDT
WATCH: Paris Jackson Has PDA-Filled 18th Birthday With Boyfriend Michael Snoddy
Watch the video below to see the couple get close during their Fourth of July celebration in Malibu, California.
Story continues
Related Articles
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Park Sang-Young staged an incredible late rally to strike Olympic gold for South Korea on Tuesday with victory in the men's epee gold medal.
Park's hopes of becoming only the third Korean to win an individual fencing gold looked to be dead and buried as he trailed Hungary's Geza Imre 14-10 in the final.
But Park produced a remarkable run of five points to snatch victory 15-14 to leave Imre heartbroken after an agonizing defeat.
"The Olympics are one of the biggest sporting events in the whole world and I tried to take over his weaknesses," Park said. "It was impressive to win after being behind."
Park joins Kim Young-Ho, who won the men's foil in Sydney in 2000, and Kim Ji-Yeon, who triumphed in the saber in 2012, as the only fencers from Korea to win individual gold.
Imre was disconsolate after the defeat.
"I'm so sad. I was the winner up until eight-and-a-half minutes into the bout and in the last twenty seconds he beat me," Imre said. "I understand everything (why I lost) but I'm very sad."
"(Winning the) silver medal isn't bad, but I already have a silver medal from Athens 2004," he said. "I'm grateful for the silver but I was one touch away."
World number one Gauthier Grumier of France defeated Benjamin Steffen of Switzerland 15-11 to win the bronze medal.
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story star Sarah Paulson had to leave the room when clips from the FX miniseries were played for reporters at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour on Tuesday.
The actress later explained that she never watches herself on screen, but the shows portrayal of the verdict in the Simpson trial was especially tough for her to watch.
I havent seen of it, and I just saw a little bit of that verdict, she said. It literally made me physically ill. I thought I was going to cry and throw up.
Also Read: Emmy Nominations: 'People v OJ Simpson' Creators Want to 'Stop While We're Ahead'
The Emmy-nominated actress explained that the sense of unease she gets from watching the show comes from sympathy for the woman she was portraying, Marcia Clark. As goofy and goony and typically actressy as it may sound, I felt very, very connected to her, she said. I felt a lot of feeling for her.
Later in the panel, Paulson said the closing arguments scene was the hardest for her to shoot.
[There was] almost this fantastical idea that if we did it right, the verdict would be different, she said. And that obviously didnt happen, but there was a feeling that I can only imagine they must have felt that there was this enormous responsibility and opportunity to have justice be served.
Also Read: Here's the Harsh Way OJ Simpson Prosecutor Chris Darden Got Fired (Exclusive Audio)
Paulsons costar Cuba Gooding Jr. later revealed that he hasnt seen the series yet either, but he didnt have an explanation as good as Paulsons.
Hes waiting for the Blu-ray, Paulson joked.
'People v OJ Simpson': 11 Other Trials We Want to See Dramatized on TV (Photos)
charlie manson people v oj simpson american crime story LAPD
richard ramirez people v oj simpson american crime story San Quentin Prison
enron logo people v oj simpson american crime story Enron
menendez brothers people v oj simpson american crime story Court TV
leopold and loeb people v oj simpson american crime story German Federal Archives
patty hearst people v oj simpson american crime story FBI
oklahoma city bombing people v oj simpson american crime story CBS News
jodi arias people v oj simpson american crime storyjodi arias people v oj simpson american crime story ABC News
Getty Images
sacco and vanzetti people v oj simpson american crime story Boston Public Library
the rosenbergs people v oj simpson american crime story Library of Congress
Story continues
Previous Slide Next Slide
1 of 11
TheWrap looks back on other famous court cases that deserve the American Crime Story treatment, such as the Manson Family murders and the Menendez Brothers
The Manson Family Murders
Charles Manson and his cult-like "Family" terrified Los Angeles in 1969 with a series of murders, including that of Roman Polanski's pregnant wife, Sharon Tate.
Also Read: Why O.J. Simpson Wont Be Watching People v O.J. Simpson
View In Gallery
Related stories from TheWrap:
Emmy Nominations: 'People v OJ Simpson' Creators Want to 'Stop While We're Ahead'
'People v OJ Simpson': 9 Weird Facts It Didn't Include (Photos)
'People v OJ Simpson': 7 More Stunning Facts It Left Out (Photos)
Perrigo Company plc PRGO is one of the largest store brand manufacturers of over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical products and infant formulas. The Dublin, Ireland-based acquired Omega Pharma in Mar 2015 to form a leading OTC health care company. Post-acquisition, Perrigo changed its fiscal year to the calendar year.
Perrigo also changed its reporting segments to Consumer HealthCare, Branded Consumer Healthcare (newly acquired Omega business), Prescription Pharmaceuticals (Rx), Specialty Sciences and Other (includes the active pharmaceutical ingredients business). The company has been pursing prudent acquisitions under each segment.
In this scenario, investor focus will be on the companys performance apart from the usual top-and bottom-line numbers.
Perrigo has a pretty good track record with the company beating earnings estimates in three of the last four quarters with an average positive earnings surprise of 1.44%.
Currently, Perrigo has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), but that could definitely change following the companys earnings report which was just released. We have highlighted some of the key stats from this just-revealed announcement below:
Earnings: Perrigo failed to beat on second-quarter 2016 earnings. The company reported EPS of $1.93 while our consensus called for EPS of $2.00.
Revenues: Revenues in the reported quarter came in above expectations. Perrigo posted revenues of $1.48 billion, compared to our consensus estimate of $1.44 billion.
Key Stats: Excluding any net sales contribution from held-for-sale businesses (primarily the VMS business), adjusted net sales in the quarter came in at $1.44 billion. The companys Consumer Healthcare segment performed disappointingly in the reported quarter.
2016 Earnings View Lowered: Primarily due to revised expectations for the Rx segment, the company now expects 2016 earnings in the range of $6.85 to $7.15 per share (old guidance: $8.20 to $8.60 per share). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is $8.29 per share.
Story continues
PERRIGO CO PLC Price
PERRIGO CO PLC Price | PERRIGO CO PLC Quote
Check back later for our full write up on this Perrigo earnings report later!
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
PERRIGO CO PLC (PRGO): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
LIMA (Reuters) - A fresh oil spill in the Peruvian Amazon was detected from the country's four-decades-old pipeline on Thursday, operator Petroperu said, bringing the number of leaks this year to four. Petroperu, the country's state-owned energy company, did not provide an estimate for how much oil was released and said emergency workers were implementing a contingency plan. The latest spill, in a ravine in the province of Condorcanqui, could heap more pressure on President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski to pass reforms to prevent future leaks. The 1,106-kilometer (687-mile) pipeline was shuttered for repairs in February after two spills leaked 3,000 barrels that polluted rivers and prompted an indigenous community to hold Petroperu officials hostage to press for aid. The then-energy and mines minister said in June that the third spill occurred as Petroperu was illegally pumping crude through the pipeline, which led to the ousting of the president of Petroperu and a $3.5 million fine. It is unclear how the fourth spill occurred. The new energy and mines minister, Gonzalo Tamayo, said this week that the pipeline would likely remain shuttered for at least a year. Peru's relatively small oil production has dropped to about 37,000 barrels per day since the pipeline closed, as output from oil blocks 192 and 67 has stopped completely. There have been 23 ruptures in the pipeline since 2011, according to the ombudsman's office. (Reporting by Mitra Taj; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
(Adds statement from PG&E, further details on case)
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Pacific Gas & Electric Co was found guilty on Tuesday of several federal charges stemming from a natural gas pipeline explosion in California that killed eight people and injured 58 others in 2010, a U.S. Justice Department spokesman said.
The utility was convicted of obstructing an investigation and violating pipeline safety regulations leading up to the deadly blast in San Bruno, a city of about 41,000 just south of San Francisco, spokesman Abraham Simmons said in an email.
The utility faces a maximum fine of $3 million, or $500,000 per guilty count, the unit of Pacific Gas & Electric Corp said in a statement.
"While we are very much focused on the future, we will never forget the lessons of the past," PG&E said. "We have made unprecedented progress in the nearly six years since the tragic San Bruno accident and we are committed to maintaining our focus on safety."
The U.S. Attorney's Office accused PG&E of knowingly relying on "inaccurate or incomplete" infrastructure management records and failing to investigate its high-pressure natural gas pipelines after potential hazards had been identified, according to court records.
The California Public Utilities Commission in 2015 levied a $1.6 billion fine against PG&E over the blast and other issues, which the utility did not appeal.
The fine ranks as its largest ever safety-related penalty, dwarfing a $38 million fine for PG&E over a 2008 natural gas explosion in the city of Rancho Cordova.
The company has also paid $500 million to settle civil lawsuits from people who had been injured or family members of those killed in the blast.
The utility said it has adopted new pipeline safety standards and spent some $2.7 billion in shareholder funds to improve its natural gas system.
(Reporting by Dan Levine and Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by James Dalgleish and Richard Chang)
JANESVILLE, Wis. House Speaker Paul Ryan squelched any chance of an August surprise in Tuesdays Wisconsin primary, while a former Marine running for the first time easily won a three-way race for an open congressional seat in the northeast of the state.
And Russ Feingold, had an early and easy primary night. He trounced Scott Harbach and officially moves on to the race hes already been running for months a rematch against GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, who knocked him out of office in 2010.
Ryans race was the unexpected focus just a week after GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump threw a burst of publicity toward his little-known and inexperienced opponent, Paul Nehlen. But Ryan, who had downplayed the challenge, easily handled the businessman by a 5-1 margin.
We knew we were going to do well, Ryan said after the win. We got the votes we were hoping and expecting to get all along. The outcome is exactly what we were hoping for.
The primarys other top race was in northeastern Wisconsin, where GOP Rep. Reid Ribbles retirement opened a swing congressional seat. Mike Gallagher, a former Marine who served as national security adviser for Gov. Scott Walkers presidential campaign last year, handily defeated state Sen. Frank Lasee of De Pere, and Forestville surveyor Terry McNulty in the Republican race.
Gallagher told The AP that his campaign benefited from his being a political outsider. This was his first run for office, while his closest challenger, Lasee, has been in the Legislature since 1995.
This is a year when being an outsider, being someone who is not part of the system and having national security experience resonated with a lot of people, Gallagher said.
He said he planned to take the same approach in the general election against Tom Nelson, the Democratic Outagamie County executive who ran unopposed. Nelson, a former state representative, touted his experience in a news release after Gallaghers win.
For too long, Washington has been paralyzed by partisan bickering and gridlock, Nelson said. Im running for Congress because we need more people with the experience and the skills necessary to represent northeast Wisconsin.
Gallagher had Ribbles support and picked up late endorsements from a slew of GOP heavyweights. Ryan and Gov. Scott Walker endorsed him after the win.
No House speaker in modern political history had lost a primary, and Ryan was keen to avoid the fate that befell House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the 2014 primary, when his political career ended due to a tea party challenger.
Ryan will face Democrat Ryan Solen, an Iraq war veteran, in the Nov. 8 general election.
Three other congressional incumbents Democrats Gwen Moore and Ron Kind and Republican Sean Duffy all won.
In an unusual legislative race, incumbent Democratic state Sen. Lena Taylor easily dispatched with a challenge from state Rep. Mandela Barnes. No Republican was running in the Milwaukee race, making it all-but-certain Taylor would retain the seat.
By Krishna N. Das and Karen Lema
MANILA (Reuters) - Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) officials say they have preserved ties with major U.S. banks despite the use of one of its branches in Manila by cyber criminals to funnel $81 million stolen from the Bangladesh central banks account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The money was sent to RCBC by three of its so-called correspondent banks, Wells Fargo, Citigroups Citibank and the Bank of New York Mellon, in February, before mostly being laundered through the Philippines' casino industry. Only $18 million has been recovered.
"The relationships continue," Maria Celia Estavillo, RCBC's legal and regulatory affairs head, said in an interview at the bank's headquarters in Manila.
"Ours is a very old bank and the relationships are long standing, so I don't foresee our relationships would be discontinued. I guess there were questions that we answered," she said in her first interview since a Philippines' senate hearing into the heist ended in May.
Spokespeople for Citibank, Wells and BNY Mellon all declined to comment.
A correspondent bank provides services, such as facilitating wire transfers or accepting deposits, on behalf of another bank.
RCBC was fined a record one billion pesos ($21 million) by the Philippine central bank on Friday, about one fifth of its net profit last year, for its failures in preventing the Bangladesh Bank money from being transferred through accounts at the bank.
RCBC instituted "many changes" before holding review meetings with Wells, Citibank, and BNY Mellon a few weeks after the heist, according to Estavillo.
Dennis Bancod, operations head at RCBC, said the three banks had validated the new procedures.
Since the heist, RCBC has lowered the threshold level of remittances that trigger alerts and formed separate control units at its branches to double-check doubtful transactions, said the bank officials.
According to a former executive involved with security at a major U.S. bank it is rare for banks to sever ties with another institution over money laundering issues, provided security and oversight are improved. There is a bias toward continuing ties in the interests of customers, this source said.
Story continues
RCBC has blamed a couple of "rogue" officials at its Jupiter Street branch in Manila for "lapses" that allowed the stolen money to leave the bank within a few days of being stolen from the account at the Fed.
But the Bangladesh central bank has alleged that the money disappeared because of systemic failures at RCBC and not just mistakes by individuals.
After a series of meeting with authorities in the Philippines last week, a delegation from Bangladesh Bank said that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had given a commitment that the stolen money would be returned.
Bangladesh Bank has said it may sue RCBC if other efforts to recover the money fail. Estavillo said there was no way RCBC would pay any money to Bangladesh Bank without a court order.
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das and Karen Lema; Additional reporting by Jim Finkle, David Henry and Tim McLaughlin; Editing by Martin Howell)
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened on Tuesday to declare martial law in the country if its judiciary gets in the way of his national war on illegal drugs, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports.
Such bombastic remarks are characteristic of Duterte, who took the Philippines highest office in June after serving for years as the mayor of the city of Davao. In Davao, he made his reputation as an unorthodox enforcer with no tolerance for the illegal drug trade a campaign he has carried into federal office. Hundreds have died in the so-called war on drugs since his inauguration.
His comments on Tuesday come amid an ongoing spat with the countrys judiciary. Earlier this week, Duterte released a comprehensive list of judges, politicians, and military personnel whom he alleged were involved in the narcotics trade. The countrys Chief Justice, Lourdes Sereno, responded in a letter questioning his legal procedure, but Duterte seems undeterred.
Dont create a crisis because I will order everybody in the executive department not to honor you, the President said before a military audience Tuesday, in reference to Sereno.
According to the Inquirer, Duterte added: You want me to be frank? Youre interfering.
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday ordered the army to destroy the small but violent Abu Sayyaf militant group saying if not, the Philippines risked being "contaminated" by Islamic State. The mostly Christian Philippines has for decades battled rebels from the Muslim minority but while progress toward peace has been made with the main insurgent faction, Abu Sayyaf militants have remained ruthless enemies of the state. "Destroy them, that's an order," Duterte told soldiers at an army base in the southern province of Zamboanga del Sur on violence-plagued Mindanao island. He described Abu Sayyaf as terrorists and bandits who kill civilians for no apparent reason, and ruled out negotiations. Abu Sayyaf militants, notorious for extortion, kidnappings and bombings, beheaded two Canadians kidnapped this year from a tourist resort. They recently freed 18 Indonesians and Malaysian tugboat crew members after getting ransom. In June, a video appeared online showing Islamic State accepting the allegiance of Abu Sayyaf fighters, in the first formal recognition of a Southeast Asian group by Islamic State, counter-terrorism officials said. Action was necessary now, or the Philippines risked being "contaminated by the ISIS disease", he said, referring to Islamic State. "I see a looming problem, in three to seven years from now, we will have a problem with ISIS," Duterte said, promising the army modern equipment to fight Abu Sayyaf. Duterte, who has been touring army camps since coming to power five weeks ago, said he planned to recruit 20,000 more soldiers to help protect the country's territorial integrity. "We want to control all areas and we don't want to lose any territory," he said, reiterating a close alliance with the United States in fighting Islamist militancy, and in the Philippine maritime dispute with China in the South China Sea. The Abu Sayyaf are holding several foreign hostages, from Norway, the Netherlands and Malaysia. (Reporting by Manuel Mogato; Editing by Robert Birsel)
The Philippines' firebrand President Rodrigo Duterte has sparked a fresh diplomatic row with his colourful language, calling the US ambassador "gay" in comments that prompted Washington to summon Manila's envoy to complain.
In the latest of series of tirades, Duterte used a local Tagalog language homophobic slur to express his displeasure with US Ambassador Philip Goldberg in televised comments made Friday.
"As you know, I'm fighting with (US Secretary of State John Kerry's) ambassador. His gay ambassador, the son of a whore. He pissed me off," Duterte said.
Duterte, 71, surged to power with a landslide in May following an incendiary campaign in which he gleefully used foul language to disrespect authority figures, from his local political rivals to the pope.
He first came into conflict with US envoy Goldberg on the campaign trail, after he said he wanted to rape a "beautiful" Australian missionary who was sexually assaulted and murdered in a 1989 prison riot in Davao, the city he ran for two decades.
Goldberg and the Australian Ambassador both strongly criticised these comments.
"He meddled during the elections, giving statements here and there. He was not supposed to do that," Duterte said Friday.
The US State Department said that the Filipino charge d'affaires, Patrick Chuasoto, had been summoned Monday to discuss Duterte's comments.
"We had that conversation," department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said.
"I think what we were seeking is perhaps a better understanding of why that statement was made," she added.
Philippine foreign affairs spokesman Charles Jose confirmed the meeting but said Manila's envoy had been "invited to the State Department to discuss the entire breadth of Philippines-US relations."
"Philippine-US relations remain strong," he told AFP Wednesday.
A former US colony, the Philippines and the United States have long shared a military treaty.
Michael Phelps has not lost often in the Olympics. Entering the Rio Olympics, he had won 22 Olympic medals, 18 of them gold.
But one time Phelps did lose was in the 200-meter butterfly at the 2012 London Olympics, when South Africa's Chad Le Clos overcame a deficit in the final 10 meters and beat Phelps to the wall by 0.05 seconds.
Phelps got his shot at revenge in the event on Tuesday, and this time he didn't blow the lead down the stretch.
Associated Press photographer Martin Meissner caught the moment when Le Clos must have realized the race was over. This shot came with about 10 meters to go.
Michael Phelps
For a bit of perspective, here is where that happened in the pool. Phelps is actually farther ahead than it looks in the photo above. It was already race over for Le Clos.
Snapshot_20160809_223024
NOW WATCH: Heres why the Olympic diving pool turned green
More From Business Insider
LONDON (Reuters) - After a hectic first month in office following the June 23 Brexit vote, new Prime Minister Theresa May is off on holiday and she has chosen a country outside the European Union with close ties to the bloc - Switzerland. May, who became prime minister on July 13, will head to Switzerland on Thursday for two weeks, her office said. It did not provide any further details of the trip. The British leader has spoken previously of her love of walking holidays in Switzerland, a destination also favoured by her German counterpart Angela Merkel. "The views are spectacular, the air is clear and you can get some peace and quiet," May wrote in the Telegraph newspaper in 2007. The model of Switzerland is one Britain will be looking at closely as it seeks to determine its own future relationship with the EU following the vote to leave the bloc. Switzerland, along with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, is a member of the European Free Trade Association. Its goods exporters enjoy tariff-free access to EU markets while it is also free to negotiate its own trade deals with non-EU countries. It has only limited access to the EU's services market however, and almost none for financial services -- a significant contributor to the British economy. (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; editing by Stephen Addison)
When Karen Rapp graduated from Tomah High School in 1956, she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life.
Now, 60 years later, she is not only celebrating her 60th high school reunion but also her 60th anniversary at F&M Bank.
On Aug. 13, 1956, just months after graduating, Rapp was hired as a proof operator.
Everybody had to have a job, and there was an opening at the bank, so I applied, she said. It was between me and another lady the other lady didnt show up, so they said, Karen, you got the job.
The day she started Rapp was taken to a big, iron machine where she would be sorting, inputting and then checking the credits and debits one-by-one and then making sure the deposits balanced.
Once finished she had to take the checks to another bank they worked with to make sure their totals matched.
At first Rapp was intimidated with the machine.
They sat me down in front of that (machine) it was big and had about 45 keys on it and I thought, Oh my God, what am I going to do with this? How the heck am I going to learn how to run that machine and all those keys on there? she said. It was a lot of learning, but I must have been alright, Im still here.
Today banking is easy, she said.
People just cant visualize from what it was 60 years ago, she said. Banking has changed a whole lot ... I know its not just the laws, its the processing of everything if they had to process everything like I did, wed be here to midnight.
Over her years at the bank, Rapp has seen many changes in the way of banking from the manual checking and balancing she did, to computers to drive-up windows and credit and debit cards.
And with bankings changes, Rapps positions have changed, but shes always worked in the operations department.
I was the proof operator mostly, she said. Then I went to what they called the general ledger, which was ... the person who balanced the whole bank, nobody could go home at 5 p.m. until that person said, The banks in balance, you can go home. ... Then I was supervisor of the bookkeeping department, then we went to in-house computers.
She also worked as teller at the drive-up window for a time.
Now, working 10 hours a week rather than 40, Rapp does mail return and scanning and indexing.
The variety is what Rapp has liked best about her jobs at the bank.
Every once in a while they change everything on you, then you think, Oh my God, can I do this? she said. And somebody else is always checking what youve done, so you might get a little pile back, you might get a big pile back that says, You did this wrong. Just go back in and fix it.
Besides operation of the bank, the biggest change Rapp has seen is the employee turnover rate.
No one stays in a job nowadays like we did, she said. When we came, we didnt have all this, two-three months later, Oh, I got to go someplace else, and then get a whole new bunch of people. ... People (today) dont stay in their job, theyre looking for advancement all the time. We didnt. We stayed.
Rapp made it her goal to reach her 60-year anniversary.
Every year you had to have a goal. For the last five years mine have been to make it to my 60th year because no ones ever going to pass me, she said.
Pete Reichardt, F&M president and CEO, said hes honored to have Rapp at the bank.
Were very thrilled to have her and work with her, he said. With the mobility that people have and just changes in peoples lives, to have somebody thats at one organization for 60 years and shes still giving back to the community is great ... shes still a vibrant member of our bank, and were just honored to have her here.
The people have made it easy to stay at her job, Rapp said.
I know a lot of people in this town just by working here ... your customers were our customers, she said. When we ran the drive-up window back there, those customers were ours, they came there every day, maybe two times a day, and youd laugh and giggle with them, and tomorrow here they would come again.
The most memorable moment of all her time at F&M happened in the early 1960s, when a police officer sat in the bank all day with a rifle.
Somebody called into the police station and said that the Farmers and Merchants was going to be robbed, she said. I was (pregnant with) one of my six children, and a policeman sat in an office ... the whole day with a rifle. Someone said, Karen, dont you think you should stay home, we dont want you to get too excited. I said, No, how am I going to know what happened if I stay home? So I came to work. ... That was something else.
No robber ever showed up.
To the workers of today, Rapp offered a few words of advice.
Have fun, enjoy it, learn, dont be too impatient to look someplace else, she said. Just make a commitment when you come to a new job, any job that you go to. ... You dont need to be running all over town looking for something different, because maybe youre not going to like that either, then two months later there you are out on the street looking for something else. So learn what you can learn and enjoy the people that you work with.
A nature photographer came to the rescue of a white-tailed eagle that became stuck in thick coastal mud near the Polish town of Swinoujscie on July 26, and a drone captured video of the dramatic and dangerous operation.
With the help of local firefighters, and after attempts to retrieve the eagle by other means had failed, Krzysztof Chomicz dragged himself through the sludge to reach the trapped bird while attached to a rope leading to dry land. Despite the distressed eagle attacking Chomicz in the arm and leg, the photographer managed to carry it back to safety.
According to local reports, the eagle spent the night in Swinoujscie being cleaned and cared for by wildlife conservation workers before being transferred to a refuge in Szczecin. Experts were reported as saying they believed the eagle, which was named Icarus, was about six months old and the flight that ended in the mud may have been the eagles first.
Chomicz has a history of saving birds in trouble. In summer 2015, he rescued another white-tailed eagle that had also become stuck in mud near Swinoujscie. A striking photo of two eagles taken by Chomicz was featured on the National Geographic website in 2014 Credit: YouTube/iswinoujscie
Mark Cuban
Brash billionaire Mark Cuban argued on Wednesday that polls would not be a good indicator of the 2016 election outcome.
"This election will be determined by the battle of science vs anger," the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and star of ABC's "Shark Tank" tweeted. "Ground game vs the draw of the angry voter. Polls won't tell the story."
Trump, the Republican nominee, has watched as his standing in national polls, as well as in crucial swing states, has crumbled after a series of missteps following the Democratic National Convention in late July.
But polls are known to fluctuate throughout the campaign cycle and aren't necessarily predictive of what could happen in November.>
Cuban recently endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton at a rally in Pittsburgh, his hometown. He called Trump a "jagoff" a popular, demeaning slang term frequently used in western Pennsylvania during the event.
Earlier in the cycle, Cuban expressed interest in serving as either Trump's or Clinton's running mate before souring on the Manhattan billionaire's candidacy.
NOW WATCH: Watch the RNC audience boo Ted Cruz for not endorsing Trump
More From Business Insider
Aug 10 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** Bell Canada and its parent company BCE Inc's ratings were downgraded by DBRS Ltd. The downgrade came in light of the Canadian communications giant's plans to buy Manitoba Telecom Services Inc, which DBRS thinks is unlikely to fall through. (http://bit.ly/2b5Sgdw)
** The Liberal government has reversed a policy to increase the eligibility age for Old Age Security to 67, in spite of resistance from bureaucrats that the move would not be in line with what other developed countries are doing. (http://bit.ly/2aYLLbd)
NATIONAL POST
** TransAlta Corp's CEO Dawn Farrell said on Tuesday that tighter environmental controls for power generation companies are "here to stay". The comment was in light of new policies announced recently by the Alberta government. (http://bit.ly/2aYJTza)
** Albertan consumers will end up paying "closer to C$600 million ($461.22 million)", not the C$2.0 billion ($1.54 billion) alleged by the provincial government, on their electricity bills for power companies canceling controversial power contracts early. (http://bit.ly/2b5SfGw)
($1 = 1.3009 Canadian dollars) (Compiled by Gaurika Juneja in Bengaluru)
Staten Island (United States) (AFP) - When arsonists reputedly set fire to some Donald Trump "lawn art" outside a New York family home, the man billed as the only conservative artist in America came out swinging.
Scott LoBaido simply erected a bigger version of the sculpture -- a giant "T" covered in stars and stripes -- on the same patch of lawn on Staten Island to whoops and cheers from the neighbors.
"I don't care who you vote for, got a Hillary (Clinton) supporter over there, God bless you," he told the crowd. "Just respect, respect my opinion to vote for who I want to."
LoBaido called it his version of Norman Rockwell's "Freedom of Speech" painting, which was inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt, and described the 2016 election campaign as "a horror show."
"The hatred, the violence is just out of control," said the New York artist, whose patriotic art has been displayed across Staten Island and the United States.
He created the "T" image after Trump supporters were insulted for wearing the Republican nominee's official campaign attire.
"May be it means tolerance, may be it means terrific, may be it means Trump," he said. "It just went crazy."
T-shirts of the image sell like hot cakes, but when he installed the first "T" on friend Sam Pirozzolo's lawn, he and his supporters were incensed when it was burnt down at the weekend.
New York police confirm they are investigating the reported arson. So far no arrests have been made.
- Trump call -
As the replacement went up on Tuesday, onlookers chanted "USA, USA, USA" and a woman protester yelling "Love Trumps Hate" was jeered.
"I'm not going to be intimidated by anyone else. This is my property, this is my right to do so and this is a work of art," said optician Pirozzolo outside his large, detached home.
While the previous sign was 12 feet (3.7 meters) tall, the new one is 16 feet, and will stay put "until my wife tells me to take it down," the father of two joked.
Story continues
The Republican nominee even called Pirozzolo after the suspected arson, going on speaker phone to talk to his children.
Trump, "was a gentleman," Pirozzolo said shortly before the White House candidate stormed into fresh controversy over remarks about his Democratic rival Clinton.
"We were very surprised," he told reporters. "He said 'how are you, how are your wife and children, is everything ok?'"
The neighbors called the lawn art beautiful.
"I do wish that may be it was fire-proof," said Nicole, a 27-year-old teacher who declined to give her second name.
- Not fair -
"As we see all over the news and all over, the anti-Trump supporters are very violent, vicious people," she added.
She, like Lillian Christ, 74, said it was a question of free speech -- sacrosanct in America and enshrined in the first amendment of the nation's Constitution.
If it had been a Clinton poster, Trump-supporting Christ said she would have felt the same way.
"It doesn't matter which candidate it was, it's the same thing, it's not fair," she said.
While some Trump supporters in the neighborhood voiced concern as he slumps in the polls following a series of missteps, they believed he could still win the White House in November.
"The last five or six days, I know that's not the highest bar to set, but I think he's done a great job staying on message," said Joseph Borelli, a city council member and co-chair of the Trump campaign in New York state.
"As long as he keeps doing that, we will be fine."
Within hours, Trump sailed back into choppy waters over remarks that critics interpreted as incitement of violence against Clinton.
"Neighbors keep an eye on this baby!" LoBaido told the crowd.
It's been 12 years since we last saw Renee Zellweger play Bridget Jones on the big screen, but this September, the hapless, calorie-counting, big pant-wearing, perpetually single lady protagonist is back. And this time, she's gone and got herself pregnant by accident. Bugger!
Of the many questions you might have surrounding the new film, entitled Bridget Jones's Baby (and we shall come to them), the one that's burning the brightest in my mind is: Why? Why is Bridget still in our lives after these 12 long years?
When author Helen Fielding started writing a column, documenting the fictitious diaries of a woman called Bridget Jones in The Independent in 1995, she hit a nerve and the jackpot. In Bridget Jones, Fielding had not only created a literary phenomenon (indeed, an entire genre: chick lit) but a revelatory tragicomic heroine for a new generation of women. The subsequent novel, the best-selling Bridget Jones's Diary, followed a year after the column first appeared, and was a thoroughly modern comedy of manners (based loosely on Pride and Prejudice) for the thirty-something urban dwelling, Chardonnay-swilling, Cosmopolitan -reading, Marlboro-smoking woman of the mid-1990s. Women identified with her, whether they were pleased about it or not. As a 10-year-old, I remember looking at the cover of a woman in silhouette elegantly smoking a fag and thinking: that looks like my Mum. Everyone read Bridget Jones's Diary I read it before I was even in a trainer bra, let alone Spanx. Christ, my 12-year-old brother read it.
Fielding had found the zeitgeist, for sure. But in the 20 years since the Bridget Jones franchise and its sassier American stablemate, Sex and the City, clattered into public consciousness on a wave of cocktails, clutch bags and kitten heels, a lot has happened. Online dating, social media, Tinder the internet in general. We've been through a recession. You can't smoke inside anymore. Plastic bags cost 5p. Mobile phones are smaller than our heads. House prices are up. Unpaid internships are a thing. Gay marriage is legal. Even Bridget's birthplace The Independent has shut up its print shop. And so, with the release of a new film, I got to thinking shit, sorry, wrong character about Bridget's place in 2016 and, specifically, whether she has one.
Story continues
Photo: Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag Courtesy of BBC.
When you look for the new Bridgets on our screens, it quickly becomes obvious that the changing cultural, economic and political landscape of the past two decades has necessitated a shift in portrayals of femininity, singledom and the search for love. While Bridget got to wallow in the cosy misery of her solo life and good job in a one bed flat with an SE1 postcode, today's "Bridgets" Phoebe Waller Bridge's Fleabag, Lena Dunham's Hannah Hogarth, Sharon Horgan's eponymous character in Catastrophe have to confront their bad life decisions in shared houses with no money. Where Bridget's preferred insult was "arse", our heroines prefer "cunt." While Bridget shared saucy emails with her boss, ours sext strangers. The one thing that hasn't changed is the amount they all drink.
Hollywood, too, has started to show the less shiny and slapstick side to 21st century female life in its romcom output. In 2010's Going the Distance, Drew Barrymore is a single 31-year-old intern who tries to make a six-week fling work as a long-distance relationship. Emily Blunt is painted as the cheating commitment-phobe in The Five-Year Engagement and in 2012's Obvious Child, an abortion is the aphrodisiac needed for Jenny Slate to fall for the guy that put her in the family way in the first place. And yet despite this, despite the plethora of interesting and nuanced and contemporary depictions of women in popular culture, Bridget Jones still seems to be held up as the defining example of female singleness.
our notion of what it is to be single has changed
It's no secret that Bridget's raison d'etre has always been to find a man. It's that quest which has propelled the plot of each instalment thus far. In Bridget Jones's Baby, a (quite alarmingly frail-looking, FYI) Colin Firth, aka Mark Darcy, is now Bridget's ex. So she's back to sitting on that sofa in those pyjamas. That's until she goes to a music festival wearing a pair of heels and white jeans in her capacity as a TV exec and meets the rugged Jack (Patrick Dempsey) and shags him, but also shags the ex too so that she doesn't know who the father of her unborn child is. Naughty Bridget! V bad. Must try harder.
I'd argue that the problem with this narrative is that our notion of what it is to be single has changed. The ritual humiliation Bridget would suffer at the annual Christmas turkey buffet for being single in her 30s helped fuel her dogged search for Mr Right. But being single now hopefully inspires far less shame. There are over 16 million single people in the UK according to figures from ONS, compared to 12 million in 2002. The number of married people around 23 million meanwhile, has largely stayed the same.
That's not to say that many of us aren't still preoccupied with our search for 'The One' or, at the very least, someone to rub bits with for the weekend. It's just that life as a single person isn't painted as the bleak picture it once was. Indeed, recent research from American psychologist Bella DePaulo suggests that being single allows people to "live their best, most authentic and most meaningful life." So... move over smug marrieds.
But the really bothersome thing in all of this however, isn't how out-of-date Bridget seems to me, but how Fielding and her co-writers appear to have forgotten who first made her famous. Between the last film 2004's The Edge of Reason and this one, there has been a book: Mad About the Boy. Unlike the third film, the third book fits the original timeline of Bridget's life: she is in her 50s, widowed, with two grown up children. On its publication, Fielding told The Telegraph that she decided to "be brave" and show Bridget as a 50-year-old woman, challenging stereotypes about the commerciality of "women of a certain age."
Rather than meet Bridget again in her 50s, in the latest movie she is 43
It's a shame then, that the last book didn't receive the same silver screen treatment the first two did. Rather than meet Bridget again in her 50s, in the latest movie she is 43. And while it's undoubtedly positive that we get to see an unmarried, 'older' woman as a first-time mother in a mainstream film, it's disappointing that those women who first championed Bridget seem to have been abandoned by her. As they are time and again by Hollywood.
And so my question is this: who is this film for? Because it's not for the young and young(ish) single women who find any Bridget Jones connotations embarrassing and who are already much better represented across TV and film by the likes of Girls, Fleabag and Obvious Child. Nor is it for the women who actually grew up alongside Bridget, and who are now embarking on menopause and the next stage of their lives single or not. Instead, Bridget has wound back ten years to try and strike a chord with the early-forty-somethings, gatecrashing a party she knows no-one at. Of course, Fielding never claimed Bridget was meant to be an exemplar of female empowerment quite the opposite. But in my mind, she's become a parody of herself, a caricature of the modern woman, and one that I sadly can no longer relate to.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
How Many Of These Cult Movies Have You Seen?
A Brief History Of May-December Romances On The Silver Screen
11 Brazilian Films To Watch Before Rio 2016
Heres proof that American Horror Story Season 6 is going to be about the Manson Family
Heres proof that American Horror Story Season 6 is going to be about the Manson Family
The twists and turns for American Horror Story keep coming, and Season 6 hasnt even started yet. While weve seen our fair share of promos and teasers for the show, that will kick off again on September 14th, it turns out most of them are a lie, and we dont even know what to believe anymore. AHS sure does love messing with us whenever it can.
Though not all the teasers relate directly back to the upcoming season, evidence is mounting that there is actually a theme at play, and its a doozy.
AHS Season 6 just might revolve around Charles Manson, the cult leader who led his followers to commit some pretty gruesome murders in the 1960s.
Before we go any further, know that this is just speculation, but its damn good speculation. Also, creator and showrunner, Ryan Murphy, has already explained that hed love to do a season about Manson. In a 2013 interview, he explained to Deadline:
I want to do an entire season about the [Charles] Manson case. But then we decided that wasnt respectful to the victims, and its really hard to get life rightsWe might go back to the Manson thing in some regard one day.
The Manson idea is already out there. While you might not know a ton about the Manson family and their murders off the top of your head, thats what the rest of the internet is for. Eagle-eyed viewers have spotted a lot of similarities between the teasers and the scenes of Mansons crimes.
Scene from new season of American Horror Story vs message Manson girl Susan Atkins left in Sharon Tate's blood. #AHS pic.twitter.com/rqQEGUgdDG Creepy Catalog (@CreepyCatalog) July 30, 2016
Also, after Manson went to prison (uh, is that a spoiler? Maybe. But its also U.S. History!) he started making wait for it spider art, and what does the AHS poster feature? Spiders.
If thats not enough for you, long-time AHS cast member, Evan Peters, shared a picture of himself a while back, with very long un-Evan Peters like hair and a huge unruly beard.
A photo posted by Evan Peters (@booboodaddy) on Apr 20, 2016 at 9:58am PDT
Now look at this (very creepy) picture of Manson himself:
Photo of Charles Manson
Peters could CLEARLY take over the role of the notorious serial killer.
Without true confirmation from FX, AHS, or Murphy, this is all speculation. Theyre going to keep teasing us right up until the very last second, so be prepared to find out the theme for real at 10:01 p.m. on September 14th, 2016.
The post Heres proof that American Horror Story Season 6 is going to be about the Manson Family appeared first on HelloGiggles.
YENAGOA, Nigeria, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Nigerian protesters blocked the entrance to a Chevron oil facility in the restive Niger Delta on Wednesday, demanding jobs and housing, a protest leader said.
"Chevron has not fulfilled many of its promises," said Collins Edema, a youth and protest leader in the Ugborodo Itsekiri community in Delta state, home to Chevron's Escravos tank farm. Edema said the farm had been blocked.
He added the U.S. oil major had previously promised to create jobs for young people from the impoverished area and also provide new accommodation after housing next to the tank farm had been "destroyed" due to Chevron's activities.
He gave no further details.
Communities in Nigeria's southern swampland often complain about oil pollution and houses being moved so oil drilling can take place.
"Our protest will continue until Chevron listens to our demands. We at Ugborodo are urging other Itsekiri communities to follow suit and shut down Chevron activities in our communities," he said.
Chevron was not immediately available for comment, and it was not clear whether oil production was affected. The Niger Delta region has been hit by a wave of militant attacks on oil and gas pipelines.
(Reporting by Tife Owolabi, Anamesere Igboeroteonwu, Libby George and Ulf Laessing; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
(Adds Chevron comment, more details)
YENAGOA, Nigeria, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Protesters blocked the entrance to a Chevron oil facility in Nigeria's restive Niger Delta on Wednesday, demanding jobs and housing, a protest leader said.
"Chevron has not fulfilled many of its promises," said Collins Edema, a youth and protest leader in the Ugborodo Itsekiri community in Delta state, home to Chevron's Escravos oil depot.
Edema said the facility had been blocked and that more than 300 people, mostly local unemployed youths, had joined the protest, but Reuters could not confirm that figure.
He said the U.S. oil major had previously promised to create jobs for young people from the impoverished area and also provide new accommodation after housing next to the depot had been "destroyed" due to Chevron's activities.
He gave no further details.
Communities in Nigeria's southern swampland often complain about oil pollution and houses being moved so oil drilling can take place.
"Our protest will continue until Chevron listens to our demands. We at Ugborodo are urging other Itsekiri communities to follow suit and shut down Chevron activities in our communities," Edema said.
Chevron confirmed a protest had taken place but did not say whether oil production had been affected.
"Some members of the Ugborodo community gathered at one of the gates of our Escravos facility," the U.S. company said in a statement. "We continue to engage with the protesters and other key community leaders and stakeholders, including the Delta State Government, and hope for a resolution of the situation shortly."
The Niger Delta region has been hit by a wave of militant attacks on oil and gas pipelines, reducing the country's crude output by 700,000 barrels a day, according to state oil company NNPC.
The militants say they want a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth - which accounts for around 70 percent of national income - to be passed on to communities in the impoverished region and for areas blighted by oil spills to be cleaned up.
(Reporting by Tife Owolabi, Anamesere Igboeroteonwu, Libby George and Ulf Laessing; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Susan Fenton)
(Reuters) - Several protesters pulled out guns and fired at a car speeding away after hitting a man at a vigil marking the second anniversary of the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man shot by police in Ferguson, Missouri, local media said.
Other protesters tried to block the car to stop the driver from getting away, witnesses told the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
Ferguson police spokesman Jeff Small told the newspaper that the driver did not appear to have intentionally hit the protester and was cooperating with the authorities.
Police had found bullet holes in the car but no arrests have been made and no one was shot, he said.
The unidentified protester had walked into a busy street during the evening demonstration near where Brown was shot by a Ferguson police officer on Aug. 9, 2014, the St. Louis Post Dispatch said.
Brown's death sparked months of sometimes violent protests both in Ferguson and across America following subsequent police killings of unarmed black men in several other cities.
It also spurred the "Black Lives Matter" movement that has cast a spotlight on long-troubled relations between police and minority residents in many U.S. cities.
Ferguson police were not immediately available to comment.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of waging "terror" over alleged attempted incursions into annexed Crimea that Kiev has fiercely denied.
Russia's security agency announced it had thwarted "terrorist attacks" in Crimea by Ukrainian military intelligence and beaten back an armed assault, claims that have ratcheted up tensions first sparked by Moscow's 2014 annexation of the strategic Black Sea peninsula.
The FSB security service said in a statement that one of its officers was killed in armed clashes while arresting "terrorists" on the night of August 6-7, while a Russian soldier died in a firefight with "sabotage-terrorist" groups sent by the Ukrainian defence ministry on August 8.
"This is very alarming news. In fact, our security services prevented an incursion into the territory by a sabotage-reconnaissance group from Ukraine's defence ministry," Putin said.
The Kremlin leader accused the authorities in Kiev of "practising terror" and warned the deaths of the two Russian officers would have consequences.
"From the Russian side there were losses -- two servicemen killed. We obviously will not let such things slide by," Putin said.
"This is a very dangerous game. We will of course do everything to assure the security of infrastructure, citizens and will take additional measures to provide security, including serious additional measures."
Moscow and Kiev have been locked in a bitter feud since the Kremlin seized Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 after Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Moscow's claims were "senseless and cynical".
"These fantasies are only another pretext for the next military threats toward Ukraine," Interfax news agency reported him as saying.
Ukraine's national security council chief Oleksandr Turchynov, meanwhile, branded the allegations as "hysterical and false" and said Moscow was trying to stoke fear in Crimea.
Story continues
The defence ministry also dismissed the allegations as "nothing more than an attempt to justify the redeployment and aggressive actions" of Russian forces in the region.
Kiev's ambassador to the United Nations Volodymyr Yelchenko said Ukraine would ask the UN Security Council to hold an urgent meeting if tensions continue to rise.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring the frontier between mainland Ukraine and Crimea did not report any incidents.
But it said road traffic was halted earlier this week and border guards appeared to be on "heightened alert".
- 'Destabilise situation' -
In its statement, the FSB -- which controls Russia's border guards -- said it had "foiled terrorist attacks on the territory of Crimea prepared by the intelligence directorate of the Ukrainian defence ministry".
"The aim of the sabotage and terrorist attacks was to destabilise the social and political situation" ahead of elections in Russia and Crimea next month, it said.
The security agency said that in the August 6-7 raids, several people were detained, including a Ukrainian military intelligence officer, and a cache of explosives was discovered.
"On the night of August 8, 2016 special operations forces from the Ukrainian defence ministry carried out two more attempts to make a breakthrough by sabotage-terrorist groups," it said.
The assault included "massive firing from the side of the neighbouring state and armoured vehicles" but was beaten back by the Russian authorities, the statement said.
The FSB said it had stepped up security measures around the peninsula following the alleged incidents.
Russia seized Crimea in 2014 after sending in thousands of special forces to take control of Ukrainian bases and holding a hastily organised referendum that was rejected by the international community.
The move shattered ties between the two ex-Soviet neighbours and sent relations between Moscow and the West plummeting to their lowest point since the Cold War.
Since its annexation by Russia, Crimea has remained largely peaceful.
However, a separatist conflict -- that the West and Kiev blame on Moscow -- has killed some 9,500 people in two regions of Ukraine's industrial east.
Fighting in the east between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels is still rumbling on as a peace deal to end the violence fails to make progress.
Putin said the alleged incidents in Crimea meant he would not hold a meeting with Poroshenko and mediators German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French leader Francois Hollande on the conflict at the G20 summit in China in September.
Russia is gearing up for nationwide legislative elections on September 18 and Putin has previously warned his security officials that "foreign enemies" are seeking to disrupt the vote.
After intriguing history buffs and beer enthusiasts with his foray into the roots of Maustons brewery background, local author Rich Rossin is back, exploring the once forgotten Elroy brewery.
In 2011, Rossin published his first booklet, The History of the Mauston Brewery 1858-1916. Through the process of chronicling the history of Maustons brewery, Rossin became intrigued with the states rich beer background, especially in central and western Wisconsin. In the past few years, Rossin discovered more hidden gems about the local brewery boom of the mid-to-late 1800s. The result was The History of Joseph Schorer and His Breweries in Sauk City & Elroy, Wisconsin.
After my first booklet, I jumped into the second project right away, Rossin said. Around 2008, I really started to get into research and genealogy. One day at the library in Mauston, I picked up a copy of Breweries of Wisconsin, by Jerry Apps and found out Mauston had a brewery. I thought, Where the heck was a brewery in Mauston? That sparked my interest and I had to find out.
Through extensive research, Rossin found out that the old Mauston brewery was in the neighborhood he grew up in. In his new booklet, Rossin writes about Shorer, an ambitious German immigrant who founded breweries in Elroy and Sauk City, and opened a saloon in Merrimac. Shorer also farmed for much of his life until his death in Elroy in 1887.
Most people in Elroy never knew the town once had a brewery, Rossin said. Almost nothing was known about his obscure business. It seemed to be open for a couple years in the 1880s.
As he dove into the project, Rossin learned of Sauk Citys beer boom as well. The village attracted many German immigrants in the middle of the 19th Century. Sauk City once had five breweries and even had the original Leinenkugel brewery, built in 1846. Rossin said finding information about Schorer wasnt easy. He describes the Elroy brewer as a ghostly figure who wanted to live a low-profile life in America.
Information had to come from a wide-range of sources, such as land records, census and tax data, county histories and old news stories, Rossin said.
The author said there was very little advertising in local newspapers promoting Shorers breweries. In fact, most of the newspapers in the Sauk City area were German language publications, making it harder to translate information.
Rossin said Schorers story is similar to many German-Americans who came to the U.S. seeking a better life through business ventures.
In the future, Rossin plans to pen booklets on the history of Wisconsin Dells and Reedsburg breweries.
When I share some of this information with people, the reaction is like, Wow, this is awesome information, I didnt know this, Rossin said. This has gone from local research to having articles featured in national brewing publications.
Craft beer brewing has become increasingly popular nationally. Rossin describes the craft beer boom as a rebirth of a new golden age of brewing across America. However, few people know that small breweries were built all across the state prior to Prohibition. Rossins goal through his writing is to document the rich history and unique stories of Wisconsins first beer producers.
Rossins latest offering is currently available at the Boorman House Museum in Mauston and Dans Auto Center in Elroy. Rossin is also offering free home, by bicycle, delivery in the Mauston area. Price for each book is $10.
For more information, contact Rossin at 608-847-4039 or send an email to themaustonbrewery@yahoo.com.
Qantas is set to receive its first delivery of Boeing 787 Dreamliners next year and the airline has big plans for its new planes.
At an aviation conference in Brisbane last week, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said that the airline is considering using its new planes on longhaul flights that could rival the worlds longest. Some of the massive routes that Joyce mentioned include Melbourne to Dallas, Sydney to Chicago and Brisbane to other U.S. cities.
The longest flight that Qantas is considering is nonstop service from London to Perth. The 8,891-mile cross-continental flight would rival Emirates record-holding service from Auckland to Dubai.
The race to win the title of Worlds Longest Flight has jockeyed back and forth between several airlines in recent years. Up until March, Qantas held the record for its 16-hour, 50-minute flight from Dallas Fort-Worth to Sydney. Then Emirates came in and took the title with a 17-hour, 15-minute flight from Auckland to Dubai, covering 8,189 miles.
If Qantas wants to retake the title, they will have to act quickly.
Qatar Airways is expected to open a direct route from Dubai to Santiago, Chile, which would have a flight time of about 18 hours, 30 minutes. Theyre also expected to operate a non-stop flight from Doha to Auckland. And Emirates has plans to hold onto its title with a long-haul flight from Dubai to Panama City. And last but not least, Singapore Airlines is considering opening nearly 19-hour direct service between Singapore and New York City some time next year.
Related Articles
Ralph Lauren Corporation RL reported a solid first-quarter fiscal 2017 as the top and bottom lines cruised ahead of the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate. In response, the companys shares rose over 6% in the pre-market trading session and opened to trade at up nearly 8%.
Adjusted earnings of $1.06 per share fared better than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 89 cents but declined 2.8% from $1.09 reported in the prior-year quarter.
Ralph Lauren Corporation (RL) Street Actual & Estimate EPS - Last 5 Quarters | FindTheCompany
On a reported basis, the company posted a loss of 27 cents per share against earnings of 73 cents in the prior-year quarter. Reported earnings for the quarter primarily included restructuring, impairment and inventory charges related to the companys recently announced restructuring actions.
Quarterly Highlights
Net revenue of this luxury apparel retailer was down 4% year over year to $1,552 million but ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,528 million. On a currency-neutral basis too, revenues fell 4% in the quarter. Quarterly revenue growth was in line with the companys recently provided guidance of a mid-single-digit decline.
During the quarter, reported revenues for the International business increased 10%, offset by an 11% fall in North American revenues.
Segment-wise, Wholesale revenues witnessed a 5% decline year over year to $607 million, both on a reported and currency-neutral basis. Similarly, reported and currency-neutral Retail revenues dipped nearly 3% to $907 million, while licensing reported and currency-neutral revenues were down 8% to $38 million.
Consolidated comparable-store sales (comps) at the retail division were down 7% on a constant currency basis, and 6% on a reported basis owing to challenging traffic trends.
The decline in Wholesale revenues is attributed to the soft performance in North America due to adverse traffic trends in the U.S. department store channel, partly compensated by a rise in Europe. In Retail, sales were hurt by a fall in comps, offset by improved non-comparable store sales.
Ralph Lauren's adjusted gross profit margin expanded 130 bps to 61.1%, owing to favorable sales mix shifts, fall in product costs and a rise in Asia due to actions to enhance the quality of sales metrics.
Adjusted operating income margin contracted 60 bps to 8.2% but fared better than the previously guided 110160 bps decline. The better-than-expected operating margin was mainly due to better inventory control actions and a favorable product mix. However, operating margin comparisons suffered due to fixed expense deleverage and gross margin pressures.
Financials
Ralph Lauren ended the quarter with cash and investments of $1.2 billion, long-term debt of $602 million and total shareholders equity of $3,566 million.
During the reported quarter, Ralph Lauren deployed $78 million toward capital expenditure. Also, the company repurchased shares worth $100 million during the quarter, with about $200 million remaining under the current authorization.
Store Update
At the end of first-quarter fiscal 2017, Ralph Lauren had 485 directly operated stores and 598 concession shops across the globe. The directly operated stores included 132 Ralph Lauren, 81 Club Monaco and 272 Polo factory stores. This took the companys net new directly operated stores count to 18 and net new concession shops count to 40.
Additionally, the companys global licensing partners operated 96 Ralph Lauren stores, 17 dedicated shops as well as 134 Club Monaco stores and shops as of Jul 2, 2016.
Guidance
Ralph Lauren provided its outlook for the second quarter and fiscal 2017. The company expects fiscal second quarter reported revenues to be down in the mid-to-high single-digits range, with minimal impact from currency headwinds at current exchange rates. Operating margin for the upcoming quarter is expected to contract about 200250 bps from last year, while the effective tax rate is projected at 29%. The company expects the initiatives related to its Way Forward Plan to bear a greater effect on its second half fiscal 2017 results than the second-quarter results.
Coming to fiscal 2017, the company reiterated its low double-digit percentage revenue decline forecast. The fall is likely to reflect from an intentional pullback in inventory receipts, closing of stores, harmonizing pricing, and other quality of sale initiatives, along with challenging retail traffic trends and a highly promotional retail backdrop. However, the company expects currency to bear minimal effect on its fiscal 2017 revenues, based on current exchange rates.
Further, the company anticipates operating margin for fiscal 2017 at 10% reflecting a rise in new store expenses, negative currency impacts, infrastructure investments and fixed expense deleverage, offset by synergies from cost-saving actions. The company expects an effective tax rate of 29%.
The company also stated that its fiscal second-quarter and fiscal 2017 guidance excludes any impact from the Way Forward Plan related charges.
RALPH LAUREN CP Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
RALPH LAUREN CP Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | RALPH LAUREN CP Quote
Zacks Rank
Currently, Ralph Lauren carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Some better-ranked stocks in the related apparel/shoe industry include American Eagle Outfitters Inc. AEO, DSW Inc. DSW and Nordstrom Inc. JWN, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
AMER EAGLE OUTF (AEO): Free Stock Analysis Report
NORDSTROM INC (JWN): Free Stock Analysis Report
DSW INC CL-A (DSW): Free Stock Analysis Report
RALPH LAUREN CP (RL): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f172933%2fabs-head
It's pretty easy to be mistaken for someone else on Twitter, but we certainly don't envy those who bear the wrath of angry Australians, Jedi-identifying or otherwise.
Tuesday was census night, with millions of citizens meant to submit their personal details online (for the first time) as part of the country's largest statistical collection. Unfortunately the census website was unable to be accessed, with government officials blaming "hackers" for the outage on Wednesday morning.
SEE ALSO: 'Cyberattack' takes down Australian census website
While people complained on Twitter with the hashtag #CensusFail, an American named Andrei Soroker found himself on the receiving end of Australia's grievances.
That's because Soroker's Twitter handle @abs, happens to be an acronym for the Australian Bureau of Statistics the government organisation responsible for the Census.
Soroker even put changed his profile bio, to explain that he wasn't from the government organisation. Eventually, some clever folks figured out that @abs wasn't the Australian Bureau of Statistics, leading to apologies.
Soroker, who is from Oakland, California and is the CEO of startup Sameroom.io, told Mashable Australia via email that he gets mistaken for other organisations often on Twitter. On average he receives 1 or 2 odd tweets per day.
"I find it absolutely hilarious. I get a lot of rogue tweets (usually aimed at ABS-CBN), but the ones meant for the Bureau of Statistics are some of the most thoughtful. I added 'Not Australian Bureau of Statistics' to my Twitter bio a couple of years ago, because I quite like the name," he said.
"I find it interesting and kind of alarming that so many people don't understand how Twitter works the seemingly trivial concepts behind mentions and hashtags are daunting for so many. One of the faces of ever-growing digital divide, I suppose."
Oh and if you didn't know, the correct Twitter handle for the Australian Bureau of Statistics is @ABSCensus. We're sure it's got bigger fish to fry right now, however.
Dan Rather, Joe Scarborough and others have joined the bandwagon of people passionately condemning Donald Trumps provocative suggestion that Second Amendment people would be able to stop a potential President Hillary Clinton from taking away their gun rights.
No citizen who cares about the country and its future can ignore what Donald Trump said, Rather wrote Tuesday in a Facebook post. He crossed a line with dangerous potential. By any objective analysis, this is a new low and unprecedented in the history of American presidential politics. This is no longer about policy, civility, decency or even temperament. This is a direct threat of violence against a political rival. It is not just against the norms of American politics, it raises a serious question of whether it is against the law.
Trump sparked the controversy at a rally in Wilmington, N.C., earlier in the day.
Hillary wants to abolish essentially abolish the Second Amendment, the Republican nominee said. And if she gets to pick, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do.
Trump added: But the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I dont know.
The Clinton team was quick to respond. Like many critics, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook interpreted Trumps comments as either provoking or joking about violence against a potential Clinton administration.
This is simple, Mook said in a statement. What Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way.
The Trump campaign was equally swift in attempting to dismiss the controversy.
Its called the power of unification, Jason Miller, Trump senior communications adviser, said in a statement. Second Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power. And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it wont be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump.
Story continues
Rather didnt buy Team Trumps explanation.
Once the words are out there they cannot be taken back, he wrote. That is what inciting violence means.
Scarborough agreed.
Trump and his supporters have been scrambling wildly all day to explain away the inexplicable, but they can stop wasting their time, the host of MSNBCs Morning Joe wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Post. The GOP nominee was clearly suggesting that some of the Second Amendment people among his supporters could kill his Democratic opponent were she to be elected.
He added: A bloody line has been crossed that cannot be ignored. At long last, Donald Trump has left the Republican Party few options but to act decisively and get this political train wreck off the tracks before something terrible happens.
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman called Trumps remarks an ambiguous wink-wink to gun rights activists.
Trump knows what he is doing, and it is so dangerous in todays world, Friedman wrote. In the last year, we have seen a spate of lone-wolf acts of terrorism in America and Europe by men and women living on the fringes of society, some with petty criminal records, often with psychological problems, often described as loners, and almost always deeply immersed in fringe jihadist social networks that heat them up. They hear the signal in the noise. They hear the inspiration and the permission to do Gods work. They are not cooled by unfinished sentences.
Bernice King, the daughter of late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., slammed Trump on Twitter.
As the daughter of a leader who was assassinated, I find #Trump's comments distasteful, disturbing, dangerous. His words don't #LiveUp. #MLK Be A King (@BerniceKing) August 9, 2016
Erica Smegielski, daughter of the late Sandy Hook school principal Dawn Hochsprung, also took to Twitter to rip the real estate moguls remarks.
.@realDonaldTrump you think gun violence is a joke? Would love to tell you about Mom's life and gruesome MURDER. pic.twitter.com/swlnTPpAW7 Erica L Smegielski (@EricaSmegs) August 9, 2016
Former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, a Democrat who survived an assassination attempt by a lone gunman in 2011, called on Trump to apologize to both Clinton and gun owners.
Responsible, stable individuals wont take Trumps rhetoric to its literal end, but his words may provide a magnet for those seeking infamy, Giffords said in a statement. They may provide inspiration or permission for those bent on bloodshed.
She added: What political leaders say matters to their followers. When candidates descend into coarseness and insult, our politics follow suit. When they affirm violence, we should fear that violence will follow.
The New York Daily News, which is often fiercely critical of Trump, took it a step further, calling on him to end his campaign.
Today's front page:
THIS ISN'T A JOKE ANYMORE
The News says, Trump must end his campaign https://t.co/X4iuQGnCTA pic.twitter.com/Bk5gHbp8xN New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) August 10, 2016
People are playing with fire here, and there is no bigger flamethrower than Donald Trump, Friedman added in his column. Forget politics; he is a disgusting human being. His children should be ashamed of him. I only pray that he is not simply defeated, but that he loses all 50 states so that the message goes out across the land unambiguously, loud and clear: The likes of you should never come this way again.
MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's central bank is trying to prevent the rupee from becoming too volatile by regularly buying dollars when there are inflows from foreign investors, Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said on Wednesday.
Rajan, in a television interview, also said the central bank would likely pay a record-high dividend to the government, which would be one-sixth higher than the 699 billion rupees ($10.48 billion) pencilled into the annual budget unveiled in February.
"We are absorbing a fair amount of the inflows," Rajan told ET Now, adding that was a reason why foreign exchange reserves have soared recently to a record high.
($1 = 66.7100 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Neha Dasgupta and Suvashree Choudhury; Editing by Rafael Nam)
Though the current reporting cycle is drawing to a close, results are still pouring in from the real estate investment trust (REIT) industry. In fact, on Thursday, Aug 11, Communications Sales & Leasing, Inc. CSAL, Care Capital Properties, Inc. CCP and Community Healthcare Trust Incorporated CHCT are slated to release their quarterly figures.
Per the Earnings Preview report, for the Finance Sector, of which REITs are part, total Q2 earnings are projected to be down 5.3% on 0.4% lower revenues. This will follow the 6.9% decrease in the sectors earnings in the previous quarter.
However, the REIT industry has witnessed a mixed earnings season thus far. Though the industry benefited from a sustained low-rate environment in the second quarter, the economic environment and individual market dynamics equally played a crucial role in their performances.
While REITs like Prologis, Inc. PLD, SL Green Realty Corp. SLG and Boston Properties Inc. BXP reported better-than-expected numbers, Public Storage PSA, Vornado Realty Trust VNO and Equity Residential EQR failed to surpass expectations in the quarter.
Since, neither do all REITs cater to the same asset class, nor are they equally poised to surpass analysts expectations, we relied on the Zacks methodology, combining a favorable Zacks Rank Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) and a positive Earnings ESP, to predict the chance of a beat this quarter.
Our proprietary methodology Earnings ESP shows the percentage difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Research shows that with this combination of rank and ESP, chances of a positive earnings surprise are as high as 70% for the stocks.
Conversely, we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or #5 (Sell rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.
Lets now check how the above-mentioned companies are expected to perform, when they report their second-quarter results on Aug 11, 2016.
Communications Sales & Leasing is involved in the acquisition and construction of mission critical communications infrastructure and provides wireless infrastructure solutions for the communications industry. The company has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #2. Though Communications Sales & Leasing enjoys a favorable Zacks rank, its chances of a beat is lowered for a 0.00% ESP.
Story continues
COMMUNICTNS S&L Price and EPS Surprise
COMMUNICTNS S&L Price and EPS Surprise | COMMUNICTNS S&L Quote
Care Capital Properties is a healthcare REIT with a diversified portfolio of skilled nursing facilities and other healthcare assets operated by private regional and local care providers. The company has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3. Despite a favorable rank, surprise prediction becomes difficult due to its 0.00% ESP.
CARE CAP PROPRT Price and EPS Surprise
CARE CAP PROPRT Price and EPS Surprise | CARE CAP PROPRT Quote
Community Healthcare Trust is engaged in the acquisition and ownership of properties which are leased to hospitals, doctors, healthcare systems or other healthcare service providers. The company has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #4. Surprise prediction here too becomes inconclusive, with the company not having the right combination of ESP and rank.
COMM HLTHCR TR Price and EPS Surprise
COMM HLTHCR TR Price and EPS Surprise | COMM HLTHCR TR Quote
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
EQUITY RESIDENT (EQR): Free Stock Analysis Report
PROLOGIS INC (PLD): Free Stock Analysis Report
BOSTON PPTYS (BXP): Free Stock Analysis Report
PUBLIC STORAGE (PSA): Free Stock Analysis Report
VORNADO RLTY TR (VNO): Free Stock Analysis Report
SL GREEN REALTY (SLG): Free Stock Analysis Report
COMMUNICTNS S&L (CSAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
COMM HLTHCR TR (CHCT): Free Stock Analysis Report
CARE CAP PROPRT (CCP): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
In the five months since Relativity Media emerged from bankruptcy, Ryan Kavanaugh has yet to give a single interview, but thanks to Twitter, the Relativity CEO can be heard again.
Kavanaugh joined the social media platform on July 25 and began tweeting primarily about the studio's first post-Chapter 11 release, the upcoming Zach Galifianakis-Kristen Wiig comedy Masterminds. But within a few days, Kavanaugh's missives took a more personal turn, featuring pictures of his 9-month old son, Tommy. "I told myself I wasn't going to, but it was literally impossible to not share my greatest joy," he told THR.
But even more colorful, Kavanaugh tweeted a video clip that takes the viewer inside a medicinal marijuana facility. When asked about the cannabis shout-out, he confessed that he took a stake in a Nevada-based company called Acres Cultivation five years ago.
Read more: Relativity's Ryan Kavanaugh Breaks Silence, Points Fingers in Emotional Post-Bankruptcy Interview (Exclusive)
"I thought that one was fun," Kavanaugh jokes of his little-known investment in the bud business. For those hoping he will be as unfiltered on Twitter as Relativity's Dana Brunetti, Kavanaugh says he will definitely get political. "I do plan on it, especially since I sit on the opposite side of most of the industry," says Kavanaugh, who has been outspoken on Israel (he's pro) and President Obama (anti). "If I feel something was missed by the media or needs to be addressed, I will certainly not hesitate."
A day after speaking to THR, he did just that, leaping to the defense of Brunetti, who was called an "idiot" on Twitter by Judd Apatow for agreeing with a Gavin Polone essay in THR saying he would not vote for Hillary Clinton. "This is the problem with hllywd anyone who doesnt blindly support a democrat is personally attacked," he wrote.
A version of this story first appeared in the Aug. 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
In order for solar power to compete with other forms of energy, the conventional thinking goes, it needs to become way cheaper.
Installing rooftop solar panels can be prohibitively expensive, after all, and it takes years before the resulting energy savings pay off. For the individual, it doesnt matter whether solar panels will save you money in the long run if you cant afford them in the short run.
For those of us who are renters, the decision of whether to go solar is even more irrelevant. We dont have the option to install panels ourselves. And unless your apartment comes with utilities included, your landlord has no incentive to install solar panels, because you would get all the savings.
But while the average family may be unable to make a costly investment in solar, the government has much deeper pockets and an entire Department of Energy to work with.
There are already some state incentives to help bring down the cost of solar panels for homeowners. But the federal government can do more starting with powering its own buildings with solar power, yielding savings every year that could make a big difference to taxpayers and help expand the industry, potentially lowering prices for the rest of us.
The same can be said for corporations, only their savings would result in bigger long-term profits to shareholders.
Yet while the solar industry is growing rapidly, it still remains a small part of our overall energy grid. One reason its not growing quicker is that energy companies and utilities are lobbying against its expansion, especially when it comes to privately owned panels.
Solar power allows individual home or business owners to produce their own energy and cease to be customers of the local electric companies and the fossil fuel and nuclear industries that supply them.
When utility providers use coal, natural gas, or nuclear, in other words, they remain the centralized provider of energy and they get the profits. When you put a solar panel on your house, they dont.
So maybe the reason solar hasnt taken off more isnt because it isnt a viable technology, or because its more costly for consumers. Maybe its because it threatens corporate profits.
We didnt forestall the switch to cars because we wanted to save jobs and profits in the horse and carriage industry. If we choose to give up on solar power because its expensive, rather than finding ways to make it cheaper, were basically choosing to continue burning fossil fuels.
Do we really want to protect dirty energy jobs and profits while the planet cooks?
Instead of lobbying to continue polluting the planet, the energy and utility sectors could expand their repertoire to include selling and installing solar panels. That would be a win-win for everyone.
joeseph papa valeant
Valeant Pharmaceuticals, the troubled Canadian drugmaker, is under criminal investigation, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Federal investigators are considering bringing charges of defrauding investors with its relationship to specialty pharmacy Philidor, reported The Journal, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
According to the report, US district attorneys in New York are considering whether Philidor unfairly directed patients toward higher-priced drugs made by Valeant instead of lower-cost options without revealing the relationship between the two firms.
Investigators are looking into whether Philidor told insurers that it had no relationship with Valeant in order to secure coverage of the higher-priced drugs.
Philidor, which no longer exists, stated in a letter to a US Senate committee investigating Valeant that it did not push patients toward Valeant's products. Valeant paid $80 million in fees to Philidor in 2015, and the specialty pharmacy was dispensing more than 5o drugs made by Valeant, according to documents sent to the committee.
Valeant disclosed in October 2015 that it had a relationship with Philidor, including an option to buy the company. Eventually, Valeant severed ties with Philidor because of misstatements in its accounting.
According to the report, the US attorney's office is considering pressing charges related to mail and wire fraud. The Journal's sources said that the office is considering charges against two former Philidor executives individually.
Valeant had previously said in filings that it was facing investigations in four different states, including New York. The filing directly stated that New York investigators were looking into the Philidor relationship.
UPDATE: In response to the story, Valeant released a statement late Wednesday saying that the investigation was already public knowledge and that the firm is cooperating with the US Attorney's Office. Here is the statement in full:
Story continues
"Valeant previously disclosed in October 2015 that the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York commenced an investigation involving Valeant. We have been fully cooperating with the authorities throughout the investigation, and we are in frequent contact and continue to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. We do not comment on rumors about investigations, and cannot comment on or speculate about the possible course of any ongoing investigation.
"Valeant takes these matters seriously and intends to uphold the highest standards of ethical conduct as we move forward with our mission to improve people's lives with our healthcare products."
In pre-market trading on Thursday, Valeant's stock fell by roughly 6.8% to $25.44 as of 8:48 a.m. ET.
Screen Shot 2016 08 11 at 8.48.27 AM
Read the full story at The Wall Street Journal
NOW WATCH: Watch Hillary Clinton threaten to 'go after' one of the most controversial drug companies in America
More From Business Insider
United by their traumatic pasts, this calf and puppy have become unlikely best friends.
Read: Stray Cat Becomes Best Friends With Bear at Zoo: 'Wherever He Is, She's Not Far Off'
The 5-month-old puppy and 3-month-old calf have been inseparable since they were both rescued and taken to Julianas Animal Sanctuary in Colombia.
Rescue co-founder Juliana Castaneda Turner told InsideEdition.com that she was contacted by a small local dairy farm about a newborn bull that they didn't want.
[He would have] no chance to have a normal life, because the dairy industry needs cows that give milk, not bulls, Castaneda said.
To keep the newborn from its inevitable fate in the slaughterhouse, Castaneda said she took in the animal, even though they had hardly room in their rescue for another large animal.
The calf, named Bernie, was rescued at 8 days old and placed with the older dogs to make sure he was safe from being trampled by the larger animals.
The old dogs' area is big enough and [there is] no danger there because the dogs are too kind, she said. He needs a lot of attention day and night, and that area is for that special attention.
But Bernie needed more, she said. The older dogs were not as energetic as him but when he tried to play with older cows, Castaneda deemed it too dangerous.
That's where Sri Ram the puppy came in.
Read: Meet the Warthog Piglet and Rottweiler Puppy That Became Best Friends After Being Rescued
Castaneda said the puppy, which she rescued just a month before the calf, was just as lonely after being separated from his family.
She said she saw a litter of four puppies and their mother in the backyard of a nearby home, starving and near death. She told the owners, who planned to sell the dogs, that she would take the litter to receive medical attention. Castaneda said she never returned to the home.
Story continues
On a trip to the United States, she brought three of the pups to be adopted out. She left the smallest of the litter, Sri Ram, at the rescue.
Upon their return, her co-founder suggested they introduce the pup to the calf, who had grown up enough to be playing with other dogs.
Immediately, they were the best of friends.
They loved each other from the first day, Castaneda said. "They are just two babies, full of energy.
The unlikely pair has been inseparable since doing everything from playing together to napping together.
Read: Deaf Girl Teaches Sign Language To Her Dog, Who Was Also Born Deaf
Despite the difficult journey to where they are now, she said Bernie and Sri Ram couldnt be happier at their new home.
Castaneda said it has been her dream since she was a kid to open an animal sanctuary and change the lives of animals like Bernie and Sri Ram.
Julianas Animal Sanctuary, located in the Andes Mountains, is reportedly the only no-kill rescue in Colombia. To support their mission, visit their crowdfunding campaign.
Watch: Toddlers Battling Cancer Become Best Friends: 'Happy While They're Fighting So Hard'
Related Articles:
Rob Reiner insists Donald Trump crossed a dangerous line on Tuesday and there is no going back from his comments about Hillary Clinton.
While stumping in Wilmington, N.C., the GOP presidential nominee told his supporters that Clinton was a threat to their Second Amendment rights, adding "By the way, and if she gets to pick - if she gets to pick her [Supreme Court] judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although, the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know."
Many took the statement as insinuation of violence against Clinton, including Reiner, who told The Hollywood Reporter he couldn't believe what he heard.
"There are so many horrific things that he says that you become numb to it and think you can't be shocked anymore, and then he says something like this," Reiner marveled in disbelief. "And even if he says he was joking, like he did about asking the Russians to hack into Mrs. Clinton's emails, this is really not - because here is the problem, he has got some very violent people who follow him. He's got all these neo-Nazi groups and white supremacist groups and they're capable of doing all kinds of things."
The Trump campaign released a statement saying the comment was a "unification" call and nothing malicious.
Read more: Hollywood Slams Donald Trump Over Clinton, Second Amendment Remarks
Reiner, who has been vocally critical of Trump on social media and while appearing on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher, said the angry rhetoric came to a boil Tuesday with Trump's remark, calling it "scary stuff."
"We're talking about somebody's life here," he told THR. "And it's not as though there haven't been political assassinations in our country, there have been. So you have to say that this is the kind of thing that disqualifies him."
The billionaire businessman turned would-be politician is unlike any candidate Reiner says he has ever witnessed in his lifetime.
Story continues
"And people just accept that that's who this guy is," said Reiner. "And I call upon responsible leaders in his party to say, 'Enough already. It's enough.'"
No matter what the polls say, Trump has plenty of "diehard" supporters who follow the tone he sets, Reiner said.
"Where's the decency? Where's the compassion and decency for your fellow man? I don't care if you disagree with someone's politics, but there's a certain sense of decency towards other human beings, and he just doesn't show any," said Reiner. "He is a dangerous person. He is a very, very dangerous person. And he only cares about himself, and he is willing to hurt other people to benefit himself."
Saying the media is doing "a little bit better now" of holding Trump accountable than it did during the primary season, Reiner said the bar cannot go any lower this election season.
"There is no place in American political discourse for what this guy is doing," he said. "And he is already preempting everything by saying it's all rigged; the system is rigged, the election is rigged, and I am just scared of those diehard supporters being unleashed somehow. It's an angry mob."
Read more: Rob Reiner Period Drama 'The Tap' Gets Pilot Order at USA Network
Who says friends cant give each other a hard time?
In case you havent heard, Tom Hiddleston is on Instagram now, and the 35-year-old actors Avengers co-star, Robert Downey Jr., welcomed him to the social media platform on Tuesday, by teasing him about that now-infamous I heart T.S. shirt from the early days of his whirlwind romance with Taylor Swift.
Join me in welcoming the biggest T. Stark fan of them all to Instagram! @twhiddleston, Downey, Jr. wrote, joking that the T.S. inscribed on the shirt stood for Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man, who the 51-year-old actor plays in several Marvel franchise movies.
WATCH: Tom Hiddleston Joins Instagram, and His First Post Will Definitely Make You Smile
We gotta say only makes us love the tank top more!
As of yet, Hiddleston hasnt taken to his Instagram to respond to the shade. In fact, hes only made one post at all so far!
Watch the video below to see how Loki made his Instagram debut.
Related Articles
Roger Jay Pietschmann, a third generation motion picture industry vet who, like his father, was a boom operator, sound recordist and mixer with credits including Taxi Driver, Pee Wees Big Adventure and Twilight Zone: The Movie has died following a battle with multiple symptom atrophy. He was 71.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Pietschmann attended University High School, Santa Monica Community College, and the University of California at Long Beach before entering the film industry on Martin Scorseses Taxi Driver. Many other films followed, including Twilight Zone: The Movie, Pee Wees Big Adventure, Batman Returns, Honey, I Blew Up The Kid, and Madonna: Truth or Dare. Notably, Pietschmann was on location at the Twilight Zone shoot in Valencia, California when a stunt helicopter crashed, killing actor Vic Morrow and two child actors.
Pietschmann also worked extensively in television, his credits including 60 Minutes, American Masters, Family Law, The X-Files, The Division, Airline, Dirt, Sleeper Cell and Dexter.
Roger Jay Pietschmann died peacefully at home July 26 in Los Angeles with his family at his side after a six-year battle with multiple symptom atrophy (MSA). Throughout his illness he never lost his wonderful take on life and sense of humor. He was the third generation of family employed in the motion picture industry. Like his father before him, he was a boom operator, sound recordist and mixer. He received a Primetime Emmy for his work on Sleeper Cell and was nominated for the Cinema Audio Societys Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Sleeper Cell and Dexter.
Pietschmanns father, Richard J. Pietschmann Jr., is credited with helping to create the multi-track stereophonic sound system for Cinerama. His grandfather, Richard J. Pietschmann Sr., was a set lighter during the early days of the motion picture industry in both New York and Los Angeles. Pietschmann is survived by his wife Andrea, his daughter Devin, and his brother Richard J. Pietschmann 3rd. Known for his sense of humor, his family have said he maintained high spirits throughout his medical battle. His family have requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in his name to combat MSA. To that end, his daughter has set up a funding site for contributions.
Story continues
Related stories
Jodie Foster On 'Money Monster', Its Relevance And How Studio Movies Have Changed - Cannes Studio
Scorsese, De Niro & Foster Lead 'Taxi Driver' 40th Birthday Tribute - Tribeca Film Festival
Jodie Foster Calls Jonathan Demme "My Favorite Woman Director" - Tribeca Film Festival
Sound veteran Roger Jay Pietschmann died July 26 at his home in Los Angeles and with his family at his side after a six-year battle with multiple symptom atrophy, the Cinema Audio Society announced. He was 71.
A boom operator, sound recordist and mixer, Pietschmann began his career on Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), and his feature resume also included Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985), Batman Returns (1992) and Honey I Blew up the Kid (1992).
On the 1983 John Landis film Twilight Zone: The Movie, Pietschmann was on the scene when a stunt helicopter crashed, killing actor Vic Morrow and two child actors.
He received an Emmy nomination for his efforts on Sleeper Cell and was nominated for the Cinema Audio Society's outstanding achievement in sound mixing award for that series and for Dexter.
He also worked in television on Nature, 60 Minutes, American Masters, Family Law, The Division, Airline and Dirt.
Pietschmann was a third-generation member of the motion picture community. His father, Richard J. Pietschmann Jr., is credited with helping create the multitrack stereophonic sound system for Cinerama and was recordist and mixer on four of those widescreen movies, including 1952's This Is Cinerama. His grandfather, Richard J. Pietschmann Sr., did set lighting during the early days of the industry.
Pietschmann graduated from University High School in Los Angeles and attended Santa Monica Community College and the University of California at Long Beach.
He is survived by his wife Andrea, daughter Devin and brother Richard.
His daughter has set up a funding site for contributions used to better understand and defeat MSA. Donations may be made in his name.
Read more: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2016
A number of proposed changes to the Westby Area High School handbook for the 2016-17 school year resulted in spirited discussion without resolution at the July 11 monthly board of education meeting and further discussion at a special board meeting on July 25.
The heart of the discussion and proposed changes was centered around removing cell phones from high school classroom settings where they have become a major distraction and are problematic for educators.
Westby Area High School Principal Karl Stoker said his educators are unanimously on board with removing cell phones from the classroom and making the change part of the Co-Curricular handbook policies, but the proposal was shot down after spirited discussion regarding the subject and an overall consensus could not be reached by school board members and administration in time for the upcoming school year.
The proposal was to allow students to keep their cell phones in their lockers, with the opportunity to check for messages during breaks and between classes, but to remove them completely from students during classroom time periods.
Stoker brought the proposal to the board at the July 11 meeting held at the Chaseburg Village Hall, but was met with opposition from District Administrator Chuck Norton and Technology Support & Integration Specialist Nathan Papendorf.
Norton and Papendorf felt the black and white approach presented by Stoker was too stringent and the district approach should be to teach students appreciation for the hand held devices as they learn the art of self regulation.
Stoker said a battle is on in the classrooms and educators are losing valuable time teaching and spending more time handling ongoing issues with inappropriate time and use of cell phones by students.
Changing a culture is difficult, but cell phones are interfering with the learning process and teachers are being overrun and overwhelmed by the situation, Stoker said. He added that this is a growing problem and even the educators that didnt have a problem with students having cell phones in the classrooms before are jumping on board the time for change bandwagon.
Kids need to learn that there is our time and their time and our time does not allow for cell phone use in the classroom, Stoker said.
Board president David Eggen asked if this needed to be a policy change and suggested that the staff simply police the problem themselves.
Stoker said the steps currently in place are not working and that changing policy forces everyone to adhere to those changes creating a level playing field.
This is a real problem for the staff right now and we need to get a grip on it, Stoker said.
Robert Kerska agreed with Stoker and said the key is to adopt a unified policy. He said he saw no reason for kids to have cell phones in the classroom since the district has a 1-to-1 initiative in place and the Chrome books that students are provided with provide all the learning tools students need in the classroom.
Board member and father of teenage children Andy Lipski was on board with the new proposed changes. He questioned the purpose of cell phones in the classrooms when the district has invested so much money to provide all students a level playing field with the 1-to-1 initiative.
Lipski was passionate in his response stating that the first rule should be to have students follow the damn rules. He said it drives him nuts that the district spent all this money on 1-to-1 initiative and yet they continue to dangle a carrot in front of kids who they are still spending more time dinking around on their phones instead of learning in the classroom.
Papendorf said implementing such a black and white rule will fail and by imposing such a harsh rule its like putting the cart before the horse when the real changes needs to come from teaching students to self regulate the time they spend on the phones, not just going cold turkey.
With discussions going nowhere and anxiety level increasing the discussion was tabled until the July 25 special meeting.
In search of common ground and feeling the need for more unity from the school board on the issue, Stoker took a step back at the July 25 meeting. He was disheartened that administration blindsided him in this presentation at the July 11 meeting, since he had spent months preparing and going through all the proper channels before bringing it to the school board.
On July 25, Kerska took time again to reiterate his opinion that having cell phones on student in the classroom was ridiculous and illogical. He said social interaction was more important and kids need to learn that they dont need to be tied to their cell phone.
Lipski stood his ground as well and said there was no academic purpose to having a cell phone in the classroom.
Papendorf said there is more than one right answer and we need to teach restraint to students.
Norton said the district needs to engage kids so they know that what is happening in the classroom is a problem. He suggested implementing consistency and getting the house in order first before approving such a totally restrictive policy.
Jason Winsor suggested working through some of the concerns through the districts PBIS program.
Stoker agreed to inform his staff that they would have to operate under the current handbook policy already in place at the high school level for the 2016-17 school year and together with administration they will need to work toward a more applicable future solution to a growing problem.
Currently at the high school level cell phones may be used for personal use during passing time, lunch or break. During any other time they must be out of sight and turned off. Staff has the right to seize a students cell phone if they do not abide by the rules and place them in the high school safe. Students may retrieve them at the end of the day.
There is a more restrictive policy in place at the middle school level. Students are not allowed to have cell phones on their person in the classroom, but are allowed to have them in their lockers. They are not allowed to turn the phones on during the school day unless they have the permission of a staff member.
Future changes to the cell phone policy at the high school level will be discussed at future administration and policy meetings before returning to the Board of Education as an agenda item.
In other handbook related business at the high school level, Stoker suggested closing the campus during lunch hour after ongoing concerns over the past couple of years with students driving inappropriately during the lunch break. They also discussed changes and more clarification of appropriate and inappropriate apparel worn to school as listed in the dress codes.
Rose McGowan has penned an open letter to Donald Trump, the Murdochs and broadcast networks, including ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox, for coverage of the controversial Republican nominee for president.
In the letter, which was sent to media outlets on Wednesday afternoon and posted on McGowan's Facebook page, the actress turned outspoken activist blasts Trump and "media men" for poisoning the country with his rhetoric. "This is real. We are sick," writes McGowan, who has been speaking out on Trump through the course of this election season. "Living with your daily reign of terror cancer, and it is terror cancer, is something we are unwilling to do for another minute. I do not want to live my life this way. I am a proud AMERICAN & GLOBAL CITIZEN who's [sic] head is bowed to her knees in because she is sickened every day. Because of you. It is NOT most of America who should be ashamed, it is YOU for propagating this propaganda."
Read more: Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner Pen Open Letter to Donald Trump
She urges those in positions of power to "think differently and to do better."
"It's that easy to be a better person and to do the right thing no matter the cost. The time is now," the letter states. McGowan's letter comes a day after Trump incited a firestorm of controversy when he told his supporters at a Tuesday rally in North Carolina that "Second Amendment people" could block Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton if she was elected president.
McGowan isn't the first notable Hollywood name to pen an open letter to Trump. Previous statements have come from Lena Dunham and Russell Simmons. Read McGowan's full letter below:
AN OPEN LETTER TO CNN FOX CBS ABC NBC VIACOM THE MURDOCHS AND DONALD J. TRUMP
RE: STATE OF EPIDEMIC/ZIKA2
Dear Enablers and Donald,
After the Republican National Convention I wrote an open letter to a rabid Trump supporter. I realize now the letter was for you, Donald and media men. It's you I've been wanting to talk to. You who have been stressing me and most of the nation out to the point of a diagnosable sickness. WE ARE BEING POISONED. We, the public, are being sickened by an ever expanding assault on our right to live a healthy and free life. Donald & you ratings driven colluders, are holding us the public hostage and exposing us to disease. A massive DISease.
Story continues
Our symptoms are knots in our shoulders, sick feelings in the pit of our vaginas, stomach tightness, shortness of breath, wildly elevated stress levels - we are now chronically experiencing a true mass illness.
Caused by you. You all had a hand in this. You must take ownership of this situation.
You are causing a worldwide sickness. You are POISONING us as sure as Flint is poisoning its citizens. You are poisoning your very own family and us, your brothers and sisters.
This is real. We are sick. Living with your daily reign of terror cancer, and it is terror cancer, is something we are unwilling to do for another minute. I do not want to live my life this way. I am a proud AMERICAN & GLOBAL CITIZEN who's head is bowed to her knees in because she is sickened every day. Because of you. It is NOT most of America who should be ashamed, it is YOU for propagating this propaganda.
We, the public, need for you to look for your humanity. We, the public, need you to think differently and to do better. Think different. Do better. It's that easy to be a better person and to do the right thing no matter the cost. The time is now.
Stop poisoning humanity. Go rogue, reverse course, be BRAVE. He is a murderer in the making. Do NOT AID AND ABET A CRIME.
UNPLUG THE MICROPHONES
STOP COVERING HIM
TURN THE LIGHTS OUT
STOP THE CANCER
It is time to RISE and say NO MORE
#ROSEARMY#ANARMYOFTHOUGHT
Read more: Russell Simmons Asks Donald Trump to "Stop the Bullshit" in Open Letter
Madrid (AFP) - Spain's Popular Party (PP) will decide next Wednesday whether it accepts conditions set by centrist upstart grouping Ciudadanos in exchange for helping it form a minority government, acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said.
Ciudadanos on Tuesday put forward six conditions -- including electoral reform and anti-corruption measures -- which if accepted would see it sit down to negotiate with the PP and back the ruling conservative party in its bid to form a minority government.
This would be the first breakthrough after inconclusive elections in June, although Rajoy would still need support elsewhere to break Spain's deep-set political paralysis and get a government through the necessary parliamentary vote of confidence.
The PP "will do everything in its power to allow these negotiations to start", Rajoy told reporters after meeting with Ciudadanos chief Albert Rivera, adding the party's executive committee would meet next Wednesday to examine and vote on the proposals.
Spain has been without a fully functioning government for more than seven months following two inconclusive polls, leaving it in political limbo in a sensitive economic and political period.
But even as parties reiterate the need for a stable government after repeat elections in June, none has yet sealed a deal, leaving the country in the hands of a caretaker government.
Rajoy's PP, in power since 2011, won the June elections but fell short of an absolute majority, winning 137 parliamentary seats out of 350.
The acting prime minister has since been tasked by King Felipe VI with forming a coalition or minority government, which he will have to push through a vote of confidence.
In order to do so, Rajoy will need an absolute majority in the vote. If he fails, a second vote will be held several days later in which he would only need a simple majority.
But Ciudadanos, with the 32 seats it gained in June elections, will still not be enough for Rajoy to push a government through if everyone else votes against it.
He still needs the help of the Socialists, even if it is just an abstention in the vote.
But they have so far ruled out abstaining.
By Lidia Kelly MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday there would be daily three-hour ceasefires in Syria's Aleppo starting Thursday to allow humanitarian convoys to enter the city safely, a proposal which the United Nations said it would consider. Aleppo is split into rebel- and government-held . The rebel-held east, where about 250,000 people are thought to be living, came under siege in early July after government forces cut the Castello Road, the main supply route into the district. On Friday rebels staged a major assault southwest of Aleppo to break through this siege. Fighters did manage to pierce the ring of government-controlled territory, but a safe corridor for civilians and aid has not yet been established as fierce fighting continues. Speaking at a televised briefing, Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoi, a senior Russian Defense Ministry official, said the pause in fighting would run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time. Rudskoi said the question of joint control over delivery of humanitarian aid via Castello Road was being discussed with the United Nations and the United States. He said "all military action, air and artillery strikes" would be halted for the three-hour periods. "This is to ensure that all interested organizations have the opportunity to deliver their humanitarian assistance to the residents of Aleppo," Rudskoi said. He added that Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against rebels in Syria's five-year-old civil war, would work with Damascus to ensure safe delivery of the aid. A spokesman for a major rebel group fighting inside Aleppo told Reuters it was skeptical of the Russian plan. "Is this publicity that Russia is a neutral party? What is three hours? In those three hours they will just be bombing (rebel-held) Idlib!" said Abd al-Salaam Abd al-Razzaq, military spokesman for the Nour al Din al-Zinki insurgent group. Air strikes killed at least 19 people and wounded dozens in rebel-held Idlib province, southwest of Aleppo, on Wednesday. One Idlib town, Saraqeb, has received daily heavy air strikes since a Russian helicopter was shot down nearby 10 days ago. QUARTER OF A MILLION PEOPLE TRAPPED Concerns are growing for the roughly 250,000 people believed to be trapped inside eastern Aleppo, where food supplies, infrastructure and medical services are immensely strained. United Nations aid chief Stephen O'Brien said on Wednesday he was willing to consider the Russian plan, but that a 48-hour pause in fighting was needed to meet all the humanitarian needs in the Syrian city, Syria's most populous before the war. "At all times I will look at any kind of suggestion which enables humanitarian aid to be delivered," he told reporters. "When we're offered three hours then you have to ask what could be achieved in that three hours - is it to meet the need, or would it only just meet a very small part of the need? "Clearly, from our point of view, were simply there to meet the need, all the need...," O'Brien said. "To meet that capacity of need you need two (road) lanes and you need to have about 48 hours to get sufficient trucks in." He said last month that any Aleppo humanitarian pause needed to be 48 hours because the Castello Road was so damaged that only smaller trucks could be used, taking longer to deliver the assistance needed. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said the United States would welcome any pause in fighting in Syria to facilitate delivery of vital humanitarian aid, but a truce must be observed by all parties. Rudskoi said that a point for collecting the aid and forming convoys has been established near Handarat, on the northern outskirts of Aleppo. Two weeks ago Russia and the Syrian government declared a joint humanitarian operation for the besieged area, showering it with leaflets telling fighters to surrender and civilians to leave through a number of "humanitarian corridors" it had set up. Russian and Syrian warplanes have bombarded eastern Aleppo and other rebel-held areas of Syria daily for months and the United States suggested the humanitarian corridors plan may have been an attempt to depopulate the city so that the Syrian army could seize it. "All seven humanitarian corridors, established for the exit of peaceful residents and militants who wanted to lay down their arms, are open and work around the clock," Rudskoi said. "An additional humanitarian corridor for militants with weapons continues to operate near the Castello Road." He said that a "number" of armed groups, with weapons, had already left the eastern part of Aleppo through that corridor. Rudskoi said the situation in the southwest of Aleppo remains difficult, with about 7,000 Jabhat Fatah al-Sham militants massing there for the past week and still being joined by new combatants. He said the militants had tanks, artillery and combat vehicles with weapons mounted on them. (Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York, Lisa Barrington and Suleiman al-Khalidi in Beirut; editing by Andrew Osborn and Mark Heinrich)
Rentals at 399 Fremont currently start around $3,550 a month for an available 420-square-foot studio.
San Francisco is notorious for sky-high rental prices, and while that situation wont likely change in the near future, there are signs the San Francisco rental market is finally (finally!) softening.
San Francisco rental growth has slowed significantly over the last 12 months, according to the latest data from Zillow, the online real estate database company, which indicates San Francisco city rents climbed 5.5% year-over-year this June, versus a whopping 16.4% for June 2015.
Listings that once rented in just two to three weeks can now take two to three months to rent, explains Paul Hwang, principal broker at Skybox Realty, a San Francisco-based real estate agency.
At least four new apartment buildings have opened within a three-block radius of one another during the last 18 months in San Franciscos thriving South of Market neighborhood, which is home to major tech companies like Airbnb, Pinterest and Yelp (YELP).
Those four buildings Jasper, 340 Fremont, 399 Fremont and Solaire frequently offer some sort of bargain for prospective renters. 340 Fremont is offering six weeks of free rent; Solaire is pitching four weeks of free rent, free on-site storage and $1,000 discounts to renters who work at tech companies like Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB) and Yahoo (YHOO). Meanwhile, another building, 399 Fremont, even tried giving away free bikes one weekend.
399 FREMONT IN SAN FRANCISCO HOUSES 447 RESIDENTIAL UNITS ON 42 FLOORS, AND 25,000 SQUARE FEET OF AMENITY SPACE.
Located at 45 Lansing St. in San Francisco, Jasper contains 320 residential units on 39 floors, with studios currently starting around $3,100.
Chalk part of that up to an apparent slowdown in tech hiring. Tech layoffs more than doubled during the first four months this year compared to the same period in 2015, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Raising funds isnt as easy as it once was, when seemingly any entrepreneur with a half-baked idea another Snapchat clone, the 20th food delivery startup could raise a few million before slowly puttering their way into irrelevance.
Then theres the huge surplus of the available units up for rent. The Dallas, Tex.-based housing research firm Axiometrics estimates 12,300 new units will glut San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose this year, up from about 7,000 units in 2015 and 6,700 units in 2014.
Story continues
This has forced many landlords to get more creative to fill units, doling out incentives not seen since 2009, according to Hwang.
For more attractive deals, look no further than Craigslist, where 1 month free is a popular tagline in listings spanning from San Francisco proper and Oakland to San Jose and Cupertino.
Welcome Home!! 1 Month Free!! No App Fees!! $500 Deposit!! reads one listing for an 845-square-foot one-bedroom in San Jose. Love where you live! 1 month free $500 [Visa] gift card! another listing declares for a 679-square-foot one-bedroom in Redwood City. Still others are dangling a $1,000 look and lease special: Lease an apartment the same day you view it, and the landlord slashes $1,000 off the deposit or one months rent.
The fact, of course, remains that no matter how many incentives Bay Area landlords dole out, renters will still end up paying more for a one-bedroom than most Americans pay for the mortgage of their multi-bedroom homes. San Francisco, after all, continues to outrank New York City as the most expensive city to rent an apartment, according to the June national rent report from apartment website Zumper.
But if ever there were a time for well-salaried tech workers to rent the apartment of their dreams, that time is now. For everyone else? Lets hope the San Francisco rental market softens even more.
JP Mangalindan is senior correspondent for Yahoo Finance covering the intersection of tech and business.
Sarah Paulson is continuing her quest to be the busiest woman on TV!
Fresh off of her Television Critics Association Awards win and her Emmy Award nominations for playing Marcia Clark in The People v. O.J. Simpson, Paulson is already looking to be a part of the next chapter of American Crime Story.
"I'm begging them to let me do that," Paulson exclaimed to reporters at the summer Television Critics Association press tour on Tuesday. "Begging on my hands and knees."
The upcoming season of Ryan Murphy's FX anthology series, which will premiere in 2017, will shift away from the courtroom and onto one of the greatest natural disasters in American history: 2005's Hurricane Katrina.
MORE: FX Boss Reveals How to Uncover 'American Horror Story' Season 6 Theme
American Crime Story executive producer Brad Simpson revealed that the writers' room is "just now starting to get the episodes in," but the story will be completely unlike the inaugural O.J. Simpson-centric season. "We're looking at it to be tonally and thematically incredibly different," he said.
"I think every year, the show will change and morph based on the crime that we're exploring, but really it's going to be about two things: One is just the intensity of what it was like to be there on the ground and to be in that pressure cooker," Simpson continued. "And also, thematically, the bigger crime, which is that Katrina that was something that was predictable, that we weren't prepared for even though we knew that it was going to happen."
Simpson added that, like The People v. O.J. Simpson, the next season will feature a mixture of well-known and unknown characters.
WATCH: Holland Taylor Proudly Supports Girlfriend Sarah Paulson During TCA Awards
"You will have the famous people and you will also have the people who weren't famous during Katrina," Simpson said. "I'm, sadly, not going to be making any big news here today in terms of who will be returning."
Story continues
Even though Paulson's involvement in the Katrina-themed season has yet to be official, the 41-year-old actress did confirm that she will be appearing in American Horror Story's mysterious sixth season.
"I can tell you I'm doing it, but that's all I can say. I can't say anything else," she teased. "Nothing you've read on the Internet about it is correct though, I can tell you that."
Related Articles
DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia intercepted two ballistic missiles fired at the kingdom by Yemen's armed Houthi movement on Wednesday, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV reported. The attack follows renewed air strikes by a Saudi-led military coalition on the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital, Sanaa. Thirteen civilians were killed when bombs a snack food factory. The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the missile attack. In the past, they have boasted of launching around a dozen Scud missiles at the south of the kingdom during more than a year of war. A senior Houthi official did say that he held the United Nations responsible for the stepped-up combat, which followed the collapse over the weekend of U.N.-backed peace talks. "The silence of the U.N. towards this dangerous escalation and mass extermination against the Yemeni people ... makes it a partner in the aggression," Saleh al-Samad, the chief of a new Houthi-backed political council, told state news agency Saba. Saudi Arabia and an alliance of mostly Gulf Arab allies have launched thousands of air strikes against the Houthis and their allies in Yemen's army since they intervened in Yemen's civil war on behalf of the exiled government. The Saudis are backing an offensive by pro-government fighters aiming to advance on Sanaa from the north and east. (Writing By Noah Browning, editing by Larry King)
By Alex Lawler
LONDON (Reuters) - Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia boosted its oil output to a record high in July, it told OPEC, in a sign key members remain focused on market share rather than tackling a supply glut by curbing production.
The monthly report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries also said output from the 14-member group hit a new high last month, indicating excess global supply may persist into next year.
Oil (LCOc1) declined almost 15 percent in July on concern about a glut of crude and finished products that would delay a long-awaited rebalancing of the market. The drop has prompted some OPEC members to rally support for producers to agree steps to prop up prices.
"Cheap crude has led refiners to produce more refined products worldwide, adding to the oversupplied market," OPEC said in the report.
Saudi Arabia pumped 10.67 million barrels per day of crude in July, according to figures it provided to OPEC. That is up from 10.55 million bpd in June and above the previous record of 10.56 million bpd achieved in June 2015.
Saudi-based industry sources said in April output would rise to meet summer power demand, not to flood the market.
Other OPEC producers like Iraq and Iran are boosting supply, offsetting the impact of militant attacks in Nigeria. Based on figures OPEC collects from secondary sources, OPEC pumped 33.11 million bpd in July, up 46,000 bpd from June.
This is the highest since at least 2008, according to a Reuters review of past OPEC reports.
The report pointed to more resilient supplies from producers outside the group, despite a more than halving of oil prices since mid-2014 that OPEC officials hoped would curb rival production and create a more balanced market by this year.
OPEC now expects non-OPEC supply to drop by 790,000 bpd this year, not as much as the 880,000 bpd decline expected last month. Supply is also seen falling next year, but by a smaller rate of 150,000 bpd.
"The short-term outlook for non-OPEC supply in 2016 is being revised up due to the recovery in Canadian oil production following the vast wildfire in Alberta and rising rig counts in the U.S. for four consecutive weeks," OPEC said.
Story continues
OPEC's report backtracked from earlier predictions supply and demand would rebalance in 2016, saying higher seasonal demand in coming months would contribute to the "expected rebalancing of the market," without saying when it would occur.
OPEC expects demand for its crude in 2017 to average 33.01 million bpd, suggesting a supply surplus of 100,000 bpd if OPEC keeps output steady. Last month's report pointed to a small deficit.
In the report, OPEC made no significant change to its global demand outlook, predicting average demand growth of 1.15 million bpd in 2017.
(Editing by Jason Neely and Susan Thomas)
(BERLIN) The head of the Scottish government has reached out to Germany, the European Unions most populous member, as she tries to keep Scotland in the bloc and is arguing that Scotland should be able to remain part of the EU without leaving the United Kingdom.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told German broadcaster ARD that because we are in unprecedented circumstances, we should be prepared to think about unprecedented solutions. And thats the spirit that I will have in any discussions.
The U.K. as a whole which includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland voted narrowly to leave the EU in a June 23 referendum, but voters in Scotland voted by a wide margin to remain in the 28-nation bloc.
I would have thought it was very positive for the wider European Union for a part of the United Kingdom, if not the whole of the United Kingdom, to want to stay and continue to be part of the European family of nations, Sturgeon said on Tuesday.
The Scottish leader, who already has traveled to Brussels to press the same argument, met in Berlin on Tuesday with Germanys deputy foreign minister, Michael Roth. He is responsible for European issues at the German Foreign Ministry.
Sturgeon reiterated her stance that a new referendum on Scottish independence from the U.K. remains one option for Scotland to stay in the bloc.
Roth said the meeting was a very pleasant and constructive conversation between two dedicated pro-Europeans.
I hope that the U.K. finds a way forward that will benefit Europe as a whole in the end, he said.
Prime Minister Theresa Mays new British government hasnt yet formally set in motion the process of leaving the EU, and it remains unclear what future relationship it will seek with the bloc.
Paris (AFP) - Police in southwest France arrested a 21-year-old man in connection with the jihadist killing of a priest in a Normandy church last month, judicial sources said Wednesday.
The man arrested Monday in the Toulouse area is the second to be held in connection with the murder of 85-year-old Jacques Hamel, whose throat was slit in front of worshippers while he was celebrating mass in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray on July 26.
A police source said he had been in contact with the cleric's killers, Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
The pair, both aged 19, were shot dead by police after a hostage drama in which a worshipper was seriously wounded.
The grisly attack -- the first committed in the name of IS against a church in the West -- came less than two weeks after a Tunisian ploughed a 19-tonne truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the Riviera city of Nice, killing 85 people and wounding more than 300.
A cousin of Petitjean named as Farid K. was remanded in custody on July 31 on charges of "criminal association in connection with terrorism".
The public prosecutor said the 30-year-old "was fully aware of his cousin's imminent violent action, even if he did not know the precise place or day."
Hamel's killing, which follows a string of attacks in France over the past 18 months, has raised questions about security failures.
Kermiche, who lived near the church, wore an electronic tag and was allowed to leave home on weekday mornings under his house arrest terms.
He met Petitjean through the encrypted messaging app Telegram.
Investigators have questioned several people over the killers' links with groups recruiting for jihad in Syria.
A 20-year-old man has been charged with trying to travel to Syria with Petitjean in June.
GettyImages 587342194
The Secret Service spoke with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump about his Tuesday remarks on the Second Amendment, CNN reported on Wednesday.
A top official at the agency told the cable news network that there had been "more than one conversation" about the comment.
According to CNN, the Trump campaign told law-enforcement officials that the New York billionaire never intended to incite supporters to violence.
In a tweet, Trump denied that a "meeting or conversation" took place.
A representative for the Secret Service did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Trump raised eyebrows on Tuesday when he alleged that Hillary Clinton would appoint Supreme Court justices who would aim to abolish the Second Amendment. The amendment preserves the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.
"If she gets to pick, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks," Trump said. "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know."
The comment was condemned by the Clinton campaign. Trump later attempted to clarify it, insisting that he never suggested violence.
NOW WATCH: 'A joke gone bad': How Republicans are responding to Trump's '2nd Amendment people' controversy
More From Business Insider
Shahid Kapoor and director Vishal Bhardwaj is a winning combination. The duos last two associations, Kaminey andHaider had a successful run at the BO and were much-loved by the critics. Their next film Rangoon too was supposed to hit theaters in Vishals favorite holiday weekend this year - the Gandhi Jayanti week. Rangoon was initially slated for a September 30 release but now it will release in February 2017.
In an interview with a daily, Shahid explained the reason behind the same. Yes, the films release has been postponed by a few months. It will now release on February 24 for sure, cleared the actor.
Recommended Read: A documentary on Shahid Kapoors role in Udta Punjab to be made?
On being asked about the reason behind the delay and he stated, Rangoon is mounted on a really high scale. Its a very content driven film but at the same time, a high budget commercial film. Vishal sir is taking more time to work on the films post-production which is required. That will take some time which is why we decided to come up with a release date in February next year.
Along with Shahid, Rangoon also stars Kangana Ranaut and Saif Ali Khan in key roles. In the meantime, both Shahid-Saif will get a lot of quality time to spend with their respective wives, as Mira & Kareena, both are pregnant. While Shahid-Mira is expecting to become proud parents by September this year, Kareena-Saifs baby is due in December.
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2016 / Purcell Julie & Lefkowitz LLP, a class action law firm dedicated to representing shareholders nationwide, is investigating a potential breach of fiduciary duty claim involving the board of directors of Medivation, Inc. (MDVN).
If you are a shareholder of Medivation and are interested in obtaining additional information regarding this investigation, free of charge, please visit us at: http://pjlfirm.com/medivation-inc/.
You may also contact Robert H. Lefkowitz, Esq. either via email at rl@pjlfirm.com or by telephone at 212-725-1000. One of our attorneys will personally speak with you about the case at no cost or obligation.
Purcell Julie & Lefkowitz LLP is a law firm exclusively committed to representing shareholders nationwide who are victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty and other types of corporate misconduct. For more information about the firm and its attorneys, please visit http://pjlfirm.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
SOURCE: Purcell Julie & Lefkowitz LLP
By Michele Kambas and Antonio Bronic ATHENS/ZAGREB (Reuters) - A year after hundreds of thousands of refugees snaked their way across southeastern Europe and onto global television screens, the roads through the Balkans are now clear, depriving an arguably worsening tragedy of poignant visibility. Europe's migrant crisis is at the very least numerically worse than it was last year. More people are arriving and more are dying. But the twist is that, compared with last year, a lot of it is out of sight. Take the border between Greece and Macedonia. Summer crops have replaced the city of tents at the border outpost of Idomeni, even if some locals are convinced there is an unseen population hiding in the surrounding forests, waiting for smugglers to assist them on their onward journey. The tiny Greek village was a focal point of the migrant flow north toward Germany and other wealthy countries, with thousands of refugees squatting for months waiting for sealed borders with Macedonia to open Elsewhere in the Balkans, a Reuters photographer, revisiting the people-packed locations where he and his colleagues captured last year's diaspora, found empty roads, unencumbered railway tracks and bucolic countryside. The comparison is stark. To see the pictures, click: http://reut.rs/2aLGrXM More than one million people fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan made their way to Europe last year, with the majority of them crossing the precarious sea corridor separating Greece and Turkey, the temporary home for more than 2 million refugees displaced from Syria.o They came carrying their worldly belongings in plastic bags and hauling babies on weary shoulders, a visual exodus of the kind not seen in Europe since the end of World War Two. Many have since reached their destination in northern Europe, but with the borders closed and the European Union now attempting to contain the numbers, thousands are stuck at holding centers in Greece and Italy. They are not so nearly visible there - nor are the ones still coming. VISIBILITY DOWN, ARRIVALS UP According to data from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), arrivals are up 17 percent on last year, stoked mainly by a spike at the start of the year through Greece. Deaths among those trying to get to Europe, mainly due to drowning, are up more than 15 percent. "This is not a blip," said David Miliband, a former British foreign minister who now heads the International Rescue Committee, an aid group set up by Albert Einstein - himself a refugee - to rescue Europeans before the outbreak of World War Two. "The forces that are driving more and more people from their homes - weak states, big tumults within the Islamic world, a divided international system .. None of these things are likely to abate soon." Some of the mantle of accepting huge migrant flows that was carried by Greece last year and the beginning of this one has been taken up by Italy. This follows a resurgence of migrant flows from northern Africa. More than 140,000 asylum seekers are now housed in Italian shelters, a seven-fold increase on 2013, with the migrant crisis in its third year. In Greece, where arrivals plunged in the wake of an accord between Turkey and the EU to stem the flow in March, an estimated 57,000 migrants were still stuck in the country by Aug.8. Campaigners say the accord has lulled policymakers into a false sense of accomplishment by allowing them to believe that Europe's migration problem has been solved. "By outsourcing the responsibility to Turkey and to Greece, European governments are basically saying 'we have solved the crisis because we dont see it, and we can't smell it and we can't hear it," said Gauri van Gulik, deputy Europe director at Amnesty International. "The crisis is as big as ever, and as yet unsolved by governments," she told Reuters. IOM data says that 258,186 people arrived in Europe by the end of July, compared with 219,854 over the same period in 2015. There were 3,176 fatalities by Aug. 7, outpacing the 2,754 who died in the first eight months of last year, a slightly longer period. "Its absolutely incredible because if you think about the panic this caused last year and the incentive there was to really get some policy changes in place, nothing has happened," Van Gulik said. (Additional reporting by Steve Scherer in Rome, Lefteris Papadimas in Athens Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
Cartoon by Guay Chong Kian
A series of single-panel cartoons drawn by an advertising executive that make witty observations on topical issues ranging from massage parlours to a politicians extramarital affair has struck a chord with netizens.
Guay Chong Kian, a creative partner in an advertising agency, told Yahoo Singapore that he was taken aback by the response to a recent cartoon, which has been shared 750 times on Facebook since he posted it on 4 August. It depicts a family of cockroaches with a suitcase standing before a bin centre and exclaiming, Honey, NAC built us a very expensive home.
It is a reference to the recent Auditor-Generals Office Report, which revealed that the National Arts Council (NAC) had spent $470,000 on constructing a bin centre. NAC also paid $410,000 in consultation fees while doing so.
Asked why he thought the cartoon struck a chord, the 45-year-old Singaporean mused, People are unhappy. The issue is still there, but I just spun it off in a slightly funnier perspective. Maybe people just found it humourous.
Cartoon by Guay Chong Kian
While Guay initially shared the cartoons on his personal Facebook account, a desire to maintain his privacy led him to set up a page called SemiSerious. It is a reference to the documentary Very Semi-Serious, about the creative process of cartoonists at The New Yorker magazine.
Guays spare, simple style is reminiscent of renowned cartoonist Gary Larsons The Far Side series, though Guay does not cite any major influences. More of his cartoons can be seen here.
When I have a thought, I just doodle it. I keep it simple, as the content and what I want to say is more important, said Guay, whose creative impulses are sparked off by news reports and his observations of people and society.
He is quick to add that he is politically neutral, and prefers to steer clear of commenting on race or religion. Its just my perspective. Maybe its a little bit more uncomfortable for people to say it in a certain way, but I can say it the way I want to say it.
Asked if he hopes to get published, Guay was non-committal. I dont really have expectations. If people really enjoy it, I might just compile it into a book or something.
Theyre in. American and British special operations forces have been spotted in the Islamic States Libyan stronghold of Sirte, helping local militia forces call in airstrikes on Islamic State fighters in the city, the Washington Post reports.
Theres no indication yet that theyre involved in ground combat, but the deployment puts U.S. troops closer to the frontlines of that war and in more danger of being killed or wounded then they had been previously. FPs Paul McLeary writes that the growing role of elite U.S. forces in Libya comes as American military personnel are already in the fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both missions in wars America has largely forgotten about are leading to new U.S. casualties. In Iraq, two commandos and one Marine have been killed since October. In Afghanistan, meanwhile, five U.S troops were wounded fighting ISIS in July, and an Army Green Beret was killed fighting the Taliban in January.
And in Syria. British commandos have also recently been seen operating in Syria. The BBC obtained pictures of the soldiers at a base for the moderate rebel New Syrian Army on the Syria-Iraq border.
Top down. Top officers at the U.S. Central Command ordered their analysts to alter intel assessments to make it look like the fight against ISIS was going better than it actually was, according to the findings of a House Republican task force. The Daily Beast reports that a 10-page report on the scandal should be released by the end of next week. While it contains no definitive evidence that senior Obama administration officials ordered the reports to be doctored, the five-month investigation did corroborate earlier reports that analysts felt the leaders of CENTCOMs intelligence directorate pressured them to conclude that the threat from ISIS was not as ominous as the analysts believed.
Turkish officer disappears in Virginia. Washington and Ankara are about to be tested. A Turkish military officer on a U.S.-based assignment for NATO is seeking asylum in the United States after being recalled by the Turkish government in the wake of last months failed military coup, U.S. officials told Reuters. The Turkish officer was working at the headquarters of NATOs Allied Command Transformation, located in Norfolk, Virginia and has been identified as Turkish Navy Rear Admiral Mustafa Ugurlu, who the countrys embassy in Washington said has failed to report after Turkey issued a detention order for him last month. About 150 Turkish generals and admirals have been arrested since the failed military putsch on July 15. FP has some handy charts here showing how deeply the arrests have gutted the upper ranks of the Turkish military.
Story continues
Navy officer punished for Iran flap. Lt. David Nartker the officer in charge of the two U.S. riverine boats and nine sailors who were captured and held by Iranian forces in January faces an administrative punishment for his role in the incident, USNI News has learned. Two other officers have already received letters of reprimand, and four sailors were handed similar punishments in July. For more on the incident, check out this recent story from FPs Dan De Luce, where he outlined some of what was happening in the case.
Afghan on and on. The longest war in American history grinds on, with about 9,800 U.S. troops still in Afghanistan. While that fight grinds on, Afghan officials say U.S. warplanes have conducted about 25 airstrikes in southern Helmand province over the past two weeks in an effort to keep the Taliban out of the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah. The insurgents have shut down a major highway between the city and Kandahar, using checkpoints and roadside bombs, and the latest reports out Wednesday say that Kabul is rushing more troops south, as the provincial capital has been surrounded by the insurgents. Of Helmands 14 districts, five are under Taliban control, and another seven are contested, according to The Long War Journal with the status of another district unknown.Lashkar Gah is, at the moment, still in government hands.
Tehran in the machine. The Iranian government is going hard after dissidents, foreign activists and journalists, FPs Elias Groll reports, and is increasingly turning the tools of computer espionage to do so. Western researchers have found evidence that Iranian hackers have targeted the regimes perceived opponents by hacking into their computers to install spy software, mapped out the millions of Iranian users of the encrypted messaging service Telegram, and targeted journalists for espionage.
Good morning and as always, if you have any thoughts, announcements, tips, or national security-related events to share, please pass them along to SitRep HQ. Best way is to send them to: paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or on Twitter: @paulmcleary or @arawnsley
South China Sea
Vietnam is deploying rocket launchers to the disputed Spratly Islands, playing the rockets in range of military bases that China has built in the archipelago, according to a scoop from Reuters. The launchers are Israeli-made EXTRA rocket artillery systems camouflaged to hide from overhead surveillance. Vietnams deployments of the launchers to islands it controls in the Spratlys places Chinese military bases, like the runway on Fiery Cross Reef, and maritime traffic in range of the artillery systems.
Korean Peninsula
The disagreement over missile defense in East Asia is throwing a wrench into international efforts to isolate North Korea for its recent ballistic missile tests. Reuters reports that China has been blocking a draft censure of North Korea at the U.N. Security Council because of its gripes over the deployment of U.S. Terminal High Altitude Air Defense systems to South Korea. China has been pushing for the draft to include passive aggressive language scolding countries who use North Koreas missile tests as an excuse to deploy missile defense systems.
Erdogan and Putin
The two met in Moscow on Tuesday, and while no agreements were inked, it as an important step in reducing tensions after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter plane over Turkish airspace several months ago. The leaders are on opposite sides of the Syria mess, with Putins warplanes and troops bolstering Assad, and Erdogan a longtime foe of the Syrian leader. But chatting with Erdogan aside, Putin has recently called on Russias Parliament to approve an extended deployment of the Russian Air Force at Khmeimim Air Base outside Latakia, Syria, where its planes have flown sorties for almost a year to back up Assad. Parliamentary approval is little more than a rubber stamp.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is ready to buy $1.2 billion worth of armor from the United States, and the sale is offering a window into the losses the Kingdom has sustained during the war in Yemen. According to Defense One, 20 of the 153 Abrams tanks Saudi Arabia is purchasing are battle damage replacements. Given that Yemen is currently the only place where Saudi forces are engaged in land combat, its a fair bet that the Saudi-led effort against the Houthi movement there is the reason for losses.
Iran
The Pentagons annual report to Congress on Iranian military capabilities is out and this years edition gives the Islamic Republics offensive cyber efforts a thumbs up. The reports single sentence on cyber capabilities mentions that Iran has taken its hacking efforts against foreign powers up a notch, according to Bloomberg. The Pentagon also makes note of Irans growing missile arsenal, writing that theyre capable of reaching targets throughout the region, including U.S. military bases and Israel.
Army
DoD Buzz reports that the Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley stunned audiences by suddenly cutting the livestream when his turn to speak at a TRADOC on Tuesday and declaring his remarks off-the-record. The Pentagon had previously told reporters that the remarks would be fair game and Milleys own Twitter account urged followers to watch live. An Army spokeswoman had no explanation for why the talk, at a conference jointly put together by TRADOC and Georgetown University, went dark at the last minute.
Technology
The U.S. military recently wrapped up its Red Flag exercise, which aimed to integrate land, air, sea and cyber warfare skills more than ever before, according to the Washington Post. The exercise, which has been held since Vietnam, trained Air Force fighter pilots to work alongside troops carrying out cyber attacks in order to knock out adversarial air defense systems and maximize the use of airpower. The 527th Space Aggressor Squadron also participated in the Red Flag exercise, bringing with it the ability to simulate enemies that can jam U.S. GPS navigation and satellites.
Photo Credit: HAIDAR MOHAMMED ALI/AFP/Getty Images
Will Smith has something to say about Islamophobia, and were listening
Will Smith has something to say about Islamophobia, and were listening
Will Smith was at a press conference in Dubai promoting his new film Suicide Squad, when conversation turned to Donald Trump.
Will used the opportunity to speak out against the controversial Republican Presidential candidate, saying,
As painful as it is to hear Donald Trump talk and as embarrassing as it is as an American to hear him talk I think its good. We get to hear it. We get to know who people are and now we get to cleanse it out of our country.
Will then went on to say that its important for him to do his part to eradicate Islamophobia and the notion that all Muslim people and countries hate The United States. He feels that his trip to Dubai may be helpful in this respect, saying,
In terms of Islamophobia in America, for me, thats why its important to show up. Im in Dubai and Im having fun and Im Tweeting and Im showing pictures. Hey, doesnt look like they hate me does it?
WillSmith
Wills intelligent, diplomatic, and empathetic nature makes us love him even more than we did before, and inevitably makes us wonder would he ever consider running for office?! The world just may be ready for The Fresh President.
The post Will Smith has something to say about Islamophobia, and were listening appeared first on HelloGiggles.
By Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Members of Somalia's new parliament to be elected this year must join a political party within two years or step down as part of efforts to shift the Horn of Africa nation away from clan-based politics, a forum of regional and national leaders said. Somalia is slowly rebuilding after more than two decades of conflict and chaos fueled largely by clan rivalries. It holds an election in September for the new parliament, whose lawmakers will in turn choose a president in October. Somali authorities and international sponsors had to scrap a plan for each person to get a vote, largely due to security challenges as the Western-backed government is still battling an Islamist insurgency. Instead, about 14,000 people from federal states will choose the 275 members of the lower house of parliament. While that represents a fraction of Somalia's 11 million people, it is more than the 135 elders who picked the 2012 parliament. "The leaders of the National Leadership Forum agreed to promote the establishment and registration of political parties within two years, starting from the date when the 10th parliament is elected," the forum said after a week-long meeting. The forum, which includes President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, senior cabinet members and regional leaders, said political parties would have to register and all members of parliament would have to join one group by Oct. 20, 2018. Any lawmaker who failed to join a party would lose his or her seat. Although some lawmakers group together, there is no formal party structure or registration system now. This year's election process will start on Sept. 24 with the parliamentary vote and culminate with the choosing of a president on Oct. 30. Mohamud is seeking another term. Diplomats have pushed Somalia to hold elections on time to avoid a major extension of parliament's term. The vote has already slipped from August, but diplomats had said a few weeks' delay was expected given the scale of the reconstruction effort. The term of the existing parliament formally ends on Aug. 20 and the president's term expires on Sept. 9. The leadership forum said office holders would stay in post until new leaders are in place. (Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Edmund Blair and Janet Lawrence)
* Eskom says obtained order barring strike
* Union, Eskom due to meet Wednesday over pay dispute (Adds NUM quotes, details)
By Nqobile Dludla
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 10 (Reuters) - More workers at South African state-run power utility Eskom joined a strike over pay, their union said on Wednesday, in defiance of a court order preventing the industrial action at the state-run firm.
The company has branded the stoppage by thousands of National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) members which started on Monday illegal because its members are prohibited by law from striking, but said its operations had not been affected so far.
The labour dispute is the latest problem to beset Eskom, which has struggled to meet power demand in Africa's most industrialised country due to its aging power plants and grid. However, it has managed a year without rolling blackouts that have hurt the economy in the past.
"Our message to the whole nation is just to keep calm. We are handling the situation, currently the situation is under control," Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said, adding that he could not divulge the firm's contingency plans.
Phasiwe said the court order prohibits NUM and two other unions from going on strike as part of the Labour Relations Act, which bars workers deemed to provide an essential service from going on strike.
NUM said on Tuesday that all of its 15,000 members at the utility, or close to a third of Eskom's workforce, would stop work on Wednesday.
The union's spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu said its members were on strike in provinces where Eskom runs its biggest plants, including in Mpumalanga province.
"Our members are aware that for them being involved in this strike there are consequences and they are saying they are fighting for the right cause," said Mammburu.
Asked whether union members will be dismissed if they do go on strike, Phasiwe said workers would not be fired en masse but that each case will be handled on its own merit.
He said talks with the union had not yet collapsed and both parties were due to meet this morning for further discussions.
Story continues
The utility is offering pay increases of 7 to 9 percent while NUM on Tuesday lowered their wage demand to 8.5 to 10 percent from 12 to 13 percent.
The stoppage at Eskom coincides with a strike over wages by around 15,000 workers in the petrochemical industry that has been going on since last week but has so far not caused any significant fuel shortages.
(Editing by James Macharia and Louise Heavens)
Juba (AFP) - South Sudan on Wednesday rejected a UN proposal to send a 4,000-strong regional force to the restive capital of Juba, saying it undermined the young nation's sovereignty.
The US-drafted resolution presented to the Security Council seeks to establish a protection force of African troops authorised to "use all necessary means" to provide security and deter attacks against UN bases in South Sudan.
But South Sudanese government spokesman Michael Makuei said his country rejected the resolution in its current form as it would "(turn) South Sudan into a protectorate and this is a situation that we will not accept."
The draft, which would also extend the current UN mission's mandate until December, would "undermine the sovereignty of the Republic of South Sudan," Makuei told reporters in Juba.
The head of the East African bloc IGAD, which first proposed the force, had said on Friday it had obtained South Sudan's permission to deploy it.
But Makuei appeared to throw that agreement into doubt, lending credence to fears among diplomats that the government's apparent willingness to participate in the IGAD summit was partly to buy time.
"The protection force should have been an independent body, not under (UN mission) UNMISS, so that they can perform their functions and duties... which we had agreed upon," Makuei said.
IGAD had raised the possibility of deploying an "intervention brigade" with a more aggressive mandate within the UN mission currently present, along the lines of a similar brigade sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2013.
Juba was rocked by several days of heavy fighting in early July between the government forces of President Salva Kiir and those loyal to ex-rebel chief Riek Machar, the latest upsurge in two and a half years of war.
Nearly 300 people died in the violence, and since then 70,000 South Sudanese have fled the country to Uganda, according to new figures released Wednesday by the Norwegian Refugee Council, an independent aid group.
Sporadic clashes have been recorded since the street battles last month, along with reports of rape and looting, adding to the ranks of 1.6 million displaced within the country since civil war broke out in 2013.
The 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, UNMISS, has faced criticism for failing to stem the latest bloodshed or fully protect civilians during the fighting.
A White House push to reinforce a struggling United Nations peacekeeping force in South Sudan encountered stiff resistance this week from its once-reliable ally President Salva Kiir, highlighting Washingtons waning influence in a country it helped create only five years ago.
The United States wants 4,000 new peacekeepers deployed to protect South Sudanese civilians after more than 300 people were killed when violence broke out between government and rebel soldiers in the capital of Juba last month. The uptick in violence came amid the uneasy implementation of a deal creating a transitional government intended to end the countrys brutal civil war.
But South Sudans ambassador to Washington, Garang Diing Akuong, told Foreign Policy on Wednesday that the plan amounts to the establishment of a U.N. protectorate in his country, which would undermine its sovereignty. This proposal means invasion of South Sudan, means recolonization of South Sudan, and means ruling of South Sudan by the U.N., Garang said in a telephone call.
The decision by South Sudan to oppose the deployment of the so-called regional protection force in Juba to reinforce UNMISS, a mission of 12,000 blue helmets, marked a reversal of a prior commitment it made to accept the U.N. force, according to U.S. officials. But South Sudan countered that the United States cut Juba out of U.N. discussions defining the mandate of the new force.
Anticipating South Sudanese support, the United States on Monday introduced a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for the deployment of the new force in Juba to restore order and take control of the international airport, and threatened to impose an arms embargo if those efforts were opposed. But negotiations over the text became quickly mired in acrimony after Juba announced its opposition.
South Sudans decision has divided the Security Council. The United States and its European allies want to press ahead with a vote on the new force by Friday, while Egypt, Russia, and Angola have been far more receptive to South Sudans concerns. Egypt has seized on the split, offering to play a role in mediating a resolution of the diplomatic standoff.
Story continues
South Sudans independence capped decades of bipartisan efforts by Republican and Democratic leaders to liberate the largely Christian and animist people from the predominantly Muslim Sudanese government in Khartoum. A final 2005 peace deal, the U.S.-brokered Comprehensive Peace Agreement, formally ended a decades-long war that left more than 2 million people dead.
With tremendous support from the United States, South Sudan gained independence in 2011, spurring hope for peace in a region rocked by the bloody split from the north. But a power struggle between South Sudans new leaders, President Salva Kiir and then-Vice President Riek Machar, plunged the country into a civil war in December 2013.
The two rivals signed a peace deal under intense international pressure last August, but some of the conflicts worst violence took place in the months that followed. Machar finally returned to the capital of Juba on April 28, but the already shaky transitional government essentially collapsed in July, as government and opposition forces battled in Juba. Forces loyal to Kiir ultimately attacked U.N. installations housing tens of thousands of civilians, in some cases raping civilians in front of peacekeepers who reportedly stood by and watched. The opposition also claimed government troops bombed Machars makeshift camp, forcing him to flee the capital after months of negotiations that allowed for his April return.
The opposition has spoken out in support of additional peacekeepers. Reath Muoch Tang, a former member of the South Sudanese parliament who now serves as a representative for the opposition in Washington, D.C., told FP in a phone call on Wednesday that Machar will not return to Juba until Kiirs forces no longer control the capital.
Sovereignty is for the government to protect its people and give them a parliament, he said. The sovereignty theyre talking about is that they should be allowed to kill and allow their people to rape women.
The scale of violence amid this political disorder has raised doubts about the ability and the willingness of U.N. blue helmets to protect civilians, even in U.N. compounds. Since the fighting started in December, 2013, more than 50,000 people have been killed and another 2 million people displaced, including more than 180,000 who are seeking protection in six U.N. compounds. A U.N. board of inquiry this month faulted the U.N.s response to an attack likely carried out by government forces and allied militias on a U.N. compound in the northeastern city of Malakal, which resulted in 30 deaths and 123 injuries.
The U.N. shortcomings in Malakal and elsewhere have contributed to the United States push for more peacekeepers. On Friday, an East African bloc of countries, known as IGAD, issued a statement from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, calling on the Security Council to authorize a regional protection force to help bolster the U.N. operations in South Sudan. The statement noted that the South Sudan had accepted in principle the idea of deploying such a force. But it also insisted that it would have to negotiate the composition and mandate of the new force with countries providing troops.
But with the U.N. peacekeeping missions mandate set to expire Friday, the United States moved quickly to table a resolution defining the new forces mandate. The U.S.-drafted resolution circulated on Monday demands South Sudans warring parties immediately cease fighting throughout the country and authorizes the new regional protection force to use all means necessary diplomatic shorthand for the use of force to secure key installations in Juba, including the airport, protect civilians and U.N. installations, and help implement an agreement to redeploy government troops outside of Juba.
But there were signs earlier this week that South Sudan, after seeing the U.S.-drafted resolution, was deeply uneasy over the plan. On August 8, South Sudans cabinet of ministers issued a statement expressing anxiety and serious concern over the U.S. draft resolution. The resolution, according to the statement, would make the U.N. representative the de facto president of the Republic of South Sudan.
The United States has already made concessions designed to win Kiirs support. For instance, Washington agreed to strip out a provision that called on South Sudans transitional government to prosecute individuals responsible for obstructing humanitarian aid and interfering with the U.N.s ability to carry out its mandate, according to an internal draft revision obtained by FP.
There is broad support among key American allies, including Britain, France, Spain, and New Zealand, for the imposition of an immediate U.N. arms embargo.
But Susan Rice, the U.S. national security advisor, has been reluctant to hit a long-time friend and ally with such an embargo, citing the likely ineffectiveness of such measures in a region already awash with weapons. Instead, the U.S. has continued to dangle the threat of a weapons prohibition for nearly two years without ever acting on it.
The latest draft before the council only threatens to impose an arms embargo if South Sudan blocks the deployment of thousands of new peacekeepers, and a new vote of the Security Council would be required to impose the arms ban, which human rights advocates say makes the White Houses threats self-defeating.
The U.S. National Security Council remains reluctant to pull the trigger on a long overdue arms embargo because of the mistaken hope that South Sudanese leaders will change their behavior based on threats alone, Akshaya Kumar, Human Rights Watchs deputy U.N. director, told FP. Threats ring hollow if they are never followed up by action.
But John Prendergast, a longtime friend of Rice who founded the Enough Project, a Washington-based nonprofit organization focused on genocide prevention, said that Rices overwhelming priority right now is to deploy international forces that can play a role in protecting civilians in Juba.
I believe she felt that threatening an arms embargo was better as leverage for that force than actually imposing an embargo, which could drive the Juba government further into an intransigent position regarding the deployment of the force, he added.
Photo credit: ALBERT GONZALEZ FARRAN/AFP/Getty Images
* Ciudadanos opens door to supporting Rajoy as PM
* Move could help end 8 months of political stalemate
* Rajoy's People's Party to vote on Ciudadanos deal
* Failure would edge Spain closer to third election (Recasts with Rajoy's comments, adds background, quotes)
By Angus Berwick
MADRID, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Spanish acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Wednesday his conservative People's Party would hold a leadership vote next week on a reform pact proposed by centrists Ciudadanos as a condition of their support to form a long-awaited government.
Agreement between Ciudadanos ("Citizens") and the PP - which won the most votes in a June election re-run but fell short of a majority - would mark the biggest step yet in ending a near eight-month political morass. Until now Ciudadanos had said only that it would abstain in any parliamentary confidence vote to install Rajoy as prime minister.
Though the PP would still need support from other forces to form a stable government and press on with an economic recovery, a shift from Ciudadanos, Spain's fourth-biggest party, could encourage others to ease objections to a conservative government.
Rajoy told a news conference that the Executive Committee - a body of about 100 people largely loyal to Rajoy - would vote on Aug. 17 on whether to back a six-point political reform package proposed on Tuesday by Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera. He would not say whether he supported the package as presented.
"Spaniards want a government and we hope we can start negotiations with Ciudadanos as soon as possible," Rajoy said. "The PP will do everything in its power."
The reforms could yet prove unpalatable for PP leaders, given they are aimed at tackling corruption scandals that have tainted their party, and at changing an electoral system that benefits larger forces.
But without an agreement, Spain may have little option but to hold its third election in a year.
With support from Cuidadanos, a natural ally for the PP on economic matters, Rajoy would still be seven seats shy of the 176 he needs in the 350-strong lower house of parliament for an absolute majority.
Story continues
Their endorsement would, however, pile more pressure on the second-placed Socialists to abstain in a confidence vote or be blamed for worsening the deadlock as worries rise over its impact on Spain's strong economic recovery.
So far growth has continued unhindered, outperforming many of its European peers, but important deadlines are approaching. Without a government, Spain will struggle to deliver its 2017 budget plans to Brussels by mid-October.
FRESH ELECTION?
There were few signs on Wednesday that the Socialists, under leader Pedro Sanchez, were yet willing to end their decades-long rivalry with the PP, though some former leaders have called on the party to change its stance.
"The PSOE has its position, it is clear ... there was a long, in-depth debate and that position is to vote no," Oscar Lopez, a senior Socialist party member, said in a TV interview.
Rajoy said he would continue to try to persuade the Socialists to back him. A third national election, according to polls, would likely deliver a similarly fractured result.
"If Sanchez maintains his 'no' position, we will again hold elections," Rajoy said.
Rajoy has yet to commit to a confidence vote, despite accepting a mandate from the king last month to form a government.
He declined to specify a date for the vote beyond saying he hoped to have a government in place that can deliver a budget to parliament before the end of September.
Rivera said he hoped the confidence vote would take place either in August or in early September.
"Spaniards' patience has a limit," he said.
(Reporting by Angus Berwick; Editing by Sarah White and Ralph Boulton)
The housing market is on fire! Jonathan Smoke, our chief economist, describes it as the strongest real estate market weve seen in a decade. Prices are at an all-time high, and still homes are flying off the proverbial shelves. But even in a fast-paced market like this, there are no guarantees for an individual home.
So how can a seller incite the kind of bidding war that pushes a homes price well over asking? We talked to experienced real estate agents for advice on how to get buyers to turn up and bid in droves.
Price your home to move
One bidding war basic is to price low to sell high.
Pricing the property below its true value can be scary, but it will attract a lot of attention to the property and generate multiple showings in the first few days on market, says Morgan Franklin with United Real Estate Lexington in Kentucky. Ideally, that will drive the multiple-offer scenario that will yield a price above listing.
But how low should you go? Even just 5% below market value will tempt buyers with the prospect of a deal and cause a stampede to your front door. Of course, the success of this pricing strategy depends on your particular market, so talk to your agent and understand the circumstances before making a decision.
Set a deadline for offers
People dont want to miss out, and setting a deadline can light a fire under procrastinators. But this strategy isnt for everyone.
You only want to do this when you know you are priced right, have a ton of showings lined up, and have heard from agents that offers will come in, warns Liane Jamason, broker associate at Smith & Associates Real Estate, in Tampa Bay, FL.
She usually waits until she has at least two offers on the table and then adds a note in the MLS and alerts all parties she knows are showing the home. The verbiage she uses is something like, We are in receipt of multiple offers. Seller has requested all buyers submit their highest and best offers by Friday at 5 p.m. She says that a recent deadline received 12 offers, with the highest one at $16,000 over asking price.
Story continues
Take a different view of listing photos
A picture is worth a thousand words, but listings usually showcase them in the same boring way, says Whitney Nicely, principal broker with Whitney Buys Houses in Knoxville, TN.
Most people feature a straight-on picture of the front of the house, she explains. But other angles could be much more eye-catching. One option is a corner picture, which allows the potential buyer to easily see two sides of the house. Or, select a picture highlighting a special featuresuch as your kitchen, to allow the potential buyer to imagine cooking for the family, or your glorious backyard, to highlight outdoor living opportunities.
A potential buyer is not always going to scroll through 36 pictures, so like my mama always told me, if youve got it, youd better flaunt it, she says.
Fuel buyers interest ahead of time
Jamason is a believer in advance marketing to spark interest in a property before it is listed. Use all your social media channels, and distribute a mass email to contacts, potential clients, and agents alike to spread the word that your home is coming on the market soon.
Another strategy is to put the home in the multiple listing service, but do not allow any showings until the open house that weekend, suggests Realtor Tracey Hampson of Century 21 Troop Real Estate in Santa Clarita, CA.
It creates a little frenzy, because everyone wants what they cant have, she says. So if you show them this beautiful home and then say, but you cant see it until the open house, it drives people crazy and creates activity and buzz for a listing.
Stage an over-the-top open house
To stoke a bidding war, dont be shy about going big for the open housewhich is second nature to David Parnes and James Harris of Bravos Million Dollar Listing, who recently threw a lavish open house for a Hollywood Hills home inspired by the Burning Man festival.
The extravagant party featured an open bar, caterers, dancers, DJs, costumes, tarot card readers, body and face painters, human lampshades, and confetti machines.
The party was insane and ending up generating numerous bids that sold the house for over asking price, Parnes said. Building buzz around a property helps to generate offers.
Of course, celeb glamour isnt the only way to up your open house game. Jamason recommends a mega open house, with hundreds of signs around town, a band, an art showing or other unique feature, and noteworthy food.
Really go above and beyond to have the house filled with people, she says. The more people who see it, the more interest you will generate.
Watch: The Features That Help a Home Sell Fastest
The post How to Spark a Bidding War for Your Home appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.
Related Articles
Sri Lanka Wednesday announced plans to replace its ageing jet fighters to better defend its maritime borders including rich fishing grounds, seven years after the island's separatist war ended.
Cabinet approved President Maithripala Sirisena's proposal to call for expressions of interest from global manufacturers to sell Sri Lanka the jets, government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said.
"The idea is to buy eight multi-role fighter aircraft with associated weapons on a government-to-government basis," Senaratne, who is also a cabinet minister, told reporters.
Sri Lanka's fleet of Chinese-made F-7, Soviet-era MiG-27 and Israeli Kfir aircraft are about 30 years old and have become obsolete, according to experts.
Sri Lanka used both the MiG-27 and Kfir jets to bomb rebel targets in the north at the height of the Tamil separatist war which ended in May 2009.
The country lost large numbers of aircraft during the decades-long fighting.
The main role of the new fleet would be to defend the island's exclusive economic zone which stretches some 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) offshore, senior sources in the government said.
Both neighbouring India and its rival Pakistan are keen to sell combat aircraft to the island, they said.
By Michael Shields and Rupert Pretterklieber
ZURICH (Reuters) - Adecco has not been hit so far by Britons' vote in June to leave the European Union, Chief Executive Alain Dehaze said on Wednesday, forecasting modest growth ahead for the world's biggest staffing group.
"We don't see any material impact of Brexit, either in the UK or in the neighbouring countries and the UK's trading partners," he told Reuters after the company posted in-line results for the second quarter.
Adjusted for trading days, Adecco generated organic revenue growth of 3 percent in the quarter, in line with rival Randstad. Volume growth in July was similar to June, it added.
Organic revenue in the United Kingdom and Ireland, its third-biggest market, rose a headline 6 percent as growth in professional staffing and information technology helped offset a decline in finance and legal.
In France, its biggest single market, growth was recovering after a May marred by strikes and bad weather.
"We have seen a continuation of this modest growth and slow recovery in France in the month of July and also since the beginning of August," Dehaze said, adding September would be key as clients return from holidays and size up their order books.
Staffing companies are seen as bellwethers for the broader economy, with companies often taking on temporary staff at the beginning of a recovery or releasing temporary workers when a downturn begins to bite.
Adecco's stock has been one of the weakest performers among Swiss blue chips this year, losing more than a fifth as investors took fright over uncertainty in the wake of events like the Brexit vote. The shares were up 1.6 percent at 55.55 Swiss francs at 0836 GMT.
Dehaze gave a moderately upbeat assessment of market conditions. "The growth is continuing. It is modest growth, 4 percent organic, but we don't see any slowdown with a France that is robust, a little bit softer in North America."
Revenue in North America eased 1 percent in the quarter, and its operating margin there also contracted year on year.
Story continues
Dehaze said Adecco was "absolutely not" under pressure to act after Randstad, the second-largest staffing group, announced plans to buy Monster Worldwide, the dotcom-era survivor that owns Monsterboard and Jobs.com, for $429 million in cash and assumed debt.
Adecco already had a strong digital offering, he said, and was teaming up with partners pursuing disruptive technologies in areas such as big data and artificial intelligence.
Adecco's net profit rose to 190 million euros (162 million pounds), just ahead of the average estimate of 188 million euros in a Reuters poll of analysts.
Sales rose a reported 2 percent to 5.70 billion euros, in line with the poll estimate. Its margin on earnings before interest, tax and amortisation and before one-offs improved 10 basis points to 5.0 percent.
Netherlands-based Randstad reported 11 percent higher core earnings during its second quarter, while Wisconsin-based Manpower cited softening demand when it posted a 3 percent increase in revenue last month.
(Editing by Maria Sheahan and Susan Thomas)
Nowait Ware Sykes at Texas Roadhouse
There's something really annoying about Pittsburgh: the majority of restaurants don't take reservations.
This is incredibly irritating for residents who want to try out the new Japanese-Mexican fusion restaurant or plan ahead for Sunday brunch.
This is the problem startup Nowait aims to solve.
Nowait which allows users to virtually "get in line" at a restaurant without stepping foot through the door ahead of time is a darling of Pittsburgh's startup scene. I lived in Pittsburgh for a year and a half, and the majority of restaurants and residents are huge Nowait fans.
Now, the company can add one more fan to its list: Yelp.
When Yelp released its quarterly earnings Tuesday, it announced it's making an $8 million investment in Nowait and and integrating Nowait's technology into the Yelp app. If Yelp users find a restaurant they like, they're able to get in line using Nowait directly within the Yelp app (although the Nowait app will remain separate). The functionality will roll out in the next couple months.
Nowait CEO Ware Sykes told Business Insider he's excited about the partnership for a few reasons, but mainly because it will allow the company to reach more users. Nowait is currently available in all 50 states and 4,000 restaurants, and is used by both national chains and small businesses. Sykes says the goal is to make Nowait a win-win experience for both restaurants and customers.
"People are willing to wait longer because they don't have to wait at the restaurant," Sykes said. "It allows restaurants to capture customers that wouldn't have waited in a long line and it allows restaurants to market their product to app users."
While Nowait considers itself a tech firm first and foremost, Sykes says Nowait is still in the hospitality business which means that the company has one very unique requirement of its new employees: they all have to work as a host at a restaurant for at least two nights.
Story continues
Sykes had that experience himself before he became CEO a few years ago, and he enjoyed the experience so much, he's made the task a requirement for all new employees including board members.
NOW WATCH: How different camera lenses affect how you appear in photos
More From Business Insider
tunisia_banner1
When I met the novelist Shukri Mabkhout in his office on the campus of Manouba University, where he is president, he stood up from a wide, clean desk in the center of the room and led me to another desk tucked away in the corner, almost hidden, and covered in scattered newspapers, books, and official paperwork. Mabkhout is not afraid of chaos its what drives his fiction.
The novel for me is a way of looking into the chaos of a society even if it at first glance it appears stable and coherent, said Mabkhout, while sipping a Turkish coffee and puffing a cigarette. Years of chain-smoking have given his smooth baritone voice a subtle rasp. The chaos described in the book is not my own chaos. It is a chaos of a society in transition from one regime to another.
Mabkhouts debut novel, The Italian, tells the story of a leftist student named Abdel Nasser as he navigates the political and social tumult that accompanied one of the most dramatic moments in modern Tunisian history the day in 1987 when Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali seized power from then-President Habib Bourguiba. But it was likely because of the books intriguing parallels with another transition that of modern-day Tunisia from dictatorship to democracy that it won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (often known colloquially as the Arab Booker) in 2015. It was the first book by a Tunisian author to win the prestigious award.
Likely due to its controversial subject matter, the book was initially albeit briefly banned in the United Arab Emirates. Ironically, the Arab Bookers annual cash prize is funded by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority and it was there, the Emirati capital, that the award was to be presented. Months later, Mabkhouts novel was excluded from the Kuwait International Book Fair. None of this stopped it from becoming a bestseller in Tunisia.
Map of northern Tunisia
The Italian
recounts the struggle of Tunisias political student movements to achieve freedom and recognition during the political transition of the 1980s. Because of restrictions on expression and assembly, Tunisian universities, and especially their departments for the study of humanities and the law, became major outlets for the currents of political dissent running through the rest of the body politic.
Story continues
The university was for a long time the only place for open political debate in the country, Mabkhout told me. Political parties especially those on the left who were struggling against the ruling regime but didnt have the capacity to really fight it, used their youth groups within the student movements to shake the apparent stability of the regime.
A contemporary reader is struck by the manner in which many of the political debates that divided Tunisias youth at the time particularly debates about the role of Islam in society and the rights and freedoms of women are the same that divide its political leaders today. According to Mabkhout, this is no coincidence: Yesterdays student activists are the leading members of todays newly formed political class.
Sometimes theyre even the same faces, he said, citing Mohsen Marzouk, the co-founder of Tunisias current ruling party, and Chokri Belaid, the leftist politician whose assassination in 2013 led to a political crisis, as well as other figures similarly active in student politics in their youth.
Because of these continuities, the author hopes his novel will be able to touch the younger generation those who were born after Ben Alis 1987 coup detat by introducing them to an episode of the nations history that is still not well-known and is not taught in schools. They may recognize quite a bit of what they read.
The political struggles between the different political movements that were discussed in the book are still the same, he said. Its still the same fight between liberals and leftists and conservatives, mainly Islamist ones.
Born in 1962 to a middle-class family in Tunis, Mabkhout witnessed those formative conflicts first as a student in the coastal town of Sousse, then as a young professor at the university over which he now presides. Ideological debates in his university years took place in the context of bitter economic discontent; tensions escalated amid an IMF austerity program that cut food subsidies and set off a wave of nationwide protests. The bread riots of 1984 were violently repressed, leaving 89 dead, according to official statistics.
But in Mabkhouts childhood, his mother gave him more practical advice about baked goods. She used to tell us: If you want to eat cake and croissant, you have to take school seriously, but if you want to eat stale bread, you dont have to go to school, he said with a smile.
Though illiterate herself, she encouraged him to read and study, and he duly devoured books on politics, philosophy, and literature. By the time the polarized 1980s arrived, he was too much the skeptical intellectual to throw in his lot unreservedly with any political faction.
By the time I got to university, I was vaccinated against political movements. I was in contradiction with Islamists, with leftists, and with nationalists. I saw that that there was theoretical weakness in all of those movements, said Mabkhout. I disputed every idea and criticized every ideology.
That distance allowed him to make friends with different political leanings, giving him the time to observe and understand interactions he would come to portray in his novel.
The Italian benefits from the authors nuanced characterization, a feature that drew praise from the awards judges. Among Mabkhouts more memorable creations is his protagonist, Abdel Nasser, a charming rake who is transformed by events from a passionate idealist to a canny pragmatist. Then theres Lella Jenaina, the lascivious neighbor who introduces both Abdel Nasser and his brother to sex. But most striking among Mabkhouts cast is Zina, Abdel Nassers wife.
Zina was the most difficult and complex character for Mabkhout to create, but she was also the one who came most resemble her author. She shares Mabkhouts passion for reading and fierce skepticism toward all ideologies. Through her, we are introduced to the intimate and painful sufferings of Tunisias women, like incest, rape, and sexual harassment in academic institutions.
Mabkhout said that he sought to depict not only the hurdles facing Tunisian women, but also their strength and intelligence in seeking to overcome those difficulties. In the end, though, the novel doesnt paint a rosy picture of the options for women in a society that, in Mabkhouts words, was built on rape.
Indeed, though Tunisian women are often rated by nongovernmental organizations and other outside observers as enjoying the highest level of human rights in the region, they still suffer from stark restrictions in sex and marriage, rampant domestic abuse, and a patriarchal culture built around male honor. We need to stop talking about Tunisian women as an example for the Arab world, Mabkhout said. Yes, they might have some gains that their peers in neighboring countries dont have, but we need to focus more on what is missing and what still needs to be done to achieve full equality.
The status of women is one of several issues that have animated post-revolution debates. Some politicians have recently introduced the idea, for example, of finally placing womens inheritance rights on legal par with mens. Under the current system, women inherit only half of what their brothers get unless a will specifies otherwise. Mabkhout strongly advocates reform of the law, but he notes that this one, like so many other proposed changes, has gotten lost in the muddle of Tunisias transition. Mabkhout blames some of this inertia on the inability of his old student activist colleagues to adapt to Tunisias present-day political climate. Theyre still adjusting to the current situation, a context of democratic transition. They arent used to democracy, he said. They found themselves in a new reality but they dont have the tools to cope with it.
In a country mired in economic stagnation, threatened by terrorism, and burdened by a lack of strong political leadership, the arts may not seem like the most obvious place to look for such tools. But for Mabkhout, creative people do have a role to play in guiding Tunisia through the troubled waters of transition.
Nations live by their symbols, said the novelist. George Washington and the like, theyre all symbols of nations, but people here have come to realize that there is a political void. Were starting to fill this void, but we need more work from writers and artists, poets and creators, to forge these symbols, so they can be anchored in the collective memory.
The Italian offers no simple narratives to serve as manifestos for Tunisias new generation of revolutionaries and radicals. But perhaps by revisiting the old patterns of his countrys history the reflexes and neuroses of identity and tradition that recur like nervous tics Mabkhout has managed to shake up the Tunisian mentality just a bit, raising the lid on his beloved chaos just enough to provoke knowledge-hungry young literati into seeking out new narratives and new possibilities.
Photo credit: SOPHIA BARAKET for Foreign Policy
Read more from Tunisia: In Sun and Shadow:
Tunisias Glorious Confusion:The dawn of democracy is something to root for but the forces that have pulled the other Arab Spring countries back into upheaval still threaten to undo its progress.
Tunisias War on Islam: Is overzealous prosecution of the war on terror contributing to radicalization?
A Verdict on Change: This ambitious young judge wants to change Tunisias justice system. But he still has to type out his own verdicts.
Missing the Old Days: Tunisia is a democracy. Heres a man who still mourns for the old regime.
El Khadra Still Cant Breathe: This devastated community has been calling for help for years. Even in the new Tunisia, no ones listening.
Not Arab, and Proud of It: Tunisias long-suppressed Amazigh minority is finding its voice for the first time in years.
The Tourism Crash: Terrorist attacks have left the sector reeling but its problems actually go much deeper..
Crisis of Governance: Local Edition: In many ways, democratic Tunisia remains just as centralized as it was before the revolution. And thats a big problem for the mayor of Kasserine.
Tunisias Dying Jazz: New freedoms have brought art and religion into conflict, threatening to crush a tradition trapped in the middle.
Trouble in the Wild East: The border town of Ben Guerdane is a haven for smugglers. Locals would like to keep it that way.
Terms of Abuse: On paper, Tunisias revolution has boosted legal protections for women. Yet the reality is starkly different.
Five Years of the New Tunisia: From revolution to disillusionment and back again: Milestones on Tunisias rocky path to democracy.
The Mainstreaming of Tunisias Islamists: The Ennahda Partys latest moves put its political astuteness on show once again.
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f173445%2fdogwaits2
Humans don't have soulmates, but we can always pretend that dogs do.
Olivia Sievers is a flight attendant from Germany who routinely flies to Argentina. Earlier this year, Sievers found a stray dog hovering near the hotel where she stays in Buenos Aires.
Sievers was immediately drawn to the dog. But while she had no plans to further the relationship, their connection only got stronger.
Less than a year later, Sievers brought the pup home to Germany for good.
SEE ALSO: Rescue puppy's delightfully weird portraits scream 'adopt me'
Every time Sievers flew from Germany and stayed in that same hotel, there was the dog, waiting for her. Even when she left the hotel and wandered around the city, the dog would walk right next to her, following her everywhere.
Technically this is called stalking, but because it's a cute pup it's totally okay (right?).
Sievers even gave the pup, Rubio, an airline blanket to keep him warm at night.
"I tried to change my way because I didn't want that he follow me back to the hotel," Sievers told Noticiero Trece. "But it was not possible. He always came back and followed me. I tried one hour, but he always watched me and followed me. He was really happy that somebody gave him attention.
Sievers tried to have the dog rescued and adopted, but the dog escaped from the home and was soon found waiting outside the hotel.
So Sievers decided to make things official: she signed the adoption papers and brought him home to Germany, where he's been happily running around ever since.
True love between humans may not be real but between dog and a person, we can pretend that anything is possible.
BONUS: Corgi Tea Party
From ELLE
Today, Stuart Weitzman announced that its namesake founder will step down as creative director after nearly 30 years at the helm. The shoe designer will now be Chairman while Giovanni Morelli will take over his previous role.
Morelli has been in the industry for 25 years and hails most recently from Loewe, where has was the Leather Goods Design Director since March 2015. He began his career working at Prada after graduating from Domus Academy in Milan with a Masters in Fashion Design, then joined Burberry Accessories as Design Director for four years. He also designed for Marc Jacobs and Chloe.
"In Giovanni, we have found a Creative Director who willensure that the unique DNA of the brand will be preserved while infusing hiscreative vision for a modern age," Weitzman said in a release, "Giovanni is respected for his attention to detail, respect of quality and craftsmanship and for his modern sensibility that is always pushing new design boundaries."
Paris (AFP) - The first people to reach the Americas could not have passed through the ice sheet-cleaving inland corridor long thought to be the entry point of humans to the continents, according to a study published Wednesday.
More likely, the New World pioneers of our species -- probably some 15,000 years ago -- inched along a Pacific coastline free enough of ice to support life-sustaining flora and fauna.
The exact route and timing of this maiden migration remains conjecture, the researchers said.
But what is certain, according to findings reported in the journal Nature, is that the textbook version of that passage is wrong.
For decades, scientists favoured a scenario something like this.
About 14,500 years ago, a 1,500-kilometre (900-mile) north-south corridor opened up between the Cordilleran ice sheet -- which covered roughly what is today the Canadian province of British Colombia -- and the much larger Laurentide ice sheet, which smothered the rest of Canada.
The Ice Age was slowly giving way, but still held the region in its grip and -- draining the oceans by dozens of metres -- forged a land-bridge between Eurasia and Alaska.
So far, so good.
About a thousand years later, according to this theory, the first Ice Age humans moved through this elongated inland gateway to found new cultures to the south.
- A new storyline -
Among them was the Clovis people, who first show up in the archaeological record more than 13,000 years ago.
This storyline presumes, of course, that these path-breaking early people found sustenance along the way.
And that's where the theory falls apart, according to Mikkel Pedersen, a researcher at the Centre for GeoGenetics at the University of Copenhagen, and lead author of the study.
"The earliest point at which the corridor opens for human migration is 12,600 years ago," he told AFP.
While the passage may have been free, "there was absolutely nothing before this date in the surrounding environment -- not plants, not animals."
Story continues
Nothing, in other words, that would have allowed humans to feed themselves during a long, hard slog between towering cliffs of ice.
Other research showing that humans might have arrived in the Americas at least 14,500 years ago -- and perhaps a couple of thousand years before that -- had already begun to undermine the ice sheet corridor hypothesis, forcing experts to look more closely at the possibility of a coastal route.
Pedersen and colleagues now appear to have closed the door on the inland route for good.
The innovative methods they used for reconstructing the late Ice Age ecosystem was crucial.
Rather than hunt for DNA traces of specific plants or animals buried in sediment -- the standard approach -- Pedersen's team used what is called a "shotgun" method, cataloguing every life form in a given sample.
"Traditionally, we have been looking for specific genes from a single or several species," he explained.
"But the shotgun approach really gave us a fantastic insight into all the different trophic" -- or food-chain -- "layers, from bacteria and fungi to higher plants and mammals."
- Window onto ancient worlds -
The researchers chose to extract sediment cores from what would have been a bottleneck in the inland corridor, an area partly covered today by Charlie Lake in British Columbia.
The team did radiocarbon dating, and gathered samples while standing on the frozen lake's surface in winter.
Up to 12,600 years ago, the environment was almost entirely bereft of life, they found.
But the ecosystem evolved quickly, giving way within a couple of hundred years to a landscape of grass and sagebrush, soon populated by bison, woolly mammoth, jackrabbits and voles.
Fast-forward a thousand years, and it had transitioned again, this time into a "parkland ecosystem" dense with trees, moose, elk and bald-headed eagles.
The findings open "a window onto ancient worlds" and are a cornerstone in a "major reevaluation" of how humans arrived in America, said Suzanne McGowan of the University of Nottingham, commenting in Nature.
They also make the coastal passage scenario much more likely, she added.
Other scholars agree.
"If there ever was an ice-free corridor during the Last Glacial Maximum," James Dixon of the University of New Mexico wrote in a recent study, "it was not in the interior regions of northern North America, but along the Northwest Coast."
A "biologically viable" passage stretched along that coast from the Bering Land Bridge to regions south of the glaciers starting about 16,000 years ago, he reported in the journal Quaternary International.
Tom Hiddleston's First Instagram Is a Selfie [Instagram]
Emmy-nominated actor Tom Hiddleston - or is it Loki? - is now an Instagram user. Taylor Swift's other half joined the popular photo-sharing platform on Tuesday, posting a selfie of himself in character as Loki, the Marvel villain. "He's back!" he captioned. But what we really want to know: When is T.Swift making an appearance on his newly-minted account? TBA.
He's back!
A photo posted by Tom Hiddleston (@twhiddleston) on Aug 9, 2016 at 6:19am PDT
Uzo Aduba Is the Cover Star of Essence's September Issue [Essence]
Uzo Aduba has landed her first September cover for Essence. Styled by Cristina Ehrlich, the Orange Is the New Black star stuns in a matching fire-engine red Juan Carlos Obando blouse and skirt. In her cover story, the 35-year-old actress talks about self-acceptance. "This business will try to convince you that you're not enough," she tells the magazine. "That you're not pretty enough, thin enough, talented enough, interesting enough, experienced enough, and I say, 'Enough. Enough with that!'"
A photo posted by Uzo Aduba (@uzoaduba) on Aug 9, 2016 at 6:06am PDT
You Can Now Support Hillary Clinton on Your Jeans [Vogue]
In case repping Hillary Clinton with designer tees isn't your cup of tea, there's now another apparel option available to show your support for the Democratic presidential nominee. New York denim brand Industry Standard is introducing embroidered jeans (up to 15 characters) that can include "#ImWithHer," "Madame President" and "Hill Yes," among other HRC slogans. Twenty percent of each purchase will be donated to the Clinton/Kaine campaign efforts.
A photo posted by Industry Standard (@industrystandardny) on Aug 8, 2016 at 1:54pm PDT
An employee at a Subway sandwich shop in Utah has been accused of drugging a police officer who visited the drive-thru.
The officer began to feel strange shortly after sipping his lemonade drink, struggling to brake while driving his car and arriving at his station in Layton dazed and unable to respond to questions. The officer, who has not been identified, was treated at a hospital, and his lemonade was found to contain THC and methamphetamine.
Tanis Ukena, 18, was arrested on suspicion of surreptitiously giving a poisonous substance, the Associated Press reports. He has denied wrongdoing, but admitted he was the only person to handle the drink (a fact also confirmed by security footage).
Police Lt. Travis Lyman said investigators are looking into whether the incident could have been inspired by any anti-police sentiment in the wake of officer-involved shootings around the country. Its not a reach to make that connection based on the climate right now, Lyman said. I imagine officers will be bringing lunch from home for some time rather than risking future drive-thru poisonings.
Ukena has not had previous problems with the police besides being stopped for speeding. The officer is expected to make a full recovery.
[AP]
A teenage fast food worker was arrested this week and charged with poisoning a police officer's drink.
Tanis Ukena, 18, was arrested after Layton Police say he put THCthe active ingredient in marijuanaand methamphetamine into the drink of one of their sergeants on Monday.
Ukena was working the drive-thru window of a Subway restaurant when he allegedly stepped out of view of the surveillance camera with something in his hand, then served the uniformed sergeant a drink.
Watch: Drive-Thru Employees Freak Out Over Fake Alligator Prank
The sergeant pulled away and immediately felt impaired, KUTV reported. When he pulled up to a red light, he reportedly struggled to find the brake. At the station, he couldn't answer questions posed by colleagues, according to a probable cause statement.
Police say they don't know why Ukena allegedly drugged the drink.
Read: Man Arrested For Tossing Alligator Through Wendy's Drive Thru
Subway responded with a press release, which read:
"We are shocked by these charges. Our thoughts are with the Sergeant and his family and we are hoping for a quick recovery. The restaurant owners are working closely with the police in their investigation and will take appropriate action.
"As this is still an active police investigation, we cannot provide any further information and must refer further questions to the police."
Ukena was held in the Davis County jail on $10,000 bond.
Watch: Pregnant Wendy's Worker Dragged Out Drive-Thru Window, Assaulted: 'You Forgot the Effing Straw'
Related Articles:
LIMA Filmmaking partners Mariana Rondon and Marite Ugas, whose Pelo Malo won Sebastians Golden Seashell and was one of sales agent FiGa Films bestselling titles ever, are prepping their next feature, Contactado, in Peru.
The duo have moved to Lima, partly because of the economic-political crisis in Venezuela, but also for the drama they plan to shoot in deserts outside of Lima.
Ugas, who is Peruvian, will take the directing reins this time round; Rondon, a Venezuelan, will produce. In their last pic,Pelo Malo, Rondon directed while Ugas produced. Plans include shooting by Venezuelas Lake Maracaibo, renowned for the constant lightning storms over the mouth of the Catatumbo river, which empties into the lake. The area attracts a number of sects who are lured by the otherworldly phenomenon, Rondon said.
The partners shingle Sudaca Films and DP Micaela Cajahuaringas Imagen Latina of Peru will co-produce the drama which centers on false prophets and religious cults in Latin America.
Rondon and Ugas co-penned the screenplay about a false prophet who comes across a younger version of himself, and the power struggle that ensues. They credit being able to effectively polish their script to their nearly two-month stay last spring at the oldest artists colony in the U.S., the MacDowell Colony, where they were invited to experience an internet-free environment that allowed for uninterrupted work and interactions with exceptional artists from all fields.
Contactado (officially translated to Contactee) was among six out of 67 fiction feature applicants to recently win coin from Perus film fund, managed by the Ministry of Cultures audiovisual division. Armed with $150,000 from this annual fund, as well as backing from Ibermedia, a regional co-production fund, they have covered about half their budget of some $600,000. Getting the next half will be a challenge, said Ugas, who hopes to reel in other co-producers.
Related stories
Story continues
Lima Festival: L.A.-Based Sound Company E Squared Backs Peruvian Alvaro Delgado-Aparicio's 'Retablo' (EXCLUSIVE)
Lima Festival: Peru's Jonatan Relayze Readies Sci-Fi Road-Movie 'Huaquero' (EXCLUSIVE)
Peru's 'Panza de Burro' Omnibus Pic Heads to San Sebastian
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Talks to secure a lasting ceasefire in Sudan's three war-ravaged regions began on Tuesday, a day after an opposition coalition signed on to a roadmap for ending hostilities and achieving political reconciliation. There has been fighting between the Sudanese army and rebels in the southern regions of Kordofan and Blue Nile since 2011, when adjacent South Sudan declared independence. Conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against the Arab-led government based in the capital Khartoum. The roadmap, brokered by the African Union, marks the first time the country's major opposition groups have signed a deal with the government since regional fighting reignited in 2011. The accord spells out a process for reaching a permanent ceasefire, endorses a national dialogue between the government and opposition rebel and political groups, and includes provisions for immediate humanitarian assistance. Although violence has eased in recent years, an intermittent insurgency has continued. At least 130,000 people have fled fighting in the central Jebel Marra area of Darfur since mid-January alone. Khartoum signed the AU plan in March, but opposition groups, many of which call for the overthrow of veteran President Omar al-Bashir, refused at the time to follow suit. "We signed yesterday in Addis Ababa after the African intermediary agreed to include our demands in the agreement," Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) spokesman Jibril Bilal said. The Darfur leader was referring to a clause ensuring preliminary meetings in the Ethiopian capital among all political groups before a national dialogue in Khartoum. "The signing of the roadmap is a positive step, but the more complex stage will come with talks revolving around a ceasefire and a political solution," said Bilal. Signatories to the roadmap included many of the country's most prominent opposition and rebel groups, from JEM and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North) to the Umma Party, the largest opposition party. "We welcome the opposition signing of the roadmap and today the government begins to engage in negotiations with armed rebels over a ceasefire...We are optimistic...It's important that a creasefire is reached to stop the war," government spokesman Ahmed Bilal said. Holdouts to the roadmap remain, however, with the Sudan Liberation Movement, a major rebel force in Darfur, and the country's communist party refusing to sign. "We are ready to reach necessary political solutions for the country, but this is tied to the will and desire of the other side, the government, for peaceful solutions," JEM's Bilal said. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; writing by Eric Knecht; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Aug 10 (Reuters) - TerraForm Power Inc and TerraForm Global Inc, the "yieldcos" of bankrupt solar company SunEdison Inc, said they would delay filing their second-quarter earnings reports.
Both yieldcos, which are yet to file their annual reports for the year ended Dec. 31 and their first-quarter reports, said on Wednesday they would take additional time to finalize their financial statements.
The companies' second-quarter ended on June 30.
TerraForm Power and TerraForm Global said in their regulatory filings that they had identified "material weaknesses" in their internal controls over financial reporting due to SunEdison. (http://bit.ly/2aZPPYt)
SunEdison had delayed its filings after identifying "material weaknesses" in its financial reporting, primarily related to problems with a newly implemented IT system.
The company also said it was conducting an internal investigation into its financial position.
"Yieldcos" are publicly traded units that hold renewable energy assets, including those bought from the parent company.
(Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
By Abdalrahman Ismail ALEPPO (Reuters) - At least four people died and many suffered breathing difficulties when a gas, believed to be chlorine, was dropped alongside barrel bombs on a neighborhood of the Syrian city of Aleppo on Wednesday, a hospital and a civil defense group told Reuters. Hamza Khatib, the manager of Al Quds hospital in Aleppo, told a Reuters photographer the hospital had recorded four deaths from gas poisoning and 55 injuries. Seven people were still receiving hospital treatment. Khatib said he was preserving pieces of patients clothing and fragments from the barrel bombs as evidence for analysis. Syria Civil Defence, a Syrian rescue service operating in rebel-held territory, told Reuters it had recorded three deaths and 22 injuries after a barrel containing a gas suspected of being chlorine fell on the Zubdiya neighborhood of rebel-held Aleppo. The group, which describes itself as a neutral band of search and rescue volunteers, said it could not independently verify the nature of the gas. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said helicopters dropped explosive barrels on the neighborhoods of Seif al Dawla and Zubdiya, leading to the death of a woman and her child from suffocation. The northern city of Aleppo, Syria's most populous before the war, is split into rebel- and government-held districts. Capturing the whole city would be a major prize for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's five-year-old conflict. A fierce battle for control of the city broke out on Friday when rebels staged a major assault to break through a month-long government siege of the city's rebel-held east, where about 250,000 people are thought to be living. Fighters managed to pierce the ring of government-controlled territory, but a safe corridor for civilians and aid has not yet been established. There have been unconfirmed reports among activists and residents of chlorine gas falling on rebel-held east Aleppo since the insurgent offensive. The Aleppo Media Centre, an online opposition news portal for the city, posted a video that it said was of victims of the gas attack: a child and adults wearing breathing apparatus. Two men interviewed said barrel bombs were dropped and there was a strong smell of gas. People then began to suffer breathing and eye problems. Government and opposition forces have both denied using chemical weapons during Syria's conflict. Western powers say the government has been responsible for chlorine and other chemical attacks. The government and Russia have accused rebels of using poison gas. U.N. investigators established that sarin gas was used in Eastern Ghouta in 2013. The United States accused Damascus of that attack, which it estimates killed 1,429 people, including at least 426 children. Damascus denied responsibility, and blamed rebels. Later that year the United Nations and the Syrian government agreed to destroy the state's declared stockpile of chemical weapons, a process completed in January 2016. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirmed in late 2015 that sulfur mustard, commonly known as mustard gas, had been used for the first time in the conflict, without saying which party in the many sided conflict it thought had used it. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington in Beirut and Abdalrahman Ismail in Aleppo, Syria; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Aleppo (Syria) (AFP) - Fresh fighting hit Syria's Aleppo, the first day of a promised Russian aid window the UN said was insufficient to bring relief for the city's desperate residents.
Even as Moscow pledged to pause strikes around Syria's second city, it carried out raids further east on the Islamic State group bastion of Raqa. A monitor said 24 civilians were killed.
The divided city of Aleppo has been rocked by escalating violence, with people on both sides living in fear of being trapped.
Longtime Syria ally Russia has provided air cover for pro-government forces for nearly a year, including in Aleppo.
The UN said Russia was considering expanding three-hour pauses in fighting every morning to bring in desperately needed aid.
"Any pause obviously should always be seen and looked at with great interest, because a pause means no fighting, but three hours is not enough," said envoy Staffan de Mistura.
Russia was meanwhile offered the possibility of joint operations against IS by Turkey, which has backed rebels against President Bashar al-Assad.
The offer came one day after crucial talks between President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
While it is unclear how possible cooperation between Moscow and Ankara -- which support opposing sides -- would work, the US tentatively welcomed the idea.
Working against IS "is a priority for all of us", State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said.
"If this is truly a step in that direction, we would welcome that."
- 'We do not need tears' -
Jan Egeland, who heads the UN-backed Syria humanitarian taskforce, said he was "hopeful" talks with Russia could lead to aid entering the city.
But rebels and regime forces clashed in southern Aleppo, including during the period when the pause was meant to take hold, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Rebels and jihadists broke a three-week government siege of Aleppo's east on Saturday, opening a new route for goods through the southern outskirts.
Story continues
An AFP correspondent in the east said trucks carrying food were unable to enter the city because of intense bombardment.
But the Red Crescent brought diesel to a pumping station and as a result water was restored to some areas in east and west Aleppo after six days.
An estimated 1.5 million people live in Aleppo, including about 250,000 in rebel-held districts.
State media said army troops seized territory south of Aleppo, and that rebel fire killed four civilians in a government-held district.
But it made no mention of the "humanitarian windows" announced by Russia.
Fifteen of the only remaining doctors in eastern Aleppo implored US President Barack Obama to protect civilians from atrocities.
"Unless a permanent lifeline to Aleppo is opened it will be only a matter of time until we are again surrounded by regime troops, hunger takes hold and hospitals' supplies run completely dry," they wrote.
"We do not need tears or sympathy or even prayers, we need your action. Prove that you are the friend of Syrians."
Human Rights Watch said it had documented six strikes by regime or Russian warplanes on health facilities in the north that killed 17 people in the past two weeks.
"With heavy bombing continuing relentlessly in Aleppo especially, hospitals and clinics need to be treated as the sacred life-saving places they are, not as additional bombing targets," said HRW's Nadim Houry.
- Concerns over chemical weapons -
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said he was "concerned by reports of a new chemical attack... that is said to have claimed four lives and left dozens injured."
Washington also expressed concern over the reports, which it said would be in violation of a 2013 UN resolution to dismantle the Syrian government's chemical weapons arsenal.
Activists accused government forces on Wednesday of carrying out an attack using chlorine gas on a rebel-held residential neighbourhood.
De Mistura said he could not verify the reports.
Further east, Russian raids hit the IS stronghold of Raqa, killing at least 24 civilians and wounding 70 people, said the Observatory.
Russia said the raids destroyed a "chemical weapons factory" as well as a weapons storage facility and IS training camp.
It said the jihadists suffered "significant" material damage and a large number had been killed.
Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 and has since killed more than 290,000 people and drawn in world powers on all sides.
On his way to the Grand Canyon over the weekend, T.R. Knight's vacation took an unexpected turn.
The Grey's Anatomy star had to put the trip on hold when he encountered a little dog "darting back and forth on the busy freeway."
RELATED: 'Grey's Anatomy' Vet T.R. Knight Is Back in the Shonda Rhimes Universe
In an Instagram post from Monday, Knight, the owner of at least three other dogs with his spouse Patrick Leahy, shared that he pulled over to help the pooch.
"He was emaciated with his ribs and hip bones poking through, covered in ticks and fleas," he wrote. "We took him to @canyonpethospital and met our heroes Michelle, Jessica, Katie, Kristen and Dr. Amstutz. They spent over 2 hours removing hundreds of ticks from this brave little guy."
PICS: Stars and Their Adorable Pets
After their visit to Canyon Pet Hospital in Arizona, the dog found a new home with Knight.
"The Grand Canyon will have to wait, as we welcome our newest family member," he wrote. "Meet Traveler, a sweetheart (even when he is pooping all over me in the pet store). Another adventure begins!"
Related Articles
KALISPELL, MT / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2016 / In this article we will take a look at Gilla Inc. (GLLA), a global leader in the manufacturing and distribution of generic and premium E-liquid brands and proprietary recipes for the vapor industry. E-cigs represent a burgeoning industry growing at 24% CAGR, reaching $7 billion globally in 2015, which is still only 2% of the estimated $315 billion annual worldwide revenues from combustible cigarettes.
Recently, CEOLIVE.TV took the time to interview Graham Simmonds, CEO and Chairman of Gilla Inc. In the below interview, Mr. Simmonds makes a number of very well articulated points about the E-cig industry, Gilla's business model, and the unique opportunity that his company holds.
(Please visit http://gilla.com/?page_id=4124 for additional information)
Consolidating Brands Under A Single Platform
With the vapor industry growing at an annual compounded rate of 24% CAGR, and an industry size that is only 2% of the combustible cigarette market, one can see that there is huge potential for growth. According to Mr. Simmonds, Gilla has set up their business model to replicate the very successful strategy of the $70 billion giant Diageo plc (NYSE:DEO), the maker of Bailey's, Ketel One, Smirnoff, Crown Royal, and Guinness among many others, a company whose products consists of "brands from more than 200 sites in over 30 countries". Not coincidentally, Gilla's product line consists of approximately 14 marketed brands which are sold in over 25 countries.
Mr. Simmonds goes on to say, "Our model is not unique, we're really taking a page out of the book of other companies that have been in the bottling industry, when you look at spirit companies, liquor companies, soda pop beverage manufacturers, as well as companies in the beer industry, they are all consolidating brands under a single manufacturing platform, with a single sales and marketing platform, it really is a proven model."
Many people may not know for example that the Corona Beer and Black Velvet Canadian Whisky brands are owned by international conglomerate Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ), or that Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) is the maker of Odwalla juices and Dasani bottled water. By consolidating multiple brands under a single distribution and sales network, these multi-billion dollar companies have been able to provide a one-stop platform that is easy to work with, and clearly successful.
Story continues
Asia's Massive Vapor Potential
On May 17th, 2016, Gilla announced it had signed an exclusive distribution agreement with a Chinese distributor who currently does approximately $275 million in annual sales. As part of that agreement, the distributor is required to purchase a minimum of $5.5 million worth of Gilla product in the next three years. As it was stated in the Gilla press release, "Given the size of the Chinese market and the increasing demand for USA made E-liquid, the Company and the Distributor believe these numbers to be very achievable."
If the minimum purchase amount of $5.5 million were evenly achieved over the next three years, it would result in approximately $458k in sales per quarter over the next 12 quarters. With Gilla reporting $1.35M in sales last quarter, this agreement alone represents a 34% increase from current revenue levels, it is no wonder that Mr. Simmonds also gave this guidance in the same press release, "Given our strong revenue growth, we continue to make progress on our goal of achieving positive cash flow during the second half of 2016."
Under the terms of the agreement, Gilla has granted the exclusive distribution rights to all of its E-liquid products, including the award winning Coil Glaze E-liquid brand, and their just announced three new E-liquid brands now available in the United States market. As well, Gilla's E-liquid brands will be marketed to Chinese domestic vape shops and on the most visited Chinese online E-cigarette websites.
Gilla has also agreed to jointly develop E-Liquid flavors that will be designed to satisfy the Chinese palate. Just like with many other products, the Chinese are looking to Western companies to provide a higher quality product then what is readily available in China; hence the increasing demand for "USA made E-liquid".
With Asia having an estimated 300 million combustible cigarette users in 2016, a tremendous opportunity for further expansion exists in the region. In Malaysia for example, 50% of the adult population currently smokes. Mr. Simmonds mentions that Gilla is looking in the near term to target the international markets including South Korea and Russia.
The European Market
In January of this year, Gilla announced that they had formed Gilla Europe, which included a 20 - person team headquartered out of Budapest, Hungary, which was already accessing over 25 countries and covering 30 languages. According to the press release, "This distribution platform was providing exclusive services to a leading cig-a-like E-cig brand and had built its sales to a peak level of over $3 million per year."
The press release continues with, "Our existing customer relationships should provide immediate revenues to Gilla and quickly advance Gilla's international expansion." This appears to have held true with the previously mentioned $1.35M revenue figure for Q1 2016.
With news of expansion into the United Kingdom (UK) just this last month, Gilla continues to execute on their plan of bringing a quality portfolio of products to the global market. Having already sold more than 14,000 bottles of their Coil Glaze brand in just a few short months, Gilla made a decision to bottle and box the product locally in the UK, cutting down notably on lead times for delivering product to the estimated 2.1 million E-cig users in the UK.
Summary
E-cigarettes are generally regarded as a safer way to consume nicotine than by combustible cigarettes, with a 2015 study done in the U.K. showing them to be 95% less harmful than combustible tobacco. As well, a more recent article titled "E-Cigarettes May Help More Than They Hurt" in Bloomberg pointed out an interesting result of studies, "Researchers in the U.S., Australia, and Canada have devised a model showing that, among people born after 1996, the option of using E-cigarettes may end up triggering a 21 percent reduction in smoking-attributable deaths and a 20 percent decrease in life-years lost."
With a leading portfolio of branded E-liquid products under their own manufacturing in the vaping industry, Gilla is able to present distributors with a full slate of products while offering the convenience of using a single manufacturer.
To learn more about Gilla Inc., please visit http://gilla.com/?page_id=4124.
Disclaimer:
Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this release contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Tamarack Advisors is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority, and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice.
SOURCE: Tamarack Advisors
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Tata Chemicals, the Tata group's flagship chemical and fertilisers company, is selling its urea business to Norway's Yara International to focus on other fertilisers and consumer products like pulses and spices.
Tata said it had agreed the sale of its urea business, which is in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, to Yara, one of the world's largest fertiliser producers, for 26.7 billion rupees ($400 million).
The Uttar Pradesh business contributed 13 percent of Tata Chemicals' total sales revenue last fiscal year. The company will now focus on fertilisers such as soda ash and expand its consumer-related business that includes salt, spices and pulses.
"In many of these businesses if you don't have scale, it becomes unsustainable in the long run. We are trying to scale the consumer business and that is the company's broad strategy," Tata Chemicals' Managing Director Ramakrishnan Mukundan told a press conference on Wednesday.
About eight companies produce urea in India but analysts say the sector is hampered by regulated returns and delayed subsidy disbursements from the government, which has led to consolidation in the sector.
The operations being acquired by Yara produce 0.7 million tonnes of ammonia and 1.2 million tonnes of urea annually and had revenues of $350 million and operating profit of $35 million for the fiscal year through March 2016, Yara said in a statement earlier in the day.
The deal also includes Tata Chemicals' distribution network in Uttar Pradesh.
Indian merchant bankers Kotak Investment Banking and JM Financial advised Tata Chemicals on the deal.
($1 = 66.6900 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Susan Fenton)
Once again, high-end electric car maker Tesla is in the spotlight following a crash by a driver who was using the companys Autopilot feature. However, the company says the driver was taking the term autopilot too literally.
While one might hear autopilot and imagine some autonomous self-driving vehicle that does the driving for you, the way the word is used for Teslas Autopilot functionality is much more limited.
According to Tesla marketing materials, Autopilot will let vehicles steer within a lane, change lanes with the simple tap of a turn signal, and manage speed by using active, traffic-aware cruise control. It also has other features, like auto-braking, collision avoidance, and automated parallel parking.
This distinction is at the heart of a war of words between Tesla and a Tesla owner in Beijing. Last week, he crashed his car into a the side of a vehicle that was partially parked in the road. Tesla says the driver is to blame for taking his hands off the wheel, while the driver says he was misled about the Autopilot feature.
Related Stories from Consumer Reports
In an interview with Reuters, the driver says Tesla sold him on Autopilot as a feature that would do much of the driving for him.
The impression they give everyone is that this is self-driving, this isnt assisted driving, the 33-year-old programmer tells Reuters, which found a handful of other Tesla owners in China who also claim the car company is pitching Autopilot as self-driving.
They all described it as being able to drive itself, said one Tesla owner from Shanghai.
A rep for Tesla tells Reuters that the company has never described Autopilot as an autonomous technology or a self-driving car, and any third-party descriptions to this effect are not accurate.
Story continues
With regard to this particular incident, in which no one appears to have been hurt, Tesla says sensors show the drivers hands were not on the wheel at the time his car scraped along the side of a parked Volkswagen.
This sort of hands-off behavior, notes the Telsa rep, is apparently counter to the instructions provided by the car company.
As clearly communicated to the driver in the vehicle, autosteer is an assist feature that requires the driver to keep his hands on the steering wheel at all times, to always maintain control and responsibility for the vehicle, and to be prepared to take over at any time.
But in his videotaped interview with Reuters, the Beijing driver insists that when Tesla sales staff showed him the feature, they took their hands off the wheel and talked about is as a self-driving feature.
This is certainly related to some false promotion and marketing, he tells Reuters. They described [this function] very well to everyone, but in fact they took an unfinished product and used it as a promotional gimmick.
Tesla has been under increased scrutiny this summer over the Autopilot feature, following a fatal collision in Florida. Its since been confirmed that while the driver was going around 10 miles per hour over the speed limit at the time, the Autopilot feature was engaged.
The car maker said in July that it would not disable Autopilot, but a number of consumer safety advocatesincluding our colleagues at Consumer Reportshave called Tesla out for the potentially confusing messages surrounding the Autopilot feature.
By marketing their feature as Autopilot, Tesla gives consumers a false sense of security, said Laura MacCleery, vice president of consumer policy and mobilization for Consumer Reports, which has said that Tesla should disable the autosteering aspect of Autopilot until it is updated to require the drivers hands remain on the steering wheel. Autopilot cant actually drive the car, yet it allows consumers to have their hands off the steering wheel for minutes at a time.
More from Consumer Reports:
Top pick tires for 2016
Best used cars for $25,000 and less
7 best mattresses for couples
Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright 2006-2016 Consumers Union of U.S.
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas man who managed an orphanage in Malawi was sentenced on Tuesday in federal court to 25 years in prison for sexually abusing children in his care, U.S. prosecutors said. Gerald Campbell, 66, of Odessa, who pleaded guilty in May, could have faced up to life in prison, according to papers filed in federal court in Texas. Campbell reached a plea agreement and admitted to engaging in sexual acts with eight minors, all of whom were orphans living at the Victory Christian Childrens Home in Malawi between 1997 and 2009, U.S. prosecutors said. "Campbell admitted that he knew that what he was doing was wrong and that he thought nobody would believe the minors if they reported the abuse," they said in a statement. He told U.S. investigators he lured children, including one infected with HIV, into his home to sexually abuse them. The home had more amenities than the orphanage and he used that to entice a few of the children to live with him for several months, court papers said. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Bill Trott)
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - By abandoning confrontation and seeking consensus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pulled off his biggest reform yet, securing the unanimous support of both houses of parliament for a planned Goods and Services Tax (GST).
For a story, click here: http://reut.rs/2beh7gF
Here's a timeline of how Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley first brought India's federal states on board, before finally closing the deal at a series of meetings with an opposition Congress party that had become increasingly isolated.
May 19 - Congress, which suffered its worst-ever election defeat at the hands of Modi in 2014, is punished by voters in a round of regional elections.
June 11 - Further losses in elections to the upper house mean that Congress and its fellow holdout, Tamil Nadu's ruling party, would struggle to muster the one-third of votes needed to stop a constitutional amendment to enable the GST.
June 15-16 - Jaitley wins the full support of West Bengal, a key swing state. Congress's anti-GST front is crumbling.
July 15 - Jaitley holds formal talks on the GST with Congress party negotiators for the first time in nine months.
July 17 - At an all-party meeting, Modi urges opposition parties to put national interests above all else and back the GST bill.
July 19 - Jaitley holds a second round of talks with Congress. He also meets Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who rules in an alliance with Congress. Kumar is placated by a government offer to delay a controversial piece of legislation and his party publicly backs the GST the next day.
July 26 - Jaitley offers to compensate states for five years for all revenue losses arising from the GST. The states are fully on board.
July 27 - Congress proposes tweaks to the GST amendment. They are approved by Modi's cabinet that evening.
July 28 - Two more meetings are held but Jaitley resists a Congress demand to anchor the GST rate at 18 percent.
Aug 1 - Congress tells Jaitley it will back the bill.
Story continues
Aug 3 - The constitutional amendment bill passes the upper house, with 203 votes in favour and none against, after lawmakers from Tamil Nadu walk out.
Aug 8 - The lower house unanimously approves the amendment.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
- At least half of India's states and self-governing union territories need to back the GST amendment.
- The GST Council, a forum bringing together the centre and the states, should draft the key terms and scope of the GST. The government's chief economic adviser has recommended a main rate of 18 percent, but many states want it to be higher while Congress wants it to be capped.
- Two new GST bills are expected to come before parliament in the winter session that begins in November. The states, too, are required to pass their own GST bills.
- The government targets a GST launch date of next April 1, the start of India's financial year, although experts say that deadline is likely to slip.
(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh and Manoj Kumar; Writing by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Kim Coghill)
The primary motive of any investment is to generate profit. Investors pour money into businesses and companies in the hope of multiplying returns. Profits are used to reward shareholders and can be reinvested for expanding the business.
Net Profit Margin = Net profit /Sales * 100.
Net profit of a business is the amount that remains in the last line (also known as bottom line) of the income statement after all costs (including taxes) have been deducted from revenues.
In fact, net profit margin can turn out to be a powerful tool to measure how efficiently a company is running its business and controlling its costs. Moreover, a higher net profit margin as compared to peers lends a competitive advantage.
Further, a higher net profit margin attracts not only new investors but also well-skilled employees that eventually increase the value of the business.
Pros and Cons
Net profit margin helps investors to understand a companys business model in terms of pricing policy, cost structure and manufacturing efficiency. Hence, a healthy net profit margin is preferred by all kinds of investors.
However, net profit margin has a number of drawbacks that limit its scope as an effective analytical tool. Its calculation varies widely from industry to industry. Difference in accounting treatment of various items especially non-cash expenses like depreciation and stock-based compensation makes it a difficult metric for the purpose of comparison.
Further, for companies preferring to grow with debt, instead of equity funding, higher interest expense usually drags down the net profit. In such cases, it is not an effective tool to analyze the companys performance.
The Winning Strategy
Healthy net profit margin and solid EPS growth are two of the most sought after ingredients in a business model.
Apart from these two metrics, we have added a few other criteria to ensure maximum possible return from this strategy.
Screening Parameters
Net Margin 12 months Most Recent (%) greater than equal to 0: High net profit margin indicates solid profitability.
Percentage Change in EPS F(0)/(F-1) greater than equal to 0: It indicates earnings growth.
Average Broker Rating (1-5) equal to 1: A rating of #1 indicates brokers extreme bullishness on the growth prospects of the stock.
Zacks Rank equal to 1: Only Strong Buy stocks are allowed. In good markets or bad, stocks with a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) continue to outperform.
VGM Score of A or B: Our research shows that stocks with a VGM Score of 'A' or 'B' when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 (Buy) offer the best upside potential.
Here are five of the seven stocks that qualified the screen:
West Orange, NJ-based Lincoln Educational Services Corporation LINC provides career-oriented post-secondary education to recent high school graduates and working adults. The company operates 31 schools in 15 states. The stock has a VGM score of A. Moreover, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2016 has narrowed by 7 cents to a loss of 3 cents over the last 7 days.
El Segundo, CA-based Stamps.com Inc STMP provides Internet-based services for mailing or shipping letters, packages or parcels anywhere in the U.S. The stock has a VGM score of B. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2016 has surged 80 cents (17.2%) to $5.45 per share over the last 30 days.
Gibraltar Industries Inc. ROCK manufactures and distributes products to the industrial and buildings market. The company has its headquarters in Buffalo, NY. The stock has a VGM score of A. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2016 has increased by 6 cents to $1.44 per share over the last 30 days.
Illinois-based Global Brass and Copper Holdings Inc. BRSS is a converter, fabricator, processor and distributor of specialized non-ferrous products, including a wide range of sheet, strip, foil, rod, tube, and fabricated metal component products. The stock has a VGM score of A. Moreover, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2016 has remained steady at $2.15 over the last 30 days.
Colorado-based Innospec Inc. IOSP develops, manufactures, blends, markets and supplies fuel additives, oilfield chemicals, personal care and other specialty chemicals. The stock has a VGM score of B. Moreover, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2016 has surged 15 cents (4.1%) at $3.80 over the last 7 days.
Get the rest of the stocks on the list and start putting this and other ideas to the test. It can all be done with the Research Wizard stock picking and back testing software.
The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.
Story continues
Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.
Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.
Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks' portfolios and strategies are available at:https://www.zacks.com/performance.
Zacks Restaurant Recommendations: Inaddition to dining at these special places, you can feast on their stock shares. A Zacks Special Report spotlights 5 recent IPOs to watch plus 2 stocks that offer immediate promise in a booming sector. Download it free
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
STAMPS.COM INC (STMP): Free Stock Analysis Report
INNOSPEC INC (IOSP): Free Stock Analysis Report
LINCOLN EDUCATL (LINC): Free Stock Analysis Report
GIBRALTAR INDUS (ROCK): Free Stock Analysis Report
GLOBAL B&C HLD (BRSS): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
Buenos Aires (AFP) - The head of acclaimed Argentine human rights group Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo refused Wednesday to testify in a corruption case involving the organization, condemning the courts as unjust.
Hebe de Bonafini, one of the most prominent political activists in Argentina, is locked in a highly public dispute with the presiding judge in the case.
The judge ordered the 87-year-old's arrest last week after she defied two court orders to testify in the case, which involves state funds that vanished from a low-income housing project run by her group.
The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, which Bonafini co-founded, has led the fight for justice for the thousands of people abducted, tortured and killed by Argentina's military regime (1976-1983).
Bonafini and her fellow activists are so far not accused in the corruption case. Prosecutors say they were taken advantage of by their former attorney.
But Bonafini, whose two sons were "disappeared" by the military regime, appears determined not to testify.
Last Thursday she dodged police officers dispatched to arrest her and bring her to court.
The next day, Judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi lifted the warrant for Bonafini's arrest after the activist's lawyer promised she would testify in private.
However, she refused to do that Wednesday when the judge and prosecutor arrived at her organization's headquarters. Instead, she signed a statement declaring she had nothing to say.
"Judges and justice are not the same thing," she later told a press conference.
"Justice would be if the Mothers were exonerated (in the investigation). Not for ourselves, but because we don't want them to dirty the image of our children, of the 30,000" people who disappeared under military rule, she said.
She accused Argentine judges of "answering to the government" of conservative President Mauricio Macri.
Bonafini was close to leftist ex-president Cristina Kirchner. She is a fierce critic of Macri, whom she has called a "son of a bitch" and a "dictator."
Story continues
He responded in kind Wednesday, calling her "deranged."
The corruption case involves a $53-million program launched during the Kirchner administration to build housing, schools and health centers in poor neighborhoods.
Much of the money -- which came largely from the government -- went missing. The ensuing scandal brought an abrupt end to the program in 2011.
Washington (AFP) - US House Speaker Paul Ryan beat back a challenge in the Wisconsin Republican primaries on Tuesday, winning a race in which presidential hopeful Donald Trump had praised his populist rival.
In a year full of US presidential race firsts, and with incumbent lawmakers under tough scrutiny, a loss by Ryan would have further jolted the rattled US political establishment as it eyes a White House election pitting Trump against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
"I am humbled and honored that Wisconsinites in the 1st Congressional District support my efforts to keep fighting on their behalf. Janna and I are grateful to have the support of so many in southern Wisconsin, and we are truly thankful for all of their hard work," the speaker said in a statement.
Republican Party chairman Reince Preibus hailed his victory, describing Ryan as "trusted."
"Speaker Ryan's commitment to faithfully representing the people of Wisconsin and making the case for conservatism have never changed, and his years of principled public service make him a trusted leader in our party," Preibus said.
Ryan, the top elected Republican, has been voted in nine times by constituents in his congressional district, so the race would usually garner little attention. With a roughly 80 percent approval rating, he had been expected to win.
But this time around, he faced an opponent who has openly supported Trump, and the Republican White House candidate -- with whom Ryan has sparred throughout the campaign -- only offered his support on Friday.
The movement against the 46-year-old Ryan took on the appearance of a revolt of sorts, in the midst of an anti-establishment wave that helped make Trump the party's presidential nominee.
Ryan's challenger, businessman Paul Nehlen, managed to get outsized attention by staging protests near Ryan's home.
In one July 23 incident, Nehlen supporters and mothers whose children were killed by undocumented immigrants challenged Ryan's lack of full support for Trump's immigration agenda.
Ryan has criticized Trump's call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.
Trump touched off a firestorm last Tuesday when he refused to endorse Ryan for re-election. Instead, the brash billionaire also praised Nehlen.
Model and YouTube star Gigi Gorgeous said she was detained at the airport for more than five hours in Dubai, possibly because she's transgender.
She posted about the experience Tuesday on Instagram. "Yesterday was one of the scariest moments of my entire life and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone," she wrote. "How you can be denied entry somewhere just because of who you are is seriously disgusting and also very scary. This further proves the need for CHANGE." Gorgeous became widely known after documenting her transition on YouTube.
She posted an image of herself hugging Nats Getty. "After being detained and held at the Dubai airport for over 5 hours, this was the moment my baby came to rescue me," she said.
Gorgeous said she was on her way to "somewhere much more accepting" and is "safe and sound and happy."
The Canadian model elaborated on the incident to TMZ, saying an immigration officer told her, "I was told you are transgender. You cannot come into the country." Gorgeous said her name on her passport is now Gigi Loren. Airport officials told TMZ she is listed as male and has a photograph of herself as a man on her passport, although Gorgeous denies this. The "imitation of women by men" is illegal in Dubai.
Gorgeous' reps have not yet responded to The Hollywood Reporter's request for comment.
After being detained and held at the Dubai airport for over 5 hours, this was the moment my baby came to rescue me. Yesterday was one of the scariest moments of my entire life and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. How you can be denied entry somewhere just because of who you are is seriously disgusting and also very scary. This further proves the need for CHANGE. I am now on my way to somewhere much more accepting. Safe and sound and happy. I love you guys
A photo posted by GIGI GORGEOUS (@gigigorgeous) on Aug 9, 2016 at 9:28pm PDT
Read more: YouTube Red Picks Up Gigi Gorgeous Documentary, High School Comedy 'Foursome'
(Reuters) - Two of the fuel tanks on the drilling rig Transocean Winner, which ran aground off the northwest coast of Scotland after breaking free while being towed, have leaked an unknown amount of diesel oil, the UK's Maritime and Coastguard agency (MCA) said on Wednesday. Transocean Ltd spokeswoman Pam Easton said on Monday that during severe weather, the rig lost its tow and subsequently grounded off the Western Isles of Scotland. "No rig personnel are at risk", the spokeswoman said. The rig was being moved from Norway to Malta when the tug towing it got into difficulty in bad weather on Sunday evening, BBC reported. The MCA said the rig was carrying 280 metric tonnes of diesel oil on board, split between a number of separate tanks. The agency said a temporary exclusion zone of 300 meters (985 feet) to keep boats away remains in force. The Environment Group has implemented measures to identify any potential environment impact, Scottish Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said. The Scottish government said it would continue to closely monitor the situation. The response being coordinated by the British government, which is responsible for managing such incidents in the UK. Cunningham said the incident raises serious questions about why the rig was being towed through Scottish waters despite a forecast for stormy weather. (Reporting by Rama Venkat Raman in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Crosby)
Guy Martin, Triumph Break Personal Record at Bonneville Salt Flats
Isle of Man TT legend Guy Martin has piloted the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner to 274.2 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats, making the streamliner the fastest Triumph ever.
That speed falls short of the current land speed record for a streamliner 376.363 mph which has been held by Rocky Robinson since 2010. But the record set by Triumph this week was achieved during practice. Bonneville Speed Week doesn't officially kick off until 13 August, and Triumph has said it has ambitions of beating Robinson's record.
Guy Martin
In the meantime, Triumph and Martin have expressed joy at having smashed the manufacturer's personal record at Bonneville. The previous official Triumph record stood at 245.667 mph, as well as the unofficial Triumph Record of 264 mph, were both set by Bob Leppan in the Gyronaut X-1.
Near perfect conditions greeted the team Monday, the final day of the teams land speed practice week. With confidence high after a successful number of days running on the salt at Bonneville, the teams goal for the day with the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner was the Triumph record.
Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner
Triumph says Mondays record run is further proof of Martins growing confidence on the salt and the team's commitment to breaking the World Two-Wheeled Land Speed record.
Throughout the week, Martin has continued to impress everyone within the team with the speed in which he has been able to master the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner. When asked about becoming the fastest ever Triumph record holder Martin commented: Its good and we are moving in the right direction, but it is just one step on the way to what me and team are here to do.
Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner
The Triumph Infor Rocket features a carbon Kevlar monocoque construction with two turbocharged Triumph Rocket III engines producing a combined 1000 hp at 9000 rpm. The motorcycle is 25.5 feet long, 2 feet wide and 3 feet tall. Powered by methanol fuel, the bike is competing in the Division C (streamlined motorcycle) category.
Triumph has a history of breaking the land speed record, holding the title of World's Fastest Motorcycle between 1955 to 1970. The record-breaking Triumph Streamliners included: Devil's Arrow, Texas Cee-gar, Dudek Streamliner and Gyronaut X1.
By Guy Faulconbridge and Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Nearly 76 years to the day since Leon Trotsky was murdered in Mexico with an ice-pick on Josef Stalin's orders, the Russian revolutionary has returned to haunt Britain's opposition Labour Party in the turmoil sparked by the Brexit vote. Labour was thrust into one of the biggest crises in its 116-year history after Britain's June 23 vote to leave the European Union, when most of the party's lawmakers responded by voting to withdraw support for left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn. Less than a year into the job, Corbyn now faces a leadership challenge from lawmaker Owen Smith who, like most of his colleagues in the party's contingent in parliament, says Corbyn was lacklustre in campaigning to stay in the EU and too poorly organized to effectively oppose the Conservative government. But the decision is in the hands of party members, including more than 100,000 who joined this year, and polls show members still favor Corbyn. The party's deputy leader, Tom Watson, who has tried to persuade Corbyn to quit, raised the pitch of the rhetoric by saying some of the new members were Trotskyite infiltrators from the far-left, who saw Labour as a vehicle for revolution. "There are Trots that have come back to the party, and they certainly don't have the best interests of the Labour Party at heart," Watson said in an interview with the Guardian newspaper. Momentum, a Corbyn-supporting grassroots movement which says it wants to ensure Labour implements socialist policies such as wealth distribution, dismissed Watson's remarks as conspiracy theories. "There is no return of Trotsky's ghost," Jon Lansman, one of Momentum's senior figures, told Reuters. "The influx to the Labour Party of hundreds of thousands of mainly young people with no prior history of involvement in political parties means that Trotskyism has never been more irrelevant to British politics." POLITICAL FERMENT But the references to a 20th Century revolutionary are still a reminder of the fractious heritage of a party that moved firmly to the center during 13 years in power under prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, but whose members voted to reject that shift in selecting Corbyn last year. "There are some old hands twisting young arms in this process ... They are caucusing and factionalizing and putting pressure where they can, and thats how Trotsky entryists operate," Watson said. In British Labour history, "Trotskyite" was used to describe militant Marxist campaigners who battled the party's leaders in the 1970s and 1980s. "Entryism" refers to a tactic Trotsky encouraged, under which far-left Communists would join more mainstream Socialist movements and radicalize them. Alex Callinicos, professor of European studies at King's College London, who and said he himself could be described as Trotskyite in a broad sense, said Trotsky "still captures people's imagination". "He stood for the idea of international revolution and self-organized revolution ... Trotsky acts as reference point for those who do not like capitalism." But while some Labour members may be Trotskyites, they were not to blame for the party's turmoil, Callinicos added. "The Labour Party is imploding. What is happening in Britain after the Brexit vote is more broadly a political ferment," he said. "Britain has to work out what it is doing in the world." (editing by Peter Graff)
At first, she chalked up his insulting, coarse rhetoric and personal attacks on his rivals to political showmanship as he sought to shake up the GOP establishment and shatter hidebound political correctness.
But Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine explained in a Washington Post op-ed that over time, she became alarmed by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumps complete disregard for common decency and his willingness to degrade almost anyone. That included Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a highly decorated Vietnam War veteran who spent nearly five years as a prisoner of war.
Related: Trump: Second Amendment People Could Do Something About Clintons SCOTUS Picks
Trumps mocking of a disabled New York Times reporter, his callous contempt for a federal judge of Mexican heritage who was presiding over a case involving the defunct Trump University, and most recently his criticism of the grieving parents of Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004 by a suicide bomber, put Collins over the top.
On Tuesday, she joined a fast-growing list of prominent Republican politicians, senior policy advisers, state officials and conservative media pundits who have disavowed the GOP presidential nominee. Scores of Republican luminaries, from Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts to former Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. and 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, have come out against him with more likely to follow.
With the passage of time, I have become increasingly dismayed by his constant stream of cruel comments and his inability to admit error or apologize, Collins wrote. But it was his attacks directed at people who could not respond on an equal footing either because they do not share his power or stature or because professional responsibility precluded them from engaging at such a level that revealed Mr. Trump as unworthy of being our president.
Related: The Trump Delusion: GOP Candidate Says Everythings Just Fine
Story continues
She was not alone in making the painful decision to break from the GOPs standard bearer and either support Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton or some other third party candidate -- or simply sit out the November presidential election. Collins says she is not sure of what she will do but has ruled out voting for Clinton, her one-time Senate colleague.
Just in the past day, a group of 50 former national security officials who served in previous Republican administrations reaching back to Richard M. Nixon and Ronald Reagan, signed a letter denouncing Trump and declaring he would be the most reckless President in American history.
The letter, which also said that Trump lacks the character, values, and experience to be president, was signed by two former homeland security secretaries, Michael Chertoff and Tom Ridge; former CIA director and National Security Agency chief Michael Hayden, and John Negroponte, a former director of national intelligence and deputy secretary of state.
Meanwhile, two former Republican administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency endorsed Clinton on Tuesday, explaining in a joint statement that Trump who claims that climate change is a hoax -- has shown a profound ignorance of science and the public health issues embodied in our environmental laws.
Related: Trumps Economic Plan: Spend Like a Democrat, Regulate Like a Republican
One of the environmentalists, William D. Ruckelshaus, was the first administrator of the EPA, appointed by President Richard M. Nixon. He returned to the same post during the Reagan administration. The other former official, William K. Reilly, was the head of the EPA during the administration of President George H.W. Bush.
The defections started as a trickle during the primary season, grew as Trump opponents feverishly looked for a way to block his nomination and then turned into a torrent since the July Republican and Democratic national conventions. The sharp contrasts between Trump and Clinton during the conventions and mounting fear that Trump lacked the temperament and knowledge to lead the country -- gave Clinton an important boost over Trump in the polls.
The former secretary of state currently holds a 10 percentage point lead over Trump, 51 percent to 41 percent, according to the latest NBC News/SurveyMonkey Weekly Election tracking poll. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll also shows Clinton leading Trump in the battleground states of Iowa, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Collins is one of seven Republican senators who have parted company with Trump, including Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, Ted Cruz of Texas, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Dean Heller of Nevada and Mark Kirk of Illinois. Graham and Cruz ran unsuccessful campaigns for the GOP presidential nomination, and Cruz famously urged delegates to vote their conscience during a speech at the Republican National Convention.
Related: Will Never Trump Candidate Evan McMullin Hand the Election to Clinton?
On the House side, Republican Reps. Scott Rigell of Virginia, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, Richard Hanna of New York and Reid J. Ribble of Wisconsin have broken with Trump, among others. Hanna and Ribble are retiring at the end of the year.
After Trump appeared to suggest during a rally in North Carolina on Tuesday that Second Amendment people fearful of Clinton appointing anti-gun justices to the Supreme Court take matters into their own hands, other Republicans might follow Collinss lead and dump Trump.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Forty-eight years and 64 days before Donald Trump made now notorious comments about how it might be up to Second Amendment supporters to stop Hillary Clinton, Democratic presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy was shot dead in Los Angeles.
Now Trump is trying to weasel his way out of what might be his most dangerous off-the-cuff comment to date.
Related: Trump: Second Amendment People Could Do Something About Clintons SCOTUS Picks
He told Fox News that he meant only that Americans who back gun rights might be able to use their political power to defeat the Democratic nominee, who like Kennedy served as a U.S. Senator from New York.
Here is what Trump said at a rally on Tuesday in Wilmington, N.C.:
The reaction has ranged from namby-pamby (House Speaker Paul Ryan) to completely losing it (New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman).
"I heard about this Second Amendment quote, Ryan said at a Tuesday evening press conference after winning a primary battle in Wisconsin. It sounds like just a joke gone bad. I hope he clears it up very quickly. You should never joke about something like that."
Right. Not good to crack wise about popping a presidential candidate.
Others were not so sanguine.
Friedman wrote today: People are playing with fire here, and there is no bigger flamethrower than Donald Trump. Forget politics; He is a disgusting human being. His children should be ashamed of him. I only pray that he is not simply defeated, but that he loses all 50 states so the message goes out across the land unambiguously, loud and clear: The likes of you should never come this way again.
Related: As Trump Drops in the Polls, the List of GOP Defectors Grows
Former Representative Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head by a deranged gunman in 2011, said in a statement: Donald Trump might astound Americans on a routine basis, but we must draw a bright red line between political speech and suggestions of violence.
And the New York Daily News is calling on Trump to step aside. Its front-page headline reads: This Isnt a Joke Any More.
Story continues
But if Trump can get voters to laugh away what could be construed as a call to terminate his rival for the presidency, what would he have to say to put the last nail in his own political coffin? When would enough be enough for Trump supporters?
Related: Would Trump Really Be the Most Reckless American President?
Perhaps one of these might do it:
You know, I gotta tell you, our military could learn a lot from ISIS.
Sometimes I think, and I know this isn't popular to say in some quarters, but I think Hitler had it right.
Hillary says America is still great. I'm here to tell you, Russia and Syria are great. We have a long way to go.
You know, I must tell you, Ronald Reagan wasnt really that great a president.
Probably close. But if Trump could escape pretty much unscathed after saying Senator John McCain wasnt a war hero, he might be able to skate past a dis on The Great Communicator.
This, however, might do it:
You know, many, many people are saying Mary wasnt a virgin.
Or not.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Character counts. That was evangelicals rallying cry in their all-out assault against Bill Clinton beginning in 1993. In response to what they perceived as widespread moral decline, some religious groups had become aligned with the Republican Party during the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. To them, the allegedly draft-dodging, pot-smoking, honesty-challenged womanizer symbolized everything that was wrong with America.
More than two decades after Clintons first inauguration, many evangelical leaders of that era have endorsed the draft-dodging, foul-mouthed, honesty-challenged womanizer named Donald Trump for president. Only a handful refuse to follow suit, including Albert Mohler, the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. During the Clinton years, he regularly argued in mainstream media outlets that the Arkansan was morally unfit to serve as Commander-in-Chief.
If I were to support, much less endorse, Donald Trump for president, Mohler says, I would actually have to go back and apologize to former President Bill Clinton.
At least Mohler is consistent, which is more than can be said for some of his peers in leadership. While prominent evangelicals tied Bill Clinton to the public whipping post for nearly a decade to make him pay penance for his character defects, they now celebrate a reality-television star who is at least as flawed. As Mohler said, if these Christian leaders want to endorse Trump, they should apologize to Bill Clinton.
Recommended: Trump's Second Amendment Comment Cannot Be Excused
Ever since the sexual revolutions of the 1960s, conservative Christians have been especially focused on sexual immorality. Many believe in staying abstinent until ones wedding day and forbid sex outside of opposite-gender marriage. Clintons sexual scandals convinced evangelicals that the president would lead America further away from its Christian roots. When Monica Lewinsky produced her infamous semen-stained dress, Clinton went from morally questionable to a moral disgrace in their eyes.
Story continues
The televangelist Pat Robertson once called Clinton a "debauched, debased, and defamed" politician who turned the Oval Office into a "playpen for the sexual freedom of the poster child of the 1960s." Its difficult to understand how Robertson could tell Trump recently, You inspire us all.
The Republican candidate has been married three times, and it is widely believed that he was unfaithful during each relationship. When he was deposed in the divorce proceedings with his first wife, Ivana, he invoked the Fifth Amendment 97 times to avoid answering questions about questions regarding other women. He married his second wife, Marla Maples, two months after she gave birth to their daughter. Until recently, Trump embraced his reputation as a Manhattan womanizer. In case you are wondering, evangelicals typically arent big fans of divorce, adultery, or out-of-wedlock pregnancy.
Trump clashes with evangelical ethics in ways that would have killed Clintons career two decades ago.
Recommended: 15 Years After 9/11, Is America Any Safer?
Evangelicals during the 90s were not merely concerned with Clintons private behavior; they were worried about its effect on a society they felt had already abandoned traditional values. In September 1998, James Dobson of Focus on the Family sent a letter to 2.4 million conservative Christians claiming Clinton should be impeached because his behavior was setting a bad example for our children about respecting women. Dobsons apparent concern for women back then feels like a partisan political move now that hes given Trump an enthusiastic endorsement.
While Clinton, at least, hid his indiscretions, Trump has paraded his affairs down Broadway for decades. In The Art of the Deal, Trump actually bragged about bedding multiple married women. Hes slept with so many women that he called his ability to avoid STDs my personal Vietnam. Hes objectified or insulted the women he hasnt married, divorced, or slept with, labeling those he finds unattractive with terms like fat pig, dog or slob. In numerous interviews with Howard Stern, he talked in graphic detail about his sexual exploits and discussed which female celebrities are worth a bang. How exactly do evangelicals reconcile this behavior with claims that they value respect for women?
In addition to Clintons sexual misconduct, evangelicals were particularly concerned with his alleged lies. But how, then, can they support the real-estate moguls candidacy? Donald Trump plays at least as fast and loose with the truth as Clinton did. From the size of his net worth to his claim that thousands of people in New Jersey cheered when the World Trade Center was attacked on 9/11, Trump fibs constantly. The website Politfact factchecked the GOP candidate 182 times and found that his statements were true or mostly true only 19 times. In 2015, the organization awarded Trump its lie of the year.
Recommended: Is Trump's Campaign Locking Him Out of Twitter?
Trumps character clashes with evangelical ethics in ways that would have killed Clintons political career two decades ago. Conservative Christians typically oppose pornography, but in 1990, Trump appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine. In 2006, he rewarded an Apprentice team with a trip to the Playboy Mansion. Conservative Christians also typically oppose gambling, but Trump has made millions as a largely failed casino owner. In 2013, he opened the nations first casino strip club: Atlantic Citys Trump Taj Majal.
Given all of this, its perplexing that the former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed declared that character matters when it came to Clinton but privately offered to run Trumps campaign in 2012. Its hard to understand how the former Family Research Council head Gary Bauer ran television ads in the 90s calling for Clintons resignation due to a virtue deficit but now supports Donald Trump. Its confounding that the theologian Wayne Grudem signed a public letter lambasting former-President Clinton for ill use of women and manipulation of truth but recently wrote a 5,000-word endorsement of Trump, calling him a good candidate with flaws and arguing that people who vote for Hillary will be sinning.
All of this signals something bigger: an end to meaningful evangelical power and influence.
Many evangelicals have worked hard to rationalize their endorsements. Dobson excused Trumps behavior because he is a baby Christian. The author Eric Metaxas claims Trump is the lesser of two evils because Hillary is more like Hitler. Pastor Robert Jeffress argues that his fellow Christians should vote for Trump because at least he likes us. No matter which rationale they choose, these evangelicals double standard is undeniable.
Although both Bill Clinton and Trump have a morally checkered past, only one of them has apologized for his failings. In September of 1998, a solemn Bill Clinton asked that the country, his family, and God to forgive him, saying, I have sinned. Evangelical leaders largely dismissed his apology and continued their calls for impeachment. By contrast, Trump says he has never asked God for forgiveness. Conservative Christians were unwilling to extend mercy to a Democrat who asked for it but have offered it freely to a Republican who doesnt want it.
All of this signals something bigger: an end to meaningful evangelical power and influence. Since the late 1970s, conservative Christian leaders have claimed their political engagement is about morality. They have claimed it is about character. They have claimed it is about values. They have claimed it is about biblical principles. Pious preachers, thunderous televangelists, and moralizing activists have sold America a bill of goods about their pure motivation for decades. But evidence indicates that evangelical political engagement is really about cultural influence, social dominance, and power.
Trump-loving evangelical leaders should either apologize to Bill Clinton or admit, after all these years, that they, too, have a character issue.
Read more from The Atlantic:
This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
By Amanda Becker and James Oliphant WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday accused Republican opponent Donald Trump of inciting violence with his call for gun rights activists to stop her from nominating liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices. Clinton's comments added to a growing outcry over Trump's remarks on Tuesday at a North Carolina rally, which some interpreted as a call for violence against his White House rival. His remarks also fueled widespread concerns about his ability to stay on track. "Words matter, my friends," the former U.S. secretary of state, who rarely engages in direct back-and-forths with her Republican rival, said at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa. "And if you are running to be president or you are president of the United States, words can have tremendous consequences." "Yesterday, we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that crossed the line," she said, citing "his casual inciting of violence." Trump insisted in an interview with Fox News that his remarks were a call for political, not physical, action. There is tremendous political power to save the Second Amendment, tremendous," the New York businessman said. "And you look at the power they have in terms of votes and thats what I was referring to, obviously thats what I was referring to, and everybody knows it." The U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment guarantees a right to keep and bear arms. "I cant think of anything remotely comparable to it. No one tells a joke about the opponent getting shot. Ive never heard it," said Bob Shrum, a top aide for Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000 and John Kerry's in 2004. REPUBLICANS SHAKEN High-profile Republicans and rank-and-file voters appeared shaken on Wednesday after a string of Trump misfires, struggling with how to best reject his divisive candidacy. Some pledged to withhold their endorsement and others backed Clinton. Some, including MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida, called for party leaders to replace Trump on the ticket. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll taken Aug. 5-8 - before Trump's latest controversy - showed that nearly one-fifth of 396 registered Republicans said they want Trump to drop out of the race and another 10 percent said they "don't know" whether the Republican nominee should or not. Clinton's campaign, seeing an opening, has moved to bring disenchanted Republicans into the fold by announcing an official intraparty outreach effort on behalf of the Democratic nominee. Clinton's campaign now has a website for Republicans and political independents to sign up to pledge their support, listing 50 prominent Republicans and independents who have endorsed her. On Monday, 50 Republican national security officials signed an open letter questioning Trump's temperament, calling him reckless and unqualified to be president. Other top Republicans, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine this week, have disavowed Trump but said they cannot back Clinton. James Rohrscheib, 74, a registered Republican and retired U.S. Navy officer from Washington state, told Reuters the reality is the Nov. 8 election will be a "tough one." "Im in a quandary as to who I am going to vote for," Rohrscheib said. Trump has dismissed the defections and criticism as an unsurprising reaction of the so-called Washington elite to his drive to change the status quo. One group that appears unswayed is Trump's donors. Reuters interviewed nine major Trump donors on Wednesday, and not one said his Second Amendment comment had given them pause. Trump Texas fundraising co-chair Gaylord Hughey called the interpretation of his remark as condoning violence "ridiculous" and "ludicrous." "Its just another issue the press has really twisted to make headlines," Hughey said. But Mike Smith, a Republican voter and Reuters/Ipsos poll respondent, said the support Trump is still receiving from Republicans "almost seems obligatory rather than voluntary." "Im almost at the point where I think Im going to vote for Hillary. I don't like her," said Smith, a 74-year-old retiree who lives in Clearwater, Florida. "But Mr. Trump is making me very nervous." RESET ABANDONED Republican strategist and Trump supporter Ford OConnell said Trump has "dug himself a deep hole" with voters and to win the election he will need to "make it a referendum on Hillary Clinton and the 'rigged system.'" Trump sought to do just that by using an economic policy speech in Detroit on Monday to correct a series of missteps that included a prolonged clash with the parents of a fallen Muslim American soldier. But his remarks Tuesday undermined that effort. "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks," Trump said at the rally in North Carolina. "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know," he continued. A federal official familiar with the matter denied a media report that the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates threats against presidents and candidates, had formally spoken with the Trump campaign about his remark. Trump's comment and the resulting backlash occurred as Reuters/Ipsos polling showed some 44 percent of 1,162 registered voters believe Trump should exit the race, and that as of Tuesday, Clinton led Trump by more than 7 percentage points, up from a 3-point lead late last week. Strategists and Trump detractors agreed that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to remove Trump from the Republican ticket. "Its wishful thinking to believe the Republicans are going to replace its nominee after the convention. People are grasping at straws," Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist unaffiliated with Trump, told Reuters. A more likely scenario would be a replay of the 1996 presidential race, when the Republican Party essentially deserted nominee Bob Dole, who was badly trailing President Bill Clinton, to focus on congressional races. (Additional reporting by Alana Wise, Emily Flitter, Ginger Gibson, Susan Heavy, Doina Chiacu, Grant Smith, Eric Beech and Jonathan Allen; Writing by Amanda Becker; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis)
By Amanda Becker and James Oliphant WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday accused Republican opponent Donald Trump of inciting violence with his call for gun rights activists to stop her from nominating liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices. Clinton's comments added to a growing outcry over Trump's remarks on Tuesday at a North Carolina rally, which some interpreted as a call for violence against his White House rival. His remarks also fuelled widespread concerns about his ability to stay on track. "Words matter, my friends," the former U.S. secretary of state, who rarely engages in direct back-and-forths with her Republican rival, said at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa. "And if you are running to be president or you are president of the United States, words can have tremendous consequences." "Yesterday, we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that crossed the line," she said, citing "his casual inciting of violence." Trump insisted in an interview with Fox News that his remarks were a call for political, not physical, action. There is tremendous political power to save the Second Amendment, tremendous," the New York businessman said. "And you look at the power they have in terms of votes and thats what I was referring to, obviously thats what I was referring to, and everybody knows it." The U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment guarantees a right to keep and bear arms. "I cant think of anything remotely comparable to it. No one tells a joke about the opponent getting shot. Ive never heard it," said Bob Shrum, a top aide for Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000 and John Kerry's in 2004. REPUBLICANS SHAKEN High-profile Republicans and rank-and-file voters appeared shaken on Wednesday after a string of Trump misfires, struggling with how to best reject his divisive candidacy. Some pledged to withhold their endorsement and others backed Clinton. Some, including MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida, called for party leaders to replace Trump on the ticket. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll taken Aug. 5-8 - before Trump's latest controversy - showed that nearly one-fifth of 396 registered Republicans said they want Trump to drop out of the race and another 10 percent said they "don't know" whether the Republican nominee should or not. Clinton's campaign, seeing an opening, has moved to bring disenchanted Republicans into the fold by announcing an official intraparty outreach effort on behalf of the Democratic nominee. Clinton's campaign now has a website for Republicans and political independents to sign up to pledge their support, listing 50 prominent Republicans and independents who have endorsed her. On Monday, 50 Republican national security officials signed an open letter questioning Trump's temperament, calling him reckless and unqualified to be president. Other top Republicans, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine this week, have disavowed Trump but said they cannot back Clinton. James Rohrscheib, 74, a registered Republican and retired U.S. Navy officer from Washington state, told Reuters the reality is the Nov. 8 election will be a "tough one." "Im in a quandary as to who I am going to vote for," Rohrscheib said. Trump has dismissed the defections and criticism as an unsurprising reaction of the so-called Washington elite to his drive to change the status quo. One group that appears unswayed is Trump's donors. Reuters interviewed nine major Trump donors on Wednesday, and not one said his Second Amendment comment had given them pause. Trump Texas fundraising co-chair Gaylord Hughey called the interpretation of his remark as condoning violence "ridiculous" and "ludicrous." "Its just another issue the press has really twisted to make headlines," Hughey said. But Mike Smith, a Republican voter and Reuters/Ipsos poll respondent, said the support Trump is still receiving from Republicans "almost seems obligatory rather than voluntary." "Im almost at the point where I think Im going to vote for Hillary. I don't like her," said Smith, a 74-year-old retiree who lives in Clearwater, Florida. "But Mr. Trump is making me very nervous." RESET ABANDONED Republican strategist and Trump supporter Ford OConnell said Trump has "dug himself a deep hole" with voters and to win the election he will need to "make it a referendum on Hillary Clinton and the 'rigged system.'" Trump sought to do just that by using an economic policy speech in Detroit on Monday to correct a series of missteps that included a prolonged clash with the parents of a fallen Muslim American soldier. But his remarks Tuesday undermined that effort. "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks," Trump said at the rally in North Carolina. "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know," he continued. A federal official familiar with the matter denied a media report that the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates threats against presidents and candidates, had formally spoken with the Trump campaign about his remark. Trump's comment and the resulting backlash occurred as Reuters/Ipsos polling showed some 44 percent of 1,162 registered voters believe Trump should exit the race, and that as of Tuesday, Clinton led Trump by more than 7 percentage points, up from a 3-point lead late last week. Strategists and Trump detractors agreed that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to remove Trump from the Republican ticket. "Its wishful thinking to believe the Republicans are going to replace its nominee after the convention. People are grasping at straws," Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist unaffiliated with Trump, told Reuters. A more likely scenario would be a replay of the 1996 presidential race, when the Republican Party essentially deserted nominee Bob Dole, who was badly trailing President Bill Clinton, to focus on congressional races. (Additional reporting by Alana Wise, Emily Flitter, Ginger Gibson, Susan Heavy, Doina Chiacu, Grant Smith, Eric Beech and Jonathan Allen; Writing by Amanda Becker; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis)
Through their economic policy speeches this week, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will lay out two very different portraits of America. One America celebrates enterprise and emboldens the individual. In that United States, innovation is welcome and American advantages including cheap energy are protected and exploited. That America gives its workers every tool to battle foreign competition including an excellent education and guarantees opportunity. Most important, perhaps, that nation expects its government to get its priorities straight and to put America first.
That was Donald Trumps message in Detroit yesterday. He proposed a program that would allow the country to resume its historic growth rate of better than 3 percent a rate that after Obamas 8 years seems almost fanciful. He talked about simplifying taxes and reducing regulations, offering sensible approaches to both, and about redoing our trade agreements to make them more beneficial for U.S. workers.
Related: Would Trump Really Be the Most Reckless American President?
Hillary Clinton will deliver her economic speech on Thursday. We already know what it will say because Clinton has promised four more years of Obamas policies as if that were a good thing. Clinton spoke at a rally in June with Elizabeth Warren at her side and revealed her economic plan.
Clinton will again argue that our economy is essentially unfair, with the richest Americans and wealthiest corporations not paying their fair share. She will decline to define what that share might be; she knows that the top twenty percent of the countrys earners already pays 84 percent of all federal income taxes and that a full 45 percent pay exactly zero. She also knows that her complaint that the wealthiest Americans pay a lower tax rate than their assistants is hogwash. Like so much else that Clinton says it simply is not true.
Hillary will argue that if we just take a bit more from the wealthy, we could provide the kind of job training and infrastructure investment that would put lots of people back to work. She wont acknowledge the folks who have lost their jobs because of regulations passed by the Obama White House and the kind of job-creating infrastructure project that some saw in the Keystone Pipeline. She means the 93 million working age Americans on the sidelines who cant get jobs or who choose not to work.
Story continues
Clinton will talk, as Obama did, about the wonderful wave of jobs that will be created through investments in clean energy. Jobs that so far mainly went to China, which captured the lions share of the solar power industry. Jobs that are underwritten by industries and the American people, who shoulder the cost of subsidies for cleaner energy. She will admit how the push for alternative energy will slowly but surely ramp up electricity costs in the nation a reversal of decades of low and stable power costs that in recent years has encouraged foreign companies to invest here.
Related: Heres Why It Will Be So Hard for Trump or Clinton to Rebuild America
Hillary will say, as she did on June 22 in North Carolina: When it comes to primary and secondary education, I pledge to you were going to make sure all kids have good teachers in good schools, no matter what zip code they live in. We know thats not true, because Clinton, like Obama, will refuse to take on the powerful national teachers unions. Without the get-out-the-vote muscle of that group, Clinton cannot win the election, and she knows it.
Clinton will also talk about restoring power to organized labor, and abolishing right-to-work laws. She will argue for better benefits and protections for workers, which will appeal to those whose incomes have been stuck for the past decade. She will not explain how higher costs for labor will discourage companies to build and produce in the U.S.
What Hillary will not do is extol the virtues of free trade, though she will be tempted to undermine Trumps powerful assault on NAFTA and the TPP, both of which Clinton has historically championed. She sold out on the TPP to match rival Bernie Sanders passionate denunciation of trade pacts that have hurt U.S. workers. But, as Trump said in Detroit, Hillary will come round on the TPP. A tweak or two and presto! The deal will meet her evolving standards.
Heres what Hillary also will not do: provide convincing data points that her economic nostrums will be successful. There are none. She could hardly cite the failed Socialist state of Venezuela, where bread lines grow longer by the day. She cannot point to France, a country that has adopted many of her policies, including strict protections for workers and robust climate change measures. French workers take to the street with depressing regularity to protest even the most modest loosening of the work rules crushing that economy. The IMF has cautioned that France cannot grow unless it weakens its labor laws.
Related: Federal Civilian Workforce Soars to 2.79 Million After Years of Restraint
Clinton cannot even cite the success of individual states. There are 31 Republican governors for a reason. GOP governors have typically delivered faster job growth and better budget control than their Democratic rivals. Think Indiana versus Illinois; Connecticut versus Florida. Ten of the fifteen states ranked most attractive to business have Republican governors. Appealing to job creators and adding jobs go hand in hand a reality that Clinton and Obama fail to appreciate.
Trump, by comparison, backed up his comments with some excellent data points. It is true that Detroit is a failed city, where 40 percent of its citizens live in poverty and half the crime-ridden city does not work. It is, as he said, The living, breathing example of my opponents failed economic agenda.
Trump and Clintons two visions are as apart as can be. One imagines a race horse bolting from the starting gate; the other a draft horse plodding around the old mill for an eternity, going nowhere. Trump needs to convince voters we can and should do better that they want to ride that thoroughbred nation to greater growth and success. His speech in Detroit was a good start.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
tunisia_banner1
Tunisia new constitution passed with great fanfare by the countrys first democratically elected government in 2014 guarantees freedom of religion (though it also makes explicit reference to Islam as the national faith). So youd be forgiven for thinking that the country would be an easy place to be a Muslim. But if youre young and you take your religion seriously, it may not be so simple. Take the case of Noureddine Ayari, a devout young man who occasionally wears traditional Islamic clothing, keeps a short beard, and prays regularly at a mosque near his work.
One December day in 2015, while at work in a marble workshop in Meghira, a southern suburb of Tunis, he was approached by a policeman inquiring about a suspect who worked in the same place. Ayari said no, but the officer insisted that he come to the station anyway.
Ayari had no ties to terrorist groups. But it soon became clear that his appearance had turned him into a suspect in his own right. He was charged with terrorism, detained for several days, and savagely beaten. The police officer spat in my face and beat me, the 29-year-old Ayari told me later. My face was bruised, my mouth was bleeding. A beard and traditional clothing mean terrorism for security forces in Tunisia. Thats the bitter reality.
Ayari is just one of thousands of victims of the arbitrary and often violent methods the countrys police employ against conservative young men and women. A joint report on torture in Tunisia submitted by several local and international NGOs to the United Nations was unequivocal: Torture is widespread, in all its manifestations, it reads, and its practice tends to increase after each terrorist attack.
Its all part of an ongoing crackdown that has followed a spate of terror attacks in the past few years. Two high-profile political assassinations in 2013, followed by last years mass shootings at tourist sites in Bardo and Sousse, have made Tunisians especially sensitive to the threat of jihadist violence. Along the way, the intensification of Tunisias war on terror has also given the countrys security forces a free hand to return to many repressive practices used by the deposed Ben Ali regime.
Story continues
Map of northern Tunisia
Today theres a sort of trivialization of torture, especially in terrorism cases, said Amna Guellali, the Tunisia director of Human Rights Watch. When we speak up about the torture of terror suspects, we risk being considered traitors in the holy war against terrorism and if we denounce torture, were considered pro-terrorist.
Rafik Ghaki, a lawyer who has defended dozens of suspects accused of terrorism-related charges, is certain that the abuses have not only infringed upon Tunisians human rights, but have also hampered the efforts to fight terror through their reliance on scattershot and ineffective techniques. The security service is weak and antiquated, still relying on the despotic methods of Ben Ali, like obtaining confessions through torture, said Ghaki. In Tunisia, the police end up creating terrorism, not fighting it.
In a sign of how ineffective their approach has been, 70 percent of those charged with terrorism-related offenses have their charges dropped for lack of evidence, by Ghakis estimate. But that doesnt mean their troubles are over.
Such was the case with Ayari. Though no evidence was found and the charges against him were dropped, his name was put on a central terrorism watch list that has led to constant harassment. Apart from having to endure continuous phone calls and questioning by police, Ayari said that he is frequently stopped and arrested at the checkpoints that dot nearly every major road in Tunisia. Its almost like house arrest, he said. Id like to get out of this country as soon as I can because of the way theyre oppressing me. I feel like Im not a Tunisian citizen.
Inclusion in the terrorism list also prevents people from obtaining copies of their criminal records. Since these have to be included with job applications, this amounts to an employment blacklist as well. This procedure means that hundreds, if not thousands, of Tunisians, most of whom are already from the most vulnerable segments of society, are subject to economic discrimination.
Ghaki explained that all of this has led to a sort of social persecution of men and women who look religious something that could further exacerbate Tunisias terrorism problem. Alienation pushes these people to the margins of society, making them psychologically fragile and more receptive to radical discourse targeted against the state. How do you expect people to feel when theyve been subjected to this sort of treatment? said Ghaki. Theyll feel hatred and a desire for vengeance.
This is consistent with recent research on radicalization. A 2015 study of Muslims in America found a significant correlation between feelings of marginalization stemming from religious identity and sympathy towards fundamentalist groups.
A loss of significance stemming from personal trauma, shame, humiliation, and perceived maltreatment is associated with increased support for radicalism. Experiences of discrimination exacerbate this process, wrote the authors of the study.
Though the research was about Muslims in the United States, conservative Tunisians would undoubtedly empathize with its conclusions.
Chaima, a woman in her 30s who did not want to use her real name, told me that she experiences frequent harassment by police and security personnel because she wears a face veil, the niqab. She said she once had to wait 45 minutes before she was allowed into a hospital. Though she offered to show her face and allow the security personnel to check her identity, she said they made sure to humiliate her before letting her go inside to visit her ailing relative.
This kind of treatment of Tunisias most religious citizens was not uncommon under the Ben Ali regime. If anything, it was worse back then. Even women with simple headscarves, far less conservative than the face-covering niqab, were subject to official discrimination and harassment. They were prohibited from accessing schools and other public institutions, such as hospitals, municipalities, and police stations. At the time, the regime framed these practices as a defense of Tunisias secularism against what it saw as an increasing religious obscurantism. In reality the regime was targeting Islamists, its main political rivals.
The wave of freedom that followed the January 2011 uprising, and the electoral victory of a moderate Islamist party, led to a decline in these abuses at least at first. But that respite came to an end once the threat of terrorism became more serious. In addition to the assassinations and attacks on civilians and security forces the country witnessed in the last few years, Tunisia has also become a wellspring of foreign fighters joining extremist groups in Syria and Libya, with some estimates placing Tunisia as the single most prolific source of jihadists.
While people have gotten used to seeing women wearing the hijab in Tunisias streets, niqabi women and bearded men are the countrys new scapegoats. Chaima said that she was once called a terrorist by a group of people in a passing car. Its not easy to be who we are in Tunisia, she said. Some people want to let us know that we have no place here.
In fact, some people in Tunisia want to outlaw the niqab altogether. This March, only a few weeks after a group of militants crossed from Libya and tried to capture the southern town of Ben Guerdane, a group of lawmakers tried to exploit the rising fear of terrorism by proposing a law that would make it illegal for women to cover their faces in public. The draft law drew comparisons to a controversial 2010 law passed in France under president Nicolas Sarkozy. This is no coincidence. France is Tunisias former colonial power, and French law, culture, and values have had a profound impact on modern Tunisian society, particularly among the upper classes.
The many examples of the harassment show that its not just Tunisias government and security apparatus, but society itself that is pushing its most religious citizens to the margins. Decades of forced secularization under the Bourguiba and Ben Ali regimes made people less accustomed to the sight of traditional clothing and long beards. Displays of conservative religiosity are less common than in other countries in the region, and thus tend to draw scrutiny.
Being stereotyped as a terrorist because of your religious clothing, or because you attend a certain mosque, or even because of the people youre related to, is not just a matter of inconvenience. It can drive you to the edge of your sanity.
On February 2, 2015, 10-year-old Adam and his 8-year-old brother Azer tried to commit suicide by overdosing on their uncles neurological medication. The children, who are the nephews of fugitive terror suspect Tarek Sellimi, could no longer stand the constant police harassment and continuous night raids their family was subject to.
They said, we would rather kill ourselves than be killed by [the police], said Mona Sellimi, the boys mother. Her brother Tarek has not been seen since mid-2013, when he decided to run away after hearing that police were looking for him. The authorities accuse Tarek of having joined a terrorist cell hidden in a nearby mountain. His family say theyve had only one phone call from him since then and have no idea of his whereabouts.
When I visited the Selimi family in early July in the northwestern city of Kef, they said that theyd had an unwanted visit by the security forces just two days before. The police didnt knock on the door they broke it down and entered by force. Several family members said that the police took them out to the courtyard and made them lie face down on the ground with guns pointed at their heads.
This kind of treatment inevitably contributes to the alienation and sense of exclusion felt by many of Tunisias most vulnerable people. It should be no surprise if some of them actually end up joining the terrorists who society has already classed them with. Sometimes it seems that the security forces arent even trying.
Ahmed Sellimi, another of Mona and Tareks brothers, went to a police station one day to try to convince them to stop the harassment. Why are you here? asked the agent he addressed. Why dont you just go the mountains with the rest of the terrorists?
FATHI NASRI/AFP/Getty Images
Read more from Tunisia: In Sun and Shadow:
Tunisias Glorious Confusion:The dawn of democracy is something to root for but the forces that have pulled the other Arab Spring countries back into upheaval still threaten to undo its progress.
A Verdict on Change: This ambitious young judge wants to change Tunisias justice system. But he still has to type out his own verdicts.
The Storyteller: Shukrii Mabkhout is not just a novelist hes the biographer of modern Tunisia.
Missing the Old Days: Tunisia is a democracy. Heres a man who still mourns for the old regime.
El Khadra Still Cant Breathe: This devastated community has been calling for help for years. Even in the new Tunisia, no ones listening.
Not Arab, and Proud of It: Tunisias long-suppressed Amazigh minority is finding its voice for the first time in years.
The Tourism Crash: Terrorist attacks have left the sector reeling but its problems actually go much deeper..
Crisis of Governance: Local Edition: In many ways, democratic Tunisia remains just as centralized as it was before the revolution. And thats a big problem for the mayor of Kasserine.
Tunisias Dying Jazz: New freedoms have brought art and religion into conflict, threatening to crush a tradition trapped in the middle.
Trouble in the Wild East: The border town of Ben Guerdane is a haven for smugglers. Locals would like to keep it that way.
Terms of Abuse: On paper, Tunisias revolution has boosted legal protections for women. Yet the reality is starkly different.
Five Years of the New Tunisia: From revolution to disillusionment and back again: Milestones on Tunisias rocky path to democracy.
The Mainstreaming of Tunisias Islamists: The Ennahda Partys latest moves put its political astuteness on show once again.
* Debt payments, weak revenues weigh on new leader
* New technocrat premier makes bold reform promises
* Past governments failed to push austerity plans
By Tarek Amara
TUNIS, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Tunisia has gone through five prime ministers in as many years since its revolution, each pushing a widely-praised transition to democracy. None, though, has made much progress in building the economic stability and opportunity that young Tunisians demand.
Now the sixth post-uprising premier, French-educated technocrat Youssef Chahed, is making bold promises even before he has taken office to tackle Tunisia's problems.
But a looming budget crisis and debt repayments, coupled with political inertia, may prevent the 40-year-old premier-designate from escaping the fate of his predecessors.
Since the 2011 overthrow of autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia has achieved free elections, a new constitution and a spirit of compromise between secular and Islamist parties - in contrast to the repression, chaos or war that has afflicted other countries which also had "Arab Spring" revolts.
The flip side is that popular protests, labour union resistance and political squabbling have held back plans to overhaul heavy state spending including on a huge body of public workers, and to implement banking and investment laws.
After the last premier lost a parliamentary confidence vote over the economy and security, President Beji Caid Essebsi called last week for Chahed to lead a national unity government capable of advancing economic reforms demanded by lenders including the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
"We are in times that require exceptional decisions and sacrifices," Chahed told reporters, saying his focus would be tackling corruption and terrorism, promoting economic growth and clearing up public finances. "I want to talk frankly with the Tunisian people about the reality of the country's financial situation."
Many Tunisians ask whether Chahed, an agricultural specialist and Essebsi ally, can muster the political capital to push through change. Some opponents dismiss him as an Essebsi puppet, chosen for his loyalty to the president rather than his ability to deliver. He is now negotiating to form his cabinet.
Story continues
"Chahed has been handed a poisoned chalice, the financial situation is pretty catastrophic. He is going to find the coffers empty and lots of demands," said Jamel Arfaoui, a local analyst and newspaper columnist. "He is facing potential protests at the same time as the need for reforms."
The change of premier comes at a difficult time. Three major attacks by Islamist militants have badly hit tourism bookings, forcing job cuts in an industry that accounts for 8 percent of the economy. Unemployment is already at 15 percent, with the rate far higher for young people in a country where more than half the population is under 29.
Months of on-off protests and sit-ins by jobless youths have also disrupted production and exports of the state-run phosphate industry, another major revenue earner. Essebsi estimated losses at $2 billion from sector disruptions over five years.
Under the 2016 budget, the public deficit is supposed to fall to 3.9 percent of gross domestic product from 4.4 percent in 2015. But that assumes the economy will grow 2.5 percent whereas the actual rate in the first quarter was only 1 percent year-on-year, weakening tax revenue.
Next year will be tougher still for the public finances. Around $3 billion is due in debt service payments and the state will struggle just to come up with the roughly $450 million it needs every month to pay its employees.
At 13.5 percent of the GDP, Tunisia's public sector wage bill is proportionately one of the highest in the world.
"Revenues forecast for 2017 will not be enough to cover the one billion dinars each month for 700,000 public sector employees," Central Bank Governor Chedli Ayari said last week. "We are going to need more foreign financing in this difficult context and with the fall off in tourism and phosphate revenues."
SOCIAL PRESSURES, POLITICAL WILL
A senior member of Essebsi's Nidaa Tounes party, Chahed will easily secure approval for his new cabinet in parliament, where Nidaa Tounes and Islamist party Ennahda in the ruling coalition control a majority.
But outside parliament, he must navigate relations with the unions and the social unrest that has scuppered past government attempts to push through the kind of financial sacrifices and austerity reforms he is promising.
The IMF has approved a $2.88 billion four-year loan programme for Tunisia. However, release of much of this is subject to reviews of the government's progress on economic and financial reforms.
Tunisia has been under pressure for some time from its international lenders to implement measures on the public deficit, investment and the financial sector.
Mehdi Jomaa, a technocrat prime minister managed to secure temporary fiscal reforms in 2014 to boost revenues. The last premier, Habib Essid, got a law to protect the central bank from political meddling through parliament, although only after protracted negotiations within the ruling coalition.
Deeper reforms have stalled, often because successive governments have lacked the political capital or will to stand up to popular pressures against public spending reductions or austerity measures.
An attempt to increase vehicle tax triggered violent protests in 2014, forcing the government to step back. A tax on border traffic also provoked rioting last year, leading to another government retreat.
Now doctors and lawyers are threatening strikes over increased audits on their billing to help combat tax evasion, while the powerful UGTT union is resisting reforms to raise the retirement age and reduce state pension payments.
Twice this year the government and the UGTT reached deals increasing public wage salaries, adding pressure to the state finances.
A new investment code law, aimed at increasing incentives for foreign investors and reducing bureaucracy, has been parked in parliament for three years after two revisions.
Social pressure over jobs already exploded into mass protests in southern and central regions at the start of the year, a reminder of the conditions that helped to inspire the Tunisian revolution and later Arab Spring uprisings.
"The Chahed government wants to chip away at freedoms to push through painful measures in his economic plan," said Hamma Hammai, leader of the Popular Front opposition party. "But the government will fail because it is not proposing anything new, just the same as Essid." (Writing by Patrick Markey)
Ankara (AFP) - Turkey remains a "strong" member of NATO, the presidency said on Wednesday, after a hugely symbolic visit by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Russia raised questions about its future in the alliance.
Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Ankara's NATO membership -- which dates back to 1952 -- was not "mutually exclusive" with relationships with other countries like China and Russia.
"There is no argument that Turkey should not remain a member. It is something important. We are a strong member," he told reporters during a briefing at the presidential palace in Ankara.
His comments came shortly after NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said Turkey's NATO membership was "not in question", in a statement issued in response to "speculative press reports".
Kalin said: "We do not see this as a zero sum game. We do not see (relations with other countries) as mutually exclusive, we see it as mutually empowering."
After a rogue military faction tried to oust Erdogan in the failed July 15 coup, Turkey has criticised what it perceives to be the European Union's lack of support.
Erdogan's visit to Russia -- his first foreign trip since the coup bid -- caused concern that Ankara's close ties with the West could be at risk.
But Kalin said Ankara felt isolated after the failed putsch because no EU leader had paid a visit to Turkey, recalling that top European officials had rushed to France after militant attacks there.
"They have called -- and we thank them for that -- but after such a critical moment, is coming to Turkey so difficult?"
He said Tuesday's meeting between Putin and Erdogan was "good" and the two countries wanted to get relations back on track, six months after Ankara's shooting down of a Russian war plane on the Syrian border caused an unprecedented crisis in ties.
Kalin said Ankara and Moscow wanted to work together to help the Syrian people suffering after more than five years of civil war.
Turkey and Russia are on different sides of the war with Moscow giving military support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad whom Turkey repeatedly said must leave office.
Kalin insisted Turkey's position on Assad had not changed despite the reconciliation with Russia: "We still want him to go. Our position has not changed."
Ankara (AFP) - A Turkish rear admiral on a NATO assignment in the US has sought asylum in the country after Ankara sought his detention following the failed July 15 coup, state-run media said Wednesday.
Turkish authorities have ousted thousands of military personnel including nearly half its generals and admirals since a rogue military faction tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power.
Rear Admiral Mustafa Zeki Ugurlu is the subject of a detention order in Turkey and has been expelled from the armed forces, the Anadolu news agency reported.
He has requested asylum from US authorities, it added, without giving its source. He had been stationed at NATO's Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia, the news agency said.
Ugurlu had not been heard from since July 22 when he left the base, Anadolu said.
Izmir's chief prosecutor Okan Bato told Anadolu he was not able to get a statement from Ugurlu after seeking the prosecution of two admirals from the chief of staff.
NATO said on Wednesday that Turkey's membership of the military alliance was "not in question", despite the tumult in the country.
Anadolu did not say whether the United States had accepted Ugurlu's claim, believed to be the first of its kind since July 15, which comes at a time of strained relations between Washington and Ankara.
The Turkish government has repeatedly pressed Washington to extradite Pennsylvania-based preacher Fethullah Gulen whom it blames for the coup bid, warning Washington that relations could suffer over the issue.
"If the US does not deliver (Gulen), they will sacrifice relations with Turkey for the sake of a terrorist," Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters during a televised briefing in the capital Ankara on Tuesday.
Gulen strongly denies the accusations and his lawyer on Friday said Ankara had failed to provide "a scintilla" of proof to support its claims.
Since July 15, tens of thousands of people from the military, judiciary, civil service and education establishment suspected of links with Gulen and his Islamic movement have been sacked or detained.
By Ebru Tuncay and Seda Sezer ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Limak Holding plans to bid in a sale of Sofia airport and is looking at more investments in Africa for its main construction, energy and cement businesses, the head of the group's investment arm said. Limak's emphasis on Africa and Eastern Europe highlights a shift in focus for Turkey from traditional export markets in Europe because of sluggish economic growth and the Middle East because of political instability. "There is a privatisation process for Sofia Airport. We are looking into it. They will collect bids in the autumn," Limak Investment Chairwoman Ebru Ozdemir said in an interview. "There may be new opportunities in Africa," she said. "We are looking into airports in Eastern Europe. I think we can do airports anywhere in the world," she said. Turkish exports to Africa have grown more than sevenfold since the ruling AK Party came to power, rising to $12.5 billion last year from $1.7 billion in 2002, with textiles, food, construction and infrastructure services among the key sectors. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan visited Uganda and Kenya earlier this year in a bid to increase trade. Limak in April was awarded rights to complete the construction of Senegal's Aeroport International Blaise-Diagne (AIBD) and operate it for 25 years. Limak, which is not listed, already has interests in Mozambique and Ivory Coast. In Bulgaria, Limak aims to bid in Bulgaria's tender to operate Sofia airport for 35 years, in a deal expected to bring in some 1.2 billion levs ($684 million). The company won a $4.34 billion tender last year to build Kuwait's international airport terminal. In its home market, Ozdemir said Limak was interested in infrastructure projects such as a plan to build a canal linking the Black and Marmara Seas and a bridge across the Dardanelles strait. In May, Limak and Cengiz Holding won a tender to build the Asian section of a 7 billion lira motorway connecting to a third bridge spanning Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait. "We are progressing to start financing talks with Turkish and foreign banks within this year," Ozdemir said. "After the third bridge opens on Aug. 26, there could be refinancing," she said. She also said the company might consider a bond issue for refinancing purposes following the opening of Istanbul's third airport, which Limak built as part of a consortium. Limak expects $4.2 billion in revenue this year, up from $3.8 billion last year, she said. ($1 = 1.7543 leva) (Writing by Seda Sezer; Editing by Daren Butler and Jane Merriman)
Diyarbakir (Turkey) (AFP) - At least eight people, mostly civilians, were killed on Wednesday in two separate bomb attacks targeting police blamed on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in Turkey's southeast, officials said.
Five people, all civilians, were killed in a car bomb attack in the centre of the city of Diyarbakir, the regional governor's office said in a statement. Twelve people were wounded including five police, it added.
Another three people -- two civilians and one policeman -- lost their lives in a near-simultaneous car bombing in Kiziltepe in Mardin province to the south, said Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan, quoted by the state-run Anadolu news agency.
Fifteen civilians were wounded in the attack which took place close to the town's hospital, he added.
Both bomb attacks had been aimed at passing police vehicles but ended up killing mainly civilians.
Pictures showed the force of the explosion caused considerable damage to nearby buildings and vehicles in the Mardin bombing.
The authorities believe both blasts have been carried out by the PKK, a Turkish official said.
Hundreds of members of the Turkish security forces have been killed by the PKK in attacks since the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in July last year.
Earlier Wednesday, five Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack blamed on PKK militants in Uludere in the southeastern Sirnak province close to the Iraqi border. Eight other soldiers were wounded.
Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK first took up arms in 1984. It is proscribed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
The PKK has kept up attacks after the July 15 failed coup during which a rogue military faction tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power.
The government has vowed there will be no let-up in the fight against the PKK even in the wake of the coup.
The Turkish army's hierarchy has been badly hit in the purge since the coup, with top generals accused of complicity in the plot.
Story continues
Nearly half of all generals have been imprisoned or dismissed, raising concerns about the coordination of the fight against Kurdish rebels.
More than 600 Turkish security force members have been killed by the PKK since the collapse of a ceasefire last year, according to a toll given by Anadolu on July 31.
The government has responded with military operations against the group, killing more than 7,000 militants in Turkey and northern Iraq, the agency said. It is not possible to independently verify the toll.
Activists claim innocent civilians have also been killed in the offensive and have accused the military of using excessive force in attempts to uproot the PKK from urban centres.
PARIS (Reuters) - Two trade unions on Wednesday urged their workers at France's SFR Group (SFRGR.PA) to strike on Sept. 6 in protest at the telecom group's plans to cull 5,000 jobs over the next three years.
In a joint statement, the CGT and CFE-CGC unions accused France's second biggest telecoms company of placing financial interests ahead of workers' rights.
They said the plan was "part of a global strategy that prioritises financial markets at the expense of stable and skilled employment (and) employee working conditions".
Members of the CGT and CFE-CGC, which refused to sign up to the redundancy plan, account for less than half of the group's workforce.
Two other unions representing a majority of the company's workers have already agreed to the job losses that are expected to result in savings of 400 million euros (342.02 million) annually.
SFR has proposed a redundancy package averaging 2.5 months of salary per year of service, a union official said last week. The redundancy plan will cost around 800 million euros, the company has said.
SFR's rivals have also had to cut costs since the arrival of Iliad's (ILD.PA) low-cost Free Mobile services in 2012. That triggered a price war whose effects are still being felt by the industry.
SFR said on Tuesday that the price war in the French mobile telecoms market was finally showing signs of easing, sending its shares up sharply despite lower quarterly profit.
(Reporting by by Richard Lough; Editing by Adrian Croft)
Today is the two-year anniversary of Michael Brown's shooting death in Ferguson, Missouri.
Americans may never fully understand why that terrible event became such a flashpoint, why that particular confluence of violence, systemic despair and social media turned a moment into a movement. Maybe it was the image of his lifeless body as it lay in the summer heat. Maybe it was just time.
"If you're going to pick someone to go bat for," a local St. Louis attorney told me just days after the shooting, "this kid isn't your guy." He was wrong.
Black lives matter has morphed from an anguished, tweeted cry, into a time of unprecedented social action and conversations about race, violence and inequity. A lot has happened. Here's just one example: As of last week, it's now mandatory that police departments report details of all deadly incidents involving their officers to the U.S. Justice Department every quarter.
The move was inspired in part by The Guardian's crowdsourced effort to document every police-related death called The Counted. (The Washington Post has a similar effort collecting data around police shooting deaths, specifically.)
Sign up for raceAhead, Fortune's daily newsletter on race and culture here.
Up until this point, reporting was voluntary, and woefully inadequate. There was no central database of these events, and as a result, no way to truly understand what was happening in communities, or hold people accountable. In a world in love with evidenced-based solutions to everything, this seems like a pretty basic piece of data to collect.
But, as America continues process the issues raised by Michael Browns death, there are other data points that each of us can take part in collecting.
I recently spoke with Dr. Monnica , a psychologist, researcher and an associate professor of psychological sciences at the University of Connecticut. We were talking about her research on the link between racism and post-traumatic stress disorder for a different essay, when she said something that struck me as a useful reminder for difficult days like today.
Story continues
"Right now we're looking for ways to reduce racism on campuses by addressing some of the difficulties people have around conversations," she said. Her students are willing to suffer through the awkward talking stuff because they have to. The rest of us? Were skipping school. "We cite research showing that most three quarters of white Americans don't have one black friend," she says.
"If you're not regularly communicating with people who are different from you - and that's not just about race, either your mind will fill in the blanks with all the garbage stereotypes that's out there about them." So, when something happens, like on a hot summer day in Ferguson, were stuck with old talking points to explain a complex world. We all need to do better.
Ellen McGirt writes Fortune's raceAhead, a newsletter about race and culture.
See original article on Fortune.com
More from Fortune.com
Government-backed Libyan forces fighting the Islamic State in the strategically important coastal city of Sirte said Wednesday they captured the University of Sirte and the Ouagadougou Convention Complex, a location the terror group had been using as a base.
The Libyan forces were assisted by U.S. special operations personnel, who have been inching closer to the front line of the battle for Sirte, a longtime ISIS stronghold in the north African country. Recent reports indicate elite U.S. forces have been calling in airstrikes in support of troops backed by Libyas U.N.-backed Government of National Accord.
Our forces have complete control of the whole of the Ouagadougou (convention) complex they even advanced some distance beyond the complex, Rida Issa, a spokesman in the forces media office, said Wednesday.
Taking the center of Sirte marks a rare but significant victory for the forces loyal to the fragile GNA. Earlier this year, U.S. defense officials estimated that there were as many as 6,000 ISIS fighters in Libya, crowded around Sirte, which sits on the countrys Mediterranean coast. Over the past week, those estimates have dwindled to just several hundred.
Libyan forces began their siege of Sirte in May, with the U.S. beginning airstrikes on targets in the city on Aug 1. American drones have since carried out 29 attacks there, according to U.S. Africa Command. U.S. special operators have been seen on the ground near the battle, but are not thought to be directly engaged in the fighting.
Anthony Cordesman, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, cautioned that the immediate impact of the gains was likely to be limited and that the advances could quickly be reversed if Islamic State loyalists werent converted or killed, or if basic government services werent restored soon.
The difficulty that you have is you defeat the structure of the Islamic State inside the city, but the fighters and elements of resistance dont go away, he told Foreign Policy Wednesday. You get an ongoing state of urban warfare, and it just lasts and lasts and lasts, because you cant get to all of the elements involved.
Story continues
You arent repatriating people, the city isnt functioning economically, and there are still no safe transit routes, he added. Liberation reports often turn out to be a 24-hour developments and then were back to where we were.
The Sirte gains come as Islamic State casualty figures mount in several countries. General John Nicholson, commander of U.S. and NATO in Afghanistan, said Wednesday that Afghan forces and U.S. airstrikes, and American special operations have killed 300 Islamic State members in Nangarhar province over the past few days. Gen. Sean Macfarland, the U.S. commander in Iraq, also said Wednesday that the United States has killed 45,000 ISIS members in Iraq and Syria since August 2014.
Still, Cordesman cautioned, mounting ISIS casualties dont bring whats most needed in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq or Syria: stability.
If you do defeat ISIS, what happens next? Its very unlikely to be stability, he said.
Photo credit: Getty Images
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal appeals court said on Wednesday the U.S. Federal Communications Commission could not block two states from setting limits on municipal broadband expansion, a decision seen as a win for private-sector providers of broadband internet and a setback for FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.
Cities in Tennessee and North Carolina had sought to expand municipal broadband networks beyond current boundaries, but faced laws forbidding or placing onerous restrictions on the expansions.
The FCC voted 3-2 in 2015 to issue an order seeking to pre-empt those state laws, saying a 1996 law required it to remove barriers to broadband investment and that the municipalities wanted to expand service into areas with little or no internet service.
Wheeler criticized the decision that "appears to halt the promise of jobs, investment and opportunity that community broadband has provided in Tennessee and North Carolina."
He said since 2015, "over 50 communities have taken steps to build their own bridges across the digital divide. The efforts of communities wanting better broadband should not be thwarted by the political power of those who, by protecting their monopoly, have failed to deliver acceptable service at an acceptable price."
Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said that "rather than wasting its time on illegal efforts to intrude on the prerogatives of state governments, the FCC should focus on implementing a broadband deployment agenda to eliminate regulatory barriers that discourage those in the private sector from deploying and upgrading next-generation networks."
USTelecom, the trade group that represents internet service providers including AT&T and Verizon Communications Inc, praised the decision as "a victory for the rule of law."
The group said the FCC should "concentrate on eliminating federal regulatory impediments to innovation and investment - where there remains to be much that can and should be done."
Story continues
The city of Chattanooga, Tennessee's municipal electricity provider since 2009, has offered high-speed broadband internet service to residential and commercial customers in its 600-square-mile service area. About 63,000 subscribe to the service. Residents in neighboring communities have asked to use the service.
Wilson, North Carolina in 2005 constructed the backbone of a fiber-optic network connecting all city-owned facilities that was expanded to a municipal broadband network now known as "Greenlight."
The city offers phone, internet and cable services which it says are cheaper than its private-sector competitors. The city also provides free Wi-Fi service to its entire downtown area and each of the top seven employers in Wilson is a customer. Individuals in five neighboring counties have also sought to join.
The FCC has noted that companies in Tennessee, including Amazon.com Inc and Volkswagen AG, use the service in Chattanooga.
By Eric M. Johnson
SEATTLE (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against the city of Seattle over a landmark law which allows Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize.
Seattle last year became the first U.S. city to pass a law giving drivers for ride-hailing apps, as well as taxi and for-hire drivers, the right to collectively negotiate on pay and working conditions.
The litigation unfolded amid a national debate over what level of benefits are owed to workers in the so-called "gig economy."
Both Uber and Lyft vigorously opposed the measure, arguing that existing federal labor law trumps local legislation.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a federation of more than 3 million businesses, filed a lawsuit in March and asked a Seattle federal judge to suspend the ordinance.
In a ruling on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik sided with city officials who argued that the lawsuit was filed too early because the ordinance had not yet taken effect, and who said the chamber did not have legal standing to sue because it was not directly impacted.
"Neither of the Chambers' members has suffered an injury that is traceable to the Ordinance and would be redressed if the Ordinance were declared invalid or enforcement were otherwise enjoined," Lasnik wrote in an 8-page opinion. "Thus, the Chamber itself has no standing to pursue the claims asserted in this litigation."
Seattle's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The chamber argued that Uber is one of its members, so it has standing, and that the city had concrete plans to begin implementation of the law this year so it is not too early.
Seattle has merely "delayed coming to grips with the legal flaws at the heart of this ordinance," the chamber said in a statement.
"While the judge held that it is too early to decide this case, he made clear at oral argument that he stands ready to hear a challenge to Seattle's unprecedented ordinance in the future," it said.
Seattle's ordinance was approved unanimously by the city council but opposed by Mayor Ed Murray. The Teamsters union also organized in favor of it.
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Richard Pullin)
By Dan Levine
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter Inc won a bid to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the widow of an American killed in Jordan which accused the social media company of giving voice to Islamic State, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick in San Francisco ruled that Twitter cannot be held liable for Islamic State's rhetoric, but gave the plaintiff a chance to refile an amended lawsuit.
Social media companies including Twitter have faced pressure to crack down on online propaganda linked to terrorism.
Tamara Fields, a Florida woman whose husband Lloyd died in an attack on the police training center in Amman last year, said Twitter knowingly let the militant Islamist group use its network to spread propaganda, raise money and attract recruits.
While Orrick called the deaths "horrific," he agreed with Twitter and said federal law protects the company from liability for the content that third parties publish on its platform.
Attorneys for Fields and a Twitter representative could not immediately be reached for comment.
In her complaint filed earlier this year, Fields said San Francisco-based Twitter had until recently given Islamic State, also known as ISIS, an "unfettered" ability to maintain official Twitter accounts.
"Without Twitter, the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most-feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible," the lawsuit said.
Twitter had previously said the lawsuit was without merit, but that "violent threats and the promotion of terrorism deserve no place on Twitter and, like other social networks, our rules make that clear."
(Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Alan Crosby and David Gregorio)
By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The top U.N. human rights official urged Turkey on Wednesday to stem a "thirst for revenge" following a failed coup that has led to the arrest of more than 16,000 people and to uphold detainees' right to due process. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, also said that he had raised concerns with China about lawyers and activists put on trial and convicted amid "allegations of forced confessions" in a year-long crackdown. Zeid told Reuters he had no sympathy with coup plotters who sought to topple the democratically elected Turkish government on July 15, but voiced alarm at the scale of the crackdown. In an interview in his office alongside Lake Geneva, he said he had received allegations of torture and mistreatment of detainees in Turkey and was seeking a visit by independent monitors to investigate. Ankara rejected accusations it was carrying out a purge and described arrests and sackings as normal measures to prevent a repetition of a putsch that killed 240 people. It accused Western allies of failing to show support over the coup attempt. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Tuesday 16,000 people had been formally arrested and remanded in custody, while another 6,000 were still being processed. "What we need to put across is that the thirst for revenge ... be reined in and that proper procedures and guarantees of the pursuit of due process are upheld in respect of all these Turkish citizens not withstanding that some are believed to have turned against the authorities," Zeid said. Zeid, a former Jordanian ambassador who took up the top U.N. rights job nearly two years ago, decried the emergence of "demagogues" and populist leaders in many countries who whip up public sentiment against migrants, Muslims, or other groups. "It's a really difficult moment. When you have the President of the Philippines saying really the most disgraceful things, it's a disgrace," he said, referring to Rodrigo Duterte who campaigned on threats to kill drug dealers who refused to surrender and has also made anti-homosexual comments. "I've spoken publicly about the gross and irresponsible things that Donald Trump has said," he added. The U.S. Republican presidential nominee has called for a temporary ban on immigration by Muslims and vowed to build a wall on the border with Mexico. Zeid, turning to repeat presidential elections in Austria set for October, added: "If the head of the Freedom Party should win, Norbert Hofer, I think it's a real turning point on the European stage and could have consequences well beyond Austria." Speaking generally of "skilled propagandists", he said: "Once you've started to go after a particular community, and you feel that the opposition is shrinking...you can then go after others as well." LAWYERS ON TRIAL IN CHINA Zeid said that he had raised concerns with Beijing. China last Friday convicted a rights activist for subversion and sentenced him to three years prison, the fourth such sentencing in a week. Dozens of people linked to a Beijing law firm have been swept up in a crackdown on dissent since July last year, as President Xi Jinping's administration has tightened control, citing a need to boost national security and stability. "We urge the Chinese authorities to ensure that defenders do not suffer reprisals, intimidation, harassment or legal action for their for legitimate work," Zeid said. "And to reconsider the proceedings against them." (This story has been refiled to correct the day in the lede paragraph) (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Ralph Boulton)
By Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Afghan forces, backed by the United States, have killed an estimated 300 Islamic State fighters in an operation mounted two weeks ago, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan said on Wednesday, calling it a severe blow to the group. General John Nicholson said the offensive in the eastern province of Nangarhar was part of U.S. operations to degrade the capabilities of Islamic State wherever it raised its head, whether in Iraq and Syria or in Afghanistan. The group, believed to be confined to three or four of the more than 400 districts in Afghanistan, last month claimed responsibility for bombing a demonstration by the Shi'ite Hazara minority in the capital, Kabul, in which at least 80 people were killed. Nicholson, in New Delhi for talks with the Indian military which has provided training and some arms to Afghanistan, said Afghan forces supported by the United States had just carried out a counter-terrorism operation against Islamic State. "They killed a number of top leaders of the organization and upto 300 of their fighters," he told reporters. "Obviously it's difficult to get an exact count, but what this amounts to is about 25 percent of the organization at least, and so this represents a severe setback for them." Islamic State first appeared in Afghanistan at the beginning of 2015, and had about 3,000 fighters at the height of the movement, many of them former members of militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Previously considered a much smaller threat than its bitter enemies the Taliban, the group's bomb attack in Kabul underlined how dangerous it could be, even without holding large tracts of territory. On Tuesday, another U.S. military official said American soldiers helping Afghan troops fight Islamic State in Nangarhar were forced to abandon equipment and weapons when their position came under fire. Fighters from the group had circulated photographs of a rocket launcher, grenades, ammunition, identification cards, an encrypted radio and other equipment they said they had seized. By being more aggressive, the Afghan military were more successful this year against the Taliban than in 2015, when they lost 5,000 men, Nicholson said. The killing of Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Mansour in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan had been a greater blow to the group than they had let on, partly because the Taliban were having trouble getting control of the finances he dealt with, Nicholson said. (Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
TORONTO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Steel Canada on Wednesday rejected a buyout offer from Ontario Steel Investment Ltd, a group that includes shareholders of Essar Global, saying it was not considering further proposals by Essar, which had been eliminated from the sale process.
The offer, made on Tuesday, included the assumption of C$954 million ($734 million) in liabilities under U.S. Steel Canada's pension plan and a commitment to provide C$25 million toward post-employment benefits for U.S. Steel Canada's staff.
U.S. Steel Canada, which has been in creditor protection since 2014, said Essar was rejected as a potential buyer of the business earlier this year following discussions with stakeholders including the Ontario government.
It cited a failure by Essar, the Indian energy and resources conglomerate, to provide evidence of its financial ability to own and operate the company and an inability to gain the support of all stakeholders including the provincial government.
The United Steelworkers (USW) union has criticized U.S. Steel Canada's decision and Essar later re-entered the bidding process through the Ontario Steel investment vehicle.
U.S. Steel Canada, which employs nearly 2,000 workers in Ontario and has the capability to produce 2.6 million tons of steel annually, is a former unit of United States Steel Corp .
($1 = 1.3003 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
* U.S. Steel Canada says not considering Essar proposals
* Union says decision "irresponsible" (Adds comment from union)
By Matt Scuffham
TORONTO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Steel Canada on Wednesday rejected a buyout offer from Ontario Steel Investments, a group that includes shareholders of Essar Global, saying it was not considering further proposals by Essar, which had been eliminated from the sale process.
The offer, made on Tuesday, includes the assumption of C$954 million ($734 million) in liabilities under U.S. Steel Canada's pension plan and a commitment to provide C$25 million toward post-employment benefits for U.S. Steel Canada's staff.
U.S. Steel Canada, which has been in creditor protection since 2014, said Essar was rejected as a potential buyer of the business earlier this year following discussions with stakeholders including the Ontario government.
It cited a failure by Essar, the Indian energy and resources conglomerate, to provide evidence of its financial ability to own and operate the company and an inability to gain the support of all stakeholders, including the provincial government.
Essar this week attempted to re-enter the bidding process for U.S. Steel Canada's operations in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ontario, through the Ontario Steel investment vehicle, and has the support of the United Steelworkers (USW) union.
Gary Howe, president of USW Local 1005 in Hamilton, criticized U.S. Steel Canada for rejecting the latest offer.
"It's ridiculous, especially when U.S. Steel Canada (took) just a day to think about it. This is going to cause people in Hamilton to be extremely upset and it's irresponsible," he said in an interview.
U.S. Steel Canada, which employs nearly 2,000 workers in Ontario and has the capability to produce 2.6 million tons of steel annually, is a former unit of United States Steel Corp .
($1 = 1.3003 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
By Matt Scuffham TORONTO (Reuters) - U.S. Steel Canada on Wednesday rejected a buyout offer from Ontario Steel Investments, a group that includes shareholders of Essar Global, saying it was not considering further proposals by Essar, which had been eliminated from the sale process. The offer, made on Tuesday, includes the assumption of C$954 million ($734 million) in liabilities under U.S. Steel Canada's pension plan and a commitment to provide C$25 million toward post-employment benefits for U.S. Steel Canada's staff. U.S. Steel Canada, which has been in creditor protection since 2014, said Essar was rejected as a potential buyer of the business earlier this year following discussions with stakeholders including the Ontario government. It cited a failure by Essar, the Indian energy and resources conglomerate, to provide evidence of its financial ability to own and operate the company and an inability to gain the support of all stakeholders, including the provincial government. Essar this week attempted to re-enter the bidding process for U.S. Steel Canada's operations in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ontario, through the Ontario Steel investment vehicle, and has the support of the United Steelworkers (USW) union. Gary Howe, president of USW Local 1005 in Hamilton, criticized U.S. Steel Canada for rejecting the latest offer. "It's ridiculous, especially when U.S. Steel Canada (took) just a day to think about it. This is going to cause people in Hamilton to be extremely upset and it's irresponsible," he said in an interview. U.S. Steel Canada, which employs nearly 2,000 workers in Ontario and has the capability to produce 2.6 million tons of steel annually, is a former unit of United States Steel Corp . (Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
On July 27, 1981, 6-year-old Adam Walsh went to a Sears in a Hollywood, Fla., mall with his mother. As she browsed, he played video games a few aisles away. When she returned, he was gone.
The store clerk called out his name on the sound system, no answer. The police were called. A helicopter and ground search ensued. Yet after four days, the estimated two dozen police officers assigned to the case had hit a wall, according to a book on the case Bringing Adam Home. Adams parents, John Walsh and Reve Walsh, went on Good Morning America to appeal for help.
Sixteen days after he went missingon Aug. 10, 1981, precisely 35 years ago Wednesdaytwo fisherman found Adams severed head floating in a canal off the Florida turnpike. The discovery would have reverberations that would change the way the United States dealt with crimes against children, for better or for worse.
The tragedy came just two years after another 6-year-old Etan Patz disappeared while walking to his school bus stop, and soon Adam became the newand literalposter child for a movement to stop of child-snatchers, which had already existed during the 1970s, according to Joel Best, a professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware and author of Threatened Children: Rhetoric and Concern About Child Victims. Those activists had largely been concerned about children who were taken by a family member in a custody dispute or about children who run away from home, but they were frustrated by police departments sluggish response to cases.
Some had 72-hour waiting period before theyd do anything, he says, and if you notified your police department, they didnt necessarily notify the one next door or have a coordinated search going.
Adam Walshs much-publicized murder was the catalyst for change as law enforcement learned how to deal with missing children.
Story continues
Adams parents started the Adam Walsh Outreach Center for Missing Children, just four days after their sons funeral. They lobbied for the Missing Childrens Act, which, enacted in 1982, required entry of missing children data into the FBIs National Crime Information Center database (NCIC). In 1984, John Walsh would co-found the federally-funded National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and four years later, he started hosting Americas Most Wanted. In 1994, big box retailers like Walmart began implementing Code Adam, the measure that mobilizes all store clerks when a child is reported missing. And in 2006, George W. Bush signed The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, which expanded the national sex-offenders registry and created a national child-abuse registry.
Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter
While the FBI would credit Americas Most Wanted for helping nab at least 17 of the agencys 10 Most Wanted fugitives, John Walsh had to wait 27 years for the Hollywood Police Department to both admit that drifter and serial killer Ottis E. Toole abducted and murdered his son and apologize for investigative mistakes that transpired during the early years of this investigation, as police chief Chad Wagner said in a news conference. As reported on Nov. 14, 1983, Toole had first confessed to the killing in October of 1983 but, as the departments police chief told TIME in the mid-90s, Toole and his accomplice Henry Lee Lucas were notorious for confessing to crimes they didnt commit. Toole would end up dying in prison in 1996 while serving five life sentences for other crimes.
At the same time, however, the mobilization to find Adam Walsh created a massive alarm about stranger abduction that, some experts say, distracted from the clear reality that most threats to children come from their family and close social network.
During the panic in the mid-1980s, for instance, it was widely reported that 1.5 million children were reported missing each year and 50,000 child abductions by strangers occurred each year estimates that were inflated because they tended to include data on kids like runaway children or family members who had taken children in custody disputes. But the FBI only investigated 67 cases of children kidnapped by strangers in 1984.
The truth is, stranger abductions are rare, says James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University, citing a 2014 FBI report noting that 332 went missing in 2014. Research by David Finkelhor, Director of the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, finds that in fact the number of missing children being killed has been declining for the past 15 to 20 years.
My guess is that this is due to cell phones and the changing nature of youth recreation and risk-taking, Finkelhor tells TIME in an email. Cell phones have helped police track victims using GPS, while victims have been able to use the devices to call or text for help.
[The Adam Walsh case] created a nation of petrified kids and paranoid parents, says Richard Moran, criminologist at Mount Holyoke College. Kids used to be able to go out and organize a stickball game, and now all playdates and the social lives of children are arranged and controlled by the parents.
Even despite the decline in actual abductions, Moran says, the fear still lingers today.
UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi has resigned following an ethics probe investigating whether she potentially violated nepotism rules, misused student funds and misled administrators about her role in a social media scrub.
Katehi drew criticism in 2011 when campus police used pepper spray on student protestors. She said she shared the students outrage at the incident, but was blamed by many for allowing it to happen. This year, the controversy was stoked again by a Sacramento Bee report saying the school had spent $175,000 to hire a PR firm to scrub images of the pepper spray incident from social media. UC President Janet Napolitano initiated an investigation into whether Katehi really had authorized school funds for the PR engagement, and whether she had also violated nepotism rules by hiring and promoting her son and daughter-in-law, the L.A. Times reports. Napolitano placed Katehi on administrative leave in April.
Katehi announced her resignation on Tuesday via her lawyer, Melinda Guzman, who said Linda Katehi and her family have been exonerated from baseless accusations of nepotism, conflicts of interest, financial management and personal gain, just as we predicted and as the UC Davis Academic Senate found within days of this leave.
But a statement from Napolitano paints a different picture. The investigation is now concluded, and it found numerous instances where Chancellor Katehi was not candid, either with me, the press or the public, that she exercised poor judgment and violated multiple university policies, Napolitano wrote. In these circumstances, Chancellor Katehi has now offered to resign, and I have accepted that resignation.
Katehi will transition to becoming a full-time faculty member in accordance with the terms of her pre-existing contract, Napolitano wrote, and a search will begin for her replacement as chancellor.
[L.A. Times]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Japan's Kohei Uchimura became the first gymnast in 44-years to win back-to-back Olympic all around titles on Wednesday. Uchimura, who also won the team gold two days ago, had to wait until his final performance on the horizontal bar to snatch the top prize with a total of 92.365. Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev had topped the standings going into the final rotation but had to settle for silver after losing out by just 0.099 of a point. Britain's Max Whitlock finished third. (Reporting by Pritha Sarkar; Editing by Alison Williams)
LONDON (Reuters) - After a hectic first month in office following the June 23 Brexit vote, new Prime Minister Theresa May is off on holiday and she has chosen a country outside the European Union with close ties to the bloc - Switzerland. May, who became prime minister on July 13, will head to Switzerland on Thursday for two weeks, her office said. It did not provide any further details of the trip. The British leader has spoken previously of her love of walking holidays in Switzerland, a destination also favored by her German counterpart Angela Merkel. "The views are spectacular, the air is clear and you can get some peace and quiet," May wrote in the Telegraph newspaper in 2007. The model of Switzerland is one Britain will be looking at closely as it seeks to determine its own future relationship with the EU following the vote to leave the bloc. Switzerland, along with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, is a member of the European Free Trade Association. Its goods exporters enjoy tariff-free access to EU markets while it is also free to negotiate its own trade deals with non-EU countries. It has only limited access to the EU's services market however, and almost none for financial services -- a significant contributor to the British economy. (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; editing by Stephen Addison)
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday that Russian accusations of a Ukrainian incursion into Crimea were a cynical pretext to make more military threats against Ukraine. Poroshenko also said Russia would not succeed in getting international sanctions on itself lifted by trying to discredit Ukraine, and that he expected Russia to help ensure the terms of the Minsk ceasefire agreement were fulfilled. Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier accused Ukraine of using terrorist tactics to try to provoke a new conflict and destabilize annexed Crimea. "Russian accusations towards Ukraine of terrorism in the occupied Crimea sound as preposterous and cynical as the statements of the Russian leadership about the absence of the Russian troops in Donbass (region of Ukraine)," Poroshenko said. (Reporting by Alexei Kalmykov and Matthias Williams; editing by Mark Heinrich)
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday that Russian accusations of a Ukrainiaan incursion into Crimea were a cynical pretext to make more military threats against Ukraine. Poroshenko also said Russia would not succeed in getting international sanctions on itself lifted by trying to discredit Ukraine, and that he expected Russia to help ensure the terms of the Minsk ceasefire agreement were fulfilled. Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier accused Ukraine of using terrorist tactics to try to provoke a new conflict and destabilise annexed Crimea. "Russian accusations towards Ukraine of terrorism in the occupied Crimea sound as preposterous and cynical as the statements of the Russian leadership about the absence of the Russian troops in Donbass (region of Ukraine)," Poroshenko said. (Reporting by Alexei Kalmykov and Matthias Williams; editing by Mark Heinrich)
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United Nations' top aid official on Wednesday said a three-hour truce announced by Russia to deliver aid to Aleppo would not be enough to meet the needs of civilians in the war-battered Syrian city.
"To meet that capacity of need, you need two lanes and you need to have about 48 hours to get sufficient trucks in," Stephen O'Brien told reporters.
Russia's military announced a three-hour daily halt of fighting starting on Thursday to allow humanitarian convoys to reach Aleppo, which has been engulfed in heavy fighting.
The United Nations has called for 48-hour weekly pauses for the aid deliveries.
O'Brien said he had not been fully briefed on the Russian proposal, but that there were complicated logistics to address, such as ensuring that truck drivers have enough time to safely make the trip to the city and back.
"When we are offered three hours, you have to ask what can be achieved in that three hours," said O'Brien, the UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs.
"Is it to meet the need or would it only just meet a very small part of the need?
"Clearly from our point of view, we are simply there to meet all the need and we need to have sufficient capacity to do that."
Fighting between government forces and rebels in Aleppo has intensified over the past month, with both sides sending in reinforcements for an all-out battle that could mark a turning point in the five-year war.
Up to two million people in Aleppo have gone without running water for the past four days, UN agencies said, raising the risks of disease in a city already devastated by years of fighting.
O'Brien on Tuesday renewed his call for a 48-hour pause during his meeting with the UN Security Council.
Geneva (AFP) - The United Nations on Wednesday urged Ethiopia to allow international observers in to parts of the country hit by deadly weekend clashes between security forces and protesters.
At least 49 people were killed at the weekend as the authorities cracked down on a wave of anti-government unrest in two key regions, central-western Oromia and Amhara in the north.
A spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva told AFP that news coming from the two regions was "extremely alarming", saying there had been "no genuine attempt at ensuring accountability" since reports of abuses by security forces began emerging in December.
"We urge the government to allow access for international observers into the affected regions to be able to establish what exactly transpired," the spokeswoman said.
Demonstrations began in November 2015 in Oromia, which surrounds the capital, over a government plan to expand the boundaries of Addis Ababa.
The region's Oromo people feared their farmland would be seized, and though the authorities soon dropped the urban enlargement project and brutally suppressed the protests, the anger has continued.
Protests have since swept other parts of Oromia, and more recently to Amhara, causing disquiet in the corridors of power in the country, a key US ally and crucial partner in the fight against terrorism in east Africa.
One rally was even held in Addis Ababa on Saturday, a rare event in the capital of a nation ruled by a regime considered among the most repressive in Africa.
More than 60 percent of the country's almost 100 million people are either Amhara or Oromo.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN Security Council diplomats on Wednesday considered limiting a proposed regional force for South Sudan to an initial four-month mission after the government in Juba rejected plans for a 4,000-strong brigade.
The new brigade would have a "clear exit strategy" and would work with the government, according to a revised draft resolution that would authorize the regional force.
The United States this week presented the council with the draft on deploying the protection force in the capital Juba to provide security and deter attacks on UN bases.
The city was rocked by several days of heavy fighting in early July between the government forces of President Salva Kiir and those loyal to ex-rebel chief Riek Machar, the latest flareup in two-and-a-half years of war.
After initially agreeing to the force during a summit of the East African bloc IGAD, the government of the world's newest nation on Wednesday said it now had reservations.
The troops would undermine South Sudan's sovereignty and turn the country "into a protectorate and this is a situation that we will not accept," government spokesman Michael Makuei said.
The force should not be placed under the command of the UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), which has come under heavy criticism for its failure to protect civilians, the government added.
The draft resolution was revised during a meeting on Wednesday to specify that the force would be "established for an initial period until 15 December 2016."
The council could easily roll over that initial mandate, however.
The revised draft included a new provision on ensuring unrestricted access for the troops, saying the force will "promote in coordination with the transitional government of national unity the well-being of the people of South Sudan."
The force commander will report to UNMISS in line with the initial plan, it said.
Diplomats said a vote on the draft resolution, which is still under negotiation, could take place on Friday.
Story continues
- Divided council -
Security Council members Russia, China, Egypt and Angola have expressed reservations with the plan to deploy a force that would be authorized to use "all necessary means" to fulfill its mandate.
"There is a clear split in the council between those who insist on sovereignty above all else and those who want to make sure there is a robust protection force," a council diplomat said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for an arms embargo to be imposed on South Sudan along with targeted sanctions following the flare-up in violence.
The proposed resolution threatens to impose a ban on arms sales if the government blocks deployment of the regional force.
Under the measure, the council would vote on imposing an arms embargo if Ban reports "impediments" to the deployment.
Returning from a trip to South Sudan, UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien said the country's humanitarian crisis had worsened, with more people on the run and hungry across the country.
More than two million people have been driven from their homes since the war erupted in December 2013 and over 900,00 have fled to neighboring countries, he said.
Around 70,000 South Sudanese crossed the border into Uganda as refugees during the last month.
Some 4.8 million people are in desperate need of food aid in South Sudan and a quarter of a million children are severely malnourished.
During talks with Kiir, O'Brien also urged him to take action to ensure the protection of aid workers after some 30 were killed in the past year.
Michael Phelps unprecedented dominance of Olympic swimming is a major coup for sponsors like Under Armour Inc., (NYSE:UA) who pay hefty sums to tie his success to their brands. But the International Olympic Committees strict sponsorship rules forced the Maryland-based apparel company to find creative ways to congratulate Phelps after he scored two gold medal wins on Tuesday.
Unlike chief rival and official Olympic sponsor Nike (NYSE:NKE), the IOC prohibits Under Armour from using certain key phrases and images, such as Olympics or the interlocking rings logo, even if one of the companies athletes are directly involved. The rules limit the extent to which Under Armour can leverage Phelps success in their social media posts and marketing efforts.
Instead, Under Armour has combined its own marketing slogans with obvious signifiers like American flags and celebratory emojis to link Phelps to their products without breaking IOC regulations.
Theyre doing the best they can do without pushing the limit of getting sanctioned, getting penalties from the USOC, Eric Smallwood, managing partner at Apex Marketing Analytics, told FOXBusiness.com.
When Phelps defeated his archrival, South African swimmer Chad Le Clos, to win gold in the 200-meter butterfly event, Under Armour included the 31-year-old in a post on its Twitter account.
Its what you do in the dark, that puts you in the light, said the tweet, posted minutes after Phelps won his record 20th gold medal. Under Armour tagged Phelps in the post alongside its Rule Yourself slogan, an American flag and an applause emoji.
Its far from an ideal scenario for Under Armour, but the brand is well-served by doing all it can to leverage its athletes efforts on the international stage. Phelps has a signature line of swimwear through Aqua Sphere, another one of his sponsors. The IOC has permitted Phelps to wear the Aqua Sphere logo because swimmers are allowed to choose their gear. Phelps fiancee, Nicole Johnson, and his infant son, Boomer, have also worn the logo.
Story continues
By wearing Aqua Spheres MP logo on his swim cap in Rio, Phelps and his family members have generated more than $5 million in equivalent brand exposure for the brand, according to Apex Marketings calculations. That number should grow by several millions more before the end of this years Olympics, Smallwood said.
Under Armour has garnered about $200,000 in brand value from fleeting moments in which NBC cameras caught Phelps wearing the companys logo on a hat and sweatshirt between events. But only Nikes logo can be visible once Phelps steps onto the podium to accept his medal.
The brand has taken full advantage of Phelps return to the public spotlight on its website. The rotating images on Under Armours home page currently feature the brands patriotic Stars & Stripes collection and Phelps advertisement for the Rule Yourself campaign.
While Phelps is unquestionably Under Armours most recognizable athlete at the 2016 Olympics, the company has other key avenues to brand exposure in Rio. It designed the uniforms of several prominent Olympic teams, including Team USAs vaunted gymnastics team and the Netherlands beach volleyball team.
That means the companys distinctive logo will be on display every time those teams compete. USA Gymnastics is prominently featured on both Under Armours website and its main Twitter account.
And once the IOCs moratorium on marketing campaigns for non-sponsors expires, Under Armour is free to take full advantage of Phelps status as the most decorated Olympic athlete in history a title he is likely to hold for years, if not decades, to come. Under Armour will reap the benefits of associating with an international athlete without paying tens of millions of dollars to be an official Olympics sponsor.
One school of thought is, why sponsor the Olympics? Its two weeks. Sponsoring athletes is year-round, Smallwood said.
Related Articles
Its getting close to that magical time of the year for horror fans those glorious few weeks leading up to Halloween when a spate of scary films hit theaters. Hollywood has a solid lineup in store this year, with a new Blair Witch movie and that mysterious, freaky-deaky-looking Morgan on the way.
But the horror film that might make the most noise this fall comes imported from unexpected terrain: That would be Iran, the setting for Under the Shadow, writer-director Babak Anvaris buzzed-about fright-fest. Watch the exclusive trailer above.
Filmed in Jordan, Under the Shadow takes place in 1988 as the Iran-Iraq War ravages Tehran. Its there Shideh (Narges Rashidi) and her young daughter, Dorsa (Avin Manshadi), are haunted by an evil force after family patriarch (Bobby Naderi), a doctor, is dispatched to the frontlines.
Under the Shadow received rave reviews after premiering at Januarys Sundance Film Festival and then again at Marchs South by Southwest. The beauty of the films trailer is that it captures the spirit (pun intended) of the films spooky vibe without actually revealing too much. Hollywood horror flicks which often spoil their best scares in the previews could take a lesson.
Under the Shadow will screen at Sundances NextFest in Los Angeles on Aug. 14 before opening in theaters on Oct. 7.
By Allison Martell and Allison Lampert
TORONTO/MONTREAL, Aug 10 (Reuters) - The union representing most Canadian autoworkers wants a more substantial pay raise for its members after years of small increases, as contract talks start this week with three major automakers.
"We're clearly looking to make some improvements," said Unifor President Jerry Dias in a telephone interview before his first meeting with General Motors Co on Wednesday.
Unifor, the country's largest private-sector union, will not make specific demands on salaries and pensions this week, Dias said.
The talks will cover about 20,000 Canadian autoworkers at GM, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Ford Motor Co. The union's four-year contract expires Sept. 19, putting the two sides in a position to strike or lock out workers.
Dias said the talks, which he called some of the most important in a generation for Canadian automaking, will not lead to a deal without production of a new vehicle model in Canada, which has lost jobs to places with lower-cost labor such as the United States and Mexico.
Ford has said it pays hourly employees an average of C$30 in Canada, C$28 in the United States and C$5 in Mexico.
GM's Oshawa plant in Ontario may shut down one of its two assembly lines, with several vehicles already produced elsewhere or expected to move in 2017.
GM Canada has said the negotiations are separate from the carmaker's future investments in Canada because labor is not the only cost it considers when deciding where to make new products.
"GM won't make any future product decisions for Oshawa Assembly until after these negotiations," said Steve Carlisle, president of GM Canada.
One challenge for Unifor in securing new vehicles for Oshawa is that GM already "locked up product" during a 2015 agreement between the three automakers and the United Auto Workers union in the United States, said Arthur Schwartz, president of Labor and Economics Associates, a consultancy.
Unifor will likely suggest which vehicles could be built at the Oshawa plant, Schwartz said. "But if the idea is to bring a vehicle out of a UAW plant, that's going to be difficult."
Schwartz, a former GM negotiator, said the automaker could ask Unifor for similar terms reached with the union during a 2013 contract for its CAMI automotive plant in Ingersoll, Ontario. That deal gives GM more flexibility, including the ability to hire new employees with a defined contribution pension, which is less costly than the defined benefit package for workers in Oshawa.
(Reporting by Allison Martell in Toronto and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
By Allison Martell and Allison Lampert TORONTO/MONTREAL (Reuters) - The union representing most Canadian autoworkers is seeking higher pay for members as it starts contract negotiations with three major automakers this week for a deal that its president said would make or break the country's auto industry. "We are expecting some increases for our members who absolutely deserve it," Unifor President Jerry Dias told reporters in Toronto following his first meeting with General Motors Co on Wednesday. Unifor, the country's largest private-sector union, will not make specific demands on salaries and pensions this week. The talks will cover 20,350 Canadian autoworkers at GM, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Ford Motor Co . The union's four-year contract expires Sept. 19, putting the two sides in a position to strike or lock out workers. Dias said the union won't agree to a deal unless GM commits to building new vehicles in Oshawa and Ford decides to keep its engine plant operating in Windsor. GM's Oshawa plant could shut one of its two assembly lines, with several vehicles already produced elsewhere or expected to move in 2017. Between 2001 and 2013, some 14,300 jobs were lost in vehicle manufacturing in Canada, according to Hamilton's Automotive Policy Research Centre. Some automakers have found cheaper labor in places such as the southern United States and Mexico. "We are looking at the death of the auto industry in Canada," Dias said. "Our message will be: invest in Canada." GM Canada has said the negotiations are separate from the carmaker's future investments because labor is not the only cost it considers when deciding where to make new products. GM said it will make future product decisions for Oshawa only after a labor agreement. Automakers, however, agreed to make investments during bargaining with the United Auto Workers in the United States. GM's 2015 deal with the UAW generated $1.9 billion in additional investment in U.S. plants. One challenge for Unifor in securing new vehicles for Oshawa is that GM already "locked up product" with the UAW, said Arthur Schwartz, president of Labor and Economics Associates, a consultancy. Schwartz, a former GM negotiator, said the automaker could ask Unifor for similar terms reached with the union during a 2013 contract for its CAMI automotive plant in Ingersoll, Ontario. That deal gives GM more flexibility, including the ability to hire new employees with a defined contribution pension, which is less costly than the defined benefit package for workers in Oshawa. (Reporting by Allison Martell in Toronto and Allison Lampert in Montreal, additional reporting by Bernie Woodall in Detroit; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
Chicago (AFP) - Artist Peter Doig is famous for somewhat strange landscape paintings that fetch millions of dollars, but he has disowned one particular desert scene.
Is he telling the truth, or trying to hide from an embarrassing past? A US federal judge in Chicago will decide.
Robert Fletcher, a retired Canadian corrections officer who owns the disputed desert landscape painting, is suing Doig for refusing to acknowledge that the painting is one of his works -- which means its value is significantly diminished
Fletcher claims the refusal cost him millions of dollars in an auction sale. He is seeking damages from Doig that could add up to millions of dollars, as well as a court ruling that the painting is authentic.
Doig contends that he was nowhere near the prison where Fletcher says they met, and where he allegedly created the work. He says he has the documents to prove there is in fact a Peter Doige -- with the extra e -- who painted the scene.
The unusual case is stirring up the art world, and experts say it could set a dangerous standard that would leave artists at risk for costly settlements.
"The specifics of this case are pretty unusual," said Matthew Biro, a professor of modern and contemporary art at the University of Michigan.
"It could definitely set a precedent," he said, "If Doig loses this case, what would stop other collectors who feel they have found a multi-million-dollar painting to find backing to sue artists to agree to it?"
Biro says the case brings to light the increasingly speculative nature of the art world, in which works are bought and sold as investments.
Amy Whitaker, a professor of art business at New York University, expressed concern about the burden of proof.
"There's somehow an implication in the lawsuit itself that the artist is responsible for guaranteeing the value" of an artwork, Whitaker said.
"That is in no way shape or form the responsibility of the artist."
Story continues
- Are Doig and Doige the same man? -
The facts of the case date back to the 1970s, when Fletcher says he met a man named Peter Doige, who was later imprisoned at the facility where Fletcher worked for possession of LSD.
Fletcher says he remembers being impressed by one of Doige's paintings of a desert landscape in golden hues -- an acrylic painting on linen. He bought it for $100 in the hopes of keeping Doige from going back to selling drugs.
Decades later, a friend saw the painting hanging in Fletcher's home and said it was in fact the work of Peter Doig, whose creations can command $10 million at auction.
Fletcher spoke with Chicago-based art dealer Peter Bartlow, who agreed to sell the work.
"There can be no question that the disputed painting was painted by the hand of Peter M. Doig," Bartlow wrote in a report to the court.
Bartlow, who is a co-plaintiff in the case, said his decision was based on "several idiosyncratic forms" attributable to Doig's paintings, such as the "color and texture of the paint."
Fletcher and Bartlow tried to auction the painting, but were thwarted when Doig denied having painted it.
They asked Doig to provide proof by offering details of his whereabouts between 1976 and 1978 -- the time period when they say the sale occurred. No proof was forthcoming, they say.
So Fletcher and Bartlow sued Doig in 2013, claiming that Doig and Doige are one and the same.
- Mistaken identity? -
Their attorneys suggested Doig's denials may be rooted in embarrassment over his imprisonment. They have claimed he has a history of lying about his past.
As proof, Fletcher's lawyers have pointed to a number of intriguing similarities between the Peter Doige that Fletcher knew and the artist Peter Doig.
They said both Doige and Doig had been in Canada in the 1970s and the artist Doig has previously admitted to LSD use.
"Three of his famous paintings, 'Windowpane,' 'Blotter,' and 'Orange Sunshine,' bear titles that are street names for varieties of LSD," attorney William Zieske wrote in a court filing.
But Doig maintains the case is a matter of mistaken identity.
He said he has never met Fletcher and that he was never jailed in Canada. His lawyers say police records back up the latter claim.
Artistically, his representatives claimed that Doig did not begin painting on canvas until 1979, "well after this work was made."
Doig's lawyers even tracked down a Peter Doige in Canada -- also a painter -- who died in 2012 and who had in fact be jailed there in the 1970s. They claim he is the Doige that Fletcher met.
The deceased man's student identification card from 1976, submitted to the court, includes a picture of him bearing a strong resemblance to the artist Doig.
Unable to find a resolution and deciding there was enough evidence from the plaintiffs, US District Court Judge Gary Feinerman accepted the case for trial, taking place in a Chicago courtroom.
He is expected to rule after hearing testimony this week.
Washington (AFP) - A top Republican US senator pushed her case Wednesday for keeping Guantanamo Bay open, releasing an unclassified report on 107 current and former detainees to show why closing the military prison is a security risk.
Kelly Ayotte, a longtime critic of President Barack Obama's plans to shut the detention center, said the report highlights the inmates' terrorist pasts, showing why they must remain locked up.
"The Obama administration promised transparency, but this new report shows why they've been so reluctant to uphold that promise when it comes to the detainees at Guantanamo Bay," said Ayotte, who is running for re-election to her New Hampshire seat this year.
"The more Americans understand about the terrorist activities and affiliations of these detainees, the more they will oppose the administration's terribly misguided plans to release them."
The report provides short synopses about each of the 107 detainees at Guantanamo as of November last year.
Of the 76 detainees who currently remain in Guantanamo, 34 have been cleared for transfer to other countries, where they would be released subject to certain conditions.
Ten of the detainees face criminal trial, including the "9/11 Five" who are accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Yemeni-born Fayiz Ahmad Yahia Suleiman, who was transferred to Italy last month, "reportedly" trained with the Taliban and "may have" received specialized training in poison making, the report states.
And Abdel Malik Ahmed Abdel Wahab al-Rahabi, who had been in Guantanamo since January 2002 and was released to Montenegro last month, was "almost certainly" an Al-Qaeda member.
"A body of reporting indicates he fought on the front lines, was a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden and may have been selected by Al-Qaeda to participate in a hijacking plot," the document states.
The Pentagon said all the information released by Ayotte had been publicly available for "some time."
Story continues
"In some cases, the information is several years old," Pentagon spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Valerie Henderson said.
"The document does not contain all of the information available on all US government websites about each detainee."
Obama has promised since 2009 to close the Guantanamo prison, but his efforts floundered largely due to fierce opposition from Republican lawmakers.
In February, the president presented Congress with a new closure plan for Guantanamo, which he says serves only to stoke anti-US resentment and fuel jihadist recruitment.
But the plan is likely doomed as Ayotte and other Republicans continue to oppose the jail's shuttering, especially because Obama wants to transfer the highest-risk detainees to a site in the United States.
(Reuters) - U.S. federal prosecutors are investigating whether drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (VRX.TO) (VRX.N) defrauded insurers by hiding a relationship with pharmacy Philidor that boosted sales of its drugs, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Valeant's U.S. listed shares were down 12.2 percent at $24 in extended trading on Wednesday.
Neither Valeant nor the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan were immediately available for comment.
Lawyers in the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan are pursuing a theory that Valeant and Philidor Rx Services LLC allegedly defrauded insurers by concealing their ties, the WSJ said.
It is expected to be the most serious investigation that Valeant currently faces, and could lead to criminal charges against former Philidor executives and Valeant as a company, the Journal added, citing one person. (http://on.wsj.com/2aMvQwS)
Valeant cut ties with Philidor Rx Services last October after it was revealed that the speciality pharmacy used aggressive tactics to try to increase insurer reimbursement, mostly for dermatology drugs to help the Canadian drugmaker inflate revenue.
The probe revolves around whether the now-defunct Philidor made false statements to insurers about its ties to Valeant, and whether insurers thought Philidor was neutral rather than in the service of Valeant, the Journal reported.
The government lawyers are also looking at certain Philidor business practices, such as rebates and other compensation provided by the pharmacy to customers who used Valeant products, as well as Philidor's efforts to seek reimbursement from insurers, the WSJ said.
Political concerns about Valeant's drug price increases and investor scrutiny of its dealings with Philidor dragged down Valeant's shares last fall.
(Reporting by Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Matthew Lewis)
By Diego Ore and Girish Gupta
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela on Tuesday said it was trying to rally support for a meeting of oil producers to agree measures to prop up oil prices, the struggling Latin American country's biggest source of income.
Venezuela, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is suffering from an economic and political crisis and relies heavily on oil export revenues.
Its government has long called for oil producers to come up with measures to buoy oil prices.
President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday night on state television that he was in talks with several other oil exporters to organise a producer meeting.
"I spoke today with King Salman of Saudi Arabia. In the coming hours, I will speak to the Emir of Qatar. I sent a communique to President Vladimir Putin (of Russia). I'm going to speak too with President Rouhani from Iran. I'm in touch with President Correa (of Ecuador), members of OPEC and non-OPEC (countries)," Maduro said on his weekly television show, adding that Venezuela was pushing to "stabilise" the oil price at $40 per barrel.
Venezuelan oil minister Eulogio del Pino had said on Monday that a meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC countries may take place "in the coming weeks", and that Venezuela was "actively promoting a meeting of producers ... so that OPEC and non-OPEC countries can sit down to see what the scenario for the winter looks like."
After recovering for much of the first half of this year following a 70-percent price rout between 2014 and early 2016, oil prices have slumped 15 percent again since June to the low $40s per barrel as crude and refined product markets remain oversupplied.
But analysts met Venezuela's calls with scepticism.
"Another round of proposed production freeze talks by OPEC failed to excite investors," ANZ Bank said on Wednesday.
Russia, the world's largest oil producer, said on Monday it did not see any ground for new talks on freezing oil output but said it was open to negotiations.
Story continues
Since the plunge in oil prices in 2014, Venezuela has repeatedly tried to broker deals to freeze production and reduce a supply glut, with limited success, as no oil producer was willing to cede market share by voluntarily cutting output, instead expecting competing exporters to restrict production.
As a result, OPEC members and other producers including Russia did not manage to reach an agreement on freezing supply at a meeting held in Doha in April.
OPEC members are scheduled to meet informally in September.
(Writing by Brian Ellsworth and Henning Gloystein; Editing by Sandra Maler and Joseph Radford)
tunisia_banner1
The main courthouse in the heart of Tunis has a name as grand as its imposing art nouveau architecture: Palais de Justice. Its French architect, who finished the job in 1902, made sure to include a nod to local traditions in the arabesque porticos that adorn its facade. But perhaps the most striking thing about the palace is what it lacks namely a docket, the official calendar that tells those with court appointments when and where their cases are being deliberated. The shortcoming is revealing. Even in todays democratic Tunisia, the path to justice remains an obstacle course.
Anas Zammit knows the quirks of the Tunisian judiciary all too well. Two years ago, at age 23, he became the second-youngest judge in the country (out of 2,200 total). It was a remarkable achievement, reflecting his strong performance in the required examinations, and hes keen to fulfill the expectations of his compatriots. In the wake of the 2011 revolution, which was fueled largely by Tunisians widespread perceptions of their society as deeply unjust, those expectations remain sky-high.
Any democracy worthy of the label requires (among other things) a relatively efficient and impartial judiciary. Yet today, more than five years after the regime of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was toppled, attempts to reform the judiciary (which encompasses some 16,000 employees) are proceeding slowly at best.
Part of the problem is operational. Like so many other parts of the countrys administrative machinery, the court system has long suffered from chronic under-investment and organizational stasis manifested, Zammit says, in the range of shortcomings he confronts in the course of his everyday routine. He explains, for example, there is only one photocopier in the Palais de Justice, and its often broken, or crippled by lack of ink or paper. So he pays from his own pocket to have documents copied at nearby print shops. Rather than relying on over-taxed staff in the courthouse, where there are only about 200 support staff for 100 judges, he often types up his own verdicts to speed things up.
Story continues
Zammit tells me all this over coffee in a pricey cafe in the upper-middle class Tunis neighborhood of Nasr, similar to a cafe closer to his office that has become his unofficial workplace. He explains that he shares his tiny courthouse office with three other judges, a situation hardly conducive to effective work; and so, like many of his compatriots, he opts to conduct much of his business in cafes instead. He explains that his choice of locale has a great deal to do with the social strictures that come with being a judge. If you go to a working-class cafe, you might run into someone you passed judgment on, he tells me. You have an image to maintain in society. You have to give a positive example. (In Tunisia, it would seem, the upper classes dont often find themselves in court.)
Map of northern Tunisia
As exasperating as these quirks of the system can be, however, the Tunisian judiciary faces more fundamental problems than the lack of funding and equipment. As Zammit notes, judicial reformers are still trying to cope with the lingering legacy of the ancien regime. The old autocrats Ben Ali and his predecessor Habib Bourguiba habitually regarded the courts as an extension of their own executive power, and used them to crack down on their political opponents and bolster their allies. Judges who resisted would get reassigned to backwater postings.
Reformers are now trying to lead the judiciary into a new era of independence. In March, the Tunisian parliament passed a long-awaited landmark law creating a new judicial council thats designed to give judges the power to regulate the affairs of their own branch, including the appointment of judges. The council will also appoint one-third of the members of Tunisias new Constitutional Court. Unlike its pre-revolutionary predecessor, this new court will also deliberate over disputes from lower courts and parliament, not just from the presidents office.
Yet the laws have met fierce criticism from observers, who worry that the new institutions still permit the governments executive branch too much influence over judges. Another point of contention: Lawyers wanted seats on the council, which, in the eyes of critics (including Zammit) would create a conflict of interest. (Judges have an incentive to avoid upsetting any lawyer whos a member of the council, and this would skew deliberations in cases involving them.) Tunisian judges went on strike for a week in early March to protest the law, which one of their professional associations referred to as a failure and a move away from one of the most important demands of the revolution, namely the establishment of a truly independent judicial authority.
Zammit shares that skepticism. You can feel that the priority of the state isnt to create an independent judiciary, he says, noting that the government isnt taking seriously the advice and suggestions of judges for how to approach reform. Old habits, he says, die hard.
Implementing such far-reaching reforms would be hard even under ordinary circumstances. But Tunisia is trying to pull them off at a moment when the nascent rule of law is under severe pressure from a deepening confrontation with jihadi militants. Rhodri Williams, senior legal expert at the International Legal Assistance Consortium, a Stockholm-based umbrella group for legal practitioners and scholars around the world who offer expert advice to countries trying to rebuild justice systems, has been intimately involved in providing new training to Tunisian judges.
Part of that training involves helping judges to see torture and other forms of police violence against prisoners as outside the bounds of legal procedure. Judges frequently told him that they used to take everything prosecutors and police said at face value. But now theyre skeptical, Williams says. They inspect prisons, and they understand that a slap is a human rights issue. Its encouraging to hear these things. On the other hand, theres a very broad tendency by Tunisian judges and officials to reflexively view some degree of harsh treatment as an acceptable tool in fighting Islamic extremism.
Changing that mentality will take time. This is a really long process, says Williams. There are very big institutional barriers to changing how the judges work. Judiciaries everywhere, he says, have an innate conservatism that makes them highly resistant to change. He speaks from experience, having advised on transitional justice issues in several countries going through rapid political transition, including Colombia and Libya.
Corruption is a particularly sensitive issue. In a 2013 survey by Transparency International, more than half of Tunisian respondents said they perceived the judiciary to be corrupt or extremely corrupt. And the fact that there have been very few prosecutions of old regime figures despite considerable evidence of their involvement in systemic malfeasance has helped to tar the image of the entire justice system.
Zammit insists that he sees little evidence of this problem when it comes to the conduct of judges. He says that clerks often scam clients of the court system in ways that erode its reputation. As he explains it, some court clerks tell citizens involved in cases that they can bribe judges for them. The clerks then pocket the money rather than passing it on. If the decision goes in favor of the client, the clerk takes credit, claiming that the bribe greased the wheels. If the verdict goes against the client, the clerk merely says that the clients opponent in the lawsuit outspent the client in bribes. There have been some legal proceedings against clerks accused of running these schemes.
Despite everything, though, the system is clearly changing, albeit slowly. Zammit notes that relations between judges and the police, who cozily coexisted under the old regime, are now experiencing serious friction as the interests of the two sides diverge. He recalls one big scandal that occurred in August 2015, when a policeman tried to arrest a judge (in flagrant violation of the immunity enjoyed by members of the judiciary). The way Zammit tells the story, when the judge explained who he was, the cop then threatened to seek support from a top prosecutor a friend of his who would back him up in any legal dispute. The judge filed a suit against the policeman for threats against a public servant during the exercise of his functions. The police then retaliated by refusing to enforce the order for their colleague to appear before court. The judges union had to lobby the Interior Minister to bring the cops in line.
Public opinion of the judiciary is also evolving. Judges who enjoyed relative freedom from criticism in the old days now find themselves under newfound attacks from human rights advocates, who accuse the judiciary (and the police) of using the countrys harsh anti-drug laws to harass government critics. Zammit says that virtually all judges are in agreement that the law is overly strict, which is why they routinely issue only the mandatory minimum sentence to drug offenders. If you dont think someone should be prosecuted for marijuana, dont criticize the police or judges, Zammit says. Change the law. And thats the job of elected lawmakers, not judges.
Judicial reform is well under way, but Tunisias messy transition is complicating the process. Change may seem painfully slow for the average judge trying to clear his or her docket each day, or for the average citizen whose faith in the courts and other state institutions has worn thin. But establishing the genuine rule of law is vital in a country where, for many, justice still feels out of reach.
Photo credit: SOPHIA BARAKET for Foreign Policy
Read more from Tunisia: In Sun and Shadow:
Tunisias Glorious Confusion:The dawn of democracy is something to root for but the forces that have pulled the other Arab Spring countries back into upheaval still threaten to undo its progress.
Tunisias War on Islam: Is overzealous prosecution of the war on terror contributing to radicalization?
The Storyteller: Shukrii Mabkhout is not just a novelist hes the biographer of modern Tunisia.
Missing the Old Days: Tunisia is a democracy. Heres a man who still mourns for the old regime.
El Khadra Still Cant Breathe: This devastated community has been calling for help for years. Even in the new Tunisia, no ones listening.
Not Arab, and Proud of It: Tunisias long-suppressed Amazigh minority is finding its voice for the first time in years.
The Tourism Crash: Terrorist attacks have left the sector reeling but its problems actually go much deeper..
Crisis of Governance: Local Edition: In many ways, democratic Tunisia remains just as centralized as it was before the revolution. And thats a big problem for the mayor of Kasserine.
Tunisias Dying Jazz: New freedoms have brought art and religion into conflict, threatening to crush a tradition trapped in the middle.
Trouble in the Wild East: The border town of Ben Guerdane is a haven for smugglers. Locals would like to keep it that way.
Terms of Abuse: On paper, Tunisias revolution has boosted legal protections for women. Yet the reality is starkly different.
Five Years of the New Tunisia: From revolution to disillusionment and back again: Milestones on Tunisias rocky path to democracy.
The Mainstreaming of Tunisias Islamists: The Ennahda Partys latest moves put its political astuteness on show once again.
Verizon Communications (VZ) has thrown down the gauntlet in the fight for mobile consumers, launching an attack ad this week against rival Sprint Corp. (S).
This most recent spat started when Sprint hired away Verizon's "Can you hear me now" pitchman, Paul Marcarelli, reports Fortune. Sprint recently featured him in a commercial, where he claims "Guess what, it's 2016 and every network is great."
Verizon took matters into its own keyboards and released an ad starring Jamie Foxx, directly and unapologetically targeting Sprint. "Sprint is last nationally in 4G LTE coverage," he says in the commercial.
Sprint fought back and justified its ad claims in a statement. "Our network covers nearly 300 million people -- that's approximately 94 percent of the U.S. population," the statement reads. "Yes, our footprint is smaller in some markets, but our network covers every major market in the U.S. from Los Angeles to New York, Seattle to Boston, and every big city in between."
But this is the real meat of the statement that's more indicative of what's going on: "More and more customers are figuring out that they are being ripped off by Verizon."
Meanwhile, its CEO Marcelo Claure didn't hold back on Twitter, going off on a hurricane-level tweetstorm regarding the ad. Verizon still says Sprint was embellishing its coverage.
Fortune notes that Verizon's soon-to-be newest executive Ronan Donne, who will head the wireless unit, could be more prolific on social networks than Verizon executives of the past. This suggests Claure could be in for quite the wake-up call.
Verizon's stock is up about 16 percent on the year, though Sprint's is up a noticeably whopping almost 71 percent.
11 Stocks That Donald Trump Loves
9 Hot Dividend Stocks for 2016
More From US News & World Report
ViaSat Inc. VSAT posted yet another earnings miss in the first quarter of fiscal of 2017. The company posted adjusted earnings (including stock-based compensation adjustments) of 6 cents per share in first-quarter fiscal 2017 which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 15 cents by 60%.
GAAP earnings came in at 4 cents, down 20% from 5 cents in the year-ago quarter.
The bottom-line deterioration is largely attributable to a rise in cost of service revenues and selling, general & administrative expenses.
Inside the Headlines
The company posted revenues of $363.1 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2017, led by robust growth in Satellite Services. Though revenues missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $366 million, it was up 5.4% year over year.
Segment-wise, Satellite Services revenues achieved a record high for the fourth consecutive quarter, up 15.1% year over year to $152.4 million. The impressive figures were driven by continued strength in residential broadband offerings and a thriving in-flight connectivity business.
However, Commercial Networks revenues continued to show weakness, edging down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis to $65.6 million. This was largely a result of lack of activities due to the completion of certain antenna systems and mobile broadband satellite communications systems programs. However, these declines were somewhat offset by a higher number of broadband terminal orders received under the NBN project.
On the other hand, Government Systems reported record revenues of $145.2 million, flat on a year-over-year basis. This was primarily fuelled by strong performance in government satellite communications systems products, offset by softness in the information assurance product line.
During the quarter, sales backlog increased 4.6% year over year to $912.9 million. Adjusted EBIDTA rose 3.5% from the comparable quarter last year to $80.2 million.
Quarterly Highlights
ViaSats Satellite Services average revenue per user (ARPU) in the residential internet business grew 8%, primarily fuelled by higher bandwidth, increased value plans and growth in value-added services. Also, the companys high-speed in-flight Internet service was selected by American Airlines for its new Boeing 737 MAX fleet. Moreover, in partnership with Eutelsat, ViaSat launched in-flight Internet service in Europe in collaboration with EL AL Israel Airlines.
Story continues
Moreover, the companys Commercial Networks business ViaSat-2 satellite communications platform passed critical program milestones, including completion of assembly, functional performance and first phase of environmental testing in preparation for a launch window. Also, the collaboration between ViaSat and Boeing Satellite Systems International (BSSI) on the ViaSat-3 program is progressing well as the two organizations continue to integrate ViaSat's communications payload with Boeing's upgraded platform.
Finally, the companys Government Systems business is progressing well as ViaSat was awarded a sole-source contract to provide global in-flight connectivity service to Air Force One and other prestigious U.S. government senior leader aircraft. Also, the company continued to execute on its contract with NEXCOM (Navy Exchange Service Command), which proved conducive to Managed Wi-Fi revenues.
In addition, Royal Canadian Air Force selected ViaSats KOR-24A STT technology for its CP-140 Aurora aircraft and the company also managed to secure NSA certification for two of its information assurance encryption devices.
Liquidity
ViaSat exited the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $47.2 million, compared with $42.5 million as of Jun 30, 2015.
VIASAT INC Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
VIASAT INC Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | VIASAT INC Quote
To Conclude
ViaSats first-quarter fiscal 2017 results can be best described as mixed with the bottom-line performance lagging expectations but revenue growth continuing. The companys ViaSat-1 satellite remains a star performer even after five years of launch, delivering record earnings and margins. Going forward, the company aspires to deliver more bandwidth-efficient satellites and improve its stronghold in regional and global markets by leveraging on its state-of-the art technology.
ViaSat exhibits a bullish sentiment regarding the launch of ViaSat-2 class satellites as it compounds the companys ability to expand its foothold in residential broadband, mobile WiFi, aeronautical and maritime applications in both thriving commercial and government markets. However, heavy R&D expenses on account of ambitious developmental programs may prove to be a drag on the financial performance in the short run.
ViaSat currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the same space include Sonus Networks, Inc. SONS, Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI and Clearfield, Inc. CLFD. All three stocks hold a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
SONUS NETWORKS (SONS): Free Stock Analysis Report
VIASAT INC (VSAT): Free Stock Analysis Report
MOTOROLA SOLUTN (MSI): Free Stock Analysis Report
CLEARFIELD INC (CLFD): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
With the Cite du Vin -- a cultural center for all things wine-related -- now open for business in Bordeaux, the upcoming Cite de la Gastronomie et du Vin opening in Dijon in 2017, and the first anniversary of the Champagne region's hillsides, houses and cellars gaining UNESCO World Heritage status, there's never been a better time for wine lovers to discover where their favorite drink comes from. Relaxnews has picked a selection of the best vineyards and wine estates to visit this summer. Today we're heading to Ridge Vineyards in California.
What's new this summer?
South of San Francisco, Apple is not the only famous name in the town of Cupertino. There's also Ridge Vineyards, a long-standing wine business which is proof that the French are not alone in having been producing wine for centuries. The vast property, which also has vines two hours away by car in the Santa Cruz Mountains, has been making wine since 1885.
Famous for its Monte Bello vintage and its expertise with Zinfandel, an emblematic grape variety in California, Ridge Vineyards is starting a new chapter in its history in 2016. Paul Draper, its winemaker, is retiring. This marks a turning point for the international brand which built its reputation through Draper's choices, making him one of the most influential winemakers in the world. He is now approaching 80 years of age, and has devoted 45 years of his life to the property and to maintaining the quality of its wine. Through his successes and his vision, he is also one of the key people responsible for making California a global benchmark in the wine industry.
The estate
Ridge Vineyards is known for its longevity and the strong personality of its winemaker. In 1885, a doctor bought around 72 square meters of land close to Monte Bello Ridge, in the Santa Cruz Mountains, at an altitude of 850 meters. His idea was to plant vines in terraces. In the 1940s, a theologian moved the story forward by investing in a abandoned domaine and replanting Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine produced became one of the most elegant ones in California.
Story continues
In 1964, the property increased in size once again with the purchase of a vineyard at a lower altitude dating from the 19th century. With this new land, Ridge Vineyards could begin to grow Zinfandel. In 1968, the domaine was able to produce 3,000 cases a year. The following year, Paul Draper, an academic who had acquired knowledge and expertise in a Chilean vineyard, joined the venture. He left an indelible mark on the management of the domaine as he believed very strongly in allowing nature to be free. This pioneer of organic farming worked hard to create balanced wines and to lower the alcoholic content. He also imported the French concept of "terroir" by starting to produce from a single grape variety.
The wines
Due to its vast domaine, the property produces a very large quantity of different wines. Monte Bello is one of its flagship wines, produced from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. The Geyserville vintage is also a memorable and interesting Zinfandel wine.
Back-to-school season is almost upon us, and that means investors needs to start looking at companies that thrive during this time of the year. Just like during the holidays, retailers around the country will be using special promotions and deals to attract the most customers during this busy shopping period.
During the back-to-school season, investors need to remember how the market tends to react to things. While back-to-school business will already be priced in to most retail stocks, the market will always tend to react positively to any additional news about a companys success during promotional periods.
With that in mind, the best back-to-school stocks are those that are already poised to succeed with strong fundamental metrics and are also in a competitive position to get the most back-to-school shoppers through the doors.
For this back-to-school season, one of the stocks that sticks out is Wal-Mart WMT. Currently, Wal-Mart is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), and based on forecasts about this years retail shopping behavior, the company should be ready to win the back-to-school race.
The Numbers
The vast majority of Wal-Marts back-to-school revenue will come in the current quarter, but the company has yet to report its results for the period ending in July. For that quarter, Wal-Mart has seen two positive estimate revisions in the past 30 days. With its strong Zacks Rank and a positive Earnings ESP of 1%, investors should feel more comfortable about the possibility of a beat when Wal-Mart reports on the 18th.
For the back-to-school quarter, Wal-Mart is already starting to see positive revision activity. We have seen one positive revision within the past 30 days, and the company currently has a positive Earnings ESP of 7.45%. On top of this, Wal-Mart is looking to shake off sluggish sales numbers, and our revenue estimate of $118.8 billion would represent growth of nearly 1.2%.
Cashing in on Trends
While the fundamental figures look great, its also important to note that Wal-Mart is the exact type of store that looks to have a great back-to-school season this year. According to research from the National Retail Federation, families this year are feeling more confident about the economy and will spend more money on back-to-school supplies.
Story continues
The NRF projects that the average family buying supplies for K-12 students will spend $673.57, up from last years $630.26. Spending is expected to be higher in the college market as well, with total spending by families of college students projected to grow over $5 billion to $48.5 billion.
This spells good news for Wal-Mart, which stocks everything under the sun and appeals to both K-12 students and college students. Also, the NRF says that 46% of parents will shop online, up from just 36% last year, which should be great for Wal-Marts recently-invigorated e-commerce segment.
Bottom Line
Wal-Mart and its investors always expect stores to be busy during the back-to-school season, but this year it looks like all of the pieces are in place for a better-than-expected period. If you want to look at more back-to-school stocks, check out our 5 Stocks to Watch This Back-to-School Season.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
WAL-MART STORES (WMT): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
(Adds details of agreement, background)
By Nandita Bose
CHICAGO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc's Mexican unit said on Wednesday it has agreed to sell its Suburbia clothing chain to El Puerto De Liverpool for about $852 million as the world's largest retailer streamlines operations in its largest non-U.S. market.
Wal-Mart De Mexico y Centroamerica, also known as Walmex, will sell Suburbia with its 119 stores and real estate for 15.7 billion pesos ($852 million) including debt of 1.4 billion pesos. Walmex will also receive an additional 3.3 billion pesos in items including declared dividends after the deal closes, it said in a statement.
In January, the retailer said it was looking to sell Suburbia without giving a timeframe for completing the sale. Some Mexican media outlets had speculated the sale could fetch as much as $2 billion.
Liverpool is one of Mexico's department store operators, with more than 100 outlets. Company representatives were not immediately available for comment.
Wal-Mart has been looking to double sales in Mexico by 2024 by boosting its core business of running discount retail and membership stores, and expanding its fresh food business. The divestiture is part of Wal-Mart's strategy, announced in 2013, to streamline and sell businesses not central to its overseas operations.
Wal-Mart's international division, which contributes roughly one-third of the company's total annual sales of nearly $480 billion, has divested some non-core businesses across Chile, Mexico and Canada in the past two years.
In Mexico over the past three years, Walmex has sold its Vips restaurant chain to fast-food operator Alsea SAB for $626 million, and its Banco Walmart unit to Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's bank Grupo Financiero Inbursa for about $247 million.
Wal-Mart acquired Suburbia's parent supermarket chain Cifra in 1997. Suburbia has 119 stores in 46 cities and is popular with urban shoppers, ranking among Mexico's top five department stores, according to analysts.
Story continues
Suburbia, which is profitable, contributed 3 percent to Walmex's overall revenue in 2015. Walmex, Mexico's biggest private sector employer and the country's largest retailer, posted sales of about $26.35 billion in 2015.
At the company's shareholder's meeting in June, David Cheesewright, head of Wal-Mart's overseas division, singled out the Mexican market as a top priority. Mexico has Wal-Mart's largest number of stores outside the United States.
Wal-Mart has struggled in overseas markets, including Britain and China, but Walmex has remained a bright spot with second-quarter revenue growing 11.5 percent to about $6.93 billion.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Chicago; Editing by Leslie Adler and Richard Chang)
Yesterday, Brooklyns own Joey Bada$$ turned a video release into a bonafide celebration by hosting screenings of Devastated in New York City. Now the rest of the world can also view his hits triumphant visual.
Bada$$ and Shomi Patwary co-directed the video together. The latters creative collective Illusive Media has worked with the likes of Vince Staples, A$AP Rocky, and Lupe Fiasco. Joey leads a sizable gathering of friends, fans, and family through the streets. Marching bands walk on, dancing ensues, and the worries of the past are safely left behind.
Head above to watch the official video for a nice kick of inspiration this afternoon.
More from Pigeons & Planes
Weddings cut through gloomy mood in Gaza Strip In this Saturday, July 30, 2016 photo, two girls pose for a picture as they sit in front of the family house during the wedding party of Palestinian groom Saed Abu Aser, in Gaza City. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)
Like dozens of other couples who got married this summer in the isolated Gaza Strip, for Saed and Falasteen Abu Aser, their wedding was an elaborately planned celebration, complete with a procession through the streets of their neighborhood.
In a time with little to be joyous about in Gaza, weddings have emerged as welcome festivities that offer a break from the often morose mood in the strip. The coastal territory has faced three wars with Israel over the last decade and a stifling blockade imposed by both Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militant Hamas group violently overran the territory in 2007.
But for the happy couple and their families, a wedding is both a respite from daily hardships and a focal point in the lives of both the well-off and the poor.
My joy is great among my family and my friends and my neighbors and I thank them because they helped and supported me, said the 22-year-old groom Saed Abu Aser.
His bride, Falasteen, is 17. The Abu Asers are first cousins who come from a poor family. It is not uncommon for cousins to marry in Palestinian society.
Their festivities began days before the wedding ceremony, with a boisterous stag party in which the grooms friends set the dance floor on fire to the tune of a local band while glitter twinkled from their sweaty faces.
On the day of the wedding, the families gathered for a cheerful lunch before the bride and groom got all spruced up for the big night ? he in a black suit and she in a white gown and matching cape, her face daubed in white powder.
They held a lavish wedding party at a hall, where they were driven to in a convoy of decorated, honking cars.
All those expenses can add up, but Abu Asers family took out a loan to pay for what has become an increasingly important milestone for people in Gaza. Other impoverished Gazans ask for donations to pay for their rites of marriage.
Associated Press photographer Khalil Hamra joined the celebrations, and here is a series of his photographs. (AP)
See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Tumblr
PARIS (Reuters) - Western countries including the United States, France and Britain said in a joint statement on Wednesday they were concerned by mounting tension around the Zueitina oil terminal in Libya. Washington, Paris, London and the governments of Germany, Spain and Italy urged a return to government control of all oil and gas installations and called on all parties "to abstain from any act of hostility and avoid all actions that could damage or disrupt energy infrastructure". Zueitina is one of three eastern oil ports blockaded by Libya's Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG). The PFG has signed a deal to reopen the ports with the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, but forces loyal to a separate government based in eastern Libya have threatened to block a resumption of exports. Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Sunday that it was concerned by reports of "imminent conflict" in the vicinity of Zueitina between the PFG and the Libyan National Army (LNA), which is loyal to the eastern government. In a statement released by the French foreign ministry, the six Western powers expressed their support for efforts by the GNA to "find a peaceful solution to the disruptions affecting energy exports in Libya". "The Government of National Accord must work with the National Oil Corporation to relaunch oil production in order to rebuild Libya's economy." Fighting, political disputes and militant attacks have reduced Libya's oil production to a fraction of the 1.6 million barrels per day the OPEC member was producing before the 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi. "Restarting oil exports is crucial for generating revenues needed to provide for the essential needs of the Libyan people, notably electricity, healthcare and infrastructure," the statement by Western countries said. (Reporting by Michel Rose, writing by Aidan Lewis, editing by Gus Trompiz and William Hardy)
In the world of millennial entrepreneurs, Mark Zuckerberg is the unofficial gold standard for achievement. At the tender age of 32, he's leveraged Facebook's (FB) popularity to amass a net worth of more than $35 billion. That's pretty impressive for a company that got its start in a dorm room.
While Zuckerberg is certainly one of the best known millennial CEOs, plenty of other young adults share a similar ambition to succeed as entrepreneurs. An October 2014 survey from Bentley University revealed that 66 percent of millennials say they'd like to start their own business.
According to the 2016 BNP Paribas Global Entrepreneur Report, so-called "millennipreneurs" have started an average 7.7 businesses, and collectively they hold $5.6 billion in investable wealth. When the profits start rolling in, the big question for these burgeoning business owners is what to do with it. Stuffing it under the mattress is one option but a Solo 401(k) account holds a lot more appeal.
[See: Car Companies and the Race to Profits.]
Solo 401(k)s are designed for sole proprietors who are running a business single-handedly and from a wealth perspective, they make a lot of sense for millennial entrepreneurs. Here's a look at why it's worth considering if you're focused on growing your business and your retirement portfolio at the same time.
Higher contribution limits mean more investing power. If your goal is to bank as much of your entrepreneurial wealth as possible, a Solo 401(k) has the edge over other self-employed retirement plans.
Robert Farrington, founder of TheCollegeInvestor.com, uses a Simplified Employee Pension IRA to illustrate how much more a Solo 401(k) can allow you to save.
"While both a Solo 401(k) and a SEP allow you to contribute the same amount for profit-sharing (i.e., the portion of your business's net profit), the Solo 401(k) also allows you to make an employee contribution," Farrington says.
That's where the Solo 401(k) sets itself apart. He gives an example of a millennial entrepreneur with a net business income of $100,000. With the SEP IRA you could contribute $18,587 a year, while in a Solo 401(k), the business would contribute that amount but you could also elect to contribute another $18,000 as an employee. That brings the total annual contribution to $36,587.
Story continues
That can make a substantial difference in how much wealth a 20- or 30-something could accumulate over time. An annual investment of $18,587 would grow to $1.47 million over 30 years, assuming a 6 percent annual return. A millennial entrepreneur who's investing $36,587 over that same period with the same annual return, on the other hand, would see their nest egg increase to $2.89 million.
A Solo 401(k) offers a sizable tax break. Besides being able to contribute more to a Solo 401(K), these plans can create some insulation for millennial entrepreneurs who are worried about getting hit with a big tax bill.
Sterling Neblett, a certified financial planner and founding partner of Centurion Wealth Management in McLean, Virginia, says that the tax benefits associated with a Solo 401(k) are significant.
"Let's say you're a 33-year-old, self-employed individual with $200,000 in net earnings. Assuming that you fall into the 33 percent federal income tax bracket and a 5.75 percent tax bracket at the state level, you could potentially save up to $20,537 a year in taxes by maxing out a Solo 401(k)," Neblett says.
[See: The Perfect 10 Shares.]
By comparison, Neblett points out that contributing to a SEP IRA would reduce the tax savings to $14,723 while it drops even further to $6,987 for entrepreneurs who save in a SIMPLE IRA, assuming they're making the maximum contribution to either plan.
The Solo 401(k) emerges as the clear winner on the tax front. For a millennial entrepreneur who's focused on growing an existing business or starting a new one, having an extra $20,000 a year to work with can be extremely advantageous.
You've got the ability to borrow if you need it. Running a business requires a steady cash flow and if you need money quickly, a Solo 401(k) is an asset you can tap in a pinch. That can be invaluable, says Wayne Bland, a retirement consultant with Metro Retirement Plan Advisors in Charlotte, North Carolina.
"As a small business owner, it's not uncommon to face a downturn in your business cycle that presents a challenge to your cash flow. While I strongly discourage borrowing from a 401(k) if at all possible, a Solo 401(k) loan is an option you simply don't have with a SEP or SIMPLE IRA," Bland says.
"If there are no other funding sources available, you could borrow up to 50 percent of your vested balance or $50,000, whichever is less," he says. "The loan provision can literally keep the doors of your business open in hard times."
Do your research before jumping in. Like any qualified retirement plan, a Solo 401(k) does have guidelines that millennial investors need to be aware of. Farrington advises young entrepreneurs to understand the contribution rules.
"One of the biggest hidden pitfalls of a Solo 401(k) is that you can't contribute more than $18,000 per year yourself and total contributions are limited to $53,000," Farrington says. "You'd have to do the math each year to ensure that you don't exceed the contribution limits."
Making contributions over the allowed limit can trigger a hefty tax penalty that could eat into your bottom line. That's the last thing you can afford when you're building personal wealth.
You also need to keep an eye on the calendar, Farrington says. The deadline for opening a Solo 401(k) is Dec. 31 and that's the cutoff for making employee contributions. You'd have until you file your taxes to make the employer contribution.
Excessive fees are another thing to watch out for, says Scott Patterson, a certified financial planner with Core Financial Resources in Anderson, South Carolina.
"The good thing is that Solo 401(k)s don't have to be expensive. Many brokerages will file the annual tax return and handle the administrative work very inexpensively," Patterson says.
Even more importantly, he cautions, millennial entrepreneurs should be mindful of what a particular Solo 401(k) plan offers in terms of investments.
[Read: From Growing Private to Going Public.]
"Make sure you have access to the kind of investments you're comfortable with," Patterson says. "Don't settle for a cheap broker with bad options."
More From US News & World Report
Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop (Everett)
Right after his third Rocky and first Rambo movies, Sylvester Stallone could have played Axel Foley. When 1984s Beverly Hills Cop was in development at Paramount, Stallone was offered and briefly accepted the role of the wisecracking Detroit police detective ultimately played by Eddie Murphy. Why did Stallone pass on the film that made Murphy a superstar? For the new book Powerhouse: The Untold History of Hollywoods Creative Arts Agency (via THR), Stallone and talent agent Ron Meyer explained why Murphy, not Stallone, ending up in Beverly Hills, sticking a banana in a police cars tailpipe.
Meyer, Stallones agent in the early 1980s, told author James Andrew Miller that he was really excited about his client doing Beverly Hills Cop, even though he realized it was a stretch. I knew that he probably wouldnt want to do this film because it somewhat parodied his tough-guy image, Meyer explained. Sure enough, Stallone insisted on rewriting the role. Ron told me, Dont change it, but I took the script and rewrote it as a kind of compromise, where the guy was action-oriented, but he also had a wry sense of humor, Stallone recalled. His version was rejected by the producers, and despite Meyers pleas, the actor refused to make the movie with the original script. "I didnt think I could pull it off. Then that ship sailed, Stallone admitted.
Stallone in 1984 (Photo: Ron Galella/WireImage)
A 1984 New York Times article described Stallones script in more detail. Slys rewrite had heart, passion and pathos, producer Don Simpson told the newspaper. It was superb. It had more edge and more of the blood vengeance motif. However, it left out the entire point of the original script, which was a funny, fish-out-of-water story about a Detroit policeman who uses street smarts to crack a case in posh Beverly Hills. When Murphy was cast, he used his improv skills to play up that angle with great success. He did some marvelous extemporary things, said screenwriter Dan Petrie Jr. Hed take a line and expand it, make it special. Hed put it into the comic persona that he invented for the moment.
Story continues
Beverly Hills Cop became the highest-grossing film of 1984, beating out Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and The Karate Kid, and cementing Murphy (then a breakout castmember on Saturday Night Live) as a Hollywood leading man. Incredibly, Murphy was actually Paramounts third choice: According to the Times piece, Mickey Rourke was cast before Stallone, then dropped out because of delays in production.
Watch the Beverly Hills Cop trailer:
The city at the heart of Syrias civil war has seen a dramatic reversal in fortunes in recent days, as rebel fighters in Aleppo made a daring advance against forces loyal to the regime of President Bashar Assad. Opposition fighters reported that they had punched through pro-regime lines on Aug. 6, piercing a weeks-long siege on the eastern half of the city held by the opposition, even as they were able to surround the regime-held western side of the city.
The breakthrough has raised morale among the rebels and their civilian supporters but is unlikely to be a turning point in this five-year civil war, and may even deepen the humanitarian crisis in an already devastated city. The corridor created by the advance is narrow and no sustained supply route has been established. The shift on the battlefield now threatens to place both east and west Aleppo under de facto siege, by separate sides in the conflict. The U.N. humanitarian chiefs for Syria, Yacoub El Hillo and Kevin Kennedy, said in a statement that over two million Syrians now live in de facto fear of besiegement. Aleppo, they said, is a city now united in its suffering.
Read More: Meet the Syrian Refugee Swimming for Olympic Glory
The opposition advance in Aleppo represents a rebuke to the Assad regime and its allies, who consider the city the backbone of the armed insurrection that sprang out of a popular uprising in 2011. Assads forces are backed by troops from Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hizballah and have been bolstered since September 2015 by the might of Russian air power. Only weeks earlier, the opposition faced total encirclement of eastern Aleppo. Similar sieges imposed by the regime elsewhere in Syria have resulted in starvation and mass death.
The turnaround in fortunes has come just as the balance of power within the groups arrayed against the regime has swung towards Islamist hardliners, complicating matters for Western powers that seek Assads removal. The coalition of opposition groups that came together to fight the siege of eastern Aleppo in July included the jihadist fighters of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, a newly renamed group that declared a split from al-Qaeda in July. Formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, they now fight in coordination with more mainstream Islamist groups and battalions from the Free Syrian Army, a rebel umbrella group that contains forces supported by Western governments.
Story continues
Read More: Syrias Nusra Front Announces Split From al-Qaeda
The role of the hardliners in the current opposition offensive unsettles some moderate Syrian opposition activists. Popular support has waned for moderate Syrian rebels, who say the U.S. and other Western supporters have failed to offer them enough support to turn the tide of the war. The jihadists however scored a significant victory this week with the estimated 300,000 people who live in the rebel sector.
The shift should unnerve Washington too, says Robert S. Ford, the former U.S. ambassador to Syria and a senior fellow at the Middle East institute in Washington. The United States did nothing to help break that siege, at least nothing that anyone could point to, he told TIME. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had been trying to negotiate a ceasefire with Russia that might have broken the siege on eastern Aleppo, but the talks failed. The end result is American credibility suffers a blow, Ford said, the credibility of extremists that we dont like in Fateh al-Sham goes up, and the Americans ultimately are in control of nothing.
The jihadists are only one component of the broader coalition that pushed through the siege on eastern Aleppo, but their role is a significant one. Fateh al-Sham is going to be a major source of military dynamism for Syrias rebels, and I expect itll have a large and growing role in setting the terms of political control in rebel-held areas.
Read More: The Siege of Aleppo Could Spell Disaster for Rebels Fighting Syrias Bashar Assad
As ever the civilians in Aleppo are paying the greatest toll. Nearly two million people there have no access to running water, according to the U.N. childrens fund. In rebel-held areas, airstrikes continue to devastate the medical infrastructure. In Aleppo alone, there were at least 15 attacks on medical facilities or personnel in July, according to the Syrian American Medical Society, which said that as of Tuesday night, a tiny core of 35 doctors are serving the estimated 300,000 civilians in the citys east. The rebels ensured this week that they will not go quietly into the night, but observers also fear a ferocious reaction from the pro-regime side. For the long-suffering people of Aleppo, there is no end in sight.
A Florida woman who was participating in an 8-week training course was accidentally shot dead by a police officer during a gun demonstration Tuesday, officials said.
Some 30 people watched as Mary Knowlton, a retired librarian from Minnesota, was chosen to participate in a role-playing situation staged by the Punta Gorda Police.
But instead of learning about how to make good "shoot/don't shoot" decisions as they were meant to, those 30 Citizen Police Academy students watched a woman die.
Read: College Athlete, 20, Shot Dead While Playing Pokemon Go at San Francisco Tourist Hot Spot
Knowlton was rushed from the police department to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
According to Chief Thomas Lewis, the demonstration was meant to instruct the class on making decisions "using simulated lethal force."
The round was meant to be a blank.
"Our entire police department and all of our city leaders are absolutely devastated for everyone involved in this unimaginable event, Lewis said in a press conference Tuesday night.
I am asking that if you pray, you pray for Marys husband and family and for all the officers and witnesses that involved this incident. Everyone involved is in an overwhelming state of shock and grief."
Read: Trump Slammed For Suggesting 'Second Amendment People' Could Stop Hillary Clinton
The victim's son, Steven Knowlton, spoke on behalf of the family, saying in a statement to CBS This Morning: "My mom was a saint. Such a tremendous loss of a wonderful human being and the best mom a kid could ever hope for."
The officer involved has been placed on administrative leave. The Punta Gorda police did not immediately identify the officer involved.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the incident.
Watch: 'Black Lives Matter' Chant Erupts as 9 Moms Who Lost Children to Police and Gun Violence Speak at DNC
Story continues
Related Articles:
Annie Safoian SADA Systems
In 1987, a 32-year-old Annie Safoian moved to Los Angeles from Armenia with her husband, Hovig, and their 9-year-old son, Tony.
Today and she and her family run an LA tech company called SADA Systems, a thriving Google and Microsoft reseller expected to do $65 million in revenue this year, she tells us.
And she has been fending off a constant stream of offers to acquire the company, for a healthy multiple over revenues. She wouldn't tell us how much money she's been offered, but given the market, offers have likely ranged from hundreds of millions of dollars to as high as half a billion, we understand.
But she likes her job and her company, worries a sale wouldn't be good for employees, and simply doesn't care that much about the loot.
"We have discussed selling within the family. Everybody wants to buy us. We are in our 60s, our son is 38 years old. Hes the CEO, my husband is CTO. We've been all together here and working all these years," she says. "If we sell this company and get more money in our bank account, we would still have to do something. My son is very young. We are still so passionate about this technology. It's never boring, but so exciting every single day. Why would I sell?"
Back in 1987, when the Safoians first moved to America, she couldn't have predicted her success. Her English was mediocre, she had no technical training and she wasn't exactly sure what she was going to do for a living. But she knew she loved her new home country and became a citizen right away.
She took some accounting classes, got a job as a payroll coordinator, which she disliked, yet might have toiled away at forever if the company hadn't laid her off. So she jumped into graphic designed, something she loved, and learned how to build web pages. Her husband found work as a programmer.
Slowly, her hard-work ethic had her customers asking her to do more and more tech jobs. One of them asked her to modify their accounting software. She enlisted her husband's help for that and they founded a tech company, SADA Systems, which then went on to manage computers and networks for small businesses, doing small custom apps for customers along the way.
Story continues
'Hello, this is Google calling'
And then, out of the blue, Google called.
A woman holds her smart phone which displays the Google home page, in this picture illustration taken February 24, 2016. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/Illustration/Files
"The lucky year was 2007 when Google came to us and needed some help for their Google Apps. We were one of their launch partners on Work," she says, referring to Google's plan to sell Google Apps to more businesses.
Google also wanted SADA to build a tool that would let its customers easily transfer their email and documents into the Google Apps cloud, she says. SADA agreed to work on that, for no compensation, in exchange for becoming a major, early partner authorized to sell Apps.
"We had never had done what they were asking us to do. But we told them we could do it, and worked day and night and delivered it on time," Safoian remembers.
To this day, Safoian doesn't fully know how Google found SADA, except through word-of-mouth referrals when it was looking for a company to help it sell Apps for Work in LA.
Remember, in 2007, Microsoft's Office ruled, businesses distrusted putting their documents in the cloud, and Google had no experience selling its wares to businesses. It needed to start with smaller but established resellers that could help it get a foothold.
Enter Microsoft
Business took off for SADA after it began working with Google Apps. Microsoft took notice and convinced SADA to become a reseller for its cloud product, Office 365, too, which Safoian agreed to do. Both companies wanted SADA to help them steal customers away from each other, but she absolutely refused, she says.
Microsoft
"Believe me. You have to be a politician," she explains when asked how it is to work with both companies.
"People have to trust you. They know we are going to play this the right way. We will never approach anyone and try to sell them something else. It's never going to happen. We made that clear and now they dont even talk about it," she says.
As the cloud has taken off, and SADA has become a top-tier partner for both Google and Microsoft, SADA has found itself working with bigger and bigger customers and branching out in more areas. It's worked with the Chicago Department of Transportation, University of San Diego, Virgin America, the US Air Force, the state of Maryland, city of Los Angeles and so on, it says.
As of this month, SADA will employ 150 people, Safoian tells us. Revenue is expected to hit $65 million this year, up from $50 million last year, she says. All without any VC investment. Her family still owns the company.
Why she doesn't want to sell
Other successful Google cloud resellers have gone the traditional route and are starting to get acquired. Accenture bought Cloud Sherpas in September for an undisclosed but likely hefty sum.
Cloud Sherpas took the traditional startup route and raised nearly $63 million from VCs. It employed over 1,100 people when Accenture bought it.
Safoian knows that it's a risk to turn away potential acquisition offers. But she says it's a calculated risk.
"All of a sudden, things might not be going as well. We are willing to take the risk," she says.
And there's another reason she and her husband keep advising their son and CEO not to sell. She believes that working for what you want is better than having it handed to you.
"One of the things I tell my son every day is you dont need a lot of money. You want to give your children a chance to create something for themselves, to get the pleasure out of it. If everything is given, there is no fun in it," she says.
NOW WATCH: Watch the Air Force drop 8 armored Humvees out of a plane from 5,000 feet
More From Business Insider
This piece is part of an ongoing series on the unsung women of history. Read more here.
In the 1950s, New York City had few protections in place for its historic buildings. The destruction of the original Penn Station, and the subsequent creation of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, was still several years away. So the fate of the vacant and dilapidated Jefferson Market Courthouse, an elaborate Gothic structure in Greenwich Village dating to 1876, looked fixed. At the end of the decade, the city moved to tear it down.
That was, until writer and Village resident Margot Gayle rallied her neighborswho included the critic Lewis Mumford and the poet e.e. cummingsto save the building, first raising funds to get its clock fixed. By the fall of 1960, the clock was ticking again, and the committee expanded its mission, convincing the city to turn the building into a public library. After several years of planning and renovation, the reimagined Jefferson Market Library finally opened its doors in 1967.
By the time she brought her community together to save Old Jeff, Margot Gayle was a veteran campaigner. The woman whom mayor Ed Koch would one day call the Queen of New York was born in Kansas City, Mo., in 1908, and grew up all over, moving schools every year thanks to her fathers job as an automobile executive. After college at the University of Michigan, she moved to Atlanta for a masters degree, where she joined the League of Women Voters and threw herself into the fight to repeal the states poll taxthe system established during Reconstruction that made it much harder for black citizens and poor whites to vote. Her zeal earned her the nickname Poll Tax Margot.
Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter
In the 1940s, the GaylesMargot, her husband and their two childrenmoved to New York City, where Margot worked as a publicist for wartime civil defense programs; wrote for CBS radio, newspapers and magazines; and showed a talent for public relations, which was just coming into its own as a professional field in the early 1950s. In 1957, the same year she got divorced, Gayle announced her candidacy for the all-male City Council, running on the slogan We Need a Woman in the City Council, and dressing up her daughters in old-fashioned suffragist costumes for good measure. She didnt win, but she stayed active in city politics, turning her attention fully to preservation after the Jefferson Market victory.
Story continues
In 1963, when the Beaux-Arts masterpiece of Penn Station was doomed to demolition, the rest of New York woke up to the risks of over-zealous development. Gayle emerged as a leader among the architects, historians and community activists who cherished the citys history and character, even where it was impractical and inefficient. They battled planners and politicians who were seduced by the vision of an orderly, car-friendly, urban utopiathe modernized mediocrity that Life magazine decried in a 1963 article on the loss of Penn Station, which was illustrated with haunting photographs by Walker Evans.
Unlike her more famous co-conspirator Jane Jacobs, who fought to preserve the organic connection between the city and its inhabitants, Gayles attention was drawn to the physical structures of the city. She focused on the distinctive 19th-century cast-iron buildings downtown, leading walking tours around SoHo with a magnet in her pocket to show audiences that the buildings really had iron framing. Always savvy in her allegiances, she enlisted the support of the artists who lived and worked in the areas lofts, who could be trusted to value aesthetics over practicality. By 1973, Gayle and the organizations she foundedthe Victorian Society in America and the Friends of Cast Iron Architecturewere able to designate a full 26 blocks of SoHo, from West Broadway to Crosby Street, as the Cast Iron Historic District. Years later, after gentrification had transformed the area from artistic enclave to outdoor shopping mall, she acknowledged that good intentions were no match for market forces. Thats the price of getting something saved, she said. Theres got to be money in it for someone.
As a regular columnist for the Daily News on architecture and the changing face of New York, Margot Gayle had long witnessed the rapid pace of development and wanted to keep traces of history visiblenot just buildings, but smaller details and flourishes, like clocks and lampposts, that gave the city its unique character. The work of her cast-iron enthusiasts group stretched far beyond, however, and helped to save structures in Mississippi, Alabama, and New Orleans. Quite simply, as she put it to the New York Times in 1998ten years before her death at the age of 100Why not let people in the future enjoy some of the things we thought were extremely fine?
Landing the perfect job is no easy feat, which is why this California woman decided to celebrate with a photo shoot just her and her offer.
Read: Amputee Veterans Reveal Why They Showed Off Their Battle Scars in Latest Nude Photo Shoot
Benita Abraham from Long Beach told InsideEdition.com that she has been working in healthcare administration for over 15 years.
After being laid off from her last position in December, she spent the seven months unemployed and working to figure out the next steps in her career, KCBS reported.
Finally, in July, a company in her field reached out to her with a formal offer.
I was so excited and trying not to make a fool out of myself on the phone with the recruiter, Abraham told InsideEdition.com. I knew what I wanted to do and how I wanted my career path to go, and it just fell in line.
She decided to break the news on Facebook, but decided her milestone deserved more acknowledgement than a simple status update.
Abraham instead decided to do a photo shoot, honoring the newest achievement in her life.
I finally found my soulmate, my perfect match, my boo, she wrote on Facebook. After 7 long months, I found the perfect job.
She used supplies from a dollar store and her iPhone to create romantic scenes on the beach, where she held up a sign that said, I said yes!
Abraham even took pictures of herself in bed with the framed offer, captioning it #EmployedWithBenefits.
Read: Bride Raps to Vanilla Ice's Hit Song During Wedding Speech: 'He Got Me Ice, Ice, Baby'
While the photo series has left friends and strangers laughing, Abraham said she hopes it can help other women realize that significant events other than engagements, weddings and pregnancies should be celebrated.
There is this well-known expectation [in my family] that once you get to a certain age, you get married, you have children, and thats your life goal, she said. For me, Ive never been of that mold. Its letting people know you dont have to follow that mold as a woman.
Story continues
Watch: Man, 54, Graduates College After a Lifetime Battling Alcoholism, Homelessness and Jail Time
Related Articles:
(NEW ORLEANS) It was more than seven years from the time Ernest Smith, 38, died outside his New Orleans home in the spring of 2006 until his widow was arrested and charged in his death, but she had been on police radar early on.
Please be advised that the beneficiary, Emma Smith, wife of the deceased, cannot be ruled out as a suspect in the death of Ernest Smith, a New Orleans detective wrote to an insurance investigation company in a July 12, 2006, letter.
By the time Emma Smith was arrested in that case in 2013, she had a new name, Emma Raine, and was, again, a widow. Her third husband, James Raine, 37, was shot to death at the couples Pearl River County, Mississippi, home in 2011.
Emma Raine was out of town at the time, but authorities still had suspicions.
She is a suspect in that James Raine case, Pearl River County Sheriff David Allison said in a 2015 interview.
And through investigating that case we were able to get some information that New Orleans needed and passed it on to them, Allison added.
No arrests have been reported in James Raines death. Emma Raine has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Ernest Smith. Jury selection began Tuesday and opening statements could begin Wednesday in New Orleans. Conviction would mean a mandatory life sentence for the 52-year-old woman.
Court documents and testimony in an earlier trial make clear that James Raine also was under suspicion in Ernest Smiths death. His adoptive brother, Alfred T. Everette, was charged with being the trigger man in Smiths death. He was convicted of second-degree murder late last year after prosecutors said he had been promised by James and Emma Raine $10,000 from an $800,000 life insurance benefit. His appeal is pending at the state Supreme Court.
Jurors may also hear testimony about the death of Emma Raines first husband, Leroy Evans, who died while hospitalized in 1994 after having been hit by a car. No arrests were ever reported in that case but, during Everettes trial, prosecutors said the death was suspicious.
Dublin (AFP) - Brazil's JBS, the world's biggest meat company, has said it will move its headquarters to Ireland but Irish officials reacted dismissively to the announcement on Wednesday, saying it would not bring jobs and investment.
The plans announced this month by JBS, which will reportedly see more than 30 billion euros' ($34 billion) worth of its assets being shifted to Ireland on paper, make it the latest to take advantage of Ireland's favourable corporate tax rate.
"Ireland does not encourage such transactions. Ireland does not encourage the location of brass-plate operations," an Irish finance ministry spokesman told AFP.
"We only have and want real substantive FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) -- the kind that brings real jobs and investment into Ireland," he said.
Like several multinationals drawn to low-tax Ireland, the funds for the newly-created JBS Foods International will be managed abroad -- Britain in this case.
The announcement was made by JBS to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week.
The ministry spokesman said Ireland was working with other countries to address concerns over so-called "inversions", which allow multinationals to channel profits through low-tax jurisdictions, as it did not have the power to prevent such deals unilaterally.
"The Irish government has made clear that we would welcome any changes made by the other administrations to address inversions," he said.
Irish economist Jim Power branded the move "a total joke" that would bring further unwelcome scrutiny of Irelands 12.5 percent corporation tax.
"The bottom line is that this is the sort of business Ireland should be running a mile from - the government should be working harder to prevent deals such as this; they are bad news for Ireland.
It is also unclear what effect the 30 billion-euro transfer will have on Irelands economic growth data.
When the countrys Central Statistics Office announced growth of 26.3 percent for 2015 -- skewed by inflows as a result of several corporate inversion deals -- the figure was widely ridiculed as "leprechaun economics".
Story continues
Ireland's low corporate tax rate is frequently criticised by other EU member states but the government has worked to close tax loopholes.
The country hosts the European headquarters of US tech giants including Google and Facebook.
JBS last year bought Northern Ireland-based poultry producer Moy Park for $1.5 billion.
JBS is the world's biggest beef producer.
vietnam girl umbrella grass
Its been understood for a while that Vietnam will
probably not reach the ambitious growth target it set for itself in 2016. Its growth in the second quarter was a pretty lackluster 5.6%, bringing first half growth to a total of 5.5% well below its 6.7% target.
So the economy probably isnt going to grow by nearly enough in the rest of the year to make 2016 look great. The new Prime Minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc who succeeded former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung after he set an even more ambitious target of 7% earlier this year even said it would be hard to achieve the necessary expansion in the second half of 2016.
But there are promising signs for Vietnams economy, according to a new research note from HSBC, despite todays slow growth.
One of the biggest causes of Vietnams problems in 2016 has been a huge drought the worst in three decades and caused in part by El Nino.
Its dealt a major blow to the agricultural sector, which makes up 13% of the economy and experienced a 0.8% year-over-year drop in output. Its also probably had an effect on consumer spending, as agricultural workers nearly half of Vietnams workforce have seen their incomes fall.
But, importantly, other sectors have strengthened as agriculture fell. According to HSBC, the manufacturing sector jumped 10% in the first half of 2016, and construction jumped almost 9%. And manufacturing has continued to expand after the second quarter: Output increased in July for the eighth straight month, although at the slowest rate in four months.
Theres also hope for Vietnam that the Trans-Pacific Partnership a pact that aims to foster trade between 12 countries, including Vietnam will pass. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump oppose the deal, and its unclear if it will be ratified or not. But if it were to come to fruition, the World Bank estimates it would lift Vietnams GDP by 10% by 2030.
Story continues
NOW WATCH: We asked a Navy SEAL what he ate during training, and his answer shocked us
More From Business Insider
Practicing yoga regularly may help relieve stress, suggests a small study of women.
In the recent report, published in the journal Journal of Psychophysiology, researchers in Australia looked at 116 adult women who reported experiencing moderate to very high levels of stress for at least a month. These women were assigned to either partake in a regular yoga practice or not do yoga. The women in the yoga group were asked to complete 16 one-hour yoga classes, twice a week, over an eight week period, though women could also do just one class a week. About 40 women went to at least one class a week for eight weeks.
Study author Kaitlin N. Harkess, a PhD candidate at the University of Adelaide in Australia and a yoga teacher, says she was inspired to do the study after experiencing stress relief from the practice herself. Over the years I noticed how practicing yoga regularly helped me balance my own stress levels and find joy through challenging periods, she says. I had students telling me their own stories of psychological and physiological change, which I found really inspiring.
The women who practiced yoga had lower levels of psychological distress as well as less perceived stress compared to the women who did not practice yoga. Women in the yoga group also had higher levels of more positive emotions and moods. The women also experienced lower waist size and more flexibility. The researchers didnt see a difference in blood pressure levels, mindfulness, well-being, and negative moods.
Since the number of women in the study is small, the researchers say they cant make any definitive conclusions, but that the findings do suggest that people might experience more positive emotions and less stress when practicing yoga at least once a week. The researchers didnt look at why yoga had an effect on stress and other markers, but as TIME has previously reported, other research has shown that practicing yoga can lower risk for heart problems as well as lower symptoms of pain and depression.
I think that the take-home message is that further investigation of yoga practices relationship with mental health and physical health is warranted, says Harkess.
YouTube star Gigi Gorgeous says that she's been released after reportedly being detained at the Dubai airport for several hours on Tuesday for being a transgender woman.
The internet celebrity, who gained fame for candidly documenting her transition on social media, addressed the frightening incident on Instagram alongside a photo of her friend, Nats Getty, hugging her in the airport.
"After being detained and held at the Dubai airport for over 5 hours, this was the moment my baby came to rescue me," Gigi captioned the snapshot. "Yesterday was one of the scariest moments of my entire life and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. How you can be denied entry somewhere just because of who you are is seriously disgusting and also very scary."
WATCH: YouTube Superstar Gigi Gorgeous Reveals the Best Advice Miley Cyrus Has Given Her
"This further proves the need for CHANGE," she continued. "I am now on my way to somewhere much more accepting. Safe and sound and happy. I love you guys."
Gigi recounted the troubling incident to TMZ on Tuesday, claiming that the immigration officer in Dubai said, "I was told you are transgender. You cannot come into the country."
MORE: 7 YouTube Stars Working Hard to Become the Next Oprah
While Gigi was born Gregory Lazzarto, she officially changed her name to Gigi Loren in 2014, and says that is the name that appears in her updated passport. Gigi also says her passport describes her as female.
According to TMZ, airport police claim her passport and passport photo depict her as male, and that "imitation of women by men" is illegal in Dubai.
Related Articles
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL August 10, 2016 - Stocks in this weeks article include: Amkor Technology, Inc. (AMKR), Comfort Systems USA Inc. (FIX), Celestica Inc. (CLS), OFG Bancorp ( OFG) and Principal Financial Group Inc. (PFG).
Screen of the Week of Zacks Investment Research:
5 Stocks with Strikingly Low EV/EBITDA Ratios to Buy Now
Price-to-earnings (P/E) is by far the most popular metric used by investors to work out the fair value of a stock. Many prefer to take the P/E route in their pursuit of a portfolio of stocks with attractive prices. In fact, the idea of chasing stocks with a low P/E is ingrained in the minds of many value investors. However, even this easy-to-compute, widely used metric is not without its pitfalls.
EV/EBITDA is a Better Approach, Heres Why
No doubt P/E enjoys great popularity among value inventors. But a more complicated and less used metric called EV/EBITDA is sometimes viewed as a better alternative as it offers a clearer picture of a firms valuation and its earnings potential.
EV/EBITDA is the enterprise value (EV) of a stock divided by its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). EV is the sum of a companys market capitalization, its debt and preferred stock minus cash and cash equivalents. Essentially, it is the entire value of a company.
EBITDA, the other component of the ratio, gives the true picture of a companys profitability as it removes the impact of non-cash expenses like depreciation and amortization that depress net earnings. It is also often used as a proxy for cash flows.
Usually, the lower the EV/EBITDA ratio, the more appealing it is. A low EV/EBITDA ratio could imply that a stock is potentially undervalued and vice versa.
Also referred to as the enterprise multiple, EV/EBITDA takes a more complete approach to valuation. It takes into account the debt on a companys balance sheet that P/E ratio ignores. This is the reason why EV/EBITDA is typically used to value potential acquisition targets. It shows the amount of debt the acquirer has to bear. Stocks boasting a low EV/EBITDA multiple could be seen as attractive takeover candidates.
Another flaw of P/E is that it cant be used to value a loss-making firm. Moreover, a companys earnings are subject to accounting estimates and management manipulation. On the contrary, EV/EBITDA is less susceptible to manipulation and can also be used to value firms that have negative net earnings but are positive at the EBITDA level.
EV/EBITDA also determines the total value of a company while P/E solely considers its equity portion. EV/EBITDA is also a useful tool in measuring the value of companies with highly leveraged balance sheets and substantial depreciation and amortization expenses. It also can be used to compare companies with different levels of debt.
However, EV/EBITDA is too not devoid of drawbacks. The ratio varies across industries (a high-growth industry typically has higher multiple) and is usually not appropriate for comparing stocks in different industries due to their diverse capital expenditure requirements.
Story continues
So, instead of solely banking on EV/EBITDA, you can combine it with the other major ratios such as price-to-book (P/B), P/E and price-to-sales (P/S) to achieve the desired outcome.
Screening Criteria
Here are the parameters to screen for value stocks:
EV/EBITDA 12 Months-Most Recent less than X-Industry Median : A lower EV/EBITDA ratio represents a cheaper valuation.
P/E using (F1) less than X-Industry Median : This metric screens stocks that are trading at a discount to their peers.
P/B less than X-Industry Median : A lower P/B compared with the industry average implies that the stock is undervalued.
P/S less than X-Industry Median : The lower the P/S ratio the more attractive the stock is as investors will have to pay a smaller price for the same amount of sales generated by the company.
Estimated One-Year EPS Growth F(1)/F(0) greater than or equal to X-Industry Median : This parameter will help in screening stocks that have growth rates higher than the industry median. This is a meaningful indicator as decent earnings growth always adds to investor optimism.
Average 20-day Volume greater than or equal to 100,000 : The addition of this metric ensures that shares can be traded easily.
Current Price greater than or equal to $5 : This parameter will help in screening stocks that are trading at a minimum price of $5 or higher.
Zacks Rank less than or equal to 2 : No screening is complete without the Zacks Rank, which has proven its worth since inception. It is a fundamental truth that stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 (Buy) have always managed to beat adversities and outperform the market.
Value Score of less than or equal to B : Our research shows that stocks with a Style Score of A or B when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 offer the best upside potential.
Here are five of the 10 stocks that passed the screen:
Amkor Technology, Inc. (AMKR) is a leading provider of semiconductor packaging and test services. Moreover, the company is one of the leading developers of advanced semiconductor packaging and test technology. This Zacks Rank #1 stock has expected year-over-year earnings growth of 29.4% for 2016 and 40.9% for 2017.
Comfort Systems USA Inc. (FIX) is a national provider of comprehensive heating, ventilation and air conditioning installation, maintenance, repair and replacement services. This Zacks Rank #2 company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of around 28.2% over the trailing four quarters.
Celestica Inc. (CLS) is one of the largest electronics manufacturing services company in the world, serving the computer, and communications sectors. This Zacks Rank #2 stock has expected year-over-year earnings growth of 26.5% for 2016 and 3.5% for 2017.
OFG Bancorp (OFG) is a financial holding company that conducts its business activities through its subsidiaries, primarily in Puerto Rico. This Zacks Rank #2 stock has expected year-over-year earnings growth of a whopping 379.7% for 2016.
Principal Financial Group Inc. (PFG) is a leading provider of retirement savings, investment and insurance products and services. The company carries a Zacks Rank #2 and has an expected EPS growth rate of 6.5% for 3 to 5 years.
You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge.
The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.
Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today .
Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.
Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance.
Zacks Restaurant Recommendations: In addition to dining at these special places, you can feast on their stock shares. A Zacks Special Report spotlights 5 recent IPOs to watch plus 2 stocks that offer immediate promise in a booming sector. Download it free
Sign up now for your free trial today and start picking better stocks immediately. And with the backtesting feature, you can test your ideas to see how you can improve your trading in both up markets and down markets. Dont wait for the market to get better before you decide to do better. Start learning how to be a better trader today: https://at.zacks.com/?id=111
Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.
About Screen of the Week
Zacks.com created the first and best screening system on the web earning the distinction as the "#1 site for screening stocks" by Money Magazine. But powerful screening tools is just the start. That is why Zacks created the Screen of the Week to highlight profitable stock picking strategies that investors can actively use. Each week, Zacks Profit from the Pros free email newsletter shares a new screening strategy. Learn more about it here https://at.zacks.com/?id=112
About Zacks
Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Click here for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros.
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zacksresearch
Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZacksInvestmentResearch
Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.
Contact: Jim Giaquinto
Company: Zacks.com
Phone: 312-265-9268
Email: pr@zacks.com
Visit: https://www.zacks.com/performance
Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer .
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
AMKOR TECH INC (AMKR): Free Stock Analysis Report
COMFORT SYSTEMS (FIX): Free Stock Analysis Report
CELESTICA INC (CLS): Free Stock Analysis Report
OFG BANCORP (OFG): Free Stock Analysis Report
PRINCIPAL FINL (PFG): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
By Chris Mfula and Stella Mapenzauswa LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia braced for what is expected to be bruising battle on Thursday to elect a new president and legislators, contested against the backdrop of lethargic growth as weak commodity prices have hit Africa's No. 2 copper producer. President Edgar Lungu and his main rival Hakainde Hichilema both have said they are confident of outright victory, but either could fail to garner more than half of the vote as required by electoral law, necessitating a second round. After a campaign marred by violence, Lungu and Hichilema on Wednesday made their final plea for votes in the capital, Lusaka, each pledging to steer the economy onto a firmer footing. "I have been on probation for one year, six months and I think I have done very well. I promise to serve you even better," Lungu told thousands of supporters at his final rally, referring to last year's vote to replace late president Michael Sata in which he narrowly beat Hichilema. "And I promise to respect the results and I will not fight even one day, to remain in State House. But I will not allow somebody to come to State House (through) violence or intimidation," he added. TENSIONS HIGH Supporters of Lungu's ruling Patriotic Front (PF) and Hichilema's United Party for National Development (UPND) have clashed in the run-up to the poll, forcing the electoral commission to temporarily suspend campaigning at one point. Tensions are high in what is otherwise one of Africa's most stable democracies, as Zambians grapple with rising unemployment after mine closures, chronic electricity shortages and soaring prices of household goods. Economist-turned-businessman Hichilema says Lungu, a former lawyer, lacks the expertise to manage the economy. "The difference between PF and UPND is what we bring to the table, knowledge of the financial markets and economics," Hichilema said on a radio program on Wednesday. "We are business people. We understand the economy, this economy is broken." Zambia is in talks with the International Monetary Fund over a possible financing deal, after conceding its budget deficit, which has averaged 4.8 percent of gross domestic product in the last two years, was unsustainable. Lungu insists the economic downturn was beyond his control given Zambia's heavy reliance on copper exports, but that his government has made strides in commissioning new power plants and investing in diversifying the economy toward sectors like agriculture. To win, a presidential candidate will have to garner 50 percent of the valid votes cast plus at least one additional vote, and a re-run must be held within 37 days if no one succeeds. Hichilema also says that with the police blocking several of his rallies and coverage by state media biased in favor of the ruling party, the election will not be free and fair. Lungu, however, insists the playing field has been level. "The probability of a contested election result is growing, which would undermine the credibility of the vote and trigger more widespread partisan violence," said Robert Besseling, head of the EXX Africa think tank. (Writing by Stella Mapenzauswa, editing by G Crosse)
LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia holds a general election on Thursday, pitting President Edgar Lungu as the flag-bearer for the ruling party against opponents who blame him for a weak economy, led by front-runner Hakainde Hichilema. Below are some of the key facts about the election and referendum in Africa's second-biggest producer of copper, which is a mainstay of its economy. - There are 6.6 million registered voters in a country with a population of about 15 million. - Voting starts at 6 am local time (0400 GMT) and ends at 6 pm (1600 GMT). - Zambians will be voting for the posts of president and a running mate who will be the vice-president, 150 members of parliament, mayors and councillors. - Voters will also cast a ballot in a referendum on proposed amendments to the Constitution, including changes to the Bill of Rights. - Lungu, who heads the Patriotic Front party, is a former lawyer. He narrowly beat Hichilema, known locally as "HH", of the United Party for National Development in a vote last year to replace Michael Sata, who died in office in October 2014. - Forum for Democracy and Development leader Edith Nwakakwi is expected to run a distant third. - To win, a presidential candidate must garner 50 percent of the valid votes cast plus at least one additional vote. - If none of the candidates receive the required amount of votes, a re-run for the top-two candidates will be held within 37 days. - For MPs, mayors and councillors, the candidate with the largest number of votes will be declared to have won. - The final results will likely be known by Saturday, according to electoral officials. (Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa and James Macharia)
2016 is turning out to be a big year for the Toronto duo Zeds Dead: After a series of EPs and singles, DC (Dylan Mamid) and Hooks (Zachary Rapp-Rovan) are putting the finishing touches on a new album, which they hope to release by "the end of September, early October."
Zeds Dead Announce New Tour and Album, Premiere 'One Time' ft. Murs: Exclusive
The full-length features a star-studded guest list -- Jadakiss, Weezer's Rivers Cuomo, Diplo -- and to put the record out, Zeds Dead launched their own record label, Deadbeats. On Friday, Jauz, REZZ, and more will help the duo celebrate Deadbeats at a show in Toronto.
See you on Friday Toronto! pic.twitter.com/rk6xu6Ac3m
- ZEDS DEAD (@whoszed) August 9, 2016
Sitting with Billboard Dance in Manhattan's East River Park, the two producers discussed their new music and their love of classic hip-hop.
This album has been in the works for a while?
DC: The oldest track on the album actually dates back three or four years. But the main focus has been the last year and a half or so. We decided to make an album as soon as we did Zeds Dead. It was always a goal of ours. We put aside other stuff as we were making EPs and doing singles. We just felt like now was the time.
Hooks: We've also been touring nonstop since 2010. It was a year ago or so when we were like, we want to have a less crazy tour schedule for the next year so that we can actually work on this album and do it properly and not rush it. We still have to do it in hotel rooms and on planes, but we want to be in the studio as much as possible. That's what the last year has been like for us. Still a lot of shows, but less than before so we can be in the studio whenever we can.
Why did you decide to collaborate with so many vocalists?
DC: We wanted to not just do club-based music for the album - or any one thing. A lot of this album is just songs. Me and Zac don't sing, and we don't rap as much anymore, so we wanted people to complement our instrumentals.
Story continues
Hooks: As producers, we've always wanted to make songs for other people. In this day and age, you can shine as a producer and have your name be first. People recognize you for your work, while in the past, the producer was in the background.
DC: There were some albums like that when we were coming up, but they were few and far between, and not as big.
Hooks: Also, this many years in doing Zeds Dead, we have more access to people's managers. It's easier to connect the dots now. When we started, it was very difficult to get in contact with certain people to send them beats.
Between the two of you, is there a way that the beat-making often breaks down?
DC: We're both self-taught producers who started in our respective basements. Often we start something separately, work on it a bit, show it to the other one, and if the other person likes it, we'll take it into the studio. But for this album, we started more stuff together than we traditionally have. We challenge ourselves to be the best producers we can be, working on every aspect of the production - the lyrics, the songwriting. Doing an album like this is a good way to throw yourself into a situation where you're forced to learn new things.
Why did you enlist Rivers Cuomo for this album?
Hooks: Someone from our publishing company worked with him too and suggested him. We're big fans of Weezer. We went over to his place in Santa Monica and played him some stuff. He was into it. He was a really nice guy, humble. It's even crazier that the track ended up being him and Pusha T. I feel like that's something that we made happen.
DC: He's pretty open to whatever as long as he likes it.
Hooks: He liked a couple of them. He was asking if we had any pointers - I was like, maybe go on the vibe of "Island In The Sun?" He was like, "OK, I'll remember that."
The rappers that you have on here are mostly veterans - Jadakiss, Pusha T, Freddie Gibbs -
DC: We like good rappers. We're in New York right now; that's the Mecca of hip-hop for me. I like all sorts of stuff, but my heart is with the golden era, East Coast sound. These guys are legends to us. The type of hip-hop we gravitate towards involves good lyrics.
Hooks: New York had a huge influence on the Toronto hip-hop scene. Now you're sort of losing the geographic-centered styles. People in Toronto are doing songs like people in the South.
DC: Desiigner's from Brooklyn!
Hooks: It doesn't matter where you're from. I saw the same thing happen with graffiti. There used to be regional styles; with the internet, it's all global now. Which is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. People don't care about rap anymore - if it's good rap. They just like songs. If you're a hip-head head, and you like bars [good lyrics], you like Styles P and Jadakiss. Now it's more about the hook then the story.
And you're putting this out on your own label?
DC: Yes we're putting it out on our own label, Deadbeats. We just started it; it's something we've been planning for a while. It felt right to launch our own proper album off our own label. We have a really strong movement and fanbase, people that ride with us. It makes sense to center everything around Zeds Dead.
Hooks: We've always done everything ourself. We didn't have any major labels or anything helping us out at any point in our career. In this day and age, if you have your own fanbase, what's the point of getting with a big label?
DC: All the means are there for direct communication with your fanbase. That's not to take anything away from the labels that we've linked with. But now we want to be able to do it ourselves.
Hooks: Shout-out to Mad Decent for being down with us for a long time. We had a great relationship with them. In the same way we looked up to how Diplo started his own label, we want to do that.
So do you have anybody you bounce your ideas off when they're finished, or is it just you two?
Hooks: Hardly anybody.
DC: We've always had each other.
Hooks: It's really hard when you play things for people, because anything they do will get in your head. And sample size is a big factor. If you play something for two people, and they both don't like it, that might not mean anything, but you're gonna think the song sucks. If both of us like something, that's a good sign.
By Jeffrey Moyo CHIPINGE, Zimbabwe (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Lush tracts of bamboo spread across southeastern Chipinge district, where the tall plant is increasingly regarded as green gold by villagers. They are harvesting it commercially while helping preserve Zimbabwe's fast-dwindling forests. Bamboo is native to Zimbabwe, according to Bio-Innovation Zimbabwe, a research organization specializing in underutilized plant species. The giant grass stays green all year round, and its woody, hollow stem grows again rapidly after it is cut down. In countries like China, bamboo has long been an industrial crop, but it is only now gaining popularity among agricultural entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe who are promoting it as an alternative to traditional timber. For villagers like Natalia Sithole, a 27-year-old mother of three from Mount Selinda in Chipinge, growing bamboo has proved a reliable safeguard against poverty. Sithole, who started eking out a living from bamboo at the age of 17 after having her first child, sells the plant to people around the country who use it to make products, earning her about $120 weekly. My life has changed for the better thanks to bamboo, and Im managing to support even my poor parents and siblings, besides my own children, Sithole said. The Chipinge agricultural office said about 580 women in the district were growing bamboo commercially as of early this year. SAVING FORESTS Just as important to some Zimbabweans are the environmental benefits. The plant is proving a boon to the countrys dwindling forests, where an estimated 330,000 trees are lost annually to deforestation, much of it for commercial reasons. Environmental experts say the rate of forest loss would be far higher were it not for the bamboo in areas like Manicaland Province. Zimbabwes environment ministry says around 85,000 trees are saved annually through the use of bamboo as an alternative. Bamboo can help rural communities become less vulnerable to poverty and climate change impacts when people include the grass in sustainable forestry and agro-forestry systems, said Louise Bragge, a bamboo consultant with Bio-Innovation Zimbabwe. Bamboo thrives in wet areas like Mount Selinda, but agriculture experts say it can also tolerate harsher conditions. Bamboo is drought-resistant as it has roots that grow slightly deeper, enabling it to reach out to more water underground, said Regis Mhandu, a government agricultural extension officer. In Mount Selinda, villagers use bamboo in place of timber for a range of wood products, from household furniture and cooking utensils to toothpicks and even coffins. Many local buyers of bamboo products, like Melford Dhliwayo, say they have fallen in love with items made from the grass, and are pleased they help reduce deforestation. Furniture made from bamboo is quite durable even for outdoor use, unlike wood, and this means forests now are at (less risk) of being destroyed, Dhliwayo said. Bamboo is also a handy substitute for wood in housing construction. According to the Mount Selinda Womens Bamboo Association, a six-member group set up in 2011, approximately 600 village huts have been erected here using bamboo poles instead of wood over the past several years. FINANCIAL RETURNS Environmental activists anticipate bamboo will become popular across the country because of its economic incentives. While bamboo is helping in the fight against deforestation, its popularity is set to grow owing to the financial returns the grass offers to growers. So as people fend off deforestation, they also make money from it, said Patience Chiri, an independent environmental activist. The bamboo harvested from one acre of land sells for $220, much less than timber which sells for $350 per acre, according to the Mount Selinda womens group. But bamboo matures more quickly. Erinus Ngadziore, a bamboo producer in Chipinge, says it is far less labor-intensive to cultivate than replanting trees after they have been felled. The bamboo also grows faster than normal trees, reaching full growth in two to three months, meaning early returns for us, he added. Some tobacco growers have started using bamboo to cure the golden leaf. According to statistics for 2015 from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, around 9 percent of Zimbabwes 72,000 tobacco growers now use bamboo to cure their crop. The shift appeals to tobacco farmers such as Munyaradzi Ngorima from Manicaland Province. The days of going all out in search of firewood to cure tobacco could soon be over, said Ngorima. (Reporting by Jeffrey Moyo; editing by James Baer and Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
Phoebe Dahl, founder of Faircloth & Supply. (Photo: Mark Peckmezian)
Do you remember as a child being badgered by your parents in the morning to go to school and feeling that sense of dread that kept you hitting the Snooze button way too many times? Well, for young Nepali girls, its the complete opposite. For them, school is the chance of a lifetime.
In the next few weeks, more than 50 million students in the United States will go back to school. The opportunity for an education in our country is granted to each child regardless of race, sex, or class. Unfortunately, this is not the case in many parts of the world, including Nepal. But one young fashion designer is making strides to change that. Her name is Phoebe Dahl, and she is the founder and creative director of Los Angeles-based clothing brand Faircloth & Supply. Her collection consists of sustainably produced linen shirts, blazers, tees, and jumpsuits that possess that minimalistic, chic, utilitarian quality that can easily make them your go-to uniform.
Even better, Dahl has devoted her clothing line to empowering women through providing beautiful garments that also give back to young girls in Nepal through GWP and B Project, two nonprofit organizations focused on bringing educational opportunities to children who need them most.
After traveling to the region, Dahl was inspired to help the Nepali girls, who she saw were overwhelmingly denied the right to an education and, by extension, were at high risk for sex trafficking. UNICEF reports that at least 7,000 Nepali girls are sex-trafficked every year. Its important to note Nepal still uses the caste system, and young Nepali girls are often denied schooling because of their class, gender, or lack of money.
If Dahls name rings a bell, its because her grandfather was Roald Dahl, the legendary author who penned childhood classics like James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and The BFG. Although Phoebe was only 1 years old when he passed, his legacy lived on through her mother, who instilled in Phoebe her fervent passion for change, female empowerment, and the infinite possibilities that come with staying positive.
Story continues
There was just so much magic in our childhood, from spontaneous treasure hunts in the middle of the night to a lot of animals bunnies, parrots, lizards, guinea pigs, you name it. Anything you can imagine, we had it. That was just my mom being so nurturing of her children and how formative those years [were] for me really getting me to believe in magic and positivity, Dahl tells Yahoo Style.
Dahl hopes to provide young women with the same opportunity of dreaming big, starting with giving Nepali girls a chance at a better life through education.
Yahoo Style spoke to Dahl to learn more about the origins of Faircloth & Supply, how she keeps the brand sustainable and ethical, and her goals for the future. Lets break it down.
Photo: Courtesy of Faircloth & Supply
How It Started
Yahoo Style: Can you tell me a little bit about your background and how your interest in fashion began?
Phoebe Dahl: I went to college in San Francisco. Ive been designing and sewing since I was about 10 years old. I used to go visit my grandma, who owned an antique fabric and furniture store in Santa Fe, and she would teach me about the antique fabrics that she had in her shop. Thats where my love for textiles came from. She was a collector of antique French linens and 18th century farm plaids. I would sit and sew little hats with her little berets out of these beautiful fabrics. That has been ingrained in me since I was a little girl.
I took on her passion as my own. When I was in middle school, I would sew little circle skirts, and they started to become a trend, so I was very busy in elementary school. I would bring a little swatch book of fabrics so the girls [at my school] could choose how they wanted their skirts. Then I would go home and make the skirts. I made quite a killing. I was a little hustler. [Laughs]
I later went to [the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising] in San Francisco. When I was applying to colleges, none of my classmates had any idea of what they wanted to do. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and so I just went for it.
Photo: Courtesy of Faircloth & Supply
The Inspiration
Can you describe more about Faircloth & Supply and its inspiration?
I lived in Amsterdam for about three years in my early 20s. While I was living there, I was working for a designer who brought me on a work trip with her to Tokyo and India. My biggest takeaway for Tokyo was the style. Ive never seen men and women just wearing linen all the time in a stylish way. I was exposed to a different way of wearing linen and styling linen that sparked so many ideas, creativity, and inspiration within me. I decided this is what Im going to do. I started to design linen pieces that can be both high-fashion and trendy and [that] people my age would want to wear.
Photo: Courtesy of Faircloth & Supply
Ethical and Sustainable Initiatives
Can you describe how the brand is sustainable?
Linen is a natural fiber, so I only use natural fibers like linen and cotton. Using natural fibers is better for the environment to begin with than actually producing the fabric. As often as we can, well use organic cotton. For a lot of the dyeing that we do, we use organic and natural dyes. Most of them are seaweed-based dyes.
Tell me about how you decided to work with the B Project and GWP over other organizations?
When I started Faircloth, I knew I wanted to have a charitable component to it. I have worked in philanthropy and charitable work since I was a young girl, so thats something thats really close to my heart. I also knew I wanted it to be a womens empowerment organization targeting sex trafficking or child marriages because thats what I saw during my trip to India. I saw the gender inequality firsthand. It resonated with me, and I wanted to be the voice for these girls who dont have a voice. The B Project founder is actually a good friend of mine. We were connected through a mutual friend as we both lived in Los Angeles and were working toward the same end goal. It was like fate bringing us together to collaborate.
Whats it like working with the B Project?
With the B Project, were actually building a sewing school for [Nepali] women to learn how to sew and have an income for themselves. The B project just finished building the school [in Nepal], and now theyre starting the sewing classes.
Photo: Courtesy of Faircloth & Supply
One-to-One Relationship
Can you specify how Faircloth & Supplys partnership with GWP benefits the Nepali girls?
For each piece of clothing that we sell, we donate a school uniform. Often in Nepal and [largely in] India, children cant go to school if they dont have a school uniform. A lot of families cant afford the uniform, so that prevents them from going to school. If they cant afford it, theyll send the boy in the family and the girl gets left behind.
How many uniforms do you provide every year?
Every year it grows. To date, its been around 5,200.
Do you visit Nepal often and see the girls youve provided uniforms for?
I go to Nepal once a year. The last time I was there, I got to visit all the villages where we were giving out the uniforms, meet the girls, and spend time with them. Theyre so thankful and grateful for the uniforms. When I handed out the uniforms, every single one of them ran up, hugged me, and thanked me. They then stripped down from the clothes that they were wearing and put their uniform on immediately, even if it was mis-buttoned. Its incredibly touching because its so different than the way our kids are in America. They dont want to wear their uniforms. They dont want to go to school. For the kids over there, its the complete opposite.
Fast Fashion
How do you feel about the rise of fast fashion today, and do you think it will ever cease to exist in the future?
I think its about educating people, I really do. I think people are unaware of it. If someone says heres a $10 T-shirt, you dont know where that T-shirt came from or the background of it. Why would you know? My hope is that it will be similar to the food revolution that has happened. It was only 10 years ago that people had no concept or understanding of organic food. And now people care.
At first, documentaries came out, people started to become aware, and that was just through education. It changed the food industry and the way people treated their bodies. People care because they know the effects of it. Hopefully were just at the beginning of that revolution within the fashion industry. Its just bridging that gap between manufacturer and consumer. People have no idea where their clothing comes from. People are just disconnected. If they cant see it, it doesnt happen.
Theres a documentary that just came out a couple of months ago called The True Cost, and it was highlighting that issue. Its all about the garment industry and the true cost of a garment, what it looks like on the other side. Its an incredible documentary. Olivia Firth was involved. Shes very active in organic and ethical clothing design.
Photo: Courtesy of Faircloth & Supply
Career Advice
For every aspiring fashion designer who wants to be sustainable or ethical about how they make their clothing, what do you recommend?
The thing is, I think people have this notion that its a lot more difficult or more expensive than it is, but its really not. It just about putting in that little extra research to find that particular manufacturer and asking questions. The lasting effects are just not worth it. But any small adjustment you can make would be wonderful. It doesnt have to be the full package. I pretty much do it all ethically made, organically made, organically dyed, and I also give back so its fully loaded. But any small adjustment you can make to either give back or change production processes to be more sustainable would be a great step.
The Future
What other countries would you like to work with in the future?
I would always keep my roots in Nepal, but would work with the surrounding countries India, Thailand, or Vietnam. I would love to do some work in Africa and South America as well. Theres still a lot to be done in those countries in terms of womens rights, empowerment, and the way theyre treated and valued.
What is the end goal for Faircloth & Supply? What do you hope to achieve in the future?
I would love to make a significant impact in Nepal in terms of girls education, just from the way the countrys society views women and values women. That would be the most meaningful thing.
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
By Tom Westbrook SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's first online national census was in chaos on Wednesday after the survey website crashed overnight due to a possible cyber attack, raising concerns over the country's cyber security and criticism of its slow internet services. "It was an attack and we believe from overseas," Australias chief statistician, David Kalisch told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio. Kalisch said that no data from the 2.3 million forms already submitted to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) had been stolen. "We have it at the ABS. No one else has it," he said. The census provides a snapshot every five years of the living conditions of Australia's 24 million people, detailing incomes, religious and ethnic backgrounds, marital status, etc. The minister responsible for the survey, Michael McCormack, refused to call the online crash an attack, but rather a "denial of service attempt" when the website was deliberately overloaded. He said the site was equipped to handle heavy traffic, but there was a spike in visitors so steep that a router overloaded and the website was closed as a precaution. "This was not an attack, nor was it a hack, but rather it was an attempt to frustrate the collection of Bureau of Statistics census data," McCormack said. As authorities scrambled to provide a cohesive explanation for why the census was not completed for the first time in its 105-year history, some politicians and privacy advocates said the incident vindicated their security concerns. Some independent Senators boycotted the census because for the first time it was mandatory for Australians to identify themselves in the survey. "It shows woeful disregard for Australian people's privacy and data," Anna Johnston, a privacy lawyer and director of consultancy Salinger Privacy, told Australian Associated Press. The failure has also led to criticism of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's decision to scale back a A$38 billion ($29.2 billion) upgrade of Australia's internet infrastructure, stopping short of connecting homes directly to a broadband network amid cost overruns. Australia's internet services rank 48th in the world, by average speed, according to the most recent State of the internet report by Akamai Technologies, an IT company specializing in internet speed technology. Both Australia's Signals Directorate, an intelligence agency, and the government-appointed privacy commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim, are investigating the crash. "My first priority is to ensure that no personal information has been compromised as a result of these attacks," Pilgrim said in a statement. ($1 = 1.3002 Australian dollars) (Editing by Jane Wardell and Michael Perry)
Updated with AT&T comment: Cable and phone companies eager to block municipalities from offering competing broadband services just won a big victory at a U.S. Appeals Court in Ohio.
Justices reversed an FCC effort to preempt state laws in Tennessee and North Carolina baring local governments from expanding publicly supported broadband systems.
The FCC order essentially serves to re-allocate decision-making power between the states and their municipalities, the court says. To do that, the regulators would need at least a clear statement in the authorizing federal legislation supporting such a move. The FCC cited the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which was designed to promote competition. But the court says it falls far short of such a clear statement.
The decision upholds laws in Tennessee and North Carolina that limit publicly owned broadband services to serving their immediate communities not to areas nearby that want it. Cable operators have vigorously supported laws in about 20 states that restrict local governments ability to develop competitive systems.
The court decision immediately affects the Chattanooga, Tenn. Electric Power Boards state-of-the-art 10 Gbps fiber optic service and Wilson, NCs Greenlight fiber optic network.
The ruling appears to halt the promise of jobs, investment and opportunity that community broadband has provided in Tennessee and North Carolina, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler says. The efforts of communities wanting better broadband should not be thwarted by the political power of those who, by protecting their monopoly, have failed to deliver acceptable service at an acceptable price.
Regulators will consider all our legal and policy options, he says.
In March a bill to change the Tennessee law and allow municipal systems to expand failed to make it out of a key committee. AT&T and Comcast lobbied against it. Cable and phone companies say that governments should be able help underserved areas, but not put them at a competitive disadvantage by challenging them in communities they do serve.
Story continues
Responding to todays ruling, AT&T Senior EVP of External and Legislative Affairs Jim Cicconi says the case was never about the best way to get broadband into rural communities. It was about whether the FCC had legal authority to preempt state law.Tellingly, the Justice Department declined to defend the FCCs actions in court.
AT&T would like the FCC to avoid creating further uncertainty in this area.
The Appeals Court ruling acknowledged the public benefit from the municipal systems.
The one in Chattanooga allows the schools to offer services not available in many parts of the country. Further, Chattanoogas public library systemwith a 14,000 square foot space dedicated to innovationis a leading one in the nation. The New York Public Library has announced that it sees Chattanoogas library as a model for its renovations.
The FCC also determined that after it was built Comcast stopped raising its rateswhich had risen sharply for yearsand subsequently reduced them. And Comcast and AT&T have vastly improved their Internet download speeds since the EPBs entry.
Similarly, Wilsons Greenlight systems phone, internet and cable rates are cheaper than its competitors and it offers its Gigabit Internet while maintaining a positive cash flow. Wilson also provides free
Wi-Fi to its entire downtown area, which in turn frees up money that downtown businesses
would normally spend for Internet. Each of the top seven employers in Wilson is a customer
of the fiber network.
The FCC also found that Time Warner Cable improved its top download speeds in response to Wilsons entry.
Former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, who now advises Common Cause, says the state laws limiting municipal broadband only exist because pliant legislators are listening to their Big Cable and Big Telecom paymasters. This decision does not benefit our broadband nation. Nor is it a good reading of the law. But if the FCC cannot set aside these bad laws, then the people must. We will redouble our state-by-state efforts to repeal these odious policies.
Related stories
DreamWorks Animation Reports Strong Q2 Results Ahead Of Sale To Comcast
Diamond Trade Drama 'Ice' From Antoine Fuqua Ordered To Series By Audience
Comcast Hit With $100M "Deceptive Practices" Lawsuit By Washington State AG
For two days this month, I joined some of the best hackers and programmers in the world at the Paris Las Vegas hotel to attend the 24th annual DEF CON hacker convention.
And no, the hackers werent the kind of bespectacled 18-year olds who slouched over their computers in their parents dark basements tapping away at their keyboards with Cheetos dust-caked fingers. In fact, the only person at DEF CON who fit that description was, unfortunately, me. But Im 31, so theres that.
DEF CON is among the oldest and largest hacking conventions in the world. Id never had the chance to attend before, so my only experience with the show came from second-hand sources who told me that going basically ensured that my phone and laptop would be hacked.
Since Im incredibly paranoid, I left for DEF CON 24 with my personal phone in airplane mode and turned off and a burner phone that I set up using a fake email address.
Naturally, the majority of the people at DEF CON probably werent there to hack my phone. Many were probably more interested in understanding how to prevent malicious, or black hat, hackers from getting access to consumers private computers and online accounts. Others just wanted to hear about interesting technologies like bio-hacking.
There are, of course, some folks at DEF CON who want to hack anyone they can for either fun, to give the person a reminder that they need to be more careful with their online security or just be a jerk and steal their information.
But DEF CON isnt just a place for hackers. The conference is also frequented by corporate security experts who want to learn about the latest attacks hackers can launch against their companies and government officials looking to find out more information about potential threats to government infrastructure and networks.
While at DEF CON I used a secondary burner phone to connect to the conventions open public Wi-Fi network that with the hope that I would be hacked and get to see what its like to be pwned by the best hackers around.
Story continues
But despite using the phone on an unsecured network, I never noticed anything amiss and didnt see my name on DEF CONs Wall of Sheep, which keeps track of attendees who have been hacked at the show.
Fortunately, that means is Ill have to go back next year to try again. And I cant wait.
More from Dan:
Email Dan Howley at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.
Intel says it has made quick progress with updating vulnerable chips (AFP Photo/JUSTIN SULLIVAN) (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File)
San Francisco (AFP) - US-based Intel announced a deal to buy an artificial intelligence startup as the computer chip colossus looks to broaden its role in data centers and the expanding internet of things.
Intel did not disclose how much it is paying for Nervana Systems, but US media reports on Tuesday put the price at more than $350 million.
"With this acquisition, Intel is formally committing to pushing the forefront of AI (artificial intelligence) technologies," Nervana co-founder and chief executive Naveen Rao said in a blog post.
"We can now shatter the old paradigm and move into a new regime of computing."
Founded two years ago in Southern California, Nervana has specialized in combining hardware and software to help machines think in ways similar to human brains, according to the companies.
Intel plans to put Nervana expertise to work in Xeon and Xeon Phi chips to better handle "deep learning" in the internet cloud, Intel data center group executive vice president Diane Bryant said in an online post.
"While artificial intelligence is often equated with great science fiction, it isn't relegated to novels and movies," Bryant said.
"AI is all around us."
Aside from its extremely popular Galaxy devices, Samsung also manufactures a wide range of other products, including many components that go into its own phones and into devices from the competition. Dangerous chemicals are used during production of some devices, and Samsung is being accused of not having provided crucial information about these chemicals to factory workers. 76 former Samsung semiconductor and LCD workers, most of them in their 20s and 30s have died as a result, according to the findings of an investigation into the matter.
DONT MISS: Googles new Nexus phones will be just as fast as the Galaxy Note 7
South Korean authorities let Samsung hide important details about work hazards, The Associated Press says. A worker safety group in the country documented more than 200 cases of serious illnesses that may be linked to exposure to chemicals used in Samsung factories. The diseases include leukemia, lymphoma, multiple sclerosis and lupus.
The report notes that former employees will not be compensated for occupational hazards from the South Korean government with ease, and the absence of information concerning their exposure to toxins makes it almost impossible to receive any compensation.
"[Samsung] once offered me 1 billion won ($864,000), asking me to stay silent, said the father of a former Samsung factory worker who died of leukemia at 22. The idea was to deny her illness was an occupational disease and to leave me without any power to fight back."
"There was never any education (at the factory) about what kind of chemicals could be bad so that we could be more careful, added a 36-year-old former Samsung display worker who lost her eyesight after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
Trending right now:
See the original version of this article on BGR.com
All material things appear to be made of elementary particles that are held together by fundamental forces. But what are their exact properties? How do they affect how our universe looks and changes? And are there particles and forces that we dont know of yet?
Questions with cosmic implications like these drive many of the scientific efforts at the Department of Energys SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Three distinguished particle physicists have joined the lab over the past months to pursue research on two particularly mysterious forms of matter: neutrinos and dark matter.
Neutrinos, which are abundantly produced in nuclear reactions, are among the most common types of particles in the universe. Although they were discovered 60 years ago, their basic properties puzzle scientists to this date.
Alexander Friedland, a senior staff scientist in SLACs Elementary Particle Physics Theory Group, works on techniques that pave the way for future analyses of neutrino bursts from supernovae. Studying the details of these powerful star explosions helps scientists understand how dying stars spit out chemical elements into deep space.
Natalia Toro and Philip Schuster, associate professors of particle physics and astrophysics at SLAC, look for something even more enigmatic. They develop ideas for experiments that search for hidden particles and forces linked to dark matter, an invisible form of matter that is five times more prevalent than ordinary matter.
Alex, Natalia and Philip are significant additions to the SLAC family, whose outstanding expertise tremendously strengthens our research in areas of national priority, says JoAnne Hewett, head of the labs Elementary Particle Physics Division. Neutrino physics and dark matter research are among the five science drivers for U.S. particle physics identified in 2014 by the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel. Neutrino research also ranked high in the 2015 long-range plan for nuclear science issued by the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee.
Left: This image shows the remnant of Supernova 1987A, a star explosion detected in 1987, in three different wavelengths (radio, red; visible, green; X-ray, blue). Neutrinos released by supernovae and detected on Earth help researchers understand how stars die. Right: This artists impression shows the Milky Way galaxy inside a halo of dark matter (blue), an invisible substance that makes up 85 percent of all matter in the universe. Researchers search for unknown particles and forces related to dark matter. (ALMA/A. Angelich/NASA/ESA, ESO/L. Calcada)
Neutrinos from Across the Country and from Across the Galaxy
One of the major neutrino projects with SLAC involvement is the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) at the planned Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) the world's flagship neutrino experiment for the coming decade and beyond. Researchers will send a neutrino beam produced at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois to the Sanford Underground Facility in South Dakota. After travelling 800 miles through the Earth, some of these neutrinos will be detected by the DUNE Far Detector, which will eventually consist of four 10,000-ton modules of liquid argon located 4,850 feet underground.
The ultrasensitive neutrino eye will measure how the three known types of neutrinos, called flavors, and their antiparticles morph from one into another during their underground journey. This study will provide crucial insights into the relative masses of neutrino flavors and the possibility that antineutrinos behave differently than neutrinos, which could potentially help explain why the universe is made of matter rather than antimatter. The experiment will also follow up on hints that there may be more than three neutrino flavors in nature.
"To help DUNE reach its full potential, my work addresses a number of fundamental questions," says Friedland, SLAC's first neutrino theorist, who joined the lab in the summer of 2015. "How can additional neutrinos be incorporated into our theories? Are there also additional forces? Is there a link between neutrinos and dark matter? How do neutrinos interact with atomic nuclei in the detector material?"
In addition to neutrinos from Fermilab, DUNE will also be able to detect very brief neutrino bursts from supernovae powerful explosions of massive stars with cores that can no longer resist gravity and collapse to form dense neutron stars.
Such a burst should be an exquisite probe of neutrino properties, Friedland says. Our goal is to understand how to read the signal and optimize our detector for it.
Supernova explosions are important events in the universe. They inject chemical elements, synthesized inside stars over their lifetimes, into space, including crucial elements of life. Friedland hopes that DUNEs data will reveal never-before-seen details in the related neutrino bursts that could open a window into the processes inside dying stars.
Our calculations show that those neutrino signals have a certain time structure that is linked to whats going on in the star, he says. Measuring these minute details could help us understand the different stages of a supernova, from the collapse of the stars core to the outward propagation of powerful shock waves.
Such detailed analysis can only be done by looking at neutrinos. Unlike other particles, which frequently interact with their surroundings on their way out of the star and therefore carry the imprint of this complicated environment, neutrinos stream out nearly undisturbed and deliver direct information about the processes in which they were set free.
Supernovae go off without warning, and detectable ones dont occur very often, says Friedland, who co-leads the DUNE supernova working group. Although the next supernova neutrino burst may be a decade or more away, what will be seen then is affected by crucial decisions about the detector design made now. My job is to make sure that well be prepared.
Theorist Alexander Friedland is a senior staff scientist in SLACs Elementary Particle Physics Division. One of his focus areas is neutrino physics. (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
SLAC provides a unique environment for the pursuit of this line of research, according to Friedland. The lab is building a strong neutrino program, with experimentalists and theorists working closely together, he says. It also unites a number of disciplines under one roof that stimulate and complement each other, from particle physics to astrophysics to computing.
Before coming to SLAC, Friedland was at Los Alamos National Laboratory, first as a Richard P. Feynman Fellow and then as a staff scientist. He received his doctorate in physics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2000 and pursued postdoctoral research at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey from 2000 to 2002. In addition to neutrinos, Friedlands studies look into unknown ultraweak forces in nature, extra dimensions beyond space and time and the effect of postulated particles on the evolution of stars.
Searching for 'Light Dark Matter'
Another burning question researchers around the world are yearning to answer is: What is dark matter? With 85 percent of all matter in the universe being dark, this invisible substance has tremendous influence on how the cosmos evolves. Although scientists know that dark matter exists because it gravitationally pulls on ordinary matter, they have yet to find out what it is made of.
At SLAC, Natalia Toro and Philip Schuster search for entire dark sectors of hypothetical particles and forces that could be linked to dark matter.
We work on a number of small-scale experiments that have a real shot at discovering what dark matter is or what it isnt, Schuster says. Unlike most dark matter searches, which focus on rather massive particles, we look for much lighter ones, in a mass range that is surprisingly unexplored.
The researchers participate in two experiments that hunt for light dark matter at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Virginia: the Heavy Photon Search (HPS), for which the scientists developed the theoretical framework, and the A Prime Experiment (APEX), which they co-lead. Both experiments hope to catch a glimpse of dark photons hypothetical carriers of a new force that could potentially be produced when powerful electron beams slam into a target. Toro and Schuster are also members of a collaboration that proposed a third experiment at Jefferson Lab to search for dark matter, the Beam Dump Experiment (BDX).
Similar searches could also be done at SLAC once the upgrade to the labs Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray laser, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, is complete. The future LCLS-II will produce X-rays from a rapid sequence of electron bunches up to a million per second that will fly through the facilitys linear particle accelerator.
Were developing ideas for an experiment that would use the dark current of LCLS-IIs electron beam, Toro says. This is a small number of unused electrons in between the main bunches that we could extract and shoot into targets for light dark matter searches.
A proposal based on this concept is the Light Dark Matter Experiment (LDMX), whose young collaboration is led by researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, the University of Minnesota and SLAC.
At the moment, the parasitic use of LCLS-II is only an idea, but Toro and Schuster have already teamed up with members of SLACs Accelerator Directorate to think about how these experiments could be designed and, most importantly, operated without interfering with X-ray laser operations. Together they are exploring the possibility for a future facility for Dark Sector Experiments at LCLS-II (DASEL).
The lab has a unique culture of vibrant collaborations, Toro says. It creates an ideal environment to follow through with our projects from beginning to end. Here we can establish the theoretical foundation, work on the engineering aspects and turn them into successful experiments, all in one place.
Natalia Toro and Philip Schuster are associate professors of particle physics and astrophysics at SLAC. Among other research interests, they develop ideas to search for dark matter and any associated new forces. (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
The husband-and-wife team joined SLACs faculty on Dec. 1, 2015. In addition to their work on dark sectors, the couple shares a variety of other research interests, such as searching for new physics in data from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory, and making theories that aim at better understanding the spin of massless particles.
Its great to share your passion for the most basic aspects of nature also outside work, Schuster says. We amplify each others excitement and hold each other to high standards. On top of that, its also a lot of fun to go off on wild research adventures and explore new places together.
Prior to their appointments at SLAC, the particle physicists were junior faculty members at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada. After receiving their doctorates in physics from Harvard University in 2007, they spent three years in the San Francisco Bay Area, Toro as a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University and Schuster as a research associate at SLAC. In 2015, both researchers received the New Horizons in Physics Prize.
For questions or comments, contact the SLAC Office of Communications at communications@slac.stanford.edu.
SLAC is a multi-program laboratory exploring frontier questions in photon science, astrophysics, particle physics and accelerator research. Located in Menlo Park, Calif., SLAC is operated by Stanford University for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
A 58-year-old Ghanaian man was been sentenced to a jail term of 8 months for child pornography by a court in Canada.
Thomas Aboagye Acheampong, who was arrested Monday, July 25, 2016, at Halifax Stanfield International Airport, pleaded guilty to a double charge of child pornography and smuggling of prohibited goods.
According to a report by LocalXpress.ca, Acheampong told a Canada Border Services Agency officer he intended to visit for 17 days but was inconsistent with his answers when asked for further details.
READ : Each parent should read this before posting their offspring photos on social media
The border officer, during a second examination, found three videos on Acheampongs cellphone showing children having sex with one another.
Thomas Aboagye Acheampong, who was arrested Monday, July 25, 2016, at Halifax Stanfield International Airport, pleaded guilty to a double charge of child pornography and smuggling of prohibited goods.
After investigations, it was found that the children in the videos were aged between 5 years and 13 years. Subsequently, the accused pleaded guilty to the Criminal Code charge of possessing electronic media depicting the sexual exploitation of children and a Customs Act charge of smuggling prohibited goods.
He was sentenced by a court led by Judge Timothy Gabriel to a total of 16 months imprisonment; eight months on each count, with the time to be served concurrently.
READ : See 49 year old R. Kelly with his new 19 year old girlfriend
Judge Gabriel was very stern in warning the offender, If it wasnt for people like you, sir, who possesses this kind of material, there would be no incentive for the monsters doing this to the children...And youre bringing it into Canada!"
Upon completion of his sentence at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth, Mr Acheampong will be deported.
Source: YEN.com.gh
1 An exiled Tibetan holds a sign as he participates in a protest in Dharmsala, India, against the demolition of buildings in Larung Gar by Chinese authorities. Larun Gar is an area in eastern Tibet housing Buddhist institutions and thousands of monks and nuns.
On Monday, Donald Trump tried to reset his presidential campaign by offering a plan to cut taxes and renegotiate trade deals.
He read from a prepared speech. He was doing what some Republicans had been requesting for weeks -- that he provide details about how he would make American great again.
But one day later, Trumps campaign was again responding to new controversy. It was over comments Trump made at a campaign rally on the issue of gun rights in America.
He said his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, wants to take away the right of Americans to own guns -- something Clinton says is not true.
And if Clinton wins, Trump told his audience, she will appoint anti-gun judges to the U.S. Supreme Court.
By the way, and if she gets to pick -- if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks, although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know. But Ill tell you what, that will be a horrible day, Trump said.
Debate over Trumps comments
Soon people were debating what Trump meant. To some, he was suggesting people who back the Second Amendment might shoot Clinton to stop her from appointing judges.
The Second Amendment refers to the right of people to keep and bear arms.
But Trump, appearing later Tuesday on Fox News, said it was clear he meant that gun rights supporters are part of a strong powerful political movement.
"And there can be no other interpretation," he said. I mean, give me a break. His campaign blamed the dishonest media, which it says largely backs Clinton, for even suggesting Trump might be backing violence.
But that is how many Democrats, and some Republicans, viewed his comments.
I really, frankly couldn't believe he said it," said Tim Kaine, Clintons vice presidential running mate. "Nobody who is seeking a leadership position, especially the presidency, the leadership of the country, should do anything to countenance violence, and that's what he was saying."
Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said he was busy and had not watched Trumps gun comments. But he said, It sounds like a joke gone bad. You should never joke about that. I hope he clears it up quickly."
Comments troubling to some
But some Republicans said Trumps statement was too troubling to forgive. Former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough of Florida now has a TV program on politics. He wrote this in a Washington Post column Wednesday:
"A bloody line has been crossed that cannot be ignored. At long last, Donald Trump has left the Republican Party few options but to act decisively and get this political train wreck off the tracks before something terrible happens.
Democrats are trying to take advantage. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said Trump's suggestion of gun violence is unacceptable.
The only thing more appalling than Donald Trump are the Republican Senators and Senate candidates who continue to stand with him, the group said in a statement.
Trumps recent comments are raising new questions about whether he has the temperament - meaning character and personality -- to be president.
The same day that some Republicans were praising Trumps economic speech, 50 former Republican national security experts said he would put at risk our countrys national security and well-being.
And Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine said she could not support Trump because of his constant stream of cruel comments."
On Wednesday, Reuters released a poll reporting that 19 percent of Republican voters think Trump should drop out of the race. Reuters said that shows deep divisions in the Republican Party.
Trumps campaign said Tuesday that voters know Trump was talking about the great political power held by gun rights supporters, not violence.
And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it wont be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump, the Trump campaign said.
I'm Jill Robbins.
Chris Hannas and Jim Malone reported this story for VOA news. Bruce Alpert adapted the story for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.
We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and share your views on our Facebook Page.
__________________________________________________________ Words in this Story
controversy -- n. strong disagreement about something among a large group of people
interpretation -- n. the way something is explained or understood
frankly -- adv. in an honest and direct way
stream -- n. a continuous flow of people or thing
poll -- n. an activity in which several or many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to get information about what most people think about something
option -- n. the opportunity or ability to choose something or to choose between two or more things
tracks -- n. a pair of metal bars that a train, trolley, or subway car rides along
appalling -- adj. very bad in a way that causes fear, shock, or disgust
Officials say Vietnam has moved mobile rocket launchers to several islands in the South China Sea. The move is likely to raise tensions with China in the disputed area.
Western diplomats and military officials told the Reuters news agency that Vietnam moved the launchers to five bases in the Spratly Islands in recent months. They say these rocket launchers can attack Chinese military locations in the disputed waters.
Reuters reports that the launchers cannot be seen from the air and have not yet been armed. But sources say they could be armed with rockets within two or three days.
Vietnams foreign ministry said the information was inaccurate without giving any detail.
In June, Vietnam's Deputy Defense Minister said the country had no such launchers or weapons in the Spratly Islands. But he added that Vietnam had the right to self-defense to move any of our weapons to any area at any time within our sovereign territory."
On Wednesday, Chinas Foreign Ministry released a statement saying "China has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly Islands and nearby waters." The statement also says that China opposes illegal construction and military deployments on the islands.
Carl Thayer is a Vietnam expert at the Australian Defense Force Academy. He said Vietnams defensive movements show how serious the country is about possible hostile actions by China.
He added that China is unlikely to see this as purely defensive, and it could mark a new stage of militarization of the Spratlys."
In 1988, China and Vietnam fought a sea battle to control parts of the Spratly Islands. Sixty-four Vietnamese soldiers were killed trying to defend the countrys flag on South Johnson reef.
Last February, Vietnam condemned Chinas deployment of missiles on Woody Island in the South China Sea. Vietnam said it "threatens peace and stability in the region as well as security, safety and freedom of navigation and flight."
Military experts believe the rocket launchers are part of a rocket system purchased from Israel. The system, known as EXTRA, can attack both ships and land targets up to a range of 150 kilometers. EXTRA is considered to be easily movable and effective against multiple targets at the same time.
Experts say it is the most noteworthy defensive move Vietnam has made in the South China Sea in more than 20 years. It is designed to counter China's build-up on reclaimed islands in the disputed waters.
Vietnam placed the launchers after an international court ruled against China in a case brought by the Philippines.
The July ruling dismissed Chinas claim of historic title to much of the South China Sea.
Im Jonathan Evans.
Jonathan Evans adapted this story for Learning English based on Reuters news report. Hai Do was the editor.
Remember last summer when Samsung introduced a 16TB solid state drive? Thats nothing. This week Seagate announced that its working on a 60 terabyte SSD, and Lenovo is also working on a 48TB SSD.
Sadly, neither of these storage devices is likely to show up in your next laptop.
Both Lenovo and Seagate are positioning their high-capacity SSDs as solutions for servers rather than personal computers. Theyll likely be very expensive, but offer higher speeds, better reliability, and lower power consumption than hard drives, which could make them attractive options for some enterprise customers.
Lenovos new solid state drive is about twice the physical size of a 2.5 inch hard drive or SSD that would be commonly used in a laptop, while Seagates drive is expected to be about the same size as a 3.5 inch hard drive.
While these are the largest SSDs announced to date, its been fascinating watching consumer-grade solid state storage advance over the past few years. Its not hard to find 512GB drives that sell for the same price that a 128GB version would have cost a few years ago, and if youre willing to spend (considerably) more money, you can even find 2TB and 4TB drives designed for laptops and desktops.
Update: Samsung wants in on the high-capacity enterprise SSD action too: the company just unveiled a 32TB SSD.
So did Huawei.
Thousands of passengers worldwide were left stranded in the wake of Deltas massive computer outage on Monday.
Computer glitch impacted thousands of passengers' travel plans
A local family was forced to drive from Atlanta after their flight was delayed
But rain or shine, the Fraifer family was getting home. Even if it meant renting a van and driving to Tampa from the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
The family of six was stranded overnight in Atlanta, left sleeping on the terminal floor after their last connection home from Lebanon was cancelled.
My kids used the carpets to sleep, mother Lina Fraider said. My daughter said I dont want anything, I just want to go home and sleep in my bed.
After the extra day of travel, the Fraifers opted to make the drive home, rather than wait for other possible flights from Delta.
Lina said she will definitely consider other airlines in the future, before booking with Delta again.
Before I reserve my tickets I will think, she said. I will think a lot before that.
Tampa Police have released video of a burglary believed to be related to a string of 22 burglaries in the South Tampa area dating back to March.
22 burglaries in the South Tampa since March
Police think burglaries are related
Latest burglary caught on home surveillance
The latest burglary happened at a home in the 3600 block of Morrison Avenue West on Monday, August 8.
 
In Monday's break-in, the burglar broke in through a window in the rear of the house and removed jewelry and cash.
Police believe that as many as three burglars are working together.
Anyone with information about the burglar should call Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay at 1-800-873-TIPS (8477). Your anonymous tip could earn you up to $3,000 in cash.
Starting in 2017, African youth will have an opportunity to gain technical and leadership skills through a new Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) internship program: 'Africa's Promise'.
Image by 123RF
MCCs new initiative, announced this week by President Obama at a Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) town hall in Washington, D.C., will expand opportunities for youth ages 18 to 35 across Africa. Approximately 60% of Africas total population is below the age of 35.
Africas Promise interns will support large-scale development projects that make up MCC-funded compact programs with a focus on reducing poverty through economic growth. Interns will learn best practices on project management including financial and public sector management in the local country context and be exposed to targeted professional development and networking opportunities in both the public and private sectors.
For Africa to reach its full potential, it will need experienced public sector leaders who can write the next chapter in Africas story
By increasing opportunities for young men and women across Africa to gain important job skills, MCC is supporting and empowering them to build a better tomorrow for their communities, MCC chief executive officer, Dana J. Hyde, said. For Africa to reach its full potential, it will need experienced public sector leaders who can write the next chapter in Africas story.
Africas Promise internships will be established and run by the host government implementing entity for MCC compacts, typically known as a Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).
Internships will start in the summer of 2017 in MCCs respective MCA offices across Africa, which may include countries like Benin, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Morocco, Niger and Zambia.
Interns will support the implementation of MCC projects in areas like clean water, electricity, land rights and education. Through its investments, MCC expands access to vital services and connects people to jobs, markets and opportunities.
MCC forms partnerships with some of the worlds poorest countries, but only those committed to good governance, economic freedom, and investments in their citizens. Before a country can become eligible for assistance, MCCs Board of Directors examines its performance on third-party indicators like government effectiveness, control of corruption, and gender in the economy, and selects compact-eligible countries based on policy performance.
The Africas Promise program will further MCCs work to create new opportunities for economic growth and poverty reduction while delivering development assistance that promotes sound policy reforms.
A Brazilian priest mentioned in the Catholic clergy sex abuse film Spotlight was found dead in a prison cell after he was arrested again for suspected pedophilia, authorities said on Monday.
Father Bonifacio Buzzi, 57, hanged himself with a sheet in a jail in the state of Minas Gerais where he was taken after his arrest on Friday, the state government said in a statement.
A decade ago Buzzi was convicted of abusing a 10-year-old boy in Mariana, Minas Gerais and jailed from 2007 to 2015. He was arrested last week following criminal complaints that he had molested two boys aged 9 and 13.
Buzzi was cited among the pedophilia cases listed at the end of Spotlight, the Oscar-winning 2015 film based on the Boston Globe newspaper's investigation of sexual abuses by Catholic priests and efforts by the Boston Archdiocese to cover them up.
Allegations against Buzzi first emerged in the 1990s in his home state of Santa Catarina. In 1995 he was convicted of molesting two boys in his parish near Mariana after their parents accused him of performing oral sex on their children.
Buzzi got a reduced sentence and the Catholic Church obtained a court order allowing him to serve it out at the home of the local archbishop.
Sharmila Tagore and Shammi Kapoors musical romance Kashmir Ki Kali wowed audiences when it released in 1964. The movie not only featured a beautiful love story but also focused on the scenic landscapes of the troubled valley.
Fast forward to Kashmir in 2016 where the city is under curfew after the demonstrations and protests that followed the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on 8 July 2016. Protesters who do venture out on the streets, hit with 'non-lethal' pellet guns, have sustained crippling injuries. More than 350 people have been hit by pellets and according to doctors, most will either suffer some form of permanent damage, disfigurement or loss of eyesight.
Read on Firstpost: With the Valley on curfew after Burhan Wani's death, Kashmiri artists respond to the uprising
Kashmiri cartoonist Mir Suhail created a poster showing Sharmila Tagore in the poster of Kashmir Ki Kali, with an apparent pellet injury on her eye. Suhail's now viral poster is being used to bring attention to the violence in the valley.
Using the hashtag #KashmirBleeding and #ResistingPellets, the artist is also penciling in eye injuries and pellet wounds on other famous paintings to highlight the use of the rising use of pellets on protesters in Kashmir.
Here's Van Gogh's Mona Lisa if she was a protester in Kashmir:
The Girl With A Pearl Earring after being hit by a pellet gun:
Another campaign against pellet guns that went viral was a Facebook campaign by a group called 'Never Forget Pakistan' that has posted some hard-hitting images of celebrities on Facebook, which have been photoshopped to show what they would look like if their faces had been injured by pellet guns. The celebrities featured were Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Alia Bhatt, and others.
Read about it here.
Then there's Kashmiri artist Masood Hussain who has created a series of black and white posters of boys of the valley with shrunken, shikara shapped pupils. Hussain told the Hindu, "It pains (me) to see kids being blinded by pellets. All that an artist can do is stroke the canvas with that pain.
Also, since none of the international human rights organisations are speaking up against the crippling pellet injuries, founder of Black Sheep.Works Asif Amin Tibet Baqual started a campaign where they renamed these organisations and altered their logos with a common tagline running below them. In the interests of human rights everywhere but #Kashmir, the tagline reads.
Baqual also created Braille posters to add to the anti-pellet gun campaign on the social media.
When Indian illegal occupation goes blind with rage, the world starts to see their dark designs. #KashmirBlindSpot pic.twitter.com/ffpE5V989H BlackSheep.Works (@dotBLACKSHEEP) August 6, 2016
There's also a Facebook page Kashmir Olympics which draws parallels between the ongoing Rio Olympics and the protesters in Kashmir.
Perhaps the last memorable role of 90s star Suniel Shetty is in Farah Khan's Main Hoon Na where he plays the highly engaging antagonist Raghavan Datta. Since then, we've only seen Shetty in blink-and-you-miss roles in forgettable films.
However, he is now ready to join Sidharth Malhotra and Jacqueline Fernandes in the film Reloaded, which is touted to be a prequel of Hrithik Roshan starrer Bang Bang that released in 2014.
Shetty will again be playing an ex-colonel who mentors a group of fresh recruits, reports Times of India. Sidharth is one such recruit. Shetty will be seen playing two ages; a middle-aged man and then seven years later, with a salt-and-pepper look as the film spans decades.
Since Shetty will be seen in many action sequences, he is reportedly working out to fit the role. The entire unit will then travel to Malaysia in October to shoot the film.
While Bang Bang was a remake of Hollywood film Knight and Day, starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, Reloaded is an original story written by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK (of Shor in the City and Go Goa Gone fame).
The film The Sea of Trees, directed by Gus Van Sant, has Matthew McConaughey starring as a professor named Arthur Brennan, who travels to Japan to reflect on his relationship with his wife, Joan (Naomi Watts).
There, he meets a stranger named Takumi (Ken Watanabe), and the two men find themselves bonding over discussions of love, death, and spirituality.
The trailer takes us through the marriage between Arthur and Joan, which seems to be at its lowest point. After his wife is diagnosed with cancer, Arthur travels to Japan to die in the infamous Aokigahara forest at the foot of Mount Fuji, where many people have committed suicide.
The problem with the trailer, and seemingly the film (the movie was criticised at Cannes Film Festival 2016) is that it plays overused Hollywood cliches.
Why do you need to go to Japan to contemplate life and death? Aren't there any places to die in America? This seems to be a notoriously invisible aspect of white washing which enraged Fresh Off The Boat star Constance Wu to speak out on white washing in Hollywood.
Also Read: Watch: Matt Damon is a Chinese warrior who battles dragons in 'The Great Wall'
Asia seems to be Hollywood's favourite place for spirituality and inner reflection, as explored by movies of the category of Eat, Pray and Love.
The other cliche is McConaughey's Arthur Brennan being portrayed as a stereotypical intellectual who is heartless and lost connection with his wife. Not only does McConaughey seem uncomfortable with the role, the trailer doesn't leave you rooting for the protagonist.
Here's the trailer:
The release date of the film is yet to be announced.
Babu Bangaram, Venkatesh's upcoming action drama has been given a U/A certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification.
The Telugu film which is slated to release this month created much hype with its trailer launch in July.
Babu Bangaram, directed by Maruthi, has Venkatesh and Nayanthara in the lead roles. This is the third time the two have teamed up for a film, after previous hits like Tulasi and Lakshmi.
From the looks of it, the film seems to be a complete entertainer, with Venkatesh essaying the role of Krishna, a police officer. His previous releases Gopala Gopala and Drishyam, both remakes were on the lighter side.
In Babu Bangaram, although he plays a serious character, the role does have humorous elements as well, especially when he is trying to woo his lady love.
What has fans most excited is the throwback dialogue towards the end of the trailer "Bobbili Raja is back". Bobbili Raja, released in the '90s, is a fan favourite among all of Venkatesh's films.
Babu Bangaram was postponed a couple of times, and 12 August has finally been announced as the release date.
Will Venkatesh be able to re-create the Bobbili Raja magic? We'll soon find out. Meanwhile, watch the trailer here:
Naga Chaitanya's Malayalam remake Premam, has been confirmed for a 9 September release.
Directed by Chandoo Mondeti, Premam has Naga Chaitanya and Shruti Haasan replacing Nivin Pauly and Sai Pallavi from the Malayalam blockbuster. Anupama Parameshwaran and Madonna Sebastian will retain their roles from the original.
According to Deccan Chronicle, the shooting of the movie has come to an end and the makers are busy with post-production. Also, the audio launch is expected to be scheduled for the last week of August.
There's been a lot of excitement around the Premam remake. It reached fever pitch as Chaitanya unveiled the poster on Tuesday (9 August) night. The romantic comedy revolves around the protagonist Vikram, who meets various women in the different stages of his life, and finally finds the one who is right for him.
Although Chaitanya has acted in movies like Autonagar Surya and Bezawada, in which he portrayed a mass star image, with this new poster for Premam, the actor has moved away from his chocolate boy look to a more rugged, macho one.
With only one month for the release and the trailer not unveiled yet, fans are eagerly expecting a glimpse of the movie during its audio launch.
The 2015 romantic comedy Premam went on to become one of the biggest hits in the Malayalam film industry, with Nivin Pauly and Sai Pallavi's chemistry drawing praise from fans. Ever since this remake was announced, fans have been wanting to see how the Malayalam original will be translated into this new version.
Interestingly, Naga Chaitanya has worked in a remake earlier as well: his first release Ye Maaya Chesave was a remake of the Tamil film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa.
It would be interesting to see if Naga Chaitanya's version manages to match up to the magic the original Premam created among Malayalam audiences.
Chaitanya's Sahasam Swasaga Sagipo with Gautham Menon too has been in the post-production phase for a while now and the film is simultaneously been made in Tamil as well as Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada with Silambarasan as the hero. The trio has been a hit ever since Ye Maaya Chesave and VTV went on to become huge hits.
According to International Business Times, Janatha Garage, Junior NTR and Mohanlal's much awaited action flick too is expected to hit the theaters in the first week of September.
The 2015 indie/experimental film X: Past is Present has found itself in the midst of a controversy after its directors have made serious allegations against the producer, Manish Mundra of Drishyam Films. After months of following up with the production house regarding the payment, one of the 11 directors of the film recently took to social media to put their troubles out in public.
Sudhish Kamath, the director of Past is Present, a part of the serialized anthology, in a series of posts on Facebook and Twitter described his issues with Mundra and Drishyam Films.
He revealed that the 11 directors, who were also co-producers of the film, have not received their dues for working on the film.
Besides he also alleges that Drishyam Films has infringed upon their copyright by distributing their film without authorisation from the original authors.
The website of Drishyam films describes its founder Manish Mundra as an indie saviour of sorts. The story of how the producer of films like Masaan and Dhanak helped Rajat Kapoor to make his film Ankhon Dekhi has now become a part of Bollywood lore and given Mundra this title.
But the directors who have worked with him do not believe this to be wholly true.
Drishyam Films has infringed upon the copyright of the original authors & does not have the authorisation from us to distribute the film. Sudhish Kamath (@SudhishKamath) August 9, 2016
After establishing Drishyam Films as a production house, Manish Mundra came forward to produce the 2015 film X: Past is Present. The collaborative feature film film had 11 directors and some well known names like Rajat Kapoor, Huma Qureshi and Radhika Apte.
Now some of the film directors have come forward to claim that the producer has not upheld his part of the agreement for the film.
After deliberations with Mundra, the directors had reached an agreement that while Mundra would get solo producer credits, when it came to monetary matters the film would be co-produced by all eleven.
We did put in money as coproducers but the terms kept changing because Mr Manish Mundra wanted solo producer credit. https://t.co/PRMTQNJS2I Sudhish Kamath (@SudhishKamath) August 9, 2016
Further he has hit out at the producer saying that they have infringed upon the copyright of the film which lies with the directors, the original authors by distributing the film. They plan to take the legal route and have already begun the process by sending out a cease and desist letter on Monday.
We have sent Drishyam a cease & desist letter yesterday and will be informing all channels and platforms infringing upon our copyright soon. Sudhish Kamath (@SudhishKamath) August 9, 2016
Kamath, who had put the matter behind him and decided to move on with his films, decided to take to social media to put out his troubles when he saw a Fortune India article on Manish Mundra and his company. After taking the legal course he has now taken down some of his previous posts.
Kamath says that he has been pursing the matter for months with the producers, but on their part they have been non-cooperative.
When Firstpost tried to get in touch with Shiladitya Bora, CEO, Drishyam Films regarding the subject, he said, "We do not want to comment about it right now."
Mumbai: Outgoing RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan today strongly defended his controversial public speeches as "perfectly legitimate" ones within the remit of a central bank head and asserted that he was never critical of the government in any instance.
"These are perfectly legitimate speeches. You can interpret them any which ways you want," Rajan said at an
interaction with select news agencies on Tuesday evening.
"In none of those speeches that I have made has there been an explicit criticism or an implicit criticism of the
government. There are people who read the interpretation of what is the speech I have given," he added.
After his decision to return back to academia, there have been voices suggesting that his candid public speeches
were one of the aspects which made the government uncomfortable about reappointing Rajan for another term.
The academic-turned-central banker spoke a lot across the country and abroad in the three years at helm, and had a
special liking for educational institutes.
Some of the controversial speeches made by him include the one where he quoted American political philosopher Francis Fukuyama to question whether strong governments can really help a country or in defense of tolerance in the middle of a debate started by the killing of a Muslim man over suspicion of storing beef, or questioning the premise of the high-octane 'Make in India' campaign.
Rajan, who refused to accept a second term at helm of the Reserve Bank, today sought to defend his stance in all
these instances and stressed that he was within his remit as the central bank governor while making those remarks.
"Some of those speeches have been on economic issues but outside the monetary policy. But those economic issues are
perfectly within the remit of the central bank because ultimately we have a remit of macrostability," he said.
Rajan also said his concerns on the Make in India campaign -- wherein he had pitched for 'Make For India' given
the fragile economic conditions the world-over -- have come true.
"There was lots of criticism like you are being defeatist etc. Passage of time suggests that advice to look internally for demand at least for the short to medium term even while strengthening our manufacturing and service sector productive capabilities, which I thought was the central point of making in India, was extremely important," Rajan, who will go back to the Chicago University, said.
In case of the post-Dadri speech at his alma mater IIT-Delhi, Rajan reiterated the need to be open for ideas as a
service-sector driven economy. "That speech was about the fact that in order to grow as a country which is largely a service economy, we have to be open to ideas. Once you reach the frontier, the only way you can grow is by ideas. And in order to get those ideas, you have to have tolerance for unorthodox ideas because those unorthodox ideas is how we move forward," he said.
"As a society which is developing, which in some places is near the frontier, we have to have an open dialogue," Rajan added. "I haven't in a sense talked about (things like) dance and music. That would be exceeding my remit," he quipped.
Asserting that none of his speeches has caused any market fluctuations, the central banker also conceded that every
speech cannot be on the monetary policy. "Every speech if I give on monetary policy, I will commit a gaffe sooner or later. None of the speeches has moved the markets, which is an important criteria for a central banker," he said, adding markets have to be moved with policy announcements and not off-the-cuff remarks.
"As a central banker, whatever you say has to be calculated," he said, adding at times when the market requires
clarity like the post-Brexit vote, the central bank head has to be reassuring, which he did.
In context of the Make in India speech, Rajan said, "We need growth at a measured pace" which is consistent with what the economy can support and depend on fundamental reforms to fasten the process. I still maintain that the world doesn't look different than it looked three four years ago. So the focus should be on having a platform of economic stability. Only then can we have sustainable domestic demand," he said.
Noting that every economic problem stems from people looking for magic bullets which have no pain, Rajan said most
our problems are orthodox, which need orthodox solutions."When the problem is orthodox, its reasonable that
their solutions are also orthodox."
He concluded by stating that "we need to have a measured pace of growth consistent with what the economy can
support in a sustainable as the real oomph to growth will come from domestic reform like GST and the Bankruptcy Code. This will help elevate the growth rate."
It took him more than two years, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has finally discovered the art of the deal.
Realizing that a frontal assault wasn't securing the votes needed for India's biggest-ever tax reform, Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley changed tack this spring, government and ruling party sources said.
First, they sought to build a coalition among the nation's 29 state governments to isolate the Congress party, which despite losing heavily to Modi in 2014 had blocked a new Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the upper house of parliament.
Then, Jaitley held a series of meetings with Congress leaders whose outcome was uncertain right up to the last minute, sources close to the finance minister said.
He yielded to their demands - accepting, verbatim, a clause they proposed for the constitutional amendment needed to make the GST happen, according to a member of the Congress team that included former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.
"Negotiations take place only if both sides are willing to be flexible," senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said. "Both sides were pragmatic."
An aide to Jaitley said Congress's growing isolation proved decisive in making a compromise possible.
"They had got themselves into a corner," said the finance ministry official, who was privy to the talks. "They had two options: strike a deal and come out with your reputation intact, or lose your credibility."
Last week's unanimous upper-house vote to pass the 122nd amendment to the Indian constitution brings the wheel full circle - the GST was proposed by Chidambram a decade ago but was stalled by political rivalry.
Introducing a unified sales tax across India's market of 1.3 billion people would mark a bold act of integration at a time of disintegration elsewhere, as Britain exits the European Union and a protectionist, Donald Trump, runs for the U.S. presidency.
The GST vote also addresses how India, as a federation, can implement a one-size-fits-all sales tax - something the United States and EU have been unable to do - by creating a GST Council that brings the center and the states together.
Tough bargaining on the rate and scope of the tax lies ahead, yet at least the atmosphere has improved, with Chidambram praising Jaitley's "friendly and conciliatory tone".
That could revive projects that foundered early in Modi's rule, including land and labor reforms.
Early Standoff
Despite winning India's biggest mandate in 30 years, Modi has struggled to advance his agenda.
Congress, though reduced to a rump opposition, has resisted. As the largest party in the upper house that represents the states, it had blocked the GST and derailed Modi's land acquisition bill which critics branded as being "anti-farmer".
While that tactic proved effective, it wasn't winning public support. Congress took hits in state elections and in June lost the upper house votes it needed to be sure of stopping the GST.
This was the cue for Jaitley to court the states, with key swing state West Bengal soon declaring its support. In July, he targeted Bihar, while at the same time re-engaging with Congress after nine months of radio silence.
Jaitley's promise to the states to compensate revenue losses for five years, made at talks in New Delhi on July 26, won them over, West Bengal's finance minister Amit Mitra said.
Congress moved to cut a deal, while Modi and Jaitley were ready to offer concessions - including scrapping a levy of 1 percent on the movement of goods between states - that experts say would actually make the GST a better tax.
On the morning of July, 27 Congress submitted a written proposal, with new wording on resolving GST disputes between the center and the states. Modi's cabinet approved identical tweaks that same evening.
When it came to the Aug. 3 vote, there were 203 votes in favor, and none against. The amendment passed the lower house on Monday, also unanimously.
It was a first for Modi, who called the GST a "Great Step towards Transformation".
Is Chenna-based public sector lender Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) staring at a crisis situation? Lets look at the numbers. At the end of the June quarter, the total gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) of the lender have touched a record high of 20.48 percent of its total loan book (of Rs 1,65,556 crore). In other words, one out every five rupees lent by the bank has now gone bad. According to a Firstpost analysis, thats the highest level of bad loans in at least 14 years. Total losses of the bank, in the last one year (four quarters put together) stood at Rs 4,467 crore. The numbers indeed say it is.
To be sure, at present, there is no immediate threat to the depositors and investors as the government has recently infused some money into the bank. But the situation can turn serious going ahead if the lender fails to generate money on its own or from the government.
Total bad loans of IOB in the June quarter stood at Rs 33,913 crore compared with Rs 30,049 crore in the preceding quarter (17.4 percent) and Rs 16,451 crore or 9.4 percent in the year-ago quarter. After making all the provisions on bad loans too, the banks net NPA stood at close to 14 percent of its book. With one-fifth of its total loans turning NPA, the bank will need nothing less than a major government bailout to stay afloat, said one of the leading banking analysts, who didnt want to be named since they stopped covering the bank long back.
There is no doubt that the bank is indeed facing a crisis situation on account of the huge NPAs. Either it needs to repair itself and generate money on its own or must be bailed out by the government immediately, said the analyst.
In the latest round of capital infusion in July, when the government infused Rs 22,915 crore in 13 PSBs, the Chennai-based lender had got Rs 3,101 crore, one of the largest shares for any bank. The countrys largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), and by far the best performing one among the lot, was given Rs 7,575 crore. This means IOB, a bank where the crisis is deepening and has a much smaller balance sheet, received almost half of what SBI got.
In the June quarter, the bank used Rs 2,137 crore as provisions to cover its bad loans compared with Rs 2,666 crore in the preceding quarter and just Rs 663.57 crore a year ago. Going by the current trend, much of the money the government infused in the bank will go into providing for bad loans or to put it in other words, is going down the drain. Firstpost couldnt immediately contact the bank for a response.
Presently, IOB has a market cap of Rs 5,000 crore. The shares of the bank are trading at Rs 26.40 a piece on the BSE.
Dissecting the problem
Though the part of the reasons for the sharp jump in the NPA level of IOB can be attributed to the ongoing bad loan clean-up exercise forced on banks by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under Raghuram Rajan in September last year, the fact is that the trouble in the bank was brewing much before that. The bank, started by the Chettyar community in the pre-Independence era as a small bank, had high bad loans before the lender went public in 2000. Though the situation improved in the subsequent years, the bank never recovered from the NPA problem.
"IOB has been among the state-run banks with the highest bad loan levels even before the bad loan clean-up began. The pace of increase in bad assets increased after the exercise began, said the analyst quoted before. Like many other PSBs, IOBs current plight can be attributed to years of reckless lending, weak credit appraisal processes and inefficiency of the management. Major chunk of the current pile of bad assets are loans given to small and large companies lent over a period of years, where hardly any repayment has happened.
The IOB-crisis would require the Narendra Modi government prepare an urgent bailout plan to rescue the bank. It also indicates that the governments current capital infusion programme is too inadequate considering the huge funding gap in the public sector banks. Under the Indradhanush revival plan for PSBs, the government plans to infuse Rs 70,000 crore in the four-year period between 2015-16 and 2018-19 in the state-run banks. But, analysts and rating agencies have cautioned that this money is not sufficient considering the requirement of state-run banks.
For instance, rating agency ICRA estimated that the equity capital required by PSBs would be in the range of Rs 40,000-50,000 crore, much higher than that announced by the government this year. Hence, the government will need to increase the fund infusion significantly for 2017-19, Icra said.
Another rating agency, Fitch too said the same. Fitch believes pressures on public bank credit profiles will remain, and more capital than the Rs 70,000 crore earmarked through to FY19 will be needed from the government to restore market confidence and position the sector for long-term growth.
Larger malaise
IOB symbolises a larger problem seen in the public sector banking space. PSBs are suffering from inefficient managements, government intervention and tough competition from private rivals. Many state-run banks are facing serious asset quality issues.
There are at least four more state-run banks with NPAs above 10 percent. These are United Bank of India (14.29 percent), Punjab National Bank (13.75 percent), Andhra Bank (10.30 percent) and Union Bank of India (10.16 percent). There are two more with over 9 percent GNPAs, Canara Bank (9.71 percent) and State Bank of Travancore (9.38 percent).
All of these will require substantial amount of capital infusion from the government. The bigger question is how much of these funds, which ultimately use the taxpayers money, comes back to the system for productive lending. In the past nine years, the government has infused Rs 1.18 lakh crore in these PSBs. As Firstpost has said before, the governments decision to front load the annual capital infusion for PSBs may have come as an immediate relief for some of the cash-strapped banks, but it is only a painkiller, not a medicine that can cure Indias state-run banks from the begging bowl syndrome or the ritual of lining up before the North Block every year to get government funds to stay afloat. There has been no respite from the NPA additions yet, also due to a slowing economy. Clearly, finance minister Arun Jaitley has a tough task ahead to deal with this problem.
The total bad loans in the banking system rose to Rs 6 lakh crore in March, of which public sector banks have a share of Rs 5.4 lakh crore. In percentage terms, the gross NPAs of the scheduled commercial banks have risen from 5.43 percent in March 2015 to 9.32 percent in March 2016. The government owns stakes up to 80 percent in some of these banks. Thus far, it has refused to prepare a privatisation road map for these lenders except in some cases like IDBI Bank, also due to the trade union resistance.
For instance, in IOB, the government owns 73 percent stake. As Firstpost has argued time and again, there is no logic in government insisting to be the owner of PSBs and control these banks. Given that the cash-constrained government doesnt have the wherewithal to keep funding the massive capital requirements of PSBs (Basel-III and credit expansion), it will have to eventually go for privatisation of these entities.
But, again the question arises who will invest in these lenders with cracked balance sheets. The solution is once the ongoing clean up exercise repairs the books of these banks, the government should work out a road map to privatise these entities. As it appears now, the governments yearly capital infusion is just enough for most PSBs to cover their bad loans.
Data contributed by Kishor Kadam
New Delhi: Seeking to boost job creation in a manufacturing sector and facilitate ease of doing business, the Lok Sabha on Wednesday approved a bill to double the overtime working hours to 100 in a quarter for factory workers.
The Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was opposed by several opposition parties, was passed after Congress and Left parties staged a walkout. Besides, Congress, the bill was opposed by Left parties, TMC, JDU and IUML.
Piloting the bill, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said the changes in the law would enable workers to "work more and earn more".
Contending that the bill will safeguard workers' interests, he said the total number of work hours in a day will not exceed 10 and total hours of work in a week after including overtime should not exceed 60.
"Overtime is only an opportunity. I have taken many safeguards. The proposed amendment is nowhere in conflict with the ILO norms and all provisions relating to daily or weekly hours.
Total number of overtime shall not exceed 100 hours in a quarter," Dattatreya said.
The current rules provide for overtime of 50 hours in a quarter, while the ILO provides for the upper limit of 144 hours.
Citing statement of objects and reasons of the bill, the opposition parties said the bill was being brought at the behest of the industry.
"The need for increasing the total number of hours of work on overtime in a quarter is based on the demand from industries so that factories can carry out the work on an urgent basis," said the statement of objects and reasons.
Dattatreya said the government is going with an innovative method in creating employment opportunities and large number of women workers will also get additional work.
"The proposal to increase overtime hours is not at all mandatory. It is up to the workers to decide. It is not compulsoru upon him or her. It is an incentive to get double wages," he said.
Among other changes, the bill also allows overtime of up to 125 hours per quarter in public interest and empowers central and state governments to exempt rules with regard to overtime working hours.
"There is no compromise on the safety and working condition of workers," Dattatreya said, adding this bill will facilitate an increase in employment generation in the manufacturing sector.
As members demanded to know what was the urgency to bring this bill when a comprehensive legislation is pending before the House, the Labour Minister said: "It was the need of the hour. We have taken the Make in India, Skill India and Digital India initiatives where a large number of workforce is needed".
He further said that the government will shortly come out with a comprehensive bill to amend the Factories Act of 1948.
The Standing Committee has already given its report to the Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2014, which is being considered by the Labour Ministry.
The bill also empowers the Central government, in addition to the state governments, to make exempting rules and orders in respect to total number of hours of work on overtime in a quarter, which would ensure uniformity, in its application by various state governments and Union Territories.
Trying to assuage concerns of members that state government rights are being taken away, Dattatreya said states are vested with the executive powers in the Act and ensuring the safety and health of working is the primary responsibility of the state governments.
Sankar Prasad Dutta (CPIM), while moving amendments to the bill, said its provisions were similar to one introduced in 2014, which was before the Standing Committee.
After Dutta's amendment was defeated in voting, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Cong) said the "amendment can be voted out by number but you have failed in the argument."
Seeking reconsideration of the bill, he said, "It is anti-labour and it is biased towards employer."
Before staging a walkout, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge asked the minister to withdraw the bill, saying a comprehensive legislation is pending before the House.
By increasing the overtime, "you are burdening the existing employees", he said, adding the bill should not be brought without taking into confidence the stakeholders like states and labour unions.
"It is not the main bill... In a hurried manner (you have brought this)," he said.
In the name of ease of doing business, liberalisation and Make in India, "labourers should not be exploited", he said, adding the provisions which are beneficial for workers "you have left that... If the cabinet is giving approval for 2 sections, why not for the other sections?"
P Karunakaran (CPIM) charged the government with playing in the hands of corporate sector, while Saugata Roy (TMC) said the bill was opposed by all the trade union including BMS.
NK Premachandran (RSP) said the bill was encroaching upon the rights of the states and was against the federal structure of the country.
Stressing that the bill is "anti-labour", Kalyan Banerjee (TMC) said the government is interfering with the federal structure very intelligently even as the Prime Minister talks about cooperative federalism.
"This is a new innovation to interfere with the federal structure," he noted.
Wanting to know who wants overtime extended under the law, he said it might be the demand of some industrialists who have access to the Ministers.
"At whose pressure are you bringing in the bill? It is really hitting the basic structure," Banerjee said, adding that no a single workman or trade union is speaking in favour of the bill.
Talking about certain provisions in the bill, TG Venkatesh Babu (AIADMK) said it is "unwarranted" and that the Centre should not interfere with the states' powers.
Such moves would destroy the federal structure and the federal rights, he added.
Wondering why the government is in a hurry to bring this bill, he said states have not been consulted. He also wanted to know why a comprehensive legislation is not being brought by the Centre.
Rabindra Kumar Jena (BJD) said the bill is a "calculated move to enter into the state's territory", adding that it is not a good precedent.
According to him, certain provisions of the bill would further deteriorate unemployment situation. Stating that working over time could result in increased consumption of alcohol, tobacco, obesity and depression among
Stating that working over time could result in increased consumption of alcohol, tobacco, obesity and depression among women, he said such a situation could become a major social
issue.
Voicing his strong opposition to the bill, Sankar Prasad Datta (CPM) said the Narendra Modi government, which has an hidden agenda, has been targeting labour laws.
Also, rights of state governments are being encroached, he added.
This bill is for corporate classes and big business houses of our country as well as for "satisfaction of Adani and Ambani", he alleged, adding that no single trade union is in favour of the bill.
Shrirang Appa Barne (Shiv Sena) said the government should look at giving more benefits to daily wagers and action need to be taken against companies that do not pay the stipulated wages for working overtime.
M Srinivasa Rao (TDP) also spoke.
An unbeaten century stand for the sixth wicket by Ravichandran Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha put India in a respectable position after the first day of the third test against West Indies in St Lucia on Tuesday.
The visitors were 234 for five at the close of play with all-rounder Ashwin on 75 and wicketkeeper Saha on 46, the pair having added 108 to leave honours even at the Darren Sammy Stadium in Gros Islet.
Opener Lokesh Rahul chipped in with a brisk 50 earlier but India's batsmen were otherwise bogged down until Ashwin and Saha cut loose against the second new ball, plundering 46 runs off the final nine overs.
The late flurry took the gloss off what had been an encouraging day for West Indies after the hosts won the toss and decided to bowl.
Teenage paceman Alzarri Joseph enjoyed a dream debut, in his third over claiming the prized wicket of India captain Virat Kohli, caught at first slip for three.
Joseph (2-38) also snared Rohit Sharma, caught behind for nine, while all-rounder Roston Chase continued his excellent series by picking up two wickets with his off spin.
Fast bowler Shannon Gabriel (1-68) was expensive although he at least took the first wicket of the day when Shikhar Dhawan (one) gloved a short ball down the leg side to wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich.
Jason Holder and Miguel Cummins bowled with discipline in the four-pronged pace attack but went wicketless.
The day belonged to Ashwin, who was dropped on 21 and received another reprieve on 35 when he was caught at point off a Gabriel back foot no-ball.
THORN IN SIDE
Ashwin has been a thorn in West Indies' side the entire series, making a century and claiming seven wickets in the first test before picking up another six victims in the second match.
Rahul followed up his 158 from the second test by reaching his half-century in 64 balls before falling to the very next delivery when he flicked Chase straight into the waiting hands of short fine leg.
"I wanted to attack the bowlers and put them under pressure because the wicket was a little damp the first hour," said Rahul.
"The ball was doing a bit with sideways movement ... and with this being an open ground, and with the breeze, there was swing throughout the day.
"I did my job pretty well, got the team off to a decent start and the boys carried on from there. We're pretty happy with our effort at the end of the day."
India lead the four-test series 1-0.
(Reporting by Andrew Both; Editing by Tony Jimenez)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Imphal: A boy was injured in an IED blast near a BSF camp in Manipur's Imphal East district on Wednesday.
A police officer said the blast took place around 9 am, injuring the boy who was playing nearby at Moirang Purel village.
Another bomb blast took place at the gate of Manipur University, but the police haven't released details regarding the attack.
#FLASH Bomb blast at the gate of Manipur University in Imphal, More details awaited ANI (@ANI_news) August 10, 2016
#FLASH Bomb blast targeting BSF camp occurred in Moirang Purel village near Imphal (Manipur) this morning, more details awaited. ANI (@ANI_news) August 10, 2016
UPDATE: 7-year old child injured in bomb blast targeting BSF camp in Moirang Purel village near Imphal, Manipur. ANI (@ANI_news) August 10, 2016
The boy injured in the first blast has been rushed to a hospital in Imphal, the officer said.
BSF and armed state police cordoned off the area of the blast.
On 20 May last, a Border Security Force (BSF) convoy on foot patrol was ambushed by militants armed with rocket launchers and sophisticated automatic weapons in Thoubal district of Manipur but there was no casualty.
Vijayawada: Two Dalit brothers were stripped and thrashed by a group when they were skinning a dead cow in Andhra Prades's East Godavari district.
Police said eight persons were arrested for involvement in the attack but clarified that the incident was not linked to cow vigilantism.
The incident occurred on Monday night in Amalapuram town of East Godavari district.
Mokati Elisa and his brother Lazar were stripped, tied to a tree and thrashed when they were seen skinning a dead cow in a graveyard.
The victims sustained injuries on heads and other parts of the body.
A police officer said the eight persons were looking for their missing cow and they alleged that the duo killed and skinned their cattle.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu took serious note of the incident and asserted that nobody would be allowed to break law and order of the state.
A series of attacks on Muslims and Dalits by gau rakshaks (cow protectors) in recent months in different parts of the country has triggered outrage.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also condemned the attacks, saying fake gau rakshaks were behind these incidents.
He said anti-social elements were masquerading as gau rakshaks.
The centre on Tuesday ordered state governments to ensure that no local groups are allowed to initiate acts of violence using cow protection.
New Delhi: Taking a potshot at the Prime Minister, a BSP member in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday said that three dalits were thrashed in Andhra Pradesh on the day when Narendra Modi made a strong statement against the attacks on the community.
Raising the issue soon after the House assembled, BSP leader Satish Mishra said "Yesterday in Yamanapalli, East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh, a cow died after electrocution. After that, three dalits were tied to coconut tree and beaten up. Now, they are injured and admitted in hospital."
He said this incident occurred on the very day when Modi in Telangana said "shoot me, not them (dalits)".
"The Home Minister is here. I want to know if this is what 'shoot me' means," he asked.
Mishra further said "where BJP or BJP-coalition government is there, there are gangrapes of dalits in the state when they talk about 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padao'."
He also said that Modi has not spoken in Parliament on the issue of attacks on Dalits.
On 8 August, Modi had said discrimination against Dalits should stop and the onus for this lay on everyone.
"Stop attacking my Dalit brethren. If you have to shoot, shoot me, but not my Dalit brothers. This game should stop," he had said.
New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement in the Lok Sabha over the situation in the Kashmir Valley where a month of unrest has left over 55 people dead.
Raising the matter during Zero Hour, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge also slammed Modi for making a statement over the issue outside Parliament when the House was in session.
"The Prime Minister has broken his silence over the Kashmir issue and that too outside Parliament. If he would have given his statement in the House, it would have been better," Kharge said.
He urged Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to tell Modi to give a statement in the House.
"We know the situation (in) Kashmir. The whole House is worried about it. You give them directions in this regard," Kharge said.
The Congress demand for a discussion on Kashmir has come at a time when the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday took up the issue.
On Tuesday, Modi pledged to take forward former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's vision of Insaniyat, Jamahooriyat and Kashmiriyat.
Kolkata: Notwithstanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's criticism of the cow vigilante groups, the Cow Protection Cell in West Bengal, which is conducting a census of the animal in the state, on Tuesday said it would continue with the exercise.
"Whatever prime minister has said is right, nobody has the right to attack anyone in the name of cow protection. There are incidents of Dalits being attacked in the name of cow protection. This is wrong. This should not have happened. But our cow census has nothing to do with attack on Dalits, so it will continue," state president of Cow Protection Cell Subrata Gupta told PTI.
"This cow census will continue for the sake of mankind and the country. Cow is treated as a mother in Hindu religion and everybody has the right to protect and have concern about his/her mother," he said.
In his first public denouncement of cow vigilantes, some of whom flogged Dalits in his home state Gujarat, Modi last week said he felt enraged at such "anti-social elements" who indulged in crimes by the night and masqueraded as cow protectors by the day.
"We will come out with the report on 15 September. We are being helped by BJP, RSS, VHP, Shiv Sena and other Hindutva groups and organisations. We are facing a lot of threats and resistance while conducting this exercise, but we are committed towards the cause and will continue with it. Cow needs to be protected for the sake of environment, ecology and for the country," Gupta said.
Vijayawada: Eight persons were on Wednesday arrested by Allavaram police in East Godavari district for allegedly beating up two Dalits who were trying to skin a dead cow.
Police, however, clarified that the incident, which happened late on Monday night, had nothing to do with "cow vigilantism" as suspected.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed anger over the incident and warned that anyone trying to disturb law and order would be sternly dealt with.
He reviewed the incident with Director General of Police (in charge) N Sambasiva Rao and Additional DGs R P Thakur and A B Venkateswara Rao in the evening. He directed the DGP to take strong legal action against the culprits.
Chandrababu warned that stern action would be initiated against anyone attacking Dalits.
He directed East Godavari district Collector to take care of the medical expenses of the two injured. He also asked the Collector to immediately give them Rs one lakh each.
The arrested persons belonged to Kamanagaruvu village and were not "gau rakshaks", as suspected, a senior police official from Amalapuram said over phone.
The cow of U Narayana Rao and Gangadhara Rao went missing a couple of days back. As they were searching for their cattle, they found the two Dalits near a burial ground at Sudhapalem village, trying to skin a dead cow.
Suspecting that the two killed the cow, the villagers of Kamanagaruvu allegedly beat them up.
The cow had actually got electrocuted and its owner had engaged the two Dalits for burying it.
The Dalits sustained severe injuries and were admitted to the Amalapuram hospital.
Narayana Rao, Gangadhara Rao and others were on Wednesday arrested and booked under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the police official said.
Mumbai: On Tuesday, the Mumbai police arrested the Chief Executive Officer and four other doctors of the L H Hiranandani Hospital, Mumbai in connection with an alleged kidney racket which came to light last month.
Mumbai Police's spokesperson DCP Ashok Dudhe said the five doctors were arrested late this evening.
CEO Dr Sujit Chatterjee, medical director Dr Anurag Naik, Dr Mukesh Shetye, Dr Mukesh Shaha and Dr Prakash Shetye were arrested under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, he said.
The racket came to light when the police were tipped off that a kidney transplant operation had been scheduled on 14 July at the privately-run Hiranandani Hospital where donor and recipient were not related.
The operation on Brijkishor Jaiswal, the recipient, was stopped as police found that the woman who was donating him the kidney was not his wife, contrary to the papers submitted by the duo.
The woman had pretended to be his wife only to be able to donate the kidney to Jaiswal, according to the police.
Police then started probing if anybody else had received kidney using similar subterfuge and if the hospital authorities were involved.
According to a report by The Times of India, the police have arrested 14 people so far, including the kidney failure patient and his 'fake wife'. Out of the 14, six are associated with the hospital, including a medical social worker, Nilesh Kamble.
Founding trustee of the hospital condemned the operation and said it was a sad day.
New Delhi: Congress on Wednesday took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his "absence" from Parliament, saying "India has been forced to come to terms with a PM-mukt Parliament".
"When PM Modi assumed office, he had said that Parliament is a temple of democracy and he kowtowed before entering the august building for the first time. A year into his term, on one of his numerous trips to the USA, he said, the Constitution is the only holy book for his Government.
"But, today, India has been forced to come to terms with a 'PM-Mukt Parliament'. PM Modi's actions show his disdain for the Parliament and its affairs", the party said, targeting Modi by using a parody of his call for 'Congress-mukt Bharat' he had made during the Lok Sabha poll campaign.
Titled "India has a 'PM-Mukt' Parliament", the commentary has been posted on the party's website.
The party alleged that the Prime Minister loves to speak, "but, unfortunately, not in the national interest but for vote bank politics."
It claimed that for all his "grandstanding", the Prime Minister was "chided" into making a rare appearance in the Lok Sabha during the final stages of the GST Bill, after it was debated threadbare in the Rajya Sabha.
"This was the first time in over 122 occasions when a Constitutional Amendment was passed in both the Houses of Parliament that the Prime Minister was absent. An embarrassed PM Modi made an appearance in the Lok Sabha after the GST Bill was debated, to save face," it said.
The party said this year there has been violence in Kashmir, vigilantism by Gau Rakshaks and systematic violence against Dalits, "yet the prime minister did not make a statement in Parliament, but chose to address these issues outside."
The party said MPs are representatives of the people and the Houses of Parliament represent people's will.
"When there are serious atrocities, the Prime Minister must address the representatives of the people, who will then hold the government accountable," it said.
"Is the Prime Minister's absence indicative of his disregard for the temple of our Democracy? There have been numerous occasions when the PM has been in the Parliament building, but chose not to attend the session. Prime Ministers of the past had made it a point to attend Parliament", it said.
"Instead of paying lip service, Modi should actually give Parliament, and through it the 125 crore Indians, the respect it deserves," Congress said in the commentary.
Srinagar: Militants fired at a security picket guarding a minority village in Shopian district of Kashmir, a police official said on Wednesday.
"Militants opened fire on a security picket at Zainapora in Shopian last night around 9.30 pm," the police official said.
No damage was reported in the incident.
In another incident, a vehicle of the security wing of the police was damaged when it caught fire on Tuesday night at Kursoo in Rajbagh area of the city, the official said.
He said the vehicle was deployed for the security escort of state health minister Bali Baghat.
The vehicle was stationary when the incident took place.
The official said the cause of the fire is being ascertained.
Srinagar: Doctors of Government Medical College, Srinagar on Wednesday staged a unique and silent protest inside the college, covering their one eye with the bandage to represent hundreds of victims who have been blinded due to pellets during the ongoing unrest in Kashmir Valley.
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court had disapproved use of pellet guns by government forces last month and sought a report from the Centre on handling of the lethal weapons by untrained personnel.
"These are your people. They have anger. They are protesting. That does not mean you should render them disabled. You have to protect them. Hope it (use of pellet guns) is reviewed," a division bench comprising Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar said while hearing a plea on the rampant use of pellet guns in the Valley following a unrest that began on 8 July.
Meanwhile, the government has said it would look into the use of pellet guns in the Valley. It will constitute a seven-member expert team headed by a joint secretary in the home ministry to explore possible alternatives to the use of pellet guns. But the use of the guns continues unabated on the ground and almost every day, hospitals throughout the Valley receive people injured by the pellets.
Dr Sajad Majid Qazi, general secretary of Doctors Association, said that the use of pellets anywhere is inhuman and should be immediately stopped. He asked how anyone can claim that that these weapons were non-lethal, when three people have already been killed because of them and hundreds have been maimed.
Around 350 people have been partially or fully blinded by these pellets. Doctors from the state and outside are of the same opinion that the use of these so called non-lethal weapon should be banned immediately, Dr Qazi told Firstpost.
The ongoing unrest began in the Valley after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed on 8 July. Since then government forces have used pellet guns frequently to quell the protests in the region.
The association of the doctors demanded that the authorities should immediately ban on pellet guns. They stressed that the unabated use of pellet guns to quell protests in Kashmir is causing an irreparable damage to vital organs of both men and women.
They said the use of tear gas shells was equally detrimental to the health of patients, attendants and the hospital staff.
Ironically the Director General of CRPF Durga Prasad triggered a fresh controversy by equating pellet-blinding with wife-beating.
When asked by a newspaper, when CRPF would stop using pellet guns in Kashmir, Prasad was quoted saying: Its like asking when would you stop beating your wife.
Sajad Khanday, another doctor at the protest venue, said that despite concerns of doctors from the Valley and outside, the government has been unable to stop the rampant use of pellet guns, and the hospitals continue to receive patients with pellet injuries from different parts of Kashmir.
We wanted to show our solidarity with the victims of the pellet guns who have been maimed for life. A silent protest is the best way to express your helplessness when the state turns a blind eye towards its own people, Khanday told Firstpost.
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Police on Tuesday zeroed in on three foreign nationals, who are suspected to be the key players behind the hi-tech ATM robbery which has shocked the state capital, and decided to seek Interpol's help.
A team of top police officers, including ADGP B Sandhya, Range IG Manoj Abraham and cyber and technical experts visited the ATM of a public sector bank at Althara junction at Vellayambalam here, where a suspected electronic device was found to have been installed.
They also collected evidence from the ATM counter.
Sandhya later told reporters that as foreigners were suspected to be involved in the fraud, Kerala Police would seek the help of Interpol to nab the culprits.
"We will seek the help of Interpol. We are collecting evidence now," she said.
City Police Commissioner G Sparjan Kumar told PTI that police are trying to ascertain the whereabouts of the three persons, whose pictures had been retrieved from the CCTV, installed inside the ATM kiosk at Vellayambalam.
"We examined the visuals of the CCTV and got the pictures of three foreigners. We suspect that they had a hand in the ATM robbery," he said.
"We have already intensified our investigation to trace their whereabouts and establish their identity. We are also probing whether more persons were involved in the crime," he said.
The officer said the support of cyber and technical experts was sought to understand the technical method used by the fraudsters to withdraw the money.
"As many as 22 people have so far lodged complaints saying money was withdrawn from their account. As per the preliminary assessment, about Rs 2.5 lakh had been lost," he said.
It is suspected that the electronic device at the ATM counter enabled the fraudsters to collect the secret pin code and card details.
Many of the customers who were duped came to know about the fraud after they received a text message on Monday, informing that money was withdrawn from their accounts.
According to police, the three foreign nationals were from Romania and had come to India on June 25. They reached Kerala on 8 July.
They had come on tourist visa and taken rooms in a hotel here for two days, hotel sources said.
The hotel has released their names as Ilie, Florecy and Christian Victor.
Police said they have seized from the hotel two scooters and three helmets, suspected to have been used by the trio.
When the Catholic Church in Kerala paid a compensation of Rs 12 lakh to a nun after she was expelled from her congregation last year, priests and nuns hoped that they too may get similar consideration if they opted out of the religious vocation.
But a 45-year-old nun was given dispensation without a penny after she decided to give up her robes following harassment from her superiors at the convent. Sister Mary Sebastian, who works as a teacher in a Church-run higher secondary school at Pala in Kottayam district, is determined to fight it out.
Though the Cherthungal Nasrathubhavan Convent under Congregation of the Mother of Carmel (CMC) agreed to pay her Rs 1 lakh following the intervention of activists, Mary is insisting on a compensation of Rs 30 lakh considering the 20 years of service she has rendered as a school teacher. She has refused to leave the convent without getting the compensation.
The convent authorities stopped her giving food and water, lodged false complaints with the police, and even portrayed her mentally unstable after she took her plea to the Human Rights Commission and the Kerala Womens Commission. They gave her food only after the media brought her plight to the notice of the public.
The double standard adopted by the Syro Malabar Church, one of the three Catholic denominations in the state under which the convent comes, in the two cases dismays the faithful. However, the Church activists are not surprised.
Reji Njallani, who has been spearheading a campaign for severance pay to ex-priests and nuns under the banner of Catholic Priests, Ex-Priests and Nuns Association, feels Anitha, who belonged to St. Agatha Congregation, was paid the compensation as she had raised grave sexual abuse charges against a priest.
Anitha had alleged sexual assault by a priest while doing mission work in Madhya Pradesh in 2011. When she persisted with the complaint, she was transferred to Italy, where she was subjected to severe harassment and finally expelled. Anitha returned to her parent convent at Aluva and sought either reinstatement or compensation.
The convent authorities refused to pay any compensation to her even while rejecting her demand to take her back. They agreed to pay her Rs 20 lakhs after the Ernakulam-Angamaly diocese of the Church, under which the convent comes, intervened in the matter, says Reji, who is the national chairman of the association.
The intervention by the higher-ups in the issue was viewed as an attempt to silence the nun. Sister Jesme, who quit the vocation in 2008 after alleging sexual abuses within the Church, had advised Anitha to give up the compensation and continue her fight to bring the priest and others who tried to protect him to book.
Anitha, who did not have the mental strength to withstand further torture, took the money and opted for a quiet life. Sister Mary, who faced harassment for speaking against misappropriation of foreign funds received by the congregation for charity as well as alleged ill-treatment of the children at a special school under it, is also aiming the same thing.
"I did not ask compensation for a luxurious life. I sought compensation for the service I rendered as a teacher to meet my bare minimum needs. I need a job and a house to begin my life afresh. My family is not ready to take me back because of the stigma attached to dispensation," Mary told the Firstpost.
The nun, who was allowed to quit in May this year, said the salary she earned as a teacher in the last 20 years will come to about Rs 50 lakhs. Leaving a few hundred rupees that were required to meet her personal needs, the rest has gone to the convent.
"I am asking only part of the salary which was incidentally given by the government. I will not leave the convent until I get it. I will sit in front of the convent if they evict me forcefully," says the former nun.
Syro Malabar Church spokesman Father Paul Thelekkat said he was personally not aware of the details of the case. "I think this is a case of exclaustration of a nun who for her own reasons does not want to continue to live anymore in a convent. When one leaves like this, I do not think there is any provision for compensation, the priest said in an email communication.
However, Paul agreed that there could be a human problem depending on the case which he does not know. He said that the Church could consider supporting the nun since she was working in the school.
In such cases, the church authorities usually send the member graciously out for her another life. The farewell can be very pleasant and even generous, but both parties must show that spirit of understanding and mutual respect. The charges of harassment and other allegations can be sorted out by mutual agreement of the third party and work for a peaceful settlement of the case, the spokesman added.
However, the Church authorities have been denying compensation to priests and nuns who have quit the vocation either on their own or at the behest of the authorities citing Canon laws that the Church follows. The religious law does not provide for any severance pay to former priests and nuns. This is because the law does not define the Church service as a profession.
Njallani, who has been spearheading a campaign against ill-treatment of priests and nuns quitting the Church, does not buy the argument. The Church cannot deny the compensation on the ground that the priests and nuns are serving the God since the institutions of the Church are charging fees for their services, says the activist.
Njallani pointed out that the donation and tuition fees charged by many of the self-financing colleges under the Church are more than what commercial institutions charge. Nobody knows where the money goes and how it is spent.
The Angamaly-Ernakulam diocese had given Rs 12 lakhs to Anitha on humanitarian grounds. The authorities had then claimed that the settlement with Anitha was not a compensation for any wrongdoing on the part of the congregation or the Church but the generosity of the congregation to make her settle in life after so many years of life in a convent.
Activists wonder why the Church was not showing the same generosity to hundreds of priests and nuns who have left the religious vocations for various reasons. Njallani said there were over 10,000 former priests and nuns throughout India, most of them aged over 50, struggling to settle in their new lives.
A conference convened by the KCRM in Kochi last year to discuss the issue was attended by 613 former priests and nuns from Kerala where the Christians constitute over 18 percent of the population. Njallani said that the meeting had decided to launch a nationwide campaign for living allowance for all those who have left the religious vocation.
The priests and nuns who leave the vocation have spent their youth years within the Church. Not trained to do any other job, they are left with no money and family and society support to live the rest of their lives. How the Church that preaches compassion can so mercilessly push them into streets? asks Reji.
Pointing out that the Constitution gives every citizen a right to lead a dignified life, Njallani said the association of ex-priests and nuns will soon approach the high court to ensure their right.
He warns that the legal battle may prove costly for the Church. Churches in western countries are already paying billions as compensation to abuse victims. He said that it will be in the interest of the Church if it does not force the former priests and nuns to go to the court.
Njallani suspects that Church was not granting severance pay to former priests and nuns because they fear that it may encourage others serving the Church to leave. The Church apparently cannot afford it since the new generation is not coming forward to join seminaries and nunneries.
Shibhu Kalamparambil, who quit his Vincentian order after witnessing sexual abuses within the Church for 14 years, said many like him wanted to drop out. He said that the problem with the vocation was that the Church is recruiting young boys and girls before they acquire mental maturity.
By the time they become mature enough to decide for themselves it is too late. They are forced to remain in the Church because they are not prepared to live the lay life and have nothing to fall back on after they drop out. The family and society do not accept them as they consider quitting the vocation as a sin, says Shibhu.
Shibhu, who rattled the Church by terming nunneries as brothels in his book entitled "Vaidikante Hrudayamitha (Here is the Heart of a Priest)", believes that the Church has a moral obligation to pay severance pay to those who decide to quit so that they can take care of the rest of their lives.
Njallani doubts whether the Church will understand its obligation since it is not practising what it is teaching.
Mumbai: Mumbai Police is probing several angles including whether the four doctors from LH Hiranandani Hospital arrested along with its CEO in an alleged kidney transplant racket were involved in any exchange of money with agents and donors, a local court was told on Wednesday.
The court, meanwhile, remanded the five people in police custody until Saturday.
Hospital CEO Sujit Chatterjee, medical director Anurag Naik, Mukesh Shetye, Mukesh Shaha and Prakash Shetye were arrested on Tuesday under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act on the basis of a report by the Director of State Health Services Department, which named them during the inquriy.
Police told the court of Local Metropolitan Magistrate, Ashwini Lokhande in Andheri that the arrested doctors were also attached with other hospitals in city and that they wanted to probe if the racket is run in other hospitals as well.
Police also wanted to find out if there was any exchange of money among the doctors, agents and the donors in
alleged illegal transplant of kidneys.
Police are also studying the Call Detail Record (CDR) of the doctors and the racketeers arrested earlier.
"After studying the (Director of State Health Services) report we arrested them. They (the doctors) are
accused of negligence for not verifying the documents and not following the protocol involved in transplantation," police spokesperson DCP Ashok Dudhe said.
However, the defence lawyers told the court that it was not the doctors' job to scrutinise the documents. They
also argued that there is a separate Ethics Committee which screens the documents before allowing transplant.
The racket was exposed after the police were tipped off that a kidney transplant operation had been scheduled on
14 July at the privately-run Hiranandani Hospital in Powai where the donor and the recipient were not related.
Following the bust up, police arrested nine persons, including the donor, receiver and agents.
The operation on Brijkishor Jaiswal, the recipient, was stopped at the last moment as police found that the woman
who was donating him the kidney was not his real wife, contrary to the papers submitted by the duo.
The woman had pretended to be Jaiswal's wife only to be able to donate him the kidney for monetary gains, according
to the police.
Police then started probing if anybody else had received kidney using similar subterfuge and if the hospital
authorities were involved.
Mumbai: A court here onWednesday remanded L H Hiranandani Hospital CEO and four doctors, arrested in connection with an alleged kidney transplant racket, in police custody till 14 August.
Hospital CEO Sujit Chatterjee, medical director Anurag Naik, Mukesh Shetye, Mukesh Shaha and Prakash Shetye were arrested on Tuesday under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act on the basis of a report by the Director of State Health Services Department, which named them during the inquriy.
Police told the court of Local Metropolitan Magistrate, Ashwini Lokhande in Andheri that the arrested doctors were also attached with other hospitals in the city and that they wanted to probe if the racket was being run in other hospitals as well.
Police also wanted to find out if there was any exchange of money among the doctors, agents and donors in the alleged racket.
Police are also studying the Call Detail Record (CDR) of the doctors and the racketeers arrested earlier.
"After studying the (Director of State Health Services) report we arrested them. They (the doctors) are accused of negligence for not verifying the documents and not following the protocol involved in kidney transplantation," police spokesperson DCP Ashok Dudhe said.
However, the defence lawyers told the court that it was not the doctors' job to scrutinise the documents. They also argued that there was a separate Ethics Committee which screens the documents before allowing transplants.
The racket was exposed after the police were tipped off that a kidney transplant operation had been scheduled on 14 July at the privately-run Hiranandani Hospital in Powai where donor and recipient were not related.
Following the bust-up, nine persons, including the donor, receiver and agents were arrested.
The operation on Brijkishor Jaiswal, the recipient, was stopped at the last moment as police found that the woman who was donating the kidney to him was not his real wife, contrary to the papers submitted by the duo.
The woman had pretended to be Jaiswal's wife only to be able to donate him the kidney for monetary gains, according to the police.
Police is now also probing whether anybody else received kidney using similar subterfuge and if the hospital authorities were involved.
Armed with the confessional statement of an alleged Pakistani LeT operative, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), on Wednesday, confirmed that Pakistani national Bahadur Ali who was captured in Jammu and Kashmir last month, is a terrorist with the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). They said that Ali was trained by the LeT to infiltrate Kashmir and 'mix with locals and create trouble'.
The anti-terror probe agency also said it is gathering further evidence regarding the role of Pakistan- based Lashkar-e-Taiba in the ongoing turbulence in the Valley for the last 33 days.
In a confessional video, Bahadur Ali alias 'Saifullah' also named various terror groups in Pakistan and confirmed the involvement of Pakistan in the Kashmir unrest following the death of militant Burhan Wani.
Bahadur Ali crossed into Indian side on either 11th or 12th June along with two LeT cadres: NIA pic.twitter.com/zQBmB5ZP4S ANI (@ANI_news) August 10, 2016
Addressing a media conference, IG NIA Sanjeev Singh said, that Bahadur Ali, who was captured in north Kashmir, was guided by the control room of terrorist groups in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir aided by Pakistani forces. He said, "Recovered articles show that terrorist was provided great references in codes. It shows very highly trained people trained him."
He also hinted on the role of Pakistan in the current unrest in Kashmir. "We have collected all kinds of evidences. Bahadur Ali was directed to take advantage of current situation in Kashmir," said Singh.
Bahadur Ali underwent all three training process organised by LeT: NIA IG Sanjeev Kumar pic.twitter.com/LgzPafi9d1 ANI (@ANI_news) August 10, 2016
NIA stressed on the sophistication of the training received by the LeT terrorists. He said,"They also receive training on how to mingle with the crowds."
Bahadur Ali, who was arrested by Indian authorities in J&K on July 25 '16, makes his disclosure on camera. pic.twitter.com/OdJbwghjOW ANI (@ANI_news) August 10, 2016
NIA revealed that Bahadur Ali was recruited by Hafiz Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawah and later on was radicalised by LeT.
In a confessional video Bahadur Ali gave information on the LeT training camps. He said, "There were 30-50 trainees at training camps of LeT from different parts of the countries including Afghnistan-Pakistan border."
The NIA's comments came a day after India handed over a "strong demarche" to Pakistan over its continued support to cross-border terrorism in India.
Ali outlined his journey from the training camps and into India. He described how he crossed over to India on 11/12 June along-with two other LeT commanders and described how the Pakistani army monitored the process, "There were a few army officers in civilian clothes who checked our preparedness with a check-list."
Ali told his interrogators that he was informed by his handlers from a control room code-named 'Alpha-3', believed to located at a high altitude somewhere in PoK, about the unrest in the Valley following the killing of Burhan Wani, a Hizbul Mujahideen militant on 8 July.
His handlers from the control room asked him to throw grenades at the security forces and also informed him that other cadres of the terror group had managed to sneak into the Valley, mingled with protesters at other places and were fuelling tension in the Valley.
A fourth-class dropout Ali, who hails from Jahama village of Raiwind in Lahore, was arrested from village Yahama in Mawar area of Qalamabad, Handwara, in North Kashmir on 25 July. The Army had recovered three AK-47 rifles, two pistols and Indian Rs 23,000 from his possession.
This is for the first time that NIA has shown a video statement of a captured militant. Pakistan had earlier this year shown a video statement of Kulbhushan Yadav, an Indian national arrested in Balochistan in March over charges of spying for the Indian intelligence agency.
Srinagar: Faculty members of Jammu and Kashmir government-run medical and dental colleges today
staged a sit-in here to protest against the killing of civilians during the ongoing unrest in the Valley and demanded an immediate end to the use of pellet guns.
Dressed in white aprons with one eye blind-folded showing solidarity with patients who have lost their vision to the pellet injuries, the doctors staged peaceful sit-in in the lawns of Government Medical College.
"We are staging the demonstration to condemn the killing of civilians and press for an immediate ban on the use of the pellet guns by the law enforcing agencies," Medical Faculty Association (MFA) said.
It said despite repeated concerns by specialist doctors from the Valley and outside, the unabated use of pellet guns continued which led to injuries to eyes and vital organs.
Kashmir Valley is on the boil since July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces in Anantnag district of south Kashmir.
The widespread protests claimed the lives of 55 people and left over 6000 injured, with hundreds hit by pellets in their eyes as a result of which, doctors say, a number of youths have lost their eye sight.
MFA also condemned the use of teargas shells in and around hospital premises in the Valley and said the practice was detrimental to the well being of admitted patients.
Lauding the never-tiring efforts of doctors, paramedical staff, volunteers and blood donors, the association appealed to all those concerned to ensure a safe passage to the ambulances carrying the hospital staff and patients.
Mumbai: The Mumbai Police has recommended that the state book Islamic preacher Zakir Naik under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and ban his Islamic Research Foundation (IRF). In a 72-page report on the investigation conducted into Naik's alleged terror links submitted to the home department, the Mumbai Police alleged that Naik had used IRF for 'unlawful activities'.
The Mumbai police is all set to book Naik under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Mumbai police commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar submitted the 72-page report to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday. The report alleged that Naik justified terror acts like suicide bombing and added that some of those arrested for terror activities have said that they used to listen to Naik's speeches.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday issued an inspection notice to IRF for alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), a senior Mumbai Police official told Firstpost. The notice is the first step towards suspending or revoking the FCRA registration of any NGO or organisation, he added.
On 1 August, Firstpost had reported that the Mumbai Police was a single link away from closing in on the preacher.
The 72-page report alleged that through IRF and Peace TV, Naik gave a platform to 'terrorist minds' for propagating their ideology. It listed the names of Islamic speakers who have condoned terror and were banned in other countries, but arrived in India through IRF and made speeches on Peace TV.
The report also alleged that the IRF misused the status of an educational trust to convert people. According to a senior official, the report alleged that Naik used foreign funds to convert people in India by using these funds as inducements. Naik's IRF, according to the report, was in touch with a huge network of 'marriage agents' who used to bring people from other states into Maharashtra to be converted. The police report alleged that Naik's 'inspiration' Ahmed Deedat, a Surat-based South African preacher, had kept close ties with Osama bin Laden, who was involved in the 11 September, 2001 attacks.
Talking to mediapersons at Mantralaya, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, "In the probe, several new facts have come to light. Naik's activities are illegal. Statements made by a section of youths, who had links with the Islamic State and Indian Mujahideen, also point to the unlawful activities of IRF. We will take the strongest possible action in consultation with the law and judiciary department and MHA."
"From the documents gathered by the Mumbai Police and statements made by Naik about different religious, it is clear that there is a question mark over activities by him and IRF activities," Fadnavis added. He said that his government will seek the opinion of the law and judiciary department and the MHA before initiating action.
Padsalgikar has elaborated on the unlawful activities in his detailed report but has not recommended action, leaving it to the law and judiciary department and home department to decide. When Firstpost contacted Padsalgikar, he said, "I have submitted the report to the chief minister, thats all." He refused to comment on when the Mumbai Police will begin to take action against Naik.
"There are many indictments in the report. Many unlawful activities have been pointed out pertaining to the organisation of which Naik is the leader. The government is studying the report and will share the report with the MHA. There are certain activities attributed to Naik, as well. In consultation with the MHA, we will decide on the further course of action," he added
The Mumbai Police also attached a report of the Kerala Police that has booked IRF men for converting people and pushing them towards the Islamic State. The Mumbai Police has filed a case against two suspected Islamic State sympathisers Arshid Qureshi and Rizwan Khan alleged to be close to Naik. The duo was picked up in Mumbai last month in a joint operation by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the Kerala Police.
To bolster its case, the government has compiled a list of FIRs registered against Naik especially one filed in 2005 and another in 2012. The law ministry's proposal for action against Naik is based on these FIRs, sources said.
The Mumbai Police will be registering an offence against both Naik and IRF within a week, added a senior official.
Nagpur: A group of pro-Vidarbha activists, demanding statehood for the region, on Tuesday protested outside Union minister Nitin Gadkari's residence.
The activists took out a rally, under the leadership of former Legislator Wamanrao Chatap of Vidarbha Rajya Andolan Samiti, which ended at Gadkari's residence located in Mahal area in the eastern part of the city.
"A large number of farmers, students, women and youngsters from across various districts of Vidarbha took part in the protest march, which was aimed at reminding Gadkari of his promise on a separate Vidarbha state," Ram Neole, a leader of Samiti said.
Before being elected as an MP from Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency, Gadkari had openly espoused the cause of separate Vidarbha. However, he has been maintaining silence on the issue since his induction into the Union cabinet, Neole alleged.
"If Gadkari decides, he can deliver on the demand for separate state. The Centre has the discretion to carve out a new state without the consent of the Maharashtra Legislature," he added.
A memorandum in support of the separate statehood was submitted to Gadkari's staff as he was away in New Delhi to attend the ongoing Parliament session.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh, in his reply to the discussion on the Kashmir unrest in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, thanked all the members of the House for speaking in one voice over the Kashmir issue and said that if anyone does not know the meaning of a healthy democracy, they should tune in to the Rajya Sabha session.
Singh began his speech by assuring the House that the situation is not as dire as what was being described during the debate and food and fuel is being provided to the people of Kashmir. He stated that he does not believe that only unemployment is the reason for the Kashmir unrest. "What is happening in Kashmir is sponsored by Pakistan," he said.
He then went on to address Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif's statements on the Kashmir unrest. "Two weeks ago, Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif said that he is waiting for the day when Kashmir will become Pakistan's. He has also written a letter to the UN Secretary General saying there should be a plebiscite in Kashmir. On the basis of the statements made in the House, I can say that no power in the world can take Jammu and Kashmir from us. If there is dialogue with Pakistan, it won't be on Kashmir, it will be on Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir," he said to much applause.
He also appealed to the youth of Kashmir to stop those who were displaying flags of the Islamic State in the Valley. "What has ISIS done? They have murdered the people who believe in Islam. If there is one country that believes all religions are equal, then that country is India. Islam has never said you should murder anyone. I believe that those who claim Islam does so are insulting Islam," he said.
On the issue of 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans being raised in Jammu and Kashmir, Singh made it very clear that "it is not acceptable on Indian soil." He further said, "I appeal to the people of Kashmir not to do this."
He also reiterated the statement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made on Kashmir and said that the government has no intention of imposing President's Rule on Jammu and Kashmir.
Singh also read out a statement on behalf of the Rajya Sabha. "The House expresses sympathy to those affected. The House also urges steps to be taken to stop the violence quickly," he read.
M Ramani, 26, runs a photo studio in Nagapattinams Pazhankallimedu village in southern Tamil Nadu. He is a graduate with a bachelors degree in business administration. Ramani is now at the forefront of protests by the Dalit community in the village, who are demanding their right to worship in the Bhadrakaliamman temple there.
We want to be able to propitiate the Goddess in our traditional five-day thiruvizha (festival), explained Ramani. Since 1982 we have not been allowed to conduct our poojas. For about 10 years we have been protesting for our rights. This year, we said that if we are not allowed, we will convert to Islam. We have given a petition to the collector, he said.
Last month, 250 Dalit families signed the petition and stated their intention to convert if they were denied their rights by the dominant caste Pillaimars in the village. A court case filed by the agitating Dalits is pending since August 2015. The Nagapattinam district administration, after holding peace talks, decided to cancel the festivities altogether, citing the case pending before the courts. And so, the Dalit community is holding off on the decision to convert, awaiting the courts pronouncement.
Ramani says the community is aware that conversion will not make much of a difference to their reality. Bhadrakaliamman is our kuladeivam (ancestral deity), said the youngster. If we are not allowed to pray, then we will go to a God who allows us inside His abode to pray. We do not foresee any great change in our social status or any improvement in our lives due to conversion. It is simply about the right to pray to our Gods the way we want to, he explained.
The Meenakshipuram Experiment
Ramani is perhaps more realistic than the Dalits of Meenakshipuram in Tirunelveli. In 1980, around 300 Dalit families in the tiny usually peaceful village converted to Islam, as rebellion against the oppression and discrimination by dominant caste Thevars in the Hindu fold. What was then hailed as the answer to the caste conundrum faced by Dalits in the state, turned out to be an experiment gone wrong.
Today, Meenakshipurams converts follow the Islamic faith, but they say the discrimination continues. The only change is that we are called Mama or Macchan or Bhai (common terms used to address Muslims in Tamil Nadu), smiled Ismail Mohammed, a shopkeeper in Meenakshipuram village. Mohammed was 12 years old when the mass conversion happened and his family was one among the 300. Earlier they used to call us Pallan or Parappayalu (caste names of Pallars and Paraiyars used in a derogatory manner in Tamil). But otherwise, we are still in the same village, doing the same drudgery, being treated the same way by the dominant caste, he said in resignation.
As per the 2011 census, Dalits number around 20 crores in the country, forming 25 percent of the population. Tamil Nadus Dalits alone number over 7 percent of the total Dalit population in the country. Dalits who have converted to Christianity account for an average of 60 percent of the total Christian population of 6.12 percent in India. Those who converted to Islam are more in number by some estimates, Dalits who embraced Islam number almost 10 crore in India.
Experts in Dalit studies agree that conversion to other religions does not seem to have worked out well for the community. Conversion serves the sole purpose of registering protest, said C Lakshmanan, associate professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies. How much it translates to emancipation is not clear, as we can see from the Meenakshipuram case, he said.
Lakshmanan feels that the only way to access the due rights of the community is to unite and protest, as is happening in Una, Gujarat and in Uttar Pradesh and Telangana. The immediate need for the Dalits is to come together for a united struggle, continued Lakshmanan. Today Gujarat is witnessing a strong struggle because Dalit politicians are very few in that state. In Tamil Nadu there is a visible Dalit presence politically but there is no unity, he said.
Jahangir, the Mughal emperor, was a prolific hunter, one who hunted far and wide. His memoir Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri meticulously accounts his exploits between the age 12 and 50. Out of the total 17,167 hunted, 3203 were quadrupeds of all kinds tigers, antelope, swamp deer, cheetahs, bears etc.
One prominent animal conspicuously absent from this record is the lion.
Jahangirs hunting expeditions were just an example. Similar records of accomplishments of all royal and aristocratic families before and after him, with the distinct addition of the British, show that lion was far less hunted than the tiger in the vast swathes of forest that India was home to. In addition to the unrestrained hunting and habitat loss, did other factors such as competition with tigers for the same prey and territory accelerate its demise? We will come back to this.
Now in 2012, scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad published a landmark research paper titled Genetic evidence of tiger population structure and migration within an isolated and fragmented landscape in northwest India. The research established a healthy dispersal and migration of tigers between Ranthambore tiger reserve in Rajasthan to Kuno-Palpur and Madhav national park in Madhya Pradesh. The research is significant also for the lions in India, for it establishes the credentials of the argument against the proposed translocation of lions from Gir in Gujarat to Kuno-Palpur.
Forest corridors are critical for the long-term survival of wild species, enabling their dispersal and migration and upholding their genetic robustness.
It is critical for tigers of Ranthambore to migrate and remain connected with the central Indian tiger landscape. Their only way is southeast via the Khandar range and Keladevi sanctuary, across the Chambal river into Kuno-Palpur (only a few KM away), and via Kuno-Palpur into Madhav National park (MNP) and further still, towards the Panna and Bandhavgarh tiger reserves.
Consider these few extracts from the CCMB research paper:
We could determine significant gene flow between RTR and MNP.
We have ascertained tiger presence in Kuno-Palpur wildlife sanctuary and Madhav national park, and established their genetic connectivity with the animals of Ranthambore tiger reserve.
Such dispersal and subsequent reproduction are crucial for the maintenance of long-term genetic health in small fragmented populations.
These forests are extremely important to national conservation strategies.
The corridor of Kuno-Palpur is a veritable jugular vein for the tigers of Ranthambore. The diagram below demonstrates the proximity of the two reserves.
Can a lion and a tiger co-exist in the same habitat competing for territory, prey, dominance? Has a scientific and historical analysis of this aspect ever been made? Will there be a conflict? The MP government has nonchalantly shrugged off this concern, and that is where the danger lies.
Ecologically speaking, both tigers and lions are migrants into Indian forests.
The lions arrived in India much earlier than the tiger, i.e. about 20,000-30,000 years ago. They were found in northern, western and central India.
The tiger arrived into India approximately 12,000 years ago from the north and northeastern Asia.
Having evolved to be apex predators both are naturally designed for dominance and hence conflict would be inevitable in case of overlapping habitat.
Those who dismiss this concern, point out that lions kill other lions all the time, same with tigers, how then is a lion-tiger conflict going to be any different, they ask. What is overlooked is that in this inexhaustible cycle of nature, elimination is followed by procreation ensuring propagation of dominant genes, while in the case of a tiger-lion conflict, no procreation would follow a disruption of the natural cycle.
It is not as if no evidence exists to give legitimacy to this concern.
In 1955, the widely-respected journal of the Bombay Natural History Society carried an article in its Vol 53, titled Experiments in implanting African Lions into Madhya Bharat wherein disastrous results of an effort by the Maharaja of Gwalior to introduce lions into tiger territory were produced. The experiment was a total failure an important observation was of lions being killed by tigers. Later, the author of the article, Kesri Singh, in a book opined that tigers had a role to play in the disappearance of the lion in India, being direct competitors
Several noted authors have also opined likewise, vis-a-vis lion-tiger conflict: Richard Perry in The World of the Tiger, 1965, Jack Denton Scott in Speaking Wildly, 1966, Franklin Russell in The Hunting Animal, 1983 Kenneth Anderson in The Call of the Man-Eater, 1961.
There is much additional rationale in opposing the move, including its legality.
The Supreme Court ordered that the translocation must be strictly in accordance with IUCN guidelines. It might be falling short of several, such as
Guideline 1: There should generally be strong evidence that the threat(s) that caused any previous extinction have been correctly identified and removed or sufficiently reduced
Problem: The entire RTR-KPWLS-MNP landscape is a hostile human matrix poaching, high prevalence of licensed and unlicensed firearms, fragmented forest corridors due to encroachments, rampant illegal sand and stone mining. Hence, threats such as habitat loss and killings that caused the previous extinction are still clearly present. The tiger-lion conflict issue compounds the threat.
Guideline 2: Where a high degree of uncertainty remains or it is not possible to assess reliably that a conservation introduction presents low risks, it should not proceed, and alternative conservation solutions should be sought.
Problem: A high degree of uncertainty does remain viz the conflict with tigers compounded by concerns of inadequate prey-base, a hostile human matrix, uncertainty over the migration of lions and their acceptability once population expands etc.
Guideline 3: Human communities in or around a release area will have legitimate interests in any translocation. These interests will be varied, and attitude of the community can be extreme and contradictory. Consequently, translocation planning should accommodate the socioeconomic circumstances, community attitude, and values.
Problem: While MP has done a fine job of relocating villages from within Kuno-Palpur sanctuary, has anyone talked to or sensitised the population on the Rajasthan side, which has a smattering of hundreds of villages, which would have lions right in their backyard? Irate villagers around the Khandar range often confront hapless forest officials when tigers venture into their farms or villages, has anyone asked their opinion about having lions within a few kilometers in a few years? No.
Guideline 4: There is a risk of hybridisation with closely-related species or subspecies; this may possibly result in a lower fitness of offspring and/or loss of species integrity. This should be included in risk assessment
Problem: This is especially pertinent given the presence of tigers, and is also related to the potential of conflict. Has any study been made of lion-tiger conflict or competition in the same habitat? No.
The move does not sit in consonance with these and many other guidelines. Now, how can an order in violation of its own mandate get implemented?
This translocation might be more flagrantly violative of IUCN guidelines than any other.
Notwithstanding this, and Gujarats genuine reservations regarding the insufficiency of total area of the Kuno-Palpur sanctuary, inadequacy of prey-base, prevalence of firearms, poaching, a highly hostile human matrix that surrounds the Kuno landscape or Indias infancy in the expertise required in handling re-introduction of endangered species, if translocation does go ahead, as with all ecological disasters, the damage would only appear in the long term.
The Supreme Court has not been made fully aware of the importance of Kuno-Palpur as a migration corridor for tigers and the threat of lion-tiger conflict.
I am not against a second home for Asiatic Lions per se, although they seem to have already made a third, fourth and fifth home in Savarkundla, Palitana, Mahua, Girnar etc. By all means pursue it, in a feasible place, but not Kuno-Palpur. Because sandwiching lions between tigers would endanger both.
The author is a biotechnologist and member of State Board for Wildlife, Gujarat
Talk about authentic flavors, international cuisines and fast food, and we picture a swanky food joint in a foreign country. What if these food innovations were a part of our own Desi gastronomies?
Surprised?
Here, ogle your heart out at some of these crazy-twisted dishes that would make you go, now thats a good newsyummm!
Sev Puri Sandwich
On a monsoon evening, when you crave for some chaat and are on the lookout for the nearest Sev Puri stall, Mumbais sandwich makers will surprise you with some crunchy Sev Puri in a hot toasted sandwich, upping the ante with some spicy mint chutney for a lip-smacking twist.
Scrambled Egg Cup-noodle
One dish that goes well with different spices, vegetables and even eggs is our very own childhood favorite Cup noodles. Most of us had started experimenting with it way back in our school days but as we grew, so did the innovations with this common household item. Throw in some cooked eggs garnished with onions & coriander leaves and, voila! Your 2-minute hot feast is ready!
Tuna Paratha Roll
For all the fish lovers out there, nothing could be better than soft Tuna melting in your mouth in the very popular and practical roll. Say hello to devouring in the fishy love of Paratha rolls!
McAloo Tikki in Lebanese & Mexican flavors
McDonald's is globe-trotting with its hot-selling McAloo Tikki burger The American burger brand has brought the good news of the newest burger flavor launch 'Lebanese and Mexican'. The Mexican McAloo Tikki is stuffed with Jalapenos topped with tangy Salsa sauce and the Lebanese McAloo Tikki comes loaded with gherkins and spicy harissa sauce. So, are you all set to taste these mouthwatering burgers with a twist? These two transnational tastes are certain to be every vegetarian's delight and ready to sweep every foodie off his feet for 39/- only.
This is a sponsored post.
New Delhi: BJP on Wednesday demanded a high-level, independent probe into the death of former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul, who allegedly committed suicide, saying people wanted to know the truth behind his demise.
"Pul was a doughty leader. His death under such circumstances is very unfortunate and a matter of probe. BJP demands that there should be a high-level independent investigation into it. People want to know the truth behind his death," BJP National Secretary Shrikant Sharma said.
He wondered what was the stress that led to his alleged suicide and spoke about the internal crisis in Congress which he had joined back after defecting from it, along with several party MLAs, to become the state's Chief Minister with the BJP's support.
Pul briefly served as the chief minister from 19 February to 13 July before the Supreme Court reinstated the Nabam Tuki government.
47-year-old Pul was found dead at the Chief Minister's official residence yesterday which he was yet to vacate.
New Delhi: The cabinet on Wednesday gave ex-post facto approval to a proposal to amend the Lokpal Act to exempt Central government employees and NGOs executives from filing details of assets of their spouses and children.
Parliament had on 28 July passed a bill to amend the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013.
A meeting of the Union cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its ex-post facto approval for amendments to section 44 and consequential amendments to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 by introducing the Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in Parliament, a release issued by the government said.
"The approved amendments will address concerns and apprehensions expressed by different categories of public servants and addresses the difficulties being faced in implementing the provision of section 44 of the Lokpal and
Lokayuktas Act, 2013. The amendments are in line with one of the recommendations of the standing committee," it said.
As per old Lokpal rules, every public servant will file declaration, information and annual returns pertaining to his assets and liabilities, along with those of spouse and dependent children, as on March 31 every year on or before 31 July of that year.
This was changed through the amendment bill to exempt spouse and children of public servants.
The declarations under the Lokpal law are in addition to those filed by the employees under various service rules.
The last date for filing such declarations has been extended till 31 December, 2016.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad is right when he says that Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to have his own ideas and action in dealing with the turmoil in Kashmir rather than simply reiterating his erstwhile party stalwart and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's beautifully coined terms to handle the issue - Insaniyat, Jamhuriyat and Kashmiriyat.
Azad was neither overtly critical nor needlessly combative against the Prime Minister or the Union government, as most opposition leaders tend to do but he succeeded in effectively conveying the message. There is a need for early intervention by the Prime Minister on such critical issues and make his position known in Parliament.
His contention was that Vajpayee and Modi have two different persona. When Vajpayee used the terms Insaniyat, Jamhuriyat and Kashmiriyat it conveyed a certain sense because words like these gelled with his persona. Whether it changed situation on the ground or whether it had any long term and short term impact was not an issue today but over a decade ago, the words had their novelty and opened a dialogue process with separatists and others. Modi has a different persona and these terms didn't really reflect this thought process. Prior to Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had spoken about it and the latter had urged PM Modi to go by Vajpayee's line. Modi had talked of the same in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.
Azad's speech was a disappointment on other count given the fact the Leader of Opposition had been J&K chief minister and currently represents the state in Upper House. More substantive arguments on the issue at hand and some suggestion as to how the situation could possibly be dealt was expected from him. His attention was focussed on PM Modi and damage that pellet guns used by security forces had caused to young boys and girls in the valley.
But then he said as an opposition leader his role was to highlight the issues and take on the government, he couldn't be speaking the language of those in the government.
The other point that he made had some merits. The senior Congress leader said PM Modi had a commendable routine of coming to Parliament House, during session at 10 am and leave only at 6 pm. He would be in his Chamber and keep a close eye on proceedings of both Houses in Parliament. No other prime minister followed the kind of daily routine as Modi did. But then, he does not apply the same when it comes to actually sitting inside the House and speaking on matters of substantive importance.
The distance between his chamber in Parliament House and Lok Sabha is of 15 seconds, Rajya Sabha would be few more seconds away. But it took days for him to come to either of the two Houses. This has been a standing criticism of Modi by Opposition leaders. They had been demanding PM's presence in the House when Kashmir issue was being debated today. Though Home Minister Rajnath Singh on whose prompt response during Zero Hour on Tuesday made it possible for the issue to be discussed today, starting from 11 am, even cancelling Zero and Question Hour but the PM was not there.
It was also unusual for House to take up same subject (Kashmir) four times for discussion in this short, 20-working day session. In fact on Tuesday when the opposition leaders led by Congress were demanding yet another full-fledged debate on the subject during Zero Hour, Singh came to the House and agreed to discuss it today as the first subject in the morning.
The home minister's gesture was appreciated. But the opposition leader's argument was that when dalit issue was discussed in the House, PM didn't speak in Parliament, instead he chose to speak on other forums in Delhi and Hyderabad on gau rakshaks and dalits. Again on Kashmir issue, he chose to speak in Alijapur in Madhya Pradesh but he gave his views on the matter in Parliament.
Though it's difficult to say whether things would have taken a different turn if he had spoken in Parliament rather than outside. But his intervention in Parliament on any given issue has its own importance. A case in point is his intervention on GST in Parliament on Monday.
The Prime Minister did warn the self-styled gau rakshaks of stern action while addressing a town hall recently in New Delhi. He even offered his support to the dalit community and pledged to stand by them. Had he done the same in Parliament, it would have only strengthened parliamentary democracy.
A 65-year-old man died after being hit by Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia's car near Alapuzzha in Kerala on Wednesday.
#FLASH Man dies after being hit by a car near Alappuzha (Kerala), Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia was travelling in the car, escaped unhurt ANI (@ANI_news) August 10, 2016
Scindia, a three-time Member of Parliament from Guna, Madhya Pradesh, was travelling on the National Highway-66 in Pattanakadu village in Alappuzha when his car hit a sexagenarian riding a two-wheeler, according to AAj Tak. The elderly man died on the spot while Scindia escaped unhurt according to the report.
The accident reportedly took place at Puthiyakavu around 11.30 am on Wednesday as Scindia was travelling in a chauffeur-driven car from Kochi to Alapuzzha to attend a function at Cherthala after arriving at Kochi from New Delhi.
After the incident, the Congress leader tweeted to express his condolence and said that he will meet the bereaved family.
Devastated - sad loss of life - unfortunate accident betw Cochin-Allepy. Arranged for hospital immediately - on way to meet bereaved family! Jyotiraditya Scindia (@JM_Scindia) August 10, 2016
Police identified the deceased as Sasi, a resident of Puthiyakavu locality. Though Sasi was rushed to a nearby hospital, he succumbed to injuries, police said.
After handing over the car to the police, Scindia left in another car, KC Venugopal, Congress MP from Alappuzha, said adding his colleague would later call on the bereaved family. Besides the former union minister, three other Congress workers were in the car when the mishap occurred, Venugopal said.
Auto refresh feeds
"I will not accept that this problem is just one created by Pakistan or separatists," he said.
"You cannot escape the issue by just blaming Pakistan for the problems in Kashmir," he said. "Just because of good tourism in one season in Kashmir, you cannot think you solved the problem. If you do not pay attention to this problem, it will turn into a law and order problem."
"There must be a conspiracy being hatched by Pakistan. But you have to look at the measures you are taking to counter it," Yechury told the government in Rajya Sabha.
In response, a beleaguered Arun Jaitley said that BJP will take strict action against Dayashankar Singh. "I should tell Mayawati ji that the party shares her grief over this issue, I will look into this matter, we stand with her...I am personally hurt that a BJP party person used such derogatory words against Mayawati," he said.
"This is not only a woman's issue. This is a man's issue," said TMC MP Derek O'Brien.
Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury stressed on the fact that the man making such remarks was none other than the vice president of the UP unit of BJP and demanded that he be arrested. "A man speaks with such language on the day both houses are discussing issues on violence on Dalits?" she said.
"The nation will not forgive BJP for this, especially with what is going in Gujarat," ANI quoted Mayawati as saying. "There are wars of thoughts and ideas in the House, but never have I used derogatory words against anyone ever," she said.
"The insulting words used against me are against all of womankind," said Mayawati. "Dayashankar Singh should be arrested. Otherwise, if in response to this people get violent, it will not be on my conscience," she added.
UP BJP vice president Dayashankar Singh's cheap remark against BSP chief Mayawati created uproar in the Parliament as Opposition leaders attacked the Modi government over the issue.
In response, a beleaguered Arun Jaitley said that BJP will take strict action against Dayashankar Singh. "I should tell Mayawati ji that the party shares her grief over this issue, I will look into this matter, we stand with her...I am personally hurt that a BJP party person used such derogatory words against Mayawati," he said.
"This is not only a woman's issue. This is a man's issue," said TMC MP Derek O'Brien.
Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury stressed on the fact that the man making such remarks was none other than the vice president of the UP unit of BJP and demanded that he be arrested. "A man speaks with such language on the day both houses are discussing issues on violence on Dalits?" she said.
"The nation will not forgive BJP for this, especially with what is going in Gujarat," ANI quoted Mayawati as saying. "There are wars of thoughts and ideas in the House, but never have I used derogatory words against anyone ever," she said.
"The insulting words used against me are against all of womankind," said Mayawati. "Dayashankar Singh should be arrested. Otherwise, if in response to this people get violent, it will not be on my conscience," she added.
UP BJP vice president Dayashankar Singh's cheap remark against BSP chief Mayawati created uproar in the Parliament as Opposition leaders attacked the Modi government over the issue.
"On one hand, BJP did a lot of things to celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti and assured Dalits that they will do a lot to celebrate it. On the other hand, Dalits still do not have reservation rights in the private sector," she added.
"The legal rights which Ambedkar created for the backward sections of the society will only reach the society when honest work is done for providing those rights to them," she said.
"Even after the country got independence, whether it is Congress rule or BJP rule, the sad truth is that the Dalits are still suffering," Mayawati said in the Rajya Sabha.
"There is an urgent need to change the mindset of the major political parties of the country towards Dalits," she said. "I have to tell the Union government that this is a serious matter. I ask the government to give justice to the Dalit victims in Gujarat. It is not enough to just send the Gujarat CM to meet them. Action needs to be taken against authorities which were negligent. They should be arrested," she said.
"In the name of protection of cows, a lot of unfair things are being done. Injustice against Dalits is being done in the name of protection of cows," said Mayawati in the Rajya Sabha.
Crimes against Dalits being done in the name of cow protection, says Mayawati
"Instead of making Dalits a political weapon, Congress, BJP and other parties should be reminded that they should rise above petty politics and work for the development of backward sections," she said.
"The victims often do not get justice in case of a CID probe," said Mayawati in the Rajya Sabha. "Gujarat government did not act quickly enough. It was only when the media picked up this issue that some action was taken."
"This Una incident case should run in a fast track court. We also demand that one of the judges should be a Dalit," Mayawati said. "Forget about Dalits getting justice, even their FIR is not filed many times and the latest example is the Una (Gujrat) incident," she also said.
Deputy Chariman PJ Kurien denies that the House is taking the subject lightly. Rajya Sabha is currently debating Aam Aadmi Party lawmaker Bhagwant Mann's video of him entering Parliament by crossing several security layers. Mann then posted it on social media, inviting attack from MPs across party line, who termed his act as a security breach.
In the video, which went viral, Mann was seen showing entry gate through which MPs enter Parliament House and saying how strong is the security. "The car is registered with the Lok Sabha. It has a censor, which has the vehicle details. As soon as so you come near the gate, the censor identifies the car and announces the name and number of the car," Mann says in the video with him crossing several layers of the security.
On the fifth day of the Monsoon Session (Friday), Aam Aadmi Party MLA Bhagwant Mann's filmed a video entering Parliament by crossing several security layers, which eventually caused uproar in both the Houses. Mann, who posted it on social media, invited attack from MPs across party line, who termed his act as a security breach.
As soon as the House assembled, she informed it about the action being taken on the issue which had led to the adjournment of Lok Sabha proceedings on July 22. "The inquiry committee shall inquire into the serious security implications and related aspects.... (and) suggest suitable remedial measures to avoid recurrence of such incidents in future and recommend appropriate action in the matter," the Speaker said.
The member is "advised not to attend the sittings of the House" until a decision is taken in the matter, Mahajan said. Mann was not present in the House.
The panel has also been asked to "suggest remedial measures" so that such episodes are not repeated.
Mahajan has formed the nine member panel headed by BJP MP Kirit Somaiya which includes Anandrao Adsul (Shiv Sena), Meenakshi Lekhi, Satya Pal Singh (both BJP), B Mahtab (Biju Janata Dal), Ratna De Nag (Trinamool) and K. C. Venugopal (Congress) and other members.
Therefore, the "act of the member" has put the security of the Parliament in peril, she said. Mahajan said she had consulted leaders of all political parties and everyone supported her actions on this issue.
Describing Parliament as "sanctum sanctorum" of democracy, Mahajan recalled that on 13 December, 2001, security personnel had sacrificed their lives protecting the parliament and after that entire security system was reviewed and overhauled.
It put "security of the parliament in peril", Mahajan added. Mann has been asked to appear before the panel by 10.30 am tomorrow and make his submission.
Addressing the Lok Sabha as soon as it reassembled after the weekend break, Mahajan said taking audio video footage of security zones in the parliament by Punjab's Sangrur MP Mann on July 21 and putting them on social networking site was improper.
"The act of the member of audio-visual recording of the Parliament and posting it on the social media puts the security of Parliament in peril," the Speaker said, adding that several members had expressed concern over the issue on Friday last.
The panel, chaired by BJP member Kirit Somaiya, has been asked to submit its report by August 3, while Mann has time till tomorrow morning to submit his explanation to the committee.
Acting tough, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan today said AAP MP Bhagwant Mann's videography of the Parliament House complex had put its security "in peril" and asked him not to attend the House till a decision is taken on the matter while setting up a nine-member panel to probe the issue.
The Lok Sabha is likely to discuss The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill today. Apart from this, the Lower House is also slated to discuss The Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill.
Sasikala Pushpa began crying in the House over the issue of attacks on women in the country. She has alleged that she was harassed and was being forced to quit her post.
"So what if we disagreed with you? This is not the country we are used to living in," O'Brien said. "The Prime Minister needs to come in the House and say that we can live in the India we know, the India of unity and diversity."
"For Rs 15, they (Dalits) are being killed because they are Dalits. I am a gau sevak. But in the name of gau sevaks, don't cross the line. This is a sitaution which has gone beyond the border of this country. Since they are taking these decisions, they must listen to what the UN had to say about this country," he said.
"The curb on religious fundamentalism, this is a dangerous situation. If it happens and happens and happens, it is a decision. This is a decision of this government. Otherwise, the Defence Minister would not have said what he said yesterday," TMC MP Derek O'Brien said, referring to Parrikar's remarks that Aamir Khan needs to be taught a "lesson" because of his remarks on intolerance.
An angry Parrikar responded by saying that he did not take the name of any person in the video.
"Since the BJP government came to power, they targeted Muslims first. Now, they are committing atrocities against the Dalits. The Prime Minister should come to the Parliament and clarify on what is happening," Mayawati said.
CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury responded to Parrikar and said, "What he said is objectionable. That cannot be acceptable. Tomorrow, are you going to threaten me? If he is raksha mantri, kiska raksha ho raha hai?"
Defence Minister Parrikar responded to the uproar in the Rajya Sabha over his remarks against Aamir Khan and said, "Let them see the video themselves and make up their minds."
"We should think about the respect for women. In Bareilly, a teacher was abducted during daytime. This is not right. The government should speak. Why is the government silent?" she said.
"There are rapes taking place against Dalit women everywhere in the country. The government should take this matter seriously," Mayawati said.
Naqvi agreed with her and said the government was ready for a discussion.
"I am really embarrassed for standing here and talking about the same issue once again, even after the Nirbhaya gangrape...I want a discussion on women's protection. I do not care which place. I do not want politicising of this issue," Jaya Bachchan said in the Rajya Sabha.
An emotional Jaya Bachchan got up in the Rajya Sabha and demanded a discussion on the issue of safety of women.
"In view of seriousness of matter, Bhagwant Mann is further advised not to attend the sessions of Parliament for further two weeks," she said.
"The chairperson (of the committee) has sought extension of time for further two weeks. I have accepted the request for extension," Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said.
On the issue of AAP MP Bhagwant Mann being barred from the Parliament for making a video of the Parliament House complex, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said that the committee probing this issue had asked for more time.
"This legislation will only be passed after a serious discussion. I hope the Finance Minister passes the Bill not on the strength of his numbers, but on the basis of logic," Chidambaram said.
"Government tried to pass the GST Bill without the support of the principal Opposition and I am happy they failed," he said.
"Many issues are still outstanding issues and still need to be resolved. We had earlier tried to pass the GST Bill with the support of the Opposition and we failed," he said.
"I welcome the friendly tone of the Finance Minister's speech. I think the tone and approach has changed over the last few weeks," Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said.
"People of India expect low indirect taxes. There are many voices in the government which speak for the corporate, but someone must speak for the people. I am doing that," Chidambaram said in the Rajya Sabha.
"When this Bill is passed today, we will prepare for the next stage of the debate, which is the Central GST Bill. I want an assurance from the Finance Minister....This is a very important legislation. I want an assurance that when that Bill is brought, that will be brought as a Financial Bill and not as a Money Bill," Chidambaram said.
"Persuade all parties and sections of the people that a standard of 18 percent is the most appropriate," he added.
"The worry that we have is creeping taxation. But that is what Parliament is for. Taxation is the exclusive power of the Parliament. It is ultimately Parliament which calls the shots in taxes," he said.
"I, on behalf of my party, loudly and clearly demand that the GST rate should not exceed 18 percent," Chidambaram said in the Rajya Sabha.
Bill in next stage of GST debate should be brought as a Financial Bill: Chidambaram
Chidambaram warns that a rate too high, something like 23 percent, will be inflationary. He insists that the Bill needs to be passed as a finance Bill. The critical point we shouldnt be miss here is that the Congress is pitching for 18 percent standard GST rate and isnt ready to give up on this point in any case.
This comment is crucial since the NDA government has not yet arrived on a single rate. Chidambaram attacks the Narendra Modi government, saying it does not care about the problems of the common people. Chidambaram stresses on the point that the rate should be changed only with the permission of Parliament, and thus makes Congress compromise formula that the GST rate should be included in the GST Bill, though his party is willing to compromise on the earlier demand that the rate should be included in the constitution.
According to Firstpost Financial Editor Dinesh Unnikrishnan, P Chidambaram has hit the core point in his speech the final GST rate. Chidambaram positions Congress as the voice of poor and emphasises on the fact that standard GST rate should not exceed 18 percent on the lines of what governments chief economic advisor, Arvind Subrmanian, suggested.
"It (GST) violates states' autonomy. It results in permanent revenue loss to the state of Tamil Nadu. We strongly oppose this Bill," AIADMK MP A Navaneethakrishnan said in the Rajya Sabha.
"We have moved an amendment that the compensation should be for at least 5 years," he added.
"Tamil Nadu will lose Rs 9270 crore because of GST. This is not a small amount," he said.
"Till date, the revenue-neutral rate has not been fixed by the government," he said, adding that this was a problem in the GST Bill.
"Petroleum and petroleum products must be kept outside GST permanently. We can save our people only then," he said. "It is a well-known fact that Tamil Nadu is a manufacturing state. It is also known that this method of taxation is destination-based. We strongly oppose that," he said.
He then went on to elaborate on the changes which AIADMK wanted in the GST Bill.
"The composition of the GST Council is not fair. The weightage of each state's vote should be in proportion to their representation in the country," said the AIADMK MP in the Rajya Sabha.
"Now let me tell you about the ping pong match," O'Brien said
"I'm feeling like a teenager in the presence of these senior lawyers," O'Brien said. "There is the politics of the Bill. GST can also be interpreted as the Girgit Samjhauta Tax," TMC MP Derek O'Brien said in the Rajya Sabha.
TMC MP Derek O'Brien has always been dramatic in his speeches, and his speech during the GST Bill is a perfect example.
The money has to first come from Centre to states and then from states to local bodies. If the availability of funds to local bodies gets delayed, that can seriously hamper functioning of local bodies, Patel cites. In a larger context, this problem is not for MCGB alone. It would apply to all big and small local bodies across the country in the GST regime. Patels remarks suggest the magnitude of challenge the Modi government has while implementing the revolutionary tax regime.
Patel raises the challenge of GST implementation. Under the GST regime, when various indirect taxes including sales tax, VAT and Octroi get consolidated in one uniform tax rate, will large local bodies such as MCGB get funds on time for its daily functioning? Patel asks.
Firstpost Financial Editor Dinesh Unnikrishnan says that NCP Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel raises an interesting case of states within the states, citing the example of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGB), which under Octroi alone garners about Rs 8000 crore to Rs 9000 crore per annum.
"The Prime Minister should come to the House apologise to the nation. If he cannot come, we will be happy even if Finance Minister Jaitley apologises," Budania said. "It was Congress which forced you to follow the right path of this Bill."
"At that time, the then Gujarat CM had said that this Bill is against the welfare of the nation. Today, the same man who is now PM, said that this Bill is benefitial for the nation," he said.
"When the Congress had brought this Bill to the Parliament, then BJP had protested against it," said Narendra Budania, Congress MP from Rajasthan.
PM Modi should apologise to the nation for his U-turn on GST Bill: Congress in Rajya Sabha
"We have given this notice for discussion to wake up the government. It is unfortunate that the Taj of Hindustan is burning but the central government cannot feel the heat. Which kind of heat will wake up the Kashmir government?" Azad said.
"Today, it has been 30 days since curfew was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir. I do not think that any state in India has seen curfew for 30 days since Independence," Congress leader Azad said.
"Please call for an all-party meeting and send a delegation to Kashmir," he said.
"This cannot be solved through law and order machinery," he said. "The silence of the Prime Minister is more eloquent than words. He is sending the message that the government does not care about the situation in Kashmir."
"This is one of the most grave situations I have risen in to speak. I have not seen continuous curfew for 30 days in my life. How can we remain silent? More than 1000 incidents of firing have been reported in a month. More than 8000 have been injured. 60 are dead. It is inhuman and criminal. Why are we using pellet guns? I am told that even Israel does not use pellet guns against Palestinians," CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury said.
"If you (BJP) were not opposing this Bill at that time, this Bill would have been passed two years ago. So, you are actually responsible for delaying the Parliament passing this Bill, but we are taking the blame," he said.
"Why was it that in 2011, some ministers who are sitting on that side were opposing this Bill?" Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said in the Lok Sabha.
"Today, the Parliament is going to take a big step for the freedom from tax terrorism," he said. "Some people will know the condition of taxation in our country," he added.
"Today is 8 August. On this day many years ago, Mahatma Gandhi had moved the nation with 'Bharat choro' slogan," PM Narendra Modi said in the Lok Sabha.
"Therefore, who won and who lost is not a matter of debate," the Prime Minister further said.
"But the credit for this Bill does not belong to one party. It belongs to the culture of Indian democracy," Modi said.
"It is true that someone created this Bill while someone else nurtured it," he said. "Just as someone gave birth to Krishna and someone else raised him," he said.
"The most important requirement was the creation of trust between Centre and the states. The most important thing was to not decide this on the basis of sheer numbers. That is why I have earlier said that democracy is not just about numbers," he said.
"We were successful in taking care of a lot of flaws with the GST Bill. 'Ek manch, ek manth, ek marg, ek manzil' is the mantra behind GST which all of us have experienced," the PM said.
"Sometimes, there were doubts about the GST. When I was the CM, even I had doubts about GST. And today, because of seeing GST continuously as a CM, my viewpoint changed when I viewed it as Prime Minister," Modi said.
"All Centre and states need to unite to create a mechanism for Ek Bharat," PM Modi said in the Lok Sabha.
I had different view of GST because I looked at it earlier from the point of view of a CM: PM Modi in Lok Sabha
"A message will go to the people through GST that the consumer is the king," Modi said. "GST gives a guarantee of security to small traders and businessmen. It will result in economic growth."
"Despite our differences, we made efforts to take GST forward," he said. "A uniformity in the processing of taxation will come through GST."
"In the entire discussion of GST, none of us used it as a platform for politics. We rose above politics for the welfare of the nation," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in the Lok Sabha.
GST will send the message that the consumer is the king: PM Modi in LS
"Even during the all-party meeting, I had said that the credit for the GST Bill goes to all political parties," the Prime Minister said.
"It is a matter of great strength for Indian democracy that all of us are making efforts to take this forward together," he said.
"It is also true that we need to have IT-preparedness and legal preparedness. In the world, even the countries which are praised for their democracy find it tough to deal with Bills," he said.
"Because of GST, the taxpayer will realise that he will benefit from honesty. Therefore, we will succeed in bringing down the generation of black money," Modi said.
"There will be data integration. Because of a strong cross-checking mechanism, a seamless method which will help in catching any wrongdoing will be created," the PM said.
"GST will help in curbing corruption and black money," Modi said. "Corruption will move towards zero because of GST," he said.
"When something happens in Africa, the Prime Minister tweets about it. But when the Taj of India is burning, the heat is not reaching the central government," he added.
"We were told that he spoke on Kashmir issue in Madhya Pradesh because the CM told him to do so. This shows that the Parliament means nothing to the PM and he would not have spoken on the Kashmir issue if the Chief Minister had not asked him to do so," he said.
"This is the fourth time we are asking the Prime Minister to provide a statement in the House," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said in the Rajya Sabha.
PM spoke on Kashmir in Madhya Pradesh just because the CM told him to do so: Azad in RS
"When you truly feel pain from the heart, it will reach Kashmir," he said.
"When you say Kashmir is an integral part of India, it should not only be on paper. There should be integration of hearts and minds. What about the integration between federal and state government?" said Azad.
"Law and order in Kashmir in not just in the hands of Jammu and Kashmir police, but also in the hands of paramilitary forces," Azad further said. "If someone says that Mehbooba Mufti should alone solve the problem in Kashmir, that is not possible for her," he added.
"Kashmir is secular. The destruction of Kashmiriyat and insaniyat is not happening because of democracy but because of the pellet guns," he said.
"There is a difference between communalism and separatism. Militants are also targeting Muslims. Militancy has no religion," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said in the Rajya Sabha.
"You can only keep Kashmir in India when you treat Kashmiris as equals," he said. "Shoot the people but do not use pellet guns. Pellet Guns are worse than live bullets. It is worse than killing people," he further said.
"The Prime Minister said that the people of the country love Kashmir. But the people of Kashmir should also love the country," JD(U)'s Sharad Yadav said.
"Merely repeating what Atal Bihari Vajpayee said is not going to create that trust. Create that trust by stopping the communal polarisation that is taking place in the country," he said.
"If everyday you talk about abrogating Article 370, you talk about love jihad, ghar wapsi, are you creating trust?" said Yechury.
"Unless you address the central question of the promises made to the people of Kashmir at the time of independence, this problem will not be solved," he said. "The problem today can only be solved if you initiate a political dialogue. I have urging this government that this can only come through with an atmosphere of trust.
"The trust deficit exists (in Kashmir) because of the string of betrayals of the promises made," said the CPI(M) leader.
He also took a dig at the government's foreign policy and said, "When you want to wish Happy Birthday, you go to Pakistan."
"If other governments have engaged in dialogue in the past, what is preventing this government from initiating the political dialogue?" Yechury said.
"The threat we face today is not a mere question of autonomy. There is also an orchestrated terrorist threat in Kashmir," he said.
"Today, there is an attempt to create dual power in Kashmir," Dasgupta further said. "Let us remember that dialogue cannot be done if we are going to tie the hands of the executive."
"While I agree with Sitaram Yechury that we need a form of political approach, the form and time of that approach should be different," he said.
"We have been talking about development and healing hearts and unfortunately, we have come across a rather big emotional divide. At an earlier time, it was thought that Article 370 would facilitate the process of integration. But we may have actually hardened the emotional divide," he said.
"A lot of the people who have taken to the streets may be spontaneous. But there is also a large degree of pre-meditation in the protests," he said.
"That was the death of Burhan Wani. The death of any Indian should be a source of anguish. But Burhan Wani never considered himself an Indian. And what do you say about a person who glamourises terrorism?" Dasgupta said.
"The problem we face in Kashmir today is somewhat different from the problems we have faced earlier," he said. "Three months ago, Kashmir was peaceful. We had a unique political experiment. It was an alliance between the Valley and Jammu, something which was unique and encouraging. And then something broke loose," he added.
"While we try to evolve a consensus on this issue, we should sometimes be brutally frank about what we are dealing with," Swapan Dasgupta, nominated MP, said in the Rajya Sabha.
"I wish people in this Parliament talked about sending a delegation to AIIMS, where a girl injured by pellet guns is admitted," he said.
"Why do we only remember Kashmir when it is burning? Guns will not solve any problem," he said. "The people of this country should understand what the problem in Jammu and Kashmir is."
"Why wasn't there any problem in Kashmir until 1987?" said a dramatic PDP MP Nazir Ahmad Laway in the Rajya Sabha.
Why do we remember Kashmir only when it is burning? asks PDP MP in Rajya Sabha
Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia: When we are talking about Swachh Bharat, we should first clean our minds. Fringe elements have now turned into the Centre today. Why the Home Minister didn't visit Rohith Vemula?
PM made a strong statement: Shoot me, not the Dalits. But why he didn't include Muslims? Muslims can never be part of Hindu nationalism but they are a part of Indian nationalism.
Sexual violence against Dalit women has increased. About eight lakh Dalits are dependent on selling skins, bones of dead cows, what will they do now?
AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi: No democracy in the world has prioritise animal life over human life. But the Indian democracy has. Why do gua rakshaks have come to power? The credit goes to the idealogy of ruling party. What right do so-called gau rakshaks have to look at what I eat?
NK Premchandran, RSP MP from Kollam: The attrocities against the Dalits is politics. Educational, economical and social upliftment is the need of the poor.
We all should work together and committ ourselves in taking action in order to stop the atrocities on Dalit. Also, I would appeal all the state governments to take strictest action against anti-social elements who try to disrupt the harmony of secular fabric of the country.
It is pointless to blame the other government. Why did we celebrate Ambedkar's 125th anniversary with such genuinty? Respecting Ambedkar is like respecting India.
Seva Bharati, an RSS organisation, is one of the organisations which has been majorly active at the grassroots for the upliftment of Dalits.
Dalit community has contributed a lot towards Indian heritage. When India was under the British Rule, no matter how atrocities were inflicted on them, still they stood by India. They never demanded a separate country. We in the government emphathise with the Dalits.
On PM Modi's silence, Singh said, "Has any PM spoken during all discussions in Parliament? When PM spoke on the atrocities, and gau rakshaks, I issued an advisory that strict action should be taken against such gau rakshaks.
Our biggest challenge is to counter the twisted mentality of the perpetrators. What happened in Una was extremely condemnable.
"This is rumour that after BJP came to power that the atrocities on Dalit have increased. Just ask yourselves if this is true. Show me the data records. I don't want to point fingers at any political party. But following figures would explain: In 2013, 39,346 cases were registered against atrocities, 40,300 and 35,564 were registered respectively," Singh said.
"We can make India world's best country if we consider humanity above all. There are many articles in our Indian constitution for Dalits. But there is a need for effective laws to act on these articles. Our government is working at socio-economic development of the Dalits."
"It is painful that even after 70 years of independence we are still discussing atrocities on Dalits. We cannot deny that there are people from several castes and religion. We should not politicise the atrocities on Dalits," Singh said.
On Friday, 12 August, 2016 the bills for consideration and passing in the Lok Sabha are Mental Health care Bill,2016 and Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016.
Congress leader Anand Sharma said that the government should not be hypocritical. He said, "When administrators have high salary, MLAs have a good rise, why don't we get the same treatment?"
Ram Gopal Yadav, SP, Uttar Pradesh raised the issue of the low wages of the members of Parliament. He said, "The pay of the MP's is only a fraction of ministers in Telangana Assembly or Delhi Legislative Assembly. We are asked to reduce our expenditure but we cannot do that when we have to entertain people of our constituency. The rising inflation also makes it difficult for us to sustain ourselves."
In the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha Congress leader Shashi Tharoor raised the issue of failing start-ups in India. He said, "The government has given tax incentives to the start-ups but everyone knows that they don't make any money in the first few years. Hence the tax incentives should be given to the angel investors."
After GST this is the second resolution which has been adopted unanimously.
She added, "This house earnestly appeals to all sections of society in India to work for the early restoration of normalcy and harmony. This is to restore confidence in people and youth in general. The resolution is adopted unanimously."
Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan announced that the resolutions proposed on the Kashmir issue has been passed. She said,"This house expresses serious concern over the violence in Kashmir Valley. Everyone here conveys loss of life caused by the deteriorating situation. The house is of the firm view that there cannot be a compromise on security."
Dubbing passage of the GST Constitution Amendment Bill as historic, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said that manufacturing taxes and VAT will come down with the new national sales tax but the same for services tax will be decided by states and Centre. The Goods and Services Tax (GST), which will subsume over a dozen central and state levies including excise duty, service tax and VAT, is "perhaps the most important" tax reform, he said soon after Rajya Sabha overwhelmingly voted for the legislation.
"Today is a historic day for the reason that Rajya Sabha has passed the GST bill which have been held up for a very long time. All members present at the time of voting, voted in favour of the bill," Jaitley told reporters in Parliament House.
Thanking Congress and other opposition parties for supporting the legislation, he said proceedings in the Upper House demonstrated to the world that this is a great day for Indian democracy and Indian federalism. "In fact Indian democracy and Indian federalism are at there very best in as much as all national political parties and regional parties, state governments have come together to usher a major taxation reform.. The government wanted to build a larger consensus, which we succeeded in doing," he said.
Asked if the implementation of the GST would mean rise in cost of air travel, mobile bills and eating out because of incidence of service tax going up in the new regime, he said that tax rate would be decided by the GST Council, comprising of the Centre and the states.
"Manufacturing taxes will certainly will come down, VAT will come down. What level services taxes are to be kept is a discretion of GST Council. It will depend on what states along with Centre will decide," he later told Times Now. On Congress demand for not converting the supporting GST legislation as Money Bill, Finance Minister said he has not pre-decided on bringing the Bills as Money or Finance Bills.
"Once the GST is implemented, it will bring basic changes as far as the Indian tax structure is concerned, it will converge India into one unified market, with one unified tax in the country, it will improve the base of taxation, it will make evasion extremely difficult.
"The central and state governments have to work together to make this a great success. Overall, I think we had an excellent debate," he told reporters.
He said although every state government is on board in order to implement one of the most important taxation reform in India, the fact is that it has been passed unanimously all regional and national parties have actively supported it.
Congress hoped that subsequent legislations for its implementation like CGST and IGST bills would be brought in the Winter Session as financial and not money bills. Former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said he was only half satisfied with the Finance Minister's promise made in the Upper House in this regard.
"It's a half promise. Therefore, I am half satisfied," he told reporters after the passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill. Chidambaram said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has assured that he will hold discussions with the Congress party before bringing the bills. Senior Congress leader and former Law Minister Kapil Sibal cited the example of Aadhaar Bill to claim the new legislations could be converted into Money Bills to block voting.
"We have seen the Aadhar Bill was converted into a money bill and we were not given the right to vote on it. We have doubt that this GST bill will also be turned into a money bill whereby a discussion on it will take place in Rajya Sabha but members will not be allowed to vote on it. We are concerned over it," he said. "We hope that it will be a financial bill and there will be a discussion on it and we will be given the right to vote on it," he said.
Another Congress member Renuka Chowdhury said, "They have considered many of our aspects. Have to wait and see what happens in the winter session." NCP leader Praful Patel said it is very good that the Constitution amendment bill to bring GST was passed with general consensus.
"It is good for the country and states will also benefit, especially those which considered themselves as backward as they will get more revenue.
"We hope that the Bill to be brought by government in November will also be passed with general consensus. Finance Minister has given an assurance that whatever bill will be brought, it will be honoured," he said. Earlier in the day, Congress had made it clear to the government that firm assurances for keeping the GST rate capped at 18 per cent and bringing subsequent legislations needed for its rollout as financial bills alone could ensure its support to the long-pending Constitution Amendment bill.
"We also demanded an assurance that the CGST and IGST should not be moved as money bill. The Central GST and Integrated GST are bills which will apply on taxpayers, on common man. They must be debated and voted upon by both Houses of Parliament. We hope to get assurance from the Finance Minister. If these assurances are forthcoming, we will be able to support," Chidambaram told reporters.
The GST Bill will finally be taken up for discussion in the Rajya Sabha.
India Inc had said it is looking forward to introduction of the much-awaited Goods & Services Tax (GST), saying it would be a very significant step in the field of indirect tax reforms in India.
The government has circulated official amendments to the GST bill to drop 1 percent additional tax and include a definite provision in the statute for compensating states for revenue loss for 5 years as it gears up to discuss the long-pending bill in Rajya Sabha.
The eleventh day of Parliament's Monsoon Session on Monday began with AIADMK Rajya Sabha member Sasikala Pushpa's statement where she said that she was facing a "life threat" and was being "compelled to resign".
Sasikala, who hit the headlines for slapping DMK leader Tiruchi Siva at the airport on Saturday, said: "I am receiving an unconditional apology from Tiruchi Siva. Something was spoken against my party leader and I behaved like that."
The parliamentary proceedings over the day saw the passage of the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016, and the Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2016, that provide for putting the NEET in place for admission to medical and dental courses across the country from next year; and National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in Rajya Sabha.
The Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws Amendment Bill 2016 was moved in the Lok Sabha for consideration and passing.
Key proceedings/issues discussed in Lok Sabha:
Supplementary demands over additional spending
The government sought parliament's nod for additional spending of Rs 1.03 lakh crore, though the cash outgo will only be Rs 20,948.26 crore.
Presenting the Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2016-17 in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley sought parliament's approval for a transfer of Rs 5,000 crore towards National Employment Guarantee Fund and Rs 1,000 crore for providing funds to Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves for Sovereign Strategic Crude Oil Reserve at Vizag, Mangalore, and Pudur.
Bill for speedier recovery of bad loans passed
The Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws Amendment Bill 2016 was moved in the Lok Sabha for consideration and passing.
Piloted by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the bill seeks to amend four laws the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002; the Recovery of Debts due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993; the Indian Stamp Act, 1899; and the Depositories Act, 1996.
Special status: TDP MPs protest in Parliament
Unhappy over the Centre's stand on special status to Andhra Pradesh, TDP, a partner in NDA government, staged protests both inside and outside Parliament. Seeking immediate announcement for special status, the MPs of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) tried to disrupt the proceedings in the Lower House.
Holding placards and raising slogans in support of their demands, the TDP members in the Lok Sabha began the protest as soon as the house met for the day. They rushed to the speaker's podium, demanding that the government fulfill its commitments under Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan repeatedly appealed to members to return to their seats but they continued the protest. The Speaker conducted the proceedings amid the uproar before adjourning the proceedings till 2 pm.
Attack on Dalits and Muslims
Opposition members expressed concern over growing attacks on Dalits and minorities and called for stern action against cow vigilante groups which have been targeting them.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay underlined the need for action against those targeting the Dalits and Muslims to uphold secularism and communal harmony.
Key proceedings/issues discussed in Rajya Sabha:
GST Bill listed for Wednesday
The government has listed the GST bill for discussion in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, hoping it will be passed through consensus, but the opposition Congress said that consultation is still on over the issue and an agreement is not yet finalised.
In view of the development, the BJP has issued whip for all its Rajya Sabha members to be present in the house for the next three days.
"The GST bill is listed for Wednesday. We hope it will be passed through consensus," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said.
Bills to put in place NEET passed
The Rajya Sabha passed by voice vote the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016, and the Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2016, that provide for putting the NEET in place for admission to medical and dental courses across the country from next year.
The bills provide for a Constitutional status to the 'National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and seek to amend the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, and the Dentists Act, 1948.
Responding to a debate on the bills in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda said the whole exercise was aimed to stop multiplicity of examinations, to bring transparency to curb corruption and to stop exploitation of students.
Uproar over Manohar Parrikar's comments on Aamir Khan
Rajya Sabha witnessed a brief uproar by opposition members over alleged remarks by Manohar Parrikar against actor Aamir Khan even as the Defence Minister denied having said what was been quoted to him.
During the Zero Hour, Derek O'Brien (TMC) raised the issue of "dangerous" rise in religious fundamentalism in the country, saying the government, ministers and people associated with the ruling party were "shooting their mouths off every day".
"The Prime Minister needs to come and say these are in fact mistakes, this is not thinking of the government. Prime Minister come here and assure us that we can live in the India we know Unity in Diversity".
As soon as he finished his Zero Hour mention, Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad quoted a report which said 'Parrikar takes a swipe at actor Aamir; those who speak like this must be taught a lesson'.
"So may I ask him (Parrikar who was sitting in the House) what lesson he is going to teach us...The entire nation should be told what type of action and lesson he is going to teach the minorities of this conuntry," Azad said.
To this, Parrikar said: "I would only say one thing. Let the members see the video...and make up their mind". However, this did not pacify the agitated opposition.
Shame on the people of Manipur who made Irom Sharmila feel dejected by preventing her from entering Kaisampat area of Imphal town. Sharmila should be angry today instead of being hurt, angry at this audacious sense of entitlement over her body (and identity) displayed by an array of people.
Who is Alliance for Socialist Unity, Kangleipak (ASUK)? Why should Sharmila care about what they think they are entitled to? What moral right or authority do they have to suggest to her that she should not marry a certain person or fight elections? What makes Sharmilas brother believe that he is entitled to a consultation from her? Sharmilas mother, my respect to her, but what kind of heartless mother pulls a long face at the news of her daughter finally reclaiming her life? The Meira Paibis, you all are mothers? What kind of mother would force her daughter to die when she clearly wants her life back for whatever reasons?
We should all be angry at this bunch of thankless and heartless people who are so selfish that they would rather see her die or rot alone, just so that they can continue to feel good and morally superior that one of their own is dying for them, one, whose body is not hers but that of the nation. After everything that she has done, people should rather just bow their head, say thank you and start thinking for themselves.
When Sharmila broke her fast on Tuesday with a drop of honey, a certain journalist said, Ma'am, you are a Goddess for the people of Manipur. Sharmila immediately retorted in her frail voice, I do not like that identity. I am a human.
Enough is enough, really. The time has come that every Indian woman starts getting furious every time somebody calls them Goddess. There can be nothing more dehumanising than imagining women as Goddesses and using that image for religious gratification.
Sharmilas fate today is a stark reminder of the bone-chilling ending of Satyajit Rays classic Devi (1960) in which we see that the living Goddess who was being worshipped for months is frantically running for her life as she is scared that the mob will kill her because she failed in her performance as a Goddess.
Based upon a short story by Provatkumar Mukhopadhyay, the film depicts the tragic consequences of objectifying women as Goddesses. The patriarch of a wealthy upper caste Bengali family had a dream one day that his daughter-in-law, Dayamayi, 17, is Goddess Kalis incarnation. Next morning, he jumps out of his bed and heads straight towards Dayamayis bedroom, calling out Maa, Maa. Dayamayi opens the door and he falls upon her feet in reverence followed by her Bhasur (husbands elder brother). This sudden intrusion in a womans private space around her body is as much discomforting as it is when shes been groped by a man in a crowded bus or breathed heavily upon.
In no time, the young beautiful sexual Dayamayi was transformed into a pious living Goddess stripped of every shred of her human identity. She is displaced from her bedroom and shifted to worship room, her gold jewellery are replaced by flower garlands, colourful sarees are replaced by a plain simple one, the kohl from her eyes are rubbed off, the red hue from chewing beetle leaves are missing from her luscious lips.
She is made to sit alone on a pedestal like a statue while a large group of men perform various rituals around her. The solitary woman in a room full of men, all of whom are looking at her and getting some sort of gratification. This is the same as a room full of men watching poll dancers. Objectifying and dehumanising women for whatever purpose is simply unacceptable.
The nation (here defined in more ways than political borders) plays out its politics on women bodies. Nations idea of masculinity, feminity, sexuality, culture is depicted through womens bodies and that includes its idea of struggle and resistance.
By ending her unprecedented 16-year-long fast, Irom Sharmila has reclaimed her body for herself, and the people of Manipur are feeling a sense of loss. They are not upset because this is a setback for the fight against AFSPA but because it is a loss of the body that represented their politics. Suddenly, the barycentre around which they were orbiting is missing. These are wails of people who are clueless themselves, unsure of the next logical step. Manipur should think for itself and come up with ideas to take the struggle over from Sharmila. Instead, they are hell bent upon sacrificing her at the altar so that they can make a statue of her, put a garland on it and continue to claim her body as the nations legacy.
Tuesday's Union Home ministry advisory, asking states to have zero tolerance for self-proclaimed 'cow protection' vigilante groups, is a belated but commendable step in the right direction. In urging states to protect subaltern groups and minorities from unscrupulous 'gau rakshaks' and their ringmasters who use an emotive issue to achieve their criminal and political ends, the advisory addresses a deep-rooted social prejudice that Dalits, above all, have routinely and historically been subjected to. It's a start, but that's not all.
The Central government advisory tries to separate a sociological problem which has law and order implications from its blatant and enduring politicization. This in turn has led to a strange situation where every political party woos Dalits but the oppression and violence against them continues unabated.
As the Congress, pioneers of the 'Minority Project', successfully ghettoised Muslims into a fear psychosis and reaped rich electoral dividends (a model now followed by nearly all 'secular' parties), studies and committee reports have proved how ground realities stayed the same for Muslims even almost seven decades into Independence. This should tell us how little political parties care for the groups and communities that they represent, because economic and social empowerment for that community invariably have a detrimental effect in votebank politics.
Before I elaborate on this, let's take a detailed look at what the government advisory says.
The MHA advisory, while making a caveat on cow slaughter prohibition laws, advised firm action against law-breakers.
"In States where slaughter of cows is prohibited by law, such slaughtering would be in violation of law, and an offence. However, that does not entitle any individual or group of persons to take action on their own to prevent the alleged slaughter or punish the alleged wrong doers."
Quoting Mahatma Gandhi on cows being the symbol for the "helpless and weak", and mentioning Directive Principles of State Policy that provide for the preservation of cows, the advisory stresses on Article 48 of the Constitution. But the urge to employ law and order was unequivocal and absolute.
Recently some incidents have been reported where certain persons or groups have taken law into their own hands in the name of protecting cows and have committed crimes This is not an acceptable situation. The states are enjoined upon, and expected, to ensure that any person who takes law into his/ her own hands is dealt with promptly, and punished as per law. There should be no tolerance at all for such persons and full majesty of law must come to bear on them, without exception.
"Any person, or persons, doing so have to be dealt with strictly under the relevant laws, and brought to justice in the quickest possible fashion, for the strictest punishment," it read.
Now combine the advisory with the Prime Minister's recent statements where he categorically and unambiguously warned "fake gau rakshaks" who "have a problem with the countrys unity and only want to destroy society" from the long arm of law, and you get a picture of how the Modi government is trying to separate a law and order issue from a social prejudice. While the advisory focuses on implementation of law and order, Modi's message focused on the social impact of caste-based discrimination and the need for respecting the "Dalit brothers and sisters". In this, he also received support from RSS.
It could well be that the BJP is wary of Dalit backlash and is trying desperately to cut losses ahead of crucial Assembly polls. Accusations can also be made against the PM for not speaking out sooner but regardless of the motive, there is nothing wrong in trying to address a social evil. Untangling the knotty conflations is a much-needed step.
Not the least because blurring the line between blatant acts of criminality, deep-rooted social prejudice and the emotive issue of cow among Hindus is the modus operandi of parties who sense a huge political opportunity in fanning up the flames. Exploiting Dalit anger is of course a legitimate political ploy but it does little to address the historical, traditional and cultural discrimination Dalits have faced.
The issues faced by Dalits and the politics around it are two completely different things. The latter, if anything, obstructs a remedy for the former.
The issues faced by Dalits and the politics around it are two completely different things. The latter, if anything, obstructs a remedy for the former. The point to understand, regardless of what a section of the media peddles and parties such as the Congress, SP or the BSP claim, is that discrimination against Dalits did not start on 16 May, 2014, the day Narendra Modi came to power. Neither are atrocities against Dalits related to only those states where the BJP is in power.
While Una in Gujarat has gained our attention, reports have poured in from non-BJP ruled states of Dalits being subjected to violence and discrimination.
In UP, a Dalit man and his daughter were beaten up for drawing water from a handpump at an ashram in Sambhal district, just two days after Modi's appeal. The 13-year-old girl who was working in the fields went to drink water from a handpump installed outside the Dunda Ashram in Gunnor area when she was beaten up. Later, when her father raised the issue, he too was thrashed allegedly by the priest and his aides.
Once again in UP, a state where scheduled castes and tribes form 20 percent of the population, Dalits have refused to dispose of carcasses after two of their community members were beaten up by 'cow vigilantes' on suspicion of cow slaughter on 28 July in Takrohi area of Indiranagar.
Once again in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party government led by Akhilesh Yadav suspended all 14 policemen in Kanpur. A murder case was also filed against one of them after a young Dalit man was found dead in custody.
And on Monday, A mob of gau rakshaks allegedly beat up two Dalits in Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district after they skinned a cow which had died due to electrocution. The brothers were allegedly tied to a coconut tree, stripped and thrashed for skinning a dead cow at Janakipeta in Amalapuram town of Andhra Pradesh. According to police, after the cow died following electrocution, its owner engaged the brothers for skinning the animal. On getting to know of the skinning, the cow vigilantes went to the place and beat up the duo, suspecting that they had killed the animal.
In many of these cases, vigilantism have tried to capitalize on a vacuum in governance. Strict implementation of law and order may deter these self-styled breaker of laws and that is exactly why the Home Ministry advisory is important.
But to see these atrocities only through the prism of criminality is, of course, wrong by miles. All these incidents are also a reflection of the growing resentment among the upper castes at having to increasingly share social and political privileges with Dalits.
As sociologist Dipankar Gupta pointed out in an India Today report: "When oppressed classes start asserting themselves, backlashes happen. In the US, the lynching of Blacks started in the later part of 19th century when they began asserting their rights. The same is happening with Dalits as they are increasingly participating in the social and political process," he says, pointing to how a 90 percent increase in Dalit literacy between 2001 and 2011 has given them a bigger voice, supported by the gradual penetration into traditional and social media.
Tied to this is the political arithmetic. The BJP doubled its Dalit vote share to 24 percent in 2014 from 12 per cent in 2009. It won all 17 Lok Sabha seats in UP that year and a total of 40 out of 84 seats reserved for SCs and STs. The BJP also won 41 of the 70 reserved constituencies in all the states where it has formed a government since 2014. This ability to swing electoral fortunes made Dalits a lucrative community for parties to purse. Though Dalits have historically never voted in blocks, non-BJP forces are confident that a mobilization of Dalit anger against it will swell their electoral tide.
This, sadly, remains the intrinsic calculus of Indian polity. Sanghmitra Acharya, director of the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, Delhi, tells India Today: "Political parties don't see these as problems. They want to keep deprivation among Dalits an issue which they can exploit for electoral benefits."
Modi's message and the advisory, may trigger a strategic shift in the Dalit debate where the focus is on better implementation of law and order and greater stress on social inclusiveness. His political rivals are already nervous about such a shift happening. That should tell the PM that he must continue in his path towards social egalitarianism.
Washington: A new set of 44 emails released by a conservative watch dog have thrown light on how top officials from the Clinton Foundation sought access to the State Department when Hillary Clinton served as the Secretary of State in the first term of the Obama Administration.
According to the email exchanges spread over 296 pages, officials of the Clinton Foundation not only sought to get job opportunities in the State Department, but also the help of in getting meetings with foreign government, alleged Judicial Watch which obtained these emails through Freedom of
Information Act.
The new documents reveal that in April 2009 controversial Clinton Foundation official Doug Band pushed for a job for an associate, the Judicial Watch said.
In the email Band tells Hillary Clinton's former aides at the State Department Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin that it is "important to take care of [Redacted]. Band is reassured by Abedin that "Personnel has been sending him options."
Band was co-founder of Teneo Strategy with Bill Clinton and a top official of the Clinton Foundation, including its Clinton Global Initiative, it said.
Included in the new document production is a 2009 email in which Band, directs Abedin and Mills to put Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire and Clinton Foundation donor Gilbert Chagoury in touch with the State Department's "substance person" on Lebanon.
Band notes that Chagoury is "key guy there [Lebanon] and to us," and insists that Abedin call ambassador Jeffrey Feltman to connect him to Chagoury.
Chagoury is a close friend of former US President Bill Clinton and a top donor to the Clinton Foundation, Judicial Watch said.
He has appeared near the top of the Foundation's donor list as a USD 1 million to USD 5 million contributor, according to foundation documents. He also pledged USD 1 billion to the Clinton Global
Initiative.
According to a 2010 investigation by PBS Frontline, Chagoury was convicted in 2000 in Switzerland for laundering money from Nigeria, but agreed to a plea deal and repaid USD 66 million to the Nigerian government, Judicial Watch alleged.
"Clinton's top aides' favors for and interactions with the Clinton Foundation seem in violation of the ethics agreements that Hillary Clinton agreed to in order to be appointed and confirmed as Secretary of State," it said.
As preparation for Hillary's upcoming visit to Asia, Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, on 11 February, 2009, sends Hillary a copy of his upcoming testimony before Congress in which he would condemn any US efforts to criticise Chinese monetary policy or enact trade barriers.
Several days later, Hillary asked Abedin about Roach possibly "connecting" with her while she was in Beijing: "I forwarded you my email to him about connecting in Beijing. Can he come to the embassy or other event?" Morgan Stanley is a long-time financial supporter of the Clintons, the Judicial Watch said.
"The emails also reveal that Abedin left then-Secretary Clinton's daily schedule, a presumably sensitive document, on a bed in an unlocked hotel room," the Judicial Watch alleged.
An email on 18 April, 2009, during a conference in Trinidad and Tobago, from aide Melissa J Lan to Huma Abedin asks for the Secretary's "day book binders."
Abedin replies: "Yes. It's on the bed in my room. U can take it. My door is open. I'm in the lobby. Thx."
Moreover, the emails show the annoyance of another Clinton aide that the schedule was sent to an authorised State Department email address and not to an unsecured non-state government account, Judicial Watch alleged.
"The emails reveal that Clinton campaign adviser and pollster Mark Penn advised her on Nato and piracy.
Another major Clinton fundraiser, Lana Moresky, also pushed Clinton to hire someone for a position at State. Clinton directed Abedin to follow up and "help" the applicant and told Abedin to "let me know about the job issue," it said.
"This is yet more evidence that Hillary Clinton lacks the judgement, character, stability and temperament to be within 1,000 miles of public power. She views public office as nothing more than a means to personal enrichment - and every dollar she takes comes at the expense of the public welfare," said Stephen Miller, national policy director of the Trump Campaign.
"This latest finding is an unseemly, disturbing window into a corrupt office, and yet more evidence that Hillary Clinton has been lying from the beginning - and by any reasonable definition attempted to obstruct the investigation of the FBI," he said.
Leaders of Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha have managed to get the government to discuss the situation in Kashmir for the second time in the current Parliament session. On Wednesday, the Rajya Sabha is discussing the situation in the Kashmir Valley where for the 33rd consecutive day, curfew has remained in force.
From demanding that the government facilitate an all-party delegations visit to Srinagar, there were also suggestions that MPs be allowed to talk to people of Kashmir.
On Monday, as Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti landed in Delhi to meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Opposition leaders in the Rajya Sabha had raised the demand for a discussion and targeted the Narendra Modi government for its silence on the situation in the Kashmir Valley. Mehbooba, who seemed to have lost crucial support of people in the PDPs bastion of South Kashmir by staying indoors and silent as protests over the killing of terrorist Burhan Wani assumed serious proportions, had no new ideas to share with the Central government.
The chief minister asked for the commencement of a dialogue, taking forward former NDA prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayees initiative and even implementation of packages decided during the UPAs decade-long-tenure. In the Rajya Sabha, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and Leader of Opposition from the Congress, Ghulam Nabi Azad, rattled off the latest figures on deaths, injuries and arrests while demanding a discussion. Followed by CPM leader Sitaram Yechury who, questioned the continued use of pellet guns to tackle protesters when even Israel did not use this non-lethal gun against Palestinian protesters, the CPIs D Raja went a step further and called for the withdrawal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Acts (Afspa) with an end to the use of pellet guns.
Sharad Yadav, the veteran JD(U) leader expressed his surprise at the Modi governments silence on the situation in Kashmir.
It was left to PDP member Mir Mohammed Fayaz to share the frustration of MPs keen to debate and discuss the same thing over and over again, when he questioned the utility of sending a parliamentary delegation to the Valley. Who will meet them? he asked. Fayaz said if the Congress had implemented the packages it spoke of during UPAs decade-long tenure, then things today would have been different.
That brings us to ask a question: Do Opposition parties have anything tangible to say on Kashmir?
Will they offer constructive ideas that could be used by the government as it looks for ways to calm down a section of the restive population? Frankly, have leading national parties given even a thought to probable solutions or guiding principles on how to even start a conversation with Kashmiris?
While targeting Pakistan and exposing Islamabads links to militant groups in Kashmir political parties also need to consider who to talk to, and what to talk. If voices on social media are any indication of what young Kashmiris think, then political parties in the country have to seriously consider at different options. Accusing the Modi government of not doing anything will not help or work. What do these responsible parties have to offer as suggestions?
Congress president Sonia Gandhi accused the Modi government of undoing the good work done by UPA. Pray, what was it? If the appointment of interlocutors who lacked political weight and if the UPA governments lack of courage to implement even some of the ideas suggested by its interlocutors, or take forward the dialogue with Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf are examples of good work, then Congress leaders need to introspect.
In fact, the dismal Congress record was criticised by one of the interlocutors Dileep Padgaonkar, who was quoted by The Wire as saying, (B)y and large the report was ignored by the UPA. I had been assured that the report would be tabled on the floor of the House and that there would be a debate on it and all the parties would be allowed enough space to deliberate on the recommendations, but that was not done
Opposition parties in India need to begin mature articulation of views on sensitive subjects where they offer well thought-through suggestions rather than making predictable criticisms. Having been in power for 10 years until 2014, the Congress as the leader of the then UPA government should ideally provide constructive ideas on the recommendations of five working groups that were set up by then prime minister Manmohan Singh. Or, the doable bits on suggestions made by interlocutors that UPA had appointed.
The leaders of the Hurriyat Conference have been further sidelined by protesters in the past month. Syed Geelani and Yasin Maliks call last Friday for a march to Hazratbal shrine was not heeded. Only a small group of people joined them while the majority of protesters went to Pampore to hear slain terrorist Burhan Wanis father. Who will Opposition leaders ask the government to talk to? And discuss what? Will Opposition members in Rajya Sabha during the second round of discussion on Kashmir have anything worthwhile to contribute in the form of probable solution/s?
The answer unfortunately is a resounding 'no'.
Islamabad: Pakistan has stepped up security after a terror alert warned of possible Taliban attack at border crossing points with India on the country's Independence Day on 14 August, officials said on Wednesday.
The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab province has sent a memo to the chief secretary that Taliban were planning to target Wagah or Ganda Sindh border crossings between 13 and 15 August.
It claimed that two suicide bombers had been tasked by Mualana Fazlullah, the fugitive chief of Taliban who is hiding in Afghanistan, to attack Independence Day parade at the border points.
"Extreme vigilance and heightened security measures are suggested to avoid any untoward incident," the CTD said.
Both crossings are close to Lahore.
In 2014, at least 55 people, including children and security personnel, were killed and about 200 others injured in a suicide blast at Wagah.
An official of home department said that security has already been increased after a suicide bombing at a hospital in Quetta on August 8 in which 74 people were killed around 72
people were injured.
"We take special security measures for the Independence Day and all alerts and suggestion by the
intelligence agencies are considered and security have been provided at relevant points," he said.
Islamabad: Islamabad has issued an alert for a possible attack at the India-Pakistan border in Punjab province.
Pakistan's National Counter Terrorism Authority on Tuesday, in a letter to Home Secretary of Punjab, said: "Reportedly, Tehreek-e-Taliban, Fazal Ullah group is planning to target parade at Wagah border in Lahore or Ganda Singh Border in Kasur on 13, 14, 15 August."
It also said at least two suicide bombers have been dispatched to carry an attack on the border.
"Extreme vigilance and heightened security measures are suggested to avoid any untoward incident," it said in a statement.
Security have been heightened in Pakistan ahead of 14 August, Pakistan's Independence Day.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will chair a high level security meeting on Wednesday to discuss the National Action Plan.
Talking to Dawn, a government official privy to the meeting, said a point-wise discussion was expected with the top brass.
"Everything under the sun which has something to do with NAP implementation will be taken up and discussed," said the official.
Chandigarh: Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday appealed to the central government to thoroughly investigate funding received by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leaders, alleging that radicals from Punjab had aligned themselves with Arvind Kejriwal's outfit.
Badal, who is the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal President, said the Punjab government has already conveyed information to the Union Home Minister and the National Security Adviser about Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) plans to destabilise the situation in Punjab before the assembly elections, which are due next year.
"Leaders of radical groups have been regularly meeting the convener of AAP and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Radical leaders like Mohkam Singh were trying their best to utilise the 2017 elections as an opportunity to destabilise peace and harmony attained by people of Punjab after great sacrifices," Badal said.
"It is unfortunate that Kejriwal was in touch with such elements despite being on a very important constitutional post. I want a thorough investigation into AAP funding to expose the dangerous truth behind it," Badal told media persons on Wednesday.
Expressing concern over recent incidents in Punjab, Badal said the ISI has plans to target important leaders, besides designing sacrileges to destabilise peace and harmony in the state.
"We have already conveyed this information to Union Home Minister and National Security Adviser. Our police is doing its job in the best way possible. Punjab Police has busted many modules and arrested people from abroad also in this connection," Badal added.
Chennai: Forty-five children, who had stopped going to school out of fear of wild animals like tigers, have returned to their institution in Mudumalai, a tiger habitat in Nilgiris district, after the Tamil Nadu government provided jeep for their safe transportation.
State Minister for School Education P Benjamin also said that state government's self-defence programme for girl children has developed confidence among them.
He said the Panchayat Union Primary School at Mudumalai in Nilgiris district caters to the educational needs of 100 families in areas of Puliyalam, Mundakarai, Melnagam Palli, and Kappur.
Tribals belonging to communities, including Kattu Naicker, live in such areas which are the natural habitat of tigers besides other animals like leopards, bears, wolves and hyenas, he told the Assembly on Tuesday.
"As a result of provision of transport facilities, 45 children who had dropped out from fear of these animals have been coming to school safely and regularly," he said, adding jeep was provided for transportation needs of children.
According to the state government, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Western Ghats "is part of the huge tiger landscape in southern peninsular India which serves as source population of tigers in the region."
On education vis-a-vis girls, he said Tamil Nadu is implementing several activities for the promotion of education and all round development of girl children.
"One such programme is the self-defence training for the upper primary girls implemented during 2015-16," he said adding the programme includes lessons and training on recognising danger, attacker, confidence, communication and physical (combat) skills through karate and other martial arts.
For each district, 1000 girl students in seventh and eight classes were selected for self-defence training.
"Totally 30,000 girls benefited from this training. Most of the parents commented that a great change occurred in the attitude and behaviour of their girl children. They developed greater confidence and self-esteem," he said.
The Minister said recognising the aspirations of parents on educating their children in English medium, the state government commenced English medium sections in elementary education from 2012-13.
"This initiative witnessed a great response from the parents and enrolment in English medium classes has increased considerably. So far, 3,32,590 children have been enrolled in English medium sections," he said, adding primary school teachers are trained every year in teaching through English language."
"The improvement in enrolment and performance in English in State Level Achievement Survey prove that English medium in government schools is not just a pretentious claim but really a paramount achievement due to the efforts of the Tamil Nadu Government," he said.
He said at primary level, the Net Enrolment Rate has increased to an all time high of 99.85 per cent during 2015-16 and at upper primary level, NER improved to 99.11 percent during 2015-16.
Kabul: Lashkar Gah, the capital of Afghanistan's embattled Helmand province, is under pressure from Taliban militants who have closed in on surrounding districts despite reinforcements sent from Kabul, local and government officials said Wednesday.
Two of the city's previously stable districts - Nawa and Garmser - are now seeing heavy fighting, and Afghan forces are struggling to hold off insurgents who have gained ground in the last 10 days, despite supporting airstrikes by US and Afghan forces.
"Afghan and international air-forces are targeting Taliban positions as well as supplying our ground troops in the province," said Dawlat Waziri, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defence.
Heavy fighting is raging in at least three districts - Nawa, Garmser and Nad-e Ali - according to civil society leader Sardar Mohammad Hamdard and Mirza Hussain Alizada, a provincial council member.
"We have fresh reinforcements fighting the Taliban in these districts," Amar Zwak, the governor spokesman for Helmand said.
The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Tuesday reported "large displacement movements."
"The complexity and scale of the attacks last week was much more significant, particularly in Helmand where two district centres were targeted and contested," OCHA said.
Hamdard said 4,000 families were displaced in Helmand as food and household good prices doubled or tripled.
The main highway connecting the capital of the province to southern Kandahar, western Herat and Kabul has been closed off by Taliban fighters for several days.
A source from the country's Ministry of Defence, meanwhile, reported that the chief of army staff and a deputy interior minister had travelled to Helmand to lead the fight against the Taliban.
Afghan security forces are stretched thin throughout the country, fighting growing insurgencies from both the Taliban and the Islamic State.
WASHINGTON Baltimore will implement police department reforms recommended by the U.S. Justice Department as quickly as possible after a report found that officers routinely violated the civil rights of the city's black residents, officials said on Wednesday.
The Justice Department on Tuesday released a scathing report on the 2,600-officer department that found that black residents in the majority-black city are commonly subjected to unconstitutional stops as pedestrians and motorists, arrests and excessive force.
The 163-page report was triggered by the April 2015 death of a black man named Freddie Gray in police custody.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said at a city hall news conference that Baltimore would put a reform plan in place in the next few months and that changes would be carried out as quickly as possible.
"It's not going to be easy to reform the department, and it's not going to be quick," the mayor said.
Vanita Gupta, the head of the Justice Department's civil rights division, said Baltimore and federal officials had already agreed on a legal framework for changes that would be overseen by a court-appointed monitor.
Gupta said she expected quick progress toward reaching a final agreement with the city.
The mayor said the police department had already begun to lay the groundwork for reform through changes in policies, training, the start of a body-camera program and a new use-of-force policy.
The police department suffered from built-in shortfalls in training, supervision and accountability that left officers without tools they needed to be effective within federal law, the report said.
The department's "targeted policing of certain Baltimore neighborhoods with minimal oversight or accountability disproportionately harms African-American residents," the report stated.
Police Commissioner Kevin Davis called the report and future reforms "a turning point for better policing not just in Baltimore, but in our United States."
The mayor said other cities that have implemented such agreements have spent between $5 million and $10 million a year, adding that "we anticipate that will be the range" for Baltimore.
The Justice Department report was issued 16 months after police arrested Gray, 25, for fleeing unprovoked in a high-crime area. He suffered a neck injury in a police vehicle while shackled and handcuffed, and died a week later.
His death sparked protests and rioting in the city, and helped fueled the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Six officers were charged in Gray's death, but four trials ended without a conviction. Prosecutors dropped the remaining charges last month.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Will Dunham)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Baltimore: Baltimore police officers routinely discriminate against blacks, repeatedly use excessive force and are not adequately held accountable for misconduct, according to a harshly critical Justice Department report being presented Wednesday.
The report, the culmination of a yearlong investigation into one of the country's largest police forces, also found that officers make large numbers of stops mostly in poor, black neighborhoods with dubious justification and unlawfully arrest citizens for speech deemed disrespectful. Physical force is used unnecessarily, including against the mentally disabled, and black pedestrians and drivers are disproportionately searched during stops, the report says.
The Justice Department released a copy of the report in advance of its public announcement at an event Wednesday morning in Baltimore.
The report represents a damning indictment of how the city's police officers carry out the most fundamental of policing practices, including traffic stops and searches and responding to First Amendment expression. Beyond that, though, it could serve as a blueprint for sweeping changes: The Justice Department is seeking a court-enforceable consent decree to force the police agency to commit to improving its procedures in order to avoid a lawsuit.
The Justice Department in recent years has undertaken similar wide-reaching investigations into the police in Chicago, Cleveland, Albuquerque and Ferguson, Missouri, among other cities.
The federal investigation was launched after the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man whose neck was broken while he was handcuffed and shackled but left unrestrained in the back of a police van. The death set off protests and the worst riots in decades.
The report went far beyond the circumstances of Gray's death to examine a slew of potentially unconstitutional practices, including excessive force and discriminatory traffic stops, within the department.
Federal investigators spent more than a year interviewing Baltimore residents, police officers, prosecutors, public defenders and elected officials, as well as riding along with officers on duty and reviewing documents and complaints.
Among the findings: Black residents account for roughly 84 percent of stops, though they represent just 63 percent of the city's population. Likewise, African-Americans make up 95 percent of the 410 people stopped at least 10 times by officers from 2010 to 2015.
During the same time period, officers stopped 34 black residents 20 times, and seven African-Americans 30 times or more, while the report says that no individuals of any other race were stopped more than 12 times.
One man who spoke to investigators said he was stopped 30 times in less than four years. At least 15 of those stops, he said, were to check for outstanding warrants. None of the stops resulted in charges.
In addition to pat-downs, Baltimore officers perform unconstitutional public strip searches, including searches of people who aren't under arrest.
The report also says officers routinely use unreasonable and excessive force, including against juveniles and citizens who aren't dangerous or posing an immediate threat. Twenty percent of force incidents reviewed by investigators involved someone who was not being arrested for a crime or who suffered from a mental health disability. Force is often used as a retaliatory tactic in instances where officers "did not like what those individuals said."
"BPD teaches officers to use aggressive tactics," the report reads. "BPD's trainings fuel an 'us vs. them' mentality we saw some officers display toward community members, alienating the civilians they are meant to serve."
The report partially blames the department's unconstitutional practices on a "zero tolerance" policy dating back to the early 2000s, during which residents were arrested en masse for minor misdemeanor charges such as loitering.
Although the department has publicly denounced these practices after a 2010 settlement with the NAACP, which sued the department over the policing strategy, "the legacy of the zero tolerance era continues to influence officer activity and contribute to constitutional violations," the report said.
Officers also routinely stop and question individuals without cause or a legitimate suspicion that they're involved in criminal activity, the report says: No charges were filed in 26 of every 27 pedestrian stops. The directives often come from supervisors. In one instance, a supervisor told a subordinate officer to "make something up" after the officer protested an order to stop and question a group of young black men for no reason.
Unconstitutional frisks are also rampant, the report says. In one incident in 2010, a man fled from an officer patrolling a "high-crime area." The officer proceeded to fire his stun gun at the running man's back, striking him several times. When the officer was able to detain the man, he frisked him but found no weapon. The officer's report "provides no reason to believe the man was armed."
State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, the city's top prosecutor, said she expected the report to "confirm what many in our city already know or have experienced firsthand."
"While the vast majority of Baltimore City Police officers are good officers, we also know that there are bad officers and that the department has routinely failed to oversee, train, or hold bad actors accountable," she said in a statement.
She said she was confident that the federal probe would "lead to even more reforms which is an important step in ensuring best practices for a fully functioning police-prosecutor relationship."
Six officers, three white and three black, were charged in the death of Gray. Three were acquitted, another officer's trial ended in a mistrial and the charges against the others were dropped.
Dhaka: A special tribunal in Bangladesh on Wednesday sentenced a former lawmaker to death and seven others to life in prison for their crimes committed during the country's War of Independence in 1971.
The International Crimes Tribunal-1 found the eight persons guilty of committing rape, murder, confinement and torture of unarmed civilians, Xinhua news agency reported.
Sakhawat Hossain, now a presidium member of the Jatiya Party of former military strongman H.M. Ershad, who ruled Bangladesh for nearly nine years from 1982 to 1990, and Billal Hossain Biswas were in the dock when the court ruling came.
Ibrahim Hossain, Sheikh Mojibur Rahman, M.A. Aziz Sardar, Abdul Aziz Sardar, Kazi Ohidul Islam and Abdul Khalek are fleeing from justice and were sentenced in absentia.
Shakhawat was a central committee member of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat, which opposed the independence of Bangladesh and break-up of Pakistan, and a commander of Razakar, an auxiliary group of then Pakistan Army in what then was Eastern Pakistan.
Shakhawat was elected to parliament on Jamaat ticket in 1991 and on the ticket of Bangladeshi Nationalist Party of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in the 15 February election in 1996.
Defence counsel Abdus Satter expressed discontent with the verdict, saying his clients will file appeal with the Supreme Court.
After returning to power in January 2009, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Bangladesh's independence hero and founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, established the first tribunal in March 2010, almost 40 years after the 1971 War of Liberation.
Four Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party leaders -- Motiur Rahman Nizami, Abdul Quader Molla, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid -- have already been executed for the 1971 war crimes.
Besides them, opposition BNP leader Salaudin Quader Chowdhury was executed on 22 November last year.
Both the BNP and Jamaat have dismissed the court as a government "show trial", saying it is a domestic set-up without the oversight or involvement of the United Nations.
The government of Sheikh Hasina said about three million people were killed in the nine-month war.
CHICAGO Threats against police officers by Chicago gang members angry about the police shooting of an unarmed black teen last month were "unacceptable," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Tuesday, as debate over excessive force by law enforcement continues to roil U.S. cities.
On Monday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the Chicago Police Department had warned officers that leaders of three gangs had met and plotted to shoot police in response to the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Paul O'Neal on July 28.
The department said it was routine to send alerts when police were threatened, but did not provide further details or confirm that threats had been made by the gangs.
"The idea that a bunch of gang members would threaten violence against the men and women every Chicagoan relies on for their own safety is absolutely unacceptable," Emanuel said in response to the newspaper report.
A string of high-profile killings of black men by police in various U.S. cities in the past two years has renewed a national debate about racial discrimination in the criminal justice system and given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Protests erupted nationwide after the back-to-back killing of black men in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis, but after a rally in Dallas, Texas, a gunman shot dead five police officers in an ambush. Days later, three Baton Rouge police officers were also killed in an ambush.
Tensions over the shooting of O'Neal picked up last week after authorities released videos that captured the moments before and after police shot him.
No firearms were found on O'Neal, who was shot in the back, according to police.
The video footage released on Friday shows two officers firing at a stolen car driven by O'Neal after it sped past them, the car crashing into a police car, and O'Neal running into a backyard where he was shot. The shooting is not shown. It is against departmental policy to fire at or into a moving car when the vehicle was the only potential use of force by a suspect.
(Reporting by Justin Madden; Editing by Sharon Bernstein and Alan Crosby)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Beijing: China on Wednesday launched a high-resolution satellite for the protection of its maritime rights as the South China Sea dispute continues to simmer.
The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging satellite was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in northern Shanxi province on Wednesday.
Gaofen-3, China's first SAR imaging satellite, will be used for disaster warning, weather forecasting, water resource assessments, and the protection of maritime rights, said state-run news agency Xinhua.
China is locked in a maritime dispute with its neighbours over the South China Sea, which is believed to have large reserves of oil and gas. The Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Taiwan have also staked claims in the waters.
Though a UN-appointed Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague rejected China's claims over the South China Sea in June, Beijing rejected the ruling, calling it "illegal".
With 12 imaging modes, the high-definition observation satellite is capable of taking wide pictures of the Earth and photographing detailed scenarios of specific areas.
Gaofen-3 is also China's first low orbit remote sensing satellite that has a lifespan of eight years. It is able to provide high-definition remote sensing data for its users over a long period of time.
The Gaofen-3 and the Long March 4C rocket were developed by the China Academy of Space Technology and the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, under the guidance of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
Attempts to create order after experiencing extreme disorder has been the story of mankind since creation.
More recently, the League of Nations, the Geneva Convention, the UN and many more such measures have been pursued with the sole intention of creating law and order where little existed. The situation is equally applicable at sea where the absence of laws could result in anarchy, collisions and worse, destruction of the entire ecosystem that has the capacity to support life on earth.
International maritime laws covering a wide spectrum of activities at sea have been conceived and activated to cater to maintaining good order and discipline in oceans which are international highways, where ships of all nations ply. These laws find application among heads of state, legislatures, courts, diplomats and indeed among those who man, commercial as well as war ships.
The two better known convention/rules/laws that affect all those who are associated with the sea are the UN/IMO sponsored International Regulations for Prevention of Collisions at Sea and the United Nations convention of the laws of the sea (Unclos).
Since this article is confined to the recent judgement of the dispute brought to the international tribunal by the Philippines, against her powerful neighbour China, on the illegal claims to her maritime territory in the South China Sea (SCS), let me limit the discussion to consequences to law abiding coastal and island states and the world at large.
Given that Philippines or her other neighbours Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan either singularly or collectively do not have the capacity to stand up to China, the continued presence of a powerful US Navy carrier task force in the area coupled with a strongly worded Japanese white paper released just a couple of days ago are indicators of the immediate reaction to China's bizarre and crude response to the verdict delivered by the international tribune.
Can China be allowed to get away by not abiding by the convention that she voluntarily signed and ratified? What if China is emboldened by a meek response of the international community, to violate the clauses of NPT for instance? Is this the beginning of the end of an era of initiatives taken by the UN and other multi-national bodies to regulate and maintain a conflict free environment especially at sea? In this context, the non-military and if necessary military response to contain China's aggressive thrust in the South China Sea merit examination and consideration. A brief review of China's apparent change of strategy after Xi Jinping took over, would clarify the situation.
China under Xi Jinping
Xi has introduced a shift in Chinese declared policy about her willingness to project and use power, as is evident in the May 2015 White Paper on Military Strategy. He has, with great resolve, steered China away from the direction proposed by one of his predecessors Deng Xiaoping. The silent and subtle methods suggested by the latter have been gradually replaced with show of power and aggressive intent. Ongoing People's Liberation Army reforms appear to focus on power projection outside her own territory and in the immediate periphery.
What then are the options open to law abiding coastal and island nations who have benefitted by the provisions of Unclos?
Non-military measures
These include diplomatic, judicial and economic. Sensing that sooner than later the international community with or without the cover of UN would launch a diplomatic offensive, China has adopted some unprecedented countermeasures. A battery of diplomats and Chinese military personnel have descended on the capitols of countries that have a say in the UN. Hurried consultations and meetings with decision makers to justify their stand of rebutting the verdict of the international tribune is the agenda. Massive graphics and video clippings of their stand are available on the official Chinese media. Not even the Times Square in New York has been spared of the media onslaught on a giant screen. This is an unprecedented show of diplomatic/media offensive that has not been attempted by any global power.
It is to be seen if the Americans can or will mobilise their allies in the Asia Pacific including Australia and Japan to match this diplomatic offensive.
The judicial measure initiated by the Philippines has been justly rewarded. It is to be seen whether UN Security Council will attempt to rebuke one of its erring permanent members with a veto power. The very fact that in the past too, the permanent members of the security council have violated laid down procedures to establish peace in crisis ridden areas, strengthens India's repeated call for reforms of the UN.
Economic measures against China have repercussions on almost all powerful nations who trade with China. It would need consensus of a unique nature.
Military measures
The US in its attempt to continue to engage with China is expected to adopt a twin track approach of openly challenging China's claims in South China Sea by claiming the right to innocent passage and freedom of navigation as enumerated in Unclos. Japan and Australia may join this venture. This will be supplemented by inviting China to join powerful displays of warships drawn from many nations including India, as was the case in the recently held RIMPAC off Hawaii.
India has the option of participating in non-military and military measures of her choice. We need to support the desire of the international community to contain China before she assumes the role of a permanent bully in the critical waters of East and South China Sea.
Lack of action or sitting on the fence is not an option we can afford, given that China is expected to flex her muscle increasingly in the immediate future and in our backyard too!
The author is a retired vice-admiral of the Indian Navy and former chief, Southern Naval Command. Views expressed are personal.
WASHINGTON Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday accused Republican opponent Donald Trump of inciting violence with his call for gun rights activists to stop her from nominating liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices.
Clinton's comments added to a growing outcry over Trump's remarks on Tuesday at a North Carolina rally, which some interpreted as a call for violence against his White House rival. His remarks also fuelled widespread concerns about his ability to stay on track.
"Words matter, my friends," the former U.S. secretary of state said a rally in Des Moines, Iowa. "And if you are running to be president or you are president of the United States, words can have tremendous consequences.
"Yesterday, we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that crossed the line," she said, citing "his casual inciting of violence. Every single one of these incidences shows us that Donald Trump simply does not have the temperament to be president and commander in chief of the United States."
Trump insisted in an interview with Fox News that his remarks were a call for political, not physical, action.
There is tremendous political power to save the Second Amendment, tremendous," the New York businessman said. "And you look at the power they have in terms of votes and thats what I was referring to, obviously thats what I was referring to, and everybody knows it."
The U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment guarantees a right to keep and bear arms.
But high-profile Republicans and rank-and-file voters appeared shaken on Wednesday after a string of Trump missteps, struggling with how to best reject Trump's divisive candidacy. Some pledged to withhold their endorsement and others backed Clinton. Some sought for an unprecedented way to oust Trump from the Republican ticket.
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida, in an opinion piece in the Washington Post, said the party was in "uncharted waters" and called for leaders to start looking for ways replace him.
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll taken Aug. 5-8, showed that nearly one-fifth of 396 registered Republicans said they want Trump to drop out of the race for the White House and another 10 percent said they "don't know" whether the Republican nominee should or not.
Clinton's campaign, seeing an opening, moved to bring disenchanted Republicans into the fold by announcing an official intraparty outreach effort on behalf of the Democratic nominee.
James Rohrscheib, 74, a registered Republican and retired U.S. Navy officer from Washington state, told Reuters the reality is the Nov. 8 election will be a "tough one."
"Im in a quandary as to who I am going to vote for," Rohrscheib said.
PROMINENT DEFECTIONS
Clinton's campaign now has a website for Republicans and political independents to sign up to pledge their support, listing 50 prominent Republicans and independents who have endorsed her so far, including Meg Whitman, a high-profile Republican fundraiser and chief executive of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE.N), and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
John Negroponte, former director of national intelligence under President George W. Bush, and former U.S. Representative Chris Shays of Connecticut, also a Republican, were among those who announced their support on Wednesday.
On Monday, 50 Republican national security officials signed an open letter questioning Trump's temperament, calling him reckless and unqualified to be president.
Other top Republicans, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine this week, have disavowed Trump but said they cannot back Clinton.
Strategists and Trump detractors agreed that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to remove Trump from the Republican ticket.
"Its wishful thinking to believe the Republicans are going to replace its nominee after the convention. People are grasping at straws," Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist unaffiliated with Trump, told Reuters.
Trump has dismissed the defections and criticism as an unsurprising reaction of the so-called Washington elite to his drive to change the status quo.
"The support he has from Republicans almost seems obligatory rather than voluntary," Mike Smith, a Republican voter and Reuters/Ipsos poll respondent, said of Trump's remaining defenders.
"Im almost at the point where I think Im going to vote for Hillary. I don't like her," said Smith, a 74-year-old retiree who lives in Clearwater, Florida. "But Mr. Trump is making me very nervous."
RESET ABANDONED
Republican strategist and Trump supporter Ford OConnell said Trump has "dug himself a deep hole" and that to win the election he will need to "make it a referendum on Hillary Clinton and the 'rigged system.'"
Trump sought to do just that by using an economic policy speech in Detroit on Monday after a series of missteps that included a prolonged clash with the parents of a fallen Muslim American soldier. But his remarks Tuesday undermined that effort.
"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks," Trump said at the rally at the University of North Carolina. "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know," he continued.
The U.S. Secret Service, which investigates threats against sitting presidents and party nominees, has had "more than one conversation" with the Trump campaign about his remark, CNN reported on Wednesday.
Trump's comment and the resulting backlash occurred as Reuters/Ipsos polling showed some 44 percent of 1,162 registered voters believe Trump should exit the race, and that as of Tuesday, Clinton led Trump by more than 7 percentage points, up from a 3-point lead late last week.
Republican Party rules and state laws would make it difficult at this juncture to replace Trump on ballots ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
A more likely scenario would be a replay of the 1996 presidential race, when Republican nominee Bob Dole was badly trailing President Bill Clinton. The party essentially deserted Dole by urging its congressional candidates to cut ties and concentrate on maintaining a Republican majority in the U.S. Congress.
(Additional reporting by Alana Wise, Emily Flitter, Ginger Gibson, Susan Heavy, Doina Chiacu, Grant Smith and Jonathan Allen; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Washington: Igniting a new controversy, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said that gun rights activists could stop Hillary Clinton from winning the polls and picking new Supreme Court judges, a remark strongly criticised as a threat of violence against his Democratic rival.
"Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Though the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know," Trump said at an election rally in Wilmington, North Carolina on Tuesday.
The US Constitution's Second Amendment guarantees a right to bear firearms.
Trump's comments were interpreted by many as a threat of violence against his Democratic rival with Clinton campaign decrying the remark as "dangerous."
"This is simple -- what Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to the be president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way," said Robby Mook, Clinton's campaign manager, in the statement.
Trump, however, defended his comments, insisting that he was asking his supporters to use the power of their vote to stop Clinton from appointing justices who could restrict their Second Amendment rights.
He claimed that the support for Second Amendment is a "strong powerful movement" and dismissed any other interpretation of his comments.
"This is a political movement. This is a strong, powerful movement, the Second Amendment. And there can be no other interpretation. Even reporters have told me. I mean, give me a break," Trump told Fox News.
Trump's "Second Amendment" remarks was criticised by several lawmakers, former national security officials and media.
Michael Hayden, a former CIA director who was among 50 Republican national security experts to denounce Trump in a letter, told CNN, "If someone else had said that said outside the hall, he'd be in the back of a police wagon now with the Secret Service questioning him."
"You are not just responsible for what you say. You are responsible for what people hear," he said.
Washington: Observing that the fate of the US and China are "inescapably intertwined" Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday said the next administration would have to continue to expand its network of relationship beyond its core alliances including America's strategic ties with India.
And because Asia is home to half the world's population and many of the world's fastest-growing markets, we simply cannot afford to ignore the economic opportunities there, the outgoing vice president wrote.
Noting that in nearly every part of the world, the US contends with regional powers that have an enormous capacity to contribute to the international orderor to undermine it, Biden said nowhere is this truer than in America's relationship with China.
"The United States and China are the world's two largest economies, so our fate are inescapably intertwined. President Obama and I have sought to define this relationship through enhanced cooperation and responsible competition," Biden wrote.
"We have found common ground with Beijing and made historic progress to address such global challenges as climate change, pandemic disease, poverty, and nuclear proliferation. At the same time, we have stood firm on such issues as human rights, intellectual property, and freedom of navigation," he said.
This balancing act will only grow more difficult in the context of China's economic slowdown and the worrying steps Beijing is taking to reverse course on more than three decades of economic reform and opening up to the world, the vice president said.
"As a result, the next administration will have to steer a relationship with China that encompasses both breakthrough cooperation and, potentially, intensified competition. And sometimes, as when facing the mounting threat from North Korea, cooperation and competition with China will coexist," he said.
"The notion that it will be all one or the other is shortsighted and self-defeating," he added.
The same is true with regard to Russia, with which the US should continue to pursue a policy that combines the urgent need for deterrence, on the one hand, with the prudent pursuit of tactical cooperation and strategic stability, on the other, he said. Terrorism mustand willbe defeated, Biden said.
Biden said the next administration will have to continue to address the challenge of Islamic State in a smart, sustainable, and holistic manner.
Miami: The father of the gunman who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida was spotted at a speech Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton gave to supporters in the swing state.
Seddique Mateen was caught on camera seated in the audience behind Clinton during her campaign appearance on Tuesday night in Kissimmee, a town 23 miles (37 kilometers) south of Orlando.
Mateen's son, Omar, proclaimed his allegiance to the Islamic State group during the 12 June massacre at the Pulse nightclub, which ended after three hours when police finally stormed the venue and shot him to death.
It was the deadliest mass killing on US soil since the 11 September, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Clinton, on a trip through the crucial swing state, opened her speech with a tribute to the 49 people who lost their lives in Orlando.
Mateen, an immigrant from Afghanistan, was approached by a reporter from the local WPTV television station and asked about his presence at the rally.
"Why should they be surprised? I love the United States, and I've been living here a long time," he said.
"Hillary Clinton is good for United States versus Donald Trump, who has no solutions," he said.
The rally was open to the public and about 3,000 people attended.
"This individual wasn't invited as a guest, and the campaign was unaware of his attendance until after the event," the Clinton campaign said in an email sent to reporters.
Today, the Orange County medical examiner's office released the official autopsy reports for the victims of the Orlando shooting.
It counted 200 gunshot wounds among the dead alone. Another 53 people were wounded in the attack.
Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, started a campaign against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, after his organisation launched a searchable archive in March of 30,322 emails and email attachments sent to and from Clintons private email server while she was the secretary of state. According to wikileaks.org, "The 50,547 pages of documents span from 30 June, 2010 to 12 August, 2014. Seven thousand five hundred and seventy of the documents were sent by Hillary Clinton."
Clinton was then under FBI investigation to determine whether she broke federal laws by using her private email to send classified information. FBI Director James B Comey later issued a statement saying, "Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information."
A look at WikiLeaks Twitter page only proves Assange's war on Clinton.
"You don't publish a million secrets a year without making a few enemies" #WikiLeaks https://t.co/MsNZhrBYvb pic.twitter.com/H7ujQAFErm WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 7, 2016
US intelligence officials contradict Clinton claims over WikiLeaks https://t.co/mnwGWJ1uZ4 pic.twitter.com/SqemrTWJMR WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 10, 2016
Clinton campiagn has developed a new PR strategy. All future corruption revelations about her are the work of Russia https://t.co/P5za3nYh44 WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 9, 2016
According to Fox News Insider, Assange has threatened to release more emails against the Clinton Foundation which could have implications for Clinton's presidential campaign. Assange also alleged that Saudi Arabia could be one of the biggest donors to the Clinton Foundation and there could be a deeper connection between Clinton and Russia, the report added.
In fact, recently WikiLeaks offered monetary reward for information in the murder of Democratic staffer Seth Rich. According to Slate, Rich, who was part of voter outreach for the Democratic National Committee (DNC), was killed in a shooting incident in Washington DC last month. The report added that Assange hinted that Rich could have been an FBI informant and that WikiLeaks is investigating Rich's murder.
WikiLeaks Offers $20K Reward for Information in Murder of DNC Staffer Seth Rich https://t.co/c0YARaemzL WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 9, 2016
WHOA! Julian Assange HEAVILY IMPLIES that the #DNC's Seth Rich was a source & was murdered for helping @wikileaks! pic.twitter.com/RBavQgGCAf Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) August 9, 2016
During the primary elections in April, months before Hillary Clinton had officially clinched her party's presidential nomination, the DNC said it noticed unusual activity on its internal computer network. According to AP, it hired Crowdstrike Services Inc. of Irvine, California, to investigate, which secretly monitored the hackers and discovered evidence of separate break-ins by two groups it recognised. The first had happened in mid-2015 and the second was in April.
The Hill said on 13 July that the hacker gave it stolen DNC files, and WikiLeaks on 22 July published on its website more than 19,000 stolen DNC emails. Later, a self-described Romanian hacker, calling himself Guccifer 2.0, claimed responsibility and delivered stolen DNC materials to news organisations, according to AP.
In a television interview, Assange had declined to share information on how WikiLeaks got the documents. He also said there is no proof Russia was behind the hack and has promised that more material was on its way.
Meanwhile, according to Media Matters for America, which a non-profit organisation, Roger Stone, a Donald Trump ally, claimed to have communicated with Assange. He said that though he is not sure about the contents of the "October Surprise", he has reasons to believe that the next batch of documents could be related to the Clinton Foundation.
During an interview, Assange had said that though Trump would be unpredictable as the president of the United States, Clinton's victory could pose "problem for freedom of the press more," according to The New York Times.
On Assange's criticism of Clinton, Michael Sainato wrote in the Observer, "Assange makes no reservations that hes staunchly against Hillary Clinton becoming president of the United States, as she represents the corruption he sought to combat with the creation of WikiLeaks."
While Assange has been criticised for being reckless with confidential data, a fresh set of documents if released by his organisation could give fodder to the Trump camp against Clinton.
With inputs from agencies
Needling India yet again, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he was "obliged" to become the voice of the "oppressed" people of Kashmir and would "leave no stone unturned" to make the world understand the "plight" of the people in the Valley.
Sharif also shot off letters to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, urging efforts to end the "persistent and egregious violation of the basic human rights" of the Kashmiri people and also to implement UN Security Council resolutions, a Foreign Office statement said.
Sharif chaired a preparatory meeting for the upcoming UN General Assembly (UNGA) attended by his foreign affairs advisor Sartaj Aziz, special assistant on foreign affairs Tariq Fatemi, foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Pakistan's permanent representative in the UN Maleeha Lodhi and Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Jalil Abbas Jilani and other senior officials.
The meeting reviewed the agendas to be included in the next session of UN General Assembly in which the premier is expected to participate, a statement issued by the Premier's office said.
"It is an obligation for me as Prime Minister of Pakistan to become the voice of Kashmiris who have been oppressed in Kashmir. I will leave no stone unturned to make the world understand the plight and the legitimate struggle of the people of Kashmir," Sharif said.
The meeting observed that "Kashmir remains an unfinished agenda of the United Nations and accordingly India must realise that Kashmir is not its internal matter, rather it is a matter of regional and international concern".
Sharif said the denial of right of self-determination for Kashmiris is one of the persistent failures of the UN.
"The right of self-determination is the basic right of Kashmiris and we will make every effort to make Kashmiris captain of their own ship," the statement quoted Sharif as saying in the meeting.
The Foreign Office statement, giving details of the letters sent by Sharif to Ban and Zeid said, "Highlighting human rights abuses by Indian forces, Prime Minister stated that more than 50 deaths and 3,500 injuries had taken place, out of which 400 were critical."
"The use of illegitimate and excessive force against innocent civilians protesting peacefully over extra-judicial killings was a blatant violation of a range of fundamental rights," the statement said.
In the letters, Sharif alleged that force was being used to prevent access to hospitals, to harass doctors and prevent access to medical facilities.
"The situation is a clear manifestation of Indian state terrorism to suppress the Kashmiris' struggle for their inalienable right to self-determination," the statement quoted the letters as saying.
Prime Minister Sharif called for investigation into the "brutalities and atrocities" committed by Indian forces, protection of Kashmiris' fundamental rights, a fair inquiry into the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani and implementation of UN resolutions. Earlier, Sharif also offered to arrange for the treatment of Kashmiris who were injured in the ongoing violence in the Kashmir Valley. Sharif called upon the international community to request India to allow Pakistan to help in the treatment of the injured persons in the valley, Dawn Online reported citing a prime ministerial statement.
At least 55 people have been killed and hundreds injured in the present unrest in the Kashmir Valley since Hizbul militant Burhan Wani was killed in a gunfight with Indian security forces on 8 July. Sharif said Pakistan wanted to provide medical treatment to the injured, particularly those injured by pellets.
Pakistan wants to get the best possible medical facilities available in the world for Kashmiris, he said.
The statement comes days after a war of words erupted between Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Pakistan's Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan over Kashmir, prompting Singh to leave a Saarc meeting halfway through in Islamabad.
"The magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in Kashmir has compelled us to immediately pool our material and human resources for the victims' [treatment]," Sharif said.
"Being blinded has severe consequences for the victims and their families. Some victims of the pellet guns may never see light again. Still, they are resolute; they are guided by the light of freedom for the realisation of their right to self-determination. The world should realise this. Pakistan will continue to support them morally, politically and diplomatically," Sharif maintained.
According to the statement, Sharif has directed Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to mobilise support from the international community, humanitarian organisations and civil society through Pakistani missions abroad to exert pressure on India to allow Pakistan to arrange for the treatment of Kashmiris on humanitarian grounds.
The Pakistani government will provide for the boarding, lodging and medical expenses of the victims, he said.
With inputs from agencies
Bali: Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday said that there was need for an international legal framework to combat terrorism.
"In order to address the menace of terrorism, a strong international legal framework is the need of the hour," said Rijiju at the International Meeting on Counter Terrorism.
He also said that the nations must expedite finalisation of Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism under the United Nations.
He added, "There is a need for increasing the effectiveness and transparency of procedures for effective implementation and better coherence between various UN counter terrorism structures."
He said that the will and the mandate of international community against wanted terrorists and their organisations must be respected and implemented.
"If the world community is to rid themselves of the terrorism, we will have to rid ourselves of the notion of making distinctions between good and bad terrorists."
"No type of terror activity or support to it can be justified on any grounds whatsoever. Only then justice will be delivered for the victims of terrorist attacks," Rijiju said.
He asked for action against those who support terrorists or any terrorist organisation.
"A terrorist anywhere is a terrorist everywhere. Those who provide support, encouragement, sanctuary, safe haven or any assistance to terrorism or terrorists must be isolated," he said.
He added: "Strongest possible steps need to be taken not only against terrorists and terrorist organisations but also against those individuals, institutions, organisations or nations that support them."
He said that India has adopted multi-pronged approach to counter cross-border terrorism.
"India, which has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for decades. The government (of India) has strengthened border management through multi-tired deployment along international borders/Line of Control and international routes," he said.
QUETTA, Pakistan Pakistani lawyer Ataullah Lango had just arrived at the Civil Hospital in the southwestern city of Quetta to mourn the slain head of his provincial bar association when he heard a loud explosion and felt the pain of glass stabbing his face.
He lost some 60 colleagues in the suicide bombing that decimated the leadership of this tight-knit legal fraternity, probably for years.
"The cream of our legal fraternity has been martyred," Lango told Reuters at the house of the slain bar president.
"Our senior leaders ... are now gone."
Pakistan has endured a wave of militant attacks in recent years, but lawyers have not been singled out on such a scale before.
That changed on Monday when a suicide bomber struck a crowd of lawyers who had crammed into a hospital emergency department to accompany the body of Bilal Anwar Kasi, president of the 3,000-member Baluchistan Bar Association.
At least 74 people were killed, most of them lawyers, in Pakistan's worst bombing this year, claimed by both a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, and the Middle East-based Islamic State.
Across Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province surrounded by mountains, lawyers gathered for funeral prayers on Wednesday, visited families of lost friends, shouted slogans at protests and urged the government to protect them better.
Baluchistan is no stranger to violence, with separatist fighters launching regular attacks on security forces for nearly a decade and the military striking back.
Islamist militants, particularly sectarian groups, have also launched a campaign of suicide bombings and assassinations of minority Shi'ites.
After Monday's attack, the legal community in Baluchistan and across the country said it felt leaderless but also vowed unity.
Kasi's younger brother, Shoaib Kasi, himself an attorney, said the attacker had "pre-planned" to first kill the bar association president and then target the hospital, knowing that mourners would gather there.
"It will take centuries for us to make up this loss," lawyer Abdul Aziz Lehri told Reuters at the district court building, largely deserted due to a strike by his colleagues.
The president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Ali Zafar, called the attack a "turning point", and gave the government until Thursday to present a security plan to protect lawyers and other "soft targets".
ANGER AND DEFIANCE
Emotions ran high at a press conference where lawyers expressed anger, particularly against the country's powerful military, but also voiced defiance.
"We are not tense because of the terrorists," said senior lawyer Manzoor ul Hassan. "We have sadness, of course, but no fear."
Lawyers have held a special place in Pakistan's democratic process.
A lawyers' movement emerged as the vanguard of a campaign against the then army chief Pervez Musharraf after he suspended the country's top judge in 2007 for opposing plans to extend the general's term in office.
Lawyers organised convoys travelling from city to city to support ousted chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, and the government was forced to re-instate him.
Musharraf emerged from the confrontation a much diminished figured and stepped down as president in 2008.
"Lawyers were the targets, because we fight for the rights of the people," Ali Zafar told the press conference. "They think we will be weakened ... I say we will become stronger."
Prominent lawyer Ali Ahmed Kurd said those left would carry the torch.
"The juniors who are left, they are filled with the passion for working hard, for honesty ... that will make up the difference," Kurd told Reuters in Quetta.
But he added that the lawyers of Baluchistan were afraid to call a meeting of the bar association to map out the legal fraternity's next steps.
"If you convene a meeting now, who will come?" Kurd said. "There's no one. None is left."
(Writing by Mehreen Zahra-Malik; Editing by Mike Collett-White)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
MOSCOW Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine on Wednesday of using terrorist tactics to try to provoke a new conflict and destabilise annexed Crimea after Russia said it had thwarted two armed Ukrainian attempts to get saboteurs into the contested peninsula.
Russia's FSB security service said two people were killed in clashes and its forces had dismantled a Ukrainian spy network inside Crimea. Kiev denied the assertions, calling them an attempt by Moscow to create an excuse to escalate towards a war.
The Russian president accused Kiev of playing a dangerous game and said he saw no point in holding a new round of talks about the troubled peace process in eastern Ukraine on the sidelines of a G20 summit in China next month.
"The people who seized power in Kiev ... have switched to terror tactics instead of searching for ways for a peaceful settlement," Putin told a news conference, saying Russia would not let such actions pass without a response.
"The attempt to provoke an outbreak of violence, to provoke a conflict is nothing other than a desire to distract (Ukrainian) society from its problems," he added, calling Ukraine's actions "criminal."
Putin's comments will stir fears that Russia, which has been steadily reinforcing Crimea militarily, may be considering new military action.
"Putin wants more war. Russia escalates, desperately looks for a casus belli against Ukraine, tests the West's reaction," a spokesman for Ukraine's foreign ministry, Dmytro Kuleba, tweeted.
The Russian allegations follow an uptick in Russian military activity in northern Crimea and heavier fighting in eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian government troops are battling pro-Russian separatists.
If true, the events - which the FSB said involved at least two armed clashes on the border between Crimea and Ukraine - would be the most serious escalation on the contested peninsula since Moscow annexed it from Ukraine in 2014.
U.S. and European Union sanctions to punish Russia for the land grab remain in place, though Moscow has made clear it has no intention of handing the peninsula back to Ukraine.
BORDER CLASHES
The FSB said it believed Ukrainian special forces had been planning attacks targeting critical infrastructure.
An FSB employee and a Russian soldier were killed in the clashes, it said.
"The aim of this subversive activity and terrorist acts was to destabilise the socio-political situation in the region ahead of preparations and the holding of elections," the FSB said, referring to Russia-wide parliamentary elections next month.
The FSB said it had tackled one group of Ukrainian saboteurs in an operation that spanned late Saturday and early Sunday, smashing what it called a Ukrainian spy network.
Ukraine and Russian nationals were arrested and an arms cache, including 20 homemade explosive devices, ammunition, mines, grenades and specialised weapons commonly used by Ukrainian special forces, were recovered, it said.
The FSB said the situation escalated further late on Sunday and in the early hours of Monday.
"Ukrainian special forces units tried to break through two more times with groups of saboteur-terrorists but were thwarted by FSB units and other forces," it said.
"The attempts to break through were accompanied by massive covering fire from the neighbouring state and from Ukrainian armoured vehicles."
Security had been beefed up in areas popular with tourists, at key infrastructure and along the Crimea border, the FSB said.
U.S. officials are monitoring the situation, but have yet to drawn any conclusion about Russias intentions, said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
(Additional reporting by Lidia Kelly and Maria Tsvetkova in Moscow, Pavel Polityuk and Matthias Williams in Kiev and Jonathan Landay in Washington; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Robin Pomeroy)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Bangkok: Responding to the slew of criticism ahead of a constitutional referendum in the country, Thai authorities on Wednesday defended the vote as "free and fair", media reported.
A majority of voters approved the junta-backed Constitution in Sunday's referendum, following which the European Union and the US denounced the restrictions on free speech imposed by the junta in the run-up to the vote in which more than 100 opponents were detained, Efe news reported.
Brussels said "there were serious limitations to fundamental freedoms" during the campaign while Washington underlined its concern for the exclusive drafting process and denounced that "open debate was not permitted in the run-up to its adoption".
The Thailand Foreign Ministry said the referendum was conducted in a "free, fair and transparent manner, in accordance with internationally accepted practices and standards as well as internal legislative requirements".
The ministry said the government "voluntarily" included the referendum as part of a "roadmap" to encourage public participation in shaping Thailand's future.
"Citizens were free to express opinions regarding the draft in good faith and in accordance with the lawsnone of these critics has disputed the outcome of the vote," the statement said.
The head of the military junta and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha responded on Sunday, after the vote, criticising "inappropriate intervention by foreign elements".
"All these interferences have inevitably led us to have contempt for the sentiments of those who claim to be 'friends' of Thailand," said the head of the junta.
The Electoral Commission was scheduled to announce the definitive result of the referendum on Wednesday. The provisional data showed the new constitution poll received 61.4 per cent in favour and 38.6 per cent against.
The outcome of the referendum facilitates general elections which will be held in 2017, according to what the Prime Minister, in power since the coup in 2014, reiterated on Tuesday.
Ankara: Turkey and Russia have agreed to build a mechanism on Syria which includes officials from the intelligence services, foreign ministries and armed forces, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.
Cavusoglu said the first bilateral meeting of this mechanism will be held in St. Petersburg on Thursday, Xinhua News Agency cited from Anadolu News Agency.
The formation of the mechanism was agreed during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.
"We are building a strong mechanism with Russia regarding Syria, " Cavusoglu said. "We think alike on the cease-fire, humanitarian aid and a political solution."
Turkish National Intelligence Organisation Chief Hakan Fidan and representatives from Turkey's Foreign Ministry and the Turkish Armed Forces will depart for Russia on Wednesday, Cavusoglu said.
He said the pilots involved in the downing of a Russian jet on 24 November, 2015, which led to a crisis in bilateral ties, were in custody for their ties with the so-called Gulen Terrorist Organisation, a reference to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Turkey accuses Gulen of masterminding the 15 July coup attempt and had called for his extradition from the US.
The shooting down of the Russian jet led to a freeze in relations of the two countries, including economic sanctions and a bar on Russian tourism to Turkey, which thawed in June after Erdogan wrote to his counterpart and the two later spoke on telephone.
Putin gave his support to Turkey over the coup attempt and said he stood by the elected government, offering his condolences to the victims of the failed coup.
WASHINGTON The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of more than 130 Abrams battle tanks, 20 armoured recovery vehicles and other equipment, worth about $1.15 billion, to Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
The approval for land force equipment coincides with Saudi Arabia leading a military coalition in support of Yemeni forces loyal to the exiled government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who are trying to oust Iran-allied Houthi forces from the capital, Sanaa. Human rights groups have criticized the coalition's air strikes because of the deaths of civilians.
The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which implements foreign arms sales, said that General Dynamics (GD.N) will be the principal contractor for the sale.
"This sale will increase the Royal Saudi Land Forces (RSLF) interoperability with U.S. forces and conveys U.S. commitment to Saudi Arabia's security and armed forces modernization," the agency said in a notice to lawmakers posted on its website.
Lawmakers have 30 days to block the sale, although such action is rare.
Saudi Arabia and its mostly Gulf Arab allies intervened in Yemen's civil war in March 2015 after the Houthi movement had pushed the Hadi administration into exile in Saudi Arabia.
On Tuesday, the Saudi-led military coalition conducted air strikes on Sanaa for the first time in five months, residents said, after U.N.-backed peace talks to end the conflict broke down at the weekend.
Medics said nine civilians were killed in a strike on a potato chip factory in the Nahda district of the capital.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called on the United Nations General Assembly in June to suspend Saudi Arabia from the U.N. Human Rights Council until the military coalition stops killing civilians in Yemen.
"The Saudi-led coalitions campaign in Yemen has been devastating for civilians (and) the U.S. should be suspending arms sales to Saudi Arabia, not approving more," said Kristine Beckerle, a researcher with Human Rights Watch.
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut who has been critical of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, said in a statement that he was concerned about the high civilian casualty rate in Yemen. Murphy said Saudi Arabia had "largely backed away from" the fight against Islamic State militants "and Id like to see them commit to rejoin that fight as part of major new military sales."
(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle. Editing by Frances Kerry and Grant McCool)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Hong Kong: Vietnam has discreetly fortified several of its islands in the disputed South China Sea with new mobile rocket launchers capable of striking China's runways and military installations across the vital trade route, according to Western officials.
Diplomats and military officers told Reuters that intelligence shows Hanoi has shipped the launchers from the Vietnamese mainland into position on five bases in the Spratly islands in recent months, a move likely to raise tensions with Beijing.
The launchers have been hidden from aerial surveillance and they have yet to be armed, but could be made operational with rocket artillery rounds within two or three days, according to the three sources.
Vietnam's Foreign Ministry said the information was "inaccurate", without elaborating.
Deputy Defence Minister, Senior Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh, told Reuters in Singapore in June that Hanoi had no such launchers or weapons ready in the Spratlys but reserved the right to take any such measures.
"It is within our legitimate right to self-defence to move any of our weapons to any area at any time within our sovereign territory," he said.
The move is designed to counter China's build-up on its seven reclaimed islands in the Spratlys archipelago. Vietnam's military strategists fear the building runways, radars and other military installations on those holdings have left Vietnam's southern and island defences increasingly vulnerable.
Military analysts say it is the most significant defensive move Vietnam has made on its holdings in the South China Sea in decades.
Hanoi wanted to have the launchers in place as it expected tensions to rise in the wake of the landmark international court ruling against China in an arbitration case brought by the Philippines, foreign envoys said.
The ruling last month, stridently rejected by Beijing, found no legal basis to China's sweeping historic claims to much of the South China Sea.
Vietnam, China and Taiwan claim all of the Spratlys while the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei claim some of the area.
"China has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly islands and nearby waters," Chinas Foreign Ministry said in a faxed statement on Wednesday. "China resolutely opposes the relevant country illegally occupying parts of Chinas Spratly islands and reefs and on these illegally occupied Spratly islands and reefs belonging to China carrying out illegal construction and military deployments.
The United States is also monitoring developments closely.
"We continue to call on all South China Sea claimants to avoid actions that raise tensions, take practical steps to build confidence, and intensify efforts to find peaceful, diplomatic solutions to disputes," a State Department official said.
State-Of-the-art system
Foreign officials and military analysts believe the launchers form part of Vietnam's state-of-art EXTRA rocket artillery system recently acquired from Israel.
EXTRA rounds are highly accurate up to a range of 150 km (93 miles), with different 150 kg (330 lb) warheads that can carry high explosives or bomblets to attack multiple targets simultaneously. Operated with targeting drones, they could strike both ships and land targets.
That puts China's 3,000-metre runways and installations on Subi, Fiery Cross and Mischief Reef within range of many of Vietnam's tightly clustered holdings on 21 islands and reefs.
While Vietnam has larger and longer range Russian coastal defence missiles, the EXTRA is considered highly mobile and effective against amphibious landings. It uses compact radars, so does not require a large operational footprint - also suitable for deployment on islets and reefs.
"When Vietnam acquired the EXTRA system, it was always thought that it would be deployed on the Spratlys...it is the perfect weapon for that," said Siemon Wezeman, a senior arms researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
There is no sign the launchers have been recently test fired or moved.
China took its first Spratlys possessions after a sea battle against Vietnam's then weak navy in 1988. After the battle, Vietnam said 64 soldiers with little protection were killed as they tried to protect a flag on South Johnson reef - an incident still acutely felt in Hanoi.
In recent years, Vietnam has significantly improved its naval capabilities as part of a broader military modernisation, including buying six advanced Kilo submarines from Russia.
Carl Thayer, an expert on Vietnam's military at the Australian Defence Force Academy, said the deployment showed the seriousness of Vietnam's determination to militarily deter China as far as possible.
"China's runways and military installations in the Spratlys are a direct challenge to Vietnam, particularly in their southern waters and skies, and they are showing they are prepared to respond to that threat," he said. "China is unlikely to see this as purely defensive, and it could mark a new stage of militarisation of the Spratlys."
Trevor Hollingsbee, a former naval intelligence analyst with the British defence ministry, said he believed the deployment also had a political factor, partly undermining the fear created by the prospect of large Chinese bases deep in maritime Southeast Asia.
"It introduces a potential vulnerability where they was none before - it is a sudden new complication in an arena that China was dominating," he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa will jointly dedicate the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP's) first unit, to the country on Wednesday. You can watch the live proceedings here:
Here is a brief timeline of the events leading up to the dedication of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project :
1988
The Indian government under former Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had signed a contract with Soviet Union to build the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) in 1988. Due to the dissolution of Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent political and economic upheaval, the project was left in limbo until 1997. The project was then revived in 1998.
2002
Construction AT the KKNPP began in March 2002.
2004
A small port became operational in Kudankulam in January 2004. Prior to the establishment of this port, materials had to be brought in via roads, running the risk of damage during transportation.
2008
With the aim of increasing the total capacity of the power plant, negotiations on building four additional reactors at the site began
2011
The construction of the first two units had to be halted in September 2011 following protests by villagers and local fishermen around the plant. Their concerns ranged from how the reactor would adversely affect their livelihood to the fear of a nuclear accident similar to the Daiichi nuclear accident in Japan.
2012
Work at the plant finally resumed in March 2012.
2013
In July 2013, power generation initially started at 300 Mw, which step by step was increased to 500 Mw.
2014
In December, Unit 1 of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant was declared commercially operational from December 2014.
2015
For major part of 2015, unit I remained shut. The Plant engineers cited a new and upgraded valve control system that had to be incorporated, which led to delays in bringing back the plant online. This installment only extended the annual maintenance shutdown that started in March, 2015.
However, after April, power generation continued non-stop without any snags.
2016
On 10 July, 2016 the second unit of KKNPP- II attained criticality after regulatory and statutory clearances.
New York: Targeting brown people as potential Taliban sympathisers in America is as old as the 11 September, 2001 terrorist attacks. However, 50-year-old Surjeet Bassi, an Indian national is tired of racial profiling and is suing a New Jersey car dealership for $1.26 million for allegedly refusing to sell him a Mercedes Benz for fear that he might ship it to the Taliban.
When Bassi, 50, who runs a successful medical transport company, and his business partner Deepak Kumar approached Prestige Motors Inc in Bergen County, New Jersey, at the beginning of June, he intended to trade in his old Mercedes-Benz for a newer Mercedes Benz GLS550 SUV with the black interior he desired.
Bassi went through all the hoops: He spent five hours at the dealership choosing a vehicle, then negotiating a price with the salesman. He passed a credit check, paid a $1,000 down payment, and showed the dealership his bank statements. Finally, a deal was reached. Just as Bassi thought the hardest part of the process was over, his day took a turn for the worse.
The manager called Bassi into his office and said he couldn't sell him the car. According to Bassi, the manager told him that he came from a high-risk area where people often buy cars and send them to the Taliban.
A startled Bassi, who has lived in New Jersey for 30 years explained that he is originally from India, and is in no way connected to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The lawsuit says a search of Bassi's name on a federal database of those banned from exporting cars turned up nothing, but the manager still refused to sell him a new car. Bassi even offered to sign a waiver stating that he wouldnt sell the car to anyone for three years. I said, Give me the paper, Ill sign it, Bassi said, adding, I have a Mercedes already, if I wanted to export it I would sell that one.
But the Mercedes car dealership still refused to sell Bassi a new car, which the lawsuit says is "racial stereotyping, premised on the plaintiff's race and appearance" and it wouldn't have happened if he'd been "a white citizen of the United States".
When contacted by Firstpost on Tuesday, the dealership's manager declined to comment.
"Prestige Mercedes Benz values its relationships with customers and prospective customers," spokeswoman Theresa V Boylan later said in a statement, "As a company, we do not condone discriminatory practices or conduct. Out of respect for the process and all parties, it is our policy not to comment on pending legal matters."
Bassi, who said the entire experience left him rattled" and heartbroken, is now suing the car dealership for $60,000 in compensatory damages and $1.2 million in punitive damages. His lawyers filed a lawsuit on 5 July in the US District Court in New York's Southern District.
Bassi's civil rights attorney, Michael Sussman, described the appalling incident as blatant racial discrimination.
This is an instance of the madness weve come to, Sussman told the US media.
The law firm said the dealership had violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act by refusing to extend credit to Bassi.
GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here.
Over-fishing, such as for these sharks in Gabon, is wiping out threatened species worldwide. Credit: Caleb McClennon/WCS
Less than a month away from the kick-off the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii, a team of scientists report in the journal Nature that three quarters of the world's threatened species are imperiled because people are converting their habitat into agricultural lands and overharvesting their populations.
The team, from the University of Queensland, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), studied information on 8,688 species on the IUCN Red List. They found that 72 percent of species are imperiled by overexploitation (the harvesting of species from the wild at rates that cannot be compensated for by reproduction or regrowth), while 62 percent of species are imperiled by agricultural activity (the production of food, fodder, fiber and fuel crops; livestock farming; aquaculture; and the cultivation of trees). In comparison, 19 percent are considered threatened by climate change.
There are 5,407 species threatened by agriculture alone, including cheetah, African wild dog and Asia's hairy-nosed otter. Illegal hunting is decimating populations of all rhinoceros and elephant species, western gorilla and Chinese pangolin. Other threats are affecting substantially fewer species, for example hooded seals being threatened by climate change. Perhaps surprisingly, climate change was ranked 7th among the 11 threats studied.
"Addressing these old foes of overharvesting and agricultural activities are key to turning around the biodiversity extinction crisis" said lead author Sean Maxwell of the University of Queensland, "This must be at the forefront of the conservation agenda."
From September 1-10, representatives from government, industry, and non-environmental organizations (NGOs) will define future directions for conservation at the World Conservation Congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The report authors urge congress delegates - and society in general - to focus on proposing and funding actions that deal with the biggest current threats to biodiversity.
Said Dr. James Watson, a co-author of the study from the WCS and the University of Queensland. "History has taught us that minimizing impacts from overharvesting and agriculture requires a variety of conservation actions but these can be achieved. Actions such as well managed protected areas, enforcement of hunting regulations, and managing agricultural systems in ways that allow threatened species to persist within them, all have a major role to play in reducing the biodiversity crisis. These activities need to be well funded and prioritized in areas that will reduce threat."
The authors also add, however, that while overharvesting and agricultural activities are currently the predominant threats to species, this may change in the coming decades.
Said co-author Dr. Thomas Brooks of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature: "Reducing immediate impacts is essential to tackling the biodiversity crisis, but climate change could become an increasingly dominant threat for species in the coming decades. Thankfully, those actions that best reduce current threats such as unsustainable use, habitat destruction, and invasive species now are often a sensible first-step in responding to the challenges of rapid climate change."
Explore further Many more species at risk from Southeast Asia tree plantations, study finds
More information: Sean L. Maxwell et al, Biodiversity: The ravages of guns, nets and bulldozers, Nature (2016). Journal information: Nature Sean L. Maxwell et al, Biodiversity: The ravages of guns, nets and bulldozers,(2016). DOI: 10.1038/536143a
Credit: National Research Nuclear University
Researchers of MEPhI (Russia), the University of Rostock (Germany) and the University of Pisa (Italy) suggest a new method for generating extremely strong magnetic fields of several giga-Gauss in the lab. Currently available techniques produce fields of one order of magnitude less than the new method. In nature, such superstrong fields exist only in the space. Therefore, generation of such fields in laboratory conditions provides new opportunities for the modeling of astrophysical processes. The results will contribute to the new research field of laboratory astrophysics.
The Faraday effect has been known for a long time. It refers to the polarization plane of an electromagnetic wave propagating through a non-magnetic medium, which is rotating in the presence of a constant magnetic field. There is also an inverse process of the generation of a magnetic field during the propagation of a circularly polarized wave through a crystal or plasma. It was considered theoretically in the 1960s by Soviet theorist Lew Pitaevsky, a famous representative of Landau's school. The stronger the wave, the higher the magnetic field it can generate when propagating through a medium. However, a peculiarity of the effect is that it requires absorption for its very existenceit does not occur in entirely transparent media. In highly intense electromagnetic fields, electrons become ultrarelativistic, which considerably reduces their collisions, suppressing conventional absorption. The researchers demonstrate that at very high laser wave intensities, the absorption can be effectively provided by radiation friction instead of binary collisions. This specific friction leads to the generation of a superstrong magnetic field.
According to physicist Sergey Popruzhenko, it will be possible to check the calculations in the near future. Several new laser facilities of record power will be completed in the next several years. Three such lasers are now under construction within the European project Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) in the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary. The Exawatt Center for Extreme Light Studies XCELS is under the development at the Applied Physics Institute RAS at Nizhny Novgorod. These laser facilities will be capable of the intensities required for the generation of superstrong magnetic fields due to radiation friction and also for the observation of many other fundamental strong-field effects.
Explore further The role of magnetic fields in star formation
More information: T V Liseykina et al. Inverse Faraday effect driven by radiation friction, New Journal of Physics (2016). Journal information: New Journal of Physics T V Liseykina et al. Inverse Faraday effect driven by radiation friction,(2016). DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/18/7/072001
The U.S. Department of Justice says the police department in the eastern city of Baltimore, Maryland, violated the Constitution and federal anti-discrimination laws by systemically engaging in a pattern of illegal stops, searches, arrests and use of excessive force, particularly against the city's African-American population.
"Public trust is critical to effective policing and public safety," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Wednesday. "The results of our investigation raise serious concerns, and in the days ahead, the Department of Justice will continue working tirelessly to ensure that all Baltimoreans enjoy the safety, security and dignity they expect and deserve."
The report found that the Baltimore Police Department's practices perpetuate many issues rooted in poverty and race, focusing law enforcement actions on low-income minority communities in ways that are often unnecessary and unproductive.
WATCH: Baltimore mayor reacts to report findings
"The findings are challenging to hear, but let me be clear, I never sugarcoat our problems, nor will I run away from our most pressing challenges," Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake told reporters Wednesday at a news conference there. "The report identifies specific problems in the department, but the transparency of the report offers a crucial foundation if we are going to move forward."
Baltimore Police Department Commissioner Kevin Davis said the report "is not an indictment" of all Baltimore police officers, many of whom he said are "offended" by the details in the report. "This report is, however, an indictment on those bad behaviors by a relatively small number of police officers over many years."
Extensive investigation
Federal investigators interviewed current and former city leaders, police department chiefs and officers, and people and organizations from the community. They also rode along with police officers during their shifts and reviewed hundreds of thousands of pages of documents.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta said that nearly everyone investigators interacted with "agreed that the Baltimore Police Department needs sustainable reform."
Gupta said the Baltimore Police Department has agreed with the Department of Justice to negotiate reforms to policies that have led to discriminatory policing.
Samuel Walker, professor emeritus at the University of Nebraska and an expert on police accountability, described the report's findings as "very powerful and very hard hitting." He told VOA the findings represent "a failure of accountability across the board," but he is "guardedly optimistic" the negotiations will lead to an improved police department in Baltimore.
"It will require a number of reforms, changes in their policy on use of force, changes in their policy and training on stops and frisk, and the development of new procedures for reporting use of force," Walker said.
The Justice Department report was launched after the high-profile death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African-American man who died from spinal injuries suffered while he was in police custody. Gray's death fueled ongoing concerns about policing in Baltimore, a city of 620,000 that experienced a record number of homicides last year.
Longstanding issues
The report pointed to the lingering legacy of department policy in the 1990s and early 2000s that prioritized officers making large numbers of stops, searches and arrests, saying that today supervisors who began their careers during that era still focus on those numbers to measure performance.
Investigators found that multiple officers showed a mistaken understanding of the law, believing that people standing in front of a business or a vacant lot were considered to be loitering or trespassing.
In one incident reviewed by the Justice Department team, an officer who believed his supervisor would be unhappy if he did not clear an area where people were talking and waiting for food outside of a late-night restaurant confronted the group and ended up in an altercation with a man who refused to leave. The officer feared the man was going to kick him and responded by firing his gun, striking two people, including one person who was not involved. Supervisors said later the officer acted appropriately.
The report criticized the department for underreporting the number of people that officers stop; but, among the 300,000 reported stops of pedestrians between January 2010 and May 2015, 44 percent took place in two small districts that contain just 11 percent of the city's population and are predominantly African-American.
The Justice Department said the stops "often lack reasonable suspicion," and that less than 4 percent of them resulted in any citation or arrest. Many of those arrested later had their charges dismissed. The report noted that one African-American man in his mid-50s was stopped 30 times in less than four years. None of the 30 stops resulted in a citation or criminal charge.
Targeting African-Americans
"In some cases, BPD supervisors have ordered officers to specifically target African-Americans for stops and arrests," the report said. "BPD failed to use adequate policy, training, and accountability mechanisms to prevent discrimination, despite longstanding notice of concerns about how it polices African-American communities in the city."
The report further criticized the department for using what it says are overly aggressive tactics that only escalate situations.
"Officers frequently resort to physical force when a subject does not immediately respond to verbal commands, even where the subject poses no imminent threat to the officer or others," according to the report.
The Justice Department said nearly 90 percent of excessive force incidents it identified involved force against African-Americans; but, it said the department rarely categorized incidents as excessive.
The Justice Department said it recognizes the challenges officers in Baltimore and other communities face, and said the department's current leadership has taken "laudable steps" toward improvements. Those include revising policies on the use of force, as well as boosting accountability and transparency with steps such as beginning to equip officers with body cameras to record their activities.
Pro-government forces in Libya say they have taken control of Islamic State's headquarters in the city of Sirte.
The statement was issued by forces loyal to Libyas Government of National Accord (GNA).
The U.S. has been carrying out airstrikes aimed at pushing IS out of Sirte, a key coastal city that has served as a base for the terror groups operations.
U.S officials on Wednesday stressed that U.S.troops are not engaged in any direct fighting on the ground.
Several of you have asked about media reports suggesting that U.S. forces are engaged in direct action on the ground in Sirte. I can tell you those are not true," Pentagon Press Secretary Gordon Trowbridge said. "Our mission in Libya is focused solely on conducting air strikes at the request and in support of forces aligned with Libya's Government of National Accord. We are providing unique capabilities - notably intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and precision strikes - that will help enable GNA-aligned forces to make a decisive, strategic advance."
The Legislative Assembly (AL) gathered in plenary session yesterday for the final discussion and approval of a bill that amends the AL Electoral Law.
The amendments, disclosed by the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia Chan on July 28, were considered a matter of great urgency by the government. Only 12 days after the bill was completed it was sent for the ALs speedy discussion and approval.
The bill was approved at the first reading yesterday in the plenary session with the support of 28 out of the 32 voters; legislators Pereira Coutinho, Leong Veng Chai, Ng Kuok Cheong and Au Kam San voted against it.
The debate was fueled by the directly-elected lawmakers. Some of them expressed doubts about the presentation of the law made by Sonia Chan. The secretary mentioned the four favorable principles that should be fulfilled for the development of Macaus political system according to the Basic Law and the constitution regulations of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress.
She said that the bill aims to improve on the regulations of electoral campaign activities; reinforce the fight against electoral fraud; perfect the works of the electoral committee and improve on the requirements to submit an application [for office] and on the rules about the incompatibility of legislators.
Ng Kuok Cheong criticized the fact that the bill did not propose any change to the constitution of the assembly, specifically regarding the long-awaited growth of democracy. According to the lawmaker and early member of the New Macau Association, the population had expected to see in the 2017 elections the number of directly-elected legislators grow from 14 to 20.
Im really sorry that since the public consultation process and until today, the focal point of the stagnation of [Macaus] political development has not been addressed, Ng Kuok Cheong said. The government simply applied the proposals from the Electoral Affairs Commission without integrating the opinions of society. [] This isnt to the benefit of the [democratic] development of the MSAR, he argued, citing a study conducted by a Hong Kong university institution which concluded that over 60 percent of the population was hoping for a change involving the direct election of the Chief Executive.
Ng said that the content of the bill doesnt respond to peoples expectations quite the contrary the authorities are seeking to limit freedom of participation in the elections.
Pereira Coutinho raised the bar, building on the criticism shared by Ng. The legislator accused the new Electoral Law of violating the Basic Law in at least six of its articles.
This proposal violates the Basic Law. And these [violations] dont occur only over one or two articles. A handful of articles from our fundamental law, which we should all respect, are being violated [by the proposal], said Coutinho, remarking that the written text of the proposal seems only capable [of being drafted] in North Korea.
The lawmaker slammed the law, which he regards as a suspension of freedom of expression and an authentic gag law, that is leading to the bureaucratization of the electoral process.
Coutinho also said the new ineligibility proposal is a revengeful law that is invading a sacred reserve of the statutes of the legislators.
In the legislators opinion there is already an ineligibility rule, which can only be proposed, approved and amended by the legislators themselves. He therefore called on his fellow legislators not to let the bill pass without significant changes made.
However, Song Pek Kei showed support for the bill, highlighting that the election of the AL is an important process in our society. This initiative is an opportunity to review and perfect the law. Song raised questions regarding the rule that prevents legislators who have renounced their mandates to participate afterward in a supplementary or mid-term election.
From the governments side, not much was advanced in terms of answers to the doubts raised by legislators. Instead it was proposed that these suggestions could be further addressed in the committee that will analyze the specifics of the law later.
The Secretary for Administration and Justice noted that amendments to the AL Electoral Law aim to ensure that the election process is conducted with integrity and is open to the public, remarking more than once yesterday that the bill was worthy of the consent of the central government.
Sonia Chan stressed that disallowing the election of legislators with a political role in another country or territory a proposal that recalls the case of Coutinho, since he was candidate in the latest legislative election in Portugal while also being a lawmaker in Macau is followed by most other countries worldwide, including Portugal.
Regarding matters of corruption, the deputy Commissioner Against Corruption, Kuan Kun Hong, said: In the past there were several registered actions that aimed to provide benefits to people and this can be considered a case of corruption.
This mechanism [of prior declaration of interests] aims to establish a way to prevent complaints and unnecessary investigations, he added, also noting that not all of the associations need to declare. Only when there is a direct connection with their candidates.
On the lawmakers agenda
SMG FLAWS DURING TYPHOON NIDA Zheng Anting said the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) failed to communicate effectively with society during Typhoon Nida. This was not the first time that the bureau has made mistakes this year and the population questions what is behind these flaws. The lawmaker urged the government to open the underpass of Sai Van Bridge for the transit of motorcycles even during lower typhoon signals and other severe weather situations. He also urged the government to solve the problem of flooding in the Inner Harbor area and on some streets, to which traffic is being due to the implementation of the exclusive bus corridor.
LAND CONCESSIONS Mak Soi Kun and Kwan Tsui Hang said the government does not demonstrate concern for citizens regarding land concessions that have resulted in problems. Mak said: For the building on Calcada da Guia, the government suspended the project in 2008 based on heritage issues but didnt [pay attention to] buyers. Similar thing are occurring now with the Pearl Horizon development, he said. Managing these issues according to the law seems to mean leaving peoples rights behind. Regarding the Coloane hill skyscraper construction, Kwan Tsui Hang concluded: Answers from the government are contradictory. She said that what is needed is to have competent departments investigate the legal terms of the changing of the general planning.
CTM MONOPOLY Song Pek Kei said liberalizing the market necessitates that all operators are at the same starting line. She claims that the monopoly of CTM and the unfair contract signed with the government either highlights lack of juridical knowledge from the services workers at the time [] or an intention to give preference to the concessionaire. The missing answers from the government are creating distrust and unhappiness in society, she said.
MONEY WASTED ON PUBLIC WORKS Ng Kuok Cheong noted that the most recent public works revealed a waste of money and lack of planning. Taking as examples the Taipa Maritime Terminal and the LRT project, the legislator shared concerns that the same wastage problem will be repeated with the Grand Prix Museum renovation. Cheong asked for further clarification on the details of the project.
Seven passengers of the bus that crashed into a building on Rua da Entena on Monday remain at the Kiang Wu Hospital. One of the three passengers, who was in intensive care, has been moved to the hospitals general ward, the Health Bureau announced. However, one passenger is still in coma. Yesterday, the residents living in the building which was struck by the bus were allowed to visit their homes. They asked for the governments intervention in the repair works and raised concerns about the buildings structure.
Neptune Group expects significant loss
The Neptune Group has stated that it expects to record a significant loss for the year that ended on June 30, 2016. The expected loss is being primarily attributed to the Macau junket business, which continues to be slow and payments of which are often delayed. The Hong Kong-based company also noted that the difficult gaming environment in Macau for VIP rooms in addition to a pervasive reluctance of junkets to issue credit to players might also be contributing to its loss. The final results announcement is expected to be released on or around September 30.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is playing the China-bashing card in an attempt to rescue his falling poll numbers but has no real ideas to resolve the two nations differences, Chinas official news agency said yesterday.
Responding to a speech Monday in which the candidate accused China of breaking trade rules in every way imaginable, Xinhua said such inflammatory rhetoric was meant to appeal to blue-collar Midwestern voters. It called the remarks dangerous and said they offered nothing of substance to improve bilateral relations.
Trump played the China-bashing card once again in his latest attempt to rectify his falling popularity, Xinhua said in an editorial.
Trump accused China of illegally subsidizing exports, manipulating its currency and stealing intellectual property, all recurring themes in his campaign. Trumps criticism has focused almost exclusively on trade practices with few mentions of Chinas authoritarian political system or human rights abuses.
At the center of my plan is trade enforcement with China. This alone could return millions of jobs into our country, Trump said in the speech that focused on economic policy.
Xinhua said Trump had not only betrayed traditional Republican support for free trade, but also ignored the importance of China to his own business. Trump has claimed to have done major deals with Chinese customers, but given few specifics. Items in his Trump-branded clothing line have been produced in China.
China-bashing is a recurring theme every four years, and by now its become quite dull, Xinhua said. Lets hope the next time around that future presidential [contenders] have something more substantial to say about Americas relationship with China. U.S. voters deserve better. AP
The wreckage of the bus that crashed into a building on Rua da Entena on Monday leaving 32 passengers injured and seriously damaging the building, was removed from the street yesterday.
Prior to removal, several iron pillars were installed to compensate for the fact that a main pillar of the building was hit and almost destroyed by the out-of-control bus.
The latest information released by authorities indicates that 10 of the injured remain at the Kiang Wu Hospital. Three of the injured are in intensive care and there is one case considered life threatening.
The 22 tourists that were discharged from hospital were taken to the Public Prosecutions Office, where they testified their accounts of the incident. According to the Government Spokesperson Office, the local travel agency [involved in the accident] is negotiating with the tourists the compensation to be paid, which depends on the injuries suffered. The travel agency will pay the compensations in advance, before concluding negotiations ongoing with its insurance company.
Following the evacuation of residents from the building on Monday, the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) issued a statement yesterday informing that seven families who live in the affected building were lodging in a center for victims of accidents. Five other families totaling 10 persons, were temporarily lodged in hotels with IAS support.
The bus was carrying 46 tourists that had arrived from Shenzhen for a short one-day visit. The tour group included tourists from several different regions and provinces of mainland China.
The driver was allegedly outside of the vehicle trying to resolve a smaller traffic accident when the bus started to roll down the road. According to preliminary conclusions from the police, it did not have its brake applied successfully.
The structure of the building that was struck by the bus requires assessment, the director of the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT), Li Canfeng, said on Monday.
The pillar [hit by the bus] is a main pillar and an important part of the buildings structure, he stated. PB
Mozambiques energy sector, which includes major projects being launched by Chinese companies, offers the country the best prospects to overcome the current adverse economic period, analysts have indicated.
One recently launched project is the building of a coal-fired power plant in Tete province, a USD25.5 million investment involving Shanghai Electric Power and Ncondezi Energy. Another planned thermoelectric plant in Tete involves the governments of Mozambique and Zambia.
The most recent report on Mozambique by credit-rating agency Standard Poors calls attention to current economic and financial difficulties. It estimates real GDP growth of just 4 percent this year, one of the lowest in recent decades, though predicting that it will accelerate to 6 percent in 2017 and 7 percent in 2018, with gas sector investments on the rise, along with those in power and transportation networks.
Construction of most railway track linking ports in the north and center of the country to new coal deposits should sustain higher coal production in 2016-2019 provided international coal prices recover from the current low levels, indicates the report.
More significantly, S&P believes that the government and foreign partners in liquid natural gas (ENI and Anadarko Petroleum) will conclude negotiations on this years investment framework, allowing construction of facilities to begin in 2017-2018.
The Economist Intelligence Unit sees foreign investment staying low in the short term, though recovering slowly beyond 2017 if the government takes sufficient steps to re-establish the IMF program, which would be a crucial sign to investors that authorities are responding to the economic crisis.
Privatization of assets should attract some investment, while capital employed in the gas industry may recover in the middle term, it specifies, adding that given slow overall demand for Mozambiques main exports there will be no promise of high returns to attract investors; the government will have to boost efforts to improve the business climate.
China should become one of the main clients for Mozambican natural gas, where it has already made its presence felt. The Chinese National Offshore Oil Corp has obtained the first long-term contract envisaging the annual purchase of from 2 million to 2.5 million tons of gas, a quarter of production capacity at the first liquefaction unit associated to Area 1 of the Rovuma Basin, where Anadarko Petroleum is the lead operator.
Chinese oil companies interest in Mozambican natural gas had already led Sinopec to buy from Italys ENI a 20 percent stake in Area 4, next to the one operated by Anadarko, for $4.2 billion.
According to Standard Bank, natural gas exports will initially earn $67 billion for Mozambique. With six liquefaction plants operational earnings will rise to $212 billion.
The final decisions on Mozambique project investment by ENI and Anadarko are expected in coming months. ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum should also be involved, Reuters recently reported.
ENI envisages financing of USD11 billion, selling a 20 percent stake in the Mamba well to ExxonMobil, a deal which could result in $1.3 billion in tax earnings for Mozambique. That sum would be equivalent to the hidden debts whose discovery led to cancellation of support from the IMF and other partners.
China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau (China National Petroleum Group, stakeholder in Rovuma Basin Area 4) will conduct the feasibility study for the 2600 km Rovuma/Gauteng gas pipeline announced last March. Once the investment decision is made, Chinese financial institutions will take on 70 percent of the financing.
Chinese involvement means the project will be a triple winner, the analyst Aubrey Hruby of the Atlantic Council Africa Centre has stated.
China gains because Chinese contractors get the business; South Africa and Mozambique gain because they secure the gas they need and Zimbabwe and Zambia gain because they also need energy, said Hruby, cited by Interfax. MDT/Macauhub
The visit of the U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer USS Benfold to the northern Chinese port of Qingdao earlier this week is the latest development in a long-term effort to build trust between the countries militaries amid tensions and a rivalry for dominance in Asia.
Though China resents the highly visible presence of the U.S. armed forces in Asia, especially the South China Sea, it has gradually overcome its reluctance and shown a willingness to engage that the sides hope will help avoid conflicts. Below is a look at the Benfolds visit and some of the steps the sides have taken to build their relationship.
WHATS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE VISIT?
The Benfolds visit is the first to China by an American warship since Beijing responded furiously to a Hague-based international arbitration tribunals ruling that its expansive South China Sea maritime claims had no basis in law. The fact the visit went ahead appears to show that Beijing now values the military-to-military relationship too much to allow it to be derailed by other events as was once the case. Qingdao is the base of Chinas northern fleet and is thus less sensitive than ports to the south closer to hotspots, such as Taiwan and the South China Sea.
HOW HAVE THE SIDES RESPONDED TO THE ARBITRATION RULING?
China was incensed by the ruling and declared it null and void. It renewed its commitment to defend its sovereignty claims and continue work on man-made islands in the Spratly island group that have been heavily criticized by the U.S. and others as adding to regional tensions. Beijing has also launched what it says will be regular aerial patrols over the South China Sea and says it will consider whether to declare an air defense identification zone over all or part of the water body. The U.S. has called on China to respect the ruling, but has not staged another freedom of navigation mission in which its ships sail near Chinas artificial islands, which draw warnings and rebukes from Beijing.
WHAT HAVE THE SIDES DONE TO BUILD TRUST?
Apart from exchanging visits, China and the U.S. have sought to reach agreements on the rules of the road and work with each other on non-combat oriented training missions. At a multilateral forum in Qingdao in 2014, the two navies agreed to a Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea that seems to have allowed them to avoid confrontations. Last year, they added a similar agreement on aerial encounters between their military pilots that calls for, among other things, maintaining a secure distance, communicating clearly and avoiding rude body language. This year, China also took part in the worlds largest maritime drills, known as RimPac, hosted by the U.S. every two years near Hawaii.
WHATS THE OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE?
China says it wants to turn a page on the arbitration ruling through bilateral talks with other claimants, although the U.S., Philippines and others resist that. The man-made islands will continue to be a source of tension, while the U.S. presence in the region will continue to grow. At the same time, China is narrowing the still-considerable gap with the U.S. Navy, adding to its fleet of high-tech destroyers similar to the Benfold and building homemade aircraft carriers to join the single, heavily refurbished Ukrainian one it has now. That will make it even more crucial that the sides build trust and relationships to help overcome future problems. AP
Former PhilWeb Corp. Chairman Roberto Ongpin, whos been singled out by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in a campaign to end the influence of big businesses on the government, said he will sell his stake to protect the electronic gambling company and its workers.
Duterte on Aug. 3 named Ongpin as among the businessmen he says have undue influence on the government and whom the newly installed head of state wants to destroy as he seeks to end online gambling in the country. The tough comments caused PhilWeb shares to plunge by a record and forced Ongpin to resign from the company.
I was hit by lightning, Ongpin said in a phone interview yesterday, referring to Dutertes rebuke. I will auction my shares to the highest bidder. The 79-year-old said he owns 53.7 percent of Manila-based PhilWeb, a supplier of electronic gambling software he founded in 2000.
The Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday approved PhilWebs request for a voluntary trading suspension until Aug. 23. The gaming companys shares have fallen 70 percent since Aug. 3 through Tuesday, wiping out about 14 billion pesos (USD300 million) in market value. The stock exchanges main index rose 2 percent during the period.
Ongpin served as trade minister under Ferdinand Marcos until the late Philippine dictator was ousted in 1986, after which the Harvard-trained businessman rebuilt his clout to become among the countrys most prominent, and its 20th-richest person as ranked by Forbes. Naming Ongpin in his Aug. 3 speech, Duterte said he wants to end the tycoons influence.
Destroy the oligarchs that are embedded in government now, said Duterte, who was elected president in May and took office June 30. These are the guys who just sit in their jets and in their mansions everywhere, and their money trickle like a taxi meter.
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation or Pagcor, the state-owned gambling company that also functions as a regulator, said on Tuesday it wont renew PhilWebs contract supplying software to Internet gambling cafes in the country. The government-licensed e-Games cafes, run by independent operators, open around the clock offering casino games such as baccarat, blackjack, slot machines and video poker and others.
Clearly I am the target. They had nothing to do with this, Ongpin said, referring to workers at the cafes. About 5,000 people work in these e-Games cafes, he said.
Manila is aspiring to become the next Asian gambling hub as high-stakes gamblers increasingly abandon Macau amid the Chinese governments crackdown on corruption, with four new casino resorts sited along Manila Bay. Enrique Razon, chairman of Philippine casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. that owns one of the resorts, said in June that Dutertes election and move to calm tensions with China was good for business. Cecilia Yap, Bloomberg
Indonesia will study a proposal from Iran to build an oil refinery, along with bids from other countries, as it seeks to boost refining capacity to catch up with rising consumption.
Iran proposed a plant with processing capacity of more than 100,000 barrels a day and pledged to provide the crude, IGN Wiratmaja Puja, director-general of oil and gas at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said in Jakarta yesterday. The projects value is estimated at USD8.4 billion and would be built over four or five years in Java, Irans state run news agency Mehr reported, citing Hassan Khosrojerdi, head of the joint Iran-Indonesia refinerys board of directors.
Indonesia, already the only OPEC member thats a net oil buyer, may need to import half of its annual fuel needs even after increasing its refining capacity by 500,000 barrels a day in the next seven years, according to BMI Research. Iran is seeking to boost crude exports after international sanctions on its economy were eased in January.
A feasibility study on the refinerys economic justification is being conducted, a spokesman for Irans oil ministry said. The National Iranian Oil Co. has not signed any deals on the project, he said. Indonesia has made no decision on Irans proposal because its still preliminary, Puja said.
Indonesia has also received proposals from China, Kuwait and Russia, Puja said. The ministry hasnt come to any decisions on the bids. The government plans to offer the Bontang refinery in East Kalimantan to investors before other projects, he said. Fitri Wulandari, Yudith Ho and Hashem Kalantari, Bloomberg
Sands China held its annual Responsible Gaming Team Training Program at The Venetian Macao, for the fourth consecutive year, Monday and yesterday, attracting nearly 80 participants.
In a bid to enhance team members knowledge of problem gaming and improving general awareness of the importance of responsible gambling, the gaming operator again invited experts both from the region and Las Vegas.
The program was overseen by Bo J. Bernhard, executive director of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas International Gaming Institute, along with local scholar and counselors.
According to Bernhard, the program has become stronger over the last few years. He believes that the regions treatment programs for problem gamblers are improving, as the industrys understanding of these problems has increased.
Really, our understanding of problem gambling today is about where our understanding of alcoholism was maybe 20 years ago. But its moving forward very, very fast and our knowledge is getting better, he told the press yesterday.
The expert also noted that the regions gaming industry is moving from focusing on high-rollers to more of a mass market, adding that the move would lead to new challenges in the city as the customer base changes.
According to Bernhard, the teaching approach he employed at The Venetian Macao was different from the ones he had used in Las Vegas. He stressed that the education programs provided for Sands China team members mainly focuses on the cultural importance of saving face.
Here we really emphasize making sure these conversations [with problem gamblers] happen in private [] because the shame is really powerful. I think its really hard in Macau to get people to talk about this, he said.
Meanwhile, according to local scholar Davis Fong, also the director of Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming at the University of Macau, efforts to raise awareness on responsible gaming in Macau have been successful.
He recalled that according to a study on problem gambling conducted in 2013, the rate of gambling disorder in the region was the lowest figure he had seen since 2003.
Based on the 2013 survey, some 60 percent of local residents have heard about responsible gaming, while back in 2009, only 16 percent of residents were aware of gaming problems.
According to Fong, the 2015 prevalence study on the matter will be released soon.
Although most gamblers in the region are not locals, Bernhard is confident that the mainland is also starting to recognize problem gambling.
Our hope is that we would also see more and more programs in the mainland, as well as more communication between mainland programs [and] mainland research, he said.
Thats why its very important that Dr Fong was also in Beijing talking with experts in Beijing to make sure were all communicating best practices, he added.
Certificates issued by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) were presented to the participating team members who came from the gaming operations, security and human resources departments to attend one or two training sessions.
This years program included the increased participation of Sheng Kung Hui Macau Social Services Coordination Office, which teaches crisis management and intervention skills. As a result, this years training hours were extended from four to eight.
The Responsible Gaming Team Training Program was launched in 2013 and to date, over 360 participants have attended training sessions and more than 1,700 hours of training have been provided during the annual campaigns.
NagaCorp, which operates a casino in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, is set to open a new casino in Cambodia, Naga2, in 2017. The company has now confirmed that the resort is expected to contain as many as 200 gaming tables and up to 1,000 slot machines.
The companys existing resort, Naga casino in Phnom Penh, has seen more mainland Chinese visitors in the wake of President Xi Jinpings anti-corruption campaign that has deterred gamblers from going to Macau.
However, in spite of this, the companys chief marketing officer of South East Asia, Mike Ngai, told The Standard that most of the casino customers hail from Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia.
Visitors to the country rose 2.4 percent year-on-year in the first five months of this year to 2 million.
Chairman Timothy Patrick McNally said that the firm is also predicting growth in the revenue generated by NagaCity, a pedestrian mall offering Chinese duty-free goods in the Cambodian capital.
The companys net profit jumped 24 percent to USD125.2 million (MOP1 billion) in the first half of 2016, thanks to local economic growth and a rising number of visitors.
At the same time, the companys revenue from just VIP gaming jumped 26 percent in the first half of the year to USD4.5 billion, with further expectations that the whole year will record growth in excess of 20 percent.
Naga shares jumped 7.24 percent to HKD5.78 on Tuesday the highest they have been since last September.
Cyprus police are investigating how an officer mistakenly telephoned a Serbian who was suspected of being the ringleader in a mafia-linked assassination plot.
Police spokesman Andreas Angelides said this week the officer intended to call his counterpart at Interpols office in Serbia in March this year, but erroneously called the suspect instead. An investigation found it was a genuine mistake and not corruption-related.
The second probe will determine if the officer will face any disciplinary measures.
Cyprus police say the error happened after they were informed by Belgrade about a planned assassination attempt.
Critics claim the gaffe warned the plot ringleaders, who postponed the assassination to June, when a 51-year-old Cypriot businessman was killed in the resort of Ayia Napa. No one has been convicted of the killing yet.
After massive delays on the construction of the Pac On Ferry Terminal, the MOP3.9 billion project (sixfold the initial budget) is set to open its doors within the next six to nine months, with a capacity to accommodate 400,000 passengers per day.
In a press visit to the site yesterday, authorities said that the new five-floor-terminal is approximately 200,000 square meters; quadruple the size of the temporary Taipa ferry terminal.
The upcoming terminal will accommodate three ferry operators, namely Turbo jet, Cotai Water Jet and Yuet Tung Shipping across its 16 berths.
The project, which has a total of 88 immigration counters, will also feature three multifunctional berths that will house large ferries and cruise ships, while its heliport will accommodate five helicopters. The terminal floor area is four times bigger than the initial design size.
Authorities said the helipad was reconstructed, as it first failed to meet the requirements of the Civil Aviation Authority.
Although the terminal would not be fully ready by the expected date due to renovation and improvement works, Chou Chi Tak, acting director of Marine and Water Bureau, told the press that the temporary terminal operation will remain in place for now. There are 110 sailings in Taipa terminal per day and about 7 million tourists use that terminal every year, he explained. So once the new one is open, the old one may likely be demolished. We hope to divert some tourists from Macau peninsula to Taipa.
Transferring of the ferries to the new terminal would take place during the night when there are fewer sailings. Chou affirmed that once the temporary terminal stopped its operation, the new site would commence immediately without any interruption.
The acting director also noted that even when the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HKZMB) opens, there would still be a demand for a marine transport, adding that the figure of tourists coming into the region by sea is pretty stable.
Meanwhile Tomas Hoi, engineering chief officer of Infrastructure Development Office, defended the staggering project budget, stressing that the project focuses on the long-term development of the region.
[In] this project, we got the needs from the users, so we make the designs according to the needs. Of course I think the project is not only for short term, he explained.
Hoi also explained the reasons behind several delays seen in several of the regions infrastructure projects, outlining that such delays do not only occur in the region but in mainland China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asian countries.
Of course there are some problems with human resources, the limitation of the space that we have here in Macau which will create difficulties for the contractor to apply some works, he elaborated.
Thats why I think there are no differences with other countries. [] Also in China and Hong Kong, these situations happen.
Regarding penalties, Hoi hinted that the project was not subjected to fines despite major changes and some additional works as the contractor had completed the works by its set deadline, which was December of last year.
The construction of the last phase of the Pac On Ferry Terminal will only occur once it opens its doors, expected to be in May. The final phase will house gasoline storage tanks, fuel refill and firefighting equipment.
Further, authorities confirmed that the Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal would continue to operate in the peninsula even after the new terminal commences operations. The acting director of Marine and Water Bureau, Chou Chi Tak, said that two-thirds of the ferries arriving to Macau would still be received in the Macau terminal, similar to its current operations.
The U.S. government has expressed concern over extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers and users in a bloody crackdown overseen by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and urged his government to ensure law enforcement efforts comply with human rights obligations.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau yesterday [Macau time] also criticized recent remarks by Duterte about the U.S. ambassador in Manila and said Philippine officials have been asked to clarify them.
The president recently referred to U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg with a profanity and accused him of meddling in the Philippine elections.
Duterte has had an uneasy relationship with America and has said he would chart a foreign policy that is not dependent on the U.S., his countrys longtime treaty ally. Relatedly, Duterte has tried to repair relations with China that have been strained over escalating disputes in the South China Sea.
The drug crackdown has left more than 400 suspected dealers and pushers dead and more than 4,400 arrested since Duterte took office on June 30. Nearly 600,000 people have surrendered to authorities, hoping to avoid getting killed. The arrests have further overwhelmed the countrys mostly rundown and already-overcrowded jails.
We are concerned by these detentions, as well as the extrajudicial killing of individuals suspected to be involved in drug activity in the Philippines, Trudeau said. We strongly urge the Philippines to ensure its law enforcement efforts comply with its human rights obligations.
We believe in rule of law. We believe in due process. We believe in respect for universal human rights. We believe, fundamentally, that those aspects ensure and promote long-term security, she said.
Roman Catholic church leaders and human rights groups in the Philippines have also expressed alarm over the widespread killings in reported gunbattles with police or still-unexplained deaths of drugs suspects, some of whom were abandoned with cardboard messages warning the public to stay away from illegal drugs or they would die next.
Several of the slain drugs suspects were killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen in recent attacks similar to those carried out by the so-called death squads, which were blamed for years of killings in southern Davao city while Duterte was its longtime mayor.
Trudeau also criticized Duterte for inappropriate comments on Goldberg.
Weve seen those inappropriate comments made about Ambassador Goldberg. Hes a multi-time ambassador, one of our most senior U.S. diplomats, she said. We have asked the Philippine charge to come into the State Department to clarify those remarks.
In a speech before army troops on Friday in the central Philippines, Duterte narrated a lunch meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the presidential palace in Manila last month. Duterte said Kerry, who offered more than USD30 million in aid for law enforcement training, was OK but he criticized Goldberg.
I had a feud with his ambassador, his gay ambassador. Son of a bitch, Im annoyed with the guy. He meddled in the elections, giving statements here and there. He wasnt supposed to do that, Duterte said without giving details.
During the presidential campaign, the Australian ambassador in Manila criticized a joke by Duterte, who said he should have been first in line to rape Australian missionary, who was gang raped and killed during a jail riot in 1989. Goldberg expressed support to the statement of his Australian counterpart.
Duterte reacted by asking the two ambassadors to shut up. Jim Gomez, Manila, AP
The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) is taking part in the event known as Beautiful China Grasslands Silk Road Tour, to be held in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region between August 8 and 12.
During the event yesterday, MGTO signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Tourism Cooperation with the Tourism Bureau of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to foster mutual exchange and cooperation in the tourism field.
Inner Mongolia, Hong Kong and Macau held a joint destination presentation followed by an array of signing ceremonies
During her speech at the event, MGTOs deputy director, Cecilia Tse, remarked that as Macau is a major hub along the Maritime Silk Road, the local government will strive to raise the international influence of the Silk Road cultural tourism brands.
MGTO representatives and members of the local travel trade will pay visits to a range of major tourism resources and facilities in various places to familiarize themselves with the other industries. These locations include Hohhot, Xilamuren Grasslands, Baotou as well as Ordos around Inner Mongolia, all of which are part of the Grasslands Silk Road.
YEMEN Airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition bombed a food factory in the capital Sanaa early yesterday, killing 14 civilians working on an overnight shift. Five women were among those killed in what effectively was the resumption of heavy bombardment by the Saudi-led alliance targeting Shiite rebels and allied forces loyal to ousted president Mansour Hadi. U.N. peace talks on the conflict collapsed over the weekend in Kuwait.
SOUTH CHINA SEA Japans foreign minister summons Chinas ambassador over the increased number of Chinese vessels in waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea.
CHINA-TRUMP Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is playing the China-bashing card in an attempt to rescue his falling poll numbers but has no real ideas to resolve the two nations differences, Xinhua says.
THAILANDs junta leader says he will hold elections in November 2017 under a newly approved constitution that ensures the militarys control over the next government.
PHILIPPINES A historical commission, former human rights victims and left-wing groups oppose President Rodrigo Dutertes approval of a plan to bury late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in a heroes cemetery, reigniting a divisive and emotional debate. Meanwhile, the U.S. expressed concern over extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers and users. More on p13
PAKISTAN Lawyers mourn colleagues slain in a shocking suicide bombing the previous day at a hospital in the city of Quetta that killed 70 people, mostly lawyers. The attack, which stunned the judicial community, also underscored concerns that militants in Pakistan are still capable of striking in the heart of the countrys cities and towns despite government claims of dismantling terror networks.
MALDIVES The United Nations human rights chief urges the Maldives to stick to a decades-long moratorium on imposing the death penalty, citing fears that three men are at imminent risk of execution.
AZERBAIJAN Leaders of Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan met to discuss a new transport corridor and other economic projects in the Caspian Sea region. A prospective railway link between Iran and Azerbaijan is expected to become part of a transport corridor that would run from India all the way to St. Petersburg in Russia, providing a faster and cheaper alternative to existing sea routes.
EUROPEAN UNION Brussels has set new deadlines for Spain and Portugal to bring their budget deficits into line after both countries escaped fines for failing to rein in spending. EU headquarters said yesterday that Portugal is now required to correct its deficit by 2016 and Spain by 2018 at the latest. The two countries must submit a report by Oct. 15 on how they plan to bring their deficits under the EU ceiling of 3 percent of GDP.
RUSSIA-S. KOREA Growing Chinese anger at South Korea over a U.S. anti-missile defense system bodes ill for everything from pop star appearances to United Nations action against North Koreas nuclear and missile threats. Since Beijing criticized Seouls decision last month to proceed with the THAAD system, there have been reports of event cancellations and possible bans on South Korean TV series, amid scattered calls for a total boycott of imports from the country.
KOREA Like dozens of athletes at the Rio de Janeiro Games, gymnasts Hong Un Jong of North Korea and Lee Eun-ju of South Korea met on the sidelines during competition and training. The two posed for a smiling selfie in a picture that was captured by journalists and immediately took on larger significance for the two countries still technically at war. More on p18
RUSSIA The Russian intelligence agency FSB said yesterday that one of its employees and a soldier were killed in separate incidents in Crimea described as foiled terrorist attacks.
BANGLADESH Authorities in Bangladeshs capital arrest six suspected members of a banned Islamist group blamed for recent deadly attacks, including one last month that killed 20 people.
AFGHANISTAN Troops are being deployed to the capital of the key southern province of Helmand amid intense fighting with the Taliban in surrounding areas and fears the city could fall to the insurgents within days, officials said yesterday.
IRAQ A fire ripped through a maternity ward at a Baghdad hospital overnight, killing 12 newborn babies, government officials said yesterday, likely caused by faulty electrical wiring. By morning, grief-stricken fathers searched for their missing newborns in vain while angry relatives gathered outside the Yarmouk hospital in western Baghdad blamed the government for the tragedy. More on p15
ZAMBIA, often praised for its healthy democracy and economy, now faces a presidential election with high tensions on both fronts. This southern African country votes today amid concerns about political violence after years of peaceful power transitions that the U.S. last year praised as a model for Africa.
UK Striking workers on a British rail network have called off the final two days of a strike that has disrupted the journeys of hundreds of thousands of commuters. Trade union staff walked out on Monday over plans to remove conductors from trains. The strike was due to last five days.
IDAHO CITY As fall hunting seasons approach and the Pioneer Fire burns in hunt Unit 39, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game put out a statement telling hunters about expected effects of the fire.
The fire spread into the southern portions of Units 33 and 35, near Lowman, and the extreme north-central portion of Unit 39, north and east of Idaho City. The burned portion of Unit 39 represents only about 4 percent of the units total of 1.6 million acres, Fish and Game said.
If the fire continues to burn into the fall hunting season, its likely that area closures will continue when hunting seasons roll around, the agencys release said. The good news tied to possible area closures is that big game hunters have options.
Mule deer hunters holding a general deer tag can hunt in other open general hunt areas, including the majority of Unit 39. If you are the holder of a controlled mule deer tag, you have the option of switching that tag for a general over-the-counter hunt before your controlled mule deer hunt starts or hunting another portion of Unit 39. This same strategy applies to holders of a controlled elk tag; this tag can be exchanged for a general over-the-counter-zone tag as long as the exchange is made prior to the start date of the controlled hunt.
Holders of a Sawtooth Zone elk tag or general deer hunters planning a trip to Unit 33 or 35 have similar options, including hunting in most of these two units, unaffected by the Pioneer Fire.
Adams County Sheriff cancels meeting about ranchers death
BOISE Adams County officials say there will not be a community meeting about the November shooting death of a rancher.
The Idaho Statesman reports that Sheriff Ryan Zollman had said both at a community meeting in the fall and more recently on July 29, the day prosecutors declined to charge the deputies involved, that he planned to hold a public forum about the death of Jack Yantis.
Yantis died in November after one of his bulls was hit by a car. Yantis arrived with a rifle just as deputies decided to put down the animal. Authorities have said there was an altercation, and Yantis and the two deputies all fired their weapons.
Zollman said Monday that there would not be a meeting on the matter because of pending civil litigation.
Skull of extinct giant bison on display at E. Idaho airport
POCATELLO The skull of an extinct giant bison with 7-foot-wide horns has been put on display at the Pocatello Regional Airport in eastern Idaho.
KIFI-TV reports in a story on Monday that the display near the baggage claim includes information about the species that roamed North American before becoming extinct about 20,000 years ago.
The skull was found in the 1950s along the shore of nearby American Falls Reservoir and is being loaned to the airport by the Idaho Museum of Natural History.
Museum Director Leif Tapanila says the skull is one of the best preserved giant bison specimens in the world.
N. Idaho treehouse fate up in air with no building permit
COEUR DALENE Northern Idaho authorities say a 600-square-foot treehouse featured on a cable program about treehouses lacks a building permit.
The Coeur dAlene Press reports in a story on Tuesday that treehouse owner Paul Buttars failed to respond within 45 days to a violation notice sent by Kootenai County officials.
The DIY Networks The Treehouse Guys in June featured the treehouse thats 30 feet off the ground and supported by three Douglas firs. County officials sent the violation notice the day after the program ran.
Buttars says he plans to use the treehouse for lunch breaks and dinners for his zip-line tour company.
Buttars has a conditional use permit for the zip-line, but county officials could revoke the permit if the treehouse isnt brought into compliance.
TWIN FALLS Laura Wilson and her 5-year-old daughter, Ivy, watched the construction of Rock Creek Elementary School for a year.
On Monday, they finally had a chance to see inside the new Twin Falls campus, where Ivy will start kindergarten Aug. 18. Shell be in the first group of students at the school.
So far, I think its awesome, Wilson said as the family checked out a pod of kindergarten classrooms.
The Twin Falls School District held grand opening ceremonies Monday and Tuesday for Rock Creek and Pillar Falls elementary schools. The events included speeches, a ribbon cutting and tours.
Rock Creek and Pillar Falls are the citys first new elementary schools in more than 20 years. Theyll help alleviate school overcrowding as Twin Falls continues to expand and attract new businesses.
The new schools are paid for by a nearly $74 million bond voters approved in 2014. A new middle school, South Hills Middle School, opens in 2017.
Hundreds of people including students, parents, educators, business leaders, elected officials and community members filtered through each school during the two-hour open houses. Entire families attended including infants and grandparents.
It is with great pride and some relief that I speak to you this afternoon, Superintendent Wiley Dobbs told the crowd.
Its no small task to build two new elementary schools, he added, and to create new school attendance zones.
Its a relief to open the new schools after many sleepless nights and 14-hour workdays, he said.
School officials thanked construction managers and community members who served on rezoning and school name/color committees.
At both ceremonies, a crowd congregated on a staircase gathering area. Dozens of others stood in a nearby hallway, with a crowd backed up all the way to the front doors.
Twin Falls Mayor Shawn Barigar told students at both schools theyre part of history. He led a cheer at each event, for the Rock Creek raptors and Pillar Falls falcons.
Heres a glimpse inside the opening ceremonies:
Rock Creek Elementary
Before Mondays open house at Rock Creek Elementary, cars poured into the parking lot at the new school on Federation Road.
The northwest Twin Falls campus is surrounded by agricultural fields and new homes. St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center is visible off in the distance.
Director of operations Brady Dickinson told a crowd he watched the schools progression from a mud hole to the gorgeous building it is today. Hes in charge of overseeing school construction and facilities.
The two new elementary schools are sisters, but not identical twins, he said.
Dobbs introduced the crowd to his parents, who were in the audience. His mother was part of history as the first group of students in 1953 to attend school in the new Twin Falls High School building.
Like his mother, everyone at Mondays open house was witnessing history, he said. Im most proud that tens of thousands of students will grace the hallways of Rock Creek Elementary School over the next century.
School board chairman Bernie Jansen called the schools opening a momentous occasion.
Barigar told the attendees the opening of Rock Creek Elementary is a great, historic event. He asked how many children in the crowd would attend the school. About two dozen hands went up.
After a ribbon cutting ceremony outside, school principal Shari Cowger greeted parents and children. She asked two girls: Are you excited for Rock Creek? They nodded nervously.
Maci Hunt and her two sons walked around the building. Bladen, 6, is going into first grade.
He attended St. Edwards Catholic School last year, but Hunt gave him the option of where to go to first grade.
He wanted to come to the new school, she said.
The family lives near the hospital and saw construction progress throughout this year at Rock Creek Elementary.
On Monday, Hunt said it was exciting to be in the new school. Everything is just so organized.
Pillar Falls Elementary
An open house Tuesday at Pillar Falls Elementary, cars lined Stadium Boulevard. Inside the northeast Twin Falls school, group pictures of teachers for each grade level hung on a wall.
The ceremony had a similar feel to Mondays event at Rock Creek Elementary and some similar speeches.
But Dobbs told the crowd a new story about two new Twin Falls students who moved this summer from Lexington, Ky.
One of them, Lucy Coles, will be a fifth-grader at Pillar Falls Elementary. Her brother, Jack Coles, will be a junior at Twin Falls High School.
Dobbs took the family on a tour of both schools. Lucy was so excited about her new elementary school, he said, she was trembling. She was walking on air, it appeared.
Pillar Falls Elementary also has enthusiastic teachers, Dobbs said. A few teachers camped out late last week waiting to get into their classrooms when the building opened. Dobbs also introduced the crowd to principal Nancy Murphy.
Stephanie Martin has four children who will attend Pillar Falls Elementary: a fifth-grader and triplets who will be in fourth grade. They used to go to Canyonside Christian School in Jerome and will experience a public school for the first time.
Everyone seems so friendly and nice, Martin said about Pillar Falls.
In the third grade pod of classrooms, Imad Eujayl and his family looked around. His son, 8-year-old Hafiz, will go to Pillar Falls Elementary this school year. He used to go to Morningside Elementary, but is now in a new school zone.
I think its very modern, Eujayl said about the school, adding desks that connect together are uniquely designed. He also likes how theres a different color to differentiate the pod of classrooms for each grade level.
As of Tuesday, the Dry Creek Fire, six miles northwest of town, was 20 percent contained and 730 acres were involved, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
Stanley Lake, Elk Creek, Sheep Trail, Trail Creek Campgrounds and Park Creek Overlook are all closed to the public still. Idaho 21 is open, but in the area of the fire a pilot car is being used to assist travelers through the fire area and there may be a short wait.
SUN VALLEY Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine will be in Blaine County raising money next week.
Kaine will be in Sun Valley Aug. 18, for a lunch reception at a private residence, said county Democratic Party Chairwoman Janie Davidson.
"We are very excited that he has included Blaine County into his busy schedule," Davidson said in an email.
Idaho has been a solidly Republican state for decades when it comes to presidential elections, and while visits from candidates in presidential primaries are not infrequent Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republicans Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio all held events in the Gem State this year general election candidates dont usually view it as a necessary stop on the way to 270 electoral votes.
Unfortunately, Idaho ... were not that big, Davidson said.
However, Blaine County is a home (or second home) to a good number of wealthy and powerful people, and candidates do sometimes visit to raise money and relax. Republican Mitt Romney visited Blaine County in August 2012 when he was running for president and according to an Idaho Mountain Express story, he raised more than $2 million during his visit. Democrat John Kerry, whose wife has a home near Ketchum, visited in 2004 when he was running for the presidency.
That area has a lot of connections with some of the wealthy and influential, state Democratic Party spokesman Dean Ferguson said. So Republicans and Democrats, national figures, like to pop in and leave with their money.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton named Kaine, a U.S. senator from Virginia who was governor before that, as her vice presidential nominee last month. They are running against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and vice presidential candidate Mike Pence.
TWIN FALLS Recent scam reports have prompted Idaho Power and the Idaho Department of Insurance to issue warnings to customers.
Idaho Power has reported ongoing telephone scams, and a company known as National Enrollment Center may be using deceptive practices to market health insurance in Idaho.
Idaho Power said to be aware of phony pop-up ads, threatening calls, requests for immediate payment, fraudulent job postings and other scams using the Idaho Power name.
The most typical scenario in this case is a call demanding an immediate payment and threatening termination of service. Some scams target specific groups, such as restaurant owners and Spanish-speaking customers.
Customers should avoid disclosing any personal information to someone claiming to be from Idaho Power. If an account does become delinquent, the company follows a process of multiple written notices prior to service disconnection.
Threatening calls or suspicious communication regarding customer bills can be reported to Idaho Power directly at 800-488-6151.
Possible insurance scam
The Idaho Department of Insurance has been made aware of a possible scam through Your Health Idaho, Idahos health insurance exchange. Customers have complained about a company known as National Enrollment Center.
Multiple attempts to contact the company went unanswered or were disconnected.
We dont really know what type of health insurance they are selling, Consumer Services Bureau Chief Elaine Mellon said. When pressed for details about what company they sell for, what type of insurance they are selling, or licensing information, they hang up.
The Department of Insurance provided these tips and information for consumers who are contacted by anyone attempting to sell insurance:
Open enrollment for health insurance will run Nov. 1 through Jan. 31 no special state enrollment period for individual health insurance exists. Anyone offering insurance plans through an enrollment period outside of open enrollment is not selling an ACA-compliant policy.
No one offering ACA-compliant health care coverage will ask if you have a pre-existing condition.
The federal government will not call you to sell you health insurance. Be wary of telemarketers from the National Enrollment Center, National Healthcare Center or other official-sounding names.
Never provide bank account or health information or agree to any request to send money over the phone. If you are being pressured to provide this information, hang up.
Purchase insurance only from a licensed agent. Ask agents for their license number and verify it by calling the Department or visiting doi.idaho.gov. If a person refuses to provide licensing information, hang up.
If you receive a sales call from someone selling health insurance, ask the caller to send you information in writing about the policy, including premiums. If they refuse, hang up.
Information: Call 800-721-3272.
BURLEY A man accused of attempting to abduct a Burley girl is set to go to trial next month.
Vadian Eugene Dougal, 50, is charged with second-degree attempted kidnapping and misdemeanor charges of battery and enticing a child. He and Melvin DeWayne Simpson, 40, were arrested April 11 at White Pine Elementary School.
The two men were arrested after three White Pine Intermediate School girls told officials they were grabbed before school by a strange man. Another child reported she was grabbed by a man about a block from the school as she walked to class.
The children said the men tried to lure them away with offers of money and candy.
Dougal hes pleaded not guilty, and a jury trial is set for Sept. 14 in Cassia County District Court. Hes being held at the Mini-Cassia jail in lieu of $250,000 bond.
Simpson was originally charged with two counts of second-degree kidnapping and two counts of misdemeanor battery, but the felonies were dismissed when Simpson declined to waive his right to a speedy trial, Cassia County Prosecutor Doug Abenroth said.
Charges were refiled several weeks later, but then dropped again.
The prosecutor said he spoke with parents of one of the children and charges were again dismissed after an evaluation. The second set of charges against Simpson were dismissed when another child could not identify him during a May preliminary hearing.
Because the charges were dismissed, Simpsons bond was returned in June.
This appeared in the Lewiston Tribune:
For 60 years, Mormons believed they had a First Amendment right to engage in plural marriage.
The United States government did not see it that way.
The government argued polygamy offended the nations sensibilities.
It contended one man with more than one wife was harmful to children and families essentially the same case Idaho Gov. C.L. Butch Otter employed against ending Idahos ban on same-sex marriage.
The government feared one man could not support several wives and many children without resorting to welfare.
Treating women in this way, the government argued, leads to subjugation of girls, the alienation of boys and the abuse of children.
People have the right to believe whatever they want, the U.S. Supreme Court decreed; they just cant act on it.
So government agents, such as future U.S. Sen. Fred T. Dubois of Idaho, locked up Mormon polygamists. The people who wrote Idahos Constitution sought to disenfranchise anybody who even believed in the LDS faith. And until Mormons renounced the practice, Utahs admission to the union was on put on ice.
Followers of the Rastafari faith sincerely believe marijuana is a sacrament. They say its good for body, mind and soul and brings them closer to God.
But if they follow that teaching in Idaho, it will bring them closer to a magistrate judge along with a jail cell, fines and community service.
When the Gem State looks at marijuana, it does not see a sacrament; it sees a gateway drug, leading people to addiction to more lethal street drugs.
Idaho considers marijuana use a breeding ground for black markets, crime and corruption. A state that wont even allow seriously ill children to use a derivative of marijuana to prevent seizures has zero tolerance for the idea that the First Amendment gives anyone the right to smoke pot.
And members of the Santeria a mixture of Caribbean and Roman Catholicism engage in animal sacrifice for healing, births, marriages and deaths. The First Amendment aside, at least one community in Florida sought to ban the unnecessary killing of chickens, goats and turtles. The courts sided with the Santeria.
In other words, freedom of religion in this country is a right but its one right among many, to be balanced against other constitutional interests such as, in this case, the general welfare.
With one glaring exemption.
In Idaho, a parent has an absolute right to withhold medical treatment from a suffering or dying child as a religious principle.
We believe in freedom of health care, Dan Sevy of Marsing, a member of the Followers of Christ who practices faith healing, told a legislative panel looking into the practice Thursday. Not health care, but freedom of choice. There is no greater intrusion (by the state) than into your faith, your body or your family.
Co-chaired by Sen. Dan Johnson, R-Lewiston, the panel launched its probe amid reports of children dying because of faith healing.
In 2013, the last year on record, the Idaho Child Fatality Review Team found five newborns died from faith healing in lieu of medical care. Five more deaths were documented in the preceding two years. And in a Canyon County graveyard used by members of Sevys religion, there are 40 graves occupied by children signaling a child mortality rate 10 times higher than what youd expect.
Within and outside Idaho, it turns out the faith healing exemption is an anomaly.
Nowhere else in Idahos child protection law will you find the rights of the parent placed above those of the child, deputy Attorney General Mary Jo Beig said.
And as the Spokesman-Reviews Betsy Russell reported, Idaho is among seven states with a faith-healing exemption. Moreover, only Idaho and Virginia preempt taking action against parents in virtually any circumstance, such as non-support, neglect or injury to a child.
Odd, isnt it?
Idahos conscience is not troubled about infringing on the religious rights of consenting adults.
But when it involves the health and safety of children too young to choose for themselves, its willing to look the other way.
Why?
Letter: The fickle media
Call me old school, but something is amiss here. The case is that there are falsehoods and manipulation being perpetrated by all media in all shapes and forms. What is truth, what is spin, why and what for its getting harder and harder to tell as reflected in the example above. I just want to urge all the citizens of Idaho to please examine what has been placed in your head by the various forms of media. Seriously think about the presentation, the context, the content, and do not fall victim to the spontaneous and at times fictional propaganda that is laid in our minds on a daily basis. Take the time to review, compare and find the contrasts. When scrutinized our information over-loaded media can give a real eye-opening education. Its up to each of us to take the time and to ask the questions needed to identify fact or fiction from the many forms of media.
iStock/Thinkstock(RIO DE JANEIRO) -- Two socially conscientious chefs have started an initiative to feed Rio de Janeiro's hungry population with surplus food from the Olympic Village during the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
RefettoRio Gastromotiva, the project co-founded by Italian chef Massimo Bottura and Brazilian chef David Hertz, aims to "offer food and dignity to people in situations of social vulnerability," according to a statement released by the City of Rio, which is supporting the initiative by providing a building for the group to use in the city center.
A team of international chefs will create meals daily from the surplus of "non-manipulated" ingredients donated to them by the catering company that feeds the Olympic Village (including more than 11,000 athletes), the Olympic Media Center and the rest of the workforce of the Rio 2016 Games.
RafettoRio Gastromotiva is supported by a team of more than 40 organizations and individuals and hopes to continue to provide free meals to the hungry population of Rio even after all the athletes and spectators go home by relying on donations from sponsors, according to the City of Rio, which has given the group the building for the next 10 years.
The concept of providing free meals to the often-overlooked population of Rio is inspired by Bottura's Refetterio Ambrosiano, an initiative where 65 international chefs cooked meals with food that would otherwise go to waste during the Milan World Expo in 2015.
Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The Turkish Rear Admiral who has applied for asylum in the USA has been identified by Anadolu News Agency as Mustafa Urgulu. He is stationed at the NATO Allied Command Transformation headquarters in Virginia, US.
Turkey launched the arrest warrant against the officer for military espionage following the July 15 coup detat.
A diplomat positioned at the Turkish embassy in the US said Urgulu, who disappeared on July 22, left his badges and his ID at the NATO base and after that no one has heard anything from him.
Turkey is already pushing for the extradition of Fetullah Gulen from the USA and the addition of the Rear Admiral to the equation could further affect the two countries ties.
Foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday said that Ankara wanted to cooperate with NATO members up to this point, but, he added, the results we got did not satisfy us. Therefore, it is natural to look for other options.
The Foreign Minister, who mentioned his countrys plans to establish a joint military, intelligence and diplomacy mechanism with Russia, was however quick to underline that Turkey does not see these plans as a move against NATO.
NATO and Russia have been at odds over the years as Moscow alleges that the installation of NATOs arsenals in neighboring countries poses a threat to its security.
Cavusoglu said their revival of ties with Moscow is not a message to the West before stressing that if the West one day loses Turkey- whatever our relations with Russia and China- it will be the Wests fault.
American and Libyan officials who spoke to the Washington Post under the condition of anonymity have confirmed that US troops are in Libya to support forces loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in their fight against the militants of the Islamic State in Sirte.
The forces are engaged in providing direct on-the-ground support to the local forces, coordinate American airstrikes and provide intelligence. US forces are not the only troops there as British forces are also on the ground.
Pentagon has not confirmed the presence of US forces in the North African country but at the beginning of the month, its Press Secretary Peter Cook stated that precision airstrikes against the extremist group were carried out at the request of the GNA. The airstrikes will continue as they seek to defeat ISIL in its primary stronghold, the Pentagon spokesperson had said.
Prime minister-designate of the GNA Fayez Serraj had stated that foreign troops would not be allowed into the country claiming that the war is to be fought by Libyans. Even in recent days, Libyan militia commanders declared that there were no Western boots on the ground and that the pro-government forces in Sirte are mostly made up by militia fighters from the city of Misrata.
Robyn Mack, a spokeswoman for the US Africa Command (AFRICOM,) said there is a small number of US forces in Libya but she did not dwell on their actions.
It is unclear if the US, the UK and France will maintain their forces in Libya when the Islamic State is ousted from the coastal city of Sirte.
Egyptian police officers have been barred from speaking to the media on issues regarding their work without a written approval from the Ministry of the Interior.
The restrictions preventing the police from providing information to the media were approved by the Parliament, part of amendments of the text governing the police authority.
The restrictions apply to documents, reports, photos or other materials related to the police agents work. They are bound to respect the new text even when they are no longer serving in the police. The amendments also call for the respect of human rights.
Police officers who breach the law could face unspecified prison terms and fines of up to 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($2,252).
Critics say the amendments would help authorities to shield high-level abuses, police brutality and corruption from the public. Rights groups argue the amendments do not focus on eliminating the culture of impunity amid widespread police brutality.
President Sisi demanded that the police authority law be revised in February following the fatal shooting of a taxi driver by a low-ranking police officer after they exchanged words concerning the fare to be paid.
Analysts warn that the government should be cautious in its dealings with police brutality, as this brutality was one of the major reasons that triggered the uprising against Mubaraks regime. Protests had erupted on Police Day, January 25, to draw attention to the use of excessive, at times fatal, force by the police.
Speaking in his annual National Heroes Day speech, honoring guerrillas who died in the countrys war of independence in the 1970s, Zimbabwes President, 92-year old Robert Mugabe, asked those seeking political power to do so through the ballot box and not through violent demonstrations.
Over the years that he has been in power, Mugabe has been strongly criticized and blamed by the international community for crippling the development and economic advancement of Zimbabwe, which was previously referred to as the bread basket of Africa.
Over the last few weeks, the Southern African country has experienced escalating protests, which shook the Mugabe regime to its core.
Sporadic protests have broken out because of a severe shortage of cash.
If you want to remove the government, wait for elections, not violent demonstrations, that is what democracy dictates, Mugabe said in his Monday speech.
He urged Zimbabweans to remain united in the face of challenges and to defend their national sovereignty. We should remain united, remain cognizant of the fact that without unity we cannot make much progress, the State run Herald news portal reported.
Zimbabwe is facing its worst financial crisis since it scrapped its national currency in 2009 and adopted the United States dollar.
The government is currently in talks with the International Monetary Fund to secure a $986 million loan.
International human rights group, Amnesty International, on Monday accused Ethiopian security forces of shooting dead people in Oromia and Amhara regions in an attempt to suppress a new wave of anti-government protests in the two key regions.
In a statement titled Ethiopia: Dozens killed as police use excessive force against peaceful protesters, Amnesty said, quoting credible sources that at least 67 people were killed and hundreds more injured when Ethiopian security forces fired live bullets at peaceful protesters across Oromia region over the weekend.
Thousands of protesters turned out in two regions of the country Oromia and Amhara calling for political reform, justice and the rule of law.
Ethiopian forces have systematically used excessive force in their mistaken attempts to silence dissenting voices, Michelle Kagari, Amnesty Internationals deputy regional director for East Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes, said.
Amnesty said, even though there were no deaths reported in the case of protests in the capital, Addis Ababa, videos and photos showed police beating protesters with batons in the main public square, the Meskel Square.
The demonstrators accused the government of rights abuses and marginalization of ethnic communities.
The Oromo are Ethiopias largest ethnic group, making up more than 30 percent of the population of about 100 million.
Zambias constitutional court on Monday ruled that all cabinet and provincial ministers should vacate office ahead of the countrys upcoming elections.
The country is heading for the polls just 18 months after the last presidential election, which saw Edgar Lungu win by less than 28,000 votes.
After the Parliament was dissolved in May, Zambias president Edgar Lungu said that an amendment to the constitution allowed the ministers to remain in office until the election, but the constitutional court overruled this decision.
Lungus Patriotic Front (PF) party said it would abide by the ruling.
Todays decision gives credence to a robust and independent judiciary that Zambia has where the courts can enter judgements against the state, the PF said in a statement.
According to the main opposition partys flag bearer, Hichilema Hakainde of the United Party for National Development (UPND,) We need a free, fair, transparent and credible election and UPND is winning this election. Lungu knows that, thats why he is panicking, thats why he is behaving in a brutal way.
There are nine presidential candidates, with President Lungu, 59, of the ruling PF and Hakainde Hichilema of the UPND, 54, the front-runners.
The run-up to the election has been marred by skirmishes between the two parties supporters.
(HealthDay)While Americans are living longer than ever, a new study finds there's still an important racial gap in health: Older black people are more likely than older white people to live their final years with disabilities.
"In 2011, at age 65, whites could expect to be free of disability for 15 out of their nearly 20 remaining years of lifeabout three-fourths of the time," said study lead author Vicki Freedman.
In contrast, "blacks could expect to live 12 out of 18 yearsor about two-thirds of remaining years of lifewithout disability. The gap was a similar size in 1982," she said.
Freedman is a research professor with the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research.
It's not clear why this difference exists, but the study authors said older black women seem particularly at risk.
"The gaps persisted in part because of the lack of progress for older black women in gaining years of active life," Freedman said. "Why this group has lost ground is not clear. A better understanding of the root causes occurring earlier in life, particularly those that disadvantage black women, is needed."
The study included information from national surveys and studies from three points in time. The 1982 information included about 18,000 whites and more than 1,500 blacks. In 2004, the researchers had information from around 14,000 whites and more than 1,000 blacks. In 2011, the study included nearly 6,000 whites and 2,000 blacks.
All of the participants were 65 or older. They answered questions about whether a disability or health problem kept them from doing things without assistance, such as eating, getting in or out of bed, getting in or out of chairs, dressing, bathing, using the toilet, preparing meals and managing money.
Life spanthe expected number of years that people would live beyond the age of 65rose from 1982 to 2011 for both whites and blacks, the researchers said.
From 1982 to 2011, whites gained nearly three years of life without disability, while blacks got 2.2 additional years, the study noted.
But a larger gap persisted between the years that whites and blacks could expect to live without a disability and the number of years they could expect to live. In 1982, the gap was 74 percent for whites and 65 percent for blacks. That means that 74 percent of the remaining years for whites could be expected to be disability-free, while just 65 percent of remaining years would be disability-free for blacks, the study showed.
By 2011, the gap was 76 percent for whites and 67 percent for blacks, the researchers reported.
The researchers found that 22 percent of whites over 65 had a disability in 2011, compared to 32 percent of blacks. For instance, 18 percent of blacks in 2011 had trouble shopping for groceries compared to 11 percent of whites.
The statistics used by the researchers didn't allow them to determine levels of disability among people of differing ethnic groups.
Dr. Marshall Chin, a professor of Healthcare Ethics at the University of Chicago, is familiar with the study findings and had some theories as to why this disability disadvantage exists.
"These disparities reflect a lifetime of disadvantage," Chin said. "Compared to whites, African-Americans have worse education, lower income and fewer social ties, all leading to worse health.
"African-Americans are more likely to lack health insurance, and even when they do receive care it is more likely to be of inferior quality. Finally, for older people, the U.S. health system puts its money into treating diseases rather than keeping people healthy and strong," he added.
Black women, in particular, may face unique pressures, said Christopher King. He's program director and assistant professor of Health Systems Administration at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Black women are more likely than other women to be heads of their households, and "the heavy demands and competing priorities associated with this responsibility cause some women to forgo their own health needs to take care of others," King said.
This, he said, can lead them to not seek preventive medical services or not get illnesses diagnosed earlyor both.
What to do?
Among other things, King said communities must make it easier for older people to live safely at home through strategies like supporting caregivers and preventing falls inside homes.
The study appears in the August issue of the journal Health Affairs.
Explore further Active life expectancy varies for older blacks, whites
More information: For details about health disparities affecting blacks, visit the Journal information: Health Affairs For details about health disparities affecting blacks, visit the NAACP
Health News Copyright 2016 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
A new study by Tel Aviv University researchers demonstrates that the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain associated with cognitive functions, plays a major role in "Parkinson's Gait." It suggests a radically new understanding of the mechanism underlying gait difficulties in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) and may lead to new therapeutic approaches.
The study was led by Prof. Jeffery Hausdorff of TAU's Sackler School of Medicine and Dr. Anat Mirelman of the Department of Neurology at TAU's Sackler School of Medicine, co-directors of the Center for the Study of Movement, Cognition and Mobility at the Tel Aviv Medical Center; and conducted in large part by Dr. Inbal Maidan of Tel Aviv Medical Center. The work was recently published in the journals Parkinsonism and Related Disorders and Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair.
More than motor deficits involved
The ability to walk safely and independently is central to functional independence and quality of life. That ability is impaired in people with PD, rendering the most basic and commonplace tasks nearly impossible.
Researchers had previously theorized that motor deficits associated with PD were the direct cause of impaired walking, the reduced ability to multitask while walking, and the dangerous falls associated with the disease.
However, when TAU researchers asked patients to walk and complete another taske.g., a verbal fluency task such as naming fruits or simple serial subtractionsat the same time, also called "dual tasking," the gait pattern of patients with PD became worse. They walked slower and with less stability. This suggested that cognitive resources were being used as they walked.
"Work by our group has demonstrated that cognitive control deficits play an active role in the walking difficulties experienced by many people with Parkinson's," said Prof. Hausdorff.
New pictures of the problem
The team used functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to show that cognitive resources are utilized by PD patients much more often than by healthy individuals. "The advantage of fNIRS is that we can measure brain activation during actual walking," said Dr. Mirelman. "These results are consistent with our study using MRI that found brain activity in Parkinson's patients was activated in the prefrontal cortex even during 'imagined walking.'
"The overactivation of the prefrontal cortex has a two-pronged effect in Parkinson's patients," Dr. Mirelman continued. "Because the prefrontal cortex is 'saturated,' it is unable to perform other tasks, impairing gait and creating cognitive deficits. The debilitation is two-fold."
Even when patients were lying flat in the MRI and merely imagining themselves walking, there was a "ceiling effect"they were unable to recruit additional cognitive resources to tackle more difficult tasks involved with walking. "The increased activation during normal walking curtails the ability of Parkinson's patients to recruit further cognitive resources during other challenging tasks," said Prof. Hausdorff. "It may even exacerbate the high risk of falling in these patients."
The team is now conducting research to better understand the underlying mechanisms of the brain activation pattern and therapeutic approaches that may improve gait and reduce the risk of falls. The information is critical to the design of appropriate therapies such as virtual reality or non-invasive brain stimulation to improve neural efficiency.
Explore further Smartphone app may prevent dangerous freezing of gait in Parkinson's patients
Roopa Grewal says the social stigma around mental illness in her culture prevented her from receiving treatment for decades. Here she shows a photo of herself as a young girl, when she first felt something was wrong. Credit: Susan Merrell
In the 1940s, it was cancer. In the '80s, it was HIV. Today, the condition that's battling pervasive social stigma is mental illness.
As with cancer and HIV in the past, the stigma comes at a high cost: millions of Americans go untreated because of misconceptions and shame. "Mental illness is much like cancer 75 years ago, because it's scary and unpredictable. And because it's still mysterious, people want to keep their distance," says Stephen Hinshaw, PhD, vice chair for Psychology in UCSF's Department of Psychiatry.
Hinshaw, who has written several books about mental health stigma, is part of a growing movement in psychiatry to tackle the issues of stigma head-on and remove the barriers to treatment. He and his colleagues are focused not only on educating the public about the prevalence and treatability of mental illness, but also pushing for policy changes. One of the biggest changes is the push to approach all treatment through the lens of neuroscience treating mental illness as a biological condition, interacting with contextual factors, instead of merely a social issue.
"Serious mental illnesses fundamentally are no different from cancer or heart disease," says Matthew State, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Psychiatry and one of the leaders of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences. "The developing brain is particularly complex and we need a much better understanding of what's causing those physiological disruptions and how to correct them."
Everyone Is Impacted by Mental Illness
The effects of the stigmatization are far-reaching in the United States. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) estimated that nearly one in five adults in the country 43.8 million was living with a mental illness in 2014. The rate among youth is just as staggering one in five people aged 13 to 18 have experienced a serious mental disorder at some point during their life, according to NIMH.
Roopa Grewal says she felt like something was wrong with her as early as 5 years old when she would awake in the morning with horrible feelings. "I felt dirty and bad, basically like there was a black hole inside of me."
Grewal, who is Indian-American, says she told her parents about her feelings, but facing stigma within the South Asian culture, there wasn't any movement toward addressing her condition.
Only later, after she began cutting herself while a sophomore in high school, did her parents allow her to see a psychologist. Grewal says she began actively seeking mental health treatment from a psychiatrist as soon as she went to college, and it still took years to reach a proper diagnosis and receive treatment.
More than a decade passed before she was finally diagnosed by a psychiatrist, at the age of 32, as having borderline personality disorder. Today, Grewal is married, owns a home in San Francisco and is an advocate for mental health. She says she's "living successfully" with borderline personality disorder.
What finally helped her was the right medication, combined with dialectical behavior therapy, she says. "Getting diagnosed correctly worked."
Battling Self-Stigma and Social Distance
Others with a mental illness may not be as proactive about seeking out treatments if the stigma from society filters down to them.
"There is a high degree of what is called self-stigma," which involves people taking on and internalizing the attributes of societal stereotypes, Hinshaw says.
Researchers have created scales to measure how much a person stigmatizes himself or herself high levels of self-stigma predict that people either won't go to treatment or drop out early of treatment. He says it becomes a vicious cycle: Society stigmatizes, a person picks up the message and self-stigmatizes, he or she doesn't get engaged in treatment, and the symptoms and impairments of mental illness are never tackled.
Compounding the problem is ostracism through what is known as social distance. Here, members of society rate how close they would be willing to be in contact with a certain group, such as living in the same city, being neighbors, being friends, dating, or allowing their child to marry.
Americans are now more knowledgeable than ever about mental illness through things such as learning basic psychology in school and reading more about it in the media, but social distance has either stayed flat or gotten worse over the past half century, Hinshaw says. "People want to keep their distance from people with mental illness more than any other group in society."
Media focus on acts of violence linked with mental illness is undoubtedly a key factor. Yet on average, he notes, people with most forms of mental illness are no more likely to exhibit aggression than others, though they are far more likely to be victimized by violence.
The tattoo on Roopa Grewal's arm reads "How fragile we are." Grewal aggressively sought out psychiatric care as an adult after being denied help for decades because of stigma. Credit: Susan Merrell
Shortage of Mental Health Services
The stigma people face is exacerbated by a shortage of mental health services, forcing many to live untreated or undertreated.
As millions more Americans become eligible for mental health coverage through the Affordable Care Act, the population of psychiatrists has not grown proportionally. According to a 2014 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, only 44 percent of Californians' mental health care needs are being met by the current availability of professionals.
"If you have a serious psychiatric problem, you are disadvantaged you are underserved," State told Carry the One Radio, a podcast by UCSF students.
As for many people, State's first encounter with the mental health system was a personal experience. While in his first year of medical school at Stanford University, a close friend of his had a psychotic break.
"Despite the best efforts of a really close group of friends, she ended up on the street," State recounted for the podcast. "She was here up at the Haight, sort of lost to her friends and family."
The friend eventually was admitted to San Francisco General Hospital. State and a group of friends then worked over the course of a year to get her into and keep her in treatment. "It was a profoundly difficult and disturbing experience to understand how broken the mental health system was," he said.
"That system feels nearly impossible to navigate, State said. "Even with private insurance and ample resources, if you have a loved one who is severely ill, there are few options but to pick up the phone and start calling anyone you know to try to find an available psychiatrist or gain access to a profoundly limited number of psychiatric beds."
Experts believe that half of adults with a range of mental illnesses get treatment, but less than half of those people get the gold-standard treatment that they deserve, according to Hinshaw. "There is still very poor access to mental health treatments in the United States, and there is even poorer access to evidence-based treatments the ones we know from studies really work."
Changing Minds and Policies
Hinshaw says the solution to ending stigma and therefore getting more people the treatment they need is multipronged and needs to include policy changes, better understanding about mental illness and especially more humanization of the illnesses.
Among the laws that need to be changed are the ones in many states that deny renewal of driver's licenses as well as disallow service on a jury or the ability to run for office to people who have been admitted for a mental illness or even a history of one, Hinshaw says. Of the existing laws, he says the federal statues that are meant to enforce parity for insurance coverage for mental health issues need better enforcement.
On the more individual level, one fact that needs to be taught, he says, is that many people who have a mental illness even serious ones such as schizophrenia get better with treatment.
In a major effort to reach people who need care, UCSF's Department of Psychiatry has embedded mental health providers in more than a dozen medical services across UCSF Health, ranging from neurology, to oncology, to pediatrics and internal medicine. It also is building a new state-of-the-art outpatient center adjacent to the Mission Bay campus that aims to break down the barriers between physical and mental health, with plans to house clinicians and scientists from psychiatry, psychology, pediatrics, neurology, and obstetrics and gynecology.
On the research side, UCSF recently established the Weill Institute for Neurosciences with the aim of integrating scientists studying the range of brain disorders. The closer alignment between the researchers is meant to promote research that seeks to understand the biological and genetic underpinnings of mental illnesses.
Hinshaw points out that the default in society is that mental health is still under a person's complete control. However, research is revealing that the causes, like with cancer, are primarily biological. The understanding of the biological and genetic causes of mental illnesses still is developing as more research is done to understand the brain.
Studies Revealing Genetic and Biological Factors
Large studies already are revealing genetic and biological factors and helping to point toward treatments. The best current research has shown that contexts switch on key genes a combination of nature and nurture, Hinshaw says. For example, early trauma serves to intensify genetic vulnerability in many cases. Integrative models, rather than those that focus on false dichotomies, are essential.
The research from the last decade is finally starting to unearth the genetic contributions to serious psychiatric disorders. For instance, State and colleagues at UCSF and have led groundbreaking research efforts identifying more than 60 genes involved in autism spectrum disorders. Progress in understanding schizophrenia has been just as dramatic, with recent large-scale studies pointing to more than 100 unique regions of the genome contributing to disease risk.
More such research about the brain and mental health is being funded by President Barack Obama's Brain Initiative, including a project at UCSF that is seeking to identify the disrupted human brain circuitry involved in depression and anxiety. The project has the aim of creating devices that detect circuit aberrations and send corrective impulses to offset them.
The research at UCSF and elsewhere is going to transform the field, State says. "The scientific advances taking place now are laying the foundation for a new generation of therapies. This new understanding and the ability to do much more for patients is going to change the way that people think about mental illness and finally eliminate the stigma that is associated with it."
Williams syndrome-derived neurons in culture. Credit: UC San Diego Health
In a study spanning molecular genetics, stem cells and the sciences of both brain and behavior, researchers at University of California San Diego, with colleagues at the Salk Institute of Biological Studies and elsewhere, have created a neurodevelopmental model of a rare genetic disorder that may provide new insights into the underlying neurobiology of the human social brain.
The findings are published in the August 10 online edition of Nature.
Scientists investigated Williams syndrome or WS, a rare genetic condition caused by deletion of one copy of 25 contiguous genes on chromosome 7, out of an estimated 30,000 genes in the brain. WS affects one in 10,000 people worldwide, and an estimated 20,000 Americans. The condition occurs equally in both genders and across cultures.
WS results in a host of medical problems as well as a specific heart defect. Persons with the deletion typically display a distinctive face with a small, upturned nose, wide mouth, full lips and small chin and may also have dental and orthopedic problems. Neurologically, they have developmental delays, with severe spatial deficits, yet relative strengths in language use and face processing.
"An interesting aspect is the typical hyper-social predisposition," said study co-author Ursula Bellugi, EdD, director of the cognitive neuroscience lab at Salk and an adjunct professor at UC San Diego who has studied WS for years. "Persons with the WS deletion tend to be overly friendly, overly trusting, drawn to strangers, yet anxious."
But Bellugi said it has not been clear how genetics links to the behavioral aspects of WS. "A human model for the disease could fill in the scientific gaps and would help to understand the mechanisms behind the disorder. WS is an elegant model for being able to go across levels," she said.
Co-senior study author Alysson Muotri, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics and cellular and molecular medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine, became intrigued by WS because the condition is so different from his usual research focus on autism, which is characterized by lower sociability and language skills.
"I was fascinated on how a genetic defect, a tiny deletion in one of our chromosomes, could make us friendlier, more empathetic and more able to embrace our differences," Muotri said.
In recent years, Muotri and colleagues have created in vitro cellular models of autism using reprogrammed induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) derived from discarded baby teeth of children with autism, work dubbed the "tooth fairy project." They did so again here.
The team began with dental pulp cells extracted from teeth donated by young children with WS. The cells were reprogrammed to become neural progenitor cells able to form functional neuronal networks resembling the developing cortex of the human brain in a dish.
"We discovered that WS neural progenitor cells failed to proliferate due to high levels of cell death," said Muotri. "And as a consequence of the lower replication of progenitor cells, WS brains have reduced cortex surface area." The observation was validated using magnetic resonance imaging of live study participants by Eric Halgren, PhD, professor in the Department of Neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine, and colleagues.
Cultured WS neurons have a distinct morphology. They are more arborized (treelike, with many dendritic branches) than neurons derived from typically developing individuals. "At the functional level, they make more synapses or connections to other neurons than what you would expect," said Muotri. "That might underlie the WS super-social aspect and their gregarious human brain, giving insights into autism and other disorders that affect the social brain."
The neuronal morphology was confirmed using a rare collection of WS postmortem brain tissue by Katerina Semendeferi, PhD, co-senior author and professor at UC San Diego Department of Anthropology. "One striking observation was that these cortical neurons in WS individuals are more complex than controls (typically developing children of same age). The morphological alterations that presumably appeared during WS gestation are kept postnatally."
Muotri noted that the research represents one of the first efforts to use iPSCs and brain in-a-dish technology to generate novel insights about a disease process and not simply replicate data from other models.
But beyond that, he believes studying WS may help explain what makes humans social beings - a key development in the evolution of humanity. "It was our social power that made us a collaborative species," said Muotri, "capable of dramatic transformation of our environment by creating poetry, music and technology."
Explore further First human in vitro model of rare neurodegenerative condition created
More information: Thanathom Chailangkarn et al, A human neurodevelopmental model for Williams syndrome, Nature (2016). Journal information: Nature Thanathom Chailangkarn et al, A human neurodevelopmental model for Williams syndrome,(2016). DOI: 10.1038/nature19067
Reducing outdoor concentrations of two air pollutants, ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), to levels below those set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would likely save thousands of lives each year, result in far fewer serious illnesses and dramatically reduce missed days of school and work, according to a new analysis conducted by the American Thoracic Society and the Marron Institute of Urban Management at New York University.
In "Estimated Excess Morbidity and Mortality Caused by Air Pollution above ATS Recommended Standards, 2011-2013," published online in the August edition of Annals of the American Thoracic Society, researchers report on the annual health benefits of meeting more protective standards recommended by the ATS for O3 and PM2.5.
They found that meeting a 0.060 parts per million (ppm) 8-hour standard for O3, rather than the EPA's 0.070 ppm standard, and an 11 micrograms per cubic meter (g/m3) annual standard for PM2.5, rather than the EPA's 12 g/m3 standard, would each year:
Save 9,320 lives;
Reduce serious health events (morbidities), such as heart attacks, hospital admissions and emergency room visits, by 21,400; and
Decrease "adverse impact days," during which people may not be able to work, go to school or otherwise be physically active because of severe breathing problems, by 19,300,000 days.
"While there is information available about counties in the United States that exceed EPA air pollution standards, there has not been a similar source of information about how that air pollution actually affects the health of people living in those areas," said lead study author Kevin Cromar, PhD, director of the Air Quality Program at the Marron Institute of Urban Management and assistant professor of population health and environmental medicine at the NYU School of Medicine.
The ATS recommended standards for O3 and PM2.5 are based on scores of national and international epidemiological, animal and human exposure studies.
The EPA sets standards for six principal air pollutants to meet its obligation under the Clean Air Act to protect the health of the American public, including vulnerable populations, by an adequate margin of safety. In addition to ozone and particulate matter, the other pollutants are lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide.
Dr. Cromar said that most studies have looked at only one air pollutant. By including the two most important air pollutants in the analysis, the new study "gives policy makers and local air quality managers a much better picture of what is going on." Overall, the study found that the more protective O3 standard accounted for about 75 percent of the estimated health benefits due to a greater number of metropolitan areas with O3 concentrations above the ATS recommendations.
The researchers used the same software that the EPA uses to conduct regulatory cost-benefit analysis to estimate the health benefits of more protective standards for O3 and PM2.5. Data inputted into the program came from census tract information, 19 large national or multi-city studies that assessed the health impacts of the two pollutants, and a network of air monitors that the EPA relies upon to determine if states and counties are meeting air quality.
The authors emphasized that their findings do not specifically address an individual's health risk or the personal benefits of cleaner air, but rather assess population level health impacts. Metropolitan areas with the large populations and elevated concentrations of one or both air pollutants, they wrote, would realize the biggest improvements in public health by meeting the more protective standards.
The ten metropolitan areas that would benefit the most from more protective O3 and PM2.5 standards are:
Los Angeles (Long Beach-Glendale), CA: 1,341 lives saved, 3,255 fewer morbidities and 2,892,029 fewer impacted days
Riverside (San Bernardino-Ontario), CA: 808 lives saved, 1,416 fewer morbidities and 1,321,762 fewer impacted days
New York City (Jersey City-White Plains), NY-NJ: 282 lives saved, 977 fewer morbidities and 818,666 fewer impacted days
Phoenix (Mesa-Scottsdale), AZ: 283 lives saved, 598 fewer morbidities and 636,730 fewer impacted days
Pittsburgh, PA: 285 lives saved, 533 fewer morbidities and 281,858 fewer impacted days
Fresno, CA: 260 lives saved, 672 fewer morbidities and 390,551 fewer impacted days
Bakersfield, CA: 241 lives saved, 333 fewer morbidities and 220,722 fewer impacted days
Houston: (The Woodlands-Sugar Land), TX: 229 lives saved, 661 fewer morbidities and 636, 211 fewer impacted days
Cleveland (Elyria), OH: 196 lives saved, 487 fewer morbidities and 231,859 fewer impacted days
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN: 173 lives saved, 298 fewer morbidities and 192,989 fewer impacted days
The ATS and Marron Institute expect to update the report annually. The report and an online tool with searchable information can be found at www.healthoftheair.org/. The online tool includes information about whether a metropolitan area meets EPA and ATS-recommended standards for each of the two pollutants and estimates the health benefits, for each pollutant, of meeting ATS recommended standards.
"As an organization of health care providers and researchers, we know firsthand the toll air pollution takes on people's health, particularly the young and elderly," said ATS President David Gozal, MD, MBA, Herbert T. Abelson professor of Pediatrics at the University of Chicago. "This report begins to quantify that toll and provides information that, we believe, should inform the setting of national air pollution standards."
He added, "Equally important, state and local policy makers can use the online tool to better understand the nature of their air pollution problem so they can consider the best solutions for addressing their particular problem and improving the public's health."
Explore further Researchers say anti-pollution rules have uncertain effects
Front-line protection of U.S. communities against disease epidemics relies on seamless information sharing between public health officials and doctors, plus the wherewithal to act on that data. But health departments have faltered in this mission by lacking guidance to effectively strategize about appropriate "IT investments. And incidents like the current Zika crisis bring the issue to the forefront," says Ritu Agarwal, Robert H. Smith Dean's Chair of Information Systems and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.
Agarwal, with a team of UMD researchers, recently finished a two-year "intensive analysis" of the rollout of an electronic health records system in Montgomery County, Md., and a local primary care coalition, which works with a system of hospitals and clinics designed to provide safety net services to low-income patients.
"We uncovered a host of barriers and obstacles to effective use of information, including the complexity and usability of the software, the inability of the software to support certain unique public health reporting needs, the learning curve for public health workers, and the lack of standards for effective data exchange," Agarwal says. "All of this does not bode well, either for crisis response or for proactive crisis anticipation."
Their findings are published in Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research and detail a new tool, a Public Health Information Technology (PHIT) Maturity Index, to better understand and counter the shortcomings they observed.
"Health departments can apply the index to assessing their IT capabilities, benchmarking with their peers, setting specific goals and fostering a cycle of continuous improvement," says coauthor and researcher Kenyon Crowley, deputy director of the Center for Health Information and Decision Systems (CHIDS) in the Smith School.
Prior to late-July confirmation of U.S. Zika cases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Thomas Frieden warned: "Make no mistake: The Zika virus is an emergency that we need to address." But Congress recessed for summer without approving emergency funding to combat the virus linked to microcephaly-stricken newborns.
But the challenges facing public health managers run deeper than a lack of funding, says Agarwal. "Health officials need to know the source of the infection, who the infected individual has contacted, where it occurred and the circumstances under which it occurred. The list goes on," she says. "In other words, a complete and accurate picture of every incident is the foundation for developing an effective response strategy."
"Public health managers can deploy the [PHIT Maturity] index to "measure their departments' progress in using IT to support its public health mission, or in other words, its journey towards maturity," Agarwal says.
Agarwal says "fulfilling the mission" broadly would mean information from Zika diagnoses, for example, is flowing to the right public health official whether it's from patient-hospital encounters stored in a state health information exchange or a primary care setting when a patient presents for treatment or even when such cases are documented at a public health care service location.
Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the researchers collected data through staff interviews, staff observations, patient focus groups, and staff surveys to create the index with a questionnaire and scoring guide. It's divided into four IT-based categories: Scale and scope of use; quality; human capital, policy and resources; and community infrastructure.
History Lesson"The early-2000s SARS epidemic is a good illustrator of information as one of the most critical tools in addressing any type of public health crisis," says Agarwal. "[Cases] spread like wildfire with more than 8,000 people becoming infected globally over a three-year time frame. "That number may have been substantially lower if information about new cases had been monitored and shared to get an accurate picture of the prevalence and spread of the disease."
More recently, a Texas Ebola case illustrated a public health worker as unprepared to act on access to a hospital's electronic health records containing information about the patient's travels that could have resulted in immediate action, Agarwal says. "But no one paid attention to it."
Both cases, collectively, show the importance of "seamless data integration across acute care (hospitals), primary care (clinics and other ambulatory facilities), and public health delivery locations," she says. "And of course, all of this has to occur while simultaneously maintaining the privacy of pertinent patient data."
In positive trends, Agarwal says "syndromic surveillance" has been a core aspect of the Meaningful Use standards enforced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and electronic health records adoption is on the rise by as much as 55 percent, according to estimates. "But resource-strapped departments remain unable to utilize the data effectively," Agarwal says. "We have a long way to go."
Read MoreThe Public Health Information Technology Maturity Index: An Approach to Evaluating the Adoption and Use of Public Health Information Technology by Kenyon Crowley, UMD's Robert H. Smith School of Business; Robert S. Gold, UMD School of Public Health; Sruthi Bandi, UMD's iSchool; and Ritu Agarwal, UMD's Robert H. Smith School of Business, appears in the April 2016 issue of Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research.
Forthcoming ConferenceCHIDS will host its annual Workshop on Health IT and Economics on Oct. 21-22, 2016, at the Westin Georgetown in Washington, D.C. The event is designed to deepen the understanding of health IT design and its resultant impact and to stimulate new ideas with both policy and business implications.
Explore further Florida probes new Zika case outside Miami
We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message.
China to open a jacket-making factory in Georgia
A large Chinese clothing manufacturer is gearing up to open a jacket-making factory in Georgia to make top quality jackets for world famous brands.Silk Road Investment Group will open a satellite branch in Georgia and employ local seamstress and tailors to create the jackets.The Chinese company operates its main garment factory in Jiangxi province in Chinas southeast.Silk Road Investment Group has already signed a deal with Georgias state-owned shareholding company the Partnership Fund that outlined terms of the new factory.Head of the Partnership Fund David Saganelidze said the new garment factory will bring economic benefits to Georgia.This will be a branch of the jacket manufacturing factory, which is located in Jiangxi and meets the demand of 60 percent of the local population. Opening a branch of this factory in Georgia will increase the countrys export potential, he said.The factory in Georgia will sew jackets for world famous brands who order from the mother factory, he added.After signing the Memorandum of Cooperation this week, a representative from the Silk Road Investment Group announced it would begin a feasibility study and release more details of the garment factory in the coming weeks and months.
Not to interfere in Georgias political processes
By Messenger Staff
The administration of the President of Georgia has called on Georgias ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili to refrain from interfering in Georgias ongoing political processes and desist from making pre-election appeals to the population of Georgia prior to the October 8 parliamentary elections.Presidents Parliamentary Secretary Ana Dolidze has stressed that Ukrainian citizen Saakashvili has no right to interfere in political developments in Georgia.Dolidze also said Saakashvilis comments to the local NGO Young Lawyers Association was unacceptable and the ex-President lied when he said he was deprived of the Georgian citizenship.We cannot accept the fact that Saakashvili is trying to stain the reputation of one of the most influential organizations, the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, which plays a very important role in the pre-election period, Dolidze said.Besides which, Saakashvili lied when he said that he did not voluntarily cancel his Georgian citizenship. He knew very well that when taking the Ukrainian citizenship, he would lose Georgian citizenship automatically, as our legislation reads, Dolidze said.Dolidze stressed Saakashvili should not hinder friendly relations between Georgia and Ukraine with his behaviour.The Young Lawyers Association said Saakashvili violated pre-election legislation with a recent video address to the Batumi population in which he encouraged them to vote for a certain individual.According to the organization, a citizen of a foreign country has no right to participate in pre-election campaigning.The organization called on the Supreme Electoral Commission of Adjara to put a sanction on Saakashvili and fine him 2000 GEL.In response, Saakashvili expressed surprise over the statement of the NGO.I was deprived of Georgian citizenship by the instruction of the Russian oligarchs [referring to Georgias ex-PM Bidzina Ivanishvili, who founded the current ruling Georgian Dream coalition and defeated the nine-year rule of Saakashvilis party] puppets, Saakashvili said.Please recall the motive of that decision and get a deeper insight into the true reasons. I remain faithful to my country. Citizenship is not defined by a blank document signed by the Russian oligarchs puppets, - said Odessa Governor Saakashvili.Saakashvili, who remains wanted by Georgias law-enforcement bodies for several alleged breaches of the law, has done certain things under his presidency worth appreciating ( police reform among them).One of the main reasons why his party failed to win the 2012 elections was multiple incidents of human rights violation and a serious risk that Saakashvili very soon would become a dictator.He claims all the accusations against him are fabricated. He also said he would never revoke his Georgian citizenship. However, this happened automatically when he took Ukrainian citizenship.
The News in Brief
I will have a normal business relationship with the new Defence Minister - Parliament Speaker
I will have a normal business relationship with the new Defence Minister, Parliament Speaker Davit Usupashvili said in an interview with Rustavi 2.
At the same time, the Speaker once again noted that the Ministry of Defence should be guided by a political figure.
"When our defence minister was a military person, then we, the Republicans, had an initiative to move to a system where the Ministry of Defence is ruled by a politician. In my opinion, this is a European model which we are aspiring to.
Levan Izoria is now the Minister of Defense and I am the Chairman of Parliament as well as a member of the Security Council. I support the strengthening of the army and defence capabilities like I did yesterday and the day before yesterday. So I will have a normal business relationship with the Defence Minister, said Davit Usupashvili. (IPN)
UNDP and Government of Georgia commit to GEL 6.8 million rural development initiative funded by EU and Government of Adjara
Shombi Sharp, UNDP Resident Representative in Georgia and Otar Danelia, the Minister of Agriculture of Georgia, signed an agreement to continue assistance to rural development in the country through a GEL 6.8 million project funded by the European Union and the Government of Adjara.
This initiative will assist in the development of a national Rural Development Strategy of Georgia and a specific strategy for the Ajara Autonomous Republic, and support their practical implementation.
95% of the GEL 6.8 Million (Euro 2.63 million) project budget is provided by the European Union and 5% by the Ajara Government.
The two-year initiative is part of the European Union funded European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD) which launched its second phase in Georgia a month ago.
Through ENPARD, the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia works closely with the European Union, UNDP, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Government of Ajara Autonomous Republic to promote rural development all over the country, and specifically in Ajara, and enhance institutions respective ministries, national agencies, associations and educational bodies engaged in this process. (ge.undp.com)
Jordan will share Georgias experience of reforming education system
Jordan will share Georgia's experience of reforming the education system.
This statement was made during a meeting between the Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, and the Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Education of Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Mohammad Thneibat.
The relevant agencies of Jordan will cooperate with the International Education Center of Georgia in the area of various university programs covering professions, such as technologies, archeology, Arabic studies, etc.
The Prime Minister provided the Vice Prime Minister of Jordan with detailed information on fundamental reforms planned with regards to Georgia's education system. Giorgi Kvirikashvili indicated that the Government plans on ensuring that the country's higher education system is in line with market demand. Furthermore, in the area of vocational education, the Government is willing to cooperate with private sector to establish Germany's so-called dual model, thus ensuring education in highly demanded fields.
According to the Vice Prime Minister of Jordan, Georgia is a regional leader in the area of reforming of its education system, and Jordan is willing to share its experience. Mohammad Thneibat invited Giorgi Kvirikashvili to Jordan and noted that such a high-level visit will foster deepening of bilateral cooperation in this area. (gov.ge)
HAMILTON When you lose everything to a fast-moving fire, its hard to know where to even begin to start down the road to recovery.
And the people who want to help often dont know how.
More than a dozen families in Ravalli County are just now beginning that journey following the July 31 Roaring Lion firestorm southwest of Hamilton that destroyed their homes.
On Friday and Saturday, a number of organizations are coming together at the Salvation Armys Disaster Resource Center to focus their efforts on helping those homeowners.
The center is located in the old Marilyns restaurant building in Hamilton. From 4 to 7 p.m. Friday and between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, 10 organizations ranging from the Red Cross and the Salvation Army to HUD and the Baptist Church will offer the owners of the 16 homes destroyed in the fire a chance to see whats available to them.
We want to try to make this process as easy as possible for those people who have been devastated, said Ravalli Countys Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Neoma Greenfield. Well get them set up and find out exactly what their needs are so we reach out to the public for donations.
Donations have been coming through the door at a steady pace since the Salvation Army first opened the disaster resource center.
The challenge so far has been to match what people need with what people have to give, said Crystal Hill of the Ravalli County Salvation Army.
Right now, many of the people who have lost their homes dont really even know where to start, Hill said. Some have lost everything. They dont know if they are going to rebuild or move away.
The disaster center is already filled with cases of bottled water, food and an assortment of clothing. Hill said people have also donated a camper and offered to allow people to use their land to park camp trailers until they find a new place to stay.
The center has started to collect names of people who want to volunteer their services to help those who have lost their homes.
We want to make sure that help gets where it needs to go, Greenfield said. There are fences that are down and trees that need to be felled. These people are going to need a lot of help.
Dallas Erickson, disaster action team chair for the Bitterroot American Red Cross of Montana, said the initial flow of assistance from both local and regional sources was just mind boggling.
We had people stepping forward to help from the Bitterroot, Missoula, Great Falls, Erickson said. We had people drive over Skalkaho to deliver donations from Butte. It was just amazing and so touching that so many people wanted to help. It boosted peoples hearts to see how much people cared.
The Red Cross and others have moved past the emergency care to the recovery stage.
This is really the time that we need cash to be able to help people, Erickson said. This is where the big bucks will be spent and rightfully so. Those people who have lost their homes are overwhelmed.
There is an underlying feeling in the valley that if you donate to the Red Cross, the money will go someplace else, he said. You can earmark your donation for the Roaring Lion Fire.
Casey Gallagher said United Ways 2-1-1 will also lend a hand.
That organization provides an information service that will connect fire victims with other organizations that can help as well as a cadre of volunteers.
We will be present in Ravalli County and take information about what they need and then disseminate that information, Gallagher said. We have already had calls from people looking for services, but they are just starting to inquire. The smoke hasnt cleared yet.
Retired University of Montana professor Harry Fritz and I recently returned after delivering a series of lectures on the U.S. political system at Nankai University in Tianjin, a city of 12 million people near the Chinese capitol of Beijing. This was my fourth trip to China.
Americans who have been there know that Chinese cities are forests of building cranes on the tops of countless high-rise buildings. While one would think the construction boom that is powering Chinas domestic economy will reach a saturation point, the Chinese expect their population will support it.
Projections show Chinas population of 1.4 billion falling to 1.125 billion over the next 50 years. That is why the government has modified its one-child mandate and now allows two children per family. According to the Chinese model, population sustains growth. Labor-intensive projects provide millions of jobs. Vast amounts of electrical power must be generated to keep Chinas manufacturing and employment colossus surging forward. China is a nation of builders, both for its domestic use, and for products exported abroad.
The rapid rise of China has been likened to a rhino climbing into the canoe of world nations. It is greatly destabilizing. While Chinas economy will likely overtake ours, the huge population required to sustain it also has to be sustained. Per capita income in China is improving, but it is only about $14,100, compared to more than $55,800 in the U.S. Chinas push for productivity is primary. Environmental fallout from total economic emphasis is shocking. Montanans would say you could cut the air there with a knife.
While working at the University of Montana in 2006, I spent several weeks at Nankai University. On this recent visit, professor Fritz and I lectured to the senior-level international relations class of professor Han Zhaoying. I had explained American politics and culture to that same class when I was there 10 years ago. All have had a minimum of 12 years of English. While few American college kids have any knowledge of Mandarin, no interpreter is necessary in communicating with many upper-division college students in China. Though bright and motivated as ever, these students were also noticeably more reticent to express themselves than those I encountered a decade ago.
The reason is probably because the new regime of Xi Jianping is returning to a tougher and more authoritarian form of Maoism. Xis fire wall of blocking information into China from the outside world has been surprisingly effective. The Communist Party has a greater hands-on presence in Chinese society now than when I was there previously.
Students seemed clearly more uncomfortable about sharing their thoughts in class discussions. They were very aware of Chinese military expansion into the South China Sea. They accepted Xis construct that since China was once the worlds greatest civilization, and because of its new rise to economic greatness, China should expand its sphere of military influence to match the glory of its past. Essentially, Xi is sounding a theme that we have heard in our country. Hes going to make China great again.
A highlight of our trip was attending the annual American Independence Day Celebration sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. It was festive and patriotic. Montanas former Senator Max Baucus, now U.S. ambassador, spoke well and effectively as our countrys representative in China. Harry Fritz and I felt deeply grateful for our freedoms symbolized there in China by Independence Day. Baucus made us proud to be Americans and Montanans in this challenging time in world history.
On Tuesday, Aug. 16, Missoula County and consultant HDR Engineering will present the second meeting on the South Avenue Bridge Project, the replacement of the Maclay Bridge over the Bitterroot River.
Maclay Bridge has provided access to Missoulas treasured recreational Blue Mountain Area for decades. In 2013, the Missoula County Board of Commissioners and Montana Department of Transportation agreed to replace the one-lane Maclay Bridge with a two-lane bridge. The public was told the new bridge was free since only federal and state gas tax funds would be used. Though a feasibility study was done, citizens suggestions for rehabbing the bridge were disregarded and the replacement moved forward.
Once again, the stage is set to ignore public opinion. Following a presentation, the audience will be relegated to tables for discussions on specific aspects of the new bridge. While this format may provide convenient crowd control, it fails to allow the public to hear input from other members of the community. The public has questions; the public needs answers and an open forum is required. A question-and-answer period must be included to give people the opportunity to share concerns.
This bridge construction is not a stand-alone project. The feds and the state allegedly are paying for the bridge but feeder road improvements have not been identified or costed. No provisions have been made for adjacent tie roads, South Avenue, River Pines, Big Flat Road and Blue Mountain Road are narrow, substandard, winding, with no shoulders. They are inadequate for the increased traffic that will be induced with the new two-lane bridge. These improvements will be costly but they are not being addressed. The public needs to know what will be done with these roads, when it will be done and how much it will cost. Open this public meeting to an open forum format.
Helen Orendain,
Missoula
HAMILTON Cooler temperatures and longer nights have combined to create conditions safe enough to allow trout fishermen to try their luck all hours of the day on the Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officially lifted hoot owl restrictions on both rivers Wednesday.
The Bitterroot River from Tucker Crossing downstream and the Blackfoot, including its North Fork, Copper, Monture and Morrell tributaries, have been under hoot owl restrictions since July 29.
The restrictions are designed to reduce the impact on drought-stressed trout. They prohibit fishing during the hottest part of the day (2 p.m. to midnight).
On the Bitterroot, the restrictions are driven mainly by water temperature. State fisheries managers can implement the hoot owl restrictions when water temperatures exceed 73 degrees for three consecutive days.
FWP Region 2 Fisheries Manager Pat Saffel said during the last spell of hot weather last week, the temperatures on the Bitterroot didnt exceed those critical levels.
Even though hot weather is forecast to return later this week, Saffel said it appears it wont be as warm as it was earlier this summer and the nights remain cool and are getting longer.
The worst period for warm waters in the states rivers typically comes to an end by the second or third week of August, he said.
Water temperatures on the Blackfoot River have also cooled quite a bit, but Saffel there is some concern about the potential of low flows forcing fish to seek out what deep water remains on the river.
If fishing pressure becomes too heavy on any of those pockets of water, Saffel said the state may consider doing some localized closures to protect trout.
Hoot owl restrictions remain in place for the 100 miles of the Upper Clark Fork River from its headwaters where Silver Bow and Warm Spring creeks join to the Rock Creek. Silver Bow Creek from its confluence with Blacktail Creek to its mouth and confluence with Warm Springs Creek remain under the same restrictions.
The water is still warm and really low there, Saffel said.
Other rivers in the state remain under hoot owl restrictions. For up-to-date information on the restrictions related to drought, go to fwp.mt.gov/news/restrictions.
POLSON Approximately 40 protesters carried signs, some shouted at the older couple and one hit their car with his sign after Larry and Nadene Latzke made their initial appearance Wednesday morning in Lake County Justice Court.
The Latzkes, who operate LDR Kennels between Charlo and St. Ignatius, are charged with felony aggravated cruelty to animals.
Both requested public defenders during their appearance in a packed courtroom before Lake County Justice of the Peace Randal Owens. Owens told the couple the felony charges would be transferred to District Court within the next 30 days, and released them on their own recognizance as recommended by the Lake County Attorneys Office.
When Larry Latzke asked if he could say something, Owens answered, I would prefer you didnt say anything without an attorney present.
Latzke later ignored reporters as he and his wife, who used two canes to walk, left the courthouse.
***
Protesters carrying signs that read things such as Puppy Mill Horror Show and Animal Cruelty is Not a Montana Value shifted from their position outside the courthouses main doors as word came the Latzkes were using an elevator to access a disabled-accessible entrance on the side of the building.
I hope they throw you in jail and throw away the key, one man shouted at them. You people are horrible horrible.
As the Latzkes drove out of the parking lot, coming within inches of the man in the process, he hit the rear window of their car with his cardboard sign.
Several of the protesters indicated their goal Wednesday was to use the case as an example of why they believe Montana legislators should adopt laws regulating dog breeders like the Latzkes. Montana is one of 16 states with no such regulations.
Late last month authorities seized 11 of the 120 or so dogs at LDR Kennels after receiving a complaint that there was a terrible smell coming from the kennel and that the person who filed the complaint had seen one dog with its hair matted and smelled like urine, and the dog did not look in good health, Lake County Sheriff Don Bell said at the time.
Deputies, who learned the Latzkes had refused to allow authorities to inspect their dogs when previous complaints had been received, obtained a search warrant this time.
At least seven of the dogs have since been returned to the Latzkes after receiving veterinary care.
***
Deputy Lake County Attorney Molly Owen also asked the justice of the peace to keep a restraining order in effect. It orders that the Latzkes not tamper with evidence at their kennels.
Protesters worried that could adversely affect the treatment the animals are receiving, but Owen told the Missoulian later that the restraining order also contains language requiring the Latzkes to maintain a superior level of care for the dogs.
The LDR Kennels website says it sells Chihuahua, Maltese, Yorkshire terrier, Havanese and Shih Tzu breeds, and that its puppies are raised in the most loving, humane, clean environment possible.
Missoula veterinarian Patti Prato, who attended the court hearing and protest, said animal rights activists have been aware of LDR Kennels for more than a decade.
***
When one of her clients alleged dogs there were being raised in an unhealthy environment after purchasing a Bernese mountain dog puppy from LDR Kennels, Prato said she bought a puppy from the Latzkes too, back in 2005.
I was surprised they were willing to sell a sick dog to a veterinarian, Prato said. They even dropped it off. They were on their way to a puppy mill auction in the Midwest, and showed up in a toy hauler stacked with dog crates.
They offered Prato the puppys mother as well, she said, and she bought both.
The puppy died within two weeks and the mom had severe emotional problems you could barely touch her, Prato said. She died at 4. It was horrendous then and its been that way for a decade.
Prato said she and others have tried since 2006 to get legislation passed regulating such operations, to no avail. Opponents have called such attempts government overreach. There are concerns that the laws, written for pets, could affect livestock breeding, and people who describe themselves as hobby dog breeders who run clean operations have said the proposed laws are so broad they could be put out of business.
I think weve made it out of committee one time in the last 10 years, Prato said. Thats as close as weve gotten. If emotions stay fresh after incidents such as the Latzke case, maybe it will finally happen.
Just days after the search warrant was served on the Latzkes, Lincoln County officials seized more than 120 animals including donkeys, parakeets, canaries and poodles from a suspected puppy mill in Libby. The dogs were underweight and had eye, ear and dental infections, Sheriff Roby Bowe said.
BILLINGS - Thomas Craig Pfeifle, 19, of Rapid City, S.D., who fell Monday while climbing Granite Peak, was in critical condition Tuesday at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, according to hospital spokesperson Susan Gregg.
Pfeifle was rescued by helicopter on Monday afternoon and flown to a Billings hospital, but later transferred to Harborview, where he is being treated for a head injury.
Pfeifle was at an altitude of about 12,200 feet when he was rescued. He fell near the summit of the 12,808 foot peak, according to a press release from the Park County Sheriff's Office. The mountain is the highest peak in Montana.
A call came through Sweet Grass County at about 11 a.m. Monday from one of Pfeifle's climbing partners requesting rescue, said Park County Undersheriff Clay Herbst.
Pfeifle was climbing with at least four others and one of them was able to get cellphone service for the first emergency call, Herbst said.
The climbers borrowed a satellite phone from another climbing group to stay in contact with authorities throughout the rescue, Herbst said.
Rocky Mountain Rotors Co-owner Mark Taylor said his company was involved in the rescue of Pfeifle on Monday afternoon.
He was rescued by a Gallatin County high-angle rescue team and flown by helicopter to a separate landing zone near Sky Top Lakes. A medical helicopter from Bozeman then landed to provide medical treatment before he was flown to Billings.
Pfeifle is the son of South Dakota Seventh Circuit Court judges Craig Pfeifle and Jane Wipf Pfeifle.
HAMILTON As the firefighting effort begins to wind down on the Roaring Lion fire southwest of Hamilton, people are starting to get an idea of what the flames have left behind.
Near the popular trailhead where the fire is suspected to have started, there isnt a whole lot of green left to see.
People are going to be pretty shocked when they finally get to go up to the trailhead, said Forest Service Public Information Officer Mike Cole. It was pretty much a crown fire that went through there. On both sides of the canyon, it did get up into the trees. The south side of the canyon is just black snags.
Cole and several others with the Forest Service ventured up to the trailhead for the first time since the fire started on July 31.
From the trailheads parking lot, Cole said the forest was black as far up the mountain as he could see.
We were lucky there werent a lot of people up the canyon that day, he said. That was one hot and fast moving fire that moved through there. Its the type of fire that would trap animals. Even animals wouldnt be able to get out of the way fast enough in that kind of fire.
What needles on the trees that didnt burn were frozen in the direction of the high winds that must have blown down through the canyon that first night.
You could tell which direction the fire was coming from by looking at the needles, Cole said. All of the needles were pointed east. Its something called needle freeze. Its really unique the fire was burning through so fast and so hot and it flash-froze the needles.
The only thing that survived on the trailhead sign was the metal that framed it.
Even with the recent rain, Cole said there was a still quite a lot of smoke coming from tree trunks and downed logs in the area.
That little bit of rain that we got was nice, he said. Its slowed things down for a few days, but by this weekend it will be hot again and well see more fire activity occur.
When firefighters do their mop-up work, they focus their efforts on the first 200 feet in from a fire line. Beyond that, Cole said people are going to notice that theres quite of bit of material still smoldering.
When we were at the trailhead today, around us 360 degrees, we could see stumps burning and other material smoking, he said. Its going to take a season-ending event to put this out. I think people may have a false sense of hope right now. They might think that this fire is out. While that would be nice, its not true.
A Hotshot crew has spent the past couple of nights camped out high on the southwestern edge of the fire in order to get an early start each day extending the fire line higher up the mountain.
They want to hang that fire far up on the side of the mountain so it cant come back down and get into the stands of heavy timber in Camas Creek, Cole said. We dont want to allow it to blow out into the valley again.
On Wednesday, a feller buncher was used to take out trees to help widen fire lines on the southwestern edge of the fire. The trees were limbed and the logs hauled out by trucks on FS Road 496 down to the Lost Horse Road.
We have some logging truck traffic coming out of there that people need to be aware of, Cole said.
On Wednesday, the management of the fire was turned over by the Northern Region Type 1 Incident Management Team to a smaller Type 3 team as the resources tied to fighting the fire continue to be released.
The new incident commander is Drew Daily, who has served as operations manager with the larger Type 1 team.
This is the best-case scenario, Cole said. He knows the whole fire and all of its moving parts. That should make the transition really smooth.
There are 518 people assigned to the fire. Cole said those numbers will continue to drop over the next few days.
The fire received a little bit of rain Tuesday.
Over the past four days, a portable weather station just south of the fire recorded a half-inch of precipitation.
That doesnt mean the fire got a half-inch, Cole said. It did get a good shot of moisture yesterday (Tuesday). We a little bit of a chance for a thunderstorm today and then the system will be moving out of here. Then well be back to typical August weather.
Farther south, firefighters have made good headway around the eight-acre Lost Trail fire.
They are doing mop-up right now, said Bitterroot Forest spokesman Tod McKay. They havent called it contained, but they have de-mobed a lot of resources from it. Its looking pretty good at this point.
Professor Molalign Belay Adugna of the University of Gondar in Gondar City, Ethiopia, will visit the University of Montana this month to work toward developing an exchange program between UM and UG.
Adugna will give a presentation on opportunities for faculty and student exchanges and collaboration between the universities at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in Social Science Building Room 338. The event is free and open to the public.
Adugna is a lecturer in the Sociology Department and director of the Alumni Relations and Partnership Office of the University of Gondar. He is also a trustee of the Yenage Tesfa Orphan and Street Children Organization in Gondar City. He is the recipient of the 2016 Mandela Washington Fellowship for emerging young African leaders. As part of the fellowship, he has been in the U.S. for six weeks of leadership training, culminating in a summit in Washington, D.C., including a town hall meeting with President Barack Obama.
HAMILTON A Florence physician charged with 400 felonies for allegedly providing patients with illegal prescriptions said Wednesday that he still isnt prepared to proceed to trial this fall.
During a short hearing, Ravalli County District Court Judge Jeffrey Langton told Dr. Chris Christensen that the trial was moving forward and that he needed to be ready to produce his list of witnesses and exhibits at a pretrial conference set for later this month.
Christensen, 67, appeared at the hearing without representation.
Since December, when the Office of the State Public Defender withdrew from the case after finding that he made too much money to qualify for state-funded counsel, Christensen has maintained that hes seeking a lawyer, but cant afford one.
Langton recently denied Christensens request to delay his trial that is set to begin October.
Christensen was arrested in August 2015 after allegedly providing hundreds of illegal prescriptions to his patients, including two who died from overdoses. Among the charges he faces are two counts of negligent homicide.
At Wednesdays hearing, Christensen said he was unable to proceed to trial without a lawyer and told Langton that he was doing everything possible to move his situation forward.
Christensen has maintained all along that he has no plans of representing himself at the trial.
In his request in May for a yearlong delay in the trial date, Christensen said he will require three attorneys, three legal assistants, several law clerks, two secretaries and an office manager to prepare his case. In addition, Christensen said hell need medical experts in at least 11 different specialties and an in-house medical law consultant.
Christensen claimed the boutique law firm would cost as much as $1 million in public defense fees and might require a special appropriation by the Montana Legislature.
On Wednesday, Ravalli County Deputy Attorney Thorin Geist told Langton that he had offered Christensen a plea agreement, but there had been no response.
After Christensen read a short statement saying he was unable to proceed without a lawyer, Geist told the judge the agreement was now off the table.
Geist also expressed concern about the fact the confidential plea agreement document had been disseminated to the press. A copy was forwarded earlier this week to the Missoulian newspaper.
Geist learned the agreement had been circulated after a Ravalli Republic reporter inquired about its validity.
Geist said Christensen was the only person who had been emailed a copy.
At Wednesdays hearing, Geist warned Christensen about circulating confidential criminal information, including names of witnesses and other information that he will be presented with at the upcoming pretrial hearing.
Geist told Christensen that he could face additional charges if he disseminated that material.
Christensen denied forwarding the proposed plea agreement to the newspaper.
I cant offer any explanation to that allegation, he said.
Christensen faces a potential sentence of up to 388 life terms, plus 135 years and a fine of up to $20 million if convicted on all charges.
Potential jurors for the trial set to begin on Oct. 20 will be notified soon. The trial is expected to last a month.
Two songs from the first album just came up that had never come up before, Ms. Bayer said. I think when Warner got the catalog, I think people started making claims, people were kind of coming out of the woodwork going, Oh, well now its a major label involved, and we can possibly get more from them than we might have gotten from an independent label like Tommy Boy.
But others, including Paul Huston, the producer known as Prince Paul, who worked closely with the group on its first three albums, say they did their due diligence. Sampling was obviously new, but we were told, Hey, heres some sample-clearance forms you have to fill these out, Mr. Huston said, adding that Tommy Boy became much more careful after the success of 3 Feet High and Rising. It got to the point where it was like, What is that scratch!?
Image Stakes Is High (1996)
Tom Silverman, the founder of Tommy Boy Records which also put out albums by Digital Underground and Queen Latifah said that making the groups catalog available digitally would not be difficult, considering that Warner Music should know the copyright holders who have been receiving royalties for the physical sales of the records.
Mr. Silverman said: Cutting a deal, you would think, to give them more money, shouldnt be that hard, especially if youre fair and logical and say, Let me pay you the same percentage that weve always paid you on physical on digital, too, so you can make that much money. So it doesnt really make a lot of sense that theyve havent even tried.
For De La Soul, Warner Music and the owners of the copyrighted samples, the catalogs absence from digital media can be felt in an absence of income. That money would have come from downloads (the iTunes Music Store opened in 2003); streaming; ringtones (Mr. Silverman points out the groups 1991 single Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey) as a potential ringtone windfall); and deals with television, movies and advertisers.
" " The fiscal cliff describes a series of U.S. tax increases and budget cuts scheduled to kick in during the first weeks of 2013 unless Congress acts to change them. Hemera/ Thinkstock
Americans may have very little to celebrate on New Year's Day 2013. If Congress is unable or unwilling to come to a compromise on scheduled tax increases -- the largest in 40 years -- and painful automatic budget cuts, the nation's economy will be pushed over a "fiscal cliff" in 2013. Before we get into the potentially devastating effects of that cliff, let's explain what the term means and how Americans arrived on the edge of economic free fall.
Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke was the first to use the term fiscal cliff to describe a series of tax increases and budget cuts that are scheduled to kick in during the first weeks of 2013 [source: Montgomery]. If allowed to happen, the nation would almost surely plunge back into recession, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office [source: O'Keefe]. Another colorful term for the apocalyptic economic moment is "taxmageddon."
Advertisement
But why would Congress have passed legislation that would put the U.S. in such a mess? To answer that question, we have to go back to the debt ceiling crisis of 2011. Congress is the one that authorizes the U.S. Treasury to borrow money to pay for federal programs. When the Treasury reaches its borrowing limit, it asks Congress to raise the limit by a few hundred billion dollars, which Congress has done dozens of times [source: The New York Times].
In 2011, however, fiscally conservative tea party Republicans in the House of Representatives refused to pass any legislation that raised the national debt. They were also opposed to any debt-reduction plan that included tax increases. Without the ability to borrow money or raise tax revenue, the Treasury couldn't pay off its other debts, meaning the federal government was poised to default.
Despite months of feverish negotiations, the White House and Congress were deadlocked. In a last-minute fix, the two sides agreed to $2.4 trillion in budget cuts over the next 10 years. Only $900 billion of those cuts would be made immediately. The rest would begin automatically in early January 2013 unless the two sides could negotiate a better deal in the interim [source: The New York Times]. When a nonpartisan congressional "supercommittee" failed to reach a compromise, negotiations were tabled until after the 2012 presidential elections.
As of this writing, there is still no deal to avoid the automatic spending cuts scheduled for 2013. There is also no agreement on whether or not to extend the Bush-era tax cuts past the end of 2012. If no action is taken on these two fronts, there could be grave economic effects. We'll detail the damage on the next page.
It's 6 a.m. and Sophie, my chocolate Lab, is staring at me with her marble eyes, while Ivy Sue, the Great Dane, snoozes. Sophie sees me stir. She yelps, a high-pitched yelp that means "Dad, get your lazy butt up and take me out." Ivy rubs her meaty head against her oversized bed, groans, and slowly begins her day. I shove my partner Karen awake and take the dogs out. Within the hour, my belly is full of coffee. Karen is on her way to work, and I amble upstairs to my writer's garret. My day ends when I say it ends. Sometimes it's 4 p.m., other times earlier. Still other times, like tonight, around 9 p.m. (OK, I didn't work all day, but you get the idea.)
Home has been my only office for more than four years. I've learned a few things by working at home. It is my belief that, on average, I am more productive working from home than I ever was at the office. For one thing, there's no commute (I once traveled three hours a day). I'm not being called into senseless meetings, and no one is trying to sell me Girl Scout cookies. Lunch hours are now lunch 15 minutes. Watercooler gossip is gone. Distractions are nonexistent, unless Sophie and Ivy need to go outside or the cats are clawing one another's eyes out.
Advertisement
I'm not the only person who works this way. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of workers who telecommute has doubled in the past 30 years. In 1980, the percentage of people working from home primarily was 2.3 percent. In 2010, it was 4.2 percent. Census officials found that 10 percent of American workers labor from home at least one day a week. Just as many men work from home as women [source: Fottrell].
What's the reason? For one thing, many more jobs can be done from home. Those working as salespeople, IT workers, and yes, writers and editors are among the top telecommuters [source: San Francisco Chronicle]. That's because technology has made working at home easy. I can write upstairs on the PC or downstairs on the laptop. Broadband, wireless, instant messaging, texting, Skype and a host of other high-tech programs and innovations make a brick-and-mortar office obsolete for many of us. We can attend meetings virtually, converse with bosses and clients, and send files from one corner of the globe to the other [source: Kensing]. I don't even have to leave the house to send packages. Delivery and pickup is a computer mouse click away.
Many companies understand the positive benefits of allowing workers to telecommute. In fact, 90 percent of Cisco employees work from home, as do 81 percent of Accenture workers and 80 percent of Intel employees [source: CNN Money]. In all three instances, those employees were allowed to telecommute at least 20 percent of the time.
Smart Workers According to a 2009 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics study, 64.2 percent of those who telecommute are self-employed; 38.9 percent hold more than one job; and 14 percent are better educated than most workers [source: Kensing].
Police reports
CRAWLING SNAKES
Brendon Heim, 25, of Butte was arrested for disorderly conduct on the 1200 block of Kaw Avenue about 3 a.m. Wednesday. He stood on the railroad tracks and screamed obscenities. Police say he thought snakes were crawling on him. He admitted using methamphetamine and hadnt slept in days.
THEFTS
A 20-foot flatbed trailer parked behind the fire training center on the 1900 block of South Franklin Street went missing between Saturday and Tuesday. The trailer and scrap metal were valued at $2,000.
Tools valued at $1,000 were taken from a garage on the 2100 block of Pine Street between 10:30 p.m. Monday and 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. There was no sign of forced entry.
TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS
Robbie Kennedy, 33, of Butte was stopped Tuesday by police in the area of Montana and Iron streets for misdemeanor traffic violations. He was booked for driving a motorcycle with a suspended or revoked license, failure to have headlights and no license plates.
DRUNK MAN
Mark Altrichter, 54, of Butte was walking in the middle of the 3900 block of Harrison Avenue about noon Tuesday. A witness said he threw a beer can at a moving vehicle, but didn't damage it. Police say he was intoxicated and barely able to talk. He was arrested for disorderly conduct.
SHOPLIFTING
Kari OConnell, 30, of Butte was arrested for allegedly shoplifting cosmetics and electronics valued at $100 from Walmart on Tuesday. She was seen by store security placing the items in a purse belonging to a female companion, placing the purse under her sweatshirt and fleeing the store.
Police caught the suspect shortly about 7 p.m. They are seeking her accomplice seen on video surveillance.
JOYRIDE
David Brault, 49, and Christian Cross, 45, both of Spokane, were each arrested Tuesday on out of jurisdiction warrants after police received a report of an intoxicated driver in a yellow truck. A man was seen falling out of the rig bed and jumping in the pickup.
When the suspects were stopped in the area of Gladstone and Cornell, the man was gone. Brault, who police say was not intoxicated, was also booked on driving with a suspended or revoked license and no liability insurance in effect.
NURSE STRUCK
Paul Batterman, 70, allegedly hit a nurse shortly before 6 a.m. at Genesis HealthCare, 2400 Continental Drive. Police say he also broke a window in the sitting area. The Butte man pleaded not guilty to disorderly conduct and criminal mischief, both misdemeanors, in city court Wednesday.
STORAGE BREAK-IN
Cassandra Dutra, 29, of Butte was taken into police custody early Wednesday after she allegedly broke into a Sentry Storage unit, 3947 Paxson Ave. Police say she and a man were standing adjacent to the open unit.
Dutra refused to allow a search of her red Chevy Monte Carlo. A warrant is sought by police. She was arrested for felony burglary.
A U.S. Forest Service decision on nearly 5,000 acres in the Flint Foothills, 6 miles southeast of Drummond, is expected to create 208 jobs and $8.9 million in labor income over the life of the project.
Of the nearly 5,000 acres in the Pintler Ranger District in Powell and Granite counties, 1,086 will be harvested for timber.
Our main goal is to manage the land for timber production, Pintler District Ranger Charlene Bucha said Tuesday.
According to a record of decision released Aug. 4, a prescribed burn will take place on 1,644 acres. The Forest Service will thin 858 acres to reduce the density of the trees; 1,195 acres will be salvaged for dead and dying lodgepole pine, which will be harvested.
Bucha said the work will reduce fuel loading, but declined to say that the work would help prevent forest fires.
Work is expected to start sometime in 2017, and in order to get it done, the Forest Service anticipates building 1-1/3 miles of new road and putting in a little more than seven miles worth of temporary road.
Almost 4 miles of both open and closed unauthorized routes will become haul routes, which the Forest Service will decommission once the project ends. Another 1 miles of open and closed unauthorized routes will be opened to the public.
Bucha said the Forest Service looked at about 45,000 acres total to decide where to place the activities.
We look where its most productive to apply those treatments and be compliant with laws and policies of the forest plan, Bucha said.
The Forest Service put the plan through a process that included scoping, an analysis of environmental impacts and a public comment period. The early stages of the process began in June 2011 and the final decision was made last week.
During the public comment period, the Forest Service received two objection letters, one from the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and the other from Native Ecosystems Council. Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council are two of the most frequent litigators of the Forest Service in the country.
According to a 2010 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, from 2006 to 2008 Alliance for the Wild Rockies filed nine lawsuits against the Forest Service and Native Ecosystems Council filed seven. Those were more than any other environmental group or individual within those two years.
The two groups objected in 2015 to the Flint Foothills project due to concerns over habitat for bull trout, Canadian lynx, grizzly bears and snowshoe hares.
Bull trout inhabit streams west of the Continental Divide. Fish biologists consider them at a moderate risk of extinction in 65 percent of their Montana range and at high risk in 33 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service website.
Canadian lynx and grizzly bears are listed as threatened species. The snowshoe hare population is in decline, according to the U.S.D.A. Natural Resources Conservation Service website.
Michael Garrity, of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, said Tuesday he doesn't think the timber sale will help prevent a catastrophic fire by taking out some of the beetle-killed trees.
If anything, logging isnt going to reduce fire danger. But itll mean building more roads, which will put more sediment into the streams, hurt fish, spread weeds, harm wildlife and cost taxpayers money.
He added that the Forest Service document that explains the environmental impacts, produced in 2015, states that the agency will lose money on the project.
Bucha said she is not an economic expert and could not comment on that.
The environmental document estimates the project will cost about $2.3 million but also says it will result in 128 direct and 208 total part- and full-time jobs and $8.9 million in total labor income over the life of the project.
A son, brother, uncle, and friend, Sergeant Kevin Michael Smith died unexpectedly on Aug. 4, 2016, in Miles City, Montana. He was 25 years old.
The youngest of Margaret Compton and Perry Smiths four children, Kevin was born in Carson City, Nevada, on Dec. 10, 1990. From the get-go, Kevin had an infectious smile that lit up a room, a warmth about him that always left you feeling loved, and a laugh that could ease even the toughest of moments. He grew up in Butte and attended Kennedy Elementary and East Middle School and graduated from Butte High in 2009.
Kevin joined the Montana Army National Guard in June 2008 as part of the 631st Chemical Company. In July of 2011, he joined the 260th Engineer Support Company and deployed to Afghanistan with them from June 2012 to March 2013. He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the NATO Medal, the Meritorious Unit Citation, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon, the Drivers Mechanic Badge-Operator, the Armed Forces Reserve Military Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Medal, the Combat Action Badge, and the Afghanistan Campaign Medal. His state awards include the Montana National Guard Attendance Ribbon and the Montana National Guard Noble Eagle Ribbon.
After his deployment, Kevin continued to work toward his dreams, often keeping two jobs at a time, while also spending one weekend a month with the Army National Guard. No matter how busy he was, he always found time to be there for anyone that needed him. He was the most selfless person you would meet, always checking in to see how you were doing or offering a lending hand.
He attended Montana Tech with long-term dreams of becoming a veterinarian. Kevin had a love for animals, especially his dog Marlow. She was the light of his life, his welcome-home gift, and a source of constant comfort and joy.
Kevin was always the life of the party, making everything funny in his own way. Buffalo Wild Wings was his favorite hangout; his name was at the top of the jukebox list. He was always up for a good time and always had a Corona to share. He leaves behind many friends locally and afar as well as many military comrades that grew close to him over the years.
Above all, Kevin had a passion and never-ending love for his nieces. They were his pride and joy, a source of happiness and love, and always greeted him with hugs, smiles, and laughter. He was very close with his siblings, Tori, Jess, and Bryan. Whenever they were all together, there was nothing short of a good time and laughter to the point of tears.
Kevins passing came light-years too soon and leaves a void in the heart of every person fortunate enough to know him. He is survived by his parents, Perry Smith and Margaret Compton; siblings, Victoria Kocher, Jessica Smith, and Bryan Smith; brother-in-law, Matthew Kocher; sister-in-law, Shonnie Smith; grandmother, Audrey Weil; nieces, Kiley, Leah, Allie, Kaitlyn, and Gabby; nephew, Donovan; and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, fellow soldiers, and friends as well as his beloved dog Marlow.
Kevin was preceded by his grandparents, Betty Fiedler, Larry Fiedler Sr., Rev. MS Compton Jr., and Jack Smith, and uncle, Richard Smith.
Services will take place Wednesday, Aug. 10, at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort Convention Center. Public viewing will begin at 10 a.m. with a funeral service at 11 a.m. followed by a graveside service with full military honors. A celebration of his life will directly follow at the Fairmont Resort gazebo. Stevenson and Sons Funeral Home is managing funeral arrangements.
Please feel free to wear your favorite tie in honor of Kevins notorious love for ties.
Should friends desire, memorial contributions can be sent to US Bank of Helena under Kevins name.
Express condolences at www.mtstandard.com.
Hell Creek State Park is not closing, nor did the Park Board vote to close it. It is a nice park, 26 miles north of Jordan, with 71 camp sites and a very good access to Fort Peck Lake.
The Park Board wants to keep Hell Creek State Park open and make it accessible for everyone to continue to enjoy. But as so often happens, no one wants to pay for it. The large increase in visitation has pushed the capability of the park to the limits. To continue we need some $4.5 million almost half of our annual budget. And it is not even one of our most significant parks or our most significant needs.
Visitation throughout all 55 state parks has increased over the last five years by 32 percent, yet we have to provide the best services we can for the same budget we had five years ago. It is the smallest budget of any park system of the seven states in the Rocky Mountain West, except North Dakota and they only have 13 Parks to our 55. We are able to provide only 68 percent of the staffing provided by our peer states in the Rocky Mountain West and we have more parks.
Right now Hell Creek needs $1 million to put in a water system, $286,000 to put in a sewer system, and over $1.2 million to upgrade the electrical system. The staff has identified $1.48 million of high priority needs that must be met just to keep us going because of the health and safety concerns. We cant expand the 71 camping sites until we put in a new water and sewer system. User fees normally only pay for about 29 percent of the costs of upkeep and maintenance. So where do we get the money?
Worse, if we had any money, it would have to go to Bannack State Park ($1.5 million) to put in a better fire system we cant let the best ghost town in America burn up or to Lewis & Clark Caverns ($1.75 million) whose electrical system was installed in the 1930s by the CCC boys and is in danger of causing harm if it is not updated, or to Makoshika, which needs $1.3 million to provide water to its only campground. The first two of these three projects were in the Governors long-range building program which was defeated by the last session of the Legislature by one vote.
Currently Hell Creek is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and leased to the state to use as a park. The Park Board did notify the Army Corps of Engineers that when the existing lease comes up five years from now in 2021, we may not be able to renew it unless we can find some more money to run it. We had hoped that our landlord, the Army Corps of Engineers, might help us out a little with some money for the infrastructure; doing so would greatly improve their land. So far, the answer has been no.
We certainly hope we can find a solution. We have five years to do so. But if we cant get any help from the Legislature or the Army Corps of Engineers or the local community, we may not be able to renew the lease. The Army Corps then will undoubtedly do as they have done in other cases, either contract it out to a concessionaire or run it themselves. I doubt if it will ever close. With 30,000 to 35,000 visitors a year, it is too popular and too important for that.
The one group that can help us the most is the Montana Legislature, which is now controlled by Republicans. If state Senator John Brenden would allow $4.5 million for the water, sewer, electrical, and other upgrades at Hell Creek in his infrastructure bill and if Senator Brenden can persuade his Republican colleagues to support it, we will be just fine. Or if Senator Brenden can persuade his colleagues to support a larger budget for the Parks Division, that would be the best way to make sure the state has the money to keep Hell Creek as a State Park when the lease terminates in 2021. The ball is in his court and there is no reason for him to criticize the governor.
If Senator Brenden, who has been critical of the Park Board and the Governor on this issue recently, is really concerned about Hell Creek as a State Park, I invite him to help us in the Legislature. He is in an excellent position to do so.
-- Tom Towe, Billings, is chairman of the Montana Parks and Recreation Board and former state legislator.
MISSOULA A 26-year-old Lolo man was killed late Monday night when he walked onto Interstate 90 near Clinton and was struck by a truck.
The Montana Highway Patrol reports that alcohol is suspected as a factor, but the road was also wet from a recent rainstorm.
The crash was reported at 10:08 last night at mile marker 123.7. A Chevy Silverado in the right westbound lane struck a pedestrian when the man walked onto the interstate from the median, according to the Highway Patrol. The pedestrian, whose name was not immediately released, died at the scene, the Highway Patrol said.
The 72-year-old driver and his 66-year-old female passenger were wearing seat belts and have not been charged with a crime. They were unhurt.
It is the 116th roadway fatality in Montana investigated by the Montana Highway Patrol this year.
BILLINGS The sponsor of a ballot measure to repeal the state medical marijuana program said that counties failed to verify valid signatures and lost thousands of others.
The Montana Secretary of State's Office has completed its count of ballot initiative signatures, leaving Safe Montanas I-176 still short of the minimum needed to get before voters. A tally released on Aug. 2 put I-176 at 20,038 verified signatures short of the 24,175 necessary.
I-176 would repeal the Montana Marijuana Act and defer to the federal scheduling of the substance as a Schedule I drug. About 13,000 people in the state currently get medical marijuana under the act.
For weeks, Safe Montana has been internally reviewing about 8,000 signatures that were rejected from its statewide campaign thats been active since the fall.
Were finding that a third of those are incorrect, Zabawa said on Monday. They just kind of pushed through them or didnt take care in finding the registered voter.
Office spokeswoman Emily Dean said on Monday that there are no remaining signatures to be tabulated.
Zabawa said that county election officials failed to match more than 2,000 signatures with registered voters. Most of this happened in Yellowstone and Flathead counties, he said.
Yellowstone County Election Administrator Bret Rutherford said that the records show nearly 70 percent of rejected I-176 signatures were due to unregistered voters.
Rutherford said that its common for signatures to be rejected if theyre not legible and unable to be matched with a registered voter, but not on the scale the Zabawa alleged.
I find that highly unlikely that theres going to be thousands and thousands of people missed, Rutherford said.
Of the rejected I-176 signatures statewide, 66.9 percent were not registered voters, he said. There were 811 people who signed it twice.
Rutherford said that the rate of rejection for ballot initiatives this year was typical-- 28 percent for I-176.
In addition to the audit, Zabawa said that another 2,000 signatures were lost in Flathead County. He said it amounted to two months of petition work.
We turned them in, and we didnt get any credit on any of them, he said.
Flathead County Election Administrator Debbie Pierson did not return a call for comment. Recording Manager Monica Eisenzimer said that the alleged lost petitions were not turned into that office.
Zabawa said that he is in the process of asking the courts to step in at Flathead County.
A competing initiative, I-182, qualified in July for the fall ballot with more than 27,000 signatures. The measure would remove new restrictions on the medical marijuana program, including a limit of three patients per provider and a review of doctors who recommend more than 25 patients.
The restrictions also allow for unannounced police searches of medical marijuana provider facilities. These provisions go into effect on Aug. 31, putting some medical marijuana businesses on hold as they wait for the November vote.
I-182 is backed by the Montana Cannabis Industry Association, which is supported by providers across the state. The rejection rate for I-182 signatures was higher than that of I-176 33 percent but the net figure still made the cut.
Zabawa sponsored a similar measure in 2014 that failed to collect enough signatures for the ballot. He started his campaign earlier in this election cycle and has spent more than $92,000 on the effort.
In July, he said that Safe Montana had collected more than 30,000 signatures.
He said on Monday that the ballots should be handled more carefully and that his signees were treated like second-class citizens.
He added that the people who signed the I-182 petition in favor of medical marijuana were not the same as those who signed Safe Montanas I-176.
Theyre not stoned, and theyre pretty good people, Zabawa said. Theyre more accurate with their information than the other initiatives were.
He said he hopes to resubmit the internally audited signatures before Aug. 25.
HELENA Prayer, not politics, topped the agenda at Montanas Capitol on Tuesday, where evangelist Franklin Graham held a rally meant to encourage Christians to live out their faith at home, in public and at the ballot box.
An estimated 2,700 churchgoers, state workers and other curious onlookers packed almost every patch of the Capitols north lawn, snarling traffic on their way to hear a roughly 45-minute speech from Graham, the eldest son of the televangelist Rev. Billy Graham.
Three event-branded tour buses parked in front of the Capitol provided the backdrop for the 33rd stop on Grahams nationwide Decision America Tour, one of 50 planned in state capitals around the country.
The rally didnt feature any stump speeches or election endorsements, nor candidate appearances of any type.
Instead, Graham called on attendees to put their faith in God to help solve the countrys problems.
That's not to say the event was short on politics. Even the country band that served as Grahams opening act managed to mix a few muscular lyrical threats aimed at ISIS in among the praise music.
Graham himself endorsed no candidate for any office, referring to both major party presidential nominees, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, as flawed people.
But Graham did encourage rally attendees to give special consideration to some of Trumps favorite campaign topics, including efforts to bolster national security and put a stop political correctness.
The word progressive, he said, is just a code word for atheist.
You need to stand up and you need to be in their face, Graham said as he implored rally attendees to run for office and become more engaged in public life. I'm sorry but you just need to be in their face."
You can be a community organizer for God, he added in one of the speeches louder applause lines -- an apparent reference to President Barack Obamas past work as a community organizer in Chicago.
The message putting prayer ahead of political allegiances resonated with Betty Dutton, who made a nearly two-hour trek from Twin Bridges to hear Graham speak.
If you have faith in God, he can do anything, Dutton said. The Bible says if you pray to him, he will restore.
But you cant just pray. You have to pray for the answers about who to vote for, and you have to do the research on who is most aligned with what the Bible says.
The event didn't seem to sit nearly as well with Laurel Hesse, a Montana Democratic Party staffer who donned a Planned Parenthood button on her lapel.
It made me sad that I felt like I couldnt hold someones hand during prayer, she said. Someone next to me offered their hand, then took one look at my pin and took it away.
Moments earlier, whispers about lesbianism, sodomy and abortion could be overheard as Graham encouraged attendees to confess aloud the sins of our nation.
A hand-drawn sign Hesse held aloft during that prayer suggested a few parenthetical additions to the blurb used to promote Tuesdays event on Grahams website: Practice your faith (love, respect, compassion) at home, in public and at the ballot box.
The Decision America tour is scheduled to stop Wednesday in Boise, Idaho, and finish the week in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
For more information, visit decisionamericatour.com.
MUSCATINE, Iowa A man wanted by Muscatine Police for allegedly threatening another person with a gun is in custody.
Robert Owen Knapp III, 24, Muscatine, was arrested in the 200 block of West Mississippi Drive about 2:50 p.m. Wednesday. Knapp was wanted on a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon.
At approximately 1:23 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9, Muscatine Police responded to the area near 510 W. Fourth St. following a report of a subject pointing a gun at another person.
Upon arrival, authorities discovered the alleged offender had left the scene. There were no injuries or property damage was reported.
No further details about Knapp's apprehension are available at this time.
MUSCATINE, Iowa A bachelor party inspired a Muscatine native to organize the River Rat Rumble, a hot rod car cruise along the Mississippi River.
Travis McConnaha, owner of Keep the B**** Floored, a hot rod gear and apparel company, said after cruising during his cousin's bachelor party last year, he wanted to do it again.
McConnaha had planned to host a car show but decided a "car cruise" was the way to go.
"I wanted a fun thing to do and I wanted it to be something that was low pressure, mainly about getting together with people and hot-roders and things like that," he said.
All are invited to join the hot rod cruise, which will gather at the Muscatine riverfront at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 27, and leave to cruise around 2 p.m. The entry fee is $10, and the event will include door prizes and giveaways.
McConnaha is hoping for a good crowd.
"I think the local community and support, its pretty large. I would love to see between 50 and 100 cars, thats a huge success for me," he said.
The cruise will begin at the Muscatine riverfront, head towards Davenport on Highway 22, cross over into Illinois, and return to Muscatine on Highway 92.
"I think itll be fun. I think that itll be something neat to watch," McConnaha said.
Fifty percent of the proceeds will be donated to Parent Group Muscatine, and local businesses have donated prizes and coupons for the giveaways. And McConnaha's company, KTBF, which is presenting the event, will be donating prizes as well.
While McConnaha said he would like the event to remain hot rod oriented, the rules for participation will not be strict, it will be open to bikes and hot rods.
"If someone hasnt seen a hot rod cruise before its something to experience, thats the coolest thing," he said.
MUSCATINE, Iowa Friends of Pine Creek Grist Mill will host the Ken Hyman Memorial Wildcat Den State Park 5K Trail Run/Walk. It will be held at 8 a.m. Saturday Sept. 10.
The course is a 5K route beginning and ending in the upper picnic area. Most of the course is off-road following marked trails through the parks scenic natural areas. Wildcat Den State Park is located 1 mile north of Iowa Highway 22 and is half way between Muscatine and Davenport.
Sponsored by Friends of Pine Creek Grist Mill and Wildcat Den State Park. All proceeds go to Pine Creek Grist Mill. Any questions should be directed to Tom Hanifan, 563-263-4818 or by email to tomhanifan@yahoo.com.
The entry fee is $20 through Sept. 7. Late entries are $22 per person.
Entry forms can be found at the mill, the Muscatine YMCA, Running Wild in Davenport, the Cornbelt Running Club Web site, and the Muscatine Running Club Web site. Participants can also register online at http://getmeregistered.com/WildcatRun
MUSCATINE, Iowa The Muscatine County Democratic Central Committee will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16 at the campaign office, which is located at Lincoln Center, 810 Park Ave. in Muscatine.
WILTON, Iowa The Friends of the Wilton Public Library annual fundraiser will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1.
This year the Friends will be hosting a trivia night with a silent auction. The cost is $80 a table maximum or $10 a person. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. to allow visitors time to peruse the auction items.
The Friends only host one fundraiser a year and this is a great way to show your support for the Wilton Public Library, according to organizers.
Interested participants should call 563-732-2583 by Sept. 1 to reserve a table.
Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi []
Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes []
Your digital subscription includes access to all content on our agricultural websites across the nation. Access unlimited content and the digital versions of our print editions - This Week's Paper.
The latest MyBroadband speed test results show that RSAWEB had the fastest average ADSL speed over the past month, while Cybersmart had the highest average VDSL speed.
MyBroadbands speed test servers make use of Ooklas platform and are hosted in Teracos vendor-neutral data centres in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Through NAPAfrica, all network operators at its peering points are provided with a free 1Gbps connection to the MyBroadband speed test platform.
MyBroadband filters speed tests based on network information from Internet service providers to ensure accurate results which reflect real-world conditions.
The tables below show the highest average ADSL and VDSL speeds by ISP.
Top ADSL ISPs Rank ISP Service Download Speed Upload Speed 1 RSAWEB ADSL 7.3 Mbps 0.73 Mbps 2 XDSL ADSL 4.66 Mbps 0.58 Mbps 3 Internet Solutions ADSL 3.9 Mbps 0.52 Mbps 4 Axxess ADSL 3.78 Mbps 0.51 Mbps 5 Afrihost ADSL 3.63 Mbps 0.52 Mbps
Top VDSL ISPs Rank ISP Service Download Speed Upload Speed 1 Cybersmart VDSL 17.94 Mbps 1.81 Mbps 2 Afrihost VDSL 15.43 Mbps 1.23 Mbps 3 Internet Solutions VDSL 14.76 Mbps 1.69 Mbps 4 Telkom VDSL 11.72 Mbps 1.12 Mbps 5 MWEB VDSL 11.06 Mbps 1.06 Mbps
More on ADSL and VDSL
South Africas ADSL ISPs ranked by customer service levels
ADSL data prices in South Africa: 2002 to 2016
How much money your ISP really makes from an ADSL account
MTN South Africa CEO Mteto Nyati said improving customer satisfaction is at the core of improving the companys reputation.
Over the last year, MTN suffered many setbacks including a large fine in Nigeria, a falling share price, and network problems.
This damaged the companys reputation among shareholders and customers.
When asked by Business Day TV how the company plans to address its reputation problems, Nyati said customer satisfaction is their main focus.
Ultimately, the key to reputation is how we satisfy you as a customer. And that is why, within South Africa, we put that as our key focus, he said.
Making sure that our network is up there, is a quality network, and is providing the kind of speeds [which people want].
Nyati said their support services are another focus area, and they are working to make sure they are at the right level.
He said they are transforming their call centres and revamping their stores to make sure they address the needs of their customers.
Nyati said they are also addressing corporate governance problems, which led to the fine in Nigeria, by tightening up at group level.
We have appointed three regional vice presidents which will add an additional layer which will help us to drive governance, said Nyati.
More on MTN
This comparison shows how Telkoms new FreeMe contracts smash Vodacom and MTNs
Why a suspended WASP could still use MTNs network
Eskom obtained a court interdict on Tuesday to prevent employees from embarking on a strike.
This comes after the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said its members at Eskom will embark on a full-blown strike in all nine provinces of South Africa on Wednesday.
According to NUM national spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu, the power utility obtained an interdict against the wage strike by members, which started on Monday. NUM is currently communicating with the shop steward council on the issue, he said.
The union is set to meet with Eskom at 10:00. NUM called an urgent national shop steward council meeting on Tuesday to discuss Eskoms decision to reconsider its 7% offer, Paris Mashego, NUM Eskom energy sector coordinator, told Fin24.
After the meeting, members revised down their demand of a 12% wage increase to 10% for the lowest paid workers and 8.5% for the highest paid workers, said Mammburu. The housing allowance has also been revised down from R5 000 to R3 000.
Fin24
More on Eskom
Eskom workers go on strike
More renewable energy will make electricity more expensive: Eskom CEO
Sony is set to reveal its upgraded PlayStation 4 console codenamed Neo on 7 September, according to a report from French gaming website Gameblog.
Additionally, various sources at Vice have confirmed that the new console will be unveiled in September.
According to leaked specifications of the next-generation device, the PlayStation Neo will be at least twice as powerful as the current PlayStation 4, and will be able to easily reach 60FPS at 1080p in modern games.
All PlayStation 4 games will be compatible with the new device and vice versa, with the PlayStation Neo becoming a sort of PlayStation 4.5, despite featuring hardware far more powerful than the original console.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Sony stated that the Neo is intended to sit alongside and complement the original PlayStation 4.
More gaming news
This crazy mod lets you play Pokemon GO in GTA V
No Mans Sky players meet in the same spot, but cant see each other
This is what designers and programmers actually earn in South Africa
Advertise Here
Be seen advertise here. Contact us.
To make vegetables more appealing, parents of picky eaters may want to take home the Maple Ginger Dressing from Napas newest takeout kitchen, Nappalachia by La Saison.
I tell parents that this dressing would get any child to eat any kind of vegetable imaginable, co-owner Natalie Niksa said.
Niksa and her husband, Jonathan, will officially open Nappalachia (pronounced Napa-lay-chia) on California Boulevard, south of Third Street, on Aug. 19.
Nappalachia offers food-to-go only and features a menu of snacks, pastries, salads and other foods perfect for people on the go.
Natalie Niksa said the name Nappalachia doesnt refer to Appalachian food but is instead an homage to the fact that she and her husband met on the East Coast before moving together to the Napa Valley.
The Niksas are also the co-founders of La Saison, a specialty food and custom events company.
We believe that food creates community, Niksa said.
La Saison has allowed for us to be really creative as culinary professionals who travel to you. Nappalachia allows for us to welcome our Napa community into our home, our kitchen.
Niksa was a second-grader growing up on the East Coast when a new family moved to her hometown from the Napa Valley. The description of Napa sounded wonderful to Niksa and, as she puts it, a seed was planted.
When she was 18, she and a friend flew to the Bay Area for New Years Eve and decided to drive north.
We literally played like children with a video recorder throughout the town of Yountville including at The French Laundry! Niksa said.
In addition to Nappalachias Maple Ginger Dressing (one of Niksas personal favorites), their menu features such items as cashew bars ($3), a seasonal fruit turnover ($4), and potato bacon pierogis (eight pierogis for $12).
Pre-orders will be available in early 2017 and will be geared toward those who want to pick up hors doeuvres and desserts for entertaining at home.
Currently, Nappalachia will be weekends only, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
For Jonathan Niksa, one of his favorite menu items is their falafel sandwich with hot sauce.
Jons hot sauce is addicting, Natalie Niksa said. The peppers we use take 180 days to ripen!
Although certain staple items will be available all year long, Nappalachias menu will change regularly to reflect the changing seasons.
We do this to create food memories, which are wonderful and incredibly powerful, Niksa said.
It is always the best compliment anyone could give to me: that food I have created reminds them of a memory.
While many people are accustomed to having any type of food available throughout the year, Niksa believes eating seasonally creates greater appreciation.
Missing something and waiting for its season to arrive again brings a sort of joy and excitement. I always bring it back to feeling like a child, she said.
Its healthy not to always be able to reach for what you want. It tastes so magical when the time comes for you to have it again.
All of the menu items, Niksa said, were developed over the years by she and Jonathan. The couple will have a hands-on approach to their new business just as they do with La Saison.
Nappalachia is like having a child, Niksa said. We will both continue to lead our team and develop exciting foods to share with our neighbors.
Calistoga Police are cautioning residents to be aware of a scam where the victims typically receive a call from 911 regarding their immigration status or an unpaid warrant.
This is not a new scam, but Calistoga Police have received three reports of such calls recently. If you receive a call from 911, call back the business line of your local law enforcement agency to ensure it was a legitimate call.
Police said people will generally receive a call from 911 only if they have placed a call just prior to that.
In this scam, the victim receives a call from 911 or some other number asserting that the victims Alien Registration Number is out of status and that the caller is from the Department of Homeland Security or United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Office. Some callers assert that the victim owes money for a warrant, police said in their alert.
If the intended victim says they will hang up on the caller, they are threatened that police will go to their home to arrest them. After much conversation, the caller tells the victim that the situation can be taken care of by sending money via Western Union or by obtaining money from their bank and buying prepaid money cards, such as MoneyPAK or Green Dot from a gas station or drug store. The victim is asked to scratch the number behind the card and read it to the scammer.
Any notice from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Office would be sent by mail, and USCIS personnel will never ask someone for any form of payment or personal information over the phone, police said. Nor would they carry on a lengthy conversation.
Scammers are using a technique called Caller ID spoofing to display a misleading or inaccurate phone number in a recipients caller ID. The scammer poses as a USCIS official and requests personal information (such as Social Security number, passport number, or A-number), identifies supposed issues in the recipients immigration records, and asks for payment to correct these records. The scammers may also already possess the personal information of those they target, according to a USCIS website.
If you receive a call like that, USCIS urges you to hang up immediately and report it to the Federal Trade Commission at FTCComplaintAssistant.gov.
If you have a question about your immigration record, call the National Customer Service Center at 800-375-5283, or make an InfoPass appointment by visiting the USCIS website at InfoPass.uscis.gov.
More than three years after its nurses voted to join the California Nurses Association, Queen of the Valley Medical Center and its RNs have reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract.
The agreement is now subject to a ratification vote by nurses and the details of the vote will be provided to you by the union, said a statement from Vanessa de Gier, area director of communications and marketing for Queen of the Valley Medical Center, who said she was speaking for Queen CEO Walt Mickens.
We have reached a tentative agreement that meets and exceeds community standards, said Desi Murray, assistant director of collective bargaining with the CNA. This first contract is a big victory for Queen of the Valley nurses and will help with improved patient care and RN recruitment and retention.
Were very pleased, said longtime Queen nurse Mary Lou Bahn. She said that negotiators for the CNA and the Queen spent almost all weekend coming to the tentative agreement.
It was a hardworking group, she said. We hope the membership will ratify the contract, which is for a three-year term, she said.
Bahn said she could not reveal the specifics of the contract yet, but its a competitive package.
The CNA also informed the hospital that a previously planned strike will not take place Aug. 18.
We greatly appreciate the hard work and dedication of the bargaining teams throughout this process and look forward to the ratification vote, wrote de Gier. We hope you agree that this tentative agreement is something you can be proud of and support and that you vote yes.
In April 2013, the Queens nurses voted to join the California Nurses Association union. However, an agreement about a contract, including pay, benefits and other issues, could not be reached.
Queen nurses held a one-day strike in 2014 to protest the stalled talks. In 2015 they picketed outside the hospital.
In July, St. Joseph Health, the parent company of the Queen, formed a new organization with Providence Health to become Providence St. Joseph Health.
If the Queens CNA members agree, the new contract could be ratified as soon as next Tuesday, said Bahn.
Three years later, there are no bad feelings, assured Bahn.
At the end of the meeting this past weekend, everyone shook hands and there were hugs. We even hugged the mediator.
At least one resident walked out of a downtown neighborhood meeting to discuss homelessness on Tuesday, frustrated by what other residents called abandonment by the city.
When it comes to the homeless issue in Old Town, there are a lot of mixed emotions. Residents want people to be helped, but they dont want criminal s in their neighborhood.
Im distraught and I feel abandoned, said one resident as she described a homeless man entering her home and refusing to leave. She said that residents in the neighborhood have had packages stolen from the porches and people defecating on their property as well as people hanging out on their steps and in yards.
Although residents voiced appreciation for the efforts of the Napa Police, they said that its not enough and that the Hope Resource Center, which is housed in the old community room of the United Methodist Church on Fourth Street, needs to be relocated.
The Hope Resource Center is a downtown drop-in facility with showers, restrooms, phones and other services for the homeless during the day.
City Housing Division Manager Lark Ferrell and Mitch Wippern, Napa County Health and Human Services deputy director of operations, began to discuss a recent study along with recommendations by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, but thats not what people wanted to hear about. Instead they wanted to know where people would be housed, if that housing would be sustainable and when could they expect the Hope Resource Center to be relocated.
Ferrell said that the city will be using a housing first model, which would make it easier for people to get into shelters and housing. One of the ways to do this would be to have the South Napa Shelter open 24 hours and eliminate barriers keeping people out, such as if they have had a drink or two of alcohol, she said.
The focus needs to be on housing, she said, not just providing daycare.
Eve Howard, a five-year resident of the neighborhood, asked that relocating the Hope center be a priority, along with making the system changes recommended in the study. Can we make sure thats on the docket to be a serious consideration?
Nancy Weiss, assistant city manager, said that the primary focus has to be on getting the system changes in place and letting them work before relocation can happen. Switching gears and trying to find a place to relocate the center would divert efforts to get people housed and supported, she said.
It will be 18 to 24 months before center relocation can be considered, she said.
You have to begin to address this, Nancy, said resident Elizabeth McKinne. You cant keep diverting.
Although she supported the original location of the Hope Resource Center, McKinne said that it hasnt fulfilled its goals and that it isnt working for the community.
You know the way we feel, said resident Lowell Downey. The Hope Resource Center has changed, so why not change the location? he asked. The centers location was supposed to be a temporary solution, he said, and it shouldnt be placed in the neighborhood.
We have been through this time and time again, Downey said, referring to prior meetings when the issue of relocating the center has been brought up. It was most recently discussed during a community meeting last November. Enough is enough, Downey said.
Were not taking it off the table, said Weiss, but the center wont be relocated when the lease is up on June 30, 2017.
Moving the Hope Center is not going to necessarily solve the problems in the neighborhood, she said. The Hope Center is one piece and its a very important piece to all of you and we get that.
We just want to be told that we as a community have value, said McKinne. Lets find a way to serve the homeless and at the same time, lets take care of a community that, basically, weve sort of been abandoned.
Im just asking, dont put it off for a year, pleaded resident Howard.
Weiss agreed to send concerned residents email updates on the issue, but acknowledged that there are many pieces to the problem and that she couldnt guarantee that relocating the center would be a priority.
MIDDLETOWN -- The cause of last Septembers historic Valley Fire, the third-most destructive wildfire in Californias history, was a faulty electrical connection for a hot tub, Cal Fire announced Wednesday afternoon.
The connection arced and ignited surrounding dry grass on High Valley Road on Cobb Mountain, creating a wildfire that killed four people, burned 76,000 acres, destroyed 1,955 structures and cost nearly $57 million to extinguish, Cal Fire reported.
Cal Fire will be submitting its 500-page investigative report to Lake County District Attorney Don Anderson who will determine if any criminal or civil charges will be filed, officials said.
A full copy of the report is available at: calfire.ca.gov/fire_protection/fire_protection_firereports.
The Valley Fire caused $1.2 billion in damage and it was the largest of the three fires that hit Lake County last summer.
Besides the four fatalities, four firefighters were injured during the Valley Fire, which began Sept. 12 at 1:21 p.m. on Cobb Mountain when a vegetation fire was reported behind 8015 High Valley Road, Cobb Mountain.
The homeowner was John Pinch, Cal Fire said.
The circuit was not up to national standards, it was not buried 18 inches deep and it shared a trench with a water line, Cal Fire said.
An electrical engineer determined that the connection was loose in the wire nut and it arced and melted the copper wire. It took a temperature of 1,981 degrees to melt the wire, investigators said.
According to the CalFire press release, there were no other plausible causes for the fire.
Pinch's house was damaged, but did not burn down, Cal Fire said.
The blaze burned 76,000 acres, destroyed 1,955 structures, mostly single-family homes, and at the peak of the fire on Sept. 19, 4,400 firefighters from throughout the nation were fighting the blaze. Especially hard hit was the Anderson Springs neighborhood, where 197 homes were destroyed and only 17 survived.
Additionally, 20,000 people were evacuated, many to the Napa County Fairgrounds. Carlene Moore, CEO of the fairgrounds, estimated it cost the Fair Association some $57,000 in lost revenue to act as an emergency shelter.
The shelter was open for 14 days and served more than 20,000 hot meals to 1,000 evacuees. More than 500 volunteers worked 20,000 hours during those two weeks.
CALISTOGA A Calistoga employee who was bitten by a police dog received a public apology from Napa County Sheriff John Robertson at a City Council meeting.
Robertson also thanked the Calistoga community for their patience during the four-hour lockdown on July 12. During that event, law enforcement officers were combing the area looking for alleged robbers that John Beebe, the office manager of Optimal Health Center on Washington Street, was bitten by the police dog.
I do also want to apologize, one of our K-9s had an accidental bite. It wasnt the dogs fault, it was the handlers fault, and we are handling that through our claims system and we will make restitution as is needed, Robertson said. I wanted to apologize for that but accidents do happen.
Beebe, who declined to comment on the day of the incident, later said he was outside the office building taking a break, standing in the shade while police were searching for two suspects believed to be involved in an armored car heist in Windsor earlier that day.
A passer-by saw Beebe standing on the side of the building, and from that viewpoint it probably looked like he was hiding, Beebe acknowledged. The person alerted police.
Beebe was unaware of the lockdown status and was standing on the side of the building when the dog came around the building and bit him in his lower right leg.
After determining that Beebe was not a suspect, he said the officers apologized, and were later seen helping him to a chair while the dog was nearby.
Beebe is seeking medical cost reimbursements and said he filled out the necessary paperwork but was told it could take up to 45 days to process.
The suspects, Serge Gutsu, 24, of Antelope, and Ivan Morales, 23, of Lakeport, were arrested, but only after Gutsu allegedly fired shots at Calistoga Police Officer Luis Paniagua, who quickly reacted by striking Gutsu with his patrol car.
Gutsu was arrested at the scene, but Morales fled on foot and a four-hour search involving about 200 law enforcement officers ensued. Morales was discovered hiding in a culvert near where Gutsu was arrested and they had stopped their vehicle.
At the Aug. 2 City Council meeting, Robertson said Paniagua acted heroically and did a fine job.
Thomas Edward Gracia, of Napa, California, passed away of heart complications on August 8, 2016 with family at his side.
Tom, born on August 2, 1949, grew up in Santa Maria, California. In 1970 the Army called him into service and he served honorably for 3 years during the Vietnam War. He graduated from University of Iowa, where he met the love of his life, Roxann Gracia (Miller). They were married on October 1, 1977 and settled in the quiet little town of Napa. Tom began work as a Pharmacist at Family Drug and became the heart and soul of the business for 40 years. He was a caring, old fashioned pharmacist, who knew everyones parents, kids, grandparents, and grandkids and answered the inevitable question: Hey Tom, what do you think about...
Tom was involved in many Pharmacy Associations holding multiple offices, including District Trustee for CPHA, Continuing Education Council, and Academy of Pharmacy Management. Tom served as pharmacist consultant for Napa Valley Hospice, Clinic Ole, and for Partnership Health Plan for many years.
He was past president of the area American Diabetes Association. Although not diabetic, he was instrumental in getting the annual bike-a-thon up and running to raise awareness of diabetes, as he believed it was a disease where he could make a difference.
He dearly loved his family and when his sons joined the Boy Scouts, Tom quickly stepped up to be scout leader, eventually earning the Silver Beaver award for his exemplary leadership. He truly loved the outdoors and camping.
As he aged, he vacationed at Lake Almanor, where he enjoyed fishing, boating, and ATV riding.
Tom was devoted to his faith and attended mass at St. As in Napa. He was past treasurer of the Mens Club and was 4th degree member of the Knights of Columbus.
He is survived by his wife, Roxann; sons, David and Joseph; daughter-in-laws, Leslie and Neanna; Grandchildren, Alex and Alyssa; his Mother, Lodene Gracia; Brothers and Sisters, (Dan Gracia, Kathleen Fitch, Annette Neumann, Cynthia Williams, John Gracia, and Paul Gracia); and many aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins. Preceded in death was his father, Kenneth Gracia.
Special Thanks to Dr. Sergio Manubens, Staff at Cardiology Consultants, and Dr. David Jue.
Funeral Mass is Saturday, August 13, 2016 at 10:30 a.m. in St. Apollinaris Church with reception following. Rosary will be said Friday at Claffey & Rota Funeral Home at 7 PM. Graveside service reserved for family only, which will include military honors. In lieu of flowers, donate to the charity of your choice.
Memories and notes of sympathy may be shared at claffeyandrota.com
ST. HELENA Almost a third of the St. Helena High School senior class returned to school a few days early this week to get a head-start on the college admissions process.
The college admissions boot camp, which took place Monday through Wednesday mornings, gave about 30 incoming seniors the skills theyll need to prepare for the next phase of their education.
We want to level the playing field for kids who cant afford a private college counselor, said teacher Paige Rios. We want to give everybody access to that.
The seminar was led by Rios, guidance counselor Terri Linder and library media specialist Susan Swan.
Linder advised students on how to research colleges, keep track of paperwork, set priorities, and fill out the Common Application that more than 700 colleges use.
Swan talked about how application essays should reflect each students unique voice, and encouraged students to avoid the cliched This moment changed my life essays that admissions officers read all the time.
Were trying to get them exposed to each stage of the process, so they have the tools to get through it, Rios said.
The high school prides itself on its high college admissions rate, which was 90 percent for the Class of 2016. Rios runs the AVID program, which is geared toward college-bound students who are the first members of their family to go to college.
In March, the high school teamed up with the St. Helena Public Schools Foundation to bring The New York Times columnist Frank Bruni to the Cameo Cinema to discuss his book about the college admissions process.
City officials have endorsed an effort by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, to create a commemorative stamp honoring the Depression-era mural at the St. Helena Post Office.
The proposed stamp would commemorate Lew Kellers Grape Pickers, a mural on the south side of the post offices interior, on the left as you enter the building. It would not involve the mural on the north side, which was painted by local artist John Maxon in 2002.
Grape Pickers was installed in 1942, and was one of many public art projects commissioned by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Treasury Departments Section of Fine Arts. From 1935 to 1943, the WPA provided millions of jobs for unemployed American workers, including artists who were hired to enrich public buildings with art.
In a July 8 letter to the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC), Thompson and four other members of Congress proposed a series of stamps commemorating WPA murals in St. Helena; Safford, Arizona; Long Prairie, Minnesota; Waurika, Oklahoma; and Greybull, Wyoming.
Post offices across the country were enlivened by murals showcasing our nations history, culture and values, the letter states. Sadly, many of these murals have decayed, been destroyed, or been painted over. However, many still remain. The five post offices in the cities listed above contain sterling examples of the murals from this important era in our history.
These murals are illustrative of the American spirit, representing men and women overcoming adversity through hard work and ingenuity. We can think of no better way to memorialize this period and the spirit of hard-working Americans than an official commemorative postage stamp.
According to the letter, the same proposal was made in 2000, 2004 and 2010.
Because CSAC receives so many requests and only 25 to 30 subjects are approved each year, it can take years before a decision is made on a commemorative stamp proposal, Thompson wrote in a letter to the St. Helena City Council seeking its support.
The citys own letter calls both post office murals wonderful works of art that members of the community enjoy every day.
The St. Helena Chamber of Commerce has also endorsed Thompsons proposal.
The WPA mural is a precious visual reminder to our citizens of all ages of our rich history, the Chambers letter states. This stamp would honor the time and dedication of the families and individuals who devoted their time and energy to develop the land and agriculture of Northern California. Without them, the Napa Valleys legendary wine industry would not be what it is today.
The Chamber is encouraging people to send letters of support to the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee, 475 LEnfant Plaza SW, Room 3300, Washington, D.C. 20260-3501.
The Olympics are keeping me entertained, the weather has cooled down, and I finished 10 whole books last week (they were short). I have absolutely nothing to complain about at the moment. (But just you wait Ill think of something.)
***
Napa Police Officer Dustin Dodd will read from his new novel Savage Justice at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18, at the St. Helena Public Library. The book, which will be available for purchase and signing, was inspired by events Dodd investigated when he was with the Clovis Police Department. The story is about Officer Daniel Deacon (do those initials seem familiar?), his faithful K-9 partner Justice, and a typical overtime shift that quickly descends into chaos. It sounds like a good read for crime buffs and animal lovers alike.
***
In other literary news, St. Helena poet Eileen R. Tabios is launching a new poetry collection at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, at the Mendocino Public Library in Ukiah. According to a note I got accompanying an advance copy, Amnesia: Somebodys Memoir remixes lines from 26 (!) previous Tabios collections to assert the persistence of memory against loss and erasure. It will be available through Black Radish Books.
***
When the Brazilian TV network Globo went looking for American expats in Rio de Janeiro to talk about the Olympics, they turned to St. Helena native Liana Kelperis Oliveira, a third-grade teacher whos lived in Rio for 12 years. The audio is in Portuguese (a lovely language, by the way), so I havent the foggiest idea what she says, but if you want to see Liana and her family interviewed, Google Americanos participam ativamente da vida dos cariocas.
***
The St. Helena Historical Societys August newsletter included some news that reminded me how lucky we are to live in a small town. The St. Helena Unified School District was looking to donate six unneeded display cabinets. Leslie Stanton put the society in touch with Susan Swan at the high school library. Then the society rounded up some muscle in the form of Larry Smith, the Bartoluccis, John Sales and Ed Salvestrin. Everybody worked together, and now the snazzy lighted cases are sitting in one of the societys storage units. Lets see: display cases, check. Historical artifacts, check. A venue to display them well, we can all hope.
***
Looking to fill up the last few days of summer vacation? The Napa Valley Museum is holding a Free Family Fun Day at 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13. Inspired by the museums Down the Rabbit Hole exhibit, families can create art using square pixel-like sticky notes. In my opinion, sticky notes are the stationery equivalent of duct tape useful for anything and everything.
***
Connolly Ranch is looking for a full-time administrative and development assistant. If you know someone with good office and organizational skills, tell them to look at the job description at ConnollyRanch.org. The nonprofit is also recruiting volunteers for the following tasks: special events, ranch hands, education volunteers/docents, and weekly animal feeders.
***
School starts Wednesday, Aug. 17, so watch out for all those kiddos crossing the street.
Italian prime minister demands that she be addressed as prime minister in masculine form
Pentagon to send Ukraine new aid package worth $275 million
Europe will ban sale of one type of car
European Commission head announces new aid and investments for Serbia
Biden calls Putin's rhetoric on nuclear weapons 'dangerous'
Lukashenko on Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict: What are you fighting for in these mountains, where not even goats walk?
Swedish authorities offer to create united northern army
Lukashenko: Conflict issue between Armenia and Azerbaijan must be resolved now - with Ilham Aliyev
Lukashenko about situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border: Where are we racing horses, where are we rushing to?
Pashinyan: Armenia-Diaspora relations undergo profound substantive changes
Lukashenko to Pashinyan: Sit down with Aliyev and make a decision, if you don't make it today, it will be worse
Bulgarian interim government urges to speed up transition to euro zone
President of Karabakh: It is necessary to unite all national potential and efforts
IMF: China's sharp and uncharacteristic economic slowdown will stall growth in Asia by the end of 2023
Iran: Riots in country were planned by the intelligence services of the USA, England, Israel and the KSA
Steinmeier: Ukraine war caused 'epochal break' in Germany's relations with Russia
Gas prices in Europe remain high in coming years
Ararat Mirzoyan and Toivo Klaar stress importance of hosting EU civilian mission in Armenia
Armenia's ambassador-at-large: Daily false propaganda can't cover up Azerbaijani war crimes
Taiwan MFA outraged by Putin's speech on his status and Pelosi's visit
Armenia gives no response to peace treaty proposals, Bayramov says
Netanyahu expects return to power after 5th Israeli election in 4 years
Armenian gravestone found in Trabzon, Turkey neighborhood
Pashinyan: CSTO Secretary General's report mainly reflects existing realities
Azerbaijan talks possible deliveries of its gas to international Turkish hub
CSTO leaders to meet in late November: Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border will be discussed
Dollar, euro continue falling in Armenia
Pelosi's house attacked, her husband injured
Russias Putin to have private talks with Armenias Pashinyan, Azerbaijans Aliyev
Mher Grigoryan: CIS needs a new scientific and technical agreement
Pentagon strategy doesn't rule out use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear threats
French National Assembly plans to pass resolution proposing certain sanctions against Azerbaijan
Mher Grigoryan: There are no other corridors in the trilateral statement other than Lachin's
Konstantin Zatulin: Russia should have made maximum efforts so that there would be no war in Karabakh
The Hill: The American people deserve to know how the war in Ukraine will end
Sochi to host trilateral talks of Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders on October 31
Poland receives first Turkish drones
Hungarian government may extend price limits on fuel and some basic foodstuffs
Armenias Simonyan attends meeting of heads of EEU countries parliaments
Polish general appointed as head of EU mission to train Ukrainian troops
Russia MP: Karabakh status decision is in fact its Armenians safety guarantee
Zatulin: West seeks to push Russia out of negotiation process at any cost
Legislature head proposes to organize, under CIS auspices, return of Armenians detained in Azerbaijan
Iran prevents bomb explosion in Shiraz crowded street
Iraqi parliament expresses vote of confidence in new cabinet
France lawmakers visit Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan
Putin: Moscow is doing everything possible to normalize relations between Yerevan and Baku
Annual shopping festival kicks off in Dubai on December 15
Lazarevsky Club: Minute of silence held in memory of fallen Russian and Armenian soldiers
Bayramov and US Assistant Secretary of State discuss Yerevan-Baku relations
Expansion of cooperation with Interpol is important, Armenia PM says
Armenia defense minister briefs Austria envoy on situation due to recent Azerbaijan military aggression (PHOTOS)
Australia can't rule out energy price caps
Armenia parliament speaker: Use, threat of force undermine processes aimed at establishing peace
Garo Paylan is in Yerevan
Barack Obama tries to help Democrats win midterm elections
Azerbaijan president, Russia first deputy PM discuss North-South transport corridor project
PM Pashinyan receives France-Armenia friendship group delegation from French parliament
Taiwan urges China to start talking
Armen Grigoryan and Toivo Klaar discuss Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiation process
Matviyenko: Russia will continue mediation for signing Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty
Politico: Scholz and Macron threaten U.S. trade retaliation
CIS premiers sign several agreements at Kazakhstan meeting
Konstantin Zatulin: Nagorno-Karabakh peoples right to self-determination must be respected
Armenia legislature head: Policy of threats, coercion is unacceptable to us
U.S. must strengthen its defense against growing threats from both China, Russia
Karabakh ex-President: Necessary to rule out mistakes, miscalculations which will have irreversible consequences
EU reaches agreement to ban new cars with internal combustion engine by 2035
Benny Gantz: Future of Israel and Turkey is promising
EU Special Representative for South Caucasus arrives in Armenia
Lazarevsky Club meeting underway in Yerevan, Moscow
Yellen sees no sign of recession in U.S. economy in near future
Cannes palm trees promenade named after Charles Aznavour
Pashinyan: Armenia agrees to work on basis of main principles proposed by Russia
CIS prime ministers meeting kicks off in Kazakhstan
Newspaper: Karabakh people to make appeal to Armenia authorities
Viking swords embedded in mound 1,200 years ago discovered in Sweden
Residents of Moldova asked not to go out into street in dark
Bloomberg reports fuel shortages in some parts of Europe
British schoolboy writes book that became bestseller
Lebanon, Israel sign deal on maritime border demarcation
Spanish prime minister twice mistakes Kenya for Senegal during his speech
Peskov: CSTO meeting to be held before Armenia-Azerbaijan-Russia summit
Putin says he is ready to negotiate with Ukraine
Putin compares Indian Prime Minister Modi to icebreaker
Putin warns Seoul about risk of ruining relations with Russia by supplying weapons to Ukraine
Interpol Secretary General visits Armenia
Putin: Russia will not abandon the historical legacy of the USSR and the Russian Tsarist Empire
Putin sees no point in nuclear strike on Ukraine
Olaf Scholz says solution can be found to curb speculative spikes in gas prices
Putin calls Russians and Ukrainians one people who find themselves in different states
Putin: We proposed Armenia give 5 districts
Putin: Washington version provides for recognition of Azerbaijan's sovereignty over whole Karabakh
Putin calls Erdogan consistent and reliable partner, although not easy one
Italy plans to double national gas production to 6 billion cubic meters a year
Putin: The West, as a minority, has no right to impose values on the world
Putin: As long as nuclear weapons exist, there is always a danger of their use
Putin outraged by US assassination of General Soleimani: What is this all about?
FM Abdollahian: Iran will not allow its interests to become plaything of terrorists
Mirzoyan and Lavrov discuss preparations for CSTO Collective Security Council
VOLUSIA COUNTY, Florida An Angry Birds backpack spotted on a Florida man walking down a sidewalk early Tuesday morning was the break Volusia County sheriffs investigators needed to make two arrests in the overnight armed robbery of a convenience store in Deltona, Florida.
The robbery, called in just before 4 a.m. at the Kangaroo Express at 2798 Elkcam Boulevard, was captured on video surveillance. A Kangaroo employee told deputies two men came through the front door, pointed guns at him and told him to follow their orders. One handed him a black backpack with a cartoon character on it and allegedly said: You know what I want.
The employee put cash, cigarettes and cigars into the bag, handed it back, and the suspects ran off with it. A woman parked outside the store also witnessed the robbery and gave deputies a similar account.
A review of the surveillance video gave deputies a detailed description of the suspects, including the distinct Angry Birds backpack. Deputies, K-9 units and the Sheriffs Office Air One helicopter searched the area for suspects.
About a half-mile away from the robbery, in front of a Dollar Tree store at 2135 Howland Boulevard, a deputy noticed a man walking down the sidewalk carrying a backpack with a Bomb Bird from the Angry Birds cartoon embroidered on it. It appeared to match the bag in the video. The 18-year-old suspect, Luis Montanez, was also carrying a black handgun.
Deputies say that Montanez confessed to the robbery, and investigators also identified a second suspect, 18-year-old Devyn Omar Rivera, who was taken into custody later on Tuesday. Investigators also recovered the cash and cigarettes stolen from the store.
Rivera is being charged with armed robbery and violation of probation. Montanez is being charged with armed robbery and petit theft.
Photo credits: Rovio / Volusia County Jail
The United Nations' human rights chief is urging the Maldives to stick to a decades long moratorium on imposing the death penalty, citing fears that three men are at "imminent risk" of execution.
Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said in a statement issued in Geneva on Tuesday that the Maldives long provided "important leadership" in efforts to end the use of the death penalty and it is "deeply regrettable that a series of steps have been taken to resume executions in the country."
President Abdulla Yameen is under fire at home and abroad
But he went on to say that it was "deeply regrettable that a series of steps have been taken to resume executions in the country."
A country with an estimated population below 400,000 people, the Maldives has 17 people on death row. Three are potentially imminent, including convictions against a 22-year-old man, Ahmed Murrath, and his partner Fathimath Hana.
Both have been convicted in the stabbing death of a prominent member of parliament in 2012. The country's Supreme Court reaffirmed the death penalty against Murrath in June. Shortly before this court decision, the government amended its rules to allow the death penalty by lethal injection or hanging. Former Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon, the president's niece and a former leader's daughter, cited this issue when resigning from her post in July.
The Maldives suspended the death penalty in 1954, converting all such sentences to life in prison.
Researcher analyzes natural ecosystem benefits
by Andrea Hahn
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- If conservation is important, there must be a reason for the importance, a demonstrable value that goes beyond mere aesthetics. Southern Illinois University Carbondale graduate student Mark Healy is focusing his research on describing that value in practical terms, of finding ways to measure how natural ecosystems benefit society and individuals and why conservation is worth the trouble. That field of study is called quantification of ecosystem services.
Healy earned his bachelors degree and continues his studies in the Department of Geography and Environmental Resources at SIU. Like many in his field, he has a fierce desire to protect natural environments and to find ways to lessen the harmful effects of human populations. But he knows not everyone agrees that conservation for its own sake has value.
I like to think that if I am going to make a difference in real world applications in the field I am working in, the quantification of ecosystem services is a promising means to do so, Healy said. Regardless of ideological leanings in regard to the environment, people can agree on decisions that potentially reap the greatest net benefits to society as a whole.
Healy said he believes ecosystem service quantification proving a demonstrable, practical and economic value to ecological conservation is crucial to successful and sustained conservation movements. Conservation activity foisted on people against their will or without their consent wont have staying power, he said.
Many who are proponents of environmental conservation and environmentalism in general tend to appeal to societys conscience to coerce support, he said. I consider it more pragmatic to appeal to societys well-being. We live in a democratic society with varying ideologies -- if we cant show how protecting the environment contributes to tangible societal benefits, then, to many people, it is an aimless cause.
As an undergraduate at SIU, Healy conducted research on sediment loss in the Big Muddy River Watershed. Sediment loss is a good place to start to make the argument that conservation practices may have practical value. Soil erosion costs Americans as much as $40 billion every year. The costs accrue from degraded farmland and from water treatment costs that escalate as sediment enters a body of water. It also causes increased risk of flooding, decreased water recreation due to poor water clarity and damage to wildlife habitat.
Healy used geographic information system (GIS) modeling tools to measure and predict sediment loss. He examined and compared different potential land use and management scenarios to measure those that might be effective to curb sediment loss and provide a clear benefit to area residents.
The Big Muddy is a water system of considerable local importance -- the watershed spans 11 Southern Illinois counties. Healy focused on it for that reason and also because damage from sediment to lakes and streams, including Rend Lake and Crab Orchard Creek, within the watershed is wide-spread, according to a report from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
Healys study suggested that woody wetland and forest land-cover contributed to sediment retention and decreased soil erosion. In his study, soil loss was highest at Galum Creek, which is an area characterized mostly by cultivated crops and pasture. Soil erosion was also high at the Middle Fork of the Big Muddy, and at Beaucoup Creek -- again, both areas with considerable farm and pasture land in the watershed, but also some forest. Potential soil erosion was lowest at Crab Orchard Creek and low at Cedar Creek-Big Muddy River watershed, Kincaid Creek and Casey Fork. All of those sites are characterized by more forest than pasture and cropland, and by considerably more pasture than crops.
Healy concluded that deforestation contributes significantly to soil erosion in the Big Muddy watershed. To reduce soil erosion, then, he explained, dont cut down all the trees. In addition, mixed use of agricultural land, such as incorporating pasture with crops, may reduce erosion in the watershed area.
Healy suggests that a tree break or margin of forest near watershed areas will help keep cropland soil in place, where the farmer wants it, and out of the watershed. Other practices that might contribute to the same goal -- less erosion -- might include no-till farming, cover crops between harvests and agricultural terracing
A follow-up study of a block of agriculture land restored to its historic wooded wetland condition south of Rend Lake suggested a similar conclusion.
Healy earned a prestigious Masters Fellowship Award to continue his work at SIU. His research activities in the immediate future will focus on the quantification of ecosystem services from levee setbacks and other floodplain strategies in the Illinois River basin.
At a conference attended by the Pakistani Army chief, General Raheel Sharif, the commanders said the threat was emanating from Afghan soil, which was being managed by Indian intelligence agencies, Dawn online reported.
However, at the same time there was an acknowledgment that a network of "facilitators" within the country provided an enabling environment for the external enemy, an Inter-Service Public Reations statement said.
At a corps commanders' conference held at the General Headquarters on Tuesday, the generals reviewed the threat perception and discussed measures for countering the imminent security challenges.
The meeting, a monthly feature, was significant because of Monday's terror attack on a Quetta hospital which left at least 70 people dead. An upcoming high-level security meeting is expected to take important decisions with regards to future direction of counterterrorism operations, the statement said.
Gen Sharif told his commanders that the Quetta attack was an attempt to undermine the successes of operation Zarb-e-Azb, which was in its final phase.
--IANS py/vm
( 202 Words)
2016-08-10-11:58:00 (IANS)
A special tribunal in Bangladesh on Wednesday sentenced a former lawmaker to death and seven others to life in prison for their crimes committed during the country's War of Independence in 1971. The International Crimes Tribunal-1 found the eight persons guilty of committing rape, murder, confinement and torture of unarmed civilians, Xinhua news agency reported. Sakhawat Hossain, now a presidium member of the Jatiya Party of former military strongman H.M. Ershad, who ruled Bangladesh for nearly nine years from 1982 to 1990, and Billal Hossain Biswas were in the dock when the court ruling came. Ibrahim Hossain, Sheikh Mojibur Rahman, M.A. Aziz Sardar, Abdul Aziz Sardar, Kazi Ohidul Islam and Abdul Khalek are fleeing from justice and were sentenced in absentia. Shakhawat was a central committee member of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat, which opposed the independence of Bangladesh and break-up of Pakistan, and a commander of Razakar, an auxiliary group of then Pakistan Army in what then was Eastern Pakistan. Shakhawat was elected to parliament on Jamaat ticket in 1991 and on the ticket of Bangladeshi Nationalist Party of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in the February 15 election in 1996. Defence counsel Abdus Satter expressed discontent with the verdict, saying his clients will file appeal with the Supreme Court. After returning to power in January 2009, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Bangladesh's independence hero and founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, established the first tribunal in March 2010, almost 40 years after the 1971 War of Liberation. Four Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party leaders -- Motiur Rahman Nizami, Abdul Quader Molla, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid -- have already been executed for the 1971 war crimes. Besides them, opposition BNP leader Salaudin Quader Chowdhury was executed on November 22 last year. Both the BNP and Jamaat have dismissed the court as a government "show trial", saying it is a domestic set-up without the oversight or involvement of the United Nations. The government of Sheikh Hasina said about three million people were killed in the nine-month war. --IANS py/vt ( 356 Words) 2016-08-10-16:02:01 (IANS)
Nudgespot has built a best-in-class messaging platform that will integrate into Boomtrain's technology to deliver a seamless experience for businesses to communicate with customers and visitors on websites and in mobile apps.
Boomtrain and Nudgespot initially partnered nine months ago, and have been co-developing a product that combines Nudgespot's platform with Boomtrain's AI technology. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
"The acquisition of Nudgespot will accelerate our strategy to enable AI-powered communications between businesses and their customers," said Nick Edwards, CEO and founder of Boomtrain.
"This is the first productized messaging application that will be fully integrated into a marketing suite. This gives marketers the ability to incorporate multi-channel chat functionality, combined with our artificial intelligence platform, to facilitate personalized, scalable conversations with their customers," added Nick Edwards.
"Nudgespot and Boomtrain are pushing the envelope when it comes to bi-directional messaging technologies," said Co-founder of Nudgespot, Raveen Sastry.
"Teaming up with Boomtrain will continue to extend our offering to more businesses in need of advanced, easy-to-use B2C messaging solutions, powered by advanced artificial intelligence," added Sastry.
With the addition of Nudgespot, Boomtrain significantly expands its APAC business. Together, Boomtrain and Nudgespot will have 70 people in offices located in San Francisco and Bangalore, and will continue to expand its footprint globally.
The teams will continue to collaborate to add more functionality to Boomtrain Messenger during its beta program. (ANI- Business Wire India)
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for introduction of Pension and Post-Retirement Medical Schemes as part of superannuation benefits for employees of Food Corporation of India as per guidelines of Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), said an official statement.
"The annual financial implication for both schemes combined would be around Rs. 134.4 crore at present level of salaries of the employees," it added.
--IANS sid/ahm/vm
( 109 Words)
2016-08-10-21:46:06 (IANS)
When asked whether he would form a group anytime soon, the Punjabi rapper exclusively told ANI, "I won't really prefer working in a group now, but yes I want to work with a lot of rappers. I really have to work on myself because I have got bigger aspirations and unfortunately I won't be able to achieve my dreams if I will be a part of a group now."
The 'Abhi Toh Party Shuru Hui Hai' hit-maker concluded, "Being a part of a group won't make any sense at this point of time."
The group 'Mafia Mundeer' disbanded in 2012 after their last song 'Get Up Jawani'.
Badshah also praised several underground rappers like Divine and Naezy, adding he is glad that the underground rap scene in India is gradually making its mark on the commercial front.
On the professional front, the rapper will drop his debut solo album in September. (ANI)
Downey Jr posted a shot of Swift's beau from his Fourth of July vacation (during which he was clicked wearing a I heart T.S. tank top) and wrote a hilarious caption, reports eonline.com.
"Join me in welcoming the biggest T. Stark fan of them all to Instagram!"
Hiddleston recently joined the social media platform and posted his debut shot in his Marvel character Loki.
"He's back," he wrote presumably from the set of "Thor: Ragnarok", currently shot in Australia.
Hiddleston has already garnered almost a half of a million followers on Instagram.
--IANS nn/rb
( 126 Words)
2016-08-11-02:00:01 (IANS)
In a major breakthrough, the Mumbai police have arrested five medicos, including the CEO and Medical Director of the reputed L.H. Hiranandani Hospital in Powai, in connection with a racket in kidney sales, officials said. Hospital CEO Dr. Sujit Chatterjee, Medical Director Dr. Anurag Naik and three other medicos Prakash Shetty, Mukesh Shah and Mukesh Shetye were arrested late on Tuesday. They have been accused of being involved in illegal trade and sale of kidneys. Powai police will present them before an Andheri magistrate's court later on Wednesday for remand, the official said. When contacted, an official spokesperson for Hiranandani Group told IANS that an internal probe is being conducted and declined further comments till the investigation was completed. So far, a total of 15 persons (including the five medicos) have been arrested in the case which first came to light last month at the hospital. A few more suspected cases have surfaced later and police are probing around 30 transplants conducted at the hospital in the past one year. Following the expose, the Maharashtra Directorate of Health Services set up a committee of medical experts which found irregularities related to at least four kidney transplant cases at the hospital. Based on the probe report of the committee, the police arrested the five medicos of the 12 years old, 240-bed prestigious hospital, sending shockwaves in the state medical fraternity. The lid was blown off the racket on July 14 when a social worker, some political activists and members of a trade union stopped a kidney transplant midway here in which the donor and recipient were found to be fake husband and wife. Delving deeper, the police identified Brijendra Bisen, who created the false documents with the help of two other external agents. Incidentally, Bisen had been earlier arrested in 2007 when one of the biggest kidney sale-transplant rackets was busted nine years ago. In the current scam, the police had earlier arrested a total of 10 persons, including Bisen, the fake couple comprising recipient Brijkishore Jaiswal, a textile businessman from Surat, and donor Shobha Thakur who was promised Rs 10 lakh for her kidney, hospital official Nilesh Brijkishore Jaiswal, and others. The accused have been charged under Section 12 and 21 of the Transplantation of Human Organ Act, 1994, and the Indian Penal Code sections, said the police. --IANS qn/py/vt ( 403 Words) 2016-08-10-11:42:01 (IANS)
Kashmiri activist Sushil Pandit on Wednesday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'concern' for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He, however, said unless and until the people who are corrupting the minds of the Kashmir youth are dealt with, every other spoken word would go waste. "I think the entire country was waiting for the Prime Minister to speak on this matter. It is very reassuring for the people of Kashmir that the Prime Minister sees their concerns and their pains. But he is not the first prime minister to say these words. Over the past seven decades, India's successive prime ministers have reached out to the people of Kashmir with all the assurances and the governments have done their best in the state," Pandit told ANI. "What needs to be done is those who creates trouble, who handover the stones to these children, who plants seditious slogans in their mouths, they are to be dealt with. And unless they are dealt with, every other spoken word will go waste," he added. Yesterday, Prime Minister Naredndra Modi broke his silence on the ongoing violence in the Kashmir valley following the death in an encounter of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani and said a handful of misguided people are hurting the great tradition of Kashmir and appealed to the youth to join him in fulfilling the dream of making the place the world's paradise. "A handful of misguided people are hurting the great tradition of Kashmir. I appeal to the Kashmiri youth come along, we will together realise the dream of making Kashmir the paradise of the world. We give so much love to Kashmir, while some people are causing it a lot of harm," said the Prime Minister, while addressing a public rally after unveiling a statue of freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad at his birthplace. Stating that Kashmir is a paradise for Indians, Prime Minister Modi said, "Every Indian desires to go to Kashmir, every Indian loves Kashmir. The boys, who should be holding laptops, bats and balls in their hands and dreams in their hearts, are carrying stones." "The freedom that every Indian has also belongs to every Kashmiri. We want the same bright future for every youth in Kashmir. We are the people, who walk the path that Atal Bihari Vajpayee took when it comes to Kashmir," he added while asserting that Kashmir wants peace. The Prime Minister further said the Centre as well as the BJP-PDP coalition government under Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is making all efforts to solve the problems of Kashmir through development. "The citizen of Kashmir wants to earn more money through tourism. We want to provide employment opportunities to the Kashmiri youth," he said. Expressing his gratitude to the nation and the opposition for showing solidarity with the Centre on the matter, the Prime Minister said, "I want to thank the nation, I want to thank Congress that we all very maturely made attempts to deal with the situation in Kashmir." (ANI)
Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his assertion over the ongoing violence in the Kashmir valley, Janata Dal United JD (U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said the former should use his brain instead of lip-service on the issue, and added he failed to refer about the Kashmiri Pandits. Kumar expressed disappointment that Prime Minister Modi did not talk about the issue of Kashmiri Pandits in while addressing a public rally after unveiling a statue of freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad at his birthplace in Alirajpur. "If front of whom is Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing his pain? You have the responsibility to rule the country. It was you who made promises before the Kashmiris. We were expecting that while talking about freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad, he would also talk about the pain of Kashmiri Pandits. But the pain of Kashmiri Pandits wasn't mentioned, which is an issue of grave concern," Kumar told ANI. Kumar insisted that Prime Minister Modi should address the Kashmir issue taking the parliament and all the parties in confidence. "Modi should use his brains instead of lip-service on the issue on Kashmir. Take the parliament in confidence; take the confidence of all the parties. Because the government is led by you, you are running the government there. If the situation has been hampered then taking the moral responsibility Modi should try to better the situation there," he added. Prime Minister Modi yesterday broke his silence on the ongoing violence in the Kashmir valley following the encounter of Hizbul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani and said that a handful of misguided people are hurting the great tradition of Kashmir and appealed to the youth to join him in fulfilling the dream of making the place the world's paradise. "A handful of misguided people are hurting the great tradition of Kashmir. I appeal to the Kashmiri youth come along, we will together realise the dream of making Kashmir the paradise of the world. We give so much love to Kashmir, while some people are causing it a lot of harm," he said. The Prime Minister further said the Centre as well as the BJP-PDP coalition government under Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is making all efforts to solve the problems of Kashmir through development. (ANI)
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi yesterday, Secretary in Minister of Social Justice Anita Agnihotri said the number of identified manual scavengers across the country is little over 12 thousands, while Uttar Pradesh alone has 10 thousand.
"But the actual number of people who are practicing manual scavenging could be much more than that," she added.
The ministry has estimated there are 2.5 lakh manual scavengers across the country and only 10 to 12 states have sent the details of 12000 manual scavengers.
The ministry has already provides financial assistance of 40,000 rupees to people who leave manual scavenging. (ANI)
" " A Native American sweat lodge. VisionsofAmerica/Joe Sohm/ Getty Images
Let's say you're a wet rag. Not only that -- let's say you're a dirty wet rag, a rag that was used to clean the grime off the rims of a car. If someone picked you up and twisted you really hard, you'd release a rain shower of water. And, along with that water, would trickle grime. That's kind of what it feels like when your body breaks a good sweat. It's dirty business, but when it's all said and done, you feel cleaner, fresher, newer. You feel as if the grime has been wrung from your body.
The desire to "sweat it off" is no new thing. Throughout history, humans have found ways to sweat out their demons, and sweat lodges are just one example of that fact. In the United States, sweat lodges are largely associated with Native American tradition. But they've been seen in cultures around the world. Ancient stone buildings in Ireland suggest they appreciated the benefits of sweating -- same thing in rural China, Russia and Mongolia, and the Polish make use of sweat lodges in folk medicine. The oldest sweat lodge evidence dates back to 5 B.C. It appears that the Scythians, a nomadic group that populated today's southern Russia, constructed sweat lodges from poles and woven cloth.
Advertisement
Cultures use sweats for a variety of reasons. Within the Native American culture, sweats may be used to give thanks, to cleanse, to heal, to celebrate or to mourn. Some tribes use sweats to seek wisdom and counsel or to elicit visions. Historically, Native Americans believed that the sweat had sacred properties. For this reason, many of the Christians that arrived in America forced the Native Americans to abandon their sweat rituals. Although some tribes totally gave up the practice, others, such as the Crow, held on to their traditions of sweating.
Sweat lodges are similar in some ways to saunas. Rocks generate heat in the room, and added water creates steam. But while people may limit their sauna time to 20 minutes, it's not unusual to spend several hours in a sweat lodge. Some people think the ceremonial aspects of the sweat lodge experience make it easier to endure the heat for longer. But that's not always the case for everyone.
Will you overheat? Is it good for your health? So many questions.
The assurance was given by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh yesterday as the Upper House witnessed noisy scenes during the Zero Hour with the Opposition demanding a discussion.
Speaking in Rajya Sabha, Singh said the government is ready to find the solution with the support of other political parties.
Raising the issue, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad expressed serious concern over violent incidents in the valley resulting in the death of civilians and security personnel.
He reiterated his party's demand for holding an all-party meeting followed by an all-party delegation to Srinagar to take stock of the situation. He was supported by leaders of several other opposition parties.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached out to the people of Kashmir and indicated his willingness to hold dialogue under the framework of the 'Insaniyat (humanity), Jamhuriyat (democracy) and Kashmiriyat'.
He said that when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister, he had adopted the path of 'Insaniyat, Jamhuriyat and Kashmiriyat' and the present government walks the same road.
The Prime Minister was speaking at a public meeting at Bhabra in Madhya Pradesh, the birthplace of freedom fighter Chander Shekhar Azad.
Prime Minister Modi appealed to the people to maintain peace and harmony in Kashmir.
The Prime Minister said Mehbooba Mufti Government and the Centre are working together to solve the state's difficulties but some people, who are unable to digest it, are clinging onto the path to destruction.
He said his government wants to take Kashmir to new heights of development, empower its panchayats and give job opportunities to its youth. (ANI)
The order was passed by a two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice D.B. Bhonsle and Justice Yashwant Verma while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) moved by the Uttar Pradesh primary teachers' association of Ghaziabad.?
The teachers' association had argued that the 2009 Act makes education the right of each child but this would be possible only when teachers do their duty regularly.
The Election Commission had argued that it was difficult to keep teachers away from poll duty as election work is also a national duty.
After hearing both the parties, the bench passed the order refraining the Commission to deploy teachers for poll duty during examinations. (ANI)
Moms who give birth at home are twice as likely to breastfeed their little ones, compared to hospital births, says a study. The Trinity College Dublin research involved the largest population cohorts comprehensively examined to date for an association between breast feeding outcomes and place of birth in low risk pregnancies. Principal researcher, on the study Lina Zgaga, said, "The key question that this work raises is: "When breastfeeding is so strongly recommended across the board by the medical profession, what causes lower rates of breastfeeding following hospital births?" The study, which included over 17,500 women from the UK Millennium Cohort Study and 10,500 women from the 'Growing Up in Ireland' study, found that home birth is significantly associated with breastfeeding immediately after birth, with continued breast feeding during the first six months. Secondly, home birth mothers were more likely to exclusively breastfeed for six months, following the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines regarding the same. Based on the collected data and on an analysis of factors surrounding home and hospital based birth, the researchers suggested a number of potential reasons for the stronger association between breastfeeding and home birth. Firstly, the level of support and type of care offered by each birth option is very different. In a home birth, care is typically midwife-led as opposed to physician-led. In contrast, multiple health professionals are involved in care following hospital birth, potentially providing unpredictable and inconsistent input. There is also a difference in the level of training related to lactation amongst carers with midwives typically receiving more education in this area. Secondly, the non-clinical setting of a home birth can facilitate immediate and prolonged skin to skin contact post-partum, which is widely considered to have a positive effect on the initiation of breastfeeding and mother infant bonding. Thirdly, interventions such as forceps or vacuum-assisted delivery that occur more frequently during labour in hospital may be stressful and stress during birth has been linked to stalled breast feeding. Similarly, hospital births are associated with greater usage of pain-relieving medications, which can cause lethargy in the infant and delay milk production in the mother. Finally, it has been shown that formula supplementation in the early postnatal period reduces the likelihood of subsequent exclusive breast feeding and overall duration of breast feeding. Hospital births have been associated with formula supplementation. This may be due to busy, understaffed clinical settings, where formula feeding may be found to be a more convenient solution to feeding problems than diagnosis and treatment of breast feeding issues. Principal researcher on the study Lina Zgaga, said, "The key question that this work raises is: "When breastfeeding is so strongly recommended across the board by the medical profession, what causes lower rates of breastfeeding following hospital births?" "Hopefully this research can help us learn from the home birth model and identify the changes that could be implemented in standard hospital-based perinatal care to encourage and facilitate breastfeeding," Zgaga added. The study has been published in BMJ Open. (ANI)
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu called upon the people to extend their cooperation for developing the city into an International reputed city in the world. Launching the website of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India,China and South Africa) meeting to be held here from September 14 to 16, he said people's cooperation is essential to develop the city. He said in the three-day BRICS ( IIIrd BRICS urbanization form ) meeting, about 100 foreign delegates and 500 delegates from India besides representatives of all the states will take part. He said the Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA) is organizing the meeting, sponsored by Union Ministry of Urban Development . The smart cities, green field cities, weather conditions, water and sanitation management and urban development will be discussed in the the BRICS meeting, he added. He also launched the GPS-fitted police motor bikes at the airport late last evening and asked the police department to integrate the system to control the crimes. On the proposed International Airport at Bhogapuaram in Vizianagaram district, the Chief Minister said he had held discussions with the farmers on the land acquisition and Relief and Rehabilitation package at the Airport.UNI BSR CS 1130 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-880333.Xml
A Romanian National, the key suspect in the hi-tech ATM frauds in Kerala, has been taken into custody in connection with the ''unauthorised withdrawal'' of nearly half a million rupees from the accounts of customers after stealing their card details using hi-tech devices. The suspect, identified as Gabriel Marian, was taken into custody in Mumbai last evening when he tried to withdraw Rs 100 by using a cloned ATM card, police sources said here today. The arrest was made by Mumbai police on the basis of information provided by their Kerala counterparts. Police also sought the assistance of Interpol to nab two other Romanian Nationals, whose visuals were made available from the CCTV footage of ATM counters in the city where they had installed a hidden camera in smoke detector on the ceiling and also other skimming devices. The other suspects were identified as Bogdean Florian( 25) and Cristian Victor(26), from Crajova city in Romania. Police were also in the look out for a fourth foreigner who was also involved in the crime. The suspects had arrived in the Kerala capital in the last week of June in the guise of tourists and stayed at luxury hotels, police said. The incident came to light when some of the customers who were robbed of the money ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 40,000 came to the bank on Monday to enquire about it. A police team led by IG Manoj Abraham has left for Mumbai in connection with the investigation. ''We have already informed the CBI and other National agincies regarding this,'' he said. According to initial reports, 20 people have lost around Rs 4.5 lakh. The police recovered a device, suspected to be a skimmer embedded in the smoke detector on the ceiling of an ATM cabin. The device that was fixed above the ATM machine, had a micro camera and another device was placed in the card slot of the machine. The micro camera might have helped in getting the ATM PINs.UNI CR CS 1147 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0324-880370.Xml
Briefing newspersons after a meeting of the State Cabinet, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the Kerala State Civil Supply Corporation (Supplyco) would be given Rs 81.42 crore for taking various steps.
He said a sum of Rs 8.76 crore would be set apart for the distribution of Onam kits, consisting of essential commodities, to tribal families and those living below poverty line. Another sum of Rs 13 crore would be utilised for the supply of subsidised sugar through ration shops.
He said the government also decided to set up 1,466 Onam Chandas (markets) in different parts of the state as part of the efforts to ensure supply of essential commodities at a reasonable price to the people.
A special squad would be constituted to prevent hoarding of essential commodities during the Onam festival season.UNI CR CS 1232
-- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0324-880443.Xml
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday said that life has come to a complete standstill in Jammu and Kashmir and there was a need for the Centre and the PDP-BJP government in the state to stop the situation from deteriorating further. Leader Majeed Menon said,"There is curfew everywhere in Kashmir and even in Jammu, life has stopped and no strict action has been taken neither by the State Government and nor by the Central government." "We have had talks with the Prime Minister as well as the Home Minister and even appealed in the house as well as outside house," Menon told ANI. Menon further said that even after an all-party meeting and a visit by all-party delegation has not normalised the situation in the Kashmir Valley. Prime Minister Modi earlier said on Tuesday that only dialogue and development can ensure peace in Jammu and Kashmir. "Every Indian loves Kashmir. The azaadi (freedom) that every Indian feels, Kashmir can feel too," he said at a rally organized at revolutionary Chandrashekhar Azad's village at Bhabra in Madhya Pradesh's Alirajpur district. The Prime Minister said he was pained to see young men pelting stones on security forces in Kashmir. "The boys, who should be holding laptops, bats and balls in their hands and dreams in their hearts, are ones carrying stones," he said. "Whatever Kashmiris want for betterment of their livelihood, the Centre will help," he said. (ANI)
Expressed serious concern over violent incidents in the Kashmir Valley for past more than a month, resulting in the death of civilians and security personnel, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad today called for an "integration of hearts and minds" of people of the state with rest of the country. Initiating a discussion on the prevailing situation in the Kashmir Valley, Mr Azad said despite Parliament discussing the situation four times during this session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not find time to come to the House to make a statement on the issue."The Kashmir issue has been debated four times in the two Houses of Parliament during this session. However, the Prime Minister has not been present during even one. "Instead, Mr Modi spoke of the situation during his visit to Alirajpur in Madhya Pradesh. Has Madhya Pradesh become the capital of the country and the venue of Parliament?'' Mr Azad asked.In this context, Mr Azad said despite the Opposition's demand that the Prime Minister speak in Parliament on atrocities on Dalits, he did not come to make a statement. "We did not hear Prime Minister's statement on Dalit issues here in Parliament. We got to hear about his views from Telangana,'' Mr Azad said.He said even though the Prime Minister comes to his office in Parliament daily, he could not find time to come to the Rajya Sabha which is just at half a minute's distance from his office. "Despite being in Parliament, the PM seems to be far away from it. A half a minute's distance from PM's office to the Rajya Sabha seems like thousands of kilometers away.'' Mr Azad said while the Mr Modi was quick to tweet when something happens in Africa or in Pakistan, , when the crown of the country is burning, the Prime Minister does not experience the heat.Calling for an integration of hearts and minds between people of the state and the Central government, he said, "You call Jammu and Kashmir an integral part of India, but there should be integration of hearts and minds.''More UNI AR SW 1309 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0092-880481.Xml
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not speaking in parliament about the month-long deadly unrest in the Kashmir Valley and urged the government to integrate hearts and minds of people of the "integral part of India" to solve problems there. Azad initiated a debate in the Rajya Sabha over Kashmir that came after over a month of unrest which has left more than 55 people dead and thousands injured in the valley. The Leader of Opposition criticized Modi's absence from the house during the sensitive debate, saying "the Prime Minister is so close, yet so far". "The Prime Minister reaches the parliament (complex) everyday at 10 a.m. He stays in his (parliament) office till 6 p.m. His room is barely a minute and a half from the Rajya Sabha," Azad said. The Congress leader also lashed out at Modi for speaking on Kashmir at a rally in Madhya Pradesh and not in parliament, a day after the Prime Minister appealed for peace in the restive valley. Azad expressed concern over the violence in Kashmir but stressed the government should endeavour to win hearts and minds of the valley people and stop using force, including pellet guns, against protesters. "We always say Kashmir is an integral part of India. But integral part should not be on paper only. There should be integration of minds and hearts," Azad said. "Kashmir has had curfew for over 30 days. Many have been killed. Thousands are injured," Azad said. "If something happens in Africa, you (Modi) tweet, Pakistan is an enemy nation, still you speak when something happens there. It is good to show sympathy with all. But the crown of India (Kashmir) is burning. You must have felt the heat on your head, if not the heart." He asked the government not to see the valley as a mere law and order problem and called for an all-party meeting to discuss the issue. He also asked for a delegation to be sent to Kashmir to find a political solution to problems of the people there. "Kashmir is a complex issue. Politics comes first, economics second, employment after that. If we talk about electricity, roads and water, and not about politics, it will be wrong." A BJP MP from the state, Shamsher Singh Manhas, participating in the debate, was aghast over "everyone is speaking about Kashmir and not Jammu". "Jammu and Kashmir is not about Kashmir only. It is Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh that make the state," Manhas said. He said Jammu, which shares some 500 km of border with Pakistan, also had its share of problems. "The region has 55 percent of population in the state. Some seven lakh educated youth are employed. They could have also picked the gun. They could have also shouted for freedom," he said, adding the people in Jammu "have always believed in democracy". But in the Kashmir Valley, "it is a battle between nationalism and separatism. "People in Kashmir are following separatist dictates," he said. --IANS ao/sar/vt ( 520 Words) 2016-08-10-14:24:01 (IANS)
"We have to end the violence and the current bloodshed in Kashmir. And start a political process to bring an end to the problems of people of Kashmir," Yechury said in the Rajya Sabha during a long debate on the situation in the valley.
"The government must call for an all-party meeting and consult all shades of opinion. What is preventing this government from starting a political process (to resolve the Kashmir problem)?" he asked.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist leader called for ending the use of pellet guns against Kashmiri protesters that has partially or fully blinded hundreds in the valley during the month-long unrest.
"We should stop the use of pellet guns," he said, flashing a picture of a pellet injury victim from Kashmir.
Yechury asked: "Why is there a mistrust with the people of Kashmir? If there is a trust deficit, you have to create an environment of trust."
--IANS ruwa/sar/mr
( 190 Words)
2016-08-10-14:28:01 (IANS)
Asserting that the Tamil Nadu government has achieved the target of equipping all schools in the State with toilet facilities, Finance Minister and Leader of the House O Panneerselvam today said works were on to construct separate toilets for boys and girls. Responding to remarks made by DMK member Austin during the debate on demands for grants for School Education department in the Assembly last evening, Mr Panneerselvam, who had said that he would reply to it today, said the government led by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was determined to provide all necessary facilities to educational institutions. He said as per an announcement made in the House under Rule 110 by the Chief Minister, the government has achieved the 100 per cent target of constructing toilets in schools. '''Steps are now on to construct separate toilets for boys and girls,'' he said. Reeling out statistics, he said, 2,057 common toilets and 5,760 separate lavatories have been constructed last year. Earlier, during the Question Hour, Revenue Minister R B Udhayakumar said the government has issued record number of pattas to ensure that everyone in the State has an own house to live. Replying to Tiruttani MLA P M Narasimhan, he said his request to issue pattas to people living in Nehru Nagar, Periyar Nagar and Akkaiah Naidu Road in the temple town would be taken into consideration.UNI GV CS 1407 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-880611.Xml
The Ministry of Textiles, headed by Smriti Irani announced a revival strategy for the handloom industry on the occasion of the National Handloom Day held on August 7.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will facilitate designer intervention at selected Weavers Service Centers across India was signed between Alok Kumar, Development Commissioner Handlooms and Sunil Sethi, President Fashion Design Council of India.
This ceremony was held in the presence of Minister of Textile Smriti Irani, Minister of State for Skill Development Rajiv Pratap Rudy, inister of State for TextilesAjay Tamta, U.P Textile Minister Mahboob Ali, and Textile Secretary Rashmi Verma.
FDCI designers Rajesh Pratap Singh, Anju Modi, Rakesh Thakore, Rina Dhaka, Rahul Mishra, Abhishek Gupta, Samant Chauhan and Shruti Sancheti were also present for the function in Varanasi.
Through this initiative, designers will impart professional training in design development at various Weaver Service Centers across the country. This will help add new vigor to age-old crafts, which will help make them more contemporary without losing focus of tradition.
This strategy has been devised with the long-term goal of making the handloom weaver an entrepreneur, through knowledge sharing and resource optimization. (ANI)
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has filed a petition urging the National Green Tribunal to ban the use of glass coated thread 'manja' which is used while flying kites and sought an immediate ban on it across the country. As PETA India warns, manja - which is often coated with glass, metal, or other sharp objects - poses a lethal threat to humans and animals alike. In July 2016, a man died in Ghaziabad after his throat was slashed by manja while he was riding a motorbike. In August 2015, a man in East Delhi died after his throat was slit by manja while he was returning home on his motorbike. Thousands of birds are also killed every year when they are cut or trapped by manja, which can get caught on trees or buildings for weeks. A bird rescuer in Ahmedabad estimates that 2,000 birds including pigeons and endangered species such as vultures are injured every year during the Uttarayan festival, and 500 of them die from their injuries. According to estimates, more than 300 birds were injured and over 100 died because of manja during Makar Sankranti in Hyderabad in 2015. "Manja is a menace to public safety, posing a life-threatening risk to humans and birds alike," said PETA India Government Affairs Liaison Nikunj Sharma. "PETA India is calling on authorities to make kite-flying enjoyable and safe for everyone by banning manja from the activity," he added According to Delhi power company BSES, a single incident involving a kite near an electrical establishment can affect up to 10,000 customers. Several top power companies, such as Reliance Power and Tata Power, have time and again issued advisories urging people not to fly kites near electrical establishments. Mukesh Patel was only 13 years old when he sustained burns over 95 per cent of his body when his kite hit a power line in Mumbai. Manja is made of synthetic material such as nylon and is also non-biodegradable - it litters the soil and chokes drainage lines, sewer systems, and natural waterways. Citing the dangers manja poses to humans, birds, and the environment, the High Courts of Rajasthan, Allahabad, and Jammu and Kashmir have already banned the use of manja in their respective states. Many other states and district administrations - including Amritsar, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Gujarat, Indore, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, South West Delhi, and the Gandhi Nagar subdivision of East Delhi - have also taken steps to ban the production, sale, stocking, and use of manja. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has also issued an advisory to all states and union territories asking them to address the manja threat, and the Animal Welfare Board of India has written to all states and union territories urging them to ban manja. (ANI)
NIA said Bahadur Ali was directed to take advantage of the volatile situation in Jammu and Kashmir following the encounter of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani.
NIA Inspector General Sanjeev Kumar Singh said: "Arms and ammunition training given to LeT terrorist Bahadur Ali show the involvement of military experts."
Singh said that the captured terrorist underwent all three training processes organised by LeT. He was recruited by Jamaat-ud-Dawa and subsequently radicalised by LeT.
"Articles recovered from him show that he was provided references in codes which clearly indicates highly trained people provided training to him."
The officer also claimed that Bahadur Ali, who was recently captured from North Kashmir, was regularly guided from "control rooms of terrorist groups in Pakistan occupied Kashmir with the help of Pakistani forces".
The NIA has said that this is an ongoing investigation to gather details about the role of LeT in the current situation in Kashmir.
Following the encounter of Burhan Wani, a 22-year-old social media savvy Hizbul Mujahideen commander on July 8, Kashmir has witnessed a total lockdown in the valley for more than a month now.
--IANS aks/in/bg
( 220 Words)
2016-08-10-16:42:01 (IANS)
Two bombs exploded here today at separate places, injuring a seven-year-old boy, police said. ''The boy was injured when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasted near a Border Security Force(BSF) camp here at Moirangpurel, Imphal East. He was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment,'' they said. A senior police officer has rushed the incident spot to take stock of the situation. The area was cordoned off and it was suspected that the IED could had been planted earlier. Police was investigating into the matter. In another incident, a bomb blasted near the gate of the Manipur University here at Canchipur. However, no one was injured in the incident. There was chaos in the university area after the explosion. Meanwhile, security personnel have rushed in for investigation into the blast. Also, security was stepped up after the incident. Earlier too, on August 8, two BSF men were injured in a blast at Senapati district, while as many people were injured in the same incident on August 5 at the heart of the city. All roads near the Raj Bhawan have been blocked as security measure and combing operations were on to apprehend suspects militants.UNI NS PR SB 1654 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0105-880923.Xml
After facing exodus of senior leaders from the party in the recent past,Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) today bounced back in Uttar Pradesh when four sitting MLAs, all Muslims including 3 of Congress and one of the ruling Samajwadi Party joined the party here.The MLAs who joined the BSP are Nawab Kazim Ali Khan, MLA from Swar seat in Rampur; Dr Muslim, MLA from Tiloi seat in Amethi and Dilnawaz Khan, Assembly member from Sayana seat in Bulandshahr, all from Congress and SP MLA from Burahana seat in Muzaffarnagar Nawazis Alam Khan.Along with these, three former BJP MLAs and former minister Awadhesh Kumar Verma of Shahjahanpur also joined the BSP in presence of senior party leaders, including leader of the opposition in UP legislative council Nasimuddin Siddique and leader of the opposition in the state assembly Gaya Charan Dinker.The joining was a 'reply' to the recent leaving of senior BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya and R K Choudhury. Maurya had already joined the BJP and was slated to visit for the first time Lucknow after embracing the BJP.Talking to reporters, all the new entrants the muslim sitting MLAs claimed that Mayawati is the only leader who can improve law and order situation in the state besides can protect the life and properties of the minorities. All the three Congress MLAs had been expelled by the party way back after they cross voted in the Rajya Sabha and legislative council polls in June. Besides SP MLA Nawazis Alam too has been suspended by his party for cross voting.However, commenting on the joining of the MLAs, BSP leader Nasimuddin Siddique said these leaders have joined the party for being impressed with the ideology of Ms Mayawati. He, however, also commented that during elections, such things happens when some leaders desert the party and some joins.Nawab Kazim Ali Khan, son of senior Congress leader Begun Noor Bano of Rampur, claimed that Congress cannot fight the communal forces and it has been termed as a B team of the ruling Samajwadi Party. "There is an understanding between the congress and the SP. When we were facing atrocities during SP rule, none from Congress party came to support us. It's only during council polls we get orders from high command to vote for SP. This is unacceptable," he said.Mr Khan, a die heart rival of SP leader and UP Minister Mohammad Azam Khan, claimed that only BSP can ensure security to Muslims in UP. Congress might be trying hard but unfortunately poll strategist Prashant Kishor, engaged by Congress for UP polls, and others have no chance in UP.There is a record of Kazim Ali's love and hate relationship with BSP. The four time legislator Mr Ali was elected first time MLA in 1996 on Congress ticket and again in 2002. But in 2006 he joined the BSP and was elected MLA in 2007 and became minister in the Mayawati government. But later left the BSP in 2011 and rejoined the Congress and got elected from the party ticket in 2012 polls. Dr Muslim, a two time MLA, criticising the Congress particularly the Gandhi family, said that," the family has been misguided by the state leaders and Congress has lost its mass support."Mayawati is the only leader who take care of the poor while the Congress is just engaged in promoting the leaders," Dr Muslim said. Dr Muslim represents the Tiloi seat, which is one of the assembly segment of the Amethi Parliamentary seat represented by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. Dr Muslim was first elected in 1996 on Samajwadi party ticket but lost two elections later as Congress candidate. He won the last elections on Congress ticket.Similarly, Dilnawaz Khan, the first time Congress MLA from Sayana seat in Bulandshahr said that he has joined the BSP on the call of his heart." There is nothing left in the Congress in UP and it would not survive in the present political scenario," he further claimed.SP MLA Nawajiz Alam Khan, representing Burahana seat in the riot infested Muzaffarnagar district, said that the ruling party has lost control over the governance and hence he was forced to join the BSP. He further said that more MLAs from SP are likely to embrace BSP in coming days thus giving a clear political picture that Ms Mayawati is emerging as the biggest leader of the state.UNI MB ADG RAI1558 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0129-881017.Xml
The Kerala Cabinet today decided to reconstitute the Planning Board with Chief Minister as its Chairman. Dr V K Ramachandran is the Vice-Chairman. State Ministers E Chandrasekharan, Mathew T Thomas, A K Saseendran, Kadannapally Ramachandran and Dr Thomas Isaac were appointed as the official members. P Jayaraman and R Ramkumar of Mumbai Tata Institute of Social Science, Jayan Jose Thomas of IIT, K N Harilal of CDS, former Vice Chancellor of Kerala University Dr B Iqbal, Dr K V Raman and Mridul Eapen of Nehru Memorial National Museum have been appointed as the unofficial members of the planning board. Chief secretary and Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) would be the permanent invitees. Planning board secretary will be the member secretary. The today's Cabinet meeting also decided to inform the UAE Government of its compliment for taking effective steps for engaging in the rescue operations in the recent flight accident in Dubai. The Cabinet has also decided to send Finance Minister Thomas Isaac and Water Resources Minister Mathew T Thomas to Vatican to attend Mother Theresa's elevation to sainthood on September 4. The Government took a decision in this regard following a request from Cardinal Cleemis Catholica Bava to send an official team to Vatican. The Government also decided to provide Handloom uniforms to all Government school students as part of a scheme to support handloom industry in the state. The Education department has been directed to submit a detailed report with their suggestions for the implementation of the scheme.UNI DS CS 1705 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0324-880982.Xml
To mark another historic tie-up between India and Russia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today dedicated a 1,000 MW unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) to the service of the nation. On the occasion, the Prime Minister said, "In dedicating the N-power plant, we mark another historic tie-up between India and Russia. Today's event is also a joyful occasion for the team of engineers in India and Russia, we salute them for their relentless work.''Long live India-Russia friendship". India and Russia, who have been strategic partners since the Cold War era, inaugurated former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam's dream project through video conferencing with Modi in New Delhi, Putin in Moscow and Ms Jayalalithaa in Chennai.The KKNPP is located at Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu, around 650 km from Chennai. Once fully operational, the Kudankulam project would provide electricity to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.The Indian government signed a contract with the USSR to build the plant in 1988, but its construction started only in 1997 due to the political and economic disturbances after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.The project was further delayed in September 2011 following protests by villagers around the plant. But the work finally resumed in March 2012 and now it was about to generate electricity. Ms Jayalalithaa said dedication of the Kudankulam power plant is a ''milestone in Indo-Russian friendship." UNI XC RP1913 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0105-881382.Xml
Police today filed a First Information Report (FIR) against expelled AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP L.Sasikala Pushpa and three of her family members, following a complaint of wrongful confinement and sexual harassment alleged by her former maid servants. The victims K.Banumathi (22), a widow and her elder sister Jhansi Rani (24) submitted a petition to Thoothukudi district Additional Superintendent of Police D.Kandasamy that they were tortured and severely beaten up by Sasikala Pushpa, when she was the Thoothukudi Mayor from 2011-2014 at her Anna Nagar house in Chennai. The siblings were sexually harassed by Sasikala Pushpa's husband T.Lingeswara Thilakan and son L.Pradeep Raja. When Banumathi attempted to escape from the house in August 2015, the MP's mother T.Gowri assaulted and tonsured her head. Sasikala Pushpa forced her to sign on a blank paper and warned of dire consequences in case she reveals what had happened to her and her elder sister in the house, the plaintiff alleged. Thoothukudi District Superintendent of Police Ashwin M.Kotnis ordered an inquiry into the complaint, based on which the All Women Police in Pudukottai in Thoothukudi registered a case under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code, including the non-bailable 506 (ii) (criminal intimidation), wrongful confinement, besides Tamilnadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 1998 against Sasikala Pushpa, Lingeswara Thilakan, Pradeep Raja and Gowri. AIADMK General Secretary and Chief Minister J.Jayalalitha expelled Sasikala Pushpa from all party posts, including primary membership for bringing great disrepute to the party on August one, after the latter made a statement in Rajya Sabha that she is being compelled to resign her MP post and her life is under threat. The Madras High Court on Monday closed the anticipatory bail petitions filed by Sasikala Pushpa's husband and son, apprehending arrest after the Chennai police informed the court that there are no cases pending against them in their jurisdiction. UNI GSM CS 1753 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-881173.Xml
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today expressed anger over the incident of two Dalits being thrashed by Cow Protection group people at Sudapalem village in Uppalaguptam mandal in East Godavari district yesterday. Official sources said state Director General of police N Sambasiva Rao submitted a report on the incident to the Chief Minister today. The Chief Minister directed the DGP to initiate a stern action against the perpetrators. According East Godavari district police, a man engaged two Dalits-M Elisha (56) and M Venkateswara Rao (53) to take away his dead cow yesterday. They took away the cow to the outskirts and started peeling off the skin of it. Suspecting that they killed the cow and peeling off the skin, eight people of Cow Protection Group, beaten the two Dalits, in which one of them sustained serious injuries. Cases were registered against the culprits, police said. Meanwhile, Opposition YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) condemned the beating of two dalits by people of Cow Rakshna Samithi. YSRCP MLA U Kalpana talking to media here today alleged that the TDP and BJP workers in the name of Cow Rakshana Samithi thrashed the dalits for peeling the skin of dead cow. A Rasta Roko was organised in protest against the incident at Gandhi statue centre at Mogalturu village in West Godavari district.UNI DP CS 1846 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-881357.Xml
As per the latest data released by the Ministry of Tourism, a total of 68,487 tourists arrived in July 2016 on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 21,476 during the month of July 2015 registering a growth of 218.9 per cent. According to the data, UK was on the top followed by USA and France amongst countries availing e-Tourist Visa facility During July. In respect of e-Tourist Visa availed by International tourists visiting India last year in 2015 the achievement has been surpassed in the first six months of the current calendar year 2016. Commencing from November 27, 2014 e-Tourist Visa facility was available until February 25 for citizens of 113 countries arriving at 16 Airports in India. The Government of India has extended this scheme for citizens of 37 more countries w.e.f 26th February 2016 taking the tally to 150 countries. During January-July 2016, a total of 5,40,396 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 1,47,690 during January-July 2015, registering a growth of 265.9 per cent . This high growth may be attributed to introduction of e-Tourist Visa for 150 countries as against the earlier coverage of 77 countries. New Delhi Airport (44.00 per cent), Mumbai Airport (20.77 per cent ), Chennai Airport (9.43 per cent), Bengaluru Airport (9.10 per cent), Kochi Airport (5.10 per cent), Hyderabad Airport (3.68 per cent), Kolkata Airport (2.50 per cent), Ahmadabad Airport (1.38 per cent), Trivandrum Airport (1.35 per cent) and Amritsar Airport (0.99 per cent) were the top airports who got tourist on e-visa.UNI ADP PR 1812 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0429-881179.Xml
Taking another key step in ensuring energy security for the Gorakhpur, Barauni and Sindri Fertilizer Plants under revival enroute Phulpur Haldia Natural Gas Pipeline, GAIL (India) Limited has placed orders for purchase of 315 km of Line Pipes for Auraiya Phulpur Pipeline on two Indian Companies, Jindal Saw & Essar Steel at a total cost of Rs. 305 crore. Auraiya Phulpur Pipeline is one of the main feeder lines for the "Energy Highway (Urja Ganga)" of Eastern India. According to a release, GAIL has already placed orders earlier for Line Pipes of Phulpur Dobhi (Gaya) Section of the Project at a cost of Rs. 550 crore and awarded Laying Work Contracts for the Dobhi Patna / Barauni sections at a cost of Rs. 216 crore. Laying Works in Dobhi Patna / Barauni section have already commenced in Sep'15. Further, Bids received for Laying Works of Phulpur Dobhi section with Spurline to Varanasi are presently under evaluation. Tenders for Laying Works of Auraiya - Phulpur Pipeline and for procurement of Line Pipes of Gorakhpur Spurline have already been floated. GAIL is planning to start the construction works in these sections from Oct'16. The 315 Km Auraiya Phulpur Pipeline, 341 Km Phulpur Dobhi (Gaya) Section and 414 Km Spurlines to Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Patna & Barauni will be completed by Dec'18 at a cost of Rs. 4600 crore. Phase-II (1201 Km) & Phase-III (583 Km) of the Phulpur Haldia Pipeline Project are targeted to be completed by Dec'19 and Dec'20 at an estimated investment of Rs. 5,565 crore & Rs 3,425 crore, respectively.GAIL presently is taking up farmer engagement & public awareness campaign activities in these sections in order to create a congenial working environment for project execution prior to start of construction. CMD, GAIL stated that the above actions are being taken to ensure timely revival of fertilizer plants as envisaged by Government of India.UNI ADP PR SB 1853 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0429-881330.Xml
"The ISIS flag is flashed sometimes in Kashmir. What has the IS done? They have just killed believers of Islam," Rajnath Singh said in the Rajya Sabha.
"India is the only country that respects feelings of people of every religion. Those hoisting the flag are defaming Islam," he said, adding that Islam does not allow beheading any one, or even hurting anyone.
He also said that slogans such as "Pakistan zindabad" will bot be tolerated on Indian soil.
"I appeal to the people of Kashmir to refrain from such activities," the Home Minister said.
--IANS ao/rn
( 139 Words)
2016-08-10-19:40:00 (IANS)
The Gujarat Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all 25 ministers including Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, the ADR said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Of the 10 ministers who have declared criminal cases, five have declared serious criminal cases. These include murder, attempt to murder, robbery and dacoity," it said.
Of the 25 ministers, 21 (84 per cent) are crorepatis, with average assets worth Rs 7.81 crore.
The minister with the highest declared total assets is Parshottmbhai Odhavjibhai Solanki from Bhavnagar Rural constituency with assets worth Rs 37.61 crores.
He is followed by Vallabhbhai Gobarbhai Kakadiya who has assets worth more than Rs 28 crore and Rohitbhai Jashubhai Patel with assets worth more than Rs 23 crore.
A total of 18 ministers have declared liabilities, out of which the minister with the highest liabilities is Jayeshbhai Vithalbhai Radadiya from Jetpur constituency (Rs 7.94 crore).
He is followed by Vallabhbhai Gobarbhai Kakadiya (liabilities of more than Rs 5 crore) and Parshottmbhai Odhavjibhai Solanki (more than Rs 3 crore).
--IANS mak/pgh/mr
( 219 Words)
2016-08-10-19:44:00 (IANS)
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today gave its approval to amend regulation for foreign investment in the Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs).The amendment in the existing Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or Issue of Security by the Person Resident Outside India) regulations on Non- Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) will enable inflow of foreign investment in "Other Financial Services" on automatic route provided such services are regulated by any financial sector regulators (RBI, SEBI, PFRDA) or Government Agencies. Foreign investment in "Other Financial Services", which are not regulated by any regulators or Government Agency, can be made on approval route.Further, minimum capitalisation norms as mandated under FDI policy have been eliminated as most of the regulators have already fixed minimum capitalisation norms. This will induce FDI and spurt economic activities. It will cover whole India and is not limited to any State/Districts.In the Budget 2016-17 Speech, Finance Minister had announced that FDI will be allowed beyond the 18 specified NBFC activities in the automatic route in other activities which are regulated by financial sector regulators. The present regulations on "Non-Banking Finance Companies" stipulates that FDI would be allowed on automatic route for only 18 specified NBFC activities after fulfilling prescribed minimum capitalisation norms mentioned therein.In the proposed regulations, FDI is allowed on automatic route for all "Other Financial Services" provided such services are regulated by any regulators (RBI, SEBI, PFRDA etc.) or Government Agencies. Further, minimum capitalisation norms as mandated under FDI policy have been eliminated as most of the regulators have already fixed minimum capitalisation norms.UNI ADP RSA 2013 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0429-881612.Xml
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today gave its approval for signing and ratification of an Agreement between India and Croatia on Economic Cooperation.India and Croatia had earlier signed an agreement on trade and economic cooperation in September, 1994 with an aim to promote and develop bilateral trade and economic relations. Signing of the new Agreement between India and Croatia would be a step in continuity as the existing Agreement expired in November, 2009, according to an official statement here.India's bilateral trade with Croatia during 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 were 152.01million dollar, 148.86 million dollar and 205.04 million dollar respectively. The average bilateral trade growth was 17.44 per cent during the last three years.UNI ADP RSA 2031 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0429-881659.Xml
The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today gave its ex-post facto approval for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and South Africa for cooperation in the field of Tourism.The MoU was signed on July 8. The MoU aimed at expanding bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector; exchanging information and data related to tourism ; encouraging cooperation between tourism stakeholders, including hotels and tour operators.to establish exchange programmes for cooperation in Human Resource Development and Investing in the tourism and hospitality sector, an official statement said here.It also envisages to encourage visits of Tour Operators/Media/ Opinion Makers and tourists from both countries for promotion of two way tourism; to exchange experiences in the areas of promotion, education, marketing, destination development and management; to participate in travel fairs/exhibitions in each other's country; andto promote safe, honourable and sustainable tourism.UNI AR RSA 2105 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0092-881708.Xml
Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar today indicated that there could be another casino in river Mandovi near here. Responding to a question related to a report which said that there could be another casino in the state, the Chief Minister said the case being discussed was an old one and not new. ''I exactly do not know the details. It is an old casino. No file has come to me. They had gone to court and opinion was given that if the party pays arrears which is around 50-60 crore... We are taking care to see that state also gets benefited,'' he said. The Chief Minister hinted that if the license of the casino which was non-operational was renewed the state would earn revenue. Meanwhile, opposition criticised the govenment for granting license to casinos. Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Pratapsingh Rane said, ''When they were in the Opposition, All the time they said they will throw the casinos out into the high seas. Now they are bringing it close to land and so many casinos concentrated. I have been to Macau and one doesn't see that there is so much gambling involved or so many casinos. Here there are plenty of casinos. I think it is time to find some place for them elsewhere.'' Independent MLA Vijay Sardesai said alleged that the government had given license to an onshore casino a week ago and now they are giving license to offshore.UNI AKM CJ 2134 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0400-881651.Xml
Uttar Pradesh Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today flagged off the first batch of Haj pilgrims here from the Maulana Ali Mian Haj house. On the occasion while congratulating the pilgrims, the Chief Minister urged them to pray for prosperity of their families, society and the country. He also stated that all regions in the world propagated the message of peace, mutual harmony and to work for the prosperity of the society. Mr Yadav reiterated that the Samajwadi Party government respected all religions and was working for welfare of all, as a result of which all-round prosperity has come in the state. Pointing out how pilgrimages have always been of importance from time immemorial, the Chief Minister said that it was for this reason that his government had attached great importance to the such religious trips. He also expressed the desire that the Lucknow and the Ghaziabad Haj house be used for preparation of competitive exams like IAS, PCS and others, by candidates. The fact that so many people are going for Haj, he said, was indeed a blessing of the God Almighty. Mr. Yadav also underlined that the people with socialist background always fought for spreading goodness in the society and fighting evil in the society. He also assured the pilgrims that his government would always resist attempts by certain sections to divide the society. Referring to the facilities being provided to the Haj pilgrims, the Chief Minister said the state government was committed to give the Haji's good facilities. On this occasion, the Minority Affairs Minister Mohammad Azam Khan said the first duty of the government should be to ensure peace and harmony in the society and to be judicious to one and all. He praised the efforts of the Chief Minister in this direction. Greeting the Haj pilgrims, Maulana Sayyed Rabe Hasni Nadvi and Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali prayed for their successful journey. This year 22,297 Haj pilgrims have been provisionally chosen by the Haj Committee of India from the state. Of the total haj pilgrims 8,750 will leave from New Delhi, 9,744 from Lucknow and 3,803 from Varanasi. All the Haj pilgrims have already got their Visa and Passports. Also present at the seeing off event were Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Family Welfare Ravidas Mehrotra, Chairman of the UP Urdu Academy Dr. Nawaj Deobandi, secretary (Minority Welfare) Mr. S P Singh, district officials and relatives of Haj pilgrims. UNI MB CJ RSA 2247 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0400-881718.Xml
China's central bank is expected to pick a Chinese lender to clear yuan transactions in the United Arab Emirates by the end of the year, which would strengthen the growing economic ties between China and the Middle East, a Chinese banking executive said.Qatar opened the region's first yuan clearing centre in April last year, with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) becoming the clearing bank.A clearing centre can handle all parts of a currency transaction from when a commitment is made until it is settled, reducing costs and time taken for trading.A clearing bank in the UAE could have a big impact on trade and investment in the Gulf because Dubai acts as the region's top business centre, handling flows of money and goods to countries in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and beyond."In this region everyone thinks of Dubai as the hub for the whole of the Middle East," Fang Min, senior executive officer of Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), said in an interview."From an economic and financial centre point of view, Dubai is the most appropriate (place) to set up an offshore renminbi market."Fang said one of the big four Chinese banks - ABC, ICBC, Bank of China and China Construction Bank - would become the UAE's yuan clearing bank. He did not elaborate.Partly because of the UAE's role as a trans-shipment point for goods to the rest of the Gulf, trade between China and the UAE was estimated at $60 billion last year, up from $47.6 billion in 2014, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) figures show.SWIFTThe UAE is already the most active country in the Middle East in using yuan for direct payments to China and Hong Kong. In 2015, the currency was used for 74 percent of payments by value from the UAE to China and Hong Kong on the SWIFT international transactions network.Overall, the U.S. dollar is still used for most trade between the Gulf and China, and China's payments for its oil imports from the region are believed to be denominated in dollars, the main currency used in global oil trade.Nevertheless, Fang said he expected the UAE's ratio for SWIFT direct payments in yuan to rise to 80 or 85 percent by 2020.The UAE centre "will provide local Chinese companies, as well as UAE companies and companies from other regions, with renminbi liquidity for trade settlement, investment."Qatar has become ICBC's third-largest overseas clearing centre globally behind Singapore and Luxembourg, handling 350 billion yuan ($52.6 billion) in transactions since it launched, said Zhou Xiaodong, general manager of ICBC's Dubai branch.Last December, China said the UAE would be included in its Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor scheme with a 50 billion yuan quota, allowing UAE-based institutions to channel offshore yuan holdings into Chinese securities. The UAE clearing centre could make it easier for UAE investors to do this.Low oil prices are hurting GCC governments and companies. But Zhou said far from deterring Chinese banks, this gave them a chance to expand in the region."We are facing an asset shortage domestically, so there's an opportunity to develop the international business for all of ICBC's clients."In May, ICBC participated in a $10 billion international loan for the Saudi Arabian government, which is looking abroad to help finance a huge budget deficit caused by cheap oil. Zhou said ICBC aimed to be involved in an upcoming international bond issue by Riyadh and its future issues.In the longer term, the UAE clearing centre could encourage GCC issuers to tap funding in China through panda bonds, yuan-denominated debt sold by foreigners into Chinese markets.The DIFC-based operations of China's big four banks have doubled their combined assets to $21.5 billion in the last 18 months, accounting for 26 percent of all assets at the DIFC, data it released in February showedREUTERS CJ BD2126 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-881755.Xml
While spending hours on Facebook or other social media sites can lead to bad results in school, playing video games may not have such adverse effects. A new study has found that online video games can even sharpen math, science and reading skills in teenagers. The video games could help students to apply and sharpen various skills learned at school. The findings showed that students who played online games almost every day score 15 points above the average in maths and 17 points above the average in science. "When you play online games you're solving puzzles to move to the next level and that involves using some of the general knowledge and skills in maths, reading and science that you've been taught during the day," said Alberto Posso, Associate Professor at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. However, teenagers who regularly engage in social media sites are more likely to fall in school results, the researchers said. Students who used Facebook or chat every day scored 20 points worse in maths than students who never used social media. "Students who are regularly on social media are, of course, losing time that could be spent on study," Posso added. But it may also indicate that they are struggling with maths, reading and science and are going online to socialise instead, the study said. Teachers can look at blending the use of Facebook into their classes as a way of helping those students engage as well as consider incorporating popular video games into teaching -- so long as they are not violent ones, the researchers suggested. For the study, published in the International Journal of Communication, the team tested more than 12,000 Australian 15-year-olds in maths, reading and science, as well as collecting data on the students' online activities. --IANS rt/gb/py/ ( 307 Words) 2016-08-10-10:58:00 (IANS)
Turkish President Recep Tayip Ergodan on Tuesday met Russian President Vladimir Putin to give a fresh start to the bilateral relations of the two countries which nosedived after Turkish military downed a Russian fighter jet last November. This was the two leaders' first meeting since the downing of the Russian fighter jet by Turkey on November 23 last year, RT news reported. "Your visit, which comes amid a very complicated situation in Turkey, indicates that all of us want to revive our dialogue and restore relations for the sake of the Turkish and Russian peoples," Putin said, greeting Erdogan in St. Petersburg. Erdogan said he appreciates Putin's willingness to meet him in person. The two leaders are expected to come out with a "roadmap" to help bring Russia-Turkey relations to a new level. Putin said he was "one of the first [heads of state] who called President [Erdogan] and reaffirmed support for overcoming the domestic political crisis related to the [military] coup". "This will be a historic visit, a fresh start. I believe that a new page will be opened during the negotiations with my friend Vladimir [Putin]," Erdogan said. "The Syrian crisis will be discussed in depth and we hope that Turkey's position will become more constructive," Yury Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy aide, has said. Moscow and Ankara largely disagree on Syria, as Turkey wants Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to be ousted, while Russia supports him and the Syrian army in their fight against the Islamic State militant group. Russia's Defence Ministry has accused Turkey of aiding the IS in the past, citing data indicating that the militants were being re-supplied and re-armed from Turkey. According to a Russian analyst, Erdogan "has realised that to fight the IS is equally important and Turkey cannot do it alone, and with the European countries Ankara was not getting enough help". "Western countries, including the NATO, have not been able to bring peace and stability to Syria. So this is why Erdogan has probably shifted to Russia to get much more support from Putin." Ties between Moscow and Ankara hit rock bottom when Turkish Air Force downed a Russian fighter jet which, according to Ankara, was in Turkish airspace while Russia insists the jet was in Syria. One of the two pilots was killed, as was a marine who took part in a rescue operation. Relations between the two countries began to thaw in late June after Erdogan sent an apology letter to the Kremlin. The one-day meeting in St. Petersburg also marked Erdogan's first foreign visit since the July 15 failed military coup attempt against him in Turkey, which has strained relations between Turkey and the US. --IANS py/vt ( 461 Words) 2016-08-09-18:36:01 (IANS)
Russia warned today that the next round of Syria peace talks should not be contingent on a halt to fighting in Aleppo after UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura told the UN Security Council he aims to reconvene negotiations in late August.Speaking after a closed door meeting of the 15-member council, Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters: "The lower the level of violence the better it is for the talks... but there must be no preconditions for the talks."Insurgents effectively broke a month-long government siege of eastern, opposition-held Aleppo on Saturday, severing the primary government supply corridor and raising the prospect that government-held western Aleppo might become besieged.Churkin called on countries with influence over the Syrian opposition to make sure they are prepared for future talks."They were coming to the talks without saying anything, they were just saying (Syrian President Bashar) 'Assad must go' and this is not a negotiating position," he said.Russia and the United States are both conducting air strikes in Syria against Islamic State fighters, but support opposing sides in a wider civil war, with Moscow backing Assad's government and Washington saying he must leave office.Peace talks broke up last April after the opposition delegation quit, accusing the government of ignoring a cessation of hostilities brokered in February.U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said the Syria peace talks urgently need to get back on track but "the environment for talks also has to be right.""On humanitarian access... we're in reverse gear. On the cessation of hostilities, we're back to where we were before the cessation of hostilities, with the additional negative of Aleppo being besieged," Power told reporters.The United Nations has been calling for a weekly 48-hour pause in the fighting to access Aleppo. U.N. aid chief Stephen O'Brien, who also briefed the council, said talks were ongoing.Churkin said the United States and Russia were "very practically" discussing in Geneva how aid could be delivered to Aleppo and that Moscow supported a 48-hour pause in fighting, but that such a truce "does not apply to terrorists."The United Nations said today that two million people lack access to clean water in Aleppo, creating a risk of disease. It said technicians need access to repair electricity networks that drive water pumping stations. REUTERS SDR 0036 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-880091.Xml
Pakistani mourners flocked to funerals today for 74 victims, most of them lawyers, of the bombing of a hospital in the southwestern city of Quetta, and legal organisations staged a nationwide strike in protest.Yesterday's suicide bombing, which struck grief-stricken colleagues crowding around the body of the slain head of the provincial bar association, was the deadliest jihadist attack in Pakistan this year.Shreds of black cloth from slain lawyers' trademark dark suits still littered the ground today at the Civil Hospital in Quetta, where glass from shattered windows remained and blood stained the walls.Medical staff said up to 60 of those killed were lawyers who had gathered to mourn the assassination earlier that day of the president of the Baluchistan Bar Association, Bilal Anwar Kasi."We cannot understand who did it and why ... We have no personal enmity of any kind with anyone," said Shoaib Kasi, 42, Bilal Kasi's younger brother and himself a lawyer at the Baluchistan High Court.Abdul Hamid Khokher was speaking to his brother, lawyer Rashid Khoker, on the phone just moments before the blast."I tried to contact him again, but we could not reach him," the grief-stricken 67-year-old said at his brother's funeral."I took his son Tayyab with me, and we went ... and all we could see were bodies. We started looking for my brother and at the end, we found him, he was lying there. We found his body."ANGER, BLAMEBoth a Pakistani Taliban faction, Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, and Islamic State claimed responsibility for the carnage, although Pakistani analysts and officials expressed doubt about any IS involvement.Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, like myriad Islamist militants waging war against Pakistan's government, consider civil society workers such as lawyers as part of the system they seek to overthrow to establish their vision of strict Islamic law.Shops, businesses, schools and universities in Quetta and beyond remained closed as the government announced three days of mourning.Today morning, four of the more than 100 people wounded, including two more lawyers, died in hospital, taking the toll to 74, said Abdul Rehman, the medical superintendent at the Civil Hospital, Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.Rehman said that last year the hospital had requested paramilitary soldiers be stationed there for security."We briefed ... security officials," the medic said. "They said 'we'll see what's possible'."At Rashid Khokher's funeral on the outskirts of Quetta, the cleric leading prayers chanted: "May all the terrorists who carried out this heinous attack meet true justice."Ghulam Ghaus Qadri, who came to say his final goodbyes to his friend added: "For how long will we carry these bodies? I'd like to ask the government, for God's sake, these attacks must not happen."At a protest outside the Supreme Court in the capital Islamabad, Ashtar Ausaf Ali, Pakistan's attorney general, called the attackers "weak and pathetic."They should know that the nation and the legal community are united against them," he said.Supreme Court Bar President Ali Zafar called for the government to do more to protect lawyers.DOUBTS OVER CLAIMSSome Pakistani analysts were sceptical of the Islamic State claim."The claim of responsibility by Jamaat-ur-Ahrar is more credible," said Muhammad Amir Rana, head of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies.He noted that Jamaat had sworn loyalty to Islamic State's Middle East leadership in 2014, but later switched back to the Taliban.It remains unclear what ties, if any, Jamaat has to Islamic State, whose leadership is a rival to both the Taliban and al Qaeda over claims to represent the true Islamist Caliphate.Only last week, Jamaat was added to the United States' list of global terrorists, triggering sanctions.Baluchistan, which borders Afghanistan, is home to many militant groups, most notably sectarian outfits who have launched a campaign of suicide bombings and assassinations of ethnic Hazaras - Persian-speaking Shi'ites who mostly emigrated from Afghanistan and are a small minority of the Shi'ite population in Sunni-majority Pakistan."Many groups based in Baluchistan have an anti-Shia agenda, so they find ideological linkages with ISIS," said a military official who was based in Quetta until 2015."But is ISIS present there to a degree that they can carry out this kind of well-planned, pre-meditated attack? I don't think that is possible."Zahoor Afridi, the police officer leading the investigation, added: "Their (Islamic State) presence in Baluchistan is limited mostly to sympathisers, not to executioners."REUTERS SDR 0129 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-880102.Xml
Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Theresa May spoke by phone today and agreed to meet "in the near future" to try to improve poor relations between Moscow and London, the Kremlin said in a statement.Both leaders are due to attend a G20 summit in China early next month, giving them an opportunity to meet for the first time since May became prime minister.Relations between Russia and Britain are strained by differences over Ukraine and Syria as well as by what London says is a sharp increase in flights by long-range Russian bombers near British air space.The Kremlin said Putin and May had agreed to try to work to ensure that the two countries' intelligence services communicated with one another properly and to improve air safety, a reference to Russian military flights.Both leaders had expressed dissatisfaction about the current state of Russian-British relations, the Kremlin said.It said the phone call had taken place at Britain's initiative.REUTERS SDR 0232 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-880111.Xml
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested that gun rights activists could act to stop Democratic rival Hillary Clinton from nominating liberal US Supreme Court justices, igniting yet another fire storm of criticism just as he sought to steer clear of controversy."If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks," Trump said at a rally. "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know," he continued yesterday.The US Constitution's Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear firearms.Before the remark, Trump had been emphasizing his case against Clinton, who is leading in national opinion polls in the race for the November 8 election. Some in the audience in North Carolina who were seated behind Trump could be seen wincing when he made the comment.Clinton's campaign called the remark "dangerous.""A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way," it said.When asked to clarify what Trump meant, his campaign said he was referring to getting supporters of the Second Amendment to rally votes for Trump in the election."It's called the power of unification - 2nd Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power," the Trump campaign said in its statement.Immediately after Trump made his comment, many on social media accused him of effectively calling for Clinton's assassination. In just three hours, 2nd amendment became the top trending topic on Twitter, with more than 60,000 posts mentioning the term.Introducing Trump later at another rally in North Carolina, in Fayetteville, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani accused the news media of taking the remark out of context to help Clinton get elected."What he meant by that was you have the power to vote against her," Giuliani said to cheers. "You have the power to speak against her. You know why? Because you're Americans.""It proves that most of the press is in the tank for Hillary Clinton," he added. "They are doing everything they can to destroy Donald Trump."The US Secret Service, which provides security details for both Trump and Clinton and rarely comments on political matters, when asked for a response on Trump, said: "The Secret Service is aware of the comment."Trump later told Fox News Channel's "Hannity" program that "nobody in that room" thought he meant anything other than to rally support against Clinton."This is a strong powerful movement, the Second Amendment," Trump said. "Hillary wants to take your guns away. She wants to leave you unprotected in your home. This is a tremendous political movement."By day's end, Trump was drawing criticism on several fronts, another chapter in a campaign marked by bitterness and partisanship.Michael Hayden, a former CIA director who on Monday was among 50 Republican national security experts to denounce Trump in a letter, said on CNN, "You're not just responsible for what you say. You are responsible for what people hear."US Senator Elizabeth Warren, a liberal firebrand who loves tweaking Trump, tweeted that the Republican nominee "makes death threats because he's a pathetic coward who can't handle the fact that he's losing to a girl."Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway fought back in a tweet of her own, calling Warren a "disgrace."GUN RIGHTS AN ISSUEGun rights, which have long stirred strong emotions in America, have been a particularly potent issue in the 2016 presidential campaign as violence has convulsed some U.S. cities.Trump has planted himself firmly on the side of gun owners with a "law and order" campaign. Before his remark about Clinton yesterday, he had said Islamic State militants who killed 130 people in France last year could have been stopped if some of the victims had been armed.The Clinton campaign has challenged Trump when in the past he has accused her of planning to abolish the Second Amendment if elected president. Clinton, in her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, said, "I'm not here to repeal the Second Amendment," saying she wanted "common-sense reforms" to gun laws.Yesterday's speech came on the heels of a discordant week on the campaign trail for Trump, a businessman seeking his first public office. He came under fire from within his party for belatedly endorsing fellow Republicans in re-election races and a prolonged clash with the parents of fallen Muslim American Army captain Humayun Khan.On Monday, Trump seemed to be heeding Republican advice to stick to a message of criticizing Clinton and other Democrats while putting forward economic policy proposals in a speech in Detroit.Trump's vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, asked if he believed Trump was inciting violence toward Clinton, told NBC's Philadelphia affiliate: "Of course not. No."But Democrats called Trump's remarks another sign of a candidate unfit for the White House."Don't treat this as a political misstep. It's an assassination threat, seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy & crisis," US Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, said in a tweet.Overall sentiment on social media posts on Trump's remarks was more negative than positive, at a ratio of 2.5 to 1, according to the social media analytics firm Zoomph. #ProtectHillary was also one of the top trending hashtags on Twitter.The 50 prominent national security officials said in their letter on Monday that Trump would be "the most reckless president in American history.""He appears to lack basic knowledge about and belief in the US Constitution, US laws and US institutions, including religious tolerance, freedom of the press, and an independent judiciary," their statement said. REUTERS SDR 0559 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-880142.Xml
"Deeply shocked and saddened by the terrorist attack which caused grave casualties in Quetta, Pakistan. We express our strong condemnation. Our hearts go out to the families of those killed and injured, and we mourn for the lives lost," the Express Tribune quoted Chinese foreign ministry statement as saying.
The statement added that Beijing opposes all forms of terrorism.
"We will always stand behind the Pakistani side in its fight against terrorism and its campaign for stability of the country and security of the people," it added.
Japan also condemned the attack, saying, "Japan strongly condemns such act of terrorism which targets innocent people as inexcusable."
The press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in a statement said it intends to support efforts by the Pakistan government to combat terrorism in cooperation with the international community.
French President Franois Hollande also expressed solidarity to the people Pakistan.
A statement issued by the deputy spokesperson of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, "France condemns the cowardly attack that targeted the Quetta Civil hospital in Baluchistan. We express our condolences to the families and friends of the victims and assure Pakistan of its solidarity in the fight against terrorism."
A suicide bomber on Monday targeted the emergency services ward at Quetta's Civil Hospital killing over 70 people and leaving scores injured.
Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) splinter group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), claimed responsibility for the bombing which occurred at the gates of the building housing the emergency ward.
The blast took place after a number of lawyers had gathered at the hospital following the death of the president of the Balochistan Bar Association in a separate shooting incident the same day. (ANI)
Within less than two years of the launching of the 46 billion dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), several projects today are facing delays or are in danger of being closed. One such project is the 870-megawatt Suki Kinari hydroelectric power project, part of CPEC which is valued at USD 1.8 billion. The project may be delayed by at least one year as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has so far failed to resolve the land acquisition issue, the Express Tribune reports. Another is the Punjab-based 330MW coal-based power project. A major Chinese firm bowed out of the USD 590 million mine-mouth project that was scheduled to start electricity production by end-2017. The project was a key component of the high profile CPEC launched last year by President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) has lost interest in the project because of issues relating to feasibility of producing enough energy for running the project. Another reason was the tariff allowed by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) that was lower than its expectations. The Dawn quoted Sami Rafi Siddiqui, spokesman for the Private Power and Infrastructure Board the one-window organisation for private power projects, as saying that the project was not moving. Similarly, reports also suggest that five CPEC energy projects worth around USD 7 billion are at risk of being axed due to slow pace of their development. While one project relates to mining coal in Thar, the remaining are power plants which are listed to generate 4,620 megawatts of power. Four of these projects fall under the 'priority' schemes category and have to be completed by December 2018. But if the decides to drop these schemes from CPEC, Sindh's share in the mega project is said to fall from USD 11.3 billion to roughly $6.7 billion and Balochistan's share to fall around USD 7 billion. The projects reportedly facing the axe are four Sindh-based schemes, including the Engro surface mine in Block-II of Thar Coal with a capacity of 3.8 million metric tonnes per annum, the 1,320MW Engro Thar coal-fired power plant, the 1,320MW Sino-Sindh Resource Limited Power Plant in Thar Coal Block-I, and the 1,320MW Thar Mine Mouth Oracle coal-fired power plant. The water and power ministry has directed sponsors of these projects to complete them by the December 2018 deadline. If not they would face ejection from the multibillion-dollar project. Even the $2.1-billion, 878-kilometre-long Matiari-Lahore Transmission Line planned to supply 4,000 megawatts of electricity produced from coal in Sindh to cities in Punjab under the CPEC is said to have become unviable reportedly owing to the government's decision to give priority to power projects in Punjab. Officials of the ministries of water and power, and planning and development owing to delays in commissioning of power generation projects in southern parts said there would not be much load available to lift from Sindh, raising question mark over the feasibility of the project. The scheme was among the priority projects that Beijing and Islamabad wanted to complete by December 2018 in the first phase of the CPEC construction. The officials initially said that the government planned to give high priority to coal-based power plants in Sindh and transmit electricity to Punjab. However, the priority has shifted to three LNG-based, 3,600MW power plants that are being setup in Punjab and a 1,320MW coal-based plant in Sahiwal. (ANI)
Voicing concern over the leaked reports revealing widespread abuse and trauma among children and women at Australia's offshore detention centre for asylum seekers on the Pacific island of Nauru, the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, has said it is "gravely concerned by the reports". "Although UNHCR is not able to verify the individual incidents raised by the reports, the documents released are broadly consistent with UNHCR's longstanding and continuing concerns regarding mental health, as well as overall conditions for refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru," it said in a statement. UNHCR has observed and reported a progressive deterioration in the situation of refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru through its regular visits since 2012, reports the Guardian. Meanwhile, a number of former Save the Children workers from the Nauru Regional Processing Centre (RPC) including, case managers, social workers, child protection specialists, teachers, and adult, child and youth recreation workers, called for the closure of the RPC and the immediate transfer of all asylum seekers and refugees on Nauru to Australia. Another advocacy group ChilOut campaigning against children in immigration detention, has also expressed concern for the 49 children believed to still be on Nauru in immigration detention. "These most vulnerable children have been placed in singularly dangerous and shameful environments in Nauru. Australia needs to stop this systematic and institutionalised abuse of children," said ChilOut's campaign coordinator and human rights lawyer, Niru Palanivel. The Australia Government outsources the processing of asylum seekers who arrive in the country by boat to two privately run facilities one on Nauru and another on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. This was done to stop the influx as the number of asylum seekers travelling to Australia by boat rose sharply in 2012 and early 2013. (ANI)
However, at the same time, there was an acknowledgement that a network of 'facilitators' within the country provided an enabling environment for the external enemy.
At a corps commanders' conference held here yesterday, top military commanders believed that the terrorist threat is transforming because of a growing nexus between hostile actors in the neighbourhood and 'facilitators' within the country.
The meeting, a monthly feature, was significant because of Monday's terror attack on a Quetta hospital, which left at least 70 people dead, Pakistan daily Dawn reported, quoting a statement from the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).
An upcoming high-level security meeting is expected to take important decisions, with regards to future direction of counter-terrorism operations.
"Participants of the conference were given detailed briefings on ongoing military operations and overall external and internal security situation in the country with particular reference to counter-terrorism domain," it added.
Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif told his commanders that the Quetta attack was an attempt to undermine the successes of operation Zarb-i-Azb, which is in its final phase.
He had said on Monday that the target of the attack was the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
"By adopting a whole of nation approach, the armed forces would not allow anyone to reverse our gains against terrorism," the Army chief added.
The ISPR said the commanders had been directed "to provide all necessary assistance to provincial LEAs in their capacity building through training, resourcing and planning so as to integrate them effectively in counter-terrorism operations".UNI XC SV RJ 1343
-- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0103-880513.Xml
A meeting at the Communist Party of Nepal- Maoist Centre headquarters yesterday entrusted party chairman Dahal the task of selecting ministers from the party.
He is likely to select Janardan Sharma as Minister for Energy, Ram Karki as Minister for Information and Communication, Pravu Sah as Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Hitraj Pande as Minister for Federal Affairs and Local Development and Dhaniram Poudel as Minister for Education, reports the Kathmandu Post.
The meeting held yesterday also held discussions on making the Cabinet inclusive with the inclusion of women.
Meanwhile, the Nepali Congress, the key coalition partner, has its own fair share of struggles in selecting the ministers.
With too many aspirants, party president Sher Bahadur Deuba is yet to make picks for the ministers in the new government.
Deuba had last Saturday informed Dahal that his party would send ministers to the government after the conclusion of the general convention of the Nepal Students' Union, sister wing of the party.
The NSU's convention kicked off on Sunday and was supposed to conclude on Tuesday, but its closed session was postponed on Monday following some disputes over representatives.
The convention's closed session has been rescheduled for today. (ANI)
A year after hundreds of thousands of refugees snaked their way across southeastern Europe and onto global television screens, the roads through the Balkans are now clear, depriving an arguably worsening tragedy of poignant visibility.Europe's migrant crisis is at the very least numerically worse than it was last year. More people are arriving and more are dying. But the twist is that, compared with last year, a lot of it is out of sight.Take the border between Greece and Macedonia. Summer crops have replaced the city of tents at the border outpost of Idomeni, even if some locals are convinced there is an unseen population hiding in the surrounding forests, waiting for smugglers to assist them on their onward journey.The tiny Greek village was a focal point of the migrant flow north towards Germany and other wealthy countries, with thousands of refugees squatting for months waiting for sealed borders with Macedonia to openElsewhere in the Balkans, a Reuters photographer, revisiting the people-packed locations where he and his colleagues captured last year's diaspora, found empty roads, unencumbered railway tracks and bucolic countryside.More than one million people fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan made their way to Europe last year, with the majority of them crossing the precarious sea corridor separating Greece and Turkey, the temporary home for more than 2 million refugees displaced from Syria.They came carrying their worldly belongings in plastic bags and hauling babies on weary shoulders, a visual exodus of the kind not seen in Europe since the end of World War Two.Many have since reached their destination in northern Europe, but with the borders closed and the European Union now attempting to contain the numbers, thousands are stuck at holding centres in Greece and Italy.They are not so nearly visible there - nor are the ones still coming.VISIBILITY DOWN, ARRIVALS UPAccording to data from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), arrivals are up 17 per cent on last year, stoked mainly by a spike at the start of the year through Greece.Deaths among those trying to get to Europe, mainly due to drowning, are up more than 15 per cent."This is not a blip," said David Miliband, a former British foreign minister who now heads the International Rescue Committee, an aid group set up by Albert Einstein - himself a refugee - to rescue Europeans before the outbreak of World War Two."The forces that are driving more and more people from their homes - weak states, big tumults within the Islamic world, a divided international system .. None of these things are likely to abate soon."Some of the mantle of accepting huge migrant flows that was carried by Greece last year and the beginning of this one has been taken up by Italy.This follows a resurgence of migrant flows from northern Africa. More than 140,000 asylum seekers are now housed in Italian shelters, a seven-fold increase on 2013, with the migrant crisis in its third year.In Greece, where arrivals plunged in the wake of an accord between Turkey and the EU to stem the flow in March, an estimated 57,000 migrants were still stuck in the country by August 8.Campaigners say the accord has lulled policymakers into a false sense of accomplishment by allowing them to believe that Europe's migration problem has been solved."By outsourcing the responsibility to Turkey and to Greece, European governments are basically saying 'we have solved the crisis because we don't see it, and we can't smell it and we can't hear it," said Gauri van Gulik, deputy Europe director at Amnesty International."The crisis is as big as ever, and as yet unsolved by governments," she told Reuters.IOM data says that 258,186 people arrived in Europe by the end of July, compared with 219,854 over the same period in 2015.There were 3,176 fatalities by August 7, outpacing the 2,754 who died in the first eight months of last year, a slightly longer period."Its absolutely incredible because if you think about the panic this caused last year and the incentive there was to really get some policy changes in place, nothing has happened," Van Gulik said.REUTERS JW RAI1635 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-880930.Xml
Five Malian soldiers have been found drowned in central Mali, army officials said today, days after five soldiers went missing during clashes with militants.Four of the soldiers were found near Tenenkou yesterday evening and a fifth near the town of Mopti, about 75 km (47 miles) away on Wednesday morning, army spokesman Souleymane Maiga told Reuters.A group of soldiers was reported missing after an attack claimed by Islamist group Ansar Dine near the village of Tenenkou on Sunday.Officials did not confirm whether the drowned soldiers were the same soldiers who went missing over the weekend. It was not immediately clear how the soldiers drowned.Sunday's attack was the latest in a string of assaults claimed by Ansar Dine. The group said in a statement that it had ambushed the army, killing and wounding soldiers, according to SITE Intelligence Group. Fighting continued into Monday.Islamist militant groups took advantage of an ethnic Tuareg uprising in 2012 to seize northern Mali before a French-led intervention drove them back a year later. They have since reorganised and launch frequent attacks across the region. REUTERS JW PR1645 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-880945.Xml
Afghan forces, backed by the United States, have killed an estimated 300 Islamic State fighters in an operation mounted two weeks ago, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan said today, calling it a severe blow to the group.General John Nicholson said the offensive in the eastern province of Nangarhar was part of US operations to degrade the capabilities of Islamic State wherever it raised its head, whether in Iraq and Syria or in Afghanistan.The group, believed to be confined to three or four of the more than 400 districts in Afghanistan, last month claimed responsibility for bombing a demonstration by the Shi'ite Hazara minority in the capital, Kabul, in which at least 80 people were killed.Nicholson, in New Delhi for talks with the Indian military which has provided training and some arms to Afghanistan, said Afghan forces supported by the United States had just carried out a counter-terrorism operation against Islamic State."They killed a number of top leaders of the organisation and upto 300 of their fighters," he told reporters."Obviously it's difficult to get an exact count, but what this amounts to is about 25 per cent of the organisation at least, and so this represents a severe setback for them."Islamic State first appeared in Afghanistan at the beginning of 2015, and had about 3,000 fighters at the height of the movement, many of them former members of militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.Previously considered a much smaller threat than its bitter enemies the Taliban, the group's bomb attack in Kabul underlined how dangerous it could be, even without holding large tracts of territory.Yesterday, another US military official said American soldiers helping Afghan troops fight Islamic State in Nangarhar were forced to abandon equipment and weapons when their position came under fire.Fighters from the group had circulated photographs of a rocket launcher, grenades, ammunition, identification cards, an encrypted radio and other equipment they said they had seized.By being more aggressive, the Afghan military were more successful this year against the Taliban than in 2015, when they lost 5,000 men, Nicholson said.The killing of Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Mansour in a US drone strike in Pakistan had been a greater blow to the group than they had let on, partly because the Taliban were having trouble getting control of the finances he dealt with, Nicholson said. REUTERS JW PR1645 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-880948.Xml
Turkey said today the European Union was making grave mistakes in its response to Turkey's failed coup and was losing support for EU membership from Turks as a result.Ankara has argued that the United States and Europe have shown undue concern over a crackdown following the abortive July 15 coup but indifference to the putsch itself.More than 240 people, many of them civilians, were killed when a faction of the army commandeered tanks and warplanes in an attempt to topple the government. More than 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and education have been detained, suspended or placed under investigation since."Unfortunately the EU is making some serious mistakes. They have failed the test following the coup attempt," foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview with state-run Anadolu Agency."Support for EU membership used to be around 50 per cent of the population, I assume it is around 20 percent now."Turkish accession talks have progressed only slowly since beginning in 2005, with several key EU countries expressing doubts the country could be ready for membership in the forseeable future. Similarly, support in Turkey itself for the ambition has fluctuated.President Tayyip Erdogan yesterday took a big step toward normalising relations with Russia, meeting President Vladimir Putin in a visit to St Petersburg, his first foreign trip since the failed putsch.The visit was closely watched in the West, where some fear that both men, powerful leaders critics say are ill-disposed to dissent, might use their rapprochement to exert pressure on Washington and the European Union and stir tensions within NATO, the military alliance of which Turkey is a member.'LOSING' TURKEYCavusoglu said Turkey's rapprochement with Russia was not intended to unsettle Europe or the United States. However, he also warned the West against the possibility of one day "losing" Turkey."We are not amending our relations with Russia to send a message to the West," he told Anadolu. "If the West loses Turkey one day, it will not be because of Turkey's relations with Russia, China, or the Islamic world, but rather because of themselves."Putin yesterday said Moscow would gradually phase out sanctions against Ankara, imposed after the Turks shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border nine months ago, and that bringing ties to their pre-crisis level was the priority.Cavusoglu also indicated that Turkey could find common ground with Russia on Syria, where they have been on opposing sides of the conflict. Moscow backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey says Assad is a dictator who must be removed."We think similarly regarding the ceasefire, humanitarian aid and (the need for) political resolution in Syria. We may think differently on how to implement the ceasefire," he said.He also said that Turkey was building a "strong mechanism" with Russia to find a solution in Syria, and a delegation including the foreign ministry, military and intelligence officials will go to Russia today for talks. REUTERS JW RAI1734 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-881099.Xml
Russia's Federal Security Service said today it had thwarted an armed Ukrainian incursion into Crimea designed to target critical infrastructure and that a Russian soldier and FSB employee had been killed in the clashes.The FSB said the attempted incursions had taken place over the weekend.REUTERS JW BD1827 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-881281.Xml
Turkey said today the European Union was fuelled by anti-Turkish sentiment and hostility to President Tayyip Erdogan and was making grave mistakes in its response to a failed coup which was costing it the trust of ordinary Turks.Erdogan and many Turks have been incensed by what they see as the undue concern of Europe over a crackdown after the abortive July 15 putsch but indifference to the bloody events themselves, in which more than 240 people were killed."Unfortunately the EU is making some serious mistakes. They have failed the test following the coup attempt ... Their issue is anti-Turkey and anti-Erdogan sentiment," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told the state-run Anadolu Agency."We have worked very hard towards EU (membership) these past 15 years. We never begged, but we worked very hard ... Now two out of three people are saying we should stop talks with the EU."More than 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and education have been detained, suspended or placed under investigation since the coup attempt, in which rogue soldiers commandeered tanks and warplanes to try to take power.Some of Turkey's European allies are concerned Erdogan, already seen as an authoritarian leader, is using the coup attempt as an excuse to further tighten his grip. Turkish officials dismiss such claims, saying the purges are justified by the gravity of the threat posed by the putsch.Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern has said Europe needs to think again about Turkey's possible EU membership."I am interested in a fundamental discussion," he said today in an interview with broadcaster ORF."That fundamental discussion is: Can we accept someone within the EU who does not adhere to democratic standards, who has difficulty with human rights, and who ignores humanitarian necessities and necessities regarding the rule of law?"Turkey began EU accession talks in 2005 but has made scant progress despite an initial burst of reforms. Many EU states are not eager to see such a large, mostly Muslim country as a member, and are concerned that Ankara's record on basic freedoms has gone into reverse in recent years.'LOSING' TURKEYErdogan on Tuesday took a big step toward normalising ties with Russia, meeting President Vladimir Putin in a visit to St Petersburg, his first foreign trip since the failed putsch.The visit was closely watched in the West, where some fear both men, powerful leaders ill-disposed to dissent, might use their detente to pressure Washington and the European Union and stir tensions within NATO, of which Turkey is a member."We're not mending relations with Russia to send a message to the West," Cavusoglu said. "If the West loses Turkey one day, it will not be because of Turkey's relations with Russia, China, or the Islamic world, but rather because of themselves."NATO said today that Turkey's membership was not in question and that Ankara could count on its solidarity and support after the failed coup, which has triggered deep purges in the alliance's second-largest armed forces.Putin said on Tuesday Moscow would gradually phase out sanctions against Ankara, imposed after the Turks shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border nine months ago, and that bringing ties to their pre-crisis level was the priority.Cavusoglu also indicated that Turkey could find common ground with Russia on Syria, where they have been on opposing sides of the conflict. Moscow backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey says he is a dictator who must be removed."We think similarly regarding the ceasefire, humanitarian aid and (the need for) political resolution in Syria," Cavusoglu said, although he added the two may think differently on how to implement the ceasefire.He said Turkey was building a "strong mechanism" with Russia to find a solution in Syria, and a delegation including the foreign ministry, military and intelligence officials would go to Russia today for talks. REUTERS JW PR1929 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-881494.Xml
-Pakistani lawyer Ataullah Lango had just arrived at the Civil Hospital in the southwestern city of Quetta to mourn the slain head of his provincial bar association when he heard a loud explosion and felt the pain of glass stabbing his face.He lost some 60 colleagues in the suicide bombing that decimated the leadership of this tight-knit legal fraternity, probably for years."The cream of our legal fraternity has been martyred," Lango told Reuters at the house of the slain bar president."Our senior leaders ... are now gone."Pakistan has endured a wave of militant attacks in recent years, but lawyers have not been singled out on such a scale before.That changed on Monday when a suicide bomber struck a crowd of lawyers who had crammed into a hospital emergency department to accompany the body of Bilal Anwar Kasi, president of the 3,000-member Baluchistan Bar Association.At least 74 people were killed, most of them lawyers, in Pakistan's worst bombing this year, claimed by both a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, and the Middle East-based Islamic State.Across Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province surrounded by mountains, lawyers gathered for funeral prayers on Wednesday, visited families of lost friends, shouted slogans at protests and urged the government to protect them better.Baluchistan is no stranger to violence, with separatist fighters launching regular attacks on security forces for nearly a decade and the military striking back.Islamist militants, particularly sectarian groups, have also launched a campaign of suicide bombings and assassinations of minority Shi'ites.After Monday's attack, the legal community in Baluchistan and across the country said it felt leaderless but also vowed unity.Kasi's younger brother, Shoaib Kasi, himself an attorney, said the attacker had "pre-planned" to first kill the bar association president and then target the hospital, knowing that mourners would gather there."It will take centuries for us to make up this loss," lawyer Abdul Aziz Lehri told Reuters at the district court building, largely deserted due to a strike by his colleagues.The president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Ali Zafar, called the attack a "turning point", and gave the government until Thursday to present a security plan to protect lawyers and other "soft targets".ANGER AND DEFIANCEEmotions ran high at a press conference where lawyers expressed anger, particularly against the country's powerful military, but also voiced defiance."We are not tense because of the terrorists," said senior lawyer Manzoor ul Hassan. "We have sadness, of course, but no fear."Lawyers have held a special place in Pakistan's democratic process.A lawyers' movement emerged as the vanguard of a campaign against the then army chief Pervez Musharraf after he suspended the country's top judge in 2007 for opposing plans to extend the general's term in office.Lawyers organised convoys travelling from city to city to support ousted chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, and the government was forced to re-instate him.Musharraf emerged from the confrontation a much diminished figured and stepped down as president in 2008."Lawyers were the targets, because we fight for the rights of the people," Ali Zafar told the press conference. "They think we will be weakened ... I say we will become stronger."Prominent lawyer Ali Ahmed Kurd said those left would carry the torch."The juniors who are left, they are filled with the passion for working hard, for honesty ... that will make up the difference," Kurd told Reuters in Quetta.But he added that the lawyers of Baluchistan were afraid to call a meeting of the bar association to map out the legal fraternity's next steps."If you convene a meeting now, who will come?" Kurd said. "There's no one. None is left." REUTERS CJ GC2105 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-881695.Xml
People pose for photos in front of the monument at the atomic bomb hypocenter to commemorate the 71st anniversary of U.S. atomic bombing, at the Peace Park in Nagasaki, on Aug. 9, 2016. To accelerate Japan's surrender in the World War II, the U.S. forces dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)
NAGASAKI, Japan, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Nagasaki, a southwest Japanese city, marked the 71st anniversary of atomic bombing on Tuesday, amid calls from ordinary Japanese people for reflecting on the country's aggression history.
The annual event, held at the city's Peace Park, was itself once again short of any apology to Japan's neighbors for the war crimes committed by the Imperial Japanese Army and also without any reflection on Japan's militarist history of invasion.
Nagasaki was A-bombed on Aug. 9, 1945. Three days earlier, Hiroshima was A-bombed. The United States dropped the two bombs in a bid to accelerate Japan's surrender in WWII.
Japan was a major aggressor that launched wars of aggression against China, Southeast Asian countries and the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. Six days after the Nagasaki bombing, Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces.
Reflecting on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki tragedy, Tokyo has always focused on Japan's much-trumpeted victimhood, evading the fact that the root cause of the U.S. bombings lies in Japan's militaristic aggression and brutal violence against other countries.
At Tuesday's event, Tomihisa Taue, mayor of Nagasaki city, urged the government to enshrine into law its Three Non-Nuclear Principles of not possessing, not producing and not permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons on its soil.
Toyokazu Ihara, representative of atomic bombing survivors, who was nine years old when the bombing took place in Nagasaki, addressed the ceremony, calling on the government to abolish controversial securities bills which are contrary to the country's pacifist constitution and abandon dependence on the U.S. nuclear umbrella.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the revisionist premier and also a hawkish nationalist, also attended the ceremony and delivered a speech. As he stepped up to the platform, angry shouts were heard from the crowd, "Abe Out!"
Abe did not mention the historical background and root cause of the atomic bombings, nor did he offer apology for the war atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army.
Hundreds of people and several Japanese civic groups rallied around the Peace Park, protesting against Abe's attendance at the ceremony and criticizing Abe for his wrong view of history and policies including new security bills.
"We strongly oppose the security-related bills," "Retract the war bills," shouted the protesters, holding banners.
Asai Ryunosuke, a citizen from southwest Japan's Miyazaki prefecture, told Xinhua that "Prime Minister Abe's visit to Nagasaki is an insult to war victims in Japan and Asia," "His abuses on peace memorial is intolerable."
Ryunosuke blamed the Abe administration for not offering apology for or reflecting on the aggression war. "He absolutely does not think the war is wrong in his heart," he added.
The Abe administration rolled out policies including security bills which might trigger wars, adopted hostile attitude to some Asian countries including China and hyped up "threat theory" and "sense of crisis" in order to seek excuse for war preparations, he said.
Referring to a huge stockpile of weapons-grade nuclear materials in Japan, Ryunosuke said Japan's intention to produce nuclear weapons is absolutely clear despite the Abe administration's claim to abandon nuclear weapons.
As for Japan's aggression history, he said Japanese schools do not tell students about it; Japanese media, meanwhile, focuses on suffering of Japan in the war. As a result, most Japanese do not know the country's militarist history of invasion.
"Many Japanese know Japan suffered a lot in the wars, but don't know its Asian neighbors were victimized by Japan's brutal aggression and colonial rule," he said.
Kitahara Hiroki, a citizen from southwest Japan's Fukuoka prefecture, also condemned Abe's historical revisionism, saying millions of people in Asia died in wars waged by Japan and the real reason for Nagasaki tragedy lies in the war of aggression.
Japan has adhered to its post-war tradition of pacifism to avoid mistakes in future, but "Abe is doing exactly the opposite," with the aim to get rid of the postwar system and fundamentally overturn the postwar social form in Japan, he said.
"Amending Japan's pacifist Constitution has been put on agenda now," said Hiroki, stressing that "I'm resolutely opposed to Abe's attendance at today's ceremony."
BRATISLAVA, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Slovakia's foreign trade produced a surplus of 1.793 billion euros (about 1.99 billion U.S. dollars) between January and May in 2016, rising by 36.7 million euros year-on-year, the Slovak Statistical Office announced Tuesday.
The highest surplus was recorded with Germany, 2.081 billion euros, followed by Britain (1.307 billion euros) and France (966.1 million euros).
The largest deficits were in foreign-trade with China (1.741 billion euros), South Korea (1.553 billion euros) and Russia (522.7 million euros).
Goods worth 28.559 billion euros were exported from Slovakia in the first five months of this year, increased by 3.9 percent compared to the same period of 2015, while the total import saw an increase of 4 percent year-on-year to 26.766 billion euro-worth of goods.
In relations to the most significant trade partners, imports increased respectively from Germany and China by 9.2 percent and 8.9 percent, while imports from South Korea and Russia were down by 6.3 percent and 35.6 percent. (1 euro = 1.11 U.S. dollars) Enditem
BRUSSELS, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- About 74 percent of Europeans want the European Union (EU) to do more to manage the situation, according to the latest Eurobarometer poll commissioned by the European Parliament.
According to the poll results posted Tuesday on the European Parliament website, about two thirds of respondents said EU action on migration was insufficient.
The Eurobarometer survey was conducted among 27,969 people from all EU countries on April 9-18.
According to EU border agency Frontex, the total number of detections of illegal crossings in the EU external borders reached 1.83 million in 2015 (compared to 283,500 the year before) although it should be noted that a person can illegally cross an external border more than once and thus may be counted more than once too.
Europe is faced with a significant influx of migrants: hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty are traveling to Europe in search of safety and a better life. As the EU searches for the best approach to deal with this unprecedented increase in migration, members of the European Parliament press for a comprehensive and fair asylum system.
On July 6, members of the European Parliament voted in favor of creating an EU border control system that will bring together the EU's border agency Frontex and national border management authorities.
CHICAGO, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) grains futures closed mixed Tuesday, with soybeans rising for a fifth straight session, while corn futures fell slightly.
The most active corn contract for December delivery was down 2.25 cents, or 0.67 percent, to 3.325 dollars per bushel. September wheat delivery kept unchanged at 4.17 dollars per bushel. November soybeans was up 3 cents, or 0.3 percent, to 9.88 dollars per bushel.
Analysts said export demand for U.S. soybean supplies and supply concerns continues to support prices.
"The market's optimism for strong U.S. export demand was bolstered after the USDA reported yet another large sale of beans to China," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy, Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
The USDA pegged 72 percent of the soybean crop at good to excellent, unchanged from a week earlier and matching analysts' expectations.
USDA said 74 percent of the corn crop was rated good to excellent, below market expectations of 75 percent good to excellent.
Market attention is turning to the next USDA report on Friday. The government is broadly expected to increase its U.S. corn and soy production forecasts. Enditem
File photo taken on Feb. 4, 2016, shows Pollyana Rabello (L), holding her baby, Luiz Philipe, who was born with microcephaly, in their house in Marica, Rio de Janeiro state. Brazil has confirmed 1,581 cases of microcephaly related to the Zika virus since October last year, the Health Ministry said on June 15, 2016. (Xinhua/Daniel Castelo Branco/Agencia o Dia/AGENCIA ESTADO)
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. state of Florida has identified four new Zika cases who likely contracted the virus through a mosquito bite locally, bringing the total number there to 21, the state's Governor Rick Scott said Tuesday.
So far, Florida is the only U.S. state that has reported homegrown Zika transmission by mosquitoes.
Scott said that active transmissions were only taking place within a less than one-square-mile (2.6-square-kilometer) area just north of downtown Miami, known as Wynwood.
Scott criticized the U.S. federal government for failing to fulfill the state's requests such as an additional 10,000 Zika prevention kits for pregnant women.
"The federal government must stop playing politics and Congress needs to immediately come back to session to resolve this," he said in a statement.
"This is not only an issue affecting us here in Florida -- this is a national issue. Florida is just at the head of it with the first cases of local transmission of Zika," said Scott.
U.S. President Barack Obama has requested 1.9 billion dollars to combat Zika, but members of Congress left for a seven-week recess in mid-July without approving any Zika-fighting funds.
UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday deplored the killing of four children earlier this week in Yemen, calling for all parties to the conflict to keep children out of harm's way.
The UN agency said in a statement that the four were killed, and three others injured on Sunday in the Nihm District, east of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, said at a daily news briefing here.
UNICEF said since the escalation of the conflict in March of last year, at least 1,121 children were killed and another 1,650 were injured.
"The actual numbers are likely to be much higher," the UNICEF statement said.
"UNICEF urges all parties to the conflict in Yemen to adhere to International Humanitarian Law and keep children out of harm's way," said the statement.
The UN accused both the Yemeni warring parties of using child soldiers, and it is reported that 900 children were killed while 1,300 were wounded during the 2015 conflict.
The Iran-allied Shiite Houthi group supported by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh advanced from their stronghold in the far north of the province of Saada, storming through the capital Sanaa and other cities in September 2014, dissolving the Saudi-backed government along with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi based on combating "corruption" allegations.
The Saudi-led air force coalition intervened in March 2015, triggering an all-out civil war and vowing to reinstate Hadi to power and reclaim Sanaa.
The civil war has escalated since then, leaving over 6,000 dead so far in ground battles and airstrikes, half of whom are civilians.
The ongoing conflict has also forcibly displaced over 2.4 million people from Yemen.
LISBON, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of people across mainland Portugal and Madeira were forced to leave their homes due to forest fires which spread rapidly on Tuesday.
Over 940 firefighters are on the ground to fight the forest fires, according to local media reports.
In Madeira, hundreds of people left their homes and two fire fighters were injured.
On Tuesday evening, the government is sending a fire fighting force to the Madeira regions affected, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said.
Mayor of Funchal Paulo Cafofo told local media that people are being forced to leave the areas of Babosas and Curral dos Romeiros.
The Hotel Choupana Hills has also been evacuated due to the fire, which has been spreading due to strong wind.
Earlier Tuesday, President of the Regional Government of Madeira Miguel Albuquerque said two firefighters were injured and needed hospital assistance.
Around 174 people needed medical assistance due to breathing problems.
An elderly man who refused to abandon his home suffered severe injuries and was flown in an airforce plane to the burns unit of the hospital in Lisbon Santa Maria.
Despite the alarming figures of people affected the government of Madeira said the fires were under control.
Other fires have raged in the past days through mainland Portugal affecting regions like Aveiro, Viseu, Leiria, Portalegre and Viana do Castelo.
RAMALLAH, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday that contacts are still going on to hold the international conference for peace in the Middle East before the end of this year.
Abbas told a convention for his Fatah Party held in Ramallah that the contacts are held with all international parties and in coordination with French side to gain enough international support for holding the peace conference.
He said the Palestinians back the French initiative for holding the international conference for peace and resolving the Palestinian cause, according to the Palestinian state-run news agency WAFA.
"Solving the Palestinian cause is by establishing an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital in 1967 borders," said Abbas.
On July 3, Paris hosted an international ministerial meeting which included the foreign ministers of 25 countries, including four Arab states, and debated the revival of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.
Last peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians were sponsored by the United States in 2014, lasted for nine months and ended in April without reaching an agreement to end their conflict that has been going on for decades.
Meanwhile, Abbas stressed that holding the municipal elections in the Palestinian territories in October is "a national commitment and essential for the Palestinian people."
UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Senior UN officials on Tuesday underlined indigenous peoples' right to education, calling on governments to improve access to education and ensure that the most vulnerable are not left behind as the journey to achieve the new UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) gets under way.
"In some countries, less than 40 percent of indigenous children attend school full-time," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message to mark the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. "In many others, few indigenous children complete a full high school education."
"This is unacceptable," the secretary-general said, underscoring that "we will not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals if we fail to address the educational needs of indigenous peoples."
The International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is observed on Aug. 9 each year to promote and protect the rights of the world's indigenous population. This event also recognizes the achievements and contributions that indigenous people make to improve world issues such as environmental protection.
This year's International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is devoted to the indigenous peoples' right to eduction. In spite of these instruments, the right to education has not been fully realized for most indigenous peoples, and a critical education gap exists between indigenous peoples and the general population.
Indigenous peoples regularly face stigmatization of their cultural identity and lack of respect and recognition for their heritage and values, including in textbooks and other educational materials.
Moreover, their marginalization is often compounded by language barriers as instruction is mainly in the national language, with little or no instruction in, or recognition of, indigenous languages, Ban said.
"I call on Governments everywhere to draw on the guidance of this international framework (the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) to improve access to education for indigenous peoples and to reflect their experiences and culture in places of learning," said the secretary-general.
Meanwhile, Ban also stressed the commitment to "ensuring indigenous peoples are not left behind as we pursue the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals."
The SDGs was approved by world leaders in September last year to serve as the blueprint for the global development efforts for the next 15 years.
Goal 4 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for ensuring equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.
Hailing indigenous peoples' crucial role as custodians to rich cultural diversity, carrying unique wisdom of sustainable living and respect for biodiversity, Irina Bokova, the director-general of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), reaffirmed the organization's determination to safeguard and promote their identities, languages and knowledge systems.
However, "nurturing and harnessing this potential calls for inclusive and equitable quality education for all," Bokova said, adding that "too many indigenous peoples are still denied the full right to quality education."
The right to education is fundamental, she said, also added that Indigenous knowledge systems hold many answers to mitigating the consequences of climate change.
"UNESCO will continue to draw on these to bolster scientific cooperation for biodiversity as well as education for sustainable development," she said.
This year's theme for the International Day -- Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Education -- reflects a core and underlying principle of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), said the director general of WIPO, Francis Gurry.
"WIPO's program of work in support of Indigenous Peoples focuses on appropriate tools, both existing or to be developed, to prevent the misuse of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions by third parties," said Gurry.
Also in his remarks on the International Day, Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, the executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), touched upon the challenges indigenous peoples continue to face, especially their right to access a culturally appropriate education inclusive of their histories, world views and traditional knowledge.
"The CBD works on several themes relevant to indigenous education, most significantly traditional knowledge, innovations and practices, and customary sustainable use of biological diversity," said Dias.
He added that the CBD Secretariat also works closely with indigenous peoples' regional and local organizations to deliver culturally appropriate training through a "train-the-trainer" methodology on participation in the implementation of the Convention.
Applauding for this year's timely theme, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the executive director of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), said the theme also aligns with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development's commitment to educational attainment among indigenous women and girls.
"Formal, non-formal and informal education are potent means to enhance the ability of indigenous women to reach their full potential," said Mlambo-Ngcuka, adding that "formal education must also be promoted to ensure that indigenous girls and women are able to effectively participate in all domains of social, economic and political activity."
However, she stressed that high levels of illiteracy among indigenous women regrettably attest to the historical patterns of discrimination and exclusion.
UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday welcomed the signing of a roadmap agreement by Sudanese opposition groups to end conflicts in Sudan.
The opposition groups signed the African Union-proposed roadmap agreement in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Monday, more than four months after the government of Sudan signed it on March 21.
The roadmap includes ceasefire arrangements in regions of South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur, and endorses a national dialogue between major stakeholders.
"The Secretary-General is encouraged by this valuable step towards ending the war and resolving the crises in Sudan," said a statement released by Ban's spokesperson.
Ban urged relevant parties to continue working toward an agreement on cessation of hostilities, humanitarian access to conflict areas and to reach a final political settlement through inclusive national dialogue.
The conflict in Darfur began in 2003 and there has been fighting between the Sudanese army and opposition groups in South Kordofan and Blue Nile since 2011.
Due to the conflicts, around 5.8 million people in Sudan are in need of humanitarian assistance.
UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly (UNGA) is expected to adopt an agreement on globally resolving issues on refugees and migrants at a high-level meeting to be held on Sept. 19, UNGA President Mogens Lykketoft said on Tuesday.
Lykketoft told reporters that member states have finalized negotiations on the draft agreement, which will act as "a solid base" to change the paradigm of how member states deal with the issues of refugees and migrants.
He said the current refugee and migrant crises are "manageable" based on international cooperation and the principle of shared responsibility.
The world is faced with unprecedented refugee and migrant crises due to wars and conflicts. UN statistics showed that 65.3 million people were displaced at the end of 2015.
The draft document proposed a comprehensive refugee response framework as well as a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration, which outline recommendations with regard to reception of refugees and migrants as well as supporting them with ongoing assistance.
The refugee and migrant issues will be one of the highlights for discussion during the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in September.
A series of high-level meetings will be held on this topic to figure out ways to tackle the challenges.
KIEV, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Igor Plotnytsky, the leader of independence-seeking insurgents in Ukraine's eastern Lugansk region, said Tuesday he came back to work three days after surviving an attempt on his life.
"The work of the authorities continues in the usual mode and I participate in the meetings and conferences on a regular basis," Plotnytsky said in a statement published by the insurgent-run Lugansk information center.
In his statement, the leader of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LNR) urged the public not to trust the "toxic rumors" about the deterioration of his health.
Plotnytsky was injured on Saturday morning when an explosive device went off near his car and he was hospitalized in Lugansk.
The Ukrainian security authorities suggested that Plotnytsky was in serious condition, while the self-styled Health minister of the self-proclaimed LNR Larysa Airapetyan said that the wounds were not life-threatening.
Plotnytsky has blamed the Ukrainian government for the explosion, while Kiev has denied the charges, saying it was not implicated in the blast.
Since April 2014, the Ukrainian army and rebels have been engaged in a military conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed some 9,400 people so far.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- The allegation in Turkish press that the Washington-based think tank Wilson Center was behind a failed coup in Turkey is "absolutely not helpful," the State Department said Tuesday.
"I think this sort of conspiracy theory, inflammatory rhetoric ... is absolutely not helpful," State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told a regular press briefing. "Conspiracy theories get us nowhere."
The failed coup attempt in Turkey last month has left more than 200 people dead and the authorities have since detained more than 18,000 people.
Pro-government Turkish newspapers have implicated a group of academics who were attending a conference organized by the Wilson Center on the island of Buyukada near Istanbul at the time of the coup.
"There was nothing clandestine or sinister about the conference, which brought together specialists on Iran, Turkey, and the Middle East," Haleh Esfandiari, a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson, wrote in an article published Tuesday on The Wall Street Journal.
Turkish authorities have accused U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating the coup attempt in coordination with a faction within the military.
An Istanbul court recently issued an arrest warrant for Gulen over his suspected role in the coup attempt, and Turkey has already sent its request to the United States to extradite Gulen.
Turkey-U.S. ties were strained by the failed coup amid Turkey's indication of U.S. involvement in it.
U.S. President Barack Obama last month denied any involvement in the coup attempt in Turkey.
Turkey, a NATO ally for the United States, is a major member of the U.S.-led coalition in the fight against the Islamic State terrorist group.
MELBOURNE, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- A prominent animal rights group has called on an Australian council to rename "Eggs and Bacon Bay" to a vegan alternative.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) proposed "Apple and Cherry Bay" as an alternative name to Tasmania's Huon Valley Council, where the popular fishing spot is located.
Ashley Fruno, associate director of campaigns for PETA Australia, said the group hoped the change would promote a healthier lifestyle for residents of the area.
"Considering the high levels of cholesterol and saturated fat in both eggs and bacon, the area may as well be called 'Heart Attack Bay'," Fruno told News Limited on Wednesday.
"The Huon Valley is famous for its delectable apples and cherries, so we are asking the council 'where's the fruit?' in the hope that it will apply to change the name to 'Apple and Cherry Bay'."
In a written submission to Huon Valley Mayor Peter Coad, Fruno said that 93 percent of Tasmanians did not eat enough fruit and that Tasmania had the highest rate of lap-band surgery in Australia.
"Reminding residents to stay away from cholesterol and fat-laden bacon and eggs and instead to eat the fresh plant produce of the Huon Valley might be just what the doctor ordered," she wrote.
Despite an offer of a vegan apple pie for every Huon Valley resident if the name is changed, locals took to social media to mock the proposal.
One person suggested the simple "Quinoa Cove" as an alternative while another said they think "egg, bacon, sausage and steak would be appropriate."
(Xinhua file photo)
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump got embroiled in a political firestorm on Tuesday after suggesting that supporters of gun rights could take action against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton if she wins the election.
During a campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, Trump repeated his claim that Clinton intends to abolish the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects Americans' right to keep guns, before appearing to make a joke about using violence to stop Clinton from picking a liberal Supreme Court justice.
"Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment," said Trump. "By the way, if she gets to pick her (Supreme Court) judges, nothing you can do, folks."
"Though the Second Amendment people, maybe there is," he added.
The Clinton campaign immediately seized on Trump's remarks, criticizing the New Yorker for instigating violence.
"This is simple -- what Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way," said the Clinton campaign in a statement.
Other Democrats piled on, with one Democratic senator equating Trump's remarks with "assassination threat" against Clinton.
The Trump campaign defended the nominee by arguing that Trump was talking about nothing other than encouraging gun rights supporters to vote against Clinton in November.
"It's called the power of unification -- Second Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power," said the Trump campaign in a statement.
"And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it won't be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump," it added.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- An Olympic media shuttle bus was attacked on the way back to Barra Olympic park here on Tuesday as one of its windows was broken.
According to Brazilian news hub UOL, the bus was hit two times after leaving Deodoro, north of Rio, for Barra Olympic park, southwest in the city. Police searched the bus and said it was stones, not bullets, to break the window.
Rio organizing committee has confirmed this accident and a special investigation force including the federal police is formed to review it.
Around 12 people were on the bus when this accident happened. Two of them suffered minor injuries. A journalist from Belarus suffered small cuts on the hand. A volunteer got injured on his arm.
Although police said it was stones hitting the window, passengers on the bus suspected it was small-caliber bullet. A Reuters photographer, who has experience in battlefield, said he also had the impression that the bus was hit by gunfire.
After the incident, all the buses leaving from Deodoro were escorted by the military.
HANOI, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- "Vietnamese people don't produce, buy, import or spray Agent Orange in the country, but we have been and continue to be victims of Agent Orange," Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has said.
Dam made the remarks at an international scientific seminar on assessments of the damage of Agent Orange/Dioxin used by the U.S. military during the War in Vietnam held by Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange here on Tuesday.
At the two-day seminar, for the first time, over 100 domestic and foreign scientists reached a consensus that over 80 million liters of herbicides were sprayed in Vietnam.
Some 61 percent of the herbicides was Agent Orange, directly affecting 4.8 million Vietnamese people, reported local Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberation of Sai Gon) online newspaper on Wednesday.
Participants at the seminar also discussed impacts of Agent Orange/Dioxin to the next generations and called on countries, organizations and individuals to join hands in supporting the victims.
HANOI, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- A court in Vietnam's northern China-bordering Lang Son province on Tuesday sentenced 11 people to death for smuggling some 280.24 km of heroin from the country to China from 2013 to 2014.
The other two defendants got life sentences, reported local Bao Giao Thong (Transport News) online newspaper on Wednesday.
According to the indictment, the 19-member drug smuggling ring was responsible for trafficking heroin from Vietnam's northern provinces to China, to rake in profit of some 10 billion Vietnamese dong (448,430 U.S. dollars) during the two-year period.
In December 2014, Vietnamese police arrested the ring and seized large quantities of illegal drugs.
Of the 19 ring members, as many as 13 were brought to trial, four have remained at large, one was dead before the trial began while the last member, a Chinese national, has been sent back to China.
Earlier in 2014, in what was one of Vietnam's largest narcotic cases, a court in Vietnam's capital Hanoi sentenced 29 people to death for trafficking more than 12 tons of heroin from Laos into Vietnam and China.
According to Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine will face death penalty.
The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death.
MOSCOW, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday met in St. Petersburg with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a bid to further stabilize bilateral cooperation.
This is their first meeting since Turkey downed a Russian warplane last November for alleged air space violation.
This is also Erdogan's first visit abroad after the failed coup attempt in Turkey last month.
During their meeting, a full range of bilateral cooperation issues were discussed, including the construction of a nuclear power plant and a Turkish gas pipeline, as well as coordination on regional issues like the Syrian crisis.
The two presidents promised to fully reactivate the intergovernmental commissions on economy, politics and foreign affairs for consultation on details of all-round cooperation, with a 2016-2019 mid-term cooperation program to be designed.
The meeting is expected by Russian experts to speed up the resumption of bilateral economic cooperation, as well as to pave the way for coordination of the two countries' stances on the Syrian crisis.
"Confrontation did not meet the interests of Russia or Turkey. Both sides suffered politically and economically," Dmitry Suslov, an expert at the Higher School of Economics of the National Research University, told Xinhua on Monday.
Another expert, Amur Gadjiev, a research fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that the strained bilateral ties have already dealt a serious blow to Turkey, particularly to its economy.
According to Erdogan, the trade turnover between Turkey and Russia once reached 35 billion U.S. dollars, but has fallen to about 28 billion dollars, even lower, after the warplane downing incident.
In this regard, Putin on Tuesday promised to gradually lift the economic restrictions introduced against Turkey, encouraging Russian businesses to cooperate with their Turkish counterparts.
Erdogan on his side assured facilitation for joint projects with Russia.
"We had set a goal of reaching a 100-billion-dollar trade turnover, and we are striving vigorously to achieve it," Erdogan said.
Russian experts said the strained Russia-Turkey relations also had a negative effect on Turkey's position in the region and on its role in international affairs.
Turkey has realized that there would be no support from the West in its confrontation with Russia, while Moscow knew that it is practically impossible to resolve the Syrian crisis and other issues in the Middle East and Central Asia without the participation of Ankara, they said.
Trying to find a way out of the diplomatic dilemma, Ankara has strengthened control over the Turkish-Syrian border to curb the traffic of terrorists, and reduced its support for radical militants operating in Syria, which did not go unnoticed in Moscow, Gadjiev said.
Turkey has been accused by Russia of supporting Syrian rebel groups, and the two sides have also differences on the support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Kurdish issue, among others.
The move toward normalization of relations must be progressive and gradual, Gadjiev commented.
CANBERRA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Australia's attorney-general said Wednesday he is "very confident" that Australian and Indonesian authorities have terrorism in the area under control.
Speaking from Indonesia ahead of a meeting between 20 counter-terrorism ministers from Oceania and southeast Asia this week, George Brandis praised Indonesia's role in fighting terrorism in the region.
"Indonesia has been an extremely helpful partner to Australia and I would go so far as to say that Australia and Indonesia together have led our region in the development of counter-terrorism strategies," Brandis told the ABC on Wednesday.
Brandis said that while it is impossible to guarantee complete safety from terrorist attacks, Indonesia and Australia have done as much as possible to counter the threat.
"We are very confident that the Indonesian authorities do have the situation under control," Brandis said on Wednesday.
"Of course, no country including Indonesia is immune from the threat. We saw that in Jakarta in January. But we've had terrorist outrages of course in Australia as well.
"But the Australian Government and Australia's police and intelligence authorities are working in a close partnership with their Indonesian counterparts to ensure that Indonesia's capability, our sharing of information with them, our co-operation ... is as good as it can be."
Justice Minister Michael Keenan, who will join Brandis at the ministerial summit in Bali, said the number of Australians who visit Indonesia each year made a strong relationship of paramount importance.
"Our national interest is in having the closest possible co-operation with Indonesian security agencies," Keenan told Fairfax Media on Wednesday.
BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Beijing police have launched a two-month crackdown on cyber crimes, according to authorities.
The operation is being carried out to restore online order and security, Beijing police said in a statement.
It will target cyber crime that damages political security, while also cracking down on online terrorism and other types of illegal information.
Police will pursue crimes related to pornography, gambling, guns, explosives and drugs.
The special operation also targets infringement of private information, telecommunications fraud, hacking, the spread of violence and terrorism, and damage to the social order.
Websites, online service providers and employees will also be subject to police inspection, it said.
SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- German carmaker BMW is required to recall about 12,000 vehicles for faulty baby seat latch, Seoul's transportation ministry said on Wednesday.
BMW Korea, the South Korean importer and distributor of BMW brand, will be subject to recalling 11,968 vehicles of 11 models, including X3 xDrive20i, that were produced between Nov. 19, 2010 and April 15 this year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Welding defect was found from latches for baby seat of the models, raising possibility for baby seat not to be fixed properly, the ministry said.
Owners of the vehicles will be allowed to repair free of charge from next Friday.
GM Korea, the South Korean unit of U.S.-based General Motors, will be subject to recalling 384 vehicles of Malibu and Alpheon models that were manufactured between July 9 and July 13.
Those vehicles have a faulty buckle in back seat belt. Owners of the vehicles can exchange the buckles free of charge from next Wednesday.
MONTREAL, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- The 12th World Social Forum began here Tuesday, with the forum organizers accusing the Canadian government of refusing hundreds of invitees' visas.
Most of the people being denied visas are from Africa and Latin America, including Aminata Traore, a high-profile anti-globalization activist and a former minister of tourism and culture in Mali.
Traore, who has been to Canada several times to give conferences on the same themes, told Radio Canada that the visa refusal is a stain on Canada's reputation as an open and democratic country.
"In reality, the West is more and more afraid of debates on ideas ... We are bearers of ideas, not bombs," said Traore, who is also a candidate to succeed Ban Ki-moon as UN secretary-general.
However, Immigration Canada blamed conference officials, saying the rules for visitor visas need to be followed rigorously, and the event's directors said they did all they could to facilitate the visa process.
The forum is aimed at finding "concrete alternatives to the neoliberal economic model and to policies based on the exploitation of human beings and nature."
The annual meeting this year, held from Wednesday to Sunday, was expected to bring together more than 50,000 activists and leftist intellectuals from around the world.
This year's forum has set several precedents as it is the first to be held in North America and the first to take place in a Group of 7 country.
HANOI, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam has been working on a scheme to grant electronic visas for foreign visitors next year, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said.
Phuc said at a national tourism development conference held in central Vietnam Tuesday that the government has allocated some 200 billion Vietnamese dong (8.97 million U.S. dollars) to speed up the implementation of the scheme so that e-visa system can be launched on January 1, 2017.
The move aims to attract more tourists to the country and boost the domestic tourism industry, local VNExpress online newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Phuc asked the ministries of finance, public security and foreign affairs to define e-visa fees and ensure foreign tourists are warmly welcomed upon arrival.
The e-visas will be issued to applicants in a printer-friendly email after they fill out an online application form. This system is believed to further speed up the entire visa process, according to Kenneth Atkinson, chairman of the Tourism Working Group under the Vietnam Business Forum.
Currently, a Vietnamese tourist visa may be obtained upon arrival at the country's international airports where tourists have to make long queues, or via Vietnamese embassies or consulates.
Vietnam has a visa waiver program for citizens from 21 countries, much fewer than other neighboring countries like Malaysia (164), the Philippines (157), Indonesia (45) and Thailand (52).
Last month, in an attempt to attract more visitors, Vietnam renewed the 15-day visa waiver policy for citizens of Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Italy for another year.
By 2020, Vietnam targets to attract 10 million to 10.5 million international visitors with tourism revenue reaching 18 billion to 19 billion U.S. dollars each year.
In the first seven months of this year, Vietnam received 5.55 million foreign tourists, a 24-percent year-on-year rise.
In 2016, Vietnam is set to welcome 8.5 million foreign tourists, up 6 percent over 2015. Tourism revenue is expected to hit more than 16 billion U.S. dollars, up 9 percent year-on-year, said Vietnam's General Statistics Office.
Jose Eduardo Cardozo, former justice minister and lawyer of Brazil's suspended President Dilma Rousseff, delivers a speech during a session of the Brazilian Senate in Brasilia Aug. 9, 2016. The Brazilian Senate decided Wednesday to give the go-ahead to an impeachment trial against suspended President Dilma Rousseff. (Xinhua/Andre Dusek/Agencia Estado)
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian Senate decided Wednesday to give the go-ahead to an impeachment trial against suspended President Dilma Rousseff.
At the end of a lengthy session that lasted over 15 hours, senators voted 59 to 21 to approve the trial, surpassing the 41 votes needed to open the trial.
Rousseff is accused of committing fiscal fraud in an attempt to balance the 2014 budget. She has not yet made comments on the Senate's decision.
According to earlier reports, the impeachment trial is expected to take place in late August or early September.
Related:
Brazil's Senate impeachment commission recommends removing Rousseff
BRASILIA, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Senate impeachment commission on Thursday recommended the full Senate remove suspended President Dilma Rousseff in an impeachment trial for alleged fiscal irregularities.
File photo taken on May 24, 2016 shows a music fountain in West Lake in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. Hangzhou is the host city for the 2016 G20 summit on Sept. 4 and Sept. 5. With one month to go, Hangzhou looks forward to G20. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)
BUENOS AIRES, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- China is poised to play a "crucial" role at the upcoming summit of G20 leaders in Hangzhou, serving to guide talks aimed at jump-starting the world economy, according to a leading Argentine economist.
"Important and powerful conflicting interests coexist within the G20," said Gustavo Girado, head of the Buenos Aires-based consulting firm Asia & Argentina.
"While most of its members seem to agree on the need to spur the global economy, it is not at all apparent whether they agree on how to go about it, so they can take joint measures. In that sense, China plays a crucial role and it appears to have taken due note of it," Girado said.
In the lead up to the Sept. 4-5 summit in China's eastern city of Hangzhou, Girado published his views on Monday in local financial daily BAE.
China's interests, said Girado, are more than ever linked to the progress of its partners, even small ones. It could cost this great economy a lot if its partners face economic and political limitations.
With that in mind, China will host the meeting with a willingness to rearrange core interests in the institutional and economic matters that gave rise to the G20, without losing sight of the fact that times have changed significantly since then, said Girado.
In Fortaleza, Brazil in 2014, the BRICS bloc of emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, all members of the G20 -- expressed their shared discontent with the existing multilateral lending institutions, which had already come under fire for, among other things, serving the interests of the developed nations at the expense of developing countries.
In a joint declaration, BRICS countries said they were "disappointed and seriously concerned" that reforms to the International Monetary Fund that had been agreed on back in 2010 had been almost totally disregarded.
China decided to set a proactive agenda to channel the group's demands, leading to the creation of new banking mechanisms to finance infrastructure projects, said Girado.
This new form of financing serves collaterally as a financial security net for Argentina and other developing countries, so they can better tackle the risks of international capital flows and financial turbulence, he added.
"Cooperation to promote innovation and encourage individual initiative ... require improving the existing means of coordination, and that includes supporting a multilateral trade system," Girado said.
Related:
Interview: China's role in G20 summit vital to global growth: Italian expert
ROME, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's role in promoting global economic growth is vital, an Italian economic expert told Xinhua in context of the forthcoming G20 summit to be held in Hangzhou, China. Full Story
Interview: G20 summit a chance to show China's view on global development: Russian expert
MOSCOW, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The 2016 Group of 20 (G20) summit to be held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou in early September will give the country a great chance to present and promote its ideas on global development, a Russian expert has said. Full Story
Commentary: Current world calls for G20 to play bigger role
CANBERRA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The two-year Australian-led hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has begun to draw to a close, after it was announced one of the search vessels will depart the area to rendezvous with its next project.
Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) released its latest operational update for the search for MH370 on Wednesday, and said that more than 110,000 square kilometers of the 120,000 square kilometer search zone in the southern Indian Ocean had been probed to no avail.
One of the search vessels, "Fugro Discovery", will depart the search area on Thursday after commencing operations in the hunt for MH370 on Oct. 23, 2014.
"(Fugro Discovery will depart) the search area on Aug.11, 2016, to undertake mandatory scheduled maintenance, bringing to an end its involvement in the search for MH370," the statement said.
"The search plan provides for the remaining search area to be completed using the other vessels."
As the search area begins to narrow without any further evidence of the missing Boeing 777 airliner, the JACC reiterated that search operations would be "suspended" but not abandoned if no new evidence is found in the given search zone.
"At a meeting of ministers from Malaysia, Australia and the People's Republic of China held on July 22 2016, it was agreed that should the aircraft not be located in the current search area, and in the absence of credible new evidence leading to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft, the search would be suspended upon completion of the 120,000 square kilometer search area," the statement said.
Ministers went to great lengths to explain that this does not mean the termination of the search; should credible new information emerge which can be used to identify the specific location of the aircraft, consideration will be given to determining next steps.
MH370 was a scheduled passenger flight from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing. It disappeared on March 8, 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board.
BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- China is open to any form of communication with the Philippines, said a Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wednesday.
Hua Chunying made the remarks when asked to comment on former Philippine President Fidel Ramos' visit to Hong Kong.
Designated by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as a special envoy, Ramos arrived in Hong Kong on Monday evening to pave way for talks with Beijing after the South China Sea arbitration case caused a breakdown in bilateral ties.
"My job is to look for some old friends who have links to high officials in Beijing. My job is not to negotiate, but to help pave the way, break the ice and rekindle the friendship that we had during my time with China," Ramos told a press conference Tuesday.
Pointing out that China and the Philippines were traditionally friendly neighbors, Hua said the two countries should make joint efforts to improve bilateral ties, resume dialogue and cooperation, and promote the sound and stable development of relations.
She said Ramos would have private communication with his old Chinese friends during his stay in Hong Kong.
China welcomes an early Beijing visit by Ramos as Philippine President 's special envoy, she added.
The 88-year-old Ramos led the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. After retirement, Ramos became a key figure, proposing the Boao Forum for Asia, an international think tank based in Hainan Province, southern China.
ANKARA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Five Turkish soldiers were killed and eight others wounded early Wednesday in a bombing attack by suspected Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) militants in the southeastern province of Sirnak, Dogan News Agency reported.
The militants detonated bombs when the military's armored vehicles were transiting the Uludere district of Sirnak, Dogan said.
The bombing came one day after the Turkish Air Force destroyed four PKK targets in rural areas of the eastern province of Tunceli late Tuesday.
Over 500 members of Turkish security forces and thousands of PKK members have been killed in confrontations inside Turkey and in northern Iraq since last July 2015.
More than 40,000 people have lost their lives in clashes with the PKK since 1984, when the group first started anti-government attacks.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Turkey.
MANILA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Philippine exports fell by 11.4 percent year-on-year to 4.8 billion U.S. dollars in June, its 15th consecutive month of decline, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Wednesday.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), an agency that oversees PSA, attributed the drop to weak demand from major export markets, such as Japan, U.S. and China.
For the first semester of this year, exports plunged by 7.5 percent to 26.832 billion U.S. dollars from 29 billion U.S. dollars during the same period last year.
"We must continue to improve our efforts in ensuring an enabling environment where industries can upgrade and improve their competitiveness," said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia, also director general of NEDA.
He said that an example would be transforming the agriculture sector from traditional farming to a globally competitive agribusiness sector.
"This can be done by effectively linking the agriculture sector to the local and global industry supply chain," Pernia said.
With the slow global economic recovery, he said the country should identify non-traditional markets such as in Europe and within the ASEAN region, to reduce the external shocks from times of weak demand from traditional markets.
"We should also ensure that the programmed spending on infrastructure projects, particularly those related to transportation and logistics, to support the country's growing industries," he added.
BAGHDAD, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- At least 20 newborn babies were killed on Wednesday in a fire at a hospital in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua.
The incident took place at dawn when a fire broke out at the maternity wards in Yarmouk Hospital in western Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
"The children mainly died of suffocation from the thick smoke which spread in the wards," the source said.
The fire is under investigation, but initial reports said that it was probably caused by "electrical contact," the source added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, on August 9, 2016. (Sputnik Photo)
MOSCOW, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday met in St. Petersburg with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a bid to further stabilize bilateral cooperation.
This is their first meeting since Turkey downed a Russian warplane last November for alleged air space violation.
This is also Erdogan's first visit abroad after the failed coup attempt in Turkey last month.
During their meeting, a full range of bilateral cooperation issues were discussed, including the construction of a nuclear power plant and a Turkish gas pipeline, as well as coordination on regional issues like the Syrian crisis.
The two presidents promised to fully reactivate the intergovernmental commissions on economy, politics and foreign affairs for consultation on details of all-round cooperation, with a 2016-2019 mid-term cooperation program to be designed.
The meeting is expected by Russian experts to speed up the resumption of bilateral economic cooperation, as well as to pave the way for coordination of the two countries' stances on the Syrian crisis.
"Confrontation did not meet the interests of Russia or Turkey. Both sides suffered politically and economically," Dmitry Suslov, an expert at the Higher School of Economics of the National Research University, told Xinhua on Monday.
Another expert, Amur Gadjiev, a research fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that the strained bilateral ties have already dealt a serious blow to Turkey, particularly to its economy.
According to Erdogan, the trade turnover between Turkey and Russia once reached 35 billion U.S. dollars, but has fallen to about 28 billion dollars, even lower, after the warplane downing incident.
In this regard, Putin on Tuesday promised to gradually lift the economic restrictions introduced against Turkey, encouraging Russian businesses to cooperate with their Turkish counterparts.
Erdogan on his side assured facilitation for joint projects with Russia.
"We had set a goal of reaching a 100-billion-dollar trade turnover, and we are striving vigorously to achieve it," Erdogan said.
Russian experts said the strained Russia-Turkey relations also had a negative effect on Turkey's position in the region and on its role in international affairs.
Turkey has realized that there would be no support from the West in its confrontation with Russia, while Moscow knew that it is practically impossible to resolve the Syrian crisis and other issues in the Middle East and Central Asia without the participation of Ankara, they said.
Trying to find a way out of the diplomatic dilemma, Ankara has strengthened control over the Turkish-Syrian border to curb the traffic of terrorists, and reduced its support for radical militants operating in Syria, which did not go unnoticed in Moscow, Gadjiev said.
Turkey has been accused by Russia of supporting Syrian rebel groups, and the two sides have also differences on the support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Kurdish issue, among others.
The move toward normalization of relations must be progressive and gradual, Gadjiev commented.
MOSCOW, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier have exchanged views on Syria and Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday night.
The two ministers spoke by phone and discussed the situation in Syria and international efforts to settle the country's conflict.
The ministry said their discussion focused on ways to resume the inclusive dialogue between the government and the opposition within the framework of the Geneva process.
They also discussed the Minsk-2 package of measures designed to implement the Minsk agreements for settling the Ukraine crisis.
"They stressed the need to synchronize steps on the way to a political settlement of the intra-Ukrainian conflict with the solution of security issues," the ministry said.
President of the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela Tibisay Lucena addresses a press conference about the presidential recall referendum in Caracas, capital of Venezuela, on Aug. 9, 2016. Lucena announced that if the established requirements are met, the second phase of the plebiscite, namely the collection of signatures from 20 percent of the electorate, will be in October. (Xinhua/Boris Vergara)
CARACAS, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) Tuesday announced a timetable for a presidential recall referendum demanded by the opposition against President Nicolas Maduro.
CNE chief Tibisay Lucena said the second phase of the petition will probably begin in late October. The collection of signatures from 20 percent of the country's electorate, or close to 4 million voters, will be needed at the stage.
Election officials would then have 29 days to confirm the signatures and then 90 days to hold a referendum.
Lucena said there should be no rush to hold the referendum to ensure its "effectiveness" for citizen participation and that the legal and technical principles should be adhered to.
On Aug. 1, the electoral body confirmed the end of the first phase in petitioning for the presidential recall referendum as demanded by the opposition coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD).
During the first phase, the opposition collected signatures from the 1percent of voters needed to start the next phase.
The opposition has accused the CNE of delays benefiting President Maduro's administration, while Lucena has vowed not to give in to "pressure from anyone."
Outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Bu Jianguo (L) shakes hands with Cambodian parliament president Samdech Heng Samrin in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Aug. 10, 2016. Outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Bu Jianguo bid a farewell with Cambodian parliament president Samdech Heng Samrin on Wednesday and pledged to continue helping Cambodia despite the end of her term in office this month. (Xinhua/Phearum)
PHNOM PENH, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Bu Jianguo bid a farewell with Cambodian parliament president Samdech Heng Samrin on Wednesday and pledged to continue helping Cambodia despite the end of her term in office this month.
"Her Excellency Bu said that she was fond of the Cambodian people and promised that no matter where her new mission would be, she would continue to further enhance relations between China and Cambodia," Keo Piseth, a spokesman for Heng Samrin, told reporters after the farewell meeting.
Bu said that she was very satisfied with her three-year diplomatic mission in Cambodia, which had contributed further to deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation between China and Cambodia.
She expressed sincere thanks to Cambodian leaders at all levels for working closely with the Chinese Embassy to strengthen and expand relations and cooperation between the two countries.
For his part, Heng Samrin praised Bu for her active contributions to further promoting Cambodia-China relations during her three-year tenure.
"The National Assembly of Cambodia is very satisfied with the achievements that have been born from the comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation between Cambodia and China," he said.
Meanwhile, Heng Samrin pinned the country's honorary medal to Bu in thanks for her contributions to enhancing Cambodia-China relations.
BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government has allocated 821.1 billion yuan (124.4 billion U.S. dollars) to cover the renovation of substandard housing in the first seven months of the year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said Wednesday.
Work began on the building of 4.67 million homes in former shanty towns during the January-July period, accounting for 78 percent of this year's target of six million homes, according to a press release by the ministry.
The government has been pushing people-oriented urbanization and improving living conditions for low-income families.
Last year, China started to renovate 6.01 million substandard dwellings, exceeding the target by 4 percent. It aims to build 18 million homes for shanty town residents between 2015 and 2017.
The government spent 1.54 trillion yuan in 2015 on affordable housing programs in 2015, which provides cheaper homes to low-income families that have been priced out of the property market.
JERUSALEM, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Israeli security forces arrested overnight Tuesday a Palestinian man who allegedly planned a shooting attack on soldiers, the Israeli army said Wednesday.
The man, identified as 27-year-old Ahmed Abu Rub, has ties with the Islamic Jihad movement in the Gaza Strip, was arrested in a joint operation of the Israeli military, Shin Bet security service and the police, according to a statement by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
"Ahmed Abu Rub was involved in the planning of a shooting attack at an IDF crossing near the community of Mevo Dotan, southwest of Jenin," the IDF said in the statement.
Israel and the Palestinians have been mired in a fresh wave of violence since October 2015, which killed 34 Israelis and 220 Palestinians.
The Israeli victims were killed in stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks. Some of the Palestinian victims died in clashes with Israeli security forces during protests, while others were gunned down after allegedly carrying out or trying to carry out attacks against Israelis.
Israeli leaders accuse the Palestinian National Authority of inciting violence, whereas the Palestinians say the unrest is the result of 49 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories, where they wish to establish an independent state.
BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- China will continue anti-dumping duties on a commodity chemical imported from the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Thailand.
The tariffs on pure terephthalic acid will become effective for another five years on Thursday, with rates ranging from 2 percent to 20.1 percent, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Wednesday in a notice posted on its website. The chemical is used to make clothing and plastic bottles
Products from companies including ROK's Hyosung Corporation and Thailand's Indorama Petrochem Ltd. will continue to be subject to the tariffs.
The ruling was made after official surveys showed that damage to the domestic industry would reoccur if the tariffs were terminated, the notice said.
The ministry started imposing anti-dumping duties on the industrial organic compound in 2010.
PHNOM PENH, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Wednesday strongly condemned Hong Lim, Member of Parliament of Victoria in Australia, for calling Cambodia as "beast", saying that his disgraceful statement was absolutely contrary to the reality.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation condemns in the strongest term this individual Hong Lim for this disgraceful statement that is completely inconsistent with the reality in Cambodia," said a ministry's statement.
"The Kingdom of Cambodia and Australia have been enjoying the relations of friendship and good cooperation in many fields. We hope that the statement made by Hong Lim does not in any way reflect the views of the government and people of Australia as a whole," the statement said.
It added that the humiliation made by Hong Lim upon the Cambodian nation has pushed the ministry to consider him as "persona non grata" for Cambodia.
The reaction came after Hong Lim, who was born in Cambodia and first elected to the Victoria state's legislature in 1996, delivered the criticism during his interview with the U.S.-backed Radio Free Asia last week.
PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Taliban militants launched a massive offensive in Dahna-e-Ghori district of the northern Baghlan province on Wednesday, a local official said.
"Hundreds of Taliban militants stormed Dahna-e-Ghori district early today and fighting between militants and government forces has been continuing," the official told Xinhua.
According to the official who declined to be named, Taliban militants have overrun four police checkpoints and the attacking insurgents are attempting to capture the district headquarters.
Security officials have yet to make comment.
However, locals in Dahna-e-Ghori in talks with Xinhua confirmed Taliban's attack, saying 20 local policemen under Nik Mohammad joined the advancing militants.
The strategically important Dahna-e-Ghori distirct is just 30 minutes drive from the provincial capital Pul-e-Khumri.
Two Taliban militants have also been killed and a few others injured in Dahna-e-Ghori district, locals said.
KIRKUK, Iraq, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Gunmen blew up an oil well on Wednesday in Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk, a provincial police chief told Xinhua.
"A group of saboteurs blew up a bomb in an oil well at Bai Hassan oil field northwest of the city of Kirkuk, some 250 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, setting a huge fire," Brig. Sarhat Qadir, a police chief of Kirkuk province, said.
Kurdish security forces, known as Peshmerga, arrived at the scene and defused two more bombs planted in other oil installations in the oil field by the gunmen, who fled the scene before the troops' arrival, Qadir said.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack on the gas facility, but the Islamic State (IS) group has previously targeted oil facilities in the province.
Iraq has been hit by a new wave of violence since the IS terrorist group took control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions in June 2014.
Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups such as the IS on the U.S., which invaded Iraq in March 2003 under the pretext of seeking to destroy weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the country.
The U.S. invasion led to the ouster and eventual execution of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but no WMD was found.
RIYADH, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Saudi forces intercepted two missiles from Yemen on Wednesday, local media reported.
The incident occurred at 6:30 a.m. local time (0330 GMT), with no reported casualties or damage, Al Akhbariya news channel said.
The missiles were directed at the border cities of Abha and Khamis Mushait in southwest Saudi Arabia, the news channel reported.
Airstrikes were subsequently conducted against the suspected missile-launch locations within Yemen, the report said without elaboration.
A Saudi-led coalition has been engaged in a war in Yemen against Houthi rebels for over a year.
The coalition's airstrikes have intensified since United Nations-sponsored talks in Kuwait between Houthi rebels and the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fell through on Saturday.
MANILA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte defended on Wednesday his criticism of the U.S. envoy to the Philippines for meddling with Philippine domestic affairs, downplaying his statements against U.S. ambassador he made last week.
Duterte said in a speech at a military camp in Zamboanga del Sur in the southern Philippines that Philip Goldberg, the U.S. envoy, has indeed criticized his statement regarding the rape and murder of an Australian missionary during the election campaign.
"They're simply true, anyway," Duterte said, adding that Goldberg's remarks was highly inappropriate and that the envoy should not have done it.
"He is not supposed to meddle (with our affairs) because that's our business," Duterte said.
Goldberg, at the height of the campaign in April, criticized Duterte for making joke about the rape and murder of an Australian missionary during a jail riot in Davao in 1989. Duterte took offence of Goldberg's statement.
Elizabeth Trudeau, spokeswoman of U.S. State Department, told a news conference on Monday that the department summoned Patrick Chuasoto, the diplomat in charge of the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C,. to clarify Duterte's remarks about Goldberg.
"We've seen those inappropriate comments made about Ambassador Goldberg," Trudeau said, adding that Goldberg was a "multi-time ambassador and one of our most senior U.S. diplomats." She declined to give details of the meeting.
Charles Jose, a spokesman for the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, also confirmed that Chuasoto was indeed "invited" by the State Department "to discuss the entire breadth of Philippine-U.S. relations."
"We cannot, however, discuss details of the conversation," Jose said.
Duterte reportedly called Goldberg a "gay ambassador" and "son of a bitch" during a recent meeting with soldiers.
"I am pissed with him. He meddled during the election, giving statements here and there. He was not supposed to do that," Duterte was quoted as saying on the occasion.
BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Yuan Luogeng vividly remembers every time he has escaped death since becoming a test pilot for the Army of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) nearly a decade ago.
Every critical situation, be it landing with a missile, a stub wing breaking off, or a rotor hit by a rocket projectile, could have resulted in his helicopter crashing, and certain death for all onboard had he not handled the danger promptly and properly.
"You don't have time for fear. You just act on instinct," said Yuan, 50, who joined the Army's test-pilot battalion in early 2007.
Thanks to the composure and skill of Yuan and his peers, the battalion, founded in February 2001, has survived more than 60 highly dangerous situations, with no helicopters destroyed and no one hurt.
"Death could come at any moment. These test pilots are the closest to death in peacetime," said Chen Fenghua, the battalion's political commissar.
The battalion, the only one of its kind in the Army, tests military helicopters during the research and development stage, and before they are delivered to users.
To test a helicopter's performance, pilots must push it to its limits to find out its maximum speed, load and ceiling, as well as other useful data.
As a result, they often need to conduct test missions in extremely high or low temperatures, at very high altitudes and other harsh conditions.
On average, each test pilots, aged between 28 and 50, has encountered nearly eight dangerous circumstances during missions, battalion figures show.
In January 2010, pilots Yao Haizhong and Yuan Luogeng carried out a mission in Hailar in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The temperature was minus 43 degrees centigrade.
"We only wore very thin cotton gloves. The control stick felt like a block of ice. My hands were numb, I was in so much pain. The mission lasted only 40 minutes, but it felt like hours," said Yao Haizhong, who now heads the battalion.
By always pushing the limits, the battalion has achieved much over the past 15 years.
It has completed all kinds of test missions for more than 20 new China-designed helicopters, setting dozens of records, including a world record for a high-altitude flight, according to Chen.
"Everything we've done contributes to the Army's ongoing transformation. The Army needs helicopters, to ensure it is highly mobile and flexible in offense and defense. The battalion supports the development of all helicopter models every step of the way," said Xu Guolin with the Army's armaments department, who was also former chief of the battalion.
In recent years, test missions have increased markedly, as China has developed more new models of helicopter.
"Initially, we only tested one or two models, and now its over 20. We used to hand over two or three helicopters to users every year, and now it's nearly 100 annually. Our pilots' test flight time has risen from less than 100 hours a year to several thousand hours," Chen said.
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Taliban's former stronghold in the southern Helmand province has been the scene of increasing insurgency and bloody conflicts for more than a decade.
Notorious for growing poppies for the drug trade and continued militancy, the restive Helmand province has been regarded as a Taliban hotbed and the most volatile province in the conflict-ridden country where intense fighting has escalated over the past couple of weeks, as Taliban militants are attempting to besiege the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, the key city in the southern region.
Fighting between government forces and Taliban militants has claimed hundreds of lives from both sides, and has forced thousands of families to leave their homes for safer places over the past couple of years.
Taliban militants, of late, are more active in Helmand province than in any other part of the country and the armed outfit, according to locals, currently have completely controlled over five districts and have tightened their grip on nine other districts, forcing the government to send reinforcements to consolidate its positions.
More than 200 militants, according to officials, have been killed in the fight for control of Helmand in the last fortnight, and almost the same number of government forces have also lost their lives over the past two weeks, according to Taliban claims.
Taliban fighters have focused their militant efforts on controlling the strategically important Nad Ali and Marja districts over the past month and have been attempting to raise their flag in the areas.
Local analysts believed that the unchecked poppy cultivation and the production and smuggling of illicit drugs in Helmand, have been fueling the war in the restive province, along the border with Pakistan.
According to observers, mafia groups, Taliban militants and other underground organizations with vested interest in such criminal elements have all been fanning the flames of war in Helmand province to maintain the drug trade for their own profits.
"The involvement of mafia groups, the Taliban and corrupt officials in drug trafficking, as well as the smuggling of precious stones, are the main reason for the persistent instability in Helmand province," head of the Helmand Provincial Council, Karim Attal, told Xinhua.
Attal also said that mafia groups and Taliban commanders had been collaborating with corrupt officials in both smuggling and drug operations.
Political experts also were of the view that the local economy in Helmand province depends on poppy cultivation, a practice also backed by the Taliban militants.
"Contrary to the government, the Taliban militants encourage farmers to grow poppies," the analyst said, adding that the Taliban collects taxes from the trade to fund its war against the government.
Afghanistan, according to United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), produced some 3,300 tons of opium-producing poppies in 2015, with the majority of the yields harvested in Helmand and neighboring provinces.
Afghan soldiers fighting against Taliban militants in Helmand province were quoted by local media recently saying that they are running out of food and ammunition and have demanded more appropriate equipments for their frontline battles.
Meanwhile, fierce fighting, according to locals, has been continuing in Marja, Nad Ali, Gereshk, Babaji, Nawa and Nahre-e-Saraj districts over the past couple of weeks and the militants are inching closer to the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.
To lead the war against Taliban militants, ranking military officials including the deputy chief of army staff are currently in Helmand province.
A former army officer and military analyst, Khudai Noor, who formerly served in Helmand described the situation there as "fragile" and warned that "lack of coordination among more than 10,000 troops deployed in Helmand" and unchecked drug smuggling could pave the way for the total collapse of Helmand and adjoining provinces.
Allaying security concerns, however, Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri has stated that neither Helmand nor other provinces will fall to the government's enemies.
BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Profit growth for Chinese commercial banks slowed this year, the top banking regulator said Wednesday.
The net profits of commercial lenders reached 899.1 billion yuan (about135.14 billion U.S. dollars) during the first half (H1) of the year, up 3.17 percent year on year, according to a statement on the website of the China Banking Regulatory Commission.
The assets of the banking sector jumped 15.7 percent from one year earlier to 218 trillion yuan at the end of June, while liabilities hit 201.8 trillion yuan, an increase of 15.2 percent year on year.
The banking sector continued to give financial support to agriculture, small-and-micro enterprises as well as affordable housing projects.
Outstanding agriculture-related loans stood at 27.3 trillion yuan at the end of June, up 8.7 percent year on year. Outstanding loans to small-and-micro firms hit 25 trillion yuan, up 13.2 percent.
Loans to pay off credit card debt and loans to affordable housing projects surged 17.2 percent and 62 percent during the first half of the year, outpacing average loan growth.
Commercial banks' non-performing loans (NPL) increased by 45.2 billion yuan to 1.44 trillion yuan at the end of June. The NPL ratio was 1.75 percent, unchanged from the end of March.
An NPL is a loan that is in default or close to being in default.
The capital adequacy ratio of commercial lenders stood at 13.11 percent at the end of June, down 0.25 percentage point from the end of March, the statement said, adding that banking liquidity remained ample.
SAO PAULO, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The world's shortest couple with a combined height of five feet ten inches (1.77 meters) got engaged last week in Brazil after eight years of dating.
In front of their friends, 30-year-old Paulo Gabriel da Silva Barros, standing at 34.8 inches (0.88 meters), proposed to 27-year-old Katyucia Hoshino measuring 35.2 inches (0.89 meters) at a sushi restaurant in their hometown of Itupeva, Southeast Brazil.
After making sure Paulo was not joking, Katyucia accepted his proposal.
The couple said they were open to the possibility of having a baby in the future, even though it may be difficult for Katyucia to carry a baby full-term given her size.
"I want to one day get married," Katyucia said. "Whether we have kids or not, I want to be happy, that's what I want."
The couple also hope the engagement can lead to their official recognition as the world's shortest couple.
"Once we get married we will try to be recognized as the world's shortest couple through the Guinness World Records," Paulo was quoted as saying.
The official title currently belongs to another Brazilian couple, Douglas Maistre Breger da Silva, 46, and Claudia Pereira Rocha, 43, with a combined height of five feet eleven inches (1.80 meters). They got married 18 years ago.
Margaret Kenyatta delivered a speech during the 9th Stop Cervical, Breast and Prostate Cancer in Africa Conference partners breakfast in Nairobi in 2015. (Xinhua/Fred Mutune)
NAIROBI, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's First Lady, Margaret Kenyatta, on Tuesday launched a new public private partnership initiative to boost screening, treatment and management of breast cancer that kills 2,000 women in the country annually.
Speaking during the launch of the initiative in Nairobi, Kenyatta decried the rising breast cancer cases among women of reproductive age, and urged investment in infrastructure, research and personnel to help contain the disease.
"Strong and healthy women are the foundation of families and nations. Tragically, breast cancer has shortened the lifespan of our women and girls hence the need to combine efforts and fight the disease," Kenyatta said.
Kenya's ministry of health and British pharmaceutical giant, Roche Industries, are part of the new initiative to revitalize the war against breast cancer.
Kenyatta said this initiative will build on the recently launched national strategy for prevention and control of non-communicable diseases in Kenya.
"We are committed to expanding access to prevention and treatment services for women with breast cancer. A partnership between government and industry is critical to ensure diagnostic services and medicine are available to patients at an affordable cost," said Kenyatta.
She added the African First Ladies have signed a pact to strengthen response to breast cancer in the continent through resource mobilization and community outreach.
The ministry of health and Roche Industries will roll out breast cancer awareness programs, upgrade diagnostic equipment, and train additional oncologists as part of the initiative to boost the war against breast cancer.
Cabinet Secretary for health, Cleopa Mailu, said the initiative will also entail drastic reduction in the cost of drugs for treating breast cancer patients.
"Both the ministry of health and Roche Industries have settled on a formula of ensuring all breast cancer patients in the country access quality medicine at minimal cost in public health facilities," Mailu remarked.
Kenya is part of Roche Industries Africa strategy launched in 2015 to revitalize the fight against breast cancer in the continent through public awareness, training of healthcare providers, investment in modern diagnostic equipment, and provision of affordable drugs.
The Head of Sub-Saharan Africa Region at Roche Industries, Markus Gemuend, said that industry has a critical role to play to ensure breast cancer patients have access to subsidized treatment and care.
"Our partnership with the ministry of health will ensure that breast cancer patients in Kenya have improved access to life saving medicines and quality care," Gemuend remarked.
The Bamasaba initiation ritual into adulthood that involves a public circumcision without anesthesia is held biennially. (Xinhua/Yuan Qing)
by Ronald Ssekandi, Yuan Qing
MBALE, Uganda, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Bellowing sounds of horns, whistles and drums re-echo through the ranges of Mount Elgon.
Youthful men clad in traditional wear sing along, moving from village to village, signaling the start of the biennial traditional circumcision ceremony, a centuries-old initiation ritual into adulthood among the Bamasaba people.
Bamasaba is an ethnic group of about 7 million people along the common border between Uganda and Kenya. Although divided by a common border, the over 4 million Bamasaba in Kenya and the 3 million in Uganda share the same culture, and male circumcision commonly referred to as Imbalu is one of them.
Imbalu is a revered custom of initiating teenage boys into adulthood. Without anesthesia, the boys are circumcised in public as a sign of showing bravery and to indicate that they are ready to face any hardships in life without giving up.
The event is held every even year starting in the month of August and ending in December.
This year is different because the Bamasaba are marking 200 years since the start of the practice.
Moses Kutoi, Chairman Imbalu in Inzu Ya Bamasaba told Xinhua on Saturday at the launch of this year's Imbalu that every human or society has an identity, and circumcision is the identity of the Bamasaba. Inzu Ya Bamasaba is the cultural institution that brings together the Bamasaba.
"We regard culture as a backbone of society. It is important that we initiate these people so that they can be the custodian of culture and guard it against all odds," Kutoi said.
At the beginning of the year, a teenage boy voluntarily informs the father of his intention to get circumcised. The father then starts the preparations among which include planting millet, buying a bull that would be later given to the boy as gift after circumcision.
In mid-year, the boy intending to get circumcised accompanied by his peers visits relatives informing them of the initiation ceremony. The relatives in turn give the boy gifts.
On the D-Day, the boy plus a group of other candidates walk from their villages accompanied by large groups of people singing and chanting. Some even walk from as far as 15 km to converge at Mutoto Cultural Ground on the foothill of Wanale, one of the ranges of Mount. Elgon.
According to legendary stories, the first man to be circumcised among the Bamasaba lived at Mutoto and since then, the launching ceremony of the Imbalu every even year has been held there.
After going through all the necessary rituals, the candidates are presented before the 'traditional' surgeons. The surgeons are appointed by ancestors through spiritual powers.
"If you don't circumcise, your peers will reject you. You cannot even address elders," Joseph Masabasi, a seasoned traditional surgeon told Xinhua. Masabasi has circumcised over 10,000 boys since he started in 1986.
A local surgeon demonstrated his tools for circumcision. Fears of AIDS and criticism of inhumanity are overshadowing the centuries-old tradition. (Xinhua/Yuan Qing)
CULTURAL EROSION
The Imbalu is under threat of being eroded as the Bamasaba continue interacting with the outside world.
"The non-Bamasaba try to discourage it so much and to us it is a big worry. They say the boys undergo a lot of pain," Kutoi said.
One of the elders in the region decried the practice, describing it as horrendous.
"The bravery those boys exhibit during circumcision is plastic. In later years of life, memories of that pain you went through come back," the elder told Xinhua in an interview, preferring to be anonymous for fear of being scolded by staunch supporters of the cultural practice.
Some critics have argued that it is an abuse of the rights of those who decline to be circumcised.
According to the customs among the Bamasaba, if a man reaches 20 years before being circumcised, his peers will arrange forceful circumcision.
Even when one dies before circumcision, their body would be circumcised. In this case the family of the deceased would be asked to pay a hefty fine.
HEALTH CONCERNS
With the onset of HIV, the cultural practice suffered a blow as concerns were raised over the knives used. One knife would be used to circumcise more than one person without being sterilized.
Overtime, the surgeons have been trained on how to carry out safe circumcision. This year, over 700 traditional surgeons have been trained, according to the cultural institution.
The institution estimates that this year over 2,000 boys would be circumcised among the Bamasaba, both in Uganda and Kenya.
BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday hailed the repatriation from Kenya of 40 people suspected of having committed telecom fraud.
"[This] showcases the resolution of China and Kenya to jointly combat transnational crimes," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying.
Hua made the remarks in a press release after the 40 suspects -- 35 from the Chinese mainland and five from Taiwan -- were brought back to China in police custody Monday.
Another 77 suspects from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan were repatriated from Kenya in April.
Hua noted that all the repatriated suspects were involved in one case, all the evidence had been gathered in China, and all the victims lived on the Chinese mainland. The investigation of all the suspects will help the police understand the situation and address the telecom fraud.
She said the investigation will be supported by the people across the Taiwan Strait and by the international community.
KATHMANDU, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has appointed Rajeev Jha, a Nepalese professor in China's university, as its honorary Public Relations Representative for China's Shanxi and Sichuan provinces.
Jha who has been staying in China for 20 years, will serve as tourism representative for the next two years, NTB said. Jha is professor of Surgery at Xi'an Medical University in Shanxi province. He is also director of Sino-Nepal Research Center there.
Shraddha Shrestha, senior officer of NTB told Xinhua that the Jha would represent NTB to promote Nepal's tourism in the two provinces of China.
The appointment was based on the recommendation of Nepalese embassy in Beijing and decision of Nepal's Tourism Ministry.
Jha said as there have been a limited promotional activities in these two regions, he would actively participate in promoting Nepal's tourism.
"Nepal has great potential of attracting more tourists from the regions where I have been appointed as tourism representative," he said.
China is Nepal's second largest source for tourist arrivals after India. Nepal has exempted visa fees for for Chinese tourists as per the agreement signed between the two countries in December 2015.
BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Five government officials are under investigation or awaiting prosecution for accepting bribes, the People's Procuratorate (SPP) announced Wednesday.
They were Zhu Zejun, former head of the Guangdong provincial administration for industry and commerce; Peng Zeying, former inspector with Guangdong's Water Resources Department; Liu Zijing, former president of Guangdong Airport Authority; Wu Jiezhong, former vice mayor of Zhanjiang; and Jiang Jianming, former vice head of Donghua University in Shanghai, the SPP said in a statement.
Jiang, who is also accused of corruption and embezzling public funds, and Zhu have both been placed under "coercive measures," which include arrest, detention, issuing a warrant to compel a suspect to appear, bail pending trial, or residential surveillance, while their cases are being investigated.
The investigations into Peng, Liu and Wu have ended and their cases await formal prosecution, according to the SPP.
With China's economy entering the "new normal", which requires reducing excess industrial capacity and deleveraging, an increasing number of Chinese enterprises are shifting their focus from domestic to overseas investments in a fresh bid to "go global".
Developed economies like the United States, Germany and Japan, too, have been encouraging their enterprises to expand in overseas markets. After the bursting of the real estate bubble in the 1990s, Japan sought to revive its economy by urging domestic enterprises to enter foreign markets. As a result, by 2015 the country's net overseas assets increased to as high as 340 trillion yen ($3.4 trillion), nearly three-fourths of its GDP.
Now Chinese enterprises are showing an even stronger urge to "go global" in the face of a widespread glut of commodities, waning investment returns, and the fluctuating yuan. Besides, the 2008 global financial crisis has dealt a heavy blow to most economies, prompting them to attract foreign investments to revitalize their manufacturing and economic growth.
Chinese enterprises have made good progress in expanding overseas. According to the Ministry of Commerce, they made direct non-financial investment of more than $88.8 billion in about 155 countries and regions during the first half of this year, an increase of 58 percent year-on-year. In particular, over $12 billion have gone into equipment manufacturing, more than 5 times the level in the first half of 2015.
Transnational mergers and acquisitions, a popular choice for Chinese investors, reportedly saw transactions of at least $111.6 billion by the end of June, higher than the total for the whole of last year.
But expansion on this scale also comes with risks and challenges, ranging from trade protectionism and lack of transnational talents to tackle volatile geo-political and economic situations in parts of Europe and Asia.
On the one hand, local governments speak highly of Chinese investors for job creation and the financial support they bring along. On the other hand, some populist political groups portray Chinese enterprises as a major threat to their national security, environmental protection, and local cultures, setting unnecessary barriers to their entry.
Following the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, many countries face latent flight of capital and currency devaluation. The rising number of terrorist attacks and the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe, as well as tension on the Korean Peninsula also pose big challenges to the regional order.
These disadvantages have added more uncertainties to Chinese enterprises' overseas operations, for which the government is still playing a coordinating role. China has reached a series of agreements on capacity cooperation with 15 countries, and is encouraging financial institutions and its embassies to facilitate the expansion of Chinese companies abroad.
To survive and prosper overseas, Chinese enterprises should have a clear understanding of the local market environment, including relevant laws, cultural traditions and employment rules. They also need to make the best use of local labor resources, by not only creating jobs but also streamlining the management. Recruiting managers locally would be a worthwhile effort in this regard.
If more Chinese investors gain entry to overseas markets, they must not forget their social responsibilities of participating in local charity events, improving people's livelihoods and minimizing the harm caused to the environment.
The author is a senior researcher at Suning Institute of Finance affiliated to Suning Appliance Co Ltd.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong (R) meets with Jesus Zambrano Grijalva, president of the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico, in Mexico City, Mexico, on Aug. 9, 2016. (Xinhua/David de la Paz)
MEXICO CITY, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government will continue to support exchanges and cooperation between the legislative bodies of China and Mexico, visiting Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong said Tuesday.
China-Mexico relations have entered a new phase of all-round and rapid development since the two countries announced the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2013 during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit, Liu said in a meeting with Jesus Zambrano Grijalva, president of the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico.
She said China and Mexico have maintained frequent high-level exchanges and close exchanges and cooperation in various fields, adding that her visit aims to boost the two countries' exchanges and cooperation in such areas as education, science, technology, culture and health, and to increase mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.
Liu called on the two countries' legislative bodies to play a constructive role in boosting the China-Mexico comprehensive strategic partnership.
For his part, Zambrano Grijalva spoke highly of Liu's extensive contacts and exchanges with all walks of life in Mexico, saying the two countries' consensus for cooperation in education, culture and other fields will help consolidate and advance bilateral ties.
The Chamber of Deputies of Mexico is willing to strengthen exchanges with the National People's Congress of China and actively push forward the two countries' friendship and cooperation, he said.
The exchanges and mutual learning between Mexico and China, as two models of multi-cultural harmony and coexistence, will not only help their reform and development, but also help promote a harmonious and inclusive world civilization, he said.
SANAA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebel group said it fired two ballistic missiles against military targets in Saudi border cities Wednesday, according to the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency.
One missile struck an air defense base in Saudi Arabia's Khamis Mushait city, whereas the second destroyed a military camp in Abha city, Saba said.
The attack comes only two days after the Saudi-led military coalition supporting the Yemeni exiled government stepped up its air campaign against Houthi rebels, following the collapse over the weekend of United Nations-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait between the warring factions.
Houthi rebels said that Saudi warplanes launched over 50 sorties Wednesday targeting the Nehem district, northeast of the capital city of Sanaa.
On Tuesday, coalition airstrikes killed 15 employees of a food factory in Sanaa.
The Riyadh-based coalition spokesman, Ahmed Aseeri, said that air operations supporting Yemeni government troops advanced into the district of Nehem, in preparation for advancing into Sanaa next.
Houthi rebels and allied forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh have controlled Sanaa since 2014, after forcing the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 to help restore the internationally recognized Hadi government.
Coalition airstrikes and fighting on the ground have since left more than 6,400 people dead, the majority of which were civilians.
ANKARA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and Russia have agreed to build a mechanism on Syria which includes officials from the intelligence services, foreign ministries and armed forces, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday in Ankara.
In an interview with Anadolu Agency, Cavusoglu said the first bilateral meeting of this mechanism will be held in St. Petersburg on Thursday.
The formation of the mechanism, which is at the ministerial level, was agreed during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, he said.
"We are building a strong mechanism with Russia regarding Syria," Cavusoglu said. "We think alike on the cease-fire, humanitarian aid and a political solution."
Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Chief Hakan Fidan and representatives form Turkey's Foreign Ministry and the Turkish Armed Forces will depart for Russia late on Wednesday, according to the foreign minister.
He said the pilots involved in the downing of a Russian jet on Nov. 24, 2015, which led to a crisis in bilateral ties, are in custody for their ties with the so-called Gulen Terrorist Organization, a reference to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Turkey accuses Gulen of masterminding a July 15 coup attempt and has called for his extradition from the United States.
Regarding the long-awaited missile defense system, Cavusoglu said that Turkey first sought cooperation with NATO countries; however, so far the results were unsatisfactory.
"Therefore, it is normal for us to seek other alternatives," he added, referring to Turkish and Russian presidents deciding to increase cooperation on defense.
"But we don't perceive this as a step against NATO. We need to set up our own defense system and develop our own technology in cooperation with other countries," Cavusoglu said.
The shooting down of the Russian jet led to a freeze in relations of the two countries, including economic sanctions and a bar on Russian tourism to Turkey, which thawed in June after Erdogan wrote to his counterpart and the two later spoke by telephone.
Putin gave his support to Turkey over the coup attempt and said he stood by the elected government, offering his condolences to the victims of the coup attempt.
Visitors browse the exhibit "The Paralympics Spirit -- From Heidelberg to Beijing" in Heidelberg, Germany, on July 26. In the middle is Joerg Schmekel, himself disabled, who played a key role in organizing the 1972 Paralympics. (Xinhua/Heidelberg Municipal Archives)
BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- With the Olympics having just kicked off in Rio, have you ever fantasized about racing against time in an Olympic sprint, pearls of perspiration running down your face, and snatching that coveted gold medal? Probably. How about doing the same while strapped to a wheelchair?
At an exhibit named "The Paralympics Spirit -- From Heidelberg to Beijing" that opened on July 26 in the Olympic Training Center in Heidelberg, Germany, and runs through September, visitors can try out conventional and racing wheelchairs to get a better idea of what it is like to have impaired mobility.
Co-organized by the Beijing Municipal Archives and the Heidelberg Municipal Archives, the exhibit looks back at Heidelberg's host role in the 1972 Paralympics and Beijing's host role in the 2008 Paralympics with display panels, historical photos and a short film on the Beijing Paralympics.
Next to staff from the Heidelberg and Beijing Municipal Archives and the Chinese Consulate in Frankfurt, some of the contemporary witnesses from the 1972 Paralympics were present for the opening ceremony. For example, Hennes Luebbering, a wheelchair-bound athlete, proudly wore his medals to the opening.
Besides being a dignified platform for disabled athletes to compete with their peers, across the decades, the Paralympics have raised awareness of the everyday challenges people with disabilities face and even led to some positive changes.
The exhibit is not only a reflection on the past of the Paralympics, but more importantly a projection of the future -- namely, the social inclusion of disabled people, said Dr. Peter Blum, the director of the Heidelberg Municipal Archives in an email interview. He believed archives have a special role to play in this.
He suggested that archives should make their cultural heritage accessible to help achieve a solution to both contemporary and future problems.
"One could say that today's archives have a socio-political task, so to say, a task that transcends borders and cultural barriers," Blum said.
Source: Xinhua| 2016-08-10 19:58:36|Editor: Song Lifang
Video Player Close
WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed in a shooting that occured in a parking lot at the Miami International Airport in the U.S. state of Florida, the airport said on its official Twitter account Wednesday.
DAMASCUS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Russian warplanes struck a meeting place of top rebel commanders in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib on Wednesday, in addition to 12 other strikes targeting other rebel positions in that province, a military source told Xinhua.
The Russian airstrikes targeted commanders of the Jaish al-Fateh rebel group in Binnesh, a town in the eastern countryside of Idlib, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
It was not clear if any of those targetted were killed or injured, the source said.
Russian warplanes also carried out 12 other strikes on positions of Jaish al-Fateh, or the Conquest Army, in the province, which is largely under the control of the rebel group, the source added.
The source said the airstrikes achieved direct hits. He did not elaborate.
Jaish al-Fateh, an alliance of several rebel factions, was reportedly formed in March 2015 under the supervision and coordination of Saudi cleric Abdullah al-Muhaysini.
Some of its factions are active in the provinces of Hama and Latakia. The group, reportedly supported by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, seized most of Idlib province in northwestern Syria last year.
The group was responsible for downing a Russian helicopter earlier this month over Idlib, which resulted in the killing of all five Russian crew members. The chopper was shot down after delivering aid to Aleppo, Russian state media said.
MOSCOW, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Russia may take measures against the European Union in response to the EU's denial of entry visas to Russian citizens living in Crimea, a senior official said Wednesday.
"The EU prohibition to issue visas to Crimeans is a clear violation of human rights and we cannot leave it unanswered," Andrei Kelin, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's European Cooperation Department, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.
"We always have opportunities for response measures in some similar areas. In terms of readmission, for example," Kelin said without giving more details.
The EU in 2014 restricted entry visas to residents of Crimea after the peninsula was absorbed into Russia following a referendum, which was recognized by Moscow but rejected by Ukraine and Western powers.
The visa restrictions were extended along with other sanctions against Crimean residents in June 2016 for another year.
PARIS, Aug.10 (Xinhua) -- French police have arrested a 21-year-old man in relation with the knife attack in a church in northern France, news channel BFMTV reported on Wednesday.
The man was arrested on Monday in Toulouse, southwest France, on charges of having contacting the two assailants who took hostage in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray and killed a priest last month, according to the report.
The suspect made a round trip between Toulouse and Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray days before the attack, it added.
Three people have already been held into custody, including a Syrian asylum seeker and a minor, for the investigation into the attack.
On July 26, two young men took six hostages in a church in northern France, later slaughtered a priest and seriously wounded the other person. They were shot dead by the police.
BERLIN, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The number of visitors staying overnight in Germany increased by 3 percent in the first half of 2016, compared with the same period last year, the German statistics office Destatis said on Wednesday.
Germany welcomed about 199.2 million tourists between January and June.
The number of domestic and foreign visitors both grew by 3 percent to 163.7 million and 35.5 million respectively.
The number of overnight stays in June, however, dropped by 1 percent, compared with last June, mainly due to the loss of foreign guests.
Only establishments with an accommodation capacity of at least 10 visitors were considered for these statistics.
DAMASCUS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Up to 142 civilians have killed in rebel attacks in Syria's northern province of Aleppo since July 31, a military source told Xinhua on Wednesday.
An array of extremist groups unleashed what they called "Aleppo's Large Epic" battle on July 31, the source said on condition of anonymity.
A total of 48 children, 31 women, and 63 men have been killed, in addition to 672 injuries, mostly women and children, the source added.
The rebel attacks, which included firing mortar shells and improvised rockets, targeted several districts in the government-controlled part of western Aleppo.
Meanwhile, pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV put the death toll among civilians over the past week at 162, adding that over 662 others were wounded.
The rebel groups that unleashed the attacks are mainly Jaish al-Fateh rebels, in coordination with Ahrar al-Sham, Nour Addien Zinki, the Islamic Turkestan Party, Failaq al-Sham, and Jabeht Fateh al-Sham.
Jaish al-Fateh, an alliance of several rebel factions, was reportedly formed in March 2015 under the supervision and coordination of Saudi cleric Abdullah al-Muhaysini.
Some of its factions are active in the provinces of Hama and Latakia. The group, reportedly supported by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, seized most of Idlib province in northwestern Syria last year.
The Jaish al-Fateh rebel group earlier claimed that it had broken the siege of the Syrian army on rebel-held areas in the eastern part of Aleppo city after six days of strenuous attacks. Key areas said to have been captured include the military college and the southern town of al-Ramuseh.
Aleppo, the country's previous top commercial hub, has been divided since 2012 between a government-held west and a rebel-controlled east. Many observers believe that whoever controls Aleppo will gain the upper hand in any potential settlement in Syria.
Battles in Aleppo flared up last month, when the Syrian army, backed by the Lebanese Hezbollah group and Russian airstrikes, made sweeping progress in the northern countryside of Aleppo, severing the last supply route for the rebels in eastern Aleppo.
The move triggered counterattacks by the rebels, which fired mortars and rockets continuously on the government-controlled western part of the city.
BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- It used to be a big headache for Xu Li when her children got sick.
She would search the internet for solutions and call friends for suggestions, but usually ended up rushing to a hospital where she sometimes had to queue for hours before seeing a doctor.
"I remember thinking, if only I had a doctor right downstairs," said the 36-year-old mother who lives in the Shangqingsi community in southwest China's Chongqing municipality.
Now things have changed.
Xu signed a contract with a team of family doctors with the community health center late in 2014, since then she has enjoyed a set of personal medical services around the clock, including the use of a family doctor.
Now she immediately calls the contracted doctor if any of her family feels unwell, and the doctor visits her at home and gives medical instructions.
"It gives me a sense of safety," she said.
Chongqing began piloting the family doctor program in 2012, under which community doctors sign contracts with residents and provide with them customed medical services, including health management, disease prevention and regular physical examinations at home.
A family doctor team is generally composed of at least one general practitioner, a nurse, and a public health physician, and in some places there is also a pharmacist.
They can handle most minor illnesses, while they will register and transfer patients with more advance issues to major hospitals through an internal fast track system.
The program means every family has a doctor that they can consult first, rather than the internet, said Fang Laiying, director of the Beijing municipal health and family planning commission.
Once a preserve of the rich, family doctor services are now becoming available to ordinary Chinese citizens.
On Saturday, two hundreds medical staff were sworn in to such a program, at a square in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province,
Alongside Kunming, 200 Chinese cities will introduce such services this year. By 2020, China is planning to extend family doctor services to the entire population.
In Shanghai, 10.27 million citizens, nearly half of its population, have joined the program, which is mostly paid for by the government.
"It's not such a high-end medical service as private doctors. Residents covered by medical insurance only need to pay about 10 yuan for a single home service," said Dr. Liu Wei, who signed contracts with dozens of households at Gumei community, Shanghai. The money does not include the cost of medicines.
In Chongqing, a home visit from a general practitioner costs about 15 yuan, while other services, such as consultations and basic physical examinations from public health physicians, are free of charge
Liu Wei can visit over 20 families a day. He has also created a WeChat group of all his customers to keep close contact with them.
"I regularly visit my contracted families, examining and documenting their heath conditions. I know what they need," he said.
Jin Guoqing and Li Na are two such family doctors. At the home of a patient surnamed Liu in the Mayu community in Beijing, Li tests the urine of Liu, who just underwent surgery. Meanwhile, Jin takes Liu's blood pressure and examines her heart and lungs. They offer suggestions for her recovery.
"They [family doctors] are really useful. We do not have to commute between our home and the hospital for post-operation instructions and examinations," said Liu's daughter.
The family doctors have saved residents' time and money as well as reduced the heavy burdens of hospitals, said Meng Shan, head nurse at the Chongqing-based Southwest Hospital.
Liang Hong, dean of the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Fudan University, said that the program is key to establishing a tiered disease treatment system, which means different medical institutions receive different patients according to the severity of their illnesses.
The tiered treatment is seen as a solution in helping people to see a doctor in good time, as often patients have to wait for hours, even days, to get medical treatment at hospitals.
Many people are reluctant to bother small medical institutions or community health centers for mild symptoms such as coughing or vomiting,instead they go to big hospitals which they believe have the best doctors, making many major hospitals as busy as train stations.
These patients would be better handled by family doctors or guided to smaller medical clinics, said Meng, the head nurse of the Chongqing hospital.
The program will make use of community-level medical resources and ensure the long-term health care of citizens, Liang of Fudan University said.
In 2015, community health centers in Shanghai received 84.5 million visits, one third of that in the city's hospital, according to government statistics. In Beijing, the figure was 48.9 million last year, or 21 percent of total visits to all medical institutions.
CHALLENGES
The promotion of the new program has not always been smooth. In some places, people are used to the major hospitals, and family doctors, mostly from community-level medical institutions, are not trusted by some residents.
"On one hand, family doctors should enhance their professional skills and provide better services to win trust; on the other hand, we hope people can give us more support and be confident in us," said Zhu Lan, a Shanghai family doctor who received the nation's top award for doctors in 2014.
Zhu Lan has made friends with many of her patients.
"They trust me," said Zhu. "The tension between doctors and patients is eased when trust is built."
More efforts are needed to increase people's understanding of family doctors, said Gao Xiuping, a family doctor in Beijing, adding that many people still regard them as private doctors.
The Chongqing government said that in the future most family doctors will be general practitioners.
In June, the Sichuan provincial authorities invited family doctors and medical experts from the United States for a one-week training of local family doctors in a bid to improve their service and professionalism.
To attract more family doctors, the Chinese government has also promised to increase doctors' incomes and provide more opportunities for their promotion and advancement.
Ji Zhiye, president of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (R), addresses the "China-Nepal-India Economic Corridor: Feasibility and Approaches" workshop in Kathmandu, Nepal, Aug. 10, 2016. The establishment of a China-Nepal-India economic corridor will help secure economic prosperity of the entire Asian region through enhancing cooperation on trade, tourism, energy and connectivity, experts said here on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhou Shengping)
KATHMANDU, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The establishment of a China-Nepal-India economic corridor will help secure economic prosperity of the entire Asian region through enhancing cooperation on trade, tourism, energy and connectivity, experts said here on Wednesday.
Speaking at a one-day workshop organized by China Study Center on "China-Nepal-India Economic Corridor: Feasibility and Approaches," experts highlighted the potential mutual economic benefits for the three neighboring countries and the entire Asia region after establishing the economic corridor.
Ji Zhiye, President of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), a think tank under China's State Council, said that the trilateral cooperation among China, Nepal and India can be enhanced through Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China.
"China wants to enhance economic cooperation with neighboring countries such as India, Nepal, through Belt and Road Initiative which is aimed at creating a win-win situation for economic cooperation between China and other countries," Ji said.
Nepalese former Foreign Minister Bhesh Bahadur Thapa, who is currently a coordinator from the Nepali side in the India-Nepal Eminent Persons Group, said that China and India have played significant roles in global stage in 21st century.
"The concept of establishing China-Nepal-India economic corridor is now gaining momentum. Establishment of such corridor will promote people-to-people and
institution-to-institution contacts of the three neighbouring countries. This is more important to Nepal which is sandwiched between the two emerging countries," said Thapa.
Experts were of view that the economic corridor will bring benefit to all three countries and will promote the region more vibrant as a economic and commercial zone.
Saying that the 21st century belongs to Asia, the economic and foreign affairs experts opined that Trans-Himalayan Connectivity proposed by China is a landmark step for the shared economic prosperity of people in the Asia region.
Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Wu Chuntai, said that the China-Nepal-India Economic Corridor is not a sole strategy of China, but it's for creating win-win
cooperation among the three countries.
"Himalayas are not barrier but in fact they are linkages for enhancing connectivity," said the ambassador.
Reiterating the support provided by China in Nepalese roads, major airports and other mega projects, Wu said that China is ready to assist in the development of
neighboring countries.
On the occasion, Nepalese former ministers and ambassadors dwelt over the feasibility, approach and challenges of the economic corridor.
Former Chief Secretary of Nepal Leela Mani Paudyal, said that Nepal can serve as a bridge between China and India, the two emerging economies of the world.
"China has made tremendous progress on the economic front while India and Nepal need foreign investment in order to develop their infrastructure," said Paudyal, adding that the trilateral partnership will create win-win cooperation among the three countries to enhance economy.
Nepalese Infrastructure expert Surya Raj Acharya stressed on extension of Chinese railway to Kathmandu which is decided to extend to Kerung of Tibetan Autonomous Region of China from Xigatse.
"Geography is not a barrier to extend railways in this region," said Acharya, adding that the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will change the entire structure of the Himalayan region after it is expanded to Indian northern states via Nepal.
JERUSALEM, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Israeli authorities announced on Wednesday that they successfully thwarted a knives-smuggling attempt into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
"Officials from the Ministry of Defense Crossing Authority, along with Shin Bet, foiled an attempt to smuggle commando knives into the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom Crossing," the government said in a statement.
Shin Bet is the country's domestic security service.
According to the statement, the shipment contained two boxes of "professional grade 30 cm commando knives" hidden inside.
Furthermore, the government stated that a second attempt to smuggle graphite used in rocket-fuel production into the Gaza enclave was also successfully thwarted.
Authorities confiscated the items and began interrogations of those involved in the shipment, the statement said.
Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, along with the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights territories, during the 1967 Mideast War.
In 2005, Israel evacuated its settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip, which has been under the rule of the Islamist Hamas movement since 2007, when it took over from the Fatah movement.
In the wake of the Hamas takeover, Israel imposed a blockade on the strip, restricting the flow of goods and people in and out of the enclave.
Israel and Hamas have fought repeatedly over the past decade, with the latest round occurring during the summer of 2014, killing over 2,200 Palestinians and over 70 Israelis, in addition to severely damaging the enclave and rendering thousands of Palestinians homeless.
BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday offered condolences to his Pakistani counterpart Mamnoon Hussain over a recent deadly terror attack in the country.
In his message to Hussain, Xi extended condolences to the victims who lost their lives in the attack, and expressed heartfelt sympathy with the bereaved families and those wounded.
He said China opposes terrorism in all of its forms and strongly condemns the terrorist attack, and the Chinese side will continue to support Pakistan in its efforts to counter terrorism and maintain stability and security.
At least 70 people were killed and 112 others injured in a suicide blast inside the emergency ward of Civil Hospital in Pakistan's southwestern Quetta city on Monday.
BRUSSELS, Aug.10 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Mission to the European Union (EU) here on Wednesday expressed its strong dissatisfaction over a statement issued recently by the European External Action Service (EEAS) on the conviction of Chinese Citizens on charges of state subversion.
"China enshrines the principle of rule of law. In China, all people are equal before the law. Anyone who breaks the law shall be brought to justice, regardless of his/her occupation," said a spokesperson when responding to the statement issued on Aug. 5 by the EU side.
The spokesperson said that China's judicial authorities handle cases in accordance with the law, while protecting every legitimate right of the suspects, noting that as proved by sufficient evidences, the persons in the case mentioned by the EEAS' statement have violated the Chinese law, and they have acknowledged that in public.
"By making irresponsible accusation against the normal operation of Chinese judicial authorities, the EU actually goes against the spirit of the rule of law. The EU's statement constitutes serious intervention into China's judicial sovereignty. The Chinese side is firmly opposed to and will not accept this kind of accusation," said the spokesperson.
"We urge the EU side to stop meddling in China's judicial sovereignty and domestic affairs, and to work with China to ensure the healthy development of China-EU relations," said the Chinese side.
BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday sent a message of condolences to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over a recent deadly terror attack in the country.
In the message, Li said he was shocked by the terrorist attack in southwestern Pakistan's Quetta City which caused heavy casualties.
Li said that on behalf of the Chinese government, he extended deep condolences to the victims and expressed heartfelt sympathy to the families of the victims and those wounded.
China strongly condemns the attack and firmly opposes terrorism of all forms, and will continue to support the unremitting efforts of the Pakistani government and people to maintain national security and stability and fight terrorism, he said.
At least 70 people were killed and 112 others were injured in a suicide blast inside an emergency ward of Civil Hospital in Quetta on Monday.
File photo taken on May 24, 2016 shows an aerial view of expressways linking Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport at night in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. Hangzhou is the host city for the 2016 G20 summit on Sept. 4 and Sept. 5. With one month to go, Hangzhou looks forward to G20. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)
BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- As the annual Group of 20 (G20) summit draws closer, the world's media has begun forecasting the issues to be addressed at the meeting.
Leaders of the world's 20 largest economies are scheduled to meet in China's southeastern city of Hangzhou on Sept. 4 and 5. The gathering has caught global attention amid lackluster global economic performance and rising geopolitical tensions in Asia and around the world this year.
According to Agence France-Presse, the fluctuation of China's currency, the yuan, will be on the agenda.
The yuan is expected to drop this year, given the continuing impact of Brexit, AFP said, adding that China and other G20 nations have reaffirmed a pledge to refrain from "competitive devaluations."
"China has committed to moving in an orderly way to a more market-oriented exchange rate," AFP quoted a senior U.S. Treasury official as saying in July.
The Associated Press believes this year's summit will focus on China's diplomatic relations with some of its neighbors.
The media outlet cited a string of China-related diplomatic issues this year, like a Hague-based tribunal's invalid award on the South China Sea issue last month, and South Korea's latest decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), whose X-band radar can snoop on Chinese and Russian territories.
Meanwhile, other diplomatic issues of global concern are also expected to be raised. Reuters reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Theresa May are due to attend the summit. The two leaders will discuss how to relax the "strained" relations of the two nations over their differences on "Ukraine and Syria as well as ... a sharp increase in flights by long-range Russian bombers near British air space."
Reuters also said that China is sparing no effort to ensure its first-ever G20 summit a success. The government and community organizations have offered English lessons to elderly residents of Hangzhou so that they are able to say "hello" to foreign leaders and reporters visiting the city.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the G20 countries will push for global economic recovery "through pro-growth strategies and innovation."
"In light of recent developments, we reiterate our determination to use all policy tools -- monetary, fiscal and structural -- individually and collectively to achieve our goal of strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth," Xinhua quoted G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in a statement.
Xinhua also interviewed a number of foreign economists and experts on the upcoming summit, who said China is poised to play a "crucial" role at the meeting and guide talks aimed at jump-starting the world economy.
Related:
Interview: China's role in G20 summit vital to global growth: Italian expert
ROME, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's role in promoting global economic growth is vital, an Italian economic expert told Xinhua in context of the forthcoming G20 summit to be held in Hangzhou, China.
The summit, from September 4 to 5, is the first ever to be hosted in China. Full story
Interview: G20 expected to be "ambitious" on innovation, trade, investment: Italian experts
ROME, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Scholars and economists from global think tanks expect the G20 summit in September to be "ambitious" on key challenges weighing on global economy, an Italian economist said.
JAKARTA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian transport ministry plans to rise and intensify the use of train as transport facilities in the country's big cities in a bid to address traffic jam.
Newly appointed Transport Minister Budi Karya stressed on Wednesday that the roles of train on the transportation in the highly populated areas will be stepped up to 25 percent from the current level of 10 percent.
"I think this is an efficient transport means, therefore its contribution must be risen," he said at Manggarai train station.
The minister said that the train capacity to carry passenger will also be boosted.
Taking Jakarta as an example, Minister Budi said that the capacity could be increased to 420 million passengers per year from the current level of 280 million people.
Indonesia, home to over 250 million populations, is attempting to address the problems of traffic in big cities, particularly in the country's capital of Jakarta, the capital city of West Java province, Bandung and other big cities in Java Island.
Cooperating with the Chinese government, Indonesia is constructing the first fast-train in the Southeast Asia's region, connecting Jakarta and Bandung cities, which can significantly smooth the flows of humans and goods between the two business centers.
Such project not only solves traffic problems but also brings a huge economic benefit for the communities.
The government has hinted to develop such projects in other parts of the country, including a fast train connecting Jakarta in western part of Java Island and the country's second largest city of Surabaya in eastern the island. Enditem
MANILA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned Wednesday of the looming problem of terrorist Islamic State (IS) in the country.
Duterte made the warning after receiving information of the presence of "white skinned" Arab-looking people in southern Philippines.
"They are here as missionaries. They are not armed but they are into indoctrination," he said in a speech before members of the Philippine Army in southern province of Zamboanga del Sur.
"I see a looming problem. I think three to seven years from now, we can have an IS problem," he said.
He said before the minds of the Muslim brothers could be "contaminated" by the "IS disease," the government should act on this.
"There is something wrong in their minds about killing people...they burn people to death (with) no reason at all," Duterte added.
The previous administration had denied the presence of IS in the country, while the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group, which has been engaged in high profile kidnappings and killings, has pledged allegiance to the international terror group.
ISLAMABAD, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told the parliament on Wednesday that his government will pursue anti-terror fight with more strength, days after a bomber killed over 70 people in the southwestern city of Quetta.
Daesh and a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban claimed the responsibility for the attack on Aug. 8 that also prompted high level security meetings to explore ways how to counter the threat by the terrorists who are now killing civilians.
Sarfaraz Bugti, Home Minister in Balochistan, of which Quetta is the capital, claimed involvement of foreign hand to destabilize the natural resources-rich province.
The Prime Minister, delivering statement on the Quetta terrorist attack in the National Assembly, lower house of the parliament, called for national unity to defeat the remaining terrorist who are targeting innocent people in sheer frustration.
"I want to announce in the parliament that the nation is united in the war against terrorism and this war will be taken to its logical conclusion at all costs."
The opposition leader, Syed Khurshid Shah, and other lawmakers also spoke on the occasion said the Quetta carnage has shocked the whole nation and underlined the need for the effective implementation of the anti-terror National Action Plan.
The Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali informed the parliament about the progress in investigation into the attack.
"We have found some clues regarding the terrorist bombing that have been shared with the prime minister," he said.
"I am confident to reach the perpetrators soon," the minister said, adding that the terrorists conducted the blast in a very scientific manner.
A suicide bomber detonated his vest when lawyers gathered outside the city's main hospital to receive the dead body of their president who was also killed by a militant group hours earlier of the suicide attack. Police say that over 20 lawyers among those killed in the attack.
Nawaz Sharif told the lawmakers that terrorist incidents cannot deter the resolve of the nation in the fight against terrorism.
"We will move forward with full strength and completely eliminate terrorism from the country. We will have to defeat this ideology because they are the enemy of the country," he said.
BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Evergrande, China's second biggest property developer, is in the spotlght over information disclosure in the country's most high-profile boardroom fight in years.
The highly-leveraged developer said last Thursday night that it had bought a 4.7 percent stake in China Vanke, the country's largest property developer, for around 1.4 billion U.S. dollars, but a number of media outlets quoted sources within Evergrande on Thursday afternoon,categorically denying that the developer was buying any stake in Vanke.
This led the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, where Vanke is listed, to question why Evergrande had denied buying Vanke's publicly-traded shares, when it was doing exactly that.
On Tuesday night, Evergrande said neither the company nor its senior management ever said, nor authorized anyone to say, that the company was not buying stakes in Vanke.
The statement effectively said that Thursday afternoon's media reports were untrue. However, Caixin, one of China's leading financial publications, reported, after Evergrande's Tuesday night statement, that "it and other media organizations" had received denials from Evergrande that it was buying a stake in Vanke.
Shareholders and senior management of publicly-traded companies cannot be allowed to disseminate false information to manipulate the market for its own interests, said Sun Lijian, vice dean of economics at Fudan University. Enditem
BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Liu Li, 54, teaches third grade in Beijing and keeps touch with parents of her students via WeChat.
Four years ago, she did not even own a smartphone and then, in 2012, her sister brought her an iPhone5 and a whole new world opened up to her.
"I found there were so many things that I needed to learn," she said.
Liu soon noticed that many of her coworkers were using WeChat, so she asked a colleague to install the app for her and teach her how to use it.
She still remembers her first "moment," a kind of WeChat newsfeed to share text, photos or videos. She posted photos of the first snow in Beijing in 2012.
Now she does far more. She has a chat group that includes parents of all her students. When there is an activity at school, she sends photos or videos of students to their parents.
"I can send notifications and answer parents' questions at any time via the group. It's so convenient," she said.
"Convenient" is a word she uses frequently to describe smartphones and mobile Internet, and convenience is probably the main reason why she has become so dependent on them.
"Now I use my phone for checking maps, booking trips, shopping and calling cabs," she said.
When she first came across payment by phone, she was a little skeptical but soon began to "rely on it."
Mobile payments also changed the life of Liu Jianhua, 55. After her daughter showed her how to shop online with her phone, she seldom goes to supermarkets.
"It really saves me a lot of time," she said.
Mobile Internet also caters to her needs for information. Instead of reading newspapers, she now gets the news on phone every morning.
"I usually spend two or three hours each day reading news on my phone," she said. She subscribes to a dozen newsfeeds from newspapers like the "People's Daily" and "Beijing Daily."
"If there is a good article, I share it in my moments," she said.
For retiree Zhu Dan, 56, browsing WeChat moments has become part of her routine.
"I would feel a little awkward if I could not do it one day," Zhu said. "It is like closure for the day."
Beside browsing, Zhu posts things herself.
"I mainly post photos of myself going out for activities or trips. It's just a record of my own life, but when my friends comment or like the photos I get very excited," she said.
She has even learned how to use photo processing apps to make her photos look better, which takes time but makes her happy.
"I'm quite into this new stuff now and very willing to learn more," she said.
However, Luddites remain.
According to a 2015 survey by Wuhan University, around a third of the seniors "frequently" encounter difficulties when using the Internet and about half of them "occasionally" have problems.
Li, 65, told Xinhua that he is annoyed that many restaurants offer discounts for mobile payment but he hardly knows anything about smartphones except chatting on WeChat.
"As seniors, we have to spend more money or time to accomplish what young people do just by tapping their fingers," he complained.
Aware of this problem, some businesses have tried to help.
In 2015, Wang Guanchun founded Laiye, a mobile Internet platform that helps ordering cabs, food, hotels, air tickets, housekeeping.
Users can send requests by text or voice message, and Laiye staff do the technical stuff. Laiye aims to save users the time and stress. Although the company targets busy young professionals, senior people are also clients, Wang said.
Wang's mother uses Laiye every week. Another senior client, despite his lack of online shopping skills, orders toys for his grandson with the help of Laiye.
There is still be a long way to go. The main problem for seniors is not that they are incapable, but that they have not had the chance to learn.
"Many seniors assume that new things are challenging, but if they have a try and learn from the young, there are not too many challenges. You have to believe that you will be able to do it," said Liu Li.
BERLIN, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Britain's withdraw from the European Union will affect Germany for a long time, and hurt the German economy more than the whole euro zone, a study found on Wednesday.
The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) estimated that due to Germany's economic openness and dependence on trade, its gross domestic product (GDP) would be 0.4 percent lower eight months from now than in a no-Brexit scenario.
By comparison, the Brexit would cut euro area GDP roughly by 0.2 percent.
"The German economy is suffering more from the uncertainty than is the euro area as a whole: our manufacturing sector is very export-oriented and will feel the direct effects of the weaker demand from the UK," said DIW economist Malte Rieth.
According to the Berlin-based institute, the Brexit shock will have lasting effects, even after two years, German GDP will still be below the level that would have been in a no-shock scenario.
"To reduce economic insecurity for businesses, the future relationship between Britain and the EU should be clarified as soon as possible," the institute said, urging the German government to invest more and set policies to promote business investment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan during a news conference following their meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, August 9, 2016. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
ANKARA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and Russia have agreed to keep in close contact regarding the war in Syria in order to avoid a repetition of incidents such as last year's downing of a Russian warplane, a Turkish presidential spokesman told local media on Wednesday.
Russia is waging a bombing campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad while Turkey is fiercely opposed to the Syrian leader.
"We have agreed to be in close contact in order to avoid such incidents," Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told A Haber.
"In this framework, our chief of General Staff and his Russian counterpart have established a direct line," Kalin said. "They are in talks on this."
On Tuesday, Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin held lengthy talks in St. Petersburg to normalize ties after nine months of tension.
The talks focused on Syria, as the two sides decided to establish a mechanism to exchange information on the country, Kalin said, adding that the Russian chief of General Staff was also part of the discussions.
"They are in close contact on Syria, bilateral relations and regional issues as well as air space," he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara and Moscow agreed to build a mechanism on Syria, which includes officials from the intelligence services, foreign ministries and armed forces.
The agreement was made during a meeting between the Turkish and Russian presidents in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, Cavusoglu said.
ABUJA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- About 1,900 herdsmen in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno were killed in separate attacks by terror group Boko Haram in the last four years, an official said on Wednesday.
President of the local Al-Hayah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Ibrahim Mafa, told reporters in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, that more than 169,000 cows and 63,000 sheep and goats were also lost in various attacks.
The herdsmen also lost landed property estimated to the tune of 26 billion naira (over 92 million U.S. dollars) to Boko Haram attacks, Mafa noted.
The local districts, in which herdsmen belonging to this association, were mostly affected by Boko Haram attacks include Kala Balge, Marte, Mafa, Munguno, Bama, Konduga and Gwoza, he said.
Nigeria has made progress in the fight against Boko Haram in the past year, with the army retaking most of the areas previously under the terror group's control.
BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Those who illegally use others' identity cards will be punished and blacklisted, according to a new regulation.
The regulation, aimed at strengthening the protection of citizens' private information, was issued on Wednesday by eight ministerial-level departments including the Ministry of Public Security, and went effect immediately.
According to the regulation, government functionaries must not copy, reproduce or retain ID cards without authorization.
Authorities should perfect a security management system protecting citizens' information. Personal information for official business should be kept confidential, the regulation said.
Government organs should blacklist those who deliberately infringe other individual's identities, and form a joint disciplinary scheme for offenders.
by Alessandra Cardone
ROME, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Italy has stepped up counter-terror vigilance in major cities and around sensitive targets in recent days, with the number of suspected extremists expelled from the country rising to 107, authorities and media said.
Strengthened security measures were implemented especially in the capital city Rome and Milan, the country's major economic hub.
Controls in Rome were increased at the Colosseum, in historic central districts, after recent video threats against the city were made by alleged militants of the Islamic State (IS) group.
A special security plan had already been in place in Rome since December 2015, and has been updated, taking into account higher tourist arrivals in the summer, police said.
In Milan, joint units of police and soldiers equipped with hand metal detectors were deployed on Tuesday, and are patrolling popular areas for tourists and citizens.
"This summer scheme might be further extended, if it proves effective," Milan prefect Alessandro Marangoni told a press conference on Monday.
However, Marangoni stressed that police activity and security measures would be kept as less intrusive as possible as "citizens and tourists do not like being in a heavily armored city."
A 41-year-old Tunisian man was arrested last Friday near Naples, after Italian military police identified him as a self-radicalized supporter of IS.
"He did not carry out concrete actions, but he would have been ready to. He is a dangerous person," Giuseppe Governale, head of local Special Operation Group, told reporters, describing the man who was charged with criminal conspiracy to commit acts of international terrorism.
The suspect also allegedly led an illegal immigration ring involving seven other people, and served as caretaker at a mosque in a small town out of Naples, police said.
Since the beginning of 2015, some 107 people were expelled from the country for suspected ties to extremism, the Interior Ministry said last week.
"Police and intelligence have shown an outstanding level of expertise, which is crucial in order to reduce the terror risk in our country as much as possible," Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said.
Surveillance around suspected extremists living in Italy has further increased since June, in the wake of the attacks in Belgium, France and Germany.
At least 10 people were either arrested or expelled in the last two weeks alone.
A young Somali asylum-seeker was also given two years and six months in jail in Campobasso, central Italy, after being arrested in March for inciting terrorism.
In July, Italian President Sergio Mattarella had urged the country "not to fall into an age of anxiety" over terrorism concerns.
BRUSSELS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The European Union(EU) has allocated 187.5 million euros (about 210 million U.S. dollars) for the construction of the Balticconnector, the first Estonia-Finland gas pipeline, as part of the bloc's efforts to unite its energy markets, the EU said on Wednesday.
The Balticconnector, set to end the gas isolation of Finland and develop the Baltic regional gas market, contributes to solidarity and security of supply in the entire Baltic region, the European Commission, or the executive body of the EU, said in a statement.
"Diversifying energy sources and routes, and uniting the energy markets... is key to ensuring secure, affordable and sustainable energy for all EU citizens," the statement quoted Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete as saying.
"What the Commission has started with the Poland-Lithuania pipeline (GIPL) we are now pursuing with the support to Balticconnector - promoting a chain of projects that will end the gas isolation of north-eastern Europe and develop the Baltic regional energy market," he added.
The EU's financial support to the Balticconnector comes from the Connecting Europe Facility program and corresponds to 75 percent of the needed funding.
The pipeline will be constructed jointly by Baltic Connector Oy (Finland) and Elering AS (Estonia) and it will include Finnish onshore (22 km) and offshore (80 km) sections, as well as an Estonian onshore (50 km) one.
The pipeline is expected to be operational by December 2019. (1 euro=1.12 U.S. dollar) Enditem
COPENHAGEN, Aug.10 (Xinhua) -- Danish brewer Carlsberg has signed an agreement to sell its 59 percent share of Carlsberg Malawi Limited (CML) to French beverage company Castel Group, the company said Wednesday.
Carlsberg said the sale is in line with the Group's new strategy to fully exploit and leverage its strengths while positioning itself for future growth.
As part of the agreement, the Group has agreed on a license agreement with CML to continue to produce and sell Carlsberg in Malawi.
It however did not disclose financial details on Wednesday.
"In line with Carlsberg Group's new strategy, we have evaluated all businesses in order to focus our efforts against a narrower and more precisely-defined set of priorities," said Graham Fewkes, Carlsberg's executive vice-president in Asia.
Officially opened in 1968, CML is the Group's only brewery in Africa and is capable of producing 380,000 hectoliter of beer per year.
The transaction is subject to regulatory and corporate approval. Enditem
Photo taken in 2015 shows the cross-sea Kigamboni Bridge under construction in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. (Xinhua/Zhang Ping)
DAR ES SALAAM, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said on Wednesday that the east African nation welcomes Chinese investors, saying geography has made Tanzania a natural trade and logistics hub.
"I would like ... to invite and to welcome investors from China to follow the 'One Belt, One Road' philosophy along the path that leads to Tanzania as the landing beach head on the eastern seaboard of Africa," Majaliwa said.
The prime minister made the remarks during his inspection in Tooku Garments Company Limited, a Chinese firm at Benjamin William Mkapa special economic zone in Dar Es Salaam.
With fertile arable land, industrial raw materials, and a sizeable and trainable young population with social stability, Tanzania is an ideal platform to accommodate industrial enterprises that wish to relocate from China to Africa, especially for those in search of access to markets, sources of industrial raw materials and manpower for labor intensive industries, said the prime minister.
The total African regional population that can be accessed through Tanzania, a trade and logistics hub for an integrated market, is 600 million, according to the prime minister.
Tooku will employ around 6,000 workers and that will mean a fourfold growth from the current number of 1,500 workers over the next 30 months or so after local residents graduate from a training program jointly sponsored by the Tanzanian government and the Chinese private sector.
The list of development assistance projects standing as monuments and legacy of the all-weather friendship of China and Tanzania is quite impressive, the prime minister said, listing the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) project as an example.
It is sufficient to say the development assistance that Tanzania has received from China over the past five decades has touched the lives of many Tanzanians and made a positive difference to economy and social services delivery that touches the lives of ordinary Tanzanians, he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (third right) and President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan during a meeting in Moscow on August 10, 2016. (Sputnik Photo)
MOSCOW, Aug 10 (Xinhua) -- Russia has prevented a series of terrorist attacks in Crimea planned by the Ukraine military intelligence service, the Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) said Wednesday.
One officer died on the night between Aug. 6 and Aug. 7 during a clash with saboteurs and another serviceman was killed on Aug. 8, as Russian forces prevented two attempts of the special units of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry to penetrate Crimea from Ukraine which was covered by heavy shelling from the Ukrainian side, the FSB said in a statement.
Some 20 improvised explosive devices equivalent to more than 40 kg of TNT, as well as different ammunition, including mines, grenades and special weapons used by Ukrainian special forces were found at the site of clashes, said the statement.
An Ukrainian military intelligence officer and a group of Russian and Ukrainian citizens who were suspected to be Ukrainian military intelligence agents and assisted in preparing of terrorist acts were detained and interrogated, the statement added.
Crimea, which was previously part of Ukraine, was incorporated into Russia in 2014 following a referendum, which was recognized by Moscow but rejected by Ukraine and Western powers.
"The purpose of sabotage and terrorist attacks was to destabilize the social and political situation in the region during the preparation and conduct of elections by federal and regional authorities," said the FSB.
Russia has adopted additional security measures to protect the Crimean people and critical infrastructure and has toughened border checks, said the statement.
The claims made by the FSB were immediately rejected by the Ukrainian side.
Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov said the claims were "hysterical and false," and the Ukrainian Defense Ministry termed the allegations as Moscow's attempt to justify its redeployment and actions in the region, media reports said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (C-L) and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C-R) enter a hall to start their meeting with Russian and Turkish entrepreneurs in Konstantinovsky Palace outside Saint Petersburg on August 9, 2016. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
ANKARA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and Russia have agreed to build a mechanism on Syria which includes officials from the intelligence services, foreign ministries and armed forces, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday in Ankara.
In an interview with Anadolu Agency, Cavusoglu said the first bilateral meeting of this mechanism will be held in St. Petersburg on Thursday.
The formation of the mechanism, which is at the ministerial level, was agreed during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, he said.
"We are building a strong mechanism with Russia regarding Syria," Cavusoglu said. "We think alike on the cease-fire, humanitarian aid and a political solution."
Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Chief Hakan Fidan and representatives form Turkey's Foreign Ministry and the Turkish Armed Forces will depart for Russia late on Wednesday, according to the foreign minister.
He said the pilots involved in the downing of a Russian jet on Nov. 24, 2015, which led to a crisis in bilateral ties, are in custody for their ties with the so-called Gulen Terrorist Organization, a reference to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Turkey accuses Gulen of masterminding a July 15 coup attempt and has called for his extradition from the United States.
Regarding the long-awaited missile defense system, Cavusoglu said that Turkey first sought cooperation with NATO countries; however, so far the results were unsatisfactory.
"Therefore, it is normal for us to seek other alternatives," he added, referring to Turkish and Russian presidents deciding to increase cooperation on defense.
"But we don't perceive this as a step against NATO. We need to set up our own defense system and develop our own technology in cooperation with other countries," Cavusoglu said.
The shooting down of the Russian jet led to a freeze in relations of the two countries, including economic sanctions and a bar on Russian tourism to Turkey, which thawed in June after Erdogan wrote to his counterpart and the two later spoke by telephone.
Putin gave his support to Turkey over the coup attempt and said he stood by the elected government, offering his condolences to the victims of the coup attempt.
Photo taken on March 10, 2016 shows red flags on the Tian'anmen Square and atop the Great Hall of the People before the second plenary meeting of the fourth session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)
BRUSSELS, Aug.10 (Xinhua)-- The Chinese Mission to the European Union (EU) here on Wednesday expressed its strong dissatisfaction over a statement issued recently by the European External Action Service (EEAS) on the conviction of Chinese citizens on charges of state subversion.
"China enshrines the principle of rule of law. In China, all people are equal before the law. Anyone who breaks the law shall be brought to justice, regardless of his/her occupation," said a spokesperson when responding to the statement issued on Aug. 5 by the EU side.
The spokesperson said that China's judicial authorities handle cases in accordance with the law, while protecting every legitimate right of the suspects, noting that as proved by sufficient evidences, the persons in the case mentioned by the EEAS' statement have violated the Chinese law, and they have acknowledged that in public.
"By making irresponsible accusation against the normal operation of Chinese judicial authorities, the EU actually goes against the spirit of the rule of law. The EU's statement constitutes serious intervention into China's judicial sovereignty. The Chinese side is firmly opposed to and will not accept this kind of accusation," said the spokesperson.
"We urge the EU side to stop meddling in China's judicial sovereignty and domestic affairs, and to work with China to ensure the healthy development of China-EU relations," said the Chinese side.
LONDON, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- More than half of the young women in Britain have experienced sexual harassment at work, research published Wednesday reveals.
The study by the trade union body, the TUC, said the problem was even worse for young women workers aged 18 to 24 with nearly two-thirds saying they had been sexually harassed by colleagues.
The study is the largest of its kind for a generation and cited by leading Dublin-based academic Dr. Jane Pilliger as one of the most extensive pieces of research on sexual harassment at work in Europe.
It reveals that of those surveyed, nearly one in three (32 percent) of women have been subject to unwelcome jokes of a sexual nature while at work.
More than one in four (28 percent) have been the subject of comments of a sexual nature about their body or clothes at work, while 23 percent of women have experienced unwanted touching, such as a hand on the knee or lower back at work.
In total, 51 percent reported experiencing some kind of sexual harassment. One in eight women say they have experienced unwanted sexual touching or attempts to kiss them at work.
The survey also finds that around four out of five (79 percent) women who said they experienced sexual harassment at work did not tell their employer fearing they would be disbelieved or it would harm their career prospects.
Nearly one in five (17 percent) women reported that the aggressor was their line manager or someone with direct authority over them.
TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "Sexual harassment is undermining, humiliating and can have a huge effect on mental health. Victims are often left feeling ashamed and frightened. It has no place in a modern workplace, or in wider society."
Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, said: "Many people would like to think that workplace sexual harassment is a thing of the past. In reality it is having a huge impact on tens of thousands of women's lives."
"These findings reveal the shameful extent of the problem and the reality of the touching, unwanted advances, and inappropriate comments women find themselves confronted with while simply trying to do their jobs," she added.
HAVANA, Aug.10 (Xinhua) -- Starting from Wednesday, Cuban artists may apply for state funding for cultural projects with no commercial purposes.
The Extraordinary Official Gazette No. 22, issued by the island's authorities, published a set of rules organizing the provision of funds in Cuban Pesos and Convertible Pesos directly to writers, artists and groups of artists, regardless of age, cultural projects for non-commercial purposes.
According to the new requirements, the endowment will be granted by the Ministry of Culture through its institutes and councils and the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), and through the issuance of bank instruments on behalf of writers or artists.
The criteria for deciding which projects will benefit include the quality of the proposals, their social impact, the level of interest among cultural institutes and organizations, and the responsibility and experience of the artists.
These grants will be exempt from taxes. However, if the resulting work is eventually used for commercial purposes, the artist and the institution must pay the established market taxes.
The money support to private cultural non profits projects was approved by the Cuban government in February 2015 and only be able to come into force now.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) report said on Wednesday discriminatory practices against the African-American communities had long existed among police forces in Baltimore, Maryland.
According to the 163-page scathing report, after a year-long investigation into the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) following the death of a 25-year-old black man who died in police custody, the DOJ found "reasonable cause to believe that BPD engages in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the Constitution or federal law."
In detailing its findings, the report depicted a bleak picture for local African-American communities which had long been complaining about excessive use of forces and racial profiling by local police force.
"Statistical evidence shows that the (Baltimore Police) Department intrudes disproportionately upon the lives of African Americans at every stage of its enforcement activities," said the report.
Between 2010 and 2015, though they comprised about 63 percent of the city's population, African Americans accounted for 84 percent of stops.
"The high rate of stopping African Americans persists across the City, even in districts where African Americans make up a small share of the population," said the report, adding that African Americans were also far more likely to be subjected to multiple stops within short periods of time.
Between 2010 and 2015, BPD stopped 34 African Americans at least 20 times and seven other African Americans at least 30 times, while no person of any other race was stopped more than 12 times, the report said.
In addition to the large racial disparities in stops, the BPD officers may also have used force against African Americans disproportionately.
"We found that African Americans accounted for roughly 88 percent of the subjects of non-deadly force used by BPD officers in a random sample of over 800 cases we reviewed," said the report.
The DOJ in recent years had launched similar civil rights investigations into police departments in Chicago, Cleveland, Ferguson, etc.
In another blistering report released in March, 2015, the DOJ said it had found a widespread discrimination against the black communities existed among law enforcement officials in Ferguson, Missouri.
DAMASCUS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 people were killed Wednesday by renewed rebel shelling on government-controlled district in Syria's northern city of Aleppo, pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported.
The shelling targeted the sprawling Hamadaniyeh district in the government-controlled western part of Aleppo city, said the report.
The relentless shelling lasted all day Wednesday as ambulances were franticly speeding to transfer the wounded to hospitals.
According to the report, over 40 wounded people were hospitalized, as some bodies of civilians were found charred due to the intensity of the "random" shelling.
The report said the targeted areas are all civilians with no military presence, adding that the death toll is not final as the shelling is still ongoing and ambulances were still wailing in that part of the city.
The TV aired live footage from near a hospital in Hamadaniyeh district, showing many families crying and waiting for the destiny of their wounded relatives.
Earlier in the day, a military source told Xinhua that up to 142 civilians have been killed in rebel attacks in Aleppo since July 31.
An array of extremist groups unleashed what they called "Aleppo's Large Epic" battle on July 31, the source said on condition of anonymity.
A total of 48 children, 31 women, and 63 men have been killed, in addition to 672 injuries, mostly women and children, the source added.
The rebel attacks, which included firing mortar shells and improvised rockets, targeted several districts in the government-controlled part of western Aleppo.
Meanwhile, al-Mayadeen TV put the death toll among civilians over the past week at 162, adding that over 662 others were wounded.
The rebel groups that unleashed the attacks are mainly Jaish al-Fateh rebels, in coordination with Ahrar al-Sham, Nour Addien Zinki, the Islamic Turkestan Party, Failaq al-Sham, and Jabeht Fateh al-Sham.
Jaish al-Fateh, an alliance of several rebel factions, was reportedly formed in March 2015 under the supervision and coordination of Saudi cleric Abdullah al-Muhaysini.
Some of its factions are active in the provinces of Hama and Latakia. The group, reportedly supported by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, has seized most of Idlib province in northwestern Syria last year.
The Jaish al-Fateh rebel group earlier claimed that it had broken the siege of the Syrian army on rebel-held areas in the eastern part of Aleppo city after six days of strenuous attacks.
The group said that key areas have been captured include the military college and the southern town of al-Ramuseh.
Aleppo, the country's previous top commercial hub, has been divided since 2012 between a government-held west and a rebel-controlled east. Many observers believe that whoever controls Aleppo will gain the upper hand in any potential settlement in Syria.
Battles in Aleppo flared up last month, when the Syrian army, backed by the Lebanese Hezbollah group and Russian airstrikes, made sweeping progress in the northern countryside of Aleppo, severing the last supply route for the rebels in eastern Aleppo.
The move triggered violent responses by the rebels, which fired mortars and rockets continuously on the government-controlled western part of the city.
ANKARA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- A total of six civilians were killed and 54 others wounded on Wednesday in two separate attacks staged by militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey, local Dogan News Agency reported.
Two civilians were killed and 50 others wounded when a roadside bomb was detonated by PKK militants in Kiziltepe district of Mardin province, according to an official.
A separate bomb blast hit Sur district of the Diyarbakir province while a police vehicle was passing by, killing four civilians and wounding four police officers, according to the report.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU, resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in 2015.
Photo taken on Aug. 8, 2016 shows the baby panda at the Pairi Daiza Zoo in Brugelette, Belgium. The baby panda born in Belgium on June 2 will remain at the Pairi Daiza animal park in the south of the country for four years before returning to China. (Xinhua/Gong Bing)
BRUSSELS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- After a long wait of two months, the first panda ever born in Belgium finally made its maiden public appearance and instantly became the star attraction of Pairi Daiza zoo.
On Saturday, his mother Hao Hao decided to take her baby out of the nursery and "show him" to the public. Skittish at first, Hao Hao picked her baby up with her mouth several times, shying away from the crowd of visitors.
Weighing 3,120 g, the baby panda -- nicknamed Baby P -- now looks more like a real panda than a "pink sausage" that people described when he was first born.
Adorable as he is, Baby P is still an infant, unable to do more than sleep and drink milk.
That, however, did not stop a sea of visitors coming to see the adorable little creature. The queue outside the panda cave was hundreds of meters long, with people waiting at least an hour to get a glimpse of the sleeping Baby P.
Pairi Daiza staff told Xinhua that on Sunday, visitors had to wait three to four hours to see the panda cub.
"The baby panda is beautiful," said one little boy. Another girl Rebecca said that it was her fourth time seeing a panda, but the first time seeing a cub.
Although Baby P sleeps during much of the time, his mother doesn't leave his side. When the caregiver led Hao Hao out of the cave to feed her, she became very anxious, walking around the feeding cage and sometimes crawling on the wall fretfully.
"That shows Hao Hao is a good mother," Tanya, the caregiver, told Xinhua, "She does not want to leave her baby for one minute."
The Mother panda Hao Hao looks at her baby at the Pairi Daiza Zoo in Brugelette, Belgium, Aug. 8, 2016. (Xinhua/Gong Bing)
Compared to the loving mother, Xing Hui, the male panda, seems to have no idea that he has become a father. He lives in a separate cave and continues his idle life.
"It is the way pandas raise their young," said panda expert Wu Daifu, who takes care of the pandas in Pairi Daiza. "After mating, the job of raising the young is left to the mother. We have to keep the two adult pandas apart to prevent them from fighting."
Hao Hao and Xing Hui were sent to Belgium from China in 2014. They are the first giant pandas China has sent overseas for a lease term of 15 years instead of the usual 10.
The arrival of Hao Hao and Xing Hui made Belgium the 13th country and Pairi Daiza the 18th zoo in the world to house giant pandas, which are considered one of the world's most endangered species.
About 1,600 giant pandas live in the wild, mostly in the mountains of China's southwestern province of Sichuan, while over 300 live in captivity.
NICOSIA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus is beefing up security measures on its northwestern shores to stem a stream of migrants arriving from Turkey, an official statement said on Wednesday.
The measures were announced after a team of 15 Syrian migrants, among them a woman and a minor, were found overnight hiding behind rocks on a deserted beach where they had arrived a short while before.
It was the second group to arrive in the northwestern Cypriot shores, after another group of 15 immigrants were spotted there on August 2.
The statement said there will be patrols and stationary lookouts along the coastline, just 70 kilometers from the southern coast of Turkey, while a patrol boat will monitor boat movements in the region.
A police spokesman said information was obtained that more immigrants are in the city of Mersin, Turkey, waiting for transport to Cyprus.
"The police are evaluating specific information on the traffickers," the spokesman said.
"We are on high alert along in the region with other state authorities," he added.
There is an increased military presence in the area, which is neighboring to territory occupied by Turkish troops in 1974, in reaction to a coup organized by the military rulers of Greece at the time.
Immigrants said on questioning that they paid 2,000 euros each to human traffickers to ferry them to Cyprus in speed boats.
Authorities are worried that after the agreement between the European Union(EU) and Turkey to stem a flood of immigrants from the Turkish shores to the Aegean Greek islands, many immigrants will try to travel to Cyprus as asylum seekers.
Under current EU quotas, Cyprus has to take less than 400 immigrants.
Several groups of immigrants either beached on Cyprus or were rescued at sea last year as they ventured the perilous trip to other European countries, mainly Italy.
Cyprus has not been up to now a favored destination of immigrants from the battle fields in the Middle East because of limited means to travel to large European countries. Enditem
Swing dancers shake up the crowd at the Culture Festival in Stockholm, capital of Sweden, Aug. 11, 2015. (Xinhua/Rob Schoenbaum)
STOCKHOLM, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Police in Gothenburg, western Sweden, have decided to install surveillance cameras in the city center during a major culture festival taking place this month in order to detect sexual assaults.
More police officers will also be posted at the festival this year in order to deal with reports quicker and on site. In addition, festival organizers and staff members have also undergone training in how to assist sexual assault victims, according to local media.
The initiatives follow reports of a hike in sexual assaults at festivals across Sweden.
"Considering all the police reports of sexual assaults recently, both in this country and abroad, the police authority has decided to make use of current legislation that enables us to use camera surveillance," Jonas Bergqvist, who heads police operations during the Gothenburg Culture Festival, told local newspaper Goteborgsposten.
Speaking to a local radio station, the festival's press spokesperson Fredrik Beckman said: "Considering the discussions around festivals and events earlier this year, we think it's good that we're proactive. We haven't had these kinds of problems before and we haven't seen these kinds of reports at the Gothenburg Culture Festival."
Beckman added: "Instead of waiting to see if it happens, we think it's important to take these kinds of issues seriously."
The surveillance cameras will be placed at two major squares - Gotaplatsen och Kungstorget - which attract the largest crowds during the six-day long street festival.
The purpose is to prevent crime but also to increase the possibilities of investigating any crimes committed at the festival, which is an annual event.
Last year, there were six reported cases of sexual assault. Two were rapes that apparently took place at a restaurant and at a hotel.
"My impression is that the festival itself is a pleasant event and the sexual-assault reports we received last year concerned incidents that took place at locations that I cannot link to the festival," said Bergqvist.
Bergqvist said the Gothenburg police is counting on receiving more reports this year since more people have become aware of the problem of sexual harassment and are less likely to accept it.
This year's edition of the Gothenburg Culture Festival is expected to attract 1.5 million visitors and will feature concerts, street theater, film screenings, art shows and more. The festival kicks off on August 16. It has been held in the city center of Gothenburg - Sweden's second largest city - since 1991.
LJUBLJANA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Slovenia received a group of 18 asylum seekers from Greece on Wednesday under an European Union-sponsored relocation scheme, the Interior Ministry has said.
The group comprises 13 nationals of Syria and five citizens of Iraq, the ministry said in a press release.
The migrants have been sent by bus to the asylum centre in the Ljubljana Vic borough, where their asylum requests will be processed. In addition, another 14 migrants will also arrive in next week, the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) reported.
With the latest arrivals, Slovenia has so far accepted 61 migrants under the relocation plan. Before the latest group, 18 Syrians and 10 Iraqis had been relocated from Greece and 15 Eritreans from Italy.
By July 21, the ministry had processed 24 applications for international protection filed by the first group, granting refugee status to 12 and subsidiary protection to 11.
With the latest two groups, the number of asylum seekers relocated to Slovenia will increase to 75 out of the total of 567 that the country committed to accept under the relocation plan this and next year.
In addition, 60 more refugees are to be permanently resettled to Slovenia, including 40 Syrian refugees who are currently in Turkey.
UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- UN relief chief Stephen O'Brien on Wednesday called on the international community to save the lives of the South Sudanese people who were fleeing fighting in their country with food, water, medical care and shelter.
O'Brien, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, made the appeal when he was speaking to reporters here after he just returned from a three-day visit to South Sudan.
"Let me be clear: people in South Sudan are not just fleeing their homes because they need food, shelter or medical care and school for their children," said O'Brien, who is also the UN emergency relief coordinator.
"They are fleeing through fear for their lives -- just as you or I would if faced with the same hideous threat. So we must protect them, and we must save their lives with food, water, medical care and shelter," he said.
"I call on the international community to make sure together we can avert an even worse humanitarian tragedy in South Sudan," he said.
"Sadly, in the past year, the humanitarian situation has significantly deteriorated, including in areas that were relatively stable, and displacement and hunger are now widespread across the country," he said.
South Sudan was founded in July 2011, after it gained independence from Sudan. The country descended into conflict in December 2013 due to internal struggles between rival factions.
The recent fighting erupted in and around the capital of Juba on July 7 between rival forces -- the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) loyal to President Salva Kiir and the SPLA in opposition backing First Vice-President Riek Machar, killing some 272 people, including 33 civilians.
During the visit, the second one by the senior UN official to South Sudan since he assumed office in June last year, O'Brien travelled to Wau and Aweil, where he met with displaced and severely food insecure people and hear first-hand the stories of their plight.
"Women in Wau told me how they were attacked and displaced multiple times," he said. "I spoke personally with three courageous women who told me how women and girls were raped, and men and boys were killed, abducted or prevented from seeking protection. They did tell me that they need security to continue their lives."
In Aweil, O'Brien said, he met a woman who brought her eight-month-old daughter, Icahn, to a treatment center for severe acute malnutrition.
"The mother herself was so malnourished that she could no longer breastfeed," he said. "She had already lost the baby's twin due to malnutrition not long before. I can add that eight-month-old baby weighed only three kilograms."
"The situations that I saw in Wau and Aweil are of course emblematic of the devastating fate that has befallen this country, even since I last visited, and over recent times," he said.
In July 2015, both of these locations were seen as beacons of hope and prospects for development, he said, adding that at present, one is mired in conflict and the other is facing the worst food insecurity in many years -- and is at real risk of getting worse, despite the incredible work of humanitarian organizations.
"But Wau and Aweil are just the tip of the iceberg," he said. "In each location where there has been fighting, civilians have been attacked and forcibly displaced."
More than 2 million people have fled their homes since December 2013. Some 1.6 million people were displaced inside South Sudan, with more than 900,000 people having fled to neighboring countries.
Over the past month, some 70,000 South Sudanese crossed the border into Uganda as refugees. Across the country, some 4.8 million people are severely food insecure and a quarter of a million children are severely malnourished.
"Again this year we are battling a cholera outbreak," he said.
During his meeting with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and senior government officials, they discussed the dire and worsening humanitarian crisis.
"I expressed in clear terms my shock and dismay at the appalling reports of violations committed against civilians during fighting in recent months, including in Juba," he said. "In particular, I condemned the heinous acts of sexual violence carried out against women and girls, including by members of the armed forces."
He said that he also reiterated the need for humanitarians to be granted free, safe and unhindered access to all people in need, wherever they may be, and for humanitarian workers and their assets to be respected.
"Humanitarians are in South Sudan to save lives and for no other reason," he said. "Our task and our demand by the UN and beyond is to impartially meet the urgent and severe humanitarian and protection needs of the millions of suffering people in this country."
"Humanitarian workers are saving lives while risking their own, and I am appalled that they continue to be harassed, targeted and killed," he said.
When he visited last year, 27 of UN humanitarian staff workers had lost their lives and many more were missing and unaccounted for, he said. "Today, the number of aid workers killed since December 2013 is 57. This is unacceptable and unconscionable, and I urged the president to take immediate action to end the impunity that has prevailed to date."
So far this year, even in the most difficult circumstances, aid workers have reached more than 2.8 million people with assistance and protection in South Sudan, he said.
"Despite the violence, intimidation, and interference they have faced, aid agencies are determined to assist civilians across this country who have already suffered too much."
"The scale, breadth and depth of humanitarian needs in South Sudan continue to grow, and the plight of the people demands the world's attention," he added.
KIGALI, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Seventy medical personnel of the Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) on Wednesday left the country for operation under the United Nations Mission in Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
Led by Col. John Byimana, the personnel are to replace their colleagues who returned to the country after serving in MINUSCA Level Two Hospital since January 20, 2015.
According to military officials, the Level Two Hospital could be compared to a District Hospital with advanced equipment and medical specialists.
Under the United Nations standards, Level Two Hospital should have the capacity of treating up to 40 ambulatory outpatients per day, provide three intensive care beds, stabilize and evacuate a casualty for evacuation to the next level of medical care, among others.
Lt Col. Edmond Mukimbiri returning from the UN Mission told the media that though they were the first contingent to establish Level Two Hospital there, the RDF medics noted that their mission of providing medical care to MINUSCA personnel was a success.
"We faced challenges operating in region with a number of armed groups, but we treated more than 2,600 patients", said Mukimbiri. Enditem
MADRID, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) gave its "full support" to the decision of Indonesia to allow visa-free travel to citizens of 169 different countries and regions on Wednesday.
The new travel offer aims at simplifying travel procedures to attract more international travelers, according to the government's announcement.
The UNWTO said that the policy, which allows travelers to remain in Indonesia for a maximum of 30 days, could lead to the creation of between 333,000 and 654,000 new jobs over the next three years.
A greater freedom of movement can give an important boost to promoting sustainable growth in developing nations, according to the organization.
"Indonesia is setting an example to the world, and UNWTO welcomes the decision of the Government of Indonesia," UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai said in a communique issued on Wednesday.
"This decision clearly reflects the commitment of the country with the development of the tourism sector as a driven force of economic growth, jobs and well-being for its people," Rifai added.
UNWTO and the World Travel and Tourism Council recently launched a report on the impact of Visa facilitation for the states making up the Association of South East Asian Nations, which concluded that improved visa access could lead to between 6-10 million international tourist arrivals and generate income of between 7-12 billion U.S. dollars.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan during their press conference in Konstantinovsky Palace outside Saint Petersburg on August 9, 2016. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
by Shi Chun
ANKARA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- After months-long rift over the downing of a Russian warplane, leaders of Turkey and Russia stepped up to mend ties to levels beyond what they were before last November's crisis, according to local experts.
The two leaders' meeting in St. Petersburg was in the wake of Turkey's ties with the western bloc having strained.
At the joint press conference, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan particularly thanked Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for calling him up in solidarity the day after the July 15 failed coup attempt ahead of any NATO member countries.
He underlined that it was one of the reasons why he made his first visit abroad to Russia after the coup attempt.
"Not a single Western leader has visited Ankara to offer condolences and display solidarity. This has raised questions in the minds of ordinary Turks about whether or not the coup attempt was supported by the West," Ilnur Cevik, the former adviser of President wrote on Daily Sabah.
Turkey's rapprochement with Russia also comes amid accusation of Ankara against the U.S. for hosting Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen who the Turkish government claims the mastermind of the coup attempt.
The deepening gap between Turkey and its Western allies has a role in this convergence, Gila Benmayor, the Turkish columnist said.
Ankara and Moscow also need to cooperate in Syria, Cenk Balsamis, a journalist expertised on Russia said, "Turkish-Russian ties had been deteriorating since the Syrian crisis. Downing of the Russian jet was just last straw."
In an interview with Russian media before his visit to St. Petersburg,Turkish President Erdogan described Russia "as the most important and primary actor in bringing peace to Syria."
"Turkey and Russia should take steps together to resolve this issue," Erdogan stated.
Ankara and Moscow have been at odds due to differences on Syrian issue as the latter lends support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, however Turkey insists the Syrian leader should step down for a solution in the war-torn country.
"I don't expect a long-term security cooperation between Turkey and Russia, but the West should understand the message given by the visit itself," Ahmet Yukleyen, Associate Professor of International Relations at Istanbul Commerce University said.
Economic loss is another main dynamic in Turkish-Russian rapproachment.
Turkey, for its part to compensate its economic loss, wants removal of Russian restrictions on Turkish agricultural products and on Turkish construction companies in Russia.
Ankara also wants re-instituting charter flights in order to recover loss in its tourism revenues, Baslamis said.
Rift between Turkey and Russia has badly damaged Turkish tourism this year, tourism professional Ender Alkoclar said.
Total number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey is 250,000 so far in 2016, while last year's figure from February to June was 2,800,000. Turkey's total revenue from tourism has decreased 40 percent compared to 2015, he added.
"The period of rift in bilateral relations did not help for both Turkey and Russian. Both countries have suffered in economic terms. Interests of them need bilateral cooperation," Balsamis stressed.
Having been in economic crisis since two years, Moscow wants to realize Turkish stream gas pipeline to sell energy to the West since this project is the optimal one, according to Baslamis.
The Turkish Stream, announced in December 2014, was suspended in late 2015 after Turkey downed a Russian Su-24 jet in 2015. The pipeline's expected annual capacity is 63 billion cubic meters.
Russia also wants to guarantee its investment on the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, which has been stalled since the crisis erupted between Ankara and Moscow, Baslamis said.
The two countries sealed an agreement to construct and operate Turkey's first nuclear power plant at the Akkuyu site in 2010. The plant is expected to produce some 35 billion kilowatt-hours per year.
Turkey remains a part of the Western defense system but wants strong ties with its neighbor Russia, according to Ilnur Cevik.
"We have commercial, economic and energy interests that require strong ties between Ankara and Moscow. We also want to be a part of the Shanghai five. But this does not mean we will give up our NATO membership," Cevik wrote.
"In this new world order, we have seen that you should not keep all your eggs in the same basket," he added.
Related:
Turkey establishes direct contact line with Russia over Syria
Turkey and Russia have agreed to keep in close contact regarding the war in Syria in order to avoid a repetition of incidents such as last year's downing of a Russian warplane, a Turkish presidential spokesman told local media on Wednesday. Full story
Turkey, Russia agree to build Syria mechanism: Turkey FM
People hold up a banner during a Black Lives Matter protest outside City Hall in Manhattan, New York, U.S., August 1, 2016. (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly)
WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) report said on Wednesday discriminatory practices against the African-American communities had long existed among police forces in Baltimore, Maryland. According to the 163-page scathing report, after a year-long investigation into the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) following the death of a 25-year-old black man who died in police custody, the DOJ found "reasonable cause to believe that BPD engages in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the Constitution or federal law." In detailing its findings, the report depicted a bleak picture for local African-American communities which had long been complaining about excessive use of forces and racial profiling by local police force.
"Statistical evidence shows that the (Baltimore Police) Department intrudes disproportionately upon the lives of African Americans at every stage of its enforcement activities," said the report. Between 2010 and 2015, though they comprised about 63 percent of the city's population, African Americans accounted for 84 percent of stops.
"The high rate of stopping African Americans persists across the City, even in districts where African Americans make up a small share of the population," said the report, adding that African Americans were also far more likely to be subjected to multiple stops within short periods of time.
A counter demonstrator jeers at police supporters as officers keep the two groups separated during a "Blue Lives Matter" rally in support of the Baltimore police in front of City Hall in Baltimore, Maryland May 30, 2015. Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man, was arrested April 12 and suffered a spinal injury in police custody. His death a week later led to protests and rioting in Baltimore that prompted a curfew and a National Guard deployment. (REUTERS/Jim Bourg)
Between 2010 and 2015, BPD stopped 34 African Americans at least 20 times and seven other African Americans at least 30 times, while no person of any other race was stopped more than 12 times, the report said.
In addition to the large racial disparities in stops, the BPD officers may also have used force against African Americans disproportionately.
"We found that African Americans accounted for roughly 88 percent of the subjects of non-deadly force used by BPD officers in a random sample of over 800 cases we reviewed," said the report.
The DOJ in recent years had launched similar civil rights investigations into police departments in Chicago, Cleveland, Ferguson, etc.
In another blistering report released in March, 2015, the DOJ said it had found a widespread discrimination against the black communities existed among law enforcement officials in Ferguson, Missouri.
ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) has welcomed the signing of the Sudan roadmap by opposition groups, saying it represents an important breakthrough in achieving a permanent end of the conflicts in the country.
The opposition groups signed the AU-proposed roadmap agreement in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa early this week.
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission, has welcomed the signing of the roadmap agreement developed in March 2016 under the auspices of the AU High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), an AU statement said Wednesday.
The Chairperson reiterated the significance of the dialogue as a process that would lead to the adoption of a new national constitution, which will address Sudan's multiple challenges, and thereby ensure stability and sustained prosperity for Sudan, it said.
Dlamini-Zuma said AU remains steadfast in supporting the Sudanese parties, and urged them to sustain the momentum of the signing of the Roadmap by ensuring rapid progress in the negotiations that would resume in Addis Ababa on a cessation of hostilities and much-needed humanitarian access for the South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur.
She called on all other Sudanese political and civil society formations, and the general Sudanese public, to endorse and support the roadmap agreement and processes as the most significant opportunity for achieving the democratic transformation of Sudan.
She also urged the parties to cooperate with the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies to ensure that the needs of civilians affected by the conflict are effectively addressed.
The conflict in Darfur began in 2003, and there has been fighting between the Sudanese army and opposition groups in South Kordofan and Blue Nile since 2011. Enditem
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan during their press conference in Konstantinovsky Palace outside Saint Petersburg on August 9, 2016. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
ANKARA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- After months-long rift over the downing of a Russian warplane, leaders of Turkey and Russia stepped up to mend ties to levels beyond what they were before last November's crisis, according to local experts.
The two leaders' meeting in St. Petersburg was in the wake of Turkey's ties with the western bloc having strained.
At the joint press conference, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan particularly thanked Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for calling him up in solidarity the day after the July 15 failed coup attempt ahead of any NATO member countries.
He underlined that it was one of the reasons why he made his first visit abroad to Russia after the coup attempt.
"Not a single Western leader has visited Ankara to offer condolences and display solidarity. This has raised questions in the minds of ordinary Turks about whether or not the coup attempt was supported by the West," Ilnur Cevik, the former adviser of President wrote on Daily Sabah.
Turkey's rapprochement with Russia also comes amid accusation of Ankara against the U.S. for hosting Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen who the Turkish government claims the mastermind of the coup attempt.
The deepening gap between Turkey and its Western allies has a role in this convergence, Gila Benmayor, the Turkish columnist said.
Ankara and Moscow also need to cooperate in Syria, Cenk Balsamis, a journalist expertised on Russia said, "Turkish-Russian ties had been deteriorating since the Syrian crisis. Downing of the Russian jet was just last straw."
In an interview with Russian media before his visit to St. Petersburg,Turkish President Erdogan described Russia "as the most important and primary actor in bringing peace to Syria."
"Turkey and Russia should take steps together to resolve this issue," Erdogan stated.
Ankara and Moscow have been at odds due to differences on Syrian issue as the latter lends support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, however Turkey insists the Syrian leader should step down for a solution in the war-torn country.
"I don't expect a long-term security cooperation between Turkey and Russia, but the West should understand the message given by the visit itself," Ahmet Yukleyen, Associate Professor of International Relations at Istanbul Commerce University said.
Economic loss is another main dynamic in Turkish-Russian rapproachment.
Turkey, for its part to compensate its economic loss, wants removal of Russian restrictions on Turkish agricultural products and on Turkish construction companies in Russia.
Ankara also wants re-instituting charter flights in order to recover loss in its tourism revenues, Baslamis said.
Rift between Turkey and Russia has badly damaged Turkish tourism this year, tourism professional Ender Alkoclar said.
Total number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey is 250,000 so far in 2016, while last year's figure from February to June was 2,800,000. Turkey's total revenue from tourism has decreased 40 percent compared to 2015, he added.
"The period of rift in bilateral relations did not help for both Turkey and Russian. Both countries have suffered in economic terms. Interests of them need bilateral cooperation," Balsamis stressed.
Having been in economic crisis since two years, Moscow wants to realize Turkish stream gas pipeline to sell energy to the West since this project is the optimal one, according to Baslamis.
The Turkish Stream, announced in December 2014, was suspended in late 2015 after Turkey downed a Russian Su-24 jet in 2015. The pipeline's expected annual capacity is 63 billion cubic meters.
Russia also wants to guarantee its investment on the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, which has been stalled since the crisis erupted between Ankara and Moscow, Baslamis said.
The two countries sealed an agreement to construct and operate Turkey's first nuclear power plant at the Akkuyu site in 2010. The plant is expected to produce some 35 billion kilowatt-hours per year.
Turkey remains a part of the Western defense system but wants strong ties with its neighbor Russia, according to Ilnur Cevik.
"We have commercial, economic and energy interests that require strong ties between Ankara and Moscow. We also want to be a part of the Shanghai five. But this does not mean we will give up our NATO membership," Cevik wrote.
"In this new world order, we have seen that you should not keep all your eggs in the same basket," he added.
TRIPOLI, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Libyan government forces fighting the Islamic States (IS) in Sirte announced on Wednesday that they have taken over the city's Ouagadougou convention center, central hospital and university.
"Ouagadougou Congress Hall and Ibn Sina hospital are now under our control," the media office of the government forces tweeted, saying the IS is completely breaking down and "it is time of victory."
The military operation was launched in May by the forces allied with the UN-backed unity government to fight against the increasing dominance of the IS in Sirte, some 450 km east the capital Tripoli.
A military source said that a war plane of the government's forces has fallen on Wednesday morning while launching airstrikes on the IS sites.
"We have no contact with the fighter jet for over four hours after it launched the strike this morning. It has definitely fallen without refueling for such a long time, leaving the fate of the crew so far unknown," the source added.
ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) has said that the nomination process for the next Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson and eight Commissioners of the AU Commission has been re-opened.
The AU Commission has officially informed all member states, providing detailed timeframes and deadlines for the submission of candidatures for the ten positions that are open, said a statement from the pan-African bloc on Wednesday.
The elections are scheduled to be held during the 28th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government, scheduled for 30-31 January, 2017, at the AU Headquarters in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, according to the statement.
The statement said that the election of the members of the AU Commission held in Kigali, Rwanda in July this year were suspended since none of the three contenders for the position of the Chairperson of the Commission obtained the required two-thirds majority, after seven rounds of voting.
Re-opening the process allows for both the former candidates, as well as new candidates to run for any of the ten positions, it said.
KHARTOUM, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Sudan on Wednesday reiterated demand for the United States to remove Sudan from the list of states sponsoring terrorism, Sudanese Media Center (SMC) reported.
Khartoum urged Washington to end the system of U.S. envoys to Sudan, and that the bilateral relations should be diplomatic like other countries.
"Until now Sudan does not know why the U.S. delays responding to our proposed issues, particularly after they promised more than once in exchange for peaceful transfer of power in Sudan," Sudan's State Minister for Foreign Affairs Obeid-Allah Mohamed Obeid-Allah was quoted as saying.
"However, all Sudan's fulfilled commitments were only met with further extension of sanctions," he noted.
Obeid-Allah urged the U.S. to reconsider its unilateral coercive sanctions imposed on Sudan, which he described as a "violation" according to international standards.
He said Sudan declared its readiness long ago to cooperate with the U.S., noting that the U.S. should provide concessions towards the sanctions.
"Sudan has nothing to give more than what it has committed to and fulfilled," he noted.
The U.S. has been imposing sanctions on Sudan since 1997 and listing it one of the countries sponsoring terrorism.
Since then, Washington has been renewing its sanctions on Sudan due to the continuing war in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions besides a number of outstanding issues with South Sudan including the disputed oil-rich area of Abyei.
Sudan's losses due to the U.S. sanctions reportedly amount to over 4 billion U.S. dollars annually.
Donald Trump speaks on the last day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, the United States, July 21, 2016. New York billionaire Donald Trumpofficially accepted the presidential nomination of the U.S. Republican Party Thursday night on the final day of the Republican National Convention. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
by Matthew Rusling
WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Republican nominee Donald Trump's speech on the economy on Monday showed a more statesman-like side of him, but his controversial remarks on Clinton's gun control policy a day later quickly betrayed him.
Trump has in recent months become infamous for his big personality and equally big mouth. While it has galvanized blue collar white males to help him win the nomination, his colorful but often over-the-top rhetoric has offended many Americans outside Republican rank-and-file voters.
Analysts said he needs to tone down his presentation in a bid to clinch independent voters and others. But this proves to be a nearly impossible task for the brash New York real estate billionaire.
Trump's speech on Monday was in part a bid for him to appear to be more presidential. He refrained from trash talking, outlined his plan to revive the economy, and put it together in a cogent and rational argument.
"Trump attempted to change the conversation by giving a major economic address," Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies of the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua.
Indeed, Trump used a teleprompter to deliver the speech, instead of just winging it, as he so often does.
Reading from a pre-written speech helped Trump stay focused and refrain from his usual confrontational demeanor, which is a turn-off for many moderate voters.
Dan Mahaffee, an analyst with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua that speeches and policy positions like Monday's speech are certainly what Trump needs to do in order to shift away from the distractions and self-inflicted wounds of the past few weeks.
To try to appeal to voters, Trump will have to suggest that rival Hillary Clinton is a continuation of U.S. President Barack Obama's economic policies and that his policies will be a break away from policies on trade and regulations.
Mahaffee said that thus far, the "Hillary's status quo" message seems to be driving the most attention. He was referring to Trump's argument that Clinton would simply continue what Trump calls the failed economic policies under Obama.
But few people believe Trump can maintain the sense of civility very long. "He is able to stay in script for limited periods of time," West said.
On Tuesday, Trump issued arguably his most vile remarks in this year's campaign, by indicating that gun rights advocates could stop Clinton from appointing Supreme Court judges who will support stricter gun control.
"Hillary wants to abolish ... the Second Amendment ... by the way, and if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is," Trump told a campaign rally in North Carolina.
U.S. gun advocates insist their gun rights derive from the Second Amendment of the Constitution.
Critics interpreted Trump's remarks as a suggestion that gun rights advocates should kill Clinton to prevent her from implementing her gun control policy.
Trump later explained that he was not inciting violence, but was talking about a political movement only. But this could hardly convince people that he will become a guy who is calmer and more measured just as he was making the economic speech on Monday.
Certainly, many of Trump's recent stumbles have been self-inflicted, and a lot of them have to do with his temperament as a candidate.
Trump has come across to a lot of the American people as thin-skinned and impetuous, and that raises questions about someone who will have the powers and responsibilities inherent with the presidency, Mahaffee said.
While there is a lot of time left in the campaign, Trump has pushed away many educated moderates over the past few week, and his tumbling poll numbers in some important swing states have demonstrated that.
"With the debates looming and plenty of campaigning, there is time for that to change, but there is a risk that many people have made up their minds about Trump's temperament," Mahaffee said.
Related:
Republican presidential nominee Trump says no plan to change temperament
U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had no plan to change his temperament as the bellicose New Yorker was grappling with his sagging poll numbers following recent feud with a family of a fallen Muslim American soldier and leaders within his own party. Full story
News Analysis: Trump hones in on sluggish U.S. economy to bolster struggling campaign
Donald Trump speaks on the last day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, the United States, July 21, 2016. New York billionaire Donald Trumpofficially accepted the presidential nomination of the U.S. Republican Party Thursday night on the final day of the Republican National Convention.
(Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secret Service had spoken to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's campaign about his controversial gun rights comments, local media said on Wednesday.
Citing a U.S. Secret Service official who spoke on condition of anonymity, CNN reported that "more than one conversation" had been held between officials from the agency and Trump's campaign, during which the campaign said Trump did not intend to incite violence against his Democratic counterpart Hillary Clinton.
Trump again got embroiled in a political firestorm on Tuesday after suggesting that supporters of gun rights could take action against Clinton if Clinton wins the election.
During a campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, Trump repeated his claim that Clinton intends to abolish the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects Americans' right to keep guns, before appearing to make a joke about using violence to stop Clinton from picking liberal Supreme Court justices.
"Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment," said Trump. "By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks."
"Though the Second Amendment people, maybe there is," he added.
The Clinton campaign immediately seized on Trump's remarks, criticizing the bellicose New Yorker for instigating violence.
"This is simple -- what Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be the President of the United States should not suggest violence in any way," said the Clinton campaign in a statement.
Other Democrats piled on, with one Democratic senator equating Trump's remarks with "assassination threat" against Clinton.
The Trump campaign defended the nominee by arguing that Trump was talking about nothing other than encouraging gun rights supporters to vote against Clinton in November.
"It's called the power of unification -- 2nd Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power. And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it won't be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump," said the Trump campaign on Tuesday in a statement.
SANTIAGO, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- A G20 summit to be hosted by the Chinese city of Hangzhou in September "couldn't have come at a better time," Chile's Ambassador to China Jorge Heine has said.
In an article published on Wednesday in Chilean daily La Tercera, the top diplomat stressed the relevance of the group of the "world's leading economies, which represent 85 percent of global GDP, 80 percent of international trade and 65 percent of the world population."
The G20, which is meeting amid a global economic slowdown, was established in 2008 amid a global financial crisis, "and played a key role in containing its worst impacts," said Heine, underscoring the timeliness of the upcoming summit.
Since then, "it has emerged as an important forum that brings the leaders of developed and emerging economies together around a single table," said Heine.
China's hosting of the summit, he said, is significant for two main reasons.
"This is the first time that China is serving as host, confirming the country's increasingly central role on the diplomatic circuit," Heine said.
In addition, choosing to hold the event in east China's Hangzhou, instead of one of the country's larger, more economically developed cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou, neatly encapsulates the message the Asian giant wants to send to the rest of the world.
"China is betting on innovation as a springboard for growth and development in coming years, and Hangzhou, an ancient imperial capital, is a great center of innovation. Among other things, it is home to the headquarters of Alibaba, the e-commerce giant," said Heine.
In fact, Jack Ma, its founder and president, is set "to play a starring role at the summit," which is taking place under the banner "Towards an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy."
According to Heine, conventional wisdom held that BRICS, the bloc of emerging economies formed in the early 2000s by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, was no more than a flash in the pan, and the Western economies would continue to be the central axis around which global finance and the world economy would spin.
However, "Brexit (Britain's decision to exit the European Union) and the protectionist and populist tendencies we see emerging in the United States and Europe show the error of this point of view," said the ambassador.
"The reality is that the world increasingly depends on the emerging economies, especially the Asian giants China and India," Heine said, adding foreign affairs expert and author Gideon Rachman highlights this trend in his recent book "Easternization: War and Peace in the Asian Century."
Between 1995 and 2005, international trade grew 6 percent a year, double the rate of global gross domestic product (GDP). But from 2012 to 2015, trade growth has failed to surpass 3 percent, noted Heine, adding that China is well-placed to spearhead the global drive to turn around the slowdown.
"China, one of the economies that have most benefited from globalization, is in a privileged position to promote an agenda of this type. It is about promoting innovation, increases in productivity, and a more open world economy," said Heine.
"If there is one thing the world does not need, it is to listen to the siren song of protectionism, which is heard so often these days in some developed countries," he added.
At the Sept.4-5 summit, Heine said, "China has the great opportunity to show its capacity to lead in the governance of the world economy."
MEXICO CITY, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The death roll rose to 50 after tropical storm Earl triggered landslides in Mexico's central and eastern mountainous communities over the weekend, a government official said Wednesday.
Ricardo de la Cruz, director of Mexico's Civil Protection under the Interior Ministry, said 36 were killed in the central state of Puebla, one more than the latest official report published Tuesday.
Over the weekend, the storm struck small towns located in the mountains in Puebla, bringing heavy rain which caused the earth to soften and fall on top of several houses.
De la Cruz said reports showed that there were no communities cut off in the area since the emergency services managed to enter Tuesday using all-terrain vehicles.
The inhabitants of the affected areas in Puebla have gradually returned to their homes even though, on Wednesday, around 950 people were still housed in five shelters, said de la Cruz during a television interview with Primero Noticias.
Emergency funds have been allocated to rebuild damaged roads and bridges and the federal authorities were checking the conditions of houses.
According to the director, 13 people died from landslides in the eastern state of Veracruz, and one person was killed upon returning to his property after a landslide in the central state of Hidalgo.
Earl touched ground as a category 1 hurricane on Thursday in the neighboring country of Belize and after weakening to a tropical storm, it moved through southeast Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico before hitting Veracruz.
The official also said weather phenomenon Javier did not cause significant damage on Tuesday in the state of Baja California Sur, in northwest Mexico, and its risk has diminished.
Javier became a tropical storm on Monday in the Pacific Ocean but weakened to a low pressure system when hitting the state located in the Baja California peninsula. Enditem
HELSINKI, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Finnish government's budget talks for the year of 2017 started on Wednesday, with efforts to promote employment high on the agenda.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Finnish Finance Minister Petteri Orpo described the first day of the budge preparation as "in a gloomy shade."
He said the world economy has no visible impetus to the export-driven Finland, although the domestic demand is showing positive signs.
"The demand for the domestic market is not enough... We will make next year's state budget in very tight frames," said Orpo.
Investment will be made to enhance employment. The proposals in the budget include measures to reduce disincentives to work and to help people move in pursuit of employment.
Orpo said the government will make further cuts if the employment does not improve.
Orpo was the minister of interior before he succeeded Alexander Stubb in June to become the chairman of the National Coalition Party and took the stewardship of finance.
Finnish economic development has remained stagnant since the global financial crisis in 2008. The unemployment rate has been climbing in the past years. Currently the figure is close to 10 percent.
The goal of the government is to raise the employment rate from 68 percent to 72 percent, which would mean a creation of 110,000 new jobs by 2019.
The Center Party, the biggest ruling party in the coalition government, proposed a plan for tax reduction for companies earlier in July, but Orpo did not support the idea.
In an interview with Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat on Monday, Orpo warned against the thought of the company tax reduction. He said he does not believe taxation is an obstacle to investment.
The proposed tax relief would only help companies that make profits, said Orpo, and he was "concerned about the outfits that do not make profits."
According to the minister, the reform of corporate taxation will be discussed later in autumn, and decisions will be made in spring next year.
Juhana Vartiainen, an MP from the National Coalition Party and former head of the Finnish National Institute for Economic Research, told Finnish daily Ilta-Sanomat on Wednesday that he was concerned about the increasing debt.
Vartiainen said the reduction of the net borrowing is currently very slow or almost non-existent.
This year's budget of Finland is 54.9 billion euros (61.3 billion U.S. dollars), of which about 5.6 billion is to be covered by the net debt.
Vartiainen said Finland's state budget has not been brought to balance for eight years and the public finances are not on a sustainable basis.
Vartiainen also underlined the importance of employment. "If the employment increases, then we get more tax revenue," he was quoted by the daily as saying.
Antti Lindtman, chair of the Social Democratic Party's parliamentary group, claimed to MTV channel on Wednesday that the opposition party will monitor Orpo's budget closely, particularly the measures to improve employment.
"We spend over 5 billion euros annually on the passive support caused by unemployment. This sum of money should be put to active use, and it could lower the threshold for the employment of long-term unemployed," Lindtman said.
According to the Finnish government, the Finance Ministry's proposal for the draft budget will be presented on Friday, and negotiation among the three ruling parties will start at the end of August. The draft budget for 2017 will be released in mid-September. (1 euro=1.12 U.S. dollar)
by Raimundo Urrechaga
BIRAN, Cuba, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- In the deep fields of Cuba's northeastern countryside lies a cluster of wooden houses painted in brilliant yellow that draws thousands of local and international visitors every year due to its historical significance.
This is the town of Biran, birthplace of Cuban revolution leader Fidel Castro, who will turn 90 on Aug. 13.
The Castro family estate, which once reached 11,700 hectares, was the starting point for the Cuban leader's life, surrounded by farmers and migrants who worked for his father.
Angel Castro, a Spanish migrant and wealthy landowner, planted and sold sugarcane and timber in the area and developed the zone's first cattle raising facility.
Fidel's father bought the estate in 1915 and provided work to local farm workers as well as Jamaican and Haitian migrants in the area.
There, he met Lina Ruz, a young farmer, whom he later married and had seven children with.
"When Fidel was born in 1926, the family estate was already consolidated. He was surrounded by very poor people and without a doubt, this got him thinking about social justice and other values he later developed," Antonio Lopez, a historian at the site, told Xinhua.
The estate has been a museum since 2002, displaying the early history of Castro and his family.
Visitors who roam the complex can see Fidel Castro's crib, the bedroom he shared with his brothers, pictures of his childhood, a cockfighting arena where his father's birds fought, and even a 1920s Ford.
"With the arrival of Angel Castro, this place considerably developed and he ordered the building of a cinema, a rural school, the teachers' house, a hotel, a post office, restaurants, drug stores, a nursery and a bakery," Lazaro Castro, the actual director of the museum but no relation to Fidel, told Xinhua.
Fidel and his older brother, Ramon, attended the rural school, where they learned how to read and write.
At six years of age, his parents sent Fidel to the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba to study, and he returned to Biran every summer.
"This was the site where it all started and where social justice ideas first flourished in Fidel. Without these experiences, his later path would not have been possible," said the museum director.
After Castro took power in 1959, the estate was subject to the land reform law and the family property was reduced to 28 hectares. Fidel's mother, Lina Ruz, lived on the property until her death in 1963.
A fire in 1954 burned part of the family home but Fidel Castro's assistant Celia Sanchez led its restoration from 1966 until 1980.
"Fidel came that year to inaugurate the house once again and would then often stop by to chat with locals. His last visit here was in September 2003," said the director.
Since the site opened as a museum in 2002, it has gained increasing attention from locals and foreign visitors, particularly this year as Fidel Castro is set to reach 90 years of age.
Over 27,000 people visited the complex in 2015, two-thirds of them Cubans. In the first half of this year, 22,000 people already visited the museum.
Actor Mahmoud Masoud performs during a stage show named "In Egypt's Name" at a small drama theater in Cairo, Egypt, June 14, 2016. (Xinhua/Meng Tao)
by Mahmoud Fouly
CAIRO, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- "For me, Egypt is the most beloved and beautiful of all. I love her when she owns the world's east and west. And I love her when she is down, wounded in war... "
With these verses, Egyptian well-known actor Mahmoud Masoud opened his one-man poetic stage performance entitled "In Egypt's Name," written by late renowned poet Salah Jahin in 1971, with a background screen displaying historic and modern photos of Egypt for few attendees at the country's national Cairo Puppet Theater.
"The audience today are different. In the past, a spectator used to go to theater to enjoy art and poetry, but today they have neither patience nor energy. Therefore, I didn't perform the whole poem but only parts of it," Masoud said following the performance, lamenting the deteriorating conditions of the theater art in the most populous Arab country.
"I had the same stage poetry experience in Alexandria Bibliotheca and other places, and I just hope it will become a popular theater trend. I don't care about fees or revenues, because I see that the artistic and literary returns are much greater than millions of pounds," the actor continued.
Theaters in Egypt used to be in the lead decades ago, and the art gradually weakened and vanished over the past few years despite attempts of revival launched by some private and public theaters to maintain the valuable art regardless of financial returns.
The actor said that Britain, France, China and other countries pay much more interest in theatre, hoping his attempts and those of other artists can start "a new era" for the revival of theatre in the country.
Although the audience weren't many, Mahmoud Nasr, a young man in his 20's, went backstage to shake hands and take a picture with the sole actor, saying he came from the Suez province to the capital Cairo to enjoy the show.
"I love this poem so much as it narrates parts of Egypt's history and stirs up patriotic sentiments. Also the background screen display and the dark and colorful lighting provided a suitable, calm mood for enjoying the show," the young man said.
At the Opera House in downtown Cairo, Egypt concluded Tuesday evening the 9th session of the Egyptian National Theater Festival that included 41 shows for free over two weeks, which is a constant national attempt to maintain the popularity of theater, known in Egypt as "the Father of Arts."
"We cannot follow the degrading public taste for arts. I believe it's not the public taste to blame but some opportunists, who want to make fast money and have ruined the public taste, using cinema and theater for trade," said Nashwa Moharram, a philosophy professor who won best playwright award for her play "the Zombie and the Ten Sins."
"I have seen people overwhelmed by the show although it is in classical Arabic," the playwright said at the Opera House, noting that the work fits all levels of audience from cultured ones to ordinary people.
Moharram added that it is a dream for each artist to provide a serious and honest work that also achieves a financial success. "However, it's a far-fetched dream and in most cases a true artist gives up the financial part."
Mahmoud Gamal, a young writer as the Egyptian National Theater Festival's best playwright in 2013 and 2015, believes that an artist should not look for financial gains when trying to create valuable art.
"Money can be gotten elsewhere. But when you create real art, do not expect money," Gamal said, adding Egyptian theater's popularity is on the rise.
The best costumes award of the festival went to the staged classical Arabic version of Russian novelist Maxim Gorky's "the Lower Depths," starring a group of young actors mostly university students.
"The Lower Depths talks about the people of the lowest bottom of the society. Through our performance, we tried to illustrate that those people are the same everywhere in the world, sharing the same sufferings, worries and aspirations," said Mohamed Hassan, one of the actors.
He explained that every piece of work in Egypt has its own fans, from low-level movies to sophisticated classical plays. "However, unlike what's circulated in the media, people really seek valuable arts."
His co-star Ismail Ibrahim said that they do "art for art's sake," adding this kind of art mainly targets the audience, neither the awards nor the funds. "Thus, it appeals to the audience and gradually gains more fans."
The actor, also an engineering university student, argued that university theater is one of the factors that help to revive theater art in Egypt.
"The choice is made in the beginning. Does the artist take it as a source of income by accepting low level works for money or as a source of enjoyment through providing valuable and elegant art?" he added.
Supporters of Sudanese President shout slogans during a ceremony in his honour upon his return in the country from Ethiopa on July 30, 2016 in the capital Khartoum. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
KHARTOUM, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Sudan on Wednesday reiterated demand for the United States to remove Sudan from the list of states sponsoring terrorism, Sudanese Media Center (SMC) reported.
Khartoum urged Washington to end the system of U.S. envoys to Sudan, and that the bilateral relations should be diplomatic like other countries.
"Until now Sudan does not know why the U.S. delays responding to our proposed issues, particularly after they promised more than once in exchange for peaceful transfer of power in Sudan," Sudan's State Minister for Foreign Affairs Obeid-Allah Mohamed Obeid-Allah was quoted as saying.
"However, all Sudan's fulfilled commitments were only met with further extension of sanctions," he noted.
Obeid-Allah urged the U.S. to reconsider its unilateral coercive sanctions imposed on Sudan, which he described as a "violation" according to international standards.
He said Sudan declared its readiness long ago to cooperate with the U.S., noting that the U.S. should provide concessions towards the sanctions.
"Sudan has nothing to give more than what it has committed to and fulfilled," he noted.
The U.S. has been imposing sanctions on Sudan since 1997 and listing it one of the countries sponsoring terrorism.
Since then, Washington has been renewing its sanctions on Sudan due to the continuing war in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions besides a number of outstanding issues with South Sudan including the disputed oil-rich area of Abyei.
Sudan's losses due to the U.S. sanctions reportedly amount to over 4 billion U.S. dollars annually.
DAMASCUS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army carried out a pre-emptive strike against a rebel position in the countryside of Aleppo on Wednesday evening, inflicting hefty losses among the opposition militants, a military source told Xinhua.
The military forces targeted gatherings of the rebels' Jaish al-Fateh group in the Project 1070 area, one of the several areas that have recently fallen to Jaish al-Fateh, in the southern countryside of Aleppo.
The source noted that the rebels were preparing to unleash an all-out offensive in Aleppo.
The army struck the rebel positions in southern Aleppo, destroying an explosive-laden vehicle, whose blast triggered a series of explosions in other vehicles.
The pre-emptive strike caused big losses among the rebels, which was conducive in hampering the rebels' planned attack.
Meanwhile, the state news agency SANA said the Syrian and Russian air forces dealt "decisive strikes" on the positions of Jaish al-Fateh in southern Aleppo Wednesday.
Citing a military source, SANA said the airstrikes targeted the gatherings of the rebels, killing "large numbers of them and destroying armored vehicles outfitted with machine guns."
The strikes destroyed four command centers, three booby-trapped vehicles and tens of armored vehicles, SANA added.
It said the Russian and Syrian air forces had killed hundreds of terrorists a day earlier in Aleppo, isolating the battle areas from the rest of the province.
Jaish al-Fateh announced last Monday that the next phase of battles in Aleppo will be a wide-scale offensive to "liberate the entire city" from the government forces.
Since then, reports emerged that the Syrian army and the rebels are sending reinforcement in anticipation to the all-out offensive.
Jaish al-Fateh, an alliance of several rebel factions, was formed in March 2015 under the supervision and coordination of Saudi cleric Abdullah al-Muhaysini.
The group seized most of Idlib province in northwestern Syria last year.
Military experts said that the group received military aid from Turkey, which explains the sudden rise and success they had achieved in southern Aleppo.
Aleppo is strategic for all warring parties due to its key location beside the Turkish border and role as Syria's industrial capital.
The battle of Aleppo is decisive, as observers declared that whoever controls Aleppo will gain the upper hand in any potential settlement in Syria.
BHP reports potential gas find
The deep water LeClerc 1 ST01 well located, 135 miles off the east coast of Trinidad reached a total depth of 22,876 feet. BHP Billiton said in doing so, the well encountered gas in multiple zones. BHP Billiton President Petroleum Steve Pastor said, While the focus of our program is a commercial oil discovery, we are encouraged by the results of the first well in our TT exploration campaign, Le- Clerc. Pasto added, The results will help BHP Billitons plans to further appraise the basin, as part of our extensive TT exploration program. The LeClerc well is the first of three deep water wells in the southern region of TT and forms part of the BHPs planned eight well deep water program in this area.
Policeman denied bail
He said, however, that he was concerned that the provisions in the Bail (Amendment) Act 2015 would expire on August 15. Government failed to get the support of the Opposition to extend the life of the Act which mandates that bail be denied, for up to 120 days, if a suspect is charged with an offence which features the use of a firearm or imitation firearm.
Jagroo said that while deliberating over the bail application, he also considered the sunset clause of the Act, but asserted that the law was the law and that it should be applied to everyone regardless of their status or profession.
Jagroo also said that since the accused had no prior convictions, he was eligible for bail under the Act. The court has a discretion as to how much bail is to be granted, Jagroo said. However the law of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is the law at the end of the day. I may have a discretion in setting the amount for bail but I do not have any discretion in applying the laws of the land. Radix was remanded into custody and is expected to reappear in court on August 16. Radix, who served as an SRP constable for four years at the La Horquetta Police Station, Crime Patrol Unit, was arrested on Thursday by officers of the same police station in connection with the alleged robbery of money lender, Peter Williams, James, Knox, Alicia Knox and Joan Knox of approximately $55,000 in valuables and a white Mitsubishi station wagon.
DNA samples to be taken from burnt couples relatives
Speaking with Newsday yesterday, pathologist Dr. Valery Alexandrov said that the bodies of the couple were burnt beyond recognition, so autopsies could not be performed.
Alexandrov said that the next step was to acquire DNA samples from relatives of the victims to make positive identifications. He said tissue samples would be suitable for DNA. When the samples are obtained, then they would be analysed. Yesterday police officers were making arrangements for blood samples to be taken from the relatives. Although it is unclear how the couple met their demise, police suspect that it is a case of murder/suicide.
Newsday learnt that Marchan, 48, had been so frustrated after being recently estranged from his wife Ardia Yearwood-Marchan, 45, that he went on leave for ten days. Marchan worked as a civilian mechanic at the Mon Repos Fire Station. Yearwood-Marchan worked as a dance teacher at the La Romaine High School. According to a police report, at about 7.02 pm on Wednesday, an anonymous caller alerted Fyzabad Police that a vehicle was seen on fire at Forest Reserve in Fyzabad. Police officers responded where they observed an Izuzu pick-up on fire and contacted the Fire Services. Fire-fighters doused the blaze and on checking, the charred remains were found in the front seat of the twin-cab pickup.
The vehicle was traced to Peter Marchan. At the couples home, police officers found blood splashes inside but no sign of forced entry or missing items to suggest robbery.
The couple had been married for 12 years and had no children.
Investigations are continuing
36.5 percent murders in safe zones, PLOTT
Murders in Tobago was 0.4 percent of the total number.
Of the total, the east/ west corridor accounted for 81 murders, south Trinidad had 63, Port-of-Spain and environs, 50, and, central Trinidad, 39.
A whopping 36.5 percent of overall murders took place in what may be considered safe zones such as indoors, at work, at home or within the victims car.
Of the murders that took pace in the socalled safe zones, 49.8 percent took place between 6 pm and 6 am, and the remaining 50.2 percent took place in daylight.
Gunshots accounted for 76 percent of all murders, and 90 percent of the victims were male. Of the male, 60 percent were 35 years and under, while 24 percent were under the age of 25.
Stab/chopping accounted for 14 percent of murders, 3.5 percent was due to blunt force, 2.7 percent to burns, 0.8 strangulation, 0.8 other and the rest, unknown.
The murder toll figure was derived from the overall homicide figure year to date
PSA warns of one-day fast for backpay
At a press conference on Monday at PSA headquarters on Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain, after meeting with its executive members, general council and wider membership, Duke said the day of fasting was agreed to.
Noting that all outstanding arrears must be paid by September 29, he said, After the 29th (August) we will decide on a series of action to let this Government know not to play with workers. The political season is over! All outstanding arrears which, he said, amounted to about $100 million, must be paid by September 29.
Expressing concern that Government has said it cannot afford to pay workers, Duke said the PSA notes a different type of lifestyle displayed by senior Government officials.
If the Prime Ministers bread has butter, dont tell us to use lard...
cause what good for the goose must be good for the gander. When asked whether the association will be willing to wait given the countrys current economic situation, Duke expressed outrage at the fact that public servants have been waiting since 2011 for their outstanding arrears.
With applause from fellow PSA members, Duke said that arrears were outstanding for Civil Aviation Authority, Public Transport Services Corporation, Regional Health Authorities and certain categories in the Tobago Regional Health Authority, Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), Blind Welfare Association, Chaguaramas Development Authority, traffic controllers, and the Bureau of Standards among others.
Duke also highlighted that attorneys will be meeting in Tobago sometime this week to discuss potential legal action.
This comes in light of the fact that some categories of TRHA members have yet to receive their back pay, although some of their Trinidadian counterparts have.
Concerning the working conditions under which workers have been exposed to, Duke warned that from September any building that is not compliant with the standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will be shut down.
He also used the opportunity to point out the deafening silence on the issue of outstanding arrears by other local trade unions.
Further commenting on the PSAs struggle, Duke commented, We want our pound of flesh too adding that come September morning, let them prepare for a full fight.
Wang Xiaoying / China Daily
Thanks to the sluggish global economy, rising terrorist attacks and the refugee crisis in Europe, the world has all but forgotten about the effects of climate change. But a new study shows it is precisely for these reasons that we should take seriously the deadly impacts of climate change. Heat waves, droughts, floods and other natural disasters are expected to increase because of climate change, which not surprisingly are also pushing countries and regions, especially those already split along ethnic, religious or sectarian lines, toward conflicts, says a new study by German scientists.
Climate scientists, including those in the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, have already warned that if temperatures increase significantly, large parts of the Earth could become uninhabitable, forcing millions of people to migrate to other places in search of food and livelihood, which will significantly increase the risk of conflicts breaking out. Now the new study by German academics has established a "statistical link" between the outbreak of large-scale violence and extreme weather conditions.
In 2007, some scientists and academics said the conflict in Darfur, then part of united Sudan, was nothing but a "climate war". UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon even said: "The Darfur conflict began as an ecological crisis arising at least in part from climate change". Although many academics dismissed the contention claiming rainfall had eased drought conditions before the start of the civil war in Sudan, the impact of climate change on conflicts in African and other countries is yet to be fully analyzed.
The linking of conflicts to natural disasters has been controversial, particularly because some studies comparing wars to temperature, for example, did not yield the desired results. But the German researchers used data from international reinsurance company Munich Re. They combined the figures with information on conflicts and used an index to quantify how "ethnically fractionalized" countries are. They then conducted a statistical analysis of armed conflicts and climate-related natural disasters between 1980 and 2010, and their conclusion that 1 in every 4 conflicts in ethnically divided countries coincided with or followed natural calamities suggests that wars should be added to the threatswhich include rising sea levels, crop failures, droughts, water shortages and floodsposed by climate change.
Drought and arid conditions in Syrian from 2006 to 2011the worst in recorded history in the Levant where wheat and other food crops were first cultivateddestroyed agriculture, causing many farmers and their families to migrate to cities. Last year, Richard Seager, a climate scientist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory who co-authored an earlier study, said the drought and arid conditions "added to all the other stressors" that could have led to the civil war in Syria. And a drought of that magnitude was made possible "by the ongoing human-driven drying of that region".
The new German research report says: "Recent analyses of the societal consequences of droughts in Syria and Somalia indicate that such climatological events may have already contributed to armed conflict outbreaks ... (and) the destabilization of Northern Africa and the Levant may have widespread effects by triggering migration flows to neighboring countries and remote migrant destinations such as the European Union."
Jonathan Donges, co-writer of the German study, is surprised "by the extent that results for ethnic fractionalized countries stick out, compared to other country features such as conflict history, poverty or inequality".
"We think that ethnic divides may serve as a predetermined conflict line when additional stressors like natural disasters kick in, making multi-ethnic countries particularly vulnerable to the effects of such disasters", Donges said
Not surprisingly, many have already rubbished the findings of the two studies. But there is not denying that despite the denials, the need for international action on climate change remains strong enough. And the world can only ignore that at its own peril.
The author is a senior editor with China Daily. oprana@hotmail.com
Obamas $400 million ransom to Iran and how the most lawless president in history has completely exploited our political system
(Freedom.news) Outrage is the best way to explain what tens of millions of Americans felt last week after learning that President Obama and his regime its not an administration, it is a despotic, authoritarian regime paid Iran $400 million in ransom money to secure the release of Americans Iran was holding hostage.
As he always does when he flouts the Constitution, U.S. statutory law, national security and prior executive policy while appeasing the worlds biggest state sponsor of terrorism, Obama tried to convince everyone that he didnt really do what we all know he did. It wasnt ransom, you see, because gosh, the U.S. doesnt pay ransoms. And besides, providing material support to a state sponsor of terrorism is hugely against the law (see a good explanation of how many statutes Obama violated here).
No, it was a settlement for an arms deal with Iran that went bust after the Ayatollahs minions sacked the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took dozens of American diplomatic personnel hostage for more than a year. Obama had to settle this now, because it was a legal matter that couldnt wait any longer.
Right.
Its hard to know what angers most about Obama is penchant for lying to our faces or his arrogant assumption that we are to believe him simply because he says it.
If this truly were a settlement the tending to of a legal issue the regime says we had to do in order to avoid losing a lawsuit in international court one can only ask why it had to be settled now, instead many years ago. Or ever, considering that the deal was made with an Iranian administration that ceased to exist months after the ink dried.
Anyone who isnt an Obama sycophant knows exactly what took place last week: The president, who has decided that he wants to anoint Iran as the preeminent power in the Middle East despite the Mullahs hatred of, and vow to destroy, Israel will go to any lengths to provide any aid and comfort he can before he leaves office, U.S. law and longstanding policy regarding terrorist nations be damned.
What he also knows is this: He is above the law because there is no constitutional way he can be held accountable. The House could vote to impeach him tomorrow and frankly, it should but he knows the Senate doesnt have the votes to convict because the Democratic Party has become the party of power at any price.
In fact, Obama has shown future presidents exactly how to navigate our republican form of government: As long as the party in the White House retains at least 34 members, there is no way he or she can be removed from office.
We have, in effect, the same form of imperial system our founders rebelled against. When the majority of the Legislative Branch, regardless of political party, refuses to hold the head of the Executive Branch to account, we dont have a functioning system of government anymore. When the Judicial Branch has become a political tool that functions solely to grow and maintain the power of the Executive Branch, we dont have a functioning system of government anymore.
We have tyranny.
Obamas most recent lawlessness will not be the last time he pushes presidential boundaries, of that you can be sure. Because he knows he can get away with it.
But there is a constitutional solution. It must come from the states.
More:
Freedom.news is part of USA Features Media.
Submit a correction >>
Former CIA Boss Wants to Kill Russians
On Monday the former director of the CIA, Michael Morell, told Charlie Rose of CBS News that he favors supporting jihadi terrorists and killing Russians in Syria.
He said after the invasion and during the occupation of Iraq, the Iranians killed Americans. When we were in Iraq, the Iranians were giving weapons to the Shia militia, who were killing American soldiers, he insisted.
The Iranians were making us pay a price. We need to make the Iranians pay a price in Syria. We need to make the Russians pay a price.
Morell said paying a price in Syria would necessitate killing Russians.
Omitted from the discussion is the fact the Iraqi resistance made the U.S. military pay a price. Both Sunnis and Shias participated in the resistance. The largest and most active elements of the resistance were Sunni and included the Iraqi National Islamic Resistance, the National Front for the Liberation of Iraq, the Iraqi Resistance Islamic Front, and a number of smaller, less organized groups. Bathist factions also participated, including Saddams Fedayeen and al-Awdah.
The Shia resistance was comprised primarily of the al-Mahdi Army led by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Another Shiite group, the Imam Ali Bin-Abi-Talib Jihadi Brigades, targeted occupation forces in Al-Najaf and Karbala. The Imam Ali Mosque in Al-Najaf and the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala are considered two of the holiest sites of Shia Islam.
In 2003, the US military destroyed much of Karbala as it fought the al-Mahdi, a fact virtually ignored by the media in the United States. The following year, the U.S. military invaded Al-Najaf and fought pitched battles with the Shia militia.
Morell also failed to mention that the government of Syria formally requested military support from Iran. In February, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said military advisers were sent to Syria at the request of the Damascus government.
Prior to talks with President Obama last September, Russian President Vladimir Putin said U.S., Saudi, and Gulf Emirate involvement in Syria is illegal. In my opinion, provision of military support to illegal structures runs counter to the principles of modern international law and the United Nations Charter, he told CBS News and PBS.
The Syrian conflict was initiated by the U.S. and its Arab partners in March of 2011. It has thus far claimed the lives of nearly a half million people, left close to two million injured, and displaced 6.36 million people.
Morells remarks reveal the frustration of the U.S. as Syrian, Russian, and Iranian troops regain territory captured by U.S. and Gulf Emirate-backed jihadi fighters, including the Islamic State.
The former CIA director is, in essence, calling for a repeat of the CIA-sponsored conflict against Russia in Afghanistan. According to another former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, the agency supported the Afghan Mujahideen six months before the Soviet intervention in the country in 1979.
That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap, President Jimmy Carters National Security Adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, told the French newspaper Le Nouvel Observateur in 1998.
The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.
Michael Morell would like to see a repeat of that humiliating defeat in Syria.
Russia, however, is far less likely to take the bait this time around.
Sources:
CBS News
The Jerusalem Post
Le Nouvel Observateur
Submit a correction >>
ISIS fight increasingly includes battling in cyberspace
(Cyberwar.news) Recent attacks in Europe inspired or sponsored by the Islamic State aside, the effort against the self-declared Islamic caliphate has seen much progress in recent weeks as more territory is re-conquered in Iraq and Syria.
But according to top U.S. defense officials, the fight against ISIS is not only taking place on the physical battlefield, but also in cyberspace.
In the latter part of July officials from several nations including member of NATO met at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, to discuss progress against ISIS and the campaigns next phase to, in the words of Defense Secretary Ash Carter, deliver [the group] a lasting defeat.
We reviewed and agreed on the next plays in the campaign, which, while I cant discuss them publicly yet, culminate in the collapse of ISILs control over the cities of Mosul [in Iraq] and Raqqa [in Syria], Carter said at a July 25 news conference, using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State group. And we identified the capabilities and support required to execute those next plays.
Many countries, including the United States, have recently committed to make additional contributions to the campaign, and some of those commitments were made just last week. And I expect we will be hearing from others in the weeks and months ahead, he added.
In particular, the fight against ISIS has been joined in cyberspace. That has included offensive operations, targeting command-and-control infrastructure as well as communication, as well as counter-messaging campaigns to counter the groups propaganda efforts which are largely used for recruiting new fighters. Cyber Command is in charge of these operations, working with Central Command, which is responsible for much of the Middle East.
CENTCOMs activities are closely coordinated amongst our Coalition partners and the interagency in direct support of the U.S. Governments counter-ISIL strategy, a spokesperson said in an email to C4ISRNET.
The combined weight of our efforts is, in fact, disrupting ISILs ability to convey their propaganda and brand on social media. As the Coalition continues to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL, CENTCOMs counter-ISIL operations, including those on social media, will continue to take the fight to the enemy and keep them on the defensive, the spokesperson added.
Because cyber operations are very sensitive, details about what the Pentagon is doing specifically to target ISIS are hard to come by. But DoD officials did confirm to C4ISRNET that the battle against ISIS is indeed taking place in cyberspace as well.
Recently, NATO declared cyberspace a battle domain, and other military and defense experts have said it will be a major aspect of U.S. and other great-nation warfare for the foreseeable future.
More:
Cyberwar.news is part of USA Features Media.
Submit a correction >>
AAP Claims of Working Against The Spread of The Influence of The Liquor and Drugs Stands Exposed
New Delhi, Wed, 10 Aug 2016 NI Wire
Aam Aadmi Party's Claims of Working Against The Spread of The Influence of The Liquor and Drugs Stands Exposed
New Delhi, 9th August: Delhi BJP President Shri Satish Upadhyay has said that after a RTI revelation on increase in the number of Government owned Liquor Shops in Delhi during last 17 months, Aam Aadmi Partys claims of working against the spread of the influence of the liquor and drugs stands exposed.
Shri Upadhyay has said that Delhi BJP Media Cell Incharge Praveen Shankar Kapoor had also sought information on number of licenses granted by the Excise Department of Delhi Government for new pubs, restaurants, farm houses, night clubs and shockingly Excise Department has said that the information sought does not pertain to it. This is nothing but a mockery of RTI Act.
Shri Upadhyay has said that there have been widespread news reports of women special wine shops and in its reply Excise Department says it has no knowledge of such shops. He said Delhi BJP demands that Delhi Government should immediately act to shut such shops promoting liquor amongst girls.
PM Modi flags off Tiranga Yatra to mark the launch of 70th Freedom Year Celebrations
Madhya Pradesh, Wed, 10 Aug 2016 NI Wire
PM pays homage to great freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azad at his birthplace in Bhabra in Madhya Pradesh
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, yesterday paid homage to the great freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azad at his birthplace at Bhabra in Alirajpur District of Madhya Pradesh. The Prime Minister garlanded the statue of Shahid Chandrashekhar Azad and visited the memorial at his birthplace.
Addressing a public meeting, the Prime Minister recalled that Mahatma Gandhi had given the call for the British to Quit India this very day. He urged to people to remember those who gave their lives so that we could breathe the air of freedom.
The Prime Minister said it is his privilege to have come to the birthplace of Chandrashekhar Azad. People like him inspire us to work for the nation, he added.
The Prime Minister said that all of us, who may not have got a chance to lay down our lives for the nation, should take the opportunity to live for the nation. The Prime Minister emphasized that a nation moves forward on the strength of its people, their aspirations, and their hard work.
The Prime Minister said every Indian loves Kashmir, and wishes to visit Kashmir. He said a few misguided elements were attempting to spoil the great traditions of Kashmir.
The Prime Minister said the Union Government wants to create employment opportunities for the youth of Kashmir. He appealed to the youth of Kashmir to come forward and move ahead with the vision of making Kashmir heaven on earth. He said Kashmir wants peace and the people of Kashmir want to earn more through tourism.
He said both the Centre and the J&K State Government are attempting to find a solution to all problems through development. He said former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayees vision of Insaniyat, Jamahooriyat, Kashmiriyat will be taken forward.
The Prime Minister said the need of the hour is for all of us to work together with a common resolve to take the nation to new heights. He said the Indian tricolour unites us, and inspires us to rewrite India's destiny.
The Prime Minister later flagged off the Tiranga Yatra to mark the launch of the 70th Freedom Year celebrations.
Source: PIB
Government of Maharashtra yesterday launched the Quit India Movement 2 against various social ills
Maharashtra, Wed, 10 Aug 2016 NI Wire
Maharashtra launches Quit India Movement 2 against social evils
It is time to convert our 'Swaraj' into 'Suraj' says Venkaiah Naidu
Commemorating the Platinum Jubilee anniversary of the Quit India Movement the Government of Maharashtra yesterday launched the Quit India Movement 2 against various social ills, in the presence of Union Minister Shri M Venkaiah Naidu. The launch took place at the historic August Kranti Maidan in Mumbai, from where Mahatma Gandhi had given the clarion call of Quid India in 1942.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Naidu said yesterday after 68 years of Independence, there is a need for the people to respond with similar passion, zeal and commitment to quit several social and other evils plaguing the nation and take India to newer heights. He said, poverty has to be completely eradicated from the country. Providing education to all, creating employment, combining development with welfare measures are all part of the larger Quit Poverty campaign and every Indian should supplement the efforts of the government in this regard. Antyodaya is the way forward he asserted.
Shri Naidu further said, for the nation to achieve faster progress on all fronts, every section of the society irrespective of caste, creed, religion and region should be part of the growth story. He said, that precisely this is the philosophy behind Prime Minister Narendra Modis Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas slogan. The Minister said we need to say Quit India to illiteracy, discrimination, disunity and disharmony, terrorism and anti-nationalism to take the country from Swaraj to Suraj
The Union Minister, who holds both the Urban Development and Information & Broadcasting portfolios informed that Government of India is celebrating this years Independence Day as Azadi 70 Saal Zara Yaad Karo Qurbani in a bid to rekindle patriotism among citizens of India, especially among the younger generation. All the Central Ministers and also Chief Ministers of the States have been assigned with two places each for visiting birth places of national icons and places of historical importance related to Indias independence movement such as Jallianwala Bagh, Chauri Chaura, Cellular Jail, Sabarmati Ashram, Dandi etc he added.
Earlier, addressing the gathering, Maharashtra Chief Minister, Shri Devendra Fadnavis said Mumbai had played a significant role during the freedom struggle. Today, the city is taking a lead in launching the second Quit India Movement. This time the fight is not against the British, but against the social evils plaguing the state like corruption, farmer suicides, malnutrition, water wastage and terrorism.
Earlier, Shri Venkaiah Naidu, Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra Ministers Shri Sudhir Mungantiwar, Shri Vinod Tawde and others paid their respects at the August Kranti Diwas Memorial at Mumbais August Kranti Maidan.
Maharashtra Department of Culture staged a captivating dance-drama, full of patriotic fervor recreating Indias freedom struggle.
Source: PIB
A string of mid-rise developments is transforming a long-neglected stretch of Queens Boulevard at the border of Elmhurst, Woodside, and Maspeth. One of the dozen-odd projects rising there is the apartment building at 70-09 45th Avenue, where excavation is currently underway. The seven-story structure will stand on a roughly 7,850-square-foot, mid-block lot, facing the irregular intersection where 45th Avenue meets Queens Boulevard at an acute angle. Permits place the height of the future building at 73 feet. Its 30 residences will be spread across 24,299 square feet, giving an average of 810 square feet per unit. The ground floor will feature 5,122 square feet of retail. The project is being developed by Choi Yui Chan, designed by Angelo Ng & Anthony Ng of Architects Studio PC, and built by First Class Management Contracting Corp.
70-09 45th Avenue is truly a product of the local building industry, as every entity listed above operates primarily within the boundaries of north-central Queens. Choi Yui Chan is one of several Flushing-based developers that are expanding west into Elmhurst. First Class Management Contracting Corp. is based in Corona, which sits halfway between Flushing and Elmhurst. The bulk of projects designed by Architects Studio PC are located around the same area, including some just a few blocks away from the building at hand.
Upon completion, the building would be the largest of its kind on the low-rise, residential block. However, its understated design aesthetic ensures that it would blend into the neighborhood rather than draw attention to itself. Its setback-free, rectangular facade is adorned with balconies on floors three through seven. The structure would be most effective as a part of a greater street wall, which would inevitably rise along the adjacent street frontage. Though no full-color renderings have been released, the on-site schematic indicates a brick facade above a paneled ground floor, leading us to believe that the final product would look somewhat akin to the architects similar project at 90-31 171st Street in Jamaica. Although the No Yards option is marked within the permits, the new building is scheduled to occupy just 53 percent of the property, leading us to believe that a rear yard would be included, after all.
The ground floor retail would go hand-in-hand with the old-school bodegas on either side of the building. However, those two-story properties may not stick around for long, since the 2006 upzoning made the area lucrative for dense development. 70-09 45th Avenue itself replaces two commercial structures similar to its current neighbors. On the other side of the 200-foot-wide thoroughfare, between 69th and 70th Street, two lots have been cleared for development at 69-02 Queens Boulevard and 46-02 70th Street. One block east, an 11-story building at 70-32 Queens Boulevard is structurally complete. Another project is being planned on the other side at 72-01 Queens Boulevard. The eight-story 65-15 Queens Boulevard and similarly-sized 64-06 and 64-26 Queens Boulevard are also underway just a few blocks west.
These developments would transform the barren strip of auto shops and parking lots into a proper urban corridor. The new community core would unite the established, low-rise residential neighborhoods on either side of the boulevard, transforming the strip from a periphery into a focal point. Given the areas proximity to the E, F, M, R, and 7 trains, as well as the Woodside station of the Long Island Rail Road, such development is long overdue. Local potential stems not only from public transit options, but also from vehicular access afforded by the adjacent Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Even bicycle commuters are now accommodated, thanks to the recently introduced bike lanes along Queens Boulevard. Lastly, basic urban planning tenets, as well as zoning codes, stipulate that wider streets may support larger buildings, and the boulevards is among the widest thoroughfares in the city.
Given the upcoming influx of new businesses and residents, additional work needs to be done to make the local streetscape more pedestrian-friendly. The ongoing redevelopment of Queens Boulevard, scheduled for completion in 2018, promises to engage its wide medians for public use. Unfortunately, nothing is planned to address the fact that there is not a single pedestrian crossing over an almost half-mile stretch of the boulevard, east of the 45th Avenue intersection. The city ought to introduce at least one crosswalk along this stretch to prevent it from being an impenetrable border between the two halves of the neighborhood.
Moreover, the 45th Avenue intersection presents a unique opportunity for public space creation. Coming from the east, the avenue meets Queens Boulevard at an acute angle. The avenue then turns south at an almost 90-degree angle right before it crosses the boulevard, where it is renamed 70th Street on the other side of the intersection. But before reaching the boulevard, the westbound lane of 45th Avenue curiously splits in two. Although we at YIMBY have not conducted any full-fledged traffic studies, the side conduit seems entirely unnecessary. The main run of the street services all northbound traffic, all southbound traffic headed to the boulevards westbound express lanes, both of its eastbound local and express lanes, and to 70th Street to the south, without any trouble. The side conduit services only the westbound local lane of the boulevard, but takes up a disproportionately large amount of street space. In addition, it creates an unnecessarily long, awkwardly-angled crossing across 45th Avenue. In terms of traffic movement, there seems to be no real need for the extra lane in the first place. Motorists would be able to access the westbound local lane of the boulevard as effectively from the main portion of the avenue, in the same manner as they currently make the right turn onto the westbound express lanes.
Closing the side lane to traffic would create a brand new, 3,700-square-foot pedestrian plaza in front of the future 70-09 45th Avenue, joining the 2,300 square feet of converted road space with the 1,400-square-foot triangular traffic island that sits in the middle of the crossing. The length of the crosswalk across 45th Avenue would decrease threefold, from 150 feet to 45 feet. This arrangement, as illustrated above, would not impede driveway access to either of the adjacent properties. The suggested configuration would allow for access to the new building from the east. While three parking spaces would be lost along 45th Avenue, five more would be created along Queens Boulevard. We urge the city to consider this option. This is a prime opportunity to bring a much-needed green oasis in this promising but public space-starved neighborhood.
Subscribe to YIMBYs daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBYs Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
Libyan oil production is falling more sharply than expected, declining by 70 percent from pre-civil war levels due to continued instability and hostilities between armed groups. The situation has sparked serious concerns of Western powers.
A joint statement issued by the French Government said five of its NATO allies have expressed concern about tensions near the Zuetina oil facility.
The governments of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States call on all Libyan warring factions to refrain from hostilities and avoid any action that could damage or disrupt Libyas energy infrastructure, added the statement.
The six-western powers renewed support to the U.N.-backed administration in Libya, noting control over oil terminals rests solely with that government.
Restoring oil exports is vital to generating revenues that can provide for the essential needs of the Libyan people, including electricity, healthcare, and infrastructure, stressed the joint statement.
According to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, member-state Libya produced about 304,000 barrels of oil per day last month, down about 6 percent from June.
At the request of the UN-backed Libyan unity government in Tripoli, the US launched lately airstrikes against ISIS positions in the strategic port city of Sirte to enable local government forces make a decisive and strategic advance to capture the city wherein jihadist fighters are entrenched.
Libya, following the death of former ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, has descended into chaos, with no central government. The Islamic State has taken advantage of the situation to conquer vast swaths of land in the country, mostly in coastal regions where many criminal gangs indulge in illegal migrant trafficking.
Rival groups signed a political accord that hashed out a Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Serraj. Despite strong and vast backing from the international community, the GNA is still struggling to assert its authority challenged by Islamists and armed groups.
US military ground forces are helping the allied militiamen of the Government of National Accord (GNA) in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group, the largely circulated Washington Post reports.
The Pentagon announced last week it took military actions against IS at the request of the GNA, which has launched its anti-IS campaign since May.
The Washington Post, citing US officials who asked not be named, indicated on Tuesday that some commandos were working from a joint operations center on the outskirts of Sirte.
The US ground warriors are reportedly operating alongside British troops and are helping to coordinate American airstrikes and provide intelligence to partner forces.
The Pentagon has not made any comments about the revelations but acknowledged that some US special forces have been in Libya to share and gather intelligence with Libyan counterparts.
A group of US military were spotted near Benghazi but did not take part in the fighting between the Libyan National Army and IS militants, reports say.
British and French troops have also been reported present in Libya. In May British troops were reportedly fighting alongside GNA forces of Misratras Third Force. They neutralized two IS suicide car bombings.
French President Francois Holland last month confirmed the death of three French military officers in the East of Libya as they were on an intelligence-gathering mission. They died in a helicopter crash.
The US, France, UK and several Western countries have thrown their support behind the GNA, tasked with repairing war-torn Libya. The oil-rich country slipped into chaos following the killing of Col. Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed revolution in 2011.
IS group took advantage of rivalries between different camps to conquer parts the Libyan territory including Gaddafis hometown of Sirte which they captured last year.
India has openly voiced support for Moroccos return to the African Union, a decision, which cements longstanding ties between the two countries, the Times of India reported.
India welcomes Moroccos initiative to re-join the African Union. India enjoys close relationship with all African nations, including Morocco, spokesperson for the Indian Foreign Ministry said, describing the Kingdoms move as conducive for the pan-African organization.
The Indian position in support of Moroccos territorial integrity, which is a condition for Moroccos return to the African union, was taken despite the existence of detractors within the Indian foreign office who long for the Rajiv Gandhi era when India recognized the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) leading to a freeze in Indian-Moroccan ties, the paper added.
Indias policy change on Morocco was started by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and carried forward by Narendra Modi. Bilateral relations between the two countries were boosted by the invitation of the Moroccan king to attend the India-Africa summit in New Delhi in 2015.
Indias applauding Moroccos move might have consequences for Indias ties with Algeria, but at the ministerial level it was felt that India should back Morocco, the paper said.
Roger Ailes. Photo: Stephen Lovekin/2012 Getty Images
Accusations of sexual harassment against former Fox News chief Roger Ailes have opened the door to much broader questions about Ailess tenure as CEO of the cable network including tactics he used against outside journalists, and how he managed the Fox budget.
New York Magazines Gabriel Sherman reported last weekend that Ailes used money from the Fox News budget to employ consultants, political operatives, and private detectives who reported only to him and who targeted personal and political enemies, including journalists. Sherman described smear tactics used against him during the reporting of his 2014 Ailes biography, including negative websites and Google search ads. Another source told Sherman that a private investigator had been tasked with trailing him and his wife. Sources now tell Politicos Joe Pompeo that the campaign was even darker, with one source claiming that Ailes said, I know where [Sherman] lives, and Im gonna send people to beat the shit out of him. A source also said that people suspect Ailess team acquired phone surveillance illegally. Per Politico:
The first source also relayed a separate conversation in which the source was told, If it ever came out, meaning the lengths Ailes went to in his campaign against Sherman, multiple people at Fox would go to jail.
Questions are also swirling about how Ailes managed to pay out big settlement packages to women who he allegedly harassed including a 2011 $3.15 million payment to former Fox booker Laurie Luhn without attracting scrutiny. Foxs parent company, 21st Century Fox, was allegedly unaware of the payout. As experts told the Financial Times, that dollar amount should have been large enough to grab the attention of Rupert Murdoch and other higher-ups or of the auditors of a public company.
Damn emails. Photo: David Becker/Getty Images
If the GOP had nominated someone with enough self-control to avoid attacking Gold Star families and joking about insurrectionary violence, theyd be in pretty good shape right now. Hillary Clinton remains one of the least popular major-party nominees in recent history, with an unfavorable rating hovering around 54 percent. Decades of mendacious right-wing attacks combined with Clintons genuine indiscretions have gifted her an aura of untrustworthiness and corruption. And on Tuesday night, the latest chapter in her endless email scandal drew renewed attention to that aura. Or, at least, it would have, had Trump resisted the temptation to joke about Clinton being assassinated.
The Democratic nominees critics have long claimed that donors to her familys foundation enjoyed undue influence in her State Department. In 2015, the New York Times reported that the Clinton Global Initiative accepted donations from Canadian mining magnates while those magnates had a request pending before the State Department to sell off a uranium-production company to Russias atomic-energy agency. Secretary Clinton approved that request. But the Democratic standard-bearer has vociferously denied that associates of the CGI wielded any influence over her decisions in government.
On Tuesday night, the conservative advocacy group Judicial Watch released a batch of emails that call Clintons denials into question. Through a Freedom of Information Act request, the organization obtained a pair of email exchanges that Clinton had not included in the 55,000 pages of work-related emails she turned over to the State Department. In one of those exchanges, an executive at the Clinton Foundation asked for the State Department to put a billionaire donor in touch with the American ambassador to Lebanon. In another, he pushed Clintons aides to find a job for an associate within the department. In both instances, Clintons aides appeared to oblige the requests.
We need Gilbert Chagoury to speak to the substance person re Lebanon, Clinton Foundation head Doug Band wrote to Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin in 2009. As you know, hes a key guy there and to us and is loved in Lebanon. Very imp.
Its jeff feltman, Abedin replied, referring to Jeffrey Feltman, the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon at the time. Im sure he knows him. Ill talk to jeff.
In a separate exchange, Band asked Abedin and Mills for a favor regarding an associate who had recently taken a Clinton Foundation trip to Haiti and was apparently seeking federal employment.
We all have him on our radar, Abedin wrote back. Personnel has been sending him options.
The Clinton campaign argues that Band was writing in his capacity as Clintons personal assistant, rather than in his role as the leader of the Clinton Global Initiative.
Neither of these emails involve the Secretary or relate to the foundations work, the campaign said in a statement. They are communications between her aides and the presidents personal aide, and indeed the recommendation was for one of the secretarys former staffers who was not employed by the foundation.
Even in the least charitable interpretation of the emails, the brand of cronyism they reveal is more distasteful than dangerous. Its hard to see how a pro-Clinton billionaire getting a little face time with the ambassador to Lebanon jeopardizes the public interest. Nonetheless, the exchanges raise questions about what other favors the foundations donors might have been able to secure.
This is not the kind of bombshell that could single-handedly rescue a candidate as troubled as Donald Trump. But it is the sort of thing that would solidify John Kasichs lead over Clinton, in some parallel universe.
Laughing time is over. Photo: Sara D. Davis/2016 Getty Images
The Trump campaign should be adept at responding to scandals by now, but that would go against its ethos of doing the exact opposite of what any normal presidential candidate would do. Thus, following Trumps suggestion on Tuesday that theres something Second Amendment people can do if President Hillary Clinton selects Supreme Court justices who abolish the Second Amendment, his team rejected the ready-made excuse that he was joking, insisting instead that it was a completely serious call for supporters of gun rights to head to the polls.
Video of the speech shows several people chuckling at Trumps aside:
Trump: If Clinton picks judges, "nothing you can do, folks -- although the 2nd Amendment people, maybe there is." https://t.co/7oFn4JE2D8 NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) August 9, 2016
And, as Vox noted, a debate quickly emerged over whether he was just joking. Paul Ryan, who claimed on Tuesday night that he still hadnt heard the brief remarks, suggested that was the case. It sounds like a joke gone bad, he said. You should never joke about that. I hope he clears it up quickly.
On CNN, Trump ally Senator Jeff Sessions agreed with Wolf Blitzer that you absolutely should not joke about assassinating your political rival.
Sen Jeff Sessions: You shouldnt suggest that violence can be used in this political system https://t.co/rcEvTh7YYw
https://t.co/TUeQb7guez The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) August 9, 2016
Even the mainstream media, which the Trump camp accuses of bias on a daily basis, acknowledged that he may have been making a dark attempt at humor. Politico described the incident as Trump applying his signature sarcasm to a political third rail. The Washington Post pointed out that whenever Trump says something outrageous, his campaign accuses the press of twisting his words or missing the joke. Dozens of outlets (including New York) ran headlines depicting the comment as an attempt at a joke.
There was widespread consensus that political violence is no laughing matter, but the Trump team never argued that it was. Instead, the campaign said he was talking about Second Amendment supporters using democratic means to keep Clinton out of office.
As some others have noted, this Trump statement doesn't directly deny that he was calling for violence pic.twitter.com/Cfhg7TIsfU Nick Riccardi (@NickRiccardi) August 9, 2016
Even after many pointed out that Trump was clearly talking about Clinton nominating Supreme Court justices after assuming the presidency, Trump agreed with honorary campaign member Sean Hannity, who said he was obviously talking about mobilizing voters.
Nobody in that room thought anything other than [that], Trump said. This is a political movement. This is a strong powerful movement, the Second Amendment. Hillary wants to take your guns away. She wants to leave you unprotected in your home. Trump added that there can be no other interpretation of his remarks.
Trump reiterated his claims of a media conspiracy in some late-night tweets:
When is the media going to talk about Hillary's policies that have gotten people killed, like Libya, open borders, and maybe her emails? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 10, 2016
Media desperate to distract from Clinton's anti-2A stance. I said pro-2A citizens must organize and get out vote to save our Constitution! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 10, 2016
And the rest of the Trump team used the same nonsensical talking points. Running mate Mike Pence commented:
I think what Donald Trump is clearly saying was that people who cherish that [Second Amendment] right, people who believe that firearms in the hands of law abiding citizens makes our communities more safe, not less safe, should be involved in the political process and let their voices be heard.
Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson (who last week blamed Obama for U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khans death in 2004), said on CNN, He was talking about unification and coming together to stop Hillary Clinton.
And at a rally on Tuesday evening in North Carolina, Rudy Giuliani claimed Trump was merely describing what Clinton will do if elected, and telling supporters, You have the power to do something about it, and what he meant by that is you have the power to vote against her. (At the same event, Trump said its time for a tougher tone against Clinton.)
In any other election, the fact that the candidate and his surrogates repeated the same weird, incorrect statement would be a bad thing, but for the Trump campaign, its actually bizarre that they were able to stay on-message for an entire evening. Looks like Trumps long-awaited general-election pivot is finally here.
Yikes, that sucks! Hopefully she gets out safely.
Although, I had no idea she was transgender...
Reply
Thread
Link
i don't follow youtube celebs that closely, but i always just assumed she was renowned for makeup or having that instagram barbie aesthetic.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Expand
Link
She's on a plane out of there already according to her snap chat
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
that is so fucked up and scary. hope she makes it home safely.
Reply
Thread
Link
what the fuck dubai
Reply
Thread
Link
I didn't even know she was trans
Jesus, that's such a scary situation, hope she gets out okay. She's lucky that she's a public figure, hopefully that will be to her advantage.
Reply
Thread
Link
OMG! Justin Trubae go help her!
Reply
Thread
Link
She's Canadian?
Also Dubai is such a weird, disturbing place.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
Yup from Toronto but lives in LA
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
this is fucked up and scary.
Reply
Thread
Link
Oh no. I hope she stays safe. She seemed really sweet at VidCon.
Reply
Thread
Link
exactly, no one should be surprised by this and she probably has does have the correct wording on her passport. Many people have reported being harassed in Dubai
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
Fucked up
Poor girl
Reply
Thread
Link
I hope she'll be ok :(
Reply
Thread
Link
so she didn't legally transition or they could just tell?
Reply
Thread
Link
Fucking awful. Hope she makes it home soon and safely.
Reply
Thread
Link
that's absolutely terrifying. i hope she's okay
Reply
Thread
Link
"imitation of women by men" is illegal in the country and punishible with a year of jail time.
:/
I hope she can get free.
Reply
Thread
Link
why tf would anyone go to Dubai
hopefully it's cleared up
Reply
Thread
Link
Malina Weissman is super cute as young Kara on Supergirl.
Honestly I'm so annoyed because the rest of the cast looks great but I still can't stand the idea of NPH as Olaf. Just. What the fuck.
Reply
Thread
Link
that kid doesn't seem like a klaus to me ehh
yes @ joan cusak being justice strauss tho
Reply
Thread
Link
ugh i forgot nph is in this
at least i'll have patrick warburton's sexy sexy voice to comfort me
Reply
Thread
Link
his voice is amazing. ugh, I'm so excited for this series I don't want to wait until 2017
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
get that good netflix coin, alfre!!
Reply
Thread
Link
omfg ive been waiting for this since 2004
Reply
Thread
Link
same, this shit was my harry potter
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
YES!! they were seriously such smart books.
also the uneven edged pages were my jam for whatever reason i felt fly as hell.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Expand
Link
NPH as Olaf what in God's name
I can't remember names but I could see Alfre as that weird aunt who lives on the seaside cliff.
Reply
Thread
Link
aunt josephine!
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
lmao
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
looking like Jack Frost from the Care Bear movies
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
looks like me when i wake up on a monday morning
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
Young me was so blown away by the grammar and spelling mistakes of the aunts letter spelling out a secret message, I think I had to put the book down to take a walk to collect myself lol.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
Lol it's such a reach
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
It's so bad
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
now i really want shaved ice :(
Reply
Thread
Link
That's shaved iced, not cotton candy?
Reply
Thread
Link
There were both, but the truck said cotton candy all over it. I just picked the picture with a closeup of the sign.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
This series was dead to me when the last book was terrible and nothing happened. All that build up for nothing. Truly awful writing.
I'll still watch this though
Reply
Thread
Link
apparently rhys darby is in the cast too
i need to know who's gonna play esme
Reply
Thread
Link
Yeah, I was going to mention that he's in it too, but I guess I deleted that when I was editing stuff around.
If this stuff about the order is correct then we wouldn't get Esme until next season, right?
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
true! i hope this is good and there's a second season cause books 5 and 6 were my fav!
Reply
Parent
Thread
Expand
Link
I was a big fan of these books, but then I stopped around the 9th or 10th, I just got tired of them.
Reply
Thread
Link
it definitely started going downhill, and the final one was atrocious.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
The only one I outright do not like is the last one. but the 8th >>>>
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
I just pulled them on wiki and yeah looks like I stopped at #10
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
i was so excited when i heard about the show happening but casting NPH really threw me off. hoping i'll be pleasantly surprised
Reply
Thread
Link
NPH
keep it
Reply
Thread
Link
I'm confused by the hesitation to be on board with NPH... in the books he was portrayed as this theatrical villian, basically an actor who was terrible at acting, a guy who wasn't as smart as he thought he was and a ne'er do well that was shady, slimy, and gross but also pretty incompetent. I feel like NPH could pull it off... I mean he cant be worse than Jim Carrey playing Jim Carrey right? /genuinelyconfused
Reply
Thread
Link
jim carey as olaf was a MESS
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
I think Jim Carrey as Olaf scarred me for life so I'm worried about how NPH will be. that being said, I generally like him as an actor so idk
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
A-Listers and the rich to pretend like they're slumming it with burning trash cans as promotion and exhibits featuring burned out cars.
what the fuck
Reply
Thread
Link
Came here to say this. Like what is this even? Also dumb fucking name Piano District.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
I remember Keith Rubenstein's wife got a ton of (deserved) blowback on instagram. yeah, they attended this exact event http://www.vogue.com/13366619/gigi-hadid-naomi-campbell-lucien-smith-party-2015/ I remember Keith Rubenstein's wife got a ton of (deserved) blowback on instagram.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
MTE
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
This sounds like some Zoolander ~Derelicte~ level of parody.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
My jaw dropped at that... Just...
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
Isnt he from harlem? He should know better
So embarrassing. Most of my extended family live in bronx, the housing projects some of the worst projects ive ever seen. They need to fix the place up for the people that live there!!! Why cant poor people have nice streets. Not rich bougies who want to live the nyc lifestyle on the cheap.
Reply
Thread
Link
Isnt he from harlem? He should know better
This is the same person who said that he didn't relate to BLM so...
Historically rich whites never cared about POC, the POC that have made it have always attempted to assimilate instead of invest in poorer communities. NYC is like the extreme of all those things.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
Im all for improving or rebranding poor areas but if the people there dont benefit from it....then well...
Reply
Thread
Link
When, in recent history, has rebranding helped residents in poor residents?
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
Atlanta, LA and West London kinda.
The idea is if you're gonna invest in poor urban areas and rebrand them, it should also work with the intention that people in the community can get jobs and benefit from it. If its just about high prices of property and new business spaces to rent that drives them out then no beuno
Reply
Parent
Thread
Expand
Link
I've never understood why rich/middle class people love 'slumming it' so much.
I didnt grow up in a slum but I grew up poor, it has 0 glamour to me. If anything it's turning me into a workaholic since I sure as fuck don't want to go back to that.
Reply
Thread
Link
preach
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
it's the young that "slum" it. like all these new money kids wanna be down, they think it's inspirational. they've been to harlem (but not pass 125th) down to bk (but only brownstones! because that's authentic) queens (they live in lic but hang in astoria)....ugghhhh i hate them.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
like someone else said, its about the cheap rent while living in a new or remodeled building in an ~artsy neighborhood
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
it reminds me of people who use the word ghetto, if you really grew up in the ghetto and truly knew what that word meant it isn't something cute or chic or anything you'd actually want to be associated with.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
They think it makes them interesting and they know they can leave whenever they want.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
Not having to worry yourself with things like money or survival gives you free time to ponder your existence and play house as someone who struggles.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
because when youre so rich and surrounded by everything you desire, you can CHOOSE to slum it and 'have fun' pretending to be dirt poor. the difference is when youre rich you can leave that situation whenever you want and when you do you come back thinking you know how poor people think
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
i miss the bronx. i used to get all my club dresses on fordham
Reply
Thread
Link
LOL, you betta thot up
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
fucking gross.
But I hail from the Bay Area and it's the fucking pits here too. I can only see myself surviving another 2-3 years MAX. I
Reply
Thread
Link
Bay Area is the WORST! (I'm never leaving though. Just gonna have to take this shit over myself *sigh*)
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
My parents house is in the hood and it was basically all Mexicans and Vietnamese/Filipinos growing up, but the amounts of white people that are popping up in that area is making my head spin.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
this hits way too close to home. my family along with the other tenants were kicked out of a brownstone in astoria because the landlord was selling it to a developer. this was during the early 00's so they had no idea they could have filed legal action.
Reply
Thread
Link
That's what SF is trying to do with developers right now, or fund homeowners that are willing to add rental units to their existing property and I'm just...... /toolittletoolate
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
Atlanta's following suit, too. The city's looking to be 'high end' with all those prices that many people can't afford to live in. So now they're building luxury apartments no one can afford to live in. The house is taking away the neighborhood character found in every nook and cranny, giving way to big blocks of steeled glass that doesn't tell anyone about the history, especially in poor/working class areas. Perfectly good buildings are torn down instead to build ugly shit that no one actually wants. Or putting in 'multi-use' projects where a grocery or big box will anchor with drab, suburban strip mall aesthetics and little care in the traffic congestion. And it's the same couple of developers who keep getting those.
The Atlanta Central Library (Marcel Breuer, Bauhaus Movement) was saved from being leveled, which is ironic since it was built over a leveled location to start with. A Carnegie opened in 1902. The gigantic columned and classic design fit perfectly in Atlanta. Before everyone started to knock down and rebuild in fads. Developers flash cash to greedy, corrupted officials and end up ruining communities.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
the fucking apartment complexes popping up in every single corner of atlanta are pissing me off. can't drive 100 feet identical looking artwork boasting "COMING SOON." No thank you.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Expand
Link
i would suggest you watch show me a hero to get more perspective on this! ita, but my god, the lengths white people will go to to keep poc out of their neighborhoods. they're like children who never learned how to share their toys.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
god, gentrification is so depressing. even in my 'microurban' community, a lot of the really cool older downtown buildings are being swallowed up by brand new condos and office space. and of course, there's like zero diversity now--it's basically a bunch of middle aged white people, young professionals, and rich asians bc no one else can afford it.
w. kamau bell's episode on portland's gentrification was really good.
Reply
Thread
Link
DC is all about building dumb warehouse art spaces/condos right now and it's such a disaster. And yet somehow there is always some rich twenty something dying to live there.
Reply
Thread
Link
the situation in dc makes me sad tbh. it's been undeniably severe on black residents.
places like columbia heights are marketed as "diverse" neighborhoods and that's just laughable. the ethnic division or separation between whites and predominantly salvadorans/latinos is really visible.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
edit: lol of course someone wrote an article about this phenomenon today
Edited at 2016-08-11 10:07 pm (UTC) Any yuppie I've met who lives in Columbia Heights has made me want to shoot myself in the face. Maybe I'm just jealous because I'm broke as fuck, but my God I can't believe how many completely oblivious racist idiots make tons of money and live there but are uncomfortable with the community that preceded them that's still there.edit: lol of course someone wrote an article about this phenomenon today http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/article/20830436/withering-heights
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
I wasn't aware that music and art had left the Bronx. Maybe if they used more Bronx artists they would have been aware that there's plenty left?
Reply
Thread
Link
i fear very soon how westchester is going to be the new brooklyn because it seems there isn't one place in nyc that isn't being gentrified, or at least soon.
Reply
Thread
Link
if they're starting to gentrify the bronx then there's no doubt westchester and rockland will be hit next. i wouldn't be shocked if yonkers becomes the new ~~hipster spot
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
westchester is too old money. the hipsters have skipped the lower hudson valley counties and are coming up into beacon/cold spring, sullivan county/catskills, etc. i read an article a few years ago about how beacon is the new williamsburg. there's always been artists on the hudson river but the hipster scene has been blowing up in the last few years - just look all the craft breweries popping up.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
i thought westchester was a rich area
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
I have mixed feelings about gentrification. On one hand, I'm glad people are moving back to the urban core. Our roads and infrastructure is a mess, and I don't think (actually, I DO think) that they will ever be sufficient and up to par.
On the other hand, gentrification just runs out middle and lower class people out to the surburbs with the shitty infrastructure and no public transportation. I love driving through neighborhoods seeing older homes remodeled and new homes scattered in between and neighborhoods just thriving; the feeling wanes when you see a house that was worth $90k a decade ago now goes for over $500k.
Edited at 2016-08-10 11:19 pm (UTC)
Reply
Thread
Link
Having briefly dipped under $40, oil quickly rebounded over the past few days after the now traditional rumors of an "imminent" OPEC oil supply cut re-emerged, with the catalyst this time supposedly being the informal meeting set to take place next month in Algeria. Alas, this "plan" to push the price higher appears to have just suffered a terminal setback after Oman announced it would not participate in a meeting of oil producers and consumers in Algeria next month "as it is disappointed by the group's failure to address the issue of low oil prices" the Minister of Oil and Gas Mohammad bin Hamad al-Rumhy said on Wednesday, cited by Reuters.
The International Energy Forum, which groups producers and consumers, is due to meet on Sept. 26-28 in Algiers. Qatar said on Monday that OPEC members had agreed to hold talks on the sidelines, which served as a substantial upside catalyst to WTI and Brent.
Alas, any credibility OPEC may have left evaporated when Oman, a small non-OPEC oil producer, said that it doesn't "see the point of continuing to be part" of the group, Rumhy told Reuters in an interview in Muscat.
"We are moving into difficult times, and others still believe that everything will be fine."
Taking a clear shot at Saudi Arabia, Rumhy said that "those who expected the expensive oil producers will be run out of the business and shut down their operations, have been proved wrong."
Rumhy added: "There were hopes of seeing the impact of fewer investments in oil and gas, and less exploration, on supply and demand with hopes that this might affect the low oil prices. But that didn't happen, and there has been no positive impact on oil prices."
As a result, he said, producers would have to tighten their belts further or find some way to prop up prices by revisiting the idea of freezing production. Oman has reduced state spending as it grapples with a big budget deficit caused by cheap oil.
Meanwhile, the country whose ultimate decision for any credible oil production freeze, Saudi Arabia, not only announced it produced a record amount of oil, but has already seen its economy reeling as a result of low oil prices to the point where some 16,000 foreign workers, mostly in the construction industry, are left stranded in the dessert with no jobs, money or prospects how to get back home. Of course, there is always the risk that Saudi Arabia will turn its back on the strategy it unveiled at the 2014 OPEC Thanksgiving meeting, and curb output, although as of this moment, the odds of that happening are about the same as the Fed hiking next month.
By Zerohedge
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Approved version of IPCs has more than 150 minor and major changes from the draft
Following the end of international sanctions against Iran in July of 2015, the Islamic Republic has ramped production up from existing fields faster than many thought would be possible. In the year that followed the Iranian nuclear deal, Iran increased production 814,000 bpd to 3.6 million bpd in June 2016, but in order to reach its self-proclaimed goal of 5 million bpd, Iran will need the help of foreign investment, a task the newly-designed Iranian Petroleum Contracts (IPCs) are hoped to achieve.
When the terms of the IPCs were laid out in Tehran in December, 2015, hardliners in Iran began posing opposition to the contracts, saying the IPCs gave too much control of Iranian oil assets to foreign companies, something which is against the Iranian Constitution. The IPC originally required that international oil companies (IOCs) working in Iran formed a joint venture with an Iranian partner, typically the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), with the Iranian party acting as owner and supervising planning and operations. Even with this requirement, resistance to the IPC was so great that hardliner groups protested outside Irans oil ministry in February, 2016.
To help design an IPC that was more palatable to hardliners and still attractive to IOCs, a new version of the contract was drafted, and approved by the Irans cabinet last week.
The draft of the general conditions, structure and patterns of the upstream petroleum and gas contracts which included more than 150 minor and major changes was given final approval in todays cabinet meeting, the Iranian oil ministrys news agency, SHANA, said.
These changes are, for the most part, minor, Dr. Iman Nasseri, a senior consultant with Facts Global Energy (FGE) told Oil & Gas 360. The majority of the changes made from the last draft of the IPCs concern the language and definitions in the IPC, said Nasseri, but a few important alterations were made.
The main changes are, first and foremost, with regards to the local partnerships, said Nasseri. In the early drafts of the contracts, this was mandatory for companies looking to bid on oil and gas upstream assets in Iran. Now that requirement is up to the discretion of the foreign company, if and when they want to bring on a local partner to the project, he explained.
Another major change made in the latest draft of the IPC is how the specifics for each project are negotiated with IOCs. The IPC is a framework. It does not have fees or individual terms. Those are going to be negotiated between the foreign company and the NIOC. Initially, it was supposed to be one open tender in which they put up all the fields to which they hoped to attract foreign developers, and then have the IOCs select the fields that interested them, and then have them go and bid. Related: Morgan Stanley: Oil To Fall To $35 In A Few Weeks
They changed the guidelines though so that it is not mandatory anymore. They have selected the most attractive fields for closed, or limited tender. They have put these aside, and they have selected a number of companies, and sent them an invitation to submit their interest in those fields, and thats based on previous interests shown by those companies in those projects and fields.
After that, they will move on the second-tier fields and hold an open tender.
The third major change made to the language in the IPC is that the specific framework set forth in the document is no longer the exclusive petroleum contract available to foreign companies looking to operate in Iran. IOCs can choose to bid using an IPC, or buyback contract, or any other that NIOC feels fits the project, said Nasseri.
The future is riding on elections
While the IPC has been approved by Irans cabinet, much could change depending on the outcome of Irans presidential elections.
This is the final framework, said Nassari, but there is still opposition. We believe the IPCs had to be endorsed [by the government] in order to keep moment going. They wanted to show the international community that this had not stagnated. But in reality, it make take several months before it is fully accepted by all parties and the opposition stops criticizing these negotiations.
In fact, one of the main critics is the Head of the Energy Committee in the Parliament. As long as that continues, we dont expect to actually see a contract signed, said Nasseri. IPC is just a framework. The individual contracts will need to be signed by the Minister of Petroleum, and he may not be able to do that until all parties are finally on board.
The growing concern that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani might lose a reelection could also derail the IPCs, as well as other reform Rouhani and his party have tried to move forward while he has been in office, including the Iran nuclear agreement. And because of the analysis still being done on Irans oil and gas assets, it could be six months to a year before contracts are ready to be signed. If Rouhani loses reelection, and no contracts have been signed, it will be much simpler for a new president to scrap the IPC framework without worrying about international arbitration.
By Oil & Gas 360
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The wind has been taken out of the sails of todays crude rally by a super-sized Saudi production number from the monthly OPEC report, in combination with a dubious EIA report (West Coast imports reaching the highest level since April 2014 does not pass the sniff test. Hum dee dum). Hark, here are five things to consider in oil markets today:
1) North Africa is home to two OPEC members, Algeria and Libya, and both are seeing signs of life from their exports. While Libyas recent challenges are well known, oil exports have just clambered back above 300,000 barrels per day for the first time since May of last year.
As for Algeria, our ClipperData show its exports for June also reached their highest level since July 2015 with its light sweet Saharan blend arriving in eight countries. Although Europe is the destination for some three-quarters of Algerias oil exports, North America is a consistent buyer.
While the cargoes to Canada make their way to the East Coast, volumes to the U.S. predominantly head to the U.S. Gulf unlike flows from Nigeria, which largely head to East Coast refiners. As for exports to Europe this year, the leading recipient in Southern Europe is Italy, with France and the UK the biggest beneficiary in Northwest Europe.
(Click to enlarge)
2) The latest OPEC oil market report is out, and it looks like Saudi Arabia has thrown in the towel in terms of targeting market share. (Only kidding). According to primary sources, Saudi production has reached 10.67 million barrels per day, up ~120,000 bpd on the prior month.
While it is not unusual to see Saudi production ramping up in the summer given higher demand for crude to be used for power generation, what is unusual is that production is now at a record high, above the peak seen last summer (see below). Although secondary communications peg production at a lesser 10.48mn bpd, this is still a lofty level. Related: Mexico Made $3 Billion From Oil Hedging In 2016 What is Their 2017 Strategy?
(Click to enlarge)
3) In terms of other highlights from the OPEC report, the cartel has revised up demand growth for this year to 1.22mn bpd, up 30,000 bpd from last month; it projects 90 percent of this demand growth to come from emerging markets. The cartel is also being vigilant about which shoe could be next to drop, given high inventories of both crude and products (hark, 3,045 million barrels in OECD stocks, 311 million bbls above the 5-year average).
OPEC currently sees slowing demand for middle distillates, and fears that the supply side could continue exerting pressure on OECD distillate inventories, which are 80 million bbls above the five-year average:
4) As for yesterdays EIA Short Term Energy Outlook, despite being less fun of a read than the OPEC report (opec = epic), it had some interesting nuggets. It expects 1.4 million bpd of demand growth this year and next, while seeing production dropping off from China by 180,000 bpd this year, and an additional 80,000 bpd next year encouraged by a lack of investment.
It also projects North Sea production to drop 200,000 bpd next year, and Russia by 150,000 bpd (which is contrast to other recent projections). It sees Canadian production next year marginally higher. It still doesnt expect to see inventory draws beginning until mid-next year:
(Click to enlarge)
5) Finally, despite draws to both gasoline and distillates from todays weekly inventory report, builds elsewhere have lifted total U.S. crude and product inventories to a new record at over 1.39 billion barrels. This number has risen by 200 million barrels in the last 17 months. Glut ahoy!
By Matt Smith
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
For the first time, elite U.S. Special Operations troops are directly helping fighters combat against ISIS in Libya with on-site support, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing U.S. and Libyan officials.
A small group of U.S. Special Operations forces are operating together with UK troops in Sirte, a city on the Libyan coast and ISIS de facto capital in North Africa. The role of the U.S. troops is limited to backing forces loyal to Libyas unity Government of National Accord (GNA), The Post noted, quoting U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Last week, the U.S. launched precision air strikes against targets of ISIS in its stronghold Sirte in order to back the efforts of GNA-affiliated troops to defeat ISIS in the city.
The U.S. strikes have hit nearly 30 militant targets so far, according to The Post.
While Western forces step up their support for fighters against ISIS in Libya, the country continues to be torn by militant attacks at or close to oil infrastructure. In the latest incident, gunmen from the Benghazi Defense Brigades attacked on Tuesday members of the Libyan National Army (LNA) who were guarding the Naga oilfield, local media reported. The insurgents were forced to withdraw after six hours of clashes in which six militants and two army members were killed. In May, the LNA took over the oilfield which is not currently active.
Just last week, another Libyan militia, Operation Dignity, attacked the Zueitina oil terminal near Benghazi. The attack was repelled by Petroleum Facilities Guard forces, which are another militia operating in the country. Depending on sources, the Operation Dignity move was seen either as an attack on oil facilities or as an attempt to secure their reopening as agreed by one of the chiefs of the PFG, Ibrahim Jahdran, and the Presidential Council. The agreement followed years of PFG-led blockades of Libyas four major oil export terminals, which have a combined capacity of 860,000 bpd.
All that militant activity, however, indicates that the likelihood of Libyas oil output rising by 600,000 bpd, as Libyas National Oil Corporation (NOC) said last week, is still far from a certainty.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
When search suggestions are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.
"I love Milwaukee. I love my life here. I love the people here. And I love my restaurant. And its the very hardest thing to do, to let it go," says James Beard Award semi-finalist Jan Kelly, who recently announced that she will sell her nearly decade-old restaurant, Meritage, and move back to her home state of California.
Kelly, who says she didnt make the decision lightly, notes that it was the culmination of numerous factors. Her husband Gary is retiring, and the health of her mother, who Kelly describes as "always active and on the go," has waned in recent months.
"Both of my parents are in their 80s," Kelly notes. "Its to the point where I cant do this from a distance. I need to be there with them and spend time with them Would I love to stay here for another nine years? Yes, but everything had just aligned, and its the right time."
But her departure doesn't mark an end to the legacy Kelly has left with Milwaukee. Nor does it mean her time here will be easily forgotten.
We talked with Kelly about her career in Milwaukee, as well as her plans for the future. And then we consulted with some of her colleagues in the industry all of whom helped to paint a colorful portrait of her contributions to the growing culinary scene.
Love at first sight
"I wanted to move here the first time we came here on vacation," she says. "It took a while to convince my husband Gary [who is from Wisconsin], but when his friend offered him a job, we took it on."
"For many years, it was important for me to clarify that I lived in Milwaukee, but I was from California. And eventually, that didnt matter. Being here has been a really wonderful experience. I will always carry a part of the Midwest in me now."
Watching the scene grow
"One of the best things about being here has been watching Milwaukee grow into a true culinary destination ... There are so many chef-owned, chef-driven restaurants," she says. "And you can do that here. Its difficult and expensive to do that most other places. And here, theres so much opportunity. There are cool little enclaves and tiny spaces where you can open restaurants, and people will come. Its like New York, but better."
"And the thing Im really sad to miss out on is what will all of this mean for Milwaukee? In five or 10 years, will there be a shake-out? What will happen?"
On farm to table
"One of the best things has been making the connection between the food I make and the person who produced it. When Dave [Swanson] initially approached me with this idea of cooperative buying and his restaurant supported agriculture program, I thought that was brilliant."
"I started with Growing Power when they were just growing lettuce. And I remember moments when Lynn from Yuppie Hill would deliver eggs to me in her car. Al from Lakeview Buffalo Farm always had great stories."
On developing her culinary style
"Milwaukee made me the chef that I am today. When I came here, Id worked at very high end restaurants that served a lot of French food. And there were very few of those here. And ultimately, it was so fun to be set free from what Ive done before. It was so enjoyable to break out of the mold and make foods that I loved."
"When I worked at the Knick, it was so fun. You always had a choice of pasta salad or fries. I love the combination of barbecue sauce and mayo. So I mixed them together and put them on a pasta salad. And youd think Id invented ice cream or something. And that was so funny. I could never have done something like that in the restaurants where Id worked. Working in Milwaukee I really just started having fun. I started developing my own style."
Becoming Midwestern
"I learned so much about being gracious and kind and supportive. Theyre things my parents taught me. But theyre also things that are so natural to people here. There are always people in the corner cheering you on when you try something new, when you branch out."
"People dont need to do all of these collaborative and charity dinners, but chefs here are always willing. And Ive loved doing them over the years because I get to work with talented chefs and play in the kitchen with them. One of the things Ill always carry with me are the friendships Ive made. Ive always felt privileged to be included in groups of chefs, some of whom were friends for years before me."
Great people
"I have so many memories of great people Ive worked with. Two of them are Robert and Mary Lou Simmelink. She was a pastry chef at Delafield House. And I remember we bonded early on When I was Mike Engels sous chef at Hotel Metro, Mary Lou was the pastry chef there. And those are things I take away. Ive always loved the way Michael Engel cooks. I took joy from it. It just flows from him with such ease that it was just like watching the symphony. And I remember thinking, 'Gosh, I hope I can do that someday.' And eventually it did, but at the time, it was something I could only aspire to."
"And Lish Steiling ... She came to me when I working for John Nehring at Sommeliers Palate at Sendiks in Shorewood. She was working at Grenadiers when it started on fire. And she came in to work at the deli, but her talent was so wasted there. So I brought her over to the wine bar. And we just clicked. Oh, my God, I never had so much fun cooking. She always says I was her mentor, but she was really mine. She brought out things in me that I didnt think I had. She taught me to be fearless about what I cooked and what I thought I could do. And we ended up at Barossa together. And working with her was like breathing in the best ocean air you probably could. I always knew, if Lish was there, that the day was going to kick ass."
The future
When we asked Kelly whats next for her in California, she smiles.
"Honestly, Im not sure," she says. "My parents live in San Clemente, so well live somewhere in the area. Ive promised my husband that I wont be opening a restaurant, but Im not retiring. Im excited and scared at the same time."
She says shes unlikely to hang up her apron anytime soon. However, she says she may branch out and try something new.
"Tom from Maple Creek Farms suggested I do pig roasts," she notes. "So when Im all done settling up at the restaurant, Im going to work a couple of pig roasts and see what I think. Its an intriguing idea."
Jan Kelly: Milwaukee will miss you, too
As Meritage closes its doors, the culinary community in Milwaukee is already mourning the loss of Kelly and Meritage. I talked to a number of area chefs, as well as those who have worked closely with Kelly over the years, and here is what they had to say.
David Ahlf, longtime Meritage bartender
"As talented as Chef Jan is in a kitchen, that didn't necessarily translate well behind a bar. Thanks to this imperfection, I am eternally grateful for the eight years of absolute carte blanche I was granted to experiment, learn, grow and develop my bartender craft behind her bar. There are very few people in this world who get to work in that kind of environment. I am honored to have been one of them. The more creative her menus became over the years, the more I felt pushed to concoct more creative cocktails. That's a very good thing, because Meritage made a lot of people very happy."
Marie Edwards, longtime hostess and server at Meritage
"Jan [Kelly] is a truly awesome person. She never said no to any group or event. So many other restaurants have extra staff and kitchen space to do events and here she was with a tiny kitchen and three people max and always willing to go the extra mile. Among other things, she was cooking with local products before local was cool ... and her vegetarian dishes were so good, they made me consider becoming vegetarian."
Chef Nell Benton, The National Cafe
"It has been an honor working with Jan over the years on fundraisers and various culinary events in Milwaukee. Jan welcomed me with open arms into the culinary community and has always inspired me with her creativity, talent and hard work. Her love and enthusiasm for her craft shines through in everything she does. Milwaukee is losing a truly great chef. She will be sorely missed."
Chef Thi Cao, Buckleys
"Jan Kelly's wonderful culinary career is well documented and greatly deserved. As a person, she has the wonderful ability to lift a room full of tense chefs and lighten it with laughter. I have worked with her on many events, and you always know when Jan has arrived because you can hear her laugh and the laughing of others; Jan always smiles, and I will miss her dearly."
Chef Mike Engel, Pastiche
"When I decided to open Pastiche in 2009, Jan was really generous with her time and advice in helping me flesh out my business plan. Any question I asked her, I got a straight answer. She was more help than she'll ever admit to being. Since opening, Ive always been able to go to her for advice and also as a resource to find some good local producers and vendors. Her generosity is ongoing: Now that shes closing, shes let us hire her bar man, David, to enhance what were doing here with his cocktail ingenuity and quiet professionalism.
"I feel that Jan is one of my two or three best friends, and Id do just about anything for her. I admire her for her excellent palate, for her wonderful, intuitive blending of cuisines to produce something that is as unique and exciting as she is, and for her loyalty to her friends, staff and customers. Im going to have to find a new favorite restaurant now."
Chef Joe Muench, Black Shoe Hospitality
"[Jan Kelly] is one of the kindest and most caring chefs I've known. I always feel like she is a mentor to anyone that comes in contact with her. Her talents are timeless and her demeanor is one of kindness and hospitality. I've worked with her in many collaborative settings and it's always a pleasure to learn and discuss our craft. She will be missed in this community and wherever she goes she will always bring joy to the ones around her. Her style is always reflecting her timeless skills in the chef community."
Chef Justin Aprahamian, Sanford and Like Minds
"Jan Kelly: Such a great and fun chef. Someone I will miss greatly as she moves back west to be with her family. A true friend in the community of chefs, she was always warm and super supportive of peers across the board. Made amazing food and I feel lucky I've had the opportunity to work with her on so many dinners and events. I still owe her for being one of the chefs who cooked at my wedding!!"
Reprinted from Michael Moore Website
Over the past few days, a number of polls have come out showing Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump nationally by double digits, including in blue collar states like Michigan (10%) and Pennsylvania (11%). If you are a Clinton supporter and have felt a sense of relief when you saw these numbers, your shoulders suddenly relaxing and an audible "phew" coming from your mouth, if you got excited that your belief system was now reassured that there was no chance your fellow Americans will vote for a narcissistic misogynist, then you just became part of the problem -- and why Donald J. Trump could actually win on November 8th.
Please do not think for a second this election is over or in the bag. There are three long months to go. If you think that all we have to do is just let Trump keep shooting himself in the head -- that "Trump will beat Trump" and the rest of us just have to sit back and watch with glee -- well, you are playing with fire. And you're looking for a way to get out of doing any work. Clearly you've forgotten this election is not about whether there are more people "for" Hillary or Trump. Of course there are more people for Hillary! She will lead in the opinion polls from now until Election Day.
AND IT DOESN'T MATTER.
Because this is not a popularity contest decided by polls (or in this year's edition, a contest over who you dislike the least). As I've said, if people could vote from their sofa via their Xbox or remote control, Hillary would win in a landslide. But this election is only about who SHOWS UP to the VOTING BOOTH on November 8th (or to early voting or by absentee ballot). The election this year is not being held as usual on the first Tuesday of November; it's happening in the second week of the month, so if you live in the top half of the country, that means a greater chance for snow or icy rain -- and that means a lower turnout. A lower turnout helps Trump.
This election is ONLY about who gets who out to vote, who's got the most rabid supporters, the kind of candidate who inspires people to get out of bed at 5am on Election Day because a Wall needs to built! Muslims are killing us! Women are taking over! USA! USA! Make My Penis Great Again! Hillary is the Devil! America First! Fetus First! First in Line at the Polls!
So instead of feeling better this week because of the new polls (BTW, only one of these polls is of "likely voters" -- the Reuters Poll -- and in that one, Hillary leads by only 4 points), or regaling over Trump's insanity (so insane, he raised $82 million last month in mostly $10-$20 contributions, stunning the Clinton campaign, because Bernie never had a grassroots month anywhere near that), I would like to suggest a different response. I'd like to ask those who love Hillary to hold off on the victory party 'til the wee hours of November 9th. Please, can we all agree that now is NOT the time to do this.
Let's stop the early celebrating and the gloating over Trump's Bad Week. No premature end-zone dances. If you are serious about this election, and if you are smart enough to still take Donald Trump seriously, then here's five things to do -- four for you, and one for Hillary:
Reprinted from Consortium News
Joe McCarthy
(Image by DonkeyHotey) Details DMCA
The irony of Hillary Clinton's campaign impugning the patriotism of Donald Trump and others who object to a new Cold War with Russia is that President George H.W. Bush employed similar smear tactics against Bill Clinton in 1992 by suggesting that the Arkansas governor was a Kremlin mole.
Back then, Bill Clinton countered that smear by accusing the elder President Bush of stooping to tactics reminiscent of Sen. Joe McCarthy, the infamous Red-baiter from the 1950s. But today's Democrats apparently feel little shame in whipping up an anti-Russian hysteria and then using it to discredit Trump and other Americans who won't join this latest "group think."
As the 1992 campaign entered its final weeks, Bush -- a much more ruthless political operative than his elder-statesman image of today would suggest -- unleashed his subordinates to dig up whatever dirt they could to impugn Bill Clinton's loyalty to his country.
Some of Bush's political appointees rifled through Clinton's passport file looking for an apocryphal letter from his student days in which Clinton supposedly sought to renounce his citizenship. They also looked for derogatory information about his student trips to the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia.
The assault on Clinton's patriotism moved into high gear on the night of Sept. 30, 1992, when Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Tamposi -- under pressure from the White House -- ordered three aides to pore through Clinton's passport files at the National Archives in Suitland, Maryland.
Though no letter renouncing his citizenship was found, Tamposi still injected the suspicions into the campaign by citing a small tear in the corner of Clinton's passport application as evidence that someone might have tampered with the file, presumably to remove the supposed letter. She fashioned that speculation into a criminal referral to the FBI.
Within hours, someone from the Bush camp leaked word about the confidential FBI investigation to reporters at Newsweek magazine. The Newsweek story about the tampering investigation hit the newsstands on Oct. 4, 1992. The article suggested that a Clinton backer might have removed incriminating material from Clinton's passport file, precisely the spin that the Bush people wanted.
Immediately, President George H.W. Bush took to the offensive, using the press frenzy over the criminal referral to attack Clinton's patriotism on a variety of fronts, including his student trip to the Soviet Union in 1970.
Bush allies put out another suspicion, that Clinton might have been a KGB "agent of influence." Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Washington Times headlined that allegation on Oct. 5, 1992, a story that attracted President Bush's personal interest.
"Now there are stories that Clinton ... may have gone to Moscow as [a] guest of the KGB," Bush wrote in his diary that day.
Democratic Suspicions
With his patriotism challenged, Clinton saw his once-formidable lead shrink. Panic spread through the Clinton campaign. Indeed, the suspicions about Bill Clinton's patriotism might have doomed his election, except that Spencer Oliver, then chief counsel on the Democratic-controlled House International Affairs Committee, suspected a dirty trick.
"I said you can't go into someone's passport file," Oliver told me in a later interview. "That's a violation of the law, only in pursuit of a criminal indictment or something. But without his permission, you can't examine his passport file. It's a violation of the Privacy Act."
After consulting with House committee chairman Dante Fascell, D-Florida, and a colleague on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Oliver dispatched a couple of investigators to the Archives warehouse in Suitland. The brief congressional check discovered that State Department political appointees had gone to the Archives at night to search through Clinton's records and those of his mother.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
America's leaders have been deaf to Vladimir Putin's calls for a united front against Islamic fascism because they want to protect the neo-liberal variety, such as the one we installed in Ukraine. Although much of Trump's "grass roots" carry guns, they would more likely be used to defend a rough individualism than a militarized regime. (Yesterday Trump suggested that these guys with guns eliminate Hillary for wanting to take away their gun rights....)
Decoding the slide toward fascism requires ideological literacy, and as the Clinton/Trump battle gets into full swing, never has America's lack of it been so apparent. The media drumbeat about Vladimir Putin's preference for a Trump presidency shows that not even the pundits know the difference between an autocrat and a dictator. The average voter still imagines Russia as a place where an armed soldier stands behind each worker/slave, and even sophisticated Americans ignore that a handful of parties compete in Russian elections, while we have only two, our political class doing its best to keep it that way.
Since even pro-Democratic-anchors admit that Trump could very well be the next President, let's survey the similarities and differences between him and the Russian leader that Democrats are determined to treat as an enemy. It's clear that both Putin and Trump like to get things done - and expect their subordinates to do likewise. But this does not make Putin a dictator, while the United States supports many such across the globe. Some of my friends wonder how Putin, who can be considered a social-democrat, can support a billionaire accused of stiffing his employees. The answer is that while most American politicians play checkers, Putin is playing chess, a game with multiple facets.
US pundits note that Putin supports the right-wing parties that have flourished in Europe thanks to the immigration crisis, from Marine Le Pen's National Front in France, to Viktor Orban's Jobbik Party in Hungary, however, it's clear they do not know why. Vladimir Putin supports the right-wing because it touts nationalism. He believes that globalization -- the financialization of economies that forces austerity upon the majority of citizens -- should give way to independent countries living according to their individual heritage, resisting the global culture of consumption and competition known as 'keeping up with the Jonses'. Challenging American claims that its principles are universal, Putin believes that only God is universal, while peoples are and should remain distinct.
When Donald Trump announces that he would prefer the US to be allied with Russia and China against ISIS, he is showing that he knows the difference between real and imaginary enemies and that Russian belligerence is imaginary, while ISIS's crimes are real.
As I wrote in a July 9, 2013 blog on my website otherjones.com titled "The US chooses Capitalist Muslims":
"Given the need for oil from an area ruled by religion, it's not hard to believe that the United States took the practical decision to work with 'moderate' Muslims, that is pro-capitalist Muslims, instead of trying to secularize them.
Although Sunnis occasionally lean left, as was the case with Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party, leftist Muslims are usually found among Shi'as, such as the Iranian and Syrian governments. The Western media avoids identifying the 1979 Iranian revolution with its predecessors, the French, Russian, Chinese and Cuban revolutions, all of which are associated with equity. When it comes to Syria, it never mentions that Assad's is the only secular Arab regime, that its eduction system is modeled on the French (Syria having been a French protectorate before independence), and that women enjoy Western-style equality, from divorce to education to careers.
Military might cannot ensure a coherent American Middle East policy, given the region's fundamental rivalries: secular vs. religious, left vs. right, traditionalists vs. moderns, 'democratizing' Sunni's vs. socializing Shi'a and Alawites."
Very differently, Russia has co-existed for centuries with the Muslim nations along its southern rim, and Putin's policies toward Chechnya, after ending a brutal Islamist insurgency, show that he prefers to back modernization in Islamic lands rather than convert them to Orthodox Christianity - the equivalent of US efforts to 'bring democracy' to benighted populations.
When Donald Trump says he will build a wall to keep Latinos out, and interrupt Muslim immigration 'until we can figure things out', he is exhibiting the lowest level of political sophistication. But that pales in comparison to Hillary's determination to carve up Russia into smaller entities run by obedient consuls, as outlined twenty years ago by Zbignieuw Brzezinski in The Grand Chessboard, a plan continuously updated by America's Neo-Cons.
Articles Listed By Date List By Popularity
Search Title
Date Between Any 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 Any 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 and Any 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 Any 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Page 1 of 2 First Last Back Next 2 View All
(1 comments) SHARE
It's Time for a New U.S. Foreign Policy Committed to Diplomacy and Peace America's regime-change wars are a disaster, but the time is right to adopt a new foreign policy committed to diplomacy and peace. Monday, December 16, 2019America's regime-change wars are a disaster, but the time is right to adopt a new foreign policy committed to diplomacy and peace.
(11 comments) SHARE
America's Motto Can't Be "America First." It Must Be "People First." The U.S. should begin to shift its foreign policy away from waging war or providing military aid to benefit the regional ambitions of countries whose principal virtue is that they serve America's geopolitical interests. Instead, its foreign policy should be aimed primarily at helping all undeveloped countries gain access to life essentials such as clean water and food. The defense dollars saved could be put to much better use. Monday, February 19, 2018The U.S. should begin to shift its foreign policy away from waging war or providing military aid to benefit the regional ambitions of countries whose principal virtue is that they serve America's geopolitical interests. Instead, its foreign policy should be aimed primarily at helping all undeveloped countries gain access to life essentials such as clean water and food. The defense dollars saved could be put to much better use.
(3 comments) SHARE
A Multifaceted Movement to Outlaw War: as Outlined in David Swanson's "War No More: the Case for Abolition" In the words of its Director, David Swanson, the anti-war activist organization World Beyond War stands for something new: "not a movement to oppose particular wars or new offensive weapons, but a movement to eliminate war in its entirety." Achieving that goal, as he shows in his book "War No More: the Case for Abolition," will be hard and take time, but the alternative is to invite either nuclear or environmental destruction.
Series: (8 Articles, 11546 views) Sunday, September 24, 2017In the words of its Director, David Swanson, the anti-war activist organization World Beyond War stands for something new: "not a movement to oppose particular wars or new offensive weapons, but a movement to eliminate war in its entirety." Achieving that goal, as he shows in his book "War No More: the Case for Abolition," will be hard and take time, but the alternative is to invite either nuclear or environmental destruction. War Must and Can Be Ended (8 Articles, 11546 views)
(2 comments) SHARE
Non-Violent Civil Resistance Works. It May Be the Only Way to Stop America's Next Unnecessary and Illegal War! Non-violent civil resistance has proved a successful strategy for combating the conduct or policies of repressive regimes and repelling occupation by foreign invaders. It may also be the only way to prevent America's next unnecessary and illegal war and, ultimately, in freeing the world from the tyranny of institutionalized militarism.
Series: (8 Articles, 11546 views) Sunday, September 17, 2017Non-violent civil resistance has proved a successful strategy for combating the conduct or policies of repressive regimes and repelling occupation by foreign invaders. It may also be the only way to prevent America's next unnecessary and illegal war and, ultimately, in freeing the world from the tyranny of institutionalized militarism. War Must and Can Be Ended (8 Articles, 11546 views)
(4 comments) SHARE
Compared to the Benefits of Peace, Spending Money on War Is Insane Few people fail to regret the death, destruction and suffering inflicted by war. Another of its consequences, however, is in the long run even more damaging to the cause of human well-being. That is the waste of resources in preparing for, and waging, war that could otherwise be used to help meet the physical, economic, social, and cultural needs of ordinary people.
Series: (8 Articles, 11546 views) Tuesday, September 12, 2017Few people fail to regret the death, destruction and suffering inflicted by war. Another of its consequences, however, is in the long run even more damaging to the cause of human well-being. That is the waste of resources in preparing for, and waging, war that could otherwise be used to help meet the physical, economic, social, and cultural needs of ordinary people. War Must and Can Be Ended (8 Articles, 11546 views)
(8 comments) SHARE
Distorted Views of the Enemy and Bush's "Axis of Evil" The willingness of our government to kill and bring misery to millions of powerless people in nations like Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, which represent no direct threat to us, cannot be justified alone in terms of vague strategic concerns. It must be further rationalized by psychological projections that distort perceptions of the adversary's true motivations and justify making war against him.
Series: (8 Articles, 11546 views) Thursday, September 7, 2017The willingness of our government to kill and bring misery to millions of powerless people in nations like Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, which represent no direct threat to us, cannot be justified alone in terms of vague strategic concerns. It must be further rationalized by psychological projections that distort perceptions of the adversary's true motivations and justify making war against him. War Must and Can Be Ended (8 Articles, 11546 views)
(3 comments) SHARE
America's Wars Are Making Us Less Free and Safe America's best course as the world's only superpower is not to try to force small developing nations to remake themselves in ways that serve our own security and economic interests. We should instead help them realize their own national aspirations by offering them the economic, political and technological assistance they may need to do so. Isn't this, in the end, the only sensible approach for dealing with North Korea?
Series: (8 Articles, 11546 views) Tuesday, September 5, 2017America's best course as the world's only superpower is not to try to force small developing nations to remake themselves in ways that serve our own security and economic interests. We should instead help them realize their own national aspirations by offering them the economic, political and technological assistance they may need to do so. Isn't this, in the end, the only sensible approach for dealing with North Korea? War Must and Can Be Ended (8 Articles, 11546 views)
(11 comments) SHARE
War Is Immoral: It Reinforces a Social Pathology That Keeps Us from Fulfilling Our Positive Human Potential War is immoral, because it violates the very principle of what it means to be a human being. War may have a transitory effect on human history, but it is at bottom a reactionary force, serving mainly to reinforce a human mindset that famed psychologist Abraham Maslow called the "psychopathology of the average." A principle manifestation of that pathology is the inability to see the world from the other guy's point of view.
Series: (8 Articles, 11546 views) Wednesday, August 30, 2017War is immoral, because it violates the very principle of what it means to be a human being. War may have a transitory effect on human history, but it is at bottom a reactionary force, serving mainly to reinforce a human mindset that famed psychologist Abraham Maslow called the "psychopathology of the average." A principle manifestation of that pathology is the inability to see the world from the other guy's point of view. War Must and Can Be Ended (8 Articles, 11546 views)
(11 comments) SHARE
War Can Be Ended: It Is a Product of Cultural Choice, Not of "Human Nature." A prominent meme in American foreign policy is "Peace through Strength," but what I want is "Strength through Peace." Guided by that principle, our foreign policy would no longer be driven by the imperatives of strategic dominance, but by the empathic impulse for creative collaboration with our neighbors around the world, aimed at ensuring every individual physical security and the freedom to pursue his or her own happiness.
Series: (8 Articles, 11546 views) Friday, August 18, 2017A prominent meme in American foreign policy is "Peace through Strength," but what I want is "Strength through Peace." Guided by that principle, our foreign policy would no longer be driven by the imperatives of strategic dominance, but by the empathic impulse for creative collaboration with our neighbors around the world, aimed at ensuring every individual physical security and the freedom to pursue his or her own happiness. War Must and Can Be Ended (8 Articles, 11546 views)
(7 comments) SHARE
War Not Only Kills People: It's the Single Biggest Destroyer of the Environment. The global anti-war activist organization World Beyond War is seeking to increase its impact by joining forces, where possible, with environmental activist groups. The two movements are natural allies: Militarism is the single biggest destroyer of the environment, and government spending on war and war preparation diminish financial resources available for other pressing needs, including fast-paced creation of a green economy.
Series: (8 Articles, 11546 views) Tuesday, August 8, 2017The global anti-war activist organization World Beyond War is seeking to increase its impact by joining forces, where possible, with environmental activist groups. The two movements are natural allies: Militarism is the single biggest destroyer of the environment, and government spending on war and war preparation diminish financial resources available for other pressing needs, including fast-paced creation of a green economy. War Must and Can Be Ended (8 Articles, 11546 views)
(3 comments) SHARE
A Proposed Meaning for Human Life: Using Our Powers of Conscious Creativity to Find Joyous Harmony in Diversity. We human beings are the most successful product of biological evolution on earth, the only species with the capacity to create the necessary conditions for our own happiness. The key to that happiness is to make conscious use of our inborn talents to produce, in creative interplay with others, new ideas, tools, products, and other resources that add objective value to society and the world by meeting genuine human needs. Tuesday, July 4, 2017We human beings are the most successful product of biological evolution on earth, the only species with the capacity to create the necessary conditions for our own happiness. The key to that happiness is to make conscious use of our inborn talents to produce, in creative interplay with others, new ideas, tools, products, and other resources that add objective value to society and the world by meeting genuine human needs.
(2 comments) SHARE
We Can, and Need To, Negotiate with Putin, Not Demonize Him. To my mind, the current obsession of American politicians and mass media with Russian interference in our presidential election is both blatantly hypocritical--considering America's own misdeeds--and demonstrative of an inability to walk a mile in the other guy's moccasins. The far bigger fish we Americans have to fry is avoiding a nuclear war with Russia. That will require negotiating with Putin, not demonizing him. Monday, July 3, 2017To my mind, the current obsession of American politicians and mass media with Russian interference in our presidential election is both blatantly hypocritical--considering America's own misdeeds--and demonstrative of an inability to walk a mile in the other guy's moccasins. The far bigger fish we Americans have to fry is avoiding a nuclear war with Russia. That will require negotiating with Putin, not demonizing him.
(7 comments) SHARE
Ten Tips on Writing Articles for Online Publication This tutorial by a seasoned copy editor offers some valuable tips on improving the readability and publishability of articles submitted to online discussion forums. Wednesday, February 8, 2017This tutorial by a seasoned copy editor offers some valuable tips on improving the readability and publishability of articles submitted to online discussion forums.
(1 comments) SHARE
"Manglehorn": A Call to the Authentic Life The 2014 Al Pacino movie "Manglehorn," available on DVD, is a psychological drama that also seems to me an artful meditation on the theme of inauthenticity in American life. The title character, Manglehorn, played by Pacino, avoids facing life's realities until a harsh in-your-face challenge to his own sense of self sets him on a different course. Wednesday, January 4, 2017The 2014 Al Pacino movie "Manglehorn," available on DVD, is a psychological drama that also seems to me an artful meditation on the theme of inauthenticity in American life. The title character, Manglehorn, played by Pacino, avoids facing life's realities until a harsh in-your-face challenge to his own sense of self sets him on a different course.
(4 comments) SHARE
We Need a Creativity Revolution to Meet Real Human Needs and Spark Personal and Social Joy. We human beings are the most successful product of biological evolution on earth, the only species with the capacity to create the necessary conditions for our own happiness. The key to that happiness is to make conscious use of our inborn talents to produce, in creative interplay with others, new ideas, tools, products, and other resources that add objective value to society and the world by meeting genuine human needs. Wednesday, August 10, 2016We human beings are the most successful product of biological evolution on earth, the only species with the capacity to create the necessary conditions for our own happiness. The key to that happiness is to make conscious use of our inborn talents to produce, in creative interplay with others, new ideas, tools, products, and other resources that add objective value to society and the world by meeting genuine human needs.
(5 comments) SHARE
How To Add Staying Power to the Sanders Campaign In my book, Bernie Sanders of all presidential candidates has the best ideas for America and can be trusted most to back his ideas to the hilt. But for staying power to win the presidency, his campaign needs to be strengthened in two ways: by broadening its message to include the One Percent, and by quickly planning and mobilizing an activist people's movement with a comprehensive strategic plan. Saturday, January 16, 2016In my book, Bernie Sanders of all presidential candidates has the best ideas for America and can be trusted most to back his ideas to the hilt. But for staying power to win the presidency, his campaign needs to be strengthened in two ways: by broadening its message to include the One Percent, and by quickly planning and mobilizing an activist people's movement with a comprehensive strategic plan.
(10 comments) SHARE
Progressives Need To Stand for Something Positive and New: the Broad Common Interest, Not Narrow Special Interests. My purpose in this paper is to propose an approach by which progressives can gain a fair hearing and engaged response in presenting their economic ideas to people outside the progressive choir. Such people include alienated non-voters and struggling conservatives, who, together, may represent an unsuspected pool of potential support. Thursday, April 30, 2015My purpose in this paper is to propose an approach by which progressives can gain a fair hearing and engaged response in presenting their economic ideas to people outside the progressive choir. Such people include alienated non-voters and struggling conservatives, who, together, may represent an unsuspected pool of potential support.
(9 comments) SHARE
A VIEW FROM THE PROGRESSIVE SIDE: Ayn Rand's Despised "Altruism" Is Essential to Building a NATION of "Producers." Ayn Rand was once acknowledged by Paul Ryan as an important intellectual influence, and her views seem now to be uncannily echoed in public statements by Mitt Romney and other members of the Tea Party-dominated Republican Party. This article offers a politically progressive critique of Rand's views, as they appear in a fictional 55-page speech delivered in ATLAS SHRUGGED by its hero, the anti-parasite "producer," John Galt. Thursday, September 20, 2012Ayn Rand was once acknowledged by Paul Ryan as an important intellectual influence, and her views seem now to be uncannily echoed in public statements by Mitt Romney and other members of the Tea Party-dominated Republican Party. This article offers a politically progressive critique of Rand's views, as they appear in a fictional 55-page speech delivered in ATLAS SHRUGGED by its hero, the anti-parasite "producer," John Galt.
(1 comments) SHARE
Living Out the Creative Self: It's the Key to Bridging Differences and to a Meaningful Life. As de Toqueville noted, Americans are "joiners," deriving a large part of their self-identity from the values of the groups to which they are attached. The insularity of many value-based groups makes outreach to groups with other views and values difficult or impossible. This article argues that meaningful communication is only possible when it reflects the powers of creativity and insight innate in individual group members. Monday, March 19, 2012As de Toqueville noted, Americans are "joiners," deriving a large part of their self-identity from the values of the groups to which they are attached. The insularity of many value-based groups makes outreach to groups with other views and values difficult or impossible. This article argues that meaningful communication is only possible when it reflects the powers of creativity and insight innate in individual group members.
(4 comments) SHARE
Let's Stop Waging War To Advance America's "Interests." This article argues that, though it is rarely acknowledged by opinion makers, it is a moral outrage that the American government has felt free throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first to undertake wars of choice on weak nations -- effectively wrecking their societies and killing countless civilians -- whenever it believes they pose a problem for perceived "national interests." Friday, January 6, 2012This article argues that, though it is rarely acknowledged by opinion makers, it is a moral outrage that the American government has felt free throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first to undertake wars of choice on weak nations -- effectively wrecking their societies and killing countless civilians -- whenever it believes they pose a problem for perceived "national interests."
Page 1 of 2 First Last Back Next 2 View All
Are you a sexual deviant? Are you a serial rapist? A child molester? A sexual predator? Well welcome to Oregon, the government has got your back.
Have you repeatedly raped a thirteen year old child over a three year period? Well you could be Oregons governor. Have you pursued teenage boys in the public restrooms of City Hall? Well you could be Portlands mayor. Have you been accused of unwanted sexual aggression, touching, fondling, or kissing? You could be a congressman or senator from Oregon. Do you insist on placing your paramours on the public payroll and using taxpayer money for sexual liaisons across the country? You could be a Multnomah county commissioner, or for that matter any number of state legislators.
Hey, dont worry about those pesky registration requirements as a sex offender. Its just a formality and Oregon government will bury your registration in a data base that no one from the public ever sees that is if they even ask you to register.
A recent report by KATUs Joe Douglass noted:
Oregon now has the most sex offenders per capita in the U.S. according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which in June released a map showing the state had 713 sex offenders per 100,000 residents. Nationwide it showed there were 262 offenders per 100,000 people.
Oregon, at 713 sex offenders per 100,000, is nearly three times the national average of sex offenders per 100,000 residents. When Mr. Douglass notes that Oregon is in first place, its not by a little, rather it is by a lot. The next closest state is Arkansas, home of former President Bill Clinton (naturally) with 515 per 100,000.
Mr. Douglass continues:
KATUs On Your Side Investigators discovered more than 98 percent of Oregons sex offenders are not listed publicly and thousands are not complying with the law.
Oregon State Police (OSP), the agency that oversees sex offenders, also admitted in July the state isnt following several federal requirements.
Our sex offender laws are very weak compared to most states, Portland Police Officer Bridget Sickon told KATU Thursday.
The story continues that a search of the publicly accessible data bases showed there were nine sex offenders within a mile of the KATU building. However, a search of the data bases not available to the public indicated that there were in fact 159 deviants within a mile radius of KATU over seventeen times as many as the public is allowed to know.
Yes, despite resistance by the current governor while she was a state senator, Oregon does have a version of Jessicas Law (mandatory minimum sentences for sex offenders). It also has a version of Megans Law (registration by sex offenders) although, according to the KATU story, that registration is kept from the public for whom it was designed to protect. Go figure.
With a population of over 4 million people, Oregon is home to over 28,500 sex offenders. Where do they all live? Well, other than the ones who populate state and local government, it is probable that one or more of them live in your neighborhood one lives in our neighborhood. But given the fact that the average citizen cannot access a large part of the information on sex offenders, you will probably never know. I suppose we are fortunate because our sex offender is publicly identified and the Clackamas Sheriffs Office has, on more than one occasion, alerted the neighborhood to his presence.
So if you are a sexual predator, a pervert, or a serial rapist, pack your bags and move on out to Oregon Portland in particular where you will be met with open arms and a decided government effort to shield your crimes from the public. After you are here for a short while, you might just as well run for public office others have and successfully.
There are a lot of things that a state can strive to be. But when you are number one in sex offenders and number 43 in education maybe it is time to get rid of the loons who run Oregon.
When words fail, pictures speak. With the emergence of photo and video sharing social platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat, brands are increasingly harnessing the power of pixels. If you are a food, fashion or lifestyle brand, these platforms are the best bet for audiences seeking young and creative audiences, unlike Facebook and Twitter, which work well for brands with mass appeal.
In India, Instagram has a lead; Snapchat, however, still has fewer takers. Rajiv Dingra, Founder & CEO of WATConsult, believes this could be because it is a fairly new platform. "Snapchat is a 'for-the-moment' medium and therefore has presence of brands that are youth-centric," he adds.
Paper Boat, a non-carbonated drinks brand from Hector Beverages, was one of the five launch partners of Instagram ads in India. The company wanted to show people newer ways to try its products. Knowing that its drinks were used as mocktail mixers, Paper Boat created a series of recipes using pictures on Instagram. "It is a great platform for storytelling. You are not confined by code and can be as creative as you want," says Parvesh Dubeka, Marketing Head at Paper Boat. It has over 14,000 followers on the network acquired organically as well as through ads.
After opening up advertising for businesses around the world in September 2015, Instagram claims to have more than 200,000 global advertisers on its platform today. "In India, we are seeing significant marketer demand in areas like consumer packaged goods, e-commerce, tech, telecom and auto," the spokesperson from Instagram told Business Today. Nestle KitKat, Grofers, Sportskeeda, Haptik and Inshorts are some of the brands present on the platform in India.
Snapchat as a marketing platform is still being mulled by brands in India. "Its user base in India is still not big; also, it is not very easy to use," says Hareesh Tibrewala, Joint CEO of Mirum India.
Lenovo was among the first few to use Snapchat while launching the A6000 smartphone with a video campaign featuring actor Ranbir Kapoor. The videos were later posted on Facebook and Twitter. Amit Doshi, Head, Consumer and Digital Marketing, Lenovo India, says that Snapchat is great for engaging with consumers in the moment. "The numbers are not great, but we believe it could be at an inflection point. One can never tell if a platform will take off, but when it does, we want to make sure we are ahead."
Apart from wanting to create awareness, companies are also using these networks to drive app installs. On-demand delivery service company Grofers has seen an 8 per cent incremental reach in its core target audience after using Instagram. It has seen a 50 per cent reduction in cost-per-install (CPI) on the platform.
Of the 500 million monthly active users globally on Instagram, more than 80 per cent are outside the US. Snapchat, meanwhile, has 100 million daily active users. Instagram is popular among users in the ages of 18-29 years, and hence also popular among marketers. Snapchat is a favourite among users in the 13-21 age group - a preferred medium for brands looking to engage with them in real time.
The creative independence offered by these networks makes them much sought after by advertisers. However, since creativity is paramount to get noticed, brands have to invest more time and human resources to build content. That said, the return on investment on these sites is still not as high as on Facebook or Twitter. "Once they grow bigger, more brands will put in the effort," says Dingra.
Post and Earn
Microblogging and social networking website Tumblr, in a blog post, announced that it plans to introduce ads so that people can start making money from their blogs. "Tumblr is a place where brilliant, creative, funny, impossible people shape culture. Some of you have even turned your passions into jobs: book deals, music careers, paid gigs with the Creatrs program. Now, (soon!) that opportunity will be available to any eligible Tumblr poet, musician, fan artist, and misfit weirdo memelord alike," the networking site said in the blog post. Users who don't wish to see advertisements on their page, can turn it off by changing the settings. To make money on the site, users need to register, details of which will be provided by the company shortly.
Hackerati
An Indian bug-bounty hunter Avinash was rewarded with $10,080 by Twitter recently, after he discovered a loophole in its video sharing app Vine. He found a Docker image for Vine while searching for vulnerabilities using censys.io. Censys is a public search engine that enables researchers to ask questions about the hosts that compose the Internet, while Docker is a new open-source container that contains everything needed to run a software. Avinash found that the source code for Vine was stored as part of a Docker image used to host the site. On downloading the image, he found that he could see the entire source code of Vine, its API keys as well as third-party keys and secrets. The 23-year-old reported the issue to Twitter on March 31, and the company fixed the issue within five minutes. Apple, too, has announced that it would pay bug bounties to researchers who find and report vulnerabilities in specific Apple software.
SMS Text:
Turkish Full Body Massage
With 2 beautiful Girls @1499,
Single body MSSG @999/-
Venaz Thai Spa Jacuzzi Rooms,
Noida Sec- 18, Call:
+919811643471, 919811643481
The SMS above is a sample of the tens of promotional calls and messages that most of us get on any given day. But there has been a change of late. The numbers have seen a sudden spurt, after a relatively quiet phase following crackdown by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, or TRAI, starting with the Do Not Call, or DNC, guidelines in 2007. These were followed by more detailed norms in 2010. TRAI has changed the regulations 17 times. To little effect. Even the DNC registry - a system under which one can register one's number for prohibiting any telemarketer from calling or sending promotional messages - is of little help as telemarketers have devised ways to skirt the rules. The number of complaints against spam calls and messages grew from 39,636 in quarter ended December 2015 to 51,540 in quarter ended June 2016. The phone numbers disconnected rose from 23,540 to 34,412 during the period.
The reasons for the spurt in unwanted calls/SMEes and emails include loopholes in rules, lack of awareness, rising mobile penetration, backing from some telecom operators, and rise of e-commerce and services companies. The biggest, however, is affordability. Telemarketers have to pay just 8 paisa to telcos (the selling price is 9-11 paisa), whereas bulk emails require buying of server space in data centres that costs between Rs 20,000 and Rs 40,000 per server per year. The cost of an email is one paisa. It is sold for 2-4 paisa.
Though there is no official estimate, experts say telemarketing is around a Rs 1,500-crore industry. TRAI says India has 10,888 registered telemarketers. The unregistered space is even bigger. In the past two years, TRAI has blacklisted about 317,000 unregistered telemarketers.
Advantage Spammers
The system to monitor commercial calls and messages is not watertight. TRAI issues licences to telemarketing companies for five years. After getting the licences, telemarketers tie up with telecom companies, which assign them dedicated SMPP pipes for sending SMSes. SMPP is a protocol that allows non-mobile players to use services of telecom companies for sending and receiving SMSes.
Most registered telemarketers abide by the rules. The problem is non-registered telemarketers who buy bulk SIM cards off the shelf and bombard users with spam SMSes. However, the rules, as they are, handicap the licensed player, who can contact only those who are not on the DNC registry as in case of a violation the penalty can be as high as Rs 2.5 lakh. At last count, 234.3 million subscribers had registered their numbers in the National Customer Preference Register out of the total mobile subscriber base of 1,034 million. In contrast, non-registered telemarketers can spam whoever they want to. This means their reach is wider. Two, if an unlicensed telemarketer is caught, there are no penalties. TRAI can only disable the SIM card used for sending the messages. "They buy SIM cards in bulk, send SMSes, and then dispose of these cards. When we receive complaints, we disconnect the numbers. We cannot do more," says Sudhir Gupta, Secretary, TRAI. Registered telemarketers have to deposit Rs 50,000 as security with the telecom operator for deducting the penalty amount in case of a violation.
Another reason for the proliferation of unlicensed telemarketers is lack of strict rules for getting a phone connection. As per the rules, an individual can buy up to 10 SIM cards. But a few telemarketers BT spoke with said there are ways by which people can buy hundreds of SIM cards in their names. If one SIM card is deactivated, more can be issued in their names or in names of employees and relatives.
"There are some fly-by-night operators who are creating problems. The guy who wants to scam the system will always find a way," says Rajan Mathews, Director-General of the Cellular Operators' Association of India, the GSM industry body.
The process of filing complaint through SMS is also tedious. Users have to send SMS "the unsolicited commercial communication, XXXXXXXXXX, dd/mm/yy, Time hh:mm" to 1909, where XXXXXXXXXX is the phone number or the message header of the unsolicited call or message. A unique complaint number is generated. Users are informed about the action taken within seven days.
"On paper, telecom companies may have the identity of each SIM owner, but when it comes to violation it's difficult for TRAI or telecom companies to track SIM factories," says Kalpit Jain, CEO of netCORE, a Mumbai-based mobile marketing company. Unlicensed telemarketers are called SIM factories in industry parlance.
TRAI, however, says that the spike in spam SMSes/calls and emails has got to do a lot with the rise in the number of users. "It's not that the framework we have put is not working. It is just that more people are using SMSes for promotion," says Gupta.
TRAI says it has asked telecom companies to block SMSes from unlicensed operators (unregistered telemarketers use regular 10-digit mobile numbers whereas licensed ones use alpha-numerics). "Telecom companies are not allowed to read SMSes. However, we have asked them to find identical SMSes that number beyond a limit and block them on their own," says Gupta. This means every telecom player keeps a directory of key promotional words and blocks bulk SMSes that have these words. But some unregulated telemarketers have found a way out of this too. For instance, they replace "LOAN" with "L0AN" (with 0 digit).
TRAI had imposed a limit of 200 SMSes per day per SIM card in 2011. This reduced spamming to an extent. In 2012, the Delhi High Court removed the cap. Later, it increased the cost of sending more than 100 messages to 50 paisa per message, higher than the average of 10 paisa. But this has not helped much either.
Flying High
There are many reasons for the proliferation of telemarketers. First, the cost of setting up operations is minimal. Ram Kailash, 26, worked for about 18 months with a digital marketing company before starting a telemarketing firm, Hind Adsoft Pvt Ltd, in 2013. Kailash and his partner, Sanjay Baghel, operate out of a small first-floor office in New Delhi's Laxmi Nagar and employ 12 people. Baghel and Kailash used Rs 4 lakh savings to start the business. Kailash says within three months they were earning as much as their monthly pay checks. That's not all. The business is growing at 30-40 per cent a year. Both take home Rs 1.5 lakh each per month. "The business is thriving thanks to demand from real estate, e-commerce, banking and services companies. We process close to one crore messages every month," says Kailash. They have served over 1,000 clients across the country, including Andhra Bank, Honda Motorcycle And Scooter India, IFFCO and Union Bank of India.
Baghel's business card reads Sales Manager. He says this helps them get payment upfront. "If we tell new clients that we are the owners, they may ask us for trial. In this business, client satisfaction can never be guaranteed. Sometimes when a client doesn't get good RoI (return on investment), it holds back payments," he says.
Hind Adsoft is a small player in a market dominated by netCORE, ValueFirst Digital Media, SMSCountry and mGage. netCORE was started by Rajesh Jain, who managed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's social media campaign in the 2014 general elections. It processes close to 1.8 billion SMSes per month and also offers a host of other services such as IVR (interactive voice response), outbound dialling, missed call and bulk emails. So, when the prime minister calls you up and asks you to give up LPG subsidy, the call has most likely originated from netCORE's outbound dialling facility. The company claims to be a market leader in spam emails. It sends four-five billion emails from its 400 servers in a month.
"In case of a violation, it's difficult for Trai or telcos to track sim factories"
However, remember that not all SMSes are spams - they can be classified into promotional and transactional. Online transactions, one-time passwords and reminders are transactional messages, a fast-growing category in the spam economy.
"We connect with seven billion customers in a month, which makes us the largest player in this business," says Jain. Telemarketers such as netCORE are now entering push notifications, short messages sent by e-commerce apps to promote special offers.
"The guy who wants to scam the system will always find a way"
What is driving the business is affordability, in spite of strict DNC rules increasing costs. In 2013, TRAI introduced a termination charge of 5 paisa on each transactional SMS and 2 paisa on each normal SMS on operators from whose network the message originates. Earlier, the total cost was 1.5-2 paisa. "Still, in comparison to other channels such as TV and hoardings, SMS is an affordable medium. It's effective as well. People usually read each SMS. They may not watch all TV commercials. Also, SMSes reach the target audience," says a telemarketer.
Several countries, including Australia, US, Japan, New Zealand and Canada, have strict rules on unsolicited calls and messages. In the US, for instance, many states framed their DNC regulations much before the federal government drafted national guidelines. Some states such as California operate their own DNC registries. Australian regulator ACMA joined hands with regulators from 11 countries to form the International Do Not Call Network in 2012.
Thriving Biz
The spam economy is thriving. Billions of messages and call minutes generate decent revenues. Though the margins are thin, good volumes ensure steady income.
COAI's Mathews says telecom companies by and large obey DNC rules. "For most large operators, it contributes less than 1 per cent to revenues. Smaller operators with excess capacity may feel compelled to grow this side of the business," he says, adding that "some telcos with around 60 per cent utilisation may be using their capacity for such services."
TRAI's June report shows that VLR (visitor location register) of four telecom companies - MTS, Videocon, MTNL and Quadrant - was around 60 per cent. VLR is the number of active subscribers compared to the subscriber base. A low number suggests telecom companies have high unutilised capacity.
Intelligent Spamming
The spamming industry, like others, is becoming smarter. The clients are demanding higher RoIs, that is, higher conversion rates - the number of people who enquire about or buy the product or service as a proportion of those spammed. There are no industry standards but 1 per cent RoI is considered good.
As stricter DNC guidelines have hit RoI, telemarketers are offering clients smart solutions. For instance, email is cost-effective, but not many people read all their emails. So, the marketers are using systems that track how many people clicked on an email (or the weblink in the SMS) and how many made the purchase.
"Spamming software are becoming intelligent and doing behaviour-based marketing," says netCORE's Jain. For instance, there are software that look at the behaviour of the user and then decide what message to send next. So, if the user buys a mobile phone from Flipkart, he is likely to receive SMSes for mobile accessories over the next few days.
With constant spamming, telemarketers are invading privacy. The serious business models being built around this make it even more difficult for the regulator to come down heavily on them. For consumers, it seems there is no sign of the end to suffering.
It was 11 PM when a Noida-based IT consultant was bringing her father home from the hospital - he was being discharged after two months. "We needed a full-time assistant and an air bed urgently," she recalls. Doctors prescribe air beds for bed-ridden patients to prevent bed sores. She contacted Health Care at Home, a patient care service provider, and in an hour a team was setting up the bed at her place. This was in May 2015; she has continued using the service since then.
Vivek Srivastava, CEO of Health Care at Home (HCAH), admits that it was an anomaly and that it usually takes 24 hours of fulfilment time as commercial vehicles - required to carry items such as beds - are allowed to ply only in the early hours.
Patient services at home are being increasingly availed by families, especially for those with long-term chronic illness. The weak public hospital infrastructure, and over-crowded and expensive private hospitals - as per World Health Statistics, India has only 0.9 beds per 1,000 people, far below the global average of 2.9 - are paving the way for more such services. Moreover, a PwC report states that India needs an investment of around $245 billion to address this problem of limited resources; only then can it cater to the need for 3.5 million beds, three million doctors and six million nurses over a period of 20 years.
In 2012, Srivastava, who used to manage private investments for the promoters of Dabur, met Charles Walsh and Dr. Gareth Jones, co-founders of Health Care at Home in the UK. The duo had exited the Rs 13,000-crore company - built over 18 years - and was scouting for a partner in India for a similar venture. The Dabur scions, Anand Burman and Gaurav Burman, also got interested and co-founded the venture. The partners plan to invest Rs 200 crore in the entity over the next five years.
In the beginning, HCAH tied up with hospitals to provide post-operative treatments such as injections, dressings and physiotherapy sessions at patients' homes. Delhi-based Fortis Healthcare was its first partner. When the company realised there was a huge demand for post-surgery and palliative care for patients 24x7, it launched the ICU at Home service, which now generates the maximum revenue, Srivastava informs. Over the years, it expanded its services to provide complex treatments such as home ventilation and chemotherapy. Srivastava claims that HCAH can provide 70 per cent of the services provided in hospitals at the comfort of a patient's home. Surgeries, radiation-related medical tests such as MRI and ultrasound, which require a licence, are outside its purview.
In 2014, the company started partnering with pharmaceutical companies to offer value-added services such as counselling for specific illnesses and reminders for medicine delivery. HCAH has tied up with 40 pharma companies; the contracts can cost Rs 50,000 to Rs 20 lakh per month, depending on the scale of services required. Today, 60 per cent of its revenue comes from this segment. The rest comes from hospitals and individual patients.
The cost of a wound dressing or injection could be Rs 500, whereas setting up an ICU at home could cost between Rs 6,000 and Rs 20,000 per day, which, Srivastava says, is 30-50 per cent lower than what a hospital charges, on average.
HCAH provides mandatory six-week in-house training to its personnel, followed by regular refresher courses and an examination. There is heavy reliance on technology to ensure processes are streamlined and quality is assured. Its in-house tech platform generates care plans automatically, as per the disease, and measures the patient's condition on 300 parameters. The software is loaded onto the tablets that the healthcare providers carry. This allows HCAH to monitor services provided in real time. Apart from remote monitoring, random physical checks are carried out every month and calls to the patient's family are made once in two to three days.
The two users this writer spoke to affirmed HCAH's emphasis on strong customer service. A Delhi-based female entrepreneur said, "I have screamed at them and vented my frustration, but the good thing about them is that they listen, apologise and try to rectify the situation."
The IT consultant quoted in the beginning, who does not wish to be named, said, "They would call me three times a week to check if the service provided was fine. When they got to know that I have a travelling job and my mother is alone at home, they started calling her every alternate day, without us asking." However, she would prefer that physical checks be done more often, especially for critical patients.
HCAH is exploring partnerships with insurance companies for pre-policy check-ups, post-operative care and ICU at Home services for people covered under an insurance plan to bring down the claim cost. Recently, it acquired Mumbai-based Health Impetus for an undisclosed amount to offer disease management services. It has also partnered with Japan's $10-billion healthcare media company M3 to launch an internet-based healthcare service in India.
According to PwC, globally, the home healthcare market is estimated to be worth $210 billion, of which India has 1 per cent share - about Rs 13,200 crore. Estimates indicate that close to 90 per cent of the home healthcare market is unorganised, serviced by local players. Several other companies such as Bangalore-based Portea Medical and Nightingales Home Health Services, and Chennai-based India Home Health Care have woken up to this huge opportunity.
Start-ups such as Care24 in Mumbai and Pramati Healthcare in Delhi, too, have entered the fray recently. From 3,000+ monthly visits in October 2015, two-year-old Pramati claims to be handling 6,000+ monthly visits. Founded in December 2014, Care24 serves around 500 patients per day and claims to be growing at about 30-40 per cent month on month.
HCAH claims to have grown by a hundred times since its inception and has serviced 300,000 patients. This growth has helped the company become gross-margin positive, says Srivastava. "We are yet to recover the investments for fixed costs, which we hope to do by 2018." As per MoC, in FY 2014/15, the company's revenue was Rs 13.77 crore, a healthy growth from the Rs 1.87 crore in 2013/14.
If You Enjoy My Articles, Please Consider Supporting My Writing By Giving A Donation Of Any Amount. Thank you!
Back in the Days, photographer Jamel Shabazzs classic photo book on 1980s street style and the roots of hip hop culture, has never been in out of print since it was published in 2001. Now Shabazzs collection of street photography is getting a fun remix. Book publisher powerHouse Books, which published the original Back in the Days and a tenth anniversary collectors edition, has just released a coloring book version. Back in the Days Coloring Book presents a selection of Shabazzs photos, made in New York City between 1980 and 1989, but digitized to remove the colors.
If youre nostalgic for the Kangol caps, Adidas sneakers, T-shirts and shearling coats worn by Shabazzs proud subjects, grab your crayons. Heres your chance to decide what colors you want each of these fashion items to be.
Shabazz says his editor, Craig Cohen of powerHouse Books, came up with the idea. He explained to me that there was a new market for coloring books and envisioned my book Back in the Days as a perfect book to transform into a coloring book. Shabazz needed some convincing, but eventually agreed. Now, he says, The very thought has already created a serious buzz on social media. I have received hundreds of messages from around the globe inquiring about the book, so there is an international audience eager to have copies. A week after the coloring books publication, its already Amazons #1 hot release in the category of fashion coloring book (which is a thing, weve now learned). Some of us are hoping to find it in our Christmas stockings.
When Shabazz was shooting the photos that were eventually gathered in the book, he wasnt interested only in style or fashion. As he has told PDN, I realized that my lifes mission over these past three decades has been to contribute to the preservation of world history and culture for future generations to see and learn from.
Rather than simply shooting street photography, Shabazz engaged with his subjects, striving to produce a positive representation of neighborhoods the media usually ignored. And hes remained committed to his community, mentoring youth (as well as young photographers).
The DJs and young style icons in Back in the Days were expressing their own creativity. It seems appropriate that the new Back in the Days Coloring Book gives fans a way to express their own creativity. Shabazz says, Personally, I look forward to seeing some of the artistic creations that will come forth.
Related articles:
Photo of the Day: Jamel Shabazz, Represent
Documentary Showcases Jamel Shabazz, Street Photographer
Bert Clark, President & CEO of IMCO and Rossitsa Stoyanova, Chief Investment Officer of IMCO published an IMCO Insight comment , Don't hit the panic button: How investors can manage (and even profit) from short-term volatilit y: How we think at IMCO At IMCO we believe that short-term volatility of returns is generally unavoidable for long-term investors. We think the key is not to try to alter asset mix to avoid it, but to have adequate liquidity to survive and, in some cases, profit from it. In retrospect, down markets may seem predictable and can cause investors to wonder whether they should stick with their long-term asset mix. Hindsight is 20-20, as they say. However, as painful as these periods of underperformance feel, we believe that investors should not attempt to tactically adjust their asset mix to avoid short-term weakness in returns. Instead, our view is that investors sho
This is the new crushed rock aggregate with the sharpest edges removed. It will be mixed with gravel taken from the same location. Credit: SINTEF
Norwegian cities are expanding very rapidly and in the areas surrounding many of them, naturally-occurring aggregates for asphalt and concrete production are becoming scarce. The solution may lie in local rock outcrops.
The local scarcity of key aggregates results in the increasingly expensive and environmentally harmful long distance transport of raw rock materials. SINTEF researchers believe it would be better if we found ways of exploiting local natural resources, and have developed an environmentally-friendly alternative involving the production of aggregates from mixtures of crushed quarried rock and natural gravels. These materials turn out to possess just the properties required in aggregates used for the production of concrete and asphalt.
At Verrabotn near Trondheim, the production method is adapted to the resources on site, which consist of both natural gravels and bedrock.
"There is nothing very special about the rocks at Verrabotn, so the approach used here will be applicable at other locations with similar geologies both in Norway and overseas," says SINTEF researcher Kari Aarstad.
Major environmental benefit
"I am very familiar with the situation in Trondheim and Bergen," says Aarstad. "Much of the aggregate currently used in Bergen is transported all the way from the coastal areas of mid-Norway, or from south of the city," she says. "As a rule, if you're looking for concrete aggregates other than crushed rock, you have to seek out areas some distance from the city. If you don't apply the correct crushing technology, the aggregates will consist of sharp and angular clasts which make the concrete more difficult to work with," says Aarstad.
Transporting the material over short distances, and preferably by boat, will result in major reductions in environmentally harmful emissions.
Ole Martin Woldseth is District Manager with asphalt producers Peab. He says that for every 100,000 tonnes of asphalt he supplies to Trondheim via boat from Verrabotn, the public roads are spared 7,500 heavy-duty haulage journeys. A boat can carry between 800 and 1,500 tonnes, while a lorry carries only 30 tonnes.
Smooth around the edges
The new method involves producing aggregates by crushing quarried rock to form clasts that are as well-rounded as possible, not long and splintery. This is then mixed with natural gravels from the same site to produce a mixture tailored to its intended application. It then needs no further processing.
"This is not a revolutionary technology. It's all about the smart exploitation of available resources," says Aarstad. "The challenge is to find a way of producing the aggregate economically. Then we have to find a mixing formula that ensures that it can be used to make an effective, pourable and durable concrete," she says.
Ten-fold production increase
Peab owns the site at Verrabotn, which includes both a quarry and one of Norway's largest natural gravel deposits. The volume of rock materials on site is so large that even with production rates of 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes a year, the company will still be producing aggregates here for many decades to come.
Peab's current production is between 20,000 and 30,000 tonnes of aggregate a year for use in asphalt production, but it reckons that it can increase this by ten-fold using the new method. Moreover, aggregates produced using the new technology will also meet the quality requirements for concrete, which are more stringent than those for asphalt.
"If we succeed, year-round production will be more economic and practical," says Ole Martin Woldseth at Peab. "And increased production will probably mean between five and six new jobs at the Verrabotn site," he says.
Explore further Why not recycled concrete?
Final Pleiades HII 3441 images. (Left) reduced HS -band image taken in the 2011 observation. (Middle) reduced HL-band image taken in the 2011 observation. (Right) reduced H-band image taken in the 2014 observation. All images were analyzed using standard ADI. Pleiades HII 3441B can be seen southeast of the primary star. There is no methane absorption in Pleiades HII 3441B when left and middle panels are compared. Credit: Konishi et al., 2016.
An international team of astronomers has found a new substellar mass companion to one of the stars in the Pleiades open cluster. The discovery could contribute to our understanding of stellar and substellar multiplicity as well as formation mechanisms in this cluster. A study detailing the new findings was published Aug. 5 on the arXiv pre-print server.
Due to its proximity, the well-known Pleiades cluster is frequently observed and studied by amateur and professional astronomers. The cluster, located some 440 light years away, is about 120 million years old, which makes it one of the nearest young open clusters. It is also a great target for searching new low-mass substellar objects such as brown dwarfs.
From 2011 to 2015, an international team of researchers led by Mihoko Konishi of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan conducted a series of observations of the cluster's member star, designated Pleiades HII 3441, looking for planetary-mass and substellar companions. These observations were part of the Strategic Explorations of Exoplanets and Disks with Subaru (SEEDS) survey, which uses adaptive optics assisted high contrast imaging for studying planets and disks, including primordial systems, transitional systems and mature systems. The survey utilizes the 8.2 Subaru Telescope located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
The newly detected object was named Pleiades HII 3441B. According to the study, it was found southeast of the primary star with a projected separation of about 66 AU.
"A companion candidate was detected southeast of the primary star, and subsequently confirmed as a companion object to the primary star. () The projected separation and position angle are 0.49 0.02 (66 2 AU) and 136.4 3.2, respectively. These values were derived by averaging all observations," the researchers wrote in the paper.
The mass of Pleiades HII 3441B was calculated to be approximately 68 Jupiter masses and its temperature was estimated to be 2,700 K. Moreover, the team found that there is no methane absorption in the atmosphere of this substellar companion. They emphasized that methane is considered to condense below 1,300 K.
The object was classified an M7-type brown dwarf, due to the fact that its mass is below the hydrogen-burning limit (72 Jupiter masses). Its spectral type was deducted from the photometry-derived temperature. However, as the researchers noted, Pleiades HII 3441B is "close to the boundary between the stellar and substellar regime."
The scientists have also taken into account the possibility that the object is another faint Pleiades member along the same line of sight; it cannot be ruled out completely as the observations could not detect the orbital motion.
According to the researchers, their study provides an important input for the determination of the initial mass function in Pleiades, and might help us understand the formation mechanisms in the cluster. Substellar multiplicity in Pleiades is also discussed in the paper, with the aim to estimate the general fraction of substellar companions in star clusters. However, as the team noted, further studies are needed in order to get comprehensive answers.
"A much larger survey of the Pleiades would be needed to draw general conclusion on the multiplicity differences between open clusters and field star populations," the astronomers concluded.
Explore further Scientists detect radio emission from a nearby brown dwarf
2016 Phys.org
The ins and outs of nitrogen in California. Credit: Tom Watts/UC Davis
Nitrogen is essential for agriculture but also has health and environmental impacts. The California Nitrogen Assessment, a new report from the Agricultural Sustainability Institute at the University of California, Davis, presents a big picture of the scale and impacts of nitrogen in the state. The report, published by UC Press, offers a scientific foundation to develop practices and policies that balance nitrogen's benefits and harm.
It's easy for nitrogen to become too much of a good thing, according to the report, which is the first state-level nitrogen assessment. Excess nitrogen can pollute groundwater and air, and impacts the environment, human health and climate change.
The report shows that excess nitrogen in the state comes primarily from agriculture and fuel combustion.
"This problem was created by all of us," said lead author Tom Tomich, director of the Agricultural Sustainability Institute at UC Davis. "Nitrogen is an issue that affects and is affected by every Californian."
Nitrogen in balance
The seven-year, multi-institutional assessment identifies how much nitrogen enters the state, where it is used, and its eventual fate. It consolidates existing scientific knowledge and weighs options for addressing nitrogen management.
"Many programs in California have been recently put in place to help balance the benefit and harm of nitrogen use," Tomich said. "The California Nitrogen Assessment hopes to contribute to long-term solutions and we see farmers as the leaders in positive change."
Agriculture the major source of California's nitrogen
Each year, about 1.8 million tons of nitrogen enter California. Agriculture represents the largest source of California's nitrogen imports from synthetic fertilizer, livestock feed, and nitrogen-fixing crops, which pull nitrogen from the air and convert it into a useable plant nutrient.
Nitrogen fertilizer helps California produce 21 percent of the nation's dairy commodities and more than half of the nation's fruits and vegetables.
However, vegetable and fruit crops throughout the state use only half of the nitrogen applied to them on average. For livestock, only about a quarter of the nitrogen in animal feed becomes meat or dairy products. The remaining 75 percent becomes manure, which can emit nitrogen into the air as ammonia, a known air pollutant.
Much excess nitrogen from crops leaks into soil and eventually the state's groundwater. Sixteen percent of the state's net nitrogen imports each year accumulate in groundwater, and 11 percent of nitrogen from crop land and livestock is lost as air pollution.
Nitrogen in groundwater linked to health issues
Tom Tomich, director of the UC Davis Agricultural Sustainability Institute and lead author of The California Nitrogen Assessment, kneels in an alfalfa field. Credit: Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis
Nitrogen leaches into groundwater as nitrate, which has been linked with blue-baby syndrome in infants, adverse birth outcomes and various cancers. While most adults consume more nitrate through food than through drinking water, people who rely on contaminated wells may take in the majority of their nitrate through drinking water.
Parts of the state regularly fail to meet federal drinking water standards for nitrates, and previous reports have shown low-income Latino communities in agricultural regions are the most exposed to groundwater nitrate contamination.
Excess nitrogen in the environment can have detrimental impacts on crop yields, native species and biodiversity, as well.
Nitrogen, fossil fuels and air pollution
Fossil fuel combustion is responsible for nearly a quarter of the nitrogen coming into the state in the form of nitrogen oxides, which contribute to ozone formation, and ammonia, a component of particulate matter.
Well-established scientific evidence links ozone and particulate matter to poor respiratory and heart health.
Much of the nitrogen oxides and ammonia produced in California are transported downwind from California, making the state a major exporter of nitrogen air pollution.
A very small amount of the state's nitrogen, 2 percent, is released as nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas. Nitrous oxide emissions account for 4 percent of California's total greenhouse gas emissions.
Emissions have declined since 1980 as regulations have pushed fuel efficiency advancements, but nitrogen-related air pollutant levels still exceed state recommendations in many areas.
The path forward
The dispersed, "non-point" nature of nitrogen pollution makes achieving solutions especially challenging. A one-size-fits-all approach will not work for managing nitrogen.
The report highlights practices farmers and ranchers can use to decrease nitrogen losses and save money, such as reducing nitrogen application rates and timing nitrogen application closely with irrigation, practices many farmers in California already are using.
"California has amazing resources to address this issue," said Rich Rominger, a California farmer and former director of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. "The state has skilled and motivated farmers and a university system that can continue to dive deep into our unanswered questions about nitrogen. California is often looked to as both an agricultural innovator and an example of strong environmental policy. How we deal with nitrogen can enhance our leadership in these areas."
Explore further Less fertilizer good news for the Great Barrier Reef
At low temperatures, from inside towards the outside, exerted by the water molecules, and at high temperatures from outside towards the inside caused by the absence of the molecules. Credit: Hegoi Manzano - UPV/EHU
Cement is subjected to a vast range of conditions, both physiological and meteorological, including extreme temperatures, humidity and pressure. Conditions can range from -80 C in places such as scientific bases in the Antarctic, to several hundreds of degrees in infrastructure near heat sources or in the case of fires.
These variations in humidity and temperature are translated into physical processes involving evaporation or freezing of the water contained in the cement paste, which often cause stress and even micro-cracking inside the cement. Characterizing the response to these phenomena affecting the confined water in the smallest pores of the cement "is hugely important, as a large proportion of the water, about 30 percent, is located in these small spaces, so to a great extent it contributes towards the final properties of the material," said Hegoi Manzano, a researcher in the UPV/EHU's department of Condensed Matter Physics, and author of the study in collaboration with a research group of the University of Tohoku in Japan.
Given the difficulty of studying the behaviour of water located in pores of approximately one nanometre in size by means of experimental channels, the researchers resorted to molecular simulation methods that "imitate" the interactions among the atoms that make up the cement in order to determine how they behave as a whole and the properties that these interactions are translated into. The temperature range the researchers studied was from -170 C to 300 C.
Stresses at both extremes
The simulations revealed that at both extremes of temperature, "significant volume changes owing to water physics take place. Through totally opposite effects, we arrived at the same consequences," Manzano said. At high temperatures, the water evaporates and disappears from the pores. In these conditions, the pressure brought to bear by the material itself may cause the empty pores to collapse and micro-cracking to occur, which in particularly serious cases, could cause the material to collapse.
At extremely low temperatures, what happens is that the water freezes and therefore expands. "In these conditions, it should be emphasized that the frozen water does not form ice because of the small space in which it is located; the water molecules cannot order themselves to form a crystalline ice structure," Manzano said. However, the expansion is enough to create stresses in the cement and likewise cause micro-cracking.
The conclusions of this study can be used to modify the formulation of the cement for infrastructures that are going to be located in environments with extreme temperatures. "Let us take, for example, an oil company. Knowing the stresses and forces that may be created in the cement, they would have the chance to change certain design factors, such as the additives added to the cement to compensate for the expansion or collapsing of the material in oil wells. That would be the ideal application of the work," concluded Manzano.
Explore further Dried sewage sludge could be recycled by adding it to cement to make concrete
More information: Patrick A. Bonnaud et al, Temperature Dependence of Nanoconfined Water Properties: Application to Cementitious Materials, The Journal of Physical Chemistry C (2016). Journal information: Journal of Physical Chemistry C Patrick A. Bonnaud et al, Temperature Dependence of Nanoconfined Water Properties: Application to Cementitious Materials,(2016). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b00944
Nanocontainer consisting of lipid (in orange) and the engineered version of proteorhodopsin (in red). Light irradiation of the molecular system fails in establishing a proton gradient across the membrane because of the symmetrical integration of proteorhodopsins, which results in a short-circuit (left). After chemically switching off wrongly oriented proteorhodopsins (right), correctly oriented ones can establish a proton gradient across the membrane (indicated in gray). Credit: Dimitrios Fotiadis, University of Bern
Synthetic biology is an emerging and rapidly evolving engineering discipline. Within the NCCR Molecular Systems Engineering, Bernese scientists have engineered a chemically switchable version of the light-driven proton pump proteorhodopsin an essential tool for efficiently powering molecular factories and synthetic cells.
Synthetic biology is a highly interdisciplinary field, which combines biology, chemistry and physics with engineering. Its goal is to design molecular factories and synthetic cells with novel properties or functions for applications in healthcare, industry, or biological and medical research. Such artificial systems are in the nanometer scale and are built by combining and assembling existing, synthetic or engineered building blocks (e.g., proteins). Molecular systems have wide application ranges, e.g., for chemical compound synthesis, waste disposal, energy supply and medical diagnosis or treatment.
In this context, the NCCR Molecular Systems Engineering brings Swiss scientists from different disciplines together to stimulate innovation, and address existing and future challenges. The University of Bern is represented by the Fotiadis laboratory in the NCCR MSE.
Nanomachines for energy conversion
Energy-providing building blocks are essential to power molecular systems. Light-driven proton pumps such as the membrane protein proteorhodopsin represent excellent nanomachines for efficient energy conversion. Light energy, e.g., solar energy, is easily accessible and efficiently used by proteorhodopsin to establish proton gradients across membranes, which separate two different compartments. Such gradients can then be used to drive proton-driven building blocks of molecular systems, for example proton-driven transporters. Living cells commonly use proton gradients to power processes such as import and export of solutes and ions through transporters, and the synthesis of metabolites.
Eliminating the short-circuit
Using common methods for the assembly of proteorhodopsin, and membrane proteins in general, into containers such as liposomes or polymerosomes (i.e., spherical structures consisting of lipid or polymer membranes), symmetric integration in membranes is observed leading to short-circuit and failure in establishing a proton gradient. Therefore, members from the Fotiadis group, in particular Dr. Daniel Harder and Stephan Hirschi, together with colleagues from the NCCR MSE have implemented a chemical on-off switch into proteorhodopsin, thus extending its versatility and allowing the establishment of an asymmetric distribution of functional proteorhodopsin proteins in membranes by selectively deactivating one of the two possible orientations.
This engineered version of proteorhodopsin represents the first light-driven proton pump and energizing-building block that can be activated and deactivated chemically to meet the requirements of the molecular system. "Possible applications of this versatile energy-providing building block in specific molecular factories represent the light- and solar-powering of the production of molecules such as life's universal energy currency ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and of the bioremediation of pollutants such as antibiotics in water resources", says Fotiadis. The study was published in the renowned scientific journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
Explore further Copolymer membranes toughened up
More information: Daniel Harder et al. Engineering a Chemical Switch into the Light-driven Proton Pump Proteorhodopsin by Cysteine Mutagenesis and Thiol Modification, Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2016). Journal information: Angewandte Chemie International Edition Daniel Harder et al. Engineering a Chemical Switch into the Light-driven Proton Pump Proteorhodopsin by Cysteine Mutagenesis and Thiol Modification,(2016). DOI: 10.1002/anie.201601537
The consequences of climate change are an increasing concern for humans around the world. How will we cope with rising sea levels and climbing temperatures? But it's not just humans who will be affected by these worldwide shiftsit's our closest cousins, too: monkeys, apes and lemurs.
A new Concordia study published in the International Journal of Primatology shows that the world's primate populations may be seriously impacted by climate change.
"Our research shows that climate change may be one of the biggest emerging threats to primates, compounding existing pressures from deforestation, hunting and the exotic pet trade, ," says Tanya Graham, the article's lead author and an MSc student in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment.
She worked with environment professor Damon Matthews from Concordia and primatology post-doctoral researcher Sarah Turner from McGill to assess the exposure and potential vulnerability of all non-human primate species to projected future temperature and precipitation changes. They found that overall, 419 species of non-human primatessuch as various species of lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys and apeswill experience 10 per cent more warming than the global average, with some primate species experiencing increases of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius in annual average temperature for every degree of global warming.
The researchers also identified several hotspots of primate vulnerability to climate change, based on the combination of the number of species, their endangered status and the severity of climate changes at each location. Overall, the most extreme hotspots, which represent the upper 10 per cent of all hotspot scores, cover a total area of 3,622,012 square kilometres over the ranges of 67 primate species.
The highest hotspot scores occur in Central America, the Amazon and southeastern Brazil, as well as portions of East and Southeast Asiaprime territory for some of the globe's best-known primates who call these areas home.
The ursine howler monkey, black howler monkey, and barbary macaque are expected to be exposed to the highest magnitude of climate change when both temperature and precipitation are considered. For example, the ursine howler monkey, found in Venezuela, will experience an increase of 1.2 degrees Celsius annually and a 5.3 per cent decline in annual rainfall for each degree of global temperature increase.
"This study highlights the vulnerability of individual species, as well as regions in which primates as a whole may be vulnerable to climate change," says Matthews, who will present the findings of this study during the Joint Meeting of the International Primatological Society and the American Society of Primatologists in Chicago later this month.
"Our findings can be taken as priorities for ongoing conservation efforts, given that any success in decreasing other current human pressures on endangered species may also increase that species' ability to withstand the growing pressures of climate changes," says Graham.
"Primates are often seen as flagship species for entire ecosystems, so conservation can have important ramifications for many other species too. I hope our study will help direct conservation efforts for individual primate species in particular, but also for vulnerable ecosystems in general throughout the tropical regions inhabited by non-human primates," adds Turner.
More information: Tanya L. Graham et al. A Global-Scale Evaluation of Primate Exposure and Vulnerability to Climate Change, International Journal of Primatology (2016). Journal information: International Journal of Primatology Tanya L. Graham et al. A Global-Scale Evaluation of Primate Exposure and Vulnerability to Climate Change,(2016). DOI: 10.1007/s10764-016-9890-4
Genius Platform Integrates With PaceSetter Solution for Fast, Flexible and Secure EMV Transactions
SAN DIEGO, CA(Marketwired Aug 10, 2016) Blue Sage Software, a leading provider of software to the automotive aftermarket, today announced their latest integration to Cayans Genius Platform, a cloud-based payments solution that mitigates the business challenges associated with integrating payment to the point-of-sale (POS). As a result of this partnership, users of Blue Sages PaceSetter solution will be able to provide customers with a faster, more flexible and engaging EMV payment processing solution at the point-of-sale.
With our Genius platform and ChipIQ technology now fully integrated into PaceSetter, merchants can accept secure EMV transactions in under 4 seconds today, explained Henry Helgeson, CEO and co-founder of Cayan. It works with every card brand and requires no software upgrades or additional testing for the merchant.
With nearly 600 million chip cards in U.S. consumers wallets today, the ability to swiftly and securely process EMV chip and signature transactions is essential for every business. By partnering with Cayan, Blue Sage is not only helping merchants accept this payment type, but also build customer confidence, relieve liability for chargebacks, and protect against the rapid increase of fraud. The Genius platform integration with PaceSetter will provide merchants with:
Real-time updates: Genius will now update your GL and payments to your customer accounts no more manual entries at the end of the day.
Genius will now update your GL and payments to your customer accounts no more manual entries at the end of the day. EMV speed: Cayans ChipIQ technology achieves lightning-fast EMV processing times of just 3.66 seconds.
Cayans ChipIQ technology achieves lightning-fast EMV processing times of just 3.66 seconds. Security: Genius keeps sensitive customer data off your POS and reduces your PCI compliance overhead.
Genius keeps sensitive customer data off your POS and reduces your PCI compliance overhead. Integration: Genius integration provides seamless centralized reporting and lessens errors in credit card input. The platform eliminates the need for double data entry and accepts multiple-tender transactions.
Genius integration provides seamless centralized reporting and lessens errors in credit card input. The platform eliminates the need for double data entry and accepts multiple-tender transactions. Versatility: Genius uses a Verifone terminal that accepts all payment types, including Apple Pay, Google Wallet, Samsung Pay and anything that comes next.
At Blue Sage, were driven by providing our customers with the most state-of-the art business solutions to apply and accept payments, said Roger Moyers, President of Blue Sage Software. With Cayans Genius platform, our customers can leverage an easy application and setup process that is integrated right inside their PaceSetter solution and experience all the benefits of an integrated payment processing solution.
About Cayan
Cayan is the leading provider of payment technologies that give businesses a competitive advantage. From simple and reliable payment processing, to fully integrated, multi-channel customer engagement platforms, Cayan is continuously developing new ways for businesses to unlock the power of payments. Headquartered in Boston, the company has multiple offices in the United States and Belfast, Northern Ireland. Cayan is one of the worlds fastest growing payment companies. For more information, visit www.cayan.com.
About Blue Sage Software
Blue Sage Softwares PaceSetter business management system provides solutions for inventory management, point-of-sale (POS), e-commerce, invoicing, accounts receivable, warehouse efficiency, Internet storefronts and delivery tracking to keep businesses running smoothly day-in and day-out. PaceSetter is a scalable, stable and reliable platform for warehouses, WDs, jobbers, and retailers. Analytical tools track and identify parts movement, sales trends and more, and Blue Sage has had unparalleled aftermarket IT support for over 35 years. The company is headquartered in San Diego, CA and is privately held. For more information, visit www.bluesagesoftware.com. Read more http://www.marketwired.com/mw/release.do?id=2149569&sourceType=3
MORE Point of sale News:
QUEENSBURY Maria G. McGloin, 74, of Queensbury, passed away on Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016, after a courageous battle with Parkinsons disease at Fort Hudson Nursing Home, with her loving family at her side.
Maria was born Feb. 19, 1942, in New York City, New York, the daughter of the late Walter and Margaret (Yagasits) Donovan.
She graduated from Andrew Jackson High School in Queens, Class of 1959, and after moved to Queensbury and became a member of Our Lady of the Annunciation Church.
Upon graduating, she went to work on Wall Street for several years and also worked at Hinch Produce in Queens, New York. Maria moved to Queensbury in 1969, and a few years later started working for the Queensbury Union Free School District in 1978, most recently in the Computer Room, and after 25 years of service retired in 2003.
Maria met the love of her life in the fall of 1968 when, on a daily basis, she drove miles out of her way to fill up her gas tank at this handsome young mans gas station at which he worked. After several visits, she introduced herself, and the rest is history. On Nov. 8, 1969, Maria married William J. McGloin, moved to upstate New York and from that day forward, through sickness and in health, never left each others side. They complemented one another and were always together. They enjoyed daily journeys, explored various places, as well as frequented all the restaurants to see her people. In Marias spare time, she played the piano, enjoyed making her deposits in the slot machines, wherever they were, and ultimately visited with friends and family during the unique get-togethers of Beefuary, Blarch and Lobstoberfest, of which she will be greatly missed.
In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her sister and brother-in-law, Peggy and Richard Zikmanis; her niece, Denise Zikmanis; brother-in-law, Larry Uhl; and sister-in-law, Marie Green.
Survivors include her loving husband of 46 years, William J. McGloin; her beloved daughters, Kathleen (Fernando) Serra of Lunenburg, Massachusetts, and Deborah McGloin of Queensbury; her granddaughter, Daniella Serra of Lunenburg, Massachusetts; sister, Helen Uhl of Queens; and brothers, Richard Green of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and Walter (Annamarie) Donovan II of Scottsdale, Arizona. Also surviving her are several nieces and nephews.
A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 12, at Our Lady of Annunciation Church, 448 Aviation Road, Queensbury.
Burial will be private for the family.
Friends and family may call from 5 to7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11, at Singleton Sullivan Potter Funeral Home, 407 Bay Road, Queensbury.
The family would like to express their gratitude to Fort Hudson Nursing Home, and a special thank-you to the nurses and aides on G-Wing for all the care and compassion given to Maria and her family during this difficult time.
Donations in Marias memory may be made to the National Parkinson Foundation, Albany Medical Center, 47 New Scotland Ave., Albany, NY 12208.
Those who wish may make online condolences by visiting sbfuneralhome.com.
RUTLAND, Vt. A Whitehall man was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol Sunday afternoon after he hit another vehicle and left the scene in Rutland, police said.
Thomas J. Moore, 21, was stopped around 4 p.m. as he drove west on Route 4 in the town of Ira, Vermont, according to Vermont State Police.
Police said he fled the scene of a 3:46 p.m. property-damage collision, driving on the curb at one point, before he was located and arrested.
Moore was charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence and released pending prosecution in Vermont Superior Court.
WHITE CREEK State environmental officials are investigating the source of PFOA contamination found in wells in White Creek near the Hoosic River.
The state Department of Health has found concentrations of the chemical at levels above the Environmental Protection Agencys advisory limit of 70 parts per trillion in 27 of the 126 well samples in southern Washington County, according to information provided by state health and environmental officials.
PFOA was not found in 32 of the samples and results for 13 are pending.
Perfluorooctanoic acid, a chemical that was used in nonstick coatings or commonly known as Teflon until its phase-out in the early 2000s, has been found in water supplies for residents of Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh in Rensselaer County as well as in North Bennington, Vermont.
Prolonged exposure to the chemical could result in risk of cancer, birth defects, or problems with the liver, immune system, and thyroid, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The state in May reached a settlement with the Saint-Gobain and Honeywell companies to clean up the contamination found in the Hoosick Falls area and pay for the cost.
As a result of its Hoosick Falls investigation, state officials have been testing wells in southern Washington County since April, according to Rob Swider, environmental health director for the state Department of Healths Capital Area Environmental Health Program.
Working our way north, we noticed that wells were showing contamination going into Washington County, so we expanded that investigation along the Hoosic River, following areas where we were still detecting contamination in private wells, he said.
The state DEC has installed 26 filtration systems, known as point-of-entry-treatment systems, in White Creek and two in Cambridge to remove PFOA from the affected wells.
The treatment system includes a pre-filter that takes out sediment; then the water is sent through a granular-activated carbon filter to remove the PFOA, according to Mike Ryan of the DECs Division of Environmental Remediation. Ultraviolet light destroys any bacteria.
Until the filtration systems are installed, residents can obtain free bottled water at Tops in Hoosick Falls.
State officials do not know the source of the contamination but are continuing to investigate, according to Ryan.
In addition to the known plant sites, weve had a number of reports of illegal disposal sites in and around the town of Hoosick, he said.
DEC offers to install free point of entry systems systems on drinking water wells in impacted areas in Washington County. Residents interested in well testing and installation of the systems should call the states Water Quality Hotline at 1-800-801-8092.
State officials prioritize the well sampling in southern Washington County based on location, according to the Health Departments Charlotte Bethoney. Were working out from the area closest to the Hoosic River, she said.
Officials are also going door to door to see if residents want their water sampled.
White Creek Supervisor Robert Shay said among the areas that have had positive tests in wells are along River and Turnpike roads. He does not know the source of the contamination.
No one seems to have an idea why because we dont have any of those types of plastic manufacturing plant around us, he said.
Among the causes that have been speculated are air pollution, acid rain, runoff from chemicals used in agricultural fields and perhaps from the Hoosic River, according to Shay.
Weve had a major flood down there in that end of Eagle Bridge a few years ago, where the Hoosic River flooded into just about every home on that road, he said.
Peter Brown of 26 Center Road, which is off River Road, had a reading of 658 parts per trillion in his well. The Department of Health put in a filtration system, which he said is working fine.
Brown said he has been trying to fix up his house so he can leave it to his son one day. But the PFOA contamination is looming large.
This is my sons inheritance. Is it going to be a ghost town? he said.
Brown has Lyme disease and other health issues, but he does not think they are connected to PFOA. He is a smoker and also has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
White Creek resident Dean LeBarron, who lives at 53 River Road, near the border between Washington and Rensselaer counties, said there were 100 parts per trillion of PFOA in his well water.
His immediate neighbors did not test positive for PFOA, but another resident farther down the street did. LeBarron said he is not sure why positive results are showing up on some properties and not others.
Anne Walton of 320 River Road had a reading of 248 parts per trillion in her well.
I was surprised. Weve been drinking it for 10 years, she said.
She is not sure whether she can attribute any health effects to the water. She is at risk for osteoporosis. She also worked in Hoosick Falls for a time at a diner. Her husband does not go to the doctor, but complains of not feeling well.
She said local industry should have not have been using and dumping chemicals.
They should have warned us years ago when they knew about it, she said.
FORT EDWARD Former Fort Edward Town Supervisor Merrilyn Pulver-Moulthrop hopes to sell nearly 200 acres of land as a wildlife management area to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Selling the land as a wildlife management area requires the approval of the Fort Edward Town Board.
The Friends of the Washington County Grasslands Important Birding Area submitted a proposal to the Fort Edward Town Board on Monday in support of the sale as an environmental conservation measure.
The IBA already controls 15 acres of land that supports 10 of 11 endangered grassland birds listed in the states 2015 Wildlife Action Plan.
The boards primary concern was the loss of tax revenue. In its proposal, the friends have made it clear they will pay $3,804 annually to the town in lieu of taxes.
Pulver-Moulthrops land, located just off Plum Road between state Route 197 and county Route 46, is important to the IBA because it would almost double the size of state protected grasslands in the area.
Our mission is to protect these endangered grassland birds, said Laurie LaFond, director of conservation and program development at the IBA.
The IBA does not intend to make payments on the land forever. LaFond said her organization is hoping new legislation, which was passed by the state Senate during the last legislative session, will soon pass through the Assembly, allowing the state to pay taxes on the land.
Sen. Elizabeth Little, R-Queensbury, worked to bring the bill up for a successful vote in the Senate this year, but the session ended before the bill could be voted on in the Assembly.
Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake, has pledged her support to bring the bill up for a vote when the new legislative session begins.
Mary-Ellen Stockwell, the towns legal representative, said the problem with the proposal in its current form is there is no way for the town to ensure the payments are made by the IBA.
It has no teeth, Stockwell said.
She said if the board is going to enter into a contract with the IBA, there would need to be a promissory note or similar measure.
It was also noted by Stockwell that the school district should be consulted, as it also would be affected by the loss of tax revenue if the IBA failed to pay.
Supervisor Mitchell Suprenant asked LaFond if she thought one of the groups members would be willing to make the payments in the event that the organization ceased to exist. LaFond said that is something the group would be willing to investigate.
The board also asked if the IBA would turn over its financial records, which LaFond said they would be willing to do.
Suprenant said the board is not unsupportive of the measure, but said town officials must consider the future of the town.
We are losing our tax base, so we dont want to take the loss, he said.
According to Suprenant, while the funds are not a significant source of revenue for the town, he said with the proposal of creating Water District 3 in Fort Edward, the town is wary of letting the land drop from the tax rolls.
Even with his concerns, Suprenant expressed his support for the project and encouraged the IBA to bring the issue back to the board when the two members who were absent on Monday could attend.
Im for it. Some of our board members have different opinions, but thats what a board is, Suprenant said.
LaFond said she was pleased with the progress that was made at the meeting and said she has hope for the project moving forward.
I think its moving in the right direction and we were pleased with how receptive the board was, LaFond said.
LaFond said in addition to preserving the land for endangered grassland birds, the effort also brings people to Fort Edward. Pulver-Moulthrop said she has seen this already with people coming to her property in search of these rare birds.
Im really hopeful the town will agree to the purchase. It will help the overall economy of the town, Pulver-Moulthrop said.
Pulver-Moulthrop sold a similar 100-acre parcel to the state in 2008 in order to preserve it. This sale would connect the two properties.
I just really hope the board appreciates what it is the IBA is trying to do, Pulver-Moulthrop said.
At the meeting, Pulver-Moulthrop addressed the board, explaining she could most likely get more money for her land if she sold it to someone other than the state. She said, however, she felt preserving the property was more important.
The Pulver-Moulthrop family has owned the land for nearly 50 years, but she said it was time to start letting it go.
At present, 94 acres of Pulver-Moulthrops land has a conservation easement, which she put in place in 2002. The easement prevents any type of development on the property until June 28, 2052.
Former Philippine president's HK visit marks effort to mend damaged relations
Former Philippine President Fidel Ramos gestures as he speaks to journalists during a trip to Hong Kong, China after the Hague court's ruling over the maritime dispute in South China Sea, August 9, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
A special Philippine envoy who is in Hong Kong to test the waters of bilateral ties suggested on Tuesday that Manila and Beijing cooperate on sectors of common interest to rekindle their relationship, which was soured by maritime disputes.
Experts said that although the proposal by the envoy, former Philippines president Fidel Ramos, to improve economic and tourism links might be considered by China, the Philippines' attitude toward the arbitration ruling on the South China Sea remains the key to restoring ties.
Ramos, 88, also told reporters on Tuesday that he planned to meet with Wu Shicun, who heads the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, a think tank on China's southernmost Hainan Island.
Ramos, who gave no other details of his itinerary for the five-day trip to Hong Kong, said earlier that he would meet "old friends" with links to officials in Beijing.
Wu did not respond to phone calls from China Daily seeking comment on Tuesday.
As a special envoy of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Ramos defined the trip as "ice-breaking", after bilateral ties were jeopardized by an arbitration case unilaterally initiated by Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino III.
"The idea is to use the South China Sea as a place to save lives, not to kill people or to destroy lives," Ramos said.
During his time as president, from 1992 to 1998, the two countries eased tensions caused by confrontations over Meiji Reef.
Xu Liping, a senior Southeast Asian studies researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Beijing could consider Ramos' suggestion and seek common interests with Manila.
Chen Qinghong, a researcher of Southeast Asian and Philippine studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that Ramos' remarks send a positive signal and provide an opportunity for the two countries to rebuild political trust and amend their relationship.
Zhang Yaozhong contributed to this story.
anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn
A statement from the organizers, Top Brass Ghana said, GLICO LIFE and GENERAL were awarded for their strong brand position on the Ghanaian market, especially for their contribution to the development of Ashanti region.
GLICO LIFE specifically received a Gold Award for best life insurance company that provides protection-based funeral insurance and GLICO GENERAL received two Silver Awards for providing fire and travel insurance to the people of Ashanti region.
Receiving the award on behalf of the GROUP, Nana Efua Rockson, Group Head, Corporate Affairs and Marketing for GLICO GROUP said, we are thrilled to receive this recognition as it underpins our fervent commitment to provide our customers with value-based products that makes their lives easier and secured."
"Being named amongst so many notable companies and worthy peers in the financial industry in Ghana, is a great honor and we dedicate these awards to all our customers," she remarked.
The government on Wednesday, August 3 announced the reduction of aviation fuel by 25%.
Per the directive, a litre of Aviation fuel, which is currently selling at $3.14 now sells at $2.35.
The reduction makes Ghana the second country with the lowest price of aviation fuel in the West African Sub-Region, Mr Asaga said at the meeting.
Mr Asaga added that the reduction will go a long way to making Ghana an aviation hub in Africa.
READ MORE
Meanwhile, the International Air Transport Association says the real effect of the reduction would be felt if the taxes on aviation are reduced, and not the service charges.
His comments follow parliament's ratification of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU.
However, Mr Kareweh in an interview with Citi FM argued that the EU market has always been available to local producers but was quick to add that "market accessibility has to do with ones' competence, external trade measures or administrative measures that were imposed by at the point entry which by itself are not part of the agreement."
READ MORE
He identified additional challenges such as production cost, internal production and administrative challenges that could affect the country's access to the EU market.
According to him, availability of the EU market alone does not necessarily give advantage to Ghanaian producers or processors of agricultural produce to be able to access that market.
so if you look at the production challenges within the country are such that they do not give advantage to Ghanaian producers on the account of the fact that there is now a market in the European Union.
In the report, the two professors challenged the accreditation of the SMC, a challenge to which UPSA issued a response claiming otherwise.
Below is a copy of the rejoinder.
Rejoinder: Developing a Responsive Human Capital for Growth A Forward Looking Progressive Approach by UPSA
We write to commend the administration of the University of Professional Studies (UPS), which has been identified in our investigative report and many other articles in recent times on the question of academic standards, for coming up with a press statement on the issues. Unfortunately, the responses to the substantive issues, by any standards, are unimpressive, drab, and naive.
Before we delve into the main issues, we call upon the UPS administration to acquaint itself with the process of accreditation, locally and internationally. On the press release document are two logos: one for UPSA and the other for ACBSP with the word Accredited beneath it. For the benefit of readers, ACBSP is a body in the USA that accredit business programs offered by institutions.
The two logos posted side-by-side suggests UPS is accredited by ACBSP. But this is gross misrepresentation because ACBSP does not have the jurisdictional mandate to accredit UPS! It may only accredit the business programs offered by UPS. These are two different things.
Academic standards should not be trivialized. It is irrelevant whether or not the university (UPS) was pressed by circumstances at the time of making the decision to seek online doctorate degrees for its teachers.
The idea of creating opportunities for junior lecturers at the university to upgrade themselves is laudable but this should be done the right way. It is regrettable that the University has taken the position that residential doctorate degree training is outdated. On the contrary, it is the convention all over the world, especially for individuals who aspire for academic jobs in properly accredited universities. Indeed, we are utterly surprised that the UPS administration got this wrong.
The notion that over time, all doctorate programs will be offered online is not only ridiculous and absurd, but a clear manifestation of an institution whose leadership lacks a thorough understanding of the academic trajectory. This speaks loudly to the lack of understanding of what Ph.D. training entails, particularly for aspiring academics, and is an affront to the dignity of universities of good standing globally.
But we can understand the position of UPS, considering the fact that a large number of its faculty members either do not have a Ph.D. or are now in the process of pursuing one. The point is that if the Vice-Chancellor of UPS, Joshua Alabi, had gone through the rigors of Ph.D. training himself, before attempting to transform an institutionwhich offered professional programs mostly by distance educationto a university status, his grasp and appreciation of standard practices and processes, including the peer-review process would have been different with desirable outcomes for his students, faculty, and the entire UPS as an institution.
Universities are places of academic excellence. As a result, a university teacher who is seeking an advanced credential must go through rigorous training from a recognized institution of higher learning.
A typical Ph.D. training include about 2-3 years of coursework and 1-2 years of dissertation writing under the strict supervision of a number of renowned professors in a particular field. Unfortunately, online doctorate programs, which are usually setup for profit, do not measure up to these expectations. It is not uncommon to find an individual who has absolutely no training in a discipline parading as a professor in that field in an online institution.
A typical example is Dr Hardy Bouillon who read Philosophy at both undergraduate and graduate level claiming to be an Economics professor at SMC (http://www.smcuniversity.com/about/our-faculty/department-of-economics/). This is the main reason good ranking universities in say Africa, such as University of Cape Town (UCT), rubbish such certificates.
On the issue of SMC, we wish to commend the management of UPS for making attempts at establishing its credibility from the National Accreditation Board (NAB) and the Swiss Embassy. Both letters attached to the press statement noted that although investigations revealed that SMC is accredited, they urged the then Institute of Professional Studies (IPS) contact person to contact one of the institutions they are accredited with for verification of their status.
The fact is that the content of the letter from NAB clearly indicates it plagiarized Martin Saladin (Counsellor & Economic Advisor of the Swiss Embassy). This makes it hard to believe that the verification was independently sought. Secondly, Switzerland has a national board which accredits institutions of higher learning. If SMC offers full time training in Switzerland, as purported by the Swiss Embassy, why is it not accredited by the Swiss National Accreditation Board? What is not good for the Swiss cannot be good for students of UPS and Ghanaian students generally.
We would like to state unequivocally that ACBSP in the USA does not have the mandate to accredit any foreign institution, including SMC. The ACBSP can only certify (or accredit) a program BUT not accredit foreign institute like SMC, which does not have a national accreditation from Switzerland. And an institute that is not accredited places its students and graduates in a dilemma as the one we are discussing. Again, it is rather unfortunate that UPS misrepresented this in their press statement that SMC is accredited by ACBSP.
It sounded so bizarre that a public university in Ghana could resort to pettiness and insinuations in response to a genuine quest for academic excellence by well-meaning academics. Again it is a fact that SMC is not accredited in Switzerland by the nations recognized board for accreditation, and it is not accredited by ACBSP (by their own admission). Perhaps even more troubling is the duration of the doctorate program, which is typically one year (not 4. 79 years falsely reported by UPS).
A typical case in point with regard to individuals with doubtful credentials is the current Pro-Vice Chancellor of the UPS, (Prof.) Abednego Feehi Okoe, who completed a masters degree in Marketing at the University of Ghana on July 25, 2013. By 2015 he held two doctorate degrees: One from SMC and the other from Central University of Nicaragua. In 2016, he was promoted to Associate Professor (by the UPS Council) and also becomes the Pro-Vice Chancellor of UPS.
We are not aware of any serious person in academia who will be jealous of a degree from Central University of Nicaragua and SMC. On the contrary, it is an indictment on our profession and to be quiet is tantamount to connivance and condoning of a dubious scheme that would dilute the substance of the community of scholars that a legitimate Ph.D. Conferral engenders.
While, out of respect for the decorum that should characterize the academic an discourse, we have decided not to join in the degradation ceremony of the UPS (as evidenced in its press statement), we would not countenance any further act involving abusive language, insinuation, and intimidation from any quarters, including that of the UPS. We are not sure any reader of average intelligence will need a torchlight to locate where Ohio University and Georgia Institute Technology are.
We emphasize that if it would take our purported mischief and ignorance to prevent the franchising of poor academic standards on Ghanaian students, particularly students of UPS, so be it. At least, we have not extended our mischief and ignorance to other academics whose credentials are without blemish. If we did the research out of envy because those involved obtained a Ph.D., why should it not be about any other Ph.D. holders in Ghana but those included in the case? In fact, some of the responses sounded childish and painted a sordid picture of the state of academia in UPS.
Perhaps, even more troubling is the promotion process at the University of Professional Studies (UPS) which brings the credibility of the university council into question. Universities are supposed to be power houses of knowledge creation and transmission. The very reason accredited universities all over the world emphasis research as the dominant criteria for promotion. In all disciplines, academic research from university teachers and researchers are supposed to be published in journals that are recognized by scholars within a discipline. Conversely, any publication in a journal that is not approved by the scholars within the discipline is considered inferior or worthless.
The normal publication process starts with conception of a clever idea (value addition is extremely important); developing the idea into a serious research product; submitting the draft paper to a recognized journal; waiting many months for the journal editors decision, which is aided by comments from a number of reviewers of the journal; addressing the comments and resubmitting the revised draft; receiving further feedback from the editor; submitting a second revised version; receiving a final decision; and then waiting for it to be published.
In the social sciences, such as economics, this entire process could take up to 5 years! It could even be longer if the first draft is rejected by the editor, which normally occurs over 80 percent of the time, and has to be submitted afresh to another journal. This is exactly the reason why it takes quite a bit of time for someone to meet the publication criteria for promotion to say a senior lecturer or professorial rank in a good university.
All credible journals are established by institutions and professional bodies. In recent times, however, tons of fake journals, also called predatory journals, have emerged on the Internet, aimed at extorting money from unsuspecting lecturers and researchers in Africa. These journals are established by individuals who largely have absolutely no knowledge of the fields of research purported by the journals. They accept all submissions for publication, provide no or superficial review comments, publish within days or weeks after submission, and charge submission fees ranging from US$80 to US$2000 and upward.
The consequences of this is far reaching if a university accepts such garbage for promotion. An individual who is only qualified as a lecturer (as per his/her research experience) could be carrying a senior lecturer or professorial title. With such a title, the taxpayers has to reward that individual with a higher salary and allowances. Next, he/she may end up designing and teaching upper level courses to students, who upon graduation could become lecturers too.
This obviously creates a vicious cycle of knowledge poverty or deficit. Furthermore, the inferior research published in a predatory journal may wrongly inform policies within the country and the continent. Finally, since the international community cannot be fooled, our universities may retain low rankings and fail to attract foreign students and research collaboration from their Western counterparts.
The UPS, which is supposed to be a public institution, has set the bar too low on many fronts denting the reputation of other good standing public universities in Ghana. Besides allowing its staff to go online and buy doctorate certificates from Nicaragua for $10,000, lecturers are promoted based on sub-standard publications in predatory journals. There has even been a situation where a journal was setup at UPS (Journal of Business Research), with a masters degree holder who had no knowledge of research as the chief editor, serving her interest and that of her husband.
This stands on the roof of ethical misconduct in academia. According to the UPSs own criteria for promotion, 11 and 18 research articles in refereed journals are required for promotion to the ranks of Associate and full Professors, respectively. We challenge the UPS governing council to respond to this letter with proven evidence of refereed/credible publications of the individuals promoted to such ranks.
We would like to remind the media and the general public that as contenders in this debate, we have furnished the Ministry of Education with our report through the Ghana Embassy in Washington, D.C. We have also made the documents available to the media and the general public. Similarly, the UPS and all the alumni of SMC who are moving from one media house to another to state their position have done so. We were not expecting those affected by the report to have acted differently to our findings, as ours was not a hallelujah chorus in celebrating them.
As a matter of fact none of usthe authors of the report, the SMC, the alumni of the SMC, and the NABcan be judges in our own arguments. In our report, we highlighted the conflict of interest position of Professor Paul Buatsi, who concurrently served as a representative of the SMC and at the same time a board member of NAB. We are also aware that after receiving the questionable degrees from the SMC, graduates were made academic auditors for the NAB (e.g., Goski Alabi, the wife of the Vice-Chancellor of UPS, who served in the past as an academic auditor for the NAB). For these reasons, we are not really expecting any meaningful interventions from the NAB at this time. We are patiently waiting for the Ministry of Education and its Minister to study the report, conduct its own investigations, and state its policy position.
While we await the Minister of Education and the Education Ministry to respond to the findings in our report and to determine the way forward, we believe that individuals and institutions who have been identified in the report have an image to protect. Thus, whoever (both individuals and institutions) feels maligned by our report can head to court to seek legal redress under our constitutional provisions.
For now, we would like the Students Representative Councils (SRCs) on Ghanaian university campuses, including the Ghana National Union of Students (NUGS), to independently take up this issue, examine the cases presented carefully, draw their own conclusions, and come up with a position statement on the matter. We also wish to remind the general public and the media that we have identified over 10 institutions and more than 40 individuals in our report.
Our discussion should, therefore, not be solely centered on the SMC and the UPS. Let us examine each case and the evidence provided. This way, our discussions would be more encompassing and focused than focused on only institution stated in the report. It is only by so doing that we can appreciate the magnitude and the scope of the problem. May we express our profound gratitude to the general public for the spirited debate following the release of the report. Let us all come together and save UPS from itself. The future of our children who find themselves in that school are at stake.
It is also heartwarming to learn that the NAB has withdrawn its registration of the SMC and halted any new admissions into its programs. What we make out of this sudden turn of events is that the NAB itself seems to be confused about the actual status of the SMC in Ghana. Based on this new development, there is the urgent need for the evaluation of the course content and the dissertation of the SMC degrees by any of the recognized business schools in GhanaUniversity of Ghana Business School, the University of Cape Coast Business School, and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Business Schoolin order to establish if those degrees are equivalent to any descent or legitimate doctoral degrees either from Ghana or overseas. If they fall short, any of local universities can help in the upgrade and re-confer those degrees. Otherwise, their recognition could be withdrawn.
Finally, we urge the Minister of Education to set up a task force to conduct a wholesale cross-examination of qualifications and publications submitted for promotion in our universities. The threat of dubious qualifications and publications in predatory journals and using them for promotion and tenure is alarming. We will be on hand to provide the needed support to the Minister in unravelling the complexities of predatory journals, should the Minister find it necessary to engage our services.
Prosper Yao Tsikata, Ph.D. , Assistant Professor of Communication - Valdosta State University
At least 598 candidates who sat in the 2016 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) had their entire results cancelled, a statement signed by Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, Head of Public Affairs at WAEC, said.
The statement indicated that 1,576 candidates had their subject results cancelled while some 13 candidates who had their entire results cancelled have also been barred from taking any of the Councils examinations for two years mainly for impersonation during the examination.
Even though WAEC said this years performance is a significant improvement over that of 2015, Nana Akufo-Addo has told the chiefs and people of Sefwi ahwiaso on Wednesday that the outcome of the examination is a reflection of the poor performance of the Mahama-led administration.
...That less than half of Senior Secondary school certification examination had the requisite grades for the university is a very, very sad day for the development of our country, he said.
Nana Addo who is touring the Western Region to canvass votes for the 2016 general elections said the situation requires an urgent response by way of a new policy.
Meanwhile, Head of Public Affairs at WAEC, Agnes Teye-Cudjoe has told Pulse.com.gh that with the exception of those candidates who have been barred for two years, candidates whose subject results or entire results have been cancelled can register and rewrite them.
Background
WAEC indicated that a total of 125,065 students obtained A1 to C6 in English Language, which is 53.19%, 59,725 (25.40%) obtained D7-E8 whilst 46,595 (19.82%) had F9.
The statement said for Mathematics, 77,108 (32.83%) obtained A1-C6; 65,007 (27.68%) obtained D7-E8 whilst 89,477 (38.10%) had F9.
Whether its for a medical or social reasons the power of this herb rings strong for many, despite Ghana Police often arresting and charging people for using it.
Here are some of the more unusual ways we have heard of it being used.
In a soup
On Tuesday August 9, The Ghanaian Times reported on a dawn swoop by the Ashaiman Divisional Police Command which led to the arrest of a couple accused of using cannabis (wee) in the preparation of light soup in their chop bar.
According to a Ghanaian Times report the couple who operate a drinking spot at New York in the Kpone Katamanso District were arrested for allegedly selling narcotic drugs to the public.
Their soup which is sold at the spot is popularly called nkrampi or light sanja (wee light soup)" in the community.
This arrest comes a few months after the Police discovered that substances suspected to be Indian hemp are used in the preparation of toffees.
The police said they found pots of soup, four compressed slabs and 112 wrappers and quantities of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp, 69 pieces of toffees and a bottle of drink all believed to have been prepared with narcotic drugs.
In alcohol
This potent mix has made headlines here, and been condemned by communities and experts.
The drug is mixed with alcohol, and in areas around Tema the drink is known as "Shocker", "Amen" in Osu, and "Wengeze" in Adabraka. In East Legon, the drink is termed "Atemuda".
Pulse reporter Europa Taylor has seen people causing havoc in her community, after apparently ingesting the concoction. Mixing alcohol and marijuana can also cause paranoia, which makes people make flawed or even fatal choices. Alcohol and marijuana are both depressants, which work by slowing down the central nervous system, Psychology Today has said.
As a sweet
Watch out if someone you might not trust offers you a sweet. This is a known way some people will get high. There have been news stories over the past few years of people being arrested for selling marijuana-laced sweets. In September 2015, a drinking bar operator allegedly sold toffees suspected to be laced with cannabis in Kumasi.
Also last year, police in the Eastern Region arrested a woman accused of selling candy made of weed to children in the community. She was accused of being part of a gang which proceseed weed into different products such as cakes and toffees and selling it. Police had said it was a new way for drug dealers to sell in a bid not to be caught.
With eggs
There are rumours every now and then of people starting their days with some nutritious eggs, with a side of weed apparently they will sprinkle the drug over their eggs. Pairing marijuana with food is not uncommon, as we have seen with the couple allegedly selling it in a soup.
In hair
Hemp is a popular product for a lot of health products, from oil to body lotions, It is also used in clothing as a natural fibre. Here in Ghana it is gaining popularity for women's hair. Considered a natural product, hemp is a part of the cannabis plant. According to Ghana beauty company We Naturals, which uses it in some of their products, hemp oil is rich in Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. It is made from the Cannabis sativa plant but has no psychoactive properties. Hemp in products is generally legal in many countries in the world.
The oil contains essential fatty acids which tend to greatly improve the hair condition and contribute to keratin formation, thus making the hair healthier and stronger, We Naturals says on its website. It moisturizes the scalp and hair, stimulates hair growth and strengthens hair to prevent breakage.
GLICO HEALTHCARE was internationally acknowledged by the President of Business Initiative Directions (BID), at an event held at the InterContinental Frankfurt Convention Hall in Germany.
READ ALSO:
BID has over the last 30 years been committed to recognizing, educating and spreading quality culture around the world by encouraging businesses with the presentation of awards so as to continue observing quality standards.
Receiving the award on behalf of GLICO HEALTHCARE, Madam Harriet Tenge, Scheme Manager of GLICO HEALTHCARE, expressed her appreciation, saying that: it is indeed a mark of honour and encouragement which has come to urge us on in our unrelenting efforts in delivering satisfactory services to our customers.
She further stated that, by receiving the 2016 International Arch of Europe Award, GLICO HEALTHCARE will continue to make total quality management a core focus in business strategy to ensure persistent improvement in all work processes in order to maintain the leadership in its sector and community.
Ms. Maame Akua Afriyie Boachie, the Business Development Manager of GLICO HEALTHCARE who stood tall beside the Scheme Manager to pick up the reputable award, could not hide her excitement and gratitude. She also remarked that, this award is a clear indication of the impact of our innovative and unique health insurance products and unparalleled customer services that we deliver to delight our customers.
The Arch of Europe Award seeks to recognize not only the success and excellence of GLICO HEALTHCARE but also to promote efficiency through the implementation of management practices aimed at obtaining results, profitability and increased sales and optimization.
Indeed, by receiving the BID Arch of Europe Award, it signals a clear representation and recognition that GLICO HEALTHCARE follows the path of excellence, promoting the ideals of Social and Business Intelligence as measured by BID.
To this end, the Executive Chairman of GLICO Group Ltd, Dr. Kwame Achampong-Kyei, thanked the Lord for this award articulating with glee that, it is nice to dream and hold a vision of success; but to see that dream materialize and acknowledged internationally is heartwarming and gratifying.
According to a report by Accra based radio station, LiveFM, the body of the deceased was found lying on the highway by a police team that was patrolling the area.
The news of her death broke on Monday evening when her parents confirmed an unidentified body at the morgue as that of the model.
She was last spotted at the Bedouin club in Kasoa before she went missing in the company of a friend.
The police revealed that her death could be as a result of a hit and run but friends of the model who was well known in the Ghanaian fashion industry believes she was brutally murdered by some unknown assailants.
Apaatse made the claim during a TV interview last week that he dated Shatta Michy before Shatta Wale married her. The statement was not well received by fans of Shatta Wale and he came under heavy fans attack.
The rapper came out to explain on Hot93.9fm that his reason for saying that was not to tap into the hype of Shatta Wale or any body else for that matter because he has better songs.
Apaatse who is known for one of the biggest songs the country has ever seen, Wedding Day mentioned that he did the latter song when he was in high school and till date people still enjoy it so why will he come tapping into someone elses hype.
I am very young, at my age, I have released so many hit songs, worked with some international stars and reached the biggest market in the music business Nigeria, so why will I make a statement to tap into someones hype", Apaatse opined.
He lamented by saying: "I have better songs, most of my songs are timeless hence fans of shatta Wale should know that I (Apaatse) just answered a question that I was asked during an interview, period".
Apaatse claims his newest single is currently the street anthem, so why will he leave that and come look for hype from some other artistes.
He explained that provision was not made for payments of such nature in the 2016 budget.
Members of CLOGSAG have been on strike for the past two weeks, demanding that the government pays them their respective market premium before they return to work
The National Labour Commission (NLC) has described the strike as illegal. They explained that the association did not inform them of their action. The Commission, therefore, asked the striking workers to go back to work.
Addressing the media in Accra on Tuesday, Haruna Iddrisu corroborated the demands of the NLC saying negotiations cannot be done when one is on strike. It is not a fair labour practice to be on strike whiles you are negotiating; neither is it fair to be threatened with whether there will be salaries paid or not. Therefore to allow for credibility and respect for the process, we all must come back to the table with clean hands. You must withdraw your strike as you negotiate with the government.
He added that government may disappoint you because the 2016 budget did not contemplate the payment of those related compensation allowances, therefore we should be working into the future and there is room for us to engage further. In January 2017, the government will launch a new market premium policy.
According to the MP, the noise made about his comment was unnecessary as he was only joking.
I said a lot of things on that day, even this one, I was joking, I immediately took my seat after making those commentsyes, I was joking, he told Accra-based Adom FM.
READ ALSO: Gender group demands parliamentary action against Ken Agyapong
The comments did not go down well with some sections of the public, including many civil society organisations and women groups.
The Minister of Gender Children and Social Protection subsequently requested an apology from Mr. Kennedy Agyepong on behalf of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission.
But Kennedy Agyapong believes the Gender Minister should be blamed what he calls the unnecessary reaction to his comment.
There is an element of hypocrisy in this country. Nana Oye Lithur was organising and paying persons GHC20 to go and demonstrate against me because I have made comments against Charlotte Osei, he said.
He explained that the duty of the minister of the gospel does not entail telling their congregation which presidential and parliamentary candidates to vote for.
He was quick to add that the ministers were allowed to educate their congregations on issues that will help them make informed choices.
Rev. Dr Adu-Gyamfi, who is also the President of the Ghana Baptist Convention, said this when he addressed the Ministers Conference of the Ghana Baptist Convention and the 28th Annual Refresher Course, Retreat and Business at Ejura in the Ashanti Region.
He also urged politicians to only make promises they can fulfil. He said they didnt need to make outrageous promises they knew were unattainable.
he quizzed.
The media across the world, particularly in Ghana, is, in terms of ownership and leadership, heavily gender-biased against women he told Accra-based Class FM.
According to Sarpong, this affects the kinds of issues that are selected as news for the papers and bulletins. While men favoured conflict and drama, women leaned towards development, education, health, sanitation issues.
The concern that the commission has is that once this generally may explain the phenomenon, it does not entirely excuse the mediaevery media house has a certain degree of choice in determining who to source content and news from and how to handle questions of selection.
He thus called on the media in Ghana to make a conscious effort to address the imbalance.
A study of over 500 media organisations worldwide by the International Womens Media Foundation in 2011 found that men occupied 70 percent of management positions.
The man, Thomas Aboagye Acheampong was arrested Monday, July 25, 2016, at Halifax Stanfield International Airport after arriving on an Air Canada flight from London, localxpress.ca reports.
Acheampong told a Canada Border Services Agency officer he intended to visit for 17 days but was inconsistent with his answers when asked for further details.
The border officer, during a second examination, found three videos on Acheampongs cellphone showing children having sex with one another.
The six children in the videos appeared to range in age from five to 13, Crown attorney Perry Borden told Dartmouth provincial court.
Acheampong subsequently pleaded guilty to a Criminal Code charge of possessing electronic media depicting the sexual exploitation of children and a Customs Act charge of smuggling prohibited goods.
He has since been sentenced to eight months in jail on each count, with the time to be served concurrently.
The judge, Timothy Gabriel told the offender that If it wasnt for people like you, sir, who possesses this kind of material, there would be no incentive for the monsters doing this to the children...And youre bringing it into Canada!
Let me be very direct. If youre the type of person who doesnt care that children are treated this way that is prepared to contribute to the perpetualization of an industry that treats children this way, youre not the type of person we want in Canada in any event.
The judge has also directed Acheampong to provide a DNA sample for a national databank and register as a sex offender for 10 years.
The NDC propaganda that the vice presidential candidate of the NPP Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, was verified at his residence during the recent voter exhibition exercise, has been shot down by the Electoral Commission.
GHANA IN WRONG DIRECTION SAYS CDD SURVEY
The recent survey of the Centre for Democratic Development has revealed that the majority of Ghanaians believe the country is heading in a wrong direction.
DONT USE HONORARY DOCTORATE TITLE, IT IS WRONG NAB
The National Accreditation Board (NAB) has asked persons who have been confronted with honorary doctorate degrees to desist from using the title Dr, since it is wrong to do so.
GHANA TO WEAN ITSELF FROM GAS SUPPLY FROM NIGERIA
Pe Adams Kwarase whose role is being disputed is alleged to have barred party members in his community from taking part in the election. But the three executives flouted the order by the chief and got themselves banished.
Speaking to Accra-based Starr FM Chairman of the Tigakuri Polling Station Mohammed Akwari said Akwari left behind two wives and eight children.
Chairman for the Tazika Polling Station, Clement Abazang also left behind two old women, a father, a wife and children. He said the chief argued that we as executives should have stopped people from voting and that we failed to ensure that his command was followed.
READ ALSO: Mahama joins Chiefs and people of Mepe to celebrate 62nd Afenorto festival
The three say they have been wandering in Paga doing menial jobs so they send money to their families back home through other people.
The banished three are not the first to experience this. The chief banished three people from the community in 2014 for associating themselves with Paga.
Sources say that a long-standing misunderstanding between the Paga Traditional Council and the chief is the reason for the eviction of all these people.
After he was installed chief, Pe Adams Kwarase is alleged to have sought to declare his area independent from Paga. He also around that period allegedly pronounced his area as no longer part of the Kassena-Nankana West District but rather a divisional domain under the Navrongo Traditional Area in the next-door Kassena-Nankana Municipality.
The banished executives said the chief had warned his subordinates not to engage in any civic business with the district and the constituency.
But the chief described the allegations as untrue linking them to the conflict between him and the Paga Traditional Council.
In a related development, the police say they are investigating a complaint from two people claiming to be banished from the area by the chief.
The Kassena-Nankana West District Police Commander, DSP Isaac Kojo Forson, said actually, thats the allegation they are making, and we are also investigating. At the end of the day, we would know whether its true or not.
The Election Situation rooms will serve as conflict mediation platforms and as coordinating centres for field observation of the elections by civic society and other international election observers.
Senior Research Fellow at IDEG, Kwesi Jonah said the Election situation rooms, which was first experimented in 2008, is part of activities to complement the work of the Electoral Commission and ensure peaceful and credible polls this year.
He said IDEG will be training coordinators to enable them to collect information meticulously.
We are using new guidelines on how to gather the information and how to send information to Accra and how to link up with very important agencies that are connected to the election process, Kwesi Jonah said.
Many have equated the Election Situation rooms with the Strong room of the EC, which collates results.
But Kwesi Jonah said the Election Situation rooms have nothing to do with election results.
The rest have been calling on electorates to vote for them without setting out a clear path they intend to send the country when elected. The IEAs evening encounter with some candidates has been the only chance electorates have had to know the plans of those who seek to govern.
The reason could be because of a fear of copycatting among the parties.
The latest in this years elections has been plagiarism by supporters of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC). It involves a campaign video by the main opposition; New Patriotic Party (NPP) which has been edited by supporters of the NDC with messages of the presidents achievements.
Although this has not been attributed to the party officially, social media has been awash with criticism for this sort of behaviour with some comparing it to Melania Trumps plagiarised speech of Michelle Obama.
This is not the first time, the NDC (in particular) has been accused stealing ideas from other parties.
READ MORE
Key examples of copying
Unfortunately, many of the key examples are not in favour of the government.
1. In 2008, the campaign slogan of the Convention Peoples Party (then led by Dr Nduom), was Yeresesamu translates as we are changing. The NDC (then in office) also adopted it as its slogan leaving Dr Nduom to accuse the party of stealing.
2. In 2012, while the NPP proposed free senior high school education for all, President Mahama argued against a blanket implementation. On the contrary, he promised to build 200 community day schools towards making secondary school education 'progressively free'. Mahama in 2014, in an address to Parliament, announced that his government would be making education free for senior high school students. The NPP has accused the government of bad mouthing the policy for votes only to steal it when they assumed office.
3. In 2015, journalist turned politician, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah (NPP) threatened to sue Moses Karma; an NDC parliamentary candidate aspirant, after his campaign team to unusual inspiration from the campaign photo of Nkrumah. It was very apparent that Karmas campaign team had simply replace Nkrumahs head with his, changed the party colours and passed it off as theirs.
4. The governments message has been that it is Changing Lives, Transforming Ghana. It increasingly looks like this would be the partys slogan in this years elections; except that it sounds too familiar. The title of the NPPs manifesto document in the last election was; Transforming Lives, Transforming Ghana.
5. The NPP have also been accused of stealing 1 district, 1 factory idea from a lesser known politician who has previously run for president. In June, Kofi Akpaloo, flagbearer of the Independent Peoples Party (IPP) of stealing an idea he had already proposed ahead of his return bid for the presidency.
The two main parties have already given indication that their campaign messages are ready. Although the NDC is launching its campaign on Sunday August 13, it is not releasing its manifesto. The NPP have also not given any indication of when it is outdooring its.
Addressing some Muslim youth in Koforidua in the Eastern region, the Member of Parliament said the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition has a long history of discriminating against Muslims when they are in power and will repeat it if Nana Addo gets the nod.
They are accusing several Muslims of not being Ghanaians. In 2000, they claimed that over 631 Muslims were not Ghanaians in Adeisu. Today, that same person is in the Zongos trying to convince you and telling you things. The NPP that is talking to you today cannot be trusted. If you give them the chance to come to power again, they will do the same things to you, Alhaji Collins Dauda said.
He believes Muslims across the country should never entertain the NPP and its flag bearer.
"The NPP looked into my face and told me that because I am Morsi, I am not a Ghanaian and they challenge me to go to court until the court cleared me. These are the people we are talking about. My brothers and sisters, must you entertain someone who has hurt and deprived you in the past? These UP people are not people that the NDC and Muslims must listen to and trust, he stated.
The Local Government and Rural Development Minister added: The battle is between the NPP and the NDC in this elections. Everyone must learn about their history so they can be guided into the future. Some speakers here have already spoken about the Alliance Compliance order and all those things.
When they were sacking people under the Alliance Compliance Order it was a difficult issue. Many prominent Muslims in Koforidua were sacked and made to go away without their properties. My father was a prominent and wealthy man in the Brong Ahafo region too, but Busia ordered for them to go to their hometowns, he said.
Meanwhile, Nana Akufo-Addo in his recent tour of the Central Region cautioned Ghanaians to be wary of what he calls an anti-Moslem propaganda that will be waged against the NPP by appointees and functionaries of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Kofi Portuphy and Johnson Asiedu Nketia visited the trio, who are serving a four month jail sentence at the prison. Among the delegation was the Director of Elections, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo.
Background
The jailed Montie three, Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase alias Mugabe were sentenced to four months in prison by the Supreme Court following contempt proceedings against them.
The contempt proceedings came after the three threatened the lives of Supreme Court judges who sat on the Abu Ramadan and Gary Nimako versus the Electoral Commission case.
A petition book was subsequently opened by pro-government group Research and Advocacy Platform (RAP) to collect signatures of Ghanaians to implore the president to exercise his prerogative of mercy powers to free the three contemnors.
Those who signed the petition included the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hanna Tetteh, Minister of Children, Gender and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, the Minister of Education, Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang and her deputy, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
A counter petition has also been started by the opposition Progressive Peoples Party to urge the president not to pardon the trio.
Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!
Today, Wednesday August 10, 2016, Ibinabo Fiberesima shared a photo of herself which had a quite revealing caption written on it.
ALSO READ: Ibinabo Fiberesima becomes woman rights activist?
"I'm that woman who is always there for people when they need a friend. I'm also that woman who faces many issues alone, but will still do anything to see someone else smile" read the caption.
This year has been trying for the ex-president of the AGN. In March 2015, a Lagos High Court dismissed the actress' appeal of her 5 year jail term.
Fiberesima had been sentenced to five years imprisonment by Justice Deborah Oluwayemi presiding over a Lagos High Court for reckless driving, resulting in the death of a hospital staff of a Lagos State hospital Giwa Suraj in 2006.
After a few weeks at Kirikiri prison, the Appeal court in said it was granting the actress N2million bailpending the determination of a suit filed by her at the Supreme court.
ALSO READ:Ibinabo Fiberesima shares photo of her footballer son
During her time in prison it was reportedly said that she fell ill and a tumour was reportedly removed from her breast.
Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!
It was gathered that the 27-year-old Adamu who was arraigned on a one count charge of assault, stabbed the victim on the stomach on July 29, 2016, at Ajido Bus Stop in the Badagry area, following the argument that erupted between them when Adams gave the conductor a defaced N100 note as his bus fare.
The prosecuting police officer, Inspector Innocent Uko, told the court:
The complainant who was a passenger in the bus, gave the accused a defaced N100 note as his transport fare and this resulted into an argument.
In the middle of it, the accused carried a bottle, broke it and stabbed the complainant on his stomach," he said.
Inspector Uko said the offence contravened Section 171 of Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
When the charge was read to him, Adamu pleaded not guilty and his counsel, Joseph Awuwu, pleaded with the court to grant him bail to the accused in liberal terms, promising that his client would not skip bail and would attend further court hearings.
According to the police prosecutor, Lucky Ihiehie, Okoro who is standing trial on a three-count bordering on indecent treatment, attempt to commit murder and assault, committed the alleged offences sometime in June and again in August, this year.
The complainant who is the girl's stepmother, told the police that Okoro, a furniture maker, had sometime in June, used a dog chain to tie the girl to a ceiling fan and left her there.
The accused tied the daughter to the ceiling because she failed to submit his lotto number to an agent. The indecent assault on the girl was reported by the stepmother, to the Ketu Police Station.
Maria told the police that on August 8 at about 8:00 p.m, Okoro called his daughter to bring her report sheet. When he saw that she failed, he indecently punished her. He told her to lie down and he put the dry in her eyes and all over her body.
Her screams alerted the stepmother who tried to stop him but he beat her up, Ihiehie said.
The offences, according to Ihiehie, contravenes sections 135, 228(1) and 171 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
The disgusting act came to public light when a video of the dehumanizing scene was posted on the social media where the girl was stripped naked and flogged severely on the allegations that she had brought home one of her lovers to have sex with her.
But when Nigerians rose in their numbers to condemn the act, higher authourities including the including the lawmaker representing Onicha, Ohaozara and Ivo Federal Constituency, Hon. Linus Abaa Okorie, who took up the case and vowed to unravel the brains behind such a dastardly act.
Further investigations later unveiled that the girl was actually innocent of the crimes she was accused of, as the man in question was not her father but Odi, who had ordered his brother, Enekwachi Ene Odi, and his police orderlies to deal with the girl because she refused to sleep with him.
Also Read: "Double Tragedy: Police kill man on his way to sister's burial"
Another of such questions were raised with the alleged killing of a 27-year-old young man identified as Iyke Ogbonnaya, by the police on Sunday, August 7, 2016, at about 10am, after he was arrested following a fight that broke out in their area in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State.
The victim's brother, Kalu Ogbonnaya, took to his Facebook page to bemoan the fate that befell his family with the killing of his brother over what he did not know about.
This is what Kalu wrote:
"My fellow Nigerians, you people should see what the Nigeria police has done to my beloved brother, Iyke ogbonnaya."
Also Read: "Recklessness on Duty: Police kill man during neighbourhood raid"
According to a Facebook user, Annybrown Ahanmisi, the suspect whose name is Damilare but uses jerryboidasaint on his social media accounts, claims to be a graduate of Mechanical Engineering at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, but lives in Abuja.
On June 29, 2016, Ahanmisi had taken to her Facebook page to issue a warning about the antics of Damilare, saying he is a common thief and a fraudster who stole her sister's phone, gold jewelry and money, urging people to be careful around him.
Damilare allegedly fled to Ghana when the heat was becoming too much for him.
See the post here
But nemesis pursued Damilare to Ghana and his light fingers landed him in hot trouble after he allegedly stole a phone belonging to a lady and was caught in the act.
He was given the jungle beating after he was stripped naked and after he had had enough of the beating, he was handed over to the police.
The warning was contained in a circular sent out from the office of Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai.
The circular was titled Plans by Boko Haram terrorists group to attack in FCT and other parts of the country.
It reads:
Information at the disposal of this headquarters strongly point to plans by Boko Haram terrorists group to attack various locations in the country. The targeted areas include but not limited to police stations, prison facilities, schools and market places.
Details show that the terrorist group intend to target police stations and formations in Abuja, Kano and Imo states. Similarly, schools that are being re-opened in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states are also at risks, in the light of the wide ranging plot by the group to cause large-scale destruction.
In view of the above, I am directed to inform you of this imminent threat and respectfully request that you take all necessary proactive measure to prevent Boko Haram terrorists from carrying out these heinous acts.
Fresh concerns about Boko Harams capacity arose recently due to the naming of a new leader by the Islamic State (ISIS).
ALSO READ: Shekau vows to fight on in new video
ISIS ejected eccentric leader, Abubakar Shekau and replaced him with Abu Musab Al-Barnawi, a former spokesman for the Nigerian sect.
They (Boko Haram refugees) will soon start showing up on the Mediterraneans shores, the report quoted a source close to Nigerias National Intelligence Agency as saying.
Some of these people are trained suicide bombers and fighters, including children as young as 10. They have all been indoctrinated by Boko Haram and they could soon turn up in Europes capitals, the source added.
The report adds that human traffickers from Boko Haram are transporting girls and young men across the Sahara Desert into Libya.
Meanwhile, the United Nations (UN) International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has warned that trafficking of Nigerian women from Libya to Italy is reaching crisis levels.
According to the IOM, about 3,600 Nigerian women arrived by boat into Italy in the first half of 2016 and more than 80% of that number will be trafficked into prostitution in Italy and across Europe.
ALSO READ: Why ISIS removed Shekau
The recent activities of Boko Haram have been attracting global attention following the naming of a new leader for the sect by the Islamic State (ISIS).
The lawmaker made the comments via a statement released on Tuesday, August 9, 2016.
The statement reads:
The only reason why they wanted me out is my independent-mindedness, resistance to corruption and my refusal to play ball on the gross abuse of office they institutionalised in the house.
They simply want to have someone that can do their corrupt bidding. Now that I have exposed the fact that speaker Dogara and the three others are the padders, padding is no longer an offence, Shame! Shame!! and shame!!!.
Let me also state that contrary to some myopic opinion that it would affect the institution of the house, it will rather free the institution of the grip of these corrupt vested interests, restore its integrity and shape it to become a pride to Nigerians home and abroad.
While speaker Dogara and the other 12 corrupt members are running from pillar to post trying to redefine padding, avoid the anti-corruption agencies, looking for cover or soft landing, I have held several meetings with the agencies, provided useful documents and vital information. They obviously have so much to hide, so much to fear.
ALSO READ: EFCC grills Jibrin over allegations against Dogara
Dogara said earlier that he wont vacate his office because budget padding is not a crime.
Jibrin was invited by the anti-graft agency over a petition which he submitted.
The former chairman accused the House Speaker, Yakubu Dogara and other principal officers of the Green Chambers of budget padding.
The source also told Punch that Jibrin came to our office to honour an invitation. His petition was voluminous and we needed clarification. He submitted more documents before leaving. We told him that we could call him again at any time.
Based on the allegations and documents he submitted, we will invite other lawmakers, especially Dogara, and members of the appropriations committee.
Jibrin also called for a thorough probe into his allegations of budget padding by Dogara and other principal officers of the House.
He said Now that I have exposed the fact that Speaker Dogara and the three others have padded the budget, padding is no longer an offence. Shame!
There is massive individual and institutional corruption in the House of Representatives. All Nigerians have a responsibility to avail themselves of this rare opportunity to flush out corruption in the House.
Meanwhile, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na'Abba, has called for proper investigation of the role played by officials in the executive arm in the current budget padding controversy.
Yesufu who spoke exclusively with Pulse correspondent in Abuja lauded the efforts of the Nigerian Army in northeast but stated that a lot more still needs to be done by the federal government.
She lamented the information gap between the government and Nigerians.
"Our sisters are there in Sambisa, they are waiting for this nation to rescue them and up till now they haven't," she said.
"I don't think government is doing enough. A lot has been done in the fight against insurgency but there is a whole lot that needs to be done that is not being done.
", you remember was found, she is one of our 219 Chibok girls and that is how we have 218 in captivity and what are the informations she brought. How has the federal government used the information she provided?
"Lots of people keep asking why we have continued to gather everyday. I always ask them; 'If your daughter was abducted will pack your things and go home and give up on that?' So why do they feel that we should give up on our Chibok girls? is it because we have not carried them in our wombs, because they are poor, is it because they dare to be educated or is it because they are Nigerians.
"Basically, that is the problem with us as a nation we always feel we want to move on from certain things, we can't move on from certain things until we see it through to the end and learn lessons from that.
"Our efforts won't end until all our 218 girls are accounted for, all abductees are rescued and we have an end to the insurgency," she said.
The group made the called at peaceful protest to the Nigeria Police Headquarters in Abuja.
President of the group, Bishop Musa Fomson expressed worry that hoodlums may take advantage of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) massive protest to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
"Any further agitation that anyone has should now be addressed by institutions of the state especially in view of the fact that the Commission has presented its report to Kaduna state governor, Mallam .
"Those that have grievances can therefore approach the court to air them even as we recognize that national interest and security will play crucial roles in what the court and even the military decide.
"We have however seen that the IMN as a sect is bent on fomenting trouble with the controversial trek its members are undertaking from Kaduna to the FCT. The trek was preceded and is being backed with demonstrations in several cities of the northern states," he said.
Bishop Fosman charged the Northern Governors Forum to 'arrest' the growth of extremism being promoted by the sect.
Habila Joshak, a deputy inspector general of police who received the protesters stated that the force would act on the group's request.
The theme of the meeting which was organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Culture was `` Towards Effective Implementation of the 2016 Budget.
The minister said that the ministry inherited 206 uncompleted road projects across the country, adding that contractors of most of the projects had since been mobilised to site.
According to him, the Federal Government has paid N300 billion for various projects since the budget was passed out of which the ministry received N102 billion.
He added that of the sum received, the ministry had embarked on several road and electricity projects, including the rebuilding of the Mambilla and Zugeru Power Plants, among others.
He, however, said that though the country was going through challenges, the change Nigerians desired was possible, if every one remained focus and determined.
"We are mindful that it is a tough time, but life will get back to normal. We are not a repository of knowledge; so we are willing to hear from you and make amends.
Foshola, however, debunked insinuations that he was saddled with too many responsibilities as a minister of three ministries combined.
He explained that his duty in the ministry was supervisory and directional, adding that the portfolio was not too much for him as was being speculated.
"For me, it is to serve my country in whatever capacity I am told to do so.''
He said that that one of the ministry`s greatest challenges was human-related, adding that some communities went to the extent of forestalling projects with spiritual power.
Speaking also, the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, said that the government inherited 1.2 million public servants and spent N165 billion monthly as salaries.
She added that the government had been able to save N8 billion from the monthly pay roll of public servants due to various strategies introduced to block loopholes.
She maintained that the country`s present economic challenges was not peculiar to Nigeria, adding that the economies of most western countries were built out of their diversity.
"Change can be extremely painful, but we must change.
She further added that to come out of the country`s present economic challenges, there was the need for financial discipline as well as investing in capital to attract private capital investors.
The government, she said, had no choice than to borrow to invest in the country`s infrastructure, adding that this was the only way to create jobs.
"We have a very conservative borrowing programme; we will borrow conservatively so we dont burden the future generation.
"We must borrow, not like in the past when loans were taken to pay salaries; we will this time, borrow to invest and build our infrastructures.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that meeting, which was attended by the Ministers of Agriculture and Rural Development, Power, Works and Housing, Finance, Information and Culture, Budget and National Planning and Foreign Affairs, was the sixth in the series of town hall meetings.
The ministers took time to brief the audience on what the Federal Government was doing in their various ministries to address the country`s challenges and improve the economy.
This is coming after Jonathan debunked the allegation that he is the founder of the Niger Delta militant group.
The RNDA, in a statement sent to Pulse News, titled: How NDA Was Formed, the spokesperson of the group, Cynthia Whyte, insisted that GEJ is the founder of the NDA.
Whyte also alleged that the Niger Delta Avengers was formed to counter the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), after secret talks with Charles Okah failed.
The RNDA spokesperson said the name, Avengers came from the lips of former President Jonathan.
Read the full statement: To cut a long story short, NDA was formed to counter MEND but failed. It therefore did not come to the Reformed Niger Delta Avengers (RNDA) as a surprise that the Grand Patron of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has distanced himself from the NDA. Like every sponsor, sympathizer and operative earlier mentioned who has equally denied links with the Avengers, we can understand the wisdom behind their decision; as their participation was always meant to be covert.
After a clandestine meeting in Otuoke, Bayelsa state in 2014 between the Grand Patron and several unidentified persons ahead of the Presidential election campaign of 2015, it was agreed that the Okah brothers should be contacted to reach out to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to endorse former President Goodluck Jonathan, and work with the group of persons to ensure victory for the PDP and President Jonathan.
At the time, because MEND was the suggested tool, the NDA as a body was not yet formed.
Mr Kingsley Kuku and Mr. Gordon Obuah, SA on Niger Delta and Chief Security Officer to President Jonathan, respectively were selected to visit Charles Okah in Kuje prison. Mr Daniel Alabrah was given the assignment to draft an endorsement statement for Charles Okah to go through and pass on to MEND.
The duo reported back that they had visited Okah in Kuje prison at night with the promise of his release along with others should he cooperate to get MEND to endorse Jonathan.
It therefore came as a shock when MEND did the opposite and endorsed Buhari. Mr. Jonathan was livid with anger and swore that the Okah's would rot in prison.
It was also agreed that a show of force be put up in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state where ex-militants led by Government Ekpemupolo and Kingsley Kuku would threaten war should the electorate vote in Buhari's favour.
It was around that period the idea of forming the Niger Delta Avengers was conceived. In fact the name "Avengers" came from the lips of Goodluck Jonathan.
As election day approached, certain stakeholders were mobilized to form a force to standby and ensure total anarchy in the South-South and South-East within 24 hours if the election results were not favourable to Jonathan. It took everyone by surprise to learn that Mr
Jonathan had conceded defeat even before the final results were released. The standby force who were to attack specific targets were told to stand down. They were all compensated in US dollars cash.
The Niger Delta Avengers was born from the failure at the polls and would now be used as an organ to make the Buhari government ungovernable, bring economic hardship and cause hatred for the administration towards failure at the 2019 general elections.
MEND was aware of this plot through a spy that could not be identified, and the group began its campaign to counter every effort of the NDA and the Biafra agitators to this day. MEND has been a thorn in the flesh because MENDs successful propaganda has caused the split in our ranks today.
If former President Jonathan provokes us further with denials of this revelation, we will reveal more sordid details. The prison authorities in Kuje who witnessed the closed door meeting from the outside can attest to that night visit of November 2014.
The Reformed Niger Delta Avengers (RNDA) named Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, former Governor, Godswill Akpabio and Raymond Dokpesi, Government Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo),the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB),Kingsley Kuku, Kimi Angozi, Patrick Akpobolokemi, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state and a host of others, as sponsors of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA).
Jonathan also alleged that the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is plotting to assassinate him.
The students denounced membership of different cult groups during an interactive session between heads of tertiary institutions in the state and the Coordinator of Campus Cult Eradication Foundation, an NGO.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the students took turns to denounce their membership of the groups in a meeting that was co-sponsored by the police.
Miss Blessing Ibrahim, a student of Benue Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, who renounced her membership at the meeting, told NAN that she did so owing to the non-beneficial nature of cultism.
Another, Mr Samson Adakachi, also said he was recanting his membership of the group because of its heinous activities.
Adakachi said the devilish activities of his cult gang, ``the vikies" were ``unimaginable".
The ex-cultists said that they were tired of their association with the groups and willingly denounced their membership.
Speaking during the interactive session, Prof. Mathias Nder, Rector, Katsina-Ala College of Education, Katsina-Ala, said cult activities posed serious security challenges to the institution.
Nder said that most lecturers in the school live under threats of physical harassment from cult groups who demanded money in exchange for attacks.
He regretted that most institutions in the state lacked the requisite security to deal with the emerging security threat.
Nder appealed to the State Government to grant approval to schools to include the study of Ethics and Morals in their academic curriculum.
"The increased cases of insecurity in the state is as a result of the collapse in the social values of our society today.
"Therefore, we need to include ethics and moral courses in the academic curriculum since the culture of a people is buried in the people's language.
On his part, the State Commissioner of Police, Mr Bashir Makama, assured that the command would provide adequate protection to the ex-cultists and urged them to encourage their old members to also renounce their cult membership.
Makama warned that the command would not fold its arms and watch cult groups unleash terror on innocent citizens.
Earlier in an address, Mr Samuel Ejembi, founder of the Campus Cult Eradication Foundation, described cultism as a "deadly menace that has destroyed lives of many innocent Nigerian citizens".
Ejembi decried the ills of cultism, noting that most of its adherents are initiated without knowing the inherent dangers.
He said the ex-cultists were the best instruments against the evil group in the state; stressing that it is a threat to security in any state.
According to Vanguard, the company's Escravos Tank Farm workers were evacuated at around 4pm on Wednesday, August 10, when the protest worsened.
An Aero plane just landed like 40 minutes back to continue evacuation of top staff from the tank farm. This is in addition to other staff, earlier evacuated with the choppers. But junior staff is not going in or out company because of the tense situation, the newspaper quoted a security staff of the company as saying.
The aggrieved villagers, who are protesting the alleged neglect and discrimination by the multinational oil conglomerate, were said to have occupied the company's premises, saying they will not vacate the place until their demands are addressed.
ALSO READ: NNPC loses over N26bn in June, blames Niger Delta Avengers
The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) said it would leave no stone unturned to resolve the impasse between drivers and their employer.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the drivers on Tuesday downed tools to protest alleged delayed salary payment and unfavourable conditions of service.
The scheme, which provides bus services on a dedicated corridor or lane, is being operated by Primero Transport Services Limited.
Mr Iyiola Adegboye, LAMATAs Acting Managing Director, who addressed the protesting drivers, said the agency was concerned about the possible impact of the strike on commuters.
"What we have done is to speak to the busmen and we have assured them that the state government is ready to listen to their demands, he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after addressing workers.
"We have invited their representatives for a meeting at which we would discuss the issues, look into their grievances and then see how we will address them.
"But we have asked them to go back to the road and we believe that they will comply with that, he said.
Adegboye appealed to stranded commuters, especially residents of Ikorodu, asking them to bear with the government.
"What has happened is not something that was not expected.
"We appreciate the fact that they are going through a lot of pressure now but we want to ask that they should please bear with us.
The inmates broke out of their cells on Tuesday, August 9, 2016, and scaled the prison fence, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The inmates carefully opened their cells and scaled the perimeter fence of the prisons, a prison source told NAN.
Before prison officials on night duty knew what was happening, about 15 inmates had escaped.
The jailbreak has also been confirmed by the Controller of the prison, Lawrence Okonkwo who however refused to specify how many prisoners escaped.
Yes there was a jailbreak last night in Nsukka prison but I am not in a position to say how many prisoners escaped, he said according to The Cable.
We are expecting the Enugu state prisons controller, Mr Isaiah Amariri, in Nsukka prison so that we brief him on what happened last night. He will be the one to tell the public the number of inmates that escaped, the re-arrested ones and efforts put in place to arrest those still on the run, he added.
ALSO READ: 5 inmates recaptured after escape from Koton Karfe prison
In all our years of legislative engagement, we have yet to find in the legislative lexicon the word, padding. When the budget is presented before the legislature, the legislature is to consider the budget and pass as it deems fit.
So, what the legislature passes becomes the Appropriation Act upon assent. Therefore, any word which has yet to crystallise in legislative lexicon, you cannot hear us mention it," he said.
Enang said this after appearing before the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership to state the Presidencys stand in the ongoing budget padding scandal rocking the House of Representatives.
He also said We have given explanation on every issue. There is nothing, to our knowledge, like padding of the budget. The budget, as assented to by the President, is the budget passed by the National Assembly and it is being executed.
For now, the party is handling it as a domestic issue; a party issue. All of us have been told not to make public comments because the matter is still under consideration.
We will not want to go into the details so that we will not breach the partys directive or pre-empt the outcome of the partys probe.
Abdulmumin Jibrin accused the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and other principal officers of padding the 2016 budget.
The minister who was speaking on Tuesday, August 9, at a town hall meeting in Abuja said that the federal government is, however, exercising caution about its borrowing to avoid leaving a heavy debt burden for future generations.
Adeosun said: We have a very conservative borrowing programme, and we must borrow; because to do rail the rail that we have now was done in the colonial era there has been really significant upgrade.
We have urgently to do rail to enable agriculture and solid minerals to be competitive, so I really dont see that there is any option than to borrow.
We will borrow sustainably; we would borrow conservatively to make sure that we dont burden future generation.
She noted that unlike in the past, the federal government will not borrow to fund recurrent expenditure, instead its focus is on developing infrastructure.
The difference is, weve been borrowing in the past to pay salaries; now we borrow to invest.
When you borrow to invest, there is an expectation that there will be additional revenue that will service those borrowings.
I think that is the clear difference. I dont think people should be unduly concerned about borrowing; we have to borrow, we have no choice but we will borrow as strictly as possible.
This is why we have approached the World Bank and export credit organisations that provide concessional loans. We are taking concessional loans before going for commercial loans, the minister said.
Adeosun added that the size of the public sector shows that the private sector, which should be the major employer, was not developed.
She said investments in infrastructure have become imperative in order to create an environment for the growth of the private sector.
------------------------------------------------
According to Vanguard, the trunk line conveying crude from Isoko to the Eriemu manifold Urhobo nationality, which belongs to NPDC and Shoreline Resources, was bombed on Wednesday, August 10.
The group had in a statement last night, said the Central Operational Command of the group has approved the commencement of demolition and evacuation of uplands tagged Operation Zero to correct the wrongs that have afflicted on the people of the region for many years.
In the statement signed by its spokesman, self-styled General Aldo Agbalaja, the group warned the Federal Government to stop negotiating with the Ijaw ethnic nationality alone.
Announcing today's the attack on the oil facility, the group said: As a mark of our seriousness and to prove we are people of our words, at about 02.00hours of today; Wednesday, August 10, 2016, operatives of the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate brought down a major trunk delivery line from Isoko to the Eriemu Manifold in Urhobo, belonging to the NPDC/Shoreline Resources.
We would also want to use this medium to give a very strong warning to the operatives of the asset NPDC/Shorelines not to commence repairs pending when they get signals from us, otherwise the inevitable may occur to their personnel, as we have earlier warned them to begin evacuating the uplands.
This is just a glimpse of what is to come, there are several assets already penned down for destruction. This line of action has been made inevitable by an unjust system, which only responds to the violent to the detriment of the peaceful and law abiding.
ALSO READ: RNDA threatens to expose Jonathan's link with Niger Delta Avengers
He stated this in Abuja during a forum tagged 'The Podium', organised by The Kukah Centre in collaboration with the Ford Foundation.
He said: "This is where I'm different. I still insist any government who wants to be taken seriously must have a national minimum wage.
"We must maintain a national minimum wage, look for ways to increase it; that is what I still advocate for.''
Giving an informal account of his stewardship and why he carried out most of his actions, the governor said he stayed true to his activism years by not owing salaries.
"Activism is not synonymous with being progressive. I believe we should all be idealistic and not dismiss the possibility of an ideal society.
"One man's idealism is another man's reality. Wages paid to people is not burden.
"In Edo we increased it to 38 per cent and I'm proud to still pay before the last day of every month,'' Oshiomhole said.
He explained that complaints about salaries from the state were mostly about the 18 months pension arrears he inherited and the inability of local governments to pay their staff.
"We respect the autonomy of the Local Government but we insisted that if they cannot do environmental sanitation, waste management, grading rural roads, cleaning up the market at least you must pay the teachers salaries.
"So I am not responsible for non-payment at that level. Non-payment of wages is a criminal breach in the law of contract.
"You can pay daily, weekly, monthly but not in excess of 30 days, you are breaching the agreement,'' he said.
Oshiomhole said as an activist he was in governance to know the ropes, know how to help people and counter concepts like god-fatherism in politics.
"I have been militant, will remain a militant and retire a militant not with guns. I don't burst pipelines but we must react to sayings like the 'if you can't beat them join them'.''
For today, August 10 2016:
THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER
South West PDP rejects zoning of chairman position to Lagos
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership in the South West yesterday rejected the Mondays zoning of the chairman position of the party to Lagos State by some PDP Governors and leaders of the party.
Army hunts for killers of soldiers in Bayelsa
A manhunt has begun for militants who killed three soldiers attached to the Operation Delta Safe in Bayelsa State on Monday, according to the Nigerian Army. READ MORE
Osinbajo sustains conversation on reparation for slavery
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said yesterday that issues relating to reparations for slavery can only be delayed and not denied.
THE VANGUARD NEWSPAPER
Budget Padding: EFCC grills Jibrin for seven hours
ABUJA The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday, commenced a formal probe into alleged padding of the 2016 federal budget, with the former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin being grilled for seven hours. READ MORE
Anti-graft war: NPCC to take over prosecution of ex-govs
ABUJA The Federal Government has given the National Prosecution Coordination Committee, NPCC, the nod to take over the trial of high profile public officers, especially former governors, alleged to have looted their state treasuries
CBN sets new limit for sale of foreign exchange cash to BDC
LAGOS The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday, set a new limit of $30, 000.00 per week for the sale of foreign exchange cash from the Authorised Dealers, ADs to Bureaux de Change, BDCs, just as the Naira depreciated to N350 per dollar.
THE PUNCH NEWSPAPER
Town hall drama: Nigerians tackle Buharis ministers
Nigerians on Tuesday tackled members of President Muhammadu Buharis cabinet about poverty and rot in the country at a dramatic town hall meeting in Abuja.
Jonathan using Avengers to destabilise Buhari govt MEND
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta says it has been vindicated by the Reformed Niger Delta Avengers allegation that former President Goodluck Jonathan is a grand patron of new militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers.
Presidency backs Dogara, says budget not padded
The Presidency on Tuesday said the 2016 budget, which President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law, was not padded. READ MORE
THE NATION NEWSPAPER
Budget padding: EFCC writes Clerk, Perm Sec
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has written the National Assembly Clerk, Mohammed Sani Omolori, and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Budget and National Planning over the budget padding scandal, it was learnt yesterday.
Lagos to seize properties used by kidnappers
THE Lagos State Government yesterday warned that it will not hesitate to confiscate houses and hotels used as hideouts for kidnapping and other criminal activities.
Troops swoop on creeks for soldiers killers
The military swung into action yesterday, combing some creeks and waterways in Bayelsa State for the militants who killed three soldiers at a checkpoint near Nembe Jetty on Monday.
THE BUSINESS DAY NEWSPAPER
CBN tightens noose on its lending window
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday barred all authorised dealers from accessing its discount window standing lending facility (SFL) on the settlement date for government securities' auction, in a renewed effort at monitoring and managing banking system liquidity.
Recession creates opportunities to formalise export, mining sectors
The economic recession currently besetting Nigeria provides big opportunities to formalise the export and solid minerals sectors an enable them serve as engines of growth rebound, experts say.
Experts see devaluation gains on Eurobond auction
Directed by Ron Howard and written by David Koepp, the upcoming mystery thriller is based on 2013 novel of the same name by Dan Brown, and is the sequel to "Angels and Demons."
The movie stars Tom Hanks reprising his role as Robert Langdon, alongside Felicity Jones, Omar Sy, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Ben Foster, and Irrfan Khan.
ALSO READ: undefined
About film
Robert Langdon awakens in a hospital room in Florence, Italy, with no memory as to what has transpired over the last few days. He suddenly finds himself, again, the target of a major manhunt. But with the help of Dr. Sienna Brooks, and his knowledge of symbology, Langdon will try to regain his freedom, and lost memories, all whilst solving the most intricate riddle he's ever faced.
ALSO READ: undefined
The franchise launched with "The Da Vinci Code" in 2006 and continued with "Angels and Demons" in 2009.
Filming kicked off on April 27, 2015 in Venice, Italy, and wrapped on July 21, 2015 in Budapest.
In July 2013, Sony set "Inferno" for a December 18, 2015 release, but rescheduled as a result of its clash with "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
Duke said this in Abuja on Wednesday, August 10, while speaking at a programme organised by the Kukah centre, themed From activism to political power: the challenges of democratic governance in Nigeria.
He criticised the 'change' mantra of the President Muhammad Buhari administration, saying "time will tell".
Duke said: Sadly, politicians in our society are jobbers and padders and apply the word change.
As a member of the PDP or what is left of it, the change they do me one kind. So change is not always necessarily the way to go, as for the change wey we dey so. Only time will tell.
According to him, the confusion for activists who get into political office is between the theories espoused and the reality on ground.
MEND also criticized Jonathan for not properly responding to allegations raised by the Reformed Niger Delta Avengers (RNDA) on his connection to NDA.
The group made the comment via a statement released by spokesman, Jomo Gbomo on Tuesday, August 9, 2016.
It reads:
MEND cannot hold brief for the RNDA, which pointedly accused Mr. Jonathan of complicity in fueling the ongoing Niger Delta crisis and patronising the NDA, apparently for political reasons.
We are, however, quick to point out the fact that the RNDA has merely vindicated MENDs belief and conviction that the former President and his cronies, who lost the 2015 presidential election, were using the illegal and treasonable NDA platform to destabilise President Buharis government.
Indeed, the problem in the Niger Delta today has nothing to do with the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Far from it! The problem is simply the failure of Mr. Jonathan to address the root issues confronting the region when he was at the helms of affairs.
Even though he was from the impoverished region and had, by his own admission in numerous electioneering campaigns, experienced the utter poverty and abject neglect of the region foisted by successive Nigerian governments and the international oil companies since the discovery of oil in 1958 at Oloibiri (a few metres away from his native Otuoke) in Bayelsa State, Mr. Jonathan disappointingly frittered away the opportunity to rescue his people when the Nigerian Presidency fortuitously landed on his laps, virtually on a platter of gold.
For six whole years, Mr. Jonathan was busy drinking, making merry and generally chasing shadows at the State House. Such a fellow deserves to be ostracised from the assembly of reasonable men; because the Nigerian Presidency might never come back to the Niger Delta region as cheap as it came to Mr. Jonathan; perhaps, in the next 100 years.
Lest we forget, MEND was at the forefront of the armed struggle back in 2006/2007 which forced the then Government of President Olusegun Obasanjo to consider the option of drafting an Ijaw into the mainstream of Nigerian politics.
That was how the perpetually timid and naive Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan became Vice-President and later, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. When he assumed the reins as President, he did the unthinkable; he tracked down perceived MEND leaders and promptly got them imprisoned on a trumped-up charge of attempt to assassinate him.
Up until today, Mr. Jonathan is still suffering from an assassination paranoia complex.
ALSO READ: Goodluck Jonathan denies links with Niger Delta Avengers
Jonathan had accused MEND of plotting to assassinate him while denying claims that he was a sponsor of NDA.
The RNDA is claiming to be a faction of the NDA and also named Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and former Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio as sponsors of the latter group.
Agbaje also admitted that the PDP had made mistakes in the past but it would soon be reformed.
The PDP gave way so that Nigerians can test what other parties have in stock. But it is regrettable that party has failed to provide the change promised. Every youth in Nigeria will like to see PDP reformed, and the reformation has started, Agbaje said according to Vanguard.
We accept that mistakes were made in the past in the PDP, especially with our internal democracy. So we have to go back to the position of the founding fathers of our party on internal democracy.
And that means that we have go back to our constitution. That is very important. We have to be more all-inclusive as we have been thus far. It is about bringing people nearer rather than sending them far away from the party. Everybody must feel to be part of this party.
What I bring to the table is that I am not a member of any faction or any tendencies. I am in a position to talk to everybody, to ensure that if you love the PDP, then it is time to come back to the zone.
I will appeal to those who feel very strongly to join us because Nigeria cannot make the progress it deserves without a viable opposition and that PDP is going to provide that opposition as an alternative government and in a responsible manner, he added.
The PDP is currently involved in a leadership crisis due to the refusal of former chairman, Ali Modu Sheriff to vacate the office.
Speaking in an interview with Punch on Tuesday, August 9, the South-West Zonal Chairman of the party, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe, said they will meet and choose their preferred candidate before the party's August 17, national convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Mimiko and Fayose were said to have hosted a factional meeting in Akure on Monday to decide on the zoning arrangement of the positions allocated to the south-west - the meeting Ogundipe described as a nullity and non-inclusive.
He said: We wont allow Mimiko and Fayose to impose any national chairman on members of the party from the zone and the country in general.
The Akure meeting is a nullity because they didnt even allow the genuine delegates to have access to the venue of the meeting.
A meeting that was dominated by non-delegates to the national convention, statutory delegates were barred and so on, cannot be said to be in the interest of the party in our zone.
It is sad that even when a court of competent jurisdiction gave a valid judgement that our executive should be in office till 2018, the governors are disregarding it.
We wont go anywhere if we continue to choose the judgement to obey and the one to disregard. We are therefore meeting at Ibadan this week to take a constitutional decision on the issue.
The factional leaders, at the Akure meeting, had zoned the office of the national chairman to Ogun and Lagos states, Ekiti and Ondo states were allocated the office of the national treasurer, while the deputy national publicity secretary slot went to Oyo and Osun states
According to reports, the Independent National Electoral Commission only recognises the Makanjuola-led zonal executive, which was said to have been excluded from the Akure meeting.
Members of the Ogun State executive committee were also said to have been prevented from gaining access to the venue of the meeting.
ALSO READ: Sheriff says BoT peace committee members are part of party's problem
He said President Buhari, if I remember correctly, even said he was going to stop it (sponsoring pilgrimages). So, I am shocked that in 2016, government is still sponsoring people to Jerusalem or Mecca for pilgrimage.
People should spend their hard earned money to promote the advancement of their religion. What government is doing is totally dishonest and a misdirection of national wealth. What if tomorrow, pagan worshippers say they want to go to Haiti? Would government start sponsoring them to go there?
The clergyman also said it is wrong for the government to involve itself in the sponsorship of pilgrims.
Adding that If tomorrow, the Ifa people say they want to start going to Brazil, will the government sponsor them? Or if a sizeable number of Nigerians are becoming Hare Krishna, would we start sponsoring them to go to India? We dont have just two religions in Nigeria.
These are contentious, explosive issues that government should have nothing to do with. Anybody who believes he must go to Jerusalem should talk to God. If God wants you to go, he will give you money. The same goes for anyone who wants to go to Mecca.
80,000 Muslim pilgrims are expected to travel to Saudi-Arabia for the 2016 Hajj.
Speaking in Ibadan, he also disclosed that the university receives about N150 million only from the federal government which was inadequate for effective management.
Olayinka, who spoke on the ongoing strike by the non-teaching staff of the institution, called on the federal government to consider the premier university for special intervention fund to be able to meet its mandate of teaching and research effectively, added that funding the university for research would be of great benefit to the country.
ALSO READ: Varsity shut down over staff protests
He appealed to the government to pay all outstanding shortfalls owed the university to guarantee peace and enhance productivity among staff.
Olayinka acknowledged, with gratitude, the receipt of N422 million shortfall of salary arrears from the federal government for January through April this year.
In his speech, he also appealed to the striking members of staff to return to work.
"The overhead cost that we receive from the federal government in a year for running the institution can barely last us for a month. We need to pay for electricity, diesel, internet bandwidth, pay our external examiners, maintain buildings, fuel official vehicles, among other items of expenditure.'
Demonstrations began popping up in November 2015 in the Oromia region, which surrounds the capital, due to a government plan to expand the boundaries of Addis Ababa.
The region's Oromo people feared their farmland would be seized, and though the authorities soon dropped the urban enlargement project and brutally suppressed the protests, they badly misjudged the anger it triggered.
Protests have since swept other parts of Oromia, and more recently to the northern Amhara region, causing disquiet in the corridors of power of a key US ally and crucial partner in east Africa's fight against terrorism.
"Since it came to power in 1991, the regime has never witnessed such a bad stretch... Ethiopia resembles a plane going through a zone of extreme turbulence," independent Horn of Africa researcher Rene Lafort told AFP.
Despite what he described as the "state of siege" imposed on the Oromia region in recent weeks, the protests have refused to die down, and demonstrators have been challenging government more and more openly.
- Minority rule -
One rally was even held in Addis Ababa on Saturday, a rare event for the seat of power of a nation ruled by a regime considered among the most repressive in Africa.
More than 140 people were killed when security forces put down the original Oromia land protests, shot or tortured to death, according to rights groups.
A fresh crackdown over the weekend led to the deaths of almost 100 more, according to an Amnesty International toll, with live fire used on the crowds.
"This crisis is systemic because it shakes the foundations of the model of government put into place 25 years ago, which is authoritarian and centralised," Lafort explained.
The protesters have different grievances but are united by their disaffection with the country's leaders, who largely hail from the northern Tigray region and represent less than 10 percent of the population.
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn heads the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which won all the seats in parliament in elections last year.
Although he comes from the minority Wolayta people, he is surrounded in government by Tigreans, who also dominate the security forces and positions of economic power.
Getachew Metaferia, professor of political science at Morgan State University in the United States, described the state as "controlled by an ethnic minority imposing its will on the majority," a crucial factor in understanding the protests.
More than 60 percent of the country's almost 100 million people are either Amhara or Oromo.
"There is no fundamental discussion with the people, no dialogue... the level of frustration is increasing. I don't think there will be a return back to normal," the professor added.
The country's rulers have cultivated the skyrocketing growth and rapidly improving health outcomes that have changed the face of a nation whose famines weighed on the world's conscience in 1980s.
But their grip on civil liberties has tightened: Ethiopia ranked 142 of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' press freedom index this year, and social media used to organise rallies is regularly blocked by the authorities.
The use of anti-terror laws to jail opposition critics has also provoked ire, combined with more local issues such as the targeting of Amharan politicians campaigning for a referendum on a district absorbed into Tigrean territory.
- Reclaiming freedoms -
The West has largely avoided direct criticism of the country's rights record because Ethiopia is credited with beating back Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shabaab militants in Somalia, but the protests put its allies in an awkward spot.
"Ethiopia's leaders have lost the vision of Meles. They are showing signs of nervousness and don't place trust in their own people," said one European diplomat on condition of anonymity.
After toppling dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991, Meles Zenawi ruled with an iron fist until he died in 2012, and Hailemariam took over.
More used to its image as an oasis of calm in a troubled region, the government is swift to blame foreign "terrorist groups" for the unrest, usually pointing the finger at neighbouring Eritrea.
Hailemariam last Friday announced a ban on demonstrations which "threaten national unity" and called on police to use all means at their disposal to prevent them.
Merera Gudina, leader of the opposition Oromo People's Congress, said the nebulous movements were not affiliated with traditional political parties and were focused above all on claiming back freedoms the government has long denied.
Campbell reached a plea agreement and admitted to engaging in sexual acts with eight minors, all of whom were orphans living at the Victory Christian Childrens Home in Malawi between 1997 and 2009, U.S. prosecutors said.
"Campbell admitted that he knew that what he was doing was wrong and that he thought nobody would believe the minors if they reported the abuse," they said in a statement.
Below are some of the key facts about the election and referendum in Africa's second-biggest producer of copper, which is a mainstay of its economy.
- There are 6.6 million registered voters in a country with a population of about 15 million.
- Voting starts at 6 am local time (0400 GMT) and ends at 6 pm (1600 GMT).
- Zambians will be voting for the posts of president and a running mate who will be the vice-president, 150 members of parliament, mayors and councillors.
- Voters will also cast a ballot in a referendum on proposed amendments to the Constitution, including changes to the Bill of Rights.
- Lungu, who heads the Patriotic Front party, is a former lawyer. He narrowly beat Hichilema, known locally as "HH", of the United Party for National Development in a vote last year to replace Michael Sata, who died in office in October 2014.
- Forum for Democracy and Development leader Edith Nwakakwi is expected to run a distant third.
- To win, a presidential candidate must garner 50 percent of the valid votes cast plus at least one additional vote.
- If none of the candidates receive the required amount of votes, a re-run for the top-two candidates will be held within 37 days.
- For MPs, mayors and councillors, the candidate with the largest number of votes will be declared to have won.
Moscow is returning to the Middle Eastern weapons market, following its successful air campaign against Daesh (ISIL/ISIS) in Syria. According to Nikolay Kozhanov of Chatham House, Russia is not only benefitting from arms sales, but also bolstering its geopolitical positions in the region.
"The Middle Eastern arms market is not new for Russia. The Soviet Union exported weapons to Algeria, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Yemen. But the fall of the USSR led to a drop in Russian arms exports," the academic reveals, adding that in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union the country's military industry was seriously damaged.
Furthermore, in the early 2000s the region turned into a hotbed with Russian traditional clients being dragged into the chaos of war. By 2012 the main Russian arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, had found itself in a rather vulnerable position after losing its the Iraqi and Libyan markets.
"Russian weapon producers made several attempts to enter the arms markets in the Gulf but failed to create long-standing positions as Western rivals successfully defended their existing relationships," Kozhanov underscores.
However, the situation has changed dramatically after Russia stepped in in Syria in response to an official request from Damascus.
"The Syrian war has reinvigorated Russian arms exporters, as their weapons have proved their reliability on the battlefield," Kozhanov stresses.
Indeed, Russia's air campaign against Daesh (ISIS/ISIL) in Syria has become an advertisement for some of the best weapons in its arsenal.
In April it was announced that Amman and Jordan were conducting consultations on acquiring Su-32 (export version of Su-34) fighter-bomber jets, as the Russian anti-terror campaign in Syria raised popularity of these bombers.
In May the Turkish newspaper BirGun reported that Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia are shifting towards Russia as an arms supplier.
"Military cooperation between Russia and Muslim countries, especially in North Africa, is building up. Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria are now facing the threat of jihadist violence and want to enhance their security systems Now, Russia is a global power and Muslim countries facing security threats are now looking for military cooperation with Moscow," the media outlet noted.
It was reported that in 2015 Algeria struck a deal with Russia to buy 12 Su-32 jets as well as Mi-28NE attack helicopters and Il-76MD-90A transportation aircraft. The cost of the contract was about $500-600 million, prompting speculation that the deal is likely to cover Moscow's air campaign expenses in Syria.
Following the inking of the nuclear deal and partial lifting of sanctions on Iran, Tehran and Moscow accelerated their talks regarding the delivery of four S-300 surface-to-air missile system battalions to Iran.
Sergei Chemezov, CEO of Rostec Corporation, said the S-300 delivery to the Middle Eastern country is due to be completed by the end of this year.
"Between 2011 and 2015 the volume of weapons contracts signed between Moscow and Middle Eastern countries increased substantially, and included a Russian return to Egyptian and Iraqi weapons markets that have recently been dominated by the US," Kozhanov points out, highlighting that "Russia signed a $3.5 billion package of agreements with Cairo in 2014, under which Moscow is supposed to sell Egypt MIG-29M/M2 fighter jets, Mi-35M strike helicopters, S-300VM missile complexes and a coastal defense system."
However, according to Kozhanov, Russia's interest is not purely economic.
He explains that arms exports usually mean that importers will need the assistance of their suppliers to service and upgrade their weapons. This creates the preconditions for a more permanent presence in the market.
But that is not all: by gaining the reputation of a reliable military partner and arms supplier, Moscow is likely to boost its geopolitical positions in the Middle East.
General John Nicholson said the offensive in the eastern province of Nangarhar was part of U.S. operations to degrade the capabilities of Islamic State wherever it raised its head, whether in Iraq and Syria or in Afghanistan.
The group, believed to be confined to three or four of the more than 400 districts in Afghanistan, last month claimed responsibility for bombing a demonstration by the Shi'ite Hazara minority in the capital, Kabul, in which at least 80 people were killed.
Nicholson, in New Delhi for talks with the Indian military which has provided training and some arms to Afghanistan, said Afghan forces supported by the United States had just carried out a counter-terrorism operation against Islamic State.
"They killed a number of top leaders of the organisation and upto 300 of their fighters," he told reporters.
"Obviously it's difficult to get an exact count, but what this amounts to is about 25 percent of the organisation at least, and so this represents a severe setback for them."
Islamic State first appeared in Afghanistan at the beginning of 2015, and had about 3,000 fighters at the height of the movement, many of them former members of militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
Previously considered a much smaller threat than its bitter enemies the Taliban, the group's bomb attack in Kabul underlined how dangerous it could be, even without holding large tracts of territory.
On Tuesday, another U.S. military official said American soldiers helping Afghan troops fight Islamic State in Nangarhar were forced to abandon equipment and weapons when their position came under fire.
Fighters from the group had circulated photographs of a rocket launcher, grenades, ammunition, identification cards, an encrypted radio and other equipment they said they had seized.
Turning the ship before it hits the iceberg
IowaWORKS will host a Veteran Employment and Resource Fair next week to assist service members, veterans and their dependents in search of new career opportunities.
The event will be Aug. 16 at the National Guard Armory, 3615 N. Brady St., Davenport. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., participants can receive resume assistance. From 1-3 p.m., the Employment and Resource Fair will feature nearly 40 regional employers and 20 resource agencies.
The first-time event is a collaboration between IowaWORKS, HomeBase Iowa, Great River HR Association and the National Guard Family Assistance Center. The event is free to veterans and transitioning military as well as their spouses and adult children.
Jennifer Toenjes, IowaWORK's Disabled Veterans Outreach Program representative, said veterans bring an incredible amount of training and job experience to the workforce. "But it can be difficult to translate these skills and experiences into civilian employment and many times the veteran will be looked over," she said, adding "the military language they are accustom to is so different than that used in the civilian world."
Volunteers will assist veterans in writing a resume or improving their current resume. Job-seekers will be provided with copies to share with employers at the fair. Many employers will be conducting interviews on site or accepting resumes and applications.
Toenjes, a veteran, said the goal "is to connect veterans with employers to have the opportunity for a one-on-one interaction regarding their qualifications and experience."
She said a unique feature of the fair is that it also is open to veterans' dependents. "Sometimes people forget those spouses and adult children of veterans do need jobs too."
In addition, area resource agencies and educators will be on hand to meet with participants.
For more information, call Toenjes at IowaWORKS at 563 445-3200 x43348.
A Lombard, Illinois, man has been charged in Wisconsin in connection with a crash that killed John and Francine Hansen of Moline.
Eugeniu Caraus, 27, has been charged in Grant County with two counts of homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle, according to online court records.
The charge is a Class G felony, which carries a possible prison sentence of up to 10 years. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 15, according to online court records.
The crash happened just before 9 a.m. Friday. The Grant County Sheriffs Office said the Hansens were traveling north on Highway 129 near Lancaster, Wisconsin, when a semi-tractor trailer driven by Caraus failed to stop at the intersection.
John, 69, and Francine, 66, were traveling to the family cabin in Cable, Wisconsin. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
John Hansen was a Moline dentist. Their son, Kirk Hansen, joined him in the practice in 2009, and it was renamed Hansen Family Dentistry, according to his obituary. He also was president of the Rock Island District Dental Society.
Francine taught fifth-grade language skills at Denkmann Elementary in Rock Island until the birth of her first child, according to her obituary. She routinely volunteered at the school and the Parent Teacher Association and was an active participant at her church, in King's Daughters and PEO.
Senior-to-be Bailey Hassig, 17, of Davenport, is interested in a career in health sciences.
"I like helping people and making sure they get the right care for their health," said Hassig, a Davenport West High School student.
Hassig's interests got a boost on Wednesday after Genesis Health System donated thousands of dollars' worth of hospital equipment to Davenport West for its Inspire Career Education Academy.
The equipment will be used in the health sciences area and will allow West students to experience a real-life training experience as they work to be CNAs, or certified nursing assistants.
The Inspire academy at West offers students the chance to explore career opportunities, Principal Jenni Weipert said. The academic initiative is to help students find career paths and develop the skills to succeed on the post-secondary level.
It offers internships and degree levels, including the nursing certificate.
The patient equipment will give the students real-life experiences and will be taught by a nurse in a one-semester program.
Once the students graduate high school, they will have clear paths forward, said Jennifer Boyd, West's career technology education specialist.
Teens in grades 7-9 are introduced to the Inspire academy and the opportunities it offers, Boyd said. They can start the program when they are sophomores at West.
The CNA students will not have a problem finding jobs. Davenport-trained CNAs are valuable to Genesis Health System, Nancy Adams, the hospital system's education outreach facilitator, said.
The donation allows Genesis to "plant the seeds of success" in a young workforce who might have future goals to work at Genesis, she said.
Weipert was a CNA several years ago and said the real-life experiences offered in the program will help the students make decisions on their futures.
Hassig, who also works in the office at West and volunteers at a local animal rescue agency, said Inspire academy courses, such as the one for CNA training, make sense. Future costs would be less because the classes are taken at West, and it's much more convenient to do them at the school.
In the meantime, the hospital items, including two "second generation" patient beds, were unloaded from a panel truck and the variety impressed a group of onlookers.
"I've not seen equipment like this since I was at a community college in Texas," John Brosius, a West High computer science teacher, said.
The Rock Island County Sheriff's Department is investigating the death of an inmate at the Rock Island County Jail.
Corrections officers responded at 4:30 p.m. Monday to an inmate with a medical emergency, according to a news release from the sheriff's department.
The inmate, identified as Todd Allen Payne, 46, was taken to Trinity Rock Island where he was pronounced dead.
The incident remains under investigation.
Payne has been in the jail on a $100,000 since late July and was awaiting a preliminary hearing on two counts of criminal sexual assault.
In August 1994, when he was 24-years-old, Payne pleaded guilty but mentally ill to a charge of aggravated criminal sexual assault. He was sentenced to 11 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
A trio of Illinois Republicans urged Wednesday that state lawmakers act in the fall veto session to approve a term limits proposal as well a plan to revamp the way political boundaries are drawn.
Republican candidates Tony McCombie and Dan Swanson, along with Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Moline, encouraged lawmakers to act during a news conference.
McCombie and Swanson are on the ballot this fall. Anderson is not.
The term limits proposal has become a key priority for Gov. Bruce Rauner, who was in the Quad-Cities two weeks ago to push for lawmakers to approve a plan to limit statewide officers to eight years and legislators to 10.
If lawmakers were to approve a term-limits proposal, it would go to the voters in 2018.
On Wednesday, all three Republicans targeted House Speaker Michael Madigan's tenure in office while trying to make the case for passage of the two measures.
The broken system we have in place today lets career politicians hold their place for decades, said McCombie, the mayor of Savanna. She said that long-serving politicians have developed self-serving relationships, adding we need to stop this cycle of corruption."
McCombie is challenging state Rep. Mike Smiddy, D-Hillsdale, in the 71st District race. The district encompasses upper Rock Island County, including Moline, as well as parts of Whiteside and Carroll counties.
Swanson, of Alpha, is competing for the open 74th District seat, which is being vacated by the Rep. Don Moffitt, who is retiring. Democrat Bill Butts of Galesburg also is seeking the office. The district includes all or parts of Mercer, Henry, Bureau and Knox counties.
Supporters of the term-limits proposal say that polls show voters favor it, and it's needed to change the culture in Springfield. However, critics say the push now is merely a GOP tool to appeal to voters in the November election and to tie Democrats to Madigan.
Many lawmakers, including Madigan, dont favor term limits, so its unlikely it will pass.
Smiddy supports the proposal for an independent group to draw political boundaries, but not term limits.
"I dont believe we should be taking the authority away from voters to be able to choose who they want to represent them in Springfield or wherever," he said Tuesday. He added that since a term-limits proposal wouldn't go to the voters for two years, "Im not sure why were talking about this when in the veto session we should be" talking about getting a budget passed.
Around 15 months ago while renovating the Hyatt Hotel in Savannah, Georgia, Jeff Hicks, 55, saw two ships pass by at lunch time.
Eager to know more, the former carpenter and Florida native went to see the boats, eventually becoming a crew member. Since then, and with almost 16,000 miles under his belt, he's never looked back.
Hicks is part of the 12 member crew on board the Pinta and Nina ships of the Columbus Foundation the only two operational replicas of Christopher Columbus' ships in the world.
The Pinta and Nina sailed into Davenport on Tuesday from Clinton. The replicas will be open to the public Thursday through Aug. 21.
Crew members live on the ships while traveling from different states to exhibit the replicas.
"I've had a great time doing it," said Hicks, who works as a cook and deckhand on the Pinta. "I was laying in bed the other night and I was thinking, I've probably accumulated four life times of vacations."
Hicks, who's been sailing since he was 10, said living and working on the Pinta is a dream come true.
The Nina was built by hand without the use of power tools and is considered to be the most historically correct Columbus replica ever built. The Pinta was built in Brazil, and is a larger version of the archetypal caravel, according to a release.
The ships have a mix of new and experienced crew members. Stephen Sanger has been commanding the Nina for the past five years, and has been a crew member for almost nine years.
"I feel like we're a selected few who get to travel across the country, sharing history, putting smiles on little kids' faces and seeing different cultures," he said. "It's great; it's my third time up here in the Quad-Cities. I feel like I'm almost turning local in these areas."
He said the Pinta and Nina have been travelling around the United States since 2009 and 1992, respectively. This year is the Nina's 25th anniversary.
"Columbus logged in 25,000 miles, whereas our Nina has log in well over 300,000 miles. It's traveled a lot of places, and has logged in a lot of miles. A lot of people around the country has seen the Nina," he said, crediting the Nina's longevity to today's more advanced technology, better resources, and the crew's efforts to maintain the ship.
Before arriving in Davenport, Sanger said, the ships made stops in Minnesota, Wisconsin and some parts of Iowa. Crew members will end their upper Mississippi tour at Hannibal, Missouri, before heading to the Tennessee River this fall.
For Kat Wilson, 22, of Florida, sailing is a rare and fun opportunity because of the tranquility that comes along it. She works as a deckhand on the Nina.
"The sails are filled with air and the ships are bouncing around with little waves and there's nothing around," she said. "You forget about the busy cities and everybody's problems there's nothing but the power of the wind."
To her, the historical exposure she gets from work is ultimately why she loves her job, adding that the travel is just a "bonus."
Being a crew member also allows a person to gain people skills, Wilson said. She notes that in a single day from morning to evening, more than a thousand visitors can flood the ships.
"If you don't have people skills, you realize you are going to learn them while on board," she said. "And a lot of those people are essentially going to be asking the same questions, but they don't necessarily want the same answer."
Besides getting to share the history behind the ships, Wilson said, she believes crew members also gain knowledge of the people and the cities they visit.
"We're learning about the places that we're traveling to more than just by looking at them," she said. "We're also learning new things every day."
GENESEO, Ill. Duane W. Ting Dilenbeck, 89, of Geneseo, Illinois, passed away Monday Aug. 8, 2016, surrounded by his family at his home. A funeral service celebrating his life will be 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, at Vandemore Funeral Homes and Crematory, Geneseo. The Rev. Chris Ritter will officiate. Burial will follow at Oakwood Cemetery, Geneseo, where military honors will be accorded by Don Cherry VFW Post 5083. Visitation will be two hours prior to the service from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to the Geneseo Aisle of Flags.
Duane was born Nov. 30, 1926, in Geneseo, the son of Horace and Mildred (Johnson) Dilenbeck. He graduated from Geneseo High School in 1944 and proudly served in the US Army and spent two years in the Far East Command. He was united in marriage to Beverly A. Bensenberg on March 14, 1953, at Colona Methodist Church. Duane and Beverly were happily married 62 years before she preceded him in death on July 17, 2015. He farmed his entire life in Edford Township on the familys Century farm, which was established in 1893. He loved his farms and raising Angus cattle. He had a large interest in the cattle business.
Duane served on the Geneseo Telephone board as a director, secretary and chairman. Under his direction the Geneseo Communication Charitable Foundation was founded. He retired with 35 years of service in 2004. Duane was a member of First United Methodist Church, the Geneseo Moose Lodge, and a lifetime member of the American Legion.
Survivors include his children, Nancy (Jon) DeDecker of Coal Valley, Karen Dilenbeck of Geneseo, and Denna (Tom) Brophy of Geneseo; and two granddaughters, Andrea DeDecker and Bryann Brophy.
He was preceded in death by his wife; his parents; a brother, Kenneth; and an infant sister.
CEDAR RAPIDS A day after job-shadowing emergency room personnel at a Waterloo hospital, U.S. Rep. Rod Blum toured a Cedar Rapids community health center he thinks can expand access to affordable health care.
This was really beautiful coming from the emergency room job shadow yesterday, Blum said Tuesday, a day after visiting the ER at Allen Memorial Hospital Monday. This was a great contrast.
The visit to the Eastern Iowa Health Center reinforced for Blum the benefits to patients as well as taxpayers of the community health care center concept.
The first-term Republican who is up for re-election was impressed by the time staff members spent with patients and their emphasis on patient education.
Its front lobe here on how to educate their clientele on how to stay out of the emergency room, care for a newborn, for examples, how to treat chronic conditions, Blum said after an hour-long tour.
Along the way he fist-bumped young patients and discussed the health care centers services with staff members.
The visit, the second Blum has made to Eastern Iowa Health Center, is a way for him to hear from people on both the delivery and receiving ends of the health care services process, Blum staffer John Ferland said. The congressman often hears about issues and legislation from people who are passionate about them.
That was the case Tuesday. Diane Sorenson, a social worker who specializes in working with obstetrics patients, talked to Blum about the cost of diapers. A typical child will use an average of 50 diapers a week before being potty-trained, she said. Its not uncommon to see children whose parents have reused disposable diapers because of the cost.
She encouraged him to support a bill in Congress that would provide diaper assistance funds to families that qualify for day-care assistance.
Are there any Republicans on it? he asked referring to co-sponsors.
There should be, Sorenson replied.
How can you get a job if you cant get day care? Blum said before asking Sorenson for more information about the bill.
Blums tour, which coincided with National Health Center Week observance, is part of the effort to expose members of Congress to the work being done in their districts, said Sarah Dixon, senior director of the Iowa Primary Care Association.
Seeing it means more to them than just hearing about it, said Dixon, who was on hand for the tour. Were able to demonstrate innovations and our specific programs to meet the unique needs of our clientele.
Thats important because of the significant federal investment in community health centers, Dixon said.
CEO Joe Lock said Eastern Iowa Health Center had more than 40,000 patient visits last year, up from 25,000 the previous year. He estimated 98 percent of the patients have incomes ranging from 0 to 200 percent of the federal poverty level and 80 percent are Medicaid-eligible.
Community health centers play a key role in health care delivery, especially from a cost standpoint, Blum said.
We needed to do things to bring costs down, he said after the tour. One of the pieces of the puzzle is to have community health centers for people who cannot afford health care insurance.
After three decades of reading about the Sturgis motorcycle rally, Larry Mackey has finally seen the real thing. The retiree from Fairport Harbor, Ohio, and his wife Lida spent Friday morning walking through Sturgis, visiting motorcycle dealerships and buying souvenir T-shirts.
The couple made their way to town via Rapid City, where Mackey is working for a couple of weeks as visiting pastor at Chapel in the Hills.
When he called the Chapel this spring to ask about available dates for the position, he was hoping to also fulfill a motorcyclist's dream.
He began riding in 1970. In 2001, following a motorcycle accident that broke his right leg, he added a sidecar to his 1989 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide FLHS.
Ive always wanted to come to the rally," Mackey, 68, said. "I was hoping, perhaps, the first or second week of August was open. His distance from Sturgis, coupled with his job as a pastor, always made attending the rally difficult.
The pastor can now claim the mark of being a true motorcyclist. But his three-wheeler had to sit out this trip.
The last remaining personnel from a deployment force of about 300 people were scheduled to leave Tuesday from Ellsworth Air Force Base for Andersen Air Force Base on the island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.
The deployment force, including some personnel who departed earlier and an undisclosed number of B-1 bombers, will replace B-52s from North Dakotas Minot Air Force Base. Those planes had been conducting operations in support of the U.S. Pacific Commands Continuous Bomber Presence mission in the region.
Since 2004, a rotating presence of bombers in Guam has been designed to enhance regional security and provide reassurance to allies and partners that the United States is capable of defending its national security interests in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.
B-1s were last stationed in Guam about 10 years ago and are returning to conduct routine deterrence and training missions.
The winds of blame in South Dakotas immigrant-investor scandal shifted again this week as state government officials formally disputed allegations that they are responsible for wrongdoing by a private contractor.
In a Monday letter and exhibit packet sent to the Administrative Appeals Office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a lawyer for the state of South Dakota argued that the states regional center for handling foreign investments in South Dakota economic development projects should not be terminated.
We trust that these materials, combined with those already on file regarding the Regional Center, will overcome USCIS erroneous, unfair, and unnecessary conclusion that the Regional Center no longer serves the purpose of promoting economic growth, said the letter from Robert Divine, of the Baker Donelson law firm in Chattanooga, Tenn., on behalf of the state.
The USCIS began termination proceedings against South Dakotas regional center in September 2015 because of alleged improprieties, including the diversion of millions of investor dollars away from allowable expenditures. The termination proceedings are now in the appeal stage, and the Monday letter from the states lawyer represented the states formal statement in support of the appeal.
South Dakotas regional center is one of dozens around the country though most others are not affiliated with state governments that handle investments from foreigners as part of the federal governments EB-5 program. EB-5 is shorthand for the employment-based, fifth-preference visa, also called a permanent-residency green card, which is awarded to foreigners who invest at least $500,000 in job-creating projects in the United States.
South Dakotas EB-5 regional center has been mired in scandal since the October 2013 death of Richard Benda, the former head of what was then called the Department of Tourism and State Development. Bendas death was ruled a suicide, and it was soon revealed that he had been facing potential prosecution for stealing state grant money intended for a meatpacking project that received EB-5 funding in Aberdeen.
Benda was accused of diverting the grant money as he transitioned from state employment to a job with SDRC Inc., which had a contract with Bendas state office to operate the EB-5 regional center on behalf of the state from 2009 to 2013.
SDRC Inc. is run by Joop Bollen, of Aberdeen. In the states Monday letter, the state attempted to shift blame onto Bollen and SDRC, saying that the state contracted with SDRC, Inc. to responsibly manage the Regional Center. The letter further stated that the improper diversion of funds was attributable only to SDRC, Inc.
Those claims are in contrast to a position taken by USCIS, which said in a written notice last month that the regional center designation in 2004 was granted to the state of South Dakota, and it has always been the states responsibility to ensure monitoring, oversight and due diligence.
USCIS has alleged that SDRC Inc.s mismanagement of the regional center included, among other things, the diversion of at least $1.7 million of investors money to an offshore holding company in Cyprus; the diversion of more than $3 million for unapproved expenses; and the diversion of more than $12 million to initially service debt underwritten by a lending company in the British Virgin Islands and then to buy that same lending company. All of that money should have gone to job-creating economic development projects, USCIS has said.
The state's Monday letter and packet referenced an "Attachment A" prepared by SDRC Inc., but Tony Vehnhuizen, chief of staff to Gov. Dennis Daugaard, declined to send the attachment to the Journal and said the request for the attachment should go to SDRC Inc. The Journal sent a request via email to Bollen and one of his attorneys but did not immediately receive a response.
The appeal of the USCIS attempt to terminate South Dakotas regional center could take six months. Thats the time frame in which the USCIS Administrative Appeals Office attempts to resolve appeals, according to the USCIS website.
Meanwhile, the revelations about the state's EB-5 regional center have spawned several lawsuits, some changes to state laws and policies, and an ongoing state criminal prosecution of Bollen. He is accused of illegally using $1.2 million of EB-5 money for personal gain, including the purchase of ancient artwork, before paying some of the money back.
Across the country, the federal EB-5 program is embroiled in similar scandals. The controversial program is scheduled to expire after Sept. 30 unless it is reauthorized by Congress.
Roxray Adonis was bitten by the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally bug four years ago. The IT professional, from the Chicago suburb of Palatine, Ill., came just to experience one of the motorcycle worlds biggest gatherings.
He and his 2013 Harley-Davidson Street Glide FLHX have shown up at the annual event ever since.
Adonis, 55, kept coming back to soak in downtown Sturgis festive atmosphere, as well as the rallys distinct brand of camaraderie.
People are friendly, he said, it doesnt matter who you are or where youre from. He talked about memorable interactions with foreign rally-goers from New Zealand, Japan and Canada.
A member of Illinois Top Cats motorcycle club, Adonis and his group left South Dakota on Tuesday to continue with their 13-day tour of four states. But you can bet hell be back next rally. Hotel reservations have already been made.
Three Rapid City men have been arrested following a shooting earlier this week that police say stemmed from a drug dispute.
A joint press release from the Rapid City Police Department and the Pennington County Sheriff's Office names 41-year-old Fred Brassfield, 34-year-old Paul Roubideaux and 33-year-old Joshua Wahle as the men arrested. All three are from Rapid City.
The release says the men were arrested on charges stemming from the shooting, which took place some time between 11 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 7, and 2 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 8.
Investigators say the shooting resulted from a dispute over methamphetamine sales in Rapid City; authorities said it is the second meth-related shooting in less than a month in Rapid City.
Brassfield was arrested Tuesday evening in Sioux Falls on charges of aggravated assault, discharge of a firearm at a motor vehicle and first-degree robbery.
Brassfield was identified as the driver of a Nissan Maxima in the 1800 block of Haines Avenue, according to police. He allegedly fired several shots at the occupants of a Pontiac Grand Prix.
No one was hurt in the initial gunfire, but police say Brassfield then assaulted one of the people in the Grand Prix before stealing the car. He left the Grand Prix in an alley and was picked up by the second occupant of the Maxima. Brassfield drove the Maxima from the scene.
Investigators believe the gunshot victim, who was not identified, accidentally shot himself while in the passenger seat of the Maxima, which was again being driven by Brassfield. The victim remains in the hospital in serious but stable condition, according to the release.
Police say they believe Roubideaux and Wahle are connected to the shooting incident. Each has been arrested on one charge of ingestion of a controlled substance, with other charges pending.
A weather phenomenon known as a heat burst caused high winds in the Rapid City area Tuesday night, knocking down power poles and leaving hundreds without power.
About 400 people in the Red Rock Meadows area southwest of Rapid City were without power Wednesday after the storm knocked down 13 power poles along a single row about a mile long, according to Vance Crocker, vice president of operations at Black Hills Energy.
Crocker said the company dispatched crews to the area Tuesday night and continued adding workers from the surrounding area, also enlisting contractors to get the power back on as soon as possible.
Crews hoped to have power restored by Wednesday night.
Meteorologists say the storm's wind speeds could have been as high as 100 mph. The National Weather Service in Rapid City's closest wind report is still a few miles from where the damage occurred, said meteorologist Melissa Smith.
Smith said several of the power poles were snapped, which is indicative of winds over 100 mph, but there is no official measurement to confirm that.
"This was a very localized event, and what we would consider somewhat rare," Crocker said.
Crocker said their equipment is designed to handle the extreme weather of South Dakota.
"Our systems are designed to handle heavy ice and heavy winds on top of that ice," Crocker said in a phone interview Wednesday. "And they're also designed to handle what we call extreme winds. This is a very rare event for us; we do not see things like this, really, outside of a tornado."
Smith said it was not a tornado, but possibly the combination of winds from the southwest moving down the Black Hills.
Matthew Bunkers, science and operations officer with the National Weather Service in Rapid City, said winds in other areas reached 55 miles per hour at their downtown office and up to 62 mph at Rapid City Regional Airport.
Bunkers said a heat burst happens when a thunderstorm or area of thunderstorms decay rapidly. He said the storms will descend from high in the atmosphere like 30,000 feet to the ground, and descend rapidly enough to maintain a warm temperature at the surface and bring high winds and dry air.
"We have thunderstorms decay all the time, but you need the right atmospheric conditions for this heat burst to happen," Bunkers said.
Heat bursts commonly occur at night when temperatures have cooled down, and cause a sudden bump in the temperature.
He said they happen across South Dakota a few times each summer. Heat bursts can occur anywhere in the world, but are mostly observed in the Central Plains of the U.S.
One thing that makes the winds so damaging from such storms is the sudden change from relative calm to high wind gusts, Bunkers said.
South Dakota Republicans should get behind their state's party leader, Gov. Dennis Daugaard, and show him some support on Medicaid expansion. It's an issue that shouldn't be polarized into political camps but one that really needs to be addressed on a utilitarian basis.
"Utilitarianism," as a political and economic set of beliefs, boils down to the principle that policies that lead to the greatest good for the greatest number of people should be the ones pursued and implemented by their governments.
Expanding Medicaid fits this definition to a tee, considering that it will add about 50,000 South Dakotans to the Medicaid rolls, taking pressure off of state resources to provide them with health care and give South Dakota medical providers a chance to reduce the losses that accrue from caring for people without insurance.
If Daugaard's opinion and plans cant persuade our legislators to show the governor some support, they might consider Indiana Governor and GOP Vice-Presidential nominee Mike Pence's supportive attitude toward the program, which he adopted in Indiana.
Pence created a plan that provides Medicaid coverage for 350,000 residents who make up to 138 percent of poverty level wages (about $16,000 per year for individuals, $33,000 per year for a family of four). He attached some strings to the program, which is called Healthy Indiana 2.0, that require enrollees to pay into health savings accounts, which may be a tweak worth considering in this conservative state of ours.
The plan's website doesn't provide a table, but touts the premium as an "affordable, monthly contribution ... based on your income." Apparently, its indeed affordable enough. Indiana's 350,000 enrollees amount to nearly 6 percent of the state's population, about the same percentage of S.D.s population that would qualify here.
According to Politico, Pence's program went through despite "upsetting many conservatives who saw the move as betrayal."
No doubt Daugaard, regardless of what method for expansion he promotes, will get similar push back from South Dakota lawmakers. The ideologically hidebound House Majority Leader Brian Gosch, R-Rapid City, told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader last June that a block of elected Republican lawmakers don't support expansion because "they know it's bad for the state and for the country." But like Pence, Daugaard shouldn't be deterred by opposition like that, because (like Pence), our governor understands that the money pouring in for Medicaid expansion does the greatest good for the greatest number of South Dakotans.
I invite Gosch and the other naysayers to examine how Medicaid expansion has worked, even in conservative states like Indiana, then I challenge them to find a way of making it work here.
These intransigent Republicans need to explain why they oppose Medicaid expansion when two of the most conservative governors in the United States found it to be something workable and worthwhile in their respective states. In the meantime, this ideological inflexibility should be considered by voters in November who are just plain sick and tired of reflexive hatred toward a plan that promises to do us some good just because it was spawned by the Obama administration.
Officials in Nebraska and other states stop every once and a while and do a smart thing. They take a hard look at the array of state commissions to see whether all of them are truly necessary. Often, some commissions are disbanded.
It's a sensible idea. Here's another one: States should start scrutinizing the dozens and in some states, hundreds of professions that require licensing by government.
A report this year by the White House Council of Economic Advisers rightly calls for action on the issue.
Licensing has stepped beyond justified protections for consumers in many cases and has become a significant barrier to job opportunities, the study says.
There's a striking consensus across the philosophical spectrum about the need for reform of business licensing. In Nebraska, the conservative Platte Institute is emphasizing the issue heading toward the 2017 legislative session.
In Nebraska, 24 percent of workers are in jobs that require licenses, just below the national average. Iowa, at 33 percent, has a higher percentage of jobs requiring licenses than any other state, The World-Herald has reported.
At the same time, trade associations continue to press for even more job categories to come under government approval.
"These requirements can be worth it if they provide real protections for consumers and workers," the White House report says, "but because it limits which workers can enter a field, licensing necessarily excludes people who would work in an occupation if the barriers were lower."
Licensing tends to raise the price of goods and services by 3 percent to 16 percent, the report concludes. "The benefits of licensing therefore need to be balanced against these costs."
One study found that on average, applicants seeking a license need to complete nine months of education or training requirements, pass at least one examination and spend over $200 in fees.
Over the past four decades, the "de-licensing" of an occupation by a state government or court has happened only eight times, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Adding to the problem is the widespread lack of licensing uniformity among the 50 states.
These roadblocks to entering particular occupations can hit certain populations especially hard: Military families. Minority workers. Anyone with a high school diploma only. Immigrants whose training or education was acquired abroad. Men and women paroled from prison.
The point isn't that states should begin tossing out licensing requirements willy-nilly. On the contrary, the scrutiny should be methodical and prudent. Public safety is often involved.
Among worthwhile options recommended for state governments to consider:
Less restrictive alternatives to licensing need to be explored in appropriate cases. One option is registration, in which a worker files basic information with a regulatory agency.
For occupations where licensing is retained, requirements should focus on public health and safety concerns, to minimize burdens.
States should use rigorous cost-benefit analyses, including regular reviews by independent agencies.
It's time for long-needed reform on licensing. States should keep sensible requirements, then adjust the rest to open up new economic opportunity.
Infamous childrens camp fined $3,000 over Karelia lake tragedy
MOSCOW, August 10 (RAPSI) The Commercial Court of the Republic of Karelia has fined the Park-Hotel Syamozero, where 14 children drowned this summer, 200,000 rubles ($3,000), according to the Online Justice web portal.
The court thus granted a lawsuit lodged by the republican Health Ministry demanding to hold the camp administratively liable. According to court records, the ministrys lawsuit was conditioned by licensing violation committed by the defendant.
Earlier, a case was opened under the Criminal Codes Article Fulfillment of Works or Rendering of Services Which Do Not Meet Safety Standards against the Park-Hotel executive Elena Reshetova, her deputy Vadim Vinogradov, instructors Lyudmila Vasilyeva and Regina Ivanova and Valeriy Krupodershikov.
According to investigators, on June 18 children and instructors of the childrens camp Park-Hotel Syamozero were sailing on a raft and two canoes over the lake Syamozero in Karelia. 47 children were accompanied by 4 adults (Vinogradov, Krupodershchikov, Ivanova and Vasilyeva) who did not take gathering storm into account. Storm made sailing extremely dangerous: a raft with children and two adults washed up near one of the islands while both canoes were capsized, leaving passengers in the open waters.
Only some managed to swim across to the shore. According to the latest data of the Investigative Committee, 14 children drowned. Other children survived and were evacuated.
Russian investigators press for criminalization of inducing children to suicide
MOSCOW, August 10 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul) Russian investigators consider it is necessary to introduce criminal liability for forcing minors into suicide, official spokesman for the Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin told journalists on Wednesday.
Analysis of the crime situation indicated high suicide rates among children in Russia. In 2015, 685 cases of minors suicide were fixed. Interestingly, children often commit suicide under the influence of information posted on the social media and other Internet resources, Markin said.
According to the Investigative Committee representative, exacerbating the situation is that the problem of childrens suicide receives wide coverage on the Internet as a trend that provokes imitation by minors. It is necessary to negotiate an issue on authorizing a certain government body to monitor suicide content on the Internet, Markin added.
Whatever ones view of law enforcement and military personnel, certainly we can agree that these are highly stressful times for these professions. Therefore it is important to know that a powerful scientifically-validated, cost-effective stress reduction tool is available to police and military, known in military circles as Invincible Defense Technology (IDT). IDT is an innovative application of Transcendental Meditation (TM) that has proven itself effective to reduce stress and high tensions, for individuals as well as for society. See: Results of the National Demonstration Project to Reduce Violent Crime and Improve Governmental Effectiveness in Washington, D.C. Social Indicators Research, 47, 153-201.
The calming IDT influence has been documented in over 300 peer-reviewed research studies. It is effective in a wide variety of high-stress circumstances.
IDT is included in the training program of Brazil's Elite Police force and has been field-tested by militaries worldwide. Its calming societal influence has been validated by 23 peer-reviewed studies carried out in the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Independent scientists and scholars endorse it, based on its continuous record of effectiveness where traditional police and military tactics have failed. The IDT approach has been used during wartime, resulting in reduction of fighting, reduced war deaths and casualties, and improved progress toward resolving the conflict through peaceful means. Its coherence-creating effect has been documented on a global scale in a study published in the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation.
When large assemblies of IDT experts gathered during the years 1983-1985, terrorism-related casualties decreased 72%, international conflict decreased 32%, and overall violence was reduced in nations without government intrusion.
An article published in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (pp. 2632, May 2009) entitled Brain Functioning as the Ground for Spiritual Experiences and Ethical Behavior discusses the potential benefits of TM and concludes that the practice of TM technique leads to increased frontal brain integration, faster habituation to stressful stimuli, and higher moral reasoning. TM practice enlivens frontal brainwave coherence. This builds global brain circuits that place individual experiences in a larger framework. As such, TM provides an inner armor to protect police officers from the noxious effects of stress and negative experiences.
In a study conducted by Ecuadorian army psychologists, over 96% of the military police officer cadets found the TM technique to be a highly practical activity. 92% found their performance in activity had improved and they were better able to deal with stress; 96% declared their relationships with others had improved; and 95% said their practice of the TM technique was completely satisfying. Significant improvements in health and discipline were experienced by the officers and cadets practicing the TM program in the State of Bahia, Brazil. Most importantly these improvements resulted in improved community relations as measured by a dramatic increase (1,206%) in the number of positive reports received by the Police Department from the citizens of Salvador.
In the early 1970s, six thousand active New York City Police, many working in high-crime areas, actively practiced the TM technique. One of the most common reports was an improvement in their marksmanship. Feedback from meditation students has been received for many years, both in college programs and, in some cases, years later, by individual police officers who said they were "still TM-ing."
Some of the overwhelmingly positive results include feeling more aware, particularly in life-threatening situations. This is especially important in that law enforcement officers often find themselves in a position of having to resort to using deadly force in an effort to protect and save lives. Those who regularly practice TM have the ability to find other ways of defusing these same situations.
IDT has the advantage of being a portable strategy. After learning the technique, all one needs is a comfortable place to sit with eyes closed. No additional resources are needed. The self-reliance of this approach appeals to the police "protector" and military "warrior mindset." IDT offers an approach that not only helps save precious minds and lives, but also saves money in the process during these difficult and uncertain times.
We urge our leaders to implement IDT and its advanced practices as an integral part of police and military training.
The Lahore Times recently published an article which included two online videos from DLFTV documenting IDT applications in Ukraine and the USA. See, http://www.lhrtimes.com/2016/05/09/transcendental-meditation-norwich-university for more information about these IDT developments.
____________________
About the Authors:
John Theobald received his B.S. in Behavioral Science/Criminal Justice (cum laude) at the New York Institute of Technology, and an M.S. in Counseling and Psychological Testing with a minor in research design from Nova University. His program provided an extensive background in counseling psychology and testing, with an emphasis on psychological testing, and on the physiological and quantitative aspects of rehabilitation. John was an honor graduate of the New York City Police Academy. (At that time college credits were granted for graduating from the academy.) He served in the New York City Police Department (NYPD) where he received special Anti-Terrorist Training and worked a variety of assignments, including uniform patrol, undercover and plain clothes, drug and anti-crime task force, and administrative duties. While serving as an administrative assistant to the commanding officer of the Queens Task Force, NYPD, John received additional training in forensic science and investigative techniques, and later became, and still is, a Licensed Private Investigator. He also served as a Probation Officer in Hawaii. John developed the College Accelerated Program for Police, a college degree program designed for full-time police officers in the New York area. He served as coordinator for this program and assumed the directorship of the Student Service Department, when the enrollment reached 12,000 students. His paper, "Three Alternative Systems of Criminal Defense: A Comparative Analysis," was published in Perspectives in Criminology.
Dr. David Leffler received his Ph.D. in Consciousness-Based Military Defense from The Union Institute & University. His pioneering 1997 doctoral dissertation study investigated the stress-reducing field effects of the collective practice of the Transcendental Meditation and advanced TM-Sidhi programs by Invincible Defense Technology (IDT) experts on employees of a nearby police department who were not practicing the technologies and were blind to the purpose of the study. Dr. Leffler presented research at a conference for military and law enforcement in Washington, D.C., titled "The Fifth Annual Countering IEDs: Assessing the IED Threat and its Evolution on the Battlefield and in the Homeland," about how IDT might be used to prevent terrorism. Dr. Leffler is currently the Executive Director at the Center for Advanced Military Science (CAMS). He served as an Associate of the Proteus Management Group at the Center for Strategic Leadership, US Army War College. In this consultant capacity, Dr. Leffler published on the topic of IDT ("An Overlooked, Proven Solution to Terrorism") that appears in "55 Trends Now Shaping the Future of Terrorism". Dr. Leffler has published in over 1,100 locations worldwide about the military applications of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs. His IDT paper titled "A New Role for the Military: Preventing Enemies from Arising - Reviving an Ancient Approach to Peace" was published in the Journal of Management & Social Science.
KATHMANDU: Big and fringe shared contrasting views on whether an election threshold should be set to let parties represent in the provincial and federal legislatures under the proportional representation system.
While the Election Commission interacted with them seeking their views on a draft bill, the big parties said threshold of at least five per cent should be set to ensure political stability at provincial and federal parliaments.
The fringe parties, however, said the threshold provision should be completely removed.
The Commission has proposed that parties which secure at least 1.5 per cent votes in the proportional representation election system in elections of the Provincial Assembly and the House of Representatives get a seat.
Speaking at the interaction today, leaders of Nepali Congress and CPN-UML asked the Commission to increase the threshold up to five per cent for election to the House of Representatives and up to seven per cent for the election to the Provincial Assembly.
Nepali Congress leader Min Bahadur Bishwakarma, meanwhile, also suggested the government to make policies to encourage women candidates participation in first-past-the-post election system.
Lawmakers Gopal Dahit, Rukmini Chaudhary and Shivaji Yadav, representing the fringe parties, however, argued that there should not be any threshold.RSS
Kathmandu, Nepal: The Special Court (SC) has on Wednesday demanded Rs 10 million in bail from the suspended lawmaker Lharkyal Lama.
A joint bench of judges SC Mohanraman Bhattarai, Bhupendra Prasad Rai and Prabha Basnet demanded the bail after first hearing on a corruption case filed by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) against CPN (Maoist Center) lawmaker.
Lama was also appointed as the State Minister for Finance in the Jhalanath Khanal's cabinet as he was associated with the CPN-UML earlier. Likewise, he had also served as the chairman of Monastery Management Committee on January 3, 2002.
The CIAA had filed the case against Lama on May last May accusing him of amassing property worth Rs 92.4 million illegally by holding public posts on various occasions.
Kathmandu, Nepal: CPN UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli has accused the major allies of the incumbent government- Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (Maoist Center) for driving the country towards the political and constitutional vacuum.
Speaking at an interaction organized by Press Chautari, the journalist wing of the UML, at the UML headquarters in Dhumbarahi on Wednesday Oli, who is also the former Prime Minister also claimed that the Nepali Congress and CPN Maoist Center have no intention to implement the constitution by holding the elections on time.
The Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist Center) are in a plan to drive the country toward a political and constitutional vacuum by not holding polls on declared date. Oli said.
During the function he also suspect over the agreement reached with the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) stating that the agreement would create a constitutional vacuum in the country.
Anyone who has ever been married knows that In-laws, even the kindest ones, are no joke. Now, just imagine if the father of your betrothed is the Devil himself. This is the predicament in which Rudy Ray Moore's Petey Wheatstraw found himself in Moore's follow-up to The Human Tornado, and the film proved to be a turning point in his career as a performer.
Moore returned to the big screen two years after The Human Tornado with another one of his stage characters in Petey Wheatstraw. Petey is another touring comedian, just like Dolemite in Moore's earlier films, who is rolling into a new town with his crew to set up shop for a standing gig. Little does he know that a pair of busted comedians, played by Moore's pals Leroy & Skillet, have also booked a string of dates around the same time. When Wheatstraw's massive popularity threatens to cost Leroy & Skillet their audience - and their lives if they can't repay the debt they owe to secure their bookings with a local Caucasian hoodlum - they decide to secure their investment by wiping out Wheatstraw and his companions in a drive-by shootout.
Luckily for Petey, the Devil happens to be nearby and snatches up his soul just before it's too late. Old Nick offers Petey a deal: he'll give Petey and his friends and family their lives back and give him the ability to take revenge on those who did him wrong, if Petey will promise to marry the Devil's daughter. At this point Wheatstraw is game for any plan that will get him back on his feet and he accepts the deal. The Devil hands Petey his all-powerful walking cane that imbues the carrier with all of the Devil's powers, and Petey gets down to business. However, when it's time to repay his debt to The Devil, Petey balks after seeing his betrothed and then it becomes all out war as he fights the Devil off to secure his own life and avoid this damned wedding.
Rudy Ray Moore's films aren't exactly known for their gritty depiction of ghetto life. In fact, Moore's films are probably the most escapist of the blaxploitation age. The two Dolemite films that preceded Petey Wheatstraw are fantasy action features, with The Human Tornado going particularly off the rails of sanity. With Petey Wheatstraw, Moore employed The Human Tornado director Cliff Roquemore to both write and direct, and the result is strangely one of the best composed of Moore's career. Yes, there are numerous scenes of Petey and the Devil conversing in a no-budget recreation of Hell, and there are hilariously overboard scenes of kung fu action between Petey and various imps and hoodlums, but it's also more subdued than The Human Tornado.
None of Moore's films had any particular moral stance to defend up until Petey Wheatstraw, and this film doesn't exactly break that streak. However, Roquemore takes great pains to place the fanciful action within a fairly recognizable facsimile of urban life in the late '70s. The result is a strangely emotionally resonant film that just happens to have a paunchy Moore fighting off a dozen leotarded devil imps inside of a night club. It's really something special.
If one word could be used to decribe the films of Rudy Ray Moore, you could do a lot worse than "idiosyncratic." It certainly takes a particular temperment and appreciation of trash cinema to truly engage with Moore's films on anything more than a surface level, but those who allow themselves to connect emotionally to the work might find more than they'd bargained for.
The Disc
Vinegar Syndrome does it again with their new 2K scan of Petey Wheatstraw. This is probably my least seen of Moore's films, but even that distinction still puts it around the half-dozen mark, and I've never seen it looking anywhere near this good. The film holds up better than The Human Tornado in terms of suffering from less print damage, and the colors and sharpness are definitely beyond what I could've expected.
The multi-part documenty I, Dolemite enters its third part on the Blu-ray for Petey Wheatstraw. In this section we are given further background on the experience of Moore and Roquemore's working relationship from many of the same talking heads that we saw in the feature from The Human Tornado. What is interesting is that we get further interviews with Cliff Roquemore's sons, who both feature in Petey Wheatstraw, so they are able to bring a bit more insight to this disc than the last.
The disc also features a commentary track from Moore biographer Mark Jason Murray and all-around Moore associate Jimmy Lynch along with excerpts from Moore himself. Finally, there is some wonderful archival footage of Rudy Ray Moore giving a location tour of the many settings from all of his features, including this film, The Human Tornado, and Vinegar Syndrome's next feature, Disco Godfather.
I was a goner for this disc before it even arrived, but Vinegar Syndrome's new restoration and context packed presentation make it even better than I could've hoped. Cult film fans need to own Petey Wheatstraw on Blu-ray; it's a definite winner.
A couple of years ago up and coming Bollywood superstar Ranveer Singh (Band Baaja Baaraat, Lootera) appeared in a one off music video for a song called "My Name is Ranveer Ching." The music video was meant as a big budget ad film for the Ching's Secret food brand, a company that specializes in Indian-Chinese fusion products for home cooking. The song was incredibly - and baffingly - popular in 2014 and has so far racked up nearly two million views on YouTube.
Apparently it was popular enough that Ching's Secret is back again for seconds with a teaser dropping today for an extended ad film titled Ranveer Ching Returns. Normally we don't put a whole lot of focus on ad films, but once in a while there's something too crazy to ignore. In the sequel, Ranveer Ching (Singh) is joined by Baahubali starlet Tammanah in a crazy post-apocalyptic cross between Mad Max and your typical big budget Bollywood masala action films.
The kicker with this new ad is that not only does it feature huge talent in front of the camera, but they've also wrangled major talent behind the camera as well. The film is directed by Rohit Shetty (Singham, Golmaal, Dilwale, and a billion other films where dozens of cars spontaneously explode) who is one of the biggest action directors, if not the biggest, in India. Shetty is joined by big league composers Shankar Ehsaan Loy, and legendary lyricist Gulzar, who won an Academy Award for his work on Slumdog Millionaire's "Jai Ho."
The best part? This crazy 64 seconds is only a trailer for the real ad that is scheduled to hit the net next week on August 19. I don't think I've ever been this excited to watch a commerical before, but hell, I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like this either.
Give it a chance. It'll make you say, "What the hell was that?" in the best possible way.
TIFF's Vanguard Program(me) always features some of the most innovative filmmakers on the international scene. Ana Lily Amirpour is just that and her debut feature A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night made everyone sit up and ask what else she had. Her answer is the "savage dystopian cannibal fairy tale" The Bad Batch with one of the most eclectic casts of the year.
Also premiering in Vanguard is Message From the King by Fabrice Du Welz about a missing girl in LA, and the big American cast debut from everyone's pal Nacho Vigalondo, Colossal. Here's the full Vanguard list:
The Bad Batch
Ana Lily Amirpour, USA, North American Premiere
A savage dystopian cannibal fairy tale set in a Texas wasteland where society's rejects are just trying to make ends meat. Starring Suki Waterhouse, Jason Momoa, Giovanni Ribisi, Yolonda Ross, Jayda Fink, Cory Roberts, Louie Lopez, Keanu Reeves, and Jim Carrey.
Blind Sun
Joyce A. Nashawati, France/Greece, North American Premiere
Greece, sometime in the near future. A seaside resort is struck by a heavy heat wave, water is rare and violence is mounting. Ashraf, a solitary immigrant, is looking after a villa while its owners are away. On a dusty road crushed by the sun, he is stopped by a police officer for an identity check.
Buster's Mal Heart
Sarah Adina Smith, USA, World Premiere
A mountain man on the run from authorities survives the winter by breaking into people's empty vacation homes. He has recurring dreams of being lost at sea only to find that he is, in fact, the man lost at sea. He is one man in two bodies. This is the story of how he split in two.
Colossal
Nacho Vigalondo, Canada, World Premiere
Gloria is an ordinary woman who, after losing her job and being kicked out of her apartment by her boyfriend, is forced to leave her life in New York and move back to her hometown. When news reports surface that a giant creature is destroying Seoul, South Korea, Gloria gradually comes to the realization that she is somehow connected to this far-off phenomenon. As events begin to spin out of control, Gloria must determine why her seemingly insignificant existence has such a colossal effect on the fate of the world. Starring Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens, Austin Stowell, and Tim Blake Nelson.
Godspeed
Chung Mong-Hong, Taiwan, World Premiere
Critically acclaimed director Chung Mong-Hong's latest endeavour centres on a young man whose plan to reform himself takes a tumble when he, along with a seemingly carefree, innocent cab driver, is kidnapped over the heroin he is delivering. Starring Hong Kong veteran Michael Hui.
I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House
Osgood Perkins, Canada/USA, World Premiere
I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House is a modern and minimalist ghost story, set in an 1800s farmhouse in rural Massachusetts. Lily, a hospice nurse, retells the story of how she moved into the house to care for an ailing horror writer in the last few months of her life...and never left.
Interchange
Dain Iskandar Said, Malaysia/Indonesia, North American Premiere
A hard-nosed cop and a forensics photographer confront their darkest selves as a macabre murder investigation leads them to the realm of superstitions, shamans and the supernatural.
Message from the King
Fabrice Du Welz, United Kingdom/France/Belgium, World Premiere
After suddenly losing all contact with his younger sister, Jacob King arrives in Los Angeles determined to track her down. Piecing together her last known movements, King finds unsettling evidence of a life gone off the rails as he relentlessly pursues the truth about what happened to his sister. Stars Chadwick Boseman.
My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea
Dash Shaw, USA, World Premiere
High school can be brutal. Renowned comic book writer/artist Dash Shaw examines how the social structure within a high school changes when calamity strikes. Starring John Cameron Mitchell, Reggie Watts, Jason Schwartzman, Lena Dunham, Maya Rudolph, Susan Sarandon, and Alex Karpovsky.
Nelly
Anne Emond, Canada, World Premiere
A film inspired by the life and work of Nelly Arcan. Nelly is a portrait of a fragmented woman, lost between irreconcilable identities: writer, lover, call girl, and star. Several women in one, navigating between great exaltation and great disenchantment. The film mirrors the violent life and radical work of its subject, paying tribute to a writer who insisted on taking risks. Starring TIFF Rising Star Mylene Mackay.
Prevenge
Alice Lowe, United Kingdom, North American Premiere
Written and directed by British comedian and actress Alice Lowe during her own pregnancy, Prevenge is a darkly comic drama about a pregnant woman out for revenge.
The Untamed (La region salvaje)
Amat Escalante, Mexico/Denmark/France/Germany/Norway/Switzerland, N. American Premiere
Young mother Alejandra is a working housewife, raising two boys with husband Angel in a small city. Her brother Fabian works as a nurse in a local hospital. Their provincial lives are upset with the arrival of the mysterious Veronica. Sex and love can be fragile in certain regions where strong family values, hypocrisy, homophobia and male chauvinism exist. Veronica convinces them that in the nearby woods, inside an isolated cabin, dwells something not of this world that could be the answer to all of their problems.
WITHOUT NAME
Lorcan Finnegan, Ireland, World Premiere
Land surveyor Eric, alienated from urban existence and those who love him, travels to a remote and unnamed Irish woodland to assess its suitability for a dubious development project. Intangible elements are at play in this ethereal environment. The place seems to be imbued by an intelligence of sorts. A silhouette flits between trees. The place fascinates the fragmenting Eric as much as it disturbs him. Following in the psychonautic footsteps of the mysterious Devoy, Eric attempts to communicate with his surroundings, but he becomes a prisoner of a place without a name.
If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE).
Using a service like Airbnb is always a bit of a gamble, both for the homeowner and the renter, and sometimes you get dealt a really bad hand. According to ABC 7, one Menlo Park women recently discovered this truism when she returned home to find her house flooded and littered with items suggesting her guest was not a real estate agent as promised, but rather a sex worker.
"There was water pouring from the second floor to the first floor," homeowner Sharon Marzouk said in a video posted to Facebook. "The place is destroyed." CBS 5 reports that the damage totaled almost $25,000.
In a lengthy blog post detailing the aftermath of the rental, Marzouk describes not just discovering that the bathtub had been left on and the house flooded, but finding items leading her to believe her guest had been shooting porn in the bathroom. Those items included extra lighting installed in the bathroom and a checklist of "pics" to be taken.
"It was only after I brought these new revelations to my housemates that have been living with her for a month did they tell me the stories she told them of working in a 'Vietnamese coffee house' in San Jose where an old woman looked at her vagina and you serve coffee naked," wrote Marzouk.
If Marzouk's renter was indeed a sex worker, it would hardly be an unusual occurrence. Airbnb is reportedly very popular with sex workers looking to serve numerous clients in a manner not possible in a hotel without drawing the attention of staff.
Airbnb, of course, issued its standard statement following the incident. "We have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior and have removed this guest from our platform."
As for Marzouk? It doesn't sound like she'll be using the service again anytime soon. "This experience has severely shaken my confidence in this technology driven 'sharing system' and has put my safety and well-being at risk, and if left as is will continue to put more peoples property and well being at risk."
Related: Deplorable Teen Allegedly Pretends To Be Midwestern Adult, Trashes Oakland Airbnb
In the case of a devastating explosion that killed eight people, injured 58 others, and destroyed 38 homes in a San Bruno neighborhood six years ago, utility company PG&E has been found guilty in US District Court in San Francisco on six of 12 counts. The Mercury News, the Chronicle, and others reported the verdict from the courtroom where it was handed down by a jury of eight men and four women.
The company was felonious on five counts relating to failures to inspect and test gas lines for potential problems. It was also found guilty of felony obstruction: Employees claimed in 2011 that a 2009 document stating certain allowable pipeline pressures was just a draft of a policy never put in place, a misleading statement intended to throw off investigators. PG&E was acquitted on six other charges of violating pipeline safety.
Prosecutors concluded their arguments at the end of July by painting PG&E as a company that had "lost its way." But though the company was fined in 2014 for the explosion, paying $1.4 billion to the Public Utilities Commission, it was possible that PG&E would again face steep financial repercussions in the criminal trial. If, for example, the company had been found guilty on all charges, it would have been liable for an additional $562 million until the prosecution unexpectedly backed down last week, possibly in order to ensure some conviction, requesting that the court dismiss much of the entire potential punishment.
That still puzzling decision was made during the jury's fourth day of deliberations, and the prosecution decided to let go of a demand to charge the utility twice the amount it would have cost to comply with safety standards, which was estimated at $281 million. Now, PG&E will pay just $3 million in fines, at $500,000 for each conviction, which seems like a negligible and insanely low sum, but is the maximum allowed in this type of case.
So there you have it. You can probably hear the entire community of San Bruno screaming right now.
Update: The New York Times covered the verdict, and adds a statement from PG&E saying they are "committed to re-earning [the publics trust]. While we are very much focused on the future, we will never forget the lessons of the past."
Did Sam Singer write that?
Previously: PG&E Trial Closes With Prosecutor Saying The Utility Had 'Lost Its Way'
The man who famously created the Obama "Hope" poster (and those ubiquitous Andre the Giant stickers), artist Shepard Fairey, is in San Francisco this week executing two new murals as part of a series he's doing about five "abiding issues of our time," titled American Civics. The pieces, which will be released as limited edition serigraphs, are all based on photographs by photojournalist Jim Marshall, and the two being done as murals here in SF focus on the topics of voting rights and workers' rights.
One mural, being painted Tuesday and Wednesday at 453 Hayes Street (at Linden) depicts labor activist Cesar Chavez, based on a photo Marshall took of Chavez after he completed his 300-mile march to Sacramento in support of farmworkers' rights in 1966. "[Chavez] fought for the rights of people doing some of the most difficult work for some of the lowest wages so they could unionize and advocate for themselves to earn a dignified wage," says Fairey. "In my art piece, I included articles that reflected the struggles of people who are on the lowest rung of the economic ladder."
Fairey (and company) will be working on the mural from noon to sundown, today and tomorrow.
Then on Thursday and Friday, he'll move to 701 Alabama Street (at 20th), where he'll be painting a mural on the topic of voting rights, using a photo by Marshall of Fannie Lee Chaney from 1964, taken the day she found out that her son, James Chaney, and two friends died at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan at the age of 21 for registering African Americans to vote.
Fairey's SF appearances culminate with a public art opening on Saturday, August 13, at the San Francisco Art Exchange (458 Geary Street), where he'll be doing a meet-and-greet from 2 to 4 p.m.
Other pieces in the series include one focused on gun control, one on income inequality, and one depicting Johnny Cash focused on mass incarceration.
Related: The 12 Best Public Art and Street Art Works in San Francisco
Chinatown organizer and activist Rose Pak is much to thank for the Central Subway project, a $1.5 billion, 1.7-mile undertaking to connect Chinatown to Market Street that was pitched in part as compensation for the removal of the 1989 earthquake-damaged Embarcadero Freeway, which was a conduit to her sometimes isolated neighborhood. But to build the Central Subway, Stockton Street has been closed to cars, damaging Union Square surrounding businesses. To make up for that fact, for the last two years the city has paused construction annually and created a pedestrian space between Market and Union square covered in astroturf called the Stockton Street Winter Walk.
It was an extreme success, Karin Flood, head of the Union Square Business Improvement District, tells the Chronicle. The businesses loved it. The visitors loved it. Could the Walk become permanent, SFist wondered during the Winter Walk's first season in 2014. Wouldn't you know it, others agreed: Union Square merchants have since banded together to support a year-round pedestrian mall, either closed to all traffic or permitting buses only, for when the subway is finished in 2019.
Just one problem: Rose Pak is a major obstacle to the plan, having written to SFMTA Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin to criticize the idea in a letter obtained by Examiner at the end of last month. On behalf of the SF Chinese Chamber of Commerce, she claimed that a permanent pedestrian mall would make permanent all the problems weve experienced, which would be unacceptable to our community. As she told the Examiner with finality, "I consider the issue closed."
We have about 300 family associations, district associations, temples, churches, Pak told CBS 5 with regard to the pedestrian mall. Everybody is here. 100 percent of our businesses rely on delivery trucks. Look at Chinatown any hour. You cant move. Speaking of which, Pak will negotiate with a similar force. Wait until I have my blockade of the MTA for a week and see how they like it, she said. Well have thousands of trucks and cars blockading the whole City Hall and MTA area for one week and see how they like it when no one can get in and out. To clarify, "thats a promise, not a threat," Pak added.
Pak, who spent six months rehabilitating from a kidney issue in China before returning to San Francisco, has already been flexing her political muscle upon her return, protesting an effort to recall Ed Lee and perhaps working to help elect Cindy Wu to Jane Kim's Supervisor post, provided Kim wins her senate race against Supervisor Scott Weiner.
Chuck Nevius of the Chronicle provides some support to Pak's opposition, quoting a local business owner, Jon Handlery of Handlery Hotels. "How is a guest going to get to the hotel if they cant drive?," said Handlery. "How are you getting out of Union Square? Traffic is a joke. While the MTA says it studied the Union Square traffic patterns and determined that the Stockton Street closure has not had a significant impact on traffic congestion, Nevius casts aspersions on that, arguing that since traffic has been disrupted by the Central Subway construction since 2013, it's difficult to know for sure. They said they did a study and you can go from Union Square to the Bay Bridge in 10 minutes," Nevius quotes Handlery. "I said, What time? 3 a.m.?
However, A lot of the merchants, a lot of the pedestrian activists and bike advocates are all saying this is something that would work, the MTA's Paul rose countered to CBS 5. Streetsblog appears to agree, pushing an effort to mobilize with a petition to move the pedestrian mall project along.
And, to touch on bicyclists, one prominent pro-bike voice, the parody account Bob Gunderson, has been "critical" of the Winter Walk, which is to say he's clevelry promoted it. Gunderson's blog, Dearest District 5, lampoons the likes of Rob Anderson, an actual opponent of bikes, by insisting that the Winter Walk has been a "carless nightmare." In fact, "The Pedestrian Plaza was supposed to be all fun and games and a "relief from cars," but it's done nothing but tear apart families, ruin children's dreams, and tank the Disney, Apple and Ferrari stores," writes Gunderson. How long, surely he wonders, can this be permitted to endure?
Previously: Should Stockton Street's Pedestrian Holiday Plaza Become Permanent?
The troubled chancellor of UC Davis resigned today following the completion of an investigation that called into question her actions as head of the university. The Chronicle reports that Linda Katehi's resignation is effectively immediately.
Katehi had been suspended since April after news broke that she paid a private company $175,000 in public funds to scrub the internet of images relating to the infamous 2011 pepper-spray incident.
The report released today, however, was not focused on her dealings surrounding the pepper spraying of students. Rather, one of the main charges against Katehi was that she had given her campus-employed daughter-in-law $50,000 in raises along with other inappropriate benefits to her also campus-employed son.
According to the Chronicle, UC President Janet Napolitano said in a statement that the investigation found "numerous instances where Chancellor Katehi was not candid, either with me, the press, or the public, that she exercised poor judgment and violated multiple university policies.
Rosa Guzman, Katehi's lawyer, meanwhile sent out a press release this afternoon claiming that her client had been cleared of any wrongdoing. "Linda Katehi and her family have been exonerated from baseless accusations of nepotism, conflicts of interest, financial management and personal gain, just as we predicted and as the UC Davis Academic Senate found within days of this leave, read the statement.
The report itself has yet to be released, so at this time we'll have to assume that Katehi's resignation means that there is something at least damning even if not criminal in the report.
Katehi was paid a salary of $420,000 as chancellor, and her contract with the university means that she will still be able to stay on as a faculty member (she previously taught engineering). We're sure the engineering department is stoked.
Previously: UC Davis Chancellor Placed On Leave Following Attempt To Scrub Pepper Spray Cop From Internet
Shepard Fairey, the prodigious artist behind Obama's "Hope" poster, is in San Francisco this week where he's working on two murals in a series of five called American Civics. Those focus on what Fairey considers to be abiding issues of our time, and in Hayes Valley (at PROXY) that means he was working today (and supposedly yesterday, though I saw that little progress was made until this morning) on a mural depicting Cesar Chavez in an effort to highlight wage rights. The image of Chavez Fairey has chosen is a photo Jim Marshall took of Chavez taken after the activist's 300-mile march to Sacramento in 1966 in solidarity with farm workers.
"I believe in what Chavez stood for as an activist and civil rights leader," says Fairey. "He fought for the rights of people doing some of the most difficult work for some of the lowest wages so they could unionize and advocate for themselves to earn a dignified wage. In my art piece, I included articles that reflected the struggles of people who are on the lowest rung of the economic ladder. Chavez fought to increase the minimum wage for these people, and that battle continues today."
Next, Fairey will be at 701 Alabama Street (at 20th) for his subsequent mural, one depicting Fannie Lee Chaney in 1964, and through her, the fight for voting rights. Chaney's son was killed by the Ku Klux Klan members for registering black voters.
Finally, Fairey will appear at a public art opening on Saturday at the San Francisco Art Exchange at 458 Geary Street.
Previously: Shepard Fairey Painting Two New Murals In SF This Week
Ah, Vallejo. Our neighbor to the north is in the news again this week, with four women standing accused of going totally nuts in a Jack in the Box after their drive-through order was deemed to be not up to their standards. The Los Angeles Times reports that this all went down on Sunday afternoon proving that the questionable decision to eat fast food is not only a late-night affair.
The four women reportedly got their order around 12:45 p.m. from the fast food joint at 1610 Lewis Brown Road, and things quickly went sideways. They said the food was too cold, Lieutenant Herman Robinson of the Vallejo Police Department told the paper. The store's manager, likely following some corporate manual, asked that they pull into the parking lot and said they could have a fresh order.
We don't know what they ordered (Sriracha Curly Fry Burger Munchie Meal? Bacon Ranch Monster Taco?), but whatever it was, they must have had quite the craving as the manager's offer didn't go over so well.
They werent satisfied with that, Robinson told the Times. They wanted immediate service." The women then reportedly pulled back through and chucked their food through the drive-through window, and the manager later told police he thought he spotted a gun (no gun was found).
"Subsequent to that, they enter the restaurant, where they basically terrorize the employees," explained Robinson. The alleged terrorizing included knocking over a cash register and stacks of cups and straws.
CBS 5 reports that one of the women struck an employee in the head, but the Times clarifies that the employee was hit in the head with an object possibly a cold Chicken Fajita Pita?
The women fled after their alleged mini-rampage, but employees got the car's license plate and police arrested them a short time later. Three of the four, aged 19 to 24, were arrested on suspicion of trespassing and vandalism. The fourth, 28-year-old Keyira Gipson, was arrested on suspicion of vandalism, trespassing, and probation violation.
No word on whether or not they got a chance to eat any lunch before police showed up.
Related: McDonald's Manager Arrested After Robbing Own Store
Nothing written, appearing, or linked to, on this site is intended to be individual legal, or investment, advice. Consult a financial or legal adviser before making any trade, or any other decision, based anything you read, or see, on this website. This website treats all U.S. viewers' visitor-paths -- and visits -- as public data. If you are from Europe, understand that this site can see -- but will not disclose to the public -- your visitor-path, in compliance with applicable E.U. directives. We also (via enabled cookies) receive useful information about the device and software you use to access these pages, including IP address (from which location may be inferred), device type, web browser type, operating system version, phone carrier and manufacturer, member agents, application installations, device identifiers, mobile advertising identifiers, and push notification tokens. We do not sell any of this information, however -- we are not for profit, here. We automatically receive information about your interactions with these pages, such as the posts or other content you view, the searches you conduct, the people you follow, and the dates and times of your visits. We may collect (for our own use only) information using cookies, pixel tags, and similar technologies. Cookies are small text files containing a string of alphanumeric characters. We may use both session cookies and persistent cookies. A session cookie disappears after you close your browser. A persistent cookie remains after you close your browser and may be used by your browser on subsequent visits to our pages.
SIOUX CITY | Latasha Boucher scooped up ground beef, placing it inside some homemade Indian fry bread.
The Yankton, South Dakota, woman then added lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese, sour cream and a dollop of spicy salsa.
"This is our famous Indian taco," said Boucher, who is co-owner of the Delicious Depot food truck along with husband Dallas Boucher. "People can't seem to get enough of them."
Setting up shop inside a gray truck which bears the legend "Grub on the Go" is a dream-come-true for Dallas Boucher, a former restaurant chef.
"I wanted to be my own boss," he said. "Now, I have my own restaurant on wheels."
Delicious Depot has been one of the mainstay mobile eateries participating in Food Truck Fridays, a weekly event hosted by Start Up Sioux City since June 3.
Locally-owned food trucks set up shop on Seventh Street between Douglas and Pearl streets from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. every Friday until the end of August.
"Food Truck Fridays has gotten a good response," said David Brockshus, one of the event's volunteer coordinators. "It's grown so big that we decided to try it out on Thursday nights."
From 6-9 p.m. Thursdays, trucks will be selling a variety of cuisines on Fifth Street between Jackson and Nebraska streets.
"We realized that a lot of people don't have time for lunch on Fridays," Brockshus said. "Hosting the event on a Thursday night will allow more families to participate. It will also draw more traffic to the downtown businesses."
It was the aroma of Asian food that attracted Corry Berens, who ordered the Thai Basil Chicken from The Leaf Grill & Wokery, a food truck with "fresh, fusion bistro" cuisine.
"This is amazing stuff," Corry Berens said, eating from a cardboard container. "Very delicious."
Corry Berens' wife Eva nodded her head in agreement.
"I can't believe food of this quality came from a truck," she said after a few bites of The Leaf Grill's Hibachi Beef. "It's great."
Walking down the block, Brockshus noted the variety of cuisines offered by food trucks.
"We've had trucks that offered gourmet hot dogs, Mexican food, healthy fare, you name it,' he said. "People like choices and we certainly have that."
Jackson Street Brewing's Dave Winslow looked outside the window of his 607 Fifth Street brew pub. He said diners will get a free second pint of beer with a food purchase during Food Truck Thursdays.
"The food truck movement is similar to the craft beer movement," Winslow said. "It's when entrepreneurs start out small and do something that is very creative to them."
Which is exactly what Dallas Boucher wanted to do with Delicious Depot, which has been in business since February.
"I've always wanted to do an updated version of the hearty foods from my childhood," he said of a menu that includes smoked ribs and gumbo in addition to the aforementioned Indian tacos. "A food truck gives me the luxury of being able to change up the menu whenever I want."
So much so that Dallas Boucher, wife Latasha and their five kids spend much of their time working area festivals, pow-wows and other events.
"It's hard work but it's worth it," he said.
Luckily, he has a perfect partner in Latasha.
"People always ask me why does our food tastes so good," she said. "I simply tell them that food tastes better coming from a food truck."
DES MOINES Gov. Terry Branstad has ordered a review of Iowa laws governing liquor, wine and beer with an eye on balancing the needs of a rapidly expanding industry of micro-enterprises with state regulations and social concerns associated with alcohol consumption.
Iowa laws regulating alcohol were first written in 1934, Branstad said Wednesday in announcing a study of laws governing the regulation of alcohol in Iowa. Many things have changed in this industry since then, and we want to make sure our laws are not barriers to entrepreneurs and businesses.
Branstad named Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority, and Stephen Larson, administrator of the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division, to spearhead the working-group review beginning next month with the goal of providing recommendations to him by next January. Durham, of Sioux City, is a former president of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce.
Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls, chairman of the Senate State Government Committee, said he welcomed an effort to improve and streamline Iowas regulatory framework while maintaining the three-tier system for manufacturers, distributors and retailers that make up Iowas spirits, wine and beer markets.
I fully support it, said Danielson, who had hoped for a similar legislative interim study. We can preserve the three-tiered system and grow Iowa products at the same time. There is common ground around some changes. I see it. We just havent had a chance to get everybody in the room and to talk about it.
Among the topics for consideration would be easing restrictions on out-the-door products by microbreweries that currently serve their products at on-premise restaurants or lifting production caps on distilleries and allowing them to sell their products on their venue sites, he noted.
With the rapid growth in recent years of craft breweries, native wineries and micro-distilleries, the composition of the states industry is far more diverse and innovative than in years past, according to the governors office.
Micro-enterprises in this industry are locating in our communities both big and small and are not only creating jobs but are also increasing tourism in our state, Durham said. Its important that we modernize our laws so this cottage industry is on a level playing field and feel like they have a chance to succeed.
Matt Matthiesen, owner of West O Beer brewery in West Okoboji, Iowa, said the states step to modernize the laws is a "win." He said Iowa wineries have been around longer than breweries, and enjoy some advantages over breweries.
"One thing off the top of my head is that I wish we could, at least, sell local wines," Matthiesen said. "Wineries can sell beer; breweries cannot sell wine. I think we are missing customers because of that."
Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds noted that the demand for Iowa-made products in the beverages industry is growing every day, making it important to ensure that Iowa laws are encouraging business development as well as protecting Iowans.
Larson said laws governing alcoholic beverages must be clear and easily understood, noting that exceptions and carve-outs that have been enacted over the years have led to confusion and ambiguity in some regulatory areas.
The working group will be designated to look at the existing laws and make recommendations for changes that could better position the state for growth in the cottage industries of wine-making, brewing and distilling, according to the governors directive. Appointees will work with representatives of the alcoholic beverages industry, including wholesalers, manufacturers, retailers, prevention specialists and regulators to gain a broad range of perspectives.
Journal staff writer Alex Boisjolie contributed to this story.
SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City woman has been charged with assault and eluding after she attempted to run from police by climbing onto the roof of a building.
According to court documents, police were called at 3 p.m. Tuesday when Amber Flectcher, 20, punched her mother in the face on the front porch at 1623 26th St.
After her mother called the police, Fletcher climbed onto the balcony from the porch. When officers tried to climb the balcony to pull her into the residence; she climbed onto the second story roof. The documents said she then climbed onto a live power line in an attempt to reach to the power line pole, but fell two stories to the ground where she was arrested.
Sioux City Police Sgt. Jay Hoogendyk said she was taken to the hospital for evaluation, but was released to the Woodbury County Jail with minor injuries to her ankle.
She is being held with a bond amount of $1,000.
CHEROKEE, Iowa | The driver involved in a July 30 rollover crash that killed a Sergeant Bluff man who served on the city's fire department has been charged with vehicular homicide.
According to a news release from the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, 21-year-old Casey Robert Herron, of Quimby, Iowa, was arrested Tuesday.
Herron was the driver of a pickup that crashed at 6:45 p.m. July 30 near the intersection of 470th Street and High Country Road in rural Cherokee County. A news release said Herron was traveling east when he lost control of the vehicle. The vehicle rolled over.
Vitali Zhylka, 21, one of three passengers in the vehicle, was transported to Cherokee Regional Medical Center, where he died of his injuries. Herron and the other two passengers suffered minor injuries.
Zhylka had been a volunteer on the Sergeant Bluff Fire Department for approximately four years.
Herron was booked into the Cherokee County Jail. He was released on $25,000 bond.
The charges follow an investigation by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office and the Iowa State Patrol.
STORM LAKE, Iowa | A Storm Lake man was arrested Tuesday morning after police said he physically assaulted a woman while she was holding a one-year-old child.
According to a news release from the Storm Lake Police Department, officers were dispatched to 701 E. Fourth St. in Storm Lake at 8:33 a.m.
When police arrived they found woman with a cut on her arm. The release said Leroy Abraham, 28, is believed to have assaulted the woman as she was holding a one-year-old child.
Abraham was arrested at the scene and charged with domestic assault causing injury and child endangerment.
The woman declined medical treatment, the release said. A report was filed with the Iowa Department of Human Services.
Abraham was booked into the Buena Vista County Jail. He was later released on $2,000 bond.
SIOUX CITY | The U.S. Department of Transportation has turned down Sioux Citys bid for a $14.8 million grant for a proposed viaduct over railroad tracks on 18th Street, putting the long-awaited economic development project in jeopardy.
The cost of the project is pretty cost-prohibitive without federal funding," City Manager Bob Padmore said Tuesday.
The city in April formally applied for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Program, or TIGER, grant. The federal funds would have covered nearly 75 percent of the estimated $20.7 million cost of the viaduct, which backers said would spur more growth in the Hoeven Valley industrial area bordering the Floyd River.
The overpass, which would span tracks between Floyd Boulevard and Lewis Boulevard, would eliminate the long and frequent waits for trains by vehicles crossing 18th Street.
To meet TIGER grant requirements, the city also was required to close at least one other rail crossing in addition to 18th Street. The council chose 11th Street over the other identified option, 28th Street.
Closing 11th would benefit Cargills large soy processing complex, which straddles the street, because traffic would no longer run through the companys property. Other nearby employers, including the Food Bank of Siouxland, warned that closing 11th Street would disrupt their operations.
Cargill pledged $1.5 million toward the project, while the railroads with tracks at the two crossings -- Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway and Canadian National Railway, also would contribute.
The citys share would be $2 million.
City Councilman Dan Moore called the denial of the TIGER grant a "setback" to the project.
Economic development department Director Marty Dougherty said the city plans to seek federal money in 2017 for the project, including a TIGER grant if it exists under a new incoming presidential administration.
SOUTH SIOUX CITY | The Marina Hotel and Conference Center has secured a reservation with one of the world's most famous luxury hotel brands.
Marriott International Inc recently approved the South Sioux City hotel's application for a franchise, Marina Inn owner John Gleeson said.
"We are very excited to become a franchise operator for one of the full-service Marriott brands," Gleeson said. "Like many people, we view Marriott International as the world premier hospitality company."
Gleeson said he will continue to own the hotel, which has been in his family for the last 44 years. The hotel also will continue to be managed by the current team of 150 full-and part-time employees, which he said "have been doing a great job."
Gleeson said $3 million to $4 million of improvements to the hotel will begin this fall to further enhance the guests' experience. The work is expected to take about six months.
After the completion, the hotel name will change to one of Marriott's full-service brands, which will be announced at a later date, Gleeson said.
Marriott International operates 19 brands internationally, including luxury, upscale, extended stay, and limited service brands. Full-service brands in the U.S. include Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, J.W. Marriott, Autograph Collection, Renaissance and Delta.
Ralph Bobian, general manager of the Marina Inn for the past five years, said the "high standards and culture of Marriotts properties are very similar to how we currently operate the Marina Inn."
"My previous experience in working at Marriott hotels in Denver has given me an opportunity to appreciate the high hospitality standards of the Marriott brands," Bobian said. "We look forward to being part of the Marriott rewards program, which is very important to many of our hotel guests."
The Marina Inn, which sits on the banks of the Missouri River, boasts 181 guest rooms, 45,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space and a premiere restaurant, Kahill's Steak, Fish and Chophouse.
The hotel has operated under the Marina Inn name since it was built in 1970. Two years later, the hotel had filed for bankruptcy.
In August 1972, Gleeson, at the time a college student, remembered going with his father to the sale of the hotel on the steps of the Dakota County Courthouse. The previous owners owed the Gleeson family's contracting business and a number of other subcontractors and suppliers money for the hotel construction, he said.
Gleeson, who today is president of Sioux City-based Klinger Companies, has described his hotel business as a personal hobby and passion. Over the years, he has invested millions of dollars into the Marina Inn, which has long been one of the region's most prominent hotels.
Marriott International, based in Bethesda, Maryland., was founded by John Willard Marriott in 1927. Today, the chain has nearly 4,500 properties in 87 countries, with revenues of more than $14 billion in fiscal year 2015.
Todays top picks from our online calendar. Find more events at siouxcityjournal.com/calendar.
Sioux City Farmers Market: Enjoy locally grown produce, baked goods and hand-crafted items 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays at Tyson Events Center Suite Parking Lot, corner of TriView Avenue and Pearl Street. Visit www.siouxcityfarmersmarket.com or call 712-279-4850 for more
Iowa Community Conversation on disability and Aging Advocacy: Bringing people with disabilities and aging Iowans to the table together to learn about disability and aging advocacy in Iowa from 1-4 p.m. today at the Sioux City Public Museum, 607 Fourth St. Call Don Dew at 712-255-1065 for more information.
Gaelic Storm: The chart-topping multi-national Celtic band, will perform at 7:30 p.m. tonight on the Lauridsen Performing Arts Theatre stage at the Pearson Lakes Art Center, 2201 U.S. Highway 71. Tickets range from $45-$55. Visit lakesart.org or call 712-332-7013 for more information
"Isolationists must not prevail in this new debate over foreign policy," warns Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. "The consequences of a lasting American retreat from the world would be dire."
To make his case against the "Isolationist Temptation," Haass creates a caricature, a cartoon, of America First patriots, then thunders that we cannot become "a giant gated community."
Understandably, Haass is upset. For the CFR has lost the country.
Why? It colluded in the blunders that have bled and near bankrupted America and that cost this country its unrivaled global preeminence at the end of the Cold War.
No, it was not "isolationists" who failed America. None came near to power. The guilty parties are the CFR crowd and their neocon collaborators, and liberal interventionists who set off to play empire after the Cold War and create a New World Order with themselves as Masters of the Universe.
Consider just a few of the decisions taken in those years that most Americans wish we could take back.
After the Soviet Union withdrew the Red Army from Europe and split into 15 nations, and Russia held out its hand to us, we slapped it away and rolled NATO right up onto her front porch.
Enraged Russians turned to a man who would restore respect for their country. Did we think they would just sit there and take it?
How did bringing Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia into NATO make America stronger, safer and more secure? For it has surely moved us closer to a military clash with a nuclear power.
In 2014, with John McCain and U.S. diplomats cheering them on, mobs in Independence Square overthrew a pro-Russian government in Kiev that had been democratically elected and installed a pro-NATO regime.
Putin's response: Secure Russia's naval base at Sevastopol by retaking Crimea, and support pro-Russian Ukrainians in Luhansk and Donetsk who preferred secession to submission to U.S. puppets.
Fortunately, our interventionists failed to bring Georgia and Ukraine into NATO. Had they succeeded, we almost surely would have been in a shooting war with Russia by now.
Would that have made us stronger, safer, more secure?
After the attack on 9/11, George W. Bush, with the nation and world behind him, took us into Afghanistan to eradicate the nest of al-Qaida killers.
After having annihilated some and scattered the rest, however, Bush decided to stick around and convert this wild land of Pashtuns, Hazaras, Tajiks and Uzbeks into another Iowa.
Fifteen years later, we are still there.
And the day we leave, the Taliban will return, undo all we have done, and butcher those who cooperated with the Americans.
If we had to do it over, would we have sent a U.S. army and civilian corps to make Afghanistan look more like us?
Bush then invaded Iraq, overthrew Saddam, purged the Baath Party, and disbanded the Iraqi army. Result: A ruined, sundered nation with a pro-Iranian regime in Baghdad, ISIS occupying Mosul, Kurds seceding, and endless U.S. involvement in this second-longest of American wars.
Most Americans now believe Iraq was a bloody trillion-dollar mistake, the consequences of which will be with us for decades.
With a rebel uprising against Syria's Bashar al-Assad, the U.S. aided the rebels. Now, 400,000 Syrians are dead, half the country is uprooted, millions are in exile, and the Damascus regime, backed by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, is holding on after five years.
Meanwhile, we cannot even decide whether we want Assad to survive or fall, since we do not know who rises when he falls.
Anyone still think it was a good idea to plunge into Syria in support of the rebels? Anyone still think it was a good idea to back Saudi Arabia in its war against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, which has decimated that country and threatens the survival of millions?
Anyone still think it was a good idea to attack Libya and take down Moammar Gadhafi, now that ISIS and other Islamists and rival regimes are fighting over the carcass of that tormented land?
"The Middle East is arguably the most salient example of what happens when the U.S. pulls back," writes Haass.
To the CFR, the problem is not that we plunged headlong into this maelstrom of tyranny, tribalism and terrorism, but that we have tried to extricate ourselves.
Hints that America might leave the Middle East, says Haass, have "contributed greatly to instability in the region."
So, must we stay indefinitely?
To the CFR, America's role in the world is to corral Russia, defend Europe, contain China, isolate Iran, deter North Korea, and battle al-Qaida and ISIS wherever they may be, bleeding our country's military.
Nor is that all. We are also to convert Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Afghanistan into pro-Western preferably democratic countries, and embrace "free trade," accepting the imported merchandise of all mankind, even if that means endless $800 billion trade deficits, bleeding our country's economy.
Otherwise, you are just an isolationist.
DES MOINES | In the wee morning hours of Feb. 2, Hillary Clinton stood on a stage in Des Moines and celebrated a narrow victory in the Iowa caucuses.
That victory in Iowa was Clintons first step on a history-making journey across the country that concluded with her becoming the first woman to earn a major U.S. political partys nomination for president.
On Wednesday, more than six months after that caucus victory speech, Clinton makes her return to Iowa to hold another campaign rally, this time as the Democratic candidate for president.
Clintons national political director Amanda Renteria spoke with the Des Moines Bureau last week about Clintons return to the state where it all began and the campaigns plans for Iowa.
We kicked it off here. This place is pretty special for us, Renteria said during an interview in the Clinton campaigns headquarters in downtown Des Moines. We won the caucus here. It was a big deal to have won that caucus. Its special for our entire campaign that this is where it all started, and we did it, and we learned a lot from it as well.
Clintons remarks Wednesday will focus on the economy, including her proposal for the largest investment in job creation since World War II, according to the campaign.
Renteria said Iowans can expect to see plenty of Clinton and her campaigns high-profile supporters in the months leading up to the Nov. 8 election.
Polls in the presidential race in Iowa conducted before the parties national conventions showed a tight race in Iowa.
Most election forecast maps have Iowa marked as a toss-up state or leaning slightly toward Clinton.
We know this thing is going to be tight all the way to the end. I dont see any change in that, Renteria said. Were under the assumption it will be close all the way through, and were under the assumption that weve got to make sure that were earning every single vote.
Renteria said it is important to Clinton that Democrats are successful not only in keeping the White House but also in congressional and Statehouse races. Without being asked, Renteria noted the state Senate races in Iowa, where Democrats cling to a 26-24 majority that if flipped would give Republicans full control of the Capitol.
If we build the right kind of organization here, and we are, and were really coordinating as much as we can, we can make some real headway on whats happening in the state, Renteria said. One of the things as Ive gone around talking to folks, the (state) funding thats been cut is hard for these community organizations and I can only imagine what that might mean if the Senate were to go in a different direction. So (Clinton) wants to help make sure that were building the party out here.
Despite facing challenges, women entrepreneurs are more optimistic about revenue and growth than their male counterparts, a new study has found.
Bank of Americas (NYSE:BAC) inaugural Women Business Owner Spotlight study (PDF) surveyed 1,000 small business owners across the United States and found some interesting insights into the minds of women entrepreneurs.
Key Highlights of the Women Business Owner Spotlight Study
Here are some notable takeaways that have emerged from the study.
About 54 percent of women entrepreneurs expect their revenue to increase over the next 12 months, compared to 48 percent of male entrepreneurs.
Sixty percent of women small business owners expect to grow their business over the next five years, compared to only 52 percent of men.
Business credit cards (28 percent), bank funding (23 percent) and personal credit cards (16 percent) are the main sources of finances for women entrepreneurs.
Fifty one percent of women start their own business because they want to be their own boss.
Business Confidence Higher Among Women Owners
Female entrepreneurs are excited about the future and focused on the success of their small businesses. They are demonstrating much greater levels of optimism than their male counterparts, said Sharon Miller, managing director, head of Small Business at Bank of America in a release issued by the bank.
Economic Concerns of Women Business Owners
Although women entrepreneurs feel confident about growth, they have concerns about a variety of economic issues and their impact on business.
Interestingly, both women and men small business owners share similar worries about top economic issues over the next 12 months. These are:
Concern about the corporate tax rates (54 percent of women and 45 percent of men),
Concern about the strength of the U.S. dollar (59 percent of women and 45 percent of men), and
Concern about commodities pricing (52 percent of women and 44 percent of men).
Miller asserts women small business owners do express concerns about certain areas, which they are taking into account as they continue to grow.
What Successful Women Entrepreneurs Do Differently
The growing number of women entrepreneurs and their optimism about their businesses may be driven by the successful examples set by prominent female business owners. Whether its entrepreneurs like Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr or Julia Hartz, co-founder of Eventbrite, women entrepreneurs have proven how business should be done.
Sophia Amoruso, founder of Nasty Gal, a clothing retail company, advises, Dont give up, dont take anything personally, and dont take no for an answer. Her business started out as an eBay store before she turned it into a multimillion dollar empire with its own clothing line.
Today technology has made it easier for women business owners to pursue their passion and follow their entrepreneurial dreams. Melissa Curling, founder and owner of District Dance Company says internet has made everything a bit easier. She uses Facebook groups to reach her target audience and spread the word about her business.
With the right focus and strategy, women entrepreneurs can turn opportunities into success stories.
About the Study
GfK Public Affairs and Corporate Communications conducted the Bank of America Women Business Owner Spotlight Survey for summer 2016 between March 17 and April 19, 2016 using a pre-recruited online sample of small business owners.
The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless.
The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well.
By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism.
Less than one month after the shooting at the LGBT Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, an assault took place at the now-deceased shooter Omar Mateens mosque, the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce.Attending the mosque, at the time, was Abdul Rauf Khan, an official from the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). His account of the assault has been called into question by local law enforcement. What should also be called into question is the mosques involvement with Khan and ICNA, entities with links to terror and bigotry.The Islamic Center of Fort Pierce (ICFP) has numerous associations with terrorism. In May 2014, mosque goer and devoted member of al-Nusra, Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, drove a massive truck bomb into a restaurant in Jabal al-Arbaeen, Syria, killing himself and several Syrian troops. On June 12, 2016, while pledging allegiance to ISIS, mosque goer Omar Mateen murdered 49 individuals in a mass shooting he had perpetrated at the Orlando gay nightclub, Pulse. Mateens father and former ICFP Vice President, Seddique Mir Mateen, has publicly stated his support for the Taliban.Following the Pulse attack, the Communications Director for the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Wilfredo Amr Ruiz, was named ICFP spokesman. CAIR was created in June 1994 as part of a terrorist umbrella group headed by then-global head of Hamas, Mousa Abu Marzook. In 2007 and 2008, CAIR was named by the Justice Department a co-conspirator in the financing of millions of dollars to Hamas. CAIR reps have served jail time and/or have been deported for terror-related crimes. In July 2014, CAIR-Florida co-sponsored a pro-Hamas rally in Miami, where rally goers shouted, We are Hamas and Lets go Hamas.Last month, ICFP brought to the mosque another terror-related group, ICNA Relief, the main charity of ICNA.On July 31st, ICFP hosted an event titled BACK2SCHOOL GIVEAWAY. The event was a project of ICNA Relief (the event organizer) and co-sponsored by CAIR.ICNA is the American affiliate of South Asian Islamist group Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). JIs militant wing, Hizbul Mujahideen, owned the Pakistani compound where Osama bin Laden was hiding out and where he was eventually killed by US Navy Seals. ICNA, itself, has been linked to terrorist financing and has used the web to promote different terrorist groups, including Hamas, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and the Taliban. ICNA conducts annual functions along with the Muslim American Society (MAS), which, in November 2014, along with CAIR and others, was designated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government a terrorist organization.Leading the BACK2SCHOOL event was the Secretary of ICNA Florida and extreme bigot, Abdul Rauf Khan. Khan has used his Facebook page to post videos dedicated to Nation of Islam leader and anti-Jewish fanatic Louis Farrakhan and Egypts banned Muslim Brotherhood. He has been photographed wearing Muslim Brotherhood garb , himself. He also posted a video on his Facebook site glorifying a member of Hezbollah as a hero, and he posted a link to an anti-Semitic video labeling comedian talk show host Bill Maher, Zionist Jew Bill Maher.This was not Khans first time at ICFP. He was also there at the beginning of July, during a physical confrontation involving one of ICFPs mosque goers.On July 2nd, at around 4:00 am, a mosque goer at ICFP, who had been locked out of his car that was parked outside the mosque, was assaulted by an individual who had driven up in a white truck. Police were called to the scene and, upon arriving, found the victim bleeding from the mouth . The assailant, Taylor Anthony Mazzanti, was soon apprehended.Khan, who was at the mosque at the time of the assault, described what he alleges had taken place. According to a news report, Khan claimed that he had brought the victim to a friends house to retrieve a wire hanger, so that they could attempt to open the car door. According to another report, Khan and the victim stood nearly side by side, when the man in the truck got out and approached them from behind.Khan claimed that the attacker stated during the attack, You Muslims need to go back to where you came from. Khan said of the attacker, He was cursing, saying Muslim this and Muslim that. And He had been drinking. He was smelling bad. It was a vicious attack. He just started throwing punches.There are a number of problems with Khans story, however. According to the victim, Khan offered to stay and help open the car, but the man told Khan to go inside because he had already took up too much of his time. It was only after Khan went inside that the truck pulled up. Video provided by the mosque supports this scenario, as Khan is not present in the video during the attack.Furthermore, according to St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara, the person who called 911 said someone was trying to burglarize a vehicle, and the victim on the scene said his attacker merely asked him what he was doing before punching him. He stated that interviews by detectives and supervisors and a statement by the victim dont indicate racially motivated comments were made during the attack.The mosque has released a statement mimicking Khans allegations, as well as a photo of Khan and the victim with big smiles , taken just a day after the assault. Wilfredo Ruiz used the story to take a jab at the Sheriffs Office, which refused the mosque security following the Orlando shooting. Sheriff Mascara responded forcefully by stating, The untruthful rhetoric from the mosque and its spokesperson is doing nothing more than trying to bring empathy to their causeOf course, the mosque, CAIR and Khan want more than just empathy. They want to push the hate crimes angle Islamophobia and make themselves out to be the victims, when in reality it is they who are promoting violence and hatred. They hide behind this misleading term as a way to mask their radical behavior: the mosques association with ISIS and the Taliban, CAIRs association with Hamas, and ICNAs association with all of the above.We should thank the Sheriff for calling them out on their lies and/or exaggerations. You can personally do so, by sending a note here ICFP is a hotbed of jihad and terrorism and poses a legitimate threat to the security of the United States. We should look forward to the day, when the Sheriff receives the authority to finally padlock its doors.Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam Monitor, contributed to this report.
LEONARDTOWN, Md. (Aug. 10, 2016)A grand jury returned an indictment charging a former St. Mary's Co. government employee with six counts of reckless endangerment. In March of 2016, the Sheriff's Office, in partnership with the Department of Land Use and Growth Management (LUGM), initiated a criminal investigation involving a former LUGM employee who allegedly completed numerous building, plumbing, gas, and electrical inspections without the proper certifications, in violation of the International Residential Code, International Building Code, and the Annotated Code of Maryland. The man was identified as Brian Richley Taylor, 40, of Clements.
Police say Taylor was employed as the code coordinator within the LUGM department from 2009 through March of 2016. As the code coordinator, Taylor directly supervised and managed the County's process for issuing certificates of occupancy after all necessary inspections and certifications were met for each building permit which includes: building, electric, plumbing, and gas inspections. Such inspections are beyond the official scope of Taylor's official duties and require certifications that he did not, nor has ever, possessed as the code coordinator or in any other professional capacity.
Detectives determined that Taylor, on his own accord and without the approval or knowledge of his superiors performed, or at minimum, certified inspections for several premises within St. Mary's Co., to include residential and commercial structures. In St. Mary's Co., inspections related to building, electric, gas, and plumbing are performed by businesses operating in the private sector that employs individuals who are certified to perform such inspections.
According to police, an extensive audit and inspection of LUGM records revealed that more than fifty permit numbers were identified as having illegal inspections completed by Taylor. After reviewing those files, six permit numbers were identified as having inspections for building, gas, plumbing, and electric completed by Taylor within the past year. As the result of Taylor's actions, several dwellings in St. Mary's Co. were not adequately inspected during multiple phases of construction, thereby endangering the life and safety of the occupants who inhabited the structures with the presumption the dwelling was inspected by a certified, licensed building inspector, master electrician, and master plumber.
The state's attorney presented the facts of the case to the Grand Jury for St. Mary's County and an indictment was returned on Wednesday, Aug. 3. A writ of summons was issued on Friday, Aug. 5.
The investigation was conducted by the Vice Narcotics Division of the sheriff's office. The investigating officer was Shawn Moses.
Craig Wesley Norton, 45, of Lexington Park, and Margaret Patricia Hare, 50, of Lexington Park. (Booking photos)
LEONARDTOWN, Md.
(Aug. 10, 2016)The execution of a search and seizure warrant at a home in Lexington Park on Thursday, Aug. 4, resulted in drug-related charges against two people.Detectives say they developed Craig Wesley Norton, 45, of Lexington Park, as a distributor of morphine and oxycodone and subsequently applied for the warrant. During the search, police say they recovered methadone, oxycodone and related paraphernalia.During the search, police also found Margaret Patricia Hare, 50, of Lexington Park, inside the home and in possession of cocaine and related paraphernalia.Norton was charged with Possession of CDS-Not Marijuana and Possession of CDS Paraphernalia.Norton has 85 public records in the Maryland Judiciary Database dating back to 1991, many of which are criminal charges. He also has cases involving domestic violence and a paternity cased filed against him by the Dept. of Social Services.Hare was also charged with Possession of CDS-Not Marijuana and Possession of CDS Paraphernalia.Hare has 38 public records in the Maryland Judiciary Database dating back to 1994, many of which are criminal charges.Police say additional charges are pending a review with the local State's Attorney.The investigation was conducted by the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office Vice/Narcotics division.
The Tri-County Animal Shelter (TCAS) is asking residents to delay turning over their cats until mid-September or to reach out to a rescue partner. A cat rescued from the shelter has tested positive for feline panleukopenia virus (FPV). FPV is a viral disease contagious to cats, both domesticated and wild feline species but not humans. TCAS will continue receiving both stray and owned cats but is striving to limit the number of cats potentially exposed to this virus.TCAS is taking all necessary precautions to reduce the possible spread of FPV to other cats in the shelter; including consulting with our veterinarians, quarantining exposed cats, ensuring our cleaning procedures are followed, and continuing to vaccinate at the appropriate intervals. FPV is resistant to many disinfectants and survives a long time in an environment.Vaccinations against FPV are very effective, and are part of the core vaccines routinely given to cats. Most vaccinated cats are completely protected from this disease. As part of a new pet cat program, your vet will recommend a series of vaccines, usually starting at 6-8 weeks of age. It is important to follow this schedule as the vaccinations will not fully protect your cat until the entire series is given. Different types of vaccines are available, your veterinarian can help you choose the one right for your cat.Keeping kittens (and cats) indoors, and away from other unvaccinated cats, is the best way to prevent exposure to FPV and other viruses.If anyone has any additional questions about FPV, please contact your veterinarian. If you need a list of our rescue partners, contact TCAS at 301-932-1713 or 1-800-903-1992.On Wednesday, July 27, the Charles County Department of Health, in partnership with the Charles County Department of Emergency Services, Sen. Thomas "Mac" Middleton, Charles County Commissioners, and the University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center announced the launch of the Mobile Integrated Health Care Team. The program is supported by a three-year, $400,000 grant from the Maryland Community Health Resources Commission, and is expected to serve approximately 60 individuals during the three-year grant. The program is a collaboration among the Charles County Department of Health, Charles County EMS, and University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center, each of which is supporting the project financially.The Bassmaster Elite at Potomac River presented by Econo Lodge will be held from Thursday, Aug. 11 to Sunday, Aug. 14. The event will feature the Bassmaster Expo and Discover Quest Festival. Highlights include Bassmaster Elite Series Tournament weigh-ins, interactive programs by the Department of Natural Resources and Living the American Indian Experience, and local artisans and crafters.Bassmaster Elite (Thursday, Aug. 11- Sunday, Aug. 14)Smallwood State Park (2750 Sweden Point Road, Marbury)Tournament Begins: 6:15 a.m.Aug. 11-12 Weigh-in: 3 p.m.Indian Head Pavilion and Village Green (100 Walter Thomas Road, Indian Head)Aug. 13-14 Weigh-in: 3 p.m.Bassmaster Expo and Discover Quest Festival (Saturday, Aug. 13- Sunday, Aug. 14)Indian Head Pavilion and Village Green (100 Walter Thomas Road, Indian Head)Event time: Noon- 5 p.m.Commissioner Vice President Debra M. Davis, Esq. (District 2) is one of only 25 women nationwide selected to participate in the Governing Institute's 2017 Women in Government Leadership Program. GOVERNING Magazine, a leading government publication, recognizes state and local women elected officials each year for the bipartisan national program. The Women in Government Leadership Program acknowledges the work of women public servants, provides leadership training and critical job skills, and builds a mentoring network for future women government leaders."More than one hundred women were nominated for this distinguished leadership program, and it is truly an honor to be one of the few selected for the Class of 2017," said Davis. "I appreciate this unique opportunity to meet and engage with other government leaders across the country. It's a remarkable way for Maryland and Charles County to be recognized."Davis, a local practicing attorney, was first elected to the Charles County Board of Commissioners in 2010, and is currently serving a second term. Davis spearheaded efforts to establish the Vision 2020 Program, a comprehensive, holistic program aimed at reducing poverty in rural areas. Davis is chair of the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland and the Local Government Insurance Trust Board of Trustees. She also serves on several statewide, regional, and local boards.The Daily Record named Davis as one of Maryland's Top 100 women in 2012 and 2014, and inducted her into the Maryland's Top 100 Women Circle of Excellence in 2016, for her leadership and community service. A consummate student of leadership, Davis completed the University of Maryland's Academy for Excellence in Local Governance professional development program in August 2012. She is a 2009 graduate of Leadership Southern Maryland, a 1999 Maryland State Bar Association Leadership Fellow, and served on the African American Leadership Summit for the U.S. Congress in 2004.Davis holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland in Criminology and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Baltimore's School of Law.The Governing Institute advances better government by improving performance and outcomes through research, decision support and executive education to help public sector leaders govern more effectively. Citizens with special needs may contact the Maryland Relay Service at 711, or Relay Service TDD: 800-735-2258.Registration for upcoming fall aquatic programs begins on Wednesday, Aug. 10. Classes are available for ages 6 months to adult. Registration is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Highlighted swim programs include:FALL SWIM LESSONS: Sessions consist of eight, 35-minute classes. Each session includes one day of basic water safety skills. Children must be able to perform all skills of the previous level before moving on to a higher level. The resident fee is $60 and non-resident is $65.MINI SWIM LESSONS: This fast-paced session is designed to teach children the basic fundamentals of swimming. Sessions consist of four, 30-minute classes completed in one week. The fee for residents is $40 and non-residents is $45. There are beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes available for children age 3-12.ADULT LEARN TO SWIM HOUR: This course is designed for adult beginner to advanced intermediate swimmers ages 17 years old and older looking to gain confidence in the water. Each class will focus on basic swimming skills, stroke development, and water safety. Space is limited. The fee for residents is $65 and non-residents is $70.CHARLES COUNTY SWIM CLUB: The Charles County Swim Club is a recreation based program designed for both competitive and non-competitive swimmers ages 6-18. Through leveled instruction, we are able to meet the needs of both the advance and novice swimmer in a fun and safe environment. Prices vary based on skill level.For a complete listing of swim lessons, to register, or more information on these events or other activities offered by the Department of Recreation, Parks, and Tourism, visit www.CharlesCountyParks.com , or call 301-934-9305 or 301870-3388. Citizens with special needs may contact the Maryland Relay Service at 711, or Relay Service TDD: 800-7352258The County Commissioners will not be holding public session. The Commissioners will be representing the county at other meetings and will conduct individual appointments as scheduled.
Richard Gray
Managing Director, LGBTQ Market
Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau
ON THE LGBT TRAVEL MARKET
Last year we welcomed 1.5 million LGBT visitors who spent a whopping $1.5 billion. That is a mega economic impact. We have become the #1 LGBT destination in the state of Florida and the #1 gay resort destination in the U.S.
ON WHAT IT TAKES TO BE #1
Our LGBTQ marketing budget has grown from $35,000 in 1996 to over a $1 million in 2016. I would say we have one of the largest destination LGBTQ marketing budgets in the world. In the past, all that was needed to show a destination was LGBTQ-friendly was to wave a rainbow flag, but we believe that a destination needs to talk the talk and walk the walk and we have definitely done that for more than 20 years.
ON GREATER FORT LAUDERDALES APPEAL
We have a huge resident LGBTQ community, with the most same-sex couple households per capita in the U.S. Our community is open and accepting, we have one of the most diverse populations in the country and we have blended our messaging to highlight the importance of inclusion.
ON GREATER FORT LAUDERDALES TRANS-GENDER AND FAMILY OUTREACH EFFORTS
It is all about education and acceptance. In the Transgender market we want ALL travelers to Greater Fort Lauderdale to be free to be themselves, free to be accepted, to feel welcome and most of all safe. We include LGBTQ sensitivity training in our SUNsational Service training for all employees working in the hospitality industry in Greater Fort Lauderdale.
ON HIS GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT SO FAR
Unquestionably, our historic Transgender travel study and launch of our Trans marketing campaign, Where Happy Meets Go Lucky. What we are doing in the Trans platform has gone global and in my wildest dreams I never thought that as a destination we would influence a community on a global level.
Check out the latest news from around the world!
Legal Judge: Mississippi Cant Enforce Anti-LGBT Law as Court Battle Continues
(DV) A federal judge in Mississippi on Monday, Aug. 1, refused state officials request to be allowed to enforce Mississippis anti-LGBT HB 1523 as the state appeals his ruling against the constitutionality of the measure, according to BuzzFeed reports.
HB 1523, signed into law in April by Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, provided protections for individuals, religious organizations and certain businesses who take actions due to their sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions regarding same-sex marriage or any sex outside straight marriage. It also provided similar protections for those who object to transgender people.
U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves in June issued a permanent injunction barring Mississippi from denying same-sex marriage licenses, meaning no circuit clerk or staff member clerk can deny a gay couple a marriage license even if House Bill 1523 is in effect.
On Monday, Reeves refused to put his ruling on hold while the state appeals the ruling to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. He wrote, [I]ssuing a marriage license to a gay couple is not like being forced into armed combat or to assist with an abortion. Matters of life and death are sui generis. If movants truly believe that providing services to LGBT citizens forces them to tinker with the machinery of death, their animus exceeds anything seen in Romer, Windsor, or the marriage equality cases.
The motions are denied, Reeves added. The baton is now passed.
Related: Poll: Young Americans Favor LGBT Rights on Adoption, More
Politics Rubio Holds Event with Anti-LGBT Groups on Orlando Massacre Anniversary
(DV) Marco Rubio, who Miami New Times calls Floridas most brazen political opportunist, will be holding an anti-gay event in Orlando on the two-month anniversary of the Pulse massacre.
On Aug. 12, Rubio will speak to Liberty Counsel, the organization run by Mat Staver Rowan County, Ky. County Clerk Kim Davis attorney. Davis is the clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses and went to jail for four days until she agreed to a compromise.
The meeting is also hosted by the Florida Renewal Project, another anti-LGBT group that believes homosexuality is a Marxist plot and universal same-sex marriage is suicide. Because we want to force everyone to get same-sex married, I guess.
Among the other anti-gay speakers is Bill Federer, who thinks gays people are responsible for Islamic terrorism. Hey, Bill, Im Jewish. I have some wonderful Muslim friends, but leave me out of this. Another is the Rev. Ken Graves who preaches about militant homofascism. Yeah, Im against that too. Does that put me on this creeps side?
Rubio had promised Florida he would not run for re-election. But when he lost his home states presidential primary, he dropped out of the presidential race and decided to run for his Senate seat again.
While Rubio has been hostile to Floridas LGBT community since he became a U.S. senator six years ago, no one thought he would be so tone deaf that hed mark the anniversary of the murder of 49 people by celebrating with people who hate them.
Related: NYPD Investigating Subway Stabbing as Anti-Gay Hate Crime
Sports Out Gay Olympian Wears Trunks with Gay and Lesbian Written On at Rio 2016
Olympian Amini Fonua from Rio is using his butt to promote equality, according to Pink News.
The 26-year-old swimmer competes in his second games for Tonga with the words Gay and Lesbian written on the back of his swimsuit.
Having the words gay and lesbian over my butt is my way of announcing my queerness for the swimming world to see, Fonua told Vanguard Now.
Fonua will not be wearing the swimsuit when he competes for Tonga in the 100-yard breastroke, but that will not stop him from showing off the pair that was gifted to him by the Los Angeles LGBT Center. According to Fonua, he has so far worn them to all of the practices.
I have worn that suit to every single practice leading up to Rio because theres not a lot of diversity in swimming, Founua said. Its a gentle reminder to everybody and myself that Im different, and to take pride in that difference.
The trunks were given to Fonua after he helped to raise thousands of dollars through the Beach Volleyball Classic Fundraiser.
Fonua was one of the few out gay Olympians at the 2012 London games and is a proud flag-bearer for the opening ceremony for Tonga, Pink News reports.
I also believe theres real strength to be derived from the power of openly LGBT athletes, so to all the others in Rio, I say this: just by being here and being queer and present, youre making a difference, Fonua said, adding: I want the next generation of athletes who advance through swimmings world rankings to feel safe and comfortable being themselves.
Related: Same-Sex Married Couple Makes Olympics History
Memorial Mayor of Orlando Says City Plans to Buy Pulse Club to Create Permanent Memorial
The Mayor of Orlando says that the city may take ownership of Pulse nightclub to ensure that it stays a permanent memorial on the site, according to Pink News.
The Orlando massacre saw 49 dead and more than 50 wounded at the hands of a gunman who opened fire during a Latino night in June. The majority of the victims were LGBT people of color.
The owners of Pulse initially planned to re-open with a street party in the wake of the massacre, with promises to carry on. Plans filed last month by the club owners non-profit onePULSE Foundation suggested that a memorial may be built on-site to sit alongside the re-opened nightclub.
However, Mayor Buddy Dyer has suggested that the club should be taken into public ownership by the city and converted into a permanent memorial.
At some point I think the city needs to gain control [or] purchase the Pulse site and then make some determination, with a lot of input, on what a permanent memorial might look like, Dyer told local radio station WMFE. One thing Ive been thinking about is I think we need to determine some period of time that we leave it exactly as is with some adequate fencing because there will be people that want to travel here and see it as it exists, without modification to it.
He added: Theres some time frame where we need to keep it intake as is, and then transition to whatever a permanent memorial it may be.
Maybe well make that judgement [on the conversion] if the volume slows down, but I think there are a lot of people that want to pay tribute.
Related: Pulse Victim Finally Dances Again
Business Target Stock Continues to Rise Despite Hate Group Boycott
(EDGE) Conservative "Christian" buying power is taking a hit this quarter as the stock price for Target continues to rise despite a hate group-led boycott of the mega retailer.
Following a sharp drop in stock price prompted by the American Family Association (AFA)-led boycott of Target over the stores transgender-inclusive restroom policy, it appears as though the discount retailer is doing just fine. Shares of Target are going for 74.65, up from a low of 66.74 in mid June.
Meanwhile, AFA is re-upping its efforts to keep shoppers out of Target stores during the back-to-school season.
According to Christian Times, AFA marked the new season on the first day of August with a new drive to garner another million signatures to force the retail company to abandon its bathroom policy.
"Target is dependent on a large back-to-school sales season," said AFA on its website. "Those who spend their money elsewhere will send a strong message to Target that the bathroom policy is bad for business."
In reality, business for Target has increased over the past year. On August 1, 2015, shares traded at 51.85. A year later, there has been a 22.8 increase in value to the current price of 74.65.
Related: Top 5 Non-binary Video Game Characters
International Gay Syrian Refugee Found Beheaded, Mutilated In Turkey
(CNN) A gay refugee living in Turkey has been found murdered, his body so mutilated his friends could only identify him by his pants, a local rights group said.
Wisam, who arrived in Istanbul about a year ago after fleeing Syria, went missing on July 23 and was found two days later in the city's Yenikapi district.
He previously had been threatened, kidnapped and raped, according to Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association (KAOS GL), a Turkey-based rights group. CNN is not using the victim's last name out of concern for his family's safety.
"We identified him from his pants... They had cut (him) so violently. So violent that two knives had broken inside him. They had beheaded him. His upper body was beyond recognition," said one friend, whom CNN is not naming for safety reasons.
"If you saw his body, if you even saw a picture of it, you would faint," said another friend, who asked CNN to identify him as Mohammed out of fear for his safety. "It was as if he was attacked by a beast."
Wisam had been stabbed 20 times, his organs were removed and he had been beheaded, according to Alex Benjamin, who works for an organization that aims to help LGBT refugees get expedited asylum.
"Police are doing nothing," Benjamin said, "because he is Syrian and because he is gay."
Police told CNN they were not authorized to comment on the case. Authorities haven't said whether Wisam was killed for being gay. As of Friday, his killers had not been detained.
Police in Uganda forcefully disrupted Pride activities last week, reports multiple human rights activists.
Again and again, Ugandan authorities show that they have no regard for basic human rights of LGBTIQ people and that they will even violate the Ugandan constitution in order to stop LGBTIQ people from exercising those basic rights, said Maria Sjodin, Deputy Executive Director of OutRight Action International, in a news release.
On August 4, police raided a Pride sanctioned event on the rooftop of a pub in the capital city of Kampala. There are reports as many as 20 people were arrested, including noted gay Uganda activist Frank Mugisha.
After a few hours of detention, I have been set free, every one is safe. Thank you all my friends for the support & solidarity, Mugisha tweeted.
Related: Pope Francis Condemns Trans Studies: An Annihilation of Man
Police targeted men they perceived were together as well as transgender individuals, reports the African human rights blog, Kuchu Times.
It was a heartbreaking site as they searched and sexually assaulted transgender persons by touching their genitals and breasts all in an attempt to determine whether they were male or female, Kuchu Times reported.
Observers reported transgender people removing wigs and braids to avoid further inspection. One young gay man, reportedly, jumped from the four-story roof to evade police, barely escaping with his life.
The raid forced several Pride events to be cancelled, but Mugisha is vowing to continue the fight.
The police raid from last evening wont break us but make us strong, Mugisha tweeted.
NASA MissionSTEM Summit 2016 - Opening Session and Keynote Address. NASA
NASA is hosted its first MissionSTEM Summit Aug. 8-9 at the agencys headquarters in Washington, bringing together representatives and students from grantee institutions, federal and grantee civil rights compliance officials, and other experts from government, academia, industry and professional organizations.
Special guest speakers at this opening session include NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman, Tina Tchen, assistant to President Obama and chief of staff to the First Lady, and Jo Handelsman, associate director for Science in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
This is the hero of the line, says Jessica Mitchell, Senior Director of Innovation at Peets Coffee. Shes just passed me a 12-ounce glass bottle of Baridi Black, the most straightforward of three variants in Peets newly-launched Ready-To-Drink (RTD) collection. She leans back to watch my face as I take the first sip, and I mentally scroll through a long list of coffee brands who have already taken the plunge into the RTD market. Can we call this one a hero?
To wit: Its been decades since Ueshima Coffee Coompany first tossed some coffee, milk, and sugar into a can and called it a profitable day back in the 60s. Slowly, other companies began dipping their toes into the water. From Maxwell Houses conceptually problematic iteration in the early 90s to Blue Bottle Coffees milk carton-clad line and the Stumptown stubby, these days it seems like every major coffee brand has some RTD product to boast. Credit competitive marketing. Credit the popularity of healthier options over sugary sodas. Hell, get lofty and credit the way technology has shaped our approach to wait time and business-to-consumer interactions. Whatever the reasons, the demand for RTDs continues to grow.
And thats because at its core, ready-to-drink is uncomplicated. Its accessible. It sells. (Even Sprudges own Zac Cadwalader is on board.) Its successful because, lets be real: Deep down, even the most corporeal of coffee nerds occasionally, begrudgingly, enjoys convenience. Also, as Mitchell argues, it simply tastes good.
We found that when we started experimenting with cold brew about two years ago that we really loved the cold brew profilethat lack of of bitterness and acidity, she explains. Its smooth, its refreshing, its aromatic.
And the Peets customer seemed to agree. In their cafes, cold brew sales doubled in those two years. Though the spike in cold brew demand isnt unique to Peets (according to Food Business News, cold brew business in the United States grew 115% last year alone), the company could justify the desire to neatly bottle up that success into a RTD collection. Keen on locking down an already interested body of clientele, the San Francisco Bay Area-based corporation set out to shape their own producta distinctly Peets product. Available as of the last Monday in July, the line is now carried in Peets cafes and grocery stores exclusively in the Bay Area.
Enticed parties have three options. Theres the aforementioned Baridi Black, a simple blend of Eastern Africa beans (from Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Rwanda, to be exact) thats as straightforward as promised, anddespite its ominous opaquenessis not too toasty. Theres the Coffee Au Lait Cold Brew, a sweeter option that couples the Baridi blend with the freshest rBST-free milk. And finally, the Dark Chocolate Cold Brew, a Guittard cocoa-infused wallop that, even as an enthusiastic guzzler of all things sugar, I find a little overwhelming.
Its easy to walk into any new situation with an agenda, and I fully admit that I find myself wanting to be all snobbily Third Wave, all hypercritical of any product that threatens to disrupt my blissfully cafe-filled lifestyle. But standing there with Mitchell, sneaking additional little sips of hero Baridi Black as we chat, Im surprised. Im enjoying this.
Will green coffee buying legend Aleco Chigounis be squirreling away a lifetime supply of Peets RTDs to quaff whilst weeping? Probably not. Will some average, 9-to-5 Joe snag a few of these to drink while hammering away at a desk? SureI happen to be that very same Joe at this exact moment, and Im having a totally decent time. Simply put: Youre not going to be buying a bottle of the worlds most interesting coffee when you pick up this RTD product, or frankly, any RTD product on the market right now. Youre going to buy a bottle of coffee that gets the job doneone that tastes much better than your parents generation of bottled Frappuccino dreck.
Can we call this line heroic? Lets call it the least offensive product you could possibly imagine. To paraphrase Fitzgerald: Show me a hero, and Ill bottle you an RTD.
Laura Jaye Cramer is a freelance writer based in San Francisco, and has written for SF Weekly, GOOD, and Catster. This is Laura Jaye Cramers first feature for Sprudge.
Photos courtesy of Peets Coffee & Tea.
ROME (Sputnik) Faiez Mustafa Serraj, the chairman of the Libyan Presidency Council and prime minister of the Government of National Accord (GNA), urged the international community to assist the country in the fight against the Daesh terrorist organization.
"Our Libya needs international assistance in the fight against IS [Daesh]," Serraj said in an interview with the Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera published on Tuesday.
According to him, Daesh is a treacherous and dangerous enemy not only for Libya, but also for Italy, Europe and the whole world.
"My sources say a variety of deals in the energy, tourism, trade, finance, investment and defense spheres are to be negotiated," Smyth said.
Smyth noted the St. Petersburg talks are likely to mark a crucial step toward Turkey turning its back on the United States, the European Union and NATO and reasserting its identity as a non-Western nation.
"This is very possible and would begin a major disruption in US relations in the Middle East and beyond," he stated.
Smyth added that US President Barack Obama most likely will not be able to stop Erdogan from eventually leaving NATO.
University of Louvain philosopher and eminent political commentator Jean Bricmont said that Turkey is moving out of the United States and NATO camps and Putin is outplaying US policymakers in his dealings with Ankara.
"As the saying goes, the Americans play poker and the Russians play chess and this Turkish episode may illustrate this," he noted.
Turkey has traditionally been the closest and most reliable ally of the United States in the Islamic world.
In 1967, Denmark built its first mosque. Since then, mosques have ceased to be an oddity in the Nordic country with a growing Muslim community. In recent years, however, the peaceful co-existence was shattered, as numerous local imams were caught on film, preaching, among other things, about domestic violence against unfaithful women, insubordination to the civic authorities and killing Zionist Jews.' This uncanny revelation unleashed a number of other disclosures about the ongoing radicalization of Danish Muslims in Mosques.
The notorious discoveries, embodied in the TV-film "Mosques Behind the Veil," set the Danish society at odds with the country's Muslim community, stirring a major debate on the appropriateness of building more mosques. Thus, the construction of a 'super mosque' in the Danish city of Aarhus was put on hold amid public fears that it would become a reprise of the infamous Grimhj Mosque, which made international headlines last year by openly declaring support for Daesh and whose name in Denmark became synonymous with a hotbed of radical Islam.
Nevertheless, a new albeit much smaller mosque was recently opened in the very same city of Aarhus to meet local demands. The new 1,200 square meter mosque has a 14-meter-high dome, and will soon be also furnished with a minaret. The total construction bill landed at around 16 million DKK (roughly 2.5 million USD). The mosque imams come from Turkey and have a higher education, which was paid for by the Turkish state.
As a solution to the problem, Perez told local authorities to ban Muslims from entering the urban area. He also ordered non-Muslim property owners in Urdaneta who rent living or business space to Muslims to evict them.
Urdanetas local economy is heavily dependent on businesses run by Muslims, with some 400 dry goods stalls, and other distribution and retail establishments, dispersed across the city. The mayor has declared, however, that a banishment of the entire religious community, including families with women and children, is essential to stop the proliferation of illegal drugs here.
Among obstacles to the realization of Perezs plans are that some 3,000 Muslims legally reside in the area and many are employed in local government.
Among the draft constitutions disputed sections was an emergency provision allowing the appointment of an unelected prime minister and the upper house of parliament. The upper house also gains the right to veto the lower house's constitutional amendments.
The referendum has been criticized over the lack of monitor access to observe its conduct, as well as the authorities' restrictions of any criticism of the document.
Virgil Ortiz
Growing up in Cochiti Pueblo, Virgil Ortiz didnt consider himself an artist. He was just making potterythe same traditional pottery that his ancestors had been making for generations, in the style that his mother and grandmother taught him to make. The patterns from this traditional Cochiti pottery have stuck with Ortiz throughout his career, even as he branched out into photography and fashion design. Now, hes an artist who takes on countless media: Hes designed textiles, movie sets and costumes, written a screenplay and has exhibited his pottery and other works at museums, galleries and fashion shows all over the world. But as far abroad as hes roamed, New Mexicoand Cochiti Pueblo in particularis still home for Ortiz.
Virgil Ortiz
This month, Ortiz has an exhibit opening at the Albuquerque Museum. This exhibit, which will occupy the atrium of the museum until June of 2017, focuses on a subject that has been central to much of his work from the past several yearsthe Pueblo Revolt of 1680. 1680 is when the Native people of several Pueblos throughout New Mexico united to fight back against the colonizing Spanish, who had been enslaving them and destroying their way of life for over a century. Its an event that you might not know much about, even though it happened right here in New Mexico. As Ortiz says, [the Pueblo peoples] history is not taught in schools nor included in history or textbooks. My big plan is to educate the world about these events using my art.
The way that Ortiz does this is beautiful and astonishingly original. Rather than a straightforward telling of the events of 1680, he has created a rich storyline injected with science fiction that tells of a different invasion: the invasion of 2180. Ortizs fantastical revolution takes place when the Castilian people attempt an invasion of the Pueblos after destroying several of them with weapons of mass destruction. The people of the Pueblos, fed up with having their families and their lands destroyed, rise up in arms to defend themselves. The mannequins in Ortizs exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum are some of the warriors in this battle, and they each have their own story to tell.
...included in the exhibit are two murals and several ceramic works by Ortiz. One mural depicts Popay, the character modeled after the Pueblo leader of the same name who lead the rebellion in 1680.
These characters, dressed head-to-toe in monochrome red or black, look like a militarized Daft Punk. In modified motorcycle helmets, double-breasted coats and angular armor, these warriors seem to have adapted quite well to hyper-modern warfare (and to the fashion runway, for that matter). They stand on top of a dividing wall on the east side of the atrium, looking down on passersby as if ready to strike at any moment.
Virgil Ortiz
Also included in the exhibit are two murals and several ceramic works by Ortiz. One mural depicts Popay, the character modeled after the Pueblo leader of the same name who lead the rebellion in 1680. Hes the Translator [and] Head Commander of the Spirit World Army, says Ortiz. The mural of Popay is on the north wall just outside the entrance of the museum.
Then theres Tahu. According to Ortiz, she is the leader of the Blind Archers, purposefully blinded by the invaders [because of] her fighting skills and spiritual visions. She appears in the giant mural on the west wall of the atrium as a half-mechanized, futuristic warrior, looking across an open sea. On the other side of the mural, staring back at her, is a Castilian: dressed all in black and helmeted, this soldier looks like a cross between a conquistador and Darth Vader. Although I suppose the two really arent all that different, when you think about it.
One of the most interesting objects in the exhibit is under glass. Its a ceramic mask, bearing the stark black and white designs that are characteristic of Cochiti Pueblo potterybut this is an artifact of the future, not of the past. The mask is totally alien, with hair sprouting from the side and an odd number of slits for eyes. Its a ceremonial object for a ceremony that doesnt exist yet. This object, to me, carries a lot of the meaning behind Ortizs artwork, and this exhibit in particular: the Pueblo people are still here, and still adapting. They remember their history, but theyre preparing for the future, too.
The two parallel timelines in Ortizs story serve to teach two profound lessons: that the oppressed Native people of this country have rebelledand successfully freed themselves in the past, and that such a rebellion is possible again in the future. His artwork is a testament to the tenacity and strength of a people who have never been afraid to fight back.
Our story and history has been ignored for too long, says Ortiz. Through it all, the Pueblo People have fought to maintain [our] way of life, our language, ceremonies and art. I want to give proper thanks to our ancestors who fought for our way of life, and to prove that we are still here and prospering.
A Romanian national, Marian Gabrielle Illie was arrested in Mumbai in relation to a high tech ATM heist which was carried out in the month of June in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
Following suspicious scrutiny of security cameras installed around ATMs, police grew suspicious of the activities of some foreigners who were seen installing some gadgets in the ATM booth. Later police revealed that these were cameras and skimmers which were used to copy secret pin codes, passwords and other card details of the ATM users who visited the ATM Counter.
More than 25 people lodged complaint of theft from their accounts after receiving text messages of money being withdrawn which they hadnt withdrawn. An estimated $ 3,746 had been reported stolen as per the initial investigation by the police.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, The Guardian published over 2,000 leaked files on the state of affairs in the Australia-run asylum-seeker center on Nauru Island, revealing large-scale abuse, with 51.3 percent of cases involving minors.
"It appears from looking through the published database that nowhere near the full extent of the incident reports written on a day-to-day basis have been released. What you are seeing here is just the tip of the iceberg," former teacher Jane Willey said in response to the files publication.
A number of other professionals who worked at Nauru also condemned the suffering there and expressed concern over lack of legislation to ensure childrens safety at the facility.
"The contradiction lies in the fact that the Japanese government and Japanese politicians are positioning Japan as the world's only country to have suffered atomic bombings. On this basis, Japan claims to be the leader in the movement for nuclear disarmament, but at the same time it does not abandon the American nuclear umbrella'. In principle, this contradiction has long been evident, but in recent years this contradictory situation somehow remained in the background. Therefore, the statement of the Nagasaki mayor will definitely attract much attention," Kistanov added.
To resolve this contradiction, the mayor suggested that the Japanese government should adopt new legislation containing "three non-nuclear principles": not to possess, not to produce and not to import nuclear weapons into Japanese territory.
"This is a very reasonable suggestion. But the problem is that it can be accepted and then voluntarily given up again as it was the case with Japanese principles in the field of arms exports," Kistanov said.
"Meanwhile, there is a new Minister of Defense in the new cabinet recently formed by Abe, a woman named Tomomi Inada. She is not a professional soldier, but politician, who at the same time has conservative nationalist beliefs. She said that Japan does not intend to acquire nuclear weapons now, but the situation may change in the future. These statements provoked protests not only in China but also in South Korea. So, Japanese politics is indeed characterized by a certain inconsistency regarding the three non-nuclear principles," the expert stated.
"Following the conference, we decided to establish five committees in our organization: the Security Council, the High Commissioner for Refugees, the Counter-Terrorism Committee (its priority will be the fight against Daesh, which is gaining strength in Afghanistan every day), the Council of Women's Affairs (different aspects of women's participation in political life will be considered within its framework), and finally, the Committee of Economic and Social Affairs (the fight against corruption and unemployment will be in its jurisdiction)."
"The organizational structure is built in such a way that youth were given the green light to participate in policy. Our priority is attracting ambitious young staff in each of the committees," Koshani said.
According to the President of the PIMUN, each of the 29 provinces of the country is represented in the organization. Moreover, all the cultural and social features of each province are taken into account.
"We appreciate the cultural dialogue between the members of our organization," Koshani added. Therefore, for example, PIMUN members have the right to come to the meeting in the national costumes of their region.
With Chinas nine-dash territorial claims rejected by the Hague-based Court of Arbitration last month, tensions have escalated, with both Beijing and Washington pushing for an increased military presence in response to the ruling. Now Vietnam has reportedly upped the ante by placing its own military units in the Spratlys.
Diplomats and military officers speaking on condition of anonymity say that intelligence shows Vietnam moving mobile missile launchers from the mainland to five separate facilities in the Spratly archipelago.
On July 26 in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, an ex-employee of the facility, Satoshi Uematsu, gained access to the building, and stabbed to death 19 people and wounded 26. He later told police officers that "the disabled should all disappear."
The incident pushed Japanese authorities to contemplate providing financial support to municipalities working to improve security at the country's care centers for disabled, children and the elderly, hospitals, and clinics.
Some family members of people with disabilities voiced concerns that enhanced security goes against the idea that care facilities should be open to local people.
"The issue is likely not the growth in size of the overall HF industry, as there appears to be an ample supply of assets. The issue may be, however, the growth in size of many individual HFs, which are pursuing similar strategies leading to crowding," Barclays observed.
Therefore, the accumulated overcapacity and uninventive profit-seeking patterns as practiced by some of the world's leading hedge funds are likely to result in an erasure of billions of dollars of investment capital by the year-end.
The main issue is the slow global economic growth, hitting hedge fund performance, as the funds themselves are doing nothing wrong to their understanding, based off their past experience.
"Historically, investing in crowded names has generated positive returns, particularly in stable, rising markets. However, when the reverse happens, it tends to be sharp and painful," Barclays explained.
Meanwhile, as certain individual hedge funds are at grave risk, the overall HF industry does not look overheated. HF assets have gained only an average 10 percent per year between 2009 and 2015, whilst certain particular funds have added over 65 percent of that to their balance sheets and new and smaller funds had a smaller share of wealth and asset accumulation.
Yet, even the 10 percent year-on-year growth in hedge funds looks like an overkill against the backdrop of a weak global growth environment, averaging below 3 percent a year during the same period.
Recently, Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital Group also observed that hedge fund appeal amongst investors is slowing as their existing balance sheets will effectively prevent them from growth in revenues and wealth-generating fairly soon.
"The performance of the greatest hedge funds, run by geniuses, created a huge umbrella over this industry, which permitted the other 9,990 hedge fund managers to start hedge funds and command hedge fund fees," Marks noted. "I dare say that the average hedge fund performance since 2004 has not warranted the average hedge fund compensation."
. If you do not agree with the blocking, please use the Access to the chat has been blocked for violating the rules . You will be able to participate again through:. If you do not agree with the blocking, please use the feedback form
The discussion is closed. You can participate in the discussion within 24 hours after the publication of the article.
BEIJING (Sputnik) The authorities of the city of Lianyungang, which was set to be chosen as the site for the project, decided to suspend the choice of venue for the future plant.
The project, agreed by China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and Frances Areva in 2012, is expected to be completed by 2030. The reports on Lianyungang's choice as the site for the project led to local protests during the weekend, to which government officially responded that the final choice on the location was yet to be made.
There are currently 30 energy units in China, with a total capacity of 28 gigawatts (GW), while another 24 power units are under construction.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Scotland will also introduce a new Business Information Service "to provide support and reassurance to businesses in Scotland."
"An additional 100 million of capital spending will be brought forward this year. This will be in addition to planned capital spending for 2015-16 and will include spending in health and other key infrastructure sectors," a SNP statement reads.
During the June 23 UK-wide referendum on EU membership, 62 percent of Scottish voters backed remaining within the European Union but 52 percent of all British voters backed Brexit. The Brexit decision caused economic turbulence in the UK economy, including a drop in the countrys stock indexes and a devaluation of the national currency.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Following a Brexit vote, UK Prime Minister Theresa May proposed to secure a Brexit which would allow London to remain part of the EU single market, with membership of the EFTA, which includes non-EU members Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, regarded as the best way to do so.
"The Icelandic authorities believe it is important to explore all avenues of cooperation to guarantee continued stability in our relations with the United Kingdom and thereby to secure future economic and trade arrangements that are at least comparable to the current arrangements under the EEA [European Economic Area] and other cooperation agreements. We believe it is premature to exclude any possible outcome, including for Britain to join EFTA," Urdur Gunnarsdottir said.
"While UKs withdrawal from the EU is being negotiated, there will not be any alterations to our economic and trade relations, movement of persons or any other cooperation arrangements. " Gunnarsdottir said, expressing confidence "that the work that lies ahead will produce good results and continue beneficial cooperation between the relevant countries."
Earlier this summer, the first cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD), a deadly deer sickness, were registered in Europe. The sickness was first occurred in two elk in Norway, near the Swedish border. Today, major Swedish authorities and competent bodies launch a campaign to investigate whether the disease already spread itself further to affect deer animals in Sweden. According to scientists, the creatures move freely across the border to Sweden, further raising the risk of infecting their Swedish cousins.
The notorious infection emaciates and disorients the animals. The disease-ridden deer, exposing tell-tale symptoms, usually die within a few months. The infection has been found in North America since the 1960s, and it remains uncertain how it reached Norway in the first place. According to Swedish game pathologist Erik Agren, it could be a case of spontaneous mutation, but the spread with imported animal products is more likely. If the disease is found in Sweden during monitoring, a ban on selling wild game may be imposed.
Cow and calf out together for lunch on a beautiful afternoon #Moose pic.twitter.com/4jpRYsnHA4 neil waring (@wyohistoryguy) August 1, 2016
The autopsy room at the National Veterinary Institute in Uppsala is already in combat readiness mode to investigate the spread of the disease. According to Erik Agren, the disease may be recognized through the dissection of the brain and the lymph nodes.
Einaudi, 61, whose many boasts include having an unexpected younger demographic following around the world, cites, amongst others, none other than Hip Hop artist Eminem as one of his many unlikely inspirations.
For this unique concert set in the ice, Einaudi traveled as a special guest on board the Greenpeace boat 'Arctic Sunrise'. Speaking onboard, following the performance, Einaudi said:
"Being here has been a great experience. I could see the purity and fragility of this area with my own eyes and interpret a song I wrote to be played upon the best stage in the world. It is important that we understand the importance of the Arctic, stop the process of destruction and protect it."
The Arctic Ocean is the least protected sea in the world, its high seas currently have no legal safeguards. As the ice cover decreases with rising temperatures, this unique area is losing its frozen shield, leaving it exposed to reckless exploitation, destructive fishing trawlers and risky oil drilling.
The OSPAR Commission, which is the mechanism by which 15 Governments and the EU cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic, has a required mandate to protect the marine environment of the northeast Atlantic, including part of the Arctic Ocean. But three countries, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, who are accused of listening more to corporate interests, are keen to stop that from happening.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Paris Agreement on climate change adopted in December 2015 at the 21st UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) is not enough to stop climate change process in the Arctic region, the chair of an Arctic Council working group told Sputnik.
"It is clear that the pledges given at COP21 will not be sufficient to stop the ongoing climate change processes in the Arctic. Recent climate modelling shows that more stringent commitments are therefore needed," Martin Forsius from the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) said.
The AMAP chair urged for more emission reductions, adding that reaching the COP21 target of keeping the change in global temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) would be harder to achieve the longer additional reductions are postponed.
"I think there should be rent caps in areas like Shoreditch, so that they don't lose their culture and identity and affiliation with artists, creative start-ups and small businesses," Smith told Sputnik.
"I'm not some crazy socialist, but if London is going to continue being the city everyone thinks it is, then there has to be a place where people can start out and get on and produce the art, music, clothes, designs or films that give areas the reputation they get."
also Shoreditch's been much less 'cool' since the artists and musicians, and general ne'er do well 'bohemians' were priced out the area Elly Tams (@Notorious_QRG) May 20, 2015
The Director of the Tate, Sir Nicholas Serota, also recently waded into the debate over the unaffordability of London rents, issuing a warning that London's creative success was threatened by the high cost of living.
During a Q&A at Tate Britain between Creative Industries Federation members and Sadiq Khan, just before he became mayor of London, Sir Nicholas said: "Young artists that might have thought of coming here no longer do because they can't afford to live in London. That must give us pause for thought."
Fear and expectation of additional terrorist attacks ranged from seven to 64 percent across the bloc, with the smallest figure from the tiny Balkan nation of Slovenia and the highest from France, a country which has recently been subjected to a row of bloody attacks.
Asked what immediate steps could improve security in the EU, about 40 percent of respondents noted three measures: prevention of terrorist group funding, increased research to root out the causes of the terrorism, and enhancing border control in the EU.
According to Xinhua, the European Parliament refuted proposed initiatives, saying that existing legislation has sufficient capacity to deal with the problem.
With more alluring options being shut off, Egypt is gradually becoming the jumping-off ground for migrants and refugees, coming from the desert near the Sudanese border, Swedish Radio reported.
"The number of migrants coming to Egypt over the southern border with Sudan has increased recently," said Mohammed al-Kashef from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, who has studied migration in the coastal city of Alexandria for years.
His estimation is shared by the UN refugee agency UNHCR, which has painted the same picture: the old smuggling route through the south-Egyptian desert is on the rise and so are attempts to cross the Mediterranean from Egypt. So far, however, no exact figures have been produced due to shady nature of the trafficking business.
The arrested asylum seeker is thought to be a Daesh jihadist group sympathizer. North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Ministry released a statement clarifying that the alleged terrorist plot being investigated at no point posed a real threat to security.
Last month, an Afghan asylum seeker carried out an ax and knife attack on a train near Bavaria's Wuerzburg, wounding five tourists. A few days later, a Syrian refugee set off a bomb outside a music festival in Ansbach, also in Bavaria, killing himself and wounding 15 bystanders. Daesh, banned in Russia among other countries, claimed responsibility for both attacks.
"The proceedings will test whether Sweden complies with its binding treaty obligations and whether it acts in good faith under the UN human rights system," a representative of Mr Assange's legal team said.
History of Disagreements
Assange, who was first taken into custody at London's Wandsworth prison in 2010, was then living under house arrest and has been living in Ecuador's UK embassy for more than four years.
After exhausting all legal options in the UK aimed at avoiding extradition to Sweden, he was granted political asylum in Ecuador in 2012.
Sweden @swedense Do the right thing and respect the order of #UNWGAD about ending #Assange 's arbitrary detention pic.twitter.com/IoNjnt2atD Latinos con Assange (@Latinos_Assange) August 4, 2016
The Australian has never formally been charged with any offense in Sweden, with investigators stating that they want to interview the WikiLeaks founder before making a decision on sexual assaults claims.
Despite offers from Assange to be interviewed in London's Ecuadorian embassy, no agreement between Swedish and Ecuadorian officials has yet been struck.
UK submits response to UN Assange case. To suggest he is "arbitrarily detained" is deeply flawed @foreignoffice https://t.co/PklTzKG5oS Tony Kay (@anthonypkay) March 24, 2016
Citing an outstanding European arrest warrant, British officials have stated that they will arrest and extradite the WikiLeaks founder to Sweden should he leave the embassy in London.
However, Assange has rejected calls to travel to Sweden to speak to authorities, amid fears he could be then extradited to the US over his role in the leaking of thousands of sensitive government documents.
With British leaders looking at ways to leave the EU but still maintain the country's access to the European single market, some Brexit supporters have suggested joining the EFTA, which consists of non-EU member European countries with close trading links to the bloc like Switzerland, Norway Liechtenstein and Iceland.
However Norway's European affairs minister, Elisabeth Vik Aspaker, has seemingly raised doubts over such a proposal, hinting that it could use its veto to prevent Britain from joining the EFTA.
Terrible consequences of #Brexit continue to unfold w/ future options closed off at home & abroad including doubts in Norway about EFTA/EEA. Peter Sutherland (@PDSutherlandUN) August 9, 2016
"It's not certain that it would be a good idea to let a big country into this organization. It would shift the balance, which is not necessarily in Norway's interests," she told the Aftenposten newspaper."
BERLIN (Sputnik) The suspect was arrested in the town of Mutterstadt on Friday after inmates in a prison in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia reported overhearing a conversation in which the planning of a terrorist attack was alluded to.
"There is no information on this man's exact plans," Jaeger said at a press conference organized by the N-24 broadcaster, adding that during police questioning new details emerged "however, not about terrorist attack plans but maybe about crimes in Syria."
Last month, an Afghan asylum seeker carried out an ax and knife attack on a train near Bavaria's Wuerzburg, wounding five tourists. A few days later, a Syrian refugee set off a bomb outside a music festival in Ansbach, also in Bavaria, killing himself and wounding 15 bystanders. Daesh claimed responsibility for both attacks.
EDINBURGH (Sputnik) Frasers comments came as the Scottish Government announced a 100-million-pound ($130 million) stimulus plan intended to boost the Scottish economy following the Brexit vote. In recent weeks companies in Scotland have been warning of a slow-down in the economy and a drop in orders.
"If the SNP wants to ease the uncertainty surrounding Scotlands economy, it should unequivocally drop its threat of a second referendum. Far from seeking stability since the Brexit vote, Nicola Sturgeon [Scottish First Minister] has only exacerbated the uncertainty with her opportunistic talk of separation," finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said in a statement.
Now migrants are trying to cross the border on mountain trails.
On Friday, migrants for the first time violated the border. In the course of recent circumstances, the border must be secured by additional police forces, maintained the mayor.
According to Guibal, Italys Ventimiglia could become the new Calais.
Italian authorities are doing everything they can to resolve the migrant situation. But unfortunately it is not enough. We want Europe to come to concrete actions in the sphere of migrant politics and border security, the mayor told Sputnik.
To enforce the border trains are systematically checked. If migrants are noticed on them, police takes the refugees back to the border.
The same is done on motorways.
I understand that the police and the military are concentrated on combating terrorism. Anyway, I think that some forces could still be put on the border to secure it, stated Guibal.
For many months, Europe has experienced a refugee crisis. France has become a target of multiple terrorist attacks. These unpleasant events raised many concerns regarding migrants who are trying to cross the Italian-French border. French authorities are trying to prevent any possible security threats.
EDINBURGH (Sputnik) On July 30, The Times newspaper published a story under the title "Putin wages propaganda war on UK," suggesting that the Princess Dashkova Centre was part of a "Russian information effort" because it was part-funded by the Russkiy Mir Foundation.
"The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre at the University of Edinburgh seeks to advance knowledge in the field of Russian language studies and to foster a broader cultural understanding of Russia through research, academic training and knowledge exchange," Public Relations Manager for Edinburgh University Ronald Kerr said.
Kerr said that the center retained freedom of action in all aspects of its activities, the principle of academic freedom being at the heart of its operation. He said it prided itself in bringing together a wide range of views and opinions.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to figures published by the paper, Germany is the biggest contributor to the EU budget, while Poland receives more than it gives. Warsaw is also one of the fiercest opponents of EUs scheme to distribute refugees across member states.
"We need stricter rules for disbursing funds," Inge Graessle, the head of the Parliament's Budgetary Control Committee, told Die Welt newspaper. "Countries that do not abide by EU rules or are reluctant to take in or register a fair share of refugees must be denied financing."
European Parliament Vice-President Alexander Graf Lambsdorff backed Graessle's proposal, saying Germany should make sure that Poland and Hungary, the main beneficiaries, respect EU values and cooperate on the refugee distribution plan.
KIEV (Sputnik) On Wednesday, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said that it had eliminated a spy ring organized by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in Crimea, detaining both Russian and Ukrainian nationals involved in preparing terrorist attacks on the peninsula. An FSB officer died as a result of a firefight during the arrest.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Kiev of resorting to terrorism.
"The Ukrainian Defense Ministry refutes information spread by Russian FSB on participation of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine in diversionary activities on the territory of temporary occupied Crimea," the statement reads.
"After an investigation, the prosecutor's office found that there is no threat, the situation returned to normal, the planes fly on schedule," the Belgian TV channel reported.
An Air Arabia Maroc plane was reportedly diverted to Toulouse, while a Scandinavian SAS plane from Oslo landed in Brussels.
Reports one aircraft with a bomb threat was SAS #SK4745 inbound to Brussels from Oslo. Aircraft landed approx 19:02 Flight Alerts (@FlightAlerts777) 10 2016 .
A representative of Brussels' fire-fighters, Rierre Meis, told RIA Novosti that a false report about bomb threats aboard two passenger planes, which were due to land at the Brussels airport, was received via a call to the country's emergency services from a hospital.
"We are talking about calls received by the "112"[emergency service] in Brussels. The Brussels' office of the "112" called the Belgocontrol to find out whether we are talking about the two planes, which seemed to have explosives aboard. But when the service called the Belgocontrol, these two planes already landed. It is probably an intentional false threat", he told RIA Novosti.
Some flights have been redirected to other airports because of the reports of a possible explosive device aboard the two planes bound for Brussels.
An Air Arabia Maroc passenger jet has been diverted and landed in the French city of Toulouse, sources told the VRT broadcaster.
BREAKING Were receiving reports of bomb threat against 2 flights to Brussels https://t.co/QOmwOzQ0yZ AIRLIVE (@airlivenet) 10 2016 .
Bomb alarms have been frequent in Belgium in the past several weeks and the authorities are taking all the necessary precautions, a federal police spokeswoman told Sputnik on Wednesday, as news emerged of bomb threats on two Brussels-bound planes.
"All I can say at the moment that these weeks there were often bomb alarm[s] in Belgium. We take all the precautions," Sandra Eyschen said.
Medical emergency services have been alerted.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The suspect is on the run after the girl was attacked at the Vieux Pont camping site near the town of Saint-Alban-Auriolles sometime between late Monday and early Tuesday, France Bleu news outlet reported.
According to the outlet, 25 police officers have been mobilized for the search. The law enforcers have started interviewing campsite residents and passers-by as part of the investigation into the rape case.
According to the Paris regions tourism office, foreign tourist arrivals fell by 10% from January to May 2016, compared to the same period in 2015, the IB Times noted. Hotel occupancy in June dropped 12% from the same time last year, and the number of flights arriving in the month of July has dropped 10% from that period in 2015.
"The main reason for this fall (in the number of tourists visiting Paris) is the fear of the risk of attack, which is weighing on a lot of foreign customers, generally from far away, particularly Asian customers who are averse to risks, who don't know these security problems in their own countries in general I'm particularly thinking of Japan and who are afraid of coming to France, to Paris, in Europe generally," Thomas Deschamps, statistics officer for the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the Times.
While the decline is not good for an economy that relies heavily on tourism, those who make the trip see far shorter lines at popular destinations such as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Kurdish militants are said to have opened fire at Turkish soldiers engaged in the anti-terror operation, Anadolu news agency reported.
One of the soldiers reportedly died at the scene and one more later in a hospital.
Another incident occurred in the southeastern province of Hakkari where seven Turkish soldiers were injured while removing landmines laid by PKK fighters, according to Anadolu.
Aleppo, according to the media outlet, will only be freed when terrorists locked in urban areas run out of supplies . This will not happen in an instant.
"Militants have lived in eastern Aleppo for approximately three years. They have settled comfortably in those areas, preparing for prolonged defense," the daily explained. The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and all those helping "will only be able to free the city when the militants truly begin to run out of supplies, including ammunition and radio batteries."
Not a single expert can accurately predict when this will happen. "Even the CIA has no idea how many resources [radical groups fighting in Aleppo] have amassed, particularly at the time when they said they were democrats and liberals," the media outlet observed.
Sweden must see to it that Assyrians are granted local autonomy over the Nineveh Plains in order to be able to ensure their survival in the Middle East, Swedish Liberal Party members Nino Maraha, Birgitta Ohlsson, and Robert Hannah demand in an open letter in Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet . According to them, this must be done soon, before it's too late, preferably under UN patronage.
"Two years ago, Daesh occupied one of Iraq's largest cities Mosul, where church bells fell silent after over 1,600 years as the city's Christians were forced to flee head over heels," Liberal activists wrote. However, it was only a premonition of what was to come. Shortly thereafter, the Nineveh Plains in Iraq were emptied of its indigenous people, as hundreds were slain and over 50,000 were forced to flee.
Unfortunately, not all Assyrians managed to escape the black-clad jihadists. Women and children were captured, raped and enslaved. Girls were sold as sex slaves. This is a human tragedy difficult to grasp, the Liberals pointed out. According to them, many Assyrians still dream of a future in Iraq and Syria, despite today's nightmare. Therefore, it is important to support these people's desire for a life of peace and freedom.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The states also expressed their support for Libya's Government of National Accord and its efforts to find a peaceful solution to the situation that is affecting export of energy sources from the country.
"The governments of Germany, Spain, the United States, France, Italy and the United Kingdom express concern at the increasing tension reported near the oil terminal of Zueitina, in the central part of Libya," the declaration reads.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Tuesday, Russian President Putin met with Erdogan in St. Petersburg to reset bilateral relations, for the first time since the November 2015 downing of a Russian aircraft by Turkey.
The two leaders agreed on a series of measures to boost economic and other ties. The Turkish president said that Ankara was ready to assign the status of strategic investment project to the Akkuyu NPP.
"The words regarding strategic investments, which were used during the meeting to describe the Akkuyu nuclear power plant project, complement the concept of strategic partnership between our countries. The given project is one of the largest investment projects to be implemented between Turkey and Russia. Keeping this in mind, the Turkish side's statement on its willingness to give the Akkuyu project strategic investment status comes very much naturally," Kocer said.
Growing Tension Over Demolitions, Settlements
The issue of destroying Palestinian structures in the occupied territories has been an issue of friction between Israel and its western allies, with the EU and US denouncing such actions, while calling for a halt in the construction of further Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
In July, B'Tselem said Israel had destroyed more Palestinian homes in the first six months of 2016 than in 2015, claiming 740 Palestinians had been displaced.
A pic of demolition carried out this morning at Umm al-Kheir, South Hebron Hills pic.twitter.com/mXsBZaEoRu B'Tselem (@btselem) August 9, 2016
The tension also led to a diplomatic standoff between Israel and the EU, after officials in Brussels required all products coming from the occupied territories to be labeled as such when being sold in European markets.
However, not all have criticized the latest demolitions, with local Jewish councilors arguing the buildings should have been taken down as they had not adhered to licensing laws.
Haaretz: Israel admits that parts of the land on which Ofra settlement was built were confiscated (declared as "State land") "by mistake" Gabriel Helou (@GabrielHelou) August 9, 2016
"I hope this signals the beginning of a new trend because until now the message sent by Israel's reluctance to enforce the law was that this kind of construction was approved of. This brought about an increase in the scope of illegal construction by the Arabs," Head of the Har Hevron Regional Council, Yochai Damar, said.
"We can't have such blatantly selective enforcement. We in Har Hevron have been dealing with a construction freeze for over a year now. Every pipe and every caravan are put under the most exacting legal microscope while right next to us there are people who build whatever and whenever they want in open contempt for the law," he added.
This exclusive footage made minutes after the fighting was over shows a burning oil tanker. The source said that Damascus-led forces have been primarily tasked with recapturing strategically important areas in eastern Hama to put an end to Daesh's illegal oil business.
"We are advancing deeper into the Syrian Desert to take the lead in the fighting close to the villages of Al-Mufakar and Aqarib. These are the closest settlements to the pipeline," the source detailed.
The Syrian army's progress in the north of the city has made it possible to pave a new "road of life" to Aleppo. On July 28, the Syrian army and loyal militias gained control of Aleppo's Beni Zeid district, which became the new gateway to the city. Previously this district had been the main militant stronghold in the area.
The RIA correspondent reached Beni Zeid without running into any difficulty and Syrian soldiers accompanied by militiamen from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) meet us at the entrance to the neighborhood. It is impossible to find even one undamaged house. The district is in ruins and the road has been obliterated by shelling.
Finally, our column reaches the point where they will be stationed, somewhere in a southwestern quarter, where only half a mile separates us from the enemy. The air forces and artillery operate continuously. Air bombs are blowing up such close range that it seems like the window glass will fall down on our heads.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The airstrike hit "one pickup truck with mounted recoilless rifle," the press release stated on Wednesday.
On August 1, the United States began the aerial campaign against Daesh at the request of and in coordination with the GNA.
US forces have conducted a total of 29 airstrikes in support of the campaign, called Operation Odyssey Lightning, AFRICOM noted.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Bunyan Marsous Operations Room announced that Daesh terrorists had been ejected from their hideout after a days offensive, the Libya Herald newspaper reported.
The operations center said they had liberated a hospital and a university, killing around 20 jihadists. They confirmed having lost contact with a Libyan Air Force warplane, the second in the past two months. The outlet cited Daesh who claimed they had downed the jet.
Daesh gained a presence in Libya in the turmoil following the 2011 overthrow of the country's long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi. The country has been mired in a civil war since 2014.
"According to our estimates, there are about 120 Daesh militants in the city. They either surrender, or will be destroyed. We hope to fully liberate the city in the coming days," he added.
A few days ago, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance of militias was reported to have taken control of strategic locations in the northern Syrian city of Manbij, which is partially held by Daesh, the SDF's press service said in a statement Thursday. It was added in the statement that SDF militia forces have also liberated Al-Tall district of the city.
"In the central part of the city there are still 4,000 civilians, including women, children and the elderly. Daesh militants use them as human shields. Because of that we can't use heavy weapons in the city, and the aircraft of the coalition doesn't carry out airstrikes on the positions of the militants. We are very careful with the lives of civilians and do our best to prevent civilian casualties," Yunus said.
Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to President Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups, such as Daesh, outlawed in many countries, including Russia and the United States. In late May, SDF, backed by the US-led coalition, began an offensive to retake the Syrian city of Manbij from Daesh militants.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The ministry added there the political dialogue between the conflicting Yemeni parties remained the only way out of the crisis.
"Moscow urges the parties to the conflict in Yemen to adhere to the previously announced ceasefire and return to the talks under the UN auspices," the ministry said.
The ministry noted an increase in the number of airstrikes on the part of the coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which also affect civilian targets. The ministry also recalled ballistic missiles launches from Yemen towards Saudi border areas.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The first Russian-Turkish committee on Syria will hold the first meeting on Thursday, a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.
"The first meeting will be held tomorrow, the delegation will go to Moscow this evening," Ibrahim Kalin told the Turkish A Haber broadcaster.
Erdogan visited St. Petersburg on Tuesday to have talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after seven months of strained relations following the November downing of a Russian military aircraft by Turkey.
ROME (Sputnik) Rome is considering a request made by Prime Minister of the Libyan Government of National Accord Fayez Sarraj regarding the provision of assistance in the form of military mine clearance training to the Libyan army, local media reported on Wednesday citing a source in the Italian government.
"The request has been received and the government is looking into it. For any new initiative [to be adopted], the government has to involve the Parliament," the Askanews cited its source, who noted that the Italian authorities have long been engaged in activities to aid and support the legitimate Libyan authorities, especially "in the field of humanitarian aid and providing help to the injured."
Earlier on Wednesday, media reports emerged claiming that Italian special forces have already been deployed in Libya and Iraq where they fight the Islamic State (Daesh) terrorist group.
CAIRO (Sputnik) A total of 15 terrorists linked to the Islamic State (Daesh) terrorist group were killed in airstrikes conducted by the Egyptian security forces on the Sinai Peninsula, local media reported on Wednesday.
Two strikes launched form the helicopters targeted the positions of the Ansar Beit al-Maqdis terror group loyal to Daesh near the cities of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid, Akhbal el-Yom media outlet said, adding that the anti-terror operation was still ongoing.
The Egyptian security service has not confirmed the reports on the operation so far.
"Everything is possible right now, and I think that is what both of these leaders are saying to their domestic audiences, and sitting across from each other on each side of the table. It is a very interesting time, but I dont think we should be rash in drawing any conclusions," said Lavelle.
Will Turkey drift away from NATO and the EU toward Russia?
"I think what Turkey is going to do, which any rational power would, is to play off different players to get what it wants most, and that is perfectly natural," said Lavelle. "The Russians are perfectly aware of that. Turkey will not leave NATO anytime soon, but will it leverage its membership to get certain things that it wants regionally? Of course."
"I dont see any black and white that they will completely turn their back on NATO and the European Union, and fall into some kind of Eastern orbit with Russia, China, and Iran," said Lavelle.
"It could happen at one point," he suggested.
The likelihood of a Western military presence on Libyan soil is reflected in the words of Mattia Toaldo, a Libya expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations. According to Toaldo, the US mission in Sirte is "different" from the French presence in the eastern city of Benghazi, as Libya's rival political factions are unlikely to object to attempts to defeat Daesh.
"As long as they keep this low profile the risks both for the US and for the Libyan government are quite low," he suggested.
Libyan militia officials believe that the arrival of Americans and British near the front line signals preparations for a significant push into Daesh territory. The official US position says that Western involvement in the fight against Daesh-affiliated Islamic State in Libya will solidify the foundation of the current UN-backed government, following a period of political instability caused by the Western invasion of Libya and the assassination of its then-leader Moammar Gaddafi, which, according to the officials, "opened the door to the expansion of the Islamic State."
"@livestord will start using military drones, three meters wide, to drop thousands of electronic Bibles over closed areas in the Middle East. Lets pray the message of Gods love in Christ will conquer that of darkness and hate!"
You had to be there! #LivetsOrd #Ek16 A photo posted by Forsamlingen Livets Ord (@livetsord) on Jul 30, 2016 at 12:43pm PDT
The Bibles will be pillbox-size and battery-powered. They will be dropped by a private contractor that, presumably, has clearance to operate in Syrian airspace.
Critics have pointed out that using military drones doesnt exactly send a welcoming message. For those on the ground, being unable to differentiate the Bible from a Hellfire missile doesnt bode well for a successful promotional pitch.
But Christian Akerhielm, Livets Ords mission director, defends the strategy, telling the Washington Post that its "closer to traditional smuggling of Bibles, and it is not connected to any military or aggressive action in any way."
The church also argues that the airdrop will be conducted in coordination with its efforts to provide medical care to refugee camps in the region.
If the Livets Ord plan is successful, it will beat Amazon to be first-to-market in drone delivery.
Erdogan is complaining to America that Gulen almost toppled him and he should be extradited to Turkey immediately, Xulam stated. This crisis has a lot of smoke and very little heat.
Erdogan wants to avoid any further clashes with the Turkish army, whose leadership he purged after the failed coup and so is focusing on Gulen and his supporters as internal enemies instead, Xulam maintained.
Erdogan cant take on the Turkish military and Gulenists at the same time, so he has decided to gang up on Gulen, he added.
US efforts to restore good relations with Ankara would fail because of the new level of mistrust towards Washington, Xulam predicted.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, Xulam observed, is trying to restore a dialogue of trust but the odds are against him succeeding.
John Kerry will try, and his job will not be easy, to instill some sense into his interlocutors. He will come back with the biggest headache of his life, Xulam suggested.
ROME (Sputnik) The decision to reopen the embassy in Libyas capital Tripoli, closed in February 2015, was made on Wednesday evening by Italys Council of Ministers.
Giuseppe Perrone, 49, who will now be Italys Ambassador to Libya, has served as Deputy Director General/Principal Director for the Mediterranean and Middle East of the Italian Foreign Ministry.
On Wednesday, Italian media reported that Rome was mulling a request made by Prime Minister of the Libyan Government of National Accord Fayez Sarraj regarding the provision of assistance in the form of military mine clearance training to the Libyan army.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russia plans to turn the Hmeymim base in Syria into a fully operational base, Franz Klintsevich, the first deputy chairman of the Defense and Security Committee of the Federation Council (the upper house of Russia's parliament), said.
"After an agreement on its legal status, Hmeymim will become a base of Russian armed forces, all the appropriate infrastructure will be built there and our servicemen will live in decent conditions," Klintsevich said in an interview with the Russian Izvestia newspaper.
According to the defense official, a permanent contingent of Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) could be based at the Hmeymim airbase, located in the northwestern Syrian Latakia province.
However there has been a change of rhetoric coming from Turkey recently. The new Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim, said that Turkey needs to revive its relations with its neighbors, as former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's policy of "zero problems with the neighbors" turned out, by Yildirim's definition, to be "zero relationships with the neighbors."
"They need their neighbors. At the end of the day they are not living on an island," Almassian said.
Syria, he says, is a strategic neighbor, as products from both Turkey and the West cannot reach Gulf markets without the involvement of Damascus.
Almassian notes that current predictions regarding Turkey's possible shifts in foreign policy are speculation. It is important to check how changes in Turkish rhetoric, following a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will work out on the battlefield, as there are some 8,000 militants whose presence would not be possible without Turkish assistance, Almassian says.
"If the Syrian government succeeds in retaking Aleppo again, then [Erdogan's] neo-Ottoman dreams will fade away," Almassian said, noting that Russian support to Kurdish forces, which has led to Kurdish military and political rise, has effectively created a common ground between Turkey and Syria. The possibility of independence for Kurds can soften tensions between Ankara and Damascus.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The UK army admitted that the Russian military forces can outgun the British ones on the battlefield, in a leaked report cited by The Times on Wednesday.
"In the unlikely event of a direct confrontation between NATO and RUS [Russia], we must acknowledge that RUS currently has a significant capability edge over UK force elements," the report said, as quoted by the news outlet.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the first reconciliatory meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday since the downing of a Russian jet by Turkey last fall, named defense industry as one of several sectors where Ankara intended to bring ties to pre-crisis levels.
The decision to increase cooperation with Russia in the field of defense is not a move against NATO. There are NATO countries that cooperate with foreign states in the defense sector, including importing missiles, Cavusoglu said in an interview with Turkeys Anadolu news service.
He explained that Ankaras move to seek defense cooperation outside the Western military bloc stemmed from its dissatisfaction from exclusive work with NATO member states to date.
"The goal of the sabotage and terrorist acts was to destabilize the sociopolitical situation before and during the election of federal and regional authorities," the FSB said.
One FSB officer was killed during the counterterrorist operation.
As a result of search operations on the night from August 6 to August 7, 2016, a group of saboteurs was discovered near the town of Armyansk in the Crimean Republic. An FSB officer died as a result of a firefight during the arrest, the FSB said.
Twenty improvised explosive devices, ammunition and other weapons at the disposal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been uncovered at the site, the service added.
FSB Stamps Out Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Spy Ring in Crimea
The FSB said that it had eliminated a spy ring organized by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in Crimea, detaining both Russian and Ukrainian nationals involved in preparing terrorist attacks on the peninsula.
"An agent network [created] by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense's Main Intelligence Directorate has been eliminated. Ukrainian and Russian nationals involved in the preparation of terrorist acts have been detained and are confessing," the FSB said in a statement.
The Federal Security Service also said it had prevented two overnight attempts by Kiev-organized terrorist groups from entering Crimea.
Russias border with Ukraine has been reinforced and security at places of mass gathering and key infrastructure facilities in Crimea has been stepped up.
Additional security measures in public and recreational places have been adopted, including the protection of critical infrastructure. The boundary regime on the border with Ukraine has been strengthened, the FSB said.
A criminal investigation has been opened into an attempted act of terrorism filed late last week and claimed to be directed by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's intelligence service, it added.
The Federal Security Service also said it had prevented two overnight attempts by Kiev-organized terrorist groups from entering Crimea on the night of Monday, August 8, in which one Russian soldier was killed.
"The break-through attempts were covered with massive shelling from the neighboring state and the Ukrainian Armed Forces' armored vehicles. A Russian Defense Ministry serviceman was killed in the firefight," the FSB said.
Over-the-horizon stations have a major advantage when compared to other radars. They are capable of detecting stealth objects. For the Podsolnukh, the F-22 and the F-35, the best fighter jets in the US arsenal that could fly deep behind enemy lines, are no different from aircraft that do not use stealth technology.
But there is a trade-off. Over-the-horizon radars are inconsistent with the IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) system.
"Nevertheless, the Russian military has successfully employed over-the-horizon stations. The Volna system, the Podsolnukh's big brother, has been in service with Russia's Pacific Fleet, scanning water areas at a maximum distance of 3,000 kilometers (more than 1,864 miles). The Volna's length of the antennae is 1.5 kilometers (more than 0,9 miles), its height is five meters (more than 16.4 feet)," the newspaper noted.
The export version of the Podsolnukh has been showcased at several international maritime defense shows.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The US-led coalition of more than 60 nations has been conducting anti-Daesh airstrikes in Syria and Iraq since 2014.
"In Syria, coalition military conducted 14 strikes using attack, bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL (Daesh) targets," the release stated on Wednesday. "Additionally in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 11 strikes coordinated with and in support of the Government of Iraq."
Prior to the upgrades, the Shenzen served as Beijings flagship in the South China Sea, but it remains uncertain whether it will currently remain in the position of the Peoples Liberation Army Navys command ship.
Significant upgrades to what was already Chinas most lethal destroyer come as Beijing faces increasing pressure to relax its claims over oil rich South China Sea territories, through which some 40% of the worlds shipborne commerce travels each day.
The recent ruling by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration is challenged by China, saying that the Hague does not have the jurisdiction to decide upon the case. According to Beijing's interpretation, China would have had to jointly submit to the dispute for the courts decision to be enforceable.
Despite Chinas explanation, Beijing faces growing pressure from the West, as well as from regional rivals Japan and Australia, that analysts worry could push the regime of Xi Jinping into a corner, increasing the threat of hostilities.
"You dont know the area, youre speaking in a different language. It lets you put a mirror up to yourself, and you learn a lot from that," he said.
"[International exercises] are not just military, but strategic in nature. And the strategic benefits are not always direct; they can also be roundabout."
While Israel maintains strong ties with the US, it has no formal relationship with Pakistan and the UAE.
Red Flag will also give Washington a chance to showcase its F-35 Lightning II fighter, deemed combat-ready earlier this month. This week, however, reports surfaced that the US Air Force is still attempting to fix the aircrafts faulty ejection seat, which could put the lives of pilots at risk.
Israel has ordered 33 F-35 "Adir" jets.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The Wednesday release of the 263 previously top secret articles taken by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden cover internal newsletters distributed in the last half of 2003.
In the SIDtoday articles, "the agencys spies explain a surprising amount about what they were doing, how they were doing it and why," The Intercept explains.
The latest batch of articles catalogue NSAs challenges monitoring signals intelligence (SIGINT) from al-Qaedas primitive communications, and the role the NSA played in the early phases of the war in Iraq, including miscalculating the strength of the countrys insurgency.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) At a meeting with Putin in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, Erdogan apologized for the shooting down of a Russian bomber outside Turkish air space last November. The two leaders then agreed on a series of measures to boost economic and other ties.
"Erdogan and Putin have mostly economic interests that bind them," Giraldi said on Tuesday.
Turkey had infuriated Russia by supporting rebels in Syria seeking to topple President Bashar Assad, Giraldi noted.
MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) A total of 59 out of 81 members of the Senate voted on Tuesday in favor of holding an impeachment trial against Rousseff, the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper reported.
The trial is due to take place late August. A total of 54 votes will be enough to remove Rousseff from power.
In May, Brazil's Senate voted in favor of starting impeachment proceedings against Rousseff after she was accused of concealing the countrys budget deficit ahead of the 2014 re-election. Rousseff has been suspended from office for 180 days, pending trial. Michel Temer, who had been Brazil's vice president since 2011, is assuming presidency during that period.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to President Bashar Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups. On February 27, a US-Russia brokered ceasefire came into force in Syria. Terrorist groups such as Daesh, as well as the al-Nusra Front, both outlawed in Russia and a range of other states, are not part of the deal.
"We are working with Russia on a reliable mechanism for Syria," Cavusoglu told Anadolu news agency.
"On the Russian side, Putin is interested to see what kind of independence Turkey might have with respect to its relations with NATO, and with the US and the EU. And he wants to see what flexibility Turkey might have with respect to the war in Syria," Pearson noted.
Ankara needs the restoration of relations with Moscow to get the ability to influence the situation in Syria and the crisis settlement, he stressed.
"There are two important aspects. One is that Turkey would like to have Moscow have less of its relationship with the Kurds. Also, Turkey wants to include leverage on what will happen to [Syrian] President [Bashar] Assad," Pearson said.
Russia wants to know what Turkey is planning to do with "its relationships in the past with the ISIS [Daesh]," he explained.
Relations between Moscow and Ankara hit rock bottom last November after a Turkish jet shot down a Russian plane on the Syrian border. Their ties started warming up again after the Turkish president offered his condolences to the family of the slain Russian pilot in June. During Tuesday's press conference, Putin said that Russia and Turkey were determined to find a mutually-acceptable solution to the conflict in the Arab republic.
"America's foreign policy in the Middle East did pay off, it failed. Washington is now trying to pursue its destabilization strategy in Asia-Pacific. But China's positions in the region are strong and the US will not be able to do anything about it," the analyst said.
Tarasov also mentioned that Washington tried to capitalize on tensions between China and Japan, as well as North Korea's nuclear activities in its standoff with Beijing. This strategy has not been successful and if the US tries to push forward with it, increasing tensions with China will most likely lead to what the analyst described as "a major geopolitical failure of US foreign policy."
The analyst described China's behavior as "increasingly assertive," adding that Beijing has been "rather smart and confident" in its activities. The East Asian nation, he added, has prevented "the US from reinforcing its positions in the region like Washington planned to."
Instead of subsidizing the defense of its "prosperous allies," Washington could have used this money on domestic needs, Posen underscores, referring to the US' crumbling infrastructure, the federal budget deficit and stagnant real incomes of American workers.
However, the US foreign policy establishment is calling for a more muscular and tough policy toward the Middle East and Russia that actually means that Washington should spend even more money on wars for the sake of its foreign partners.
When it comes to the US' nuclear commitments to its allies, Washington may eventually find itself on thin ice.
To defend its partners in Europe and Asia from their potential adversaries, the US must signal to those potential challengers that "it would, if pressed, wage nuclear war" on behalf of its allies, the scholar explains.
"Are these nuclear commitments strategically necessary?" Posen asks.
Is the US really ready to wage an all-out nuclear war to defend its allies in Europe or in Asia?
To make matters even worse, the US' "extravagant insurance" that Washington offers its partners "encourages them to engage in risky behavior," he emphasizes.
In an interview with Sputnik, Malan stated that he has sent a corresponding appeal to the country's parliament in which he asked for explanations on the issue.
"So far the government has not responded to my request. Although in fact, it has to do it but apparently not in Italy. Here, the Renzi government doesn't respond to requests, even to those of the members of the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate," the senator stated.
Malan also explained how he came up with his revelations. According to him, he was studying the list of sponsors who sent financial contributions to the Fund, and "Italy's Ministry of Environment was among them".
Russian MP Irina Yarovaya, the head of the State Duma Committee for Security, echoed these sentiments, saying that Morell made "monstrous remarks." He essentially confirmed that Washington is capable of carrying out "covert killings to pursue its own devastating plans."
Yarovaya also noted that Morell's comments point to a hidden agenda in Washington's counterterrorism activities. "The US State Department must issue a clear statement on the issue. Otherwise, there are grounds to assume that the former CIA deputy director inadvertently revealed an existing top secret CIA plan."
Morell's remarks are meant to "fuel tensions between Russia and the US," Dmitry Gorovtsov, the deputy chairman of the State Duma's Committee for Security, told RIA Novosti, adding that such rhetoric is unacceptable. He also called Morell's plan "extremist" and "akin to fascist ideology."
MOSCOW (Sputnik) On July 15, a coup attempt took place in Turkey, which was suppressed the following day. Over 13,000 people have already been detained in connection with the coup attempt, 10,000 of those were members of the Turkish military.
"Turkey is a valued Ally, making substantial contributions to NATO's joint efforts. Turkey takes full part in the Alliances consensus-based decisions as we confront the biggest security challenges in a generation. Turkeys NATO membership is not in question. Our Alliance is committed to collective defence and founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty, human rights and the rule of law," the spokesperson said.
According to the spokesperson, Turkey can count on solidarity and support of NATO.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the week, Deputy Chairman of Turkey's Republican Peoples Party (CHP) Namik Havutca said that the Incirlik airbase poses a threat to Turkeys internal stability as it is turning the allies of the country "into enemies." The lawmaker reportedly pushed forward a proposal titled "Incirlik Get Out."
Turkey will never close the Incirlik Airbase and will continue to cooperate with the United States. Our warm relations with Moscow will not be an alternative to our relations with the West and especially the United States, Cevik said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in St. Petersburg for the first talks to reset bilateral relations after the November 2015 downing of a Russian aircraft by Turkey.
"The way I see it, we will not only be seeing a normalization of the relations between Turkey and Russia but we will also observe a speedy warming of relations that will bring the two countries as well as the people of Turkey and Russia much closer together. This is good news for regional peace and security and, of course, for world peace," Cevik said.
Turkey and Russia are not only neighbors but also key players of the region as well, he stressed.
BERLIN (Sputnik) On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in St. Petersburg for the first talks to reset bilateral relations after the November 2015 downing of a Russian aircraft by Turkey.
"We welcome the fact that after months of tensions the two countries are seeking rapprochement," Chebli told reporters.
"It is not going to change because of that meeting, it will change for the better for the Kurdish people because of our fighting Erdogan has killed Kurdish people, even this week, that is why I would not expect in the near future any meetings outcome for the benefit of the Kurdish people. He is there [in Russia] for his own safety, not for even the Turkish people's benefit," Rizgar Wan said.
His words were echoed by honorary president of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) Ertugrul Kurkcu, who reminded that Ankara is against Kurdish self-governance.
"I am not sure that Turkey will be able to change its mind-set in its approach to the Kurdish problem in Syria and in Turkey For the Turkish establishment self-governance is the worst idea. This contradictions is still in place regardless of the meeting with Mr. Putin," Ertugrul Kurkcu underlined.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Norway is keen to maintain dialogue and good relations with the United Kingdom after Brexit, as Britain is working out its relations with the European Union after its decision to leave the bloc, a senior member of the Norwegian Progress Party told Sputnik on Wednesday.
"Norway has, and has had a good relationship with the United Kingdom. It is important that we maintain this sound relationship after Brexit. It is however for Britain to decide on their future connection with Europe. We follow this work with great interest, and will always be open to dialogue," Harald Nesvik, the parliamentary leader of the Progress Party that rules in coalition with the Conservative Party, said.
The lawmaker's comments come on the heels of Norwegian European Affairs Minister Elisabeth Vik Aspaker's statement that it is not necessarily in Oslo's interest that Britain should join the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which includes non-EU members Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
Relations between the two countries worsened drastically after Ankara shot down a Russian jet, which was on anti-terrorism mission in Syria. In June, President Erdogan sent a letter apologizing for the downing of the jet and expressed his condolences to the relatives of a pilot, who was killed by rebels after ejecting from his plane.
Prior to his visit to Russia, President Erdogan called President Putin his friend and noted that he wanted to open a new page in relations with Moscow. After the failed coup attempt in Turkey, Vladimir Putin expressed support for the Turkish leader and condemned the unlawful actions of the military.
"We have experienced a serious crisis in relations, but both sides have the will and the desire for a speedy overcoming of these negative tendencies and a return to pre-crisis cooperation. I witnessed this desire both by the Turkish and the Russian side. I think that yesterday's meeting will start active rehabilitation of close bilateral cooperation in all spheres economy, tourism, energy policy," Turkish politician Nejat Kocer told Sputnik.
After Tuesday's meeting President Putin promised to lift sanctions against Ankara step by step. Both leaders announced the restart of two major energy projects the Turkish Stream gas pipeline and the construction of Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey.
"It was an extremely important, constructive and positive meeting that took place yesterday. The negotiations are of significant importance for the region, as the success in the development of Turkish-Russian trade, economic and political relationships can change the political order in the region for better," the politician noted.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) His comments came on the heels of the Tuesday meeting in St. Petersburg between Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, with hopes running high that Russia may slightly change Turkey's stance on Syria.
"There is still no sign of any change in Turkeys Syria politics. For the first step of this kind a change, the Rojava [Western Kurdistan, a de facto autonomous region in northern Syria] representatives and the Syrian Democratic Forces should be invited to the negotiation table and Turkey of course should lift its veto on this subject," Oluc said.
He added that without the representatives from the Syrian Kurdistan in the negotiations on Syria's future it was not possible to reconstruct a democratic Syrian regime.
As if that wasn't enough, the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, has also been "designated" as a "Kremlin tool" by Clinton's supporters after she has risen in the polls.
The pro-Clinton AMERICAblog alleged on Saturday that the Green Party candidate has joined the dark side.
Last year Stein attended a conference organized by Russia Today in Moscow. But that's half the story: Vladimir Putin "himself joined Stein and other attendees for dinner," John Aravosis of AMERICAblog highlighted.
Aravosis claimed that Stein lambasted the US and remained mute on Russia's "horrific lack of respect for human rights," referring to her anti-war video message. That was enough for the journalist to label the Green party candidate as a Russian "propaganda tool."
Was only a matter of time before Jill Stein was smeared as a disloyal Kremlin-sympathizer (tweet is 100% false) https://t.co/mieEn1GwRP Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) 7 2016 .
However, Greenwald points out that Stein could hardly be called a Russia apologist. Although she called upon Moscow and Washington to team up in Syria to settle the crisis and criticized the US for embarking on a $1 trillion program to update its nuclear weapons, she likewise criticized Russia for "diverting scarce resources into military spending while its people suffered."
But who in the Clinton camp cares what Stein really meant? Pro-Clinton journalists and media pundits have rushed to accuse the Green party politician of being an "agent of the Kremlin."
Interestingly enough, after Sputnik turned the spotlight on the opinion piece by Aravosis, the journalist presented it as yet more "proof" of Stein's cooperation with Russia.
"The Kremlin is now defending Stein, and attacking me, as a result of this article. That speaks volumes about just how important a tool Putin finds Stein for both his propaganda war and for helping Trump this election," he insists.
"So that's the Democratic Party's approach to the 2016 election. Those who question, criticize or are perceived to impede Hillary Clinton's smooth, entitled path to the White House are vilified as stooges, sympathizers and/or agents of Russia: Trump, WikiLeaks, Sanders, The Intercept, Jill Stein. Other than loyal Clinton supporters, is there anyone left who is not covertly controlled by or in service to The Ruskies?" Greenwald underscores.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Erdogan visited St. Petersburg on Tuesday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after seven months of strained relations following the November downing of a Russian military aircraft by the Turkish Air Force.
The two leaders agreed to develop bilateral ties, returning to the pre-crisis level of cooperation in trade, energy and defense and other spheres.
"Turkey remains one of NATOs strongest members, our ties with Russia would not cast a shadow on that," Ibrahim Kalin was quoted as saying by the Turkish Daily Sabah newspaper.
He added that Russia views the assassination attempt against Igor Plotnitsky, the head of east Ukraine's self-proclaimed Lugansk Peoples Republic, as well as the Crimean sabotage attempt, in the context of terrorism.
Earlier this month, a bomb exploded on a road near Plotnitsky's car. He sustained non-life threatening injuries.
Holding a Normandy Four meeting with Ukraine, Germany and France on settling the Ukrainian conflict at the upcoming G20 summit in China would be futile given the uncovering of a spy ring organized by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in Crimea, the Russian president said.
"This is very worrying information. Security services have, in fact, prevented the intrusion of a Ukrainian Defense Ministry sabotage and reconnaissance mission from Ukrainian territory. And, of course, holding a meeting in the Normandy format in China given these conditions is pointless," Putin said.
According to the Russian president, the plot was an attempt to distract the Ukrainian peoples attention from the countrys leadership.
"An attempt to provoke an outbreak of violence, to provoke a conflict is nothing else but a desire to divert attention of the countrys society from the people who have taken over the power in Kiev, who continue robbing their own people to remain in power for as long as possible and to continue robbing its own people," he stressed.
"There is no point to carry out such campaigns other than to divert attention of its own people from the dire situation of the [Ukrainian] economy, of the dire situation of a significant number of people," Putin told reporters.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) On July 15, the Turkish authorities said that an attempted coup was taking place in the country. A day after the coup attempt, eight Turkish servicemen flew a helicopter to the northern Greek border town of Alexandroupolis where they sought political asylum out of fear for their lives. Turkey demanded their extradition, while the men in question denied any involvement in the coup attempt.
"Eight suspects boarded a Skorsky S 70 Black Hawk model helicopter belonging to the Samandra Air Base and landed in a region near Riva of [Istanbuls] Beykoz district. The suspects, who made phone calls for a while there, took off again on July 16 at 10:40 a.m. and landed in Greece It was determined that the device which is a part of a transponder and also publishes MOD C altitude information had been removed and all military codes and flight information records of the helicopter had been deleted after landing at the Dedeagac [Alexandroupoli] region [in Greece], according to information obtained from command personnel as a result of examinations," the requisition reads, as cited by the Hurriyet Daily.
According to the requisition, which the Turkish Justice Ministry should send to the Greek authorities, the eight men are accused of violating the constitution with force and violence, attempted assassination of the president, crimes against the legislative body and the government and robbery, and are facing jail terms ranging from five years to life sentences for those crimes.
Voices continue to emerge in the US calling for a bombing campaign against the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad.
In mid-June, 51 US State Department diplomats singed an internal memo urging the Obama administration to carry out strikes against Assad in Syria.
A few days later Michele Flournoy, who is believed to be most likely Clinton's pick for Secretary of Defense, called for "limited military coercion" against Damascus as well as the creation of "no bombing zones" in Syria, Defense One reported.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Col. Ilhan Yasitli and Halis Tunc went missing a few days after a military faction staged a putsch in Istanbul and Ankara on July 15, sources told Greek news website Onalert.gr.
Their absence was noticed after they did not turn up for several events at the diplomatic mission in the Greek capital.
According to the websites preliminary data, both men likely boarded a ferry bound for Italy ant took families with them. They have not filed for asylum yet, the outlet added.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, Sargsyan held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Following the meeting, the Armenian president thanked Putin for his efforts to help resolve the crisis in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
"I am confident that Armenia will only benefit from an increase in Russias role in our region," Sargsyan said at a press conference.
Earlier on Wednesday, Putin reiterated that Moscow was interested in the easing of tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh and expressed hope that a compromise could be reached in the dispute.
"Such rigid statements made by Michael Morell could also be explained by the fact that the US is now in the middle of the presidential race. That is why Morell does not mince his words, and sometimes says crazy things about Donald Trump, calling him Putin's agent," the expert explained.
However, these hard and inappropriate remarks could also be connected with the changing political order in the Middle East. According to Jalalzadeh, Morell's statement could signify the weakening of the US' position in the region.
"After Iran and Russia set up a tacit alliance during the Syrian crisis, the West and the so-called opposition of Bashar Assad have mired in the crisis even more. Especially, when Russia and Iran jointly carried out a successful operation to destroy terrorists," the expert said.
"The victory and success of the Russian anti-terrorist military operations in Syria, including those near Aleppo, have been a blow to the ego of the West []. Another reason for the anger and resentment of the West is President Erdogan changing his political course after the recent coup attempt. His course is now aimed at reviving strategic cooperation with Russia and Turkey's eastern neighbors, and not with the West. Erdogan said that he does not see Turkey as an important player in a political alliance under US leadership," Jalalzadeh added.
The Syrian Army has sent thousands of reinforcements to the country's largest city after rebel groups including the former al-Nusra Front broke the siege in the east. But the Syrian government claims that they have retaken that ground. Are we witnessing a turning point, or even decisive moment, in Syrias five year war?
Turkish President Erdogan has met with Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on his first trip abroad since last months attempted coup. Peter Lavelle, host of RT's flagship program Crosstalk, discusses if it's back to business as usual between Turkey and Russia, and if Turkey is moving to a new policy on Syria.
Protesters for and against Brazils President Dilma Rousseff rallied outside of the Senate on Tuesday as lawmakers voted on moving her to within a step of losing office. But do her opponents have the two thirds needed in the Senate to oust her? Becker is joined by Aline C. Piva of Brazilian Expats for Democracy and Brazilian-British analyst Victor Fraga.
And there was another disturbing revelation about the FBIs activities leading up to last years failed terrorist attack in Garland, Texas. The Intercepts Murtaza Hussein called into the show to tell us what he found out.
Finally, foreign policy has led to a pair of outcries about US posture toward Yemen and Brazil and no, were not talking about Michael Phelps cup marks.
SIMFEROPOL (Sputnik) Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said earlier on Wednesday it had dismantled a spy ring organized by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in Crimea, detaining both Russian and Ukrainian nationals involved in preparing terrorist attacks on the peninsula.
"Any attempt to destabilize the socio-political situation in the Republic of Crimea, wherever they may come from, will continue to be suppressed with maximum toughness," Aksyonov wrote on his Facebook page.
OSCOW (Sputnik) Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said earlier on Wednesday it had dismantled a spy ring organized by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in Crimea, detaining both Russian and Ukrainian nationals involved in preparing terrorist attacks on the peninsula.
"Seven people have been detained, including local agents-coordinators in Crimea," the source told RIA Novosti.
Two Russian servicemen have been killed in preventing the attacks. Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Kiev of resorting to terrorism.
The wrecks of the "Thames" were found in the mouth of the river Salnaya Kuria (Yenisei's tributary) near the village of Goroshikha at a depth of approximately 2 to 10 meters. According to Goncharov, the steamer arrived on the Yenisei in 1876 with the famous English explorer Joseph Wiggins on board. However, in Siberia, the English steamer was put to a serious test. In 1877, the vessel ran aground and was firmly frozen.
"After spending the winter there, Wiggins tried to return to England, but went aground near the town of Igarka. After that, he sold the "Thames" to the merchants of the town of Yeniseisk. The merchants tried to pull the ship, dragged it to the river Salanya Kuria, and finally broke it through and drowned. It remains buried there forever," Goncharov stated.
MAKHACHKALA (Sputnik) A federal judge has been killed in Russias North Caucasus Republic of Dagestan, a source in the republics law enforcement told RIA Novosti in the early hours of Thursday.
"In the Shamilsky District of Dagestan unknown individuals shot dead a judge from the federal court, he died from the injuries," the source said.
According to the source, the judge, Ubaydul Magomedov, was shot in his home on the night from Wednesday to Thursday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) International conflicts are the main fear of Russian citizens, a poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) said Wednesday.
"Conflicts between states (including military ones) are still at the top of the rating of Russian citizens fears," the research said.
This "price" appears to be murder, which would be carried out "covertly, so you dont tell the world about it, you dont stand up at the Pentagon and say we did this. But you make sure they know it in Moscow and Tehran."
This would, undoubtedly, risk direct conflict with Russia and Iran. Morell also suggested that Washington bomb government buildings in Syria, as well as the presidential guard of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in order to "scare" the leader.
Morell does not officially represent the Clinton campaign, but as Murtaza Hussain points out for the Intercept, he could become part of her cabinet.
"Morells endorsement of Clinton was quickly seen as a sign that he was interested in a role in a possible Clinton administration," Hussain says. "He wrote that Clinton would be a highly qualified commander in chief and a strong proponent of a more aggressive approach to the conflict in Syria."
The Clinton campaign jumped on the op-ed, tweeting out a link on the candidates Twitter account.
A Clinton spokesperson commented, "This individual wasn't invited as a guest and the campaign was unaware of his attendance until after the event."
Clintons opponent, Republican nominee Donald Trump, blamed the June 12 massacre on Americas immigration system which he claims is too lax, ignoring that the shooter, Omar Mateen, was born in New York and was an American citizen.
A new policy is expected to be put in place by Pentagon officials later this year, which upends the standard tape test that measures body mass index. Instead, new technology will be put into use to distinguish between those who are obese and those, such as bodybuilders, who have nontraditional body types, but are fit for duty.
When you have groups of individuals who are fit and highly trained, then BMI is absolutely useless, Dr. Dympna Gallagher, director of the body composition unit at the New York Obesity Nutrition Research Center, told Military Times.
Currently, the military requires troops to maintain fat levels below 26 percent for men and 36 percent for women. The standards are currently shrinking the pool of potential recruits, as recent studies have confirmed that 75 percent of young Americans are ineligible for service because of their weight.
"I think the time is now for all the movements together to proceed with supporting third party candidates. Third parties should not be seen as a poor alternative, we are the real alternative," Gloria La Riva, of the Party for Socialism and Liberalism, told Radio Sputniks Loud & Clear.
"Its necessary to keep on this fight in this most critical of elections where the billionaires and the millionaires always win and the people lose. But our fight will continue to grow."
It remains unclear whether both major party candidates will participate in debates. The Trump campaign has used the proposed debate schedule as an excuse to hint that the Republican may back out.
"Our posture is we design something we think is in the best interest of American citizens. Its based on a lot of experience over time and we kind of set the table for the candidates and expect them to show up," McMurry said.
The Clinton campaign has already formally accepted the debate invitation.
"Secretary Clinton looks forward to participating in all three presidential debates scheduled by the independent debate commission," campaign chairman John Podesta said in a statement. "With so much at stake in the fall elections, she believes these debates will provide the American people with an important opportunity to hear from the candidates on issues critical to the countrys future."
Even if Trump backs out, Clinton may still have someone to speak with.
After the success of the pilot EMERGE program, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) again turned to startups and small business to fuel federal government research and development. This time the agency's Science and Technology Directorate has teamed up with the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) and TechNexus, a venture group based in Chicago, to bring wearable technology to first responders.
The agency hopes that, with the help of wearable devices, today's firefighters, police and emergency medical technicians will be able to minimize equipment requirements and concentrate on effective response efforts.
"This forward thinking partnership stems from the need to better protect our first responders by identifying new cutting-edge technologies," said TechNexus CEO Terry Howerton. "We are excited to build upon the successes of last year and continue our partnership with CIT, and DHS S&T."
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The tragedy occurred when police officers were simulating lethal force in a live role play, the NBC2 News broadcaster said. Local police department chief Thomas Lewis said there were a total of 35 people present during the exercise and two of them were randomly chosen for participation.
Woman killed by cop during lethal force exercise at Punta Gorda Florida police department @WFLA pic.twitter.com/j7PsdlkzLn Paul Michael Mueller (@WFLAPaulM) August 10, 2016
Punta Gorda Police say 35 were participating in the Citizens Academy were woman was shot. pic.twitter.com/TQqXGg8w28 Carlos Munoz (@ReadCarlos) August 10, 2016
The victim, identified as Mary Knowlton, was "mistakenly struck with a live round," according to Lewis.
"I am devastated for everyone involved in this unimaginable event. If you pray, please pray for Mary's family, and for the officers who were involved. Everyone involved in this accident is in a state of overwhelming shock and grief," Lewis was quoted as saying by NBC2 News.
Dozens of protesters then chased the car, firing bullets, as the driver tried to reverse and head in a different direction to avoid the crowd, according to the publication.
Police later said the crash was not intentional and the driver, who has been questioned by police, did not see the protester.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, the Miami Herald newspaper reported that police were investigating the double shooting but had released no details about the tragic incident so far.
"There was a shooting in the employee parking lot, 2 fatalities. Lot open & no impact to airport operations," the airport said via its official Twitter account.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The Justice Department opened an investigation into the BPD practices in May 2015, one month after 25-year-old African American man Freddie Gray died of spinal cord injuries sustained while in police custody.
Six officers were charged in connection with Gray's death; three were found not guilty and charges were dropped against the remaining three in July.
"We conclude that there is reasonable cause to believe that BPD engages in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the Constitution and federal anti-discrimination law," Gupta stated.
Maggie Toulouse Oliver: You and I are in very different career fields at this point in our lives I would love to hear from you how you understand your place in the world personally, professionally and what brought you to this place in your art career.
Jodie Herrera: A lot of my family members are artistic, so I guess it was kind of in the blood. My first memories are of doing art and growing up around it and my family was always supportive. I'm a very emotive person and I've a very observant person. I feel like my work is just me trying to translate [my] feelings for other people.
Toulouse Oliver: So you've always considered yourself an artistis there any one thing that happened in the course of your life that made you feel like this isn't just a hobby for you, but what you want to do with your life [and] your career?
Herrera: I had a lot of insecurities [growing up] especially around education because I'm dyslexic, and so [art] was the one thing that I felt confident in. It was the one way that I felt like I could actually express myself in a way that was done well.
I know you have two children that you're raising in Albuquerque. Have you learned anything through them about the state of New Mexico, the educational system, the arts or the way that we are changing?
Toulouse Oliver: I've learned that even though our education system has suffered cuts in a lot of areas, and I know that the arts are sometimes viewed as additional, I think for many kids they're really fundamental. And sometimes for kids, they're the one thing that motivates them to go to school. It's not just about the art itself, it helps stimulate thinking and stimulate learning and I think we need to continue investing in that in our schools. I've definitely, through my own experience and my kids' experiences, learned the value of that.
So, I know you've worked as an illustrator and more recently you've focused on oil painting as your main medium and your work has been more geared toward one project. Please tell me about this project and the inspiration for it.
Herrera: The project is basically geared towards telling the story of the female experience. A lot of the models want to be a part of it because they have a story to tell or I feel very inspired by who they are and I ask them to be a part of the project. A lot of them have gone through very traumatic experiences everything from heroin addiction or addiction in general to surviving cancer to sexual abuse. Things that we deal with as women and as human beings. Basically, it's kind of a platform for them to tell their story and to not be ashamed of it, to have power over it this is their chance to tell their story and be proud of themselves that they've gone through it and that they've persevered.
Toulouse Oliver: Is there anyone in particular that stands out for you that really resonated with you?
Herrera: It's so hard to pick just one I've made a lot of really long-lasting friends and connections through this. But my friend Lan, she survived cancer twice. She's just such a badassa really strong, good-hearted human being. In her painting she's wearing this shawl and headdress that [Vietnamese people] usually wear for their engagement ceremonies. She's Vietnamese [and] when she was engaged she didn't get to have the ceremony because she had to go through a really intense surgery and she and her now-husband wanted to get married immediately because she might not have survived. So, basically, in the painting she wanted to wear her engagement garment. She was actually taking that moment back and having the ceremony within the painting.
I know you were raised in New Mexico where you attended public schools and later received your master's degree in political science from the University of New Mexico, and since 2007 have served as Bernalillo County Clerk. What is it that made you stick with New Mexico?
Toulouse Oliver: I graduated from Highland in '94 [and] literally the first thing I did was go to Mexico for a month for a Spanish immersion class. I came back and was driving to the mall one day and I drove by Senator Bingaman's re-election campaign office and I thought, I've always, always, always been interested in government and politicslike you said, it's always been in my blood. [I] really viewed it as a path for justice and change. I spent the rest of the summer between high school and college interning on Senator Bingaman's campaign and loved it. I went away to school in Texas [and that made me] realize how much I loved New Mexico. And I loved Albuquerque. It was going away that me realize how much it was truly inside of me.
Herrera: In 2014 you ran against Republican candidate Diana Duran for Secretary of State and lost. In August of 2015, Duran was shockingly charged with fraud and embezzlement and resigned before she pled guilty. How do you think this kind of scandal could be avoided? Is there something we should learn from this?
Toulouse Oliver: I think theres a lot of irony tied up in that situation with our former Secretary of State because she was charged with this very important role in overseeing accountability and transparency of our elected officials and ensuring that they live up to the highest of ethical standards that we expect and deserve as citizens. I think that's the reason it was so shocking [and] why for a lot of people it felt very personal and like a violation. I ran for the position because I care very deeply about my work overseeing elections and I wanted to take my vision to the state leveland my vision is of ensuring that every eligible voter in the state casts a ballot and ensuring equal access for voters across the state. I truly believe that our government is only at its best when everybody's voice is being heard. People sometimes don't want to participate in a system that they think validates that kind of corruption.
I've learned that even though our education system has suffered cuts in a lot of areas, and I know that the arts are sometimes viewed as additional, I think for many kids they're really fundamental. And sometimes for kids, they're the one thing that motivates them to go to school.
Herrera: You're running for Secretary of State again this November against Republican candidate Nora Espinosa. What are some defining issues that set you apart from her? What are the issues that you'll focus on if elected?
Toulouse Oliver: I think the main difference between she and I [is that] I've got nine-and-a-half years running elections in the largest county in the state. I'm deeply knowledgeable and experienced about the majority of the duties of the office so I'm going to be stepping into the job on day one with a very clear view of the work that needs to be done and having had direct experience with the subject matter of the office. Besides that, [Espinosa] has been very focused on what I think are some of the most divisive issues to be brought up in legislature in the last 10 years. She's been a sponsor of very anti-choice legislation such as invasive ultrasounds for women who are seeking to have an abortion. She's been a sponsor of bills that would ban Hispanic heritage literature in our schools, which, in a place like New Mexico, we value and embrace our Hispanic heritage, to try to ban literature that speaks on that subject in our schools is sort of antithetical to who we are. And this year she was the sponsor of a bill called The Religious Freedom Act that would have given businesses the right to legally discriminate against the gay and lesbian community in our state. We need somebody in the Secretary of State office that's going to be focused on moving in the right direction, moving the office away from this unfortunate history of corruption, focusing on putting rules in place to administer ethical guidelines [and] to continue to modernize and improve our election system and make it better for the people who use it.
So, when you create your art, you're giving something back, helping these women work through something that's really hard but have you had your own personal growth experience through doing this too?
Herrera: Absolutely I've gone through a lot of experiences and I didn't want to be a victim of those and I felt almost judgmental of myself and everything that I've gone through. So, this was a way to shed light [on those experiences]just because we have these experiences doesn't mean that we are forever scarred in a bad way, we are scarred in such a way that we hold those as badges. We persevered and we are resilient as women. I wanted to share that about myself but also about women in general, because I feel like we always are shown in a light of [purity] or the slut or the damaged. We're never this in-between. We're never regarded as just human beings. I want to show that we are the full picture, and we are proud of that. [That] should be honored.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Tuesday, WikiLeaks offered a reward of $20,000 for leads on the unsolved murder of Rich who was gunned down last month. The 27-year-old DNC voter expansion data director was shot at several times a block away from his Washington, DC home on July 10. He was rumored to be behind the recent DNC email leak.
"Whistleblowers go to significant efforts to get us material and often very significant risks. As a 27-year-old, works for the DNC, was shot in the back, murdered just two weeks ago for unknown reasons as he was walking down the street in Washington," Assange told Dutch TV.
The US police claimed the murder appeared to be an attempted robbery gone wrong, but Rich's family reportedly said that nothing had been stolen. Assange also ruled out a robbery scenario.
Michael Wood Jr., a former Baltimore police officer and Black Lives Matter supporter who famously took to Twitter to describe misconduct he personally witnessed within the department, spoke to Sputnik regarding the DOJ report.
There is a sense of vindication for activists and victims, but we have to be careful about what the DOJ report means, and the impact, going forward. DOJ reforms only have a 50% success rate and that is by their own measurements of success, Wood told Sputnik.
There is no American city that I can point to as the model of success and empirically these problems exist, to some extent, in every police department in this country. It should be safe to say that from the public perspective, none of these reforms can be deemed successful.
Instead of performing smart management and redirecting resources, the city of Baltimore and the Baltimore Police Department will demand tens of millions of taxpayer funds to implement reform measures of which have no history of success, he continued.
Woods Twitterstorm last June, about misconduct he personally witnessed, made global headlines as he recounted seeing an officer slap an innocent woman for bumping into him, officers defecating in beds and on the clothing of suspects during raids, and the consistent targeting of black men aged 16 to 24.
This additional tax money will come at the expense of the very victims that the DOJ report seeks to highlight, Wood explained. At the very same time that the city is in the middle of handing the largest TIF ever to developers, again at the expense of these same victims. The DOJ is no solution. The only answer is the one I will continue to push.
Neller explained that this issue doesnt just affect the Marines, but that the Navy, Army and Air Force face retention problems as well. "How do we convince them to stick around," he asked, "and wear this uniform, or wear a uniform, and do that when some of your companies are out there offering up two, three times as much money and they get to sleep in their own bed at night and no one is trying to kill them?"
"So far, enough of them take pride and are willing to accept the challenge, but I worry about that because as the force becomes more technical, the force becomes more capable and they have more options."
The department is asking for prayers for Knowltons family, as well as the officers involved.
I am devastated for everyone involved in this unimaginable event, police chief Tom Lewis told reporters during a news conference at department headquarters. If you pray, please pray for Marys family, and for the officers who were involved. Everyone involved in this accident is in a state of overwhelming shock and grief.
Knowlton was rushed to the hospital after the shooting, and was pronounced dead.
City officials are now offering free grief counseling for anyone who asks, and the officer involved has been placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated.
Authorities have not released information on why a gun used in a public-affairs exercise was loaded with live ammunition.
BALI (Sputnik) Dmitry Feoktistov, deputy director of the Department for New Challenges and Threats of the Russian Foreign Ministry, is heading the Russian interdepartmental delegation to the meeting being hosted by Indonesia.
"In the context of foreign terrorist fighters we offered the regional countries to join the international data bank on terrorism, which was created by Russia's FSB in 2008, Feoktistov told RIA Novosti.
According to the diplomat, as of today, 29 states and several international organizations, including the United Nations, have joined the data bank.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The State Department said the terrorists engaged in torture, enslavement and sexual abuse of people. In addition, Daesh, which claims to be a Sunni group, continued suicide bombings against Shia Muslims, according to the report.
"Daesh continued to pursue a brutal strategy of what Secretary Kerry judged to constitute genocide against Yezidis, Christians, Shia, and other vulnerable groups in the territory it controlled," the report stated.
The report noted that Daesh terrorists executed more than 60 people in Syria alone in 2015.
On Tuesday, the Turkish justice minister stated that if the US did not extradite Gulen, "it will have sacrificed Turkey to a terrorist."
Ugurlu is the first known Turkish military officer to request asylum in the US. His request comes alongside Turkeys attempts to arrest and detain tens of thousands of people suspected of aiding Julys failed military coup that attempted remove President Erdogan.
The day after the fields for the 2016 Gold Cup & Saucer trials were announced, shockwaves ripped through the Maritimes as one of the locally-connected horses looking to compete and contend passed away on Tuesday morning.
Big Boy Dreams, a five-year-old son of If I Can Dream, was being led back to his stall on Tuesday when he collapsed. His co-owner, Don MacRae of Vernon Bridge, PEI, told The Guardian he assumes the horse had a heart attack.
Purchased by trainer and co-owner Rene Allard for $265,000 at the Tattersalls January Select Mixed Sale at The Meadowlands, Big Boy Dreams was also owned by Exeter, Ont.'s Bob Hamather. He won 14 of 49 lifetime starts, earning more than $580,000 while taking a mark of 1:49.4f at Pocono last year. Among his major stakes wins were the Windy City Pace and the Matron as a three-year-old.
MacRae told The Guardian that Big Boy Dreams had a slight temperature after a less-than-stellar performance on Saturday night -- finishing eighth in a race at Yonkers. He was reportedly treated for a virus and his temperature had returned to normal in advance to planned transport to PEI from Allard's stable in New York.
He was a nice horse to watch race," said MacRae, who currently owns about 15 race horses. "This is the best horse that I have ever owned."
Allard has offered MacRae a 10 per cent piece of another Gold Cup & Saucer contender, Go Daddy Go, to help soften the loss of MacRae's pacer.
Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the connections of Big Boy Dreams.
For the past few decades, the North American Amateur Drivers Association has been hosting amateur drivers from various countries in Europe and Down Under. Plans are currently being finalized by the amateur driving group for an upcoming Friendship Competition against their counterparts from Italy.
Four veteran amateur drivers from Venice will be coming in to challenge the NAADA members in a series of races at three different American racetracks with races slated at Monticello Raceway (8-17), Yonkers Raceway (8-18) and Tioga Downs on (8-19).
Those who will be driving for team Italy include; Raffaello Ruffato (110 lifetime wins), Giancarlo Moretti (55 wins), Roberto Michelotto (74 wins) and Zorzetto Otello (462 wins). Coming along with the Italian amateur drivers is their club representative, Luigi Cardin.
Although the Italian team will be constant at all three venues NAADA will field a different team at each racetrack.
We look forward to once again hosting our friends from the Venice area of Italy, said NAADA President Joe Faraldo. We were their guests in the past and weve previously reciprocated by hosting them here in the States. We always have a wonderful time although we usually end up on the short end the stick. But make no mistake, we (NAADA members) will do our best to win this upcoming competition. However, winning or losing is incidental; its the camaraderie that is shared with these competitions that is the important thing.
We have what we hope will be an entertaining visit for our Italian guests, Faraldo continued. Tom Grossman will host the participants and sponsor a luncheon at his Blue Chip Farm on Tuesday (8-16) and then the visitors will tour Goshen Historic Track and enjoy the nearby Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame.
After driving at Monticello Raceway on Wednesday (8-17) the visitors will make a stop at the Bethel Woods Museum, the site of the original Woodstock Festival in 1969, noted NAADA event coordinator Alicia Schwartz, who was an integral part of finalizing the agenda.
Along the way, Schwartz says there will be a tour of the Mark Ford Training Center, in Goshen, NY and shopping at the Woodbury Common Outlet Mall in Central Valley, NY, as well as great dinners at local area restaurants each evening. Then, on Saturday (August 20), the visiting Italians will be able to explore and enjoy two days in greater New York City.
(NAADA)
Horseman Ernest J. Miller Jr. passed away on Saturday, August 6 at the age of 65.
He was born on May 3, 1951, to Ernest and Bernita (Eustice) Miller. He graduated from Verona High School in 1969 and attended Madison Area Technical College.
As a joint venture, he founded the social group DIOB Danger Is Our Business. He worked at Premier Co-op for a number of years and then for a short time at Burkart-Heisdorf Insurance.
Miller felt honoured and forever grateful to be a two-time kidney transplant recipient. He was extremely appreciative of his sisters for their organ donations and to everyone who supported him throughout his health issues, allowing him to enjoy a longer, high-quality life.
In retirement, he continued to pursue his passion for training and racing Standardbreds. His lifelong passion was harness racing, and he will be remembered for his positive attitude, great sense of humour, and generosity.
Miller and Heidi Garfoot dated for many years and married on October 26, 2001, in San Diego, Calif.
His motto in life was All my stories may not be true, but they were all good stories. He always managed to light up a room with his witty personality, the sparkle in his eye, and a smile on his face. He never once missed an opportunity to tell a great story.
Miller is survived by his wife, Heidi; daughter, Amanda M. Lee; siblings, Cheri Timpel, Sandi (Tom) Robertson, Peg (Bob) Koch, Barb (Bob) McGinnis, Joanne (Tom) Eveland, Bruce (Karen) and Donna (Ray) Hanna; nieces, nephews, in-laws, other relatives, and all friends whom he considered part of his family. He was preceded in death by his parents; and a brother-in-law, Ken Timpel.
A day of celebration of his life will begin at 10 a.m. on Sunday (Aug. 21) with a final lap around the track at Iowa County Fairgrounds grandstand (weather permitting). Visitation will be from 11 a.m. 2 p.m. on Sunday at Quality Inn, 1345 Business Park Road, Mineral Point, Wis. A tribute service and blanket ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Quality Inn. A luncheon will follow at Quality Inn. Private burial will be at Mifflin Cemetery. The Ellestad Camacho Funeral Home, 500 N. 8th St., Mt. Horeb, Wis., is serving the family.
The family would like to thank Mr. Millers support system including family, friends, doctors and nurses, UW Transplant Unit, and Mt. Horeb EMS.
Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Ernest Miller Jr.
(USTA)
A record number of 180 horses have entered the weekend race card for the Ladbrokes Vincent Delaney Memorial Weekend at Portmarnock Raceway just outside of Dublin.
My brother James and I cannot believe how everyone wants to race this weekend, said Derek Delaney, head of the Vincent Delaney Memorial Committee. For the fourth straight year we keep growing and growing.
A total of 188 horses have been entered for the Saturday-Sunday two-day meet. That is up more than 11 per cent over the prior year.
The big race of the weekend is the 5th annual Ladbrokes Vincent Delaney Memorial (VDM) for two-year-old pacers. This is first year that there are both a colt and filly division with 14 youngsters entered in both events.
The VDM is a rugged event that requires horses to compete in elimination divisions on Saturday and then come back again Sunday to race in the finals. The inaugural filly division is being sponsored by Diamond Creek Farm.
Vincent Delaney was Derek and James' younger brother who tragically died in 2011 at the age of 27. The brothers developed the memorial race series in his honour and it has since grown to become the richest stakes event and weekend in the history of harness racing in Ireland the UK.
Additional major stakes events over the weekend include the Oakwood Stud Derby for three-year-olds at 1.5 miles, the Paul Murtagh, Sr. Memorial for four-year-olds, the RocknRoll Heaven/Pet Rock Irish-American FFA Pace, the Lee Edwards/PJI Engineering Junior FFA Pace and the Elvin-Delaney French FFA Trot.
There is a gala kickoff dinner Friday evening at the Airport Hilton Hotel that is already sold out and Sundays VIP Marquee Tent is also sold out with over 300 to attend.
Every year the VDM Committee selects a local charity to benefit from the VDM Weekend, especially at the Friday night gala dinner auctions. This years charity is Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) of Dublin, Ireland.
It is just grand how all of this has come together, Derek Delaney said. And this year we have so many great horsemen and women coming over for Vincents weekend. Dexter Dunn from New Zealand, Aaron Merriman from the USA, Diamond Creek Farms' Adam Bowden, Joe Bellino and his entire crew, Roger Huston, Heather Vitale, Heather Wilder, Murray Brown, John McDermott, Alan Galloway, Sydney Weaver, Joann Looney-King, Susan Looney and a huge group from Australia on tour. What a great time we will show them all!
The guests begin their VIP weekend with carriage ride tours of downtown Dublin plus lunch at the world famous Temple Bar, a bus trip to Oakwood Stud training and breeding facility, the gala kick-off dinner Friday and then the two big VDM race days Saturday and Sunday.
(with files from the Vincent Delaney Memorial)
It's Election season and our editor's mailbox is overflowing. Who do your neighbors support? Read about it here.
Bonneville Power Administration electric rates are expected to increase again in 2018, the chief of the federal power marketing agency said Tuesday. That likely will lead to new rate increases at the Cowlitz PUD.
Elliot Mainzer, BPA administrator, told PUD commissioners from Cowlitz and Lewis counties that declining natural gas prices and rising fish and wildlife conservation costs are putting pressure on the agency to raise its wholesale rates. Bonneville provides 90 percent of Cowlitz PUDs power needs, so the agencys rate increases trickle down to PUD customers.
Mainzer said BPAs base rates could increase by 3 to 4 percent in the 2018-2019 rate setting cycle. Transmission rates could increase by at least 4 percent and as much as 9 percent in a worst case scenario if gas prices continue to tank, he said.
Plummeting natural gas prices have pulled down the energy market. That has decreased the revenue BPA normally earns from selling surplus hydropower from the Columbia River dams. Mainzer said the agencys revenue from surplus power sales is $100 million lower this year than originally expected.
Fish and wildlife management also continues to be a big cost driver, totaling about $300 million a year. Commissioner Dena Diamond-Ott pushed Mainzer to reexamine those costs, noting that for every dollar paid by a Cowlitz PUD ratepayer, about 30 cents goes towards fish and wildlife management.
Were for the environment, were as green as everyone else, but we just want to make sure were getting the benefit, she said.
The agency had set the a goal of capping costs for fish and wildlife after 2019. However, that plan is in jeopardy after a recent federal court ruling, Mainzer said.
A federal judge in May struck down Bonnevilles plan for salmon protection on the Columbia River, which was created in conjunction with four other federal agencies. The judge found the plan violates the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. He ordered the agencies to develop a new plan for managing salmon on the river by next spring.
Beyond fish and wildlife, BPA is continuing to look at efficiency measures and negotiate with its clients about controlling power costs, Mainzer said.
Contracts with some of BPAs customers, including Cowlitz PUD, wont expire until 2028. However, utilities and customers are already looking ahead.
Higher electricity costs from BPA could push large industrial clients like Weyerhaeuser Co. and KapStone Paper and Packaging Corp. to seek third-party power sources, Diamond-Ott said.
We believe these customers will very aggressively seek third power suppliers ... these parties are considering these options, Diamond-Ott said.
Mainzer said he hopes to continue working with Cowlitz PUD on cost-saving measures.
Ive heard you guys loud and clear. I understand the economic challenges that youre facing in your communities, Mainzer said. We are in a period of increased costs, low commodity markets .. well work until our last breath to try to keep these costs as manageable as possible.
This weekend, a burglar made off with a safe full of guns, thousands in cash and jewelry from a West Longview home, according to police records.
The homes residents told police the burglary occurred between Friday and Sunday at their home along 46th Avenue.
The items listed stolen were: a 1958 shotgun, an AK47 Polish Under Folder, a Remington Model 700 rifle, a Mosin-Nagant rifle, two social security cards, four credit cards, a gun safe with six guns and the guns paperwork inside, a passport, six bottles of mens cologne valued at $500, dark green Plano tackle box, $5,700 cash, mens gold wedding ring with five or six diamonds in a V shape, two Leatherman-style tools, a mens Nikon watch and a CRKT Bear Claw folding knife.
The gun safe was a black Stack-On 12-gun safe with a yellow Jiu Jitsu sticker, Mill Town Beard Co. sticker and Grunt Style sticker on it.
The burglar cut a hole in the living room window screen and forced the window open, according to police records.
A Cowlitz 2 firefighter has found another way to serve his community.
Brad Yoder, a Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue Firefighter/EMT, will donate his right kidney to Dana Clayton, a local woman who is lifelong friends with Yoders wife, Laura, according to a Cowlitz 2 press release.
The surgery will take place Monday at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland.
Clayton suffers from Polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder characterized by the growth of numerous cysts in the kidneys. Yoders kidney is an exact match.
According to the press release, PKD cysts can greatly enlarge the kidneys and replace their normal structure, which can result in kidney disease. Kidney function declines over time and can lead to kidney failure. Clayton is in the end stages of the disease, according to the press release.
Most candidates go through a four to six-month testing process before finding a match, Yoder said, according to the press release. Ours took only six weeks; it was just meant to be. For me, this is the ultimate in servanthood. Im donating so that she can live, period.
In order for Yoder to take enough time off from work to undergo and recover from the operation, multiple employees donated sick time to him.
My brothers and sisters from Local 3828 and all the employees at Cowlitz 2 have been super supportive, he said. This brotherhood and department breathes and selflessly displays servanthood. ... I am blessed to be a part of this organization.
Yoder and his two brothers grew up in Kalona, Iowa. After high school, Yoder enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and achieved the rank of Lance Corporal. He later moved to Washington and began riding bulls in rodeo circuits. In 2001 he signed up to serve as a volunteer firefighter for Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue and fought wildland fires working for the U.S. Forest Service.
Cowlitz 2 hired Yoder full time in 2007. In addition to responding to emergencies, Yoder has instructed the agencys high school cadet program for 10 years. He and his students also created a memorial, featuring an actual piece of steel from the World Trade Center, honoring those lost in terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Amazon Great Indian Sale started on 8th August and will go live until 10th August 11.59 pm. After finishing the first-day sale benchmarking of record sale of 100K units, the auction is on its second day and going viral with each passing moment.
On the second day of the auction, Amazon has revived itself with best-ever deals on hundreds of brands, products, and categories and the users will get 72 hour high rebates on all categories available on the website of Amazon India.
However, this biggest-ever auction is more beneficial for prime members who have the membership of newly launched Amazon Prime as they have the permission to explore best deals before 30 minutes of the non-prime users.
On the first day, the best-seller products were JBL Go speaker, Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, Samsung Galaxy On7 Pro, Moto G4 plus, etc. and the second day has comprised greater deals in comparison to the initiate day.
What to pick on Second day?
Xiaomi Mi 5 (Black) which costs Rs. 22, 999 is available at Rs, 2000 less than the actual price. However, this offer is only limited to black color variants. Similarly, JBL Go Speakers are available only at Rs.1, 699 instead of Rs. 3,199.
D-Link Dir-600M Broadband Wireless Router is available at Rs. 749 which is 72% less than the real price. Apple MacBook Pro (Core i5/4GB/500GB), the lavishing gadget from Apple is available at 70% off. The device is offered on Amazon only at Rs. 52,799, against its market price Rs 78,900.
Among other special offers, the users will get Cool Pad Note 3 at a whopping discount of Rs. 1500. The phone is available for Rs 7,999 instead of Rs. 9,499. Similarly, in TV section, Sanyos 43 inch TV is available at Rs 24,990, and 49 inches variant is available at Rs 34,990 only which are 25% less than the MRP.
tech2 News Staff
Sony is holding a PlayStation Meeting event next month. The event is scheduled for 7 September in New York and its very likely that well see a PlayStation Neo there.
Its been reported that journalists are being invited to an event at the PlayStation Theatre in New York for a press-only meeting. Its been dubbed the PlayStation Meeting and its been set up to reportedly discuss the PlayStation business.
With PlayStation (PS) VR just around the corner and Sony confirming the existence of the PS Neo, its expected that the PS Neo will make an appearance there.
The only confirmed details of the PS Neo that we know are that it will support 4K gaming, that it will sell alongside the PS4 and that it will be more expensive than the PS4. All games developed for the PS platform will have to be developed for the PS4 as well, not just the Neo.
When it comes to rumours, they hint at a PS Neo with an 8-core CPU clocked at 2.1GHz and 4.14TFLOPS of power on tap. The CPU is expected to be based on AMDs updated 14nm manufacturing process, making for a processor that is faster, cheaper and quieter than the original.
Microsoft has made similar promises for their upcoming console, the Project Scorpio. Specs for that console are also not clear, but Polygons sources apparently tell them that the Scorpio will be four times as powerful as the Xbox One.
tech2 News Staff
US President Barack Obama will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the sidelines of the G20 summit in China between September 4 and 5. This is expected to be the last time that Obama will be meeting Modi in the official capacity as the President of the United States. Both sides are expected to sign the US-India Cyber Relationship Framework during this meeting. Cyberspace is being considered a domain on par with land, maritime, air and space.
The framework is being implemented to incorporate and promote best practices, for an open and secure cyberspace in order to promote innovation and economic growth. Promotion of free flow of information is on the agenda. A plan for transparent governance that is accountable to its citizens is being chalked out for better co-operation between the government, the citizens and the private sector.
The signing of the framework will better equip law enforcement agencies in both countries to combat cybercrime. There will be exchange of technologies and best practices to combat cyber threats and promoting cyber-security. The framework also mandates the inclusion of the private sector, when it comes to law enforcement. Information on cybersecurity threats will be shared in real time, and the systems for real-time information sharing will also be developed.
There will be increased co-operation on cybersecurity research, and the development of cybersecurity products. There are expected to be joint training programs for law enforcement agencies. There will be workshops for digital forensics. The laws of both countries will be taken into consideration for these programs.
Finally, the US is expected to contribute to the growth of critical infrastructure building in India.
Anirudh Regidi
Do you remember Tay, Microsofts Twitter Bot that went from innocent teenager to racist monstrosity in just over 16 hours? Well, Microsofts come up with another bot now and this ones called Project Murphy.
Unlike Tay, Murphy isnt really a chatbot as such. As Microsoft puts it, Murphy is a what if bot. It might sound a bit confusing, but just try out the bot for yourself and youll understand what were talking about.
You can ask Murphy questions like What if Spock was a Klingon? or What if Elon Musk was Theon Greyjoy? and the like.
The results are very hit-and-miss, but youll find some real gems as well. Such as
The bots ability to mix and match images in seconds is impressive, but its also not very intelligent. Questions like What if Hugh Jackman was Wolverine? results in horrific images like this one.
On the other hand, Murphy seems to have a particular affinity for Donald Trump, producing some remarkable results at times.
Microsoft says that Project Murphy is based on the Cortana Intelligence Suite, which also relies on the Bing search engine and the Microsoft Bot Framework.
As bots evolve to become the next generation of applications, we're also thinking about our principles in bringing machine learning and intelligence together with human interaction. Our intention is to make sure we augment human ability with that of machines, that these new apps are trustworthy and that they're inclusive and respectful so they can be used by everyone. We're still learning, and so is our new bot Murphy, says Microsoft.
Project Murphy is a great way to waste a few minutes and the results can be hilarious. Its honestly more fun than Tay ever was.
hidden
A private firm co-founded by an Indian-American and licensed to launch a spacecraft and land on the moon plans to take human remains to the Earth's satellite at $3 million per kilogram, according to a media report. Moon Express, co-founded by Naveen Jain, was last week granted a license by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to launch a spacecraft and land on moon in 2017, becoming the first private company to get such approval. The breakthrough US policy decision provides authorisation to the company for a maiden flight of its robotic spacecraft onto the Moon's surface, the company had said.
The New York Post reported that Moon Express's plans for commercial cargo include taking human ashes to the moon. Jain told the New York Post that the delivery of one's ashes for lunar interment would be based on a "payload" price of $3 million per kilo. "Since the cremated remains of adults generally weigh between 4 and 6 pounds, the indicated price range is $5.4 million to $8.1 million," the Post said, adding that the demand for such a service is high.
"We already have a long list," it quoted Jain as saying. There have been no private space missions so far beyond Earth's orbit and only state agencies have performed outer space missions. "The sky is not the limit for Moon Express, it is the launchpad. Space travel is our only path forward to ensure our survival and create a limitless future for our children," Jain had said following the announcement by FAA.
"In the immediate future, we envision bringing precious resources, metals, and moon rocks back to earth," he had said. The company was co-founded in 2010 by space visionary, Bob Richards, Jain and serial entrepreneur and artificial intelligence and space technology guru, Barney Pell, with the common vision to be at the forefront of commercial space exploration and innovation.
PTI
hidden
The idea of taking apart a rat's heart and transforming it into a tissue-engineered stingray first came to Kevin Kit Parker during a trip to the New England Aquarium with his daughter. Four years later, a robotic ray that swims toward light has made the cover of Science Magazine and is pushing the limits of what's possible in the design of machines powered by living cells. A research team based at Harvard University's Disease Biophysics Group, which Parker directs, created the translucent, penny-sized ray with a gold skeleton and silicone fins layered with the heart muscle cells of a rat.
It's remote-controlled, guided by a blinking blue flashlight. Each burst of blue sets off a cascade of signals through the cells, which have been genetically engineered to respond to light. The contraction of the tissue creates a downward motion on the ray's body. When the tissue relaxes, the gold skeleton recoils - moving the fin upward again in an undulating cycle that mimics the graceful swimming of a real ray or skate.
Parker, whose research includes cardiac cell biology, launched the project as a method for learning more about the mysteries of the human heart and a step toward the far-off goal of building an artificial one. But the interdisciplinary project is also sparking interest in other fields, from marine biology to robotics. Parker is not a roboticist. But as an Army veteran who did two tours in Afghanistan, he welcomes any part his stingrays could play in advancing the development of machines able to perform dangerous jobs.
"Bio-hybrid machines - things with synthetic parts and living materials - they're going to happen," Parker said. "I've spent time getting shot at and seen people getting shot. If I could build a cyborg so my buddy doesn't have to crawl into that ditch to look for an IED, I'd do that in a heartbeat." When he first asked postdoctoral researcher Sung-Jin Park to help him create the stingray four years ago, the bench scientist was doubtful.
"I had this whole idea of a laser-guided, tissue-engineered stingray made out of rat," Parker said. "He looked at me like a hog staring at a wristwatch. He was like, 'Have I trusted my career to this yahoo'? I think he thought I was unglued." Indeed, the project to build the ray was more difficult and expensive - close to $1 million, according to Parker - than either of them imagined. A mechanical engineer by training, Park had to delve into molecular and cell biology. The team pulled experts from diverse fields, including an ichthyologist - someone who studies fish - to understand and help replicate a ray's muscle structure and biomechanics. Their work was published in Science last month.
Biologically-inspired robots aren't new. A precursor to the stingray was a tissue-engineered jellyfish Parker helped create in 2012, also with the aim of understanding the muscular pumping of a heart. But one of the robotic stingray's most intriguing contributions is the way it shows a glimpse of autonomy, said John Long, a professor of biology and cognitive science who directs Vassar College's Interdisciplinary Robotics Research Laboratory.
"By putting in the light control they have a way of controlling the cell without a nervous system," said Long, who was not involved in the stingray research. "We used to control puppets with strings. Now we can do it with light." Long says the creation could spark new research into autonomous, part-living machines. He envisions a time when a packet of micro-rays could be unleashed into a busted sewage pipe with simple sensors to measure acidity.
The stingrays in Harvard's lab - Park and his colleagues built more than 200 of the tiny creatures during years of research - won't be going into any pipe or ocean. They swim in a pool of warm liquid solution filled with sugar and salt. The cells couldn't survive outside of a dish and weren't designed to, though Long said it would be possible to give a similar creature a skin that wraps up the solution and creates a kind of circulatory system. Battery power is a big challenge for robots, especially for tiny, lightweight machines, Long said, but creating a living power system of glucose-fed tissue could extend a robot's mission time.
Associated Press
hidden
The base price and the quantum of airwaves on offer make the next round of spectrum auctions the largest ever. But the high reserve price, notably for the 700 MHz band, and time still for the expiry of existing holdings could make the response muted, analysts warn. The views of six top brokerages and consultancies is that service providers will cherry-pick the bands they need, putting a question mark over how much of the 2,354.55 MHz on offer across seven bands will be sought and what quantum of the $84 billion reserve price be realised.
"Since no spectrum is up for renewal for any of Bharti, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, we do not expect aggressive bidding," said a Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research said in its report, predicting no major surprises. "The upcoming auction is crucial for Idea and Vodafone in our view, as they still have large amount of 3G and 4G gaps and will look to fill those. Bharti and (Reliance) Jio have very few circles without 3G and 4G, and will try to bolster their data spectrum holding," it said.
The government has put on block 2,354.55 MHz of airwaves for sale in seven bands -- 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz and 2,500 MHz -- with a reserve price of $84 billion -- against 470.75 MHz in the previous round that saw bids worth $17 billion.
"The September 2016 auction will be the first in the past three years without material 'renewal' spectrum on offer -- not a 'gun on the head' auction for most operators, in our view," Kotak Institutional Equities said. "To this end, this auction is a critical test of the operators' rationality; an auction where operators need to guard against getting swayed by competitive spirits and bid with long-term interests in mind; no self-goal, in other words," the brokerage added.
"In our view, 1,800 MHz and 2,100 MHz spectrum bands will see most participation from telcos," added the Goldman Sachs report, a view shared in the majority of six reports analysed by IANS. "We believe the 1,800 MHz would see demand from Airtel, Idea, Vodafone and Jio; 2,100 MHz from Airtel, Idea, and Vodafone; and 800 MHz from Jio and Reliance Communications. We do not expect the 700 MHz auction to be a success," said Morgan Stanley.
"The reserve price of the 700 MHz band is at 4x (four times higher than) the reserve price of 1,800 MHz. Thus, if an operator intends to bid for one block (5 MHz) of spectrum pan-India, it would need to spend Rs 574 billion or $8.5 billion." In the Delhi circle, the reserve price for 700 MHz is pegged at Rs 1,595 crore per MHz -- which is the highest -- and for pan-India, it is Rs 11,485 per MHz.
"We expect Vodafone and Idea to add more spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band to enhance their 4G spectrum holdings," Edelweiss said, otherwise expecting the response to be lukewarm in thr 700 MHz band on account of high reserve price for 700 MHz band. The brokerage also expected some shakeout in the industry once Jio announces a full commercial launch. "We remain cautious on the sector due to sustained high capex and the anticipation of increased competitive intensity with the launch of Reliance Jio."
Bank of America Merrill Lynch also cautioned about the 700 MHz pickup, citing reasons like high pricing, relatively immature handset and equipment eco-system and theb already available 4G spectrum in other bands like 1,800 Mhz and 2,300 MHz. The government said operators will have the choice of both upfront payments and instalment options. The service providers who win airwaves below 1 GHz bandwidth will have to pay 25 per cent upfront, and those winning above that the upfront payment will be 50 per cent.
"There are no surprises in the Notice Inviting Application apart from the 50 per cent upfront payment condition for spectrum above 1GHz. This will further burden the balance sheets of companies which are looking to acquire spectrum, especially in the 1,800 MHz band," Edelweiss said. Deutsche Bank Market Research cautioned that increased realism on the competitive landscape will reduce the number of bidders. "We estimate total proceeds at around Rs 70 to Rs 120 billion. Furthermore, the change in revenue-share framework for spectrum payments benefits Bharti and Jio."
Bank of America Merrill Lynch also commented on the proposed move by the watchdog to scrap charges paid to carriers on whose networks calls are received. "Such a move in our view, will impact Bharti and Idea as they are net interconnect gainers and positively benefit smaller telcos and new entrant Jio."
IANS
Disclaimer: Jio is owned by Reliance Industries which also owns Network18, the publisher of Firstpost.com and Tech2
tech2 News Staff
Kochi's Startup Village had launched its first digital incubator for students known as SV.CO, which has now partnered with Facebook to offer a broader exposure to students. Facebook will give the budding entrepreneurs access to its developer teams. The SV.CO Startup programme will ensure a six-day trip to Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, California. At the headquarters, these students will be able to present their ideas to the Facebook team and get feedback. The aim is to ensure students learn how technology companies work across the world and also take lessons on building successful startups.
This piece of news comes on the heels of reports around how Facebook has begun testing Wi-Fi hotspots in India. It was just a few months ago that the startup community was irked with the social giant for pushing its Free Basics into India and taking away the fair play chances that startups have to compete in the fierce tech industry. In fact, Facebook that started at the Harvard dorm room should have known it better.
Looks like, it is now trying to make all the wrongs right by helping with infrastructure for Internet, Wi-Fi hotspots and now working with students. SV.CO is the first to follow the PPP model and its six months program will be conducted for up to 50 engineering students startups from across India. Each one of these startups will have 2-3 students.
The Kochi Startup Village had also disclosed its plans to support 10,000 campus startup teams across India in the next five years as part of its second phase. For this, it plans to align with the PMs Startup India programme. "In Phase I, we succeeded in creating a seed entrepreneurial ecosystem in Kerala. In the next five years, we plan to support 10,000 campus startup teams across the country, completely digitise the incubation process and launch a new business model, said startup village chairman Sanjay Vijayakumar had said.
Lately, Facebook has been finding unique ways of working with open source and startup communities. Remember the Facebook Incubator. It is believed to be the company's new way for releasing open source projects and the first project under it being Create React App that helps React developers get started with their new projects. "The create-react-app repo already has over 6,000 stars and 300 forks, so Incubator is off to a good start," points out TheNextWeb.
Facebook has been taking some keen interest in Indian startups. Remember Tookitaki, and Indian startup and its first Facebook Marketing Partner from the country. It was a part of Facebook's Marketing Partners Program. Meanwhile, SV.CO is believed to be looking for more similar collaborations to build an optimum startup ecosystem in India. Now, it is to be seen if Google and Apple will follow suit.
The activists want to bring justice to a five-year-old American girl who was raped on June 2 by a group of refugee children as a 14-year-old refugee videotaped the horrible incident. Idaho activist Julie Ruf tells Breitbart News that statements made by Olson to protect the refugee community in the wake of rapes indicate she is unfit for the job of protecting the Constitution.
Julie Ruf has been working with the victims family since the rapes happened, trying to help get them both victim services and fair treatment by local authorities. The fight is an uphill climb for Ruf and other activists, as both local authorities and media members began attacking the group for expressing concerns about the dangers of the recent influx of Muslim refugees into the area.
A number of local businesses in the food processing industry use the refugee population as a source of cheap labor, and also receive financial incentives from both the state and federal government for employing refugees instead of Americans.
The Twin Falls activist expressed concerns about the brutal rape of the mentally challenged five-year-old, which included oral and anal penetration as well as the victim being urinated on by at least two of the boys. One concern of the local activists were recent headlines around the world about videotaped sexual assault involving Muslim refugees, such as the New Years Eve attack in Cologne, Germany.
U.S. Attorney Olson made a statement that appeared to threaten local activists with legal action for expressing their concern if that speech contain false information.
It's stunning how many leftists there are in Twin Falls, Idaho, who're going out of their way to cover up for the Muslim children who raped a 5-year-old girl in the city:Read the rest, because it's already horrific enough that the attorney would have the sick gall to do that. The press coverage in the area is also horrific , and all reporters who called the girl's friends "racists" should be ostracized.Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton have both been asked to visit the area , but with Hilary's record , I think it's better that just Donald pay a visit. This is very disturbing that practically a whole town governing system is corrupt enough to cover for sexual abuse, all because of money.
Labels: anti-americanism, dhimmitude, islam, misogyny, msm foulness, political corruption, terrorism, United States
the life I lead is the life I read... the life I led was the life I read...
About Me Common Ills We do not open attachments. Stop e-mailing them. Threats and abusive e-mail are not covered by any privacy rule. This isn't to the reporters at a certain paper (keep 'em coming, they are funny). This is for the likes of failed comics who think they can threaten via e-mails and then whine, "E-mails are supposed to be private." E-mail threats will be turned over to the FBI and they will be noted here with the names and anything I feel like quoting. This also applies to anyone writing to complain about a friend of mine. That's not why the public account exists. View my complete profile
Blog Archive
Brazil Senate votes to hold Dilma Rousseff impeachment trial
Suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff attends a news conference with foreign media in Brasilia, Brazil.
AFP, Brasilia :Brazil's Senate early Wednesday voted to hold an impeachment trial for the nation's suspended president Dilma Rousseff, a process that could see her permanently removed from office.The vote in favor of trying Rousseff, who was suspended from the presidency in May, was 59 in favor, 21 against.The Senate suspended Rousseff, the South American nation's first female president, on May 12 over accusations of illegal accounting practices and fiddling the budget to mask a slumping economy.The timing of the impeachment vote could hardly be more awkward for Brazil, which was meant to be showcasing its burgeoning economic clout and political stability with South America's first Olympics.Rousseff, 68, has likened the impeachment drive to a putsch by her political enemies.The impeachment trial is set to open around August 25 -- four days after the Olympics closing ceremony -- and is expected to last five days, concluding with a judgment vote.The impeachment of Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla and the first woman to lead Brazil, has paralyzed Brazilian politics since the start of the year, deepening a crisis set off by a massive kickbacks and bribery scandal at state-led oil company Petrobras.The outcome of the vote is a foregone conclusion because opponents of Rousseff, who was suspended in May, need only a simple majority in the 81-seat Senate to put her on a trial.A final verdict expected at the end of the month will require two thirds of the votes. Media surveys of the Senate point to defeat for Rousseff and the end of 13 years of her Workers Party rule.Meanwhile, the Senate suspended Rousseff, the South American nation's first female president, on May 12 over accusations of illegal accounting practices and fiddling the budget to mask a slumping economy.Rousseff, 68, has likened the impeachment drive to a putsch by her political enemies.The impeachment trial is set to open around August 25 -- four days after the Olympics closing ceremony -- and is expected to last five days, concluding with a judgment vote.
Afghan officials raise alarm as Taliban gain in Helmand province
An Afghan policeman searches commuters at a checkpoint in Helmand province on Tuesday.
Reuters, Lashkar Gah :The Taliban are tightening their noose around the capital of disputed Helmand province in southern Afghanistan which has seen sustained fighting, residents and local officials say.Security officials and local leaders offered differing assessments of the risk of the city of Lashkar Gah falling, with military commanders asserting that the situation has stabilized.But officials in the besieged city are increasingly pessimistic."If we don't receive support from the central government, the province will collapse soon," said provincial council chief Karim Atal.The Taliban are seeking to make Lashkar Gah the second provincial capital they have captured since their extremist Islamic rule was toppled in a U.S.-led campaign in 2001. The insurgents briefly held the northern city of Kunduz last October before being driven out by U.S.-backed Afghan troops.Atal said Afghan security forces in the province, which have undergone major reorganization this year, are capable but he said there was a lack of attention from leaders in Kabul.As part of its national strategic plan, much of the Afghan government's focus in the past month has been on a campaign against Islamic State militants in eastern Afghanistan."If the government does not support Helmand, we will call on our people to grab weapons and fight against the Taliban," Atal said.Lashkar Gah continues to be flooded with civilians fleeing the fighting that has nearly surrounded the city. The Taliban have seized some areas only a few km from the city center, said Omar Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor.A major highway between Lashkar Gah and Kandahar has been closed on and off for days by Taliban checkpoints and roadside bombs, he said.Many in the city point to U.S. air strikes as a decisive factor in preventing the Taliban from overrunning the whole province. In the past two weeks U.S. warplanes have conducted around 25 air strikes in the province, while hundreds of coalition advisers try to bolster Afghan troops.Fighting has consumed much of Nawa-i-Barakzayi district immediately to the south of Lashkar Gah, district police chief Ahmad Shah Salem said."Contact has been lost with police in some places," he said. "The Taliban have conquered some of our checkpoints. So far we haven't received reinforcements, as well as food and ammunition. If we do not receive reinforcement soon, the district will collapse."Officials from the Defense and Interior Ministry visited Lashkar Gah on Tuesday. Provincial police chief Brigadier General Aqa Noor Kentoz said reinforcements were scheduled to arrive soon.
Dr. H.B.M. Iqbal, Chairman of Premier Bank Limited is seen handing over a Cheque of Tk 7.5 million to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as a donation to the PM\'s relief fund at a function at Ganobhaban Tuesday.
Both war and climate intensifying migrant issues
Roberto Savio :
The media are increasingly reporting events in a basic manner, and have by and large abandoned the process of deep analysis. Now is the moment to focus our attention on terrorism. This topic be will remain a pressing issue for quite some time. We now know that terrorism has many causes, which can be rooted in religion to feelings of social exclusion and from a desire for glory to the actions of a damaged psyche.
There is no way to fight against the unpredictable, and in mentally unstable minds emulation is an important factor. The danger is that we will probably fall into the ISIS trap, and this kaleidoscope of confusion could subsequently result in a war of religion, which will further radicalize European Muslims. In fact, until now, no act of terror has come from immigrants (except a mentally disturbed afghan). Yet, still, it is important to take into account that for every European killed, there are over 120 Arabs, who die because of ISIS.
Since the United Nations Conference on Climate Change concluded last December, climate topics have almost disappeared in media content, and in public debates. Everybody is mesmerized by the tide of refugees, and how they are changing the political landscape of Europe. The rise of nationalism; populism and xenophobia calls to mind the fatal decade of the thirties.
We cannot ignore the lasting impacts climate change and natural disasters leave on affected populations. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council," every second a person is displaced by disasters. In 2015 alone, more than 19.2 million people fled disaster in 113 Countries. In fact, disasters displace three to ten times more people from conflict and war worldwide. The International Organization for Migration forecasts 200 million environmental migrants by 2050, moving either within their countries or across borders, on a permanent or temporary basis. Many of them predicted to populate coastal areas. If the world temperature rises to 3.1 degrees, which is presently the final agreement of the Paris conference, the mean sea level would increase by 0.73 meters, with large areas made susceptible to flooding.
The New York Times carried a story on the demise of Lake Poopo, in Bolivia, which was 3.000 square kilometres, and provided livelihoods to over 10.000 villagers. Now only 636 remain, while the others havegone to seek labour in coal mines 200 miles away, or to the nearest city, La Paz. A millenarian culture has been lost. Lake Poopo is one of the several lakes worldwide that are disappearing, because of human causes, writes the NYT. California's Mono Lake and the Salton Sea have dramatically shrunk because of water diversion. Rising temperatures jeopardize lakes in Canada and Mongolia.
Let us recall that in Paris all countries of the world agreed to fight climate change. However, to be able to carry as many countries as possible on board, the Preparatory Conference of Lima, December 2014, agreed to implement a target system. Every country is to decide its objectives and will be responsible for ensuring their individual implementation. Let us just stop to think what would happen if every citizen was granted full monetary responsibility and were left to decide how much taxes they should pay.
The result is that the sum of the national targets adopted at Paris indicates a rise in the world's temperature by 3.4 centigrades. In fact, the original goal was to not exceed 2 degrees, and this is the basis for the final declaration. At the same time, scientists have been saying that if we go beyond 1.5 degrees, the planet will suffer immensely. They consider the target of 2 centigrades a political gimmick, and of course the present t level of agreement of 3.4 centigrades a threat to the survival of humanity.
At Paris, it was also agreed that controls on the implementation of the agreement would start only in 2020: therefore we cannot predict the outcomes of the agreement. From different reports, we are fully aware that nobody is in a rush to get this done. In spite of this, NASA, the respected American Space Agency has recently published a worrying report: for three consecutive years the world's temperatures have been the hottest on record since 1880. This year, 2016, will be even hotter than 2015 and 2014. We are now at an increase of 1.3 centigrades over 1880. Gavin Schmidt, the director of NASA 's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, declared: "I certainly, would not say that we have gotten to that higher Paris number and we are going to stay there, But I think it's fair to say that we are dancing with that lower target".
This brings the problem of climate refugee much closer to us than we realize. The additional problem being that in legal terms, the category of climate refugee does not exist. The Human Rights Convention protects only those who escape war and violence, not climate change. Yet, Europe and the The United States are entering in a serious political crisis, because of a lack of policy on the tide of refugee status. In the political agenda, there is not a word about climate refugees, which exceed the number of political refugees by far. It is widely agreed, that a long and severe drought in Syria made many escape from their villages to towns, and the deplorable conditions fuelled the protests against the government. The consequent repression, in many ways, triggered the civil war which has destroyed the A country, killed over 400.000 civilians, created an exodus of 4.7 million citizens, of whom over a million come to find refuge in Europe. An influx of displaced Syrians who are being used by populists like Marine Le Pen and Nigel Farage to win elections. Donald Trump has a lead of 44 to 30 percent, according to a CNN The poll, over the issue of order and security, because of his strong talks about immigrants and refugees.
A UN Summit for refugees and migrants will be held in September in New York. This would be the ideal moment to shape a global policy surrounding refugees, also incorporating the category of climate refugees. We are now on the brink of the American Elections. Let us hope this moment in history will not pass us by as a missed opportunity to lessen the plight of climate refugees.
IPS
Illegal activities so easy
THE media on Tuesday reported that the Rapid Action Battalion arrested 10, nine foreigners and one of their local agents alongwith huge amount of fake dollar notes, known as 'black dollar' and fake currency making materials in the capital on Sunday night. The nine arrestee foreigners are citizens of some African countries 7 from Cameroon and 2 from Congo. They are allegedly involved in producing fake currencies and cheating Bangladeshis for quite a long time. The Commanding Officer of RAB-2 said in a press briefing that the detained gang used to trap people to sell fake dollars or other hard currencies including local currency. Five of the nine foreigners could not show their passports and the remaining four however, had their passports with visas expired. RAB suspects that the group is connected with an international gang producing fake currencies. Besides, the gang is also believed to be involved in drug trading.Illegal business of selling fake currencies is not new in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi people often become worst sufferers of it. It is believed that fake Bangladeshi currency notes are also produced in home and at times such fake notes come from across the border. Surprisingly, such fake notes are also channelled though the banking window. Many a times before, some people were also arrested on charges of producing fake currencies and processing currency forging materials and machines. But subsequently most of them got bail from court and their whereabouts were not monitored properly. Things become more complicated with the involvement of foreign gangs in this illegal but lofty business. In December in 2015, RAB arrested six people including a Pakistani citizen from Dhaka on charge of making fake foreign currencies having involvement in human trafficking. In November 2014, the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested 31 foreigners of 10 African countries for staying here illegally. Police found that many of them were involved in forged currency business. But they were not handed down appropriate punishment through the court of law.There is reason to believe that these illegal activities are continuing in Bangladesh because of loose monitoring by the law enforcers and the Central Bank. Weak laws or lack of enforcement of existing laws are rather helping growth of such quick profiting business.
Spl rickshaws, buses for diplomatic zone
New buses, rickshaws were launched for diplomatic zones of Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara and Niketon areas in the wake of heightened security after recent terror attacks. This photo was taken on Wednesday.
Staff Reporter :In accordance with government's plan, special bus and rickshaw services have been introduced at Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara and Niketon areas in the city's Diplomatic Zone keeping adjustment with the heightened security following July 1 terror attack. LGRD Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain inaugurated the circular bus and rickshaw services on Wednesday. In this regard, a total of 20 Air-Conditioned [AC] buses and 500 special rickshaws will hit the roads of city's Diplomatic enclave. The new bus service named 'Dhaka Chaka' was inaugurated at around 12:15pm at a programme in Gulshan-1 along with the special rickshaw service. Dhaka North City Corporation [DNCC] Mayor Annisul Haque presided over the function.Officials said, the bus service will be plied by private operators introduced under the coordination of DNCC in assistance of four local communities of Gulshan, Baridhara, Banani and Niketan. At the same time, adequate numbers of security staff have been deployed in the area, who would patrol round-the-clock to oversee the new transporting system, they said.Each AC bus has 35 seats. The buses will follow two routes-- one from Police Plaza to Gulshan-2 and another from Kakoli Crossing to Nutan Bazar. Passengers will get buses after 10 minutes. Fare of the AC buses has been fixed at Tk 15 for all routes. In the first phase, ten buses have started operation. Ten other new buses would join the fleet within August 20.Apart from bus service, 200 rickshaws will be plied at Gulshan, 200 at Banani and 50 each at Baridhara and Niketan. The rickshaws have been painted with yellow [upper portion] and black [lower portion] colours. Meanwhile, the authorities have also collected details information about the rickshaw owners and pullers. There would be three pullers for one rickshaw who will ply the vehicle rotation basis. The fare chart has also been pasted at each rickshaw. The rickshawpullers will be dressed with orange-colour uniform. The authorities has taken the above initiatives as police banned bus operation in Gulshan and Banani areas for security reasons following the July 1 militant attack at Holey Artisan Bakery in the city's Gulshan that left 22 people, including 17 foreigners, killed.Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque who attended the programme urged all families and guardians to monitor the activities of their children, so that they do not get involved with militant and terror activities.'If the behaviour of your child changes or you find it suspicious, monitor them closely and if needed seek help from police,' the IGP said. After the Gulshan attack, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Chief Asaduzzaman Mia said that the police were barring entry of public transport in the areas and will launch separate services for the zone.
Khaleda granted bail in 10 cases
Court Correspondent :
The Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka on Wednesday granted bail to BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia in 10 cases including eight sabotage cases filed under the Special Power Act and a sedition case.
Metropolitan Sessions Judge Kamrul Hossain Mollah granted bail to Khaleda Zia in the sedition case. The same court heard on the bail petitions of Khaleda Zia in eight cases and allowed her bail. Besides, the court fixed October 10 to hear on framing charges in five of the eight cases.
Momtaz Uddin Ahmad Mehedi, a lawyer of the apex court and also a member of the ruling Awami League central committee, filed the sedition case against the BNP Chief for her comments on the number of martyrs in the Liberation War of 1971. The complainant, who filed the case on January 25, was present in the courtroom during the hearing.
The police filed nine arson attack cases with Darussalam Police Station against Khaleda Zia while the court granted her in the cases.
The court fixed October 10 for the next date of hearing in the sedition and nine arson cases. Later, the BNP leader appeared to the Special Judge's Court-2 Judge Hosneara Begum and she fixed September 8 for next hearing in Barapukuria coalmine graft case.
Meanwhile, Kotwali Police Station OC Dilip Kumar said, security of the area was tightened so that no untoward incident could happen on the occasion.
Agri sector incurs Tk 150cr loss
Anisul Islam Noor :
The agriculture sector incurred losses of Tk 150 crore in 14 districts of the country due to the ongoing flood that had washed away fish and cropland measuring 1, 13,500 hectares of which cropland was 109, 305 hectares, according to primary data of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).
The ongoing flood has caused severe damage to fisheries, livestock, vegetables and crop sectors. As per data, 20,568 fish farms on 4,195 hectares of land in 14 districts have been affected by floods.
The worst-affected district was Kurigram with 5,102 fish farms, followed by Jamalpur 4,175 farms, Sirajganj 2,978 farms, Manikganj 2,636 farms and Lalmonirhat 2,415 farms.
A total of 4,600 tonnes of fish and 671 tonnes of fish fry worth Tk 725.3 million were washed away by floods in these districts. Floods totally damaged infrastructures of a number of farms causing losses of Tk 104 million, Deputy Director of DoF Dr Md Golzar Hossain said. He said the loss might increase further in case of floodwater remaining for some more days. Chaitannya Kumar Das, Director of Monitoring under Field Service Wing of DAE, told media that 1,09,305 hectares of farmland in 22 districts remained under water for some days. Crops including Aman, Aus, seasonal vegetables, fruits and jute were inundated, he added.
Vegetables of Kharip-2 (one of three cropping seasons) like teasel gourd, ridge gourd, and sponge gourd etc might not be picked up again, he said, adding that fresh flood may hit the country at the end of August or early September.
As a precautionary measure, the DAE has instructed the farmers to prepare the seedbeds for late-Aman (Nabi) varieties like BR-22, BR-23, Brridhan-34, Binashail etc on highlands through which the farmers could recoup their losses.
Meanwhile, water level in the Brahmaputra and the Jamuna Rivers in Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Sirajganj and Bogra districts marked decline on Tuesday, but floodwater still remained there, according to the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) offices in the districts concerned.
Anti-militancy rallies in edn instts Sept 3
Staff Reporter :
The Education Ministry has decided to hold anti-militancy rallies at all educational institutions across the country on September 3.
The Ministry took the decision in an emergency meeting on Wednesday.
The Ministry thinks that the students get involved in militancy and terrorism, as they have no knowledge about the country's culture, heritage and history.
It has also sent notice to all the public and private universities, colleges, schools and madrasas to arrange the rally on the day.
The notice has advised that the institution must ensure the presence of teachers, students, guardians, managing committee members, imams, influential persons, and ideal dignitaries in the rally.
The notice also asked the institutions to arrange regular cultural programmes including sports, songs and drama, scouting and girls' guide activities.
On July 27, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid called upon the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) to inspire the students to practice the country's culture with a view to discouraging the militancy.
The Ministry has also decided to form anti-militancy monitoring committee at every upazila across the country with a view to discouraging the students to involve in militancy and terrorism.
The Ministry sources said, the committee members will monitor the overall activities of the school, college and madrasa. The committee will also ensure cultural activities in the institutions and reading books on culture and history.
Professor Emeritus Dr Serajul Islam Chowdhury told The New Nation that the government has to include Bangladeshi culture, history and tradition in the academic syllabus at all classes.
"There is no practice of the country's culture at the private universities and the madrasas. A few students know about the country's history. They will never involve in militancy if they know their land's tradition. So the government must ensure it for the students," he said.
Rooppur N Plant to use safest tech: BAEC
bdnews24.com :The Rooppur nuclear power plant in Pabna will be built using the 'safest technology', says Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) Chairman Md Ali Zulquarnain.Locals of the area will not have to move from the project area, he says, even if an accident happens.Zulquarnain's assurance about the safety features of the first nuclear power plant came at a programme at the commission on Tuesday. An organisation named 'Star Trek Dream' organised it to mark the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US in August 1945 during the World War II.Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (BAERA) Chairman Prof Naiyyum Choudhury was the chief guest at the event. The nuclear power plant is being built with Russia's assistance at an estimated project cost of $12.65 billion. Two units of the plant will generate 1,200 MW each. Russia will provide $11.38 billion for the project and the Bangladesh government the rest.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of the project in 2013, with 2021 targeted for the launch of the first unit. But many in Bangladesh are worried following the horrifying aftermaths of accidents in nuclear plants around the world. But the government said the Rooppur power plant will maintain all kinds of safety measures. Defending the decision to go for a nuclear-powered plant, BAEC chief Zulquarnain on Tuesday brought up issue of the growing demand for power. "Our gas reserves are running out. That's why we'll have to go for nuclear energy." The plant will cost more at first, but the overall costs will come down due to long-term power generation, he said. He referred to China and India's nuclear energy scenario. "India currently generates 6,000-7,000 MW. They plan to make take it to 64,000 MW. China currently produces 20,000 MW, and they plan to increase their capacity to 200,000 MW in 2030."There are 70 nuclear reactors around the world and 84 percent of them use the latest technology, Zulquarnain added. "We've also adopted the right technology. This tech has been designed on the experiences from different accidents." He said the reactor in Rooppur power plant will have thicker concrete walls around it in order to avoid any possible accident and damage from it."Currently, Generation III reactors are being used (everywhere). We are getting Generation III Plus reactors. This was added to the grid in Russia on Aug 5." He pointed out the profits made from the nuclear energy projects. "India has a massive programme. They made Tk 20 billion profits in 2014.""It will take 3 million tonnes of coal annually to produce 1,000 MW electricity. But in nuclear plant's case, it will take only 25 tonnes of coal." He said Bangladesh has also been sending 20 students every year for the past three years to Russia to get training to run the nuclear power plant.BAERA chief Naiyyum Choudhury said, "This may boomerang for those who are playing with (nuclear) bombs. We are for its (nuclear technology) peaceful use and against bombs."We'll keep protesting against those who are manufacturing bombs."Regarding the criticism of the Rooppur power plant, he said, "The good thing about technology is that the more people talk about it, the more it adapts to new situations. It worked after the Fukushima tragedy. This has also influenced our deal (with Russia). "Accidents don't stop technology. Technology finds new ways and progresses."
RAB arrests six radicals
Militants claim responsibility for 11 attacks
Staff Reporter :The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Tuesday arrested six suspected members of two militant outfits, who believed to be involved in different terror attacks, including Gulshan and Sholakia. In an overnight raid, they were arrested from the city's Uttara, Mirpur and Gabtali areas. The arrested persons admitted to RAB that they had carried out 11 attacks so far.The arrestees were identified as Jahid Anwar alias Porag, 22, a student of Govt Titumir College, M Tajul Islam, 29, Jahid Hasan, 21, Engineer Mostafizur Rahman alias Shifat, an alleged administrator of JMB website 'At-Tamkin', M Ziaul Hoque Zia, 24, and M Nayan, 21. Of them, five are members of the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and another one from Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT). Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan, Media Wing Director of the elite force, disclosed this in a press briefing at the RAB Headquarters on Wednesday. "Tipped off that a group of militants were preparing to carry out subversive activities in the capital, the elite force members raided the Airport Railway Station and arrested Jahid Anwar Porag around 10:00pm," Mufti Mahmud said. Following his information, another team of RAB arrested Tajul and Jahid from a restaurant in the city's Gabtoli around 2:00am, the RAB official said. Later, they arrested Engineer Mostafiz, Zia and Nayan from a house at Uttar Bishil in Mirpur area around 5:00am, he said. During the preliminary interrogation, five of them claimed themselves as members of the Jama'at-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) while another said he was a member of Ansarullah Bangla Team, the elite force official said. On the other hand, Engineer Mostafiz admitted to the RAB that he was the administrator of website 'At-Tamkin' and the five others are the members of 'Sleeper Cell' of JMB, he also claimed. Two pistols, 13 detonators, four machetes, five hand grenades, 12 chocolate bombs, four grams of power gel, eight grams of white gunpowder and five grams of red gunpowder were also seized from their possessions, he said.
BB seeks account info of 18 suspects
The central bank has asked for information about the bank accounts of 18 suspected militants whose names have appeared in media in connection with terrorists activities in the country.
It has also asked the country's scheduled commercial banks to freeze their accounts if found with them, officials said.
Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) on behalf of the central bank sent letters in this regard to the scheduled commercial banks on Wednesday.
These 18 militants include Bangladesh born Canadian citizen Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, sacked army major Zia-ul-Haque, two prime suspect of Dhaka cafe attack that killed 21 hostages and two police officers.
Police earlier announced bounties of Tk 20 lakh for each of the presumed masterminds (Tamim and Zia) of the attack.
"We have asked the banks to provide account information of 18 people whose names have come up in the media in connection with militancy links and recent terror incidents," Debaprosad Debnath, General Manager of BFIU told The New Nation yesterday.
Letters related to the matter have been forwarded to all scheduled banks after a meeting of BFIU, specifying three directives.
"The banks have been asked to freeze their accounts immediately, provide account information and produce transaction statement of their accounts," noted Debnath.
Letters asked the banks concerned to send the required information to the central bank within seven working days.
Officials said the BFIU has sought the information following request from the government's security agencies.
The security agencies are now in massive hunt for the hideouts of the masterminds and financier of the Dhaka and Solakia terror attacks.
Investigators dealing with Dhaka and Sholakia terror attacks said that Tamim Chowdhury and Zia-ul Haque, two leaders of banned militant outfits--Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT)-- are among 10 who planned the Dhaka and Solakia terror attacks.
They have primarily identified five businessmen for financing a neo-JMB group in aiding radical extremism and carrying out terror activities in the country.
"The suspected militants have created a network of financiers inside and outside the country. We want to track down their source of finance to curb their activities and prevent future terror attack," an investigator told The New Nation yesterday, requesting not to be named.
"As part of the effort, we have requested the central bank to freeze bank accounts of the militants and their account information," he added.
The militancy issue is currently on top of the government agenda and it has been asked the law-enforcement agencies to go all out against militants in the country by rooting out the militants' dens and source of militant financing.
Mir Quasems son picked up by 'law-enforcers', family says
bdnews24.com :
War crimes convict Mir Quasem Ali's son has been picked up by men identifying themselves as law-enforcers, claims his family.
Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, a lawyer in profession, was whisked away late on Tuesday by men in plainclothes from his home at Dhaka's Miprur. Quoting wife Tahmina Akhter, the house's caretaker Mafidul Islam told bdnews24.com, "Five men took him away in an unmarked white microbus."
Police, however, said they have no information
over detaining the Jamaat-e-Islami leader's son. "We do not know anything about it," said Dhaka metro police spokesperson Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman told bdnews24.com. Mir Quasem Ali, whose death sentence has been upheld by top court, now awaits the hearing of his petition to review his sentence.
The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear the matter on Jul 25, but deferred it to Aug 24 after the defence pleaded for more time. Mir Quasem, founding president of the Islami Chhatra Shibir, has been a member of the Jamaat's Central Executive Council and the organisation's fifth most important leader.
The International Crimes Tribunal found him guilty and sentenced him to death in 2014 for the killing of young freedom-fighter Jashim Uddin Ahmed and eight others. He challenged the verdict but the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence in March this year. On June 19, he filed a petition for a review of the top court's verdict.
He had been in the Kashimpur prison, in Gazipur, since his arrest in 2012 .
If the review verdict upholds the death sentence, Quasem will have the scope to seek presidential clemency.
But if the Jamaat leader is denied pardon, the government will be free to order his hanging.
Mir Quasem was the Al-Badr's third most important functionary after Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami and Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid.
Both Nizami and Mujahid have been executed for their 1971 war crimes.
Mir Quasem, a terror in Chittagong during 1971, later proved to be a shrewd businessman and politician.
The 63-year-old media tycoon pumped billions into Jamaat coffers since the mid-1980s to make it financially strong in Bangladesh.
The Undead Archives
I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world.
If you are looking for the new Immoral Minority posts, you should know that they can be found here at our new home Please stop by to get caught up on politics, join the conversations, or simply check out the new digs.
Paris, TX (75460)
Today
Rain likely. Potential for heavy rainfall. Low 51F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch..
Tonight
Rain likely. Potential for heavy rainfall. Low 51F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch.
The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now.
Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market.
In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender.
India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex.
Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted.
But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted?
Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner.
If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems.
I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now.
I want more variation in masturbation
I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own.
If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end.
What is sex toys for Indian?
Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation.
It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms.
They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable.
Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner.
The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner.
It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past.
In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping.
Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order.
In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing.
Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome.
Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own.
But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance.
More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around.
Sextoy situation in India
Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years.
In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India.
Mumbai
Kolkata
Bangalore
Delhi
Chennai
Hyderabad
These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India.
In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well.
If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too.
If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it.
What are Sextoys for beginner?
Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms.
Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy.
I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion.
I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy.
If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma.
Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it.
Advantages of using sextoy for Indians
There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians
You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways.
Can have stimulating sex
Can develop new sexual zones
If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern.
However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways.
You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation.
Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever.
There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure.
This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it.
When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems.
It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms).
For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles
[Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou...
Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India.
Sextoy for beginner men in India
So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners.
For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men!
The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men
Masturbator
Cock rings
Love Doll
Sex Lubricants
Toys for the prostate
Lets check each one in detail.
Masturbator
The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products.
It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands.
Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands.
They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.)
Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much.
Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! !
Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa SEXToys India PR (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018
Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood.
If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here
Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ...
[For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien...
Cock Ring
A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis.
It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow.
It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber.
In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection.
Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction.
It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it.
Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time.
Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function.
Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy.
You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect.
[Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat...
Love Doll
Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex.
There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women.
Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price.
The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true.
You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste.
There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice.
You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls.
If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here
Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to...
Sex lubricants
Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules.
It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution.
Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse.
There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent.
Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent.
If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here.
What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many...
Toys for the Prostate
Another sextoy for men is prostate toys.
The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line.
Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men.
Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men.
What is the prostate?
The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm.
You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus.
By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms.
Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.)
The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation.
Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure.
sextoy for beinner women in India
The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy.
The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy.
Vibrator.
Dildo
Electric Masserger
Lets check out what each one is in detail.
If you want to check out womens toys, click here.
[BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm...
Vibrators
A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator.
Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy.
It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy.
Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women.
For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators.
Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex.
Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself.
This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual.
Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men.
When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons.
Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most...
Dildo
A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis.
It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass.
A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it.
They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well.
It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device.
A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo.
Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands.
For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis.
This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one.
To learn more about dildo, please click here.
What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th...
Electric Masserger
A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores.
It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low.
Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels.
Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation.
It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure.
For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm.
It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out.
If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager?
To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here.
What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th...
How to choose a sextoy for Indian
Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one.
Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points: Does the size fit you (the partner)?
Does the size fit you (your partner)?
Is the environment able to produce sound without problems?
Price range
First of all, the choice of size is quite important.
Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women.
For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage.
Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems.
Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise.
If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level.
Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it.
Finally, there is the price range.
The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest.
Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy.
Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy?
I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance.
For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics.
If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out.
How to buy sextoys in India
The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping.
For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below.
Sextoy is one of them.
Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping.
SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India.
They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry.
Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card.
To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy.
ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal.
Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on.
Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture.
Cautions for Indians using sextoy
When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind
Keep sex toys clean
Watch out for electrical leakage
Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy
As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone.
Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there.
It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case.
In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness.
Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful.
If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it.
You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly.
Summary
What did you think?
In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India.
The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future.
As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values.
However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health.
If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try?
Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women.
I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it.
CARBONDALE City Council unanimously approved a 2 percent tax on food and beverage sales.
The tax applies to prepared food sales, including food and beverages served at restaurants, bars and hotels, as well as bakery items and cold foods that are sold at grocery and convenience stores, and foods sold in movie theaters.
At its June 14 meeting, the Council passed a 4 percent tax on prepared food and beverage sales. After criticism from the business community, the City Council on Tuesday approved recommendations from city staff to drop the tax rate from 4 percent to 2 percent and tabled considerations of a .25 percent retail sales tax.
"We are not talking about the quarter percent across the board with this ordinance," City Mayor Mike Henry said.
During a forum last Thursday local restaurant owners met to discuss the new food and beverage tax. As a result of the meeting, local business owners recommended that the tax be lowered up to a 1 percent rate and a retail tax of .25 percent be applied.
In response to the Council's approval of the amended ordinance, Meghan Cole, director of Carbondale Main Street said, "There is a compromise there (but) we need to look at this from all angles."
Councilman Navreet Kang backed his vote for the extensions and amended the 2 percent rate stating that he would prefer for members of the City Council repeal the new tax and apply a 1 percent sales tax for the Jan. 1 date, but the amendments to the ordinance is better than what was previously approved.
"Two percent is better than the 4 percent but we shouldn't have any of it," he said.
In agreement with Kang, Councilwoman Jessica Bradshaw said she sticks to her formal denial of the new food and beverage tax, but will vote in favor of the tax as long as the city implements it well.
"We are talking about something that will affect the city and their business. I think that we should give it more time," Bradshaw said.
Discussions of an amended code allowing the sales of alcohol in convenience stores was also a major concern for locals at the Aug. 9 meeting.
"I just have a concern about selling alcohol in the proximity to selling gasoline," said former acting mayor and liquor commissioner Don Monty.
Along with the approval of the new food and beverage tax, ordinance members of the City Council approved a request from Carbondale Main Street for Fair Days for the 30th annual anniversary for the Lost Cross. The approval of the request permits public consumption of alcohol for the Sept. 3 event, which will be held on West Elm Street.
Members of the City Council also approved recommendations for appointments to the city's boards and commissions. The recommendations include appointments of Winslow Chow and Carole King to the city's tourism board, the appointment of William Hamilton to the city's planning commission and zoning board of appeals, and the appointments of Jordan Wren and Justin Zurlinden to the preservation committee.
The city also approved reappointments for Philip Brown, Susan Tulis, Sharifa Stewart, Janet Lilly, Kathy Benedict, Kevin Clark, Barbara Doherty, Dorothy Ittner, Scott Comparato, Jason Sigler and Ed Van Awken.
Three suspects were arrested in the past week in Saline County, Kansas, in connection with the July 31 shooting of a Carbondale Police officer, according to a news release from the Carbondale Police Department.
The suspects are identified as Alex Karcher, 22; Xavier McCray, 22; and Xavier Lewis, 24, all Kansas residents.
The release states that during the evening of Sunday, Aug. 7, and early morning of Monday, Aug. 8, the I-135/I-70 Drug Task Force, Saline County (Kansas) Sheriffs Office, Salina (Kansas) Police Department, McPherson (Kansas) Police Department, Saline County (Kansas) Attorneys Office and Kansas Bureau of Investigation took the three men into custody and charged them with conspiracy to commit capital murder.
All three subjects were booked into the Saline County Jail on $1 million bond.
The taskforce investigation team, led by the Illinois State Police, with assistance from the City of Carbondale Police Department and numerous local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, is continuing a comprehensive investigation, and is cooperating with the ongoing investigation in Kansas.
The Kansas investigation culminated in a sealed indictment in Saline County, Kansas, that is associated with the July 31 shooting in Carbondale. Since the investigation in ongoing, Carbondale Police Department declined to comment any further on the investigation.
The City of Carbondale is offering a $15,000 reward for information which leads to the identity, arrest and conviction of suspects in this incident.
MARION A 22-year-old employee of the Williamson County State's Attorney's Office was arrested Tuesday night, charged with delivery of marijuana.
The employee, Darien Daniel of Marion, was classified as a grant-funded employee of the office in a news release from the Williamson County State's Attorney's Office.
Daniel was charged with three counts of unlawful delivery of cannabis, including unlawful delivery more than 10 grams but less than 30 grams of a substance containing cannabis and delivery of less than 10 grams of a substance containing cannabis, according to a news release from the Hamilton County State's Attorney Justin Hood.
Because of Daniel's employment relationship with the Williamson County State's Attorney's Office, that office so as to not to appear to show any bias or prejudice toward the investigation has appointed Hood to handle the case.
Daniel was arrested by the Southern Illinois Enforcement Group. Both news releases said Daniel resigned from his position with the office on Wednesday.
"We are obviously shocked at his conduct," the Williamson County news release says. "We stress that no one is above the law, certainly not an employee of a law enforcement office."
Daniel posted bond; his preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 19.
EDDYVILLE The former treasurer of this tiny Pope County village of about 100 people has been accused of stealing tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars by forging the signature of the village mayor and cashing government checks made out to herself.
But Kim Smith, 58, of Eddyville, who is facing five felony counts related to allegations of theft, is claiming she cant remember anything at all about what happened.
A court document submitted by her attorney seeking a psychological examination to determine her fitness to stand trial states that Smith is suffering from retrograde amnesia, a medical condition indicating a loss of memory of all events and information taking place before the development of the condition.
At a hearing in Golconda on Wednesday morning at the Pope County Courthouse, Judge Joseph Leberman granted the motion for Smith to undergo a psychological exam to determine whether she is fit to stand trial. Dr. William Donaldson, a clinical psychologist who practices in Marion, is expected to perform the exam, the court document reads.
The motion for fitness exam document states that Smith has no memories before March 3. Smith was terminated on March 4, a village official said.
A village official, who asked that their name be withheld, said Smith was elected to the position of treasurer, a part-time job that paid $200 a month, in the spring of 2013. That official said that about $80,000 has gone missing from the village coffers since that time.
Smith has been charged with five felony counts that are as follows, according to the charging documents in her court file:
A Class 1 felony charge of forgery alleging she stole between $10,000 and $100,000 from the village of Eddyville between June 2013 and Feb. 25, 2016. (The charge, outlined in state law, is not specific to the amount she is alleged to have stolen. It was the village official who estimated that what is missing from the village is in excess of $80,000).
A Class 3 felony charge of official misconduct, alleging that in her role as a public officer as the treasurer of Eddyville, and while acting in her official capacity, knowingly performed an act which she knew was forbidden by law
Three Class 3 felony charges of forgery alleging she signed as co-drawer Mayor Darrell Alys name on three separate checks totaling $1,940 in February.
There have been several theft cases or alleged cases involving taxpayer funds and government officials in Southern Illinois in the past few years affecting Williamson and Franklin counties, Pinckneyville and West City as well as other communities across the state, though the alleged circumstances in this case make it among the most bizarre and tragic of late.
Investigation of the case was handed over to the Illinois State Police after a suspicious fire at Village Hall, said Pope County Sheriff Jerry Suits, whose county jurisdiction includes Eddyville. A fire broke out in Village Hall on the night of Jan. 26. The firefighters were able to salvage Village Hall, as the flames were primarily contained to a room where records were kept, a village official said.
A routine annual audit as required by state law was scheduled for the next day, on Jan. 27. Eddvyille was behind on its annual audit, and had been issued a fine by the Illinois Comptroller, according to the village official.
According to the charging documents, Smith is alleged to have forged Mayor Darrell Alys signature on checks into February.
In the motion for fitness exam documents filed by Smiths attorney, it states that the defendant was hospitalized on March 3 at Harrisburg Medical Center for hypoglycemia. The defendant was admitted again on March 4 the day she was fired and discharged six days later, on March 10, with a diagnosis of insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes and other physical conditions, as well as long-term memory loss, anxiety and depression, the court document states.
It continues that the defendant followed up for a neuropsychological examination on April 9 and April 28 and was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, retrograde amnesia and conversion disorder, the latter of which is, according to the Mayo Clinic, a condition that describes a health problem that begins as a mental or emotional crisis.
The document also states that Smith makes inappropriate responses when questioned regarding the allegations made against her, lacks ability to focus and has no memories prior to March 3. She has been referred to Vanderbilt University Hospital for neurological testing, the document states.
While the missing money is frustrating on its own merits to people living in the community, making the case even more upsetting, the village official said, is that Eddyville Mayor Aly, whose signature Smith is alleged to have forged on checks, is suffering from terminal lung cancer and has been given only weeks to live. This is making a difficult personal time for Aly, 82, even more stressful, the official said.
The newspaper reached out to Aly at his home, but his granddaughter, who answered the phone, said he was not feeling up to an interview. He did sit for an official, lengthy deposition with the state on Tuesday.
In early July, Pope County States Attorney Melissa Presser entered a motion to conduct an evidence deposition with Aly because, she said in the court document, he is a material witness and conducting the interview ahead of trial was necessary to preserve his testimony for trial. A note from his doctor included in the file states that Aly is not undergoing chemotherapy because of other health complications, and that without it, has a life expectancy of less than two months. It was signed on June 30.
In court on Wednesday, Presser asked the judge to enter into the case file sealed documents related to that deposition.
After the hearing, Smith, accompanied by her husband, declined comment on the allegations against her. She is represented by Tammi Jackson of the Harrisburg-based Law Office of Robert C. Wilson, who also did not respond to a call seeking comment.
A reporter from The Southern Illinoisan was present at the court proceeding on Wednesday morning but had a difficult time hearing what transpired because it took place at the judges desk, several feet from the public seating area, with all parties speaking in low tones that were largely inaudible over the hum of the air conditioning. This was also the case with several of the defendants with scheduled hearings called prior to Smith.
Smith was arrested in connection with this case on May 18. She was booked at the Saline County Jail and is out on a $300,000 bond, having paid the required 10 percent, or $30,000 cash bail. Her address as noted in the court file is listed as for sale. The asking price for the 2,400-square-feet, three-bedroom home is $239,900. The home features a curvy, heated in-ground swimming pool, which a community member said was built in the spring of 2015.
In addition to her part-time role as village treasurer, a village official said Smith also had worked as a school bus driver for the Pope County Community Unit School District. A status hearing was scheduled in her case for 9 a.m. on Sept. 21.
MURPHYSBORO The contract engineer overseeing the Grand Tower levee repair project on the Big Muddy river was a no-show on Tuesday at a committee meeting of the Jackson County Board, where he had been expected to provide a progress report.
The Real Property Committee agenda included the item Grand Tower Project Update. Kevin Grammer had been invited to provide an update.
The repair project in question that remains incomplete is on a section of the levee on the Big Muddy where a drainage pipe burst in June 2013. Repairing the busted draining pipe on the Grand Tower levee is one of a number of maintenance, repair and prevention projects spanning the Degognia-Fountain Bluff and Grand Tower levee districts included in a more than $1 million project.
Under the terms of an intergovernmental agreement, the levee districts manage the project and Jackson County cuts checks for the work from dedicated bond funds. Grand Tower officials pointed to that weak spot in the levee as the tipping point in its decision to evacuate the town as the water rose to near-record-setting levels during the so-called New Year's Flood of 2016.
When it came to that portion of the agenda, Orval Rowe, the committees chairman, said Grammer let him know Friday that he would not be in attendance at the meeting. Rowe said he asked that Grammer instead email a progress report so that he could share it with the committee members. A handful of Grand Tower citizens also showed up to Tuesdays meeting with a specific interest in that item on the agenda.
Rowe said that, to the best of his knowledge, Grammer had yet to send that email to him or the boards executive assistant, both of whom checked their email accounts again before the start of the 5 p.m. meeting.
Grammer is the highway department superintendent in Union County, but in his capacity on this project is a private contract engineer.
Rowe said he would take some of the blame on himself since he had not followed up with Grammer again this week as to the status of his request for a progress report to be sent to him via email since Grammer did not plan to attend.
But some of the committee members, while not specifically critical of the work and reasons cited for delays, were clearly irritated that Grammer did not show up or send along a progress report in what has morphed into, at the least, a public relations problem for the project.
Its frustrating Kevin didnt send anything, said committee member Andrew Erbes. He said the project may be progressing along to the best of Grammers ability given that he cant control the weather, but he said Grammer needs to do a better job of sharing updates with the public. He noted that the image created by circulating photographs of the remaining piece of the pipe to be installed and equipment seemingly sitting idle for months surrounded by weeds is not a good one.
Visuals matter, Erbes said. Public perception matters.
The newspaper also has left several messages with Grammer to discuss the project, but he has declined to return those calls, as was noted in the newspapers story published Friday Three years after pipe burst, Grand Tower levee repair project still incomplete.
Emily Burke, a Jackson County board member who sits on the committee, wrote on a Facebook note that, according to recent conversations with Grammer, it is her understanding that the piece of pipe pictured in the newspaper lying in the weeds is the last piece that goes in where they replaced the failed pipe they started last fall." "Apparently, there is a sand boil near where it goes making it not workable in that area until the river is very low and the water table drops," Burke wrote. She was not in attendance at Tuesday's meeting because she is out of town on business. But the day prior, Burke said that it was her understanding Grammer planned to attend Tuesday's meeting, and she had sent along questions she wanted addressed to another committee member.
Grand Tower Levee District Commissioner Craig Miller also has said that Grammer, in explaining the delay, has cited the unusually wet summer making it too dangerous to work in that area at this time. Grand Tower Mayor Mike Ellet Sr. and Councilman Richy Pyatt said previously that they were shocked that the project still was not complete.
They previously told the newspaper, in separate interviews, that a levee commissioner had informed them at a recent Grand Tower City Council meeting that the work was done, and said they only discovered it wasnt upon a Grand Tower city employee taking a drive out to the site, which sits outside city limits in unincorporated Jackson County, to check out the completed project for himself.
Miller has taken exception to those statements, saying he never said it was completed and that, in fact, the minutes reflect he told them it still wasnt done and why that its been too wet.
Grand Tower City Councilwoman Cindy Cox, who attended Tuesdays county board committee meeting, said she remains confident in Grammers ability to complete the project to the highest standards and is trying to take a positive approach.
She said that rumors tend to take on a life of their own on social media and breed fear, but she said that it might help if everyone would calm down and have faith in the system. She also took up for Grammer, in part, saying that it seems he has shied away from taking phone calls of elected officials, concerned citizens and the media after being repeatedly thrust in the hot seat for situations that are outside of his control.
Still, she said, he needs to move past that and begin providing regular updates one way or another, preferably, she said, through levee district commissioner Miller.
I would like to see Kevin Grammer communicate more with the levee commissioners, and the council and the county board, she said.
Rowe, the committee chairman, said he would be following up with Grammer and assured there would be a report made available when the full county board meets on Tuesday, Aug. 16.
KRAKOW -- "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"; Hillary Clinton paraphrased FDR's famous declaration during her acceptance of the Democratic nomination for president. And she also said that Americans aren't fearful. They are frustrated and angry, she acknowledged, but not fearful.
Frustration and anger are definitely a good part of the reason Donald Trump is the Republican nominee for president.
But just about everywhere I go these days -- including during a brief visit to Rome and a longer one here in Krakow, I run into many Americans, and they're fearful. And so are the Europeans who ask what on Earth Americans are doing. Surely, there had to be better possibilities for president of the United States, they say to me, almost to a person.
I agreed with one thing Clinton said. Going after Trump, she warned against trusting anyone who says he or she is the only one who can fix things. That is, indeed, a dangerous assertion.
I've was in Krakow among crowds of people gathering for World Youth Day, a major Catholic celebration. Young people gathered at the largest venue in Krakow, Tauron Arena. They came here and slept on the ground, even outdoors. They flocked to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis, who arrived here the same day.
These are a people of faith, who have tasted the alternative lifestyle that is Christianity. They are followers and friends of Jesus Christ. They want to be transformed by him. They want to be instruments of His peace. If you saw the joy I saw on these faces, if you heard the desire for goodness and beauty here, you would have no fear.
Have you been smiled upon by fate? Chelsea Clinton said she had been during her introduction of her mother, the first woman presidential candidate to be nominated by one of the major political parties. If you have experienced such a blessing, you have a responsibility: You have been given a gift by the creator of the universe. You, in fact, are a gift.
Chelsea Clinton has the right idea there. But the young people swarming Krakow went a step further. They see everything, especially their lives and the lives of each and every person they encounter, as beautiful, indispensible gifts from God. Their lives have not simply been smiled upon. They belong to him. And so every day is a gift that must be given back to him in love. This attitude of gratitude is one reason that even an atheist should love religious freedom: Because people on fire with this kind of all-consuming love do work that benefits everyone. They build communities and nourish families. They renew culture and keep hope alive in the world, in service to the source of all that is good and merciful and just.
Hillary Clinton, during her acceptance speech, talked about human and civil rights, and even mentioned lives that are not disposable. But her politics don't always reflect an understanding of these things. I have a renewed sense of hope, not because of almost eight years of President Barack Obama, but because I have seen the miracle of young people choosing God, choosing the Beatitudes, choosing mercy over all that is important to the secular world.
Taking the gospel seriously, being bold and creative in implementing Catholic social teaching, seeing more than a mere smile of fate, they will do great things. They will be true witnesses of hope, in the spirit of one of the seminal leaders of moral courage in the last century who spent years in Krakow as a student, priest, and cardinal archbishop -- and who seems still alive on the streets here -- John Paul II.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
By Azernews
By Rashid Shirinov
Russian shipyard Red Sormovo, which is a member of a group of companies "Sea and oil & gas projects" (MNP group), intends to expand partnership with Azerbaijan.
Representatives of the MNP group management took part in the extended meeting of the Russian-Azerbaijani and Azerbaijani-Russian business councils in Baku on August 8, the Moscow representative office of Red Sormovo said.
"The goal of participation was the development of further relations of PJSC Plant Red Sormovo with business partners and potential customers from Azerbaijan," the office said. The meeting was timed to the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Azerbaijan and aimed at enhancing economic cooperation between the two countries.
In the framework of the business program of event, business representatives of various industries of Azerbaijan and Russia held bilateral meetings. Executive Director of MNP group Vadim Malov and the Deputy CEO Murat Duguzhev discussed the prospects of further cooperation in the field of shipbuilding with their potential partners.
Malov stressed that Azerbaijan being one of the key players of oil and gas market in the Caspian region will always be of interest to manufacturers of oil and gas tankers, and Red Sormovo has obvious advantages in that field.
Projects for Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company, implemented earlier by the group of MNP and Sormovo shipbuilders, have created a basis for long term partnership with ship-owners operating in the country. Therefore, we continue to participate in such large-scale bilateral meetings. As a rule, they are quite productive, Director of MNP added.
Plant Red Sormovo founded in 1849, is one of the oldest Russian shipbuilding enterprises. The plant and MNP group have established significantly friendly relations with Azerbaijan. From 2002 to 2009, Red Sormovo supplied one dry-cargo ship Volga, two tankers SFAT and seven tankers Heydar Aliyev for Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company.
An Azerbaijani delegation is participating in the certificate course for strategic management of anti-corruption program in Kuala-Lumpur, Malaysia.
The Malaysia Anti-Corruption Academy (MACA), the first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, was established in December 2005 under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
The training center aims to be the regional hub for anti-corruption capacity building, offering more than 50 courses on various fields, including investigation, prosecution, Intelligence, and prevention, for anti-corruption practitioners from around the world as well as officials of MACC and relevant government agencies of Malaysia.
By Azernews
By Rashid Shirinov
Turkey suggested the creation of tripartite mechanism on the discussion of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia. This was said by the Foreign Minister of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu, TRT Haber news channel reports.
Cavusoglu noted that trilateral format will be beneficial to all parties.
We discussed this format during the meetings in Baku. Azerbaijan positively appraised the trilateral mechanism with Russia. This initiative was also announced during the meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia also praised the mechanism, Turkish Foreign Minister said. He also noted that the three countries may cooperate in the political, economic, transport and energy sectors.
On August 9, President Erdogan also said that Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia may establish a tripartite cooperation mechanism, and that both Turkey and Russia have a positive attitude to the creation of this mechanism.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.
By Azernews
By Rashid Shirinov
Azerbaijans National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) has inspected six craters, an acreage and pasture on August 9. As a result, the Agency detected and collected fragments of several exploded ammunition, including parts of Grad rocket 9M22U.
The Agency cleansed an area of 8,500 square meters in the Agdam and Terter regions, ANAMAs press service said.
From April 7 to August 8, the Agency experts viewed 642 houses and infields, two military units, five rural schools, two cemeteries, 30 farms, a medical center, a warehouse of scrap metal and acreages in Zardab, Tartar, Agjabadi, Agdam, Barda, Fizuli, Goranboy, Tovuz, Gazakh, Agstafa, Samukh, Goygol, Shamkir, Jalilabad, Ujar, Astara regions, and in cities of Mingachevir, Sumgayit, Ganja and Baku.
As a result, ANAMA discovered and defused 3,470 UXO, 15 anti-personnel mines PMN, three anti-personnel mines POMZ-2, an anti-personnel mine OZM-72, and 24 anti-tank mines.
Currently, mobile groups of ANAMA continue their operations on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops and in the territories with schools and other facilities.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.
By Azernews
By Rashid Shirinov
Chairman of the Germany-South Caucasus Parliamentary Friendship Group at Bundestag Karin Strenz visited the Milli Majlis of the Azerbaijan Republic on August 9.
At the meeting, Chairman of the working group on Azerbaijani-German inter-parliamentary relations Rovshan Rzayev talked about achievements of Azerbaijan in recent years and Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
He stressed that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to developing cooperation with Germany in various spheres, including the expansion of inter-parliamentary relations.
Speaking on the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, other members of the group also expressed their hope that the German presidency at the OSCE will facilitate the resolution of the problem and concrete steps on its settlement will be taken.
Karin Strenz, in turn, expressed her satisfaction from the presidency in the Germany-South Caucasus Parliamentary Friendship Group. She stressed that such meetings contribute to the development of inter-parliamentary relations, and this development in a number of fields is beneficial to both parties.
Strenz particularly stressed the importance of resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on international legal norms and in accordance with the adopted UN resolutions.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.
By Azernews
By Amina Nazarli
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will leave for Russia on a working visit on August 10 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During the negotiations the two sides will discuss key issues on the bilateral agenda of cooperation between two countries and strategic partners in a number of areas including political, trade-economic, humanitarian as well as the development of integration processes in Eurasia.
Presidents Putin and Sargsyan will also exchange views on topical problems of international and regional agenda, according to the Armenian state press service.
The Kremlin reported that Sargsyan will arrive in Moscow on the invitation of Putin.
Prior to this, the two leaders met in June, when St. Petersburg hosted a summit to discuss the aggravation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also attended the meeting.
But what promises the meeting between Putin and Sargsyan, to be held just two days after tripartite meeting of Azerbaijani, Russian and Iranian presidents in Baku.
While being in Baku the Russian president also had a face-to-face meeting with President Aliyev. It is not the exception that alongside wade range of issues, the presidents also touched upon acceleration of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict solution.
Right after his visit to Baku, Putin met with Turkeys President Rejep Tayyip Erdogan in St. Petersburg, after nine months of tensions, where the presidents decided to strengthen their ties even more than previously.
Making a statement after the meeting Erdogan suggested to create a trilateral cooperation mechanism between Turkey, Russia and Azerbaijan, that can strike at the interests of Armenia in the region.
There is huge probablity that the upcoming Russian and Armenian presidents meeting will discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and schedule another trilateral meeting between Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia to fin a solution to the conflict by liberating seven regions of Azerbaijan and identifying the corridor, as were agreed between the sides during the St. Petersburg meeting in June
Siemens has energised the high-voltage substations built as part of a greenfield development under Kuwait National Petroleum Company's (KNPC) Clean Fuels Project at Mina Al Ahmadi (MAA) and Mina Abdullah (MAB) refineries in Kuwait.
The substations pave the way for a significant capacity boost and increasing power stability at the two facilities.
The Clean Fuels Project involves the upgrade and integration of the MAB and MAA refineries, located 60 and 45 km south of Kuwait, respectively.
As part of a KD68-million ($225 million) contract, Siemens delivered and installed a 132 kV AHRF C substation at MAA and a 300/132 kV MARF W substation at MAB.
The upgrade, which provides the refineries with their own dedicated substations, allows for an increase in the combined output of the two refineries to 800,000 barrels per day. Siemens also provided 250 km of cabling for the project.
We are excited about reaching this important milestone. With two high-voltage substations completely dedicated to the Mina Al Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah refineries, power is now provided to the oil facilities to meet the increasing demand. These new substations will now ensure a reliable and stable electricity supply for the refineries, said Adrian Wood, CEO of Siemens in Kuwait.
Again, we would like to thank our customer KNPC for placing their trust in Siemens technology and the companys track record of successful execution and on-time delivery, Wood added.
The Clean Fuels Project is one of KNPCs strategic projects, seeking to transform the two refineries into an integrated merchant refining complex that meets the diversified requirements of the world oil market. It is set for completion in 2018. - TradeArabia News Service
Qatar-based Quality Group International has signed a contract with Global Real Estate Company to launch a new 160,000-sq-ft shopping mall in Al Wakrah, Qatar.
Construction of the project is expected to be completed by mid-2017, a Gulf Times report quoting a Quality Group's statement said.
The agreement was signed at an official ceremony in the presence of Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohamed bin Saud Al-Abdurrahman Al-Thani, owner of Global Real Estate Company; Shamsudheen Olakara, chairman of Quality Group; Shahid V, executive manager of Quality Retail Group; Ramshad, commercial manager of Quality Retail Group; and Rayees K, media and operations manager of Quality Group International.
The mall will have a full-fledged supermarket and department store spread over two floors, with ample and convenient parking facility on the basement and ground-floor levels, the statement said. It will also have many other outlets.
Quality Group International is a business conglomerate with diversified business interests. Presently, the group has 22 companies in different activities and about 4,000 employees.
Saudi Arabia's King Saud University has earned the accreditation of US-based AACSB International for its College of Business Administration.
Founded in 1916, AACSB International is the longest serving global accrediting body for business schools that offer undergraduate, master's, and doctorate degrees in business and accounting.
King Saud University, founded in 1957, is located in Riyadh.
"AACSB congratulates King Saud University and dean Moaddi M Almeth-Hib on earning the accreditation," said Robert D Reid, executive vice president and chief accreditation officer of AACSB International.
"AACSB Accreditation represents the highest achievement for an educational institution that awards business degrees. The entire KSU teamincluding the administration, faculty, directors, staff, and studentsare to be commended for their roles in earning accreditation."
AACSB accreditation is the hallmark of excellence in business education, and has been earned by less than five percent of the world's business programmes. Today, there are 777 business schools in 52 countries and territories that maintain AACSB Accreditation. Similarly, 185 institutions maintain an additional specialised AACSB Accreditation for their accounting programs, a statement said.
Achieving accreditation is a process of rigorous internal review, engagement with an AACSB assigned mentor, and peer review. During the multi-year process the school focuses on developing and implementing a plan to align with AACSBs accreditation standards. These standards require excellence in areas relating to strategic management and innovation; student, faculty, and staff as active participants; learning and teaching; and academic and professional engagement.
"It takes a great deal of self-evaluation and determination to earn AACSB accreditation, and I commend King Saud University for its dedication to management education, as well as its leadership in the community," said Reid. "Through accreditation, KSU has not only met specific standards of excellence, but has also made a commitment to ongoing improvement to ensure that the institution will continue to deliver high quality education to its students. - TradeArabia News Service
Germany-based BASF, a leading chemical company, is planning an investment of $4 billion in Iran, said a report.
Together with an Iranian company, BASF wants to build new petrochemical plants near Iran's petrochemical and gas industry hub in Assaluyeh, Bushehr Province, added Iran Daily News, citing a Handelsblatt report.
In April, BASF signed a memorandum of understanding with National Iranian Oil Company on future cooperation, it said.
The German company has been in business with Iran since 1959. In addition to a sales office in Tehran, BASF maintains a polyurethane system house for production of plastics northwest of the capital, but its operation is currently very limited.
Additionally, Munich gas manufacturer Linde was also interested in investment worth billions of dollars in the Iranian petrochemical industry jointly with the Japanese Mitsui Group.
According to Handelsblatt, Linde CEO Wolfgang Buchele has been in "pre-business talks" with the Iranians for some time. Neither BASF nor Linde commented on the report, the paper said.
Iran wants to use its huge reserves of raw materials to establish itself as the largest supplier of basic chemicals in the Gulf, added the report.
A high-level Spanish delegation recently visited the Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (Dafza) to discuss and develop mutual economic cooperation.
Dafza discussed with the Spanish Business Council ways to enable Spanish companies to benefit from the available growth potentials at the free zone, which provides an ideal gateway to the emerging markets in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asian regions (Menasa), said a statement from free zone authority.
The delegation was headed by Jose Eugenio Salarich, ambassador of Spain to the UAE, who also commended Dafza for providing a pioneering global model on effective free zone management, it said.
Dafzas director general Dr Mohammed Al Zarooni received the visiting delegation, which also included Ricardo Fessas, chairman of the Spanish Business Council and other senior Council officials, it added.
Al Zarooni stressed on the role of free zones in revitalising global investments and strengthening international trade to achieve a more diversified, stable and sustainable global economy, said a statement.
The Dafza official also expressed happiness in the move towards exploring the prospects of investment cooperation with the Spanish Business Council. He noted that the visit of the Spanish delegation reflects the high confidence of the international business community in Dafza reinforcing its position as a premiere investment destination that attracts major international and multinational companies from the most vital sectors.
Al Zarooni added: Our free zone has become a main player on the global investment map, which motivates us to continue moving forward in our efforts to establish a strong strategic presence regionally and globally.
Our free zone represents an attractive environment for the Spanish business community to direct its investments towards the UAE market that is full of tremendous growth opportunities in conjunction with the ongoing preparations to host Expo Dubai 2020, he said.
Al Zarooni concluded: We are keen on transferring our leading experience as one of the most advanced free zones in the world to our counterparts in Spain and the rest of world, as well as innovating and providing the best business services and solutions that are designed specifically to meet the needs of the international and regional investors.
For his part, H.E. Salarich explained that DAFZA has exceptional global experience in the field of free zones, emphasizing the importance of benefiting from its success story and how it is now widely reputed as one of the fastest growing free zones and one of the most competitive in the world.
Salarich said: We look forward as well to the forging of effective partnerships that will pave the way for even more Spanish companies to take advantage of the facilities provided by Dafza, which is considered as an ideal investment environment for expanding within the promising regional market. TradeArabia News Service
Abu Dhabi Ports has announced the arrival of the first container of UK-based Morgan Advanced Materials, a world leader in advanced materials, at Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad).
Abu Dhabi Ports is the master developer, operator and manager of ports and Kizad.
Abu Dhabi Ports ensured timely handling of the first shipment, which contained critical equipment for Morgans dedicated 37,000-sq-m advanced materials facility in Kizads Free Zone, to support the companys production activities, it said.
As the first container to a free zone company to be processed through Abu Dhabi Customs, several clearance procedures were put into practice for the first time, it added.
Mana Mohamed Saeed Al Mulla, chief executive officer, Kizad, said: The arrival of this shipment was an opportunity for us to showcase our success in managing the supply chain leading into our industrial free zone, which relies heavily on state-of-the-art IT systems and operational procedures.
We are pleased to announce that our commitment to being well-prepared has paid off, and that this shipment was processed with exceptional efficiency, he added.
The milestone underscores the streamlined, interconnected nature of the supply chain leading to and from Kizads free zone, said a statement.
Ian Robb, president of Morgan Advanced Materials thermal products division, said: Kizad is truly world-class, with well-considered plot layouts, roads and facilities.
Most important, though, is the exceptional service we received from both Kizad and the authorities involved in processing this shipment, he said.
The support we received has further reinforced our confidence in selecting Kizad for our new advanced materials facility, he added.
Morgan has a presence in the region since 2001, and in 2014 it selected Kizad for its first dedicated facility in the Middle East in part due to its proximity to Khalifa Port, which provides direct shipping links to more than 50 destination ports globally, it stated.
Morgans decision to create a dedicated facility with Kizads free zone follows significant growth in demand for its products, especially in the areas of thermal insulation, energy saving, acoustic barriers and fire protection, many of which are produced to very high tolerances and are designed for use in extreme environments, it said.
Through an initial 30-year Musataha agreement, Morgan has committed to an initial investment of Dh50 million (around $13.6 million) in its facility at the free zone, it added. TradeArabia News Service
Oil prices dipped on Wednesday as a global supply overhang weighed on markets, while talk of a potential producer meeting to discuss propping up prices lent some support but was met with scepticism by analysts.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures CLc1 were trading at $42.69 per barrel at 0207 GMT, down 9 cents from their last settlement.
International Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $44.93 per barrel, down 5 cents.
Traders said that markets were being weighed down by an ongoing supply overhang in crude and refined fuel products, while a suggested meeting by oil producers was unlikely to result in a significant market tightening.
"Oil eased lower as another round of proposed production freeze talks by Opec failed to excite investors. An upgrade in US oil production forecasts by EIA also weighed on sentiment. EIA is now expecting US output to reach 8.31 million barrels per day in 2017, up from its forecast of 8.2 million barrels per day in July," ANZ Bank said on Wednesday.
Venezuela, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), is trying to drum up support for a producer meeting to decide measures that would buoy oil prices.
"We are actively promoting a meeting of producers, which we estimate could take place in the coming weeks, so that Opec and non-Opec countries can sit down to see what the scenario for the winter looks like," its oil minister Eulogio del Pino said this week.
The last time producers met to discuss measure to tighten oil supplies and prop up prices, in April, Opec members were not able to agree on any measures.
Analysts said they did not expect more success from a potential future meeting.
"Renewed attempts at verbal intervention by Opec will help bolster oil market sentiment, although the group will struggle to rebuild its role as a backstop to Brent," said oil analysts at BMI Research in a note to clients. Reuters
Turkish Airlines has appointed Mehmet Can Tasci as the new general manager for its Bahrain office.
Tasci will lead the overall Turkish Airlines operations to strengthen the airlines in-country presence, and highlight the companys commitment to operating closer to customers while also accelerating their growth in the rapidly evolving Bahraini market. He has been with Turkish Airlines for the last five years as a revenue management specialist and demand analyst PROS supervisor.
Tasci said: Bahrain is a strong growth market for Turkish Airlines with tremendous interest among the residents to explore the exclusive touristic experiences that Turkey offers. As a major hub connecting with the rest of the world, Istanbul is ideally placed for visitors from Bahrain and the region to reach out to other destinations. We will continue to focus on our core strengths including the unbeatable connectivity and excellent service standards as well as our exclusive amenities to passengers from Bahrain.
Turkish Airlines has now been operating in Bahrain for 30 years, connecting travellers from the city to 290 destinations globally, across 116 countries, the largest country network for an airline. - TradeArabia News Service
Aircompany Armenia has signed an agreement with Sharjah-based Information Systems Associates (ISA) for a complete Passenger Service System comprehend with reservation, departure control, weight and balance and budgeting solutions.
By signing the contract with ISA, Aircompany Armenia is empowered with a new generation web-based reservation system aeroMART Sell embedded with aeroMART WEB - internet booking engine, aeroMART AGENT - Agent Booking Engine, aeroMART Mobile - Mobile Application and aeroMART Reward - Loyalty Management System.
In addition to the above, the Aircompany Armenia contract with ISA includes aeroPORT solution suite, which comprises of aeroPORT Fly departure control system and the aeroPORT Trim Weight & Balance system. State-of-the-art budget management system aeroLINE Sales is the other main product included to Aircompany Armenia shopping cart which is going to automate and streamline the budgeting process of the airline.
We were pleased with this deal, and we could not be more impressed with the experience of ISA and the capabilities of their innovative solutions Robert Oganesian, the CEO of Aircompany Armenias said.
Aircompany Armenia has chosen ISA for its industry leading technology solution, experience and expertise in providing passenger services solutions for many of the leading airlines across the world. We are happy to be the preferred partner of Aircompany Armenia for the key IT solutions for their business Nader A Shukralla, CEO of ISA said. The continuous expansion of ISA in the market reflects the strength of our products and its technology competences, our companys focus is to deliver leading technology solutions faster than ever before he added. - TradeArabia News Service
A married Saudi woman will not be allowed to travel, even with her father, without the permission of her husband, according to a new ruling.
The decision, which was unveiled by the Passports Directorate, states that a woman registered in the records of her husband is obligated to get permission from her husband before travelling as he is now the wife's guardian, Arab News reported.
Sheikh Abdullah Al-Manea, a member of the senior scholars council, welcomed the decision saying: "When a woman is married, she has to abide by the orders of her husband. The Passports Directorates decision to not to allow a woman to travel abroad, even if with her father, without the permission of husband, is the right approach."
"However, in the case of a wife who has requested divorce and it has yet not been decided, and the husband was not allowing her to travel abroad, then the matter should be solved through judicial means," he added.
Col. Mala Al-Otaibi, spokesman of the Passports Directorate of the Eastern Province, said: "When the husbands name is added to the family card, it shows that he is the wifes guardian and not the father. Therefore, it is mandatory for a married woman to get permission from her husband if she is traveling with her father."
The facility of getting travel permits is available on the Absher services of Jawazat, the report said.
Downtown Rotana, the new luxury hotel located in the heart of Manama, hosted 10 teenagers, aged 14 to 18 years old, from the Al Kawther Society to a day of culinary learning, team building activities and kitchen fun.
The hotels staff developed a tailor-made, half-day introductory programme focusing on the basics of cooking, combining practical and theoretical training as well as team building excercises that culiminated into an amusing competition and the vie for the grand prize. The youngsters were first taken through a theory-based session to learn the basics of operating in a kitchen including cleanliness and food preservation; they were then split into five teams of two and given a chance to cook a dish demonstrated by the chefs in the Teatro Downtown kitchen, which was judged on the overall taste, technique and presentation. Two shortlisted teams battled it out over dessert with the winning dish and a lucky duo being rewarded.
Commenting on this initiative, Lilian Roger, general manager of Downtown Rotana said: Todays activity is one of many we plan to host for the youth of Al-Kawther as part of our sustainable engagement plan. We have expressed our commitment to work closely with this inspirational Society that cares for the future of so many orphans, and build an enduring relationship with its youngsters. In the coming months we will be organising a series of exciting events at our premises, ranging from swimming lessons, healthy eating sessions, hospitality career days, cinema nights and arts and crafts; all aimed at enhancing their knowledge, developing their skills across multiple areas and promoting team building, mixed with lots of fun.
We are also working on a mentorship programme to introduce the children to the Hospitality industry, again through a combination of practical and theoretical training; this ambitious initiative will have a two-fold effect - familiarise the Al Kawther children to the different aspects of the hospitality world and also open up the doors for more youngsters to join this flourishing industry.
During Ramadan, Downtown Rotana hosted over 20 Al-Kawther children, aged six to 14 to an afternoon of Gargaoun festivities at the hotel premises. Children spent their evening enjoying a host of games and songs to mark the occassion and were treated to a themed iftar buffet. - TradeArabia News Service
HUGO, Colo. Authorities in eastern Colorado are offering a reward for help finding the person responsible for shooting and killing cattle.
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office says someone is killing cattle north of Hugo and leaving them to lie and rot in the pastures. The most recent shooting was July 30, but investigators say they've been tracking livestock killings since 2013.
Authorities say a total of five cattle and seven antelope have been killed.
Capt. Michael Yowell says the sheriff's department is offering a $10,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest. He said the shooter or shooters could face multiple felony charges.
U.S. House candidate Charlie Hardys campaign is crying foul after Democratic Party organizers advertised a Cheyenne fundraiser for Ryan Greene, Hardys opponent, in the Aug. 16 primary.
Several members of the Laramie County Democratic Party, including at least one elected precinct committeeman, sent out a flyer last week advertising an Aug. 21 house party fundraiser for Greene. The flyer included the Wyoming Democratic Partys logo.
Hardys campaign said that scheduling an event for Greene after the primary amounted to an unfair show of support by the state party.
They claim that (Greenes) already the candidate, which is not true, and it doesnt acknowledge that there are other people in the race, Hardy campaign manager David Lewis said.
Wyoming Democratic Party vice chair Bruce Palmer said he was not aware of the flyer but that he did not see anything wrong with its production. He said any candidate was free to use the logo.
We certainly arent going to police its use, Palmer said in an email. If the Hardy campaign wanted to put in on their bus and drive it all over the state, wed be psyched to get them the artwork.
Joe Corrigan, a Cheyenne precinct committeeman and one of the sponsors of the fundraiser, said he organized the event for Greene before Hardy entered the race.
Hardy announced in late May that he was seeking the office.
If Charlie wins the race, we will immediately switch the party to being a Charlie party, Corrigan said. He added that he believed using the party logo was allowed for any Democratic candidate in the state.
Greene operations director Joe Barbuto said the campaign had not seen the flyer before it was sent out but that he did not see it as a problem.
The organizer in this case is a good friend of the campaign and he always makes good decisions, Barbuto said, adding that using the state party logo was at most unusual.
It certainly wasnt done in malice. ... I think he was just trying to attract Democrats to an event being hosted at his house, Barbuto said.
Palmer said that the state party has supported both candidates.
Hardy said he sees the flyer as only the latest attempt by some members of the state Democratic Party to stop his campaign.
I sensed there was a very well-orchestrated campaign against me, Hardy said. He cited negative comments from Democratic Party leaders he declined to name and internet comments posted to a news story about his campaign.
Some wildfires in Wyoming are starting to dwindle, while others continue to grow.
The Lava Mountain Fire near Dubois is 90 percent contained and mainly smoldering at this point. Crew members are in the mop-up phase, clearing debris and removing hazardous trees from the fire that covered 14,644 acres.
We are pretty confident that the fire is not going to do anything else, said public information officer Gabrielle Kenton. Its pretty much over with. Even though it wont be 100 percent contained until the snow flies. (In the meantime), we are expecting some red flag conditions, dry with high winds. That may increase the smoking from the smoldering. But we dont expect the fire to pick up.
There are nine large, active wildfires in Wyoming. The Whit Fire near Cody still has a specialized Type 1 incident command team in place, though it will soon be downsized to a Type 3 crew, according to state forester Bill Crapser.
The Beaver Creek Fire, on the other hand, is only 28 percent contained.
According to a report, that fire picked up sporadically on Monday, with most of the activity inside the fires existing boundaries. The wildfire, located 24 miles north of Walden, Colorado, crossed into Wyoming last month and has consumed 35,395 acres. Firefighters are patrolling the area and fortifying spots where the fire might escape a containment line.
Wyomings wildfire activity has been above average this season, Crapser said, which came as a surprise.
Earlier this spring, the weather predictions said we were going to have a lot of moisture this year. That changed, Crapser said. Its been dry across the state. Even the predictive services are looking at above-normal fire activity for probably the rest of August and returning to more normal as we move into the fall.
As part of the response to wildfires in the region, the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center set up a temporary staging and mobilization center at Camp Guernsey Joint Training Center to host transient firefighters from across the country.
But even with the added help, wildfires are still draining resources.
It puts a strain on the local volunteer fire departments, on our state resources and on the federal agency resources, Crapser said. Weve had a lot of activity in the Rocky Mountain region. The longer the fire season goes and the more fires you have, you start putting strain on your resources.
Not just on numbers, but on cumulative fatigue.
CHEYENNE Firefighters are headed to battle a new, growing fire in northwest Wyoming.
The fire in the Shoshone National Forest started Tuesday and has burned more than 1 square mile about 30 miles northwest of Cody.
Nearby scattered rural residences have been evacuated but no structures have been lost.
Part of Buffalo Bill Reservoir is closed to the public because air tankers are using it.
Elsewhere in Wyoming, firefighters are mopping up fires burning in the Shoshone forest northwest of Dubois and in the Bridger-Teton National Forest southeast of Jackson. Two small fires in backcountry areas of Yellowstone National Park are being allowed to burn.
Red flag warnings were posted Wednesday for a large part of central and southern Wyoming.
Two people died early Wednesday in a crash about 5 miles west of Cheyenne.
Dustin Lovell, 29, of Cheyenne, and his passenger, a 29-year-old woman, died at the scene, according the the Wyoming Highway Patrol.
Lovell was driving a 2015 Volkswagen Tiguan west on Interstate 80 about 3:56 a.m. when the SUV crossed both westbound lanes and crashed into a semitrailer parked in the emergency lane, according to a news release.
Neither Lovell or the passenger were wearing seat belts. Alcohol and drug use are being investigated as possible contributing factors.
Officials have not identified the passenger, who had an address listed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, pending notification of family.
The crash marked the 64th and 65th highway deaths in Wyoming this year. There were 92 deaths during the same time period in 2015.
Editor:
Wyoming faces many challenges due to the downturn in oil and gas, coal and the economy. These economic conditions have impacted all our state and local governments, with predictable cuts and shortfalls in the schools and University of Wyoming. The recent candidate debate sponsored by the Casper Star-Tribune, Casper College and Wyoming PBS demonstrated that Liz Cheney is best prepared to get results for our state.
Liz has run a campaign based on conservative solutions and not negative attacks against fellow Republicans. She has offered detailed policies on how to strengthen our fossil fuel industry, achieve energy security, and protect our borders. She also has thoughtful plans on how to rein in excessive Washington bureaucracy and the burdensome weight of federal programs that amount to little more than unconstitutional job-killers.
Wyoming has only one voice in the U.S. of House of Representatives. That is why I am voting for and supporting Cheney. She has the national experience to bring much-needed attention to our state issues. Liz will fight to preserve our way of life every day. She has earned my vote and I encourage you to support her on Aug. 16 at the primary election.
WASHINGTON (AP) Moving beyond "Obamacare," political activists are looking to state ballot questions to refocus the nation's long-running debate over government's role in health care.
This fall, California voters will decide whether to lower some prescription drug prices, while Coloradans will vote on a state version of a "single-payer" government-run health system, similar to what Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders proposed in his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Sanders supports both the California and Colorado initiatives, said spokesman Michael Briggs.
"We are in the process of building a new organization to keep a lot of the energy going," he said. "Backing those kinds of ballot initiatives is one of the major things that we are focusing on."
Pharmaceutical companies and insurers are spending millions of dollars to defeat the two ballot questions.
The measures are among the more far-reaching health care questions to be decided by voters around the country on Election Day. With ballots still being finalized in some states, other questions may include raising tobacco taxes, expanding use of marijuana for medical treatment and allowing terminally ill patients to have physician assistance in dying.
A proposal in Ohio to limit drug costs didn't make it on the ballot this year, but proponents are pushing for a vote in 2017.
California's Proposition 61 would bar drug companies from charging state programs more than the discounted price paid by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
There would be exemptions, however. For example, it would not apply to medications purchased through private insurers who contract with the state to cover beneficiaries in the Medi-Cal program for low-income people.
Opponents of the California initiative have reported $69.6 million in contributions, mainly from pharmaceutical companies. That's more than seven times the $9.4 million that supporters have raised. Those amounts guarantee national visibility for the battle.
In Colorado, a measure known as Amendment 69 would create ColoradoCare, a government-financed system that would cover most state residents, largely replacing private insurance. Seniors would continue to rely primarily on Medicare.
Opponents have raised $3.6 million, more than five times the $678,000 reported by supporters. The nation's second-largest insurer, Anthem, donated $1 million to the opposition.
As envisioned, Colorado's new public health care system would be paid for with tax increases and with federal and state money that now goes to programs such as Medicaid, and for subsidized insurance under President Barack Obama's health care law. Federal approval would be needed under a provision of the Obama law that takes effect next year, allowing states to redesign their health care systems.
The tax increase features a new 10 percent levy on wages and other income. Employers would pay two-thirds of the new payroll tax, with workers responsible for the rest. The taxes would raise $25 billion in 2019, the earliest the program could start.
A recent nonpartisan study projected that as currently structured, ColoradoCare would post a small deficit starting in its first year and the shortfall would keep growing.
With the presidential campaign consumed by questions about the candidates' character and temperament, the traditional debate over issues has been downplayed. Republican Donald Trump has pledged to repeal Obama's health care law, while Democrat Hillary Clinton would build on it. The California and Colorado initiatives steer the conversation away from the highly scripted back-and-forth on "Obamacare."
The two proposals are strikingly different, said John McDonough, a former U.S. Senate Democratic aide who worked on the federal health overhaul. The Colorado plan seeks a total transformation of the health care system, while the California initiative reflects concerns about the rising cost of many medications.
Which ballot question has a better chance? "Of the two, I probably think the prescription drug piece, because people have so much anger and antipathy toward the pharmaceutical industry," said McDonough, now a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Supporters of the California drug costs proposal say it would save state taxpayers money; opponents say such savings are not a sure thing and the whole scheme could prove to be unworkable. Supporters of ColoradoCare say it would guarantee coverage for all and reduce administrative costs; opponents fear it would lead to more tax increases.
Both proposals face strong business opposition, but that does not worry the Sanders' camp.
"He's been involved in longshot campaigns for most of his career," said spokesman Briggs.
___
Associated Press writers Kristen Wyatt in Denver, Juliet Williams in Sacramento and Ann Sanner in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this story.
___
Online:
California Proposition 61: http://tinyurl.com/zquo5jp
Colorado Amendment 69: http://tinyurl.com/gpwqqca
PHOENIX Four of the five Republican candidates for Arizona Corporation Commission said at a debate theyre not convinced that human activity contributes to climate change.
I dont see the evidence of it, said Rick Gray in the live televised debate Monday night. Where are the facts?
Host Ted Simons of KAET asked Gray if he was discounting whats been said by many scientists.
Im just saying we have not seen all the evidence, Gray responded.
I dont think its been proven absolutely for me, said former judge Boyd Dunn. He said its a good thing that Arizona, unlike some other states, has a diversity of power sources, including coal.
Former state Sen. Al Melvin said theres been climate change since the beginning of time and I would suppose that is the situation as opposed to man-made problems. He also took a slap at the Obama administrations policies, saying the move to shut coal-fired plants is political.
Current commissioner Bob Burns also expressed skepticism of human-caused climate change.
I have a hard time believing that when you can have a volcano go off and create more pollution than we can deal with for who knows how long, he said.
Only Andy Tobin, also on the commission, said it would be foolish to believe that humans are not affecting climate.
Its hard to argue that all the asphalt that humans have put down in the city of Phoenix hasnt done something to increase the heat here, Tobin said. And the same is true, he said, of other activities, including greenhouse gases.
Were burning these things so I do think its impactful, Tobin said. The question is, to what extent?
Their views are significant because commissioners have purview over regulations that now require utilities to obtain at least 15 percent of their power from alternate clean sources like solar, wind and geothermal by 2025. The commission can not only increase or decrease that mandate but also is deciding what costs utilities can impose on homeowners who install rooftop solar.
Only three of the contenders will advance to the general election, where they will face Democrats Bill Mundell and Tom Chabin.
As anticipated, the debate provoked some fireworks over the ongoing contention by Burns that Arizona Public Service secretly helped finance independent campaigns that spend $3.2 million in 2014 to elect Republicans Tom Forese and Doug Little. APS has declined to confirm or deny it was the source of such money.
Among this years candidates, Burns is alone in wanting new rules to require utilities to disclose their political spending. He said hes the only one looking for transparency.
But Burns found himself under attack for his decision last week to hire an attorney, at public expense, to take a closer look at the influences affecting the commissions decisions, including political donations.
Gray said there is no evidence that the votes of either Forese or Little have been affected by that outside spending.
Gray charged that Burns is trying to make up for his lack of funds by making an issue out of APSs possible spending. Now, he said, that includes a contract to pay a lawyer up to $95,000 to poke around, which gives him (free) press.
Theres just an obvious questionable appearance, Gray said.
Burns shot back, This just didnt come up before the election started. Ive been working on this for almost two years. This cloud has been hanging over this commission for at least two years.
You created the cloud, Gray interjected.
No, APS created this cloud, Burns responded.
Tobin, who opposes Burns efforts to force utilities to disclose political donations, questioned why all the attention now on a 2-year-old race.
So theyre guilty, he said as a hypothetical. What do you want to do about it?
It remains to be seen whether the other commissioners will try to overturn or modify Burns decision to hire the attorney, which was approved by Jodi Jerich, the commissions executive director.
Gray also criticized Burns for his complaints about spending by anonymous donors. He pointed out that Burns is the beneficiary of some outside spending this year.
But the robocalls and mailers for Burns have disclosed their dollars are coming from SolarCity, which is engaged in an ongoing battle with several utilities over how much the commission will force their customers to pay to the power companies. By contrast, the two groups that spent money in 2014 on behalf of Forese and Little have pointedly refused to disclose the source of their dollars, saying they are organized as social welfare organizations exempt from state campaign finance laws.
Former Republican Commissioner Kris Mayes, who did the robocall for Burns, said there was a deliberate decision to be transparent on the source of the funds.
Candidates have no control over independent outside expenditures. But Burns said he has publicly asked other groups not to provide such help.
The chamber of commerce in Nogales, Sonora, says it will take legal action against the U.S.-based Ambos Nogales Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, claiming it is violating Mexican federal law.
In a cease-and-desist letter dated Dec. 14, 2015, lawyers representing the Nogales Camara Nacional de Comercio said the law prohibits a group to act as a chamber of commerce in Mexico unless it is incorporated under specific statutes and registered with the Ministry of the Economy.
The dispute has continued since then. Carlos Jimenez Robles, president of the Nogales Camara Nacional de Comercio, said recently via email that he could not comment on the situation because the group is very close to a legal action.
Demands made in the letter include that the Ambos Nogales chamber stop claiming it is a chamber in Mexico, discontinue advertising across the border and cancel any activities as a chamber representing businesses in Nogales, Sonora.
Launched in early 2015, the Ambos Nogales chamber is an affiliate of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, along with Hispanic chambers in Douglas and Sierra Vista.
We were very disappointed to receive the letter, Lea Marquez-Peterson, president of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said recently via email. The new board members and leadership at Canaco Nogales have a misunderstanding of our work and vision in working in the Arizona-Sonora region.
The chamber has responded through its attorneys that it is not operating as a Mexican chamber, she said, so the claims have no bearing. Activities by the Hispanic chamber in Sonora include trade mission trips and events in partnership with the U.S. Consulate in Nogales.
RUNAWAY COUPLE IS DETAINED BY SHERIFF
Sheriff Forbes by clever work deduced that Ramon Robles and Edith Dowdy, two young people who arrived last evening, were a runaway couple, and detained them.
Robles, who is a Mexican, stated that he was 21 and that the girl was 16, and that they had run off from Prescott to get married. They were taken to the county jail and questioned. Miss Dowdy, who is an American, has a sister in Tucson.
Sheriff Forbes communicated with Prescott officers and an effort will be made to get the consent of the mother to the marriage. Robles claims that the girl is mistreated at home, and they both are anxious to get married.
The man accused of killing an 80-year-old woman in a head-on crash while evading Border Patrol agents was sentenced Monday to 11 years in prison.
A federal judge sentenced William Ken Huebbe, a 31-year-old Tucson resident, to 11 years in prison after Huebbe pleaded guilty to human smuggling that resulted in a death near Three Points on Jan. 8, 2015, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release.
Huebbe was smuggling two undocumented immigrants towards Tucson when he swerved into oncoming traffic to get away from Border Patrol agents and struck another car. The impact killed an 80-year-old woman and severely injured her 55-year-old daughter as the two were heading home from a medical exam.
The story about the UAs senior vice president for health sciences taking chauffeured trips to and from Phoenix angered me just like it did everybody else.
Obviously, if Dr. Joe Skip Garcia wanted to work while he traveled, he should have just taken the train!
And, when I saw drivers plowing through rivers of storm water down Tucson streets Tuesday, I thought, Why dont they just take the dry, well-drained streets?!
And when I see disabled people riding their scooters the wrong way in the bicycle lane down Speedway and other busy streets, I always think Why dont they just ride on the sidewalks?!
Yes, Im being sarcastic. During my 2 weeks of vacation in Minnesota and the San Diego area in late July and early August, the one thing that really stuck out to me and I admit this isnt flattering was their infrastructure, and our relative lack thereof.
This really hit me when we were driving down U.S. Highway 169 from northern Minnesota toward the Twin Cities and stopped at the Rum River rest area.
First, it was surprising there was a rest area on any highway other than an interstate. Second, it was beautiful. The doors to the bathrooms were inside, and therefore the bathrooms themselves were climate controlled. There was visitor information, a walking path, a playground and, incredibly, a trail down to the Rum River used by canoeists. We could have spent the day there.
All this at a rest area on a secondary highway equivalent in size to Arizona 90 between Benson and Sierra Vista.
A week or so later, we were driving from San Diego back to Tucson on Interstate 8. Of course, the first rest area in Arizona, called Mohawk, was closed. It has been for as long as I can remember. That reminded me of when we were driving back from the Chiricahuas in April: The first rest area along Interstate-10 coming west from New Mexico, the San Simon rest area, has also been closed.
(ADOT tells me the Mohawk rest area is being remodeled and San Simon has re-opened since I passed through, though it has had a flooding problem.)
These are relatively minor items in a states budget, easily targeted when money is tight. And it is very tight in Arizona, thanks to our self-imposed austerity.
Our operating budget this fiscal year is about $10 billion; Minnesota is spending about $20 billion per year. Oh, and it has about 1 million fewer residents than Arizona. These budget figures arent a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, but per-capita-spending rankings show Minnesota spending about 50 percent more per-person than Arizona.
No wonder they can afford 56 yes, 56 rest areas scattered around the state compared to Arizonas 22.
And no wonder the passenger train that Dr. Garcia should have been taking between Tucson and Phoenix like the well-traveled trains between Los Angeles and San Diego does not exist and likely never will.
The Arizona Department of Transportation has been studying rail between the states two biggest cities for years and is moving forward. But eventually well get to that place where the billion-dollar project needs to be funded.
Unless the federal government steps in and funds most of it, I dont see the support materializing. In Arizona, we just dont spend money on massive infrastructure like that these days.
But its not just the states infrastructure that lacks. As becomes clear every time we have a heavy rain, our local infrastructure has problems, too. This isnt the fault, generally, of the current occupants of office. Its the result of decades-old bad or delayed decisions.
Here, Im thinking of decisions like building North Alvernon Way and other streets in such a way as to funnel water, rather than shed it. Designs drawn decades ago can only be fixed through massive public works.
Those wouldnt even be included in the $700 million that City Manager Michael Ortega said is necessary to repair Tucson roads.
The reality is we have a lot of unmet needs. How do we deal with it address those systematically over time and in partnerships, Ortega told me Tuesday.
The same is true of another of our great lacking pieces of infrastructure sidewalks. As we all know, the average Tucson-area neighborhood has no sidewalks. That endangers pedestrians, especially children, and discourages people from walking, contributing to our societal health problems.
This resulted in part because of the way the city developed. After Tucson began requiring streetlights, storm sewers and sidewalks in the 1920s, developers began building just outside city limits, Tucson historic preservation officer Jonathan Mabry said. Then the city would annex the developments with the infrastructure lacking.
Whoever is to blame, were left with the deficit.
Now the city is working to retrofit the older urban core with those amenities, Mabry said.
However, the city itself isnt putting much effort into the sidewalk issue there is no current capital plan to build new sidewalks. Its left that to the Regional Transportation Authority, which is building 250 miles worth of sidewalks in the Tucson area as part of its 20-year plan. Those are all along busier streets, not within residential neighborhoods.
Now, there is some hope federal help will be coming. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have promised major infrastructure programs if they are elected. We could use the help, obviously!
But my travels tell me its best not to wait for that and definitely not to wait for the state of Arizona. Last year, Phoenix passed a sales-tax increase, lasting 35 years, that will help pay for $30 billion in rail and other transit improvements.
Weve seen what happened with Tucsons road bonds theyre helping tremendously. Whats clear is, if we want things, we need to build them.
Pima County Sheriff's deputies are searching for three men in connection to a Quik Mart robbery on Tucson's south side.
On Aug. 3 shortly after midnight, deputies responded to the convenience store at 4280 E. Benson Highway, said Deputy Ryan Inglett, a sheriff's spokesman.
When deputies arrived, they learned that three men entered the store and demanded money and cigarettes. One man was armed with a shotgun, and another with a knife, Inglett said. He said the third man did not show a weapon.
The men ran from the store with an undisclosed amount of cash and cigarettes, said Inglett.
Detectives are asking the public for help in identifying the assailants. All three men were described as Hispanic, in their 20s and with small builds.
One was wearing a bandana covering his face, and was dressed in black pants and was wearing a black hoodie. He was carrying a red and black bag.
The other was wearing a mask. He wore black pants and a gray and black hoodie. He was armed with a knife.
The third wore a black hat and a red, white and blue bandana covering his face. He was dressed in jeans and a black hoodie. He was armed with a camouflage shotgun, Inglett said.
Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or 88-CRIME.
The University of Arizona has hit a brick wall in its efforts to establish a veterinary school in Oro Valley, a project that recently received an $8 million infusion from state taxpayers.
The American Veterinary Medical Association, which accredits veterinary schools, says the UA proposal has substantial flaws that indicate it isn't ready yet to take the first step toward accreditation.
The ruling, which the UA plans to fight at a potential cost of $10,000, would put the project at least a year behind schedule. Once turned down, a school must wait 12 months before restarting its accreditation effort.
The association's Council on Education conducted a site visit and reviewed documentation submitted by the UA to support its request. In April, the council delayed its decision to obtain more information from the university.
The council cited five areas of deficiency in rejecting the UAs application. They include lack of proof of the veterinary school's long-term financial viability, inadequate staffing and recruiting plans, lack of a high-quality research program and unanswered questions around student access to learning opportunities.
"The council found that the school's plan, when implemented, will not permit the school to be in compliance" with accreditation standards, the notification letter said.
The UA says the information provided so far to the accreditor should have been enough to merit initial approval. Officials will make that argument on appeal, a UA news release said.
"The UA has provided a detailed plan for a novel year-round veterinary medical program that will provide a faster path to a DVM degree for less money" President Ann Weaver Hart said in a statement.
"We will demonstrate that we have addressed all of their concerns,"she said of the accreditor. "We are is absolutely committed to earning AVMA accreditation."
The UA had A 30-day window in which to appeal and waited until a few days before the deadline to do so. The appeal letter is dated Aug. 8.
The university now has 60 days in which to resubmit documentation and it must also provide a $10,000 deposit to cover the appeal costs.
The accreditor then has 120 days to schedule the hearing, to be held in Illinois where the group is based.
When the UA announced the Oro Valley site, near North Oracle Road and North First Avenue, at a news conference last fall, officials said they hoped to obtain accreditation in 2016.
Arizona's recent state budget provided the UA with $8 million to renovate the 33,000-square-foot Oro Valley site to add classrooms, laboratories and veterinary surgical suites. The work has already begun, the news release said.
This is how the city of Tucson is set up to tackle an aging and crumbling infrastructure: Fix it when it breaks.
With $1.2 billion in identified capital projects on hold, city leaders are tasked with keeping things running while trying to find a way to pay for its massive needs.
The recent mechanical failure of the 38-year-old air conditioner inside the Armory Park Center illustrates how major expenses are handled.
The city scrambled for an emergency fix so that more than 100 senior citizens would not be forced to skip meals. The estimated cost of the repair was nearly $80,000.
Possible long-term solutions were contemplated this week at a budget retreat for the Tucson City Council. Options discussed for coming up with the kind of money the city needs to take on $1.2 billion in projects would raise taxes.
Despite the looming bill, City Manager Mike Ortega began the retreat by trying to reassure the council that the city is still in relatively good financial shape.
The sky is not falling, Ortega told the council.
Ortega stressed at the meeting that no solution would address all the needs on the $1.2 billion list, noting the citys ability to tax cannot meet all the demands.
City officials opted to delay some capital improvements during the recession, which has added to the backlog of projects.
A half-cent sales tax was mentioned by several council members as a possible solution. The city estimates it could generate $50 million a year.
Councilman Paul Cunningham said he was open to allowing the proposed sales tax to be open-ended, not ending the tax after a five-year period as Ortega has suggested. Tax revenues, he said, could help meet a lot of the citys needs in a single decade.
Other council members said they would be open to considering a half-cent sales tax for planning purposes, but it is unlikely a tax would go to the voters sooner than next year.
Mayor Jonathan Rothschild said that while the council has an obligation to discuss the outstanding needs in the community, voters will ultimately decide whether they want to pay for it.
Voters would also need to amend the city charter to approve a half-cent sales tax.
Another option, asking voters to approve a $100 million general obligation bond, would not require amending the charter.
The retreat this week was the first step in discussing the magnitude of the citys needs. Ortega is expected to revisit the issue in September during a council meeting.
The University of Arizona has hit a brick wall with plans to establish a veterinary school in Oro Valley, a project that recently received an $8 million infusion from state taxpayers.
The American Veterinary Medical Association, which accredits veterinary schools, rejected the UAs proposal, saying it has substantial flaws that show it isnt ready yet to take the first step toward accreditation.
The proposed veterinary school is one of President Ann Weaver Harts signature initiatives. She recently persuaded state lawmakers to provide $8 million to retrofit the Oro Valley site, work that already has begun, according to a UA news release.
The money is being spent to install classrooms, laboratory space and veterinary operating suites at the 33,000-square-foot site near North Oracle Road and North First Avenue.
The accreditors finding, which the UA plans to fight at a potential cost of $10,000, would put the project at least a year behind schedule. Once turned down, a school must wait 12 months before restarting its accreditation effort.
The veterinary associations Council on Education conducted a site visit and reviewed documentation submitted by the UA to support its request. In April, the council delayed its decision to obtain more information from the university.
The council cited five areas of deficiency in rejecting the UAs application. They include lack of proof of the veterinary schools long-term financial viability, inadequate staffing and recruiting plans, lack of a high-quality research program and unanswered questions around student access to learning opportunities.
The council found that the schools plan, when implemented, will not permit the school to be in compliance with accreditation standards, the notification letter said.
The UA says the information provided to the accreditor so far should have been enough to merit initial approval. Officials will make that argument on appeal, the UA news release said.
The UA has provided a detailed plan for a novel year-round veterinary medical program that will provide a faster path to a DVM degree for less money Hart said in the news release.
We will demonstrate that we have addressed all of their concerns, she said of the accreditor. We are absolutely committed to earning AVMA accreditation.
The UA has known about the accreditors decision since July 12 but didnt make it public until Tuesday. The UA had a 30-day window in which to appeal with a deadline of Aug. 11. The appeal letter is dated Aug. 8.
The university has 60 days in which to resubmit documentation and must also provide a $10,000 deposit to cover the appeal costs. The accreditor then will have 120 days to schedule the hearing, to be held in Illinois where the group is based.
When the UA announced the Oro Valley site at a news conference last fall, officials said they hoped to obtain accreditation in 2016.
State lawmaker Bruce Wheeler, a Tucson Democrat who supported the recent $8 million state contribution for the veterinary school, said he is flabbergasted the UA didnt have a better grasp of its eligibility for accreditation before seeking public funds.
He blamed Hart for not paying close enough attention to the accreditation process and said he plans to call on the Arizona Board of Regents to expedite her departure.
This is another black eye for the University of Arizona, said Wheeler, who also has clashed with Hart over her service on the board of for-profit DeVry University.
Hart already has said she plans to retire as president when her contract expires in 2018. The UA is planning a national search for her replacement.
Shane Burgess, interim dean of the UA veterinary school, said in the news release that the UAs proposal is intentionally different from traditional veterinary schools. It relies heavily on partnerships with the Reid Park Zoo, Pima Animal Care Center and other local entities to provide veterinary students with training opportunities.
Its not the traditional vet school model, and its not intended to be. We need a model for the 21st century and for Arizona, he said.
HELENA, Mont. (AP) The U.S. government, facing rising firefighting costs as blazes rage more frequently and with greater intensity across the West, wants Montana's largest utility to compensate it for a 2010 wildfire near Canyon Ferry Lake east of Helena.
Over three days in July 2010, the Lakeside Fire burned nearly 900 acres of federal, state and private land. It destroyed a cabin and two other structures and forced the evacuation of residents north of the lake. More than 200 people from various agencies and led by the U.S. Forest Service responded to the fire.
NorthWestern Energy's negligence of a power line caused the fire, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court. A Forest Service investigation concluded the fire was started after the power line malfunctioned, severed and ignited the grass and timber on the ground.
The power line's poles and insulators had not been properly maintained by NorthWestern Energy, the lawsuit said.
"The Ward Ranch Line would not have malfunctioned, snapped and caused the Lakeside Fire if defendant had exercised reasonable care in the maintenance and operation of the line," Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Dishong wrote in the lawsuit.
The government seeks $485,855 the cost of fighting the fire plus interest and an unspecified amount in penalties.
NorthWestern's attorneys filed a response Monday in which the company denies any liability. Attorney Chad Adams submitted a number of possible defenses, including that the damage caused by the fire was an Act of God, the fault of others not named or caused by the government itself.
NorthWestern spokeswoman Claudia Rapkoch said she could not speak in detail about the lawsuit or the cause of the fire, but that the company strongly denies the allegation of negligence. "The company does plan to defend itself in court if it comes to that," she said.
Fighting and preventing fires now consumes more than half of the Forest Service's annual budget, and the agency estimates the costs could jump to two-thirds of the budget by 2025 unless changes are made. The costs have risen as fire seasons have grown longer and the size, frequency and severity of fires have increased, agency officials said in a report released last year.
But lawsuits such as the one filed against NorthWestern Energy are not part of any new strategy to cut down those costs, said Forest Service spokesman David Smith.
"If a responsible party has been identified, the government seeks to recover costs," Smith said. "We've collected from energy companies, mines, and individuals over the years."
It may not be uncommon for the U.S. government to sue to recover firefighting costs, but the government should be doing more of it, said J. Curtis Varone, a Rhode Island attorney who runs a blog called Fire Law.
"In the US we have historically looked at fire as an accident for which no one is really responsible," Varone said in an email to The Associated Press Tuesday. "Many other countries look at it a bit differently: negligently causing a fire is a criminal act."
Some states also have turned to the courts to recover firefighting costs. The Wyoming Supreme Court last year ruled the state could recover money from Black Hills Power Inc. that was spent fighting a 2012 wildfire on state land near Newcastle.
Montana also paid more than $13,000 of the cost of the Lakeside Fire, its share for the damage to state lands, according to a cost-share agreement between the Forest Service and the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. The state agency is reviewing the federal lawsuit, spokesman John Grassy said.
"We haven't made a determination whether or not we'll get involved," Grassy said.
Three landowners previously sued NorthWestern Energy over the Lakeside Fire, making similar claims to those contained in the government's lawsuit. One of the landowners settled with the utility for terms that plaintiffs' attorney Thomas Budewitz declined to disclose.
One of the other lawsuits was thrown out earlier this year and the other has been suspended, according to court records.
NITV will host of the biennial gathering of the World Indigenous Television Broadcasters Network in Sydney in November.
Bringing together 8 Indigenous broadcasters from around the world, the event is held every 2 years. The inaugural gathering was held in New Zealand in 2008, followed by Taiwan, Norway and Canada.
WITBN Chairperson and NITV Channel Manager, Tanya Denning-Orman, said: Its fitting to announce the meeting in Australia on the International Day of the World Indigenous Peoples a day which celebrates the diverse cultures of the world and an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the injustices and challenges Indigenous people continue to face across the globe.
Its something each of our members work hard to achieve on a daily basis through our own networks and the reason why Indigenous television is so important.
Its an honour for NITV to host WITBN in Australia, the home of the worlds oldest continuous culture. We will focus on next steps for WITBN projects including our daily news exchange, co-production and program exchange, as well as showcase our unique Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture to our visiting members.
WITBN was founded in 2008 with a vision to preserve and promote Indigenous languages and cultures worldwide.
A not for profit organisation, WITBN is an alliance made up of members from around the world including NITV Australia, Maori Television New Zealand, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) Canada, Taiwan Indigenous Television (TITV), TG4 Ireland, BBC Alba Scotland, Oiwi TV in Hawaii and NRK Sapmi in Norway.
On art, music, books, movies, politics, life - sometimes with astrology thrown in.
Help India!
By Zaidul Haque, TwoCircles.net,
Kolkata: After honorarium to the Imam and Muazzin, West Bengal Government has taken a special initiative to help disadvantageous widow and divorcee Muslim women. The honorarium to the poor widow and divorcee Muslims would be provided through the state Waqf Board, informed the Chairman of the Waqf Board, Justice Md Abdul Ghani.
Support TwoCircles
The Panchayat election is just round the corner, and this new intiative may help build goodwill amongst Muslim voters in favour of Mamata Banerjees Trinamul Congress (TMC).
Few months ago, Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee had declared that the honorarium of Rs. 2500 will be given to the imams of mosques each month and a sum of Rs 1000 per month for the Muazzin.
The honorarium will be given from the special funds of the Chief Minister, but it would be delivered through State Waqf Board. Banerjee also holds the additional charge of minority affairs and madrasah education.
Justice Abdul Ghani also informed that so far more than 29000 Imams and 24000 Muazzains have submitted their application for the honorarium.
Although no fixed allocation has been made yet, but he explained that the state Waqf Board will be the nodal agency for the distribution of those honorariums. He also said that those Muslim women, who are widow or divorcee and whose annual income is not more than Rs 18000 they will be eligible to submit their applications for the remuneration.
This is for the first time in the country that the state waqf board will be distributing honorarium to poor Muslim widows and divorcees.
Application for the honorarium will be available at the state Waqf Board office, , 6/2 Madan Stree, Kolkata-700072 upto 4th April, 2013.
Divorcee women will also have to submit a copy of the Talaknama, and widows will have to furnish supporting documents from the local authority.
According to Justice Ghani, based on number of the applications received, the amount of the honorarium will be fixed.
Help India!
By TCN News,
New Delhi: Terming Prime Minister Modis statement to shoot him instead of Dalit brothers as selective and divisive in nature, the Welfare party of India has asked him to clarify stand on cow vigilantes attacks against Muslims.
Support TwoCircles
After maintaining a long silence over the Dalits thrashing by cow vigilantes at various places in India, Prime Minister Modi on Sunday called such gau rakshaks (cow protectionists) as anti-socials and told them to shoot him but not Dalits.
Reacting to this statement of him, WPI said it lacked sincerity and seriousness. It also said his words are too little as well as selective and divisive.
By saying to shoot him but not his Dalit brothers, Modi is again taking refuge of the divisive and partisan politics being practiced by the Sangh Parivar, said P.C. Hamza, national general secretary of WPI in a statement released to media.
He also raised many questions, Why our Prime Minister is selective and cannot consider all citizens as his brothers and sisters? Why Modi is keeping silence on the assault of Muslims by these same cow vigilantes? Why the PM not in clear terms and words condemn the attack on religious minorities in various part of the country by fringe groups affiliated and inspired by Sangh Parivar?
WPI alleged that Modis reaction was made out of political compulsion as the BJP felt apprehension of political reverse from agitating Dalit communities in forthcoming assembly elections.
The Party also criticized him for not reaching out to the families of those five people killed by consolation words and compensation rewards, in various incidents across the country by the cow vigilantes.
The statement from WPI further reads, The PM post warrants head of the nation to see all Indians of the country as brothers and sisters irrespective of (their) caste and religion.
WPI also maintained that the emerging unity among the affected sections to fight communal fascism cannot be thwarted by such hollow statements of PM Modi.
Help India!
By TCN News,
New Delhi: In order to address concerns over the current communal condition of the country in which weaker sections are being targeted and attempts have been made to corner them, Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind has decided to primarily focus on the need of Dalit-Muslim unity during its 33rd general session.
Support TwoCircles
The 33rd general session a mega gathering- is going to be held in Ajmer, Rajasthan on November 11, 12 & 13, 2016. Several renowned social activists, political leaders and intellectuals are expected to remain present during the three day program.
Through this session, Jamiat aims to forge unity among Dalit & Muslims and to reduce enmity between different sects of the Muslim community so that a united fight can be put forward.
Maulana Mahmood Madani, national general secretary of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind while briefing about the programme, elaborated that issues like unreasonable interference of judiciary into the Muslim personal laws, prevention of sectarian enmity, protection of citizenship rights in Assam, message of peace in Islam, issue of terrorism and Dalit-Muslim unity will come up for discussion.
Maulana Madani said that the organization in its meeting of national executive and managing committee would pass resolutions on the said issues and would organize mass mega gathering in the concluding day at a ground that has capacity of nearly more than two lakh people.
Brexit will have a knock-on effecton the rest of the EU and eventually its impact will be felt in the rest of the world, including the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries. As Brexit unfolds British trade policy could become more effective outside of the EU as London will likely push to win orders all over the world to compensate for the losses deriving from the lack of access to the EU Single Market.
Gulf traders worse off?
Exiting from a GCC-EU stalled Free Trade Agreement (FTA) may breathe new life into the UK's trading relationships with the Gulf.
A more favourable exchange rate as the pound's value falls will open doors to new Investment in the country, including from the GCC. However, those Gulf investors with already existing holdings in the UK, either in companies or properties, are, in the short term worse off than they were before Brexit. To better understand the implications and effects of Brexit on GCC countries, I spoke to Omani entrepreneur Qais al-Khonji, CEO of Genesis International.
Question time
BN - Has Brexit had any direct impact on GCC so far, and in particular on Omans economy?
QAK - Yes investors are undoubtedly facing the most direct impact, assets and properties values have already dropped significantly, its not a great time to sell.
However, other investors might also see this as an opportunity to buy in the UK, a lower sterling means greater opportunities for investment in the UK. I would definitely consider investing in the UK, but I think the pounds value hasn't hit the bottom yet, I will keep a close eye on the market to see when is the best moment to invest.
Moreover, the country has become much cheaper for GCC visitors, the pound has lost value and its below 500 Omani baisas, with positive effects for the tourism industry.
BN - The UK government will have to renegotiate trade relations with the outside world. Should we expect to see tighter bilateral relations between your region and London?
QAK - Yes, some of the countries in the region such as the UAE have already accelerated talks over a possible free trade agreement with the UK, I believe once thats been secured then all the other GCC countries will follow in the same direction.
BN - What benefits, if any, do you see for your countrys economy in dealing with a UK outside the EU? Which sectors are most likely to be positively or negatively affected?
QAK - It would definitely bring a number of positive developments, including increasing exports in goods and services, lower tariffs on exported goods, although this would occur gradually. On the other hand, a removal or relaxation of quotas on certain imported goods is also an important factor to be considered. The sectors that would see most changes are manufacturing and those concerning mass exports, ranging from cars, dealerships to food products.
Germany's Van Hiep Tran Ships the WPTN Rozvadov Main Event at King's Casino for 68,081
August 10 2016 Jason Glatzer
Yesterday, Germany's Van Hiep Tran outlasted a field of 339 entrants to win the partypoker World Poker Tour National (WPTN) Rozvadov Main Event at King's Casino Czech Republic for 68,081.
The event easily eclipsed its guarantee of 200,000 with 339 entrants (296 entries + 43 reentries) ponying up the 1,100 buy-in to generate a huge 330,101 prize pool.
The tournament kicked off on August 5 with the first of its two opening days. Players began the day with 30,000 opening chips and were able to rebuy once on each day. Additionally, players that survived Day 1a were allowed to reenter on Day 1b on August 6 and bring their best stack forward when the surviving players returned for action on Day 2 on August 7.
The action whittled down to 19 players to start the final day of action on August 8 with the eventual winner, Tran, holding a commanding chip lead. Soon after play began, one of Czech Republic's biggest names in poker along with a regular at King's Casino in Martin Kabrhel was the first player eliminated to bank the 19th place prize of 3,268.
Including Kabrhel, five players from five different countries were eliminated during the first blind level on Day 3, including Germany's Bernd Alexander Rygol ((18th - 3,730), Spain's Adrian Quevedo (17th - 3,730), Hungary's Istvan Nagy (16th - 3,730), and Netherland's Luuk Krabbe (15th - 4,357).
The international affair continued on as the final table bubble began to approach with players from two more different countries being the next to exit including Poland's Lukasz Jankowski (14th - 4,357) and Sweden's Velican Sahin (13th - 4,357) before a trio of Germans were the next to exit including Thassilo Achim Krause (12th - 5,315), Dennis Kraus (11th - 5,315), and Patrick Alexander Marquardt (10th - 5,315).
While Marquardt was the official final table bubble boy, he received some additional consolation of his buy-in back as well from the tour's sponsor thanks to winning the partypoker Last Longer Bet.
The final table proved to be a long and tough battle between players from six different countries. Czech Republic's Vitezslav Pesta was the first to bow out in ninth place for 7,295 before Israel's Shay Vodka (8th - 9,573), Germany's Patrick Beuter (7th - 12,148), Austria's Markus Hofer (6th - 14,623), and Israel's Itay Bernstein (5th - 17,294) all hit the showers in succession.
A pair of Germans were the next to be eliminated from the tournament with Daniel Oliver Schumacher banking 23,767 for fourth place and Jan Christoph Streicher taking home 31,954 for third place.
Tran entered heads-up play against Netherland's Harmjan Poel with a 3:2 chip advantage. Before play began, the two players agreed to a deal guaranteeing both players to win at least 58,081.
Play then resumed with blind levels cut in half to 30 minutes per level for the remaining money, the coveted trophy, and of course the chance to be entered into the WPTN history books as the latest champion.
After an hour of battling it out, play came to an end with Tran winning the top prize of 68,081 and Poel walking away with a great payday of 58,021.
On the final hand, Tran bested his opponent holding , against Poel's on a board that read giving Tran the victory when all was said and done.
Final Table Payouts of the partypoker WPTN Rozvadov Main Event
Place Name Country Prize 1 Van Hiep Tran Germany 68,081* 2 Harmjan Poel Netherlands 58,081* 3 Jan Christoph Streicher Germany 31,954 4 Daniel Oliver Schumacher Germany 23,767 5 Itay Bernstein Israel 17,294 6 Markus Hofer Austria 14,623 7 Patrick Beuter Germany 12,148 8 Shay Vodka Israel 9,573 9 Vitezslav Pesta Czech Republic 7,295
*Reflects heads-up deal
PokerNews Cup Up Next at King's Casino!
The 10th anniversary edition of the PokerNews Cup returns to King's Casino for a full schedule of exciting low limit events that can't be missed.
The festival starts today, August 10, with the fun 80 PokerNews Cup Opening NLH featuring a healthy 6,000 guarantee.
Of course, the highlight of the poker festival is the 250 PokerNews Cup Main Event running from August 11-15 where players can strike it rich thanks to a lofty 200,000 guaranteed prize pool. Players still have the opportunity to get in on this event for a fraction of the cost thanks to three 40 qualifiers taking place August 11-13 at King's Casino.
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand providing updates throughout the festival.
Lead image courtesy of the World Poker Tour and King's Casino.
Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
Sharelines Big win for Germany's Van Hiep Tran! Ships the WPTN Rozvadov Main Event at King's Casino for 68,081.
General practitioners have implicitly been given responsibility for guiding men's decisions about prostate-specific antigen-based screening for prostate cancer, but patients' expectations of the bounds of this responsibility remain unclear. We sought to explore how well-informed members of the public allocate responsibilities in prostate-specific antigen screening decision-making. In 2014, we convened two Community juries in Sydney, Australia, to address questions related to the content and timing of information provision and respective roles of patients and general practitioners in screening decisions. Participants in the first jury were of mixed gender and of all ages (n = 15); the participants in the second jury were all male and of screening age (n = 12). Both juries were presented with balanced factual evidence on the harms and benefits of prostate-specific antigen screening and expert perspectives on ethico-legal aspects of consent in medical practice. In their deliberations, jurors agreed that general practitioners should take responsibility for informing men of the options, risks and benefits of prostate-specific antigen testing, but arrived at different positions on whether or not general practitioners should also guide screening decisions. Jurors also disagreed on how much and when general practitioners should provide detailed information about biopsies and treatments. These responses suggest that for prostate-specific antigen testing, there is a public expectation that both the allocation of responsibility between general practitioners and their male patients, and the level of information provided will be tailored to individual men. In the presence of expert uncertainty, a well-informed public may have reason to embrace or resist shared decision-making processes.
Health (London, England : 1997). 2016 Aug 03 [Epub ahead of print]
Chris Degeling, Stacy M Carter, Lucie Rychetnik
The University of Sydney, AustraliaThe University of Notre Dame Australia, Australia ., The University of Sydney, Australia., The University of Notre Dame Australia, Australia.
PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27491944
Matt Brown, the eldest son of the Alaskan Bush People family, is undoubtedly one of the favorite cast members of the reality television show featured by Discovery Channel. After Matt shared in an emotional interview last month that he had been struggling with alcohol problems for quite some time and that he might not be ready to return to his Alaskan family living in the wilderness, fans are concerned that without Matt Brown, Discovery Channel cancelled Alaskan Bush People.
The truth behind the family living in the Alaskan wilderness
As the Morning Ledger recently reported, there are rumors that the Brown family is not really from Alaska.
However, as Billy Browns 2007 book One Wave at a Time clearly states, this is not a rumor but a mere fact. Billy and Ami grew up, married in Texas, and came to the Alaskan bush in order to make a home for their family.
Matt Brown was three years old and his brother Joshua (Bam Bam) was just one when the Brown family discovered that living in Alaskas wilderness was something that they had been looking for. As for the rumors that the family left the outback in order to pursue other interests, the Brown family admits to having lived in other parts of the country.
What Matt Brown revealed about his family
Matt Brown is the Alaskan bush familys first-born son, the most talkative one, and the most symbolic one.
When speaking about his Brown family, he says that he could not wish for more support from his siblings and his parents, but that despite of everything, there comes a time when someone loses his way.
Matts words sound very similar to his dads words when it came to facing the consequences of having tried to deceive the state of Alaska for money in their Permanent Fund dividend applications.
The scandal, which revealed that the Brown family had not actually lived in Alaska for the past 30 years, prompted Billy Brown to apologize to what he considered to be his true home state.
The reality behind reality television
After saying that there is a time when everyone loses his or her way, Matt Brown says that there is also a time when someone finds his way back to where he belongs.
Undoubtedly, for Matt and his dad Billy, that place is ones family and the Alaskan wilderness.
The emotional connection to surviving in the Alaskan outback and sticking together as a family is what fans of the reality television show treasure. The values shared by the Browns are the same values that viewers of Alaskan Bush People are looking forward to seeing each week.
"I'm protective because I love my family" -Bam #AlaskanBushPeoplehttps://t.co/hJjheLiXgL Alaskan Bush People (@AlaskanBushPPL) August 5, 2016
Will the show continue without Matt Brown?
Discovery Channel, which used to be known primarily for its documentary television programming, is not providing viewers with a fake program, as some headlines claim, but rather a type of programming that viewers appreciate.
Recent post-season episodes provided by Discovery give fans a behind-the-scenes look of how a reality television show is made. While fans are eagerly following the shows social media updates, Discovery Channel has not announced any news that Alaskan Bush People will be cancelled.
Lawmakers from ROK seek solution Updated: 2016-08-10 09:50 By CUI SHOUFENG(China Daily)
Discussions held at seminar in Beijing over bilateral relations in light of missile deployment
The controversy surrounding the China visit of six lawmakers from the Republic of Korea demonstrates split opinion and the opposition ROK President Park Geun-hye faces in her decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system.
The six anti-THAAD lawmakers from the main opposition Minju Party of Korea, all in their first terms in the National Assembly, embarked on a three-day visit to Beijing on Monday. They attended a closed-door seminar on Chinese-ROK ties organized by the Chinese think tank Pangoal Institution on Tuesday.
Representatives from both sides had "in-depth, candid" discussions on certain bilateral issues, exchanged their opinions, and offered "constructive suggestions" to improve Beijing-Seoul ties, according to a brief statement issued after the meeting that included Chinese scholars and the visiting lawmakers.
No further comments were made by either side. The seminar was not open to the press at the request of the ROK's side.
Previous reports said they planned to discuss the deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in the ROK with Chinese officials and scholars.
The six lawmakers faced strong opposition from the ROK's presidential office and media outlets before their visit to Beijing.
Park had urged the lawmakers to scrap the trip, which they said was made to discuss ways to prevent bilateral relations from deteriorating further, calling the missile system counterproductive.
During her meeting with senior presidential secretaries on Monday, Park denounced the visit because it further split public opinion over the THAAD deployment.
Park said she is ready to receive any criticism, as she believes THAAD is aimed at protecting South Koreans from nuclear and missile threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Wang Junsheng, a researcher in Asia-Pacific strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the lawmakers' visit mirrors the rifts over THAAD's deployment in the ROK, as opposition has been noted from not only politicians, but also local governments and residents.
"The visiting ROK lawmakers represent their voice, and they are here for the friendship between China and the ROK and their country's nation interests," Wang said.
"Their trip highlights the importance of high-level bilateral exchanges, which are now plunging into a chill, and the need to reduce strategic misunderstandings," he said.
Xinhua contributed to this story.
Beijing police launch operation against cyber crime Updated: 2016-08-10 12:47 (Xinhua)
BEIJING -- Beijing police have launched a two-month crackdown on cyber crimes, according to authorities.
The operation is being carried out to restore online order and security, Beijing police said in a statement.
It will target cyber crime that damages political security, while also cracking down on online terrorism and other types of illegal information.
Police will pursue crimes related to pornography, gambling, guns, explosives and drugs.
The special operation also targets infringement of private information, telecommunications fraud, hacking, the spread of violence and terrorism, and damage to the social order.
Websites, online service providers and employees will also be subject to police inspection, it said.
EU needs to regain its reputation as a safe, secure place Updated: 2016-08-10 08:30 By FU JING(China Daily)
Paramedics help injured outside Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, following an explosion on Tuesday. [Photo / Reuters]
In the decade up to 2014, the European Union could claim to be safer than the rest of the world, mainly because the number of terrorist attack victims decreased in the EU even as it increased globally. From 2009 to 2013, according to EU figures, 38 people died in terrorist attacks in the EU. In 2014, the number of terrorist victims within the EU was four, although many Europeans were killed in terrorist attacks in conflict zones outside the union.
But last year, things changed tragically: 151 people were killed and more than 360 injured in terrorist attacks in the EU, says the annual report of the European Police Office, the EU's law enforcement agency that started monitoring terrorist activities after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
This year, the attacks have spread to Belgium, with explosions at the Brussels airport and metro in March killing 32 people. In July, an Islamic fanatic killed 84 people in the French Riviera city of Nice by driving a truck through a crowd watching Bastille's Day fireworks. And smaller-scale terrorist attacks, too, have occurred from time to time in other EU countries.
Terrorism attacks and activities have been rising in the EU, the EPO says, mainly because of the influence of the Islamic State group and increasing xenophobia and racialism across the bloc. The EPO says the overall threat to security in the EU remains on an upward trajectory. Some European politicians, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls for example, have even said Europe has to live with such a danger for a while.
The EU has tried to lighten the threat by saying on its website that terrorism is not a new phenomenon in Europe as EU states recorded 1,010 failed, foiled or completed attacks between 2009 and 2013. Last year, the total number of such attacks was 211.
The fact, however, is that the number of deaths has been rising rapidly, which shows the EUespecially France that has borne the brunt of such attacksneeds to intensify efforts to prevent and counter terrorism.
Some people say France is relatively safe, citing the uncertainty of life. They claim more people die in traffic accidents than in terrorist attacks. But this is absurd logic. In particular, since EU officials lay great emphasis on human rights and security, they should ensure that the threat of a terrorist attack within the bloc is minimum. If the situation doesn't get better soon, then the EU, a project aimed at establishing permanent regional peace, could face a potential credibility crisis now that the UK has dealt a serious blow to European unity by parting ways from the bloc.
Terrorist attacks act as a big "disruptive force" and affect a long chain of people both within and outside Europe. For example, a growing number of Chinese are concerned about the safety and security situation in Europe when they decide to invest, travel or send their children to study there. Some Chinese parents are even urging their children who are already settled or studying in London, Paris or Brussels to return to China.
Reactions in China and other non-EU countries will affect European businesses. The declining number of tourists to Europe is a telling indication of the things to come. So EU politicians must realize the severe consequences of continuing terrorist attacks in the bloc, because they could erode the attraction of Europe as an investment and tourism destination.
For the safety and prosperity of the EU, its politicians have to take strict measures to preempt terrorist attacks by launching a serious counter-offensive against terrorism, instead of saying the European Union has to live with it for some time.
The author is deputy chief of China Daily European Bureau
fujing@chinadaily.com.cn
An archaeological site in the upper Yellow River region. Xinhua
The inventory of flood legends through the ages is long and wide. Ancient Sumerian myth talks about a king who saved his people after learning that the gods did not intend to spare anyone from an impending deluge. Both Plato and Ovid wrote about a great flood that had occurred thousands of years before them. In Hindu mythology, Vishnu took the form of a fish to warn a king of a coming flood in time for him to build a great ship and save his family, a do-it-yourself project also pulled off successfully by Noah in the Bible.
The list goes on - Finn, Welsh and Norse in Europe; Mbuti, Maasai and Yoruba in Africa; Maori, Hopi, Navajo all have flood stories. The Inuit reasoned that only a great flood could explain why you can find sea shells in the mountains.
All the legendary floods seem to have one thing in common - they punctuate game-changing historical events.
That's what makes the new theory about a mega-flood on the Yellow River so fascinating. Not only because the evidence suggests that the Great Flood of Chinese lore really happened, or that the legendary first Emperor Yu really existed, but the timing of it puts it right on the cusp of China's transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, around 1900 BCE, and the emergence of the Erlitou culture.
Emperor Yu was believed to have said: "The flood is pouring forth destruction, boundless and overwhelming. It spills over hills and mountains," which is a pretty good description of the model described by the geologists writing in Science magazine.
A massive earthquake sends mountainsides of avalanches crashing into the steep Jishi Gorge, creating a natural dam the height of a 65-story building. Downstream the Yellow River slows to a trickle. Upstream from the blockage, the waters rise, and rise, filling the gorge over a period of nine months.
Once high enough, the waters begin to spill over the dam, which quickly erodes away, opening the floodgates, so to speak. The scientists figured the water came down the river valley at a rate of half a million cubic meters per second - a tsunami of biblical proportions that nothing can get out of the way of.
Darryl Granger, a geologist at Purdue University and co-author of the paper, tried to put that in perspective: "That's roughly equivalent to the largest flood ever measured on the Amazon River, the world's largest river. It's among the largest known floods to have happened on Earth during the past 10,000 years."
Towns and villages, levees and canals for 1,000 miles downstream would have been washed away or submerged, the authors suggest. And people would have been talking about it for years, generations on end.
Winston Churchill was apparently fond of saying that the Chinese character for "crisis" was a combination of the characters for "danger" and "opportunity".
And an opportunity it proved to be for Yu, first emperor of the Xia Dynasty, dredger of canals, digger of channels that drain the deadly torrents away and tame them into service.
"He brings order out of the chaos and defines the land, separating what would become the center of Chinese civilization," said co-author David Cohen, assistant professor of anthropology at National Taiwan University.
"This outburst flood provides us with a tantalizing hint that the Xia Dynasty might really have existed."
The theory needs more supporting evidence to get the entire scientific community on board, but in that wonderful way that science works, researchers now know what to look for.
University of Washington geomorphologist David Montgomery wrote an accompanying commentary for the study in Science, calling the paper compelling evidence "for the historicity of the Great Flood myth," noting that flood myths from various cultures usually spring from the environment they live in.
Contact the writer at chrisdavis@chinadailyusa.com
Louisiana looks to boost its China trade Updated: 2016-08-10 11:13 By Paul Welitzkin in New York(China Daily USA)
Pushing expertise in oil, chemical production and looking ahead to aviation and aerospace
Louisiana wants to parlay its strengths in oil and natural gas and chemical production into expanded trading ties with China, according to the state's top economic development official.
Don Pierson was appointed secretary of Louisiana Economic Development when John Bel Edwards became governor in January. Pierson said the state intends to build on its traditional industries - energy and chemical production, forestry and manufacturing.
"We are also confident of embracing future opportunities in aviation and aerospace, IT and water management," he said in an interview in New York on Tuesday.
Trade between Louisiana and China has been thriving. Since 2008, Louisiana has ranked first in the US in per capita foreign direct investment, and Chinese companies have played a large part.
China is the second-largest investor in Louisiana.
China represents Louisiana's top export market, with more than $8.6 billion in exports in 2014, ranking Louisiana No. 4 among US states in exports to the mainland.
Pierson said there are two areas that appear to be particularly promising for expanding trade between the state and China. One is producing chemical feedstock like methanol, which is required to manufacture chemical products.
Another involves the production of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, which is created when natural gas is cooled to minus 259 degrees Fahrenheit.
In 2014, Louisiana secured an investment of $1.85 billion from Shandong Yuhuang Chemical Co to develop a methanol plant in Louisiana's St. James Parish. The facility, which is expected to create 400 permanent jobs and about 2,000 temporary construction jobs, is under construction.
"We anticipate it will come on line and begin production in 2017," he added.
While low oil and natural gas prices hinder the state's energy production, the prices are a spur for the chemical business.
"The drop in oil prices has hit some areas of Louisiana hard, as we are the number two producer of oil and natural gas in the US," said Pierson.
"But the low prices also create an opportunity, since oil and gas are the feedstock for chemical production and are also used to power the facility that manufactures the feedstock."
China's growing economy will require feedstock for chemical products, and Louisiana's strategic location on the Gulf of Mexico will make it easy for Chinese firms to establish production in the states and then ship the product back to China through the state's pipeline network or from one of its ports, said Pierson.
Louisiana's port system is among the largest in the world, with 27 deepwater and shallow-draft ports.
paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com
Russia, Turkey mend ties Updated: 2016-08-10 11:13 By Chen Weihua in Washington(China Daily USA)
Foreign policy experts have praised the meeting on Tuesday between Russian President Vladimir and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the first between the two since Ankara shot down a Moscow warplane in November.
The meeting in Putin's hometown of St Petersburg was Erdogan's first trip abroad since the failed coup against him last month that has marred Turkey's relations with the United States.
"Your visit today, despite a very difficult situation regarding domestic politics, indicates that we all want to restart dialogue and restore relations between Russia and Turkey," Putin said after the two leaders shook hands, according to an AFP report.
Erdogan, who has said the trip represents a "new milestone", told Putin that ties had entered a "very different phase", and he thanked the Kremlin leader for his backing after the coup attempt.
Ted Carpenter, a senior fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, described the meeting as "very significant." He said the summit meeting is the latest manifestation of a rapprochement that has been gradually taking place since the downing of the Russian plane.
"Vladimir Putin sees Turkey both as a potential ally in the Middle East against Islamic extremism and as a way to split NATO and weaken its anti-Russian orientation. Erdogan is hedging his geopolitical bets, pursuing closer ties with Moscow in case Turkey's Western allies begin to shun the country because of his increasingly corrupt, authoritarian rule," Carpenter said.
Carpenter believes both leaders currently benefit from a closer relationship, but he said the US and the other leading NATO powers will not be happy about the warming relations between Ankara and Moscow, and will likely pressure Erdogan to cease his efforts.
Many in Turkey have accused the US and the CIA of being the masterminds behind the failed coup. Turkey also hoped the US would repatriate Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric who has lived in Pennsylvania since 1999 and whom Ankara believes was behind the attempted coup.
Mikhail Antonov, a George F. Kennan Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, described Putin and Erdogan as "emotionally united in their discontent with the Western
policies of 'double standards'."
"Erdogan seems to be tuned to the same wavelength as Putin, condemning the EU and the US for stirring up subversive elements in his country," said Antonov, who is also a professor at the High School of Economics in St Petersburg.
Antonov believes that through the meeting, Putin was able to demonstrate that Russia is not isolated after the Ukrainian conflict and is ready to continue shattering the NATO, the EU, and other Western alliances.
Russia imposed economic sanctions on Turkey and launched a war of words with Erdogan following the shooting down of a Russian fighter jet by a Turkish F-16 over the Syrian border last fall.
But in late June, Putin surprisingly accepted a letter expressing regret over the incident from Erdogan as an apology and quickly rolled back a ban on the sale of tour packages to Turkey, signaling that Moscow would end measures against Turkish food imports and construction companies.
Putin was one of the first foreign leaders to phone Erdogan offering support after the coup attempt.
AFP contributed to the story.
chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
Dubuque, Iowa, started as a small lead mining town, but by the end of the 18th century it had grown into a modern city with a thriving port, an excellent art scene, and fantastic outdoor spaces. The best place to learn about the mighty Mississippi and the creatures that live in it is The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. Here are the best things to do in Dubuque, IA on your weekend getaway or day trip.
We recommend that you call the attractions and restaurants ahead of your visit to confirm current opening times.
1. National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium, Dubuque, IA National Mississippi River Museum
The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium tells the fascinating story of America's rivers. The museum consists of a large campus with two major centers that showcase different aspects of life on Mississippi. There are more than a dozen aquariums with living representatives of the animals living in the Mississippi River, a historic Train Depot, steamboat William M. Black, Woodward Wetland, steam boilers, a blacksmith shop, the Pfohl Boatyard, a stream, raptor aviaries, and much more. The Mississippi Discovery Center has a range of activities, and the 3D Theatre shows fascinating movies such as Flying Monsters. There is also the River's Edge Cafe to replenish your energy after all the fun. 350 E 3rd St, Dubuque, Iowa 52001, Phone: 563-557-9545
-- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa" Back to Top
2. Places to Visit: Mines of Spain Recreation Area, Dubuque, Iowa Courtesy of Tony Campbell - Fotolia.com
Located other outskirts of Dubuque, the Mines of Spain Recreation Area is a 1,439-acre state park along the Mississippi River. The park consists of some intriguing land forms, a variety of plant species, and plant and animal communities. Mostly a combination of forests and prairies, the area is largely rugged with 250-years-old burr oaks standing like sentinels on the bluffs above the river. Some parts of the park were used for grazing, cropping, mining and logging in the past, but everything mostly looks the same way it did when Julien Dubuque came to the area in 1785. There are twelve miles of hiking trails and four miles of ski trails. If you're lucky, you might see rare animals such as bobcats, flying squirrels, red-shouldered hawks, and bald eagles. The park includes the EB Lyons Interpretive Center and the Julien Dubuque Monument. 9097 Bellevue Heights Rd, Dubuque, Iowa 52003, Phone: 563-556-0620
-- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa" Back to Top
3. Places to Visit: Fenelon Place Elevator, Dubuque, Iowa Courtesy of spiritofamerica - Fotolia.com
The Fenelon Place elevator is probably the steepest and shortest scenic railway in the world. It takes passengers from Fourth Street up to Fenelon Place, stretching296 feet in length and 189 feet up in the air. The view of the Mississippi River, Dubuque business district, and three surrounding states is spectacular. The elevator is the brain child of Mr. J. K. Graves, a former Dubuque mayor and state senator who lived on top of the bluffs and worked at the bottom; he had to spend an hour every day going around the bluff. The original cable car was used only by Mr. Graves, and it had a simple wooden building with a winch and a coal-fired steam engine. A hemp rope pulled a simple wooden up and down. The cable cars were rebuilt in 1977, and the original gear was replaced by a modern gear box powered by a DC motor. The Fenelon Place elevator is one of the best things to do in Dubuque, Iowa. 512 Fenelon Pl, Dubuque, Iowa 52001, Phone: 563-582-6496
-- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa" Back to Top
4. Parks Near Me: Eagle Point Park, Dubuque, Iowa Courtesy of spiritofamerica - Fotolia.com
Eagle Point Park is a one hundred and sixty-four-acre park overlooking the Mississippi River and its Lock and Dam No. 11. The park, which was established in 1908, offers breathtaking views of three states: Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Park Superintendent Alfred Caldwell, whose use of native materials, designs of the buildings, and meticulous craftsmanship show his love for the prairie architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, did most of the landscaping design. Eagle Point Park consists of a range of facilities such as the Shiras Memorial Pavilion, the Riverfront Pavilion, Veranda Rooms, Terrace Room, and much more. Other fun amenities are the Rock Garden, Spray Fountain, six tennis courts, the Fish Pond, and a music band stand. The park is a popular venue for local events and celebrations - about 1,200 are held each year. Miles of hiking, biking, and walking trails weave through the park along the old trolley line starting at Shiras Avenue and ending at the large statue of an eagle. 2601 Shiras Ave, Dubuque, Iowa 52001, Phone: 563-589-4263
-- You are reading "Fun Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa this Weekend with Friends" -- You are reading "Fun Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa this Weekend with Friends" Back to Top
5. Clock Tower geraldmarella/stock.adobe.com
Dubuques historic Town Clock is a prominent landmark located on the Town Clock Plaza on Main Street. The clock tower was originally built on top of a 3-storey building at 825 Main Street in 1873 and was brought to its current site in 1971, just more than 100 years later. This was no easy job as the clock tower weighs at least 13 tons and must have been extremely difficult to reposition without damage. The clock and its tower were mounted on a lofty 4-column concrete pedestal. Today you can admire the impressive Town Clock, rumored to be accurate to within 2 seconds, as you explore the Main Street Historic District of Dubuque. Clock Town and Town Clock, Town Clock Plaza, Dubuque, IA 52001, 563-589-0890
-- You are reading "What to Do in Dubuque, Iowa this Weekend" -- You are reading "What to Do in Dubuque, Iowa this Weekend" Back to Top
6. Activities Near Me: Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque Museum of Art
The Dubuque Museum of Art, founded in 1874, has a rich collection of over 2,200 works of primarily American art. It has one of the world's largest collections of paintings by Grant Wood, a rare and complete compilation of Edward S. Curtis's photographs of the American Indian, and a number of touring exhibitions. The museum places great value on arts education and welcomes school groups, group tours, and Boy Scout badge workshops. For children there are Saturday morning and summer art camps, for families there are family-friendly matinee art performances, and for adults there are classes in drawing and oil and landscape painting. Regular lunch-time lectures teach brown-baggers about art history. 701 Locust Street, Dubuque, Iowa 52001, Phone: 563-557-1851
-- You are reading "Top Romantic Tourist Attractions in Dubuque, Iowa" -- You are reading "Top Romantic Tourist Attractions in Dubuque, Iowa" Back to Top
7. Veterans Memorial Plaza City of Dubuque Government
Brainchild of a former US Marine Louis Kartman, who served in the Korean War and the famous Frozen Chosin Reservoir Battle, the original Veterans Memorial Plaza was built in 2009. At that time the memorial included a curved wall which was dedicated to the memory of all members of the services and the wars in which they fought. In 2021 the plaza underwent an enormous improvement project funded by the Dubuque Racing Association. Improvements included a decorative swirling concrete path which becomes a boardwalk projection out over a pond. At the end of the boardwalk there is a moving sculpture entitled Skyward, which contains a hidden etched poem within. Veterans Memorial Plaza, 1801 Admiral Sheehy Drive, Dubuque, IA 52001, 563-589-4263
, From LA -- You are reading "What is There to Do with Kids in Dubuque, Iowa" Back to Top
8. Winery Near Me: Stone Cliff Winery, Dubuque, Iowa Stone Cliff Winery
Stone Cliff Winery is well known in Dubuque for its charming wine bar and tasting room located in the historic and beautifully restored Star Brewery Building in the heart of the Port of Dubuque. The spectacular aesthetics, which include exposed bricks, original industrial elements, ornate ceiling, and old black and white photos on the walls, create a warm and friendly atmosphere. They have a simple but delightful lunch menu of salads and paninis to go with their excellent wines that come from their own vineyard. Once a month the winery offers a Murder Mystery dinner, a fun and popular form of entertainment where murder is served with excellent food and select wines. 600 Star Brewery Drive, Dubuque, Iowa 52001, Phone: 563-583-6100
9. Julien Dubuque Monument, Dubuque, Iowa Courtesy of KorwelPhoto - Fotolia.com
The Julien Dubuque Monument stands like a sentinel guarding the city of Dubuque high on the bluff above Catfish Creek and the Mississippi river in the Mines of Spain Recreation Area. The monument was built in 1897 in honor of Julien Dubuque, a trader and lead miner who Mesquakie Indians granted the right to mine their land, creating the first Euro-American settlement in the area that would eventually become Dubuque and Iowa. Julien got close to the chief and even closer to his daughter, who he married. When he died, the tribe buried his body under the log mausoleum on the site of the current monument. 1810 Monument Dr, Dubuque, Iowa 52003, Phone: 563-556-0620
-- "Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa for Locals & Tourists - Restaurants, Hotels" -- "Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa for Locals & Tourists - Restaurants, Hotels" Back to Top
10. Caves Near Me: Crystal Lake Cave, Dubuque, Iowa Courtesy of vovik_mar - Fotolia.com
Crystal Lake Cave was discovered in 1868 by miners who were looking for lead but instead discovered an enormous underground cave, a magical place that took nature 2 million years to create, and it is still working on it. The cave, which was opened to the public in 1932, consists of a network of passages and cave formations such as a stalactite named St. Peter's Dome and a bunch of stalagmites on a stone shelf called the Cliff Dweller. There is also a shallow underground Crystal Lake and anchorites, beautiful flowerlike white crystal clusters hanging from the ceiling of the cave. The deepest point of the cave stretches down 100 feet. The cave, which is located about five miles from Dubuque, offers a special treat for the kids, who can look for fossils and use sifter and water like real geologists in the special gem mining area. There is also an hour and half long Wild Cave Tour through unexcavated and unexplored passageways. 6684 Crystal Lake Cave Rd, Dubuque, Iowa 52003, Phone: 563-556-6451
11. Art on the River, Dubuque, Iowa Courtesy of stryjek - Fotolia.com
Art on the River is a free temporary public art exhibit on the Mississippi Riverwalk in the Port of Dubuque. Every year, local and national artists submit outdoor installation art to an expert three-person jury, after which point ten finalists are chosen. The ten art works decorate the Mississippi Riverwalk for an entire year for the enjoyment of walkers, joggers, and families in the hopes of inspiring public interest in fine art. The Riverwalk where the art is located is stroller and wheelchair accessible. The art works may be sold, but must remain in place for an entire year. At the year's end, the jurors select a grand prize winner, and a People's Choice favorite is voted on by the citizens of Dubuque. 450 E. 3rd Street, Dubuque, Iowa 52001, Phone: 563-690-6064
-- "New cool stuff to do in Dubuque, Iowa" -- "New cool stuff to do in Dubuque, Iowa" Back to Top or Romantic Getaways
12. Mountains Near Me: Sundown Mountain, Dubuque, Iowa Courtesy of minicel73 - Fotolia.com
Sundown Mountain is a resort in Dubuque with ski and snowboard runs. A wonderful place to learn how to ski, Sundown Mountain offers lessons to children and adults, and it has a bunny slope with its own ski lift, practice slopes for advanced skiers, and excellent, patient instructors. The resort has twenty-one runs and four lifts, a ski patrol to guarantee visitor safety, and two warm lodges, each with its own full-service cafeteria, large-screen televisions, and comfortable lounges. This terrific family resort uses man-made snow, has camps and programs for young skiers, and is home to diverse wildlife such as deer and eagles. 16991 Asbury Road, Dubuque, Iowa 52002, Phone: 563-556-6676
13. Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa: Park Farm Winery Courtesy of karandaev - Fotolia.com
Park Farm Winery is an eleven-acre vineyard and winery located seventeen miles west of Dubuque in the rolling hills of Iowa's countryside. Family owned and operated, the winery grows hybrid grapes that have been adapted to Iowa's shortened growing season, and they are able to withstand the harsh Midwestern winters. Park Farm Winery has a tasting room and retail store that are open year round, and they have recently begun serving made-to-order gourmet wood-fired pizza in their cafe. The winery also has rental spaces that range from intimate rooms to banqueting facilities able to host two hundred people for weddings and other special events. 15159 Thielen Road, Bankston, Iowa 52039, Phone: 563-557-3727
14. Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa: Shot Tower Courtesy of Dmitry Grushin - Fotolia.com
Dubuque's Shot Tower, built in 1856 by the George W. Rogers Company, is one of the few remaining shot towers in the United States, and it is a National Historic Landmark. Shot towers were an innovation allowing mass production of lead shot balls by dropping molten lead from a certain height into a basin of water. At the peak of its production, Dubuque's Shot Tower was making between six and eight tons of lead shot daily for use by the United States military. The tower, which stands 120 feet tall, is tapered and made up of seven stories of stone and three stories of soft red brick. It is currently undergoing extensive renovations to repair the damage done to it through fire and general disuse. 600 East Commercial Street, Dubuque, Iowa 52001, Phone: 563-589-4100
15. Activities Near Me: Bell Tower Theater, Dubuque, IA Courtesy of yodiyim - Fotolia.com
Bell Tower Theater is a theatrical company in Dubuque housed in the basement of a restored chapel. Built in 1930 by the Sisters of the House of the Good Shepherd and boasting a three-hundred seat theater in the basement, the building has changed hands several times over the years, and the theater eventually fell into disrepair. After renovations beginning in 2001, Bell Tower Theater started presenting the community with high-quality theatrical productions in 2003. The theater company now presents five plays and musicals annually and has an award-winning youth program that includes theater classes for young people and a free summer youth musical program that produces two full-scale musicals each year. 2728 Asbury Road, Dubuque, Iowa 52001, Phone: 563-588-3377
-- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa" Back to Top or Amazing things to do around me
16. St. Luke's United Methodist Church, Dubuque, Iowa Tomasz/stock.adobe.com
St. Luke's United Methodist Church is a historic church located in Dubuque, Iowa. It was built in 1896 in the Richardson an Romanesque style, which was very unusual for Dubuque especially during a time when the town was not much more than a trading post and a miners' camp with log cabins and a muddy street. The church has a significant collection of religious Tiffany windows, the best in the country. The pipe organ, another significant historic element of the St.Luke's, was the largest organ in the area at the time of its installation. It has 36 ranks or pipes- 2,200 in total. St. Luke's has been included in the National Register of Historic Places. 1199 Main St, Dubuque, IA 52001, Phone: 317-846-3404
17. Activities Near Me: Sky Tours at YMCA Union Park Camp, Dubuque, Iowa Courtesy of muro - Fotolia.com
Sky Tours is an eco-adventure tour with a nature walk and nine exciting zip lines that take its riders over ravines and valleys, through forests into the habitat of Cooper's Hawks and Great Horned Owls, and over the ruined amphitheater of the old Union Park. In its heyday in the early 20th century, Union Park attracted Dubuque citizens with band shells, a children's playground, a carousel, and a wooden roller coaster. The park fell into disuse due to declining public interest and became a Boy Scout Camp in 1946. Since 2011, fully-trained guides have been taking locals and visitors ages ten and above on fun-filled zip lining tours that leave daily and last two hours. 11764 JFK Road, Dubuque, Iowa 52001, Phone: 563-484-4248
-- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa" Back to Top
18. Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa: Storybook Hill Children's Zoo Courtesy of bulgn - Fotolia.com
Storybook Hill Children's Zoo is a replica of a 1940's American farm, and it contains all the animals that may have been on a farm in that era. Horses, cows, pigs, donkeys, goats, rabbits, and more are there for children to admire, touch, and learn about, and there are also chickens, turkeys, geese, and ducks little kids can feed. The Storybook Express train circles the park and is a fun ride for little tykes. There is a short tractor-towed wagon ride that children enjoy immensely. A picnic shelter is available for birthday parties, family reunions, and picnics, and there are plenty of unsheltered picnic areas as well. Admission is free. 12201 N. Cascade Road, Dubuque, Iowa 52003, Phone: 563-588-2551
19. Attractions Near Me: Mathias Ham House, Dubuque, Iowa Courtesy of cityofdubuque.org
The Mathias Ham House is a large antebellum estate built in 1839 and greatly expanded in 1856. Mathias Ham, a wealthy farmer, lumberman, and brick maker who was involved in local politics and the Underground Railway, had this home built in eclectic architectural styles. Docents in period costume give excellent and detailed tours of the house and the outbuildings, which include a fur trader log cabin, a miner's lean-to, a one-room school house, and a replica mine shaft. The tour includes a ten-minute film about Mathias Ham and lasts about an hour. Due to the number of steps between the floors of the house, the tour is not wheelchair accessible or suitable for those with mobility issues. A Fourth of July ice cream social on the house grounds is a popular event with Dubuque locals and tri-state tourists. 2241 Lincoln Avenue, Dubuque, Iowa 52001, Phone: 563-557-9545
-- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa" Back to Top
20. Hiking Near Me: Dubuque Water Trail, Dubuque, Iowa Courtesy of spiritofamerica - Fotolia.com
The Dubuque Water Trail is an eleven-mile tract of the Mississippi River and Catfish Creek that can be safely paddled via canoe or kayak. Historically, the Mississippi River was a significant lifeline, and it was a prime determiner of settlement and economic development along its shores. Signs posted along the river allow canoers and kayakers to share in the history of the area, making the Dubuque Water Trail scenic and recreational, and it provides a great way to learn about local history. The water trail runs between A.Y. McDonald Park and Massey Marina Park and has five different entry points. It is suitable for both novice and experienced boaters and can be enjoyed eleven miles at a time or in shorter segments.
21. Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa: Dubuque Symphony Orchestra Courtesy of Mr Twister - Fotolia.com
The Dubuque Symphony Orchestra is a sixty-member professional orchestra that performs approximately twenty-five concerts annually, showcasing classical, opera, chamber, and pop music. Special Christmas concerts are performed annually. Organized in 1958, the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra draws concert subscribers from across the tri-state area and attracts guest soloists from around the world. The Dubuque Youth Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1969 and draws on the skills of the fifty most talented young musicians in the region. The orchestra offers a Third Grade Art Trek, which is a forty-minute introduction to instruments and instrument families, and a Fifth Grade Art Trek, which supplements students' exploration of American history. 2728 Asbury Road, Suite 900, Dubuque, Iowa 52001, Phone: 563-557-1677
22. Diamond Jo Casino, Dubuque, IA Courtesy of Uzfoto - Fotolia.com
Diamond Jo Casino is an entertainment and gambling venue with over 975 slot machines and table games that include blackjack, craps, roulette, Pai Gow poker, Texas Hold 'em, and Mississippi Stud. The casino has a 30-lane bowling alley, a cocktail bar, facilities for weddings, meetings, and corporate events, and live entertainment four nights a week, showcasing both bands and comedians. Diamond Jo Casino has several excellent restaurants, including the Woodfire Grill, a fine dining restaurant with a cozy fireside atmosphere that serves steak and seafood. The Kitchen Buffet, on the other hand, features roast chicken, chef-carved meats, pasta, a salad and soup bar, and great desserts. Mojo's Sports Bar is a terrific place to kick back and watch the game while dining on delicious appetizers, burgers, and po' boys. 301 Bell Street, Dubuque, Iowa 52001, Phone: 563-690-4800
-- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa" Back to Top
23. Things to Do Near Me: Q Casino, Dubuque, Iowa Courtesy of Jeff - Fotolia.com Q Casino is a gambling destination with over 1,000 slot machines, a poker room with four tables, daily tournaments, and HDTV, which enables spectators to view the matches. Twenty-two gaming tables feature popular games such as blackjack, roulette, craps, Pai Gow poker, 21 +3, and Texas Hold 'em. Regular live musical events are hosted here, including performances by Grammy Award-winnng artists. The casino has five restaurants, including a huge buffet, a sports bar, a breakfast cafe, a fine dining restaurant with French cuisine, and a casual restaurant serving the best in comfort foods. Off-track betting on local greyhound racing is popular at Q Casino. 1855 Greyhound Park Road, Dubuque, Iowa 52001, Phone: 563-582-3647
24. Things to Do Near Me: Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark, Dubuque, Iowa Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark The Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark is located at the water's edge of the Mississippi River. It encompasses hotel rooms and suites, a restaurant, gym, arcade, business center, and a 25,000 square foot indoor water park. The water park is extremely popular with both visitors and local residents and has waterslides, tube rides, a lazy river, water spouts, squirt guns, and two whirlpools. A concession stand at the water park serves hot dogs, nachos, macaroni and cheese, pizza, and assorted snacks. The large arcade has video and pinball games and skee ball lanes. The 193 hotel rooms have thoughtful amenities and great views of either Dubuque or the Mississippi. The resort boasts a Tony Roma's restaurant that is famous for its baby back ribs and has magnificent views of the river. 350 Bell St, Dubuque, IA 52001, Phone: 563-690-4000
25. Places to Visit: Dubuque Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, Dubuque, Iowa Courtesy of makistock - Fotolia.com The Dubuque Arboretum & Botanical Gardens was established in 1980 and is entirely managed and maintained by volunteers. This 56-acre labor of love is located in Marshall Park and is a living museum that changes daily; every time you come, you will have a different experience. It is mostly peaceful and serene, but there is a small park for the kids. The area consists of a range of thematic gardens that seamlessly blend and create a colorful mosaic of colors, fragrance, and sights. The Rose Garden has an award-winning display of old garden roses, hybrids, and miniature and shrub roses. There is a formal English Garden and even more formal Japanese Garden. Hosta Shade Garden has an impressive display of 13,000 host as of 900 varieties, while the Annual Gardens are showy with bursts of flowers. A conifer collection contains rare Bill Walter Dwarf Conifer and HermsenDward Conifer Collections. There is also a romantic Lagen-Buelow Gazebo. Packard Memorial Amphitheatre hosts events and celebrations, and Heinemann Visitors Center offers information and help to visitors. 3800 Arboretum Dr, Dubuque, Iowa 52001, Phone: 563-556-2100
25 Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa
You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Dubuque, Iowa " Back to Top
Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page.
Loading...
Checking your browser before accessing the website.
This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly.
Please wait a few seconds.
HCM CITY Entrepreneurs running around 100 start-ups will present their products and innovative ideas to convince investors to invest in their businesses at the 2016 Start-up Exchange to be held in HCM City at the end of this month.
The businesses are in various sectors, including IT, education, agriculture, trading and services.
Sixty of them have been chosen from a business start-up contest (Start-up Wheel 2016) organised by the same people -- the HCM City Young Businesspeople Association and the Business Start-up Support Centre -- while the rest have been recommended by incubators and start-up support organisations.
Of the 60 chosen from the contest, the organisers hailed highly Medixu, a monitoring device for people with cardiovascular diseases; ceb.vn, a website that provides training programmes in finance and accounting via infographic video (the first of its kind in Viet Nam); and Vincent hi-end pennywort powder and related products to help cool the liver, detoxify, purify the body, treat acne and scars and others.
Duong Thanh Tam, CEO of Onnet JSC and a member of the Start-up Exchange jury, said, "From the perspective of a young business owner, I support the Vietnamese Governments strategy to turn the country into a start-up nation.
But it can only succeed when every young entrepreneur, every young person dares to engage and connect and support each other.
That is why we are always ready to back events like the Start-up Exchange. I think this is not simply a playing field for young people with an ambition to succeed in life, but also an environment that equips you with deeper knowledge of managing and running a business and of business plans.
And the biggest benefit brought by the programme is linking feasible projects with capital sources and prestigious investors."
Many big investors are willing to look for promising start-ups this year, according to the organisers.
Mobifone, for instance, has a war chest of VN15 billion (US$672,645) to invest in promising start-ups in IT and telecom infrastructure.
Vietcombank is among a handful of banks that will be present, looking for promising start-ups to whom they will provide loans on easy terms.
According to economists, like start-ups elsewhere in the world, in Viet Nam too they are focused on IT and applications in healthcare, education, and agriculture.
A professor at the University of Economics International School of Business, who asked not to be named, said investment in education is flowing into developing countries, including those with a major start-up scene like Thailand and Viet Nam.
But to attract large investments, start-up ideas should not be confined to their own countries but instead should be applicable globally, he said.
Start-up Exchange, which began in 2013, has greatly benefited start-ups in the country, with more than 150 of them attracting investments of over VN22 billion ($986,547) at the annual event as of last year.
To be held at the Riverside Palace in District 4 on August 27, it is expected to attract more than 3,000 investors, start-up funds, entrepreneurs, and others.
It will be part of Start-up Day, which will also include the final round of the Start-up Wheel 2016. VNS
The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang is striving to earn at least US$1 billion from exports by 2020, according to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade. VNA/VNS Photo Khuong Duy
KIEN GIANG The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang is striving to earn at least US$1 billion from exports by 2020, according to the province recently-released action programme.
Of these, farm produce is expected to yield $495 million and aquaculture $230 million. The province will boost the exports of frozen shrimp, frozen squid and rice to markets with strong purchasing power while enhancing the competitiveness and integration capacity of businesses.
The province will also support key export enterprises in finding partners, boosting selling and buying opportunities and providing services. Maintaining and enlarging distribution networks, as well as stabilising traditional markets and expanding potential markets, are also among the provinces goals.
Along with creating favourable conditions for local enterprises to upgrade their production, the province is seeking to attract large-scale projects with advanced technology.
In addition to enhancing trade promotion, the province will use market surveys and international and domestic trade fairs and exhibitions to popularise local products.
The provinces products have been sold in 43 countries and territories. It earned $196 million from exports in the past seven months, equivalent to 44.5 per cent of its yearly plan and up 1.8 per cent from the same time last year.
Meeting export goals has been challenging due to fierce competition from regional countries, shortage of capital, restricted markets and lack of materials for aquaculture processing.
However, the province still enjoyed a surge in rice exports in July, increasing total rice shipments to 270,000 tonnes in the first seven months of the year. VNS
The Government has issued Decree No. 86/2016/N-CP (July 1, 2016) governing requirements applicable to securities investment and business activities in Viet Nam. The decree applies to securities companies, fund management companies, securities investment companies, foreign securities business organisations, and relevant organisations and individuals in Viet Nams stock market. Below are highlights of requirements for securities investment and business activities.
Foreign organisations holding 51% or more charter capital of securities business organisations in Viet Nam must meet the following requirements:
The purchase of shares or capital portions to hold 51 per cent or more of charter capital of securities business organisation must be adopted by the general meeting of shareholders (GMS), the board of members (BOM) or owner(s) of the foreign organisation;
The purchase of shares or capital portions to hold 51per cent or more of charter capital of securities business organisation by the foreign organisation must be adopted by GMS, BOM or owners of the securities business organisation, unless the foreign organisation makes a public offer under the securities laws;
The foreign organisation only can use its own capital or other legal capital sources to purchase shares or capital portions; and the foreign organisation is not in the cases of ownership limits;
The foreign organisations annual financial statement up to the latest submission is made and audited under the foreign laws and in conformity with international accounting and auditing standards;
Additionally, the foreign organisation also must meet general requirements of organisations contributing the capital into the securities business organisations.
Establishment and operation of securities companies
Requirements to obtain the license for establishment and operation of securities companies:
To have an office, facilities and equipment, such as a computer system, software of investment analysis, risk analysis and management, and document retention and equipment for office safety and security as guided by the Ministry of Finance (MOF);
To have minimum capital contribution equivalent to legal capital required by the law, VN10 billion up to VN165 billion, applicable to each business scope at the time of company establishment;
To have at least three securities practitioners for each business scope respectively. General Director (GD) must have at least three years experience in the field of finance, banking, or securities and at least three years experience in business administration; and practice certificate of financial analysis or fund management;
To have structure of shareholders and capital contributors in compliance with general requirements by laws and comply with regulations applicable to foreign investors. At the time of company establishment, capital contributors have no accumulated loss in the latest audited annual financial statement and the latest examined biannual financial statement, if any. In case the securities company is established in the form of one member limited liability company, the owner must be a commercial bank, insurer or foreign organisation satisfying the above requirements of investing in the Vietnamese stock market.
Establishment and operation of fund management companies
Requirements to obtain the licence for establishment and operation of fund management companies:
To have an office, facilities and equipment such as a computer system, software of investment analysis, risk analysis and management, and document retention and equipment for office safety and security as guided by MOF;
To have minimum capital contribution equivalent to legal capital required by the laws, VN25 billion at the time of companys establishment;
To have at least five staff obtaining practice certificates of fund management. GD and Deputy General Director (DGD) in charge of specialised services must have at least five years of experience in the field of finance, banking or insurance; and practice certificates of fund management or accepted international degrees; and must not work full-time in other business entities at the same time.
To have a structure of shareholders and capital contributors in compliance with general requirements by laws and comply with regulations on foreign investors. In case the fund management company is established in the form of one member limited liability company, the owner must be commercial bank, insurer or foreign organisation satisfying the above requirements of investing in the Vietnamese stock market.
The decree took effect on July 1, 2016. Except converting into one member limited liability company, the securities business organisation established before the effective date of this decree and re-organise the company is exempt from requirements of structure of shareholders, capital contributors under this decree. - MAI COUNSEL -
HA NOI The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has proposed clearing and freezing tax debts of enterprises totalling VN14.7 trillion (approximately US$655 million) as one of the measures to tackle the difficulties they are facing.
Under the proposals submitted to the Government, the ministry will probably eliminate the penalties for late payments of taxes incurred by enterprises that provided goods and services, and were supposed to receive payments from the State budget, though the State has not made all payments. Through the end of 2015, the fines total VN542 billion ($24 million).
The authority also plans to erase tax debts and fines for overdue payment totalling VN7.4 trillion ($331 million) for tax payers whose businesses were dissolved or went bankrupt before January 1, 2014.
Of the total, more than 86 per cent is owed by enterprises, with the remainder coming from households or individual businesses.
In addition, the MoF proposes to freeze the tax debts and charges on late payments of firms and household businesses for which dissolution or bankruptcy happened between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2015. The amount of the debt to be frozen is VN6.7 trillion ($300.5 million).
Explaining the proposals, Pham inh Thi, director of the ministrys Tax Policy Department, told cafef.vn that there were some situations leading to owing tax debts that were not covered in the tax regulations. One of them is the case of firms supplying goods and services serving the States infrastructure construction projects.
He said that some enterprises made efforts to pay taxes, but still owed penalties for late payments and, under current regulations, they had to use part of their after-tax incomes to pay the fines. This makes them suffer lingering losses and finally go bankrupt, he noted.
From 2007 to 2013, due to the economys sluggishness, enterprises suffered even more hardships, Thi added, thus it was not possible to collect all taxes, especially those incurred by household businesses.
inh Van Nha, deputy chairman of the National Assemblys Committee for Finance and Budget, said that erasing delinquent tax was a necessary solution to assist enterprises in this time.
He further said that it was reasonable to clear the penalties imposed on businesses that had been the States creditors, adding that some companies were having difficulties operating as they wait for payments.
It is unfair for the enterprises, if they are fined due to late payments, while the State is not, Nha said.
Tran Xuan Thang, former head of the General Department of Taxation, urged the ministry to specify criteria for enterprises to benefit from this policy. Otherwise, it would be misused by tax officials, he warned.
Tax officials tasks are to keep close watch on firms performances, thus they must ensure fairness while putting the policy into practice. Otherwise, they have to take full responsibilities for their wrongdoings, he added.
The ministrys proposals are included in the National Assemblys draft resolution on measures to boost the development of the countrys business community. VNS
President Tran ai Quang delivers speeech at a meeting with the Supreme Peoples Procuracys key officials in Ha Noi yesterday. VNA/VNs Photo
HA NOI The Supreme Peoples Procuracy must continue to effectively implement the policies of the Party and State, enhance socialist legislation, ensure law enforcement and uphold the rule of law, President Tran ai Quang said yesterday.
Speaking with the agencys key officials in Ha Noi, the President, who is also head of the Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform, asked them to pay special attention to bettering the draft law on amendments and supplements to some articles of the Penal Code 2015 and related bills.
Judiciary sectors, including the Supreme Peoples Procuracy, ought to make greater efforts to combat corruption in the spirit of no prohibited areas, he said, stressing the need to recover appropriated assets.
President Quang also hailed the sectors efforts in performing its assigned duties, saying they contributed to making judicial activities more effective.
The role and responsibility of prosecutors have been enhanced, while the time and quality of handling cases and the litigation skills of procurators have improved.
Activities by investigation agencies under the Supreme Peoples Procuracy were more and more effective, with 25 cases, including 19 relating to corruption, being prosecuted. VNS
Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Le Hoai Trung speaks to the press about the role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in resolving the simmering East Sea (South China Sea) dispute.
How is ASEAN handling the East Sea dispute so far, in your opinion?
ASEAN has reached a consensus on the East Sea dispute, one of which is that maintaining peace, stability and co-operation in the East Sea plays a key and inseparable role for peace, stability and co-operation in the whole Southeast Asia region.
The East Sea, therefore, is in the mutual interests of all ASEAN member nations and even of the international community, judging from its geographical strategic location for global transportation, the economy and security, both for countries inside and outside the region.
As a matter of fact, the East Sea is deemed by governments, researchers and the media as one of the places most significantly at risk of conflict, as there have been tensions concerning the international community.
And the second consensus of ASEAN regarding the principle to resolve the East Sea dispute is that all countries have to abide by international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982. Particularly, parties must not resort to threat or use of force, but only dialogues and other peaceful means to resolve their disputes.
ASEAN and China have to effectively follow the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), of which there are three key contents. Item number four is about peaceful dispute resolution principles, while numbers five and six, respectively, are about exercising self-restraint to avoid the escalation of disputes and further co-operation towards establishing a Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea.
ASEANs task is determining how to bring about measures that both ASEAN and China can carry out together to more effectively implement the DOC. The DOC is just a non-binding principle and ASEAN wants to negotiate with China to reach the COC, which is legally binding between signed parties. That would help to further sustain peace, stability and co-operation in the East Sea.
Has the work on the COC achieved any practical progress so far?
ASEAN nations really want to advance to the next stage of negotiations, but unfortunately, the COC so far is still at the consultation level.
The countries have exchanged their views on the new elements of a potential COC since last year, but ASEAN countries and Viet Nam in particular are hoping that all parties can further discuss a framework for the COC.
We also want to have a specific schedule - for example, trying to set the targets of what we can achieve in 2017 and a detailed working agenda on the COC. The exchange of views is a good start, but ASEAN is looking forward to taking one step closer to the COC.
Some ASEAN countries have expressed thoughts different to the rest of ASEAN regarding the East Sea dispute. Are such differences challenging the solidarity of ASEAN?
I have to state again that ASEAN considers the East Sea dispute a matter of common interest and agreed to find a peaceful solution to the dispute and to strengthen co-operation via a variety of forums and mechanisms in diplomacy, defence and maritime law enforcement co-operation, as well as the DOC and the COC.
However, it is true that some differences remain. ASEAN is an intergovernmental organisation and its members joined on a voluntary basis for the sake of their national interests. It is understandable that a country only participated in ASEAN when its interests matched those of the organisation. Yet when it became a member, it also agreed to uphold a common cause. This is not applied to ASEAN only, but to any other international organisation.
We should be reminded of how confrontations in Southeast Asia in the 60s and 70s have badly damaged the countries involved. ASEAN now is actually an opportunity to prevent such kind of tensions and conflicts from being repeated again.
A united and strong ASEAN is in the long-term interests of its partners. ASEAN is an element to promote regional peace, stability and co-operation, which will consequently be weakened if that element is undermined.
But ASEAN is also alike other international organisations like the United Nations or the European Union in terms of how its outside partners always want to pressure them when it comes to their interests and issues they care about.
If ASEAN is divided during this difficult period, some members will have to choose other partners.
The solidarity of ASEAN is what helps promote the position of each member country, and allows them to be more independent and have their own voice on issues with less dependence on the outside. A weakened ASEAN will force some members to seek new partners because they cant rely on ASEAN for what it has initially brought to them any longer. The differences between the members will increase and there will be more risks of tensions and confrontations in the region.
ASEANs consensus principle is even more needed during times of differences because all member countries will get to discuss as a group rather than just in bilateral meetings.
But the bottom line here is that ASEAN members should have a long-term vision to see that a strong ASEAN is in their own interests.
As one ASEAN foreign minister said, we will all have to pay for what was not done right. VNS
HCM CITY Nearly 1.2 million students in HCM City are expected to enrol in schools for the upcoming academic year, an increase of 59,000 compared to last year, according to the citys Department of Education and Training.
The number of students attending public schools this year has risen by 46,496, while private schools have seen an increase of 12,504, said Le Hong Son, director of the department.
Schools in Binh Tan District have reported an increase of 5,780 students, followed by Binh Chanh with an additional 5,380, and 12 districts with an increase of 4,250.
The city has spent VN82 billion (US$3.66 million) on new school equipment as well as teaching and learning supplies. In addition, more than 1,900 new classrooms costing a total VN2 trillion ($89.28 million) will be available for the new school year.
The city has implemented a price stabilisation programme for school supplies, with 15 participating suppliers.
To meet the increasing number of students, the education department plans to recruit a total of 4,600 teachers and officials.
Of that figure, more than 1,550 teachers for pre-schools, 1,590 teachers for primary schools, 1,200 teachers for secondary high schools and 400 for high schools will be newly employed this school year.
Last week, more than 340 new teachers and officials were assigned jobs for the new school year.
This years school fees for all grades will remain unchanged, according to a document that the citys Peoples Committee has submitted to the citys Peoples Council for approval.
The new school year begins on August 15. VNS
Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh calls on training programmes to foster the capacity of network security experts and information system operators. Photo vietnamplus.vn
HA NOI The amount of hi-tech crimes has risen by 21.6 per cent in the first six months of the year, according to a report by the Ministry of Public Security.
The figure was announced at an online conference on enhancing control on crimes and human trafficking, which was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh and Minister of Public Security To Lam.
According to the report, the country has seen a rise in crimes involving the internet and social networks, including fraud and the dissemination of images and text and software used against the Government and State to trigger social disorder.
Minister of Public Security, To Lam, said the country was facing large-scale difficulties in network security. "While there are firms working in network security, theres a lack of management mechanisms in these firms, resulting in difficulties in evaluating the effectiveness of their services," he said.
Besides, due to limited capacity in the IT sector, enterprises and organisations often leave it to the service providers to take care of network security systems. This creates a large loophole in network security, according to the minister.
If we only focus on developing the network and the number of people using the network without paying proper attention to network security, we will have to face huge risks of hi-tech crime, he added.
The leader of the public security ministry also said that management of online businesses, games and the abuse of the internet for gambling faced certain challenges.
Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh said network security was an urgent problem for the country, mentioning the recent cyber attacks on Vietnam Airlines websites last month. He asked relevant agencies to strengthen co-operation to boost network security capacity and cope with threats of cyber attacks.
Binh also called on training programmes to foster the capacity of network security experts and information system operators.
Regarding human trafficking, the rate has decreased by 13 per cent compared to the same period last year, with 147 cases involving 351 victims.
Human traffickers have taken advantage of the countrys openness policy and integration and set up rings to bring people abroad for prostitutions, illegal marriages and forced labour.VNS
HA NOI Tran Van Them, 81, of northern Bac Ninh Provinces Yen Phu Commune, after 44 years charged with murdering, was declared innocent by Deputy Judge of the Supreme Peoples Court Bui Ngoc Hoa yesterday afternoon.
Further, judicial agencies are prepared to officially apologise to Them and compensate him for the losses he suffered due to their mistake.
Previously, on July 23, 1970, Them and his male cousin went to Vinh Phu Provinces ong Tinh Commune to buy tram (Canarium nigrum Engl) fruit to sell in their hometown. That night, when the two men were sleeping in a hut, a robber used a hammer to strike them. His cousin was struck in his head. Them screamed and tried to fight off the robber, who escaped. After hearing Them screaming, local residents came to his assistance. At that time, Them was found with a bloody stick in his hands. Local residents helped him bring his cousin to the communes health station for first aid. However, his cousin died on the way to Vinh Phu Hospital.
In August 1972, the Peoples Court of Vinh Phu Province charged him with murdering his cousin and sentenced him to death. Them appealed against the charge, but in August 1973 he received the same verdict from the appeals court.
However, in 1975 the real murderer confessed to having committed the crime. Early in 1976, Them was freed from prison without an official declaration from a court.
He returned to his hometown and faced much hostility from local residents and even his cousins family.
My cousins family even thought I gave money so that I could be freed. Its really painful, he said.
Since then, Them and his family continuously sent letters to authorised agencies to say he was wrongfully convicted of murder and ask them to reverse the verdict.
In 2014, the Supreme Peoples Court found the two verdicts in Thems case to have been incorrect and ordered judicial agencies to change the verdict to not guilty for Them. VNS
HA NOI Some 1,200 boys in kindergarten schools have been found to be suffering from genital infections in Ha Nois Hoan Kiem District.
The finding has caused concerns among many parents in the district.
The news follows screening tests recently taken by Ha Nois Family Planning and Population Centre and the Ha Noi Nephrology Hospital.
Truong Kim Hoa, head of the centre, said this was the first year the district conducted screening tests for boys at local kindergarten schools.
Hoa said many boys were found to be sent to school when their genitals were not properly washed. Therefore, foreskin problems, including phimosis and infection among boys, were common, she said.
Nguyen The Luong, deputy head of the hospital who examined the children, said improper hygiene and negligence from parents were one of the causes for the infections.
Further, many parents knew their children were developing infections with foreskin, but they thought the children were too young or it was not a suitable time to seek medical help, he said.
Further, such infections pose risks later of children contracting diseases related to kidneys and urinary tract infections, he said.
Luong advised that genital infections found in children should be quickly treated.
This is particularly a problem for young boys with undescended testicles. According to the World Health Organisation, if children with undescended testicles are treated when they are 1 to 2 years old, then the ratio for later fathering children is 90 percent. However, it treatment is delayed until children are above 15 years old, the fertility ratio drops to 15 per cent.
Luong also urged parents to join together to prevent genital infections in children. VNS
Alison Matthiessen has been named director of communications for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine.
In her new position, Matthiessen will lead a comprehensive communications program for the school, overseeing development and distribution of content to internal and external audiences, including support of advancement activities and the recruitment and retention of students and faculty. She will coordinate efforts at the school through collaboration with its two key partners, Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic.
Most recently, Matthiessen was communications coordinator for the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost at Virginia Tech. In that role, she supported four vice provost areas, including enrollment and degree management, faculty affairs, resource management and institutional effectiveness, and undergraduate academic affairs.
Prior to her role in the provost office, Matthiessen was marketing communications specialist for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, where she now returns. During her tenure there, she supported the schools inaugural communications efforts as the school opened, welcoming its first two classes of students.
Matthiessen began her career in journalism as a local television news producer for the NBC and Fox affiliates in Roanoke, Virginia. She received the industrys highest honor, a Peabody Award, as a contributing producer with WSLS-10.
Matthiessen received her bachelors and masters degrees in communication at Virginia Tech.
The Iron Lady of Manipur, Chanu, who had been on a hunger strike since November 2000 in protest against alleged atrocities by security forces on civilians in the northeastern state of Manipur, ended her 16-year fast on Tuesday.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has lauded the banks in the way they have cleaned up their balance sheets. "Broadly speaking, we are comfortable with the recognition process as banks have certainly taken a lot of steps. Some banks have taken more steps than we require them to take, and so the culture of cleaning up seems well-embedded as well as a culture of recovery on the loans," RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said.
FLOYD COUNTY -- A Charles City man was critically injured after his car collided with a Mack truck on the Avenue of the Saints on Tuesday morning.
Trent Alan Smith, 23, of Charles City was westbound on the Avenue of the Saints near the intersection of T26 at around 11:45 a.m. Tuesday when his Buick LeSabre collided with a stopped Mack truck driven by Milton Jeffrey Arroyo, 49, of Rolla, Missouri, according to the Iowa State Patrol.
Smith was airlifted by Mercy Airmed to Mercy Hospital in Mason City with life-threatening injuries and was in critical condition as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the Patrol.
Smith was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.
Arroyo was not injured in the crash.
The Floyd County Sheriff's Office, Nora Springs Fire Department and the Iowa Department of Motor Vehicle Enforcement assisted in the crash.
WATERLOO -- Police have arrested a Waterloo man who allegedly robbed a man of his coat at gunpoint in a bar in April.
Isaiah Tyrell Buchanan, 26, of 221 Courtland St., was arrested Tuesday for first-degree robbery, carrying weapons, felon on possession of a firearm and going armed. He was also arrested on an unrelated domestic assault charge. His bond was set at $220,000.
According to court records, Buchanan entered J's R&B Bar, 501 Independence Ave., at about 7:47 p.m., April 4. He pointed a silver-colored handgun at patron Jose Galindo and demanded money, court records state. When Galindo said he wasn't carrying cash, Buchanan took Galindo's coat and fled, according to authorities.
Witnesses were familiar with Buchanan and were able to identify him, records state.
DES MOINES In the wee morning hours of Feb. 2, Hillary Clinton stood on a stage in Des Moines and celebrated a narrow victory in the Iowa caucuses.
That victory in Iowa was Clintons first step on a history-making journey across the country that concluded with her becoming the first woman to earn a major U.S. political partys nomination for president.
Today, more than six months after that caucus victory speech, Clinton makes her return to Iowa to hold another campaign rally, this time as the Democratic candidate for president.
Clintons national political director Amanda Renteria spoke with the Courier Des Moines Bureau last week about Clintons return to the state where it all began and the campaigns plans for Iowa.
We kicked it off here. This place is pretty special for us, Renteria said during an interview in the Clinton campaigns headquarters in downtown Des Moines. We won the caucus here. It was a big deal to have won that caucus. Its special for our entire campaign that this is where it all started, and we did it, and we learned a lot from it as well.
Clintons remarks were to focus on the economy, including her proposal for the largest investment in job creation since World War II, according to the campaign.
Renteria said Iowans can expect to see plenty of Clinton and her campaigns high-profile supporters in the months leading up to the Nov. 8 election.
Shes going to be traveling all the battleground states obviously and not stopping. Youre also going to see surrogates out here, some of our other main principals, Renteria said. Iowas used to it, so of course, (Clinton will campaign here).
Polls of the presidential race in Iowa conducted before the parties national conventions showed a tight race in Iowa.
Most election forecast maps have Iowa marked as a toss-up state or leaning slightly toward Clinton.
We know this thing is going to be tight all the way to the end. I dont see any change in that, Renteria said. Were under the assumption it will be close all the way through, and were under the assumption that weve got to make sure that were earning every single vote.
Renteria said it is important to Clinton that Democrats are successful not only in keeping the White House but also in congressional and Statehouse races. Without being asked, Renteria noted the state Senate races in Iowa, where Democrats cling to a 26-24 majority that if flipped would give Republicans full control of the Capitol.
If we build the right kind of organization here, and we are, and were really coordinating as much as we can, we can make some real headway on whats happening in the state, Renteria said. One of the things as Ive gone around talking to folks, the (state) funding thats been cut is hard for these community organizations and I can only imagine what that might mean if the Senate were to go in a different direction. So (Clinton) wants to help make sure that were building the party out here.
Renteria also said the Clinton campaign is reaching out to leaders in minority communities to engage voters, and she is confident most people who supported Bernie Sanders during the closely contested and sometimes contentious primaries will vote for Clinton in November.
DES MOINES In her first trip to Iowa since winning the states first-in-the-nation caucuses six months ago, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton stressed her economic proposals during campaign stops Wednesday at a popular local T-shirt shop and a high school.
During a visit to Raygun, Clinton said she wants to make it easier for young entrepreneurs to start businesses and wants to encourage businesses to invest in American-made products.
Clinton accused Donald Trump, the New York businessman and Republican candidate for president, of outsourcing much of his businesses work to other countries.
This is one of the big differences I have with Donald Trump, Clinton said. He could make his ties in Denver. He could make suits in Ohio. He could make furniture in North Carolina.
You can build it in America, and I am determined that were going to build more, and were going to be able to create more businesses and more jobs by doing so.
The Trump campaign responded to Clintons assertions by pointing to Trumps previous responses to questions on the subject. During a recent interview with an Ohio radio station, Trump said he is forced to make products overseas because of trade deals that he says are bad for U.S. businesses.
All Im doing is Im doing the market, Trump told WSPD-AM in Toledo. But I want products to be made in our country. A lot of products arent even made here anymore because theyre outsmarting us at the negotiating table, other countries.
In a conference call hosted earlier Wednesday by the Republican Party of Iowa, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge tied Clinton to President Barack Obama, whose policies she said create over-regulation of small businesses and businesses across this great country.
Clinton, during her address to a crowd of 1,600 at Des Moines Lincoln High School, cited an analysis by Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moodys and a former economic adviser to Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
Zandis analysis said Clintons proposals would result in 7.1 million new jobs, which would outpace current law by 2.2 million jobs.
Clinton also pointed out Zandis analysis called Trumps economic proposals fiscally unsound and would result in very large deficits and much higher debt load.
Clinton said during her first 100 days as president she would call for heavy investment in both physical and electronic infrastructure, in clean and renewable energy sources and programs and in programs that promote small business growth.
She also proposed a three-year moratorium on student loan payments, which she said would not only help young people start businesses but also would help recent college graduates manage their student debt.
If we do infrastructure and we do clean, renewable energy jobs, then were going to be on our way to a 21st-century economy that will work for everybody, not just those at the top, Clinton said. If we want to get the economy working for everybody, then we need a campaign that lays out the agenda so people can vote for it, so when Im elected I can tell Congress this is what the people of America voted for.
At one point during the rally, U.S. Secret Service stormed the stage to protect Clinton; they were responding to protesters who unfurled two large signs directly behind Clinton. The protesters appeared to be from an animal rights group.
During her visit to Raygun, Clinton talked shop with store owner Mike Draper, telling him her father, Hugh Rodham, printed drapery fabrics.
For the event, Draper wore a Raygun-printed T-shirt that displayed one of Clintons campaign slogans, America: Hill yes, and he gave one to Clinton.
Clintons return to Iowa was brief. She appeared at Raygun for roughly 30 minutes, popped in on a local coffee shop, then spoke for roughly 17 minutes at the rally, after which she also greeted supporters.
Clinton left immediately; she was scheduled to give a speech later in suburban Detroit.
WATERLOO Ras Smiths mom told supporters Tuesday the Democratic House District 62 candidate has been a champion for his community since he was 2 years old.
Smiths first political stance? According to his mother Belinda Creighton-Smith, a longtime community activist, it was a public plea as a toddler, No no no no no more drugs.
Since then, Smith has had long thoughts and deep conversations with his mom about his beliefs and his ideas to strengthen the community. And while his positions have evolved, not a lot has changed.
His first priority remains on youth positive development and success.
In order to create a society thats progressive and is going to be established in 20 years, you have to take a holistic approach, understanding that everything is intertwined, Smith told a crowd of more than two dozen supporters at Lincoln Park Tuesday to kick off his general election campaign.
Smith, 28, has been in the race since March when he filed to be on the Democratic primary ballot days after Iowa Rep. Deborah Berry, D-Waterloo, announced she would be retiring after 14 years in office.
But for the first time since then, he has opposition.
Independent John Patterson was nominated by petition last week to be on the November ballot, and Republican Todd Obadal filed his paperwork earlier this week. The election is in 90 days, on Nov. 8, and early voting starts Sept. 29.
During his event, Smith laid out his other two top priorities as having educated and globally competitive Iowans, and security, safety, well-being and equity.
He stressed the importance of looking to the specific needs of the districts rural population as well as its urban areas. Iowa House District 62 encompasses east Waterloo, Raymond, Evansdale and Elk Run Heights.
While Smith did not shy away from his stances on social issues declaring himself supportive of abortion rights and willing to look at firearm restrictions his focus was on those areas where he hoped to find common ground with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
He said those areas where politicians could find common ground are supporting young mothers, funding education and sustainability.
Right now, our legislators are doing a lot of that sounds good type things. Theyre saying theyre going to do this and it sounds good, but when it comes down to it, were not putting those things in action, Smith said. Some of the issues that we have right now in our political arena arent political issues. These are moral issues. These are issues that at times are life or death issues.
DES MOINES The head of the states largest public employees union warned Tuesday that correctional officers and staff at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison are at risk due to understaffing that needs to be addressed.
Danny Homan, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Iowa Council 61, issued a statement calling Iowas only maximum-security prison a dangerous place for workers, saying staffing is so critically low there arent enough employees to respond to medical or behavioral emergencies.
The working conditions at ISP are an outrage, Homan said in a statement. The men and women protecting our inmates are, in their own words, walking into ISP not knowing if they will walk out at the end of the day. They are truly, and reasonably, afraid for their safety.
Homan said there recently was a series of fights involving about 16 inmates and the discovery of makeshift weapons led to a lockdown without the staff necessary to ensure both inmate and officer safety. Also, he said, on multiple occasions in the past two weeks, at least 15 officers from state correctional facilities at Oakdale and Mount Pleasant were dispatched to the Fort Madison penitentiary to assist with shakedowns a clear indication that ISP is desperately in need of more support.
The AFSCME leader called on Gov. Terry Branstad, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, state lawmakers and the Iowa Department of Corrections to examine staffing trends at the penitentiary and allocate the staff funding to run a safe and secure facility.
We have to do better for our public servants, Homan said in his statement. We cant sit by and let them walk into preventable danger day after day.
Fred Scaletta, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, declined to comment on Homans statement.
On July 31, officials at the Fort Madison prison said the penitentiary had been placed on restricted movement with inmates confined to their cells following several altercations. The incidents involved multiple offenders with no serious injuries to inmates and no staff injuries, according to the departments July 31 news release.
Rep. Gary Worthan, R-Storm Lake, co-leader of the Legislatures joint justice systems appropriations subcommittee, said he has not heard of any concerns specific to the Fort Madison facility but added he is aware the is stress system-wide given the tight funding allocations within the states fiscal 2017 budget.
Weve got situations where the manpowers just not there, said Worthan, noting it is difficult to schedule vacations when state agency budgets are tight. Thats been true for state troopers who have seen extra duties related to the National Governors Associations summer meeting in Des Moines, the statewide RAGBRAI bike ride and now the Iowa State Fair, which opens an 11-day run on Thursday.
The entire justice systems budget, it put some stress on it, theres no way around it. Nobody got enough money for salary annualization, he said, let alone any increase in manpower. At the same time, he said, he has not heard from corrections officials regarding any need for supplemental funding.
Worthan said he had not seen Homans statement but he noted union officials occasionally raise staffing concerns to get the top on the publics radar before the next legislative session convenes in January.
In responding to Homans claims, Branstad spokesman Ben Hammes made note that the AFSCME leader also serves as vice chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party.
The vice chair of the Democrat Party, Danny Homan, is only interested in taking cheap political partisan shots, Hammes said in a statement. Gov. Branstad will keep his focus on the effective management of taxpayer resources at the Department of Corrections and the public safety of Iowans.
DORCHESTER Dont girls like to camp anymore?
The Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois recently announced plans to sell Camp Tahigwa in Allamakee County. The 315 acres of wooded hills and prairies straddle one of the states finest trout streams.
Nature lover Brecka Putnam of Decorah, a volunteer counselor at the camp for six years, said she is happy plans call for it be maintained as a public nature area.
But ...
Its still a tremendous loss not to have Girl Scout programs at the camp, said Putnam, a member of Friends of Camp Tahigwa, which has urged the camp remain open.
In an era in which people are losing contact with nature, Camp Tahigwa provides a rustic, natural, technology-free experience, Putnam said.
Despite Girl Scout statistics showing declining usage at Tahigwa, Putnam said, the Scouts who camp there thoroughly enjoy the experience.
If we expose them to it, they love it, and I dont think they miss their phones, Putnam said.
Diane Nelson, president of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois, agrees girls still love the outdoors. But declining use at some camps and increasing maintenance costs have forced the organization to make adjustments, she said.
That includes selling Tahigwa and converting the former Camp Conestoga into a 21st century camp with air-conditioning, microwaves and Wi-fi.
Conestoga in Scott County, much closer to the councils demographic center has been renamed Camp Liberty and is in the midst of a $3.6 million upgrade, according to Nelson.
On Thursday, Camp Liberty unveiled a new activity center underwritten by a $200,000 grant from Hy-Vee and intended to help Scouts learn the value of healthy choices, staying physically active and taking care of the environment.
Camp Tahigwa is part of a national trend in which many Scout camps across the nation have closed or been sold in recent years.
The not-for-profit Scouting group owns four camps in eastern Iowa with a combined value of several million dollars. An original plan to close them all met stiff resistance and a lawsuit, which may have influenced council leadership to conduct usage surveys of its properties.
Those surveys show Tahigwa is the least used of the four camps, Nelson said.
Use of Camp Liberty has increased from 800 campers last year to more 1,400 so far this year, she said.
Camp Little Cloud near Dubuque will continue to be used and maintained while a usage evaluation proceeds, Nelson said.
Camp L-Kee-Ta near Burlington has shown a slight increase in use, according to Nelson. The board, she said, has agreed to sell parcels not central to the organizations mission.
In a statement issued last month, the organization said its property committee recommends selling Tahigwa in its entirety to an entity with the condition that the land be maintained as a natural space in perpetuity for public use.
The Scouts board of directors will vote on the recommendation at its meeting Thursday.
The property committee also recommended sending a letter to the Department of Natural Resources, the conservation boards of Fayette, Winneshiek, Clayton and Allamakee counties and the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, which has been instrumental in brokering similar property transfers to public entities.
Foundation President Joe McGovern said the Girl Scouts are to be complimented for their desire to protect the property in its natural condition. Hes optimistic plans for the property may even include scout camping opportunities.
They came to us to see if we are interested, and of course we are, said Mike Steuck, the DNRs northeast Iowa fisheries supervisor. Its a great resource with awesome uplands, several prairies and a mile of Bear Creek, one of the states top trout streams, flowing through it.
Conservation officials in Allamakee and Winneshiek Counties also expressed support for keeping Camp Tahigwa as a public resource.
CHARLES CITY Can a name be destiny? In the case of DeRailed, a bar at 1130 N. Grand Ave., it appears so.
A Canadian Pacific railroad car tipped over on the adjacent tracks early Tuesday and crushed a corner of the metal storage shed at the back of the bar. Chief Hugh Anderson of the Charles City Police Department said the derailment occurred about 4 a.m. while crews were moving cars and changing hookups.
Kind of ironic that it derailed, said Lori Eckenrod of Charles City, as she sat at the bar in DeRailed shortly before noon. Kind of been the talk of the town and everywhere else, from what I heard. Her husband, Tom, is one of four co-owners of the bar.
He got called at 4:15 in the morning, she said. No one really knows what happened.
Eckenrod added, At least it happened at the end of the bar. Thats all storage.
Anderson was alerted by a patrol officer that a train car had derailed into Derailed. Its not every day you get to say that, the police chief quipped.
He said it appeared the track separated, and a grain car rolled into the bar, caving in the back corner. The owner estimated damage at $10,000. No one was in the bar and no injuries were reported.
Workers were on the scene throughout the morning assessing the situation. Heavy equipment arrived at 12:15 p.m. and workers began attaching cables to the railroad car. About 35 minutes later, the car was pulled upright.
Despite the accident, DeRailed was open for business Tuesday. Patrons were stopping in and the seats at the bar near the front of the building were full around noon.
Lucky it didnt hit the bar, or we wouldnt be in here, Teresa Smith of Osage said with a smile. She and Starla Tindell of Floyd stopped in for a drink following a business meeting in town.
A quarter after 8 this morning, I caught it on my Facebook, Tindell said of the derailment. She didnt believe me, Tindell added, pointing to Smith.
I just found out about it when I got here, said Fuzzy Hollander of Floyd. Like other patrons, he seemed unconcerned about the incident.
Outside, there was a little more interest. A steady stream of people were driving by or stopping in the parking lot to get a look at the damage.
Howard Iverson of Charles City made his second stop during the noon hour, taking some pictures. He first learned about it in the morning over coffee with a friend. He went to get a look around 8:30 a.m. but was chased away by railroad employees after taking a few photos.
That building didnt have much of a chance, did it? he said. I mean, hell, thats all the excitement we have in a small town.
Staff writer Jeff Reinitz contributed to this story.
WATERLOO The citys top law enforcement officer has welcomed two new family members into his fold.
Waterloo Safety Services Director Dan Trelka and his wife, Sandy, adopted two girls Wednesday during a ceremony at the Black Hawk County Courthouse.
Carmella Marie Trelka, 10, and Isabella Faith Trelka, 9, join the couples five biological children and two adopted children as part of the Trelka family.
Theyve been in foster care with us for two years, Dan Trelka said. They came up for adoption several months ago and we had grown very fond of them and attached to them.
Carmella and Isabella are very sweet little girls considering difficult circumstances which led them to foster care, he said.
Those girls had no input in the hands they were dealt, Trelka said. Thats unfortunate for them. We want to give them a promising and fruitful future.
The Trelkas history as adoptive and foster parents is no secret among those close to City Hall and law enforcement. The couples other two adopted children were from the Waterloo area too.
Its simply in my wifes heart, he said. Shes passed that along to me.
Trelka doesnt anticipate the family growing with future adoptions.
But Ive said that before, he said. For the size of home we have now, were maxed out.
A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Trelka became Waterloos police chief in May 2010. He has strived to promote a community-oriented policing approach in the city during his tenure.
Perhaps next year will, finally, be the year Iowa lawmakers take substantive steps to crack down on the pervasive, dangerous problem of distracted driving.
At his July 25 weekly news conference, Gov. Terry Branstad said he asked Public Safety Commissioner Roxann Ryan to lead a task force in a study of driving distractions. Ultimately, the panel will make recommendations to Branstad ahead of the next legislative session.
Branstad said safety on Iowas roads will be one of the major issues he will discuss in his January Condition of the State address.
Weve seen not only an increase in the deaths of cyclists, bicyclists (and) motorcyclists, but also motorists, Branstad said. And I do want to see us address those issues.
We commend state government for undertaking this study, which we hope will help push the issue of distracted driving to near the forefront of next years session, where it deserves to be.
We have used this space on multiple occasions in the last several years to advocate for state action on distracted driving in particular, use of a cellphone while driving.
We support making use of a hand-held cellphone while driving illegal.
At a minimum, the state should make texting while driving a primary offense. The state was right in 2010 to make texting while driving illegal, but because the ban is enforceable only as a secondary offense, or only when a law enforcement officer stops a driver for a primary offense, it lacks impact.
We also support discussion, pushed by the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, of changes to the states reckless driving law. In response to the deaths of nine bicyclists on Iowa roads so far this year (the most since 2010), the coalition advocates for an expanded definition of reckless driving (to include, for example, texting while driving), with a goal of stronger charges and punishment for motorists who strike bicyclists.
Under current law, drivers must be drunk, high, drag racing or fleeing from police to be considered reckless.
Alarming statistics about the scourge of cellphone use by drivers abound.
According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, some 660,000 drivers use cellphones or manipulate electronic devices while driving at any given daylight moment.
The National Safety Council reports use of cellphones causes 26 percent, or roughly one in four, of the nations car accidents, resulting in some 1.6 million crashes each year.
Iowa should seek to become a leader in protecting the public from this national epidemic.
To this end, we look forward to reading what the new task force recommends.
And we urge state lawmakers to join Branstad and make distracted driving a priority legislative issue next year.
Seat belt law
NORM BIBLER
WAVERLY Again as every month or so Herman Lenz from Sumner has a letter dissing seat belt use. My father was killed in a car accident in 1953 near Oelwein before seat belts were available. I am 100 percent sure if he would have had a seat belt on, he would have been only slightly injured.
He and my mother were both ejected from their Packard vehicle. She was critically injured.
Statistics show between 1964 and 1973, an average of 843 traffic deaths occurred yearly. Adopting a tougher drunken-driving law lowered the fatality figure to 470 in each of four consecutive years.
Other states supported mandatory use of seat belts. In Illinois, 38 fewer people died in the first six months after its seat belt law went into effect. Missouri recorded 51 fewer deaths for the year, and Nebraska had 47 fewer casualties.
On Feb. 20, 1986, Iowa became the 18th state to require seat belts. So Herman, go ahead and ride around sitting on your seat belts. I wont be surprised to see your name on the obituary page.
Trumps mental state
VELMA FLAUCHER-FALCK
CEDAR FALLS Hillary Clinton (and many others) is correct in saying Donald Trump is missing something. No one has said it outright, that I know of, but he has many signs of being mentally ill. He doesnt understand nor care about the significance of his words and actions and how they affect others.
Trump is totally within himself. A good many of his sentences begin with I or me. There is always some rationale for his behavior and it is always someone elses fault. He has a grandiose mentality. He can do no wrong. He may even think of himself as God.
Before anyone runs for president of the United States, he or she should be given a psychiatric evaluation. The world depends on stability. Mentally ill people strive to drag others into their distorted world. That is how they justify themselves.
If you cant see the damage Donald Trump can and is heaping on others, you may be mesmerized into his sick rhetoric. Saying you have always been a Republican and always will be, despite whatever or whoever, is sick itself. The Republican Party sold its soul when they declared war against President Obama.
Police officers
SHERRI MURPHY
WATERLOO Its becoming more common nationally that police officers are being arrested for their actions and are being fired.
While there are officers who are doing right protecting us, there are officers who are wrong-doers.
Trump children
VERNON WEEMS
WATERLOO I challenge your readers to both a mental academic workout and food for thought and deliberation. Then share their thoughts by writing a letter. On Aug. 5, Donald Trump suggested daughter, Ivanka, as a member of his cabinet if elected.
What do readers think about Ivanka as a cabinet secretary and which slot she might fill? Should any other or all of his children and other family members be included in his possible administration? I have reserved stating my opinion so as not to taint the discussion.
BETHEL, Vt. Whether or not there is such as thing as Pagan community is as slippery a concept as the definition of Pagan itself. The core question is whether or not people who follow vastly different traditions have enough in common to share a common label, or a common table. Some festivals are positioned to reinforce a feeling of community. For example, at the end of Pagan Spirit Gathering participants dont just leave; they head out on a year-long supply run. This week, participants at CWPNs Harvest Gathering are told, Welcome home, as they arrive at the camp.
This begs the question: can community exist if its members gather only once a year?
One group of Pagans, who gathered in rural Vermont at the end of last month, certainly think so. They were attending the annual Lughnasad festival at Laurelin Retreat , where notions of community were reinforced by this years theme: The Journey Home.
For some, Laurelin is considered one of the most beautiful Pagan places that no one has ever heard of. It is located on over 50 acres of land that was once farmed a generation ago. It slopes gently upward from ritual fields into verdant forest. Earlier in the summer the site was descended upon by well over a thousand people who disappeared into the woods for the Firefly Arts Collective, a Burning Man regional feeder festival. But the aggressive leave-no-trace ethic makes that hard to believe.
The Lughnasad festival is a much smaller event with some 70 in attendance this year.
That number of people together for meals, rituals, workshops, and discussions for five days is small enough to form personal connections, but large enough that this bounding wont happen widely without some effort. Attendees were randomly assigned to houses, color-themed groups responsible for aspects of the main ritual. Encouraged to wear their house color, they were also asked to sit together for lunch, whether or not they were on the meal plan. Its not a new idea, but it encouraged people to forge connections they might have otherwise overlooked.
This is a far cry from the halls of Pantheacon, where people juggle massive schedules and often meet each other waiting for elevators. Only one or two workshops were held at a time, under the dining fly or the shade of the box elder tree. There were also daily guided discussions, and one of those was focused specifically on community. Since blogger Cat Chapin-Bishop who wrote a love letter to the Pagan community was in attendance, Laurelin host Kirk White tapped her to facilitate.
Chapin-Bishop is a teacher, she explained, and during the school year, online is the only community [she] can find. It was in that space that she has seen Pagans debate whether there is a community among these religions, and if its even important to strive for one.
Some say we dont share enough theology to make that viable, she went on, but thats not at all my impression.
White has been hosting events at Laurelin for at least 30 years, and said a loose definition of membership had been adopted: If youve been here at least once, and identify yourself as part of the Laurelin community, then you are.
People from many different Pagan traditions have crossed through the gate, he said, in part because of how he differentiates community from tribe in his thinking. Tribalism is us against them, he said, but he models community more on the annual town meeting tradition in Vermont. People disagree with me on a lot of things, but we work together for the common good of the community. Its a broader concept than tradition or tribe, he explained.
Walking the land and meeting the attendees reinforces that notion of community. Shrines to several deities, which were erected by a Hellenic reconstructionist group, dot the landscape in among old ritual circles used by Whites family in days gone by and sites which once held more temporary shrines to local spirits or foreign gods. The most prominent shrine is a standing stone on the cusp of the woods; this is the community shrine, where news of the year is shared as offerings are made.
High magicians and Witches alike participated in a Heathen sumbel, drinking to the many gods worshiped and honored by those around the fire. Some of the same people joined the five Quaker Pagans in silent worship. Conversations during meals or over a shared drink helped forge connections among people who traveled from as far as Texas and Michigan to be in attendance.
A common aspect of community, agreed those at Lughnasad, is the coming together over death and grief. One community member was even buried on Laurelin lands.
Not all aspects of community are tied to place, observed one traveler. I feel a sense of community in Pagan gatherings all over the country, she said. Chapin-Bishop characterized that as the cross-pollination which makes the next generation stronger as a result.
I dont feel woven into a community until I return a third time, Chapin-Bishop said, but even that depends in part on the nature of the event. She drew a distinction between what she called consumer Paganism paying to be entertained at a festival and the notion of duocracy, in which people who want to improve the experience simply do something to make that happen. The difference is partly cultural, and partly pragmatic. The more people in attendance, the more likely a festival will take on a consumer feel.
Another way White has tried to avoid the consumer feel is by employing something he has borrowed shamelessly from the Rites of Spring. Prior to the event, a group of village builders transform the site and make it ready for everyone else. By doing so, they create bonds which they attempt to infuse into the entire site. Then these builders are broken into different houses, so that they dont just talk only to the people that they know for the rest of the week.
Its easy for the locals to hang out together, White said, but hes mindful that many Pagans are introverts. The goal is that it doesnt feel like youre going to someone elses family reunion.
Whites daughter Killian has watched this community shift and change over 25 years. She likened the way people step into a central role for a time before backing away to part of a tree breaking off. That can happen for any number of reasons, including when it arises out of conflict.
Are conflicts a bug or a feature of community? Chapin-Bishop pondered.
Conflict can arise over theological differences, leadership styles, or personal relationships. One goal of community might be to find ways for people to experience conflict without one member feeling that they must leave, and never return. As one attendee said, Real communities have ragged edges, both as a result of conflict, and because the definition of who belongs can often get fuzzy.
The community feel at Laurelin was palpable during Lughnasad. The site is more primitive than some with only porta-potties and limited running water available. But, this fact also may be considered a feature rather than a bug. It meant that worshipers of Caffeina tended to gather around the great central percolator each morning, and that dish washing after meals was also a communal experience.
Thats only possible because of the small number of people. However, White is confident that triple the number wouldnt change that vibe or tax the facilities.
What a small festival doesnt mean is a lack of options. A half-dozen or more vendors opened up shop for the week, and their number swelled Saturday afternoon to accommodate a psychic fair thats open to the public. Lughnasad also has a history of attracting talented musical guests; this year Jenna Greene and Willowfire graced the stage for a concert that brought the energy levels up. Many later used that juice to climb the road leading to the fire circle in the deep woods, where drums and dancing continued until light returned.
One particularly poignant observation about community was made by Sybelle Silverphoenix. I was one of the last 250 finalists for the Mars One project, she told people at the community shrine. During the first round, 4,227 people applied, and she was ultimately not selected as part of the Mars 100 finalists. Nevertheless, It made me think long and hard about what home is, and by extension, community as well. Silverphoenix is planning on applying to future rounds, and if shes successful, shell become the most distant member of the Laurelin community to date.
This idea of community remains a moving target, particularly among Pagans who attempt to create it largely through the internet or annual gatherings. While this group of Vermont Pagans probably dont have a universal key to the idea, they have at least found a sweet spot for creating community with Yankee flair.
archives 11 Sep - 18 Sep (1) 14 Aug - 21 Aug (3) 7 Aug - 14 Aug (3) 17 Jul - 24 Jul (3) 10 Jul - 17 Jul (3) 19 Jun - 26 Jun (2) 12 Jun - 19 Jun (4) 22 May - 29 May (1) 15 May - 22 May (5) 1 May - 8 May (2) 17 Apr - 24 Apr (3) 27 Feb - 6 Mar (3) 13 Feb - 20 Feb (1) 30 Jan - 6 Feb (3) 2 Jan - 9 Jan (4) 26 Dec - 2 Jan (1) 5 Dec - 12 Dec (3) 28 Nov - 5 Dec (2) 14 Nov - 21 Nov (1) 7 Nov - 14 Nov (1) 10 Oct - 17 Oct (1) 22 Aug - 29 Aug (3) 15 Aug - 22 Aug (1) 8 Aug - 15 Aug (3) 1 Aug - 8 Aug (1) 25 Jul - 1 Aug (3) 18 Jul - 25 Jul (1) 11 Jul - 18 Jul (1) 27 Jun - 4 Jul (4) 20 Jun - 27 Jun (3) 13 Jun - 20 Jun (1) 30 May - 6 Jun (2) 23 May - 30 May (4) 2 May - 9 May (3) 25 Apr - 2 May (4) 4 Apr - 11 Apr (2) 28 Mar - 4 Apr (4) 28 Feb - 7 Mar (1) 7 Feb - 14 Feb (2) 10 Jan - 17 Jan (2) 27 Dec - 3 Jan (2) 13 Dec - 20 Dec (3) 6 Dec - 13 Dec (1) 29 Nov - 6 Dec (1) 15 Nov - 22 Nov (6) 8 Nov - 15 Nov (1) 25 Oct - 1 Nov (1) 18 Oct - 25 Oct (3) 4 Oct - 11 Oct (1) 27 Sep - 4 Oct (1) 20 Sep - 27 Sep (2) 13 Sep - 20 Sep (4) 6 Sep - 13 Sep (3) 30 Aug - 6 Sep (1) 23 Aug - 30 Aug (1) 16 Aug - 23 Aug (4) 9 Aug - 16 Aug (1) 2 Aug - 9 Aug (3) 26 Jul - 2 Aug (4) 19 Jul - 26 Jul (5) 12 Jul - 19 Jul (2) 5 Jul - 12 Jul (7) 28 Jun - 5 Jul (2) 21 Jun - 28 Jun (7) 14 Jun - 21 Jun (4) 7 Jun - 14 Jun (4) 31 May - 7 Jun (3) 24 May - 31 May (2) 17 May - 24 May (1) 10 May - 17 May (1) 19 Apr - 26 Apr (1) 12 Apr - 19 Apr (1) 15 Mar - 22 Mar (1) 8 Mar - 15 Mar (3) 1 Mar - 8 Mar (2) 23 Feb - 1 Mar (2) 9 Feb - 16 Feb (3) 26 Jan - 2 Feb (1) 19 Jan - 26 Jan (2) 12 Jan - 19 Jan (2) 5 Jan - 12 Jan (1) 29 Dec - 5 Jan (1) 8 Dec - 15 Dec (1) 24 Nov - 1 Dec (2) 17 Nov - 24 Nov (1) 27 Oct - 3 Nov (1) 6 Oct - 13 Oct (1) 1 Sep - 8 Sep (2) 25 Aug - 1 Sep (4) 18 Aug - 25 Aug (1) 11 Aug - 18 Aug (2) 4 Aug - 11 Aug (8) 28 Jul - 4 Aug (5) 14 Jul - 21 Jul (3) 7 Jul - 14 Jul (3) 30 Jun - 7 Jul (4) 23 Jun - 30 Jun (2) 16 Jun - 23 Jun (4) 9 Jun - 16 Jun (1) 2 Jun - 9 Jun (5) 26 May - 2 Jun (1) 19 May - 26 May (6) 12 May - 19 May (1) 21 Apr - 28 Apr (3) 14 Apr - 21 Apr (1) 31 Mar - 7 Apr (3) 24 Mar - 31 Mar (6) 17 Mar - 24 Mar (5) 10 Mar - 17 Mar (1) 3 Mar - 10 Mar (3) 24 Feb - 3 Mar (2) 17 Feb - 24 Feb (5) 10 Feb - 17 Feb (3) 3 Feb - 10 Feb (2) 20 Jan - 27 Jan (3) 13 Jan - 20 Jan (1) 23 Dec - 30 Dec (3) 2 Dec - 9 Dec (1) 25 Nov - 2 Dec (2) 18 Nov - 25 Nov (2) 11 Nov - 18 Nov (2) 4 Nov - 11 Nov (1) 21 Oct - 28 Oct (4) 14 Oct - 21 Oct (5) 7 Oct - 14 Oct (2) 30 Sep - 7 Oct (1) 23 Sep - 30 Sep (1) 9 Sep - 16 Sep (4) 2 Sep - 9 Sep (1) 19 Aug - 26 Aug (1) 12 Aug - 19 Aug (4) 5 Aug - 12 Aug (6) 29 Jul - 5 Aug (2) 22 Jul - 29 Jul (1) 15 Jul - 22 Jul (3) 8 Jul - 15 Jul (4) 1 Jul - 8 Jul (1) 24 Jun - 1 Jul (1) 17 Jun - 24 Jun (3) 10 Jun - 17 Jun (5) 3 Jun - 10 Jun (3) 27 May - 3 Jun (5) 20 May - 27 May (6) 13 May - 20 May (6) 6 May - 13 May (1) 29 Apr - 6 May (5) 22 Apr - 29 Apr (4) 15 Apr - 22 Apr (6) 8 Apr - 15 Apr (4) 1 Apr - 8 Apr (4) 25 Mar - 1 Apr (3) 18 Mar - 25 Mar (3) 11 Mar - 18 Mar (3) 4 Mar - 11 Mar (4) 25 Feb - 4 Mar (3) 18 Feb - 25 Feb (1) 11 Feb - 18 Feb (4) 4 Feb - 11 Feb (5) 28 Jan - 4 Feb (6) 21 Jan - 28 Jan (1) 14 Jan - 21 Jan (4) 7 Jan - 14 Jan (2) 31 Dec - 7 Jan (7) 24 Dec - 31 Dec (2) 17 Dec - 24 Dec (3) 10 Dec - 17 Dec (1) 3 Dec - 10 Dec (4) 26 Nov - 3 Dec (3) 19 Nov - 26 Nov (2) 12 Nov - 19 Nov (1) 5 Nov - 12 Nov (4) 22 Oct - 29 Oct (3) 15 Oct - 22 Oct (4) 8 Oct - 15 Oct (4) 1 Oct - 8 Oct (1) 10 Sep - 17 Sep (2) 3 Sep - 10 Sep (2) 27 Aug - 3 Sep (1) 20 Aug - 27 Aug (6) 6 Aug - 13 Aug (4) 30 Jul - 6 Aug (1) 23 Jul - 30 Jul (5) 16 Jul - 23 Jul (3) 9 Jul - 16 Jul (5) 25 Jun - 2 Jul (5) 18 Jun - 25 Jun (2) 11 Jun - 18 Jun (6) 4 Jun - 11 Jun (1) 28 May - 4 Jun (5) 21 May - 28 May (2) 14 May - 21 May (4) 7 May - 14 May (4) 30 Apr - 7 May (4) 23 Apr - 30 Apr (3) 16 Apr - 23 Apr (3) 9 Apr - 16 Apr (1) 2 Apr - 9 Apr (3) 26 Mar - 2 Apr (2) 19 Mar - 26 Mar (3) 12 Mar - 19 Mar (3) 5 Mar - 12 Mar (2) 26 Feb - 5 Mar (3) 19 Feb - 26 Feb (2) 12 Feb - 19 Feb (2) 5 Feb - 12 Feb (6) 29 Jan - 5 Feb (5) 22 Jan - 29 Jan (1) 15 Jan - 22 Jan (8) 8 Jan - 15 Jan (7) 1 Jan - 8 Jan (4) 25 Dec - 1 Jan (3) 11 Dec - 18 Dec (3) 13 Nov - 20 Nov (4) 6 Nov - 13 Nov (2) 30 Oct - 6 Nov (1) 23 Oct - 30 Oct (1) 16 Oct - 23 Oct (1) 9 Oct - 16 Oct (1) 2 Oct - 9 Oct (2) 25 Sep - 2 Oct (1) 18 Sep - 25 Sep (4) 11 Sep - 18 Sep (2) 4 Sep - 11 Sep (1) 28 Aug - 4 Sep (4) 21 Aug - 28 Aug (1) 14 Aug - 21 Aug (2) 7 Aug - 14 Aug (4) 31 Jul - 7 Aug (6) 24 Jul - 31 Jul (3) 17 Jul - 24 Jul (6) 10 Jul - 17 Jul (3) 3 Jul - 10 Jul (6) 26 Jun - 3 Jul (3) 19 Jun - 26 Jun (4) 5 Jun - 12 Jun (5) 29 May - 5 Jun (1) 22 May - 29 May (1) 15 May - 22 May (1) 8 May - 15 May (5) 1 May - 8 May (5) 24 Apr - 1 May (1) 17 Apr - 24 Apr (2) 10 Apr - 17 Apr (3) 3 Apr - 10 Apr (2) 20 Mar - 27 Mar (2) 13 Mar - 20 Mar (4) 6 Mar - 13 Mar (1) 28 Feb - 6 Mar (2) 21 Feb - 28 Feb (1) 14 Feb - 21 Feb (1) 7 Feb - 14 Feb (3) 24 Jan - 31 Jan (2) 17 Jan - 24 Jan (3) 10 Jan - 17 Jan (2) 3 Jan - 10 Jan (1) 27 Dec - 3 Jan (1) 20 Dec - 27 Dec (1) 13 Dec - 20 Dec (3) 6 Dec - 13 Dec (2) 29 Nov - 6 Dec (2) 22 Nov - 29 Nov (2) 15 Nov - 22 Nov (1) 8 Nov - 15 Nov (5) 1 Nov - 8 Nov (2) 25 Oct - 1 Nov (2) 18 Oct - 25 Oct (1) 11 Oct - 18 Oct (4) 4 Oct - 11 Oct (1) 27 Sep - 4 Oct (3) 20 Sep - 27 Sep (2) 13 Sep - 20 Sep (1) 6 Sep - 13 Sep (3) 30 Aug - 6 Sep (5) 23 Aug - 30 Aug (6) 16 Aug - 23 Aug (1) 9 Aug - 16 Aug (1) 2 Aug - 9 Aug (3) 26 Jul - 2 Aug (2) 19 Jul - 26 Jul (1) 12 Jul - 19 Jul (5) 5 Jul - 12 Jul (6) 28 Jun - 5 Jul (4) 21 Jun - 28 Jun (7) 14 Jun - 21 Jun (5) 7 Jun - 14 Jun (2) 31 May - 7 Jun (5) 24 May - 31 May (3) 17 May - 24 May (5) 10 May - 17 May (3) 3 May - 10 May (1) 26 Apr - 3 May (1) 19 Apr - 26 Apr (5) 12 Apr - 19 Apr (5) 5 Apr - 12 Apr (2) 29 Mar - 5 Apr (1) 22 Mar - 29 Mar (5) 15 Mar - 22 Mar (9) 8 Mar - 15 Mar (6) 1 Mar - 8 Mar (10) 22 Feb - 1 Mar (5) 15 Feb - 22 Feb (5) 1 Feb - 8 Feb (2) 25 Jan - 1 Feb (1) 18 Jan - 25 Jan (4) 11 Jan - 18 Jan (1) 4 Jan - 11 Jan (3) 28 Dec - 4 Jan (3) 21 Dec - 28 Dec (3) 14 Dec - 21 Dec (4) 7 Dec - 14 Dec (2) 30 Nov - 7 Dec (3) 23 Nov - 30 Nov (3) 9 Nov - 16 Nov (3) 2 Nov - 9 Nov (5) 26 Oct - 2 Nov (3) 19 Oct - 26 Oct (8) 12 Oct - 19 Oct (6) 5 Oct - 12 Oct (3) 28 Sep - 5 Oct (5) 21 Sep - 28 Sep (4) 14 Sep - 21 Sep (1) 7 Sep - 14 Sep (4) 31 Aug - 7 Sep (1) 24 Aug - 31 Aug (2) 17 Aug - 24 Aug (2) 10 Aug - 17 Aug (7) 3 Aug - 10 Aug (3) 27 Jul - 3 Aug (3) 20 Jul - 27 Jul (3) 13 Jul - 20 Jul (4) 6 Jul - 13 Jul (1) 29 Jun - 6 Jul (5) 22 Jun - 29 Jun (2) 15 Jun - 22 Jun (4) 8 Jun - 15 Jun (2) 1 Jun - 8 Jun (2) 25 May - 1 Jun (8) 18 May - 25 May (4) 11 May - 18 May (1) 4 May - 11 May (3) 27 Apr - 4 May (4) 20 Apr - 27 Apr (2) 13 Apr - 20 Apr (6) 6 Apr - 13 Apr (2) 23 Mar - 30 Mar (4) 16 Mar - 23 Mar (2) 9 Mar - 16 Mar (2) 2 Mar - 9 Mar (2) 23 Feb - 2 Mar (2) 16 Feb - 23 Feb (1) 9 Feb - 16 Feb (6) 2 Feb - 9 Feb (1) 26 Jan - 2 Feb (2) 19 Jan - 26 Jan (1) 12 Jan - 19 Jan (1) 29 Dec - 5 Jan (1) 22 Dec - 29 Dec (2) 8 Dec - 15 Dec (2) 1 Dec - 8 Dec (1) 24 Nov - 1 Dec (4) 17 Nov - 24 Nov (4) 10 Nov - 17 Nov (1) 3 Nov - 10 Nov (4) 20 Oct - 27 Oct (2) 13 Oct - 20 Oct (4) 29 Sep - 6 Oct (1) 22 Sep - 29 Sep (2) 15 Sep - 22 Sep (3) 8 Sep - 15 Sep (1) 1 Sep - 8 Sep (6) 25 Aug - 1 Sep (7) 18 Aug - 25 Aug (9) 11 Aug - 18 Aug (6) 4 Aug - 11 Aug (4) 28 Jul - 4 Aug (3) 21 Jul - 28 Jul (8) 14 Jul - 21 Jul (4) 7 Jul - 14 Jul (5) 30 Jun - 7 Jul (8) 23 Jun - 30 Jun (8) 16 Jun - 23 Jun (4) 9 Jun - 16 Jun (7) 2 Jun - 9 Jun (7) 26 May - 2 Jun (8) 19 May - 26 May (7) 12 May - 19 May (5) 5 May - 12 May (5) 28 Apr - 5 May (11) 21 Apr - 28 Apr (6) 14 Apr - 21 Apr (5) 7 Apr - 14 Apr (6) 31 Mar - 7 Apr (7) 24 Mar - 31 Mar (4) 17 Mar - 24 Mar (4) 3 Mar - 10 Mar (6) 24 Feb - 3 Mar (3) 17 Feb - 24 Feb (3) 10 Feb - 17 Feb (5) 3 Feb - 10 Feb (3) 27 Jan - 3 Feb (6) 20 Jan - 27 Jan (1) 13 Jan - 20 Jan (6) 6 Jan - 13 Jan (2) 30 Dec - 6 Jan (2) 23 Dec - 30 Dec (1) 16 Dec - 23 Dec (3) 9 Dec - 16 Dec (2) 2 Dec - 9 Dec (1) 25 Nov - 2 Dec (1) 18 Nov - 25 Nov (3) 11 Nov - 18 Nov (5) 4 Nov - 11 Nov (2) 28 Oct - 4 Nov (6) 21 Oct - 28 Oct (9) 14 Oct - 21 Oct (9) 30 Sep - 7 Oct (4) 23 Sep - 30 Sep (2) 16 Sep - 23 Sep (2) 9 Sep - 16 Sep (6) 2 Sep - 9 Sep (3) 26 Aug - 2 Sep (3) 19 Aug - 26 Aug (3) 12 Aug - 19 Aug (7) 5 Aug - 12 Aug (4) 29 Jul - 5 Aug (8) 22 Jul - 29 Jul (7) 15 Jul - 22 Jul (7) 8 Jul - 15 Jul (7) 1 Jul - 8 Jul (7) 24 Jun - 1 Jul (9) 17 Jun - 24 Jun (10) 10 Jun - 17 Jun (7) 3 Jun - 10 Jun (10) 27 May - 3 Jun (6) 20 May - 27 May (8) 13 May - 20 May (8) 6 May - 13 May (11) 29 Apr - 6 May (6) 22 Apr - 29 Apr (8) 15 Apr - 22 Apr (5) 8 Apr - 15 Apr (11) 1 Apr - 8 Apr (5) 25 Mar - 1 Apr (9) 18 Mar - 25 Mar (9) 11 Mar - 18 Mar (8) 4 Mar - 11 Mar (8) 19 Feb - 26 Feb (7) 12 Feb - 19 Feb (7) 5 Feb - 12 Feb (5) 29 Jan - 5 Feb (7) 22 Jan - 29 Jan (4) 15 Jan - 22 Jan (2) 8 Jan - 15 Jan (5) 1 Jan - 8 Jan (5) 25 Dec - 1 Jan (6) 18 Dec - 25 Dec (4) 11 Dec - 18 Dec (5) 4 Dec - 11 Dec (7) 27 Nov - 4 Dec (7) 20 Nov - 27 Nov (7) 13 Nov - 20 Nov (3) 6 Nov - 13 Nov (4) 30 Oct - 6 Nov (5) 23 Oct - 30 Oct (9) 16 Oct - 23 Oct (3) 9 Oct - 16 Oct (8) 2 Oct - 9 Oct (5) 25 Sep - 2 Oct (11) 18 Sep - 25 Sep (4) 11 Sep - 18 Sep (6) 4 Sep - 11 Sep (6) 28 Aug - 4 Sep (7) 21 Aug - 28 Aug (3) 14 Aug - 21 Aug (9) 7 Aug - 14 Aug (4) 31 Jul - 7 Aug (8) 24 Jul - 31 Jul (11) 17 Jul - 24 Jul (8) 10 Jul - 17 Jul (9) 3 Jul - 10 Jul (11) 26 Jun - 3 Jul (9) 19 Jun - 26 Jun (9) 12 Jun - 19 Jun (7) 5 Jun - 12 Jun (9) 29 May - 5 Jun (5) 22 May - 29 May (8) 15 May - 22 May (9) 8 May - 15 May (4) 1 May - 8 May (6) 24 Apr - 1 May (6) 17 Apr - 24 Apr (10) 10 Apr - 17 Apr (8) 3 Apr - 10 Apr (8) 27 Mar - 3 Apr (8) 20 Mar - 27 Mar (8) 13 Mar - 20 Mar (12) 6 Mar - 13 Mar (7) 27 Feb - 6 Mar (7) 20 Feb - 27 Feb (11) 13 Feb - 20 Feb (7) 6 Feb - 13 Feb (5) 30 Jan - 6 Feb (8) 23 Jan - 30 Jan (10) 16 Jan - 23 Jan (10) 9 Jan - 16 Jan (9) 2 Jan - 9 Jan (11) 26 Dec - 2 Jan (6) 19 Dec - 26 Dec (7) 12 Dec - 19 Dec (6) 5 Dec - 12 Dec (7) 28 Nov - 5 Dec (5) 21 Nov - 28 Nov (4) 14 Nov - 21 Nov (7) 7 Nov - 14 Nov (6) 31 Oct - 7 Nov (6) 24 Oct - 31 Oct (5) 17 Oct - 24 Oct (5) 10 Oct - 17 Oct (7) 3 Oct - 10 Oct (2) 26 Sep - 3 Oct (4) 19 Sep - 26 Sep (6) 12 Sep - 19 Sep (7) 5 Sep - 12 Sep (10) 29 Aug - 5 Sep (8) 22 Aug - 29 Aug (5) 15 Aug - 22 Aug (6) 8 Aug - 15 Aug (6) 1 Aug - 8 Aug (4) 25 Jul - 1 Aug (13) 18 Jul - 25 Jul (9) 11 Jul - 18 Jul (9) 4 Jul - 11 Jul (8) 27 Jun - 4 Jul (9) 20 Jun - 27 Jun (11) 13 Jun - 20 Jun (11) 6 Jun - 13 Jun (11) 30 May - 6 Jun (9) 23 May - 30 May (23) 16 May - 23 May (12) 9 May - 16 May (12) 2 May - 9 May (10) 25 Apr - 2 May (7) 18 Apr - 25 Apr (9) 11 Apr - 18 Apr (10) 4 Apr - 11 Apr (11) 28 Mar - 4 Apr (9) 21 Mar - 28 Mar (6) 14 Mar - 21 Mar (9) 7 Mar - 14 Mar (2) 28 Feb - 7 Mar (9) 21 Feb - 28 Feb (7) 14 Feb - 21 Feb (9) 7 Feb - 14 Feb (9) 31 Jan - 7 Feb (6) 24 Jan - 31 Jan (14) 17 Jan - 24 Jan (9) 10 Jan - 17 Jan (11) 3 Jan - 10 Jan (10) 27 Dec - 3 Jan (10) 20 Dec - 27 Dec (8) 13 Dec - 20 Dec (6) 6 Dec - 13 Dec (9) 29 Nov - 6 Dec (13) 22 Nov - 29 Nov (10) 15 Nov - 22 Nov (14) 8 Nov - 15 Nov (11) 1 Nov - 8 Nov (16) 25 Oct - 1 Nov (13) 18 Oct - 25 Oct (12) 11 Oct - 18 Oct (9) 4 Oct - 11 Oct (11) 27 Sep - 4 Oct (14) 20 Sep - 27 Sep (19) 13 Sep - 20 Sep (13) 6 Sep - 13 Sep (12) 30 Aug - 6 Sep (15) 23 Aug - 30 Aug (15) 16 Aug - 23 Aug (16) 9 Aug - 16 Aug (14) 2 Aug - 9 Aug (15) 26 Jul - 2 Aug (20) 19 Jul - 26 Jul (10) 12 Jul - 19 Jul (13) 5 Jul - 12 Jul (21) 28 Jun - 5 Jul (15) 21 Jun - 28 Jun (20) 14 Jun - 21 Jun (10) 7 Jun - 14 Jun (13) 31 May - 7 Jun (13) 24 May - 31 May (13) 17 May - 24 May (15) 10 May - 17 May (16) 3 May - 10 May (11) 26 Apr - 3 May (21) 19 Apr - 26 Apr (17) 12 Apr - 19 Apr (20) 5 Apr - 12 Apr (16) 29 Mar - 5 Apr (19) 22 Mar - 29 Mar (17) 15 Mar - 22 Mar (23) 8 Mar - 15 Mar (22) 1 Mar - 8 Mar (21) 22 Feb - 1 Mar (22) 15 Feb - 22 Feb (25) 8 Feb - 15 Feb (25) 1 Feb - 8 Feb (21) 25 Jan - 1 Feb (23) 18 Jan - 25 Jan (19) 11 Jan - 18 Jan (35) 4 Jan - 11 Jan (23) 28 Dec - 4 Jan (27) 21 Dec - 28 Dec (28) 14 Dec - 21 Dec (23) 7 Dec - 14 Dec (22) 30 Nov - 7 Dec (19) 23 Nov - 30 Nov (22) 16 Nov - 23 Nov (19) 9 Nov - 16 Nov (15) 2 Nov - 9 Nov (17) 26 Oct - 2 Nov (10) 19 Oct - 26 Oct (12) 12 Oct - 19 Oct (13) 5 Oct - 12 Oct (19) 28 Sep - 5 Oct (14) 21 Sep - 28 Sep (17) 14 Sep - 21 Sep (19) 7 Sep - 14 Sep (22) 31 Aug - 7 Sep (15) 24 Aug - 31 Aug (14) 17 Aug - 24 Aug (9) 10 Aug - 17 Aug (5)
past daily news Sep 13 (1) Sep 09 (15) Sep 06 (12) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (10) Aug 31 (17) Aug 29 (14) Aug 26 (13) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (12) Aug 19 (21) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (10) Aug 10 (10) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (10) Aug 06 (10) Aug 05 (8) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (14) Jul 29 (1) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (10) Jul 22 (11) Jul 19 (16) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (10) Jul 15 (13) Jul 12 (7) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (11) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (8) Jun 28 (7) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (8) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (9) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (9) Jun 18 (8) Jun 15 (9) Jun 13 (13) Jun 11 (11) Jun 09 (19) Jun 06 (10) Jun 04 (10) Jun 03 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (5) May 30 (5) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (7) May 26 (6) May 25 (4) May 23 (6) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (7) May 19 (9) May 18 (4) May 17 (6) May 16 (5) May 15 (7) May 14 (3) May 13 (3) May 12 (9) May 10 (3) May 09 (7) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (5) May 05 (8) May 03 (9) May 02 (1) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (8) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (2) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (2) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (2) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (10) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (5) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (7) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (8) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (12) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (8) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (8) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (1) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (2) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (2) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (1) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (2) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (1) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (4) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (2) Jan 20 (2) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (2) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (6) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (1) Dec 31 (5) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (5) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (2) Dec 17 (1) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (2) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (2) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (1) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (5) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (10) Nov 28 (6) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (3) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (6) Nov 19 (2) Nov 18 (5) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (5) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (9) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (6) Oct 22 (4) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (1) Oct 06 (10) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (1) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (6) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (5) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (8) Sep 05 (6) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (5) Aug 31 (8) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (6) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (1) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (7) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (7) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (8) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (8) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (8) Jul 31 (1) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (10) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (2) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (1) Jul 16 (10) Jul 14 (7) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (7) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (7) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (2) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (5) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 18 (2) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (8) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (10) Jun 05 (14) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (6) Jun 02 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (7) May 30 (2) May 29 (7) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (4) May 25 (5) May 24 (4) May 23 (5) May 22 (5) May 21 (5) May 20 (3) May 19 (10) May 18 (6) May 17 (3) May 16 (6) May 15 (2) May 14 (3) May 13 (5) May 11 (1) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (4) May 07 (2) May 06 (4) May 05 (6) May 04 (5) May 03 (5) May 02 (1) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (7) Apr 28 (8) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (14) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (1) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (1) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (1) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (2) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (6) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (9) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (9) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (13) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (6) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (9) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (9) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (10) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (2) Feb 03 (8) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (5) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (7) Jan 26 (8) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (12) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (8) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (7) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (9) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (8) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (4) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (5) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (1) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (10) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (12) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (6) Dec 08 (7) Dec 07 (12) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (13) Dec 04 (6) Dec 02 (8) Dec 01 (8) Nov 30 (6) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (8) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (11) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (7) Nov 17 (6) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (5) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (14) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (11) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (10) Nov 01 (8) Oct 31 (12) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (13) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (8) Oct 22 (5) Oct 21 (11) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (10) Oct 12 (11) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (10) Oct 09 (7) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (14) Oct 04 (9) Oct 03 (12) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (9) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (7) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (10) Sep 21 (12) Sep 20 (12) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (11) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (8) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (10) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (9) Sep 07 (8) Sep 06 (11) Sep 05 (2) Sep 04 (8) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (9) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (4) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (2) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (6) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (6) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (7) Aug 06 (7) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (11) Aug 02 (6) Aug 01 (9) Jul 31 (11) Jul 28 (7) Jul 27 (11) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (1) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (2) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (7) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (5) Jul 06 (6) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (3) Jun 30 (8) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (1) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (7) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (7) Jun 03 (1) Jun 02 (9) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (8) May 30 (7) May 29 (5) May 28 (5) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (3) May 23 (5) May 22 (2) May 21 (3) May 20 (7) May 19 (11) May 18 (1) May 17 (7) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (4) May 11 (11) May 10 (2) May 09 (6) May 08 (6) May 07 (2) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (5) May 03 (8) May 02 (4) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (13) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (2) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (9) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (2) Apr 19 (2) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (2) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (7) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (9) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (6) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (8) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (6) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (6) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (9) Feb 24 (11) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (7) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (6) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (2) Feb 12 (5) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (10) Feb 08 (9) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (2) Feb 05 (9) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (7) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (7) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (14) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (10) Jan 18 (11) Jan 17 (9) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (10) Jan 06 (8) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (5) Jan 01 (14) Dec 30 (13) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (5) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (7) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (5) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (9) Dec 16 (8) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (17) Dec 09 (8) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (10) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (7) Nov 30 (9) Nov 29 (6) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (15) Nov 24 (7) Nov 23 (15) Nov 22 (9) Nov 21 (6) Nov 20 (11) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (13) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (7) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (13) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (8) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (8) Nov 01 (6) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (15) Oct 26 (10) Oct 25 (10) Oct 24 (13) Oct 23 (9) Oct 21 (8) Oct 20 (13) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (8) Oct 16 (14) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (13) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (15) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (11) Oct 05 (18) Oct 04 (14) Oct 03 (1) Oct 02 (10) Sep 30 (11) Sep 29 (11) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (15) Sep 26 (7) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (17) Sep 20 (20) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (11) Sep 16 (10) Sep 15 (12) Sep 14 (9) Sep 13 (12) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (8) Sep 09 (9) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (13) Sep 06 (15) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (10) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (12) Aug 31 (14) Aug 30 (14) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (8) Aug 27 (9) Aug 26 (12) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (6) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (11) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (5) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (9) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (8) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (6) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (6) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (15) Jul 15 (14) Jul 14 (5) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (12) Jul 11 (8) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (10) Jul 05 (4) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (10) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (2) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (7) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (11) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (14) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (8) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (11) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (16) Jun 03 (8) Jun 02 (12) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (7) May 30 (15) May 28 (7) May 27 (5) May 26 (21) May 25 (14) May 24 (10) May 23 (7) May 22 (8) May 21 (11) May 20 (5) May 19 (4) May 18 (10) May 17 (11) May 16 (5) May 15 (6) May 14 (7) May 13 (12) May 12 (10) May 11 (7) May 10 (13) May 09 (4) May 08 (7) May 07 (3) May 06 (6) May 05 (9) May 04 (14) May 03 (7) May 02 (10) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (14) Apr 22 (16) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (16) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (10) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (11) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (8) Apr 10 (12) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (13) Apr 07 (9) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (15) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (15) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (11) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (10) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (12) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (8) Mar 24 (7) Mar 23 (15) Mar 22 (17) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (8) Mar 19 (4) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (19) Mar 15 (13) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (20) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (13) Mar 08 (13) Mar 07 (7) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (16) Mar 02 (16) Mar 01 (13) Feb 29 (8) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (16) Feb 26 (10) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (12) Feb 23 (14) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (12) Feb 18 (12) Feb 17 (11) Feb 16 (8) Feb 15 (9) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (10) Feb 12 (11) Feb 11 (13) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (13) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (19) Jan 31 (21) Jan 29 (11) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (13) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (2) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (13) Jan 21 (11) Jan 20 (9) Jan 19 (13) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (11) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (13) Jan 13 (9) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (7) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (7) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (8) Jan 01 (5) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (9) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (1) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (6) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (13) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (10) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (11) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (9) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (10) Dec 08 (13) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (8) Dec 04 (11) Dec 03 (12) Dec 02 (16) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (11) Nov 28 (15) Nov 27 (16) Nov 26 (11) Nov 25 (9) Nov 24 (13) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (1) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (10) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (10) Nov 13 (14) Nov 12 (8) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (12) Nov 05 (17) Nov 04 (12) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (12) Oct 31 (11) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (10) Oct 28 (18) Oct 27 (16) Oct 26 (11) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (12) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (12) Oct 20 (17) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (15) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (10) Oct 14 (16) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (12) Oct 09 (21) Oct 08 (22) Oct 07 (19) Oct 06 (18) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (17) Oct 03 (13) Oct 02 (14) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (14) Sep 29 (15) Sep 28 (12) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (15) Sep 25 (13) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (10) Sep 22 (12) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (12) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (16) Sep 16 (21) Sep 15 (14) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (10) Sep 11 (16) Sep 10 (7) Sep 09 (8) Sep 08 (10) Sep 07 (7) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (9) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (1) Aug 28 (10) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (14) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (13) Aug 20 (9) Aug 19 (13) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (8) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (12) Aug 11 (9) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (14) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (1) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (2) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (6) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (6) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (9) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (1) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (13) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (7) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (9) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (3) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (7) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (11) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (2) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (8) Jun 03 (9) Jun 02 (6) Jun 01 (4) May 30 (7) May 29 (9) May 28 (13) May 26 (8) May 25 (5) May 24 (2) May 23 (8) May 22 (9) May 21 (7) May 20 (4) May 19 (6) May 18 (7) May 17 (8) May 15 (9) May 14 (5) May 13 (8) May 12 (6) May 11 (6) May 09 (7) May 08 (6) May 07 (11) May 06 (7) May 05 (4) May 04 (11) May 03 (5) May 02 (4) May 01 (9) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (9) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (10) Apr 22 (8) Apr 21 (9) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (6) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (2) Apr 05 (2) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (7) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (2) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (2) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (4) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (9) Mar 19 (9) Mar 18 (8) Mar 17 (9) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (11) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (12) Mar 11 (9) Mar 10 (12) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (5) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (11) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (8) Feb 27 (9) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (8) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (10) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (7) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (2) Feb 14 (8) Feb 13 (12) Feb 12 (8) Feb 11 (10) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (2) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (12) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (8) Jan 26 (13) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (12) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (10) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (11) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (8) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (9) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (10) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (10) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (9) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (10) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (1) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (9) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (7) Nov 25 (12) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (6) Nov 18 (10) Nov 17 (12) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (12) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (7) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (9) Nov 03 (6) Nov 02 (14) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (9) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (8) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (2) Oct 19 (11) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (7) Oct 15 (7) Oct 14 (8) Oct 13 (5) Oct 12 (8) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (5) Oct 09 (11) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (8) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (10) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (7) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (8) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (11) Sep 24 (15) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (10) Sep 17 (10) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (8) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (7) Sep 02 (7) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (9) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (12) Aug 19 (8) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (8) Aug 11 (7) Aug 10 (12) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (4) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (12) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (8) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (8) Jul 20 (6) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (8) Jul 17 (2) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (9) Jul 13 (10) Jul 11 (9) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (7) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (7) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (15) Jun 26 (10) Jun 25 (9) Jun 24 (16) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (12) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (13) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (14) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (16) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (18) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (8) May 31 (3) May 30 (6) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (6) May 23 (4) May 22 (8) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (2) May 18 (9) May 17 (1) May 16 (5) May 15 (5) May 14 (7) May 13 (7) May 12 (7) May 11 (4) May 10 (4) May 09 (5) May 08 (10) May 07 (4) May 06 (13) May 05 (4) May 04 (10) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (9) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (9) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (10) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (7) Apr 14 (11) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (9) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (6) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (10) Apr 03 (9) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (8) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (7) Mar 21 (14) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (11) Mar 17 (12) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (8) Mar 14 (13) Mar 13 (8) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (8) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (3) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (15) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (12) Mar 02 (20) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (11) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (14) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (8) Feb 16 (11) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (7) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (2) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (2) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (7) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (5) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (7) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (4) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (3) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (1) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (2) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 27 (1) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (8) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (1) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (7) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (9) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (2) Dec 01 (8) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (5) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (12) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (12) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (9) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (11) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (7) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (7) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (2) Oct 21 (7) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (7) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (20) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (21) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (34) Oct 04 (24) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (7) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (5) Sep 26 (6) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (2) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (9) Sep 19 (11) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (6) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (11) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (6) Sep 06 (10) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (5) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (8) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (7) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (8) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (7) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (4) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (6) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (10) Jul 22 (8) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (7) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (10) Jul 16 (11) Jul 15 (5) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (12) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (10) Jul 02 (12) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (23) Jun 27 (18) Jun 26 (12) Jun 25 (14) Jun 24 (15) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (15) Jun 20 (9) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (11) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (6) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (9) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (2) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (3) May 30 (5) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (2) May 25 (8) May 24 (7) May 23 (6) May 22 (9) May 21 (6) May 20 (5) May 19 (6) May 18 (9) May 17 (10) May 16 (11) May 15 (5) May 14 (11) May 13 (6) May 12 (7) May 11 (7) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (10) May 07 (8) May 06 (11) May 05 (5) May 04 (9) May 03 (3) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (5) Apr 29 (8) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (10) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (10) Apr 16 (8) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (11) Apr 11 (6) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (9) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (2) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (3) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (9) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (10) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (2) Mar 10 (1) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (9) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (2) Feb 17 (1) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (7) Feb 11 (2) Feb 10 (2) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (5) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (9) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (10) Feb 01 (9) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (5) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (8) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (1) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (1) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (2) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (4) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (8) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (8) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (4) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (7) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (7) Dec 02 (1) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (16) Nov 27 (7) Nov 26 (5) Nov 25 (2) Nov 24 (6) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (15) Nov 19 (8) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (5) Nov 08 (8) Nov 07 (9) Nov 06 (9) Nov 05 (1) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (8) Nov 02 (6) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (8) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (1) Oct 22 (6) Oct 21 (1) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (10) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (15) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (7) Oct 10 (1) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (6) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (8) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (8) Sep 24 (8) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (9) Sep 20 (7) Sep 19 (8) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (7) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (9) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (10) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (15) Sep 04 (5) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (7) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (11) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (15) Aug 24 (6) Aug 23 (8) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (7) Aug 19 (2) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (9) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (7) Aug 07 (9) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (11) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (5) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (6) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (8) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (14) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (8) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (14) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (12) Jun 15 (12) Jun 14 (10) Jun 13 (10) Jun 12 (9) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (12) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (12) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (3) May 25 (5) May 24 (9) May 23 (16) May 22 (12) May 21 (11) May 20 (7) May 19 (10) May 18 (8) May 17 (8) May 16 (10) May 15 (8) May 14 (5) May 13 (1) May 12 (6) May 11 (9) May 10 (9) May 09 (10) May 08 (9) May 07 (6) May 06 (5) May 05 (7) May 04 (10) May 03 (7) May 02 (9) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (12) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (9) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (2) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (10) Apr 14 (7) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (7) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (8) Apr 05 (8) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (11) Mar 30 (12) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (6) Mar 24 (9) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (12) Mar 20 (14) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (8) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (12) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (8) Feb 29 (11) Feb 28 (5) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (13) Feb 25 (10) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (10) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (18) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (5) Feb 16 (9) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (8) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (10) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (12) Jan 30 (7) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (7) Jan 27 (12) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (11) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (12) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (11) Jan 16 (9) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (9) Jan 10 (10) Jan 09 (5) Jan 08 (10) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (10) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (7) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (9) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (8) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (1) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (6) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (13) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (7) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (7) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (9) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (7) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (8) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (10) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (10) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (8) Nov 17 (9) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (12) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (8) Nov 06 (10) Nov 05 (8) Nov 04 (7) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (11) Nov 01 (10) Oct 31 (5) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (8) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (5) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (11) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (7) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (9) Oct 14 (7) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (8) Oct 09 (9) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (12) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (13) Oct 04 (11) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (14) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (12) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (7) Sep 25 (10) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (8) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (7) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (14) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (11) Sep 14 (13) Sep 13 (11) Sep 12 (9) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (13) Sep 08 (11) Sep 07 (11) Sep 06 (16) Sep 05 (1) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (8) Sep 01 (7) Aug 31 (1) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (5) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (7) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (12) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (13) Jul 28 (10) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (12) Jul 22 (14) Jul 21 (6) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (12) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (6) Jul 15 (8) Jul 14 (15) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (6) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (9) Jul 06 (15) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (10) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (11) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (11) Jun 24 (9) Jun 23 (10) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (8) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (15) Jun 17 (8) Jun 16 (13) Jun 15 (15) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (6) Jun 12 (15) Jun 11 (7) Jun 10 (7) Jun 09 (18) Jun 08 (20) Jun 07 (17) Jun 06 (9) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (12) Jun 03 (13) Jun 02 (14) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (13) May 30 (8) May 29 (6) May 28 (8) May 27 (17) May 26 (8) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (9) May 22 (4) May 21 (4) May 20 (11) May 19 (14) May 18 (6) May 17 (10) May 16 (4) May 15 (5) May 14 (28) May 12 (9) May 11 (17) May 10 (15) May 09 (12) May 08 (5) May 07 (4) May 06 (10) May 05 (8) May 04 (10) May 03 (5) May 02 (6) May 01 (8) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (12) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (10) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (13) Apr 19 (11) Apr 18 (11) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (11) Apr 14 (17) Apr 13 (6) Apr 12 (16) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (1) Apr 09 (18) Apr 08 (14) Apr 07 (6) Apr 06 (10) Apr 05 (21) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (13) Apr 01 (8) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (11) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (10) Mar 23 (12) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (8) Mar 20 (4) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (9) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (14) Mar 11 (13) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (17) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (7) Mar 05 (13) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (14) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (18) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (2) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (13) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (13) Feb 22 (12) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (16) Feb 18 (17) Feb 17 (15) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (15) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (8) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (15) Feb 10 (11) Feb 09 (13) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (15) Feb 04 (15) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (14) Feb 01 (15) Jan 31 (11) Jan 30 (9) Jan 29 (19) Jan 28 (9) Jan 27 (9) Jan 26 (16) Jan 25 (19) Jan 24 (17) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (15) Jan 21 (9) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (12) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (14) Jan 12 (11) Jan 11 (13) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (20) Jan 07 (11) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (14) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (14) Dec 30 (15) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (10) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (11) Dec 24 (9) Dec 23 (9) Dec 22 (15) Dec 21 (12) Dec 20 (11) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (12) Dec 15 (14) Dec 14 (11) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (17) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (12) Dec 07 (16) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (12) Dec 03 (15) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (12) Nov 30 (16) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (13) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (15) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (8) Nov 19 (9) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (9) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (10) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (7) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (14) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (13) Nov 01 (9) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (18) Oct 28 (13) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (12) Oct 25 (14) Oct 24 (20) Oct 22 (18) Oct 21 (18) Oct 20 (19) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (18) Oct 15 (8) Oct 14 (11) Oct 13 (9) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (27) Oct 08 (14) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (10) Oct 03 (6) Oct 02 (9) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (13) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (9) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (14) Sep 24 (4) Sep 23 (14) Sep 22 (20) Sep 21 (11) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (14) Sep 17 (8) Sep 16 (17) Sep 15 (6) Sep 14 (11) Sep 13 (9) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (14) Sep 09 (12) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (9) Sep 04 (20) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (16) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (13) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (11) Aug 25 (10) Aug 24 (14) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (13) Aug 21 (10) Aug 20 (13) Aug 19 (15) Aug 18 (8) Aug 17 (10) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (11) Aug 13 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (10) Aug 10 (17) Aug 09 (6) Aug 08 (13) Aug 07 (11) Aug 06 (13) Aug 05 (11) Aug 04 (11) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (10) Jul 30 (21) Jul 29 (14) Jul 28 (13) Jul 27 (16) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (15) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (15) Jul 21 (19) Jul 20 (17) Jul 19 (9) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (26) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (20) Jul 14 (16) Jul 13 (19) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (13) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (16) Jul 05 (9) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (15) Jul 02 (11) Jul 01 (14) Jun 30 (13) Jun 29 (19) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (9) Jun 26 (16) Jun 25 (22) Jun 24 (17) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (15) Jun 21 (14) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (17) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (10) Jun 16 (17) Jun 15 (13) Jun 14 (14) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (13) Jun 11 (15) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (10) Jun 08 (23) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (20) Jun 05 (10) Jun 04 (11) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (21) Jun 01 (14) May 31 (10) May 30 (14) May 29 (8) May 28 (23) May 27 (20) May 26 (16) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (10) May 22 (18) May 21 (14) May 20 (12) May 19 (18) May 18 (14) May 17 (13) May 16 (4) May 15 (7) May 14 (16) May 13 (13) May 12 (8) May 11 (18) May 10 (8) May 09 (7) May 08 (13) May 07 (11) May 06 (15) May 05 (18) May 04 (17) May 03 (7) May 02 (5) May 01 (11) Apr 30 (19) Apr 29 (21) Apr 28 (18) Apr 27 (16) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (20) Apr 22 (23) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (16) Apr 19 (13) Apr 18 (6) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (16) Apr 15 (18) Apr 14 (13) Apr 13 (14) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (14) Apr 08 (12) Apr 07 (18) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (11) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (16) Mar 31 (16) Mar 30 (22) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (19) Mar 26 (31) Mar 25 (25) Mar 24 (26) Mar 23 (27) Mar 22 (22) Mar 21 (22) Mar 20 (13) Mar 19 (21) Mar 18 (20) Mar 17 (24) Mar 16 (18) Mar 15 (9) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (29) Mar 12 (15) Mar 11 (11) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (20) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (6) Mar 06 (21) Mar 05 (22) Mar 04 (19) Mar 03 (9) Mar 02 (20) Mar 01 (11) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (27) Feb 26 (15) Feb 25 (18) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (19) Feb 22 (24) Feb 21 (10) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (25) Feb 18 (16) Feb 17 (19) Feb 16 (23) Feb 15 (8) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (16) Feb 11 (12) Feb 10 (18) Feb 09 (12) Feb 08 (14) Feb 07 (8) Feb 06 (27) Feb 05 (28) Feb 04 (24) Feb 03 (17) Feb 02 (20) Feb 01 (23) Jan 31 (16) Jan 30 (20) Jan 29 (26) Jan 28 (17) Jan 27 (21) Jan 26 (24) Jan 25 (16) Jan 24 (14) Jan 23 (16) Jan 22 (17) Jan 21 (19) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (17) Jan 18 (13) Jan 17 (14) Jan 16 (10) Jan 15 (21) Jan 14 (16) Jan 13 (19) Jan 12 (30) Jan 11 (14) Jan 10 (11) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (23) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (21) Jan 05 (15) Jan 04 (18) Jan 03 (9) Jan 02 (12) Jan 01 (15) Dec 31 (18) Dec 30 (7) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (6) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (28) Dec 23 (12) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (17) Dec 20 (19) Dec 19 (19) Dec 18 (22) Dec 17 (24) Dec 16 (17) Dec 15 (29) Dec 14 (22) Dec 13 (12) Dec 12 (22) Dec 11 (24) Dec 10 (25) Dec 09 (18) Dec 08 (15) Dec 07 (21) Dec 06 (24) Dec 05 (30) Dec 04 (28) Dec 03 (26) Dec 02 (22) Dec 01 (33) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (9) Nov 28 (18) Nov 27 (25) Nov 26 (17) Nov 25 (23) Nov 24 (27) Nov 23 (12) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (15) Nov 20 (23) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (24) Nov 17 (21) Nov 16 (20) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (15) Nov 13 (27) Nov 12 (23) Nov 11 (19) Nov 10 (21) Nov 09 (13) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (16) Nov 06 (32) Nov 05 (24) Nov 04 (20) Nov 03 (29) Nov 02 (12) Nov 01 (15) Oct 31 (20) Oct 30 (22) Oct 29 (27) Oct 28 (20) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (21) Oct 25 (15) Oct 24 (23) Oct 23 (26) Oct 22 (27) Oct 21 (28) Oct 20 (24) Oct 19 (13) Oct 18 (9) Oct 17 (30) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (20) Oct 14 (14) Oct 13 (17) Oct 12 (16) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (19) Oct 09 (22) Oct 08 (16) Oct 07 (18) Oct 06 (23) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (15) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (22) Sep 30 (25) Sep 29 (20) Sep 28 (17) Sep 27 (13) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (15) Sep 24 (24) Sep 23 (23) Sep 22 (18) Sep 21 (20) Sep 20 (11) Sep 19 (24) Sep 18 (25) Sep 17 (25) Sep 16 (19) Sep 15 (21) Sep 14 (15) Sep 13 (10) Sep 12 (23) Sep 11 (23) Sep 10 (25) Sep 09 (25) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (17) Sep 05 (14) Sep 04 (24) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (19) Aug 31 (20) Aug 30 (11) Aug 29 (24) Aug 28 (24) Aug 27 (16) Aug 26 (26) Aug 25 (21) Aug 24 (15) Aug 23 (19) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (25) Aug 20 (27) Aug 19 (19) Aug 18 (24) Aug 17 (14) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (15) Aug 14 (16) Aug 13 (21) Aug 12 (30) Aug 11 (19) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (12) Aug 08 (17) Aug 07 (21) Aug 06 (26) Aug 05 (23) Aug 04 (21) Aug 03 (12) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (19) Jul 31 (21) Jul 30 (25) Jul 29 (29) Jul 28 (23) Jul 27 (17) Jul 26 (11) Jul 25 (21) Jul 24 (14) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (19) Jul 21 (15) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (10) Jul 18 (15) Jul 17 (22) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (21) Jul 14 (20) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (29) Jul 10 (19) Jul 09 (17) Jul 08 (26) Jul 07 (21) Jul 06 (18) Jul 05 (14) Jul 04 (20) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (24) Jul 01 (23) Jun 30 (23) Jun 29 (18) Jun 28 (16) Jun 27 (16) Jun 26 (17) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (32) Jun 23 (29) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (17) Jun 20 (25) Jun 19 (28) Jun 18 (19) Jun 17 (25) Jun 16 (23) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (14) Jun 12 (22) Jun 11 (19) Jun 10 (17) Jun 09 (15) Jun 08 (16) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (29) Jun 05 (27) Jun 04 (24) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (22) Jun 01 (13) May 31 (9) May 30 (26) May 29 (19) May 28 (15) May 27 (15) May 26 (23) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (24) May 22 (13) May 21 (21) May 20 (18) May 19 (16) May 18 (7) May 17 (12) May 16 (25) May 15 (24) May 14 (23) May 13 (19) May 12 (17) May 11 (8) May 10 (6) May 09 (14) May 08 (21) May 07 (26) May 06 (14) May 05 (14) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (24) May 01 (13) Apr 30 (15) Apr 29 (24) Apr 28 (24) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (13) Apr 24 (27) Apr 23 (15) Apr 22 (21) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (17) Apr 19 (8) Apr 18 (20) Apr 17 (27) Apr 16 (27) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (8) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (22) Apr 09 (15) Apr 08 (15) Apr 07 (17) Apr 06 (14) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (19) Mar 31 (25) Mar 30 (13) Mar 29 (9) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (23) Mar 26 (22) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (25) Mar 23 (16) Mar 22 (13) Mar 21 (24) Mar 20 (27) Mar 19 (20) Mar 18 (24) Mar 17 (17) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (20) Mar 13 (28) Mar 12 (30) Mar 11 (20) Mar 10 (21) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (8) Mar 07 (17) Mar 06 (20) Mar 05 (19) Mar 04 (15) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (12) Feb 28 (16) Feb 27 (17) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (23) Feb 24 (15) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (10) Feb 21 (24) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (24) Feb 18 (19) Feb 17 (27) Feb 16 (13) Feb 15 (11) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (13) Feb 12 (13) Feb 11 (21) Feb 10 (16) Feb 09 (15) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (17) Feb 06 (21) Feb 05 (17) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (23) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (8) Jan 31 (17) Jan 30 (22) Jan 29 (23) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (24) Jan 26 (12) Jan 25 (9) Jan 24 (12) Jan 23 (19) Jan 22 (19) Jan 21 (14) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (12) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (20) Jan 16 (14) Jan 15 (23) Jan 14 (8) Jan 13 (20) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (18) Jan 09 (11) Jan 08 (18) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (12) Jan 05 (12) Jan 04 (11) Jan 03 (10) Jan 02 (9) Jan 01 (9) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (13) Dec 26 (15) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (8) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (14) Dec 19 (17) Dec 18 (14) Dec 17 (14) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (9) Dec 14 (9) Dec 13 (11) Dec 12 (16) Dec 11 (18) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (24) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (19) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (26) Dec 04 (15) Dec 03 (20) Dec 02 (17) Dec 01 (11) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (18) Nov 28 (21) Nov 27 (10) Nov 26 (22) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (18) Nov 21 (9) Nov 20 (17) Nov 19 (16) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (21) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (20) Nov 12 (16) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (9) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (15) Nov 06 (18) Nov 05 (19) Nov 04 (16) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (17) Oct 31 (17) Oct 30 (21) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (16) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (16) Oct 24 (18) Oct 23 (14) Oct 22 (17) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (6) Oct 19 (8) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (12) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (19) Oct 14 (15) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (10) Oct 10 (23) Oct 09 (13) Oct 08 (15) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (13) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (16) Oct 03 (17) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (20) Sep 30 (17) Sep 29 (9) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (14) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (19) Sep 24 (13) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (21) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (20) Sep 16 (16) Sep 15 (10) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (18) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (24) Sep 10 (17) Sep 09 (16) Sep 08 (16) Sep 07 (10) Sep 06 (20) Sep 05 (13) Sep 04 (23) Sep 03 (14) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (11) Aug 31 (11) Aug 30 (13) Aug 29 (18) Aug 28 (14) Aug 27 (21) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (8) Aug 24 (10) Aug 23 (17) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (14) Aug 20 (20) Aug 19 (20) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (9) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (12) Aug 14 (14) Aug 13 (19) Aug 12 (14) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (12) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (18) Aug 07 (16) Aug 06 (16) Aug 05 (20) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (12) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (16) Jul 30 (16) Jul 29 (11) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (9) Jul 26 (17) Jul 25 (20) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (11) Jul 22 (18) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (14) Jul 18 (11) Jul 17 (15) Jul 16 (12) Jul 15 (10) Jul 14 (8) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (17) Jul 11 (18) Jul 10 (16) Jul 09 (13) Jul 08 (10) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (8) Jul 05 (16) Jul 04 (14) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (13) Jul 01 (16) Jun 30 (19) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (19) Jun 27 (21) Jun 26 (27) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (23) Jun 23 (12) Jun 22 (9) Jun 21 (18) Jun 20 (15) Jun 19 (24) Jun 18 (21) Jun 17 (13) Jun 16 (9) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (18) Jun 13 (24) Jun 12 (18) Jun 11 (23) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (24) Jun 08 (27) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (25) Jun 05 (30) Jun 04 (23) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (16) Jun 01 (17) May 31 (18) May 30 (19) May 29 (17) May 28 (23) May 27 (15) May 26 (10) May 25 (19) May 24 (16) May 23 (16) May 22 (27) May 21 (20) May 20 (26) May 19 (6) May 18 (8) May 17 (20) May 16 (8) May 15 (18) May 14 (5) May 13 (21) May 12 (9) May 11 (8) May 10 (12) May 09 (18) May 08 (11) May 07 (27) May 06 (12) May 05 (16) May 04 (19) May 03 (14) May 02 (18) May 01 (18) Apr 30 (25) Apr 29 (27) Apr 28 (11) Apr 27 (10) Apr 26 (18) Apr 25 (10) Apr 24 (29) Apr 23 (29) Apr 22 (14) Apr 21 (15) Apr 20 (20) Apr 19 (22) Apr 18 (16) Apr 17 (32) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (21) Apr 13 (15) Apr 12 (13) Apr 11 (14) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (20) Apr 08 (36) Apr 07 (22) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (28) Apr 04 (20) Apr 03 (29) Apr 02 (32) Apr 01 (18) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (15) Mar 28 (22) Mar 27 (24) Mar 26 (17) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (13) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (15) Mar 20 (18) Mar 19 (19) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (10) Mar 16 (6) Mar 15 (18) Mar 14 (24) Mar 13 (18) Mar 12 (18) Mar 11 (17) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (18) Mar 07 (25) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (16) Mar 04 (22) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (23) Feb 29 (19) Feb 28 (25) Feb 27 (26) Feb 26 (23) Feb 25 (12) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (15) Feb 22 (26) Feb 21 (31) Feb 20 (12) Feb 19 (21) Feb 18 (15) Feb 17 (10) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (19) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (20) Feb 11 (9) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (28) Feb 08 (20) Feb 07 (22) Feb 06 (20) Feb 05 (19) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (16) Feb 02 (28) Feb 01 (37) Jan 31 (27) Jan 30 (31) Jan 29 (18) Jan 28 (14) Jan 27 (10) Jan 26 (18) Jan 25 (26) Jan 24 (34) Jan 23 (21) Jan 22 (21) Jan 21 (18) Jan 20 (18) Jan 19 (18) Jan 18 (26) Jan 17 (24) Jan 16 (23) Jan 15 (30) Jan 14 (20) Jan 13 (18) Jan 12 (24) Jan 11 (11) Jan 10 (23) Jan 09 (22) Jan 08 (17) Jan 07 (17) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (18) Jan 04 (15) Jan 03 (19) Jan 02 (14) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (15) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (7) Dec 26 (10) Dec 25 (16) Dec 24 (13) Dec 23 (16) Dec 22 (11) Dec 21 (26) Dec 20 (28) Dec 19 (14) Dec 18 (25) Dec 17 (23) Dec 16 (19) Dec 15 (22) Dec 14 (38) Dec 13 (26) Dec 12 (25) Dec 11 (27) Dec 10 (31) Dec 09 (15) Dec 08 (30) Dec 07 (31) Dec 06 (27) Dec 05 (38) Dec 04 (25) Dec 03 (27) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (36) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (17) Nov 28 (23) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (16) Nov 25 (14) Nov 24 (18) Nov 23 (21) Nov 22 (21) Nov 21 (24) Nov 20 (20) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (17) Nov 17 (17) Nov 16 (34) Nov 15 (25) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (21) Nov 12 (18) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1)
by John Stanton
The world knows that the 2016 US presidential horse race features two cartoonish characters that are perhaps the most polarizing figures in American national politics. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump appear at a tenuous moment in the worlds history as economies struggle, infrastructure collapses, nations crumble, and the political systems, at least in the US and Europe, are viewed with disdain by a majority of citizens.
In the USA, the drumbeats for war seem to be getting louder. US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter uses a truncated version of David Lettermans Top Ten List to rank the most dangerous threats to the USA: 1. Russia; 2. China; 3 Iran; 4. North Korea; and 5. Islamic State/Terrorism. The demonization of Russia and the references to Islamic State as a cancer or virus recalls Whiteheads Cannibal War Machine.
Like or hate Trump, the media bias against him for challenging the neoliberal order is astonishing, harkening back to Cold War thinking. He is vilified out of fear he might shake the old order up: Reorder NATO, work with the Russian president, focus money on US infrastructure.
US Crushing it in Asymmetric Information War
The US is waging a highly successful asymmetric war against Russia which that country can hardly match given the US Instruments of National Power (INP), one of which includes media under the INP Information. The mainstream media propaganda campaign against Russia has been so successful that a Russian swimmer who served a suspension for illegal drug use and was cleared to compete in Rio was booed by fans and publically admonished by an American swimmer. The US does not even want the viewing public to see the flag of Russia raised during an NBC broadcast at the US Olympic Games. US sportscasters, and their counterparts in US owned media outlets in South America, pound into the viewing publics collective minds that Russia is enemy number one. The penetration of the DNC computer network blamed on Russia comes at a moment when US dominated media coverage of the Olympics can be used to amplify the information warfare campaign against Russia and its comrades in Carters Top Five enemies list.
The New York Times, Washington Post, mainstream/cable news reek of polemic and government officials in a stunning disinformation campaign while at the same time they try to dismiss Clintons continued flirtation with the FBI/IRS over email, the shenanigans of the Clinton Foundation, and her militaristic love a man in uniform, and her coup instigating past. Even former military commanders and the CIA have gotten in on 2016 presidential campaign.
General Martin Dempsey, USA (Ret.)former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS)and General Joseph Dunford, USMC, and current chair of JCS, are so alarmed at this development that they publically warned military personnel about getting involved, vocally, in the 2016 presidential election.
Sharknado
Its like a Sharknado movie or better still, a nutty cartoon. Perhaps it is better to think of Clinton and Trump as the cartoon characters they are.
Cruella de Vil was the evil female villain in 101 Dalmatians. She is described by Wikipedia as being the tyrannical figure in the marriage, and her husband as a meek, subservient man who seldom speaks and obeys his wife entirely. Cruella expresses her sinister interest in the Dalmatians, remarking how she and her henpecked husband have never thought of making clothing from dog pelt before. Yet seeing the spotless skins of the newborn puppies she is revolted and offers to have them drowned at once; her way of getting rid of animals she views as worthless, including dozens of her own cats kittens. Upon a second visit to the house she picks up the mature puppies and treats them like clothing to be worn.
Replace puppies with 70 percent of the US population and you get a fine sense of what she really thinks about the vast majority of Americans. If she had her way shed get the names of all the citizens who will vote for Trump and have them pilloried or sent to the gulag.
Trump is the Captain Klutz of the US political scene. He is running close to Cruella in spite of his wacky statements and the clumsy carnival that is his campaign. It is like watching a bizarre Saturday Night Live episode (one in which Trump appeared).
Captain Klutz, or Ringo Fonebone, cant handle the normal life, according to a Lutz fan site: Klutz usually succeeded in capturing the bad guy in spite of himself. As a child, Fonebone did nothing other than read Brap Man, The Blue Blockhead, Baboon Boy, and other comic books, leaving him with little aptitude for normal human activities.
Trump is a bona fide member of the US 1 Percent having lived anything but a normal human life and who knows what his reading list included. His gaffs somehow earn him more supporters, like Captain Klutzs goofball actions help save the day.
Klutz remains within 10 percentage points of Cruella.
John can be reached at jstantonarchange l@gmail.com
Aug 10, 2016 | By Alec
If asked what university faculties could benefit from 3D printing, Archeology wouldnt be very high up on our list. But thats exactly where 3D printers seem to be going (probably after the engineering departments). Just two weeks ago, the University of Queensland, Australia, started 3D printing archeological artefact replicas for educational purposes, and now the University of Canterbury in New Zealand is doing the same. Among others, they have already 3D printed replicas of a 3,000 year old Babylonian cuneiform tablet, a priceless terracotta artefact made around 1700 BC.
Fortunately for archeology students in New Zealand, the University of Canterbury owns the James Logie Memorial Collection, a priceless collection of fragile and ancient objects. Unfortunately, their state makes it quite difficult to study them closely. Many are around 3,000 years old, and cannot simply be left in the hands of students, after all. But starting the next semester, students will be able to finally touch the objects themselves, as a series of 3D printed replicas will be introduced into the teaching program for the Logie Collection.
This fantastic innovation is the result of a two year long 3D scanning project of Don Clucas and Paul Docherty from the Mechanical Engineering department and Logies curators Terri Elder and Penny Minchin-Garvin. They selected a series of artefacts which were 3D scanned and 3D printed by the Mechanical Engineering department.
Among them is this remarkable Babylonian tablet, which uses the syllabic script called Cuneiform to list land grants in ancient Babylonia. While a very interesting object, it falls apart very easily. Cuneiform tablets deteriorate over time and as with everything else it is a case of dust to dust, says UC Classics Professor Victor Parker. So anything that can be done to replicate tablets in their three-dimensional form before they crumble is extremely important. Also, such replicas can be used for teaching purposes without risking increasingly fragile originals.
The same can be said for the Greek cup made by the Logie Painter in 525 BC (the namesake of the collection). While impossible to handle, a 3D printed replica can be very useful for teaching high school students about archeology principles. They will be able to handle the object and thereby better visualize and understand its use, said Terri Elder. The cup would have been used in a symposium (a Greek drinking party). It is one of the heroes of the Logie Collection, as there are only two other cups in the world by this painter, known to have survived.
To ensure the best quality, a polyjet 3D printer was actually used for the tablet replica. While you could argue that some of the original quality is lost, the Artec Spider 3D scanner that was used actually records textures as well. A video of the process can be seen here. The result is a full-color 3D print that approaches the original object as best as possible. The 3D images are also shared online with students, allowing them to study the objects away from campus and even 3D print them themselves.
Whats more, the student response has been excellent so far. They just light up when they are getting to handle the objects, even if they are replicas and not the originals, Elder said. Students that have interacted with the real objects, and the replica objects, tend to recall the information better and they tend to recall it for longer as well.
Student Kate Tinkler, who had the opportunity to work with the objects already, called it a fantastic idea. It's so different to looking at something through the glass. You can feel the size and the weight of it and all those tiny details, she said. There's never anything you can hold without gloves because half of the stuff is so fragile, you don't want the oil from your fingertips eroding into the paintwork.
According to Dr. Paul Docherty, a senior lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, they are already planning to greatly expand this initiative. The project has been very exciting as it has allowed a new dimension of tactile interaction with the replicas of antiquities that would not be possible with the real thing. In the future, we hope to increase the number of scanned antiquities and put 3D representations of the collection online, he says.
They are also already looking to expand the project to include the collections of other museums and universities, which could act as a huge boost for archeological research efforts. It would open up the possibility for us to share objects with collections overseas, partially where the cost of freighting the original object would have been too much for us to bear, Elder said. 3D printers are thus quickly becoming indispensable at universities everywhere.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
Maybe you also like:
Nicola Lagioia in The New Yorker:
Elena Ferrante: Where do I start? In my childhood, my adolescence. Some of the poor Neapolitan neighborhoods were crowded, yes, and rowdy. To gather oneself, so to speak, was physically impossible. One learned very early to have the greatest concentration amid the greatest disruption. The idea that every I is largely made up of others and by the others wasnt theoretical; it was a reality. To be alive meant to collide continually with the existence of others and to be collided with, the results being at times good-natured, at others aggressive, then again good-natured. The dead were brought into quarrels; people werent content to attack and insult the livingthey naturally abused aunts, cousins, grandparents, and great-grandparents who were no longer in the world. Of course, today I have small quiet places where I can gather myselfbut I still feel that the idea is slightly ridiculous. Ive described women at moments when they are absolutely alone. But in their heads there is never silence or even focus. The most absolute solitude, at least in my experience, and not just narrative experience, is always, to paraphrase the title of a very good book by Hrabal, too loud. To the writer, no person is ever definitively relegated to silence, even if we long ago broke off relations with that personout of anger, by chance, or because the person died. I cant even think without the voices of others, much less write. And Im not talking only about relatives, female friends, enemies. Im talking about others, men and women who today exist only in images: in television or newspaper images, sometimes heartrending, sometimes offensive in their opulence. And Im talking about the past, about what we generally call tradition; Im talking about all those others who were once in the world and who have acted or who now act through us. Our entire body, like it or not, enacts a stunning resurrection of the dead just as we advance toward our own death. We are, as you say, interconnected. And we should teach ourselves to look deeply at this interconnectionI call it a tangle, or, rather, frantumagliato give ourselves adequate tools to describe it. In the most absolute tranquility or in the midst of tumultuous events, in safety or danger, in innocence or corruption, we are a crowd of others. And this crowd is certainly a blessing for literature.
More here.
Business roundup: Dunn Bros. to open in November, E Glass's big pitch
In business news, an Aberdeen entrepreneur is making a nationwide pitch, car wash coverts to Tunnel of Terror, Dunn Brothers to open in November.
Peoria, Illinois The International Association of HealthCare Professionals is pleased to welcome Andrew J. Lancia, MD, Psychiatrist, to their prestigious organization with his upcoming publication in The Leading Physicians of the World. Dr. Lancia is an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria as well as the medical director of UnityPoint Behavioral Health Integrated Services of Hospital Based Programs and the Department Chair of UnityPoint Behavioral Health at Methodist. He has five years of experience specializing in psychosomatic medicine.
Dr. Lancia was educated at Creighton University and completed a residency at University of Iowa. He is an active member of the American Psychological Association and the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Golden Apple Award for Inpatient Education, an Outstanding Teacher Award and a Faculty Teaching Award, and an Outstanding Achievement Award in Integrating Behavioral Health into Primary Care from the Illinois Psychiatry Society. He also won the Teaching Excellence Award for the M3 Clerkship at UICOMP.
Dr. Lancia attributes his success to hard work, good education, and his mentors Dr. Malin and Dr. Black. When not assisting patients, he enjoys reading the journal of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, Psychosomatics, and spending time with his family.
View Andrew J. Lancias Profile Here: https://www.findatopdoc.com/doctor/Andrew-Lancia-Psychiatrist-Peoria-IL-61602
Learn more about Dr. Lancia here: http://chicago.medicine.uic.edu/cms/one.aspx?portalId=513437&pageId=10616512 and be sure to read his upcoming publication in The Leading Physicians of the World.
About FindaTopDoc
FindaTopDoc.com is a hub for all things medicine, featuring detailed descriptions of medical professionals across all areas of expertise, and information on thousands of healthcare topics. Each month, millions of patients use FindaTopDoc to find a doctor nearby and instantly book an appointment online or create a review. Findatopdoc.com features each doctors full professional biography highlighting their achievements, experience, patient reviews and areas of expertise. A leading provider of valuable health information that helps empower patient and doctor alike, FindaTopDoc enables readers to live a happier and healthier life.
For more information about FindaTopDoc, visit http://www.findatopdoc.com
Media Contact
Company Name: International Association of HealthCare Professionals
Contact Person: Lauren
Email: lauren.findatopdoc@gmail.com
Phone: 877-447-8360
Country: United States
Website: www.findatopdoc.com
Gold Anomaly Limited (ASX:GOA) is pleased to announce further progress towards early gold production at its Sao Chico Gold Project in Brazil. As previously announced, Kenai Resources Ltd (CVE:KAI) has signed an option agreement with GOA to acquire an initial 50% in the project with further options to progress in stages to 75% and 100%. Kenai are currently seeking TSX-V approval before proceeding with the agreement.
Shandong Gold is principally engaged in the exploration, mining, refining and sale of gold and non-ferrous metals. Shandong Gold is listed on the main board of both the Shanghai and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges.
Shandong Gold had a market capitalisation of approximately US$14.5 billion as at 18 June 2020. In 2019, Shandong Gold produced mined gold of 1.273 million ounces and generated revenue of US$9.0 billion and EBITDA of US$771 million. As of 31 December 2019, Shandong Gold controlled total resources of 35.5 million ounces. Shandong Gold is 48% owned by Shandong Gold Group Co., Ltd ("Shandong Gold Group"), which is ultimately controlled by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Shandong Province of China ("Shandong SASAC").
Appointment of Due Diligence Consultants
Perth, Aug 10, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Altech Chemicals Limited (Altech/the Company) ( ASX:ATC ) is pleased to provide an important update on the progress of financing for its proposed high purity alumina (HPA) project.
Highlights:
- Altech and KfW IPEX-Bank appoint lenders due diligence consultants
- Technical, market and legal due diligence
- Reputable international audit firm to provide "expert opinion" also mandated
- Due diligence initiation meeting held in Stuttgart, Germany
- Due diligence site visits at Meckering and Johor conducted last week
Following the announcement on 3 August 2016, of a positive pre-assessment by the German Government interministerial committee (IMC) and Euler Hermes Aktiengesellschaft (Euler Hermes) of Altech's export credit project finance application (refer ASX Announcement dated 3 August 2016 for details), due diligence consultants have now been appointed.
The due diligence consultants are to undertake the definitive technical, market and legal review of the project on behalf of the proposed financier, Germany's government-owned KfW IPEX-Bank supported by German export credit agency Euler Hermes.
The appointment of the due diligence consultants is a significant milestone for project financing and will culminate in the provision of an "expert opinion" on the projects viability and risks.
The appointed due diligence consultants are:
Technical
M.Plan International Limited
Review the technical, environmental and social aspects of the project. Including amongst others, the geology, mineral resources and reserves, metallurgical test work, construction budget and schedule, infrastructure, permitting, environmental and social aspects.
Market
Persistence Market Research
Assessment and confirmation of HPA target market, product production, consumption, demand, trade, and a review and validation of proposed sale quantities and considered prices use in the project financial modelling.
Legal
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Assessment and confirmation of legal aspects of the project including permits, licences, contractual terms, structuring, and financial transactions. Adnan Sundra & Low is engaged as Malaysian counsel and Minter Ellison as Australian counsel. Freshfields will act as lenders' legal counsel to KfW.
Expert Opinion on Financing for Euler Hermes
An Expert Opinion on the project's overall viability, assessment and justification of project risks will be provided by a "reputable international audit firm". The expert opinion is required for the grant of export credit cover for project financed transaction and issued to the responsible authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) represented by the German Export Credit Agency (ECA) - Euler Hermes.
A due diligence initiation meeting was held in Stuttgart, Germany recently, with representatives from the appointed due diligence consultants as well as M+W Group (engineering procurement and construction contractor) and KFW IPEX-Bank in attendance. At the meeting technical due diligence consultants M.Plan International Limited and market due diligence consultants Persistence Market Research each presented their initial preliminary findings, which identified no fatal flaws in the project. The initiation meeting was chaired and facilitated by Altech managing director Iggy Tan, in conjunction with KfW IPEX-Bank project leaders.
Due diligence activities have now progressed to the next stage and site visits were conducted last week by the various consultants, to the Company's Meckering kaolin deposit; the HPA pilot plant site at Simulus Engineering's Perth testing facility and to the proposed HPA plant site at the Tanjung Langsat Industrial Complex, Johor, Malaysia.
Altech managing director Mr Iggy Tan said, "The commencement of the Lenders detailed project due diligence is a significant advance towards finalising project financing. The site visits last week follow an extremely constructive due diligence initiation meeting in Stuttgart, Germany during which all participants were updated on the status of project detailed design and funding plans. The site visits enabled the consultants to quickly familiarise themselves with the project, the Company and provided for specific queries to be answered in a most effective manner."
To view all images, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/D0B02AHW
About Altech Chemicals Ltd
Altech Chemicals Limited (ASX:ATC) (FRA:A3Y) is aiming to become one of the world's leading suppliers of 99.99% (4N) high purity alumina (Al2O3) through the construction and operation of a 4,500tpa high purity alumina (HPA) processing plant at Johor, Malaysia. Feedstock for the plant will be sourced from the Company's 100%-owned kaolin deposit at Meckering, Western Australia and shipped to Malaysia.
HPA is a high-value, high margin and highly demanded product as it is the critical ingredient required for the production of synthetic sapphire. Synthetic sapphire is used in the manufacture of substrates for LED lights, semiconductor wafers used in the electronics industry, and scratch-resistant sapphire glass used for wristwatch faces, optical windows and smartphone components. Increasingly HPA is used by lithium-ion battery manufacturers as the coating on the battery's separator, which improves performance, longevity and safety of the battery. With global HPA demand approximately 19,000t (2018), it is estimated that this demand will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30% (2018-2028); by 2028 HPA market demand will be approximately 272,000t, driven by the increasing adoption of LEDs worldwide as well as the demand for HPA by lithium-ion battery manufacturers to serve the surging electric vehicle market.
NMSU Bernalillo County Extension Service
The scent of approaching fall across New Mexico is found in the smoky acrid smell of roasting green chile.
For many New Mexicans, harvest months signal the time to buy a bushel of green chile for roasting and freezing.
But those of us with small freezers generally cannot join in the fun.
But theres more to preserving green chile than freezing; green chile can be successfully home canned or dried for use throughout the year.
Cindy Schlenker Davies, program director and home economist for New Mexico State University Bernalillo County Cooperative Extension Program, annually reduces a bushel of green chile to a convenient two-pound box to mail to her chile-deprived son living in the Pacific Northwest. He eats it as a snack and adds it to his soups, stews and casseroles, where the moisture reconstitutes its flavor and texture.
Drying or dehydration one of the oldest methods of food preservation is particularly successful in the hot, dry climate of New Mexico.
Moisture found in food is necessary for bacterial growth and eventual deterioration.
Drying removes moisture from food thus preserving it.
Successful dehydration depends upon a slow steady heat supply over an extended period of time to ensure the food is dried from the inside out.
Electric dehydrators offer the easiest and most efficient way to dry a wide variety of food including chile.
There are a number of makes and models on the market. Home goods stores sell home dehydrators either in a round tower model or a rectangular rack system. With tower models, additional trays can be added. Sporting goods stores also have dehydrators, geared to the needs of hunters for jerky but can be good options for drying all types of foods. Green chile can also be safely dried in the sun on covered trays to keep pests out. It may also be dried in the oven at a low temperature, but not lower than 150 degrees.
Roast the chile
For drying, canning or freezing green chile, choose mature chiles that are heavy for their size, smooth, symmetrical, bright green, fresh and crisp.
Choose your favorite roasting method for all preservation methods.
Blistering the skin by one of the following methods makes removal easy. Be sure the heat source is very hot. Turn frequently to prevent scorching and ensure even blistering.
Oven or broiler method: Place chiles in a hot oven or broiler, 400-450 degrees, for 6-8 minutes until skin blisters so that it can be pulled away.
Range top method: Place chiles on a hot electric or gas burner after covering burner with a layer of heavy wire mesh.
Outdoor grill method: Place chiles on a charcoal grill about 5-6 inches above glowing coals.
Many New Mexicans have their green chile commercially roasted. If using this method, you must cool the chile to 40 degrees or colder within two hours of roasting for food safety. Dont transport your chile in black trash bags as many are sprayed with pesticides.
Remove from the heat and spread out on a flat surface in a single layer to cool before peeling. For a crisper product, dip chile into ice water as it is removed from the heat.
Dry the chile
Once chile is roasted, using gloves, remove the charred skin and open the chile.
Remove the seeds and spread the chile flat on the dehydrator rack system of your choice.
The amount of time for complete drying depends on the method chosen.
Electric dehydrators take 6-8 hours to dry chile. The sun can take several days and require bringing the racks in each night.
Perfectly dried chile should be crisp to the touch and not flexible. (For more information, download the NMSU Extension publication, Drying Foods at aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_e/ or call the Bernalillo County Cooperative Extension Service at 505-243-1386 for a copy.)
Canning green chile
Green chile is naturally low in acid and requires high-pressure canning to prevent the growth of micro-organisms, specifically botulism.
Pressure canning raises the internal temperature of canned green chile to 240 degrees, which is required for low-acid foods.
Approximately one pound of chile equals a pint of canned so 10 pounds of fresh green chile will produce 10 pints of canned.
After choosing the best chile and roasting it, remove skins, stems and seeds from chile.
It can be cut into pieces or left whole.
Pack chile loosely in sterile jars and add boiling water to completely cover the chile, leaving 1 inch of space at the top.
Use a rubber spatula or plastic knife to gently move through the liquid to release any trapped air bubbles.
Wipe the jar rims with a wet clean paper towel before placing new seals and metal bands on each jar, tightening only until resistance is met and not too tightly, as this may interfere with obtaining a good seal.
Follow the instructions for pressure canning or obtain the NMSU Extension publication Canning Green Chile from the sources noted above.
Freezing
Freezing green chile continues to be a favorite preservation method. As with the other methods choose the mature, heavy chile, wash and dry and roast or blister the skins.
The tough outer skin must be removed, but you can do that before or after freezing.
With a knife, make a small slit in the side to allow steam to escape.
For more thoroughly cooked chile, place them in a pan and cover with a damp towel for a few minutes.
As the chile is peeled, either before or after freezing, slit along the sides and remove seeds and veins. Stems may be left attached for chiles rellenos. Pack whole unpeeled chile in plastic freezer bags or wrap in heavy aluminum foil or freezer wrap. Press down to remove all air and seal.
Peeled chile, whole or diced, can be packaged in plastic bags or rigid containers of glass, metal or plastic. Leave -inch of head space and seal.
Freeze chile immediately after packing. Freeze at 0 degrees or below. Put no more food into a home freezer than will freeze within 24 hours.
Usually this is about two or three pounds of food to each cubic foot of freezer capacity.
For quickest freezing, place packages against freezing plates or coils and leave a little space between packages so air can circulate freely. After freezing, packages may be stored close together. Store them at 0 degrees or below.
For information, obtain the NMSU Extension publication in English and Spanish, Freezing Green Chile from the sources noted earlier.
Dianne Christensen is the family and consumer science agent for the New Mexico State University Bernalillo County Cooperative Extension Service
Chile can burn
Handling pungent chile can burn hands and eyes.
Protect hands with a thin layer of solid fat or by wearing rubber gloves.
Keep hands away from eyes while working with chile. Wash hands before touching other people.
If hands are burned by chile, place them in regular vinegar to ease the stinging sensation.
Attend a class
Learn more about the ways to preserve green chile by taking a class with food preservation specialist Cindy Davies.
Green Chile! Canning, Drying and Freezing, $10 for supplies, is 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7, at the Bernalillo County Cooperative Extension office, 1501 Menaul NW.
Call 243-1386 or email diannec@nmsu.edu to register.
Gov. Susana Martinez made a quick trip to Dallas today to attend unspecified political meetings, according to the Governors Office.
Martinez, who is the chairwoman of the Republican Governors Association, a national group that supports GOP gubernatorial candidates, has traveled out of state extensively in recent months.
Most recently, she headed up New Mexicos delegation to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last month.
As for this weeks trip, the governor is scheduled to return to New Mexico tomorrow, Martinez spokesman Michael Lonergan said.
Her political committee, Susana PAC, will pay for the expenses of the governors trip.
Per the state Constitution, Lt. Gov. John Sanchez will serve as acting governor while Martinez is traveling out of state.
DALLAS Dallas County District Attorney Susan Hawk has been hospitalized at an Arizona clinic since mid-June, the third time she has sought inpatient treatment for mental illness since taking office in January 2015.
The Dallas Morning News (http://bit.ly/2bhoi3Q) reports that even though Hawk has reported for work at her courthouse office 66 days this year, her second-in-command, Messina Madson, says the Republican has no plans to resign and does plan to return.
However, its unclear when Hawk will return and Madson, whos running the DAs office in her absence, declined to discuss Hawks mental state or the treatment she is receiving at the Sierra Tucson clinic.
If she were to resign before Aug. 26, voters would choose her successor in November. If she resigns later, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott would choose.
___
Information from: The Dallas Morning News, http://www.dallasnews.com
Chevron Mining Inc. has agreed to a $143 million settlement with the state and federal governments to clean up the closed molybdenum mine near Questa, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
The proposed partial consent decree, if approved by the court, will provide for the next phase of the cleanup at the Superfund site, according to a Justice Department news release. It is the largest settlement of its kind for cleanup work in Environmental Protection Agencys Region 6, the department said.
The mine, which had been in operation in Taos County on and off since 1916, closed for good in 2014.
Under the settlement, the company will undertake a pilot project to cover about 275 acres of mine waste, or tailings, operate a water treatment plant and install groundwater extraction systems, according to the Justice Department. Chevron Mining will also reimburse the Environmental Protection Agency more than $5.2 million for overseeing past cleanup at the site.
Mining operations and waste disposal over the years contaminated soil, sediment, surface water and groundwater, the Justice Department said.
In addition to requiring crucial cleanup work, the settlement includes important measures to prevent further contamination of the environment and provides for extensive monitoring to ensure compliance, said U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez of the District of New Mexico.
Chevron Mining already has completed some cleanup work at the site under previous agreements with EPA, including the cleanup of Eagle Rock Lake and the removal of numerous tailing spills. The new work is expected to improve efforts to permanently prevent contamination of the Red River and other water resources and to reduce risks to nearby communities.
This $143 million cleanup is a powerful example of regulatory protections that work, said Acting Secretary Butch Tongate for the New Mexico Environment Department. In addition to the $112 million already collected for environmental work during this administration, the State of New Mexico is pleased with the enforcement of regulations that hold Chevron Mining accountable for the environmental impacts caused by the now-closed Questa Mine which will foster a renewed Questa/Red River destination area.
The proposed settlement follows a September 2015 consent decree on behalf of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service and the New Mexico State Office of Natural Resource Trustee. Under that decree, Chevron Mining paid more than $4.2 million for acquiring, restoring or replacing natural resources damaged by mine activities.
The consent decree is subject to the 30-day comment period, during wich the public can submit written comments, and final approval by the court. Efforts to reach Chevron officials for comment Tuesday were unsucessful.
A copy of the consent decree is available here.
SANTA FE Jessie Harbeck and her mother, Debra Harbeck, just wanted to celebrate with drinks the night before Jessies 22nd birthday in January.
Hours later, Jessie ended up spending part of her birthday taking her mother off life support after the highly intoxicated woman choked during a risque corn dog eating contest at a now-defunct Albuquerque nightclub.
Now Jessie, her father and her grandmother are suing the club, Fire and Ice, and others connected to the property and its liquor license, in a complaint for wrongful death filed in Santa Fe District Court. It alleges, among other things, that the club served her too much liquor.
According to the complaint, Fire and Ice held a corn dog eating contest where female contestants got on their knees in front of males who were holding corn dogs near their groin area on Jan. 27.
The winner of the corn dog eating contest won a prize by eating the corn dog the fastest, the complaint says.
Jessie Harbeck told the Journal on Tuesday that her mother paired up with one of Jessies friends for the contest. Debra began choking on the corn dog, and patrons rushed to apply the Heimlich maneuver and CPR before paramedics got there.
The choking caused the loss of oxygen to her brain before medical personnel could be there, said Albuquerque lawyer Gene Chavez, who filed the lawsuit for the Harbecks. Her body fought valiantly, but the damage was irreparable.
The lawsuit says Debra Harbeck, 56, was intoxicated, had been over-served at the bar and should not have been allowed to take part in the eating contest. The suit also argues the club should have had medical personnel on hand for the contest.
The family pulled Debra from life support on Jan. 28, Jessies actual birthday, and Debra died at 12:22 p.m. the next day.
My dad wanted to wait to pull the plug until midnight of my birthday so that she wouldnt die on my birthday, Jessie said. I told him my one birthday wish was for her to not suffer. I knew she was in pain, and I didnt want her suffering anymore.
Chavez says the club didnt supervise the contest well enough in allowing such an intoxicated person to take part. Debra had a blood alcohol content between 0.13 and 0.14 percent, according to the suit. She had been served three double shots & four double gin and tonics, the suit says.
The complaint maintains Debra Harbeck was at a fatal or near-fatal level of intoxication, although the BAC described in the court complaint is less than twice New Mexicos presumed level of intoxication for drivers, 0.08 percent.
Quite honestly, they did not cut her off, Jessie said. She was pretty intoxicated when I got there. The bar did not take the initiative to get her to stop drinking. Jessie said she had a designated driver so she could enjoy her birthday, and she said she took her mothers keys and told her she would drive her home because she was drunk.
Chavez said its common for eating contests around the country to have medical personnel nearby in case someone starts choking or has another medical problem.
Jessie and Anthony Harbeck, Debras husband, are suing PKG Investments LLC, which the suit says was operating as Fire and Ice at Montgomery and Eubank.
Also named are Anodyne Corp., which was leasing its liquor license to PKG, according to the suit, and Hinkle Investments LLC, which owns the property Fire and Ice was leasing. The suit can be filed in Santa Fe because the estates personal representative is in the capital city.
No one connected to the club ownership as described in the suit could be reached for comment Tuesday.
Jessie said Debra was an active supporter of the fire and police departments in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties. Her husband is retired from Phoenix Fire Department, and Debra made quilts and donated them to fire departments or to the homeless.
Jessie was an only child, and her relationship with her mother extended beyond a normal mother-daughter relationship, she said.
She was my best friend, Jessie said. She was my support system.
Its time for the University of New Mexico to tell the truth about its handling of sexual assault on campus.
Yes, as UNM President Robert Frank said in his recent guest column in this paper, it is true that the University of New Mexico has made strides toward addressing the sexual assault crisis on campus.
Those steps include trainings on sexual assault reporting and prevention; new policies and procedures to resolve complaints in a more fair and timely manner; and updating its Office of Equal Opportunity policies, and hiring two new investigators and an intake staffer.
But, while these things may be true, they are only part of the truth.
It is time that we start telling the whole truth not just the parts that help parents feel better about sending their children and their hard-earned money to the University of New Mexico.
We need to also tell the hard truths that will keep those students safe on campus.
That is why, while we thank Frank and the university for what they have done, we are compelled to publicly hold them accountable for what they have not done.
Simply put, UNM has not:
Accepted responsibility for findings in the Department of Justice report.
Moved quickly enough to ensure that students, staff and faculty have the information they need to report sexual assault.
Allocated enough resources to the Advocacy Center for it to be effective.
Been transparent with its response to the Department of Justice.
Involved all the stakeholders necessary to ensure the successful implementation of positive changes.
Whats more, UNM in general and Frank in particular have treated the safety of students and ending sexual assault on campus as an afterthought.
The truth is that, without the U.S. Department of Justice intervening, the university would not have taken any action. Sexual assault and harassment, which have been rampant on campus for decades, would have continued to be the norm. Parents would still be dropping their kids off at the dorms thinking that they would be safe and protected, when they absolutely were not.
The truth is that the university was dragged kicking and screaming into making the limited reforms they have made. And they did so in a private process that effectively muted community partners, outside organizations, campus organizations, faculty, staff and survivors.
And the truth is that neither the university nor Frank has ever apologized to victims, parents, students, staff, faculty or families for allowing this problem to persist for so long or for the cavalier attitude with which the university dismissed and downplayed sexual violence.
Dont misunderstand us: Progress has been made.
But, as we said, that is just part of the truth.
The whole truth is that, until all of the hard work is undertaken and every student is safe to learn and grow on campus, UNMs work will not be done.
No news conference or carefully prepared guest column can distract from the hard truth that UNM has only just begun to address these deep, systemic problems.
Very soon, another round of parents will drop their sons and daughters off for their freshman year at the University of New Mexico. When they drive away from the dorms, those parents will naturally be worried. Theyll worry about their child making new friends; theyll worry about their child eating well and doing their laundry; theyll worry about their childs future.
But no Lobo parent should have to add to that list the worry about whether their child will be protected from sexual violence.
And that is the truth.
In light of new complaints, the University of New Mexico made the right move in again suspending a professor who was previously under investigation over allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination.
Now, it needs to proceed quickly but ensuring due process because having Cristobal Valencia still on the payroll is a difficult pill for hardworking taxpayers to swallow given the findings and patently offensive allegations by women that led to his first suspension and official censure.
After an earlier investigation, Valencia was disciplined but for some reason cleared by Les Field, chairman of the Anthropology Department, to return to class for the fall semester with the caveat that he would be monitored.
That investigation found probable cause that Valencia had violated university polices and produced findings of an extremely serious nature involving sexual harassment and differential treatment.
Allegations against Valencia, who has declined comment, are partly based on a memo reportedly delivered to dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Mark Peceny, from anthropology faculty members who wrote they continue to work in a hostile working environment where they fear retaliation and are concerned about the safety of their graduate students.
The memo makes specific complaints, including:
students being encouraged to get drunk and party with drugs at his home, in which they were then encouraged to sleep over at his house where unwanted sexual advances were made.
Valencia inappropriately touching and coming on to graduate students in public venues.
Unprofessional conduct toward white people, quoting Valencia as saying, I dont take orders from white bitches.
That Valencia created a sexual desirability list of female graduate students, described in vulgar terms unsuitable for general publication.
The university has ordered Valencia not to have contact with students or faculty while the investigation is conducted.
Unless these allegations and Office of Equal Opportunity findings are spurious, its hard to conceive of a situation in which it would be appropriate to have Valencia in a teaching position where he can exercise authority over students and create a hostile environment for his colleagues.
It would be beneficial to all if UNM can with reasonable dispatch determine the truth of the matter and if appropriate put an end to professor Valencias taxpayer-funded vacation.
This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
The trial of Davon Lymon on federal weapons charges is now set to begin Oct. 24 in Albuquerque, according to a scheduling order filed by Chief U.S. District Judge M. Christina Armijo.
The trial originally was scheduled for Aug. 3 in Las Cruces, but Armijo decided to delay the trial in response to defense concerns about publicity surrounding several recent police shootings in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La.
Lymon is facing federal charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm used in the shooting death last year of Albuquerque police officer Daniel Webster during a traffic stop on East Central.
Webster was shot on the evening of Oct. 21 while he was attempting to handcuff Lymon during an arrest for driving a motorcycle with a stolen license plate. Lymon allegedly fired six rounds, striking Webster several times. Webster died eight days later of wounds suffered in the shooting.
Federal prosecutors want to present evidence that Lymon told police officers to tell Websters family he was sorry and hoped Webster recovered.
Lymon faces 10 years for each of the four counts in the indictment, but he was scheduled to go to trial only on the charge of possessing the pistol connected to the Webster shooting. A separate trial on the three remaining counts has not been scheduled.
Court records show Armijo decided to delay the trial at the request of Lymons attorney, Kari Converse.
The Court finds in view of the recent police officer shootings in Dallas and Baton Rouge it creates a very volatile and extremely emotional set of circumstances, Armijo ruled.
She found delaying the trial was a reasonable act on the part of the court to allow events to recede in the minds of potential jurors in this case to ensure Lymon has a fair trial.
Converse, according to court records, raised the issue because the men who shot and killed a total of eight police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge were African-American, as is Lymon.
In May, Lymon pleaded guilty to a separate three-count superseding indictment charging him with distributing heroin Sept. 11, 2015, and Oct. 2, 2015, to federal undercover agents, and unlawfully possessing a firearm Oct. 2, 2015, in Bernalillo County.
Lymon faces a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the two heroin trafficking charges and 10 years on the firearms charge.
Lymon has not been charged with Websters death in state court. District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said her office is working with federal prosecutors and isnt under a time crunch to file charges against Lymon.
WILMINGTON, N.C. Donald Trump ignited a fresh political firestorm Tuesday by declaring gun rights supporters might still find a way to stop Hillary Clinton, even if she should defeat him and then name anti-gun Supreme Court justices. Democrats pounced, accusing him of openly encouraging violence against his opponent.
The Republican presidential nominee has been working this week to move past distracting campaign disputes, but once again he put himself at the center of a blazing controversy.
First, he falsely claimed that Clinton, his Democratic opponent, wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment. She has said repeatedly that she supports the Second Amendment right to own guns, though she does back some stricter gun control measures.
Trump then noted the power Clinton would have to nominate justices to the high court.
By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people maybe there is, I dont know, Trump told supporters at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina. But Ill tell you what. That will be a horrible day.
The reaction from Democrats was immediate. Said her campaign manager, Robby Mook: This is simple what Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way.
Trumps reaction later as the uproar grew: Give me a break. Interviewed by Fox News Sean Hannity, he said everyone in his audience knew he was referring to the power of voters and there can be no other interpretation.
Trumps campaign sought to quell the controversy with a statement that blamed the dishonest media for misinterpretation. And Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, said his boss was talking about the election choice for pro-gun voters, not encouraging violence.
Yet Trumps foes were unconvinced and unforgiving.
Tim Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, said, I think it was just revealing and I dont find the attempt to roll it back persuasive at all.
Priorities USA, a super PAC supporting Clinton, said Trump had suggested that someone shoot Hillary Clinton. Across the country, Democratic House and Senate candidates piled on, working to tie Trumps comments to their GOP opponents.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which has endorsed Clinton, said Trump was encouraging gun violence based on conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton.
Tweeted Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, @realDonaldTrump makes death threats because hes a pathetic coward who cant handle the fact that hes losing to a girl.
The National Rifle Association, the gun lobby that has endorsed Trump, came to his defense. The group wrote on Twitter that theres nothing we can do if Clinton is elected, urging voters to defeat her in November.
The controversy immediately overwhelmed Trumps intended campaign-trail focus: the economic plan he unveiled just a day earlier and was promoting during a series of rallies in the most competitive general election states. It also reinforced the concern, voiced by many worried Republicans, that he cannot stay disciplined and avoid inflammatory remarks that imperil not only his White House prospects but the re-election chances of many GOP lawmakers.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, who was celebrating a primary victory in Wisconsin Tuesday night, said: It sounds like just a joke gone bad. I hope they clear this up very quickly. You never joke about something like that.
At another rally later Tuesday in Fayetteville, Trump was careful with his words. He repeated his argument that Clinton poses a threat to gun rights, but avoided any talk about advocates taking matters into their own hands. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, introducing him, blamed the controversy on disgusting journalists.
Clintons supporters are hoping the latest Trump trip-up will lead yet more of his fellow Republicans to defect. A day earlier, Maine Sen. Susan Collins became the latest to declare she wont vote for her partys nominee, explicitly pointing to his constant stream of cruel comments.
The U.S. Secret Service, responsible for both Clintons and Trumps protection, said it was aware of what Trump had said but declined to say whether it planned to investigate.
Contrary to Trumps remarks, Clinton has made her support for gun rights a key piece of her stump speech in a bid to pre-empt attacks from Trump and groups like the NRA. Still, she supports reinstating a federal assault weapons ban, expanding background checks and barring purchases by domestic abusers, among other steps.
Im not here to repeal the Second Amendment, she said in her Democratic National Convention speech. Im not here to take away your guns. I just dont want you to be shot by someone who shouldnt have a gun in the first place.
Clinton spent Tuesday in Florida calling for emergency public health action on the Zika virus while visiting the Miami area dealing with the first U.S. outbreak. At a local health clinic, she urged Congress to cut short its summer recess and immediately pass funding for a Zika response. She blamed congressional Republicans for inaction.
Everybody has a stake in this. And thats really why Im here, Clinton said. We dont want to wake up in a year and read more stories about babies like the little girl who just died in Houston.
Its an issue that could affect votes in a crucial swing state where she has held a small advantage in recent polls. So far, Trump has not addressed the issue in depth, though he told a Florida television station last week that Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, really seems to have it under control.
___
Lucey reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Lisa Lerer, Jonathan Lemire and Will Weissert contributed to this report.
___
Follow Josh Lederman at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP and Catherine Lucey at https://twitter.com/catherine_lucey
___
What political news is the world searching for on Google and talking about on Twitter? Find out via APs Election Buzz interactive. http://elections.ap.org/buzz
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. A police shoot/dont shoot demonstration in Florida went shockingly awry when an officer shot and killed a 73-year-old former librarian with what police said was real ammunition used by mistake at an event designed to bring police and the public together.
Authorities didnt immediately say how a gun with a live round came to be used at Tuesday evenings demonstration, noting blank rounds are typically used in such classes. The officer has been placed on administrative leave, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating.
We were unaware that any live ammunition was available to the officer, Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis said at a news conference Wednesday. The officer involved is grief stricken. Weve got officers assigned to him to make sure hes psychologically stable.
Mary Knowlton, a well-known community volunteer, was shot after being randomly selected to take part in the role-playing scenario illustrating the split-second decisions an officer must make about firing. It was part of a popular citizens academy attended by 35 people, including her 75-year-old husband, and the police chief.
Her son, Steve Knowlton, said his father was devastated.
The younger Knowlton said in an interview Wednesday at his parents home that, on his mothers behalf, he was forgiving the officer who fired.
Theres too much hate in this world, in America, we always feel like we need revenge and it doesnt solve anything, he said. I obviously cant say its easy to forgive, but it needs to be done. Shes watching me now.
Punta Gorda Police Lt. Katie Heck said officers in such demonstrations normally use simunition guns, which are real-looking weapons that fire a non-lethal projectile with reduced force. But Knowlton was mistakenly struck with a live round, officials said.
Later Wednesday afternoon, Heck identified the officer as Lee Coel and said he has worked for the department since 2014. She said Coel frequently gave department presentations and tours, specifically role-playing in these shoot/dont shoot scenarios.
The class put on by the Chamber of Commerce and the Punta Gorda police station, was just one stop during the weeks-long curriculum.
Officer Oscar Vasquez of the Jacksonville, Illinois Police Department, who is president of the National Citizens Police Academy Association, said he had never heard of anyone taking part in such courses being fatally shot. He said most departments do not use weapons in shoot/dont shoot scenarios that are capable of firing a live round.
When we run scenarios, we will use starter pistols, Vasquez told The Associated Press. You cant even put live ammunition in them.
Some departments use video simulators or other non-lethal devices, he said. Officers involved in most citizen academies dont typically even bring service weapons into classes, he added. Citizens are told beforehand that live weapons wont be used.
We put them in the shoes of the officers so they can see, real time, the decisions we have to make and the time frame we have to make them.
With suspicions running high between police and many citizens in recent years, particularly in minority communities, Vasquez said, a death like the one in Punta Gorda is extremely unfortunate.
It just breaks my heart. Its such a tragedy, he said.
Mary Knowlton attended the class with her husband and it was supposed to be a fun night, her son said.
Steve Knowlton tearfully told reporters Wednesday that he used to tease his mother about how much she worked in retirement. She helped with the local Chamber of Commerce, was active in a program for at-risk kids, loved the library and spent hours there volunteering.
Mary Knowlton moved to Florida after living for years in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.
Books and magazines lay scattered on tables of the home she shared in Florida with Gary, her husband of 55 years. The couple split their time between Minnesota and the small Gulf Coast community. She had two sons.
Steve said that his father hadnt yet been able to see his wifes body, more than 12 hours after the shooting.
To see your wife shot and killed, and not be able to see her Steve Knowlton said, his eyes filling with tears.
And yet, Knowlton said his mother would have wanted him to forgive the officer who pulled the trigger.
I forgive him. My mom was very spiritual. She brought us up right, he said.
Carolyn Hartwigsen, of Edina, Minnesota, told The Associated Press she was a longtime friend of Knowlton, adding she loved books and sought to instill that in young readers.
So much is on the internet now. But, books are so important to have in childrens hands. That was important to her, Hartwigsen said.
Hartwigsen said Mary and her husband would come back to Minnesota periodically to visit.
She was the salt of the earth, a beautiful soul and the kindest woman you would know, she said.
___
Associated Press writer Curt Anderson contributed to this report from Miami.
Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush
ANKARA, Turkey A delegation of Turkish foreign ministry, military and intelligence officials is traveling to Russia for discussions on finding a solution to the Syria conflict, Turkeys foreign minister said Wednesday.
The announcement by Mevlut Cavusoglu came a day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Russias Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg for the first time since the countries agreed to mend relations soured by Turkeys downing of a Russian plane in November.
The two leaders agreed to take steps to rebuild their damaged trade ties and revive major energy projects. They also held a separate meeting to discuss the conflict in Syria despite their divergent views. While Moscow has backed Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout the nations civil war and further bolstered that support by launching an air campaign last September, Turkey has pushed for Assads removal.
Cavusoglu told state-run Anadolu Agency that the Turkish delegation would head for Russia on Wednesday in search of common ground. The meeting would be followed by talks by higher level officials, he said, adding that the two countries had a mutual understanding on a number of issues.
On Syria, we think the same on the issue of a cease-fire, on humanitarian aid and a political solution, the minister said. We may have a different outlook on how the cease-fire should be implemented.
Cavusoglu said: We (Turkey) especially dont want attacks that harm civilians. We dont believe it is appropriate that the moderate opposition is attacked. We dont find the Aleppo siege to be appropriate.
Cavusoglu on Wednesday also denied that Erdogans visit to St. Petersburg was intended to send a message to Turkeys allies in the West, which Ankara accuses of not showing Turkey sufficient support since last months failed coup.
Turkey is pressing the United States to extradite U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom it accuses of orchestrating the coup attempt, and has expressed frustration at its slow response. Gulen has repeatedly denied any involvement.
The dispute has strained U.S.-Turkish ties, with some Turkish officials implying Washington could have been behind the coup. Washington has strongly denied that.
Turkish officials have also fumed at expressions of concern from European officials over Turkeys sweeping crackdown on the Gulen movement, and accused the West of failing to show support for a democratically elected government. Ankara also lashed out at the EU for failing to uphold its end of an EU-Turkey agreement on migration.
Still, Cavusoglu said the rapprochement with Russia was independent of relations with the West.
We have always regarded our relations with Russia as complementary not as an alternative (to the West), Cavusoglu said.
We are not improving ties with Russia to send a message to the West, Cavusoglu told Anadolu. We are doing it for our own interests and for the interests of the region.
Turkeys shooting down of the Russian plane near the border with Syria had brought relations with Russia to freezing point until Erdogan apologized to Russia in June.
CARLSBAD Efforts to construct an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel are moving forward as Intrepid Potash relinquished a mineral rights lease to acreage proposed to house the project.
The project, a partnership between Holtec International and the Eddy Lea Energy Alliance, will temporarily store spent nuclear fuel rods from power plants across the country.
We approached them and asked, Would you consider being generous enough to relinquish your mineral rights? and it turns out they were, said John Heaton, chair of the Eddy Lea Energy Alliance. That gives us the security that there will be no mining.
Though there are potash reserves on the 640 acres Intrepid relinquished, Intrepids Executive Vice President Jamie Whyte said the company wouldnt be in a position to mine them for many years.
The commodity price for oil and gas and potash have impacted our communities, Whyte said in a news release from the City of Carlsbad. We, along with our regulators, all need to be good neighbors and work together to help each other strive and thrive.
Intrepid Potash idled their West Mine near Carlsbad in May, eliminating around 300 jobs.
The HI-STORE Consolidated Interim Storage project is expected to cost more than $1 billion and provide around 200 construction and operations jobs, program director Ed Mayer said.
The project is going to have a positive effect on the local economy, Mayer said.
The storage facility will initially be built to house 200 to 500 spent fuel casks but can be expanded to store 4,000.
Holtec will present its application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March and the approval process will take 2 to 3 years.
Mayer said the facility should be up and running in four years.
The facility will be licensed for 40 years of operation with the option to renew for another 40 years.
Heaton said the Department of Energy has estimated they should have a permanent, deep disposal option available for spent nuclear fuel by 2048.
The news release said the New Mexico Land Office will now retain the rights to the minerals. The Alliance and Holtec will ask them to refrain from mining on the land until after the life of the project has been completed.
The potash isnt going anywhere, Mayer said. Its not like anybody is losing the minerals.
Maddy Hayden can be reached at 575-628-5512.
2016 the Carlsbad Current-Argus (Carlsbad, N.M.)
Visit the Carlsbad Current-Argus (Carlsbad, N.M.) at www.currentargus.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
_____
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates After he escaped unharmed from the burning wreckage of an Emirates airplane that had crash-landed in Dubai, Mohamed Basheer already considered himself lucky.
Then came the call telling him he had won $1 million.
I said, Dont joke!' the 62-year-old Indian recounted, laughing inside the auto-body repair shop where he works in Dubai. They said, Yes, you are the winner! I said, No!'
Basheer won Dubai Duty Frees Millennium Millionaire sweepstakes Tuesday with a ticket he purchased July 6, just before he boarded an Emirates flight to head to Indias Kerala state and his hometown of Pallickal.
He believes the 1,000-dirham ($270) ticket, No. 845 in Series M222, was his 17th attempt to win the sweepstake.
Yet perhaps his luckiest numbers were yet to come as he boarded Emirates flight EK521 on Aug. 3 to return to Dubai. Sitting in seat 26G, Basheer said the flight passed normally for the 300 onboard until the Boeing 777-300 attempted to land at Dubai International Airport, the worlds busiest international airfield.
The plane hit the runway, bounced and slammed into the ground again. For Basheer, who works at Al Tayer Motors auto body shop as a fleet operations coordinator, it felt like the shuddering stop of a speeding car with anti-lock brakes.
The cabin quickly filled with smoke when the plane came to a halt.
Nobody knows whats happening, Basheer told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. But Im not scared. I was supporting the people and also I saved my life.
He jumped out of the airplanes emergency exit and down the slide, before turning back to see the fire spreading as others fled. He said he saw the explosion that caused the crashs only fatality, an Emirati firefighter responding to the blaze.
But he said he remained in awe that the passengers all escaped.
That really is a miracle, Basheer said. Thanks for God and thanks for the pilot.
An investigation into the crash is ongoing, though radio traffic and transponder data suggest the aircraft tried to regain altitude in the last moments before it hit the ground. That could indicate the pilots were trying to go around for a second landing attempt when something went wrong.
For Basheer, a no-nonsense employee like many of the laborers, taxi drivers and others from Kerala who take jobs in the United Arab Emirates, he immediately went back to work at the auto shop.
And then, at 1.45 p.m. on Tuesday, he received the phone call telling him hed won.
We were all excited, but he was the same calm, said Ambujam Satheesh, his manager at the body shop. He was taking calls from the customers.
That calm has carried Basheer through an intense 24 hours of non-stop calls to his mobile phone. Two bankers even came to visit him at the workshop, ending their pitch for his cash with a request for a selfie that he obliged.
To Basheer, the money isnt life-changing, though it can help his partially paralyzed son, grown daughter, grandchildren and wife. Hell keep working until mandatory retirement and will try to create a program to help the poor by teaching them useful work skills.
Dont rubbish that money by giving something to someone for free, the 37-year Dubai resident said. If youre hard-working, you make the money valuable.
The interview over, Basheer walked past the gleaming Ford Mustangs in the body shop and returned to his desk. A moment later, the phone rang with a worried customer and he got back to work.
___
Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jon-gambrell .
WASHINGTON The Latest on the U.S. presidential campaign (all times EDT):
9:16 p.m.
Republican Donald Trump has come prepared with visuals at his Fort Lauderdale, Florida, rally.
The GOP nominee, who usually speaks without the aid of visuals, brought a collection of printed graphs and charts filled with statistics.
They include how much various countries donated to the Clinton charitable foundation, how many sentences various presidents have commuted and the percentage of immigrants in the United States.
Trump says he was thinking of using screens, but decided to do it the old-fashioned way and some cards made.
He says he saved some money that way.
___
8:46 p.m.
Donald Trump says President Barack Obama is the founder of the Islamic State group.
Trump in recent days has accused Hillary Clinton rhetorically of being the founder of IS. Hes referring to national security policies in the Middle East that he says enabled the extremist groups rise.
But Trump is now leveling that accusation directly at Obama during a rally in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Trump is also referring to the president by his full legal name: Barack Hussein Obama.
___
8:38 p.m.
Hillary Clinton is getting a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T at a Detroit-area fundraiser.
The Democratic presidential candidate was treated to a performance by Aretha Franklin at a fundraiser in a Detroit suburb Tuesday night. Attendees said the so-called queen of soul performed at the private gathering.
Franklin whose hits included Respect, Think and Natural Woman has performed for President Barack Obama in the past, including at his 2008 inauguration.
___
8:28 p.m.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is making light of the Zika virus outbreak during a Donald Trump rally in Florida.
Huckabee is introducing Trump in Fort Lauderdale. He says hes a lot more scared of a Hillary Clinton presidency than he is about a mosquito bite in South Florida.
Florida officials have said nearby Miami-Dade County is where more than a dozen non-travel-related Zika cases were discovered last week. Those are believed to be the first and only active transmissions in the mainland United States.
___
7:58 p.m.
Donald Trump says hes concerned that the moderators in the upcoming presidential debates wont be fair.
Trump has said he wants to participate in all three scheduled debates with Hillary Clinton but hasnt concretely committed. Hes complained that two debates are scheduled at the same time as NFL games and he says thats really unfair to do that.
Trump tells Fox News that Republicans and conservatives get unfair treatment by moderators and the media. He says he wants to see a fair moderator selected.
The commission organizing the debates hasnt yet announced the moderators.
Trump also says that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani will be working with the commission on his behalf on the debate-planning.
___
4:29 p.m.
Mike Pence is personally apologizing to a Republican state representative who was denied VIP seating at Pences rally near Dayton, Ohio.
Rep. Niraj Antani, of Dayton, says he was denied promised seating in the VIP area for, he believes, sending a positive tweet about Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Kasich is one of Trumps most outspoken Republican critics, and Antani had served as one of his convention delegates.
Antani and Pences campaign say the GOP vice presidential nominee has called Antani to apologize for the seating incident.
Antani says the Trump campaign had called and asked him to remove a Tweet that said he was finding Kasich supporters, but no Trump backers, while door knocking.
Seth Unger, a spokesman for Trumps Ohio campaign, is not confirming or denying whether the campaign asked Antani to take down the tweet. He says, seating in our VIP area is very limited and we cant accommodate everyone.
4:10 p.m.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine is wrapping up a two-day Texas swing.
The Virginia senator made an unannounced visit to a Salvadoran restaurant in Dallas tony Oak Cliffs neighborhood between a fundraiser in Fort Worth and a second in another part of Dallas. Hes leaving for Louisiana later Wednesday.
Kaine posed for pictures and chatted with diners about the importance of teachers and the process of agreeing to be Hillary Clintons running mate.
Some on-hand said theyd like to see Democrats succeed in Texas, but Kaine didnt make any predictions.
On Tuesday in Austin, though, he vowed that he and Clinton are serious about doing well in Texas in November even though a Democrat hasnt won statewide office in Texas since 1994.
___
4:05 p.m.
A protester has tried to disrupt a Hillary Clinton rally in Des Moines, but was quickly removed from the event.
The woman, protesting on behalf of animal rights, tried to rush onto the stage during a rally at Lincoln High School, but, struggling, was escorted, out by security.
Clinton is visiting the battleground state of Iowa for the first time since her narrow win in the leadoff caucuses.
___
4 p.m.
Hillary Clinton says there could be tremendous consequences from Donald Trumps comments that there may be something Second Amendment supporters can do to stop her.
Clinton says the remark was a casual inciting of violence that shows he lacks the temperament to be commander-in-chief. The comments, Clinton says, were the latest in a long string by Trump that crossed the line and raises the stakes for the 2016 campaign.
She says that words matter and if you are running to be president or you are president of the United States words can have tremendous consequences.
Trump insists he never advocated violence and his comments Tuesday have been manipulated for political purposes.
Clinton is speaking at a campaign rally in Des Moines.
___
3:40 p.m.
Donald Trump is accusing Hillary Clinton of pay for play during her tenure at the State Department. He says her behavior is illegal.
Trump is responding to emails released by the conservative group Judicial Watch that shed light on ties between the State Department and the Clinton Foundation.
Republicans have alleged the emails show improper influence on the State Department by the Clinton familys charitable foundation, a claim Clintons campaign denies.
Trump says it shows that under Clinton, you pay, and youre getting things. He says its really, really bad and is comparing Clinton to disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was imprisoned for corruption.
___
3:35 p.m.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Ted Strickland of Ohio is apologizing for remarks appearing to celebrate the death of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (AN-toh-nihn skuh-LEE-uh).
In audio of an appearance Monday before the AFL-CIO in Cleveland, the former Ohio governor is heard saying he didnt wish anyone ill but Scalias death happened at a good time for union workers. The crowd laughs.
Scalias son, Christopher, tweeted: Stay classy, @Ted_Strickland and you ghouls giggling along.
Strickland said in a statement Wednesday the remark was insensitive and I apologize.
The high court deadlocked four times after Scalias death, including in a major union case over a nearly four-decade-old practice that lets public-sector unions collect fees from non-members to cover collective bargaining costs.
Strickland seeks to unseat Republican Rob Portman this fall.
___
3:30 p.m.
The conflict between Donald Trumps campaign and loyalists to Ohio Gov. John Kasich appears to be continuing.
Trumps running mate, Mike Pence, is speaking at two Ohio rallies today, starting in the city of Dayton. State Rep. Niraj Antani, of Dayton, says he was denied promised VIP seating at the event. He says a Trump campaign staffer called him recently and asked him to remove a tweet favorable to Kasich. Kasich is an outspoken critic of Trump.
The tweet, now deleted, had said Antani was finding Kasich supporters instead of Trump supporters while out door-knocking in his district.
Antani, who was a Kasich delegate, says he was ready to come on board with the Trump campaign but is reconsidering after the campaigns petty actions.
Ohio is a crucial battleground state that Trump likely needs to win to capture the White House.
___
3:10 p.m.
An Iowa shop has given Hillary Clinton a new T-shirt to wear on the campaign trail.
Clinton is touring Raygun, in Des Moines, on Wednesday, where she was given a shirt that said America: Hill Yes.
Store owner Mike Draper showed Clinton the operation and she recalled her fathers drapery business as he printed her shirt.
She said: He had nothing as nice as this, as she looked around the large airy space.
Clinton stressed her commitment to small businesses and helping young entrepreneurs during brief remarks.
___
2:45 p.m.
Republican Donald Trump is holding a roundtable with coal industry executives and businesspeople in Glade Spring, Virginia.
Its a rare, intimate event for the billionaire candidate, whose public campaign appearances are usually limited to large rallies.
Trump is talking about the difficulties facing the coal and other energy issues.
He tells the workers that he knows theyre struggling.
He says, Youve been put in an impossible position, as far as mines are concerned.
Trump his also going after rival Hillary Clinton, who is advocating a move toward renewable fuel sources. He claims Clinton wants the mines closed,
Danny Atwell of Buchanan Mine #1 tells Trump the industry has shrunk over the 43 years hes been involved with mining.
He says, Everyone is trying to choke our business.
___
2:20 p.m.
Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson is set to appear on ballots in at least 39 states, and party activists are working in places such as swing state Ohio to get his name before voters this fall.
Johnsons ballot status in Ohio remained uncertain Wednesday, a day after Libertarians submitted thousands of signatures on behalf of a different candidate as a placeholder.
The state party said it would substitute in Johnsons name once the petitions are certified by Ohios elections chief. The secretary of states office says its legal team will review the situation.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is slated to appear on ballots in at least 27 states.
Libertarians and other third parties face a patchwork of rules and laws nationwide governing access to ballots.
___
12 p.m.
President Barack Obama will mix business with vacationing during his stay in Marthas Vineyard in a nod to the hotly contested November election.
The White House says hell attend a fundraiser Monday for the Democratic National Committee at a private residence in Chilmark, the town where the first family is staying during their two-week summer vacation.
Obama plans to play an active role on the campaign trail this fall and has already appeared with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in North Carolina. The White House did not disclose exactly where the fundraiser would occur or the cost of attendance. He is expected to deliver remarks and take questions from those in the audience.
Obama and the first family arrived on the island Saturday afternoon.
___
8:05 a.m.
Hillary Clintons campaign is launching an effort to win over Republicans and independents.
Called Together for America, the group aims to use a wave of nearly 50 recent endorsements by high-profile Republicans and independents to convince voters to cross party lines.
Clintons campaign is also releasing new endorsements from several retired Republican officials, including former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Carla Hills, former Maryland Congresswoman Connie Morella, former Connecticut Congressman Chris Shays and former Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte.
Some Republicans say they back Clinton because they dont support Donald Trumps bombastic style and controversial statements. Others object to his lack of foreign policy experience. The Clinton backers largely include former officials, though some current Republican officeholders have said they wont vote for Trump.
___
3:10 a.m.
On the defensive once again, Donald Trump is blaming faulty interpretations and media bias for an uproar over his comments about the Second Amendment.
Hes insisting he never advocated violence against Hillary Clinton, even as undeterred Democrats pile on.
The latest Trump controversy arose from an offhand quip at a rally. Trump said there would be nothing you can do if Clintons elected to stop her from stacking the Supreme Court with anti-gun justices, then added ambiguously, Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is I dont know.
Was Trump suggesting gun owners take matters into their own hands? Or merely musing about the powerful influence of the gun lobby?
Like so many times before, Trumps supporters and opponents construed his comments in entirely different ways.
LAS VEGAS, N.M. A judge has found probable cause to believe a Las Vegas man raped three women who moved into city boarding homes after release from the state psychiatric hospital.
The ruling Tuesday by state Magistrate Judge Melanie Rivera means the case accusing Benjamin Baca, 75, of six counts of criminal sexual penetration and kidnapping will move to state District Court for further proceedings, including possible trial.
Rivera made the ruling after several hours of testimony from Bacas alleged victims, boarding home operators and an investigator for the state Attorney Generals Office. The judge dismissed charges that Baca raped a fourth woman after the woman testified she willingly engaged in sex with Baca.
Baca is accused of preying on women released from the Behavioral Health Institute, luring them into his truck or to his home with promises of cigarettes and sodas, then forcing them to engage in sex. I want to put him away so he wont do that to other people, one of his alleged victims testified.
Baca also faces possible trial in Magistrate Court on related misdemeanor charges of criminal sexual contact, battery and indecent exposure.
NEW YORK A federal judge in San Francisco has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Twitter of supporting the Islamic State group.
The families of two men killed in Jordan claimed that Twitter had contributed to their deaths by allowing the group to sign up for and use Twitter accounts. The judge agreed with Twitter that the company cannot be held liable because federal law protects service providers that merely offer platforms for speech, without creating the speech itself.
As horrific as these deaths were, Twitter cannot be treated as a publisher or speaker of ISISs hateful rhetoric and is not liable under the facts alleged, U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick wrote Wednesday .
The federal Communications Decency Act has long protected service providers for remarks made and actions taken by their users, so Wednesdays ruling came as no surprise. But that law runs in conflict with an anti-terrorism law prohibiting support for groups like the IS.
The families have the option to amend and refile the case.
Lloyd Carl Fields Jr. and James Damon Creach were shot and killed in 2015 while working as U.S. government contractors in Amman, Jordan, according to the lawsuit. The Islamic State group later claimed responsibility for their deaths. The lawsuit names Anwar Abu Zaid as the lone gunman.
Orrick noted that the lawsuit didnt claim that the IS recruited or communicated with Abu Zaid over Twitter, nor did the lawsuit accuse either of using Twitter to plan, carry out or raise funds for the attack. Rather, the lawsuit said Twitter provided material support in allowing the use of Twitter accounts for recruitment and other purposes.
A similar lawsuit against Google, Facebook and Twitter was filed in June by the father of a young woman killed in the Paris massacre last November.
Representatives for Twitter and a lawyer representing the families of two men could not immediately be reached for comment.
___
Online:
District Court ruling: http://bit.ly/2b96k7b
AUSTIN, Texas A revamped womens health program in Texas that ousted Planned Parenthood is giving a $1.6 million state contract to the nonprofit of an anti-abortion activist, who state officials said Wednesday submitted a robust proposal for helping low-income women in rural areas.
The Heidi Groups Carol Everett has been a visible abortion opponent at the Texas Legislature. She supported two major anti-abortion restrictions the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in June, and last year, Republican lawmakers incensed by undercover video taken of Planned Parenthood operations and staffers invited her to discuss abortion clinics.
Planned Parenthood criticized the selection of Everett and accused Texas health officials of bypassing proven providers to funnel hard-earned tax dollars in support of their anti-abortion agenda, said Sarah Wheat, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas.
The contract is the second-largest state health officials have given so far under its new Healthy Texas Women program; $1.7 million was given to Houstons Harris County.
Everett said her state contract a first for the Heidi Group begins in September and is about filling gaps, not about ideology. She said her services will connect women in more than 40 rural counties with providers.
I did not see quality health care offered to women in rural areas, Everett said.
The Healthy Texas Women program, unveiled last month, absorbs an old program that ousted Planned Parenthood in 2011 at the behest of lawmakers.
Texas began paying for its own womens health initiatives after the federal government said excluding Planned Parenthood an approved provider was against the law and halted federal funding for womens care statewide. The push to defund Planned Parenthood was part of a larger, yearslong anti-abortion effort by the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Texas Health and Human Services spokesman Bryan Black said the proposal by the Heidi Group was one of the most robust of any of those who applied for the grants.
Everetts biography on the Heidi Group website says her nonprofit, which is based near Austin, had offered practical and scriptural solutions for unplanned pregnancies.
State health officials have said the new program will have roughly three times as many providers as five years ago. It offers contraception, pregnancy testing and counseling, immunizations, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and testing and treatment for ailments such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Those under 18 will need a parents permission to qualify.
___
Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber
(c) 2016, The Washington Post.
When Hillary Clinton and her new running mate Tim Kaine took a celebratory bus tour through crucial Ohio after the Democratic convention, they got some unexpected company: Republican Sen. Rob Portman.
Portmans embattled reelection campaign had dispatched a squad of volunteers to Clinton-Kaine rallies in Columbus and Youngstown. There, they passed out literature touting his endorsements by several traditionally Democratic unions, signed up 400 new supporters and gathered more than 100 yard sign requests, said Corry Bliss, Portmans campaign manager.
The campaign also featured Portmans outreach to Clinton supporters on its Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Portman is betting that a significant number of Ohioans in this turbulent election season might do something voters have not done in a long time: divide their preferences between the two parties as they work their way down the ballot. Breaking that pattern may be key to the survival of some endangered Republicans and possibly to the GOPs hopes of holding onto its control of the Senate. Its a clear acknowledgment of the fear that Donald Trump is pushing some voters away and of the threat he poses to the rest of his party.
Voters like to insist that they cast their ballots on the basis of the candidate, not the party. And the largest single bloc of voters is the 39 percent who identify themselves as independent, according to a study of 2014 data by the Pew Research Center.
But their actual behavior in the voting booth speaks differently.
Split-ticket voting, once commonplace, has in recent elections grown rare in this polarized country. In 2012, for instance, only 6 percent of congressional districts just 26 out of 435 went for one party in the presidential race and another in picking a House member.
It was the lowest rate in 92 years and a far cry from the zenith of split-ticket voting, which happened in Richard M. Nixons landslide of 1972, when 44 percent of the districts in the country voted one way for president and the other for the House.
Ohio is a good example of the trend. It has not split its preferences for the White House and the Senate since 1988, when it voted for both George H.W. Bush and to reelect then-Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D.
There are some signs that Portman may be succeeding. The latest NBC News-Wall Street Journal-Marist poll, for instance, shows the senator holding a five-point lead over the Democratic nominee, former governor Ted Strickland, despite how Clinton has pulled ahead in Ohio by a similar margin.
A month ago, that same survey had both the Senate and presidential races tied in the state.
Currently, Republican incumbents are in tight races in six states that President Barack Obama carried in 2012. In addition to the Ohio contest, those are: Wisconsin, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Florida.
Democrats need five seats to take back a Senate majority or four, if they also hold onto the White House, giving Kaine a tie-breaking vote in the chamber.
That both parties have nominated relatively unpopular candidates for president is the main force that could disrupt what has become the typical straight-ticket dynamic.
Trump has higher negative ratings than any standard-bearer in history; were he not in the race, that dubious distinction would go to Clinton. Also scrambling the equation is how more and more leading Republicans are turning their backs on Trump.
Incumbent GOP senators on the ballot this year are, by and large, performing better than Trump in the polls. They have their own organizations, and bases of support.
The unfavorable levels at the top of the ticket sets up a condition that might enhance more ticket splitting than we have seen in recent elections, said Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion in Pennsylvania
In his own state, Borick noted, Clinton appears to have a double-digit lead of Trump in the latest surveys, but the battle between incumbent Sen. Patrick Toomey, R, and Democratic challenger Katie McGinty is a dead heat.
Pat Toomey seems to be holding on better to Republicans and winning more swing voters than Donald Trump, Borick added. If Trump becomes so unacceptable to a number of Republicans that they cant vote for him, that might become a scenario where ticket-splitting perks up a bit.
What they cannot afford, however, is for the bottom to drop out from under their presidential nominee.
In New Hampshire, on the other hand, Trumps unpopularity appears to be dragging down the reelection prospects of Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R, despite her efforts to distance herself from him and his caustic comments about her.
The latest WBUR poll shows Trump running 15 points behind Clinton in the Granite State, and Ayotte doing almost as badly, with a 10-point deficit against Gov. Maggie Hassan, D.
Voters overall may be more unsettled and therefore, up for grabs than in the recent past.
An average of national polls taken during July, for instance, showed that 12 percent of the electorate had not yet made up its mind between Trump and Clinton a higher share of undecideds at that point in the cycle since 1992, said Karl Rove, who was from president George W. Bushs chief political strategist.
Were going to see a larger group of voters in play than we have before, said David Winston, a Republican pollster and longtime adviser to the congressional leadership. Well have to reach these campaigns that are not used to ticket-splitting, and teach them how to do it.
Some Democrats, however, are skeptical, especially given Trumps stumbles since the convention, and the growing numbers of Republican leaders who are saying they will not vote for him.
I dont think [Trump] diminishes the numbers of swing voters, but his inability to speak beyond the base of his primary electorate has put him in a corner, said Joel Benenson, who is Clintons pollster and chief strategist.
House Republicans are already appealing to voters to cast their ballots for Republicans in Congress as a brake on Clinton.
If we fail to protect our majority in Congress, we could be handing President Hillary Clinton a blank check, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., wrote in an urgent fundraising appeal earlier this month. The awkward implication was that Trump is not likely to win.
That kind of calculation in which ticket-splitting becomes a kind of check and balance is known as strategic voting.
It rarely happens almost never happens but this year is such an unusual situation that you could actually imagine it happening, said Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster who is working for gubernatorial and Senate races across the country.
He added, however, that the dynamic is not likely to become clear until late in the election, possibly in the final weeks of October. And there remains the potential for voters to be so turned off by the two presidential nominees that many decide just to stay home.
Meanwhile, the effort to poach across party lines is working both ways.
In Ohio, for instance, Strickland campaign spokesman David Bergstein calls Portmans hopes for a split-ticket path to victory a fantasy strategy.
But Strickland himself will be reminding Trump voters about Portmans record of supporting free trade.
By the time this election is over, every voter in Ohio, across Appalachia and the Mahoning Valley will know that Portman is the best senator China has ever had, Bergstein said.
Portman, meanwhile, is boasting of his endorsement by a number of unions that traditionally support Democrats, including the Ohio Teamsters.
This year, our endorsements are all over the map, said Fred Crow, political coordinator for 2,800-member Teamsters Local 436 in Northeast Ohio.
Among the rank-and-file, I think there is going to be a lot of ticket-splitting, Crow added.
swingvote
_____
Keywords: swing states, swing voters, ticket-splitting, campaign 2016, donald trump, hillary clinton, rob portman
Privately held companies are scaling back their hiring plans, according to a survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers, partly due to fretfulness over the presidential election.
PwCs Trendsetter Barometer for the second quarter of 2016 found that only 39 percent of the 200 private company executives polled felt optimistic about the U.S. economy in the second quarter, down slightly from 41 percent in the first quarter. Twenty-two percent of the survey respondents felt optimistic about the world economy in the second quarter, only slightly more than the 19 percent in the first quarter of the year. Only 41 percent plan to increase their headcount, down from 52 percent in the first quarter.
There are quite a few economic and political headwinds out there that are affecting the results, said PwC Trendsetter Barometer leader and tax partner Ken Esch. The global economy continues to struggle, with low growth rates, if not recessionary environments, in many foreign countries that weigh on U.S. companies ability to export products or perform services in foreign jurisdictions. I think the strong U.S. dollar has an impact as well. Then youve got the Brexit vote, which has really thrown a lot of uncertainty into not only the E.U., but also the U.S., because theyre substantial trading partners with the U.S. Thirdly youve got a U.S. election going on that is like none other in recent history, where weve got candidates vying for the president role, both of whom have pretty high unfavorable ratings.
The PwC Trendsetter Barometer results tend to decline in an election year, he acknowledged. We went back and took a look at our survey results for the prior elections going back to about 2004, and our recent history shows that the results on optimism levels and growth expectations tend to trend downward leading into an election, said Esch. There are many other factors other than just the U.S. election that bear on these survey results, but we have been seeing some optimism and growth levels drop around a U.S. election.
The low growth expectations also seem to align with the tepid growth in the gross domestic product. The U.S. Commerce Department reported in late July that GDP grew only 1.2 percent in the second quarter. The Commerce Department also revised downward its GDP figures for the first quarter to an average of 1 percent for the first half of the year. However, Esch sees some signs of optimism in the PwC report belying the gloomy growth expectations for the economy. For example, over one fourth (27 percent) of the private company leaders polled in the second quarter plan major new capital investments, the same as in the first quarter. More than three-quarters (77 percent) of the survey respondents intend to increase their operational spending, up from 66 percent a year ago.
The good news is there is a little bit of divergence between the GDP reports we saw and what were seeing in our Trendsetter results, said Esch. Capital investment is one of those. Reading the GDP reports, it looks like businesses have been pulling back a little bit on their investment, and the consumer has been holding up the economy for now. In our Trendsetter results, weve seen stable reading on investment within the businesses, both in terms of capex and operational spending, which we feel is a testament to private companies, owners and leaders taking a long-term view of the economy. They know they need to continue to invest in their business in order to grow it, and theyre reluctant to pull back on those investments just because were seeing slower growth rates in the overall economy.
Another positive is the 91 percent of private company leaders who said in the second quarter they expect their own businesses to grow, up from 86 percent in the first quarter.
A positive for me was the sheer number of companies that expect to grow, said Esch. Being above 80 percent was a very high reading for our surveys. There are very few who expect a revenue drop out there. While there are a number of headwinds in the overall economy, companies still expect to grow and theyre continuing to invest in their business.
Despite the robust jobs report last Friday from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicating that employers added 255,000 jobs to payrolls in July, including 8,100 in accounting and bookkeeping, PwCs survey indicates some weakening in hiring plans in the future, at least within private companies. Less than half (41 percent) of the private company leaders plan to increase headcount at their businesses, a decline from 52 percent in the first quarter. Planned wage increases are only 2.29 percent, roughly the same as the 2.72 percent in the first quarter.
Were seeing that fewer companies plan to hire over the next 12 months, said Esch. Thats not good news for payroll expansion over the next year. That tends to be a leading indicator for whats going on in the economy. For those that are expecting to hire, the average headcount is going to increase less than 2 percent, and the wage growth is stuck below 3 percent as well, so theres just not a lot of positive momentum in the report regarding the labor market.
Companies are also dampening their international expansion plans, with only 23 percent of private companies that are already selling in China planning new capital spending, down from 53 percent six months ago. But Esch believes that in the long run, companies will continue to invest in international growth.
Companies are tapping the brakes a little bit about how much theyre going to invest for international expansion, said Esch. We can break out the data between those that operate internationally, and those that operate just domestically. The international companies routinely achieve and expect higher growth rates than their domestic-only peers, and they often spend a little bit more in the way of capex and operational expenditures to fuel the growth of their business. We do see ebbs and flows with the investment expectations out there, but companies are not abandoning their growth strategy or the expectation that the international markets are going to be significant contributors to their growth over a long period of time.
(Bloomberg) Daily Journal Corp., a publisher that counts billionaire investor Charles Munger as chairman, has shored up how it discloses information to investors after years of disputes with auditors.
Management believes that its internal controls over financial reporting is effective as of June 30, Los Angeles-based Daily Journal said Tuesday in its quarterly filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company has made significant changes to its internal controls to rectify those previously identified material weaknesses mentioned in its annual report.
In its previous quarterly filing in May, Daily Journal had said its disclosure controls and procedures werent effective.
Few companies of Daily Journals size would draw much attention. But its affiliation with Mungerbest known as Warren Buffetts longtime business partner at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has made the firm a curiosity among investors. Its annual meeting typically draws a standing-room-only crowd of a few hundred people, who come to ask Munger questions and listen to his thoughts on investing, the economy and politics.
The publishers market value has more than tripled to $313 million since the end of 2009, thanks in part to an investment that Munger made in Wells Fargo & Co. during the depths of the financial crisis. As Daily Journal grew, it struggled to meet the accounting standards required of larger firms.
The company has burned through two auditors. Ernst & Young LLP faulted the companys internal controls in 2014 and was fired. Its next accounting firm, BDO USA LLP, determined last year that there were material weaknesses tied to financial reporting and was replaced in February by Squar Milner LLP.
(Bloomberg) PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP failed to spot for seven years a multibillion-dollar fraud that led to the demise of Taylor Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., a lawyer for the lenders bankruptcy trustee told a Miami jury on Tuesday.
At issue is PwCs work for Colonial Bank, which bought mortgages that Taylor Bean originated. Had PwC adequately vetted documents that Taylor Bean gave to the bank, it would have spotted a multiyear fraud by executives at both firms far earlier and put an end to it, the trustee claims. Instead, federal regulators uncovered it in 2009 and Taylor Bean and Colonial went bankrupt. The bankruptcy trustee sued in 2013 seeking $5.6 billion in damages.
Year after year, Pricewaterhouse didnt do their job, they didnt follow the rules and they failed to detect the fraud, Steven Thomas, an attorney for the trustee, said in opening statements.
There have been several suits stemming from the financial crisis in which bankruptcy trustees sorting through the remains of firms that collapsed due to fraud have gone after auditors, saying they failed in their roles as watchdogs. Taylor Beans accountant, Deloitte & Touche, settled similar allegations by the trustee three years ago for an undisclosed amount.
This isnt the first time PwC has been accused of negligence. Last year, the firm agreed to pay $65 million to settle similar claims tied to the collapse of MF Global Holdings Ltd.
PwC maintains it complied with auditing standards in the Taylor Bean case and accused the mortgage issuer of being responsible for its own losses.
Remember, Taylor Beans owner and half of its board of directors were criminals, Beth Tanis, an attorney for the accounting firm, told jurors. They didnt rely on Pricewaterhouses audit report because they knew about the fraud they were committing.
Taylor Bean, once the 12th-largest U.S. mortgage lender, collapsed after federal regulators uncovered a $3 billion scheme involving fake mortgage assets. Six Taylor Bean executives were convicted and jailed for their roles in the fraud, including former chairman Lee Farkas, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Beginning in 2002, Farkas sent mortgage data to Colonial Bank for loans that didnt exist or that Taylor Bean had already committed or sold to other investors. By the end of 2007, the scheme, which involved executives at Colonial Bank, consisted of about $1.5 billion in fake or severely impaired residential mortgage loans.
PwC allegedly failed to spot the fraud when it audited the books of Colonials parent, Colonial BancGroup Inc., even though Taylor Bean was the banks largest client and a stakeholder in PwCs audits, according to court documents. PwC allegedly certified the fake mortgage assets as true sales to Colonial and tried to cover up its negligence when federal regulators questioned the accounting, according to the papers.
Colonial Bank, which became the sixth-largest bank failure in U.S. history, cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.s insurance fund about $4.2 billion.
The judge overseeing the case ruled last year that a jury should determine whether or not punitive damages are warranted to punish PwC based on allegations of gross negligence and intentional misconduct.
The case is Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Plan Trust v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, 13-033964, Eleventh Judicial Circuit for Miami-Dade County, Florida (Miami).
Grant Thorntons new chief operating officer, Jim Brady, plans to execute the firms strategy and expand its presence in advisory services such as cybersecurity and strategic consulting.
We want to be in the Russell 2000 space, servicing large dynamic private companies, Brady told Accounting Today. Thats the segment were targeting. By targeting segments of clients, were not trying to play with local and regional firms on the low end of a client portfolio. Let the local firms have tiny businesses that belong with local CPA firms for reviews and compilations, maybe audits of private companies and tax work.
Grant Thornton needs to compete with firms both large and small for talent. Obviously you have limited resources, said Brady. Theres a shortage of CPAs in the United States and a shortage of chartered accountants across the world, so weve got to pick our spots and thats our bet. Were putting in our chipswe call them purple chips at Grant Thornton because purples our colorin the Russell 2000 and dynamic high growth private companies. Thats where were going to spend our time, energy and effort to build our brand.
Bradys appointment took effect on August 1. He joined Grant Thornton only a little over a year ago from Deloitte as the Central region managing partner and a member of GTs Senior Leadership Team. He will be based in the firms Chicago headquarters.
Brady plans to expand the firm in several other cities. We built up a few new offices, most recently in Pittsburgh and Jacksonville, and were always looking at any point in time at two or three cities on our list in terms of expanding, he said.
Grant Thornton currently has 59 offices across the U.S. Brady would also like to expand the firm in several niches.
We clearly are not just a tax firm, he said. Our audit practice is quality first. Thats the foundation of our national brand.
However, he is also looking to expand the firms advisory practice with experts who have skills servicing industries such as consumer products, manufacturing, financial services, banking, retail and technology.
Audit is obviously a mature business, having been in the United States for approximately a hundred years, said Brady. Advisory is a high-growth business, so a core part of our strategy is the audit quality foundation first and foremost. Thats the initial brand, and building an advisory practice with a suite of professional services that goes to market by industry. For example were building a United States cybersecurity practice. Theres enormous demand for cyber, and we want to be a part of supplying that demand.
Other areas targeted for expansion include data analytics, enterprise risk advisory services, internal audit and strategic consulting in supply chain management.
Were now taking our advisory practice and brand and moving it beyond the fundamentals of enterprise risk and controls or internal audit and were now going upstream into services like supply chain and cyber and data analytics, said Brady.
GT has also been growing its transaction services practice in recent years, advising companies on mergers and acquisitions.
We have a very fast-growing transaction services practice, both buy side and sell side, said Brady. The growth of that practice has exceeded our expectations for the past few years in a rather benign economy. Thats a real part of our strategy going forward.
Grant Thornton plans to do some acquisitions of its own that fit in with its strategy. In April, it acquired Arryve, a Bellevue, Wash.-based business consulting firm (see Grant Thornton Acquires Arryve).
That really ties into the more sophisticated consulting services that were looking to grow and expand, said Brady.
Before joining GT last year, Brady was national managing partner of U.S. government affairs and public policy at Deloitte. Prior to that, he was CEO of Deloittes U.S.-India audit and advisory joint venture. He worked at Deloitte for three decades.
I think there are maybe half a dozen exceptional accounting, auditing and tax firms in the United States, Deloitte being one of them and Grant Thornton being one of them, he said. I was very happy at Deloitte, and in my one year at Grant Thornton I am very happy. My expectations were high, and after one year they have been exceeded.
In his new job, Brady will continue to report to Grant Thornton CEO Mike McGuire, who previously served as COO. He will be involved in all of GTs office operations both nationally and for the firms Central and East regions. In addition, Brady will lead Grant Thorntons Public Policy team.
Mikes the CEO and sets the strategic direction for Grant Thornton, and as his COO Ill help him execute, whether its the go to market strategy, branding, and building our people culture, which has been an exceptional journey, said Brady. Its really to take the strategy of the firm set forth by Mike as the CEO, and in a nutshell help him execute the Grant Thornton strategy that was in place before I even arrived. In fact the strategy of the firm was a big part of attracting me to Grant Thornton. The overarching notion is quality and client service."
Its an honor and a privilege to be the COO at Grant Thornton, one of the half dozen excellent accountancy firms in the United States, he added. I cannot be more pleased than to serve as Mike McGuires lieutenant.
IMGCAP(1)]Ready to launch your own practice and wondering how to legally structure your business?
Many firms choose to become an LLC (limited liability company) or a PLLC (professional limited liability company).
Overview of the LLC
The LLC has become a very popular choice for small businesses. In some ways, it offers the best of both worlds: the limited liability protection of a corporate structure, but with fewer administrative formalities than a corporation. A key purpose of the LLC is to limit the personal liability of the owners from events that happen in the business. Personal liability protection means that if youre one of the owners of an LLC and the business gets sued or cant pay its debts, you wont be expected to use your personal assets to pay off the debts and settlement. Of course, this assumes youve been operating the business according to the letter of the law and have kept the business in good standing.
However, some states dont allow licensed professionals, such as accountants, to form an LLC since they dont want them to escape personal responsibility for professional malpractice by hiding behind the personal liability protection of an LLC. In addition, because the LLC has fewer corporate formalities, its harder for the state to monitor LLCsand states want to make sure that these professionals are properly licensed.
PLLCan LLC for Licensed Professionals
A PLLC is a special type of LLC thats designed for licensed professionals, such as accountants. While the specifics vary by state, generally speaking a PLLC has the specific purpose of rendering the professional service and its owners (members) are licensed for this professional service. In some states, all owners of the business must be licensed.
The LLC and PLLC are state constructs; as such, rules vary widely by state. For example, professionals in New York cannot form an LLC, but may form a PLLC. Professionals in California cannot form an LLC or a PLLC, but can form a RLLP (Registered Limited Liability Partnership) or PC (Professional Corporation). And professionals in Arizona can choose between an LLC or PLLC.
To find out the rules for accountants in your state, youll need to call the Secretary of States office in your state and ask whether or not you can form a PLLC. You can also call an online legal filing service or attorney. And, take a look at what everyone around you is doing. If most of the accountants in your state are operating as a PLLC, its a safe bet that the PLLC is permissible, but the LLC is not.
Forming a PLLC
As expected, the process to form a PLLC is more involved than forming an LLC. Youll need to draft up Articles of Organization (just like a standard LLC), but your state licensing board needs to approve this document before you can file your formation paperwork.
Once you have their approval, youll need to submit the Articles of Organization and any other required formation paperwork with the state. You can either do this directly with the Secretary of States office, or have an online legal filing service or attorney handle it for you.
Liability and the PLLC
Like an LLC, the PLLC creates a separation between the individual owners and the business. But theres a very important distinction. As a professional in a PLLC, you will still be personally liable for malpractice claims related to your own actions.
For this reason, youll need to have a good malpractice insurance policy even if you form a PLLC. However, a PLLC will typically protect you from personally liability for the business debts, as well as the malpractice of other owners within the company.
The Professional Corporation (PC)Another Option
While some states may not allow professionals to set up an LLC or PLLC, they do allow a Professional Corporation (PC). A PC is a corporation designated for licensed professionals. As with a PLLC, you form a PC by drafting up Articles of Incorporation and getting the approval of your state licensing board. And like PLLCs, a PC protects owners from personal liability related to business debt and malpractice suits directed at other associates, but it doesnt protect against malpractice suits aimed at you.
Since a PC is a corporation, it involves more administrative formality than a PLLC. For example, youll need to create a formal structure consisting of shareholders, directors and officers. In addition, the PLLC is taxed like an LLC, which offers pass-through taxation. But a Professional Corporation is generally taxed like a C Corporation, which can lead to double taxation should you take some profits out of the company. However, keep in mind that a C Corporation can still elect S Corporation status with the IRS.
The bottom line? When youre ready to form your own business, keep in mind that most states have special rules that apply to accountants and other licensed professionals. Check with your states Secretary of State office or online legal filing service to find out which entity types are permissible in your state. And remember to determine the level of liability protection thats provided by your business entity; in most cases, youll need malpractice insurance to protect you against malpractice claims.
Nellie Akalp is a passionate entrepreneur, small business advocate and mother of four. As CEO of CorpNet.com, a legal document preparation filing service, Nellie helps entrepreneurs start a business, incorporate, form an LLC, set up sole proprietorships and DBAs, and maintain a business in compliance with state filing requirements for a new or existing business.
By James Holbrooks
Over two dozen rural towns in southern Minnesota, fed up with waiting for corporate high-speed Internet to reach them, have taken it upon themselves to build a fiber optic network of their own and theyre doing it entirely without federal funding.
Last July, POLITICO highlighted the disaster that became of a federal program, signed into life by President Obama in 2009, designed to bring high-speed Internet to rural communities. That program was plagued by mishandling of funds by the department overseeing it, the Rural Utilities Service (RUS).
A POLITCO investigation has found that roughly half of the nearly 300 projects RUS approved as part of the 2009 Recovery Act have not yet drawn down the full amounts they were awarded, the news agency writes. More than 40 of the projects RUS initially approved never got started at all, raising questions about how RUS screened its applicants and made its decisions in the first place.
The problem rural communities face is that before they can have access to high-speed Internet, the infrastructure first has to be built and the cost of such endeavors is high. And because of the low-density populations of these sprawling communities, those with the means to invest are hesitant, due to what they perceive will be a poor return.
But residents in southern Minnesota, it seems, have found a way to work around this issue. There, 27 small towns in four counties formed a cooperative RS Fiber that will, if everything goes to plan, be providing its members high-speed, fiber optic Internet by 2021.
To achieve this, the community created an entirely new financing model. The towns issued resident-approved bonds that covered nearly half cost of the first phase of the project, around $16 million, which in turn made local banks feel safe enough to give loans to cover the rest.
Thats a win-win, Chris Mitchell, of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, recently told YES! Magazine. Its a model in which local governments can take on the risk if theyre willing, and local banks can get a very reasonable return.
To sweeten the deal, the local governments agreed to be repaid last if the projects financial projections arent met. This, of course, is risky for the taxpayers in those towns, but its a gamble that may already be paying off for the local economy.
In January, the Minnesota College of Osteopathic Medicine citing RS Fibers burgeoning high-speed infrastructure as one of the determining factors finalized plans to set up a medical school in the area.
And this could be a hint of much more to come for the rural Minnesota community. Theres certainly a precedent.
Cedar Falls, Iowa, thanks to early investments by the city in broadband infrastructure, now has Internet speeds nearly 100 times faster than the national average which caught the eye of the technology sector.
As YES! Magazine explains:
This distinction as a Gigabit City has helped turn Cedar Falls, population 40,500, into a Midwestern tech hub with unemployment below 3 percent. The early bet on broadband has helped the city attract and retain high-tech firms like Spinutech, a web design and digital marketing company, and host events like Product Camp Iowa, a conference for entrepreneurs and startup leaders.
Access to high-speed Internet has become crucial to the economic health and development of communities, which is why cities all over the country have been investing in broadband infrastructure. Its a tougher go for rural areas, however, as small farm towns lack available funding.
But increasingly, these communities are in need of faster Internet as more and more farming machinery is incorporating smart technology.
Now, towns in rural areas have been given an example of how to go about getting it. RS Fiber was recently given an award for its efforts by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisers, and was even the subject of an April 2016 case study. In it, the authors outline just how meaningful whats happening in southern Minnesota really is:
RS Fiber offers a working model for any rural region looking to establish a new fiber-optic cooperative to deliver high quality Internet access to every household.
This article (These Towns Gave Up on Corps and Just Built Their Own High-Speed Internet) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to James Holbrooks and UndergroundReporter.org. If you spot a typo, please email the error and the name of the article to undergroundreporter2016@gmail.com. Image credit: Flickr/Barta IV
Avian Media has won McDonalds communications mandate for South and West India. The agency will represent Westlife Development, the owner of the master franchisee for McDonalds in that region.
Avian has been tasked with enhancing the brands reputation and cementing consumers trust in McDonalds by focusing on the brands ambition of Good food, good people, and good neighbour. The agency will develop and amplify key strategic messages to craft a unified narrative for the company to position brand McDonalds as a thought leader in the QSR space, as well as increase the medias affinity with the brand. The agency will also be responsible for building a comprehensive content strategy for the brand.
Commenting on the win, Nitin Mantri, CEO, Avian Media, said, We are excited to add value to one of the most renowned brands in the world. This win will strengthen our food and beverage portfolio. Our integrated communication programme for McDonalds will be a mix of public relations and advocacy.
Following a multi-agency pitch, DDB MudraMax has bagged the media duties of Hong Kong-based itel Mobile. Established in 2007, this hi-tech innovative brand comes from the house of Transsion Holdings Conglomerate, which is a major player in mobile handsets worldwide.
Having established its presence in 40 countries across the globe, itel Mobile has recently entered the lucrative Indian market with the intent to deliver value-driven offerings for the Indian consumer. Keeping in line with the highly competitive Indian market requirement, DDB MudraMax Media would partner with itel Mobile to address the brands requirement of holistic media strategy, reflective of key metrics, in order to fulfil the brands aspirations in the country. Additionally, DDB MudraMax Media will proactively identify & assess new media opportunities for the brand.
Quoting on the association, Sudhir Kumar, CEO, itel Mobile India, said, We launched itel in India as a mobility-based connectivity solutions provider that could help eliminate the technological disparity existing between the urban and the rural geographies. The response that our products have received from the Indian consumer so far has been highly encouraging. We are looking to build on our impressive initial showing and firmly establish itel as a brand that provides highly relevant, value-plus offerings to aspiring Indian mobile phone owners.
itel has marked its grand India entry by selling over 14 lacs handsets in just a couple of months. We believe with this association, we will be able to further penetrate and scale brands presence and image across India, he added.
Gaurav Tikoo, Chief Marketing Officer, itel India added, Given how vital India is to our long-term global strategy, we wanted to leverage traditional and new-age media channels to increase the awareness of our value-driven offerings within the country's consumer base. Partnering with a proven indigenous player such as DDB MudraMax will allow us to further our brand proposition as the leading provider of high quality feature and smart phones. We are looking forward to the association, and are confident that it will help us drive adoption for our best-in-class mobility-based communication solutions.
Commenting on the new win, Tarun Nigam, EVP, DDB MudraMax-Media, said It is a proud moment for us to handle such a big mobile brand. The mobile space is an extremely competitive space and we look forward to offer integrated and innovative media solutions for the brand, and grow with the client as they grow their business.
There is always a revolution happening within the digital media landscape. With the advent of new technologies, the digital playing field is constantly evolving. The market waits for no one, and what sets successful businesses apart is how quickly they adapt to change.
Traditionally, marketers have relied on display advertising for revenue, but consumers have reached a breaking point with display ads and are now finding the idea of blocking them alluring. Growing at a staggering rate of over 40 per cent year-on-year globally, ad blockers are hitting publisher revenues like never before.
Faced with an urgent need to find new ways of monetising, publishers are turning to content in a bid to stay relevant and profitable.
In conversation with AdGully, Sandeep Balani, Director, Business Development, India, Outbrain, speaks about the ways publishers can drive business results through content and reap the benefits content marketing brings to the table.
Beyond tapping on content programming technologies like Outbrains Automatic Yield and building video inventory to increase monetisation, Balani also shares the following:
News aggregator apps: With digital content consumption on the rise, the demand for customised and curated content that is both diverse and relevant has been increasing. Many publishers are using news aggregator apps to amplify their content, increase brand awareness and grow their audience. India, which is becoming increasingly wired, has seen a slew of news aggregator apps in recent years, such as DailyHunt and News In Shorts, and just recently, UC News.
Facebook Instant Articles: Facebook Instant Articles speeds up a users mobile experience and makes it more seamless, ultimately changing the means and frequency of mobile content discovery. While Facebook is a great platform for publishers to market their own properties and brands, publishers should be cautious about feeding all content to Facebook, as this might cause users to grow accustomed to experiencing content on Instant Articles, rather than on the publishers own site.
Google AMP: Google AMP joins the latest series of platforms that signal a shift to mobile. As display ads get squeezed out of a mobile-first world, native is a huge opportunity for publishers. Not only are publishers able to speed up loading of their mobile content through Google AMP, they can also monetise it through content recommendation.
When it comes to content marketing in India, what are the factors that define its growth?
One of the opportunities weve seen in India lies with the growth of mobile; nearly half of our networks recommendations in India come via mobile or tablets. As such, we have invested a lot of effort into developing our mobile offering. For instance, content recommendations can be integrated within publishers mobile sites or apps through our SDK, while publishers have a wide variety of options and flexibility in terms of how the content is recommended across different formats, platforms and so on. With mobile consumption on an upward trend, audience demand for mobile content will continue to grow and publishers who adapt their mobile strategies accordingly will be far ahead of the competition.
What do you envisage as the major challenges in the growth of content marketing in India?
Talent is one challenge that we are facing across the industry today. While there is plenty of emphasis on the role of digital and content, and the growing investments, there appears to be a lack of investment in developing skills and talent. It can get tough finding suitable talent needed to run high quality content marketing programmes that match up with those were seeing from more developed digital markets. With many businesses only beginning to recognise the need and value for content industry talent, there is an urgent need for always-on education, training and accreditation programmes.
What is the size of the global content marketing sector? How does India compare vis-a-vis the global market?
According to statistics from MediaPost, global content marketing revenues (money generated by operators who provide content marketing services) increased by 14.4% during the first half of 2015, with this figure predicted to increase by more than two-fold by 2019. This is in line with trends were seeing in the India market - an interview by CXO Today with 380 India CMOs revealed that 84 per cent of them had plans to increase their content marketing budget in 2015, and it was found in another study by eMarketer that 64 per cent of India marketers find content marketing increases brand awareness and plays an integral role in attracting and retaining customers.
More interestingly, with a growing influence of home-grown celebrities, this content marketing revolution has resulted in a phenomena of e-Celebs in India - who according a report published by Ernst and Young (EY), are able to gain mass popularity with the creation of their own niche content areas. Indian brands are also observed to create more content around the festive season, in order to build recognition and drive consumer demand.
Globally, what are the key ways in which brands are using data to drive results with content today?
On a global scale, brands are becoming more mature in their understanding of content, and resultantly, have started to tell stories with data. Data, for instance, can lend support to creating a headline that not only achieves a high CTR (click-through rate), but also draws in the right audience. It is in the interest of brands to keep testing for the headline that works best because it is the users first point of interaction with any content. Through the sheer scale of data and content that Outbrain analyses, we are able to work more efficiently with brands to deduce the elements that make the perfect headline, and the types of images that work well.
We are also seeing brands team up with data scientists and analysts to make meaningful, actionable business recommendations from the data sets collected. Rather than amassing every kernel of data, brands are seeing the relevance of their data to business and consumer decisions, and are taking a step back to reconsider how processes can potentially be improved.
What are the factors that content marketers need to keep in mind while optimising video for higher engagement?
It is also important to consider how content is best optimised on different platforms. YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, Facebook are all great places to host videos, but all these platforms have different features suitable for certain types of content, messaging, and brand strategies. Take for instance, how Facebook users need to actively enable sound to their video because the default audio setting on the platform is muted. As a result, brands that promote video content on Facebook might need to includeon-screen text or captions to narrate videos more effectively.
Lastly, it might sound cliche, but one of the advantages of video is putting a face to your brand. This idea is shorthand for a bigger idea that we so often overlook in digital: humanising your content. As we spend more of our day-to-day life in the digital world, seeing a face on-screen can be comforting and engaging.
Of course, there are many other considerations to keep in mind when creating video content. Check out some of the content published on our blog, including a post on Video Content Marketing The Dos and Donts to Help You Plan as well as 9 Advanced Tactics For Promoting Your YouTube Channel. These tactics can be useful in getting the right eyes on your video.
Apart from your tie-ups with Eenadu and Mediacorp, what have been your other key partnerships this year?
India continues to be one of Outbrains fastest growing markets and strategically, we are looking at regional publishers as our fastest growing segment. Apart from Eenadu, we have also recently signed up with Patrika.com - which will give us access to 100 million users. In terms of Outbrains current publisher base, which include titles such as The Hindu, Network18, ABP Live, Financial Express, MTV India, Sanjeev Kapoor, StoryPick, Eenadu, we are seeing steady growth - with a total combined page views that surpasses 300 million. With the launch of 4G services in India, we expect user growth to further accelerate.
Outside India, in Singapore we recently announced a two-year partnership with Mediacorp,one of Singapores largest media companies with the widest range of media platforms spanning digital, television, radio, print and out-of-home media. The partnership will see Mediacorp deploy the full stack of Outbrain Engage solutions and gain access to Outbrains revolutionary product Visual Revenue which allows publishers to optimise their content pages across multiple channels, devices and screen sizes. We also renewed our multi-year deal with the countrys largest publisher, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH). Our proprietary content recommendation technology will offer SPH the ability to deliver relevant content recommendations across SPHs online news platforms, including AsiaOne, The Straits Times, Business Times, and U-Weekly.
What are the steps that content marketers need to take to strengthen content distribution over digital platforms?
According to Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute, in an article on Campaign Live, the average business in Asia spends about 25% of its marketing budget on content-marketing creation and distribution. Dedicating budgets to content creation is important, but content marketers need to ensure that they devote sufficient budgets to distribution to ensure that their content gets in front of the right people.
I would say the other thing to keep in mind is the need for a clear content marketing strategy with clear goals in mind, and a properly segmented, targeted audience. The lack of a cohesive strategy will result in low-volume and low-quality leads which precludes the function of distribution. This brings us to my next point on the need for content marketers to employ social, amplification and CRM distribution channels in harmony rather than in silos. By combining results and measuring success across channels, marketers will better understand which levers to move on which channel in order to attain the best results.
How important is the Indian market for Outbrain in the overall strategic roadmap? What are some of the opportunities that the market offers?
India is one of Outbrains strategic markets. According to comScore, in April 2016 we reached over 21 million unique visitors on desktop only (and far more on mobile) and within our network, premium publishers we work with include Indian Express, The Hindu, Network18 and Eenadu. Weve been constantly growing our publisher network in this market and this enhances the content marketing opportunity for brands in this market.
Our plan is to continue expanding our partnerships with premium publishers in India - not only across the news genre, but into finance, lifestyle, youth, automotive and other categories. For publishers, we intend to roll out new tools and leverage our analytics and insight capabilities to help them personalize both their content and content recommendations. For marketers, we continue to remain focused on helping them develop a comprehensive and insight-led approach to digital content - one that allows them to track and measure their returnson content marketing.
What sets apart Outbrain from other players in this field like Taboola?
We are currently focused on building long-term value for publishers, while generally other players have been focusing more towards just generating revenue. Our acquisitions of companies such as Visual Revenue - to provide the right editorial tools to publishers - and Revee - to help publishers get the maximum ROI from each content piece, have been in the lines of benefitting publishers with technology they can leverage to provide users with better quality content and get maximum ROI out of it.
Tell us more about your products for publishers which help them scale on Revenue?
We launched Outbrain Automatic Yield during the first quarter of this year a content recommendation solution that enables publishers to monetize audiences with a real-time understanding of each piece of content.By isolating the page or video value in real time, this solution gives publishers an entirely new way to drive revenue that didnt previously exist.
Our Engage offering is similarly focused on generating revenue for our publisher partners via discovery on your own website as well as promoted discovery on third party websites - with links to high-quality content from our 7MM deep index. Sanjeevkapoor.com, a website with a compendium of more than 9,000 recipes plus a wealth of information on the art and craft of cooking, is one fine example. Owned by Sanjeev Kapoor, one of the most celebrated faces of Indian cuisine today, the portal powered internal recommendation technology through Outbrain Engage and provided paid links to relevant third-party content. Despite historically relying on display and text-based advertising as primary revenue streams, exploring new ways to surface interesting internal content opened up opportunities for content monetisation.
We are also looking to launch, for the first time, Hindi Language content recommendations. This will be particularly useful for brands, marketers and publishers looking to expand their reach and will appeal to a completely new audience demographic.
Vizeum, the media agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has been appointed as the media AOR for TCL Corporation. The agency won the account following a multi-agency pitch. According to the agency, the marketing spends are estimated at around Rs 35 crore.
TCL Corporation, a global corporate group focused on the production of smart products and the provision of online application services, has announced its entry into the Indian market with the launch of a range of Smartphones and Televisions through an exclusive tie up with Amazon.
Commenting on the partnership with Vizeum, Praveen Valecha, Regional Director - TCL, said, The agency has demonstrated deep understanding of the categories, with an offline and online integration for the launch, and we believe their digital at its heart approach will help us in building a brand we look forward to partner with Vizeum in this journey of launching a comprehensive mobile and Television portfolio.
On the win, Amita Karwal, COO, Vizeum, said, Delighted to be given an opportunity to build a brand in a category where the market and consumer dynamics are changing continuously. We look forward to supporting the brand across all the marketing communication platforms.
Shripad Kulkarni, MD, Vizeum, added here, We are happy that TCL has chosen us as their AOR. We understand the challenges in scaling up in this category and are setting up a bespoke team comprising specialists across relevant Communication Platforms for TCL.
TCL Corporation has a global presence in more than 160 countries across the world, and is the fastest selling TV brand in America. The consumer durable giant pioneering in disruptive technology is the 3rd largest manufacturer of TV worldwide. It has manufactured 80 million handsets in 2015 and positioned themselves as the 5th largest mobile brand globally (in-terms of shipments). TCL said it has teamed up with over 450+ service centers across India right from the day of launch.
On a global footprint expansion mode, TCL is looking towards India as a strategic market with substantial growth opportunities in India. They will be launching a range of advanced technology oriented convergence products in the country. TCL looks forward to broaden the presence of its mobile Internet products designed for enhancing Indian consumers digital lifestyles.
Spread across six continents, VML has been working for the fundamental human need to connect with one another. The full-service marketing agency helps fulfill this need to connect and makes work that truly matter to people.
Two top VML executives Global CEO Jon Cook and CCO Debbi Vandeven were in India recently to shed light on the industry on a whole. They spoke about the future of an agency in the digital world, the expansion of the VML global business, secrets to VMLs success at Cannes over the years, 3 rules of storytelling, and digital customer experience.
Both Cook and Vandeven stressed on how Heart, Home, Wisdom and Courage remained strong as the DNA of the company. They also highlighted the 3 rules of brand storytelling, which were:
Consumer cares less about product than you do
Be deceived and disciplined
What brand does matters as much as what brand says
VML focused that work is not just done with an aim to sell; they do the work that is felt. Everything created adds real value to the lives of everyone it reaches. They deliver powerful messages to bring people together and develop innovative ways for them to connect.
Award winning work
VML became the digital agency of record for Gatorade in 2010. Since then, the team members have collaborated with Gatorades network to deliver award-winning work and stellar results. VML and Gatorade work hand-in-hand as client partners to craft the vision for the brand in digital, as well as consumer-facing messaging that brings that vision to life. Together, the agency continues to develop work that spans campaigns, social, branded content, digital innovation and more.
The work:
https://vimeo.com/124957378
https://www.notube.co/media/56c45a8270c72703008908d2
VMLs partnership with Wendys began in late 2012, when they became their digital agency of record. While they first focused on digital campaign activation, the role grew to include planning, social media strategy, publishing, and community management. In 2013, they started major technology projects for the brand, including website management, mobile apps, a mobile ordering experience and more.
Today, they serve as the brand voice across all social media channels. They also act as a strategic and creative lead, continuing to produce 360-degree campaign activations on a project to project basis. Throughout their work, they follow Wendys philosophy, aiming not for quantity of fans, but quality of experiences.
10 August 2016
Andalas Energy and Power Plc
(Andalas or the Company)
Pertamina Approves TOE Proof of Concept Work Programme
Andalas Energy and Power Plc, the AIM listed Indonesian focused oil and gas exploration company (AIM: ADL), is pleased to advise that Pertamina, Indonesias national energy company, has approved the Companys Tuba Obi East (TOE) proof of concept work programme. The first step in this programme will be the recompletion of the existing TOE-1 well and production testing of the gas bearing Air Benakat Formation (ABF).
Highlights:
The TOE-1 production well will be recompleted to the ABF and production testing of the gas will assess deliverability, recoverable volumes, and gas quality at TOE
The workover reduces Andalas upfront costs significantly and expedites the acquisition of key subsurface data. This new data will enable the optimisation of the future drilling campaign
Andalas, as the technical operator, is now finalising the recompletion design, tender documents, and mobilisation plans
Budgetary approval for the programme will be sought from Pertamina in the coming weeks, following which work will commence onsite
Andalas CEO, David Whitby, said: Over the past two months we have been working closely with Pertamina and our joint venture partner, PT Akar Golindo, to determine the most cost effective way to evaluate the gas in ABF at Tuba Obi East. Pertamina has recognised the significant potential of the ABF gas, its close proximity to a high demand energy market, and that the proof of concept work programme will quickly and efficiently assess the gas quality, quantity and deliverability.
Importantly, the TOE proof of concept programme is in line with Andalas strategy to develop a gas-to-power business whilst contributing at the local level to the Government of Indonesias objective of decreasing the countrys power shortfall. The approved programme will also reduce near-term costs by around 60%, allowing us to gather crucial subsurface data weeks earlier whilst simultaneously avoiding any potentially lengthy land acquisition delays.
Further Information
The TOE field contains three existing wells that intersect the gas bearing ABF. The recent extensive subsurface technical review has identified the centrally located TOE-1 well as the best candidate for recompletion and testing of the gas in the zone. As part of the re-entry programme well casing integrity will be assessed; the well will then be recompleted to the shallower ABF; a multi-rate production test will then assess formation productivity; and pressurised gas samples will be collected for laboratory quality testing.
The information gathered by the programme will contribute to better location selection for future delineation and development wells and support gas processing and power plant front-end engineering (FEED) and design studies. It will also enable the joint venture to complete a gas reserves assessment and commence gas and power sales negotiations.
Tuba Obi East
The Tuba Obi East oil and gas concession area is located in the Jambi province in Sumatra, Indonesia, approximately 30 km north-west of Jambi city. The concession covers an area of 55 sq km in the South Sumatra basin and is close to the major Sumatra gas pipeline to Duri and Singapore.
Tuba Obi East was discovered in 1986 and to-date three wells have been drilled on the concession, with current production of light, sweet crude oil on an intermittent basis from one well. All three wells tested near pipeline quality gas in the key South Sumatra hydrocarbon bearing formations, namely, the ABF and TAF. In April 2016 Gaffney Cline & Associates reported Best Estimate Gross Prospective Resources of 43.7 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas in the ABF upper and lower reservoirs within the TOE structure.
Of the six wells that have been drilled through the gas bearing zones (three wells within the concession and a further three just outside), several have flowed gas to surface at rates up to 3 million cubic feet per day (MMscf/d) of gas. Crucially, the ABF has flowed gas outside the concession at commercial rates, but only limited data from this formation has been gathered within the concession area.
Andalas near-term work programme is aimed at gathering data to support rapid development of the TOE gas in conjunction with a small scale, independent power project.
**ENDS**
For further information, please contact:
DANANG, Vietnam, Aug. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With the launch of the Hyatt Regency Danang Resort and Spa's new Explore package, guests can now see the UNESCO world heritage site of Hoi An in unprecedented style.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160805/395941
With its ancient ruins, unspoiled beaches, chic boutiques and rich melting pot of cultures, Vietnam's central coast is a must-visit Southeast Asian destination. The exquisitely preserved trading port of Hoi An is the jewel in its crown, but the whole region is an intoxicating mix of natural beauty, historical charm and thriving street life, from the bustling coastal metropolis of Danang to Hue City, the Cham Islands, the Marble Mountains and My Son.
The ideal base to explore these sights is the area's premier beach resort, the Hyatt Regency Danang Resort and Spa. Offering a choice of room types, all with gorgeous sea views, the VIE spa and world-renowned dining, this luxurious hideaway provides the perfect setting for a relaxing beach holiday. Conveniently located just 15 minutes from Danang International Airport, 30 minutes from Hoi An, and two hours from Hue City, Hyatt Regency Danang is the perfect gateway to all the central coast has to offer.
The resort's Explore package includes accommodation, daily breakfast at the Green House restaurant, and a visit to magical Hoi An, including a private car, English-speaking guide and entrance to tourist attractions.
Guests can book the package directly with the resort, via the website www.danang.regency.hyatt.com or by contacting the resort reservation department at reservation.danang@hyatt.com or on +84-511-398-1234.
ABOUT HYATT REGENCY
The Hyatt Regency brand prides itself on connecting travellers to who and what matters most to them. More than 160 conveniently located Hyatt Regency urban and resort locations in over 30 countries around the world serve as the go-to gathering space for every occasion from efficient business meetings to memorable family vacations. The brand offers a one-stop experience that puts everything guests need right at their fingertips. Hyatt Regency hotels and resorts offer a full range of services and amenities, including notable culinary experiences; technology-enabled ways to collaborate; the space to work, engage or relax; and expert planners who can take care of every detail. For more information, please visit www.hyattregency.com.
Contacts:
Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh
Marketing & Communications Manager
+84-511-398-1234
anh.nguyen@hyatt.com
A-10s land on highway in Estonia
Eight Air Force Reserve Command A-10 Thunderbolt IIs conducted highway landings on the Jagala-Karavete Highway in Northern Estonia Aug 1.
The A-10s are assigned to the 442nd Fighter Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, and according to Col. Gregory Eckfeld, the 442nd FW vice commander, it is important to practice landing on alternative runways in case primary runways are not available during a combat situation.
Eight successful landings and takeoffs from the highway not only displayed the Air Forces tactical capabilities, it also displayed the partnership between the U.S. and Estonia that allowed for the coordination of the event.
Overall, the Estonians were great in helping us out and getting our mission accomplished, and as far as the coordination went, it couldnt have gone smoother, said a 321st Special Tactics Squadron combat controller who acted as air traffic control for the event. This was a good experience and a good time and it definitely enhanced our capability and presence in the area.
This event marked the second highway landing to take place in Estonia; the first took place last June as part of exercise Saber Strike 16.
The A-10s design allows the aircraft to be able to land in a variety of locations, including semi-prepared landing strips and austere sites.
We can operate the A-10 anytime, anywhere, 24/7, said Eckfeld, adding that the A-10 has wide tires and high-mounted engines, which help avoid foreign object damage and allows the aircraft to land on many surfaces other aircraft cannot.
The 442nd FW arrived in Estonia July 25 and began a flying training deployment with the Estonian Air Force in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve. The exercise demonstrates the commitment the U.S. has made to European security and demonstrates joint force capabilities and readiness.
The Tourism Ministry has issued an advisory to all states, giving the guidelines restricting taking selfies in front of national memorials from August 12 -18.
The advisory has been issued as part of a security measure being taken in view of the Independence Day and the Bharat Parv event.
Police and other security establishments believe that terrorists can pose as tourists and launch attacks during Independence Day week. They have asked Tourism and Archaeological Survey of India to impose certain restrictions on the movement of visitors at all important monuments and memorials.
After getting inputs from security agencies about high threat perception to Prime Minister Narendra Modi this Independence Day, the Delhi Police has demarcated and deployed security personnel around 3,140 trees in and around the Red Fort premises as a part of an extensive security cover.
Police seeks assistance of cyber and technical experts for understanding the technical method used by the fraudsters for committing the crime.
The Mumbai Police have arrested a Romanian national and two other persons who are suspected to be involved in the hi-tech ATM robbery committed in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Police had already released photos of the accused. A team of Kerala Police has left to Mumbai to take the Roman national into custody, a senior police official said. The Mumbai Police will first produce him before a court there and only then we will get him in custody said the police official.
A suspected electronic device was found to have been installed inside the ATM of a public sector bank at Althara junction at Vellayambalam. A team of senior police officials, including ADGP B Sandhya, Range IG Manoj Abraham and cyber and technical experts visited the ATM for carrying out further probe into this incident. They have gathered vital evidence from the ATM counter.
We will seek the help of Interpol. We are collecting evidence now, Sandhya said.
Several people have lost about Rs 4.5 lakhs in Thiruvananthapuram due to the ATM robbery. It is suspected that the electronic device at the ATM counter enabled the fraudsters to collect the secret pin code and card details. The device that was fixed above the ATM machine, had a micro camera and another device was placed in the card slot of the machine. According to the police, the micro camera might have helped in getting the ATM PINs.
City Police Commissioner G Sparjan Kumar said that police are trying to ascertain the whereabouts of the three persons, whose pictures had been retrieved from the CCTV, installed inside the ATM kiosk at Vellayambalam.
We examined the visuals of the CCTV and got the pictures of three foreigners. We suspect that they had a hand in the ATM robbery, he said.
As many as 22 people have so far lodged complaints saying money was withdrawn from their account. As per the preliminary assessment, about Rs 4.5 lakh had been lost, he said
An investigation carried out by the Kerala Police has found that three Romanians Christine Victor, Mariyan Gabriel and Florin were involved in the ATM burglary. The trio had come to India on June 25 and reached Kerala on July 8. They had arrived on tourist visas stayed in three luxurious hotels in the city. The three ventured out from the hotel in two-wheelers.
Police have seized from the hotel two scooters and three helmets, suspected to have been used by the trio.
The police officer said the support of cyber and technical experts was sought to understand the technical method used by the fraudsters to withdraw the money.
This piece of writing is dedicated to all those who merely keeps on blaming the government all the time for every single problem they face in their life. I being a newcomer in this island city Mumbai, hence equally awfully is fascinated by the sight of the ceaseless sea. There was a time, when I literally used to look forward to free myself into the nature by going to the most visited beach in the city Juhu Chowpatty every weekend, if not every day, until my last two visits; when all my fondness for the ocean dropped its anchor, having witnessed unhygienic filth, waste, trash and litter coming ashore along the waves more than that of water.
The same goes for one of Mumbais many Signature places Marine Lines. When seen on screen, anybody would want to be there at that very time, but when seen in reality, it again is full of torn clothes and plastic filth stuck over tetrapod-shaped huge rocks surrounding the shores and not to forget the foul smell emanating along the breeze from this garbage.
Who is responsible for this menace? Well, for the anti-BJPs yet another opportunity to directly put the whole blame over Modiji. He up there in the 7RCR, New Delhi (Official Residence of Prime Minister of India), wouldnt even be knowing as to who had Chana in a paper plate or had drank tea in a disposable glass and leisurely threw the same empty dishes and glasses in the beautifully paved walk-way, as if their such act were supposed to yield them an award.
It is we, the very citizens who must take blame on our shoulders for being utterly slothful that we cant even dump the empty plastic glasses and paper dishes we drink and/or eat from, in the Trash Can just lying a couple of steps far. A couple of days back, when an effort was made by two exasperated residents of Versova in north-western Mumbai after having decided that they were done with waiting for authorities to do something about the polluted beach near their home, organised fellow citizens to clean it up. The United Nations Patron of the Ocean Lewis Pugh, who assisted in a clean-up initiative, said he has never seen so much of litter on a beach. Open defecation was a serious issue, he added.
Only if the concerned authorities goes in for an in-depth analysis and concludes to implement some stricter rules for the visitors, like imposing huge amount of fine for the ones littering around, and installing increased amount of Trash Cans at these most visited public places, then only there is a faint possibility of a great living visionary Narendra Modis dream of Swacchh Bharat come true!
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
Bahadur Ali, a terrorist who was caught in Jammu and Kashmir last month, has revealed that he was trained by the Lashkar-e-Taiba to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir, mix with locals and create trouble, Indian investigators said, showing a video of his confession.
LeT is being helped by Pakistan army in spreading unrest in the Kashmir valley, NIA IG Sanjeev Kumar said in a press briefing in Delhi. Pakistan army officers in civilian clothes visit LeT facilities and are referred to as Major Saheb and Capt Saheb, Kumar added.
The NIA said this was one of many revelations made by Bahadur Ali, a LeT terrorist who was caught by security officers on July 25.
Kumar disclosed that Bahadur Ali was recruited by Jamaat-ud-Dawa and was subsequently radicalised by LeT. Bahadur Ali said that there were 30-50 trainees at training camps of LeT from different parts of the countries including Afghanistan and Pak. He said that there were a few army officers in civilian clothes who checked their preparedness with a check-list, said Kumar adding that Bahadur Ali crossed into Indian side on either 11th or 12th June along with two LeT cadres.
Counter-terror officials said Ali, who was described by the government as a big terror catch, had crossed over to India to attack security forces and fuel more unrest in the valley. He was on a fidayeen or suicide mission in Kashmir.
The agency also told reporters that the LeT has instructed its cadre to stay behind Kashmiris during protests in the valley that has witnessed a wave of violence after security forces gunned down Burhan Wani, a poster boy of the militant Hizbul Mujahideen.
According to the agency, Alli is the son of a former police constable in Pakistans Punjab province and has six brother and two sisters. They said his family owns 12 canals or over 5,000 square feet of land in Jia Bagga near Lahore.
He dropped out of the government primary school in his village after Class 8 and also attended a local madrassa Jamia Qasmia affiliated to Tablighi Jamaat.
In 2008-09 when Ali was 13 or 14, he met an imam of Ahle-Hadith mosque and his son who motivated him to join the sect. At the same time, he also met Mohammad Yusuf and Hafiz Shehzad, who worked for LeTs parent outfit Jamaat Ud Dawa.
In 2013-14, he started working with Falah-e-Insaniat, the charity long suspected of a front of the LeT. A JuD donation collector by the name of Abdullah asked Ali to join the Lashkar.
Officials also said Indian national called Deen Mohammad is related to Ali.
He is the fourth Pakistan terror suspect to be captured alive in Kashmir since the arrest of Mohammad Naveed Yakub, a 22-year-old from Pakistans Faisalabad city who joined LeT at a young age after getting indoctrinated at a local mosque.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 2016 Brazils Ministry of Agriculture, desperate to open up new feed supplies for the livestock industry, is asking the countrys biotech regulatory agency to temporarily lift restrictions on corn imports from the U.S., according to USDAs Foreign Agricultural Service.
Brazils second yearly corn crop, the safrinha, is looking worse and worse as the harvest continues and there are fears that Brazil will run out of corn by 2017, FAS said a report released today. Export demand has also reduced domestic supplies.
As a result, the Brazilian Agriculture Ministry last week went to the countrys National Biosafety Technical Commission (CTNBio) an independent agency responsible for GMO approvals and officially requested that imports of U.S. corn be allowed from September through November, FAS said in the report.
The CTNBio is scheduled to meet on Sept. 1 to decide on allowing U.S. corn imports and there is a lot of political pressure on the agency to do so, FAS said.
Here in the U.S. corn farmers would welcome any new business, said Tom Sleight, CEO of the U.S. Grains Council. U.S. exports are already strong this year, he added, but so is production and that has kept prices low.
Brazils prohibition of U.S. corn hasnt been much of an issue, Sleight said, because the country normally does not need to import corn and often competes with U.S. exports.
In a separate report released in June, FAS said Brazils production has suffered from drought. In addition, the countrys weak currency is driving farmers to sell more of their corn than normal overseas. The report said Brazils corn exports were already up 138 percent from the same period in 2015.
Like what you see here? Agri-Pulse subscribers get our Daily Harvest email and Daybreak audio Monday through Friday mornings, a 16-page newsletter on Wednesdays, and access to premium content on our ag and rural policy website. Sign up for your four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription.
The different factors had pushed domestic corn prices to record highs and resulted in Brazilian pork and poultry producers cutting production. As of the June report, Chicken production was down 10 percent and pork producers reduced insemination rates by 15 percent.
Plants across Brazil responded to the increased input costs by cutting work shifts, enforcing mandatory vacation for employees, shutting down operations, and even prematurely slaughtering animals they are unable to continue feeding, the June FAS report said.
#30
For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2016 - USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service has rejected another shipment of Vietnamese catfish because it tested positive for residues of banned chemicals, according to Food & Water Watch.
FSIS officials tested a 40,000-pound shipment of catfish and discovered traces of malachite green, a veterinary drug used to treat sick fish, FWW said in a statement.
FSIS officials were not available for immediate comment.
This is not the first time catfish imports from Asia were rejected since FSIS took over inspection of foreign catfish shipments from the FDA on April 15. FSIS blocked shipments from Vietnam and China in May and one importer conducted a recall of Vietnamese catfish products in June because the products had not gone through the inspection process.
The fact that FSIS inspection personnel have been able to intercept unsafe siluriformes and catfish products both from foreign and domestic sources in such a short timeframe shows what an effective inspection program can do to protect consumers, said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter. The FSIS catfish inspection program is working and needs to continue in operation because it is preventing foodborne illness in the U.S.
Learn about the benefits of subscribing to Agri-Pulse. Sign up for your four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription.
Many lawmakers opposed the switch from FDA to USDA, calling it unnecessary and duplicative. The Senate voted on May 25 to reverse the provision in the 2014 bill that created USDA's catfish inspection program, but the House has not yet taken up the bill.
#30
For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com
Swedes Demand Assyrian Autonomy to Make Up for ISIS Genocide
After having established a quasi-state in the Middle East, Daesh [ISIS] has been guilty of many evils, including persecution of other ethnic groups, whose religious beliefs happen to differ from radical Islam, such as the Assyrians. A group of Swedish politicians now advocate the creation of a local Assyrian autonomy to prevent future genocides. Sweden must see to it that Assyrians are granted local autonomy over the Nineveh Plains in order to be able to ensure their survival in the Middle East, Swedish Liberal Party members Nino Maraha, Birgitta Ohlsson, and Robert Hannah demand in an open letter in Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. According to them, this must be done soon, before it's too late, preferably under UN patronage. "Two years ago, Daesh occupied one of Iraq's largest cities Mosul, where church bells fell silent after over 1,600 years as the city's Christians were forced to flee head over heels," Liberal activists wrote. However, it was only a premonition of what was to come. Shortly thereafter, the Nineveh Plains in Iraq were emptied of its indigenous people, as hundreds were slain and over 50,000 were forced to flee. Unfortunately, not all Assyrians managed to escape the black-clad jihadists. Women and children were captured, raped and enslaved. Girls were sold as sex slaves. This is a human tragedy difficult to grasp, the Liberals pointed out. According to them, many Assyrians still dream of a future in Iraq and Syria, despite today's nightmare. Therefore, it is important to support these people's desire for a life of peace and freedom. According to the Liberals, Daesh's time is running out, and it is imperative for the international community to clear the way for the Assyrians to return to their areas of origin. Earlier, the Liberals long pushed for Sweden to contribute experts and equipment in the fight againts Daesh. By its own admission, the Liberals also support all forces, including the Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga, that could limit the physical expansion of the so-called "caliphate." Previously, the Liberals decided in 2011 to push for an Assyrian autonomy in the Nineveh Plains, their historic area of origin. Some two years later, the Iraqi government endorsed a similar decision, which, however, was never put into practice on account of the Daesh invasion. Today, the Liberals continue to push for Assyrians' right to self-determination in the Nineveh Plains and will require a similar decision in Syria, once the war comes to an end. The Assyrians are native throughout Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. Today, they are among the oldest communities in the world and have over the years suffered systematic persecution and several genocides because of their faith and ethnicity. The number of Assyrians in Iraq has fallen sharply in recent years. Including the 2003 war in Iraq, the country's Assyrian community dropped from 1.5 million to about 300,000. The international Assyrian diaspora number over 4 million.
In July, Air France-KLM Cargo flew 700m revenue cargo tonne kilometres, 6.7% than in the same month of last year.
With capacity down by 3.2% year on year to 1.26bn cargo tonne kilometres, the load factor also deteriorated, by 2.1 percentage points to 55.5%.
Julys performance is really only more of the same for the group, however. Over the January-July period, Air France-KLM Cargo flew a total of 4.82bn cargo tonne kilometres, down by 7.4% year on year.
With available capacity over those seven months down by 5.3% year on year, the average load factor declined by 1.3 percentage points to 58.4%.
The Air France-KLM carrier combine has had a difficult time of late.
An Air France cabin crew strike that lasted between 27 July and 2 August added to the French airlines passenger operations woes, but in terms of freight operations it is the Dutch airline that saw the biggest decline in July.
While Air Frances revenue tonne kilometre figure rose by 1% year on year in July to reach 300m and its cargo load factor remained stable at 48.9%, KLM flew 11.8% less cargo revenue tonne kilometres in July down to 399m. Its July load factor, at 61.8%, was also down, by 3.4 percentage points.
The picture is similar for KLM over the first seven months of this year. Capacity fell by 9.1% and revenue tonne kilometres by a similar amount 10.5%.
In other news from Air France, the carrier is to add Accra to its Paris Charles de Gaulle network from 28 February next year.
The Ghanaian capital will be served three times a week, by Airbus A330 until 27 March and, after that, by the freight-friendly Boeing 777-200 aircraft.
Part of the thinking behind the introduction of this new route is to support Ghanas buoyant economy, led by the development of the oil industry, said Frederic Gagey, Air France chairman and chief executive.
Share this story
Flughafen Munchen GmbH, operator of Bavarias Munich International Airport, has published its sixth annual Integrated Report on the gateways performance and progress made on sustainability.
Taking a look back at 2015, the report notes that freight and mail throughput grew by about 10% to reach a new high for a calendar year of 337,000 tonnes (of which 317,387 tonnes was commercially handled cargo). Indeed, air cargo represented the airports most successful traffic segment in 2015.
Of that total, 261,719 tonnes was carried in the bellyhold of passenger aircraft.
New connections out of Munich and, most notably, an increase in the frequency of intercontinental traffic, ensured that there was sufficient additional load capacity available to meet demand, the airport operator said.
Rising by a factor of a third over the comparative 2015 figure to 55,668 tonnes, cargo carried on freighter maindecks also made a major contribution to the new traffic record.
At 18,775 tonnes, the amount of airmail transported slightly exceeded the previous years figure.
Of the total of 317,387 tonnes of commercially handled cargo, 125,785 tonnes was coming into the airport, 191,602 tonnes was leaving the airport.
Share this story
10, 2016
2011 .
"" 31 ENTRO .
: " " : " ".
35 5 .
2010 METEC 40 74 6000 .
" " : " ".
:" ".
.
"" : " ".
2015 .
: " ".
"" .
.
August 10, 2016
BENISHANGUL-GUMUZ, Ethiopia Ethiopia is seeking rapprochement with Egypt through the media after years of rising apprehension over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam of the Blue Nile watershed.
The tension arose almost as soon as then-Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi laid the foundation stone in April 2011 for the now almost-finished dam.
Political and technical negotiations between the capitals, Cairo and Addis Ababa, are stumbling as the countries try to agree on policies to reduce the risks Egypt expects if Ethiopia begins operating the dam without considering consulting firms' recommendations.
Al-Monitor was part of the first Egyptian press delegation's visit to the project site July 31, in coordination with the Stockholm International Water Institute and the Nile Basin Initiative's Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office. Ethiopian officials who traveled from Addis Ababa where policies are made to the Benishangul-Gumuz Region where the Renaissance Dam is sent a number of positive messages calling for transparent cooperation on dam issues with Egypt and Sudan. They also tried to reassure Egypt's concerned public about Ethiopia's progress on the dam.
Standing in front of the under-construction structure while water flowed behind him, Renaissance Dam project manager Simegnew Bekele spoke to reporters. We have a long experience that allows us to play a leading role in building dams. We know how to build and run dams and reservoirs based on studies and designs we make. Bekele assured the gathering that the dam is a project built professionally by Ethiopian hands on Ethiopian lands with responsibility that guarantees benefit for everyone.
While Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia are continuing technical and political negotiations about ways to reduce the potential negative impacts of the dam, construction at the site is continuing at a fast pace. The left and right sides of the dam's body are finished. However, water is not stored behind the dam yet. Inside the reservoir, 35,000 hectares (almost 135 square miles) have been prepared and qualified for use. Construction work on the saddle dam is taking place about 5 kilometers (3 miles) away from the main dam site.
Construction at the Renaissance Dam site started in December 2010 after an agreement was reached with construction company Salini Impregilo of Milan, Italy, and Metals and Engineering Corp. of Addis Ababa. The site is 40 kilometers from the Sudanese-Ethiopian border on a tributary of the Blue Nile. The project is expected to store 74 billion cubic meters (60 million acre-feet) of water and generate 6,000 megawatts of electricity. It is funded nationally through direct donations and bond sales started by Zenawi, who died in 2012.
All dimensions related to safety of the dam, quality of construction, operation and maintenance have been designed and put into consideration in a way that makes us reliable, as the project will be of benefit to downstream countries as much as it is to the Ethiopian people, Bekele said in his response to growing Egyptian doubts about the dam. Ethiopia has vowed to make use of its water resources to benefit everyone. We think beyond the horizon, he added.
Bekele outlined the positive aspects of the dam for Egypt and Sudan.
"One of the key advantages of the dam is to organize the water flow all year long. Hence, we can avoid dangers of a flood and water losses caused by natural flow and evaporation, as well as alluvium accumulation problems. It will also make navigation in the Nile smoother and support peace and regional stability," he said.
Despite the transparency Bekele showed, as he is responsible for running Renaissance Dam construction and was showing the press delegation around the dam sites all day, he refused to answer pressing questions about when water will be stored behind the dam and the number of years it will take to fill the reservoir. The answers would help determine the amount of water that will flow to Egypt and Sudan, and represent important factors in assessing the risks Egypt might face.
Al-Monitor attended a July 30 talk in Addis Ababa by the National Tripartite Committee where Sudanese and Ethiopian officials met while Egypts official was absent for undisclosed reasons.
The tripartite committee is not concerned about continuing construction or ending the project this year or any time. However, we want to make sure that filling and operating [the dam] will have the least impact on downstream countries, and will have the most benefit for [Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia], said Saif Hamad, head of the Sudanese delegation.
The committee is evaluating the applications of two French consulting firms to assess the dam's impacts. One would address hydraulic impact; the other, environmental, economic and social effects. However, this effort to obtain technical assessments has stalled more than once because of many disputes over the past two years. The three countries held political negotiations in December with ministers of water and foreign affairs in Khartoum, Sudan, to push for cooperation, which has become the last resort for Egypt and Ethiopia to solve problems they fear the dam could cause.
Finishing the two studies does not necessarily mean that countries would agree on the results and output. However, these outputs would be subject to assessment by the tripartite technical committee, where a suitable scenario on how to deal with the outputs would be agreed on, said Gedion Asfaw, who leads Ethiopia's experts panel in the tripartite committee.
Ethiopians talk about the dam enthusiastically. Al-Monitor interviewed people in the capital's suburbs and areas surrounding the dam site near the border with Sudan in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, which suffers from power cuts almost all the time. The people expressed pride that their country could take on such a massive a project. Egypt rejected the proposal in the beginning, but the project became a reality that the Ethiopian government created to achieve development and fight poverty.
Cairo's concerns, however, will grow even larger as Ethiopia aspires to export energy generated by the hydroelectric project, not only to adjacent African regions, but also to Europe and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) markets. This is definitely going to make Egypt more apprehensive about ensuring its water supply from the Blue Nile, which originates in the Ethiopian Highlands.
August 9, 2016
CAIRO In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Egypts Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Khaled Hanafy denied accusations leveled at him by a fact-finding committee formed by parliament to investigate systematic corruption in supplying wheat to the government. He said that he objected to the corrupt system and demanded that changes be made to it, but that parliament members insisted it remain unchanged before changing their minds to criticize it now.
The wheat crisis in Egypt intensified at the beginning of July, as a number of members of parliament demanded that Hanafy be dismissed for accusations related to corruption in grain supplied by farmers to the government. According to some claims, the corruption amounted to billions of Egyptian pounds.
The minister rebutted all accusations leveled at the Egyptian government of importing certain grains that do not meet quality standards and cause illnesses to Egyptians. Hanafy also explained the governments plan to fight a price surge that is angering many citizens.
The text of the interview follows.
Al-Monitor: Anger is dominating the news in Egypt as the parliaments fact-finding committee on wheat corruption has found that embezzlement from the silos reached 42% of the national grain reserves this year. To what extent is the ministry responsible?
Hanafy: The Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade [MSIT] is one of four ministries supplying the grain. The other three help us through creating committees for the process of receiving. Their number this year reached 517 committees, each of them includes one [member] from the MSIT. According to the reports, these committees said that we had received 4.9 million tons of wheat. I would like to state that the news circulating that the parliaments fact-finding committee found that the deficit is at 42% is not true. All the reports, which were carried out by the fact-finding committee, indicated that the number is only 4% of the supplied wheat, which weighs about 230,000 tons [that are] worth 2,800 Egyptian pounds [$315] per ton, making a total deficit of 644 million Egyptian pounds [$72.5 million].
I took office in 2014. In the same year, I presented a memorandum to the Cabinet to change the system in which the current local wheat supply is processed, as it is based on subsidizing grain for farmers at a price exceeding the global average, causing many disadvantages such as the smuggling of imported grain and treating it as local grain. Therefore, we suggested that we buy grain at its price while subsidizing the farmer with 1,300 Egyptian pounds [$146] per feddan [roughly an acre] as financial support. However, the current [members of parliament] objected and requested that the current system continue. Therefore, I put regulations to resist tampering such as prohibiting imported grain while the local grain is still being supplied, sanctioning whoever does this and making the supply based on possession.
Al-Monitor: Yet isnt a deficit of 644 million Egyptian pounds a large amount, representing a right that the people and state have been deprived of?
Hanafy: The ministry currently prevents the loss of the rights of the state and the people. Hundreds of reports are filed to us every day. The suppliers payments range between 1.5 billion and 2 billion Egyptian pounds. In case the judiciary proves any deficit, the contracts state that in case of liquidation, the supplier is obliged criminally and financially to pay the deficit value and is obliged to pay a fine that the MSIT determines. There is also a fidelity insurance of 5 billion Egyptian pounds, which means that the rights of the people and the state are guaranteed.
Al-Monitor: Is there a dispute between the government, represented by the MSIT, and the parliaments fact-finding committee regarding wheat corruption?
Hanafy: The work of the government and that of the parliament are complementary. The difference is in the mechanism and the regulations, as [the parliament] relied on a method to estimate weight as opposed to actually weighing it and depended on the RGS company to implement this method. However, the general prosecutor rejected this method and demanded the liquidation [of RGS], so that the actual size of the deficit in Egypts grain silos could be determined.
Al-Monitor: How do you comment on the accusations leveled by Bloomberg at MSIT officials that the officials intentionally failed to provide electricity to the 93 silos that Bloomberg equipped with surveillance systems worth 193 million Egyptian pounds [$22 million] to prevent thefts?
Hanafy: Bloomberg is only a supplier of granary updating systems. Their work is done, and they received their payment. After that, they offered Egypt to update the remaining granaries. They presented a financial and technical proposal to the [Holding] General Company for Silos and Storage (GCSS). Nothing compels the GCSS to take offers from the same supplier. I do not underestimate Bloomberg. However, I still have the right to refuse the offer for financial or technical reasons and keep the reasons to myself, which is the global convention. As a response, the company launched a smear campaign against Egypt and accused Egyptian farmers of cheating and soaking grains in water to increase their weight. This is quite funny as grains rot when they are sprayed with water during storage. They cannot talk about whether electricity was provided as they are only responsible for supplying internal systems, and the contract states that each silo has a generator attached to it.
Al-Monitor: You have succeeded after a few months in office of eliminating queues in front of [state-subsidized] bakeries, where people had to wait to receive bread. Are you satisfied with the current system and is it now free of corruption?
Hanafy: The bread crisis started in the 1970s and Egyptians have long thought that after 50 years nothing could be done. We decided to start fighting all this and stirred up a hornets nest when we put a new system to distribute bread that is based on buying it at market price with smart cards. Bread has become accessible to everyone. Not only did we provide bread, but we also rationed the cost of bread and saved 6 million Egyptian pounds [$676,000] that the citizen receives again through food commodities.
Al-Monitor: How about the wheat import issue, where the MSIT is accused of making deals on grains that do not meet proper standards and that have a proportion of carcinogenic parasites.
Hanafy: We cannot receive wheat [that the rest of the world considers unfit for human consumption]. We buy wheat from international stock markets without any local intermediaries as we used to. We saved $104 million for the first time and even bought at prices lower than those announced in international stock markets. The wheat imported by the General Authority for Supply Commodities is bought according to the Egyptian Code system.
By no means can we import anything that does not meet Egyptian standards, which are compatible with international standards. After buying, committees from the ministries of health, agriculture and industry examine the shipments. Some corruption would come at the hands of local intermediaries, but now we head directly to the global market. Currently, Egypt is suffering from those who benefited from tampering with prices.
Al-Monitor: The crisis of lack of commodities supplied by the government has worsened. In light of a crazy price surge, how will the MSIT respond?
Hanafy: We are working on pushing more commodities in large amounts to markets and supply outlets to fight the probable surge in any of the similar commodities. We also pushed more vehicles loaded with food commodities to sell food in public squares at prices 20-25% lower than their counterparts. This would also save cash in foreign exchange, which we need to buy goods from abroad.
August 10, 2016
CAIRO Aug. 6 marked the one-year anniversary of the inauguration of the new Suez Canal. While the expansion project was heavily praised in the Egyptian press, serious questions remain about its value a year on.
On Aug. 6, 2015, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi officially inaugurated the new Suez Canal. The announcement was made to a packed audience that included French President Francois Hollande, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and a number of Arab rulers.
The cost of the project, on which construction began in August 2014, has now exceeded $8 billion. The project consists of digging a waterway 35 kilometers (22 miles) long in parallel to part of the original canal, which runs for 190 kilometers (118 miles).
In August 2014, Vice Adm. Mohab Mamish, head of the Suez Canal committee, said in comments to the press that "digging the new Suez Canal will yield increased canal revenues to the tune of 259% by 2023, meaning $13.226 billion, compared with the present revenue of $5.3 billion."
However, one year following the canal's inauguration, the state has yet to declare the extent of these new revenues, except in the first quarter of 2016, when Mamish announced in June that revenues had increased by 592.4 million Egyptian pounds ($66.7 million) as compared to the same period in 2015.
Egyptian Finance Minister Amr El Garhy was quoted in the press as saying on July 31 that "Suez Canal revenues will fluctuate between $5 billion and $5.5 billion this year, despite a net decline in global trade."
If one examines the statements made by the finance minister, it becomes clear that the canal has not succeeded in bringing about any noticeable increase in revenues, as compared with the revenues projected by Mamish in 2014.
Al-Monitor analyzed the data on ships and their cargo provided by the Suez Canal Authority. We compared September 2014-March 2015 in other words, before the expanded Suez Canal was opened to the same period the following year, September 2015-March 2016 (after the canal's expansions were completed). The published data only goes up to March 2016.
The total number of ships that passed through the canal before the expansion amounted to 10,028, carrying a gross tonnage of 570,017 tons of cargo. Following the expansion, traffic increased to 10,062 ships, carrying a total tonnage of 574,553 tons of cargo.
The total growth in ships transiting the canal after it was expanded amounted to an anemic 0.0033%, and freightage increased by only 0.008%.
Ahmad Sultan, a former adviser on maritime transport to the minister of transportation, commented on these percentages: "The new Suez Canal is a project for the future. Its goal is to increase the canal's absorptive capacity to keep pace with the expected increase in the maritime traffic in the future."
Sultan added, "The project is an investment in basic infrastructure. It is a long-term investment, and it cannot be judged on the basis of one year, especially in the wake of the decline of global trade. That latter is something that was reflected in the canal's revenues as a matter of course."
Abd al-Wahhab Kamil, head of the Egyptian Naval Academy, concurred with Sultans view on the effects of the decline in global commerce on Suez Canal revenues. Kamil told Al-Monitor, "The expansion of the Suez Canal will in time offer a passage to ships. The lack of notable growth in revenues was caused by a decline in global commercial transit. It isn't the fault of the canal. The recession will end soon, and revenues will then rise."
Concerning the minute percentage growth in the number of ships and cargo weight passing through the canal before and after its expansion, Kamil said, "It wouldn't be expected for revenues to suddenly jump, because ship transit is tied to the contracts of their respective companies, which determine the shipping lines, and these contracts last for years. Ships will begin to change their routes after these contracts run out, and that will benefit the Suez Canal. I expect a noticeable improvement in the coming year."
Kamil stressed that the Suez Canal's expansion is just one step within the larger project of developing the canal, which he said will have a positive economic return. "We will see [this return] soon, when construction is completed on the service and maintenance centers for boats. And it will be quick profit."
In November 2015, the Egyptian president announced a comprehensive project to develop the Suez Canal zone, embracing the establishment of a large seaport east of Port Said, an industrial zone, a logistical zone for servicing ships, a residential zone and a fourth area for fishing farms, in addition to a network of tunnels running underneath the Suez Canal.
Last February, Egypt initiated one of the projects along these lines, the side channel east of Port Said.
Egyptian economist and writer Wael El Nahas believes that the expansion of the Suez Canal "has saved the canal from a catastrophe that was looming over it."
Nahas told Al-Monitor, "Despite the decline in global commercial traffic, what has been achieved in the last year must be considered an accomplishment. After the collapse in global commodity prices last year, and especially petroleum products, transport shifted to using supertankers. If not for the expansion and deepening of the Canal and opening of a parallel corridor that could absorb ships coming from both north and south simultaneously, the canal would have faced the loss of its current resources at a fundamental level."
Nahas stressed that "the current statistics are not final. There are other projects that we view as coming within the axis of development. For example, the loading and unloading docks will be one of the most important profit[-generating] elements of the Suez Canal, and [it will show] positive results in the next few years."
One year after the canal's expansion was completed, revenues have been disappointing. Especially when compared to the expectations of success that were generated by Egyptian officials. However, the decline in global commercial traffic has had a significant negative impact that cannot be controlled. In that sense, the completion of the development axis project might serve as a fail-safe at the present time. But if it faces major hurdles in light of the economic crisis now gripping the country, the project might be suspended if the necessary funds cannot be found. This is the challenge now confronting the Egyptian government.
August 10, 2016
TEHRAN, Iran Former two-time President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears to have his eyes set on a third term in office. He has been traveling across Iran lately, addressing his supporters.
On July 29, in a speech in Mashhad, Ahmadinejad said, They label me as a Freemason [a member of the secretive] Hojjatieh Society, antiGuardianship of the Jurist [Irans ruling system] and a sorcerer. During elections, some [in this manner] make attempts to disqualify their rivals." Moreover, in a speech in Bafq on Aug. 5, Ahmadinejad said, Im aware of the countrys issues, but for now, it is not the right time for me to enter [the stage], but when the time comes, I will be at the service of the nation.
The former presidents concerns may be rooted in how influential conservative figures have pointed to the Guardian Council possibly quashing his candidacy if he tries to run in the 2017 presidential vote. On April 29, former conservative parliamentarian Ahmad Tavakoli wrote on his Telegram channel, There are sufficient religious and legal reasons to disqualify Ahmadinejad. On May 10, senior conservative cleric Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghadam said, I can state for sure that the Guardian Council will not qualify him. Moreover, on July 3, Naser Imani, a conservative analyst and former editorial writer at the influential conservative Kayhan newspaper told Entekhab News, I dont think the Guardian Council will approve Ahmadinejad [as a candidate].
The 12-member Guardian Council wields considerable power and influence in Iran. The conservative-dominated council, headed by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, is charged with interpreting the constitution, supervising elections and approving electoral candidates.
According to Iranian law, a candidate for the presidency must be a political or religious figure; of Iranian origin; a good manager and skillful; have a good reputation, be trustworthy and pious; be a believer in the foundations of the Islamic Republic of Iran, namely the constitution and the Guardianship of the Jurist; and be a believer in the state religion.
The Guardianship of the Jurist, or velayat-e faqih, is a theory in Shiite Islam that holds that Islam gives an Islamic jurist (faqih) custodianship over the people. The Guardian Jurist, who is commonly referred to as the supreme leader, is presently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Conservative figures, such as prominent cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda, argue that Ahmadinejad has stood against the Guardianship of the Jurist a decisive factor that the Guardian Council takes into account when vetting candidates. More broadly, there are four main points that may result in Ahmadinejads disqualification if he decides to seek another term in office.
First, the controversy surrounding the vice presidency of Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei: On July 18, 2009, Ahmadinejad appointed Mashaei, a controversial figure widely criticized for his deviant thoughts on Islam, as his first deputy. The appointment was immediately met with opposition from major conservative figures. Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi described it as illegitimate, while Ayatollah Khamenei also objected to the appointment. Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard, the former deputy parliament speaker, said, The supreme leader wrote [Ahmadinejad] a letter. I gave the letter to Mr. Ahmadinejad. The letter wasnt answered. I cant remember exactly, but a few days after [the writing of] the letter had passed and the government hadnt replied Ahmadinejad met with the supreme leader. Since the meeting was not fruitful, I published the letter. After the publication of the letter, Ahmadinejad was ultimately forced to reverse his appointment of Mashaei as vice president.
Second, the overhaul of the hajj bureaucracy: In 2009, the Ahmadinejad administration announced the merger of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization with the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization. Mashaei dismissed the head of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, who is usually appointed after consultations with the supreme leader. Ayatollah Khamenei wrote two letters to Ahmadinejad in connection with this matter to no avail. Indeed, Mohammad Mohammadi Reyshahri, the then-representative of the supreme leader to the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, said, Ahmadinejad wasnt willing to accept the supreme leaders order. This kind of positioning against the leader was unprecedented.
Third, Ahmadinejads refusal to go to work: On April 17, 2011, then-Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi submitted a letter of resignation to Ahmadinejad, who had sought his replacement. However, as the supreme leader disagreed with Ahmadinejads stance, he ordered the reinstatement of Moslehi. According to conservative Jahan News, Ahmadinejad protested Ayatollah Khameneis measure by refusing to go to his office for 11 days. During this period, a series of political and religious figures visited his house, urging him to return to work. Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a member of the Guardian Council, has retold the story of meeting with Ahmadinejad in his home, saying, I told him that I was really worried, that he has greatly served this country and he is and has been a hard-working man and that Im worried this matter will end with confrontation and tension with the leader. I was really disappointed with his remarks, because I could see that [our discussion] did not lead anywhere. I felt that he didnt change at all.
Fourth, Ahmadinejads stance on the nuclear issue: According to senior cleric Mesbahi Moghadam, Ahmadinejad submitted a report to the supreme leader in which he said, We have reached the end of the road, arguing that Iran should succumb to the United Nations Security Council resolutions on its nuclear program. In Moghadams telling, Ayatollah Khamenei disagreed with this stance: Ahmadinejad told the leader that 'If you dont accept this view, I will no longer be in charge of the [nuclear] file,' to which Ayatollah Khamenei apparently replied that he himself will assume this responsibility.
These four episodes of contention imply that Ahmadinejad loathed to fully obey the supreme leader. As such, even though three years have passed since he left office, conservatives neither appear to have forgiven Ahmadinejad for his perceived trespasses nor believe that he has changed.
Alamolhoda, the Mashhad Friday prayer leader, has said, Ahmadinejad was a person who took the wrong path, he is dead and he is over with. He stood against the Guardianship of the Jurist and fell down.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ahmadinejad is now trying to remove the bad memories he left in the minds of the conservatives in any way possible. But will he be successful? In the words of conservative political analyst Abbas Salimi Namin, Ahmadinejad is making attempts to get back to the leader. He is taking part in sessions held by the leader and is seeking to get close to him, but few intelligent people will be deceived [by these actions].
August 8, 2016
Carlos Santana, one of the worlds greatest guitarists, performed July 30 in Tel Avivs Ganei Yehoshua Park. But before his concert began, screens on the sides of the stage lit up and a film produced by the Hand in Hand Foundation was displayed to the 25,000 fans who filled the area.
When our children grow up in a strife-ridden region, when Jews dont meet Arabs and the reverse, how can we ensure that the children wont grow up to hate? someone in the film asked. Two children in the film waved a poster on which was written, in Arabic and Hebrew, Bring them to the same classroom.
Santana likes to tell his concert fans that the Milagro (Miracle) Foundation he founded with his family members chose to invest in children because they are the future of the world. The Hand in Hand Foundation shares the same goals as Santanas philanthropic foundation, especially now.
Milagro Foundation Executive Director Shelley Brown told Al-Monitor on behalf of Carlos Santana that the connection between the Santana family foundation and the Hand in Hand foundation was born in 2003, when the Milagro foundation managers were introduced to the idea of advancing peace between Israelis and Palestinians through children and their parents, and by creating joint schools; an idea they found exciting. She said that upon his arrival to Tel Aviv for his concert, Santana expressed his enthusiasm over Hand in Hand activities and achievements and asked to meet its representatives. He also asked to donate part of the concert benefits to Hand in Hand's future activities. ''Santana was swept by emotions in Tel Aviv. The meeting with the foundation's representatives who are working to advance peace and understanding between the two peoples just added to his excitement,'' she added. ''You are a blessed beam of light. What you are accomplishing is admirable,'' said Santana to the representatives, according to Hand in Hand Executive Director Shuli Dichter.
The connection between the two foundations began when Lee Gordon, one of the two founders of the Hand in Hand Foundation, searched for foundations and organizations that would help promote the cause he led together with an old college classmate, Amin Khalaf. Gordon and Khalaf studied together in the Mandel School for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem) and dreamed of founding joint schools for Jews and Arabs. Hand in Hand was founded in 1998. Its first school was established in the Arab town of Kafr Qara, and today Hand in Hand operates six schools in which 2,100 pupils will be studying.
When I joined the foundation team, I believed that the mutual coexistence concept should be first disseminated among adults, not children, Dichter told Al-Monitor. Dichter thinks that it is unfair to cast responsibility for resolving the complicated conflict on the shoulders of children. And so, in accordance with this worldview, the foundation has been trying for several years to widen its social activities, mainly among adults.
The social community of the Hand in Hand Foundation is not limited to the 2,100 students, Dichter explained. The number of active participants is about 10,000 people. The adults are not only the parents of the schoolchildren. The number includes 300 professional staff members teachers and administrators and also volunteers. Together, they form a broad community, whose family members live by the concept of coexistence between Israeli Jews and Arabs, and actively disseminate it in formal education and in the community as well.
Each class in these schools has two head teachers a Jew and an Arab. Together, they teach the curriculum in both languages and the schools operate according to a calendar that includes the Jewish, Muslim and Christian holidays.
In the last four years, the number of applicants to the Hand in Hand schools has grown significantly. This is a counter-response to the Israeli leaderships wild incitement against Israeli Arabs, Dichter said, to the extent that the professional staff members have their hands full. There is not enough room [in the schools] to accommodate the tremendous demand.
Dichter figures that the jump in the demand to study in the organizations institutions began five years ago. He claims that the phenomenon began in the summer of 2011 in the course of the social-justice protest movement in Israel, increased during the Pillar of Defense operation in the Gaza Strip at the end of 2012, and reached its height during the Protective Edge campaign in 2014. The more the phenomenon of hatred toward Arabs increased, the more parents turned to the foundation in response.
We are witness to two opposing processes that are underway, he said. On the one hand, the states systematic institutional incitement has moved from discrimination against Israeli Arabs to open systematic incitement against Arabs in general, and Israeli Arabs in specific. On the other hand, we witness a counter-response by the parents, aged 30-plus, who want to instill democratic values in their children as well as equal rights and hope. They ask us to accept their children in our schools in Haifa, Jaffa, Kfar Saba, Kafr Qara, Jerusalem and the Galilee.
Dichter maintains that a new generation has arisen that refuses to accept the mandatory separation imposed on them by the Israeli political leadership. Hand in Hand, said Dichter, made an important decision: to create social infrastructure based on bilingual public schools in order to disseminate the concept that it is possible to live together if each side only gets to know the other side, to learn to live with the other and not fear him at all.
This lofty idea requires funding. Santana, who contributes regularly to the foundation, promised 10% of the proceeds of his Tel Aviv performance to Hand in Hand. Although the exact sum has not yet been handed over, the estimate is that the philanthropic fund will contribute tens of thousands of dollars to the foundation from the sale of 25,000 tickets. Simultaneously, there are other foundations and organizations that view Hand in Hands mission as a sacred mission. These include Jewish organizations and foundations throughout the United States and Europe and Palestinian donors who view this foundation as a rare beam of light in the current dark period of Jewish-Arab relations in Israel. The budget of Hand in Hand has increased considerably in recent years, from 8 million shekels ($2 million) in 2011 to 23 million shekels ($6 million) in 2015. It is expected to grow even further, mainly by virtue of the Jewish diaspora that views the objectives of the foundation as the key to the continued development of a State of Israel that lives in peace with its Arab citizens.
We have a large donor in Germany named Jalil Schwarz, Dichter told us, a chef by profession whose family fled [Palestine] in 1948. He set up workshops throughout Germany and taught German women how to prepare the well-known Arab dish called maqluba (a rice, meat and vegetable casserole shaped like a cake). In the study workshops he established throughout Germany over 20 years, Schwarz collected hundreds of thousands of euros and donated the money to further the dream that excited him and instilled him with hope: bilingual schools that educate toward Jewish-Arab coexistence.
In the coming years, well find out which trend is stronger: the systematic incitement of Israeli leadership against its Arab citizens or the aspirations of thousands of Jewish and Arab parents to ensure a peaceful future for their children.
August 10, 2016
An audio file recently released by the website of the late Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri the onetime deputy supreme leader of Iran who was a leading Shiite cleric has shed light on the clerics objections to a string of executions in the late 1980s and his eventual falling out with the ruling establishment.
In the final months of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988, the Iranian group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) launched an attack from inside Iraq against western Iran. While the attack was quickly countered, it led to perhaps the last fateful decision of the Islamic Republic under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini shortly before his death in which thousands of mostly MEK members who had been imprisoned in Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution were executed.
Montazeri, who had been groomed to replace Khomeini and was one of the most well-known figures of the revolution, objected so adamantly to the order that he quickly lost his place within the government. His objection to the executions has been previously published in his autobiography. But the release of the audio file has brought this news to the surface once again and has revealed the harshness in which he dealt with the individuals involved.
In the audio file, Montazeri is heard speaking to Hussein Ali Nayeri, a judge at the time and a current deputy at the Supreme Court of Iran; Morteza Eshraghi, public prosecutor at the time; Ebrahim Raeisi, public prosecutor at the time and currently the head of the Astan Quds Razavi, one of the wealthiest institutions in Iran; and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the Intelligence Ministrys representative to Evin prison at the time and current justice minister.
In the 40-minute audio file, Montazeri says to them, The biggest crime in the history of the Islamic Republic, which will be condemned by history, happened by your hands. He said that a number of people and the Ministry of Intelligence had sought and waited for the opportunity to execute the MEK members and, after their attack on Iran, pushed the issue on Khomeini once again. In their coverage of the audio file, Fars News wrote that Montazeri believed that in the final years of his life, Khomeini was ill and those around him, especially his son Ahmed, was running his affairs. The Fars article, however, defended the executions and criticized the release of the audio file and Montazeris objections.
Many people have suggested if Montazeri would have kept his silence, he could have replaced Khomeini and been able to pursue his own policies and vision. Montazeri, however, rejected this reasoning, saying that if he was silent he would "not have an answer on Judgment Day and I saw it as my duty to warn Imam [Khomeini]. Montazeri was also worried about what he would say to the families of those executed. According to Montazeris autobiography, somewhere between 2,800 and 3,800 people were executed.
Montazeri also said that executing people for a crime when they are already serving time for other sentences undermines Irans judiciary. Many MEK members were in prison at the time because after the 1979 Islamic Revolution the group's leaders had a falling out with the supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini and the Islamic Republic. In response, the MEK waged a campaign of bombings and assassinations and its leaders quickly went into exile in Iraq.
Montazeris son, Ahmad, told BBC Persian that they published the audio file because some people have attempted to distort Montazeris image. He said that the audio file confirms Montazeris autobiography in which he writes about his objections to the executions.
Montazeri died in 2009, while the country was in the middle of the Green Movement protests against the presidential election results of that year. Completely sidelined from the government, he remained a fierce critic until his final days, publishing letters and statements against many government policies and leaders.
August 10, 2016
Relations between the Palestinian Authority and Egypt are strained as political differences continue. The PA is less than enthusiastic about Egypts peace initiative with Israel and also rejects Cairos support for dismissed Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan.
The chill in Palestinian-Egyptian relations was evident following the PA's late-July request that Egypt convene an Arab League summit in Cairo to discuss the issue of Israeli settlements and to set a date to present the PA's case to the United Nations Security Council. Egypt ultimately rejected the request without explanation and the summit was never held.
In a July 28 article for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, former Israeli intelligence officer Yoni Ben-Menachem predicted that relations between the PA and Egypt will only get worse, as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejects the Egyptian peace initiative while Cairo paves the way to have Dahlan succeed Abbas.
Relations between Abbas and Dahlan were cut when Dahlan was dismissed as a Fatah leader in May 2011 because of pressure from Abbas. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who favors Dahlan, pressured Abbas in November 2015 to reconcile with Dahlan in a bid to return Dahlan to the Palestinian scene at the expense of Abbas.
Ben-Menachem also wrote that the peace initiative introduced by Sisi in May undermines Abbas efforts to hold Israel accountable in international venues and bolster the global boycott against it. The Egyptian initiative calls for both Palestinians and Israelis to resume negotiations without preconditions, which would hinder Abbas efforts to push the UN and the Security Council to issue resolutions against Israel.
Yet the secretary-general of Fatahs Revolutionary Council, Amin Makboul, told Al-Monitor, Relations between Palestine and Egypt are strong and solid. President Abbas latest visit to Cairo on May 9 was a success, as discussions held with Sisi dealt with all common interests regarding the Palestinian cause. There is no conflict between the Egyptian and French initiatives, with Egypt endorsing the international conference [the French initiative calls for]. Also, talk about Egyptian support for Dahlan is but unfounded hearsay.
So far no date has been set for an international peace conference between Palestinians and Israelis. Palestinians favor the idea, while Israelis prefer a conference that Arab and regional states attend without directly participating in.
Makbouls statement may be diplomatic in nature and aim to prevent further deterioration of Ramallahs relationship with Cairo. But the latest communique, issued Aug. 7 by the PLO Executive Committee, was more explicit when it proclaimed its endorsement of the French initiative without any mention of the Egyptian one a clear indication that Palestinians do not back the latter. The French initiative calls for an international peace conference and refers the Palestinian cause back to the UN, which Israel rejects.
It is clear that the differences between the Palestinian and Egyptian sides are due to their respective incongruent interests," Abdel Sattar Qassem, a political science professor at An-Najah University in Nablus, told Al-Monitor. "Egypt backs Dahlan because it needs financial support from the United Arab Emirates in light of [Egypts] financial crisis, while the UAE considers Dahlan to be one of its proteges in the region. This angers [Abbas].
It should be noted that there are strong ties between the UAE and Dahlan, who found refuge there in 2011 after his dismissal from Fatah. As the security adviser of the UAEs Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Dahlan is considered an active player in determining internal and external security policies for the UAE. Dahlan was able to establish security relations on the regional and international levels when he was head of Palestinian Preventive Security intelligence between 1994 and 2000, and as the Palestinian national security adviser.
Qassem said, The Palestinian stance on the French initiative is more enthusiastic, as it offers the Palestinians more than its Egyptian counterpart. The French are restoring the Palestinian cause to its international roots, while Egypt, through its initiative, is searching to create a role for itself at the expense of the Palestinians.
This chilled state of affairs between Egypt and the PA also coincided with a steady rapprochement between Cairo and Tel Aviv, as Sisi is looking to protect his regime. And one of the tools available in the region toward that end is Israel, which enjoys security potential and has tight political relations with some world powers. [This rapprochement] will eventually lead to the waning of Egypts role and status among Palestinians.
The warming relations between Egypt and Israel have been marked by the return of Egypt's ambassador to Tel Aviv early this year, followed by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukrys visit to Israel in July. Meanwhile, security and military cooperation between both countries has been increasing to fight jihadist Islamic groups in Sinai, and both countries share hostility against Hamas.
Also worthy of note are the July 29 statements made by an anonymous Fatah official to New Khalij about Arab mediation efforts, the latest of which took place in Jordan, aimed at improving relations between Abbas and Sisi. The efforts ultimately failed.
Although there is no accurate information on the mediation that took place in Jordan, British reporter David Hearst said in a July 27 report on Middle East Eye that the UAE, Egypt and Jordan are planning for the post-Abbas period and paving the way for Dahlan to replace Abbas.
While the relationship between Egypt and the PA is characterized by a lack of empathy, the relationship between Cairo and Hamas remains tense. On July 6, Egypt canceled the visit by a Hamas leadership delegation scheduled for early July, reportedly because Cairo was dissatisfied with Hamas response to Egyptian concerns about the deteriorating security situation in Sinai. Hamas had refused to hand over wanted Egyptian citizens Egypt says are in Gaza and active in armed organizations in Sinai. Hamas also refused to form a joint security commission with Cairo to fight terrorism in Sinai.
Although Hamas deployed additional troops in April along the border with Egypt to prevent smuggling between Gaza and Sinai, Egyptian intelligence services found those measures lacking.
Yahya Moussa, Hamas leader and chairman of the Oversight Committee of the Palestinian Legislative Council, told Al-Monitor, Any tension in the relations of Palestinians with any other party, in particular Egypt, serves Israeli interests. Israel is the ultimate beneficiary, as it will take advantage of the Palestinians tense relations with their Arab neighbors to escalate against them in the absence of Arab support.
Moussa added, Meanwhile, the PA fails to exploit against Israel any agreement between [the PA] and Egypt. In contrast, the improving relations between Egypt and Israel indicate weakness and confusion on the part of Egypt with regard to regional sovereign issues, for they render Egypt ineffectual despite its relations with Israel growing stronger.
Egyptians and Palestinians are perhaps seeking to maintain the appearance of good relations but unable to hide their differences concerning Israel, the issue of PA presidential succession and the future of relations with the Gaza Strip. All these issues are enough to keep matters tense between them, while maintaining a modicum of contact and preventing matters from deteriorating to complete estrangement.
High-speed Internet fiber optic cable
This is high-speed fiber optic cable - individual strands of glass cable, each capable of carrying data at light speed. It is put in a protective cover and strung on power poles or buried in underground utility easements. Fiber like this is beginning to bring super-fast Internet to homes in Alabama cities. (Southern Light photo)
Here are the top stories in Alabama business for Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016. You can follow all of Alabama's business news here anytime.
Birmingham Health Care's former chief financial officer was sentenced Tuesday for stealing $1.7 million from the federally-funded center for the poor and homeless.
Alabama's changing Internet access picture got a little clearer with news that WOW! will bring "broadband speeds up to one gigabit per second (Gbps)" to Huntsville and Auburn by the end of 2016.
Thirty-two years ago, the hallways of Madison Square in Huntsville were overflowing as the super mall celebrated its grand opening. It's a different, but hopeful story today at the struggling shopping center.
What started as a small organic farm specializing in vegetables and herbs is now on a path toward continued growth thanks to Neighborhood Concepts (NCI).
It's social. It's food. It's a benefit. The grand opening of the Food Truck Social Eats park in Huntsville this weekend will benefit the Food Bank of North Alabama.
Coyle new mug.PNG
The Rev. James E. Coyle, pastor of St. Paul's Cathedral, was gunned down on the steps of the rectory next to the cathedral.
(File)
Father Coyle
A Catholic priest was murdered because of religious and ethnic hatred.
It's a story that's been in the news recently in France, where two Islamic State terrorists stormed a church last month and slit the throat of Father Jacques Hamel during Mass. But it's also a story that was in the news in Alabama in 1921.
St. Paul's Cathedral held a memorial Mass on Wednesday for the Rev. James E. Coyle, who had been pastor of the church for 17 years when he was murdered. Coyle was an outspoken opponent of the Ku Klux Klan, which was known at the time for targeting Catholics as well as blacks and Jews.
"The Klan was a really powerful force in this city," said Federal Judge Bill Pryor, of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, speaking at a reception after the Mass. "Birmingham was a place where a lot of immigrants had come. Father Coyle was their defender."
Coyle, who became pastor of St. Paul's Cathedral in 1904, was shot to death on the porch of the woodframe rectory, the priest's house, on Aug. 11, 1921.
"Coyle was killed in cold blood, murdered," said Jim Pinto, director of the Father James E. Coyle Memorial Project.
But the murder caused outrage in the city, an outpouring of support, and a backlash against the Ku Klux Klan.
"The end result was not more division," Pinto said. "It brought people together."
Historic murder trial
The Coyle murder trial was historic, partly because of the role played by future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, a member of the Klan in the 1920s, who defended the accused killer.
The Rev. Edwin R. Stephenson, a Methodist minister and Klansman who conducted weddings at the Jefferson County Courthouse, was accused of gunning down Coyle after becoming irate over Coyle's officiating at the marriage of Stephenson's daughter, Ruth, to a Puerto Rican, Pedro Gussman. Ruth had sought out the priest for counseling and converted to Catholicism.
As defense attorney, Black had Gussman summoned into the courtroom and questioned him about his curly hair. Lights were arranged in the courtroom so the darkness of Gussman's complexion would be accentuated, according to an Oct. 20, 1921, newspaper account of the final day of the trial. Black gained an acquittal based on an appeal to the jury's ethnic and religious prejudices.
Years later Black renounced his Ku Klux Klan ties and became one of the most liberal members of the U.S. Supreme Court.
After the acquittal, Stephenson once again was a regular at the courthouse, conducting marriages.
The murder is the subject of a book, "Rising Road: A True Tale of Love, Race, and Religion in America," by Ohio State University law professor Sharon Davies, published in 2010 by Oxford University Press.
Members of the Coyle Memorial Project want to use the story of Coyle to promote religious tolerance, Pinto said. "They commit themselves to prayer and keeping alive the legacy of Father Coyle and to work for reconciliation among all people," Pinto said. "He was really ahead of his time. He's a rallying point."
A male has died after he was shot in the head at the Oaks at Springville apartment complex on Tuesday, Birmingham police said.
Friends and family of the victim gather at the scene of a shooting at the Oaks at Springville.
Lt. Sean Edwards said officers were patrolling the area when they found the victim on the ground around 5 p.m. in the 600 block of Earline Circle. Sgt. Bryan Shelton said the victim died on his way to the hospital.
Many vehicles were parked along Earline Street as friends and family members gathered near the scene to mourn. The victim's found out about the shooting after someone posted a video of the incident on social media.
Edwards said a few witnesses were taken to headquarters to figure out a motive and who shot the male. The victim's name was not released.
IMG_0156.JPG
Melissa's parents, Michael (left) and Terry (right) on the road where their daughter was killed by police in an April confrontation.
(Amy Yurkanin|ayurkanin@al.com)
Editor's note: This is the latest in an ongoing AL.com investigation into the mental health crisis in Alabama.
The day before she was shot by police, Melissa Boarts threw a party.
The 36-year-old nursing assistant had suffered from bipolar disorder for nearly two decades, but seemed happy at the Wetumpka park where family and friends celebrated her little girl's birthday. The April weather was warm enough for short sleeves and sandals, with a slight shivery breeze.
The next day, family members were sorting gifts between the two houses where the 2-year-old lived when Melissa's twin sister Melinda tossed off a comment that landed like a hand grenade.
"There were some toys that we didn't let her play with because we didn't want her to get hurt on them," Melinda said. "So that's what I said, but I think she took it way wrong. I mean, and that's how it started."
Those words uncorked a gush of anger - which happened sometimes with Melissa.
Melissa drove off, and about an hour later, she was killed by an Auburn police officer.
Criminal or patient?
Melissa's family struggles with guilt and uncertainty. No witnesses saw the confrontation between Melissa and the police and video from the incident won't be released until a grand jury rules on the evidence against the officers.
Auburn Police Chief Paul Register said Melissa charged at his officers with a weapon - a knife family members feared she would use against herself.
The absence of hard information about the circumstances of the shooting has created a void the Boarts have filled with questions. The biggest one is this: Did officers have training to recognize mental illness and treat their daughter as a patient, rather than a criminal?
Experts estimate about 10 percent of police calls involve a person with mental illness.
Chief Register said his officers recently received mental health training, but he didn't provide details about whether the class was mandatory or if the officers involved in the shooting attended. He would not comment further about the case until the grand jury rules later this month.
Advocates for the mentally ill say police chiefs and sheriffs have been slow to embrace training, leaving officers unequipped to safely handle confrontations with suicidal or unstable suspects.
Angry, but never violent
In addition to bipolar disorder, Melissa suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and seizures, illnesses that intensified after her brother's death in 1998 and caused wild mood swings, flashes of rage and impulsive behavior. She had one run-in with the law in 2010 when she ran with a bad crowd, her mother said. Yet even when she spun completely out of control, she never physically hurt anyone.
"You could say anything, something me and you would take as a joke, she would take seriously and get so mad," Melinda said. "And then she would get angry. Really angry."
"You could always talk her down," said her mother Terry.
A picture of Melissa Boarts, a suicidal woman who was shot and killed by police in April
But on that day in April, they never got the chance.
Without proper training, police officers are more likely to use tactics that can escalate aggression in a person suffering from severe mental illness, experts say, increasing the likelihood of injury or death. In Alabama, only four hours of the 13-week police academy curriculum is dedicated to emotional disturbance. Some states require up to 40 hours, but many, like Alabama, require far less.
"What I don't understand is with them knowing her mental condition and knowing we were right there, she wasn't no harm to anyone but herself," Terry said. "I was on the phone with them the entire time."
Ten out of 34 people shot and killed by police in Alabama since 2015 have reported mental illness, according to the Washington Post and Al.com. People with mental illness are 16 times more likely to be shot by police, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center.
A string of deadly confrontations
Last year, deputies in Lawrence County shot and killed Shane Watkins, a schizophrenic who stopped taking his medication in the weeks before his death. Like the Boarts family, his mother called for help from police and her son had committed no crime. She also told Al.com that he was turned away from treatment before his behavior spiraled out of control.
Family members said Watkins had never been violent. Deputies shot Watkins after he charged at them with a box cutter.
A 50-year-old man suffering a "mental episode" in Tuscaloosa was shot after he charged at an officer with a large spoon in 2015. The man, Jeffory Tevis, suffered from self-inflicted wounds and grappled with an officer before he was killed. A grand jury ruled that the officer who shot Tevis acted to protect the public.
Unpredictable and mentally ill suspects can also injure officers. John Lee Bullard attacked a Huntsville police officer in December, sending him to the hospital with a facial fracture, cuts and bruises.
Alabama recently added a week to its police academy, said Louis Zook, chief of staff for Alabama Peace Officers Standards & Training Commission. After that, agencies can add any additional training that officers need.
"It's still a struggle to get everything in there that you'd like," Zook said.
Law enforcement agencies in 47 states and the District of Columbia have created crisis intervention teams - specialized squads to handle mentally ill suspects and keep them out of the criminal justice system. Those officers receive 40 hours of training and the ability to partner directly with mental health service providers.
Alabama has no crisis intervention teams, and law enforcement officers can't detain people for psychiatric evaluation. Only probate judges and community mental health officers - which are in short supply across the state - can order a person into the hospital.
Susan Baty-Pierce of National Alliance on Mental Illness-Birmingham has worked for decades to increase cooperation between law enforcement and mental health agencies. It is simply too expensive for many agencies to pay for community mental health officers solely dedicated to handling mental illness calls, she said.
If a police chief or sheriff has to choose between hiring a sworn officer or deputy or a social worker, they will hire the law enforcement personnel, she said. Specially trained law enforcement officers who can also perform regular police duties might be a better solution.
In the early nineties, Baty-Pierce belonged to a task force to bring the crisis intervention model to Birmingham, but the plan fell apart over funding for crisis beds.
Even without crisis intervention designation, officers should still learn to de-escalate confrontations with mentally ill suspects, said attorney Jimmy Walsh, president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Alabama.
"One of the reasons crisis intervention training is important is that if someone is manic, if they are out of control, who else can you call?" Walsh said. "There's no mechanism except the state. The state hauls the people around. They get them to the hospital. If you can't count on the state, you can't do anything about it."
The rest area
From the interstate, Melissa thumbed messages of anger and despair. She threatened to cut her wrists and asked if Melinda would take care of the baby.
"It was not the first time she had taken off in her car like that," Melinda said. "But this time seemed worse. I don't know what it was. It just seemed different because she had a knife."
Melissa's parents fastened the girl in a car seat and tried to catch their troubled daughter. Melinda relayed her twin's location based on a GPS tracker the family had secretly stuck to her car. Traffic snarled the interstate, and Michael and Terry slowed to a crawl. When GPS showed Melissa stopped at a rest area, they thought she might have stopped to cut her wrists, panicked and called 911.
They didn't know it at the time, but the same rest area had been the scene of a suicide attempt just three weeks earlier. That tense standoff between a woman armed with a gun and state troopers ended peacefully.
"The issue when police and mentally ill intersect, there are a lot of opportunities for things to go wrong, and for things to go right," said Joy Aull, a former law enforcement officer who conducts mental health training at the University of South Alabama.
A troubled woman with a gun
On March 10, rest area employee Mary Crockett noticed something odd near a dirt walkway designed for pets. A middle-aged woman with short blonde hair paced back and forth. Crockett watched her hanging around for hours. Most visitors don't stay long at a place like that, so Crockett and another employee hopped on a Gator and puttered over.
The woman was Georgia Tumbleweed McNabb of Auburn.
As Crockett approached, she noticed McNabb's hair wasn't just short; it was ragged and hacked close to the scalp - a do-it-yourself job possibly inflicted with household scissors.
"Do you need help?" Crockett asked.
"No, I just want to kill myself," McNabb said, according to Crockett. "My only child got murdered a few weeks ago and my husband told me to cut my hair and now he don't want me."
As she ranted, she pressed on the pocket of her jeans and Crockett saw the outline of a gun.
The employees fled back to the office and called 911. State troopers arrived within five minutes, followed by officers from the Macon County Sheriff's Department. Police cars swarmed the rest area and officers ushered visitors out through the entrance ramp, then shut down the interstate, said Terry Colley, another employee.
SWAT Team snipers held positions on top of the small brick bathroom building, rifles trained on McNabb, Colley said. A helicopter buzzed overhead. McNabb crouched in the dirt at the base of a towering pine and pressed the gun to her temple.
The woman kept the gun pointed at her head for hours, Crockett said. Sometimes she would emerge from the shadow of the tree with her finger on the trigger.
"It was awful," Crockett said. "I thought she was going to do it."
Negotiation vs. confrontation
Staff members huddled inside the building where the snipers crouched, in a wood-paneled entryway hung with highway maps. McNabb fired her gun twice, pulling it away from her head and pointing it into the air, Colley said.
"She was really trying to get them to shoot her," Colley said. "But I think they knew that's what she wanted, so they didn't fire."
The officers on the scene held their fire and waited. For all the firepower on the scene, most of the work happened over the phone, Colley said, which highly-trained crisis negotiators tossed to McNabb.
"They were really patient with her," Colley said.
The time ticked by. One hour. Two. Then three. McNabb asked for more water and talked to negotiators.
Late in the afternoon, several SWAT officers lined up behind a ballistic shield and approached McNabb. As an officer popped out on one side to distract her, another reached around the other side and grabbed her, Colley said.
From inside the building, Crockett heard a gunshot and ran out the back door. She said she saw McNabb on the ground, surrounded by officers. She must be dead, Crockett thought, but she was wrong. The gunshot was the last one McNabb fired into the air before going into police custody. The troubled woman shuffled into an ambulance and rode away from the scene.
Crockett said the whole experience has given her nightmares. She never worried about her own well-being, but believed she would witness McNabb's suicide.
"It took a toll on me," she said. "I'm just glad that it ended the way it did."
Gaps in training trouble advocates
Most officers don't receive the psychology and suicide training crisis negotiators get during special classes. Jimmy Walsh of NAMI Alabama said many sheriffs and police chiefs simply don't understand the need for extra education about mental illness. His organization has held several voluntary, free 40-hour training sessions about mental illness for police officers. The last session in Birmingham drew only two participants, he said.
Unless state agencies begin requiring more training, Walsh said he doesn't think the situation will change.
"It's never going to happen until senior people buy in and they are required to do it," Walsh said.
Demopolis Police Chief Tommie Reese, who is also president of the Alabama Association of Chiefs of Police, said training is fine, but it won't solve the larger problem, which is a lack of resources for treating those with mental illness.
"I think what we need is to have more social workers to come out and really work with people in the community," Reese said. "I think law enforcement has been tasked to do many things it wasn't set out to do, and helping with the mentally ill is one of those things."
Aull's mental health training programs help officers better understand the mindset of a mentally ill person and adapt to it. Officers who complete the program report higher levels of comfort with suicidal or delusional people, she said. But the training falls apart if officers can't tap into mental health resources.
"I can do all the training in the world, if there's nowhere in the community for that person to go, the training breaks down," Aull said.
One family, two tragedies
Melissa's relatives pass around the blame for her death like cards in a brutal game of Go Fish.
"I have so many regrets for calling the cops that night," Terry said. "I told them over and over and over she had a pocketknife and she's threatening to cut her wrists."
"It's probably my fault because I put the GPS on the car and told them where to
Melissa's twin sister Melinda Boarts looks for the spot where a neighbor found her sister's blood on the morning after the shooting.
go," Melinda said.
"I was the one who told you to call the police in the first place," said Michael, a retired prison guard.
They thought they were doing the right thing by tracking Melissa and calling police, based on their experiences with son Michael Jr. The family lost him to mental illness almost 20 years ago when he committed suicide. Melinda and Melissa were 18 years old - seniors in high school.
Her son's suicide blindsided Terry. She knew Michael Jr. was upset about his favorite uncle, who was struggling to survive after open-heart surgery. They all thought he was going to die.
Terry said her son was overwhelmed by the prospect of such a loss. He got in his car and said he was going to the store, and never came home.
"It was just like he disappeared off the face of the earth," Terry said.
Michael Jr. said something to Melissa before he left - a hint she unraveled only after his death.
"That's why she took it so hard," Melinda said. "She wasn't able to make room for it. Not like I moved on, but you've got to just like, make room for it."
A troubled life ends tragically
Melissa's mental illness set in slowly. She started having seizures at age 15, and they got worse after her brother's death, her mother said. As a young adult, she needed shoulder surgery from the violent shaking that gripped her body and dislocated the joint. While recovering at her parents' house, she suffered a major seizure that almost killed her and forever altered the pattern of her thoughts, Terry said.
Although she worked as a nursing assistant, and took care of herself, her demons never left. In 2010, the year Melissa turned 30, she walked into a Rite-Aid drug store in Montgomery with a knife and demanded money.
Terry said her daughter couldn't even remember the robbery after she committed it. A judge in the case ordered a psychiatric evaluation, but Melissa did not qualify for mental health court due to the violent nature of the crime. Still, she received a relatively light sentence of three years' probation and put the case behind her.
Melissa's parents urged her to get help and decided to do whatever they could to prevent another family tragedy. So when Terry and Michael gave an old car to Melissa, Melinda convinced them to install a secret GPS tracker.
The darkness in her life seemed to lift a little when a relative gave birth to a baby girl she couldn't care for. Melissa agreed to take the child, although she never applied for custody due to her criminal history and mental illness.
"Nobody wanted that baby," Terry said. "When that baby left the hospital, she left with Melissa."
A dirt road, a final showdown
Her breakdown in April was the first big one she'd had in years, but it didn't come out of the blue. Melissa told her mom she'd been feeling a little depressed. She made an appointment with a doctor in May, but her mother urged her to move it up.
"Oh, I'll be fine until May," she told Terry.
Her journey ended not long after her family believes she turned around to come home. Auburn police started following her car soon after she left the rest area headed north on I-85. She turned around before she reached the city and headed back in the direction of Montgomery.
With the police on her tail, she exited onto Alabama 81 toward Notasulga, drove about five miles and turned right again toward the heart of Tuskegee National Forest. In front of her, a collapsed bridge blocked her path, so she swerved onto a dead end dirt road and kept driving.
A Notasulga police car blocked the entrance and stopped Michael and Terry from following their daughter. They never heard gunshots and waited there for hours, until an officer told them that one female fatality had occurred. They assumed Melissa had crashed her car and died. The baby cried for food, so they took her home and called Melinda to the scene.
Finally, officers told Melinda how her sister died.
"Your sister approached our officers in a threatening manner and they had to open fire," they told her.
The autopsy report revealed that the fatal shot entered near Melissa's heart. The cuts to her wrists were superficial.
Terry and Michael believe they could have calmed their daughter if they had been allowed down that desolate road.
"I don't think she died right away," Terry said. "It upsets me because at least they could have let us hold her hand while she died."
Still searching for answers
Four months after Melissa was killed, Melinda, her fiance and her parents trekked down the dirt road where she died.
"No one would even notice the sound of a gun shot out here," Michael said.
Terry found crime scene tape hanging from a tree near a rocky wash. She stretched out the dusty, faded plastic like a banner and cut it off to carry in the next police protest.
The family may never know what happened in the final moments of Melissa's life. Instead, they are stuck thinking about how a single choice could have changed the ending.
"If I hadn't called 911, she would still be alive today," Terry said. "We were thinking, if she was threatening to cut her wrists, she needed help, she needed medical attention. There needs to be someone else to call."
The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the felony ethics convictions of a former director in the state Department of Education and her husband.
Attorney General Luther Strange's office announced that the court upheld the convictions of Deann K. Stone and her husband, Dave Stone, of Wetumpka.
A Montgomery County jury convicted the Stones in October 2014.
Deann Stone was director of federal programs for the state DOE. Dave Stone worked for Information Transport Solutions.
Evidence at trial showed that they manipulated the grant process so that school districts that had agreements with Dave Stone's employer received millions in federal grants, according to the AG's office.
The Stones were sentenced to six months in prison followed by four years of probation.
Federal authorities began an investigation after The Birmingham News reported the link between the grant money and Dave Stone's company in 2010.
A man shot outside an Ensley shopping center late last month has now died.
De'arrius Martez Portis, 29, was wounded two weeks ago in the 4000 block of Avenue I. He remained at UAB Hospital until Tuesday, when he was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m.
Portis for nearly two years was charged with capital murder in the 2012 shooting death of a teen outside of Mike's Crossroads on Third Avenue North. He was released of those charges in May when a Jefferson County grand jury declined to indict him.
The shooting that ultimately killed Portis happened in the mid-afternoon of July 28. Portis, police said at the time, was with friends inside the convenience store. At least two suspects in a black Dodge Charger pulled into the parking lot and stopped near the gas pumps. It appeared that they were waiting for Portis and his friends to emerge.
When Portis and his friends exited the store, the suspects called him over to the Charger. He knelt at the passenger side of the window, and the men started to have a conversation. "They talked for about 10 seconds before you start seeing the muzzle flash,'' Lt. Sean Edwards said.
Someone inside the Charger fired first, and Portis was struck. As he ran away, his friends returned fire toward the charger. Police said at least 10 shots were fired.
Portis was rushed to UAB Hospital. The suspects abandoned the Charger about 1 1/2 miles away on 52nd Street in Fairfield, and Fairfield police flocked to that scene. Witnesses told police the men ran off, but then one of them came back and got a gun out of the Charger. The man who watched the scene unfold said he didn't go outside. Police have not said whether any arrests were made.
Edwards said at the time police believed the victim knew who shot him. "The reality is, these guys have a history, and they're a bad group of individuals,'' he said. "Whatever history they have, obviously it went downtown from the conversation. That's how they handle their issues."
Portis was arrested Sept. 24, 2014 in the 2012 slaying of 19-year-old Richard Carter. The shooting happened about 5 a.m. outside of Mike's Crossroads. North Precinct officers were called to the location on a report of shots fired. They went to the scene, but didn't find anyone wounded. They later learned Carter had been take to UAB Hospital by a private vehicle. He was pronounced dead upon arrival.
The shooting was one of the incidents that ultimately led to the city's shutdown of the club. Portis' attorney, Emory Anthony, told a judge in 2014, "This is probably the weakest capital murder case I've ever listened to," he said following a preliminary hearing.
Portis remained out on $150,000 bond until January 2016 when he was arrested after an incident in the 3600 block of Court S in Ensley. Portis was seen driving at a high rate of speed, and police said the license plate was not registered to the vehicle he was driving. When police tried to stop him, they said Portis jumped out of the moving car, allowing the car to crash into a curb. Officers then pursed him on foot.
When police ran by the car, they spotted a toddler crying in the backseat. An officer tended to her while the others went after Portis. A loaded handgun was found on the vehicle's front floorboard. A search unveiled another gun, heroin and a digital scale.
Police charged him with endangering the welfare of a child, possession of heroin with intent to distribute, felon in possession of a firearm, attempting to elude and possession of drug paraphernalia. Court records don't reflect a resolution to those charges. His bond was initially set at $350,000 in those cases, but that was eventually reduced and he was released from the county jail in May, at the same time the capital murder charge was dismissed. He was ordered at that time to return all electronic monitoring equipment.
Portis was convicted of robbery in 2005, and sentenced to 15 years in prison with three to serve. In 2007, he was convicted of promoting prison contraband in 2007 and drug distribution in 2011. In that drug case, he was sentenced to 104 months in prison.
His death marks the 60th homicide in Birmingham this year.
A former IRS employee, who helped taxpayers experiencing problems resulting from identity theft, was sentenced Wednesday to nine years and two months in federal prison for her guilty plea to stealing taxpayer identities and orchestrating a tax-fraud scheme with three other people involving up to $1.5 million in bogus income tax returns.
Nakeisha Hall, 40, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre during a hearing in Birmingham. The sentence included a mandatory 2-year sentence for aggravated identity theft.
Hall, who worked for the IRS' Taxpayer Advocate Service was entrusted to help taxpayers who had already been victims of fraud, Bowdre said. "Instead you preyed on them and victimized them again," she said.
"This is one of the most extensive tax fraud schemes I've ever seen," Bowdre said.
Bowdre also ordered Hall to pay jointly with three co-defendants a total of $438,187 in restitution to the IRS. Hall's share of that debt is $198,454. The judge also ordered Hall to forfeit another $438,187.
Hall is to report to prison Sept. 13.
Hall also was ordered to serve five years on supervised release once she finishes her prison sentence.
"This defendant abused her position of trust as an IRS employee, using her access to compromise taxpayers' identities to attempt to steal more than $1 million from the agency," U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance stated in a statement. "She successfully claimed more than $400,000 in fraudulent tax refunds."
"Hall victimized United States taxpayers and jeopardized the reputation of the IRS and its division that is intended to assist taxpayers experiencing problems resulting from identity theft," Vance stated. "Today's sentence reflects the outrageous and serious nature of her crime."
Karl A. Stiften, special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation, St. Louis Field Office, stated that "Hall is being held accountable for her criminal actions. Refund fraud and identity theft of this magnitude and with this degree of dishonesty and deceit, deserves to be punished to the fullest extent of the law."
Hall had pleaded guilty in February to theft of government funds, aggravated identity theft, unauthorized access to a protected computer and conspiracy to commit bank fraud and mail fraud affecting a financial institution.
In her plea deal with prosecutors, Hall acknowledged that the tax fraud scheme had an intended loss to the IRS of between $550,000 and $1.5 million. Federal authorities have said Hall worked in the Taxpayer Advocate Service office in Birmingham from July 2007 to November 2011. Since November 2011, she had worked in TAS offices in Omaha, Neb., New Orleans, La., and Salt Lake City, Utah.
TAS is responsible for assisting taxpayers who are having difficulties with the IRS and works with victims of identity theft to help them remove fraudulent tax information from their accounts and file corrected tax returns, if necessary.
Hall stole the identities of taxpayers through unauthorized access to IRS computers and used that information to file false tax returns seeking more than a million dollars in tax refunds, federal authorities have said.
Hall, along with Jimmie Goodman and Abdulla Coleman, both of Birmingham, also were indicted on charges they took part in the scheme operated out of Birmingham between 2008 and 2011. Another co-conspirator, Lashon Roberson, of Pelham, was also indicted separately for conspiracy and four counts of mail fraud affecting a financial institution.
Goodman, Coleman, and Roberson all pleaded guilty to charges. Goodman was sentenced to 41 months in prison and Roberson 36 months in prison in hearings held in the past several weeks. Coleman is set to be sentenced Sept. 14.
Dale Jones, attorney for Hall, had asked for a lower sentence because Hall had provided information and had agreed to testify, facts that likely prompted at least one of the co-defendants to plead guilty.
Jones also said that Hall has a number of medical conditions and medication that causes a weakened immune system, which could be a problem in prison. Bowdre said she would notify the prison system of those issues so they can be properly addressed.
Hall told the judge that she has realized the effect her actions have had on others, such as her mother, who works for the IRS, and her 80-year-old father, who has Alzheimers and likely will be placed in a facility. "I won't be there for him," she said.
"I'm not saying I didn't do anything wrong," Hall said.
Bowdre, however, said she didn't hear Hall say anything about the effects on the victims of the tax fraud and on the IRS.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Erica Williamson Barnes told Bowdre that the case was a significant tax fraud case. "This is a case that has been reviewed at the highest levels of the tax enforcement community," she said.
Barnes pointed to four men with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration who were in the audience for Wednesday's hearing. She said there also has been extensive media coverage of the "insider" IRS case.
The scheme was conducted, according to previous prosecutor statements, as follows:
Hall obtained individuals' names, birth dates and Social Security numbers through unauthorized access to IRS computers. She then used the personal identity information to prepare fraudulent income tax returns and submitted them electronically to the IRS. Hall asked the IRS pay the refunds onto debit cards and directed that the cards be mailed to drop addresses that she controlled.
Hall solicited and received drop addresses from Goodman, Coleman, Roberson and at least one other person. The co-conspirators also collected the refund cards from the mail.
Hall activated the cards by using stolen identity information. She, Goodman, Coleman, Roberson and the unnamed co-conspirator took the money off the debit cards at ATMs or used the cards for purchases. If the fraudulent returns generated U.S. Treasury checks rather than the requested debit cards, Hall and her co-conspirators used fraudulent endorsements in order to cash the checks. Hall compensated Goodman, Coleman, Roberson and the fifth co-conspirator by giving them a portion of the refund money, or by giving them refund cards for their own use.
Updated at 7:55 a.m. Aug.11, 2016 with comments from federal authorities
Gunfire erupted late this afternoon in the Center Point area, at roughly the same time a man was wounded in the same area and another man was killed nearby in the Birmingham city limits.
Investigators don't believe any of the incidents were related.
Just before 5 p.m., Jefferson County sheriff's deputies responded to a report of shots being fired into a car at 20th Street and Third Avenue N.E., said Chief Deputy Randy Christian. No one was injured in that shooting.
Christian said they received information that a black male had fired shots into a car at that location and fled on foot. A description of the shooter was broadcast to responding deputies.
A deputy in the area located the suspect in the parking lot of some nearby apartments. The suspect saw the deputy, laid down and surrendered. He was armed with a handgun, and admitted to the deputy that he had fired into the car.
The 21-year-old man was taken into custody and is undergoing questioning by detectives. Christian said one person inside the car suffered minor injuries from the shattered glass. No one else was hurt.
Just moments earlier, deputies were dispatched to gas station in the 200 block of Old Springville Road. A victim there told deputies he was shot at a house he was visiting at Colonial Cove and then drove to the Jet Pep station for help.
He was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, Christian said. The Colonial Cove homeowner is being questioned. The investigation is ongoing.
In Birmingham, a man died near the Oaks at Springville apartment complex, Birmingham police said. That shooting also happened about 5 p.m. in the 600 block of Earline Circle in Birmingham. That victim died en route to the hospital.
A Tuscaloosa fast-food employee was shot in the face this morning during an apparent robbery attempt.
Police responded to McDonald's at 4222 East University Blvd. about 4:15 a.m. on a report of a shooting. The 52-year-old employee told officers he was approached by three black males wearing masks at the back door. They were demanding entry into the business, said Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit Capt. Gary Hood.
When the victim wouldn't open the door, one of the men shot him and the trio then ran from the scene toward Highway 216. The victim was taken to DCH Regional Medical Center, where he is expected to survive his injuries.
Grisly details emerged Wednesday as a preliminary hearing was held for a Madison County man accused of decapitating his own aunt and slitting the throat of her boyfriend earlier this summer.
Jason Alexander Loveday, 32, is charged with capital murder in the June 9 slayings of Christopher Wayne "Trixy" Reyer, 31, and Sharon Eilene Morell, 50, inside a mobile home the three shared on Lot 10 at 300 Gatlin Road in Toney.
Loveday sat before a Madison County judge Wednesday as a Madison County Sheriff's Office investigator detailed for the first time in court some of the more graphic aspects of the crime. According to AL.com news partner WHNT News 19, investigator Melissa Webster testified that the crime first came to light the morning of the murders when a bloody Loveday approached a man outside a hair salon on Alabama 53, told him he'd been involved in a double murder and asked him to call 911.
The man called deputies, who Loveday agreed to talk to after he was taken into custody. The suspect allegedly told investigators that he had grown tired of the way Reyer treated his aunt, so he killed him by beating him with a pipe and slashing his throat.
A Madison County Sheriff's Office crime scene unit is parked outside a mobile home on Gatlin Road in Toney where a man and woman were found slain Wednesday, June 9, 2015. (Crystal Bonvillian/cbonvillian@al.com)
Morrell had seen too much of the crime, Loveday said, so he killed her, too, before placing her severed head next to Reyer's body. WHNT News 19 reports that Webster testified Loveday told her he heard voices, and that the voices told him what to do with his aunt's remains.
The couple's two pit bulls bit Loveday multiple times, trying in vain to protect their owner as she was killed, the news station says. The dogs could be heard barking inside the trailer when deputies arrived at the crime scene.
Webster's testimony also detailed a statement from a local teenager who told authorities he was out riding his four-wheeler shortly after the murders when he saw Loveday in the woods, covered in blood and beating his chest, screaming, "I'm a warrior."
The teenager hurried home and told his parents what he'd seen; they later told investigators about the incident.
The news station reports that prosecutors have not determined yet if they will seek the death penalty for Loveday. He is being held without bond in the Madison County Jail.
Sen . Jeff Sessions said Donald Trump's controversial statements about Second Amendment supporters putting a stop to Hillary Clinton appointing Supreme Court Justices were not a threat against the Democratic presidential nominee.
"What I think he's saying is Second Amendment people care about this," Sessions told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "Hillary Clinton's position on the Second Amendment is that she will appoint a judge that will make it not a personal right which means that any state and any city in America can completely ban firearms."
That could happen, Sessions said, if Clinton is elected president and able to appoint a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who was one of the court's most hardline conservatives. The next president's appointment of Supreme Court Justices - and the possible swing towards the liberal side - has been a rallying point for Republicans during the presidential campaign.
"A new justice replacing (late Justice Antonin) Scalia would make it 5-4 the other way and that would reverse that holding, giving the states and cities the power to completely ban firearms," said Sessions, who has endorsed Trump and advised him on foreign policy and immigration matters.
Trump's latest firestorm comes after comments he made at campaign rally in Wilmington, Delaware referencing what he said was Clinton's desire to take away people's guns.
"Hillary wants to abolish -- essentially abolish -- the Second Amendment," he told the crowd. "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know."
The Second Amendment protects citizens' rights to bear arms and many people - including the Clinton campaign - said Trump's remarks could incite violence. Democratic lawmakers called for a Secret Service investigation into the Republican presidential nominee.
The Secret Service responded that it was aware of Trump's comments.
Trump's camp said the statements have been misinterpreted by the "dishonest media" and that he was referring to the voting power of Second Amendment supporters.
Sessions told CNN Trump's comments had nothing to do with violence but rather a call for Second Amendment supporters to vote.
"He has no intention of suggesting violence against Hillary Clinton. I just don't believe that's possible," Sessions said.
Craig Pouncey for slideshow.jpg
Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Craig Pouncey interviews with the state Board of Education for the state superintendent position on Aug. 4, 2016.
(Mike Cason/mcason@al.com)
An ethics complaint was filed against one of the six finalists for Alabama state school superintendent.
Alabama Political Reporter reported on the complaint against Craig Pouncey, who is superintendent of Jefferson County Schools.
Pouncey said today he has not been notified by the state Department of Education or the Ethics Commission about a complaint.
Pouncey said allegations given anonymously to state Board of Education members in July were false.
"Anybody who knows me knows they are totally baseless," Pouncey said.
"I didn't give any merit to it at all. I've just tried to dust it off my back and keep moving," he said.
The state BOE is scheduled to select a new superintendent on Thursday.
The board held one-hour interviews with Pouncey and other five candidates last week.
The timing shows that allegations are an effort to undermine his chances for the job, Pouncey said.
"I think that was just all the more telling as to what the primary objective really was, and that was an attempt to discredit my candidacy for consideration for the state superintendent's position," he said.
According to the story on APR, Pouncey was accused of using a state employee to help him with his dissertation while he was a top official at the state Department of Education.
Pouncey received a doctorate in education leadership from Samford University in 2010, according to his resume.
Asked about the allegation today, Pouncey told AL.com that he asked Dean Murray, who worked in his office when he was deputy state superintendent, to type his dissertation. Pouncey said he did not direct her to do it, but asked if she would be willing, and that she did the typing at home.
Pouncey said he had written the dissertation by hand on legal pads at home.
In a letter posted on APR, Murray, a retired information technology specialist, said she did the typing on her home computer.
Murray wrote that she emailed drafts to Pouncey's office email and said she did, at times, make minor edits during the day.
Murray wrote that she hopes the board picks Pouncey as the next superintendent.
Shelley Vail-Smith, a member of the committee at Samford that reviewed Pouncey's dissertation in 2010, emailed a letter to state Board of Education members today defending Pouncey and his work on the dissertation.
Vail-Smith's letter was in response to an allegation questioning Pouncey's authorship of the dissertation.
"I participated in the entire process of his writing the dissertation, as did the other committee members," Vail-Smith wrote. "In my opinion, it would have been impossible for anyone else to have written any part of this for him."
The topic of the dissertation was related to the Legislature and funding of Alabama public schools.
"I know Dr. Pouncey to be an honest man who cares deeply about educating children, and as someone who has devoted his professional career to improving the lives of students across the state, especially those from the poorest areas," Vail-Smith wrote.
APR posted a letter from Ethics Commission General Counsel Hugh Evans to Juliana Dean, general counsel for the state Department of Education.
The letter, dated July 15, is to inform Dean that an ethics complaint has been filed against Pouncey.
Evans said today he could not comment on any complaints or investigations because they are covered under the grand jury secrecy act.
Speaking generically, Evans said it is standard procedure for the commission to notify a person or entity who filed a complaint that the commission has received it.
Evans said the Ethics Commission is prohibited by law from investigating anonymous complaints.
During Pouncey's interview with the state BOE last week, Gov. Robert Bentley, who is president of the board, gave Pouncey an opportunity to address rumors. Bentley did not specify what he was talking about.
"Innuendos, rumors and blogs and emails that are put out on people that no one knows where they come from -- how cowardly can people be?" Bentley said. "Would you like to answer that, some of the things that have been put out?"
Pouncey said:
"My grandfather taught me a long time ago, he said, 'Craig when you walk through the hog pen and the pigs splatter mud on you, don't wipe it off because all it does is smear. Just let it dry, then you can just thump it off.'
"I think people know me know those malicious allegations that were for whatever reason shared with the State Board are totally baseless and are not even worthy of response."
Pouncey said today he had told all the board members that he was available to discuss any allegations further but has not heard from any.
Other finalists for state superintendent:
Williamson Evers, research fellow at Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Dee Fowler, superintendent, Madison City Schools
Jeana Ross, secretary, Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education
Michael Sentance, education policy and improvement consultant
Janet Womack, superintendent, Florence City Schools
This story was updated at 4:22 p.m. to add information about the letter from Shelley Vail-Smith.
In a country with the highest HIV rate, notions of male pride and responsibility stop men getting diagnosed and treated.
Mahlanya, Swaziland The 300 or so pictures of the ideal man drawn by boys joining a male-mentoring charity in Swaziland are almost always the same. They depict a solitary and solemn figure who appears domineering on his land, drinking and wearing traditional dress.
I thought a man was somebody whos got a family, somebody whos got authority, power, that kind of thing, says Lungelo Fakudze, one of the roughly 100,000 orphans in Swaziland, which is home to 1.3 million people.
It is a difficult image to break in Africas last absolute monarchy, ruled by King Mswati III who has 15 wives and can pick a new one yearly from thousands of virgins presented to him during an annual ceremony and which is blighted by the worlds highest rates of HIV, TB and intimate partner violence.
The scourge of HIV/Aids during the 1990s and 2000s means that half of the population of Swaziland are children and almost a third of adults have HIV. But a strong notion of male pride and a sense of duty to provide for others, means many men conceal their HIV status and continue to work even when unwell.
The men also stay away from health clinics, which tend to be female-centred, where they could get a diagnosis and treatment. As a result, while more women contract HIV, more men die as a result of it.
They believe that they should be big and strong and solitary and authoritative. Reasons youre less likely to go to the clinic and get a check-up and seek out medical services until its too late, says Tom Churchyard, the director of the charity Kwakha Indvodza (KI), which means Building a Man.
As more men die, the shortfall in male role models grows. KI is trying to fill that void by taking boys, mostly orphaned by Aids, and deconstructing their dangerous notions of what it means to be a man.
Ive seen so many people out there, they take this thing of being a man using it the wrong way taking it and abusing other people, says Fakudze, who started coming to KIs Mahlanya youth centre three years ago when he was 15.
High rates of unemployment, about 40 percent, in Swaziland also present a challenge to the image of the ideal Swazi male. This has pushed some men over the border to work in South Africas mines and others towards alcoholism or other forms of abuse.
You find that youre unable to protect, youre unable to provide, so thats maybe where the violence comes in, because youre trying to prove something, says Emmanuel Mkhwanazi, a KI counsellor.
One in three girls surveyed by UNICEF reported some form of sexual violence during childhood.
READ MORE: Rape and HIV a common reality for young Swazi women
Where are the men?
As 300,000 Swazis currently face hunger as a result of Swazilands worst drought in 18 years, Mswatis wives and a 100-strong entourage enjoyed a nearly $1m summer holiday to Orlando, Florida.
Mswati is often accused of reinforcing a patriarchy that oppresses women and keeps them chasing after blessers older men who exchange gifts, school fees or other forms of payment for sex. The fact that the highest rates of HIV are among young women more than one in 10 females aged 15-24 are living with HIV and men some 10 years their senior suggests this blesser culture may be exacerbating the spread of the virus.
HIV is often diagnosed in women during pregnancy, with those who test positive being put on antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, which drastically reduce the chance of transmission to their babies, as well as future partners, and prolong their lives.
But diagnosing men, who usually avoid clinics, remains a challenge.
We always sit and wonder, where are the men? says Dr Nduduzo Dube. Two-thirds of the patients he treats at the Aids Healthcare Foundation clinic in Manzini city are women.
Swaziland is a very traditional, masculine-based society so they think they should support a whole family, says Yen-Hao Chu, who is part of a Chinese medical mission working in Swaziland.
Men earning around $15 a month wont want to face any other problem other than work or become permanently controlled by clinics which cut into precious working hours, Chu says.
The HIV male blame game
The medical response to HIV was feminised to tackle soaring female prevalence, Dube explains, but he thinks this approach now needs to evolve.
Weve tried to engage into programmes where we try and encourage men to test, which basically involves going to their workplaces or places where they gather as a group.
Clinics in kombis, small minibuses that travel through the streets, serve the most hidden groups, such as homosexual men.
Researcher Bekhie Sithole believes that mens withdrawal from healthcare is a result of the moralising of HIV and the way that men have been painted as the perpetrators and women as their victims.
Men have developed their own attitude to that, saying, We are the bad guys, so we will do things the way we like, he says.
Dube explains that in such a patriarchal society, where men are put up there, they are not inclined to accept being blamed for anything.
The lure of witch-doctors
Most men ignore local clinics that are aimed at, staffed by and used by women, and opt instead to visit a local inyanga, or witch-doctor.
They offer queue-free, man-to-man private consultations and, sometimes, the promise of what the patient wants to hear either that they dont have HIV or that it can be cured.
Part of the appeal of witch-doctors is that they are offering cures, not treatment that require you to come back for check-ups, says Chu.
ALSO READ: Protests in Swaziland over shortage of drugs
Newspaper adverts from witch-doctors promise to bring back lost lovers or separate them within a day, resolve problems at work even if they want to fire you, attract white or rich people and allow control of your husband or wife using a remote as if by magic.
But the medicines prescribed can be brutal.
They will look for the most awkward thing for you to do, just like sometimes they will tell you have to kill your brother so if you dont do it they can say, well you cant get better because you didnt do it, says Dube.
One HIV cure is to have sex with a virgin.
People dont say it openly now because they know its wrong, but its still prescribed by traditional healers and they still do it, said a foreign doctor who could not speak on the record.
Great strides have been taken to bring medics and witch-doctors together to carve out roles healers will treat HIV-related ailments but recognise the virus and refer patients for testing and treatment.
We see that some of them have seen the benefits of ARVs so in their concoctions they do try and put ARVs, so they can keep their clients, because there is monetary benefit in that, says Dube.
Drugs for life
From January 2017, Swaziland will start putting anyone who tests positive regardless of their viral load on ARVs for life, to prevent the virus from being spread early on.
Trials by medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) found that this approach appeals to Swazi men as it means that they will stay stronger for longer.
ALSO READ: HIV discovery offers new lead in finding cure
I think this is also about keeping the balance of being a man in your community. You can live your own life, you can make your own decisions, without the need of being dependent on somebody else, says Bernhard Kerschberger, from MSF Swaziland.
Getting children to take pills for life is more difficult. Boys fear being seen taking daily ARVs because they may be stigmatised, says Fakudze.
Circumcision and the warrior complex
Campaigns calling for circumcision, which may reduce the risk of heterosexually acquired infection in men by approximately 60 percent, mostly fall on deaf ears as boys and men cite concerns over religion, virility and their warrior status.
A 19th century Swazi king banned circumcision after blaming his failure to find enough warriors to go to battle on the number of men recovering from the operation.
King Mswati has asked his countrymen to get circumcised, although it is unclear whether he has done so himself.
Most of the boys that pass through Kwakha Indvodza get circumcised, either after learning about it at holiday camps or on accompanied clinic visits.
With more openness about HIV even if school sex education still preaches abstinence and fidelity and better treatment models, the number of Swazilands lost boys should decline.
Fakudze described sleepwalking through life alone before he found a family in the KI brotherhood.
Now I have goals, my own goals, Ive got a vision of my life. Ive got a future, somewhere, he says.
That doesnt involve getting HIV, making his children suffer as he did, or being the man he once drew.
I want to be the man who is caring, who is responsible, who cares for the family, the people living with him, the environment and even care about my health too. A man who will have dignity, honour and respect, just like that.
Hannah McNeish reported from Swaziland with the help of the International Reporting Project (IRP) .
When I was told to oversee the first post-war elections in Bosnia, it made me hunger even more for democracy in Egypt.
Egyptian war correspondent Yehia Ghanem continues his series of short stories on the wars he has covered and the people he has met along the way. Here he recalls the time he was assigned to be an election observer despite never having voted in an election himself. Read the rest of the series, Caged, here.
Over the years, I lost touch with Mordechai, the bold young Israeli boy Id met in Haifa in 1994, but I stayed in touch with Mohamed, the 12-year-old Egyptian who had visited me, along with his friends, at the downtown Cairo office of Al-Ahram newspaper in 1993.
In 1999, I was assigned to be a roving war correspondent in Sub-Saharan Africa. I established my base in Johannesburg, South Africa, and from there travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where I reported from the front lines of the long and ruthless war raging there.
When away from Egypt, I barely communicated with Mohamed, but I would contact him whenever I returned to Cairo on vacation. I watched him grow from childhood to adulthood, all too quickly. He maintained his interest in war reporting, discussing with me my efforts to unmask the ugly face of war, or, as he liked to put it, the ultimate manifestation of human disrespect to ourselves.
For ever young
When I finally returned to Cairo on a more permanent basis to take up an editorial post at the newspaper, he wasnt pleased. Yes, Im very happy to be able to see you more often, he said, but the world still needs you out there to report on the agonies of those being consumed by evil mens lust for war.
I smiled and told him: Mohamed, when we first met I was in my 20s, almost the same age as you are now. Im getting too old for this very violent job and I should now leave it to my younger colleagues.
I remember him moving his handsome head slowly from side to side to indicate that he wasnt convinced.
Do you think I am for ever young? I once asked him. Look at yourself in the mirror and remember how young you were when we first met.
Sometimes I wondered whether one of the many things that endeared me to Mohamed was the fact that he somehow always made me feel young.
It was with his encouragement that I took short but dangerous assignments every now and again, particularly to my beloved Afghanistan between 2006 and 2010.
During those years Mohamed finished his university studies, graduated with a degree in civil engineering and accepted a position as an engineer at a private construction company. I felt as proud of him as I did of my own son. And I longed for an Egyptian leader with his qualities his sense of patriotism, integrity and sincerity.
A birthday in Kabul
On November 9, 2010, I celebrated my birthday in Kabul, Afghanistan. I was there on a three-week assignment, but it felt like three years. I was reporting on what seemed to be a bleak future for Afghanistan, but my mind was preoccupied with thoughts of the dangerous and uncertain future that seemed to be awaiting my own country.
During my stay, I interviewed Afghanistans leaders about the state of their country under a foreign military occupation. But each night, when I returned to my hotel room to transcribe my interviews, I wondered how I could ask all these questions of others when my own country languished in similar circumstances. Even my voice sounded foreign to me as I heard it back, discussing the impact of corruption in Afghanistan. All the while, I thought about what was happening back in Egypt.
In the days after I returned from Afghanistan, I busied myself writing articles about my own country. Egypts parliamentary elections were only weeks away not that I would vote in them; I never had. Like millions of Egyptians, I refrained from voting, refusing to participate in a farce.
I recalled an event that had taken place years earlier, in the months after the Bosnian war had ended in 1996. I was informed by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe had recruited me to serve as an international observer for the first post-war elections in Bosnia.
Although I understood why they had done so I was familiar with the geopolitical map of the country and they wanted to ensure that there were some Muslims on the team I was petrified at the prospect. How could I oversee something I had never participated in?
I tried my best to make myself unavailable for the mission, but it was in vain. Egypts assistant foreign minister was relentless in stressing the importance of my being there.
I finally had to tell him the truth: that I knew nothing of the culture of free elections.
The man recognised my dilemma. I suspected that he shared it as he had most probably never voted either. We both felt trapped in a cage of ignorance, unfamiliar with this core component of the democratic process.
We want you [Egypt] to be part of this event, and since you are supposed to be there weeks prior to the elections its best that you attend, simply listen and watch, he told me. By doing so, you will learn about the process of free elections, and then be more able to observe them.
I agreed. For a month I observed the pre-election campaigns and the voting process. It was an experience that made me long even more for a democratic culture in my own country.
Chronicle of a Caged Journalist is a series of excerpts from a forthcoming book.
The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
After elections campaign period rocked by violence, Zambians prepare for polls to elect new president and parliament.
Lusaka, Zambia Flags pinned to masts flap in the wind and colourful posters plastered on walls across Zambia urge voters to make their choice in the August 11 presidential and parliamentary elections and in a referendum on the Bill of Rights in the Constitution.
On the streets of the capital Lusaka there is a buzz of excitement for another contest between the front-runners, incumbent President Edgar Lungu, of the ruling Patriotic Front, and Hakainde Hichilema, a wealthy businessman, leading the United Party for National Development.
The winner must gain more than 50 percent of the votes. After last years snap election which Lungu won by a small margin, some voters in Lusaka, the ruling partys stronghold, told Al Jazeera they were confident of the Patriotic Front (PF) getting a larger share of the majority vote.
Recent tensions between the PF and the United Party for National Development, saw clashes in one neighbourhood, Mtendere, just days before the vote and previously led to a 10-day suspension of campaigning in some parts of Lusaka.
Voters spoke to Al Jazeera expressing their concerns about the state of the declining economy, youth unemployment, Zambias energy woes and the political environment in which another hotly contested election takes place.
Evans Phiri, 42, vendor stall owner
The biggest challenge during this campaign period has been with the youth in politics who consider themselves the big men, they only want to promote their own party and make sure that nobody else with a different view can express it.
In Chawama [Lusaka] where I live, there have been some problems and the political youth have taken power into their own hands and the police dont even have a say.
Its the ruling partys stronghold so nobody can say anything and theres no room for the opposition to campaign equally.
If we lived in a democracy that opportunity would be there and everyone would be free to make their choice, but we cant and we are too afraid to say anything.
When I vote on Thursday, I will be voting for a leadership that can put an end to this because we cant say we live in a democracy when we Zambians are not free to show our support for different parties.
Linda Banda, 30, hairdresser
I come from the Eastern Province [where President Lungu is popular] and although people might want the PF to win because of that, we also need to look at what they can do for us.
The cost of living in Zambia is very high nowadays and we need a leadership that can create opportunities for the youth and reduce the costs of basic things such as the price of mealie meal [maize flour].
This year it went up because of the drought, but politicians on both sides promise it will come down because this year there will be rains, but only God knows if the rains will come.
Anyway I will place my vote for PF because I think they can bring us through the hard times we are facing, we cant be sure of what the others can do so I will choose what I know and what Zambians have seen and tested.
Mwila Mulenga, 23, data and accounts entry clerk
During an election period people get very anxious and emotions are always running high and so many here in Lusaka are concerned about violence.
There is a tendency to blame the ruling party for some issues that are really between communities and things get blown out of proportion.
Perhaps this is why we dont need change and we can lobby for the changes we want from the government we have rather than just changing everything.
Im confident the present government can address the concerns over the rising cost of living and healthcare so thats where Im placing my vote rather than hoping for change from the opposition candidates whose mere presence in politics generates a lot of talk and false fear.
Steven Mweene, 21, driver
I often drive to Mtendere [Lusaka] where there have been some issues between parties, if the PF green cadres see you putting on a red shirt they can accuse you of supporting the opposition, but I dont, this will actually be my first time to vote.
Sometimes it doesnt really matter who you vote for, but its whether or not the problems can be fixed especially the problem of youth unemployment.
The politicians promise us a lot of things, but I dont know if I can trust that there will be real changes for the youth after Ive voted.
They say they will provide us with money to support our projects and they can create more jobs that can pay us enough to survive, but since things are very tough at the moment, people could just vote because the politicians make very good promises.
Mable Kasande, 28, small business owner
On Thursday itll be my first time to vote and Im happy Ill have the opportunity to choose the party of my choice.
The Patriotic Front under President Lungu have a chance to be in power for a full five years and we can see what they are capable of doing. In just this short time since 2015 when Lungu was elected to take over after President Michael Satas death, the PF have constructed roads and tried to improve the housing situation for some communities.
Now we will also be voting for changes to the constitution to make sure every Zambian will have a right to decent housing and this shows what Lungu and his government could do for the country if they were given a full five years in office.
Roy Ngwenya, 37, cab driver
Despite all our problems, the government has tried to live up to its promises and I hope this election will put them back in power to finish what they started.
We are going through a difficult economic period and the government has tried to diversify our economy so that we dont depend too much on copper.
We also face serious power challenges and so weve had to look to other sources of energy such as solar and coal and if we continue to look for other alternatives it may improve the deficit were currently facing.
There is no perfect government out there in the world, even [President Barack] Obama in America was not perfect, so my choice will be for the one that has proven it is right for Zambia.
Follow Tendai on Twitter: @i_amten.
A major forest fire in Portugals Madeira Islands has forced more than 400 people to flee their homes and seen at least 174 others treated in hospital, officials said Tuesday.
Other wildfires have raged for several days on the Portuguese mainland.
The National Civil Protection Service said some 2,900 firefighters were in action on Tuesday tackling dozens of forest fires. The worst-hit areas were in the countrys north.
The country that they knew growing up seems to be changing for the worse in their eyes.
Before his attack on the Khans immigrant parents of a United States soldier who was killed in Iraq in 2004 many immigrants in the United States and their children had voiced support for the Republican candidate Donald Trump.
This may seem odd given that Trump has spoken about building a wall along the Mexican border, barring Muslims from entering the US, and making disparaging comments against various ethnic and religious groups.
One would think that such comments would have made Trump radioactive among immigrants and their descendants, but that was not the case.
Immigrants for Trump
A considerable number of legal immigrants in the US say they played by the rules and waited many years before they were allowed to immigrate.
They believe illegal immigrants took advantage of the porous US-Mexican border or overstayed in the country with their visitor visas illegally. The main argument is that this is fundamentally a question of fairness.
One Indian-American legal immigrant told The New York Times earlier this year that You should not reward people who have broken the law Thats why I like Donald Trump when he says, Lets build a wall.' He added, I believe anybody who came to this country illegally should be deported.
Another reason many legal immigrants have voiced support for Trump is because he is the quintessential entrepreneur in their estimation.
READ MORE: What did Muslims at the RNC think of Donald Trump?
It is fair to say that most immigrants who come to the US want to achieve the American dream that, in their eyes, means starting a business, prospering and giving their children a better life than they had back in their old country.
What about the children and the future generations of legal immigrants? Many of them saw how hard it was for their parents to earn a living in the US in reality the American dream was a real struggle as they faced language barriers and, at times, discrimination.
They say that their parents endured a lot but, through hard work and perseverance, overcame obstacles and made a better life for themselves and their children.
Coupled with this sentiment is the belief that the government did not give their parents any handouts, nor were there any applications in multiple languages as there are now. Immigrants were compelled to learn English to succeed.
Different conditions
Of course, such beliefs are not entirely accurate. Today, while many legal immigrants get some government assistance, the illegals do not because they would then have to come out from the shadows and be subject to deportation.
In addition, many of the earlier immigrants lived in ghettoised communities and never learned proper English.
Although the US still has problems of prejudice, that practice stops at a war's edge.The vast majority of Americans believe that any American soldier who has died in war and their family deserves the utmost respect. by
Nonetheless, the feeling that the new immigrants particularly the illegal ones are taking advantage of the system seems to grate on many of the descendants of the earlier waves of immigrants.
The country that they knew growing up seems to be changing for the worse in their eyes. That is why when Trump says he is going to make America great again this phrase has some resonance with some immigrants and their children.
Forgetting the past
Some of them tend to forget that anti-immigrant demagogues were quite prominent in the early part of the 20th century, making life difficult for their parents.
Indeed, there was such anti-immigrant sentiment and talk of the country changing for the worse that the US Congress passed highly discriminatory laws in 1924 that severely restricted immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe and Asia.
OPINION: A Muslim ghost is haunting America
If Trump had just stuck with the issue of illegal immigration, he would not be in such hot water today. But as a narcissist, he cannot control himself. His attack on the Khan family who appeared at the Democratic National Convention was a bridge too far.
Although the US still has problems of prejudice, that practice stops at a wars edge.
The vast majority of Americans believe that any American soldier who has died in war and their family deserves the utmost respect.
When Trump went after the mother, Ghazala Khan, of the dead soldier, suggesting that her Muslim faith prevented her from speaking at the convention, most Americans were appalled by his remarks. Polls show that 74 percent of Americans disapprove of Trumps attack on the Khans.
In the US history, wars are a great equaliser. In a 1970s sociological study of a Slovak-American community that included many World War II veterans, one interviewee stated that before that war, everyone was in their own little group During the war, everyone got to know everyone else, and the old barriers fell apart. They saw that everyone was human just like them, that blood was all red.
This sentiment that in war everyone is equal regardless of ethnicity or religion explains in large part why Trump has taken such a drubbing in the polls in recent weeks after having been tied with Hillary Clinton earlier in the summer.
Unless he apologises and avoids such comments in the future, he will remain in second place and will not regain the support of many immigrants and their children, particularly those who served in the military, of which there are many.
Gregory Aftandilian is a lecturer in the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and is a former US State Department Middle East analyst
The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Leaving the EU once seemed outlandish, Brexit now makes leaving seem feasible and, to some, reasonable.
Philippe Legrain is a former economic adviser to the president of the European Commission.
For once, Marine Le Pen, the leader of Frances far-right National Front, may be correct. She has called the United Kingdoms vote to leave the European Union the biggest political event in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
That may turn out to be true: Brexit has destabilised the UK and could end up destroying the EU.
Old-fashioned federalists say that the answer to Brexit should be further EU integration. But that response is both far-fetched and dangerous.
Germany and France are often at odds, and both have weak leaders facing re-election next year who could scarcely muster support for an ever-closer union.
And anti-EU sentiment is too widespread and too deep to hand more power to unelected EU officials by imposing additional constraints on national decision-making without poisoning the pot further.
True, the immediate post-Brexit turmoil appears to have boosted support for mainstream politicians and the EU; but this is unlikely to last. The Brexit fallout is expected to sap eurozone economic performance and further polarise European politics as voters become more insecure.
Breaking the invisible barrier
German dominance of the EU will increase, and so, too, will the anti-German backlash in many countries.
With a weak and divided EU unable to resolve Europes many crises, and with nationalism resurgent, we can expect further disintegration in different forms.The most extreme form would be further exits by member states.
Leaving the EU once seemed outlandish: No country had ever done it, and only extremists even proposed it. Brexit now makes leaving seem feasible and, to some, reasonable.
Already, Geert Wilders, whose far-right Freedom Party is leading in the polls in the run-up to the Netherlands general election next March, is demanding a referendum on EU membership.
So, too, is the Danish Peoples Party, which is the biggest party in the Danish parliament, but remains out of government.
OPINION: Brexit a wake-up call for the EU, but will it listen?
In France, where opposition to the EU is even greater than in the UK, Le Pen is campaigning on the promise of a Frexit plebiscite. She currently leads in polls for the first round of the presidential election next April.
And while those polls suggest that she would be defeated in the second-round runoff by a more moderate conservative challenger, centre-left voters who are fed up with austerity, the political establishment, and German dominance may yet rally behind her.
Moreover, the growing sense of insecurity after the Nice attack on July 14 the third major terrorist massacre in France in 18 months plays into Le Pens hands.
The indirect approach
Disintegration could also take a less extreme but more insidious form if governments choose to ignore EU rules with impunity.
In Italy, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi sought to take advantage of post-Brexit instability to use public funds to recapitalise Italys zombie banks, without imposing losses on their creditors, thereby bypassing the EUs new bail-in rules for banks.
In France, Prime Minister Manuel Valls threatened to ignore the EUs posted-workers directive unless it was modified to prevent employers hiring workers from other EU countries on worse terms than locals.
Rather than trying to force recalcitrant governments to accept unwanted refugees, EU authorities should pursue an orderly and safe resettlement programme with willing governments. by
Germany claims that France is also bending the eurozones fiscal rules, with no objection from the European Commission.
And while the Commission threatened Spain and Portugal with fines for their borrowing overruns, it ultimately pulled back.
It has also rubber-stamped many governments unilateral imposition of border controls in the supposedly border-free Schengen Area.
Worse, the commission has turned a blind eye to Hungarys illiberal prime minister, Viktor Orban, despite his governments repeated flouting of EU requirements concerning the rule of law and democratic norms.
The governments of Hungary and other countries also refuse to comply with the EUs programme to relocate refugees across the union, which in any case has scarcely been implemented; Orban is holding a referendum in October to bolster his position.
OPINION: Brexit and the view from Spain
A third threat to EU integration is the further capture of governments by nationalist anti-establishment parties. As the European Council on Foreign Relations has pointed out, insurgent parties already play a direct role in the governance of eight of the EUs 28 countries.
In Austria, the far-right candidate Norbert Hofer leads polls in a re-run of the countrys presidential election, set for October. The same month, Italy will hold a constitutional referendum to reform the Senate, and Renzi has vowed to resign if it doesnt pass.
This would open the door for the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, which recently won local elections in Rome and Turin, and has called for a referendum on Italys eurozone but not EU membership.
Even when populist parties dont win, establishment politicians still make concessions to their supporters. For example, Alain Juppe, the presidential frontrunner for the Republicans in France, muses about limiting labour mobility in the EU, as does his main rival, former President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Focus on the benefits
To counter these forces of disintegration, the EU must do less and do it better.
Economically, plans for new institutions can wait; the eurozone should focus instead on policies to raise living standards for all.
These should include looser fiscal constraints, more investment, an end to beggar-thy-neighbor wage cuts and lower taxes on labour.
Europes leaders also need to restore trust. For starters, they should use the EUs new bail-in rules to clean up banks balance sheets, imposing losses on creditors and compensating any small investors who were sold a false bill of goods.
Politically, the EU should emphasise effective cooperation in combating terrorism.
And, rather than trying to force recalcitrant governments to accept unwanted refugees, EU authorities should pursue an orderly and safe resettlement programme with willing governments.
This is particularly important in view of the uncertain fate of the EUs deal with Turkey to curb refugee inflows, which is looking increasingly precarious following last months failed coup.
The EUs leaders need to wake up. With disintegration looming, they urgently need to demonstrate to anxious Europeans that the benefits of the EU outweigh its costs.
Philippe Legrain, a former economic adviser to the president of the European Commission, is a visiting senior fellow at the London School of Economics European Institute.
The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Copyright: Project Syndicate 2016 Three Paths to European Disintegration
The feature film Let Them Come, by Algerian director Salem Brahimi, revisits Algerias Black Decade, when the country was struck by continuous attacks that killed about 200,000 people in the 1990s.
The film, which details the plight of a family in the crossfire between government forces and religious extremists, was shown at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris in April and will be released in the citys theatres this autumn. The film won two awards: the Jury Award in Dubai in 2015 and the Kosmorama New Directors Award in Trondheim, Norway, in 2016.
Brahimi, 43, the son of veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, made the film based on a book of the same title by Algerian author Arezki Mellal, published in 2000. Salem Brahimi has directed two previous documentaries in Algeria: Africa is Back, about the 2009 Pan-African Festival of Algiers, and a 2014 documentary film about the historical Algerian figure Emir Abdelkader.
Al Jazeera spoke with Brahimi about his film and his reflections on the political developments in his country and throughout the Arab world.
Al Jazeera: Why did you decide to work on this film?
People want change but theyre afraid of it The vaccine of terrorism has played its part. Many want stability over everything else. Its a very sad way to look at stability. But vaccines can wear off.
Salem Brahimi: It was a slow process. I had already made a few films in Algeria, but there was always the elephant in the room: the Black Decade. I wanted to tackle it in a narrative feature because it is more personal, more experiential, so people could feel the reality of the Black Decade.
My producer [Michele Ray-Gavras] stumbled upon the book Let Them Come, and it was love at first sight. I was shocked when I read the book, because it made me think about, how did we become a country plagued by terrorism? It was an overwhelming feeling.
You always wonder as an Algerian citizen about how we created a society where people could raid a village and kill children. I asked myself, How did we generate that barbarity? People who did that were our neighbours, our brothers. Its easy to say the bad guys are the others. Its very hard to admit that they came from our midst, and everybody should be asking themselves about this.
Right now, the French should be asking themselves the same question, about why they were struck by terrorism I think that each society needs to take a hard look at themselves.
Why did we create these young men and women who are candidates for terrorism? I ask the question as an Algerian in my film.
Al Jazeera: Why do you think Algeria plunged into terrorism?
Brahimi: Its a mix of factors. One of the original sins: the war in Afghanistan between the mujahideen and the Russians. When the Russians left Afghanistan, all those people returned to Bosnia and Algeria and became a trouble in their own societies. The riots in Algeria in 1988 were very similar to what happened during the Arab Spring in the rest of the region.
In October 1988, the youth were in the street, and the army shot at them. The army opened up the political game, and we realised that the most organised force of opposition was the Islamists, but when the Islamists were denied victory, their movement became a big recruitment base.
Al Jazeera: Do you have memories of what the country was like during the Black Decade?
Brahimi: I returned for brief periods You could feel the decay, the fear, and friends and families would tell you about their daily ordeals. You leave in the morning to work and never know if you are coming back in the evening. I was very fortunate in the sense that I didnt experience that on a daily basis, because my family lived abroad at the time.
Al Jazeera: Whats the main message of the film?
Brahimi: Theres a feel, not necessarily a message. Its for the people to feel the decay, the fear. Terrorism is not just the act of violence. It basically stabs the society and bleeds it. It generates a culture of fear where people do not trust each other any more. The film also pays tribute to the many people who actually are the unsung heroes against terrorism.
The general population resisted in small, subtle ways, continuing to try to live their lives as normally as they could, refusing to succumb to fear. It was a very discreet, yet very real act of resistance. I wanted to give a sense of that. This is not a film about Islamism; its more universal, I hope.
Its a film about barbarity. Its about human history. This was our experience with barbarity as other cultures have had their own experiences with it. You cannot negotiate with barbarity; you cannot dance to its music. The moment you do that, you become barbaric yourself.
Al Jazeera: What do you think the Arab world can learn from the Algerian experience?
Brahimi: As the French say: Comparison is not reason. We can never predict what will happen. People are still in shock when something like 9/11 happened, or when the Paris attacks happened. We are always a step behind in history. One should be very humble about it. I dont know how many lessons can apply.
Syria and Iraq will get over the nightmare for separate sets of reasons. The dynamics of Algeria are very different. The central government in Algeria, whatever you think about it, is nothing like Syrian President Bashar al-Assads regime. October 1988 is a stain that will haunt the regime as they shot at protesters. While the regime tried later to open up the political game, in Syria, the regime stuck to its guns.
Algeria learned the lesson through bloodshed. Extremist groups were so barbaric that the population sided with the central government. Iraq and Syria may stop the violence, but when it is far too late, just like Algeria did after 200,000 civilians were killed.
I believe that there is always a point where exhaustion and common sense somewhat prevail. After years trying to find a military solution, that will only create more victims; things are bound to change.
Its the nature of war. The war is not meant to go on for ever. None of the players of this deadly game have gotten to that point. Right now the idea seems to be, Lets continue to the last Syrian.
Al Jazeera: Now that Algeria is calmer, whats the cultural life like?
Brahimi: Algeria, like many Arab countries, has always had thinkers. Because of the socialist backbone of the state in Algeria, we have intellectuals and others who are a voice of contestation. What is sad is that we arent doing enough. Artists, and people who create culture, lost their role in society; theyre marginal, and thats dangerous.
The availability of culture is a real challenge. We dont have enough cinemas. We have a vibrant book scene, authors who are published internationally, but its very sad that there is an elitist nature to culture. Books are available, but not that available. This wasnt so much the case in the 1970s, and we lost that.
The real priority is to create a culture that encourages the public to attend movies. The cultural scene is not developed enough.
Al Jazeera: Is Algeria opening up more to the world?
Brahimi: It is, but too slowly. Over the past 10, 15 years, it is opening more and more. But old habits die hard. We are obsessed with sovereignty and closed to foreign investment, but I think it makes us too removed from the world. We confuse sovereignty and what it takes to function in the world. It will change through younger generations and through practical reasons. The oil prices will force us to interact with the world.
Al Jazeera: What about political change?
Brahimi: When you look at Algeria 20 years back, 30 years back, you cant say that the country didnt change. We had a unique one-party system, then the Islamists won, then a civil war. We do have freedom of expression in the press to a certain extent. We do have a multi-party system and an opposition. The problem is that right now, we dont know what is on the horizon.
If youre very honest, the political game is locked. We dont know what the next step is going to be in terms of governance, ideas.
None of the political parties really do have a plan. I was in Algeria just after the so-called Arab Spring. Many said, good luck with that, weve been there 20 years ago. We would love for our Tunisian brothers to learn from our mistakes, but we dont want any of that.
Its a dangerous factor of immobility; people want change but theyre afraid of it. Its a politicians job to propose change. The vaccine of terrorism has played its part. Many want stability over everything else. Its a very sad way to look at stability. But vaccines can wear off.
We have quite a lot of stuff happening. Our old demons are not far from us. I am glad that we learned some lessons from the past, but it should not justify a standstill. Algerian people deserve better than that and that should be our future.
A fire in Baghdads Yarmouk maternity hospital has left at least 12 premature babies dead, Iraqi health ministry says.
At least welve prematurely born babies were killed in a fire that broke out in the early hours of Wednesday on a maternity ward in a Baghdad hospital and was probably caused by an electrical fault, Iraqi authorities said.
Eleven or twelve other babies and 29 women were rescued from the Yarmuk hospitals maternity ward and transferred to other hospitals, Hani al-Okabi, an MP who previouly managed a health directorate in Baghdad, told journalists after visiting the hospital and talking to the management.
Firefighters and hospital staff took about three hours to put out the blaze that engulfed the ward, according to one medic. Yarmuk is a main hospital on the western side of the capital, with emergency care facilities among others.
My sons birth was difficult, Shaima Hussein, one of the babies mothers, told Reuters news agency at the gate of the hospital. She said she was not given a chance to rescue her newborn.
I came with milk powder for him, and then this happened they shut the electricity and the doors, she said.
READ MORE: Ban militias with abuse records from Mosul fight, says HRW
Hassan Omar said he was upset that the hospital would not give him information about his twins other than that he may have to have DNA checks to see if they were among the dead.
I went to the other hospital, they are not there, so where are they? he said.
The incident is likely to intensify public accusations of state corruption and mismanagement.
Pictures posted on social media showed the hospital in a state of neglect, with cockroaches crawling out from between broken tiles, dustbins overflowing with rubbish, dirty toilets and patients lying on stretchers in the courtyard.
The relative of a patient who died recently in the hospital from meningitis said he saw cockroach crawling along the tube of an oxygen mask.
It was so dirty, he said. We had to bring our own bed sheets.
Thirteen years after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, the oil-rich country still suffers a shortage of electricity, water, schools and hospitals.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has been trying for more than two years to tackle corruption in Iraq, which ranks 161 out of 168 on Transparency Internationals Corruption Index, but has faced resistance from much of the political elite.
Corruption has exacerbated the effects on the economy of a sharp decline in oil revenue caused by falling crude prices and the costs of fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIL, also known as ISIS), the hardline group that has controlled large parts of northern and western Iraq since 2014.
Afghanistan has one of the worst healthcare systems in the world, with many having little or no access to medical treatment.
Years of civil war have devastated the healthcare infrastructure, and unlike other countries in the region, Afghanistan has seen increasing rates of preventable diseases such as diarrhoea and respiratory infections.
According to The World Bank, about one in 10 children will die before reaching the age of five, and there are about 396 deaths per every 100,000 births well above the 2015 world average of 216.
And as fighting rages in the south of the country, there are growing fears of a new humanitarian crisis as the young, sick and elderly flee advancing Taliban fighters.
So far, around 30,000 people have sought shelter in Kandahar, but Al Jazeera has learned that the provinces poorly funded hospitals are struggling to cope with the sudden influx.
IN PICTURES: Inside a frontline hospital in Afghanistan
We lack accommodation and dont have enough personnel, Ali Ahmed Qani, a surgeon at the Mirwais hospital, said. If the hospitals capacity was increased, then we would have one bed for one patient. We could also offer good hygiene and provide proper services to our patients.
As many as 29,000 people are believed to visit Mirwais each month, but staff and patients have said the facility cant offer basic treatment.
This hospital has many problems, Gulaba, who brought her two-year-old granddaughter to the hospital told Al Jazeera.
There are a few doctors and they cannot treat patients as there are many sick people. There are four patients lying on a single bed. It is very difficult to feed, give medicine or take care of patients.
Wahid Majrooh, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, told Al Jazeera that the government understood the problem and had earmarked areas it was looking to improve.
WATCH: Afghanistan: Medics Under Fire
In Kandahar province we need to increase healthcare facilities in pediatric, obstetrics and gynaecology, he said.
We are also trying to invest in districts and rural areas where they need basic health facilities to ensure primary healthcare is being provided to the local population, Majrooh added.
The Taliban currently controls or contests 10 of the 14 districts in Helmand, the deadliest province for British and US forces in Afghanistan over the past decade, and recent fighting there has made the roads unsafe for those seeking help in neighbouring Kandahar.
Some patients are dying trying to reach the hospital, Doctor Hayatullah told Al Jazeera.
There are no hospitals in the neighbouring provinces and no clinics in some districts.
Alliance says Tuesdays raids were part of air support to government forces in Nehm, north of Sanaa.
The Arab coalition has denied launching air strikes on the Yemeni capital, pointing out that Tuesdays air raids of the alliance warplanes were in support of the Yemeni forces north of Sanaa.
Brigadier General Ahmed Asiri, the military spokesman of the coalition, told Al Jazeera from Riyadh on Wednesday that it was important to correct information reported on Tuesday that claimed the alliance hit a factory in Sanaa city, killing 14 people.
We are not striking Sanaa, we are providing air support for the loyal army to the government in Nehm [district of Sanaa province] and we strike the positions of the forces belonging to the [former President] Ali Abdullah Saleh and to the militias outer ring of the capital Sanaa, Asiri said.
It is important to know that we are not attacking Sanaa as the capital.
He was referring to media reports that quoted medics as saying that civilians were killed in a strike on a crisps factory in the Nahda district of the capital.
Residents said the factory was inside an army maintenance camp that had been hit by repeated air strikes since fighting began in March last year.
Asiri said that more air strikes targeted Houthi rebels on Wednesday and the alliance said in a statement it had intercepted two missiles fired from rebel-held territory aimed at two southern Saudi towns, Abha and Khamis Mushait.
The statement said Wednesdays raids included Houthi positions in Amran province, north of the capital Sanaa.
We are keen on preserving Yemeni blood and property. by Mohammed Maqdishi, Yemeni army chief of staff
We tried today [Wednesday] to continue to support the legitimate government and also to protect the southern border of the (Saudi) Kingdom, Asiri told Al Jazeera, adding that Houthi rebels fired another missile and killed civilians in Saudi Arabias Jizan city on Wednesday.
The rebel-controlled Saba news agency said one missile was launched towards a military base across the frontier, without providing further details.
The increased violence came after UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait between representatives of the government and Houthis ended without a breakthrough.
Mohammed Maqdishi, Yemeni army chief of staff, told Al Jazeera that the military operation that was supported from the air by the Arab coalition would continue on all fronts.
READ MORE: Key facts about the war in Yemen
It will be targeting Al Bayda, Zamar, Saada and other provinces, because we honoured the truce but the enemy did not, he said.
We had hoped Yemen could find a way out of this war. We are keen on preserving Yemeni blood and property and Yemens security and stability, he said.
That is why the political leadership handed down orders to the armed forces to launch this campaign on all fronts.
The United Nations said it was alarmed at the resumption of air raids.
The secretary-general is deeply concerned about reports of increased fighting between various parties in Hajjah, Saada and Sanaa provinces, including over the past few days, said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
The reported escalation in fighting exacerbates the already dire humanitarian and human rights situation and the suffering of the Yemeni people.
Ninety deaths in Oromia and Amhara regions must be investigated by international observers, UN human rights chief says.
The UN human rights chief has urged Ethiopia to allow international observers to investigate the killings of 90 protesters in restive regions at the weekend.
Zeid Raad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Wednesday that allegations of excessive use of force across the Oromia and Amhara regions must be probed and that his office was in discussions with Ethiopian authorities.
The use of live ammunition against protesters in Oromia and Amhara of course would be a very serious concern for us, Zeid told the Reuters news agency in an interview in Geneva.
He also said that his office had not seen any genuine attempt at investigation and accountability since January when the killings of protesters first began.
READ MORE: The Ethiopia rising narrative and the Oromo protests
Unrest continued in Oromia for several months until early this year over plans to allocate farmland surrounding the regional capital for development.
Authorities in the Horn of Africa state scrapped the scheme in January, but protests flared again over the continued detention of opposition demonstrators.
In the weekend, protesters chanted anti-government slogans and waved dissident flags.
Some demanded the release of jailed opposition politicians. Information on the reported killings has been difficult to obtain, Zeid said.
He added that any detainee, who had been peacefully protesting, should be released promptly.
The state-run Ethiopian News Agency said on Monday that illegal protests by anti-peace forces had been brought under control. It did not mention casualties.
A 16-year-old French girl has been charged in the capital Paris with supporting the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant and trying to plan an attack, prosecutors said.
The girl, whose name has not been released, was allegedly using a social media app to spread calls by ISIL to commit violent acts, the Paris prosecutors office said on Wednesday.
A judge charged the teenager with taking part in a criminal terrorist association and inciting to commit terrorist acts through an online communication medium.
Investigators said the girl was extremely radicalised and was the administrator of a chat group dedicated to ISIL propaganda on the Telegram app, which has been used by suspected fighters to communicate, deputy prosecutor Laure Vermeersch said.
Vermeersch said no specific targets had been mentioned by the teenager, who had no criminal history.
Investigators are now trying to trace other participants in the chat group to find out if the girl had possible accomplices in her alleged attack plot or in spreading ISIL information.
WATCH: Backlash Frances New Hardline on Terror
The girl was arrested on Thursday in the Melun region, a southern Paris suburb, during a police operation.
It is not the first time an underage girl has been detained in France under suspicion of trying to commit an attack.
In March, two girls aged 15 and 17 were charged with taking part in a criminal terrorist association for allegedly plotting to attack a target, possibly a Paris concert hall, in a copycat attack of Novembers Bataclan massacre. Investigators said the plot was not at an advanced stage.
France has lived under a state of emergency for nearly nine months, since the coordinated ISIL-linked attacks in November in Paris that killed 130 people.
Parliament extended the measure for six months after a lorry attack in the southern city of Nice on July 14, Bastille Day, that killed at least 84 people and was claimed by ISIL.
A man arrested over crime involvement in Syria and homes of three ISIL supporters raided as part of long-running probe.
German police have arrested a man suspected of involvement in violence in Syria, and have raided the homes and workplaces of three others suspected of trying to recruit supporters for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.
North Rhine-Westphalias state interior minister, Ralf Jaeger, said Wednesdays arrest in Dinslaken resulted from investigations following last Fridays detention of a 24-year-old Syrian asylum seeker in Mutterstadt.
Separately, German prosecutors carried out searches in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony on Wednesday linked to three suspected supporters of ISIL, but no arrests were made.
The three suspects are believed to have tried to recruit members and supporters for the foreign terrorist organisation Islamic State between January and July 2015, a spokeswoman from the Federal Prosecutors office said.
WATCH: Germanys Refugee Crisis
One of them is believed to have given the group financial and logistical support, she added, stressing that no further details about the case could be revealed since the investigation was ongoing.
Jaeger said searches were conducted at five locations, including Duisburg, Dortmund and Dusseldorf in his state. He said they were part of a long-running investigation.
READ MORE: Ansbach bomber pledged allegiance to ISIL
Germany has been on edge since ISIL claimed responsibility for two attacks in the country last month in which multiple people were wounded and the assailants both killed.
In two other attacks last month that authorities have said were not linked to ISIL, an 18-year-old went on the rampage at a Munich mall, killing 10 people and wounding dozens, and a man killed a woman with a machete in the southwestern city of Reutlingen before being captured by police.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere will propose new security measures on Thursday, including speedier deportations and waiving doctor-patient confidentiality in some cases, German media reported.
We live in difficult times. The terror threat is high, the police are overstretched, he has said.
The Baltimore Police Department has routinely violated the constitutional rights of residents, according to a US Justice Department investigation stemming from the death of black detainee Freddie Gray last year.
The Justice Department probe, the results of which will be officially released at a news conference in Baltimore on Wednesday morning, was launched shortly after Grays death in April 2015.
Police had arrested Gray, 25, for fleeing unprovoked in a high-crime area. He suffered a neck injury in a police wagon while shackled and handcuffed, and died a week later.
Grays death triggered rioting in Baltimore, a majority-black city of about 620,000 people. It fuelled a national debate on police tactics and stoked the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
READ MORE: Last charges dropped against police in Freddie Gray case
The Justice Departments 163-page report found that the Baltimore Police Department has routinely made unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests, and these illegal practices have disproportionately affected the citys black residents.
Police have also engaged in a pattern of using excessive force and retaliated against people engaging in constitutionally protected expression, the investigation found.
This pattern or practice is driven by systemic deficiencies in BPDs policies, training, supervision, and accountability structures that fail to equip officers with the tools they need to police effectively and within the bounds of the federal law, the report said.
A spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the Reuters news agency said.
Six officers were charged over Grays death, but four trials ended without a conviction. Prosecutors dropped the remaining charges last month.
UN-backed government forces say they have taken complete control of Ouagadougou complex, ISIL headquarters in the city.
Libyan pro-government forces say they have captured the headquarters of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Sirte, scoring a major victory in the groups last stronghold in the country.
The fighters, mainly from the nearby city of Misrata, who were supported by US air strikes, said in a Facebook statement on Wednesday: Sirte is returning to Libya after taking over a convention centre that served as ISILs base.
Our forces have complete control of the whole of the Ouagadougou complex they even advanced some distance beyond the complex, said Rida Issa, a government spokesman.
READ MORE: How serious is the ISIL threat in Libya?
I am standing inside the walls of the Presidential Palaces, or the so-called Protocol Palaces in Sirte, Al Jazeeras Ahmed Khalifa, reporting from Sirte, said.
This entire area once under the total control of ISIL fighters is now in the firm grip of Al Bonyan Brigade fighters. The aftermath of fierce fighting seems clearly visible on these buildings.
The militia, which started the offensive in June, said they had also advanced to a cluster of unfinished blocks just west of the centre of Sirte, known as the bone buildings, which had been used by ISIL (also known as ISIS) snipers.
At least 16 fighters from government-backed forces were killed and 11 wounded, Issa said.
US air strikes
Washington launched its air strikes on August 1, with President Barack Obama saying it was in Americas national security interest to help the pro-government forces finish the job of ousting ISIL from Sirte.
In a statement on Wednesday, the US Africa Command said 29 strikes had been carried out against ISIL positions in the town as part of Operation Odyssey Lightning as of Tuesday.
Libyas Government of National Accord operations centre said further US raids were carried out on Wednesday, but did not say how many. The raids targeted ISIL positions, destroyed two armoured vehicles and stopped an explosives-laden car before it could reach loyalist forces, it said.
During fighting, the US air strikes backing the brigades fighters shelled the area destroying a vehicle, said Al Jazeeras Khalifa.
The vehicle was packed with explosives as prepared for a suicide attack mission.The air strike targeting the area destroyed the vehicle which was surrounded by a number of ISIL fighters.
We can also see the undetonated howitzer-gun projectiles which were inside the vehicle.
READ MORE: Can US air strikes push ISIL out of Libya?
ISIL still controls several residential areas, though, and the Misrata-led brigades have previously found it difficult to advance through neighbourhoods in house-to-house fighting.
Since August 1, US drones and fighter jets have carried out 29 strikes, targeting several ISIL emplacements on Monday and a gun-mounted pick-up truck on Tuesday, according to statements by US Africa Command.
Earlier on Wednesday, Libyan forces said that they had lost a fighter jet over Sirte. Issa said the cause of the crash and the fate of the crew could not be confirmed.
ISIL said it shot down the jet, killing a pilot, according to a statement on a website close to the group.
Post-Gaddafi chaos
Losing Sirte city would be a major setback for ISIL, already under pressure in Syria and Iraq.
It would also be a boost for Libyas UN-backed government, which has struggled to impose its authority and faces continuing resistance from armed group.
ISIL seized control of Sirte, the hometown of Libyas former leader Muammar Gaddafi, in 2015.
The group took advantage of conflict between various factions of former rebels who emerged as powerbrokers after Gaddafi was killed in 2011.
Thousands of abuse and assault cases outlined in documents leaked to the Guardian paint a grim picture of life in Nauru.
More than 2,000 incidents, including sexual abuse, assault and attempted self-harm, were reported over two years at an Australian prison for asylum seekers in Nauru, more than half involving children, the Guardian has reported.
Leaked documents published by the Guardian Australia on Wednesday detailed the level of abuse at the prison on tiny Nauru, one of two run by Australia on neighbouring South Pacific islands, and showed that children bore the brunt of the trauma.
The closely protected prisons, and Australias tough immigration policy against irregular boat arrivals, have been widely criticised by the United Nations and human rights groups.
Under the policy, asylum seekers intercepted at sea are sent to Nauru and another prison on Manus Island, in Papua New Guinea, and told they will never be settled in Australia.
READ MORE: Refugee sets herself on fire at Australias Nauru camp
The number of refugees and asylum seekers trying to reach Australia is tiny compared with Europe, but immigration has long been an emotive issue in the country and the policy has bipartisan political support.
Australia said it was seeking to confirm that all reports had been dealt with by Nauru police.
Following the claims, the UNHCR renewed a call to remove all refugees and asylum seekers from the prison.
Although UNHCR is not able to verify the individual incidents raised by the reports, the documents released are broadly consistent with UNHCRs longstanding and continuing concerns regarding mental health, as well as overall conditions for refugees and asylum-seekers on Nauru.
Refugees considering suicide
Its important to note many of these incident reports reflect unconfirmed allegations, a spokeswoman for Australias Department of Immigration said.
The more than 2,000 leaked incident reports published by the Guardian covered the period between August 2013 and October 2015.
Children account for less than 20 percent of the roughly 500 detainees held on Nauru. There were 59 reports of assaults on children in the period, and seven reports of sexual assaults. Some of the reports alleged abuse by guards against children, and there were other reports of sexual advances by unknown men.
READ MORE: At Naurus detention centre, many of us think of suicide
The reports showed there were 30 incidents of self-harm by children and 159 of threatened self-harm involving minors.
Govt has known for years of child abuse & sexual assault on Nauru. They have down played & covered it up. We now need a Royal Commission Sarah Hanson-Young (@sarahinthesen8) August 10, 2016
The remaining reports involving children covered a variety of issues, ranging from accidents to misbehaviour.
One of the leaked incident reports said that a child had written in her book that she was tired, doesnt like the camp and wants to die. The child wrote: I want death, I need death.
Human rights groups said the leaked reports highlighted an urgent need to end Australias offshore detention policy and that asylum seekers must be given medical and psychological support.
It is clear from these documents, and our own research, that many have been driven to the brink of physical or mental breakdown by their treatment on Nauru, said Anna Neistat, senior director for research at Amnesty International.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty investigated abuse at Nauru earlier in August. Their findings are available online.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Amnestys Graham Thom said: We need to see a Royal Commission into these abuses occurring on Nauru, we need to see action. really They [the refugees and asylum seekers] should be brought back to Australia immediately.
Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, earns his 21st gold and 24th overall medal.
Michael Phelps claimed his second gold medal in one night and the 21st of his career as the United States won the mens 4200 metres Olympic freestyle relay on Tuesday.
The most successful Olympian of all time swam the final leg to extend his career tally to a total of 25 medals, including two silver and two bronze.
He won his 20th gold medal earlier in the day with a victory in the 200m butterfly.
It was the fourth successive US Olympic victory in the event.
The Americans led throughout, with Conor Dwyer handing over to Townley Haas and Ryan Lochte. There was a huge roar from the Rio crowd when Phelps sprang from the block with a lead of 1.76 seconds over Japan and 2.88 seconds over Britain.
The Americans touched home in 7 minutes 00.66 seconds.
For Britain, who had qualified first for the final, James Guy overhauled Takeshi Matsuda on the final leg to take the silver in 7:03.13, with Japan clocking 7:03.50 for the Bronze.
It was Britains first medal in the event since they won a bronze in 1984, and made up for Guys disappointment in failing to pick up a medal in the 200m and 400m freestyle.
But the night belonged to the Americans and Phelps, who after four days of competition in Rio, has won three gold medals at his fifth Olympic Games.
After calling for a 48-hour halt in fighting, UN says three hours is not long enough to meet needs of trapped civilians.
Russias military has announced a three-hour daily halt in air strikes on Syrias Aleppo to allow humanitarian convoys in, but the United Nations said it was not nearly long enough to help trapped civilians.
To guarantee total security for the convoys to Aleppo there will be humanitarian windows established from 1000 to 1300 local time starting tomorrow [Thursday] during which all military hostilities, aviation strikes and artillery strikes will be halted, Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian armys general staff told journalists on Wednesday.
Rudskoy said that a road had been built to an area on the northern outskirts of Aleppo through the Castello shopping centre to ensure safety and organise round-the-clock delivery of food, water, fuel, medicine and other necessities to the citys west and east.
The UN, which had earlier called for 48-hour weekly pauses for the aid deliveries, said the three-hour truce announced by Russia would not be enough to meet the needs of civilians.
To meet that capacity of need, you need two lanes and you need to have about 48 hours to get sufficient trucks in, top UN aid official Stephen OBrien told reporters on Wednesday.
OBrien said he had not been fully briefed on the Russian proposal, but that there were complicated logistics to address, such as ensuring that lorry drivers have enough time to safely make the trip to the city and back.
READ MORE: Syrian rebels deny losing ground in Aleppo
When we are offered three hours, you have to ask what can be achieved in that three hours, said OBrien.
Is it to meet the need or would it only just meet a very small part of the need?
Battles rage on
On Monday, President Bashar al-Assad sent thousands of reinforcements to mount a counterattack in Aleppo after rebels broke through government lines two days earlier.
Syrian rebel groups told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that they were fighting to hang on to key areas in the northern city as government forces and allies, including Moscow, escalated attacks.
A barrage of rocket fire from Syrian rebels killed at least 14 people and left dozens wounded on Wednesday in government-held neighbourhoods of the divided city, state media said.
Fighting struck the southern edges of Aleppo as opposition fighters and government forces geared up for a major protracted battle that could mark a turning point in the five-year war.
Syrian state news agency SANA said rebel fire on the regime-controlled district of Hamdaniyeh on Wednesday killed 13 people and wounded 25 others.
Rocket attacks on another government-held neighbourhood killed one person and wounded 12 others earlier in the day.
SANA said Russian and government planes targeted what they called terrorist positions in the citys south, as an AFP news agency journalist in Aleppo said intense air strikes and artillery fire could be heard.
But it was unclear if the major push for control of the city had begun.
Up to two million people in Aleppo have gone without running water for the past four days, UN agencies said, raising the risks of disease in a city already devastated by years of fighting.
Moscow says it has also beaten back an armed assault by Kiev, which called the claims hysterical and false.
Russias federal security agency says it has thwarted terrorist attacks by the Ukrainian military in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Kiev in 2014, and beaten back an armed assault.
The FSB said on Wednesday that one of its officers was killed in an armed clash while arresting terrorists on the night of August 6-7, while a Russian soldier died in a firefight with a sabotage-terrorist group sent by the Ukrainian defence ministry on August 8.
Kiev has firmly denied claims that it plotted or carried out any attacks.
The FSB which controls Russias border guards said it had foiled terrorist attacks on the territory of Crimea prepared by the intelligence directorate of the Ukrainian defence ministry.
The aim of the sabotage and terrorist attacks was to destabilise the social and political situation before elections in Russia and Crimea next month, it said.
The security agency said that in the August 6-7 raids, several people were detained, including a Ukrainian military intelligence officer, and a cache of explosives was discovered.
WATCH: Ukraine, Russia and a new Cold War
On the night of August 8, 2016 special operations forces from the Ukrainian defence ministry carried out two more attempts to make a breakthrough by sabotage-terrorist groups, it said.
The assault included massive firing from the side of the neighbouring state and armoured vehicles but was beaten back by the Russian authorities, the statement said.
Ukraines national security council chief Oleksandr Turchynov criticised the claims as hysterical and false and said Moscow was trying to stoke fear in Crimea.
Ukraines defence ministry dismissed the allegations as nothing more than an attempt to justify the redeployment and aggressive actions of Russian forces in the region.
The allegations are likely to fuel further tensions in the feud between Russia and Ukraine, sparked after Moscow annexed Crimea following the ousting of Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych in a popular uprising.
Court documents show the electronics giant kept information on chemicals from workers for fear of exposing trade secrets
South Korean authorities let Samsung withhold from sick workers and their families crucial information about the chemicals they are exposed to at its computer chip and display factories, an Associated Press investigation has found.
A worker-safety group has documented more than 200 cases of serious illnesses, including leukaemia, lupus, lymphoma and multiple sclerosis, among former Samsung semiconductor and LCD workers.
Viewfinder A Fathers Protest
Seventy-six have died, most in their 20s and 30s.
It is extremely difficult for workers to get compensation for occupational diseases from the South Korean government, and without details of their exposure to toxins in their workplaces it is almost impossible.
In a situation where peoples lives are at stake, [Samsung] brought uninformed kids from the countryside and acted like money is everything, using them as if they were disposable cups, said Park Min-Sook, 43, a former Samsung chip worker and breast cancer survivor.
Hwang Sang-Gi, father of Hwang Yu-mi, a former Samsung factory worker who died of leukaemia aged 22, told the AP that the company once offered him 1 billion won ($914,000) in exchange for his silence.
The idea was to deny her illness was an occupational disease and to leave me without any power to fight back, said Hwang, who launched a movement seeking independent inspections of Samsung factories.
Since 2008, 56 workers have applied for occupational safety compensation from the government. Only 10 have won compensation, most after years of court battles. Half of the other 46 claims were rejected and half remain under review.
People who have claimed that they became ill because of work they did for other major South Korean manufacturers, including Hyundai Motor, have received help from their unions in advancing their claims. Hyundai Motor now must get union approval before introducing new chemicals into its manufacturing processes. Samsungs workforce is not unionised.
Trade secrets over workers health
In at least six cases involving 10 workers, the justification for withholding information was the protection of trade secrets. Court documents and interviews with government officials, workers lawyers and their families show that Samsung often cites the need to guard trade secrets when it asks government officials not to release such data.
Our fight is often against trade secrets. Any contents that may not work in Samsungs favour were deleted as trade secrets, said Lim Ja-woon, a lawyer who has represented 15 sick Samsung workers.
Lims clients have been unable to get access to full reports on facility inspections, which are produced by third parties to comply with South Korean law, but remain the property of Samsung. Only excerpts of some independent inspections can be found in some court rulings, he said.
South Korea law bars governments and public agencies from withholding corporate information needed to protect the lives, physical safety, and health of individuals on the grounds of trade secrets, but there are no penalties for violations. Lim said that the law on occupational disease compensation also obligates Samsung to give workers the data they need to make claims.
Government officials openly say corporate interests take priority, that evaluating trade-secrets claims is difficult, and that they fear being sued for sharing data against a companys will.
We have to keep secrets that belong to our clients, said Yang Won-baek, of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, or KOSHA. Its about trust.
Asked why he used the word clients to describe companies his government agency helps regulate, Yang said its probably because he treats those companies as I treat clients.
He said the companies KOSHA evaluates also review the agency, and the finance ministry considers those reviews when it sets agency budgets.
When asked for comment, Samsung issued a statement to the AP saying it never intentionally blocked workers from accessing information and that it is transparent about all chemicals it is required to disclose.
It also said there was no case where information disclosure was illegally prevented.
However, documents from courts and the labour ministry show that as recently as last year, Samsung asked the government not to disclose details of chemical exposure levels and other inspections even at the request of judges for use in workers compensation lawsuits.
In a letter to regulators signed by the companys chief executive, Samsung said that if factory details including types and volumes of substances were released for a workers compensation case, it is feared that the technology gap with rivals at home and overseas would be reduced and our companys competitiveness would be lowered. For that reason they are trade secrets that we treat strictly as secrets, we request not to disclose.
Rigorous management
Although the company no longer omits lists of chemicals as it did in Hwang Yu-mis case, it has recently withheld details about exposure levels and how its chemicals are managed.
Samsung states on its website that its chemical management system is rigorous and state-of-the art. It has had real-time, 24/7 chemical monitoring in all facilities since 2007, the year the government began inquiries into Yu-mis death.
Yet Samsung began monitoring some toxic byproducts in the air only after a 2012 inspection detected benzene and formaldehyde both known carcinogens at its chip factories.
Baik Soo-ha, a Samsung Electronics vice president, told the AP that Samsung has redacted trade secrets in documents given to individuals only when their requests appeared not purely meant to determine occupational diseases.
We have a right to protect our information from going to a third party, he said. Baik did not elaborate on what sort of ulterior motives Samsung believes might be behind some requests.
The seasonal rains have been above average, but there are always winners and losers.
As torrential rain falls across parts of both northwestern and northeastern India, the Indian Meteorological Department has announced that Julys rainfall was 7 percent above the long-term average.
This is in keeping with pre-monsoon predictions of an above-average season, and will be welcomed by the countys agriculture industry, which employs half of the countrys workforce.
Inevitably, there were significant geographical variations in rainfall. Central India was 18 percent above average, while South Peninsula, encompassing Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, was 12 percent below average.
Across the Punjab and Haryana states, the so-called bread basket of India, the benefit of a 9 percent rainfall surplus was sure to be appreciated.
In neighbouring Pakistan, rainfall for the period from July 1 to August 10 was 9 percent below average across the country as a whole. Here, geographical variations were even greater. There was a particularly marked rainfall deficit in Balochistan and Sindh provinces, by around one third. Some parts of these states saw virtually no rainfall at all during this period.
In the coming days, there is little prospect of that deficit being eroded. Most of the countrys rainfall is expected to be confined to northern areas.
In India, there are two areas of low pressure. One is expected to bring further heavy rain to northwestern India, although it is possible that, in parts of Rajasthan, the rain may do more harm than good.
Another area of low pressure located at the northern end of the Bay of Bengal, may develop into a tropical cyclone. Either way, the heavy rain generated by this system will help to alleviate the slight rainfall deficit across eastern and northeastern India, as well as in Bangladesh.
State media says Rear Admiral Mustafa Zeki Ugurlu is trying to avoid detention in Turkey following failed coup attempt.
A Turkish Rear Admiral on a NATO assignment in the United States has sought asylum in the country after Ankara sought his detention following the failed July 15 coup attempt, state-run news agency has said without giving its source.
Anadolu did not say on Wednesday whether the US had accepted Rear Admiral Mustafa Zeki Ugurlus claim, which comes at a time of strained relations between Washington and Ankara.
Ugurlu, who had been stationed at NATOs Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia, is the subject of a detention order in Turkey and has been expelled from the armed forces, Anadolu reported.
Ugurlu had not been heard from since July 22 when he left the base, it said.
Okan Bato, Izmirs chief prosecutor, told Anadolu he was not able to get a statement from Ugurlu after seeking the prosecution of two admirals from the chief of staff.
READ MORE: Turkeys coup attempt captured in dramatic images
The Turkish government has repeatedly pressed Washington to extradite Pennsylvania-based cleric Fethullah Gulen whom it blames for the coup bid, warning Washington that relations could suffer over the issue.
If the US does not deliver [Gulen], they will sacrifice relations with Turkey for the sake of a terrorist, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said during a televised briefing in the capital Ankara on Tuesday.
Gulen strongly denies the accusations and his lawyer on Friday said that Ankara had failed to provide a scintilla of proof to support its claims.
Since July 15, tens of thousands of people from the military, judiciary, civil service and education establishment suspected of links with Gulen and his Islamic movement have been sacked or detained.
Hand-counted paper balloting urged after many reports of irregularities around electronic system in Democratic primary.
Rights group in the US are calling for a return to hand-counted paper balloting as a universal standard for elections in an effort to boost transparency and prevent vote irregularities that many see as a threat to the countrys democratic system.
Shyla Nelson, the co-founder of Election Justice USA, told Al Jazeera that a complete overhaul of the system, including the end of the use of electronic voting machines, is required to ensure truly democratic elections in the country.
Until we systematically address the myriad ways in which our elections are manipulated voter suppression, unauthorised registration purges, district gerrymandering, gross exit poll variances, the privatisation of voting machinery, and the lack of transparency in ballot processing our elections will continue to rank among the lowest in the world in integrity.
Nelson criticised current government initiatives to protect the voting machines which she noted are in many cases running on increasingly obsolete hardware and software from cyber attacks as a failure to address the well-documented reality of election fraud at their root.
US Department of Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson said on Wednesday that the government would carefully consider whether the countrys election system should be considered as critical infrastructure, a move that would trigger greater digital security measures for electronic voting machines.
Were actively thinking about the election and cybersecurity right now, he told reporters.
But Caitriona Fitzgerald, the chief technology officer of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) a civil rights group, told Al Jazeera that the very reliance on electronic voting machines and online voting threatens public trust in US elections.
Election security
Paper ballots are a very important element in election security. Without a paper record of ones vote, it is impossible to verify if the computer has, indeed, recorded your vote in the system as it is shown on the screen.
OPINION: American democracy is rigged
Furthermore, lack of a paper record makes meaningful recounts or audits impossible because any recount would simply corroborate the same count the computer made the first time and would not catch any errors.
Clifford Arnebeck, a civil rights attorney who co-chairs the Alliance for Democracy, and has filed multiple lawsuits over alleged election fraud in the US since 2000, told Al Jazeera how it has become much easier to manipulate votes.
In 2004 there were still punch card ballots and optical scan ballots so the flipping of votes had to be done manually by taking ballots to unauthorised locations and reshuffling the deck.
But with the electronic system, it is much more simple to use a program to flip the tabulation of vote.
The calls for more transparency came after widespread accusations that the Democratic primary was rigged in favour of Hillary Clinton and against her rival Bernie Sanders.
But Gary Nordlinger, a state attorney and professor of politics at George Washington University, told Al Jazeera that it is highly improbable that the US ever faced election fraud, saying the polling system has always been tightly controlled.
He also pointed to Clintons substantial margin of victory as proof of the unlikelihood that any significant vote manipulation occurred, especially when there are election observers at the polling stations.
Hillary Clinton would not have won by around 3.8 million votes if there was election fraud, he said.
READ MORE: Polls Sanders has more potential to beat Trump
However, Arnebeck says he has garnered much evidence pointing to use of sophisticated technology to rig electronic voting machines across the country and plans to launch a lawsuit over the alleged fraud in the Democratic primary.
This is the most extreme case of election fraud yet the new technology is believed to be capable of stealing 50 (percentage) points in an election, he said.
Sanders was winning by landslide
Sanders was winning by a landslide so they had to flip whatever votes they could. That is one of the reasons why the evidence is so compelling.
Election Justice USA released a report last month that detailed its alleged evidence of election irregularities and fraud in the Democratic primary and pointed out the lack of transparency practices.
Unlike other technologically advanced countries such as Germany, Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Finland, and 53 other countries, election ballots in the United States are not counted by hand and in public, the Democracy Lost report said.
Many US states use touch-screen computer voting systems that do not even generate a paper trail. Almost all ballots, whether paper or not, are counted by computers.
All counting is non-transparent and inaccessible for verification by the public. The few states that audit the computer counts by hand only examine a tiny percentage of the ballots and even this count is not performed according to proper statistical procedures.
In other words, the results of our elections, based on computer counts, are largely unverified.
We follow one man as he becomes the only Israeli granted access to the inner sanctum of the Whirling Dervish order.
Miki Cohen is a 58-year-old college teacher who has discovered the works of Jalal ad-Din Rumi, a 13th-century Muslim poet and Sufi mystic.
Attracted by Rumis writings and philosophy, Cohen translates his works into Hebrew and practises whirling in worship.
Rumi for me is an answer and the way. by Miki Cohen, teacher and Israeli dervish
What makes Cohens story so remarkable is that he is an Israeli. The son of Holocaust survivors and a veteran of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Cohen found himself searching for answers to his spiritual identity.
I was in the Israeli army in the 73 war. And the war mentality, the killing mentality, the feeling that we are on one side victims and on the other side were the oppressors. So, what are we? So I started, you know, looking for bigger answers lets say or deeper for many years I was looking in many places, he explains.
Along with several other Israelis, he undertakes a spiritual search and is attracted by the mysticism of Sufism.
But Cohen goes a step further. He travels to Konya in central Turkey, the resting place of Rumi and a city once known as the citadel of Islam with a reputation for religious conservatism. It is the centre for the Mevlevi Sufi order of Islam.
Cohen becomes one of few outsiders and certainly the only Israeli to be granted access to the inner sanctum of the Whirling Dervishes.
By Yelda Yanat Kapkin
I met Miki Cohen, an Israeli university lecturer, in 2003, at a cinema seminar. He was teaching script-writing and I was a masters student at the time.
During the class, we started to share our personal stories and I discovered that he had spent his life searching for a spiritual way that would fit him. After the class, talk turned to spiritual leaders and eventually to Rumi, an Islamic scholar, philosopher and poet who lived in Anatolia.
At the time, Miki had only a little knowledge of Rumi. But he asked many questions and I tried to explain his philosophy of Divine Love as well as I could.
When we next met at an Israeli film festival in 2004 I saw how much Mikis knowledge of Rumi had grown. He had developed an enthusiasm for his poetry and was clearly greatly influenced by his teachings. It was around that time that he moved out of his house, bought a caravan and decided to travel.
In 2005, I received a phone call from Miki in which he declared: I will go to Konya.
Konya is the Turkish city where Rumi spent his life. Miki explained that he would like to visit Rumis grave and to learn sema whirling, the whirling rite practised by Rumi.
I remember thinking then that it would be impossible for Miki to fulfil his ambitions. Konya is the religious centre for the followers of Rumi, the Whirling Dervishes, and I tried to warn him that it would be difficult for him to be accepted there not only as a Jew but as an Israeli. He did not listen.
But when he called me a week later he had been accepted into a Mevlevi Sufi order as a guest and was learning sema. It was almost a miracle.
There was hardly anybody in the order who could talk English and Miki was unable to converse with most of his teachers, so I decided to help out by translating, over the phone, some of his classes and the entirety of his first acceptance ritual.
As a filmmaker, I knew that Mikis story was a very unique one. Over the years we kept in touch and I followed his story as he moved to a cave in a mountain, met his wife, Ayelet, built a place on his land for sema and began practising it twice a day.
When I learned that he was planning to travel to Konya for a second period of training in 2011, I had no doubt that the time was right to film it.
I was unsure whether Miki would be willing to be filmed, partly because being on television would be such a sharp contrast to his isolated existence on the mountain. But, contrary to my fears, he said yes immediately. At that time, I was unaware that being a Dervish was just about saying yes to whatever life brings you.
I first filmed his life in Israel, staying with Miki and his wife in their cave. Then we travelled to Konya.
It was Ramadan. Having never been to Konya before, I could not imagine how this very religious city would be during Ramadan. But I had imagined that filming in my native country would be easier than filming in Israel. It took me a couple of days to realise how wrong I was about that.
Finding people to interview during the fast was difficult, but even when I was able to reach them, communicating was not easy. They were not used to being close to a woman and during interviews they would often find it hard to look me in the eye.
It was also difficult to convince the Whirling Dervishes to talk on camera being lowly is at the heart of being a Dervish and being in front of a camera sits uncomfortably with their ways.
But the biggest challenge of all was being able to film the zikir ritual. Women are not allowed in the room during it and it took me a week to get permission to film, with one condition: that I be as close to invisible as possible so that the Dervishes would not be distracted by my presence and would be able to fully lose themselves in the ritual.
We became the first crew to film the ritual as Miki became the first Jew ever permitted to join the zikir ritual in that Mevlevi order.
2005 ..
New Jersey Community Bank in Freehold has exited a pair of regulatory orders.
The $102 million-asset bank also said in a press release Tuesday that two siblings have resigned from its board.
New Jersey Community said it had been released from consent orders with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance.
Nick Naqei, the bank's chief financial officer, said in an interview that the March 2014 order was tied to concerns with safety and soundness. He said the bank had to conduct a management study "to see if we had the right people in place," while also addressing issues related to concentrations of commercial and real estate loans.
The second order, which came in July 2015, required the bank to improve compliance functions. It required the bank to conduct "a look-back review of transactions to see if there were any fraud involved or suspicious activity," Naqei said.
The bank also announced that brothers Brendan and Rogan O'Donnell resigned from its board. Their father, Robert O'Donnell, resigned as chairman last August, four months after he stepped down as the bank's chief executive.
The brothers did not provide the bank with reasons for their departures. Once their father resigned "we kind of thought that this was going to automatically happen sooner or later," Naqei said.
Steven Meyer, founder of Advisors Mortgage Group, was appointed to fill one of the board vacancies.
The Bancorp in Wilmington, Del., is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for restating more than three years of financial statements.
The $4.4 billion-asset company also disclosed in a regulatory filing that the Internal Revenue Service plans to audit its 2012, 2013 and 2014 tax returns.
The Bancorp said the SEC is looking into a decision to restate financials for 2010 through 2013, along with the first three quarters of 2014. The restatements were filed last September. The company, which said in the filing that it is cooperating with the probe, said the SEC is looking into the "facts and circumstances underlying the restatement."
Costs tied to the SEC's investigation could be material, the filing warned.
The Bancorp also said it had retained outside counsel after receiving a letter from a shareholder's attorney "demanding inspection of its books and records." The letter also stated that the investor plans to investigate the actions of the company's officers and directors with the intent of filing a derivative lawsuit. The lawsuit would seek damages and "other remedies" from certain officers and directors, the filing said.
The filing also disclosed the identities of the firms that recently participated in a $74 million capital raise at the company.
Pilgrims & Indians Capital and Castle Creek Capital were the investors that, under terms of the placement, are allowed to each add a representative to The Bancorp's board as long as each firm owns at least 4% of the company's common stock.
The Bancorp also disclosed that it paid Pilgrims & Indians Capital $250,000 to reimburse the firm for "the substantial time and effort" tied to the private placement. The company paid Castle Creek $20,000 to cover the investor's legal fees associated with the placement.
WASHINGTON The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 has not had a negative impact on community banks, contrary to assertions by Republicans and many bankers, according to a group of White House economists.
In a research note published Wednesday, the White House Council of Economic Advisers said that evidence demonstrates that institutions with less than $10 billion of assets remain mostly viable and give millions of Americans access to important financial services. But other secular trends such as deregulation of bank branching and merger and acquisition activity have caused some community banks to contract in the years since Dodd-Frank was enacted.
The findings show that access to community banks remains robust and their services have continued to grow in the years since Dodd-Frank has taken effect, though this trend has not been uniform across community banks, with mid-sized and larger community banks seeing stronger growth than the smallest ones, the note says. At the same time, though, many community banksespecially the smallest oneshave faced longer-term structural challenges dating back to the decades before the financial crisis.
The note argues that the perils facing smaller banks underscore the importance of implementing Dodd-Frank in a way that allows community banks to compete on a level playing field and says that the Obama administration has been committed to developing regulations that shield community banks from the harshest requirements in the law.
The economists' note is aimed at debunking a long-standing point of contention between Dodd-Franks champions and detractors namely that instead of ending an implicit policy of not allowing the largest and riskiest institutions to fail, it has in practice led to a new regulatory landscape that disproportionately affects the smallest banks that are the least equipped to take on added compliance costs.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said during his now-defunct presidential campaign that Dodd-Frank had eviscerated community banks, and House Republicans have repeatedly leveled the same claim.
The White House paper, of course, is unlikely to end the debate. Bankers repeatedly point to the decline in institutions as proof that the law is making it harder for small institutions to stay in business.
The White House research note was quickly criticized by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, who said he was not surprised that the White House would defend Dodd-Frank, but that community bankers who have testified before the committee beg to differ with the economic advisers' conclusions.
"After all, as our nation loses one community financial institution each day, they are the ones who have to somehow comply with Dodd-Frank's crushing regulatory burden," Hensarling said in a statement.
The American Bankers Association also blasted the report, with ABA President Rob Nichols saying in a statement that there was a "serious disconnect between this report and the daily reality for America's hometown banks." Nichols said it is true that there are more factors at play than Dodd-Frank alone, but the idea that the law has not contributed to small banks' woes is unfounded.
"Certainly, there are other factors beyond the Dodd-Frank Act that have caused the closure of community banks, and bankers continue to work with their regulatory agencies and Congress to address these issues," Nichols said. "But the more than 24,000 pages of proposed and final rules belies the idea that Dodd-Frank had no impact."
Carrie Hunt, executive vice president of government affairs and general counsel for the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, similarly criticized the CEA's findings, saying that "common sense is the largest piece of evidence demonstrating the Dodd-Frank Act's negative impact on credit unions."
Community bankers themselves had a more measured response to the White House document. Camden Fine, president of Independent Community Bankers of America, a trade group representing community banks, said the troubles facing small banks are not attributable to Dodd-Frank alone or any single law, but rather a patchwork of different regulatory and legal burdens that have accumulated over decades. Fine said that, to the extent that the research note advocates for greater relief for small banks from those compliance burdens, the ICBA supports its findings.
"Today's Council of Economic Advisers brief expresses support for regulatory requirements that are tailored to the unique role and lower risks of community banks-a bipartisan priority that avoids one-size-fits-all regulations," Fine said. "ICBA will continue advocating tiered and proportional regulations that allow community banks to reach their full potential as catalysts for locally based entrepreneurship, economic growth and job creation."
Distrusting both the judgment and the literacy of modern activists, I had originally intended to read Frederick Douglass or WEB Dubois as my introduction to black literature. But skimming through an informal list of the Greatest Essayists of All Time and seeing James Baldwin rather high on the chart, and also seeing him frequently and reverently quoted by Black Lives Matter activists, I decided to pick up The Fire Next Time and give him a go.
His position on the chart is not unmerited. James Baldwin was an honest man with a great soul in a bad place in the wrong skin at the wrong time. His suffering as a post-war black youth, a portrait of his own emotional hurt and mistrust toward the abusive white and hypocritical Christian communities, is chronicled here in vivid prose and unusual honesty. For those of us who are cynical toward the arguments and the motives of black activists in general, Baldwin may be the first man not only to make us really consider what it's like to be black in America, but to make a staunch conservative sympathize greatly with even the worse parts of our civil rights legislation.
One thing sadly lacking in Mr. Baldwin's commentary on the pre-Civil Rights black experience is the same thing that's missing in our commentary about the post-Civil Rights black experience: an inability for many black people to see past the black experience. It has often been said that writers should write what they know, advice that we can be thankful Mr. Baldwin has taken seriously. But what so many black activists and writers are missing is that there is a world beyond what they know, and it is provided by a combination of empathy and what's formally known (and commonly denounced) as a liberal education.
Mr. Baldwin seems to be convinced that at some point in history, race was invented to justify oppression. The problem is that he's under the impression it's something that was not only invented, but invented relatively recently. He writes, "[White Christians] have forgotten that the religion which is now identified with their virtue and power ... came out of a rocky piece of ground in what is now known as The Middle East before color was invented[.]"
The idea of race in the scientific sense may be pernicious to modern men, but if it is, the idea of tribe was equally pernicious to the ancients. Mr. Baldwin, for a man who claimed to have a serious conversion to Christianity, seems completely ignorant of the "interactions" between the Jews and the Moabites, between the Jews and the Canaanites, between the Jews and the Samaritans, between the Jews and practically everyone, really and he seems to be ignorant in a way that almost completely excuses the Jews from any accusations of racism. He forgets that (despite Moses's commanding the Israelites to treat foreigners with humanity) the Jews were allowed to enslave only foreigners, that the Jews were allowed to practice usury only on non-Jews, and that the Jews (as a race) had been enslaved by the Egyptians.
Baldwin also seems for forget that beyond biblical history, the ancient Greeks referred to everyone who wasn't Greek as barbarians, that the term slave originates from the term Slav, that the Indian color-based caste system is as rigid as it is ancient, that the Spartans formally and permanently enslaved the Helots, that the Romans and Persians and Babylonians and Greeks and (forgotten most conveniently for the liberals) the Muslims tried to enslave practically everyone who wasn't they, and that ancient history, if not loaded with tales of outright genocide and oppression, was a time when many people were okay with sexually enslaving a neighboring territory's women only because the territory was neighboring. The conquering of peoples in the ancient world, if not done in terms of race, is not very different from it, and if racial slavery is an evil invented by white men after centuries of what Mr. Baldwin misperceives as something like equality, those centuries of something like equality occurred only after white people and Christians had fought bravely to end centuries of the practice of slavery.
What Mr. Baldwin also seems to forget is that white men have been comfortable enslaving each other. The history of Christian Europe, aside from its conflicts with the swarthy god of the Muslim south, is a history of intra-racial warfare and conquering. England, which Mr. Baldwin derides because of its racial colonization, was itself once a subjected colony of the Normans, who enforced a racial/class divide not entirely unlike that experienced by blacks in America.
What black activists have forgotten is that the answer to our problems is not an elimination of the idea of race. The black and white supremacists, on the other hand, have forgotten how the desire for segregation goes deeper than colors. Wherever we go, the diversity of clans and cultures, of talents and spirits, of appearances and happenstances will breed some of us who win and others who lose, and the winners will almost always separate themselves as a class while subjecting and despising the losers. An attempt at eliminating differences between people will never eliminate dominance of people by people. It will only shift supremacy based on natural causes, which gives some sense of legitimacy to an already horrible situation, to a supremacy based on artificial causes by quotas, which turns losers into leaders who will only lead us toward losing. The question is not whether some people are supreme in any situation. It is how they got there and what they do with their supremacy.
Strangely enough, there are some striking resemblances of Mr. Baldwin's theories to those of Edmund Burke's, and especially insofar as both men greatly respect not what we say about ourselves, but what we do with what we are. Aside from the similarity between Baldwin's "It is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless" and Burke's "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing," Baldwin notes in one passage:
In order to change a situation one has to see it for what it is[.] ... The paradox and a fearful paradox it is is that the American Negro is unwilling to accept his past. To accept ones past ones history is not the same thing as drowning in it; it is learning how to use it.
Both men despised the fanciful notions of quack religionists and bad political scientists, that we can magically change who we are by inventing a new history and a new political system to live in, and if Mr. Baldwin appeared to side with the '60s progressives, his philosophy in many respects mirrored that of England's original conservative. We only wish he had taken his own advice.
Mr. Baldwin was naive in thinking that by eliminating race and religions and totems and creeds in another word, by eliminating our humanity we could eliminate the horrors of our history and the distinguishing of peoples. Jesus said the poor would always be with us. He might have just as easily said those unfairly oppressed by their identity. He might just as easily said the American blacks.
The most interesting thing about The Fire Next Time is Mr. Baldwin's idea of the nature of acceptance. Foregoing the common idea of the modern progressives, that white men must learn to accept blacks, Mr. Baldwin correctly flips the notion on its head, insisting that it is blacks who must learn to accept whites. A history of oppression cannot easily be erased with a few laws and the singing of Kumbaya. The bitter gall of hatred and mistrust is not the sole property of whites alone. Both races must judge individuals honestly. Both of us have to give one another a chance in fact, multiple chances, as there are and will be multiple wrongdoings.
Our charity is not white people considering what it means to be black. It's also black people getting outside of the black experience and considering how it feels to be white. White men must stand against white racism, and black men must stand against black.
Black men will have to consider the world not only in terms of the black experience, but by examining oppression and freedom and Christian forgiveness in light of the totality of history. They'll have to leave the black race, in a sense, and become something much bigger, as though the heritage of liberty and equality is really their history, and their struggles aren't a separate volume in the annals of human progress, but in a universal sense only the most recent chapter. This will be the foundation for the new society and we will never have the new society until both sides are ready to effect it.
Baldwin was wise enough to see this, and that is one of the many reasons each of us should read Baldwin.
Jeremy Egerer is the editor of the troublesome philosophical website known as Letters to Hannah, and he welcomes followers on Twitter and Facebook.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has employed the prestigious National Academy of Sciences to whitewash the EPA's illegal experiments on human beings. Naturally, the sordid activity is all being conducted in secret.
Several years ago, we detailed for American Thinker readers how we had discovered that the EPA was violating virtually every law enacted and regulation promulgated for the protection of human experiments since the development of the Nuremberg Code.
The story begins in the 1990s, when the EPA began regulating fine particulate matter (P.M.) in outdoor air. These regulations were justified on the basis that they would prevent 15,000 premature deaths per year. The supposedly scientific studies underlying the rules could not be challenged at the time because the EPA refused to provide Congress and independent researchers with the key underlying data. Also, the relevant laws and their judicial interpretation did not provide a way to challenge EPA science in court.
Though the EPA got away with issuing the rules, it knew they were vulnerable to challenge because the underlying studies all dubious statistical correlation studies didn't actually show that P.M. killed anyone. Neither did animal toxicology studies, no matter how much P.M. the laboratory animals inhaled. So the EPA decided to back up its statistical claims by testing extremely high doses of P.M. on real, live people.
Over the next 15 years, the EPA began quietly experimenting on elderly subjects (up to age 80), asthmatics, people with heart disease or metabolic syndrome, and combinations of the aforesaid by placing them in a sealed chamber and making them inhale high levels of P.M. as well as diesel exhaust, smog, and even chlorine gas. At one point, the EPA even experimented with children by spraying high levels of diesel exhaust particulate up their noses.
Though none of these experiments produced any biological response indicating that P.M. is in any way harmful, the EPA relied on its statistical studies to make even more grandiose claims about the supposed dangers of P.M. The EPA claimed that any inhalation of P.M. could cause death. It claimed that death could occur within hours of inhalation or after decades of inhalation. In 2011, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson testified to Congress than P.M. caused about 570,000 deaths per year in the U.S., more than 20 percent of all U.S. deaths.
The EPA continued its experiments.
We found out about the experiments in September 2011, when the EPA finally published a report about an alleged health effect caused by P.M. Agency researchers exposed an obese 58-year-old woman with heart disease to a high level of P.M. The experiment was stopped when the woman's heart began to beat irregularly. She was taken to the hospital, where she remained overnight. The EPA's report chalked up the event to the exposure to P.M.
Although the EPA's conclusion was obviously faulty (the woman had a pre-existing heart condition that caused the arrhythmia) and has since been debunked by other research, the report led us to inquire about how exactly the woman came to be exposed to high P.M. by EPA researchers.
After several Freedom of Information Act requests and pressure from Congress, we learned that although the EPA had declared P.M. essentially the most deadly substance known to man, the agency was intentionally exposing individuals it thought would be most vulnerable to the effects of P.M. in order to support its statistical claims about P.M. lethality and its regulations.
The problem for the EPA is that if P.M. is as deadly as the agency claims, then these experiments are fundamentally unethical and illegal. Humans cannot be treated as guinea pigs for the purpose of advancing a regulatory agenda. Compounding the illegality of the experiments is the fact that the EPA never informed the study subjects that it believed that the experiments could kill them. This conduct violated federal and state laws requiring that physicians and researchers obtain informed consent prior to experimenting on humans not that anyone could actually consent to illegal experiments in the first place.
After a federal lawsuit and much bad press, the EPA inspector general (I.G.) took up the case in October 2012. Eighteen months later, the I.G. concluded that the agency had indeed failed to warn study subjects that it believed that the experiments could kill them while inexplicably ignoring the issue of whether the experiments were fundamentally illegal and unethical. No matter, though. Media reports of the I.G.'s limited finding tremendously embarrassed the agency so much, in fact, that something had to be done.
Enter the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
The NAS was formed in 1863 by Congress and President Lincoln to advise the government on science. It has a bifurcated structure. The actual NAS has evolved into an honorary membership organization for elite and politically well connected scientists. The actual advice-giving part of the NAS is a separate non-profit organization called the National Research Council (NRC), which hires itself out to federal agencies to provide scientific advice. In providing that advice, however, the NRC does not rely on the prestigious NAS membership. Instead, it enlists second- and third-tier (or worse) scientists eager to build their resumes and improve their standing in academia. Despite the decidedly hack nature of NRC advice, it is marketed as if it were coming from the collective wisdom of the prestigious NAS membership.
After the embarrassing I.G. report was issued, the EPA decided to avail itself of the benefit of the NAS-NRC charade. Not only did it hope to whitewash the I.G. report, but it was hoping to conduct the process in secret. It almost worked.
We were notified about what was going on by a source who only inadvertently learned of the EPA-NAS scheme near the end of the process. From what we have learned so far, it looks as though the EPA contracted with the NAS-NRC in early 2015. A committee of mostly academics was formed and began meeting on June 1, 2015. There was no public notice of the formation of the committee, and though the meeting was supposed to be open to the public, there was no public notice. So the "public" meeting was attended only by the committee members, NRC staff, and the EPA. Four more meetings were held, the last one in April 2016. None open to the public.
When we learned of the NRC committee in June 2016, we hurriedly provided comments to the committee docket and requested the opportunity to present information to the committee a reasonable request, given the circumstances. We were the ones who had discovered and exposed the EPA's wrongdoing. We are the ones most familiar with the facts. Based on a review of the committee docket, it was clear that the EPA had provided the committee with selective, misleading, and incomplete information. Two months later, we are still waiting for the NRC to respond to our request.
In the end, this entire sordid episode raises two main issues. First, to whom is the EPA lying? If P.M. is really as dangerous as the EPA claims, which claims it uses for its regulations, then the agency has committed felonious acts against its human guinea pigs. The only way the EPA has not committed these crimes is if P.M. is not as dangerous as the EPA claims, in which case the agency has lied to the public and Congress and has grossly overregulated P.M.
There is no third possibility here. The EPA has seriously lied to someone.
The other issue is one for the NAS as an organization. The prestigious group is being used in a covert effort to whitewash the EPA's dishonest and illegal conduct a far cry from its chartered mission and probably what its elite scientist members expect or would support. Now that the scheme has been uncovered, it should think twice before it self-immolates doing the EPA's dirty work.
John Dunn, M.D., J.D. is an instructor in emergency medicine at Fort Hood, Texas and adviser to the American Council on Science and Health and the Heartland Institute. Steve Milloy, MHS, J.D., LLM publishes JunkScience.com and is a senior legal fellow at the Energy & Environment Law Institute.
Due to the perennial construction on I-85, we were a good hour later than we had hoped on our long 650-mile annual trek from D.C. down to Georgia. For the last hour or so our grandson who had slept much of the trip kept asking about our ETA. If we hadnt been road-weary, we would have known that he and a friend were texting away coordinating our arrival like a pilot with the control tower -- we had after all been through the same drill the year before with his sister.
We could hear the growing excitement in his voice as James, our 12-year-old grandson, asked us to slow down so he could take a picture of the entrance gate to Indian Springs Holiness Camp Meeting in Flovilla, Georgia. His grandad, not quite keyed into what was coming down, stopped, thinking James would want to get a good angle for his picture, but James exclaimed, No, no dont stop; I got the picture. Keep going! He was sitting on the edge of the backseat, clearly eager to get to our cabin to see the friends he hadnt seen in a year. As we approached the cabin, he spotted his friends running to greet him. He urged my husband to stop in the middle of the road and jumped out even as the car stopped rolling. The drive suddenly didnt seem so long and tiring as we our spirits fed off their excitement as they yelled greetings and ran to hug each other.
After nearly a decade, its become a familiar ritual. Our grandkids count the days and keep social media hot all year long with messages back and forth among their friends. While there, they run from meetings and services in the open-sided, outdoor tabernacles to recreation to the book store and to The Snackateria for their insanely delicious peach milkshakes. They bring friends to the cottage for snacks, to play games and talk until all hours of the night.
Every day we see fulfillment of the hopes and dreams that prompted us to buy the ancient 2-bedroom cabin 9 years ago. That daily whirlwind of activity is the driving force behind our efforts to make the 13-hour trip and live crowded together for 10 days. We keep our sanity by fixing snacks and meals, washing dishes, and keeping the washer and dryer going to cope with all the wet clothes from the water slide, the trips to the lake, and the frequent afternoon rain which gratefully brings the temperature down for a few hours.
It is all a small price to pay to give our grandchildren a sense of community -- a place where they can be free to explore, visit back and forth with neighbors and relatives, feel at home and secure away from the hectic modern lifestyles with their threats to childhood innocence. At Indian Springs they have the joy of being among a community of people who care for them in personal, loving and generous ways; they can bounce in and out of our cabin and several other relatives and friends cabins, as well as all around the grounds with abandon. There they know the security of a community of loved ones beyond family who are invested in their well-being; who know and love them as unique and precious human beings with wonderful potential. There they are exposed to a whole community of Christian believers who take their faith seriously and are authentic in their commitment to live out their beliefs. There they have the opportunity to become solidly grounded in the Bible and to be surrounded by other young people who are being nurtured and grounded in those same beliefs and moral values. In short, for at least a brief part of each year, they live among a community of Christian believers who are powerful influences in their lives. There they build memories similar to our own.
A decade ago experts like scholar Fr Harry Bohan at McGill University were voicing their concern about the loss of a sense of community. In a speech he gave on Losing the Sense of Community, Fr Bohan noted, Community is the foundation of human society. Isolated we curl up and die. He pointed out the indications that societal pressures were giving rise to a deeper search for tangible community, belonging, meaning and relationships. He was especially concerned that many people, having focused for so long on the material/external world, lacked opportunities for meaningful spiritual growth. He also worried about the debunking of politicians and heroes, churches and traditions, moral values and past achievements and the delusion that we are somehow better, more honest, more trustworthy, more enlightened, more moral than those who went before us.
Like Fr Bohan, we realized that our souls needed the nourishment of a community with whom we could retreat from the demands of our world and have our spirits fed from inspiring preaching, Biblical instruction and singing as well as from the fellowship of other believers seeking to live out our faith authentically.
Indian Springs provides that and more! Social psychologists McMillan and Chavis formed a theory years ago about how the importance of community; they called it the Sense of Community which they described well in one single sentence.
Sense of community is a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members needs will be met through their commitment to be together. (McMillan, 1976)
Indian Springs fits their description. (1) It is community with boundaries, both physical and spiritual, that provide emotional safety and identification. It is a place where believers can retreat to study Scripture together and to deepen their understanding and renew their commitment. (2) It is a place of influence where people care about each other, enjoy fellowship and fun together, and most importantly, worship together in oneness of spirit. (3) It is a place where the needs of peoples spirits are met. It is good to be among people who feel that such an investment in time and effort is worth making. At Indian Springs, people receive an intangible sense of belonging, a support network, thoughtful conversations, and inspiration. (4) In short, there is an emotional connection that is basically spiritual in nature. This, according to McMillans theory, is the definitive element for a true community.
A number of studies advising developers of new towns have examined how new communities can best serve families. They concur that children, especially, need social infrastructure for well-being. Childrens happiness, health, development and life-chances are affected by whether they can play safely outside, whether they have local social connections and can run around locally unaccompanied. Obviously, they have identified a major problem facing parents today; there are few places where children have those joys. Indian Springs is one of those places where young children, pre-teens and teenagers, as well as college students, and young adults can socialize, grow spiritually and have a great time in recreation, fun and worship. Increasingly, we realize that we as adults also need that sense of community and that spiritual nourishment.
Like Stanley Hauerwas, we agree, Saints cannot exist without a community, as they require, like all of us, nurturance by a people who, while often unfaithful, preserve the habits necessary to learn the story of God.
James and the other grandkids may not yet understand all the reasons they find so much joy and fulfilment from the long journey we make each year to Indian Spring Holiness Camp Ground. But someday they will look back at the time we spend there and recognize how those annual 10 days enriched our lives by being part of a community of old and new friends where by playing and worshipping together we renewed and preserved the habits necessary to learn the story of God.
There are a million stories in the big city. With a million ways to tell each one.
So when the University of Chicago told reporters that a new poll shows that 62 percent of young black people are more afraid of violence from white extremists than from ISIS, the worlds largest news organization had a choice:
1) It could produce a story scorning such a transparently false idea. Maybe even remind their readers that white people are 25-50 times more likely to be the victim of black violence than vice versa. Though many already know that from personal experience. Or,
2) It could perpetuate the greatest hoax of our generation: The myth of black victimization -- that black people are relentless victims of relentless white racism all the time, everywhere, that explains everything. Especially why cops are always picking on black people for no reason what so ever.
Dont laugh: its called "Critical Race Theory". Only today, it is an industry, taught to hundreds of thousands of students in hundreds of school districts across the country. Including virtually every university.
The Associated Press chose door number Two. Poll: Young Blacks Fear White Extremist Violence More than Violence from Foreign Extremists, said the headlines in papers around the country, including afro.com:
Sixty-two percent of young African-Americans and 55 percent of Hispanics surveyed said they were very concerned about the threat of violence committed by White extremists, compared to one-third of Whites and 41 percent of Asian-Americans. GenForward is a survey by the Black Youth Project at the University of Chicago with the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll is designed to pay special attention to the voices of young adults of color, highlighting how race and ethnicity shape the opinions of a new generation. Gregg Higgins, 27, was one of the Whites who said he was very worried about violence by extremists in his own race. In fact, he said he was more concerned about the homegrown White extremists than the threat of violence from people outside the United States or people inspired by foreign extremists. A social worker in Pittsburgh, Higgins said the growing political tension during the current election cycle has shown a really ugly part of our past coming through and being more heard. He described it as White males who are angry and who arent now afraid to show that anger. That fear of loss of control and loss of privilege is whats inspiring this vitriol and this hate, Higgins said.
As you can see, critical race theorists are easy to find. AP loves to interview them. And hire them. Heres a story from 2012: AP poll: U.S. majority have prejudice against blacks.
AP never really tells us how they know if someone is racist -- other than: When measured by an implicit racial attitudes test, the number of Americans with anti-black sentiments jumped to 56%, up from 49%.
Ah the test: No one takes a test and says they hate a person because of their race. So the shrinks found another way to uncover our darkest secrets -- which we covered at length in that scintillating best seller, Dont Make the Black Kids Angry.
Some tests are as short as six questions: If you do not like affirmative action, racial quotas, black criminality that is wildly out of proportion, and things like that, then guess what, you just failed.
Despite the APs explanation of rampant white racism that is everywhere and explains everything all the time, it is very difficult to find it. That is why Hillary and Barack have taken to talking about unconscious and subconscious racism.
Which Hillary, of course, wards off with some special hot sauce in her purse and some black friends to help her with her black musical choices.
The National Association of Black Journalists loves that.
But one thing the AP and this poll ignore is the level of black on white criminality that is wildly out of proportion -- and you do not have to take some silly test to find it.
Could it be this relentless violence is indicative of black on white racial hostility? Could it be that white people have way more reason to worry about black crime that black people do to worry about white violence?
Thats a question youll never get answered reading the AP wire. But lets look anyway. Within the last few days:
In Birmingham, Alabama, Tommy Shaw -- a retired businessman who spent his spare time driving his RV around his state for Donald Trump -- was in his home office when a black person came in and beat him to death.
In Augusta, Georgia, a group of black people beat and robbed an 87-year old great grandmother. They left her with broken bones in her hands and face. Then they returned and set her on fire. Shes still alive, if you want to call it that.
In Staten Island, a white newcomer to the area met with an old-time black gangster. The white newcomer is dead, and a black man with a long record of violence is under arrest.
In Amity Township, Pennsylvania, Michael Shields saw a black man trying to beat the owner of a motorcycle during a robbery. Shields came to help and he was murdered. Now police are looking for another black on white killer.
How many of these do you want? Thats how many there are. Easy to find in my books and YouTube channel.
Black on white, black on gay, black on young, black on old, black on man, black on woman, black on Asian, black on Hispanic, black on recent immigrant, and on and on and on.
Black mob violence, black mob car thievery from dealerships.
Thousands of examples. Easy to find. But when it comes to white on black crime, the solons at AP have trouble ginning up anything except the racial fantasies of an amateur Critical Race Theorist and some silly test.
And did I mention the Black Lives Matter leader who was just arrested for choking his pregnant girlfriend in Memphis? Or the black man who beat the white Trump supporter in New Jersey; or the hundreds of black people who rampaged through downtown Pittsburgh; or the many other examples of black violence that surpasses even ISIS for brutality and terror?
Never mind. Not in the AP style book.
Colin Flaherty is the author of Dont Make the Black Kids Angry, an Amazon #1 Best Seller. He also documents racial violence and denial on YouTube at Youtube.com/ColinFlaherty712.
Actually, you should know and youd better care.
Let me explain why through an analogy. Lets say you live in a repressive Middle Eastern country where homosexual beliefs can lead to arrest, and homosexual behavior can result in execution. You have friends or family you know to be homosexual. You are not homosexual yourself. You dont approve of their inclinations or behavior. But you value them as fellow imperfect human beings whose imperfections are merely different than your own. An acquaintance finds out about your views and asks why you would hold such views or have such scandalous associations. He feels obligated, by law or for fear of discovery, to report you to authorities. These authorities will not tolerate dissent. They move against you. They expose you publicly. You lose your job. Neighbors shun you out of loathing, or if they quietly agree with you, out of fear of being associated with a pariah. Your family receives threats. Your livelihood and reputation are destroyed. Maybe you lose your freedom.
This hypothetical situation in a Muslim country is not so fanciful, is it? We know enough these days about countries where similar persecutions occur daily. Who can forget the television images showing men being thrown off tall buildings, their hands tied behind their backs? Their crimes? Being homosexual. Nobody in these countries who feels for these people dares to speak out. No rights exist in law to hold differing opinions.
We dont live in a terrible place like this, do we? In our country, any of us may freely express our views on any matter. We may support or oppose homosexuality. We may have, or choose not to have, homosexual friends. We may associate, or not associate, in any way we wish with homosexuals or anyone else.
Heres where we come back to Judge Neely. She has served 21 years as a municipal judge and part-time magistrate in Pinedale. In late 2014, after a federal ruling that same-sex couples have the right to marry in Wyoming, a reporter asked whether she would marry a same-sex couple in her capacity as magistrate. She said her religious convictions define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and she could not in good conscience preside over such a marriage.
State law gives a magistrate full discretion to perform or not perform any marriage ceremony. More important, the Wyoming Constitution states that no official may be removed from office for holding any religious opinion. In another section, it declares a right against molestation for anyones religious views or worship. The US Constitution similarly protects individuals against punishment for ones religious beliefs.
Pinedale is a tiny Wyoming town (pop. 2,030) that Judge Neely has served for over 20 years. According to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which has filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of Judge Neely: Ignoring the pleas of LGBT citizens in the small town of Pinedale, Wyoming, a state agency is demanding that after over 20 years of sterling service Judge Ruth Neely be banned for life from the judiciary and pay up to $40,000 in fines merely for stating that her faith prevents her from personally performing same-sex weddings. Even though small-town magistrates like Judge Neely arent required or even paid by the state to perform weddings, the state agency concluded that Judge Neely manifested a bias and is therefore permanently unfit to serve as a judge.
Judge Neelys comment to the reporter set in motion a series of news articles culminating in an ethics complaint against her by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct and Ethics.
This would be the first time in the country that a judge was removed from office because of her religious beliefs about marriage.
In a response to the removal petition, Neelys lawyers stated in a court filing last month that removing her would violate her rights. They quoted a provision of the Wyoming Constitution that prohibits the state from finding a person incompetent to hold public office, because of his opinion on any matter of religious belief whatever.
Despite clear legal and constitutional protections, the Commission found her statement unacceptable and ruled that she cannot hold office.
Several religious organizations and lawmakers, including the Wyoming Pastors Network and State Rep. Cheri Steinmetz, are standing in support of Neely. For the last two years, Rep. Nathan Winters and myself have introduced legislation (The Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 2015 and Government Non-Discrimination Act in 2016) to avert the potential of Wyoming citizens being scrutinized for the expression of their religious beliefs, Steinmetz said in an interview with the Telegram. Unfortunately, the legislation failed.
Judge Neely appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court, which hears arguments in Cheyenne on August 17.
Lets be clear: in her role as a municipal judge, Neely cannot solemnize weddings because she lacks the legal authority. Her court handles things like traffic fines and public drunkenness.
From start to finish, the case against Neely was a setup: Nobody has asked Judge Neely to perform a same-sex marriage.
What is at stake for you and me in the outcome of the Neely case? Nothing less than the principle that we can freely express and live by our beliefs, no matter what others think.
Suffering injustice and persecution themselves, the founders of this country recognized that each person has rights which adhere to us by virtue of being human, rights which no person or government may deny us. I do not approve of homosexuality, but I would never claim the right to deny a homosexual freedom of belief in his or her own life. I cannot justly force that person or any person to renounce his beliefs or lose his job. Equally, no person with beliefs opposite mine has the right to persecute me for my beliefs.
Who among us would agree that the tyranny we see in Muslim countries is right? Tyranny violates fundamental rights which each human being is born with, rights that tower above anything man made.
Fellow Wyoming citizens who persecute Judge Neely for her beliefs would be persecuted (or worse) for theirs in the Middle East. Living in our safe homes here, not one of us would approve such persecution. If we were unfortunate enough to live in such a hellhole, we would disapprove in silence if we did not have the courage to face prison or death for speaking out.
I respect the right of others to disagree with my religious or moral beliefs. To decide not to associate with me because of my opinions. To stay away from me because of my circle of friends. I have the same rights with regard to them. Our rights are equal, and they are fundamental to our humanity.
Lets not become another Iran. We can live tolerantly with each other. We need not harness the fearsome power of government to bludgeon those who disagree with us on moral and religious matters.
Stop the persecution of Judge Neely. I dont want to be next. Neither do you.
Remember this lame-brain comment by Hillary? Are the Trump people missing this?
I havent seen or heard the Trump camp pick up on this bizarre comment.
Hillary, in this video, said, Dont let anyone tell you that corporations and businesses create jobs.
The comment is so patently absurd that explanation is not necessary. She is disconnected from the real world, understandably so. Spending her life working the systems of government and foundations sheltered her from the inner workings of true capitalism. Entrepreneurship in her world is filling up Bills speaking calendar.
Are we to assume, per Hillarys comment, that only the government via postal services, municipalities, etc. can the fountainhead of job creation?
The top economists at Goldman Sachs who attended Hillarys speeches must have been surprised at her feeble understanding of economics. In the real world, such drivel would yield zero speaking fees. But in her world, it pays handsomely. Perhaps this contributes to her confusion.
With Hillary and Donald both focusing on the economy in the coming days, the Trump people must drill home this short-circuited declaration by Hillary that corporations and businesses do not create jobs. Who does Hillary think makes all those pantsuits?
The disparagement of honest businesses and worship of government is another way in which Hillary would extend the policies of Barack Obama, who infamously told entrepreneurs, You didnt build that.
The message must be, improve a product, improve a service, create an innovation, and you will be financially rewarded. The government must get out of the way. This is diametrically opposite to Hillarys belief, and the crux of the macro-economic view that is America. Press this issue, Donald.
On Monday, fifty so-called "prominent" Republicans announced they are not voting for Trump. Many of them served in the Bush 43 administration, such as Michael Hayden and Tom Ridge, former Pennsylvania governor. Seems they are all upset that Trump said the Iraq War was a mistake and that Bush lied about the existence of weapons of mass destruction as the reason for the war.
Tuesday, economist Thomas Sowell joined the chorus of those too good to vote for Trump, who can live with Hillary as president but cannot live with Trump.
The reasoning of these quisling Republicans is ridiculous and illogical. They all say Hillary will appoint hard-core lefties to the Supreme Court, who will weaken the First Amendment by overruling Citizens United and weaken the Second Amendment by upholding all regulations on the possession and carrying of guns. They all say Hillary is a crook who endangered our national security with her emails. They all say Hillary lied about Benghazi. They all say Hillary helped Bill cover up his rape of Juanita Broaddrick and trashed the women who charged Bill with sexual harassment. They all agree that Hillary and Bill sold pardons, such as the Marc Rich one-million-dollar pardon.
Thus, they acknowledge the past conduct of Hillary. If she has acted like this for the past thirty years, then it follows that she will continue to lie, cheat, and put her interests above the country.
Yet these quislings cannot support Trump...because of what? He insulted John McCain? He insulted Mrs. Khan, whose husband used their son's death to advance his Muslim immigration agenda? The bottom line is that they forgive Hillary for her abominable history, of which there is no dispute, but they are offended by the words of Trump. Thus, to them, words matter more than conduct.
Sowell wrote:
There are few things worse than being deprived of our basic Constitutional rights, on which our freedom ultimately depends. But one of those few things is being deprived of life itself by the reckless decisions of a volatile, ill-informed, immature and self-absorbed President in a nuclear age.
Sowell is accusing Trump of starting a nuclear war. This is beyond belief. It is the same garbage that LBJ, through his lackey, Bill Moyers, used against Barry Goldwater in 1964. And then LBJ promptly sent 600,000 Americans to Vietnam. There is absolutely no credible evidence for this charge. To the contrary, Hillary supported the Obama nuclear deal with Iran, which is a real threat of nuclear war since, Iran has promised to destroy Israel. This is a real and credible threat of nuclear war caused by Hillary and Obama.
So Sowell and the quislings are ready to live with Hillary, who will deny us our Bill of Rights and who has a history of corruption. But they cannot vote for Trump because of Trump's language.
Authorities in Norrtalje, Sweden are asking residents with country homes to give them up for newly arrived refugees.
Isn't it fun to be a socialist?
Breitbart:
The areas director of social services, Ali Rashidi, told Svenska Dagbladet: We thought that there are certainly many houses and rooms that can be rented out for the winter. We like many other municipalities have housing needs. Mr. Rashidi explained that householders would let houses to the migrants themselves, with ordinary rental contracts. He assured the Swedish newspaper that the municipality would step in, if necessary, to make sure rent is paid in full. Most of the people are well-behaved. Besides, refugees get establishment support from the Employment Service, so should have enough to pay the rent, Mr. Rashidi said. Asked about homeowners fears that migrants with social problems could misuse their properties, Mr. Rashidi said officials will act to match up appropriate landlords and tenants. On Friday, migrants protested against the newly built modular housing in which they live. Around 30 of them marched to Norrtaljes social services department almost half of those who have moved in. Mitt i reported one of the protesters as saying: We had a meeting the day before and decided that we do not want to continue living under these conditions. According to the department, those marching felt misled over the accommodation as they had expected to be given their own permanent apartments rather than sharing a kitchen with other migrants. The migrants representatives warned that disappointment over housing issues had led some of the men protesting to experience depression and even suicidal thoughts. Swedens generous asylum and migration policies have led to chronic housing shortages over the decade. The nation of under 10 million people admitted over 160,000 non-EU migrants last year, exacerbating the problem.Swedish public housing organisation SABO reports that almost half a million new homes must be built in the country just to meet demand.
Incredible. The good people of Sweden go to the trouble and expense of constructing housing for these refugees, and they demand an upgrade because they have to use a communal kitchen? How many of these refugees have even seen a modern kitchen, much less indoor plumbing?
Becoming depressed and suicidal over kitchen accomodations calls into question the mental health of the refugees and how easily they might be turned by ISIS or al-Qaeda.
Caving into the demands of ungrateful people is taking the idea of humanitarianism a step too far. The refugees should be told to take what's so generously given them or offer them a one-way ticket back to whatever hellhole they crawled out of.
If you are tired, as I am, of the same turbo-conservatives dominating talk radio and TV and Fox News, then Matthew Sheffield has written an important piece, first at his own website he edits and then reposted at National Review Online: "The Conservative Media Echo Chamber Is Making the Right Intellectually Deaf."
First, Sheffield explains how Trump rose to become the nominee.
Conservative activists who dislike GOP nominee Donald Trump are constantly asking themselves how their party could elect an inexperienced bomb-thrower who constantly messes up. The relatively small influence of right-wing blogs and talk radio is part of the answer. Trump-hating hosts like Mark Levin and Glenn Beck bashed Trump daily on their programs for months. Their criticism had no effect, however, because the only people tuning in were those who already agreed. (It didnt help that their denunciations were completely hypocritical and politically motivated as well.)
The rise of Trump has been explained in various ways, and all of them together seem right to me because multifaceted explanations don't reduce complex things to a simplistic single cause. But one thing is clear: conservatives need to leave the self-created ghetto and mix it up in the much bigger world.
How do Fox News's and talk radio's audience stack up to all the rest of the media? Conservative viewership and listenership is much, much smaller:
Conservatives have significant outposts in talk radio and Fox News but their audience size is still dwarfed by the sum total of the center-left media behemoth. The Rights bad situation is made worse by the fact that cable news as a medium is actually in decline as many of its older audience members are dying off and not being replaced because many younger people are refusing to purchase cable- and satellite-television subscriptions. Among those who do pay for TV, younger adults arent watching cable news.
Conservatives have been mostly talking among themselves:
Indeed, it could be argued that the Rights success at creating overtly conservative media infrastructure has actually made it harder for conservatives to grasp their inability to reach the casual news consumer. Because the Right now has a comparatively larger media audience than before, it is difficult for many to realize that they have been primarily talking amongst themselves as this analysis clearly shows.
I teach at college, the Lion's Den, and I was shocked when an advanced class didn't know what "P.C." stood for. I had to explain it, with the help of one student. A certain brand of conservatism that dominates right-leaning media is unfit for the classroom. Students sneer and mock. I have to refer to stories that slip through the cracks in the mainstream media or go right to the government source if the subject is the national operating debt, for example.
But conservative media won't change. They still have just a large enough audience to attract sponsors, and the more outrageous and unthinking the hosts are, like calling people they disagree with "pukes," or attacking the ill defined, amorphous "Establishment" as the cause of all the problems (and not themselves and other things), the more the hosts can attract a slice of like-minded conservatives and then attract the sponsors.
The self-serving cycle cannot be broken unless forward-thinking executive producers take the risk to break it and bring in fresh personalities who know what they're talking about, but who can also communicate conservatism in an attractive way.
James Arlandson's website is Live as Free People, where he has posted How conservatives can finally read America accurately (for a change), The GOP 'Establishment' will have to save Trump and country, In Defense of the GOP 'Establishment,' and Thirty reasons not to vote for Hillary.
Second World War posters warned repeatedly against discussion of ship movements, war production, and indeed anything else Nazi spies might report to waiting submarines. The government had to rely on defense workers, dock workers, and people with similar knowledge of war-related activities to keep it to themselves, because there was no way to put controls on the information in question.
But Hillary Clinton could not manage even this basic principle when dealing with highly sensitive information, including discussions about Shahram Amiri, an Iranian nuclear scientist who was apparently spying for the United States. Iran recently returned Mr. Amiri's body, with rope burns on its neck, to his family after executing him for treason. Wikileaks discovered conversations about Amiri on Hillary Clinton's private and unsecured email server the one the FBI said might have been accessed by hostile foreign agents. This one from Jake Sullivan to Hillary Clinton does not admittedly mention Amiri by name:
Per the subject we discussed, we have a diplomatic, "psychological" issue, not a legal issue. Our friend has to be given a way out. We should recognize his concerns and frame it in terms of a misunderstanding with no malevolent intent and that we will make sure there is no recurrence. Our person won't be able to do anything anyway. If he has to leave so be it.
"Our friend has to be given a way out" is very suggestive that the individual under discussion is a spy for the United States, and that the United States needs to provide some kind of cover for him to return home without being suspected. Enough "bits of careless talk" of this nature might have put an Iranian rope around Shahram Amiri's neck for possibly helping the United States to counteract Iran's nuclear weapon program.
Mr. Sullivan sent yet another email to Hillary Clinton on her unsecured server that might have given the Iranians another piece for their puzzle.
The gentleman you have talked to Bill Burns about has apparently gone to his country's interests section because he is unhappy with how much time it has taken to facilitate his departure. This could lead to problematic news stories in the next 24 hours. Will keep you posted.
While it again does not mention Mr. Amiri by name, the Iranians did not need to be rocket scientists to connect this statement with the man who had in fact gone to the Pakistani Embassy's Iranian interests section. Let's remember exactly what FBI director James Comey said about the manner in which Ms. Clinton handled sensitive information. Emphasis is mine.
Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information. None of these e-mails should have been on any kind of unclassified system, but their presence is especially concerning because all of these e-mails were housed on unclassified personal servers not even supported by full-time security staff, like those found at Departments and Agencies of the U.S. Governmentor even with a commercial service like Gmail. With respect to potential computer intrusion by hostile actors, we did not find direct evidence that Secretary Clintons personal e-mail domain, in its various configurations since 2009, was successfully hacked. But, given the nature of the system and of the actors potentially involved, we assess that we would be unlikely to see such direct evidence. We do assess that hostile actors gained access to the private commercial e-mail accounts of people with whom Secretary Clinton was in regular contact from her personal account.
The following modification of another popular World War II poster says pretty much all that needs to be said. The difference it makes, by the way, is not only that Hillary Clinton's reckless mishandling of sensitive information might have gotten a friendly agent killed, but it will also make it difficult if not impossible to recruit other foreign nationals to spy for the United States. Who will risk his life for us when Hillary Clinton, if she is elected or appointed to any position that has access to intelligence information, might blow his cover with a careless word?
William A. Levinson is the author of several books on business management including content on organizational psychology, as well as manufacturing productivity and quality.
The anti-Trump media (another name for the mainstream media) have resumed their frenzied claims that Donald Trump is out to unleash indescribable horror in the American people. The current version of doom is that he is calling for NRA assassins to kill either Hillary Clinton or her Supreme Court nominees, or both. What he actually said was this:
By the way if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know.
Within thirty minutes, according to Rudy Giuliani, interviewed on Fox News this morning, the Clinton spin machine had shaped the media narrative. Trump was not calling for electoral activism (at a rally of electoral activists!). No, he was calling on Second Amendment People to use their evil guns to kill someone or other.
Thomas Friedman of the New York Times handily summed up the conventional wisdom, his forte.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin got assassinated. His right-wing opponents just kept delegitimizing him as a traitor and a Nazi for wanting to make peace with the Palestinians and give back part of the Land of Israel. Of course, all is fair in politics, right? And they had God on their side, right? They werent actually telling anyone to assassinate Rabin. That would be horrible. But there are always people down the line who dont hear the caveats. They just hear the big message: The man is illegitimate, the man is a threat to the nation, the man is the equivalent of a Nazi war criminal. Well, you know what we do with people like that, dont you? We kill them. And thats what the Jewish extremist Yigal Amir did to Rabin. Why not? He thought he had permission from a whole segment of Israels political class. In September, I wrote a column warning that Donald Trumps language toward immigrants could end up inciting just this kind of violence. I never in my wildest dreams, though, thought hed actually in his usual coy, twisted way suggest that Hillary Clinton was so intent on taking away the Second Amendment right to bear arms that maybe Second Amendment enthusiasts could do something to stop her. Exactly what? Oh, Trump left that hanging.
Because everyone knows that Trumps followers are barely civilized, some of them in more distant regions man-ape hybrids. And everyone knows that Second Amendment people are not united behind part of the Bill of Rights; they are using that as disguise of their true nature as bloodthirsty assassins.
The media are once again making themselves appear ridiculous, twisting Trumps words and exposing their own disdain for Trumps followers. They are following a general script. Samantha Strayer of The Federalist identifies the pattern:
The media frenzy surrounding this election, the 24/7 news-cycle, and Trumps gumption ensure were constantly talking about him, analyzing his every move. (snip) many criticisms of Trump have been rather hysterical, sophomoric, and downright lewd. As if set on auto-repeat, headlines, tweets, and the like squeal XENOPHOBE! FASCIST! RACIST! DEMAGOGUE! PUDGY FINGERS! Eerily in sync, media outlets and Trump haters described his convention speech and his soul! as DARK!
Trump obviously knows this, and yet he keeps feeding anti-Trumpers ambiguous opportunities to vent their mania. There are two possible means of explaining this. Either, as a friend who shall remain anonymous emailed me:
Trump went one whole day without saying something really stupid. Two days was too much to ask. Or Trump is exercising some political jujitsu, able to anticipate the oppositions reaction and planning to use their momentum against them.
If Trump had so little self-awareness and self-control as the first alternative hypothesizes, could he have built the empire he has created? I would note that in The Art of the Deal, he brags about psyching out his rivals in negotiations.
Consider four propositions:
A huge share of the public, over two thirds, are dissatisfied with the way the country is working. These dissatisfied people are angry at what they perceive as a bipartisan rigged system in league with special interests. A huge share of the public distrusts and is angry at the media. The media will never treat him fairly.
Given these conditions, it would make sense for Trump to capitalize on the medias inability to be fair, and get them to anger his base to turn out. And also to discredit themselves in the eyes of persuadables in the general public. People who despise him are going to write bad things about him anyway, so why not push them over the edge into revealing more than they intend about their own prejudices?
Ever since man learned to grow their own food and rear cattle, they have been living in permanent to semi-permanent settlements with certain degree of planning. Although opinions vary on whether any particular ancient settlement can be considered to be a city, there is no doubt that towns and cities have a long history.
The earliest civilizations in history were established in the region known as Mesopotamia, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran. Archaeological remains unearthed in Mesopotamia provides proof of settlements dating back to 10,000 BC. After Mesopotamia, the city culture arose in Syria and Anatolia, as shown by the city of Catalhoyuk (7500-5700BC). Mohenjodaro of the Indus Valley Civilization in present-day Pakistan existed from about 2600 BC and was one of the largest ancient cites with a population of 50,000 or more.
While it might not be too difficult to determine which is the oldest city in the world, there is fierce contention for the title of the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. Often the age claims are disputed and historical evidences are difficult to prove. Then there are differences in opinion as to the definitions of "city" as well as "continuously inhabited". In any case, the following cities besides being some of the ancient in the world, they continue to grow and thrive until the present day.
Jericho, Israel
Continuously Inhabited Since: 9000 BC
Jericho is a city located near the Jordan River in the West Bank of the Palestinian territories, capital of the Jericho Governorate and with a modest population of around 20,000. Situated well below sea level Jericho is believed to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.
Described in the Old Testament as the "City of Palm Trees", copious springs in and around Jericho have made it an attractive site for human habitation for thousands of years. Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of more than 20 successive settlements in Jericho, the first of which dates back 11,000 years (9000 BCE), almost to the very beginning of the Holocene epoch of the Earth's history.
During the Younger Dryas period of cold and drought, permanent habitation of any one location was not possible. However, the spring at what would become Jericho was a popular camping ground for hunter-gatherer groups, who left a scattering stone tools behind them. Around 9600 BCE the droughts and cold of the Younger Dryas Stadial had come to an end, making it possible for groups to extend the duration of their stay, eventually leading to year round habitation and permanent settlement. By about 9400 BCE Jericho had more than 70 dwellings, and was home to over 1000 people.
Damascus, Syria
Continuously Inhabited Since: 6300 BC
Damascus is the capital and the second largest city of Syria. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major cultural and religious center of the Levant.
Damascus is often claimed to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, and evidence exists of a settlement in the wider Barada basin dating back to 9000 BC. However within the area of Damascus there is no evidence for large-scale settlement until the second millennium BC. Carbon-14 dating at Tell Ramad, on the outskirts of Damascus, suggests that the site may have been occupied since the second half of the seventh millennium BC, possibly around 6300 BC.
Byblos, Lebanon
Continuously Inhabited Since: 5000 BC
Byblos is a Mediterranean city in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of present-day Lebanon. It is believed to have been founded around 5000 BC, and according to fragments attributed to the semi-legendary pre-Trojan war Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon, it was built by Cronus as the first city in Phoenicia.
Byblos is located on the Mediterranean coast of present-day Lebanon, about 26 miles (42 kilometers) north of Beirut. It is attractive to archaeologists because of the successive layers of debris resulting from centuries of human habitation. The first settlement appeared approximately 6230 BC. During the 3rd millennium BC, the first signs of a town can be observed, with the remains of well-built houses of uniform size.
Aleppo, Syria
Continuously Inhabited Since: 5000 BC
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. Aleppo has scarcely been touched by archaeologists, since the modern city occupies its ancient site. Therefore, its hard to put a precise date on how old the city is it. Excavations at Tell as-Sawda and Tell al-Ansari, just south of the old city of Aleppo, show that the area was occupied from around 5000 BC.
The citys continuous inhabitation is due to its strategic trading position that attracted settlers of all races and beliefs who wished to take advantage of the commercial roads that met in Aleppo from as far as China and Mesopotamia to the east, Europe to the west, and the Fertile Crescent and Egypt to the south. Today, with an official population of 2,132,100 (2004 census), it is one of the largest cities in the Levant.
Athens, Greece
Continuously Inhabited Since: 5000 BC
Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state - a centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum. It is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy, largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then known European continent.
The oldest known human presence in Athens is the Cave of Schist, which has been dated to between the 11th and 7th millennium BC. Athens has been continuously inhabited for at least 7000 years. During the early Middle Ages, the city experienced a decline, then recovered under the later Byzantine Empire and was relatively prosperous during the period of the Crusades (12th and 13th centuries), benefiting from Italian trade. Following a period of sharp decline under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Athens re-emerged in the 19th century as the capital of the independent Greek state.
Argos, Greece
Continuously Inhabited Since: 5000 BC
Argos is a city and a former municipality in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece. Argos has been continuously inhabited for the past 7,000 years, making it one of the oldest cities in Greece and Europe. At a strategic location on the fertile plain of Argolis, Argos was a major stronghold during the Mycenaean era. In classical times Argos was a powerful rival of Sparta for dominance over the Peloponnese, but was eventually shunned by other Greek city-states after remaining neutral during the Greco-Persian Wars. Numerous ancient monuments can be found in the city today, the most famous of which is the renowned Heraion of Argos, though agriculture (particularly citrus production) is the mainstay of the local economy.
Faiyum, Egypt
Continuously Inhabited Since: 4000 BC
Faiyum is a city in Middle Egypt, located 130 km southwest of Cairo. Founded in around 4000 B.C., it is the oldest city in Egypt and one of the oldest cities in Africa.
The town occupies part of the ancient site of Crocodilopolis, the most significant center for the cult of Sobek, the crocodile-god. The city worshipped a sacred crocodile, named Petsuchos, that was embellished with gold and gems. The crocodile lived in a special temple, with sand, a pond and food. When the Petsuchos died, it was replaced by another.
After the city passed into the hands of the Ptolemies, the city was renamed Ptolemais Euergetis. The city was renamed Arsinoe by Ptolemy Philadelphus to honor Arsinoe II of Egypt, his sister and wife, during the 3rd century BCE.
Sidon, Lebanon
Continuously Inhabited Since: 4000 BC
Sidon is the third-largest city in Lebanon, located about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. There is evidence that Sidon was inhabited from as long ago as 4000 BC, and perhaps, as early as Neolithic times (6000 - 4000 BC).
Sidon is now third-largest city in Lebanon with a busy port called Saydah. For the reason that it is still occupied, archaeological research of the city is very difficult, so its history is pieced together from what records remain, plus what digs can be carried out during any rebuilding or construction projects.
Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Continuously Inhabited Since: 3000 BC ~ 4000 BC
Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria. Plovdiv's history spans 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC, ranking it among the world's oldest cities. Archaeologists have discovered fine pottery and other objects of everyday life from as early as the Neolithic Age, showing that in the end of the 4th millennium BC. there already was an established settlement there.
Plovdiv was originally a Tracian settlement before becoming a major Roman city. It later fell into Byzantine and Ottoman hands, before becoming part of Bulgaria. The city is a major cultural centre and boasts many ancient remains, including a Roman amphitheatre and aqueduct, and Ottoman baths.
Gaziantep, Turkey
Continuously Inhabited Since: 3650 BC
Gaziantep is a city in southeast Turkey located 185 kilometers northeast of Adana and 127 kilometers by road north of Aleppo, Syria. It is the sixth most populous city in Turkey.
Dating back to the 4th millennium BCE, Gaziantep has traces of Hittite settlement that continued till about 1183 when it was conquered by Turkish tribes. Till then it was predominantly a Syrian town named `Hamtap`. The Ottoman Empire invaded the place in the early 16th century and named it `Ayintab` meaning `good spring`. The rule continued for three centuries uninterrupted until 1919 when it was occupied by the British, which was followed by a French control in 1920. In 1922 however the Turks won back their land from the French troops and the prefix `Gazi` was added meaning `warrior of Islam` and hence the name Gaziantep.
Delhi, India
Continuously Inhabited Since: 3500 BC
Delhi is the largest city and the second most populous metropolis in India, and 8th most populous metropolis in the world. The Indian capital city of Delhi has a long history, including a history as the capital of several empires.
Delhi is known to have been continuously inhabited since at least the 6th century BC, though human habitation is believed to have existed since several millennia BC. Delhi is generally considered close to a 5000-year old city as per the ancient Indian text The Mahabharata. Delhi is widely believed to have been the site of Indraprastha, the legendary capital of the Pandavas during the times of the Mahabharata, founded around 3500 BC.
But archeological evidence to support the claim is scarce and inconclusive. The excavated ceramic pottery and the excavated layers of the ancient city seem to match what the verses of the Mahabharata indicate. More possible evidence in its favour is the existence of a village named Indraprastha very close to the Purana Qila that was destroyed by the British during the construction of Lutyens' Delhi.
Delhi was built, destroyed and rebuilt several times, particularly during the Medieval era, as outsiders who successfully invaded the Indian Subcontinent would ransack the existing capital city in Delhi, and those who came to conquer and stay would be so impressed by the city's strategic location as to make it their capital and rebuild it in their own way.
Whatever records exist of Delhi, they crown the city as the Capital city of some empire or the other all through, with minor random breaks in between, making Delhi one of the longest serving Capitals and one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world.
Article based on this Wikipedia list
Asus ZenWatch lineup is well-loved as a fairly low-cost alternative to other smartwatches, with classical styling. The specs are fairly middle-of-the-road, and the price, while reasonable, isnt ultra-budget. In many ways, theyre similar to most other options out there, just a bit cheaper and more conservatively styled. The ZenWatch lineup, however, does sport a key standout feature that differentiates it from most smartwatches and more traditional timepieces, and that is a square screen. Allowing the watches to use the full square interface of apps, and avoid the dreaded flat tire found on watches like the Moto 360, while still having room for a sizeable enough bezel to hide the various bits and bobs away while keeping the watch fairly thin. That famous square screen, however, seems to be vanishing with the ZenWatch 3.
According to a couple of images found with the official FCC filing for the ZenWatch 3, the watch will be round. While a square screen on a round body is certainly possible, its highly unlikely; the most probable scenario here is that the ZenWatch 3 will be a round watch and feature a circular display. This break from tradition will leave Sonys lineup, if it will continue after the Sony SmartWatch 3, as the only mainstream square smartwatch left on the scene. The label and label location pictures from the FCC filing, showing where the mandatory FCC labeling will go on the device, give away the form factor. This should still be taken with a grain of salt, however; the watch could simply have a round backplate on a square body, making it just like the ZenWatch and ZenWatch 2 before it.
Aside from this filing, not much is known about the ZenWatch 3. Its assumed that the styling will be similar to the ZenWatch 2 and the specs will see some sort of bump, and that the price will hover around the $150 to $250 mark, but leaks and rumors have thus far been incredibly sparse. With the official FCC filings for the watch on the books, US customers may be seeing the ZenWatch 3 make a surprise appearance on their local store shelves in the near future, or the filing could be purely preemptive in nature, meaning the watch may show up at a trade show or hide in the shadows for several more months. With IFA in Berlin coming up in September, theres a decent chance that the ZenWatch 3 may show up, but nothing is set in stone right now.
AT&Ts Chief Financial Officer, John Stephens, explained yesterday at the Oppenheimer Annual Technology, Internet & Communications Conference that the carrier has 40 MHz of unused spectrum, which he believes gives the business a unique position. AT&T owns 140 MHz of the airwaves but is currently only using 100 MHz. Stephens observations are that the carrier has yet to deploy, in any meaningful way, its AWS-3 (Advanced Wireless Services, which consists of LTE service at the 1,700 and 2,100 MHz frequencies, representing LTE Band 4) and WCS (Wireless Communications Service, LTE spectrum at the 2,300 MHz point).
Stephens went on to discuss AT&Ts 2G spectrum, where the carrier has plans to shut down its 2G network by the end of the year and repurpose this spectrum for newer generation network technologies. This spectrum will initially be redeployed for AT&Ts 3G network. AT&T has plans to upgrade this 3G spectrum to 4G LTE and subsequently to 5G. Stephens explains that AT&T is building out the new AWS-3 and WCS spectrum is a cheaper way to build out network capacity compared with the traditional way of densifying a cellular network by building a combination of new macro and small cell sites. On the subject of network capacity, Stephens explained that AT&T is very comfortable. Americas second largest carrier has a five year spectrum plan that is very, very effective and efficient and it gives us a unique advantage.
Carriers upgrading spectrum to newer networking technologies is nothing new but in the case of AT&T, that the company is currently operating with 100 MHz out of 140 MHz is interesting. AT&T competitors, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile, are all working hard to reinvest and upgrade their own networks. Each carrier appears to be following a slightly different network plan Sprint, relegated to be Americas smallest national carrier, is working to deploy its high frequency 2,500 MHz spectrum via a new, smarter way of building out a network. Verizon is utilizing small cells and traditional network densification technologies to improve coverage while T-Mobile is increasing coverage using its newly acquired 700 MHz spectrum. All of these carriers with Sprint as the odd one out are also bidding in the FCCs 600 MHz spectrum auction, which is not expected to conclude until next year.
Global Market Insights have released a report discussing the current and near future outlook for the Chromebook platform, which is expects to exceed 17 million units by 2023. This growth is from just 5.3 million in 2014 and in 2016, weve already seen the Chromebook outsell the Apple MacBook (2 million versus 1.7 million). Chromebooks are becoming more powerful and more functional thanks to upgraded internal hardware and improvements at the Google Chrome OS side of things the platform is receiving the ability to access Android applications via the Google Play Store, which is likely to dramatically increase the functionality of the platform going forward.
The education sector has been one of the driving forces behind the rise of the Chromebook: school IT departments have selected the Google Chromebook as the computer of choice on account of the low cost of the hardware, the number of hardware partners building models (weve seen Chromebooks from Acer, Dell, Google, HP, Lenovo, Samsung and Toshiba) and the availability of device management software. Looking back at 2014, Global Market Insights estimates that 84% of global Chromebooks sales were into the North American market and of these, 60% were to education institutions. Of the balance, business only received 1.1% and consumers bought the remaining 38.6%.
However, in 2016, Google is a different business with different objectives. One of the companys main points of focus is the enterprise and cloud computing market, where the company is locked in competition with Microsoft and Amazon to provide cloud computing services. As part of this, weve seen Google increase efforts into providing corporate services and of course, the Chromebook neatly drops into this ecosystem. Chromebooks tap into Googles existing cloud computing infrastructure and require very little in the way of set up or maintenance. And of course, most Chromebook models are relatively inexpensive: the cost in hardware alone could save a small business thousands of dollars.
Advertisement
Google still has some work to do around raising awareness of how the Chromebook and Chrome OS platforms works: Microsoft has made much of the fact that the Chromebook is tied to the cloud, but in 2016 the Chromebook platform does not need to be connected in order to be productive. Things will improve here as more Android applications become available for the platform, but Google still needs to raise awareness of the functionality and limitations of the platform. However, the fundamentals are in place: todays students may buy their own Chromebook or even Chromebox computers for the home in order to continue where they left off at the end of their studies. Manufacturers have and continue to develop new devices with touchscreens and convertible chassis designs: the Chromebook has likely stolen sales from tablets as the platform is more productive. Adding Android app compatibility is likely to be a shot in the arm for the platform and with the auxiliary support of Googles other business divisions, GMIs forecast of an annual 17 million units sold by 2023 could be conservative.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is finally here. Well, it is here in the sense that it has been announced and that it is now available to pre-order in various regions of the world. With the expected available to buy date looming and a number of deals already surfacing for those who take advantage of the pre-order phrase, it is already looking as though the Galaxy Note 7 is going to be another hit in the Samsung stable. In fact, if recent reports are anything to go by, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is already looking to be a greater pre-order hit than the Galaxy S7 (and S7 Edge). With some reports detailing the difference in pre-orders is to the tune of nearly twice the number of Galaxy S7 pre-orders so far.
While this will be good news for Samsung, it will also be something that the company was likely banking on and therefore, they are likely to be prepared adequately for the number of pre-orders which will need to be fulfilled. Although, whether they are completely prepared is another thing altogether. Reports are now coming through suggesting that some regions are likely to see a delay in Galaxy Note 7 pre-orders being fulfilled, simply due to the number of pre-orders coming through on a worldwide scale. The latest of which is Malaysia.
According to reports, emails are now being sent out from the Malaysian arm of Samsung to various media outlets and confirming that Malaysias launch of the Galaxy Note 7 is being pushed back to September, a month later than when the device had been expected to be available in the country. The reason being given by Samsung Malaysia is clear with the email citing Samsung is experiencing a global constraint in meeting the demands of market launches. In short, it is in too much demand worldwide to be able to fulfill all pre-orders during the originally expected time-frame. Samsung does confirm those who have already pre-ordered in Malaysia are likely to receive their orders in due course and on time, but it seems a delay will be in place for those who place a pre-order going forward, as well as for the general availability of the Galaxy Note 7 in Malaysia. Below is a copy of the reported email being sent out.
When it comes to smartphones, there has for a long time been the eternal fight between Apple and Samsung, which of course can really be boiled down to iOS vs Android. Apple might be the only player in the iOS game, but Samsung is but a big fish in a big pond, as Android has always been more diverse than iOS. This flexibility and diversity has led Android to become the most-used mobile operating system by far across the globe, even taking some places such as India pretty much entirely. According to new figures from Kantar Worldpanel however, iOS is making something of a fight back though.
During the second quarter of 2016, Android took 65.5% of smartphone sales worldwide, which is a small fall from the 66.1% figure during Q2 of 2015, which might be due to the 1.3% growth year-over-year that iOS saw in the US alone. This gave Apples iOS devices 31.8% during Q2 of this year in the United States, and 18.2% of sales in Europe. In key European markets such as France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, iOS saw growth in all of them, with the UK seeing their largest share of 37.2%, a growth of 3.1%. This growth is likely down to the fact that many will be upgrading to the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6 after being on a 24-month contract with a much smaller iPhone. As always however, things came down to Apple and Samsung, with Samsungs Galaxy S7 duo accounting for 14.1% of sales, with the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus accounting for 15.1% of sales.
Europe and the United States might have been strong growth markets for iOS, but things have been very different in China. After yet more decline, Apple is now placed behind Huawei and Xiaomi, in third place with just 17.9% of the Chinese market. In markets such as China and India. Apple is likely to become a permenant fixture, given their high price of devices and big pushes from the likes of Xiaomi and co. Regardless, it looks like the fight between Apple and Samsung is to go on for some time to come, while the rest of the Android world helps to keep iOS at bay.
Motorola was once one of the largest cellphone manufacturers in the world. The company did not adapt to the smartphone world all that well however, and it was first purchased by Google, and then Google opted to sell the company to Lenovo. Since Lenovo took over, weve seen a number of Moto devices hit the market, and the Chinese company is slowly, but surely, pushing out the Motorola brand. That being said, weve seen a couple of Moto-branded devices introduced this year, including the Moto G Play, Moto G Plus, Moto Z and Moto Z Force handsets. As you can see, the third-gen Moto E is not present on this list, thats because Motorola did not introduce this smartphone just yet, but that might change soon, read on.
The budget Moto E (2nd-gen) handset got announced back in February last year, and considering were in August 2016 now, its successor is long overdue. Well, the third-gen Moto E handset surfaced on Zauba in India quite recently, and that listing, more or less, suggests that the device will launch soon. The listing dates back to August 8th, and shows the 16GB storage variant of the Moto E. We still dont know when exactly will this handset land, but it seems like its release is closer than we might think. Anyhow, the Moto E (3rd-gen) had already surfaced on GFXBench (back in April), and thanks to that listing, we know what to expect in terms of specifications. The Moto E (3rd-gen), will, according to GFXBench, ship with a 5-inch 720p (1280 x 720) display, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of native storage. The device will be fueled by MediaTeks MT6735P 64-bit quad-core SoC running at 1GHz, and the Mali-T720 GPU will also be a part of this package. On the back of the Moto E (3rd-gen) youll be able to find an 8-megapixel shooter, while a 5-megapixel camera will be available up front. Android 6.0 Marshmallow will come pre-installed on this smartphone, and on top of it, youll get an almost stock version of Android, though several Moto apps will be included.
On top of all this, it is also worth mentioning that the Moto E (3rd-gen) had gained Bluetooth certification back in June, which also confirms that it should launch soon. In any case, stay tuned, well make sure to keep you in the loop.
Its barely been a month since Pokemon GO started rolling out to select markets and the augmented reality (AR) app is already talked about in the context of the biggest gaming phenomena of the decade. However, certain privacy concerns regarding the popular mobile game have already been raised and some older relevant stories have once again started resurfacing. Namely, some concerned parties are reminding the public that John Hanke, the CEO of Pokemon GO developer Niantic Labs has already been at the heart of some sizeable privacy scandals.
Namely, after Hankes CIA-funded geographic imagery company Keyhole got acquired by Google in 2004, the American entrepreneur went on to head the tech giants Geo division for years and soon became the main man behind every map-related endeavor Google was conducting in the second half of the last decade. By far the most popular such project was Google Street View which has successfully digitized much of the worlds views with Googles special cars full of cameras. While Googles digitization efforts yielded numerous positive results one of which is Pokemon GO which heavily relies on that data they were also at the center of the biggest privacy scandal of 2010. Namely, it turned out that the Street View cars were collecting all traffic from unencrypted wireless networks all around the globe. The so-called Wi-Spy scandal was found illegal in numerous countries around the world but mostly resulted in insignificant fines such as the $25,000 the FCC issued in 2010. However, to this day, theres still an ongoing federal class-action case against Google initiated due to this spying and it currently isnt looking good for the Mountain View-based tech giant.
After the truth surfaced in the media, Hanke denied any knowledge of the Wi-Fi spying Street View cars were conducting and shifted the blame to Googles mobile division despite the fact that it was the vehicles of his division which conducted the spying. Furthermore, while the US government didnt give much thought to Googles mobile division, it did conduct a large investigation into Hankes very own division regarding this issue. Google soon tried to shift the blame to a single engineer who was allegedly conducting an experimental Wi-Fi project. It wasnt until 2012 that the company finally admitted that the said engineer wasnt acting on his own and has discussed his spying code with at least several of his superiors.
Advertisement
This was and still is a huge issue because of the fact that Googles cars were swallowing all of the unencrypted Wi-Fi traffic in their vicinity, and not just general information such as names of wireless routers. In the end, its estimated hundreds of thousands of Wi-Fi users all around the world had their data stolen. While none of this directly incriminates Hanke, critics have recently been extremely vocal about the fact that he has at the very least allowed for a large-scale spying operation to happen right under his nose, voicing their concerns about a similar thing happening to Pokemon GO.
Back in August of 2011, Google announced that they were buying Motorola. The smartphone manufacturer that had been having quite a bit of financial difficulty in recent years, Google wanted to save it. However, something that many industry analysts were worried about, was how this purchase would affect Googles partners which use Android on their mobile devices. There were many rumors that Samsung wasnt happy with Google owning one of their competitors, even though the search giant continuously noted that Motorola is its own separate entity and not ran by Google. Less than three years later, Google sold Motorola Mobility to Lenovo.
Now Google bought Motorola for $12.5 billion in 2011, and sold it for $2.91 billion in 2014. Thats a pretty big difference for the same company. Its worth noting here that the deal with Lenovo did not include any of the patents that Motorola owned which Google cited as a big reason for them picking up Motorola. Google also separated Motorola Mobility from Motorola Solutions. Where Motorola Solutions created radios and such, while Motorola Mobility did all sorts of mobile products like smartphones, smartwatches, etc. So the Motorola that Lenovo bought was indeed much smaller, hence the smaller price tag.
Advertisement
When Lenovo announced they were buying Motorola, the reaction was sort of a mixed bag. Some were happy that Motorola would be able to flourish under Lenovo, something they couldnt do under Google, due to competition. But then that made Motorola an American company into a Chinese one. Additionally, many hardcore Android fans were worried about what might happen to Motorola. Would they just be absorbed by Lenovo? Or would they be able to be their own brand or company under the Lenovo umbrella? There were many questions that needed answering, and many of these questions werent answered until 2016. About two years after the acquisition was complete.
One of the big questions was whether Motorola would continue to exist. Earlier this year at Mobile World Congress, news broke that Lenovo was getting rid of Motorola and will keep Moto as their brand. So instead of having the Motorola Moto Z its the Lenovo Moto Z, which makes a bit more sense, and it also means that the name doesnt sound redundant. But that did mark the end of an era. After all, Motorola was one of the first phone makers, having been founded in September of 1928 (although that was Motorola, Inc. which was essentially killed off in 2011 when it became two companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions). But it was the beginning of Lenovo phasing the Moto team into their company. After releasing some pretty decent smartphones in 2015, which continued somewhat the direction that Google had been taking the company in. Moto released some pretty different smartphones in 2016.
Advertisement
Under Google, Motorola had simplified their smartphone lineups. Going from having an exclusive line at each of the major US carriers (Atrix for AT&T, Photon for Sprint, Droid for Verizon, T-Mobile rarely carried any Motorola smartphones), to having just the Moto X, Moto G, Moto E and whatever Droid smartphones Verizon wanted. Now, under Lenovo, it appears that they are going in the opposite direction. In 2013, the company launched two smartphones that were not exclusives, a.k.a. Droid-branded. The following year, that went up to three, and in 2015 the company launched five smartphones. Three of which were in the Moto X lineup. Essentially taking the Moto X from just one device to having the Moto X Play, Moto X Style (branded as the Moto X Pure Edition in the US) and the Moto X Force (the international variant of the Droid Turbo 2 for Verizon). Now in 2016, that number has grown even further. With three Moto G smartphones, a Moto E smartphone, and so far, two Moto Z smartphones (although the Moto Z Force is only for Verizon). Blurring the lines for each of these smartphones, making it difficult to determine what markets and segments each one is destined for. On the one hand, having more options is always a good thing, but many of these smartphones compete with themselves.
Thats not all that Lenovo has changed about Moto either. After the Moto Z and Moto Z Force launched (still exclusive to Verizon, until around September), the Moto team announced that they would not be doing monthly security updates. This caused many to freak out, perhaps prematurely. Instead, what Moto and Lenovo is doing with these security updates, is instead of pushing out a new OTA every month, they are bundling them together and pushing multiple patches out at once. This is actually probably a better idea than pushing out a new OTA every single month for every single device. Google has proved to be the only one that can actually do this, and thats largely due to the fact that they arent messing around with the carriers. Meanwhile, Moto, Samsung, LG, HTC and others are. Samsung has shown that they can get these updates out every month, but not a single phone has gotten the update every month. Right now its a bit too early to tell how quickly and how often these updates will come out for Motos smartphones. But keep in mind that they did just push the May 2016 security patch to the Moto X Pure Edition in late July. A phone that isnt sold at any carriers. So the future doesnt look too bright, unfortunately, for updates.
Advertisement
Things get a bit confusing with Moto and Lenovo when you go to Lenovos homeland of China. They are selling Motos smartphones in China, but they arent the same smartphones. Instead of running a stock version of Android, they are running Lenovos One UI, which is another new UI for Lenovo. Since they used to use the Vibe UI on their smartphones and tablets. Now, the difference in software is somewhat understandable. After all, Google services are banned in China, and many of the features that Moto has enabled on their smartphones use Google services like Google Now. And that would be basically useless in China, unfortunately. But they could stick to stock Android and include things like Moto Display on their smartphones. It just makes things a bit more confusing, and sure this is probably a first world problem, but it makes things tougher for those that are covering the industry too.
Obviously, it is still a bit early to tell how well these changes for Moto will do for them in the long run. Considering this is really the first year that Moto has released smartphones and products, with Lenovos influence. But the future doesnt look too bright for Moto, nor their headquarters in downtown Chicago, which they just moved back into in 2014 after having moved to Schaumburg, IL for a number of years.
Advertisement
Motorola has had a special place in many Android users hearts. Whether it was from them picking up the Motorola Droid back in 2009, or maybe the Droid X the following year. Or even the Moto X back in 2013. Motorola has been a big part of Android, and a big part of what has made Android so popular today. Its been sad to see that Motorola is gone, and were just left with Moto. Hopefully Lenovo can turn them around and bring Moto back to their heyday. Something that Lenovo appears to be doing a good job with so far, but Moto was deep in the hole when Lenovo bought them, so bringing them back to profitability will definitely take some time.
Xiaomi had introduced quite a few phones this year, including a couple of Redmi-branded handsets, like the Redmi 3, Redmi 3s and Redmi Pro. In addition to the Redmi-branded handsets, Xiaomi had also released their Mi 5 flagship and the Mi Max phablet, amongst other devices. That being said, the company seems to be getting ready to release yet another Redmi-branded phone, the Redmi 4 which has been leaking out for several weeks now. The Redmi 4 had surfaced on Geekbench yesterday actually, and thanks to that listing we know the phones partial specs, and will talk about those in a minute, lets first see what the new leak has to offer, read on.
Now, a new leak has surfaced in China, and thanks to it, we might know when will the Redmi 4 going to be announced. Xiaomis newest budget offering will, allegedly, land on August 25th. Were not really sure how legit this rumor is, so take it with a grain of salt. The Redmi 4 is a direct successor to the Redmi 3, and based on the leaks weve seen thus far, it will resemble its sibling quite a bit. The Redmi 4 will sport a metal unibody design, its speaker grill(s) will be located on the very bottom, while the fingerprint scanner will be placed below its main camera sensor. This smartphone will ship with three capacitive buttons below the display, just like its predecessor and more or less every handset Xiaomi had introduced thus far, aside from the Mi 5, of course.
Based on the Geekbench listing, we know that the Redmi 4 will be fueled by the Snapdragon 625 64-bit octa-core processor running at 2GHz, and it will also pack 3GB of RAM on the inside. Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow will come pre-installed on the Redmi 4, and on top of it, youll be able to find the companys latest MIUI OS, MIUI 8. The phone had scored 929 points in the single-core test on Geekbench, while it had managed to hit 4,751 points in the multi-core test. As a side note, Xiaomi had sold over 110 million Redmi smartphones thus far, the Redmi 3 has been selling really well for the company, and they expect that the Redmi 4 will not be an exception.
Samsungs popular Gear S2 smartwatch has consistently turned heads since its launch, essentially ruling the smartwatch roost in the Android world for the time its been around, despite being based on Samsungs Tizen OS rather than Android Wear. Having been out for a while, though, the Gear S2 is due for a sequel. Naturally, expectations for the sequel are high, and rumors about the Gear S3 point to it delivering in a big way. Rumored to be awaiting its big reveal at IFA 2016 in Berlin this coming September, the Gear S3 is said to sport a few key differences from the Gear S2, but one big area where it will be similar is in the presence of variants.
The Gear S2 had the normal version, the Gear S2 Classic, and Gear S2 Sport. Much like the Gear S2 before it, the Gear S3 is rumored to have three variants. The Gear S3s Classic version is set to be a lot like the Gear S2 classic, with a less tech-inspired aesthetic to appeal to more stylistic types. The Gear S3 Frontier, on the other hand, is rumored to boast a number of sporty features like a rugged build, and be a bit less stylish at the expense thereof. A third variant, the Gear S3 Explorer, has apparently been outed on Twitter by tech reporter Antonio Monaco.
Right now, information on the Gear S3 Explorer is extremely limited, with Antonio Monaco as the only source of information about the rumored Explorer variant thus far; this means that the news should be taken with a few heavy grains of salt. The only information gleaned from the Tweet is that the watch will have interchangeable straps and crowns, along with buttons at the 2, 4, and 10 hour markers. Word on the street is that the Gear S3 will be getting 5 different versions by the time its all said and done. More leaks and rumors are bound to come out of the woodwork leading up to IFA beginning on September 7, as is par for the course with most high-profile releases in the tech world. We will simply have to wait for IFA to see if any of whats been said so far holds water.
(by Stefania Fumo).
MILAN - Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala on Monday denied plans to set up a tent city for asylum seekers as the tempers of anti-immigrant politicians flared in the face of new arrivals from the border town of Ventimiglia, where a standoff took place at the weekend.
"There is no tent city in the works," Sala said in a statement. The migrant situation is "under the full control of relevant authorities. Currently the city is hosting 3,200 people, and if the need arises we might add some tents for initial lodging". These will be added to those already in place inside a former Identification and Expulsion Center (CIE) and in a barracks, he said. "There is no tent city, therefore, being planned in other locations in the city," Sala said. "I say this for the benefit of the champions of press releases by the pound, who wish to describe a non-existent city in disarray". "Problems get solved with common sense and a lot of work," he added. Some 500 asylum seekers are camping out in the northern city of Como after being turned away at the Swiss border on Monday, and authorities there were at work to locate a facility to host them.
A police officer died of a heart attack Saturday during a No Border protest in the Italian town of Ventimiglia after a group of 300 asylum seekers forced a cordon, jumped into the sea and swam to France on Friday. On Tuesday, the Red Cross working out of a refugee camp that has been set up in Ventimiglia's Parco Roja, a disused area near a commercial rail yard, reported it distributed 590 meals to migrants, up from 490 meals last Saturday. Also on Tuesday, Liguria Governor Giovanni Toti said those massed at Ventimiglia will be moved elsewhere "in the next few hours".
"We'll have to see if this flow of people back from Ventimiglia and Como will bring migrants to Milan," Sala said. Lombardy Governor Roberto Maroni from the rightwing anti-immigrant Northern League tweeted Tuesday that undocumented immigrants must be repatriated. "The Renzi government has lost the plot on immigration," the governor tweeted. "Illegals must be sent home, now".
RABAT - McDonald's is to open a fast food restaurant in Laayoune in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. The US fast food chain is to open a sales point in Piazza Dcheira, in a region first contended by the Spanish and then by the Polisario Front fighting for the independence of the Saharawi that contests the region's annexation by Rabat in 1976.
Local council president Hamdi Ould Errachid says negotiations are complete and that he is waiting for the green light for work to begin. McDonald's already has around 40 restaurants in Morocco and plans to open others at the main motorway service stations. The opening of a sales point in Laayoune has already created expectations, with some seeing it as recognition that the disputed territory belongs to the Kingdom of Morocco.
Ciudadanos considers voting confidence in Rajoy government Riveras conditional support could lead PSOE to abstain
(ANSAmed) - MADRID, AUGUST 10 - Spain's acting Premier Mariano Rajoy has moved a step closer to forming a government after the moderate Ciudadanos party led by Albert Rivera said it would hold talks with the leader of the People's Party (PP) on backing him in a confidence vote if certain conditions are met. Tuesday's change of stance could end the political deadlock that has afflicted Spain since December after two general elections in the space of six months proved inconclusive.
Ciudadanos has 32 members of parliament, who if talks are successful would vote confidence in a new Rajoy government together with the 137 representatives of the PP. This could lead the socialists of PSOE to abstain rather than vote against. The impossibility of forming a government after the first elections in December led to a fresh round of voting in late June.
If the situation is not resolved Spain - considered until recently the most stable country in the EU - could face a third general election in November. (ANSAmed).
- ROME - The governments of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Britain and the US on Wednesday issued a statement expressing their support for Prime Minister-Designate Fayez Al-Serraj's national accord government and calling for all energy installations to be put back under its control.
They underscored concerns about rising tensions around the Zueitina oil terminal on the northern Libyan coast.
They expressed support for the national unity government's efforts to fight - without the use of force - attempts to halt Libyan energy exports, underscoring that all facilities should be handed back to the ''legitimate national authorities'' as recognized by the UN Security Council Resolution N. 2259 (2015).
The signatory governments called on all the parties involved to refrain from hostilities and any action that could damage or undermine Libyan energy facilities. The Western governments noted that, according to Resolution N. 2278, national financial institutions and the National Oil Corporation (NOC) should benefit the entire Libyan population.
New Russia-Turkey 'axis' challenges the West Putin regains an ally and Turkey opens to defence cooperation
(by Mattia Bernardo Bagnoli) (ANSAmed) - MOSCOW, AUGUST 10 - The meeting between Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Tuesday sealed a new peace between the countries after months of hostility, reciprocal accusations and a sustained information war by Moscow, with the two leaders now ready to look to the future. However, the announcement by Erdogan that Turkey and Russia intend to cooperate in the defence industry and military production is destined, more than anything else, to keep the United States and European Union in suspense. The Turkish president gave few details despite the fact that his country is a key member of NATO and therefore that transparency should be the order of the day. Putin certainly appreciated his secrecy. The Russian president can not only claim to have won the poker hand with Erdogan but also to have renewed a partnership with a country that is crucial to Russia's economic and geopolitical interests (exporting gas is one of these) - to the extent that his Turkish counterpart said he was ready to take bilateral agreements to a "higher" level than before the crisis.
The position is perfectly in line with the 'strategy of pressure' launched by Moscow towards the Euro-Atlantic bloc. An "axis" between Moscow and Ankara would be a victory for Putin, also in terms of resolving the Syrian crisis.
Though the meeting between the two leaders had been in the making for months - facilitated by the Turkish businessman Cavit Caglar and mediation from the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbaiev - the fact remains that it was Erdogan's first visit overseas since the failed coup in mid-July, when Putin and Nazarbaiev both expressed their support for Erdogan before his NATO allies. If a traditionally friendly country such as Ukraine has distanced itself from Russia, the risk is that Turkey might now draw close, if only to raise the stakes in negotiations with the EU and US. For Putin this would still be a victory and would bring to a successful close the gamble of creating an 'arc of crisis' on the southern front. (ANSAmed).
Emirates currently serves Doha with seven daily flights, and the addition of the two services will grow the airlines presence in Qatar and take the total number of weekly Emirates flights to 63.
The airline is expanding its capacity to the principal city of Dhofar, in Southern Oman by an additional of almost 23,000 seats, compared with the previous year.
Oman Air will offer a total of 317,600 seats to and from Salalah. The increased capacity has been enabled by an increase in flight frequencies between Salalah and Muscat, and between Salalah and Dubai. Eleven flights per day are now operating between Salalah and Muscat. In addition, the deployment of Boeing 737, Boeing 787 and Airbus 330 aircraft on the Salalah/Muscat/Salalah sectors is complementing the increased frequencies and further enhancing capacity.
Oman Air has deployed Boeing 737 airliners on its six daily frequencies between Salalah and Dubai, enabling increased numbers of customers from the UAE to enjoy both Oman Airs outstanding passenger experience and the warm hospitality offered to visitors in Salalah.
Salalah has experienced significant growth in the number of visitors it receives, especially during the Khareef (summer monsoon). The Khareef sees the southern-most tip of Oman transformed from a dry desert to a lush green carpet, where brilliant flowers bloom in the moist climate and wildlife abounds. Visitors from around the world, and especially the GCC region, come to experience the cooling mists and rains which envelop the area, contrasting sharply with the heat found elsewhere within the Gulf.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Agriculture of Armenia Sergo Karapetyan received newly appointed Ambassador of Kazakhstan H.E. Timur Uruzayev.
The Minister congratulated the Ambassador on his appointment and expressed hope that during his tenure the Armenia-Kazakhstan agricultural relations will become more efficient.
In the field in agriculture, the present potential of Armenia and Kazakhstan is not yet completely used, and in this regard we need to boost joint works, the minister said. Minister Karapetyan said the accession to the EEU has created favorable conditions for agricultural growth and expansion of Armenian made products in foreign markets.
Issues of trade-revenue matters were also discussed. In this context the Minister proposed to study opportunities of increasing the volumes of exports from Armenia to Kazakhstan of fruit-vegetables, wine, brandy and other products.
For strengthening the bilateral cooperation even more, the Minister suggested forming joint enterprises with the prospect of exporting processed products to EEU and other countries.
The Minister said it is possible to organize a business forum in Armenia, which will allow entrepreneurs from Kazakhstan to get to know food product produced in Armenia and will be an additional boost for mutual ties.
Ambassador Uruzayev assured that during his tenure in Armenia he will do the maximum for even more strengthening and deepening of ties between the two countries.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan received US Ambassador to Armenia H.E. Richard Mills and newly appointed Director of USAID Armenia Mission Deborah Grieser.
The Prime Minister congratulated Deborah Grieser on her appointment and confidently stated she will contribute her great working experience for the efficient organization of works of USAID Armenia office.
The Prime Minister stressed the importance of the US Governments aid to Armenia and Armenian people during previous years and the projects which are implemented in various fields by the USAID.
Abrahamyan noted the Government is willing to discuss opportunities of implementing new joint projects with the US. The Prime Minister mentioned that currently several projects are successfully ongoing.
Ambassador Mills underscored the cooperation with the Armenian Government for the benefit of Armenias economic development, deepening and strengthening of investment and trade ties between the two countries.
The Ambassador pointed out especially in the fields of tourism and agriculture the projects of USAID and noted that currently the opportunities of adding new components and suggestions in the mentioned directions are being considered.
Stressing the importance of US assistance, PM Abrahamyan said the Armenian Government is taking practical steps in the abovementioned fields with the aim of reaching significant progress.
Several other issues of mutual interest were discussed during the meeting.
Veteran arts impresario Richard Demarco warned that the Brexit vote was the biggest threat to the Edinburgh Festival in its history and was a betrayal of its roots. Mr Barley admitted Brexit would mean a seismic shift in the UKs cultural landscape but insisted this need not mean doom and gloom for Edinburghs festivals, which are facing the prospect of public funding cuts in the next few years.
An Introduction to Doing Business in Singapore 2022 is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in Singapore, compiled by the professionals at Dezan...
The air cargo markets deceleration this year had a greater impact on third-quarter cargo revenues at American Airlines than its primary rivals, Delta and United Airlines. But the best revenue quarter in company history and a $483 million profit painted a positive financial picture that could be replicated in the final quarter thanks to resilient []
by AA.VV.
The Chinese authorities want the legitimacy of their absolute control recognized. Trust in Pope Francis, "defender of the communion and unity of the Church". The third and final part of a series of comments on the recently published articles by Cardinal Tong and Cardinal Zen on dialogue between China and the Holy See.
Rome (AsiaNews) - China, which has become a major player in international politics has chosen an increasingly hard line (compared to the era of Deng Xiaoping). In its dialogue with the Vatican it wants its absolute control over religion legitimized. Nonetheless this dialogue should be continued, with the Holy See giving a greater defense of Christians. This is the opinion of one of the Chinese Catholics published below as a response to the recently published article by Card John Tong Hon on the Vatican's work in the dialogue with the Chinese government. Another comment expresses confidence in Pope Francis and his love for the Church in China, rejecting "those who speculate and criticize the Pope haphazardly". Perhaps this expression refers to the article penned by Card Joseph Zen Ze-kiun , who recently expressed his strong concerns regarding the Vatican Secretariat of State's style of dialogue, defined as a "new version of Ostpolitik". What remains is the urgent need for Christian witness in a society where religious activities suffer a suffocating control. But "Peter was saved by Jesus in the Sea of Galilee, and even his boat was saved: this is a symbol for the Church." The third and final part in the series (BC)
John (Southern China)
Card. Tong's artcile is very balanced. But on the issue of dialogue and negotiations [between China and the Vatican], the base is trust and respect. I think that these bases are brittle. Both sides are talking, but every man for himself. The Holy See has often expressed appreciation for Chinese culture and civilization. But that is not what the Chinese government wants. The Chinese authorities their absolute control of religion legitimized and recognized.
The official media in China continue to enhance the power of the government in dealing with religious groups and there is no sign that the authorities have made concessions and or loosened their ideological control. From this point of view, [re episcopal ordination], the Chinese authorities will not make any concessions, at least in the short term.
From the foreign policy point of view, in recent years the Chinese authorities have taken a harder line. Now China intervenes in world affairs and does not remain silent as during the era of Deng Xiaoping. China now has a strong influence in the international community. The Vatican is a tiny state, although it has a great influence in the spiritual field.
China does not care about the criticism of its religious policy and violations against human rights. But at the same time it is eager to improve its image and show some humanity. But if this does not happen, it's no great loss. My opinion is that diplomatic relations are a gift (a bonus) for the Chinese government.
Given that the dialogue has already begun, I hope the Holy See will speak out more in defense of Chinese Christians. But it is impossible to go back and the price of failure would be enormous: the Chinese authorities would feel justified and certain in targeting the faithful and the Holy See would lose the respect of the regime.
The atheist state is always realistic. They are only concerned with tehir own interests and from a spiritual point of view, not losing face (mianzi).
Rose and Anthony (Central China)
I very much agree [with the article by Card. Tong]. And I understand the Pope, who has at heart the whole Church and a heavy responsibility to bear. We can only pray for him and for our Church. We listen to the Pope and trust in the Holy Spirit, who will lead him and the Church, even if we must have patience and wait.
This is why I do not like to hear those who randomly speculate and criticize the Pope. Let us not forget that the center of our faith is love. Jesus was accused by the so-called "pious." We should remain humble and full of love of God. The most important rule is not to forget the original intention, as the Pharisees did .
I believe that Pope Francis is the defender of the communion and unity of the Church. He will never accept an agreement that would undermine the faith or damage the integrity of the Chinese Catholic Church. He will sign an agreement only if it promotes unity and communion between the Church in China and the universal Church.
We believe that Pope Francis has a great love for the Chinese Church and the Church of China loves Francis. He will never abandon the Church in China. Peter was saved by Jesus in the Sea of Galilee, and even his boat was saved: this is a symbol for the Church.
In St. Petersburg Turkey and Russia hold reconciliation summit distancing themselves from West. Recent tensions after shooiting down of Russian jet overcome. Two leaders ready to revive the Turkish Stream project; Russians to build a nuclear power plant in Turkey. Divisions remain about the role of Assad and the future of the Syrian conflict.
St. Petersburg (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Economics, joint energyprojects, cooperation in the defense sector and revival of tourism. These are the main points on the agenda of talks held yesterday in St. Petersburg between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on his first trip abroad after the failed coup of July 15.
In stark contrast there was absolute silence, on the two issues on which the natiosn are divided: Syria and the role of President Bashar al-Assad, close to Moscow, and hated by the leadership of Ankara; and the Kurdish question, among the most sensitive for Turkey.
Analysts and international policy experts call the summit yesterday in the "Hellenic room" of Kostantinovskij Palace, former residence of the Tsar, a reconciliation summit - which follows months of insults and threats of retaliation in an anti-Western atmosphere. The two leaders have put aside the tensions of recent months following the shooting down of a Russian jet November 24, 2015 in the skies over the border between Turkey and Syria, without too much trouble. Thus giving birth to an alliance that worries the United States and several Union European chancelleries.
The incident had triggered an escalation of tension between the two countries, with mutual exchanges and economic retaliation including a trade embargo, the end of the exemption of visas and air travel.
The clash also led to Russian accusations of ties between Ankara and the militiamen of the Islamic State (IS). The Ministry of Defense in Moscow actually presented "evidence" of oil traffic between the jihadists and members of the Turkish leadership. Today those allegations have been forgotten and, according to some press sources, the Russians are the very ones who saved" Erdogan warning him of the attempted coup in progress.
The face-to-face yesterday in St. Petersburg, a closed-door meeting that lasted over two and a half hours, served to revive the old alliance. The lifting economic embargoes decided by Putin after the the jet incident in November, should be lifted in the coming hours. Hence the green light for food and Turkish agricultural products on the Russian market. Moscow is set to also reopen tourist flights to the Bosphorus, a traditional holiday destination for Russians.
On the sidelines of the summit between Putin and Erdogan a round table discussion between senior figures in the Russian and Turkish business world was also held. The talks focused on the resumption of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, which should boost the anti Western axis between the two countries.
Putin stressed that "the project will be put in place as soon as possible", to channel 31.5 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey via the Black Sea. Added to this the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, entrusted to the Russian engery giant Rosatom, which is of "strategic importance" for Ankara.
Yet despite these common interests, there are still divisions - passed over in silence in the official post-summit statement - on Syria and on the Kurdish question. Erdogan continues to claim that President Assad thus far a Moscow ally - should leave power immediately. "We have a common goal," said Putin, and that is to "settle the Syrian crisis" that is why "we are looking for a solution that can be good for everyone."
Regarding the Kurdish affair, according to some experts Moscow has ceased "flirting" with the fighting groups, committed on Syrian and Iraqi soil against jihadists of the Islamic State. Viable means of pressure in the eyes of Erdogan, to strengthen the process of reconciliation between the two countries.
The missile deployment, which could hit Chinese positions and installations in the region, is a response to Beijing's imperialist policy in the seas. For experts, this could lead to the "militarisation" of the area. Tensions are also rising between Beijing and Tokyo over the East China Sea. Japan denounces a series of incursions by Chinese boats.
Hanoi (AsiaNews/Agencies) Vietnam has taken defensive measures on several of its islands in the disputed South China Sea with new mobile rocket launchers capable of striking Chinas runways and military installations, across the vital maritime trade route.
Diplomats and military officers said that intelligence shows that Hanoi has shipped the launchers from the Vietnamese mainland into position on five bases in the Spratly Islands in recent months, a move likely to raise tensions with its former Chinese (Communist) ally.
The launchers have been hidden from aerial surveillance and they have yet to be armed, but could be made operational with rocket artillery rounds within two or three days.
The launchers form part of Vietnams state-of-art EXTRA rocket artillery system recently acquired from Israel.
EXTRA rounds are highly accurate up to a range of 150km, with different 150kg warheads that can carry high explosives or bomblets to attack multiple targets simultaneously.
When asked about the issue, Vietnams Foreign Ministry said the information was inaccurate, without elaborating.
Deputy Defence Minister, Senior Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh, said in June that Hanoi had no such launchers or weapons ready in the Spratlys but noted, It is within our legitimate right to self-defence to move any of our weapons to any area at any time within our sovereign territory.
Vietnams missile installations are a response to Beijings recent imperialist policy in the seas of the Asia-Pacific region. A dispute with the Philippines is currently before the Court of Arbitration. The latter dismisses Chinese claims.
Hanois retooling of its defence system also stems from fears that the verdict could further raise tensions in the South China Sea.
Carl Thayer, an expert on Vietnams military at the Australian Defence Force Academy, said China is unlikely to see this as purely defensive, and it could mark a new stage of militarisation of the Spratlys.
Disputes are likely to deteriorate bilateral and multilateral relations between China and the regions nations, as well as undermine the unity of the ten-member ASEAN block.
The latter includes nations that oppose Chinese policy (Vietnam) or seek to reboot relations (Philippines after the court decision), as well as some of Chinas traditional allies (Laos and Cambodia).
On 24 July, an ASEAN foreign ministers meeting ended without word about the courts decision. Several experts doubt that any unified front could emerge in light of Beijings divide and rule strategy.
Meanwhile, tensions are also rising between Tokyo and Beijing in the East China Sea, with the Japanese government pointing the finger at the Chinese navy for entering Japanese territorial waters.
This has led Japan's Foreign Minister to warn that ties with China are "significantly deteriorating". Fumio Kishida said he had called China's ambassador to protest against the "incursions".
The Japan-controlled, uninhabited islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China are the source of a long-running dispute.
On Friday, about 230 Chinese fishing boats and coast guard vessels sailed near islands claimed by both countries.
The Japanese coast guard said on Monday that about 13 Chinese coast guard ships, some of them armed, had been seen near the islands, higher than the usual number.
"We cannot accept that [China] is taking actions that unilaterally raise tensions, Mr Kishida said.
The population fears the risks to safety and the neglect of the authorities. The project was a collaboration between China and France. Dozens arrested for throwing stones at police and seat of local government.
Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The government of Lianyungang (Jiangsu), has suspended plans to build a nuclear plant after three days of protests by thousands of people.
The authorities' decision was taken over night. The plant was to have been a collaboration between the China National Nuclear Corporation and the French company Areva and planned to recycle spent nuclear fuel. The population was fearful of possible radiation and protested the fact that all of the decisions had been taken without their involvement.
The protests took place over the last three days, with the police trying to defend the government offices from attacks, threatening to shoot. A dozen people were arrested for throwing stones.
China has planned the largest number of nuclear power plants worldwide. It has 32 reactors in place; another 22 under construction; many more in the project phase.
The protests reflect the fears of the population because of safety risks. They also reveal popular distrust of the authorities who have kept silent on various accidents related to industrial safety in the recent past. Chief among these was the Tianjin incident last year where a fire released poisonous substances into the air and water: hundreds of tons of cyanide salts were stored near a residential area.
by Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi*
The bishop of Niigata and President of Caritas Asia comments on the "mercy" killing of 19 people with disabilities in Sagamihara: "All of us can become weak in society. That's why we need to see God's reflection in every human being and work to create a real human family. "
Niigata (AsiaNews) As I returned from Papua New Guinea ON the evening on 26 July, I found out about the mass murder of 19 disabled people in Sagamihara that morning. 26 more people were injured. I was deeply shocked to hear of the case and, more over, I was absolutely stunned to know that the suspect was justifying his action against disabled people as something to "save" them as "mercy killing".
First and most, I offer my sincere condolence to the family of victims and pray for eternal rest of those 19 people whose lives were violently taken away. And I pray that merciful God may extend his hand to those injured and to those terrified and give them consolation and quick recovery.
Probably there is no need to repeat the same points again and again but let me say it again. Based on our Christian faith, it is not for us to measure the weight of human life. It is only God, God who created our human life and gave it to us, who has right to do so. Who is allowed to continue to live. Who is worth to survive. Such judgments are not for us to make. If we do so, are we not too arrogant before the God who created the human life?
Moreover, God created us as his own image, therefore, all human lives has its own importance and value as the image of God. That is what we call the Human Dignity. Already many people have made their comments against the discriminatory judgement and violent action by the suspect over people in weak position in the society.
When we talk about the people in weak position in the society, it should be inclusive concept of all kinds of weakness and not only of physically disabled people. It includes those people discriminated as different or foreign, facing economical difficulties, facing health problems, facing obstacle of social systems, facing cultural barriers and more.
In a sense, all of us are facing or holding some kind of difficulties in the society and that means we all have potential to be a person in weak position in the society in one way or other. That is why we have to help each other. That is why we have to support each other. If we don't, then we, human being, may not be able to survive.
I hope through facing the reality of this sad and terrible incidents in Sagamihara, we all in Japan would have yet another chance to think about the meaning of our lives and value of the human life. Then, I hope and pray, we would keep in our heart the value of mutual support to create one human family.
* Bishop of Niigata and President of Caritas Asia
At the general audience in the Paul VI Hall, Pope Francis compares the miracle of the widow of Nain to the change every person undergoes passing through the Holy Door. "Drawing towards the Door of Mercy, everyone knows they are drawing close to the door of the merciful heart of God, of Jesus". This is the door where the suffering of humanity encounters the compassion of God". From a change of "heart" to the "hands" that perform "acts of mercy". Holy Doors are both "inward" and "outward bound".
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - At the Door of Mercy, "Jesus is watching you, he heals you and says, 'get up!'". "Healed by Jesus to do works with our heart and hands ... works of mercy, emphasized Pope Francis in the Jubilee catechesis he gave today in the Paul VI hall to pilgrims to Rome, including those from Asia, the Middle East and Indonesia.
Before his speech Francis spent a long time greeting the rows of pilgrims on either side of the hall. Some of them gifted him a papal biretta (see photo). Francis compared the story of Jesus and the widow of Nain (Lk 7.11 to 17), at the city gate, to Jesus meeting every person who passes through the Holy Door of the Jubilee of Mercy "what Jesus did ... is not only an action of salvation destined to the widow and her son, or a gesture of kindness limited to that town. In Jesus' merciful succour, God goes to meet his people, in him all the grace of God appears and will continue to appear to humanity. In celebrating this Jubilee, I wanted all of the particular Churches to experience this, that is, all the churches of world, and not only Rome. It is as if the whole Church throughout the world is joined in the one song of praise to the Lord. Today too the Church recognizes a visit from God. For this reason, Drawing towards the Door of Mercy, everyone knows that they are drawing near to the merciful heart of God, of Jesus: indeed he is the true Door that leads to salvation and returns us to a new life".
Earlier, the Pope explained that the center of the Gospel "is not the miracle [of the resurrected son], but Jesus' tenderness toward this boy's mother. Here, mercy takes the name of great compassion toward a woman who had lost her husband and now her only son is also bound for the cemetery. This mother's great sorrow moves Jesus and causes the miracle of the resurrection".
"St. Luke remarks on Jesus' feelings:"The Lord saw her and had compassion for her and said to her: 'Do not weep.Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still "(vv. 13-14). Great compassion guided the actions of Jesus: it is he who stops the procession touching the coffin and, moved by deep compassion for this mother, decides to face death, as it were, face to face. And he confronts it definitively, face to face, on the Cross. "
"When Jesus saw the mother crying, she entered his heart! Everyone arrives at the Holy Door everyone bringing with them their life, joys and sufferings, projects and failures, doubts and fears, and present them to the mercy of the Lord. We are confident that, at the Holy Door, the Lord is there closeby to encounter each one of us, to bring and offer his powerful words of comfort: "Do not weep!" ".
"This is the door of where the suffering of humanity encounters the compassion of God. We should always think about this: the suffering of humanity encounters the compassion of God .... The powerful word of Jesus can raise us and we also operate in the passage from death to life. His word revives us, gives hope, reviving tired hearts, opens us to a view of the world and of life that goes beyond suffering and death".
"Mercy, both in Jesus is in us - he concluded - is a journey that starts from the heart to reach the hands ... What does it mean? Jesus looks at you, heals you and says "get up" ... with our heart healed by Jesus we do work with our hands ... the works of mercy.
To reinforce this thought, when it came time to say goodbye in Italian, the Pope quoted a bishop in his diocese who put up two Holy Doors, one marked "entrance and the otherexit: entering the first, our hearts are changed, exiting the second we are ready to express the compassion of Jesus in works of mercy towards others.
The victims are women and children fleeing from Asian countries. The facility operated by the Australian government is criticized for lack of transparency and independent observers. According Canberra the charges "are unsubstantiated.
Nauru (AsiaNews) - Accidents, sexual violence, suicide attempts and beatings. Two thousand cases have been reported, according to documents published by The Guardian regarding the living conditions of migrants detained in Nauru center, Micronesia State. It houses 500 people from all over Asia who have been arrested by the Australian government as illegal immigrants.
According to the newspaper report, the island immigrants are being treated without dignity and with total disregard for their rights. Australian companies that manage the facilities are required by contract to report any accident that occurs on the island. The documents published - which refer to the period between May 2013 and October 2015 - were compiled by guards, social workers and teachers.
Many accidents involve children with trauma caused by abuse and violence. Many of the children suffer from psychological disorders, nightmares and have even attempted suicide several times. There are dozens of cases of sexual violence, especially against young women by the staff on the island. There are also countless incidents of verbal abuse and threats.
The Australian government responded by saying that the reports contain "unsubstantiated allegations." A spokesman in Canberra said that "the Australian Government continues to support the Government of Nauru in providing health, safety and welfare of all the transferred refugees".
Richard Marles, defense minister, criticized the government for lack of transparency and independent observers in the detention center.
The ocean portion between Papua New Guinea and Australia has long been a prime route for those fleeing: the migrants come mostly from South East Asia, but there are Middle Eastern. The vast majority of migrants trying to reach Australia by boat are arrested and taken to detention centers in Nauru or Manus (Papua New Guinea). Under the law, they can not be accepted in Australia even if they are considered political or civilian refugees.
Both detention centers are the focus of activists and advocates for human rights, who denounce abuses taking place and the the inflexibility of Australian immigration policy.
Don't give her another chance... for now. It's really easy to apologize and to say you've changed; it's a lot harder to actually do it. I have had some very toxic relationships in the past (not just romantic ones), and when you finally put your foot down and cut them out of your life, they come to you saying that they've changed and that you can trust them. I have yet to see a manipulative person change; however, I'm sure that some do.
I would definitely advise to not get back together with her. I would fully expect a poor and very hostile response from her, which should give you all the proof you need. If she handle's it well, I still wouldn't believe it. It would be better to wait and if you end up having contact with her (which I would advise against for a long period of time) see if she actually seems different. And if in the future you get back together, beware of the same behaviors coming up.
Tanja Nijmeijer Interview
Meet The Dutch Woman Who Joined A Drug Cartel For Communism
Communist peasants formed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of the ColombiaPeoples Army (FARC) in 1964 to overthrow the capitalist elites of the Colombian government. They attacked the streets of Bogota, the Colombian capital, with car bombs while waging an insurgency in the Amazon.
Considered a resistance movement to supporters but a drug cartel and terrorist organization to the Colombian government and the Western world, FARC has been negotiating since 2012 to end the civil war that its fighters started, one of historys bloodiest and longest.
The strangest participant in the peace process has been Tanja Nijmeijer, a young woman from the Netherlands who spent a decade as one of the rebel fighters in the Amazon.
All images are courtesy of FARC.
In 1998, Nijmeijer, then a nineteen-year-old student at the University of Groningen, travelled to Colombia to teach English. She observed a disparity between the rich children whom she taught and the poor children who begged in the streets. Like many young Western idealists, Nijmeijer wondered how she could help them. After returning home to complete her degree, she became attracted to communism and revolution. Nijmeijer saw little room for either in the Netherlands.
A second trip to Colombia in 2002 brought Nijmeijer into contact with FARC. I had to beg them to let me fight with them, she would tell Der Spiegel. The rebels nevertheless appreciated her enthusiasm, accepting her to their ranks. Nijmeijer started a romance with commander Mono Jojoys nephew and worked as Jojoys assistant till 2010, when Colombian security forces killed him.
I believe we are fighting for a good cause, she informed her family in a Christmas video message, explaining her decision to stay with FARC. I cried a lot, because I miss you so much. But I also know that Im doing the right thing here, and that Ill stay here. I wont leave.
Colombian soldiers discovered Nijmeijers diary at an abandoned FARC camp in 2007. Im tired, tired of FARC, tired of the people, tired of communal life, she had written. Tired of never having anything for myself. It would be worth it if we knew why we were fighting. But the truth is I dont believe in this any more. While she remains as loyal to FARC as ever, the diarys discovery led to her rise to prominence in the news media and offered a rare glimpse into her stream of consciousness.
Even the American government took an interest in Nijmeijer. In 2010, the U.S. Justice Department indicted her and seventeen other FARC members on seven counts of terrorism and weapons charges arising out of their participation in the hostage-taking of three American citizens. If convicted, she will face up to sixty years in prison, but the FBI will have some trouble catching her.
When negotiations with the Colombian government started in 2012, FARCs leadership sent Nijmeijer, one of the few members fluent in English, to Cuba. She has remained in Havana, the Cuban capital. She acts as FARCs poster child and press secretary by translating and updating the rebels websites. Nijmeijer, the former guerilla, is now the foreign face of FARC.
Her importance has been highly overstated, Adriaan Alsema, a Dutch journalist who connected AskMen with Nijmeijer and founded Colombia Reports, said in an email. Before Havana she was just another low-ranking guerrilla with good connections high up in the organization. She only became a significant player when taking up the role as their foreign press chief.
For now at least, Nijmeijer cares little about the ambiguous extent of her fame and notoriety. Instead, she and FARC are looking past their apparent military failure the rebels had been in decline for years before the peace process to a political future. The weapons, in the end, were a way of defending ourselves against a State that has never allowed people to live in democracy and has attacked and persecuted people because of thinking differently, she told AskMen.
Nijmeijers statements describe a revolutionary ideology battling a dictatorial state: communists fighting capitalists. Though FARC represented Colombias disaffected, neglected peasantry in the past, Nijmeijers narrative ignores the rebels war crimes, such as kidnapping civilians and recruiting child soldiers, as well as their involvement in drug trafficking and sexual slavery.
FARCs demobilization and disarmament will solve some of the conflicts worst problems, but others might appear. The dilemma of what to do with thousands of former combatants (including women) in a country with 8.9 percent unemployment haunts the peace process. Retiring female fighters will need help recovering from FARCs exploitative sexual culture.
The Dutch guerilla-turned-delegates future is a mystery of its own. I would like to continue contributing to our project of building a new Colombia, said Nijmeijer. In which direction? That depends a lot on what kind of support is needed. Personally, I would love to work in education in some way or another. Fluent in five languages, she could always return to her job as an English teacher.
Alsema questioned Nijmeijers plans: Her future is uncertain because as an illegal alien in Colombia she does not have the same rights as a Colombian FARC member. [] Its possible she becomes a Colombian citizen, which would allow her to take part in the FARC reintegration program. However, I dont believe she will ever be able to go home to the Netherlands, which only prohibits the extradition of crime suspects in cases [where] there exists a possibility of a death penalty.
I am a guerrilla combatant of the FARCEP and I have the same rights and duties as any other guerrilla fighter, Nijmeijer responded. Whatever her future, her immediate mission is the same as FARCs: We [will] continue being a political movement that will fight for a country in which human beings, all human beings, Colombians in this case, are the main attention and concern of the state.
An anomaly, Nijmeijer combines several overlapping categories of soldier: shes a communist, female and foreign revolutionary. Members of FARC call her a hero. The American government calls her a criminal and terrorist. The more open-minded might call her a feminist. Either way, that decisive period in her life, like the Colombian peace process, is approaching a conclusion.
There will be a lot of changes, Nijmeijer said, while contemplating her future. For most of us guerrilla fighters, our lives will change enormously, for we wont live in the jungle anymore. The military part, which has always been an important part of our lives, will mostly disappear. Once FARC as she knows it comes to an end, Nijmeijer will be one more rebel without a cause.
As'ad's Bio
As'ad AbuKhalil, born March 16, 1960. From Tyre, Lebanon, grew up in Beirut. Received his BA and MA from American University of Beirut in pol sc. Came to US in 1983 and received his PhD in comparative government from Georgetown University. Taught at Tufts University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Colorado College, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Served as a Scholar-in-Residence at Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He served as free-lance Middle East consultant for NBC News and ABC News, an experience that only served to increase his disdain for maintream US media. He is now professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. His favorite food is fried eggplants.
Free newsletter
Subscribe to our FREE newsletter service and well keep you up-to-date with the latest breaking news, cutting edge opinion, and expert analysis affecting both your business and the industry as whole.
Please enter your email address below and click on Sign Up for daily newsletters from Australasian Lawyer.
A Kentucky judge has accepted a 90-day suspension to end a snafu over his past decision to dismiss a cases jury panel for not being racially diverse enough.
According to The Associated Press, Louisville judge Olu Stevens, who is black, has agreed to be suspended without pay in an agreement with lawyers of the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission.
The commission could have reprimanded the judge or banished him from the bench.
The mess involved prosecutor Tom Wine, who is white, who asked the Kentucky Supreme Court to review Stevens decision to dismiss a random jury panel for not reflecting the racial diversity of the community even without evidence that there was an deliberate effort to exclude minorities.
In comments made on social media, Stevens said that Wines request for review is akin to trying to protect the right to impanel all-white juries, the AP noted. The judge also said there was something more sinister and that Wine will live in infamy.
I recognize how serious it is to accuse someone, either expressly or implicitly, of racism, Stevens told the commission. I do not believe Tom Wine is a racist. I apologize for any statements that implied as much.
For his part, Wine said that he has had no personal animosity toward Judge Stevens and that he has none now.
I believe my energies and focus are better spent working for justice and fairness with our criminal justice partners and protecting victims of crim, he said.
Stevens vowed to rule on all cases that come before me based solely upon the facts and the law.
The jury panel Stevens dismissed was for a 2014 trial of a black defendant.
Of 41 people who reported for jury duty in the case, only one of the prospect jurors was black. Stevens initially denied a motion for the defence to dismiss the panel, noting that the jury was selected at random even though the lack of diversity was unusual.
The citys population is 23% black, the AP noted.
The black juror still remained as selection was near-completion. The court clerk had to resort to a random drawing of names as there were still four jurors more than needed.
After the black jurors name was drawn and struck from the jury panel, Stevens reneged and ordered the panel be dismissed.
The defendant was acquitted by another jury in 2015 which was when Wine asked for the Supreme Court review.
(Opinion) -- Will I progress to partnership? All senior lawyers will find themselves asking this question at some point in time. While some make an active choice not to pursue partnership, others simply will not get there. The question then becomes: Where to now?
A low prospect of partnership does not devalue your career opportunities, or limit your progression. There are multiple options you may want to consider:
MidSize or Boutique Firms
Senior associates at larger firms often find themselves trapped in a partnership bottleneck. Moving to a smaller firm with a growth strategy can offer lawyers a track to partnership with quality clients and broader work. Many also offer lifestyle benefits.
Special Counsel
Senior lawyers who are not interested in the business development or administration aspect of partnership may want to consider a special counsel appointment. These roles acknowledge the high level of skill and expertise senior lawyers bring to the firm, and do not necessarily cancel out partnership as an option. They also suit lawyers making a lateral move to a new firm who have a mandate to develop a practice before making partner.
In-house Counsel
Making the move in-house is a popular choice for senior lawyers. In-house roles provide an opportunity to work closely with the business and be involved in supporting its success. Lawyers can gain exposure to business management, corporate strategy and membership of the management team. These types of roles suit lawyers who can balance the law with commercial and business imperatives, and can be used as a stepping stone to non-legal management positions.
Professional Support Roles
Professional support roles offer lawyers an alternate career move within a law firm. Human resources, business development and knowledge management are all options. These roles often require additional skills or qualifications to complement your legal knowledge.
The Bar
The Bar is often a natural progression for litigation lawyers. A few years of practice in a commercial firm can arm lawyers with the confidence and contacts needed to get a good start.
Government Departments
Lawyers may want to consider roles within government departments, either at the State or Federal level. Many government departments lend themselves to practice specialisations. For example, criminal lawyers are well suited to the Commonwealth or State DPP, while corporate lawyers should consider ASIC, and competition lawyers will find they have invaluable experience for a role with the ACCC. Departments such as Legal Aid, the Law Reform Commission or the Attorney Generals Department offer more generalised positions.
Academia
A career in academia is an option for lawyers who possess a solid academic background and expertise in a particular area. A tentative step into the field can be made by taking on a casual tutoring position whilst considering long term career goals.
Of course, there are a range of other options you may wish to consider outside the legal realm. These may include business management, working with not-for-profit organisations, or recruitment. Many lawyers who leave practice go on to create careers for themselves in events management, acting, writing or stand-up comedy! The opportunity you find yourself taking up will depend on the risks you take.
The decision not to pursue partnership should not be taken as a setback, but rather an opportunity for lawyers to broaden their horizons and start a new chapter in their career.
By Lisa Gazis, managing director, Mahlab (NSW)
Gazis manages Mahlabs NSW operations and conducts senior corporate and partner level search and recruitment campaigns. She provides strategic consulting services to corporations and law firms in Australia and abroad.
By Robert Merkel, Lecturer in Software Engineering, Monash University
ABS
Many Australians were unable to complete the Census on August 9 due to the Census website failing.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) chief statistician has blamed a deliberate denial of service attack for the failure.
The first three [attacks] caused minor disruption, but more than two million forms were successfully submitted and safely stored. After the fourth attack, which took place just after 7.30pm, the ABS took the precaution of closing down the system to ensure the integrity of the data.
Like many government information systems, the Census site was outsourced to an external contractor: IBM. As well as writing the software required for the website, IBM was responsible for providing the computers that hosted it.
All of this is routine for IT projects, both government and commercial. And while reasonably large, the legitimate traffic generated by the Census is dwarfed by the traffic on websites like Google, Facebook and even the nonprofit Wikipedia.
Denial-of-service attacks
Denial-of-service attacks are deliberate attempts to render a computing service unavailable.
Such an attack can be performed in many ways, including interfering with physical infrastructure. However, the most common denial-of-service technique used against publicly available websites is to overwhelm it with huge numbers of requests, overloading the servers and crowding out legitimate users.
Typically, the requests come from botnets, which are large groups of computers often home PCs or other poorly-defended devices that have been taken over by hackers and are then misused for distributed denial-of-service attacks" (DDoS attacks). DDoS attacks have been used by activist hackers, cybercriminals and even state-sponsored hackers.
While the controversy surrounding the privacy implications of the 2016 Census may not have been anticipated by the ABS, a denial-of-service attack against the Census infrastructure was always possible and should have been anticipated especially a DDoS launched by privacy activists.
There are a number of ways in which the dangers of a DDoS can be mitigated. It is unknown at this point what measures the ABS and its contractors took to prepare for the possibility.
ABS
Poor capacity planning?
From the perspective of the computers straining under the load, a DDoS attack is indistinguishable from a larger-than-expected number of users attempting to access the system at once.
The public statements of the ABS before Census night cast some doubt on whether the system was adequate to cope with even legitimate demand.
The head of the ABS, Chris Libreri, had earlier claimed that its systems had been tested to cope with the load of actual Census submissions:
We have load tested it at 150% of the number of people we think are going to be on it on Tuesday for eight hours straight and it didnt look like flinching.
The ABS stated that its website was designed to handle 1,000,000 form submissions per hour. However, around 18 million Australians live in the eastern states, which equates to about 7 million households.
If even 50% of those households attempted to submit their census during the evening hours from 7pm to 9pm, that would equate to 1.75 million form submissions per hour, 75% more than the reported capacity of the site.
Furthermore, its unlikely that traffic would be uniform within that time period. Spikes in traffic perhaps after popular television shows ended could potentially have overloaded the infrastructure even further.
It seems almost incredible that the team responsible for the contracting would collectively make such an error in their capacity estimates.
Regardless of the details of the attack, and whether other aspects of planning were inadequate, the Census failure will go down as another example of a failed Big Bang deployment.
A Big Bang occurs when an IT system is deployed on a large scale, all at once, and is required to work first time. The US healthcare.gov website, the Queensland Health payroll system that failed so spectacularly in 2010, and even Channel 7s Olympics app are examples of such all-at-once rollouts running into difficulty.
The lessons for proponents of online voting should be clear.
Robert has donated to and volunteered for the Australian Greens.
Originally published in The Conversation.
By Mike Johnstone, Security Researcher, Senior Lecturer in Software Engineering, Edith Cowan University
Shutterstock
Last night, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) closed the 2016 Census website. No explanation was given at the time, except for a message on the page saying the system is very busy at the moment.
This morning, the ABSs head statistician, David Kalisch, announced that the site had been brought offline by four distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
The minister responsible, Michael McCormack, later qualified these statements by stating the site was not attacked, per se. While this is a semantic quibble, it is accurate in the sense that a DDoS attack in itself is not an attempt to gain access or subvert information.
The prime ministers cyber security advisor, Alastair MacGibbon, added that a number of technical issues compounded the effects of the attack, including the failure of the ABSs geoblocking system at around 7.30pm, which allowed the DDoS traffic to impact the ABS servers, hosted by IBM.
However, it has also been pointed out that the ABS may simply have been unprepared for the volume of traffic it received on census night.
So how plausible is the claim that the census was brought down by a DDoS attack?
ABS
Attacking availability
Confidentiality, integrity and availability are the basic principles of information security.
Cyber attacks are commonly mounted against each of these principles, with the ABS claiming that its server availability was the target last night.
A conventional attack against availability is denial-of-service (DoS). A DoS attack occurs when a system (such as a website) is flooded with carefully crafted requests such that requests from legitimate users cannot be serviced, thus causing the denial of service.
A DDoS, or distributed DoS, occurs when many systems are used to perform a DoS attack on a target. This makes it harder to counter, as the server operator cannot simply block a single system on the internet that is sending all of the spurious requests. Thus a DDoS is like many ants bringing down an antelope by working together.
The systems that are used to carry out the attack might be home computers connected to the internet that are being used without the knowledge or consent of their owners.
This can happen when a user clicks on a link contained in an unsolicited email that appears to be from a genuine party that the user trusts. Such email can be very sophisticated and appear realistic, so it is easy to be tricked.
The link then downloads software that allows a third party to initiate a DoS attack remotely, using the unfortunate users computer. When the third party has enough computers under their control (known as zombies), they can launch a DDoS attack from afar.
DoS attacks were once solely the realm of experienced hackers with detailed knowledge of the inner workings of the connected computer systems. Recently, the resources needed to perform a DoS attack have been made readily available on the internet, so people with little knowledge of the technicalities could perform an attack. Such attacks are now available anonymously as a service, much as many businesses use cloud services for computing power or data storage.
Therefore, this capability is available to a range of potential attackers, from lone-wolf disgruntled individuals, to activists, to interest groups and even nation states.
Websites are attacked every day. However, cyber security professionals already use a range of techniques to prevent or minimise such attacks.
One such is geoblocking, which prevents traffic from overseas from reaching the server. And it was the geoblocking system that apparently failed last night, allowing the DDoS to hit home.
Was it a DDoS?
The census servers were not actually hosted by the ABS but by IBM, a company with extensive experience of running server networks.
The ABS also spent around A$470,000 load-testing its census servers in anticipation of census night. It claimed to have tested the system to 150% of the expected load, saying that it could handle 1 million form submissions per hour twice what the ABS expected it would need.
However, that might have underestimated the kind of load the servers should have expected.
Consider that there were 12.9 million internet subscribers in Australia at the end of 2015 (according to ABS figures, no less).
If each of these represents a household (a reasonable assumption, given that 99.3% of internet connections are broadband) and 2 million of these households accessed the census system during the day, this leaves a potential 10.9 million households attempting to reach the census servers in the evening.
If only half of those households actually attempted to fill out their census form last night, that still would have exceeded the ABSs anticipated submission rate.
There is also the issue of how it conducted its load-testing, and whether it worked around average numbers per hour or considered peaks in activity.
While the ABS may have attempted to anticipate the traffic on census night, there are indications that it didnt consider all of the possible bottlenecks. Security journalist Patrick Gray also quotes a security professionals analysis of some of these bottlenecks.
There is also no evidence besides the claims of the ABS and Minister McCormack that the census servers suffered a DDoS. One website that tracks DDoS attacks globally showed no unusual activity in Australia around the time of the census, although such websites are not 100% accurate.
So while its possible that the census servers did suffer a DDoS attack, the evidence that it actually happened is inconclusive.
However, if the servers were already struggling under the load caused by Australians filling out their census forms, then even a weak DDoS could have been sufficient to tip it over the edge.
This leaves us with three possible scenarios:
1) a DDoS attack caused the problem;
2) too many users overloaded the system; or
3) a combination of both.
Perhaps we should apply Occams razor and look for the simplest explanation. This would suggest that if its probable the Census servers simply failed under the weight of their task, then thats the most likely explanation, rather than a deliberate DDoS attack.
Mike Johnstone received funding from the European Union under the Framework Programme 7 grant scheme.
Originally published in The Conversation.
By Mark Colyvan, Professor of Philosophy, University of Sydney
Shutterstock
Theres an old parable used in introductory statistics classes to illustrate how an average can be misleading when maximum values are of interest. The parable is of a person who drowns while walking across a river.
The person cant swim but is not concerned because the average depth of the river is only 20cm. The problem is the average depth of the river is not useful information here; what is needed is information about the maximum depth so that they dont end up over their head.
The river might well be only 20cm deep on average but several metres deep in the middle. As with river crossings, so too with various networks loads.
While the precise reason for the meltdown of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) online census system last night remains unclear, there is a lesson to be learned about load testing.
Prior to the census date of Tuesday, August 9, the ABS announced that there was no danger of the system being unable to handle the load on census night. Why? Because it had tested the system.
Or, rather, the ABS paid a considerable sum of money to an external party to test the system. Load testing is performed to some given specifications and here we find what could be a serious problem in the ABS testing procedure.
Averages
In order to reassure the public, who were growing nervous about the new online census, the ABS made the following statement:
The online Census form can handle 1,000,000 form submissions every hour. Thats twice the capacity we expect to need.
From this statement, it seems the ABS load-tested for 1 million submissions per hour, while expecting 0.5 million per hour. But there are between 9 and 10 million households in Australia, and the ABS was expecting around 15 million census submissions in total, with 65% submitted online.
Of course, not all these submissions would come on August 9, but most would. Moreover, the vast majority of these submissions would be expected to come in the peak-traffic time of early evening (between around 6pm and 10pm AEST).
The ABSs expected load of 0.5 million submissions per hour only makes sense as an average load across a large part of the day. For example, if there were 0.5 million submissions evenly spread across 12 hours on August 9, that would give us 6 million submissions for this period.
But it is clear that load would not be spread evenly. And, to stress the obvious, it is the peak load that were interested in. Any reasonable estimate of the peak load for the early evening period is in the vicinity of several million per hour.
Worse still, there is no reason to expect the load to be evenly spread within this period. It is not beyond the realms of plausibility that 3 or 4 million people would be trying to log on to the system at, say, precisely 7.10pm.
Of course, all of this is consistent with an average load of 0.5 million submissions per hour for August 9. But from what the ABS has said, it is not clear that it tested for such peaks.
ABS up to its neck
So we should be careful not to take averages too seriously. As any statistician knows, an average is one (very crude) way of summarising data.
Other summaries include information about the most frequent data (mode), the middle of the data (median) and the spread of the data (variance).
To take the average too seriously in some settings, such as in the river-crossing parable and calculating network loads, is tantamount to confusing the average with the peak (i.e. to take the river to be uniformly 20cm deep or the census submission rate to be uniformly 0.5 million per hour).
It might seem uncharitable to suggest that such an elementary statistical mistake lies behind the ABS website problems last night especially when talking about an organisation filled with statisticians.
The ABSs story this morning is that it deliberately shut down the system to protect it from a number of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. This is like the river crossing being hit by a flash flood at the crucial time.
But there is good reason to suspect that even without such DDoS attacks, the system was in serious danger of being overloaded. This means even a small rise in the water level, as it were, could have been enough to cause a catastrophic failure.
Our intrepid river crosser may in fact have been drowned by an unexpected flash flood. But given their failure to recognise the limitations of averages as statistical summaries, they were in trouble the moment they dipped their toe in the water.
Mark Colyvan receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Originally published in The Conversation.
3. Hi! Im looking for a few suggestions regarding hotels in Rottnest Island for a couple of friends. Our requirements are as follows:
1. walking distance to the beach
2. Close to markets/ shops
3. Pleasant views
4. Restaurant on the premises
5. 4+ standard
6. Easy transport to and from airport (not imperative, but certainly helpful)
7. Private pool and spa
Thanks, everyone!
I've just been sorting out what they requested for more information to finalise the 820.. It was an online application.
But...
Their letter says:
We prefer contact with this office concerning your application to be by email.
The attached Instruction Form says:
Do not email attachments as this will cause delays in the processing of your application. We do not send acknowledgement advices for the receipt of attachments.
What to do?
Email and attach to online app.??
I wish they made it easier, especially the 'easy' bits !
Future vehicles from Mahindra will be powered by either 1.2-, 1.5- or 2.0-litre petrol engines.
Indias leading utility vehicle manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra has plans to offer the option of a petrol variant across its entire portfolio from 2018.
Any product that we launch from a year after will come with a petrol engine. We are currently working on a 1.5-litre petrol engine. So the petrol engines powering the future vehicles will be either of the three: 1.2, 1.5 or 2.0 litre, Pawan Goenka, executive director, M&M said.
The Supreme Court's decision to ban the registration of diesel vehicles with engine capacity over 2,000cc in Delhi-NCR has resulted in a shift in consumer preference to petrol cars. Automakers, too, are pushing for more petrols to cater to the increasing demand. Mahindra launched a 1.9-litre version of its mHawk diesel engine for the XUV500 and Scorpio in its key market of Delhi-NCR a bid to surmount the ban.
Data revealed by SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures) showed that the share of diesels among the total sales of passenger vehicles during April-June 2016-17 declined to 41 percent from 44 percent in the previous year, while petrols increased to 59 percent from 56 percent.
In fact, the demand for petrol variants of the KUV100 has been more than anticipated, Goenka said. As many as 50 percent of buyers have opted for the petrol version of the KUV 100, which was launched in January earlier this year, up from around the companys expectation of 40 percent.
BMW Motorrad likely to introduce entire range of motorcycles from G 310 R to the K1600 around October 2016.
BMWs upcoming all-new entry-level naked motorcycle, the G 310 R, has been winning plenty of attention in the Indian market. However, when October 2016 rolls around, you can expect BMW to bring its entire range to the Indian market! It is expected that Indian motorcyclists will get everything from the German giant, right from the made-in-Hosur G 310 R, all the way to the made-in-Berlin K1600. But crucially, to make a dent in the booming premium bike market, BMW Motorrad needs to get the price right. And to this effect, BMW Motorrad is expected to leverage its made-in-Thailand offerings. At an integrated plant in Rayong, Thailand, BMW has a large facility where cars and motorcycles are assembled.
Lets spell that out, bit by bit. When it comes to nakeds, BMW assembles the F800R and the S1000R in Thailand. Also, a price-tag in the region of Rs 9 lakh for the twin-cylinder F800R looks very possible. Yes, it will be more expensive compared to Kawasakis Z800, and isnt as powerful either. However, if a super-rapid naked is what you desire, then get ready for the S1000R. This stripped-down and retuned superbike was launched in India at an eye-watering Rs 22.83 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai). However, when it comes from Thailand, you can expect the price of this super-rapid naked to be around Rs 14 lakh. Additional features such as BMWs electronically adjustable suspension will also be offered in India.
If your hunger for speed runs deeper then look no further than the S1000RR. When the horsepower king arrives in India under the FTA, you can expect the price to range at around Rs 16-18 lakh. If you want something more versatile, then there is BMWs S1000XR, a serious rival to the Ducati Multistrada and you can expect it to match the Italian for price as well. The Multistrada retails for Rs 14.4-16.6 lakh in our market.
However, for the traditional BMW aficionados nothing other than the GS family will do. Dont worry, BMWs F700GS, F800GS, R1200GS and R1200GS Adventure are also assembled in Thailand. The GS range has just received an update for 2017, the inclusion of Ride By Wire has allowed the company to offer rider modes and a more sophisticated traction control. These updates could help the F800GS take on Triumphs very popular and feature-packed Tiger 800XC. Interestingly, the twin-cylinder motorcycles could sneak in a price advantage too! The bigger R1200GS range, although cheaper, is still anticipated to start from around Rs 19-20 lakh.
However, you can expect motorcycles such as the R NineT and K1600GTL that carry the Made in Berlin tag to continue at hefty prices. BMW Motorrad is also expected to come up with a new dealership network, and as Motorrad is a part of BMW India, it has had the option of tapping into the existing network of BMW car dealers. As such, BMW stands to take a very strong stand against premium motorcycle manufacturers such as Ducati and Triumph. After all, it looks set to roll in with a vast portfolio, including a few key models with attractive price-tags and a dealership network to reach out to the booming market. The G310R, thats only the tip of the iceberg.
Piaggios Moto Guzzi V9 Roamer and Bobber models to launch as CBUs this month; will be packed with twin-cylinder, 850cc units.
Piaggio plans to roll out group brand Moto Guzzis V9 Roamer and Bobber motorcycles as CBUs across its four MotoPlex showrooms in India this month.
The twin-cylinder, liquid-cooled, 850cc mid-sized motorcycles were first unveiled by the company at Auto Expo 2016 as production-ready models. On March 3, 2016, sister professional Autocar Professional broke the news about these two models coming as CBUs to India. To address the growing demand for mid-sized bikes, Moto Guzzi had launched its all-new V9 family late last year in Europe. The V9s are Moto Guzzis second family of motorcycles that caters to the rising demand for mid-size models worldwide. The brand already sells multiple variants with the V7 family, which is powered by a twin-cylinder, 744cc engine in India as CBUs.
The V7 is the largest-selling family of motorcycles for Moto Guzzi globally. Speaking to Autocar Professional in April this year, Stefano Pelle, managing director of Piaggio Vehicles, had said, Yes, they will also be brought to India as CBUs, most likely within this year. The Moto Guzzi V9 cruisers are not launched yet. Their global launch is scheduled within a few months time. The Moto Guzzi V9 is an all-new line-up of cruisers with light, nimble handling. They will be powered by the 850cc powertrain, which is considered to be a medium-size engine. The V9 motorcycles will be positioned below the bigger Moto Guzzi models such as the California.
SUV
CBC
Most tourist guides advise visitors to get accustomed to laws and even unspoken rules of the country they are about to visit. After all, culture clash can happen to both tourists and hosts alike, and it is best not to offend the residents of the country you are visiting just because you were uninformed.It is also wise to know how do the uniforms of the law enforcement officers of the country you are about to visit look, so you do not risk getting scammed by fraudsters, or getting arrested because of a misunderstanding.In the case of a family of Chinese tourists, they nearly suffered the latter because they did not understand what was happening when a police cruiser turned its lights and sirens on and pulled over next to them.For some reason, the driver of the Honda CR-V rented by the Chinese family stopped in the middle of the highway, then started up again in spite of the fact that a marked police cruiser had halted next to it. Once the Hondabegun driving again, police officers commenced a pursuit , and the whole scene was filmed.It all happened on Interstate 8, in Mission Valley, California, as the Chinese family had chosen to visit the San Dieg o area. After a few miles of driving with police cars that had flashing lights and activated sirens, the driver of the Honda CR-V pulled over, and the officers then followed procedures and held the adult passengers at gunpoint until they were convinced that the occupants did not pose a threat.According to24 News, the Chinese tourists did not speak English, and were confused about the entire event. Apparently, police cars do not pull over drivers like they do in the USA , and the family was left to continue their journey after checking their identities.As a report from EuroNews showed, this week was not great for Chinese tourists, especially those that do not speak the native language of the country they visit or something else besides Chinese. tourist from China that had lost his wallet went to report the event to what he presumed was the police station in Germany. Instead, he went to the city hall, and filed an application for asylum, which led to a short stay in a refugee home.Everything got cleared up with the inspired use of a translation app, but this goes to show that it can always be worse.
A project called Deep Drive was created in the form of an alliance between car companies, software companies, and prestigious universities from the USA. The partnership is described as a rare moment of cooperation between automakers like Volkswagen, Toyota, and Ford.The automakers have joined forces with technology companies like Samsung, Qualcomm, Panasonic, and Nvidia to empower students at Berkeley and Princeton, among others, to develop artificial intelligence technology for driverless vehicles . Google and Amazon are also involved, as are Facebook, Intel, Microsoft, and many others.The project is called Deep Drive, and it focuses on creating source code that will be used by autonomous cars to navigate day-to-day traffic situations. Evidently, the researchers must also think of ways to teach the system how to react in an emergency, as well as in inclement weather.The latest idea published by one of the teams involved is to use GTA V as a test environment. While the successful video game is not open source, it does allow the creation of mods, which can be utilized for various productions, including a self-driving car The idea behind using GTA V for testing autonomous vehicles was to gain access to a virtual environment that simulates real life and its complex traffic situations.In the case of this game, the researchers focused on creating an artificial intelligence system that will allow the prototype to drive itself in urban areas at speeds above 25 mph.Humans can do this without significant effort, but existing technologies for self-driving cars oblige the driver to be ready to take the wheel at a moments notice, because the systems are not as advanced as artificial intelligence through direct learning, and a deep convolutional neural network could allow them. Thus, Deep Drive has created the first self-driving car for GTA V. Heres a video of it below.
The two brothers, Mitch and Marcus Weller, were forced out of the company last July by the board of directors. Last week, the media reported that Skully would be shutting down entirel y, despite the fact that it had raised almost $15 million.The two brothers funded Skully three years ago, and managed to raise $2.5 million over an Indiegogo campaign. They were supposed to build and sell and advanced motorcycle helmet, which differentiated itself from others on the market through the fact that it had augmented-reality features.The two brothers are being sued, and the main accusation is treating company funds as a personal piggy bank. The allegations come from the former bookkeeper, Isabelle Faithauer, who has listed a few examples of the claimed expenses made by the two brothers and then allegedly declared as business expenses.First of all, the rent for a private apartment was paid by company funds. The same happened to restaurant meals and even personal groceries. This does not sound that extreme, right? However, it is still wrong, and we have yet to mention the worst parts of the lawsuit.Well, they allegedly paid for the rental of a Lamborghini during a personal vacation, and also took expensive vacations to destinations like Hawaii and Florida.The latter included spending $2,000 on renting a limousine, as well as a $2,000 charge in a strip club. For business reasons, you say? Depends on what kind of business one is involved.According to Business Insider , the companys Indiegogo page has alerted customers who preordered the helmet, priced at $1,450, that they will have to go through bankruptcy court for a chance to get their money back. This is the worst part of Skully tanking , as the initial backers of the project had to wait for years for it to be launched , paid in full, and only have the hope that they will get a refund someday.
To be honest, this is the least shocking conversion we've seen from the folks at LW Performance. The base car looks like a regular pre-facelift model, so it's about as cheap as the kit itself.Unless we are mistaken, this widebody A5 Coupe was presented during the Tokyo Auto Salon about five months ago. Since then, it's gained a few new trim pieces and some stickers worthy of a Japanese tuning project. Let me hear you say, this shit is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s!As usual, the package is made up of many different parts that bolt onto the factory body. Thankfully, the fenders of the A5 are flat, and the doors don't get in the way, so the transformation must have been easy to pull off.For the side skirts and air splitters, Kato Wataru, and his team went for an old-school squared off design. It won't do much for the downforce, but it takes the A5 back to the Ur-Quattro era.Noteworthy features include adjustable struts for the front blade and a trunk lid spoiler that's bigger than on any supercar.Of course, the whole point of a Liberty Walk body kit is to give tuners room to install much wider tires, which is exactly what the Stormtrooper A5 has. We also notice that it has special Falken tires and an exhaust system from FLexhaust. Without air suspension, it would have this cool of a stance either.We leave you with all the footage that we could find, which also includes video from one of Japan's many stance-related magazines. Apparently, the A5 has an R8 sister car it likes to play with.
We don't even need to sell the shock that onlookers must have felt. I mean, it's not every day to you get to see a flying saucer cruising like that, not even on the net.If we had a car parked down that road, we would have been concerned for scratches, but the driver clearly knows about the width problem and it taking every precaution.There's only one problem: it's fake. No, we don't mean that in an obvious way because we know there are no such things as aliens (???). But the scene is staged right down to the police participation.The video itself comes from the guy who made the alien craft, so it's obviously a fake. Thankfully, it comes with matching photos of the "arrest" so you can sell the story as "Police Apprehending Aliens," even though that's not what is going on.The UFO was actually made by a local artist nameAli Kemal Ali, originally from Islington, London. The student wanted to raise interest in a space-theme exhibition. So he came up with the idea of making this thing using two electric scooters with a UFO shape on top. It's even got lasers and smoke."They loved it. They were brilliant. How often do you go into a police station and ask for something like this -- it's always doom and gloom. They saw the funny side of it," Ali Kemal Ali told Sky News regarding the police's involvement.Considering there are now dozens of articles regarding this incident, we'd say the 53-year old artist has achieved his initial goal of raising attention and then some.
Courtesy of Car Rental Express
CarRentalExpress.com, the car rental booking engine dedicated to independent agencies, has announced a partnership with Rentalcars Connect, a division of Rentalcars.com, an online car rental service.
The new partnership will allow both brands to expand their networks, proving customers more options when choosing a rental vehicle. Visitors to CarRentalExpress.com will be able to book a rental vehicle in any one of the 110 destinations across the world, according to the company.
Additionally, both brands expect to see more traffic, higher conversion rates, and an increase in reservations due to the expanded inventory.
This new partnership will enhance the offering provided to Car Rental Express customers, said Ady Guthrie, global director at Rentalcars Connect. Together we will provide more choices of vehicles, in more locations around the world, and on one user-friendly platform. We are pleased to partner with Car Rental Express, a company that has experienced continuous growth in North America for over a decade, and it is our aim to increase this through higher conversion rates and customer satisfaction.
By joining forces with Rentalcars Connect, Express iTech is establishing itself as a top partner in the car rental industry, said Janet Levy, senior finance at Express iTech, creators of Car Rental Express. Our renters will experience increased satisfaction. This is by far one of the most exciting partnership endeavors Express iTech has established. We look forward to a very successful future with Rentalcars Connect.
If one is planning to create driverless cars, he or she needs more than mere car parts and a computer. A car that drives on its own also needs to know its whereabouts in real time.
It leads to the conclusion that driverless cars need to have its own maps. The maps that is very good.
The vice president at Uber and an expert in geospatial data visualization, Brian McClendon said, "With autonomous vehicles, maps are going to be fundamental."
He added, "And the maps that are needed for autonomous vehicles are beyond anything that's being created today by any third party."
According to Uber, the "third party" is expected to be Google, on where the vice president has worked on maps for many years and which Uber depends on for the inner workings of its service.
The interface of Uber was created on the Google Maps API and it was noted that the drivers of Uber have the choice to directly navigate in the Google maps when they are driving.
But in the country of China, Uber is affiliated with Baidu, another search giant and not Google.
However, since the company of Uber is providing research about cars that do not need drivers, they should rely more on Google since Google is an expert in this area.
But it created a logistic issue. McClendon has also said that "Uber itself has a different set of needs than Google did (when it created its own maps)." "Some things we need, Google doesn't have. We need to figure out how to improve, and build a service based on those improvements," he added.
But what everyone should know is that staying away from the competitive group of Silicon's Valley most controlling and might companies that are racing towards creating driverless cars is a must.
Many people are researching and creating prototypes on the cars that do not need drivers.
Surf Air, which has been operating a fleet of Pilatus PC-12s between 13 California airports for three years, now plans to expand into Europe. Surf Air Europe will operate three airplanes from London, Zurich, Geneva, Dublin and Cannes. Surf Air members pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to the companys fleet, and can book flights using a mobile app. In Europe, the company says, customers will fly on all-new Cessna and Embraer twin-engine business jets from private terminals. Membership plans for the new Europe fleet start at about $3,600 per month. Meanwhile, the company has been dealing with noise complaints about its operations in California.
Neighbors close to the San Carlos Airport near San Francisco have complained about noise from the PC-12s flying low above their homes. The FAA approved a new approach route last month that would keep the PC-12s mainly over the bay, but neighbors say fog and low clouds often keep the airplanes on the old route. One neighbor filed a suit and was awarded $1,000, but the county is expected to appeal. County Supervisor Don Horsley told The Almanac, Were not going to let that stand. If residents could win lawsuits claiming local governments have a responsibility to stop nuisance noise from airports, youd have people constantly suing you. Theyd end up shutting [all airports] down. According to an analysis by San Carlos airport officials, the PC-12s should be able to fly the new bay approach about 85 percent of the time. Surf Air flies into San Carlos about 18 times a day.
Russia will continue to press for a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday after holding talks in Moscow with his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian.
Putin, who also met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Monday, insisted that both Armenia and Azerbaijan are committed to a compromise settlement but would not say whether it can be achieved in the coming months.
We will continue to provide the utmost support to the search for ways of untying the Karabakh knot within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group as well as during direct contacts with Yerevan and Baku, he told a news conference with Sarkisian.
We hope that Armenia and Azerbaijan will manage to reach a compromise settlement -- without winners or losers -- of existing differences, he said.
Putin said that he and Sarkisian paid serious attention to the Karabakh issue at their talks, including through the prism of the most recent meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents which the Russian leader hosted in Saint Petersburg on June 20.
In a joint statement with Putin issued in Saint Petersburg, Aliyev and Sarkisian said they reached understandings on unspecified issues hampering a Karabakh settlement. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said afterwards that the conflicting parties are now closer to cutting a peace deal than ever before.
The Armenian press has since been rife with speculation that Moscow is pressing the Armenian side to agree to withdraw from five of the seven districts around Karabakh that were fully or partly occupied by Karabakh Armenian forces during the 1991-1994. Some commentators in Yerevan have pointed to statements to that effect made by Azerbaijani officials.
Putin did not confirm the Azerbaijani claims, implying that they only reflect Armenian concessions that are sought by Baku. He also said in that regard: I think that both Armenia and Azerbaijan really want to find a way out of the problem in order to live in peace, cooperate and develop the economy.
In particular, he said, a Karabakh peace would lead to economic betterment in Armenia and thereby strengthen Armenian statehood.
But we need to find the kind of approaches and formulas that would not leave anybody thinking that they have lost or won, a solution that would be worked out by Armenias and Azerbaijans leaders and accepted by the publics in both countries, Putin went on. Russia and other mediating powers are ready to act as guarantors of such an accord, he added.
Sarkisian, for his part, stressed that an Armenian-Azerbaijan peace accord can only be based on the Karabakh Armenians right to self-determination. This is what I discussed with the president of the Russian Federation in detail today, he said.
Neither Putin nor Sarkisian publicly commented on the possibility of organizing another Armenian-Azerbaijani summit which the mediators hope would result in further progress in the Karabakh peace process. French President Francois Hollande reportedly offered to host it in Paris shortly after the Saint Petersburg meeting.
Sarkisian praised Putins peace efforts in his opening remarks at the talks held in the Kremlin. In this regard, it is very, very important that all reached agreements are fulfilled, he said. We are prepared for that.
The Armenian president may have referred to safeguards against renewed ceasefire violations which he and Aliyev agreed to take at their previous meeting held in Vienna on May 16, more than a month after the worst escalation of the conflict since 1994. Yerevan subsequently accused Baku of trying to walk away from those agreements.
Putin discussed the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute with Aliyev when he visited Baku on Monday. He told Sarkisian that he would love to brief you on the results of our meetings in Baku.
Speaking at the ensuing news conference, Putin dismissed a widely held belief in Armenia that Russia has only increased the risk of another Karabakh war with its large-scale arms sales to Baku. He implied that oil-rich Azerbaijan would have been able to purchase offensive weapons from other nations had Russia refused to sign defense contracts, reportedly worth $4 billion, with it in 2010-2011.
Putin also argued that Russia has long been providing substantial military aid to Armenia, its main regional ally. Moscow always fulfills its obligations to Yerevan relating to defense, he said.
10 August 2016 10:30 (UTC+04:00)
By Philippe Legrain
For once, Marine Le Pen, the leader of Frances far-right National Front, may be correct. She has called the United Kingdoms vote to leave the European Union the biggest political event in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall. That may turn out to be true: Brexit has destabilized the UK and could end up destroying the EU.
Old-fashioned federalists say the answer to Brexit should be further EU integration. But that response is both far-fetched and dangerous. Germany and France are often at odds, and both have weak leaders facing re-election next year who could scarcely muster support for an ever-closer union. And anti-EU sentiment is too widespread and too deep to hand more power to unelected EU officials and impose additional constraints on national decision-making without poisoning the pot further.
True, the immediate post-Brexit turmoil appears to have boosted support for mainstream politicians and the EU; but this is unlikely to last. The Brexit fallout is likely to sap eurozone economic performance and further polarize European politics as voters become more insecure. German dominance of the EU will increase, and so, too, will the anti-German backlash in many countries. With a weak and divided EU unable to resolve Europes many crises, and with nationalism resurgent, we can expect further disintegration in different forms.
The most extreme form would be further exits by member states. Leaving the EU once seemed outlandish: no country had ever done it, and only extremists even proposed it. Brexit now makes leaving seem feasible and, to some, reasonable. Already, Geert Wilders, whose far-right Freedom Party is leading in the polls ahead of the Netherlands general election next March, is demanding a referendum on EU membership. So, too, is the Danish Peoples Party, which is the biggest party in the Danish parliament, but remains out of government.
In France, where opposition to the EU is even greater than in the UK, Le Pen is campaigning on the promise of a Frexit plebiscite. Shecurrently leads in polls for the first round of the presidential election next April. And while those polls suggest she would be defeated in the second-round runoff by a more moderate conservative challenger, center-left voters who are fed up with austerity, the political establishment, and German dominance may yet rally behind her. Moreover, the growing sense of insecurity after the Nice attack on July 14 the third major terrorist massacre in France in 18 months plays into Le Pens hands.
Disintegration could also take a less extreme but more insidious form if governments choose to ignore EU rules with impunity. In Italy, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi sought to take advantage of post-Brexit instability to use public funds to recapitalize Italys zombie banks, without imposing losses on their creditors, thereby bypassing the EUs new bail-in rules for banks. In France, Prime Minister Manuel Valls threatened to ignore the EUs posted-workers directive unless it was modified to prevent employers from hiring workers from other EU countries on worse terms than locals.
Germany claims that France is also bending the eurozones fiscal rules, with no objection from the European Commission. And while the Commission threatened Spain and Portugal with fines for their borrowing overruns, it ultimately pulled back. It has also rubber-stamped many governments unilateral imposition of border controls in the supposedly border-free Schengen Area.
Worse, the Commission has turned a blind eye to Hungarys illiberal prime minister, Viktor Orban, despite his governments repeated flouting of EU requirements concerning the rule of law and democratic norms. The governments of Hungary and other countries also refuse to comply with the EUs program to relocate refugees across the Union, which in any case has scarcely been implemented; Orban is holding a referendum in October to bolster his position.
A third threat to EU integration is the further capture of governments by nationalist anti-establishment parties. As the European Council on Foreign Relations has pointed out, insurgent parties already play a direct role in the governance of eight of the EUs 28 countries.
In Austria, the far-right candidate Norbert Hofer leads polls in a re-run of the countrys presidential election, set for October. The same month, Italy will hold a constitutional referendum to reform the Senate, and Renzi has vowed to resign if it doesnt pass. This would open the door for the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, which recently won local elections in Rome and Turin, and has called for a referendum on Italys eurozone (but not EU) membership.
Even when populist parties dont win, establishment politicians still make concessions to their supporters. For example, Alain Juppe, the presidential frontrunner for the Republicans in France, muses about limiting labor mobility in the EU, as does his main rival, former President Nicolas Sarkozy.
To counter these forces of disintegration, the EU must do less and do it better. Economically, plans for new institutions can wait; the eurozone should focus instead on policies to raise living standards for all. These should include looser fiscal constraints; more investment; an end to beggar-thy-neighbor wage cuts; and lower taxes on labor.
Europes leaders also need to restore trust. For starters, they should use the EUs new bail-in rules to clean up banks balance sheets, imposing losses on creditors and compensating any small investors who were sold a false bill of goods.
Politically, the EU should emphasize effective cooperation in combating terrorism. And, rather than trying to force recalcitrant governments to accept unwanted refugees, EU authorities should pursue an orderly and safe resettlement program with willing governments. This is particularly important in view of the uncertain fate of the EUs deal with Turkey to curb refugee inflows, which is looking increasingly precarious in the wake of last months failed coup.
The EUs leaders need to wake up. With disintegration looming, they urgently need to demonstrate to anxious Europeans that the benefits of the EU outweigh its costs.
Copyright: Project Syndicate: Three Paths to European Disintegration
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 August 2016 12:28 (UTC+04:00)
By Nigar Abbasova
Azerbaijan National Fund for Entrepreneurship Support (NFES) has allocated approximately 91.5 million manats ($57.1 million) on easy terms since early 2016, while about 1,542 entrepreneurs made use of means allocated by the fund.
NFES CEO Shirzad Abdullayev, addressing the business forum dedicated to the issue of easy credits to entrepreneurs, mentioned that the financial means are expected to give a stimulus for the creation of more than 4,600 new jobs.
The fund has so far allocated some 326.4 million manats ($ 203.9 million) for financing 1,284 investment projects on the creation of logistics centers, poultry factories, stock-raising complexes, bread-baking plant, enterprises for the manufacture of building materials, dried fruit as well as large farm enterprises. The Fund has issued easy credits worth 3.2 million manats ($ 1.9 million) to 20 entrepreneurs within the framework of the forum.
The amount of funds to be allocated by the NFES is expected to reach the level of 250 million manats ($156.2 million) in 2016 with some 70 million manats ($43.7) being provided by budgetary funds
Earlier, MP Rufat Guliyev talking to Trend mentioned that the government of the country is planning to offer an alternative to easy credits for entrepreneurs engaged in small business and is drafting a new program on the support of business entities, which envisages assignment of ready mini projects to them. The program is expected to be an alternative to easy credits in the future.
Allocation of funds by NFES is aimed at the mitigating of the impact of global economic crisis to the national economy and minimization of its dependence on the oil sector. The country takes steps in its bid to diversify the national economy and provide for the development of entrepreneurship in the country.
Azerbaijan currently ranks 63 out of 189 countries in the World Banks ease of doing business index.
The National Fund for Entrepreneurship Support was established in 1992. Loans are allocated to entrepreneurs through authorized banks and non-bank lenders.
--
Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 August 2016 11:00 (UTC+04:00)
By Trend
Turkish companies may soon return to Russian markets of services, transport and tourism on a parity basis, Russian Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev said Tuesday, Sputnik International reported.
"We are hoping that in the near future we will restore positions in the trade of goods and participation of Turkish companies in the work on Russian markets of services in the tourist and transport sectors on the principle of step-by-step approach, parity and mutual benefit," Ulyukayev said following a meeting between Russian and Turkish leaders in St. Petersburg.
Russia and Turkey agreed on Tuesday to speed up work on creation of a joint investment fund, Ulyukayev said.
"The sides agreed to expedite work on setting up a joint Russia-Turkey investment fund. Russia will be represented by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), while the Turkish side will adopt all necessary normative decisions and determine its representative by the end of this month," the minister said.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 August 2016 13:14 (UTC+04:00)
By Rashid Shirinov
Russian shipyard Red Sormovo, which is a member of a group of companies "Sea and oil & gas projects" (MNP group), intends to expand partnership with Azerbaijan.
Representatives of the MNP group management took part in the extended meeting of the Russian-Azerbaijani and Azerbaijani-Russian business councils in Baku on August 8, the Moscow representative office of Red Sormovo said.
"The goal of participation was the development of further relations of PJSC Plant Red Sormovo with business partners and potential customers from Azerbaijan," the office said. The meeting was timed to the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Azerbaijan and aimed at enhancing economic cooperation between the two countries.
In the framework of the business program of event, business representatives of various industries of Azerbaijan and Russia held bilateral meetings. Executive Director of MNP group Vadim Malov and the Deputy CEO Murat Duguzhev discussed the prospects of further cooperation in the field of shipbuilding with their potential partners.
Malov stressed that Azerbaijan being one of the key players of oil and gas market in the Caspian region will always be of interest to manufacturers of oil and gas tankers, and Red Sormovo has obvious advantages in that field.
Projects for Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company, implemented earlier by the group of MNP and Sormovo shipbuilders, have created a basis for long term partnership with ship-owners operating in the country. Therefore, we continue to participate in such large-scale bilateral meetings. As a rule, they are quite productive, Director of MNP added.
Plant Red Sormovo founded in 1849, is one of the oldest Russian shipbuilding enterprises. The plant and MNP group have established significantly friendly relations with Azerbaijan. From 2002 to 2009, Red Sormovo supplied one dry-cargo ship Volga, two tankers SFAT and seven tankers Heydar Aliyev for Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company.
---
Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 August 2016 15:10 (UTC+04:00)
By Nigar Abbasova
Azerbaijan and Iran have increased the swap of electricity by 2.5 times, Hamid Chitchian, Irans Energy Minister told Trend. He said that a new ETL (electrical transmission line) with the capacity of 330 kilowatt and length of 52 km was commissioned on August 4.
The countries have increased exchange of electricity from 200 to 500 megawatts, he said. He went on saying that Iran has increased its power generation by 26,500 megawatt, while the volume of investments stood at $30 billion in the past five years. Currently, production capabilities of the country in electric-power industry are approximately 75,000 megawatts.
Chitchian added that the figure is expected to reach the level of 125,000 megawatt by 2025. Generation capacity of electric energy system of Azerbaijan, which stands at 7,160 megawatt, allows the country to generate about 24 billion kilowatt-hours of electric energy per year. Moreover, the country is also able to export some 2.1 billion kilowatt-hours a year.
Earlier, Azerishiq reported that the total capacity of electrical networks of Baku have increased from 3,048 up to 6,200 megawatts in the past 10 years, while technical losses in the networks decreased from 16.9 to 7.8 percent.
By synchronizing their energy systems, Azerbaijan and Iran are expected to create the basis for the future electricity exchange with third countries like Russia and Georgia.
Iran, which is considered to be the largest exporter and importer of electricity in the Middle East currently ranks 14th in the world in terms of electricity generation. The country exports electricity to such countries as Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Earlier, the two countries concluded 11 documents covering various areas of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Iran preordaining development of bilateral relations between friendly and brotherly countries of Azerbaijan and Iran for several decades in advance. One of the agreements of significant importance includes "The Framework Agreement on the sale of electric power between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran", which stipulates diversification of electricity systems as well as establishment of a common electricity network of the region
---
Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 August 2016 18:14 (UTC+04:00)
By Amina Nazarli
Income tax and value added tax (VAT) rates for small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in production will be reduced in Azerbaijan.
This remark was made by Deputy Taxes Minister Ilkin Valiyev at a press conference dedicated to execution of the Azerbaijani presidents order, dated back on August 4 On improvement of tax administration and approval of directions of reforms in taxation in 2016 held in Baku on August 10.
Valiyev emphasized that in this context, it is planned to amend Azerbaijans legislation and simplify tax administration.
He said that one of the main goals is to reduce tax burden, which currently is 39.8 percent.
This figure is less than in other countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), but slightly higher than in the countries of the region, he noted. Thus, we plan to optimize and somehow reduce the tax burden.
Azerbaijan applies a single VAT rate of 18 percent, and the rate of the income tax is 20 percent.
Small businesses in the country are the businesses, which have up to 25 employees and an annual turnover of up to 200,000 manats ($123,565), while the medium-sized businesses are the enterprises, which have an annual turnover of 200,000-1.25 million manats ($123,565-$772,000) and 25-125 employees.
Valiyev also stressed that the government plans to decrease tax rates in order to encourage non-cash payments in Azerbaijan.
Stimulating cashless payments and limitation of cash payments will lead to a rise in the number of POS-terminals and transparency in tax payment. We've already had a few suggestions in connection with the expansion of cashless payments. One of the proposals means that any payments in excess of 1,000 manats ($617) a day must be carried out by cashless payment. In addition, we have proposed to reduce the VAT or any other tax to promote cashless payments," Valiyev explained.
Central Bank of Azerbaijan reports that payment cards turnover in the country through ATMs and POS-terminals amounted to 1.05 billion manats ($648,720) in June 2016 (6.2 percent increase compared to the same period of 2015), and the total number of operations made up 6.99 million (0.5 percent decrease). Number of payment cards in Azerbaijan amounted to 5.47 million, which downed by 0.5 percent for a year.
The deputy minister also informed reporters about strengthening the control operations of Azerbaijani citizens in offshore zones.
He added that corresponding amendments will be made to Azerbaijans legislation in order to impose taxes on profits from operations of Azerbaijani companies abroad, including in offshore zones, and by using transfer prices.
Moreover, he said, it is planned to create effective mechanisms of control over the operations of enterprises created by Azerbaijani residents in offshore zones. These mechanisms will be used to identify people evading taxes and to impose income tax on their profit.
Currently, we have agreements with a number of countries on cooperation in this sphere and we plan to increase their number in the future, added Valiyev. We provide those countries with information about their companies operating in Azerbaijan, and they, in turn, provide us with information about Azerbaijani companies there.
These agreements will also allow enhancing control over Azerbaijani companies in offshore zones, said the deputy minister.
The deputy minister also touched upon the recently approved Tax Free system in the country, saying that more than 104 million manats (about $64,000) of VAT have been refunded to citizens of 45 countries since the introduction of the system on June 16.
This demonstrates that the system is in a very high demand, Valiyev said. Currently, it operates only at the Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport, but soon it will be used at all other checkpoints of Azerbaijan.
Head of Taxpayers Services Main Department Mahir Rafiyev told reporters that the extended use of Tax Free system doesnt mean the inclusion of persons and goods, with regard to which the Tax Free is not applicable.
The extended use of this system means that it will be used at all checkpoints of Azerbaijan, said Rafiyev adding that the list of persons and goods, with regard to which the Tax Free is not applicable, wont be changed.
Foreign citizens can benefit from tax free system, if the cost of purchased goods per one e-tax invoice is not less than 300 Azerbaijani manats, including VAT. The goods should be taken out of Azerbaijans territory within 90 days from the date of purchase.
Standard VAT rate in Azerbaijan is 18 percent. Regardless of the transfer method, foreign citizens will be refunded the amount of VAT paid for the purchased goods after withholding 20 percent service fee.
How to benefit from Tax Free?
To benefit from Tax Free system, a customer must shop at Tax Free labeled shops. Customers can refund the VAT paid for the goods they purchased at Tax Free labeled shops during their departure at the airport.
While purchasing goods at Tax Free labeled shops customers need to inform a salesperson about the intention to benefit from Tax Free, show a passport confirming citizenship, and have the salesperson to fill in the electronic tax invoice enabling VAT refund. The salesperson, upon filling in the passport details, will provide the customer with two copies of signed and stamped e-tax invoice. The e-tax invoice, along with other information, will contain the amount of paid VAT, as well as the expiry date of VAT refund.
While departing from Azerbaijan, it is necessary to present purchased goods and e-tax invoice along with a passport to the customs checkpoint located at the airport. Customs staff will certify the e-tax invoice with a stamp and return it back to the customer after making relevant notes on it. Finally, the customs tax invoice should be presented to an authorized bank. The refund can be made both in cash and non-cash (after 10 days) way.
--
Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 August 2016 18:32 (UTC+04:00)
By Nigar Abbasova
The recent decision of the President Ilham Aliyev on the approval of reforms to be held in the sphere of taxes in 2016 was hailed by a number of companies operating in the country.
The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Azerbaijan has welcomed the recent decision of the President, mentioning that a number of recommendations on improvement of tax administration and facilitation of business doing in the country, proposed by the chamber to the government of Azerbaijan in early 2016 were reflected in the presidential order.
The United States Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (USACC), which is considered to be a vital resource for American companies seeking to establish long-term business ties with Azerbaijan have also hailed the recent changes in the tax system of the country in its recent message posted on the web-site of the company.
The message reads that the company is ready to provide all necessary assistance and share its experience and knowledge for the further implementation of tasks in the sphere. The reforms carried out in the tax system are a positive initiative, which provides for the increase of investment attractiveness of the country for American companies, the message said.
Highlighting the issue USACC Executive Director Susen Sadikhova said that the reforms are very timely as the organization is currently engaged in the implementation of the next trade mission of American companies to Azerbaijan, which is scheduled for September 15-16. Some 12 small and medium American companies that are seeking for partners in Azerbaijan are expected to join the mission.
The decision of the President stipulates provision of more favorable value-added tax (VAT) rates for the socially vulnerable layers of the population, reduction of the tax burden on small and medium-sized business, and resolving the problems during taxation of trade operations.
Moreover, the changes envisage the application of Advance Tax Ruling system, which stands for clarifying and conforming particular taxation arrangements with the tax authorities prior to the appearance of legal consequences as well as prohibition of office tax audits implemented by tax authorities after expiration of 30 days since the submission of tax declarations by tax payers. The changes also include introduction of the system of Voluntary Tax Disclosure, which allows taxpayer to disclose the information not previously reported to a tax agency on a voluntary basis and thereby avoid liability to penalty or prosecution normally associated with prior non-disclosure.
Being of great significance for the country the changes are expected to stipulate business doing in the country, particularly small and medium-sized entrepreneurship.
Azerbaijan currently ranks 63 out of 189 countries in the World Banks ease of doing business index.
---
Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 August 2016 16:39 (UTC+04:00)
By Rashid Shirinov
Chairman of the Germany-South Caucasus Parliamentary Friendship Group at Bundestag Karin Strenz visited the Milli Majlis of the Azerbaijan Republic on August 9.
At the meeting, Chairman of the working group on Azerbaijani-German inter-parliamentary relations Rovshan Rzayev talked about achievements of Azerbaijan in recent years and Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
He stressed that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to developing cooperation with Germany in various spheres, including the expansion of inter-parliamentary relations.
Speaking on the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, other members of the group also expressed their hope that the German presidency at the OSCE will facilitate the resolution of the problem and concrete steps on its settlement will be taken.
Karin Strenz, in turn, expressed her satisfaction from the presidency in the Germany-South Caucasus Parliamentary Friendship Group. She stressed that such meetings contribute to the development of inter-parliamentary relations, and this development in a number of fields is beneficial to both parties.
Strenz particularly stressed the importance of resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on international legal norms and in accordance with the adopted UN resolutions.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.
Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.
---
Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 August 2016 18:04 (UTC+04:00)
By Rashid Shirinov
Turkey suggested the creation of tripartite mechanism on the discussion of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia. This was said by the Foreign Minister of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu, TRT Haber news channel reports.
Cavusoglu noted that trilateral format will be beneficial to all parties.
We discussed this format during the meetings in Baku. Azerbaijan positively appraised the trilateral mechanism with Russia. This initiative was also announced during the meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia also praised the mechanism, Turkish Foreign Minister said. He also noted that the three countries may cooperate in the political, economic, transport and energy sectors.
On August 9, President Erdogan also said that Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia may establish a tripartite cooperation mechanism, and that both Turkey and Russia have a positive attitude to the creation of this mechanism.
The Azerbaijan-Turkey-Russia trilateral format can be effective for settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, believes Turkish presidents spokesman Ibrahim Kalin.
If Armenia withdraws from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, the process will be accelerated, Kalin said in his interview with A Haber TV channel.
He particularly mentioned that if the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is resolved, it will be more beneficial for Armenia, "which will be able to normalize relations with Turkey.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.
Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.
---
Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 August 2016 18:55 (UTC+04:00)
By Rashid Shirinov
Azerbaijan plans to exempt exports of services from paying the value-added tax (VAT), said Shamil Arabov, Deputy head of the Main Department of tax policy and strategic surveys, on August 10.
To this end, draft appropriate amendments to the legislation have been prepared.
This project proposes to remove limitations on the collection of VAT from exports of some services. Under the proposed changes, VAT rate for all exported services will be at zero percent, said Arabov.
According to the current Tax code of Azerbaijan, exports of following services are not subjected to VAT:
- transfer of ownership or assignment of rights to patents, licenses, trademarks, copyrights and other similar rights;
- rendering of consulting, legal, accounting, engineering or advertisement services, services on data management and other similar services;
- provision of labour services;
- renting movable property (except for vehicles of transportation enterprises);
- services of agent who on behalf of the main party of agreement invites legal or natural persons to provide services specified in the article;
- the provision of telecommunication services (receipt, distribution, and transmission of signals, documents, photographs, voice or information of various nature by means of telegraph, radio, optical or other electromagnetic system, including the granting or acquiring rights for such transmission, receiving or broadcasting);
- services on radio and television transmission, postal services;
- provision of services via computer, Internet and other electronic networks, email and other similar means or granting rights to use such networks or services.
---
Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 August 2016 14:16 (UTC+04:00)
By Trend
Trade and economic relations with Turkey will be discussed in the autumn, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a joint press conference following the meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in St. Petersburg.
A session of the intergovernmental commission on trade and economic relations with Turkey will take place in the autumn 2016, Putin said. We have to work hard to reanimate trade and economic relations. This process has already started, but it will take some time.
Putin noted that the visit of a delegation of the Turkish governments economic bloc to Moscow at the end of July, their negotiations with Russian colleagues, became an important step.
We intend to pay particular attention to increasing investments, trade flows, implementation of promising projects, Putin said. It is very important that business circles support us in that.
He added that Russia and Turkey intend to hold a meeting of a strategic planning group in the first half of 2017, and noted that the countries have all opportunities to restore and strengthen full-length relations.
I would like to thank President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a sincere conversation, which took place today, Putin said following the talks with Erdogan Aug. 9. The talks have confirmed that our countries have every opportunity to restore normal, full-length relations that would contribute to strengthening of stability not only in our region but also around the world. Russia is ready for such work.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 August 2016 19:16 (UTC+04:00)
By Amina Nazarli
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have vowed to restore an axis of friendship between Ankara and Moscow amid Turkey faces strained relations with the West.
But to which extent the Russian-Turkish rapprochement could affect Western interests in the region and beyond?
An expert claims that the visit of Erdogan to Saint Petersburg will send strong message to the West meaning as Ankara has options.
Yusuf Cinar, president of the Turkish international research center Strategic Outlook said that the Turkish presidents visit to Russia means that the relations between Ankara and Moscow are entering a new era following the downed aircraft incident.
He stressed that this convergence between Turkey and Russia may come as a surprise to the West and dramatically change the balance in the region.
This rapprochement may sharply estrange Turkey from the West, since Turkey's relations with Europe and the U.S. have sharply deteriorated after July 15, said Cinar.
On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them.
However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Erdogan said the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded.
Turkish president declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20.
Erdogan has strongly criticized West for the tepid response to the coup attempt, and experts believe that Putin may have seen an opportunity to provide a supportive shoulder for the Turkish leader, despite the past months tensions.
Analysts say that in a light of elevated anti-Western sentiment, Erdogans move to warm relations with Russia may harden Turkeys alienation from its traditional allies.
--
Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 August 2016 17:19 (UTC+04:00)
By Nigar Abbasova
Russia needs "ironclad guarantees" to resume work on the South Stream pipeline project after it was stalled due to opposition from the European Commission, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on August, 9 following the talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Sputnik International reported.
Putin noted that Russia saw that Bulgaria was ready to return to implementing the project, having put it on hold at the request of the European Commission.
"We suffered certain losses from the refusal of our European partners to return to this project. Mere intentions are not enough now, we need absolutely ironclad guarantees of a legal nature. They do not exist, he said.
Itinerary of the pipeline with the total capacity of 63 billion of cubic metres was intended to cover the territories of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, and Italy. The project, with the total worth of $15.5 billion was initiated by Gazprom, which hold 50 percent of the shares, while German Wintershall, French Electricite de France (EDF) and Italian ENI were among other shareholders.
Earlier, Ria Novosti reported that the parliamentarians of Bulgaria have rejected the proposal on the resumption of the South stream project.
The European Commission was against the implementation of the South Stream as the project was allegedly in breach of the EU third energy package, which envisages that one and the same company is not eligible to implement delivery and operate the pipeline.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would halt the implementation of the South Stream on December 1, 2014. Turkish stream project came to the foreground following the decision of Russia.
However, the Turkish Stream project was frozen in late 2015 due to sharp deterioration of relations between Moscow and Ankara when Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber with two pilots on board. On June 27, Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter of condolences to Putin over the death of Russian Su-24 pilot and expressed his condolences over the incident. After that, the relations between the two countries began to improve.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said that the Turkish Stream pipeline project, which is aimed at delivery of Russian natural gas to Southern Europe via Turkey may get underway in the near future, mentioning that the project is not considered to be an alternative to the South Stream but an opportunity to expand the cooperation of the country in the sphere of gas supplies both with Europe and with Turkey.
Meanwhile, President Erdogan recently said that the Turkish Stream project will be implemented, adding that the country will take the necessary steps to ensure the supply of Russian gas to Europe through the pipeline.
---
Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 August 2016 14:28 (UTC+04:00)
By Gunay Hasanova
Turkish and Russian presidents Recep Tayip Ergodan and Vladimir Putin have met in hopes of turning a fresh page in the two countries relations. It was their first meeting since Turkey downed a Russian bomber over Syria last November.
In turn, the meeting served as the beginning of restoration of the cooperation between two countries regarding different issues, as well as, promising to back different energy projects between the sides.
Turkey has confirmed that its ready to continue negotiations on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich on August 9.
The minister also said that they have also discussed going ahead with Turkeys Akkuyu nuclear power plant.
"We discussed some investment projects, including the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant. There is some progress here already. The necessary regulatory framework is being finished by the Turkish side. We expect to be able to move forward quite quickly," Dvorkovich told reporters.
In addition, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told that the agreement on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project envisions the construction of one pipeline leg by late 2019, with a possible expansion to two.
The minister said Russia and Turkey agreed to set up a working group to implement the project aiming to bring Russian natural gas to Southern Europe via Turkey.
"Within the framework of the working group, a draft intergovernmental agreement will be prepared and approved on the construction of at least one leg under the Black Sea with a possible extension to the second leg," Novak told the Rossiya 24 broadcaster.
Forecasting its construction timeline at second half of 2019, the minister added that an intergovernmental agreement on the Turkish Stream could be reached and signed by October.
Novak additionally echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin's earlier comments in saying that Moscow needs EU and the European Commission guarantees that the Turkish Stream infrastructure would be in demand before talk of constructing the pipelines second leg.
Addressing the likelihood of the project's third leg, the minister said: "Theoretically, anything is possible, but in a more practical matter we are now looking into what needs to be done in the first place."
The Turkish Stream gas pipeline and the Akkuyu nuclear power plant are major projects for Russia and Turkey.
The construction of the Turkish Stream pipeline to deliver Russian gas to Turkey via the Black Sea was initially scheduled to begin in 2014 but was delayed after the failure to reach an intergovernmental agreement. Negotiations on the project were suspended after downed Russian plane in Syria in November 2015.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 August 2016 17:34 (UTC+04:00)
By Gunay Hasanova
The meeting between Russian and Turkish President held on August 9 moved the relations between two countries to a new positive direction and served as the beginning of restoration of axis of friendship and clean slate between Ankara and Moscow.
The Presidents of Turkey and Russia met in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, after months of enmity between the two countries.
Putin met Erdogan as a very special guest, and, in turn, Erdogan thanked Putin referring to him as Dear Friend.
Russia wants to fully restore ties with Turkey, to which end it is drafting a 2016-2019 mid-term program of cooperation in areas including the economy and science, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on August 9, Sputnik International reported.
As for restoring our relations to their full extent: do we want that? Yes we do, and we will be working that out, Putin told reporters. After certain restrictions had been imposed in our relations, some transformations have taken place since. Thats why we will need to keep them in mind as we restore our trade and economic cooperation, said Putin.
In this regard, he said the sides decided to draft a mid-term program economic, technical and scientific cooperation for the next three years.
In addition, the Russian president stressed that they are aiming to cooperate further with Turkey in different spheres.
"We should not only regain the earlier level, but go even further," Putin said at a meeting with business community of Russia and Turkey.
Moreover, as it previously was reported, one of the main topics of discussion was management of Syrian conflict.
Moscow and Ankara are determined to find compromise on the Syrian reconciliation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press-conference.
We have a common goal which is the Syrian crisis settlement. Considering this common approach, this platform, we will look for common solutions, Putin said.
Different aspects of further cooperation in the sphere of energy were on the agenda as well.
Ankara has made a positive decision to resume the projects of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant and the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, said Putin.
We have discussed major joint projects in the fields of energy whose resumption require political decisions, Putin said. The Turkish side has already taken corresponding decisions on the Akkuyu nuclear power plant construction and the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.
Russia and Turkey signed an agreement to construct and operate Turkeys first nuclear power plant at the Akkuyu site in the Turkish southern Mersin Province in May 2010. The plant is expected to produce about 35 billion kilowatt-hours per year.
The Turkish Stream pipeline project to deliver Russian natural gas to Southern Europe via Turkey may get underway in the near future, Putin said.
We have initially considered the Turkish Stream not as an alternative to the South Stream, but as an opportunity to expand our cooperation in the area of gas supplied both with Europe and with Turkey, Putin said.
Moreover, Russian President stressed that another meeting regarding the trade and economic relations with Turkey will be held in autumn 2016.
A session of the intergovernmental commission on trade and economic relations with Turkey will take place in the autumn 2016. We have to work hard to reanimate trade and economic relations. This process has already started, but it will take some time, Putin noted.
We intend to pay particular attention to increasing investments, trade flows, implementation of promising projects, Putin said. It is very important that business circles support us in that, he added.
I would like to thank President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a sincere conversation, which took place today, Putin said following the talks with Erdogan on August 9.
The talks have confirmed that our countries have every opportunity to restore normal, full-length relations that would contribute to strengthening of stability not only in our region but also around the world. Russia is ready for such work, he said.
This was Erdogans first visit to Russia after the crisis in the two countries relations and also after the attempted military coup in Turkey.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 August 2016 14:53 (UTC+04:00)
By Amina Nazarli
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will leave for Russia on a working visit on August 10 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During the negotiations the two sides will discuss key issues on the bilateral agenda of cooperation between two countries and strategic partners in a number of areas including political, trade-economic, humanitarian as well as the development of integration processes in Eurasia.
Presidents Putin and Sargsyan will also exchange views on topical problems of international and regional agenda, according to the Armenian state press service.
The Kremlin reported that Sargsyan will arrive in Moscow on the invitation of Putin.
Prior to this, the two leaders met in June, when St. Petersburg hosted a summit to discuss the aggravation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also attended the meeting.
But what promises the meeting between Putin and Sargsyan, to be held just two days after tripartite meeting of Azerbaijani, Russian and Iranian presidents in Baku.
While being in Baku the Russian president also had a face-to-face meeting with President Aliyev. It is not the exception that alongside wade range of issues, the presidents also touched upon acceleration of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict solution.
Right after his visit to Baku, Putin met with Turkeys President Rejep Tayyip Erdogan in St. Petersburg, after nine months of tensions, where the presidents decided to strengthen their ties even more than previously.
Making a statement after the meeting Erdogan suggested to create a trilateral cooperation mechanism between Turkey, Russia and Azerbaijan, that can strike at the interests of Armenia in the region.
There is huge probablity that the upcoming Russian and Armenian presidents meeting will discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and schedule another trilateral meeting between Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia to fin a solution to the conflict by liberating seven regions of Azerbaijan and identifying the corridor, as were agreed between the sides during the St. Petersburg meeting in June
--
Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
10 August 2016 17:46 (UTC+04:00)
By Gunay Hasanova
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Russias President Vladimir Putin on August 9 to restore ties, which were severely damaged after downed Russian jet near Syrian border in November.
The talks began amicably, with both leaders expressing their intention to work toward mending the cracked relationships.
The visit marked a first since last November when the crisis in relations between the countries started and is also Erdogans first foreign visit after a failed coup attempt in Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that organization led by Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen has made efforts to undermine Turkey-Russia relations, Sputnik International reported.
"Today we understand even more clearly that terrorist organization of Fethullah Gulen and those powers that stand behind him, have been undermining our relations with you," Erdogan said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and representatives of two countries' business.
Meanwhile, Erdogan expressed happiness over Russias high-level phone call after the failed coup attempt.
In turn, commenting on the failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, Putin said that Russia was against all manners of coup attempts and any kind of unlawful attempts to unseat legitimate governments, adding that the developments would be beneficial for the two countries.
On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them.
However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded.
Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
.
10 August 2016 17:00 (UTC+04:00)
By Gunay Hasanova
At the meeting on August 9 in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed ways to resolve the ongoing Syrian crisis.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has highlighted the importance of cooperation between Turkey and Russia in finding a solution to the long-standing Syria conflict.
Turkish delegation will visit Russia to discuss the Syrian crisis, Milliyet newspaper quoted Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan, as saying August 10.
Kalin said that the delegation will include employees of Turkeys National Intelligence Organization (MIT), General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces and the Foreign Ministry.
He noted that members of the Turkish delegation will also discuss security issues during the visit.
A direct line will be created between the chiefs of the Turkish and Russian General Staff, added Kalin.
In turn, President Erdogan said that if there is a need, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the U.S too could also be included in the process. In a reference to the Bashar al-Assad regime, he said: Of course, we are not up for backing the killer who committed the state terrorism. Let the Syrian nation elect the one or ones who will rule them, Anadolu Agency reported.
I must tell this clearly, the most important step, and primary actor in bringing peace to Syria is the Russian Federation, Erdogan added.
Syria has been suffering from an armed conflict since March 2011, which, according to the UN, has so far claimed over 500,000 lives.
Militants from various armed groups are confronting the Syrian government troops. The "Islamic State" and Jabhat al-Nusra are the most active terrorist groups in Syria.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Thank you for reading!
Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
London-based Italian bakery Crosta & Mollica has added two new lines to its range and repackaged an existing product.
Crosta & Mollica has also announced two new additions to its bread range, with wholemeal and seeded varieties joining Farina Pugliese on shelves in Waitrose this month.
The original Pane Pugliese variety will also relaunch with new packaging, to create one consistent range.
All three Farina varieties are made with Crosta & Mollicas signature durum wheat dough, as used in traditional Italian baking. The Farina range is characterised by a thick crust and full-flavoured crumb.
Farina Pugliese is already a popular product, contributing to total sales of 5.5m for the company in 2015. The new varieties offer consumers greater choice and versatility at breakfast time, as well as a base for Italian classics like bruschetta.
The launch comes as Crosta & Mollica increases its UK presence with listings in Morrisons, The Co-operative and Sainsburys stores across the summer, as well as a first international listing with French retailer Monoprix.
James Orr, founder of Crosta & Mollica, said: Were delighted to add these new varieties to our range. Weve seen a huge increase in demand for quality Italian produce over the last year and are looking forward to introducing consumers to these new loaves made with the best flour available.
French analysts have revised down their expectations for the countrys milling wheat harvest, but UK traders are eyeing export opportunities to North Africa.
Early results suggest wheat in the UK has not suffered the yield or quality issues that affected both barley and oilseed rape this year, but the extent of the UKs ability to capitalise on Frances poor harvest requires a better indication of the state of our own wheat harvest, which should be by the end of this month, according to crop supplier KWS Group.
It said basic assumptions based on the planted area and past experience suggest the UK will be well-placed to pick some of the demand vacated by France.
Jonathan Lane, trading director at Gleadell Agriculture, said: This is exactly the scenario we encouraged growers to consider when making variety choices. It is only the arrival of high yielding milling wheats, such as KWS Lili, that have enabled us to capitalise on this opportunity.
He added that if the milling and baking industry was still where it was three years ago - with about 17% of the UK wheat crop consisting of Group 1 and 2 varieties - we would only be able to cover our domestic requirements: But fortunately that is no longer the case.
He said the introduction of KWS Lili and other high-yielding milling wheats has expanded exporters options and given them greater ability to target premium markets that deliver value for growers. Assuming 75% of the UK milling crop meets specification then we could have up to 1m tonnes of suitable exportable surplus.
Meeting quality specification will be fundamental to any success, but the requirements of most export markets are far less demanding than those of UK millers.
In May KWS launched two new wheat varieties that offer high yields of grain suitable for biscuit and cake flours.
Food industry charity GroceryAid has added Waitroses Mark Williamson and Procter & Gambles Helen Tucker to its board of trustees.
Mark Williamson, commercial director at Waitrose, and Helen Tucker (human resources leader, Procter & Gamble, have been elected to the board of GroceryAid trustees, which is chaired by Chris Etherington, chief executive, Palmer and Harvey.
Tucker said of the appointment, GroceryAid plays such an important role throughout the industry and Im delighted to have the opportunity to join the trustees and support the future direction of the charity.
Williamson (pictured) and Tucker will have overall responsibility for the governance of the charity, and will help shape future strategy, as well as the way it operates day to day.
The charity said in a statement: Their extensive knowledge of the grocery industry will be of great benefit in helping raise awareness within the industry and driving the welfare agenda forward.
Williamson has been involved with GroceryAid for a number of years, and has taken part in multiple London-to-Paris cycle challenges to fundraise for the charity. He said: I am thrilled to be appointed as a trustee of GroceryAid. The charity has grown considerably over the years and I look forward to helping it carry forward this momentum.
Last month 33 cyclists undertook a 333km expedition from Whitehaven to Whitby to raise funds for GroceryAid.
Thousands of students across the Bay area made their way back to the classroom on Wednesday. For families living in Citrus, Hernando, Pinellas, Hillsborough, and Manatee counties, August 10 was a day of new beginnings.
YOUR PHOTOS: See your back-to-school pictures in our gallery
Pasco and Polk counties were the only districts with a later start
Early semester should make for more comprehensive terms
You can upload photos through our app
Despite the rainy weather facing the region over the past four days, buses were out in full force Wednesday morning.
Boasting new technology, new backpacks and an entire set of new goals for the 2016-2017 school year, here's a snapshot of what students saw across Tampa Bay:
Pinellas
The day started dark and early for Pinellas County school bus drivers as they headed out on their routes for the first day of school.
Sure, summer always goes by fast. But this year classes started two weeks early.
Superintendent Michael Grego says the change in schedule is to make sure students get their final exams done before winter break. According to him, thats especially important for high school students, when grade-point averages and college admissions are on the line.
*Luca and Mateo head back to James B. Sanderlin IB World School. (BN9+ user)
Hillsborough
In Hillsborough County, officials are looking ahead four years they want a graduation rate of 90 percent by 2020.
Superintendent Jeff Eakins said improving the district's graduation rate is one of his top priorities.
"We have to provide the resources, the programs, the opportunities for our students to stay connected in their schooling," Eakins said. "Throughout their high school years, elementary, middle, truly get them engaged around the curriculum, around those opportunities."
*Janae and Devan Gipson, Trinity School for Children, were ready for their first day of class! (BN9+ user)
Citrus
Meanwhile, freshman orientation at Crystal River High School in Citrus County wasn't just about learning a locker combination. Students were encouraged to play games and socialize with their new classmates.
*Olivia started kindergarten at Citrus Springs Elementary on Wednesday! (BN9+ user)
Hernando
The school year can be a busy time, so wouldn't it be nice to have a mobile app to make things easier? Well, the Hernando School District has one ready to go.
Everything that is on the district's website can also be found on the app.
It is very user-friendly, Superintendent Lori Romano said. It is a one-stop shop for our community members and our families and all of our employees to get up to date information."
*It's an exciting day at Explorer K-8 in Hernando County. (BN9+ user)
Manatee
In Manatee County, about 49,000 students were back in class Wednesday. School officials projected a growth of about 850 students for this year.
*Aly was excited for her first day at William H. Bashaw Elementary School in Bradenton. (BN9+ user)
Pasco and Polk
Pasco County and Polk County students will head back to class next week.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Beaumont police officer Danny Valdez on Tuesday successfully received a donated kidney in a surgery performed at a Houston hospital, said Officer Carol Riley.
Retired officer Doug Kibodeaux was in surgery Tuesday at the same hospital, donating a kidney in connection with the Valdez surgery.
Although it wasn't known whether Kibodeaux's kidney went to Valdez, his donation helped move Valdez higher on the list of recipients for donated organs, Riley told members of Beaumont City Council.
Valdez, a Beaumont police officer for 23 years and a veteran of Desert Storm, was diagnosed with a rare, unknown kidney disease two years ago.
Valdez has been the police adviser for the department's Police Explorers Scout program since his diagnosis and last week worked almost the full week, Riley said.
Valdez administered his own dialysis treatment five times a week, which took four weeks of training to learn.
His out-of-pocket medical costs have exceeded more than $1 million and the department recently help a fund-raiser for him.
More for you Fundraiser to help pay for kidney treatment for BPD officer...
"There are several people who work with Officer Valdez who knew how bad it was and knew he would need a kidney or stay on dialysis," Chief Jimmy Singletary said previously.
"This officer stepped up and got checked up and found out he was the match. It is one of the classiest things I've seen down here. Something like this is really amazing. We're proud of both these officers," Singletary said.
Riley identified Kibodeaux as the donating officer. Kibodeaux retired from the department on July 31.
Several other officers tested to see if they matched Valdez.
"It means a lot. I think it's very humbling. I don't know what to say about a co-worker willing to step up and do that," Valdez said.
Valdez, also involved with other community organizations, "has done so much for the community and the county," Riley said.
"He's worked with kids and families, and he doesn't ask for much," she said. "This is our chance to help someone who has given so much."
DWallach@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/dwallach
SFlores@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/_saraeflores
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Nearly three months after a Sabine River Authority board member resigned for sending an inappropriate email during severe Deweyville flooding, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed Gregg County's auditor as her replacement.
Laurie Woloszyn, the county's appointed auditor for 12 years and an elected county clerk for eight years before that, will replace Kimberly Fish, Abbott's office said Tuesday. Both women are from Longview.
Fish resigned in April, days after apologizing for an email she sent referring to Southeast Texas flooding as an "economic development initiative" for her northeast Texas city. The Enterprise uncovered the email through a public records request.
The governor's office at the time called the comments "inappropriate." Residents in Deweyville expressed outrage that the Fish, apparently in jest, made light of a disaster from which they're still struggling to recover.
The SRA operates a dam on the Toledo Bend basin. The dam unleashed a record amount of water after heavy rain in the reservoir left it brimming.
Deweyville was hit hardest, but a portion of Orange was evacuated as homes and businesses took on water.
Interstate 10 was closed for days, leading state officials to divert Louisiana-bound traffic through Longview.
"Naturally, I'd like to take credit for the economic development initiative, but we all know I haven't been here long enough to know where the keys to the floodwaters are located," Fish wrote about the increased traffic in her region. "At least everyone knows the river can provide water."
Abbott appointed Fish to a six-year term in December 2015.
The SRA operates the dam based on guidelines backed by a federally issued license and has said the flood was unavoidable.
Hundreds of down-river residents later filed suit against the SRA. That lawsuit is pending in federal court.
Woloszyn, 57, declined to comment on issues surrounding the flood. She said the importance of drinking water supply motivated her to seek out the position and that she hopes to improve "public awareness and public transparency" of the board.
"I just think the public needs to be made aware what the board does, the purpose of it and more involved in the issues we're looking at in the future," Woloszyn said.
EBesson@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/EricBesson_news
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Port Arthur voters could eliminate as many as four City Council seats if they pass two separate ballot initiatives - including a citizen petition expected to be finalized later this week - which would cut the number of elected representatives in half.
The City Council on Tuesday offered an amendment to its charter to strike Districts 5 and 6, which make up a combination of the city's other four districts.
A citizens petition in the works would take away different seats. Under that proposal, two at-large positions would be eliminated, which supporters say would reduce costs to the city.
Citizens behind the petition said they expect to turn in 1,400 signatures by Thursday.
The options are conflicting but not dueling, since voters could pass either or both. Both also could be voted down.
Given the possibilities, voters could overhaul government in Port Arthur.
Councilman Osman Swati offered the alternative proposal for downsizing the council, which both sides agree is too large for a city of Port Arthur's size.
Swati was joined in the contentious decision by both at-large council members - Charlotte Moses and Kaprina Richardson Frank - as well as Councilwoman Tiffany Hamilton and Mayor Derrick Freeman.
The council's majority views Districts 5 and 6 as redundant, since one combines Districts 1 and 4 and the other joins Districts 2 and 3.
Swati, whose idea would eliminate his own seat, noted that Port Arthur is one of only two cities in Texas with blended districts. He used Beaumont, Baytown and Conroe as examples of larger cities with smaller governments and no "overlapping districts."
By contrast, some cities much smaller than Port Arthur - La Porte, Stephenville, Clarksville and Dublin - have nine council members.
Swati called the setup outdated because of changing demographics.
"Any other proposal to reduce the number of districts within our council, in my opinion, takes away the citizens' advantage to be directly represented by a majority of the council, hence diminishing the underlying objective of maintaining a fair and equitable apportionment of districts to represent any citizen within that city," Swati read from a prepared statement.
"Unlike other proposals, this will continue to allow the council to bring both narrow and broad perspectives into the decision-making process."
James Green - the 77-year-old Port Arthur resident who started the citizen petition - said Tuesday's vote on the alternate plan was "nothing but politics" and "fixed from the onset."
Swati bucked at the idea he was pulling a political stunt.
The dissenting council members stressed allowing the citizen petition to stand alone, since a decision is ultimately left to voters.
"Let's leave this in the citizens' hands," Mayor Pro Tem Raymond Scott Jr. said. "What they're doing (with the petition) is worth more than any council member's opinion."
Currently, four council members are elected from single-member districts, two from combined districts and two at-large.
The mayor and at-large council member positions are elected by majority vote from all districts, according to the city's charter.
BScott@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/BrandonKScott
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
BOERNE Major new developments here often are greeted with local grousing about traffic congestion, overtapped groundwater supplies and the continued erosion of the small-town atmosphere that attracts new residents in the first place.
But the reception was generally positive to this weeks announcement that Boerne is in line for a Buc-ees Family Travel Center, a highway retailer best known for its phalanx of gas pumps, abundant and clean restrooms and that grinning, buck-toothed beaver logo.
Local government leaders enthusiastically welcomed the $40 million project at a media briefing Wednesday, and an informal survey of folks downtown showed support for the center, planned on 35 acres on the southern end the city near Interstate 10 at U.S. Business 87. The 53,000-square-foot store is set to open by 2020.
I think its great, said convenience store clerk Sally Allen, 61, who has never been to a Buc-ees. It seems like its gonna be good, and we need something like that here.
Waitress Jocelyn Amos, 18, said she loves the family environment of the centers, adding, Its just really nice.
Art Solis, a San Antonio resident who works in Boerne, called the town a perfect location for a Buc-ees, noting his relatives no longer will have to drive to New Braunfels, the closest of the chains 30 Texas locations, to get their fill of Beaver Nuggets.
Its got everything you could possibly need, from novelties to clothes and food, said Solis, 52. Everything.
Kendall County Judge Darrel Lux called the recruitment a win-win for the community. Mayor Mike Schultz saw it as a good match for Boernes existing tourism industry.
We are so lucky to live in a city that everyone loves to visit, Schultz said at the briefing in the offices of the Boerne Kendall County Economic Development Corp.
The store itself is forecast to create 170 jobs with a combined annual payroll of more than $5.8 million. The gathering followed approval of economic development incentives for the company by the City Council on Tuesday and by county commissioners on Monday.
The city and county each agreed to rebate, for 20 years, half their respective shares of sales taxes generated by the Buc-ees an estimated $5 million and from four yet-to-be-named retailers also planned at the site.
The city further sweetened the pot by agreeing to extend a road and municipal sewer service to the Buc-ees site, worth $1.75 million combined, though Buc-ees plans to seek a state grant to cover those costs.
Local government entities will reap property tax revenues from the site, including Boerne Independent School District, which expects to collect $180,000 off the site annually. The city projects the store will be its sixth-largest utility customer.
The economic development initiative, code-named Project Saturn, was devised in part by BKEDC President Misty Mayo, who called it the largest single capital development in Boernes history.
To make it work, she said, Texas Department of Transportation officials have agreed to accelerate their schedule for rebuilding the intersection of I-10 and Texas 46, just west of the Buc-ees site, and to improve the U.S. Business 87 overpass.
I want to start (construction) tomorrow, but we have to wait on TxDOT, company founder Arch Beaver Alpin III told the briefing. Theres a lot of hurdles left, but this was the big one, he said of the incentives.
Reaction was mixed on Facebook, with one commenter saying the stores are best in the middle of nowhere, and another writing, What about the water?
Yet another person wrote, I know development is inevitable. Just makes me sick to realize it will be bigbox-concrete-24/7-lights-on-development.
City officials forecast the Buc-ees will use 500,000 gallons of water monthly an amount roughly equivalent to what an average family of four would use in three years. Alpin said most of his stores average around 2,500 daily vehicle visits.
Deputy City Manager Jeff Thompson sees few parallels between the Buc-ees and a proposed truck stop on North Main Street that drew widespread opposition in 2013.
Buc-ee's is almost like a Disneyland. People go there as a destination, he said. I don't think people say that about truck stops.
zeke@express-news.net
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
A 21-year-old Texas State student accused of killing a man and unborn child while driving drunk last Tuesday remains in Hays County Jail a week later on a $385,000 bond. A mother who lost her husband, suffered a brain bleed and was forced to deliver her stillborn child is recovering at home while helping family members organize a funeral.
Shana Elliott, a 21-year-old senior at Texas State, was allegedly drunk when her vehicle crossed the center line and collided with a Bryan couple Aug. 2 on Highway 21 in San Marcos, according to an affidavit obtained by mySA.com.
Kristian Guerrero, 24, was driving when her car was hit, killing her husband Fabian Guerrero-Moreno, and her 19-week-old unborn child.
RELATED: Family shares photos, heartbreaking details about young couple in fatal San Marcos wreck
Elliott was booked into Hays County Jail Aug. 2 on two felony counts of intoxication manslaughter and one of intoxication assault, according to county records.
Elliott does not have an attorney listed, Hays County District Attorney Wes Mau said, and multiple calls placed to phone numbers associated with her parents in public records were not returned.
After the couples unborn child died due to injuries sustained in the car crash, a $200,000 bond was added to Elliotts second intoxication manslaughter charge, Hays County Judge Beth Jones said Tuesday.
An online fundraising page was set up for Elliott by her friends Aug. 4 by an unnamed friend, but the page was updated to say Elliott requested all donations being forwarded to the victim's family when she was made aware of the page.
Elliotts friends wrote We have all made regrettable mistakes. The majority of us have made the exact same mistake that Shana has and the truly honest have made this mistake more than we would want to admit... For those of you that know Shana, you know that she is already punishing herself with overwhelming guilt and sorrow that few of us can even begin to possibly comprehend."
So far, $755 has been raised.
A viewing for Guerrero-Moreno and his child is set for Thursday in Bryan, and on Friday, a joint funeral will be held at 10 a.m., Diane Castillo, Kristian's aunt, said.
RELATED: Mother forced to deliver stillborn child after being hit by alleged drunk Texas State student
Friday there will be a celebration of life, the GoFundMe page set up for the family reads.
So far, $15,225 has been raised for the family to cover funeral expenses through the online fundraiser.
La Voz Hispana, a Spanish newspaper in Connecticut, is organizing a raffle to help with expenses for the Guerreros, according to their Facebook page.
Guerrero was forced to deliver the stillborn, who she named Fabian James Guerrero after his father, when doctors induced labor Aug. 4 at the St. Davids South Austin Medical Center.
Guerrero, who suffered a brain bleed from the crash, was released from the hospital Saturday and is back in Bryan.
Castillo said Geurrero is "doing okay physically."
RELATED: Police: Drunk Texas State student, 21, caused wreck that killed man, injured pregnant wife
Matt Flores, a spokesperson for Texas State University, refused to comment on Elliott, the crash and whether she will continue school there in an interview with mySA.com Tuesday. Elliott remains enrolled in classes for the fall semester, which begins Aug. 29.
We cannot comment on matters involving our students, Flores said, citing FERPA, a law that protects the privacy of student education records.
The universitys code of conduct states disciplinary action can be taken against a student if they commit an act that would constitute a criminal offense under state, federal or municipal law. The code of conduct also states the university could take action against a student if they were possessing, using, selling or distributing any illegal drug, controlled substance, and/or drug paraphernalia.
Elliott was arrested twice before, once in March and again in May, on felony drug charges. On March 22, she was arrested on three felony charges of possession of controlled substances and marijuana. On May 2, she was arrested on two felony charges of possession of controlled substances, according to county records.
Flores said the university could take disciplinary action against Elliott, but he could not speculate on whether they would.
Should the university, which is located less than three miles from where the car crash occurred, choose to take action against Elliott, an investigation would be opened where the student could have an opportunity to explain the incident, unless the student is unavailable, according to the code of conduct.
The Dean of Students, Margarita Arrellano, or a designee she appoints, would then determine an appropriate disciplinary penalty if Elliott was found to have violated the code of conduct.
kbradshaw@express-news.net
Twitter: @kbrad5
Newkirk Products, an identification card provider for payers, encountered a data breach last week, according to Healthcare Finance.
Here are six points:
1. The breach may expose nearly 3.3 million insurance plan members' personal information.
2. Hackers did not access any health plan systems' information, according to the report.
3. In July, the company found a hacker accessed the server without proper authorization, leading the company to immediately shut down the server. Following the discovery, Newkirk started an investigation to understand the breach's scope.
4. Newirk discovered the first unauthorized access occurred on May 21, 2016.
5. Depending on members' plans, hackers may have accessed their names, dates of birth, names of dependents, primary care providers, invoice information, Medicaid ID numbers and addresses.
6. Newirk gives insurance cards to various payers including:
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina
BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York
BlueShield of Northeastern New York
HealthNow New York
Capital District Physicians' Health Plan
More articles on coding & billing:
Medicaid-expansion states have healthier residents, study finds: 5 insights
Anthem, ConnectiCare's decision to forgo broker commission may impact ACA enrollment: 5 thoughts
How to excel under MIPS: 4 things to know
Determining if an employer has to continue its employees' health insurance during a period of extended leave comes down to a variety of factors, the National Law Review reports.
Here is what you need to know:
1. Whether to continue or put the policy on hold relies on the circumstances of the leave, the size of the employer, the terms of the health plan and what federal law dictates. There are three questions ASC leaders needs to ask themselves when considering this: Does the family and medical leave act apply?; If FMLA does not apply, does COBRA or a similar state law trigger? and is there another source of payment?
2. For companies with more than 50 employees, the FMLA applies to eligible employees. Eligible employees who take an extended absence can continue to utilize employer sponsored healthcare, and the employer must continue to pay its share of the premiums while the employee is on leave. However, if an employee exhausts FMLA leave or is ineligible for FMLA leave, the employer no longer needs to pay its share of the premium.
3. COBRA gives employees the opportunity to continue care, at their own expense, when there is a "qualifying event." Qualifying events consist of resignation and termination of employment, a reduction of hours or a leave of absence which would cause the employee to lose coverage. Employers with less than 20 full and part-time employees are not subject to COBRA on a federal level, but may be subject to state COBRA laws.
4. If a company doesn't need to continue coverage under FMLA or COBRA, there are still some times when an employer must provide coverage. For example, if an employee was injured at work, the employer must continue its health plan while the employee is on worker's comp.
5. If an employer's obligation to provide coverage ceases, funding from short and long-term disability could provide the employee an option to provide healthcare funding.
More coding, billing and collections news:
1. Medicaid-expansion states have healthier residents, study finds: 5 insights
2. Anthem, ConnectiCare's decision to forgo broker commission may impact ACA enrollment: 5 thoughts
3. 94% of providers are ready for value-based care & 8 other statistics
Patients may be more prone to comply with medication and health recommendations if their physician has an active role in their care, according to HCP Live.
Here are four thoughts:
1. A Physicians Foundation survey found 79 percent of patients reported their physician impacted the treatment options available to them.
2. While 90 percent of patients reported being satisfied with their primary care physician, many patients stated they had mounting frustration over their ability to manage high healthcare costs and medical debt.
3. Rip Hollister, MD, a Physicians Foundation board member, said physicians can help patients adhere to treatment plans in a value-based care model. He said, "Value's a great sounding word, but it becomes sort of meaningless when you give it to a patient. What they value is the relationship with their doctor, their ability to communicate and to spend time, and collaborate and develop care plans."
4. Physicians can also foster relationships with different entities in a patient's continuum of care, such as the ancillary providers. Dr. Hollister often negotiates prices with a reference lab so the healthcare costs do not place a heavy burden on patients.
More articles on quality & infection control:
4 points on the National Surgical Patient Safety Summit & new surgical safety recommendations
State officials confirm 2 babies born with Zika-related microcephaly in California 4 takeaways
Research teams face 3 barriers when trying to use EHR data for patient safety projects
Analysts at WalletHub recently analyzed what parents can expect financially when they're expecting.
The financial analysis company examined the best and worst states to have a baby in for 2016. Analysts compared delivery costs, healthcare accessibility and baby friendliness of the 50 states and the District of Columbia using a data set of 17 key metric ranges including "number of pediatricians per capita" and "annual average infant-care costs."
Here are the states ranked in terms of delivery cost, from lowest to highest.
The American Hospital Association filed a friend-of-the court brief Monday, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit to reject the Federal Trade Commission's proposed test for evaluating hospital mergers.
The AHA filed its brief in FTC, et. al. v. Advocate Health Care, et. al., a case in which the FTC is attempting to block the proposed merger of Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Health Care and Evanston, Ill.-based NorthShore University HealthSystem.
In its brief, the AHA argued that the FTC's proposed test is too narrow. "The government's proposal would sharply limit the types of relevant evidence that district courts may consider in defining geographic markets, requiring them to ignore commercial realities," wrote the AHA.
The AHA said the government's proposed test makes no sense because it doesn't account for how the shift to outpatient care has changed the nature of geographic market analysis for inpatient hospital services.
The AHA's views mirror those of Advocate and NorthShore. Earlier this year, NorthShore President and CEO Mark Neaman told Becker's that "the FTC's assumptions regarding the Chicago market are based on an antiquated product model inpatient admissions and a completely gerrymandered area."
More articles on antitrust issues:
Appeals court revives antitrust suit against Sutter Health
Judge approves $12.5M settlement in UPMC antitrust case
DOJ files suit against 2 payer megamergers: 5 things to know
Birmingham (Ala.) Health Care's former CFO has been sentenced to 17 years in prison, after pleading guilty to stealing nearly $1.7 million and diverting $11 million in funds from two healthcare facilities, according to AL.com.
Terri Mollica pleaded guilty to six counts of wire fraud affecting a financial institution, eight counts of mail fraud affecting a financial institution and five counts of money laundering in 2015.
In total, Ms. Mollica, a certified public accountant, helped divert nearly $11 million from Birmingham Healthcare and Tuskegee, Ala.-based Central Alabama Comprehensive Health to the former CEO of both facilities.
Ms. Mollica is currently serving a 28-month sentence for mailing drugs and other items in an attempt to intimidate a witness and the families of a prosecutor and an FBI agent investigating the case, according to the report. Fourteen months of that prison sentence will run consecutive to the 17-year sentence, according to the report.
In addition to her prison term, A U.S. District Court judge ordered Ms. Mollica to forfeit the total proceeds from the fraud scheme, nearly $1.96 million. Ms. Mollica will also pay the IRS approximately $540,000 in restitution. In addition, she was ordered to pay $30,000 to Oklahoma City-based Globe Life Insurance for illegally trying to collect on an accidental death insurance policy and $10,000 in restitution to a physician whose signature she forged on a false death certificate, according to the report.
An attorney for Ms. Mollica told AL.com that he doesn't know if Ms. Mollica will appeal the sentence, according to the report. He also said Ms. Mollica agreed to surrender her CPA license.
A former certified nursing aide at Penrose-St. Francis Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colo., is on the run from investigators, according to a KKTV news report.
David Aldrich, the former employee, is accused of stealing a patient's credit card and racking up hundreds of dollars in charges. The incident allegedly occurred last summer.
Mr. Aldrich no longer works at Penrose-St. Francis and his nursing license was revoked in April, according to the report.
The El Paso County Sheriff's Office is unable to locate Mr. Aldrich. He is due to appear in court in late August for a hearing on his three pending DUI charges.
More articles on healthcare industry lawsuits:
Easton Hospital to pay $325k to settle improper Medicare billing allegations
31 recently unsealed false claims cases: 5 takeaways
Wisconsin pharmacist charged in $1M fraud scheme
The Hawaii Employees' Retirement System has filed a lawsuit against the state and Hawaii Health Systems Corp., a state-funded hospital network based in Honolulu, asking a state court to temporarily suspend a bill that aims to financially assist state employees at three hospitals Kaiser Permanente is privatizing, reports Honolulu Civil Beat.
The ERS wants the court to temporarily stop the implementation of Act 1, a law that provides severance payments or pension benefits to unionized public workers at Maui Memorial in Wailuku, Kula (Hawaii) Hospital and Clinic and Lanai Community Hospital in Lanai City while it consults with the Internal Revenue Service.
Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) initially vetoed the bill last month over concerns it jeopardizes the ERS' tax-exempt status and that it fails to say where it will appropriate funding. But the Hawaii legislature voted later last month to override the veto.
The law intends to help hospital employees who may lose their jobs due to the pending Kaiser transfer by allowing them to choose between a one-time severance cash payment or a special early-retirement package, according to The Maui News.
However, according to the publication, the ERS said it is not allowed to offer employees these choices under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, and claims it could lose its tax-qualified status if the law takes effect.
If the ERS lost this status, the group said employees would no longer be able to defer the payment of taxes on employee retirement contributions, reports Honolulu Civil Beat. The contributions would be taxed as income now instead of when they receive the benefits.
"As the steward of all the state and county employees' retirement, the ERS must do everything it can to protect its beneficiaries and the fund," ERS Executive Director Thomas Williams said in a statement, according to Honolulu Civil Beat. "All we want is to make sure this statute does not have the unintended consequence of jeopardizing the ERS plan."
Hawaii lawmakers, however, said the ERS had plenty of chances to work out its issues with the bill, The Maui News reports.
"The language that they're complaining about was in the bill when it was introduced back in January," State Sen. Gil Keith-Agaran said, according to The Maui News. "They only brought it up after the session in May. Since May they could've sought guidance from the IRS . . . but they didn't do that. Instead they pursued a veto."
State Sen. Roz Baker told the publication it would have been more appropriate for the ERS to ask for a tax ruling from the IRS, not file a lawsuit.
Police are trying to locate a woman who was removed at gunpoint from Philhaven Hospital in Mt. Gretna, Pa., according to a LancasterOnline report.
Police say 18-year-old Elliot Ravert entered the mental and behavioral healthcare hospital with a handgun and left with the patient, 21-year-old Alicia Buzzard. Mr. Ravert allegedly gained access to Ms. Buzzard's room by threatening to shoot two nurses. The incident occurred at 6:30 pm Tuesday.
Ms. Buzzard may be at risk of harm, according to police. It's unclear whether she willingly left the hospital with Mr. Ravert. Ms. Buzzard's mother told LancasterOnline that her daughter "has the mind of a 12-year-old," and suffers from bipolar disorder, reattachment disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder.
Police secured an arrest warrant for Mr. Ravert on Wednesday morning. He's wanted on charges of robbery, aggravated assault and making terroristic threats, according to PennLive.
More articles on healthcare news:
Indiana woman released from Cancun hospital after paying $67k toward bill
AHA asks appeals court to reject FTC's proposed test for evaluating hospital mergers
Former hospital employee on the run after stealing from patient
A surgical physician assistant at Cleveland Clinic, Houry Gebeshian, made history this week.
Ms. Gebeshian, who is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Armenia, became the first Armenian female gymnast to compete in the Olympics, according to a report from Cleveland 19 News.
She will not be bringing home the gold, but she finally accomplished her goal, according to the report. She will return to Cleveland, where she works in a Cleveland Clinic labor and delivery unit at Fairview Hospital.
More news:
Ex-Birmingham Health Care CFO sentenced in $11M fraud
Indiana woman released from Cancun hospital after paying $67k toward bill
Tesla's autopilot helps drive man to ER
MeadowlandsHospitalMedicalCenter is encouraging pregnant Russian women to visit the Seacaucus, N.J.-based hospital to give birth, enabling their children to qualify for dual citizenship, reports NJ Spotlight.
The MHMC program, AmeriMama, promotes tour packages online that offer to coordinate medical services, secure citizenship papers, passports and travel visas for the baby and find family housing in the area for up to six months after giving birth, according to the article.
Birth tourism has become increasingly popular among middle and upper class citizens in countries that face environmental, economic or political instabilities, according to the article.
Medical tourism is already a common practice among U.S. hospitals, some of which actively pursue international patients willing to pay the full price for specialized care.
MeadowlandsHospital officials declined to comment on the AmeriMama program to NJ Spotlight.
Here are 16 key events concerning litigation against proposed Anthem-Cigna and Aetna- Humana mergers since the U.S. Department of Justice sued the insurers July 21 over antirust concerns.
1.DOJ, states sue Anthem, Aetna to block mega deals
The U.S. Department of Justice and attorneys general from several states filed lawsuits against Anthem and Aetna out of concern their proposed acquisitions would impede health insurance competition.
2. AMA commends DOJ challenge to Anthem, Aetna deals
The American Medical Association applauded the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuits against proposed Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana deals, stating decreased competition in the health insurance market would harm patients.
3. Aetna, Humana prep legal fight to save merger
Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna and Louisville, Ky.-based Humana are establishing a game plan to fight the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit against their proposed $37 billion deal, Reuters reported.
4. Humana to leave ACA exchanges in 4 states
Louisville, Ky.-based Humana will exit several state Affordable Care Act individual exchanges it participated in this year, citing around $1 billion in losses, The Hill reported.
5. Aetna-Humana merger hearing postponed in Georgia
Georgia officials delayed a hearing regarding the $37 billion merger deal between Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna and Louisville, Ky.-based Humana.
6. Clinton applauds DOJ challenge to insurer mega-mergers
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton welcomed the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuits challenging Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana mega-deals, citing a greater need to make health insurance accessible for all.
7. Anthem defends merger in full-page Washington Post ad
Indianapolis-based Anthem called out the U.S. Department of Justice in a full-page ad published in The Washington Post, defending its proposed $54 billion acquisition of Bloomfield, Conn.-based Cigna.
8. Centene will not bid for Aetna-Humana assets
St. Louis-based Centene does not have the network for Medicare Advantage assets large managed care companies are looking to sell, CEO Michael Neidorff told Reuters.
9. Anthem to DOJ: Cigna merger will boost insurance market
Anthem filed papers to the U.S. Department of Justice arguing its transaction with Cigna would cut consumer cost, expand coverage and fortify Affordable Care Act online exchanges, Bloomberg reported.
10. DOJ dismisses Anthem request for speedy trial
The U.S. Department of Justice denied Anthem's request for an expedited trial regarding the department's challenge to block the insurer's $54 billion acquisition of Cigna, Bloomberg reported.
11. Anthem requests separate trial from Aetna-Humana
Indianapolis-based Anthem asked the U.S. Department of Justice to disconnect is case from a jointly filed lawsuit against Aetna and Humana, Reuters reported.
12. Connecticut joins DOJ fight against Anthem-Cigna merger
Attorney General George Jepsen said Connecticut will join the U.S. Department of Justice and 11 other state attorneys general in filing an antitrust lawsuit to block a merger between Indianapolis-based Anthem and Bloomfield, Conn.-based Cigna.
13. NY to hold hearing on Anthem-Cigna deal due to 'serious concerns': 4 takeaways
The New York State Department of Financial Services will hold a hearing before issuing a final decision on Anthem's proposed $54 billion acquisition of Cigna, Bloomberg reported.
14. Anthem: Deal needs to close by April 30, or Cigna may walk out next day
Indianapolis-based Anthem said its acquisition of Bloomfield, Conn.-based Cigna must close by April 30 or Cigna will walk out the next day, the Hartford Courant reported.
15. Judge: Rulings for both insurer mega-merger lawsuits unlikely in 2016
U.S. District Court Judge John Bates said at a pretrial meeting Thursday he could not rule on both lawsuits against Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana mergers this year and will likely have to push one back, Reuters reported.
16. To speed rulings, Aetna judge passes off Anthem merger
The judge overseeing both the Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana merger lawsuits has handed off one case to another judge, improving the chance both suits are decided by the end of the year, reports Indianapolis Business Journal.
More articles about payer issues:
Ohio colleges latest to drop student health insurance plans
Tennessee insurers allowed to adjust rate requests
Covered California drafts waiver to sell health plans to undocumented immigrants
A state health department investigation completed in May found workers at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colo., were not properly cleaning vaginal ultrasound probes as well as other surgical instruments and procedure rooms, according to a Denver Post report.
"These failures created the potential for patients to be at risk for healthcare-acquired infections," the state report reads, according to the Denver Post.
However, the hospital maintains no patients were affected, and training procedures have changed. In a statement issued to Becker's, UCHealth said, "While we are not aware of any infections associated with the devices or any patients who have been impacted, Memorial Hospital immediately retrained staff members and put in place new processes to ensure the devices were being properly cleaned."
Memorial Hospital noted that the hospital addressed the health department's concerns in April.
The state investigation was spurred after an ultrasound technician at the hospital filed a complaint with the health department. The technician was fired in September, according to the Denver Post, and she has filed a lawsuit alleging she was fired in retaliation for her complaints.
Memorial Hospital cannot comment on personnel issues or pending litigation, according to the statement.
The neonatal intensive care unit of the Prince George's County Hospital Center in Cheverly, Md., was shut down on Tuesday after three patients tested positive for the Pseudomonas bacteria, according to The Washington Post.
Testing was prompted after the recent deaths of two patients, but those deaths have not been officially linked to the presence of the water-borne bacteria.[ac2] The three babies that tested positive for Pseudomonas have not shown symptoms of an illness.
Nine NICU patients have been transferred to nearby hospitals while authorities attempt to pinpoint the source of the bacteria, which was discovered in a water pipe.
The hospital is taking steps to determine the root cause of the bacteria and moved patients out of the unit in an act of caution, said Delores Butler, spokesperson for Dimensions Healthcare Corporation, the nonprofit organization that operates the hospital.
Water will be tested several times and decontaminated before the NICU can reopen, according to the Post.
While Pseudomonas bacteria can cause mild symptoms like skin rashes or swimmer's ear in healthy individuals, it can be fatal for people with compromised immune systems who are more susceptible to infections.
Becker's Hospital Review has reached out to Prince George's County Hospital Center for a comment.
More articles on infection control and clinical quality:
Residue from foam-reducing compound remains in scopes even after reprocessing
Cancer-causing chemicals found in drinking water of 6M Americans
Americans approve of late-term abortions when Zika has harmed the fetus
In June, hacker group DarkOverlords breached Athens (Ga.) Orthopedic Clinic's systems with the group selling 500 patient records on the black market.
Of July's 39 total health data braches, TheDarkOverLord was responsible for nearly 30 percent of breaches, according to HealthcareITNews.
Here are five takeaways:
1. In June, hackers breached 11 million health records.
2. This number tapered down in July with a total of 126,930 stolen records.
3. In July, DarkOverlords stole 23,565 records and placed the records on the black market.
4. Of the total breaches, one in four involved paper records and another 25 percent involved business associates.
5. Following the breach, Athens Orthopedic Clinic mailed letters notifying patients and posted a letter to their website.
More articles on practice management:
Patient safety concerns drive this medical center to ban Pokemon GO: 5 insights
Shriner's Hospital holds orthopedic outreach clinics for patients: 4 thoughts
OpenNotes secures medical note access for 10M patients: 5 highlights
Back pain is a prevalent and often debilitating condition impacting thousands of Americans. Throughout the United States, 76.2 million people suffer from pain. Chronic pain costs the United States s $100 billion annually, with low back pain being the most commonly reported type of pain. Patients suffering from low back pain often have limited activity and seek medical experts to help alleviate this pain.
Pain management physician Winifred Bragg, MD, CEO and medical director of Spine and Orthopedic Pain Center in Norfolk and Chesapeake, Va., has treated patients with acute and chronic spinal and orthopedic problems for more than 20 years. Throughout her career, Dr. Bragg has seen how pain mismanagement has compromised a patient's care and why an integrative approach is crucial in helping manage pain.
Here are four key thoughts:
1. Controlling pain from the onset is key. When patients fail to obtain treatment for acute pain early on, they have a greater likelihood of developing chronic pain, Dr. Bragg explains. Therefore, Dr. Bragg said providers should employ a comprehensive pain management approach in which they conduct a thorough work-up to identify the source of the patient's pain.
"With comprehensive pain management, appropriate medications are given in the acute phase. For example, patients with neuropathic pain respond better to an anticonvulsant, yet too often, they are given opioids," Dr. Bragg explains. "This leads to mismanagement, resulting in high costs spent on unnecessary diagnostic tests and delays in returning to work."
Many patients Dr. Bragg sees develop chronic pain following back surgery, even though the patient did not try all of the viable nonsurgical options. A conservative approach may serve a patient's needs better, and surgery should be the final option when providers have exhausted nonsurgical options.
"At that point, patients recognize that surgery is their final option -- and feel better knowing that they had a chance to explore the alternatives," Dr. Bragg adds.
2. Spine surgeons and pain management specialists should work together. Working closely with spine surgeons has yielded better results for many of Dr. Bragg's patients. As CEO and medical director of Spine and Orthopedic Pain Center, this integrative approach allows patients to have coordinated care and better pain management.
"I believe that pain specialists who are trained to perform interventional techniques, give comprehensive neuromuscular examinations and assess function are the most helpful to spine surgeons," Dr. Bragg says. "When the pain specialist only performs interventional techniques, but is not trained to assess gait abnormalities and changes in the neuromuscular examination, for example, this is of limited benefit to the spine surgeon."
When pain specialists cannot conduct neuromuscular examinations, spine surgeons cannot always address such a change in a timely manner, which may negatively impact a patient's quality of care.
3. Many providers are using a multimodal approach to pain management. Patients undergoing intensive orthopedic procedures such as total hip and knee arthroplasty now have better options for patient management. Many providers employ a multimodal approach, which often uses regional anesthesia for one key reason to limit narcotic consumption. Therefore, a patient does not suffer from narcotic-related side effects in addition to other benefits including a shorter hospital stay and enhanced function. Over the past decade, providers are increasingly using preemptive analgesia, which minimizes a patient's pain before the surgery, during the procedure and the initial postoperative period.
"The primary goal of modern pain management is to reduce pain at both the central and the peripheral levels, in combination with preemptive analgesia using a multimodal protocol," Dr. Bragg says. "This strategy enhances restoration of function by allowing patients to participate in the rehabilitation programs more effectively, and improves their overall postoperative outcome."
4. Doing more with less Providers are prescribing less medication. Dr. Bragg explains research needs to focus on learning how to get rid of a patient's pain without the use of medication, which can often cause unwanted side effects. Providers can prescribe patients an individualized physical therapy program which will work to limit the need for medication.
"The practice of acute pain management must be expanded to help decrease the onset of chronic pain. Working closely with the physical therapists can ensure that the patient is adhering to their program," she says. "Striving to treat the patient with the minimal effective dose of medication is also critical. Medication adjustments need to be made as the patient progresses, while high dose pain medications should be discouraged."
More articles on spine:
Global pain management drugs market to grow at 4.97% CAGR to 2020: 5 takeaways
Oregon spine surgeon implicated in $22M lawsuit for paralyzing patient with dropped instrument: 5 things to know
Women report inferior outcomes in lumbar spinal fusions: 5 key notes
Visitor numbers to whisky manufacturers in Scotland have jumped by 20% since 2010
A record 1.6 million tourists visited Scotland's whisky distilleries in 2015, spending a total of 50 million.
Research by the Scotch Whisky Association found distillery visits increased by 7% between 2014 and 2015.
Visitor numbers to whisky manufacturers have jumped by 20% since 2010 and collectively attract a similar number of visits annually to major tourist attractions such as Edinburgh Castle and London's St Paul's Cathedral
Around half of Scotland's 118 whisky distilleries are open to the public and the SWA's survey found tourists spend an average 25 per head per visit. Total spend at distillery visitor centres in 2015 was 50 million, up from 27 million in 2010.
Distilleries reported that the largest proportion of visitors came from Scotland and other parts of the UK, Germany, the US and France - reflecting some of the largest markets for Scotch around the world.
Scotch Whisky Association deputy chief executive Julie Hesketh-Laird said: "Scotch Whisky distilleries offer high-quality and unique opportunities to visit the homes of some of Scotland's most famous brands. It is testament to Scotch whisky companies that visits have increased at a time when overall Scottish visitor numbers fell.
"This brings important benefits to the wider rural economy, as distillery visitors will also then be staying at the local B&B, visiting a local pub or cafe, or buying souvenirs of their stay in Scotland."
Our banks have been told to use technology like mobile phones to let customers know if they are getting good value and to act over unarranged overdrafts
Northern Ireland's banks are facing a shake-up, amid planned changes aimed at helping customers.
Banking customers could avoid being stung by overdraft charges by instructing apps to automatically move their money around for them, under a watchdog's plans to shake up the sector "for years to come".
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) unveiled a package of measures to help customers to shop around to get a better deal, after finding older and larger banks do not have to compete hard enough for customers' business and newer and smaller banks find it difficult to grow.
As part of the plans, banks will be required to speed up advances in technology by putting 'open banking' in place by early 2018.
People and small businesses will be able to manage the accounts they hold with several different providers on one single app.
However, consumer group Which? questioned whether the measures being put forward are enough.
Other planned changes include sending out suitable 'prompts' such as regarding the closure of a local branch or an increase in charges, to remind their customers to review whether they are getting the best value - and switch banks if not.
And if customers go into an unarranged overdraft, banks may have to contact them directly, and inform them of a grace period, to avoid charges. Banks will also have to set a monthly cap on unarranged charges, and tell their customers about it.
The Belfast Telegraph contacted Northern Ireland's big four banks for a response to the planned changes.
A spokesperson from First Trust Bank said: "We have just received a summary from the Competition and Markets Authority of their report into the retail banking market investigation.
"We will now take time to consider the findings of the full report in more detail.
"We have fully co-operated with the Competition and Markets Authority throughout the investigation and will respond directly to their findings, together with the remedies announced by them, in due course. As a local bank we are acutely aware of our obligations to provide clear and transparent information to our customers in what is a highly competitive marketplace and we remain committed to doing so."
And Ulster Bank said it "fully supports competition in the market and we believe these remedies could have a substantial and positive impact, by empowering consumers through increased transparency and ease of switching".
"We want to make banking simple, fair and transparent and we support the CMA's remedies."
A Bank of Ireland UK spokesperson said the CMA report "includes a substantial package of measures designed to improve transparency and increase levels of switching in the market".
"We will be studying the report carefully and will be engaging with our regulators and the Government."
Danske Bank did not wish to comment.
Bacs, the body which owns and operates the current account switching service, welcomed the moves to shake-up banking.
Insurers help more than 3,000 travellers every week who need emergency medical care while abroad.
Holidaymakers are being warned not to leave insurance as an "afterthought" - as they could be left with a bill for emergency medical treatment abroad that is higher than the price of a house.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said insurers help more than 3,000 travellers every week who need emergency medical care while abroad.
Yet it said previous research has suggested around one in five go abroad without travel insurance.
While the average travel insurance claim is just over 700, emergency medical and repatriation costs when overseas can be much higher.
The ABI said some emergency treatment can be much more expensive than the average UK house price, at around 211,000.
Emergency medical bills in the United States can be considerable, it said. For example, an insurer recently paid a medical bill of 322,000 for treating a swollen blood vessel in the brain.
Other medical bills faced by Britons covered by travel insurance include 300,000 for a tourist who suffered multiple injuries after falling from a waterfall in Thailand, 40,000 to pay for the medical costs of a traveller who was bitten by a mosquito in Indonesia and contracted Dengue fever, 31,000 for treating a broken leg in Nepal that became infected and 11,000 for a holidaymaker with a brain tumour in Spain.
Mark Shepherd, the ABI's manager, general insurance, said: "Anyone travelling overseas should always take out appropriate travel insurance for the duration of their trip, and declare medical conditions when they take out their policy.
"A valid European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) when travelling in Europe is also strongly recommended. Though not a substitute for travel insurance, the EHIC is free and provides access to state-provided healthcare on the same basis as a resident."
He added: "Travel insurance should not be an afterthought, but the first thing you arrange after booking any overseas trip."
Volunteers take part in the construction of one of the largest currachs ever built, in the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, as it is nearing completion and will be finished next month. PA
One of the largest currachs ever built in Belfast is nearing completion.
The 33ft traditional hand-made wood and canvas vessel will take 10 people to row and will ply the River Lagan from a mooring in the city centre. Builders hope tourists and locals will view the city from a relatively unexplored angle on water.
Volunteers have been working on the boat at premises in the Titanic Quarter and it will be finished next month.
Organiser Niamh Scullion said: "I find it something to be really proud of. It is a beautiful process. It is like a work of art.
"We know at the end of of it there will be something built that we can use to make a difference to people and make a difference to the River Lagan."
She said the project had been an intense experience.
Community groups, a men's shed and volunteers from across Belfast have contributed to the build.
Expand Close Volunteers Rachel Bolt (left) and Pat Hughes take part in the construction of one of the largest currachs ever built, in the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, as it is nearing completion and will be finished next month. PA PA / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Volunteers Rachel Bolt (left) and Pat Hughes take part in the construction of one of the largest currachs ever built, in the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, as it is nearing completion and will be finished next month. PA
The boat will take tourists from the city centre to Cutters Wharf in Stranmillis. It is due to be launched in September during a European week of watersports
The project received a 15,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant.
Ms Scullion added: "It is for people to see Belfast from a brand new perspective.
Expand Close A model of St Columbanus is seen in the foreground as volunteers take part in the construction of one of the largest currachs ever built, in the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, as it is nearing completion and will be finished next month. PA PA / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp A model of St Columbanus is seen in the foreground as volunteers take part in the construction of one of the largest currachs ever built, in the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, as it is nearing completion and will be finished next month. PA
"The Lagan is uncontested ground, no one has really claimed it, it is a safe place to bring people together."
Once they have got used to handling the boat on the river they plan to row her in the city harbour, on Belfast Lough and around the coastal waters, eventually joining other groups from Lough Erne and the Causeway Coast for longer sea voyages.
"We are inviting community groups to come and visit the boat in progress at T13 and write a name suggestion on their name board and see if they would like to join in."
The DUP has asked the Ancient Order of Hibernians to explain why an "unrepentant republican" who said Catholic judges would be dealt with as "collaborators" has become one of its senior elected officials.
Former Executive Minister Nelson McCausland said former IRA prisoner Gerry McKeough - who now opposes Sinn Fein - would be leading one of the annual AoH parades next Monday.
And party chairman Lord Morrow said McGeough's remarks were a "blatant hate crime" the PSNI should investigate.
Mr McGeough (57), who was elected county president of the AoH in Tyrone in March, was severely criticised after calling Catholic judges and prosecutors in Northern Ireland "traitors"".
TUV leader and senior QC Jim Allister said the comments - in an US radio interview - "require to be investigated as incitement".
And Ulster Unionist Ross Hussey commented: "What is truly pathetic is Mr McGeough desperately clinging to an ideology that has long been discredited."
Mr McGeough was previously elected as AOH president in Tyrone some years ago but then jailed for the attempted murder of former DUP councillor Sammy Brush in 1981. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail, but released after two under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
Interviewed by WBAI radio in New York at the weekend, he said: "There are people from republican families who are sitting as Diplock court judges, and prosecutors... and they are arrogantly passing judgement on patriots. So you have Irish Catholics, traitors in effect, administering British rule here in the six counties. We want [the British] out and then we will deal with all these other issues... the collaborators and all the rest of it."
North Belfast MLA Mr McCausland said: "What other fraternal organisation, Protestant or Catholic, would have a convicted gunman and clearly an unrepentant one as a county president or grand master?"
There was no immediate response from the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
Policing Board member Mr Hussey added: ""Just as the IRA had a deliberate policy of targeting Catholic RUC officers in a bid to deter others from joining, so the IRA actively targeted Catholic members of the judiciary, such as Tom Travers, whose daughter Mary was murdered in 1984."
On social media, Judge Travers' daughter Ann said there had never been any justification for killing Catholics, or anyone else, working in the judiciary, security forces or civilian support staff. They were not traitors and they gave more to this country than [armed republicans] ever have or ever will," she said.
Almost 100 extra jobs are to be lost this year after Bombardier Aerospace brought forward its redundancies programme in Northern Ireland.
A total of 95 posts are likely to be affected as part of a global restructuring programme to shed more than 1,000 roles over two years, about a fifth of its local workforce.
The Canada-based multinational has been under financial pressure and invested large sums in its new C Series jet which is crucial to many jobs in Belfast.
A spokeswoman said: "We have advised our employees that, having reviewed our requirements, unfortunately we need to pull forward to this year more of the workforce reductions that were expected to take place during 2017.
"The overall figure of 1,080 over 2016 and 2017 that we announced in February as part of Bombardier's global restructuring has not changed.
"However, we now expect up to another 95 employees will leave the company this year instead of next, in addition to the ongoing reduction of contractors and agency workers."
She said the firm was doing what it could to reduce the number of compulsory redundancies.
"However, we must continue to evaluate every opportunity to significantly reduce our costs and improve our competitiveness, in order to help secure our long-term future."
Davy Thompson, regional coordinating officer for union Unite, called for a government manufacturing strategy.
"The heavy manufacturing sector has been decimated by three major closures in the Belfast and Ballymena areas and we have witnessed a drip feed of redundancies in Bombardier (Shorts), Caterpillar (FG Wilson) and most recently at DuPont site in the North West.
"These losses now amount to thousands of direct and indirect job losses.
"We have heard all the nice words from Stormont and can expect more of the same again today but we continue to wait for them to announce what plans they have to support this vital sector."
Andy Allen, Ulster Unionist assembly member for East Belfast where Bombardier has its Northern Ireland headquarters, said the firm played a vital role in sustaining the local economy.
"Just over six weeks ago we were welcoming confirmation of an Air Canada order to purchase 45 C Series 300 airplanes from Bombardier with an option for an additional 30 and the timely boost that this was giving to our manufacturing sector.
"Today we have learned that 95 job losses, part of the overall redundancies previously announced, are being brought forward, despite the company producing a positive interpretation of its financial results for the second quarter of 2016 only last week.
"The Executive, and in particular the Department for the Economy and Invest NI need to take ownership of the situation as it affects Northern Ireland, do all in their power to help minimise the impact of this announcement and show it understands the need to have a long term plan for the economy, particularly manufacturing."
There are concerns over the Northern Ireland border in the wake of the Brexit vote
Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness have warned that the UK's exit from the EU must not undermine the war against cross-border crime
Northern Ireland leaving the EU should not compromise cross-border efforts to tackle organised crime and those opposed to the peace process, Stormont leaders have told the Prime Minister.
The status of the border with the Republic post-Brexit should not enable illegal activity, Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness warned Theresa May.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land border with a member state.
Dissident republican groups who target police officers and other members of the security forces in Northern Ireland use the Republic for fundraising, training, engineering and storing weapons and occasionally as a preparatory base for attacks north of the border, according to a recent terror assessment.
The First Minister and Deputy First Minister said: "It is equally important that the border does not create an incentive for those who would wish to undermine the peace process and/or the political settlement."
The Prime Minister visited Belfast last month and said nobody wanted to see a return to the borders of the past.
Efforts to tackle lucrative cross-border smuggling are part of recent political accords agreed at Stormont.
Mrs Foster and Mr McGuinness wrote: "There have been difficult issues relating to the border throughout our history and the peace process.
"We therefore appreciate your stated determination that the border will not become an impediment to the movement of people, goods and services.
"It must not become a catalyst for illegal activity or compromise in any way the arrangements relating to criminal justice and tackling organised crime."
The ministers also said it was critical to the economy that businesses retained their competitiveness and did not incur additional costs through Brexit.
"Policies need to be sufficiently flexible to allow access to unskilled as well as highly skilled labour."
They noted thousands of people commuted across the border to work on a daily basis.
The all-Ireland energy market should also be protected, the ministers said.
A proportion of EU funds for projects in Northern Ireland may not be drawn down due to the exit and the ministers said that was of real concern.
The vulnerability of an agri-food sector reliant on EU subsidy was also raised.
The leaders said they wished to play a role in the engagement between the British and Irish governments on matters concerning the border.
The victim referred to as Witness A, first alerted police in February to phone calls threatening him and his family.
A man accused of helping his son in a 5,000 blackmail plot thought it was just a prank, the High Court heard.
George Hardy, 55, allegedly declared himself "the boss" as part of a series of menacing phone calls demanding payment from the victim.
His 23-year-old son Pierce is linked to earlier threats that the target would get "a bullet in the face" if the cash was not delivered to a west Belfast location, prosecutors claimed on Wednesday.
New details emerged as the older of the two accused was granted bail. George Hardy, of Ardcaoin Drive, and Pierce Hardy, from Harris Crescent - both in Dunmurry - are jointly charged with blackmail.
Prosecution counsel said the victim, referred to as Witness A, first alerted police in February to phone calls threatening him and his family.
"They were demanding money or a bullet would be put in his face," the barrister said.
Threats were also made to burn his house down if the money was not delivered, it was claimed.
The caller told Witness A he knew where he lived and the ages of his two children, the court heard.
One call was made while the victim was in a PSNI station reporting the incident, with officers able to listen to the demand on a loud speaker.
Pierce Hardy is allegedly linked to the plot by a phone found on him when he was stopped by police on March 11.
His father's alleged involvement centres on two calls made earlier that month. Prosecution counsel said Witness A was contacted on March 3 by a man demanding money and claiming to be "the boss".
Police records revealed the mobile used to contact him was previously linked to George Hardy.
During interviews the older accused accepted making the calls, claiming his son had typed in the number, the court was told.
"He stated this was a prank and that he never meant it to go so far," the prosecutor added.
Defence lawyer Sean Mullan argued that George Hardy's alleged role was limited. "On the Crown case the son is much more heavily involved in this incident," he said.
"Mr Hardy Sr was handed the phone, he was told 'Just tell him you're the boss and talk to him'.
"He thought his son was owed money or it was a prank." With Pierce Hardy already released on bail, Mr Mullan contended that the father should not have to remain in custody.
The court heard George Hardy is suffering from serious health issues, including epilepsy, heart problems and relies on a walking stick.
Granting bail, Mr Justice Stephens banned him from contacting either his co-accused or Witness A.
The security services are preparing for the release of members of a deadly dissident gang who were jailed over a terrorist training camp in Co Tyrone.
There are concerns that upon their release gang members - who plotted and trained to murder police officers - could be set to take up violence again.
The dissidents were arrested at a terrorist training camp in Omagh in 2012 following an MI5 sting operation.
As part of a Belfast Telegraph series into the work of the security services in Northern Ireland, we reveal details of one of MI5's biggest successes in recent years.
After a year long covert security operation, they smashed the terror gang and thwarted their plans to murder police and a prison governor.
However, due to time on remand awaiting trial, some members will soon be eligible for release. MI5 and the PSNI will now consider whether they need to monitor the risk upon release.
Sean Kelly of Toombridge, Sharon Rafferty of Pomeroy and Omagh brothers Gavin Joseph Coney and Terence Aiden Coney were jailed in September 2014 after they admitted a series of terrorist charges. They had been under MI5 surveillance for several months before and were eventually arrested on March 30, 2012, when police found them at a terrorist training camp in Formil Forest in Omagh.
Kelly was on licence after being released from jail under the Good Friday Agreement.
The camp was a makeshift firing range. Approximately 200 rounds had been fired at balloons and tins.
The group was dismantled after a painstaking MI5 operation. The four were secretly monitored for several months before enough evidence was gathered to bug their conversations. Secret recordings between Kelly and Rafferty heard them discuss a potential attack on police officers near a car park in Toomebridge, targeting Catholic police officers and the publicity surrounding killing people.
Kelly was also recorded talking about the name and address of a prison governor and how to handle an AK47. Conversations were recorded over a six month period from 2011 to April 2012.
This was a "significant" operation for MI5, because of "what they were planning and the individuals involved", a security source said. "They were planning something significant and some really good evidence was compiled," the source added.
In September 2014, after the four pleaded guilty to a number of terrorist related charges, Kelly was jailed for five years with five on licence, Rafferty for four years and four on licence, while the Coney brothers were jailed for five years and nine months.
Due to time on remand from their initial arrest in April 2012 they will be due for release soon.
It is understood that the security services are to consider if individual members pose a significant threat to life and need to be monitored.
They are still viewed as dangerous individuals by security services. "The convictions speak for themselves," a source said.
When any convicted terrorist is released from jail MI5 need to make decisions about what is proportionate in terms of monitoring them. "It's not as simple as people serving their time and then it's just all forgotten about," a security source said.
"It comes as no surprise when we see people coming out the other side (of jail) and re-engaging with violent extremism," he added.
Police at the scene on Ballysillan Road in north Belfast close to where senior loyalist John Boreland was murdered on Sunday night
Flowers at the scene in Sunningdale Gardens, where top UDA figure John Boreland was shot dead on Sunday night
Jeffrey Donaldson said the idea that DUP want to facilitate loyalist paramilitaries is nonsense
DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson has hit back at claims that unionist politicians lack the courage to stand against loyalist paramilitaries.
Raymond McCord's 22-year-old son Raymond jnr was murdered by the UVF in November 1997. His killers have never been brought to justice.
Mr McCord said that the DUP have failed to do enough to tackle paramilitaries in Belfast but DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson said his comments were insulting and that he had been on an "anti-DUP vendetta for years".
Speaking to the BBC following the murder of leading UDA man John Boreland, Mr McCord said: "Politicians in north Belfast - the DUP - and across Belfast haven't the guts to stand up to paramilitaries.
"They stand with them at protests, they go to meetings with them knowing what they are.
"They are terrorists who murder people in their own community."
He added: "Condemnation is not enough, it's the watered down version as usual. People have not the courage to stand up to them.
"I want to hear - and so do a lot of people - them say 'arrest the leaders of these organisations'.
"If we want it to stop let's put the leaders away, stop their funding and put them in jail and let's see how many murders take place."
Pastor Jack McKee, who has also called for the end of paramilitary violence, said he believed his voice against loyalist violence "was a threat" to those politicians attempting to draw "paramilitaries into the circle".
DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson rejected the claims and he stressed that his party was not "elevating paramilitaries into the political sphere" but had worked with their leaderships to persuade them to "leave the stage". The UDA, the politician said, had been more cooperative at a local level than that of the UVF and that there had been no "strategic discussions" in the past two or three years.
The Lagan Valley MP, who said he has been threatened by loyalist paramilitaries in the past, also said the vast majority of communities across Northern Ireland were not living under the grip of paramilitaries.
He claimed loyalist communities in Lisburn had been "liberated" from paramilitaries who were not active, nor were protection rackets in operation in the city.
Mr Donaldson said: "Raymond McCord needs to think long and hard before he points the finger at someone like Nigel Dodds. A man who the IRA tried to assassinate.
"He has been on an anti-DUP vendetta for years, he stood against Nigel in North Belfast.
"And let's not forget Raymond McCord's son was in the UVF - his son was member of that organisation. It is terrible that his son was murdered.
"But let's be clear, the DUP is standing against paramilitaries and Nigel Dodds gives a courageous lead in north Belfast. He has on a number of occasions, not just the once, been a target for paramilitaries.
"When paramilitaries stand for elections we stand against them."
Asked about the graduated response, when the DUP joined with the Orange Order, the UPRG, and PUP, who represent the UDA and UVF, Mr Donaldson said: "That was about preventing violence on the streets, about persuading paramilitary organisation that they need to transform and move away from criminality - that's what we want them to do.
https://audioboom.com/boos/4919004-are-unionist-politicians-taking-a-tough-enough-stand-against-loyalist-paramilitarism-part-2-of-2?playlist_direction=forward&t=0
"But unfortunately, the UVF in particular have not been making that transition despite all the efforts we have made.
"This is because the UVF's price is that they would only wind up if they get an amnesty for all their crimes.
"And we will not accept that."
He added: "In some areas the UDA has transformed, but some elements continued to engage in criminality and as a result of that some people lose their lives.
"The idea that the DUP for one moment would want to facilitate or accommodate loyalist paramilitaries is a nonsense.
"We are working with communities to end the grip of paramilitarism in all communities.
He continued: "We have been calling consistently for paramilitaries to leave the stage.
"In the fresh start agreement we set up a panel to investigate how to move all of the paramilitary violence, not just loyalist, but also republican paramilitaries off the stage.
"We do not want a Northern Ireland that has paramilitaries at a community level - we are very clear about that."
The secret to long life is "good hard work" - though carbolic soap might also help, according to 106-year-old Kathleen Hughes.
She celebrated her birthday yesterday at Fruithill Nursing Home in west Belfast with huge pink balloons and a sash that said "Birthday Girl".
After she blew out the candle on her butterfly-themed birthday cake, she told the Belfast Telegraph that her plans for her big day were simple.
"I'm going to have a party and a wee gin and tonic," she said.
Born on Raglan Street in Belfast, Kathleen is thought to be the third oldest woman in Northern Ireland. She has lived in Belfast her whole life, growing up near St Peter's Square.
In her 106 years, she has lived through two World Wars and nine royal weddings. She was just two years old when the Titanic sank and 13 years old when the Queen was born.
But her greatest accomplishment is her children and grandchildren. Her children Frances Lawlor (69), Roy Hughes (73) and Maureen Harper (74) all live nearby in Belfast and celebrated with her on her big day. Kathleen has 15 grandchildren.
In her 106 years, Kathleen said she has no regrets and her advice to her grandchildren and great grandchildren is straightforward.
"Just have a good, clean life," she said.
Read more
Read More
She joked with her daughters that carbolic soap was her real secret to her long life. "Carbolic soap. You wash the floor with it, you wash your face with it," she said.
There are two known women in Northern Ireland who are older than Kathleen. Margaret 'Peggy' Dunbar and Sarah 'Sally' Brady both turned 107 earlier this year. Peggy was born on February 20, 1909 and Sally was born on March 3, 1909.
Peggy received a 'centenary handshake' from the Irish government and Sally is the mother of Sinn Fein MP Mickey Brady.
The oldest person ever from Northern Ireland was Elizabeth Watkins, who died in 1973 aged 110.
A man accused of carrying out a so-called punishment shooting in the Ardoyne area of Belfast had one of his bail conditions varied today so he can attend a Madness concert.
Patrick Joseph O'Neill is due to stand trial at Belfast Crown Court later this year on charges arising from the November 2010 gun attack. During the incident at Brompton Park, the victim was shot several times in the groin and abdomen.
O'Neill (41), of no fixed abode, has been charged with but has denied offences including wounding with intent, and possession of a Glock pistol with intent.
Earlier today at Belfast Crown Court, defence barrister Jonathan Brown applied to have one of O'Neill's bail conditions varied to allow him to attend the Madness concert - part of the Belsonic music event.
An application was made to relax the existing curfew of 8pm to 6am to enable O'Neill to go to the gig at Titanic Belfast. Mr Brown asked that for one evening only, on Saturday 20 August, O'Neill's curfew is extended to 11.30pm.
Making the application, Mr Brown said that since his client was released on bail, he had adhered to all bail conditions imposes, including observing the curfew.
Judge Gordon Kerr QC granted the application, and extended the curfew to midnight.
Man was camping with friends near the Agivey Bridge. Photo: Kenneth Allen
The girlfriend of a man who died while camping in Ballymoney over the weekend has paid an emotional tribute calling him her "whole world and more".
The man, named on social media as Stewart Walker, is understood to be aged in his 20s and from Coleraine.
He is understood to have been found dead in his tent by his girlfriend Jenna Brogan on Sunday morning at the campsite near the Agivey Bridge.
She posted tributes to the "love of her life" on Facebook.
She said: "My heart is in bits. Why did u have to go? I love you always. I miss you so much. Fly with the angels babe."
She posted pictures of them together and said: "My whole world and more. Love you always baby. Miss you so so much. Always on my mind forever in my heart."
His sister Naomi said: "Our family chain has broken now, and nothing is the same but as God takes us one by one the chain will link again. RIP Stewart. Fly high."
"Miss you bro. Will be thinking about you every sec goes by. Will see you soon Stewart Walker. Miss you," his brother Kyle said.
Mervyn Storey, DUP MLA for North Antrim said he was shocked by the news.
"I understand when the girl wakened in the morning he was dead," he told the Belfast Telegraph.
"The police are carrying out a full investigation of what the circumstances were, but it's a very sad situation for the families involved."
"My thoughts are with the young man who is deceased but also the young girl, who has had to deal with the trauma of this over the past few days."
TUV councillor William Blair added: "It's a terrible thing to happen for a young person to die unexpectedly.
"I would offer my deepest sympathy to the family and would hope and trust they will be able to cope with it."
Mr Blair added: "I've children and grandchildren of my own, so I can only imagine what it would be like to get such terrible news like that."
Ulster Unionist councillor for Ballymoney Darryl Wilson commented: "I was shocked and saddened to learn that a young man has passed away while camping with friends near the Agivey bridge in Ballymoney.
"My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the young man at this very difficult time."
Posting on social media, one Ballymoney resident commented: "So sad to read of a young life taken, my thoughts and prayers are with family and friends."
A police spokesperson said: "There was a sudden death in that area on Sunday and it is not being treated as suspicious.
"A post mortem is being carried out."
A young man has been taken to hospital after reportedly being bitten by a dog in east Belfast
A young man has been taken to hospital after reportedly being bitten by a dog in east Belfast.
Belfast City Council have confirmed that an investigation has been launched following an incident involving two dogs.
The breed of the animals is not known at this stage.
Police attended a call to an incident in the Abetta Parade and Grand Parade areas on Monday, August 8.
A PSNI spokesman said: "The dog warden attended and will lead an investigation into the incident."
It has been claimed children, a pensioner and a cyclist were also chased during the incident.
The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service attended just before 8pm and sent a rapid response vehicle and one ambulance.
An NIAS spokeswoman said they responded following reports of a young male having been bitten by a dog in Grand Parade.
Following an initial assessment at the scene the man was taken to the Ulster Hospital.
Belfast City Council issued a statement to the Belfast Telegraph confirming an investigation had now been launched.
A City Hall spokeswoman stated: "We can confirm that the PSNI sought assistance last night in relation to an incident concerning two dogs.
"Our Dog Wardens attended the incident and there is an ongoing investigation.
"We cannot comment any further in relation to this incident."
The closure of a shelter for vulnerable women in west Belfast which had been open for over 70 years has been branded a "disgrace".
Regina Coeli House is set to close on August 31, forcing its 21 residents onto the streets and its 20 staff out of jobs.
Protests had been held last week outside the hostel in a bid to save the service.
The Legion of Mary, which owns Regina Coeli house, said it regrets the closure "due to a lack of funding from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive."
In a letter to the Belfast Telegraph, the service's manager Charlie McGarry said he was devastated.
"It is with great sadness that I have been told of the closing of Regina Coeli," he said.
"This hostel for vulnerable homeless women, along with its counterpart Morning Star House, has been providing service and shelter to the Belfast community for over 70 years.
"During those dark night of the Troubles they were a refuge before there was a Housing Executive and they worked without wages."
He continued: "Having worked for the last 30 years in this field, I have witnessed many changes in people turning their lives around.
"However, I have also been involved in outreach on the streets of Belfast and have also witnessed many pitiful sights of broken women and men suffering from addictions, mental health issues - bipolar, depression, schizophrenia, paranoia - which are terrible and life altering conditions."
Mr McGarry called on First Minister Arlene Foster and her deputy Martin McGuinness to step in if money cannot be found to save the service.
He added: "There have been too many deaths on our streets thus far this year alone."
Sinn Fein MP for West Belfast Paul Maskey blasted the decision to close as "pathetic".
"This is a disgraceful decision by the Legion of Mary and the way they handled it is nothing short of pathetic," he said.
Mr Maskey said it was "unacceptable" that staff and residents had only two weeks to vacate the premises.
He added that he and his party colleague Fra McCann MLA were seeking a meeting with the Housing Executive in an attempt to find a solution.
"Common sense must prevail here and I urge Legion of Mary and Housing Executive to engage in a meaningful manner to get this issue resolved," he said.
A spokesperson from the Housing Executive said they had not withdrawn support for the organisation, but had been informed by Regina Coeli's management of their intention to close.
They said: "We remain committed to ensuring these vulnerable clients are supported and services are properly resourced.
"We will work with Regina Coeli and other providers to ensure clients are able to access a satisfactory service."
Alex Ellis-Roswell outside the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast as he completed the 2,500-mile Irish leg of his journey around the entire coastline of Britain and Ireland
A sheep farmer aiming to walk the entire coastline of Britain and Ireland has completed the 2,500-mile (4,023km) Irish leg of his journey.
Alex Ellis-Roswell arrived back in Belfast 13 months after starting his epic clockwise journey round the island.
The 23-year-old set off on his 9,000-mile (14,484km) charity challenge from his home town of Margate in Kent two years ago, and had already covered the south coast of England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the south west of Scotland before boarding the ferry to Belfast in July 2015.
Just over halfway through his fund raising exploits for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), he will now sail back to Stranraer before traversing the rest of the Scottish coastline and the eastern side of England down to London.
Mr Ellis-Roswell, who sold all his possessions to fund the longest of long walks, hopes to arrive back in Margate some time in 2018.
"The generosity in Ireland has been amazing," he said.
"We've raised loads of money for the RNLI lifeboats - we've raised 23,500 so far.
"Ireland has been amazing and I am really thankful for the all the support I have received around Ireland."
He felt compelled to undertake the challenge after experiencing a tough year in 2013 when his father died.
"After that I just tried to do something positive and clear my head and I just got the notion to start walking," he said.
"I have always been on the water in one way or another since day one. Either kayaking or swimming or boats, I have always been around the coast, so the RNLI had always been a charity I've been aware of and I've been aware of how important the RNLI is."
Along the journey people have offered him food and places to stay but often he has slept out in the elements. After one particularly cold night sleeping in a church doorway in South Wales in January 2015 he woke up with ice in his beard.
The inclement conditions, combined with the huge number of miles he has clocked up, have also taken their toll on his feet.
"I am on my sixth pair of shoes now," he said.
RNLI community fundraising manager Nicola Kelly said: "We do get a lot of wonderful people doing all sorts of incredible things to raise funds and awareness for the work of the RNLI in Ireland.
"This was certainly one of the most arduous and demanding fundraising feats for the charity."
For more information on the challenge or to donate visit https://www.mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/longwalkround
Animal charity the RSPCA has called for a revision of the Dangerous Dogs Act because it claims family pets are being put down unnecessarily.
It says that the Act is so out of date that it has led to more people being attacked, as it focuses on banning and destroying particular breeds rather than enforcing stiffer punishments for irresponsible owners.
The Dangerous Dogs Act is 25 years old this week and currently bans four breeds: Japanese Tosa, Fila Brasileiro, Dogo Argentino and pit bull terrier.
Dogs such as crossbreeds which have pit bull-type features are also banned.
The legislation was highlighted with the international appeal last month to save Hank the dog after he was removed from his east Belfast home while owners Leonard Collins and Joanne Meadows were out.
The seizure by Belfast City Council and the PSNI sparked an online campaign called #Save Hank and a 20 day battle to prevent him being destroyed.
Despite being sold as a Staffie-Labrador cross, an expert found that Hank came from a pit bull lineage.
But as his temperament was non-threatening he was allowed home, provided he wears a muzzle in public.
Canine welfare expert for the RSPCA Dr Samantha Gaines said more needs to be done to target owners who are irresponsible, rather than destroying the dog as breed-specific legislation was not preventing attacks. She said: "The police, the RSPCA and other animal rescue organisations have to deal with the consequences of this flawed law by euthanising hundreds of dogs because legislation is forcing us to, due to the way they look, despite being suitable for rehoming. Not only is this a huge ethical and welfare issue, it also places significant emotional strain on staff.
"The RSPCA believes it is paramount for the Government to launch an inquiry into the effectiveness of breed-specific legislation, assess other options to improve human safety and dog welfare, and ultimately to repeal the breed-specific part of the legislation." Research carried out by the RSPCA - Breed Specific Legislation: A Dog's Dinner - reports that since 1991, 30 people have been killed by dangerous dogs, 21 of them by breeds not banned under the Act.
It also concludes that the Act has had "unintended negative consequences for dog welfare", and said that over the past two years the charity had been forced to put down 336 dogs, while Battersea Dogs Home, which is also critical of the law, had put down 91 in the last 12 months.
Dog behaviour expert Victoria Stilwell threw her weight behind the campaign to have Hank returned to his owners.
She was also highly critical of breed-specific legislation.
She said: "BSL tears apart families, while punishing innocent dogs and their guardians solely because of a dog's appearance."
Scene of the security alert in North Queen Street area of Belfast
A viable pipe bomb was uncovered during a security alert in north Belfast, police have said.
The area at North Queen Street in the New Lodge was close for several hours as army bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion.
The small metal object was removed and will undergo a further forensic examination.
A police dog and a robot were also used during the operation.
Sinn Fein councillor JJ Magee condemned those responsible saying "they offer nothing but misery to the local community".
"Yet again some of the people have to be evacuated from their homes. They've had a few weeks of really bad anti-social elements around the bonfire and then to be woken up this morning and asked to leave their houses is totally disgraceful.
"This is totally wrong and it needs to stop. It's 2016 and there's no place today for this kind of stuff," he added.
Detective Inspector Mary White said the incident caused "massive inconvenience, disruption and upset" for the local community around north Belfast.
She said: "I would like to thank the members of the public for their patience and cooperation during the operation this morning.
"I am appealing for anyone who noticed any suspicious activity in the North Queen Street area close to Spamount Street or anyone with any information that could assist with the investigation to contact Detectives at Reactive and Organised Crime at Musgrave Police Station on 101.
"Alternatively, if someone would prefer to provide information without giving their details they can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers."
Two women were arrested "on suspicion of breaching the police cordon" during the security alert.
Nuala McAllister, Alliance councillor for north Belfast said someone "could have been killed".
"Somebody could have been seriously injured or killed had this pipe bomb exploded, particularly as it was placed in the middle of a residential area and close to a busy shopping centre," she said.
"People in north Belfast do not want to see this sort of incident taking place and are opposed to those behind it, who do nothing but cause disruption with their actions.
"I urge anyone with information about those behind this device to contact police immediately."
Sinn Fein MLA Caral Ni Chuilin said residents were forced out of their homes for several hours.
"Those responsible showed no concern or care about the safety of the residents or passers-by," she said.
"It is no surprise to anyone that this incident followed a night of anti-social behaviour in the area associated with a nearby bonfire, which included street fighting among rival gangs and the theft and burning of local property.
"The people responsible for placing this device are at war with their own community. They should stop their futile actions before they kill or seriously injure someone."
The alert comes weeks after a suspicious item was found in Lisburn.
Police were investigating whether the device fell from a vehicle in Market Place at the end of last month.
Searches were carried out in the Lagmore area of west Belfast and police seized a vehicle in the aftermath of the discovery.
Relatives of IRA murder victims have gathered to watch a film produced to counter the portrayal of the republican hunger strikes in a new documentary-style movie.
Titled 'Remembering Those who had No Choice', it has been created by a victims' group in direct response to the recently-premiered 66 Days.
The film about the Maze prison hunger strikes of 1981, based on Bobby Sands' diaries, has divided opinion in Northern Ireland.
Critics have branded the docu-drama, by Irish director Brendan Byrne, overly sympathetic to Sands and his cause, while others have acclaimed it for offering a balanced view of the turbulent period of The Troubles.
The South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF), a victims' group in the west of the region, has produced its own film telling the stories of the 57 other people, including a number of children, killed in the conflict during the 217-day period when the 10 republican hunger strikers died.
Valerie Hetherington, whose father Alfie Woods was a Royal Ulster Constabulary officer murdered by the IRA in Omagh in August 1981, attended the premiere of the film in Enniskillen.
"Our family felt it important to be present tonight where our dad and all the other innocents who had no choice are being remembered," she said.
"My dad was a hard-working family man who was committed to doing his best for us and the community which he served. My dad was murdered within days of a hunger striker's death.
"We have little doubt as a family that the volatile situation created by that hunger strike meant it more likely that our father could come under attack and ultimately be murdered.
"It is important that we as innocent victims and survivors of terrorism come together in unifying against attempts to re-write the past. Terrorists and their political spokesmen and women will not succeed - the truth must and will prevail."
Kenny Donaldson, director of services at SEFF, said the film offered a "dignified" response to 66 Days.
"It is important to remember, but also honour, all those whose lives were extinguished outside the Maze prison walls over one of the most turbulent periods in our history," he said.
"Inside those prison walls 10 men took the choice, with the leadership of the republican movement at their back, to complete suicide.
"Those murdered and killed outside those prison walls did not have the choice to live because in most cases others decided that they had a right to play God in determining who would live and who should die".
Mr Donaldson described the death of the hunger strikers as a "human tragedy".
"No one with a semblance of Christianity within their DNA would take glee in their demise," he said.
"Their families left behind mourn their loss and we acknowledge that.
"But what we will not ever acknowledge or accept is the manipulation of the truth. The 10 men who died on hunger strike were terrorists, they were insurrectionists and they were criminals."
Mothers who have a home birth are more likely to go on to breastfeed, research has found
Women who give birth at home are twice as likely to breastfeed as other new mothers, researchers have found.
Academics at Trinity College Dublin said their studies show home birth is significantly associated with immediate breastfeeding and mothers continuing it into the baby's first six months.
They also found mothers who give birth at home are more likely to exclusively breastfeed for the first 24 weeks - 22% compared with 9% of other mothers.
Lina Zgaga, associate professor of epidemiology at Trinity, said the information may help to improve low breastfeeding rates in Ireland.
She said: "The key question that this work raises is: When breastfeeding is so strongly recommended across the board by the medical profession, what causes lower rates of breastfeeding following hospital births?
"Hopefully this research can help us learn from the home birth model and identify the changes that could be implemented in standard hospital-based perinatal care to encourage and facilitate breastfeeding."
About 60% of mothers start breastfeeding in Ireland compared to a European norm of about 90%. World Health Organisation guidelines recommend exclusive breastfeeding for a baby's first six months.
The research identified potential reasons for the higher breastfeeding rates.
It noted that home birth has different support and care and is typically midwife-led.
It said the same community midwife should be visiting and advising the mother for the first 14 days of a baby's life, compared to a hospital where there are many different medics who, it warned, are " potentially providing unpredictable and inconsistent input".
Researchers said support in the days after birth improve outcomes for mother and baby but they warned that the percentage of first visits after a mother is discharged from hospital varies significantly from 57% to 87%.
It also pointed to a mother's home being non-clinical, promoting immediate and prolonged skin to skin contact between mother and baby immediately after birth , which is widely considered to have a positive effect on the initiation of breastfeeding and mother-infant bonding.
The study also noted the increased use of interventions, assisted delivery and pain relief in hospitals compared to home births.
And it said hospital births have been associated with formula supplementation despite all maternity units being part of an initiative which recommends that newborns should not receive any food or drink other than breast milk unless medically indicated
The study said this may be due to busy, understaffed clinical settings, where formula may be a more convenient solution to feeding problems than diagnosis and treatment of breastfeeding issues.
The study from Trinity's Department of Public Health and Primary Care is the largest of its kind, using more than 10,500 women from Growing Up in Ireland and 17,500 women from the UK Millennium Cohort. It was published in the international journal BMJ Open.
The data revealed a self-reported home birth rate of 1.48% in Ireland compared to 2% in the UK.
The official figure used by the government is 0.2% which only includes planned home births attended to by an independent midwife.
Another study coinciding with World Breastfeeding Week showed women who give birth in a midwife-only unit are 30% more likely to breastfeed than those in traditional wards.
The system marks 'a new beginning', the government said
Specialist counselling is to be offered to the near 20,000 women and their partners and families who suffer miscarriage, perinatal death, fatal foetal abnormality, termination or who travel for an abortion each year.
Under a new support system every hospital and maternity unit must offer every grieving mother a meeting with a midwife dedicated to helping them deal with the bereavement.
Claire Cullen-Delsol, spokeswoman for the Termination for Medical Reasons Group, said up until now families were getting lost in a lottery-like system of care.
The 31-year-old's baby daughter Alex died 26 weeks into the pregnancy and was still born after the 20 week scan showed she had Trisomy 13, or Patau syndrome, and would not survive.
"It reads like this will make life much more bearable for us," she said.
"This is the thing that's going to help get through this, as long as it's resourced. If a woman gets that news there needs to be an immediate action plan.
"The main message is that the loss of a child effects a huge number of people. It's not just the parents - the mother is obviously hugely affected, but it's the siblings, the parents, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles. The ripple effect is just devastating.
"As far as bereavement care and counselling is concerned it is all a lottery. It depends where you are."
In Ireland about 14,000 women suffer miscarriage each year, another 500 perinatal deaths are recorded and there are 3,700 cases of women travelling abroad for a terminations.
The new counselling system was developed by the Health Service Executive (HSE) following the death of dentist Savita Halappanavar in University Hospital Galway in October 2012 after she miscarried and was denied a termination.
It comes after a watchdog's findings of "grossly inappropriate and traumatising" handling of baby death and maternity cases in Portlaoise Hospital.
Health Minister Simon Harris billed the counselling system as a new beginning.
"I am pleased that the standards will ensure that clinical and counselling services will be in place to support women and their families in all pregnancy loss situations, from early pregnancy loss to perinatal death, as well as situations where there is a diagnosis of a life-limiting or fatal foetal anomaly," he said.
"I am grateful to the many families who generously shared their experiences during the strategy consultation process and offered suggestions on how care could be improved."
Mr Harris said he hoped the new regime will give grieving families the care and compassion they need.
All maternity hospitals and units will have teams of bereavement specialists to support grieving parents and families and staff involved in their care
They will include a dedicated clinical midwife who specialises in bereavement care along with obstetricians, paediatricians, neonatologists, chaplains, social workers and palliative care staff.
The initiative states that b ereavement care should be a central mission of hospitals and offered in accordance with the religious, secular, ethnic, social and cultural values of the parents.
It asks h ospitals to ensure bereavement care and end of life care for babies is organised around the needs of babies and their families.
The new regime also says parents should be invited to meet a consultant neonatologist/paediatrician and the appropriate team to discuss a diagnosis which the HSE describes as a "life-limiting condition".
It says a mother or parents should receive up-to-date information and contact details of services available if they choose to terminate the pregnancy.
Theresa May could find it difficult to ignore Switzerland's immigration troubles with the European Union as she holidays in the country and mulls over how to deliver Brexit.
The Prime Minister has broken with predecessor David Cameron's habit of spending a few days in Britain before jetting off for a foreign break and is continuing her tradition of visiting the Alpine country with husband Philip.
Mr Cameron has repeatedly come under fire for urging Britons to take "staycations" but then enjoying sunshine breaks in the likes of Spain, Italy and Portugal combined with trips in the UK.
Mrs May is unlikely to suffer the mishaps which plagued the former PM, who has been stung by a jellyfish in Lanzarote, mocked for dressing on the beach under a Mickey Mouse towel, and criticised for his choice of clothes.
But she will hope she does not have to follow in the footsteps of Britain's only other woman prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, who cut short a Swiss holiday in 1985 after the deaths of 55 people in the Manchester air disaster.
And, as many busy Britons discover on holiday, she may find it difficult to take her mind off work during the two-week break, given Switzerland's similarly strained relationship with the EU and its trouble implementing a referendum result.
The country is not a full EU member but enjoys a negotiated bilateral agreement which allows it some access to the single market with tariff-free trade and open access to the services market.
Its agreements go furthest in replicating EU benefits for a country outside the bloc, but it must also accept the free movement of people, pay into the union's budget and comply with single market regulations.
It is now embroiled in long-running talks with the union over how to implement a 2014 referendum result in which the Swiss people backed limiting immigration through quotas, including EU citizens.
The parallels with the UK are striking but Mrs May has previously revealed that she loves holidaying in the country because she can get some "peace and quiet".
She said she and her husband had "discovered the joys" of walking in the country "quite by chance".
In a piece for the Telegraph in August 2007, she said: "We first visited the country about 25 years ago but spent most of the time in Lucerne.
"On a return trip, we decided to go walking, enjoyed it and gradually began doing more adventurous hikes.
"We have been going back ever since and have walked all over the country."
Mrs May said in the piece that her two favourite areas are Zermatt and the Bernese Oberland, which are both "fantastic for walking".
She added: "If you're a keen walker, Switzerland is a wonderful summer destination: the views are spectacular, the air is clear and you can get some peace and quiet."
Downing Street said Mrs May remained in charge. She will be kept updated and briefed on events, with a senior Cabinet minister remaining in London.
Chancellor Philip Hammond will be in the capital this week.
A Muslim taxi driver who executed a popular Muslim shopkeeper for claiming he was a prophet remained defiant with a clenched-fist raised as he was led to jail to serve a minimum of 27 years.
Tanveer Ahmed, 32, travelled from Yorkshire to Glasgow to confront Asad Shah over his claims before pulling out a knife and repeatedly stabbing the 40-year-old at his newsagent shop.
Ahmed, who did not know Mr Shah, claimed to have been offended by clips the shopkeeper had posted online which he said ''disrespected the Prophet Muhammad''.
The Bradford father-of-three was given a life sentence at the High Court in Glasgow after admitting the murder in Glasgow's Shawlands area on March 24.
Judge Lady Rae told Ahmed he must serve a minimum of 27 years before being considered for release. He would have been given a longer sentence had it not been for his guilty plea.
She said he had carried out a "brutal, barbaric, horrific crime" for which he had shown no remorse and even appeared proud of what he had done, and described the calculated nature of the murder as "chilling", saying he had carried out what was in effect an "execution".
As Ahmed was led away, he raised a clenched fist and shouted loudly: "Praise for the Prophet Muhammad, there is only one Prophet."
Some of his supporters in the courtroom responded by raising their arms and repeating the phrase.
The murder shocked the close-knit community in the south side of the city where several vigils were held in the wake of the tragedy.
Ahmed had watched a clip featuring Mr Shah on his mobile phone as he travelled to Glasgow on the day of the murder and was heard in a phone message to say "listen to this guy, something needs to be done, it needs nipped in the bud".
When he arrived at the shop, Ahmed said he warned the shopkeeper he was there to kill him and asked him to stop claiming to be a prophet.
Mr Shah's brother and a shop assistant tried to fend him off as he launched his attack on the popular businessman, described by locals as a ''pillar of the community''.
The Shah family, who moved to Scotland from Pakistan in the 1990s to escape persecution, belong to the Ahmadi sect of Islam whose beliefs differ from the majority of Muslims.
The court heard their belief that Prophet Muhammad was not the final prophet was a view many consider blasphemous.
The family said they were now moving away from Scotland.
A statement released on their behalf said: "Asad's family have lost a peaceful, kind and loving brother, son and uncle who can never be replaced.
"Most of his family have now left or are in the process of leaving Scotland, a country they came to seek safety in.
"They are grateful to the Lord Advocate, Crown Office and Police Scotland for their hard work and compassion."
Chief Superintendent Brian McInulty, local policing commander for greater Glasgow division, said: "Our thoughts continue to be with the family of Asad Shah, whose presence in the community is very much missed by everyone who knew him.
"I hope that the sentencing today will reassure the immediate community in Glasgow's south side as well as communities all across Scotland that acts of violence such as this are utterly unacceptable and cannot be justified."
Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC said: "Asad Shah was a well-liked and respected member of the community who was savagely murdered by a total stranger.
"This was a brutal, unprovoked and relentless attack on an unsuspecting victim. It has left his family and friends devastated at the loss of a kind and peace-loving man.
"Tanveer Ahmed's crime has rightly been condemned by communities across Glasgow and the rest of the country."
Vladimir Putin has spoken with Theresa May by telephone
Teresa May has spoken to Russian president Vladimir Putin for the first time since she became Prime Minister.
The Kremlin said both leaders expressed dissatisfaction with UK-Russian relations and pledged to improve ties.
The UK's relationship with Russia became increasingly strained under former prime minister David Cameron, following Mr Putin's support for the Syrian regime, the Ukraine crisis, and the recent inquiry in to the 2006 poisoning death of ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.
Mrs May said she hoped the nations could push forward in an "honest" way despite their differences.
The pair will meet at the G20 summit of world leaders in China next month.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said the leaders discussed common security threats faced by both countries when they spoke on the phone on Tuesday afternoon.
She said: "The Prime Minister noted the importance of the relationship between the UK and Russia and expressed the hope that, despite differences on certain issues, they could communicate in an open and honest way about the issues that mattered most to them.
"The Prime Minister and president agreed that British and Russian citizens faced common threats from terrorism, and that co-operation on aviation security in particular was a vital part of the international counter-terrorism effort.
"They looked forward to seeing each other at the G20 summit in China next month."
The pair agreed to develop a dialogue between their security agencies over aviation security, the Kremlin added.
The Russian government said Mrs May also confirmed Britain's intention to participate in the 75th anniversary of the first arrival of vital aid by British wartime convoys to the Russian city of Arkhangelsk, later this month.
Strident voices: protestors, back right, object to the Pride parade. On the left are loyalist flag protestors
As an unbeliever I don't pretend to be a Bible scholar but there is a bit in the Good Book, is there not, that has something about judging not lest ye shall be judged?
This line occurred to me on Saturday as I was ambling through Belfast doing a bit of shopping and enjoying the massive and colourful crowds gathering for the annual Pride parade.
Long before I'd reached City Hall I could hear the anti-gay protest. Not because it was that big. But because it was amplified. The preacher's voice, his sing-song, mournful, accusatory delivery boosted by microphone was booming right down the city's main thoroughfare.
There was much dire warning about sin, sinning, transgression, transgressing, iniquity, iniquitousness, self-deception, love not being a human right and the Corinthians.
The Corinthians were getting a bit of a burl on grounds of their allegedly comprehensive iniquity.
The protesters, mostly male and mostly elderly (there were a few women in hats) were lined up in front of the City Hall gates, scowling balefully at the scenes of jollity beyond.
A line of police officers separated them from the Pride parade attendees although really there was no need. Neither side looked likely to resort to violence.
The preacher was on a sort of stream of consciousness roll, segueing from remarks about the "Love is..." placards being waved at him to an odd ramble about how the nearby traffic lights symbolised things you could and couldn't and, indeed, shouldn't do. A younger man with this anti-gay faction had crossed the police line to engage in argument (good natured on both sides) with a group of teenagers beside me.
But it was the grim preacher and his solemn entourage at the gates which fascinated me.
What is it impels people, not just to set themselves up in judgment of others in the first place, but to believe themselves so ideally equipped and entitled to lecture and to preach to the rest of the world?
I am sure that among the protesters were well-meaning, decent souls. But at times in the preaching voice there was a note that sounded (to me anyway) less preachy, more hectoring.
It was as if he was baiting the crowd for a response. He didn't get one.
I tried to see the crowd from his eyes but all I could see was what was around me. Teenagers with rainbows plastered on their faces and clothes having a bit of fun.
Families out to enjoy the spectacle, shepherding the smaller children to the front of the milling crowd for a better view. People of all ages, all backgrounds.
True, there were some outfits that might have caused your granny to shield her eyes (my granny, anyway) but it was still more Royal Avenue than Rio.
And among the tens of thousands of onlookers and paraders there will have been very many Christians. Godly and gay or godly and gay-friendly is not a contradiction. Whatever some preachers might care to assert. Self-righteousness isn't a new thing. It isn't just an old thing either.
Virtue signalling on today's social media isn't a bible thump away from such holier-than-thou posturing.
Similarly cyber-patrolling for Things To Take Offence At in order to point up your own wholesomeness. But what impressed me most on Saturday was that, despite so many people being so loudly lambasted for their supposed "sin", how little rancour there was in that great crowd.
People didn't even seem to notice the guldering. Everybody seemed to be smiling.
If somebody was roaring "sinner" at me I don't think I would handle it with quite the same equanimity or with the same dignity. But I suppose that's just further proof of my own obvious iniquity.
As the preacher would doubtless judge it.
Why all the fuss over Jamie the journo?
In the old days you knew who a journalist was. He was the bloke in the trilby with a Press card sticking out of the rim. Times change. So I don't understand the horror in some quarters over news that Jamie Bryson (above) former flaggist, turned blogger and author is now a member of the NUJ. He qualifies under NUJ criteria and he's paid his dues. So why the fuss? I believe the media (mainstream and now online) should be about encouraging new debate and new voices.
Bryson, fair play to him, doesn't even style himself a "journalist." Is the problem for some, though, not what he is? But who he is?
Stone me... mum indulges her mini-vandal
You know you're in Belfast when ... you're walking out of a shop in Donegall Place and you watch a wee boy of about eight years of age pick up a stone and then randomly clod it at the back of a stationary bus.
And then his mother simpers indulgently: "Och, come on now, son, don't be doing that here."
Don't be doing it here?!
Where does she think he should be doing it?
No reprimand. No panic even at the thought the driver might jump off and confront her precious little stone-thrower.
You know you're in Belfast ...
Disclosures about the oppressive and secretive atmosphere that pervades the seminary at Maynooth don't surprise me (Saturday Review, August 6).
While researching a book on the industrial school era, Escape From Grievous Faults, I spoke to retired clerics and former members of religious orders who told me of bizarre practices to which they were subjected.
The obligatory signing of confidentiality agreements at Maynooth and other similar venues has been deeply unhelpful to investigations of alleged clerical sexual abuse and the widespread (now proven) physical, sexual and emotional abuse in industrial schools and other institutions.
While recognising that abusers in the Catholic priesthood and the religious orders have always been in the minority, it is also a sad fact that far too many of those "good" men and women of the cloth failed to intervene when they became aware of what their errant colleagues were doing.
One can debate the relative gravity of the various sins set forth in catechisms and prayer books, but surely the destruction of innocent young lives is a sin that puts most of the others in the shade?
Not far behind it ought to be the "culture of secrecy" that facilitated the vilest abuses. Where was the "holiness" in muzzling potential whistleblowers, or staying silent about a crime that never stops hurting?
JOHN FITZGERALD
By email
Critics of the new Bobby Sands documentary have cited bias, a callous disregard for the IRA's victims and even the glorification of terrorism as the main failings of the film. Yet these criticisms are totally unfair, as there is plenty of balanced commentary in it, particularly from the Irish Times columnist Fintan O'Toole, who on camera brilliantly lacerates the philosophy behind the Provisionals' so-called "armed struggle".
However, the real failing of this film, its central weakness, has to do with its intellectual vacuity. If there is any lack of balance, it is in the inability of film-makers, in particular, to tackle subjects, both current and historical, that resonate with the unionist/loyalist community.
The unionist-loyalist community is part of the overall Troubles story, but appears relatively invisible in terms of TV and film, beyond documentaries and television news.
In one sense, this is partly their own fault. Television and radio journalists will tell you that, when it comes to public events, demonstrations, parades, marches, or funerals, they dread covering loyalist gatherings, because of the hostility and menace connected with them.
Republicans, by contrast, go out of their way to facilitate the media, which they believe they can manipulate to get their message to the world across.
This extends beyond hostile, often threatening, attitudes toward journalists and camera operators and seeps into a wider indifference towards how unionism/loyalism is portrayed in other art forms.
It is telling that the most important dramatist to emerge from the Ulster Protestant working-class since the ceasefires, Gary Mitchell, cannot return to his own community, because he wrote a few uncomfortable truths about it in his plays.
Moreover, it is bitterly ironic that the greatest drama ever written where the central characters are young, working-class unionists was written by a Donegal Catholic.
Frank McGuinness' masterpiece, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, is a sensitive and sympathetic anthem for these doomed Ulster youth.
Yet McGuinness wrote it in 1985, and nothing as powerful and important, at least on stage, about the unionist-loyalist community has been produced since.
There are nightly attacks on Orange halls across Northern Ireland, which are nothing more than cultural vandalism against a section of the Protestant/unionist/loyalist community.
To their credit, nationalist politicians - up to and including the deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness - have condemned the attacks on Orange property. It is time, however, that others in civil society - from the arts to human rights groups - speak out more forthrightly about these continued attacks.
And for the community at the sharp end of this cultural vandalism, there have to be voices inside who have stories to tell, films to make, documentaries to produce, poems to pen.
There is virgin territory to explore when it comes to the Ulster loyalist experience beyond the trenches of the Western Front, or even the conflict zones of the Troubles.
Why has no one yet told a story, in book, or film, about that community's role in the Second World War and the national effort to defeat Hitler? Or the flight of the Protestants from counties that are now in the Irish Republic into modern-day Northern Ireland? Or, fast-forwarding to the 21st century, why is no one writing about the present-day Protestant working-class and how their lives are coloured by de-industrialisation, immigration, drugs, alcohol and the backwash from the Troubles?
The major flaw in the Sands documentary is the attempt to make a tentative connection between Sands' dying after 66 days on hunger strike and the current political settlement in Northern Ireland.
This is, in large part, due to the fact that the film-makers fail to ask the most important, indeed the most obvious, question of all about Sand's life and death: would the IRA O/C in the Maze prison really have put his life on the line for a political outcome that was a replica of the one he and his comrades sought to destroy seven years before the hunger strike took place? Would the death fast have reached is tragic conclusion so that we could arrive at Sunningdale Mark II?
Sands' family will tell you (if anyone bothers to ask them) that the young IRA prisoner certainly would not have contemplated sacrificing himself in order that we end up with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.
I do not know if Sands' family were approached to take part in this film, or not, or if they declined to participate in it.
What I am certain of is that the family - including his sister, Bernadette - have stated in the recent past and on several occasions that their brother would never have supported the present dispensation.
Of course, the Irish have displayed a tendency, through the generations, to call up the dead and drag them across the floor to advance current political positions, pragmatic U-turns, or the maintenance of a hard line stance. So, we should always be cautious about assuming what a dead person would have supported (or opposed) had they lived.
Nonetheless, it is fair to say that many of the other hunger strikers - and especially the three Irish National Liberation Army prisoners who starved themselves do death - would never have backed "Sunningdale for slow learners" (to use Seamus Mallon's phrase).
Again, the families of Patsy O'Hara and Mickey Devine from Derry will tell you that these INLA inmates would have been resolutely opposed to the power-sharing settlement 17 years after that dreadful summer - if anyone bothers to ask them.
The Sands' documentary does raise another cultural question about how the Troubles is played out on film, television, the stage and the page.
A binary, black and white narrative storyteller, whether they are pressing a computer keyboard, or standing beside a movie camera, will always present conflict as one between angels and demons - good versus evil.
Real life, as we know, isn't like that and behind the headlines, when the gunsmoke clears and the media move off, the picture is much more complex.
Uncomfortable facts can get in the way of such binary narration, such as the one, for instance, which reveals that republicans actually killed more Catholic civilians than the Army did from 1969 to 1997.
As for emerging artistic voices from the loyalist and unionist communities, polemic and PR never creates true art. Simplistic binaryism that fails to raise uncomfortable complexities will never paint a comprehensive picture of a society at war with itself.
The challenge is on for fresh voices to emerge out of a community that for too long was dangerously stereotyped and pigeon-holed in the "villain" category.
A Dhaka judge Tuesday sent three journalists working for a website to jail, but turned down a police request to remand them over a story they had published that debunked another websites report about a rumor of a plane crash involving the prime ministers son.
The three, who were arrested on Sunday, were jailed without bail and face possible charges under Section 57 of Bangladeshs Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act of 2006, their lawyers said. Those tried and convicted under the clause can be sentenced to between seven and 14 years in prison.
Meanwhile, the head of Bangladeshs telecommunication regulator told BenarNews that it had blocked their website, banglamail24, and the site that had published a report about the rumor involving Sajeeb Wazed Joy, todaynews71.
The online blocks bring to 37 the number of websites blocked by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in recent days. The first 35 were blocked for allegedly making objectionable comments about the government, Commission Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood said.
Banglamail24 and todaynews71 were blocked for spreading a rumor about the prime ministers son, he told Benar on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, 26 rights advocacy groups sent a joint letter to the Bangladeshi government calling on it to release Shafik Rehman, the editor of a Bangladeshi magazine, who has been jailed since his arrest in April over allegations that he conspired with others to harm the prime ministers son.
The delays in this case suggest that there is no evidence against Mr. Rehman, and that he should be released, BBC News quoted the 26 groups, including Reporters Without Borders and the International Federation of Journalists, as saying in the letter.
Mr. Rehman is a professional journalist who has spent a lifetime working for freedom of expression. We are concerned that his arrest represents an attack on press freedoms and forms part of a worrying trend in Bangladesh," the letter added.
To benefit the state
On Sunday night, Bangladeshs Rapid Action Battalion arrested banglamail24.com executive editor Maksudul Alam, acting editor Shahadat Ullah Khan, and reporter Pranta Palash over its report about the report published by todaynews71.
RAB spokesman Mufti Mahmud Khan on Tuesday told BenarNews that his force was trying to locate the people running todaynews71.
The site has no office. Nowadays, one laptop is enough to run an online portal. The person or persons behind posting the fake news would be arrested if we can locate them, Khan said.
On Tuesday, police escorted the three banglamail24.com journalists to the courtroom of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Golam Nabi.
Meanwhile, a security staff member where the banglamail24.com is located told BenarNews on condition of anonymity that RAB had sealed off the office. Its staffers, including publisher Fazlul Azim, a former MP from the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, have gone into hiding.
Police sub-inspector Mizanur Rahman sought a seven-day remand to interrogate the journalists, while Mubinul Islam and fellow defense lawyer Priya Lal Shaha argued against the remand.
The court has turned down the remand request of the police and sent my clients to jail. The hearing on their bail will take place in the cyber court as the charges are related to cybercrime, Islam told reporters following the hearing.
The news item that created an uproar on Facebook was served to benefit the state, but RAB could not understand it, Islam told the court, adding that banglamail24.com posted the news item so that people would not pay heed to the fake report.
My clients had no intention of undermining the state, the prime minister or her son, Islam told the court.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right), talks with Home Minister Rajnath Singh during a Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Committee meeting in New Delhi, Aug. 2, 2016.
Angered by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis comments against cow vigilantism and frequent attacks on the low-caste Dalit community, Hindu fundamentalist groups across the country are threatening to withdraw their support of his nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
He (Modi) has made sweeping statements, such as 80 percent of cow vigilantes were fake. That is not true. It seems he was just trying to appease the Dalits and Muslims for their votes in the upcoming (Uttar Pradesh state) polls, Anuradha Mody of the Holy Cow Foundation, a Delhi-based cow protection group, told BenarNews.
It feels as if we were stabbed by our own man, she said, referring to Modis attack on self-styled anti-cow slaughter activists who frequently take the law into their hands under the pretext of protecting the animal considered holy in Hindu culture.
Cow slaughter and consumption of beef is banned in most states of Hindu-majority India.
On Saturday, during his first Town Hall interaction with Indian citizens since coming to power in 2014, Modi asked state governments to take stern action against anti-social elements masquerading as cow protectors to save themselves.
I request state governments to prepare dossiers of these self-styled cow vigilantes. About 70 percent to 80 percent of them will be those who are involved in anti-social activities, Modi said in his nationally televised speech.
I want to tell everybody to beware of these fake cow protectors. These vigilantes have nothing to do with cow protection. Their only aim is to create tension and conflict, Modi said while addressing a separate gathering in south Indias Telangana state on Sunday.
Modi speaks out for Dalits
Modis comments came nearly a month after four tannery workers of the Dalit community, which figures at the bottom of Hinduisms rigid caste hierarchy, were publicly flogged by cow vigilantes for skinning a dead cow in the PMs home state of Gujarat.
The incident, which sparked national outrage, was just one among a spate of recent violent attacks on the historically marginalized group, long disregarded as untouchables.
The assault, which was videotaped and posted online, triggered widespread protests by the 180 million-strong Dalit community.
What is the reason we torture our Dalit brothers? What right do you have? The section which has suffered for centuries, will you force them to suffer more? Modi asked.
If you want to attack Dalits, attack me first. If you want to fire at Dalits, fire the first bullet at me. The nation will not forgive us if attacks on Dalits continue like this, he said.
Calling the Indian prime minister a snake of the sleeve, Pooja Shakun Pandey of the right-wing group Hindu Mahasabha, said, He had lured people in the name of cow protection to get votes.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu nationalist organization that campaigned for Modi in the 2014 elections, said BJP would pay the price for Modis comments.
The BJP will not be able to come in power again in the 2019 polls, the groups vice president, Sunil Parashar, told reporters.
The prime minister has hurt the sentiments of gau rakshaks (cow protectors) who sacrifice their lives to save cows and (Modi) has termed them as criminals. He will have to pay for it in the next polls, he said.
Neha Patel, a cow vigilante from Gujarat, told BenarNews: It is true there are a few people who dont care about cows but masquerade as cow protectors. But the figure given by Modi is highly overstated. I would say 80 percent to 90 percent of cow vigilantes ate genuine.
Completely sanctimonious
The All India National Congress, the principal opposition party, also took aim at Modi, calling his remarks absolutely humbug.
It is his ideological co-travelers who have been perpetrating this specter of uncertainty and terror in the name of cow lumpenism across the country. Whatever the Prime Minister said was absolutely humbug and completely sanctimonious, Congress leader Manish Tewari told the Press Trust of India.
Dalit leader Bhawan Nath Paswan said Modis speech seemed to be just another a political game plan to secure votes from Dalits, who form 23 percent of Indias 1.25 billion population.
If you see, most of the attacks on Dalits are happening in states where the BJP is in power. If he is so concerned, why does he not order action against the culprits? Paswan told BenarNews.
We voted for Modi not because he belonged to the BJP, but because we wanted him to lead the nation. It is time he now ensures implementation of what he has said, he added.
Political analysts described Modis utterances as an attempt to reach out to the Dalit vote back ahead of the crucial assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in early 2017.
This is not a new practice of the BJP. There is a steady pattern to it. Modi maintains silence until an election nears and then he suddenly speaks of these issues, Deepak Tyagi, a Delhi-based political observer, told BenarNews.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepares to announce the release of the 2015 International Religious Freedom Report, in Washington, Aug. 10, 2016.
Religious intolerance motivated murders in Bangladesh and India while intolerance of diversity lingered in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, the U.S. State Department said in its 2015 International Religious Freedom Report released Wednesday.
Propagation of the Islamic States (IS) hate-filled ideology worsened the problem, Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters as he announced the reports release.
Blinken blamed IS, whom he referred to as Daesh, for ongoing attacks, including in Bangladesh.
Weve also seen Daesh try to adapt by encouraging indiscriminate attacks in as many places as possible a market in Baghdad, a nightclub in Orlando, a promenade in Nice, a cafe in Dhaka, a square in central Istanbul, Blinken told reporters, referring to the July 1 attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe in Bangladeshs capital.
IS claimed responsibility for the attack during which the assailants reportedly separated Muslims from non-Muslim hostages and killed 20 people. Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and other government leaders still claim that IS has no presence in their country.
Reporting on violence in Bangladesh in 2015, the State Department drew attention to six incidents between Feb. 26 and Oct. 31 that killed Avijit Roy, Washiqur Rahman, Ananta Bijoy Das, and Niladri Chottopaddhya and Faisal Arefin Dipan who were described as secularist or anti-Islamic writers and publishers and injured three others.
Throughout the country, Muslim leaders in some villages issued fatwas and members of religious minorities continued to claim they were discriminated, the report noted.
Sunni Muslims constitute 90 percent of Bangladeshs 169 million population and Hindus 9.5 percent, according to State Department figures. The remaining population is Christian (mostly Roman Catholic) and Theravada-Hinayana Buddhist.
4 Die in Indian Riots
India last year suffered from religiously motivated killings, assaults and riots, the State Department said.
In January 2015, more than 5,000 people attacked the majority Muslim village of Azizpur, Bihar, after a young Hindu man was abducted and killed. Attackers burned 25 houses and killed four Muslims.
Unknown assailants killed writer M. M. Kalburi on Aug. 30. Local media speculated that he was killed for his anti-Hindu views.
In October, 41, authors, filmmakers, and other civil society members returned national and state-sponsored awards given by the government-sponsored Sahitya Academy (Academy of Literature) in protest of what they said was the growing religious intolerance in the country and the killing of rationalists and secularists.
Hindus constitute 79.8 percent of Indias 1.3 billion population, according to U.S. estimates. Muslims constitute 14.2 percent, Christians 2.3 percent, and Sikhs 1.7 percent.
Indonesian majority endorses tolerance
In Indonesia, the worlds largest predominantly Muslim country, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) warned of rising resentment against Shia Muslims in East Java, the heartland of the traditionally tolerant Sunni Muslims, according to the report.
Ahmadi Muslims reported discrimination in education and public services and complained about feeling under constant threat from militant groups.
The State Department report said that intolerant religious groups illegally closed houses of worship and widely disseminated materials promoting intolerance.
Indonesias two largest Muslim organizations Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, which represent 70 million members officially endorsed tolerance and reinforced those concepts during leadership conferences in August 2015.
About 87 percent of Indonesias 255.9 million people are Muslims, 7 percent are Protestants, 3 percent Roman Catholics and 1.5 percent Hindus, according to U.S. figures.
Malaysian government promotes Sunni Islam
In neighboring Malaysia, the State Department found on-going reports of intolerance of religious diversity.
While Malaysias constitution states that Islam is the religion of the Federation; but other religions may be practices in peace and harmony, the government promotes Sunni Islam above all other religions.
In several speeches, Prime Minister Najib Razak suggested that the nation would not accept liberal definitions for human rights that stray from the tenets of Islam.
On a positive note, there were fewer reported incidents of violence or aggression against opinions that differ from officially sanctioned positions on religious issues. Despite that improvement, a talk-radio presenter received death and rape threats after she starred in a satirical video criticizing the move to implement hudud (the Islamic penal law) in Kelantan State.
Of Malaysias 30.5 million people, 61.3 percent are Muslims, 19.8 percent Buddhists, 9.2 percent Christians and 6.3 percent are Hindus, according to U.S. figures. Additionally, 1.3 percent practice Confucianism, Taoism or other traditional Chinese philosophies and religions.
Thailand links religion, ethnicity
In Thailand, the military-controlled government, which seized power in a coup in May 2014, has maintained an interim constitution that does not guarantee religious liberty or protection from discrimination based on religion, the State Department reported.
Because religion and ethnicity are closely linked, it is difficult to categorize many incidents as being solely based on religious identity, it said.
In the south, violence between ethnic Malay Muslims and ethnic Thai Buddhists hindered the ability of individuals to practice the full range of religious activities, according to human rights organizations, the report stated.
Because they did not feel safe, Buddhist monks often conducted evening religious rites during daylight hours.
The State Department estimates that 93 percent of Thailands 68 million people are Buddhists and 5 percent are Muslims.
U.N. counter-terrorism official Weixiong Chen addresses the International Meeting on Counter Terrorism (IMCT) in Nusa Dua, Bali, Aug. 10, 2016.
Countries that want to combat terrorism must look at the root causes of this global phenomenon, Indonesias Vice President Jusuf Kalla told an international counter-terrorism conference in Bali on Wednesday.
Anger toward government policy, misconceptions of religion and ideology, and a lack of hope in facing the future are at the core of these causes, Kalla said in a keynote address at the International Meeting on Counter Terrorism (IMCT) in Nusa Dua.
We feel angry seeing victims of terrorism but we also need to look at the roots of the problem in order to resolve it, he said.
The vice president opened the one-day conference of 23 countries and three intergovernmental bodies, which Indonesia co-hosted with Australia and that ran in parallel with an international counter-terrorism financing conference at the same venue.
On Wednesday, Australian officials at the Bali meetings announced that Australia and Indonesia in conjunction with Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines had launched a first-of-its-kind, regional assessment of terror financing.
This is probably the first time that any region across the globe has got together to assess what are the terror financing risk we are in it, Australian Minister of Justice Michael Keenan said, according to an official transcript.
From Australias perspective we believe it will be a very useful document to highlight the area of concerns that we can do better with in Australia, but also where we can share our expertise skill with others in the region to ensure that terrorists cant move money around the Southeast Asian region, he added.
Kalla Evokes U.S. Invasion of Iraq
In his speech before some 200 participants and attendees, Kalla said the so-called Islamic State (IS) had emerged in Iraq and Syria as a result of political instability in those two countries fomented by a superpowers invasion.
Therefore, big countries shouldnt invade other countries for no clear reason, he said.
Kalla added that terrorism cannot be solved with weapons and violence alone, since it arises from distorted ideology and misunderstanding of religion.
The perpetrators of terrorism including what happened recently in Belgium and Paris are people who do not understand religion correctly, he said.
Part of addressing the problem of terrorism, therefore, is changing the thinking of terrorists, he said.
Based on my experience resolving the conflict in Poso, they join terror groups because they are tempted to reach heaven quickly. After I told them they would go to hell, they became aware, he said.
In December 2001, Kalla helped bring about the 10-point Malino Declaration, a peace pact that helped bring an end to Muslim-Christian violence raging in Poso, a regency of Central Sulawesi province, since 1998.
Another issue that has to be anticipated by countries combatting terrorism, Kalla said, is the phenomenon of militants returning to their home countries after becoming Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTF).
Russia was among the 23 countries attending the IMCT conference in Nusa Dua, Bali, Aug. 10, 2016. (Anton Muhajir/BeritaBenar)
Lone wolf
The theme of IMCT was countering cross-border movement on terrorism.
The participation of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), the U.N., and Interpol underlines that efforts by specific countries must be accompanied by robust bilateral, regional and even global cooperation, Indonesias newly appointed Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Wiranto, said in opening the meeting.
Attacks all over the world point to the need for all countries to be involved in the effort to prevent terrorism, he added.
We choose to strengthen cooperation in a sustainable manner, he said.
In addition to political instability and radical ideologies, another reason for the emergence of terrorism, according to Wiranto, is the use of cyber media, the flow of illegal terrorism financing and the return of foreign terrorist fighters to their home countries.
Combined, these forces have given rise to the lone wolf phenomenon, he said, in which individuals are radicalized and carry out attacks without belonging to any terrorist network or organization.
The ease of movement of people, goods and money across national borders has also fed the emergence of foreign terrorist fighters and lone wolf terrorists, he noted.
Paul Jevtovic, the chief of the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (AUSTRAC), told reporters in Bali that the lone-wolf phenomenon was one of the key areas that the countries participating in the regional risk assessment would collaborate on.
Self-funded lone-wolves is one of the key findings that is consistent across the region, Reuters quoted Jevtovic as saying.
ASEAN
Southeast Asian nations are aware of the Foreign Terrorist Fighter phenomenon, ASEAN General Secretary Le Luong Minh told the gathering.
ASEAN has already forged pacts that are key to handling the matter, such as the Declaration on Transnational Crime adopted in Manila in 1997, in which signatory countries agreed to increase their cooperation in fighting cross-border crime including terrorism.
Those commitments were renewed last year with the adoption of the Kuala Lumpur Declaration in Combating Transnational Crime, he said.
ASEAN also agreed to the Convention in Counter-Terrorism.
At a meeting in Kuala Lumpur in October 2015, ASEAN ministers agreed to place greater emphasis on de-radicalization and rehabilitation of militant individuals, as part of their overall approach to combatting terrorism.
This approach was to help those already radicalized or extreme to return to society and to prevent a relapse or return to a militant or terrorist group, he said.
The United Nations has also committed to preventing the proliferation of lone wolves.
Foreign terrorist fighters are increasing the intensity and time period of conflicts issuing significant threats to the countries they stop in and later in their home countries upon return, said Weixiong Chen, deputy executive director of the Counter Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate at the United Nations.
All eyes are on the prospect of Thailand holding elections late next year now that the Election Commission (EC) has certified results of a referendum that backed a controversial constitution proposed by the Thai junta.
After the EC confirmed Wednesday that 61 percent had voted over the weekend in favor of Thailands 20th constitution in 84 years, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha announced on national television that the new charter would be adopted within three months, clearing the way for possible elections in 2017.
Please, everyone, keep a positive atmosphere and prepare for the elections to come tentatively next year, Prayuth, an army general who led a coup that toppled a civilian-led government in May 2014, told the nation.
A day earlier, Meechai Ritchuphand, the chairman of the junta-appointed Constitution Drafting Committee, said he expected elections to take place in late 2017 at the earliest.
But before Thailand can adopt a new charter, the CDC needs to incorporate a clause that would allow 250 senators appointed by the junta to join 500 elected MPs in picking a non-elected person as prime minister following the next elections, he said.
The clause has been widely criticized as changing electoral rules in a way that would water down the power of elected officials and allow the military to influence the electoral process.
After all the process is done, the new charter will be sent to the prime minister who will seek royal endorsement. And when all steps are done, elections may be held in October or November [2017], Meechai said.
Fifty-nine percent percent of eligible voters turned out for Sundays polls, EC Chairman Somchai Srisuthiyakorn said Wednesday.
On the second question, voters were asked whether they agreed with the controversial clause to allow the junta to appoint 250 members 58 percent voted for it, compared with nearly 42 percent who opposed it, according to the ECs final results.
Hollow democracy?
In the months leading up to Sundays vote, the junta had banned public criticism of the draft charter or negative campaigning against it.
Rungwrawee Chalermsripinyorat, an independent political analyst based in Thailands Deep South, said the referendum was not a genuine democratic exercise because of how tightly it was controlled, and that the new charter would not restore full democracy to Thailand.
Some of the yes camp wanted to see elections and the return to normalcy, but at the price of the advance of democracy, she told BenarNews.
The approval of the referendum will result in increased roles for military and autocrats, who are not elected, in the political arena especially when it comes to picking premier, she added.
Thailands major political parties had refused to support the draft charter.
Jatuporn Prompan, chairman of the grassroots movement United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) which aligned with the opposition Pheu Thai party posted a message on Facebook this week, in which he called on politicians to boycott a non-elected person being selected as prime minister under the future format.
[An] outsider must not set foot in Government House, he said.
Prof. Sombat Thamrongthanyawong, a former member of the National Reform Council, told BenarNews that the contentious clause in the draft charter would lead the country down the road to crisis, although supporters of the constitution have argued that it would bring about stability and order after a decade of turmoil in Thai politics.
The outsider premier will [lead] a minority government and this will lead to crisis. A minority government lacks stability. How can it pass budgets, how can it pass laws? Sombat told BenarNews in a telephone interview.
US reactions
The outcome of the referendum and the way that the run-up to it was controlled has drawn scrutiny from abroad, including from one of Thais main allies, the United States.
On Monday, the U.S. State Department voiced concern that the drafting process for the constitution was not inclusive, that open debate was not permitted in the run-up to its adoption.
Once the results are final we urge Thai authorities to proceed with next steps to return Thailand to elected, civilian-led government as soon as possible, State Department spokesman Elizabeth Trudeau told a press briefing in Washington.
As part of the process to return Thailand to democracy, we strongly urge the government to lift restrictions on civil liberties, including freedom of expression, the right to peaceful assembly, so the Thai people can engage in an open, unimpeded dialogue about the countrys political future, she added.
On Wednesday, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch criticized the referendum process and the implications of the draft charters passage at the polls.
The Thai juntas campaign of repression against opponents of the proposed constitution ensured that the referendum wouldnt be fair, said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. Instead of the long-promised return to democratic civilian rule, the new constitution facilitates unaccountable military power and a deepening dictatorship.
The new constitution will entrench the abusive and unaccountable military rule that Thailand has endured since the May 2014 coup, he added. The UN and Thailands friends need to step up their calls for an end to human rights abuses and for genuine democratic reforms.
ein Google-Unternehmen
Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben
Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen
Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. Mit den gewonnenen Informationen mochten wir verstehen, wie unsere Dienste verwendet werden, und die Qualitat dieser Dienste verbessern.
neue Dienste zu entwickeln und zu verbessern
Werbung auszuliefern und ihre Wirkung zu messen
personalisierte Inhalte anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen
personalisierte Werbung anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen
Wenn Sie Alle ablehnen auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies nicht fur diese zusatzlichen Zwecke.
Nicht personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung werden u. a. von Inhalten, die Sie sich gerade ansehen, und Ihrem Standort beeinflusst (welche Werbung Sie sehen, basiert auf Ihrem ungefahren Standort). Personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung konnen auch Videoempfehlungen, eine individuelle YouTube-Startseite und individuelle Werbung enthalten, die auf fruheren Aktivitaten wie auf YouTube angesehenen Videos und Suchanfragen auf YouTube beruhen. Sofern relevant, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auerdem, um Inhalte und Werbung altersgerecht zu gestalten.
Wir verwenden Cookies und Daten, umWenn Sie Alle akzeptieren auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auch, umWahlen Sie Weitere Optionen aus, um sich zusatzliche Informationen anzusehen, einschlielich Details zum Verwalten Ihrer Datenschutzeinstellungen. Sie konnen auch jederzeit g.co/privacytools besuchen.
Answers Africa is one of a kind platform created for Africans both locally and in the diaspora and those seeking for more in-depth information about Africa. We have always focused on creating the highest quality informational contents right from the beginning. We share the most relevant information on the latest and trending news, events, people, and places in Africa.
We produce contents across various categories including Politics, People, Love and Romance, Nature, Entertainment, Technology and pretty much everything else that Africans may find relevant.
We aim to answer the most relevant questions about Africa in areas of entertainment, famous people, emerging technologies while we also engage with various distribution capabilities to connect with Africans in need of information who rely on our website to keep in touch with the world that is changing so fast.
These are some of the articles you may be interested in reading:
10 Famous TV Personalities Born In Ethiopia Ethiopia is a country best known for its fast athletes like Dibaba and Bekele, breathtaking models like Liya Kebede and of course Haile Selassie but there are also famous TV personalities who are doing a great job in entertainment and pushing the country to civilization. The following is a list of ten most famous TV ...
Top 10 African Authors of All Time The pace of present African literature is moving at a high-speed; more defiant in both style and tone than those of the great independence writers generation. Here, the subjects of taboo are widely explored. The emerging African authors of this generation are not afraid to go further afield for the literary fodder. Meanwhile, since the birth ...
Maina Kageni Biography Daughter, Salary and Gay Rumors Maina Kageni is one of those Kenyans who has remained as interesting as ever in the eyes of the public. A strong Red devil fan and lover of football, the man is currently a Breakfast Show presenter with Mwalimu Kingangi on Nairobis Classic 105 Radio Station. Many questions have always emerged on the man in serious ...
Kalekye Mumo Biography, Boyfriend and Salary Kalekye Mumo has been described as someone who is as vibrant as she is beautiful, a Kenyan radio queen, TV host and media personality, movie actress, Musician, businesswoman, and fashionista but what else is there to know about this Kenyan icon, Kalekye Mumo and her co-host Shaffie Weru have been among the most listened to radio presenters ...
Julie Gichuru Bio Age, Husband & Children In Africa, women have a long history of bringing under control obstacles to keep their heads above the water. So, it comes as no surprise whenever African women are recognized and decorated across the continent and globe for performing brilliantly well in their various fields of endeavor. In Kenya for instance, a list of national ...
Jeff Koinange Biography All About His Age, Wife Shaila Koinange & Family Jeff Koinange is a well-known Kenyan journalist. He currently hosts Jeff Koinange Live on KTN. Koinange has served as a journalist in the United States and has also worked for a few U.S. broadcasters. He was born in Kenya but attended college in the United States, which may explain his accent. There are several interesting ...
Caroline Mutoko Biography Age, Daughter & House Caroline Mutoko is a Kenyan radio presenter, famously known for hosting a morning breakfast show on Kiss 100 FM. The station is based in Nairobi and ranks among the highly-rated radio stations in Kenya with online streaming services as well. Learn more about the Kenyan-born journalist. Caroline Mutokos Age and Bio Born on January 4, 1973, Caroline is ...
The Most Stunning News Presenter In Kenya Discloses Her Real Age You Would Not Believe It In modern African societies, it is often regarded as impolite or outright lack of disrespect to ask a woman of her age. We also have seen celebrities lie about how old they are when asked their age. People, mostly women have refused to let people know their real age, despite being public figures. The few ...
Demystifying Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies Biography, Husband & Education Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian novelist, non-fiction writer, short story writer and actress. As a seasoned Nigerian writer, she has been called the most prominent of a procession of critically acclaimed young anglophone authors that is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature. She has been making Nigeria proud in the global scene ...
Wole Soyinka Biography, Wife, Children, Family, Quick Facts Professor Wole Soyinka, a great and brilliant Nigerian writer and political activist, who was the first African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. The name, Wole Soyinka, is a household name both in Africa and beyond especially in the field of literature. With over 50 pieces of work, his writing includes poems, novels, memoirs ...
5 Most Vulgar Kenyan Radio Presenters It appears being vulgar is the real deal nowadays especially for the fact that the world is becoming more exposed and civilized. Sadly, but true, young people are constantly being exposed to images, discussions, and content that most people would deem detrimental to the African culture and moral statutes. This is because most of us ...
6 Sexiest News Anchors In Kenya Some news anchors have been stealing eyes every time they appear on-screen. Most of us hardly concentrate on the programme they present as our entire focus is usually on their striking physique and beautiful faces. It is common knowledge that Kenyan women are amazingly beautiful. From the celebrities to the everyday woman, they are all in ...
Interesting Oprah Winfrey Quotes To Keep You Motivated Oprah Winfrey is one of the worlds most powerful women in the media and business sectors. Her life is the typical success story that motivates and lifts ones morale. One amazing thing about this media mogul is her sincerity about past hurts, mistakes, healing, and success. The renowned talk show host and media personality is the first ...
Chinua Albert Achebe Biography- Family, Net Worth & Death Chinua Albert Achebe, of blessed memory, was a Nigerian prolific author best known for his inventive style of writing and simplicity of expressions. Famed as one of the finest writers Nigeria has ever produced, Achebe lived and died an international hero and a literary giant, who left behind unforgettable legacies and footprints in the sands of ...
Steve Harvey His Wife, Kids & Height Steve Harvey is an American comedian, actor, radio and TV show host, producer and an author of different relationship advice books. Steve Harveys Early Life Born in Welch, West Virginia, on January 17, 1957, as Broderick Stephen Harvey, Steve was the last of five children. His family relocated to Cleveland when he was young and there, he attended Glenville High School from ...
Intriguing Things You Should Know About Danny Kokers Rise to Fame and Who His Wife Is Danny Koker is popular as the star of the History Channel reality TV series, Counting Cars. Prior to him appearing on the show, the TV personality was a musician who had embarked on a number of national tours with his rock group, Counts 77. He and his group have released quite a number of songs ...
Fun Facts You Didnt Know About Andy Cohens Rise to Prominence and His Partner Andy Cohen is one of Americas top media personalities who gained prominence after helping to bring the Bravo network back to life. He also hosted a couple of shows on the network, including the popular nightly series Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. After rising to the position of head of production and development at ...
Tracing Isha Sesays Career Until CNN, Her Worth And Why She Divorce Her Husband As far as journalists of African origin go, Isha Sesay is one of the most famous on the continent and by extension, the world. The Sierra Leonean and British journalist has had a successful career since she joined the industry in 1998. In that time, she has worked for a host of major media ...
Open Secrets of How Joanna Gaines Balances Her Career With Being a Wife and Mother Joanna Gaines is the co-founder of Magnolia Homes, a business she runs with one goal: converting houses to homes. She doubles as the lead designer of the company which she co-owns with her husband, Chip Gaines. Lady Gaines gained massive popularity when she became a co-star with her husband on the HGTVs show, Fixer Upper. ...
Juicy Details of Ayesha Currys Love Story With Stephen, Her Family Members and Recent Pursuits When your husband is one of the greatest basketballers that the NBA has ever seen, then it bestows on you the status of a celebrity wife and may not even demand that you do anything extra to maintain that status. However, Ayesha Curry, the wife of multiple NBA champion, Steph Curry, is not one ...
What Is Tarek el Moussas Ethnicity, Why Did He Divorce His Wife and Who Is He Dating? Tarek El Moussa has made himself one of the most recognizable men on reality television, especially to fans of HGTV. Thanks to his expertise in the world of real estate, Tarek has become a national star. But even to his hardcore followers, there are questions about Tarek El Moussa that remain unanswered, such as his ...
Fun Facts About Natalie Beckers Lonely Childhood and Eventual Career Success Natalie Becker is an actress of South African descent who became famous for her appearance in films like The World Unseen and The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior. A multitalented individual, Natalie is also a television/radio presenter. She is also a co-founder of the Thought Leader Global Media which she runs together with ...
Top 3 Female CNN News Anchors You Didnt Know Were Africans CNN is one of the leading news agencies in the world. The satellite and cable news network was founded in 1980 by Ted Turner and has been one of the best sources of news for a number of years. It also boasts of the best journalists and presenters all around in media broadcasting. The company is a ...
Channels That Aided Katie Pavlichs Growth as a Journalist and All About Her Marriage To Friedson If you have ever come across any Fast and Furious featuring Barack Obama, it is the handiwork of Katie Pavlich. The book which claims to have exposed Obamas bloodiest scandal and the shameless cover-up thereof, has been earning Pavlich much praise and fame ever since it was published in 2012. Nonetheless, Pavlich is more famed ...
Is Oprah Winfrey Married? Husband, Children, Biography, House, Facts Oprah Winfrey is a billionaire philanthropist, talk show icon, producer, actress, and writer. The media icon famously dubbed The Queen Of All Media owns and hosts the highest-rated television program in the media circle. Read more about the powerful television star below. Oprah Winfrey Biography Oprah was born as Orpah Gail Winfrey on January 29, 1954, to a ...
Who Is Arsenio Hall, What Happened To His Talk Show and Why Do Fans Think He Is Gay? He is one of the funniest beings to have graced the comedy constituent of the American entertainment industry. Arsenio Hall has a reputation for the rib-cracking disposition always portrayed in his comedy roles. He is not just a comedian; he is also an actor and a former talk show host for his popular show, The ...
What Is Woah Vicky Famous For and Who Are Her Family Members? Like most social media celebrities in this digital era, Woah Vicky is one of those stars that have utilized the internet as a powerful tool to propel themselves to instant fame. The social media space, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc., offers lots of people the right opportunities and potentials to become superstars overnight. Not everyone achieves ...
Where Is Michael Strahan Since His Retirement From The NFL and Who Is His Partner? Michael Strahan is a retired American football player turned media personality. He played the defensive lineman position and holds the record for most sacks in a single NFL season. He also only played for the New York Giants throughout the entire 15-year professional career that saw him win a Super Bowl ring. In February 2014, ...
How Wendy Williams Went From Being a College DJ to Having Her Own Talk Show and More About Her Divorce Wendy Williams is a former radio personality, now talk show host, who is known for her outspokenness and brash no-nonsense attitude. She gained fame and notoriety for her on-air clashes with celebrities before moving on to host her own talk show. Since 2008, Williams has hosted the nationally syndicated television talk show, The Wendy Williams Show. ...
Who is Sunny Hostin? Her Husband, Family & Net Worth Sunny Hostin is no ordinary Latina American lawyer but also a successful columnist, multi-platform journalist, and social commentator. A happily married woman and mother of two, Hostin is the Senior Legal Correspondent and Analyst for ABC News and co-host of ABCs popular morning talk show, The View. She is a legal expert popularly known as a former ...
Who Is Robert Costa and Is He Married, Who Is His Wife? Robert Costa is a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC who is regarded as being part of Americas next generation of journalists. The University of Notre Dame graduate, who is of Italian/Portuguese descent, has been lauded for his fresh political perspectives in an industry full of old heads. In addition to his work listed above, Costa ...
Team Valor Pokemon Go 7 Key Facts You Need To Know Team Valor Pokemon Go The craze of the new game Pokemon Go is one that took the gaming world by storm sending teenagers and adults alike into a frenzy and one of its teams Team Valor, has proven to be instrumental in making it so. Before the game was created, Pokemon was a cartoon ...
Sheryl Underwood Husband, Family & Net Worth She is known for her trademark smile which can be described as the brightest and broadest smile ever seen on planet earth. She is none other than Sheryl Underwood the comedian, actress, and TV host whose funny wits has left America in great awe. Although Sheryl has risen to become an important personality in the industry, ...
Team Mystic Pokemon Go: 7 Facts You Need To Know And Signs You Are One Team Mystic of the break out game Pokemon Go is a team that is full of sass and chivalry. With an enchanting monicker, Team Mystic stands out from the rest of its counterparts and deserves to take the crown as champion in the Pokemon gaming-verse. To be a member of this exceptional team of Pokemon battle ...
Exploring Guy Beahms Dr Disrespect Persona, Wife and Why He was Banned Permanently From Twitch Guy Beahm who is popularly known by his online alias Dr DisRespect, is an award-winning Twitch.tv streamer. He has leveraged on the Twitch platform to become an internet personality that is quite widely known. His online success is just more proof that anyone who is good at what they do can attain celebrity status ...
Critical Facts About Lee Ann McAdoo The Infowars Anchor Lee Ann Mcadoo is a conservative journalist and television host whose interests in conspiracies and astrology has established her as a famous American reporter. Often referred to as Wonder Woman, McAdoo is a reporter who works for InfoWars.com, a controversial right-wing website run by radio show host, Alex Jones. Who Is Lee Ann McAdoo? Lee Ann McAdoo was born on 7 ...
Millie Weaver Age, Husband & Infowars Career Millie Weaver is an American model, journalist, political activist, and social commentator. The young and beautiful journalist rose to fame working as a reporter for a controversial right-wing website InfoWars.com. Also known as Millennial Millie, Weaver is a social media influencer with over 100,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel and over 35,000 followers on Twitter. Who Is Millie Weaver and What Is ...
Is Jessica Tarlov Married? What Are Her Height & Weight? Jessica Tarlov is an American political consultant, strategist, and analyst whose influential and regular TV presence has made a popular figure. A good example of beauty with brains, Tarlov has appeared on various TV networks, mostly the FOX News Network where she is known for her liberal views on political analysis and insights. She is also the senior director ...
Who Is Kelly Rebecca Nichols Alex Jones Ex-Wife? Kelly Rebecca Nichols is the ex-wife of controversial American radio show host, Alex Jones. She got nationwide attention following her divorce and subsequent custody battle with her estranged husband. Nichols, who worked with PETAs public relations department, was herself no stranger to controversies as she was involved in several publicity stunts of the non-profit animal rights ...
Who Is Bree Morgan Cole Sprouse Ex-Girlfriend And What Is She Up To Now? Although Bree Morgan became famous through the Instagram, she also sapped some dose of popularity from Disneys sweetheart, Cole Sprouse of the Sprouse brothers. She is not only an Instagram star but also a YouTube vlogger whose popularity has long exceeded the ordinary level. Bree is conspicuously prominent on the internet and has her digital savviness ...
Does Vanna White Have Husband or Children, What Is Her Net Worth / Salary? For over three decades, Vanna White has been a household name, famous as the co-host and letter turner of the iconic NBC game show Wheel of Fortune. The talented and beautiful television personality is also an actress with several TV series and films to her credit. Since making her Wheel of Fortune debut in 1982, she has become one ...
Liz Wheeler Biography, Husband & Net Worth Liz Wheeler is the kind of girl who sets the room on fire whenever she comes around. In this situation, however, she sets our screens on fire each time she appears as the host of One America News Tipping Point. She is, therefore, a presenter, publisher, consultant and a member of the Board of Zoning ...
Betty White Net Worth, Children & Husband The entertainment industry will remain indebted to personalities like Betty White who brought something extra to the table and kept the world entertained for donkey years. The comedienne, actress, and writer graced the big screens in the early 50s as a show host and has been a delight since then. She is the queen of ...
Is Bill Nye (The Science Guy) Dead or Alive, What Are His Net Worth & Education? Everyone will always remember Bill Nye as the Science Guy. Besides his TV show Bill Nye the Science Guy, he is well-known for his Netflix show Bill Nye Saves the World which started airing in 2017 as well as his appearances in many famous media projects as a science educator. The star studied mechanical engineering ...
Is Cesar Millan Dead, Who Is The Wife & What Is His Net Worth? Cesar Millan is the famous dog whisperer who often stirs up mixed emotions. The Mexican-American is precisely speaking, a dog behaviorist; he has been in the game for over 25 years. His Emmy-nominated television series, Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan further pushed his method and tactics into the limelight. The series was produced from 2004 ...
Is Thomas Sanders Gay and Does He Have A Boyfriend? By the time Vine was shut down in January 2017, Thomas Sanders was already popular within and beyond the internet community for his heavy involvements on the online video hosting platform. After the tragic shutdown of Vine impacted on the growing career of the multi-talented personality, he immediately switched over to YouTube where he continued to upload ...
Is Shepard Smith Gay, Who Is The Boyfriend & What Is His Net Worth? There are only a few media personalities who are as bold and confident as Shepard Smith. Apart from his impressive stint at Fox News Channel which includes but not limited to his classic news delivery, upfront stance on virtually every issue and much more; he loves his job as much as he loves his personality. Smith ...
Is Milo Yiannopoulos Gay? His Husband and Net Worth Milo Yiannopoulos is a popular writer, journalist, polemicist, public speaker, and political commentator who is also known as the founder of The Kernel, an online blog. He has been said to be among the list of 100 weird and influential people in the United Kingdom. He appeared on this list as a result of personal beliefs and ...
Does Ryan Seacrest Have A Wife Or Girlfriend, What Is His Net Worth? From radio to television, Ryan Seacrest is a household name and a force to be reckoned with in showbiz. The radio personality, television host, and producer is best recognized as the host of the popular TV talent search contest American Idol. Heres how the media personality who always knew what his lifes ambition was and diligently pursued ...
Is Anderson Cooper Gay, Who is The Boyfriend or Husband? For many, the thought of becoming a millionaire by writing and talking about other people appears unachievable but this is the reality of the prominent American journalist Anderson Cooper who gathered millions of dollars for conducting accurate political analysis and other vital reports on TV. He is the main anchor of the CNN news show Anderson ...
Is David Muir Gay or Does He Have A Wife, What Is His Salary? David Muir is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who works for the ABC broadcast-television network and anchors the ABC World News Tonight with David Muir program while also co-anchoring the magazine program 20/20. The Ithaca College graduate, whose show has become the most-watched newscast in America, has covered stories from all across America and the world; reporting ...
Joel Osteen Divorce Rumors, Net Worth & Family Members Joel Osteen is an American Televangelist, Senior Pastor of Lakewood Church based in Houston, Texas, a husband and a father of two. He is an author of many books, seven of which are New York Times Best Sellers and his televised sermons capture more than 7 million viewers per week and 20 million every month ...
Who Is Todd Chrisley? What To Know About His Children, Gay Rumors & Net Worth Premiered on the USA network in 2014, Chrisley Knows Best is one of the most watched family reality TV shows in the U.S. The series which is currently in its sixth season is centered around U.S real estate mogul Todd Chrisley and his family. The show reveals Todd the patriarch of the Chrisley family as a strict dad who rules ...
Who Is Shannon Bream Of Fox News? Her Husband, Children & Net Worth Shannon Bream who hosts the iconic primetime program started her journalism career in the late 1990s debuting as the evening and late-night news reporter for the CBS affiliate, WBTV. The beauty from America currently works for the Fox News Channel and she is best known for anchoring the primetime program. She also hosts Americas News ...
Is Troye Sivan Gay, Who Is His Boyfriend and What Is His Net Worth? Troye Sivan is an Australian singer and songwriter best known for songs like Happy Little Pill, Youth, Heaven (with Betty Who) and The Boyfriend Tag (with Tyler Oakley) which have all garnered him different awards and ranked on the Billboard Charts. Sivan, who was born in South Africa but now resides in the United States, is ...
Did iDubbbz Have Cancer, Is He Gay and Who Is His Girlfriend Now? iDubbbz is one YouTuber who has made a career out of courting controversy. Renowned for his absurdist channels and comedy video series, the Los Angeles based personality is the owner of two channels, iDubbzTV, and iDubbzTV2, as well as the brains behind comedy video series such as Content Cop, Kickstarter Crap, Gaming News Crap, and ...
Inside Greg Gutfelds Love Story With Wife Elena Moussa and Why Fans Thought He Was Gay Greg Gutfeld is a seasoned American television producer whose career in the media industry has spanned over a decade. He is a man of many talents who makes extra income through comedy, journalism, and editorial works. Gutfeld regularly appears on Fox News Channel as a panellist and co-host of the political talk show The Five ...
Works That Made Bo Burnham A Household Name and How Much He Is Worth Now One of YouTubes first viral stars and the worlds most exciting young comedian, Bo Burnham, has always amazed critics and comedy aficionados alike. Often regarded as the Justin Bieber of comedy, thanks to his fresh looks, floppy blond hair and hoodies, he has a multi-faceted career bigger than many comedians twice his age. It wouldnt ...
Is Louie Anderson Gay And What Is His Net Worth? Louie Anderson has one of the most abstract faces in the industry and equally knows how to use it to his advantage. He is not only a stand-up comedian but also an actor and television host who is known for his distinctive comic wits. Some of his notable projects include Family Feud, where he was ...
Is Don Lemon of CNN Gay, Who is His Partner and What Is His Salary? Don Lemon has risen to become one of the most recognizable faces on CNN over the past few years. The fiery journalist, who anchors CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, is liked and somewhat disliked for his strong and candid opinions on a variety of matters that do not just include politics but also race, significantly, matters that ...
Is Rachel Maddow Gay, Who is the Wife and How Much Does She Earn in Salary? Rachel Maddow is an award-winning American journalist, political commentator, and television news anchor. She is best known for hosting the popular nightly TV show The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. Prior to this, she hosted a talk radio program on Air America Radio from 2005 to 2010. As of now, the TV sensation co-anchors MSNBCs ...
Demystifying Pokimane Her Real Name, Ethnicity & Boyfriend Like most social media celebrities in this digital era, Pokimane Thicc is one of those stars who took advantage of the internet to make a name for herself. Given the unlimited potentials which the social media space offers, many people have been instantly propelled to fame just by posting creative online contents. Not only has ...
A Breakdown of Kris Jenners Net Worth, Sources Of Income and Relationships Over The Years Standing outside and looking in, Kris Jenner looks like the oil that greases the wheels of the entire Kardashian/Jenner machine. She has been dubbed a momager and rightfully so because she seems to have had a part to play in the trajectory of each and every one of her daughters individually and the Kardashian brand ...
Pursuits That Brought Liza Koshys Fame To its Zenith and Her Love Life Since David Dobrik Liza Koshy is an American actress who has leveraged YouTube as a platform to promote her comedy while also serving as a television host on occasions. She is talented and funny and has gathered a lot of fans from around the world. Koshy started on Vine in high school and was able to get millions of ...
Alex Aiono Biography Inside The Life Of The American Singer Not everyone who started from the streets has attained the heights where Alex Aiono is currently. His story could be referred to as the perfect definition of rising from Grass to Grace. He came into the limelight after he started out as a YouTuber, singer, and producer. One fascinating thing about the young YouTuber is ...
Virginia Vallejo Biography And Her Love Story With Pablo Escobar Virginia Vallejo can be referred to as one of the oldest whistleblowers in history after her involvement with Pablo Escobar which made her famous. Over the years, many questions have been raised about her relationship with the drug lord and why she endangered her life to be with him despite his notorious acts. The death ...
Princess Love Bio Ethnicity, Real Name & Parents For many people, Princess Love is simply Ray Js wife but there is so much more to this feisty lady than meets the eye. She is a star in her own right and has many feathers on her cap. Princess Love is a reality TV star, a model, video vixen, and fashion designer. She and her ...
Who is Papa Franku Also Known As Filthy Frank or Joji, Where is He Now? The social media as we all know today has given people the opportunity to be creative and innovative and at the same time, make something of themselves. YouTube is one of the known social platforms we have today that makes it possible for people to express their God-given talents and post videos they created to ...
Who Is Molly Qerim, How Did She Become a Famous Sports Anchor and Who Is Her Husband? Molly Qerim is an American sports anchor popularly known for moderating First Take, a highly rated sports talk show, on ESPN. Prior to joining ESPN, Qerim hosted Fantasy Live and NFL AM on NFL Network. It is quite obvious that the widely acclaimed television personality is in a class of her own when it comes ...
Safiya Nygaard Height, Parents & Net Worth Safiya Nygaard is an American YouTuber, writer, content producer, and director who is popular for posting makeup, beauty and fashion videos on YouTube. Her videos regularly top at least one million views, thanks to her lively character as well as her willingness to experiment with outrageous outfits and different beauty products. Here are the things to ...
The Rigors of Sunlen Serfatys Career Journey Until CNN and Fun Facts About Her Personal Life CNN correspondent, Sunlen Serfaty is an Emmy Award-winning journalist known for covering a broad range of breaking news stories, national news, and Washington politics. She has been able to garner widespread recognition for herself which even goes beyond the sphere of her work. Her profile also increased with the extensive work she did in covering ...
Demystifying Jazz Jennings Real Name, Boyfriend & Family Of One The Youngest Transgenders Jazz Jennings is an unusual personality who became famous as a transgender activist and was recorded as the youngest documented public figure to be seen as transgender. She is also a YouTube personality and spokesmodel for brands, her fans, and other transgenders. She fought for acceptance in her high school with her super supportive family for over ...
Inside Fred Armisens Life Ethnicity, Romantic Relationships and Gay Rumors Fred Armisen is an award-winning American comedian, he is also a writer, an actor as well as a musician. He was a cast member of the legendary comedy show, Saturday Night Live for 13 years and also one of the brains behind the successful satirical show Portlandia. Find out more about this incredibly talented guy ...
Ed and Lorraine Warren Biography: Cases, Kids, and Family Life Have you ever woken up with fear you could not explain, or felt a strange presence that made the hair at your nape rise or even experienced strange occurrences around you? Well, these were some of the promptings that made the well-known paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren delve into trying to explain the ideas ...
Truth About Tony Romos Wife, Kids and Life Since His NFL Retirement Tony Romo grew from the field as a quarterback to the screens as an American Football Analyst. He was a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in the richest football league in the world (NFL) before retiring. As a junior, he was honored as an All-Ohio Conference Member, an Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and ...
Who is Brittany Venti, The Controversial Game Streamer and YouTuber? In recent times, many people live stream themselves playing video games. This has become a popular pastime on the internet and many highly skilled gamers have become internet celebrities through this means. However, some of them rather than becoming renowned for their gaming skills and great commentary, have become controversial and infamous. A good example ...
Rob Dyrdeks Family: His Kids And Relationship With Wife Bryiana Noelle Flores A multi-talented star and an elite pro skateboarder, Rob Dyrdeks success story began at a remarkably young age. Yet another proof that schooling doesnt always correlate with success, Rob has established himself not just as a phenomenal sportsman but also as a successful entrepreneur. Besides perfecting his skill as a natural talent on the board, ...
xChocobars Biography and Everything You Should Know About Her Having distinguished herself and recorded massive successes in an industry notably dominated by men, it is very safe to say that Xchocobars deserves all the attention and cash she makes from her career. A household name on Twitch (a smart live streaming video platform), the online-gamer is popularly known for streaming classic games such as Stardew ...
Everything To Know About Mary Padian, Her Boyfriend and Net Worth Mary Padian is a famous American television reality personality best known for her involvements on the Reality show Storage Wars. She also has her own shop called Mary finds where she displays her antique collections. Since her childhood, Padian has been a creative learner. At the time, she used to create new items out of reusable ones and ...
Betsy Woodruffs Family Life: Is She Married or Related To Bob Woodruff? An old name in the world of journalism, Betsy Woodruff has warmed her way into the hearts of many with her impressive talents. Through hard work, Woodruff has carved a niche for herself in a very competitive field. Betsy has strong family and work values and is also an advocate for equal opportunities for everyone ...
Matpat (Matthew Patrick) Wife, Height & Net Worth As far as internet business is concerned, Matpat remains one of the most dynamic and seasoned figures. He boasts a wealth of experience that has helped him in growing his business from one level of greatness to another. Like most successful people, MatPat started out small but today, he makes millions of dollars from his ...
Facts About Ricegum His Girlfriend, Real Name & Net Worth Ricegum is an online gamer and YouTube sensation who ditched college; took advantage of the digital era, and made a name for himself on the internet. Though he began as a gaming YouTuber, Ricegum soon gained recognition as a controversial internet star following his many diss tracks. Here is everything you need to know about the youngster ...
Joy Taylor Once Married MLBs Richard Giannotti Inside Look At Her Love Life and Family The erosion of the sexist idea that women have no business in sports broadcasting created a host of women celebrities who attained fame outside of modeling and acting. One of them, Joy Taylor, a radio personality and TV host for Fox Sports 1, has been in the industry since 2009, becoming one of the most ...
What To Know About Conan OBriens Wife, Kids & Family Today The name Conan OBrien is one that jumps right at you almost immediately you start talking about the most popular television hosts in the USA and this is no surprise because the man behind that name has risen to become one of the most admired men in the business. Known for hosting the late-night talk ...
David Letterman Net Worth, Wife & Son In all of American, one man whose face has been seen frequently by late night TV talk show lovers is none but David Letterman. The comedian and TV show veteran has been hosting late night talk shows for more than three decades. His Late Night with David Letterman show began on February 1st, 1982 aired ...
Demystifying Sssniperwolfs Family Background And The Boyfriends Shes Had Since she launched her eponymously named channel in 2013, Sssniperwolf has been on the rise when it comes to video game influencers. She is one of the biggest names in the online gaming subgenre of YouTube videos. Real name Lia Shelesh, she started with Call of Duty: Black Ops II but has diversified with other ...
Lester Holt Wife, Family & Net Worth Lester Holt is a multiple award-winning journalist, newscaster, reporter, and actor who has worked for notable media houses like WCBS TV, CBS, MSNBC and among others. His remarkable feat in journalism has endeared him to the hearts of many and earned him some awards and recognitions. Read on to get acquainted with his biography, ethnicity, ...
What Is Louis C.K. Doing Now, Where Are His Family And How Much Is His Net Worth? It is not easy to make it in comedy. It takes more than a funny bone and the ability to elicit a few giggles from a listening audience. For all the complexities that go into making a successful career in comedy, Louis C.K, the Washington D.C-born comedian, did it. For years, he was at the ...
The Progression of Hoda Kotbs Career, Her Ancestry and Family Life Hoda Kotb gained fame as a television host and news anchor for NBC. She anchors the shows signature show Today, and it has been an excellent vehicle for her skills in front of a camera. Kotb has won several awards, including Daytime Emmys and Peabody Awards. Simply put, she is one of the most successful ...
Jerry Seinfelds Family: All About The Amazing Comedians Wife and Kids Apparently one of the highly important entertainers in America, Jerry Seinfeld is a man of many talents. A very funny man, he is considered to be one of the most successful comedians in the USA who has been in the business as a professional rib-cracker for more than 40 years. As an actor, he has ...
The Rigors Of Sarah Silvermans Rise To Prominence And Rundown Of The Men She Has Dated A comedian, writer, and actress, Sarah Silvermans art and craft is as unique as you would ever find. Her poignant use of comedy to discuss social issues such as race, sexism, politics, and religion has gained her an impressive following. As unorthodox as her style is, so is her life experiences. She previously suffered from epiglottitis ...
Who Is Hannibal Buress, Does He Have A Wife or Girlfriend & Why Was He Arrested? Making people laugh when they are tense or not in the mood is a tough order and to ply the trade, it must indeed take some guts and expertise, this is what the humor maker, Hannibal Buress has been able to achieve and sustain after his inital teething process. The African-American is a screen writer, stand-up ...
The Success of John Mulaneys Career Efforts Since His Work On Saturday Night Live and Facts About His Wife John Mulaney had been working as a professional comedian for years before Saturday Night Live changed his status for life and like many who are now his fans, you probably did not know of him then. However, that changed when he joined the sketch comedy show in 2008. Since then, he has been one of ...
Jeff Dunham Wife, Children and Net Worth Ventriloquism is a very subtle method of making an inanimate object (like a puppet, doll or dummy) appear to be saying words which are actually coming from the person (holding the inanimate object). In effect, the individual throws his/her voice to the puppet and can even appear to be having a conversation with it. Not ...
Ellen DeGeneres Net Worth, Wife Portia de Rossi & Parents Ellen DeGeneres is an American female standup comedian who has proven that whatever a man can do, a woman can also do. Since her journey as a standup comedian started in 1981, she has held swirl as one of the finest comedians America and the world at large has seen. She is often referred to ...
Revisiting Joan Rivers Death The Daughter, Husband & Net Worth She Left Behind Joan Rivers was a renowned American comedian, TV host, writer, and actress. Her brand of comedy consisted of scathing one-liners and no individual or topic is spared. She hosted her own talk shows in the 80s and 90s and was a pioneer for women in stand up comedy. She was the first woman to host a late night ...
The Struggles of Margaret Chos Childhood, How It Influenced Her Career Growth and Love Life Margaret Cho is best described as a comic star who knows how to maneuver everything related to life into a rib-cracking joke. She is also known to criticize every social and political problem, especially those involving race and sexuality. Apart from her talents as a comic actress, she does amazingly well as a singer and ...
Where Is Eric Bolling Today? Who Is His Son & What Is His Net Worth? Eric Bolling who was once a notable figure on Fox News, is an American TV personality, an author, and versatile Journalist. As a political and financial analyst/commentator, he anchored discussions bothering on finance for Fox Business Channel. Here is everything there is to know about his career, family, and allegations that led to his exit ...
Who Is Chelsea Handler and Does She Have A Husband or Boyfriend? Chelsea Handler is one of Americas top female comedians. She is also an actress, writer, television host, producer, and activist. She is known to be very outspoken even with things that are very personal. In separate interviews with The New York Times, Handler revealed that she had an abortion twice when she was 16. She has authored five books ...
How Did Laura Lee Achieve Fame, How Much is She Worth and Who is Her Husband? Laura Lee is a popular American YouTuber, make-up artist and beauty blogger. From posting videos of her makeup routines on Instagram, Lee has transformed into a beauty influencer and a YouTube sensation. Today, her YouTube Channel has over 630 million views and 4.5 million subscribers. Asides having millions of followers across all social media platforms, ...
Madison Gesiotto Bio Ethnicity, Parents & Measurements Madison Gesiotto is no ordinary woman; although she excelled in quite a number of pageants and competitions while she was in school, it is her views on politics and issues in America that has made her name known to most people. She possesses beauty and intelligence in a seemingly equal measure and has been able ...
Who Is Lil Tay? Parents, Brother, Sister, Age, Net Worth, Ethnicity Child stardom is nothing new in the entertainment world. With the advent of social media, we have seen more stars made from the internet than ever before, and Lil Tay is one of them. Her uploaded rap videos trademark is cursing, swearing, cash-throwing, and use of obscene languages. Her fame went wild after she dropped ...
What To Know About Tig Notaros Wife, Kids and Family Today Tig Notaro is an American stand-up comic star, writer, actress, and radio analyst. Since she started her career in 2001, she has become one of Americas best comedians, particularly when it comes to observational comedy. One prominent aspect of her routine involves her family, which includes a wife and two children. Interestingly, Tig Notaro is part ...
Who Is Chantel Jeffries? What To Know About Her Age, Ethnicity & Net Worth Chantel Jeffries is a lady of many talents. Beyond being celebrated as a DJ, she has fared well as a model, an actress, musician, and as an artist. She first rose to fame on Instagram where she has a large following. However, in recent times, she has hit the spotlight for her rumored relationships with some ...
Is Ellen DeGeneres Married, Who Is The Brother Vance DeGeneres and Family Members? Ellen DeGeneres is one of a kind celebrity in todays world as she has used her wealth for the greater good for many people. She has served a host of famous awards shows like the Grammy, Primetime Emmy and Academy Awards. Moreso, she is probably one of the most decorated entertainment personalities around the world and ...
Carli Bybel Bio Height, Boyfriend & Net Worth Video blogging is now on the rise and YouTube is the place where most of it happens. If you are a lady who cares about her looks or a guy who likes to help his woman out with her looks, then one person whose name rings a bell when it comes to giving beauty tips ...
Who Is Lexy Panterra? What To Know About Her Ethnicity, Boyfriend & Net Worth Lexy Panterra is one of the YouTube personalities whose breakout came through the Twerk dance videos she posted on her social media handles and YouTube which has so far generated over 13 million views for her. From there on, she created her LexTwerkOut workout program in 2014. She is sure very talented as she as moved ...
Who Is AnneMunition? What Is Her Ethnicity & Does She Have A Girlfriend or Boyfriend? AnneMunition is a professional gamer and content creator of American origin. She is one of the most sought-after streamers on Twitch a popular online platform for watching and streaming videos, especially video games. AnneMunition has almost half a million followers on Twitch and her channel has accumulated at least 13 million views. Her favorite games ...
Norm MacDonald Former Wife, Son & Net Worth Recently, 59-year-old former Saturday Night Live stand-up comic Norm MacDonald caused a not-so-funny stir when he expressed his personal opinion about the #MeToo movement speaking in defense of Louis CK and Roseanne Barr. Following the backlash of his actions, he is diligently doing damage control for his questionable opinion by posting a public apology on ...
Inside Iliza Shlesingers Life With Husband and How Much She is Worth Now Witty, spontaneous, and truly humorous, Iliza Shlesinger is an American comedian who is clearly proving that the stereotypical claim that women are not really funny is not only incredibly wrong but completely outrageous. Having been in the game for more than 10 years, Shlesinger has grown bigger with each step, stunning fans with her incredible ...
Who Is Nessa Diab? Details of her Parents, Ethnicity & Relationship With Colin Kaepernick Nessa Diab has gained more fame as the girlfriend of different footballers than in her career. She is currently with the popular National Football League (NFL) player, Colin Kaepernick, and has stood by his side during his most trying times. Also known for her mononym, Nessa, she recently engaged in a tweet battle with the ...
Samantha Bee Inside the Life of Full Frontal Comedian and Presenter We have over the decades seen various brands of humor and personalities who have walked the ropes. One of the formidable forces in the world of comedy is no other than the iconic Samantha Bee of the Daily Show who now runs her own television show on TBS channel. She is a Canadian-American political commentator, ...
What Happened To Jessica Williamss Boyfriend And Which Are Her Best Works? Jessica Williams is a woman who has a lot of feathers in her cap and keeps acquiring more. The former senior political correspondent of the comic Daily Show, who is also a comedian and actress whose recent movie appearance include starring as a playwright just recovering from a recent split with her boyfriend, Damon, and ...
Who is Nicole Byer? Here are 5 Facts You Need To Know About The Comedian Nicole Byer, an American comedian, actress, and writer, made a name for herself after she played supporting roles on MTVs prank show Ladylike and the reality show Girl Code. The latter was a series that featured comedians who analyzed in minute details, all the issues that young women deal with daily, from period to dating, to weird friendship dynamics and questions about sex. Currently, ...
A Closer Look At Bart Kwans Ethnicity, Height & Personal Life Bart Kwan is one of few Asians who is known for being successful in the comic industry at an international level. His fame broke out after the YouTube channel which he created with his close pal Joe Jo garnered up massive followings. The talented duo has been running the channel since 2007 and their success ...
Heres How VanossGaming Achieved Fame Online, His Worth and Other Facts About The Gamer For many years, the decision to drop out of college to pursue an online career was considered to be foolish and self-destructive by conventional wisdom. It was no different when Evan Fong, popularly known as VanossGaming, dropped out of college to pursue a YouTube career. However, that radical move paid off, and he stands shoulder to ...
Desi Perkins Ethnicity, Net Worth & Husband YouTube is littered with videos of makeup tutorials by different people but if you are interested in learning how to do your makeup like a pro, there is just one person on that platform who you must follow. She is none other than Desi Perkins! She is a popular make-up artist, Instagram star, and vlogger. Desi, ...
The Phases of Casey Neistats Pursuits and His Love Story With Candice Pool YouTuber, vlogger, filmmaker, and creator extraordinaire; these are just a few hats that Casey Neistat wears and the story of how he got here is incredible. A native of Connecticut, Neistat started out by making refreshingly-authentic short films and videos that featured content that was based on everyday life and called attention to serious issues. He ...
Connor Franta Inside The Life of American YouTuber YouTube has produced a lot of young celebrities in modern times and Connor Franta happens to be one of them. Apart from being a YouTuber, the young American is also an entrepreneur, entertainer, and writer. His journey to fame began almost a decade ago when he started a self-named YouTube channel where he uploads content ranging ...
Rhett and Link Bio, Who are Their Wives, Net Worth and Family Facts Rhett and Link refer to an American comedy duo who are very popular on YouTube. They are known for their comic songs, viral commercials, skits and the daily show, Good Mythical Morning. Good Mythical Morning is the most watched daily show online, averaging 100 million views in a month. The show has featured guests such ...
A Walk Through The Maze of Ryan Higas Career Pursuits And Relationship With Arden Cho Ryan Higa is not only celebrated as a YouTube star, but he is also famed for appearing on television screens as an actor and comedian. Nigahiga, his Youtube channel, has gathered over 20 million subscribers and billions of views with his different comic acts, short films, and music videos uploads. With the rise in his career, ...
What to Know About The Shows That Made Craig Ferguson a Star and His Family Ties Rising to the top of your profession can sometimes be a hard and difficult process. It requires days and nights of working consistently hard to be better than what you were yesterday. It requires not giving up when all of your experiences seem to be pushing you to quit. It is because of these challenges ...
David Dobrik Married Liza Koshy for One Month Inside His Family and Relationships David Dobrik is a YouTube sensation who has garnered fame not just for his vlogs but his love life too. Given his career as a YouTuber, his channel is one place where he shares his romantic escapades. With a cute boyish look like his, this Slovakian young man is definitely a good catch, and not ...
Merrell Twins Bio Ethnicity, Parents & Boyfriend One of the beautiful things about modern life is social media. As rudimentary as it might seem, it could turn out to be the greatest thing that would be invented in the next 50 years because of its impact on human life. Very few tools have revolutionized human behavior and culture as much as social ...
Who Is Bunny Meyer, Is She Married & What Is Her Net Worth? Bunny Meyer is a YouTube celebrity who has amassed over 8.8 million subscribers with 1.5 million viewers on her channel. She is popularly known as Grav3yardgirl and is one of the highest-paid YouTubers in the world. She initially started out as a fashion designer and later chose the path of a YouTuber. Grav3yardgirl has used her knowledge on fashion, makeup, ...
Ninja Inside The Life of The American YouTuber and Internet Personality Ninja is a talented video game player known for his mastery of Fortnite and other seemingly difficult games he plays with ease. The video gamer made a career out of what is ordinarily the hobby of many people and has since then amassed a huge online following. Find out about him here, including the controversies that ...
What Is Eva Gutowskis True Sexuality and How Did She Rise So Fast As an Influencer? Ever since Eva Gutowski joined YouTube in 2011, it has been an interesting journey for her, moving from one milestone to the other. Backed by an army of young women and teenage girl fans known as Evanators, she has risen to become one of the most-talked-about personalities in the digital stratosphere. She has also leveraged ...
Emma Chamberlain Biography Age, Height & Net Worth Before now, people in the entertainment industry could only achieve popularity after many years of dedication and hard work but since social media came into the scene, massive success and overnight popularity became possible. That is the story of Emma Chamberlain who encountered fame as a fifteen-year-old. Emma is one of the many young people who became ...
Anna Akana Ethnicity, Boyfriend & Net Worth There is a new crop of YouTubers known by their different contents with a very strong uniqueness that stands every one of them out, some upload video games, some fashion while some others have comedy video contents to showcase on their channels. Anna Akana has used her platform to showcase her comedy contents to the ...
Revealing Truths About Lilly Singhs Ethnic Background, Family and Her Relationship With Yousef Erakat Lilly Singh is an Indian-Canadian YouTube personality, actress, and comedian also known as Superwoman. She kicked off her YouTube career in 2010 with the launch of her channel IISuperwomanII and followed it up with a vlog channel in 2011. This paved the way for her fame and success which led to a world tour. The ...
Who Is Andrea Constand, Is She Married and What Is Her Connection With Bill Cosby? Many people got sexually molested but could not voice out due to the stigma victims suffer and what will become of them thereafter. Very few of the victims danm every consequence to seek justice and bring the perpetrator to the book, like Andrea Constand. She never got any media buzz, not until her friend cum molester; ...
Who Is Lazarbeam (Lannan Eacott)? Here Are Facts You Need To Know Lannan Eacott became a person of interest after his YouTube channel, LazarBeam pulled him to the limelight. Initially, he started with uploads of Madden Challenge videos before deciding to build his own channel in January 2015. Within the space of three years, his YouTube channel had gathered over 7 million loyal subscribers. Today, he has not ...
Puzzling Facts About Wengies YouTube Success and More About Her Fiance Among the many YouTubers who have succeeded in winning the hearts of millions of people is Wengie. She is a Chinese-Australian YouTube personality, vlogger, singer, and voice actress. Wengie is famous for a lot of things, from her simple life hacks, DIYs, craft ideas to fun experiments, tricks and pranks. Her content portfolio also includes hair tutorials, diet & fitness tips, lookbooks, ...
Is Jeffree Star A Billionaire and How Much Does He Make On YouTube? If looks can be deceptive then theres no other person who proves this maxim better than Jeffree Star. A quick look at Stars pictures would likely leave you wondering whether or not to tag him a male or female. But who says being controversial has to be a curse? For Star, his looks have caught ...
The Place of Rosanna Pansinos Career Hats In Her Rise To Fame and Facts About Her Personal Life There are a few phrases that could summarize Rosanna Pansinos rise to fame. None of them can do it better than the famous axiom, no knowledge is lost. Her popularity YouTube comes out of her foray into other professions, specifically acting. Although acting now occupies one of the major professional hats in Rosannas resume, it was ...
Muselk (Elliott Watkins) Biography Age, Girlfriend and Net Worth The new and best in-thing in terms of career is video gaming and we have over time seen young men and women make massive income from an activity that was purportedly designed to serve as a hobby or a relaxation activity. One of such individuals is the Australian-born YouTube Celebrity and Twitch streamer, Muselk, whose ...
PopularMMOs Biography: 5 Interesting Facts You Need To Know We have over the years seen social media millionaires, especially on the YouTube social platform. These celebrities cum millionaires have made names for themselves after carving out niches on the internet, and a typical example of one of such exciting media personality on the YouTube is American Minecraft gamer and YouTube star, PopularMMOs whose channel ...
Jason Nash Once Married Marney Hochman What To Know About His Ex-Wife and Kids The now-defunct video-sharing app Vine was the path that led Jason Nash to fame. With it, he built an audience of over two million followers, which he parlayed into a significant YouTube career. That move has seen him become one of the most popular personalities on the internet, with the cash income to go with ...
Where Does Dantdm Live? What Do We Know About His Net Worth, Wife and Brother? Most parents buy video games for their kids to occupy their time leisure, while other parents frown at their kids when they play video games. Despite the disparity, every parent would be proud of their child if he/she eventually turns a celebrity or millionaire through playing video games like Dantdm. Biography of Dantdm Dantdm was born Daniel ...
LaurDIY Biography: 5 Facts You Need To Know About The YouTuber LaurDIY is the YouTube channel of Lauren Riihimaki which she created on December 1, 2011, when she was still a college undergrad with the sole aim of giving Do It Yourself (DIY) as well as practical fashion and beauty tips to her followers. She has used the channel to establish herself as a YouTube personality ...
Lachlan Ross Power Bio And Family Life Of Australian The YouTube Star It is amazing the varied sources of income that the internet has made possible in this day and age. Internet fame can get its holder a whole lot of monetary and social benefits, but it must be noted that it does not come easy or cheap. For those who desire fame, content is the sacrifice ...
Alfie Deyes Bio and Net Worth: Everything You Need To Know Alfie Deyes is one internet personality you definitely would like to know about. He boasts of over 10 million subscribers on three of his YouTube channels and has three bestseller books to his name. He is probably the most renowned young personality on YouTube today and his vlogging empire continues to grow by the day. ...
Colleen Ballingers Love Story With Husband Erik Stocklin and How Much She Is Worth Now Colleen Ballinger is an American comedian and YouTuber who is a very funny, adventurous, and highly talented woman. She is also an actress, singer, and writer. Collen is widely known for her work on YouTube where she posts content on her channel, Miranda Sings. The comedian has gained many subscribers over the years and has ...
Who Are The Dude Perfect Members and How Much Are They Worth? Entertainment in the 21st century can be digested in many forms and with platforms like YouTube, the creators and purveyors of entertainment have been democratized. Today, one of the most popular platforms to exhibit ones creative talents is YouTube, even though there are other platforms like Twitter, Facebook, who suffer in comparison to YouTube because ...
Who Is Rudy Mancuso, What Is His Earning Power and What Do We Know About His Girlfriend? Rudy Mancuso started his internet journey on Vine. He would later transition to YouTube where he solidified his place among the internets most beloved comedic creators. He is now regarded as one of the renowned internet personalities in the world, with a presence in mainstream TV and film projects like Comedy Centrals Drunk History and ...
Vsauce (Michael Stevens) Biography and Net Worth: All You Need To Know The advent of YouTube and the internet as a whole revolutionized how human beings consume information. With each passing year, the percentage of learning that is done in a traditional classroom decrease as a seismic shift to internet-based learning happens in our education industry. From open courses online to YouTube classes and videos, there are ...
How did Jake Paul Make His YouTube Big Break and Who is His Wife? One of the most interesting Social Media personalities of the 21st century is the young and popular Jake Paul whose elder brother is the famed Vine star, Logan Paul. Jake has utilized the power of the internet to bring himself to the limelight with a channel named JakePaulProductions that has amassed up to six billion ...
5 Facts You Need To Know About Reaction Time (Tal Fishman) The American YouTuber Before 2015, the leading meaning of reaction time was the amount of time it takes to respond to a stimulus, until Tal Fishman started his channel, Reaction Time on YouTube and the dominant meaning changed. Today, a google search of Reaction Time would deliver Tal Fishmans videos and YouTube channel link with a few physics ...
Grace Helbig Net Worth, Boyfriend and Family Life of The YouTuber Grace Helbig is an American internet personality, comedian, actress, and writer. She became popular due to her daily vlog series, DailyGrace, which ran on My Damn Channel from 2008 to 2013. Helbig is also popular for her own indie series on YouTube, ItsGrace, which she launched in 2014. Her vlogs which feature random stuff such as ...
Mark Wiens Bio Ethnicity, Wife and Parents Food is a great way to connect with people. We all love to eat, if not for the pleasure of food, the satisfaction of quenching hunger, and the very process of providing and sharing that food is part of the strongest bonds that bind humanity together. Maybe it is our historical connection to food, where ...
Is Filthy Frank Dead, What Happened To Him and How Much Is He Worth? As George Kusunoki Miller, he was a nobody. However, as Filthy Frank, George was one of the most famous internet personalities on the planet. The Filthy Frank Show, a sketch series on his YouTube channel, TVFilthyFrank, was one of the platforms most influential creations. He is the reason a crazy dance song, Harlem Shake, made it ...
CaptainSparklez Bio Net Worth, House and Cars of The Famous YouTuber Sometimes, what society wants from its citizens is quite different from what the citizens want for themselves. This is evident in the life and career of video blogger and American YouTube personality, Jordan Maron famous for his YouTube channel CaptainSparklez. He dropped out of school after discovering his talent in playing an online game called Minecraft. ...
Who is Simply Nailogical (Cristine Rotenberg)? Here are Facts You Must Know Canadian Youtube personality, Simply Nailogical (Cristine Rotenberg) originally started out polishing and designing nails even before it became a trendy culture in the social media. Simply Nailogica started out her showbiz career in her early days as a child actress, acting in commercials for game and toy companies. Aside from acting, she is blogger, vlogger, specializing ...
5 Interesting Facts You Need To Know About Huda Beauty In the world of entrepreneurship, it is interesting when an individual has a mentor who he/she looks up to, this yield more productivity on the part of the individual. The iconic and rich American beautician and makeup artist Huda Kattan nicknamed Heida is the founder of the Huda Beauty blog which is number one Instagram beauty blog ...
Is Dino MasterChef Gay? Details About His Ethnicity, Girlfriend, Where He Is Now Food, for the better part of the early years of human life, was nothing more than what we needed for survival. There was no artistry or curation to the method of cooking. The scarcity of food left no room for artistic expression until we figured out agriculture and we could make as much as we ...
Who Is Gabbie Hanna And How Did She Become Famous? As the world shifts to digital media and depends more and more on streaming services for its news and entertainment content, YouTubers have become one of the leading creators in the new media world. Their understanding of the online audience: how to create, maintain, and increase followers, are all handy skills that have primed them ...
Jacksepticeye Height, Girlfriend & Net Worth Jacksepticeye is a YouTuber and actor who gained popularity with a series of gaming videos he uploads on his channel to the delight of millions of his subscribers. He is Known primarily for his comic video game series titled Lets Play and his vlogs. His channel was formerly ranked 46th in the list of most subscribed ...
Chris Heria Personal Details: About His Wife, Height & Ethnicity Background In this generation, keeping fit has become one of the major criteria for being hale and hearty. In fact, most occupations these days are majorly concerned with ones body mass, weight and looks. Unlike the past where most people have to register in a gym to keep fit, social media has made it quite easy ...
Everything You Need To Know About Game Grumps Gaming is becoming incredibly popular on YouTube these days with game vloggers make millions of dollars out of them yearly. One of the most popular up-coming gaming YouTube channels is Game Grumps. The Lets Play series was created in 2012 and celebrated its fifth anniversary on July 18th, 2017. In six years of its existence, the ...
Daithi De Nogla Biography, Girlfriend and Net Worth YouTube has created an avenue for many to make wealth and become famous from the comfort of their homes while having fun. Many have built a career out of the platform, uploading numerous videos that have earned them the admiration of viewers across the globe. For Daithi De Nogla, he is loved for his humorous commentary on ...
Does Phoebe Robinson Have A Boyfriend or Husband and What Do We Know About Her Family? Phoebe Robinson is a New York-based comedian, writer, and actress. She is best known as the co-creator and co-host of the WNYC Studios podcast 2 Dope Queens. Just like some other female comedians, she never had any original plans of becoming a stand-up comedian even though, according to her, she took a class on a whim at Carolines on Broadway. After ...
Who Are Lex and Alana from Listed Sisters? What Is Their Ethnicity & Is the Show Cancelled? America is a country built on diversity. Everywhere you look all over the country, a countless number of immigrants or children of immigrants have become an integral part of the fabric of the country. From entertainment to business, immigrants are creating a niche for themselves and climbing to the summit of their respective professions. One ...
Riveting Facts About Danielle Lombard And What She Is Best Known For The American entertainment industry is one that provides many avenues for aspiring hopefuls to express their talents and become famous. From films to television shows and game shows, there is no shortage of ways for men and women who desire fame to pursue and earn it in the United States of America. Another tested medium ...
Unearthing New Details About The YouTube Success And Personal Life of Alex Burriss of Wassabi Productions Wildly hilarious and truly audacious, Alex Wassabi is an American YouTuber who has become a very popular face on the video-sharing platform after having garnered millions of subscribers over the years by keeping people glued to his channel with his witty parody video releases. If you have always loved parody videos, there is every chance ...
Everything You Need To Know About H2O Delirious H2O Delirious whose full birth name is reported to be Jonathan Gormon Dennis has successfully kept himself mystified by hiding his face behind the masks leaving his loyal fans speculating who he really is for many years. The American YouTube star is easily identified by the Jason Mask Style with make-up which he wears on his ...
Who Is HolaSoyGerman and What Happened To Him? German Garmendia has certainly seen it all when it comes to internet success. His channels, HolaSoyGerman and JuegaGerman are in the top twenty most subscribed channel on YouTube. The Chilean YouTuber found a way to tap into one of the worlds greatest inventions and make a living from it. He has been able to build ...
Who Are Glenn Becks Family, What Is His Net Worth And What Happened To Him? The American political commentary space is filled with different personalities. A few of them, through their rhetoric, charisma, and resources have been able to build a large following of men and women who listen to them for insight and direction for various political and social issues in the United States. For Conservatives, the story is ...
Following Charissa Thompsons Rise Through The Ranks Of Sports Casting and All About Her Boyfriend Superstar TV host and sportscaster, Charissa Thompson, has been hailed as one of the highest-profile women journalists in America, and the reason is there for all to see. She has worked for popular establishments such as Versus, Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, GSN, and Big Ten Network. She currently hosts the popular pre-game show, Fox NFL Kickoff, ...
Is Chris Kattan Gay or Does He Have A Wife? What Is His Net Worth? Chris Kattan is a popular American comedian and actor. He has appeared in several comic movies and TV series such as The Middle, A Night at the Roxbury and Bunnicula. Kattan is, however, most popular for his six-year stint as a cast member of Saturday Night Live. During his time on the legendary show, he ...
Everything You Should Know About the Rise of Insta Star Claire Abbott and Why She Gave It All Up A lot of young Americans have shot into the limelight for uploading different kinds of videos on YouTube. Some of these young stars include Connor Franta, Desi Perkins, Emma Chamberlain, the Dolan Twins (Ethan and Grayson), and Claire Abbott. The latter became a social media celebrity for uploading sexy bikini pictures of herself on social media. Apart from ...
5 Facts You Need To Know About The YouTube Channel h3h3Productions H3h3Productions is a YouTube channel that specializes on Comic responses or reactions of other contents or trendy stories. The celebrity couple that created the channel has over time racked up sizable views for their commentaries and contents. Even though they had their own fair share of copyright cases, thankfully they scored an unprecedented victory in all ...
Lilypichu Bio Height, Brother and Love Story With Albert SleightlyMusical Chang Like most popular internet celebrities, Lilypichu is one of those Twitch streamers who spend their lives on camera. From daydreaming about the possibility of becoming a full-time professional streamer, she grew to live out her dreams on the popular live streaming platform where people play games, make crafts, and showcase their day-to-day activities. Given the rise of ...
KSI What To Know About His Girlfriend, Brother Deji Olatunji & Net Worth Assuredly, when Internet inventors Vint Cerf and Bob Khan created the technological masterpiece, they probably did not know how massive the creation will be harnessed by many for different purposes including as a platform for earning money through content creation. One of such person who smiles to the bank regularly today for spending time creating ...
The Interesting Progression and Highlights of Carrie Keagans Career as a Host and Actress Carrie Keagan has garnered huge fame through her various stints on television. She is not just your regular TV host but one with a difference. Keagan has hosted several high profile events and TV shows, including VH1s Big Morning Buzz Live and Fox News Channels Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld. However, not many know she ...
The Gist On Elise Jordans Marriages And Her Rise To Prominence Political commentaries tend to be boring when it is handled by someone who does not have a knack for it. However, when you see the likes of Elise Jordan run the same commentary, you will have a lot of reasons to look forward to watching her again as the journalist is well-versed in the field ...
What Is Timmy Thick Best Known For and How Successful Is The Star? Thanks to the internet, many people whose talents would have ordinarily gone unnoticed have become famous. A very good example of this modern-day internet celebrity is Timmy Thick, an American social media star. He became popular on Instagram due to his penchant for posting raunchy pictures of himself. He also often posted videos of himself ...
What Does Heather Storm Do For a Living and Who Is She Dating? Reality Television is a great way to make a name for oneself as well as amass a fortune. Heather Storm can attest to this as she is one of those who have made a name and earned a lot from reality TV. She made her name appearing on shows like Car Fanatics, Awesome Autos, and, ...
Matt Carriker Biography Net Worth, Wife & Height Unlike your regular veterinary doctor next door, Matt Carriker chose to spice up his noble profession with the unusual. Though he is known to many as a medical practitioner, Carriker is better renowned as a YouTube star and an animal lover. Having recorded huge successes on his various YouTube channels, the vet doctors name and ...
Jillian Mele of Fox News Career Achievements, Husband & Measurements There are quite a good number of presenters on radio and television who listeners and viewers may never wish to miss any of their shows because of their sensational golden voice, beauty or the special way or artistry they anchor their shows. Jillian Mele is one of such. She has been at the top of ...
Who is Gillian Turner of Fox News? Her Fiance or Husband and Net Worth Gillian Turner is well-known as a news correspondent for Fox News Channel but before she became a TV personality, she built an intimidating resume working for different institutions, including the American government. She served in different capacities at the White House National Security Council during the administration of former US Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. ...
Gloria Govan Bio Age, Ethnicity & Height Even as Gloria Govan is famous as an American actress, author, a TV host, and reality television star, shes more popular as the wife of the former NBA player, Matt Barnes. She became known after appearing on the Florida version of the reality television series, Basketball Wives and later, Basketball Wives: LA after Matt was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Sadly, ...
Michael Fishmans Interesting Start as an Actor and Why He Divorced His Wife of Many Years When one door closes, another one opens. As silly as that axiom may seem, it is the story of the resurgence of Michael Fishman, who plays D.J Conner on the popular show, Roseanne. Having played the character for several years as a child actor into his teenage years; when the show originally ended, Michael did ...
Who Is October Gonzalez Tony Gonzalezs Wife? All You Need To Know October Gonzalez is a popular American TV host and media personality. Additionally, she is also a model. Gonzalez has hosted several TV shows such as Beat Shazam, Entertainment Tonight, and Rachel Ray. She has also featured in several reality TV shows. Gonzalezs fame is not just due to her profession but also because of her ...
Who Is Tony Berlin Harris Faulkners Husband: His Children and Family Facts Tony Berlin is a popular American media guru. He has variously worked as a reporter, anchor, and producer for some of the biggest TV networks in America. They include CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC (where he hosted the popular Good Morning America). Berlin has now diversified into public relations and owns his own PR firm. ...
The Progression of Gianna Tobonis Journalism Career and Details About Her Marriage to Kyle Buckley Gianna Toboni may not be your ideal newscaster but her unusual reporting is what made her a household name. The American journalist is renowned for her hard-hitting and authentic reportage. A motivator and activist for total press freedom, Gianna loves to explore pervasive cultural issues. Not only does this unique and ambitious journalist call for all ...
Dog The Bounty Hunters Family Including Details of His Late Wife and Kids Popularly known as Dog, a name which he got from the television series, Dog The Bounty Hunter, Duane Chapman, an American bounty hunter, and one-time bail bondsman, went from being convicted for a felony to being a reality TV star. He was brought to the limelight following the capture of the convicted criminal, Andrew Luster in 2003 and this eventually made ...
Vicky Karayiannis, Chris Cornells Wifes Bio, Children and Family The world of showbiz is made up of different people who serve different roles, and function in a variety of capacities, and one of the most important people are those in the background. Publicists are undoubtedly one of these background people yet they are vital to the life and fame of most of our favorite ...
Joe Rogan Has A Step-Daughter and 2 Other Kids With Wife Jessica Ditzel Meet His Family Joe Rogan is a popular American stand-up comedian and TV host. His journey to stardom began in the late 80s and has seen him host several shows, the most popular is the game show titled Fear Factor. The exciting show dares contestants to face some of their greatest fears and embark on challenging stunts. The ...
Josh Gates and Wife Hallie Gnatovich Have 2 Kids But Who Has the Higher Net Worth? Best known for his explorations and adventures, Josh Gates, is a television presenter with a voracious appetite for seeing the world and the beauties in it. Some of that beauty, however, is in his home, in the form of two children he shares with his wife, Hallie Gnatovich. Not excluded is their marriage which has lasted ...
Holly Sonders Wiki, Plastic Surgery & Why She Divorced Her Husband Erik Kuselias After trying everything within her capacity to have a low key wedding, Holly Sonders was drawn to the public because of her husbands controversy at his workplace. Well, the two are rumored to be divorced but the article below will give more light on how true these rumors are. Meanwhile, Holly Sonders is yet to ...
Nadeska Alexis Bio Age, Boyfriend & Net Worth Journalism is one diverse profession that allows the practitioners to choose their area of specialty, build a career on it by reporting the truth and facts which in the long run will distinguish them as deserving commendation and recognition among their peers. Some choose to specialize in political journalism, while to others it is sports ...
Media Platforms Charlamagne Tha God Has Explored and All The Controversies He Has Courted Charlamagne Tha God is an American on-air personality, radio presenter, and more recently, author. He is popularly known as a co-host on New York radios nationally syndicated show, The Breakfast Club, a program he has been hosting alongside DJ Envy and Angela Yee since 2010. However, his early years had no connection to his current career ...
A Look At Jimmy Fallons Net Worth and Family Including His Wife & Kids Sometimes, a childs passion for something is a pointer to what he/she would become in the future. As a child, Jimmy Fallon was literally obsessed with watching the late-night comedy program, Saturday Night Live (SNL). Then, his parents would tape the clean parts for him to watch and later, he and his sister would re-enact sketches from the ...
Kay Adams Biography Does The Sportscaster Have A Husband or Boyfriend? When you hear the phrase sports enthusiast, women are hardly the first group that comes to mind. Well, thats changing pretty fast. Especially with the rise of female sports analysts and broadcasters like Kay Adams who is famed for knowing more about sports than most men do. And why not, shes paid handsomely for it ...
Ben Shapiros Family Meet His Wife, Kids and Sister Who is Popular for the Wrong Reasons A multi-talented man, Ben Shapiro is a man of controversial nature, an attribute that has made him an unusual public figure. An intellectual whose career path was clearly defined even before he became a man, the Jewish conservative commentator has always had his way with words. He became popular by sharing his critical and often ...
QVC Shawn Killinger Bio Husband, Net Worth & Facts To Know Shawn Killinger is a prominent TV personality who has worked her way to the top. Though not initially a journalist by training, she defied the odds and today has established herself as a household name, as well as, worked alongside some industry legends. More than just being a reporter, newscaster, and anchor, heres all you ...
Liv Lo Dissecting the Ethnicity, Parents and Personal Life of Henry Goldings Wife While many are aware that Liv Lo is the better half to Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding, only a few understand why his beautiful wife appears increasingly endearing to fans. A former model turned TV personality, and fitness star, Liv has an impressive resume which when combined with that of her statuesque spouse is considered a perfect ...
Stpeach Age, Husband and Other Facts About The Twitch Streamer Lisa Vannatta, famously known by her online alias, STPeach is a Canadian video game streamer cum vlogger who has garnered fame through her appearances on different video-sharing/social networking platforms such as Youtube, Instagram, Twitch, Reddit, and Twitter. The beautiful lady got her career to a start in August 2015 when she joined the live streaming video platform, Twitch. She rose to ...
Insights into Seth Meyers Wife, Family and What His Net Worth Is Celebrities are mostly remembered and known for the work they do. For Seth Meyers, his career as a comedian, writer, actor, TV host, and producer is his biggest identifier. He was on Saturday Night Live SNL show as a head writer and cast member for more than ten years during which he built a reputation ...
Who Is Jessica Gadsden Age, Net Worth & All About Charlamagne tha Gods Wife Jessica Gadsden is an American fitness coach as well as a personal trainer. She is better known as the spouse of popular American media personality, Charlamagne Tha God. Charlamange Tha God is a well-known TV and radio personality in the U.S. He has featured in several shows (both on the radio and TV) and is ...
Who Is Collins Tuohy Michael Ohers sister ? Her Wedding, Husband & Net Worth Collins Tuohy is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, blogger, and social media personality. She is also better known as the adoptive sister of NFL player, Michael Oher, whose life story inspired the Hollywood blockbuster The Blind Side. The Blind Side tells the true life story of Oher who grew up in an impoverished background consisting of a ...
Eye-Popping Facts About The Personal Life And Career Success Of Sportscaster Heidi Watney Heidi Watney is a media personality who has created a niche for herself as a sportscaster. Starting out as a radio presenter, the brilliant young lady has gone on to work for several prominent sports networks, and currently, she is with the MLB. The sportscaster is also known to have been an avid sports lady right ...
Marty Lagina Bio Siblings (Martina and Rick Lagina), Net Worth and Wife Marty Lagina is an American engineer and businessman who has risen to fame as a reality TV star. This is thanks to his involvement in the adventure TV series, The Curse of Oak Island. The Curse of Oak Island is a long-running TV series which airs on the history channel. The show aims to solve ...
Is Jordan Schlansky Just A Character or a Real Life Person and What Does He Do? The world of late-night television is an interesting one. Shows during that time are geared towards giving viewers comedic relief from a long day at work through interviews and comedy sketches. The often charismatic host of this show requires the balancing talent of a producer whose primary job is to deliver great episodes. It is ...
Heres How Wealthy Jimmy Kimmel Is From All The Phases of His Career, Marriages and Sons Health Jimmy Kimmel is a renowned late-night talk show host known for his charm, wit, and the A-list guests he features on his show. As the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! On ABC, Jimmy has been serving comedy to television viewers for years which played a pivotal role in launching him into mainstream fame and enabled ...
Natasha Bertrand Biography Is She Married? Who Is the Husband & What Is Her Age? Natasha Bertrand is not just a young prominent journalist but a first-rate investigative reporter. With her natural beauty and smile, Natashas sharp, insightful political commentary also makes her a thorough reporter. Her sound political perspective and coverage in the country have made her a force to be reckoned with in the profession. Renowned for her ...
What Happened to Shane Kilcher? His Injury Update, Net Worth and More Shane Kilcher is well-known thanks to the Discovery Channel series Alaska: The Last Frontier. It is a show that documents the daily lives of the extended Kilcher family, people who live without plumbing or modern heating. The episodes follow their routines as they rely on hunting and farming for their nutritional needs as well as ...
Is Stephanie Gosk Gay or Lesbian, Who is the Wife or Partner Jenna Wolfe? In August 2013, NBCs Today viewers were greeted with two shocking news. Today weekend anchor, Jenna Wolfe, announced that she was as a lesbian, introducing her partner as NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk, and said the two are expecting their first child. A long time has passed since then and certainly, a lot of things ...
Nikki Mudarris Bio and Net Worth: 5 Interesting Facts You Need to Know Nikki Mudarris, also known as Miss Nikki Baby, is a reality television star, model and fashionista. Shes best known for VH1s reality TV series Love & Hip-Hop: Hollywood. Her entrepreneurial skills enable her to create and run a successful lingerie line Nude by Nikki. Not only that, but Nikki has also successfully run the Las ...
5 Interesting Things You Need To Know About Kelly Nash Ever heard of the lady who gained national prominence for taking a selfie with a dangerous ball just a few inches away from hitting her? Its no other person than Kelly Nash, an American sports broadcaster currently working as host of The Rundown show which airs on MLB Network every weekday at 2 pm ET. ...
Understanding The Height of Fame John Oliver Achieved With The Daily Show and How He Met His Wife Without knowledge of who he is and his exemplary career, John Oliver cuts an unassuming figure of a regular man but he is one of the most influential personalities in America, especially on television. Since he began his career in 1998, he has been a loud and unapologetic agent of change, using his wit and ...
Why Did Big Chief Leave Street Outlaws, Where Is He Now And Why Did He Divorce His Wife? Justin Shearer, otherwise known by his professional name Big Chief is a famous street racer and television personality. He is famously known for being one of the main characters on the racing reality television series, Street Outlaws. Justin, who had been a significant part of the show since its premiere in 2013, appeared in a ...
Who is Josina Anderson of ESPN? Her Husband and Family Facts There has been a gradual paradigm shift in the world of sports which has today produced the likes of Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, and other female athletes that are pulling great feats in different sporting fields. Their achievements have also been followed by the emergence of female sports journalists such as Jillian Mele, Eboni Williams, ...
Is Brittany Wagner Married, Who Is The Husband, How Old Is She? Brittany Wagner has been an inspiration to a lot of sports youngster. She has won the hearts of many athletic students with her role as a life coach and an academic counselor. She is well groomed in her career and has worked over a decade for The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and The National ...
Tati Westbrook Bio Age, Husband & Net Worth With five videos dished out every week, alongside running her own brand, beauty guru, and YouTube superstar Tati Westbrook has proved to the world that theres utterly no impossibility or limit to whatever one is passionate about. Tati is best known for being the owner and manager of the worlds most-viewed beauty and lifestyle YouTube channel, ...
Cathy Areus Long Road to Becoming a Freelance Journalist and What to Know About Her Kids An American freelance journalist, news analyst, and author, Cathy Areu has built a lasting reputation for herself on cable television. Popular for her skillful and sassy presentation of professional views on varying topics including cultural and feminist issues, Cathy is an inspiration to many women across the globe. In addition to being a journalist, she ...
Tucker Carlsons Love Story With Wife Susan Andrews, their Children and Net Worth Today On the TV screens, Tucker Carlson is that fiery fellow who passionately dishes out his conservative and often controversial views on issues of national importance. Such brazenness has fetched him many enemies, especially on the left-wing, but it has also helped him cement a reputation as one of the foremost broadcast journalists in America. His ...
Paige Wyatts Net Worth, Boyfriend and Where She Is Now Paige Wyatt became popular after the Wyatt family began running the reality television show, American Guns. The Wyatt family comprises Rich Wyatt (father), Renee Wyatt (mother), Paige and Kurt Wyatt (children). Rich Wyatt originally ran a gun shop, the Gunsmoke Guns in Wheat Ridge, Colorado which is outside of Denver. The business which he ran together ...
The Progression of Howard Sterns Career As A Media Personality And Why He Divorced His First Wife Howard Stern is a legendary American radio host, who has also done some notable work as an actor, producer, author, as well as photographer. The radio personality achieved worldwide fame as a result of his self-titled radio program, The Howard Stern Show. As a professional radio personality, he has worked in different radio stations. Since 2006, ...
Lisa Joyners Biography Ethnicity, Net Worth and Other Key Facts Lisa Joyner is an American Journalist, TV talk show host, and actress. Some of her well-known works are her correspondences for the Los Angeles based TV KCBS, inFANity show, Find My Family Show including her film and television appearances in Brimstone, American Sweetheart, The Bold and The Beautiful among others. Lisas passion for reconnecting people with their biological families ...
Amanda Balionis Rise Through the Ranks of Sportscasting and the Identity of Her Boyfriend Amanda Balionis is an American sportscaster currently working as a golf broadcaster for CBS Sports. Among so many of her works in the field of sports reporting, Amandas PGA Tour coverage seems to be the most popular so far. She covered the Super Bowl working with CBS Sports social media team in Atlanta, where she ...
Dissecting Charles Paynes Sexual Allegations, Its After Effects and More About His Wife Charles Payne had a respectable career as an analyst on Wall Street before he made the transition to television and became a contributor and later a host on Fox. In that time, his expertise has come under scrutiny, and he has been at the center of at least one major controversy. The major controversy in question ...
Erik Asla And Tryra Banks Split: Everything You Need To Know Tyra Banks and Erik Asla have called it quits! The couple, who began dating in 2013 and have a son named York Banks Asla, has decided to end what everybody taught was the perfect relationship. Neither person has come out to give a reason for the breakup, but what is obvious right now is that ...
What to Note About Dr Terry Dubrows Qualifications, TV Works and Marriage to Heather Kent In the realm of people that we expect to see regularly on our screens, medical doctors are closer to the bottom of the list. Aside from the fact that their work has little correlation with TV, they are presumably too busy to pursue life as TV personalities. Yet, a few of them have usurped this ...
Jessica Goch Bio: 5 Things You Didnt Know About Ninjas Wife Jessica Goch is the Schofield-born American Social Media Influencer who has worked as a model but is now better known as a host and interviewer of prominent Electronic sports celebrities at popular gaming events/tournaments. The screen queen also serves as the manager of her famous husband Ninja aka Tyler Blevins whose exploits on Twitch and Fortnite has ...
CNNs Chris Cuomo Biography Wife, Family & Net worth Chris Cuomo needs no elaborate introduction as he has starred graced many prominent Television cable networks and his voice has been heard through acknowledged radio shows. He is a television journalist and Lawyer who has previously worked for ABC News as Chief law and justice correspondent as well as a co-anchor on 20/20. If you still ...
Neil deGrasse Tyson Family, Religion & Net Worth Neil deGrasse Tyson is a distinguished American astrophysicist and author who has been able to achieve so much after falling in love with astronomy at the age of 9. He has since attended and become an alumnus of prestigious universities such as Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia, and also recorded numerous achievements in his field of ...
Is Simon Cowell Gay? Does He Have A Wife or Girlfriend and Why is He Famous? Simon Cowell is a well-known talent show judge, TV producer, entrepreneur and one of the most popular TV personalities that Britain has ever produced. In conjunction with his company, Syco, Cowell is the brain behind hugely successful talent hunt shows such as The X-Factor UK, The X-Factor US, Britains Got Talent, Americas Got Talent and ...
Everything To Know About Joanna Gaines Life With Chip Gaines, Their Business Pursuits and Kids Joanna Gaines and her husband Chip Gaines became celebrities after their television show Fixer Upper began airing back in 2013. The show which was about home renovation and decoration ran for about 6 seasons with a total of 79 episodes before the couple bade farewell to it in April 2018. Apart from their appearances on ...
Who Is Larry The Cable Guy? What To Know About His Wife And Net Worth Larry the Cable Guy is a self-professed country kid renowned for his trademark Southern accent and sensational catchphrase Git-R-Done! The famous comedian who talks about anything under the sun has gone on to become one of the most memorable characters in comedy history. Join us in unearthing lesser-known facts about the former on-air-personality, standup comedy superstar, movie ...
Who Is Patrick Starr, What Is His Net Worth and Gender? The make-up industry over the years has grown to become a billion dollar industry not just because there are probably more women wearing make-up but because a whole lot of men, especially the young ones, have become bold enough to wear it unlike before. A few of these men, like Patrick Starr, have even gone ...
How Did Chris Jansing Become a Senior Correspondent at MSNBC and Who Is Her Husband? An award-winning American television news reporter and journalist, Chris Jansing has succeeded in carving a spectacular niche for herself in the field of TV journalism. Outstanding for not just her excellence in journalism, Chris is also cherished for her incredibly gorgeous looks post 60! For close to four decades, Jansing has continued to soar in her ...
Jaclyn Glenn Biography Age, Height & Ex-Boyfriend American Youtuber, Jaclyn Glenn, rose to prominence through her self-titled YouTube channel Jaclyn Glenn. She has remained an acclaimed atheist and continues to air her views on hot issues from politics, religion, animal rights, to atheism. During the heated 2016 US Presidential elections, Glenn featured in Hump Trump: Official Donald Trump Song. Her parallel acting career ...
Is Pat Sajak Married to a Wife or is He Gay With a Partner? Pat Sajak is one of the most popular TV game show hosts in America. He commenced his career as a radio disk jockey as well as a TV weatherman before being tapped to host Wheel of Fortune, the longest-running syndicated game show in the United States. Sajak has hosted the popular game show from 1983 ...
Nayyera Haqs Bio What To Know About Her Husband, Parents And Family Nayyera Haq can take anyone on political debates as well as discussions on social issues affecting many. Her ability to masterfully deliver her stance on every issue or political debate has made her a regular face in morning and evening news media platforms. This is not a common feat especially for someone from her kind ...
Inside Guy Fieris Family With Wife, Kids and Sister Who Died of Cancer Over the years we have seen men dominate the kitchen and churn out amazing delicacies from it. Some do it way better than their female counterparts and one of such men is Guy Ramsay Fieri an American TV host, celebrity chef, restaurant owner, bestselling author of four culinary books, and game show host. His ...
Meet Phil Mudd of CNN The Former CIA and FBI Exec, Is He Married, Who Is The Wife? When it comes to discussing issues surrounding terrorism, American Counterterrorism and National Security Expert, Phil Mudd, occupies a globally significant position. He has voiced his interest in the fight against terrorism and insecurity on many popular media platforms, both print and broadcast, such as CNN, BBC, CBS, MSNBC, al-Jazeera, ABC, NBC, Fox, The New York Times, ...
Jim Hoffer: Biography, Wife Mika Brzezinski, Children and Net Worth Jim Hoffer is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who works as an investigative reporter for Eyewitness News, New York City. In his over two decades of investigative journalism, Hoffer has been at the front lines of several crucial stories from the 9/11 attack to the crash of American Flight 587 to the 2003 Blackout. On top of ...
The Ups and Downs of Erin Mcpikes Journalism Career and Other Facts About Her Personal Life Erin McPike is a journalist working for the Independent Journal Review (IJR) as a White House Correspondent but she gained widespread recognition for her coverage of general news. Whether its breaking news or some mainstream story, McPike has a reputation of baring the facts. As a journalist, her work as a White House Correspondent for Independent ...
Bert Kreischer Is Married To LeeAnn Kreischer With 2 Kids Meet His Family Those familiar with Bert Kreischer mainly have the image of a large-bellied party man whose college life inspired the National Lampoon film, Van Wilder. It is an image that one would not naturally associate with a wholesome family. The standup comedian still maintains his wild party animal image on stage. But, back at home, he is ...
How Brendan Greene Became a Game Designer to Look Out For and Facts About His Failed Marriage The name Brendan Greene may not easily ring a bell in the larger society but for gaming enthusiasts, he is considered a god and this is because of his invention of the video game, Player Unknowns Battlegrounds, also called PUBG. Based on the popular last-man-standing/battle royale concept, Greenes creation has taken the gaming world by ...
WFAAs Sonia Azad Bio Does The Reporter Have A Husband Or Boyfriend? Emmy Award-winning journalist and Health & Wellness reporter Sonia Azad is on the news segment News 8 Daybreak for the television station WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas, a channel which she joined in October of 2015. Besides her time on the news, Azad is also a marathon runner and a certified yoga instructor. She has covered major news ...
This Is Everything You Should Know About Caroline Heldman, Her Career Portfolio and Other Facts Love it or hate it, there is no escaping the fact that feminism has come to stay in our world. The movement has continued to garner momentum over the years and this is due to the sustained push by several women, and even men, including the likes of Caroline Heldman. A Professor of Politics at ...
Understanding The Enigma That Is Gavin McInnes, The Controversies He Has Stirred and All About His Wife Gavin McInnes is a polemical English-born writer and TV personality, who is best known for his racist and fascist ideologies, as well as his co-ownership of Vice Media and Vice Magazine. He is also an actor a
WorldRemit, a leading online remittance provider, is calling for the urgent restoration of money transfers to Nigeria as "draconian" new rules leave virtually all money transfer operators (MTOs) unable to provide services to the West African country.
WorldRemit founder and CEO, Ismail Ahmed.
Only three companies Western Union, MoneyGram and Ria - will be able to continue operations, following an unexpected move by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
WorldRemit, in common with all other international MTOs, has been instructed by its local correspondents that transfers to Nigeria will no longer be processed and is, accordingly, suspending services immediately.
WorldRemit founder and CEO, Ismail Ahmed said: This move is arbitrary, inexplicable and hugely detrimental to the Nigerian diaspora who rely on hundreds of money transfer companies and banks, providing them with choice, convenience and competitive pricing.
Even now, as we suspend our service, there is no clarity on why this sudden change has happened. If it is on the basis of new rules, there was no warning. If it is a re-interpretation of old rules, local correspondent networks and banks should have been forewarned.
This reverses the progress made by the country when the Nigeria Central Bank banned Western Unions exclusivity agreements that had created a near-monopolistic position in the international money transfer market. Western Union controlled 78% of the market share when CBN outlawed exclusivity agreements with local banks.
Until now, money transfer operators such as WorldRemit operated via partnerships with licensed local correspondents in Nigeria, enabling transfer of funds to local bank accounts providing a more efficient service than the SWIFT infrastructure.
WorldRemit has also raised concerns about a 2015 memorandum from the Central Bank of Nigeria, setting out minimum requirements for companies offering international Mobile Money transfer services to Nigeria.
The guidelines specify that any company offering Mobile Money transfers must have minimum net assets of $1bn and have been operating for more than 10 years.
WorldRemit is the world leader in transfers to Mobile Money accounts and had been planning to launch remittances to Mobile Money services in Nigeria.
It looks like all systems in Nigeria are currently geared against encouraging new entrants and competition in the mobile remittance markets. That is worrying in the extreme, said Ismail Ahmed.
WorldRemit sends more than 40,000 money transfers to Nigeria every month. Nigeria received more than $20bn in remittances annual from migrants around the world.
Rwanda boasts an attractive workforce that has helped to push the nation ahead of its neighbours, however, a lack of digital skills now drives the education agenda.
Image by 123RF
Rwanda stands as one of Africas leading nations driving growth across the continent. A key factor in the region's success is in its workforce. This is clearly reflected in the World Bank Doing Business report which found that Rwanda was the most improved economy worldwide since 2005, and the increase in the gross domestic product (GDP) value which has risen by $1.17 billion in the last five years.
Success in sectors such as agriculture has helped the country flourish, however, when compared to neighbouring nations there are still areas where the country falls short - more notably digital dependent industries. In order to keep the workforce up to speed with other developed countries, the government has spearheaded investment in ICT in order to digitise skills and create a workforce equipped to deal with a blossoming tech sector.
A strong digitally based economy is now what is required in order to compete in the Fourth Industrial Revolution where innovative and fast-moving technologies will be much more prevalent in society.
The Global African Investment Summit (COMESA), which occurs in Kigali, Rwanda, 5-6 September 2016, will feature a key discussion on the ICT industry, specifically touching on how African nations can capitalise on the opportunities it can bring to digitally transform.
The summit will bring together global and regional investors representing US$250 billion in managed funds, with African heads of state, government ministers and private sector businesses leaders.
Knowledge-based economy
Heba Salama, director of the COMESA Regional Investment Agency comments: Information and Communication Technology is a central engine to driving Rwandas transformation to a knowledge-based economy, a fact Rwanda has acknowledged by allocating a budget to ICT - as a percentage of its GDP - that is at par with OECD countries.
Initiatives such as Smart Africa and the ICT Park are great examples of Rwandas efforts to update its workforce. The schemes support the nations rapid digital development. Since the government announced its Vision 2020 goal for a knowledge-based economy, the ICT industry has grown by 25%, internet penetration is at 28% and growing, and there is a network of fibre-optic cables throughout the country to support fast broadband.
Rwanda has laid down the foundations to support a workforce in need of acquiring digital skills. It is only when the technological issues and skills gap in these areas are addressed that the nation can develop a knowledge- based economy, drive education and become a viable prospect for investors.
Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, comments: Rwandas progress does not lie just with upgrading our current workforce, but also investing in the next generation. By making ICT a priority in our educational institutions, we will be able to close the digital skills gap, which is required for Africa to compete in the Fourth Industrial Revolution where innovative and fast-moving technologies will be much more prevalent in society.
Rwandas youthful talent will play a strategic role in Africas trajectory, leveraging ICT and ultimately leapfrogging socio-economic development across the continent.
Although there have been grumblings about the establishment of new medicines regulation body and the natural medicines sector is seriously concerned about an apparent bias against them, one of the large generics companies is definitely chuffed with its progress.
Proactive approach to tackling backlog
If the groundwork set by the Medicines Control Council (MCC) in the past few months in preparation for the much-anticipated launch of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) is anything to go by, it could usher in a new and much more effective era for the local pharmaceutical sector, a statement by Pharma Dynamics says.
SAHPRA is the new regulatory authority set to take over from the MCC from April next year, since the MCC in its current form has struggled to cope with the volume of applications it receives for new medicines and clinical trials. Based on industry figures, registering new products could take anything from three to five years.
The MCCs proactive approach to tackle the backlog of particularly medicine registrations in recent months, has seen them making inroads into the somewhat sceptical pharmaceutical sector, which has been hamstrung by the inefficiencies within the system for years.
Erik Roos, CEO of Pharma Dynamics , says even though SAHPRA will only officially come into existence once the amendment acts have commenced, he is encouraged by the active nature in which the MCC has interacted with the ITG (industry task group) and are attempting to address the pharmaceutical industrys concerns. This proactive action by the MCC is sure to create positive momentum for SAHPRAs launch.
Optimism not shared in all quarters
However, in July, Dalene Totten, editor of Natural Medicine magazine, said in an article: The cost of compliance allows for unfair commercial advantage to the bigger pharmaceutical manufacturers, loss of diversity, and the removal from the market, of the vast majority of health products not manufactured by drug companies.
She went on to explain that the cost of having the prerequisite equipment to produce natural products that meet the new standards is likely to put a lot of small suppliers out of business.
In the end, the new regulations will severely restrict the publics access to natural health products, and manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, direct marketers, prescribing practitioners and the public will lose. The only winners will be the pharmaceutical industry.
Better relationship
However, given that his company is on the other side of the fence, Roos sees it differently: During the past quarter, key MCC officials, who have been tasked with establishing the new regulatory body, have initiated a series of meetings and roundtable discussions with various industry organisations as a way to openly engage with stakeholders, which has helped to develop fresh solutions to various challenges we face as an industry. Their hands-on approach has set in motion a circle of feedback and responsiveness, which augers well for the entitys new transformative future and activation of SAHPRA.
There also appears to be much better collaboration between the industry and the MCC and there is a greater willingness to work together towards a common goal, he says.
Similar structure to FDA
In the MCCs defence, the regulatory body has been severely understaffed with part-time academics trying their best to meet the increased demands of the industry. Roos points out that years ago, the model on which the MCC was based was considered best practice, but is now completely out of step with what is being done elsewhere in the world.
SAHPRAs new structure will follow a similar model to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in that it will be more independent than the MCC. Another benefit is that it will only be partly funded by government with additional funds being raised by way of fees charged and services rendered within its regulatory ambit. This will not only enhance the entitys ability to attract and retain the necessary skills and resources it requires to function optimally, but is critical to its success, he concludes.
Furniture manufacturer and retailer Steinhoff's bold move into the US with a $2.4bn bid for Mattress Firm Holdings announced on Monday took analysts by surprise, because of the sheer size of the transaction and the fact that very little had been said in the lead-up to the announcement.
The deal will create the worlds largest multibrand mattress retail distribution network. It is the biggest acquisition by a firm from SA of an American company.
The great strength of it was that it would provide an opportunity for the company to diversify its currency exposure, given its European focus, said analysts.
There was some doubt, however, as South African companies had not had a good track record in the US.
Steinhoff said it would buy Mattress Firm for $64 per share in cash.
The offer represents a total equity value of $2.4bn and an enterprise value for Mattress Firm of about $3.8bn net debt. The acquisition price is a premium of 115% to Mattress Firms closing price of $29.74 per share at the close of trading on August 5.
Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste said the transaction would allow the furniture retailer to not only enter the US market, but it would also expand Steinhoffs global market reach in the mattress category.
"The Mattress Firm brand and speciality retail concept are a strong complement to the Steinhoff groups retail brand portfolio in the many geographies where the group operates," said Jooste.
The company already owns European home furnishings retailers Bensons for Beds and Conforama.
Steinhoff has previously concentrated its expansion efforts in Europe following its listing in Frankfurt. In July, the retailer sealed a deal with UK discounter Poundland Group agreeing to a 597m cash offer.
Home Retail Group rejected Steinhoffs bid in March and chose to go with an offer from Sainsburys. Its attempt to buy French retailer Darty also came to naught after the Darty board recommended shareholders accept an offer from Fnac.
A Johannesburg analyst, who asked not to be named in line with company policy, said the move into the US was unexpected. "They have been busy with an awful lot of acquisitions in the UK. You would have thought that would have kept them busy, but here is another big one."
The analyst said there were a few causes for concern. "South African companies have a dismal track record in the US. Even outstanding companies like Discovery have failed. They are also paying a very high price for this acquisition. They must see a lot of potential and value."
But London-based Bloomberg Intelligence senior retail analyst Charles Allen said international retailers often looked at the US as an attractive market.
"It diversifies the number of currencies which they (Steinhoff) will be trading. Given that in some of their businesses, especially in their general merchandise business, they are probably purchasing in dollars, it creates something of a natural hedge."
With Palesa Tshandu and Bloomberg
According to FAO, food insecurity in parts of Nigeria's northeast and urgent action is needed to provide farming and livelihood support to 385,000 people. To ensure people can produce enough food for themselves, the resumption of agriculture activities are a priority.
Mike Blyth via Wikimedia Commons - Farmers in Nigeria
This includes those who have been internally displaced by the conflict as well as communities who have been hosting them. These populations need urgent assistance to recover their livelihoods, which are mostly based on crop farming, artisanal fisheries and aquaculture and livestock production. For the last three to four years this has not been possible due to the conflict," said Bukar Tijani, FAO assistant director-general and regional representative for Africa.
More than 3 million people are affected by acute food insecurity in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States.
FAO launches response
FAO has launched a full-scale corporate response to the ongoing crisis and urgently requires $10 million to supply seeds, fertilizers and irrigation equipment for the upcoming irrigated dry season. In the meantime, FAO is preparing its response for the main agricultural season for which even more resources are required.
"This year, significant territory previously controlled by Boko Haram has been rendered accessible to humanitarian assistance so we have a critical opportunity to tackle the alarming levels of food insecurity in northeast Nigeria," said Tim Vaessen, FAO's emergency and response manager in Nigeria.
"With funds received to-date, FAO has reached over 123,000 people to improve their food security by enabling them to grow their own food during the ongoing rain-fed season. While this assistance is crucial, it reaches just a fraction of those in need of support and now FAO is seeking funds to support irrigated crop production, livestock restocking and animal health treatment, including disease control and supplementary feed, in the newly liberated areas," he added.
Pressure on rural communities hosting displaced people
Three consecutive planting seasons have been lost due to the fighting in northeastern Nigeria. Moreover, large influxes of people escaping repeated Boko Haram attacks have put extreme pressure on already poor and vulnerable host communities and their fragile agricultural and pastoral livelihoods, exacerbating the already precarious food and nutrition security situation.
Failure to rebuild the rural economy will translate into a lack of employment opportunities with possible harmful consequences including youth radicalization and enrolment into armed groups, resulting in continued civil unrest, FAO warned. In contrast, restarting food production in the newly accessible areas will have the additional benefits of encouraging displaced populations to return to their homes, while contributing to their improved health and nutrition.
FAO's work
In northeastern Nigeria, FAO has provided agricultural kits to vulnerable internally displaced people with access to land and host families. The kits included improved varieties of millet or sorghum and cowpea seeds - a locally adapted and highly nutritious pulse - and fertilizers, enabling beneficiaries to grow their own food during the ongoing rain-fed season. The harvest is expected to start by the end of September and will allow beneficiaries to cover their food needs for up to 10 months.
FAO is currently preparing to target an additional 85,000 people with horticulture packages to prepare for the upcoming irrigated season. "Growing their own healthy and nutritious food reduces the need for future external food assistance. Families who have access to land and are ready to farm, can harvest in six to eight weeks," Vaessen said.
FAO's activities in Nigeria remain constrained by a serious lack of funding. To date, FAO has received just $ 4.9 million, of which almost 20 percent has come from FAO's own Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities. FAO's programme in northeast Nigeria is also funded by Japan, Belgium, the European Commission (ECHO) and the United Nations Central Emergency Fund (CERF).
You might be disappointed to hear that some intriguing underwater structures recently discovered off the Greek island of Zakynthos are not part of the lost city of Atlantis. But the structures, which resemble colonnades of cobble stones and bases of columns, have an equally fascinating origin. They were actually constructed by microbes gathering around natural vents of methane and forming a natural cement in the otherwise soft sediment.
Illustration of pressure sensing bacteria in soils from the Computational Colloids Project. Carolina Ramirez-Figuroa, Luis Hernan and Martyn Dade-Robertson, CC BY-SA
To some degree, these formations are an accident, sculpted by the interaction of the microorganisms with their physical and chemical environments. But they still point to a complex ability not usually associated with simple single-celled organisms less than 0.0002cm in diameter. So if bacteria can grow their own cities, could we use them to grow ours as well?
Bacterial building is actually more common than you might think. If you rub your tongue across the back of your teeth and find a rough spot between the base of the tooth and your gum you should probably go and see a dental hygienist. But you might also contemplate the fact that you have a city growing on your teeth. The rough patch, known more commonly as plaque, is a biofilm, a complex structure built by bacteria living in your mouth.
Biofilms are, in effect, buildings for bacteria. They provide the bacteria with physical protection and (unfortunately for us) protection from antibiotics. They also enable a complex communications network between the bacteria that lets them work together, with different groups of cells performing different functions and even helping control the populations.
University of East Anglia
Researchers are now experimenting with using the building abilities of bacteria in the human world. For example, we can make self-healing concretes that use bacteria to re-mineralise cracks. It is even possible to create bacteria-based bio-cements using a process similar to that which built the structures found in Zakynthos.
Both systems use a process known as biomineralisation, where bacteria cause mineral crystals to form by changing the chemical composition of their environment. In the case of self-healing concretes and bio-cements, they combine calcium found in their immediate environment with carbon from carbon dioxide in the air. The beauty of the process is that, unlike normal cements and concretes that produce a lot of carbon dioxide, this actually takes carbon out of the atmosphere.
Under pressure
Our research takes this idea even further. We want to use the capacity of microorganisms to sense and respond to their environment, as well as add to it with their own structures. For example, imagine if we could lace the ground of a building site with bacteria that react when they feel mechanical pressure by binding the surrounding soil grains. This would mean we could create a self-constructing foundation just by putting the right amount of pressure on the ground, removing the need for costly excavations and reinforced concrete slabs.
Such a system may still be some way into the future but we have started down the path. Through the emerging discipline of synthetic biology we have already been able to identify genes in certain bacteria that activate in response to pressure. Weve then used genetic engineering to design bacteria that glow when pressurised. Our next step is to begin to use this pressure-sensing capacity in the bacteria to trigger the the process of biomineralisation and the production of new binding materials including polymers.
The site off Zakynthos may have been an archaeological disappointment but it reveals something about the way we might construct buildings in the future. Imagine visiting the ancient remains of our microbial-built future cities. When the archaeologists assess whether they are natural or artificial they may not be able to tell.
According to the 2016 IMF Working Paper on South Africa's Labour Market Dynamics and Inequality, large skill mismatches, poor educational outcomes, and the apartheid legacies have hurt South Africa's job growth and have perpetuated inequality. Unemployment, especially amongst South Africa's youth, women and black population, remains unacceptably high.
The research states that while improving the quality of education is key to addressing the long-term unemployment challenge, more must be done to provide experience to young, first-time entrants to the workforce.
KC Makhubele, president of the Federation of African Professional Staffing Organisations (APSO), an industry body committed to the upliftment and professionalisation of the labour recruitment industry in South Africa, agrees.
Providing necessary on-the-job training and formal or informal work experience to South Africas youth is a win win, and should be seen as a pressing priority. Employers will benefit by receiving an Employment Tax Incentive and young job-seekers will benefit by gaining the skills or experience needed to drive the economy forward. In my opinion, this is the key to reducing unemployment, says Makhubele.
Makhubele notes that according to the IMF Working Paper, those with prior work experience have almost 50% higher job-finding rate than those without experience. With this in mind, he offers the following advice to employers:
Job specs need to be looked at - Employers should allow candidates to interview for positions even though they may not have a related academic degree.
- Employers should allow candidates to interview for positions even though they may not have a related academic degree. Unofficial job experience counts - Has the person worked within the industry previously but in an unofficial capacity or volunteered for a charity organisation? Six years experience (even if voluntary) counts for a lot.
- Has the person worked within the industry previously but in an unofficial capacity or volunteered for a charity organisation? Six years experience (even if voluntary) counts for a lot. Learning on the job - Investing in someone even though they lack qualifications means that they can be trained on the job. If a quick, willing learner and hard worker, they can gain the skills needed for your company.
- Investing in someone even though they lack qualifications means that they can be trained on the job. If a quick, willing learner and hard worker, they can gain the skills needed for your company. Ask important questions - How entrepreneurial is the candidate? How willing are they to take the initiative? Have they worked hard at anything in their life? How high is their EQ? All of these qualities can be crucial predictors of success, sometimes even more than a degree.
- How entrepreneurial is the candidate? How willing are they to take the initiative? Have they worked hard at anything in their life? How high is their EQ? All of these qualities can be crucial predictors of success, sometimes even more than a degree. Think out of the box - When seeking the right people for your organisation, really think about what you want them to be like instead of only relying on academic degrees and qualifications to help make your decision.
While having a degree might help candidates excel in their careers, it does not guarantee it. Putting work readiness plans in place is essential to boost employment rates, concludes Makhubele.
The first round of public hearings of the commission of inquiry into university fees starts today with Wits University's submission.
More than 180 stakeholders are to make submissions on the feasibility of fee-free higher education and training.
Hlonipha Mokoena, chairman of the panel that drew up the Wits submission, said in an interview that a new "hybrid model" was needed.
"This envisages a multifaceted approach in which [the] government (as main custodian of higher education), the private sector and university revenues (fees, donor funds and endowments) all contribute in various ways to the general wellbeing and sustainability of the higher- education sector," she said.
When Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande meets university vice-chancellors tomorrow, he is expected to receive a copy of a Council of Higher Education report with proposals on 2017 academic year fees. Sources said he could make an announcement on fees as early as Friday.
Source: The Times via I-Net Bridge
Seafood, sushi, sunset. That's the promise at Blowfish Restaurant, situated in Cape Town's stunning Dolphin Beach, and that's exactly what you get - and more.
It's not often a table of four gets to review a meal, so we counted our lucky star(fish) that we had the chance to do so at Blowfish on a random Thursday last week, seated at their very best table in the fully glassed off section at the back of the restaurant, with a view across the harbour at the oh-so-pretty twinkly lights of the Cape Town CBD. It was on Thursday so we could include their Thursday prawn special, NOW ENDING end-September, in the review, and last week so the rest of us could try out their weekday Winter menu, which comes to an end at the end of this month.
All images Blowfish. All images Blowfish. All images Blowfish.
Why four of us? Simply so that we could try as many of the amazing array of mid-Winter meals on offer as possible without duplicating orders, in order to give the most comprehensive review possible. So even though wed already perused the menu in full at our leisure, we took our time on ordering as the restaurant was positively buzzing for a wintry Thursday night, and we surreptitiously glanced over at the food on the others tables, trying to decide what would taste the best.
Further undecided on a bottle of red or white we went with the Goldilocks choice: a bottle of the Riebeek Cellars collection 2016 Pinotage Rose for the table, described as crisp and dry and not-too-sweet, by Blowfish general manager Marc Scheidel on one of his many visits to check our table. He explained Blowfish offers bottles that sell, not just ones that look pretty and gather dust. My strawberry milkshake was just as pinkly delicious, thick and brimming with bits of fruit.
Back to the food conundrum then, Keep it good, keep it simple, keep it fresh, keep it moving, suggested Scheidel. We eventually went for the Tom Yum soup, spicy creamy calamari and beef espetada starters. All were served at the same time, always a plus, yet all were so different
Calamari dreaming, on such a Winters day
The soup was just as pipingly hot and spicily hot as wed hoped for, brimming with delights from the sea such as tiny squid heads, curled prawns, calamari, coriander and slightly-sweet Rosa tomatoes that offset the traditional sourness of the soup to perfection. The beef espetada then was extremely moreish, served tender and warm atop a bed of buttery Morrocan mash, but it was the calamari starter that was the clear winner of the round: crispy yet so tender, served with a creamy chilli bean and Japanese mayo dressing.
For mains we again tried as wide a selection as possible, ranging from the calamari mains (no, it was nothing like the starter: this time we got 250g of crispy, fried calamari strips so soft we were convinced theyd been given an extra pummel in the kitchen before frying), served with 4-inch thick chips and the house tartare of garlic and smoked-paprika aioli. So different, yet again this rounds winner, it was followed closely by the 200g rib-eye steak, grilled to perfection (that means it was served medium) with a smoked paprika butter and roasted root vegetables. The chicken piccata, three panko and parmesan-crumbed chicken breasts served with a ratatouille skewer, got our bronze medal.
All images Blowfish. All images Blowfish. All images Blowfish.
And the prawns? Delicious! Served as a steaming mound of 20, they looked amazing with a side of bright purple, orangey red and bright white wok-fried veg to add a bit of crunch and colour.
Brilliant brulee
By then full to the gills, we simply couldn't pass up dessert, so went for the famous house-baked cheesecake laced with a passion fruit reduction, the traditional chocolate brownie, served with vanilla ice cream and a ribbon of delicious chocolate sauce drizzled on top, as well as the espresso creme brulee garnished with lime praline, different to the usual burnt caramel topping but just as delightful, with real espresso in place of some of the recipes usual cream. Consider my coffee-loving soul in heaven.
How do I know all this if I ate just three of the meals myself? Well, we loved it all so much that we tried each other's meal, switching forkful for spoonful as we went. And, after much deliberation, our choice would be the calamari (either the spicy starter or the softly crispy mains) and the passionate passionfruit-topped cheesecake for dessert. But then we didnt even try the Roquefort and pecan nut gnocchi, Thai chicken wings, creamy chicken and mushroom penne pasta, new-style hake and chips or the sweet and savoury Camembert-and-preserved fig phyllo parcel. Hmm. Maybe a four-person review isnt so excessive, after all...
At R149 for two courses and R199 for three, this will go down in the memory banks as one of my best meals of Winter 2016. Click here for more information on Blowfish specials, such as the R99 prawn special.
*Leigh Andrews table were guests of Blowfish. The Winter special menu runs for the rest of the month and the Thursday prawn special runs from 12:30 to 22:00 on Thursdays until 29 September 2016 due to popular demand! Call 021 556 5464 or email az.oc.tnaruatserhsifwolb@ofni to make your booking.
What do a crane driver, a ballet dancer, a doctor, a linguist and a brown belt karate champion have in common? They are all female Volkswagen employees.
Noncedo Johnson
9 August 2016 marked the 60th anniversary of the 1956 womens march on the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against the implementation of the pass laws. In recognition of this milestone, VWSA celebrated the 15 Women, 30 Lives, 60 Years campaign. VWSA has highlighted 15 of the many women who work for VWSA for this feature. The 15 who work in very different areas of the organisation also lead successful private lives.
Each of these women have demanding jobs such as Noncedo Johnson, who is the only woman operating a 63-ton crane or Nonkqubela Maliza who is the longest serving director at VWSA. On top of the demands of work-life, Noncedo is a mother and a brown belt karate champion.
Tarryn Knight, the marketing communications manager of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, is a wife, a classically trained dancer and a fitness instructor. Adidi Ndjoka-Makake is a product engineer, a mother and a linguist who speaks five languages.
Madiba said that freedom cannot be achieved unless the women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression. We hope our campaign will encourage young women to be doctors, engineers, company directors, and crane drivers, said Thomas Schaefer, chairman and managing director: Volkswagen Group South Africa.
Schaefer added: The skills, jobs, abilities and interests of these women show the diversity and talent of our female employees. They are strong and capable and represent the very best of South African women.
Our women not only contribute to the success of our company but also to the success of their families and the communities in which they live, said Schaefer.
The inaugural Top Women Conference, hosted by Topco Media, features Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the under-secretary-general of the United Nations and the executive director of UN Women, amongst other top women speakers.
The conference, taking place on 17 and 18 August at Emperors Palace, recognises outstanding leadership, inspiration, vision, and innovation in South African organisations.
Mlambo-Ngcuka has devoted her career to issues of human rights, equality and social justice, says director of Topco, Karla Fletcher. Not only has she worked in government, civil society and within the private sector, she is also driving the gender equality agenda, an area where progress is being made, but too slowly. In some organisations, the debate on 50/50 gender parity by 2030 still exists, similarly to B-BBEE codes of good practice when it was first introduced as law. What we have noted is that whether it is debated or not, the point is it is not going away and you can choose to positively affect and gain from this process, or alternatively be left behind. We need people who are going to push the gender agenda.
There are still various barriers in South Africa that prevent women from fully participating at the highest levels of business and government.
Janine Hicks from the Commission for Gender Equality states, In South Africa, women represent just 29% of executive managers, 22% of directors of companies, 9% of chairs of boards and 2.4% of chief executives. Under the employment equity legislation, companies are required to conduct an audit to assess what internal policies can be put in place to lower barriers that women face.
Insightful speakers
Topco Media, in partnership with The Department of Women, is hosting the conference to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Womens March.
Amongst the speakers are Thuli Madonsela, the Public Protector of South Africa; Jenna Clifford, jewellery designer; and Susan Shabangu, Minister of Women in the Presidency.
We aim to facilitate growth by communicating, educating, sharing and tracking progress. We have alumni of over 250 award winners who will highlight studies of programmes they have implemented and have proven to be successful over the last 13 years; these organisations and individuals rank amongst the top and most sustainable in the country. They have overcome some of the many local challenges of doing business in South Africa by empowering women, and more so, can relate to the direct impact on productivity and efficiency in their business due to the programmes they have put in place. The event will become a feeding ground for successful implementation of 50/50 by 2030.
In addition, companies will be asked to pledge their progressive plans in reaching 50/50 by 2030 to assist the government in monitoring the progress, which will be reviewed annually from 2017. With this year marking the 60th year since the march to the Union Buildings, the agenda to close the gender gap and to empower women in business is now being embraced by the public and private sectors more than ever. The Top Women Conference creates a platform to acknowledge, celebrate and gain insight into the remarkable work that has been done by individuals, organisations and government.
For more information, email Angelique Edwards at az.oc.ocpot@drawde.euqilegna or call +27 (0) 86 000 9590.
The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) says the metals and engineering sector in SA is on a cliff edge and not at the bottom of a trough.
It also says anecdotal evidence from primary metals producers and merchants taking orders from downstream industries - including the mining and construction sectors - shows "the bottom has fallen out of demand", leading to them becoming stockists again.
"The metals and engineering sector is in a critical condition and it seems more certain that (it) will suffer more setbacks over the next six months before improvements can be expected," Seifsa chief economist Henk Langenhoven said on Friday, 5 August.
He said exports of metals products were soft, mining was in the doldrums, demand from the domestic automotive sector "was dead" and "construction is going nowhere".
The poor outlook comes amid Investec's slightly more upbeat commentary ahead of June production updates for mining and manufacturing. Investec economist Kamilla Kaplan said on Friday the fall in mining output in the first quarter of 2016 was a big contributor to the contraction in GDP, while manufacturing had only made a small positive contribution.
"Based on the data available so far for the second quarter, production in both sectors appears to have improved. The rate of contraction in mining production has decelerated, while manufacturing production lifted further from the growth registered in the first quarter," she said.
But Langenhoven said the metals and engineering sector, which made up about 23% of SA's overall manufacturing output, was "languishing". He said after a slight improvement in resource utilisation in the first quarter, the sector contracted by nearly 0.8% in the second quarter, with capacity utilisation of 77% against the full capacity benchmark of 85%.
"The latest capacity utilisation data for the sector ... do not indicate the bottoming out of the current contraction experienced by the metals and engineering sector."
He said capacity utilisation during the first half of 2016 was 1% lower than during the first half of 2015 and had fallen 2.4% over the 12 months.
Seifsa was "extremely concerned" about persistently lower confidence and production levels, which could lead to possible further job losses.
Statistics SA's quarterly labour force survey released last month said the number of people employed in manufacturing was 2.5% lower than the same period last year.
Source: Business Day
With South Africa's continued skills deficit being compounded by a lack of technical skills, on-the-job training and mentorship should be a priority in each organisation. In a step to close this skills gap, REDISA has launched a Learnership Programme at its head office in Cape Town.
The 12-month programme, valued at R460,507, will provide learners with the opportunity to gain a recognised qualification while gaining work experience. The five selected learners, Dillan Little (19), Litha Plaatjie (22), Melissa Jacobs (19), Aphiwe Gaqa (21) and Nolukhanyo Sibonda (22), all went through an interview process that included Personality Assessment and Learning Style Assessment.
The launch of this programme is part of our on-going efforts to promote skills development amongst the youth, said Stacey Davidson, director at REDISA. Mentoring is something I am passionate about, especially for young people. I think that the economic emancipation of young people cannot remain a song; it has to become a reality. This means that, as a country and as business, we must encourage our youth to prioritise education in order to pull themselves and their families out of poverty and hopelessness, she said.
The programme will develop young minds by imparting knowledge and skills that further their education and experience across various industries and sectors. In order to gain a certificate, learners will be required to complete both a theory component and a practical component. The programme will follow a strict module plan which includes practical work experience. The learners will perform administrative roles while gaining exposure to key areas across the REDISA business.
In three years, REDISA has already seen 18 interns gain valuable experience, and 10 of them are employed permanently at REDISA and 8 have moved on to formal employment and other projects. We look forward to continuing to work with our partners in government, business and trade unions, as well as consumers and NGOs, as we continue to create jobs and develop small businesses, said Davidson.
No fewer than 14 airlines have withdrawn their services from the country due to low patronage on account of the economic recession. The airlines, including Iberia, United Airlines, and Air Gambia, are among the 50 that operated the Nigerian routes some months ago. Besides, foreign airlines operating in the country are estimated to have lost about N64 billion in the wake of the new foreign exchange (forex) policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Hansueli Krapf via Wikimedia Commons _Domestic terminal of Lagos airport
President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Bankole Bernard, said that the new forex policy and economic crunch came with enormous negative effect on travel agencies, the reason for which they exited the country.
Bernard had, at the Aviation Round Table (ART) breakfast meeting held in Lagos recently, said that travel agencies that sold about $1.4 billion worth of air tickets in 2015 were beginning to record losses with the departure of the airlines, adding that there was fear that more airlines might quit flying the Nigerian routes.
The naira devaluation
Apparently frustrated by the low patronage, he said that some of his members were beginning to consider relocating to Ghana, where "their policies are consistent." Bernard said that the alleged inconsistent policy of the current administration, particularly on the naira devaluation, accounted for the current "nightmarish" experience the airlines are facing.
The loss of N64b by the foreign airlines was on account of repatriating $800 million stuck in the economy in the last year but released after the recent devaluation of the naira.
With the devaluation, the accumulated $800million from airlines' sales of tickets when the exchange rate was still at N197 to $1, was taken out of the country at the new rate of N320 to $1. Consequently, a substantial amount was lost in the last couple of weeks.
Confirming the development, the regional manager of British Airways, Kola Olayinka, said that for every $1m repatriated since the new policy began, the airlines lose no less than N80 million.
New policy to blame
Olayinka blamed the situation on what he called the immediate and unfortunate effect of the new policy, which is affecting all foreign airlines that had funds sitting in the Nigerian banks.
The current administration last year introduced a fiscal policy through the CBN, restricting access to foreign exchange and funds transfer out of the country. In the process, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated that no less than $600 million belonging to foreign airlines was stranded in Nigeria. The association appealed to the government to ensure the immediate release of such funds.
Aviation sources estimate that Delta and United Airlines have up to $180 million hanging in the Nigerian economy, while Air France-KLM is estimated to have over $150 million. British Airways has about $100 million as of March 2016, while Iberia, which had already withdrawn its services, has $5 million of its funds trapped.
Olayinka expressed regret that the effects of the new policy are quite unfortunate, but a price to be paid for "the economic realignment".
Foreign airlines remain a major stakeholder
ART President, Gbenga Olowo, noted that some airlines lost up to 50 percent of their funds due to the forex policy. Olowo, however, stressed that the foreign airlines remained a major stakeholder in the aviation industry, citing that they account for about 90 percent of the air passenger traffic in the country.
He said even if the foreign airlines continued to leave, it would still not be to the advantage of local carriers like Arik and Medview since their fleet capacity is too low to accommodate the traffic.
Olowo appealed to the government to be consistent in its policy and ensure that operators have an enabling environment.
Improving security at airports
Meanwhile, to improve security at airports nationwide, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has made mandatory the fresh certification of all aviation security screeners. The directive, according to NCAA, is in accordance with the provision of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Certification System (Annex 17 Standards 3.4.3) for aviation security personnel and the requirements of National Civil Aviation Security Training Programme (NCASTP).
The exercise covers airport workers, who include security personnel responsible for the screening of passengers, cabin baggage, cargo, courier, mail and other items with the use of x-ray screening equipment prior to the boarding or loading of baggage and cargo onto an aircraft or movement to restricted areas.
The NCAA said: "Any person prior to being designated as an AVSEC screener in Nigeria, must obtain certification from the NCAA."
International cooperation continues in the Arctic region despite the difficult political situation in the world. For example, Russia plans to invest 12.3 million euros in the Kolarctic program of cross-border cooperation before 2020. Arctic.ru interviews the program coordinator in the Murmansk Region, Yulia Korshunova, on the programs details.
Ms. Korshunova, what does the program's name mean?
It's just a name; it doesn't mean anything. The program's full name in English is CBC ENI (European Neighbourhood Instrument) Kolarctic 2014-2020.
What are the basics of the program?
Kolarctic 2014-2020 promotes cross-border cooperation between Russia, Finland, Sweden and Norway. This is specifically the northern regions of these countries that have common land and sea borders. English is the working language.
Who is financing the program?
The program is co-funded equally by the countries involved. There are no donors or recipients, everyone makes an equal contribution and has equal rights. The right wording is this: "The Kolarctic program is co-funded by the European Union, Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden."
What organizations can get involved? Can representatives of the business community join?
Organizations registered in the core and adjoining program regions can take part in the program. Public and private organizations can get involved.
The program documents are in English, and this can raise questions in translating some terminology into Russian and can lead to misunderstandings among potential participants. For example, many people believe that the term "public organizations" which reads " " in Russian only applies to non-government and non-commercial organizations (NGOs and NCOs). But the Kolarctic program also lists many regional governments, municipalities, city administrations, universities and colleges among public organizations, as well as NGOs and NCOs.
What do the terms "core" and "adjoining" program regions mean? What regions are meant?
The "core program region" concept includes organizations with a legal address in the core program-implementation region. This includes the Murmansk Region, the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Area in Russia, Norrbotten Province in Sweden, Lapland in Finland and the provinces of Troms, Finnmark and Nordland in Norway. These organizations may take part in projects as leading partners and/or partners. In this case, all project budget items, including personnel, business trips, equipment procurement and other expenses, can be spent on the activity of leading project partners and project partners.
Organizations registered in adjoining regions are the second concept. They can also take part in projects as partners and/or leading partners, just like partners in a core program region. At the same time, no more than 20% of the Kolarctic budget can be spent on their participation. These territories include the Republic of Karelia, the Komi Republic and St. Petersburg in Russia, North Ostro-Bothnia in Finland and Vasterbotten in Sweden.
Do Kolarctic projects allow for concepts like an individual participant contribution, like other international programs do?
During the previous program period which just ended, there was a clause for individual participant contributions to project co-funding. Public organizations were supposed to contribute no less than 10% of an entire project budget. Not every partner contributed 10%, and the total contribution of all the partners was to have totaled no less than 10%. If a project involved a partner and/or a leading partner representing private business, then their own contribution totaled 30% of the project budget.
Currently, we're working on guidelines for those wishing to obtain new-generation grants from the Kolarctic program. The document will also list data on the amount of individual contributions to a given project. We expect to post this on our website this fall.
Who manages the program? Is it an elected position? And what is the procedure for appointing the program manager?
The Joint Monitoring Committee, the main governing body of the program that represents all member-countries, has decided to delegate program-management issues to the Regional Council of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland. This is roughly the equivalent to the government of the Murmansk Region.
The Kolarctic program managing body is called the Managing Authority of the ENI CBC Kolarctic Programme 2014-2020.
Can you list some project examples, including those where businesses and scientists are represented?
Businesses and researchers are involved in many projects, including:
Reindeer Hide Quality High,
Use of Heat Pump Promotion in the Barents Region (HePuPro),
Sustainable Buildings for the High North Cross Border Research and Trade Facilitation,
Sustainable Mining, Local Communities and Environmental Regulation in Kolarctic Area (SUMILCERE).
Researches have obtained interesting results in projects like:
Finding the Regional Strengths to Create Business Opportunities for Arctic Agriculture Based on Special Plants (BARENTSPEC),
Kolarctic Salmon (Trilateral Cooperation on our Common Resource: the Atlantic Salmon in the Barents Region).
Judging by your website, the Kolarctic program was drafted for 2007 to 2013. What's next?
The Kolarctic program 2007-2013 is finished. The Joint Monitoring Committee is currently working on the next program for 2014 through 2020. Even the names of these programs are slightly different. The previous program was called ENPI CBC Kolarctic Programme 2007-2013, and the new program has been named ENI CPC Kolarctic Programme 2014-2020.
Why hasn't the new one been launched yet?
Since 2014, the concerned parties have been working to launch it, and they are working on the policy documents, but the invitation to fund projects has not been announced. We expect Russia and the European Commission to sign a funding agreement before the year is out, and then we can launch the first application submission round.
What is the co-funding structure for the member-countries for the new program period?
It's still too early to talk about specific figures because, again, a financial agreement has not yet been signed between Russia and the European Commission. At the same time, the program's approximate current budget will be about 63.4 million euros, including:
24.7 million euros' worth of common EU co-funding;
In all, national co-funding will total 24.7 million euros: Finland and Sweden 12.35 million euros, the Russian Federation 12.35 million euros, respectively;
Norwegian national co-funding and the Kolarctic Norway contribution will total 14 million euros.
What are the main goals?
We primarily intend to mitigate the distant nature of our common region and increase the socioeconomic significance through high-priority programs like improving the viability of the Arctic economy, nature and the environment and promoting the free mobility of people, goods and knowledge.
What programs are high-priority, and why?
We have four thematic goals, and we will be able to file requests for these goals after the financial agreement is signed between Russia and the EC. The first goal is the development of small and medium-sized businesses. The second is environmental protection, mitigating the consequences of climate change and adapting to climate change. The third is to make regions more accessible, to develop resilient transportation and communications systems that can take the extreme climate, among other things. And the fourth goal is to help improve and control the border infrastructure, maintain border security and control migration.
What's been achieved so far?
In all, 51 projects were funded during the previous program period, including 48 standard projects and three large-scale projects worth a total of 95 million euros. Other examples include:
CETIA (Coastal Environment, Technology and Innovation in the Arctic),
Enhancement of Oil Spill Response System by Establishing Oil Database,
CYAR Children and Youth at Risk in the Barents Region,
Salla-Gate Business and Tourism Partnership,
Support for Leaving Care in Murmansk Region and in Lapland,
Arctic Expo Center Nuclear Powered Icebreaker Lenin (ICE), and others.
The list of financed projects is posted on our website.
As someone with an insider's knowledge of the program, what advice can you offer to future applicants? Can you suggest a formula for a successful project?
To me, the formula for a successful project combines a difficult objective and an unconventional approach to achieving it. A difficult objective might be a project to resolve a long-neglected social or business problem, a problem that should have been resolved a long time ago.
An unconventional approach could be a resolution that uses modern technology and best practices, and really, a creative approach. The world has changed a lot, and approaches that were used only ten years ago have already become less effective. It's time to move on and be creative.
Got a question or tip? Contact us at bizmojoidaho@gmail.com.
After Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's latest controversial remarks, Colleen Deacon's congressional campaign is accusing U.S. Rep. John Katko of enabling the GOP nominee's "dangerous rhetoric."
At a rally Tuesday in North Carolina, Trump was discussing the possibility of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton getting elected and being in a position to appoint Supreme Court judges.
"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks," Trump said. "Although the Second Amendment people maybe there is, I don't know."
Trump comments, which seemed to suggest that assassination is an option for those who would disagree with Clinton's gun control positions as president, were criticized by members of both parties.
Erin Fleck, a spokesperson for Deacon's campaign, called Trump's statement "absolutely disgraceful."
"Republican John Katko said recently that Trump's core message is resonating but the delivery needs to be worked on he said that he needs to see if the tone changes before he can decide if he will support Donald Trump for president," Fleck said.
"Well, I think at this point Trump's tone has been quite clear and Republican Congressman Richard Hanna said it best he's 'narcissistic, profoundly offensive and anything but a leader.' Katko's refusal to disavow Trump speaks volumes and his silence is only enabling Trump's dangerous rhetoric."
Katko previously said that he's concerned about Trump's tone. He hasn't endorsed the Manhattan real estate mogul, even though he did say that he would support the GOP presidential nominee.
Democrats have repeatedly pressed Katko to take a position: Either endorse Trump, the party's presidential nominee, or don't. Deacon and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee are seeking to link Katko to Trump in the 24th Congressional District race.
Last month, Katko attended a meeting between House Republicans and Trump. That gathering wasn't enough to persuade the GOP congressman that he should endorse his party's presidential nominee.
"I continue to have concerns about the divisive tone of Mr. Trump's campaign and the lack of substantive dialogue on the issues that matter most to central New Yorkers and to all Americans," Katko said in July. "Nothing was said (at the meeting) to ease those concerns."
UPDATED: Katko's campaign issued a statement responding to the comments made by Deacon's campaign.
"John has repeatedly expressed that he has significant concerns with the tone of the Trump campaign. As this campaign progresses, John's opponent wants to continue to talk about Donald Trump and partisan presidential politics instead of focusing on the issues that matter to central New York families. John is focused on you, your family and your needs. He's been an effective, bipartisan member of Congress and is eager to run on that record.
"Central New York voters deserve to know where Colleen Deacon stands. Is her campaign a locally focused, issue-based campaign, or a typical D.C.-run partisan effort? How will she work with Mr. Trump should he win? Despite her endorsement, how will she stand up to Hillary Clinton to protect the district? This is what the voters in CNY need to hear about."
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is using U.S. Rep. John Katko's own words against him in a new ad airing on Syracuse-area radio stations.
The ad criticizes Katko's acceptable of special interest money, particularly from political action committees. Federal Election Commission records show Katko's re-election campaign has received 52.5 percent of its contributions from "other committees," most of which are PACs affiliated with other elected officials or interest groups.
In his latest campaign finance report submitted in July, Katko raised $177,633.16 from PACs and other committees. The funds accounted for nearly 56 percent of his total receipts from June 9 through June 30.
The donors included Exelon Corporation's PAC, which gave $5,000 to Katko's campaign. Exelon announced Tuesday that the company has acquired the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Scriba, Oswego County.
The plant is located in Katko's district.
Katko also received funds from several GOP-affiliated PACs. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise's committee, the Eye of the Tiger PAC, donated $4,500 to the Camillus Republican's campaign.
During the 2014 election, Katko, R-Camillus, criticized his opponent, then-U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei, for accepting donations from outside of the 24th Congressional District.
At a NewsChannel 9 debate that year, Katko said most of the donations to his campaign came from central New York.
"You are where you get your money from," he said. "I am central New York and that's where my money came from."
The DCCC contends that Katko's comments two years ago and his recent campaign finance filings are an example of his hypocrisy an issue they plan to raise throughout the 24th District campaign.
"Last election, Congressman John Katko attacked his opponent for taking special interest money, but when he got to Washington, he did the same," DCCC spokesman Bryan Lesswing said. "By Katko's own admission last election, 'you are where you get your money from.' For Katko, he needs to answer for the special interests that bankroll his campaign."
Chris Pack, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, issued a statement Wednesday responding to the DCCC's radio ad campaign.
"Nancy Pelosi's campaign arm is clearly rewarding Colleen Deacon for saying she would not break with House Democrats on any issue, even if it was in the interest of central New York," Pack said. "While Colleen Deacon is busy taking her marching orders from Nancy Pelosi, John Katko will continue fighting in a bipartisan fashion for his constituents."
Katko is running for re-election against Democratic challenger Colleen Deacon, who previously served as U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's central New York regional director.
Deacon won a three-way primary in June to secure the Democratic nomination.
The 24th District is a top target for Democrats. The party is looking to win back the seat it lost two years ago when Katko defeated Maffei, D-Syracuse, by nearly 20 points.
Democrats have fared better in this district during presidential election years. In 2008 and 2012, Maffei was elected to Congress by comfortable margins.
The last time a Republican won the Syracuse-area congressional district race in a presidential election year was 2004, when then-U.S. Rep. Jim Walsh faced no Democratic opposition.
After the Burma Army sent troops from the Shadan Pa banana plantation in Nam San Yang to Bandawng Kahtawng on the Myitkyina-Bhamo Roadon the way to Laizafighting started in Ja Ing Yang at 3 pm, lasting one hour.
According to an unconfirmed news report, a Burma Army lieutenant was killed and 9 government soldiers sustained injuries from the clash.
After the new National League for Democracy government took office in April the Burma Army launched a series of offensives to clear KIA troops from between the Irrawaddy River and Myitkyina-Bhamo Road in Waingmaw Township in eastern Kachin State.
Reporting by KNG
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited by BNI staff
Eagle Boys and Pizza Hut rumoured to be merging
Australias second-largest pizza chain could be created if a rumoured merger between Eagle Boys and Pizza Hut eventuates.
According to Fairfax Media, a Sydney-based private-equity company, Allegro Funds, is attempting to acquire both chains. Eagle Boys head office entered into voluntary administration in July 2016, although its franchised stores still continue to operate.
It is not known if the acquisition eventuates whether Eagle Boys and Pizza Hut would be combined together under the one brand or if they would continue to operate separately as is.
Allegro Funds already owns a number of businesses including carpet retailer, Carpet Court, bus manufacturer Custom and Great Southern Rail train services.
The news that Allegro may be acquiring Eagle Boys and Pizza Hut comes just after Roy Morgan Research released data showing that between 2012 and 2016 that Eagle Boys visitation rate fell from 852, 000 every average four-weeks, to 336, 000, a 61 per cent decrease.
Pizza Hut, which is owned by Yum! Brands, also experienced a drop in visitation across this period, going from one million visitors every average four-weeks to 745, 000.
At the same time, competing chain Dominos went from 1.8 million customers every four weeks in 2012 to 2.3 million in 2016.
Australian Food News attempted to contact Allegro Funds, Eagle Boys and Pizza Hut for comment but did not receive any response prior to publication.
US Amplify acquires popular Australian-sold Tyrells Crisps
US snack giant, Amplify, has acquired chip manufacturer, Tyrells.
Amplify acquired Tyrells for 300 million pounds.
Amplify is listed on the US stock exchange and is estimated to be worth US $1 billion. It is best known in the United States for its SkinnyPop popcorn. It also owns US-sold gourmet tortilla chips brand, Paqui.
Tyrells has been owned by Bahrain-based luxury brand company Investcorp since 2013.
Tyrells to expand Amplifys international presence
President and Chief Executive Officer of Amplify, Tom Ennis, said the company was established with the intent of becoming a leader in the better-for-you snacks category and that Tyrrells fits well into its portfolio of brands.
Tyrrells represents a highly strategic, rapidly growing and sizeable acquisition for Amplify and greatly expands our snacking categories and international presence, Ennis said.
Tyrells was established in 2002 by farmer and entrepreneur, William Chase. Since then, the company has exported its chips to different parts of Europe and the US. It first entered Australian supermarkets in 2014 through an exclusive supply deal with Coles.
In August 2015, Tyrells acquired Australian snack brand, Yarra Valley Snack Foods, the producer of Thomas Chipman Organic Chips and other snacks.
At the beginning of 2016, Tyrells began manufacturing its chips at a factory in the Victorian Yarra Valley. It is the first time Tyrells Crisps are have been made outside the UK.
Woolworths slowly on the way back
Regular readers of Australian Food News are well aware of Woolworths recent travails.
From its failed venture into hardware through Masters to other failed management strategies, Woolworths over the past 24 months has lost considerable market recognition as a previous leader.
But are things finally starting to look up?
After Chief Executive Officer of Woolworths, Brad Banducci, recently revealed more of his plan to turn the group around, there has plenty of analysis indicating that a turnaround will occur, it just might not happen fast as Woolworths may like.
For example..
UBS
After the restructuring update was announced, which included culling 500 head office jobs, finance company, UBS said whilst the Woolworths group has strong bones and issues can ultimately be corrected, UBS expects the turnaround will take longer and cost more than expected.
Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse said that it agrees with Woolworths turnaround plans buts says it does not have any reason to upgrade its credit rating yet. Credit Suisse said Woolworths was undertaking textbook retail restructuring and that things like performing refurbishments should improve sales growth and addressing supply chain costs at its department chain Big W all amongst a number of positive steps.
That said, there is unlikely to be a substantial opportunity to upgrade supermarket earnings expectations due to low opportunity for earnings-before-interest-and-tax margin or market share expansion from the current forecast, Credit Suisse announced.
In May 2016, Standard and Poor, had downgraded its credit rating for Woolworths.
David Walker, Analyst at Stocks in Value
Senior Analyst at Stocks in Value wrote in The Australian on 9 August 2016 that there was no doubt that Woolworths will turn around, yet he also believes it would take time and that there would be other companies for investors to put their money into in the meantime.
Walker noted, after analysing Woolworths in depth and from witnessing other large-cap ASX turnarounds, that the company will eventually be better managed than it has been in recent years, but it still will have Coles and Aldi hot on its heels.
He suspects Woolworths will need to further invest in price cutting strategies to fight the perception it has become a more expensive supermarket option and he is concerned the possible entry of German discount supermarket, Lidl, could provide even more competition.
John Rice, Professor of Management and Nigel Martin, Business and Economics Lecturer
Writing for The Conversation, Professor of Management at the University of New England, John Rice, and a lecturer at the College of Business and Economics at the Australian National University, Nigel Martin, also expressed concern regarding Aldis power over Woolworths future.
The article defends the many advantages Aldi has running its supermarkets the way it does.
The focus of Aldi has so many benefits lower wastage, more reliable and economical supply arrangements and more efficient in-store logistics. These are the fundamental drivers of profitability that Woolworths simply cannot replicate, the two wrote.
They concluded Woolworths still may have tough times ahead.
So, taken together while the times are tough for Woolworths, they may well be about to become tougher still. Buying Woolworths shares at their current level may well be a great idea or we may yet see its shares plummet again as the realities of its huge fixed costs and shrinking margins combine to see more long term pain for the company, they concluded.
HIGHTSTOWN, N.J.The management teams of East Coast News and its sister companies recently held their annual meeting in Princeton, N.J., and received a delivery timeframe analysis from FedEx.
According to the report, from March through June all deliveries form East Coast News warehouses in New Jersey, Florida and California delivered on time 99.2 percent of the time. Additionally, retailers who bought via distribution received their products on time 99.6 percent of the time via FedEx Ground, while ECNs drop shipping service was delivered on time 98.1 percent of the time via FedEx Home Delivery.
FedEx also reported that the average time spent in transit for orders shipped via FedEx Ground was only 2.39 days, with almost 62 percent of all orders being received in two days or less.
We are extremely pleased with how FedEx has performed these last few months, said Kevin Guilford, sales manager at East Coast News. Having such an amazing on-time delivery rate doesnt only benefit ECN, but also the customers receiving the orders. A faster delivery means fewer days in inventory, allowing us to constantly replenish our stock. And meeting and exceeding customer deadlines drives home our motto, our world revolves around our customers.
East Coast News attributes the timely deliveries to two main reasons. One, having warehouses that carry the same products in three prime areas of the United States allows for a much quicker turnaround. Customers have their products shipped from the warehouse that is closest geographically to them. Second, FedEx is constantly working to improve their delivery times, and always coming up with new and innovative ways to do just that.
For more, visit ECN.com.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2016 (2270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Thirty months after it was officially closed, Veteran Affairs Minister Kent Hehr was in Brandon to formally announce the local Veterans Affairs Office will be functional by the end of 2016.
Hehr, flanked by Winnipeg Liberal MPs Robert Falcon-Ouellette and Doug Eyolfson, made the announcement on Monday at the Service Canada building downtown, where the office will be reopened in October and fully functional by December.
The office will house approximately nine staff members, Hehr said. They may include case managers, veteran service agents, administrative support workers, benefit operations adjudicators and other health professionals may make up the roster, depending on the needs and size of the office.
Colin Corneau Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr announces the reopening of the Veterans Affairs Office in Brandon against a backdrop of items from the local Royal Canadian Artillery Museum on Tuesday.
Right now, one staffer works out of the Service Canada portion of the same building, Hehr said.
Of the approximately 2,400 veterans the Brandon office is expected to serve, 123 are currently receiving case management services from VAC.
Hehr said a ratio of 25 cases per manager is the target for the new offices a figure derived from standards among NATO partners and social work best practices.
We looked at the backlog and the numbers, and we believe our staffing is fully warranted for the services our veterans need full stop, Hehr said in an interview with The Sun.
In his speech, Hehr noted Brandons deep-rooted military history during his remarks to a room of about 50 people, including Sioux Valley Dakota Nation Chief Vincent Tacan and Brandons acting mayor John LoRegio, several veterans and current members of the Canadian Armed Forces.
Hehr said hell never forget receiving his mandate letter from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last November. Reopening the nine offices is one of the 15 specific items in that mandate letter.
The minister told The Sun he has every confidence all 15 promises will be crossed off the list before the next election, Hehr said.
Six items were accounted for in the 2016 federal budget at a cost of $5.6 billion.
I thought we moved at breakneck speed to put our budget requests through by February of this year, Hehr said.
As for the remaining items, including promises to increase the veteran survivors pension amount from 50 to 70 per cent, and pay for up to four years of post-secondary education for veterans?
Look, were a new government, Hehr said.
We dont know everything, so having that ability to go and talk to veterans and their families on the issue of a clear option for a pension, on issues like mental health, issues like returning to work. They are the experts, not us.
He wouldnt put a price tag on the commitments in his letter.
We have an understanding of what they are going to be, but until those come out, it would be silly of me to estimate, guesstimate or go from there, Hehr said.
The Calgary MP choose not to comment on an ongoing lawsuit between veterans in British Columbia who argue the government has a sacred obligation to provide the expanded pensions and other benefits.
Larry Robertson, a Brandonite who for two decades served with the First, Second and Fourth Royal Canadian Horse Artilleries, as well as the School of Artillery at CFB Shilo, said its extremely important the Liberals fulfilled this election plank.
Its one of the few times theyve carried through with their promise as far as Im concerned, he said.
Now hes looking for the same on the other items in Hehrs mandate letter.
The survivor benefits should be improved. The cost of living is going up and the remunerations are not, or not at the same (rate), Robertson said.
Edd McArthur served for more than four decades and is currently the curator of the 26th Field Regiment RCA/ XII Manitoba Dragoons Museum in Brandon.
He was photographed alongside Peter Ewasiuk, a Korean War veteran, in The Sun in February 2014, protesting the VAC offices closure.
Hes passed away in the meantime. Hed have been here otherwise. He really found it a big blow to lose this place. A lot of the veterans use this place, McArthur said.
He agreed with Robertsons conclusion.
Someone has to run the country. If the Liberals run it, if they follow through with their election promises, it cant be all bad, right?
After his Wheat City stop Hehr travelled to Saskatoon, where hell make a similar announcement about that citys VAC office today.
tbateman@brandonsun.com
Twitter: @tombatemann
CHEYENNE, WY The iWantCustomClips Top 5 Elite Model Team contest will be over in less than one week, and a record amount of fetish and cam models, as well as porn stars, are vying for one of the five spots.
Theres still time to enter. The contest closes on Monday, August 15, and the winners will be announced seven to 10 days later.
Entering is simple. All models registered with IWCC can send a video or email about why should be picked to [email protected] The five models with the best video or email will win.
Winners get a $300 bonus, 110 percent of their clip sales, and can sign for IWCC at its booth at upcoming tradeshows, including Exxxotica and AEE in Las Vegas in 2017.
This IWCC model team search has been very exciting, and were very happy that weve received so many entries from models, says Jay Phillips, Vice President of iWantCustomClips.com. Theres still time to enter, and we cant wait to see the last round of entries.
iWantCustomClips has a blog that details all the contest requirements. It can be viewed here.
Already have an account? Log in here
Lt.-Col. Wayne Niven, the former commanding officer of CFB Shilos 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry, officially took command of Operation Unifier at a ceremony in the west of Ukraine on Tuesday.
We need your support!
Local journalism needs your support!
As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.
Now, more than ever, we need your support.
Starting at $4.99/month you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website.
or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527.
Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community!
Opinion
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2016 (2270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
TORONTO Altitude apparently goes to Pope Franciss head. It always seems to be on an aircraft that he says something radical or provocative, often getting into trouble and obliging his staff and apologists to explain that he was misunderstood, mistranslated or just missed. And usually giving cause for the Catholic left to rejoice and Catholic right to despair. This time, on a flight home from Armenia, he announced he had set up a commission to consider whether women could be made deacons.
Oh, the humanity. A group of experts discussing whether, after a couple of thousand years, Roman Catholicism might give half the population the chance of having just a little authority within the oh-so-male hierarchy of the Church. Let me make a bold prediction here. It wont happen. The Pope speaks a good game but plays rather a bad one.
There are two types of deacon. One group is composed of men who are on their way to the priesthood; the position is merely temporary. The other is the diaconate, where men can be married, and have a mere fraction of a priests authority. It is the latter for which women are being considered.
Already the more conservative elements within the Catholic Church are performing a liturgical dance of anger and incredulity. They regard the Pope as a relentless liberal hes not, actually, and has changed hardly anything at all and see even the consideration of female deacons as downright heresy. Its the first step, they say, and next will be married clergy and then those damned females telling us what to do.
Theyre wrong. Even if women are made deacons and as I say, its incredibly unlikely the change could and would go no further. Catholic theology believes the prime role of the priest is to represent Christ at the Mass and, as Jesus was a man, no woman can fulfil this position. But Jesus was also Jewish, spoke Aramaic and was born of a virgin. Try as I might, I have never found an Aramaic-speaking, Jewish priest born of a virgin serving mass in Canada. Mind you, I dont get around as much as I used to.
Its obviously a pretty flimsy argument and the chances are the vast majority of North American Catholics are either unaware of it or reject it. But there is, of course, more going on here. Male privilege, fear of women and of female empowerment, and sometimes downright misogyny are sadly abundant in Catholic circles. While Queen Elizabeth led England in the 16th century, Catherine the Great transformed Russia in the 18th and nations as diverse as India, Israel and Germany have elected women as premiers, the Roman Catholic Church sees women as mothers, nuns and, very occasionally, theologians. The Madonna always knows her place.
This anachronistically male culture not only distorts reality and, indeed, the teachings of Jesus, but also allows reactionary and naive ideas about sex, contraception, divorce and reproductive choice to dominate Catholic teaching. I am also convinced the abuse crisis could not have happened, or would have been exposed far earlier, if women had more influence within the Catholic power structure.
It was women who first saw the resurrected Jesus and told their doubting male comrades, women who featured so large in the most memorable of stories concerning Jesus and His ministry, women who still to a very large extent sustain organized Christianity. But a male pope tells male cardinals who tell male priests what is true and what not. Good old boys, often with their own sexual struggles and obfuscation, being good old clerics. Gender exclusivity is morally and spiritually stifling, and when enforced celibacy is added to the mixture the result is, alas, not only damaging but positively dangerous.
The Catholic Church is going to have to ask itself some very challenging and profound questions in the coming years, about issues the secular world and even other churches have already embraced and resolved. The longer it denies and pretends, the more irrelevant it will become to the emerging generation and that, I believe, will be a great shame.
Perhaps the Pope needs to go flying again I suppose hes closer to God up there.
Michael Corens latest book is Epiphany: A Christians Change of Heart & Mind Over Same-Sex Marriage. His column recently appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press.
Charged with DUI
Valencia Simone Jackson, 52, of West Shortline Court was arrested by Flagstaff Police Department on an extreme DUI charge at 1:11 a.m. Monday.
Andrea Angel Slim, 35, of North Fourth Street was arrested by Flagstaff Police Department on an extreme DUI charge at 11:17 p.m. Saturday.
Brannon Huskie, 34, of Tuba City was arrested by Flagstaff Police Department on a charge of aggravated DUI with a passenger under 15 at 12:45 a.m. Saturday.
Cody Tyler Big, 22, of North Rilla Road was arrested by Flagstaff Police Department on a DUI charge at 6:19 p.m. Thursday.
Jacob Thomas Hredzak, 22, of East Payton Way was arrested by Flagstaff Police Department on an extreme DUI charge at 3:08 a.m. Thursday.
City and county residents who want to report a crime but wish to remain anonymous may call Silent Witness at 774-6111 or (877) 29-CRIME, submit a tip online at www.coconinosilentwitness.org, or text the word Flagtip along with your information to 274637 (CRIMES). Rewards of up to $2,000 are given for information that leads to an arrest.
Opinion
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2016 (2270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The storm was furious, but it was miraculous that no one was hurt.
It was the worst electrical storm on record that passed through the community of Griswold that Saturday morning. And it was accompanied by what The Brandon Sun writer of the day called a regular tornado of wind and rain.
Nearly all of the fences and metal chimneys came down, the tents on the CNR construction were flattened out and a lot of supplies for workers were spoiled as a result of that storm.
The same system caused more damage in Souris, Newdale, Pipestone, Reston and several other places, with extensive damage to buildings. In some cases, several horses were killed.
That was June 16, 1907.
One day later, another violent storm passed through Wheatland near Rivers with a massive wind that damaged buildings and property all over the district. The roof of the ice rink was blown several hundred feet away, and the waiting rooms of the building were totally demolished. The chimney of the local English church was blown off, and every grain elevator in the region sustained some kind of damage.
Violent, dangerous storms are not unknown to Manitoba. The Sun has several accounts of tornadoes and funnel clouds hitting various communities over the years.
In July 1965, a tornado struck the small farming community of Ridgeville, located 60 miles south of Winnipeg. Chimneys were knocked down, trees were uprooted and several windows were broken. At least three sheds were demolished in that storm system, which also spawned funnel clouds near the Winnipeg airport and the Assiniboia Downs race track.
Three years later, a savage twister that was said to be about 50 yards across by an eyewitness caused extensive damage to the La Riviere resort area, and threw a railway caboose around like a toy. The tornado then wound its way through 15 miles of farms and farmyards, destroying trees, sheds and machinery, before it blew itself out south of Manitou.
And in July 1977, another tornado killed two people and injured two others when it struck the small town of Rosa, in eastern Manitoba. The twister had taken the lives of Mike Klem and his wife Katie, when it picked up their farmhouse and slammed it down several hundred yards away. It was storms like this one that prompted the Manitoba Emergency Measures Organization to set up a system to spot tornadoes and other potentially dangerous weather conditions.
Its a system that we have in place even today. For every major storm system that moves through the province, Environment Canada has set up storm alerts to warn the public of the potential for violent systems, and accompanying tornado activity.
That alert system was active on Monday evening, when a strong storm cell that produced at least three tornadoes and likely a fourth north of Erickson passed through Westman. Seven houses were damaged in Waywayseecappo First Nation, and one home was completely destroyed by the confirmed tornado on the reserve. There is even a video of the storm showing how the winds overturned a school bus in the community.
In 20 mins from my deck we watched four tornadoes form and dissolve wrote Waywayseecappo resident Eric Mentuck on his Facebook page Monday evening.
With the advent of better storm-tracking technology, the proliferation of smartphones among the population, and the growing interest in storm chasing, its easy to think that Manitoba storms are becoming more violent and dangerous a product of climate change.
As the Winnipeg Free Press reported this week, the confirmed tornado events in Manitoba as of Tuesday this year number at least 14 up from eight in 2015 and six in 2014. But meteorologists with Environment Canada warn that using confirmed tornado numbers to point to the effects of climate change is not a good idea, because of a population bias in the numbers.
The reports happen where the people are, because thats who reports them, Environment Canada climate-change meteorologist Natalie Hasell said. We have a large part of the province where we dont have roads, where we dont have settled people, where we dont have regular inhabitants. So there could be many more tornadoes many more hail, wind, rain events but nobody is there to see them or report them to us and we dont necessarily have a way to confirm them.
Technology is certainly playing a role in the number of confirmed tornadoes, she said. In fact, Manitobans are rather fixated on storm chasing these days, and thus we take notice when Environment Canada warns of an incoming system.
Hasell also said there really is no particular trend, noting Saskatchewan counted seven tornadoes in 2011, 33 in 2012, 17 in 2013, nine in 2014 and two in 2015.
Of course, this doesnt mean that climate change isnt real. There are multiple studies that have been conducted over the decades and published in peer-reviewed scientific journals proving that climate warming trends are real and are linked to human activity.
We just cant point to the storm photos on Twitter as the proof.
A member of the ground staff has captured a shocking security breach at Madrid airport on film.
The incident, which took place last Friday, shows footage of a passenger at Madrids Barajas Airport leaping from an air bridge onto the tarmac after somehow getting through security.
The man - reportedly a Bolivian national - can then be seen running across the tarmac towards a Ryanair plane which he believes hed missed to the Canary Islands, all this takes after the plane had already begun its push-back.
The alarm was raised and eventually the passenger was detained by airport staff before putting himself or anyone else in anymore danger.
* If you cant see the Facebook embed, you can view it here.
What makes the incident even more shocking is the fact that Spain is currently sitting on its second highest anti-terror alert level.
Speaking to the Guardian a spokesman for Aena a public body that operates most of Spains airports confirmed the passenger used extreme measures to break onto the tarmac, however the spokesman also said that terrorism was in no way a factor in the incident.
The passenger had reached the gate with his boarding pass, said the Aena spokesman.
He broke through a fire escape, the doors opened and he got out that way.
This person had cleared security and had no terrorist motivations. He was never suspected of being a terrorist.
Despite his actions the man was somehow not arrested by the Guardia Civil at the time. He even refused to wait for the police after being told to do so by airport staff.
To make matters worse he still, almost unbelievably, made it onto the flight he was thought he was trying to reach in the first place.
It seems that he got on to the tarmac because hed missed his flight but the plane he was trying to get on wasnt his, said a spokeswoman.
When he realised that, he got on the flight to Gran Canaria.
Further reports from Spain suggest the man was later detained at his destination and could face a large fine for his actions.
Ryanair have told the media that the incident is a matter for the Madrid police.
A 22-year-old Dubliner who survived the balcony collapse in Berkeley, California, last summer has told a public hearing in Sacramento that it changed her life forever.
Aoife Beary broke down as she talked about her friends she had known since primary school who died in the balcony collapse on her 21st birthday.
Specialist counselling is to be offered to the near 20,000 women and their partners and families who suffer miscarriage, perinatal death, fatal foetal abnormality, termination or who travel for an abortion each year.
Under a new support system every hospital and maternity unit must offer every grieving mother a meeting with a midwife dedicated to helping them deal with the bereavement.
Claire Cullen-Delsol, spokeswoman for the Termination for Medical Reasons Group, said up until now families were getting lost in a lottery-like system of care.
The 31-year-old's baby daughter Alex died 26 weeks into the pregnancy and was still born after the 20 week scan showed she had Trisomy 13, or Patau syndrome, and would not survive.
"It reads like this will make life much more bearable for us," she said.
"This is the thing that's going to help get through this, as long as it's resourced. If a woman gets that news there needs to be an immediate action plan.
"The main message is that the loss of a child effects a huge number of people. It's not just the parents - the mother is obviously hugely affected, but it's the siblings, the parents, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles. The ripple effect is just devastating.
"As far as bereavement care and counselling is concerned it is all a lottery. It depends where you are."
In Ireland about 14,000 women suffer miscarriage each year, another 500 perinatal deaths are recorded and there are 3,700 cases of women travelling abroad for a terminations.
The new counselling system was developed by the Health Service Executive (HSE) following the death of dentist Savita Halappanavar in University Hospital Galway in October 2012 after she miscarried and was denied a termination.
It comes after a watchdog's findings of "grossly inappropriate and traumatising" handling of baby death and maternity cases in Portlaoise Hospital.
Health Minister Simon Harris billed the counselling system as a new beginning.
"I am pleased that the standards will ensure that clinical and counselling services will be in place to support women and their families in all pregnancy loss situations, from early pregnancy loss to perinatal death, as well as situations where there is a diagnosis of a life-limiting or fatal foetal anomaly," he said.
"I am grateful to the many families who generously shared their experiences during the strategy consultation process and offered suggestions on how care could be improved."
Mr Harris said he hoped the new regime will give grieving families the care and compassion they need.
All maternity hospitals and units will have teams of bereavement specialists to support grieving parents and families and staff involved in their care
They will include a dedicated clinical midwife who specialises in bereavement care along with obstetricians, paediatricians, neonatologists, chaplains, social workers and palliative care staff.
The initiative states that bereavement care should be a central mission of hospitals and offered in accordance with the religious, secular, ethnic, social and cultural values of the parents.
It asks hospitals to ensure bereavement care and end of life care for babies is organised around the needs of babies and their families.
The new regime also says parents should be invited to meet a consultant neonatologist/paediatrician and the appropriate team to discuss a diagnosis which the HSE describes as a "life-limiting condition".
It says a mother or parents should receive up-to-date information and contact details of services available if they choose to terminate the pregnancy.
Ibrahim Halawa's legal team is optimistic about a fresh application to the Egyptian president for his release.
The Dublin man has spent three years in prison awaiting trial for allegedly taking part in an illegal protest in Cairo.
Doctors who need to test their patients for the potentially fatal Valley Fever disease will no longer have to rely on blood tests that take weeks to process and have questionable accuracy.
The Flagstaff branch of the Translational Genomics Research Institute and Northern Arizona University have developed a new genetic-based test that takes just an hour and, so far in tests and trials, has been accurate every time, said Dave Engelthaler director of programs and operations for TGen North.
The research institute announced last week that it had received a patent for the test and licensed the technology to St. George, Utah-based DxNA LLC. The company is in the final stages of FDA approval, so it hopes to make a test available to doctors and clinics by next year, Engelthaler said.
Its an especially important advancement in Arizona, which sees thousands of Valley Fever cases each year.
This is one of several diagnostic tests TGen has developed for pathogens like influenza, MRSA, or antibiotic resistant staph, and general fungal infections, Engelthaler said. The tests are generally similar and involve isolating and amplifying segments of DNA that uniquely identify a pathogen, then testing samples for those genetic markers.
For Valley Fever, the test picks out the DNA fingerprints of the microscopic fungus Coccidioides, which causes the infection. The fungus is endemic to hot soils of the desert Southwest and typically enters the body through the lungs. For that reason, the TGen test uses a respiratory sample to run its analysis.
The Valley Fever test currently on the market, on the other hand, is immune-based and scans the blood for antibodies triggered by the fungus. Because people have different immune responses though, the test can often be inaccurate, Engelthaler said.
Engelthaler said he hopes doctors will test for Valley Fever more often if they have access to a more accurate test. TGen and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention helped conduct a study that showed in areas that experience high levels of Valley Fever, sometimes less than 10 percent of people with pneumonia symptoms, which are similar to symptoms for a Valley Fever infection, are tested for the fungal disease.
Because the symptoms for both diseases are similar, many doctors also will initially prescribe pneumonia-targeted antibiotics to a patient, without waiting for the results of the pneumonia test to come in. It may take five to six times of the patient returning to the doctor without improvement for the physician to test for Valley Fever, Engelthaler said.
Five months is the average time to diagnose the infection from the time that a patient first seeks care, David Taus, CEO of DxNA LLC, said in a press release about the test.
Valley Fever most commonly causes a progressive lung infection, but can also spread to other parts of the body, including the skin, bone, brain and the rest of the nervous system. So far in 2016, Arizona has seen 3,159 cases of the infection and while most of those occur in the southern part of the state, Coconino County sees a small number of cases each year, according to the public health services district. The county has seen 78 cases since 2014, with the most recent case logged on July 12.
The Coconino County Public Health Services District continues to monitor coccidioidomycosis, however due to lower risks in Northern Arizona, coccidioidomycosis is not a major area of focus for the Health District, spokesperson Trish Lees wrote in an email.
Nearly 60 percent of those infected, including dogs and other vertibrates, develop no significant symptoms but many others experience severe symptoms such as cough, fever and fatigue and as many as 500 people die each year from the disease.
New students to Dublin's Trinity College will be given the option of receiving sexual consent classes from this autumn.
The pilot programme is being rolled out at the University's residences in a bid to help students make more informed choices.
Donald Trump has blamed faulty interpretations and media bias for an uproar over his comments about the Second Amendment.
He is insisting he never advocated violence against Hillary Clinton, even as undeterred Democrats pile on.
The latest controversy to strike Mr Trump's campaign arose, as they often do, out of an offhand quip at a boisterous campaign rally.
Claiming falsely that Ms Clinton wants to revoke the right to gun ownership guaranteed in the Constitution's Second Amendment, Mr Trump said there would be "nothing you can do", if she is elected, to stop her from stacking the Supreme Court with anti-gun justices.
Then he added ambiguously: "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is - I don't know. But I'll tell you what: that will be a horrible day."
Like so many times before, Mr Trump's supporters and opponents construed his comments in entirely different ways.
"Give me a break," Mr Trump said hours later, insisting he was referring to the power that voters hold. He told Fox News that "there can be no other interpretation".
But Democrats saw - and seized - an opportunity to reinforce the perception that Mr Trump cannot moderate the things that come out of his mouth, much less the decisions he would make as president.
"I really, frankly couldn't believe he said it," said Tim Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential nominee.
"Nobody who is seeking a leadership position, especially the presidency, the leadership of the country, should do anything to countenance violence, and that's what he was saying."
By Tuesday evening, Ms Clinton's campaign was fundraising off the firestorm, asking supporters by email to chip in one dollar to "show that we don't tolerate this kind of politics in America".
Mr Trump's team, too, was using the controversy to reinforce a theme it has been pitching to voters: that an underdog Trump is being unfairly treated by the media.
"They will buy any line, any distortion, and spin that the Clintons put out," said former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, an ardent Trump supporter.
But House Speaker Paul Ryan, who was celebrating a primary victory in Wisconsin on Tuesday night, said: "It sounds like just a joke gone bad. I hope they clear this up very quickly. You never joke about something like that."
The controversy immediately overwhelmed Mr Trump's intended campaign-trail focus: the economic plan he unveiled just a day earlier and was promoting during rallies in the most competitive election states.
It also underscored the concern, voiced by many worried Republicans, that he cannot stay disciplined and avoid inflammatory remarks that imperil not only his White House prospects but the re-election chances of many Republican lawmakers.
It was not immediately clear whether Mr Trump's latest stumble would continue to dog him or whether, like many in the past, it would quickly fade away.
Former New England Mafia boss Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme has been arrested in connection with the murder of a witness, Federal prosecutors say.
Prosecutors did not immediately release further details about Salemme's arrest, but he is expected to make an initial appearance later on Wednesday in Boston federal court.
At least four people have been killed in a bomb attack targeting a police vehicle in southern Turkey.
At the same time as the attack in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, a simultaneous blast hit a police bus in the town of Kiziltepe about 70 miles further south. It is feared another two people were killed in the second attack.
A man has appeared in court in Scotland charged with the rape of a 14-year-old girl outside a supermarket.
The teenager was going to collect her bicycle after visiting an Asda store in Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, on Sunday when she was allegedly attacked.
Update 9.50pm: An Arkansas police officer has died after being shot while responding to a call at a house.
Sebastian County Deputy Bill Cooper was pronounced dead in hospital after the incident near the town of Hackett.
Earlier: A man suspected of shooting and injuring two Arkansas law enforcement officers has been arrested after barricading himself in a house.
The man was taken into custody several hours after the shooting was reported at around 7.20am local time in a rural, wooded area near Hackett, a town of about 800 residents, according to Sebastian County officials.
Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck said a Hackett police officer suffered "superficial" wounds during the shooting. The second officer, a sheriff's deputy, is believed to be in a serious condition after being shot.
The officers were shot while responding to an unspecified call for service on Wednesday morning.
Dozens of police vehicles, including a SWAT truck, quickly descended on the area and surrounded a house where the suspect had barricaded himself inside.
It is believed the man's father had called police earlier in the day asking officers to check in on his son.
James Markward, who lives nearby, said he heard commotion early on Wednesday morning in the area, which is about 115 miles west of Little Rock.
"It woke me up this morning, the gunshots. Of course I didn't know what was going on," the 72-year-old said. "My neighbour called me and asked if I was shooting, and I said 'No, not me.'"
Mr Markward said the shooting suspect once helped him split wood, but said he had not seen the man in a few years.
"As far as I know, he was all right," he said.
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said he did not have details about the shooting but he added the incident underscores the danger the state's law enforcement officers face.
"It's a risky business and it really illustrates the importance of our support for law enforcement," he said.
US Representative Bruce Westerman, whose district includes part of Sebastian County, echoed the governor's support for police state-wide.
"This has to stop," he said. "It's a shame the price that law enforcement officers are paying right now and, again, I don't know any details about what's happening here, but my heart and prayer is with them and their families."
The Justice Department and Baltimore Police have agreed to negotiate reforms after a report criticised officers for using excessive force and routinely discriminating against black people.
The report, the culmination of a year-long investigation into one of the country's largest police forces, found that officers make a large number of stops - mostly in poor, black neighbourhoods - with dubious justification and unlawfully arrest citizens when officers "did not like what those individuals said".
"These violations have deeply eroded the relationship between the police and community it serves," Vanita Gupta, the head of the Justice Department's civil rights division, said during a news conference alongside the city's mayor and police commissioner.
The scathing report represents a damning indictment of how the city's police officers carry out the most fundamental of policing practices, including traffic stops and searches.
Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said officers who committed egregious violations have been fired. He and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake promised the report would serve as a blueprint for sweeping changes.
The court-enforceable consent decree will force the police agency to commit to improving its procedures to avoid a lawsuit. The decree likely will not be finalised for many months, Ms Gupta said.
The federal investigation was launched after the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man whose neck was broken while he was handcuffed and shackled but left unrestrained in the back of a police van.
The death set off protests and the worst riots in decades.
The Justice Department has undertaken similar wide-reaching investigations into the police in Chicago, Cleveland, Albuquerque and Ferguson, Missouri, among other cities.
The report went far beyond the circumstances of Mr Gray's death to examine a slew of potentially unconstitutional practices, including excessive force and discriminatory traffic stops.
Federal investigators spent more than a year interviewing Baltimore residents, police officers, prosecutors, public defenders and elected officials, as well as riding along with officers on duty and reviewing documents and complaints.
"Nearly everyone who spoke to us ... agreed the Baltimore Police Department needs sustainable reform," Ms Gupta said.
Among the findings: Black residents account for roughly 84% of stops, though they represent just 63% of the city's population. Likewise, African-Americans make up 95% of the 410 people stopped at least 10 times by officers from 2010-15.
During the same time period, officers stopped 34 black residents 20 times, and seven African-Americans 30 times or more. No individuals of any other race were stopped more than 12 times.
One man who spoke to investigators said he was stopped 30 times in less than four years. At least 15 of those stops, he said, were to check for outstanding warrants. None of the stops resulted in charges.
In addition to pat-downs, Baltimore officers perform unconstitutional public strip searches, including searches of people who are not under arrest.
Officers routinely use unreasonable and excessive force, including against juveniles and citizens who are not dangerous or posing an immediate threat, the report said.
"BPD teaches officers to use aggressive tactics," the report said. "BPD's trainings fuel an 'us vs them' mentality we saw some officers display toward community members, alienating the civilians they are meant to serve."
The report partially blames the department's unconstitutional practices on a "zero tolerance" policy dating back to the early 2000s, during which residents were arrested en masse for minor misdemeanour charges such as loitering.
Although the department has publicly denounced these practices after a 2010 settlement with the NAACP, which sued the department over the policing strategy, "the legacy of the zero tolerance era continues to influence officer activity and contribute to constitutional violations," the report said.
Officers also routinely stop and question individuals without cause or a legitimate suspicion that they're involved in criminal activity, the report says: No charges were filed in 26 of every 27 pedestrian stops.
The directives often come from supervisors. In one instance, a supervisor told a subordinate officer to "make something up" after the officer protested an order to stop and question a group of young black men for no reason.
State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, the city's top prosecutor, said she expected the report to "confirm what many in our city already know or have experienced first-hand".
"While the vast majority of Baltimore City Police officers are good officers, we also know that there are bad officers and that the department has routinely failed to oversee, train, or hold bad actors accountable," she said in a statement.
Six officers, three white and three black, were charged in the death of Mr Gray. Three were acquitted, another officer's trial ended in a mistrial and the charges against the others were dropped.
The tragic death by lightning strike last month of a Tempe teenager atop Humphreys Peak was unusual because it was so rare.
With hundreds of hikers climbing the peak each week in the summer, its a wonder that such tragedies dont occur more often.
For the record, over the past decade Coconino County has seen seven lightning-related fatalities and five lightning-related injuries and/or medical calls for service, according to the Sheriffs Office. Two of those fatalities have occurred at Grand Canyon National Park, while 17-year-old Wade Youngs death on July 20 was the only one that has occurred on Humphreys Peak over that time period.
But as we reported, that doesnt mean Humphreys is a safe place. It has the second highest number of search and rescue calls in Coconino County, mainly for falls. The number of injuries on the mountain is what drove the Forest Service to partner with Northern Arizona University, Friends of Northern Arizona Forests and Coconino County Search & Rescue to establish a preventive search and rescue program. On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays during the summer season, volunteers staff a tent at the Humphreys Peak trailhead and talk with hikers about safety and preparedness, the chance for inclement weather and lightning, wilderness stewardship and other topics.
But the day that Wade Young was struck was a Wednesday, and the volunteer tent at the trailhead is not staffed on weekdays. And unfortunately for Young and other weekday hikers, the signboard at the trailhead has no specific information about lightning danger on the 12,633-foot summit and what to do if a storm rolls in.
The first piece of advice for Humphreys hikers is to avoid monsoon season altogether. There are plenty of beautiful hiking days in May, June, September and October, and almost all of them will be safer than during July and August.
If you must climb the peak during monsoon season, plan on starting down by 11 a.m. That is usually early enough to get hikers below treeline at 11,000 feet before the earliest storms start to form around noon.
Other advice is to not start up the final mile of exposed rock if it is starting to rain storms intensify quickly at that elevation, and lightning can reach the ground from a cloud as much as 20 miles away.
Finally, if you are on exposed rock when it starts to rain, move as quickly as possible down into the trees, then pick a shorter stand and spread out if with companions. Taller trees tend to attract more lightning strikes, and if one person is struck, others can go for help.
To the Forest Service and their partners, wed say that if you cant staff the trailhead tent seven days a week, at least provide detailed information at the kiosk on lightning danger and what to do about it. The sign should warn any hiker who cant start up the trail during monsoon season before 7 a.m. that they should plan on doing only a partial hike too many hikers get summit fever and push on upward through a storm, despite the risks.
It is also time to re-evaluate whether the Humphreys Peak Trail should keep its wilderness designation, which prevents the Forest Service from putting out portable toilets and trash receptacles anywhere along the 5-mile route. There is very little wildness left with so many people crowding the trail and summit each day in summer, and its time to face up to the impact of such overuse and mitigate it.
The alternative is to set up a permit system to limit access to the peak, similar to the system in place at Fossil Creek and, during the fall, at the Inner Basin. The permits perhaps only 50 a day -- would give rangers a better chance to educate hikers about lightning and other risks while underscoring the need to pack out trash and bury all human waste thoroughly.
Humphreys, as the highest point in Arizona, will always attract underprepared peak baggers. Once they have started up the trail, it is usually too late to talk them out of it or teach them about safety and environmental responsibility. It may sound harsh, but if there is a candidate for enforcing a stupid hiker ban, the Humphreys Peak Trail is it. The risks to hikers and rescuers dont leave much room for willful ignorance, and the damage to the landscape is already severe and growing. If officials insist on keeping Humphreys as wilderness, treat it as such and limit hikers to those who respect both its power and fragility.
HAMBURG: The lowest price offered in the tender from Pakistan to purchase 500,000 tonnes of wheat which closed on...
SINGAPORE: Chinas crude oil imports in September rose from the previous month but stayed 2% below their level a...
ISLAMABAD: The number of cellular subscribers as well as teledensity declined for the second consecutive month in...
The shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American teenager, by white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo., two years ago Tuesday touched off a national debate about race and policing, galvanized nascent social and political movements and surfaced anew a variety of historic American tensions and conflicts.
The shooting, and the subsequent decision by a grand jury not to indict Wilson, also generated an explosion of information. Americans saw an avalanche of raw images and video, rumors, propaganda and other forms of misinformation, and a massive amount of news coverage. This body of information, and the story of how particular pieces of it were created, perceived and shared, represents a rich and challenging trove of news literacy lessons. Echoes of these same lessons can be seen in the aftermath of more than a dozen events that followed, including the killings of Tamir Rice in Cleveland in 2014, Freddie Gray in Baltimore last year and three police officers in Dallas last month.
This piece highlights four such lessons:
Understanding the role that confirmation bias plays in how we process information about controversial events
The importance, limitations and pitfalls of images and raw information
How the watchdog role of the press is changing for both citizens and the news media
The dynamic influence of social media and how these platforms can both inform and misinform public understanding of significant events
These information patterns are interconnected and often reinforce each other, sometimes to the detriment of public understanding. An eagerness to accept a viral claim can ignite memes and rumors that make their way into partisan news sources and are accepted as fact by particular audiences. Pre-existing perspectives and beliefs can lead people to bend and exaggerate the meaning of images and raw video or to harbor sharply divergent perspectives on news coverage.
These forces also can work together in positive ways. Citizens with smartphones often beat journalists to breaking news scenes, playing a critical role in drawing the attention of news media and enhancing coverage by helping to provide a faster, fuller, and often, fairer picture in ways that were not possible a decade ago. Large numbers of consumers from around the world fact-check, compare and critique news and other information in real time, enriching conversations about important journalistic standards such as language and image selection, fairness and verification, in newsrooms and living rooms alike. And the news media can bring focused, skilled attention to injustices that citizen watchdogs first call to public attention.
But misinformation and distortion continue to crowd out facts, context and honest reflection about important events when they occur. How can citizens and consumers of news and information mobilize to disrupt cycles of misinformation and misrepresentation, and to encourage or contribute to enhanced context, credibility and understanding? How can we cut through the rumors, half-truths and opinion-mongering?
First, we can work to become aware of how we all bring our cognitive biases and perspectives to bear on the way we seek, believe and share information. Left unchecked, confirmation bias can cause people to embrace claims they agree with more quickly and less critically, even if these assertions are provably false. Its counterpart, disconfirmation bias, can cause people to automatically reject claims they disagree with and seek reasons to dismiss them even if they are demonstrably true. Our hearts simply react more quickly and more powerfully to information than our heads, and this process seriously inhibits our ability to evaluate the credibility and relevance of information unless we recognize this inclination.
We also need to appreciate the importance, power and pitfalls of images and raw video. The ubiquity of smartphones and the ease with which anyone can share information with a global audience means that dramatically more of this kind of information is available than ever. More than 3.2 billion images are now posted to just five social media platforms each day more than 37,000 each second. More than 8 billion videos are viewed every day on Facebook. Add to this tidal wave the ease with which even casual internet users can alter, distort or repurpose these digital assets, and the enormous potential for misperceptions and fabrications to warp the nations consciousness is unmistakable.
In Ferguson, as with any chaotic, fast-breaking story on such controversial subjects, it is essential that we recognize the iterative nature of early reporting. We must also try to withhold judgment and follow the news over time through a variety of sources until as many knowable facts and perspectives as possible can emerge. This gives truth a chance to catch up with the misinformation, rumors and spin that invariably surface in the frenetic race to inform, incite and persuade.
And we must confront the ways in which digital technologies have dramatically expanded the watchdog role of journalism. Not only are citizens documenting newsworthy events, including controversial killings, with words, images and video (including livestreaming), but they also can share, check and respond to information more quickly. This ability to access a piece of information, compare it to other credible sources and respond in real time can quickly squash rumors and help journalists and the public sort through the chaos of breaking news events more accurately and fairly. Ultimately, this fosters a more robust national conversation.
In Ferguson, citizens using social media, particularly Twitter, put the story of Browns shooting on the national map and journalists responded, providing verification, context and deeper reporting in the aftermath not just of what took place that day between Brown and Wilson; not just of the wider, systematic targeting of African-Americans by the Ferguson Police Department; but of a trend of deaths at the hands of police that has only recently entered the mainstream consciousness.
The question of whether this national attention should or could have come sooner is cause for serious reflection in newsrooms across the country. The fact that such killings now receive the attention they deserve is cause for renewed appreciation of the watchdog role that journalists and citizens alike can play under the First Amendment.
In an interview for Facing Ferguson: News Literacy in a Digital Age, a new educational resource developed by the News Literacy Project and Facing History and Ourselves, St. Louis American reporter Kenya Vaughn said, There are people in certain situations that dont have a voice, and the media have the opportunity to be the voice for the voiceless.
This is what the framers of our Constitution envisioned, and never has this opportunity been greater.
LONDON: Rishi Sunak on Tuesday became Britains third prime minister this year and the first person of colour to...
When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site.
Lindt is opening its first chocolate store in Canberra and plans to give away 300kg of chocolate to celebrate.
The shop will open its doors to the public on August 26 at the Canberra Outlet Centre in Fyshwick and will feature a chocolate bar serving up hot chocolate and other drinks.
Lindt is opening its first chocolate shop in Canberra.
It'll sell the company's chocolate bars and the signature, colourfully wrapped Lindt balls.
According to the company, the first 100 customers who spend $10 or more will get 1kg of chocolate balls from opening day to August 28, which apparently "accumulates to a giveaway of 300kg of free chocolate".
Labor's Joy Burch has called for an investigation into the Liberals' promotional material for its Canberra Hospital rebuild, saying the Liberals have used former emergency department clinical director Michael Hall's image and quotes without his permission.
Ms Burch wrote to Speaker Vicki Dunne on Wednesday night, saying the flyer might breach the code of conduct for Assembly members, which requires them to "recognise the unique position of impartiality" of public servants. She asked Mrs Dunne to refer the matter to Standards Commissioner Ken Crispin for investigation.
Former clinical director of the emergency department at Canberra Hospital Michael Hall: Liberals did not seek his permission to use his image. Credit:Jamila Toderas
"I am advised that Dr Hall was not made aware of, or granted permission for, his image and any comments he may have previously made in relation to the hospital to be used in Liberal political material," Ms Burch wrote.
"The use of his image and previous comments in this way strongly implies that he supports the Liberal Party's policy in relation to the hospital.
"Great big man he was. How he never got hit surprises me to this day."
So went retired Lieutenant-Colonel Harry Smith's description of Jack Kirby, who he has long argued should have received the Victoria Cross for his bravery during the fierce battle of Long Tan in Vietnam.
As commanding officer of 6RAR's D Company, Mr Smith witnessed his Company Sergeant Major, Warrant Officer Kirby, dash under fire around the battlefield restocking his comrades' dwindling ammunition supplies.
A tribunal that heard appeals by Mr Smith for 13 of his men to receive military honours or have existing honours upgraded has advised that Mr Kirby should not receive the VC, Australia's highest military honour. Mr Kirby died in February 1967 in Vietnam after being hit by misdirected artillery rounds from the 161st New Zealand Field Battery.
The minister in charge of the census appears to be the latest victim of technical woes plaguing the government, after his personal website was hacked on Wednesday afternoon.
On Michael McCormack's website, an unremarkable description of his electorate of Riverina was followed by the words: "gay sex".
The words linked to another site, which was not accessed by Fairfax Media. Shortly after the text was discovered at around 4.15pm, the site was swiftly pulled down for maintenance. It is not known how long the link had been on the website.
Mr McCormack's office has been contacted for comment.
Donna Loughran knows the challenges facing her students better than most.
The popular new principal of Doonside High School, who failed to get her own school certificate in year 10 after two years of disengagement and truancy, is today among the first group of top teachers to be recognised and awarded under the NSW government's plans to lift teacher quality statewide.
Growing up in a Housing Commission estate in Shalvey, the fourth child of a security guard and a Coles deli worker, no one among Ms Loughran's family and friends had finished high school, let alone been to university.
But it was great teachers, she says, who stopped her from "falling through the cracks" and set her on a better path in life.
The controversial use of chaperones to oversee doctors accused of serious misconduct, including sexual offences, is being reviewed by the Medical Board of Australia after allegations the system failed patients.
On Wednesday, the board said it had commissioned an independent review of the chaperone system to assess whether it was keeping patients safe.
The probe comes after Fairfax Media revealed three patients were allegedly molested by Victorian doctor Andrew Churchyard while he was meant to be working with a chaperone at Cabrini Hospital last year. In one case, the doctor allegedly assaulted a patient behind a curtain while the chaperone was in the room.
Fairfax Media also discovered that 46 doctors were currently being chaperoned in Australia because of allegations they breached sexual boundaries. The doctors' names are kept secret unless a patient notices a doctor has a chaperone and then looks up their details on the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency's register of practitioners.
More than a dozen swastika symbols and the words "Not white? Not right!" have been scrawled on public property at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach, NSW police said.
About 15 symbols and other graffiti were drawn in black permanent marker on a bus shelter, benches, poles, electrical boxes and a footpath on Campbell Parade, according to police.
Several locations around Bondi Beach have been defaced with swastika graffiti and racist slogans. Credit:NSW Police Media Unit
Officers were called to the area on Wednesday after reports of malicious damage.
The graffiti has since been removed.
The state government failed to crack down on a loophole in City of Sydney voting laws that would, according to one of the country's top lawyers, have allowed "unlimited" numbers of people to "stack" the electoral roll.
Advice prepared by Bret Walker, SC, for the council and provided to the government last year identified a way in which the City of Sydney's electoral roll could be seriously manipulated.
The advice followed the government's changes to the City of Sydney Act, which increased the power of the business vote but which also made the council's voting and enrolment system particularly complex.
The analysis by Mr Walker identified a "lacuna", or gap, which could have been exploited by an organisation trying to work the roll.
Sydney's vaunted small bars won't be so small any more under a proposal for breathing life into night-time Sydney being actively considered by the state government.
The City of Sydney and others are pushing to double the occupancy of small bars to reach 120 in a submission to a state government review of small bar liquor laws.
The city also wants to lengthen the hours of operation for small bars to 2am from midnight currently.
The city argues the measures would lead to more bars offering live music and increase their contribution to Sydney's "night-time economy" which, on one measure, is worth $19 billion.
A telecommunications provider has been directed to track down deleted text messages NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Cath Burn sent during and soon after the deadly Sydney siege.
Counsel assisting the coroner investigating the Lindt Cafe stand-off, Jeremy Gormly SC, said he was concerned about the absent texts, and had been told steps were being taken to try and retrieve them from the telco's server.
A telco has been asked to retrieve the messages sent by Deputy Commissoner Cath Burn during and after the siege. Credit:Kate Geraghty
"If they are retained, then they'll have to go through the clearance process and will be produced to all parties," Mr Gormly told the inquest on Wednesday.
"If they're not retained, then we will ask Ms Burn about that (when she appears at the inquest next week)."
A malicious flash mob supposedly knocked out the census, rather than an attempted break-in, but either way the Australian Bureau of Statistics needs to restore Australia's confidence in the system.
Despite insisting it had planned for every contingency, the ABS's website crumbled under the load as millions of Australians attempted to log in to complete the national census last night. The #CensusFail memes came thick and fast, but in the light of day the bureau insists the website was the victim of foul play.
Last night, the ABS categorised the incident as a service disruption, while, later, ABS statistician David Kalisch and the census' social media accounts cited "attacks".
This morning on ABC radio, the minister in charge of the census, Michael McCormack, rejected the term "attack" and described it as an "attempt to frustrate" the census.
Scientists confronted the crime scene before them with disbelief. There was no mistaking it. Precious lives had been lost here in Queensland's vast, isolated desert. But what or who was behind this outback murder-mystery?
Days earlier ecologist Steve Murphy had knelt down and peered through a scrubby spinifex tunnel to a nursery stocked with two eggs.
This was the first time since the 1880s that anyone had seen an active nest belonging to a night parrot, one of the world's most elusive birds.
It was a big deal. The eggs promised new life. And new life promised a boost to the prospects of the endangered night parrot, which until 2013 hadn't been recorded for 75 years and was believed extinct.
Brandon Tomlin can't talk. He can't walk, and nor can he control the involuntary movements of his limbs, particularly when agitated. He uses an electric wheelchair.
In many ways he lives what could be called an ordinary life. He likes the films of Martin Scorsese and blues music. And like many of us he has to pay the occasional visit to the bank.
Brandon Tomlin has been banned from using any Westpac bank. Credit:Penny Stephens
Mr Tomlin has been a customer of Westpac for more than 15 years but he's now been banned from using the branches of any Westpac or associated bank, including St George, Bank of Melbourne or BankSA.
For years, Mr Tomlin, who has severe cerebral palsy, did his banking in person at the Westpac branch pictured here, on the corner of Swanston and Collins streets, in Melbourne.
More than 300 drug charges have been laid against 18 people relating to the sale of psychoactive substances at retail outlets across Perth.
Police said the operation, which started in November, involved investigation into activities in Rockingham, Armadale, Victoria Park, Mandurah, Wanneroo and Highgate.
Police have seized more than 4500 items which have been sent for further analysis. The people charged as a result of the operation range in age from 20 to 33-years-old.
Metropolitan Region North Acting Commander Mary Brown said the charges were a result of a complex investigation into the sale of psychoactive substances in the community.
Latest News Lendi Group settles $33.6 billion in FY22 Ambitious target of a deal a day for brokers
APRA announces new appointments The prudential regulator has a new chair, deputy chair, and members
Two mutual lenders are in discussions to merge in a bid to target Australias growing Information Communications Technology (ICT) sector.Mutual lender and ICT specialist lender, Intech Credit Union, is recommending its members support a merger with Bank Australia. It argues that as a division of Bank Australia, Intech Bank will be able to deliver more competitive pricing, an expanded range of products and services, and the opportunity to achieve long term sustainable growth.Once supported by Intechs customers, the formal merger of the two organisations is expected to be completed in early 2017.Intech CEO Robert King said the strategy is to use Bank Australias resources and customer owned banking expertise to assist it reach out to greater numbers of people working in the ICT sector.Achieving additional scale through this merger provides Intech the opportunity to accelerate its own growth agenda by ensuring our members continue to receive highly competitive products and a first rate service offering, he said.We have been successfully growing Intechs presence amongst the ICT sector in both Sydney and Melbourne where Bank Australia is head quartered and a merger with Bank Australia will further assist our efforts.Bank Australia CEO Damien Walsh announced Bank Australia plans to open a new flagship branch in Sydneys CBD prior to Christmas, to coinciding with the decision.This merger reflects our ambition to achieve greater scale through both our already strong organic growth and strategic mergers which represent value to our customers, Walsh said.Bank Australia customers come from all walks of life including science, research and education all of which closely align to the ICT sector.
Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams
88th Precinct
Fort GreeneClinton Hill
Robbed blind
A vindictive thief snatched a womans glasses right off her face after she refused to hand over her phone at the Atlantic Avenue B train platform on Aug. 4.
The victim was sitting down on a bench in the station near Flatbush Avenue at 9:30 am when a lady and a man sat next to her, police said. The woman told the victim to give up her phone, but she ignored her, getting up and walking away, according to a report.
The villain then followed the victim, snatched her Steve Madden glasses from her face, and fled, police said.
Knifepoint
Some nogoodnik threatened to kill a man with a knife if he didnt hand over his money on Washington Avenue on July 20.
The victim was walking near Atlantic Avenue at 1:40 pm when the goon threatened to end his life if he didnt give him $80, cops said.
The miscreant then flashed a knife he had tucked in his waistband, scaring the victim into coughing up $250, according to a report.
Wide open
A thief crept into a Carlton Avenue home on Aug. 5 and stole a womans pricey electronics.
The victim told authorities she noticed the front window of her home by DeKalb Avenue slightly open around 4:20 am, but in wasnt until around 10 am when she noticed the window was wide open and someone had made off with her iPhone, two hardrives, MacBook, and brown leather bag.
Walked off
Some thief interrupted a womans morning walk on N. Elliott place on Aug. 6 when he grabbed her cellphone from her hand.
The woman was near Park Avenue at 8:30 am when the bandit snatched her phone from her hand and fled into Commodore Barry Park, police said.
Lauren Gill
As fans prepare to say goodbye to Bones next year, so do the series stars. At San Diego Comic-Con, Tamara Taylor and John Boyd looked back to their starts on the show and ahead to the final season.
Bones Interview: Michaela Conlin and TJ Thyne Tease a Couple Deaths and a Wedding in the Final Season>>>
Watch the video interview with Tamara Taylor and John Boyd:
Here are the highlights:
Taylor said theyre all getting used to saying final season and called it bittersweet. Shes grateful they have 12 more episodes to end the series with as much passion and joy as we started it.
I dont think they could have been cooler. It was amazing, Boyd said when looking back at when he joined the show. There were some serious shoes to fill and coming on a show after such a traumatic thing to happen to such a beloved character and they really just gave me my own thing and let me play and explore it. I really got to build something with Booth thats really fun to do.
Yes, Cam is getting her wedding. Taylor admitted she was worried theyd pull a fast one and make her the one who didnt get married. Whos catering? Boyd asked.
Boyd approaches the food the same way as the bodies.
I dont think she wants to believe that he was the one in the first place, Taylor said of Cams feelings about the way Zack has returned. I think there was such a love for him that I think a part of her is still very hesitant to embrace what happened and the truth of what happened.
With Aubrey, theres the chance to explore someone who wasnt there for what happened with Zack before but is now.
Fan favorites are definitely coming back.
Theyre packing as much into 12 episodes as they can, including characters dying.
I think theyre going to kick it up a few notches going to the end, Taylor shared.
Bones season 12 will premiere in the midseason on FOX.
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Lawsuit seeks $5M in wages for Great Adventure hourly workers
The class action lawsuit says workers should be paid for time spent walking across Great Adventure amusement park in Jackson.
India is set to see investments to the tune of Rs 15,000 crore in the biofuel industry, from both public and private sectors, in the next few years. This comes at a time when the government is expecting biofuel business in the country to touch Rs 50,000 crore by 2022. The increase in industry size may also include plans to tap various new biofuel sources such as refining of used cooking oil and used lube oil.
A day after the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) accused it of masquerading full-blown services in the guise of a trial, Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL) has struck back, saying the allegations were an exercise to promote the vested interests of incumbent operators.
The recent surge in international coal prices and pet coke might be a boon for Coal India (CIL) as the miner can now expect better sales, particularly of high-grade coal.
American conglomerate GE on Wednesday said it has signed a pact with engineering firm to manufacture subsea equipment for future deep water projects in Krishna-Godavari basin on the eastern coast of India.
"Contributing to India's exploration and production (E&P) activities in the oil and gas sector, GE has signed an exclusive MoU with L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering, a wholly-owned subsidiary of L&T," the company said in a statement.
"The partnership brings together the manufacturing and technological excellence of two leading in the oil and gas space, and also marks India's entrance into local subsea equipment manufacturing," GE said.
Spread over an area of 600,000 sq metre and an annual capacity of 50,000 MT, L&T's modular fabrication facility in Tamil Nadu will be used for the production.
The plant is equipped with advanced welding and fabrication capabilities along with 150 metre jetty, making it an ideal location to manufacture advanced hardware for seabed.
Commenting on the deal, GE South Asia Chief Executive (Oil and Gas) Ashish Bhandari said that the strategic partnership with L&T has opened new avenues to manufacture highly advanced equipment.
L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering Managing Director and CEO Subramanian Sarma said the partnership will help L&T to broaden its offering in the deep water space.
The Aditya Birla group companies, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Grasim and Idea Cellular lost a combined market value of Rs 5,300 crore on Wednesday following reports the group was merging its two holding companies, Grasim and Aditya Birla Nuvo, apart from hiving off the financial services businesses from Nuvo into a separate company.
Driven by a momentous order from the Uttar Pradesh government for procurement of 27,000 e-rickshaws, Kinetic Green is aiming at a turnover of Rs 300 crore in the ongoing fiscal year.
Just after the commercial launch of the green in January this year, Kinetic Green, an electronic vehicles maker, is bullish on its sales.
Home-grown Gaja Capital was the first (PE) fund to back RBL Bank in February 2010. Now, there are 17 PE funds backing the regional bank, reflecting one of the highest numbers of PE funds staying invested in a firm going for an initial public offering (IPO).
Ivanhoe Cambridge, the real estate arm of Canadas second largest pension fund manager CDPQ, is looking to re-enter Indian real estate with a joint venture with Ajay Piramals Piramal Fund Management, said a source in the know.
The war that had so far been brewing silently between incumbent telecom operators and Reliance Jio has come out in the open. Industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) fired a salvo at Jio on Monday by writing to Telecom Secretary J S Deepak alleging that Jio was masquerading full-blown services in the guise of a trial, which they said amounted to predatory pricing.
The COAI's letter was a response to one sent by Jio to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) claiming that incumbents were not providing enough interconnect bandwidth.
In response, the incumbents have alleged that the burgeoning voice traffic emanating from Jio is choking their networks, given that 1.5 million subscribers of Jio are calling people who are on the networks of other leading telcos. When a subscriber of one network makes a call to a subscriber of another network, the point at which the two networks connect are known as Points of Interconnect (PoIs). Depending on the nature of traffic emanating from different networks, each operator has a certain capacity on its PoIs. Given that few Airtel or Vodafone subscribers are calling Jio subscribers, the traffic is skewed.
An e-mail sent to Reliance Jio remained unanswered.
Incumbent operators claim that the incoming traffic being dumped is burgeoning and even the hugely augmented count of PoIs are getting choked, as millions of users are calling for free. Incumbents have claimed their paid subscribers are getting affected because of this.
Rajan Mathews, director general of COAI, said: "We asked for clarity on whether this is compliant with regulations, as 1.5 million subscribers are tantamount to a commercial launch as the trial period has been extended yet again and networks of our operators are getting choked."
Jio had launched trial services last December and its users are consuming 25-30 times more data than the Indian average, because the services are free. Even though Jio is still in the trial phase, rivals alleged that it is trying to port their subscribers.
Clearly, the extension of free services is beginning to hurt incumbents in more ways than one. In its letter to DoT, COAI has said: "this is no test. This is the provisioning of full-blown and full-fledged services, masquerading as tests, which bypass regulations and can potentially game policy features like the IUC (Interconnection Usage Charges) regime, non-predatory pricing and fair competition etc."
The letter to DoT comes a day after the industry body accused the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) of being biased. This further indicates that the relationship has hit rock bottom, as tariff is Trai's remit and the industry should ideally have approached it and not DoT.
Incumbent firms are concerned about the traffic imbalance, especially in light of Trai's decision to review interconnection charges. Incumbents feel the current interconnect rate of 14 paise is too low, as it is calculated on the assumption that traffic imbalance is no more than 5-10 per cent. Given that currently 80 per cent of calls are originating from Jio's network and terminating on networks of others, incumbents claim the cost of carrying this traffic is not covered under the current model of long-run incremental cost (LRIC) model.
The letter goes on to say that had Jio's free usage "been filed as tariff plan, it would have doubtless been examined for predatory market practice. But no plan has been filed, and there has been no examination. Meanwhile, such pseudo tests with free calling are throwing up one-way traffic, which is leading to never ending pseudo demand for more PoIs." Incumbents have said member operators should not be expected to provide PoIs while this "test" is being played out.
Public sector steel behemoth Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) is looking to expand capacity of its Rourkela unit to 10 million tonne per annum (mtpa) up from 4.5 mtpa now.
The expansion plan is set to cost in excess of Rs 30,000 crore considering the thumb rule that Rs 6,000-7,000 crore is needed for every million tonne of brownfield steel ramp up.
on Wednesday announced the sale of its urea business to Norways fertiliser and chemicals major Yara for about Rs 2,670 crore as a part of value-unlocking by the company.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Wednesday filed a complaint with the department of industrial promotion and policy (DIPP) over sales announced by online marketplace Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal.
Beatrice Public Schools administrators will receive a 2.08 percent total package increase in their salaries and benefits for the 2016-2017 school year.
The BPS Board of Education approved the measure on a 5-0 vote at its public meeting Monday night. Board member Nancy Sedlacek was absent.
"Our administrators have performed exceedingly well," said BPS Superintendent Pat Nauroth at the meeting. "This is a more fiscally prudent way to proceed," Nauroth said of the percent increase.
Board member Janet Byars asked at the meeting if some administrative positions' salaries could be capped at a certain amount and if other school districts do this. Nauroth said that it's possible and the district can do some research into the idea.
"We can, but the board has also said it wants to pay our administrators well," Nauroth said. "So that's a balance we would have to find."
In the identical measure and salary increase for Nauroth, board president Lisa Pieper on behalf of the board thanked Nauroth for his work with the school district and in the community.
Without mentioning the bauxite reservoirs in Visakhapatnam agency, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said people should utilise all the minerals in the region for their development.
Addressing in a public meeting as part of the World Tribal Day celebrations at Araku Valley in Vizag agency, Naidu said that TDP government is committed for the development of tribals by utilising the minerals in the region.
Stating that Vizag agency has a huge potential for tourism, Naidu added, "Tourism will raise the income of locals in the agency area."
Fearing protests and rallies during Naidu's visit to Vizag agency over government order allowing bauxite mining, police had taken several leaders and activists of Left into custody as a preventive measure.
Meanwhile, Naidu also visited Pedalabudu, the village panchayat.
"Agency area Araku Valley is very close to my heart. That is the reason why I adopted this panchayat close to the Valley," the CM said, after arriving in the village this afternoon.
He promised all the infrastructure facilities for the panchayat which has 22 hamlets and has a population of 11,280.
All the houses would be provided with gas connections within next fortnight, he said.
Rs 5 crore had been sanctioned to provide drinking water facilities in the panchayat, he said.
Rs 9 crore have been allocated to lay cement roads in entire panchayat and the task would be completed in three months, Naidu added.
A joint team of the West Bengal CID and Bihar police arrested the kingpin of the racket in connection with the Bihar intermediate exam scam.
Acting on a tip off from those arrested in the case, the joint team arrested absconding Vikash Kumar (39) from Jinjinjirabajar area in South 24 Parganas district.
According to DIG CID (Operations) Dilip Adak, Kumar, who was a clerk-cum-storekeeper of the Bihar Vidyalaya Pariksha Samiti was in-charge of the whole gang.
"He used to take around Rs 5-10 lakh from each students for changing their answer sheets. This he was doing in a very innovative manner," Adak said, adding the Bihar police had approached them to help in nabbing the culprit.
The tender of printing question papers and blank answer sheets for exams conducted by the Samiti, were given to a Mathura-based press cancelling the earlier order given to a Gujarat-headquartered company.
Kumar had sent a letter asking the Gujarat company to print blank answer sheets and received 28 lorries of them, Adak said.
He then, when contacted by parents as well as candidates, used to provide them with blank answer sheets.
"And after they fill up the answers, Kumar used to replace their original answer sheet with this one," the officer said.
Kumar's name surfaced after the Gujarat-based printing press lodged a complaint with the Bihar police when their bills shot up close to Rs 9 crore.
Kumar, a resident of Bihar's Patliputra, had recently bought a flat at Kolkata's Phoolbagan area spending nearly a crore.
A day after the government came under increased pressure from the Opposition in connection with the issue of Kashmir unrest, the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday said Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani was more dangerous on internet than on streets, adding that he was more dangerous dead than alive.
"Please do not meddle in India's matters. was more dangerous on internet than on streets. He's more dangerous dead than alive. It is very important at this stage not to make a distinction between Kashmir-the land and Kashmir-the people," TMC MP Derek O' Brien told the Rajya Sabha.
The Opposition leaders had voiced concern over the Valley being curfew-bound for over a month and demanded a stop to the use of pellet guns.
They also demanded a parliamentary delegation to be sent to Kashmir to deliberate with all sections and an all-party meet to find a resolution.
"There is murder of humanity and democracy in Kashmir. 'Kashmiriyat' and 'Insaniyat' are murdered by pellet guns. We all should jointly take out a solution for this. Everyone in Kashmir is a victim of militancy. Many of us have lost their near and dear ones due to this militancy in Kashmir," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told Rajya Sabha earlier on Wednesday.
There should be an all-party delegation and a meeting that needs to be sent to Jammu and Kashmir. It should be announced during the Parliament," he added.
Asserting that the former UPA regime initiated many confidence building measures, the Congress leader further said the Parliament must appeal people for peace in Kashmir.
"Jammu and Kashmir has a curfew, many people have been injured. Civilians have faced losses. And as Parliament is on, we all need to share their pain," said Azad.
Asserting that using force is not the way, Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav said they have to strive hard to win hearts of Kashmiris, adding that the use of pellet guns must be stopped immediately.
"Kashmir is angry with us. But we should bring it back with love.otherwise history won't forgive us," he told the Rajya Sabha.
Ramgopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party called for sending a strong message to Pakistan not to meddle in Kashmir.
He alleged that Pakistan and ISI are involved in misleading the youth of Kashmir Valley.
He said the neighbouring country is sponsoring and supporting those who are involved in anti-India activities.
Terming the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir as complex, Yadav said it is high time to fight against powers which are trying to destabilise peace and security in Kashmir.
The registration process for the has already started on August 8 at the official website iimcat.ac.in. The Indian Institute of Management will be conducting the examination on December 4, Sunday, as per scheduled.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case on a complaint received from Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) against three officials of the Bank. An alleged loss of around Rs 321 crore was caused to the complainant bank (IOB) and the foreign branches of PNB and BoB.
According to CBI's Zonal Office, Delhi u/s 120-B r/w 420 of IPC and Sec. 13(2) r/w 13(1) (d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against three then Assistant Managers, Indian Overseas Bank, Chandigarh; a Proprietor of Chandigarh based private firm; Proprietor of another Chandigarh based private firm; two then Directors of another Chandigarh based private firm and also said firm, a Hong Kong based company, a Brigadier (Retd.) based at Chandigarh and other unknown public servants and private persons.
Condemning controversial Islamic preacher for his alleged hate speeches that inspired one of the Bangladeshi terrorists who carried on the Dhaka cafe attack last month, the Congress Party on Wednesday urged the BJP-led Maharashtra government to take strong action against him.
"Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that Zakir Naik's statements are poisonous and can spread hatred in the nation. Action should be taken against him. All the proofs should be exposed and made public. There should be absolute transparency and there must be action against any crime," Congress leader PL Punia told ANI.
Echoing similar sentiments, Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi said if there is evidence against Naik and if there is enough proof to back up then the Maharashtra Government should ensure action.
"We have seen a lot of politics being played over it that some parts of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) have gone on record to say that they have found nothing against and no evidence to suggest that he has promoted terrorism. On the other hand, we have a Chief Minister who is saying something like that," she added.
Chaturvedi said instead of politicising the issue, if there is evidence then prosecution should follow and action should be taken.
"It should not make the Chief Minister run to media, it should make the Chief Minister run towards taking action, decisive measures to ensure that such kind of activities are discouraged," she added.
Fadnavis has said that the state government would press for extradition of Naik if he does not return on his own from abroad.
Speaking to reporters in the state capital yesterday, the Maharashtra Chief Minister said he has received the report by the Mumbai Police on Naik which severely indicts him.
He also stated that many unlawful activities and possible terror links have been pointed out pertaining to the organisation of which Naik is a leader.
The Chief Minister added the state government is currently examining the report and would soon share it with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and in consultation with the ministry the state government would decide further course of action needed in the matter.
Amid reports last month that Naik 's preaching inspired some of those involved in Dhaka terror strike, the Maharashtra Government had asked the Mumbai Police to probe Naik's past speeches available online, to see if any of them could have inspired the youth to join terrorist organisations.
The city police was also conducting a joint inquiry with other probe agencies into the functioning of Naik's Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) to scrutinize the finances it has received from various parts of the world.
Meanwhile, the Home Ministry has initiated an inquiry against an NGO run by Naik for alleged violation of Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act.
A standard questionnaire has been sent to Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) after preliminary inquiry found the NGO run by Naik allegedly received about Rs 15 crores during a five-year period preceding 2012.
Accordimg to reports, the IRF has been asked to furnish details of its bank accounts and amount of foreign contributions received and utilised by it since inception.
The Home Ministry probe will cover the allegations that foreign funding to IRF was used for political activities and other illegal activities.
Reports suggest that legal opinion tendered recently to the Home Ministry has favoured declaring the IRF an unlawful association under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The grounds for such a ban may include spreading hatred among religious communities and forced conversions by members.
The first batch of 340 pilgrims from Jammu and left for Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to perform the annual Haj pilgrimage, with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti urging them to pray for peace and progress in the state.
Mehbooba accorded a warm send off to the first batch of Haj pilgrims from the state and wished them a safe journey and a smooth Manasik-e-Haj (Haj rituals), an official spokesman said here.
As many as 6,457 Hajis from J-K are scheduled to perform Haj this year, the spokesman said, adding they would be flown to Medina from Srinagar International Airport in 20 flights, with two flights operating each day.
He said the Chief Minister reached Srinagar International Airport this morning from where the first group of 340 Hajis left for the holy city of Medina on a direct Air India flight.
The pilgrims included 238 from Anantnag, 56 from Srinagar, 11 from Baramulla, eight each from Kulgam and Shopian, six from Pulwama, four from Budgam, three from Jammu and two each from Kupwara and Ganderbal districts, the spokesman said.
While interacting with the pilgrims, she urged them to pray for peace and progress in the state as well as safeguarding its people from the tragedies and miseries of violence and bloodshed, the spokesman said.
He said the pilgrims thanked the Chief Minister for making elaborate arrangements at the Haj House and Srinagar Airport.
All arrangements of transportation, boarding and lodging at Srinagar Haj House and distribution of travel documents and issuance of boarding passes at the Srinagar Airport are in place for the pilgrims, he said.
The government on Wednesday announced an all-party meeting on Friday in New Delhi to discuss the situation in Kashmir. Union home minister Rajnath Singh, replying to a discussion in the Rajya Sabha, said the Union government, along with Mehbooba Mufti-led Jammu and Kashmir government, would prepare ground for a visit by an all-party delegation to the Kashmir Valley to speak with sections of the population, including the moderate elements.
The Mumbai police on Tuesday arrested the Chief Executive Officer and four other doctors of the L H Hiranandani Hospital here in connection with an alleged which came to light last month.
Mumbai Police's spokesperson DCP Ashok Dudhe said the five doctors were arrested late on Tuesday evening.
CEO Dr Sujit Chatterjee, medical director Dr Anurag Naik, Dr Mukesh Shetye, Dr Mukesh Shaha and Dr Prakash Shetye were arrested under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, he said.
The racket came to light when the police were tipped off that a kidney transplant operation had been scheduled on July 14 at the privately-run Hiranandani Hospital where donor and recipient were not related.
The operation on Brijkishor Jaiswal, the recipient, was stopped as police found that the woman who was donating him the kidney was not his wife, contrary to the papers submitted by the duo.
The woman had pretended to be his wife only to be able to donate the kidney to Jaiswal, according to the police.
The police then started probing if anybody else had received kidney using similar subterfuge and if the hospital authorities were involved.
LINCOLN -- Nebraska lawmakers are weighing unprecedented steps to respond to state Sen. Bill Kintner's cybersex scandal.
The Papillion senator used his state laptop to exchange sexually explicit live video and messages with a stranger online in July 2015, and was fined $1,000 Friday for misusing government property.
Kintner has rejected calls to resign by Gov. Pete Ricketts and others. Now lead senators are mulling whether to force Kintner from office an action the Legislature has never taken against one of its own.
Some believe such a decision should be made this fall during a special session called by the Legislature itself another first, according to the legislative clerk's office.
State law allows it, but Nebraska lawmakers have never called a special session on their own. That task has always fallen to the governor, who may convene senators at his discretion.
It's a "messy situation," said Sen. Mike Gloor of Grand Island, who feels senators should react soon rather than wait until next year.
"There are going to be bigger issues for the body to deal with in January," Gloor said. "And for them to have this dropped in their lap I think would be unfortunate."
Others said while they are unhappy with Kintner, they question whether the Legislature should set new precedent in dealing with his situation.
"I'm clearly embarrassed," said Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion, whose Sarpy County district abuts Kintner's. "I'm embarrassed for the Legislature. I'm disappointed in Sen. Kintner."
However, Smith said he hasn't heard an argument that convinces him to support a special session or vote to remove Kintner from office.
The Journal Star surveyed about half the Legislature on Monday, and while most of those senators said they were open to holding a special session, many said they would defer to leaders on the Executive Board to determine the path forward when they meet Aug. 19.
Executive Board Chairman Bob Krist said Monday he didnt have a lot of interest in a special session himself, although he could support one alongside a majority of the 10-member board.
A lot of people just want the issue to go away, he said. The easiest way for that to happen is for Kintner to resign.
I think there are very few people that want to give up their time to go back in for a special session regarding this issue, he said.
Speaker of the Legislature Galen Hadley says the Kintner issue is unfinished business which shouldn't fall to next year's group of senators, many of whom will be newly elected.
Furthermore, Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers has pushed for Kintner's impeachment. Some senators fear that debate, if it waits until next year, could distract from other legislation, including the state's biennial budget.
Hadley doesn't expect the governor to force a special session this fall if lawmakers don't amass the 33 votes needed to trigger one, he said.
"It's in our house," Hadley said Monday.
Ricketts hasn't stated a position on a special session.
"The governor's office is keeping open lines of communication with the speaker to see what course of action legislative leaders pursue," said Taylor Gage, Ricketts' spokesman.
Another question is what exactly the Legislature might do during a special session.
No Nebraska state senator has ever been impeached or expelled, according to the legislative clerk's office.
The furthest lawmakers have gone in disciplining one of their own was the 1955 censure of Omaha Sen. Sam Klaver. Senators condemned him on a 37-2 vote after he withheld a bill to tax jukeboxes in exchange for $1,000 cash and $1,500 in advertising purchases in a weekly newspaper he owned.
Klaver was later re-elected and served until 1973.
Impeaching Kintner would require 25 votes in the Legislature, but the ultimate decision would fall to the Nebraska Supreme Court. A two-thirds majority of the court must then find Kintner guilty of an impeachable offense before removing him from office and prohibiting him from holding public office in the state again.
Lawmakers could expel Kintner from the Legislature with 33 votes; he would be eligible to run for re-election.
Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston questioned whether Kintner's action rises to the level of impeachment or expulsion. A person's career and reputation are on the line, even though one could say Kintner brought this on himself, he said.
"I want to be pretty deliberate and judicious about it," he said.
Lincoln Sen. Ken Haar wants to hear from the Executive Board to know what the Legislature can actually do about this.
"I do feel it's an embarrassment to the whole Legislature," he said. "And I think the people of Nebraska are waiting for the Legislature to take or not take action. We're the ones who are going to have to deal with it."
Unless Kintner does first.
Im getting e-mails and phone calls from constituents who wish he would resign, said Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete.
Special sessions typically last at least seven days because that's how long it takes to pass a bill. Legislative staff have estimated the cost of a special session this year at $65,000.
But the discussion would end if Kintner would resign, Hadley said.
"I think that solves the problems."
Don't forget about people of Jammu while discussing problems in where a battle is raging between nationalism and separatism, a BJP MP told Parliament on Wednesday.
Shamsher Singh Manhas, from Jammu, was aghast over why "everyone is speaking about and not Jammu".
"Jammu and is not about Kashmir only. It is Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh that make the state," Manhas said as the upper house discussed the situation amid a bloody unrest in the Valley.
More than 55 people have been killed in the Valley in the unrest that broke out after security forces killed a rebel commander. The violence has left thousands injured.
Manhas said Jammu, which shares some 500 km of border with Pakistan, also had its share of problems.
"The region has 55% of population in the state. Some seven lakh educated youth are employed. They could have also picked the gun. They could have also shouted for freedom," he said, adding the people in Jammu "have always believed in democracy".
But in the Kashmir Valley, "it is a battle between nationalism and separatism". "People in Kashmir are following separatist dictates," he said.
Locals on Wednesday morning paid homage to former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Kalikho Pul, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances at his residence on Tuesday.
Locals, along with many other dignitaries, paid floral tributes to the former chief minister at his official residence. The police honoured him with a gun-salute. Mortal remains of Pul were then taken to his hometown in Anjaw district.
T Taki, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA said that Pul's death was a big loss for Arunachal, and asked for a police investigation to find out the truth.
"His journey from a night security guard to a chief minister of the state is an example for the country," Taki told ANI.
Paying tribute to late chief minister, Congress party member Ninong Ering said that Pul was a people's chief minister.
"He will always remain in the hearts of the people. The way he developed the state is appreciable," Ering told ANI.
"I am very shocked that he took very extreme step. A probe should be conduct for the satisfaction of the people and his family members,"
The former Arunachal chief minister was found dead at the Chief Minister's official residence, which he had not vacated yet.
He was chief minister from the period February to July 2016. News reports suggest that he committed suicide at his residence, but the police is yet to confirm.
According to initial reports, Pul was suffering from depression and was extremely upset after his appointment was struck down by the Supreme Court.
In a setback to Pul, the Supreme Court had earlier on July 13 restored the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh, declaring the actions of Governor J.P. Rajkhowa "illegal" and "violative of the constitutional provisions".
46-year-old Pul became the eighth chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh in February 2016.
Having lost his parents at an early age, Pul went on to learn carpentry, sell furniture and serve as a casual night chowkidar at Rs 212 per month. He also sold paan and beedi to attend a night school.
A seven-year old child was injured in a bomb blast targeting a Border Security Force (BSF) camp in Moirang Purel village near Imphal, Manipur.
According to reports, the blast was set off by local militants active in the region.
The number of injured is likely to increase.
Earlier on Monday, two BSF personnel were on injured when three powerful bombs exploded at Kangpokpi in Manipur's Senapati district.
No organisation or individual has claimed responsibility for the bomb attack so far.
The first unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant was on Wednesday dedicated to the nation jointly by prime minister Narendra Modi, Russia president Vladimir Putin, and Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa through video-conferencing.
In a major breakthrough, the Mumbai police have arrested five medicos, including the CEO and Medical Director of the reputed L H Hiranandani Hospital in Powai, in connection with a racket in kidney sales, officials said.
Hospital CEO Dr Sujit Chatterjee, Medical Director Dr Anurag Naik and three other medicos Prakash Shetty, Mukesh Shah and Mukesh Shetye were arrested late on Tuesday. They have been accused of being involved in illegal trade and sale of kidneys.
Powai police will present them before an Andheri magistrate's court later on Wednesday for remand, the official said.
When contacted, an official spokesperson for Hiranandani Group told IANS that an internal probe is being conducted and declined further comments till the investigation was completed.
So far, a total of 15 persons (including the five medicos) have been arrested in the case which first came to light last month at the hospital. A few more suspected cases have surfaced later and police are probing around 30 transplants conducted at the hospital in the past one year.
Following the expose, the Maharashtra Directorate of Health Services set up a committee of medical experts which found irregularities related to at least four kidney transplant cases at the hospital.
Based on the probe report of the committee, the police arrested the five medicos of the 12 year old, 240-bed prestigious hospital, sending shockwaves in the state medical fraternity.
The lid was blown off the racket on July 14 when a social worker, some political activists and members of a trade union stopped a kidney transplant midway here in which the donor and recipient were found to be fake husband and wife.
Delving deeper, the police identified Brijendra Bisen, who created the false documents with the help of two other external agents.
Incidentally, Bisen had been earlier arrested in 2007 when one of the biggest kidney sale-transplant rackets was busted nine years ago.
In the current scam, the police had earlier arrested a total of 10 persons, including Bisen, the fake couple comprising recipient Brijkishore Jaiswal, a textile businessman from Surat, and donor Shobha Thakur who was promised Rs 10 lakh for her kidney, hospital official Nilesh Brijkishore Jaiswal, and others.
The accused have been charged under Section 12 and 21 of the Transplantation of Human Organ Act, 1994, and the Indian Penal Code sections, said the police.
Justice to the victims of terror attacks like in Mumbai and Pathankot could be delivered only when countries stop patronising terrorism as well as any type of extremist act, Union Minister said on Wednesday.
Delivering an address at an international conference on counter-terrorism in Bali, Indonesia, Rijiju said there is a need to ensure that terrorism is not glorified and is not patronised by any state.
"One country's terrorist cannot be a martyr or freedom fighter for anyone. A terrorist anywhere is a terrorist everywhere. No type of terror activity or support to it can be justified on any ground whatsoever. Only then justice will be delivered to the victims of terrorist attacks such as in Mumbai and Pathankot," he said.
The minister said terrorism is an attack on the very idea of civilised societies and an attack on humanity itself. It defies international boundaries and hardly any nation is free from its impact.
Lately, he said, the menace has seriously escalated with terrorist groups creating havoc by maximising human losses through perpetration of widespread killings and destruction.
Rijiju said India is committed to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and to ensure that the perpetrators of terrorist acts, their masterminds and conspirators are brought to justice.
"We unequivocally condemn all acts, methods and practices of terrorism, which cannot be justified under any circumstances, regardless of their motivation, wherever and by whomsoever they are committed.
"There should be zero tolerance against terrorism. We reaffirm that terrorism cannot and should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilisation or ethnic group," he said.
The minister said those who provide support, encouragement, sanctuary, safe haven or any assistance to terrorism or terrorists must be isolated, according to a statement.
"Strongest possible steps need to be taken not only against terrorists and terrorist organisations but also against those individuals, institutions, organisations or nations that support them," he said.
Armed with the confessional statement of an alleged Pakistani LeT operative, NIA today blamed the banned terror organisation for fuelling the continuing unrest in .
The anti-terror probe agency also said it is gathering further evidence regarding the role of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba in the ongoing turbulence in the Valley for the last 33 days.
The Investigation Agency (NIA) said the questioning of Pakistani terrorist Bahadur Ali, who was captured recently in North Kashmir, had thrown up leads showing involvement of LeT in aggravating the situation in the Valley.
The NIA's comments came a day after India handed over a "strong demarche" to Pakistan over its continued support to cross-border terrorism in India.
"NIA is further investigating the role of Lashkar in the present unrest in Kashmir," Inspector General of NIA Sanjeev Singh told reporters here.
NIA also showed to the media a video of Ali alias Saifullah, a Punjabi-speaking man, talking about his family, the time he spent in the terror outfit and his crossing over to the Indian side of the border. He was arrested on July 25 by the state police from a village in Handwara after he had managed to give Army the slip at the Line of Control in June this year.
Ali told his interrogators that he was informed by his handlers from a control room code-named 'Alpha-3', believed to located at a high altitude somewhere in PoK, about the unrest in the Valley following the killing of Burhan Wani, a Hizbul Mujahideen militant on July 8.
His handlers from the control room asked him to throw grenades at the security forces and also informed him that other cadres of the terror group had managed to sneak into the Valley, mingled with protesters at other places and were fuelling tension in the Valley.
This is for the first time that NIA has shown a video statement of a captured militant. Pakistan had earlier this year shown a video statement of Kulbhushan Yadav, an Indian arrested in Balochistan in March over charges of spying for the Indian intelligence agency.
A day after money was stolen from a train that carried cash worth Rs 342 crore from Salem to Chennai, a special team has been launched to investigate the crime.
Pakistan's top military commanders say the terrorist threat in the country was because of the growing nexus of hostile actors in Afghanistan, managed by India, and "facilitators" within Pakistan.
At a conference attended by the Pakistani Army chief, General Raheel Sharif, the commanders said the threat was emanating from Afghan soil, which was being managed by Indian intelligence agencies, Dawn online reported.
However, at the same time there was an acknowledegment that a network of "facilitators" within the country provided an enabling environment for the external enemy, an Inter-Service Public Relations statement said.
At a corps commanders' conference held at the General Headquarters on Tuesday, the generals reviewed the threat perception and discussed measures for countering the imminent security challenges.
The meeting, a monthly feature, was significant because of Monday's terror attack on a Quetta hospital which left at least 70 people dead. An upcoming high-level security meeting is expected to take important decisions with regards to future direction of counterterrorism operations, the statement said.
General Sharif told his commanders that the Quetta attack was an attempt to undermine the successes of operation Zarb-e-Azb, which was in its final phase.
The Income Tax (I-T) Department is said to have unearthed unaccounted money worth Rs 138 crore in raids conducted at the premises of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA .
After a slugfest over naming of the Centre's crop insurance policy, the Bihar government today agreed to implement the on an experimental basis in the kharif season.
The state government has decided to implement the (PMFBY) in the state keeping in mind the sentiments of cooperative federalism.
"The crop insurance scheme will be implemented in its present form for the kharif season on an experimental basis," Bihar's Cooperative Minister Alok Kumar Mehta told reporters here.
Mehta, however, made it clear that the scheme is being implemented on a trial basis with a view to assess whether it actually helps farmers or ends up benefitting the insurance companies.
It would also be seen what amount of compensation the farmers get in the event of crop loss, he said.
The last date for implementation of the scheme is August 15, he said, adding that the state government would extend the deadline if needed.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had recently said that the scheme should have been named 'PM-CM farmer insurance scheme' or 'Kendra-Rajya Fasal Bima Yojana' instead of being named exclusively after the Prime Minister as both the Centre and states have to bear the financial burden of its implementation.
Mehta held a meeting with Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh in Delhi on August 8 but the issue remained unresolved.
Subsequently, Singh wrote to Mehta saying that not implementing the scheme will ultimately harm the farmers of Bihar.
Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi and other party leaders in the state had also attacked the Nitish Kumar government for not implementing the crop insurance scheme due to its name.
After pruning the list of products under minimum import price (MIP) and imposing anti-dumping duty of select countries, the government will now work to streamline the procedure for filing and initiating anti-dumping duty cases.
This is likely to benefit the $100-billion domestic steel sector, which is facing an onslaught of cheap imports, Steel Secretary Aruna Sharma told reporters here on Wednesday on the sidelines of the international conference on minerals, metals, metallurgy and materials.
The commerce and finance ministries have been very supportive and, for the first time, we've been able to bring such a large chunk under anti-dumping duties. Having said that, it is very important to do the homework well and bring as many as under anti-dumping duty, said Sharma.
The Maharashtra government is exploring ways to change development control rules (DCRs) to enable faster rehabilitation of 85,000 slum-dwellers residing around the Mumbai international airport on the earmarked area adjacent to the airport.
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) is in the process of fixing the ceiling price of coronary stents. According to NPPA sources, that there would be two prices for stents - one for plain metal stents and the other for drug-eluting stents. That latter category is more expensive. Stents could be priced anywhere between Rs 25,000 and Rs 1,25,000.
(BOB) recently released a notification inviting applicants for the posts of Probationary Officer (PO) in junior management grade / scale-I. The bank is looking at recruiting 400 banking aspirants though this drive. Interested and eligible candidates need to apply on or before August 21, 2016.
Once Max Life completes its with HDFC Life Insurance, bancassurance would be the biggest channel of distribution with 64 per cent share. Agency would come next at 19 per cent, followed by direct selling at 11 per cent and others at five per cent.
14 such cities in Karnataka; 5 in Punjab .
25 cities have prepared Comprehensive Mobility Plans (CMP) based on origin and destination flow of traffic , identifying major traffic corridors and feeder corridors, land use etc which in turn would assist in proper urban planning. CMPs are subsequently made part of City Master Plans. .
.
Minister of State for Urban Development and Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Shri Rao Inderjit Singh, in a written reply in Lok Sabha today stated that 25 cities from 8 States prepared CMPs with central assistance. Ministry of Urban Development assists up to 80% of cost of preparation of CMPs. .
.
In Karnataka, 14 cities that came out with CMPs are: Tumkur, Davanagere, Shimoga, Mangalore, Mysuru, Belgaum, Ballary, Gulbarga, Hubli-Dharwar, Bidar, Chitradurga, Bijapur, Hospet and Raichur. .
.
Five cities with CMPs in Punjab are : Amritsar, Bhatinda, Jalandhar, Pathankot and Patiala. .
.
Other such cities are : Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh), Kalyan-Dombivili(Maharashtra), Gangtok (Sikkim), Shillong (Meghalaya), Agartala (Tripura) and Jaipur(Rajasthan). .
.
Shri Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh called on the Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Shri J P Nadda, here today. They discussed various issues relating to the health sector in Himachal Pradesh. During the meeting, the Chief Minister requested Shri J P Nadda to expedite the process of establishing AIIMS in Himachal Pradesh. The Chief Minister also requested Shri J P Nadda for providing financial support for installing the equipment in ESI Medical College at Mandi. Shri J P Nadda assured all the support and cooperation to the state of Himachal Pradesh. .
.
Shri J P Nadda also raised issues regarding allotment of the land for new branch of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) at Shimla. The Minister said that NCDC requires 2-3 acres of land from the State to set up a world class lab in the state at the cost of Rs 10 Crore. He requested the Chief Minister to expedite the process of transferring the land so that necessary steps can be taken up for establishing such a facility in the State. The Minister further said that the clearance for establishing Medical College attached to the District Hospitals of Hamirpur and Chamba is still pending and the State government should take proactive steps for establishing both the colleges. The centre has earmarked Rs 189 Crores for each college, Shri Nadda added. .
.
The Health Minister added that even though the tender worth Rs. 62.55 Crore for the super speciality hospital Block at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla has been awarded, the civil work has not yet started. The state government may look into this and take necessary action so that the project is not delayed further. The Health Minister also urged for allotting the land for Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) and Drug Testing Lab at Baddi so that the project can be rolled out smoothly. CDSCO Sub Zonal Office with Drug Testing lab shall cost about Rs. 10 Crore, the Health Minister stated. .
.
The Health Minister further informed that the Ministry is seeking proposals from the State for establishing Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Mental Health at the cost of Rs 30 Crore and the Government of Himachal Pradesh should send the proposal to the Ministry for consideration. He further mentioned that the Ministry has approved the establishment of Geriatric Centre at Tanda under the Rashtriya Varishth Jan Swasthya Yojana (RVJSY). The state government is requested to adopt this scheme and sign an MoU with the Ministry. .
.
During the meeting, the Health Minister also recalled the announcement made by Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, regarding the 56 New National Highways for Himachal Pradesh. The Health Minister requested the Chief Minister to expedite the preparation of DPRs for these National Highways too and assured all the support to the State. .
.
MV
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in its meeting held on 06.01.2016 has approved the closure of three subsidiaries of HMT Limited including HMT Watches Limited which includes Ranibagh unit in Uttarakhand. .
.
As per CCEA decision, the Government will assume the right to transfer immovable assets i.e., freehold land and /or buildings of the company to Central Government Ministries/Departments/Autonomous bodies under Central Government/CPSEs/PSBs at prevailing circle rate or market rate whichever is higher in consultation with the State Government wherever necessary. In the absence of willingness of any of the Central Government institutions as indicated above, the land may be sold/transferred to State Government or any other institution controlled by the State Government. The transfer of leasehold land shall be as per the lease agreement. However, till the immovable properties are taken over by the immovable properties are taken over by the Central Government these would be in the custody of HMT Ltd. the holding company. .
.
This information was given by Minister of State In the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Shri Babul Supriyo in reply to a written question in the Rajya Sabha today. .
.
In light of continued developments, primarily since 2008, there exists in these United States a Legal System which operates on a proved Two Tiered approach to justice rendered, which primarily benefits Democratic Elites and Woke Ideological Virtue Signalers, representing their co-dependent wards, to the expressed exclusion of normal hardworking American citizens: What is your suggestion in remedying this widespread injustice and, if not corrected, its existential outcome for our Constitutional Republic?
Complete overhaul of the Department of Justice and their enforcers - the FBI - to reflect a far more honest justice system to keep patriots remaining calm.
Disband the FBI, and request that congress investigate all unethical and non patriotic practices to partially right the wrongs of a distrusted and politically weaponized "Department of Justice."
Minister of Communications Shri Manoj Sinha today called for holistic planning rather than piecemeal approach to achieve the vision of Digital India. Inaugurating a seminar on ICT emerging technologies & USOF for Digital India" here, the Minister said, there is need for innovation in this sector as India cannot afford to emulate the Developed economies due to limited resources. He said, if India will lag in catching up with emerging technologies in the coming 15 to 20 years, the very existence of the country will be at stake. He exhorted the officials and other stakeholders to Walk the Talk" for achieving Prime Ministers vision of Transforming India through Digital Revolution. He said, it is our bounden duty to digitally empower the huge chunk of population particularly in rural areas who are still deprived of IT revolution and he underlined that Government alone cannot do this and called for cooperation of all. .
.
Shri Sinha expressed the hope that by March, 2017, one lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) will be connected through Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) to set up a network infrastructure to serve the rural masses. He said, whether network infrastructure or digital highway, there is need for finding appropriate technologies for the deprived sections of society. .
.
Speaking on the occasion, Secretary Telecom Shri J.S.Deepak said that Finance Ministry is very conservative in allocation of funds under USOF ( Universal Service Obligation Fund). He said, despite Rs 70,000 Crore available under USOF, allocation of work is less than 40 per cent. He, however, admitted that the execution of digital infrastructure projects particularly in rural areas needs to be speeded up. Shri Deepak also announced that Rs 10,000 Crore will be spent in 2016-17, which is the highest in the history of USOF. .
.
In his address, Chairman, TRAI, Shri R.S.Sharma said that for transforming India into Digitally Empowered Society and Knowledge Economy, Public-Private Partnership is definitely the best mode. He said, when mobile telephony made its foray into India, there were 2 Crore fixed telephone lines and the number remains the same even today even though the mobile subscribers have crossed 100 Crore mark. He also cautioned that the era of voice has been replaced by data and if India will lag behind in building the Digital Highway in a time bound manner, there will be problems of traffic Jam. .
.
The two-day long seminar will deliberate on the topics like changing role of USOF, regulatory issues and its future perspective, challenges of consolidation in digital Indian initiatives, Bharat Net and road ahead, broadband proliferation by telecom service providers, unlicensed spectrum for Wi-Fi etc. .
.
The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Sh. Dharmendra Pradhan has said that there is a large potential of Bio-Fuel business in India to grow from present Rs. 6500 crore to Rs. 1 lakh crore in the next 10 years. Speaking at the National Conference on the World Bio-Fuel Day in New Delhi today, he said that the Prime Minister has set a target of 10% import reduction in crude by 2022 and bio-fuels can play an important role in achieving the target. Shifting the fuel consumption profile to bio-fuels derived from domestic feed stocks would lead to decrease in this dependence on crude oil imports. He said in the last 2 years, lot of work has been done in Ethanol Blending Programme, Bio-Diesel as well as using the Bio-waste for converting to energy but more needs to be done speedily. He said Indias energy consumption is increasing very fast and it has become the third largest consumer in the world. Sh. Dharmendra Pradhan said that the Bio-fuel Programme has the capacity to provide better remuneration for farmers, address environmental concerns, reduce dependence on imports and help in foreign exchange savings. The Petroleum Minister said the Government is willing to provide conducive policy environment to support development of Bio-fuel but import of raw material or waste for this purpose cannot be allowed. .
.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State (I/C) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines Sh. Piyush Goyal said that rapid strides have been made in the last two years in the field. He said that Viability Gap Funding Scheme for the sector can be evolved in consultation with the stakeholders. Further, the Minister laid down a vision for the growth and development of the bio-fuel sector. He called for organizing an International competition, under the aegis of the MoPNG, MNRE and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), and invite stakeholders from all around the World to brainstorm and devise innovative technologies and novel ideas to integrate the use of bio-fuels in the lives of the common man. Sh. Goyal said speed, skill and scale are important for success of any programme and they should be included in the Bio-fuel programme also. He further added that bio-fuels are closely linked to increasing the quality of life of the common man as they would provide a sustainable way to convert human generated wastes to energy and reduce pollution as well. The Minister pointed out that a major challenge that faces the sector is the sustainable availability of feedstock for the bio-fuel generation plants. .
.
On the occasion of Bio-fuel World Day, National Conference on Energy Security for India Creating a Bio-fuel Economy was organized. The World Bio-fuel Day is celebrated every year to commemorate the anniversary of the successful working of a diesel engine, run on peanut oil, by German innovator Rudolf Diesel in 1893. The National conference brought together stakeholders of the Bio-fuel sector viz., the Government, Public Sector Undertakings and the Private Sector. .
.
Investment announcements were made by Private Equity and Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies. IOC, BPC, HPC and NRL have identified 10 locations for setting up 2G ethanol plants with an estimated investment of Rs.5000/- crore. Private players like CMC Bio-refineries, Praj Industries Ltd., Munzer, Novozymes and Shell have also announced an investment of Rs.5000/- crore in the field of Bio-fuels in India. The conference aimed at accelerating the bio-fuel programme in the country and draw up a road map to reduce the consumption of fossils fuels by replacing it with locally produced bio fuels thus reducing the foreign exchange out flow, generate rural employment and protect environment. .
.
Background.
.
The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoP&NG) is preparing a road map to accelerate the implementation of Bio-fuel program by increasing their consumption in India. MoP&NG has adopted a four pronged approach and is running following programmes: Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme (EBP) Ethanol blending in Petrol, Second Generation Ethanol (2G Ethanol) Ethanol production from celluloses and lignocelluloses material including Chemical route, Bio-diesel Blending Programme Bio-diesel blending in Diesel, and Waste/Plastic to Fuel. .
.
India has taken several initiatives in the field of bio fuels in the last two years. Several policy interventions and clearing of many hurdles in implementation of National blending targets have been under taken by Government of India. Ministry of Petroleum Natural gas has given a big push for the Ethanol blending program and is close to achieving 4% blending during the current sugar year. The bio diesel blending program which was started a year ago on 10 August 2015 as a pilot in 5 cities has now been extended to 6 states and Bio- diesel blended diesel is sold through nearly 2200 retail outlets in the country. The Government has also allowed production of ethanol from alternate routes. .
.
PMs interaction with Village Pradhans from Varanasi Parliamentary Constituency
.
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today welcomed Village Pradhans from the Varanasi Parliamentary Constituency at his residence in New Delhi. This was the third such group from Varanasi Parliamentary Constituency to meet the Prime Minister. .
.
During the interaction, the Prime Minister encouraged the Pradhans to generate greater awareness among the people in their villages about Central Government Schemes such as Soil Health Card Scheme, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. .
.
The Minister of State for Home Affairs Shri Kiren Rijiju delivered a statement at the International Meeting on Counter Terrorism" in Bali, Indonesia today. Following is the text of Shri Kiren Rijijus statement: .
.
India congratulates Indonesia for hosting this timely and important meeting to discuss the menace of terrorism that is plaguing the entire world today. India condemns in the strongest possible terms, the heinous terrorist attacks in Jakarta, Paris, Nice, Brussels, Istanbul, Dhaka, Baghdad, Orlando, in various parts of Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, and at an Indian airbase at Pathankot in the state of Punjab this year. Terrorism is an attack on the very idea of civilized societies and an attack on humanity itself. It defies international boundaries and hardly any nation is free from its impact. Lately, the menace has seriously escalated with terrorist groups creating havoc by maximizing human losses through perpetration of widespread killings and destruction. .
.
The Government of India is committed to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and to ensure that the perpetrators of terrorist acts, their masterminds and conspirators are brought to justice. We unequivocally condemn all acts, methods and practices of terrorism, which cannot be justified under any circumstances, regardless of their motivation, wherever and by whomsoever they are committed. There should be zero tolerance against terrorism. We reaffirm that terrorism cannot and should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilisation or ethnic group. .
.
It also needs to be ensured that terrorism is not glorified and is not patronized by any state. One countrys terrorist cannot be a martyr or freedom fighter for anyone. A terrorist anywhere is a terrorist everywhere. Those who provide support, encouragement, sanctuary, safe haven or any assistance to terrorism or terrorists must be isolated. Strongest possible steps need to be taken not only against terrorists and terrorist organizations but also against those individuals, institutions, organizations or nations that support them. .
.
The will and the mandate of international community against proscribed and wanted terrorists and their organizations must be respected and implemented. If the world community is to rid themselves of the terrorism, we will have to rid ourselves of the notion of making distinctions between good and bad terrorists. No type of terror activity or support to it can be justified on any grounds whatsoever. Only then justice will be delivered for the victims of terrorist attacks such as in Mumbai and Pathankot. .
.
India, which has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for decades, is not immune from the threats of radicalization and terrorist violence which is now affecting more and more countries all over the world. However, Indias firm adherence to open, inclusive and secular democratic governance processes, deep-rooted culture which regards the whole world as one big family and strong family ties and values which strongly uphold and protect the welfare interests of our children and youth, have checked the sweeping forces of radicalization from taking root in our country. Nevertheless, we remain highly concerned and closely monitor and guard against the activities of terrorist entities in various parts of the world from influencing the younger sections of the Indian population with extremist online propaganda and material. The risks posed by Foreign Terrorist Fighters trying to enter the country from across the border and by other means are also similarly constantly assessed and monitored. .
.
To counter the problem of cross-border infiltration, the Government of India, has adopted a multi-pronged approach, which includes, inter alia, strengthening of border management through multi-tiered deployment along international borders/Line of Control and infiltration routes, construction of border fencing, improved use of technology, better intelligence and operational coordination, synergizing intelligence flow to check infiltration and proactive action against terrorists within the country. .
.
There is close and effective coordination amongst intelligence agencies at the Centre and the State levels. The Multi Agency Centre (MAC) has been strengthened and re-organized to enable it to function on 24x7 basis for real time collation and sharing of intelligence between the State and the Central agencies. .
.
In order to strengthen legislative measures for countering terrorist attacks and terrorism-related offences and to ensure speedy investigation and prosecution of such cases, the Government of India has created the National Investigation Agency (NIA), as a Central Agency to deal with terror related cases in 2008 through the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008. .
.
The States most affected by terrorism have already raised well-trained police forces to deal with the menace of terrorism. The Centre supports them in this endeavor by providing them human, financial and material resources. .
.
Cross border movements of terrorists is the most prominent manifestation of internationalization of terrorism through sophisticated networks and use of advance technologies. Thus controlling and checking cross border movement is one of the most potent tools to counter this peril. .
.
Intelligence can play a vital role in combating terrorism. The need of the hour is to share relevant inputs to prevent acts of terrorism. I take this opportunity to request all concerned to develop intelligence mechanisms for smooth dissemination of inputs on real time basis. .
.
Countering terrorism also requires a strong collective action by the global community. India is regularly engaging with various countries bilaterally for exchanging perspectives on developments pertaining to the menace of terrorism and deepening cooperation for exploring possibilities and modalities of addressing security threats emanating from it. India is also actively participating in deliberations about this scourge at various regional and mulitateral fora. .
.
In order to address the menace of terrorism, a strong international legal framework is the need of the hour. In this context, nations must urgently consider expediting finalization of a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism under the UN umbrella mooted by India as early as 1996. Additionally, there is a need for increasing the effectiveness and transparency of procedures under the UNSCR 1267 and related resolutions for effective implementation and better coherence between various UN counter terrorism structures. .
.
Here I would like to again reiterate that all forms of terrorism and in one voice is determined to counter and combat terrorism in its various violent and subtle manifestations. We assure this learned assembly of our fullest cooperation and support in unitedly combating this global scourge for safeguarding humanity and the human civilization. At the end, I also take this opportunity to thank the Indonesian government for their kind hospitality." .
.
* * * * * *
.
KSD/NK/PK
Government of India gave its concurrence for engaging Asian Development Bank (ADB) for carrying out feasibility study and preparing the Conceptual Development Plan for East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC) linking Kolkata in the East through Chennai to Tuticorin in South in a phased manner in May 2014. In the first phase, Vizag-Chennai segment of ECEC, i.e. VCIC was taken up for the feasibility study. .
.
The Government has not approved or released any funds directly for this project. However, funds are needed to the tune of US $ 840 Million for VCIC nodes, out of which ADB Funding of US $ 625 Million has been approved by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Government of India. Remaining amount US $ 215 Million shall be provided by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Out of ADB loan of US$625 Million approved by DEA, a sum of US $ 370 Million has been sought as first tranche from ADB. The ADB conducted the feasibility study for VCIC and submitted the final Conceptual Development Plan (CDP) for the Project in December 2014. It has also started the master planning for four nodes Vishakhapatnam, Kakinada, Gannavarm-Kankipadu and Srikalahasti-Yerpedu of Andhra Pradesh as identified in the CDP. .
.
This information was given by the Commerce and Industry Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today. .
.
Afghan troops are being deployed to the capital of the key southern province of Helmand amid intense fighting with the Taliban in surrounding areas and fears the city could fall to the insurgents within days, officials said on Wednesday.
According to Kareem Atal, the head of Helmand's provincial council, Taliban fighters have completely surrounded Lashkar Gah after weeks of intense fighting across the province. Army and police units have now been pulled back from checkpoints farther afield and brought back to reinforce the city.
Also, "new forces are arriving" in the city, he added. The fighting has closed all the highways leading into Lashkar Gah, forcing up prices for food and other basics inside the provincial capital, Atal said.
Doctors Without Borders, the medical charity, has reduced its staff in Lashkar Gah and is maintaining basic emergency and surgical services, said the country representative Guillem Molinie.
The charity, known by its French acronym MSF, has a 300-bed hospital in the city and usually functions with 25 staff. Molinie would not say how many staff had been evacuated.
He said that the number of people arriving for treatment after being caught up in fighting in districts around the city had been reduced in recent days by road closures.
"With fears of the town being taken, non-emergency patients prefer to delay their treatment," he told The Associated Press, though 400 patients arrived at the hospital's emergency room on Tuesday.
Two Chinese nationals kidnapped by gunmen near Nigeria's capital, Abuja, last weekend have been released, police said.
The men, who are aged 45 and 50 and work for a construction company, were held for "24 hours of captivity" after they were ambushed, police spokesman Umar Nurman told AFP.
They have undergone tests in a hospital in Abuja and appear to be in good health, he added.
Their release followed "extensive pressure from the search party", Nurman said. It was unknown whether a ransom had been paid.
The exact timings of the kidnapping and release also remain unclear, though police previously said the men were ambushed on their way to Abuja on Saturday afternoon.
Kidnappings targeting prominent Nigerians and foreigners, especially in the oil-producing south, were rife in the 2000s until a 2009 government amnesty reduced unrest in the region.
steadied on Wednesday, though a slump in Novozymes after a weak set of second-quarter results weighed, while German utility E.ON also dropped after posting a net loss.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was flat in percentage terms, coming off its lows after opening in negative territory.
Danish biotechnology company Novozymes sank 8.5 per cent after posting weaker than expected second-quarter results and downgrading its full-year sales guidance due to declining sales of its ethanol enzymes and in its agriculture product alliance with Monsanto .
Its shares were on track for their biggest daily loss in one year.
E.ON , Germany's largest utility, dropped 6 percent after reporting a net loss of more than 3 billion euros ($3.34 billion) for the first half of the year due to further charges at power plant unit Uniper.
The oil & gas sector was also a drag, with weaker oil prices weighing. Amec Foster Wheeler , which rose nearly 12 per cent in the previous session on the back of some well-received earnings, gave up some of those gains to trade 3.4 per cent lower.
Britain's G4S , however, jumped more than 15 per cent on well-received first-half earnings, putting it on track for its biggest daily gain since September 2001. The world's largest security firm also maintained its dividend.
"Income is quite hard to come by now, so stocks like G4S which have come off a lot and might be considered "cheap" ... are always going to be looked at quite closely by investors looking for capital gains, looking to make some money, and any inkling that there may be better times ahead will be jumped upon," said Augustin Eden, research analyst at Accendo .
Insurance stocks were boosted by a 3.7 per cent gain in Belgian insurance group Ageas , which rose after reporting better-than-expected profit from insurance activities in the second quarter, aided by growth in its Belgian home market and a divestment in Asia.
Danish telecoms company TDC gained 5.8 per cent after posting a strong Q2 report.
The father of the gunman who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida was spotted at a speech Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton gave to supporters in the swing state.
Seddique Mateen was caught on camera seated in the audience behind Clinton during her campaign appearance yesterday night in Kissimmee, a town 37 kilo meters south of Orlando.
Mateen's son, Omar, proclaimed his allegiance to the Islamic State group during the June 12 massacre at the Pulse nightclub, which ended after three hours when police finally stormed the venue and shot him to death.
It was the deadliest mass killing on US soil since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Clinton, on a trip through the crucial swing state, opened her speech with a tribute to the 49 people who lost their lives in Orlando.
Mateen, an immigrant from Afghanistan, was approached by a reporter from the local WPTV television station and asked about his presence at the rally.
"Why should they be surprised? I love the United States, and I've been living here a long time," he said.
"Hillary Clinton is good for United States versus Donald Trump, who has no solutions," he said.
The rally was open to the public and about 3,000 people attended.
"This individual wasn't invited as a guest, and the campaign was unaware of his attendance until after the event," the Clinton campaign said in an email sent to reporters.
Today, the Orange County medical examiner's office released the official autopsy reports for the victims of the .
It counted 200 gunshot wounds among the dead alone. Another 53 people were wounded in the attack.
Charities that send financial aid to trouble spots sometimes have the funds "hijacked" by militant groups to carry out attacks, an counter-terrorism meeting was warned on Wednesday.
A report by Indonesian and Australian authorities detailed the risk faced by non-profit organisations. It also urged countries in the region to cooperate more closely to halt the flow of funds from militants, particularly from the Islamic State (IS) group.
"These are often very legitimate organisations who are sending money to trouble spots around the world to help civilians who are suffering," Paul Jevtovic, head of Australia's financial intelligence agency, told the meeting on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
"Unfortunately the intelligence tells us that some of these funds do not get to their intended destination and are in fact hijacked by terrorist groups and used for propaganda and/or actually committing terrorist acts."
The "unscrupulous nature" of terror cells meant that they would intercept funds intended for people in need and for hospitals, he added, without naming specific groups.
Jevtovic however stressed that non-profit organisations have a "critical role to play" helping civilians in war-torn areas, and he was not aiming to "denounce the importance of charities".
The warning came after an Israeli court last week charged the Gaza director of the World Vision non-governmental organisation with passing millions of dollars to the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas and its armed wing.
The US-based Christian aid organisation has said it has "no reason to believe" the allegations against Mohammed al-Halabi.
The report on terrorism financing in Southeast Asia and Australia noted two cases in Australia from the mid-2000s that involved charities raising almost $750,000 which was sent to foreign-based terror groups for organisational funding.
In Thailand some non-profit groups had diverted money to fund propaganda in the insurgency-torn south, where Muslim rebels seeking greater autonomy have been waging a campaign against the Buddhist-majority state, the report said.
The report, put together with collaboration from other Southeast Asian nations, also urged countries in the region to combat money flowing into the region to fund terror attacks.
A shocking - but not surprising - news report appearing in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal revealed that President Barack Obama and his minions transported a secret payment to the terrorist-supporting Iranian that appears to be a ransom for the release of abducted Americans.stated the WSJ story.Reporters described unmarked wooden crates overflowing with paper money including Euros, Swiss francs and other currencies, but no U.S. dollars, that were loaded onto a cargo plane secretly flown into Iran, according to these officials.they stated.While Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton was involved in negotiations with Iran while Secretary of State, she is avoiding the subject as details are being revealed that it was a "sucker deal."Despite more and more information surfacing during the day, Obama's officials, including his press secretary, Josh Earnest, denied any link between the payment and the American prisoner release. They claim the entire episode is coincidence and what it appears: quid pro quo.But GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump states it's a "scandal" that President Obama's administration paid $400 million dollars to Iran around the time four American hostages were released by the radical Islamist nation.The fledgling TV cable news channel OAN is also reporting that members of the Department of Justice opposed the delivery of $400 million to Iran saying it would be viewed by the world as a ransom payment and place other Americans overseas in danger. But Obama overruled the DOJ and the Attorney General remained silent.The Iranian government's experience dealing with the Obama administration, especially Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her successor John Kerry, has shown a total lack of respect or fear of American power.For example, speaking candidly and openly to a number of high-level Iranians in both public and private sectors, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, in a speech claimed the United States, under President Barack Obama's leadership, no longer possesses the might and awe it once enjoyed, according to Middle Eastern news sources Speaking during a meeting of Iran's Assembly of Experts in Tehran , the Ayatollah promised that the current "world order" will be replaced with a new world order that is already emerging not only in the Middle East but also in the West.Khamenei said.According to Iran's ABNA news agency , Muslim leaders working in the U.S. as a de facto Fifth Column are hoping to garner another million voter registrations from within the nation's Muslim communities. They are pushing the registration drive as combating the anti-Muslim Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.The Iranian news agency claims that there are about 3.3 million Muslims in United States, but campaign organizers said,said Osama Abu Irshaid of the U.S. Council of Muslims.Imams have been asked to encourage their congregations to register to vote for Hillary Clinton. The Democratic Party hopeful reportedly helped to create what's now called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).Organizers have sent canvassers to college campuses, bus stations and gas stations in Muslim neighborhoods but will register non-Muslims who support their Islamic neighbors.
As more Indians get introduced to the idea of ordering food online, has partnered with popular food delivery apps such as Zomato and Swiggy to enable placing orders right from its search results.
About 1,000 Russian opposition supporters rallied in Moscow to protest a controversial new legislation that offers new sweeping powers to security agencies.
The set of counter-terrorism amendments initiated by the hawkish lawmaker Irina Yarovaya has sparked outrage among rights activists. Among other things, it introduces prison sentences for failure to report a grave crime and obliges telecommunications companies to store call logs and data for months.
President Vladimir Putin signed the amendments into law last month.
Protesters, who gathered on Tuesday in Moscow's Sokolniki park, denounced the new legislation as part of the Kremlin's efforts to stifle protest ahead of next month's parliamentary elections. The rally, which had been sanctioned by authorities, proceeded peacefully as police watched from the sidelines.
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who played a key role in organising massive protests in Moscow against Putin's rule in 2011-2012, said in a rousing speech that it's time for the opposition to return to the streets and that "everything depends on us."
Opposition activist Ilya Yashin described the new legislation as a "reflection of horror and fear of the government."
"They try to control everything, absolutely everything," he said. "If we don't resist it, then we will find ourselves in the world of Big Brother where everyone is being watched from everywhere. All our conversations are being listened to, all our messages are being read - it's a very unpleasant perspective."
Referring to the new legislation as "the Big Brother law," Human Rights Watch representative Tanya Lokshina described it as "clearly yet another tool for the government to use against its' opponents."
"There has been a tremendous crackdown on free expression in since Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin back in 2012, and the 'Yarovaya Law' will be a particularly destructive tool," she said.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are showing no let up in their market share war, just days after Opec (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) announced an informal meting to discuss ways to stabilise falling prices. The Opec announced on Monday it will hold informal talks on the sidelines of a conference in the Algerian capital next month. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude exporter, told Opec that it boosted oil output to a record 10.67 million barrels a day in July, two people with knowledge of the data said. Iran's output is up to 3.85 million barrels a day, Fars news agency ...
Igor Plotnytsky, the leader of independence-seeking insurgents in Ukraine's eastern Lugansk region, said he came back to work three days after surviving an assassination attempt.
"The work of the authorities continues in the usual mode and I participate in the meetings and conferences on a regular basis," Plotnytsky said in a statement published by the insurgent-run Lugansk information centre.
In his statement, the leader of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LNR) urged the public not to trust the "toxic rumours" about the deterioration of his health.
Plotnytsky was injured on Saturday morning when an explosive device went off near his car and he was hospitalised in Lugansk.
The Ukrainian security authorities suggested that Plotnytsky was in serious condition, while the self-styled Health minister of the self-proclaimed LNR Larysa Airapetyan said that the wounds were not life-threatening.
Plotnytsky has blamed the Ukrainian government for the explosion, while Kiev has denied the charges, saying it was not implicated in the blast.
Since April 2014, the Ukrainian army and rebels have been engaged in a military conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed some 9,400 people so far.
Voicing concern over recent developments pertaining to capital punishment in Maldives, the UN Human Rights chief has exhorted the government to refrain from carrying out planned executions and uphold the de facto moratorium that has been in place in the country for over six decades.
"The has long provided important leadership on global efforts to bring an end to the use of death penalty, so it is deeply regrettable that a series of steps have been taken to resume executions in the country," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a press release.
Last November, the High Court decided that the President may no longer exercise the power of commuting death sentences to life imprisonment.
In June this year, capital punishment regulations were further amended to allow for hanging in addition to lethal injections as methods of execution.
Further, in July, the Supreme Court issued an order, cancelling the stay order issued by the High Court and reiterated that its decisions on death sentences are final.
"The death penalty is not effective in deterring crime," Zeid said, adding "a judiciary that is unable to consistently apply fair trial standards and is marred by politicisation, must not be allowed to have the final say in matters of life and death."
"There are currently 17 individuals on death row in . Some cases raise serious due process concerns, with three of them at imminent risk of execution," he said.
" has upheld the right to life for more than 60 years," the High Commissioner said, urging the leaders and the people of the Maldives "to continue to uphold the moratorium on the death penalty and work towards prohibiting the practice altogether.
has sought more military supplies from India including attack helicopters and US favours Indian support in enhancing Afghan security forces, a top American commander overseeing US operations in the war-ravaged country said.
India has already provided four Mi-25 helicopters to and US Commander General John Nicholson said the country needs more military aircraft to deal with Taliban and various other terror outfits.
Welcoming India's contribution to restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan, Nicholson said terror outfits like Haqqani network, Lashkar-e- Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad are not only a threat to but to the region including India.
Nicholson, who heads the US operations in Afghanistan, on his second visit here has met National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and Defence Secretary G Mohan Kumar and discussed a range of issues including situation in Afghanistan and terror threats to the region.
The US Commander said military training by India to thousands of Afghan security personnel has helped that country significantly which is in tune with the objective of the NATO and the US.
"I cannot speak for the Afghan government. But I know that they have requested more and would like more and I think there is an immediate need for more as these aircraft can immediately get into the fight," he said, when asked whether Afghanistan was seeking more military helicopters from India apart from the four Mi 25 choppers.
He said Afghanistan was struggling to get spare parts for Russian aircraft due to Western sanctions against Moscow and India can supply them, adding "the US favours India's military support to Afghanistan".
Referring to Pakistan, he said the Taliban "enjoys sanctuaries" in Pakistan and that the US has asked Islamabad to take steps to contain the terror networks operating from its soil.
"We consistently encourage Pakistan to take action against terrorist groups that operate from its territory and close down their safe havens," he told a group of journalists, at the same time, adding that the US was supportive of Islamabad's efforts to reduce the ability of militants groups.
Nicholson said the US was trying to build a "counter terrorism platform" focusing on containing all terror groups emanating from the region and ensure its peace and stability.
Hailing India's contribution in reconstruction of Afghanistan, he said the Afghan-India Friendship Dam in Herat province and Chabahar port project will help boost Afghanistan's economy.
The US Commander yesterday visited the burial sites of one of his ancestors Brigadier Gen John Nicholson in a cemetery in Old Delhi. "My wife and I cleaned his grave," he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Theresa May have agreed to meet in "the near future", the Kremlin has said.
During a phone call initiated by London, the two leaders "planned to hold a private meeting in the near future," the Kremlin said in a statement on Tuesday, without naming a date.
British relations with have soured in recent years, notably over efforts to prosecute the case of Kremlin critic and former spy Alexander Litvinenko, who was murdered by radiation poisoning in London in 2006.
Britain has also been one of the most fervent supporters of Western sanctions against Moscow over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis.
"While discussing topical issues in Russian-British relations, both sides expressed dissatisfaction with the current state of cooperation in the political, trade and economic spheres," the Kremlin statement said.
The leaders agreed to intensify "joint work on a number of fronts" including air transportation safety, the statement said.
When May took office last month, Putin said he was ready for "constructive dialogue" with the new British leader.
The Kremlin strongman had accused the British government of being "overconfident" and "superficial" in the June referendum that saw the UK vote to split from the European Union.
Putin warned that the move to leave the EU "will have consequences for the United Kingdom, for all of Europe and for us, of course."
Many observers have said that Brexit would play into Putin's hands as he has been accused of trying to drive a wedge between EU members.
But Putin in June said that had never "interfered, never expressed our opinion on the matter" and dismissed attempts to associate Moscow with the vote.
With the secondary market on a roll, fund-raising via the initial public offering (IPO) route, too, has hit top gear with companies raising nearly Rs 11,000 crore in the first seven months of 2016 (calendar year).
India has said it is setting its own standard, being among the largest consumers of historically.
Bert and Jack Yates serve with the IMB-SBC in Nairobi, Kenya. Jack, whose heart's desire is to equip and teach God's children in Africa to carry out the Great Commission, serves as the Principal of the Kenya Baptist Theological College. Bert serves as the Prayer Networker for the Sub-Saharan African Peoples Affinity, sharing what God is doing in our part of the world and how others can join in His work!
The management of the PakTurk Schools, linked with US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen's NGO, has removed Turkish principals of 28 schools and colleges of the chain besides dissolving the board of directors (BoD) having representation of Turkish nationals.
The move is being seen to thwart the likely handing over of the control of the school system to any government organisation as Turkey blames Gulen for the last month's failed coup attempt, reports the Dawn.
A senior official of the school said that the Turkish nationals, earlier serving on administrative posts, will now work as teachers and a new six-member BoD with complete local representation had been formed to run the affairs of the schools.
The PakTurk schools are no more registered under the international NGO (PakTurk International Education Foundation) but they will work under a locally-registered PakTurk Education Foundation.
Last week, Islamabad had promised Turkey's visiting Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu that it would investigate the network of schools Ankara wanted shut for its alleged links with Gulen.
Cavusoglu had said, "It is not secret that Gulen's organisation has institutions or their presence in Pakistan and in many other countries. I am sure the necessary measures will be taken. We have to be very careful with such organisations and their causing risk and threat for the security and stability of every country that they have presence."
The senior official added that after such drastic changes in the system, there is no point in to either close down or hand them over to any government's recommended organisation.
"After bringing these schools under a local NGO, the government should stop looking for an excuse to oblige its Turkish counterpart," he said, requesting the Pakistan Government to consult the new BoD.
The chain of 28 schools and colleges is functioning in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Multan, Karachi, Hyderabad, Khairpur, Jamshoro and Quetta.
Of the 1,500 staffers, 150 are Turkish.
The Pakistan Government is also facing pressure from the Turkish authorities to expel the Turkish nationals working with the PakTurk schools.
"Some of them have a Pakistani visa valid for a year or two and some have applied for extension," said an official adding that the Turkish staff fears action by the Erdogan administration on their return as Turkey has declared Gulen's organisation a 'terrorist entity' after the coup.
The schools management has also filed a petition in Islamabad and Lahore high courts, seeking orders to stop the Pakistani Government from taking any unlawful step.
New Delhi, Aug 10 (ANI): Looks like rapper Badshah learnt his lesson leniently after splitting from his group 'Mafia Mundeer' in 2012 as the current desi hip-hop sensation has now vowed to work alone.
When asked whether he would form a group anytime soon, the Punjabi rapper exclusively told ANI, "I won't really prefer working in a group now, but yes I want to work with a lot of rappers. I really have to work on myself because I have got bigger aspirations and unfortunately I won't be able to achieve my dreams if I will be a part of a group now."
The 'Abhi Toh Party Shuru Hui Hai' hit-maker concluded, "Being a part of a group won't make any sense at this point of time."
The group 'Mafia Mundeer' disbanded in 2012 after their last song 'Get Up Jawani'.
Badshah also praised several underground rappers like Divine and Naezy, adding he is glad that the underground rap scene in India is gradually making its mark on the commercial front.
On the professional front, the rapper will drop his debut solo album in September.
A Bangadeshi-American immigrant has called on the prosecutors of the Queens Criminal Court, New York to bring hate crime charges against a person he says was attacked while screaming 'F***K Indians'.
Ali Najmi, who is representing Gazi Rahman, the victim, in the court, took to Twitter saying, "This is what hate looks like. My client Gazi Rahman assaulted by a complete stranger who yelled 'f**k Indians."
A photo posted by Najmi shows Rahman lost a significant amount of blood.
As per reports, Rahman, 46, said he was talking on the phone outside a grocery store on Hillside Avenue near Parsons Boulevard in Jamaica, Queens, on May 7 when a person named Christopher Porr, 39, who he did not know, asked for money.
He recalled at a news conference outside Queens Criminal Court, "I said, 'I'm sorry I don't have any money," and then the accused punched him and said, "F**K Indians."
Rahman further said he was treated at a hospital for a concussion, a broken nose, and lacerations to his face.
Najmi further tweeted, "On top of all this Mr. Rahman was wrongfully arrested at the scene! Surveillance footage I obtained which exonerates him is from NYPD camera.
Asserting that injustice against Dalits would not be tolerated, the Congress today asked Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to initiate a probe against the recent incident in Amalapuram where two Dalit brothers were allegedly tied to a coconut tree, stripped and thrashed for skinning a dead cow.
Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury stated that nobody would bear injustice against the Dalits.
"The state's chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu should initiate a probe to find out the accused. I am surprised as to how this disease of cow vigilantes has reached Andhra Pradesh," Chowdhury told ANI.
"Nobody will bear injustice against the Dalits and the state government will have to bear the consequences. The Chief Minister will have to tell as to what actions he has taken in this regard," she added while assuring support to the Dalits.
Earlier on Monday, two brothers, who were hired to skin a cow that had died of electrocution, were attacked by around 100 'gau rakshaks' or cow vigilantes, who arrived at the spot accusing them of stealing and killing the animal.
The brothers are presently undergoing treatment at a hospital with reports indicating that one of them is critical.
As per reports, the police have identified the attackers.
The incident comes just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent out a hard-hitting message against attacks on Dalits and cow vigilantism.
Addressing a public meeting on his first visit to Telangana on August 7 after assuming office, the Prime Minister asked the people to beware of its 'fake' protectors trying to divide society and the country and asked the states to severely punish them.
"I would like to tell all countrymen that they beware of these fake cow protectors," he said.
Prime Minister Modi asked the states to identify the people who want to destroy the social fabric and take stern action against them.
Dwayne Johnson, popularly known as 'Rock', recently lashed out at his 'Fast 8' male co-stars publically. Commending his female co-stars, he said not all men working with him are "true professionals."
According to an E!Online report, the actor-producer praised the movie's crew and his "amazing" female co-stars but he made a point to note that his "male co-workers, however, have a different story."
The 44-year-old formal wrestler, in an elaborate Facebook post, wrote: "Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don't. The ones that don't are too chicken (shitt) to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses."
He, however, did not go specific as to about whom his comment was.
India and Myanmar held the 15th round of Foreign Office Consultations in New Delhi on August 9, where the entire gamut of bilateral relations between both countries was reviewed.
The Ministry of External Affairs in a statement said the Indian side was led by Dr. S. Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary, and the Myanmar side by U Kyaw Tin, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
Both sides during the discussions reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations, including high level visits, security and defence related issues, boundary matters and border management, trade and commerce, development cooperation, connectivity, cultural and consular matters.
Both sides exchanged views on issues of mutual interest at regional and multilateral forums.
The consultation is of special significance, as it marks the first institutionalised exchange between New Delhi and Naypyidaw after new the swearing in of new Myanmar Government on March 30, 2016.
During the intervening period Notable exchanges were made by the visit of National Security Advisor Shri Ajit Doval as a Special Envoy of Prime Minister on June 16, 2016 and of Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman at the head of a high-level business delegation for the India-Myanmar Business Conclave from May 18 to 20 this year.
The consultations were of special significance as it marked the first institutionalised exchange between India and Myanmar after the swearing in of the new Government in Myanmar on March 30, 2016. Notable exchanges in the intervening period were the visit of National Security Advisor Shri Ajit Doval as a Special Envoy of Prime Minister on June 16, 2016 and of Minister of State for Commerce & Industry Smt Nirmala Sitharaman at the head of a high-level business delegation for the India-Myanmar Business Conclave on May 18-20, 2016.
Cross-border trade between India and Pakistan resumed on Tuesday after remaining suspended over widespread unrest in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
The trade route between Poonch in India and Rawalakot in Pakistan was shut down on August 3 for the second time within a fortnight after massive protests erupted across PoK against alleged rigging in recent elections.
"Trade remained suspended for at least two weeks because of some internal crisis in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Trade finally resumed today. Ten vehicles have crossed from our side and more than 20 are coming from their end," said Mohammad Tanvir, custodian at Chakan da Bagh trade facilitation centre in Poonch.
PoK witnessed violent protests over the July 21 elections, which agitators claimed were rigged by the winning Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
The Panthers Party (NPP) on Wednesday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion in regard to in his speech and urged the latter to call on people from different sections of the state, along with representatives of all political parties with an open heart and address their grievances.
Speaking to ANI, NPP leader Bhim Singh said the people of want peace and prosperity and that it is for the Prime Minister to bestow more attention to the matters of the state to help the state move forward in the path of development.
"No matter I am a member of the opposition party but I welcome Prime Minister's remarks on . In reality the people of Kashmir want peace, prosperity, jobs, business and tourism so that they can develop. But I will say that more attention is required on whatever has happened and is happening in Kashmir," Singh said.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi should call on people from different sections of Kashmir along with representatives of all political parties and talk with them with open heart, because in Jammu and Kashmir we want peace to prevail. As development of Jammu and Kashmir is very important for development of India," he added.
Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday said only dialogue and development can ensure peace in Jammu and Kashmir.
"Every Indian loves Kashmir. The azaadi (freedom) that every Indian feels, Kashmir can feel too," he said while speaking at an event to commemorate the sacrifices of freedom fighters on the Quit India day at revolutionary Chandrashekhar Azad's village at Bhabra in Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh.
The Prime Minister said he is pained to see young men pelting stones on security forces in the state.
"The boys, who should be holding laptops, bats and balls in their hands and dreams in their hearts, are ones carrying stones," he said.
Prime Minister Modi said Kashmir wants peace and the government is committed for development of the region.
"Whatever Kashmiris want for betterment of their livelihood, the Centre will help," he said.
Yellowstone Countys economy will likely take a step back in 2016 compared to last year, and collapsing energy prices havent yet hit bottom, a University of Montana economist said Tuesday in Billings.
Crop and beef prices are also down, hurting Eastern Montana ag producers, but consolidations in the medical and finance fields in Billings are boosting the local economy, said Patrick Barkey, director of the UM Bureau of Business and Economic Research.
Its become apparent the real good news was in 2015. Its apparent now, with the fragment of information at hand, that 2016 is not as good, Barkey said to an audience of about 70 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
Barkey was on the second stop of his seven-city tour of Montana for the 11th annual economic update series, sponsored by the Montana Chamber of Commerce. After hitting Kalispell and Billings, hell continue to Bozeman, Helena, Butte, Great Falls and Missoula.
Hes joined by Kate McGoldrick, director of UM Center for Enterprise and Executive Development, who discussed strategies for businesses to develop and keep talent when labor markets are tight.
The states economy has essentially reached full employment, Barkey said. Montanas unemployment rate was 4.2 percent in July, roughly unchanged for much of the year, and Yellowstone Countys unemployment was 3.8 percent during that same month.
Growth in the state has shifted west, Barkey said. Rising construction has lifted the more populous Western Montana counties while slumping commodities prices have hit Eastern Montana, he said.
Commodities prices are trying to find bottom, Barkey said.
Total wages in Yellowstone County (the volume of dollars earned by workers countywide) grew by 5.6 percent in 2015, pushed up by rising demand for workers, particularly in the construction field, and people working multiple jobs.
You can see that pretty steady growth, Barkey said.
He cautioned that growth in construction has been fueled by major upgrades at the ConocoPhillips refinery and CHS refinery in Laurel and may be temporary.
Yellowstone County is weathering declines in energy and agriculture because of its diverse economy, Barkey said, noting wage growth in health care more than tripled from 2014 to 2015. Along with the banking industry, health care in Billings has benefited from industry consolidations, which strengthen companies' headquarters operations in town, he said.
Recent examples include Billings Clinics acquisition of Community Health in Missoula last year and Billings-based First Interstate Banks announced buyout of Flathead Bank in Kalispell, scheduled to close this year.
It's really a big deal, and keeps the boom going, Barkey said.
As many as 1,051 missing children have been rescued by the Odisha Crime Branch during the first phase of Operation Muskan-2.
The Operation Muskan, which was started on July 25 jointly by the Crime Branch in association with the Women and Child Development Department, has rescued these children from various places across the state.
Special DG Crime branch B.K. Sharma said the next phase of operation will resume outside Odisha from today where the police teams will go to 10 states, including Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, New Delhi, Jharkhand Tamil Nadu and Bihar and trace out the missing children of Odisha. The second phase operation will end on August 24.
As per the direction of the Supreme Court for protection of missing children, the Odisha Police have launched a month-long drive called 'Operation Muskan' each year in two phases since 2015.
Notably, under Operation Muskan-I, the Odisha Police had rescued 900 children from last year from both inside and outside Odisha.
The Intelligence Agency (NIA) on Wednesday disclosed that Bahadur Ali, who was apprehended after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Buhan Wani, has confessed to the involvement of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Pakistan Army behind the unrest in Kashmir.
Briefing the media here, NIA chief Sanjeev Kumar said Ali was initially recruited by the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and trained by the LeT to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir and brew tension in the region.
Kumar said Ali during his interrogation confessed that he was directed to take advantage of the unrest in Kashmir Valley.
"We have collected all kinds of evidences. Bahadur Ali was directed to take advantage of the current situation in Kashmir," said Kumar.
"Bahadur Ali was recruited by the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, subsequently LeT radicalised him. Bahadur Ali underwent all three training process organised by the LeT," he added.
Kumar further said the articles seized during Ali's arrest explain that the LeT operative was trained by masters of the field.
"Recovered articles show that the terrorist was provided great referrals in codes. It shows very highly trained people trained him," said Kumar.
"Bahadur Ali said that there were a few army officers in civilian clothes, who checked their preparedness with a check-list. And that he crossed into Indian side on either 11th or 12th June along with two LeT cadres," he added.
The NIA chief further said Ali also disclosed that there were around 30-50 trainees at the training camps of LeT from different parts of the countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Kumar said Ali's investigation is underway and added that they would be exploring tangents relating to the role of LeT in the ongoing Kashmir unrest.
The NIA also showed a video of Ali's confession. He was arrested on July 25 with weapons, including an AK-47 rifle, live rounds, grenades and grenade launcher.
Earlier on Tuesday, India summoned Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit and handed him a "strong demarche" over Islamabad's continued support to cross-border terrorism by pushing in trained terrorists to carry out attacks, particularly in Kashmir.
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar called the Pakistani envoy to his South Block office and lodged a strong protest over the issue as he made a specific reference to the LeT terrorist Bahadur Ali.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin today jointly inaugurated the first unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Plant.
Speaking from Moscow via video conference, President Putin highlighted that the plant was mostly about bringing advanced technology to India, adding that Russia has huge plans regarding this matter and that the deed for the third unit of the plant should be signed by the end of this year.
"Russia is a world leader in nuclear market. Nuclear power plants build by Russians are of high standards and safe. 85 percent fund comes from the Russia federation. I thank all who worked in implementing the project," Putin said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi speaking from the capital via video conference asserted that the plant marks another step in Indo-Russian cooperation and is a celebration between the collaboration of the two nations.
"The first unit is the single largest power plant in India and we have planned for five more. Today's event is a joyful occasion for the experts and scientists of Russia and India in the nuclear field. I'm grateful to President Putin and I deeply value our friendship. I looking forward to meet you in G20 in China," he said.
Speaking at the inauguration from Chennai, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa asserted that the Nuclear Plant is a monument of the long standing relationship between India and Russia, adding this project is important to Tamil Nadu, which is trying to rise above in all sectors.
"As Chief Minister, I have always extended support of the Kudankulam projects and also allayed the fears of local people regarding the plant. This project has overcome many hurdles so far, politically, financially and technically. The successful commission is a testimony of how the fear of the people should be allayed," she said.
She further requested that the second unit of the plant also be commissioned at the earliest, considering their need for the growing industrial and farming sectors.
The first unit of Kudankulam nuclear power plant attained criticality in July 2013. Till now, more than 10,800 million units of power have been generated from the first unit according to site director R S Sundar.
The 1000 Mega watt Kudankulam nuclear power plant was built with Russian expertise following a pact between the then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Soviet leader Mikahil Gorbachev in November 1988.
The first unit was synchronized with southern power grid on October 22 in 2013 and commercial power generation started by the end of December 2014.
The Allahabad High Court has ordered that teachers should not be deployed for poll duty during examinations. The court yesterday issued directions to the Election Commission in this regard.
The order was passed by a two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice D.B. Bhonsle and Justice Yashwant Verma while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) moved by the Uttar Pradesh primary teachers' association of Ghaziabad.?
The teachers' association had argued that the 2009 Act makes education the right of each child but this would be possible only when teachers do their duty regularly.
The Election Commission had argued that it was difficult to keep teachers away from poll duty as election work is also a duty.
After hearing both the parties, the bench passed the order refraining the Commission to deploy teachers for poll duty during examinations.
The Taliban's deputy shadow district governor Abdul Rahman and 13 other insurgents were reportedly killed in a military operation in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province on Wednesday.
Kunduz police said 21 other insurgents were also injured.
According to the police, the operation was conducted in Imam Sahib district of the province and was supported by the Afghan air force.
It added that two security soldiers were also killed and three others injured.
No further details were provided by the police in this regard.
Hollywood superstar Will Smith recently slammed US presidential candidate Donald Trump for his Islamophobic rants.
According to a report in The Dawn, Smith, who was on a promotional session of his latest 'Suicide Squad' said, "In terms of Islamophobia in America, for me, that's why it's important to show up in Dubai."
According to the 'I Robot' actor, it's important for him to be there, having fun, taking pictures so as to point out "Hey, it doesn't look like they hate me, does it?"
The actor also expressed his wish that local filmmakers should use cinema to highlight the reality of the region and show their part of the story.
"The Middle East can't allow Fox News to be the arbiter of the imagery, you know. So cinema is a huge way to be able to deliver the truth of the soul of a place to a global audience," said Smith.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has raised $1.3 billion to help finance climate change mitigation and adaptation projects with the issue of dual-tranche 3-year and 10-year green bonds, following its inaugural green bond issue in 2015.
Scaling up climate financing is essential for the region to keep its commitments to the Paris Agreement, adopted at last year's climate change summit, said ADB Treasurer Pierre Van Peteghem. Through robust climate finance to both the public and private sectors, ADB has demonstrated its commitment to a low-carbon future. Today's green bond issue also shows ADB's responsiveness to investors, who increasingly see the importance of green investment and sustainable development for Asia and the Pacific.
Last year, ADB announced that it will double its annual climate financing to $6 billion by 2020, up from $3 billion in 2015. ADB's spending on tackling climate change will rise to around 30% of its overall financing by the end of this decade. Out of the $6 billion, $4 billion will be dedicated to mitigation through scaling up support for renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable transport, and building smart cities, while $2 billion will be for adaptation through more resilient infrastructure, climate-smart agriculture, and better preparation for climate-related disasters.
Proceeds of the green bonds will support low-carbon and climate resilient projects funded through ADB's ordinary capital resources and used in its non-concessional operations.
The 3-year bond has an issue size of $800 million, a coupon rate of 1% per annum payable semi-annually and a maturity date of 16 August 2019. It was priced at 99.779% to yield 22.75 basis points over the 0.75% US Treasury notes due July 2019. The 10-year bond has an issue size of $500 million, a coupon rate of 1.75% per annum payable semi-annually and a maturity date of 14 August 2026.
It was priced at 99.745% to yield 21.9 basis points over the 1.625% US Treasury notes due May 2026.
The transaction was lead-managed by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Agricole CIB, and J. P. Morgan. Co-lead managers were Daiwa Securities, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, SEB, and TD Securities.
The bonds were sold to about 70 investors including AGI, Banque Syz & Co SA, Black Rock, Calsters, Calvert Investments, Compass AM, Mirova, and State Street Global Advisors.
The issues achieved wide primary market distribution. For the 3-year bond, 58% of the bonds were placed in the Americas, 37% in Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and 5% in Asia. By investor type, 44% of the bonds went to fund managers, 32% to central banks and official institutions, 16% to banks, and 8% to insurance, pension and other types of investors. For the 10-year bond, 49% of the bonds were placed in Asia, 32% in Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and 19% in the Americas. By investor type, 46% of the bonds went to insurance, pension and other types of investors, 30% to fund managers, 13% to banks, and 11% to central banks and official institutions.
ADB plans to raise around $20 billion from the capital markets in 2016.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Bharat Financial Inclusion lost 2.79% to Rs 809 at 12:39 IST on BSE after the company said that its President S Dilli Raj is on leave for two months due to personal reasons.
The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 9 August 2016.
Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 213.78 points or 0.76% at 27,871.38.
On BSE, so far 1.61 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 2.22 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 841.45 and a low of Rs 798.80 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 369.45 on 18 September 2015. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 938.75 on 29 July 2016. The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 9 August 2016, surging 10.59% compared with 3.53% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 39.25% as against Sensex's 9.33% rise.
The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 127.59 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.
During the absence of Bharat Financial Inclusion's (BFIL) President S Dilli Raj, M. R. Rao, Managing Director & CEO of BFIL will additionally oversee his functions.
It may be recalled that BFIL, formerly known as SKS Microfinance had last week announced that its President S Dilli Raj was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection to a complaint filed by IDBI Bank against First Leasing Company of India. S Dilli Raj previously worked in First Leasing Company of India.
Separately, BFIL after market hours yesterday, 9 August 2016 announced that it has issued commercial papers of an aggregate amount of Rs 50 crore which has been rated 'A1+' by a leading rating agency. The aggregate amount of commercial papers outstanding as on date was Rs 325 crore.
Bharat Financial Inclusion's net profit surged 285.7% to Rs 235.91 crore on 46.5% increase in total income to Rs 414.12 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015.
Bharat Financial Inclusion is among the largest microfinance companies in India.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Container Corporation of India rose 0.32% to Rs 1,463.05 at 9:24 IST on BSE, amid initial volatility after net profit fell 13.9% to Rs 178.48 crore on 5.7% decline in net sales to Rs 1339.22 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015.
The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 9 August 2016.
Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 22.87 points or 0.08% at 28,062.29.
On BSE, so far 6,489 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 18,648 shares in the past one quarter. The stock was volatile. The stock rose as much as 2.16% at the day's high of Rs 1,490 so far during the day. The stock lost as much as 4% at the day's low of Rs 1,400 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 1,050.85 on 12 February 2016. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 1,689.95 on 11 August 2015. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 9 August 2016, sliding 0.32% compared with 3.53% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had, however, outperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 10% as against Sensex's 9.33% rise.
The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 194.97 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.
Container Corporation of India (Concor) provides logistics solutions. It has the largest network of inland container depots (ICDs)/container freight stations in India. In addition to providing inland transport by rail for containers, it has also expanded to cover management of ports, air cargo complexes and establishing cold-chain. The Government of India (GoI) holds 56.79% stake in Concor (as per the shareholding pattern as on 30 June 2016).
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Total Operating Income decline 4.24% to Rs 4723.70 crore
Net profit of Corporation Bank declined 82.41% to Rs 35.92 crore in the quarter ended June 2016 as against Rs 204.26 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2015. Total Operating Income declined 4.24% to Rs 4723.70 crore in the quarter ended June 2016 as against Rs 4932.77 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2015.4723.704932.7765.1573.74-97.44187.10-97.44187.1035.92204.26
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
An isolated case of a woman receiving graphic sexual messages from a stranger led to an investigation resulting in multiple felonies against a 28-year-old Billings man.
Clinton Ross Gilham was charged with felony stalking and five counts of felony privacy in communications in Yellowstone County Justice Court on Tuesday.
Yellowstone County Justice of the Peace David Carter set bond at $45,000 and restricted Gilham from using cellphones or social media websites because of the nature of his alleged crimes.
Gilham was prosecuted in Billings Municipal Court on two counts of misdemeanor privacy in communications and a misdemeanor charge of stalking. In that case, the victim reported Gilham had called her multiple times in June 2015 and left vulgar messages. Gilham was convicted on all three charges.
During the course of the investigation into that case, city prosecutors discovered several phone numbers that matched the pattern of harassment in Gilham's city case.
The evidence was turned over to Yellowstone County prosecutors and Gilham now faces six felony charges for harassing at least five other women, according to court documents.
The women range in age from 26 to 30 years old and, with the exception of one who knew Gilham more than a decade ago, said they had never met him. Based on information investigators gathered from searches of Gilham's phone from 2014 on, Gilham was tracking the women through their Facebook pages, according to court documents.
All of the women live outside of Yellowstone County and all of them reported Gilham would call them and describe sexual acts he wanted to perform on them, according to court documents. If the women hung up, Gilham would repeatedly call them back. Blocking Gilham's number would only work for a short time, because he would change his number periodically, according to court documents.
All the women told investigators changing their numbers might have resulted in losing important personal and business contacts and instead got into the habit of not answering unknown numbers, according to court documents. When unable to reach the women by phone, Gilham would text them obscene messages.
One woman reported Gilham threatened to rape her, and he was able to figure out she had moved from California to South Dakota. The woman was so afraid she set up notification steps with her family and friends in the event that she was kidnapped or killed, according to court documents.
Sales decline 18.88% to Rs 4.51 crore
Net profit of Hindustan Foods declined 11.76% to Rs 0.15 crore in the quarter ended June 2016 as against Rs 0.17 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2015. Sales declined 18.88% to Rs 4.51 crore in the quarter ended June 2016 as against Rs 5.56 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2015.4.515.5616.1911.870.490.500.150.170.150.17
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Sales decline 2.59% to Rs 1703.86 crore
Net profit of JK Tyre & Industries declined 14.36% to Rs 100.26 crore in the quarter ended June 2016 as against Rs 117.07 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2015. Sales declined 2.59% to Rs 1703.86 crore in the quarter ended June 2016 as against Rs 1749.11 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2015.1703.861749.1120.9517.15262.08237.89187.53189.33100.26117.07
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Lupin fell 2.95% to Rs 1,560.25 at 10:26 IST on BSE on reports that a foreign brokerage downgraded shares of the Indian drug maker to sell.
Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 165.98 points, or 0.59%, to 27,919.18.
On BSE, so far 2.28 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with average daily volume of 1.34 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,608 and a low of Rs 1,552.50 so far during the day. The stock hit a record high of Rs 2,127 on 6 October 2015. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 1,294.05 on 29 March 2016. The stock had underperformed the market over the past 30 days till 9 August 2016, falling 3.68% compared with 1.66% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 0.90% as against Sensex's 9.72% rise.
The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 90.20 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.
The brokerage reportedly said that the competition in top US products will weigh on the company's growth. Lupin's key complex products lack visibility of launch. Lupin is likely to post single digit earnings per share growth in the year ending March 2018, it added.
Meanwhile, another foreign brokerage reportedly maintained underperform rating on Lupin. It reportedly said that risk-reward ratio is unfavourable for the stock. Q1 has been a peak profit quarter for Lupin. The brokerage cut its estimates on Lupin's earnings per share for the year ending March 2017 (FY 2017).
According to media reports, shares of Lupin fell as its two main businesses US and India did not do well in Q1 June 2016. The US business numbers were disappointing when compared to Q4 March 2016, while the Indian business numbers were disappointing when compared to Q1 June 2015.
Reports added that the possibility of a punitive US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) action on Lupin's Goa plant also continues to be an overhang. Goa plant contributes about 20% of the US revenues.
Shares of Lupin fell 5.03% to Rs 1,607.60 yesterday, 9 August 2016, after the company's consolidated net profit rose 55.1% to Rs 882 crore on 40% growth in net sales to Rs 4313.60 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015. The result was announced during market hours yesterday, 9 August 2016. The stock has fallen 7.83% in two sessions from its close of Rs 1,692.75 on Monday, 8 August 2016.
Lupin's managing director Nilesh Gupta said that the company has delivered its best results to date in tune with its growth momentum. This was a record quarter, driven by robust growth across all key markets for the company viz. the United States, India and Japan, he said. The management remains committed to maintaining the company's growth trajectory given new product launches and approvals driven by strategic investments in technology and research, Gupta said.
Lupin is a pharmaceutical company producing and developing a wide range of branded & generic formulations, biotechnology products and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) globally. The company is a significant player in the cardiovascular, diabetology, asthma, pediatric, CNS, GI, anti-infective and NSAID space and holds global leadership positions in the anti-TB segment.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is scheduled to announce Q1 June 2016 earnings today, 10 August 2016.
Container Corporation of India's (Concor) net profit fell 13.88% to Rs 178.48 crore on 6.17% decline in total income to Rs 1408.41 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 9 August 2016.
Power Finance Corporation's (PFC) net profit rose 8.64% to Rs 1712.55 crore on 5.91% rise in total income to Rs 7158.66 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 9 August 2016.
PFC's board of directors gave in-principle approval for the merger of PFC Green Energy (PFC GEL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the company with PFC.
JK Tyre & Industries' consolidated net profit declined 14.35% to Rs 100.26 crore on 0.88% growth in total income to Rs 1786.77 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015. The results for Q1 June 2016 includes working of Cavendish Industries acquired on 13 April 2016 which restarted its operations in mid May 2016. Therefore, results for the quarter are not comparable with previous period. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 9 August 2016.
Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) reported net loss of Rs 1450.50 crore in Q1 June 2016 compared with net profit of Rs 14.76 crore in Q1 June 2015. Total income declined 12.04% to Rs 5868.44 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 9 August 2016.
UCO Bank reported net loss of Rs 440.56 crore in Q1 June 2016 compared with net profit of Rs 256.70 crore in Q1 June 2015. Total income declined 8.53% to Rs 4727.93 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 9 August 2016.
Natco Pharma's consolidated net profit rose 69.75% to Rs 47.65 crore on 46.48% rise in total income to Rs 330.38 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015. The growth in profit for the company was predominantly driven by increased sales of its oncology and hepatitis C products in India. The result was announced at the close of market hours yesterday, 9 August 2016.
Kennametal India's net profit slumped 54.65% to Rs 7.20 crore on 1.91% decline in net total income from operations to Rs 154.79 crore in Q4 June 2016 over Q4 June 2015. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 9 August 2016.
Bharat Financial Inclusion announced that the company's President S. Dilli Raj is on leave for two months due to personal reasons. During his absence, M. R. Rao, Managing Director & CEO, will additionally oversee his functions. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 9 August 2016.
HCL Technologies turns ex-dividend today, 10 August 2016 for interim dividend of Rs 6 per share for the year ending 31 March 2017 (FY 2017).
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
To utilise proceeds to repay debts
Nitesh Estates announced that the Company had 4 acres of the land parcel at Kakanad village in Kochi, Kerala.
In view of the sluggish market conditions, the company has decided to sell off the land and has finalized the same with a third party for a total consideration of Rs. 26.50 crore. The proceeds of the sale will be utilized to reduce the debts of the Company.
This transaction is expected to be completed by 30 September 2016.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Nitesh Estates rose 9.30% to Rs 13.87 at 10:57 IST on BSE after the company said it sold its land in Kerala for Rs 26.50 crore.
The announcement was made during trading hours today, 10 August 2016.
Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 205.27 points, or 0.73%, to 27,879.89.
On BSE, so far 1.44 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with average daily volume of 39,869 shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 14.30 and a low of Rs 13.15 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 19.25 on 10 August 2015. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 11 on 25 February 2016. The stock had underperformed the market over the past 30 days till 9 August 2016, falling 6% compared with 1.66% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 2.01% as against Sensex's 9.72% rise.
The small-cap company has equity capital of Rs 145.83 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.
Nitesh Estates had 4 acres of the land parcel at Kakanad village in Kochi, Kerala. In view of the sluggish market conditions, the company has decided to sell off the land to a third party for a total consideration of Rs 26.50 crore. The proceeds of the sale will be utilized to reduce the debts of the company. This transaction is expected to be completed by 30 September 2016.
On a consolidated basis, Nitesh Estates reported net loss of Rs 2.55 crore in Q1 June 2016 as against net loss of Rs 20.33 crore in Q1 June 2015. Net sales rose 101.33% to Rs 98.23 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015.
Nitesh Estates is a first generation real estate company headquartered in Bangalore.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Held on 09 August 2016
Flexituff International announced that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on 09 August 2016, have considered and passed the following resolutions:-
1. Resignation of Rishabh Kumar Jain as Company Secretary & Compliance officer of the Company.
2. Appointment of Madhuri Jethani as Company Secretary & Compliance officer of the Company.
3. Resignation of D. K. Sharma from the Directorship of the Company due to his Preoccupation.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Total Operating Income decline 4.05% to Rs 2153.92 crore
Net profit of Punjab & Sind Bank rose 23.61% to Rs 53.35 crore in the quarter ended June 2016 as against Rs 43.16 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2015. Total Operating Income declined 4.05% to Rs 2153.92 crore in the quarter ended June 2016 as against Rs 2244.74 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2015.2153.922244.7474.5774.57138.5257.79138.5257.7953.3543.16
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
A special court here on Wednesday recorded the statement of New Delhi Exim Pvt. Ltd. Director Suresh Singhal -- who has turned approver in a coal block allocation case allegedly involving former Congress MP Naveen Jindal and others -- as prosecution witness.
The court on July 11 allowed Singhal's plea for pardon and to turn a government approver in the case.
"Today (Wednesday), applicant Suresh Singhal has accepted the pardon so granted to him, subject to the conditions as mentioned in the order. Accordingly, his statement to that effect has been recorded," Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Bharat Parashar said.
"The name of Suresh Singhal is accordingly deleted from the array of accused persons as he shall now be a prosecution witness, to be examined upon commencement of recording of prosecution evidence."
The court, however, clarified that Singhal will not leave India without its prior permission till further orders.
Meanwhile, the court directed the CBI to expedite further investigation as trial in the matter is getting delayed.
At the same time, the court granted permission to Jindal to visit abroad (Oman, UAE and Bahrain) from August 25 to 30 subject to certain conditions.
These include informing the CBI and the court about his arrival in India, mentioning details of places visited by him, along with details of the itinerary, within seven days of his arrival and not tampering with evidence nor trying to influence any witness in any manner.
The court fixed August 24 for submitting report on further investigation in the matter.
The court in April found prima facie evidence against industrialist and senior Congress leader Jindal, former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayana Rao, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and others in a case related to the allocation of Jharkhand's Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Gagan Sponge.
However, Jindal, Rao, Koda and others denied the charge and sought discharge from the case.
The CBI in April 2015 filed a charge sheet against Jindal, Koda, Rao and former Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta, apart from Singhal, Jindal Realty Director Rajeev Jain, Gagan Sponge Directors Girish Kumar Juneja and R.K. Saraf, Sowbhagya Media's Managing Director K. Ramakrishna and chartered accountant Gyan Swaroop Garg.
Five private companies -- four based in Delhi and one in Hyderabad -- were also named in the charge sheet.
They are Jindal Steel and Power Ltd., Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt. Ltd., Jindal Reality Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi Exim Pvt. Ltd. and Sowbhagya Media Ltd.
--IANS
akk/tsb/dg
In a move seen in favour of publishers, social media giant on Tuesday introduced a by which the advertisements on the platform would bypass the adblockers on desktop browsers, making it harder for people to avoid seeing them.
The company has also asked its users to identify which ads they do not like to allow the firm to collect in-depth information for marketers.
commissioned a research to investigate why 70 million Americans and nearly 200 million people worldwide use adblockers, Tech Crunch reported.
According to the report, the main reasons cited for using ad blockers include avoiding disruptive ads (69%), ads that slow down their browsing experience (58%) and security/malware risks (56%).
"So thinks if it can make its ads non-interruptive, fast, and secure, people would not mind," the report said.
"The rationale for the change is that part of the mission of the company is to create connections between people and businesses which adblockers prevent," Facebook's Vice President of ads Andrew Bosworth was quoted as saying.
"Ads on Facebook do not pay for Facebook for one person. They pay for a service that is free around the world.
The participation of everyone really helps the global community," Bosworth added.
Meanwhile, Adblock Plus, a leading adblocking company, responded to Facebook's action.
In a blog post titled, "Oh well, looks like Facebook just got all anti-user", the company said, "This is an unfortunate move, because it takes a dark path against user choice. But it's also no reason to overreact: cat-and-mouse games in tech have been around as long as spammers have tried to circumvent spam filters."
Bosworth said that the advertising industry needs to improve in the way ads are delivered.
"I don't think adblockers are a very good solution. They specifically don't serve publishers will, who deserve to be compensated for their content. But they don't serve customers well either," he said. The adblockers take money for showing ads, which mean they don't have the consumers' best interest in mind," he noted.
HELENA Prayer, not politics, topped the agenda at Montanas Capitol on Tuesday, where evangelist Franklin Graham held a rally meant to encourage Christians to live out their faith at home, in public and at the ballot box.
An estimated 2,700 churchgoers, state workers and other curious onlookers packed almost every patch of the Capitols north lawn, snarling traffic on their way to hear a roughly 45-minute speech from Graham, the eldest son of the televangelist Rev. Billy Graham.
Three event-branded tour buses parked in front of the Capitol provided the backdrop for the 33rd stop on Grahams nationwide Decision America Tour, one of 50 planned in state capitals around the country.
The rally didnt feature any stump speeches or election endorsements, nor candidate appearances of any type.
Instead, Graham called on attendees to put their faith in God to help solve the countrys problems.
That's not to say the event was short on politics. Even the country band that served as Grahams opening act managed to mix a few muscular lyrical threats aimed at ISIS in among the praise music.
Graham himself endorsed no candidate for any office, referring to both major party presidential nominees, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, as flawed people.
But Graham did encourage rally attendees to give special consideration to some of Trumps favorite campaign topics, including efforts to bolster national security and put a stop political correctness.
The word progressive, he said, is just a code word for atheist.
You need to stand up and you need to be in their face, Graham said as he implored rally attendees to run for office and become more engaged in public life. I'm sorry but you just need to be in their face."
You can be a community organizer for God, he added in one of the speeches louder applause lines an apparent reference to President Barack Obamas past work as a community organizer in Chicago.
The message putting prayer ahead of political allegiances resonated with Betty Dutton, who made a nearly two-hour trek from Twin Bridges to hear Graham speak.
If you have faith in God, he can do anything, Dutton said. The Bible says if you pray to him, he will restore.
But you cant just pray. You have to pray for the answers about who to vote for, and you have to do the research on who is most aligned with what the Bible says.
The event didn't seem to sit nearly as well with Laurel Hesse, a Montana Democratic Party staffer who donned a Planned Parenthood button on her lapel.
It made me sad that I felt like I couldnt hold someones hand during prayer, she said. Someone next to me offered their hand, then took one look at my pin and took it away.
Moments earlier, whispers about lesbianism, sodomy and abortion could be overheard as Graham encouraged attendees to confess aloud the sins of our nation.
A hand-drawn sign Hesse held aloft during that prayer suggested a few parenthetical additions to the blurb used to promote Tuesdays event on Grahams website: Practice your faith (love, respect, compassion) at home, in public and at the ballot box.
The Decision America tour is scheduled to stop Wednesday in Boise, Idaho, and finish the week in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
For more information, visit decisionamericatour.com.
The Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) has collaborated with the Development Commissioner (DC) Handlooms to reinvent indigenous crafts executed by handloom weavers through effective skill development.
The Ministry of Textiles, headed by Textiles Minister Smriti Irani, announced a revival strategy for the handloom industry on National Handloom Day, observed on August 7.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will facilitate designer intervention at selected Weavers Service Centers across India was also signed between Alok Kumar, Development Commissioner Handlooms, and FDCI President Sunil Sethi, read a statement.
FDCI designers Rajesh Pratap Singh, Anju Modi, Rakesh Thakore, Rina Dhaka, Rahul Mishra, Abhishek Gupta, Samant Chauhan and Shruti Sancheti were present for the function in Varanasi.
They were allocated their Weaver Service Centers/handloom clusters in selected parts of the country.
Designers will impart professional training in design development at various Weaver Service Centers across the country.
The strategy has been devised with the long-term goal of making the handloom weaver an entrepreneur, through knowledge sharing and resource optimisation.
--IANS
sug/nn/vm
"Udegi Dhool", a political thriller that chronicles the spectacular rise of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next month.
Directed by Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla, "Udegi Dhool", which is 95 minutes long, has been distilled from 400 hours of real behind-the-scenes footage shot through a year.
"India is the biggest consumer of news and film and yet journalism informs so little of our cinema," Ranka said in a statement.
"We worked as ordinary citizens armed with the tools of journalism - a camera, a mic and curiosity," said Shukla.
The movie, which was in post-production for two years, sneaks viewers into the middle of heated arguments and campaign strategies of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Produced by Anand Gandhi, director of the internationally acclaimed and Award winning classic "Ship of Theseus", 'Udegi Dhool' unfolds like a political thriller.
It follows activists, politicians and academicians on their best days and their worst, as they navigate the absurdities, trials and chaos of Indian politics and as they reveal their agenda, intentions and ambitions.
It was previously titled "Proposition for a Revolution", and was supported by a crowd funding campaign in India. The Toronto festival will be held from September 8-18.
The government on Wednesday said that it has ordered inspection of all old bridges after the collapse of Mahad Bridge in Maharashtra.
"NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) has asked its field units to get all old bridges under its jurisdiction inspected through Project Director/Independent Engineer/ DPR Consultants for their fitness," the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement.
The ministry clarified that Mahad Bridge in Maharashtra was not under the jurisdiction of NHAI.
"Responding with extreme sensitivity to the collapse of Mahad Bridge and as explained earlier in various forums, it is again clarified that the collapsed bridge is not under the jurisdiction of NHAI," the statement added.
The instruction from the ministry has come on the heels of the collapse of Mahad Bridge on August 3, 2016.
The tragedy has resulted in 21 deaths.
The British era bridge had caved in last Wednesday in Raigad District of Maharashtra making the government launch a massive hunt of the victims on "land, river, creek and the Arabian Sea".
--IANS
vn-rv/vm
Pro-Libyan government forces on Wednesday claimed that they have captured the terrorist group Islamic State's (IS) headquarters in the city of Sirte.
The group had turned the Ouagadougou conference centre -- once a showpiece of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime -- into their local headquarters, The Telegraph reported.
The government forces claimed to have captured the conference centre after fierce fighting.
The forces had launched an offensive to break IS grip on Sirte, which was helped by US air strikes.
"The Ouagadougou centre is in our hands," said a statement from the operations centre of the forces deployed by the Government of National Accord, an internationally recognised administration leading the battle for Sirte.
But the terrorist organisation still holds some areas of the city, located in Gaddafi's home area.
--IANS
sku/
Yemen's Shia Houthi rebel group said it fired two ballistic missiles against military targets in Saudi border cities on Wednesday, according to the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency.
One missile struck an air defence base in Saudi Arabia's Khamis Mushait city, while the second destroyed a military camp in Abha city, Xinhua news agency cited the rebel group as saying.
The attack comes only two days after the Saudi-led military coalition supporting the Yemeni exiled government stepped up its air campaign against Houthi rebels, following the collapse of the US-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait between the warring factions.
Houthi rebels said that Saudi warplanes launched over 50 sorties on Wednesday targeting the Nehem district, northeast of the capital city of Sanaa.
Riyadh-based coalition spokesman Ahmed Aseeri said air operations supporting Yemeni government troops advanced into the district of Nehem, in preparation for advancing into Sanaa next.
Houthi rebels and allied forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh have controlled Sanaa since 2014, after forcing the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 to help restore the internationally recognized Hadi government.
Coalition airstrikes and fighting on the ground had left more than 6,400 persons dead, the majority of which were civilians.
--IANS
sm/ahm/dg
Fertility rates in India are more closely related to education levels and the socio-economic development within a state, than to religious beliefs, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of government data and research evidence.
The evidence we analyze shows that richer families, states with better health facilities and higher female literacy have lower fertility rates in India. Globally, there is little evidence to link religion and fertility rates, with poorer, conflict-ridden states and countries with lower female empowerment reporting higher population growth rates.
When the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India released fertility rates for the Indian population last year, the conversation was hijacked by the difference in population growth rates across religions. Several newspapers emphasized that the data showed that Muslim women had higher fertility rates than non-Muslims, and that the percentage of Muslims in the population was steadily growing.
This implicit suggestion that Muslims have more children than other religious communities missed data that shows how population growth rates and the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) vary widely between India's states. The TFR seems more closely related to per capita income, healthcare and other basic facilities in that state.
Development and fertility: The case of Kerala and UP
Compare, for instance, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh (UP). In 2011, the TFR of Uttar Pradesh, at 3.3, was higher than the Indian average of 2.4, and higher than the TFR in Kerala, at 1.8, according to census data. The Muslim population in Uttar Pradesh increased 25.19 per cent, while the Muslim population in Kerala increased 12.83 per cent between 2001 and 2011. Over the same period, the Hindu population increased 18.9 per cent in Uttar Pradesh and 2.8 per cent in Kerala.
The higher growth rates of Muslims in northern states are "more or less part of a northern culture than a Muslim culture", N.C. Saxena, the former secretary of the Planning Commission of India, said in an interview to The Wire, a nonprofit journalism portal.
The states with the highest fertility rates in India are all in north and central India -- Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan (TFR 2.9), Jharkhand (2.8), and Chhattisgarh.
These overall fertility rates seem more related to the state's development. For instance, Kerala has a literacy rate of 93.9 per cent, compared to 69.7 per cent in Uttar Pradesh in 2011. In the same year, 99.7 per cent of mothers in Kerala received medical attention at delivery compared to 48.4 per cent of mothers in Uttar Pradesh. Besides, 74.9 per cent of women were above the age of 21 in Kerala at marriage, compared to only 47.6 per cent in Uttar Pradesh.
Another way to interpret population growth rates is through the difference in poor and rich states. Empowered Action Group (EAG) states, which include the poorest in India --Rajasthan, UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh -- have higher population growth. Between 2001 and 2011, the population of EAG states grew 21 per cent compared to 15 per cent for the rest of India. Still, decadal population growth rates in even EAG states have fallen when compared to the decadal growth rate of 24.99 per cent between 1991 and 2001.
One reason for the higher Muslim fertility within a state, could be because of wealth-related factors.
Survey information showed that families in the lower wealth quintiles have more children than richer families. For instance, in Bihar, women in the lowest wealth quintile have a TFR of 5.08 while women in the highest quintile have a TFR of 2.12. The same holds true for a richer state, like Maharashtra, where the lowest wealth quintile has a TFR of 2.78, compared to the richest wealth quintile with a TFR of 1.74.
On average, Muslims across India are poorer than Hindus, with an average monthly household per capita expenditure of Rs 833, compared to Rs 888 for Hindus, Rs 1,296 for Christians and Rs 1,498 for Sikhs, according to a 2013 National Sample Survey report, based on data from 2009-2010.
Indian women have more children than counterparts in many Muslim countries
There is little evidence internationally of the correlation between religion and fertility rates.
For instance, according to World Bank data, in 2014, Bangladesh, India's Muslim-majority neighbor, had a TFR of 2.2. Iran, another Muslim country, has a TFR of 1.7, below replacement level, which means the current population cannot be replaced at the prevailing population growth rate.
In India, the Muslim growth rate is falling faster than the growth rate of Hindus.
The decadal population growth rate of Muslims fell 4.9 percentage points from 29.5 per cent in 2001 to 24.6 per cent in 2011, while that of Hindus fell 3.5 percentage points, from 20.3 per cent to 16.8 per cent. In 2001, 65.1 per cent of all Hindus, above the age of 7 years, were literate, while 59.1 per cent of Muslims were literate, according to census data. In 2011, the percentage of literate Hindus rose to 73.3 per cent, while that of Muslims increased to 68.5 per cent.
Fertility rates of populations that have higher fertility, such as low-income families and Muslims, are falling faster than other groups, as methods of contraception and education spread to these groups, said one expert.
(10.08.2016 - In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform. Shreya Shah, a freelance journalist, is a graduate of the Global Human Development programme at Washington's Georgetown University. The views expressed are those of IndiaSpend. The author can be contacted at respond@indiaspend.org)
--IANS/IndiaSpend
shreya/vm
Hindi feature film "Island City", which features critically acclaimed actors like Vinay Pathak and Tannishtha Chatterjee, will release in India on September 2.
The Ruchika Oberoi directorial had its world premiere at the 72nd Venice Film Festival 2015 in the Venice Days section, where it won the FEDEORA (Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean) Award for Best Debut Director.
"'Island City' has had an incredible festival journey so far but there is no greater joy than having one's film released at home. This is now becoming a reality due to the efforts of National Film Development Corporation which has nurtured this film every step of the way, from script stage through production and now to release," Oberoi said in a statement.
"With the support of Drishyam Films, who are on board as distribution partners, we hope to have a substantial theatrical presence and reach out to audiences across several cities," she added.
The film also features Amruta Subhash and Chandan Roy Sanyal.
"Island City" had been selected at 26 international film festivals and won top awards at five festivals.
The film connects three stories -- two black comedies and a tragic-comic tale of love showing an ever-changing city in a time of uneasy transition.
--IANS
ks/rb/vt
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2016, that seeks to amend the Income Tax Act of 1961 and the Customs Tariff Act of 1975.
The new law will essentially enable the government to raise custom duties on marble and granite to about 40 per cent from the existing 10 per cent while it will also give incentives to the garment sector.
Answering queries from several members, including Congress' Deepender Singh Hooda and Trinamool Congress' Sugata Bose, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the new bill will address various issues of demerger of companies and related matters.
The bill will help create jobs and protect domestic industry from import surge, he said.
"We need economic development which generates job. One of the provisions in the Income Tax Act is that if you generate employment for a minimum of 240 days in a year, there are certain tax rebates you will be entitled to," Jaitley said
He said in the apparel sector, that is, the textile and garment sector, particularly the exporters, jobs are created but the nature of the trade has become "seasonal".
Jaitley said the changes in the Income Tax Act will give effect to the conditions attached to the transfer of shares by the government.
He said the new bill will empower the central government to make use of land belonging to the erstwhile Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited, which has remained with the government following privatisation of the telecom public sector undertaking, 14 years ago.
The bill was passed by a voice vote after a brief debate, wherein among others Trinamool MP Sugata Bose said tha tthe government should not encourage protectionist policies.
He said the government should take adequate steps to encourage manufacturers to be competitive in price as well quality of their products.
Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM) accused the government of harming the powerloom industry. "Your policy is benefitting only small corporates but it is destroying the powerloom industry of Malegaon and Bhiwandi (in Maharashtra)," he said.
Nishikant Dubey of the Bharatiya Janata Party repeatedly slammed what he said was the "policy paralysis" of the Congress-led UPA regime from 2004 to 2014 and insisted that the new bill as brought by Jaitley will help the garment and marble industries.
As regards the garment sector, Jaitley said the bill eases the condition for availing tax incentives under the relevant sections of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
"The incentive is aimed at making Indian apparel industry competitive, so that they are able to make the cost advantage", the minister said.
As far as customs duty on marble and granite is concerned, he said the measure will give flexibility to the government to raise the duty to World Trade Organisation-bound rate of 40 per cent.
Deepender Singh Hooda (Congress) alleged that the government seemed to be in hurry to push the bill.
Sushmita Dev, also from the Congress, said the biggest promise of Modi government was job creation. "However, we feel that India is heading towards jobless growth," she alleged.
Among others, Congress member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also opposed the bill.
--IANS
nd/tsb/rn
Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed The Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2016 that seeks to increase the working overtime hours up to 100 per quarter.
The existing law permits the state governments to make rules related to the regulation of overtime hours of work.
However, the total number of hours of overtime must not exceed 50 hours for a quarter.
Now, the new bill passed by the lower house raises this limit to 100 hours.
With the new draft legislation, the central government is also empowered along with the state governments to make exempting rules and orders in respect of total number of hours of work on overtime in a quarter.
This would ensure uniformity in its application by various state governments and union territories, the Union Labour Ministry explained.
The passage of the bill, which was termed as "anti-labour" by many members of the opposition parties, was marred by a walkout by the Congress.
"By increasing the overtime clause you are only burdening the existing employees," Congress floor leader Mallikarjun Kharge said before leading his party colleagues out.
Earlier, while the bill was being introduced by the Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) MP from Tripura, Sankar Prasad Dutta, objected to the introduction of the bill saying the provisions of the bill were "similar to the bill introduced in 2014".
The 2014 bill is now before the Standing Committee, he said, adding, in such a situation the new bill could not be introduced.
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) MP from Kerala, N.K. Premachandran said the bill piloted by Dattatreya was encroaching upon the rights of the states and was against the federal structure of the country.
Dattatreya countered the charge and insisted that the bill was not against the interests of labourers as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has prescribed the upper limit of 144 hours.
He said in no manner the bill would infringe upon the rights and powers of the states.
The Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, however, overruled the objections and allowed it to be tabled and moved for consideration of the House.
The new bill also introduces a provision which permits the central or state government to extend the 115-hour limit to 125 hours.
It may do so because of excessive work load in the factory and in "public interest", the Minister said.
Dattatreya said one important feature of the the law would be to enable workers to "work more and earn more".
"Overtime is only an opportunity," the Minister said dismissing contentions of a few members that this may lead to workers' exploitation.
"I have taken many safeguards. The proposed amendment is nowhere in conflict with the ILO norms and all provisions relating to daily or weekly hours. Total number of overtime shall not exceed 100 hours in a quarter," he said.
The need for increasing the total number of hours of work on overtime in quarter is based on the demand from industries, he maintained.
Among other changes, the bill also allows overtime of up to 125 hours per quarter in "public interest" and empowers central and state governments to exempt rules with regard to overtime working hours.
"There is no compromise on the safety and working condition of workers," Dattatreya said, adding, this bill will facilitate increase in employment generation in the manufacturing sector.
The bill will also push National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government's programmes like 'Make in India', 'Skill India' and 'Digital India initiative', he said.
The government will also amend the Factories Act of 1948, he said.
--IANS
nd/lok/rn
In a major breakthrough, the Mumbai Police arrested five medicos, including the CEO and Medical Director of the reputed L.H. Hiranandani Hospital in Powai, in connection with a racket in illegal kidney sale and trnasplants, officials said here on Wednesday.
The five arrested accused -- hospital CEO Sujit Chatterjee, Medical Director Anurag Naik and medicos Prakash Shetty, Mukesh Shah and Mukesh Shetye -- were produced before the Andheri Magistrate Court and remanded in police custody till August 13.
They have been charged with involvement in the illegal sale of kidneys. The police is examining the possible inter-state and global ramifications of the racket.
Health Minister Deepak Sawant said the hospital's licence for carrying out transplants was cancelled last month after the scam was unearthed.
"No kidney transplants take place there. We cancelled the licence immediately after we learnt of it last month," Sawant told media persons.
Mumbai BJP MP Kirit Somaiya said the racket had inter-state ramifications and he had spoken to Union Heatlh Minister J.P. Nadda over the issue and some more arrests could be expected.
Earlier, an official spokesperson for the Hiranandani Group told IANS that an internal probe is being conducted, and declined further comments till the investigation was over.
So far, at least 14 persons, including the five medicos, have been arrested in the case that first came to light in July at the hospital.
A few more suspected cases surfaced later and police are probing around 30 transplants conducted at the hospital in the past one year.
Following the expose, the Maharashtra Directorate of Health Services set up a committee of medical experts, which found irregularities related to at least four kidney transplant cases.
Based on the committee's report, the police arrested the five medicos of the 12-year-old, 240-bed prestigious hospital, sending shockwaves in the state medical fraternity.
The lid was blown off the racket on July 14 when social worker Suresh Gupta, some political activists and members of a trade union stopped a kidney transplant operation midway, since the donor and the recipient were allegedly found to be fake husband and wife.
Delving deeper, the police identified Brijendra Bisen, who created the false documents with the help of two other external agents and has his network functioning mainly in Maharashtra-Gujarat.
Incidentally, Bisen was arrested in 2007 when one of the biggest kidney sale-transplant rackets was busted.
In the current racket, the police had earlier arrested Bisen, recipient Brijkishore Jaiswal, who is a textile businessman from Surat, and donor Shobha Thakur who was shown as his wife and who was promised Rs 10 lakh for her kidney, hospital official Nilesh Brijkishore Jaiswal and others.
The accused have been charged under Sections 12 and 21 of the Transplantation of Human Organ Act, 1994, and the Indian Penal Code, said the police.
--IANS
qn/tsb
US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had no plan to change his temperament as he was grappling with his sagging poll numbers following recent feud with a family of a fallen Muslim American soldier and leaders within his own party.
"I think that my temperament has gotten me here," Xinhua cited Trump as saying in an interview with Fox Business Network.
"I have always had a good temperament and it's gotten me here. We beat a lot of people in the primaries and now we have one person left, and we're actually doing pretty well there, but we'll see how it all comes out," he added.
Rupture between Trump and the Republican leadership resurfaced after Trump derisively answered criticism from Khizr Khan, the father of the soldier killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq.
During the Democratic National Convention held in July, Khan blasted Trump for his divisive remarks and proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country and divisive tone and implored voters to vote for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee.
Trump responded by implying that Ghazala Khan, who accompanied his husband on stage on the final day of the Democratic National Convention, was forbidden to speak by his husband.
Backlash to Trump's comments came in swiftly from both parties, with the press office of House Speaker Paul Ryan, the highest-ranking US Republican officeholder, releasing a scathing statement without mentioning Trump's name that denounced "a religious test for entering our country."
"Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military and made the ultimate sacrifice. Captain Khan was one such brave example. His sacrifice -- and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan -- should always be honoured. Period," said the statement.
--IANS
sku/
The Odisha government on Wednesday proposed that the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) set up a medical college and hospital and a cement factory in Sundargarh district.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held a meeting with SAIL Chairman P.K. Singh and proposed that the company set up a skill development centre in the district, said a release.
The meeting was also attended by top officers from both the state government and SAIL.
Patnaik proposed that SAIL to set up the cement plant at Purunapani in Sundargarh district and a skill development centre at Rourkela, the release added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced to upgrade Ispat General Hospital (IGH) run by Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) into a super specialty hospital in April 2015.
Singh said they are working on to upgrade the IGH into a super specialty hospital.
He also said that the production of Rourkela Steel Plant would be enhanced to 10 million tonne per annum within a period of 10 to 15 years.
Issues like resettlement and rehabilitation of persons displaced due to RSP and Mandira Dam and the establishment of a sewerage treatment plant by SAIL at Rourkela were also discussed, the release said.
--IANS
cd/bim/dg
Michael Phelps claimed his 20th Olympic gold medal by winning the men's 200m butterfly final at the Rio Olympics on Tuesday.
The 31-year-old clocked 1:53.36 to beat Japan's Masato Sakai by just four hundredths of second at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Xinhua news agency reported.
Hungary's Tamas Kenderesi took bronze, 0.26 seconds further back.
South Africa's Chad le Clos, who beat Phelps for the gold medal in this event at the London 2012 Games, finished fourth.
It was Phelps' second gold medal of the Rio Games after his triumph with US 4x100m freestyle relay team on Sunday.
Phelps has reduced his competition schedule in Rio as he focuses on butterfly and relay events.
He is aiming to become only the third athlete to win gold in the same event at four consecutive Olympics, joining Al Oerter (discuss) and Carl Lewis (long jump).
Phelps could perform the feat in both the 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley.
At the end of Tuesday night's swimming session, the USA led the Rio 2016 gold medal tally with nine, one ahead of China.
Phelps has now netted three gold medals at these Games -- winning each of the events he has entered. Overall, he has racked up 25 Olympic medals, 21 of them gold.
In the relay final, Phelps joined Conor Dwyer, Ryan Lochte and Townley Haas to hit the wall in seven minutes 0.66 seconds.
Britain's Stephen Milne, Duncan Scott, Dan Wallace and James Guy took silver, 2.47sec behind the USA, and Japan's Kosuke Hagino, Naito Ehara, Yuki Kobori and Takeshi Matsuda pocketed bronze, 2.84sec further back.
Phelps swum the final leg of the race to loud cheers from the packed arena.
--IANS
py/
Rome, Aug 10 (IANS/AKI) Gunmen shot dead a high-profile criminal lawyer in Italy's Calabria region as he was driving home late on Tuesday.
Police found Francesco Pagliuso's bullet-ridden body slumped at the wheel of his car near his villa outside the town of Lamezia Terme.
The 43-year-old lawyer had defended prominent Calabrian mafia suspects in several trials. His clients also included well-known businessmen, senior officials and politicians.
Pagliuso owned a popular local nightspot and allegedly carried a loaded Magnum pistol with him at all times.
Another lawyer, Torquato Ciriaco, was shot dead in Lamezia Terme in 2002 in a case over which no one has yet been brought to trial.
--IANS/AKI
mr/
The body of former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul, who committed suicide on Tuesday, was flown to his Walla village in Anjaw district on Wednesday for last rites.
Pul, who stepped down from the post last month following a Supreme Court order, was found hanging from a ceiling fan at the official residence of the Chief Minister in Itanagar which he had not yet vacated.
Pul's body was kept in the Chief Minister's residence since Tuesday after autopsy and people from different walks of life paid floral tributes till late in the night.
Several political leaders also paid their respects.
"Some of his colleagues and family members, including wife Dangwimsai, boarded the chopper that carried the body of Pul," a Congress leader said, adding the cremation will be held on Thursday.
Former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang, who was present at the helipad, demanded a through inquiry into the circumstances leading to Pul's death.
Arunachal Pradesh has declared a three-day mourning. A holiday has been declared for Thursday when the last rites will take place.
Meanwhile, the situation in Itanagar has returned to normal after the sporadic incidents of violence on Tuesday.
The government, however, suspended the services of SMS, GPRS, 3G and 4G of all service providers in the state following fears of communal clashes.
"Electronic communication tools like SMS and mobile data services are being used for furthering the objective of spreading communal messages leading to communal violence," a government order said.
--IANS
ah/mr
India's Deeipika Kumari defeated Guendalina Sartori of Italy in the 1/16 eliminators of the women's individual archery competition of the ongoing Rio Olympics here.
Deepika displayed red hot form to claim a 6-2 win and move into the pre-quarterfinals at the Olympic Shooting Centre here on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old from Ranchi had shaky start, shooting mediocre scores of seven and eight points with her first two attempts before coming up with a nine in her third.
The Italian on the other hand, enjoyed a superb start with nine points in all her three attempts to take the first set 27-24. Clinching a set brings two set points to the winning archer.
Deepika found her rhythym in the second set with attempts of 10, 10, 9 to take the set 29-26 and draw level.
Sartori meanwhile, seemed to be waver a bit although she did manage a 10 in her third attempt.
The archer from Ranchi continued her superb form in the third set as well, notching up a total of 28 points with attempts of 10, 9, 9. Sartori (10, 8, 8) could only manage to score 26 points.
In the fourth and final set, both archers started off with identical eight point attempts before Deepika scored perfect 10s with her next two attempts to take the set and the match.
Earlier, Deepika defeated Kristine Esebua of Georgia in the 1/32 eliminators.
Deepika, placed 12th in the world rankings, displayed excellent form to defeat the higher ranked Esebua 6-4.
Deepika dominated proceedings right from the start. Starting with a mediocre eight pointer with her first attempt, she scored 10 and nine points in the next two.
The World No.8 Georgian could only manage attempts of 8,9,9 as Deepika took the opening set 27-26 and the subsequent two set points with some ease.
The Georgian did better in the second set. Both archers scored identical attempts of 10, 10, 9 to split the set points with the overall set points score reading 3-1 in favour of Deepika.
Deepika displayed outstanding marksmanship in the third set with 10 pointers in all her three attempts to increase her lead.
Not to be outdone, Esebua shot 10, 9, 10 in the next set as Deepika could only manage three 9s to hand the set to the Georgian by a 29-27 margin thus forcing the issue into a fifth set.
Both archers shot identical 10, 10, 9 in the final set to split points at 29-29 which settled the matter in favour of the Indian.
--IANS
ajb/
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier have exchanged views on Syria and Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
The two ministers spoke on phone and discussed the situation in Syria and international efforts to settle the country's conflict, Xinhua news agency reported.
The ministry said on Tuesday that their discussion focused on ways to resume the inclusive dialogue between the government and the Opposition within the framework of the Geneva process.
They also discussed the Minsk-2 package of measures designed to implement the Minsk agreements for settling the Ukraine crisis.
"They stressed the need to synchronise steps on the way to a political settlement of the intra-Ukrainian conflict with the solution of security issues," the ministry said.
--IANS
sm/lok/vt
Security has been heightened at public places in Uttarakhand ahead of the Independence Day celebrations, a police official said on Wednesday.
While there were no immediate inputs from intelligence agencies of any terrorist movement in the state, the arrest of four Islamic State militant group sympathisers in Roorkie earlier this year had cautioned the security forces here, the official said.
The arrested persons had revealed to the National Investigative Agency that rekki for "a certain operation" was undertaken by them at Haridwar, Dehradun and Roorkie, an Intelligence official told IANS.
This has alerted the police, intelligence agencies and the security personnel in Uttarakhand and security was beefed up at malls, shopping arcades, bus and railway stations.
Security has also been spruced up at government offices and buildings as part of the precautionary measures.
--IANS
md/py/
The Sri Lankan Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to draft the required legislation to establish a financial city in Colombo as part of a Chinese-funded port city project, an official said.
The government said the key objective of the proposed financial city is to become the prominent financial hub in the region to attract foreign investments from South Asian and Middle East region as well as from European countries.
It will also provide broad opportunities of employment for Sri Lankans, Xinhua news agency quoted an official as saying following the weekly Cabinet meeting.
The Cabinet approved the proposal made by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs, to implement the project under the supervision of the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs, to draft legislation for establishment of the Financial City and to obtain required legal services in this regard.
The Chinese-funded port city is being constructed near the main port in Colombo.
--IANS
sm/lok/dg
Hundreds of Taliban militants launched a massive offensive in Afghanistan's northern province on Wednesday, a local official said.
"Hundreds of Taliban militants stormed Dahna-e-Ghori district earlier today and fighting between militants and government forces has been continuing," Xinhua news agency quoted an official as saying.
According to the official, Taliban militants had overrun four police checkpoints while attempting to capture the district headquarters in Baghlan province.
Locals in Dahna-e-Ghori said 20 policemen under Nik Mohammad joined the advancing militants.
Two Taliban militants had been killed and a few others injured in the district, locals said.
--IANS
sm/ahm/dg
As an engaged Montanan, I have come to expect a certain level of genuineness and honesty from our state's representatives. Rep. Ryan Zinke has failed this test yet again and voted against hard-working Montanans when he backed a plan enabling dark money to continue flowing into our campaigns.
The resolution at hand is an attempt to further solidify the terrible SCOTUS Citizens United ruling by letting special interest groups and foreign governments anonymously donate unlimited amounts of cash to U.S. political campaigns. H.R. 5053 allows dark money groups to remain cloaked in secrecy, which will hurt hard-working Americans and benefit special interest groups. They will continue to hide their donations and influence our elections the exact opposite of our Montana values. While I am disappointed in the Zinke's actions, I am hardly surprised. He has a history of voting for Republican special interests, and has his own super PAC, allowing unlimited amounts of special interest money to go toward his campaign.
Zinke does not represent me, or the best interests of Montana. This is why I support Denise Juneau. She is fair-minded, a straight-shooter, and someone who will advocate for Montana values in Washington. She will put Montana issues first again, and bring independent thinking back into focus. She will get things done for Montanas people, land and economy.
I am voting for Juneau because I know she is running a candid campaign; is trustworthy, and will put Montana first when representing us in Washington. I urge you to advocate for Montana with a vote for Denise Juneau in November
Michael J. Kello
Butte
Turkey and Russia have agreed to build a mechanism on Syria which includes officials from the intelligence services, foreign ministries and armed forces, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said here on Wednesday.
Cavusoglu said the first bilateral meeting of this mechanism will be held in St. Petersburg on Thursday, Xinhua news agency cited from Anadolu news Agency.
The formation of the mechanism was agreed during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.
"We are building a strong mechanism with Russia regarding Syria, " Cavusoglu said. "We think alike on the cease-fire, humanitarian aid and a political solution."
Turkish National Intelligence Organisation Chief Hakan Fidan and representatives from Turkey's Foreign Ministry and the Turkish Armed Forces will depart for Russia on Wednesday, Cavusoglu said.
He said the pilots involved in the downing of a Russian jet on November 24, 2015, which led to a crisis in bilateral ties, were in custody for their ties with the so-called Gulen Terrorist Organisation, a reference to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Turkey accuses Gulen of masterminding a July 15 coup attempt and had called for his extradition from the US.
The shooting down of the Russian jet led to a freeze in relations of the two countries, including economic sanctions and a bar on Russian tourism to Turkey, which thawed in June after Erdogan wrote to his counterpart and the two later spoke on telephone.
Putin gave his support to Turkey over the coup attempt and said he stood by the elected government, offering his condolences to the victims of the failed coup.
--IANS
sm/ahm/dg
US-based off-road and all-terrain vehicles maker Polaris Industries Inc's arm Indian Motorcycle on Wednesday unveiled the latest version of its Indian Scout Sixty luxury motorcycle here for riders of special bikes that vroom at top speed in style.
"The all-new Indian Scout Sixty shares the identical chassis, suspension, brakes of core engine, all mated with a new 60 cubic inch engine," said Polaris India Ltd Managing Director Pankaj Dubey here on the occasion.
With easy-to-shift 5-speed transmission, the 78 horsepower engine produces a peak torque of 88.8 Newton Metre at 5,800 revolutions per minute.
Priced at Rs 12.21 lakh in Bengaluru, the 999cc new model boasts of the Motorcycle's legendary craftsmanship, reliability and performance of its Indian Scout.
The ex-showroom price for the bikes includes 45 per cent levies, including 33 per cent import duty for shipping them from Iowa state in the US and other central and state taxes.
The Delhi-based Indian subsidiary of Polaris chose this tech hub as the launch pad for unveiling the new model in three colours, as Bengaluru reflects the face of modern India.
"As the hub of India's booming IT industry, this city has a strong economy, a robust consumption pattern and a great market for automobiles. Launching the model here will help us grow in terms of volumes in the fast-growing luxury commuter category," Dubey told reporters at the event.
Observing that the biking landscape of Bengaluru had undergone a sea change over the years with more techies riding international brands, Dubey said even business heads from traditional, non-IT based and service industry professionals have joined the biking revolution in the city.
"Expertly balanced and lightweight, the motorbike has won the hearts of bike aficionados the world over," claimed Dubey.
A seat height of 25.3 inches allows for sure-footed comfort at stops and the low centre of gravity ensures agile cornering, precise balance and overall rider confidence and control.
"A range of accessories, including seats, handlebars and foot peg re-locators allow the motorcycle to be tailored to fit each rider, while additional accessories such as saddlebags, laced front and rear wheels and quick-release windscreens give owners freedom to customize their rides," Dubey pointed out.
The one-year-old Indian subsidiary of Polaris has already introduced Indian Motorcycle's range of models, including Chief Classic, Chief Vintage, Chieftain and Chief Dar Horse during the last 12 months across the country.
--IANS
fb/rn
Vietnam is working on a scheme to grant electronic visas for foreign visitors from next year, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said.
The government had allocated some 200 billion Vietnamese dong ($8.97 million) to speed up the implementation of the scheme so that the e-visa system can be launched on January 1 next year, Xinhua news agency quoted Phuc as saying on Tuesday.
The move aims to attract more tourists and boost the domestic tourism industry.
Phuc asked the ministries of finance, public security and foreign affairs to define e-visa fees and ensure that foreign tourists are warmly welcomed in the country.
The e-visas will be issued to applicants in a printer-friendly email after they fill out an online application form.
This system, it is believed, will further speed up the entire visa process, according to Kenneth Atkinson, chairman of the Tourism Working Group under the Vietnam Business Forum.
Currently, a Vietnamese tourist visa can be obtained upon arrival at the country's international airports where tourists have to wait in long queues, or through Vietnamese embassies or consulates.
Last month, in an attempt to attract more visitors, Vietnam renewed the 15-day visa waiver policy for citizens of Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Italy for another year.
By 2020, Vietnam targets to attract 10 million to 10.5 million international visitors with tourism revenue reaching $18 billion to $19 billion each year.
--IANS
sm/py/dg
An international arbitration tribunal recently ordered Tata Sons to pay $1.17 billion to NTT DoCoMo for breach of contract the two firms. The contract in question was a put option that obligated Tata to buy the shares held by DoCoMo in Tata Teleservices at a pre-agreed price. The breach was "forced", as a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulation prohibited payment of a fixed return by an Indian resident to a foreigner on exercise of a put option by the latter on the former. The RBI is now said to be proposing a retrospective change in its regulation to allow such payments. The public discourse on this issue has largely faulted the central government for not consenting to such a retrospective change. The discourse is misplaced and misses the plot on deeper reform of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (Fema), the primary law governing capital controls in India.
Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app.
Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006.
Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more.
Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them.
26 years of website archives.
During the monsoon session of the Bihar Legislative Assembly that ended last week, the building plunged into darkness a few times, thanks to power failure, providing members an opportunity to aim barbs at each other. During one such spell of darkness, when a debate was going on, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nand Kishore Yadav shouted from the Opposition benches: "Bijendra babu, pranam (Mr Bijendra, accept my salutation)!" Nand Kishore Yadav was referring to state Energy Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav. Usually a good speaker, that time round, Bijendra Prasad Yadav was at a loss for words. A Rashtriya Janata Party leader later said the power minister must have been feeling quite "powerless".
Deep within a building shaped like the Starship Enterprise, a little-known Chinese company is working on the future of education. Vast banks of servers record children at work and play, tracking touchscreen swipes, shrugs and head swivels - amassing a database that will be used to build intimate profiles of millions of kids. This is the Fuzhou hive of NetDragon Websoft Holdings Ltd, a hack-and-slash video game maker and unlikely candidate to transform learning via headset-mounted virtual reality (VR) teachers. It's one of a growing number of companies from International Business Machines ...
Congress on Wednesday raised questions over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks about 'insaniyat', 'jamhooriyat' and 'Kashmiriyat' and said appeal should go out to Kashmiris from the "heart" rather than "lips" only to enable "integration of minds and heart".
As the Rajya Sabha took up a discussion on the prevailing situation in Kashmir, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad pitched for sending an all-party delegation to the valley besides an appeal by Parliament for end to violence which is being witnessed there for the last 33 days.
"We should appeal for peace and tranquillity from here for better future of . This kind of unison voice should go from Parliament. That apart, an all-party delegation should go there," the Congress leader said, adding the announcement regarding it should be made immediately as the session is coming to an end in two days.
Initiating the discussion, Azad said criticised the Prime Minister for his "delayed" comments on the situation and said even those were made at a rally in Madhya Pradesh rather than in Parliament.
"We are discussing the issue for the fourth time. The Prime Minister should come. The Prime Minister chose Madhya Pradesh to speak on Kashmir. He did not come to this House," he said, adding "Since when has Madhya Pradesh become the capital of the country?"
Azad took a swipe on Modi regarding his statement on 'Insaniyat (humanity), Jamhooriyat (democracy) and Kashmriyat, saying such statements only suited former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
"Such words sound weird if it comes from someone who does not believe in them," he said.
The former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir said such words should come from the "heart" and not only from the lips.
Referring to the oft-repeated assertion that "Kashmir is integral part of India", Azad said there should also be "integration of minds and hearts".
"...We are not feeling the love and affection, pain and agony, else the statement would not have come from Madhya Pradesh," the Congress leader said in an apparent reference to Modi's comments made at a rally on Tuesday.
"If it comes from the heart, it will reach Kashmir. It is mere lip-service and hence will not reach Kashmir," he said.
Azad said while Modi keeps sitting in his room in Parliament since morning to evening, he did not make any statement on Kashmir during the past three discussions on the issue in the House.
Azad said violence has increased in the valley ever since BJP has come to power in alliance with PDP, remarks which triggered a brief uproar as ruling party members reacted sharply.
He said successive governments have fought against militancy in the valley, but "perhaps you give statements for votes. You have only been indulging in fuelling the fire and not dousing it. Since the day you came to power, Kashmir is on fire...I don't want to go into reasons".
As members of the treasury benches objected to it leading to an uproar, Finance Minister and Leader of the House Arun Jaitley said the situation in Kashmir is "sensitive" and "therefore it is imperative, as far as possible, we speak in one voice".
He urged members from all sides not to touch historical issues where "we have difference of opinion.. This is not the occasion to discuss those issues.. Members should speak from the point of view.
The Congress leader from the troubled state asserted that while there is an issue of separatism, "Kashmir is not communal, it is secular. There is a difference between separatism and communalism."
Highlighting that Kashmir is a "complex issue", Azad said comes first, economic development at second place followed by employment.
In a stern message to the Kashmiri separatists, who are leaving no stone unturned in misleading the youth in the name of jihad, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh on Wednesday, said if 'jihad' is a sure shot way to 'jannat' then why don't they send their kids in 'safe heaven'.
"Most of these youth, who got killed, were the children of the poorest of the poor sections of the valley. Those who motivated these children to come forward in the name of 'jihad' have safely kept their children in safe haven in India's metros and abroad. If jihad is holy and it is a mean to go to heaven, why don't they send their children first?" Singh said in the Rajya Sabha.
Continuing to speak on the ongoing unrest in the Kashmir Valley, Singh said that the time has come to rise above .
"We all are worried about Jammu and Kashmir. Time has arrived to rise above political lines. Jammu and Kashmir is unique in the sense that it has its own Constitution. Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir itself says 'I am an integral part of India'."
Raising the need to enlighten the Kashmiri youth, Singh said the youth there want to be the beneficiary of India's success story.
Prime Minister Modi had earlier reached out to the people of Kashmir and indicated his willingness to hold dialogue under the framework of the 'insaniyat (humanity), jamhuriyat (democracy) and kashmiriyat'.
He said that when Vajpayee was the prime minister, he had adopted the path of 'insaniyat, jamhuriyat and kashmiriyat' and the present government walks the same road.
The Prime Minister, who was speaking at a public meeting at Bhabra in Madhya Pradesh, the birthplace of freedom fighter Chander Shekhar Azad, yesterday appealed to the people to maintain peace and harmony in Kashmir.
The Prime Minister said Mehbooba Mufti-led Jammu and Kashmir Government and the Centre are working together to solve the state's difficulties, but some people, who are unable to digest it, are clinging onto the path to destruction.
He said that his government wants to take Kashmir to new heights of development, empower its panchayats and give job opportunities to its youth.
Home Minister on Wednesday lashed out at Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's comment on Kashmir and said no power on earth can separate it from India.
"Kashmir is an inseparable part of India. No power on earth can separate it from India," Singh said while replying to a debate in the Rajya Sabha on the current situation in the Kashmir Valley.
"Talks would not be held with Pakistan regarding Kashmir but on the issue of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir," he added.
He said slogans like "Pakistan zindabad" that some people in Kashmir chant "won't be tolerated" on Indian territory.
HAMILTON A Florence physician charged with 400 felonies for allegedly providing patients with illegal prescriptions said Wednesday that he still isnt prepared to proceed to trial this fall.
During a short hearing, Ravalli County District Court Judge Jeffrey Langton told Dr. Chris Christensen that the trial was moving forward and that he needed to be ready to produce his list of witnesses and exhibits at a pretrial conference set for later this month.
Christensen, 67, appeared at the hearing without representation.
Since December, when the Office of the State Public Defender withdrew from the case after finding that he made too much money to qualify for state-funded counsel, Christensen has maintained that hes seeking a lawyer, but cant afford one.
Langton recently denied Christensens request to delay his trial that is set to begin October.
Christensen was arrested in August 2015 after allegedly providing hundreds of illegal prescriptions to his patients, including two who died from overdoses. Among the charges he faces are two counts of negligent homicide.
At Wednesdays hearing, Christensen said he was unable to proceed to trial without a lawyer and told Langton that he was doing everything possible to move his situation forward.
Christensen has maintained all along that he has no plans of representing himself at the trial.
In his request in May for a yearlong delay in the trial date, Christensen said he will require three attorneys, three legal assistants, several law clerks, two secretaries and an office manager to prepare his case. In addition, Christensen said hell need medical experts in at least 11 different specialties and an in-house medical law consultant.
Christensen claimed the boutique law firm would cost as much as $1 million in public defense fees and might require a special appropriation by the Montana Legislature.
On Wednesday, Ravalli County Deputy Attorney Thorin Geist told Langton that he had offered Christensen a plea agreement, but there had been no response.
After Christensen read a short statement saying he was unable to proceed without a lawyer, Geist told the judge the agreement was now off the table.
Geist also expressed concern about the fact the confidential plea agreement document had been disseminated to the press. A copy was forwarded earlier this week to the Missoulian newspaper.
Geist learned the agreement had been circulated after a Ravalli Republic reporter inquired about its validity.
Geist said Christensen was the only person who had been emailed a copy.
At Wednesdays hearing, Geist warned Christensen about circulating confidential criminal information, including names of witnesses and other information that he will be presented with at the upcoming pretrial hearing.
Geist told Christensen that he could face additional charges if he disseminated that material.
Christensen denied forwarding the proposed plea agreement to the newspaper.
I cant offer any explanation to that allegation, he said.
Christensen faces a potential sentence of up to 388 life terms, plus 135 years and a fine of up to $20 million if convicted on all charges.
Potential jurors for the trial set to begin on Oct. 20 will be notified soon. The trial is expected to last a month.
A group of pro- activists, demanding statehood for the region, today protested outside Union minister Nitin Gadkari's residence.
The activists took out a rally, under the leadership of former Legislator Wamanrao Chatap of Rajya Andolan Samiti, which ended at Gadkari's residence located in Mahal area in the eastern part of the city.
"A large number of farmers, students, women and youngsters from across various districts of took part in the protest march, which was aimed at reminding Gadkari of his promise on a separate Vidarbha state," Ram Neole, a leader of Samiti said.
Before being elected as an MP from Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency, Gadkari had openly espoused the cause of separate Vidarbha. However, he has been maintaining silence on the issue since his induction into the Union cabinet, Neole alleged.
"If Gadkari decides, he can deliver on the demand for separate state. The Centre has the discretion to carve out a new state without the consent of the Maharashtra Legislature," he added.
A memorandum in support of the separate statehood was submitted to Gadkari's staff as he was away in New Delhi to attend the ongoing Parliament session.
A fire tore through the maternity ward of one of Baghdad's largest hospitals today, killing at least 12 premature babies, medical and security officials said.
Jassem Lateef al-Karkh, from the Baghdad health directorate, told reporters only seven babies could be saved and were taken to another ward in the Iraqi capital.
Health ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Rudeini told AFP the blaze at the Yarmuk hospital in west Baghdad was started by an electrical fault just after midnight (2100 GMT Tuesday).
"Twenty-nine women patients who were in the same ward were evacuated to other hospitals," he said.
Security services sealed off the area as forensic teams searched the gutted ward and angry relatives massed outside, waiting for information from the authorities.
Charred incubators could be seen outside one of the entrances to the hospital, access to which was strictly controlled by the police.
The grief of the bereaved parents and relatives was compounded by the fact that the babies' young age and the effects of the fire made it very difficult to identify the bodies.
Umm Ahmed came to Yarmuk on Tuesday when a close relative of hers gave birth. The baby died in the inferno and the mother suffered burns, she said.
"I am looking for our child, they told me 'go find him in the fridge'," said the middle-aged woman.
An official at Iraq's interior ministry confirmed the death toll from the fire, adding that three other babies were being treated for smoke inhalation.
Many of Baghdad's public hospitals are poorly maintained and offer sub-standard healthcare, forcing a number of Iraqis to seek private treatment or travel abroad.
The lack of adequate public services, such as quality medical care, electricity and water supply, has angered the public and led to a series of protests over the past year.
"The hospital is very old and doesn't have fire equipment," Karkh said.
The authorities were criticised in the aftermath of an attack in the Karrada district of Baghdad last month that left at least 323 people dead.
The truck bomb blast claimed by the Islamic State group sparked fires in shopping arcades on either side of the street that accounted for a significant proportion of the casualties.
Witnesses complained that the fire brigade was unacceptably slow in responding to the emergency.
Iraq is one of the world's top oil producers but conflict and endemic graft have prevented that wealth from translating into better living conditions for Iraqis.
Two buses collided head-on in Peru, leaving 17 people dead and 29 injured, police said today.
The cause of the crash on the Pan American Highway Tuesday night near the southern city of Ica is under investigation, Colonel Leandro Flores, chief of the highway police, told America TV.
"It was a head on type of collision," he said.
Among the dead were the two drivers and a Brazilian tourist on a bus traveling to Lima from the city of Cusco, police said.
Highway fatalities are common occurrences in Peru, many of them in accidents involving the country's many private bus companies.
In 2014, the last year for which official statistics are available, 2,798 people died in traffic accidents in the country.
The first unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear plant was today dedicated to the nation jointly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin with both the leaders calling it a fine example of special and privileged Indo-Russian strategic partnership.
Modi while stressing that the 1,000 MW unit in Tamil Nadu is an important addition to India's continuing efforts to scale up production of clean energy said that at Kudankulum alone, five more units of similar capacity each are planned.
Participating from Moscow via video-conferencing, Putin said the unit has been built using most advanced Russian technology incorporating highest safety standards while Modi asserted that India was determined to pursue an ambitious agenda of nuclear power generation.
"In dedicating Kudankulum 1, we mark another historic step in India-Russia relations. Its successful completion is not just another fine example of the strength of our special and privileged Strategic Partnership. It is also a celebration of our abiding friendship," Modi said in a brief address from New Delhi.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa also participated through video conference.
The Prime Minister said the Kudankulam unit signals joint effort by the two countries to build "pathways of partnership for green growth".
Talking bout his vision for India's economic development, Modi said the industrial growth should be increasingly driven by clean energy.
"It is perhaps not commonly known that at 1000 Mega Watt, Kundankulum 1 is the largest single unit of electrical power in India. In years ahead, we are determined to pursue an ambitious agenda of nuclear power generation.
"At Kudankulum alone, five more units of 1000 Mega Watt each are planned. In our journey of cooperation, we plan to build a series of bigger nuclear power units," the Prime Minister said, adding, "in our journey of cooperation, we plan to build a series of bigger nuclear power units."
Jayalalithaa said she had always extended support to the implementation of the Kudankulam project while at the same time laying focus on allaying the fears of the local people by convincing them about its safety.
The Kudankulam 1 has been jointly built by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India and Russia's Rosatom and it had started generating electricity in 2013. Anti-nuclear activists and local people had protested against the project claiming it was unsafe.
The agreement for the project was inked by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and then Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1988 but actual work on the ground started only in 1997.
The unit 1 and 2 of Kudankulam plant were built at a cost of Rs 20,962 crore. A major share of power generated in the plant goes to Tamil Nadu, followed by Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry.
Speaking on the occasion, Putin said the unit was built
using most advanced Russian technology and is an important component of Russia-India priviledged strategic partnership
"Kundankulum 1 is an important addition to India's continuing efforts to scale up production of clean energy in India. It also signals our joint commitment to build pathways of partnership for green growth," said Modi.
He said successful implementation of the project demonstrated common resolve by India and Russia to keep the "ties firm and steady".
Joining the event from Chennai, Jayalalithaa said KNPP was a "monument commemorating the long standing, abiding and deep friendship between Russia and India and that she had supported implementation of the project, at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district, all through her 10 years in office".
The KNPP had been set up using the Russian VVER type reactors based on enriched uranium and its second unit was expected to start operations later this year.
The completion of the first unit was delayed in view of strident protests by local people, who raised safety concerns, before it became operational.
Jayalalithaa said nuclear power was "clean, green and firm power", which a rapidly growing state like Tamil Nadu, aspiring for higher growth rates and shared prosperity, really needed.
"The dedication of the KNPP is a major milestone in Indo-Russian cooperation. Throughout my 10 years in office as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu I have always extended support to the implementation of the Kudankulam project while at the same time laying focus on allaying the fears of the local people by convincing them about its safety," she said.
Noting that a nuclear power plant takes long time to be built and commissioned than conventional units, she said very high safety standards were needed to be observed.
"The smooth commercial operation of this project, overcoming many obstacles--economic, political and social, global, national and local--stands testimony to the unwavering commitment to the project of the governments of Tamil Nadu, India and Russia," Jayalalithaa said.
Successful commissioning of the project was an object lesson on how the fears and apprehensions of the local population could be and should be allayed through a process of engagement and reassurance and by building community assets and infrastructure, she said.
A gang was busted and three persons, including a woman, were arrested for illegally transferring money from the bank accounts of many people here, police said today.
Yogesh Kumar, a resident of Rajiv Nagar at Begumpura, New Delhi, Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Prem Nagar, New Delhi and Sanjna, a resident of Sultanpuri under Pitampura police station in New Delhi were arrested, said Gurdaspur SSP Diljinderjit Singh Dhillon.
A car, a tablet, 109 SIM cards and four mobile phones were recovered from their possession, he added.
A number of people lodged a complaint at Hargobindpur police station on August 1, alleging that money was transferred from their bank accounts without their knowledge, said Dhillon.
Investigations revealed that the money was diverted to different bank accounts in Delhi, he said, adding that the accused used to obtain account details from the victims by posing as representatives of a nationalised bank.
A team of cyber crime officials, jointly led by DSP (investigation) Jugraj Singh and in-charge of the anti-fraud cell Ved Parkash, was constituted.
The team collected images of the accused from ATM centres and fake bank accounts used by them and subsequently, raided a call centre in New Delhi from where the three accused were apprehended, said Dhillon.
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today accused AAP leaders of aligning with radical groups of Punjab" and sought from the Centre a probe into the party's source of funding.
Sukhbir, who holds the Home portfolio, also said Pakistan's ISI has "big plans" to destablise the state by targeting important leaders, before 2017 Punjab assembly polls.
"All radical groups have aligned with AAP and I am saying with responsibility. I personally feel the government of India should clearly investigate the funding of the AAP," he alleged while addressing media here.
He also accused Delhi Chief Minister and AAP's national convener Arvind Kejriwal of meeting representatives of radical groups regularly, which he said was "unfortunate".
"Radical groups of Punjab have been meeting Kejriwal regularly. What is the purpose of Delhi CM to meet radical groups of Punjab. Why does he meet them," Sukhbir questioned.
"Radical leaders like Mohkam Singh are trying their best to utilise the 2017 Punjab elections as an opportunity to destablise peace and harmony attained by people of Punjab after great sacrifices," he claimed.
Expressing concern over the recent incidents in the state, Sukhbir claimed that the ISI "had plans to target important leaders", besides designing sacrileges to destablise peace and harmony of the state.
"ISI has big plans to destablise Punjab before elections. They have plans to target important leaders and engineer sacrilege incidents. We have already conveyed this information to the Union Home Minister and National Security Advisor one month back," Sukhbir said.
However, he said, "Our police is doing best job in its best way. Punjab Police has busted many modules and arrested people from abroad also in this connection."
Punjab government has been facing mounting pressure from several quarters for several incidents including attack on RSS volunteer in Ludhiana, murder of Mata Chand Kaur, attack on Sikh preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale and the recent attack on RSS leader Jagdish Gagneja.
Replying to queries regarding status of investigations in each case, Sukhbir said investigations into Gagneja case was in "advanced" stage and other cases were also being investigated.
"Punjab Police has cracked all the cases and unfortunate incidents in no time but being sensitive in nature, murder of Mata Chand Kaur and Bargari sacrilege cases are taking some time," he said.
Appealing voters to be "wary" of the "blatant lies" of
AAP, Sukhbir urged the Punjabi voters to choose SAD-BJP alliance, saying only their alliance had "the interests of Punjab at its heart".
He also claimed that the state had witnessed "development on all parameters of progress" with Parkash Singh Badal at its helm.
"All the welfare centric schemes like - Atta-Dal scheme, Shagan scheme, free power to farmers, free power worth 200 units to the SC households, free health insurance scheme were initiated by the SAD-BJP government," he said.
"The SAD-BJP combine has put the state on top of the developmental chart during the past nine years and made it a power surplus state," he added.
Adani Transmission, a part of conglomerate Adani Group, on Wednesday posted a three-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 122.71 crore for June quarter.
The company had posted Rs 30.89-crore net profit after taxes, minority interest and share of profit of associates in the year-ago period, said in a filing to BSE.
" Ltd's consolidated PAT rose by 299% to Rs 124 crore in Q1 FY17 compared to Q1 FY16 and consolidated EBIDTA rose by 32% to Rs 584 crore in Q1 FY17," the company said in a statement.
The total income from operations during the April-June quarter increased to Rs 632.01 crore, over Rs 468.15 crore in the year-ago period.
Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has issued final order effective October 1, 2013 for Mundra-Mohindergarh and Mundra-Dehgam Lines, granting approval of capital cost claimed, it said.
Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has also issued provisional order for Tiroda-Warora and Tiroda-Aurangabad Lines. The effect of recognition of revised tariff including arrears of Rs 116.18 crore is accounted for in this quarter. The effect on PAT is Rs 91.39 crore, it added.
The company further said it will start recovery of its unbilled revenue in 12 installments starting August 2016, as MERC has passed Intra-state Transmission System (InSTS) orders for Tiroda-Aurangabad Line.
"While the business continues to perform strongly we have continued to achieve more than 93% of operational EBIDTA margin for the quarter ended June FY17. Our focus on harnessing state-of art technology has resulted in high network availability of over 99.40% to 99.99%," Gautam Adani, Chairman, Adani Group said.
is a leading domestic private sector transmission company with over 7,000 circuit kilometers of transmission lines across western, northern and central regions of India.
Hollywood star Johnny Depp's lawyer Laura Wasser has filed new legal documents in which she claims that his estranged wife Amber Heard cried, yelled and laughed as she refused to testify on Saturday, August 6.
Heard was supposed to be grilled by Johnny Depp's lawyers in a deposition on Saturday. Though she spent about 10 hours at a law office, "The Rum Diary" actress never entered the deposition room, reported Aceshowbiz.
While her lawyer claimed that the 30-year-old beauty was ready to answer questions but was never called, Depp's lawyer said that the deposition never happened because Heard herself refused to enter the room despite multiple attempts throughout the day.
According to new legal documents filed on Tuesday, August 9 by Laura Wasser who represents 53-year-old Depp, Heard even broke down in tears as she refused to testify.
Wasser stated that she could "quite clearly" see Heard "hysterically crying and pacing in her separate conference room, or screaming and yelling at times and laughing at others."
Wasser added that the actress "appeared manic and irrational" and her counsel tried to "reason with her throughout the day."
Heard also failed to turn over documents already requested by Depp's legal team, which now wants Heard to be prohibited from testifying when the case goes to trial.
Heard showed up 90 minutes late for the Saturday deposition. Her team said that she was ready to be deposed at the time and "there was nothing preventing Johnny's counsel from commencing during the deposition time.
Army has set up its own design bureau to facilitate research and development as part of its efforts towards meeting its requirement for weapons and equipment domestically, Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Subrata Saha said today.
In the backdrop of Army having huge requirement of weapons and equipment considering the changing times and technology, there was the difficulty of sustenance of imported weapons, which had to be adapted to Indian conditions, he said.
Lt Gen Saha said as part of Make in India, the defence sector had taken a major step to manufacture the requirement domestically, which would be cost effective and suited to the local conditions, and the bureau had been set up toward this.
He was speaking at the 'Know your Army Expo' showcasing arms, artillery and ammunition organised by local chapter of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
The Deputy Army Chief cited imported ground sensors as an example and said they failed to function in areas like Kashmir, during the snowfall.
Similarly, several equipment imported as part of legacy, did not properly function in the country's weather conditions, he said, adding even bullet proof jackets for jawans weighing 15 kgs had to be newly designed to suit domestic condition.
Army would soon come out with a compendium of Problem Definition Document, which would highlight the requirements of Army for the coming 10 to 15 years. It would help students, researchers and industries to find solutions for the benefit of the defence sector, Saha said.
A presentation made on the occasion on the Army requirements stated that a website would be launched by August 31, which will be highly interactive and the industries, students and researchers can send in their thoughts and suggestions.
Since a terrorist in Kashmir or any other part of the world have access to highly sophisticated weapons, the thoughts should supersede it and be a counter to such weapons, it said.
Army in future require equipment like self propelled guns, rocket launchers, upgraded guided rocket launchers and electronic fuses and also tanks, which have already been outdated, the presentation added.
The Assam government today set a target of constructing 2.85 lakh houses for the urban poor in 96 towns across the state under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting convened by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal here, an official release said.
The chief minister said those eligible under the scheme must have an annual income up to Rs 3 lakh and for LIG household with an annual income between Rs 3 to 6 lakh. The beneficiaries should not own a pucca house either in his/her name or in the name of any member of his/her family in any part of the country.
Sonowal emphasised on construction of dwelling units in an organised way with facilities like open spaces and playground.
State Finance Himanta Biswa Sarma underlined the need for involving Assam State Housing Board, Housefed and other builders in the construction work and selection of suitable sites.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has appealed a Stockholm district court's decision to maintain a European arrest warrant against him over a 2010 rape allegation, his lawyer said today.
"We have appealed the decision to keep him remanded in custody in absentia," Tomas Olsson told AFP. The paperwork was submitted to the Svea Court of Appeal on Tuesday.
Swedish prosecutors issued the arrest warrant because they want to question Assange about the rape allegation, which he denies.
The 45-year-old Australian sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in June 2012 after exhausting all his legal options in Britain against extradition to Sweden.
Assange's lawyer urged Sweden to respect a non-binding legal opinion by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which on February 5 ruled that his confinement in the Ecuadorian embassy amounted to arbitrary detention by Sweden and Britain.
"That is part of the basis for the appeal. The other is that the prosecution has made no effort to question Julian Assange after all this time," Olsson said.
Both Britain and Sweden have angrily disputed the UN group's findings.
The Stockholm district court on May 25 found, "contrary to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, that Julian Assange's stay at Ecuador's embassy in London should not be considered a detention".
It said the arrest warrant against him needed to be maintained because "there is still a risk that he will abscond or evade justice".
The alleged crime dates back to 2010 and the statute of limitations expires in 2020.
Assange fears that if he were sent to Sweden to face trial, he could be extradited to the United States to be tried over WikiLeaks' publication of hundreds of thousands of classified documents and face a long prison sentence or the death penalty.
Beginning today, students from schools across the country get a chance to display their innovative prowess and knowledge of astronomy and space science, through a series of video podcasts.
The initiative by city-based organisation is in the form of a contest for students between class 6 to class 12 and is part of promotion for Digital India campaign.
Students are encouraged to choose an innovative topic, and develop it with speech and expression and upload it online for the contest the runs till the end of August.
Contestants are required to upload the videos ranging between two minutes to four minutes each on social networks like YouTube and Facebook using hashtags #ThinkShootUpload #SPACE, and #DigitalIndia.
They are also required to post a link on the SPACE website.
"Some of the videos include a student who builds a water rocket and explains the principles and the science which go into its making, the projectile motions involved and end the podcast by showcasing the launch of the rocket," says Monica Sangwan of SPACE.
Another example Sangwan cites is about a student attempting to explain the concept of the creation and phenomenon of a 'Black Hole' and its effect, through a demo model.
"The videos are required to be self explanatory and educative for others," says Sangwan.
Students will be judged on basis of three categories - popularity or maximum number of likes and shares on social media, the most creative video, and the most innovative topic.
Winners, set to be announced in the first week of September, will get prizes that include binoculars and a trip to 'Astroport Sariska', an astronomy and space experience centre located in Alwar, Rajasthan.
It is said to be the first retreat in India which offers visitors an opportunity to enjoy night star gazing. It also has an integrated astronomy research and development lab for astronomy enthusiasts.
A Romanian national, who along with two other foreigners is suspected to be involved in the hi-tech ATM robbery in which a number of people lost money here, has been arrested in Mumbai, police said today.
The accused, whose pictures were released by the police here yesterday, was taken into custody by the Mumbai Police late last night.
A Romanian national has been taken into custody in Mumbai in connection with the ATM robbery. A team of Kerala Police has left to Mumbai to take him into custody, a senior police official said.
"The Mumbai Police will first produce him before a court there and only then we will get him in custody," he told PTI. However, he did not divulge any further details. Kerala Police yesterday zeroed in on three foreign nationals, who are suspected to be the key players behind the hi-tech ATM robbery, and decided to seek Interpol's help. The trio, found installing an electronic device inside an ATM kiosk of a public sector bank at Vellayambalam here, had been caught in the CCTV installed there. According to police, the three foreign nationals were from Romania and had come to India on June 25 and reached Kerala on July 8.The three had come on tourist visas and had taken rooms in a hotel here for two days.
Police also seized from the hotel two scooters and three helmets, suspected to have been used by the trio. The state police shared their photos and other available details with their counterparts in other states which led to the arrest of one among them, police said.
So far, more than 20 people had lodged complaints saying money was withdrawn from their account.
As per the preliminary assessment, about Rs 2.5 lakh had been lost, police said.
It is suspected that the electronic device at the ATM counter enabled the fraudsters to collect the secret pin code and card details.
Many of the customers who were duped came to know about the fraud after they received a text message on Monday, informing that money was withdrawn from their accounts.
A Bangladeshi court today ordered a judicial enquiry into the public humiliation and assault of a Hindu school teacher allegedly at the behest of an influential lawmaker, rejecting a police report that failed to identify the culprits.
"The (High Court) bench rejected the police report expressing its annoyance....They (bench) simultaneously issued an order asking Dhaka's CMM (Chief Metropolitan Magistrate) to launch an judiciary enquiry to detect the culprits and submit the report by November 3," a court official told PTI.
He said that while passing the order the two-member bench comprising Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Ashish Ranjan Das called the police report "incomplete" and "inconclusive" as they failed to identify the offenders who humiliated in public headmaster Shyamal Kanti Bhakta of Piyar Sattar Latif High School of Narayanganj in May.
"The bench also criticised a magistrate who earlier took into cognizance the police report. The High Court said the magistrate did not apply his judicial mind in doing so," the official said.
Bhakta was beaten up in public apparently at the instigation of the school's now defunct governing committee which supported Selim Osman, an MP, who later ordered him to do sit-up holding his ears for allegedly making "derogatory remarks" about religion.
Police earlier this week submitted its report as ordered by the High Court earlier on a suo motu rule, saying their investigations found that Bakhta's public humiliation was an "unexpected situation" resulted from a rumour.
The report said Bakhta himself had described himself as well as Osman "victims of a situation caused by a rumour".
Soon after the incident, the now scrapped managing committee of the school had sacked Bakhta alleging that he "physically tortured students, received money in the name of teachers' appointment, made derogatory comments about Islam, remained absent without leave and used to be late at work".
But the government immediately reinstated the humiliated teacher and scrapped the governing body which had removed Bakhta.
BJP today demanded a high-level, independent probe into the death of former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul, who allegedly committed suicide, saying people wanted to know the truth behind his demise.
"Pul was a doughty leader. His death under such circumstances is very unfortunate and a matter of probe. BJP demands that there should be a high-level independent investigation into it. People want to know the truth behind his death," BJP National Secretary Shrikant Sharma said.
He wondered what was the stress that led to his alleged suicide and spoke about the internal crisis in Congress which he had joined back after defecting from it, along with several party MLAs, to become the state's Chief Minister with the BJP's support.
Pul briefly served as the chief minister from February 19 to July 13 before the Supreme Court reinstated the Nabam Tuki government.
47-year-old Pul was found dead at the Chief Minister's official residence yesterday which he was yet to vacate.
A Kashmiri Pandit organisation today blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "failing to utter a word about Kashmiri Hindus", saying BJP's policy towards the community is no different than those of PDP, KP and NC.
"We express resentment against the Prime Minister for his failure to utter a word about KP - the real victims of terrorism in Kashmir. We call upon all nationalist forces to show strong resentment against him," ASKPC president Ravinder Raina said during the organisation's meeting here.
Referring to the Prime Minister's recent comment that the Kashmiri youth should carry laptops, not stones, Raina said Modi had failed to alleviate the concerns of Kashmiri Hindu youths.
BJP's Puducherry unit today staged a sit-in before the Pondicherry University protesting re-distribution of copies of a controversial magazine which had come under attack for its alleged objectionable contents against the central government.
Unit president V.Saminathan, who led the protest, said the management had banned the publication in the wake of the protests against the "objectionable" comments within days of its release.
The management had also stored copies of the magazines in a room and locked it. However, a few days ago the Registrar in-charge of the University had handed over the key to the Students Council 'facilitating' redistribution of the magazine on Monday, he alleged.
He said a delegation of BJP's Puducherry unit would soon meet the Union HRD Minister seeking his intervention to sack the Vice Chancellor in charge for the developments on the premises of the University.
Saminathan said his party would continue with its protests "till the magazine is withdrawn once and for all."
The magazine,titled 'Widerstand' (meaning resistance in German), was brought out a few weeks back by the council.
BJP and ABVP activists had protestedagainst the publication after it was released, alleging that it had objectionable remarks against the central government.
Under the opposition attack over issues concerning Dalits, RSS and BJP have asked the party's Dalit leaders to launch an aggressive campaign among the community, claiming that its "success" in winning over a section of them has prompted Congress and BSP to launch a "disinformation" campaign against it.
Dalits MPs and office-bearers of BJP, besides state presidents of the party's SC Morcha, held a meeting yesterday evening where Krishna Gopal, a senior RSS functionary who is the Hindutva organisation's pointsman for BJP, besides party general secretaries Ramlal and Bhupendra Yadav spoke to them.
The meeting assumes significance in view of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls as BJP has been making sustained efforts to woo Dalits, who constitute over 20 per cent of the electorate. Many believe that the recent rows have harmed its campaign.
Its Dalit MPs and other leaders are likely to fan out to areas where the community's presence is significant to defend the party over the rows following cases of attack on Dalits in many states by cow vigilantes.
"The opposition has launched a disinformation campaign against us. Congress and BSP are together as they are worried over our success in winning over Dalits. Comments of our senior leaders are being distorted. We have to counter it aggressively and effectively," party spokesperson and Dalit leader Vijay Sonkar Shastri said.
The recent comment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that 70-80 per cent of the self-proclaimed cow protectors are anti-social elements also found a mention in the meeting.
Many leaders mentioned in the meeting that Modi had said that cow protection is good and referred to his own work but it is now being alleged that he ran down all groups working for cow welfare, sources said.
In an effort to bring about smooth governance, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said a co-ordination committee would be formed to look into various the work proposals submitted by Shiv Sena MLAs.
The decision was taken at a meeting of Fadnavis with a Shiva Sena delegation led by its chief Uddhav Thackeray, here yesterday.
"We had been contemplating over the issue for quite some time. The Sena delegation came and we had a good interaction. We have decided to form a co-ordination committee and I will review developments periodically," Fadnavis said.
"We also agreed to meet formally once every three months to sort out outstanding issues between the allies," he said.
Minister Eknath Shinde said the meeting yielded a major project for the Thane city in the form of extended railway station between Mulund and Thane on the central line.
"The extended Thane station project needs 14-acre land of the mental hospital in the city. Chief minister assured us during the meeting that the land would be handed over to the Central Railway within a month," Shinde said in a release here.
Fadnavis also gave instructions to Health Minister Deepak Sawant in this regard.
"The co-ordination committee would comprise an equal number of legislators and ministers from both the alliance partners," he said.
According to Shinde, Thackeray told the chief minister that the "development works" proposed by Sena are not being implemented by the government.
Thackeray also gave a list of grievances and works to the chief minister.
The delegation comprised all Shiv Sena ministers in the state government, senior Sena leaders and party's whips in both the Houses of Legislature.
"This is a systematic way to sort out issues. We have started working on it," Fadnavis added.
Laishram Bombayla Devi and Deepika Kumari advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the women's individual recurve event as Indian archers rounded off a good day in office at the Olympic Games here today.
Competing in her third Olympics, the 31-year-old Bombayla, who finished 24th in the ranking round, dished out a dominating show to get the better off Chinese Taipei's Lin Shih-Chia 6-2 in the 1/16 elimination after beating Austria's Laurence Baldauff in 1/32 elimination round.
Deepika also put up an excellent show as she comprehensively defeated Italy's Sartori Guendalina 6-2 in the 1/16 elimination after prevailing over her opponent from Georgia, Kristine Esebua, 6-4 in the 1/32 elimination round.
The 22-year-old from Jharkhand, who had lost in the first round in London Games four years ago, came back strongly from a set down to register a dominating 24-27, 29-26, 28-26, 28-27 victory in the end.
Deepika lost the first set before hitting two consecutive 10s and a nine in the second set to aggregate 29 as compared to 26 by the Italian.
After the first two 10s, Deepika sealed the set in her favour after her opponent hit a seven and a nine in her first two attempts.
The Indian once again started with a 10 in the third set, while two 9s in the next two arrows gave her a total of 28. The Italian, on the other hand, managed just 26.
Heading into the fourth set with a 4-2 advantage, Deepika tightened the noose. While both the archers began the round with an eight each, followed by 10, the last attempt made all the difference. While the Italian shot a nine, Deepika hit the bull's eye to eke out a one-point win.
Earlier, in the round of 1/32, Deepika beat her Georgian rival 27-26, 29-29, 30-27, 27-29, 29-29 to enter the next round.
In the first set, Deepika won by just one point as she managed to hit a 10 with her second arrow as compared to none by the Georgian girl.
After a 29-29 tie in the second set, Deepika hit the bull's eye in her all three attempts in the third set to surge ahead 5-1.
However, she lost the rhythm in the fourth set, going down 27-29. Deepika bounced back and kept her nerves in the deciding set to tie the scores 29-29 and clinch the issue in her favour.
Earlier in the day, Bombayla, who had lost in the second round of women's individual recurve event at the London Olympics, outclassed Lin 27-24, 27-24, 26-27, 28-26 to reach the pre-quarterfinals.
Up against Lin, who had already clinched a bronze medal in the women's team event, Bombayla started with a 10 and then hit 8 and 9 to total 27 as against 24 (8, 7, 9) of her opponent.
The Indian scored 8, 9, 10 against Lin's hat-trick of 8s to clinch the second set. In the third set, the Chinese Taipei girl hit the bull's eye twice even as Bombayla came up with a 7 and 9 in the first two shots. In the final shot, the Indian hit a 10 but that was not enough to win the set.
In the fourth set, Bombayla once again produced a perfect score of 10 and then hit 9 twice against Lin's 7, 9, 10 to seal the issue in her favour.
In the 1/32 elimination round, the girl from Minupur had rallied her way to beat Austria's Laurence Baldauff 6-2.
Bombayla showed tremendous nerves as she bounced back after losing the first set to outclass Laurence in the second, third and fourth set in the first round.
Bombayla, who was the best Indian performer in the women's team event, scored a 24-27, 28-24, 27-23, 26-24 win in the 1/32 elimination round.
Read our full coverage on the 2016 Rio Olympics
The 41-year-old Laurence started off well with a hat-trick of 9s in the first set to get the better of the Indian, who started off with a 9 but then shot 7 consecutively.
However, Bombayla hit the bulls eye to start the second set on a dominating note and then produced consecutive 9s to bounce back into the contest. She produced a hat-trick of 9s in the third set to lead 4-2, before sealing the contest with a series of 9, 9, 8 in the fourth set.
India's Atanu Das had also entered the pre-quarterfinals of the Individual men's recurve event yesterday.
More than 2,000 miles from his adopted Bronx home, Ecuadorean native William Quizhpi found a connection to his native roots during a visit to a Montana Indian reservation last month.
It was an eye-opening experience, he said in a telephone interview. The people there made me feel in touch with the heritage I have.
Quizhpi visited the American Prairie Reserve south of Malta for 10 days in July as part of an SEO Scholars trip. SEO, Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, is an academic program that helps low-income high school students attend college.
American Prairie Reserve first partnered with SEO last year to give the city students an immersive introduction to rural life, the Montana prairie, bison, dinosaurs, prairie dogs, a rodeo, county fair and American Indians.
Its directly in line with our goal for public access and enjoyment of that biosphere, said Hilary Parker, communications and outreach manager for American Prairie Reserve.
Founded in 2004, the nonprofit American Prairie Reserve is working to create the largest nature reserve in the United States by purchasing ranches in central Montana. As part of that goal the group is also working to restore native species, such as bison, to the prairie.
Its a place that appealed to Quizhpi, despite its removal from anything he has ever known or experienced.
I miss it very much, he said. I had never been to the Mountain West, and I just imagined it was going to be in the middle of nowhere. There was some of that, but it was also really beautiful. I loved the prairie, hiking and the wildlife. Around here in New York we dont have such beautiful landscapes.
Quizhpi moved to the United States from Ecuador when he was 8 to join his parents, who had immigrated north in search of the American dream, he said. Because of his native heritage, Quizhpi was especially intrigued by the SEO groups trip to the Fort Belknap Indian Community.
During that portion of the visit, Quizhpi said the group helped a tribal medicine woman collect medicinal plants such as sweetgrass and yarrow. The lesson he took away from the experience was that the plants had given up their lives for him, so he should give thanks to the plants.
The visit for the high school senior was so transformative that hes now considering taking the risk to attend college at the University of Montana and expanding his studies to include field biology after his contact with a variety of scientists during the APR trip.
It felt welcoming, he said. The people there were really friendly and open.
Siri Eliasen, who helped guide the students through their Montana trip along with instructors from the Montana Outdoor Science School and other APR staff, said she hopes the teens take a sense of wonder, concern for the environment and a zest for adventure back to their urban lives.
Its a place that has already made a strong impression on Eliasen. A native of the Seattle area, she said the vastness of the prairie, how it goes on forever, was the most startling thing for her when she first visited the area about six years ago.
That sense of wonder and vastness struck the group on two occasions when large lightning storms roared across the expansive prairie.
We stood there in awe, said Yacine Fall. We were literally blown away by the wind. We saw lighting from 20 miles away and I was like, whoa.
Fall, a 17 year old Harlem student, has visited strange lands before. She traveled to Senegal, her parents homeland, years ago. But shed never been to a place quite like the Montana prairie, which she found more diverse ideologically as well as ecologically.
I thought it would be very conservative, she said. But Montana is more diverse than I expected it to be.
It was also her first exposure to an array of wildlife, such as the bison herd that roams the American Prairie Reserve.
I learned the importance of wildlife, she said. Id never been a wildlife person who advocated for animals. But now I understand that they are beings that should be advocated for.
Government bond (G-Secs) prices firmed up further due to good buying support from market participants amid expectations of central bank liquidity gush.
Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan on Tuesday said the central bank has decided to conduct purchase of government securities under open market operations for an aggregate amount of Rs 10,000 crore on August 11 through multi-security auction using the multiple price method.
However, the inter-bank call money rates dropped further in the absence of demand from borrowing banks amid ample liquidity in the banking system.
The benchmark 7.59 per cent government security maturing in 2026 rose to Rs 103.3125 from Rs 103.15 yesterday, while its yield fell to 7.10 per cent from 7.12 per cent.
The 7.59 per cent government security maturing in 2029 climbed to Rs 103.52 as against Rs 103.24 previously, while its yield drifted to 7.16 per cent from 7.19 per cent.
The 7.88 per cent government security maturing in 2030 moved up to Rs 106.25 compared to Rs 105.90, while its yield tumbled to 7.15 per cent from 7.19 per cent.
The 7.61 per cent government security maturing in 2030 edged higher to Rs 104.33 from Rs 104.05, while its yield slipped to 7.11 per cent from 7.14 per cent.
The 7.72 per cent government security maturing in 2025, the 7.68 per cent government security maturing in 2023 and 8.27 per cent government security maturing in 2020 were also quoted substantially higher at Rs 103.65, Rs 103.27 and Rs 104.29, respectively.
The overnight borrowing rate finished lower at 6.30 per cent from Tuesday's closing of 6.50 per cent after moving in a tight range of 6.65 per cent and 6.10 per cent in early trade.
Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF), purchased securities worth Rs 131.72 billion in 32-bids at one-day repo auction at a fixed rate of 6.50 per cent this evening.
It sold securities worth Rs 54.79 billion from 22-bids at the overnight reverse repo auction at a fixed rate of 6.00 per cent late yesterday.
CBI has arrested a Chartered Accountant for allegedly taking a bribe for settling an Income Tax notice issued to a businessman.
Chartered Accountant Suman was arrested under Provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, sources said.
They said role of another Income Tax Officer, on whose behalf the bribe was allegedly demanded is also been looked into.
CBI Spokesperson R K Gaur said a case was registered against the Chartered Accountant on the allegations of demanding bribe of Rs two lakh from abusinessman dealing in mobile handsets & accessories.
It is alleged that Income Tax Officer, Ward No 2(4), Faridabad (Haryana) had issued a notice to him regarding assessment of his income, Gaur said.
The spokesperson said after receiving the notice the complainant discussed the matter with the CA who informed that he has also received copy of the same notice and has discussed the matter with ITO.
"The complainant has further alleged that a meeting was also held in the office of ITO along with the CA and during this discussion, the complainant came to know that CA was demanding bribe of Rs two lakh on behalf of said ITO for settling the issue," he said.
Gaur said on the request of the complainant, the CA reduced the bribe amount to Rs.1.50 lakh and agreed to accept Rs.60,000 as first instalment.
"CBI laid a trap at Faridabad wherein the Chartered Accountant was caught while demanding and accepting bribe of Rs.60,000. Searches were conducted at the official premises of CA, which led to recovery of relevant documents," he said.
The Cabinet today gave its nod for signing and ratification of an agreement between India and Croatia on economic cooperation.
"India and Croatia had earlier signed an agreement on trade and economic cooperation in September, 1994, with an aim to promote and develop bilateral trade and economic relations. Signing of the new agreement between India and Croatia would be a step in continuity as the existing agreement expired in November, 2009," an official statement said.
India's bilateral trade with Croatia during 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 was USD 152.01 million, USD 148.86 million and USD 205.04 million respectively.
The average bilateral trade growth was 17.44 per cent during the last three years, the statement added.
Traders body CAIT has filed a complaint with DIPP alleging that major e-tailers Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal are blatantly violating FDI norms.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has filed a complaint with the "DIPP against Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal for blatant violation of FDI Policy in e-commerce of the government", CAIT said in a statement.
When contacted, Snapdeal declined to comment on the matter. Amazon and Flipkart did not respond to e-mail queries.
CAIT said that during past three days these companies have given big advertisements in media announcing sale on their platform which is a violation of FDI guidelines on e-commerce.
These companies are allowed to do B2B business but they are doing B2C for which they are not authorised, it said.
CAIT has sought an appointment with Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sithraman.
It asked the ministry to "take immediate action against these companies which are habitual in contravening the policy".
In March, government allowed 100 per cent FDI through automatic route in the marketplace format of e-commerce retailing.
As per the guidelines issued by the DIPP on FDI in e- commerce, foreign direct investment (FDI) has not been permitted in inventory-based model of e-commerce.
China's unruly plane passengers who use mobile phones, smoke or occupy seats by force on aircraft will face hefty fines of up to USD 7,500 under a proposed revision to a civil aviation law.
Those who use other prohibited electronic devices on planes or cause disturbances by filing false reports on dangerous goods will also be subjected to the same penalty, Hong Kong based South China Morning Post reported today.
The Civil Aviation Administration posted the new proposed law - revised from its previous two-decade-old regulation - on its website this week, seeking public opinion on the revision until next month.
China's civil aviation industry has grown at double-digit rates for the past five years, according to the industry regulator.
Last year, more than 436 million people took flights in China, up 11.3 per cent from 2014.
Some 42 million of them - or a 33 per cent annual increase - took flights to overseas destinations.
But as Chinese people travel more often, their "uncivilised behaviour" at airports and on planes has received flak both at home and abroad.
The administration's new proposed law now stipulates more than 10 types of bad behaviour at airports or on planes that will be subjected to financial penalties of up to 50,000 yuan (USD 7500) much higher than the present fine that amounts to only a few hundred yuan.
Violations include hijacking planes, kidnapping passengers, barging into aircraft or airports, bringing on board weapons or other dangerous items, occupying seats or luggage carriers by force, and occupying or blocking service counters or security check passages.
People who obstruct crew members from their duties or instigate other passengers to do so will also face punishment.
Many disputes between flight passengers and crew members occur because passengers refuse to switch off their mobile phones on the plane.
Last August, a passenger refused to turn off his phone while his flight from Wuhan, Hubei province, was landing near the airport in Beijing, the Beijing Daily reported.
The man was fined 500 yuan after crew members reported him to police.
Another mainland airline passenger opened emergency exit 'for some fresh air' in November, another passenger was detained for 10 days after he scolded and beat up crew members on a flight from Beijing to Dalian, Liaoning province.
He had lost his temper after he was told to turn off his phone on the plane.
China today warmed up for talks with the Philippines to resolve differences as Beijing welcomed Manila's special envoy to make joint efforts to improve bilateral relations and restore dialogue amid tensions over the South China Sea tribunal verdict.
"As neighbours of traditional friendship, China and the Philippines should make joint efforts to improve bilateral relations, restore dialogue and cooperation and push for the sound and steady growth of bilateral relations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a statement.
Manila's special envoy Fidel Ramos is on a five-day visit to Hong Kong.
"It is learnt that during his stay in Hong Kong, Ramos will meet his Chinese old friends. The Chinese side is open to all forms of contact between the two sides and welcomes a visit to China by Ramos as a special envoy at an early date," she said.
The tribunal appointed by the Permanent Court of Arbitration quashed China's claims over the South Chia Sea and gave a verdict in favour of the Philippines which contested Beijing's claims.
Besides the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have counter claims.
While rejecting the tribunal verdict, China said it is open for bilateral talks with Manila to resolve the dispute.
Designated by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as a special envoy, Ramos arrived in Hong Kong on Monday to start his visit to China after the South China Sea arbitration case has frozen the two countries' ties.
On his arrival in Hong Kong, he said the purpose of his visit to China is not for negotiations but to "rekindle" the Sino-Philippine friendship.
"We are here on a mission of goodwill and are not involved in any negotiations or official transactions," he said.
Ramos said that the people he want to first meet with during his trip is Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, a major think-tank based on China's southern island of Hainan Province.
"I have always been optimistic and looking for the best results. But of course that also depends on the attitude of the Chinese officials," he said, adding that his Chinese friends include very successful businessmen.
Ramos said he will not discuss the particular issue of the South China Sea arbitration with his Chinese friends but seek to improve economic and tourism cooperation between the two countries.
Ramos, served as the Philippine President from 1992 to 1998.
After his retirement, Ramos became a key figure who proposed the Boao Forum for Asia, an international think tank backed by China which was also based in Hainan.
Chinese shipping giant COSCO today said it had completed the acquisition of a majority stake in OLP, the company running the main Greek port of Piraeus.
Under the deal, approved by parliament in July, COSCO acquired 67 per cent of the port authority for 368.5 million euros (USD 409 million).
"COSCO Shipping is now the majority shareholder of OLP, taking over the port's management and operations," the company said in a statement.
The sale gives COSCO rights to run Piraeus until 2052.
Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had opposed the port's privatisation before coming to power last year.
In July he departed for a six-day trip to China as lawmakers approved the deal.
COSCO was the sole bidder in the process.
OLP said a new 11-man managing board named on Wednesday includes seven Chinese representatives, including the chairman and the CEO.
"This is the first cross-border acquisition by COSCO shipping," the company said.
COSCO, through its Piraeus Container Terminal (PCT) arm, already manages the two main container terminals at the port -- one of Europe's busiest -- under a 35-year concession signed in 2008.
Now it has control of the port, including its passenger ferry functions used by millions of tourists every year heading for the picturesque Greek islands.
COSCO has pledged to invest nearly 294 million euros (USD 326 million) to expand cruise facilities, upgrade the dockyard and create car space.
The company wants to turn Piraeus into the largest container port in Europe and the world's main cruise departure hub.
The mayor of Piraeus had in the past expressed misgivings about an all-out sale of the port, and local unionists had protested about low wages and working conditions on the COSCO-run docks.
China today successfully launched a high resolution satellite which can provide seamless view of seas to protect its maritime rights besides land borders and global hotspots, weeks after an international court struck down its claims over the disputed South China Sea.
The new high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging satellite called Gaofen-3 was launched off on the back of a Long March 4C rocket from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in northern Shanxi Province.
It was the 233rd flight mission by a Long March carrier rocket, the work horse of China's space launches.
As China's first SAR imaging satellite that is accurate to one meter in distance, it covers the globe with an all- weather, 24-hour observation service and will be used for disaster warning, weather forecasting, water resource assessments, and the protection of maritime rights.
The satellite was launched amid China's efforts to firmly establish its control over the South China Sea, after last month's tribunal verdict quashing Beijing expansive claims over all most all of the disputed area also claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
China, which rejected the verdict has already launched air and naval patrols over the area to firmly establish control.
Since the inception of the Gaofen project in 2013, China has had an increasingly clearer view of the planet, the state-run Xinhua agency report said.
This also means China has better view of its land borders including its boundary with India.
Compared with optical imaging satellites, Gaofen-3 will better perform disaster monitoring as the SAR imaging satellite is capable of imaging in severe weather conditions as it uses microwave transmission.
"The launch of Gaofen-3 is expected to reduce dependence on data provided by foreign microwave imaging satellites," Jiang Xingwei, deputy chief engineer of Gaofen satellite application system, said.
The new satellite is able to provide high-definition remote sensing data over long periods of time.
It can capture continuous imaging for nearly one hour during ocean observation.
With 12 imaging modes, Gaofen-3 has the most imaging modes in the SAR imaging satellite family.
The high-definition observation satellite is capable of switching freely between various imaging modes, taking wide pictures of both earth and sea, and detailed photographs of specific areas.
Gaofen-3 is also China's first low orbit remote sensing satellite to have a lifespan of eight years, longer than other China-built satellites, which have a lifespan of three to five years, and that of foreign models between six to seven-and-a- half years.
China will accord a head of the state welcome to Myanmar's top leader Aung San Suu Kyi when she visits here next week, which the official media said is a "small diplomatic victory" for Beijing, considering she is visiting the Communist nation first before going to the US.
Myanmar's State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi is "expected to be received as a head of state" when she arrives here on August 17, state-run Global Times reported.
She will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang during her visit.
Observers say that the head of the state welcome is in recognition to the 71-year-old Myanmari leader's status as the de-facto leader of the government even though she is only State Counsellor and Foreign Minister.
While this is her first visit trip outside ASEAN, (Association of South East Asian Nations) in which Myanmar is a member, she is visiting China ahead of her visit to US aimed to recalibrate China-Myanmar relations under the new Myanmar government, it said.
"It is also seen by analysts as a small diplomatic victory for China over speculations that bilateral ties might take a blow under the new administration, given China's close ties with the former military-backed government and Suu Kyi's identity as a democracy icon long hailed by the West," it said.
This will be Suu Kyi's second trip to China. She met with Xi the first time through a party-to-party channel in June 2015 before Myanmar's general election in November.
Her China visit also comes two weeks before the 21st Century Panglong Conference, a peace conference involving the Myanmar government, the military and ethnic armed groups.
China's support is seen as vital in resolving Myanmar's decade-long ethnic conflicts, it said.
China-Myanmar share long volatile borders and Beijing has deployed military at the border last year after five people were killed several others wounded in firing from a Myanmar jet reportedly while pursing Kokoang rebels.
"Choosing China as her first destination outside of ASEAN reinforces Suu Kyi's image as a pragmatic politician who prioritises national interests above ideology and one who is careful in balancing Myanmar's relations with China on one side and the West on the other," Ji Qiufeng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University, said.
The de facto Myanmar leader is tasked with reviving Myanmar's economy and attaining national reconciliation with ethnic rebel forces.
"Both Myanmar and China know, as Myanmar's northern neighbour, China can help Myanmar in ways that the US cannot," Ji noted.
Suu Kyi last visited the US as the leader of the opposition in September 2012.
Suu Kyi is expected to discuss a broad range of topics with the Chinese leaders, including setting the tone for bilateral relations and facilitating trade and other economic cooperation.
Sri Lanka has renegotiated the USD 1.4 billion Chinese-funded Colombo port city project and the new agreement has no provision for outright grant/hold of the reclaimed sea land by China, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told the parliament today.
Answering an opposition question in the assembly, Wickremesinghe said, "In March 2015 the project was halted as the government was having concerns over the project's environmental impact."
"We carried out the necessary environment impact assessments and decided to go ahead with the necessary concerns addressed," Wickremesinghe said.
The government was also averse to giving outright ownership of the reclaimed sea land, he said.
The new agreement provides for no outright grant and hold of the land.
Wickremesinghe said the port city facility would now be developed as a financial city and not as a mere leisure project aimed by the previous government of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
"There are no night racing tracks or casinos," the prime minister said.
He said China had claimed compensation for the losses incurred due to the delay in implementing the project.
"We have done successful negotiations so no more claims of compensation by the Chinese," he said.
The port city project on reclaimed sea land adjoining the port of Colombo was a pet project of the Rajapaksa government who relied on the Chinese investments.
The government spokesman and Minister Rajitha Senaratne has last week claimed that the Rajapaksa government had delayed the project due to Indian objections on giving outright land to the Chinese.
Thomas Craig Pfeifle, 19, of Rapid City, S.D., who fell Monday while climbing Granite Peak, was in critical condition Tuesday at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, according to hospital spokesperson Susan Gregg.
Pfeifle was rescued by helicopter on Monday afternoon and flown to a Billings hospital, but later transferred to Harborview, where he is being treated for a head injury.
Pfeifle was at an altitude of about 12,200 feet when he was rescued. He fell near the summit of the 12,808 foot peak, according to a press release from the Park County Sheriff's Office. The mountain is the highest peak in Montana.
A call came through Sweet Grass County at about 11 a.m. Monday from one of Pfeifle's climbing partners requesting rescue, said Park County Undersheriff Clay Herbst.
Pfeifle was climbing with at least four others and one of them was able to get cellphone service for the first emergency call, Herbst said.
The climbers borrowed a satellite phone from another climbing group to stay in contact with authorities throughout the rescue, Herbst said.
Rocky Mountain Rotors Co-owner Mark Taylor said his company was involved in the rescue of Pfeifle on Monday afternoon.
He was rescued by a Gallatin County high-angle rescue team and flown by helicopter to a separate landing zone near Sky Top Lakes. A medical helicopter from Bozeman then landed to provide medical treatment before he was flown to Billings.
Pfeifle is the son of South Dakota Seventh Circuit Court judges Craig Pfeifle and Jane Wipf Pfeifle.
Amid increasing religious intolerance across the globe, the US today said when a government denies religious liberty, citizens who have done nothing wrong turn into criminals.
"When a government denies religious liberty, it turns citizens who have done nothing wrong into criminals, igniting tension that breeds contempt, hopelessness, alienation," Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told reporters at a conference here to release the annual report on International Religious Freedom for the year 2015.
"Our message is simple. Societies tend to be stronger, wealthier, safer and more stable when their citizens fully enjoy the rights to which they are entitled," he said.
Far from a vulnerability or weakness, religious pluralism shows respect for the beliefs of every citizen and gives each a tangible reason to contribute to the success of the entire society, Blinken said.
That is why no nation can fulfil its potential if its people are denied the right to freely choose and openly practice their faith, he asserted.
"Now, it used to be that our annual reports focused almost exclusively on the actions of states, but we've also seen certain non-state actors, including terrorist organisations like Daesh, al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab, Boko Haram posing a major threat to religious freedom," Blinken said.
"There is, after all, no more egregious form of discrimination than separating out the followers of one religion from another, whether in a village, on a bus, in a classroom, with the intent of murdering or enslaving the members of a particular group," Blinken said.
Religious freedom, he underscored, is a core component of maximising that potential for people to express themselves freely to maximise their own potential.
US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, Rabbi David Nathan Saperstein, said the report highlights the chilling and sometimes deadly effect of blasphemy and apostasy laws in many places of the world, as well as laws that purport to protect religious sentiments from defamation.
"Roughly a quarter of the world's countries have blasphemy laws, and more than one in 10 have laws or policies penalising the apostasy, and the existence of these laws has been used by governments in too many cases to intimidate, repress religious minorities," Saperstein said.
"And governments have too often failed to take appropriate steps to prevent societal violence sparked by accusations of blasphemy and apostasy," he said.
"In Pakistan, the government continued to enforce blasphemy laws, for which a punishment can be death for a range of charges," Saperstein said.
"Christians as well as Muslims were arrested on charges of blasphemy in the last year. In 2016, after a Hindu convert to Islam was accused of blasphemy, two Hindu youths were shot and one died from his wounds in ensuing communal violence," he said.
"We remain deeply concerned, also over authorities targeting and harassment of Ahmadi Muslims for blasphemy, violations of anti-Ahmadi laws and other crimes," he added.
Vacancies in the City of London finance hub sank 12 per cent in July from the previous month following the shock Brexit vote, a study by consultancy Morgan McKinley showed today.
The number of available City jobs fell to 7,980 in July, compared with 9,060 in June, according to Morgan McKinley.
The impact was however less than expected after the June 23 referendum to leave the European Union, which has triggered deep economic uncertainty.
Hakan Enver, operations director at Morgan McKinley, said in a statement that the fall was "a modest decline given the gravity of the referendum".
"Hiring slowed as institutions found themselves in a post-Brexit limbo but the impact of the referendum was not as aggressive as we expected," he noted.
The consultancy added that available City jobs sank by about 27 per cent in July, when compared with the same month a year earlier.
The study also highlighted a 14-per cent drop in the number of job seekers in July from June, which Enver said could be explained in part by seasonal variations during a relatively quiet period for financial markets.
"Jumping ship in a climate of uncertainty is particularly risky for employees," Enver said.
He said the jobs climate in the City was also very dependent on mergers and acquisitions activity, which has dipped as a result of the referendum.
"When deals are placed on hold, in many instances, so is hiring," Enver said, adding that takeover activity was "an excellent barometer of confidence".
Around a million people are estimated to work in Britain's financial industry.
Pro-EU campaigners have argued that many jobs could be put at risk if companies choose to relocate to the EU in case of Brexit.
Attacking the AAP government over increasing liquor permits in Delhi, Swaraj Abhiyan, an organisation led by Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, today demanded closure of alcohol shops in residential areas.
Holding a public hearing in Kolta Mubarakpur, an area where locals have been protesting against a liquor shop, Bhushan demanded that places where residents are opposed to liquor shops in their areas should be done away with.
Anupam, Swaraj Abhiyan's media coordinator said that if the shop is not closed then the organisation will hold protests against the Delhi government over its liquor policy.
Bhushan said that under the AAP government's Swaraj Bill, it is mandatory to take opinion of 50 per cent women of the area if one has to open a liquor shop.
He also demanded that the AAP government should consult people before formulating any policy and make the draft public.
US-led coalition planes warned drivers of fuel trucks used by the Islamic State group in Syria they were about to be bombed, prompting several vehicles to flee, officials said today.
Multiple warplanes destroyed 83 oil tankers Sunday near Albu Kamal, along Syria's border with Iraq, as part of an ongoing mission to wipe out the oil-smuggling infrastructure that helps fund IS.
At the start of the attack, pilots "fired multiple warning shots to encourage truck drivers to leave the area," the US military's anti-IS mission, Operation Inherent Resolve, told AFP.
"Multiple oil tanker trucks departed the area after the warning shots, and we did not pursue them," officials added.
Remaining oil trucks were "stationary at the time of the strike. Based on our assessment, there were no drivers remaining with the vehicles at the time of the strike."
The Obama administration came under criticism from some Republican lawmakers last year after the Pentagon said it had dropped leaflets warning truck drivers of impending strikes.
The rationale is that IS presses drivers into service and they are not necessarily IS supporters.
Pilots did not drop warning leaflets in Sunday's attack, which was conducted under Operation Tidal Wave II, named after a World War II mission to bomb oil refineries used by the Nazis.
The case highlights the delicate balancing act surrounding strikes against IS targets.
Civilian casualties fuel outrage and are used as a rallying cry by jihadists, and the military will often call off a strike if the risk of civilian deaths is deemed too high.
But critics have accused the Obama administration of making rules of engagement too restrictive and shackling the military.
In just two strikes last year, coalition planes destroyed about 400 tankers that were lined up in the desert waiting to take on illicit oil.
In those cases, pilots dropped leaflets warning drivers.
Fair trade regulator CCI is examining whether there has been cartelisation in steep fluctuation of airfares, including at the time of Jat agitation earlier this year.
Corporate Affairs Ministry has submitted to the Parliamentary Standing on Finance that Competition Commission of India (CCI) is looking into the issue of airlines allegedly charging exorbitant fares during the recent agitation in Haryana.
In its report tabled in Parliament today, the panel said CCI is "examining the issues of exorbitant airfares and possible cartelisation by gathering information from airlines and conducting investigations".
In their submission to the ministry, CCI said it took immediate action on the issue and called a special meeting, wherein it was decided to seek for information from airlines to form a view whether such a hike in airfares was on account of anti-competitive behaviour such as cartelisation by airlines.
"The reason for such hike in airfares as well as other information has been sought from five airlines...While some have filed responses, others have sought time to reply. Reminder letters have been sent to airlines to file reply," Competition Commission said in its submission.
While noting the action taken by CCI, the committee re-emphasise that the Commission should expedite their investigations in cases of abnormal price hikes and possible cartelisation and conclude their findings in a time-bound manner.
CCI is empowered to examine anti-competitive conduct and intervene in cases of cartelisation, price parallellism and abuse of dominance.
A three-year term at a special home here awarded to the minor convict in the September 2011 Delhi High Court blast case, in which 15 people were killed , was today upheld by a Delhi court that said that he was a part of the conspiracy to carry out the explosion.
Additional Sessions Judge Rakesh Pandit upheld the conviction of the minor by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in July 2014 under several sections of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Explosive Substances Act.
The court, however, acquitted him of the charges of having links with any terror organisation.
"It can be safe to held that JCL convict (juvenile in conflict of law) was a co-conspirator of the conspiracy of the occurrence of blast," it said.
The board had sent the delinquent juvenile to the special home for three years, the maximum punishment that can be awarded under the Juvenile Justice Act. 79 people were injured in the blast.
The sessions court upheld his conviction under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with Sections 121 (waging war against the country), 121A (conspiracy to commit waging war), 122 (collecting arms for waging war), 123 (concealing with intent to facilitate design to wage war), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 436 (mischief by explosive substance), and 440 (mischief committed for causing death) of the Indian Penal Code.
It also upheld his conviction under sections 16 (punishment for terrorist act) and 18 (conspiracy for terror act) of UAPA and section 4 (punishment for attempt to cause explosion), 5 (punishment for making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances) and 6 (punishment of abettor) of the Explosive Substances Act.
The court, however, acquitted him of the charges under section 20 (punishment for being member of terrorist gang or organization), 38 (offence relating to membership of a terrorist organization) and 39 (offence relating to support given to a terrorist organization) of UAPA.
Then 17-year-old, he was accused of sending an e-mail that
claimed responsibility for the blast and also threatened to cause more bomb blasts at other courts, including the Supreme Court, if Afzal Guru, the Parliament attack convict, was hanged.
The email was sent by the juvenile from Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir, NIA had told the JJB.
A separate trial against adult accused Wasim Akram Malik is being conducted by a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court here.
After registration of the FIR, the probe in the case was transferred from Delhi Police to NIA.
NIA, during the probe, had unearthed the conspiracy behind the blast and chargesheeted the accused.
A 30-year-old man was allegedly assaulted by the gram pradhan and others at Tugalpur village in Muzaffarnagar, police said on Wednesday.
According to the complaint filed by Vinod Kumar, he was beaten up by village head Pertal Singh and others yesterday when he was going to the fields, they said.
Based on the complaint, a case has been filed against Singh and one other under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 307 (attempt to murder), 341 (wrongful restraint), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, police said.
In a bid to expedite cleaning of the Ganga, the National Green Tribunal today directed the Uttarakhand government to demarcate flood plains of the river from Gomukh to Roorkee in the state and submit a compliance report in this regard.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar which favoured strict timelines for the demarcation of flood plains in the state, also sought report on the total number of hotels in this stretch from the Harish Rawat government.
A flood plain is an area of land adjacent to a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.
The green panel also allowed the state government to seek the assistance of Roorkee-based National Institute of Hydrology for identification of flood plains.
"The state government shall inform the tribunal whether cities including Haridwar, Rishikesh, Joshimath, Roorkee located on the stretch from Gomukh to Roorkee have installed sewage treatment plants or not," the bench, also comprising Justice M S Nambiar, said.
The order came after the state government informed the green panel that it has not been able to finalise a detailed flood plain map and sought one-year time to complete the exercise.
The tribunal has now posted the matter for next hearing on this aspect on October 20.
The tribunal had earlier directed the National Mission for Clean Ganga, the implementing wing for rejuvenation of the river, to apprise it about the expenditure details of the Rs 20,000 crore budget granted to it for cleaning and protection of Ganga.
It had also issued notices to the Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal governments to explain how they propose to deal with the pollution caused in the river flowing through their jurisdiction and submit an action plan in this regard.
The green panel has divided the work of cleaning the river into different segments -- Gomukh to Haridwar, Haridwar to Kanpur, Kanpur to border of Uttar Pradesh, border of Uttar Pradesh to border of Jharkhand and border of Jharkhand to Bay of Bengal.
On December 11 last year, the tribunal had imposed a complete ban on use of plastic of any kind from Gomukh to Haridwar along the river from February 1 and decided to slap a penalty of Rs 5,000 per day on erring hotels, dharamsalas and ashrams spewing waste into the river.
The Delhi government has decided to start testing facility for the vector-borne disease at all its mohalla clinics from next month in the national capital where 171 cases have been reported.
Health Minister Satyendar Jain today said that people with symptoms can get themselves tested at free of cost at these clinics from September 1.
171 cases of dengue have been reported this season in Delhi with 52 of these being recorded in the first week of August, according to recently released municipal report.
The minister said that 100 of the cases were from outside the capital.
Giving details about treatment for various ailments given at mohalla clinics, he said that about 8 lakh people were treated at 105 such clinics.
Apart from this, 42,000 tests were conducted at mohalla clinics.
"We have set a target of attending one crore patients at mohalla clinics in 2017. We are getting good response from the people about this facility," the minister added.
The wife of a Bangladeshi-British university teacher suspected of being one of the masterminds of the deadly Dhaka cafe terror attack that claimed 22 lives has said that her husband was used as "human shield" by terrorists.
"When the attackers found that Hasnat was in the Holey Artisan Bakery with his family, they chose him to do different tasks as the attackers knew Hasnat would not abandon his family in any situation, said Sharmina Parveen, wife of Gulshan terror attack suspect Hasnat Reza Karim, in a statement yesterday.
47-year-old Karim, now in remand, was used by the attackers as a human shield, Parveen was quoted as saying by the Dhaka Tribune.
Parveen, who went to the Spanish cafe with Hasnat and two children, also said that they would continue to cooperate with the police in their investigation to speed up his release.
She said that they had gone to the restaurant that evening to celebrate their daughter's 13th birthday.
"Once the attackers found out that we were Hasnat's family, they took advantage of it. They knew he will not abandon us. That is why they chose him to carry out several tasks during the night. That is why they used him as a human shield," she said.
Five gunmen, mostly in their 20s, seized the upscale Gulshan cafe on July 1 and shot and slaughtered 22 hostages, including an Indian girl.
Parveen claimed that they were held at gunpoint while Hasnat was forced to follow commands from the attackers throughout the night.
"They threatened us with life. They made him give them his ID and mobile phone, and then used it to access the Internet," she said.
Detectives interrogated Hasnat, his family and other survivors after they were released minutes before the commando operation on July 2. Even though others were released, Hasnat and another survivor - Tahmid Hasib Khan - were kept in custody at least for a week, according to police.
But the families claimed that they had no contact with the duo until the law enforcers arrested them on August 3. They were put on eight-day remand the following day. In the remand petition, police mentioned Hasnat as an active member of banned militant outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir and Tahmid as his associate.
Police also claimed that Hasnat had influenced the attackers to carry out the atrocities. He also downloaded a secured private messenger only 13 minutes after the attack was launched. The militants used the app to communicate with their seniors and send photos and videos of the attack.
The detectives said they will conduct a forensic test of the mobile. They are also assessing the relaxed movement of the duo inside and on the roof of the cafe and Tahmid holding a gun during the hostage crisis, as seen in some photos and videos of the attack.
In the statement, Parveen brushed aside rumours that Hasnat had been fired from North South University for militant connection as completely false.
BIG TIMBER Human remains found last week in south-central Montana are those of a 38-year-old Bozeman man who went missing during an elk hunt two years ago, Sweet Grass County officials said Tuesday.
Dental records confirmed that the skeletal remains a rancher found Friday west of Melville were those of Aaron Joseph Hedges, Undersheriff Alan Ronneberg said.
The cause of death is still under investigation. Initial indications are that he died of hypothermia and exposure, Ronneberg said.
Hedges was reported missing in September 2014 when he became separated from a hunting party on the western side of the Crazy Mountains.
That fall, searchers found a pair of boots, a water backpack and a fire spot believed to belong to Hedges on the eastern side of the mountains.
In June 2015, a man doing fencing work found other items belonging to Hedges, including a bow, a backpack and a hunting license. Sweet Grass County officials searched the area at the time, but they did not find Hedges.
His remains were found about a half-mile away from the bow and backpack, just outside the 2015 search area, Ronneberg said.
Hedges' remains were found about 15 miles from where he was last seen and about 6 miles from where his boots were found. Officials speculate he must have had another pair of shoes, because the rocks were very sharp where Hedges' boots were found, Ronneberg said. A cellphone was found with his remains.
An Executive Engineer of Delhi Jal Board was suspended today after the city government witnessed "careless work" by him and some other officials in laying sewer and water pipelines in Dwarka.
Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra suspended the engineer and also issued show cause notice to member (drainage) of Delhi Jal Board (DJB).
The minister has also set a deadline of 15 days to improve the work.
"Witnessed Careless work by some of DJB officers in Dwarka. Suspending Exe. Eng. Show cause to Member Drainage. 15 days deadline to improve (sic)," Mishra tweeted.
He said that there was "careless work" on the part of some officers who were assigned to lay sewer and water pipelines in Dwarka which is unacceptable.
Ruling AIADMK and its arch rival DMK today sparred in the Tamil Nadu Assembly over claiming credit for providing reservation for women in panchayat bodies while Congress said it was former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who first conceptualised the 33 per cent quota.
When DMK member Geetha Jeevan made some reference to the 33 per cent rerservation for women in local bodies, senior AIADMK Ministers including D Jayakumar insisted that the law was implemented in the state during the 1991-96 AIADMK regime.
Jayakumar said the AIADMK government headed by J Jayalalithaa had given the cabinet approval for 33 per cent reservation for women.
Leader of the Opposition M K Stalin (DMK) said though this was true, it was the Karunanidhi-led DMK government which implemented the reservation in 1996.
To this, Local Administration Minister S P Velumani said DMK conducting the elections was only a 'routine process' since the earlier AIADMK government had accorded the cabinet approval.
He went on to add that the previous AIADMK government (2011-16) had even enhanced the reservation to 50 per cent for women in local bodies.
Stalin once again questioned the government why it did not hold elections although cabinet approval was given for 33 per cent reservation.
"You may have given cabinet approval. But it was the DMK which held the elections for local bodies with 33 per cent reservation," he said.
To this, Jayakumar remarked that "we cooked the meals nicely, you consumed it," drawing peels of laughter among the Treasury benches.
Congress Floor Leader K R Ramasamy intervened saying it was Rajiv Gandhi who originally mooted the proposal.
"Both (sides) have to accept one thing. Rajiv Gandhi only brought the Panchayati Raj law (which allows the 33 per cent reservation)," he said.
After this, Social Welfare Minister V Saroja said that Jayalalithaa had "sowed the seed" for providing reservation for women in local bodies in Tamil Nadu, since her government had given the cabinet approval in 1994.
The sparring took place during the debate for grants for the Social Welfare and Nutritious Noon Meal Programme Departments.
(REOPENS MES4)
The archrivals once again locked horns when Revenue
Minister R B Uthayakumar made some critical comments against the DMK in regularising encroachments, especially on water bodies.
His remark drew sharp reaction from the opposition even as he questioned why the DMK government of 2006-11 had revised a one time regularisation scheme ten times.
During the debate, DMK member and former Minister I Periasamy also made some critical remarks against the government's handling of the December 2015 deluge in Chennai.
To this, PWD Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy said that the flooding was caused only due to the city receiving about 50 cm of rainfall in a single day, and denied any lapse on part of the government.
Tamil Nadu Assembly today witnessed sharp exchanges between the ruling AIADMK and DMK and the House proceedings were briefly stalled as Opposition legislators wanted a remark made by Minister SP Velumani deleted from records.
After arguing with Speaker P Dhanapal over the matter, DMK members staged a walk out.
After DMK member Seethapathi listed the achievements of her party regime led by party chief Karunanidhi, S P Velumani countered her by saying free television scheme did not reach all the beneficiaries and some TVs had even burst.
He said it was the AIADMK regime and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa who had implemented all her poll promises including distribution of free mixies and grinders and made a remark about the World Classical Tamil Conference organised by the DMK regime.
Immediately, DMK members were on their feet demanding that the remark be expunged. DMK whip Chakrapani said "the Minister said it (conference) was a family event, it was a government event and his remark should be expunged."
Speaker P Dhanapal said the matter was discussed several times before and sought to pacify DMK members by saying that counter point of the Opposition has also gone on record. He later asked Social Welfare Minister V Saroja to make her reply to the discussion on Demand for Grants for her Department.
However, the DMK members continued to make vociferous demands for deletion of Velumani's remark and former Minister (DMK MLA) Ponmudi argued with Dhanapal over the matter. Finally, all the DMK members staged a walkout.
Earlier, the arch rivals locked horns when Revenue Minister R B Uthayakumar made some critical comments against DMK in regularising encroachments, especially on water bodies.
His remark drew sharp reaction from the opposition even as he questioned why the DMK government of 2006-11 had revised a one time regularisation scheme ten times.
During the debate, DMK member and former Minister I Periasamy also made some critical remarks against the government's handling of the December 2015 deluge in Chennai.
To this, PWD Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy said that the flooding was caused only due to the city receiving about 50 cm of rainfall in a single day, and denied any lapse on part of the government.
Kerala government was today all praise for the UAE government, the airline staff and firefighters who played key role in the rescue of 300 people on board a flight from here that crash-landed and caught fire at the Dubai Airport on August 3.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also praised firefighter Jasim Elsa Al Baloushi, who laid down his life while rescuing the passengers, most of whom were Keralites.
"We appreciate the efforts of UAE government and those involved in the rescue operations. We also convey our heart felt condolences to the family of the deceased," he said.
As many as 282 passengers and 18 crew members had a miraculous escape when the flight Emirates flight EK521 from Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai made the crash-landing.
The Boeing 777-300 aircraft caught fire on the runway shortly after landing.
Of the total passengers, 226 were Indians.
The Election Commission today posted to August 19 the hearing on a petition seeking disqualification of 21 AAP legislators in an 'office of profit' case after the MLAs questioned the validity of a second set of documents filed against them.
The AAP legislators, whose appointment as parliamentary secretaries is under challenge, said the EC should consider only the first petition filed by Prashant Patel, who moved the plea before the poll body on which the President had sought opinion of the Commission.
They said the Commission cannot consider the second set of documents filed by Patel after the President had already sought opinion on the first petition.
They insisted the second set of documents were not maintainable. Patel, however, argued that the second set was not a fresh petition but a response to details sought by the EC.
The MLAs were of the view that EC should have sought the details from Delhi government and not the petitioner.
Following the arguments, the commission posted the matter for another hearing on August 19.
Nineteen out of the 21 MLAs were present at the hearing. Two could not attend the proceedings. "Some of the MLAs said their lawyers were not present," Patel said.
On July 27, the commission had rejected pleas of Congress, BJP and Delhi government to implead them as parties to the petition in the alleged office-of-profit case.
The EC issued notices to the AAP legislators in June after the petition was filed before it by Patel.
The MLAs responded to the notices, saying there was no "pecuniary benefit" associated with the post and it comes without any remuneration or power.
They had also sought personal hearings before the EC.
Delhi's AAP government had appointed 21 parliamentary secretaries to assist its ministers.
Subsequently, the city government sought to amend the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1997, so as to exempt parliamentary secretaries from disqualification provisions in 'office of profit' cases.
However, the President refused to give his assent to the Bill.
An Additional Assistant Engineer was caught red-handed here today by sleuths of Anti-Corruption Bureau while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 25,000 from a complainant for releasing power from the newly installed agricultural transformer located in his fields.
The bribe amount was recovered from the car of the Additional Assistant Engineer N Yedukondulu Reddy, Marpally Section, Electricity Department, Ranga Reddy district, an ACB statement said.
Reddy is being arrested and produced before the ACB court, Hyderabad, it was stated.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged a group of businessmen today to inform authorities about companies or business people they suspect of supporting a US-based Muslim cleric accused of orchestrating Turkey's failed July 15 coup, saying they deserved "no pity."
The statement was likely to fan concerns over Turkey's large-scale crackdown on followers of the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, and raise questions over whether the government would start a witch-hunt based on an army of informants.
"You may have friends from the community," Erdogan told a group of Turkish exporters. "I say you have to expose them. You have to inform them to prosecutors and the police. Why? This is our patriotic duty."
"In the same way that we are removing the (Gulen organization) from the armed forces, the judiciary, the police, we have to remove them from the business world," Erdogan said.
"We have no right to show pity toward those who showed no mercy to their country or people."
The government launched a sweeping crackdown after the coup, targeting followers of Gulen, whom it accuses of orchestrating the attempted putsch that left more than 270 dead.
Some 16,000 people have been formally arrested in connection to the coup, while thousands more have been detained for questioning.
Tens of thousands of people with suspected links to Gulen have also been suspended or dismissed from their jobs in the judiciary, media, education, health care, military and local government.
Turkey has designated Gulen's movement a terror organization and wants him extradited from the United States to face trial.
Gulen, who runs a network of charities and schools worldwide, has repeatedly denied involvement in the coup.
The scope of the crackdown on the movement has raised alarm in European countries and among human rights groups, which have urged restraint.
Erdogan has lashed out at the criticism and has complained of a lack of solidarity and support from allies for the elected government.
Speaking to the exporters, Erdogan urged the businessmen to inform "prosecutors and police" on Gulen supporters they know, and to inform business contacts abroad that the Gulen movement was "not only a threat to our country but to the whole world.
A former Bangladeshi MP of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party was today sentenced to death while seven others jailed until death by a special tribunal for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.
Sakhawat Hossain, former MP Jessore district, was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal on charges of abduction, confinement, torture, rape and murder.
The three-member panel of judges of Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) led by Justice Anwarul Haque said the authorities can execute the verdict by hanging or using the firing squad, Dhaka Tribune reported.
Hossain was a central committee member of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami party at the time, and was accused of acting as a local commander of a group that aided Pakistani soldiers.
He left Jamaat-e-Islami and joined the Bangladesh Nationalist Party headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. At the time of the court case he was involved with Jatiya Party headed by Hussain Muhammad Ershad. Hossain was arrested in 2014.
The rest seven convicts will spend rest of their life in prison. They have been convicted on charges of abduction, confinement, torture, rape and murder.
They are Billal Hossain, Ibrahim Hossain, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Abdul Aziz Sarder, Qazi Ohidul Islam alias Wahidur Salam, Aziz Sarder and Abdul Khalek Morol.
Another accused, Lutfor Morol, died of cardiac arrest in police custody on May 6 this year.
Suspected war criminals were put on trial after the Awami League led government formed the tribunal in 2010.
Most of the convicts belong to Jamaat-e-Islami, a party which openly opposed Bangladesh's liberation.
Bangladesh has so far executed four war crimes convicts since the process began to try the top Bengali perpetrators of 1971 atrocities in line with the electoral commitment of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2008.
To curb the ponzi menace, government should expedite the process for bringing a central law that will plug regulatory loopholes, a Parliamentary panel has recommended.
Observing that even now several cases of unauthorised collection of money and deposits are being reported, the committee said agencies concerned should work with "greater cohesion and coordination" to ensure concrete results at the ground level.
The observations are part of the report of the Standing Committee on Finance, headed by senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily.
"The committee would expect this proposed legislation to plug once and for all the regulatory loopholes, gaps and vaccum prevailing in the vast and expanding financial services industry," the report, tabled in Parliament today, said.
The committee is of the view that central law on unauthorised deposits and related matters "to be expedited so that a comprehensive Bill can be introduced in Parliament at least during the Winter Session later this year".
Currently, central economic intelligence bureau in the department of revenue and its regional economic intelligence councils along with state level co-ordination committees provide the necessary administrative structure for capturing information regarding ponzi schemes early.
"It would be better to attune, with strengthening if necessary, the already existing structure to address the problem of unauthorised deposit taking," the report said.
Besides, the committee noted that regulatory regime in respect of Multi-State Co-operative Societies (MSCSs) should be streamlined to protect the interest of small investors of these societies.
It should be streamlined so that they do not become an instrument of diverting and shielding illegal funds from ponzi companies.
Heavy rains damaged a small portion of a historic Dogra monument in Mubarak Mandi here prompting Minister of State for Tourism, Priya Sethi to instruct expedition of its restoration work.
"A small portion of the three-storied building in Mubarak Mandi complex caved in due to heavy rains in Jammu on Monday night," an official said today.
"There was no injury to anyone as it was an abandoned building, which was under repair," the official said.
Sethi visited the site yesterday evening and took stock of the damages.
Expressing concern over the delay in the restoration work being carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), she asked officials to ascertain other viable options and involve some other technical agencies "which can press more manpower and resources to ensure time-bound completion of restoration work".
Sethi directed the executing agency concerned and the Divisional Commissioner to put in concerted efforts to restore the heritage monument at the earliest.
During her visit, Sethi also hit out at the previous regime for "under-utilising" allocated funds for the monument.
"The previous regime did not optimally utilise the Rs 250 crore funds allocated for the restoration works of Mubarak Mandi complex. This callous attitude has adversely affected the pace of restoration works," she said.
Observing that the fate of the US and China are "inescapably intertwined" Vice President Joe Biden today said the next administration would have to continue to expand America's strategic ties with its core alliances including India.
"The next administration will be charged with continuing to expand our network of relationships beyond our core alliances, building on the historic opportunities we've created to support the democratic transition in Burma (also called Myanmar), deepen ties with Vietnam, manage relations with China, expand the strategic partnership with India, and work with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to advance a rules-based order," Biden wrote in an essay in Foreign Affairs.
And because Asia is home to half the world's population and many of the world's fastest-growing markets, we simply cannot afford to ignore the economic opportunities there, the outgoing vice president wrote.
Noting that in nearly every part of the world, the US contends with regional powers that have an enormous capacity to contribute to the international order-or to undermine it, Biden said nowhere is this truer than in America's relationship with China.
"The United States and China are the world's two largest economies, so our fate are inescapably intertwined. President Obama and I have sought to define this relationship through enhanced cooperation and responsible competition," Biden wrote.
"We have found common ground with Beijing and made historic progress to address such global challenges as climate change, pandemic disease, poverty, and nuclear proliferation. At the same time, we have stood firm on such issues as human rights, intellectual property, and freedom of navigation," he said.
This balancing act will only grow more difficult in the context of China's economic slowdown and the worrying steps Beijing is taking to reverse course on more than three decades of economic reform and opening up to the world, the vice president said.
"As a result, the next administration will have to steer a relationship with China that encompasses both breakthrough cooperation and, potentially, intensified competition. And sometimes, as when facing the mounting threat from North Korea, cooperation and competition with China will coexist," he said.
"The notion that it will be all one or the other is shortsighted and self-defeating," he added.
The same is true with regard to Russia, with which the US should continue to pursue a policy that combines the urgent need for deterrence, on the one hand, with the prudent pursuit of tactical cooperation and strategic stability, on the other, he said. Terrorism must-and will-be defeated, Biden said.
Biden said the next administration will have to continue to address the challenge of ISIS in a smart, sustainable, and holistic manner.
All seven fishing trawlers which had gone missing in the Bay of Bengal due to bad weather have been found to be safe.
Coast Guard officials said since yesterday they were running a search and rescue operation after receiving reports from the Fisheries Department about seven fishing boats missing in the Bay of Bengal.
Out of them, four had returned to harbour safely, while one boat which was stranded due to engine failure was located by Coast Guard ship Raziya Sultana.
The boat along with all 10 crew on board was provided with necessary assistance and was being towed towards Sagar island, the officials said.
Two Coast Guard ship and a Dornier maritime reconnaissance aircraft were deployed in the sea for rescue mission. The remaining boats were also found later in the day.
Rough sea condition due to a deep depression along the West Bengal coast had made the search and rescue operation difficult.
Director General Indian Coast Guard Rajendra Singh, who is on official visit to Haldia and Kolkata, had personally monitored the operation.
The flood situation in Bihar further improved today with receding of water in majority of rivers and only one district is currently under flood waters.
There is no report of any fresh death in inundation triggered by rains in Terai region of neighbouring Nepal, a statement from state Disaster Management Department here said.
Only Purnea remained under flood waters, it said, adding the death toll remained at 95 as it was on Sunday.
Except for Kosi in Baltara in Khagaria district, all rivers flew below danger level today.
The number of blocks affected by floods came down to 3 today and the marooned villages to 18.
Four medical teams and five camps of veterinary doctors are operational in flood-hit areas now, it said.
Renewed fighting pitted former Mali rebels against pro-government fighters for a second day today, the UN told AFP, while the army separately found the bodies of five missing soldiers.
Fighting erupted yesterday near the restive northeastern town of Kidal between ex-rebels from the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) and members of the pro-government group GATIA.
Calm returned overnight, but "resumed this morning," said an official with the Imghad and Allies Tuareg Self-Defence Group (GATIA).
The two sides had clashed with heavy arms in Kidal itself on July 21-22, and again on July 30 around 40 kilometres to the east of the town, several sources said.
Nobody from the CMA was immediately available to comment on the latest reported fighting, and there were no details on casualties.
The clashes were confirmed to AFP by a source in MINUSMA, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the west African country, which helps maintain calm in Kidal.
"We have information on fighting" underway near Kidal, said the source, giving no further details.
Meanwhile Mali's army said it had recovered the bodies of five soldiers missing since an attack Monday in the Mopti region in the centre of the country.
Four bodies were found Tuesday and a fifth today morning, said an army spokesman. "At this stage we cannot specify the cause of death. Our experts are still examining the remains," he said.
Another military official told AFP overnight that the four bodies had been washed up by the river, and a probe was launched to determine "if they were killed and thrown into the river or if they died by drowning".
One military source blamed the attack on the soldiers on the Malian jihadist group Ansar Dine, which claimed a previous deadly attack against the army in the Mopti region on July 19, in which 17 soldiers died.
Ongoing international military intervention since January 2013 has driven Islamist fighters away from major population centres, but large tracts of the sub-Saharan country are still not controlled by Malian and foreign troops.
The full impact of the UK's decision to exit European Union on India may take some time to unfold, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today.
"The opportunities for India would depend on Great Britain's negotiations of terms of exit with the European Union and their future negotiated trade relations," Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
India is negotiating broad-based Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) with the EU.
She said the BTIA negotiations began in 2007 with sixteen rounds of negotiations concluded so far.
Three rounds of stocktaking meetings have also been held recently, she added.
On other FTAs, she said that India is negotiating a trade pact with Israel.
The eighth round was held in Israel from 24-26 November 2013 wherein discussions took place on market access in goods, rules of origin, custom procedures and trade in services, she said.
Also, the minister informed that a Joint Study Group (JSG) has been set up for considering the feasibility of entering into an FTA between India and Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) comprising of five countries - Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
The first meeting of the JSG with EaEU was held on July 31, 2015.
An FTA is also being negotiated with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
Replying to a separate question, she said as on March 31, 204 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are functional.
Maximum number of operational zones are in Tamil Nadu (36) followed by Telangana (26) and 25 each in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
An architecturally renowned Church in Goa's Bardez taluka this Independence Day will host a unique festival of celebrating and honouring an indigenous sweet dish called, 'patolleo'.
Our Lady of Assumption Church located at Succoro village, near Panaji in Bardez Taluka would be celebrating 'Patolleanchem Fest', an unique salute to the jaggery-based sweet dish.
Goa Tourism department which has been promoting this 'alcohol-free' event as a tourist attraction,said the festival is a 'must-visit' for visitors.
"The Goan sweet Patolleo is a sweet made of jaggery and rice encased in a turmeric leaf. Goa, the most colorful and vibrant state celebrates 'Patolleanchem Fest', a unique festival honouring the dish Patolleo," the department said in a release issued here.
Traditionally, the festival is celebrated by preparing and distributing the Patolleos among villagers.
"Visitors are then treated to fabulous Goan fare and various performances by the locals and artistes. Guests are also given a share of the homemade Patolleo's that are traditionally distributed on this day," it said.
"Various stalls are also put up displaying a variety of local handicrafts and wares. The ubiquitous Goan brass band also graces the occasion with vibrant Konkani favourites and catchy tunes," the department has said.
Goa government today told the state Legislative Assembly that they are in the process of forming a cyber cell which will monitor possible threats to the state-run websites.
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told the House that till date 17 Goa government websites were hacked on different occasions, but the hackers had only defaced the front page, while leaving the internal data intact.
"Looking at the increase in number of cyber security threats and concerns, the department of Information and Technology is in the process of setting up a cyber cell in-house which would monitor the cyber treats in the government websites," Parsekar said during Question Hour while responding to a query by Congress MLA Mauvin Godinho.
The CM said currently Central government-appointed agency is monitoring the threats to the (government) websites.
"The state has not formed any cyber security policy, but as far as the government websites as well the State Data Centre (SDC) is concerned, the various security guidelines laid by the Central government are being put in practice or implemented," he told the House.
As per information provided on the floor of the House, the websites that came under attack by hackers were of departments like health, captain of ports, water resources, accounts, NRI commission, agriculture, fisheries, central library, sainik welfare and others.
Rs 200 crore has been allocated by the central government for the Nirbhaya Fund to provide compensation to women and child victims of sexual crimes, Rajya Sabha was informed today.
Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir said all states and union territories have notified victim compensation scheme in their respective state and UT.
He said record of disbursement made by states and UTs under their victim compensation scheme is not maintained centrally.
"However, on July 6, 2016, the central government has launched revised Central Victim Compensation Fund (CVCF) Scheme for women with one time grant of Rs 200 crore under the Nirbhaya Fund to support and supplement the existing victim compensation schemes notified by states and UT administrations," he said replying to a written question.
Ahir said the fund has been allocated to reduce disparity in quantum of compensation amount notified by different states and UTs for victims of crimes.
It will also encourage states and UTs to effectively implement the victim compensation schemes notified by them under the provisions of section 357A of CrPC and provide financial support to victims of various crimes like sexual offences including rape, acid attacks, crime against children, human trafficking etc, he said.
Nirbhaya fund was set up following an announcement in the 2013 Union Budget after the brutal gangrape on December 16, 2012 of a Delhi girl.
The fund is created to support initiatives by the government and NGOs working towards protecting the dignity and ensuring safety of women in India.
Government has notified the national 'Early Childhood Care and Education' (ECCE) policy which aims to achieve holistic development of children below six years of age, including those from the Muslim community, Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
Union Minister made the statement while replying to a query about the Centre's reaction to a 2013-14 UNICEF Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC) that indicated 34 per cent and 25.6 per cent of Muslim and Christian children (below six years) respectively do not attend pre-school.
"The government has reaffirmed its commitment to promote early childhood care and education by formulating and notifying National Early Childhood Care and Education policy," the Minister of State for Minority Affairs (Independent Charge) said.
"The vision of the national ECCE policy is to achieve holistic development and active learning capacity of all children below 6 years of age by promoting free, universal, inclusive, equitable, joyful and contexualised opportunities for laying foundation and attaining full potential," he said.
The ECCE is one of the six free services provided through Anganwadi centres located across the country under the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) scheme of Ministry of Women and Child Development.
The ICDS is a universal self-selecting scheme available to all the beneficiaries who enroll at the Anganwadi centres irrespective of caste and religion, Naqvi said.
The ICDS scheme is has been universalised to cover 14 lakh habitations and about 3.50 crore children (aged between three and six years) are attending pre-school education at 13.50 lakh Anganwadi centres as on March 31, 2016.
The Cabinet today approved a new pension scheme and post-retirement medical services to about 35,000 employees of state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI), which would cost annually Rs 134.4 crore.
"The Cabinet today took a big decision. It has approved introduction of pension and post-retirement medical services as part of superannuation benefits for employees of FCI," Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told PTI after the meeting.
FCI employees were demanding for pension benefit since 2006. The entire expenses would be borne by the FCI, which has saved significant amount by reducing foodgrains loss in transit and storage among others, he said.
The pension to FCI employees would be given with effect from December 1, 2008, while the medical services for retired officials of all categories would be implemented from April 1, 2016, an official statement said.
The annual financial implication for both schemes combined would be around Rs 134.4 crore at present level of salaries of the employees, it added.
All employees in Category I, II, III and IV of the Corporation on the payroll as on 1.12.2008 or appointed thereafter would be covered under the scheme.
Those with a minimum service period of 15 years before superannuation except in case of death would be eligible.
Employer's contribution would be 10 per cent of the basic pay and dearness allowance (DA) per month in respect of all existing employees as on December 1, 2008, while employees mandatory contribution would be two per cent of basic pay plus DA per month.
The employees voluntary contribution would be up to 25 per cent of basic pay plus DA per month.
As far as post-retirment medical services are concerned, the government said all employees can avail including retired employees who are members of the current employee funded Medical Health Scheme for Retirees.
Those with a minimum service of 15 years before superannuation except in case of death would be eligible. The employer's contribution would be 3.83 per cent of basic pay plus DA, while employees contribution would be last drawn basic pay and DA at the time of retirement or death during service subject to minimum of Rs 10,000.
The Scheme would cover the medical expenses of retired member, his/her spouse and dependent disabled child at any hospital in India subject to the overall annual ceiling.
FCI is the government's nodal agency engaged in procurement and distribution of foodgrains.
The government today pitched for establishing an international clean energy data grid and asserted that information related to green and unclean energy should be put in public domain.
Noting that it is essential for the common man to realise that the energy being used is unclean, for the world to shift to clean energy, Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave said such a shift will come only through data that is stored and analysed properly.
"India has given a call for the establishment of an International Clean Energy Data-Grid that is corruption-free.
"An international grid is a must as common man has the right to access data. The data must pertain to both production as well as consumption patterns of a society," an official statement quoting Dave said.
He was speaking at the day-long national conference on energy data: management, modelling and GIS mapping organised by NITI Aayog here.
Dave asserted that the world will have to understand the difference between clean and unclean energy.
"Data on green energy and unclean energy should be made available in the public domain. Till the common man realises that the energy being used is unclean, the day will never come when the world will shift towards using clean energy.
"Such a shift will come about only through data that is stored and analysed properly. Facts projected through correct data will lead us in the right direction," he said.
Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative to establish an International Solar Alliance (ISA), the Environment Minister emphasised that solar energy is the answer to energy requirements of the future.
"Dave also strongly advocated for disciplined consumption in every field, be it in the consumption of power to reduce the burden on power production," the statement added.
Two committees will soon be set up by the government for hiring of retired bureaucrats as consultants in various Ministries and departments, Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
Minister for Personnel and PMO said bureaucrats and polity were two essential pillars of democracy and bureaucrats and civil servants were tools of governments.
"We can't achieve good governance with bad tools. Therefore, it sometimes become necessary to appoint retired bureaucrats. We are now planning to set up a committee with representatives of concerned Ministries or Departments as well as Department of Personnel which will select such candidates.
"If the appointment would be for more than two years and the salary would be more than Rs 50,000, another committee, headed by the Cabinet Secretary, would consider any such proposal of appointment of retired bureaucrats," he said during Question Hour.
The Minister said while appointing retired bureaucrats as consultants, the government's efforts were always objective rather than subjective.
"As the consultants and advisors are not to be engaged against regular posts, it is not likely to affect the morale of serving officials or employment opportunities for the youth. Moreover they bring expertise with them which only improves overall efficiency of the government," he said
Singh said as per the extant rules, the Ministries and Departments may hire external professionals, consultancy firms or consultants for a specific job, not against regular post. Some retired senior civil servants having expertise and eminence are also appointed as advisors with a view to achieve certain specified public policy objectives.
The Minister said the government is also framing guidelines for appointment of retired bureaucrats as consultants and examining the possibility of extending the cooling off period for retired bureaucrats in taking appointment in private sector beyond one year.
Singh also said the Department of Personnel has set up a committee to revisit the syllabus and training for bureaucrats and the committee will submit its report soon.
Besides, the government has been trying to improve the administrative mechanism through various ways, he said.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been accused of a making an "assassination threat" against his rival Hillary Clinton.
The Republican presidential nominee, who was speaking at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Tuesday about the next president's power to appoint Supreme Court judges, said that Clinton would appoint liberal justices if she wins the presidency, which would be a threat to gun ownership rights, reports the Guardian.
"Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the second amendment. If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the second amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know. But I'll tell you what, that will be a horrible day," he said.
The second amendment to the Constitution protects the right of Americans to bear arms for self defense.
Trump has accused his Democratic rival of wanting to abolish it, a charge that she denies.
The 'assassination threat' report drew a lot of criticism for Trump as well as for the media as some campaigners for gun control expressed outrage at his off-the-cuff remark while others rebuffed the report as a 'distraction created by the dishonest media.'
Robby Mook, Clinton's campaign manager, said: "This is simple - what Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way."
However, Trump later tried to clarify that he was referring to the political movement around the second amendment.
Trump's campaign also insisted that his words had been misunderstood.
Jason Miller, a spokesperson, explained the comments saying, "It's called the power of unification. second amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power. And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it won't be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump.
The Allahabad High Court has asked the Uttar Pradesh government to produce by Thursday a status report on the investigation in the Bulandshahr gang rape case after it failed to submit the report on Wednesday.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice D B Bhosale and Justice Yashwant Varma, which has taken suo motu cognizance of the sexual assault on a minor girl and her mother, had on August 8 directed that the status report be submitted on August 10.
However, when Advocate General Vijay Bahadur Singh made a request for more time to submit the status report, the court ordered that the same be produced "tomorrow, by 2 pm.In a sealed cover".
The court has taken a grim view of the incident that took place on July 29, when a car carrying six members of a Noida family to Shahjahanpur in western UP was stopped by criminals on a highway in Bulandhshahr district and the 13-year-old girl and her mother were gang raped in the fields nearby after being dragged out of the vehicle.
The incident evoked a huge outcry and the Samajwadi Party government in the state drew widespread criticism over the law and order situation in UP.
Besides seeking a status report, the court has sought to know from the state government whether it was "willing to hand over investigation of the case to the CBI" and "what steps the state would like to take to avoid such incidents in future."
The Madras High Court today directed the Principal District Judge, Coimbatore, to visit the premises of Isha Yoga Centre near that city to conduct an inquiry with the inmates about their willingness to stay there and submit a report tomorrow.
A division bench comprising justices S Nagamuthu and V Bharathidasan gave the direction on the Habeas Corpus petition filed by parents of two women living in the premises of Isha yoga centre, 27 kms from Coimbatore.
The Principal District Judge, Coimbatore, who is also the Chairman of District Legal Services Authority, is directed to visit the centre by 3 PM today and conduct an inquiry with the inmates and other 'detenues' and submit a report to the court tomorrow, the order said.
On August 1, a retired professor Kamaraj and his wife had petitioned the Coimbatore Collector alleging that their two daughters had been held captive at Isha Yoga centre near Coimbatore and were made 'sanyasins'.
However, on August 5, Isha Foundation issued a press release refuting the allegations.
"We would like to clearly state on record that all the above allegations of holding captives, brainwashing, and forcing individuals into sanyas or brahmacharya are absolutely false," the Foundation, running the Centre, had said in the release.
Delhi High Court today questioned the presence of police force during the Delhi government's sealing process of two branches of a private unaided school in the national capital.
"Why police was required in force? It is a children's school and you go there with SDM and police when you have a court order. Who authorised it?" Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said.
The court also noted that the lawyer for the Directorate of Education (DoE) was "probably incorrectly instructed" by the department as the court was informed that only record rooms of Maxfort School were being sealed, when as per a video of the process at Pitampura branch, "entire school appeared to be sealed".
"Video (of Pitampura branch) gives indication that entire school was being sealed," the judge said.
The court further said that one of the two local commissioners appointed by it to visit the two schools had in her report alleged that DoE officials put her to hardship and misbehaved with her and also did not provide her a copy of video recording of the Rohini branch of Maxfort school.
"There is no question of misbehaving with court appointed officials," the court said.
DoE in its defence said that police was taken as a precaution as there was apprehension of aggressive behaviour on the part of school authorities.
The bench, however, disagreed and said that as per the video recording of Pitampura branch, there was no aggression on either side and thus, "there was no necessity for police".
The court, thereafter, directed DoE to place on record the video recording of sealing of Rohini branch of the school.
It also directed the department to file its response to the petitions filed by the school challenging the government's move to take them over and listed the matters for further hearing on August 23.
The court also listed on that date two contempt pleas moved by the school alleging that sealing operations continued on August 3 for several hours despite orders of the court to not do so.
On August 3, the court had directed the DoE to not take
any coercive steps in connection with the department's order, approved by the Lieutenant Governor, to take over the schools.
According to the government, it had decided to take over two branches of Maxfort on the basis of complaints that the school was allegedly violating rules regarding admission of candidates from economically weaker sections (EWS).
As per the government, the school was also facing complaints of maintaining false records and misappropriation of funds, among others.
The school, which has four branches in Delhi, is at present being run by Chadha Educational Society and S Jagat Singh Chadha Charitable Trust.
As per the DoE, it had issued show cause notices to the two branches of the school in April this year asking the authorities to respond.
As per the government, the school is also facing complaints regarding violation of Delhi School Education (DSE) Act, 1973 and Right to Education Act (RTE), 2009.
The Delhi High Court today reserved its verdict on a plea filed by UK-based Vedanta group company Cairn India Ltd seeking permission to export excess crude from its Barmer oil field in Rajasthan.
Justice Manmohan concluded hearing arguments on the plea and directed the firm and the Centre to file short submissions on the issue relating to the export-import policy of the country.
"Arguments heard. Judgement reserved," the court said.
During the arguments, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said that Cairn India cannot be permitted to export crude as "no unrefined petroleum product is allowed to be exported".
"Since long, the policy of Government of India is the same that till the country attains self-sufficiency, not even a drop of crude can be permitted to be exported. It is not their (Cairn India) case that we are discriminating with them. No one in the country is allowed to export crude," he said.
"It is not the policy of the government of the day but it is the policy of the country since decades," he said.
The counsel, appearing for Cairn India, countered the ASG's submissions and said that the export policy gives it the right to export.
"There is no policy which does not permit export of crude," the counsel said, adding that it right to export was "arbitrarily" curtailed.
He argued that no policy has been placed by the ministry before the court which says that crude cannot be exported.
The government had earlier argued that export of the country's domestic crude oil cannot be allowed as it would be detrimental to national interest considering the fact that nearly 85 per cent of required crude was imported.
Cairn India's counsel had said that they are ready to sell crude within India provided they get the benchmark price.
Cairn has a production-sharing contract with the government under which the company gets 70 per cent of crude produced from Barmer and rest goes to the government.
Under the contract, the government or its nominee can pick up the company's share of crude and what is not picked up, could be sold to private players or exported, Cairn has said.
However, after the crude is sold, the government gets 70 per cent of the profits, the company has contended.
It has claimed that as a result of selling excess crude to private domestic companies like Reliance and Essar, at rates lower than international prices, the government was losing about Rs 4.5 crore per day.
Cairn had claimed that it had made several representations to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade for permission to export the crude, but did not get any response.
Prior to this, it had written to Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) to "canalise" export of the crude, but got no response from it as well. IOCL is the canalising agent for the export of crude.
Canalising agents are those through which a product can be imported or exported by companies which do not have permission to do so directly.
In a relief to DMDK founder leader Vijaykanth, the Madras High Court today stayed further proceedings in 14 defamation cases filed against him and his wife by the Tamil Nadu government in different courts in the state.
Passing the interim order while admitting the petitions filed by Vijayakanth and his wife Premalatha seeking to quash the cases, Justice P N Prakash granted the stay on further proceedings in all the cases and also dispensed with their personal appearance in the trial courts.
In their petitions, the couple submitted that they were filing the petitions following the recent order of Supreme Court which while upholding defamation laws had directed them to approach the high court for quashing the cases filed against them during the previous AIADMK regime.
They challenged the Criminal Procedure Code provision which empowers the government to give sanction to the public prosecutor to file criminal defamation cases.
They contended that in the absence of criminal intention, mere speaking and sharing or exposing of truth in a bona fide manner in public by a citizen or by a opponent political leader against government official or another citizen does not constitute any offence.
Noting that the relationship between a citizen and the government was like a mother and son, the petitioners said when a son raises his voice for his rights and needs, only his real mother will appreciate and never intend to punish him for imprisonment.
Heightened security arrangements will be put in place for Independence Day celebrations at the historical Red Fort this year in wake of terrorists striking crowded places worldwide.
The preliminary security arrangements began in July and senior police and intelligence officials have been regularly updating them to weed out any shortcomings and glitches.
Nearly 6,000 security personnel and hundreds of CCTV cameras will monitor from three control-rooms the venue at Red Fort, from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation in presence of dignitaries, including foreign representatives and thousands of visitors, police officials said.
Special measures will be taken to meet on-the-spot situations such as the prime minister choosing to meet people at the venue as he previously did twice, they said.
The travel route of the prime minister from 7 RCR to Red Fort will be watched through hundreds of CCTV cameras. Besides, the Red Fort premises will be watched through nearly 200 CCTV cameras and two high-mast HD cameras with powerful resolution to pinpoint suspects and neutralise any threat.
More than 5,000 Delhi Police personnel and 1,000 paramilitary personnel will be deployed at the venue apart from elite NSG commandos intelligence officials.
Special teams of police will be stationed to neutralise the possibility of any airborne-activity such as drones.
In a massive screening exercise, police has collected details of over 9,000 people residing in the vicinity of the Red Fort to ensure that most people near the venue are marked out and strangers could be checked in case of any exigency.
The buildings facing the Red Fort will be secured and police and paramilitary personnel will be stationed there.
Panoramic photography will be used to ensure a close watch on the 605 balconies and 104 windows that open towards the Red Fort, said the officials.
Security agencies have also marked out over 3,000 trees around the Fort so that no man or material was lodged there, they said.
SOROTI, Uganda In this electricity-starved rural part of Uganda, men ride bicycles several kilometers (miles) to the nearest market town simply to charge their phones.
That should change with the construction nearby of one of the largest solar plants in sub-Saharan Africa, where two-thirds of the population is without electricity and countries increasingly explore alternative sources of power.
Frustrated by the slow pace of rural electrification in this East African country of 36 million people, many Ugandans have been investing in their own solar panels to light their homes at night and keep small businesses running. But even the cheapest solar units can cost at least $100, a challenge when Uganda's per capita income is $703, according to U.N. figures.
Villagers near Soroti are watching with enthusiasm the construction of a solar photovoltaic plant in their neighborhood. In the blistering heat, workmen install tables into dry earth. Shiny solar panels will be fixed atop them across a 33-acre field.
When the plant is launched later this year it will have the capacity to generate 10 megawatts of power, which will be added to Uganda's national grid.
The solar plant is expected to supply electricity to 40,000 homes and businesses in the area, a big deal in a country that is still heavily dependent on hydroelectric power for its energy needs, said Philip Karumuna, an engineer managing the project. Hydroelectric plants depend on the flow of water, making them vulnerable to dry spells or droughts.
"We have a lot of sunshine, but then we are not utilizing it," said Ambrose Kamukama, a maintenance engineer at the plant. "By all means, the government should do more of this."
In Soroti, the sun shines almost daily, a key factor in choosing to locate the plant here. Surrounded by grasslands in which cattle graze and monkeys play, the town is located nearly 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the capital, Kampala. The town's small hotels and businesses need a constant supply of power to thrive, but they rarely get it.
When power fails, resident Stephen Okot just sits back and waits, often for hours, making it impossible to meet deadlines or win new customers for his business making metal doors and windows.
He hopes the new solar plant will end the power blackouts.
Soroti Hotel manager David Mugoda said the power cuts force him to run a gas-guzzling generator that eats into his profits, for instance when milk in the freezer goes bad.
"Power doesn't go often, but when it goes you can curse your life," he said. "When you really need (power), that is when it goes off."
The Soroti solar plant is financed under a scheme called GET FiT, a renewable energy facility funded by the European Union and supported by the governments of Germany, Norway and the UK, according to Access Power, a Dubai-based firm that is jointly operating the plant with Eren RE of France.
The plant is hopefully "only just the beginning for many more to come," Kristian Schmidt, head of the EU delegation to Uganda, said at the ground-breaking ceremony in March.
Energy experts say similar renewable energy projects will help diversify Africa's energy mix.
In 2014, a solar plant outside Rwanda's capital, Kigali, added 8.5 megawatts to that country's grid, boosting energy generation capacity by about 6 percent. That plant and the one under development in Uganda are the biggest solar plants in sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa, according to Eren RE.
With better planning African governments can increase the continent's generation of renewable energy, said Dickens Kamugisha who runs the Uganda-based Africa Institute for Energy Governance.
"We should not be praising the government for building big dams," he said, referring to Uganda's government, which has been spending heavily on new hydropower stations. "Our solution to most of the poor people should be solar."
"Thor" star Tom Hiddleston has signed up to photo-sharing website, Instagram and Robert Downey Jr has welcomed him with a Taylor Swift jibe.
The 51-year-old "Iron Man" actor wasted no time teasing his "Avengers" co-star by re-posting a blurry paparazzi photo from Hiddleston's now-infamous Rhode Island outing, in which he is wearing 'I love TS' T-shirt.
"Join me in welcoming the biggest T. Stark fan of them all to Instagram," Robert quipped.
Hiddleston used his first Instagram post to share a picture of himself from the "Thor: Ragnarok" set.
Loki's long black hair and a glimpse of his battle armour and robe are all on show in the new image.
"Thor: Ragnarok", which sees Chris Hemsworth in the lead role, will release on November 3, 2017.
Honeywell Automation India today said it has appointed Ashish Gaikwad as its managing director with effect from October 1, 2016.
He will succeed Vikas Chadha, who was recently named President of Honeywell India.
"With more than 25 years of experience in automation, control, and advanced software applications in the process industry, Ashish will strategically lead HAIL to continued growth in the region, and strengthen the brand and its equity with customers and other key stakeholders," Honeywell Automation India Chairman Suresh Senapaty said in a statement.
Gaikwad (47) joined Honeywell in 1992 and has progressed through roles of increasing responsibility, most recently serving as general manager for the Advanced Solutions business for the Asia Pacific region within Honeywell Process Solutions.
Honeywell was established in 1987 with its manufacturing, design, and engineering facilities located in Pune. The company is a leader in providing integrated automation and software solutions, with close to 3,000 employees based in nine offices across India.
On the eve of 70th Independence Day Celebrations, Indian Air Force is presenting its Number One Band to enthrall the city residents on August 14.
The conductors for the event would be Master Warrant Officer Maxwell and Junior Warrant Officer Antony Dixon, experts in playing trumpets, in the 35-member band, flying down from Bengaluru for this special musical concert, Air Force Administrative College Commandant N S Vaidya told reporters here today.
The college here had made all necessary arrangements for the event, with assitance of Police department, with total security, he said.
Vaidya said that military bands enliven the spirit, strengthen the mood and help in promoting pride and camaraderie.
The first Air Force Band was formed in 1944 at the Royal Air Force station, Kohat in North-Western Frontier, now in Pakistan and moved to various locations and finally shifted in 1947 to Air Force Station, Jalahalli in Bangalore, he said.
Today, there were eight bands in the Air Force and the event was to showcase the hidden talent of men in uniform.
Students at IIT here boycotted classes for the third day today demanding action against a doctor and the workers of the health centre at the institute over the death of an 26-year-old research scholar, even as his family demanded a CBI probe into the case.
IIT Kanpur Director Indraneel Manna said the college authorities held two rounds of talks with the agitating students and they have sent the demands of the family to the HRD Ministry.
The students are boycotting classes over the death of research scholar Alok Pandey. The IIT administration had claimed that the scholar died due to a cardiac arrest, whereas the students of the hostel and his brother Adarsh Kumar Pandey alleged that Alok died after he was given an injection by the a doctor at the centre without conducting any tests.
Alok's brother has demanded a CBI probe into the incident and compensation of Rs 50 lakh to the family of the deceased, Manna said.
Alok, a PhD scholar of Material Science at the IIT, had complained of severe chest and neck pain on Monday after which he was rushed to the institute's health centre. As his condition deteriorated he was referred to a cardiology centre. However, he died on the way to hospital.
Adarsh lodged a complaint on the basis of which an FIR was registered under section 304 A(causing death by rash or negligent act) against Dr Shailendra Kishore, the Warden In-charge, Guide Kamal Kekar and the hospital administrator, Kanpur SSP Shalabh Mathur said.
He also alleged that the scholar was mistreated and tortured in the hostel, Mathur said, adding a probe is on in this connection.
Manna said a team of three specialist doctors from as many medical colleges of the city has been formed to probe the death and submit a report in two weeks.
He also said that they held talks with the students till around 1 AM and again this morning but they are sticking to their demands of action against the health centre officials.
"We are holding meetings over this and will soon decide the course of action," Manna said.
Meanwhile, police personnel have been posted outside the campus.
Maharashtra government today said the ill-fated British era bridge on Savitri river at Mahad, which collapsed claiming over 20 lives, was supposed to be dismantled last December.
So far, 26 bodies have been recovered while nearly 14 are still missing and feared dead after two State Transport buses and some other vehicles fell in the river following the bridge collapse on Mumbai-Goa highway on August 2.
"This particular bridge was to be brought down last December but on public demand, it was kept in operation," Maharashtra PWD minister Chandrakant Patil told reporters here at Mantralaya.
The bridge on the Mumbai-Goa highway comes under the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). Union Minister for Surface Transport, Nitin Gadkari soon after the Mahad tragedy had announced that NHAI would reconstruct the bridge within 18 months.
Replying to other queries, Patil said there are about 2,300 bridges in the state out of which 100 odd are from the British and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj era.
"All these bridges will be inspected twice every year. A three-member committee of experts from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) has commenced its study on the bridge. Its report is expected to be received by next cabinet meeting due on August 23," he said, adding that the process of constituting a judicial inquiry has been set in motion.
"A workshop will be conducted for the PWD engineers for methodology to be used for inspection of the bridges," Patil said, adding the workshop will dwell on what to do with trees that grow on the bridge structure weakening it later.
He said pulling out trees does not solve the issue.
Patil said it will have to be decided on whether to repair or reconstruct dilapidated bridges.
"A bridge division will be created in each administrative division of the state to take care of the bridges," he said.
He informed that the state cabinet has relaxed the norm of seven years waiting period for granting compensation to kith and kin of the deceased in such accidents.
The kin of the deceased will now get compensation within two months, he said.
Considering the Maharashtra State Road Transport
Corporation has announced Rs 14 lakh compensation to the passengers who lost their lives in the two buses and on the demand of kin of deceased from private vehicles, the government will give Rs 10 lakh to them as well, Patil said.
Meanwhile, the search teams have decided to continue the operation till they recover all the bodies and remains of the swept away vehicles.
Also, Raigad administration has made arrangements for the lodging of nearly 100 kin of the victims who are camping at the site of the collapsed bridge.
Few relatives of the missing persons yesterday expressed anger over the failure to recover more bodies and vehicles swept away in the water.
Stressing upon the need to increase focus on R&D, Steel Minister Chaudhary Birendra Singh today said innovation in the sector has been lagging.
He also called for increasing utilisation of steel in sectors such as roads and bridges in a bid to raise the consumption of the metal.
"We are lagging in innovation and original research, which needs to be stepped up if we need to raise our efficiency levels as well as stay competitive," Singh said at Minerals, Metals, Metallurgy and Materials International exhibition and conference (MMMM 2016) here.
The global conference is organised by Indian Institute of Metals in association with ITE Group, PLC, every two years.
"This is precisely why we have set up the Steel Research & Technology Mission of India (SRTMI), so that India, like developed nations, can produce futuristic products, which not only helps keep the sector competitive but also explores others uses for the metal," he said.
On increasing steel consumption, the Minister said that the industry must explore use of steel in sectors such as roads, bridges, other industrial applications, etc so that the consumption can be increased.
Steel Secretary Aruna Sharma said only way to mitigate impact of low international prices is to achieve operational efficiency and optimal use of resources.
The quality of steel that is produced and its domestic consumption needs to be enhanced aggressively, which is also being addressed by the government as it thrust on ramping up infrastructure in the country will act as a driving factor for raising demand, she added.
MMMM 2016, the biennial B2B event, is organised by the Indian Institute of Metals in collaboration with conferences and fair organiser ITE Group, PLC.
Managing Director of ITE Group (India Operations) Udo Schuertzmann said over 300 exhibitors from 25 countries are participating in MMMM 2016.
The conference has seen participation countries like China, USA, Russia, France, Germany and UK. Besides, trade delegations from 7 countries are exploring investment opportunities in India, he added.
A 62-year-old Indian, who was on board the Emirates plane that crash-landed here, might be the luckiest man alive as he has won a million dollars in lottery, just six days after miraculously surviving the accident.
Mohammad Basheer Abdul Khadar, from Kerala, was among the 300 people on board the Emirates flight EK521 which crash landed and burst into flames at the Dubai airport last Wednesday.
The Dubai expatriate struck gold yesterday when his lucky ticket number 0845 was drawn in the Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire at Concourse A at Dubai International Airport, winning him USD 1 million (Dirham 3.67 million), Gulf reported.
Khadar had purchased the ticket on Eid on his way for a vacation with his family in Thiruvananthapuram.
A fleet administrator with a car dealer group in Dubai, Khadar had made it a habit to purchase a raffle ticket whenever he travelled to his home country.
Khadar became a millionaire after purchasing his 17th ticket, just four months before he was due to retire in December, he told the daily.
"I have been working in Dubai for 37 years, and I have always felt like this is my country. I live a simple life, and now that it's my time to retire, I feel like God gave me a second life when I survived the plane crash, and blessed me with this money to follow all this up by doing good things," Khadar said.
Khadar said he plans to return to India after his retirement to find a job that involves helping people in need.
He wants to help children in Kerala who are in need of financial help and medical support.
"I am blessed to have finally won with Dubai Duty Free and can't wait to share the with my family. If you ask me about my plans, I obviously want to help the children in Kerala who are less fortunate than others and need some financial help and medical support," he said.
Khadar, a grandfather, earns Dirham 8,000 (Rs 1,45,212) a month. However, he had to struggle a lot for the treatment of his 21- year-old son who became paralysed after an accidental fall just 13 days after birth.
"I had to spend a lot of money on his treatment. Some years back I had to take a loan of Rs 1.8 million for a major surgery for him. I have managed to pay it back," said Khadar.
He said he was thankful for his job that also helped him get his daughter married.
"I will continue to work till I can. Nothing else can give you the satisfaction of your hard-earned money," he said.
In 2007, Indian national Sadanand Raghavan, a mechanic in Sharjah, scooped Dirham 5 million in a Mashreq Bank raffle.
Actress Jennifer Aniston and actor Justin Theroux enjoyed a low-key anniversary celebration, with the "Leftovers" star flying from Australia to Los Angeles especially for their big day.
The couple marked a year since they tied the knot in a secret ceremony on August 5, and Theroux, 44, flew to Los Angeles from Australia, where he has been working on the upcoming season of "The Leftovers", to ensure he would be with his wife on their special day, reported People magazine.
"Justin flew from Australia to LA to spend their anniversary week with Jen. They relaxed at home, had dinner with friends and had a small anniversary celebration at home," a source said.
A 25-year-old junior engineer of the Madhya Pradesh Central Power Distribution Company Limited (MPCPDCL) was today beaten to death at his office here allegedly by two persons over an inflated electricity bill, police said.
Santosh Vishwakarma and his nephew Nikhel, who beat the JE Karmakar Varathe to death were arrested, Superintendent of Police (South) Anshuman Singh told PTI.
Santosh, hailing from Sagar district along with Nikhel went to MPCPDCL office in Chandbad under Bajaria Police Station to settle the alleged inflated bill issue, he added.
Santosh had an altercation with a clerk saying Nikhel, who is staying here had been handed an inflated electricity monthly bill which should be reduced, the SP said.
Karmakar stepped in and asked the duo to come to his room to settle the dispute, Singh added.
A heated argument took place between the JE and the duo following which they punched and thrashed Karmakar, he said.
Karmakar writhing in pain vomited and was rushed to Shakir Ali hospital where doctors advised that he be taken to state government-run Hamadia hospital, Singh added.
As per the official, on reaching the Hamadia hospital, the doctors declared him brought dead.
"May be he died after sustaining some injury to his private parts," he said.
Police said the body has been sent for post-mortem.
"We have arrested both the accused and charged them with murder. Further investigations including the recording of the statement of the MPCPDCL staffers are on," the SP added.
Meanwhile, MPCPDCL Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Vivek Porwal said he was on his way to Bhopal from Jabalpur district.
All help will be provided to Karmakar's family, the CMD said.
In recent times, this is the second murder that has taken place in the MPCPDCL office.
In December 2012, a 52-year-old MPCPDCL woman clerk Meera Ahuja was murdered by sharp-edged weapons and Rs 2 lakh was looted from the company's office under Koh-e-Fiza Station area.
No one has been arrested in connection with Meera's death so far.
Karnataka government has decided to go in for cloud seeding following deficient rains and water level at most reservoirs running low in the state.
Government has also sounded an alert to farmers and asked them to engage in agriculture activities taking note of the rain prospects, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
"We have discussed cloud seeding, in earlier cabinet meeting we had discussed about coming out with a programme for this. Now we have given approval to irrigation department for taking up cloud seeding," he said.
"We need to first assess the water content in clouds using radars before conducting the experiment; whole cloud seeding process may cost about Rs 30 crore."
Elaborating about the rain situation in the state, Jayachandra said "overall it has been 503 mm against normal rainfall of 537mm, about six per cent less."
He said in south interior Karnataka it was a bit better, "in north interior Karnataka there is shortage, in Malnad region there is 24 per cent shortfall and in coastal region 17 per cent shortfall."
The minister said shortage of rains would also aggravate power situation. Barring Almatti and Narayanapura, water levels at most reservoirs like Krishna Raja Sagara, Harangi, Hemavati, Tungabhadra has reached only about 50 per cent, he said.
"Present conditions don't show favorable signs as of now; ... Met department has also said that chances of good rains are difficult there are chances of only light rainfall."
"Water from reservoirs, especially from Krishna Raja Sagara and Tungabhadra, can be released only for drinking purpose ...," he added.
Stating that irrigation consultative committees across the state have been asked to give information to farmers, the Minister also listed various steps that government will be taking up--like alternative crops in certain areas and limiting digging of bore wells.
Among other decisions taken by the cabinet in the meeting today include premature release of prisoners undergoing life sentence on grounds of good behaviour on the occasion of Independence day.
Release of a total of 320 prisoners has been approved by the cabinet under the new guidelines formulated by the state. They include 272 men and 48 women.The cabinet has also decided to amend Karnataka Minor Mineral Concession Rules 1994.
It will give priority to 'M-sand' and issuing land to those coming forward to set up 'M-sand'units with required NOCs, among others.
WILLISTON Williston man camps will be required to close by Sept. 1 under an ordinance approved Tuesday, but operators could seek permission to reopen in the future if a demand for oil worker housing returns.
The Williston City Commission voted 5-0 Tuesday to phase out temporary workforce housing, giving companies until May 1, 2018, to remove facilities and until Aug. 1, 2018, to clean up the sites.
Previously, commissioners had voted 3-2 to require man camps in and around Williston to close by July 1, but the businesses have been in limbo after a federal judge issued an order preventing Williston from enforcing the ordinance.
Commissioners considered a revised ordinance Tuesday with the Sept. 1 deadline, which was met with protests by several camp owners and oil industry representatives. The ordinance requires a second reading before it is final.
Among those raising objections was Gary Thompson of Lodging Solutions, which owns the land north of Williston where Target Logistics operates worker housing facilities. Thompson, of Alexandria, Minn., offered to sell the commissioners his property, which he said is now worthless.
I dont think its fair, Thompson said. Why cant we let the marketplace decide this?
Brent Eslinger, senior district manager for Halliburton, said 65 percent of the companys Williston workforce is now local, but the employer wants to be ready with housing if the demand for temporary workers returns. Halliburton owns the Muddy River Lodge in Williston, which Eslinger said the company may propose to use as conference space.
Commissioner Deanette Piesik, who previously opposed the ban on temporary housing, said many camps closed in anticipation of the July 1 deadline and found other housing for their workers.
Piesik said she supports the new deadline because theres no longer a housing shortage and the revision allows the facilities to remain at their current sites.
If it did boom again, that housing would be there, Piesik said.
Commissioner Brad Bekkedahl said he thinks the oil market is poised for steep peaks and valleys, which could again create a housing shortage in Williston.
If pricing conditions warrant, were not going to see the rig count go from 30 to 40, were going to see the rig count go over 100, Bekkedahl said.
Man camp owners also can bring proposals to the city to repurpose their facilities to hotels or a different use, which some are already doing.
The debate is likely to continue in U.S. District Court in Bismarck, where Target Logistics, Lodging Solutions and Halliburton have an ongoing case challenging the citys efforts to eliminate workforce housing.
U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Hovland issued a preliminary injunction that prevented Williston from enforcing the ordinance with the July 1 deadline. Hovland ruled that the man camp operators are likely to prevail in their argument that the city needed a 4-1 supermajority vote to approve the ordinance.
Boston attorney Benjamin Tymann, who represents Target Logistics and Lodging Solutions, told commissioners he strongly believes theyre in danger of violating that injunction by requiring the camps to close in three weeks.
The next hearing in the court case is a scheduling conference on Sept. 19.
In a first of its kind, Kerala government will host Onam celebrations at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on September 3 in which President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice-President Hamid Ansari will participate.
The decision to hold the Onam festivities at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi was taken at the state cabinet meeting here today, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters here.
Besides the PM, President and Vice-President, Union Cabinet Ministers, MPs, state ministers will also attend the celebrations which will showcase the state's rich cultural heritage, Vijayan said.
Onam is celebrated to honour King Mahabali who according to legend ruled the state once upon a time.
It was on the particular day of Thiruvonam in the Malayalam calender month of Chingam (August-September) when Lord Vishnu took his fifth avatar as Vaamana, appeared in the kingdom of King Mahabali and sent him to the netherworld.
It is believed that on Thiruvonam day the spirit of King Mahabali visits the people of the state. Flower mats (Pookalam) are laid in houses and family members enjoy the grand feast (Onasadya).
The Thiru Onam falls on September 14 this year.
A 35-year-old Romanian national, allegedly involved in the hi-tech ATM robbery in Kerala where people lost about Rs 2.5 lakh, has been arrested from Navi Mumbai, a police official said today.
Gabrial Mariam was nabbed from a hotel in Vashi by a team of Kerala Police late last night, with the help of Mumbai Crime Branch, senior Inspector of Vashi Police Station Ajay Kumar Landge told PTI.
Mariam was today produced before a Navi Mumbai court which sent him in transit remand, he added.
After the robbery to light, a case was registered under IPC Section 380 (theft in dwelling house, etc) and under relevant sections of IT Act at Museum Police Station of Thiruvananthapuram.
The arrest came after Kerala Police yesterday zeroed in on three foreign nationals suspected to be the key players behind the ATM robbery, and decided to seek Interpol's help to track them.
The trio, found installing an electronic device inside an ATM kiosk of a public sector bank at Vellayambalam here, had been caught in the CCTV installed there.
According to police, the three foreign nationals were from Romania and had come to India on June 25 and reached Kerala on July 8.The three had come on tourist visas and taken rooms in a hotel in Thiruvananthapuram for two days.
Kerala Police seized from the hotel two scooters and three helmets, suspected to have been used by the trio.
Kerala Police shared their photos and other available details with their counterparts in other states which led to the arrest of one among them, police said.
So far, more than 20 people had lodged complaints, saying money was withdrawn from their accounts in fraudulent way. As per the preliminary assessment, about Rs 2.5 lakh had been lost, police said.
It is suspected that the electronic device at the ATM counter enabled the fraudsters to collect the secret pin code and card details.
Many of the customers who were duped came to know about the fraud after they received a text message on Monday, informing that money was withdrawn from their accounts.
(Reopens BOM18)
In Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Police said they have taken custody of the Romanian national and the decision when he would be brought here for interrogation would be taken later.
DGP Loknath Behara told reporters that whether more persons were involved in the heist cannot be revealed now.
As of now, only one person has been arrested and he was produced before Mumbai court, he said.
The DGP has also written to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to take urgent steps to stregthen the present protocol and SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) of ATMs in Kerala in the backdrop of the incident.
Meanwhile, State Bank of Travancore (SBT) today said it has credited the amounts reported as lost by its account holders arising out of the fraud which happened at SBI's ATM at Althara, Thiruvananthapuram.
The bank had received complaints from 15 people relating to this incident and all of them have been fully compensated, the SBT said in a press release.
The bank has also enhanced physical surveillance of all its ATMs across the State. SBT has also blocked the ATM cards of customers who had transacted at the Althara ATM near about the date of this incident, the release said.
The customers whose cards have been blocked have been informed that new cards will be issued within 10 days.
The bank has also made arrangements for enabling these card holders to transact their business at their nearest branches, when required.
About 200 of SBT's ATMs are already under a centralised electronic surveillance system and the Bank would enlarge the scope of this surveillance to cover all the ATMs after due process, it said.
Kerala Police had yesterday zeroed in on three foreign nationals, who are suspected to be the key players behind the hi-tech ATM robbery, and decided to seek Interpol's help.
Nearly 86 per centsowingof kharifcrops, includingoilseeds and pulses,has beendone in Chhattisgarhduring the ongoing crop season.
"The farmers havecompletedsowingofkharifcrops on around41.29lakh hectaresof land against the proposed target of48.10 lakh hectares in the state," State Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal said today.
Following good spells of rain since June 1 till August 8, the sowing activity was intensified, he said.
Notably, the state's agriculture department has set the target of cultivating paddy onareaof 36.26 lakh hectares and so far it'ssowinghas so far been done on 33 lakh hectare.
Besides, sowing of corn has been completed on 2.16 lakh hectare area, pulses on 2.40 lakh hectares and oilseeds on 3.38 lakh hectares, the Minister said.
Moreover, the state government has stocked 11.14 lakh quintal of seeds for kharifcrops against which 10.62 lakh quintal have been distributed, he added.
Kinetic Group-controlled Kinetic Green Energy and Power Solutions is scouting for land to set up an e-vehicles manufacturing plant in West Bengal.
Company founder and CEO Sulajja Firodia Motwani said West Bengal is very much in her growth plans and the company is scouting for land at an appropriate location for making the facility.
"We have seen few locations like Kharagpur and Haldia but nothing had been finalised," she said.
Kinetic Green has its Rs 75-crore mother plant at Ahmednager near Pune but is considering assembly plants for e-vehicles in other states too.
Kinetic group has a piece of land at Singur's abandoned Nano site but Motwani did not elaborate on what the company plans to do with it.
She said she finds a change in Bengal and the company is actively considering manufacturing here.
The company produces green mobility solutions targeted at the bottom of the pyramid like e-three wheelers. It produces a n electric three-wheeler 'Kinetic Safar', which has already bagged an order of Rs 400 crore from the UP government for supply of 27,000 units.
Speaking on the likely impact of GST on e-vehicles, Motwani said total tax (VAT+excise) came to around 11-12 per cent for electric three-wheelers but the clarity on tax will be knowm once the rates are announced.
"We have set a target of Rs 10,000 crore turnover over the next 10 years as electric vehicles offers great opportunity in the years to come," Motwani said.
She was speaking on the sidelines of 'FICCI FLO' session where women leaders are invited to share their insights.
Motwani is also the vice-chairperson of Kinetic Engineering, which is into automotive components business.
L&T Finance Holdings today said three of its wholly owned subsidiaries have entered into an amalgamation agreement in which two of the units will merge into the third one - Family Credit.
"The Board of Directors of L&T Finance Holdings has taken note of the proposed amalgamation involving its wholly owned subsidiaries -- L&T Finance and L&T FinCorp (transferor companies) with Family Credit (transferee company)," the company said in a regulatory filing.
L&T Finance, L&T FinCorp and Family Credit are wholly owned subsidiaries of L&T Finance Holdings.
"Upon amalgamation, transferee company shall issue shares to L&T Finance Holdings (being the shareholder of the transferor companies), which shall continue to hold 100 per cent equity share capital of the transferee company," it said further.
L&T Finance Holdings said it is neither involved as a transferor company nor as a transferee company in the proposed scheme of amalgamation.
However, as a good corporate governance practice, the company was providing details about rationale of amalgamation, share exchange ratio etc, it added.
Amalgamation will lead to consolidation and help synergise integration of the businesses of transferor companies and the transferee company to enable better operational management and greater focus, simplification of group corporate structure, the company said.
Besides, it will help to better leverage capacity due to enhanced net worth base and reduce regulatory and compliance cost.
The consideration for restructuring contemplated under scheme is set as "350 equity shares in Family Credit for every 100 shares held in L&T Finance. And 147 shares in Family Credit for every 100 shares held in L&T FinCorp," L&T Finance Holdings said.
Equity shares of L&T Finance Holdings are listed on NSE and BSE. However, none of the three subsidiaries are listed on any of the exchanges.
However, debentures of L&T Finance are listed on NSE and BSE, while debentures of L&T FinCorp and Family Credit are listed on NSE.
L&T Finance Holdings share closed at Rs 88.45, down 1.23 per cent on BSE.
Students at a government school here share a unique bond with children in a California school, narrating their stories and experiences in letters, keeping alive the tradition of pen friendship in this age of technology.
As they touch each other's lives despite the distance, the students from the school in the US have sent a donation of over Rs 3 lakh to help their friends in Barundan of Bundi.
The students from the two countries have been continuing their friendship through letters for the past three years.
"It all started three years ago when David Dickson, an elementary teacher at the California school, visited Bundi. David suggested starting pen friendship between the students of the two schools," Shobha Kanwar, a teacher of Government Senior Secondary School, Barundan, said today.
A few months later, David sent letters from students of his school and letter writing between two students each of the schools has began since then, she said.
The Indian students send their friends in the US pictures of the school and write stories about their village life and the festivals celebrated here, while the students from California write about their excursions, school events and Christmas celebration, she said.
Students from California write letters to their Indian friends in English which Kanwar translates into Hindi. The students from India write the letters in Hindi which an NRI teacher there translates into English.
Principal of the government school Nidhi Pathak said the donation amount is used for buying laptops, slider, uniforms, school bags and shoes. A water cooler has also been installed in the school.
"We want our students to join in voice chatting with their friends in California but internet facility is not available in the village," the principal said.
AAP today said Lt Governor Najeeb Jung's contention that the Centre did not do anything which could have led to a confrontation with the Delhi government was contrary to his actions that included stalling of several key projects of the Arvind Kejriwal dispensation.
Referring to a notification, dated May 21, 2015, AAP's Delhi unit convenor Dilip Pandey said Jung had termed as "unconstitutional" the chief minister's order asking officers to send files directly to ministers. The notification had also said that the LG was the sole authority in matters of ordering transfer and posting of bureaucrats.
"You (Jung) are saying the central government did not do anything to initiate any confrontation and it was the Arvind Kejriwal government which went to the court, but you are completely silent on the May 21, 2015, notification which took away many powers of Delhi government. Why was this notification issued?" Pandey asked.
The AAP leader asked why did Jung reject the Delhi government's plan to provide permanent jobs to 17,000 guest teachers and the proposal for starting premium bus service in Delhi.
"Is it not a fact that the notification for allowing bus lane service in Delhi to ease traffic congestion is pending with you since a long time?" Pandey asked.
Attacking Jung over the functioning of Delhi Police, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and three civic bodies, Pandey said all these agencies that report to him are not known to have a good administrative track record.
"Being the head of DDA, you have failed to direct it to clear its Rs 1,200 crore property tax dues towards MCDs despite the fact that employees of municipal corporations are struggling to get their salaries.
"MCDs are known to be the most corrupt civic bodies in the world and crime against women have risen in Delhi over the last two years," he claimed.
The Bombay High Court today said the Maharashtra government has failed to implement noise pollution rules in the state and violation of norms is more rampant during religious festivals.
Further, the government did not follow in letter and spirit the orders passed by the high court in this regard earlier, said the judges.
The observations came as the division bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka started dictating the judgement on PILs on violation of noise pollution rules and encroachment by pandals on roads during the religious festivals.
The petitions have been filed by Thane resident Mahesh Bedekar, Awaz Foundation and others. The court would continue the dictation of judgement tomorrow.
The civic authorities which are supposed to implement the rules are not supported by political bosses, which hampers effective implementation, it noted.
The rules have been enacted for the people of every religion and no religion demands or advocates use of loudspeakers during the festivals, said the court.
At the last hearing, Government Pleader Abhinandan Vagyani had informed that the government had ordered 1,843 noise meters for effective implementation of Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, and they would be available by August-end.
During the hearing, the HC had cited a Supreme Court judgement to state that freedom to practise religion does not extend to "any and every place".
government is considering the use of drones to monitor, identify and control vehicles breaking traffic rules.
Minister of State for Home (Urban) Deepak Kesarkar said initially, drones would be put in place on a pilot basis on the Mumbai-Pune expressway.
A meeting was held between officials of the Home department and State Road Development Corporation earlier this week at the Mantralaya here, which was attended by Kesarkar and PWD (undertakings) minister Eknath Shinde.
Kesarkar said Mumbai-Pune expressway has become a "death trap" with a large number of road casualties reported lately.
"Incidents of road accidents have increased due to indiscipline and rash driving. We do not have control over rash driving as the length of the express way is long and there is insufficient police staff for surveillance," Kesarkar said.
He said while there is a need to control vehicular traffic, doing so by using a CCTV camera has its own limitations. Thus, the idea of using drones has been mooted.
"The drones will be used at load line of the 'ghat' on expressway where setting up of CCTV cameras is not possible," he said.
"Mostly heavy loaded trucks jump lanes to overtake other big vehicles. This causes a traffic jam. The drones would click photos of such instances and the the Transport department will take action against errant drivers," he added.
The minister said that even small vehicles would not be spared if found violating lane discipline.
He said the site of using drones has not been decided as yet but the MSRDC would submit its report suggesting requirement within the next 15 days.
"Initially, four to five drone will be hired from private companies for the expressway. Depending upon the result, the Home department is considering to use drones across Mumbai," he said.
Along with CCTVs, usage of drones in the island city would take the burden of traffic police riddled with various woes, Kesarkar said.
In a bizarre incident, a man breaching security protocols chased a flight on the runway of Madrid airport in a hope to catch it in last minutes.
A video-shared by ground crew at Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport- that has gone viral on Facebook shows an unidentified man breaking through the fire escape, picking his bag and chasing a Ryanair flight to Gran Canaria at the airport.
The incident reportedly took place on August 5 around 9.00 PM (local time), a day before the video surfaced on the airport's trade union Facebook page.
The 48-second video- which got 68 thousand views- criticised his actions and opined that passengers in Madrid "behave" similar way when they don't "arrive in time".
"This is how passengers in Madrid behave when they don't arrive in time for their flights. This particular passenger was missing a Ryanair's flight and, unbelievably, skipped several security protocols established by AENA in their airports," the post read.
The man, who was not named by police, was arrested upon reaching the Canaria Island in Spain. He was later released after he was cleared of any terror motives but would still face punishment for violating security protocols, the Guardian reported.
After a nearly three-year hiatus New Salem has a new grocery store, Tellmanns Market.
New Salem native Allan Tellmann and his wife, Debra, opened the store on July 28. Tellmann called it a "soft opening." The former dairy farmer said it was a long process getting the store opened.
Though there were some unforeseen delays, Tellmann said, Nothing that we couldnt overcome, just delays that took time to resolve.
The idea for the grocery store was conceived about two years ago after the last store closed nearly three years ago.
There was a big void in the community for this and we decided to accept the challenge and see if we could make it happen, said Tellmann.
The Tellmanns recognized the need for a grocery store and realized the older community and young mothers had a challenging time making it to Mandan and Bismarck to shop.
Its an actual relief for people to finally see something like this back in town, said New Salem Mayor Lynette Fitterer.
The mayor commended the Tellmanns for taking a chance and utilizing their funds to build the business for the community. She is confident the store will do well and add to the economy in New Salem. With some of the businesses and industry going on in the area I think its only going to contribute to the store's success, said Fitterer.
Tellmann said construction on the store began 16 months ago, around April of 2015. The 8,700 square foot building is a full service grocery store with two registers, service counter, deli, bakery and produce.
The store has 15 employees made up of high school and college students, semi-retired and a few full time employees. Tellmann says the store is affiliated with Supervalu, Inc. as a supplier.
Business has been good so far, Weve been a little busier than anticipated, said Tellmann. Fitterer, who visited the store on Monday, said people from the surrounding area such as Almont, Center, and Carson have already patronized the store.
Tellmann said there will be a grand opening in September.
The store's hours are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tellmanns Market is located at 603 Ash Ave. in New Salem.
When that sign went up that said Tellmanns Market a week or two ago, then we knew it was for real, said Fitterer.
A 65-year-old man was on Wednesday, killed when his two-wheeler was allegedly hit by a car in which Congress MP was travelling near here, police said.
The accident occurred at Puthiyakavu on the Kochi-Allapuzha stretch of a highway when Scindia was going in a chauffeur-driven car to attend a function at Cherthala after arriving at Kochi from New Delhi, they said.
After the incident, the Congress leader in a tweet said "Devastated - sad loss of life - unfortunate accident between Cochin-Allepy. Arranged for hospital immediately - on way to meet bereaved family!".
Police identified the deceased as Sasi, a resident of Puthiyakavu locality.
Though Sasi was rushed to a nearby hospital, he succumbed to injuries, police said.
After handing over the car to the police, Scindia left in another car, K C Venugopal, Congress MP from Alappuzha, said adding his colleague would later call on the bereaved family.
Besides the former union minister, three other Congress workers were in the car when the mishap occurred, Venugopal said.
Former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) stunned ex-Olympic bronze-medallist Evaldas Petrauskas in a fiercely-contested opening bout to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the Rio Games here.
Manoj prevailed 2-1 in the hard-fought battle in which he had to hold his ground against the intense aggression displayed by Lithuanian Petrauskas in all three rounds.
A former Asian bronze-medallist, Manoj will next be up against fifth seed Uzbek Fazliddin Gaibnazarov in the pre-quarters scheduled on Sunday.
Evenly-matched on pace and agility, the two boxers were quite distinct in their attacking approach.
While Petrauskas, the London Olympics bronze winner in lightweight 60kg division, aggressively tried to engage the Indian from close range, Manoj preferred to back-peddle and hit from a distance.
At the end of the opening three minutes, it was Manoj's tactics that found favour with the judges, who awarded the first round to the former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist on a split decision.
In the second round too, Petrauskas was the more aggressive of the two but Manoj managed to stave off the challenge by sticking to his strategy of keeping a distance and hitting occasional uppercuts to the Lithuanian's body.
None of the boxers were willing to make any change to their strategy in the final three minutes as well although the desperate attacks launched by Petrauskas did unnerve Manoj to an extent.
The pumped up effort secured Petrauskas the final round but it was not enough to turn the bout in his favour as Manoj was adjudged the winner.
Manoj joined 7th seed Vikas Krishan (75kg) as the second Indian in the pre-quarters. Tomorrow, Shiva Thapa will open his campaign in the bantamweight (56kg) category.
Having made his second successive pre-quarters in the Olympics, Manoj said it's his hard work that has showed him the way.
"Hard punch is not God's gift, you're dead if it hits your chin. It's the result of my 20 years' struggle that has given me the result," Manoj said.
"Nothing is god-gifted, it's my hard work that helped me."
Speaking of his rival in the opening bout, Manoj said he did not go in with a set plan in the ring.
"You get height advantage but he also had powerful punches. You have to fight accordingly. There's hardly any time to think inside the ring. I played according to his punches. I knew he would be tough," he said.
Hailing from a boxing family in a tiny village of population about 30,000 Manoj was brought into the ring by his elder brother Rajesh Kumar.
"If Bhiwani took 11 golds the 12th one was from our family in Haryana. Bhiwani has a stronghold in boxing because of the infrastructure there but we have also proved our mettle."
The Railways boxer further thanked the whole nation for supporting him.
"India is my family. Everyone is praying for me. Their best wishes have made me successful. We will see in the ring. If I have ability, I will try hard in the ring, nothing else," he said.
Read our full coverage on the 2016 Rio Olympics
Lavishing praise on Manoj, national boxing coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu said, "It was a superb performance. Beating an Olympic medallist is not easy; kudos to him."
"He was the one to have qualified last. He represents a remote village, he's very strong and determined, supported by a sporting family. That he was taking on an Olympic medallist did affect his mind but he put up a solid show," he said.
A solar storm that jammed America's radar and radio communications at the height of the Cold War could have led to a disastrous military conflict with the Soviet Union, if not for the US Air Force's budding efforts to monitor the Sun's activity, a new study has found.
On May 23, 1967, the US Air Force prepared aircraft for war, thinking the country's surveillance radars in polar regions were being jammed by the Soviet Union.
Just in time, military space weather forecasters conveyed information about the solar storm's potential to disrupt radar and radio communications.
The planes remained on the ground and the US avoided a potential nuclear weapon exchange with the Soviet Union, researchers said.
"Had it not been for the fact that we had invested very early on in solar and geomagnetic storm observations and forecasting, the impact (of the storm) likely would have been much greater," said Delores Knipp, a space physicist at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
The US military began monitoring solar activity and space weather - disturbances in Earth's magnetic field and upper atmosphere - in the late 1950s.
In the 1960s, the Air Force's Air Weather Service (AWS) monitored the Sun routinely for solar flares - brief intense eruptions of radiation from the Sun's atmosphere.
Solar flares often lead to electromagnetic disturbances on Earth, known as geomagnetic storms, that can disrupt radio communications and power line transmissions.
The AWS employed a network of observers at various locations in the US and abroad who provided regular input to solar forecasters at the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), a US and Canadian organisation that defends and controls airspace above North America.
On May 18, 1967, an unusually large group of sunspots with intense magnetic fields appeared in one region of the Sun. By May 23, observers and forecasters saw the Sun was active and likely to produce a major flare.
As the solar flare event unfolded on May 23, radars at all three Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) sites in the far Northern Hemisphere were disrupted.
These radars, designed to detect incoming Soviet missiles, appeared to be jammed. Any attack on these stations was considered an act of war.
NORAD learned the three BMEWS sites were in sunlight and could receive radio emissions coming from the Sun.
During most of the 1960s, the Air Force flew continuous alert aircraft laden with nuclear-weapons. But commanders, thinking the BMEWS radars were being jammed by the Russians and unaware of the solar storm underway, put additional forces in a "ready to launch" status, according to the study.
However, the additional aircraft was not launched, and the researchers believe information from the Solar Forecasting Centre made it to commanders in time to stop the military action, including a potential deployment of nuclear weapons.
The research appears in the journal Space Weather.
Militants today shot dead a youth and injured another, who were working as porters with the army, in Keran area of Kupwara district near the Line of Control in Kashmir, army said.
"In a cowardly act, terrorists today opened fire on a group of local civilians engaged in daily labour in Keran Sector, North Kashmir resulting in the death of one local civilian while injuring another," the army said in a statement.
As the group of locals, employed as porters, was moving in the forward area of Keran Sector, militants hiding in thick jungles opened indiscriminate fire, instantly killing Shaukat Chauhan (25), the army said, adding another youth was seriously injured.
"Despite the poor weather, the injured, after being given first aid by an army doctor, was evacuated by helicopter to the army hospital in BB Cantt, Srinagar where his condition is stated to be stable," the statement read.
Army expresses its deep condolences on the death of Chauhan and stands in firm solidarity with his family in this hour of grief and loss, it said.
The army is committed to extending all possible assistance to the bereaved family and in providing the best medical care to the injured person, the statement said.
"Such acts are a clear indication of frustration of terror outfits who have now even started targeting innocent, unarmed locals who are earning their livelihood through honest hard work," the army said.
A 15-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly gang raped while her minor sister was sexually assaulted by three men, including a relative of the victims, police said today.
The accused identified as Ajay, a distant cousin of victims, and his friends Balram and Pradeep were arrested today, Sonipat's Baroda police station Inspector Rajpal said.
According to police, the girls were allegedly abducted from their schools by the accused yesterday and taken to agricultural fields in Banvasa village here where one of them was allegedly gang raped while her 16-year-old sister was sexually assaulted.
All the accused were booked under different sections, including 376 (rape), of the IPC, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and SC/ST Act, police said.
The girls were threatened of dire consequences if they disclosed the incident to anyone, police said, adding the victims' statements were recorded before a magistrate.
Mizoram health department today said
through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) it was maintaining strict vigil in view of outbreak of Japanese Encephalitis in Manipur, dengue in Kolkata and measles among the children in a neighbouring country.
State Hospital and Medical Education Director Dr K Lalbiakzuala said that a team of five experts led by IDSP state Nodal Officer Pachuau Lalmalsawma reached Mizoram-Manipur border Sakawrdai village last evening and would conduct field visit and free clinics in the areas adjoining Manipur.
Community Health Centres (CHCs), Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and sub-health centres in the border areas with Manipur and Myanmar were instructed to immediately report any suspicious outbreak or mysterious disease infections to the IDSP.
Sentinel Surveillance Site for JE was in place in the Civil Hospital in Aizawl with experts and required equipment while Civil Hospitals in Aizawl and Lunglei were designated as Sentinel Surveillance Sites for Dengue.
Of the 50 samples tested for suspected Dengue fever in the state 49 were found to be negative while the lone patient was already cured.
No reports of JE and measles infections have been received so far.
Several MLAs in Assam have contributed their one month's salary of Rs 60,000 each to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund for the flood affected people of the state.
The MLAs who handed over the cheques to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at his office chamber here today included Pradan Baruah, Angoorlata Deka, Kishore Nath, Guru Jyoti Das, Padma Hazarika, Rama Kanta Dewri, Siddhartha Bhattacharya and Bolin Chetia.
Meanwhile, officials and employees of the National Health Mission (NHM) met the Chief Minister and handed over a bank draft for Rs 1.21 lakh as contribution towards the relief fund.
The Chief Minister thanked the MLAs and NHM for extending a helping hand towards relief of the flood affected people.
NDMC vice chairman and former BJP MLA Karan Singh Tanwar today alleged that his pension has been blocked for over two years and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is "doing politics" over the issue.
"The former MLAs and metropolitan councillors are being deliberately disgraced by denying them their legitimate pensions. I have not got a single penny of my pension since 2013," he alleged at a press conference.
The BJP leader said he has learnt from "reliable sources" that legitimate pension is being withheld on the "instructions of Kejriwal" so that "I can be victimized and my self-respect is crushed and a clear message is given to Opposition that not a leaf can move without his wish".
Tanwar said he was Councillor of Delhi Cantt Board from 1979 to 1983, Metropolitan Councillor from 1983 to 1990 and elected as Delhi MLA during 1993-1998, 2003-2008 and 2008-2013.
He claimed an approximate Rs 8 lakh is is due to be paid to him as pension.
He has written to Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung seeking his intervention into the issue.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today met Union Health Minister J P Nadda and raised the issue of setting up of AIIMS in Bilaspur and sought Centre's intervention for its early opening.
He said the state government identified 1,200 bighas of land, out of which 750 bighas of non-forest land had been transferred for the institute.
Singh said the documentation of forest clearance of remaining 450 bighas of land was under consideration of the Centre and urged for early intervention so that further action could be taken up for opening of the institute at the earliest.
Nadda assured all the support and cooperation to Singh.
"Nadda also raised issues regarding allotment of the land for new branch of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) at Shimla. Nadda said that NCDC requires 2-3 acres of land from the state to set up a world class lab at the cost of Rs 10 crore.
"He requested the Chief Minister to expedite the process of transferring the land so that necessary steps can be taken up for establishing such a facility in the state," an official statement said.
Singh apprised the Health Minister that the state had signed a Memorandum of Understanding to take over the medical college building at Ner Chowk in Mandi district and the academic session would be started from next year for which there was requirement of equipments and other facilities.
Singh also requested Nadda to provide financial support for installing medical equipment in ESI Medical College at Mandi. He said the state government had to pay Rs 285 crore to ESI over a period of five years beginning from 2019 in lieu of this college building.
Noting that the clearance for establishing medical college attached to the district hospitals of Hamirpur and Chamba is still pending, Nadda said the state government should take proactive steps for establishing both the colleges. The centre has earmarked Rs 189 crore for each.
He also said all formalities had been completed to start classes in Dr Y S Parmar Medical College, Nahan from September, 2016 besides appointing teaching faculty and other staff.
The Health Minister noted that even though the tender worth Rs 62.55 crore for the super speciality hospital Block at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) in Shimla has been awarded, the civil work has not yet started.
"The state government may look into this and take necessary action so that the project is not delayed further.
"The Health Minister also urged for allotting the land
for Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) and Drug Testing Lab at Baddi so that the project can be rolled out smoothly," the statement said.
The setting up of CDSCO Sub Zonal Office with Drug Testing lab will cost about Rs 10 crore, the Health Minister said.
Noting that his ministry is seeking proposals from the state for establishing Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Mental Health at the cost of Rs 30 crore, Nadda said the state should send the proposal to the ministry for consideration.
Nadda said the ministry has approved the establishment of Geriatric Centre at Tanda under the Rashtriya Varishth Jan Swasthya Yojana (RVJSY).
"The state government is requested to adopt this scheme and sign an MoU with the ministry," Nadda said as per the statement.
Singh asked Nadda for early approval of the proposals of the state to establish Mother Child Health Care Centre (MCH) at Bilaspur and 50 bedded hospital at Ghumarwin.
He said under the National Health Mission (NHM) a delegation of senior officers of the State had already met Managing Director of NHM for enhancement of resource envelope for the state.
During the meeting, the Health Minister also recalled the announcement made by Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari regarding the 56 new national highways for Himachal Pradesh.
The Health Minister requested the Chief Minister to expedite the preparation of Detailed Project Reports for these national highways.
Chief Secretary V C Pharka apprised the Health Minister about the progress of the state government in establishing a super specialty ward in IGMC, Shimla to be constructed at a cost of Rs 150 crore and National Disease Centre at Boileuganj in Shimla.
Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode(IIM-K) will be organising a public lecture by Senior Supreme Court Advocate, Arvind P Datar on "Corporate Fraud - Penalizing the honest and rewarding the guilty" on August 13 at IIM-K campus.
The lecture is being organised in memory of late Nani A Palkhivala, the iconic jurist and economist, by the student run Interest Group-Economics, Politics and Social Sciences (EPS) in collaboration with the Research Office of IIM-K and the Nani A Palkhivala Memorial Trust in Mumbai, according to an IIM-K release today.
A Senior advocate at the Supreme Court, Arvind P Datar has authored many leading books on Central Excise and Constitution. His areas of expertise include Taxation, Cost Accountancy and Company laws in general.He has also argued a number of cases before the High Courts, Tribunals and Company Law board, the release said.
Datar was also the counsel for market regulator SEBI in the high profile Sahara case, the release said.
The North Dakota Attorney General's Office will not be recommending charges against the Bismarck Police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man in March.
A report from the office said James "Tony" Scott was shot twice in the back by officer Shaun Burkhartsmeier as he ran from police. Burkhartsmeier was on the scene with other officers responding to reports that Scott had threatened a man with a shotgun.
The initial impression may be that this was simply a case of a police officer shooting an unarmed man in the back as he was running away. Those facts are true; however, the other circumstances surrounding these events make it difficult to disprove PO Burkhartsmeiers perceived need to defend himself and others. Therefore, it is unlikely that the State of North Dakota would be able to prove any of the potential charges beyond a reasonable doubt, the report states.
According to a factual summary in the report, officers were called to the 3200 block of East Thayer Avenue after multiple people called 911 saying a man was walking around with a shotgun. There were also reports that someone had a pistol.
When officers encountered Scott, they told him to show his hands, which he did not do, the report said.
According to a summarized interview with Burkhartsmeier, the officer heard other patrolmen yelling that Scott had a gun. He also saw Scott tuck his hands close to his body, which made him think he might have been reaching into his pocket or waistband. Burkhartsmeier said he was afraid Scott would shoot him or another officer.
Based on what PO Burhartsmeier saw of how Mr. Scott was running and what other officers were yelling, PO Burkhartsmeier believed that Mr. Scott had a gun, the report said.
Burkhartsmeier fired three shots toward Scott, according to the report. Two hit.
Some of the officers on scene knew Scott had left the shotgun behind before he ran.
There is no video footage of the shooting, according to the report.
Agents from the Bureau of Criminal Investigations interviewed the other officers on scene, as well as several witnesses. The case was reviewed for potential charges by lawyers in the attorney general's office.
Police Chief Dan Donlin said an internal review board will be convened to ensure the incident was within department policy. The departments standards for use of force track closely to the law, he said. Burkhartsmeier will remain on restricted duty until that review is complete.
My condolences go out to the Scott family for their loss, Donlin said. Officers in the Bismarck Police Department never want to get involved in this. Yet they are put in very quick-moving, dynamic decisions that call for split-second decisions based on the information they have at the time.
Burkhartsmeier has eight years of experience with the department, police said. He was not injured in the incident.
Im satisfied that the right decision has been made. This is a very good officer, Donlin said.
Jamie Scott, the widow of James Scott, and her attorney, Tyrone Turner, were less convinced by the report. Turner said he would be reviewing it to see whether the five-month investigation was "complete and thorough."
"I do find it telling that a police officer can shoot an unarmed man as he is running away based on erroneous information provided to him by other law enforcement," said Turner, a former assistant state's attorney. "In this particular instance, it seems like there were some mistakes made."
Scott said she is not sure yet whether she agrees with the report's decision but said she wants the department to look at different approaches so that other people are not shot by officers.
"It gave me the closure I was looking for. Also, it ripped it open like a Band-Aid again," Scott said.
In a finding that could lead to the development of new and improved cancer drugs, scientists have unveiled the inner workings of a group of proteins that help to switch critical genes on and off during blood-cell production.
One of the proteins involved is linked to breast cancer, which is the most common cancer for women and kills more than half a million women around the world each year.
Existing breast cancer treatments do not target this protein specifically, researchers said.
Daniel Ryan from The Australian National University (ANU) said the study could help explain how existing breast-cancer drugs work inside human cells.
"There are treatments for breast cancer which are in use today that are effective but we still do not know how they work," said Ryan.
"This research shines a light on an important set of proteins that could be targeted by these drugs and superior treatments yet to be developed," he said.
The research seeks to understand the mechanisms for gene regulation, particularly in relation to diseases such as cancer and blood disorders.
"By creating better targeted treatments for breast cancer and other serious diseases, we will have better outcomes for patients because we will be able to reduce toxicity and the risk of drug resistance," said Ryan.
Researchers described how a special group of proteins form into an enzyme that turns genes on and off to produce essential elements in the body, such as blood cells and stem cells.
"This enzyme is like a car and the proteins are the different parts that are used to make it. By knowing how these parts fit together, we can understand how the car works and hence we are in a better position to fix it when something goes wrong," said Ryan.
The ongoing research will help scientists advance their knowledge of how genes are regulated - a phenomenon that is not only vital to normal functions in the body, but also a key factor in many diseases, researchers said.
It also may lead to the development of new and improved cancer drugs, they said.
The findings were published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The National Green Tribunal has taken strong exception to "substantial variations" in reports submitted by the Uttar Pradesh government and other state agencies with regard to distance of various real estate projects from the flood plains of river Yamuna in Agra.
The green panel appointed Registrar General Mukesh Kumar Gupta as local commissioner to ascertain the "correct position" of flood plains and the distances of the various projects after expressing dissatisfaction over a chart submitted by UP government on construction carried out by builders on the floodplains of Yamuna.
The chart prepared in consultation with Agra Development Authority and Irrigation Department shows the distance of the pillar, used for demarcation of flood plains, from the edge of the river and distance of the boundary wall of the constructed project from the pillar.
"This chart has substantial variations with the affidavits and the Joint Inspection Report already filed by the various agencies of the state.... We express our dissatisfaction to the manner in which these charts have been prepared and even joint inspection report has been submitted before the Tribunal.
"The authorities are expected to act fairly and judicially while complying with the directions of the Tribunal.
"Unfortunately, these discrepancies and contradictions among various documents leave the Tribunal with no option but to have the clarification of the facts, existing at the ground, by appointment of a Local Commissioner," a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said while directing him to visit the site on August 12.
The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by Agra resident D K Joshi who had alleged that many buildings have been built right in the flood plain and even in the river itself.
Joshi's lawyer Rahul Choudhary alleged that pillars demarcating flood plains were not fixed anywhere and the flood plain level has been changed by raising its height by dumping of mud and sand.
The matter is now listed for next hearing on August 19.
The local commissioner has been asked to file his report
and state whether the pillars fixed for demarcation of flood plain are in existence or not and the distance of the various projects from the flood plain boundary as demarcated by the fixed pillars.
The information has to be submitted with regard to the projects including Manglam Estate, Manglam Estate Extension, Pushpanjali Heights, P G College (Jagadamba), Tanishq Rajshree Estate and Pushpanjali Seasons.
"The Local Commissioner shall be provided with due security and in this respect. The SP of concerned area at Agra is directed to ensure complete safety and security of the learned Local Commissioner.
"The senior most field officers from Revenue Department of Agra with their measurement equipments, Irrigation Department and Agra Development Authority shall remain present with the Local Commissioner," the bench said.
The NGT is hearing the case on day to day basis on the request of the builders who claimed that they are suffering losses because of its interim order staying all commercial activities on the flood plains.
Regarding a concrete wall built by Manglam Estate Extension in the river, the tribunal directed the Agra divisional commissioner to file his reply why no action was taken despite an order by Allahabad High Court way back in 2010.
Earlier, the NGT had come down heavily on Agra Development Authority for allowing construction by builders on the flood plains of river Yamuna city and also sought response from the developers on the matter.
The tribunal had earlier issued notice to these builders to show cause why compensation in terms of Section 15 and 17 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 should not be imposed on them and why appropriate directions not passed regarding their structure which were violative of environmental laws.
It had also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Agra Municipal Corporation for dumping of waste on the floodplains of river Yamuna in the city, noting that the civic body has failed to perform its duty and protect the environment.
A Nigerian national was arrested for allegedly cheating a woman to the tune of Rs 2.5 lakhs, police said today.
One Omeleze Fred was apprehended in New Delhi on August 5 and brought here today, a release issued by Cyberabad police (East) said.
Fred tricked a city-based woman by introducing himself as an American by name of Benson and showing interest to "settle" with her in India. He developed friendship with her by posting fake pictures on social networking sites, the release said.
As per police, Fred also convinced her that he would invest USD five million in business in India.
On July 8, the victim received a call from a lady who introduced herself as an official from customs department at Delhi airport and asked her to pay Rs 2.5 lakhs towards custom duties as Benson (the Nigerian) was trying to bring dollars and gold into the country, it said.
Believing that, the victim deposited the amount in a bank and later realised that she was cheated, police said.
"He was brought to Hyderabad and produced in a local court which remanded him in judicial custody. He will be taken into police custody by filing a petition in the concerned court for further interrogation," said the release.
Preliminary investigation revealed that Fred came to India in 2012 and was staying at different localities of New Delhi.
After his original visit visa expired after two months of arriving in India, he got fake Indian Visa stickers prepared and pasted them on his passport in order to rent houses, it added.
The accused had also created several Facebook IDs by uploading photos of 'smart looking white Americans' and used to chat with Indian women by searching their profiles on the social networking site, police added.
Realty firm Nitesh Estates today said it has sold 4 acres of land in Kochi for Rs 26.50 crore.
The company had 4 acres of the land parcel at Kakanad village in Kochi, Kerala, Nitesh Estates said in a filing to BSE.
"In view of the sluggish market conditions, the company has decided to sell off the land and has finalised the same with a third party for a total consideration of Rs 26.50 crore," the Bengaluru-based developer said.
The proceeds of the sale will be utilised to reduce the debts of the company, it added.
This transaction is expected to be completed by September.
Shares of the company closed 5.59 per cent up at Rs 13.40 on BSE.
Government has no clear-cut policy to promote all-women bank branches in the public sector and the industry lacks the necessary impetus to open more such centres, a Parliamentary panel said.
The Committee on Empowerment of Women tabled its report on "Working Conditions of Women in Public Sector Banks" in Lok Sabha today.
Stressing that all-women branches cater to multiple needs of women customers better, the Committee noted that such branches provide women employees with a much safer and convenient working environment free from inhibitions.
"Some banks are in the process of opening more such branches in near future... It is unclear from the responses of the Ministry (of Finance) as to what policy framework they have in place with regard to opening of all-women branches," said the report.
The panel suggested that the government should direct all public sector banks to ensure that at least 15 per cent of their branches are all-women centres.
"Thus, it will make womenfolk feel comfortable to access a banking system that is devoid of gender biases as well as non-discriminatory towards them," it said.
As of now, 17 public sector banks have opened a total 301 all-women branches.
The Department of Financial Services, under the Finance Ministry, in its reply to the Committee said that banks are exploring the feasibility of opening more all-women branches.
The committee said it expected to see a spurt in numbers in the not-so-distant future to set off a transition in the country's banking industry.
Appreciating the banks' efforts, the panel said, "PSBs are not entirely oblivious to the vital need of creating more all-women branches in the country, yet the necessary impetus it deserves to hasten the process to open more such branches is sorely missing in the context of country's banking industry."
Indian Overseas Bank and State Bank of India have so far opened 60 and 119 all-women branches respectively. Most of the other PSBs have done precious little towards establishing adequate number of all-women branches as was desired by the Committee, the report said.
On provision of creche and day care facilities, the Committee said it was unhappy to see that only two PSBs -- State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Patiala -- are providing such services.
The committee said banks may rope in NGOs and charitable
organisations for quality creche services.
However, monthly reimbursement of Rs 500 per child given by banks to working mothers is inadequate, it said, adding that the amount be raised in line with rates charged by creches.
Provision of creche and day care facilities is of utmost importance as availability of these facilities is "undeniably linked with the performance of women employees and the larger well-being of the children of working mothers", it said.
The panel appreciated United Bank of India for going a step ahead by making available trained nurses at the creches.
On flexible work hours, the panel had suggested the government to work out the modalities, but it was saddened as there was no enthusiastic response.
"Committee is unhappy to note that the government has failed to apprehend the essence of such a recommendation and instead largely cited a host of operational issues, job role of officers and unsubstantiated preference of customers in rural/semi urban areas as reasons to go slow in implementing the policy
"The Committee is also perturbed to note the seemingly unreserved submission that State Bank of India, country's leading bank, considers it unfeasible on its part to provide work place and work hour flexibility to women employees, particularly to those who work at branches in customer related services," it said.
The panel also noted that banking system in India is still grossly tilted towards urban centres.
It said efforts should be made to open new branches in rural and Northeastern parts and finding out innovative ways to attract more women to banking sector from NE to ensure their equal participation.
There was no report of any dengue death in West Bengal in the past 24 hours, but 132 new cases of infection were reported from different districts, a senior health official said today.
The toll remained at 14 while the number of people infected by the mosquito-borne disease rose to 1,842 in the state since January, Director of Health Services Biswaranjan Satpathy told PTI.
"We have no report of any death due to dengue. However, there have been a few cases of dengue infection from different districts of the state," he said.
According to him, most cases were reported from Hooghly district's Serampore and North 24-Parganas district while there were some cases in Malda, Nadia, Darjeeling, and South 24-Parganas districts.
Normal life was disrupted in Kashmir for the 33rd straight day today as curfew in some parts and restrictions in the rest of the Valley continued amidst the separatist-led protest programme.
Curfew continued to remain in force in parts of the summer capital Srinagar and Anantnag town, a police official said here.
Curfew is in force in five police stations in downtown (interior) area of Srinagar city and Anantnag town in south Kashmir," the official said.
He said restrictions on assembly of four or more people were in force in rest of the Valley as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order.
The official said the situation across the valley has showed signs of improvement since Monday as army personnel were helping police and paramilitary forces at many places to keep troublemakers away from the roads.
However, schools, colleges, business establishments, petrol pumps and private offices remained closed while public transport remained off the roads.
The attendance in government offices and banks was also thin, the official said.
Mobile Internet services continued to remain snapped in the entire Valley where the outgoing facility on prepaid connections is also barred.
The separatist camp has extended the shutdown call in Kashmir till August 12.
Kashmir has witnessed protests after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces on July 8.
As many as 55 persons, including two cops, were killed and several thousand others were injured in the clashes between protestors and security forces.
(REOPENS DEL 11)
Meanwhile, a police spokesman said barring a few incidents of stonepelting, the overall situation in the Valley was normal and under control.
Shabir Ahmad Lone was injured when security forces used "force" to disperse a stonepelting mob which tried to block the Sogam-Kupwara road at Lassipora, near Sogam in Kupwara district of north Kashmir, he said.
The injured was shifted to the district hospital and his condition was stated to be stable, he added.
The spokesman said about 500 people assembled near Qaimoh village in Kulgam district of south Kashmir and started hurling stones at security personnel.
However, there was no report of any casualty in the ensuing clashes between security forces and the mob, he added.
In Srinagar, a mob threw stones at security personnel near Tatoo ground and Noor Bagh but was chased away.
"About 300 people assembled near Sangrama, near Sopore in Baramulla district, and started pelting stones at a police party. They were dispersed by the use of mild force," said the spokesman.
The Odisha police in collaboration with the state departments of Women and Child Development and Labour today began the second phase of 'Operation Muskan-II' after rescuing as many as 1,051 children in the first phase.
The first phase continued from July 25 till August 9 while the second phase would continue till August 25.
"This time our teams will locate missing children in other states," Special DG (crime) B K Sharma said.
As many as 93 children were rescued from Ganjam district, 87 from Jajpur followed by 79 in Dhenkanal, 69 in Kendrapara and 65 in Nayagarh district, he said.
Sahrma said of the 1,051 children rescued, missing cases were registered only for 85 children.
He said the rescued kids will be handed over to their families while the remaining children will be rehabilitated with child care institutions.
Ten teams constituted for the drive have left for states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattishgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi NCR, Gujarat and Maharastra.
As per the direction of the Supreme Court for protection of missing children, the Odisha Police has been launching a month-long drive called 'Operation Muskan', each year in two phases since 2015.
Odisha government today proposed the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) to set up a cement plant in Sundergarh district.
The state government also told the central public sector to set up a medical college hospital, skill development centre and a sewage treatment plant in Rourkela, besides ensuring proper rehabiliation and resettlement of the displaced people of RSP and Mandira dam.
The state government's proposals were given when SAIL Chairman P K Singh met chief minister Naveen Patnaik here at the state secretariat, an official release said.
Raging Rivers Water Park will start dialing back operation hours in the next two weeks as the summer winds down, said spokeswoman Kelly Churchill of the Mandan Park District.
Starting Friday, the water park will cut its operation hours from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Starting next Monday through Aug. 21, the hours will be reduced from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The park will be closed Aug. 22-26, but open two more days from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 27-28.
Park fare prices will be cut in half to $7.50 next Monday and Tuesday for customer appreciation.
Oman's government has criticised a newspaper for publishing a story alleging improper interference in a court case, its first official comment since authorities detained the paper's editor-in-chief.
Rights groups have called for Oman to release Ibrahim al-Maamari of the daily Arabic newspaper Azamn, who is held over the story.
Oman issued the statement via its state-run agency late yesterday night. The statement says the judiciary "should be an object of respect and gratification rather than a target of deliberate accusations meant to shake confidence."
The statement went on to say the sultanate's government "has taken legal action against the perpetrators ... But without excess or exaggeration." It did not elaborate.
The US-based watchdog Freedom House considers Oman, ruled by Sultan Qaboos bin Said, as "not free.
Assam witnessed the lowest civilian casualties in 25 years due to extremist violence in 2015 with only 10 persons losing their lives, while 58 militants were killed in encounters with security forces.
The 13th Report of the Standing Committee on Home Department, which was tabled in the assembly today, said the state witnessed improvement in overall law and order situation last year.
"One of the most significant achievements under the Unified Command structure is that the total number of civilians killed in extremist violence in 2015 in the state is 10, which is an all-time low since 1991," it said.
According to the report, 58 militants belonging to different organisations were killed in encounter with security forces in last year.
"During 2015, the security forces apprehended 1,449 cadres, including many top leaders of militant groups," the Standing Committee Report said.
In 2016, 608 cadres of militant groups have been apprehended from across Assam till July 21, the report said.
A total of 31 militants of various groups have been killed in encounter with security forces in this year so far.
The report pointed out many deficiencies of the Assam Police such as improper housing for personnel, lack of man power in Bodoland Territorial Area Districts, insufficient equipment at forensic science laboratory, lack of CCTV cameras and absence of sufficient modern arms among others.
A BJP member in the Lok Sabha today targetted the Delhi government for not initiating measures to open new colleges in the national capital and made a strong pitch for starting a West campus of Delhi University.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Pravesh Varma (BJP) said that over 3 lakh students had applied for admission to the University this year, but only 50,000 could get admission.
He said since last 17 years, no new government college has been opened and pointed out that the gram sabha land came under the Delhi government.
Varma said that villages of Ghumanhera, Dwarka and Najafgarh have a lot of land which the Delhi govenrment should give to build new colleges to develop a West Campus of the university. He noted that Delhi University already has North and South campuses.
He said the AAP government had promised to build colleges, but it has not taken off at all so far.
Father of Orlando shooter Omar Mateen has been spotted at a Hillary Clinton rally with his presence becoming a political issue as the Donald Trump camp alleged that the Democratic presidential candidate's soft stance on Islamist terrorism would have attracted him there.
Sadiq Mateen, the father of Orlando shooter Omar Mateen, was sighted sitting behind Democratic presidential nominee Clinton during one of her Florida rallies this week, which now has been made a political issue by the rival Trump campaign.
The Clinton campaign has distanced itself from the father of the Orlando shooter, saying he was not invited for the rally.
Clinton Campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said Clinton "disagrees with (Mateen's) views and disavows his support".
"The rally was a 3,000-person, open-door event for the public. This individual wasn't invited as a guest and the campaign was unaware of his attendance until after the event," he said.
However, the Trump Campaign sought to make it a political issue after the video of the meeting went viral on social media.
"Everyone should sit back and say, what attracts this man to Hillary Clinton? What is it? What is she doing? I know what's attracted him. Her thought, position on Islamic extremist terrorism. The president never saying it. She was forced to say it because Donald trump criticised her so much," former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Trump surrogate, told Fox .
"All the things they indicate, they have not handled Islamic extremist terrorism with the strength and fight back we should have as a country trying to protect itself," Giuliani said.
"And the campaign, which is the least transparent campaign in history, meaning they hide things all the time, should tell us who put him there," Giuliani said.
"Secondly, here is the bigger question, what attracts him so much to Hillary Clinton. He has been going around carrying a sign about Hillary Clinton. What attracts a terrorist, which is what he is, this guy was on radio saying terrible anti- American things, supports the Taliban, this is a guy who said God should punish homosexuals.
"This is a guy who was a radical, Islamic terrorist himself and his son was a radical Islamic terrorist mass murder, the worse in American history. What attracts him to Hillary Clinton?" Giuliani asked.
After the rally, Mateen, who wore a red cap to the event, told NBC West Palm Beach-affiliate WPTV that he supports Clinton.
"Hillary Clinton is good for United States versus Donald Trump, who has no solutions," he was quoted as saying.
Over 68,400 tourists arrived in India on e-visa in year as compared to 21,476 during the same month last year, recording a whopping growth of about 219 per cent.
Among the countries availing e-tourist visa facility during last month, the United Kingdom occupied the top slot, followed by the US and France, an official release said.
"A total of 68,487 tourists arrived in July 2016 on e-tourist visa as compared to 21,476 during the month of July 2015, registering a growth of 218.9 per cent," it said.
As many as 5,40,396 tourist arrived on e-tourist visa between January-July as compared to 1,47,690 during the corresponding period last year, registering a growth of 265.9 per cent.
The number of tourists, availing e-visa facility, during last year has been surpassed in the first six months of the current year, the release said.
Launched on November 27, 2014, the facility was available for citizens of 113 countries arriving at 16 airports in India till February 25. It was extended for citizens of 37 more countries from February 26, taking the tally to 150.
Among the top 10 source countries availing the facility in July, the UK share was maximum with 17.7 per cent, followed by the US (16.2 per cent), France (6.7 per cent), UAE (5.9 per cent) and China (5.4 per cent).
The share of Spain was four per cent while it was 3.9 per cent for Australia, 3.5 per cent for Germany, 3.4 per cent for Canada and 2.9 per cent for the Netherlands.
Among the top 10 ports, where tourists availing online facility arrived, during the last month, the New Delhi Airport share was highest with 44 per cent, followed by Mumbai Airport (20.77 per cent), Chennai Airport (9.43 per cent), Bengaluru Airport (9.10 per cent), Kochi Airport (5.1 per cent), and Hyderabad Airport (3.68 per cent).
The share of Kolkata Airport was 2.5 per cent, while that of Ahmedabad Airport 1.38 per cent, Thiruananthapuram Airport 1.35 per cent and Amritsar Airport 0.99 per cent.
The long pending demand of the region, particularly trade and industry, for an overnight Express Train to Bengaluru from here, is going to become a reality in another three months time.
An assurance to this effect was given to a delegation from local chapter of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), which met the Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu at Delhi yesterday.
Prabhu has assured to take up two long pending projects, including the introduction of an Overnight Express Train from Coimbatore to Bengaluru, in another three months time, ICCI president, D Nandakumar claimed in a release here.
Similarly, the minister also promised to take steps to complete Podanur-Pollachi Broad Guage conversion work by March 31 next year, he said.
Prabhu said he wouldo visit Coimbatore on September three and address the members of Chamber, Nandakumar said.
Besides himself, the delegation included chamber vice presidents, Vanitha Mohan and N Subramanian, and Tamil Nadu State BJP general secretary, Vanathi Srinivasan, he added.
Congress in charge of Bengal C P Joshi said AICC was in the process of sorting out the PAC chairman issue.
"Today we held a meeting in New Delhi and we have discussed the matter and it is in the process of being sorted out," Joshi told PTI.
Asked about the outcome of the meeting, state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said, "The decision over giving the post of PAC chairman to the CPI-M was taken by our party supremo Sonia Gandhi. Now if our party supremo endorses the decision of Manas Bhuniya keeping the PAC chairman's post, then I have no problem. Whatever Sonia Gandhi decides we will follow that."
According to state Congress sources here, under the instruction of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Joshi summoned Leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan, Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury and senior Congress MLA and PAC chairman Manas Bhuniya to discuss the issue.
After the meeting Mannan claimed that Bhunia had been asked to write a letter to AICC.
"C P Joshi had clearly stated that the decision of the state Congress to give the post of PAC chairman to the CPI-M had been approved by the AICC," Mannan told PTI.
When contacted, Bhuniya only said, "C P Joshi has given me a few suggestions. I will look into them. I have been asked to write a letter stating the series of events and my desire to continue as PAC chairman. But I want to clearly state that I was PAC chairman and want to work as PAC chairman."
Bhuniya had been showcased sometime back after he refused to step down from the post despite repeated requests by party leaders. Thirty-nine Congress MLAs had also jointly appealed to Bhuniya to resign from that post.
Not only did Bhuniya not resign from the PAC chairman's post, he convened a meeting of the committee, which PAC members belonging to Congress and the Left did not attend.
Bhuniya had asked Chowdhury to let him work as PAC chairman for a year.
Congress had wanted to give the PAC chairman's post to CPI-M, with which it had contested the West Bengal Assembly election.
Pakistan has rejected India's charge of infiltration in Kashmir, after its envoy Abdul Basit was summoned and handed over a "strong demarche" over Pakistan's continued support to cross-border terrorism.
"We strongly reject Indian claim of any cross-LOC infiltration. Pakistan remains committed to the policy of not allowing its territory for any terrorist activity against anyone," the Foreign Office said in statement last night when asked about India summoning the Pakistani High Commissioner.
It said that it is necessary to establish "veracity of the Indian claim".
"Details in this regard will be gathered," it said.
Amid growing strain in ties, India on Tuesday summoned Basit and handed him a "strong demarche" over Pakistan's continued support to cross-border terrorism by pushing in trained terrorists to carry out attacks, particularly in Kashmir.
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar called Basit to his South Block office and lodged a strong protest over the issue as he made a specific reference to LeT terrorist and Pakistani Bahadur Ali, who was captured recently in North Kashmir during an encounter.
Ali, born in the Zia Bagga village of Lahore, was arrested by Indian authorities in Jammu and Kashmir on July 25 with weapons (AK 47 rifle, live rounds, grenades, grenade launcher etc) as also sophisticated communication equipment and other material of Pakistani/ international origin, according to the demarche issued to Basit.
The ties between India and Pakistan have seen growing bitterness after Pakistan and its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made provocative statements on the Kashmir situation in the wake of killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with the security forces on July 8.
Pakistan has stepped up security after a terror alert warned of possible Taliban attack at border crossing points with India on the country's Independence Day on August 14, officials said today.
The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab province has sent a memo to the chief secretary that Taliban were planning to target Wagah or Ganda Sindh border crossings between August 13 and 15.
It claimed that two suicide bombers had been tasked by Mualana Fazlullah, the fugitive chief of Taliban who is hiding in Afghanistan, to attack Independence Day parade at the border points.
"Extreme vigilance and heightened security measures are suggested to avoid any untoward incident," the CTD said.
Both crossings are close to Lahore.
In 2014, at least 55 people, including children and security personnel, were killed and about 200 others injured in a suicide blast at Wagah.
An official of home department said that security has already been increased after a suicide bombing at a hospital in Quetta on August 8 in which 74 people were killed around 72 people were injured.
"We take special security measures for the Independence Day and all alerts and suggestion by the intelligence agencies are considered and security have been provided at relevant points," he said.
Leading logistics player Patel Integrated Logistics today signed a joint venture agreement with Dubai-based Fetchr to launch a dedicated e-commerce arm named DeliverEx.
"We have signed a letter of intent with Fetchr to launch a 51:49 JV called DeliverEx to dedicatedly serve the e-commerce space both in the B2B and B2C segment," Patel Logistics Executive Vice-Chairman Areef Patel told PTI.
He said the companies will together invest Rs 40 crore in the new venture which will be launched over the next two months.
"We hope to have 20-25 branches to begin with and take the branch network to around 200 over the next two years," Patel said, adding his company will own 51 per cent in the new entity which will be based in Mumbai.
Fetchr provides cutting edge technology for e-commerce and related services. It is a leading operator in the West Asian markets and will bring in technology for the JV.
Meanwhile, Patel Logistics today reported a 16.2 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 2.37 crore, while revenue rose 8.6 per cent to Rs 122.22 crore for the three months to June.
"We continue to maintain a positive long-term business outlook on the back of strong business fundamentals and increased focus on new-age opportunities like e-commerce delivery.
"Going ahead, GST rollout will change the dynamics of the logistics sector with supply chain efficiencies driving the demand paradigms in the e-commerce space," Patel said.
The company has decided to go for a rights issue to part fund the new JV, Patel said.
During the quarter, the company also entered into a JV with Nationwide Group-promoted Pivot Logistics in Saudi Arabia to enter the GCC markets. The JV will begin operations by 2017.
Last year, 2,291 felony cases were filed in Montana's Yellowstone County District Court. That doesnt count misdemeanors filed in Justice Court, Billings Municipal Court or Laurel City Court.
The surge in criminal cases is driven largely by drug offenses. More than 500 people were arrested last year in Yellowstone County on methamphetamine charges.
Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito is working to launch a program that would give first-time, nonviolent drug offenders the opportunity to get into addiction treatment and out of the criminal justice system faster.
Typically, first-time offenders get probation, not prison. But many continue to use drugs, violating their probation conditions and all too often landing in jail on new drug charges. Twito aims to stop that downward spiral by offering drug offenders a deal where they can get into effective addiction recovery, shorten their time on probation and avoid going to prison if they stay clean.
Twitos idea makes sense, but it will require a lot of work and strategic investment of resources. Yellowstone County started doing pretrial assessments of jail inmates last summer to give judges better information for making bond decisions. That assessment process also could help evaluate arrestees for Twitos treatment program.
Once felony defendants plead guilty, the state would pay for their drug treatment. But treatment isnt always available or accessible on a timely basis.
The county attorney will need the support of the public defenders office and District Court judges.
Three of those judges already preside in drug treatment courts where participants usually are homeless and jobless when they first begin treatment and intensive supervision. They graduate drug free with housing and employment. Not everyone succeeds, but the success stories keep the courts working.
Criminal drug cases spill over into civil child abuse and neglect. Most of the more than 500 Yellowstone County children who entered the state foster care system last year were removed because of their parents drug abuse.
At every level from law enforcement to judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, probation, detention and parole officers the number of cases is overwhelming the justice system.
The states prisons are full and overflowing into county jails. A plan Yellowstone County voters approved in June will improve quarters for female jail inmates, renovate three-decade-old structures and enhance safety, but wont relieve all the pressure of more demand than cells.
The 2015 Legislature recognized that change is needed, so it created the Commission on Sentencing that has been working for more than a year to craft recommendations for the 2017 session. The Billings area is well represented on the commission by District Judge Ingrid Gustafson, state Rep. Margie MacDonald, attorney Majel Russell and probation officer Jennie Hansen.
The commission has been working with the Council of State Governments Justice Center to understand whats driving up the number of people in the state corrections system. Justice Center research shows that recidivism, drug addiction and mental illnesses are major factors.
The commission is discussing reforms to implement and standardize pretrial risk assessment and supervision. Reform will require investing more in treatment courts and assuring that addiction treatment and prerelease programs use scientifically proven effective best practices. Keeping more offenders out of prison will require hiring more probation officers and training detention officers to prepare inmates for successful re-entry into society.
Just a little money up front goes a long way because incarceration is so expensive, MacDonald said. We need to reset our system. If we dont do this, we are going to be building more prisons.
With such broad recognition that reform is needed, its time for action at local, state and federal levels. People in jail and prison arent working, taxpayers are supporting them. The system must do a much better job of treating the underlying problems that have filled our jails and prisons with drug addicts and mentally ill people most of whom have committed no violent crimes.
-- Billings (Mont.) Gazette
Telangana government is making elaborate arrangements for the smooth conduct of Krishna Pushkaram festival beginning August 12 during which pilgrims would take dip in Krishna river.
According to an official release, as many as 52 ghats - 10 major, 15 minor and 27 local ghats- were set up in Mahabubnagar district alone as devotees are expected mostly from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Hyderabad and bordering districts of Telangana for the holy dip.
The festival will be held till August 23.
"Around 6,720 police personnel will be deployed - 3,920 are from other districts and 2,800 from Mahabubnagar. Also, 375 CCTV cameras are installed at 25 ghats and major highway junctions with main control room at Beechupally and DPO Mahabubnagar and sub-control rooms at each ghat," it said.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is expected to take the holy dip at Gondimalla ghat and visit Jogulambda temple in Alampur on Friday morning, it said.
The district police has also created a Facebook Page -- Mahabubnagar Police-Krishna Pushkaralu-2016 -- to disseminate crucial information about the ghats, routes, traffic advisories, emergency contact information, etc.
"This is also being used as a citizen-interface to receive suggestions and to give instructions to pilgrims about Do's and Don'ts during the Pushkar," the release further said.
A senior police official said as many as 7,000 security personnel will be deployed in Nalgonda district where 28 ghats have been set up for the pilgrims.
Besides the district police, personnel from neighbouring Khammam, Warangal and Cyberabad are also pressed into service, he said.
Telangana State Road Transport Corporation will be plying special buses to various ghats in Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda districts.
All non-BJD political parties in Odisha today urged the President to direct the Chhattishgarh government to stop construction on the upstream of the Mahanadi to save the lives of millions of people living in the downstream.
"We earnestly urge you to use your constitutional power and direct the Chhatisgarh government to immediately stop construction of all on-going projects till the issue is resolved," a memorandum addressed to the President, signed by all the non-BJD party leaders, said. The memorandum was submitted at the Raj Bhavan here.
The delegation led by Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra of Congress also urged the President to ensure formation of a 'river board' under River Board Act, 1956 to resolve all disputes between Odisha and Chhatisgarh on the Mahanadi water failing which a tribunal might be constituted in accordance with law.
The all party delegation also drew attention of the President to the dispute that Odisha was not consulted by the Central Water Commission (CWC) before clearing a project on the Kelo, a tributary of the Mahanadi.
The memorandum, which was also signed by social organisations, civil society and experts on Mahanadi River System, said the dispute was a direct fall out of neighbouring Chhatisgarh's unilateral decision to construct various projects such as dams, barrages and check dams over the Mahanadi as well as its tributaries, ignoring the right of downstream riparian Odisha state.
Stating that such construction on upstream of Mahanadi is bound to affect the water flow of Mahanadi system and is sure to trigger drought and devastation in Odisha, they said people were already out on streets in various parts of Odisha protesting against Chhatisgarh's attempt to extract more water from the Mahanadi by constructing various barrages and dams.
"We are not against use of Mahanadi water by Chhatisgarh. But, it should not be at the cost of farmers and interest of Odisha," they said.
The delegation comprised leaders from Congress, BJP, CPI, CPI(M), TMC, Forward Bloc and others.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today directed civic bodies in the district to employ 75 per cent of the project affected persons of the Barvi dam in their services.
Fadnavis held a meeting in Mumbai to review the progress of the Barvi dam and issue of project-affected persons, a release by Thane District Publicity Office said.
As per the release, the Chief Minister also said that the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) should take up the responsibility of employing 25 per cent of the project affected.
The dam supplies around 600 to 900 MLDs of water per day. Of this 485 MLDs are given to the urban local bodies and the gram panchayats.
Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation gets 190 MLD water, Thane Municipal Corporation receives 140 MLD while Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation gets 75 MLD water.
While Mira Bhayander receives 60 MLD water, Kalyan Dombivili Municipal Corporation gets 07 MLD, it added.
The Ambernath Municipal Council gets 13 MLD water and the balance is given to around 50 village panchayats, the release said.
Fadnavis said the civic bodies should give employment to the project affected in proportion to the water they draw from the dam and if it is not possible them compensate them.
The dam supplies 25 percent water to MIDC and hence they should provide employment to 25 per cent of the project affected, the Chief Minister added.
At present, the work of increasing the height of the dam is in progress and once completed the storage capacity of water will go up to 348.48 MLDs, it was stated.
As per the release, a total of 1,105 families from the villages of Kachkoli, Mohghar, Kolewadkhal, Manivali, Tondli, and Sukalwali will be displaced to the increase in the height of the dam.
Scores of journalists today protested against the increasing attacks on the fraternity and the freedom of press, and pressed for stronger initiatives to combat the problem.
At a protest meeting organised by the Press Club Of India, Indian Women's Press Corps and the Editors Guild, journalists condemned the alleged attempts to muzzle Rajasthan Patrika, Outlook and scribes from Kerala.
"These attacks come close on the heels of murder of journalists in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and attempts at banning media in Jammu and Kashmir. These attacks are not restricted to one state or party affiliation either but a selective attack on freedom of press," Saroj Negi from Commonwealth Association of Journalists said.
Noted journalist Vijay Kranti said suppressing the freedom of press is the most "powerful" thing at present.
"Kerala is an example of what is happening in the country...Muzzling the press seems to be the most powerful thing at present in various states and lot of places. There is limited scope for a moderate space in which objective journalism can take place," he said.
Advocating political and legal activism, journalists also pitched for a law on media ownership to avoid conflict of interest.
Journalist Jyoti Malhotra said, "We as journalists need stronger political and legal activism irrespective of our political affiliations."
"We need laws on media ownership for sure as conflict of interest itself is an attack on freedom of press. I believe as journalists we too have our shortcomings which need to be worked out in order to deal with this attack-prone situation," Sabina Inderjit, Vice President of Indian Journalistic Union, said.
A group of advocates had allegedly attacked media persons outside the Kerala High Court complex last month leaving two persons injured. The lawyers allegedly hurled abuses and threatened that they would not allow the reporters to cover the court proceedings.
Rajdev Ranjan, a journalist from Siwan, was shot dead in May. Journalists were also attacked in Delhi when proceedings were on in Patiala Court complex during the JNU sedition row.
The mortal remains of former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul were taken today to his native village Hawai in remote Anjaw district bordering China for the last rites.
BJP MLA from Tezu Mahesh Chai accompanied the body of Pul along with his relatives in a helicopter which took off at 7:30 AM for Hayulian as hundreds of supporters of the leader gave a tearful adieu to him.
The state government has declared a three-day state mourning and a holiday tomorrow when the last rites of Pul would be performed with full state honours at Hayuliang, the constituency he represents.
A pall of gloom descended in the state capital since Tuesday morning after the of Pul's death.
Lok Sabha MP Ninong Ering, AICC Secretary Jay Kumar along with senior party leaders, MLAs and admirers of Pul gathered at the Raj Bhavan helipad here in the morning from where Pul's mortal remains were flown to his native village.
Pul allegedly committed suicide at the chief minister's official residence here on Tuesday, weeks after he was ordered by the Supreme Court to step down after a brief stint, sparking violent protests by his supporters who torched a building and damaged cars.
He is survived by three wives and seven children.
The state government had requisitioned two sorties of Skyone helicopter to carry Pul's body and his relatives to Hayuliang.
Russian President Vladimir Putin today blasted Ukraine over an alleged attempted incursion into the disputed Crimea region that Kiev fiercely denied.
"This is very alarming . In fact, our security services prevented an incursion into the territory by a sabotage-reconnaissance group from Ukraine's defence ministry," Putin told Russian agencies.
Putin accused the authorities in Kiev of "practising terror" and pledged not to leave the deaths of two Russian officers in alleged clashes unanswered.
"From the Russian side there were losses -- two soldiers killed. We obviously will not let such things slide by," Putin said.
"The attempt to provoke an uptick in violence, to provoke conflict is nothing but an attempt to distract public attention."
"This is a very dangerous game. We will of course do everything to assure the security of infrastructure, citizens and will take additional measures to provide security, including serious additional measures."
Russia's security service said it had thwarted "terrorist attacks" at the weekend in Crimea by Ukrainian military intelligence and beaten back an armed assault.
The FSB said in a statement that one of its officers was killed in armed clashes while arresting "terrorists" on the night of August 6-7 while a Russian soldier died in a firefight with "sabotage-terrorist" groups sent by the Ukrainian defence ministry on August 8.
The allegations will fuel further tensions in the feud between Russia and Ukraine, sparked when Moscow annexed Crimea from Kiev in March 2014 after Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted.
Ukraine's national security council chief Oleksandr Turchynov blasted the claims as "hysterical and false" and said Moscow was trying to stoke fear in Crimea.
Ukraine's defence ministry dismissed the allegations as "nothing more than an attempt to justify the redeployment and aggressive actions" of Russian forces in the region.
Jewellery firm Rajesh Exports today posted 14 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 269.9 crore in the first quarter of 2016-17 on higher sales.
The company had clocked a net profit of Rs 237.1 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a BSE filing.
Income from operations rose more than three-fold to Rs 58,916 crore in the April-June quarter of 2016-17, from Rs 15,144 crore in the year-ago period.
Expenses also remained higher at Rs 58,550 crore from Rs 14,764 crore in the said period.
Commenting on the performance, Rajesh Exports Chairman Rajesh Mehta said, "The company has posted record revenue and profits for the quarter compared to any other quarter since inception."
The company is working towards creating products which would be unique for the global market, he said.
"With the successful acquisition of Valcambi, the company would now look forward to increasing its global presence by introducing these products in European and American market for growing its profitability," he added.
The company's refining capacity has increased to 2,400 tonnes of precious metals per annum after the acquisition of Valcambi, the world's largest gold refinery at Switzerland.
Shares of the company rose by 2.27 per cent to close at Rs 449.65 apiece on the BSE today.
He has built a niche for himself in an industry which runs on formulas, but Abhay Deol feels being rebellious and doing something out-of-the-box is discouraged in India.
Abhay made his debut with Imtiaz Ali's "Socha Na Tha" a decade ago and has since worked mostly in off-beat films besides a few commercial ones.
The 40-year-old actor says because India is so rooted in traditions, it is hard for people to break away from them and do something different.
" We are shaped by our traditions. With us, it is a little more difficult because we are traditionalist. We have 5000-year-old history which is now almost a part of our DNA. How do you break that?
"America, for example, doesn't have that history behind it. It romanticises rebellion. We look down upon rebellion. It's an insult. To think out-of-the-box is looked down upon here," Abhay told PTI in an interview.
Post his debut in 2005, the actor worked in films like "Manorama Six Feet Under," "Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!" and "Dev D".
Abhay says it is always tough to swim against the tide.
"It is definitely hard when you're going against the tide. Of course, it is tough. But does that mean you can't do it? No, it depends on your strength, stamina and ability to take so much power against you. But it's not just Bollywood, it is also in Hollywood. It's the same thing everywhere.
Abhay's mainstream projects include "Aisha" and "Zindagi
Na Milegi Dobara" and the actor says he likes being a part of commercial projects as they help him support the movies he wants to eventually invest in.
"I like doing mainstream films, because not only do they give me a wider release and audience, they also supports the off beat films I want to make. The two go hand in hand. My effort is always that whatever mainstream films I do, they should not insult the intelligence of the audience," he said.
The, actor, however, won't do a commercial film that tends to follow a certain check list.
"A lot of times it is just check list. Item song, check, actress check, actor check. It is just that. A list of things that have to be checked. That's not the kind of formula I want."
Abhay, who was last seen on the big screen in 2014 in "One By Two," is all set for his upcoming "Happy Bhag Jayegi".
Directed by Mudassar Aziz, the movie also stars Diana Penty, Jimmy Shergill and Ali Fazal.
"Happy Bhag Jayegi" is set to release on August 19.
Web based motor insurance platform ReNewBuy plans to raise USD 1.5 million in its next round of funding to finance its future growth.
ReNewBuy, a platform with more than 7,000 car and bike insurance policies monthly, is in talks with Singapore-based Mount Nathan.
Mount Nathan is an investment and advisory firm with interest in financial services business. They had earlier invested in Sanctum Wealth, which bought out the Wealth Management business of RBS in India.
Earlier, ReNewBuy had raised USD 1 million from Mount Nathan through its investment entity Havelock Road LLP.
"Being sharply focused on auto insurance has helped us solve issues related to the ecosystem and deliver superior consumer experience. This is reflected in the rapid growth of our business," RenewBuy CEO Balachander Sekhar said.
ReNewBuy offers comprehensive solutions for car and bike owners - lowest quotes from leading insurance companies, instant policy in less than 2 minutes, free reminder service, digital locker for all documents, servicing and claim assistance.
Russia's main domestic security agency has said that one of its agents and an army soldier were killed while fending off what it described as a series of attempted terror attacks by Ukrainian "saboteurs" in Crimea, a claim Ukrainian officials denied.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin condemned what he described as a "stupid criminal action" by the Ukrainian authorities and vowed to take additional steps to ensure security of Crimea.
He also strongly urged the West to warn Kiev against "resorting to terror instead of searching for a peaceful settlement."
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko rejected the Russian claims as "fantasy" and "provocation," saying in a statement that his government would use only political and diplomatic means to restore its sovereignty over Crimea.
Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula in March 2014 following a hastily called referendum. The ensuing conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 9,500, and fighting there between Ukrainian troops and Russia-backed separatists has continued despite a 2015 cease-fire.
The Federal Security Service, known under its Russian acronym FSB, said in yesterday's statement that its officer was killed over the weekend near Armyansk within a few kilometres (miles) of the de-facto border between Crimea and Ukraine when FSB officers engaged in a gun battle with a group of "saboteurs" from Ukraine.
The FSB said the intruders carried an arsenal of bombs, ammunition and mines.
The agency said two more groups tried to force their way into Crimea early Monday, supported by Ukrainian artillery and armor. It said one Russian army soldier died in that clash.
The FSB said it also busted what it called a network of agents of Ukrainian military intelligence in Crimea, and detained several people, including a Ukrainian citizen identified as Yevgeniy Panov, whom it described as a Ukrainian military intelligence officer.
The agency claimed that the Ukrainian intelligence operation had sought to destabilise the situation in Crimea ahead of Russia's parliamentary elections set for next month.
Putin, speaking at a conference in Moscow, accused the Ukrainian leadership of engaging in "terror" instead of discussing peace settlement in eastern Ukraine.
Because of that, he said, it makes no sense to discuss the Ukrainian peace settlement with leaders of Ukraine, France and Germany at the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting in China next month as earlier planned.
Poroshenko countered in his statement that "we would never ever use terror to de-occupy Crimea."
The Ukrainian government said over the weekend that Russia briefly closed its border crossings with mainland Ukraine, and social media users earlier this week posted photos and videos of dozens of armoured vehicles on Crimean highways heading toward the de-facto border.
Russia's defence ministry today said it would halt fire around Syria's ravaged city of Aleppo for three hours each day to allow humanitarian aid in, an initiative the UN said is insufficient to meet the city's needs.
"To guarantee total security for the convoys to Aleppo there will be humanitarian windows established from 1000 to 1300 local time starting tomorrow during which all military hostilities, aviation strikes and artillery strikes will be halted," Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian army's general staff told journalists.
The pause would take place daily from Thursday from 0700 GMT to 1000 GMT, although Rudskoy did not specify how many days it would continue.
Shortly after Moscow's announcement, the United Nations' top aid official said that halting fire for three hours a day would not be enough to ensure that civilians' humanitarians needs are met.
"To meet that capacity of need, you need two lanes and you need to have about 48 hours to get sufficient trucks in," Stephen O'Brien, UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, told reporters.
"When we are offered three hours, you have to ask what can be achieved in that three hours."
The United Nations has called for urgent aid access to Aleppo and 48-hour weekly pauses for the aid deliveries, warning that civilians are at grave risk from water shortages and disease as fighting has intensified.
Up to two million people in Aleppo have gone without running water for the past four days, UN agencies said.
O'Brien said he had not been fully briefed on the Russian proposal but that there were complicated logistics to address, such as ensuring that truck drivers have enough time to safely make the trip to the city and back.
Today the markets in opposition-held districts of Aleppo were the fullest they have been in weeks as food stalls and shops had been empty of customers after a government siege of the eastern districts led to rising prices and shortages.
Shoppers scurried through the vegetable markets, buying as quickly as possible in case a siege is re-imposed or prices rise again, an AFP correspondent at the scene saw.
Fighting between government forces and rebels in Aleppo has intensified in the past month, with both sides sending in reinforcements for an all-out battle that could mark a turning point in the five-year war.
Rudskoy said that "more than 1,000 were killed and about 2,000 wounded" in the rebel ranks over the past four days southwest of Aleppo.
Expelled AIADMK leader Sasikala Pushpa and two of her family members have been booked by police on a complaint of alleged illegal detention and sexual harassment by her former domestic help, police said today.
All-Women Police in Pudukottai in Tuticorin District registered the case against the MP, her husband Lingeswara Thilagan and their son L Pradeep Raja based on a complaint by the woman who had worked along with her sister as domestic help in the house of Sasikala, when she was the Tuticorin Mayor from 2011 to 2014, they said.
The case was registered after the Tuticorin Superintendent of Police to whom the complaint was given forwarded it to the Pudukottai All-Women Police station.
The complainant alleged that she and her sister were detained and sexually harassed by the MP, her husband and their son, police said.
Pushpa, who reportedly slapped DMK MP Trichy Siva at Delhi airport recently, was expelled from AIADMK on August 1 by its supremo Jayalalithaa on grounds of violating party principles and ethics and bringing disrepute to the party.
On the same day, the MP alleged in the Rajya Sabha she was slapped by a "leader" and faced threat to her life in Tamil Nadu.
Last week, Pushpa's husband and her son had moved the Madras High Court claiming that a case had been registered against them by Anna Nagar Police in Chennai and sought anticipatory bail.
However, their petitions were disposed of by the court after the state government submitted that police had not filed the case as claimed by the petitioners.
Sasikala Pushpa, an AIADMK MP who was expelled recently, today lashed out at the party saying it is full of "slaves".
"I don't want to be a part of this slave gang," the Rajya Sabha MP told reporters here.
Pushpa warned the party leadership that she will retaliate, while deploying the caste card to counter the allegations against her saying that it is her Nadar community which is being harassed.
"I will retaliate if the harassment continues as I am the one who is being harassed here. People will give a befitting reply in elections," she said.
"I belong to Nadar community and am not sacred. People are watching all this. I have the backing of my community. Nadar community is one amongst the most powerful in the southern districts of the state," Pushpa said against the backdrop of controversies related to her expulsion and registration of an FIR against her family in Tamil Nadu.
The domestic helps, who reportedly worked at Pushpa's house in Tamil Nadu, had filed a complaint to police alleging that Pushpa, her husband Lingeswara Thilakan and son Pradeep Raja had tortured them.
While alleging that the maids were instigated to complain against her family, Pushpa showed a letter, allegedly written by an AIADMK party worker, threatening to kill her in Delhi itself.
"If this is the type of atrocity and sufferings faced by an MP like me, just imagine the plight of grassroots-level workers and other office bearers," she said, adding that many leaders in AIADMK are happy that she had brought these issues into the public domain.
"AIADMK leaders were wondering who would bell the cat. Now many are happy," the MP said.
Tamil Nadu government was today restrained by the Delhi High Court from taking any "coercive action" till tomorrow against Pushpa, her husband and their son in connection with the harassment of domestic helps.
The court said this while hearing the anticipatory bail pleas of Sasikala Pushpa, her husband and son.
Saudi-led coalition warplanes launched fresh air strikes against Shiite rebels across Yemen today despite international concerns over the escalation after the suspension of peace talks.
The coalition resumed strikes days after UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait between representatives of the government and the Iran-backed Huthi rebels ended without a breakthrough.
The coalition, which has been battling to prop up Yemen's government against the Huthis since March 2015, hit rebel positions across northern Yemen, said coalition officials and tribal sources.
That came a day after coalition jets struck targets around Yemen's rebel-held capital, Sanaa, for the first time in three months.
The United Nations said it was alarmed at the resumption of air raids.
"The secretary-general is deeply concerned about reports of increased fighting between various parties in Hajjah, Saada and Sanaa provinces including over the past few days," said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
"The reported escalation in fighting exacerbates the already dire humanitarian and human rights situation and the suffering of the Yemeni people."
France said its Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault spoke by phone with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir and emphasised the importance of a ceasefire to pave the way for a political solution in Yemen.
Iran, which Riyadh accuses of supporting the Huthis, denounced the international community's "inaction" while Saudi Arabia carried out what it called "atrocities" against Yemenis.
It called on the UN and countries that supply arms to Saudi Arabia to make "effective efforts to stop these attacks and... Protect civilians."
The renewed violence came as the Pentagon said it had approved the possible sale to Saudi Arabia of up to 153 tanks, hundreds of machineguns and other military gear in a deal worth USD 1.15 billion.
State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said she was "very concerned" by Tuesday's casualty reports, but did not directly comment when asked about worries that US weapons being sent to Saudi Arabia could be used against civilians.
Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted missiles fired from Yemeni territory towards two of its southern towns on today morning.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said the "Second Amendment people" - gun owners or those backing gun rights - could stop his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton from winning the White House and picking new US Supreme Court justices.
Trump's intended message was not immediately clear, but lawmakers advocated that the 70-year-old billionaire tycoon had given an assassination threat to Clinton.
The Trump campaign quickly refuted any such inference and asserted that Trump meant political power to stop Clinton at polls.
"Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Though the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know," Trump told a cheering crowd at an election rally in Wilmington, North Carolina yesterday.
The Clinton campaign immediately expressed its outrage at Trump's remarks.
"This is simple-what Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be the President of the United States should not suggest violence in any way," said Robby Mook, Hillary for America Campaign Manager.
The Trump Campaign refuted the allegations and charged the "dishonest media" on trying to extract his Wilmington statement as inciting violence.
"It's called the power of unification - 2nd Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power. And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it won't be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump," said Jason Miller, senior communications advisor to the Trump Campaign.
In an interview later to a local television channel, Trump refuted such an allegation.
"If Hillary Clinton gets elected, I think she's going to decimate the Second Amendment, if not abolish it. And she'll do that through judges, through the justices of the Supreme Court. But the Second Amendment people have tremendous power because they are so united," he told WNCN-North Carolina in an interview.
Several of Trump's supporters came out in his defense.
"What he said very clearly was that if Hillary Clinton were elected president, she would get to appoint judges to the Supreme Court, and among the other things that they would do to destroy us, would be to do away with the Second Amendment and your right to bear arms," former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said at an election rally later in the night.
"Now, is there anybody here that doubts that. And then he said, and you have the power to do something about it. And what he meant by that was you have the power to vote against her. You have the power to campaign against her. You have the power to speak against her. You know why, because you're Americans," Giuliani said.
However, Senator Chris Murphy in a series of tweets alleged that Trump had given an assassination threat to Clinton.
"Don't treat this as a political misstep. It's an assassination threat, seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy and crisis," Murphy said.
Seven pilgrims travelling to Kailash Mansarovar through the Nepal route have died this year, Lok Sabha was informed today.
Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh also said an incident of Indian citizens being mishaved by Nepal airlines and Nepalese administration while they were returning from Kailash Mansarovar Yatra has come to the government's notice and the issue was taken up strongly with the Himalayan nation.
"In 2016, as per the information available, 7 yatris travelling through Nepal route have passed away," he said.
About the misbehaving incident, he said Indian embassy has asked the authorities there to investigate the matter and take appropriate punitive action against those found guilty.
"Yes. Such an incident was brought to the notice of the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu.
"The matter was taken up strongly by our Ambassador in Nepal with the then Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Nepal stressing the need for Nepalese authorities to investigate the matter and take appropriate punitive action against those found guilty so as to deter recurrence of such incidents," said Singh.
He said the Nepal route for Kailash Mansarovar Yatra is organised by private tour operators and pilgrims on this route have reported facing several difficulties including being stranded at times due to inclement weather, limited infrastructural facilities and capacity constraints.
"There have also been reports of yatris facing serious health issues, which sometimes have resulted in fatalities," he said.
Replying to a separate question, Singh said foreign governments may deny visa or entry to any Indian travelling with a non-machine readable passport.
"The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had set a deadline of the 24 November, 2015 for globally phasing out all non-Machine Readable Passports.
"Out of approximately 6.5 crore valid Indian passports in circulation as on date, about 2.0 lakh passports are estimated to be non-Machine Readable Passports," he said.
Enemies of Pakistan who cannot tolerate its development want to destabilise it, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said today and vowed to move forward with full strength and completely eliminate terrorism from the country.
Addressing the National Assembly after 74 people were killed in a deadly suicide bombing at a hospital in Quetta, Sharif said that all resources will be used to eliminate the threat of militancy from the country.
Sharif said army and intelligence agencies were working "day and night" to defeat militancy.
"We will move forward with full strength and completely eliminate terrorism from the country," he said.
Sharif highlighted that those involved in the Quetta blast follow that the same ideology which prompted them to target Benazir Bhutto Hazara community in Balochistan, a church and Army Public School Peshawar and prominent people of the country.
"We will have to defeat this ideology because this ideology is the enemy of Pakistan," he said.
Sharif said that enemies of Pakistan want to destabilise it because they cannot digest development projects like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which will bring prosperity in the country.
Earlier in the day, Sharif chaired a meeting of army and civilian officials including army chief General Raheel Sharif to discuss the security situation after the Quetta bombing.
He asked the officials to speed up operation against the militants. He also promised to provide every kind of help to the provinces to deal with terrorism.
At least 74 people were killed on Monday and over 100 injured after a suicide bomber struck the emergency ward of Quetta's Civil Hospital, where scores of people had gathered to mourn the death of Balochistan Bar Association (BBA) president Bilal Anwar Kasi in a gun attack earlier in the day.
The attack was claimed by Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan splinter outfit Jamaatul Ahrar and the Islamic State militant group.
An SIT was constituted today to probe the killing of notorious Maoist renegade-turned-gangster Mohammed Nayeemuddin and investigate "various criminal activities" conducted by him and his associates in Telangana.
The Special Investigation Team would begin functioning immediately and investigate from where the seized material has originated, especially land documents, arms and ammunition and explosives, a release from the office of Telangana DGP said.
Nagi Reddy, Inspector General Police, North Zone, would be in-charge of the SIT, comprising officers from various districts, constituted by the Director General of Police Anurag Sharma.
45-year-old Nayeemuddin, wanted in a string of cases including the murder of an IPS officer in 1993, was killed in an alleged exchange of fire with police in Shadnagar town of Mahabubnagar district on Monday.
The incident had occurred when police teams, tracking a case of attempted extortion registered in Nizamabad district, came under fire from a suspiciously moving SUV near Millennium Colony on the outskirts of Shadnaga.
Police yesterday conducted searches at different places in Nalgonda district - Nayeemuddin is a native of this district - and arrested nine persons, including four of his family members, on the charge of land-grabbing and extortion.
The SIT consists of B Srinivasa Reddy, Addl. DCP, Crimes, Cyberabad; Sridhar, Inspector of Police, Begumbazar, Hyderabad city; S Sudhakar, Inspector of Police, Tr PS, Uppal; Shakir Hussain, Inspector of Police, Wanaparthy Circle; Rajashekar Raju, Inspector of Police, Korutla Circle, Karimnagar; Samala Venkatesh, Inspector of Police, CCS, Sangareddy; P Madhusudhan Reddy, Inspector of Police, Kodad Circle; and and Seetharam, Inspector of Police, Armoor Circle.
South Sudan today rejected a UN proposal to send a 4,000-strong regional force to the restive capital of Juba, saying it undermined the young nation's sovereignty.
The US-drafted resolution presented to the Security Council seeks to establish a protection force of African troops authorised to "use all necessary means" to provide security and deter attacks against UN bases in South Sudan.
But South Sudanese government spokesman Michael Makuei said his country rejected the resolution in its current form as it would "(turn) South Sudan into a protectorate and this is a situation that we will not accept."
The draft, which would also extend the current UN mission's mandate until December, would "undermine the sovereignty of the Republic of South Sudan," Makuei told reporters in Juba.
The head of the East African bloc IGAD, which first proposed the force, had said on Friday it had obtained South Sudan's permission to deploy it.
But Makuei appeared to throw that agreement into doubt, lending credence to fears among diplomats that the government's apparent willingness to participate in the IGAD summit was partly to buy time.
"The protection force should have been an independent body, not under (UN mission) UNMISS, so that they can perform their functions and duties... Which we had agreed upon," Makuei said.
IGAD had raised the possibility of deploying an "intervention brigade" with a more aggressive mandate within the UN mission currently present, along the lines of a similar brigade sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2013.
Juba was rocked by several days of heavy fighting in early July between the government forces of President Salva Kiir and those loyal to ex-rebel chief Riek Machar, the latest upsurge in two and a half years of war.
Nearly 300 people died in the violence, and since then 70,000 South Sudanese have fled the country to Uganda, according to new figures released Wednesday by the Norwegian Refugee Council, an independent aid group.
Sporadic clashes have been recorded since the street battles last month, along with reports of rape and looting, adding to the ranks of 1.6 million displaced within the country since civil war broke out in 2013.
The 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, UNMISS, has faced criticism for failing to stem the latest bloodshed or fully protect civilians during the fighting.
Forty-five children, who had stopped going to school out of fear of wild animals like tigers, have returned to their institution in Mudumalai, a tiger habitat in Nilgiris district, after the Tamil Nadu government provided jeep for their safe transportation.
State Minister for School Education P Benjamin also said that state government's self-defence programme for girl children has developed confidence among them.
He said the Panchayat Union Primary School at Mudumalai in Nilgiris district caters to the educational needs of 100 families in areas of Puliyalam, Mundakarai, Melnagam Palli, and Kappur.
Tribals belonging to communities, including Kattu Naicker, live in such areas which are the natural habitat of tigers besides other animals like leopards, bears, wolves and hyenas, he told the Assembly yesterday.
"As a result of provision of transport facilities, 45 children who had dropped out from fear of these animals have been coming to school safely and regularly," he said, adding jeep was provided for transportation needs of children.
According to the state government, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Western Ghats "is part of the huge tiger landscape in southern peninsular India which serves as source population of tigers in the region."
On education vis-a-vis girls, he said Tamil Nadu is implementing several activities for the promotion of education and all round development of girl children.
"One such programme is the self-defence training for the upper primary girls implemented during 2015-16," he said adding the programme includes lessons and training on recognising danger, attacker, confidence, communication and physical (combat) skills through karate and other martial arts.
For each district, 1000 girl students in seventh and eight classes were selected for self-defence training.
"Totally 30,000 girls benefited from this training. Most of the parents commented that a great change occurred in the attitude and behaviour of their girl children. They developed greater confidence and self-esteem," he said.
The Minister said recognising the aspirations of
parents
on educating their children in English medium, the state government commenced English medium sections in elementary education from 2012-13.
"This initiative witnessed a great response from the parents and enrolment in English medium classes has increased considerably. So far, 3,32,590 children have been enrolled in English medium sections," he said, adding primary school teachers are trained every year in teaching through English language."
"The improvement in enrolment and performance in English
in State Level Achievement Survey prove that English medium in government schools is not just a pretentious claim but really a paramount achievement due to the efforts of the Tamil Nadu Government," he said.
He said at primary level, the Net Enrolment Rate has increased to an all time high of 99.85 per cent during 2015-16 and at upper primary level, NER improved to 99.11 per cent during 2015-16.
Today at The Stream I provide some analysis of Donald Trumps speech earlier this week at the Detroit Economic Club. As I conclude, The trouble for Trumps promised future lies in the impossibility of reclaiming a bygone era.
In Trumps campaign there is a mix of both nostalgia and optimism, which bookend serious critiques of Americas more recent past and the legacy of his political opponents in particular. This approach is appealing to an important, and often overlooked segment of the American public. These are the new voters who Trump has promised to bring to the GOP, and who have sometimes embraced his campaign with a kind of religious fervor.
But the broader appeal of this vision is dubious. Trumps larger economic vision certainly does bear some resemblance to Bernie Sanders agenda, as they emphasize nationalism, interventionist trade policy, and a revitalization of traditional manufacturing and labor sectors. It remains to be seen how many of Sanders supporters will migrate to the similarly nationalist approach of Donald Trump.
The real challenge for Trump is to express this hopeful vision about the future while simultaneously hearkening back to an idyllic past. If Clinton is the candidate of the past, it is the recent past, the last few decades of the Obama administration and bad trade deals like NAFTA. Trump, meanwhile, is both the candidate of the future as well as of the more remote, perhaps even mythic past, in which America was first: in jobs, manufacturing, global influence, leadership, and military strength.
As Trump put it in his Detroit speech, Americanism, not globalism, will be our new credo. Joseph Sunde pointed out the salient Christian critique of such a credo recently, and I also recommend Abraham Kuypers treatise Twofold Fatherland for a proper and penultimate valuation of the nation-state and national identity relative to Christian citizenship in Gods kingdom. Twofold Fatherland is included in the forthcoming On the Church volume of the Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology.
A recent ad from Trumps opponent Hillary Clinton inadvertently teaches us a better lesson about how the golden rule ought to inform our considerations of international trade. Trump, for all his America First bravado, has not operated consistently with that credo as a businessman.
Listen closely to what Trump said when shown Trump-branded shirts that are made in Bangladesh: Well, thats good. We employ people in Bangladesh, thats good. They have to work, too.
Indeed, people the world over have to work, and to do so most effectively they need to be able to exchange goods and services with others, not only within their own national borders but all over the globe. And it isnt just factory workers in Bangladesh that are made better off in such a system. American shoppers at Macys can get shirts that they can afford, with the Trump label on them that they so desire.
The look of chagrin on Trumps face at the end of the ad is an admission that they have to work, too is an honest assessment of one of the real merits of global trade. It may not be politically expedient for him to acknowledge it in his campaign speeches, but Trump surely knows it to be true.
And lest you think Hillary Clinton is any better on this issue, realize that the ad is designed not to display the benefits of free trade, but to indict Trump as a hypocrite who doesnt actually live by a nationalist credo. Clinton has been working hard in recent weeks to cater to Bernie Sanders supporters with precisely that same kind of Americanist and class-based sloganeering. Ahead of her own major economic speech, Clinton observed:
I really would like him to explain why he paid Chinese workers to make Trump ties, she said at a visit to Knotty Tie Co., a Denver-based tie manufacturer, last week. She held up a Trump tie. Its got his name on it, of course, and, instead of deciding to make those ties right here in Colorado with a company like Knotty.
Trump, Clinton, or any other presidential candidate should acknowledge how the economy has developed and recognize that the successful way forward is for government policy to catalyze the potential dynamism of entrepreneurs and take a posture of openness and reciprocity towards other nations.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his personal intervention for release of four Indian fishermen arrested by Sri Lankan navy, besides release of 103 boats.
In the latest incident, four fishermen in a mechanised fishing boat, who had set sail from Jegathapattinam fishing base in Pudukkottai district, had been arrested by the Lankan Navy on Monday, the Chief Minister said in her letter dated August 9, which was released today.
This recent act of the Sri Lankan Navy has again created anxiety and unrest in the minds of the fishermen, she said.
A "firm, clear, unequivocal and unambiguous" message should be sent out by Indian government to Sri Lanka to ensure that these arrests are stopped and "the livelihood of the poor and innocent fishermen from Tamil Nadu who are engaged in fishing in their traditional waters is protected," she said.
Colombo's strategy of not releasing the boats was causing "great frustration amongst" the fishermen of Tamil Nadu, she added.
"Without their livelihood base, these fishermen are in a state of despondency. I urge you to take this up with the highest authorities of the Sri Lankan government and ensure the immediate release of the precariously berthed boats which continue to suffer great damage," she said.
The Indian Government "must take necessary steps to ensure the safety and security of our fishermen. I request your personal intervention to secure the release of the fishermen and 103 fishing boats currently in Sri Lankan custody at the earliest," Jayalalithaa said.
The chief Minister reiterated that retrieving Katchatheevu islet from Sri Lanka and abrogation of the 1974 and 1976 agreements alone could restore the traditional fishing grounds of the Palk Bay to the state's fishermen.
Jayalalithaa also reminded the Prime Minister of her demand for a deep sea fishing and infrastructure package of Rs 1,520 crore.
Telecom regulator Trai today said it will bring out a consultation paper on Net Neutrality, and separately also firm-up its views on the issue of Free Data by the end of the month.
"For net neutrality, the pre-consultation has happened and we are now in the process of firming-up the final consultation paper, hopefully by the end of this month," Trai Chairman, R S Sharma said on the sidelines of a conference.
He further said the regulator will take a view on Free Data in a similar timeframe. "By month-end, we will be able to take a call... I can't say what will be the outcome of that. Every consultation paper does not have to result into regulation or tariff order but whatever the conclusion, we will be able to make it, by the month-end," he said.
The two issues, Free Data and Net Neutrality, will be handled separately. "These two will be different, certainly. Because in the Free Data paper, we have said that whatever architecture is brought out that should respect the principles of Net Neutrality," he said.
In Free Data, the regulator is exploring models to give consumers free Internet service within the Net Neutrality framework, after barring platforms like Facebook's Free Basics and Airtel Zero under its differential pricing rule.
It sought public views on whether there is a need to have TSP-agnostic platform to provide free data or suitable reimbursement to users, without violating the principles of its differential pricing for data rules.
In May this year, Trai, through a pre-consultation round, sought public views on aspects of Net Neutrality that need be considered for a discussion framework.
There has been a conflict between telecom operators, Internet companies and consumers interest on the issue of net neutrality.
While all the three major stakeholders - telecom operators, Internet companies and consumers - favour net neutrality, they define it differently from their standpoint.
The debate on net neutrality picked up in India when telecom operator Bharti Airtel in December 2014 decided to charge extra for making Internet calls. But, the company rolled back its plan after public protest.
It then launched Airtel Zero platform which provided fee access to websites under it, while websites were required pay for being on it.
Later, Facebook also came up with a zero rating platform 'Free Basics' which provided free access to some websites available on its platform for Reliance Communications customers in India.
Both these platforms were seen as violation to net neutrality and later Trai issued a regulation which barred zero rating platform.
Connectivity to the bustling Old Delhi, which traces its roots back to the 17th century Mughal-era, is set to get a boost with Delhi Metro's Heritage Corridor beginning the trial run today.
The trial run on the 5.1-km-long section, an extension of the Violet Line, was launched at the Delhi Gate station during an event attended by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) chief Mangu Singh and Chief Secretary K K Sharma.
Singh said the "most challenging" task was to carry out construction in narrow pockets of the walled city, and to overcome that DMRC had to go for "out-of-the-book solutions".
The line, which will have three stations, is expected to begin operations by November.
Singh claimed that 95 per cent of the work relating to the construction of viaducts and tunnels on Phase III has been completed although issues remain in few patches like the one involving acquisition of land at Trilokpuri.
"Delays in obtaining clearance from ASI and National Monument Association delayed construction and engineering complications added to the eight-month-long delay in beginning the trial run," DMRC chief spokesman Anuj Dayal said.
This entirely underground section, an extension of the currently operational Escorts Mujesar (Faridabad) - ITO corridor, will comprise of four stations - Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid, Lal Quila and Kashmere Gate.
After the commercial launch of the line, Kashmere Gate will become the only station in the entire network to have three interchanges, as it is already an interchange point for Line 1 (Red Line) and Line 2 (Yellow Line).
"The Kashmere Gate station will play a very important role in Multi-Modal Integration of various transport systems as it is very close to ISBT. In near future it will have the highest ridership," a metro official said.
The section will help de-congest Kashmere Gate, Rajiv Chowk, and Central Secretariat stations by providing alternative routes to commuters.
After the commissioning of this section, residents of Faridabad and south Delhi areas such as Govindpuri, Kalkaji, Nehru Place and East of Kailash will be able to travel directly to Old Delhi.
As the corridor passes through areas of historical importance, the stations have been decorated with panels and artworks depicting the glory of the era bygone.
At least eight people, mostly civilians, were killed today in two separate bomb attacks targeting police blamed on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in Turkey's southeast, officials said.
Five people, all civilians, were killed in a car bomb attack in the centre of the city of Diyarbakir, the regional governor's office said in a statement. Twelve people were wounded including five police, it added.
Another three people -- two civilians and one policeman -- lost their lives in a near-simultaneous car bombing in Kiziltepe in Mardin province to the south, said Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan, quoted by the state-run Anadolu agency.
Fifteen civilians were wounded in the attack which took place close to the town's hospital, he added.
Both bomb attacks had been aimed at passing police vehicles but ended up killing mainly civilians.
Pictures showed the force of the explosion caused considerable damage to nearby buildings and vehicles in the Mardin bombing.
The authorities believe both blasts have been carried out by the PKK, a Turkish official said.
Hundreds of members of the Turkish security forces have been killed by the PKK in attacks since the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in July last year.
Earlier today, five Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack blamed on PKK militants in Uludere in the southeastern Sirnak province close to the Iraqi border. Eight other soldiers were wounded.
Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK first took up arms in 1984. It is proscribed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
The PKK has kept up attacks after the July 15 failed coup during which a rogue military faction tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power.
The government has vowed there will be no let-up in the fight against the PKK even in the wake of the coup.
The Turkish army's hierarchy has been badly hit in the purge since the coup, with top generals accused of complicity in the plot.
Nearly half of all generals have been imprisoned or dismissed, raising concerns about the coordination of the fight against Kurdish rebels.
More than 600 Turkish security force members have been killed by the PKK since the collapse of a ceasefire last year, according to a toll given by Anadolu on July 31.
CPI(M)-led LDF government will send two of its ministers to Rome to attend the September 4 canonisation ceremony of Mother Teresa, in which she would be elevated to sainthood.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here today that state Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac and Water Resources Minister Mathew T Thomas would represent the state government in the much-awaited function.
"The government will send an official delegation to the canonisation ceremony of Mother Teresa. Ministers-Thomas Isaac and Mathew T Thomas will attend the function," he told a press meet here.
The government is sending the delegation according to the request of Syro Malankara Church Major Archbishop Cardinal Mar Baselios Cleemis, the chief minister added.
Teresa was beatified by then Pope John Paul II in 2003.
In March, Pope Francis had announced that she would be elevated to sainthood after the Church recognised two miracles she was said to have carried out.
Teresa died in 1997.
Three expelled Congress MLAs today joined BSP ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections due early next year.
An SP MLA and a BJP leader too joined Mayawati's party, BSP General Secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui told a press conference here.
The MLAs are Nawab Qazim Ali Khan, Muslim Khan and Dil Nawaz Khan (all expelled from Congress) and Nawazish Alam Khan (SP).
BJP leader and former minister Awadhesh Verma also joined BSP, giving the party a boost after some senior leaders, including Swami Prasad Maurya and R K Chaudhary, quit accusing Mayawati of auctioning party tickets for the 2017 assembly polls.
Maurya, who was Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, has joined BJP. He belongs to OBC while Chaudhary is a Dalit, communities which are considered a significant votebank of BSP.
The leaders who joined BSP expressed confidence in the party's policies and programmes.
Asked whether BSP will give them tickets for the upcoming elections to the 403-member Assembly, Siddiqui said it would be decided later.
On Maurya's claim that several BSP MLAs were in touch with him, he dared him to disclose the names.
UP PCC Vice-President Satyadeo Tripathy downplayed today's development, saying it would not harm the prospects of Congress in any way as the party had already expelled them for indulging in anti-party activities.
Congress is trying hard to regain its lost moorings in the state which was once its favourite hunting ground.
The United States today denounced the "genocide" carried out by the Islamic State group against Christians, Shiites and Yazidis, as the State Department unveiled its somber annual report on religious freedom around the world.
In its comprehensive look at the situation in more than 200 countries in 2015, the State Department singled out its usual bugbears on the issue of religious repression: ally Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sudan.
And as in previous years, the US government expressed concern at the rise of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Europe, against a backdrop of the continent's migrant crisis and an uptick in jihadist attacks.
But the report denounced non-state actors like the IS group and the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram, which "continued to rank amongst the most egregious abusers of religious freedom in the world."
The IS group "continued to pursue a brutal strategy of what Secretary (John) Kerry judged to constitute genocide against Yazidis, Christians, Shiites, and other vulnerable groups in the territory it controlled," the State Department said.
Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who formally unveiled the report, recalled that Secretary of State John Kerry had in March "made clear his judgment that Daesh is responsible for genocide against religious communities in areas under its control."
"Daesh kills Yazidis because they are Yazidi, Christians because they are Christian, Shia Muslims because they are Shia," Blinken told reporters, using an Arabic acronym for the IS group.
He also accused the Sunni jihadists, who control swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, of being "responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing."
Kerry and United Nations experts had previously used the term "genocide" -- which has legal implications in the United States -- to refer to crimes carried out by IS jihadists in Iraq and Syria.
In the two war-torn countries, jihadists were "responsible for barbarous acts, including killings, torture, enslavement and trafficking, rape and other sexual abuse against religious and ethnic minorities and Sunnis," the report said.
The State Department's global view on religious freedom does not spare many countries, with the notable exception of home soil, where Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been criticized for his anti-Muslim rhetoric.
Afghanistan has sought more military supplies from India including attack helicopters as it steppped up its offensive last week against terror groups killing 300 Islamic State terrorists, the top and NATO commander in the war-ravaged country said today.
General John Nicholson, here on his second visit, said India has been making "enoromously valuable" contribution in strengthening Afghan security forces and the favours the military support.
India has already provided four Mi-25 helicopters to Afghanistan and Commander said the country needs more military aircraft to deal with Taliban and various other terror outfits.
Welcoming India's contribution to restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan, Nicholson said terror outfits like the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad are not only a threat to Afghanistan but to the region, including India, and the US was putting pressure on Pakistan to contain these groups. He said the Taliban also "enjoys sanctuaries" in Pakistan.
"We consistently encourage Pakistan to take action against terrorist groups that operate from its territory and close down their safe havens," he told journalists.
Nicholson, who heads the US operations in Afghanistan, met National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and Defence Secretary G Mohan Kumar and discussed a range of issues including situation in Afghanistan and terror threat to the region.
The US commander said Afghan forces, supported by the US, had launched a major offensive against Islamic State terror outfit two weeks back in which around 300 IS fighters were killed.
"In the course of the operation they killed a number of top leaders of the organisation and upto 300 of their fighters. Obviously it's difficult to get an exact count, but what this amounts to is about 25% of the organisation at least, and so this represents a severe setback for them. It reduced their territory," he said.
The US Commander said military training by India to thousands of Afghan security personnel has helped that country in significantly enhancing its military capability which is in tune with the objective of the NATO and the US.
A top US university has appointed a first full-time director for Hindu Life in recognition of the growing number of Hindu students at the varsity.
"I am pleased to announce the appointment of Brahmachari Vrajvihari Sharan as Georgetown's first full-time Director for Hindu Life and the first Hindu priest chaplain in the United States," Rev Howard Gray, Interim Vice President for Mission and Ministry at university said.
Sharan joins the Georgetown University from the University of Edinburgh where he served as honorary Hindu Chaplain since 2010.
He will also serve as chaplain-in-residence to first-year students in New South Hall.
"Sharan was drawn to Georgetown by its commitment to inter-religious student formation, and by the vibrancy of the university's Hindu community," Gray said in a blog post.
The university has some 400 Hindu university and faculty members.
From its foundation in 1789, Georgetown, the nation's oldest Catholic and Jesuit university, has been open to students of every religious tradition, he wrote.
Sharan is a Senior Monk at Shri Golok Dham Ashram (Vrindavan and New Delhi) where he was initiated in 2003.
He subsequently completed ritual training at the Vishwanath Sannyas Ashram in both Varanasi and Delhi.
Since completing his PhD in Sanskrit at Edinburgh in 2015, Sharan has also served as Lecturer of Asian Religions at Cardiff University in Wales and Senior Teaching Fellow in Sanskrit at the University of London in England.
Sharan has been a major contributor to interfaith initiatives across the UK and is a Patron of the Hindu Forum of Europe, Gray said.
Notably, Sharan is Georgetown University's second Hindu chaplain.
Pratima Dharan, the first Hindu chaplain resigned in January 2015 after three months of working at the university.
The Georgetown University Hindu Students Association welcomed the appointment of first full-time Director for Hindu Life in Campus Ministry.
"We are so thankful and appreciative of all the hard work and dedication that went into making this possible (both on behalf of the university and our fellow Hindu students)," the association said.
"I look forward to meeting each one of you wonderful, dynamic students when you return. In the mean time feel free to message me with any questions, or just say hi! If you're already on campus," Sharan said in a message to Hindu students.
Ahead of Independence Day, Village Defence Committees (VDCs) along the Indo-Pak border areas here have been put on alert.
"In view of forthcoming Independence Day and the current security scenario in the state, the VDCs were advised to remain alert and cooperate with VDC members performing duties in their respective areas," a police officer said.
"If they spot any suspicious looking person or object, they should inform the nearest police or army person," he said.
During the meeting, chowkidars and numberdars were given copy of order and format for tenants verification issued by the district magistrate of Jammu.
Note: This is the second in a series examining the positions of several minor party and independent presidential candidates on issues covered by the Acton Institute. A previous series covered the Democratic Party platform (see here and here) and the Republican Party Platform (see here and here).
Although minor parties often called third parties to distinguish them from the dominant two have always been a part of American politics, the dissatisfaction with the Republican and Democratic parties in the current election season has led some Christians to give them more consideration. The intention of this series is to provide some basic information on where some of these parties stand on issues covered by the Acton Institute.
A couple of caveats are thus in order.
1. Because there are roughly 50 minor political parties in America this series will not be able to cover them all. The choice of what will be included is undeniably arbitrary and subjective. My intention is to highlight the four or five parties (or individual presidential candidacies) that would be of most interest to our readers. Currently, the plan is to include Evan McMullin (a conservative independent candidate), the Libertarian Party, the American Solidarity Party, the Green Party, and the Constitution Party. (Others will be added if there is sufficient interest/demand.)
2. In general, the PowerBlog covers issues related to economics and individual liberty, particularly religious freedom. For this reason some social issues of concern to Christians are not included. This is not because they are unimportant or because those of us at Acton do not care about the issues. Its merely because they are outside the focus of this blog.
3. For the sake of simplicity, this series will highlight the position listed in a partys platform or, if they are a non-aligned independent candidate, the positions listed on their website. Unlike with the two major parties, the nominees of the minor parties often have no direct control over their partys platform. For this reason, the positions held by the particular presidential candidates may differ radically from the positions held by the party. For example, Libertarian Party candidates, Gary Johnson and William Weld, differ with their partys platform on a number of issues.*
4. Minor parties tend to focus more on broad principles than specific policy prescriptions. Wherever possible, Ill try to highlight the direct policy positions. Otherwise Ill attempt to summarize their underlying philosophy on a public policy area.
Here are the positions of the Libertarian Party as outlined in their 2016 Platform:
General Principles
Believe that all individuals have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal right of others to live in whatever manner they choose.
Supports a general the right to life and the prohibition of the initiation of physical force against others by government.**
Supports a broad-based right to liberty of speech and action.
Opposes all attempts by government to abridge the freedom of speech and press.
Opposes government censorship in any form.
Supports a broad-based right to property and opposes all government interference with private property, such as confiscation, nationalization, and eminent domain.
Supports laws that prohibit robbery, trespass, fraud, and misrepresentation.
Opposes any government interference in areas of voluntary and contractual relations among individuals.
Opposes any requirement that forces individuals to sacrifice their lives and property for the benefit of others.
Opposes any initiation of force by any individual, group, or government against any other individual, group, or government.
Supports the concept of self-ownership that individuals own their bodies and have rights over them that other individuals, groups, and governments may not violate.
Discrimination
Supports allowing members of private organizations to retain their rights to set whatever standards of association they deem appropriate, and individuals are free to respond with ostracism, boycotts and other free-market solutions.
Opposes the government allowing sexual orientation, preference, gender, or gender identity to have any impact on the governments treatment of individuals, such as in current marriage, child custody, adoption, immigration or military service laws.
Education
Supports allowing parents to determine the education of their children, without interference from government.
Supports allowing parents to have control of and responsibility for all funds expended for their childrens education.
Economic Liberty
Supports the individuals right to offer goods and services to others on the free market.
Supports limiting government involvement in economics to protecting property rights, adjudicating disputes, and providing a legal framework in which voluntary trade is protected.
Opposes any governmental efforts to redistribute wealth or manage trade.
Opposes any government restrictions on the individuals rights to control and enjoy their property, as long as their choices do not harm or infringe on the rights of others.
Opposes eminent domain.
Opposes civil asset forfeiture.
Opposes governmental limits on profits.
Opposes governmental production mandates.
Opposes governmental controls on prices of goods and services (including wages, rents, and interest).
Opposes any anti-discrimination laws that hinder private entities freedom to choose who they will trade with.
Environment
Supports clear definition and enforcement of individual rights and responsibilities regarding resources like land, water, air, and wildlife.
Supports restitution to injured parties when environmental damages can be proven and quantified in a court of law.
Governance and Regulation
Opposes any government regulations that affect individuals right to sole dominion, except when given with the individuals consent.
Supports the abolishment of all federal programs and services not required under the U.S. Constitution.
Individual Liberty
Supports interpreting the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable search and seizure to include records held by third parties, such as email, medical, and library records.
Opposes any governmental regulations to define, license or restrict personal relationships.
Justice Issues
Supports limiting criminal laws to violations of the rights of others through force or fraud, or to deliberate actions that place others involuntarily at significant risk of harm.
Opposes all laws that prohibit the use of drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes.
Supports the common-law right of juries to judge not only the facts but also the justice of the law (i.e., jury nullification).
Labor
Supports the right of private employers and employees to choose whether or not to bargain with each other through a labor union.
Opposes government interference in labor disputes, such as compulsory arbitration or imposing an obligation to bargain.
Supports repealing any requirement that one must join or pay dues to a union as a condition of government employment.
Money and Financial Markets
Supports free-market banking, with unrestricted competition among banks and depository institutions of all types.
Opposes government guarantees and bailouts.
Supports allowing individuals engaged in voluntary exchange to use as money any mutually agreeable commodity or item.
Opposes inflationary monetary policies.
Opposes legal tender laws.
Parental Rights
Supports allowing parents, or other guardians, to have the right to raise their children according to their own standards and beliefs. (Their position adds the caveat, This statement shall not be construed to condone child abuse or neglect.)
Religious Freedom
Supports the freedom to engage in or abstain from any religious activities that do not violate the rights of others.
Opposes government actions which either aid or attack any religion.
Taxation
Supports repeal of the 16 Amendment, which allows government to collect an income tax.
Supports the abolishment of the Internal Revenue Service.
Opposes any legal requirements forcing employers to serve as tax collectors.
Opposes deficit spending.
Opposes all forms of national debt.
Supports passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, provided that the budget is balanced exclusively by cutting expenditures, and not by raising taxes.
Trade
Supports the removal of governmental impediments to free trade.
* A few examples of where Johnson differs from the platform: He supports anti-discrimination laws that require businesses to serve anyone and everyone (even forcing Jewish baker to bake cakes for Nazis), supports government subsidization of private organizations (such as Planned Parenthood), supports some gun control, etc. A few examples of where Weld differs from the platform: He supports some gun control (including a ban on assault weapons), redistribution of wealth, ect.
**Although the LP uses the phrase right to life they do not mean it to have the same denotation and connotation as that given by anti-abortion groups. The LP opposes any government involvement in the regulation of abortion.
Next in the series: The American Solidarity Party
A hardcore criminal, wanted in around 30 criminal cases, and two of his accomplices were arrested in an operation, Haryana police said today.
Acting on a tip-off, police nabbed Surjeet Kataria alias Billu and his accomplice Davinder alias Dev from Surat Nagar, near Gurgaon, a Haryana police spokesman said, adding another accomplice, Gaurav, was nabbed from Delhi this morning.
Four pistols, two of them country-made, three dozen cartridges, 18 mobile phones, a car, three sets of police uniform and a number of fake vehicle registration certificates and driving licences were recovered from their possession, he said.
During interrogation, it was revealed that around 30 cases of murder, attempt to murder, loot and robbery were registered against Surjeet who was sentenced to life imprisonment in a murder case but was out on parole since October 2015, said the spokesman.
Surjeet, who was to return to jail next month, had become active again while being out on parole and committed a number of crimes, he added.
As regards the police uniforms recovered from their possession, the accused revealed that they were to commit a major crime where there was a plan to use them.
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, which presently registers 90 per cent of its sales from online channel in India, is planning to double offline presence over the next few months.
"For us, online is the dominant channel and we are trying to build a base for offline in India. We had a partnership with Redington last year (for distribution) and four weeks back, tied up with Innocomm and Just Buy Live," India Head Manu Jain said here.
Jain added that with these two new partners, the company now sells its products via 5,000 shops and plans to double the figure in a few months.
launched Redmi 3S and Redmi 3S Prime in the country priced at Rs 6,999 and Rs 8,999, respectively.
The phones will be initially available at Mi.Com and Flipkart.
Xiaomi, which sells over 1 million phones a quarter in the country, did its first sale for Redmi 3S yesterday on Flipkart and Mi.Com and sold out all 90,000 units.
"For the first sale that we did yesterday, we wanted to bring the highest possible quantity and we brought 90,000 units. Everything was added to cart in a few minutes and it took two-and-a-half hours to ship out everything," Jain said.
chose open sale, instead of the usual flash sale yesterday, as the company brought significantly higher volumes than it ever did, Jain said.
Xiaomi will have another open sale on August 17 for Redmi 3S and Redmi 3S Prime with similar number of units.
Both the phones have been manufactured in India at the company's Andhra Pradesh facility.
"We are scaling up the facility at Andhra Pradesh. We are adding more lines and more capacity to the same plant and once we exhaust it, we are thinking of adding more factories along with our partners Foxconn," he said.
It took him more than two years, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has finally discovered the art of the deal.
Realising that a frontal assault wasn't securing the votes needed for India's biggest-ever tax reform, Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley changed tack this spring, government and ruling party sources have told Reuters.
First, they sought to build a coalition among the nation's 29 state governments to isolate the Congress party, which despite losing heavily to Modi in 2014 had blocked a new Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the Rajya Sabha.
Then, Jaitley held a series of meetings with Congress leaders whose outcome was uncertain right up to the last minute, sources close to the finance minister said.
He yielded to their demands accepting, verbatim, a clause they proposed for the constitutional amendment needed to make the GST happen, according to a member of the Congress team that included former Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
"Negotiations take place only if both sides are willing to be flexible," senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told Reuters. "Both sides were pragmatic."
An aide to Jaitley said Congress's growing isolation proved decisive in making a compromise possible.
"They had got themselves into a corner," said the finance ministry official, who was privy to the talks. "They had two options: strike a deal and come out with your reputation intact, or lose your credibility."
Last week's unanimous upper-house vote to pass the 122nd amendment to the constitution brings the wheel full circle the GST was proposed by Chidambaram a decade ago but was stalled by political rivalry.
Introducing a unified sales tax across India's market of 1.3 billion people would mark a bold act of integration at a time of disintegration elsewhere, as Britain exits the European Union and a protectionist, Donald Trump, runs for the U.S. presidency.
The GST vote also addresses how India, as a federation, can implement a one-size-fits-all sales tax something the United States and EU have been unable to do by creating a GST Council that brings the centre and the states together.
Tough bargaining on the rate and scope of the tax lies ahead, yet at least the atmosphere has improved, with Chidambaram praising Jaitley's "friendly and conciliatory tone".
That could revive projects that foundered early in Modi's rule, including land and labour reforms.
EARLY STANDOFF
Despite winning India's biggest mandate in 30 years, Modi has struggled to advance his agenda.
Congress, though reduced to a rump opposition, has resisted. As the largest party in the Rajya Sabha that represents the states, it had blocked the GST and derailed Modi's land acquisition bill which critics branded as being "anti-farmer".
While that tactic proved effective, it wasn't winning public support. Congress took hits in state elections and in June lost the Rajya Sabha votes it needed to be sure of stopping the GST.
This was the cue for Jaitley to court the states, with key swing state West Bengal soon declaring its support. In July, he targeted Bihar, while at the same time re-engaging with Congress after nine months of radio silence.
Jaitley's promise to the states to compensate revenue losses for five years, made at talks in New Delhi on July 26, won them over, West Bengal's finance minister Amit Mitra told Reuters.
Congress moved to cut a deal, while Modi and Jaitley were ready to offer concessions including scrapping a levy of 1 per cent on the movement of goods between states that experts say would actually make the GST a better tax.
On the morning of July, 27 Congress submitted a written proposal, with new wording on resolving GST disputes between the centre and the states. Modi's cabinet approved identical tweaks that same evening.
When it came to the Aug. 3 vote, there were 203 votes in favour, and none against. The amendment passed the lower house on Monday, also unanimously.
It was a first for Modi, who called the GST a "Great Step towards Transformation".
By abandoning confrontation and seeking consensus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pulled off his biggest reform yet, securing the unanimous support of both houses of parliament for a planned Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Here's a timeline of how Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley first brought India's federal states on board, before finally closing the deal at a series of meetings with an opposition Congress party that had become increasingly isolated.
TIMELINE
May 19 - Congress, which suffered its worst-ever election defeat at the hands of Modi in 2014, is punished by voters in a round of regional elections.
June 11 - Further losses in elections to the upper house mean that Congress and its fellow holdout, Tamil Nadu's ruling party, would struggle to muster the one-third of votes needed to stop a constitutional amendment to enable the GST.
June 15-16 - Jaitley wins the full support of West Bengal, a key swing state. Congress's anti-GST front is crumbling.
July 15 - Jaitley holds formal talks on the GST with Congress party negotiators for the first time in nine months.
July 17 - At an all-party meeting, Modi urges opposition parties to put national interests above all else and back the .
July 19 - Jaitley holds a second round of talks with Congress. He also meets Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who rules in an alliance with Congress. Kumar is placated by a government offer to delay a controversial piece of legislation and his party publicly backs the GST the next day.
July 26 - Jaitley offers to compensate states for five years for all revenue losses arising from the GST. The states are fully on board.
July 27 - Congress proposes tweaks to the GST amendment. They are approved by Modi's cabinet that evening.
July 28 - Two more meetings are held but Jaitley resists a Congress demand to anchor the GST rate at 18 per cent.
Aug 1 - Congress tells Jaitley it will back the bill.
Aug 3 - The constitutional amendment bill passes the upper house, with 203 votes in favour and none against, after lawmakers from Tamil Nadu walk out.
Aug 8 - The lower house unanimously approves the amendment.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
- At least half of India's states and self-governing union territories need to back the GST amendment.
- The GST Council, a forum bringing together the centre and the states, should draft the key terms and scope of the GST. The government's chief economic adviser has recommended a main rate of 18 percent, but many states want it to be higher while Congress wants it to be capped.
- Two new GST bills are expected to come before parliament in the winter session that begins in November. The states, too, are required to pass their own GST bills.
- The government targets a GST launch date of next April 1, the start of India's financial year, although experts say that deadline is likely to slip.
Defending champion Andy Murray raced into the Olympic Games last 16 today, blitzing Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-3, 6-1, before sympathising with long-time rival Novak Djokovic over his stunning exit.
World number 2 Murray is looking to become the first man to win two Olympic singles golds, a cause helped when Juan Martin del Potro put out world number one Djokovic in the first round.
"Del Potro is a great player when he's fit, but he hasn't been fit very often in the last few years," said Murray.
"In a 64-player draw with 16 seeds that's the kind of thing that can happen and Juan Martin was playing really well. It was tough on Novak."
Murray will face France's Benoit Paire, the 16th seed, or newly-wed Fabio Fognini of Italy for a quarter-final spot.
Wimbledon champion Murray was hardly troubled by Monaco on centre court, extending a head-to-head winning streak which stretches back six years.
The Argentine never fully recovered from a fall in the second game of the opening set where he aggravated a long-standing hip injury.
Murray reeled off five games against the world number 108 and was soon 4-0 up in the second set before going on to claim victory in just 69 minutes.
"It felt good, I played well from the back of the court. There weren't many unforced errors," said Murray, 29, after racking up a 14th successive win since losing the French Open final to Djokovic in June.
Meanwhile American seventh seed Madison Keys hailed Serena Williams for inspiring her to reach the quarter-finals.
Keys, 21, was the first woman into the last eight thanks to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over gritty Spaniard, Carla Suarez Navarro.
But she gave credit to 22-time Slam winner Williams, the top seed in Rio and defending Olympic champion.
"Hey, I'm happy to be on the same team as Serena Williams, it's thanks to her that I was able to get my ranking up and qualify," said Keys.
Keys, who made the Australian Open semi-finals in January, will face either Italy's Sara Errani or promising Russian Daria Kasatkina for a place in the last four.
Spanish seventh seed David Ferrer was knocked out by Russia's Evgeny Donskoy 3-6, 7-6 (7/1), 7-5.
Ferrer is the third top-10 seed to fail to make the third round after Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova needed three sets to beat Russia's Ekaterina Makarova 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Williams will continue her assault on a fifth career Olympic gold when she faces Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.
Read our full coverage on the 2016 Rio Olympics
The 34-year-old American has won all four meetings against Svitolina, including at this year's French Open where she gave up just two games.
Second seed Angelique Kerber faces Australia's 2011 US Open winner Samantha Stosur while third-seeded Muguruza takes on Monica Puig of Puerto Rico.
Coolpad, the smartphone manufacturer on Wednesday unveiled the Mega a smartphone with an unparalleled style and design. It is a light weight phone, with 5.5-inch HD sharp display and a 3GB RAM, priced at Rs 6,999, the company said in a statement.
Commercial Feature is a Business Standard Digital Marketing Initiative.
The Editorial/Content team at Business Standard has not contributed to writing or editing these articles.
For further information, please write to assist@bsmail.in
After Infosys, recently Cognizant cut its guidance for full-year growth. Wipro has been in a turnaround mode for years now. Even the reliable TCS turned in some modest numbers and the management commentary has been cautious.HCL Tech was an exception but it was coming off disappointing results over the past couple of quarters. Midsized players like MindTree and Hexaware have also declared not very encouraging numbers. It is clear that Indian IT service companies are struggling. What ails them?After reigning supreme for nearly two decades, the low cost, high quality, people intensive, value delivery of Indian IT companies based mostly on offshoring work has come in for serious challenge.Automation of low-end work especially in the areas of application maintenance and testing as well as package implementation has meant that some of that work has reduced or even permanently disappeared. Several of the large European and US companies have built low cost bases themselves, including in markets like India, eroding competitive advantage of Indian IT services players.Structural shifts in the IT services landscape like the move to cloud has left Indian IT services companies scrambling to adapt. Indian IT companies are investing in platforms, machine learning and AI (artificial intelligence) to address market changes. But the pace of those investments has been behind the curve compared to the speed at which changes have been taking place in the market.The old solution of throwing more warm bodies for a lower price is not working any more. While most players still enjoy enviable margins compared to their global peers, the writing is clear on the wall. Events like Brexit have only added to the uncertainty as the UK is one of the key markets for Indian IT after the US. In a slow growth world, countries are also becoming less open to free trade and more protectionist.
Indian companies have tried to tackle this by having more near shore centres or hiring people where market opportunity exists.
It is clear that the old model is not working and Indian IT services companies are in a period of churn, which may even last a few years, before the full contours of the changes become completely visible.
Those companies who adapt to the changing market conditions will survive and thrive. Others may end up as targets for M&A or victims of marketplace changes. Quoting an old Chinese curse: "Indian IT service companies are living in interesting times."
Did World Vision Employee Spy for Hamas? | Main | Pragmatic Iranian Official Boasts of Tsunami in Nuclear ActivityMedia M.I.A
August 10, 2016
LA Times Silent on International Aid Going to Hamas
The New York Times last week published an in-depth article, more than 1,100 words, about the Gaza director for World Vision, a Christian aid organization, who was charged with funneling over $40 million to the Hamas terrorist organization. Before the Times reporters had completed that story, their paper's website already posted this Associated Press article about Mohammed el-Halabi, the World Vision employee.
The Times continued its strong coverage on the subject with a long article in print today about a United Nations aid worker similarly charged with helping Hamas in Gaza. The charges are significant enough that Australia and Germany have halted their support for World Vision projects in Gaza and the West Bank.
Yet, The Los Angeles Times print edition published not a single word about the employees working for World Vision, the United Nations Development Program and Save the Children, another international aid group, who have been arrested for funneling aid money to Hamas. (The Los Angeles Times website did run three Associated Press news stories, inexplicably in the nation section, though the stories are international. Please see clarification below.)
The LA Times' utter failure to cover this critical story is all the more glaring in light of the paper's publication today of an article about the slow reconstruction of homes in Gaza since the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas ("2 years after Gaza war, still no homes"). Given the vital role that international organizations, including the United Nations, play in the rebuilding of homes in Gaza, the oversight is all the more indefensible.
As The New York Times reported, the United Nations Development Program, where Waheed Al Bursh was employed as an engineer, "is helping rebuild thousands of homes and other buildings destroyed by airstrikes" in 2014. Al Bursh was charged with providing material assistance to Hamas, including helping to build a jetty for the terror group.
According to The New York Times, a statement by the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security forces, said that Al Bursh "had also persuaded his managers to prioritize the rebuilding of homes in an area 'populated by Hamas members.'"
The implications of widespread abuse of international aid funds are profound. As Ashley Jackson, a research associated at the Overseas Development Institute in London told The New York Times: "Working in the Palestinian territories was hard before, and I can't imagine what it is going to be like now." Robert Piper, a UN humanitarian worker, likewise lamented: "If proven by a due legal process, these actions deserve unreserved condemnation; Gaza's demoralized and vulnerable citizens deserve so much better."
As Naji Sharrab, a political science professor at Al Azhar University in Gaza, candidly told The New York Times: "Hamas has complete authority to interfere and control all the organizations working in Gaza." Hamas' authority to interfere also affects the organizations' efforts to rebuild, though The Los Angeles Times completely ignored this factor in its account of the "multiple headwinds holding up the massive project."
Aug. 12 Clarification and Update
This post was amended on Aug. 12 to reflect the fact that The Los Angeles Times website did publish Associated Press stories on the World Vision in its "Nation" section, though the stories are international news. CAMERA regrets the oversight concerning the online edition. These wire stories did not appear in the print edition.
In addition, an editor at the foreign desk responded to CAMERA's concerns about the paper's failure to cover Hamas' diversion of international aid. The editor stated that the paper's correspondent in Israel is on vacation and thus The Times is unable to cover the story. Of course, the print edition has in the past relied on wire services to fill in on their coverage of Gaza, so it's not clear why editors did not run a wire story in this case as well. Associated Press articles about Gaza which appeared earlier this year in The Los Angeles Times print edition include "''Romeo and Juliet,' Gaza-style; Rift between Hamas and Fatah takes center stage in altered Shakespeare play" (May 14, page A4); "Gaza grapples with sewage crisis, spill poisons coast and Israeli blockade makes matters worse" (May 8, page 14); "Laughter as a medical aid, Palestinian clowns offer relief to kids in Gaza hospitals" (April 3, page A9); and "Gaza's zoo animals die of hunger, disease; 'People have a hard time finding food, much less the animals, a zookeeper laments" (Jan. 31, page A6). Surely if a Gaza theater production and the fate of Gaza's zoo animals merit coverage in the print edition, then so does a large scale funding scandal involving multiple international aid groups and tens of millions of dollars which jeopardizes humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.
Posted by TS at August 10, 2016 01:52 PM
Guidelines for posting
This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material.
Post a comment
National carrier Air India (AI) and other no-frills airlines SpiceJet and Indigo are offering huge discounts to fliers ahead of Independence Day.
To attract fliers, the airlines have slashed fares on various domestic and international routes during tepid monsoon season.
ALSO READ: SpiceJet's Independence Day sale offers tickets for Rs 399
Air India, which is offering 'monsoon sale' on select sectors in the economy class for both domestic as well as international sectors, began its sale on August 9.
For international fliers, Air India's all inclusive economy return fares to Singapore/Bangkok start from Rs 15999. While fares on the domestic route start from Rs 1199.
Low cost carrier, SpiceJet on Tuesday rolled out a Great Independence Day sale, offering one-way fares as low as Rs 399 for travel to select destinations on its domestic network.
The popular routes on offer at base fare starting Rs 399 are Ahmedabad - Mumbai, Amritsar - Srinagar, Bengaluru - Chennai, Bengaluru - Kochi, Coimbatore - Hyderabad, Jammu - Srinagar, Mumbai - Goa and Mumbai - Hyderabad amongst others.
On the international network, SpiceJet is offering base fare starting from Rs 2999 for Dubai - Delhi and Dubai - Mumbai routes.
Budget airline, Indigo also announced a promotional offer with all-inclusive fares starting as low as Rs 806. IndiGo's offer is applicable only on domestic routes and valid for travel between August 18 and September 30.
The latest Morgan McKinley Irish Employment Monitor has been released today and shows that the availability of professional job opportunities in July 2016 (11,909) rose by 2.4%, when compared to June (11,633).
The number of professionals seeking new roles fell by 2% to 7,635 in July when compared to June 2016 (7,788) and there were 8% fewer professional job opportunities available to Irish job seekers when compared to July 2015.
The data shows that 19% fewer professionals were looking for roles in July when compared with the same month last year. The pharma, medical devices and IT sectors were the top performing sectors in relation to hiring activity this month.
In Financial services, the funds sector experienced a slower start to the year in terms of job opportunities however most recently there is an increased demand from a number of key employers in Dublin looking for talent including Junior and Senior Executive Level Operations personnel in; TA (Transfer Agency), Fund Accounting and Custody, Compliance and Risk.
Chief Operations Officer at Morgan McKinley Ireland, Karen OFlaherty commented, "Jobs growth was relatively steady in July. Fewer candidates were actively seeking new roles, which is primarily due to seasonal factors. Pharma, Medical Devices and IT were again the most buoyant sectors, following by Financial Services."
She added, "The notion of up skilling is not new but the speed and pace of change, driven by technology, means almost all jobs require additional learning to stay relevant. A national skills transfer programme should be prioritised to ensure we have a flexible and resilient workforce."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
About us
New data from ACI Europe, the trade association for European airports has shown that Dublin Airport was the fastest growing major airport in Europe in the first six months of this year.
The data shows that passenger numbers at Dublin Airport increased by 13.4% in the first half of the year, making Dublin the leading performer among top tier European airports which have more than 25 million passengers per year.
The growth at Dublin follows last years record-breaking performance when the airport welcomed 25 million passengers for the first time.
In the first six months of this year, traffic at Dublin Airport grew faster than at Barcelonas El-Prat Airport (+12.7%) Istanbuls Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (+12.0%), Copenhagen Airport (+10.9%) and Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam (+9.9%).
The average growth across European airports was 4.9% in the first half of the year, with airports in the European Union reporting stronger average passenger growth of 6.2%, according to ACI Europe. Traffic at non-EU airports within Europe was almost flat in the first half, growing by just 0.5%
Dublin Airport Managing Director, Vincent Harrison commented, "Dublin Airport had a very strong performance in the first half of this year, welcoming just over 13 million passengers. The growth in passenger numbers at Dublin Airport is having a significant impact on the Irish economy, bringing increased trade and investment and also driving higher visitor numbers, which is in turn boosting the Irish tourist industry."
Dublin Airport is continuing to invest in new facilitates for both passengers and airlines. A 10 million upgrade to the Arrivals Hall in Terminal 1 is currently underway and 10 new aircraft parking stands entered use earlier this year as part of a 20 million upgrade project.
The airport recently completed a 14 million expansion to the Terminal 2 multi-storey car park, which doubled the number of available spaces, opened a new business lounge after US pre-clearance in T2 and installed new self-service check-in and bag drop kiosks in both terminals.
Source: www.businessworld.ie
About us
LOGAN A judge has ruled that Shane Hallstrom is competent to stand trial in the death of his father, April 28. The ruling came after two psychologists testified during a hearing that they had each interviewed the 25-year-old Smithfield man, finding that he has a high IQ and understands the court process.
Hallstrom sat next to his public defender, Bryan Galloway, Tuesday morning in 1st District Court. He has been in the Cache County Jail since being arrested outside his Smithfield home on the night of the incident. He has been charged with 1st degree murder in the stabbing of Calvin L. Hallstrom.
Salt Lake City psychologist Dr. Ryan Houston told the court that during his evaluation, Hallstrom was emotional and mumbled, 25-to-life while they talked. He explained that from police reports, it appeared that the defendant was in a delirium state on the night of the stabbing, possibly caused by lack of sleep and drinking only caffeinated soda for days before.
Dr. Houston said details of the case are disturbing, especially allegations that Hallstrom was rubbing Calvins blood all over his arms and hands, after stabbing him multiple times, outside his Smithfield home.
Ogden neuropsychologist Dr. Beverly OConnor later testified that Hallstrom showed signs of anxiety and depression, maybe suffering from aspergers or schizo depressive disorder. She said he appeared to be quite intelligent though, with a large vocabulary.
Judge Kevin Allen said the court found that per the doctors evaluations, the defendant is competent. He set a preliminary hearing date for September 27, when prosecutors will present their evidence in the first-degree murder case.
Hallstrom remains in jail and is being held without bail.
will@cvradio.com
LA Times Silent on International Aid Going to Hamas | Main | LA Times Errs on Western Wall, Still Silent on Stolen Aid
August 10, 2016
Pragmatic Iranian Official Boasts of Tsunami in Nuclear ActivityMedia M.I.A
The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi, rejected claims that his country would decelerate its nuclear activity, instead promising a tsunami" in Tehrans nuclear industry. Despite the fact that the AEOI is tasked with operating Iran nuclear facilities, Salehis remarks on Aug. 9, 2016 received scant coverage by major U.S. news media outlets.
Speaking before the Professional Center for Journalism, an Iranian non-profit organization, Salehi disputed rumors that Irans nuclear activity was dissipating. Irans one-time foreign minister told the audience, With all my scientific, technological and administrative experience in the nuclear field for some 50 years, I insist that the nuclear industry has not been shut down and the work is going on. (Irans Atomic Energy Chief Rejects Rumors of Waning Nuclear Activity,? The Algemeiner, Aug. 9, 2016)?
Salehi added that Irans President, Hassan Rouhani, would be meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to discuss, among other things, the construction of two new nuclear power plants for the Islamic Republic. The AEOI chief said that the $10 billion project, once approved by Moscow and Tehran, would create a tsunami? in Irans nuclear industry.
Although Salehis comments were made before the Professional Center for Journalism, they were little noted by the U.S. news media. A Lexis-Nexis search of The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, USA Today and The Baltimore Sun, among other print outlets, showed no mention of Salehis remarks.
The failure to report Irans nuclear chief promising growth in Tehrans nuclear program is conspicuous. As CAMERA has noted (see, for example Watchdog: Iran Nuclear Deal Prevents Public Reporting of Violations,? March 10, 2016), media coverage of Irans nuclear programwhile often flawedhas been extensive. Reporting was particularly substantial in the months before, during and after the July 2015 JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) in which the United States, Germany, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, China and Iran reached an agreement over the latters alleged nuclear weapons program.
Salehi himself is no stranger to the press. Reuters hailed his August 2013 appointment to head the AEOI, characterizing him as a pragmatist (Iran appoints pragmatist Salehi to head nuclear program,? Aug. 16, 2013). The news service quoted Mark Fitzpatrick, the director of the non-proliferation and disarmament program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a U.K.-based think tank. Fitzpatrick called Salehis appointment wiseSalehi was the best of [former Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejads ministers, a pragmatist who understands how the world works. It made sense to keep him on in some capacity.?
Salehi may indeed be pragmatic in working to achieve hisand the mullahsself-stated goals of increasing Irans nuclear capabilities. As Richard Rorty, a deceased philosopher of pragmatism, once noted, Truth is what your contemporaries let you get away with.?
Irans nuclear chief revealed a truth about his countrys nuclear pursuitsone that seems to contravene the spirit of the Iran nuclear deal. And his contemporaries in the press failed to report it.
Where was the coverage?
Posted by SD at August 10, 2016 02:56 PM
Why indeed has this not rec'd more coverage? Glad you showed this.
Posted by: elen sue jacobson at August 12, 2016 05:40 PM
Guidelines for posting
This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material.
Post a comment
Here are former Hooks taking the field for the Astros in World Series
See which former Corpus Christi Hooks baseball players are taking the field for the Astros in the 2022 World Series.
contributed photo San Antonio's Military Plaza, with San Fernando Church in the background. Gen. Perfecto de Cos, from his vantage point in the church, could see the Texans attack his pack train along Alazan Creek a mile from town. He rushed 200 men and one cannon to rescue them. The battle at San Antonio came to be called the Grass Fight.
In October 1835, the month after Gen. Martin Perfecto de Cos began his campaign to disarm and chastise the Texans, three battles, or skirmishes, were fought at Gonzales, Goliad and Concepcion outside San Antonio.
The new commander of Texas forces at Goliad was Philip Dimmitt. He replaced George Collinsworth, who captured the presidio. Dimmitt sent 40 men under Capt. Ira Westover to capture Fort Lipantitlan guarding a ford on the Nueces River. Another 14 men joined Westover, including John J. Linn, the alcalde of Victoria, and empresario James Power.
Fort Lipantitlan was built four years before to guard the Santa Margarita crossing on the Nueces River below the Irish settlement of San Patricio, 30 miles from today's Corpus Christi. The fort was built of dirt walls studded with huge wooden rails to hold the dirt in place. Linn described it as, at best, a second-rate hog pen.
Capt. Nicolas Rodriguez, commander at Fort Lipantitlan, heard from spies that the Texans were on their way so he took 80 men to ambush them on the Goliad Road. Westover, however, took a route to the south and they reached a ranch 5 miles downriver from Fort Lipantitlan.
Linn wrote that "A Mexican informed us that Capt. Rodriguez was on the Goliad Road, at the head of his men, expecting to intercept us. We proceeded up the river and with the aid of a canoe crossed the river, which was swollen in volume. We arrived in front of the fortress about dark." The Texans planned to attack at daylight on Nov. 5, 1835.
That night two Irishmen from San Patricio came into the Texas camp. One of them, James O'Reilly, offered to convince the Mexican militia inside the fort to give up. They surrendered when they were assured they would not be harmed. There were 21 men inside, mostly militia, who were released after promising not to take up arms against Texas.
To their great surprise the Texans captured the fort without a shot being fired. Found inside were two four-pounder cannons, eight Old Spanish cavalry guns called "escopets," and a supply of gunpowder, but no shells for the cannon.
The following day, Nov. 6, the Texans burned several buildings inside the fort, including an unfinished barracks, but the earthen walls studded with timber were not easily burned. They took the two cannons and prepared to cross the river to return to Goliad. A norther blew in, the sky turned dark, and a cold rain began to fall.
Capt. Rodriguez and men were almost to Goliad when he heard Lipantitlan had been taken. They rushed back and reached the river as the Texans were trying to cross. Westover was caught with half his men on the east side of the river. Rodriguez attacked in a cold driving rain. The Mexican soldiers were cut down by the accurate rifle fire of the Texans before they could get within range of their muskets. They retreated and Westover's men crossed over to the other side. They had trouble with the two cannons and dumped them in the river.
One Texan, William Bracken, was wounded in the battle. A musket ball tore away three fingers of his right hand. Rodriguez lost 28 men, killed or wounded. Among them was Marcelino Garcia, his second in command, who was friendly with the Texans. He was wounded and taken to San Patricio. He was buried by the Texans, with full military honors, in the San Patricio Cemetery.
After the capture of Lipantitlan, added to the presidio at Goliad, Santa Anna's forces held one stronghold in Texas, San Antonio de Bexar, and Cos's forces there were isolated and under siege.
The Texans heard rumors that a relief column was on its way to San Antonio carrying a large amount of silver for the pay and subsistence of Cos's beleaguered troops. Patrols were increased and Texas soldiers debated over how they would split the loot.
On Nov. 26, 1835, Deaf Smith's scouts sighted a pack train escorted by 150 cavalry troops on the Laredo Road west of San Antonio. All the Texans were eager to join the fight so they might share in the plunder.
Col. Edward Burleson sent James Bowie with 40 men to capture the pack train. (When Stephen F. Austin was commissioned to travel to Washington to represent Texas interests, Burleson was appointed to replace him in command of the Gonzales army.)
The two sides clashed a mile from San Antonio near Alazan Creek. The Texans were outnumbered 3- or 4-to-1 but they attacked like furies. The Mexican soldiers fought their way to an old creek bed where they took a defensive position. Seeing the pack train in trouble from his vantage point in the town (probably San Fernando Church), Cos rushed 200 men and one cannon to rescue them.
Burleson led a reserve force of 50 cavalry troops to reinforce Bowie. The Texans attacked the Mexican infantry in the creek bed and the cavalry charged head-on. The Mexicans fled in disorder until they were reformed. They made another charge, a frontal assault straight into the firing line of Bowie's men, before the rifle fire of the Texans sent them rushing back to San Antonio.
The Texans ripped open the sacks of the pack train and discovered they were filled not with gold or silver but grass. The six-week siege had exhausted the supply of fodder for Cos's cavalry horses and the pack train detail had been out cutting hay on the meadows west of the town.
Seventy of Cos's soldiers and five Texans were killed or wounded in the Grass Fight. It was the fifth encounter of the Revolution, after the clash at Gonzales, the capture of Goliad, the battle of Concepcion and the skirmish at Lipantitlan.
In the battles and skirmishes since the siege began six weeks before, Cos lost about 200 men but still had 800 in San Antonio. His forces were divided between fortified plazas in the center of town and the Alamo east of the river. Cos learned at Concepcion and in the Grass Fight that his troops caught in the open were no match for the sharpshooting Texans with their superior guns and skilled marksmanship.
nnn
(This is the third of eight columns on the battles of the Texas Revolution.)
File photo
All that can be done is being done to smooth the way for potential voters in the coming November elections.
Consider this: the dreadful Texas ID law that required voters to produce one of a limited number of government-approved documents at the ballot box is being loosened. A federal appeals court found that the law discriminated against minorities.
Instead of just six approved documents, it is likely, after U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos approves, that the list of documents will be far longer and more inclusive.
Then there is the Nueces County effort to make Election Day voting more closely resemble Early Voting. That means that voters on Election Day would, if the Secretary of States approves, be able to cast a ballot across the county, not just their home precinct.
Pair that with continuing efforts by Nueces County Clerk Kara Sands and her office, both major parties, as well as civic groups such as the League of Women Voters, to reach out to campuses, to festival sites to any place where people gather, all with the intent to register potential voters.
All this to make it easier to register to vote and to remove any obstacles to the ballot box.
Yet, all this will mean nothing if people don't actually turn out to vote.
And Texans have a terrible record in voter turnout.
For many election cycles, Texas has consistently ranked last or near last in voter turnout even in years when turnout is historically the highest.
But you can't vote unless you register. And registration percentages are just as abysmal as voter turnout percentages.
A Civic Health done by the Anne Strauss Institute at the University of Texas reported in 2013 that Texas in 2010 a midterm election ranked 42nd among the states in percentage of eligible voters being registered to vote.
Generally, those Texans who live in rural areas, who are older and who have a higher income are more likely to be registered to vote, the report said.
Want to take a guess as to why Republicans have dominated statewide offices for decades? The above may be a clue.
Things have barely improved since 2010. In the 2014 gubernatorial election, according to the Texas Secretary of State's office, only about 33 percent of the registered voters turned out. But if we compare that to the voting age population, that percentage dipped down to just under 25 percent.
That means that just about one quarter of the voting age population of Texas decided who would live in the governor's mansion and who would run the Texas Legislature.
Why don't people who are eligible to be registered get registered and why don't those who are registered follow through and vote?
Certainly for Hispanics in Texas there are plenty of reasons to vote in the coming election. Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has seemingly gone out of his way to arouse the Hispanic vote.
His promises to build a wall at the Mexican border, his running fight with an Indiana-born federal judge of Mexican descent "a Mexican" Trump said and his vow to make deportation his main policy toward immigration one would think would energize the Texas Hispanic population to register and then to vote.
But history is not encouraging.
Only 46 percent of the eligible Hispanics in Texas registered to vote in the 2014 midterm election. Of those only 22 percent actually cast a vote.
About 5 million Texas Hispanics are expected to be eligible to vote in the coming election. That about double the number that could have voted in the 2014 election.
But if only one in five cast a ballot, the sound of a mighty voice will be drastically muted.
The effect of such a potentially large voice isn't just about presidential politics. Or even about one party reaping the benefits.
All politicians of every stripe pay attention to who votes, even votes that are cast against them. And especially those that are cast for them.
Even a vote for the losing side has an effect, especially if that vote is robust. The winner must pay more attention to that electorate who are unhappy because, who knows, the worm will eventually turn.
We shouldn't let all those efforts to make voting easier go to waste.
Nick Jimenez has worked as a reporter, city editor and editorial page editor for more than 40 years in Corpus Christi. He is currently the editorial page editor emeritus for the Caller-Times. His commentary column appears on Wednesdays and Sundays.
SHARE Contributed photo "Calavera Talavera" by Mayra Zamora is an example of the artist's use of style and color that will be included in the Art Center of Corpus Christi mural "Chicano Pop." Esther Hackleman/Caller-Times Mayra Zamora sketches out her plans for the Art Center of Corpus Christi mural "Chicano Pop."
By Esther Hackleman, Esther.M.Hackleman@caller.com
The Art Center of Corpus Christi has named Mayra Zamora as the artist for its upcoming mural, which will give color to the white arches that face Shoreline Boulevard.
The center approached Zamora because of her work ethic, style and willingness to engage the community in painting six 8- by 4-foot arches that will house the mural, Executive Director Diana Blunzter said.
Zamora is familiar with the community, having grown up in Tivoli and graduated from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi with a bachelor's in art and a master's in education. She has become an important member of the art community during the past 10 years while working at the Art Museum of South Texas and the Garcia Arts & Education Center.
The Art Center mural will be Zamora's first, but she has learned from a well-equipped teacher. Zamora worked hand-in-hand with Caller-Times muralist Sandra Gonzalez on "Endless Sunset: The Colors of Our City."
Zamora's mural, "Chicano Pop," will represent her heritage on each panel, which will incorporate the bright colors and symmetry found in kaleidoscopes and talaveras, a form of Mexican mosaics.
"Each panel will be inspired by Zamora's growing up in South Texas," Blunzter said.
The panels will be named El Ojo, La Rosa, El Taco, El Sol, La Calavera and El Pescado. The vision for Zamora's art was born out of last year's Mosaicos Mexicanos show hosted by K Space Contemporary.
"A lot of my artwork is paying homage to the elements of art," Zamora said. "I primarily focus on line, shape and color."
The Art Center will host community painting days for its mural at Arts Alive, the art center's inaugural festival on Sept. 3-4.
The art will be part of a rotating mural that will be erected on plywood and affixed to the white arches facing Whataburger on the Bay, Blunzter said. The mural is designed to allow for the mural to be taken down easily and replaced with another each year.
The Art Center mural, which has been in the works over the past two years, will be made possible by a grant from the Downtown Management District that was approved in fall 2015. The grant will match up to $10,000 for the project. The funds will not only go toward the six-part mural but also for a light display that will be projected onto the empty walls that flank the arches.
"Our goal is to alter the visitors' experience during the day and at night," Bluntzer said.
Zamora said the Art Center mural encourages artists to step up and share their art with the city in a dynamic way.
"We are breathing new life into this city," Zamora said. "With Sandra's mural and now my mural, in my head I'm thinking, 'Who's next?' "
Twitter:@Caller_Esther
IF YOU GO
What: Community painting day
When: Sept. 3-4
Where: Art Center of Corpus Christi, 100 N. Shoreline Blvd.
Cost: Free
Information: www.artcentercc.org
Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Corpus Christi Police Chief Mike Markle speaks during a Coastal Bend Community Coordinated Response Coalition public forum on domestic violence at Sugarbakers on Thursday, July 21, 2016.
SHARE Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Dozens of people have attended several forum on domestic violence after recent area killings.
By Krista M. Torralva of the Caller-Times
Domestic violence public forums about area killings drew people angry with the system. Corpus Christi Police Chief Mike Markle might be counted among them.
"Why are we accepting telephone reports for family violence? That should never happen again. We stopped that immediately," the chief stood and said at a forum last month.
Markle implemented changes after the June 8 death of Noemi Villarreal. Villarreal called the department's telephone reporting unit and described how her boyfriend had beat and held her captive six days before she was killed. Her boyfriend, Lance Taylor, is charged with murder.
Villarreal's death highlighted another problem. Family violence detectives didn't work on weekends. They could be called in severe circumstances, but for the most part worked only business hours Monday through Friday.
Victims and advocates called for change during the Coastal Bend Community Coordinated Response Coalition forums held July 8, July 21 and Aug. 4.
Police listened.
As of July 28, family violence detectives are rotated for weekends and after hours duty, replicating the system the department's homicide unit has long used.
Department spokesman Lt. Chris Hooper credited the forums for their role in inspiring the changes.
"The (coalition) forums have broadened our perspective when it comes to looking at policy, practice and procedure and what we can do to better serve the victims," Hooper said.
The changes reflect the coalition's goal to facilitate improvements to the system, president Chad Hollenbaugh said.
"I think it shows the power of the coalition and when people get together like this they can make change," Hollenbaugh said.
Police will better assess the victim's condition, threat level and impacts on children and others with the changes and detectives will more quickly be able to obtain arrest warrants for suspects, Hooper said.
Carina Castellanos' death reiterated the length of time it might take to get an arrest warrant for the suspect in a domestic violence case. Castellanos called police from a convenience store shortly after midnight June 10, a Friday, and said her boyfriend, Nigel Miguel Green, choked and threatened to kill her with a steak knife. After that, Castellanos had no communication with police, including the detective assigned to her case later June 10. Five days later she left a message saying she didn't want to pursue the case. It was dropped.
By June 30, police issued a missing persons report for Castellanos and sought a warrant for her boyfriend's arrest for the report she made earlier that month. On July 7, Green was arrested and led police to Castellanos' body in a ditch near Mathis, according to police reports.
Women's Shelter of South Texas president and CEO Frances Wilson said the changes will help victims when they're ready to cry out and sends messages that police are doing more to ensure victims are safe and abusers are held accountable.
"I feel very hopeful. I feel like CCPD is working on evaluating what they've been doing just like we all need to periodically," said Wilson, who along with the shelter's chief operating officer met with the chief last week. "It's like I tell people, 'What we did back in 1995 doesn't necessarily work now.' "
For more than a year, the Caller-Times has examined in the Behind Broken Doors series the effects of domestic violence and explored solutions to curb the deadly trend. The series kicked off in an effort to better understand a particularly deadly year 2014 during which about half the city's criminal homicides stemmed from domestic violence.
Twitter: @CallerKMT
SHARE
By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times
West Oso Independent School District trustees proposed to terminate Superintendent Elizabeth Saenz after placing her on administrative leave last month.
The board called a special meeting Tuesday to discuss and consult with legal counsel on her employment and the proposal to terminate her three-year contract, which is set to expire June 30, 2018.
After a half-long closed session that lasted about an hour and a half, trustee Liz Gutierrez made a motion to propose Saenz's termination and authorize board President Lucas Jasso to give Saenz notice of the decision. The motion was seconded by trustee Shirley Jordan and passed with a 4-2 vote. Trustee Cella Boyd abstained.
Board vice president Martha V. Ruiz announced her resignation last month, but said Tuesday she did not finalize the paperwork and plans to stay her term, which expires in November.
Saenz, who has led the district since 2011, was placed on paid administrative leave July 18 pending an investigation into her practices, the district's legal counsel Tony Resendez said. The Walsh Gallegos law firm, for which Resendez works, hired retired superintendent Ann Dixon last month to assist in the investigation.
"The results of the investigation led to the proposal for termination," Resendez said Tuesday.
Negotiations to establish a separations agreement last month were unsuccessful, Saenz's attorney, Tiger Hanner said. He's said a fraction of the board wants a change in leadership, but won't say why.
"We were not invited to the meeting (Tuesday)," Hanner said. "These actions have been driven by politics."
Saenz declined to comment Tuesday. She told the Caller-Times last month the discussions related to her change in employment status were prompted by "a difference in philosophies" with some board members.
"I am ready to (continue to) work for the kids if I am afforded the opportunity," she said last month.
According to the Texas Education Agency, Saenz earned a salary of $169,402 as of October 2015 to lead a district just over 2,000 students.
According to board policy, the board may terminate an employee's contract at any time for good cause as determined by the board. Before a contract is terminated, the employee will be given a notice detailing the grounds for the proposal to terminate the contract.
An employee can request a hearing before an independent hearing examiner, or contest the proposal for termination. A written request for the hearing needs to be submitted to the Texas Education Agency Commissioner of Education within 15 days of receiving the notice from the board.
Hanner said Saenz plans to contest the proposal.
Twitter: @CallerBetty
SHARE Ramos
By Krista M. Torralva of the Caller-Times
Voters in Texas without a photo ID will be able to cast their ballots in the November election, a federal judge in Corpus Christi ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos signed an agreement between Texas state officials, the federal government and civil rights plaintiffs that clears the way for voters without photo ID to cast their ballots as long as they sign a declaration stating they have a "reasonable impediment" to obtaining one of the types of photo identification required in Texas' voter ID law.
The order softens Texas' controversial voter ID law that a federal circuit appeals court last month found racially discriminatory. The law required voters to show one of six types of a government-issued photo ID such as a driver's license or passport and could have left up to 600,000 Texas voters without the proper identification in this fall's presidential election, opponents claimed.
Under the approved agreement, voters may show an alternative form of identification such as a utility bill or government check that displays the voter's name and address. The agreement also allows voters to use photo IDs such as a driver's license or personal ID card from any state, expired or not.
However, voters who have one of the six types of government-issued photo IDs, or are able to get one, are still required to use those.
The state will also spend $2.5 million on efforts to inform voters of the changes in time for early voting and Election Day.
"There is a great sense of relief here in South Texas and the Corpus Christi community that thousands of voters need not worry about their ability to vote on Election Day," said Daniel G. Covich of Covich Law Firm LLP. The Corpus Christi-based law firm was involved in the case that grabbed national attention.
The controversial voter ID law was enacted in 2011, blocked by a federal district judge in 2012 and then put into effect in 2013, when the Supreme Court struck down a key part of the Voting Rights Act that had required Texas and some other states to get federal approval for voting changes. Challengers have won every court case since, but the law had remained in effect.
Seventeen states have new voting procedures in place for the November election and many are being challenged in court. Many require voters to show photo identification, such as the Texas law. Others target rules for registering, early voting and provisional voting, such as the wide-ranging North Carolina law that caused confusion and long lines in March's primary.
Those wide-ranging restrictions came under attack as racially discriminatory before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in June
USA TODAY reports contributed to this report.
Twitter: @CallerKMT
Voter ID Order by callertimes on Scribd
Paul Iverson/Special to the Caller-Times Kristen Moore (from left), Oscar Lara, Caitlin Bautista, Briana Perez, Joseph Martinez, Katarina Euresti, Rudy Medina, and Victoria Morales received $2,000 Mano-A-Mano scholarships from the Corpus Christi Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016.
SHARE Paul Iverson/Special to the Caller-Times Victoria Morales (from left), Katarina Euresti, Briana Perez, Oscar Lara, Caitlin Bautista, Joseph Martinez, Kristen Moore, and Rudy Medina received $2,000 Mano-A-Mano scholarships from the Corpus Christi Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016.. Paul Iverson/Special to the Caller-Times Dr. Gilda Ramirez (right) addresses the crowd during a reception for the Mano-A-Mano Scholarship recipients Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016, at the Corpus Christi Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Paul Iverson/Special to the Caller-Times Mano-A-Mano scholarship recipient Oscar Lara (second from right) shakes hands with Mark Avelar (from left), with the Bridge Credit Union, after receiving his scholarship certificate, while John Valls and Rosie Collin applaud. Paul Iverson/Special to the Caller-Times Mano-A-Mano scholarship recipients (seated) and their supporters listen to speeches during a reception for the scholars Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2016, at the Corpus Christi Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
By Natalia Contreras of the Caller-Times
Rudy Medina, 22, hasn't taken a semester off school since he graduated from Moody High School.
The junior at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi said his main motivation to stay in school is his parents.
"My siblings and I encouraged them to finish school," Medina said. "If they can do it, I can, too."
In addition to a full-time student schedule and a full-time job, he makes time to apply for scholarships each week.
"I have been debt free this whole time I've been in college," the computer science and mechanical engineering major said.
His dedication earned him one of 10 Mano-A-Mano scholarships distributed Wednesday by the Corpus Christi Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Since its inception in 2002 the scholarship program has awarded about 252 students with about $675,300 in scholarships.
The program is a joint effort between the Hispanic Chamber and the Bridge Credit Union, in partnership with Del Mar College, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and Texas A&M University-Kingsville.
The scholarship program is expected to continue after the chamber is combined with the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce.
Gilda E. Ramirez, interim president and CEO of the Corpus Christi Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said the program's goal is to empower the students and develop a well-trained workforce in the Coastal Bend.
"We want to keep these students here and make sure they can get a job here in Corpus Christi," Ramirez said. "We need to build our future workforce, keep them and we are going to everything we can to keep them here."
Ramirez said about 73 students applied for the $2,000 scholarship in March.
The one-year scholarship is available for high school seniors, students who have graduated, or those who received a GED certificate from any area high school. Students who are currently attending an accredited postsecondary educational institution in Corpus Christi or Kingsville also qualify to apply.
Joseph Martinez, 19, also received the scholarship Tuesday. He graduated from Tuloso-Midway High School and took advantage of dual credit courses there.
Martinez is a chemical engineering sophomore at Texas A&M University-Kingville.
He applied for about four scholarships for the fall semester and was awarded two, he said. The application process and the work it takes to earn the money is what has encouraged him to do well in school.
"The work it takes to keep applying makes me feel like I really earned this," Martinez said. "I didn't get this money for nothing. I am going to make sure I keep up."
Kristen Moore, 18, of Sinton, applied for about 15-20 scholarships to attend Texas A&M University-Kingsville.
She wants to become an optometrist and said she's happy to know she'll still live near friends and family.
"My plans are to definitely stay in the area while I can and give back to my community," Moore said.
For more information on how to apply, visit www.cchispanicchamber.org or 361-887-7408.
Twitter: @CallerNatalia
Scholarship recipients
The Mano A Mano Scholarship Recipients for 2016-2017 are Alicia Bejaran, Briana Perez, Caitlin Bautista, Joseph Martinez, Katarina Euresti, Kristen Moore, Oscar Lara, Rudy Medina, Ruth Cruz, and Victoria Morales.
A man scales the all-glass facade of Trump Tower using suction cups Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016, in New York. A police spokeswoman says officers responded to Donald Trump's namesake skyscraper on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The 58-story building is headquarters to the Republican presidential nominee's campaign. He also lives there. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
SHARE
A man scaling Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan with suction cups and straps Wednesday was safely pulled in through a window by police, ending a several-hour stunt that got him to the 21st floor and on to the television screens of millions of people worldwide.
New York cops, some outfitted with rappelling gear, snatched the man moments after he ascended to a tight spot near a large window removed by police. Earlier, they had raised a ladder in an effort to stop him, but closed it up as he moved higher. They also broke windows above his route as he climbed upward and inflated giant cushions below him in case he tumbled off the building, the 58-story business headquarters for Trump.
The as-yet unidentified man's motive for the mid-afternoon climb remains unclear. Trump, who was on his presidential campaign tour in Virginia, wasn't there to see the spectacle.
Trump Tower is located on Fifth Avenue, an area of heavy traffic. Crowds of pedestrians stopped to watch the climber.
"Kind of brave of him," said Mateo Daza, 16, from Belgium. "I hope there's something more political behind [it]."
Twitter | @rm3804 Rui (Ellie) Miao on Twitter
The man's identity and motivation is not yet known.
People who have climbed other structures in New York have been arrested and faced charges such as reckless endangerment and trespassing.
Contributing: Associated Press
SHARE
Vic Menard
Good must associate
Edmund Burke, a well-known British statesman, often regarded as the philosophical founder of modern conservatism, said in 1770, "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."
As we contemplate the impending presidential election, the words of Burke send a message across time. Good people, Republicans, Democrats and Independents, must stand together to defeat the demagogue Donald Trump in his contemptible struggle to poison the minds of the American people with messages of divisiveness and inequality.
Light a bright candle and keep it burning until the good prevail in this election. Ronald Reagan said, "When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat."
It is time now for good people to speak up, stand tall and turn up the heat.
SHARE
Kathleen Kasper, Robstown
Not Clinton
Why won't I vote for Hillary Clinton? The answer is simple. Though the FBI chose not to recommend their findings for possible litigation, their findings are, nevertheless, convincing. Hillary Clinton is not someone worthy of this nation's highest office.
The FBI concluded Clinton was "extremely careless" in handling our nation's secrets. FBI Director Comey stated that "no reasonable person" could have believed putting these emails on a private server was at all appropriate or acceptable. He admitted 110 emails on the server were classified at the time they were sent showing Hillary not only lied, but knowingly endangered national security. He also admitted that Hillary deleted work-related emails before turning them over to the State Department, despite her claims otherwise. And, most shocking, Mr. Comey even admitted that it's likely foreign governments hacked her emails and our adversaries could know critical secrets because of Clinton's actions. These facts directly refute what Clinton has told the American public.
In an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News, Clinton made the outrageous claim that Comey found all of the statements she made to the American people to be truthful. What? Truthful? When presented with actual facts, she will lie about those facts as well. I will not vote for a liar.
They say that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. Never has this principle been more apparent than in this new piece by Washington Post reporters Ellen Nakashima and Barton Gellman: As encryption spreads, U.S. grapples with clash between privacy, security.
The subject of the piece is a renewed effort by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies to mandate backdoors in modern encryption systems. This is ostensibly a reaction to the mass adoption of strong encryption in smartphones, and a general fear that police are about to lose wiretapping capability theyve come to depend on.
This is not the first time weve been here. Back in the 1990s the Federal government went as far as to propose a national standard for escrowed telephone encryption called the Clipper chip. That effort failed in large part because the technology was terrible, but also because at least at the time the idea of ordinary citizens adopting end-to-end encryption was basically science fiction.
Thanks to the advent of smartphones and on-by-default encryption in popular systems like Apples iMessage, and WhatsApp, Americans are finally using end-to-end encryption at large scale and seem to like it. This is scaring the bejesus out of the powers that be.
Hence crypto backdoors.
As you might guess, I have serious philosophical objections to the idea of adding backdoors to any encryption system for excellent reasons I could spend thousands of words on. But Im not going to do that. What Id like to do in this post is put aside my own value judgements and try to take these government proposals at face value.
Thus the question Im going to consider in this post:
Lets pretend that encryption backdoors are a great idea. From a purely technical point of view, what do we need to do to implement them, and how achievable is it?
First some background.
End-to-end encryption 101
Modern encryption schemes break down into several categories. For the purposes of this discussion well consider two: those systems for which the provider holds the key, and the set of systems where the provider doesnt.
Were not terribly interested in the first type of encryption, which includes protocols like SSL/TLS and Google Hangouts, since those only protect data at the the link layer, i.e., until it reaches your providers servers. I think its fairly well established that if Facebook, Apple, Google or Yahoo can access your data, then the government can access it as well simply by subpoenaing or compelling those companies. Weve even seen how this can work.
The encryption systems were interested all belong to the second class protocols where even the provider cant decrypt your information. This includes:
This seems like a relatively short list, but in practice wre talking about an awful lot of data. The iMessage and WhatsApp systems alone process billions of instant messages every day, and Apples device encryption is on by default for everyone with a recent(ly updated) iPhone.
How to defeat end-to-end encryption
If youve decided to go after end-to-end encryption through legal means, there are a relatively small number of ways to proceed.
By far the simplest is to simply ban end-to-end crypto altogether, or to mandate weak encryption. Theres some precedent for this: throughout the 1990s, the NSA forced U.S. companies to ship export grade encryption that was billed as being good enough for commercial use, but weak enough for governments to attack. The problem with this strategy is that attacks only get better but legacy crypto never dies.
Fortunately for this discussion, we have some parameters to work with. One of these is that Washington seems to genuinely want to avoid dictating technological designs to Silicon Valley. More importantly, President Obama himself has stated that theres no scenario in which we dont want really strong encryption. Taking these statements at face value should mean that we can exclude outright crypto bans, mandated designs, and any modification has the effect of fundamentally weakening encryption against outside attackers.
If we mix this all together, were left with only two real options:
Attacks on key distribution. In systems that depend on centralized, provider-operated key servers, such as WhatsApp, Facetime, Signal and iMessage,** governments can force providers to distribute illegitimate public keys, or register shadow devices to a users account. This is essentially a man-in-the-middle attack on encrypted communication systems. Key escrow. Just about any encryption scheme can be modified to encrypt a copy of a decryption (or session) key such that a master keyholder (e.g., Apple, or the U.S. government) can still decrypt. A major advantage is that this works even for device encryption systems, which have no key servers to suborn.
Each approach requires some modifications to clients, servers or other components of the system.
Attacking key distribution
Key lookup request for Apple iMessage. The phone
number is shown at top right, and the response at bottom left.
Many end-to-end encrypted messaging systems, including WhatsApp and iMessage, generate a long-term public and secret keypair for every device you own. The public portion of this keypair is distributed to anyone who might want to send you messages. The secret key never leaves the device.
Before you can initiate a connection with your intended recipient, you first have to obtain a copy of the recipients public key. This is commonly handled using a key server thats operated by the provider. The key server may hand back one, or multiple public keys (depending on how many devices youve registered). As long as those keys all legitimately belong to your intended recipient, everything works fine.
Intercepting messages is possible, however, if the provider is willing to substitute its own public keys keys for which it (or the government) actually knows the secret half. In theory this is relatively simple in practice it can be something of a bear, due to the high complexity of protocols such as iMessage.
Key fingerprints.
The main problem with key distribution attacks is unlike a traditional wiretap substitute keys are at least in theory detectable by the target. Some communication systems, like Signal, allow users to compare key fingerprints in order to verify that each received the right public key. Others, like iMessage and WhatsApp, dont offer this technology but could easily be modified to do so (even using third party clients). Systems like CONIKS may even automate this process in the future allowing applications to monitor changes to their own keys in real time as theyre distributed by a server.
A final, and salient feature on the key distribution approach is that it allows only prospective eavesdropping that is, law enforcement must first target a particular user, and only then can they eavesdrop on her connections. Theres no way to look backwards in time. I see this is a generally good thing. Others may disagree.
Key Escrow
Structure of the Clipper LEAF.
The techniques above dont help much for systems without public key servers, Moreover, they do nothing for systems that dont use public keys at all, the prime example being device encryption. In this case, the only real alternative is to mandate some sort of key escrow.
Abstractly, the purpose of an escrow system is to place decryption keys on file (escrow them) with some trusted authority, who can break them out when the need arises. In practice its usually a bit more complex.
The first wrinkle is that modern encryption systems often feature many decryption keys, some of which can be derived on-the-fly while the system operates. (Systems such as TextSecure/WhatsApp actually derive new encryption keys for virtually every message you send.) Users with encrypted devices may change their password from time to time.
To deal with this issue, a preferred approach is to wrap these session keys up (encrypt them) under some master public key generated by the escrow authority and to store/send the resulting ciphertexts along with the rest of the encrypted data. In the 1990s Clipper specification these ciphertexts were referred to as Law Enforcement Access Fields, or LEAFs.***
With added LEAFs in your protocol, wiretapping becomes relatively straightforward. Law enforcement simply intercepts the encrypted data or obtains it from your confiscated device extract the LEAFs, and request that the escrow authority decrypt them. You can find variants of this design dating back to the PGP era. In fact, the whole concept is deceptively simple provided you dont go farther than the whiteboard.
Conceptual view of some encrypted data (left) and a LEAF (right).
Its only when you get into the details of actually implementing key escrow that things get hairy. These schemes require you to alter every protocol in your encryption system, at a pretty fundamental level in the process creating the mother of all security vulnerabilities but, more significantly, they force you to think very seriously about who you trust to hold those escrow keys.
Who does hold the keys?
This is the million dollar question for any escrow platform. The Post story devotes much energy to exploring various proposals for doing this.
Escrow key management is make-or-break, since the key server represents a universal vulnerability in any escrowed communication system. In the present debate there appear to be two solutions on the table. The first is to simply dump the problem onto individual providers, who will be responsible for managing their escrow keys using whatever technological means they deem appropriate. A few companies may get this right. Unfortunately, most companies suck at cryptography, so it seems reasonable to believe that the resulting systems will be quite fragile.
The second approach is for the government to hold the keys themselves. Since the escrow key is too valuable to entrust to one organization, one or more trustworthy U.S. departments would hold shares of the master key, and would cooperate to provide decryption on a case-by-case basis. This was, in fact, the approach proposed for the Clipper chip.
The main problem with this proposal is that its non-trivial to implement. If youre going to split keys across multiple agencies, you have to consider how youre going to store those keys, and how youre going to recover them when you need to access someones data. The obvious approach bring the key shares back together at some centralized location seems quite risky, since the combined master key would be vulnerable in that moment.
A second approach is to use a threshold cryptosystem. Threshold crypto refers to a set of techniques for storing secret keys across multiple locations so that decryption can be done in place without recombining the key shares. This seems like an ideal solution, with only one problem: nobody has deployed threshold cryptosystems at this kind of scale before. In fact, many of the protocols we know of in this area have never even been implemented outside of the research literature. Moreover, it will require governments to precisely specify a set of protocols for tech companies to implement this seems incompatible with the original goal of letting technologists design their own systems.
Software implementations
A final issue to keep in mind is the complexity of the software well need to make all of this happen. Our encryption software is already so complex that its literally at the breaking point. (If you dont believe me, take a look at OpenSSLs security advisories for the last year) While adding escrow mechanisms seems relatively straightforward, it will actually require quite a bit of careful coding, something were just not good at.
Even if we do go forward with this plan, there are many unanswered questions. How widely can these software implementations be deployed? Will every application maker be forced to use escrow? Will we be required to offer a new set of system APIs in iOS, Windows and Android that we can use to get this right? Answering each of these questions will result in dramatic changes throughout the OS software stack. I dont envy the poor developers who will have to answer them.
How do we force people to use key escrow?
Leaving aside the technical questions, the real question is: how do you force anyone to do this stuff? Escrow requires breaking changes to most encryption protocols; its costly as hell; and it introduces many new security concerns. Moreover, laws outlawing end-to-end encryption software seem destined to run afoul of the First Amendment.
Im not a lawyer, so dont take my speculation too seriously but it seems intuitive to me that any potential legislation will be targeted at service providers, not software vendors or OSS developers. Thus the real leverage for mandating key escrow will apply to the Facebooks and Apples of the world. Your third-party PGP and OTR clients would be left alone, for the tiny percentage of the population who uses these tools.
Unfortunately, even small app developers are increasingly running their own back-end servers these days (e.g., Whisper Systems and Silent Circle) so this is less reassuring than it sounds. Probably the big takeaway for encryption app developers is that it might be good to think about how youll function in a world where its no longer possible to run your own back-end data transport service and where other commercial services may not be too friendly to moving your data for you.
In conclusion
If this post has been more questions than answers, thats because there really are no answers right now. A serious debate is happening in an environment thats almost devoid of technical input, at least from technical people who arent part of the intelligence establishment.
And maybe that by itself is reason enough to be skeptical.
Notes:
* Not an endorsement. I have many thoughts on Telegrams encryption protocols, but theyre beyond the scope of this post.
** Telegram is missing from this list because their protocol doesnt handle long term keys at all. Every single connection must be validated in person using a graphical key fingerprint, which is, quite frankly, terrible.
*** The Clipper chip used a symmetric encryption algorithm to encrypt the LEAF, which meant that the LEAF decryption key had to be present inside of every consumer device. This was completely nuts, and definitely a bullet dodged. It also meant that every single Clipper had to be implemented in hardware using tamper resistant chip manufacturing technology. It was a truly awful design.
| BY Ricki Green |
The Australian Marketing Institute will be hosting the National Awards for Marketing Excellence in Sydney on October 19, followed by State Awards during October and December, and is interested to hear from businesses interested in becoming sponsors for the national gala event and the subsequent state events.
The annual awards are presented to organisations and marketers who have achieved extraordinary success from innovative and effective marketing practices. This year there have been over 230 entrants in over 23 categories.
Becoming a sponsor for the awards is an ideal way for a business to demonstrate a commitment to the marketing field and to publicise support to the leaders and practitioners in the profession.
It also offers a unique networking opportunity and range of benefits with guaranteed return of investment by providing access to one of the most targeted marketing events of the year.
AMI CEO Lee Tonitto ensures that all contributions are well recognised and valued: We have seen so many creative and innovative entries this year, so becoming an award sponsor is a great way to be a part of the action and get your business name mentioned in a room full of marketing executives.
There are three levels of sponsorship packages available for all budgets across national and state awards events, but spots are limited.
| BY Ricki Green |
OMD Sydney has appointed Hamish Strahorn to the position of Head of Telstra. With over 14 years experience, Strahorn joins OMD from his role as business director at Starcom where he led the Suncorp Group client operations and delivered strategic output across the Brisbane agency.
Strahorn is a seasoned business lead, bringing with him a passion for complex businesses and great leadership capabilities. He has a unique blend of marketing, agency and creative background, having worked agency side, including three years at OMD previously, as well as at Telstras marketing team, giving him a deep understanding of both the category and agency deliverables.
In 2015, Strahorn was selected and completed The Marketing Academy, an Australian Leaders nine month programme aiming to develop leadership skills of 30 high potential marketers.
This appointment serves as a further reinforcement of OMDs strategic business offering, acquiring versatile talent that is equipped with strong media expertise along with sharp business acumen and in-depth understanding of client operating models.
Says Aimee Buchanan, managing director OMD Sydney: We are thrilled to be welcoming Hamish back into the OMD team on our key client, Telstra. Hamish brings a deep understanding of both the category, the leadership qualities and experience that we believe is critical to helping Telstra and OMD realise their ambitions.
Says Strahorn: Im excited to be back with the OMD team, and absolutely thrilled to be leading such a forward thinking client in Telstra.
| BY Ricki Green |
One of Australias leading independent agencies, The Works, has launched its sixth annual Datafication project, A Quiet Revolution, reporting a 45% decrease in voice calls in Australia for messaging app users.
The research, which is being launched today at the ADMA conference, was focused on the use of messaging apps across the nation and has revealed 10.5million active Australian users with a staggering 3.4million reporting messenger apps as their primary contact. While not surprisingly 15-34 year olds make up with bulk amount of users (4.6million) it seems that guys have over taken girls in the new communication method reporting an average of 2.8 messaging apps in use (females 2.4).
While the research has reported an average decrease of 25% in sms, 24% in email and 12% on Facebook newsfeed, 17% of Australians admit to having a clinical addiction to messaging apps engaging with the apps more than 16 times a day including 34% taking their phone to the bathroom to continue the conversation.
Says Douglas Nicol, partner, The Works: While the global statistics around the uptake of messaging apps have been well reported, we have focussed on uncovering the truth about how Australians are using messaging apps. Its a substantial piece of analytics and really has highlighted the quiet revolution in how we are using apps like Facebook Messenger, Snapchat and WhatsApp. Its important not to view messaging apps as just another frothy promo channel, this environment is very personal and potentially intrusive if the marketer gets is wrong.
We see messaging apps as a blend of customer service, operational services and brand engagement all mashed together to provide real utility and value for the consumer. Our research highlights messaging apps as a scale opportunity for marketers, the challenge is to think differently and not screw up the once in a generation opportunity it offers.
Not just all typing and text, Australia has given the thumbs up to its affection for love and laughter with 58% of Australian men sharing emojis and stickers with friends and family, a rapid growth on the once female dominated expression. To celebrate the increase in love heart eyes, clapping hands and clinking beers, The Works has launched Australias first emoji tracker, using real-time analytics from Australian tweets to further support the growing trend of communication through imagery.
Says Dr Suresh Sood, University of Technology Sydney Advanced Analytics Institute: The two key cultural moments in social media inform our thinking as well as the findings of this study. Firstly, the increasing use of emojis and awareness of stickers is gravitating us to the emotional web another layer atop social media interactions. This helps machines determine sentiment with greater accuracy. Snapchat is changing culture through linking identity and emotion with selfies. This is not new but a continuance of expressing oneself through the power of myth as expressed by Joseph Campbell, Jung and Shakespeare.
Secondly, the psychology of social media is evolving from highly public interactions to intimate content engagement, gaming and chats with close friends and family circles. Its no longer just about social networks and feeds, instead marketing and advertising professionals have to think hard about finding their way into the phone address book of the consumer.
Confirming Australians are very much on the M wave with no sign of the swell dying down, Datafication A Quiet Revolution used a combination of survey data including a Facebook research BOT, mobile battery use analytics, one on one interviews and academic support from University of Technology Sydney Advanced Analytics Institute.
Tuesday, August 9, 2016 at 10:48PM
Next month, Sony will be hosting a PlayStation event, possibly to talk about its new version of the PlayStation 4 console. The event will take place at the PlayStation Theatre in New York City at 3 p.m. ET. While Sony wont say theyll be unveiling whats internally being called as Neo, the company only says itll share details about the PlayStation business. Speculations surrounding the supposed competition of the Microsoft Xbox One S says the Neo will support 4K games and other media as well as a better processing power to make it work with virtual reality. Sony is set to release its PlayStation-only VR by October and a new console sometime next year.
Source: The Verge
But Mr Lawton said Hagan feared retribution if he didn't do what the two associates asked - a circumstance he said didn't quite amount to a defence of duress but did go some way to explain the reasons which led to his offending.
"Down the line as people adjust to this, we might live to fight another day and bring things back as people realise the sky is not falling in," he said.
GRENADA, Miss. - The mother of a Grenada infant who died after being left in a hot car by her father has asked that charges are dropped.
Shanice Caradine, mother of 8-month-old Shania Rihanna Caradine signed an affidavit in the Grenada County Circuit Court asking the court to drop the charges against Shania's father, Joshua Blunt.
Within the affidavit, Caradine attested to the idea that she did not believe that blunt should be charged with any crime in relation to their daughter and that she honestly believed it was a tragic accident.
Blunt, 25, was charged with manslaughter for leaving his daughter in his hot car while he went to work. Blunt said the day he went to work was initially his day off, but decided to go in to pick up an extra shift and forgot to drop his daughter off at his grandmother's before walking into work.
Moss Point native and Blount's attorney Carlos Moore said he is hoping Grenada County District Attorney Doug Evans will drop the charges. Even with Caradine's affidavit, Evans says he still plans to move forward with the intention to prosecute Blunt because of the grand jury's indictment.
Moore has said he wonders what is the difference between Blunt's case and the case in Madison County in regards to Amy Bryant. In early May, Bryant went to Little Footprints Learning Center to pick up her daughter, Caroline Bryant. After daycare workers told her she had not dropped her daughter off that morning, Bryant immediately ran to her car and found her daughter in the back seat, deceased.
"I want America to get to the point where there is one set of laws for all Americans, no matter if you are red, white, black or brown, I want there to be one set of laws and for everyone to be treated fairly," Moore said.
Charges have not been filed in relation to the death of Bryant's 2-year-old daughter.
Blunt's trial is set for Aug. 18 but a continuance is expected to be filed by Friday citing a schedule conflict as his reasoning.
[Your Business Name]
Contact Info
Phone:
Fax:
Email:
Web: CAPITOLHILLCUBANS.COM
Business Overview
Geographic Area
Line of Business
Brands We Carry
Products and Services
Discounts Offered
Additional Information
Business Hours
Timezone
We Accept
PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Two Singing River Health System (SRHS) employees received marketing ambassadorship awards for their roles in the promotion of the hospital with their heart and soul.
Singing River Hospital chose registered nurse, Mary Panni of the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Center, while Ocean Springs Hospital chose Steve Brill, Facilities Support Manager.
Panni is a lifelong resident of Pascagoula and after receiving her Nursing Degree from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MGCCC), Panni began working at SRHS in 2012. Panni is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and currently works in Pediatrics at the hospital. According to Panni, the feeling of being a part of a family is what she says she enjoys the most about working at SRHS.
"I love working at Singing River Health System because it allows so much room for my personal growth," Panni said. "The Health System family truly has a heart for service, which is my heart's desire. It helps channel our passions into life-changing opportunities for both myself and the patients we serve and I am thrilled to be an employee of a system that is making such a positive impact on our community."
Panni's work has not gone unnoticed by her peers and manager according to Patient Care Manager, Lori Weimer.
"Mary's can do attitude and enthusiasm is infectious," Weimer said. "Every day in Pediatrics with Dr. Sexton is exciting and Mary makes it look easy and effortless. She builds a rapport with her patients and their families and we are very happy to have Mary as a member of our team."
Brill, like Panni is equally as thrilled with his working environment as Panni.
"I love the family-like atmosphere we have at Singing River Health System," Brill said. "In Facilities Services, we have the opportunity to go to all of the different areas of the Health System and I really enjoy that."
Brill attended Bishop State in Alabama where he received a degree in Electrical Technology. He began with SRHS in 1995 and serves as the System Manager of Facilities Report at Ocean Springs Hospital. Randall Cobb, Director of Facilities Services praised the hard work Brill exudes every day.
"Steve is someone who is proud of Singing River Health System and the difference it makes in the lives of people in our community," Cobb said. "He has a service-over-self-work ethic and has earned the respect of many employees throughout the health system. Because of these outstanding leadership qualities Steve possesses, working with a world-class facilities team makes for an excellent situation."
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.
Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.
Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.
You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
"I don't have to look far to find treasures, I discover them every time I visit a library" - Michael Embry
This thought provoking quotation was printed on the banner that carried the title "Jnana Darshan", the book exhibition 2016-17 organized at Kristu Jayanti College, Bangalore. Starting this write up with the quote by Michael Embry makes a lot of sense since it holds mirror to the values of the esteemed college.
It also throws light on the fact that the management, the faculty and the students take reading seriously and implement the same in their day-to-day life. According to a teaching staff member, the college has been organizing such book exhibitions and students have utilized such opportunities to the fullest.
Principal of Kristu Jayanti, Rev. Fr. Josekutty was the first speaker of the function. His speech was pregnant with thoughts useful for the young minds as well as the publishers who had come with their excellent collection of books; he said that books build a righteous path to an ideal future of a students and shape their personality, provided they read books with good content.
He also said that the book publishers strive for a noble of spreading knowledge among readers of all ages and from different walks of life; although they sell books, it is a business with a difference.
S.K. Shama Sundara, Chief Editor, OneIndia (Kannada), graced the function as the Chief Guest. His speech was a useful piece of advice to the students. Shama Sundara very interestingly conveyed the importance of learning through the example of James Boswell, who never took to writing. However, Samuel Johnson, the writer and lexicographer par excellence and Boswell's friend for over thirty years, inspired Boswell to write a biography (Life of Johnson). It was an example for how knowledge influences those individuals who seek shelter under its soothing shade.
Shama Sundara further said, "It is a pleasant paradox that being a pure digital editor, I have been invited to inaugurate a book fair! Once a book worm, I have stopped reading books now. I have taken to writing for web and I am obsessed with browsing news all the time. Even if I were to take to writing book, I would write autobiography on Facebook, or as lengthy as 140 characters on Twitter!"
The Book Exhibition at Kristu Jayanti:
There were close to a dozen publishers who proudly stood amid the piles of books. There were books ranging from management and technology to engineering and organic chemistry. The joy of bringing books to the proactive young minds of Kristu Jayanti was obvious on their faces. The students responded tremendously as they glanced at books related to the subjects prescribed in their syllabus and the books related to their areas of interest.
Speaking about the library, the Chief Librarian, Mr. Harish, mentioned that they have a collection of 46, 000 books catering to the educational needs of 4,000 students! So it would not be wrong to say that a student with a little knowledge will turn into a well-informed after his or her visit to the library. During the exhibition, the students spoke about books, the importance of such exhibitions and reading experience on electronic gadgets as well as hardbound books.
The students did not deny the inevitable influence of digitization on literature, but maintained that no experience of reading can match the one they enjoy while holding a hardbound book.
About Kristu Jayanti College:
Kristu Jayanti College was founded in 1999. It is run by "BODHI NIKETAN TRUST", formed by the members of St. Joseph Province of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI).
Kristu Jayanti College is affiliated to the Bangalore University and has been reaccredited with grade 'A' by NAAC. The college was accorded autonomous status from 2013 by the University Grants Commission, Government of Karnataka and the Bangalore University.
In India Today - Nielsen survey 2015, the college is ranked 16th Best Commerce College, 22nd Best Science College and 24th Best Arts College in India and 3rd, 4th, 5th positions in Commerce, Arts & Science among Top 10 Colleges in Bangalore.
For further information, visit Kristu Jayanti College
Autonomous colleges in Karnataka
19871266-mmmain.jpg
Plans for Walmart to construct a Neighborhood Market on the site of the former Estabrook car dealership on Market Street is no longer intact as of Tuesday afternoon.
(City of Pascagoula)
PASCAGOULA, Miss. - While the City of Pascagoula is trying to revamp Market Street and the city in general, plans for Wal-Mart to come to Pascagoula was thwarted Tuesday afternoon.
On Tuesday, Wal-Mart Director of Communications Anne Hatfield said, "As we continue to evaluate projects and growth opportunities across the United States, we have made a business decision to no longer pursue the proposed Neighborhood Market project in Pascagoula."
Originally, the newest Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market would take the place of the former Estabrook Toyota dealership site on Market Street, as well as the former Montie's Sporting Goods site to the south.
Confidence was high back in March as City Planner Donovan Scruggs said he was "very confident" and "see no reason to this project not to happen." What changed? City Manager Joe Huffman said he was told it was a business decision.
"We are a bit disappointed," Huffman said. "The way I understood it was that it was a business decision and we expect that, but we were really hoping that this would help us revitalize Market Street and the area surrounding Market Street."
Market Street has been the topic of much discussion in the city as multiple meetings and planning sessions have been held to gain the public's trust in the decisions the council were potentially looking at making, but the current plans as they stand the community has not been in favor of.
While Wal-Mart is no longer coming to Pascagoula, Huffman says now more time can be dedicated to making the best possible choices for the city and its residents going forward.
"We are looking for ways to continue to revitalize our city and Market Street," Huffman said. "The council hasn't made a decision yet and one of the reasons were trying to make a decision fairly quickly was because we wanted to make sure we didn't have a lot of construction going on while Wal-Mart was trying to open. Now that variable has been removed and pressure is now off of the council in regards to making a faster decision."
Priorities according to Huffman has now switched onto infrastructure, drainage, an impending decision regarding Market Street.
"We feel pressure to have a decision made regarding Market Street to improve the area," Huffman said. "It cannot remain in its existing state - the rough streets and the crumbling infrastructure underneath must be addressed."
"Although it is unfortunate that it has happened, they were never here also so it's not like we are lost a business," he said. "Wal-Mart is a major contributor to our community being that we have a store here and I don't think we should ever forget that."
Tens of millions of rabbits, foxes, raccoon dogs (pictured above), and other animals endure terrible suffering and violent death to produce cheap trim for coats, hats, gloves, and other clothing items sold worldwide by the retailers mentioned below and others. Photo by Alamy
2.8K shares
In the largest request for action weve ever submitted to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), The HSUS has asked the FTC to enforce federal consumer protection laws against 17 retailersincluding Amazon, Neiman Marcus, Kohls, and Nordstromfor selling falsely advertised or labeled animal fur garments or accessories.
The petition encompasses 37 items of wearing apparel and accessories sold over four yearseach advertised or labeled as faux fur, even though we confirmed they included animal fur, from animals such as raccoon dogs, rabbits, and coyotes.
Every one of the faux fur coats, footwear items, key chains, handbags, and cardigans our investigator purchased and examined was found to include animal fur, in violation of the Fur Products Labeling Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act. In a few instances, the firms have violated standing consent orders issued by the FTC in response to prior HSUS investigations.
For over a decade, weve battled the problem of real fur being marketed and sold as fake, and in that time, on five separate occasions, weve asked the FTC to take action.
As the result of a lawsuit we brought in 2009, several major retailers including Saks, Macys, and Bloomingdales broke with others in the industry to endorse the Truth in Fur Labeling Act, which then passed in Congress in 2010. And just this January, we settled a contempt action in D.C. court brought against three major retailers for their continued false advertising of fur garments, including two of the three selling real fur marketed as faux.
Tens of millions of rabbits, foxes, raccoon dogs, and other animals endure terrible suffering and violent death to produce cheap trim for coats, hats, gloves, and other clothing items sold worldwide by these and other retailers.
Here, the situation could not be clearer. Americans have an absolute right to expect vigorous enforcement of any violations of law. The entire purpose of advertising and labeling is to apprise the consumer so that he or she can make an informed choice about the products in the marketplace. As more and more people are choosing to go faux, the importance of accurate information to consumers has only increased. The passage of the Truth in Fur Labeling Act in 2010 was intended to provide Americans with the assurance that garments containing real fur would be accurately labeled. This placed the freedom to ratify or reject cruelty to animals in the production of fur squarely in the marketplace, with the consumer, and thats as it should be. Its all the more unsettling that inattentive or, at worst, unscrupulous retailers are now hiding behind the faux fur label while continuing to use fur and fur trim deceptively in their commerce.
The government needs to crack down on such deception swiftly, not just for the sake of animals trapped in the fur trade, but also to protect the consumers right to ratify or to reshape the market as human attitudes trend decisively against the cruel and unnecessary use of fur. Its past due to align the business practices of clothing retailers with the law of the land.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- It's always a memorable event when a family member reaches the tender age of 100 and gets to share the magnificent milestone with kinfolk who span generations.
Catherine Gatto Sorrentino got to do just that on Aug. 6 when family members -- including nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews -- gathered to sing the birthday song and extend well wishes to the illustrious senior in Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Center and Home, the health care facility she's called home for the last eight years.
Born to Italian immigrants in Newark, N.J., on Aug. 6, 1916, Catherine was raised in Castleton Corners.
Religion has always held a special place in Catherine's heart. She graduated from St. Peter's Elementary School in 1931.
She went on to graduate from Port Richmond High School in 1935, a fete that wasn't always possible during that time, because teens often had to leave school to enter the work force and help support their families.
The new centenarian used her fashion prowess to become an accomplished seamstress at an early age and eventually took her design talents to Manhattan, where on Broadway she held a position in a firm that designed costumes for the rich and famous.
Throughout her life, Catherine often designed clothes for herself and even saw fit to handcraft coordinating chapeaus to accent her striking ensembles.
During World War II, she joined the War Training Program in Bayonne, N.J., and attended the New York Port of Embarkation. And, when she graduated in 1943, she held the title of Army Ordnance automobile mechanic.
Catherine's three brothers served in the military during World War II. Sadly, her brother John Gatto was killed in Northern France, where he is buried.
The super senior married Joseph Sorrentino, the uncle of a renowned criminal defense attorney, Joseph Sorrentino, in St. Rita's R.C. Church on March 28, 1954, which she attended when it was located in the convent.
Catherine's husband was the owner of Sorrentino's Bakery located on Henderson Avenue in West Brighton.
Though Catherine never had children of her own, she was always surrounded by a number of loving nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews.
CELEBRATIONS - AUG. 11
Happy birthday Thursday to Breann McKeon, Marjorie Hack, Rebecca Wheeler, Mike Lapcevic, Frank Cammaroto and Thomas Sean Pellechia.
Prototypes of the Chevrolet Bolt, equipped with autonomous driving technology, have taken to the streets, this time in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The announcement was made through a tweet by Cruise Automation, a company bought by General Motors earlier this year, and comes just a few months after pre-production models of the small electric vehicle were spotted in San Francisco.
Were testing @Cruise autonomous tech on @Chevrolet Bolt EVs on roads in Scottsdale, AZ, in addition to San Francisco.
What exactly is the GM-owned company looking to accomplish here is currently unknown, but its official website states that Cruise Automation is testing the future of mobility, so we could be looking at the upcoming fleet of self-driving vehicles that the automotive giant will create for Lyft, as part of the deal announced in January.
It remains to be seen, however, if the autonomous technology will be implemented to the final production version of the Bolt, which is due in late 2016 with a 200-mile (322 km) driving range provided by a 60 kWh battery pack that feeds a single high-capacity electric motor, rated at 200 HP and 266 pound-feet (360 Nm) of torque. Before government rebates, the zero-emission hatch will cost $37,500, but after the federal tax credit, its price will drop to $30,000.
Were testing @Cruise autonomous tech on @Chevrolet Bolt EVs on roads in Scottsdale, AZ, in addition to San Fran. pic.twitter.com/FjxduIfLKD
Cruise Automation (@Cruise) August 8, 2016
PHOTO GALLERY
Roush have recently shared a few images with a pair of Grabber Blue 2017 Mustangs, one packing the RS1 kit, the other RS2.
According to the American tuner, these two cars were also the first of their kind, and despite it being very difficult to tell them apart, youd probably be much happier driving one over the other.
Its all about the power kit, specifically the RS1 & RS2 kits which apply to the 2.3-liter turbocharged model and the 5.0-liter V8 model respectively. Theres even an RS3 kit (not shown here) that adds a supercharger to the V8, raising its output to 670 HP.
Visually, both cars feature a new bumper, grille, hood scoop, rear spoiler, exhaust, a couple of discrete Roush badges and a set of 20 wheels. Overall, its a more aggressive car than the stock Mustang and one thats earned itself a lot of appreciation from fans.
Roush shared these images on their social media feed where they asked their fans to comment on how the car looks like in Grabber Blue.
A bit too Focus RS perhaps?
PHOTO GALLERY
The new Suzuki Ignis is scheduled to make its European debut at the Paris Motor Show next to the recently updated SX4 S-Cross.
Following the official reveal at last years Tokyo Motor Show, the companys new compact crossover features a fresh exterior design that leaves no doubts about its multi-purpose character.
Suzuki has still to give us full technical details on the new Ignis which is based on a new lightweight platform. All we know so far is that its powered by the companys mild hybrid powertrain that combines a 1.2-litre petrol engine and a small electric motor.
Next to it well find the facelifted SX4 S-Cross which received a major redesign at the front and an upgraded interior with better quality materials. But the big news come from under the bonnet, as the new SX4 S-Cross will be available with both the new turbocharged 1.0-litre and 1.4-litre BoosterJet direct injection engines which replace the old naturally aspirated 1.6-litre petrol unit. The 1.6-litre DDiS diesel option completes the lineup.
The all-new Suzuki Ignis is expected to hit the European market in January 2017 while the revamped SX4 S-Cross will be launched this fall. Suzuki promises to give us more details on September 29, at their Paris Motor Show press conference.
PHOTO GALLERY
A 37-year-old attorney from Missouri claims his Model Xs Autopilot system saved his life when he suffered a pulmonary embolism while behind the wheel
According to Slate, while driving home from his office, Joshua Neally started feeling incredibly sharp pains in his chest. After calling his wife, he agreed to head straight to the hospital rather than going home or calling an ambulance.
Neally says that for almost 20 miles, his Model X drove itself along the highway and to a hospital near an exit ramp. All he had to do was steer the electric SUV into the parking lot and check himself into the emergency room.
The lawyer claims that, if it wasnt for Autopilot, he could have easily lost control of the car while writhing in pain in the drivers seat.
This is the first recent story regarding Autopilot where it hasnt been under the microscope and criticized. Ever since a fatal crash in mid-May, lobby groups, other automakers and much of the media have called for Autopilot to be disabled until it is perfected.
PHOTO GALLERY
Produced in an era when Lamborghini was still making tractors, this 1949 Ferrari Inter Coupe could be the Holy Grail for the right car collector.
Built in just three examples in 1947, an additional five in 1948 and the rest of the 21 cars the year after, it is the oldest Prancing Horse in the United Kingdom. The vehicle is also the eleventh road car built by Ferrari, wearing chassis number 21, and if this doesnt make any mathematical sense, learn that the Italians used odd numbers and started with 001.
Making it even more exclusive is the fact that its the fourth out of a total of 10 cars that boast Stabilimenti Farinas exclusive bodywork, and despite being as old as a dinosaur (in car years, anyway), its history is well documented and starts with its first owner from Milan, Italy, who bought it on July 27, 1949 and sold it to another fellow Italian the same year.
In 1962, the Ferrari 166 Inter Coupe Stabilimenti Farina, which is its full name, was exported to Houston, Texas, USA, and two years later, it was taken to Oklahoma, USA, only to be shipped to Ascot, England, the next year, after being bought by P. G. Palumbo. In 1991, it was listed for sale at RM Sothebys Monaco auction, where it failed to sell, but five years later, it changed hands at another auction, for 64,200 ($83,441 at todays exchange rates).
After that, the classic car was sold in 1996, 1997 and 1998, when it was registered under a Swiss license plate and driven in the Mille Miglia twice, in 2000 and 2004. Its current owner has it in his possession since January 2015 and is now looking to depart with it. In charge of finding this 1949 Inter Coupe a new home is Ferrari specialist Talacrest, who will gladly answer any questions a serious buyer would have.
PHOTO GALLERY
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer
PetSmart is announcing the opening of its first store in Penticton, located at 102 Warren Ave. E.
To celebrate, the store will have a grand opening event Saturday, Aug. 27, starting with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Pet parents and their four-legged friends are encouraged to join in, and the first 50 shoppers will receive a mystery gift card, with a potential value from $5 up to $50.
All shoppers wil receive free giveaways such as t-shirts, pet toys and coupons.
The stores adoption partner, the Summerland Cat Sanctuary Society, will be on site with cats available for adoption.
PetSmart is dedicated to saving the lives of homeless pets through every day in-store adoptions and through its signature National Adoption Weekend events where nearly 20,000 pets find forever homes across Canada every year.
PetSmart Charities of Canada is a leading funder of animal welfare and, since 1999, has granted more than $9 million to more than 100 animal welfare organizations across the country, with a focus on funding adoption and spay/neuter programs.
The new Penticton store features more than 15,000 square feet of space, providing pet parents with a broad range of competitively priced pet food and a comprehensive line of pet products.
It also offers services such as pet training and a full-service grooming salon where dogs and cats receive hands-on care from stylists dedicated to making pets look and feel their best.
The Aug. 27 ceremony is at 9 a.m.
Photo: Contributed
A couple who walked free on terror charges last month had spent four days in Kelowna in 2013 largely smoking marijuana and playing video games, while they were supposed to be planning a terrorist plot.
John Nuttall and Amanda Korody were found guilty on terror charges by a jury last year for planting what they believed were pressure-cooker bombs on the grounds of the B.C. legislature on July 1, 2013.
In the July 29 B.C. Supreme Court ruling, which found the pair were entrapped by the RCMP, Justice Catherine Bruce outlined a trip to Kelowna to get the pair out of their Surrey home and plot their attack.
The undercover investigation, titled Project Souvenir, took place between Feb. 1 and July 2, 2013.
On June 16, 2013, four and half months into the investigation, the couple was driven to Kelowna by an undercover officer and put up in a hotel room that had what they believed to be a safe room with a secure Internet connection.
The RCMP planned and funded the trip to get Nuttall and Korody out of their home, so police could bug the couple's home and get them away from distractions and focus on their terrorist plot.
Nuttall had talked a lot about his plans to commit some type of attack, but had yet to make a concrete plot. Nuttall was set on a plan to use rockets in an attack, but due to unrealistic nature of the plan, the undercover officer, referred to as Officer A, urged them to use pressure-cooker bombs while they were in Kelowna.
In my view, Officer A could not have done more to direct Mr. Nuttall in regard to a plan to do jihad during the Kelowna scenario. He led Mr. Nuttall to believe that the only feasible plan was one involving the pressure cooker devices, wrote Justice Bruce. Even when Mr. Nuttall said he did not want to do the pressure cookers, Officer A continued to talk about them as the feasible plan versus the unrealistic rocket plan.
Despite the RCMP providing a place for the couple to plan, and suggesting the method of attack, the couple spent much of the time smoking marijuana and playing video games, to the chagrin of police.
Officer A tried to shame the defendants into focusing on their jihadist plans by chastising them about the waste of time and money that occurred during the Kelowna trip; however, even after this confrontation they spent almost all of their time in Kelowna playing online video games, wrote Justice Bruce.
The undercover officer told the couple their lack of progress in Kelowna was upsetting, and they had been wasting his terrorist organization's time.
He told the defendants that they had been disrespectful of the mujahideen who had made their stay in Kelowna possible, Justice Bruce wrote. The defendants talked about their fear of death at the hands of Officer A and his associates during the Kelowna scenario.
The couple went on to attempt to carry out the attack on Canada Day in Victoria, planting what they thought were three explosive devices made from pressure-cookers on the grounds of the B.C. legislature.
Due to the pressure the RCMP put on Nuttall and Korody to carry out the attack, the judge ruled in favour of the the couple.
"The defendants were the foot soldiers but the undercover officer was the leader of the group," she said. "Without the police it would have been impossible for the defendants to carry out the pressure-cooker plan.
The world has enough terrorists. We do not need the police to create more out of marginalized people who have neither the capacity nor sufficient motivation to do it themselves.
| The video game industry has gone from a mole hill to a mountain in no time flat, Chris DiMarco is your Sherpa as you endeavor to scale Mount Everquest
Photo: Contributed
The launch of its phase three is proving to be a hit at Skaha Hills.
The Vistas sold $12 million in just one day all 24 villas in the launch.
An opportunity to have unobstructed views of Skaha Lake, on the hill for less than $500,000 is rare, and we thought people would like this design, said Curt Jansen, vice-president of sales and marketing. The demand was there, and the success of this innovative home design has exceeded our expectations.
The Vistas feature terraced rancher villas built in the hillside vineyards with panoramic views of the Okanagan.
The first 24 homes in phase three were sold on the first day of the phase three launch in July.
The large villas offer the low maintenance of a condo, the functionality of a townhome and private outdoor space more typical of a single-family home.
More of the terraced rancher style buildings will be released within the year. At full build out, phase three will total $48 million.
Play Winery & Bistro, a $5.2-million hillside winery that opened earlier this month, also functions as an architectural entrance to the Skaha Hills community.
According to the Okanagan Real Estate Board, residential sales in the Okanagan continue to boom, with sales of 1263 units posted to the multiple listing service in June, up 38 per cent from June of last years reports.
We are thrilled about the success of Skaha Hills, as this is a great example of how a partnership between local developers, businesses and the Penticton Indian Band can work together to help strengthen our communitys economic development, said Mayor Andrew Jakubeit.
Photo: ReelPeachFest
The ReelPeachFest film festival has wrapped up in Penticton, with winners announced for two categories.
The film festival entered its second year this year, and the events organizer Penticton Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said there were more entries than the inaugural event last year.
We were thrilled to receive more submissions than our initial year and hope the event can continue to grow to showcase creative talent and our region, Jakubeit said in a release.
I still would like to see more fun and less of a corporate feel to some of the submissions. There were many films that made you smile, laugh and evoked a sense of pride.
The festival had two categories that entries competed in: Liquid Libations and Okanagan Experiences.
Osoyoos Larose Winery, produced by Shawn Talbot of Kelowna took first prize for the Liquid Libations category.
Second place, and fan favourite for the category, was awarded to Coconut Express, which was produced by Martyn Lewis in Penticton.
Third place was given to Quidni Experience, which was produced by Marty Gunderson of Penticton.
In the Okanagan Experiences category, Peach Please, produced by Alec Simmons of Penticton, took first place; with I Live Here, produced by Shaun Kennedy of Penticton, taking second place and fan favourite; and third place was given to Golden Trails, which was produced by Nic Collar of Kelowna.
For both categories, first place was awarded $1,000 and a weekend getaway to Penticton Lakeside Resort, second place was awarded $500 and third place was given $250.
The fan favourite was also offered $500.
Jakubeit said next year he is looking at ways to expand the festival.
We hope to facilitate a workshop series next year before ReelPeachFest to provide new and aspiring film makers some basic skills and confidence to create their own epic masterpiece, Jakubeit said.
We believe each year the quality and caliber of the submissions will increase, so people should start planning to create and share some reel magic.
Photo: Flickr
Getting to the Canada/U.S. border in the Lower Mainland will soon be a little easier.
The Governments of Canada and British Columbia today announced a joint commitment of approximately $25.5 million to widen Highway 13 from 8th Avenue to 0 Avenue supporting border enhancements the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has recently implemented at the Aldergrove/Lynden border crossing.
The Government of Canada is committing just over $10 million through the Building Canada Fund and the B.C. government is committing $15.5 million towards the project.
This project will reduce traffic congestion, facilitate better and more streamlined Canada/United States border access for all traffic and mitigate the impact of border crossing activities on the local road system. As local development in the area continues to grow, along with growth in cross-border activity, there is a need for additional capacity at the border crossing.
In the southbound direction, the highway will be widened from one to three lanes, in order to accommodate a separate NEXUS and truck lane. These improvements on Highway 13 are expected to provide significant mobility benefits to travellers in terms of reduced wait times at the border crossing and overall delays on the corridor. These upgrades will also cut down on vehicle idling at the border, providing positive environmental benefits.
In the northbound direction, the highway will be widened from one to two lanes to accommodate a truck climbing lane. In addition, crews will build a new two-lane east-west connection at 3B Avenue, extending from Highway 13 to 264th Street.
The upcoming improvements are expected to provide mobility and safety benefits to travellers and commercial traffic by creating more room to travel and decreasing traffic congestion. Importantly, the highway upgrades will provide additional capacity at the Aldergrove/Lynden border crossing to improve movement of people and goods, and to increase tourism and trade.
The infrastructure improvement project is in the design phase now, with the tender expected in spring 2017. Construction will start once the contract has been awarded.
Expanding the capacity of our transportation network is critical to improving safety, attracting new investment and supporting economic growth. As outlined in B.C. on the Move, the B.C. government will invest approximately $1 billion over three years to ensure our network has the capacity and reliability to meet transport and trade needs, with maximum safety and minimal delays.
Photo: RCMP
Police are still searching for a missing woman and child.
Kimberly Armstrong and her 14-month-old son were reported missing Aug. 4 from New Westminster.
Police said at about 7:30 a.m. Aug. 4, Armstrong was dropped off alone in New Westminster. After not returning home to her residence in Maple Ridge, a friend became concerned and filed a missing persons report. After being reported missing, Armstrong returned to her residence in Maple Ridge, but left shortly after with her 14-month-old son before police could determine her welfare.
The NWPD Major Crime Unit is working in collaboration with the Mission RCMP, the Maple Ridge RCMP, and the Ministry of Child and Family Services to locate Armstrong and her son to determine their well-being.
From all accounts, Ms. Armstrong left on her own accord with her son, but her ability to care for him is unknown, said acting Sgt. Jeff Scott. At this point, there is no criminal investigation and although they have been seen in Mission, we need to confirm their well-being.
Armstrong has blonde hair, and has been seen with her child driving an older model, unlicenced four-door white Hyundai Excel.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the New Westminster Police Department at 604-525-5411.
Photo: CTV
A road rage victim is recovering after he was severely beaten, and had plant pots broken over his head.
The vicious Monday beating in Burnaby apparently because the driver didn't take a turn fast enough lasted five minutes.
The man, who asked to remain anonymous over fears of retaliation, was driving with his girlfriend when he ticked another driver off. The angry driver followed him for several blocks.
"The guy behind us was angry he was swearing and yelling at us," he told CTV News.
They exchanged words, then the angry driver and three other men beat him.
"Beat me up, used fists, they broke pots over my head. There was a good five minutes of that and they fled the scene," he told CTV News. "I'm on the floor almost dead. You gotta be almost not human to do that."
He was taken to hospital and needed stitches to close the head wounds.
Police are investigating.
with files from CTV Vancouver
Photo: Getty Images
Heavy-footed drivers have lighter wallets after getting caught blasting through the Valley by RCMP.
Enforcement along a stretch of Highway 97 north of Kelowna resulted in dozens of drivers ticketed for speeding, nearly half of those had their vehicles removed from the roadway and impounded for allegedly speeding excessively.
During the afternoon of Aug. 8, officers with RCMPs Central Okanagan Traffic Services (COTS) of Kelowna, conducted enforcement on Highway 97 North along Ellison Lake.
Const. Jesse ODonaghey said in a period of about two hours, officers issued 25 violation tickets to motorists travelling above the posted speed limit of 90 km/h.
Of those, 10 motorists were issued fines of at least $368 for allegedly speeding excessively over the posted speed limit. The highest speed obtained by enforcement officers was 148 km/h in the posted 90 km/h zone.
The RCMP wish to remind motorists to slow down, drive safely and watch their speeds, said ODonaghey. A driver observed speeding in excess of 41 km/h over the posted speed limit could be subjected to a minimum fine amount of $368 along with a mandatory seven-day impound of their vehicle,
Photo: The Canadian Press
Const. Clay Wurzinger and his police dog had been methodically searching for hours along an old forestry road on Vancouver Island when Boomer picked up the missing woman's scent.
As the dog bounded over and down an embankment, a colleague said Wurzinger feared Irene Paquet, 67, was dead. But then he saw signs of life.
"And when she started verbalizing to him and then she reached out and grabbed his hand, (he said) it was like a shock going through him," said Const. Gary O'Brien with Nanaimo RCMP who relayed the conversation he had with Wurzinger on Tuesday.
Paquet, who lives in Chemainus, was last seen on July 29. Police said she was discovered six nights later, owing to the efforts of the dog handler and a dirt biker that culminated in her rescue last Thursday.
The ordeal began when Paquet turned down the wrong road as she returned from the grocery store. She drove about 45 kilometres along a winding, mountainous logging road into the backcountry.
O'Brien said at some point the woman tried to back up, but accidentally drove her car off the road. Finding herself stuck, she left the car to walk.
About three kilometres away, she tripped and fell off a berm, sliding down about four to six metres, he said. The woman was surrounded by thick forest in an area called Copper Canyon.
"The reality is, here's the harsh part people were not expecting her to be found alive," O'Brien said, recounting details Wurzinger told him because the constable was out on another operation on Tuesday.
"The weather co-operated, but she's getting on in age, she has significant medical issues that have to be treated every day. It wasn't looking good. You would almost say it was down to the hours."
The dog handler had been brought in by helicopter at first light Thursday after police were alerted a day earlier when a dirt biker spotted her car abandoned in the wilderness.
The biker took a photograph of the car and posted it to social media. He had noticed a post including the missing woman's photos on Facebook put up by an organization where she volunteered, Cowichan Neighbourhood House. Police were quickly summoned.
"It was pure luck. All the stars aligned," said Cpl. Krista Hobday of the North Cowichan-Duncan RCMP.
"It really was amazing that she'd been out there on her own for so long. She didn't have any broken bones or anything like that. Anybody else laying in a ditch may not have survived," said Hobday.
Paquet was airlifted to hospital suffering dehydration and she was disoriented, said police, adding that a health condition may have contributed to her ordeal.
UPDATE: 4 p.m.
Firefighters have mopped the forest floor with a grassfire on Knox Mountain.
Kelowna Fire Department platoon captain Steve Wallick says crews will have to "babysit" the fire for a few hours to ensure it doesn't flare up.
They are now putting out hot spots.
Wallick won't speculate on the cause. However, there are burns in the ditch at the roadside.
UPDATE: 3:40 p.m.
Emergency officials are trying to get people off Knox Mountain, as they battle a grassfire on the popular Kelowna hiking trail.
The fire is about 15 meters by 15 meters, and it's located just off the side of the road near the first lookout.
Several fire engines, a pumper truck and at least six firefighters are working to douse the blaze.
ORIGINAL
Firefighters are working to douse a grassfire on Knox Mountain.
Smoke is visible on the hillside. The fire is located near the first lookout on the popular hiking trail.
Officials are asking people to not drive up the hill.
A Castanet reporter is heading to the scene.
More to come.
Send photos and newstips to [email protected]
Photo: Thinkstock.com
Osoyoos mayor and council are still not in agreement over a pot-shop bylaw they are set to vote on Tuesday night.
The bylaw would ban cannabis dispensaries in town as long as they are illegal under federal law, and has gone through first and second readings and public consultations.
The vote is coming in a special meeting, not part of the scheduled listing of council meetings.
Mayor Sue McKortoff said the special meeting was not intended to rush the bylaw as much as it was to coincide with other meetings planned for the day, and to save council from overpacking the following meeting on Aug. 15, which is expected to be busy due to the cancelled council meeting on Aug. 1.
Coun. Mike Campol, who has voted against the bylaw in the past, said hes not worried, because even if council votes to double down on banning dispensaries in town, imminently expected changes to federal laws on medical pot mean the change is only temporary.
McKortoff said she welcomes any federal law that would allow for dispensaries in town, and that council could work on bylaws surrounding whatever law comes to place.
Were hoping that the government is going to come out with something in the next couple of weeks, she said.
She said the town is frustrated with a lack of clarity from the federal government on where it is going with laws that are expected to come down by the end of the month.
Im sure every town in this province feels the same way, she said. Weve all been put in kind of an awkward position of having to deal with this.
Campol said he understands where the staff recommendation is coming from that the bylaw would provide more teeth for the town to shut down illegal dispensaries.
However, he added that he doesnt believe it is necessary, as the town already has means by which it can prevent dispensaries from staying open.
That includes bylaw enforcement and RCMP enforcement, which he said has already shut down one dispensary in the town.
McKortoff said it is upon the town to make clear that dispensaries are not welcome in town as long as it is federally outlawed.
It is illegal at this point, and my own recommendation...was to not allow a business licence for any kind of marijuana storefront operations, she said.
However, Campol said he believes a bylaw reinforcing a stance against dispensaries now could signal to potential businesses in the future that they are not welcome at all.
The issue has been a hot-button issue, with big cities such as Vancouver and Toronto attempting to regulate locally, while other cities have decided to stand against dispensaries.
Neither McKortoff nor Campol said they have any expectations as to the outcome of Tuesday nights vote on the issue.
Campol added, however, that he has been impressed with the whole process so far, noting that McKortoff was exceptionally lenient with speakers from the public during the public consultations, as conversations tended to deviate from the typically strict protocol of only discussing the bylaw in question.
Both McKortoff and Campol said they are in favour of preparing for potential, new regulations for medical pot in the near future, by studying the issue and preparing bylaws to be in place for any potential, new businesses.
Photo: Getty Images
Police in Nanaimo suspect a drone operator was fishing for mischief last week.
BC Hydro contacted the Nanaimo RCMP on Aug. 5 to report hydro crews had been taking down 50-pound test fishing line wrapped around power lines, around trees, across road ways, over houses and through yards.
Sgt. Sheryl Armstrong said RCMP, as well as the BC Hydro crews, believe unknown persons were using a drone to fly the wire around the lines.
Upon further inspection it was noted a small flashlight and headlamp were fastened to the line. Investigators believe this was done so the suspects would be able to see where the drone was flying the line, said Armstrong, adding there have been similar incidents in the past near the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital helicopter landing pad, which could cause significant problems for air ambulances.
Should the pilot not see the wire there could be drastic consequences if the line became enmeshed in the helicopters rotator blades causing a possible crash.
"This reckless behaviour puts the public and crews at risk. If an accident or outage were to occur, those involved in this negligent behaviour expose themselves to criminal charges and lawsuits for damages as a result of an incident. BC Hydro will seek damages for costs of any work required to repair lines or make them safe, said Ted Olynyk, BC hydro spokesperson.
Armstrong said police recognize that guidelines and regulations around the use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (drones) are continuing to evolve. The RCMP asks pilots to respect the safety tips and guidelines as outlined by Transport Canada.
If anyone has information, call the Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345 or contact Crime Stoppers at nanaimocrimestoppers.com, text 274637, keyword Nanaimo or call 1-800-222-8477.
(CNN) A Justice Department investigation found that the Baltimore Police Department engages in unconstitutional practices that led to disproportionate rates of stops, searches and arrests of African-Americans, and excessive use of force against ...
Topics: Donald Trump , Elections 2016 , Joy Reid , katrina pierson , lawrence o'donnell , MSNBC , Race , Racism , Video , Elections News , News , Politics News
On Sunday, Donald Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson appeared on MSNBC to defend her candidates most recent racist comments, and though she fought mightily against the patent content of his statements, host Joy Reid and guest Lawrence ODonnell refused to allow her to get away with obfuscating the obvious.
Pierson began by claiming that Trump didnt criticize Judge Gonzalo Curiel because solely because he was Mexican, and had mentioned specific rulings made by the judge that earned him the candidates ire. Its the medias fault, she said, that Trump keeps appearing to be a racist. Reid, however, was having none of it.
The reason the media constantly talks about Donald Trump and his issues with Americans who are non-white is because he keeps bringing it up, she said. Nobody asked him about the judges background, or the judges ethnicity.
He brought it up on his own, and when he was asked if that would also apply to Muslims, he on his own, without being prompted said Yeah, actually thats a problem. Hes bringing these things up.
advertisement
Photo: Facebook - Wayne Strach
A 61-year-old Edmonton man's world record attempt to swim the length of Okanagan Lake was abandoned Tuesday, 17 hours into the journey.
Wayne Strach set off from Vernon at 11:10 a.m. Monday morning, but his attempt to reach Penticton ended when he was separated from his support boat in darkness.
Wayne followed safety protocol, which was to head to shore and find a landmark, said Birget Moe, a support person.
All alone, the swimmer then spent 15 minutes walking in nothing but his Speedos, a swim cap and goggles, before finding a cabin on the shoreline where he pounded on the door and asked to use a telephone.
The swim was abandoned at 2:45 a.m. Tuesday morning.
It was a valiant attempt, said Moe. "He's a little bit down but not out.
Strach is the oldest Canadian to swim the English Channel, according to his team.
Photo: Twitter - BCGovFireInfo
Hot exhaust fumes are to blame for a wildfire that forced the evacuation of about 140 homes in the Joe Rich area last summer.
In an email from the Ministry of Forests, the most probable cause of the July 3, 2015, fire was determined to be thermally active exhaust carbon ejected by a passing truck.
All other reasonable causes were excluded.
Originally, it was thought a discarded cigarette had caused the blaze.
The fire began about 2:45 p.m. along Highway 33 just east of Heartland Ranch.
Within an hour, the fast moving fire resulted in the evacuation of all residents on Huckleberry Road, between Goudie Road and Sun Valley Road.
Some residents remained out of their homes for about 48 hours while crews mopped up the fire, which consumed about 55 hectares.
Photo: Getty Images
With all of the attention being placed on North Americas obesity epidemic and sedentary lifestyles, it is easy not to notice the flip side of that problem when fitness becomes an unhealthy obsession.
We hear a lot about exercising for good health to achieve a goal weight or to boost strength and endurance. Engaging in regular exercise is healthy and an important part of a balanced life.
But we have all met people or seen their posts on social media sites who take exercise and fitness into the realm of compulsion.
Excessive exercise has long been observed as a co-existing problem with eating or body dysmorphic (deformity or abnormality in the shape or size of a specified part of the body) disorders.
Many times, people experiencing one of these conditions will exercise compulsively as part of their quest to control their bodies.
Exercise is a problem in this context. Compulsive exercisers require longer hospital stays, they have more relapses and their long-term outcome is worse than those who do not exercise compulsively.
Also, the compulsive exercise usually begins before an eating disorder and is often the last symptom to subside when the eating disorder is treated.
We now also know that excessive or compulsive exercise can occur independently of eating disorder. So-called exercise addiction has been difficult to define and measure because what may seem excessive to some, could be perfectly healthy for others.
We know that those who exercise compulsively do not want to exercise as much as they do. They often realize it is too much, they know they will hurt themselves or even die if they continue and yet they are unable to stop.
The focus has now shifted from defining this addiction in quantitative terms to more qualitative ones examining what is motivating the exercise.
Some new studies out of the U.K. have set out to determine whether compulsive exercise can be measured.
In order to understand compulsive exercise better, researchers undertook a large review and then used the data to create a Compulsive Exercise Test, which they have been using in several studies in young women, athletes and patients with eating disorders.
These studies found avoidance, weight-control exercise, lack of enjoyment and exercise rigidity were pronounced among those with eating disorders.
Using this information they have also created an intervention called the LEAP program, which takes a cognitive behaviour therapy approach to compulsive exercise.
The goal is to help patients determine what exercise is healthy and help them regain control of their behaviour. A four-year study using this program is wrapping up and preliminary results are promising.
It will be interesting to see more results from this group and others as to how we can promote healthy lifestyle while preventing the development of compulsive exercise as well as how we can help those experiencing this compulsion both within the context of an eating disorder and on its own.
This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: Flickr/BC Gov't
B.C. Premier Christy Clark has been cleared for a second time on conflict of interest allegations connected to party fundraising events.
Conflict commissioner Paul Fraser says he found nothing compellingly different in the most recent conflict complaint filed against the premier by Opposition New Democrat David Eby than he did in Eby's first complaint filed in April.
Eby asked Fraser to reopen his original ruling after Clark attended a fundraising event in her Kelowna riding last September in which a donor paid $10,000 to attend.
Last May, Fraser ruled exclusive fundraising events and a stipend paid to Clark by the Liberal party are not conflicts because they do not amount to a private interest.
He says Eby's most recent concern that Clark benefited from the $10,000 donation did not amount to a personal benefit because the money went to her Westside-Kelowna riding association.
Fraser's ruling says he now considers the matter closed.
Photo: Wayne Moore - Castanet
The head of the Rutland Park Society has been asked to step aside.
At a special meeting called by membership of the society Tuesday, a majority of those in attendance voted to ask for president Todd Sanderson's resignation.
More than 70 people were at the meeting. Three voted against the motion.
The meeting was chaired by society treasurer Wendi Swarbrick, one of just two directors left on the society.
Sanderson did not attend. He said he has been receiving threats and did not feel safe to do so.
Tuesday's meeting was called in an attempt to get the society "back on track" after 11 of the 13 directors resigned during a heated meeting last month, a meeting called, in part to deal with the removal of Swarbrick from the board.
Prior to asking for Sanderson's resignation, those in attendance voted to amend rules allowing all members in attendance to vote, including more than 20 who registered prior to the meeting.
The membership also voted in six new, interim directors in order to have enough directors to run society business until the next AGM in October.
Those directors include: Joe Iafrancesco, Bob Dhanwant, Walter Viita, Gene Booth, Chase Jestley and Steve Swarbrick.
The validity of the meeting continues to be debated by both Swarbrick and Sanderson.
Swarbrick said Tuesday, in her opinion, the meeting was called and advertised correctly. She said all the Is were dotted and the Ts were crossed. Sanderson, on the other hand, said only the president can call such a meeting.
"The members just can't call a meeting themselves," said Sanderson.
"When a requisition is called, they have to call upon someone to make it happen, and that is the president. And, they didn't contact all the members. They contacted who they wanted to contact so they could have the vote the way they want it to happen."
Sanderson has called a meeting for the 23rd of this month with the same agenda as Tuesday to appoint new directors and move the society forward.
And, he says he knows he has to step away.
"I know my opinions on what's going on are completely tainted, and I know for the board to go forward, I need to remove myself.
"But, I just need to know I have relinquished all liability, particularly as it concerns the books and records which have not been released to the board."
Sanderson said he has asked to see the books, but claims Swarbrick will not turn them over.
"I ask, in capital letters, what is she hiding?" he said.
"The story here is why won't she release the books? Not only to me, but to the previous board who all resigned because they noticed there was a conflict of interest, which the lawyer pointed out, point blank."
Swarbrick did tell the membership in attendance Tuesday that, moving forward, she plans to hold an open house and lay out all the books for any member to review.
Photo: CTV
The world's tallest wood-construction building reached a milestone, Tuesday.
The final wood panel was installed on the 18-storey tower at the University of British Columbia's Vancouver campus.
When completed in the spring, it will become student housing.
A new building method using laminated panels allows the tower to meet earthquake standards and to exceed heights usually permitted for wood construction.
"It was courageous of them and really groundbreaking," Paul Fast, founder of Fast+Epp Structural Engineering, told CTV as work continued at the site.
The building will cost more than $50 million when finished and is part of a UBC effort to alleviate on-campus housing demand as well as promote B.C. wood technology.
with files from CTV Vancouver
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer
Sandy Kamps has worked in toy stores since he was a teen, and his latest venture on Penticton's Main Street has proven to be relatively successful.
But now that Kamps is running a second landscaping business as well as raising five children, he is reluctantly shutting the doors at Mystery Toys at the end of the month.
"Business has been pretty good and people love it," he said, describing his business this week. "The main reason we are closing down is it's too much work, with five kids, all home schooled, there is not time to run this second business."
Kamps' parents started the family's first toy store in Penticton years ago, before moving it to Kamloops.
The family then opened up a store on Westminster Avenue in 2014 before moving to Main Street.
"We tried it again, opening on Westminster, because I kind of missed it," said Kamps.
The store, currently operated by Kamps, his wife and his sister Angel Kamps, has since become known for its second-hand toys including games, dolls and action figures.
They also did fun activities like a colouring contest where every child who entered at the store won a prize.
"A lot of people are pretty sad about it and we are sad we are not going to be here," said Kamps. "But it's just become overwhelming for me, my sister and my wife, so it's time to let it go and move on to other things."
Kamps added there have been a few people interested in running the store, but at this point they are selling off everything because they can't wait around.
Everything in the store at 532 Main Street is now 50 per cent off, unless otherwise marked. They are also selling off shelving and fixtures.
Photo: UBC Okanagan
A UBC professors flax research could one day help Canadian farmers grow a car fender.
In a recent study, UBC researcher Michael Deyholos identified the genes responsible for the bane of many Canadian flax farmers existence: the fibres in the plant's stem.
These findings have allowed us to zero in the genetic profile of the toughest part of this plant and may one day help us engineer some of that toughness out, says Deyholos, a biology professor at UBC's Okanagan campus. With further research, we might one day be able to help farmers make money off a waste material that wreaks havoc on farm equipment and costs hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to deal with.
As part of his research, Deyholos and his former graduate student at the University of Alberta dissected thousands of stems under a microscope in order to identify which genes in the plant's make up were responsible for the growth of the stem, and which werent.
Due to the length of the Canadian Prairies growing season, where flax is grown, farmers typically burn the stems, known as flax straw, as opposed to harvesting the material. In many European countries, flax straw is used as an additive in paper, plastics and other advanced materials such as those used in the production of automobiles.
Currently, Canadian flax is used only for the value of its seeds, which can be eaten or broken down into flaxseed oil. Flaxseed oil is used in the manufacturing of paints, linoleum, and as a key element in the manufacturing of packaging materials and plastics.
According to the Flax Council of Canada, Canada is one of the largest flax producers in the world, with the nations prairie provinces cultivating 816,000 tonnes of the plant in 2014/15 on 1.6 million acres of land.
Deyholos research was recently published in the journal Frontiers of Plant Science.
Photo: CTV
Firefighters in Pitt Meadows confirm a Tuesday evening house fire has claimed a life.
The body of a man in his 40s has been found in the home, about 40 kilometres east of Vancouver.
Fire Chief Don Jolley says two other people are recovering from smoke inhalation and one of them also has minor burns.
He says there were smoke detectors and sprinklers in the home, but they weren't working.
Ridge Meadows RCMP remained at the home, in the 19100 block of Mitchell Road, through the night.
Information about the cause of the fire has not been released.
A rash of vehicle break-ins has prompted a reminder from Vernon's Community Policing Office.
Once again, drivers are being urged to lock the doors of their cars, SUVs and pickups when they are shopping or heading into the office after first removing packages, electronics, change and garage door openers.
There has been a spike in vehicle thefts lately and it is across the board. It's not in one area or another in terms of Greater Vernon, said Rachael Zubick, community safety co-ordinator. It's happening all over the place.
The thieves seem to be looking for anything that's left in a vehicle, said Zubick.
People are leaving their wallets, they're leaving their identification, they're leaving money, they're leaving electronics, iPods, laptops. We're finding a lot of those things still being left in vehicles and many of the vehicles are left unlocked which, of course, poses an easy opportunity for those seeking an easy steal.
Zubick also urged people not to leave garage door openers behind when exiting a vehicle.
No figures were provided on the number of vehicle thefts in the Greater Vernon area.
An African-American pro-charter advocacy group is appealing to leaders of the NAACP to reject a recent resolution from members of the venerable civil rights organization that calls for a moratorium on expanding charter schools.
Citing increased segregation and high rates of exclusionary discipline among other issues, members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People voted at the organizations national conference late last month to approve a resolution calling for a ban on new charter schools. The civil rights organization has long held a skeptical view of charters, but this resolution may amount to its strongest opposition to date.
Soon after, Black Lives Matter activists joined a coalition of several civil rights and advocacy groups in releasing an education agenda that also calls for a ban on charters, among other initiatives.
Organized under the Movement for Black Lives, the agenda also targets some of the most powerful philanthropic backers of the charter school sectorthe Walton Family Foundation, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundationfor bankrolling what it calls an international education privatization agenda.
(All three foundations help support coverage in Education Week. The newspaper retains sole editorial control over its content.)
African-American supporters of charter schools have since been pushing back against the NAACPs resolution (which has yet to be approved by the groups leadership).
Jacqueline Cooper, the president of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, or BAEO, said in a statement that they urge the NAACPs national board to reject the resolution at their next meeting.
The fact that the NAACP wants a national moratorium on charter schools, many of which offer a high-quality education to low-income and working-class Black children, is inexplicable, she said. The resolution is ill-conceived and based on lies and distortions about the work of charter schools.
After shedding two of its four state chapters, BAEO is currently undergoing a reorganization the details of which will be decided through an innovation competiton to reinvent the organization.
While acknowledging that some of the issues the NAACP raised over charter school quality and oversight are true, Shavar Jeffries, the president of Democrats for Education Reform said in a statement that its counterproductive to paint all charter schools with the same brush.
We should be fixing whats broken and expanding what works, not pre-empting the choices of parents of color about the best schools appropriate for meeting the particular needs of their children, he said.
The announcementsand reaction to themhighlight some of the fissures among two important groups to the charter school sector: African-Americans and Democrats.
How Racially Segregated Are Charter Schools?
It is true that a very visible segment of the charter school sector, propelled by philanthropic organizations such as the Walton and Broad foundations, is focused on setting up shop in low-income, urban areas with the aim of serving the black and Latino students who live in those communities.
Nationally, black students make up 28 percent of charter school enrollment, compared to 15 percent of non-charter enrollment, while white students make up 35 percent of total charter school enrollment and 50 percent of the public, non-charter sector. Those numbers come from a recent Education Week Research Center analysis of federal data from the 2012-13 school year.
The gap in enrollment share is smaller for Hispanic students than for their black and white peers. Hispanic students account for 29 and 25 percent of charter and non-charter enrollment, respectively.
But the racial makeup of charter schools varies greatly from state to state (to see a racial breakdown of charter school enrollment in your state, click here ).
Related Stories:
Photo: Getty Images
Police in Golden are warning residents not to walk alone at night after a woman was attacked and tasered early Saturday morning.
Const. Spencer Lainchbury says the woman was walking near Spirit Square in the early hours when she was assaulted. There is no word on the identity of the attacker or the womans condition.
He says details are still sketchy, and police are trying to work out the timeline, circumstances and possible motive for the attack.
Our investigation is still in its very early stages, so there are still very few details available," says Lainchbury.
A Facebook post on a local classifieds page has also hinted there was a second woman attacked in Golden, but Lainchbury says police are still trying to confirm that incident actually occurred. No one has come to police with a second complaint.
We would really like to speak with the other person, he says. Its very possible that if there are two incidents, that they are related, but we also want to rule out that this isnt the same incident that has been reported as two through social media.
The peaceful mountain town of 3,700 is far better known for its spectacular scenery than urban street crime. But while the investigation continues, police are advising residents walking at night to travel in groups and report any suspicious activity or persons.
They also say theyll be increasing police presence on the towns pedestrian paths with bike and foot patrols.
Photo: CTV
A giant sinkhole opened up at a busy Lower Mainland intersection.
A water main break in Coquitlam Tuesday night created a massive 25-foot sinkhole that crews worked to repair Wednesday.
Some said that when the flooding was at its worst, cars in a nearby parkade were floating.
Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart told CTV News the city is investigating what caused the break.
"They've got the pipe in the back of the truck and they'll be analyzing it to determine what happened," he said.
"There are settlement issues and aging infrastructure across the Lower Mainland well across Canada. We certainly need to examine how we continue to upgrade our infrastructure as best we can."
with files from CTV Vancouver
While the perception may be that this is one of the coolest and wettest summers on record, Environment Canada says it's actually pretty average.
When you try to compare this year's stats to normal, it comes out as a normal summer, but that is not everyone's perception, says meteorologist Lisa Coldwells.
She says the average rainfall for June is 12 days of rain at 45.9 millimetres, more than this year's eight days of rain at 37.7 mm. An average July sees nine days of rain hitting 37 mm, while this July we saw nine days of rain that produced just 24 mm of rain.
So we are not even at 100 per cent of normal yet."
If this summer isn't wetter than normal, is it cooler? Coldwells says not really.
It is slightly cooler, but it is just perception."
The highest temperature in July was 36.7 C on July 29. The average daytime high was 27.1 C for the month and the average is typically 27.9 C, so it wasn't a lot off of the average.
She says the last two summers of intense heat have skewed public opinion of a typical summer, leaving locals very blah about this year's weather.
The last two years we had some scorching-hot summers where we had days of 35 C and we just haven't had that this year, says Coldwells. The last two years were very abnormal.
She thinks it is specifically the lack of sunny and hot multi-day stretches that make us feel like we are missing out this year.
We haven't had that week-long stretch of hot, sunny weather, says Coldwells. We generally get two or three of those in the summer, and we have not had that this summer.
While the meteorologist can't explain why we haven't seen those stretches of hotter weather, she reminds us that April, May and early June saw record-breaking heat, before the weather pattern dipped back into a cold-low June pattern.
We got some cool days. It was showery, we got some rain, and then the cold lows just didn't go away. They continued through the month of July, says Coldwells. We are sitting under the remnants of the last one now.
Coldwells says we shouldn't lose hope yet as the most promising stretch of hot, sunny weather is set to begin tomorrow.
We are actually now seeing the best indication that this pattern has broken and a strong ride of high pressure is building in, says Coldwells.
This is a chance to do a little happy dance. I am optimistic that we've got five days of nice, sunny weather coming in. Maybe we can even extend that to a whole week. This is the best summertime ridge pattern we have seen this year.
Check our your local weather forecast here.
Send your best summer or weather photos and video to [email protected].
Photo: Google Street View
Enderby residents will be getting some medical relief when a new doctor opens shop next week.
The community north of Vernon on Highway 97A has been struggling to attract doctors for the past several years, but on Monday Dr. Michael Abayomi will start seeing patients at the Enderby Community Health Centre.
Currently, there is only one physician in the town of just over 3,000 people.
Coun. Brian Schreiner said at one point the community had five doctors, but four have left for various reasons.
We've been dealing with this over the past five or six years, said Schreiner, who was part of the recruitment process along with Interior Health officials.
Schreiner said it was of great benefit to be part of the recruiting.
We were able to explain our community and the amenities it has to offer, said Schreiner. We're really pleased IH let us be involved in the process.
Schreiner said representatives of the Splatsin First Nation, which borders Enderby, were also part of the hiring process.
Enderby has seen several doctors come and go as part of an IH program where foreign doctors must practice in rural communities for three years before they can move to larger centres.
However, Schreiner said he is optimistic things will be different this time as the new physician is from a rural community and will hopefully want to practice in a smaller community beyond the three-year commitment.
We want to make sure he feels welcome, said Schreiner.
But the arrival of Abayomi is just part of the good news for Enderby residents.
We have another doctor coming in February as well, said Schreiner, adding a nurse practitioner has been hired to replace the current nurse practitioner who is leaving town.
Interior Health is pleased that, in collaboration with our community partners, and through the governments Practice Ready Assessment BC (PRA-BC) program, we will be welcoming a full-time physician to join our team at the Enderby Community Health Centre next week, said Dr. Curtis Bell, executive director, primary and residential care.
The PRA-BC program is funded by the Ministry of Health and Doctors of BC, who are working together to strengthen health care in rural communities like Enderby. This program is focused on bringing stable, high quality care to residents in rural BC, and addressing the physician retention and recruitment challenges facing some of our smaller communities.
Photo: http://www.abbotsfordairshow.com/
While Canadas fighter jet replacement continues to be a hot topic among government officials, you can take the discussion to new heights this weekend at the 54th annual Abbotsford International Airshow.
The annual airshow will be the one and only place to see the options side by side.
Key players Boeing and Lockheed Martin will display the F/A-18 Super Hornet and F-35 Lightning aircraft respectively, while Eurofighter will also be there with a display booth.
Joining the Canadian fighter jet replacement contenders on the ramp will be an additional collection of USAF F-15s, A-10s and other static and flying Hornets and Super Hornets turning Abbotsford into "Fightertown, Canada" for the weekend.
An aspect of the airshows strategic vision is to strengthen key partnerships with aerospace organizations such as AIAC Pacific who produce the annual Aerospace Defence and Security Expo adjacent the airshow. The Canadian Business Aviation Association will also hold its annual convention next year at Abbotsford in conjunction with the airshow as well, says airshow president Jim Reith.
Looking to the future, we expect the Abbotsford Airshow will encompass a major aerospace industry event occurring in the days prior to the public weekend show in the style of Farnborough and Paris airshows.
The year's airshow will mark the very first time the Lockheed Martin F-35 joint strike fighter aircraft will appear in Canada.
We are always keen to have on display the latest and most advanced in aerospace technologies in both military and civilian aircraft, adds Reith.
The airshow will look to do so this weekend with 15 fighters in the air or on the ground, as it celebrates its 2016 superhero inspired Heroes of the Skies theme.
The Abbotsford International Airshow runs each year on the second full weekend in August.
This year's event runs from Aug. 12 to 14.
Organizers say visitors to 'Fightertown, Canada' this weekend are sure to be impressed.
For more information or to buy tickets, click here.
UPDATE: 1:20 p.m.
Columbia Street is now open in both directions, say Kamloops police.
ORIGINAL: 1:10 p.m.
Fire crews are on the scene of a fire at the Travelodge on Columbia Street.
The fire, which broke out shortly before noon, apparently started in the kitchen ventilation for Sleepy's Diner.
Firefighters are mopping up.
Westbound traffic has been closed between 3rd and 4th Avenue.
One lane of westbound traffic is expected to open very soon.
It is unknown at this time when both lanes will be open.
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer
Several B.C. food companies will be showing off the fruits of their labour in Hong Kong this weekend including two from the South Okanagan-Similkameen region.
Hong Kong Trade Development Council Food Expo is Asia's largest consumer food industry event, and will be showing off the products of well over 1,000 exhibitors.
Two of the eight featured will include the Bench 1775 Winery and Tasting Room of Penticton and the Forbidden Fruit Winery out of Cawston.
Last year's expo brought in more than 470,000 attendees who got a gander at nearly 1,200 exhibitors from 24 countries.
Bench 1775 Winery's general manager and winemaker Val Tait said the opportunity is huge for the company, which she said is a relatively new winery.
"We're in a very competitive market, globally speaking," she said. "The more market exposure we can get, the better it is for us in B.C."
She said Canada is seen globally as a strong wine producer, with high environmental and safety standards.
"All of those things are very positive, so it's a very strong position to have going into those markets," Tait said.
She said the international exposure would give the winery a leg up on others in the area, noting that international markets often expect higher consistency of quality.
"If you can produce something consistently at a very high quality, and you are able to deliver year after year, then for sure, it's a huge market advantage to be in an export market," she said, adding that the returns for the winery are also in an export market.
She noted that only about 25 per cent of B.C. wine is bought domestically, and that international wines have a large presence in B.C.'s liquor stores.
She added that she would like to see more B.C. wine bought locally.
The eight exhibitors from B.C. are part of a provincial government delegation, intended to promote B.C. products abroad and expand the province's exports to international markets.
The six other exhibitors coming from B.C. are:
ASTI Holdings (Golden Bonbon) - New Westminster
Bremner Foods - Delta
Global Fruit Brokers - Creston
Nu-Tea Company - Mission
R.J.T. Blueberry Park - Aldergrove
Trumps Food - Vancouver
The delegation is part of a 2013 provincial-territorial-federal deal investing $3 billion over five years into innovation, competitiveness and market development.
Minister of International Trade Teresa Wat said the expo will provide exposure to B.C.'s food companies and help to promote trade around the world.
The event will be taking place in Hong Kong from Aug. 11 to Aug 15.
Photo: Kate Bouey
A study currently underway asks the question: how many boats would it take to affect Kalamalka Lake or Wood Lake water quality?
While both lakes are popular with boaters, many Vernon area and Lake Country residents get their drinking water from the two lakes.
Armed with a grant from the Okanagan Basin Water Board, Greater Vernon Water, Coldstream and the District of Lake Country staff set out to find how many boats are too many boats.
The study is taking place right now and is looking at boating as one of the activities on the lake. The question is at what boating level/numbers would there be an effect on water quality, said Renee Clark, GVW's water quality manager. It is also looking at opportunities to protect water quality through best management practices and bylaws for example, no wake zones, refuelling practices or invasive species.
Money has already been set aside to extend the north Kal intake pipe and work is expected to begin in the autumn. This is partly an effort to defend against quagga and zebra mussels getting into the drinking water system down the line.
The intake line is being lifted off the lake bottom, from 0.6 metres to three metres. We will also be extending it out further in the lake to keep it at a 20 metre depth, explained Clark.
The study is expected to be completed this winter.
Photo: CTV
The Vancouver Police Department's revelation that it has indeed employed a controversial mass-surveillance device despite initially insisting it had no documentation of its use raises serious legal and public accountability concerns, a civil liberties group says.
The department said it received help from the RCMP in using a so-called StingRay device during a 2007 investigation in an attempt to track down the cellphone of a person they believed had been abducted.
The admission comes after a protracted back-and-forth battle waged by both the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and PIVOT Legal Society into whether the Vancouver police have ever used StingRay, an intelligence-gathering tool widely adopted in the United States.
StingRay mimics a cellular communications tower to trick all mobile devices within range to connect to it, giving police text and audio communication as well as the device's location.
Micheal Vonn of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association said it was only after a freedom-of-information request, direct questioning and the prospect of an inquiry by the province's privacy commissioner that the Vancouver police were willingly disclosed any information.
"This certainly raises a number of further questions," Vonn said.
"How, if they've actually used the RCMP's StingRay, could there be no documents: no memorandum of understanding with the RCMP, no policies and procedures, no communications, nothing. This seems deeply problematic."
Const. Brian Montague of the Vancouver police said in an email Wednesday that context is important in order to understand the role played by StingRay in investigations.
In the 2007 case, the device was used in "exigent circumstances" to investigate the disappearance of a person in a case that has since become a possible homicide, he said.
"It is disappointing to see the BCCLA failed to provide any context regarding that investigation, (and) continues their attempt at public fear mongering," he wrote.
PARCC is doing some deep soul-searching, with its future at stake. Its figuring out how it should reorganize to survive the coming years, and who should run it.
The most recent phase of that process has produced input from the testing field. To be precise: 128 pages of input. Weve obtained it for you through a Freedom of Information Act request. You can scroll through the pages yourself, at the bottom of this post.
The documents were a response to a request for information issued by PARCCs governing board in February, with responses due in March. The request for information, known in the procurement world as an RFI, seeks feedback from the field about the questions at handin this case, how PARCC should reorganize itself to serve states. Were talking about stuff like coordinating the development of new test questions, making test items available to states, and coordinating contracts with vendors to administer and score the test.
The RFI is designed to get ideas from the industry, but it also can be a preview of whos going to throw their hat in the ring to win the contract for the reorganization itself. Those hats will be thrown during the second stage of this process: the request for proposals, or RFP, that PARCC will issue later this year.
A caveat, as you leaf through the RFI responses: Just because someone chimed in during the RFI doesnt mean theyre necessarily going to submit a proposal in response to the RFP. And the reverse is true, too: Just because someone stays silent during the RFI part of the process doesnt mean they wont jump in when the RFP comes out. So while you can have a little fun reading the tea leaves here, dont assume too much.
Youll see that there were nine responses to PARCCs RFI. Most are from the usual players in the assessment industry, including ACT Inc., the Educational Testing Service, Measured Progress, Pearson, and Questar. Parcc Inc.the nonprofit that manages PARCC, the consortiumalso submitted a response, signaling an interest in continuing that management role. And there was an entry that some could find surprising, too: from Smarter Balanced, the other state consortium (along with PARCC) that designed common-core tests with federal funding. (Data Recognition Corp. also submitted some thoughts, without making a formal RFI response.)
The companies responding to the RFI pointed out the challenges ahead, such as adequately protecting the security of PARCCs bank of test questions, how to price test items, and how to produce enough income to sustain the organization. (Only six states and the District of Columbia currently administer the PARCC test . Two others blend some of PARCCs questions with their own.) They also try to grapple with the question of who will own PARCC content when some of it could be created by states, and other parts by the organization that runs the consortium.
One interesting tidbit that emerges from the responses is that states are apparently chatting about the prospect of having one entity that could offer them both PARCC and Smarter Balanced test content. Heres what ETS says about that in its response, referring to test content as intellectual property, or IP:
Smarter Balanced remained silent on that question in its submission, choosing only to discuss the elements of its operation that it believes have made it successful.
Another interesting tidbit in the responses was a reflection on how the exact players respondingtesting companiesmight not be good candidates to do the job. And that response came from a big testing company, ACT Inc., which notes that assessment companies are really good at some of the things PARCC wants, but not so good at others:
There is a lot more in these responses to peruse. Let me know what you find interesting!
PARCC Request for Information
For more on which standardized tests states are using, see:
State Testing: An Interactive Breakdown of 2015-16 Plans
Image by IStockPhoto
If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,...
A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit challenging a 60-year-old monument displaying the Ten Commandments at a Pennsylvania high school.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, in Philadelphia, ruled unanimously to restore the suit brought by a mother and daughter against the New Kensington-Arnold school district near Pittsburgh.
The suit by Marie Schaub for herself and on behalf of her daughter (identified only as Doe 1) and backed by the Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, challenges the Ten Commandment monument installed in 1956 at Valley High School in New Kensington, Pa.
The schools Ten Commandments monument was donated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles, part of a campaign to place such nearly 200 such granite memorials at public parks, municipal buildings, and schools across the country. (The fraternal organization was encouraged by Cecil B. DeMille, the director of the film The Ten Commandments, which came out in 1956.)
The lawsuit challenged the presence of the Ten Commandments monument as an unconstitutional government establishment of religion.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an unsigned 1980 decision in Stone v. Graham that a Kentucky statute requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments on the walls of public school classrooms violated the establishment clause.
More recently, in 2005, the high court upheld an injunction barring Ten Commandments displays at two county courthouses but also upheld the display of a monument on the grounds of the Texas state capitol that had been donated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
The case involving Valley High School has, so far, been decided on dry legal grounds such as standing and mootness.
A federal district court said Schaub and her daughter had not come into enough contact with the monument to have suffered enough of a legal injury to have standing to challenge it under the establishment clause. Schaubs daughter was a middle school student at the time the lawsuit was filed, and she had encountered the monument several times when she attended events at the high school. The mother said she would face seeing it daily when she started driving her daughter to the high school.
In its Aug. 9 decision in Freedom From Religion Foundation v. New Kensington-Arnold School District , the 3rd Circuit court held that the mother had standing to challenge the monument.
A community member should not be forced to forgo a government service to preserve his or her ability to challenge an allegedly unconstitutional religious display or activity, the appeals court said. Schaubs allegations that the monument signals that she is an outsider because she does not follow the particular religion or god that the monument endorses, and that her stomach turned when she encountered it are sufficient to demonstrate that her contact with the monument was unwelcome. Thus, Schaub has standing to pursue a nominal damages claim.
The court said the daughter lacked standing because evidence suggested she had been too young to fully understand the monument as a younger student who occasionally visited the high school. Schaub has declined to enroll her daughter at Valley High unless the monument is removed.
Now that the lawsuit is revived and sent back to the district court, removal of the Ten Commandments monument is a possibility.
Tokyo Cement Ube Industries deal
ICR Newsroom By 10 August 2016
Tokyo Cement Group (Lanka) Plc has signed a deal on 1 August with Japanese company Ube Industries Ltd, for the import of raw materials and technical support to produce cement.
In a statement Tokyo Cement said: Tokyo Cement Group has entered into a collaborative agreement with Ube Industries Ltd of Japan for technical support services and import part of their raw materials requirement from Japan to manufacture high-quality cement.
Ube Industries operates in five business segments - cement and construction materials, chemicals, energy and environment, pharmaceuticals and machinery.
Published under
Guest post by Andrew Ujifusa
When it comes to improving schools, states have pretty much closed their eyes and dropped the ball.
Thats a primary conclusion of No Time to Lose: How to Build a World-Class Education System State by State, a report released by the National Conference of State Legislatures on Tuesday. The report says that this failure on the part of states to create cohesive and strong schools has hamstrung the U.S., even as other countries produce better-educated students and workforces.
States have found little success. Recent reforms have underperformed because of silver bullet strategies and piecemeal approaches, the NCSL report states, adding that other countries take very different approaches. Pockets of improvement in a few districts or states is not enough to retain our countrys global competitiveness.
In No Time to Lose, there are echoes of A Nation at Risk, the landmark 1983 report produced by a commission for President Ronald Reagan that sounded the alarm on what it deemed increasing mediocrity in American schools in the face of rising international competition. That 1983 report also urged significant changes to the nations schools, although some believe the report overhyped fears about education and has itself proven to be a flop .
So whats the good news? Well, NCSL says we might finally be figuring out what works in K-12. And what works, according to the organization that represents state lawmakers, includes:
Making sure students are ready to learn when they arrive at school;
Professionalizing and putting a priority on U.S. teachers;
Robust career and technical education programs; and
Ensuring that policies are aligned, in order to create a unified K-12.
The report is the result of an 18-month study by a group of 28 state lawmakers along with legislative staff , according to NCSL. They focused on 10 countries and regions performing well on the Programme for International Student Assessment (commonly known as PISA), including the Canadian province of Alberta, Hong Kong, Poland, and Taiwan. NCSL also says it will continue meeting through 2017 to discuss issues raised by its analysis, which has received endorsements from officials with the National Education Association and the Business Roundtable, among others.
Uncoordinated and Unsuccessful
The report runs through Americas performance on PISA as well as National Assessment of Educational Progress. It throws a spotlight on how the nations students have slipped behind their international peers on PISA since 2000, for example:
The report also waves off several ways low U.S. PISA scores are downplayed by critics. The NCSL lawmakers reject the argument that other countries (unlike the U.S.) educate only relatively elite students by pointing out the relatively low U.S. graduation rate, which stands 80 percent, compared to other high-performing countries, although they dont elaborate on this point. In additIon, the claim that the U.S. is more diverse and therefore faces more challenges in educating students falls flat when changing demographics in Europe and Asia are considered, the report also says.
A variety of high-profile policies also get slammed by the NCSL study, in part because they are implemented piecemeal and without setting decisive goals and creating a thoughtful, systemic approach to building a coherent system with an appropriate timeline for implementation, as did the other high-performing countries. A few of these policies singled out for criticism in the analysis include:
Increasing teacher pay without demanding better preparation
Improving early education without continuing supports for struggling students in K-12";
Increasing funding without first shifting funds from unproven strategies";
Decreasing class size without first restructuring staffing and time";
Using test scores in teacher evaluations without ensuring that all teachers are receiving job-embedded, high-quality, ongoing learning.
Best in the World
We mentioned above policy areas where the NCSL report says there are clear solutions to what ails American education. Lets briefly highlight what the report has to say about teachers.
The state lawmakers take a soup-to-nuts view of how the nation trains, supports, pays, and promotes teachers. The nations standards for preparation and licensure are too lax, the report says (thats a common concern among those studying the teaching field), and produces too many elementary school teachers and not enough in crucial academic subjects. Other high-performing countries demand more of teachers before they receive tenure. Singapore is notable, the report says, for its high-quality school leadership. And those countries also create a variety of roles for teachers, including those in leadership.
Finally, theres the issue of teacher pay.
In high-performing countries, teachers are compensated more generously than American teachers, typically earning pay similar to that of senior civil servants and professionals such as engineers and accountants, the report states. They are expected to be the best in the world and are compensated accordingly.
In sum, while their K-12 efforts have often flopped, states K-12 governance systems are still set up to perform well if they abandon the one-off approach, according to the lawmakers: States are well-positioned to instead create the kind of clear vision and systemic reform that high-performing countries do. State systems more closely resemble education governance in the high-performing countries.
See Marc Tuckers view of the NCSL report in his Top Performers blog for Education Week Commentary. And read the full report below:
Dont miss another State EdWatch post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox. And make sure to follow @StateEdWatch on Twitter for the latest news from state K-12 policy and politics.
Each year, nearly a quarter of all New York City teachers move within their schools to a new grade level assignment or a new subject. And those reassignments can depress their students achievement, probably as a result of teachers adapting to their new position, concludes a new study.
Teacher churning, as the study characterizes this kind of movement, is little studied, but extremely common in U.S. schools. Teachers can switch to a different grade level, as often happens in elementary school. They can switch to teach a different content area if they have more than one license. And in high school, teachers bounce back and forth between AP classes and electives, and those in the general curriculum.
The new research study is among the first to provide some preliminary evidence that this churn, though probably unavoidable to some degree, on average isnt doing students any favors.
The study, forthcoming in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, was written by Allison Atteberry of the University of Colorado Boulder, Susanna Loeb of Stanford University, and James Wyckoff of the University of Virginia.
For the study, they looked at records on teachers in New York City all the way back from 1974 through 2010. A subset of those teachers, from 1999-2000, were linked to student achievement records in grades 3-8, allowing the researchers to analyze the link between teacher churn and students test scores.
Lets take a look at the findings.
How common is teacher churn?
In New York City, pretty common: Overall, the study found, between 1974 and 2010, nearly 42 percent of teachers have new assignments in some way during a typical school year. Of that 42 percent,
15 percent of them are new teachers;
6 percent are new to New York schools (but not to teaching);
25 percent are moving schools; and
a whopping 54 percent are changing assignments in the same school.
What this means is that a NYC student is about four times more likely to be taught by a teacher who changed grade levels or subjects within a school, than to be taught by a teacher new to teaching.
Whats driving teacher churn in New York City?
Much of it seems to be caused by teachers who leave a school or the profession, thereby requiring administrators to shuffle teachers around and hire new ones to make sure all classes are covered. But thats not the only reason: Some schools tended to have far more switches than others.
Does churn affect some students and teachers more?
Dozens of studies show that needy students and students of color tend to get less qualified and effective teachers. The study shows that, in NYC, black, Hispanic, and English-learner students were somewhat more likely to be assigned to a teacher moving to a new grade or subject in his or her school, but the overall difference was small.
Similarly, while there was some evidence that some teachersnovices, teachers of color, male teachers, and those with low value added scoresare more likely to to be reassigned both within and between schools, most of the differences were small.
Does churn affect student learning?
Yes. Across all the different kinds of churnnew to teaching, new to New York City, new to a school and new to a gradeswitching tended to lower student achievement. The magnitude differed depending on the type of switch, though. Not surprisingly, switching both a subject and a grade tended to be more difficult than just switching one or the other.
The results suggest that the more aspects of ones subject-grade-school assignment are unfamiliar, the more negative the impact of the reassignment, the authors wrote.
As for magnitude, the researches estimated that getting a churned teacher is about a quarter of the size of being assigned a brand new teacher. So while not huge, the fact that its common means that over time, churn can add up to lost learning for students.
But dont some teachers end up happierand more effectivein their new placements?
Its a good theory, but the study indicates that most switches dont end up matching teachers to assignments that make them more effective.
Does this pattern exist outside of New York City?
Its hard to say, because New York City is such a unique district with such a large teaching force, and transfer rules and so on differ from place to place. Just within New York state, the researchers found that the average within-school switch rate is 15 percent; the citys is 22 percent. Certainly some additional research could help flesh out whether this occurs in districts outside of New York.
Should schools take steps to prevent churn?
Well, the authors note that it is an unavoidable artifact of such a large system that instability can and will occur. But, they note, if the pattern is found in many other districts, then it might be worth administrators sitting down and trying to minimize students doses of churn as they progress through school.
For more on teacher assignments:
NY AG Goes After Bogus Zika Products
As soon as the first cases of the Zika virus began appearing in the U.S., people have been clamoring for a cure or at least a preventative. Since then, almost 2,000 cases of Zika have been reported in America (479 of them pregnant women) and some less scrupulous companies have stepped in with supposedly "Zika-preventive" products.
Many, if not all, of these products fail to live up to the billing, however, and the New York Attorney General has issued cease and desist letters to companies, demanding they stop advertising ineffective products as preventing or protecting against Zika transmission.
No Vaccine, No Cure
There's just one problem with "Zika-protective" or "Zika-preventive" products, and it's a big one. There is no vaccine that can prevent Zika, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is also no one medicine or treatment used to treat Zika. Therefore, any product that specifically advertised itself as protecting against or preventing Zika was overstating its effectiveness.
"Unfortunately," Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said in a statement, "some companies are taking advantage of public concern about Zika to peddle products that simply don't work. My office will not tolerate deceptive advertising of products that provide only a false sense of security against a real threat." Schneiderman later said that six of the seven companies that received cease and desist letters agreed to stop marketing their products as Zika prevention.
Don't Get Bit
Zika is a mosquito-borne virus, and as the CDC points out, the best way to prevent Zika transmission is to prevent mosquito bites. So well-known and effective mosquito repellents might do the trick. Just be wary of any bug spray that markets itself as Zika-specific.
Zika can also be transmitted through sex, so condoms and other barriers to protect against infection are recommended for those that have been diagnosed with Zika or have traveled to and from Zika hot spots. And if you live outside of New York, don't get fooled by Anti-Zika products on the shelves or online.
Follow FindLaw for Consumers on Facebook and Twitter (@FindLawConsumer).
Related Resources:
U Hla Maung Shwe, secretary of the 21st Century Panglong Conference Preparatory Sub-committee (2) said: The issue for discussion is the organisation format and guideline for setting down decisions at the [peace conference]. According to the state counsellor, politics and security sector will be discussed at the conference. The rest will be sent to civil societies forum.
The government delegation will meet with political parties on 11 August and representatives of ethnic armed groups on 12 August. Everyone will attend the last day of the meeting on 13 August.
The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) has been invited to attend, but U Tun Zaw, the joint secretary, said the ethnic armed group alliance still hasnt made a decision.
The Peace Commission led by the government and the Delegation for Political Negotiation (DPN) under the UNFC recently met in Rangoon but specific details of what was discussed havent been publically disclosed.
The DPN is meeting today in the northern Thai city Chiang Mai to discuss security issues.
Dr Nai Shwe Thein, DPN member and head of foreign affairs department of the New Mon State Party, said: A workshop is being held on SSR/DDR (Security Sector Reform)/Disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration," adding that they will also review what was discussed at the recent ethnic summit in Maijayang and whether or not to attend tomorrow's meeting in Rangoon and Union Peace Conference at the end of August.
Currently, the conditions set for full participation in the upcoming conference include only the 8 groups that signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA). Non NCA-signatories have been invited to attend but arent allowed to vote on decisionseven though they make up nearly two-thirds of the countrys armed groups.
Reporting by Aik Sai for MNA
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited by BNI staff
Rogue archivist Carl Malamud writes, "I just got back from the big debate on is free law like free beer that has been brewing for months at the American Bar Association over the question of who gets to read public safety codes and on what terms."
I was granted what is known as the "privilege of the floor" to speak before the House of Delegates at their Annual Meeting. The ABA Journal has a summary of the floor debate.
With a couple dozen resolutions on the table and some really inspirational speeches by all sorts of pretty amazing folks (the presidents of the ABA are pretty inspirational!), this was the only resolution that had any significant debate. We went at it for over 30 minutes. In my remarks I made the point that this resolution was perhaps well-intentioned, but bought into a really dangerous idea that somehow DRM-based access to the law from an exclusive private provider is "good enough." I was actually joined by the standards establishment in arguing strenuously that "read only access" simply doesn't exist and DRM is futile. A law is either public or it isn't. (And if a law isn't public, it isn't a law!)
The other side argued that DRM-based access is good enough for ordinary people, and felt that setting that as a minimum floor for access was a good thing. Today, many public safety standards have no access at all for the general public (although I'm proud to have 980 of the laws in question on my web site for access with no restriction and with significant transformation in your ability to use them), so Resolution 112 is sort of a step forward. For that I'm pleased. In a 146-210 vote, we lost our motion to take a deep breath and ask ourselves if maybe the current "split the baby" solution wasn't settling for something pretty bad and maybe we could do better. Although there were 6 ABA Sections that were the sponsors of the resolution (including, believe it or not, Civil Rights and Social Justice!), I suspect that very few of the task force members that did this thing has ever looked at a "read only access" standard, let alone our transformed version.
The lobbying for this resolution was intense. On Monday morning, I did 5 breakfasts with state delegations at Moscone while my colleague Cathy Gellis covered 4 breakfasts at the Marriott. At each one, we would give a pitch for a few minutes, there would be questions and answers, maybe a little banter about the state, maybe the other side was giving a pitch, then I'd walk around the table and hand out postcards). I ended up sending 480 snailmail packages and at the meeting giving out hundreds more postcards. It was gratifying when so many people said "I've been reading about this! I got a bunch of postcards in the mail!"
What struck me the most was the continual mention by the American Bar Association speakers of two things: "rule of law" and "we must embrace technology." I think the question of who gets to read the law is at the very heart of those two important themes, and I got to make my case before 550 of the top lawyers in the country, most of whom had not heard of this issue before. It was worth it.
Next up: Oral arguments in our big standards case is on September 12 in Washington, D.C. Our team of lawyers from EFF and Fenwick & West are going to argue for your right to read the law in any way you want to read it. All 6 plaintiffs and Public Resource have submitted Motions for Summary Judgment, a boatload of Amicus briefs were submitted, this will be the first time the substance of the case will be presented before the judge. Wish us luck.
Ten years ago, British domestic security claimed to have caught a terrorist cell that had planned to blow up airplanes with a gel they'd carry on in a Gatorade bottle and detonate with an Ipod.
Later that day, British aviation authorities banned all carry-on luggage and, shortly after, aviation authorities around the world announced that henceforth, passengers would only be allowed to carry a maximum of one liter of liquids, in bottles of no more than 100ml.
Ten years later, we still don't know if it's possible to mix a piranha bath in airplane sink without gassing yourself to death, let alone use it to make a liquid explosive in flight.
But we've sure given up a lot of water-bottles.
Public transit upholstery is a marvel of stain-resistance, long-wearing durability and bizarre abstract patterns meant to deny the shifting conventions of fashion: all these make it (semi-)perfect for "Bustour," German artist Menja Stevenson's 2008 transit couture project, which has her creating lovely if stiff and uncomfortable outfits out of transit fabric and then riding trains, documenting the reactions of people who encounter her chameleonsuit look.
"I had to get into contact with the transport companies to get the fabrics; they're not officially available. I had to do a lot of persuasive effort to convince the companies to hand over the fabric! I was very proud of myself when I finally got them. I found some conservative looking dressmaking patterns on the internet, and the bags are my own design. It wasn't easy for me to sew the dresses; the rough and stiff fabric often broke the needles.
"Wearing them, you sweat like crazy, they feel like a knight's armor and it's hard to act naturally. I couldn't believe that many people didn't realize the connection seeing me and the seats together. Did they think that it was sheer coincidence? Some curious people at least talked to me, and a very few laughed, but most passengers would look shyly at me and quickly look the other way again."
I've traveled to Japan many times over the decades and seen some really strange shit.
Once I was taken to a restaurant in the small town of Seki (a short drive from Gifu) where the chef filleted a live fish to expose the organs, peeling back the skin, flesh, and whatever. During this process the fish was laying on the cutting board, gasping for air. At one point the fish died, so the chef turned his wide knife sideways and gave the fish a nice whack with the side of the blade. Damn if it didn't resuscitate the poor bastard, who once again began gasping for air. And then he was brought to the table of customers next to us, who ate him with chopsticks while he was barely still alive.
The Japanese artist Mio Izawa must be a fan of David Cronenberg's film Existenz, where the director's fascination with flesh and inorganic objects combines in what can only be called an "unhealthy way." Izawa's website is a gallery of aberrant body parts which live in one way or another when plugged into a wall socket or computer.
He has created a giant beating heart, called "Heart (L)" that functions as an odd sort of pillow.
More notorious is the hideous tumor which plugs into your computer and expands as your CPU "gets busy."
But his masterwork is a weird iPhone charger that makes sucking noises as it simultaneously appears to suckle and absorb the phone.
If you've got a load of dough sitting around and you don't have anything better to do with it, the flesh-sucking phone eater, which is a one-of-a-kind piece of contemporary art, can be yours for only $6,052.96 on the artist's Etsy page.
The artist describes the iPhone charger on his website:
The iPhone cable is shaped as an umbilical cord, which keeps moving while it's charging. Now people carry their iPhones all the time in their lives. I designed the look of this cable as an umbilical cord, with which a mother feeds energy to her baby. It moves as if it's trying to absorb the iPhone, to express the irony of people's dependence on the iPhone.
He also sells a beating hearthuman sizefor $10,000 but that shouldn't really be a surprise, should it?
Anyone for a fish dinner?
This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact The Chanute Tribune office at 620-431-4100 if you have any questions
In the 15 years between 1997 and 2012: 72,000 small US manufacturers shut down; as did 108,000 local retailers and 13,000 community banks (fully half of America's complement of small banks!). The number of US startups has dropped by 50% since 1970. These statistics are not the result of the changing times: they're due to massive, monopolistic corporations stacking the deck against small competitors through unfair and corrupt practices, to the detriment of American growth, equality and democracy.
In Monopoly Power and the Decline of Small Business: The Case for Restoring America's Once Robust Antitrust Policies , Stacy Mitchell from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance details the exact way that monopolistic practices have concentrated wealth in the hands of a small investor class at the expense of entrepreneurs, innovation, and the public they serve providing a worse product at a higher price while locking out competitive alternatives.
The pharmacy industry is the poster-child for this phenomenon: the major drug store chains monopolized the distribution of pharmaceutical products, squeezing independent community pharmacies out of business while offering preferential treatment to their own retail outlets. In North Dakota, where this practice is banned, there are more pharmacies per capita than any other state, and these pharmacies have better prices and higher customer satisfaction and better health outcomes than any other state.
The Federal Trade Commission which is supposed to prevent this kind of abuse insists that there's nothing wrong with America's pharmacy sector.
Mitchell's paper documents parallel phenomena in many sectors: construction, manufacturing, retail, banking Some categories of goods are now effective monopolies: nearly all coat hangers are made by one company, ditto sunglasses. Two companies make nearly all the packaged goods in your supermarket. Walmart gets 25% of all American retail spending. In response to this phenomenon, the DOJ charged with antitrust enforcement has simply raised the threshold for the degree of concentration that warrants scrutiny, essentially defining monopolies as competitive markets and then declaring victory in the war on monopolistic practices.
This isn't just a problem for entrepreneurs and communities: it's a problem for democracy. The bigger a firm is, the more profits it can afford to lobby for special treatment by Congress and state and local governments. Beginning in the Reagan era, enforcement against monopolies fell while their profits and political spending rose. There followed a string of monopoly-friendly laws and regulation and a downsizing of the American middle class and American prosperity.
Mitchell's report is one chapter in The American Antitrust Institute's essential Report on Antitrust and Entrepreneurship, an ongoing series that goes rather a long way to explaining how America's politics and economy got to their current state and what we can do about them.
This report presents three compelling reasons to bring a commitment to fair and open markets for small businesses back into antitrust enforcement and public policy more broadly: 1. Small businesses deliver distinct consumer and market benefits, and in some sectors provide more value and better outcomes than their bigger competitors. And they often achieve these superior results because of their small scale, not in spite of it.
2. An economy populated by many small, independent businesses produces a more equitable distribution of income and opportunity, creates more jobs, and supports an expansive middle class. 3. Small-scale enterprise is compatible with democracy, while concentrated economic power threatens our liberty and our ability to be a self-governing people. To restore competition and America's entrepreneurial tradition, we can draw on our own rich antimonopoly history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, reformers enacted policies to break up concentrated power and ensure a level playing field for small businesses. These laws are still on the books, and the principles they embody are still relevant. With a fresh look at how we enforce them, these policies can go a long way toward reviving competition and small business. This report concludes by outlining several specific steps for doing so.
Monopoly Power and the Decline of Small Business: The Case for Restoring America's Once Robust Antitrust Policies
[Stacy Mitchell/Institute for Local Self-Reliance]
REPORT ON ANTITRUST AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
[American Antitrust Institute]
You may have heard about Nauru on a recent This American Life episode: the tiny Pacific island that was stripped of all vegetation and made virtually uninhabitable by phosphate mining, then turned into an international pariah by its desperate practice of selling citizenship to crooks, now an offshore detention centre for people seeking asylum in Australia, where cruelty and abuse are legendary.
Australia's practice of imprisoning asylum seekers in Nauru has long been the subject of criticism by human rights activists, who pointed to whistleblower accounts of rampant abuse, especially directed against the children on the island, often perpetrated by teachers, guards, health workers, and caseworkers paid by the Australian government to run the camp.
Now, a trove of 2,000 leaked reports from Nauru has been published by the Guardian, and the abuse these documents reveal is far worse than even the most repellent whistleblower accounts published to date. They are filled with the tales of children many girls under 10 years old who have been raped and sexually assaulted with impunity, while officials took no notice or, worse, told survivors and their parents that this was the way of things and it wouldn't be any better in Australia where rape "is very common and people don't get punished" (this quote from a "cultural adviser" for Wilson Security, the security contractor for Nauru's concentration camp).
The reports are not proven facts they are reports. But most have never been investigated by the very people who are charged with verifying the facts in reports like this and those people are often the same people accused of committing the worst abuses.
Also in the leaks are many, many reports of self-harm and suicide attempts, including self-harm inflicted by minors. The children imprisoned on Nauru are especially traumatised. The living conditions are beyond squalorous: the people on Nauru live among vermin, with inadequate health care and lack of access to basic medical supplies, such as urinary incontinence pads.
Both Australia's and Nauru's governments have banned journalists from the island, insisting that they would be able to regulate themselves better without outside scrutiny.
Nauru is a stain on the national conscience of Australia, a country struggling to come to grips with its genocidal past, which commits many of the same sins even as it promises "never again."
The reports range from a guard allegedly grabbing a boy and threatening to kill him once he is living in the community to guards allegedly slapping children in the face. In September 2014 a teacher reported that a young classroom helper had requested a four-minute shower instead of a two-minute shower. "Her request has been accepted on condition of sexual favours. It is a male security person. She did not state if this has or hasn't occurred. The security officer wants to view a boy or girl having a shower." Some reports contain distressing examples of behaviour by traumatised children. According to a report from September 2014, a girl had sewn her lips together. A guard saw her and began laughing at her. In July that year a child under the age of 10 undressed and invited a group of adults to insert their fingers into her vagina; in February 2015 a young girl gestured to her vagina and said a male asylum seeker "cut her from under". In the files there are seven reports of sexual assault of children, 59 reports of assault on children, 30 of self-harm involving children and 159 of threatened self-harm involving children. The reports show extraordinary acts of desperation. One pregnant woman, after being told she would need to give birth on Nauru in October 2015, was agitated and in tears. "I give my baby to Australia to look after," she pleaded with a caseworker, adding: "I don't want to have my baby in PNG, the [Nauru hospital] or have it in this dirty environment."
The Nauru files: cache of 2,000 leaked reports reveal scale of abuse of children in Australian offshore detention
[Paul Farrell, Nick Evershed and Helen Davidson/The Guardian]
Royal Brunei Airlines's first all-women deck crew flew into Saudi Arabia this week. Unfortunately, they will not be allowed to drive there, since Muslim clerics in that country forbid it.
From The Independent:
In December 2014, Loujain al-Hathloul was detained after she tried to drive into Saudi Arabia from the United Arab Emirates. Maysa al-Amoudi, a friend who turned up to support her, was also detained. Both were released after more than 70 days in custody.
Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East and North Africa director for Human Rights Watch said at the time: "After years of false promises to end its absurd restrictions on women, Saudi authorities are still arresting them for getting behind the wheel.
"The Saudi government's degrading restrictions on women are what bring shame to the country, not the brave activists standing up for their rights."
There is nothing quite like the freedom of a road trip. Worries remain where you left them and there is nothing you have to do or anywhere you have to be. Feel like heading north? Theres nothing stopping you. Want to spend an extra few nights at the beach? Go for it. Planning the perfect road trip requires little more than a full tank of gas, good company (whether in human or music form), and plenty of snacks should the munchies hit in the middle of nowhere.
Sure, you could head to Europe, rent a car and travel around or even do a drive through Canadas Rocky Mountains, but why go to the trouble of flights, passports, and rental cars when you live in one of the largest and most environmentally diverse countries in the world? Within its boundaries, the United States has stunning mountain ranges, barren desserts, dramatic coastline, and thick forests. Not sure where to start? Take our advice and plan your own road trip around these tried and true routes.
1. Route 1 and the Pacific Coast Highway
This may be one of the most beautiful road trips of all time. Encompassing the beauty of California, Oregon, and Washington, this journey on Route 1 includes the 123 miles of the famed Pacific Coast Highway that hugs the coastal mountain on one side and offers travelers constant Pacific Ocean views on the other. You can tailor this trip to either start south in Santa Barbara or San Diego and head north or start up in Northern Washington and head south. Expect lots of wildlife, plenty of picturesque sunsets, and extensive mountain views. Youll cruise by Californias Monterey Peninsula, Pebble Beach, the stunning Oregon coast, and heavily wooded Washington on this bucket list worthy journey.
2. Blue Ridge Parkway
If youve always been fascinated by the Great Smoky Mountains, a road trip down south may be in order. The Blue Ridge Parkway runs through Virginia, North Carolina, and into Tennessee. At 469 miles long, the drive connects the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee with the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. To keep your blood flowing, make sure to pull over so you can take advantage of the routes not-to-be-missed detours including hikes on the Humpback Rocks and the James River, and meandering around the historical Biltmore Estate.
3. Southern Colorado
If youre looking for a road trip where you spend just as much time outside as you do in your car, head to Southern Colorado. The southern part of this great state goes from epic mountains to dessert in a matter of miles and is chock full of outdoor excursions. This road trip loop has you starting in the mountain town of Durango where you can experience the Animas River Whitewater Park before soaking in nearby Pagosa Springs natural hot spring pools. Take a detour to hike or mountain bike the Continental Divide and go sand boarding at the Great Sand Dunes National Park. If youre into rafting, stop off in Salida to raft the 20 miles of Class III-plus rapids. Youll pass through Gunnison where 44 miles of singletrack trails and plenty of fly-fishing may keep you around a few days. Complete the loop by passing through the quaint town of Ouray and over the scenic Red Mountain Pass where youll quickly find yourself back where it all began, in Durango.
4. The Florida Keys
Not every road trip needs to include great distances. In fact, sometimes the best road trips are short, allowing for plenty of time pulled over and on your feet experiencing what that part of the country has to offer. The 120-mile long island chain that makes up the Florida Keys quickly melts away any stresses as it fully immerses you into island life. Expect plenty of beach bars, white sand, water sports, and odes to Jimmy Buffett. The overseas highway route strings each island together as you zoom past lighthouses, underwater coral-reef parks, and over one of the longest bridges in the world, the 7 Mile Bridge. Pack your sunscreen and get ready to become addicted to the slow island way of life.
5. Vermonts Route 100
When fall hits, there is no better place to be than Vermont. The state is thick with trees that turn stunning shades of yellow, orange, and red in the fall. Route 100 takes you through the lush Green Mountains as you follow the winding country roads that lead from Stowe, Vermont and head south toward the Massachusetts border. Make sure to factor in plenty of ice cream stops, at least one visit to a year-round sugarhouse to taste the states famed maple syrup, and a stop off in Gifford Woods State Park where youll be able to see some of Vermonts most beautifully preserved forest.
6. Lincoln Highway
If youve got some extra time on your hands and really want see it all, a cross-country road trip on the historic Lincoln Highway may be in order. Completed in 1913, this was the first coast-to-coast highway that linked as far east as New Yorks Times Square with San Francisco in the west. This route runs 3,142 miles and provides travelers with access to an impressive number of historic sites, varied landscapes, and some the countrys best national parks. The route crosses Philadelphias Valley Forge National Historic Park, passes by the Lincoln Monument in Dixon, Illinois, and gives you a chance to spy elk and bison in west Wyomings Bear River State Park.
More from Culture Cheat Sheet:
Azelis has announced that it has agreed to acquire 100% of Milan-based Ametech. With its Italian, French and Spanish operations, Ametech is a market leader in agrochemicals for the distribution of adjuvants and surfactants and employs around 30 employees who will all become part of the Azelis Group. The company has grown substantially in recent years as a result of product range and regional expansion.
Dr Hans Joachim Muller, Azelis CEO, comments: The acquisition of Ametech will allow Azelis to expand into this high performing sub-sector within the agricultural industry, a key market, in which we have had limited presence in the past. Ametechs strong track record in product innovation and formulation, which has enabled them to grow faster than the market, perfectly complements our focus on the technical knowledge, laboratory formulation and application support to our customers.
Mr Ambrogio Erba, Managing Director of Ametech, adds: Further growth through product and territory expansion will keep our strong opportunity pipeline going. Becoming part of Azelis will enable us to utilise their growing global presence so that we can focus more on development and innovation. We now have a chance to expand that know-how into new territories, which is very exciting for us. Mr Erba will become Market Segment Director for Speciality Agri/Horti business at Azelis.
In addition to its core business of crop protection, Ametech is also active in the following markets, among others: metal working & cleaning, textiles, monomers for emulsion polymerisation, and homecare.
The deal with Ametech demonstrates the commitment of funds advised by Apax Partners, the major shareholders in Azelis, to support its global growth in the speciality chemicals segment. Apax is confident that the expanded range of services and global reach provided by this acquisition, following that of US-based Koda Distribution Group in December last year, will bring significant benefits to customers of the combined Group.
Celebrating jailhouse recovery Audio Article Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle Sears paid a visit to the Chesterfield County Jail last week, meeting with over 50 of the men and women participating in the HARP (Helping Addicts...
An icons legacy memorialized Audio Article Enon Library was dedicated in memory of the Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker on Friday, Oct. 21. Board of Supervisors Chair Chris Winslow, right, was joined by Walkers daughter, Patrice Walker...
The goal is to really lower the barrier of entry to physical product development, and give entrepreneurs the tools, the equipment, the mentorship, the manufacturing connection they need to turn their ideas into businesses, Fienup said. (Partners by Design photo)
The city of Chicago is launching a new hub for manufacturers, and maker haven Catalyze Chicago will be at its heart.
Catalyze has been working with World Business Chicago for about a year on the creation of the new space, called mHUB, said Catalyze founder Bill Fienup. The center will be equipped with everything a maker needs to create and prototype a product, he said, and eventually will bring industry experts, mentors, universities and other incubators under one roof.
Advertisement
"The goal is to really lower the barrier of entry to physical product development, and give entrepreneurs the tools, the equipment, the mentorship, the manufacturing connection they need to turn their ideas into businesses," Fienup said.
In creating a physical product, makers can face major challenges that entrepreneurs in other disciplines don't face, Fienup said. Equipment for prototyping is often too expensive for a startup to afford.
Advertisement
He hopes mHUB can change that.
"Chicago is really poised to be a leader in this sector because of our huge manufacturing space," Fienup said. "It makes a lot more sense if you've got a community of everybody that is sharing this equipment."
MHUB is set to open to the public late this year in Motorola Mobility's old River West space at 965 W. Chicago Ave. Catalyze will move out of its 8,000-square-foot West Loop home at the end of August, Fienup said, and into the new 63,000-square-foot facility. Its members will get first access.
It'll have the 3D carving machines, mentorship and open lab space that Catalyze had, and much more.
There will be a mixture of open and private coworking space, private offices and about 12,000 square feet of machine shops and prototyping labs, Fienup. They're planning for about 10 labs, and separate wood, plastics and metal shops, a CNC workshop, an electronics lab, a wet lab and much more.
There will be almost $2 million worth of equipment available for use at mHUB, Fienup said not to mention the nearly $22 million in infrastructure Motorola put into the building before it left.
"There's state-of-the-art infrastructure for prototyping cellular devices, which is perfect for us," Fienup said, noting that the setup allows testing circuit boards, which makers use in their products. "It's almost too good. It's like we're getting a Ferrari when we only need a Toyota."
Membership costs vary, starting with part-time shop access for $145 per month, and going up to a large office space at $4,500 per month. There are extra-large office spaces as well, reserved for incubators or industry partners, Fienup said.
Advertisement
MHUB was born out of World Business Chicago, which Mayor Rahm Emanuel chairs. Private corporations and industries are providing funding, and have committed $5 million so far, Fienup said. Partners include Chase, GE Ventures, Argonne National Laboratory, UI Labs and more.
"The future of Chicago is not one part our strength is diversity," Emanuel said at a press conference Wednesday. "This innovation space is the final piece of the manufacturing puzzle."
Fienup has become mHUB's founder and managing director, responsible for building out programming. He's planning an educational curriculum focused on physical product development, he said. Local experts think professors, engineering, manufacturing and distribution professionals, makers who have launched products, etc. would teach the courses. He's bringing along Catalyze's 60 or so mentors and hoping to build that up to hundreds.
They're big plans, but Fienup has the track record to do it. He launched Catalyze in August 2013 and has built it up to about 200 members and 50 companies, which have generated $57 million in revenue. Members have filed 80 patents and sold 3.85 million units.
Catalyze has been home to some dynamic companies in its three years. At the space, Victor Mateevitsi prototyped his SpiderSense jacket, which vibrates if something is close; Guard Llama honed its help-button device; Joe Born resurrected global stereo brand Aiwa.
The timing on mHUB's launch is right, Fienup said. The maker movement is becoming more mainstream look at TBS's show "America's Greatest Makers," which premiered earlier this year and featured a Chicago team from Catalyze. Consumers are looking for the stories behind products that come from makers, and equipment such as 3D printers are getting cheaper and becoming more available.
Advertisement
"Chicago is getting there," Fienup said. "This hardware piece is something we're missing."
amarotti@tribpub.com
Twitter @allymarotti
Home improvement star Bob Vila speaks at a 2012 event in Austin, Texas. Vila has dropped his lawsuit against a Rockford-area man over alleged unauthorized use of Vila's name. (Jordan Naylor / WireImage)
It may be back to the drawing board for home improvement TV star Bob Vila in his lawsuit against a Rockford-area man for alleged unauthorized use of Vila's name.
A Chicago federal judge Tuesday dismissed the case against Robert Smith at Vila's request, but Vila has the right to refile the action.
Advertisement
"We preserved our rights, and if it ever happens again, we're going to do it again," said Steven Masur, a New York-based attorney representing Vila.
Vila, whose television shows "This Old House" and "Bob Vila's Home Again" made him a household name, filed the suit in April, claiming Smith fraudulently used Vila's celebrity to promote home expo shows.
Advertisement
The lawsuit claimed that Smith misrepresented to promotional companies that he could secure endorsements from Vila selling those rights for at least $5,000. Vila, 70, of Palm Beach, Fla., found out about it in February after Burr Ridge-based Brilliant Event Planning already had run several Chicago-area events using his name without his permission, according to the suit.
Brilliant Event Planning, which was not named in the suit, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
The allegedly fraudulent promotions dated back to at least September 2015, when a home expo at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Grayslake used Vila's photo and the tag line, "The Home Expo Bob Vila Promotes" in advertisements. Smith had contacted Vila in July 2015 requesting permission to use Vila's name in sponsored tweets permission that was not granted, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was seeking $2 million in damages for each unauthorized use of Vila's name.
The motion to dismiss was filed last week by Vila's attorneys. An initial status hearing on the case had been rescheduled from May to Aug. 16, allowing time for the parties to "discuss settlement," according to the filing.
Smith, of Loves Park, who is serving as his own attorney, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
rchannick@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @RobertChannick
It's easily forgotten that Congress and the Obama administration did the health insurance industry an enormous favor in enacting the Affordable Care Act in 2010.
Several favors, in fact. They placed commercial insurers at the center of Obamacare, giving them most of the responsibility for covering enrolleesand therefore access to an army of new customers. They left in place private insurers' access to the immense Medicaid pool via Medicaid managed care. They killed the public option, which would have provided a nonprofit counterweight to private insurers, hopefully goading the latter into maintaining competitive pricing and customer service.
Advertisement
We are confident that Aetna is well positioned to take advantage of the strong growth dynamics of the Medicaid business. Mark Bertolini, Aetna chairman and CEO
One would expect the insurance industry to show some gratitude for these handouts. One would be wrong. The nation's big insurers haven't ceased badmouthing Obamacare and grousing about losses, which in many respects are their own fault. Over the last year or so, several have announced they're withdrawing from the program's individual exchange market, or threatened to do so.
These threats generally are treated as evidence of flaws in Obamacare that can be rectified only if the government capitulates to the insurers' demandsfor looser benefit mandates and tighter restrictions on special enrollment rights, among other things.
Advertisement
Yet the authorities aren't entirely powerless. It's time for the government to push back and deliver the following message to insurers: If you want to reap the profits from participating in public health programs, you'll have to participate in the Affordable Care Act too. To put it in terms the insurance companies understand: no more cherry-picking.
It's true that the ACA individual market has flaws that warrant addressing. The Department of Health and Human Services has taken action on some of these, typically at the behest of insurers; it has reduced some of the options for signing up for coverage outside of the annual open-enrollment periods, for example. Some other issues, as we've reported, stem either from ill-advised or cynical congressional action (step forward, Marco Rubio), or congressional gridlock. It may be too early to make too much of this, but it's possible that the next Congress will be more amenable to making the necessary adjustments for the ACA to work better.
Yet other insurer complaints are suspect. Aetna's abrupt reversal of sentiment on the potential profitability of its Obamacare exchange business is an example: Three months ago, its CEO, Mark Bertolini, was praising the exchange market as "a good investment," albeit one in which profits were still a year or more awaywhich is a pretty good definition of an "investment" in the future. Aetna was preparing to expand the states in which it offers individual exchange plans.
Then the U.S. Department of Justice sued to block its proposed $37-billion merger with Humana. Suddenly, Bertolini was saying that "the poor performance" of the exchange market warrants "a complete evaluation of our current exchange footprint" and cancellation of its 2017 expansion plans.
This is a very selective reading of Aetna's experience with the Affordable Care Act. The truth is, it's well in the black. The company has projected losses of $300 million on its exchange business for 2016, but in the same conference call in which he dissed the ACA exchange business, Bertolini also announced a record $6.5 billion in government program premiums for the first quarter of 2016 alone, an increase of 13% over the same quarter a year ago.
"This steady growth has been driven by a combination of new contract wins, county expansions in existing states, and ACA-related expansion membership," he said. "Looking to the future, we are confident that Aetna is well positioned to take advantage of the strong growth dynamics of the Medicaid business."
Aetna's not alone. UnitedHealth, which has distinguished itself with the volume of its whining about Obamacare exchange losses and the speed of its withdrawal from that business, disclosed last month at its second-quarter earnings conference call that its Medicaid business is doing fabulously. Its revenue in that line rose 14.7% to $8.3 billion year-to-year and it added 225,000 enrollees, including new members in Iowa, New York and Pennsylvania, which have expanded Medicaid under the ACA. And Anthem, which has been complaining (albeit quietly) about the difficulty of scoring profits in the exchange market, has been buying up Medicaid insurers including Simply Healthcare, which had nearly 200,000 Medicaid and Medicare members in Florida, for $1 billion last year.
Not only are the big insurers reaping the benefits of Obamacare via the Medicaid expansion. Centene, a smaller company that targets low-income customers, is happily serving 1 million Medicaid expansion members in nine states, not including 60,000 it has picked up in Louisiana, which just launched its own expansion.
Advertisement
These profits parallel those that insurers reap via Medicare Advantage, a managed care program in which the government pays a flat rate that generally exceeds the standard Medicare reimbursement rate in return for their taking on all responsibility for a member's health needs. Medicare Advantage has been popular among enrollees and such a reliable profit-maker for insurers that they keep piling into the poolthe average Medicare Advantage member can choose from among 19 plans; in some states and counties, the choice of Obamacare exchange plans is down to one or two.
"It seems that insurers are perfectly happy and prosperous competing in the markets where the government is the payer," commentator Andrew Sprung observed in February.
This all hints at the leverage the government might have against the insurers threatening to leave the ACA exchange market. What if it conditioned participation in Medicaid and Medicare managed care on a certain minimum participation in the private exchanges? Alternatively, it could reinvent and restore the public option, whether by offering Medicare to all Americans under 65 or sponsoring its own public plans.
These mechanisms might work because, given their lower premium rates, they might attract more low-use enrolleesthe elusive young and healthy cadres needed to help subsidize costlier and older members.
It isn't clear what legislation or administrative changes would be required to make any of these changes happen. The insurance industry surely would mobilize politically to kill the public option again, but might be more amenable to expanding the public managed care pool to accommodate more customers.
On the other hand, as Sprung observed, doctors and hospitals would be losers, as they would be receiving lower government reimbursements for a larger patient population. But even the expanded Obamacare population is small in relation to the overall patient marketperhaps 30 million customers in ACA and government programs, compared to nearly 150 million receiving their coverage through their employers.
Advertisement
The point is that it's a mistake to view insurers' withdrawals from ACA exchanges as a sign that it's impossible to provide affordable health coverage to more Americans. It's more a sign that the fundamental error in the ACA's design was giving too much away to the insurance industry. If the government started threatening to take some of that back, the betting here is that the insurers would be sounding a lot more cooperative, and complaining a lot less.
Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.
Return to Michael Hiltzik's blog.
MORE FROM MICHAEL HILTZIK:
It's time for the government to play hardball with those whining Obamacare insurers
Donald Trump just proposed repealing the 'death tax.' Here's why that's a scam.
Advertisement
What ails the Obamacare insurance exchanges? (It's not what you think.)
An international drug ring that used containers labeled "sea cucumbers" to send millions of dollars' worth of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl to western New York via California and Mexico has been busted, federal authorities announced Tuesday.
U.S. Attorney William Hochul said 17 people have been indicted on federal drug trafficking and money laundering charges as part of the investigation dubbed "Operation Lockjaw."
Advertisement
The ring linked to Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel used front companies in California and the Buffalo area to smuggle narcotics on pallets of goods purporting to be sea cucumbers, used in Chinese cuisine, officials said.
The Drug Enforcement Administration said the sting netted more than $2.5 million worth of illegal drugs, which included the equivalent of 1.5 million hits of cocaine and 2.7 million hits of heroin. The traffickers sent about $20 million from Buffalo-area banks to California in a one-year period, authorities said.
Advertisement
The drug ring turned the city of Buffalo into "ground zero" for fentanyl and heroin trafficking in New York, said James Hunt, DEA special agent in charge.
Prosecutors said the ring created fictitious food companies, including one in suburban Cheektowaga, to ship the drugs cross-country while hidden in containers sealed with foam or spray insulation to throw off law enforcement scrutiny.
Associated Press
Graffiti remains on the sidewalk along West Florrisant Avenue one year after the shooting of Michael Brown on August 12, 2015 in Ferguson, Missouri. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)
FERGUSON, Mo. A couple hundred people marked the two-year anniversary of Michael Brown's fatal shooting by a police officer in Ferguson, attending Tuesday's memorial service, with a moment of silence to follow.
The crowd gathered at the spot on Canfield Drive where the black, unarmed 18-year-old was shot by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014, after a confrontation. The shooting led to months of sometimes-violent protests in Ferguson.
Advertisement
Mama Fatou, 66, brought her grandson and two other young children to the memorial service, and said she still feels sad, especially for Brown's parents.
"It hurts to see a mother lose her child,' Fatou said. "Her pain is our pain."
Advertisement
A state grand jury declined to press charges against Wilson, and the U.S. Justice Department later cleared him, concluding that he had acted in self-defense. He resigned in November 2014.
Brown's death also was a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement, which rebukes police treatment of minorities and has grown following several other killings of black men and boys by police, such as Tamir Rice in Cleveland and Philando Castile in Minnesota. More than 60 organizations affiliated with the movement released this month a list of six demands and 40 recommendations for how to achieve policing and criminal justice reforms.
The 2014 shooting also led to a Justice Department investigation that found patterns of racial bias in Ferguson's police and municipal court system. The federal agency and the city agreed this year to make sweeping changes.
Brandy Shields, 19, went to school with Brown and remembered him as a kid who "never got into trouble." Shields comforted a little girl who was crying at the service.
"It'll get better," Shields told the child. "We have to make it better, but it'll get better."
Associated Press
Chicago reality-stars-turned-restaurateurs Bill and Giuliana Rancic shouldn't add "Chicago travel guides" to their list of job titles.
The Rancics, who committed to living full time in the Chicago area last year after years of commuting between the city and Los Angeles, are deemed "Chicago's power couple" on the cover of the new issue of LA Travel Magazine. Despite this title, they gave uninspired Chicago answers when asked what they do in their free time.
Advertisement
"Walk up and down Michigan Avenue in Chicago. I love the energy of the city as well as the architecture, variety of restaurants and great shopping Chicago has to offer," said Giuliana Rancic, 41.
"Chicago is my hometown, so whenever I have time off, I too love to be in the city and nothing beats a five-mile run on the lakefront," said Bill Rancic, 45, who grew up in Orland Park and attended Loyola University.
Advertisement
Our @latravelmagazine issue just came out check out full issue and cover story at latravelmagazine.com/shop (shot at @rpmitalianchi) A photo posted by Giuliana Rancic (@giulianarancic) on Aug 9, 2016 at 11:55am PDT
Jennifer McLaughlin, editor-in-chief of LA Travel, said the Rancics are featured in the magazine, which targets Los Angeles and Orange County readers, because they are "highly regarded" in the Los Angeles area. The cover shoot and interview took place at the couple's River North restaurant RPM Italian.
It's unclear how often the Rancics are in the Los Angeles area. They like to spend downtime "enjoying a stroll through the streets of Chicago, dining at Nobu in Malibu or grabbing a cocktail at The Montage," according to the LA Travel article.
Giuliana Rancic still covers Hollywood red carpet events for the E! network, but she left her longtime gig as an anchor of "E! News" last year. A rep for the Rancics did not immediately respond to a Tribune request for comment.
Giuliana Rancic cited the couple's son Duke, who turns four this month, as a reason why they moved to Chicago full time. They showed off their remodeled Gold Coast brownstone last year in Traditional Home magazine.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 5 Lonni Paul, the interior designer for the Rancics, used a blue color scheme throughout the Gold Coast home. (Werner Straube / Traditional Home)
The couple, who wed in 2007, also co-owns RPM Steak in River North and recently opened an RPM Italian outpost in Washington, D.C.
In the LA Travel magazine interview, they said they are looking at setting up restaurants where else ... the West Coast.
"Maybe out west, like Las Vegas or Los Angeles. We have had a lot of requests from fans of RPM for those two spots," Giuliana Rancic said.
RELATED STORIES:
Advertisement
Expect A-listers and Australians at Giuliana Rancic's new restaurant
Giuliana Rancic 'can't comment' on Griffin's 'Fashion Police' exit
Interview: Bill Rancic ready to run Chicago Marathon for third time
Watch the latest movie trailers.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
"Jane the Virgin" star Gina Rodriguez said the difficult teen years she experienced growing up in Chicago pushed her to succeed as an actress.
Rodriguez, 32, said she looked like a "little boy" while attending high school at St. Ignatius College Prep on the Near West Side.
Advertisement
"I went to school with all the wealthy kids, and I was on financial aid, and they all seemed to grow up a lot quicker than I did. So it was difficult," Rodriguez told Health magazine for its September issue. "These kids had Mercedes at 16. It was surreal to think, 'Why isn't this my life?' But it made me work harder because I wanted it too, and I knew I was gonna be able to get it: 'Oh, this is not my life, but it will be one day.' "
Rodriguez, who grew up on the Northwest Side, plays the lead in the CW dramedy "Jane the Virgin" (a role that earned her a Golden Globe last year) and stars in the upcoming thriller "Deepwater Horizon," based on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Advertisement
MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR
Rodriguez also talked to Health about dealing with Hashimoto's disease, a condition that often leads to an underactive thyroid gland. Symptoms include fatigue and unexplained weight gain. Rodriguez said she runs, boxes and jumps rope to stay in shape.
"Keeping weight off is very difficult because my metabolism is pretty much shot, which to me felt like a curse when I was 19. As an actress, I was like, 'Seriously?! In a world that's so vain, I have to deal with the disease that makes you not keep weight off?' " Rodriguez said. "But it actually became a blessing because then I got to represent not only women and Latinas but also women who are dealing with this disease."
Rodriguez launched the #MovementMondays social media campaign this year to highlight Latinos on screen in the wake of the #OscarsSoWhite outcry.
"Deepwater Horizon," which also stars Mark Wahlberg and Kate Hudson, is due out Sept. 30. Season 3 of "Jane the Virgin" is set to premiere at 8 p.m. Oct. 17.
RELATED STORIES:
Watch Gina Rodriguez teach Elmo ABC in Spanish
Gina Rodriguez gets TMI from strangers since playing 'Jane the Virgin'
Advertisement
Gina Rodriguez made teen 'feel like a princess' in Golden Globes gown
Watch the latest movie trailers.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
The seventh season of "Shameless" is set to begin filming in Chicago in August. (Carl Lipson / Showtime)
Children who look like the young actors on "Shameless" are needed for Chicago shoots later this month, according to casting calls posted to Facebook Tuesday.
The cast of "Shameless" is expected to return the week of Aug. 21 for a few days to film scenes for its seventh season, which is scheduled to premiere 8 p.m. Oct. 2. The Showtime series follows the drama of a struggling Southwest Side family led by alcoholic father Frank Gallagher (played by William H. Macy). Most of the series is filmed in the Los Angeles area.
Advertisement
Atmosphere Casting representatives said they are looking for children who look like Amy and Gemma Ball, the daughters of Kevin Ball (Steve Howey) and Veronica Fisher (Shanola Hampton); and Frances Gallagher, the newborn daughter of Debbie Gallagher (Emma Kenney).
The Chicago casting firm said it is also looking for actors to play homeless people who meet certain height and weight requirements.
Advertisement
RELATED STORIES:
Jennifer Aniston comedy 'Office Christmas Party' begins filming in Chicago this week
Fox's 'The Exorcist,' 'A.P.B.' to film in Chicago for next TV season
'The Amazing Race' films Season 29 in Chicago
Watch the latest movie trailers.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
Looking at the world through the eyes of the Web
Philip Glass, the American avant-garde composer whose hypnotic, minimalist music has become a staple of opera houses and movie soundtracks, allows that some people might be surprised to learn that he is the winner of this year's Chicago Tribune Literary Award.
"The person who really would have enjoyed me getting a literary prize would have been my mother, who was a librarian and a big-time intellectual, but it would also have seemed unlikely to her," said Glass, whose sole outing as an author produced his critically acclaimed 2015 memoir, "Words Without Music" (Liveright; 432 pages). "Writers often complain about writing, and now I know why," he added with a laugh. "Writing books is really hard, and I do not intend to do another one."
Advertisement
Glass will receive the prize Nov. 2 as part of a program of conversation and music presented by the Tribune and the Chicago Humanities Festival. The program will also honor the Pulitzer Prize-winning writers Jane Smiley and Margo Jefferson, recipients of the Tribune's Heartland Prizes for fiction and nonfiction, respectively.
However unlikely it might seem that the Literary Award would be presented to a musician although it has gone twice before to major music-world figures, Stephen Sondheim (2011) and Patti Smith (2014) Glass said he was thrilled with the honor, in part because much of "Words Without Music" is set in the Windy City, where he attended the University of Chicago.
Advertisement
"I'm very pleased because Chicago is where my ambitions began to align themselves to my possibilities, if you know what I mean," he said in a phone interview from Canada, where he was vacationing. "Knowing what I wanted to do and figuring out how to do it that happened in Chicago."
"Philip Glass is a gifted storyteller, both in his wonderfully candid and colorful memoir and his music," Tribune publisher and editor-in-chief Bruce Dold said in an interview. "I especially love the Chicago part of his memoir, where he talks about the effect that writers like Saul Bellow and Nelson Algren had on him. And so it's an honor for the Tribune to recognize him with this award. We understand and appreciate his international stature, but it's particularly delicious to me because of that Chicago connection."
Another Tribune award winner with strong local ties is Jefferson, a former New York Times critic whose memoir, "Negroland" (Pantheon, 2015; 256 pages), chronicles her coming of age among Chicago's black elite in the 1950s and '60s. In the book, which also won this year's National Book Critics Circle award, Jefferson places her life story within the broader context of the growth (and growing pains) of the African-American middle class.
Margo Jefferson won the Tribune's 2016 Heartland Prize for Nonfiction. (Johnny Nunez / WireImage)
In an interview, Jefferson said that winning the award from the Tribune gave her "a sense of particular affirmation, particular completion. ... It's a sign of caring about the life I lived in Chicago," she said. "I'm very happy about it."
Jefferson also said she had had qualms about giving the book its title, which she was afraid might be controversial or perhaps off-putting to some readers.
"It felt like I was taking a risk," Jefferson said. "But I talked it over with my editor and a wide range of friends and asked them, 'What do you think of when you hear the word?' The responses came back somewhat divided, but not fearfully, not in a way that made me feel I simply had to change the title. In the end, I decided I wanted to go with it. I felt that it signified a very particular historical time and historical place. And it's important for African-Americans to remember that a part of our history is the names we've struggled with, that we've chosen, discarded and quarreled over. In the period I'm writing about, 'Negro,' capitalized, was the word of choice the word that conveyed the dignity and respectability that we had wanted to note to the world. So it served me, as a fact and as a metaphor, for that time and place."
The Heartland Prize for Fiction goes to Smiley for "Golden Age" (Knopf, 2015; 464 pages), the conclusion of an epic trilogy of novels about an Iowa farm family over a century. It's the second Heartland Prize for the author, who also won for "A Thousand Acres" (Knopf, 1991; 371 pages), which explored similar themes and locations in the Midwest.
Jane Smiley won the Tribune's 2016 Heartland Prize for Fiction. (Roberto Ricciuti / Getty Images)
"When you live in the heart of the country, as I did for a long time, you come to have feelings about it feelings both positive and negative and the trilogy was partly a way for me to express those feelings," said Smiley, who spent several years teaching at Iowa State University before relocating to her current home in California. "There's a self-effacing quality to the place, a very undramatic landscape except that if you are from that area, you understand how fertile the land is. In the end, you felt you were very lucky to be there, because it's so human and so natural."
Advertisement
But especially in the age of agribusiness corporations annexing what had formerly been small family farms, it's increasingly common for people in the rural Midwest to struggle with whether to remain in the countryside or make their way to cities a dilemma that preoccupies several of the characters in Smiley's trilogy. "When farms were fairly small and families were farming them, there was always the question of whether to stay on the farm," she says. "Now, with the industrialization of farming, it's become, in some cases, much more of a specific choice."
"This pair of Heartland Prize winners emerge from the Midwest, and they share a wisdom and resonance that distinguishes them as great literature," Tribune literary editor-at-large Elizabeth Taylor said in a statement. "Jane Smiley and Margo Jefferson write with fierce lyricism, and these books illuminate rural and urban America in profound and transcendent ways."
Kevin Nance is a Chicago-based freelance writer and photographer. Follow him on Twitter @KevinNance1.
RELATED STORIES:
Tribune literary awards go to Sondheim, Franzen, Wilkerson
Rocker Patti Smith wins Tribune Literary Award
Advertisement
Salman Rushdie to receive Tribune Literary Award
Watch the latest movie trailers.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
Unless you were old enough to remember the mid-1960s it might be hard to grasp the considerable impact the Kennedy family, particularly Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the widowed first lady, Jacqueline, had on both the popular imagination and political discourse in the United States and, arguably, the world. Everything they did seemed to be news, even if it was just Jackie sporting a miniskirt in public (Fall 1966 and "cautious housewives over 30" followed suit, The New York Times noted later). This intense level of scrutiny, sparked by President John Kennedy's 1963 assassination and fueled by a yearning both for what once was and might just be again, kept the Kennedys in the spotlight.
Patience was not a virtue in the 1960s. The decade was all about change: Wonderful, horrific, bewildering, logical often all at the same time. Into that world and time strode Robert Kennedy. He was, as Larry Tye's new biography, "Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon," shows, a man on a mission even if he wasn't, perhaps, fully aware of where the mission would go.
Advertisement
Author Larry Tye (HANDOUT)
"Some people see things as they are and say why?" Kennedy would famously say, paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw. "I dream things that never were and say, why not?"
Tye's well-researched and carefully sourced book details how Kennedy used such forward thinking to address the major issues of that rapidly evolving decade. He saw change coming and turned to meet it.
Advertisement
"A revolution is coming a revolution that will be peaceful if we are wise enough, compassionate if we care enough, successful if we are fortunate enough, but a revolution that is coming whether we will it or not," Kennedy wrote.
While that "revolution" wasn't as great as the Left hoped for and the Right feared, America was a profoundly different place at the end of the decade than at the beginning. Tragically, Robert Kennedy would not live to see the country he was working so hard to change.
Kennedy's assassination in 1968, minutes after winning the California Democratic primary for president, cruelly cut short a life that was, as Tye so carefully lays out, was one in progress. Kennedy began as a man who, as Tye notes, saw things starkly in basic terms, like good and evil, , working for Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the Wisconsin Republican who fueled a Communist witch hunt; laboring tirelessly ruthlessly, his critics famously said to get his brother into the White House; and doing anything to score an administration win. At the end of his life, Kennedy was increasingly his own man who, matured by grief and more open to life's complexities, had become an eloquent champion for the poor and the oppressed.
RFK's record on civil rights, his wrangling with the Russians over Cuba, his crusade against organized crime, how he waged various Kennedy campaigns are all examined in this book. It's clear Kennedy's metamorphosis to "liberal icon" didn't happen immediately or easily. Along the way, Kennedy amassed a formidable list of people who disliked or hated him, including Frank Sinatra, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, writer Gore Vidal, Sen. Eugene McCarthy, Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa and President Lyndon B. Johnson. Yet, he was able to win over countless others because he had the courage to change, to evolve and to respond.
A 1967 Jules Feiffer cartoon about the "Bobby Twins" is held up by Tye as best representing the "push-pull" of Kennedy's character: "The Good Bobby is a courageous reformer. The Bad Bobby makes deals. The Good Bobby sent federal troops down South to enforce civil rights. The Bad Bobby appointed racist judges down South to enforce civil rights. The Good Bobby is a fervent civil libertarian. The Bad Bobby is a fervent wire tapper. The Good Bobby is ill at east with liberals. The Bad Bobby is ill at ease with grownups."
Tye is a Massachusetts-based author and journalist who writes in the book's preface, "I have been captivated by Bobby Kennedy since I was in high school."He notes he covered the family "repeatedly" for the Boston Globe and interviewed members of the Kennedy family, including RFK's widow, Ethel. Tye presents a balanced portrait of his subject that gives equal due to Kennedy's achievements and failures (I suspect die-hard Kennedy haters still won't be satisfied) in and out of the public eye.
"No family in American history has been subject to more gossip, hearsay, and embellishment about their private affairs than the Kennedys,'' Tye writes. "Prurient interest aside, they opened themselves to it by asking for the public's trust and votes. JFK's illicit sex and cover-ups confirmed our distrust. The question is fairly asked about Bobby, too, precisely because he publicly prized conjugal faithfulness and chided those who didn't practice it."
Readers looking for titillation or confirmation of rumors long bandied about will likely be disappointed. Tye dispassionately presents the claim, looks for proof, concludes that "no one knows for sure what happened when the doors were closed," and moves on.
Advertisement
In a sense Tye has to keep going, for Robert Kennedy's life moved too quickly to allow the biographer to linger long in the bedroom. And short, how short, his life was. Dead at 42 how could Kennedy have done so much, so fast, so young? One still marvels and mourns: the great rounded arc of a long life well-lived was not to be his.
"Half Che Guevara, half Niccolo Machiavelli, Bobby was a shaker-upper dedicated to the art of the possible," wrote Tye in his book's preface. "That he could change so substantially and convincingly over the course of his brief public life helped restore a changing America's faith in redemption. In the end he could become this nation's high priest of reconciliation precisely because he had once been the keeper of our darkest secrets."
Bill Daley is a Tribune food and lifestyle reporter. Follow him on Twitter @billdaley.
"Bobby Kennedy"
By Larry Tye, Random House, 608 pages, $32
On a perfect summer night, the Shedd Aquarium's Auxiliary Board presented its 10th annual BLU, a fundraiser that attracted over a thousand young professionals to the aquarium Aug. 6. The chic crowd enjoyed a party filled with animal encounters, live music, tastings from over 20 top Chicago restaurants, the Shedd's dive show, face painters, fireworks and fundraising.
The evening began with a lakeside VIP reception on Luna Terrace, named after the Shedd's rescued sea otter. Partygoers enjoyed breathtaking views of the skyline, while crooner John Vincent sang Frank Sinatra songs. Elmhurst native Madi Davis, a contestant on Season 9 of television show "The Voice," performed a song from her debut album, "Above the Waves," and Carole King's "It's Too Late," the song she sang for her "Voice" audition.
Advertisement
During the general reception, guests roamed the Waters of the World galleries and enjoyed animal encounters with an Argentine black and white tegu (Uncle Fester), a Cuban iguana (Ricky), an endangered Blanding's turtle (Esther) and a brilliantly colored green tree python (Ivy). Jazz guitarist Guy King performed as guests sampled multiple food stations, petted the sturgeons in the "At Home in the Great Lakes" exhibit and watched volunteer diver Brian Siegel feed the inhabitants of the Caribbean Reef.
The 30-minute aquatic presentation in the Abbott Oceanarium, hosted by Ken Ramirez, featured beluga whales, dolphins, a sea lion and a parade of Magellanic penguins. A surprise performance of the national anthem was sung by the Chicago Blackhawks' Jim Cornelison.
Advertisement
Susan Hedlund, co-chair of the event, along with Doug McClure and Alex Ross, announced that BLU has raised over $3 million for the Shedd during the last 10 years, supporting the aquarium's scientific learning initiatives, animal rescue and rehabilitation programs, and conservation research.
Bridget Coughlin, Shedd president/CEO, attended her first BLU nicknaming it "the party with a purpose for the porpoise." She said, "There's no better place where kids can walk through the doors, become a conservation scientist and get a passport to the world than the Shedd Aquarium." She added, "One in four Chicago Public Schools kids come here every year, admission free." A paddle raise brought in over $45,000, and the event total rose to more than $450,000.
Following the aquatic show, partygoers headed to the Sick Family Lakefront Terrace for dancing to DJ KJ's hot mixes. Fireworks from Navy Pier and desserts in the Bubble Net Cafe concluded the evening.
Freelance writer Candace Jordan is involved with many local organizations, including some whose events she covers.
More coverage
Find more photos and events at www.chicagotribune.com/candidcandace. Visit Candid Candace's website at www.candidcandace.com, or follow her on Twitter @CandidCandace.
RELATED STORIES:
Goodman Theatre's Scene Soiree funds youth program
Advertisement
Woody Allen discusses "Cafe Society" at Chicago premie
50th Ravinia gala celebrates James Levine's return
What started as a back-to-school parade by Robert S. Abbott in 1929, the Bud Billiken Parade, has now become an annual family get-together, friends' reunion and day out at the park in your cute summer outfit. The parade includes floats touting celebrities (Disney's Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Princess Tiana and rapper T.I. are some of the participants), marching bands, tumblers, African dancers and more. The award-winning King College Prep Marching Band will take the lead. Why go: Like the Taste of Chicago, Lollapalooza or Navy Pier, the oldest and largest African-American parade is one of Chicago's summer traditions that shouldn't be missed. Reconsider: With the sweltering temps we've had this summer, you don't want to risk heatstroke dancing a happy jig at the thought of kids going back to school. The parade begins at 10 a.m. Saturday at 39th Street (Oakwood Boulevard) and King Drive and continues to Washington Park (51st Street and Cottage Grove) for a post-parade picnic; free; 773-536-3710, budbillikenparade.com
Slather on some sunscreen and join up to a million fellow spectators expected to line the streets Saturday to enjoy the largest African-American parade in the United States. Going back to school should be celebrated, according to the Bud Billiken Parade's producer, the Chicago Defender Charities, so they've been throwing a paradecurrently marching from King Drive at Oakwood Boulevard to Garfield Boulevard (55th Street) and Ellsworth Drivesince 1929. Before the kickoff at 10 a.m., your kids can do their homework by brushing up on these fun facts.
2: Parade's rank among the largest parades in the nation
Advertisement
16: Number of blocks in the parade route
5: Number of scholarships to be awarded at this year's Bud Billiken Parade reception
Advertisement
$1.2 million: Number, in millions of dollars, of scholarship funds awarded by the Chicago Defender Charities to over 70 students in the past 10 years.
1: Number of sitting U.S. presidents to make an appearance. (That was President Harry S. Truman in 1956. Barack Obama has also attendedmultiple times as grand marshallbefore he was elected president.)
1: Number of Disney princesses expected to appear
1: Number of special-guest entertainers attending this year: Chaka Khan
2: Number of gubernatorial candidates expected to appear: Gov. Pat Quinn and Bruce Rauner
4: Number of marching bands expected to perform
6: Number of drill teams expected to perform
1: Number of TV stations broadcasting the parade live: ABC 7
Advertisement
100: Number of vendors at after-parade picnic: 100
24: Days between the parade and the first day of classes for Chicago Public Schools
Sources: Chicago Defender Charities/OMEN communications; cps.edu.
The Bud Billiken Parade (773-536-3710, budbillikenparade.org) kicks off at 10 a.m. Saturday from King Drive at Oakwood Boulevard. A post-parade picnic celebration happens in Washington Park, southeast of 51st Street and King Drive.
Looking for more of the latest on parenting-related topics and trends? Like us on Facebook or subscribe to our free weekly newsletter.
Darchel Mohler described herself as an overprotective mother.
The surgical technologist from Nevada said she'd embarrass her three children about everything, asking before play dates about alcohol and cigarettes in the house, curfews and seat belts.
Advertisement
But it was something she didn't even think to ask about that ended up killing her 13-year-old daughter, Brooklynn. She didn't inquire about firearms.
It's something she'll regret every day for the rest of her life. After finding an unsecured firearm during a play date, Brooklynn's best friend shot her.
Advertisement
Brooklynn's father, who arrived at the home to pick up his daughter, wasn't aware that there was a problem.
He was simply picking Brooklynn up from the play date because he didn't want her to walk home alone, crossing a few tricky streets.
He tried to help before paramedics arrived, but Brooklynn was in critical condition. She later died at the hospital.
"You can't stop time, you can't catch your breath, you can't go back fast enough," Darchel Mohler said, recalling the moment she wiped away the blood streaming from Brooklynn's eyes before she let her go. "It's complete and total chaos, inertia, obliteration."
Mohler isn't the same person she was before that gunshot, and she's still trying to find her new normal. In the process, she's created Justice for Brooklynn, a foundation dedicated to helping other parents avoid this fate.
It isn't an accident, said Mohler, who lost her sister in a car accident. She says that was unavoidable. This, however, could have been prevented.
"There is loss, but this is not acceptable this is too preventable to be acceptable," Mohler said.
According to multiple studies and organizations, one in three homes with children have guns, and 75 percent of children ages 5 to 14 know where the firearms are stored. Between 2001 and 2010, 7,700 children under age 14 suffered accidental firearm injuries.
Advertisement
The simplest way to help prevent this: Ask if there are firearms in the home before dropping off a child for a play date, said Washington-based Dan Gross, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Gross said there are ways to bring up the topic without offending the person hosting the play date, regardless of whether or not that person is a gun owner.
"It's important to make sure that the question comes from where it should, from a place of concern about your child's safety," Gross said. "Don't bring politics into the conversation, ask it along with the other questions that responsible parents ask, and take any emotion or judgment out of the question."
Asking about firearms should be every bit as straightforward as asking about a swimming pool or about the food being served.
"It's just one of those questions and one that, as it turns out, genuinely has the potential to save a life," Gross said.
But despite knowing this reality, it's still a difficult question for some parents to ask and one that some don't even think they need to ask.
Advertisement
When she was 13, Missy Smith's 12-year-old brother was shot and killed by a classmate during a play date in a Detroit suburb.
So when the Traverse City, Mich., woman gave birth to two girls, she was relieved.
"I was thankful that they were girls, that we were off the hook," Smith said, assuming that her daughters and their friends wouldn't play with guns.
Smith dropped her daughter, who was in kindergarten, off at her first play date, never thinking to ask about firearms.
Two weeks later, she overheard her daughter's new friend talking about her parent's gun.
"I was blindsided," said Smith, who created Gun Safe Mom to help other parents talk about the issue.
Advertisement
Instead of simply asking if there's a firearm in the home, Smith said, it's important to think about your comfort level with guns.
There are nine ways a firearm can be stored. If a home has one, Smith recommended asking how it's stored. Depending on the age of your child, you may have to consider if it's safe enough.
"In my brother's case, it was locked, but the boy had the access and the knowledge to unlock the safety and the ammunition," Smith said.
Fingerprint technology can help keep a gun out of the hands of children.
The firearm question is one that Smith always asks before play dates now. She said that most of the people she asks are grateful for the question.
Danielle Braff is a freelancer.
Advertisement
RELATED STORIES:
Commentary:
Indiana 6-year-old picks up dad's gun and accidentally kills him: 'We can tell his heart is broken'
Taking gun control out of the gun violence conversation
Chicago police Sgt. Ernest Spradley said he was pulled over by a white officer who cussed at him before knowing he was a police officer. The incident reminds him that officers need to work at respecting the people they serve, he said. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Ernest Spradley, who is African-American, says he chuckled when the south suburban white cop who pulled him over told him he was going 95 mph down a main drag.
"I was like 'Officer, I'm in an '88 Honda Civic automatic, not even a stick,'" Spradley recently recalled, a wry smile on his face.
Advertisement
Clearly not amused, the officer said: 'So mother------, are you trying to get smart with me?'" Spradley recalled.
Before it was over, Spradley, a veteran Chicago cop, had to pull out his police ID not so much to get out of a ticket but so the officer knew he was armed and the situation didn't turn ugly.
Advertisement
Many black officers say they very much understand the conditions that brought young people to the streets to protest harsh treatment by officers, white and black. But they bristle at attacks on police at a time when violent crime in Chicago is a national topic.
"There are good and bad in every profession, any profession, and I don't deny we have bad cops," said a black veteran patrol officer assigned to the majority black Wentworth police District on the South Side, who asked not to be identified. "But what offends me the most is the protests like they're doing now. A possibly bad shooting happens somewhere else in the country where is your protest over the 4-year-old who was just shot?"
"There are things to protest, but you attack us instead of attacking the actions of the gangbangers that you know, the people that you know have the guns," he said. "You know who shot the child, who robbed the old man, and you say nothing."
Chris Fletcher, a 30-year veteran with the Chicago police before taking the police chief's job in south suburban Calumet City, knows all too well the duality of the job. "I'm on both sides of the fence depending on what day it is," Fletcher said. "Some days I'm all over the police side, depending on the police incident, and the other days, I'm just as outraged as (the public)."
Police work, racial solidarity
The handful of black officers reached by the Tribune say angry exchanges with loved ones and strangers regarding their police work are rare, though they can occur, especially after high-profile brutality cases in the news.
Fletcher can still recall the heated exchange with a close friend involving the death of LaTanya Haggerty, an unarmed African-American woman who was shot and killed in summer 1999 by a Chicago police officer who mistook her cellphone for a weapon.
"One of my non-police friends," Fletcher began, "he's like, 'Man how can you stand up behind that? Because they just killed that girl and she just had a cellphone. That could have been you or me, your sister, your little cousin.'
Advertisement
"The public doesn't look at the other end. What if it wasn't a cellphone?" he said. "What if it was a gun? And police officers have to make that split (second) decision, because you say I can wait to see if it's a cellphone and be killed. The average officer isn't willing to take that chance with their life."
Black cops know how volatile things can be at a crime scene. But while they may face the same dangers as white officers, some black residents be they witnesses, victims or even the accused may open up more freely to a black officer than their white counterparts, some black cops have observed.
"Sometimes the victim may look to a familiar face and hear a little bit more clearer from a familiar face," said Spradley, who grew up in the Grand Crossing neighborhood and graduated from Morehouse College. "They're more apt to hear what the familiar face is saying when the other (white) officer may have told them pretty much the same thing."
Black officers interviewed by the Tribune say they're as concerned as anyone about the abuse and callousness some of their white counterparts have toward African-Americans. They've faced it. Their family, friends and neighbors have complained about it.
But the officers say they don't have the political muscle to make changes. And they're preoccupied with a skyrocketing shooting and homicide rate.
Police shooting deaths of African-Americans locally and nationally are further putting black officers on defense forced to answer for the actions of fellow law enforcement officers.
Advertisement
Officers say they feel blindsided with the release of every new viral video showing an attack on a black civilian.
"The negative is often every day because there's something new popping up every day in the news," said the Wentworth District officer who asked not to be identified.
Getting past echoes of Jim Crow laws
Fletcher is among those officers who has deep concerns about policing in minority communities, while he also questions the media's treatment of the problem and the community's response.
"If you just looked at the media, you would think that the biggest issue for black folks is police brutality. But if you took a bloody weekend, all you've got to do is look at the number of people shot by police and the number of black people shot by black folks, and the (police) number pales in comparison."
Fletcher was one of a number of officers bothered by police actions seen in videos of the arrest of Chicago-area native Sandra Bland, who died in a Texas jail last year, as well as the 16-shot death of Laquan McDonald in Chicago.
Advertisement
Starting out as a Chicago cop at 22 in the late 1980s, Fletcher said he's seen the good, bad and ugly of police work and has always been troubled by some white colleagues who lacked empathy for the black residents they serve.
"There are a lot of white officers who really didn't see that (McDonald's death) was overkill," Fletcher said. "I wouldn't say that all of the white officers, or even the average one, has no empathy. But I would say a lot of them don't have any empathy and at times they don't even understand that they don't. But in the things that they say, you see it."
Some older black officers say a lack of understanding and some heavy-handed, old school policing tactics decried by activists and black cops alike have historic roots in Jim Crow segregation and persist to this day in some communities.
"It was a way you were raised and brought up. The officers that came in our community who were not black wanted you to fear them," said Greg Baker, a regional vice president of the National Organization for Black Law Enforcement Executives, who is also the police chief in South Holland. "It was like, if you were afraid of us, we can keep you in line. You would do whatever we tell you or not, whether it was for your benefit or not."
Police work is more than policing
Some retired cops are hoping these most recent police incidents will shine a light on the need to hire more black officers in the city. Only about 23 percent of officers in Chicago are African-American, compared with the city's black population of 32 percent.
Advertisement
Patricia Hill, former head of the African American Police League, says the city desperately needs black officers who embrace their heritage and are devoted to providing service to communities in need.
Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >
"You need police officers who can change hats," she said, adding that in black communities, cops sometimes "have to become the social worker, the teacher. It's not just about kicking a-- and taking names. It's a service, you're a public service employee. And in the black community, 90 percent of your calls are service calls."
"People are not getting along. And you have to be able to negotiate that. Many of the white officers in the black community don't see black people as needing service. They need to be policed: 'Y'all don't know how to act, you need to be put in order, talked down to, civilized' and all that. That's why you have this adversarial relationship. We need more officers that give service. When you call the police, you want help and that's what we need."
Spradley says that long-ago traffic stop that ended with an official warning from the suburban cop is a reminder how police must work harder to maintain a respectful relationship with the people they serve.
He says he tries to hold on to the memory of what it was like to be robbed multiple times as a teen while traveling from his South Side home to Providence St. Mel Catholic High School on the West Side.
"I want to be the police officer that responds when my coat gets snatched off my back, or somebody's chasing me down a street to get my gym shoes off my feet. I wanted to be that police officer that gave the service that I would want to have if I was the victim and I had been the victim."
Advertisement
wlee@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @MidNoirCowboy
More than 200 people gathered in a North Side auditorium Tuesday night for a hearing organized by aldermen to gather input on a police accountability ordinance that will be drafted for consideration in September.
The city is looking at ways to replace the Independent Police Review Authority, and residents were asked how a new investigative agency could build credibility and trust in the community.
Advertisement
One idea residents were asked to comment on was the creation of a new public safety inspector general, whose responsibilities would include auditing patterns of police activity and complaints and reviewing individual misconduct cases.
Several residents in the crowd at Senn High School instead proposed an elected civilian police accountability council, which would be made up of community members from all police districts in Chicago.
Advertisement
Members of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, a group well-represented at the forum, have advocated for such a council in the past few months. Many residents at the hearing Tuesday offered support for the idea.
Residents said the council should be responsible for appointing the police superintendent, rewriting use-of-force guidelines and investigating all police-involved shootings.
Mike Siviwe Elliott, a member of the alliance, said he didn't think a public safety inspector general office would work because past efforts at such appointed oversight agencies haven't worked, especially in the city's black and Latino neighborhoods.
Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >
"Each of you erase the thoughts of appointing anybody because it's not going to work for this city," Elliott said.
Chicago Alderman Joe Moore points to microphones in the auditorium at Senn High School for public comments during a forum on oversight of the Chicago Police Department, held on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
An information sheet that outlined a public safety inspector general's role was called "laughable" by resident Melissa West, who said she believed the information sheet implied that decisions regarding the new agency already have been set.
She too said she supported the creation of an elected council for police accountability.
"Right now, we look just as bad as third world countries," she said, referring to recent police shootings. "I'm ashamed to say I'm part of the United States of America. "
The hearing was the second of five led by the City Council throughout Chicago neighborhoods. The next hearing will take place at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Little Village Lawndale High School.
Advertisement
meltagouri@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @marwaeltagouri
J. L. BELL is a Massachusetts writer who specializes in (among other things) the start of the American Revolution in and around Boston. He is particularly interested in the experiences of children in 1765-75. He has published scholarly papers and popular articles for both children and adults. He was consultant for an episode of History Detectives, and contributed to a display at Minute Man National Historic Park.
Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke, center, arrives for a hearing on Sept. 14, 2018 at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. His attorney announced that a jury will decide his fate. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
A Cook County judge on Wednesday barred attorneys for a Chicago police officer charged with murder in the shooting of Laquan McDonald from reviewing protected juvenile records detailing the state ward's chaotic childhood, saying she was troubled by the request.
Judge Patricia Martin, who presides over the juvenile court's child protection division, held that Officer Jason Van Dyke has no legal right to the confidential files simply because he is charged criminally with the 17-year-old boy's death.
"This court is troubled by your argument that you have a (legal) standing because you represent a person who is charged with the murder of this young man. ... I don't find you have a special interest in these files," said Martin, citing the state's Juvenile Court Act.
The judge's ruling came after lawyers for McDonald's mother strenuously objected, calling the request by Van Dyke's lawyers "a fishing expedition" for "otherwise irrelevant and inadmissible evidence to shift focus away from the graphic video" of the October 2014 shooting.
Advertisement
"Laquan McDonald is a victim, and was for most of his life," attorney Robert Robertson wrote in a 21-page document filed Wednesday on behalf of the slain teen's mother. "Now, in death, (Van Dyke's legal team) seeks access to the most intimate details of his young life for purposes of defending the man who shot Laquan repeatedly as he lay defenseless in the street."
It was for similar reasons that child advocates contacted by the Tribune last month expressed outrage after Van Dyke's lawyers sought access to the juvenile records. But legal experts defended the move, saying the defense had a duty to pursue all possible evidence in preparation for the high-stakes trial. Still, some lawyers doubted the judge presiding over Van Dyke's case would allow the defense at trial to delve into McDonald's troubled past.
Advertisement
The embattled officer's legal team has said little about the strategy behind seeking the child-protection records, citing a "gag" order imposed by the judge presiding over the murder case at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. In a short written request filed in June, attorney Steven "Randy" Rueckert said only that his inspection of the records was necessary as the legal team prepares to defend Van Dyke against the charges.
On Wednesday, Rueckert tried to assure the judge the officer's legal team would abide by any restrictions she felt necessary out of concern over confidentiality if she allowed access.
"I can't tell you what my reason for looking is because I don't know what's in there," Rueckert said of McDonald's juvenile records. "But I'd like to look. I'd like to investigate for my client, who is charged with murder."
Van Dyke, 38, has been suspended without pay since he was charged with first-degree murder in November just hours before the court-ordered release of a video of the shooting started a firestorm of controversy.
The video from a police dashboard camera showed the white officer shooting the black teen 16 times as McDonald walked away from police with a knife in his hand, ignoring commands to stop. It contained no discernible audio but belied the written accounts of other officers at the scene that the teen had lunged with the knife before Van Dyke began to shoot.
This excerpt from video released to the public shows the most complete version of the shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. It is edited for length by the Chicago Tribune. Warning: This video contains graphic images. (Chicago Tribune)
An uproar ensued. Street protests went on for weeks, police Superintendent Garry McCarthy was fired, State's Attorney Anita Alvarez lost re-election in large part for the delay in bringing charges and the U.S. Justice Department launched an in-depth probe of police practices.
Court records on juveniles are presumed confidential and not open to the public. The law recognizes that the news media and other "interested parties" may have restricted access with a judge's consent if they demonstrate a compelling interest for disclosure outweighs the confidentiality and privacy rights of the child.
The attorneys for McDonald's mother complained that Van Dyke's legal team had failed to offer a single reason why it should be allowed to examine the records, calling the four-sentence motion "boilerplate."
A special prosecutor appointed to the criminal case just last week joined McDonald's mother in objecting to Van Dyke's request as well.
Advertisement
"There hasn't even been an argument as to why Mr. Van Dyke would be a properly interested party," Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Cullen, a member of the special prosecutor's team, told the judge before her ruling.
Robertson, one of the attorneys for McDonald's mother, took it a step further, arguing in the court filing that the video of "the shots seen around the world" removed any lingering questions that might make McDonald's juvenile records relevant.
"Any self-defense claim is laughable on its face in light of the excessive number of shots, the positioning of Van Dyke and McDonald during the shooting, and that McDonald was shot in the back as he was walking away from Van Dyke," Robertson wrote.
In the past, Daniel Herbert, the officer's lead attorney, has said Van Dyke feared for his safety and that of other officers when he opened fire. His use of lethal force that night marked the first time Van Dyke had fired his weapon in the line of duty, his service records showed. He was hired in June 2001.
In addition, McDonald's mother, Tina Hunter, argued through her attorneys that the release of such intimate details about her family history would only cause them further pain and embarrassment.
"Throughout this entire process," Robertson wrote, "(they) have guarded their privacy and have continued to grieve behind closed doors."
Advertisement
The mother has declined all interview requests since her son's killing.
Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >
McDonald's records, previously reviewed by the Chicago Tribune for a profile on his life, detailed his difficult childhood as a state ward as well as his seven drug-related arrests, beginning when he was 13.
Hunter, herself a teenage state ward when she gave birth to McDonald, twice lost custody of him due to allegations involving inadequate supervision and excessive corporal punishment, court records showed. He found stability in his great-grandmother's home, but McDonald struggled with behavioral, learning and mental health issues.
He began a self-admitted daily marijuana habit at about age 12 and also used PCP, a hallucinogenic drug found in his system at the time of the shooting, according to court records and his autopsy. Although he admitted being in a gang and selling drugs, McDonald was never accused of carrying a gun or other weapon during his earlier police contacts and arrests. He was, though, at times accused of being verbally and physically aggressive with juvenile detention staff, according to the records.
His great-grandmother died in August 2013, and McDonald's mother that October petitioned the court to get back custody. He was living with an uncle while Hunter, who according to the records was always involved in her son's life, continued counseling and other services to get him back.
Hunter, who is raising a 16-year-old daughter in the Chicago area, received a $5 million out-of-court settlement from the city last year for McDonald's death.
Advertisement
cmgutowski@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @christygutowsk1
Two masked men smashed several windows, broke through the front door of a Buffalo Grove home and then stabbed four people and a dog, authorities say. Aug. 10, 2016. (CBS Chicago)
Two masked men smashed several windows, broke through the front door of a Buffalo Grove home and then stabbed four people and a dog, authorities say. Aug. 10, 2016. (CBS Chicago)
Buffalo Grove police are interviewing three "persons of interest" in connection with a home invasion and stabbing in the village, according to Buffalo Grove Police Deputy Chief Roy Bethge.
Three of the four people stabbed inside the home a few minutes after midnight Wednesday were treated at hospitals and released, while the other victim remains in serious condition at a nearby hospital.
Advertisement
Police have not charged or arrested any of the three people being interviewed, but police don't believe the attack was a random act, Bethge said. The intruders targeted the home, he said.
"Motive is something we'll be looking to determine," Bethge said.
Advertisement
According to a Buffalo Grove police report, two masked men at 12:06 a.m. smashed several windows, broke through the front door of a house in the 400 block of St. Marys Parkway and then attacked the family inside. One of the two invaders wielded a hunting knife and "repeatedly stabbed the 49-year-old homeowner," police said in the report.
The homeowner was able to retrieve a handgun that was in the house and fired one bullet. Bethge said the shot scared the intruders away although it did not hit anyone.
Wheeling officers later located possible suspects at the intersection of Buffalo Grove and Lake Cook roads after Buffalo Grove passed along the victims' descriptions of the attackers to neighboring agencies, police said. The Wheeling officers also found "a large, blood stained hunting knife" after approaching the vehicle, police said in the report.
The homeowner remains in serious condition, according to the report. The other three people injured inside the house and later released from hospitals included the homeowner's son, the son's cousin and a young female. Their ages ranged from 16 to 49, police said.
The intruders also stabbed the family's German shepherd, which an officer transported to the Veterinary Specialty Center in Buffalo Grove for treatment. VSC spokeswoman Kathy Mordini said she could not comment about the dog's condition.
A family friend also inside the house at the time of the incident was unharmed, Bethge said.
Neighbors, who live near the house and were awake around midnight, said they didn't hear anything suspicious in the neighborhood until police cars and ambulances started showing up.
"We got scared, post-fact," said Nataliya Plotnikova, who lives near the victims' home with her two children.
Advertisement
She said she had been walking her two golden retrievers around 11:45 p.m. Tuesday.
Many residents said the only trouble they ever expect in their neighborhood is a flood from the Buffalo Creek, which touches the property of the victims, Plotnikova and Chris Monsen, a former Marine.
Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >
Monsen said he was playing with his three dogs in his backyard at midnight.
"I didn't hear any footsteps back there besides my own," he said.
Several neighbors described the homeowner as friendly and helpful.
Joe Bartlett lives more than a block away, but he bikes through the neighborhood. He got to know the homeowner through a mutual friend and enjoyed playing with the German shepherd.
Advertisement
The homeowner also would help him at times, often offering to grease the chain to Bartlett's bike, he said.
Plotnikova said that in the winter, she would sometimes look outside and see the homeowner shoveling her driveway.
"He wouldn't offer to do it," she said. "He would just do it."
A body was found near railroad tracks on the South Side on Wednesday morning, officials said.
It was found in the 500 block of West 79th Street in the city's Winneconna Parkway neighborhood, according to police.
Advertisement
Authorities are investigating if an inbound Rock Island Metra train hit a person, possibly about 9:40 a.m., according to a Metra spokesman.
Chicago police were called to assist Metra, according to Officer Bari Lemmon, a police spokeswoman.
Advertisement
Check back for details.
The CTA board on Wednesday voted to spend $23 million to renovate the Illinois Medical District Blue Line station, the third-busiest stop on the Forest Park branch, beginning next month.
The station, which serves four hospitals, including Rush University Medical Center and Stroger Hospital, had over a million users last year. It has not had a major renovation since it opened in 1958, CTA officials said.
Advertisement
The main planned improvement is the rebuilding of the main station house at Ogden Avenue, including the addition of an elevator. The project includes upgrading station-to-platform ramps at Damen Avenue and Paulina Street, and the Paulina entrance will get a wheelchair-accessible gate, said CTA spokeswoman Tammy Chase.
"I'm really pleased to see accessibility is incorporated into it," Gary Arnold, a spokesman for the nonprofit advocacy group Access Living, said in a phone interview after the CTA's monthly board meeting. "It's very good news, very promising."
Advertisement
Along with accessibility changes, the project will include improved station and platform lighting, installation of new security cameras, new bus and train tracker displays, and improvements to the station canopy.
"The improvements we are making to the Illinois Medical District station further our commitment to improving accessibility systemwide for our customers and strengthen the vital transit connections to the busy medical district," CTA President Dorval Carter said in a statement.
The project is expected to be completed in late 2017 and will be funded through tax increment financing money. While a portion of the project work will be done by the CTA, a $14 million construction contract was awarded on Wednesday to McHugh/UJAMAA Joint Venture 1 a joint venture between two Chicago construction firms; UJAMAA is a certified minority business enterprise.
The station also serves the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Malcolm X College and the United Center.
Also on Wednesday, members of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization asked the CTA board to reinstate Hyde Park service for the No. 1 Bronzeville/Union Station bus. The bus currently runs along Michigan between Union Station and 35th Street.
Until 2003, the bus route extended south to 64th Street and Stony Island Avenue, after traveling through Hyde Park on 51st Street. The route was then shortened to 51st Street, and shortened again in 2012 to stop at 35th Street as part of the elimination of other bus routes, such as the No. 11 Lincoln from the Western Avenue Brown Line stop to Fullerton Avenue, which has since been partly reinstated in a pilot program.
"This bus played a very essential role in our community," said activist Alphonso Jones, 70, who spoke to the board. He said that the former run had connected to hospitals, schools and numerous stores. He also noted that seniors prefer the bus to taking the "L."
Carter said CTA officials would meet with community members to discuss the route.
Advertisement
Also on Wednesday, Carter told reporters after the meeting that he was confident the City Council would approve a tax-increment financing district to make improvements on the Red and Purple lines.
Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >
The CTA and Mayor Rahm Emanuel want a special taxing district established to secure $600 million in federal loans to pay for the massive project, which includes a controversial flyover north of the Belmont station.
The first phase of the project costs $2.1 billion, and the CTA can access $1.1 billion in federal funds if it can find a local match for the remainder. Carter referred to the federal funds as "free money" that would be left on the table without a local match. The loans would cover most of the match.
"I'm very optimistic that the City Council will appreciate and understand the value of the project we're trying to pursue here and will be supportive of the TIF," Carter said.
A proposed TIF district would have to go through a public notice period and a public hearing, and Carter said it is expected to go to the council in the fall. If the district is established by the end of the year, as the CTA hopes, the agency could start work next year, Carter said.
The flyover would include a bypass carrying Brown Line trains over Red and Purple line trains at Belmont and is intended to relieve delays at the busy Belmont stop and throughout the system. Some residents have objected to the flyover as unnecessary and disruptive to the neighborhood.
Advertisement
mwisniewski@tribpub.com
Twitter @marywizchicago
Dr. William Malik of Oak Brook has been cited for DUI seven times, authorities said. (Cook County Sheriff's Office / Handout)
An orthopedic surgeon who authorities said has been cited for drunken driving seven times was sentenced to six years in prison Wednesday.
Despite pleas from his attorney for probation, Dr. William Malik was ordered to prison by a Cook County judge who said Malik had blown several opportunities to stay sober.
Advertisement
"It's not as though the defendant has not been given a chance or two or three. But this is his seventh time," Judge James Karahalios, noting that Malik's salary at his last job at $520,000. "He could have hired a driver."
Malik, 64, of Oak Brook, was found guilty in April of aggravated DUI and criminal damage to property stemming from an arrest last July when authorities said he sideswiped a parked car with his Lincoln LS in Franklin Park and then drove onto a lawn in Schiller Park, where he struck a garage, two fences and some landscaping blocks, according to prosecutors and police records.
Advertisement
The doctor, who first ignored an officer's request to shut off the car and exit the vehicle, had "bloodshot and glassy eyes," smelled of alcohol and told the officer, "At least I didn't hit anybody," a police report states.
The judge, referring to that comment, said Wednesday: "It is striking. The doctor has violated his Hippocratic oath ... to do no harm."
Malik's attorney, Sam Amirante, called his client a "brilliant doctor" and a "great family man" who suffers from the disease of alcoholism, for which he has sought treatment several times. He voluntarily entered a rehab program after his latest arrest, Amirante said.
But prosector Karen Crothers countered that Malik has "played the doctor card too many times," using his lofty professional status to seek special treatment from the criminal justice system after multiple run-ins with the law.
"There are no different laws for the people of Oak Brook than for the people of the South Side of Chicago," Crothers said. "He put every last child and parent and citizen in our community at risk. ... The fact that this man is a doctor is a not a mitigating factor. It is an aggravating factor."
Crothers said that if Malik "continues on this path, he will kill somebody. It's not a question of if, but when."
According to court records and authorities, Malik pleaded guilty to DUI in DuPage County in 2002 and again in 2007. He was also cited for DUI in Cicero in 2004 and in Franklin Park in 2005; though in the Cicero case, the DUI was stricken from his record after a probationary period, and in Franklin Park the DUI charge was later dropped.
Authorities said he was also charged with DUI in Wisconsin in 2007.
Advertisement
Malik has been in Cook County Jail since the judge revoked his bond when he was convicted in April. Addressing the judge Wednesday in court while dressed in jail scrubs, the doctor said he was "really ashamed of what happened."
"I behaved quite selfishly last July and in my previous alcohol-related incidents. It's hard to recognize that alcohol affects alcoholics differently than other people. I have remorse about what happened," he said, adding he had "learned a lot at county jail."
The judge was apparently not persuaded to offer leniency to Malik by a several character witnesses who spoke on the doctor's behalf, including another physician who is also in alcohol recovery, a lawyer and a retired DuPage County judge.
Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >
With credit for good behavior and for time served in jail and in treatment, Malik is likely to be released from prison in less than three years, officials said.
For more than three decades, Malik had affiliations with Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, as well as Adventist Hinsdale Hospital and Adventist LaGrange Memorial Hospital. Malik stopped seeing patients at those locations by 2014.
Tony Briscoe and Christy Gutowski are Tribune reporters; George Houde is a freelance reporter.
Advertisement
tbriscoe@chicagotribune.com
cmgutowski@chicagotribune.com
Twitter _tonybriscoe
Twitter @christygutowsk1
Demarco Kennedy was known as a soft-spoken family man who worked the overnight shift at a railroad company.
Around 8 p.m. Tuesday, the 32-year-old father of three was sitting at a table in his second-floor apartment in Rosemoor on the Far South Side when two bullets pierced the window behind him and hit him in the neck and head, according to police.
Kennedy collapsed on the floor and was taken to Advocate Trinity Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
His wife and children, ages 6 to 14, were in another room at the time, and police said no one else was injured.
The shots were apparently fired from the parking lot of a Popeye's restaurant just south of the three-story white apartment building in the 600 block of East 102nd Place, police said. The window of Kennedy's apartment can be seen from the parking lot through a gap in two garages.
Late Tuesday, police officers examined about five bullets holes in the wall and window of the building. They also blocked off Popeye's parking lot with red crime tape after finding shell casings there. An evidence technician examined the gap between the garages.
Police reported no one in custody.
Kennedy's family said they could think of no reason anyone would want to shoot him.
"He'd go to work, take care of his kids," said his brother, Lorenzo Kennedy, 35. "He wasn't shooting or gangbanging."
Kennedy shook his head and embraced another brother, Justin Jones, 21, as they stood with about two dozen relatives outside Advocate Trinity Hospital's emergency entrance.
The brothers said they did not see Kennedy often because he worked so much.
"He'd go to work, come home, then go to work again," Kennedy said.
"This is crazy," added Jones.
The building's landlord said Kennedy lived on the second floor for about a year and a half. "He was a very nice guy, a working guy," said Roger Shannon, 65, whose family has owned the building for 40 years. "He was just like any other guy his age."
More relatives began showing up outside Advocate Trinity.
"This is ridiculous," said Patricia Hawthorne, one of Kennedy's aunts. "All of them who shoot they need to take them to Iraq."
"Where is their conscience? They don't have no conscience," said another relative who stood nearby. "And they think it's the police's fault?"
The family's anger turned to the criminal justice system.
"If they catch you with a gun, they should automatically give (you) five to 10 years for having it," said Valerie Jones, another aunt of Kennedy. "No court."
"Right, no court," Hawthorne replied.
At the scene of the shooting, Shannon and his son stood in the backyard of the building, pointing out the bullet holes in the building's frame and windows.
"I don't know what to say," Shannon said. "This city is beyond crazy."
Shannon's son, who lives on the third floor of the building, said he knocked on the door of Kennedy's apartment after hearing gunshots. When he walked in, he saw Kennedy lying on the floor near a dining table. His wife was standing over him.
Shannon's son, who declined to be identified, fiddled with a flashlight as he and his father talked.
"Would you dispute martial law?" Shannon asked his son.
"Well," his son replied. "What's the murder rate? How is it compared to 1964? Or what about 1994?" He paused, then added, "Crime is down."
"But it's not about the murder rate," Shannon said. "It's about every person's life."
"When has there not been violence?" his son said.
"It's crazy the amount of money we spend on this violence," Shannon said. "Just think about it. What about the community?"
"Let the police do their job," his son said.
"It goes past the police," the father shot back.
The two grew silent as two evidence technicians joined them in the backyard. One of them aimed a camera at the building, taking photos and video of the bullet holes.
A suspect in a South Loop bank robbery was arrested within a half-hour of the heist on the other side of the Loop, authorities said.
The robbery occurred at the First American Bank branch, 1241 S. Wabash Ave., at 4:30 p.m. said FBI spokesman Garrett Croon.
Advertisement
The robber was a man with a thin build who was wearing a fake beard, Croon said.
He fled with currency after announcing a robbery, but the robber, a 55-year-old man, was taken into custody about 5 p.m. in the 300 block of West Wacker Drive, said Offficer Thomas Sweeney, a spokesman for the Chicago police.
Activist Ja'Mal Green, left, and attorney Michael Oppenheimer talk to the media at 73rd Street and Merrill Avenue in Chicago on Aug. 1, 2016, after the police-involved shooting death of Paul O'Neal near that location. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
A Chicago activist arrested last month during downtown protests of fatal shootings by police has been indicted on charges that he physically assaulted officers.
Ja'Mal Green, 20, was surrounded by 11 supporters at the Branch 42 courthouse at Belmont and Western avenues Wednesday as Judge Marvin Luckman told Green he had been indicted on seven counts.
Advertisement
Court records of those charges were not immediately available.
"The fight will continue against these charges to 26th Street where at the end he will be found not guilty," Green's attorney, Michael Oppenheimer, told reporters after the brief court hearing.
Advertisement
Green, who last week served as a spokesman for the family of Paul O'Neal as videos of the teen's fatal shooting on July 28 in the South Shore neighborhood were made public, did not speak to reporters Wednesday. He remains free on $350,000 bail.
The Rev. Michael Pfleger, the outspoken South Side priest who also attended the court hearing in Green's support, told reporters that Green "has always been very passionate about the injustices that are going on and standing up and talking about them."
Breaking News As it happens Stay informed. News when you need it. Get our news alerts in your inbox. >
"I know Ja'Mal the man and the character, and I stand behind him 100 percent," said Pfleger, longtime priest of St. Sabina Catholic Church. "And I'll continue to stand behind him, believe in him and I will walk with him through this court case until he's dismissed."
Prosecutors told a judge last month that Green was among 150 to 200 demonstrators who were protesting fatal shootings by police in Louisiana and Minnesota. As they left Taste of Chicago on July 9, an officer saw Green climb a fence and ordered him to get down.
Green threatened the officer, saying he was "going to beat his ass," prosecutors said. Green was allowed to continue the protest, but later he struck a police commander in the shoulder, prosecutors said, a moment captured by a Chicago Tribune photographer.
These photos were taken before the arrest of JaMal Green (in yellow shirt) during a protest in downtown Chicago on July 9, 2016. After the incident shown here and a later one, Green was charged with striking a police officer and attempting to disarm another. (Nuccio DiNuzzo / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)
Later, on Michigan Avenue near Water Tower Place, Green grabbed the duty belt of a police captain about an inch away from the officer's service weapon, prosecutors said.
A police lieutenant pulled Green's arm away and attempted to take him into custody, but Green resisted, saying, "You're going to get it I'm going to have your badge," prosecutors told the judge.
sschmadeke@chicagotribune.com
Advertisement
Twitter @SteveSchmadeke
A judge Tuesday set bail at $50,000 for a Marynook neighborhood man accused of sexually assaulting two women in June, prosecutors said.
Aleem Minnis, charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault with a firearm, appeared before Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil for a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.
Advertisement
Minnis, 24, is accused of confronting two women and forcing them into a car at gunpoint after the women, 23 and 24, left a sandwich shop in the 8400 block of South Stony Island Avenue on June 26, according to Asst. State's Atty. Holly Grosshans.
He ordered one of the women to drive to the parking lot of a business in the 8500 block of South Stony Island Avenue where Minnis pointed a gun at the women and ordered them to remove their clothes before sexually assaulting them inside the car, which belonged to one of the victims, Grosshans said.
Advertisement
After the assault, Minnis told the women to go toward a dumpster while he left with the car keys. The women called police and were taken to Advocate Trinity Hospital, Grosshans said.
The victims later identified Minnis in a police photo array and Grosshans said Minnis was also seen on surveillance video pacing back and forth in front of the business where the women were before the alleged assault.
Grosshans told the judge that Minnis, of the 8400 block of South Dante Avenue, allegedly admitted to having oral sex with the women, but he told police it was consensual. Minnis also told police he had a dispute with the women about a payment, Grosshans said.
Minnis is slated to appear in court again on Aug. 29.
Chicago Tribune reporter Steve Schmadeke contributed.
Tramian Barnes, 21, (pictured) and Kenyatta Alexander are charged in the April 4, 2016, slaying of 17-year-old Anthony Heatherly. At the time of Heatherly's slaying, Barnes was free on bond after being charged with murder in the 2014 killing of Alex Anderson, 19. (Cook County sheriff's photo)
Two west suburban men one out on bail in a 2014 slaying on the Northwest Side have been charged with murder and robbery in the killing of a 17-year-old boy in the Oriole Park neighborhood this spring, authorities said.
Kenyatta Alexander and Tramian Barnes, both 21, are charged with murder, robbery and vehicular hijacking in the April 4 killing of Anthony Heatherly in the parking lot of a Taco Burrito King, 5509 N. Harlem Ave., according to prosecutors and court records. Alexander, of the 1000 of South Bellwood Avenue in Bellwood, who prosecutors say shot Heatherly, also is charged with aggravated battery to a police officer and trying to escape from police.
Advertisement
Barnes already has a pending murder charge against him in the Jan. 20, 2014, killing of Alex Anderson, 19, in the 4300 block of North Milwaukee Avenue. He was released on $100,000 bail on Sept. 29, 2015, according to court records. Before his arrest in Anderson's killing, Barnes had fled Illinois to Georgia.
The two were ordered held without bail in a hearing midday Wednesday, said Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state's attorney's office. Alexander did not appear before Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil Wednesday because he is hospitalized, authorities said.
Advertisement
On the day of the killing, Barnes and Alexander were driven by Barnes' girlfriend to meet Heatherly to buy marijuana from him in the parking lot on Harlem Avenue, prosecutors said. Barnes had his girlfriend pull up her white Nissan next to Heatherly's black Hyundai coupe, and Barnes and Alexander got into Heatherly's car with him. The girlfriend then pulled her car up in front of Heatherly's.
Alexander, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, shot Heatherly once in the chest, prosecutors said. Barnes and Alexander opened the driver's side door and pushed Heatherly out, and Barnes got into the driver's seat, driving away while at first dragging Heatherly several feet in the parking lot an action that led to an initial confusion about whether Heatherly might have been the victim of a hit-and-run driver rather than a shooting then driving a few blocks away to meet Barnes' girlfriend.
Video surveillance from the Taco Burrito King captured part of the incident, and a witness identified Alexander and Barnes as having driven off in the Hyundai, prosecutors said.
Heatherly was taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
After the shooting, Barnes told his girlfriend to go home, and wait for them to call her, prosecutors said.
Barnes eventually called the girlfriend and told her to pick them up in Maywood, and the girlfriend went there and picked them up in an alley, then dropped them off at a friend's house in Melrose Park, prosecutors said. Heatherly's Hyundai was later found nearby.
Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >
During their investigation, Chicago police detectives were able to use cell phone records to establish that Barnes and his girlfriend were at the scene of the murder at the time of the killing, prosecutors said. After the girlfriend abandoned her car, it was found with Heatherly's car's license plates on it.
In the following months, Alexander and Barnes both told several people that Alexander had shot Heatherly, prosecutors said.
Advertisement
On Tuesday, Alexander, who court records show previously lived in Chicago near Austin Boulevard and Ohio Street, had a court hearing in an unrelated Oak Park theft probation case at the Maybrook Courthouse in Maywood, according to court records. Chicago police arrested him Tuesday at the courthouse address, according to police.
Barnes, who lives in the 100 block of Home Avenue in Oak Park, was arrested on his block, according to police.
After his arrest, Alexander admitted to shooting Heatherly before fleeing in his car, prosecutors said.
The two are scheduled for another court hearing Thursday, according to court records.
The Chicago Tribune's Steve Schmadeke contributed.
Police are investigating at least two robberies that happened near the University of Illinois at Chicago campus that could involve the same suspects, officials said.
The latest robbery happened about 3 a.m. Wednesday off campus in the 1000 block of South Racine Avenue in the University Village/Little Italy neighborhood. A UIC student flagged down a campus officer and reported that a man, who could have been 18 or 19 years old, pointed a gun before taking off with a bag, money and cell phone, according to a UIC alert.
The suspect took off in a black Range Rover driven by another person. The vehicle was last seen going west on Roosevelt Road, the alert stated.
Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez, university spokeswoman, said it appears the males could be responsible for another robbery that happened at 7 p.m. Tuesday at a campus parking lot in the 1100 block of West Harrison Street.
In that incident, a university employee was approached by a male, possibly as young as 15 years old, who was armed with a gun. According to the alert, the suspect took the employees purse, and he then took off in a black Range Rover.
McGinnis Gonzalez said campus officers are working with the Chicago Police Department, because the incidents are consistent with a couple of other off campus robberies that have taken place in the Monroe District.
Chicago police did not immediately have information about those robberies.
The end of a busy shift approached.
Three people had been killed in two hours in the Harrison District on the West Side Monday night. Sgt. Bryan Topczewski left the scene of the second homicide and was headed back to the station, an easy ride down Jackson Boulevard east toward Kedzie Avenue.
Advertisement
"I was heading into the station to finish up reports, start approving reports, just administrative stuff with everything that was going on last night, everything kinda got pushed aside," Topczewski said.
As he approached Independence Boulevard shortly after 10 p.m., a dispatcher calmly read out a new job: "All right units in 011 ... now getting a person shot at thirty-nine forty-five Polk, 3-9-4-5 Polk, cellphone caller says her child's been shot with no further information, 11th District."
Advertisement
The call was less than two blocks west of the boulevard. "Put it on my box," the sergeant radioed, telling the dispatcher he was responding.
"As a parent, you don't like to hear a kid shot. It is what it is out here, but this is a kid," Topczewski said. "So I raced over there, found the address."
The street was empty when he turned from Independence. It wasn't like other scenes that can be chaotic, with people waving down officers and pointing toward the victims. Nobody was out.
The sergeant parked in front. The door was open a little. The child, 10-year-old Tavon Tanner, was lying face down inside the house, blood coming from his nose and mouth.
Topczewski radioed in. The dispatcher didn't hear him at first and asked him to repeat himself. "Is EMS rolling?"
"It does look like Ambulance 64 is en route." The dispatcher asked for more information, trying to see if this was related to a shots-fired call a few minutes earlier a few blocks away.
Tavon had been playing on his porch when someone on the street fired at least nine shots. He collapsed as he followed his mother through the front door. When Topczewski arrived, Tavon's twin sister was holding the boy's hand and telling him, "Twin don't leave me, twin don't leave me," according to her family. Tavon kept beating the floor with his hands, then went limp.
"I see the little guy lying on the floor," Topczewski said. "That's when I go out and grab my pack and start rendering aid."
Advertisement
The boy's mother and twin sister were crying as the sergeant kept asking, "Where's the wound? Where's the wound?" They started taking the boy's clothes off and found a gunshot wound at the small of his back, "right next to his spinal cord," Topczewski said.
He radioed in again. "Bona fide, we got a little kid shot over here. . . . Keep the street clear over here." A woman can be heard screaming in the background of the radio call. "Keep the street clear."
Another officer came on the radio. "Younger child, no offender info . . . One lower, gunshot wound lower back."
Topczewski said he applied pressure to the wound, covering it with a compression bandage. Paramedics arrived within a few minutes, scooped up the boy and rushed him to Mount Sinai Hospital.
Topczewski stepped outside. "We tried to find the crime scene, trying to estimate . . . where was he when he got shot. So once we figured where he got shot, we tried to visualize where those came from."
Across the street was a white car with bullet holes. "We organized officers into a skirmish line with their flashlights, looking for casings. There were bullet holes through the car to where the little guy was standing," he said. "Officers walked the whole lot and found shell casings in the vacant lot next to the one apartment."
Advertisement
Topczewski went to Mount Sinai afterward to check on Tavon and his officers, a number of whom were there following up with other shooting victims from the district that night. And to refill his supply of bandages. "The staff, I told them what I needed. 'Hey, take all you want.' They understand what it's used for," the sergeant said.
Tavon underwent nearly four hours of surgery at Mount Sinai. The bullet damaged his pancreas, intestines, kidney and spleen as it entered his lower back and lodged in his chest, his mother said. Doctors removed the spleen and repaired the other organs but did not remove the bullet, said Tavon's mother, Mellanie Washington.
On Wednesday, Tavon remained in critical condition and was under heavy sedation, his mother said. He hasn't been able to talk and she is not sure if he knows that she is there. He did seem to light up when his twin was at his bedside, however. "When his twin yesterday saw him, he opened his eyes a little," Washington said.
Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >
Tavon's teachers and a former principal have been visiting him and his sister at the hospital, which she said was a comfort to her children. Detectives are still investigating, but she said she does not think any arrests have been made.
"They're just waiting on him and waiting for him to heal and recover," she said of the medical staff treating her son. "He'll be here awhile."
Topczewski is a 20-year veteran of the department who made sergeant two years ago and has worked in the Harrison District ever since. He went through medical training as part of the Mobile Strike Force, a citywide unit that was disbanded a few years ago.
Advertisement
He hadn't used the training until this year, at a shooting on Polk when three officers were injured. He helped treat one of the three officers before paramedics arrived. The same dispatcher was working then, too.
"You know what it is? It's my job. Not to be cliche . . ." he paused. "It's my job. Our job is preservation of life I'm not an EMT. I know some basic medical things that I was taught and I applied them where I seen fit.
"It's a little kid shot," he continued, his voice strained. "If you're a parent, you protect your kids. Whether it's yours or someone else's. This is what we do. It's terrible to see a little young kid get shot in crossfire over, over what? It's not a way to grow up."
pnickeas@chicagotribune.com Twitter @PeterNickeas
U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk answers questions after a panel discussion on immigration reform at TechNexus in Chicago on Aug. 10, 2016. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, who has unendorsed Donald Trump, said Wednesday he "can't support" Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton or anyone for president who backs the Iran nuclear agreement.
But Kirk's stated choice as a write-in candidate for president, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, also supported the U.S.-led multinational agreement aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program.
Advertisement
Kirk's comments came in an interview on CNN in which he talked about his evolving choice for president.
"Hillary Clinton was for the Iran agreement. And I can't support someone who is for the Iran agreement," Kirk said.
Advertisement
"In my case, I'll be writing in Gen. Colin Powell. That, I think, would be the best person," said Kirk, who is being challenged for re-election by two-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, of Hoffman Estates.
But Powell, who also is a former Army general and national security adviser, said in September that the Iran agreement would help "stop this highway race" of the nation constructing a nuclear weapon.
"People are saying, 'No, you can't trust them,'" Powell told NBC's "Meet the Press." "I don't trust them. I say, 'We have a deal, let's see how they implement the deal. If they don't implement it, bail out.' None of our options are gone."
While Kirk has cited Powell as his preferred choice for the White House, the former secretary of state is not a candidate for president, and in Illinois his write-in vote would not be counted because Powell's name was never registered with election authorities in the state.
Locked in a tough re-election fight, Kirk originally said he would support the winner of the Republican presidential nomination, then announced in June he was removing his endorsement of Trump over the GOP contender's critical comments about Hispanics, women and the disabled. Kirk said Trump lacked the temperament to be commander in chief.
Kirk then said he would write-in for president former CIA director and retired U.S. Army General David Petraeus, who pleaded guilty to mishandling classified information. Last month, Kirk said he was switching his write-in to Powell, who was "much more experienced at the national level."
Kirk has based much of his campaign on national security issues and had made opposition to the Iran nuclear deal a major part of his early campaign for re-election.
In the CNN interview, Kirk also was asked whether Trump or Clinton was a greater risk to the future of the GOP.
Advertisement
"I think right now if we had Colin Powell at the head of our party we would crush the opposition," Kirk said.
Asked again about who is the bigger risk, Kirk said: "I think right now Hillary Clinton, because in Illinois we really understand corruption after the (Gov. Rod) Blagojevich years. Too corrupt for the country now."
Kirk contended the release of Clinton emails found "a dangerous overlap in her duties as a fundraiser for the Clinton Foundation and secretary of state. We should not have such a person with so many conflicts of interest in office as our president of the United States."
Kirk also was repeatedly asked what it means that well-regarded Republican leaders such as House Speaker Paul Ryan and Arizona Sen. John McCain are still backing Trump despite the presidential nominee's controversial statements.
"I would say right now that Trump is too racist and too bigoted for the Land of Lincoln," Kirk said. Asked what that meant for McCain and Ryan, Kirk responded: "It means find a way to write (in) an American that you think can really lead this country to a much better shining city on a hill."
Kirk's cable TV interview came after he attended an event hosted by the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition and FWD.us, the immigration advocacy organization founded by Facebook chairman Mark Zuckerberg. Kirk backed comprehensive immigration reform in 2013, but Democrats have accused him of coming to the issue too late.
Advertisement
But Kirk also has backed a ban on the U.S. acceptance of refugees from war-torn Syria until adequate background checks can be done to determine whether any of them are a terrorist threat.
"There's a difference between Mexican immigrants and Syrian refugees. Syrian refuges might tend toward Islamic terror and we've never had a Mexican terror problem in this country," the senator said. "I want to make sure that we take the time necessary to screen the refugees, make sure we know their political leanings."
rap30@aol.com
Twitter @rap30
Patti Blagojevich, left, speaks to the media along with daughters Annie, center, and Amy after the resentencing of her husband on Aug. 9, 2016, at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday declined to weigh in on the fairness of ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich not getting any time shaved off his 14-year sentence for political corruption convictions, confining his statements to concern for the disgraced politician's wife.
"My thoughts are with Patti and the family," Emanuel said. "The judge made (his) decision. It doesn't matter now what I personally think. ... Regardless of what you thought about the sentence, regardless of what you thought about what former Gov. Blagojevich did, you can see the human toll on that family, and my thoughts are with her and with the children."
Advertisement
The toll could be seen Tuesday, when Patti Blagojevich and daughters Annie and Amy sobbed after U.S. District Judge James Zagel declined to reduce Blagojevich's sentence after an appellate court threw out some of the criminal charges on which the former governor was convicted.
In 2011, Blagojevich was convicted of misusing his powers as governor in an array of wrongdoing, including his attempts to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama after his 2008 election as president.
Advertisement
Patti Blagojevich reacts to the upholding of a 14-year prison sentence for her husband, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, on Aug. 9, 2016. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)
Emanuel also kept mum on whether he thought Obama should pardon Blagojevich.
"I'm not going to weigh in on it," said Emanuel, who was Obama's first White House chief of staff. "If he asks my opinion, I'll give it. And trust me, if he asks my opinion, I'll give it to him privately. OK? So, let me just say that."
Emanuel succeeded Blagojevich in representing a Northwest Side district in Congress. The two teamed up to push prescription drug programs and school reform.
During Blagojevich's retrial, Emanuel was called to the witness stand by the defense, but the appearance turned out to be brief and unremarkable, with the mayor saying nobody asked him to set up a nonprofit for Blagojevich to run in exchange for appointing Obama friend Valerie Jarrett to the Senate.
Emanuel also said no one asked him to have his brother, Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel, hold a fundraiser for Blagojevich in exchange for release of a $2 million grant that then-U.S. Rep. Emanuel sought for a school in his district.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich confers with Rep. Rahm Emanuel prior to a lunch on Capitol Hill with the Illinois delegation on April 30, 2003. (Pete Souza / Chicago Tribune)
Left unaddressed were several aspects of the case, from claims by Blagojevich's legal team that Emanuel would have helped broker a deal to install Attorney General Lisa Madigan in the Senate to why Emanuel relayed a message to the governor that Obama would "value and appreciate" it only if Blagojevich gave Jarrett the post.
As the mayor kept his opinion of the latest Blagojevich turn to himself, another well-known Chicagoan with close ties to Obama and Emanuel was not so shy about expressing his opinion after the resentencing.
"How does a judge re-sentence Blagojevich to same 14 years after 5 counts were thrown out?" former White House senior adviser David Axelrod asked on Twitter. "Blago did wrong, but this just doesn't seem right."
Advertisement
hdardick@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @ReporterHal
Patti Blagojevich, left, speaks to the media along with daughters Annie, center, and Amy after the resentencing of her husband on Aug. 9, 2016, at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what's going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield.
Topspin
As the resentencing hearing for Democratic former Gov. Rod Blagojevich unfolded Tuesday, the thoughts and memories and context and perspective came rushing back.
Advertisement
*Compare and contrast, Part 1: Blagojevich in December 2008: "I will fight, I will fight, I will fight until I take my last breath. I have done nothing wrong."
Blagojevich on Tuesday, who talked about "mistakes": "I recognize it was my actions and my words that led me here."
Advertisement
Prosecutors noted that the former governor has never taken responsibility for the crimes he was convicted of or shown true remorse, that he thinks his actions were still in a gray area of politics.
*Compare and contrast, Part 2: Former Illinois first lady Patti Blagojevich, as recorded by federal agents in 2007 (suggesting that Tribune Co. ownership should "just fire" Chicago Tribune editorial writers if the company wanted the state to help it unload Wrigley Field to ease its crushing debt):
"Hold up that (expletive) Cubs (expletive)," she is quoted as saying in the background as her husband talked on the phone, authorities alleged. "(Expletive) them."
In a letter released Monday night: "Please give Annie the chance for a normal, happy childhood, that has slipped away from Amy," she wrote of the couple's two children. "I am pleading with you, indeed begging you, to please be merciful."
*Compare and contrast, Part 3: Blagojevich's hair, December 2011: big and black. On Tuesday: big and white. Or gray, depending on your perspective of the closed-circuit TV screen in the courtroom.
*Hospital: A new hospital opened in McHenry County on Tuesday, the same day as Blagojevich's resentencing hearing. No small measure of irony there. The Centegra Hospital in Huntley opened more than a decade after a Blagojevich-era hospital siting board was engulfed in a bribery scandal that ended up with the rejection of a competitor's proposed hospital in Crystal Lake.
*Ex-gov finds God? As a politician, Blagojevich liked to talk about "love," especially the kind he'd find from audiences on the campaign trail during his two statewide runs for governor. It's a preacher thing to do, and Blagojevich was nothing if not a seasoned speech-giver who could connect with a crowd. On Tuesday, he talked about having a chance to study the Bible while in prison and that it helped him leave the anger behind and embrace "love."
What's on tap
*Mayor Rahm Emanuel will make an announcement about a tech incubator for manufacturers.
Advertisement
*Gov. Bruce Rauner has no public schedule.
*U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk will be at a discussion on getting an immigration bill through Congress. It's put on by the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition, a group that says it wants a bill that expands visas for high- and low-skilled workers and agricultural workers, and creates a path to citizenship for undocumented workers.
*U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy will talk at the Haymarket Center about the prescription opioid and heroin epidemic.
What we're writing
*No dice for Blagojevich as Judge Zagel sticks to 14-year federal prison sentence.
*A look at what Blagojevich told his daughters (via video screen) after sentencing.
*Blagojevich resentencing photo gallery.
Advertisement
*CPS CEO Claypool warns (again) of classroom cuts if no CTU contract concessions.
*Second of five City Hall hearings on CPD oversight brings call for elected civilian board.
*Monday was deadliest day in Chicago in 13 years.
What we're reading
*Top Emanuel adviser who doesn't like to talk to press on the record gives interview, kinda.
*Is conservative Utah really up for grabs in presidential race?
*Mexico's richest man confronts new foe: state that helped make him wealthy.
Advertisement
From the notebook
*Lopez renews 'no-kill' push: After the recent death of a dog at Chicago's city-run animal shelter, a Southwest Side alderman and noted animal lover is trying to get some lift for his ongoing push to make it a "no-kill" facility.
Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, said the fact the Chicago Animal Care and Control shelter is allowed to euthanize animals because there isn't enough space to house them leads employees there to be "not as attentive as they should be to the humane needs of the creatures under their care."
Lopez, who owns several dogs, helped get the City Council to pass a resolution this year calling for hearings on requiring all Chicago shelters to adopt "no-kill" policies. By national standards, shelters are considered "no-kill" if no more than 10 percent of the animals brought in are euthanized. It could be costly for the cash-strapped city to put in place the rules to meet those standards.
Lopez's measure had no legislative power, and though Mayor Rahm Emanuel has expressed general support for the idea, it has not been enshrined in city law. (John Byrne)
Follow the money
*Track campaign contribution reports in real time with this Tribune Twitter account: https://twitter.com/ILCampaignCash
Advertisement
Beyond Chicago
*Trump back on track? Day after economic speech, suggests "Second Amendment people" could stop Clinton.
*GOP donors turning to Clinton?
*RNC tries to get Bill Clinton's schedules released.
*Putin, Erdogan warming relations send shiver down West's spine.
A police "shoot/don't shoot" demonstration in Florida went shockingly awry when an officer shot and killed a 73-year-old former librarian with what police said was real ammunition used by mistake at an event designed to bring police and the public together.
Authorities didn't immediately say how a gun with a live round came to be used at Tuesday evening's demonstration, noting blank rounds are typically used in such classes. The officer has been placed on administrative leave, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating.
Advertisement
"We were unaware that any live ammunition was available to the officer," Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis said at a news conference Wednesday. "The officer involved is grief stricken. We've got officers assigned to him to make sure he's psychologically stable."
Mary Knowlton, a well-known community volunteer, was shot after being randomly selected to take part in the role-playing scenario illustrating the split-second decisions an officer must make about firing. It was part of a popular citizens academy attended by 35 people, including her 75-year-old husband, and the police chief.
Advertisement
Her son, Steve Knowlton, said his father was "devastated."
The younger Knowlton said in an interview Wednesday at his parents' home that, on his mother's behalf, he was forgiving the officer who fired.
"There's too much hate in this world, in America, we always feel like we need revenge and it doesn't solve anything," he said. "I obviously can't say it's easy to forgive, but it needs to be done. She's watching me now."
Punta Gorda Police Lt. Katie Heck said officers in such demonstrations normally use "simunition guns," which are real-looking weapons that fire a non-lethal projectile with reduced force. But Knowlton was mistakenly struck with a live round, officials said.
Later Wednesday afternoon, Heck identified the officer as Lee Coel and said he has worked for the department since 2014. She said Coel frequently gave department presentations and tours, "specifically role-playing in these shoot/don't shoot scenarios."
CBS-4 Miami reported Wednesday evening that Coel was asked to resign from his job as a Miramar, Fla., cop after failing to successfully complete a field training program.
Coel, 28, was asked to resign in April 2013 after having worked in Miramar for a year and two months. Punta Gorda hired him on March 17, 2014.
The class put on by the Chamber of Commerce and the Punta Gorda police station, was just one stop during the weeks-long curriculum.
Advertisement
Officer Oscar Vasquez of the Jacksonville, Illinois Police Department, who is president of the National Citizens Police Academy Association, said he had never heard of anyone taking part in such courses being fatally shot. He said most departments do not use weapons in "shoot/don't shoot" scenarios that are capable of firing a live round.
"When we run scenarios, we will use starter pistols," Vasquez told The Associated Press. "You can't even put live ammunition in them."
Some departments use video simulators or other non-lethal devices, he said. Officers involved in most citizen academies don't typically even bring service weapons into classes, he added. Citizens are told beforehand that live weapons won't be used.
"We put them in the shoes of the officers so they can see, real time, the decisions we have to make and the time frame we have to make them."
With suspicions running high between police and many citizens in recent years, particularly in minority communities, Vasquez said, a death like the one in Punta Gorda is extremely unfortunate.
"It just breaks my heart. It's such a tragedy," he said.
Advertisement
Mary Knowlton attended the class with her husband and it was supposed to be "a fun night," her son said.
Steve Knowlton tearfully told reporters Wednesday that he used to tease his mother about how much she worked in retirement. She helped with the local Chamber of Commerce, was active in a program for at-risk kids, loved the library and spent hours there volunteering.
Mary Knowlton moved to Florida after living for years in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.
Books and magazines lay scattered on tables of the home she shared in Florida with Gary, her husband of 55 years. The couple split their time between Minnesota and the small Gulf Coast community. She had two sons.
Steve said that his father hadn't yet been able to see his wife's body, more than 12 hours after the shooting.
"To see your wife shot and killed, and not be able to see her ..." Steve Knowlton said, his eyes filling with tears.
Advertisement
And yet, Knowlton said his mother would have wanted him to forgive the officer who pulled the trigger.
"I forgive him. My mom was very spiritual. She brought us up right," he said.
Carolyn Hartwigsen, of Edina, Minnesota, told The Associated Press she was a longtime friend of Knowlton, adding she loved books and sought to instill that in young readers.
"So much is on the internet now. But, books are so important to have in children's hands. That was important to her," Hartwigsen said.
Hartwigsen said Mary and her husband would come back to Minnesota periodically to visit.
"She was the salt of the earth, a beautiful soul and the kindest woman you would know," she said.
Advertisement
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES A former Los Angeles garbage collector convicted in the so-called Grim Sleeper slayings that spanned more than two decades was sentenced to death on Wednesday, capping a lengthy case that centered on the gruesome deaths of more than a dozen women in South L.A.
"This is not a sentence of vengeance," Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy told Lonnie David Franklin Jr. as relatives of his victims looked on, some of them in tears.
Advertisement
Franklin, 63, was convicted earlier this year of killing nine women and a teenage girl from 1985 to 2007. During the penalty phase of his trial, prosecutors connected him to five additional slayings. But detectives believe he may have killed at least 25 women.
The judge read the names of the 10 victims Franklin was found guilty of killing. In each case, Kennedy told him, "You shall suffer the death penalty."
Advertisement
Some of the victims' relatives cried. Some sighed. Others repeated: "Amen, amen, amen."
The sentence came toward the end of an emotional hearing where 17 family members of victims read statements, many of them repeatedly asking why Franklin chose to attack members of his own community.
"The defendant took my daughter, murdered her, put her in a plastic bag a trash bag like she was trash," Laverne Peters, whose 25-year-old daughter was found in a dumpster in 2007, told the court before Franklin was sentenced. "My hope is that he spends the rest of his glory days in his jail cell, which will become his trash bag," her mother said.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 10 Debra Jackson, a 29-year-old woman, was shot three times in the chest and her body was found Aug. 10, 1985, in an alley near West Gage Avenue in the Vermont-Slauson area, authorities said. Readers are invited to share their thoughts and memories . See the full story here . (Los Angeles Police Department)
"Amen," other family members in the audience said.
Franklin sat stoically as he had all throughout the trial as Kennedy imposed the sentence. But earlier in the morning, he did react to statements delivered by victims' relatives.
Mary Alexander, whose 18-year-old daughter was murdered, spoke directly to Franklin.
"I'd like for Mr. Franklin to turn around and face me," she said.
Franklin turned his head slowly, locking eyes with Alexander.
Advertisement
"I'd like to know, why?" Alexander asked, gripping the lectern.
Franklin whispered something in response.
She repeated her question, louder: "Why?"
Again, he whispered, although it was impossible to make out what he said. Outside the courtroom, LAPD Det. Daryn Dupree, the last remaining detective who worked on the task force that investigated the Grim Sleeper killings, said Franklin muttered, "I didn't do it," in response to Alexander's questions.
"I know she didn't do anything to hurt you," Alexander told Franklin, "I know that."
Franklin's face softened and he nodded.
Advertisement
Alexander told Franklin that she had thought a lot about forgiveness, but said she was finding the concept extremely difficult.
"I'm still battling that," Alexander said.
Franklin nodded once more and turned back toward the judge.
In imposing the sentence, Kennedy said she had struggled throughout the case to understand what motivated Franklin.
"It doesn't matter why. There could never be a justification for what you have done," she said.
The killer, one of California's most prolific, targeted victims who were generally young, vulnerable and, at times, ignored. The attacks failed to raise alarms the way other famous serial slayings by killers such as the Hillside Strangler or the Nightstalker did.
Advertisement
Lonnie David Franklin Jr., dubbed the "Grim Sleeper" serial killer, was convicted of a string of murders carried out between 1985 and 2007 in South Los Angeles. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)
The deaths in the mid- to late '80s coincided with a surge in slayings linked to the crack cocaine epidemic. In addition, several other serial killers were operating in the same area in those years. Michael Hughes was convicted of killing seven women; Chester Turner of 14 women and a fetus. Both are on California's death row.
But the Grim Sleeper proved to be the most persistent. He targeted women who were drug addicts or prostitutes, and often dumped their naked bodies alongside roads or in the trash. Many of the women were initially listed as Jane Does. The deaths drew little, if any, media attention.
Police kept the slayings quiet despite suspicions that a serial killer was stalking black women a decision that led to outrage and condemnation from many who attribute Franklin's longevity as a killer to police indifference.
Authorities were able to link the slayings through ballistic and genetic evidence at the crime scenes that pointed to a single killer. But identifying the DNA proved difficult.
A break finally came in the case in 2010, when a search of state offender records turned up a partial match. The person wasn't the suspected serial killer, but his close relative was.
Before long, investigators focused on the convict's father, Franklin. After tailing him to a pizza joint in Buena Park during the summer of 2010, police collected a slice of partially eaten pizza. They tested it for DNA and, finally, had a match.
Advertisement
A search of Franklin's home on 81st Street not far from the South L.A. corridor where many of the victims' bodies were found turned up a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun. Two criminalists testified at trial that it was same weapon that killed one of the victims.
Franklin's attorney, Seymour Amster, told jurors that DNA from other men was found at some crime scenes a sign, he said, that someone else could have played a role in the slayings.
In May, a jury convicted Franklin of 10 counts of murder. His victims, in the order of their deaths, were: Debra Jackson, 29; Henrietta Wright, 35; Barbara Ware, 23; Bernita Sparks, 25; Mary Lowe, 26; Lachrica Jefferson, 22; Alicia Alexander, 18; Princess Berthomieux,15; Valerie McCorvey, 35; and Janecia Peters, 25.
Most of the women were shot to death. Berthomieux was strangled.
Franklin was also convicted of attempted murder in connection with an attack on Enietra Washington, who survived and testified against him.
Franklin initially earned the "Grim Sleeper" nickname because a gap in the killings between 1988 and 2002 suggested he had gone dormant. But detectives believe Franklin never really slept.
Advertisement
After the initial conviction, prosecutors presented more evidence against Franklin during the penalty phase of the trial. A woman testified that Franklin, as a U.S. Army private stationed abroad, was one of three assailants who gang-raped her in Germany in 1974.
Franklin stared blankly after hearing the jury's opinion that he should be executed.
The high-stakes trial devolved, at times, into bitter back-and-forths between attorneys and the discord continued on Wednesday.
Prior to the sentencing, Franklin's attorney, Seymour Amster, made two last-ditch efforts to keep his client off death row. Kennedy quickly shot down a motion for a new trial based on allegations of prosecutorial misconduct as well as a motion calling for a sentence of life without parole instead of death.
Amster declined to comment on the sentencing outside the courtroom.
marisa.gerber@latimes.com
Advertisement
james.queally@latimes.com
A judge sentenced Ronnie Paul Hobgood to 50 years in prison following his 6th DWI conviction. Prosecutors say he was a danger to drivers. (Montgomery County Jail)
With his latest arrest for driving while intoxicated in February, Ronnie Paul Hobgood knew he had relinquished control of his own destiny - perhaps for good.
It was the sixth time the 45-year-old Texan had been arrested for drunken driving. His other five arrests since 1990 had resulted in one death, five convictions and two stints in prison.
Advertisement
Now Hobgood was facing conviction number six in Montgomery County, Texas - a traffic-choked corridor north of Houston with a reputation for having dangerous roads and no-nonsense prosecutors willing to dole out some of the toughest DWI penalties in the state.
Hobgood's lawyer, Bob Mabry, told The Washington Post that his client knew his "fate was sealed."
Advertisement
"His demeanor was like that of a soldier who is a prisoner of war to a relatively nice military enemy," Mabry told The Post. "He knew where he was going and he had every confidence he had the skills to survive there."
"Many people in his situation whine, beg or complain - but none of that for him," Mabry added. "I got the sense he knew he'd have decades to think about how he felt about everything he'd done, so why think about it now?"
On Monday, a judge sentenced Hobgood to 50 years in prison. He'll be eligible for parole in 25 years at the age of 70, Montgomery County Prosecutor Brittany Litaker told The Washington Post.
She said Hobgood's fourth conviction was for intoxication manslaughter, for which he served 16 years of a 20-year prison sentence before paroling out. Conviction number five sent him back to prison until he was released on parole in 2015.
Hobgood managed to stay out of trouble until February, when he crashed into two cars leaving a Montgomery County bar, in addition to jumping a curb and ignoring witnesses who tried to keep him from driving away, according to CBS affiliate KHOU.
Litaker noted that Hobgood's last three DWI's had resulted in him hitting somebody and that all occurred after he'd already killed somebody driving drunk.
"He's clearly a danger," Litaker told The Post.
During his arrest in February, she said, Hobgood's blood alcohol level was .272 - more than three times the legal limit. Because Hobgood has been in prison twice before, he's considered a habitual offender under Texas law, which means his minimum punishment in this case would be 25 years, Litaker said.
Advertisement
"This is a person who - anytime he's not in custody - is drinking and driving and putting everyone at risk," she told The Post. "The only thing you can do with somebody like that is to get them out of our community so they can't hurt anybody else again."
"In Montgomery County we don't mess around with people who are dangerous like that," she added. "We're going to get them off the road."
Hobgood's half-century sentence isn't the longest in Texas history - or even in recent Texas history. In June, NBC affiliate KFOR reported, a Montgomery County man was sentenced to life in prison following his ninth DWI conviction since 1980. After eight convictions, KFOR noted, Donald Middleton still had a valid driver's license.
"He's been to the penitentiary four separate times before he committed this last one, this ninth DWI that we sought life," Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Justin Fowles told the station.
Texas led the nation in drunk driving deaths in 2015 with 1,446 fatalities, an eight percent increase from the year before, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The state had just over 99,000 DUI arrests and more than 71,000 convictions, the organization reported.
"We have learned through tragic events that drunk driving offenders continue to drive even after they have lost their driving privileges, too often with devastating consequences," J.T. Griffin, MADD's chief government affairs officer said in a statement to The Post. "Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia now have ignition interlock laws for first offenders, and California is considering legislation that could soon make it the 29th state."
Advertisement
"We won't stop until we get to all 50 states, because we know this technology is the best available tool to prevent repeat drunk driving," the statement added.
Mabry told The Post that he anticipated Hobgood would receive a lengthy sentence, but he's troubled by the idea that the sentence was based - not just on his most recent offense - but on previous offenses as well.
"When you increase punishment from previous offenses it's not possible, philosophically, to separate that from double jeopardy, in my opinion," Mabry said. "But the law in Texas says it's not."
He described his client as "Well-groomed, polite and business-like" and said he bore little resemblance to the enraged, intoxicated individual who was caught on tape during his most recent arrest bragging to police about his time in prison and acting "irrationally."
He said he didn't know for sure if his client was an alcoholic, but called it a "near certainty" anyone with that many DWI convictions had serious addiction issues.
By the time Mabry found himself representing Hobgood, there was little he could do for him, he said. He referred to his client as "a talkative fellow" and said that he had divulged so much information to authorities that his lawyers never had "much to work with."
Advertisement
"If prosecutors had played back the videos and the recording and had people testify, then the jury would have thought the worst of him," Mabry said, implying Hobgood's sentence may have been even longer.
"We were stuck," he added.
Donald Trump has the GOP trapped in not one Catch-22, but two. Call it a Catch-44.
The first Catch-22 has been the subject of widespread conversation over the last few weeks. As GOP pollster Glen Bolger summed it up for The New York Times: "Do we run the risk of depressing our base by repudiating the guy? Or do we run the risk of being tarred and feathered by independents for not repudiating him?"
Advertisement
"We're damned if we do and damned if we don't," he added.
Lots of Republicans adore Trump just consider the enthusiasm at his massive rallies and will turn on the establishment Republicans who betray him.
Advertisement
But roughly 1 of 5 Republicans do not support the nominee. College-educated married white women a major part of the GOP demographic coalition are abandoning him. Trump is behind by huge margins in key swing states. His standing in the national polls is flirting with the catastrophic.
It's only early August and already Republican strategists are speculating that down-ballot candidates will have to cut and run from the nominee.
"If I were advising a candidate, and I used to do that for a living, the first thing I'd tell them is, 'Don't put yourself in the middle of other people's races.' " Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said on MSNBC.
That brings us to the second Catch-22. Republican candidates at this stage have no excuses to offer if they decide to repudiate Trump other than naked self-interest.
Let's assume Trump cannot mount a comeback and becomes an albatross for countless Republican candidates across the country. And let's say they jump ship. Then every Democrat in the country not to mention almost every pundit will say, "You guys were fine with Trump as the nominee when he was a racist, but now that he's hurting the whole GOP's chances, he's suddenly unacceptable?"
And there will be some truth to the accusation.
It's instructive to look at what prompted the flop-sweat panic of recent days. After leaving the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Trump climbed the jackass tree and then hurled himself earthward, hitting every branch on the way down.
There's not enough space here to recount in any serious detail all of the self-destructive statements and bizarre rabbit holes he spelunked into from attacking the parents of U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, a soldier who died serving our country, to "jokingly" inviting the Russians to muck about in our elections, to reviving past controversies about Sen. Ted Cruz's father's alleged complicity in the Kennedy assassination.
Advertisement
And yet GOP establishment leaders stuck with their man just as they'd stuck with their man when he threw NATO under the bus, and ridiculed our treaty obligations with Japan, and attacked American-born Judge Gonzalo Curiel for an alleged conflict of interest between his professional duties and his Mexican heritage. (Sure, House Speaker Paul Ryan and others criticized Trump's comments, but they did not officially distance themselves from him.)
GOP leaders contemplated pulling the emergency brake on the Trump Train only when the nominee said he wouldn't endorse Ryan or Sens. John McCain and Kelly Ayotte.
The message was clear: Only his willingness to endanger top Republicans' re-election was truly unacceptable behavior. Nothing else Trump said or did until then was beyond the pale.
In fact, the message was so clear that even Trump heard it. After an intervention his campaign denies took place, Trump grudgingly fell in line, reading a statement endorsing Ryan, McCain and Ayotte with all the enthusiasm of an adolescent boy forced to apologize for shoplifting.
There are no good options left for the GOP. However its leaders pivot to boost the party's chances in November, they risk revealing that winning is their only sacred principle that is to say, admitting they have no sacred principles at all.
Tribune Content Agency
Advertisement
Jonah Goldberg is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior editor of National Review. goldbergcolumn@gmail.com
@JonahNRO
If you run for a position on your local school board, Illinois' campaign finance laws require that you disclose contributions and expenditures. You buy pizza with campaign funds for volunteers? You have to disclose it. You accept free signs from a friend who owns a printing shop? You have to disclose it. You spend $23.56 on gasoline to drive around collecting signatures? You have to disclose it.
That hasn't been the case with one of the state's most influential yet obscure groups. The People's Map, a political organization formed to fight against independently drawn legislative maps, has not disclosed any contributions or expenditures on the forms it filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections. Little is known about the group like who finances it, who pays the attorney and court fees, or how the group spends its resources.
Advertisement
The group recently won a lower court ruling to keep a proposed constitutional amendment off the November ballot. The amendment, if it gets on the ballot and is approved by voters, would create a commission to draw legislative maps, removing politicians from direct control over the process. Supporters of the amendment appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court, which is expected to rule before Aug. 26, the deadline for ballot initiatives.
You might as well call The People's Map by a different name Madigan's Map. Chicago Tribune Editorial Board
What we do know about The People's Map from publicly filed documents is this: The group's chairman is John Hooker, a well-connected former executive for ComEd and chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority under Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The group's lawyer is Michael Kasper, also the lawyer for the Democratic Party of Illinois and a principal at Fletcher, O'Brien, Kasper & Nottage, a consulting and lobbying firm with clients at City Hall and in Springfield.
Advertisement
The People's Map has filed four quarterly reports, all listing zero contributions and zero expenditures.
Meanwhile, six union groups reported on their own filings that they contributed $2,000 each to The People's Map effort. The groups are Illinois AFL-CIO COPE, Laborers' Political Action and Education League, Illinois Pipe Trades PEF, Illinois State Conference of IBEW (the group later canceled its payment), SEIU Local 73 and the Illinois Education Association, the union representing most teachers in the state.
Backers of the remap amendment, Support Independent Maps, asked the State Board of Elections to review The People's Map's disclosure paperwork. The board agreed and gave The People's Map until Aug. 19 to file amended reports. At this writing, nothing has been filed.
Remember, The People's Map is a group that is trying to deny voters the right to amend their own constitution. Full disclosure is paramount. We know House Speaker Michael Madigan's top lawyer is leading the effort. We know who stands to lose if the amendment is passed. You might as well call The People's Map by a different name Madigan's Map.
Maintaining the status quo allows Springfield's power brokers to manipulate legislative boundaries, which are redrawn every 10 years. Letting the politicians do that handiwork allows them to shape districts to influence the outcome of an election. Split up pockets of Republicans, for example. Draw districts to protect incumbents. The system is so rigged that, of this year's legislative races, nearly two-thirds aren't even contested.
While The People's Map reports it has raised and spent nothing during its yearlong effort, the opposing group, Support Independent Maps, has disclosed detailed receipts of more than $4 million and expenses of nearly that amount. The law firm Mayer Brown, for example, has received roughly $270,000 in payments to fight in favor of the remap amendment. That's called transparency.
The trouble with Illinois' campaign finance laws, however, is that the state board of elections is largely toothless when it comes to punishing violators. The board doesn't have the resources to audit campaign finance reports and functions reactively when complaints arise. The People's Map could file amended reports by Aug. 19 and that might be the end of the story. Or the board could fine the group for failing to disclose on time.
If any penalty is imposed, it likely would be a slap on the wrist. Voters can count on election statutes to protect the politicians who write them.
Advertisement
That brings us to the Illinois Supreme Court, the last hope for voters to finally get a chance to decide for themselves whether to amend their own constitution. The court agreed to an expedited review of the lower court's ruling that tossed the ballot initiative.
The Supremes could rule any day. If the justices agree with the lower court's ruling, voters will again be denied the chance to amend their constitution and will find themselves in familiar posture at the mercy of Illinois politicians frantic to protect their turf.
Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook.
Tourists pose for a selfie along the south rim at Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz., in August 2015. The throngs of tourists have been showing up in big numbers at other national parks, including Yellowstone in Wyoming, Yosemite in California and Zion in Utah, driven by good weather and cheap gas. (Emery Cowan / AP)
Something's wrong with our National Parks system when lines to get to the Grand Canyon's South Rim look like lines to get "Hamilton" tickets. America's annual pilgrimage to our national parks has become a shoulder-to-shoulder, bumper-to-bumper stress test.
Last year a record 307 million people flocked to America's federal parks, a 5 percent jump from the previous year. This year, as the National Park Service marks its centennial President Woodrow Wilson signed the system into law on Aug. 25, 1916 attendance is expected to reach 315 million people just shy of the nation's estimated population of 324 million.
Advertisement
The Park Service's most popular destinations are all having record attendance. The Grand Canyon: 5.5 million in 2015, a 16 percent jump from 2014. Yosemite: 4.1 million, 6.8 percent jump. Yellowstone: 4 million, 16 percent jump. The result? Two-hour waits just to get up to a park's entrance. Overspilling trash cans. Jam-packed parking lots. Interminably long lines at bathrooms and shuttle stops.
But it's not just the waiting that's so vexing. A walk through a columbine-dotted mountain glade at Rocky Mountain National Park isn't the same when throngs of other park-goers on the same path make it seem like an O'Hare concourse. The quietude of the national park experience is diminished when the experience starts to feel and sound like everyday urban bustle. And then there are the tales of Tourists Behaving Badly. Remember the Canadian tourist at Yellowstone who stuck a bison calf in his SUV because he thought it was cold? The animal had to be euthanized after it could not be reunited with its herd. And the bane of all national parks: tourists in cars who jam up traffic so they can get a snapshot of an elk or mule deer.
Advertisement
Debate has begun at some parks about capping the number of visitors. We think the debate should stop set the caps already! We make reservations at our favorite restaurants why should the concept of making a reservation at Yellowstone or Yosemite be any different? Quota systems that keep parks from being overrun and overtaxed have a history of succeeding. At Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota, a quota system has been in place for years, preserving the area's natural beauty and the tranquil experience visitors seek.
Along with controlling the numbers of visitors, there's something every vacationer can do to help cull the crowds at overcrowded parks self-culling. Americans need to realize that the nation's natural beauty isn't just embodied in the National Park Service's titanic draws: Yosemite, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, about an eight-hour drive from Chicago, astounds with its sandstone sea caves. The spires and buttes of South Dakota's Badlands National Park look otherworldly. And if you really want to get away from it all, pick up a backpack and get on the ferry to Isle Royale in Michigan, where the only way to get around is on foot.
Quotas will go a long way toward keeping our national parks from withering from the weight of the masses. But Americans also need to remember that national parks aren't just backdrops for Facebook selfies they're a national treasure that deserves reverence, awe ... and breathing room.
Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook.
Chicago Tribune columnist and Patriot Truth Seeker Rex Huppke reports from an undisclosed location to give an explanation of Trump's Second Amendment comment. Aug. 10, 2016. (Chicago Tribune)
Don't worry, guys, everything's going to be fine.
I know that because people who support GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump say so, usually right after Trump says something that makes me believe everything's not going to be at all fine.
Advertisement
It's happening again right now after Trump floated the possibility that the only way his opponent, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, might be kept from appointing pro-gun-control Supreme Court justices is if she's assassinated.
Trump started off at a Tuesday rally saying: "Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment."
Advertisement
No she doesn't. She has never said that not once or anything close to it, and even if she did want that, changing the Constitution has steep requirements: an amendment approved by a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress AND approved by three-fourths of state legislatures, or a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of state legislatures.
But hey, I'm burying the lead. Trump went on: "By the way, and if she gets to pick if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know."
Wow. By "Second Amendment people," Trump means the ones with the guns, and by "maybe there is, I don't know," he means maybe they'll use those guns to stop Clinton or any judges she picks should she become president.
But don't worry. Everything's fine.
Trump's various surrogates and spokespeople immediately responded.
Campaign spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement: "It's called the power of unification 2nd Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power."
Campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson was parroting a similar line on CNN when host Jake Tapper noted that Trump's comment was clearly referring to actions Clinton might take after being elected president, when voting no longer matters. Pierson said: "That's actually not what he was talking about."
Oh, OK. That clears things up. Everything's going to be fine.
Advertisement
Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Trump supporter, gave CNN's Wolf Blitzer an entirely different explanation: "You are treating Mr. Trump's words like he is the most articulate person who has ever graced our ears with his words. And that is not true. He is not a politician, he is not a person like you who is very articulate and very well-spoken."
Donald Trump hinted that "Second Amendment people" could stop Hillary Clinton. Aug. 9, 2016. (CBS Miami)
Good to know. Trump is a non-articulate person who is trying to become president. Everything's fine.
But then conservative CNN commentator Ana Navarro noted that inarticulateness may be a bad quality if you're president.
"It sounded like yet another stupid thing that comes out of Trump's mouth," she said. "Just when I thought he might be shifting into policy here we're all gonna have to react to yet another stupid, undisciplined thing that Donald Trump said because he seems not to understand the power of words."
OK, now I'm worried again. Because words do matter.
Maybe Trump didn't know what he was talking about when he brought up Second Amendment people. Maybe it was more of the same gibberish that flops out of his mouth when he's not held to message by a teleprompter.
Advertisement
But saying the wrong thing when you're president can have large, awful, devastating consequences. And saying the wrong things when you have a loyal following that borders on cultish can do the same.
We live in a country where mentally ill people have easy access to firearms.
But don't worry. Trump's advocates have said everything will be fine.
The U.S. Secret Service, in the wake of Trump's rally, said in a statement that it is "aware of the comments made earlier this afternoon." That's right. The Secret Service which takes threats against presidents and presidential candidates rather seriously has taken note of something said by one of our presidential candidates. That's not a common occurrence.
But everything's fine.
Back in June, British lawmaker Jo Cox was killed in a politically motivated attack by a man shouting "Britain First!" (Sound familiar? America first?) The man had a history of mental illness and connections to a nationalist group with the motto, "Taking our country back." (Again, sound familiar?)
Advertisement
What sort of talk could rile up a person like Cox's killer? Maybe rhetoric similar to the kind Trump was spewing at his rally Tuesday: "If Hillary appoints justices of the Supreme Court, you're going to have a lot of problems folks. We're gone for like 75 years, meaning we're gone as a country because we will be a large scale version of Venezuela. So we can't let it happen."
We can't let it happen. Our country will be gone. Maybe those Second Amendment people can stop it wink, wink.
Seems troubling. But I'm sure everything's going to be fine. Trump's soulless spokespeople and supporters say so.
Everything's fine.
Right up until it isn't.
rhuppke@chicagotribune.com
If you ask Chip Dell, sales director for Beacon Hill in Lombard, how he would best describe the robust lifestyle and activity levels at the retirement community, he would smile and probably use words such as comfort, freedom and happy.
"There are so many opportunities to be active that I liken it to being on a cruise ship without the motion sickness," Dell says jokingly. "Our community provides an active lifestyle and fun atmosphere that challenges residents to grow and learn anew. Our residents are genuinely happy."
Advertisement
Beacon Hill has been Dell's focus for the last two years. He says the campus has recently been undergoing extensive expansion with the completion of an 18,000-square-foot Pavilion, which includes a new kitchen, several eating areas, a casual grill, business/travel center, a Wii gaming area and a performing arts theater that seats more than 200 people.
"We also added indoor/outdoor seating, a fun courtyard design with fire pit and water feature, along with an outdoor grill and patio for those warm summer days," says Dell. "In addition, we are putting the finishing touches to our brand new fitness area, locker rooms and existing indoor swimming pool. There really isn't much like it in the western suburbs."
Advertisement
Aside from the active lifestyle and contemporary facilities at the heart of Beacon Hill, Dell says it's the staff which helps to make the community a destination for those seeking a distinct senior living environment.
"Our dedicated staff continues to make a real difference for our residents. There are several staff members who have been empowering the lives of seniors at Beacon Hill for more than 25 years," says Dell. "Their commitment to excellence is unparalleled and it shows by the happy faces of our residents each day. Going beyond the call of duty is not unusual at Beacon Hill it's just part of the culture."
According to Dell, years of research and a much better informed public have created the demand for communities such as Beacon Hill, which thrive by offering a healthy lifestyle. "We have partnered with an organization called Masterpiece Living. The plan is to live long and die short," says Dell. "No lingering and slowly declining. Stay active and engaged. We work with our residents in the four quadrants of life: physical, mental, spiritual and social."
Masterpiece Living residents benefit from studies that show people who live in communities such as Beacon Hill live two to four years longer than others who do not, Dell says.
Rusco Windows & Doors, Inc. has been in business since 1937, first manufacturing storm windows to improve energy efficiency and comfort in homes.
As the market changed, the company expanded to respond to customer needs. In the mid-'80's Rusco introduced new product lines including replacement windows, doors and siding. Eventually they began installing vinyl decks and sunrooms.
Advertisement
"Seven years ago we sought out exceptional roofing installers, making Rusco a one-stop shop for exterior home improvements," says Tom DiFiglio, current owner.
Sam DiFiglio, the owner's father, joined Rusco in the mid-1970s and Tom's brother Bob DiFiglio became part of the Rusco team as well. Though both Sam and Bob retired from the company, Tom was proud to gain another DiFiglio, his nephew Paul, the third generation on the team. "We have a proven track record and we've invested our families' resources into something we love to do," he says.
Advertisement
While longevity is the company's strong suit, they also value outstanding customer service and trust.
"We treat your home like our own," Tom says. "Caring for others and respecting our neighbors' property and their homes is how I was raised."
He also feels convenience is important and being close to home is beneficial. "Having one location in Westmont helps us better serve the communities in which we live and allows us to listen to our customers and focus on their needs," says DiFiglio. "This puts us in a position to give the best possible advice and service."
Pride is evident in the company's showroom where you will find full-size windows and doors on display. Rusco does most of its business in DuPage County, but has a customer base in the entire Chicagoland region. "Although past customers have moved from the area, they still trust Rusco to get the job done and know we will go the extra mile to service them," he says.
Pella Windows and Doors was a key manufacturer early on and due to Rusco's reputation, Pella sought out the company to assist with troubleshooting in the field. "Pella knew we had excellent installation teams, so we were a natural target for them," Tom says. Rusco was involved in the program Pella created in the early years and today is a Pella Platinum Certified Contractor.
"I think it's important for customers to understand what they're getting with a platinum level relationship," he says. "Our company represents proper training from the manufacturer, which translates into minimal to no issues down the road."
The relationship gives Rusco competitive pricing for Pella products and more timely service. "Having open communication with manufacturers provides a better experience for everyone, especially homeowners," says DiFiglio. "It helps customers recognize the companies that will stand by their work."
The charming Fox River Valley community of Geneva has grown from a sleepy farm town to one of the most desirable addresses in the western suburbs. The Shodeen Homes name has been synonymous with Geneva's growth into an architecturally distinctive, upscale community, and Shodeen is now celebrating 55 years spent contributing to the unique character of the community as well as neighboring Fox Valley towns.
Native Chicagoan Kent Shodeen established his homebuilding business in 1961 at the age of 23, when he moved from the city to forge a new life for his family in Geneva. He was in the process of constructing a home for his family when a passerby offered to buy the home from his plans. He started on another home and that one, too, was sold. He purchased a piece of land in Batavia and started building homes one by one, and gradually progressed from building a few homes annually to more than 200 a year in Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles and other Fox Valley towns. All bear the family's trademark quality.
Advertisement
The vibrant family business has diversified into a group of companies, expanding from residential into commercial real estate and hospitality.
Kent Shodeen is chief executive officer, his son, Craig Shodeen, is president of Shodeen Homes, and his daughter, Anna Harmon, is director of marketing. Beth Shodeen works for Shodeen Group overseeing various properties the company owns in Wisconsin.
Advertisement
A strong believer in giving back to the community, Kent Shodeen and his wife, Joan, formed the Shodeen Family Foundation in 1999 to support programs that enrich and strengthen the quality of life in Geneva and other communities served by the company.
"The foundation represents another way our family strives to make a lasting, positive impact on the communities we serve," says Craig Shodeen.
Joining forces with a nationwide law enforcement prostitution sting initiative, Arlington Heights police have charged 14 men with solicitation of a sexual act.
As one of 38 law enforcement agencies throughout 15 states that participated in the recent "National Johns Suppression Initiative," a nationwide crackdown on the demand for purchased sex, Arlington Heights police ran two sting operations at a hotel in the area of Arlington Heights Road and Algonquin Road that resulted in the arrest of 14 men, all of whom were charged with solicitation of a sexual act, Arlington Heights Police Cmdr. Nathan Hayes said.
Advertisement
None of the offenders are Arlington Heights residents, Hayes said, but several reside in neighboring towns, including Buffalo Grove, Mount Prospect, Palatine and Rolling Meadows.
"We always set goals and have initiatives to combat prostitution activity, which is something we take very seriously, and work on all year-round in Arlington Heights," Hayes said.
Advertisement
While Hayes declined to identify the hotel where the 14 arrests were made, he said the sting involved police placing an ad on classified website Backpage.com, and designating a local hotel as a meeting place.
When the offenders arrived at the hotel room, police officers were awaiting, including a female officer acting as the decoy, with the department making five arrests on July 6, and nine arrests on July 28, Hayes said.
"The hotels in town partner with us and work with the police department to combat the problem, because they don't want this kind of thing taking place at their businesses," Hayes said.
The 14 offenders who were arrested and charged with misdemeanor solicitation of a sexual act in the recent Arlington Heights two-day sting are:
Kevin P. Paulish, 30, of Lockport
Patrick J. Bowler, 60, of, Chicago
Rodolfo Gonzalez-Segundo, 44, of South Elgin
Edin Lojo, 47, of Skokie
Advertisement
Sarabjit S. Datt, 42, of Palatine
Neal S. Fusco, 39, of Lake in the Hills
Mark Bruk, 50, of Buffalo Grove
Patryk L. Kochmanski, 31, of Wood Dale
Davis E. Costello, 51, of Northlake
Gustavo E. Deleon, 40, of Deerfield
Advertisement
Luis A. Sajaju, 43, of Mt. Prospect
Fernando Limon-Villalobos, 35, of Rolling Meadows
Manuel Arce, 21, of Lombard
Adam M. Maxfield, 25, of Hoffman Estates
According to a statement from the Cook County Sheriff's Office, more than 1,300 sex buyers what officials say is a record were arrested across 18 states in this summer's initiative, which was conducted by a national coalition of law enforcement agencies, with local participants including the Cook and Lake county sheriff's offices, as well as suburban agencies including the Arlington Heights, Lansing, Matteson and Broadview police departments.
The recent sting operation, which ran from July 1 to Aug. 7, also led law enforcement agencies across the U.S. to recover 32 underage girls who were lured into human trafficking, and to make 71 human trafficking arrests, officials said.
Advertisement
As launched by Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart in 2011 to highlight the role of sex buyers or "johns" as perpetrators in a violent and exploitative industry, officials said the initiative has thus far resulted in the arrest of more than 5,800 offenders by more than 70 arresting agencies across 22 states.
Among the highlights of the recent National Johns Suppression Initiative campaign were:
The most arrests, 230, were made by the Cook County Sheriff's Office, 43 of which were in partnership with the Lansing, Matteson and Broadview police departments.
Cook County Sheriff's Police Investigators arrested a 15-year-old attempting to buy sex.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigations rescued a 12-year-old girl who had been abducted in Texas and trafficked to Tennessee for purposes of commercial sex.
The Las Vegas Metro Police Department recovered 22 girls who were identified as victims of sex trafficking.
Advertisement
The Oakland Police Department arrested a male buyer who left his 7-year-old daughter in the car. The child got out of the vehicle and wandered around the motel parking lot. She was rescued during the operation. He was charged with child endangerment in addition to solicitation.
Seattle police arrested two three-member bachelor parties.
Sixty percent of arrests stemmed from online advertisements, of which 99 percent were on Backpage.com.
In Arlington Heights, Hayes said the department's primary goal is getting ahead of the problem by deterring would-be offenders from answering ads for solicitation of sexual acts by alerting them that doing so is a crime.
"We want people to know that when they are responding to these ads, there might be police on the other side of that door," Hayes said.
kcullotta@tribpub.com
Advertisement
Twitter: @kcullotta
Cassie Jarvis, right, with boyfriend Justin Retherford-Speer for Oswego High School's 2016 prom. Retherford-Speer, 20, died after a car collided with his motorcycle Aug. 4. (Provided by Cassie Jarvis / Handout)
When Justin Retherford-Speer turned 16, his older sister, Lara Speer, gave him her pink Chrysler convertible.
He was a linebacker on Oswego High School's football team, and he "bled orange and blue," but he kept the car pink, his sister said. He and his friends would ride around town with the top down, she said.
Advertisement
"That kid pimped out that car," Lara Speer said. "He rocked it."
More recently, the 20-year-old had been driving a truck and riding a motorcycle.
Advertisement
Retherford-Speer was killed Aug. 4 in a motorcycle crash in Batavia. Friends and family say he was an outgoing young man who could befriend anyone and left a lasting impression.
"He always took in the underdog and made them feel like part of something," Lara Speer said.
Cassie Jarvis, left, with boyfriend Justin Retherford-Speer. Retherford-Speer, 20, died after a car collided with his motorcycle Aug. 4. (Provided by Cassie Jarvis / Handout)
Retherford-Speer was the youngest of four siblings. Lara, about 10 years older, remembers the day he was born. She went to the hospital with her mother and her grandmother.
"He was absolutely incredible and the light of our life," she said. "He was the most energetic and sweet caring little boy. Any time anyone was upset, he was right there in your arms."
When Cassie Jarvis met Justin Retherford-Speer in the hallways of Oswego High School, she was a sophomore and he was a senior. His happiness attracted her then, as it continued to do for almost three years, she said.
"He's just one of those guys, he tries to make everybody smile," Jarvis said. "I think it's important for everyone to know he lived every moment like it was his last. He never had regrets. He just lived life every day."
He liked to be the center of attention, no matter where he was, Jarvis said. They started talking, then dated on and off. They hiked together, fished together and enjoyed coffee together, she said.
Every Sunday when they were dating, they'd get breakfast at Buttermilk in Geneva. Retherford-Speer always ordered the farmer's omelet, Jarvis said.
Advertisement
Justin Retherford-Speer, 20, died after a car collided with his motorcycle Aug. 4. He was studying to be a mechanic and working two jobs. He got his motorcycle at the beginning of the summer. (Provided by Cassie Jarvis / Handout)
Restaurant manager Pete Kostopoulos didn't know the couple by name, but he and the wait staff remember the tall, bearded young man who came in with a blond young woman each week and asked for the same omelet.
"They always seemed happy when they came in," Kostopoulos said. "He was always smiling."
Retherford-Speer was studying auto mechanics at Waubonsee Community College, with plans to transfer to Southern Illinois University next year. He'd been working as a mechanic part-time, and had a second part-time job as a bouncer, his siblings said.
He and his older brother, Matthew Wheaton, are only about a month apart.
"He and Matthew pushed each other to be better, to be great at what they did," Lara Speer said. "There was a love between them that was just incredible."
Although he was afraid of motorcycles as a child, Retherford-Speer had wanted a bike for a while and finally got one at the beginning of the summer. He'd been saving up and when he saw a 1994 Kawasaki Ninja he went for it, Jarvis said. She rode on the back all the time.
Advertisement
When she got the call about the crash, she was at work. She left immediately.
"Right now I'm kind of in the whole, 'I still don't really believe it' phase," Jarvis said.
Preliminary reports indicate that Retherford-Speer's motorcycle and a 2009 Pontiac Vibe collided at about 8:20 p.m. Aug. 4. Jarvis thinks Retherford-Speer was on his way home.
Retherford-Speer was riding northbound on Randall Road near Main Street and a 16-year-old girl was driving the Pontiac southbound, Batavia police said. Both vehicles had a green light. The Pontiac started turning left onto Main Street when it collided with the motorcycle, Batavia Police Det. Kevin Bretz told the Chicago Tribune.
Retherford-Speer was pronounced dead at 8:45 p.m., not a half hour after the crash.
After an autopsy Friday, the Kane County Coroner's Office said Retherford-Speer's preliminary cause of death was multiple injuries. Toxicology samples were sent to a forensic laboratory for analysis.
Advertisement
The coroner's office is cooperating with police and fire agencies in the ongoing investigation of the incident, according to a news release.
At a gathering of family and friends held Tuesday at Dunn Family Funeral Home in Oswego, former coaches and coworkers were among those who shared memories of Retherford-Speer. Female bartenders he worked with said they always felt safe when he was there, and they could count on him to walk them to their cars when they got off their shifts, Lara Speer said.
"He was a loving, caring protector," Speer said. "He loved his niece, his friends, his family."
When Lara Speer became pregnant with her daughter, who is now 9 months old, Retherford-Speer joked that she better come early, because she was due in November, and he didn't want to share a birthday month. From the moment her daughter was born on Oct. 25, the bond between the girl and her uncle was visible, Lara Speer said.
"That little girl would look at him and you would see cartoon hearts flying out of her eyes," Lara Speer said. "It didn't matter if he was running late to work, if he saw that little girl, he would stop and pick her up and give her a kiss Like the day he died. He gave her a kiss and said he would see her later."
hleone@tribpub.com
Advertisement
Twitter @hannahmleone
Dancers perform at the Indian American Community Outreach Advisory Board's 2015 Diwali Celebration in Aurora. The group is sponsoring Bollywood Night in Aurora Saturday. (City of Aurora / Handout)
The culture of India and its films will be celebrated in Aurora Saturday.
The city's Indian American Community Outreach Advisory Board is hosting Aurora's first Bollywood Night Saturday at Phillips Park.
Advertisement
The free event will feature a special edition of "Movies in the Park" at dusk with a showing of the movie "Om Shanti Om." A popular Indian film, "Om Shanti Om" features Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone in the lead roles of Om and Shanti, organizers said.
Prior to the movie at dusk, the crowd will be entertained by live Indian dances beginning at 7:30 p.m. Indian food will be available for sale throughout the evening.
Advertisement
"The Indian American community of Aurora is honored to celebrate India Independence Day, which is recognized worldwide on Aug. 15, by offering the community an authentic part of our culture," said Gautam Bhatia, chairman of Aurora's Indian American Community Outreach Advisory Board. "We invite the entire community to join us this weekend."
Bollywood Night will be held at the same location as the regularly scheduled "Movies in the Park" at the Phillips Park Sledding Hill, 1150 Howell Place, adjacent to the aquatic center. Parking is available on site.
A concerned witness and a relative with some smartphone savvy helped lead to the arrest of a suspect in an Aurora robbery of a 67-year-old woman.
At about 4 p.m. Friday, two women, ages 67 and 72, were walking near West Park Avenue and Oak Avenue when a blue Nissan Versa parked in the street, according to an emailed statement from police spokesman Dan Ferrelli.
Advertisement
A woman got out of the Nissan, approached the 67-year-old, pushed her to the ground and took her purse, then got back in the car, according to the statement.
The 72-year-old tried to reach into the car to get the purse back, but the woman accelerated and the older woman fell to the ground, according to police.
Advertisement
The 67-year-old and 72-year-old were treated and released from an Aurora hospital.
Several witnesses told responding police officers what they saw. One, a 35-year-old man, followed the Nissan and took a photo that showed its license plate, according to police.
The 67-year-old woman's son, who lives in California, used an app to track her cellphone which was stolen to an apartment in Downers Grove. Detectives responded to the area, where they found the missing purse and all of its contents except for an undisclosed amount of cash, according to the statement.
"The citizen witnesses should be acknowledged for their willingness to help a fellow neighbor during a time of need," Aurora Police Department Investigations Sgt. Tom McNamara said in the statement. "Without the picture taken and relayed to responding officers, this case would not have moved as quickly as it did."
Other detectives researched the Nissan's license plate and identified a potential suspect who lived in Chicago's Austin neighborhood, according to the statement.
Police went to the suspect's address and saw the Nissan parked on the street. They knocked on the suspect's door but no one answered, so police called for a tow. Once the tow truck arrived, the suspect opened an apartment window and identified herself as the owner, according to police. When police asked her to come outside and talk, she did, and was subsequently taken into custody without incident.
After an interview at the police station, Annette Minnis, 64, of the 5600 block of West Washington Street, Chicago, was charged with robbery of a person older than 60. She is currently in the Kane County Correctional Center in lieu of $150,000 bail.
Minnis, formerly Annette Riley, has a criminal history that spans more than two decades and includes previous robberies. Records indicate she was last admitted to state prison in October 2009. Minnis was last paroled from custody in March 2014 on a sentence that was discharged that July, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Advertisement
Minnis was convicted of felony second-degree robbery in Cook County in March 1996, January 2006 and October 2009, records show. In November 2003, she was convicted of felony third- and fourth-degree theft. She does not appear to have a prior record in Kane or Kendall counties.
hleone@tribpub.com
Twitter @hannahmleone
Is Illinois the next state to deal with "voter suppression?" Maybe, depending how you look at it.
You may know that a conservative group filed a federal lawsuit last week to stop Illinois' Election Day voter registration law from being carried out this November. The group's top expert in the case is probably best known for his vigorous defense of Wisconsin's controversial voter ID law, which was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge last month. Requiring voters to produce identification at the polls has often been ruled as an unconstitutional suppression tactic in numerous recent cases.
Advertisement
M.V. Hood III, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, is consulting on the new case for the Illinois Policy Institute's legal arm, the Liberty Justice Center. The lawsuit argues that since Illinois only requires in-precinct voter registration on Election Day in counties with populations over 100,000, it should be struck down for violating the constitutional equal protection rights of people in the other counties. Under state law, counties under 100,000 population must have a same-day voter registration process, but they are allowed to have only one central registration/voting location.
Same-day registration proved crucial on Election Day two years ago in a super-tight Illinois House race, when state Rep. Kate Cloonen (D-Kankakee) barely defeated Republican Glenn Nixon by a mere 122 votes. Cloonen is near the very top of Gov. Bruce Rauner's political hit list this year.
Advertisement
Not all, but most of the legislative Democrats targeted for defeat this year are in counties of over 100,000 people where same-day, in-precinct registration is mandatory. Same-day registration certainly gives them an advantage in those counties because Democrats generally have a much better "ground game" than the Republicans. They have far more foot soldiers and a system to get people to the polls at the last minute.
But if the entire same-day registration law is enjoined for this cycle, as Hood and the Illinois Policy Institute want, the ruling would undoubtedly have a negative impact on Democrats in every single contested House and Senate race in the state.
Gov. Rauner has supported same-day registration in the past, but he has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Illinois Policy Institute, although everybody denies any current direct involvement. Even so, the institute's director, John Tillman, maintains very close ties to Rauner, is said by GOP insiders to be assisting Rauner with his messaging and was videoed walking out of a recent Chicago term limits press conference with the governor.
Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >
Hood was a witness for Wisconsin this year as the Republican-controlled state attempted to fend off an attempt to declare its voter ID law unconstitutional. He claimed he knew of no reason why the state's requirements to provide proof of identification in order to vote "will have a detrimental impact on the ability of Wisconsin voters to cast a ballot, including minority voters," according to a May 26 Wisconsin State Journal article.
But on July 29, U.S. District Judge James Peterson declared, "To put it bluntly, Wisconsin's strict version of voter ID law is a cure worse than the disease" and ordered the state to supply voters with ID cards within 30 days. Earlier this year, the former chief of staff to a Wisconsin GOP state senator alleged that Republican senators were "giddy" during a private caucus meeting, "and literally singled out the prospects of suppressing minority and college voters" with a voter ID law.
Hood has also defended Georgia's voter ID requirements, saying that while it did suppress turnout, he could find "no empirical evidence to suggest that there is a racial or ethnic component to this suppression effect."
The new Illinois lawsuit points out that the same-day law was passed with only Democratic votes and was signed by a Democratic governor. "Not coincidentally," the group wrote in a press release, "high-population counties in Illinois tend to favor Democratic candidates; low-population counties in Illinois tend to favor Republican candidates."
But state Rep. Christian Mitchell (D-Chicago) took to Twitter to repeatedly denounce the Illinois Policy Institute's lawsuit as an attempt at "voter suppression," similar to what happened in Wisconsin. Mitchell, an African-American legislator who strongly supported the same-day bill, claimed that, after "defending Rauner's budgets,'" the conservative think tank is "now doing his dirty work of voter suppression." The group responded by repeating its legal claim that the law violates the U.S. Constitution's Equal Protection Clause.
Advertisement
This is, without a doubt, the single most fascinating year for Illinois politics in my lifetime. And it's only gonna get weirder as every single trick in the book is played and maybe some that aren't even in the book.
Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com.
Orientation is underway for students at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills. Some sections of a required introductory course are restricted to blacks only because peer support is shown to improve student success. (Ted Slowik / Daily Southtown)
Moraine Valley Community College announced the school is changing course and will no longer limit sections of an introductory course to black students only, a spokeswoman said.
"While Moraine Valley Community College will continue to offer sections of its College 101 course for the success of special populations, it will no longer offer sections of this course for specific racial groups," Clare Briner, director of marketing and communications, said in a statement.
Advertisement
The community college serving more than 34,000 students in the south suburbs requires all students to take the one-credit-hour course, "College: Changes, Challenges, Choice."
This fall, enrollment for two sections of the course was initially limited to black students. While the college had offered the course to specific populations such as veterans, women and Hispanics in the past, this was the first time enrollment was to have been restricted by race.
Advertisement
My Friday column about this drew national attention about how the intent of the race restriction was designed to improve success among black students by offering peer support. USA Today ran a story online.
The topic caught the attention of the New York Civil Rights Coalition, which sent an open letter to Moraine Valley President Sylvia Jenkins.
"I find it strange indeed that a course that purports to guide and develop students' 'appreciation for diversity' employs racial separatism and segregation as acceptable and effective means for teaching that 'appreciation' for diversity," Michael Meyers, executive director of the coalition, wrote.
Inside Higher Ed, a media outlet that covers higher education issues, wrote about the controversy and spoke with Michael A. Olivas, acting president of University of Houston Downtown. He said, "aggrieved white people tend to fixate on programs that are exclusionary or that even attempt to target minority populations," Inside Higher Ed reported.
"I think it's ill-advised, arguably subject to legal challenge, and you don't want to wave the flag in front of the bull," Inside Higher Ed quoted Olivas as saying.
Inside Higher Ed also spoke with Margaret Lehner, Moraine Valley's vice president for institutional advancement, who said the college's curriculum and support services are shaped by data-driven decision making.
"We find that these particular courses with these particular groups with our mentoring and peer support help them to be more successful than they would be if they did not have this particular experience," Inside Higher Ed quoted Lehner as saying.
Moraine Valley didn't elaborate on its reasoning for its abrupt change of course. It's possible the column generated such overwhelming positive reaction from students, taxpayers and others that the college was simply overwhelmed and needed time to reconsider strategy amid its newfound popularity.
Advertisement
Then again, I think it's more likely college officials received a lot of negative reaction once people learned about the policy.
The story was also picked up by other news outlets, including Campus Reform, a project of the Leadership Institute, which says it has been "training conservative activists, students, and leaders since 1979."
The Daily Caller ran a piece. It's a website founded by a onetime policy advisor to former Vice President Dick Cheney. Its editorial staff includes people with such titles as "resident patriot editor," "guns and gear editor" and "head of security."
One-term Tea Party Congressman and nationally syndicated conservative radio host Joe Walsh Tweeted about the situation on Tuesday.
"College offers 'black-only' classes," Walsh Tweeted. "Imagine the outrage if they had 'white-only' classes. Smh," which is shorthand for "shaking my head."
Various other websites picked up the story, including one called Hypeline and another called Weasel Zippers, a conservative blog dedicated to "scouring the bowels of the Internet."
Advertisement
Conservatives are much more active about spinning information online than liberals. Information gets diluted and deformed, like the old childhood game of telephone.
Websites typically contain a couple paragraphs of an original news story, a couple of sentences of strongly worded opinion, then it's off to the races in the reader comments section.
One website published the phone number for the college and urged readers to call and express their opinions about the policy.
Many of the opinions expressed by commenters online contain language unfit to reprint in a family newspaper. Some of the commenters identified themselves with avatars showing pictures of Confederate flags. The gist of the reaction was that many felt Moraine Valley's policy was racist.
I can only imagine the content of phone calls, emails and other communication fielded by college officials. I have a pretty good sense it wasn't flattering, and some of it probably threatened legal action.
I'll make an educated guess the decision to no longer offer sections of the introductory course for specific racial groups was made amid a backlash of criticism about the policy.
Advertisement
Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >
If that's the case, I suppose it's probably for the best. No need to go around waving metaphorical flags in front of allegorical bulls. I trust institutions like Moraine Valley will find other ways to provide support services without triggering a wave of negative reaction.
I love that the topic generated a lot of interest and got people talking about race. I think we need to have more conversations about race. There are many good points on both sides of an issue like classes limited to black students.
I'm troubled how some people engaging in the debate used hate speech to express their opinions. I'm all for the passionate expression of views, but I'm concerned about the deterioration of civility.
Hate speech tends to drown out voices of reason. Hate speech makes it no easier to solve complex problems like education funding inequality, academic achievement gaps or Islamic extremist terrorism.
As always, I welcome feedback in the comments section online, via email or Twitter. I only ask you to keep your remarks civil, please.
tslowik@tribpub.com
Advertisement
Twitter @tedslowik
Camp Quality of Illinois is again providing a fun-filled program for children with cancer.
The weeklong program, which started Sunday, is at Camp Manitoqua, 8122 Sauk Trail in Frankfort.
Advertisement
For 22 years, the camp has provided to children suffering with cancer a variety of activities, including arts, crafts, and outdoor play, said Carol Oostman, a public relations coordinator for the program.
This year's theme is "Dr. Seuss on the Loose." The fun includes a costume contest, a wacky scavenger hunt and a green egg toss.
Advertisement
The program, which receives volunteer efforts from businesses and organizations, has helped many children throughout the years.
Each camper is paired with a counselor for companionship. Participants are from Chicago, surrounding suburbs, and northwest Indiana. Children ages 5 to 17 with a cancer diagnosis may apply to attend camp at no charge.
Youngsters who attended Camp Quality often return to help out with the program after they turn 18.
For example, Peter Rodriguez, of Orland Park, now helps with the program. He was a camper from age 8 to 15.
Diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 1999 at the age of 4; the 2014 Carl Sandburg graduate has been cancer free since 2001. This is his first year serving as a companion to a youngster.
When asked why he wanted to return, Rodriguez said, "I would like to give a camper the experience I had; and I want to give back."
Rodriguez said there was never a boring moment when he attended the program. He said some campers were like family members. Some campers are still his friends. One friend, Emily Lewis, shared helicopter rides and other adventures during camp.
Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >
"Once I got to camp, I didn't feel like I was around sick kids," Rodriguez said. "Definitely Camp has been a second home. I grew up with the kids with cancer. Cancer is not part of me, but it is who I am. Cancer doesn't have to be something unbeatable. I overcame it. I beat it. I would like to share my experiences with other campers."
Advertisement
Rodriguez is now a pre-med student at University of Illinois Chicago. His dream is to end cancer.
Camp program director Mary Lockton said she likes being involved with the camp.
"I love that we are able to offer all we do to campers and their families throughout the year, completely free of charge," Lockton said. "We are blessed to have the support of the surrounding communities and our volunteers and donors who give so much of their time, talents, and treasures to our kids. Like Peter said, Camp Quality feels like a second family. I can't imagine my life without all the wonderful people Camp Quality has brought into it."
To donate to Camp Quality Illinois; send donations to: P.O. Box 641, Lansing, IL 60438.
For more information, call (708) 895-8311 or visit the group's website at: www.campqualityusa.org/il
Laura Hinderman is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Jane Talesnick is the owner/director of Baby's Inn day care, which she runs out of her Highland Park home. (Brian O'Mahoney / Pioneer Press)
Jane Talesnick says her decision to open a home day care center 14 years ago was rooted in a belief that children are best served in that setting during the first few years of life.
But frankly, it was also a smart career move, she says. The choice allowed her to juggle work and family when her children were growing up. The income and tax write-offs for a home business have helped pay for her home in southeast Highland Park, she said.
Advertisement
As the part-time coordinator for the Highland Park/Highwood Home Child Care Association, Talesnick has tried to expand the number of home day care providers, but progress has been slow. Currently, there are seven licensed home day care providers serving about 65 children within the association.
"I am receiving countless phone calls and e-mails from parents looking for child care," said Talesnick, who holds a master's degree in early childhood development and has completed the coursework toward a doctorate degree.
Advertisement
"I've personally turned away at least seven families this summer that didn't come through the association's website," she said. "I also feel that parents should have more than seven choices."
Illinois requires that home day care providers be licensed by the Department of Children and Family Services if they provide care for more than three children, including their own offspring. The typical license allows a provider to care for up to eight children, but puts lower limits on the number of infants and toddlers, as well as children younger than five.
A provider with a full-time assistant can serve more children.
Before opening her own center, Talesnick served as director of three day care centers in the area.
"I was never satisfied with the care of infants and toddlers, partially due to the environmental constraints of child care centers," she said. "There were usually between eight and 12 infants in one room, where they would eat, sleep and play on different schedules."
Eva Soutsos, who operates a group center out of her home in Highland Park, concurs that the demand for infant and toddler care exceeds the few spaces available.
"All of us are very limited in the number of infants we can serve," said Soutsos, who opened her center, Our School Haus, in 2010 and is the newest member of the association.
She said that the infant spots at her center typically go to siblings of older children.
Advertisement
"I save my infant spots for someone who already is enrolled and is having a baby," Soutsos said.
Soutsos started her day care center when her youngest child was 1 1/2 and the pieces just fell into place.
"I was a stay-at-home mom for quite awhile and it would have been difficult to get back into a corporate job," she said. "By opening a center, I could earn an income while being home with my son."
A woman who ran a Montessori preschool was retiring, and Soutsos took over the care of some of the children. She also hired the retiring teacher to help out.
Soutsos likes the flexibility that comes with setting her own schedule and the freedom to pursue interests with the children.
"It never gets boring, because everything is always changing," she said. "I also enjoy the interaction with the parents, and I've become more integrated into the community."
Advertisement
A state license to provide home day care must be renewed every three years. Licensed day care homes are inspected annually to make sure the home meets safety standards and that all requirements, such as criminal background checks and First Aid certifications, are up to date.
Jane Talesnick plays with some of her clients at Baby's Inn day care in Highland Park, which she runs out of her home. (Brian O'Mahoney / Pioneer Press)
While the paperwork to obtain a state license can appear daunting, Talesnick said she can help walk a prospective provider through the process.
"Anybody who has been in a nurturing field is an ideal candidate," Talesnick said.
She's hired prospective operators for six-month internships to see what running a center entails.
Another option for would-be owners is to first open a license-exempt center for fewer than three children.
"You can't open your doors and then say, I don't want to do this, because you have parents that are depending on you," she noted.
Advertisement
Talesnick believes the ability to earn a good income and be there for your children are huge selling points.
"When I was directing other child care centers, I couldn't get home to my own children," she recalled. "Parents would pick up late and while I was waiting for them, my children were waiting for me," said Talesnick, whose son and daughter are now 25 and 27.
Soutsos says her own children haven't minded the presence of a child care business in their home.
"They have really enjoyed having all these little kids in the house, and playing and helping and being involved," said Soutsos, whose large home allows her to separate day care functions from the rest of the house.
Talesnick recalled that when her son was in high school, there was always a crib or a piece of equipment in his room.
"The family is very much integrated into your business," she conceded. "It is a different kind of culture for the kids to grow up in."
Advertisement
kberkowitz@pioneerlocal.com
@KarenABerkowitz
A judge set bail today at $1 million for an 18-year-old man charged in a shooting that killed a 19-year-old man last month in the city's Portage Park neighborhood.
Tramian Barnes of the 400 block of South May Street in Joliet was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Alex Anderson of the 5000 block of West Cullom Avenue, said police.
Advertisement
Judge Donald Panarese set bail at $1 million for Barnes during a hearing today at the Leighton Criminal Court building.
The shooting happened about 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 20 in the 4300 block of North Milwaukee Avenue, police said.
Advertisement
Prosecutors said Anderson and a witness were walking to Anderson's car and entered it as another car passed them on Milwuakee Avenue. After Anderson started the car he got out and walked into an alley, prosecutors said.
The witness stayed in the car but became worried when Anderson didn't come back and sent a text to Anderson's phone at 10:20 p.m. but got no response, prosecutors said.
At some point, Barnes had pulled out a handgun and shot Anderson in the abdomen and right arm, authorities said.
Anderson ran to his home in the 5000 block of West Cullum Avenue saying he'd been shot by "Trea,'' prosecutors said. He was hunched over and breathing heavily but he managed to text his girlfriend and tell responding police officers that "Trea" shot him twice, prosecutors said.
Barnes was arrested after fleeing to Columbus, Georgia where he was living with family members, prosecutors said.
Police recovered two guns.
dawilliams@tribune.com
Twitter: @neacynewslady
After a series of vehicle burglaries leading up to last weekend ended in arrests, Antioch police announced more burglary arrests and charges after an early morning smash-and-grab burglary Monday of a business on the north side of the village.
Police got an assist from nearby businesses and residents who reported seeing suspicious people with backpacks running through the area, Antioch Police Sgt. Geoff Guttschow said Wednesday.
Advertisement
The incident began with an alarm about 1:50 a.m. at Foods Unlimited at 354 North Ave. When police arrived, Guttschow said, they found the front door of the business had been broken and the suspects concentrated on taking liquor and cigarettes.
"While officers were searching the area, workers from a nearby business called 911, reporting they witnessed two subjects running from the area who were wearing backpacks and carrying items," Guttschow said, adding that the officers set up a perimeter and began canvassing the area door to door.
Advertisement
Some of those residents reported seeing similar suspects with backpacks, and they directed police to a nearby apartment building that the suspects ran into, he said. Police gained entry into the apartment and found numerous individuals, and Guttschow said it took some time to identify suspects in the burglary.
Police took three people into custody that night, and they were charged Tuesday and taken to bond court in Waukegan.
"We got confessions from all three," he said.
The suspects, all from Antioch, were identified as Casey Olesinski, 18, of the 600 block of Anita Avenue; Lawrence Jenkins, 18, of the 500 block of Drom Court; and Austin Prinn, 19, of the 100 block of Kimberly Lane. All were charged with two counts of Class 2 felony burglary, and Lawrence had an additional charge of misdemeanor criminal damage to property, said Guttschow. Bail for Lawrence was set at $50,000, and the other two suspects had bail set at $5,000, he said.
Smash-and-grab burglaries were very common just a few years ago, but Guttschow said that the cost of alarm systems has decreased and a lot of business have them, which allows police to jump right on a case.
"In the past, you may not find the broken window until the next morning," he said. "Now, most businesses have alarms."
In Illinois, Class 2 Felonies can result in up to seven years imprisonment and a $25,000 fine, he said.
On Tuesday, Antioch police announced two arrests in connection with a string of burglaries from vehicles that took place north of the downtown area between Aug. 2 and Aug. 7.
Advertisement
fabderholden@tribpub.com
Twitter @abderholden
Despite Lake County Judge Daniel Shanes setting an Aug. 10 deadline, the defense attorney for Jorge Torrez, who is charged with killing two young Zion girls in 2005, told the court Wednesday he is not ready to file motions that include a challenge to DNA evidence.
Defense attorney Jed Stone said he is still working on a challenge to the DNA evidence authorities said ties Torrez to the 2005 Mother's Day slaying of 8-year-old Laura Hobbs and 9-year-old Krystal Tobias in the Beulah Park Forest Preserve in Zion.
Advertisement
"DNA is so complicated, and I'm not a biologist," Stone said.
"But you do have one," Shanes said, adding that the case needs to get moving. He gave Stone an additional 21 days to file motions.
Advertisement
Stone has wrapped up work on another case and will now be able to focus his attention on Torrez, he said.
Torrez has already been convicted of the strangulation murder of Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Amanda Snell, 20, who lived in the same barracks as Torrez at the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Va.
A former Marine, Torrez has also been convicted of abducting three young women in Arlington, Va., in February 2010, one of whom he raped, sodomized, strangled and left for dead.
Torrez was sentenced to five life sentences at the state level in Virginia and is sentenced to death at the federal level for Snell's murder.
Stone said Wednesday he received an email about a week ago from the attorney representing Torrez in a federal case that contained telephone logs and taped conversations between Torrez and his former cellmate, Osama El-Atari, a convicted felon who authorities said was found shot to death in Maryland this year.
The telephone logs and taped conversations could assist Stone in challenging the prosecution's efforts to use the wiretapped conversations Torrez had with his former cellmate, who cooperated with authorities and wore a wiretap in a Virginia detention center in 2010 to record conversations with Torrez. Authorities said during those conversations, Torrez implicated himself in the deaths of the two Zion girls.
El-Atari, 37, had owned a Virginia restaurant before he was convicted in 2010 of scamming banks out of more than $50 million, authorities said. He received a 12-year sentence but won an early release after testifying against Torrez.
El-Atari was reported missing in mid-February in Loudoun County, Va., before he was found shot dead inside a pickup truck Feb. 13. Three men have been charged in connection to his death.
Advertisement
emcoleman@tribpub.com
Twitter @mekcoleman
Great summer in Waukegan
Thank you, Waukegan, for a wonderful summer. It started with the band concerts at the lakefront, in the park and at the library. Then there was the Independence Day parade. Scoop Waukegan was great. There was an art walk once a month. Thank you, Waukegan, thank you. Great summer.
Advertisement
No Chicago principals in Waukegan
Chicago has the biggest failing school system in this country, and Waukegan hires people from there to run its school system. Are the powers that be in Waukegan that stupid? Come on, people, wake up.
Advertisement
Seeking attention
How about this goofy Donald Trump? He has now endorsed Paul Ryan and John McCain. Trump does not want to be the president of the United States. He has his own airplane. He doesn't need Air Force One. He doesn't have any interest in all the things that would happen to him if he became president for four years. What he wanted was attention, and boy did he get it.
Informal poll
I just got done doing my own poll. I asked people coming out of the grocery store if they would like better jobs, if they wanted to be able to spend more on groceries and if they wanted everything to be made overseas. Hands down, everyone wants Donald Trump. Nobody wants Hillary Clinton.
Twitter @NewsSun
Talk of the County is a reader-generated column of opinions. If you see something you disagree with or think is incorrect, please tell us. Call us at 312-222-4554 or email talkofthecounty@tribpub.com. For a continuously updating blog of Talk of the County comments, go to newssunonline.com/talk.
Business / Companies
by Thandeka Moyo
THE National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) is lobbying Cabinet for the enactment of a protectionist law to restrict the carrying of bulk cargo through rail transport.In a speech presented on Sunday during the 9th national congress of the Zimbabwe Railways Artisans Union, NRZ acting general manager Engineer Alfred Gunzo, said the parastatal was lobbying the Government for a Statutory Instrument as part of measures to turn around the parastatal.He said despite prevailing challenges, the parastatal had recorded a slight rise in volumes since the beginning of the second half of 2016.Eng Gunzo did not, however, present figures on the improved situation."NRZ is currently lobbying Government on the ring-fencing of bulk commodities such as coal and chrome on rail through a Statutory Instrument and this development, once endorsed by Cabinet, will unlock value through reducing competitive pressures and improved market share," he said.In terms of recapitalisation initiatives, management in consultation with the Government is in the process of identifying a suitable financier.Eng Gunzo said they had made concerted efforts to recover both foreign and inter-parastatal debts while efforts are also being made to ensure that all outstanding revenues are recovered from the real estate portfolio.He said the parastatal has signed a number of transportation deals with some companies."We've jointly signed an MoU with NJZ for the movement of iron ore to Maputo. PPCZ is opening a new factory in Msasa suburb in Harare and we're negotiating with the customer for clinker movements to Msasa starting mid-August," said Eng Gunzo.He said NRZ had also signed an agreement to move coal from Beitbridge to Harare."The international alloy and ferro-alloy prices have firmed up and the appetite for commodity exports is increasing. We've finalised commercial negotiations with companies willing to use rail".Eng Gunzo said NRZ had received orders to transport maize and wheat imports into the country to alleviate drought up to June 2017."Movements are ongoing from Maputo, Beira, South Africa and Zambia. Indications from climate experts show that the drought effects may last up to 2019 and economies need to create strategic grain reserves. We'll also put in place initiatives to recover debt from both foreign and inter-parastatal debts to address some of our financial challenges," he said.The giant parastatal has over the years suffered losses and ballooning arrears to different creditors including workers. Management and the board have since hinted on plans to offload close to 1 400 workers from an estimated 6 000 strong workforce as part of measures to tame the ballooning wage bill.NRZ owes workers over 15 months' worth in unpaid salaries amounting to a total of $87 million.The NRZ is one of 10 state enterprises targeted for reform by the Government.At its peak the company used to employ about 15 000 people with a downstream impact on other industries
A 32-year-old Chicago man was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol after police said his gold Porsche smashed into a parked car in Park Ridge early Saturday morning as he drove home from the River Casino in Des Plaines.
Joseph Richko, of the 2900 block of Sheridan Road, was apprehended more than five hours after police said he left the scene of the crash at East Devon and South Western avenues at about 1 a.m. Aug. 6. Police searched for Richko after finding his vehicle at the crash scene, but he wasn't found until a woman called police shortly before 7 a.m. to say she found a man with blood and cuts all over his body walking near the crash site.
Advertisement
"He was bloody and had no shoes on," Park Ridge Deputy Police Chief Lou Jogmen said. "He told the woman he was in an accident and couldn't find his car, so she called 911."
As for Richko's whereabouts after the incident, he told police he knocked on front doors in search of help after he crashed the car and eventually fell asleep in someone's backyard.
Advertisement
Jogmen did not have details regarding what happened during the crash, which he said was still being investigated by a task force that specializes in handling major crashes.
Police also charged Richko with illegal transportation of liquor, driving without insurance, improper lane use and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident. He was also charged with damaging city property after police said they found a speed limit sign knocked over near the crash site.
Police said Richko was not hospitalized for his injuries following the crash. A court date is scheduled for Aug. 22.
Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
No injuries in reported Hammond carjacking
Hammond Police are investigating a carjackings reported Monday evening.
Advertisement
Officers were called around 8 p.m. to Carson's, 6600 block of Indianapolis Boulevard regarding a 63 year-old woman from Lansing, Ill., who'd reported a young black man between 14- and 16-years-old came up to her and pointed a handgun at her. Hammond Police spokesman Lt. Richard Hoyda said in a release that the suspect told her to leave her car keys and purse behind in her 2011 gray-colored Mercedes, which she did.
The suspect fled with the car in an unknown direction, Hoyda said in the release. The woman wasn't injured.
Advertisement
Police were also made aware of a second carjacking reported from South Holland, Ill., where a Chevrolet Camaro was taken. That vehicle was found in the north end of Carson's parking lot.
The woman said the suspect had short black hair and was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, Hoyda said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Det. Sgt. Jeffrey Ritter at 219 852 2990.
Police: Two robbed at gunpoint in Griffith
Two men said they were robbed at gunpoint by a group of five outside Griffith Billiards, 116 S. Broad St.
Police met with the men at the Meijer gas station in Highland, at 3:53 a.m. Aug. 7, and were told the robbery had occurred minutes earlier. The pool hall is about two blocks south of the Griffith Police Department.
The men said they were standing outside Griffith Billiards when a black four-door car pulled up. One man walked up, pointed a red laser at the chest of one of the victims, and four other men emerged from the car armed with handguns, Griffith police Investigations Cmdr. Keith Martin said.
The gunmen demanded money and threatened the men if they didn't comply. The men told police they handed over cash and their cell phones. One of the men took car keys from one of the victims and threw them, Martin said. The men then piled back into the car, which had Illinois plates, and drove south on Broad Street, police said.
Advertisement
Martin said police Detective James Sibley is following leads in the case and reviewing video from several area businesses.
Cal Township grandfather reports knife attack
A man loading his grandchildren into the car for church told police his neighbor across the street cut him with a butcher knife, police said.
The man said he heard a commotion coming from his neighbor's house at about 6:45 p.m. Aug. 5 as he was helping his young grandchildren into the car to leave for church in the 4100 block of Calhoun Street in Calumet Township, police said.
Rafaelita Esquivel was yelling at an individual doing yard work in her yard, then looked at the man's grandchildren and yelled, "What are you looking at, bitches?" court records state.
The man told police the woman's attitude made him angry, and he walked across the street to see what the problem was. As he stepped onto the grass, Esquivel came running from the doorway onto the front porch with a knife in each hand, threatening to kill the man, records state. As she made slashing type movements in the air, the man was cut on his forearm and cheek. The man had two cuts on his arm and a scrape on his cheek, the probable cause affidavit states. The man described the knife as having an 8-inch blade, records state.
Advertisement
Medics treated the man at the scene.
In a statement to police, Esquivel denied having a knife during the incident and said the neighbor grabbed her by her hair while she was standing in the doorway of her front porch and tried to pull her down, records state.
Esquivel, 32, was charged in Lake Superior Court with battery by means of a deadly weapon, battery resulting in moderate bodily injury, and two misdemeanor battery charges. The most serious of the counts is a Level 5 felony, which is punishable by one to six years.
Gary man sentenced to three years in attack
A Gary man was sentenced to three years in prison after admitting he battered a woman and left her with a broken nose, cuts and a fractured orbital bone around her eye.
Jaray Devon McCord will serve his time in the Indiana Department of Correction, with a recommendation from the judge that he be allowed to participate in the Indiana Department of Correction purposeful incarceration in the therapeutic community if McCord qualifies.
Advertisement
McCord, 25, admitted he was with the victim on April 10 in the 1800 block of Carolina Street in Gary and that they got into an argument. As the woman tried to walk away, McCord put her in a choke hold from behind, then battered her.
McCord had filed a request to withdraw his plea agreement, but changed his mind.
Lake Superior Court Judge Samuel Cappas noted that McCord admitted he had a problem with a variety of drugs and had been a heavy cocaine user beginning at age 22.
If he completes the therapeutic community program, McCord can seek a sentence modification that would allow for his early release.
Staff reports
Entertainment / Celebrity
by Staff reporter
United Kingdom-based Cameroon Film and Movie Academy has honoured Zimbabwean actress Samantha Ncube Mahlangu for her contribution to the African film industry.Mahlangu, who has featured in numerous Nigerian movies, was among several African actors who received recognition from the Cameroon Film and Movie Academy which was primarily established as a platform for actors of Cameroonian descent.London-based Mahlangu has described the honour as a "pleasant surprise.""It is a motivating gesture. It is a reward for the ups and downs I have gone through as an actress. I look up and praise my Lord for giving me strength to work my way up the ladder and for making the Cameroon Film and Movie Academy take notice of me," Mahlangu told the Daily News.The Bulawayo-born actress revealed that she is currently featuring in a Nollywood UK movie set to be released in October."I have just finished filming with Uwadi Production a movie in which I am acting alongside South African actor Kagiso Modupe who was popular for his role as Mangaliso Nyathi in the famous South African soapie Scandal," she said.Mahlangu is also part of a cast being put together by UK-based Zimbabwean film director/producer Daniel Ndlara Robson."It will feature one of the most successful Zimbabwean actresses Samantha Mahlangu who has worked in the United Kingdom (UK) mainstream film industry and is currently working with London Nollywood," Robson told the Daily News recently.
Evraz, steelworkers ink new four-year contract with annual raises
In addition to pay raises, Pueblo steelworkers will see improvement in pension and health care benefits thanks to new four-year contract with Evraz.
By Dezan Shira & Associates
Editor: Dominik Grossalber
The Dongguan of old, focused on the manufacturing of cheap, low-tech products, is currently transforming into a new, modern hub for the production of higher value goods. As this is happening, many established light manufacturing companies, sometimes present in the city for over 20 years, are moving away. This is part of a China-wide trend as the country seeks to move up the manufacturing value chain.
In 2015, Dongguans high tech manufacturing industry grew by 10.2 percent and automobile manufacturing grew by 8.5 percent, reflecting the growth of value-added manufacturing in the city. Meanwhile, textiles decreased by 4.3 percent and household electrical appliance manufacturing grew by just 2.4 percent, as lower value-added industries witnessed comparatively sluggish performance.
The Dongguan government has promised to support the shift to manufacturing higher value-added products and has targeted several strategic industries as a part of this effort, including high-end electronics, biotechnology, new-generation internet, and 3D printing. Additionally, Dongguan is seeking to become Chinas center of robotics and automated manufacturing technology, positioning itself as a crucial spot of the changing landscape of Chinese manufacturing. While Dongguans new economic strategy is taking form, it is also interesting to look at why low-tech manufacturing is leaving in the first place and where it is going.
RELATED: Handling Mass Layoffs in Chinas Manufacturing Sector
Factors Shaping Dongguans Manufacturing Transition
There are several reasons for factories being shut down in Dongguan and opening up shop elsewhere. Chief among them is a shortage of affordable unskilled labour, stemming from Chinas aging population and increasing levels of education in the workforce. Additionally, migrant workers have less incentive to leave their home region and move to Dongguan, as the interior of the country is developing a larger industrial base and they will not have to face the difficulties of the restrictive hukou system if they stay in their home province. As there are fewer and fewer migrant workers available, they are realizing their value and demanding higher salaries. Furthermore, the government has adopted a policy of enforcing social insurance and work time limitations much more strictly than in previous years, further increasing costs for factories that previously skirted labor laws.
Low-cost Manufacturing Alternatives
In light of these developments, many low-tech manufacturers are moving their operations elsewhere. Some are moving towards inland provinces in China or, increasingly, to cheaper countries in Southeast Asia. Vietnam for example, though still less advanced than China in terms of infrastructure, has been quite successful in capturing investment in light manufacturing that is leaving China and especially Guangdong province in recent years. Apart from its proximity, Vietnam is also attracting factories with its lower taxes, lower wages, and an increasing number of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), including one with China. Additionally, the recently signed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) treaty has vastly accelerated this process. As China is moving up the value chain towards more sophisticated products, it is in some cases even encouraging light manufacturing to leave in order to free up much needed real estate.
RELATED: Business Advisory Services from Dezan Shira & Associates
However, winding down a factory and setting it up elsewhere can be daunting task for any company. Even if the economic benefits are substantial, firms can easily find themselves entangled in a number of legal problems when trying to dissolve their operations and letting go of their workforce. This can result in significant costs for companies trying to relocate. Further, if companies decide to move to a cheaper country such as Vietnam, there is a host of local regulations and laws to consider before going ahead with the investment, slowing down the process. Firms need to thoroughly examine the pros and cons before making a final decision.
The changes Dongguan is currently undergoing are necessary for the city to remain competitive as an integral part of the factory of the world in its new context. Moving towards higher value added goods, relying on robotics and automatization to combat labor shortages, and freeing up factory space by winding up light manufacturing companies should ensure that the city continues to thrive economically. The development towards a more modern city is also reflected in the governments expansion of local infrastructure such as the new metro line, which is poised to improve transport and mobility within the city. These are exciting times for Dongguan indeed.
About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email china@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight.
How to Restructure an Underperforming Business in China
In this issue of China Briefing magazine, we explore the options that are available to foreign firms looking to restructure or close their operations in China. We begin with an overview of what restructuring an unprofitable business in China might entail, and then take an in-depth look at the way in which a foreign company can go about the restructuring process. Finally, we highlight some of the key HR concerns associated with restructuring a China business.
China Investment Roadmap: the Automotive Parts Industry
This issue of China Briefing presents a roadmap for investing in Chinas automotive industry. We begin by providing an overview of the industry, and then take a comprehensive look at key foreign investment considerations, including investment restrictions, tax incentives and manufacturing requirements. Finally, we discuss foreign investment opportunities in a part of the industry that receives substantial government support: new energy vehicles.
Adapting Your China WFOE to Service Chinas Consumers
In this issue of China Briefing Magazine, we look at the challenges posed to manufacturers amidst Chinas rising labor costs and stricter environmental regulations. Manufacturing WFOEs in China should adapt by expanding their business scope to include distribution and determine suitable supply chain solutions. In this regard, we will take a look at the opportunities in Chinas domestic consumer market and forecast the sectors that are set to boom in the coming years.
BP Learning Center in Houma, Louisiana, the United States. [Photo/BP]
British oil major BP Plc is seeking buyers for its 50 percent stake in a Chinese petrochemicals joint venture, its single largest investment in China, in a deal that would fetch US$2 billion to US$3 billion, people familiar with the matter said.
BP has hired an investment bank to sell its shareholding in Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical Co Ltd as part of a drive to cash out of businesses where it lacks control, the sources added.
A successful deal would mark BP's first significant exit from a business in China.
Situated in Caojing near Shanghai, SECCO is China's largest petrochemicals refinery and was built at a cost of US$2.7 billion, according to BP's website.
State-owned China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, known as Sinopec, and one of its units hold the other half of SECCO, according to the website.
A London-based BP spokesman declined to comment, and Sinopec did not offer immediate comment.
SECCO, a venture formed in 2001, produces ethylene and propylene, which are used to make resins, plastics and synthetic rubbers.
While Sinopec has the right of first refusal on the potential sale, bankers said Chinese State-owned enterprises are unlikely to step in to buy the stake.
BP's stake has been marketed to existing refinery operators in China, including companies from Japan, South Korea and Europe, the sources added.
BP, like other global oil and gas companies, has been sharpening its focus on costs and core businesses as it reels from lower oil prices.
It has sold more than US$50 billion of assets since the deadly 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill in order to pay for cleanup costs and legal bills. This year, it plans to offload between US$3 billion and $5 billion worth of assets, of which $1.9 billion has been agreed, it said when releasing second-quarter earnings last month.
China's biggest online third-party payment platform Alipay is expanding into Europe. [Photo/Xinhua]
China's biggest online third-party payment platform Alipay, which has 450 million active users, is expanding into Europe, signing deals with brick-and-mortar retailers to enable Chinese consumers abroad to use the app to make payments in stores, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The mobile payment service is expected to be offered to Chinese travelers and expats in France, the UK, Germany and Italy.
Alipay has held talks with French department store Printemps, set a deal with French insurance agency Axa Group to sell travel insurance to Alipay's users, and is working with German banking software company Wirecard AG to support its mobile payment service in 69 stores at Munich Airport, said Rita Liu, head of Alipay Europe, Middle-East and Africa, according to Bloomberg.
"We're actively looking for partners across Europe -- merchants who want to cater to Chinese tourists or technical providers on the payments side. But we have no plans to target European customers," Liu said.
Spending US$875 per capita, around 120 million Chinese tourists travelled abroad last year, according to the China Tourism Research Institute. And their favorite travel destinations outside Asia are France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.
Sabrina Peng, president of Alipay International, said at this April's Money 20/20 Europe a conference held in Copenhagen, Denmark that as a lot of Chinese people enjoyed the lifestyle of going out with Alipay rather than a wallet, Alipay has been thinking of bringing the same service to them when they traveled abroad, according to a report by nfcworld.com.
Peng said Alipay processed 175 million transactions a day, of which more than 60 percent were made through a mobile device.
China's third-party mobile payment market reached a value of ten trillion yuan in 2015, according to a report by French market research firm Ipsos Group Co. Alipay's rival WeChat Pay announced it would fully open to overseas retailers last November, according to a report by Beijing Business Today. Dozens of foreign institutions, including Australia's RoyalPay, have joined WeChat Pay's cross-border payment open system, covering more than 20 countries and regions.
Run by Ant Financial, an affiliate of Alibaba Group holding Ltd, Alipay is leading China's mobile payment market with 63.41 percent of the market share in Q1 this year, according to a report by Chinese research firm Analysys.
You are here: Home
Dubai-based Emirates Airline said Tuesday it will operate its Airbus A380 between Dubai and Guangzhou. [File photo]
Dubai-based Emirates Airline said Tuesday it will operate its Airbus A380 between Dubai and Guangzhou, one of China's largest cities, from October 1.
Guangzhou will join Emirates' extensive A380 global network covering more than 40 destinations, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, London, Paris, Sydney, Toronto, Auckland, Bangkok, and Seoul.
As capital of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou is an important tourism and trade partner of Dubai, as the vast majority of more than 300,000 Chinese nationals living in the United Arab Emirates are from Guangdong.
UAE has over 4,000 Chinese companies and in 2014, China became Dubai's biggest trade partner.
Since the route's opening in 2008, the airline has been flying a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on its daily flights between the two cities.
The A380 service will raise the flight capacity by 15 percent to meet the growing demand from southern China to Dubai and beyond.
An Airbus 380 arrives at Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou City, south China's Guangdong Province, on Nov. 22, 2006. [File photo]
Airbus Group is bracing for a lengthy period of uncertainty over its core commercial jetliner business after Britain said it would examine suspected irregularities in the use of third-party agents to win contracts.
Europe's largest aerospace company said late last Sunday it had been notified that the UK's Serious Fraud Office had opened a formal criminal probe after being alerted by the country's export credit agency to discrepancies relating to the disclosure of the work of local agents.
The probe raises a sensitive issue for the industry because the agency, UK Export Finance, has for years locked horns with aerospace firms about the need for more transparency, even though it does not object outright to the use of intermediaries.
Airbus Group said the SFO was looking into possible "fraud, bribery and corruption" and that the company continued to co-operate with the investigating agency, having itself tipped off UKEF about internal findings under a recent compliance drive.
"It will take years," a person familiar with the matter said of the SFO investigation, adding it was too early to predict any outcome or consequences.
Airbus Group is already the subject of a four-year-old SFO investigation into a US$3.3 billion communications deal with Saudi Arabia, while the SFO is conducting a corruption probe into engine maker Rolls-Royce which it launched in 2013.
The latest case involves discrepancies over the amount of agents' fees disclosed in applications for export support, or missing names of third parties, in some cases dating back years, people familiar with the matter have said.
In April, UKEF halted export funding pending a compliance review and was swiftly followed by France and Germany.
Since 2006, companies applying for export support in Britain have had to identify any intermediaries involved in sales negotiations and list the sums paid.
The rules followed a series of policy U-turns and a fierce debate between UKEF and aerospace companies including Airbus, which had lobbied against the tougher disclosure rules on the grounds that such data was commercially sensitive and that their own codes of conduct and due diligence methods were sufficient.
Airbus Group shares fell as much as 1.8 percent on Monday, driven by concern over the probe. The longer-term impact may depend upon how widely the probe spreads and the level of managers who signed off on payments that can be worth millions of dollars, as well as the declarations to export agencies, analysts said.
A spokesman declined to comment on any details of the investigation beyond Sunday's brief statement.
She has no regrets, but for Qing Feng divorcing her husband, a gay man, and losing her son and money, was not an easy process.
Qing, from southwest China's Guizhou Province, ended her sexless, loveless marriage months ago, after an arduous negotiation with the man who had constantly belittled her throughout their 13-year relationship.
"He said I wouldn't get a penny or the custody of my son because I asked for a divorce without evidence to show he was wrong," said Qing, who is in her forties. "He was well prepared for the day of the divorce. He had transferred all our assets to his parents."
Qing is one of many unlucky women in China known as the "gay wives," or tongqi, who unwittingly marry closeted gay men. For these women, the road to a successful divorce is often a rocky one due to obstruction from their husband and a lack of clear legal support.
In a country where gay marriage is illegal, the majority of gay men choose to marry women and have children because of the pressure from their parents and society. Many Chinese believe continuing the family bloodline is an inescapable male duty and not having children constitutes a failure.
Overcoming doubts
Two years ago, a TV program focusing on the tragedy of "gay-straight" marriages helped Qing overcome the doubts she had about divorcing her husband, who recoiled from all physical contact from the moment their son was born and seldom showed her any affection.
"He repeatedly told me: 'Don't laugh. You look ugly when you do that.' He liked nothing about me, so I kept trying to change myself to please him," Qing said.
When she finally questioned her husband about his sexual orientation, he confessed but refused to grant her a divorce because he feared it would ruin his reputation.
Qing finally lost patience and decided to insist on divorce.
But a lawyer told Qing that if she filed for divorce the court might not decide in her favor.
Most Chinese gay men conceal their orientation, which makes it difficult for women to collect evidence of their husband's sexual habits and tendencies, said Yang Shaogang, a Shanghai-based lawyer who is experienced in "gay-straight" divorce cases.
As a result, judges often do not grant the wife a divorce, and they have to file again at a later date, Yang said.
In addition, Chinese law does not define the gay man as culpable in the breakdown of the marriage, meaning no compensation is given to the woman, and the law offers no provisions for these women to secure custody of their children.
Yang has called for legal changes regarding the distribution of property and child custody in such divorce cases to encourage tongqi to break free.
Abuse and depression
A 2013 survey, conducted by renowned sexologist Zhang Beichuan, of nearly 150 women who had either married or divorced gay or bisexual men, or who were dating such men, showed that 70 percent of the respondents suffered long-term emotional abuse from the men, often characterized by sexual apathy.
In addition, 90 percent of the women developed symptoms of depression and 20 percent of them endured repeated beatings.
Nearly 40 of those surveyed reported symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases. Among the 30 who were tested for HIV, two found themselves infected.
Su Yun, 60, who became deaf in one ear after she was beaten by her homosexual husband, recently divorced. A day after the divorce, her ex-husband and his boyfriend barged into Su's home.
"I didn't dare to call the police. I thought he might strangle me. He tried once and I almost died," said Su, in eastern China's Shandong Province.
Lin Yan is in her 50s and decided to stay in her marriage, even though her husband confessed to being gay more than 10 years ago.
"We live in a very small place. People like my husband. If I say he's gay, no one would believe me. They might think I was having an affair and just wanted a divorce," Lin said, adding that without a job she financially relies on her husband.
In general, the tongqi are an invisible group. A large number of them have not even realized that their husband is gay, due to conservative attitudes toward sex, said Dr Li Xianhong from the Central South University.
"Many never even wonder why they have no sex life in their marriage," Li said.
So far, Qing Feng has not been able to explicitly tell her parents why she divorced. "It was really shameful," she said.
News / Health
by Researched by Vinayak Bhardwaj
Zimbabwe had 157 million male and female condoms available in 2015 and a relatively high self-reported use of condoms among adults who have multiple sexual partnerships. But is their condom use per capita the highest in the world?A claim about Zimbabweans' high condom use cropped up again, this time at the International AIDS 2016 conference in Durban recently.The head of Zimbabwe's mother-to-child HIV prevention efforts, Dr Angela Mushavi, reportedly said: "Our infection rate is going down. Zimbabwe has the highest per capita condom use in the world."News24 reported the statistic last year too. But does it hold true?157 million condoms distributedAfrica Check first contacted Mushavi. She sent us figures for the number of condoms distributed in Zimbabwe in 2015, showing over 150 million male and 7 million female condoms.She said it was from Population Services International (PSI), a global health non-profit focusing on HIV and the social marketing of condoms, and put us in touch with a PSI representative in Zimbabwe, Kumbirai Chatora. (Note: We asked how exactly PSI tracks condom distribution but they haven't yet responded.)Chatora confirmed that the distribution data was theirs but said that PSI does not collect data on the use of condoms. We asked Mushavi why she spoke of condom use when the data she provided was for condom distribution but have not yet received a reply.Only have data for 'at risk populations'Working out condom use is difficult, according to experts we spoke to.Deputy executive director of the Wits Reproductive Health Institute, Professor Francois Venter, told Africa Check "it's a very difficult indicator to measure".Chief of the fertility and family planning section in the UN's population division, Dr Ann Biddlecom, pointed out that data is only collected on condom use among people at higher risk of HIV transmission such as people aged 15 to 49 with multiple sex partnerships.The UN data shows that Zimbabwe has the 10th highest condom use of 37 countries in this higher risk group, with 44.3% of respondents reporting having used a condom when they last had sex. The 37 countries are those in which there is a generalised epidemic of HIV/AIDS, Biddlecom said.Nine countries - Albania, Burundi, Colombia, Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guyana, Kenya and Peru - recorded that none of the people in the higher risk group reported using a condom at last sex.Not enough condoms for sub-Saharan AfricaA "Prevention Gap Report", published by UNAIDS in July, aimed to document the success in tackling the spread of HIV/AIDS so far. On the distribution of condoms, the report suggests more needs to be done. It states that "progress in the provision and use of condoms has largely stalled; the gap in sub-Saharan Africa alone is more than 3 billion male condoms a year."In 2015, in sub-Saharan Africa, an average of 10 male condoms was available for every man aged 15 to 64 years and just one female condom per eight women aged 15 to 64 years.Condom availability varied between as many as 40 condoms per man aged 15 to 64 years in Namibia and South Africa to fewer than five condoms per man aged 15 to 64 years in Angola and South Sudan. Condom distribution was particularly low in some countries in western and central Africa, such as Burundi, Chad, Guinea and Mali.The report did not specifically mention Zimbabwe, but based on the country's statistical agency's population projections and the PSI distribution figures, the country also had 40 condoms available for every man between 15 and 64 years.In Zimbabwe, the high availability of male and female condoms and the relatively high self-reported use of condoms among adults who have multiple sexual partnerships are evident, Biddlecom told Africa Check. These form a critical part of HIV prevention efforts, she said.Conclusion: Claim about condom use in Zimbabwe incorrectThere is no data to prove that Zimbabwe has the highest per capita condom use in the world.Self-reported data about condom use among high-risk populations shows that Zimbabwe has the 10th highest number of condom users in this category among 37 countries.Yet there is a large gap between the number of condoms available and the need for them in sub-Saharan Africa. Higher condom distribution is correlated with decreased HIV prevalence and is therefore an important part of HIV prevention efforts.
You are here: Home
A file photo shows an airliner of the Tibet Airlines at Lhasa Gonggar Airport, in southwest Chinas Tibet Autonomous Region. [Photo: Xinhua]
Passengers using mobile phones on planes might face 50,000 yuan (US$7,515) fine, according to a latest draft amendment to the country's Civil Aviation Law that was published on Monday by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
The draft amendment has added a new chapter regulating 14 types of behaviors that endanger civil aviation safety and disturb order.
The activities include using mobile phones, smoking, forcibly occupying seats, blocking channels and gates, breaking into airports and planes, beating crew and other workers, fighting, spreading rumors and causing troubles.
When people conduct behavior that does not fall under the Criminal Law but violates the Public Security Administration Punishment Law, they would face a fine up to 50,000 yuan.
The draft amendment has also revised articles to make the aviation companies shoulder more responsibility in ensuring flights safety and passengers' interests. Companies must set up sound management system to prevent and minimize civil aviation accidents.
When flights are delayed, the airlines should inform passengers and provide related services. Aviation companies are encouraged to buy insurance for passengers to secure travelers' interests.
If pilots intentionally break the law, their license will be cancelled, and they would be barred from any commercial flight activities for two years.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China published the draft amendment on its official website on Monday and people can email their opinions until Sept 6 to airlaw@caac.gov.cn, or fax 010-64016870.
Editor's note: On Aug.9, the Financial Times and its website published a signed article by Ambassador Liu Xiaoming entitled "Mutual trust is the foundation of China-UK cooperation--Hinkley Point is a test of mutual trust between China and Britain". The full text is as follows:
New British Prime Minister Theresa May gives a speech outside her official residence in London on July 13 (XINHUA)
Hinkley Point is once again a subject of speculation and debate following the announcement by the UK government that it wants to hold a fresh review into the proposed project for a new nuclear power station in south-west England. With this in mind, clarification is needed on three basic facts regarding the project.
First, nuclear power is central to UK energy policy aimed at meeting the country's long-term needs. Britain has long been a pioneer in the field of civil nuclear energy, and once took pride in its clean and effective power plants. However, a two-decade pause in its nuclear program means that most of the country's 15 reactors are approaching the end of their intended working life.
According to the UK's energy white paper, by 2025 only one nuclear plant will still be running, raising the risk of major power shortages. Nuclear power, with its advantages over other modern clean energy sources - namely, low operational costs, mature maintenance technologies and steady output - is a significant option for meeting the UK's demand for electricity.
Second, Hinkley Point is not the result of some whimsical idea or rushed decision. It is the considered outcome of a mutually beneficial tripartite partnership between Britain, France and China. Before the three parties reached agreement it had gone through research, verification and approval by the authorities in Britain and France as well as the European Commission.
There have also been extensive and thorough discussions by all involved and in the media regarding the project's cost-effectiveness, its timeline and the safety of the technology. After more than 10 years of preparations, this project is ready to move ahead towards generating safe, reliable and sustainable electricity.
Third, the UK could not have a better partner than the China General Nuclear Power Corporation. The latter is the biggest nuclear power provider in China. It is also the world's biggest builder of nuclear reactors, involved in the construction of one-fifth of the nuclear generators worldwide. This is a partner with world-class technology, the necessary financial resources and rich experience in the management and operation of nuclear plants.
A further issue central to the debate is that of security. The UK has a state of the art supervision regime and legal system. Its regulatory authorities are experienced and adequately resourced to ensure the safety of nuclear plants. China likewise has a fine record of 30 years of safe operation of nuclear facilities. Its nuclear energy program and supervision are highly acknowledged by international agencies. The three Hinkley Point partners are members of the International Atomic Energy Agency. So, the French and Chinese partners are subjecting themselves to both international and British standards.
Building a nuclear plant involves a huge amount of financial resources and enormous risks. That explains why multinational cooperation is accepted practice across the globe. Many of China's nuclear reactors are built in cooperation with US, Canadian, French and Russian companies. Thanks to the safeguards of international standards, there has never been a concern that foreign companies might control China's nuclear reactors. The rapid progress of China's nuclear power industry is proof of the success of international cooperation.
Britain takes pride in being a country that is open to foreign investors. Rightly so. It is exactly because of such openness that China has become the UK's second-largest non-European trading partner. Britain is one of the key destinations for Chinese companies seeking to invest overseas. Over the past five years, such companies have invested more in the UK than in Germany, France and Italy combined.
An important reason why this has been possible is that both China and the UK have consistently respected and trusted each other. If Britain's openness is a condition for bilateral cooperation, then mutual trust is the very foundation on which this is built.
Right now, the China-UK relationship is at a crucial historical juncture. Mutual trust should be treasured even more. I hope the UK will keep its door open to China and that the British government will continue to support Hinkley Point - and come to a decision as soon as possible so that the project can proceed smoothly.
It has not been easy for China and the UK to have come this far. As long as both sides cherish what has been achieved and continue to expand and deepen our cooperation across the board, bilateral relations will maintain their strong momentum and work for the wellbeing of both the Chinese and British people.
Liu Xiaoming is the Chinese ambassador to the U.K.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
File photo shows the 981 drilling platform of China Oilfield Services Limited (COSL), 17 nautical miles (some 31 kilometers) from Zhongjian Island of China's Xisha Islands, South China Sea. (Xinhua photo)
The international arbitration tribunal ruled against China's legitimate acts in the South China Sea on July 12, regardless of China's indisputable historical sovereignty over the islands and reefs in those waters. The ruling also accused China of disrupting the ecology and environment by construction activities on those islands.
Has China's construction on those islands really caused irreversible damage to the coral reef ecological system as the United States and the Philippines claim?
First, rational planning and green construction technologies can effectively control the impacts of the reclamation on the surrounding ecological system. Reports made by the Chinese State Oceanic Administration showed that targeted protective measures for coral reefs were included in China's construction activities.
Specifically, the construction has fully considered the lifespan of corals and made corresponding schedules. Preliminary studies show that corals grow best when seawater temperature is between 23 and 28 degree Celsius; in tropical waters, this temperature occurs in the winter and spring. Therefore, China's constructions have been following proper arrangements in terms of progress and intensity.
The construction tries to lower the impact on coral reef environment. Given that corals usually live in shallow waters less than 50 meters from the ocean surface and have strict demands regarding the water's translucency, China's construction has been controlling the diffusion of floating particles to minimize their influence on the seawater's cleanliness.
The sites of construction were the results of rational consideration in that they are where the corals were mostly dead or places unfit for coral growth.
In addition, Chinese and international scientific studies both show that transplantation and horticultural breeding can effectively reestablish the coral population. From 2013 to 2015, Chinese scientists experimented with such transplantation and they managed to raise the coral coverage in the experiment area by 5-8 percent. The practice set a good example for the reestablishment of biological populations in the future.
Second, China's land reclamations based on the islands and reefs in the South China Sea are rational exploration as per the regulations of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which not only defines all countries' commitments to preserving and protecting the maritime environment but also gives them rights to explore it.
Around the world, many ports were actually built on land reclamation, such as the North Abaco Port of the Bahamas and the Suakin Port of Sudan. China's land reclamation is aimed at improving the living conditions for people on the islands as well as to provide more international public services to the region.
The rational explorations of the resources based on the preservation of the local ecological systems are more consistent with the UNCLOS than passively keeping that region intact.
By contrast, fishermen from Vietnam and the Philippines use poisons and explosives to catch fish, which causes irreversible damage to the coral reefs in the Nansha Islands. Facts show that compared with China's land reclamation on coral reefs, the United States and the Philippines should pay more attention to overfishing and the improper fishing activities of Filipinos.
Third, China established a meteorological station on the reefs, and a maritime observation center, among other scientific facilities and civilian facilities conducive to strengthening the ecological systems in the South China Sea.
As China continues to construct on these islands, the deployment of more civilian facilities will help China to monitor the maritime environment, meteorological conditions, and the data obtained will substantiate future scientific studies. They will also help with China's plans to build maritime natural reserves, ecological environment research bases in the future.
Apart from enhancing biodiversity in the region, China will also join hands with other countries in the South China Sea for cooperation on pollution control and environmental monitoring, as part of China's regional and global commitment.
Lin Yongxin is the deputy chief of the Research Center for the Maritime Silk Road at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies.
The article was translated by Chen Boyuan. Its original version was published in Chinese.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
Flash
U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had no plan to change his temperament as the bellicose New Yorker was grappling with his sagging poll numbers following recent feud with a family of a fallen Muslim American soldier and leaders within his own party.
Donald Trump takes the stage on the last day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, theUnited States, July 21, 2016. New York billionaire Donald Trump officially accepted the presidential nomination of the U.S. Republican Party Thursday night on the final day of the Republican National Convention. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
"I think that my temperament has gotten me here," said Trump in an interview with Fox Business Network. "I've always had a good temperament and it's gotten me here. We beat a lot of people in the primaries and now we have one person left, and we're actually doing pretty well there, but we'll see how it all comes out."
Rupture between Trump and the Republican leadership resurfaced after Trump derisively answered criticism from Khizr Khan, the father of the solider killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq.
During the Democratic National Convention held late July, Khan blasted Trump for his divisive remarks and proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country and divisive tone and implored voters to vote for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee.
Trump responded by implying that Ghazala Khan, who accompanied his husband on stage on the final day of the Democratic National Convention, was forbidden to speak by his husband.
Backlash to Trump's comments came in swiftly from both parties, with the press office of House Speaker Paul Ryan, the highest-ranking U.S. Republican officeholder, releasing a scathing statement without mentioning Trump's name that denounced "a religious test for entering our country."
"Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice. Captain Khan was one such brave example. His sacrifice- and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan- should always be honored. Period," said the statement.
In a gesture of defiance, Trump initially refused to endorse Ryan and Senator John McCain, another leading GOP lawmaker and vocal critic of Trump, for their reelection bid for congressional seats.
Trump endorsed both men on Saturday, one of several steps to get his campaign back on track after recent polls showed that the edge of Clinton over him had been widened.
According to the RealClearPolitics national polling index, Clinton now leads Trump by 7.5 percent nationally, while at the end of July, the two stood even at 44.3 percent of support.
Flash
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Aug. 9, 2016. (Xinhua/Sputnik)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday's meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan was very important for the future of bilateral ties.
"We've had a comprehensive and constructive (talks), I would like to emphasize, we discussed a broad range of issues including bilateral relations and global issues," Putin told a press conference after his meeting with Erdogan.
"I believe that we have all the necessary prerequisites and opportunities for fully restoring the relations between our two countries which would help strengthen both regional and global stability," Putin added.
He said the visit of Erdogan, despite the difficult political situation in Turkey caused by the failed coup attempt on July 15, showed that Ankara really wanted to restore bilateral cooperation.
To promote bilateral economic cooperation, the two presidents talked about the Turkish stream pipeline project and construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, as well as ways to revive tourism.
Putin also announced a mid-term cooperation program that spans the year 2016 to 2019, and also intergovernmental commissions of the two countries would resume contacts.
Talks in narrow and broad format outlined initial objectives for long-term restoration of relations, aiming to reach pre-crisis level of bilateral cooperation, said Putin.
Moreover, more meetings would be held for major companies of the two countries to discuss revival of mutual trade, investment and implementation of key projects.
"We intend to gradually cancel the special economic measures limiting Turkish companies' activities in Russian market," Putin said.
On the Syrian crisis, the Russian president reiterated that his country was determined to find a compromise on the issue with Ankara.
"As far as coordination of our views and methods is concerned, it is possible because we have a joint goal. The joint goal is the settlement of the Syrian crisis. I believe that we shall look for satisfactory joint decisions on this basis, based on this mutual approach," Putin said.
He added that more specific meetings would be held on issues related to the settlement of Syrian crisis.
Erdogan, on his part, expressed the hope for the resumption of charter flights between the two countries, as well as mutual trade and activities of Turkish construction contractors.
"Putin and I have found similar position on normalization of bilateral relations, while we agreed to use the capacities of the two countries to maintain regional stability," Erdogan concluded.
"We believe the Russian-Turkish relation is much more stable than it has ever been, which will help us to confront all kinds of crises," said Erdogan.
The meeting between the two leaders was their first since Ankara downed one of Moscow's warplanes last November, which sparked a diplomatic crisis as well as Russia's economic sanctions.
Flash
Former Philippine President Fidel Ramos gestures as he speaks to journalists during a trip to Hong Kong, China after the Hague court's ruling over the maritime dispute in South China Sea, August 9, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
A special Philippine envoy who is in Hong Kong to test the waters of bilateral ties suggested on Tuesday that Manila and Beijing cooperate on sectors of common interest to rekindle their relationship, which was soured by maritime disputes.
Experts said that although the proposal by the envoy, former Philippines president Fidel Ramos, to improve economic and tourism links might be considered by China, the Philippines' attitude toward the arbitration ruling on the South China Sea remains the key to restoring ties.
Ramos, 88, also told reporters on Tuesday that he planned to meet with Wu Shicun, who heads the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, a think tank on China's southernmost Hainan Island.
Ramos, who gave no other details of his itinerary for the five-day trip to Hong Kong, said earlier that he would meet "old friends" with links to officials in Beijing.
Wu did not respond to phone calls from China Daily seeking comment on Tuesday.
As a special envoy of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Ramos defined the trip as "ice-breaking", after bilateral ties were jeopardized by an arbitration case unilaterally initiated by Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino III.
"The idea is to use the South China Sea as a place to save lives, not to kill people or to destroy lives," Ramos said.
During his time as president, from 1992 to 1998, the two countries eased tensions caused by confrontations over Meiji Reef.
Xu Liping, a senior Southeast Asian studies researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Beijing could consider Ramos' suggestion and seek common interests with Manila.
Chen Qinghong, a researcher of Southeast Asian and Philippine studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that Ramos' remarks send a positive signal and provide an opportunity for the two countries to rebuild political trust and amend their relationship.
Flash
Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to UK
China has warned Britain against closing the door to Chinese money and said relations were at a crucial juncture after Prime Minister Theresa May delayed signing off on a US$24 billion nuclear power project.
In Chinas sternest warning to date over Mays surprise decision to review the building of Britains first nuclear plant in decades, Chinas ambassador to UK said that Britain could face power shortages unless May approved the Franco-Chinese deal.
"The China-UK relationship is at a crucial historical juncture. Mutual trust should be treasured even more," Liu Xiaoming wrote in the Financial Times.
"I hope the UK will keep its door open to China and that the British government will continue to support Hinkley Point - and come to a decision as soon as possible so that the project can proceed smoothly."
Mays move to delay the project is most striking corporate intervention since winning power in the political turmoil which followed Britains June 23 referendum to leave the European Union. Her decision indicates a much more cautious view of Chinese investment and a willingness to take a tough line with EU allies such as French President Francois Hollande.
Cast as the jewel illustrating a new "Golden Era" of relations between China and Britain, the Hinkley financing deal was signed in Downing Street during a state visit to Britain by President Xi Jinping last year.
Under plans drawn up by former Prime Minister David Cameron, French utility EDF and China General Nuclear Power Corp would fund the cost of building two Areva European Pressurized Water Reactors at the Hinkley C nuclear plant in Somerset, in southern England.
Britain has committed to pay a minimum price for the power generated by the plant for 35 years, though critics said London had agreed to pay far too much.
Hinkley is seen as the frontrunner to closer ties with China on nuclear issues, paving the way for tens of billions of dollars of investment and another two nuclear power plants with Chinese involvement.
Cameron pitched Britain as the pre-eminent gateway to the West for investment from China and proposing to make London the main international trading center for offshore yuan.
In the comment published in the Financial Times yesterday, Chinas ambassador said Hinkley was not "some whimsical idea or rushed decision" and pointedly said that Chinese investment had flowed because both countries "respected and trusted each other."
"If Britains openness is a condition for bilateral cooperation, then mutual trust is the very foundation on which this is built," said Liu.
Once Britain exits from the EU, London would need to clinch a new trade deal with China, whose US$11.3 trillion economy is currently more than four times as big as Britains at US$2.4 trillion.
Liu said Chinese companies had invested more in the United Kingdom than in Germany, France and Italy combined over the past five years.
Since May won the top job, Britain has repeatedly said that it values its relationship with China and that it was natural for the incoming government to want to look at the plans in detail.
"This decision is about a huge infrastructure project and its right that the new government carefully considers it," a government spokesman said. "We cooperate with China on a broad range of areas from the global economy to international issues and we will continue to seek a strong relationship with China."
Flash
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has written letters to the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, urging efforts to end the persistent and egregious violation of the basic human rights of the Kashmiri people and also to implement UN Security Council Resolutions, which provide for self determination of the Kashmiri people through a fair and impartial plebiscite under the aspiration of the UN.
Highlighting human rights abuses by Indian occupation forces, Prime Minister stated that more than 50 deaths and 3500 injuries had taken place, out of which 400 were critical. Many innocent Kashmiris had lost their eyesight due to pellet guns, which were aimed with the deliberate intention of causing serious permanent injuries. This, the Prime Minister said, was unacceptable. The use of illegitimate and excessive force against innocent civilians protesting peacefully over extrajudicial killings was a blatant violation of a range of fundamental rights.
The Prime Minister said that force was being used to prevent access to hospitals, to harass doctors and prevent access to medical facilities. "The situation is a clear manifestation of Indian state terrorism to suppress the Kashmiris' struggle for their inalienable right to self-determination".
The Prime Minister called for investigation into the brutalities and atrocities committed by Indian occupation forces, protection of Kashmiris fundamental rights, a fair inquiry into the execution of Burhan Muzaffar Wani in cold blood and implementation of UN Resolutions on Jammu & Kashmir.
News / National
by Thobekile Zhou
A FARM belonging to Secretary general of the Zimbabwe National Liberations War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) Victor Matemadanda has been invaded by a group of Zanu-PF youths, Bulawayo24.com has heard.The farm is in Mashonaland West province and Matemadanda share a boundary with the sharp-tongued Sarah Mahoka.Mahoka is Zanu-PF women's league secretary for finance and heavily linked to G40 faction.Matemadanda is on $300 bail for allegedly insulting President Robert Mugabe.Last month, Zanu-PF National Commissar Savior Kasukuwere threatened to grab farms owned by 'rebellious' war veterans and parcel them out to Zanu PF youths.
You are here: Home
Flash
The Brazilian Senate decided Wednesday to give the go-ahead to an impeachment trial against suspended President Dilma Rousseff.
At the end of a lengthy session that lasted over 15 hours, senators voted 59 to 21 to approve the trial, surpassing the 41 votes needed to open the trial.
Rousseff is accused of committing fiscal fraud in an attempt to balance the 2014 budget. She has not yet made comments on the Senate's decision.
According to earlier reports, the impeachment trial is expected to take place in late August or early September.
News / National
by Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu
THE South African Government has given Zimbabwe the nod to deploy its officers to issue passports, birth certificates and National Identity Cards to locals residing in the neighbouring country.The Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Obedingwa Mguni, said the documents would be issued from selected points in the neighbouring country as soon as South African authorities identify sites to conduct the exercise.He said his Ministry would approach Botswana with the same request."We've approached the South African government seeking permission to issue passports, birth certificates and National IDs from their country and they have given us the go ahead."Our South African counterparts are now in the process of identifying places where we can conduct this exercise. When the locations have been submitted, we will immediately deploy our teams to the neighbouring country," the Deputy Minister said.Mguni said the exercise was being done to ensure that Zimbabweans in the diaspora were in possession of all valuable documents. He said a number of Zimbabweans were accessing neighbouring countries through illegal points while some did not have birth certificates or National IDs.Mguni said his Ministry was also making efforts to reduce the time frame involved in processing passports as it remained long.He said passports were supposed to be processed and issued within a period of two weeks but security checks involved were dragging the process."Passports should be issued within 14 days and ours are issued after two months. These are some of the anomalies that we want to address. We need to introduce quick coordinated security checks that will expedite the process."We recently acquired a highly efficient machine from Japan which processes passports but our pace does not complement the capacity of the machine because of these delays," Mguni said.He said Plumtree, Victoria Falls, Beitbridge, Chipinge and Chiredzi Towns would be the first to introduce passport issuing services at district registry offices.Mguni said his Ministry had noted that these were the main entry points for people who were crossing into neighbouring countries illegally."My Ministry will be issuing out a tender very soon for companies that can provide us with the relevant machinery needed when capturing pictures among other equipment that will be used by the district offices."This machinery, however, has to be in line with United Nations standards. The details of the tender will be released as time goes on," he said.Mguni said they were also making efforts to improve features of the Emergency Travel Document so that they're once again recognised as legal travelling documents in neighbouring countries.
News / National
by Patrick Chitumba
PRINCE Nhlanganiso Zulu, the son of South Africa's King Goodwill Zwelithini, has said Zimbabweans are welcome in the neighbouring country at any time.The Prince, who was addressing tens of thousands of Zion Christian Church (ZCC) members who converged at Defe Dopota in Gokwe South as the church marked 40 years since the death of its founder Reverend Samuel Mutendi over the weekend, blamed negative reporting by the media for fuelling attacks on foreigners in South Africa last year.The Zulu prince, who was invited to grace the gathering dubbed Zuva ra Samere (Samuel day) @40 which attracted people from all walks of life with some coming from African countries, the United States and the United Kingdom, said he wished a good stay for Zimbabweans in South Africa."I'm delighted to be here at this wonderful gathering. We want a peaceful continent and leaders who fear God. I wish a good stay for Zimbabweans in South Africa. Zimbabweans are welcome in South Africa at any time. My father represents 20 million Zulus and he is a very peaceful man despite a lot of negative things reported in the media," he said.Prince Nhlanganiso, who was accompanied by Princess Wandile Mkhize, said a peaceful nation was a prosperous nation. His father, King Zwelithini, was blamed for inciting deadly xenophobic violence in South Africa last year.He, however, said he had been misquoted when he was quoted as saying, "foreigners must pack their bags and go home" during a speech last year.The influential monarch was accused of sparking the attacks that left at least seven people dead and displaced more than 5 000. However, King Zwelithini said the remarks, made in the Zulu language, had been misconstrued and only referred to the deportation of illegal immigrants.Addressing the same pilgrims at the closing ceremony, Dr Mutendi encouraged people to promote peace and love from the family level to national level.He said the nation needs peace at all costs.Dr Mutendi encouraged Zimbabweans to work for their families, church and their nation saying people should not be used by outsiders to cause mayhem and disorder in the country.He said some foreigners protect their countries and their leaders but come here to use locals to do the opposite.Rev Mutendi founded the ZCC in 1913 and died in 1976.
Bob Fu (Photo: China Aid)
China Aid
Written by Bob Fu. Edited by Brynne Lawrence.
(Midland, TexasAug. 5, 2016) In response to the recent trials and coerced confessions of house church leader Hu Shigen and multiple human rights lawyers, along with the harassment of their families, China Aids president, Bob Fu, made the following statement on behalf of the organization:
After more than 12 months of arbitrary arrest and detention in black jails without any legitimate legal representation or family visitations, these rushed trials and harsh sentences are clearly nothing but political and religious persecution. The international community should unequivocally condemn this total disregard of the rule of law and the Chinese governments commitment to international human rights laws. As the two co-chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Senator Rubio and Representative Smith stated today, this is a mockery to basic justice.
With next months G20 summit being held in China, we urge the United States to ask the Chinese government to immediately release those who were sentenced and those who are about to be tried in the next few days, including attorney Li Heping. The Chinese regime should also immediately stop mistreating their family members, including their wives and children.
These human rights lawyers and Christian leaders include church elder Hu Shigen, lawyers and human rights defenders Li Heping, Zhou Shifeng, Zhai Yanmin, and Gou Hongguo and other individuals who were rounded up during the crackdown that began on July 9, 2015.
China Aid exposes the abuses suffered by human rights defenders in order to safeguard human rights in China.
China Aid Media Team
Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985
Email: [email protected]
For more information, click here
China Aid
Translated by Mark Ma. Written in English by Brynne Lawrence.
(Tianjin, ChinaAug. 4, 2016) On July 15, the wife of an imprisoned Christian penned a letter to her husband, who is being held in Tianjin, describing her reactions to his recent subverting state power charge.
Fan Lili, the wife of Gou Hongguo, a Christian and retired military official, incidentally learned of her husbands charge through Weibo, a popular Chinese social media website. She says, Subverting state powera charge that makes me terror-stricken. In the past, I felt such a charge was distant, Even now, I still feel its very remote from us. He doesnt have guns, cannons or money. With what could he subvert such powerful state?
She went on to describe her husband as a meticulous and kind-hearted man who has cared for his disabled brother for decades and always remembers her parents birthdays.
Fan Lili and Guo Hongguo pose for
with their son when he was 3 months
old. (Photo: China Aid)
Police took Gou into police custody on July 10, 2015, during a crackdown on human rights lawyers and dissidents. Fan says, July 10, 2015 is a day I will never forget. On that day, Ge Ping [Guos online pseudonym] wanted those who searched our house to leave behind a bank card for those of us at home who are old, weak and sick. Yet, they didnt leave any bank card behind. From his looks, I could tell he was very sad, and I gave him a 100 Yuan bill [U.S. $15], the only money I had in my pocket. When he was taken into the police vehicle, he, with much difficulty, took out the 100 Yuan bill with his handcuffed hand and returned it to me. In this way, we shoved the 100 Yuan bill to each other several times and at last, he still managed to give the money to me. I tried not to let him see the tears in my eyes. What we pushed around to each other is not money, but love.
Fan also recalls seeing a high-ranking official in a joyous mood when Gou was taken away. When her husband re-appeared, he was in a wheelchair.
After her husbands arrest, Fan and her son traveled numerous times to Beijing and Tianjin to look for Gou, but none of the officials admitted to having taken Gou. Half a year later, she writes that learning his charge, though unfounded, provides her with some assurance and comfort, because now, at least she knows her husband is alive.
A full translation of Fans letter can be read below.
China Aid exposes abuses, such as those suffered by the family of Gou Hongguo, in order to stand in solidarity with persecuted Christians in China.
Fan Lili, the wife of Gou Hongguo (Ge Ping), who has been charged with subversion: With love, there is no fear!
Ge Ping. Going forward in love. Its dark and a light rain is pattering down. There has been a lot of rain this year. I heard that the people in Hubei were all confused when the rain finally stopped in the afternoon. I took my child to the public square to feed the pigeons.
Accidentally, I saw a Weibo entry that Gou Hongguo has been prosecuted by the No. 2 Branch of the Tianjin Municipal Peoples Procuratorate on the charge of subverting state power. I was startled and felt confused. Things have turned out to be worse than what I expected.
Subverting state powera charge that makes me terror-stricken. In the past, I felt such a charge was distant. Even now, I still feel its very remote from us. He doesnt have guns, cannons or money. With what could he subvert such a powerful state? I have to re-examine my husband.
Gou Hongguos online name is Ge Ping. He is a retired military officer, a Christian, and a businessman who is moderately successful in his field. He is a meticulous and kind-hearted man. For decades, he has taken care of his brother, who suffers from a disability. He remembers his in-laws birthdays and selects beautiful, fashionable clothing for them for the occasion. He knows interior decoration and can grow flowers.
A year ago, Ge Ping disappeared from our life. Six months ago, I went to Beijing and Tianjin tens of times with my young son and looked for where he was. No one there stood up and admitted that he or she took Ge Ping away. Half a year later, a notice has ended this stalemate. Although he was smashed over the head with the dunce cap of a subversion of the state power charge, my heart is still very comforted. Oh! It is very good to know that he is alive.
July 10, 2015 is a day I will never forget. On that day, Ge Ping wanted those who searched our house to leave behind an ATM card for those of us at home who are old, weak, sick or young, but they didnt leave any bank card behind. From his looks, I could tell he was very sad, and I gave him a 100 Yuan bill [U.S. $15], the only money I had in my pocket. When he was taken into the police vehicle, he, with much difficulty, took out the 100 Yuan bill with his handcuffed hand and returned it to me. In this way, we shoved the 100 Yuan bill to each other several times and at last, he still managed to give the money to me. I tried not to let him see the tears in my eyes. What we pushed around to each other is not money, but love.
I remember a high-ranking official was in a spirited mood when he was taken away. When [Ge Ping] appeared again, he was in a wheelchair. I prayed to God and begged Him to watch over Ge Ping and keep him safe and healthy. I havent given him enough love; please give me more opportunities.
I kissed our son, Shaner. He is a lucky child as his father is a man who takes responsibilities and is affectionate. His mother is a kind-hearted person, with a heart that cannot harm anybody. When she sees live poultry being butchered, she immediately recites passages from the Buddhist teachings to help their souls find peace.
Our son, Shaner, is growing up. One moving experience I had with my child came during the night of a storm. I was afraid he might be afraid, so I hugged him and he hugged me with both his arms. His little hands were so warm and strong. Then, I realized it was I who was the fearful one. At that moment, I was no longer afraid, and everything was so beautiful. Together, we quietly wait for his father to come back. Our family has experienced tribulation. Only love remains.
Ge Pingmy dear husband. I firmly believe that you are innocent. No matter how arduous the road ahead of us is, I will be waiting for you. In the darkness, I will give you a little illumination, with [my] heart as a lamp. I will give you more love, though you are already my best love.
Ge Pings wife Fan Lili
[Written] in Tianjin on the night of July 15, 2016
China Aid Media Team
Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985
Email: [email protected]
For more information, click here
The rare earths industry in Baotou, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, is seeking more technology-intensive deep processing to further tap into the international market, said officials in the city.
Wang Zhonghe, Party chief of Baotou, said that the city has set the goal of upgrading its rare earths industry from just exploiting raw materials to developing more comprehensive deep processing technologies with higher added value.
"By the end of 2017, the value of the annual rare earths output in Baotou is expected to reach more than 40 billion yuan ($6 billion). The city will become the biggest rare earths hydrogen storage and technological research and development base," said Wang at the China Baotou International Rare Earths Industry Forum on Monday.
The revenue of the rare earths industry in Baotou was 14.4 billion yuan in 2015, up 12 percent from the same period of the previous year.
China has the largest rare earths reserve and output in the world. Yet its rare earths products have been exported at very low prices.
"Illegal exploitation and export, plus low technological content, are the reasons for the low prices of China's rare earths products," said Wei Renpeng, a researcher at Zero Power Intelligence Group, an industrial research institute based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.
In 2015, the central government designated Baotou as the pilot city for rare earths reform. The structure of the rare earths industry in Baotou has changed noticeably, said Zhou Changyi, director of the raw materials industry department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Zhou said that, compared with 2014, Baotou's current output of rare earth magnets has increased by 1.2 times, 2.3 times for rare earth alloys, 23 percent for rare earth catalysts, and 1.2 times for the number of patents.
A 6.66 billion yuan rare earths industrial transformation fund was founded at the forum. The fund has so far participated in 22 projects, with planned investment of 900 million yuan. The projects include: industrialization of high-performance rare-earth permanent magnets, rare earth hydrogen storage, rare earth polishing powder, rare earths for magnetic resonance imaging device, high-power wind turbine, magnetic refrigeration, batteries for new-energy vehicles, among other sectors.
During the forum, 31 contracts were signed, valued at nearly 10 billion yuan, encompassing electric vehicle high-performance magnets, electrical system control development, abrasive substances for rare earths and nickel-metal hydride batteries.
Tianhe Advanced Tech Magnet Co Ltd, a company specialized in permanent magnet research and development has signed a memorandum with Electron Energy Corp, a rare earth magnet producer in the United States.
Chen Ya, vice-president of Tianhe, said that the company's core competence is its own patents in rare earth processing.
"We mainly export to the European market. This is the first time that we have ventured into North America. EEC will help us in localization and sales channels.
"The world economic slowdown has indeed affected the rare earth industry. Yet in the long run, high-tech products are going to grow fast.
"New-energy vehicles alone will be able to drive up the demand for rare earths," said Chen.
A shopper looks at ornaments at a Wal-Mart store in Los Angeles, California.[Photo/Agencies]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc, vying to better challenge Amazon.com Inc, will pay about $3 billion for internet retailer Jet.com Inc and its innovative pricing softwarein the biggest-ever deal for an e-commerce startup.
The deal disclosed on Monday follows a five-year e-commerce acquisition spree in which Wal-Mart, the world's biggest traditional retailer, has already bought 15 startups, seeking the talent and technology to make it a dominant player online and narrow the massive gap with market leader Amazon.
Wal-Mart's online division has underperformed against Amazon, posting its slowest growth in a year in the first quarter as it struggled to gain traction with consumers, especially millennials.
Jet was launched by internet entrepreneur Marc Lore in July 2015 and includes software that can offer a customer lower prices as they add items to their shopping cart. Wal-Mart has said it would integrate that software into its main website while keeping Jet as a separate entity.
"One of the things we really like (about Jet) is that the customer is even more in-charge of the price that they pay", s Chief Executive Doug McMillon said.
McMillon said Wal-Mart will take time to get the technology and design components from Jet and that they will grow both brands separately in the short term.
"Over time, piece-by-piece, we will end up running a business that is simpler and not completely independent."
McMillon said Lore would run its new US e-commerce business. Lore had cofounded Quidsi Inc, the owner of sites like Diapers and Soap, which was sold to Amazon.
"Marc's e-commerce experience and success are obviously attractive," McMillon said.
Wal-Mart's current head of global e-commerce Neil Ashe will leave the company at the end of the fiscal year.
Reuters
A BP gas station is reflected in a puddle in Moscow. [Photo/Agencies]
British oil major BP Plc is seeking buyers for its 50 percent stake in a Chinese petrochemicals joint venture, its single largest investment in China, in a deal that would fetch $2 billion to $3 billion, people familiar with the matter said.
BP has hired an investment bank to sell its shareholding in Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical Co Ltd as part of a drive to cash out of businesses where it lacks control, the sources added.
A successful deal would mark BP's first significant exit from a business in China.
Situated in Caojing near Shanghai, SECCO is China's largest petrochemicals refinery and was built at a cost of $2.7 billion, according to BP's website.
State-owned China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, known as Sinopec, and one of its units hold the other half of SECCO, according to the website.
A London-based BP spokesman declined to comment, and Sinopec did not offer immediate comment.
SECCO, a venture formed in 2001, produces ethylene and propylene, which are used to make resins, plastics and synthetic rubbers.
While Sinopec has the right of first refusal on the potential sale, bankers said Chinese State-owned enterprises are unlikely to step in to buy the stake.
BP's stake has been marketed to existing refinery operators in China, including companies from Japan, South Korea and Europe, the sources added.
BP, like other global oil and gas companies, has been sharpening its focus on costs and core businesses as it reels from lower oil prices.
It has sold more than $50 billion of assets since the deadly 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill in order to pay for cleanup costs and legal bills. This year, it plans to offload between $3 billion and $5 billion worth of assets, of which $1.9 billion has been agreed, it said when releasing second-quarter earnings last month.
A worker examines steel products at a shipbuilding factory in Chongqing. Rao Guojun / For China Daily
Efforts to cut excess capacity and upgrade the sector are creating new problems as well as opportunities
Editor's note: As China presses on with its attempts to cut overcapacity in steel as part of its international obligations and national economic priorities, the going is getting tougher. On one side is the heart-rending saga of survival-oriented hundreds of thousands of workers - laid off by steel mills, and now desperately trying to learn new skills to find alternative employment in other fields. On the other is the recalcitrant section of the steel industry that is yet to align itself with the national targets for reduction in overcapacity. China Daily takes stock of the sweeping reforms that may yet transform the country's steel industry.
Wearing a red hat and waving a red flag, Jiang Qin, a woman in her 50s, now works to assist traffic police, persuading pedestrians and bike riders to obey traffic rules on a street in Hefei, capital of Anhui province in East China.
Along with 5,000 others, Jiang was laid off late last year when Magang (Group) Holding Co shut down its Hefei steel plant, amid a nationwide campaign to reduce overcapacity in the steel industry.
"It used to take me an hour and a half to get to work on crowded buses," said Jiang. "Now, I work near my home, earn 1,500 yuan ($225) a month. I am happy with my new job, because the job at the plant was no longer ideal as I'm getting old," she said.
Zhou Hanhua, 56, from Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province, has a similar story to tell.
Laid off late last year from Wuhan Iron and Steel, Zhou is now a driver with Didi Chuxing, China's biggest car-hailing service provider.
Besides his earnings from his new job, Zhou still receives around 1,000 yuan a month from Wuhan Iron and Steel. "My monthly income is now as much as I earned at the prime time of Wuhan Iron and Steel," he said.
According to Didi, there are now 219,000 ex-steel workers working for the company across China. In Wuhan alone, 7,000 Didi drivers used to work for Wuhan Iron and Steel.
It is alright for some, but many of the laid-off workers are upset and worried about their future. Most are keen to try their luck in a new career.
Young people no longer regard jobs at State-owned enterprises or SOEs as "jobs for life". SOE salaries have halved in real terms, said another Zhou, also a former worker with Wuhan Iron and Steel.
"Nobody knows how long it will take for the sector to pick up again, if ever," he said. "It would be much better to try to find a new career."
Wuhan city government has organized two job fairs this year with 500 employers offering thousands of jobs. Wuhan Iron and Steel plans to cut another 10,000 jobs by December.
Despite every possible effort to cut production, China's steel industry set a new monthly output record of 69.5 million tons in June.
"Many small steel mills resumed production as prices rose in March and April," said Gao Haijian, Magang's chairman.
If small steel firms are not closed completely, it will be difficult to meet capacity reduction targets of 100 to 150 million tons by 2020, with 500,000 workers to be laid off.
This year alone, the country plans to eliminate 45 million tons with 180,000 workers set to be laid off, according to Xu Shaoshi, head of the National Development and Reform Commission.
But according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, only 13 million tons were cut in the first half of the year, 30 percent of the annual target.
The NDRC, however, has ordered authorities to meet their targets, warning that failure would lead to severe punishment.
"A proportion of China's steel mills do not meet environmental standards and should be shut down," said Ma Guoqiang, chairman of Wuhan Iron and Steel.
With more mergers and acquisitions, the steel sector would run more efficiently, said Chen Derong, president of Baosteel Group.
Ma of Wuhan Iron and Steel said restructuring is a must in cutting capacity and improving efficiency to create globally competitive firms.
In 2015, more than half of China's steel companies reported total losses of 65 billion yuan. Once a profit engine for China, iron and steel boomed while infrastructure investment fed demand for commodities such as steel and cement.
Now, as the economy cools, the production glut has become as burdensome as it was once bountiful.
Apart from capacity cuts, steel firms are struggling up the value chain with higher value-added products. Baosteel sees the auto, nuclear power and defense industries as possible alternatives for the waning construction industry, said Chen.
Magang plans to invest 7.7 billion yuan to upgrade 10 production lines. In 2014, it acquired a French company to help it improve its products and penetrate the European market.
Magang also has sent 15 teams to learn from auto and home appliance makers to better understand what they need.
"We will clearly understand customers' demands and this will help improve our competitiveness," said Gao of Magang.
China's machinery manufacturers will face tougher markets both domestically and overseas due to falling demand and the weak global economy, industry experts said on Tuesday.
According to data provided by the China Machinery Industry Federation, year-on-year growth of fixed-asset investment in the machinery sector in the first half of the current year was 3.07 percent, the lowest level since 2008.
Vice-President Chen Bin said the steel, coal, construction and oil industries experienced less demand during the period, which resulted in the slowdown in machinery investment.
"The machinery industry mainly serves those sectors. There is no sign of a rebound for those industries, which has led to our expectations for the machinery sector in the second half of the year continuing to be low," he said.
Chen said orders were not stable and the number of orders for the first six months grew by only 4.8 percent.
The export market, meanwhile, has been facing challenges posed by a weak world economy.
"Some countries are taking trade protectionist measures to help their own companies, which added to our difficulties in the export markets," Chen said.
Total exports by the industry in the first half stood at $182 billion in 2016, down 6.42 percent from last year, while imports during the same period dropped 7.51 percent to $127.8 billion.
Exports by China's private companies, which used to be the mainstay of the country's machinery exports, have been declining since the start of the year. Previous double-digit growth has turned to negative growth, the federation said.
For the first half, exports from the private sector declined by 0.66 percent year-on-year.
Export volumes by traditional large export provinces, including Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong, dropped by 2.55 percentage points to 5.47 percent year-on-year in the first half.
"The companies have to accelerate innovation in the manufacturing sector by closely cooperating with scientific and research institutions," Chen said.
News / National
by Staff reporter
Former Zanu-PF stalwarts Didymus Mutasa and Dzikamai Mavhaire say it feels good to be in the opposition especially at a time when the ruling party is consumed in endless succession fights and is also facing rising public anger.Speaking at the Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) rally in Chinhoyi on Saturday, both Mutasa and Mavhaire, who are former Cabinet ministers, said developments in Zanu-PF are embarrassing."Takadzingwa muZanu-PF tinozvitenda kwazvo izvozvo, nekuti ndingadai ndiri kunyarira kupi izvozvi, ndainyara zvakaipa kwazvo (I am happy that I am out of Zanu-PF otherwise I would be facing this embarrasment), even those who are still in Zanu-PF are ashamed," Mutasa said.The former State Security minister said Zanu-PF has collapsed and Mugabe is now clueless on how to solve the current economic woes."We must not be amazed that they are expelling party members, they will expel them until Mugabe and his wife remain the only members of Zanu-PF."They are now clueless on how to take this country forward; they are the ones who destroyed this country so they don't have the solution."If you ask about the $15 billion from diamonds, if you hear the president saying he doesn't know where the money is it means they have no clue to solve our crisis. Why doesn't he know?Mutasa also added that ZPF will send Mugabe packing in 2018."Mujuru is a humble person, we worked with her for a long time, come 2018 Zanu-PF will be history."And former Energy minister Mavhaire chipped in saying people must feel sorry for "old" Mugabe whom he said is now an "ancestor"."We cannot describe Mugabe as a young man no, neither can we call him grandfather but if we call him ancestor that is more like it."He must know that his time is now up, and due to his age, he doesn't know what to do with the current crisis but we must feel sorry for this old man."After ZPF had initially been banned from conducting the rally, Mavhaire also attacked the police."We were once arrested so there is nothing they can do to deter us. The police must refuse to be used by other political parties and they must know that things change. The soldiers and police must know that we are going to take over from Mugabe's government in 2018."
An employee of heavymachinery manufacturer Sany Group assembles construction machinery in a factory in Changsha, capital of Hunan province.[Photo/Xinhua]
Caterpillar, Doosan look at secondhand market prospects
Construction equipment makers are ramping up cooperation with auctioneers of secondhand equipment in China, because they are suffering from a prolonged sales slump amid this years' slowdown of the country's building boom.
Global major manufacturers of construction machines, such as Caterpillar Inc and Doosan Infracore Co Ltd are looking into businesses in the used gear market, of which the growth has already outpaced that of the new machine market.
Jeong Ouk-jin, vice-president of the sales and marketing department of Doosan Infracore China Co Ltd, said it has worked with Tiebaobei - China's largest secondhand construction equipment platform for both online and offline sales of the secondhand machines.
"The partnership is in line with our strategy to strengthen after-sales services," he said.
The Seoul-based manufacturing giant has helped its dealers find local buyers through auctions, pushing forward sales of the used machines, the executive said.
Last year, a total of 60 used models, including excavators and wheel-loaders worth more than 18 million yuan ($2.7 million) were sold in China through the platform, a report of tiebaobei shows.
China's construction machinery sector has been on a downward slope since 2012, as major players struggled with excess capacity created during the country's massive stimulus plan that followed the 2008 global financial crisis.
From 2011 to 2014, sales of new machines shrank nearly 50 percent while the secondhand market remained stable.
Fan Jianshe, the founder of Tiebaobei, built the business when the construction equipment market slowed down due to overcapacity. It has gathered secondhand gear, ranging from generators and vans, to heavy-duty trucks and diggers.
He said that the market value of secondhand sales already reached more than 400 billion yuan in 2015, while the traditional market fell to 350 billion yuan during the same period from 600 billion yuan in 2014.
"Though business conditions for construction equipment makers have started improving as China has cleared some of its excess, the market still needs to be strengthened," he said.
"I think it will need at least three to five years for the market to recover."
A young couple poses at "Love Tunnel" in Jiangning district, Nanjing, Jiangsu province, Aug 9, 2016. [Photo/IC]
BEIJING - Chinese people embrace their own "Valentine's Day" Tuesday, when lovers send each other gifts or have romantic candlelit meals together.
"Qixi" is a traditional Chinese festival on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. It is based on a 2,000-year-old legend of two lovers, Niu Lang and Zhi Nu, separated by a river, who can only meet once a year when a flock of magpies forms a bridge for them.
More people celebrating
As with other festivals, Qixi has become an excuse for shopping. Shopping malls, both online and brick-and-mortar, and department stores have numerous promotions on the day.
Lovers have romantic meals together.[Photo/IC]
Alibaba claims that the number of people searching key words such as flowers, roses, and chocolates on online shopping websites increases dramatically around Qixi.
Unmarried couples are generally more interested in Qixi gifts than the married. About 84 percent of flowers delivered at this time of year are roses. Of those who buy roses and chocolates, Alibaba says more than 90 percent are unmarried and more than 63 percent are between 18 and 29 years old.
But this does not mean that the middle-aged do not celebrate. Many middle-aged people in the survey said that they give their spouses presents on this day, but they tend to be household items.
A Chinese clerk shows a cake at a bakery in Bozhou city, China's Anhui province, Aug 10, 2016. [Photo/VCG]
A last chance to find a mate
The festival was originally a day for girls rather than couples to celebrate, and its original meaning had very little to do with love.
Wang Juan with the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Peking University, said that Qixi was for young women and girls to get together, do embroidery and pray for good needlework skills which in turn would help them find a partner.
Though people today rarely do needlework, finding a mate is still an important part of the day. Traditional, commercial matchmaking events are held in parks.
This year a bus driver in central China's Henan province came up with a new way for young people to meet their "Mr or Miss Right." Inspired by the love story of another bus driver Zhao Pengfei, Yun Xi, driver of Bus No 62 in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital city, has adorned his bus with wedding photos and romantic love stories.
A young man sends a gold necklace to his girlfriend in Beijing. [Photo/VCG]
Zhao, who works on Bus No 130 in Zhengzhou, met the love of life on his bus. In 2014, a girl lost her bus pass on his bus. Zhao told her he would look for it later, and asked for her phone number so he could call her if he got lucky, which he certainly did. He duly found the card and returned it to her that evening. They are now married.
Yun's plan is to ask his passengers for their WeChat details, so he can post their contact information in his bus.
"Most young people are too busy to meet new people," he said. "Buses are the most popular public transport, so I hope this can help them."
A day for reminiscences of youth and love
Qixi is not just for young people but holds meaning for older citizens.
Couples celebrate Qixi, or Chinese Valentine's Day, in wedding dresses when they got married half a century ago, Suining city, Sichuan province, Aug 8, 2016. [Photo/VCG]
Chen Yi, in his fifties, from Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan province, said he does not envy young people celebrating the festival, but is reminded of the good old days when he and his wife enjoyed a simple, romantic relationship.
"When we were young, we never celebrated western Valentine's Day, but we looked forward to Qixi a lot. I helped my girlfriend fetch water and sent her cakes. She sent me a handmade scarf as a present," Chen said. "In the afternoon, we walked along the track of the local stadium."
Guo Houchi, a college student from Changsha, remembers his mother telling him stories about Qixi.
"She told me that when she was young she would go out on the night of Qixi to see the stars in the sky and try to find Niu Lang and Zhi Nu. It sounded like such a romantic way to celebrate."
Qixi was listed as an example of national intangible cultural heritage by the State Council in 2006. Over the past decade, Chinese people have developed their own ways to celebrate the festival.
"The Festival is a miniature piece of culture. We should pay more attention to how these festivals encapsulate our traditions and reflect people's behavior today," said Professor Wang Juan.
MEXICO CITY - Chinese Vice-Premier Liu Yandong on Monday urged Chinese telecoms giant Huawei to continue making contribution to the implementation of China's innovation-driven development strategy.
Liu made the remarks while visiting the Latin America headquarters of Huawei, which is located in Mexico city.
Huawei, as a private enterprise, has established a successful path of "going global" and building an international brand through technological innovation and constantly enhancing its core competitiveness, said Liu.
President Xi Jinping told a national conference on science and technology in May that China must stick to the road of independent innovation with Chinese characteristics in a bid to realize the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and achieve the country's Two Centennial Goals -- to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020, and build a socialist modernized country by the middle of the 21th century, Liu noted.
Liu expressed her hope that Huawei could continue to undertake its historical and social responsibility, have the courage to meet new challenges and dare to be a pioneer, and play a positive role in deepening China's relations with Mexico and Latin America.
SHANGHAI/GUANGZHOU - When Shanghai INESA held its first technology meeting in 2010, a board erected at the door of the meeting room had almost nothing to display as there were no "decent" quality products at that time.
But things became different when the instruments and electronics products manufacturer held its second technology meeting two years later.
"We not only had new products, but also a whole set of solutions," said Wang Qiang, chairman of the State-owned enterprise (SOE) in East China's business hub Shanghai.
The company, founded in 1960, is shifting from traditional electronics production to new industries such as smart city construction and the Internet of Things.
At the end of 2015, after INESA acquired some private firms, its mixed-ownership subsidiaries accounted for 37.3 percent of assets and 56.4 percent of profits.
These changes reflect the substantial reforms in local SOEs in recent years in Shanghai, a city which has long taken the lead in such reforms, in policies, programs and practice.
SOE reforms play a vital role in the country's economic restructuring. Local SOEs account for about 47 percent of all the country's SOE assets, according to statistics released by the Finance Ministry last month.
In the first half of 2016, the total revenue and profit of local SOEs in Shanghai reached 1.4 trillion yuan ($213 billion) and 149 billion yuan respectively, both growing faster than the national average, according to official statistics.
Progress has also been made with other SOE reforms to boost innovation in Shanghai.
At Shanghai International Port Group, 16,000 employees (about 72 percent of staff) hold a total of 410 million shares (1.8 percent of the company).
"The staff used to care more about their own salaries than company profits. Now they pay more attention to the corporate operation and management," said Yan Jun, president of the State-owned enterprise.
Shanghai SOE reforms and performance have attracted investors. Late last month, an asset management company raised 15 billion yuan for an exchange-traded fund tracking an index of Shanghai SOEs, the first of its kind in Shanghai.
Shanghai will continue to make breakthroughs in capital management and accelerate the orderly flow of State-owned capital, said Jin Xingming, director of the Shanghai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
Home to China's first free trade zone, Shanghai saw 6.7 percent growth in H1, the same as the national rate, according to official statistics.
Indicative of its restructuring progress, the tertiary sector accounted for more than 70 percent of the Shanghai's gross domestic product for the first time. Financial, information, and creative industries all showed double-digit growth.
"Innovation-driven development has brought more positive impact to Shanghai's economy," said Shen Xiaochu, head of the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission.
Robust private investment boosts upgrade
Restructuring has also taken place in other parts of the country. South China's Guangdong province, the country's main manufacturing hub, is demonstrating a healthier development pattern with strong private investment.
Guangdong's private investment during H1 saw 19.6 percent growth year on year, well ahead of the 2.8 percent recorded across the country. Private investment contributed to 90 percent of the total growth of investment in Guangdong over the same period..
Private investment can sensitively reflect the market environment. The rapid growth implies that the market is offering new opportunities, said Chen Hongyu, deputy head of the Guangdong economic society.
Statistics show that nearly 70 percent of private investment went into manufacturing and the tertiary industry.
Early restructuring moves have brought new energy to Guangdong's economy, with high-end manufacturing and Internet-related services growing as favored sectors for investment.
During the first half of the year, high-end manufacturing in the province registered 10 percent growth year on year. The Internet-related service sector saw a 43 percent annual growth in revenue.
Guangdong Incode Automation is a company focusing on the research and production of encoders used in industrial robotics. These days deputy general manager Luo Rihui has been busy listening to venture capital organizations from around the world.
"As long as we have the core technology, capital will automatically come to us," he said.
Guangdong-based appliance giant Midea launched a smart electric cooker last year, which sold at 3,000 yuan per set, about ten times the price of the old model.
Company chairman Fang Hongbo said, the new product has sold much better than the old one, which has highlighted the importance of quality-driven growth.
Ding Li, expert with the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, said that some traditional industries such as home appliances, textiles, furniture and porcelain in the province are embracing new technology and a business model for new development at a time when the economy is facing downward pressure.
During economic difficulties, China's export-oriented manufacturers may improve their performance through developing a diversified customer base, attaching more importance to logistics, and selling less unfinished goods than finished ones, according to a white paper issued by UPS on Tuesday in Shanghai.
The white paper attempts to provide practical advice to China's manufacturing sector which aims to remain competitive during the country's economic transformation. "Chinese export manufacturers should learn from industrial leaders who have implemented successful strategies to achieve better business performance and growth," said the report.
Chinese export manufacturers are facing challenges from both demand and supply: two of the most commonly-cited challenges are increasing competition from Chinese companies and decreasing demand from Chinese customers, added the report.
Export manufacturers are more pessimistic than before, with 29 percent of the companies saying the economy is worsecompared with 16 percent in 2014.
The report also advised a wider geographical footprint, serving a more diversified customer base of both B2B and B2C customers, understanding the role of logistics, priorities for the future, selling less unfinished goods than finished ones, as well as identifying the impact of emerging trends.
A total of 1,000 senior decision-makers in export manufacturing companies across China were interviewed for the report.
"Against a backdrop of intensifying pressures in China, it is clearer now than before that the future survival and success of export manufacturers would depend on their willingness to make changes to the way they do business," said Richard Loi, president of UPS China.
But Loi also ruled out price cuts as the optimal solution to remain competitive. Instead, higher quality products, showing an understanding of the customers' business and offering a faster and more efficient supply chain are the top reasons for customers to switch suppliers, he said.
"There is a need to shift from low prices to offering higher quality products and adding value by building a closer partnership with customers," Loi said.
Huang Yiping, professor at Peking University's National School of Development, believed the pillar industries that are used to support China's economy have been losing vitality for a long time, and there is an urgent need for new industries to drive the next round of economic growth.
"However, the majority of export manufacturers have yet to take the first step toward industry upgrading. What can be done to convert the successful experiences of leading companies into practical guidelines for tens of thousands of other companies in China? This is precisely the question this year's Made in China 2.0 report aims to tackle," Huang said.
An advertisement for e-commerce retailer JD.com Inc in Shanghai. [Photo/China Daily]
JD.com Inc, China's second biggest e-commerce company, reported revenue for the second quarter of 2016 that was within company forecasts, even as the growth rate continued a steady decline that is expected to continue.
The company, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's main rival in online shopping, said on Wednesday revenue for the quarter rose 42 percent to 65.2 billion yuan ($9.83 billion), within JD.com's forecast range of 64.2-66.2 billion yuan.
But the company is predicting an even sharper decline in growth for the third quarter, compounding concerns that China's e-commerce sector is saturating. JD.com's revenue from Amazon-like online direct sales rose 40 percent in the quarter, versus a 67 percent jump in sales from services and other businesses.JD.com now expects revenues for the third quarter to be 59-61 billion yuan, a rise of 34-38 percent from the same quarter in 2015.
Net losses were 132.1 million yuan ($19.92 million), compared to a loss of 510.4 million yuan in the previous year. The total value of merchandise transactions on JD.com's platforms was 108.7 billion yuan in the quarter, up 47 percent excluding online marketplace Paipai.com, which JD.com shut down.
Including Paipai's previous contribution to transactions for the previous year in the comparison, the second quarter's growth rate for value of merchandise sold would be 40 percent, according to Reuters calculations.
The company also gave an update on its share repurchase program it authorized in September, saying it had purchased 2.4 million ADSs for about $51.5 million. It has also entered into a structured repurchase agreement to lower the cost of acquiring shares.
JD.com shares were up around 3 percent at $23.10 in pre-market trading in New York, but well below the $29.53 price at the beginning of the year.
Aliyun will carry out strategic cooperation with IT service provider Digital China Holdings Ltd and global audit and advisory firm Deloitte to promote the development of cloud business. [Photo/IC]
Firm to open four overseas data centers by end of the year
Alibaba Group's cloud computing subsidiary Aliyun plans to open four overseas data centers in Japan, Europe, Australia and the Middle East by the end of this year, to speed up the global deployment of its cloud computing infrastructure.
It will also support more than 50 global leading software companies to launch businesses in the Chinese market next year and introduce world-advanced information technologies and solutions into China.
The first batch of partners includes 11 international software providers, such as software company SAP SE, SUSE Linux GmbH and data management and storage company Hitachi Data Systems.
"The total number of overseas users of Aliyun increased by 700 percent last year," Yu Sicheng, Aliyun's vice-president, said at the Computing Conference in Beijing on Tuesday.
Yu added its major services cover artificial intelligence, security and enterprise-class internet architecture. At present, the company has set up data centers in Hong Kong, Singapore and the United States.
Yu announced the company has established a strategic cooperative partnership with smartphone maker HTC Corp, to provide technical support and cloud services for HTC's VR devices brand HTC Vive to boost the virtual reality industry.
"It is an important integration for virtual reality and cloud computing industry. Aliyun, which has an advantage in cloud computing and developers' resources, could help HTC Vive to launch in China better and provide more fluent and abundant content for VR consumers," said Alvin Wang Graylin, who is in charge of HTC's VR business in China.
Moreover, Aliyun will carry out strategic cooperation with IT service provider Digital China Holdings Ltd and global audit and advisory firm Deloitte to promote the development of cloud business.
Charlie Dai, principal analyst at Forrester Research Inc, told China Daily: "The cloud market is growing rapidly both in China and abroad. The competition of cloud players is switching from infrastructure layer to the whole platform and value ecosystem."
"Aliyun's expansion of its data center footprint is critical for its globalization, not only to enable its global initiatives, but also to drive digital transformation in the local market of each region," he said.
The worldwide cloud services market is projected to grow 16.5 percent in 2016 to total $204 billion, up from $175 billion in 2015, according to consultancy Gartner Inc.
China's prestigious Tsinghua University is teaming up with the United States tech firm Cloudera Inc to meet the country's growing demand for big data talents.
Under the deal, Cloudera, which offers Apache Hadoop-based software and services, will provide free big data curriculum resources to Tsinghua University, to cultivate more talents that can fuel China's big data drive.
Apache Hadoop is an open-source software framework for distributed storage and distributed processing of very large data sets on computer clusters. Currently, most big data professionals learn and share their knowledge on the open-source online community.
Tsinghua University said it would offer five to 10 Hadoop courses to both undergraduates and post graduates. In addition to basic abilities, it will also work with Cloudera to focus on further research so as to promote the development of the global big data industry.
The partnership comes as China steps up efforts to encourage traditional enterprises to embrace big data and other cutting-edge tech to counter against slower economic growth. With Internet data centers building around the country, there is a big shortage of big data talents.
Cloudera, which chip giant Intel Corp invested $740 million into, is one of the pioneers in offering big data training services. The deal is also part of the US firm's broad efforts to tap into commercial opportunities in China.
Doug Cutting, Chief Architect of Cloudera and the co-creator of Apache Hadoop, said Chinese companies such as Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd all have been using Hadoop for many years and also contributed significantly to its development.
Research firm International Data Corp predicts that the global big data market will reach $23.8 billion this year.
Hong Xinyu, a 20-year-old college student from East China, said her dream is to see more Chinese women succeed in their ambition to be entrepreneurs.
Hong, China's representative at the G (irls)20 Summit in Beijing on Tuesday, told the international gathering that her plan is to open a workshop to help women who were unable to go to college get training in management and leadership.
"Chinese women still don't have enough opportunities to achieve career success," she said. "One important reason is that many of us lack leadership ability and entrepreneurship."
Twenty-four young womenchosen for their experience, ambition and learning ability from more than 1,700 applicants from G20 member countriesjoined this year's summit of G (irls) 20.
G (irls)20, established in 2009, is an organization based in Canada that is devoted to promoting greater female participation in the workforce around the world.
Farah Mohamed, head of G (irls)20, said that China stands out internationally for producing impressive examples of women who are in power, particularly in business.
"We have women being promoted to senior level jobs. We don't have enough, but we have more," she said. "The company Didi Chuxing, which just acquired the China business of Uber, is run by a woman. That's incredible, and we need to see more of that."
A report released last year by Hurun, the Shanghai wealth research firm best known for its "China Rich List", showed that eight of the world's top-10 richest self-made women are from China, compared with two from the United States.
Zhou Qunfei, who heads touch-screen maker Lens Technology, stormed to the top of the list with her $7.8 billion fortune.
The young women at Tuesday's meeting brought more ideas to increase the rate of female participation in the workforce around the world.
The G20 has agreed on a global "gender gap goal" that would translate into more than 100 million new jobs for women across the G20 nations.
According to the International Labor Organization, between 1995 and 2015, the proportion of female population in the global workforce decreased from 52.4 to 49.6 percent. Worldwide, the chances for women to participate in the labor market remain almost 27 percentage points lower than for men, according to the ILO.
Hong, a sociology major at Renmin University of China, is determined to push the mission forward.
"I am very interested in spending time with kids. I am also an amiable person. I will focus on elementary education of underprivileged groups."
A worker learns how to control a robotic arm in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in July, in response to a rising local demand for robotics engineers. CHAI HUA/CHINA DAILY
Month after month, the national economic reports show basically the same growth rate. Nothing seems to have changed.
On the shop floor level, however, thousands of individuals are turning over a new leaf in their careers, evidence of a country in transition.
In Shenzhen, Guangdong province, a manufacturing powerhouse for the past 30 years, many old jobs are being phased out, and many new ones are up for grabs.
Wang Zaolin is an example. The 27-year-old former unit head of Foxconn, a Taiwan-based multinational company that outsources manufacturing for Apple, quit his job recently to study to become a robotics engineer.
A few months ago, Wang's unit trimmed its workforce by half.
"I used to be assigned to supervise up to 40 workers. Now it's only 20," he said. The workers had been replaced by robots.
As a graduate of a vocational school, Wang had been paid around 4,000 yuan ($600) a month. But he expects his wage to at least double after he masters programing, troubleshooting and maintaining artificial intelligence-driven machines that are a growing phenomenon in his city.
Many Shenzhen workers envy Wang's opportunity. Similar training facilities are few in the city.
Wang's school is called Linkway Intelligence Education (Shenzhen) and specializes in training former assembly-line workers. Wang is learning Programmable Logic Control, a basic skill for designing and controlling robots and a required course for becoming a robotics engineer.
Lian Guofu, director of the school, said the course in industrial robotics programming and applications is among the most popular lately. Opening in March, the school has trained 63 students and expects to quadruple that number in one year.
But training schools like Linkway are unlikely to keep up with demand. A number of factories don't bother to invest in education and some vocational schools have yet to be equipped.
In Dongguan, a smaller manufacturing city near Shenzhen, a school set up by Chitone Human Resource Chain is also finding robotics-related courses to be popular, according to Huang Tingsheng, the school's vice-director.
Across the Pearl River Delta area, many companies want to use robots on their assembly lines. Data provided by the International Federation of Robotics show that robots are also agents for creating new jobs.
Companies need robotics-trained talent just as much as they need robots, said Shang Zhenhua, director of the engineering center for Linkway Technology Development, parent of Linkway Intelligence Education.
In his company, at least 400 workers have been replaced by 200 robots in the last couple of years.
News / National
by Staff reporter
Respected Zanu-PF elder, Cephas Msipa, has advised President Robert Mugabe and the ruling party to listen to the growing voices of dissent in the country, warning that failure to do so would be tantamount to negating the values of the country's liberation struggle which cost the lives of so many Zimbabweans.Reflecting on today's Heroes Day commemorations in an interview with the Daily News at the weekend, Msipa - who affectionately calls Mugabe "muzukuru wangu" (my nephew) - said his heart bleeds each time he is confronted by the grinding poverty afflicting the majority of Zimbabweans, which has seen many people turning to street vending to survive.Msipa spoke as Mugabe and Zanu-PF are facing their biggest challenges since they came to power in April 1980, with the ruling party torn apart by its seemingly unstoppable factional and succession wars, and the nonagenarian facing growing calls from both within the former liberation movement and without to step down.Today's Heroes Day commemorations and tomorrow's Defence Forces Day are also being held at a time that the government is being rocked by escalating citizen unrest and waves of protests and riots against the country's deepening political and economic rot."When I move around in Harare, Bulawayo or Gweru people always ask me whether what is happening in the country is what we fought for. Indeed, is this what we suffered for? The fact that people are asking those questions tells me that something has gone wrong."I look around and see all these protests and I ask what is happening? Is this what we fought for?"We were fighting for peace, harmony and prosperity but as it is people are getting poorer by the day. There is grinding poverty all over and that is why people are now demanding answers," Msipa said with a tinge of regret in his voice.The retired politician, who has known Mugabe for more than 50 years, said it was dispiriting that Zimbabweans were today worse off than they were at the dawn of the country's independence in 1980, with leaders seemingly more intent on attacking each other than serving the people."As Zimbabweans, we are shouting at each other and not reaching out to each other. Isn't it time we think of something that can bring us together? What we should do is to say let us have an indaba to discuss the Zimbabwe we want."In my mind that should be the subject for discussion, and we would want as many people as possible to discuss that. Let Zimbabweans have a platform where they can air their views."As to who would lead this, I believe that for such a meeting to be successful it needs to be chaired by the president or his nominee, so that it is recognised and to compel all the leadership to be there to hear what people are saying," Msipa said.The former Cabinet minister, who has been consistent over the past two years in questioning Mugabe's recent political tactics and his failure to name a successor, said he was "very disappointed" that the ruling party was continuing to engage in its senseless bloodletting instead of focusing on the country's dying economy."This time is an opportunity to speak about the heroes we lost. I went through the struggle and I am disappointed that now instead of being united we seem to be splitting into different groups, expelling each other."I have been trying to think how many people between 1960 and 2014 have been expelled from the party. I cannot remember, but the whole emphasis should be on uniting the people. Maybe this can only stop when we have an agenda about the Zimbabwe we want," Msipa added.The pointed comments came amid the fact that Zanu-PF has since its formation in the early 1960s been characterised by seemingly intractable fights and purges, some of which have resulted in murders or the throwing of dissenters into filthy dungeons.Msipa said although he preferred not to speak about the country's challenges "as a retiree", the dire situation obtaining in Zimbabwe compelled him to add his voice to the growing cries for solutions."We are disintegrating and is that what we are going to hand over to the generations to come? Are they not going to blame us? Let us hand over this country in good shape."If we had to hand it today I am sure we would be ashamed. What will those who come after us learn from us? And can we say we have bequeathed to them unity and peace? So, at my age, yes I am retired but I am also thinking of the future."I want to see that we hand over this country to the future generation in good shape ... people who are united, people who have common goals, not people who are fighting for positions all the time."We want people who put the nation above party. I think as long as we think our parties are more important than the country then we are in trouble. Our country is very important. We are like people in a ship and we should not allow that ship to sink," Msipa asserted.Drawing lessons from the country's Unity Accord of 1987, he said it "boggles the mind that today no one seems to treasure unity anymore".
Following the implementation in January of harsher rules against bribes and gifts, provincial governments are abolishing special accounts that have been misused by officials to hide ill-gotten gains.
In August, the Guizhou government joined at least three other provinces in canceling a special bank account that officials had used to deposit money and remain under the radar of graft investigators, said Huang Wensheng, a senior official of the Guizhou provincial Discipline Inspection Committee.
The first "clean governance accounts" were established in the 1990s to reduce corruption while protecting the privacy of officials. Over a dozen provincial-level governments had established such accounts. Sichuan and Gansu province, as well as the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, recently eliminated them.
Usually, the accounts are managed by the local discipline inspection authorities and banks. The names of the depositor and the sum are not disclosed, and the money is turned over to the local treasury.
Zhuang Deshui, a professor at Peking University, explained that the accounts were designed as an outlet for officials who are remorseful.
"However, some officials have misused the service," Huang said.
"Many officials use the account as an umbrella or safe haven. For example, some corrupt officials only deposit bribes when they face an investigation," he said.
Hong Jinzhou, former mayor of Kaili in Guizhou, stood trial for accepting bribes last year. He was found to have accepted bribes on more than 380 occasions and had attempted to cover up his misdeeds by periodically depositing funds, amounting to over 55 million yuan ($8.3 million), in the clean governance fund.
"Many people have used the accounts to obstruct investigations," said Tang Yonghu, a discipline official in Tongren, Guizhou.
"These accounts have created more problems than they have solved," he said.
The cancellation of the accounts marks an even harsher crackdown on corruption and is in line with Party regulations.
Starting in January this year, a revised regulation issued by the Communist Party of China Central Committee banned officials from accepting gifts, money or gift cards.
According to the Guizhou regulation, officials must resolutely turn down any kind of money that may obstruct their duty.
If accepting the bribe is unavoidable, then it must be returned as soon as possible within the one-month deadline, it said.
If all means of returning the money have been exhausted, the money must be deposited with the discipline inspection authority along with the names of those involved, according to the regulation.
The Type-96B tank is expected to replace many of the PLA's old tanks. [Photo/China Daily]
China's military is likely to deploy the Type-96B tank as the pillar of its tank fleet, replacing most of its old models, observers said.
Gao Zhuo, a military observer in Shanghai who has close contact with the People's Liberation Army, told China Daily that the excellent capabilities of the Type-96B qualify it to be the backbone of China's tank force.
"The Type-96B is the strongest variant of the Type-96 family and is truly an advanced, third-generation main battle tank," he said. "The PLA will use it to replace the old tanks such as the Type-59 and Type-69 models."
His remarks came as the Type-96B delivered impressive performances in the ongoing Masters of Automobile and Tank Hardware competition, also known as the Tank Biathlon, at the Alabino training range in Moscow.
The PLA sent several Type-96B tanks to take part in the tank competition, the most watched part of the Russia-hosted International Army Games.
The eight-day individual part of the competition, which involved 54 teams from 17 countries, ended on Sunday, with the Chinese delegation scoring the highest.
All of the PLA's three teams were to compete in the semifinal that started on Tuesday.
By the end of last year, the Chinese military had more than 7,000 tanks in active service, including about 2,000 Type-96s and Type-96As, as well as about 600 Type-99s and Type-99As, so the majority of the PLA armored force is still equipped with tanks made several decades ago, according to foreign military analysts.
Huang Guozhi, senior editor at Modern Weaponry magazine, said that despite the fact that Type-99 series tanks are more advanced, their high price and limited production capacity mean that it's unrealistic for the PLA to purchase and deploy them on a large scale.
"Therefore, the Type-96B, with a better price and satisfactory capabilities, is very attractive to the Chinese and foreign militaries. It is the best option for the PLA to modernize its armored forces," he said.
According to an article posted by China North Industries Group Corp on its WeChat social media account, the Type-96Bcompared with its predecessors in the Type-96 familyhas a high-performance 125 mm smoothbore gun, an improved, more powerful engine, newly developed transmission gear and a state-of-the-art fire-control system.
Yu Shuo, a tank researcher in Beijing, said the Type-96B is among the latest achievements by the nation's land arms industry. He suggested that too much emphasis should not be placed on the results of the Tank Biathlon, as the experience gained is more important to the PLA.
Zhou Wenlong and his bride, Jiang Huizhu, celebrate Qixi Festival, or Chinese Valentine's Day, 180 meters in the air at a scenic zone in Pingjiang, Hunan province, on Tuesday. Their hammock is suspended under a glass-and-steel corridor hanging between mountains. Qixi Festival annually falls on the seventh day of the seventh month on the Chinese calendar, and this year it was on Aug 9. [Photo/Chinanews.com]
The Chinese ambassador to Japan on Tuesday rebuffed Tokyo's protests over the presence of Chinese ships around the Diaoyu Islands.
It is "natural" for them to operate in Chinese territory, ambassador Cheng Yonghua said after being summoned by Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday morning. Kishida lodged a protest over the increased number of Chinese vessels in waters around the Diaoyu Islands.
According to Japanese media, Japan has lodged at least six protests with China through various channels since Friday, on issues ranging from Chinese ships to an infrared camera on a Chinese oil and gas field exploration platform in the East China Sea.
It was reported that Cheng was also summoned on Friday by Japanese Vice-Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama after six Chinese coast guard vessels and six fishing vessels entered the waters.
Kyodo reported that Kishida told Cheng that China-Japan relations are "deteriorating badly". Cheng responded that it is normal for China's vessels to sail in its own territory.
The move comes as the number of Chinese coastguard ships around the Diaoyu Islands rose to as many as 13 on Tuesday, according to the Japanese coast guard - a record number since China started sending ships to the region in September 2012 after Japan "nationalized" the islands.
According to The Associated Press, Cheng told reporters as he left the ministry that the increase in China's fleet was to oversee the increased activity of Chinese fishing boats. The fishing season in the East China Sea has opened.
"Please understand that it's an effort by the Chinese side to avoid further complications in the situation," Cheng said.
Yu Zhirong, a maritime studies researcher at the China Maritime Development Research Center, said that because of disturbances from Japan, Chinese fishermen were forced several years ago to stop fishing in waters around the Diaoyu Islands, a traditional Chinese fishing ground.
"Now we are asserting our sovereignty rights. The protests made by Japan are unreasonable and null," Yu said.
Huang Dahui, a researcher on East Asia studies at Renmin University of China, said repeated protests by the Japanese side are driven by hidden political motives, including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to amend his country's Constitution.
Japanese media reports say the recent escalation in China's activity may be seen as a warning against planned visits by members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which honors war dead including a number of war criminals, on the Aug 15 anniversary marking the end of World War II.
Also on Tuesday, Beijing said Tokyo is making a fuss by hyping a normal infrared camera installed on an oil and gas field exploration platform.
The remarks, made by the spokesperson's office of the Foreign Ministry, came after Japanese media said the Japanese government believes the move could help China improve its military capability in the East China Sea.
According to the office, the equipment the Japanese side mentioned is a normal infrared camera, and its aim is to observe the situation around the platform and ensure its security.
Zhang Yaozhong contributed to this story.
China's first recipient of a cochlear implant to restore hearing in 1995 remembers the experience as an adventure that was "totally worth it".
Lu Feng lost his hearing as a side-effect of drug use at age 21 and lived in silence for 10 years before getting the implant. Three months after the surgery, his hearing returned. He now owns an IT company.
"I am lucky. Most Chinese cannot land one," he said.
A cochlear implant is a surgically implanted device that helps overcome problems in the cochlea, a curling tube located in the inner ear. Its function is to convert the vibrations from sounds into electrical signals and transmit them to nerves that then send signals to the brain. There they are translated into recognizable sounds.
Implants are recommend for newborns with hearing loss and adults who lost their hearing as a result of accident or age, according to Dai Pu, vice-chairman of the Ear, Nose and Throat Department of the Chinese PLA General Hospital and head of the hospital's. School-age recipients can attend normal class activities. For newborns, the surgery should be done before 3 years old to secure the best possible outcome.
However, fewer than one-third of the children with hearing loss in China can get an implant, he said.
China now has roughly 30,000 newborns suffering hearing problems. Half of them require cochlear implants. Another 30,000 to 50,000 begin to display hearing problems at age 2 to 4, official figures show.
A cochlear implant costs about 200,000 yuan ($30,000) in China and generally has not been covered by health insurance programs. On the positive side, the central government began paying for implants for around 6,000 underprivileged children who suffer hearing loss each year.
"But there are still huge gaps, particularly with seniors," he said, urging the government to bring cochlear implants into insurance programs.
"For children, it's a matter of having an opportunity for a great future; for the old, it's about quality of life," he said.
Dig Howitt, chief operating officer of Cochlear Limited in Australia, the world's leading cochlear device manufacturer, said the procedure is covered by health insurance in many developed countries and is cost-effective in light of the contributions made by people who regained their hearing.
Adults in developed countries account for the majority of procedures - about 70 percent, according to Howitt. In China, 80 percent are children.
Sunset over the Hongjiannao Lake. [Photo provided to China Daily]
China's largest desert freshwater lake is in danger of drying up, experts have warned.
Hongjiannao Lake, on the border between Shaanxi province's Shenmu county and Ejin Horo Banner in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, has shrunk significantly in recent years, according to the Shenmu county government.
The water quality has also deteriorated, leaving the lake almost devoid of fish life and hitting the local population of relict gulls, which are classified as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
According to information issued by the county government, the surface area of the lake has decreased from 67 sq km in 1969 to 32.8 square kilometers today.
Since 2006, the water level of the lake has dropped by 30 cm to 60 cm annually, and the average water depth has dropped from 8.2 meters to less than 4 meters.
Data provided by Shaanxi Provincial Water Conservancy Department also shows that the pH value of the lake has now reached 9.8, making the water too alkaline to support most life. As a result, 17 species of wild freshwater fish, which originally lived in the lake, have now vanished.
As the lake disappears, an islet in its middle that was previously used by gulls to breed has become a peninsula, said Xiao Hong, researcher with the Northwest Institute of Endangered Animals.
Consequently, the population of relict gulls at Hongjiannao has declined from 7,700 nesting pairs in 2011 to just 2,000 last year.
At the present rate of decline, the lake will dry up entirely within 10 years, said Huo Xueqi, assistant to the president of the Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University.
Discussions held at seminar in Beijing over bilateral relations in light of missile deployment
The controversy surrounding the China visit of six lawmakers from the Republic of Korea demonstrates split opinion and the opposition ROK President Park Geun-hye faces in her decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system.
The six anti-THAAD lawmakers from the main opposition Minju Party of Korea, all in their first terms in the National Assembly, embarked on a three-day visit to Beijing on Monday. They attended a closed-door seminar on Chinese-ROK ties organized by the Chinese think tank Pangoal Institution on Tuesday.
Representatives from both sides had "in-depth, candid" discussions on certain bilateral issues, exchanged their opinions, and offered "constructive suggestions" to improve Beijing-Seoul ties, according to a brief statement issued after the meeting that included Chinese scholars and the visiting lawmakers.
No further comments were made by either side. The seminar was not open to the press at the request of the ROK's side.
Previous reports said they planned to discuss the deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in the ROK with Chinese officials and scholars.
The six lawmakers faced strong opposition from the ROK's presidential office and media outlets before their visit to Beijing.
Park had urged the lawmakers to scrap the trip, which they said was made to discuss ways to prevent bilateral relations from deteriorating further, calling the missile system counterproductive.
During her meeting with senior presidential secretaries on Monday, Park denounced the visit because it further split public opinion over the THAAD deployment.
Park said she is ready to receive any criticism, as she believes THAAD is aimed at protecting South Koreans from nuclear and missile threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Wang Junsheng, a researcher in Asia-Pacific strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the lawmakers' visit mirrors the rifts over THAAD's deployment in the ROK, as opposition has been noted from not only politicians, but also local governments and residents.
"The visiting ROK lawmakers represent their voice, and they are here for the friendship between China and the ROK and their country's nation interests," Wang said.
"Their trip highlights the importance of high-level bilateral exchanges, which are now plunging into a chill, and the need to reduce strategic misunderstandings," he said.
Xinhua contributed to this story.
Graduates from normal universities in Hunan province interact with their potential employers at a job fair in Hengyang in March. More than 4,000 graduates participated in the event.[Peng Bin/For China Daily]
Miss Zhao, a graduate of Communication University of China, is visibly frustrated when she talks about her recent experience job hunting. Although Miss Zhao has a PhD as well as experience interning in a central media outlet, she says employers still prefer male applicants, and will sometimes choose a male applicant who holds only a bachelor's degree over a female applicant with a doctorate. She added that, for her, job interviews always include questions about when she plans to marry and have a child, and even about whether she plans to have a second baby.
This year will witness 7.65 million students graduate from universities and colleges across China. This summer is also the first employment season after the universal two-child policy came into effect. As a result, female graduates are facing more severe competition and pressure in job hunting.
Overt and covert gender discrimination floods recruitment notices. Examples of more explicit discrimination include: "only male," "male preferred," "married mother preferred," "higher educational background for female candidates," "appearance and height required" and "obligations of no marriage and no reproduction in certain years."
However, even covert discrimination can be quite obvious, such as when employers inquire about female applicants' marital status and thoughts on family planning, or stress that the position requires frequent overtime and is therefore more suitable for men.
According to a 2014 survey conducted by the Women's Studies Institute of China (WSIC), 86.18 percent of female graduates in Beijing, Hebei and Shandong say they have experienced gender discrimination while job hunting.
Marriage, childbearing and employment are all women's rights, and are protected by law, explained Ma Yan, a researcher with WSIC. However, Ma said, childbearing does increase costs to employers. For instance, in the wake of the universal two-child policy, many local governments have extend mandated maternity from one month to three.
Guo Ruilin, who works in human resources at a private pharmaceutical company, complained, "Normally, maternity impacts a woman's work for a year or two, but the company still pays them a salary and offers social security. A second child will double the costs." Additionally, according to tradition, women play a central role in domestic affairs. Many employers worry that running a household with two children will further divert women's attention and energy from work.
A number of experts believe the government should get involved in reducing the stigma and discrimination wrought by the two-child policy. Yin Xiaojun, an associate researcher at the Shanxi Academy of Social Sciences, suggested that the government offer financial subsidies or maternity bonuses to help reduce corporate costs. Peng Xizhe, director of Center for Population and Development Policy Studies under Fudan University, also thinks the government should take on some of the maternity costs since, "childbearing is a systematic project that all of society needs to pay attention to and care about."
A bartender mixes a baijiu-based cocktail at Capital Spirits in Beijing.[Photo by BRUNO MAESTRINI/CHINA DAILY]
BEIJING - Think China's traditional fiery tipple baijiu is too much? Try blending it with coffee, beer or even chocolate.
At a tasting event in the bar of Pop-Up Beijing, a home decor store in the city's Sanlitun district Saturday, Hannah from the United States changed her view about the high-proof, spicy liquor following a sip of coffee-infused baijiu.
Hannah tried baijiu in her first month in China and not surprisingly, disliked it. "It burned my throat when it went down," she said.
The concoction, however, offered a new experience, said Hannah, who ordered a shot of Moutai Iced Mocha -- baijiu mingled with coffee from Southwest China's Yunnan province. "The blend like this makes the flavor a little bit better and a little less strong," she said.
The new drink was a good start for first-timer Neil from England, who had never tried baijiu before. "I usually drink whisky or vodka, but now I am very curious about baijiu. I will try it sometimes," he said, adding that baijiu remains almost unheard of in England.
The tasting event was part of a campaign involving more than 40 bars and restaurants in 24 cities worldwide featuring everything from baijiu-inspired cocktails,liqueurs and infusions to chocolate, pizza and beer from Aug. 1-9 to celebrate the World Baijiu Day Tuesday.
The day was initiated last year by Beijing-based Canadian wine blogger Jim Boyce to raise the profile of baijiu outside China.
Data showed that in 2014, Chinese baijiu accounted for 37.5 percent of the world's total liquor output, but its share of the overseas market was less than 0.8 percent.
Boyce is satisfied with this year's campaign, in which each venue came up with their own creative ideas and contacted him through the World Baijiu Day website. "This year is bigger, and we have more ideas about baijiu innovations," he said.
Sam Cornthwaite, a co-founder of Beijing-based GoodWorks coffee and tea shop and also the bartender at Saturday's event, invented Moutai Iced Mocha and Hainan Island Iced Tea, which is a blend of baijiu and Yunnan tea.
"Baijiu actually changes with what else you mix it with and each brings out different nuances. That's why we are so excited to see how they can pair together and what they can pair with," said Cornthwaite.
The pairing is not always successful, though, he said. "We've tried 20 or 30 combinations, and only two succeeded."
China has a long tradition of serving its unique clear liquor in small shot glass that is often gulped all at once at the dinner table, commonly known as "ganbei." As clear as vodka baijiu has a taste all unto itself. Moutai and Wuliangye, both produced in Guizhou Province, southwest China, are the two most famous brands which Chinese leaders use to toast distinguished guests at state banquets.
Part of this year's theme is beyond "ganbei," which turns off many people.
"Like many others, I've had those reckless ganbei sessions that left me wondering if I could look at a bottle again," Boyce said.
"Everyone is used to just ganbei and ganbei. There's nothing wrong with it, but you don't taste baijiu because you don't have the time. All you have is the burn and the drunk," said Glenn Schuitman, a founding partner of the Pop-Up Beijing.
Schuitman insists on a strict "no ganbei" rule in his bar, believing that baijiu is to be appreciated. "We should drink it like we do whisky: you have a small amount and sip it," he said.
Keen on baijiu culture, Boyce said he has been met with doubts. For example, some baijiu producers questioned his intention and asked if joining the World Baijiu Day would cost them anything.
"I said I was just trying to promote baijiu and I did it just for fun," Boyce said.
A plane of China Eastern lands at Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province, March 25, 2016. [Photo/IC]
Passengers using mobile phones on planes might face 50,000 yuan ($7,515) fine, according to a latest draft amendment to the country's Civil Aviation Law that was published on Monday by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
The draft amendment has added a new chapter regulating 14 types of behaviors that endanger civil aviation safety and disturb order.
The activities include using mobile phones, smoking, forcibly occupying seats, blocking channels and gates, breaking into airports and planes, beating crew and other workers, fighting, spreading rumors and causing troubles.
When people conduct behavior that does not fall under the Criminal Law but violates the Public Security Administration Punishment Law, they would face a fine up to 50,000 yuan.
The draft amendment has also revised articles to make the aviation companies shoulder more responsibility in ensuring flights safety and passengers' interests. Companies must set up sound management system to prevent and minimize civil aviation accidents.
When flights are delayed, the airlines should inform passengers and provide related services. Aviation companies are encouraged to buy insurance for passengers to secure travelers' interests.
If pilots intentionally break the law, their license will be cancelled, and they would be barred from any commercial flight activities for two years.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China published the draft amendment on its official website on Monday and people can email their opinions until Sept 6 to airlaw@caac.gov.cn, or fax 010-64016870.
News / National
by Staff reporter
Zimbabwe has defended its controversial imports ban which it says will bring stability to its distressed manufacturing industries despite causing a rift with South Africa (SA).The imports ban, invoked through Statutory Instrument (SI64) in June by government, is a subject of negotiations with South Africa whose economy has been seriously hurt by the restrictions which Zimbabwe's neighbour says violate regional trade protocols.But addressing Zanu-PF supporters who were commemorating Heroes Day at the National Heroes Acre, yesterday, President Robert Mugabe said the ban was necessary to protect local factories."We recently gazetted Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016, which seeks to manage the importation of certain products, as a way of supporting and resuscitating local industry," Mugabe told supporters.Mugabe said his government will not be cowed into lifting the ban as it was implemented to protect "local farmers" whose produce was being denied access in local shops due to the depreciation of the South African rand against the US dollar."Zvingachipa hazvo honguko vedu vemuno votokanda pasi havo mapadza? Kuvabatsira ikoko? Hapana nyika pasi pano isingazvidzivirire. (SA commodities might be cheaper yes, but should our farmers stop producing? Is that helpful? There is no nation on earth that doesn't protect itself)."He said that the country's manufacturing capacity, currently around 34 percent, was expected to remain stable due to the latest move.The government imposed a ban on the importation of a number of basic consumer goods in June, saying this was an endeavour to not only reduce imports in the wake of worsening cash shortages, but also to stimulate local industry.But the decision backfired spectacularly when deadly riots paralysed operations at Beitbridge Border Post early in July, with protesters burning a Zimra warehouse in the process.Under SI64 of 2016, the government banned the importation of coffee creamers, Camphor creams, white petroleum jellies, body creams, baked beans, potato crisps, cereals, bottled water, mayonnaise, salad cream, peanut butter, jam, maheu, canned fruits and vegetables, pizza bases, yoghurts, flavoured milk, dairy juice blends, ice-creams, cultured milk and cheese, among other products.A trade war is looming between the two countries after South Africa was miffed by Zimbabwe's imports ban on basic consumer goods which has hit its economy hard.Last week, Industry and Commerce minister Mike Bimha had an uncomfortable meeting with his SA counterpart Rob Davies whose government has given Zimbabwe a two-week ultimatum to resolve the contentious issue.Speaking to SA media, Davies said the two countries had to resolve their trade impasse before a Southern African Development Community (Sadc) meeting of trade ministers that is scheduled to take place in Botswana later this month."On August 24, there should be an agreement reached where there are a series of surcharges and additional tariff increases that were applicable to the export interests of SA," a diplomatic Davies said, adding that Zimbabwe should have followed proper Sadc protocols before effecting the ban.Under Sadc protocols, which regulate inter-State trade, a member country is allowed to adopt protection measures provided it demonstrates that its industries are under distress."We believe that the coherence of the integrity of the regional trade agreement should be followed procedurally," Davies said further, also noting that SA has identified 112 out of 1 000 tariff lines that it did not believe Zimbabwe had the capacity to produce, and which it had asked its neighbour to rethink about and provide feedback.Davies said Zimbabwe should have followed a process under the Sadc protocol that sets out procedural requirements before cutting trade ties."Should there be any variation in the application under those commitments, there should be an application to the council of the ministers of Trade," he said.SA is Zimbabwe's biggest trade partner within Sadc and exports manufactured and agro-processed goods to its northern neighbour.Should Zimbabwe do this, it would be able to work out a win-win solution with SA.
TAIYUAN -- A total of 23 people were detained after police in North China's Shanxi province busted a drug-trafficking ring, authorities said on Wednesday.
Last October, police caught a suspect surnamed Liu, who was transporting drugs to buyers in Liulin county, Shanxi.
This led to the capture of more suspects in Hubei province. A total of 23 people were detained and 47 people were fined for using drugs.
Police also seized more than 1,400 grams of methamphetamine.
The main suspect, surnamed Zhang, is a woman living in Tianmen city, Hubei. She used cosmetics sales as a front to recruit agents to deal drugs, police said. Further investigation is under way.
Photo of Jia Jia in 2015. [Photo/IC]
Jia Jia, the longest-living captive panda in the world, had her 38th birthday in Hong Kong Ocean Park on Monday, and is 114 in human years, reported cnr.cn.
As a senior, Jia Jia has a good appetite for seven kilograms of fresh bamboo shoots, bamboo and fruits each day. All the bamboo shoots are pre-ordered and transported from Guangdong on a daily basis.
Her weight is stable at 73 kilograms, which is within the normal range.
But the panda takes drugs for hypertension everyday since she was diagnosed with high blood pressure at 24.
Pandas are more vulnerable to illnesses like tooth problems, joint problems and eye problems as they age.
Besides, her eyesight has degenerated and she was diagnosed with cataracts in 2005, so she can only detect light and her vision is blurry.
The park invested a large sum to build a suitable habitat for the panda, keeping the temperature to a range of 18 to 24 degrees Celsius indoors.
There is good circulation in her enclosure and Jia Jia has her own field of 200 square meters to live in.
The staff changes the surroundings now and then to keep the environment fresh and interesting for the panda. Toys are also designed to entertain her.
China launched the Gaofen-3 high-resolution Earth observation satellite on Wednesday morning, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense said.
The satellite blasted off at 6:55 am atop a Long March 4C rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province, carrying a C-band synthetic aptitude radar with a 1-meter ground image resolution, according to a statement from the administration, which oversees Chinas space programs.
Developed by the China Academy of Space Technology in Beijing, Gaofen-3 is capable of generating radar images in all weathers and can work around the clock. It will play an important role in monitoring the marine environment, and islands and reefs, as well as ships and oil rigs, said Xu Fuxiang, head of the Gaofen-3 project at the academy.
The Gaofen-3 will also play a role in disaster prevention, assessment and relief, which currently relies on imported satellite data, he added.
China launched the Gaofen project in May 2010 and has listed it as one of the 16 national important projects in science and technology. The project aims to form a space-based, high-resolution Earth observation network.
The first in the system, Gaofen-1, was sent into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China in April 2013. Another four Gaofen satellites were launched in 2014 and 2015.
zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn
Chinese biologist Han Chunyu has provided his experimental data to Nature as requested to help peer researchers replicate his work, but the controversy has not gone away, according to the journal's website.
Meanwhile Han has been working to replicate his own work.
The incident now is evolving into battle between the widely recognized gene editing tool CRISPR Cas9 and a potentially better substitute called NgAgo, presented by Han, a geneticist at Hebei University of Science and Technology.
Three months ago, Han reported that the enzyme NgAgo can be used to edit human genes, and an article was published in Nature Biotechnology. However, some researchers said they had been unable to replicate Han's work.
The journal, in response, initiated an investigation and asked Han last week to submit his experimental protocols and original data. The investigation is still underway.
One of the protocols warned that the magnesium level in cells needed to be maintained.
Gaetan Burgio, a geneticist at Australian National University in Canberra, told Nature there was little new in the protocol Han shared.
"That doesn't make any sense to me," he said. Burgio reported on his blog that he had failed to replicate Han's results, which further pushed the controversy into worldwide spotlight.
A Chinese biology researcher in Beijing who asked for anonymity told China Daily that Han's updating of his protocol is a good start.
"Science and research is hard and takes time. We should allow for more time and patience," the researcher said.
Lluis Montoliu, a geneticist at the Spanish National Centre for Biotechnology in Madrid, previously recommended in an e-mail to colleagues at the International Society for Transgenic Technologies that any project involving the use of NgAgo for gene editing should be abandoned.
It's to "avoid wasting time, money, animals and people", the e-mail said.
The Beijing researcher, however, said efforts to push science ahead should never stop. "It's still too early to give a death sentence to NgAgo," the researcher said.
NgAgo, a new approach to gene editing, was touted as being more precise than the mainstream CRISPR Cas9 approach. CRISPR uses small genetic sequences to guide an enzyme to cut DNA at a particular location, but it sometimes cuts the wrong genes. NgAgo allegedly had no such off-target problems.
Han is known for focusing on his research and maintaining a low-key lifestyle. The article about him on Nature's website said he didn't like to travel, and a trip to visit a collaborator in Hangzhou in March was the first time the 42-year-old had ever boarded a plane.
Contact the writer at shanjuan@chinadaily.com.cn
Zhang Yiping recounts her underwater adventures in her new book. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Zhang Yiping tried scuba diving for the first time 10 years ago and fell in love with it.
Since then the Hangzhou native, who works as a web editor with the Zhejiang Daily media group, has dived all around the world.
In her new book, Three Thousand Meters Under the Sea - A Decade of Diving, Zhang recounts her adventures in the underwater world. The Chinese-language book was published by China Financial & Economic Publishing House in June.
How deep can one dive? Do sharks bite divers?
These questions from readers during the book launch in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, last month reminded Zhang of her first dive.
"I was so nervous that I held the dive instructor's hand very tight," Zhang says of her first diving experience, in Lombok island, Indonesia, in 2005.
But Zhang says her fear faded as she saw fish swimming in the coral reefs and she spotted a sea turtle.
"I felt a sense of urgency on my way back," Zhang says to an audience who had little knowledge of the sport.
"But this was because all of a sudden the map of the world waiting for me to explore expanded - the blue ocean was added."
Recreational diving has long been a popular leisure activity in the West, but there were few people who could provide such training on the Chinese mainland a decade ago.
The author, in her 30s, says in the book that she managed to find a Hong Kong instructor on Phuket island in Thailand. She was certified as an open-water diver in 2006.
A year later, she was trained in Malaysia to become an advanced open-water diver, which allowed her to dive to depths between 30 and 40 meters.
In the book, Zhang also tells of her encounters with different types of marine life, and tries to correct public misconceptions.
"People think sharks are very dangerous. But the fact is most sharks are afraid of people, and only very few attack people when they feel danger or mistake humans for seals," Zhang writes.
Zhang says in the book that during a diving trip in the Galapagos, a Pacific archipelago 1,000 kilometers west of Ecuador, she saw hammerhead sharks.
Eric Abrahamsen has remained devoted to introducing Chinese literature to Western readers for years.[Photo by Feng Yongbin/ China Daily]
A longtime promoter of Chinese literature will return to the US this fall, but his mission continues, Yang Yang says.
After living in China for 15 years, American Eric Abrahamsen is returning to his hometown, Seattle, late this year. He is the founder of Paper Republic, a company devoted to translating Chinese literature and introducing it to the West.
He plans to go to the Frankfurt Book Fair in October to seek cooperation opportunities to publish Chinese books in other languages.
"In the US, we will do the same thing we have been doing here-to bridge the cultural communication between the two sides," he says as we walk from the courtyard where his office is located to a nearby cafe in Beijing's Dashilan on a humid hot day.
Abrahamsen founded the Paper Republic website in 2007. At first, he invited other Chinese learners to share online the books they had been reading and translating. In 2011, Paper Republic started to do its own projects and in the past two years, the business has grown.
At first, he found it difficult to persuade foreign publishers to buy Chinese books.
"They didn't know good books and writers in China. They all think it's risky to buy Chinese books because, compared with domestic books, they have to pay extra money for translation and spend a longer time to make the book," he says.
As a result, Abrahamsen developed other programs to provide information about Chinese books and writers. His role has gradually changed from translator to consultant, and his promotions included Northern Girls by Sheng Keyi, published by Penguin in June. He translated some sample chapters and wrote the introduction of the book.
"I love the novel. The language is very vivid, full of vitality. I love the way the story was told and how the writer dealt with the power sex has on a girl,which I've not seen in other Chinese writers' works," he says.
He also was involved in the promotion of The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, but decided not to translate it to English because the trilogy is too long. The third book in the series, Death's End, is coming out soon.
Other successful promotions include Ge Fei's The Invisibility Cloak, which is coming out in October, and Jia Pingwa's Happy.
About two meters tall, Abrahamsen speaks fluent Chinese with little accent. With his profound understanding of both Chinese and Western literature, he is often invited to translate and interpret for cultural exchanges, such as during a dialogue between Irish writer Colm Toibin and Chinese writers in Beijing last year.
Born in 1978, Abrahamsen visited China at age 10, which left good memories. Ten years later, he came to visit China's west, eager to master Chinese.
Dancers peform at the launch ceremony of the Hulunbuir Nomadic Music Festival at CRI's Beijing headquarters on August 9, 2016. [Photo/CRIENGLISH.com]
The 2016 Hulunbuir Nomadic Music Festival is set to kick off this weekend.
As the main sponsor of the event, China Radio International has hosted a launch ceremony right here in its Beijing headquarters, giving audiences a preview of what's to come.
Besides CRI, the city of Hulunbuir in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and a number of other organizations are also sponsoring the festival, which aims to promote the spirit the "Belt and Road" initiative and introduce Hulunbuir's music and culture to the world.
Located in the northeastern tip of China, Hulunbuir borders Russia and Mongolia and is known for its scenic grasslands, lakes and a diverse ethnic makeup of its population.
Organizers of the festival say they plan to minimize the carbon footprint of this weekend's activities and host an environmentally friendly musical fest.
A music album produced as part of the festival will also be submitted for consideration at the 2017 Grammy awards.
The Hulunbuir Nomadic Music Festival kicks off in the northeastern city on Saturday.
[Photo by Ian Callison/chinadaily.com.cn]
I have an addiction to coffee.
Back home in the States, my daily routine consisted of at least two cups of coffee a day. Without it, I'm exhausted, get headaches, and generally unproductive.
But coffee is more than a commodity to me. I genuinely love it. Drinking and brewing coffee is something of a hobby for me.
Expecting coffee to be hard to find in Beijing, I tried to wean myself off of my reliance in the weeks preceding my trip. As I had understood, the prominence of tea replaced the role of coffee here in China, and so I landed in Beijing expecting java to be hard to find.
To my surprise, however, the coffee industry is experiencing rapid growth in China. Coffee franchises, from Caffe Bene to Costa Coffee are setting up shops across the country, and, though the tea industry is far from fading, it suggests a rise in coffees popularity.
Coffee culture in Beijing, however, is quite different than it is elsewhere. In China, coffee isnt a commodity, but rather a social experience. Starbucks has designed their interiors large and comfortable to encourage drinkers to stay and socialize, seemingly opting out of the grab-and-go stalls found across the USA.
There's more, though. Not only is the environment of these familiar franchises different, but the menus vary, too. I was shocked when I visited a Starbucks on Huixin Dongjie and they didnt have coffee.
Okay, thats not entirely true. Let me amend that: they had coffee options available, including some unique Chinese variations on the frappes and lattes. All of this particular locations coffee options were espresso based, however. Dont get me wrong, espresso is definitely, very much coffee.
In the United States, however, one of the most common drinks is straight coffee. No espresso, but simple coffee made in a drip filter. There are huge degrees of variation within straight coffee, from Folgers brewed on an old-school pot to my favorite, specialty coffee brewed in pour-over fashion.
After walking out of that Starbucks with an Americano (which, interestingly, is a drink that originated in Europe and is relatively uncommon in the States) I made it my mission to find some of Beijings best coffee shops.
So, for those of you looking for coffee in its form, whether youre a long-time drinker or looking to try something new, here are five coffee shops (ranked in no particular order) in Beijing worth trying.
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263
10120170006
Registration Number: 130349 11010502032503
[2011]0283-097 ICP13028878-6
A screen shot of the 2016 recruiting video for the People's Liberation Army titled Battle Declaration.
THE STATE COUNCIL, China's Cabinet, recently issued a guideline on armed forces recruitment which states that refusing to serve in the military or not allowing the military to requisition resources should be noted in people's credit records. Beijing Youth Daily comments:
To wear a military uniform used to be the dream of young people in the 1970s and 1980s. However, the reality now is that a military profession is no longer a favored choice among young people and the military finds recruitment increasingly difficult.
There are many reasons for this, such as more choices for young people. But the root problem lies in the lack of punishment for those refusing to serve in the military. The law clearly says that every Chinese citizen has the obligation to serve in the military, but in reality seldom has anybody received any penalty for refusing to do so.
That's rather detrimental to China's military strength. It is necessary to take measures to ensure that more young people are willing to join the armed forces.
Many countries have punishments for those refusing military service. For example, in the neighboring Republic of Korea, male citizens between 20 and 30 years old must serve in the military, those refusing face a prison sentence of one to three years. Only with such punishments can the country effectively ensure it has the necessary military strength.
In China too, the law says that those refusing to render military service cannot be employed as civil servants or other State employees. However, the law is not well regulated and some lawbreakers have escaped their deserved penalty.
The new guideline comes in time, because it is more executablecredit records are directly linked with residents' daily lives. So we expect the new guideline to help strengthen China's national defense.
News / National
by Staff reporter
The Zanu-PF faction rallying behind embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, which has been at the receiving end of savage mauling over the past few months by its avowed party foes, the Generation 40 (G40) group, is said to be fighting back with "malicious intent".Well-placed Zanu-PF sources told the Daily News yesterday that the feeling among many in the camp was that they now had "very little to lose anymore" after suffering serious setbacks since late last year, including having many of their kingpins unceremoniously chucked out of the warring ruling ground."After a lull in this mindless war, there are renewed fears within the party that we could soon witness blood on the shop floor, as the stakes are very high. Indeed, Team Lacoste is fighting back with malicious intent like cornered wild animals."They feel they have little to lose anymore, which is why you have since the beginning of this week even been seeing some of their big guns breathing fire in State media and threatening the G40 with all kinds of serious action."(Defence Forces Commander General Constantino) Chiwenga's weekend interview did not help matters as well as it was interpreted in some party sections as a factional rant and threat," a Zanu-PF bigwig said.So bad are the renewed factional and succession wars ravaging Zanu-PF that Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo - said to be a G40 kingpin - suggested yesterday that he and others in the party were being persecuted for rallying behind President Robert Mugabe in the former liberation movement's ugly and seemingly unstoppable ructions.Moyo's comments came as "burglars" broke into his New Government Complex offices at the weekend, and sprinkled an unknown brown substance on his chair.A miffed Moyo told the Daily News yesterday that the suspicious break-in, which was being investigated by police, was both "shocking and unprecedented"."This is shocking and unprecedented, although it's no reason to fear anyone or anything."We will continue unfazed and with renewed determination to assist ... Mugabe to discharge his electoral mandate," he said cryptically.The G40 faction stands accused of being rabidly opposed to Mnangagwa ever taking over from Mugabe, with Moyo said to be the brains behind the group along with Zanu-PF national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere and Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko among other senior party officials.What makes the fears that the succession battle consuming Zanu-PF could now turn bloody is the fact that the language being used by the combatants has taken a turn for the worse, amid an increased incidence of mysterious break-ins at the offices of senior government officials.Since his appointment as one of Mugabe's deputies in late 2014, Mnangagwa's offices at the New Government Complex and at Zanu-PF Headquarters have been broken into a record six times with authorities vainly pledging to bring the culprits to book each time that this has happened.Up to today, no one has been apprehended in connection with the vexing break-ins, leaving both observers and petrified Zanu-PF members to speculate that all these "burglaries" are inside jobs related to the ruling party's deadly succession wars.This is said to be the case, more so after Mnangagwa's secretary had to be hospitalised after being poisoned with suspected cyanide in one of these break-ins.In January last year, "burglars" also broke into the offices of the then Transport minister, Obert Mpofu, with police saying nothing was stolen from the offices.This was followed by another burglary at Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku's Mashonganyika Building offices where the assailants stole a desktop computer and a television set.A few days later, four judges also reported that they had lost keys to their offices, prompting the Judicial Service Commission to urgently request police security at the Supreme and Constitutional courts.
Residents chant slogans during a protest against government's decision on deploying a US THAAD anti-missile defense unit in Seongju, Republic of Korea (ROK), July 13, 2016. The banner reads "Desperately oppose deploying THAAD in Seongju". [Photo/VCG]
WHEN MEETING LOCAL LEGISLATORS in Seongju-gun, Park Geun-hye, president of the Republic of Korea, said that she might consider changing the location for the deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system. But that does not mean she is changing her mind about deploying THAAD in the ROK, even though such deployment will damage Sino-ROK relations, Haiwainet.com says:
While Park and her pro-conservative ruling party have emphasized the importance of dispelling the threat of attack from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, some in the ROK worry THAAD might turn China and Russia into enemies of the ROK.
Seongju-gun residents, especially, oppose the deployment of THAAD in their neighborhood. That's why Park said she might reconsider where THAAD is deployed.
But it is unrealistic to expect Park to truly change the site for THAAD, because if Seongju-gun succeeds in opposing it, other places might protest, too. Thus Park and her government will very likely insist on going ahead with the deployment in Seongju-gun.
The expectation that Park might delay or even postpone deploying THAAD is even more unrealistic because Park and her government have already mobilized ample resources for it. If they change their mind, that would be a huge blow to Park's authority. Just as the spokesperson for Park announced, what can be discussed is another location in the same administrative area, not a reconsideration of the decision about deployment.
It should be noted, however, that as the ROK insists on deploying THAAD, it must be prepared for a sourer relationship with China.
THAAD will also make regional affairs more complicated, because it will start an arms race between the ROK and DPRK. Both sides have been blaming each other and strengthening their military capabilities. The ROK should not forget that the system will definitely lead to escalations of military facilities across the Korean Peninsula, which by itself will likely expose Seoul to more risks.
The only side that profits from the situation is the United States. By successfully distancing China and the ROK from each other, the US has secured its alliance with the ROK and the ground for the continued presence of US military bases there.
Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko wave to well-wishers who gathered to celebrate the monarch's 79th birthday at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo Dec 23, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]
In a video address to the Japanese people on Monday, Japanese Emperor Akihito, 82, said he was concerned that his failing health would make it difficult for him to fully carry out his duties, which was widely interpreted as expressing his desire to abdicate.
In the address, Akihito said he is worried that it may become difficult for him to carry out his duties as the symbol of the state with his whole being, as he has done until now.
The emphasis on being the "symbol" of the state is believed to be Akihito's way of saying no to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's attempt to revise Japan's Constitution to restore the monarchy system of the past.
In a draft constitutional amendment, Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party elevate the emperor to the head of state, a move that is widely seen as a bigger change for Japan's system of governance than their proposed removal of Article 9 from Japan's postwar Constitution.
Japan's emperor is defined in the Constitution as a symbol of the "unity of the people" and has no political power. So Akihito's remarks about the need to put national peace and public happiness first and lend an attentive ear to the public has been interpreted as criticism of Abe's stubborn moves to revise Japan's national security pact and expand the overseas rights of its Self-Defense Forces in defiance of public opposition.
At the same time, the Japanese emperor also seemed dissatisfied with Abe's negative attitude toward his heir, 56-year-old Crown Prince Naruhito, becoming regent.
Akihito's hinting that he wants to abdicate is raising the issue of whether the Abe government should respect the emperor and the Constitution.
A recent opinion poll indicates that the vast majority of ordinary Japanese sympathize with the emperor's desire to retire.
Paramedics help injured outside Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, following an explosion on Tuesday. [Photo / Reuters]
In the decade up to 2014, the European Union could claim to be safer than the rest of the world, mainly because the number of terrorist attack victims decreased in the EU even as it increased globally. From 2009 to 2013, according to EU figures, 38 people died in terrorist attacks in the EU. In 2014, the number of terrorist victims within the EU was four, although many Europeans were killed in terrorist attacks in conflict zones outside the union.
But last year, things changed tragically: 151 people were killed and more than 360 injured in terrorist attacks in the EU, says the annual report of the European Police Office, the EU's law enforcement agency that started monitoring terrorist activities after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
This year, the attacks have spread to Belgium, with explosions at the Brussels airport and metro in March killing 32 people. In July, an Islamic fanatic killed 84 people in the French Riviera city of Nice by driving a truck through a crowd watching Bastille's Day fireworks. And smaller-scale terrorist attacks, too, have occurred from time to time in other EU countries.
Terrorism attacks and activities have been rising in the EU, the EPO says, mainly because of the influence of the Islamic State group and increasing xenophobia and racialism across the bloc. The EPO says the overall threat to security in the EU remains on an upward trajectory. Some European politicians, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls for example, have even said Europe has to live with such a danger for a while.
The EU has tried to lighten the threat by saying on its website that terrorism is not a new phenomenon in Europe as EU states recorded 1,010 failed, foiled or completed attacks between 2009 and 2013. Last year, the total number of such attacks was 211.
The fact, however, is that the number of deaths has been rising rapidly, which shows the EUespecially France that has borne the brunt of such attacksneeds to intensify efforts to prevent and counter terrorism.
Some people say France is relatively safe, citing the uncertainty of life. They claim more people die in traffic accidents than in terrorist attacks. But this is absurd logic. In particular, since EU officials lay great emphasis on human rights and security, they should ensure that the threat of a terrorist attack within the bloc is minimum. If the situation doesn't get better soon, then the EU, a project aimed at establishing permanent regional peace, could face a potential credibility crisis now that the UK has dealt a serious blow to European unity by parting ways from the bloc.
Terrorist attacks act as a big "disruptive force" and affect a long chain of people both within and outside Europe. For example, a growing number of Chinese are concerned about the safety and security situation in Europe when they decide to invest, travel or send their children to study there. Some Chinese parents are even urging their children who are already settled or studying in London, Paris or Brussels to return to China.
Reactions in China and other non-EU countries will affect European businesses. The declining number of tourists to Europe is a telling indication of the things to come. So EU politicians must realize the severe consequences of continuing terrorist attacks in the bloc, because they could erode the attraction of Europe as an investment and tourism destination.
For the safety and prosperity of the EU, its politicians have to take strict measures to preempt terrorist attacks by launching a serious counter-offensive against terrorism, instead of saying the European Union has to live with it for some time.
The author is deputy chief of China Daily European Bureau
fujing@chinadaily.com.cn
"The laboratory will be application-priented, which fits the nation's strategies for the Belt and Road Initiative and the South China Sea."
Huang Banqin, a professor at Xiamen University's Enviroment and Ecology College, explains the purpose of the new laboratory China will open in November in Hainan province to explor the use of marine resources.
A horse figure that is part of an art installation at Nervous Nellie's Jams and Jellies in Deer Isle, Maine.[Photo/Agencies]
We left for Maine with three bicycles on the back of the car. One for him, one for her, one for any house guest who cared to ride along. There were other modest recreational plans for our three week vacation on the coast. Twice-weekly yoga at a local community center, a little kayaking, a little hiking maybe, and certainly walking the hilly streets of Bayside and admiring its gingerbread-house architecture.
That was all before my wife's broken ankle. On the second day of the trip.
By the end of the vacation, only one bike had been taken out. Only one of us had paddled the Penobscot. Mount Battie remained unconquered. And the yoga mat remained coiled and unused in a closet.
But as vacation disasters go, this was a relatively small one. The broken bone was Debbie's fibula, so she didn't need a cast, just a walking boot. Still, she couldn't walk much. So we had to rewrite our expectations and create a Maine vacation that was friendlier to the differently abled.
Nervous Nellie's Jams and Jellies
A wise friend who has vacationed in Maine countless times mentioned that some of her best times in the state had been just driving around. Sitting in the passenger seat did turn out to be a boundless source of pleasure for the injured one: the abundant Queen Anne's lace and tiger lilies that decorate the landscape, antiques stores and lobster shacks around every bend, wonderful vistas of inlets with bobbing boats, bridges connecting islands and peninsulas.
On one outing, to the 17th century French settlement at Castine, waiting for lobster rolls to arrive, a fellow diner at our picnic table recommended a stop on neighboring Deer Isle: Nervous Nellie's Jams and Jellies, which Google correctly categorizes as an art gallery.
Yes, there are jams, but the big attraction is the sprawling installation by metal artist Peter Beerits, which evokes an old Western town, complete with saloon, jail and 24 slightly menacing life-size characters.
No charge, although they take donations, and you do feel honor-bound to purchase a jar of something. There's a nice little cafe with coffee and tarts, too.
Farnsworth museum and Olson House
The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland is a well-polished gem, with a collection of American works, especially Maine-influenced ones.
In this part of Maine, that means three generations of Wyeths: NC, Andrew and Jamie.
Equally important for our injured traveler, little walking was required. Both the main museum and an annex in a converted church have elevators. Galleries easily accommodate available wheelchairs, which, thankfully, we didn't need.
The Farnsworth also runs the Olson House in Cushing, about 20 minutes' drive away.
Chinese consumers are known to be fond of products made in Japan, and Amazon Japan has stepped in to capitalize on it.
Without much fanfare, the Seattle-based online retail giant's Japanese unit rolled out a website in Mandarin in June to tap into a billion-dollar market.
"Explosive purchase (baomai)" is a Japanese coinage that describes the pent-up buying habits of Chinese tourists visiting Japan primarily to buy large amounts of goods to take back home.
Chinese visitors spent 80 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) in Japan in the past year, according to Japanese tourist statistics. China's Ministry of Commerce says Chinese shoppers snapped up 1.2 trillion yuan worth of goods overseas in the past year.
"Looking at Amazon alone, cross-border sales are now nearly 25 percent of all third-party units sold on Amazon, and its coverage in 172 countries reached 189 markets last year," Michelle Tsai, head of marketing for China (in Shanghai) for channeladvisor.com, an e-commerce solutions provider based in North Carolina, told China Daily.
"Not satisfied with the homegrown success, Japanese brands are following the scent of money and are eager to tap the vast Chinese domestic market, and the quickest way to do it is through online marketplaces," she said. "With the significant demand for Japanese products in China, I imagine cross-border trade into China (will) yield significant dividends for Amazon."
The most popular Japanese brand is Zojirushi, maker of rice cookers, according to Ctrip. Over-the-counter medicines and cosmetics, however, are the top sellers (rice cookers are in fifth place).
Japanese medicines are known for their quality and safety, and Chinese are fond of them because they combine modern medicine with ingredients found in traditional Chinese medicine.
Amazon Japan also offers reduced shipping rates to mainland homes and businesses. Bloomberg.com said Amazon.com Inc is evolving in Asia to find new revenue streams from China, where Alibaba Group Holding Ltd dominates.
E-commerce demand from China to Japan is projected to almost triple to 2.34 trillion yen ($22.5 billion) in 2019, according to Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
"The opportunity is huge," Jasper Cheung, president of Amazon Japan, told bloomberg.com. "We have already increased the selection that we can export by the millions over the last several weeks."
Some Chinese shoppers who seek authentic Japanese products are concerned about product safety and counterfeits on some web stores in China.
Those concerns have helped send more than 3 million Chinese tourists to Japan this year, up over 40 percent, and are boosting demand for Amazon.co.jp, Wandou and other outlets selling Japanese goods, according to bloomberg.com.
Justice and peace can never be achieved just through the kindness and conscience of people of good will. For millions of victims of World War II, especially those who suffered the atrocities committed during Japan's invasion of neighboring Asian countries, bitterly sought justice can only be secured through laws and courts.
A US appellate court on Aug 4 ruled to uphold dismissal of a lawsuit against the city of Glendale, California, which demanded the removal of a memorial statue dedicated to the approximately 200,000 Asian "comfort women" which were forced into sex slavery by the invading Japanese Army during World War II.
The statue, erected after the proclamation of "Comfort Women Day" by the city of Glendale on July 30, 2012, and the passing of US House of Representatives Resolution 121 on July 30, 2007, depicted a girl in Korean garb, a comfort woman, sitting next to an empty chair.
In recent years, Japanese right-wingers and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet have acted provocatively - adhering to the "nationalization" of China's Diaoyu Islands, visiting the controversial Yasukuni Shrine which honors convicted war criminals among other war dead, and endorsing a reinterpretation of Japan's Pacifist Constitution for the right to collective self-defense - actions that fueled international concerns that Japan might return to its militaristic past.
The statue in Glendale, said the organizers, will remind the Japanese government to face up to its wartime crimes, accept historical responsibility and seek reconciliation with its Asian neighbors.
Most importantly, it will help raise awareness in the international community so atrocities of this kind never happen again.
After the statue went up in 2013, Michiko Shitota Gingery, a Japanese-American, filed a lawsuit against the city of Glendale calling for removal of the 1,100-pound bronze sculpture, alleging it exceeded the city's authority, infringed upon the federal government's power to conduct foreign affairs and disrupted the US relationship with Japan. She was backed by several members of Japan's House of Representatives.
I can't help but question Gingery's intention. I met several surviving comfort women - who are now in their 80s and 90s - in San Francisco last year when they flew from Korea to tell their stories at a meeting of the board of supervisors of San Francisco. The supervisors were meeting to discuss whether the city of San Francisco should agree to the construction of a comfort women memorial.
What the women suffered at a very young age was a nightmare. They are living testimonials to Japanese wartime crimes, violation of human rights and atrocities inflicted upon innocent civilians.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, in Pasadena, wrote in the ruling Thursday that the statue's intent was to advocate against "violations of human rights" and therefore was "well within the traditional responsibilities of (US) state and local governments."
"Here, by dedicating a local monument to the plight of the comfort women in World War II, Glendale has joined a long list of other American cities that have likewise used public monuments to express their views on events beyond our borders," Wardlaw wrote.
In the 23-page ruling, Wardlaw upheld the finding in late 2014 by the US District Court for the Central District of California about the case that "plaintiffs had not plausibly claimed that Glendale's actions were preempted under the foreign affairs doctrine," and "the District Court properly dismissed Plaintiffs' preemption claims."
During World War II, the Japanese army forced more than 200,000 Asian and Dutch women to act as sex slaves for their soldiers.
Over the decades the Japanese government has continued to deny the existence of "comfort women" and called the issue a "fabrication."
Anyone who denies, distorts or glosses over a history of savagery and aggression should find no place among the peace-loving people of the world.
Instead, we should always remember history's truths, memorialize the dead and comfort the wounded.
Contact the writer at junechang@chinadailyusa.com.
Instead of the Sunset Strip and Hollywood Boulevard, Liu Zichen, a Chinese student at a Los Angeles college, took his mother and aunt, both first-time visitors to the US, to the Getty Center, where an exhibition on Dunhuang art is on display.
Liu Zichen (left), a Chinese student at a Los Angeles college, and his mother (right) and aunt visit the Getty Center in Los Angeles on their summer vacation. LIA ZHU / CHINA DAILY
"I think it's more meaningful to spend a day at the museum, learning the stories behind those works of art and meeting people from different cultures," said Liu, a student at New York Film Academy's Los Angeles campus.
Hollywood, theme parks and shopping malls still top the lists for many Chinese tourists in Los Angeles. But more family travelers are taking to activities that offer a blend of educational and cultural experiences.
"Chinese tourists give the world an impression of taking photos and only buying things on their overseas tours," said Liu's mother. "We will go shopping, too, but learning different cultures and experiencing new ways of life are more important. That's the reason why we take this trip."
The mother said the family had taken annual vacations overseas for many years, and it was those tours that helped change their mindset about tourism.
"We want to learn about the real life of American people and how they think of China," she said. At the Getty Center, she was mostly impressed by the American audience's interest in the Dunhuang art. "They were so attentive. Some of them even took notes," she said.
At the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, China has overtaken Europe as the largest source of international visitors so far this year. The museum has launched a "China Ready" program, including Chinese-language guidebooks and a docent service, in response to the rising demand.
Family travelers are seeking not only new but also more immersive experiences. There is an increasing trend for more cultural or educational travel experiences that can be shared with friends and family, according to the family targeted work plan of Visit California, a nonprofit organization that promotes California on behalf of the state's tourism industry.
While the primary market for family travel is domestic, California has seen the economic benefits of the increasing number of international visitors with children.
Among those, Chinese families make up 25 percent, well ahead of Canada and Mexico, according to the work plan.
"We think the millennial, and potentially the younger kids, are all about personal enrichment, and there are a lot of synergies between California and young Chinese travelers that really want to discover the world," said Leona Reed, associate vice-president of global marketing with Visit California.
"They want to make themselves better and more educated," she said, adding that California offered the opportunity for tourists to meet different people and sample different cultures.
The reason is the growth of China's middle class, and more people can afford multiple overseas tours to seek intellectual experiences, said Charlie Gu, director of tourism with China Luxury Advisors, a Chinese consumer-strategy consultant. His firm helped launch the Chinese-language channel on WeChat for the Getty Center and Asian Art Museum.
"The major force of overseas Chinese tourists would be those born in the 1980s and 1990s, and many of them are interested in art," he said. "I often receive inquiries from tour operators about museums such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I believe museums will become a hot spot for Chinese family travelers."
News / National
by Thobekile Zhou
Zimbabwe People First (ZimFirst) National Spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire is preparing to hand himself over to the police on Thursday morning in Harare.Mawarire says he has been summoned by the dreaded Police Law and Order for questioning "in connection with Minister Jonathan Moyo""I have been called in by Police Law and Order for questioning in connection with Minister Jonathan Moyo. Not sure what the charges are."Am now going to hand in myself tomorrow (Thursday) in the company of my lawyer at 10 am," he posted on his twitter account.He joked saying he could be "the first to be charged of cyber terrorism".
Republican US presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks to the Trask Coliseum at University of North Carolina in Wilmington, North Carolina, US, August 9, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
WASHINGTON - US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had no plan to change his temperament as the bellicose New Yorker was grappling with his sagging poll numbers following recent feud with a family of a fallen Muslim American soldier and leaders within his own party.
"I think that my temperament has gotten me here," said Trump in an interview with Fox Business Network. "I've always had a good temperament and it's gotten me here. We beat a lot of people in the primaries and now we have one person left, and we're actually doing pretty well there, but we'll see how it all comes out."
Rupture between Trump and the Republican leadership resurfaced after Trump derisively answered criticism from Khizr Khan, the father of the solider killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq.
During the Democratic National Convention held late July, Khan blasted Trump for his divisive remarks and proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country and divisive tone and implored voters to vote for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee.
Trump responded by implying that Ghazala Khan, who accompanied his husband on stage on the final day of the Democratic National Convention, was forbidden to speak by his husband.
Backlash to Trump's comments came in swiftly from both parties, with the press office of House Speaker Paul Ryan, the highest-ranking U.S. Republican officeholder, releasing a scathing statement without mentioning Trump's name that denounced "a religious test for entering our country."
"Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice. Captain Khan was one such brave example. His sacrifice- and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan- should always be honored. Period," said the statement.
In a gesture of defiance, Trump initially refused to endorse Ryan and Senator John McCain, another leading GOP lawmaker and vocal critic of Trump, for their reelection bid for congressional seats.
Trump endorsed both men on Saturday, one of several steps to get his campaign back on track after recent polls showed that the edge of Clinton over him had been widened.
According to the RealClearPolitics national polling index, Clinton now leads Trump by 7.5 percent nationally, while at the end of July, the two stood even at 44.3 percent of support.
Portrait of a woman
When New York-based Raymond Watt came across an article on the BBC news website about a Chinese photography exhibition in the UK last November, he was shocked, to say the least.
The story about a collection of rare photographs of Beijing from the late 1800s, on show in London's Chinatown, included a number of images from the exhibit - one of which set Watt back on his heels.
"It was a picture I had never seen before and my instinct told me that the subjects could be my great grandparents," he told China Daily.
The article explained how British photographer, Thomas Child, who had moved to China as an engineer, captured marriage ceremonies during the late Qing dynasty - which spanned from 1644 to 1912.
It detailed how one particular photograph in the series depicted the daughter of the famous Chinese statesman, Zeng Guofan.
"My great, great grandfather was Zeng Guofan," Watt said.
The 79-year-old never expected when he was browsing the internet that day that he would uncover a piece of family history dating back some 140 years. Not to mention, in an exhibition some 3,500 miles away from where he lived.
According to Watt, the unique wedding photograph documents the moment of the start of the prominent Nie family in China.
"The family rose in importance in Shanghai from the late Qing dynasty into the twentieth century and went through more than 70 years of ups and downs until 1950," he said.
"The groom, Nie Jigui, served as Shanghai's Governor from 1890 to 1893, died in 1911 and was buried in Hunan, while the bride, Zeng Jifen, died in 1942 and was buried in Shanghai."
The display of Child's work at the China Exchange, an organization in London, was the first time US-based collector, Stephan Loewentheil, had shared the original images of life during the Qing dynasty in Peking, now known as Beijing.
While Watt's reaction to the never-before-seen photographs was by far the most compelling, the exhibition in Soho's Gerrard Street attracted worldwide attention, making headlines in the UK, the US, Europe and China.
"The success of the show reflected the increasing global interest in China's people and culture, as well as the interest of the people of China in preserving and studying their own history," said Loewentheil, who's Historical Photography of China Collection is the largest holding of late Qing dynasty photographs of China in private hands.
"Today, Beijing is a vastly different place and the early photographs presented a perspective on the city which had never been previously available."
Beijing welcomes former Philippines president Fidel Ramos' visit to China and is looking forward to seeing the special envoy as soon as possible, foreign spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Wednesday.
Mentioning that Ramos was on a private visit to Hong Kong to meet his "old Chinese friends", Hua said that China stuck to an open attitude towards all means of contact between China and the Philippines.
The spokeswoman called on the two sides to make joint efforts to improve bilateral ties, restore dialogue and cooperation, and push forward the healthy and stable development of China-Philippines ties.
Ramos, 88, started a five-day trip to Hong Kong from Monday, during which he said he would meet "old friends" with links to officials in Beijing.
Ramos defined the trip as "ice-breaking", after bilateral ties were jeopardized by an arbitration case unilaterally initiated by Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino III.
During his time as president, from 1992 to 1998, the two countries eased tensions caused by confrontations over the Meiji Reef.
anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn
China emphasized its opposition on Wednesday to Vietnam's military deployments on islands that the country has illegally occupied in the South China Sea, following the reported deployment of rocket launchers by Vietnam on several of the Nansha Islands.
The move, which shows a further stage of Hanoi's militarization of the Nansha Islands, will have a negative impact on regional peace and stability, observers said.
Intelligence shows that Hanoi has shipped the launchers to five bases in the Nansha Islands in recent months, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The launchers have been hidden from aerial surveillance and have yet to be armed, but could be made operational with artillery rockets within two or three days, it said.
Foreign officials and military analysts told Reuters that they believe the launchers form part of Vietnam's state-of-the-art EXTRA artillery rocket system, which was recently acquired from Israel.
"China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their surrounding waters," the Foreign Ministry's Spokesperson's Office said in a written reply on Wednesday.
"China has always firmly opposed the illegal occupation of parts of China's Nansha Islands and reefs by certain countries and their illegal construction and military deployments on these islands and reefs," it said.
Vietnam's Foreign Ministry said the information was "inaccurate" but did not elaborate.
Vietnam has illegally occupied 29 of about 50 islands and reefs in the South China Sea.
It has conducted construction and reclamation work on more than 20 of them since the 1980s, and the scale of the reclamation has increased in the past two years.
It also has built infrastructure, including runways and barracks, on the islands and reefs.
Jia Duqiang, a senior researcher on Southeast Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said it is Hanoi's latest effort to tighten its hold on islands in the South China Sea.
"By fortifying the islands with rocket launchers, Vietnam is keeping up its militarization of the region in a more aggressive way," he said.
Xu Liping, another Southeast Asian studies researcher with CASS, said Hanoi is trying to emphasize its determination to strengthen its illegal occupation of the islands.
mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn
News / Press Release
by RTUZ
Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, RTUZ executive council is embarking on a 10 day march, covering 200km, from Mutawatawa growth point in Mrehwa district to Harare from 15th to 25th of August, advocating for the betterment of rural education.RTUZ will hand over a petition of ten demands at UMP, Murehwa, Goromonzi Ministry of Education district offices and finally at head office in Harare.The petition will have the following ten demands.- A salary above PDL on time every month- An upward review of rural allowance at 100% of the salary- Cessation of the non-transparent pension contributions- Restoration of vacation leave and full maternity for teachers on probation- Infrastructural development in rural schools and communities- An end to all forms of violence against Rural Teachers- A solution to the cash crisis ravaging our economy- Full salaries for Student Teachers- Awarding fully recognised school status to all satellite schools- Dissolution of incumbent Government and fresh elections if our demands are not met.We call upon all teachers and parents based in the areas, which we will walk through, to join us and march for the betterment of rural education.Zimbabwe conceits itself as a leader in the area of education in Africa but this country's pride is being violated and is plummeting everyday particularly in rural areas.Some pupils in rural areas travel more than 20 km to school daily, learning in deplorable infrastructure. Teachers are faced with the brunt of an economically, socially and politically bankrupt government and those based in rural areas are the worst affected.Since independence in 1980, the rural teacher has not enjoyed much. Lives of rural teachers are marked with poor salaries, poor housing and living conditions at schools, poor policies and lack of security during election time. In 2008, teachers in some rural areas where attacked for political reasons accused of advocating for certain political parties.As RTUZ we hope the authorities will address our demands and the nation will become aware of our difficulties. We are optimistic that this march will lead to a unity of purpose for the betterment of rural teaching, schooling and education at large.
Opinion / Columnist
Ok, you will think me crazy Mthwakazi, but hold your fire.It's not been easy for me to wake up to this realization, let alone 'accept' it, but the history of the word is full of such salutary lessons, from before and through Biblical times to now.Like innovation in technology and business, revolutions are products of the process of learning and unlearning and learning again - in that continuous and unbroken cyclical turn.NASA, that great American institution of space exploration, will tell you how it uses the otherwise hostile forces of the universe - on paper NASA's enemy - to propel spacecraft to the very edge of the solar system. Using the centripetal forces of distant planets, NASA flings spacecraft from restraining orbits in a catapult effect, thus 'slinging' the exploration vehicles well into the target celestial body faster, cheaper and quicker. In short, NASA looks at what the heavenly body does, not just what it is.So how does this all fit in with uMthwakazi today, and how is all this relevant here?I'm not gifted with brevity and clarity, but allow me to try to explain.You see, unlike NASA, uMthwakazi has seen and continues to see uMugabe as a hostile object - to use our NASA imagery - and fails to see what uMugabe can do for Mthwakazi in these endtimes. As Mthwakazi, we have been mentally parked in the pain and repudiation of Gukurahundi - totally understandable - but in the process allowed that to cloud our judgement, blur our vision and stifle our action, even blind us to opportunities via uMugabe that would help us 'sling' uMthwakazi to where she wants to be. Not to oppress anyone, but to be totally free as any other people on the planet - that must be emphasized!I hope uMthwakazi unfolding history will vindicate me as having been right when uMthwakazi majority was wrong and still entangled in political cobwebs of the painful past. And I hope I will not live to regret this, but to celebrate this - with all of uMthwakazi. So let me commit treason against uMthwakazi here!Today, Mthwakazi - in this endgame - uMugabe isn't the enemy but a friend. I would have wanted that sentence to stand alone without commentary so it's totally visible, clear, and unencumbered. But, hey If there is a right side in this endgame, that side is Mugabe's side, not the side of his enemies or those who today present themselves as his enemies.I would hasten to underline the fact that I speak of no 'correct' side; I speak only of a 'right' side. Some might say those two words mean the same thing, and I haven't bothered with a dictionary check. I define the two as I use them here. 'Right' appeals to the mind, 'correct' to the heart. And I have already alluded to the fact that this is the time for uMthwakazi to learn to set the heart aside and learn to put on her thinking cap, to unlearn pain and in its place put deliberateness informed by courage of conviction. I am therefore speaking to Mthwakazi's mind here, not to her heart!To help uMthwakazi make that bold, unthinkable move, let us unpack those who today put themselves forward as Mugabe's enemies, from the so-called war veterans, to Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC-T, Joyce Mujuru's ZF, #This Flag, #Tajamuka etc, and the general Shona populace who today see themselves as 'leading' some of form of revolution. Notice I have not shied away from mentioning the Shona populace directly, and this is not for tribalistic but factual reasons that are provable, are demonstrable and beyond cavil. Shona fantasists, all manner of Gukurahundists and other 'silent' Shona supremacists will latch onto this point and yell in their usual shrill voices to attack me as this and that. That's is fine. But that won't change the truth. And 'Mthwakazi' - to whom I proudly belong and publicly declare proud allegiance to - means 'people'. UMthwakazi includes Shona speakers who subscribe to the value systems of Mthwakaziness. UMthwakazi has never been part of this establishment which this new crop of Shona 'revolutionaries' has ever supported. Keep this perspective when you launch your attacks on me!When Mugabe unleashed an undeclared war against uMthwakazi in the 1980's, no single 'war veteran', except those targeted by that pogrom, raised any voice. Since then - and over many years - the same so-called 'war vets' have been instruments of terror against the civilian population - Black and White - in support of the very same Mugabe that they would have us believe has become their enemy overnight. Professor Welshman's recent article warning about these so-called war vets is a must read(http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-30586-Ncube+Don%E2%80%99t+be+fooled+by+war+veterans!/news.aspx).As for the Mujurus and Dongos and Tsvangirai's of our time, need anyone say anything more that anybody doesn't already know?I must reserve my severest criticism for dubious pastors and groups like #ThisFlag #Tajamuka , the opportunistic #BeatthePot and an assortment of other hashtag 'revolutionaries' and crazy individuals who are self-marketing and self-extoling and now polluting the social media on a daily basis. What an assemblage of utter chaos and a maddening mob on the loose! What a loud silence from this flat thunder!These are the very same Shona people - not the particular individuals - but the very same mob mentality that brought in, cheered, ululated and sustained Gukurahundi's military operations against uMthwakazi from beginning to the end, and who today support, sustain and drive Gukurahundi and Gukurahundism in all its professed and denied manifestations. Many will remember that video shot just after the April 1980 elections (recently posted on social media) when these very same Shona mobs were crying: 'Nkomo must be killed; 'Nkomo must be killed!', or words to that effect.It is this same Shona mob seen today running about in a vandalistic fervour they mistakenly see as a 'revolution' or some form of civil uprising. Shona people who to this day will not own up to their twisted sense of political and social justice, who make shrill noises about one Shona person recently disappeared but fail to see the depravity of their inactions in failing to raise the issue of thousands of Mthwakazi's disappeared and tens of thousands of Mthwakazians killed and maimed in their name and with their fullest support between 1980 and 1988.People who aren't even ashamed to today to invite uMthwakazi to depose with them and for themselves a Mugabe they have loved and still love so dearly except for their opportunistic ventures and avarice, documented fraud, deception, thievery and other similar vices involving money, dishonesty, lecherous sex and generalised unsavoury behaviour that has touched cities and continents across the globe. Twisted arrogance of a false superiority that still tells itself today that it's big when it is this small, that it's clever when it is this foolish, and that it's funny when it is this shameful. The folly that believes uMthwakazi is inevitably tied and rolled into anything that is done by the Shona and their braying mobs - the mobs we see in this self-acting endgame now appropriated by an assortment of Shona opportunists as a 'revolution' by braying mobs of the 1980's which brought us this Mugabe tyranny whose true nature they are only but marginally experiencing now when uMthwakazi bears the scars of the political trenches that came with 1980 Zanu-PF rule.This is the motley collection of Shona mobsters today made up of #Tajamuka #BeatthePot and others who would today present themselves as representatives of civil society and the civilian population. I see they have also extended their totally lunatic ideas to the unsuspecting village population using a hashtag whose name I can't recall and am happy not to recall, by which the poor and ignorant will be made sacrificial lambs by this donor-driven and dangerous outfit masquerading as 'revolutionaries' in our midst. Statistics of the killed and maimed villagers will soon be posted on social media by the 'leaders' of these groups who - not long from now - will be on planes to receive this or that 'bravery' award and fat cheques in the usual capitals, while back home, families - forgotten and worthless and now de-personalised and dry statistics - grieve over irreplaceable losses.Someone not from the so-called government side has got to stand up to this greed and heartlessness that has long informed the so-called opposition ranks and help put a stop to it all! I may not be one of those doing that here, but someone better equipped than me may be able to extract some sense in some of what I've said here and put it out to the hearts of our people to help stop this. If Zanu-PF is depraved, then our so-called opposition are politically and decidedly debauched!Mthwakazi, your enemy in this endgame is not Mugabe. #Tajamuka #BeatthePot and others of this debased genre, are!They are your enemy because it is the same Shona grouping 'inviting' you to the chaos and mayhem they failed to cajole and force uMthwakazi into in 1980 when they got their hands on the State's weapons of mass killing. They are your enemy because they want to use you - again - into establishing or extending their political empire and tribal stranglehold over uMthwakazi using different (or same) faces and institutions after Mugabe. Mistakes didn't end with Nkomo and Zapu! And they are also your enemy because they are inviting you to run with them blindly into an empty void of lawlessness in which the only beneficiaries will be the most dangerous of them: all of them their own! When they are this dangerous in conditions of law you don't need anyone to tell you how dangerous they will be in conditions of disorder where their excesses will have no restrictions. There are people - well known - driving this Shona mob there - into which they are inviting uMthwakazi - for all these very reasons.You don't want to go there with them Mthwakazi!And I need ask this - much to the expected chagrin of Shona supremacists, Shona fantasists and Gukurahundists - have you noticed Mthwakazi that all the so-called 'leaders' of these hashtag 'revolutionaries' - including the maddened individual self-promoters - are all Shonas and all speak in Shona?Coincidence? Check your history again!So what am I saying in practical terms Mthwakazi?It's simple really.Mugabe is desperate and needs friends now. Physical death can't come sooner for him despite all the surface appearances of 'business as usual'. And Mugabe's real nightmares aren't coming from the #Tajamukas etc of today, but from his old friends he knows are now out to get him - this time without fail. Mugabe also knows fully well what they hold against him if they get him alive or what they can do if they now want him out - dead or alive. Contemporary precedents abound for him to know that very well.Contrary to popular usage of the saying, in politics there are of course permanent enemies, but there are simply times when you can and should work with your enemy when your interests and your enemy's come to coincide. In this endgame, uMthwakazi's interests coincide Mugabe's. UMthwakazi's future is not in degenerate lawlessnesse, but in a lawful, stable and properly recovered State. For all his many faults, Mugabe would wish this than the alternative that his wily (new) and impatient enemies want the State to go - from where they will steal the State and terrorise everybody after.So, if I had my way - and if uMthwakazi would allow me - I would invite all Mthwakazians to organize solidarity marches in support of Mugabe in his, this desperate moment; this depleted state.I would invite uMthwakazian to assemble at the City of Kings and Queens' City Hall and all such places and send a clear message to the handlers of Mugabe and the Shona - again - to say that uMthwakazi's rejection of being 'enemized' in 1980 when it suited is met with the same contempt and derision as today's choreographed attempts to 'befriend' uMthwakazi, again when it suits. By the ultimate sacrifice (a genocide) uMthwakazi rejected tyranny and by the same political sacrifice today (ganging up with its enemy) uMthwakazi is refusing to be pawned like marbled pieces on a political chessboard for the benefit of others.The police and other security services will be put out to 'protect' such a march by uMthwakazi. We are here talking the true game of politics!Mugabe has learnt the hard way. He may not admit it in public, but he is today ashamed, shamed and small. He played with the big boys of deception - the world's political illuminati - when he was politically wet behind the ears and has ended up a virtual prisoner in a State prison publicly presented as State House. Running hither and thither between the people and his handlers, frightened - and rejected by both - Mugabe has shrunk in political size to nothing in a political island called Private Isolation. In physical stature, we are watching him shrink to oblivion right in front of our eyes. It is not a pleasant sight, and the pelting he is receiving as his goodbyes, mostly from his own, has grown cruel, increasingly sadistic. We are talking a broken man; a tortured soul running away even from himself - in a hurry!Time is not on Mthwakazi's side, morally and politically.Mugabe is ripe for a friend and friends.For Mthwakazians, this is an opportunity - when his internal friends have now turned against him and positioned themselves as his enemies. It is time for uMthwakazi to swap positions with her erstwhile mob tormenters and position herself as Mugabe's friends. Yes, it is time to befriend and be friends with Mugabe in this endgame.Forget #Tajamuka #BeatthePot and the Morgan Tsvangirais and Joyce Mujurus of this world Mthwakazi. All of these are just plastic; fake and unauthentic (in terms of State power). It may well be most ironic - admittedly - but it is time for Mthwakazi to go with Mugabe, and nothing else.As many sober Mthwakazians have consistently warned since the start of this unfolding mobocracy, ngamandlwane wodwa which are not going anywhere - this #Tajamuka #BeatthePot , War Vets, MDC-T and ZPF nonsense. There is no 'revolution' there and there will never be one there. Not like that anyway!I salute you Mthwakazi for the way you have conducted yourselves so far during these fly-by-night, purposeless, and visionless 'mobocrafties'. But the time for silence and inaction is now over. It is time to take action in support of the right side; to take sides!With this one stroke of political genius, this Machiavellian stroke, uMthwakazi can put paid to this political mirage called 'succession' politics and help arrest the actions and activities of these criminals behind the #Tajamukas of this world, criminals who are trying to drive the State to a chaos and lawlessness from which they will emerge with the private trophy of a stolen and reprivatized State.As we stand today - in this endgame - that right side is Mugabe's side, or you end up with one Emmerson Mnangagwa as Head of State who some of this Shona mob have publicly said they want as president and are working for. And for all we know, this wily and ruthless operator may well be behind all these things - and using uMthwakazi too as pawns - the very people he killed so mercilessly and ruthlessly -- to install himself as Emperor of a new Karanga political empire (as a repudiation of a 'liquidated' Zezuru empire). Mthwakazi we are not into those games. UMthwakazi is the serious business of modern statecraft.You have to answer yourself privately Mthwakazi - as Mandla or Thembi or Nyasha - which you would rather have - Mugabe or Mnangagwa? Perhaps that's an artificial question anyway, but pose it all the same as a question that prompts further political enquiry and self-interrogation.Things have moved on Mthwakazi. We are in the here and now and need to act in the here and now. It is time to think, think and think again. Time to suspend emotions, pain and history - and do something rather than be by-products of political events as Mthwakazi.Any offer of help from uMthwakazi now, Mugabe will gleefully jump on. And uMthwakazi must offer it!The usual suspects will label me CIO. If that's an insult, I'm happy for such an insult to be made; it will just bounce off my body. But if it is presented as an accusation, let me say pre-emptively that such an accusation is totally false. But should you persist with such an accusation, then I will insist on you knowing the full import of saying so in those terms.Anyone Mthwakazi for #MthwakaziforMugabeNow
Opinion / Columnist
"(a) committed in connection with or in furtherance of the commission or attempted commission of the crime of insurgency, banditry, sabotage or terrorism, theft, unauthorised borrowing or use of property, extortion, fraud, forgery, malicious damage to property, damaging, destroying or prejudicing the safe operation of an aircraft, concealing, disguising or enjoying the proceeds of the unlawful dealing in dangerous drugs, corruptly using false data or defeating or obstructing the course of justice; or "(b) the computer, computer network, data, programme or system is owned by the State, a law enforcement agency, the Defence Forces, the Prison Service, a statutory corporation or a local or like authority; or (c) the crime occasions considerable material prejudice to the owner of the computer, computer network, data, programme or system; or (d) the crime disrupts or interferes with an essential service. Police, according to the Bill, are required to apply to a magistrate for permission to search and seize electronic gadgets and to intercept private communications to prove criminal cases. "(1) If a magistrate is satisfied on the basis of an application by a police officer, supported by an affidavit, that there are reasonable grounds to suspect or believe that the content of electronic communications is reasonably required for the purposes of a criminal investigation, the magistrate may: a) order an Internet service provider whose service is available in Zimbabwe through application of technical means to collect or record or to permit or assist competent authorities with the collection or recording of content data associated with specified communications transmitted by means of a computer system; or (b) authorise a police officer to collect or record that data through application of technical means." The Bill also says: "Any person, who unlawfully and intentionally generates, possesses and distributes an electronic communication with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, threaten, bully or cause emotional distress, degrade, humiliate or demean the person of another person, using a computer system or information system shall be guilty of an offence and liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 10 or imprisonment not exceeding five years or both."
An addition to AIPPA and POSA
Panic, Power retention at all costs
The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ)
ECONET/ TELECEL/ NETONE: Mobile Service Providers in Zimbabwe
Computer Crime and Cyber Crime bill fallacy
Lloyd Msipa is a Lawyer by profession and can be contacted at lmsipalaw@gmail.com. He writes in his personal capacity.
"An unjust law is no law at all" this is a quote from Saint Augustine, an early Christian theologian whose writings influenced the development of politics and law. This quote pretty much sums up the spirit to which the Computer Crime and Cyber Crime Bill being proposed by the Zimbabwe government is in its current format. This bill seeks to empower the Zimbabwe police to 'intercept private communications, search and confiscate electronic gadgets' used in what they deem to be 'criminal activity'. The proposed law seeks to impose a five year mandatory sentence to would be 'offenders' who fail to legally use their phones, laptops and desktop computers. The proposed bill goes on further to say the violation of the proposed law and the attendant repercussions will reach out to offenders "globally" in as long as they are Zimbabweans. These 'Zimbabweans' will be extradited back to Zimbabwe under existing extradition laws, namely , The Extradition Act (Chapter 9.08) Part of the draft bill reads : if Any reasonable person reading this draft bill is immediately gobsmacked by its content and its apparent intention to instil fear and control on a citizenry already living on the edge after being pummelled by the police for so long. This bill attempts to take away the only avenue left for Zimbabwe's citizens have for free expression. This bill now waits in line to join other statutory provisions like the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and The Public Order and Security Act (POSA) both enacted in 2002. The former to "oversee" how the print and electronic media operate in Zimbabwe. Since its enactment it has banned foreign news organisations from reporting in Zimbabwe and indeed some of Zimbabwe's newspapers have been obliterated. And the later gives greater control powers to the police and the act has helped Mugabe consolidate power by limiting the freedom of Association amongst citizens. In fact it is a requirement for any political or civic formation to seek police approval before holding any public meetings. So, Zimbabwe it is not rocket science to figure out where the government is going with this new proposed draft Computer Crime and Cyber Crime bill. One may be forgiven for seeing the parallels between North Korea and the fast developing trend in Zimbabwe were the government interfere to a point of being in the citizen's personal lives.When a law seeks to take away an individual or a group's freedom, it causes harm or basically just causes chaos; it is the opposite effect of what a law is put in place to do. In his 1963 letter from Birmingham city prison, Dr Martin Luther King lamented the effect of unjust laws. He speaks of the difference between a just law and an unjust law. "A just law is a man-made code that squares up with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law" St Thomas Aquinas a respected Italian Philosopher and theologian out it more succinctly, he says, "An unjust law is a human law that that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is a just law. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust".So in essence an unjust law is morally wrong and can be disobeyed. Protesting is in essence disobedience against unjust laws. The purpose of protesting is mainly to publicise an unjust law or a just cause; to appeal to the conscience of the public; to force negotiation with recalcitrant public officials to "clog the machine" with political prisoners; to get into court where one can challenge the constitutionality of a law; to exculpate oneself, or to put an end to one's personal complicity in the injustice which flows from obedience to unjust law. While protesting in a broad sense is as old as the Hebrew midwives' defiance of Pharaoh the social media age brings it to another level.The Zimbabwe government is going to great lengths to try and market this new cyber bill as an enhancement of our laws by aligning it with the control of pornographic images and videos and terror as part of computer crimes being curtailed. But Zimbabweans are not naive; the devil is in the detail. The appearance of a law may make it look just, but will be unjust in its application. The Public Order and Security Act (POSA) give powers to the police to control gatherings and issue permits for the same. But we all know that government protests are never accompanied by this requirement whilst opposition and civic groups are put through this audacious process and in most instances they are refused and they end up seeking relief from the courts. A law becomes unjust when those who are from the ruling party are never compelled to do the same. So the intentions of the Computer Crime and Cyber Crime bill are clear. Recent events have been instructive. Social media is the new political battleground. The Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) are now archaic. They do not offer sufficient control anymore. This is what this Cyber bill is about, control through instilling fear amongst the citizens of Zimbabwe. Here is the tragedy if the bill should it ever become law. Social media is not domiciled in Zimbabwe. Questions abound, how you seek to prosecute a person who is holding on their gadget a forwarded message. Furthermore, does Mugabe still think that after 36 years of persecution and repression Zimbabwean society has remained stagnant. Has the government of Zimbabwe factored in the possibility that most of its citizens are now citizens of other countries together with their children who by the way are now leading the onslaught for a democratic dispensation in their country of origin? Does the Zimbabwe government have the resources to pour into policing personal gadgets and information flow in the context of Zimbabwe? The government cannot even pay the current public servant. Can POTRAZ do this?The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) was established in terms of the Postal and Telecommunications Act [Chapter 12:05].Part of Section 4 defines its functions as(a) To ensure the provision of the sufficient domestic and international telecommunication and postal services throughout Zimbabwe on such terms and conditions as the Authority may see fit.(b) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a), to ensure that any person by whom any telecommunications or postal services falls to be provide is able to provide these services at rates consistent with the provision of an efficient and continuous service and the necessity of maintaining independent financial viability;(c) To promote the development of postal and telecommunication systems and services in accordance with practicable recognised international standards and public demand; (d) To exercise licensing and regulatory functions in respect of postal and telecommunication systems and services in Zimbabwe, including the establishment of standards and codes relating to equipment attached to telecommunication systems; (e) To exercise licensing and regulatory functions in respect of the allocation and use of satellite orbits and the radio frequency spectrum in Zimbabwe for all purposes, including the establishment of standards and codes relating to any matter in connection therewith; etc.They term is a "regulatory functions", but Zimbabweans are not oblivious to the fact that POTRAZ has recently used its sweeping powers to order mobile service providers to suspend the various popular promotions they had on offer. Despite official denial by the same, whatsApp and Facebook activity has dropped sharply in the last few weeks. This part of the broader attempt by the Mugabe government to control social media.Mobile service providers are governed by both national law and International law. The reason for this is because mobile service is now global. Mobile service providers are also mandated under national and international law to respect the privacy of the service users. If a government makes a demand for information that is deemed "unreasonable", the service provider can refuse to provide it and fall back on international provisions. Precedents abound: The Apple boss Tim Cook refused to cooperate with the American government's request to unlock an iPhone belonging to Syed Farook, one of the alleged shooters in the San Bernardino attack. The service provider argued this was a defence of civil liberties despite the fact that a federal court in Riverside, California, granted the justice department the order. Apple refused to obey an unjust law. Without the consent of the service provider it is not possible for the government to read ones messages as WhatsApp messages have a secured end to end encryption, which means WhatsApp or third parties, cannot read your messages without physically getting hold of your phone.The long and short of this proposed draft bill, is that it will be impossible to police and enforce should it be railroaded into law. Firstly international law will not compliment laws in domestic jurisdictions that are on the face of it unjust. So an attempts to invoke the Extradition based on this type of law will be an own goal. It will simply reinforce the dictatorial nature of Mugabe's government. Secondly this proposed unjust law will be resisted by all right thinking progressive Zimbabweans globally who want to take Zimbabwe forward and not backwards into the Stone Age. The internet is not restricted to the borders of Zimbabwe, but a global phenomenon, hence it cannot suffer violence and intimidation. Free expression is one of the cornerstones of the internet era. Zimbabweans are not stuck to the local service providers to access social media. In fact most in Zimbabwe are now using foreign sim cards (South African, Zambian and UK etc. etc.). Free expression in the internet era is exactly that- free. An attempt to legislate against free internet expression will be unjust and will fall flat on its face. Simple as.
(Photo : Reuters) Alibaba is looking to help foreign firms establish a foothold in China.
Advertisement
Chinese tech giant Alibaba recently has announced that it is partnering with international tech firms like SAP and Check Point Software. Through its cloud division, Alibaba Cloud, the company aims to help SAP and Check Point Software to penetrate the highly regulated Chinese tech market.
CNBC reported that Alibaba Cloud would help international firms to deliver their software and products directly in China using the company's cloud infrastructure. Aside from SAP and Check Point Software, Alibaba confirmed that at least 11 tech firms from the United States, Japan, Thailand, and Europe have all expressed their intention to partner with the Chinese tech giant.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
In a statement acquired by Fortune, Alibaba Cloud Global general manager Sincheng Yu said, "The AliLaunch program and Global Technology Partners Marketplace serve as the perfect platforms for making different software products accessible to businesses and organizations in China."
Yu added that international firms would also face the scrutinizing arm of the Chinese regulatory board to establish a local root in the country. The main role of Alibaba in this venture is to help international firms with local regulation.
Alibaba Cloud currently counts more than 2.3 million customers, at least 500,000 of which are paying customers. Just like Amazon, which also started as an e-commerce platform, Alibaba is slowly branching out to several tech markets to diversify its revenue. Alibaba's cloud division is the company's fastest-growing business segment with revenue growing at least 175 percent on a year-to-year basis. On the other hand, Alibaba Cloud only accounts for around four percent of the company's total revenue.
Advertisement
TagsAlibaba, Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba Cloud news, SAP, Check Point Software, Cloud computing
(Photo : Getty Images) A sign is posted in front of a Marriott hotel in San Francisco, California. Marriott International announced plans to purchase Starwood Hotels & Resorts for $12.2 billion. The deal would create the world's largest hotel company.
Advertisement
China has extended its time frame for reviewing Marriott International Inc.'s proposed $14.6 billion purchase of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. by up to 60 days, the companies revealed on Monday.
China's Ministry of Commerce review is the last remaining hurdle to close the deal, which would create the biggest hotel group in the world with an enterprise value reaching up to $36 billion and 1.1 million hotel rooms, Reuters reported. Marriott has already received a green light from regulators in 40 countries including the United States, Canada, and the European Union.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
Both Marriott and Starwood refused to specify the reasons why the Chinese Ministry is requesting for an extension to review the deal. Marriott in a statement on Monday that it believes the "planned merger transaction poses no anti-competitive issues in China."
According to a July 28 call with Wall Street analysts, China was expected to finalize its antitrust reviews by Tuesday, Aug. 9, and the latest request is delaying Marriott's process by as much as two months.
"We've provided very, very significant amounts of information [to Chinese authorities] over the course for the last six or eight months," Arne Sorenson, president and CEO of Marriott International Inc., said. "We remain optimistic that we will receive clearance from China and will complete the transactions in the coming weeks."
Marriott owns 91 properties in China as well as 146 more under construction. Starwood, on the other hand, has 283 hotels in China. Given the wide reach of the hoteliers in the country, China's request for an extended review comes as no surprise to some experts.
"Of course, China is trying to expand the role of its domestic players, so there are residual concerns about what this deal could mean for China's own hospitality industry," Eswar Prasad, Cornell University professor and former head of the International Monetary Fund's China division, told The Washington Post.
Advertisement
Tagsmarriott, Starwood, Hotels, merging, Acquisition, china, Ministry of Commerce, Antitrust law
(Photo : VCG/VCG via Getty Images) ourists walk on the 100-meter-long and 1.6-meter-wide glass skywalk clung the cliff of Tianmen Mountain (or Tianmenshan Mountain) in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park on Aug. 1, 2016 in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province of China.
Advertisement
Chinese tourists who hail from smaller cities in China are now travelling more often than their counterparts from the mainland's bigger cities.
This was among the major findings of an outbound tourism report released by the China Tourism Academy and Ctrip which covered the first half of 2016, reported the China Daily.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
According to the report, tourists from China's smaller cities have grown at a faster clip.
Most of these Chinese travelers hail from Changsha of Hunan province, Shenzhen of Guangdong province, Chongqing, Chengdu of Sichuan province, Wuhan of Hubei province, Kunming of Yunnan province, Fuzhou of Fujian province, Xi'an of Shaanxi province, Nanjing of Jiangsu province and Hangzhou of Zhejiang province.
The report also bared that Chinese tourists from smaller cities have spent more than those coming from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Tourists from Suzhou from Jiangsu province ranked first among the top spenders, as they splurged an average of 6,125 yuan each during their overseas travels.
Travelers from Wenzhou of Zhejiang and Kunming of Yunnan province came in next in the list of bigtime spenders.
Tourists from Beijing, on the other hand, only ranked 8th among the top 10 spenders list after shelling out 5,568 yuan each.
The report however noted that despite the increasing number of outbound tourists from China's smaller cities, tourists from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou still account for the majority of outbound travelers,
More than 59 million visits were made by Chinese mainland tourists to foreign destinations from January to June of this year, an increase of 4.3 percent year-on-year, which means the number of Chinese outbound tourists during that period equaled that of the entire Italian population.
"China has become the largest source country of many countries' inbound tourism market, such as Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Russia and the United Kingdom," the report said.
"However, those who have passport only account less than five percent of China's total population. The outbound tourism industry in China still has a lot of space of further development," the report added, highlighting the growing number of globe-trotting Chinese tourists.
Advertisement
Tagschina, Chinese Tourists
(Photo : Mark Schiefelbein - Pool/Getty Images) China's Premier Li Keqiang, center, speaks during the 1+6 Roundtable on promoting growth in the Chinese and global economies at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on July 22, 2016 in Beijing, China.
Advertisement
About 20 percent of China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2020 is anticipated to be comprised of knowledge-intensive services.
According to the country's five-year plan for science and technology progress by 2020, this figure reflects a 15.6 percent increase since 2015, reported the China Daily.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
On Monday, the State Council published a list of its science and technology targets covering the period 2016 - 2020, which also identified measures to be implemented by the government to achieve these targets.
In particular, total factor productivity aims to provide at least 60 percent of China's GDP growth in 2020, which is up from 55.3 percent last year, the plan said.
Based on the five-year plan, the number of patent applications in by2020 is expected to be twice that of 2015, while 60 out of every 10,000 workers will be engaged in research and development.
In line with the said plan, the priorities for the Chinese government in the next five years include directing resources to strategic areas, fostering creativity, creating a favorable policy environment and removing barriers to innovation.
Moreover, China is anticipated to spend more resources in key research areas deemed vital to its national strength and security and GDP.
These include computer chip, integrated circuit equipment, broadband mobile telecommunication, digital machinery, nuclear power, genetic modification, water pollution control, new medicines, manned space programs and lunar exploration.
The Chinese government also aims to achieve breakthroughs in other areas such as deep-sea exploration, quantum computing and brain science, as outlined by the plan.
Furthermore, agriculture, computing, green energy, biology and environmental protection will also receive more attention, as the government has also committed greater support for basic research, science labs and international research.
The government will likewise encourage joint research projects between Chinese and foreign institutes and enterprises to attract more high-level foreign experts to work in China, and consequently, expand the nation's GDP.
Advertisement
Tagschina, China GDP
(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) China Capital Investment Group has purchased South Molle Island Resort for $25 million.
Advertisement
China Capital Investment Group bought South Molle Island Resort in the heart of the Whitsundays in Queensland, Australia, for a reported $25 million, just more than a year after acquiring the nearby Daydream Island Resort and Spa.
Peter Harper from the JJL Hotels & Hospitality Group, the selling agent of South Molle Island, confirmed the sale, hinting that it was sold to "a foreign company with existing interests in the region" but refused to specify the buyer, Whitsunday Times reported. Harper, however, did not specify the final selling price, but during the marketing campaign, agents were quoting the property for near $30 million.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
Under the new owner, the South Molle Island is set to face a "large-scale redevelopment" with an opportunity to create a 1,300-room resort, according to the information memorandum subject for planning approval. South Molle Island Resort features a 12-hectare developable beachfront land, including a frontage of over 600 meters and a secluded 15-hectare parcel in the middle of the island, surrounded by national park. It also has an existing 188-room resort and amenities.
"It's been a joy to share South Molle. It's a wonderful island. It's been an amazing 15 years. I wish the new owners all the best," Craig Ross, owner of South Molle Island Resort, told Financial Review.
On the other hand, Scott Wilkinson, CEO of Daydream Island Resort and Spa that was snapped up by China Capital Investment Group from Nature's founder Vaughan Bullivant for nearly $30 million, said that the new investment shows the confidence of Chinese companies Australia's tourism.
"This was a great opportunity to acquire one of the last large-scale development opportunities in the Great Barrier Reef," Wilkinson said, adding that the two island resorts will provide their guests a diversified experience.
Advertisement
TagsChina Capital Investment Group, South Molle island, South Molle Island Resort, JJL Hotels & Hospitality Group, Daydream Island Resort and Spa, Queensland, Australia Tourism, Whitsundays
(Photo : Reuters) LeEco Indian R&D team plans to hire recruits from the top IT schools in India.
Advertisement
LeEco has announced its plan to hire more than 1,100 engineers for its India Research and Development (R&D) center by 2017.
The company plans to hire from tier-1 engineering colleges like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) across the country. Last week, LeEco already began the freshers' campus drive in Bengaluru and garnered more than 2,000 registrations from students from top engineering colleges, according to Times of India.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
We are humbled and excited to see the interest amongst students community to work with us. Many of them came to attend our test braving heavy downpour and flood like situation that Bangalore witnessed last week, said Shrinivas Bairi, Head of LeEco India R&D.
Bairi added that the skills they are looking for among the student applicants include modem technologies, BSP, multimedia, TV Broadcast, and Internet technologies, India Today reported.
Indian R&D team will be charged with both commercialization and localization support for all the devices launched in India. The center will combine innovations and work with China and US R&D center. The company has said that it would soon also start a camera-image engineering lab for image quality, RF/antenna design and tuning lab for smart devices like smartphones.
In addition, the R&D department will help the company to meet all the local requirements, support Indian languages, follow government regulations like Panic button and GPS requirements, and comply with different carrier requirements.
Aside from developing cutting-edge technology for its smart devices, the India R&D center will also help LeEcos e-commerce marketplace, LeMall.com, to develop data analytics and machine learning tools to improve customer experience and sales.
Advertisement
TagsLeeco, India, LeEco India, LeEco India R&D Center, India R&D Center, LeEco 1100 Engineers
(Photo : Getty Images) A Tesla Motors Inc. Model X electric sport utility vehicle (SUV) stands on display at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in Beijing, China, on Monday, April 25, 2016.
(Photo : Getty Images)
Advertisement
People in China are willing to cough up thousands of dollars to get their hands on Tesla's Model X.
Tesla made its Model X available for purchase in China since June and the vehicle's demand exceeded expectations in the country with more than 3,000 reservations for the all-electric SUV.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
Tesla is unable to keep up with the increasing demand, because of which customers in China have been put on the waitlist. However, there are many people who aren't willing to wait for the car and are shelling out about $240,000 as a grey market premium to get it early, according to Forbes.
The Model X P90D is priced at $115,000 in the U.S. and costs $1,70,000 in China, which means that customers are paying $70,000 more for vehicles that are not even China-specific.
A Tianjin-based dealer is acquiring the vehicles in the United States before shipping them to China and selling them on social media, earning a hefty profit in the process.
Business must be booming as the dealer told Forbes that all his red models were sold and he only had white models available.
Even though grey-market imports in China are legal, they carry heavy restrictions. As far as the Model X is concerned, the warranties have been voided, which means Tesla dealers will carry out repairs but consumers will have to pay for them.
Because these vehicles are not intended for the Chinese market and are US-specific, some of the features may not work. For one, the language supported by the operating system is English and the navigation system uses Google Maps, which is blocked in China.
Advertisement
TagsTesla, Tesla Model X, china, Tesla China, Tesla Model X China, China Tesla Model X
(Photo : Getty Images) Vietnam has allegedly set up mobile rocket launchers in the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea.
Advertisement
Vietnam has secretly installed new mobile rocket launchers in its administrated islands in the Spratlys group of islands in the disputed South China Sea, Reuters reported, citing inside sources.
Sources informed Reuters that intelligence information indicates that Vietnam has transported the launchers to the Spratly Islands in recent months. The launchers are still unarmed but can be made operational within a span of two or three days.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
However, officials from the Vietnamese government have refused to confirm the information. Vietnam's Foreign Ministry said that this information is not accurate, without elaborating further.
Vietnam's Deputy Defense Minister told Reuters in June that the country has not installed such rocket in the Spratlys, but reserves the right to do so in self-defense.
Experts claim that Vietnam's secret move is aimed at countering China's recent buildup on its seven reclaimed islands in the Spratlys archipelago. Vietnam's military officials allegedly fear that China's recent aggressive build up has left the country's defense in the Spratlys increasingly vulnerable.
Several Military analysts have described Vietnam's discreet move as the most significant military decision that Hanoi has made in the South China Sea in a decade. Hanoi's secret military operation comes barely a month after a verdict by the Hague-based arbitration court slammed China's sweeping claim over the South China Sea as illegal.
Vietnam along with several other countries have shown support for the arbitration court's verdict, calling on China to respect the ruling. However, the verdict has had no bearing on Beijing's control over the contested maritime territory, as the Chinese government has stated that it would not accept the verdict under any circumstance.
Advertisement
TagsVietnam, South China Sea, china, China and Vietnam, spratly islands
Opinion / Columnist
I have just read the most bizarre opinion piece titled 'E ndgame - The right side is Mugabe's side Mthwakazi! ' in which a person going by the fake name of Xoxani Ngxoxo says Mthwakazi people should support Mugabe.Xoxani makes arguments which show a disturbed state of mind like saying Mthwakazi people include Shona people. Okay of that's the case what is he/she/it talking about then because according to him/her/it we are all one big family?Xoxani also says he/she/it is not from the government's side but goes on to demonise all manner of activists that are opposed to the government proving the point that he/she/it is on the government's side. Who else but someone paid to do it defends Mugabe?Xoxani also says the activists are putting the lives of villagers in danger but he/she/it doesn't say from whom. Could it be from the same police and army that is led by the same Mugabe whom Xoxani says people must sympathise with? Not so clever now are we?Xoxani goes on to say some people will quickly label him/her/it a CIO. My question is which CIO? Central Imbecile Officer?Xoxani then asks us who we would rather have. Mugabe or Mnangagwa? My answer is neither of the two. In case Xoxani hasn't noticed both these gentlemen are in Zanupf and both are president and vice president. Judging by both these gentlemen's failures since 1980 why should my choice be limited to the two?Xoxani get out of here or if you truly stand by your views stop hiding behind a pseudonym and do like Professor Jonathan Moyo and openly support Mugabe using the name your parents gave you if you have any for all I know you might be a computer program.Velempini Ndlovu is a freelance photographer based in Johannesburg he can be reached on veapndlovu@gmail.com
(Photo : Getty Images ) Chinese state media has cautioned India not to meddle in the South China Sea dispute.
Advertisement
Chinese state media on Tuesday asked India to refrain from discussing the South China Sea issue during the upcoming of China's foreign minister Wang Yi to New Delhi.
The state-run Global Times newspaper, in a strongly worded editorial, warned that India should avoid "unnecessary entanglement" in the South China Sea dispute during Wang' visit. The Chinese foreign minister is slated to visit New Delhi on August 13. During his visit, Wang will meet his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj to discuss the upcoming G-20 summit that would be held in China.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
The nationalist tabloid further said that India's focus on the South China Sea dispute might the affect bilateral relations between two countries.
"It is puzzling that India is focusing on the South China Sea issue at this moment, a move that might risk unnecessary side effects to Sino-Indian ties," Global Times said. "India may want to avoid unnecessary entanglement with China over the South China Sea debate during Wang's visit if the country wishes to create a good atmosphere for economic cooperation, which would include reducing tariffs on made-in-India products exported to China amid the ongoing free trade talk known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership."
The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, in its verdict on July 12, rejected China's claims over the disputed South China Sea saying that the country has no legal authority to claim the contested territory. Beijing, which has claimed almost all of the contested region, strongly opposed the verdict. China maintains that it has "indisputable sovereignty" over the contested waters.
Advertisement
TagsIndia, china, South China Sea, Wang Yi, Sushma Swaraj
Opinion / Columnist
The 1987 Unity Accord between Zanu PF and PF Zapu was about the establishment of the de facto one-party cum one-man (Robert Mugabe) dictatorship - a curse and not the blessing the name implies. Even now, with the benefit of hindsight of just how disastrous the dictatorship has been for Zimbabwe under our belt, it is amazing that some people will still not see the Unity Accord for curse it is.It "boggles the mind that today no one seems to treasure unity anymore," commented former Midlands governor Cephas Msipa in praise of the 1987 Unity Accord.Open debate and democratic competition is about the competition of ideas; it is just that when some people find they are losing the fight on the theatre of ideas they reach for the sword for the single purpose of silencing the opponent and, in some cases, for good. Whatever other reasons President Mugabe had for the Gukurahundi there is no deny that establishing a de facto one-party state was his primary reason. He saw the chance to silence his main political opponent and he seized it with both hands!Those who want to consider the 1987 Unity Accord as a progressive move must accept that the Accord allowed President Mugabe to establish the de facto one-party cum one-man, Robert Mugabe, dictatorship and the consequences of the said dictatorship. If those consequence were not plain back in 1987 there are plain as daylight today. Zimbabwe is in this political and economic mess today because we have been stuck with the corrupt and tyrannical regime which, being a de facto one-man dictatorship, has eliminated all meaningful competition"What was accomplished by the bullet cannot be undone by the ballot!" was President Mugabe's cynical response in 2008. He had lost the March vote and mounted a ruthless campaign of violence to reverse the result in the run-off.Free and open debate and meaningful democratic competition in which an informed electorate have the casting vote to decide who rules the country is the foundation of good, accountable and competent government the world over. People like President Mugabe instinctively dislike democracy because it forces them to compete and any fair competition holds the possibility of losing, which they cannot bear. Democracy also means being held accountable, a luxury tyrants the world over can ill afford given their track record of broken promises, broken limps and broken lives.As soon as they assume power, the tyrant's instinctive act is to stifle debate and democratic competition and deny the people the free vote. This is exactly what President Mugabe did and by cloaking the autocratic move as unifying one was sugar coating the cyanide pill.Dictatorships do not create peace and unity but an illusion of peace and unity for it is always the same people benefiting from the lack of democratic competition who will disturb the peace if they should be subjected to democratic competition and accountability. On the other hand the lack of democratic scrutiny will eventually lead to misrule and social tension which, in time, will boil over as the people demand an end to the misrule.After decades of misrule by this Zanu PF dictatorship born out of the 1987 Unity Accord the people of Zimbabwe are demanding an end to the dictatorship masquerading as unity. There are many nations out there with a healthy and functional democratic system of government who have enjoyed peace, freedom and economic prosperity and confined their fighting in the theatre of ideas.We totally reject this Zanu PF mentality that we must retain the de facto one-party dictatorship system because Zimbabweans are incapable of holding vigorous political debates and democratic competition for political power without sparking yet another Gukurahundi! Now, with the benefit of hindsight, we cannot still be naive and gullible to accept Mugabe's self-serving nonsense of stifling debate, democracy and the people's right to a meaningful free vote under the pretence of unity!
Farrakhan compares whites to Satan, God's enemy 10 August, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |
NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) Just as God has a natural enemy in Satan, so the "original man" black men and women have an enemy in the white man, Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam (NOI), told an audience at a Boston mosque recently.
Unlike many of Farrakhan's sermons which are posted almost immediately to social media and the NOI website, the June 26 address, "Who is the natural enemy of the original man?" was not made public, although it was available for purchase.
Portions of Farrakhan's address were finally published at The Final Call, the daily online newspaper for the group, Aug. 9.
Regarded by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-Semite and hate preacher, Farrakhan said during the address that when God creates a creature, he gives it a natural enemy to "justify its existence when it behaves as the Creator created it to be."
Whether you want to believe it or not, there would be no mankind if there were no original manand 'original man' is you, black man and woman," Farrakhan said. "White people are Johnny-come-latelys on our planet. I'm not making mockery. They were given a purpose, and they have fulfilled it.
"Whether you want to believe it or not, there would be no mankind if there were no original manand 'original man' is you, black man and woman," Farrakhan said. "White people are Johnny-come-latelys on our planet. I'm not making mockery. They were given a purpose, and they have fulfilled it."
The purpose for the white man, he said, is the same as Satan's with God.
"Everything in nature has an opposite side, so the black man being the original man, you have a natural enemy just like God has a natural enemy in Satan, who is always working against God's purpose for man."
Farrakhan said the Quran contains descriptions of God talking with Satan, his natural enemy, because like a summit between presidents "all of them are looking for control, mastery of the planet, so when they talk, they're always jockeying for position."
"Somebody came among us. A new world opens up called the Western world. White folk came out of Europe after being confined there for nearly a thousand years, and they discovered America but people were already here. So, they not only discovered land, they discovered people who are the natural owners of the land. In order for them to be on this land they had to get rid of the natural owner of the land. That's my Native [American] family," Farrakhan said.
"So there's always been a conspiracy against the original people of anywhere on earth where they went, because whites were not natural in any part of our planet. To gain access to land, they had to supplant the natural owner, the natural ruler, the natural people of their natural habitat, and replace them with themselves. Is that a friend? No. It is a natural enemy. Only an enemy of God would deprive another human being of what God intended for that human being to have."
Farrakhan said whites in city and state governments, as well as the federal government, conspire to incarcerate black men and falsely accuse them of crimes. He also said the police don't serve in black communities to protect them, but to keep blacks locked up in colonies away from whites.
"You have a natural, open enemy," Farrakhan said. "The police are not there to serve and protect but to make sure that the savagery of our community does not spill out and upset the white community, and the business community. We are a colony, like the original colonies in the United States that were tied to a wicked king; and here we are, in a colonial status, tied to downtown."
Farrakhan also said black pastors where unwittingly used by white politicians to keep the colony under the control of its "colonial master."
"You send your children to school. What kind of education are your children getting? They're getting a colonial education. So when you get your education, you come out: You're not trying to do something for yourself, you're trying to find a white person that will give you a job," he added.
Farrakhan said black people have to take over the education of their young and take control of the black community.
"If the government is angry with us for trying to control and own where we live, they have manifested as the enemy, and that demands complete separation in a state or territory of our own," Farrakhan said.
He also reiterated his call for "10,000 fearless" to stand between gangs in the black community.
That, of course, was not his original purpose for the so-called "fearless."
In August 2015, Farrakhan called for "10,000 in the midst of the million ... 10,000 fearless men who say death is sweeter than continued life under tyranny" to retaliate against white Americans because of their alleged oppression of black people.
Farrakhan said then that Quran calls for retaliation when "slaves" are oppressed.
"Retaliation is a prescription from God to calm the breasts of those whose children have been slain. So if the federal government will not intercede in our affairs, then we must rise up and kill those who kill us. Stalk them and kill them and let them feel the pain of death that we are feeling," he said in 2015.
Farrakhan quickly backtracked and said he did not say what was widely publicized and plainly visible on the Internet. The NOI has since removed the video were Farrakhan called for followers to "stalk and kill" their oppressors.
Farrakhan has also taught that white people were created by an evil scientist named Yakub, who rebelled against God and bred the color out of the original man. Farrakhan claims Elijah Muhammad, his predecessor, taught that Yakub was the John of the Book of Revelation.
Recently, American churches have been establishing Korean ministries, and Creekside Church, located in Mountlake Terrace, WA, is one of them. Crossroads Korean Church recently merged together with Creekside to form its Korean ministry.
Im looking forward to being wholly focused on sharing of the gospel as we become one with Creekside Church as a multi-ethnic church, said Pastor Chil-Gon Kim, the former senior pastor of Crossroads, and now the lead pastor for the Korean ministry at Creekside. Well be one united church for the purpose of evangelizing to our community and to the world, as one body in faith.
Pastor Kim said that he hopes to serve the body with the vision of Discover, Faith, Love, sharing the gospel, and making disciples of all nations.
Below are responses from an interview with Pastor Kim and Pastor Jason Deuman, the lead pastor of Creekside Chuch.
Q: How did your two churches begin to work together and build a relationship with each other?
CGK: Creekside Korean Church is within Creekside church as a Korean ministry and campus. Hence, it is not two churches working together, but one church in terms of finance, programs, missions, discipleship training, and community service, with one faith and functioning as one body.
Q: What is the purpose that Creekside Korean Church desires to pursue?
CGK: There are a lot of different reasons people give for the decrease in the 21st century church, including church hopping, program-based megachurches, decrease in the first generation believers, and second generation members leaving the church. The churches that are being affected the most are the pastors and congregation of the smaller sized churches.
These are some of the problems that Creekside Korean Ministries wants to tackle as a local church, as a multi-ethnic church with multiple languages (English, Korean, and Spanish). We want to be one body and help the church to grow by sharing the gospel.
Q: What is the purpose and goal for Creekside Church as a whole?
JD: There are six goals that Creekside is hoping to achieve. First, we want to worship as a lifestyle of fearing the Lord. And our strategy to fulfill that is applying into our lives what we learn on Sundays. Second, we want to spiritually grow by learning how to become like Jesus so that we can live like Him. Our strategy to fulfill that is taking opportunities for my faith to grow more deeply. Third, we want do ministry by using our spiritual gifts to build the church. Our strategy is to be actively involved in ministry teams.
Fourth, we want to be a community that loves one another through relationships. Our strategy foster the community to become one united group. Fifth, we want to partake in outreach by telling the people of the world who Jesus is. Our strategy is letting Him be known in every conversation. Sixth, we want to serve the community by using our spiritual gifts to love our neighbors. Our strategy is becoming involved in community service projects.
Q: What is something that is distinct about Creekside Church?
JD: One of the things about Creekside that sets it apart from other churches is that the week before the sermon on Sundays, we have a free speech meeting on Wednesdays. During these meetings, we gather to discuss one big idea that will be preached during the next weeks Sunday sermon. For the purpose of the gospel being preached, all of the staff and different ministries gather together to focus on this one big idea. So during this time, the sermons that are being prepared include those for the English service, Spanish service, Korean service, and Sunday school, so all of these sermons are united under one message. And the topic that is focused on during this meeting is also discussed during small group Bible study sessions.
Creekside Church also has the Korean service at the same time as the English service. The Korean services will begin on February 4, 2015, at the Mountlake Creekside Campus at 11:15 AM. The focus of the Korean campus will be to minister to college students and the next generation, that through them, the church will further be able to devote itself to the gospel and understanding people from all kinds of backgrounds. We hope that theyll be the leaders who can lead Creekside to be the embodiment of Jesus love that serves the surrounding community.
Q: Whats an advantage of an American church that has a Korean ministry?
CGK: Because Creekside has English and Korean services at the same time within the same church, its beneficial for families who have first and second generation Koreans, and couples who have married interracially. Sunday school, youth groups, college services, missions, small group Bible studies, and the like are all under one system.
Q: What are some future plans and hopes for Creekside Church?
JD: Right now, Creekside has been participating in short-term service work to help those living in low-income apartments, and we also have been involved in Union Gospel Mission, a ministry to reach out to our community.
Something we want to plan for is creating a platform to do a long-term ministry as one body with all of the different ethnicities in the church. Just like the way we have Spanish and Korean ministries, we want to create a space for other ethnic groups to do ministry, and resolve cultural differences within our identity in Jesus Christ. Though conflicts or tensions might arise due to cultural differences under that kind of model, I believe we can do good works as a church by our obedience to Christ. And in that perspective, I would say that our church is a missional one.
About 2 million residents in Aleppo are without running water and electricity, as the incessant fighting in the city has damaged infrastructure including electrical lines and water pumps, the United Nations said in a press release.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien urged the fighting groups to allow for a ceasefire or weekly 48-hour humanitarian pause for humanitarian aid to be delivered and for infrastructure to be repaired.
"We have supplies ready to roll: food rations, hospital supplies, ambulances, fuel for generators, water supplies and more," said O'Brien. "We can deliver these within 24 to 48 hours if we have safe access."
A statement released by the UN said that the organization was "extremely concerned" for the millions of civilians stuck in the city besieged by war.
"The UN stands ready to assist the civilian population of Aleppo, a city now united in its suffering. At a minimum, the UN requires a full-fledged ceasefire or weekly 48-hour humanitarian pauses to reach the millions of people in need throughout Aleppo and replenish the food and medicine stocks, which are running dangerously low," it said.
The ongoing fighting can take a significant toll on young children, who are vulnerable to water-borne diseases, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
"In the eastern parts of Aleppo up to 300,000 people - over a third of them are children - are relying on water from wells which are potentially contaminated by fecal matter and unsafe to drink," said UNICEF.
The delivery of medical supplies to the eastern part of Aleppo city which is under the control of rebels was interrupted due to the fighting, and stocks have not been replenished since July 7.
The hospitals are facing severe shortages of health care workers and facilities, even as more war-related injury patients are admitted to hospitals. Last month 10 attacks were carried out on hospitals. The city health authorities told WHO that 13 out of 28 health care centers, and 8 out of 10 hospitals are now out of service or partially functional.
O'Brien called upon the Council members to restore humanitarian access into the city.
"Fighting must stop everywhere. People, are suffering across the country, in Menbij, eastern Ghouta, Dara'a, to name but a few. Politics must be put aside," said O'Brien. "We must do our duty as fellow human beings, through the privilege we have of serving people under the United Nations flag, to help all those who are now in dire straits."
A day after religious leaders released an open letter calling on California to protect religious liberty in higher education, the lawmaker behind a controversial bill dropped the proposal in question, allowing religious schools to keep exemptions to anti-discrimination laws related to sexuality.
Under state Senator Ricardo Laras amended bill, schools must disclose if they have an exemption and report to the state when students are expelled for violating morality codes, the Los Angeles Timesreported.
HUGE NEWS! Sponsor of #SB1146 is amending bill to keep exemptions in place, tweeted Andrew Walker, director of policy studies at the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). #SB1146 is still bad, because it has the disclosure (public shaming) element, but this, for now, is good.
Sighs of relief and prayers of gratitude that California #SB1146 bill (restricting religious liberty of colleges) has been dropped, ...
1
King of Kings Empowerment Ministry is having a Back to School Event in Hunts Point September 10, 2016
Contact: Rev. Jerome Frierson, Ed. D (c), Pastor, 866-287-9012 ext. 3000
BRONX, N.Y., Aug. 9, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- King of Kings Empowerment Ministry announced today its third annual Back to School Event. This informal event will begin Saturday, September 10th at 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. with the theme "Helping the Next Generation...John 13:17." It will be held on the 2nd floor at the Bank Note Building in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx.
On Saturday, September 10th from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. King of Kings Empowerment Ministry will be hosting this Back to School Event. The ministry will be distributing elementary school children free backpacks. The backpacks will be filled will all types of school supplies that will be helpful for the upcoming school year. They will be at the Bank Note Building on the 2nd Floor office in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. This ministry's mission is to educate, promote meaningful changes and uplift the youth. By hosting this Back to School Event, King of Kings plans to do just that.
Although this event is for the children, Rev. Frierson said, "This event is open to the public and all are welcome to attend." During this event, fun and engaging activities will be provided. They believe that some lifetime connections will be made.
This family friendly outreach ministry is calling all families with children in hopes to provide 50 to 100 families with school supplies. The event will be held on the second floor office at the Bank Note Building, 1231 Lafayette Avenue, Bronx, NY 10474. Rev. Frierson said, "With our mission in mind, we will provide youth and disadvantaged people with resources that will help students be better prepared for their first day of school.
For more information, visit www.landmarkchristianinstitute.org
About King of Kings Empowerment Ministry
home US Joe Biden criticized by top Catholic bishops for officiating at gay marriage
Vice President Joe Biden garnered criticism from at least three top Catholic leaders for officiating at a gay marriage on Aug. 1.
Three bishops of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) did not mention Biden, the first Roman Catholic to be America's vice president, on their statement posted Friday on the USCCB' blog but they clearly denounced the latest action taken by the politician as a "counter witness, instead of a faithful one founded in the truth."
"When a prominent Catholic politician publicly and voluntarily officiates at a ceremony to solemnize the relationship of two people of the same-sex, confusion arises regarding Catholic teaching on marriage and the corresponding moral obligations of Catholics," wrote USCCB president and Louisville Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, joined by Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo, New York, who also chairs the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth; and Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, who chairs the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.
According to the Associated Press, longtime White House staffers Joe Mahshie and Brian Mosteller asked Biden to officiate their wedding which took place at the Naval Observatory. Biden secured a special temporary certification from the District of Columbia to grant the couple's request.
"Proud to marry Brian and Joe at my house. Couldn't be happier, two longtime White House staffers, two great guys," tweeted Biden with an accompanying photo of the wedding scene.
The bishops made it clear that they stood behind Pope Francis's stance on marriage as a union between a man and a woman. They also reminded Catholics and Catholic leaders on their responsibility to uphold the laws that support the fundamental human values and to denounce laws and policies that run counter to them.
Edward Peters, a canon lawyer at Detroit's Sacred Heart Major Seminary, said that Biden "went out of his way to act with contempt" against the Catholic doctrine and "is daring the church to do anything about it."
Peters called on the denial of the sacrament of the Holy Communion as the most appropriate punishment for Biden's "scandal."
home Faith Billy Graham: How to distinguish cults from real Christian groups
Renowned preacher Billy Graham gave three simple guide questions that would help one determine whether a religion is a cult or a real Christian group.
The evangelical leader said Christians should protect themselves from being swayed into a cult as they face a smorgasbord of religions existing today. In order to equip oneself, he shared three simple questions one can use in evaluating a religious group.
"What do they believe about the Bible?" wrote 97-year-old Graham on his advice column for The Kansas City Star on Thursday.
The founder of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) believes a Christian religion should only place its faith in the Word of God and should not add anything to it nor "claim they alone have translated it correctly."
"What do they believe about Jesus?" should be the second question, said Graham. Christians believe Jesus to be the Son of God, who came down from heaven to save humankind from sins, he said. On the other hand, cults do not believe in Jesus but believe in working for their own salvation.
Graham penned the last question as "What do they believe about other Christians?"
"Do they claim that they, and they alone, have the truth, or do they rejoice that God is also at work elsewhere?" he added.
The issue of identifying a religious group as a cult became a fodder for controversy and backlash against the preacher in 2012 after BGEA removed Mormonism from its list of cult religions. BGEA said it did so because it doesn't want to involve itself from a "theological debate about something that has become politicized during this [2012] campaign."
Graham just pledged to help the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney, a Republican and a Mormon.
Many Christian leaders criticized the acceptance of Mormonism as a Christian religion while the preacher's son, Franklin Graham, expressed "shocked that we even had that on there."
The junior Graham, also the president and CEO of BGEA, said he wasn't even aware of an article on their website that made such a list and criticized it as name-calling.
"If I want to win a person to Christ, how can I call that person a name? That's what shocked me, that we were calling people names," he told CNN.
home US 'Caleb Thomas believed in Jesus,' says Scott Schwab on son's death at world's tallest water ride
Congressman Scott Schwab said his 10-year-old son, who died Sunday on the world's tallest water ride in Kansas, believed in Jesus as his Savior.
The Republican state representative and his wife, Michele, issued a statement, delivered Sunday night by Pastor Clint Sprague of Life Mission Church on their behalf, to express their gratitude for the compassion they've received as they mourn the untimely loss of their second oldest son, Caleb Thomas.
"Since the day he was born, he brought abundant joy to our family and all those who he came in contact with," said the statement. "As we try and mend our home with him no longer with us, we are comforted knowing he believed in his Savior, Jesus, and they are forever together now. We will see him another day."
The pastor described the young boy as a "man of God" and that the boy always became the first to pray for anyone who needed it.
The 44-year-old Kansas state lawmaker took his wife and their four boys to the Schlitterbahn waterpark in Kansas City, which declared an "Elected Officials' Day" on Sunday and gave free admission and lunch to the lawmakers and their families. His son died from a fatal neck injury after riding the Verruckt water slide, billed as the world's tallest at 17 stories high and over 168 feet tall.
The Kansas City Park closed on Monday and reopened on Wednesday while Verruckt remained shut down as officials investigate the tragic accident.
According to witnesses who spoke with KSHB-TV, they saw the boy fly into the air and hit the safety net while others observed that the harness device malfunctioned that day. Two women who rode with Schwab's son also suffered injuries and were hospitalized after the ride, according to their relatives who spoke with WDAF-TV. One suffered a broken jaw while the other had stitches in her eye and broke a bone in her face.
Verruckt water slide opened in 2014 after four delays due to safety issues. Co-owner Jeff Henry referred to the ride on the water slide as the "scariest thing" he's ever done and likened it to "jumping off the Empire State Building."
"It's dangerous, but it's a safe dangerous now," Henrey told USA Today two years ago. "Schlitterbahn is a family water park, but this isn't a family ride. It's for the thrill seekers of the world, people into extreme adventure."
home World 'Hey ISIS, you suck!' says Muslim group on Chicago billboard
An American Muslim group expressed their public disavowal of the Islamic State terrorist group through a billboard hoisted on a highway in Chicago for everyone to see.
The nonprofit group Sound Vision Foundation obviously wanted the world to know that Muslims condemn the terrorist organization and that it is not representative of the Islamic faith when it displayed its message on an I-294 billboard.
"Hey ISIS, you suck!!!" read the billboard message signed, "From: #ActualMuslims."
It also quoted Quran 5:32 that says, "Life is sacred."
The group's representative, Leena Suleiman, said that 60 Muslim-American professionals in Chicago who wanted to express their sentiment against the terrorist attacks funded the billboard message.
"It's about shouting out, 'ISIS does not represent me, I'm Muslim, I say the word 'sucks,' I'm like everyone else in my country,'" Suleiman told NBC Chicago and added, "We want to scream it from a billboard."
She also said that their message is also for non-Muslims or "people who need to hear that Muslims are not OK with what ISIS is doing" since the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS or Daesh) terrorist group declared its war against all apostates in the name of Allah.
Suleiman added that many Muslims identified with the "ISIS sucks" campaign because that's how they truly felt.
"When they see these attacks, they don't identify with the attacks, they identify with the victims," she said.
Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, a Christian speaker with a Muslim background and considered as one of the leading experts on Islam, referred to the Quran 5:32 verse as "the most ripped-out-of-context verse of the Qur'an in the West."
The author of "Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward" argued that many use the said verse to portray Islam as a peaceful religion but that doing so also entails ignoring the remaining parts of the verse.
"In fact, it says almost the exact opposite: that Muslims can kill those who are their enemies!" Qureshi wrote on the blog Answering Muslims.
home World ISIS training 1,400 captive Yazidi children to be jihadis and suicide bombers
The Islamic State terrorist group reportedly trains more than a thousand captive Yazidi children to become jihadis and suicide bombers, according to a report.
Hussein Kuru, director for the office of Yezidi Abductees Affairs in Duhok province reported Wednesday in a press conference that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Peshmerga forces freed 2,640 Yezidi men and women from the clutches of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS or Daesh) militants but that at least 3,770 Yazidis remain captive. Among the remaining captives, ISIS reportedly grooms the children for jihad or religious war.
"IS militants are reportedly training 1,400 Yezidi children to carry out military activities and suicide attacks," said Kuru, according to basnews.
He added that the officials discovered 33 Yazidi mass graves in Sinjar and other recaptured areas and estimated more than 400,000 Yazidis displaced from Sinjar, Bashiqa and Nineveh since ISIS seized control of the lands in 2014 and declared its Caliphate.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also reported the following day that ISIS executed at least 12 of the Iraqi captives who tried to escape.
A Yazidi girl, who managed to escape the IS camps after six months and 12 days of captivity, already told the United Nations during a conference early this year of the terrors suffered by the Yazidi captives at the hands of the militant group. Samia Sleman, 15, said ISIS killed off Yazidi men and older women, subjected young women into sex slavery and trained and brainwashed young boys to become future jihadis.
"There are young Yazidi boys they are training in ISIS camps to make them future jihadis to fight with ISIS and brainwashing them at the time when we were in captivity they separated all the girls and sold them to each other," said Sleman.
She implored the international community to recognize the atrocities against the Yazidi religious minorities as genocide and denounced the lack of concrete actions against the IS.
"Why are these innocent kids and these innocent people suffering this much in that region? Why don't we see any action being taken even though it has been over a year and half now?" Sleman asked.
home World Militant Christian group in Nigeria threatens revenge attacks on Muslims if Boko Haram continues to target Christians
A Christian militant group in Nigeria responded to the latest threats made by Boko Haram extremists against Christians by vowing to take on Muslims in return.
The Niger Delta Revolutionary Crusaders (NDRC) released its statement Saturday where the militant group spoke of shedding the blood of Muslims and destroying mosques in the Niger Delta region should the Muslim extremists carry on their latest Islamization plot of doing the same on Christians and their churches.
"But, we want to warn them that we, the Niger Delta youths, in this 21st century will not accept killing of innocent Christians or burning of churches. That if they try it in the north or any part of Nigeria, we the Niger Delta youths will not see any Muslim or mosque in the Niger Delta," said the group's spokesperson W O I Izon-Ebi, according to AllAfrica.
Boko Haram, considered as the most destructive militant group last year, switched its allegiance from al-Qaeda to the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS or Daesh) terrorist group and declared itself the Islamic State's West Africa Province.
Boko Haram's new leader, Abu Musab al-Barnawi, unveiled the militants' plans of attacking Christianization in the African country by killing Christians and burning down all churches.
"They strongly seek to Christianize the society ... They exploit the condition of those who are displaced under the raging war, providing them with food and shelter and then Christ.ianizing their children," SITE Intelligence Group quoted al-Barnawi as saying in an interview released Wednesday on IS' newspaper al-Nabaa, as reported by the Associated Press.
The Nigerian extremists also buoyed the Muslim Fulani herdsmen, the world's fourth most destructive terrorist group in 2015, on carrying out incessant attacks against Christian villagers that caused church leaders and human rights groups to express fears that the federal country might fall into civil war.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) advised Christians last month to "buckle up and be ready to defend themselves" as they criticize President Muhammadu Buhari's "lukewarm" response to the series of attacks against Christians.
A civil rights group also accused Buhari of running an Islamist government and even aiding the "ethno-religious cleansing" of Christians.
After last year's failed statue plan, Satanic Temple tries to counter Christianity anew with its school Satan clubs' proposal
They failed last year, and now they're at it again.
In June 2015, the Satanic Temple tried to install its own statue outside the Oklahoma State Capitol in protest against the Ten Commandments monument on the Capitol grounds.
But this plea was rendered moot when the Oklahoma Supreme Court voted 7-2 to remove the Ten Commandments monument at the state Capitol on the ground that the monument was a religious symbol and must be removed because it violated the state's constitutional ban on using public property to benefit a religion, The New York Times reported.
With the ruling, Lucien Greaves, a spokesman and co-founder of the Satanic Temple in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said his group would no longer pursue its proposal to erect an eight-and-a-half-foot-tall bronze monument of Baphomet, a goat-headed humanoid character, next to the Ten Commandments monument, according to Tulsa World.
Now, the Satanic Temple is pushing for "after school Satan" clubs for elementary school students in U.S. public school districts to counter the Good News Clubs operated by the Child Evangelism Fellowship, the Associated Press reported.
The "Satan clubs" purportedly would not really propagate the belief in Satan or Lucifer but would instead conduct activities focused on science, art, literature, and the teaching that a person does not need to be religious in order to be a good person, according to The Washington Post.
However, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) told the Catholic News Agency that the "after school Satan" club proposal appears to be an underhanded tactic to remove all religious programmes from public schools.
Jordan Lawrence, ADF senior counsel, said the Satanic Temple is actually trying to "eliminate all of these Bible clubs, prayer meetings, Good News Clubs that are meeting all around the country."
Lawrence said the Temple's adaptation of Satanic imagery and language "is just to scare people into thinking that these are actual Satan worshippers."
"What I think is disingenuous and tragic is that they're really using all these Satan names for their organisation, their lead guy, these after-school clubs, to scare school officials into shutting down the forum for everyone," he said.
Lawrence said it is "tragic" that the Satanic Temple is trying to drive Christianity out of the public square.
"They are basically saying that the Christian groups meeting on the same terms as everybody else are a threat to the republic," he said, and "rather than argue that in the marketplace of ideas, they are trying to scare school officials into closing the forum to eliminate the Christians."
"And that to me is tragically opposed to our First Amendment traditions of learning how to tolerate hearing views we disagree with, and responding to them with civil debate, not trying to shut them down in a coercive manner."
Anti-Americanism unites Turkey and Russia as leaders repair ties
Russia and Turkey took a big step towards normalising relations on Tuesday, with their leaders announcing an acceleration in trade and energy ties at a time when both countries have troubled economies and strains with the West.
President Vladimir Putin received his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in a Tsarist-era palace outside his home city of St Petersburg. It was Erdogan's first foreign trip since last month's failed military coup, which left Turkey's relationship with the United States and Europe badly damaged.
The visit is being closely watched in the West, where some fear both men, powerful leaders ill-disposed to dissent, might use their rapprochement to exert pressure on Washington and the European Union and stir tensions within NATO, the military alliance of which Turkey is a member.
Putin said Moscow would gradually phase out sanctions against Ankara, imposed after the Turks shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border nine months ago, and that bringing ties to their pre-crisis level was the priority.
"Do we want a full-spectrum restoration of relations? Yes and we will achieve that," Putin told a joint news conference after an initial round of talks. "Life changes quickly."
Cooperation would be increased on projects including a planned $20 billion (15 billion) gas pipeline and a nuclear power plant to be built in Turkey by the Russians, Erdogan said, as well as between their two defence sectors.
"God willing, with these steps the Moscow-Ankara axis will again be a line of trust and friendship," Erdogan said.
The leaders were to discuss the war in Syria, over which they remain deeply divided, in a subsequent closed-door session. Progress there is likely to be more halting, with Moscow backing President Bashar al-Assad and Ankara wanting him out of power.
Turkey has been incensed by what it sees as Western concern over a post-coup crackdown but indifference to the bloody putsch itself, in which rogue soldiers bombed parliament and seized bridges with tanks and helicopters. More than 240 people were killed, many of them civilians.
Putin's rapid phone call expressing his solidarity to Erdogan in the wake of the failed putsch had been a "psychological boost", the Turkish president said.
Anti-American sentiment
Turkish officials, by contrast, warned on Tuesday of rising anti-American sentiment and of risks to a crucial migrant deal with Europe, in a sign of deteriorating relations.
Erdogan blames Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric who has lived in self-imposed exile in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, and his followers for the failed coup.
In Moscow he also implied that Gulenists in the military may have been responsible for the downing of the jet, telling a Turkish-Russian business council that they had "clearly taken aim at ties between our countries", although he stopped short of blaming them outright.
Turkey has launched a series of mass purges of suspected Gulen supporters in its armed forces, other state institutions, universities, schools and the media, prompting Western worries for the stability of the NATO ally.
Denmark's ruling party said on Tuesday the EU should end accession negotiations with Turkey completely over Erdogan's "undemocratic initiatives", the latest European country to condemn developments in Turkey.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said hostility towards the United States was rising among Turks and could be calmed only by the extradition of Gulen, who denies any involvement in the coup and has condemned it.
"There is a serious anti-American feeling in Turkey, and this is turning into hatred," Bozdag said in an interview with state-run Anadolu Agency, broadcast live on Turkish television channels. "It is in the hands of the United States to stop this anti-American feeling leading to hatred."
In Washington, the US State Department criticised charges in the Turkish press that a Washington think tank had been behind the coup attempt.
"This sort of conspiracy theory, inflammatory rhetoric...is absolutely not helpful," State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said. "We have certainly spoken to our Turkish counterparts on unhelpful rhetoric."
Despite the timing of the Russia visit, Ankara has insisted that Erdogan's meeting with Putin is not meant to signal a fundamental shift in Turkish foreign policy.
Turkey hosts American troops and warplanes at its Incirlik Air Base, an important staging area for the US-led fight against Islamic State militants in neighbouring Iraq and Syria.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the Bild daily that he was not worried about Russia and Turkey improving ties.
"I do not believe that relations between the two countries will become so close that Russia can offer Turkey an alternative to the NATO security partnership," he said.
Nuclear and energy deals
Putin told Erdogan that he hoped Ankara could fully restore order after the failed coup, saying Moscow always opposed unconstitutional actions.
"I want to express the hope that under your leadership the Turkish people will cope with this problem and that order and constitutional legality will be restored," he said.
Erdogan's meeting with Putin was only his second with a foreign head of state since the coup, following a visit to Ankara by the Kazakh president on Friday. Turkish officials have questioned why no Western leader has come to show solidarity.
Turkey and Russia would reinstate their annual bilateral trade target of $100 billion, Erdogan said, which had been abandoned after Russia imposed the sanctions.
Tourism revenue, a mainstay of the Turkish economy, has been hit hard by an 87 per cent dive in Russian visitors in the first six months of the year.
Putin said the question of resuming Russian charter flights to Turkey, halted under the sanctions, would be solved in the near future.
The two leaders said also agreed to revive the gas pipeline project, known as TurkStream, meant to be supply Turkey with additional volumes of Russian gas and increase deliveries to Europe in the future.
Russia has been mulling a number of projects to supply Europe with gas bypassing Ukraine, but the EU has opposed most of them, eager to cut its reliance on gas from Moscow.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said the first line of TurkStream to supply Turkey could be built as early as 2019 but that solid European guarantees were needed before a second line from Russia to the EU across Turkey could be built.
Stalled Russian work on the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey would also be restarted, the two leaders said. In 2013, Rosatom won a $20 billion contract to build four reactors in what was to become Turkey's first nuclear plant, but construction was halted after the downing of the jet.
Atheist teacher who didn't trust Christians turns to Christ after prayers miraculously healed her mother
No mind is too rigid, no heart too hard to resist the transforming power of Christ.
Avowed atheist teacher Kim Menon realised this when she found herself believing and accepting Jesus Christ after experiencing the heart-felt love of Christians and seeing her mother miraculously healed through the prayers of her Christian friends, the Baptist Press News reported.
The kindergarten teacher from Seattle, Washington said as a child she thought Christians "just weren't intelligent enough" and "were predators who didn't really care about who I was."
In 2013, Menon met pastor Andy Brown who had just moved in from Camden, Arkansas, to Seattle to plant churches. Brown had enrolled his son to the kindergarten school where Menon teaches.
Menon also met Larry Bailey, mission pastor at Central Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Arkansas, a sponsor church for Brown's mission.
Without identifying himself as pastor of The Landing Church, Brown volunteered to do the landscaping at the school and other projects as part of his ministry's community service.
Bailey also volunteered to help Menon by making copies, grading papers, helping with projectsanything to be of service.
Bailey said at first Menon was suspicious. "She said, 'I don't get it. You fly all the way from Arkansas to Seattle to make copies for me. Why?'"
He simply replied, "Because we want to love you and show you that God loves you too."
"I had never met anyone who did things like that without wanting something in return," Menon said.
For more than two years, the Brown family continued ministering to the school and helping Menon, among other teachers. They invited her to birthday parties, neighbourhood get-togethers and holiday events. They also continually invited her to church even though Menon kept saying it would never happen.
But despite Menon's refusal to go to church, the Browns showered her with affection, and she eventually fell in love with the family.
When Menon confided that her marriage was falling apart, the Browns showed her that they would love her no matter what.
The turning point came when Menon's mother became very ill after a series of heart attacks. On the day she was scheduled for heart surgery, Menon felt her mother needed a miracle to survive, and she called Brown and asked him to pray for her mother.
Brown then called everyone in the church, emailed and posted on Facebook so that every believer he knew would pray for Menon's mother.
The miracle came: When the surgeons opened up Menon's mother, they found nothing wrong with her.
Menon was stunned. None of the doctors could tell her how her mother had been healed. But deep inside, she knew who healed her mother: God.
She then decided forthwith to abandon atheism and embrace Jesus Christ, bringing along 19 of her unsaved friends to her baptism. She is now the part-time children's minister at The Landing Church.
"My life has changed immeasurably," she said. "I used to omit the words 'under God' from the Pledge of Allegiance. I was for gay rights, and now I have a different definition of marriageGod's definition. I didn't even know what a Gospel tract was three years ago, and now I'm handing them out."
Australia needs 'audit of its soul' after leaked reports reveal scale of refugee child abuse
Human rights campaigners have responded to revelations of the appalling abuse of children at one of Australia's offshore detention camps with calls for a radical reform of its refugee policy.
Among them is pastor and justice activist Jarrod McKenna, who told Christian Today that the revelations meant Australia must "take an audit of its soul".
Australia has a draconian refugee policy that sees would-be asylum seekers fleeing repressive regimes held in two offshore centres, one of them the remote Pacific island of Nauru. It has been repeatedly criticised by the UN among other organisations.
Now more than 2,000 leaked incident reports from the camp have been published by The Guardian. They reveal assaults including sexual assault and self-harm. According to the Guardian, the files paint a picture of "routine dysfunction and cruelty".
It says children are "vastly over-represented in the reports", with children featuring in more than half of them, though children made up only 18 per cent of detainees on the island during the period covered.
Among other incidents reported, a guard threatened to kill a boy. Others slapped children's faces. A guard laughed at a girl who had sewn her lips together.
There are seven reports in the files of sexual assault of children, 59 reports of assault on children, 30 of self-harm involving children and 159 of threatened self-harm involving children.
McKenna told Christian Today: "$1.2 billion of our taxes are going into a system we can no longer deny is abusing children who are needing safety. Pause for a moment and let that sink in. Let it bring you to your knees in prayer for these children.
"Australia, fun-loving-easy-going-sun-and-surf-Australia, is spending over a billion dollars in locking up people in situations of systematic abuse when they were simply seeking safety. This must end. Now. Matthew 25 makes it clear, Jesus comes to us as the refugee and, not only has Australia rejected him, we have turned away as the abuse is ongoing. As a nation we must repent."
He encouraged campaigners to use the hashtags #naurufiles & #DonDale the latter referring to the youth detention centre in the Northern Territory where abuse was also uncovered.
"Without naming this any talk of who we can be is just a cover up," McKenna said. "As a nation we need a conversion to compassion and decency. We must, '#BringThemHere'."
The Australian government's Department of Immigration and Border Protection said in a statement: "The documents published today are evidence of the rigorous reporting procedures that are in place in the regional processing centre - procedures under which any alleged incident must be recorded, reported and where necessary investigated.
"Many of the incident reports reflect unconfirmed allegations or uncorroborated statements and claims - they are not statements of proven fact."
Bishops oppose bill that would legalise divorce in the Philippines
A divorce bill has been filed in the Philippine Congress that would allow unhappy couples to legally terminate their marriage.
The bill is expected to have little chance of passing, considering the still considerable opposition to divorce in the Roman Catholic-majority nation. At least three Catholic bishops have already voiced their opposition against the bill, according to Life Site News.
"Divorce spawns a host of problems, especially for children. It weakens the institution of marriage. Already we see many families being separated by work," Bishop Ruperto Santos of Balanga said in a statement as he referred to the huge number of Filipinos who are forced to find work overseas in order to support their families.
"Let us not move towards a weakening of marriage but instead endeavour to encourage maturity, fidelity, self-sacrifice, respect," he added.
Meanwhile, Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said lawmakers should focus on creating laws that support marriage and not weaken it. "We already witness the havoc that divorce is doing in many countries. I hope we learn from them," he said.
As for Lipa Bishop Ramon Arguelles, he said countries that allow divorce have "invited disaster, degeneration and strife."
The bill, which has been filed in the House of Representatives for the fifth time by the Gabriela Women's Party, is also being opposed by many legislators despite the contention of its proponents that it would save couples from "abusive or irreparable marriages."
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said it is closely monitoring the movement of the bill.
The bill seeks to allow divorce only when married couples face "irreconcilable differences that have caused the irreparable breakdown of the marriage," or when the couple have been separated for two years and that their reconciliation is "highly improbable." There was no mention of what couples should do with their kids should they divorce.
President Rodrigo Duterte has already expressed his view that he does not believe in divorce. He said he believes married couples should stand together through thick or thin "for the sake of the kids."
Catholic charity wants to train 1,000 new priests after Fr Jacques Hamel killing
In honour of Jacques Hamel, the French priest murdered by Islamist sympathisers two weeks ago, a Catholic charity is launching a campaign to support the training of 1,000 new priests around the world.
The Italian wing of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) announced the move, aimed at helping to find seminarian studies for future priests in 21 Dioceses from a range of countries.
"Support for the formation of new priests is a concrete response to fundamentalism, because especially in countries where the extremist threat is the greatest, the ministers of God must possess the appropriate tools to promote dialogue and contribute to a peaceful coexistence between all the religious groups, putting an end to the conflicts," Alessandro Monteduro, director ACN in Italy told the Catholic News Agency.
The campaign is the charity's response to Hamel's murder on 26 July, when he was ambushed by two hostage takers bearing guns and knives while celebrating Mass and had his throat slit at the altar of his church, in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy. Islamic state claimed responsibility for the attack, which ended with he two gunmen being shot dead by police.
Aid to the Church in Need said on its Italian website that it will offer support to seminarians belonging to Dioceses in Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia. Monteduro added that "we chose the seminaries that had the greatest need for aid, to allow them to accommodate more students and form what we consider to be the new 'soldiers of the faith.'"
Monteduro went on to say that "forming well-prepared priests in a powerful weapon against fundamentalism" as well as "the Christian presence being visible, especially in those societies under attack by the extremists."
China: Christians threatened with having welfare payments cut unless they stop going to church
Christians in China will have their welfare benefits withdrawn unless they stop attending church, a local governing body has announced.
Authorities in Guizhou province made the announcement on July 2, China Aid reports. A house church member told the Texas-based organisation that officials said they would withdraw "welfare or any old-age insurance" from Christians.
"Now, the county called on the government in the towns and villages to order believers to sign [a guarantee] stating that if they gathered again, their welfare would be cut off," the source said.
It's not the first time this threat has been carried out in China. Three dozen Miao Christians were detained in September 2014 and have since not received any welfare payments.
The Chinese government has been taking an increasing hard line on religion, particularly against Christianity which is experiencing dramatic growth in the country. More than 1,500 churches have been demolished or had their crosses removed in Zhejiang province over the past three years, and pastors and lawyers who opposed the campaign have been imprisoned on charges widely regarded as concocted by the authorities.
Last month, parents who attended Huaqiu house church in Guizhou were told if they didn't stop bringing their children to church, they would not be allowed to attend college or a military academy.
In addition, anyone who brought a minor to church was warned they would be sued.
Chinese legislation forbids children under the age of 18 from receiving any religious education, and that children may not attend even state-approved churches.
Forgiveness: How expecting too much can be spiritually damaging
God want us to forgive our enemies? Of course. Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but 77 times" (Matthew 18:21-22). Most Christians pray at least every Sunday a version of, "Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us."
Christians forgive that's how it works.
But does it always work? And do pastors sometimes ask more of people than they have a right to perhaps in a personal quest to build the perfect church?
The English Bible translates more than one Hebrew and Greek word as "forgive". Hebrew words can have the sense of "cover", "send away" or "let go". Greek words can have the sense of "be gracious to", "set loose" or "send away". The Old English root of our own word has the literal sense "give completely" or "give up".
At its root, this is what forgiveness means: setting aside the right to justice and retribution.
So here are things it doesn't mean.
It doesn't mean that you have to become friends with the person who's injured you.
It doesn't mean that wrongdoing is ignored or condoned.
It doesn't mean that feelings of anger and bitterness magically go away.
It doesn't mean that you trust someone again just as you trusted them before.
It doesn't mean that you won't be hurt again.
One of the problems churches sometimes have is that people are expected to be friends with everyone. But it doesn't work like that. Forgiveness and friendship aren't the same. And in the wrong hands, forgiveness can be a powerfully destructive weapon.
Sometimes pastors encourage people to forgive someone who's injured them perhaps a woman who's been abused by her husband when the wrong she's suffered hasn't been acknowledged or dealt with.
Sometimes Christian employers or manages urge people to forgive misconduct at work perhaps of a sexual nature because it will bring the organisation into disrepute and damage its witness.
Sometimes people use the forgiveness they've been offered as a way of freeing themselves to continue sinning.
At the same time, properly understood, forgiveness is very powerful. It says to the person who has offended, "What you did has no power over me. I am not going to be defined by what you did. The desire for revenge is not going to warp my life out of its God-given shape."
That can be very, very hard. If the injury someone has done us is deep and lasting, the feelings of hurt and anger might keep coming back. We often assume when Jesus told Peter to forgive 77 times that he meant 77 separate offences an extreme way of saying that there's no limit to the number of times we ought to forgive. But maybe he's also acknowledging that there's no limit to the number of times we might have to forgive the same offence. What has been done to us keeps coming back: the memory of injury or betray rises in our minds again, for the second or the 10th or the 50th time, and each recollection requires a fresh act of forgiveness.
But for Christians, forgiveness is more than setting aside revenge and more than just moving on with our lives. We aren't just called to forgo revenge against our enemies, we're called to love them. Loving forgiveness is an intention. Resolving not to take revenge is at best neutral. Resolving to follow in the footsteps of Christ, who even when he was dying on the cross prayed that God would forgive those who crucified him, involves a movement of the heart towards the other person and that isn't possible without the work of the Spirit within us to transform us into the likeness of Christ.
But forgiveness, at whatever level, has to be free, or it isn't real. Pastors and well-meaning Christians who insist that someone who's been badly hurt should forgive and act as though nothing has happened aren't helping anyone. They may, at worst, be doing terrible spiritual damage.
Mark Woods is the author of Does the Bible really say that? Challenging our assumptions in the light of Scripture (Lion, 8.99). Follow him on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
Former Catholic priest admits 27 charges of historic child abuse
A former Catholic priest has pleaded guilty to 27 charges of sexual assault against children.
Philip Temple, 66, committed the offences during the 1970s in London while he was working in south London care homes and a church in north London.
He admitted seven of the offences at Woolwich Crown Court yesterday and had previously admitted 20 similar charges.
He adso admitted perjury, having lied on oath in the 1990s when he was acquitted of abuse charges after an allegation made by a teenage boy.
Temple was suspended from his role as a social worker in children's homes in 1977 and left the profession. He became a monk at a monastery in Cockfosters and abused two altar boys there. He was ordained a priest in 1987.
After being acquitted in the trial during which he perjured himself he is believed to have served in France and Italy. He was arrested in 2015 and admitted the historical abuse.
A spokesperson for the Catholic Church in England and Wales told the BBC that the Church was limited in the measures it could take because Temple was answerable to the head of his order in Italy and was not under its direct jurisdiction.
Raymond Stephenson, a member of the Shirley Oaks Survivors' Association, formed by victims at one of the Lambeth Council care homes where he worked, said: "If Temple had been caught at Shirley Oaks he would not have been able to abuse anyone else."
Iraq: Christians 'see no future here' as ISIS continues campaign of destruction
Iraqi Christians persecuted by ISIS are losing hope for their future, two years since militants overran Mosul and the Nineveh Plain, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee.
"I see no future for us [here]", Raad Bahnam Samaan told the Associated Press. He fled Qaraqosh once home to Iraq's largest Christian population in August 2014 along with his wife and five children. They now live in an IDP camp on the outskirts of Erbil.
Of returning home, he said: "There is always hope, but when? Nobody knows. It might be a year, two years, a day, a couple of days. Three or four years from now if we go home there won't be anything left of our house."
Samaan worries especially for his children. "The boys are growing up," he said. "How can I secure their future?"
Even if ISIS is defeated, he warned that Iraq may not be safe for Christians and other religious minorities. The insurgency has bred distrust between communities, Samaan said, and he is concerned that even once the militants are gone, the atmosphere of fear will remain.
"We'll still be afraid," he said. "I will go to Mosul and I will be afraid because they will say, 'Here comes the Christian'."
Before the US invasion in 2003, there were around 1.5 million Christians living in Iraq. There are now thought to be fewer than 300,000.
Many have fled overseas, but tens of thousands are living in refugee camps within Iraq. ISIS has destroyed numerous ancient Assyrian Christian sites, artifacts and temples in what is seen as an attempt to 'cleanse' the coutry of its Christian heritage.
On Sunday, the second anniversary of the exodus from the Nineveh Plain, the European Syriac Union released a statement calling for immediate action and condemning the "massive genocidal destruction of Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people and their millennial cultural, historical and religious heritage by demolishing churches, monasteries and historical sites".
"There is historical and moral responsibility for Iraq, regional and international community and institutions namely United Nations to stand with the vulnerable groups, recognise genocides against them and support them by accelerating the liberation of Nineveh Plain and supporting safe zone, autonomy in the region which will open the way to self administration," the statement said.
"In these turbulent times, Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people dispersed in different regions should stand with their brethren in the homeland in Iraq and Syria and raise their voices for the existential demands on the historical homeland of Bethnahrin."
Moroccan Christians face persecution over online testimonies
Moroccan Christians are bravely proclaiming their faith despite threats of government persecution.
Calling themselves "Moroccan and Christian," they are using online platforms like YouTube to profess their faith.
Islam is the religion of almost all Moroccans and only a small number are Christians.
"My name is Iman. I am Moroccan and Christian. Yes, I am Christian, but I am not a foreigner. My father is Sahraoui, and my mom is Amazigh. I was born and grew up in Morocco," declared a woman on the YouTube channel Moroccan and Christian, according to Christian Headlines.
Iman then narrated a story when her Moroccan husband visited his family and they told him, "Why you didn't come with your wife. Even if she's Christian and doesn't speak Darija, we will welcome her."
The Moroccan World News report noted that "Moroccan religious, or non-religious, minorities started to claim their rights to express their faith and asked for abolition of some articles of the penal law which penalise conversion to a religion other than Islam."
In proclaiming her Christian faith, Iman explains that it is her "right to choose the faith that makes her feel comfortable."
She said restrictions in law and society discourage some Moroccan Christians from speaking openly about their faith.
She noted that in 2010, Christian volunteers and foster parents at a Moroccan orphanage abandoned the children when authorities accused them of proselytising.
Former Minister of Communication Khalid Naciri once warned that the government would be "severe with all those who play with religious values," BBC reported.
A 2013 U.S. State Deparment report said Moroccan Christians worship secretly to avoid being detected by the authorities.
"Local Christians stated the authorities made phone or house calls several times a year, asserting that the authorities did so to demonstrate that they had lists of members of Christian networks and monitored Christian activities," the report said.
Last December, the group Eglise Marocaine or The Moroccan Church asked King Mohammed VI to let them celebrate Christmas and other Christian holidays.
Rick Warren, Russell Moore and other evangelical leaders protest California education Bill
Evangelical leaders Rick Warren and Russell Moore are among a range of signatories from Christian, Muslim and backgrounds who have put their name to a statement denouncing a California Bill that would limit religious exemptions for private educational institutions.
The statement - Protecting the future of religious higher education - was published on the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission's (ERLC) website yesterday and is signed by pastors and other figures from the religious and educational spheres.
Leading Christians who have signed include Moore, the ERLC President and Warren, the Saddleback Church Pastor.
The protest is over Senate Bill 1146, a piece of proposed legislation currently being considered by California's state legislature which critics fear will dramatically curb the religious freedom of private academic institutions.
The statement denounces the Bill as "harmful to the free exercise of religion in higher education" and says that if enacted it "would severely restrict the ability of religious education institutions to set expectations of belief and conduct that align with the institution's religious tenets."
It goes on: "This legislation puts into principle that majoritarian beliefs are more deserving of legal protection, and that minority viewpoints are deserving of government harassment...Legislation of this nature threatens the integrity not only of religious institutions, but of any viewpoint wishing to exercise basic American freedoms, not least of which is the freedom of conscience."
Those who signed "do not necessarily agree with one another's religious views, but we agree on the necessity of the liberty to exercise these views," the statement said.
"Some of us disagree with the sexual ethics of orthodox Jews, Christians, and Muslims giving rise to this legislation, but we are unified in our resistance to the government setting up its own system of orthodoxy...Where the state can encroach on one religion's free exercise, it can just as easily trample on any other religion's free exercise. We therefore join in solidarity across religious lines to speak against Senate Bill 1146."
Other signatories to the statement include Biola University President Barry Corey, Zaytuna College President Hamza Yusuf Hanson, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference President Samuel Rodriguez, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik of Yeshiva University, former US Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia, and Imam Faizul Khan of the Islamic Society of Washington Area.
At the same time, the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) has also condemned the Bill as an attack on religious liberty.
NAE President Leith Anderson said yesterday: "The California Assembly is voting to change Christian policies and practices to comply with the new doctrines of California state legislators. The bill is a threat to the mutually beneficial relationship that has existed between faith and higher education for the entire history of our nation."
Separately, Moore called the bill "un-American": "Applying legal or political pressure on institutions that disagree with the cultural majority of the moment is not merely unwise or unfair it is un-American...A healthy American culture is one in which ideas can freely be discussed and debated, in good faith, among people who, though they disagree, would defend the right of the other to participate."
The Bill, introduced by Democratic California State Senator Ricardo Lara, is also called the Equity in Higher Education Act.
The proposed Bill "prohibits a person from being subjected to discrimination on the basis of specified attributes, including sex, in any program or activity conducted by a postsecondary educational institution that receives, or benefits from, state financial assistance or enrolls students who receive state student financial aid."
It "would, except as provided, specify that a postsecondary educational institution that is controlled by a religious organisation and that receives financial assistance from the state or enrolls students who receive state financial assistance is subject to that prohibition and violation of that prohibition may be enforced by a private right of action."
In April, Senator Lara argued that the Bill was necessary for the protection to LGBT students. "All students deserve to feel safe in institutions of higher education, regardless of whether they are public or private," Lara said.
"California has established strong protections for the LGBTQ community and private universities should not be able to use faith as an excuse to discriminate and avoid complying with state laws."
Severe restrictions on religious freedom in the Maldives as defamation law passed
Religious freedom is further at risk in the Maldives after the Indian Ocean archipelago legalised criminal defamation on Tuesday.
The move has been strongly criticised by the UN, rights groups and Western nations including the US and Britain. The opposition has warned that President Abdulla Yameen's administration is trying to stifle dissent.
The law criminalises defamatory speech, remarks, writings and other actions including a gesture and targets actions against "any tenet of Islam" in the Muslim-majority country.
The bill was passed by a 16-vote majority led by Yameen's ruling Progressive Party of Maldives.
Those found guilty will be fined between 50,000 Maldivian rufiya ($3,200) and two million rufiya ($130,000) or face a jail term of between three and six months.
Publications, including websites, found carrying "defamatory" comments could also have their licenses revoked.
"So basically it's crippling freedom of expression including on the basis of defamation of religion, national security and social norms," said Mona Rishmawi, chief of the Rule of Law branch at the UN human rights office.
US State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said yesterday the defamation bill was a "serious setback for freedom of expression".
"The United States values freedom of expression as a key component of democratic governance. Democratic societies are not infallible, but they are accountable, and a free exchange of ideas is the foundation for accountability," she added.
"We continue to express our support for all Maldivians struggling to preserve their hard won democratic institutions and rights," she said.
The Maldives became a multi-party democracy in 2008 after decades as an autocratic state, but former President Mohamed Nasheed, its first democratically elected leader, was ousted in disputed circumstances in 2012.
Since then, campaigners have expressed concern that the country is sliding back to autocracy. Nasheed was sentenced to 13 years in prison in March 2015 under the Anti-Terrorism Act, but was this year granted asylum in the UK.
The Maldives ranks 13th on persecution charity Open Doors' list of countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian. It is illegal to "propagate any religion other than Islam" and breaking this law can result in a prison sentence of up to five years.
Maldivian Christians are forced to practise their faith in secret, and migrant Christians living in the country are closely monitored.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
This Muslim woman devotes her life to caring for Christians: 'My Islam is a religion that believes in helping others'
Working behind the scene, this extraordinary Muslim Iraqi woman has been helping Christians and other people displaced by the fighting in her country, paticularly those victimised by the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group.
People have never heard anything in the news about Dr. Sarah Ahmed, an Iraqi dentist, but she is there "protecting all of the Iraqi Christians," according to Canon Andrew White, "The Vicar of Baghdad" who is the head of one of the most prominent relief charities helping thousands of Christians displaced by ISIS, The Christian Post reports.
For the past few years, Ahmed has been traveling all over Iraq to bring clothes, medicine food, and other essential items to the Christians, Yazidis, Muslims, Shebeks and others who have been displaced from their homes, tortured and raped by ISIS militants.
"We think and hear about Islamic terrorism all the time. What about Islamic people working for the protection of Christians?" asked White, the former chaplain of St. George's Church in Baghdad during a visit to Washington last December.
White revealed that the work he's been doing is actually being done by Ahmed, who is now the director of operations for the White-founded Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East.
Last week, Ahmed spoke with The Christian Post from Kurdistan, describing her experiences running all over northern Iraq to make sure that the needs of displaced persons are met.
"I am a very faithful person," Ahmed told CP. "I believe that with all the amount of [humanitarian work] that I have been doing and have been doing out of good faith in my heart and not for fame or money or anything, just out of my desire to help, I feel that God is always there for me and kind of protecting me and being around me to be able to reach all these areas and all these people."
"I know what a lot of people say about Islam but my Islam that I believe in is a religion that is very peaceful and believes in helping others," Ahmed said. "You cannot sleep while your neighbour is hungry or suffering."
A former resident of Baghdad, Ahmed went to the United States in 2010 to study dentistry. Ahmed met White, a fellow Iraqi, at a function in New York. Ahmed eventually became a part of the Christian charity being run by White, starting as a clinic volunteer.
Ahmed said her being a Muslim does not interfere with her work in the Christian charity, adding that for a time she even took residence inside a church in Baghdad.
"It never crossed my mind. I feel no difference," Ahmed said. "I work for the Christians, Yazidis, Jews, everybody else. For me, we are all equal. I don't differentiate that much."
Ahmed is tasked with organising and delivering food and other essentials to internally displaced persons in the Kurdish region, who have been left homeless after ISIS militants seized their properties.
Turkey: 2,500 religious staff removed in post-coup crackdown
More than 2,500 officials have been suspended from Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate in another crackdown following the failed military coup last month.
The move, announced on Tuesday, was part of a wider purge of those believed to support US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the Turkish government has blamed for the uprising.
More than 50,000 people have been rounded up, sacked, or arrested in the wake of the July 15 attempted coup, and this latest figure brings the total dismissed from the religious affairs agency to 3,672.
The Religious Affairs Directorate, known as the Diyanet, has a duty in Turkey "to execute the works concerning the beliefs, worship, and ethics of Islam, enlighten the public about their religion, and administer the sacred worshiping places".
According to AFP, it looks after around 80,000 mosques and 100,000 of its staff are imams.
Diyanet said its staff who were dismissed included employees at every level of the organisation, though no further details were given.
Gulen has denied the accusations levelled against him, but Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is pressing to have him extradited from the US.
Gulen's school of Islam seeks to amalgamate Muslim teaching with liberal democracy, while Erdogan's ruling AK Party favours a more conservative Islam and has loyal support among conservative Muslims.
Turkey's foreign minister accused the EU on Wednesday of making "serious mistakes" in its response to the failed coup.
His comments reflect the deep frustration in Turkey over the perception that Europe and the US have given lukewarm support to Ankara in the wake of the incident.
Unfortunately the EU is making some serious mistakes. They have failed the test following the coup attempt," Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview with the state-run Anadolu agency.
Turkey has been incensed by what it sees as Western concern over its post-coup crackdown, but indifference to the bloody putsch itself, where more than 240 people were killed, many of them civilians.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
U.S. churches prepare for terror attacks amid rising threats following murder of French priest
Churches in the U.S. face a terrifying new reality: They could be attractive targets for terror as shown by the murder of French priest Jacques Hamel on July 26 in Normandy, France, counter-terrorism experts have revealed.
Amid rising threats, many churches in the U.S. are now hiring self-defence instructors for classes or security guards that include off-duty police officers, according to Ryan Mauro, a professor of Homeland Security at Liberty University and national security analyst for the Clarion Project.
"If you are an Islamist terrorist seeking self-glory, executing a priest will bring you more attention than executing an average civilian," Mauro told Fox News.
Although no terror attacks have yet taken place inside a U.S. church, experts say it could just be a matter of time before such an attack takes place.
"I'm pretty sure there will be attacks in the future," said Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern.
Father Josiah Trenham of St. Andrew Orthodox Church in Riverside, California, now has security officers on hand at services after a non-violent incident in April, months before the French attack.
"It is a deep sorrow to live this way in the 'new America,'" he told Fox News. He revealed that his church received a threat followed by an ominous warning in July when a car passed by and a man repeatedly yelled from a bullhorn "Allahu Akbar!"
Even before the attack on the French church last month, U.S. authorities have already warned that churches could be targeted by terrorists.
In February, Khial Abu-Rayyan, 21, of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, was arrested after he told an undercover FBI agent he was preparing to "shoot up" a major church near his home on behalf of ISIS.
A month earlier, the Rev. Roger Spradlin of Valley Baptist Church one of the biggest congregations in Bakersfield, California told congregants that they had received a threat written in Arabic.
Last September, a Muslim in combat gear was charged with making a terrorist threat after he entered Corinth Missionary Baptist Church, in Bullard, Texas, claiming that God had instructed him to kill Christians and "other infidels."
A year earlier, police were called to Saint Bartholomew's Catholic Church in Columbus, Indiana, after the church was vandalised with the word "Infidels!" along with a Quranic verse sanctioning death for nonbelievers. Similar graffiti was found that same night at nearby Lakeview Church of Christ and East Columbus Christian Church.
St. Bartholomew Pastor Clem Davis said churches are vulnerable terrorist targets since their mission is to welcome all.
"We don't have metal detectors, people go in and out. Churches are family-orientated, public, tax-supported spaces; so they may appeal to some as a target," he said.
What to do when God sends your black daughter a white husband
When God sent me a white husband, I braced myself for our life as an inter-racial couple to be difficult. I was ready for everyone to stare at us as we walked down the street. I was prepared for us to face the daily task of standing up against hatred and injustice for the sake of love. Before we got married, I tried to educate him in all things race, because pretty soon after we started dating, we realised that he had never really had to think about it why would he, he's a white man? On the other hand, I thought about it constantly.
But pretty soon I realised that the stares were not going to come with the frequency with which I had braced myself. No one really cared. Why? Because we live in London in 2016, where interracial relationships are really not that big a deal. Most of the weddings I have been to in the past 12 months my cousins and family friends have been black people marrying white people. I'm well aware that when we visit more rural places across the UK or east Yorkshire where my husband is from, people might do a double take or say some things that are inappropriate, but even then I'm surprised at just how unremarkable we are.
I imagine things might be different in the deep south in America, however, which is where Gaye Clark lives. Gaye Clark is the self-described "recovering Pharisee" who has faced a barrage of criticism for her post on the Gospel Coalition website entitled 'When God sends your white daughter a black husband'. And not just a "black husband", but "a black husband with dreads". Lordy!
There are parts of the article mainly the tone that I find deeply offensive. The language used betrays an assumption that white is superior and black is not just 'different', but inferior; a black son-in-law is a disappointment but let's love him anyway. "Glenn moved from being a black man to beloved son when I saw his true identity as an image bearer of God, a brother in Christ, and a fellow heir to God's promises," she writes. Words like this remind me of those times when I've been told "I don't see you as black" or been described as a coconut. Well-intentioned, but hinting at the view that white equals good and black equals bad. While pointing towards how accepting and un-racist she is in 'accepting', her son-in-law, the writer fails to recognise her own prejudice.
And then I think about the context in which Gaye Clark is writing and I get it she is trying to rise above the pervasive racism in the southern Christian society she is in. While her words are jarring to so many of us who live in metropolitan cities, Gaye Clark's church friends are worried about what life will be like for her poor, mixed-race future grandchildren. "They have no idea what's ahead of them!" one of her friends tells her. Looking at the wider context of American race relations and it becomes a little more understandable that she might have flinched when her daughter brought home a black man with dreads (a dreaded black man, if you will).
There are two issues going on in the background when we look at the taboo that surrounds interracial marriages in America, particularly black men and white women namely slavery and patriarchy. No one really ever talks about this, but I'm going to attempt to here, so bear with me.
Inherent in the depiction of the black male in American society is the stereotype that black men are physically strong, dangerous, primal and highly sexualised. Meanwhile, research shows that the sexual abuse of black female slaves by white slave owners was widespread, as well as occasions when those relationships were seen as authentic, loving ones. While sexual relationships between white females and black male slaves did take place, these were much more taboo and when uncovered, could result in the killing of the black males. "Coupled with the notion of elite white female sexual virtue was that of white female vulnerability," writes J M Allain, "the idea that plantation wives and daughters needed to be protected, defended, and sheltered. Framing women in this way served as a means of patriarchal control." When the Gospel Coalition run by mainly white men publishes an article about God sending your white daughter a black husband, it sadly has echoes of these times; the white woman needing to be protected from the black man especially one with dreads.
Mixed up with these associations with interracial marriage is the wider context of patriarchy. Who is seen as having the power in a relationship between a black man and a white woman? And who is seen as having the power when a white man marries a black woman? White is powerful and black is not. Men are powerful and women are not. So when a black man marries a white woman, it disrupts the social order.
Why banning the burqa is un-British oh, and un-Christian too
Should Britain ban the burqa? Are we really still asking that question?
Most people probably aren't, but for UKIP leadership candidate Lisa Duffy it's still a live issue. She wants full-face veils presumably including the niqab that leaves the eyes visible banned in shopping centres, public buildings and on public transport. According to the BBC, she said in a speech in central London that it's "a symbol of aggressive separatism that can only foster extremism". She added: "The veil speaks only to culture and oppression, not Islam, and there's no reason why we in Britain should allow it to be worn anywhere and everywhere."
Well, yes, actually there are lots of reasons. This is Britain. We don't tell people what to wear. We might not like someone's views, but they are free to express them. We believe in religious tolerance, and Christians believe that's indivisible go for the Muslims and who knows who's next? And yes, maybe some women are forced to cover their faces, but most choose it as a sign of religious devotion. Meddle with that and you really have crossed a line.
These arguments are old ones, and they're tried and true. There will be no burqa ban in Britain, and there shouldn't be. To argue for it is dog-whistle politics of the worst kind. We all know the sort of person who'll agree with her.
But there's another reason to reject a ban. In taking this line Duffy is echoing, ironically enough, other European countries including Italy and Belgium, which have similar bans. France introduced a burqa ban in 2010. While it is still popular, it has been savaged by critics who have researched its result. According to sociologist Agnes de Feo, the ban has not only encouraged Islamophobia, but given Muslim extremists more of an excuse to rise up against the French state. "We created a monster," she told The Local. "Those who have left to go and fight in Syria say that this law is one of things that encouraged them. They saw it as a law against Islam. It had the effect of sending a message that Islam was not welcome in France."
Now, she pointed out, French people "live in a society where people think it's normal to insult Muslim women wearing the full veil just because they are disobeying the law".
The result of the ban is that younger Muslims have become more radicalised. Their religious identity has been scorned. They know they aren't truly accepted as French. They are outsiders, and they react as outsiders will. And while nothing can excuse the terrorist assaults France has suffered, the sense of alienation created by its aggressive secularism and refusal to countenance genuine religious integration has to be part of the explanation for it.
There are two things that proponents of a ban don't understand.
First: you don't make people less likely to be radical extremists by controlling how they express their faith. You make it more likely.
Second: You can't control people's beliefs, religious or otherwise. Freedom means allowing people the maximum possible latitude to hold whatever opinions they like whether you like them or not. Insisting they conform to an invented norm isn't democracy, it's tyranny.
Third: beneath those burqas and niqabs there are real people who have minds of their own and a right to an opinion. They are not proxies for what you hate and fear, they are individuals. Treat them with respect. You might be surprised at the result.
There are serious questions about how some Muslims integrate into British society. Community cohesion is an issue, particularly in some of our towns and cities. No one's views should be unchallenged just because they're religious. But banning burqas? It's a non-solution, and probably even worse than that.
Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
ROMAN FOREST -- A mother saved her 5-year-old son from drowning Tuesday afternoon at a neighbor's pool in Roman Forest, according to law enforcement.
The boy apparently dived off the side and hit his head on the bottom of the pool, which was around 7 feet deep, according to Roman Forest Police Chief Stephen Carlisle. He said the boy was unconscious, blue and floating when the mother retrieved him, performed CPR and resuscitated him.
The call came in around 3:15 p.m.; and when responders arrived at the home on Colosseum Court, the boy was conscious, according to Carlisle.
He said the boy, who had a bump on his head, was shaken up but talking when he and his mother boarded the ambulance for transport to Texas Children's Hospital.
"We're still trying to pick out the fine details," Carlisle said. "We have been told that the mother was distracted briefly and when she came back, he was at the bottom of the pool."
Names were withheld at the mother's request. She and two of her children were at the house with another woman and her two children, Carlisle said. Two of the other children witnessed the diving accident, he said.
Update: By Tuesday evening company officials said everything's back to normal. Employees are back at their work stations
Employees at the LyondellBasel refinery in southeast Houston were asked to remain at their work stations following a chemical release, company officials said Tuesday.
At about 2 p.m., a power failure at the refinery in the 12000 block of Lawndale caused the temporary shutdown of the plant's sulfur recovery unit. During that time, there was a "brief" release of sulfur dioxide, company officials said.
"Air monitoring demonstrates that the levels of material detected are well below all regulatory and industry safety standards," LyondellBasel said in a statement.
Out of what company officials called "an abundance of caution," the employees were asked to remain in place during the shutdown and the release. The evacuation of the plant wasn't ordered, officials said.
Company officials are now working to restore power to the section of the refinery that was affected by the power loss. Other parts of the plant are continuing to operate, officials said.
"Our internal response team is managing the situation and no external emergency response services were required," the company said.
In April, a large fire broke out that sparked a shelter-in-place order for much of the area around the refinery. It started in a coker unit - part of the refining process. Students from neary Deady Middle School, Rucker Elementary School and Chavez High School all were affected. The schools cancelled all outdoor activities.
The blaze was brought under control about two hours later. There were no reported injuries, company officials said.
Air safety tests were conducted but no toxins were found following the fire, officials said.
The refinery is one of the largest in the nation that produces heavy-sulfur crude oil, according to their website. It can transform very heavy high-sulfur crude into clean fuels like reformulated gasoline and low-sulfur diesel. Other products include heating oil, jet fuel, lubricants and petroleum coke.
While the company website touts the 13 national safety awards it was earned, LyondellBasell also had 10 safety violations during a 2009 OSHA inspection. Many of the violations were related to the mishandling of hazardous materials.
In 2008, a crane collapsed during a maintenance operation at the refinery, killing four workers and injuring seven others.
The facility is the only refinery operated by the global petrochemical giant. Company officials have said they are considering selling the plant at some point.
- T. S. Eliot
Thoughts After Lambeth
"The World is trying the experiment of attempting to form a civilized but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be very patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time: so that the Faith may be preserved alive through the dark ages before us; to renew and rebuild civilization, and save the World from suicide."
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
A preteen huntress is facing the criticisms from countless adults online via Facebook, where photos of the wide-eyed 12-year-old posing alongside her kills are published and are spurring a world-wide controversy.
Aryanna Gourdin, from Cove, Utah, has become the target of death threats and explicit comments on her like page, "Aryanna Gourdin - Braids and Bows."
RELATED: 2 men get lifetime bans from hunting in 44 states, including Texas, after killing more than 40 deer
Mark Martineau, owner of Rack Em Up Hunts and a Gourdin family friend, told mySA.com Aryanna Gourdin and her father, Eli Gourdin, accompanied him on a safari recently. Photos from that trip are some of the newest on her page that are firing up debates.
Martineau is currently running her Facebook page while the father-daughter duo are out of the country.
He said when they return, the group will schedule media interviews to better inform the public on Aryanna Gourdin's interests.
RELATED: Texas Tech cheerleader Kendall Jones tells Facebook haters she 'will not back down from hunting'
In the meantime, the comments are pouring in on posts that have been shared more than 100,000 times, like one showing the preteen with a giraffe carcass, similar to the case of Kendall Jones, a former Texas Tech University from Cleburne, Texas, also faced heat in previous years for her African hunting trips.
The latest photo has garnered mostly negative responses from Facebook users, dubbing the child a long list of expletives mixed in with others like "literally hope someone skins you," "makes me wanna kill her" and "do the world a favor and kill yourself already before someone else makes you disappear" along with hundreds of similar hostility.
RELATED: 14-year-old girl catches potentially world record-breaking tarpon in the Gulf of Mexico
On the business page for Rack Em Up, Martineau discussed the controversy further.
"All of these death threats towards a child because she chooses to hunt. You threaten her or her family and you'll have to come through her father and myself and thousands of others," he fired back in an August 9 post. "I promise you I wouldn't hesitate."
RELATED: Zimbabwe official: US dentist not wanted for killing lion
In an earlier update on the Rack Em Up page, administrators published additional praise for the little girl.
"No many 12 year olds let alone grown men have experienced as many hunts as this little lady has [...] this little gal is the next big thing," the post said, adding that the "beautiful meet" harvested from the animals killed fed five orphanages.
mmendoza@mysa.com
Twitter: @MaddySkye
GALVESTON James Larry Cosby will automatically be sentenced to life imprisonment after his conviction Wednesday for capital murder in the 2014 slayings of his daughter and her female partner, but that's not good enough for at least one family member.
"He deserves the death penalty," said his cousin, Scott Cavitt, 35, of Houston. Other family members declined comment, but Cavitt was convinced of Cosby's guilt.
Cosby, wearing a gray suit, stood impassively as the verdict was read. He will automatically be sentenced at a hearing Thursday to life imprisonment. Two charges of tampering with evidence related to a corpse were dropped.
A Galveston County jury heard seven days of testimony, then deliberated for three hours before convicting Cosby, 48, of beating and strangling his daughter, Brittney Cosby, and shooting her partner, Crystal Jackson, then dumping their bodies behind a convenience store on the Bolivar Peninsula. The bodies of the 24-year-old women were discovered March 7, 2014.
Prosecutors were never able to provide jurors with a motive, but Cavitt said Cosby was jealous that his daughter had a job and had recently purchased an SUV while he was forced to live with his mother.
The lead investigator in the case, Galveston County sheriff's Detective Danny Kitchens, said in an interview after the trial that Cosby initially was viewed as a grieving father until his fingerprint was found on a wooden shutter near the bodies. From that point on, "everything we had led back to Mr. Cosby," Kitchens said.
Defense attorneys Greg Russell and Kyle Verret said in interviews after the trial that they still believed prosecutors had failed to show that both women were killed in the commission of the same crime, a requirement to prove capital murder. Russell said the evidence did not conclusively show where Jackson was killed.
"I doubt that there is any evidence he killed Crystal," Russell said.
Bill Reed, who prosecuted the case with Paul Love, both assistant Galveston County district attorneys, said many bits of circumstantial evidence were brought together to build the case. "It's a complicated case with many, many moving parts," Reed said.
Defense attorneys reasoned in closing arguments that prosecutors had been unable to provide a motive or produce a mur-der weapon.
"How can you be convinced beyond all reasonable doubt that Mr. Cosby committed this crime?" defense attorney Russell asked jurors in the trial presided over by District Judge Patricia Grady.
Reed countered that no murder weapon or motive was needed because cell phone records tracked Cosby on the day of the slayings from Houston to Port Bolivar, where the bodies were found.
The jury began its deliberations Wednesday after hearing closing arguments from the defense and prosecution.
Defense attorneys tried to pick holes in the prosecution's case, arguing that they failed to prove where Jackson was killed. They suggested that someone else had killed Brittney Cosby in a bedroom of her grandmother's Houston residence, where she and her father lived, noting that DNA from an unidentified person had been found with Brittney Cosby's blood.
Defense attorney Verret suggested that the unknown killer had taken the Kia Sorrento SUV that Brittney Cosby and Jack-son had recently purchased and used it to haul their bodies to Port Bolivar, then returned to Houston and parked the SUV in the Cosbys' carport.
Cosby discovered the SUV in his driveway and, unaware that bodies had been in the car, took a drive to Galveston before leaving the vehicle at a gentleman's club on the Gulf Freeway, defense attorney Verret suggested.
Prosecutor Reed ridiculed the idea.
Two witnesses identified Cosby as being on the Galveston-Bolivar ferry, and surveillance video showed them talking to a man in a Kia Sorrento SUV. The defense challenged the witnesses, noting that they were only 50 percent sure that the man they saw was Cosby
Prosecutor Paul Love acknowledged that prosecutors were unable to present a motive, but told the jury that the evidence was so compelling that none was needed.
"The evil that men do has no explanation or justification," Love said.
Prosecutors suggested that Brittany Cosby had angered her father on the morning of March 6, 2014. Whatever she did, it provoked him to violence, Love said. Cosby punched his daughter in the eye and used an unknown object to strike her on her forehead and behind her left ear, he said.
As Brittney Cosby lay dying in a pool of blood on the floor in her father's bedroom, he put his hand around her throat. "He choked that last bit of life out of her body," Love said.
Reed said that Jackson arrived and he shot her in the right side of the head in the SUV. He said a bullet fragment found in the SUV had a bit of Jackson's hair on it.
Russell, the defense attorney, disputed the hair evidence, telling jurors that it was a piece of synthetic fiber.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
The sparkling mecca of retail and more attracts roughly 30 million visitors a year to its shops and hotels. It reshaped the entire southwest corner of the city into a second downtown and inspired how shopping malls and mixed-use projects were developed in the following decades.
But before the Galleria was born in the 1960s, the land at Post Oak and Westheimer was mostly open countryside, where Italian farmers had called home for generations. Only 7 miles from downtown, the area nonetheless was considered a suburb. Loop 610 had not yet been built. Westheimer was known as Farm to Market Road 1093.
But Gerald Hines, a developer in his 30s from Indiana who had developed only a string of warehouses and office buildings up to that point, took a chance and thought the land was perfect for a first-of-its-kind shopping, office and hotel center. He followed a few retail stores into the area, attracted to the wealthy of nearby River Oaks, Memorial and Tanglewood.
But his project was by far the most ambitious and ultimately transformative.
More Information Timeline 1969 Neiman Marcus opens. 1970 Galleria opens with three stories and 600,000 square feet. Features firstice-skating rinkin an indoor mallin the U.S. 1977 Second phase opens, adding 650,000 square feet of retail space, one office tower and The Westin Galleria Hotel. 1986 A new two-level phase adds 360,000 square feet of retail space for more than 60 stores. 2002 Then-Simon Property Group takes ownership. 2003 Major renovation completed, adding 700,000 square feet of space for Houston's first Nordstrom and 70 stores. 2013 Plans detailed to spend $250 million to redevelop luxury wing, build a new Saks Fifth Avenue and add a standalone building. 2016 Plans announced to add a residential tower and hotel. Headline here CAt am alictatium a verro eum eos dolut ut perem fuga. Remped ut la voluptae paria volupti orionsequi omnis represt, quis 0000: emped ut la voluptaeAlibusanis elenimporem sequasp ientempore pro occation 0000: emped ut la voluptaeAlibusanis elenimporem sequasp ientempore 0000: emped ut la voluptaeAlibusanis elenimporem sequasp ientempore 0000: emped ut la voluptaeAlibusanis elenimporem sequasp ientempore pro occation Sources:Nobitatum voluptibusae entem fugiae volecto rendipit que conem aliam autem que See More Collapse
"The job of a developer is to come up with ways that create value and then hopefully a successful project. And the Galleria is a successful project," Hines said in a PBS documentary "Post Oak Boulevard: A Texas Legacy."
His idea for a multistory shopping mall that included office and hotel did not always seem like the wisest of investments. The young developer took on a disproportionate amount of equity, meaning he would assume most of the profit and all of the risk. He made generous deals to acquire the land and to attract his first anchor, Neiman Marcus. He created a design that was extremely unusual for the time.
"He put it all on the line," said Louis Sklar, a former Hines executive, who helped develop the Galleria.
The design, Sklar explained, was meant to keep traffic and visitors going at all times, hence the multiple uses for office, hotel and shopping. The unusual, multistory structure meant visitors had to enter at different floors, ensuring traffic on all the floors, he said. The ice-skating rink, for example, was meant to keep traffic high on the ground floor to keep rents there higher.
Sklar said Hines gave generous deals at first to attract the tenants and it was about 60 percent full when it opened.
"That was a make-or-break time for me," Hines, now 90, said in a recent interview with the Chronicle.
The company was also developing the high-rise One Shell Plaza in downtown at the time. His now-international real estate firm later developed Galleria Dallas, and is known for building Pennzoil Place, RepublicBank Center (now Bank of America), First Colony in Sugar Land and Williams Tower.
The Galleria influenced future mall projects.
Hines said one of his regrets was not trademarking the name Galleria. After his project opened, several copies opened throughout the country.
The enclosed, upscale, multistory mall became the go-to design for shopping malls in the 1970s. Hines said he was originally inspired by the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan, Italy. Built in 1867,one of its central components is a dramatic steel and glass atrium. A glass vault dome was one of the Galleria's defining features.
The first phase of the Galleria, a three-story, 600,000-square-foot development, opened in 1970. It featured the first indoor ice-skating rink in a U.S. mall. Its anchor, Neiman Marcus, had opened in 1969. The Galleria continued to grow, and today it spans 2.4 million square feet with 400 stores and restaurants, two high-rise hotels and three office towers where roughly 7,000 employees work for various companies.
The shopping mall is one of Houston's top tourist destinations. Of its 30 million visitors, a third are international.
The property was eventually purchased in 2003 from Hines by then-Simon Property Group. Simon, based in Indianapolis, owns more than 200 malls and shopping properties across the U.S. and in Asia and Europe. Locally, Simon also owns Katy Mills, Houston Premium Outlets in Cypress and Tanger Outlets in Texas City.
The Galleria boasts 81 stores exclusive in Houston, 26 of which are exclusive in Texas. The mall generates $1.4 billion in annual sales, and Simon said each department store grosses more than $100 million in sales. Both Saks Fifth Avenue in Houston and Neiman Marcus rank No. 2 in sales in their respective companies, behind only Saks in New York and Neiman's in Dallas.
The current owners have made a $250 million investment in the highest end of the mall, adding a new Saks Fifth Avenue and a standalone building dubbed "the jewel box" with an upscale retail store and restaurant. The most recent announcement was a plan to build a 30-story luxury hotel and residential tower with 225 hotel units and 75 to 100 condominiums.
"We just want to keep her looking beautiful," said Randy Schumacher, operations director, who has worked at the Galleria for 33 years, first for Hines, now Simon. "It's all about making sure it's the No. 1 mall in the United States."
The Galleria has been the anchor, catalyst and linchpin behind the region's retail growth.
"Guys like Gerald Hines had these wonderfully crazy ideas about doing something called the Galleria, and it changed the area so much," said John Breeding with Uptown Houston, in an interview on the PBS documentary.
Uptown, the neighborhood anchored by the complex, is one of the top 15 biggest office markets in the U.S., roughly the size of downtown Denver and Pittsburgh, according to the Uptown District. It has 28 million square feet of commercial office space, home to energy, financial and real estate offices.
In recent years, it's increasingly become a place where people want to live. Condominium tower and apartment development there has pushed residential development past retail as a percentage of overall real estate in the area. Uptown is now 28 percent residential, compared with 25 percent retail.
"We have created an area that makes people want to live, to choose to buy a condominium, or perhaps aspire to own a condominium or lease a luxury apartment," Breeding said. "People choose to want to live there."
PORT BOLIVAR - A beer delivery driver discovered the bodies of two women early Friday behind a store near the Bolivar Ferry.
Homicide investigators believe the women were killed elsewhere and their bodies left next to a dumpster, said Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo, spokesman for the Galveston County Sheriff's Office. It was unclear how they died, he said.
A driver for Del Papa Distribution Co. said he discovered the bodies behind Fisherman's Cove Food Mart at Seventh Street and Texas 87.
The driver, who asked that his name not be published, said he arrived shortly before 7 a.m. with a special order of two cases of beer. The clerk had not arrived to open the store so he drove his car to the back of the building and parked near the dumpster.
"As I was approaching the dumpster, I saw bodies laid out," he said. "I couldn't tell if they were men or women."
He said one body was lying face down and the other on its side. Both were wearing pants.
The clerk arrived and the driver asked her to come to the dumpster.
"I knew they were bodies and I knew they were dead," he said. "I got the woman out of the store to make sure we were both seeing the same thing."
On Friday afternoon, smears of blood could still be seen next to the dumpster marking the spot where they were removed.
Store manager Kalpesh Gandhi was called in because the clerk was so shaken she had to go home.
"You don't see stuff like this here," Gandhi said. "It doesn't happen."
The market is within sight of the Bolivar Ferry at the intersection that is the gateway to Port Bolivar, the oldest settlement on the Bolivar Peninsula with a population of about 2,400.
Later on Friday, the sheriff's office identified the victims as Britney Cosby and Crystal Jackson, both 24-year-old Houstonians.
Authorities released a statement asking for help in locating the department's vehicle, a silver, 2006 Kia Sorento SUV with gray trim. The vehicle, which had been stolen, should have unknown paper tags, the statement said.
It asked that anyone who saw the vehicle call law enforcement. Anyone with information about the victims was asked to call the sheriff's office at 866-248-8477.
Alvin Community College Board of Regent Chair Mike Pyburn signed documents on July 27 for the $1.25 million sale of the Pearland Center to Grand Cornerstone Development.
"While the Pearland Center served both students and the community well during its 15 years of operation, it was evident from the attendance patterns that our focus needed to shift back to our main campus as well as the rapidly growing western portion of our district," Pyburn said.
"We are glad that this non-producing asset will be repurposed and become the cornerstone of the Old Town Pearland redevelopment that will be enjoyed by the citizens of Pearland for decades to come."
Pyburn said officials also are excited that sale proceeds will enable the college to strengthen its Institutional Reserve account and potentially fund other projects.
Regents hired Keller Williams to provide assistance to sell the center in 2014. The college stopped offering classes in 2013 after dual-credit and other courses were offered at Pearland Independent School District's Turner College and Career High School.
ACC opened the center at 2319 N. Grand Blvd. in 1998 to offer Continuing Education, technical programs, health care programs and basic credit and dual-credit courses.
The center worked with Texas State Technical College to provide workforce training. ACC also created a partnership with the University of Houston-Clear Lake in 2004 to teach courses at the center for students in bachelor's and master's degree programs.
Alvin groups organize school supplies drive
Two years ago, the Alvin Independent School District, The Thelma Ley Family YMCA, Alvin Family Community Center and the First Presbyterian Church of Alvin joined forces to distribute school supplies to area students more smoothly and without waste. This collaborative effort resulted in more than 1,000 children being served, rather than the 400 to 500 reached in previous years.
Last year, the collaborative efforts combined to provide backpacks and school supplies to more than 1,600 students.
The groups are again joining forces. The School Supply Fair will be 9 a.m.-noon Saturday, Aug. 13, at G.W. Harby Junior High, 1500 Heights Road, Alvin.
Parents need to go their children's school, request a school supply voucher, and then bring it to the Aug. 15 event where they will receive their school supplies and a backpack.
Organizers anticipate a shortage of certain supplies this year, especially backpacks. People able to help with supplies or to volunteer their time are asked to contact Cathy Woitena at the Thelma Ley YMCA, 281-585-3112; Bel Sanchez at Alvin Family Community in Schools, 281-968-7133 or Gina Ruskey at First Presbyterian Church, 281-585-3406.
UH-Clear Lake gets Second Chance grant
University of Houston-Clear Lake recently became one of 67 colleges and universities selected to participate in the Department of Education's new Second Chance Pell pilot program.
The program will test whether participation in high-quality education programs increases after expanding access to financial aid for incarcerated individuals. It will allow eligible incarcerated Americans to receive Pell Grants and pursue postsecondary education.
For information, email powers@uhcl.edu or call 281-283-3385.
"True West" marks Bellaire actor Drake Simpson's first time to appear in a play by dramatist Sam Shepard, while Kevin Rigdon, who designed the lighting and set for the Sept. 9-30 production at 4th Wall Theatre, has worked on many Shepard shows.
They include the 1982 revival of "True West" that starred Gary Sinise and John Malkovich and qualified the sibling-rivalry play as a finalist for the 1983 Pulitzer Prize in drama.
"Was it hard to read the play (again) and not see Gary and John?" said Rigdon. "Sure, but more importantly, I saw the space we are going to work in. I saw Drake in that space bringing what he has to offer to (the role of) Lee."
The strapping Simpson inspired Rigdon to dig down and design a new take on the set, which is a kitchen and adjoining alcove of the brothers' mother's home in a Southern California suburb.
"One aspect of the (1982) production I was never satisfied with was what we saw of the world outside the house," said Rigdon. "This time around I think that I have a better understanding of what the world outside the house means to the characters and the play. We will see if I am right."
In the play, Lee's meek brother, Austin, played by Nick Farco, has been working on a screenplay while housesitting his mother's home, when Lee shows up uninvited.
"Things get crazy," said Simpson.
Director Kim Tobin-Lehl employed a fight choreographer for blocking some scenes with Simpson and Farco.
"It's going to wear me out," said Simpson, 43. "In a great way, but it's going to be tiring. I've been doing really high cardio training for 30 minutes every other day."
Simpson also returns to teaching theater this month at Alvin High School, where he's starting his seventh year.
Farco, 36, is beginning his first year as a theater director and teacher at Polly Ryon Middle School in Richmond.
Like Simpson and Philip Lehl, who appears briefly as a Hollywood agent/producer, Farco read Shepard plays as a student and performed scenes in theater classes, but has longed to perform in a full production.
"It's a dream for every actor to work on Sam Shepard, especially a male actor, because his men are so visceral and psychologically complex," said Farco, who lives in Brookshire.
The first Shepard play he read, said Farco, was "Buried Child," which won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
"Buried Child" will be presented Sept. 9-Oct. 1 by another group, The Catastrophic Theatre, at the Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston, 3400 Main St.
4th Wall Theatre Co., which performs at Spring Street Studios in the Heights area, was formerly called Stark Naked Theatre Co., said co-artistic directors Lehl and his wife, Tobin-Lehl.
The couple said they held "a deep attachment" to the name "Stark Naked" but feared that a literal interpretation of the phrase "has created a reluctance among potential new audience members as well as potential family foundations and corporate donors."
Tobin-Lehl added, "Webster's defines 4th wall as: 'an imaginary wall that keeps performers from recognizing or directly addressing their audience.' Because we regularly break the 4th wall, we feel the term is an excellent new name for this theater that we love. Although '4th Wall' will be an unfamiliar term to some people, explaining it is much more appealing to us than telling people, 'Yes, the actors will be wearing clothes!' "
A vibrant mural that shouts "it's a good day to have a good day" has turned a wall in Rice Village into an eye-catching design.
The mural by Houston artist Gonzo247 is more than 30 feet wide and 8 feet tall and "took probably 25 to 30 spray cans to paint," said the graffiti maestro.
It is located next to Black Walnut Cafe, 5510 Morningside Drive.
Additional art installations are planned for later this year as Trademark Property Co. conducts a multimillion-dollar renovation and rebranding of retail space that it manages in Rice Village, said Pamela Vargas, the company's assistant general manager and marketing coordinator.
More Information At a glance Rice Village: www.RiceVillageDistrict.com. Gonzo247: www.aerosolwarfare.com. See More Collapse
Gonzo247, whose birth name is Mario Enrique Figueroa Jr., came to the attention of Vargas when she went looking for an artist to paint five 6-foot-high fiberglass deer statues positioned throughout Rice Village last Christmas.
"I contacted him a little late last year for 'Deck the Deer,' but he will be our artist this year," said Vargas.
Vargas sought out Figueroa for what he calls "the good day" mural.
"My thought was to let this mural hopefully give people a moment to stop and think, 'Hey, life is pretty good,' " said Figueroa.
"I was assisted by my production assistant, who goes by 'Jo-Jo,' " he said. "He is an all-around big helper. We had a great time."
A public art event on May 5, or Cinco de Mayo, allowed shoppers to watch the artist s create the mural, which took about three or four hours to complete.
Figueroa, 44, was born in Houston and grew up in Second Ward on the city's East End.
"For the longest, that's about all I knew of the city," he said.
However, his family occasionally made forays to Rice Village, where they enjoyed the area's "positive energy."
"Whenever I come here, it's the beginning of a good day or the end of a good day, but it's always a good day," he said.
In 1990, Figueroa graduated from North Shore Senior High School in Galena Park, where he acquired a reputation as a "gonzo," or freewheeling and unconventional, graffiti artist.
"When I first started out, it was more about the commandeering of wall space as an outlet for being creative," he said. "The illegal side of spray-painting still happens.
"If you've never gone out in the middle of the night and spray-painted on a wall, it's hard to explain why somebody does it: It could be literally proclaiming that they exist; it could be being creative; sometimes, it's territorial."
As Gonzo247, Figueroa founded a company called Aerosol Warfare, at 2110 Jefferson St. Suite 111.
It creates art, murals and team-based productions on a local, national and international level, including last month's 20-by-60-foot mural in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico to promote tourism to Houston.
"His many noteworthy achievements include the design and painting of the popular 'Houston Is' mural for the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau and the design and painting of the impressive mural in the Downtown Houston Public Library Parking Garage," said Vargas.
For information about Rice Village, visit www.RiceVillageDistrict.com and for information about Gonzo247, visit www.aerosolwarfare.com.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
For board chairman Gary Markowitz, the Holocaust Museum Houston always has been much more than a collection of artifacts or a means of preserving a specific chapter in history.
The museum at 5401 Caroline connects visitors with critical lessons from the past, the Bellaire resident says, and highlights the ongoing importance of compassion, courage and social justice.
"I think the perception, unfortunately, is it's a Jewish museum that's strictly about the Holocaust. We're looking to share the lessons of the Holocaust along with more contemporary problems. The lessons of the Holocaust are universal."
And, Markowitz adds, the museum is a vital connection to those who survived and the generations that have followed.
More Information At a glance What: Holocaust Museum Houston Where: 5401 Caroline Details: www.hmh.org or go to 713-942-8000 See More Collapse
That's why the Bellaire resident finds it both exciting and daunting to be serving as the newest chairman of the museum's board of trustees and board of advisors. Markowitz was elected to a two-year term in late June.
"The board members, the staff: they're so committed to this museum - It's an incredible responsibility to live up to the expectations of this group." said Markowitz, 52, an investment manager.
Board member Mark Mucasey, Markowitz' brother-in-law, said he has no doubt that Markowitz will surpass expectations in his new role.
"Gary is one of the most down-to-earth and caring individuals I know," said Mucasey, who has served as board chairman twice himself.
"He also brings to us a great business acumen."
Plus, Markowitz is the son of Holocaust survivors Sam Markowitz, 92, and Lea Krell Weems, who died of multiple myeloma eight years ago at the age of 76.
"Growing up, I knew my parents were Holocaust survivors, but they didn't talk about it," Markowitz said. "My mom came to grips with it by virtue of her role with the Holocaust Museum."
Weems was a founding board member of the museum and served on its executive committee. She also was president of the Houston Council of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and served on the board of Oeuvre de Secour d'Enfants (Children's Aid Society) or OSE, the French rescue organization that hid Weems and her younger sister, Bellaire resident Ruth Krell Steinfeld, 83, during the Holocaust.
"We are very excited Gary is carrying on Lea's legacy," Mucasey said.
The experiences of his parents, Markowitz said, have shaped the way he sees the world.
"It's made me aware of the risks of prejudice," he said.
"At the museum, we talk about the risks of prejudice, hate and apathy."
Holocaust Museum Houston opened in 1996, around the time Markowitz was completing his undergraduate degree from the University of Houston and preparing to begin his service as an officer in the U.S. Army.
"My mother was a founding board member, and she was very interested in it.
"When I returned, she was still on the board. So I got involved. I started getting a great deal of satisfaction from my involvement as well."
Markowitz, who also went on to earn his MBA from UH, founded a young professionals group at the museum and served as its chairman 2003-04.
He also was co-chair of the museum's Lyndon Baines Johnson Moral Courage Award Dinner in 2006 and serves on the Leadership Circle for the museum's capital campaign.
Markowitz was elected to the board of trustees in 2015.
While others at the museum encouraged him over the years to seek a role of greater responsibility, Markowitz has been reluctant to make a commitment that took too much time away from his wife, Sunni Markowitz, and their three children, Abbie, 18; Brooke, 16; and Casey, 12.
But this year, he said, he has one daughter leaving for college and another driving.
The timing seems right to take on a leadership role the museum.
His goal as chairman is the get the word out about what the museum has to offer, including its core Holocaust exhibit with artifacts from Houston-area survivors.
"It brings to life what truly happened: the stars they had to wear on their chest, the depravity, the separation from their families. It's a lot to digest."
The core exhibit is painful, Markowitz said, but it concludes with a message from survivors, survivors who've gone on to embrace life.
"There's a light at the end."
But in addition to the core exhibit, Markowitz also wants the community to know that the museum is a valuable resource that offers special exhibits and educational programs, guest artists and traveling exhibits.
Another mission of the museum is preserving the legacy of Houston-area survivors.
Museum staff members have been working with them over the years to record their stories
"By telling their stories, it's a burden lifted off of them," Markowitz said.
"And they can talk to other survivors. I've seen many of them switch from being bitter and unhappy to calmer and more content."
In recent years, the museum has been expanding its social media reach, along with programming for the community and educators.
"It's a 20-year-old museum, and it's constantly re-inventing itself," Markowitz said.
The museum has hosted more than 2 million people since 1996, he added.
"The part that brings the most pride to me is watching school buses pull up.
"To have an opportunity to talk to children about social justice is heartwarming."
Israel said Tuesday it had charged a United Nations staffer with helping the Islamist movement Hamas, the second indictment involving aid workers in Gaza in a week. Engineer Waheed Borsh, who has worked for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) since 2003, was arrested on July 16 and charged in a civilian court in Israel on Tuesday, a government statement said. The UNDP said it was greatly concerned by the allegations while Hamas, which has run the Gaza Strip since 2007, denied any involvement. The government said 38-year-old Borsh, from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, had been recruited by a senior member of the Hamas terrorist organisation to redirect his work for UNDP to serve Hamass military interests. It said he had confessed to a number of accusations, including diverting rubble from a UNDP project in the coastal strip to a Hamas operation to build a jetty for its naval force. He is also alleged to have last year persuaded UNDP managers to focus home rebuilding efforts in areas where Hamas members lived, after pressure from the group.
The Gaza head of the U.S.-based humanitarian aid organization World Vision funneled as much as $7 million a year over the past 10 years to Hamass terror activities, Israels domestic security agency said Thursday. The Shin Bet said the aid groups Gaza director, Mohammed el-Halabi, is an active figure in Hamass military wing. He was indicted by Israeli authorities Thursday, accused of diverting some 60 percent of World Visions annual budget for Gaza to Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that rules the coastal enclave. He was charged with transferring money and working with a terror group. Hamas is viewed as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union. Israel has fought three wars with Hamas since 2009. In addition to the $7 million a year in funds transferred to Hamas coffers, Shin Bet said, Halabi also handed over to Hamas piles of cash an additional $1.5 million a year. The Israelis also said he gave Hamas $800,000 taken from a United Kingdom donation to help build a Hamas military base. The money was designated for civilian projects in the Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities said.
Shurat HaDin, said her organization warned World Vision four years ago its funding was being diverted to armed militant groups in Gaza. She said she discovered this while her group researched a lawsuit against the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which in the past was involved in attacking Israelis. She said the PFLP used front organizations that appeared as beneficiaries on the World Vision web site. Darshan-Leitner said she is exploring suing World Vision in the United States for aiding and abetting terrorism.Foreign NGOs want to give money to Gaza, Darshan-Leitner said, even as they ignore all the signs that their money is diverted to terrorism. Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, president of Israeli legal advocacy group, said her organization warned World Vision four years ago its funding was being diverted to armed militant groups in Gaza. She said she discovered this while her group researched a lawsuit against the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which in the past was involved in attacking Israelis. She said the PFLP used front organizations that appeared as beneficiaries on the World Vision web site. Darshan-Leitner said she is exploring suing World Vision in the United States for aiding and abetting terrorism.Foreign NGOs want to give money to Gaza, Darshan-Leitner said, even as they ignore all the signs that their money is diverted to terrorism.
Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blog spot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.
.
..Pressure Points..10 August '16..Ive written about a half dozen times in the past about UNRWA, the UN agency that deals with Palestinians: here inand here in, for example. Simply put, UNRWA has long had employees who were sympathetic to Hamas, and who engaged in acts of anti-Semitism, but it has overlooked their actions and indeed often protected them. That appears to be the culture of the place.In the last week weve learned something new: that employees of other leading charitable and development agencies like World Vision and the UN Development Program (UNDP) may also be diverting funds to Hamas. Israel has detained employees of both World Vision and UNDP. Australia has frozen contributions to World Visions Gaza programs until the entire matter can be sorted out, and the German offices of World Vision have frozen their own programs in Gaza.Heres the UNDP story:And here is the World Vision story:The accused are innocent until proved guilty, although they are said to have confessed. What we can now see clearly is that none of these organizationsUNDP, World Vision, or UNRWAwas ever going to find the facts, fire people, clean out the Hamas agents, and solve these problems. That will require the intervention of donors, and those steps in Germany andare remarkable only in that they have not been followed universally. Australias Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) called the allegations deeply troubling and said in a statement that it was urgently seeking more information from World Vision and the Israeli authorities. We are suspending the provision of further funding to World Vision for programs in the Palestinian Territories until the investigation is complete, it said. Quite rightbut what about all the other donors?The larger question is the culture of foreign aid to the Palestinians, much of which falls under what President George W. Bush once called (in an entirely different context) the soft bigotry of low expectations and some of which falls under the category of terrorism, threats, and plain fear.As to plain fear, look at the last line of the first story, about UNDP: He is also alleged to have last year persuaded UNDP managers to focus home rebuilding efforts in areas where Hamas members lived, after pressure from the group. Perhaps Hamas made him an offer he could not refuse. Pressure from the group in this context may well mean his life was in danger.The soft bigotry is the failure to hold the Palestinians to global standards. We see this, for example, when it comes to the tolerationby every government, including our own and that of Israelof the way the Palestinian Authority glorifies terrorism and terrorists, naming parks and schools after murderers and broadcasting on official stations all kinds of anti-Semitic hate. We see it in the failure to reform UNRWA. In these cases, World Vision and UNDP, we probably see both support for terrorism and plain fear. Its likely that some percentage of local employees in Gaza are sympathetic to Hamasand it seems likely to me that administrators dont want to know it. If they came face to face with it, what would they do? Fire them? Turn them in to the Israelis? Start difficult and likely very long back-and-forth communications with headquarters, which likely doesnt want to know and wont thank the employee who insists on revealing the truth? Simpler to be blind to what is happening.Theres some evidence of that in these remarks by an Israeli legal group:Allegations are not proof and these cases need to go to trial. The sensible thing for donors to do is to freeze suspect programs immediately, as World Vision Germany and the government of Australia have done.The only way to solve this problem is for donors to withhold funding unless and until the independence of their programs can be assured. Yes, the people of Gaza would suffer, but they would know why: because Hamas is more interested in its own terrorist actions than in the welfare of Gazans. Aid donors have turned a blind eye for far too long.
A Katy-area man faces a manslaughter charge in the fatal shooting of his father last weekend, authorities said.
Deputies arrested Thomas Meisenheimer, 34, after his mother on Saturday evening phoned police from their home to report that her husband had been shot by their son, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office.
A deputy arrived around 8:20 p.m. at the house in the 6200 block of Townsgate Circle and found the son in a room with his father, 68-year-old Walter Meisenheimer, who had been shot in the neck, the sheriff's office said in a news release. The son had been handling a .38 caliber handgun when the shot was fired, authorities said.
Community EMS transported the elder Meisenheimer a short distance from his home to Sue Creech Elementary School, where he was taken by Life Flight to Memorial Hermann Hospital-Texas Medical Center. He died from the gunshot wound, the news release said.
The son was arrested and booked at 2:26 a.m. Sunday into the Fort Bend County jail on a charge of manslaughter, the news release said. He was being held Monday on $15,000 bond.
Monday evening, neighbors at the end of the cul-de-sac near the Meisenheimer's two-story brick home described being heartbroken that "Wally" was gone. He was like a jack-of-all-trades, they said, willing to help with a painting project or install a fireplace mantel or dig up a tree stump. They recalled his thoughtfulness and his infectious laugh.
But they also remembered hearing family feuds, which is why on Saturday night it did not at first seem strange when they heard the mother screaming on the phone with 911.
Only when she began to sound hysterical did they realize something had happened between father and son.
They knew the family, like many on the block, owned guns. "Proud to be an American," reads a sticker in a window by the house's front door, now also adorned with a note for "Mr. Wally" and a bouquet of flowers.
Last year, the younger Meisenheimer was charged with driving while intoxicated for the third time. He had previously been convicted of driving while intoxicated in 2008 in Fort Bend County and in 2011 in Walker County, according to court records. (Also, in 2003, Meisenheimer was convicted of reckless driving and sentenced to 10 days in the county jail.)
Meisenheimer pleaded not guilty in last year's case. He posted a $10,000 bail and agreed to random alcohol and drug testing, plus the installation of a breath analysis device in his car, and he was due in court on Aug. 25 for a hearing. His attorney in that case did not immediately return a request for comment Monday.
Bob Haenel, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said he did not know if alcohol was a factor in Saturday's incident.
Whether or not either Meisenheimer had a concealed handgun license was confidential information, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson wrote in an email.
In 2015, there were 105 convictions of people who were at least 21 years old in the state for manslaughter, according to DPS data. None of those convicted were handgun license holders.
Dale Lezon contributed to this report.
New Humble ISD superintendent Elizabeth Fagen faced a gathering of about 50 parents, teachers and students July 21 at one of three town hall meetings sponsored by the district.
Fagen, 42, assumed her new role July 5.
"The one thing that is really important to me as a leader, is to really, deeply understand the students, the staff, the parents, the community and the individual schools, because I don't think you can lead from a place without that deep understanding and without that knowledge," said the new superintendent.
Fagen shared her teaching and administrative history that began in an Iowa biology classroom, and continued through the Tucson Unified School District in Arizona, and the Douglas County School District in Colorado.
Learning environment
The crowd focused its questions on the learning environment, teacher evaluations and testing.
"I want to support teachers and really find new ways to teach students," Fagen said.
One audience member, who did not share his name, asked about the controversy in Douglas County where Fagen was serving as superintendent before coming to Humble ISD.
Fagen described the controversy as complicated, and with a lot of moving parts that included parents, the board of trustees and other entities.
Much of the negativity centered around some controversial initiatives included a new teacher-evaluation system and market-based pay salary structure, according to media reports in the Douglas County News-Press and educational nonprofit Chalkbeat.org
Douglas ISD also is involved in legal challenges surrounding its attempt to create a voucher system.
Parent's petition
This ignited a petition among parents in June.
A group of parents said Fagen wasn't properly vetted.
Vanessa Fuentes, who is a member of the grassroots group, started the petition the day after the school board voted to name Fagen as the lone finalist.
"I learned she was the lone finalist late Tuesday and I started doing research," she said.
"As soon as I Googled her, nothing great came up.
"Nothing positive."
A petition was launched, but it failed to sway the board of trustees to change their mind about their selection.
Deserves a chance
Cindy Maren, the parent of a fifth-grade student, who'd heard about the petition but didn't sign it, said she has confidence in Fagen's ability to lead.
"I think she will do very well here," she said.
"She has children who will be attending school here, too.
"She deserves a chance to show us what she can do for all of our kids," she said.
For more information on the new superintendent or on the upcoming school year, go to http://humbleisd.net/
The mother of a transgender child told the Pearland school board Tuesday night that its policies create an intolerant atmosphere that promotes bullying and could endanger her daughter's life.
"You are increasing the risk of suicide among these children," said Kimberly Shappley, whose daughter Kai in the fall will enroll in kindergarten in the Pearland Independent School District.
The issue of bathroom accommodations for transgender students flared in this booming Houston suburb in May when the Pearland ISD superintendent, John Kelly, issued a statement decrying federal guidance that school districts should permit students to use bathrooms that conformed to their gender identity, even if it didn't match the gender on their birth certificate.
"What's next?" Kelly's statement said in part., "legalizing pedophilia and polygamy?"
Texas Attorney Genereal Ken Paxton sued the Obama administration seeking to block the federal guidance, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick urged school districts not to revise their policies until the suit is resolved. Shappley said Pearland ISD officials have told her that Kai will have to use the boy's bathroom or use one in the school nurse's office.
She told the school board that the national suicide rate among transgender students is 41 percent. Research shows, however, that transgender children are no more likely than others to commit suicide if they get appropriate support, Shappley said.
"I am a mom of a little girl who I want to live," Shappley said. "I'm fighting for her happiness. I'm fighting for her freedom."
School officials did not respond to comments by Shappley or others at the board's public session. The transgender policy was not on the meeting agenda.
Prosecutors may seek the death penalty for a Channelview man accused of gunning down three people while stealing their drugs last year at an apartment in the Greenspoint area of north Houston.
Kevoughn Dontrell Fields, who appeared in a Harris County court Wednesday after being arrested last week, is accused of leading a group suspected of committing up to 15 armed robberies, prosecutor Justin Keiter told the judge.
Houston Heights residents will see a measure to lift the area's longtime ban on beer and wine sales on their Nov. 8 ballot, after City Council formally called the election Wednesday.
The ballot proposition asks voters whether they support "the legal sale of beer and wine for off-premise consumption only," meaning they would be allowed to buy alcohol at grocery and convenience stores, to drink elsewhere. The change would not affect beer and wine sales at restaurants.
-- Baby born in the Houston area is first in U.S. to die from Zika-related defects, by the Houston Chronicles Todd Ackerman and Mihir Zaveri
The baby, whose mother traveled to Latin America during her pregnancy, died hours after being born with birth defects associated with Zika. They included but were not limited to microcephaly, a devastating but not usually fatal condition characterized by an abnormally small head and underdeveloped brain. The virus also can cause severe problems to fetuses' lungs and eyes. I think we may begin to see many of these newborns with microcephaly and (other neurological defects) die in the coming year, Peter Hotez, a dean at the Baylor College of Medicine, said. Looking at the catastrophic damage to the (brain), I fear that this condition may not be compatible with life in many instances.
-- Dems seek to raise $1 million on Kaine's Texas swing, by the Express-News Peggy Fikac Tim Kaine carried Clinton's focus on the economy, children, unity and character to a volunteer appreciation event Tuesday, but the day's campaign story line was quickly overshadowed by Trump's comments at a Wilmington, N.C., rally.
>> Texas turnout in November, Houston Chronicle
At the heart of that argument, and one Democrats will recognize, as well, is that a single-digit win for Trump in Texas makes it virtually certain that Republicans will have sustained some major down-ballot loss. Maybe that means Democrats will have flipped a few state House seats in the process or won the hotly contested Congressional District 23 seat. That could also mean that their voter registration and candidate recruitment efforts worked as planned, with the help of Trump at the top of the GOP ticket. Whatever the case, Democratic turnout and Republican apathy will make the difference, and everyone knows it.
-- COMING ATTRACTIONS: Crisis managers will help design Texas voter ID outreach, by the Express-News David Rauf
Lawyers for Texas have disclosed that Burson-Marsteller, a public relations giant and global strategic communications firm with an Austin office, is under contract with the state to develop voter outreach efforts for the current year.
Chad Dunn, a Houston lawyer representing U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, in the case, said the state and its contractors have done a woefully inadequate job of educating voters and training poll workers in recent years. I don't know that I can pin it on the PR firm one way or the other, he said. The secretary of state used to do a much better job at public outreach and education. But now it's just not a priority.
-- George P's embrace of Trump is a missed opportunity, by the Chronicles Lisa Falkenberg
We're past the point of pretending that a guy who whispers sweet nothings to Vladimir Putin, badmouths NATO, insults the grieving family of a war hero, touts his illiteracy like an honorary degree, and has the emotional control of a nap-deprived 3-year-old is a normal presidential nominee deserving of traditional partisan deference. We need brave souls to stand up and call a joker a joker. We need young voices to drown out, or at least moderate, the frustrations and fear of the older generation. We need serious public servants to stop cloaking Trump's radical agenda in the awkward embrace of mainstream conservatism.
-- Police returning to Dallas shooting scene are overwhelmed, by the APs Claudia Lauer ... Several officers interviewed in the investigation had to postpone giving their accounts at first because they were unable emotionally to walk through the scene and explain the events of that night.
>> Lone Star Rail District expected to lose vote, by the Quorum Reports Kimberly Reeves
-- Texas' battle with feds over school transgender guidelines gets first court date on Friday, by The Dallas Morning Newss Tom Benning ($) What Defendants have done is plainly clear--they are enforcing their new rules as binding law across the nation, Paxton's office wrote in one filing.
** FINALLY, DONT MISS THIS from The Texas Tribunes Aneri Pattani -- Here's Why Texas Students Wait Weeks for Basic Mental Health Services http://tinyurl.com/zw9e5od
SPEED READ
Abbott announces new budget director, Houston Chronicle
Mr. Miller goes to Washington? Houston Chronicle
The Texas Green Party Isnt Making It Any Easier to be Green, The Texas Observer
Prosecutors urge court to reject Ken Paxton appeal, Austin American-Statesman
HISD reveals estimated cost of renaming eight schools, Houston Chronicle
Justice Department orders additional ethics training for Civil Division attorneys, San Antonio Express-News
Trump calls NAFTA a disaster. Texas Republicans beg to differ, The Texas Tribune
Not expanding Medicaid hurts Texas, but will state officials be swayed by studies? The Dallas Morning News
Inside UHs political push to join the Big 12, The Texas Tribune
Attorney: Amarillo jailed disabled residents unable to pay tickets, Amarillo Globe-News
Texas governor gives Charles Schwab third state-funded grant, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Hospital On Life Support... As Nuclear Plant Fights Tax Bill, CBS DFW
Small town north of Dallas could become hub of medical cannabis industry, The Dallas Morning News
State bar wont sanction Paxton over same-sex marriage opinion, The Texas Tribune
CAPITOL DAYBOOK: No meetings scheduled
RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
-- HERE WE GO AGAIN Donald Trump Suggests Second Amendment People Could Act Against Hillary Clinton, by The New York Times Nick Corasaniti and Maggie Haberman
If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks, Mr. Trump said, as the crowd began to boo. He quickly added: Although the Second Amendment people maybe there is, I dont know.
Oblique as it was, Mr. Trumps remark quickly elicited a wave of condemnation from Democrats, gun control advocates and others, who accused him of suggesting violence against Mrs. Clinton or liberal jurists. Bernice A. King, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., called Mr. Trumps words distasteful, disturbing, dangerous.
-- RNC suffers spate of Trump-related departures, by Politicos Daniel Lippman
In interviews, others cited familiar reasons for their resistance to the nominee that they couldnt work to help elect a man they thought was not qualified to be president; that Trumps insensitive statements turned them against him; that he wasnt conservative enough. Some also said they worried about the stain that working to elect Trump could have on their resume.
>> Three House Democrats want to investigate Trump for urging Russia to meddle in Clintons emails, by The Washington Posts Karoun Demirjian
-- MUST READ TODAY: Inside Clintons GOP recruitment plan, per Politicos Annie Karni The unprecedented desertion of the GOP nominee by leading members of his own party and their embrace of Hillary Clinton is partly organic, but for the most part its being midwifed by the Clinton campaign, which is beginning to reap the rewards of a behind-the-scenes recruitment effort thats been months in the making. That effort is expected to culminate in the unveiling of an official Republicans for Hillary group as early as Wednesday, by the campaign.
>> More swing state polling blues for Trump, Politico
The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p.
When Andrew Cuomo proclaimed at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Our progressive government is working in New York, he was rebuked by some on the left who questioned his progressive bona fides. But Cuomo, ever sensitive to the way political winds are blowing, was merely adopting the language of the moment among Democrats. As more and more of the party faithful lean further left, Democrats like Cuomo are embracing the term progressive. But they also feel the need to reassure votersas Cuomo and even Hillary Clinton did at the conventionthat progressivism actually works. No wonder. In its current incarnation, progressivism largely expresses lofty ideals and exalted goals, while saying little about governing. That might not matter much to loyalists, but to voters who care about government picking up the garbage, filling in potholes, and maintaining public order, governing well is pretty important. The question is whether the 80 percent of voters who dont identify as progressives buy into the Democrats avowals or whether those voters hear these reassurances as a case of politicians protesting too much.
In its earliest American manifestation, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Progressive movement sought to create better government. Books like Woodrow Wilsons The Study of Administration touted a government run by an elite bureaucracy, independent of potentially corrupt elected officials. Theodore Roosevelt set out to demonstrate what progressive reform could accomplish when, as president of the board of New York City Police Commissioners, he instituted widespread changes in how cops operated, such as instituting hiring practices based on merit rather than political connections. The influential master builder Robert Moses entered public life writing studies on how to reduce political patronage in governmentthough Moses also embodied what opponents feared in progressivism, emerging as a powerful autocrat who steamrolled opposition as he constructed vast public projects in New York.
Progressivism lost some of its momentum during World War I, though many progressives subsequently saw Franklin Roosevelts New Deal as a 1930s offspring of their movement. In the Cold War era that followed the Second World War, however, many on the left become uneasy with progressivisms vision of intellectuals using the state to mold society in the interests of the collective, as Charles Murray has described it, because the ideology seemed an echo of Communism. John F. Kennedy, a staunch anti-Communist, avoided the progressive label but once said that he was proud to be a liberal.
But now the term liberal itself, with its emphasis on economic freedom, democracy, and individual rights, has fallen out of favor with many Democrats. Theyve helped give birth to a new progressivism, which emulates its predecessors disdain for individual freedoms and its admiration for collective action. But the new version differs from the old in at least one crucial respect, as one left-leaning writer explains: The almost complete lack of attention being paid by modern progressives to public administration and government structure. Even progressives themselves, when theyre not pontificating with overstuffed cliches about social justice, environmental harmony, and sustainable economics, worry about the movements flimsy track record of achievement. When Bill de Blasio became New Yorks mayor, taking over after 20 years of successful governance by two non-progressive mayors, you could sense the anxiety within the movement: Many progressives believe the best thing de Blasio can do to make a difference for progressive politics is to be a great mayor of New York City, wrote Salon. That imperative was especially urgent given that New Yorks last acknowledged progressive mayor was David Dinkins, whose reign was so disastrous that he became a one-termer. De Blasio is currently making such a mess of governing that he risks being the latest progressive to be one-and-done in Gotham.
Others on the left fret about what actual results this new progressivism, seemingly unmoored from governing realities, could produce. Some left-of-center economists have already worried publicly, for instance, that the rush to raise the minimum wage all the way up to $15 an hour might shrink employment in the countryand how that might spark a backlash against other progressive-minded economic prescriptions.
Hence the drumbeat about progressivism thats practical and effective. Hillary Clinton spent years as a U.S. senator and then as a cabinet member, but she nonetheless felt that she had to tell voters in her Philadelphia speech that Im a progressive who likes to get things done. Whats the alternative, one wondersa progressive who doesnt like getting things done? Hammering home the point, Clinton and her political supporters similarly described running mate Tim Kainelong acknowledged as a moderate Democratas a progressive who gets results.
State delegations are pushing the same line. On the conventions third day, the speaker of the California Assembly boasted at a breakfast that California is proof that you can be progressive and prosperous at the same time. The day before, Cuomo had called New York a progressive bellwether for the nation. The two big coastal states make poor advertisements for progressive success, however. New York and California rank, respectively, as the nations most unequal and seventh-most unequal states. Whole swaths of both states have been left behind by the current economic recovery. Nine of the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest unemployment rates today are in California. In New York, where two Cuomos have led the government for 17 of the last 33 years, large regions north and west of New York City and its suburbs are depressed; former governor Eliot Spitzer, on a visit upstate, compared some areas to Appalachia.
Its clear, in other words, that modern progressives have a ways to go to persuade us that their governing philosophy really works. But if saying it alone could help make it so, theyd be halfway there.
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
It was a night of racism and class snobbery at a private dinner between journalists and a top education policy maker. After one too many drinks in Seouls government district, an elite bureaucrat, Na Hyang-wook, lambasted 99 percent of his countrymen for being like dogs and pigs who only need to be fed and kept alive, compared them to blacks and Hispanics in the United States who dont even try to enter politics or climb the social ladder, and called for a caste system on the basis that people are not all born equal.
His personal goal, he told the journalists, was to strive to be in the 1 percent. He offered limited sympathy for the death of a 19-year-old subway contract laborer overworked and crushed by an oncoming train, as noted in recent stories about poor conditions for part-time workers. The journalists said that they felt pain for him like he was their own child, but the bureaucrat retorted that while his death was certainly tragic, it would have been silly to pretend the subway worker was his own kid.
That evening, July 7, was odd even by South Korean standards, and stretched journalism ethics to the max. The biggest problem was that no sensible official would have confided in the two reporters on the other end of the table. The pair was Chang Eun-gyo and Song Hyun-sook, from the left-wing Kyunghyang newspaper, a sort of Nation in South Korea known for its fiery anti-establishment reporting.
Chang, 36, the editor in charge at the meeting, has built a career as a firebrand reporter challenging the status quo, with aggressive reporting on wealth inequality and labor issues. In 2009, she was part of a team that won a sort of local Pulitzer, the Korean Journalists Award, for covering poor standards for contract workerssimilar to the dead subway laborer. She has stated that her mission as a reporter is to represent the voices of the underprivileged, placing her in opposition to the middle-of-the-road standard of journalism accepted in the West.
After the government official launched his salvo, the reporters pulled out a phone recorder, informed him that the meeting was on the record, and gave him many chances to rescind or clarify his statements, Chang told CJR. She noted there was never an explicit off-the-record agreement. Any expectation of off the record was an unspoken understanding common in South Korea. Intimate gatherings like these are a regularity between top officials and the journalists who cover them, intended to build relationships. Off-the-record is an expectation, but unlike in the US, its usually not stated outright. In South Korea, its often the only way of getting information.
Despite this, and the journalists promise to quote him, the civil servant Na pushed on with his tirade. (Na has never disputed these claims, but has said that his comments were the result of drunkenness.)
Sign up for CJR 's daily email
The reporters left the meeting in disgust, but government officials asked them to return for a clarification, where the official repeated himself on softer terms: The United States has a such-and-such class society, and wouldnt it be okay to take a similar path? he said, according to the newspaper. The next day, Kyunghyang held a newsroom meeting to discuss the ethics of publication and whether it had news value. Was this any old drunken rant, or something worth pursuing?
Consider this: At South Koreas biggest newspapers, along with many East Asian publications, self-censorship and anonymous sourcing are the status quo. Japanese and Korean reporters are often sorted out into press clubs, tied to ministries and corporations, which lay down the rules and whack reporters whose coverage is out of line. With power concentrated in a handful of corporate conglomerates, many newspapers cater to advertisers in a way far more extreme than in the US, and dole out bad coverage to companies that dont pay up. When the options for covering your countryor its corporationsare all weak, journalistic short-cuts can be the only way to publishing honest stories.
After a long back-and-forth, the editors agreed to go with it. This was not a mid-level bureaucrat spouting inebriated nonsense, but a top official whose mandate was to craft policy that would educate the next generation. Since he expressed a sentiment so recklessly against his public missionand given plenty of opportunities for a retraction with his spokesman presentthe story had reached an ethical threshold. The decision was a careful one, and weighed the values of the journalists at stake. I am always haunted by a fear about whether what Im doing is the right thing. Responsibility is a prerequisite, Chang once told the website jobdastory.
After publication, the Prime Minister apologized; the civil servant, whose record was otherwise impeccable, was fired. The debacle weighed on the national mood, with younger South Koreans resentful over wealth inequality and calling their country Hell Korea.
Journalists in the US would frown on publishing any off-record comment. The Associated Press ethics handbook says that off the record simply means the information cannot be used for publication. The New York Timess former public editor Margaret Sullivan has said the newspaper was and is obligated to honor off-the-record agreements with presidential candidates. Whether off the record means not for attribution, or not publishable at all, has been a longstanding debate. But it always means the source should be able to trust the reporter to be discreet.
Off-the-record meetings have their uses. Since not everyone is in a position to talk to the press, sometimes its the best, even if an imperfect, channel for opening a trail to better informationwhich could lead to scoops or insights later. Dishonor your agreement, and not only will sources avoid you, but other journalists could have a harder time getting access because of you.
Sometimes, in very limited circumstances, it should be okay to rethink this rule. Reporters around the world often dont enjoy the same level of access and documentation that Americans and Western Europeans do, and this makes the job of the journalist infinitely harder. Kyunghyangs decision to publish offered rare insight: A top official was being straightforward, and his statements were going down on the record withremarkablyhis name attached. Just the fact he was this candid was a big deal, whether or not his views were abhorrent.
Sometimes, pushing the ethical boundaries is the only way, ironically, to write honest stories.
For a high-tech republic, South Korea is remarkably opaque. The Economist Intelligence Unit calls the country a flawed democracy, and Freedom House calls its press partly free. Mainstream journalism here is largely a scripted affair, more a cartel and less a watchdog. Since trust in journalists here is already lowa trendy phrase, kiraegi, means journalist trashcandid footage or on-record commentary is hard to find. The South Korean president gave her first press conference 10 months after taking office, and her administration has since gone after reporters who question the official line. Government spokespeople demand anonymity even at public briefings. Defamation lawsuits and legal threats, even for satire, are common. Unlike in the US, where the spirit of defamation laws is to protect free speech, South Korea (and much of East Asia) gives more weight to protecting a persons public honor against true and newsworthy statements.
National leaders, as such, are praised to great heights. More than 70 years after the end of World War II, Japans mainstream newspapers still treat it as taboo to talk about whether the deceased former emperor played an active role in the conflict. (Imagine if FDRs presidency were still touchy for the New York Times.) South Korean media, meanwhile, hold back from challenging powerful corporate dynasties, many of whom, including the Samsung Chairman, have been convicted of white-collar crimes and then presidentially pardoned. Imagine how odd it would be if Steve Jobs were a two-time convicted criminal, pardoned twice by Bill Clinton and then Obamaand Walter Isaacson brushed over this in his biography.
Since the official narrative is overpowering, the counter-narrative is equally vicious. Conspiracy theories and rumors roar through non-mainstream and social media, laden with anonymous sources and bullying, at times sounding like Donald Trump writing a textbook for first graders. According to a source in the finance industry, Jews have a robust network demonstrating influence in a number of domains, opined the business publication MoneyToday last year.
The periodical was attacking a New York-based hedge fund, Elliott Management, for its shareholder challenge against Samsung, the nations crown jewel, last summer. Months later, the opposite happened. In July, the independent news website NewsTapa released a prostitution video, which was secretly filmed and used in a blackmail attempt, of what reporters believed was the Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee meeting up to five women at two residences and handing out payments of about $4,500 eachwith some evidence of the connivance of an executive.
The wealthiest man in the nation, feted as an emperor, was intimately on display as hardly a god at all. Yet despite legitimate questions over company involvement, and a probe by prosecutors for prostitution, mainstream outlets portrayed him foremost as a victim of a voyeur camera and journalistic malpractice.
Problems like these are not the outlier, but are alarmingly common. And it presents a dichotomy: as a Korean journalist, the system doesnt allow for much of a middle ground between mouthpiece and conspiracy monger. Follow the strictures of the cartel, and you are almost guaranteed to be pushing an official line, at times recklessly against interests of your readers. But expose the inner workings of the system, and youll have to behave in a way that would raise the eyebrows of any American ombudsman.
Sometimes, pushing the ethical boundaries is the only way, ironically, to write honest stories. The fact that an elite civil servant felt comfortable getting inebriated with journalists and spewing racial obscenities suggests a media environment where readers arent the first priority. Clearly, he anticipated the comforts of an off-record media relationship far removed from the original purpose and principles of off-the-record agreements aimed at delivering facts and context to readers without putting sources at risk. That, along with the overall press environment of restriction, supports the decision to publish.
Globally, there havent been many cases as extreme involving off-the-record comments becoming public. But when it happens, its because there was some sort strong public interest. In 2005, Australian media revolted against a senator, Ross Lightfoot, whose off-record tale about delivering $20,000 in cash to Kurdish officials in Iraq as part of a donation for a hospitalon behalf of an oil companycontradicted his claims later to the public. The Australian, in response, decided to abandon its agreement.
Keeping the secret would have ceded far too much editorial control to a man abusing the privilege. Imagine an Obama administration official abruptly contradicting himself on a public-interest matter, or spewing racial hatred off-the-record. Would the American press have stayed quiet?
The Kyunghyang editor who broke the story, Chang, has been navigating a far more restrictive environment since she first joined the paper in 2005. The Kyunghyang is at times a fixture of the media cartel, flexing its muscles when necessary, but its also an outlier from the big three lineup of mainstream newspapers. Its heritage is in the nations pro-democracy movements; the newspaper was set up by the Catholic Church in the 1940s and challenged authoritarian governments until the 1980s.
Kyunghyang has not always been a hero. In the past, its coverage has gotten out of control in support of protest movements, with emotional anti-American and xenophobic denunciations. Today, it is similar to the Nation in tone, but closer to the political center by American standards. (Disclosure: Last year, I wrote a handful of op-eds for the Kyunghyang, but have no relationship with them at present.)
Our relationship with the people we cover sometimes needs an element of hostility and antagonism.
Whether or not she made the right call, Changs case is reminder that off-the-record is a privilege granted by the journalist, not a vow of silence set down by a government official. The job of the reporter is to question it and resist it as much as possibleperhaps even revisiting the agreement when the public interest calls for it. Our relationship with the people we cover sometimes needs an element of hostility and antagonism; sometimes, they need us as much as we need them, and it can be more ethical to burn our access than to bow too hastily to the terms dictated to us.
Max Kim contributed reporting.
Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today
Geoffrey Cain , a Seoul-based journalist, will publish a book about South Korea in May 2017 from Crown.
Soon after Donald Trump kinda, sorta implied on Tuesday that Second Amendment people could take up arms against Hillary Clinton, former CIA Director Michael Hayden slammed the GOP nominees remarks in memorable fashion on CNN: You get to a certain point in this business, and youre not just responsible for what you say. Youre responsible for what people hear.
Trump obviously absolves himself of that responsibilityand his self-absolution is perhaps the fundamental quandary for journalists covering him. Whereas much of traditional political coverage centers on what candidates say, Trump has forced reporters into the awkward position of trying to evaluate what his supporters might hear. Exact phrasing doesnt matter. In fact, Trumps typical word salad provides something of a frontline defense against critical media coverage of his more ridiculous statements.
Take, for example, when Trump kinda, sorta implied after the Orlando nightclub shooting that President Obama was in league with ISIS. Or when he kinda, sorta implied that Ghazala Khan didnt speak at the Democratic National Convention because Islam forbade her from doing so. Or any of the other conspiracy theories he kinda, sorta spews. Many people are saying these things, Trump often explains. You tell me.
The reality TV stars genius lies in a simple trick: He raises ideas while at the same time distancing himself from them just enough to deflect criticism. He establishes some measure of plausible deniabilityat least for those who take his statements at face value. Many voters see through this rhetorical ballet, but it poses problems for mainstream news organizations bound by journalistic norms.
The implication of Trumps remarks on Tuesday seems clear in video recordings of his speech, but far less so in text: If [Clinton] gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment peoplemaybe there is, I dont know. The ambiguity is endless.
Sign up for CJR 's daily email
Clearly, you want to report what was said, and if you take it literally, its difficult to say, Yes, [Trump] has called for her to be assassinated, says Jennifer Mercieca, a Texas A&M professor who specializes in American political rhetoric. But how should you convey the meaning or implication of what he said? If you take it from that point of view, then yeah, it sounds like hes saying people should assassinate her.
Many major news organizations tread lightly in their description of Trumps comment. The New York Times ran its front-page story under the print headline, Trump suggests gun owners act against Clinton. The lede begins: Donald J. Trump on Tuesday appeared to raise the possibility that gun rights supporters could take matters into their own hands if Hillary Clinton is elected president and appoints judges who favor stricter gun control measures.
While the Times did describe Trumps remarks as a violent insinuation later in the story, it and other mainstream outlets let surrogates from both campaigns clarify Trumps meaning for readers. Reporters own analysis of what Trump implied was largely relegated to cross-referencing his literal word choice with his campaigns defense afterward.
From the Times:
[Trumps campaign] insisted he was merely urging gun rights supporters to vote as a bloc against Mrs. Clinton. But at his rally earlier in the day, Mr. Trump had actually been discussing what could happen once Mrs. Clinton was president, not before the election. And even many in the audience seemed caught by surprise. Video showed a man just over Mr. Trumps shoulder go slack-jawed and turn to his companion, apparently in disbelief, when Mr. Trump made the remark.
Guy behind Trump immediately realized what he said was a problem. https://t.co/F3mSP9GLqt Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) August 9, 2016
Points for tryingand it goes without saying that Times readers can likely see through this charade, if they havent disavowed Trump already. Still, Mercieca adds, Its very difficult to derive meaning from what he says. Trump instead forces mainstream journalists to dance along.
In a March article for The Conversation, Mercieca argued that Trump largely relies on the use of paralipsis, a device that enables him to publicly say things that he can later disavowwithout ever having to take responsibility for his words. When Trump retweets white supremacists, for example, he doesnt technically say those retweeted words to his 10.8 million followerseven if they get the message. Theres daylight for a Trump denunciation later on. As Mercieca sums up the rhetorical device: Im not saying; Im just saying.
Its brilliant, she adds. Its all designed so that he cannot be held accountable.
By defying this basic convention of journalismthat politicians can be held accountable for the words that come out of their mouthsits easy for Trump to frame critical coverage as a witch hunt. His campaign immediately put out a statement on the dishonest media following his remarks Tuesday, touting them instead as a call for political action by gun rights supporters. On Wednesday, the campaign circulated similar talking points, which The Wall Street Journals Reid J. Epstein shared on Twitter:
Trump campaign talking points on Second Amendment people, distributed to allies at 9:24 am today pic.twitter.com/PVT69qmB3Q Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) August 10, 2016
Trump surrogates and apologists quickly proceeded to push those counternarratives, reveling in yet another opportunity to bash the dishonest media. But perhaps the most telling response came from campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson. When CNNs Jake Tapper asked, simply, What exactly was Mr. Trump saying? her response was laughably on-message: Mr. Trump was saying exactly what he said.
Exactly. Trump does his dance, dripping spray-tan-colored paint over the American political canvas in a campaign of abstract expressionism. Its up to reporters to derive meaning from words Trump himself implies are meaningless. A steady hand will be key in deciphering Trumps intentions going forward. His campaign is faltering, and its likely that he will only flail more violently as it continues struggling to settle into an autumn rhythm.
Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today
David Uberti is a writer in New York. He was previously a media reporter for Gizmodo Media Group and a staff writer for CJR. Follow him on Twitter @DavidUberti.
A Connecticut woman who found her 77-year-old husband crushed to death under an all-terrain vehicle when she brought him lunch at his job cannot sue his employer for severe emotional injuries she suffered, the state Supreme Court ruled recently.
Justices issued a unanimous decision in an appeal filed by Jenny Velecela. Her husband, Austin Irwin, was under the large ATV doing repairs at All Habitat Services in Branford on July 16, 2011, when it slipped off a lift and killed him. Velecela found him a short time later.
In an agreement with All Habitat Services, Velecela received $300,000 in workers compensation benefits for her husbands death, but she also filed a lawsuit against the company alleging it was responsible for the emotional injuries she suffered when she found her husbands body.
The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that Connecticuts workers compensation law bars people from suing for negligent infliction of emotional distress if they receive workers compensation benefits.
The decision was similar to one the high court issued last week. In that case, justices said two workers injured in a power plant explosion that killed six other people in Middletown in 2010 could not sue a contractor for negligence because they had received workers compensation benefits.
Velecelas lawyer, Kevin Dehghani, argued that the state Workers Compensation Act does not cover bystander emotional distress, so Velecela should be allowed to sue the company. Barring such claims would leave a whole class of injuries uncompensated in Connecticut, Dehghani wrote.
Dehghani said that he was disappointed with the courts decision and the precedent it sets.
Velecela could not be reached. A phone listing for her could not be found.
An official with All Habitat Services did not immediately return a message Monday.
The companys lawyer, Michael Deakin, said he and company officials express sympathy to Irwins family. Deakin said the issue in the court case was straight forward. He said that under Connecticut and most other workers compensation laws, people who receive workers compensation benefits give up rights to pursue other claims against employers.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
With nearly 400,000 employees expected to retire from the insurance industry workforce within the next few years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, its incumbent on carriers to consider the ways in which they communicate with and recruit job applicants.
According to PwCs top issues annual report 2016, Commercial insurers like many other kinds of insurers have an aging workforce and are facing an impending talent crunch. Automation cannot replace the qualitative judgment that is necessary for effective underwriting. Therefore, it is vital for insurers to develop a performance-driven culture that enables the recruitment, development, and retention of younger underwriting talent.
This impending talent shortage, coupled with recent studies suggesting that the insurance industry isnt widely appealing to millennials, is forcing insurers to rethink their recruiting strategy, according to Dave Coons, senior vice president of Jacobson Group.
Were facing a potential talent shortage unlike anything weve ever seen in the past, Coons said.
The insurance industry isnt alone in this workforce revolution.
The authors of the PwC report wrote, Most US employers are woefully unprepared for the business realities of an aging workforce and face a potentially massive loss of skilled, knowledgeable workers. Companies that effectively recruit, train and develop dedicated future staff and leaders will differentiate themselves and set themselves up for success into the future.
As a result of this massive transformation, insurers must reexamine how potential employees are screened and interviewed, Coons explained.
In the past, we were always more inclined to screen candidates out, Coons said. However, this is quickly being replaced with a screening in mentality meaning that we have to more actively or proactively engage candidates to consider longterm careers in the insurance industry.
In their 2016 property casualty insurance outlook report, Ernst and Young noted that Insurers must be proactive in recruiting and retaining next-generation innovators and leaders.
The role of one department in particular is highlighted in the PwC report: Human resources recruiters are the scouting departments of the insurance industry. Insurance recruiters have two options to hire experienced candidates or recruit and develop raw talent through effective training programs.
According to Chad Record, assistant vice president of The Jacobson Group, candidates may not know about the wide array of opportunities that exist within an insurance company.
Thats because in the past, the focus on a potential employee might be just on the skills needed for a particular job. Now, carriers are widening their focus on all of an applicants abilities to zero in on where their skillset might best fit into the company.
Its incumbent on the company to look at where their skills and competencies might transcend certain boundaries and actually help candidates explore options and alternatives within the organization, Record said.
Record said if a candidate is placed in a role that maximizes his or her strengths, it will lead to greater job satisfaction and engagement.
The emphasis for insurers looking to increase staff size and replace employees is to cater to millennials, said Coons. With 66 percent of insurers looking to add staff, according to a Jacobson and The Ward Group study, and millennials expected to make up 50 percent of the workforce population, its a no-brainer.
Catering to millennials means offering job stability, providing meaningful work and rewards for the type of work they do, Record explained. In addition, advanced technology and providing millennials a voice in how they perform their jobs are important workplace qualities.
Leveraging energy, enthusiasm and creativity might advance a companys growth and development, Record said.
Changes in employee recruitment calls for changes in the interview process as well, explained Record. There has been an increase in the use of video conferencing for interviews as well as video career fairs. In addition, the interview process may now include peer to peer interviews.
Theres a greater emphasis on peer to peer interviews which allows candidates to get a better sense of who they will be working with, rather than just who they will be working for, said Record. Team work is very appealing to millennials so this process is something were seeing a lot more of these days.
Coons provided examples of what some insurers are doing to revise their recruitment process. This includes an increased use of social media for a broader reach proactively and interactively with prospective employees. Carrier career websites have also been upgraded to offer options such as click to chat with a recruiter, employee videos and links to social media. The idea is to be able to interact 24/7, Coons said.
Coons expressed his enthusiasm for all of the changes happening in the hiring process.
Its an exciting time to be employed in the insurance industry, said Coons.
The Idaho Supreme Court has affirmed a jury verdict for $3.8 million against a southwest Idaho doctor following the death of a woman who underwent a liposuction procedure.
The court ruled Thursday in the wrongful death and medical malpractice case against Silk Touch Laser and it owner, anesthesiologist Brian Kerr, the Idaho Statesman reported.
Krystal Ballard, 27, underwent the liposuction and fat-transfer procedure in 2010 and died less than a week later from septic shock caused by bacteria.
Her husband, Charles Ballard, filed a wrongful death lawsuit, and a jury in 2014 awarded him about $2.5 million in economic damage and $1.3 million in non-economic damages.
Kerr appealed with several challenges. But the court said there is substantial evidence supporting the verdict.
We are pleased with todays decision, which affirms the verdict reached by an Ada County jury in this lawsuit, said Scott McKay, attorney for Ballard.
Kerr said hes sad about the death, but he wishes Krystal Ballard had taken advised precautions to prevent infection.
One of the things that kind of gets lost in this is the patient, Kerr said. And I certainly feel badly for Charles and his loss and certainly the passing of Krystal. I dont want to, as I make comments, I dont want to be at all disparaging about her. I think my sadness is I wish that she had done what we had asked her to do (for infection prevention), and the only thing we have changed about our practice is to put more of an emphasis on that.
Kerr said patients have asked him about the case, but it hasnt affected his business. He said the business had no previous incidences of infections like Ballards, and he believes the equipment used during the procedure had been properly disinfected and sterilized.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
As of last week, 219 current or former Wah Chang employees or their survivors had received more than $35 million in benefits as compensation from the federal government for cancers contracted through radiation exposure at the Millersburg, Ore., metals refinery.
Most of them owe a debt of gratitude to Mark Backer, whose petition on behalf of his late father, Roy Backer, was the basis for establishing special exposure cohort status for the plant, a designation that made it much easier for claimants to qualify for benefits.
The Backer family, however, has yet to see a dime in compensation. Even though it was Mark Backers petition that created the special exposure cohort covering hundreds of Wah Chang employees, his fathers claim has never been approved by the U.S. Department of Labor.
I have fought with them since Clinton was president, Backer says today.
Im glad somebody got something out of all this hard work, but this whole thing is crazy.
The Wah Chang plant in Millersburg (now officially called ATI Specialty Alloys and Components but still widely known by its original name) began operations in 1956 to produce zirconium using a process developed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines Albany Research Center. The facility just outside Albany remains a major refiner of zirconium, used in fuel assemblies for nuclear reactors, as well as other exotic metals such as hafnium, niobium, tantalum and vanadium.
Many of the metals that come out of Wah Chang have military applications, and for a brief period Jan. 1, 1971, to Dec. 31, 1972 the company had a contract to melt down and reprocess depleted uranium for the U.S. nuclear weapons program.
While there are multiple sources of radiation at the 110-acre plant, the uranium was potentially much more dangerous. Wah Chang officials have not disclosed how much depleted uranium went through the plant over that two-year span, but the companys state-issued radioactive materials license authorized it to have up to 50,000 pounds of the stuff on site at any one time.
According to the companys current license, roughly 5 pounds of depleted uranium remains on the site inside a mothballed electron-beam furnace.
Because the radiation hazard was connected to nuclear weapons production, Wah Chang was covered as an atomic weapons employer under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, or EEOICPA for short. Congress passed the law in 2000 to provide cash compensation and medical benefits to workers at hundreds of privately owned factories and government laboratories involved in the nations Cold War nuclear weapons buildup, many of whom were exposed to cancer-causing radiation without their knowledge or consent.
Part B of the program provides compensation of $150,000 and covers medical expenses for qualifying atomic weapons workers who develop one of 22 types of cancer as a result of workplace radiation exposure.
Mark Backer learned about the program shortly after it went into effect, and on July 29, 2002, he filed a claim for benefits on behalf of his mother, Melva Backer. The claim sought compensation for the death of her husband, Roy, who worked at the Bureau of Mines Albany Research Center at 1450 Queen Ave. S.W. from 1951 to 1956 and at the Wah Chang plant in 1956 to 1979.
Roy Backer, a chemical engineer, was involved with the Wah Chang plant in Millersburg from the very beginning, when it first spun off from the Bureau of Mines. As his son puts it, He built that plant.
He became superintendent of the plants separations division, a job that frequently left him covered in grime. As Mark Backer recalls, he would come home so filthy that his wife wouldnt let him in the door.
My mom made him get undressed before he came into the house, he said. The next day, the bushes where he hid his clothes were dead.
Later, the family would wonder whether something Roy Backer was exposed to at work led to his own early death.
In 1974 he was diagnosed with melanoma, a type of skin cancer. Despite years of chemotherapy treatments, his illness grew progressively worse, eventually metastasizing into lung cancer. He died on Nov. 3, 1981, at the age of 59.
He never cashed a single Social Security check, Mark Backer said.
While Backer was convinced that his fathers death was connected to his work, proving it is another matter.
Obtaining benefits through EEOICPA hinged on a process called dose reconstruction, which attempts to document how much radiation someone was exposed to on the job and what the health effects of that exposure might have been. If the dose reconstruction team determines it is at least as likely as not that workplace radiation exposure was the cause of a covered cancer, the claim is approved. If the likelihood is less than 50 percent, the claim is denied.
Its a tricky process, especially when it needs to be done long after the fact. In Roy Backers case, more than six years elapsed from the time a claim was filed until his son was notified that sufficient information has been gathered from the available records sources to initiate reconstruction for your claim.
That was in March 2010, and Mark Backer was at his wits end.
This thing has been nothing but an exercise in frustration and anxiety, he said.
But then Backer learned about another option. Someone familiar with the EEOICPA told him about the special exposure cohorts that had been set up at certain atomic weapons employers. For job sites covered by a special exposure cohort, no dose reconstruction is required. The presumption is that anyone who was employed for a certain amount of time at an special exposure cohort site typically 250 work days, a standard work year and developed one of the specified illnesses is eligible for benefits.
There was no special exposure cohort for Wah Chang at the time, but Backer didnt let that stop him. He asked the government to create one.
On June 9, 2010, Backer submitted a special exposure cohort petition to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, which handles dose reconstructions for EEOICPA benefits. In the NIOSH petition, he argued that attempting to perform a dose reconstruction for his fathers radiation exposure based on workplace records was impractical because there was no monitoring for internal or external exposure and there was no protection (gear or working environment).
The petition asked that a special exposure cohort be created for all employees who worked at Wah Chang during two specific time periods: Jan. 1, 1971, through Dec. 31, 1972, when depleted uranium was being reprocessed at the plant, and Jan. 1, 1973, through Jan. 11, 1979, when Backers father left Wah Chang to go to work for another company.
A NIOSH advisory board evaluated the petition and recommended that a special exposure cohort be created for anyone who worked at Wah Chang for at least 250 days between Jan. 1, 1971, and Dec. 31, 1972, when the depleted uranium work was being done. The designation was formally approved on April 29, 2011. (A residual exposure period was also established for employees who worked at Wah Chang between Jan. 1, 1973, and March 1, 2011. Those workers could still establish a claim for benefits but would still have to go through dose reconstruction.)
Mark Backer won that battle, but he still lost the war.
Even though his father worked at Wah Chang during the special exposure cohort period and was ultimately diagnosed with a covered condition lung cancer shortly before his death, his claim was eventually denied on what Backer claims is a technicality.
The doctor who treated Backers father specified that he had cancer of the pleura, the membrane that wraps around the outside of the lungs. For that reason, he said, the claim was rejected.
My fathers cancer spread to his arms, then to the body cavities and finally to his lungs, Mark Backer said. But because his surgeon said it had spread to the pleura of the lungs, they said it wasnt a covered cancer.
While it may not have helped the Backers, the creation of the special exposure cohort has been a godsend to other Wah Chang claimants.
Of the 465 Wah Chang workers who have filed claims for benefits under the EEOICPA, less than half 228 were covered by the special exposure cohort. But almost 72 percent of those claims have been approved, compared to just 24 percent of claims that required dose reconstruction.
Among the people who have received compensation is the family of Roy Backers brother Leo, who worked at Wah Chang and later died of cancer. A number of other family members have also worked at the Millersburg plant and could ultimately benefit from the compensation program, including Marks brother Greg Backer, who worked for 10 years as an electron-beam furnace operator.
Mark Backer himself spent some time as a Wah Chang employee, working there in the summers to pay his way through college.
My job was checking scrap metal with a Geiger counter, he said.
Garry Steffy, an ex-Wah Chang employee who has led the charge to spread the word about the EEOICPA despite the companys refusal to provide contact information for former workers, said Backers special exposure cohort petition laid the groundwork for that success.
His filing was great for everybody else, Steffy said.
But while hes sympathetic to the Backer familys plight, hes also concerned with the hundreds of other former Wah Chang employees whose claims have been denied.
Im grateful they filed this claim and got the whole thing going, Steffy said. But if they werent eligible for it, there were a whole lot of other people who werent eligible either.
Meanwhile, Mark Backer has continued to press his fathers claim. From his home in the San Francisco Bay area, he has fired off letters to Labor Department hearings officers, U.S. senators and anyone else he thinks may be able to help his cause. So far, nothing has worked.
He also filed a claim seeking compensation for the death of his maternal grandfather, Fearn Jordan, who worked as a janitor at the Bureau of Mines Albany Research Center and died of cancer at age 63. That claim, too, was denied, although some workers at the facility have received compensation under the EEOICPA.
At this point, Backer says, its not really about the money. If his 90-year-old mother were to receive compensation, it would go to help cover the costs of her healthcare, which would quickly use up all the funds.
But it would provide a kind of validation.
It would mean acknowledgment of my grandfather and my fathers contributions to our nations defense, Backer said.
Both men served in the military during wartime, and both went on to jobs with Department of Energy contractors involved in atomic weapons work that may have exposed them to hazardous radiation. And both, Backer said, made the ultimate sacrifice.
I believe consequently, as a result of that, they both died prematurely, he said. And that should be acknowledged.
The family has received one thing from a grateful nation.
In 2009, Congress designated Oct. 30 as a national day of remembrance to honor the sacrifices made by the thousands of atomic weapons workers who helped build up Americas nuclear arsenal during the Cold War. A year later, Mark and Melva Backer received a handwritten letter from Denise Brock, an ombudsman with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, thanking them for the selfless service that your loved one gave in defense of our Country.
Enclosed was a small bronze lapel pin commemorating the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic weapons dropped on Japan to end World War II.
For Mark Backer, it was a slap in the face for a woman who lost both her father and her husband.
They sent my mom an atomic bomb pin, he said. I wish I was making this up, but Im not.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
OHAPBeesSwarm-2016.jpg
More than 10,000 bees swarmed at the Avon Lake Ford assembly plant.
AVON LAKE, Ohio - Busy as bees, some of the hard working employees at the Avon Lake Ford assembly plant noticed unusual activity on the north side of the building. It turned out to be a swarm of about 10,000 bees.
The uninvited guests had attached themselves to a barrel pad, which is the place where the plant unloads and stores non-flammable fluids and other items which get shipped in barrel-like containers.
When word got out about the bees, one employee was worried because of a long-time allergic reaction to bees.
Rather than trying to destroy the swarm right away, however, the Ford environmental team was called in. They determined the bees were honey bees and that a local beekeeper might be very happy to come and get them. They figured right when they contacted North Ridgeville resident, Bonnie Pierson.
North Ridgeville beekeeper Bonnie Pierson rescues the bee swarm in Avon Lake.
Pierson has been a beekeeper for more than 20 years. An aunt and uncle next door as she was growing up kept bees, so she became used to them and appreciative of what bees produce, as well as their part in the lifecycle on earth.
"When Ford called to tell me there was a swarm of honey bees at the plant in Avon Lake, I jumped on it quickly because once bees leave their original home, they cluster in a holding spot and will stay for only a short time," Pierson said.
"They are searching for a cavity suitable for their next home. They could be in the holding spot for minutes, hours or days. I wanted to get there before they decided to start looking for their next home."
Pierson said she liked what she saw when she arrived. "The swarm had settled on a low spot, rather than in a tree, so I could easily coax them into a cardboard box."
Without major perspiration or a pounding heart as many others would have experienced, Pierson showed them a cardboard box without even wearing her beekeeper's veil. "The edge of the swarm started marching in slowly," she said, "so I started to push them in by using my bee brush." A bee brush is like a long paint brush, she explained, used to encourage them to move but not hurt or squash them. Before she used the bee brush, she donned her beekeeper's veil.
Pierson took them home to what she calls "a hobby out of control." She has about 12 colonies of honey bees in her yard in different stages of productivity. "Some are productive and some swarms are not big enough to be producers yet," she said.
Pierson explained that if she can get them started by April, the bees can usually produce honey by June. But if she catches a swarm in June or July, they don't have enough time to build a comb and have honey too.
"This swarm was big enough that they could build a lot of comb right away. If they make it through the winter, they will be producing for me next year, beginning about June," she said.
Pierson is serious about her interest in bees and their usefulness here on earth. She is a member of the Lorain County Beekeepers organization.
Because honey bees have been disappearing in high numbers (an issue known as colony collapse disorder) she believes people need to begin to take care of their yards in a manner that will protect the bees.
Her advice includes trying to keep one's yard more organic, especially avoiding insecticides and herbicides for weeds. To kill weeds safely, place newspaper or cardboard around your plants, she said, then cover them with wood mulch.
Also, don't let small pools of water accumulate where mosquitoes can breed, and plant bee-friendly flowers and plants. Through her travels she has learned that other countries don't pollute their yards as we do here in the U.S.
"I have been to 30 countries. They don't contaminate their land like we do. We can learn from them," she said. She added, "Bees provide reassurance that evolution works and they bring peace of mind, showing that there is a greater force at work.
For more information on bees, Pierson advises visiting the web site loraincountybeekeepers.org. In addition to monthly meetings, the organization has classes in the spring for new beekeepers. They will also have a bee-barn at the Lorain County Fair with honey for both tasting and purchasing.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Say "so long" to visions of a Le Meridien hotel on Euclid Avenue.
After years of struggling to secure financing for a hospitality project, an out-of-state development group appears to have lost its shot at remaking the historic John Hartness Brown complex in downtown Cleveland. Now the property is likely to be sold to Alto Partners, another out-of-town developer with designs on making the empty buildings part of the center city's revival.
On Aug. 4, a Cuyahoga County judge authorized a court-appointed receiver - someone tasked with preserving the property's value during foreclosure litigation - to move ahead with a sale to Alto. Tuesday marked the last chance for the current ownership group, led by California businessman Steve Goodman, to hang onto the property by matching Alto's offer and coming up with $9.1 million in cash.
That deadline passed uneventfully, court records show.
Now the long-troubled buildings, at 1001-1101 Euclid Ave., are slated to get their third owner since 2007. The sale to Alto is scheduled to occur by Oct. 31, though the transaction is contingent on keeping valuable state preservation tax credits that are set to expire Oct. 1.
In an email Wednesday morning, receiver Mark Dottore confirmed that Goodman and his partners didn't come up with a last-minute payment to save the Le Meridien deal. Dottore took control of the property last year, as the result of a foreclosure lawsuit filed by a New York mortgage-holder waiting on more than $8 million in unpaid principal, interest and fees.
In a phone interview late Wednesday, Goodman said he simply ran out of time. But he's not ready to walk away. His team plans to file an appeal, with hopes of changing the outcome of the court process and getting Alto's attention.
"I don't think anybody gives us enough credit for all the money we've put into this project," Goodman said. "From the beginning, it was a cobbling together ... ad it seemed like every time I turned around, things that I had reasonable expectations of didn't come to pass."
Court records show that an investor linked to Goodman made a competing, $9.5 million purchase offer for the real estate on Aug. 1 and submitted confidential financial records to the court a few days later. But that late-coming proposal didn't sway Common Pleas Court Judge Brendan Sheehan.
"The purported higher offer failed to conform with the requirements and procedures established by this court for the submission of bids," Sheehan wrote, alluding to a sealed-bid process conducted earlier this year by Hanna Commercial Real Estate, at Dottore's direction.
"Time is of the essence in selling the property to obtain maximum value for the property, given the value and pending expiration of historic tax credits in the absence of a qualified buyer," the judge wrote in his Aug. 4 order allowing for the sale to Alto.
The state awarded credits to an earlier version of the John Hartness Brown preservation project back in 2007, under the first and most expansive version of a popular program that has since become narrower and more competitive.
But the building has languished. It changed hands once, passing to Goodman and his partners from the prior, troubled owner; it was cleared out, with help from public money earmarked for property clean-up; and it generated a pile of unpaid property-tax bills and litigation.
The Ohio Development Services Agency, which administers the historic tax credit program, has granted several grace periods to Goodman and his partners, preserving an $11 million award that is more than twice what the project could win today if developers had to reapply. The credits don't actually flow to a project until the work is complete, and the state has rescinded awards for redevelopment deals that drag or fall through.
To transfer the credits to Alto, the agency must receive and approve an amendment to the project's application. Similarly, the state would have to evaluate and sign off on any changes to the nature of the project.
Last month, Dottore described Alto's plans for a mixed-use project, with retail, parking and residential upstairs. That would be a departure from the 206-room hotel that Goodman and his partners were trying to develop.
Michael Sabracos, Alto's chief executive officer of U.S. operations, said the company doesn't have final plans in place and isn't ready to talk yet. Alto is a privately held company that appears to be based in Turkey, with offices in the U.S., Kazakhstan, Russia and Iraq.
Goodman nonetheless believes his group can find a way to regain control of the building and keep the Le Meridien alive. "I still think this is a good project, and I think it's the right project," he said. "It just needs to get back on track."
If the sale to Alto moves forward, though, it will end a messy chapter for a property that downtown advocates have been watching for nearly a decade. Then the question will be whether Alto can achieve what Goodman and other developers have, so far, failed to do: revive one of the last nettlesome and blighted stretches of Euclid between Public Square and Playhouse Square.
Paul Kaufman
Cleveland Attorney Paul Kaufman, right confers with a client during a court recess in 2002. Kaufman was indicted Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016 for stealing from a series of clients between 2009 and 2014.
(Dale Omori, The Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted a former Cleveland attorney Wednesday for stealing money from his clients.
Paul Kaufman, 67, is charged with 41 felony counts including theft and forgery. He resigned from his law practice in 2015 after numerous clients filed complaints with the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection. Victims were awarded $189,000 out of the fund.
Kaufman, of Shaker Heights, now faces prison time if convicted of stealing from 15 clients. The attorney won the clients more than $215,000 in a class action settlement with drug maker Merck in 2009, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor says, but failed to distribute the funds to the plaintiffs in the settlement.
"Attorneys like Paul Kaufman are why so many people look down on the legal profession," Assistant County Prosecutor James A. Gutierrez wrote in a news release. "He chose to ignore his responsibilities as a lawyer and to cheat his clients, and now he is going to have answer for those crimes."
The Ohio Supreme Court suspended Kaufman's law license last year. In its order, the court writes that Kaufman "has engaged in conduct that violates the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct and poses a substantial threat of serious harm to the public."
Calls to Kaufman's listed phone number were not answered Wednesday afternoon. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas on Aug. 24.
Read the indictment below or
13876427_635338539976487_5607649209294331402_n.jpg
Feast to the Beat comes to Cleveland on Saturday, Aug. 13.
(National Park Service)
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The National Park Service is hitting the road for its 100th birthday - and the party is coming to Cleveland.
Cleveland and the Ohio & Erie Canalway is one of four designated National Heritage Areas to be featured in the National Park Service's Feast to the Beat Centennial Celebration.
Feast to the Beat is a road trip from the West to the East Coast celebrating the park service's 100th birthday. The tour will roll into Cleveland from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, at Hart Crane Memorial Park, 1850 Columbus Road, in the Ohio & Erie Canalway National Heritage Area. It was originally scheduled for nearby Canal Basin Park.
It will feature music, food and beer. Music will be provided by "Jam in the Van," a solar-powered state-of-the recording studio on wheels that will feature local bands who will record a three-song set, complete with video.
Wesley Bright & the Honeytones, Marcus Alan Ward, the Lawsuits, Honeybucket and Shivering Timbers will perform.
Fox TV's Master Chef Jamie Gwen will highlight local food through several cooking demos. There will be Great Lakes beer pairings.
Activities will highlight the history and future of the Columbus Road peninsula, once known as Cleveland Centre. There will also be tours of Canal Basin Park and the Red Line Greenway, along with demonstrations at the Crooked River Skate Park and public rowing by the Cleveland Rowing Foundation and NALU stand-up paddle boarding. Throughout Feast to the Beat, there will be games and giveaways.
Aug. 25 is the actual birthday of the the National Park Service, marking the day President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill that created the agency "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."
Other celebrations planned in the area include:
Saturday, Aug. 20: Picnic in the Park with Countryside Conservancy
9 a.m. to noon, Howe Meadow 4040 Riverview Road, Peninsula.
Chefs Doug Katz, Ben Bebenroth and Ernie Cornelius will be preparing seasonal picnic dishes sourced from Countryside Farmers' Market vendors.
Picnics are available to pre-order from the Countryside Conservancy: http://www.cvcountryside.org/BookingRetrieve.aspx?ID=90144.
The deadline to order is Thursday, Aug. 11.
Sunday, Aug. 21: Celebrate100!
Noon to 5 p.m., Howe Meadow 4040 Riverview Road, Peninsula.
A free event featuring live music, family-friendly activities and a picnic. Activities include Ollie the Otter scavenger hunt, giant coloring pages, bug boxes, bubbles, hula hoops, games, crafts and live theater
Learn more about these celebratory events at conservancyforcvnp.org/celebrate100.
FAIRVIEW PARK, Ohio -- A person of interest in the disappearance of a Fairview Park teenager 39 years ago is in police custody out of state.
The unidentified person is facing charges unrelated to the 1977 disappearance of 17-year-old Yvonne Regler, Fairview Park police Lt. Paul Shepard said Wednesday.
Police declined to release details about the person's identity, location and charges.
The person of interest is not a member of Yvonne' family, and investigators don't know if the person knew Yvonne before her disappearance, Shepard said.
Police believe Yvonne was abducted from a Lorain Road gas station. Investigators do not know if she is alive or dead.
"We have a disappearance, but we don't have a body," Shepard said.
Investigators re-examined the cold case file and conducted new interviews with Yvonne's family and friends and surviving witnesses after a family member offered to give a DNA sample to the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children in 2014. That gave detectives a sample to compare if they found Yvonne's remains.
Fairview Park police announced they had identified a person of interest and released a timeline of the day of Yvonne's disappearance and an age-enhanced photograph Monday, the 39th anniversary of her disappearance.
Yvonne worked at a Sunoco in North Olmsted, but was transferred to the full-service Sunoco on Lorain Road near West 192nd Street in Fairview Park for the day. She called family and friends from the gas station that morning, saying she had planned to go to the wake of a friend's relative and meet up with some friends.
She was on the phone with one of her friends at 12:30 p.m. when a car drove up to the pump, drove away, then came back, police said.
Another customer bought gas at 1:25 p.m. and paid with a credit card. Yvonne initialed the receipt.
Sometime between 1:30 p.m. and 2:05 p.m., three people said they went to the gas station and there was no worker there. The door was unlocked and someone's purse was sitting behind the counter, but none of the people thought anything of it and didn't call police, Shepard said.
Yvonne left behind her purse, cigarettes and a book. There was no sign of a struggle and no money was missing from the register.
Investigators believe that a man abducted Yvonne while she was pumping his gas.
The car that drove away and came back at 12:30 p.m. is important because investigators don't know if the car was involved in Yvonne's disappearance, Shepard said. Police still don't have a description of the car.
Fairview Park police urge anyone with information about the case to call them at 440-333-1234.
If you wish to discuss or comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section.
Like Chanda Neely on Facebook.
Follow me on Twitter:
wildwoodpark.jpeg
Aquatic Biologist Mike Durkalec of the Cleveland Metroparks displays a rare pink salmon captured in the Euclid Creek at Wildwood Park while surveying the waterway for steelhead trout.
(D'Arcy Egan/Plain Dealer file photo)
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The U.S. EPA today awarded grants totaling $825,000 to Lake Erie restoration projects, including $175,000 to the Cleveland Metroparks for a project at Wildwood Park.
The park will use the money to install bioretention cells designed to capture and treat stormwater runoff, which would prevent up to 660,000 gallons of untreated stormwater runoff from reaching Lake Erie.
The grants are awarded from the EPA's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Shoreline Cities program, a $300 million federal program to help the eight states clean up toxic hotspots and restore habitat for fish and wildlife.
The program was launched in 2010 to fund efforts to protect and restore the Great Lakes by cleaning major areas of concern, preventing and controlling invasive species, reducing nutrient runoff that contributes to harmful algal blooms, and by restoring habitat to protect native species.
"This investment will help Ohio cities build infrastructure to prevent untreated runoff from entering Lake Erie," said U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat from Ohio, in a news release. "By protecting small water sources, we can help clean up the lake and keep it healthy."
U.S. Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, said the grants help to support Lake Erie's multi-billion dollar fishing industry, the state's top tourist destination, and drinking water for 3 million Ohioans.
"The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative helps protect the lake by bringing federal agencies together with the state of Ohio to address the greatest threats to the lake - threats like harmful algal blooms, invasive species and contamination," Portman said in a news release. "These grants will make a difference in these communities, and help ensure that we preserve the lake for future generations."
Five of the 13 recipient cities of the grants are in Ohio. In addition to Cleveland, grants were awarded to Ashtabula, Huron, Sandusky and Vermillion.
Last year, $15 million was awarded to clean up and restore the Black River in Lorain, which was the largest GLRI grant ever.
This past May, the EPA awarded more than $3.3 million in grants for Ohio projects that included funding to help the Cleveland MetroParks control invasive plants in the park waters and Cuyahoga River, and $650,000 to The Nature Conservancy to help control 1,000 acres of invasive plant species on the Lake Erie coastline, including the Mentor Marsh and the Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve.
In addition, the EPA awarded $500,000 to the Western Reserve Land Conservancy for the purchase of 290 acres of easements in the Chagrin River watershed, resulting in the protection of 1,350 acres that would otherwise have been developed.
Cleveland police tape
Cleveland police are investigating a shooting at Carol McLendon Park.
(File photo)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A bullet and a kiss - that's what a man got Sunday in a Cleveland park. A gunman fired a shot into the 19-year-old before planting a kiss on his lips.
No arrests have been made in the shooting, which happened about 9:45 p.m. in a wooded area at Carol McLendon Park on East 98th Street.
The 19-year-old man and his 20-year-old friend were listening to music and talking at the park. A man they didn't know slowly walked by the duo and asked for their names.
The two men said their names and the stranger ordered them to the ground before pulling out a gun. He then shot the 19 year old, police reports say.
The man demanded the keys to the 19-year-old's car. The gunman grabbed the keys, then asked the man for a kiss. He knelt down and kissed the man on the lips and told him: "You have a sexy ass."
The gunman ran to the 19-year-old's car, but wasn't able to start it. He jumped out of the car and ran away, according to police.
Officers responding to the 911 call arrived to find a woman who lives behind the park saying she could hear a man screaming he'd been shot. Officers found him in the woods and carried him to an ambulance.
The victim was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center, where he was listed in serious condition. The officers were treated at MetroHealth as a precaution because they came into contact with his blood.
Investigators found a bullet casing in the woods near where the shooting happened, police reports say.
If you wish to discuss or comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section.
ClevelandCityHall.JPG
A Michigan businessman has proposed an amendment to Cleveland's City Charter that he hopes will champion the rights of part-time workers.
(The Plain Dealer file photo)
Cleveland, Ohio - As a controversial proposal to set Cleveland's minimum wage at $15 an hour works its way through the legislative process, another petition-driven initiative has emerged, pitting the city's business owners against the people they employ -- and threatening to undermine the city's economic recovery, city officials fear.
The proposed city charter amendment seeks to establish a "part-time workers' rights commission" and sets strict rules on scheduling, wages and promotions. It's based on the premise that productivity is increased when workers feel they are treated fairly and are "invested in a positive outlook for their employer."
But the provisions offer no exclusions for businesses that rely on scheduling flexibility, such as those that employ healthcare workers and snowplow drivers. They carry steep civil penalties if violated - as much as $10,000 per violation. And City Council President Kevin Kelley fears that, if passed, the amendment will prompt a mass exodus of businesses from the city and kill jobs.
Council was required by charter to adopt legislation Wednesday submitting the issue to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections for inclusion on the November ballot.
Where did this come from?
Behind the measure is Bob Goodrich, a businessman out of Grand Rapids, Mich., who operates a chain of movie theaters in Michigan and Missouri.
Why, you ask, would an out-of-state businessman propose changes to the laws of an Ohio city?
The answer, Goodrich said in an interview Tuesday, is three-fold: 1) Goodrich says he genuinely believes that part-time workers need a champion. 2) He is dismayed that voters - particularly low-income, unmarried women - are so disenchanted with government and politics that they are predicted to skip the November election all together. So he decided to craft a ballot issue guaranteed to get out the vote. 3) Accomplishing #1 and #2 is much easier in Ohio than almost anywhere else.
Goodrich said he had planned to push the initiative in Detroit and Kansas City, Mo. But before the measure could gain traction in either city, Goodrich said, Michigan and Missouri state lawmakers passed legislation mandating that any changes to employment laws be handled on the state level.
Goodrich said the prospect of gathering the 250,000 signatures needed for a statewide initiative was too daunting. So he looked to cities in other nearby states where the threshold was lower and where municipal employment laws were not expressly prohibited. He paid attorneys to draft charter proposals for Youngstown and Cleveland and hired people to circulate petitions.
In Cleveland, it takes 10 percent of the number of votes cast at the last general municipal election - or roughly 5,000 valid signatures - to get a charter amendment on the ballot.
Goodrich said he holds his own businesses to the same standards outlined in his proposal. He said people who work part-time jobs often must work more than one, yet they are at the mercy of employer policies that might make it difficult to coordinate work schedules or balance work and home life.
Here are the highlights of the proposed charter amendment:
Part-time Workers' Rights Commission
The charter amendment would set up a part-time workers' rights commission, consisting of five people appointed by city council to serve on a volunteer basis for two-year terms. Members would represent employers, part-time employees and the general public.
The commission would advise city council on matters involving workplace policies and conditions for part-time employees, and recommend measures aimed at promoting equitable and practical working conditions for all part-time employees, the proposal states.
Scheduling requirements
Employers would be required to provide a good-faith estimate of each employee's expected minimum number of scheduled shifts and specify the days and hours, including on-call shifts. And they must give workers at least two weeks' notice on work schedules.
Employers can only require employees to be on-call during one mutually agreed upon shift per week. Either party may cancel that shift without repercussion or penalty as long as the cancellation occurs at least 48 hours before the on-call shift is to start.
Kelley says he finds those requirements troubling, because they would apply to part-time, seasonal employees who are called in to work on a moment's notice to plow city streets and airport runways.
Goodrich said such scenarios are far less common than those involving low-wage part-time workers whose work schedules are so unpredictable, they prevent the employee from committing to a second job or planning for childcare.
Wage requirements
As for wages, employers, under the proposed charter change, would be required to pay part-time workers the same starting hourly wage that full-timers receive. Part-time employees must be given proportional access to employer-provided paid and unpaid time off, including sick leave, personal leave and vacation as that given to full-time employees for the same job classification.
And part-timers would have the same eligibility for promotions as their full-time counterparts.
How would violations be handled?
Complaints or reports of violations must be submitted within 180 days to the commission, which will investigate and attempt to arrive at a resolution between the parties. If that fails, the law director has 30 days to decide whether to pursue civil enforcement in Cleveland Municipal Court.
The first violation could result in a civil penalty, punishable by a $1,000 fine. If an employer is assessed three penalties in a 36-month period, subsequent penalties will be increased to $10,000 per violation for five years. And each day that a violation persists, following the first 75 days after a complaint is filed, constitutes a new violation.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- While the country debated whether Russia was trying to mess with America's presidential election, a massive Russian cargo jet landed in Columbus late last week.
The Volga-Dnepr plane is a behemoth, bigger that any cargo aircraft operated by a United States carrier. It had just received special permission from the United States government to pick up a load of five General Electric jet engines -- made in southwest Ohio -- and ferry them to Everett, Washington, to be mounted on new Boeing 787 jetliners. Boeing needed the engines right then, G.E. told the government, saying work on a Boeing production line in Washington had stopped because of delivery delays.
Unless you were driving by Rickenbacker International Airport in Ohio's capital on Friday, you had no idea a colossal Russian cargo airline, capable of loading from the front (with its nose flipped up as if on a hinge) and the back, was doing this. Meantime, newspaper columnists, online pundits and the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were debating about Russia, Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, the role his country played in hacking Democratic National Party emails and the use of WikiLeaks to expose the Russian-hacked emails to the world.
Russia, went the narrative, should be viewed with suspicion.
But guess what, America?
A Russian company has become our Uber for oversize, point-to-point cargo delivery within the United States, exempt or immune from all the geopolitical turmoil and talk. It carries oversize jet parts, components for America's electric infrastructure, parts that propel U.S. satellites into space.
"They even haul things for the U.S. military," said A. Oakley Brooks, president and CEO of the National Air Carriers Association, which presents American cargo companies.
Even in times of tension, such as when the White House and Congress were warning Putin not to invade Ukraine, the flights continued unabated.
"As a matter of policy, the U.S. has been good about not intertwining aviation with issues of the day," said Robert Silverberg, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney for ABX Air, a Wilmington, Ohio cargo carrier that hauls smaller loads than the Russians carry.
Here, based on a cleveland.com review of government records, is how and why the United States relies on this Russian company and a competing Ukrainian firm.
They can do it and we can't:
American companies rely on the privately owned Volga-Dnepr and its competitor, Antonov Airlines, a state-owned Ukrainian enterprise, because the companies own or lease the world's largest commercial cargo jets and American air carriers don't.
The plane of choice is made by a different division of the Antonov industrial enterprise: an Antonov 124 that specializes in heavy and oversize cargo.
It's so big and so easy to load that it can fit large parts of other aircraft, including multiple engines and wing assemblies, in its interior. A boast from Antonov on the plane: "The list of its cargo is endless - in this sense it can be called as the most universal airplane in the whole history of aviation."
No domestic carrier in the United States has such a plane.
"It's strictly a function of there being no other equivalent aircraft in the U.S.," Silverberg said.
For the record, Antonov has an even larger plane -- the world's biggest -- but it seldom flies.
Demand hasn't justified building one here:
The irony that America's leading aircraft and aerospace companies rely on Russian and Ukrainian companies for their largest interstate deliveries is lost on no one.
It is even richer that Boeing, based on Chicago and with extensive manufacturing facilities in Washington state, contracts to make a somewhat smaller cargo jet, the Boeing 747-8, for Volga-Dnepr but not for American airlines.
Two factors make this reasonable:
American airlines, including cargo haulers, no longer want the 747, a four-engine jumbo jet that American carriers believe has been eclipsed by newer, more efficient models. Were it not for demand by Volga-Dnepr for new Boeing 747's, the 747 production line might be nearing its end,
The 747 is big, but the Antonov 124 aircraft is bigger and easier to load. That's why G.E. contracts with Volga-Dnepr and Antonov Airlines to send a giant Antonov-made jet to Columbus every so often to fetch its engines and send them to Boeing -- rather than using a domestic freight airline that uses Boeing-made jets.
The market for an extraordinarily big aircraft certainly seems to exist; federal government records show requests are made within the United States every month, and sometimes more often, to hire the Russian company and one of its planes. But demand may not be strong enough to actually build and base one here.
Frank Avent, a South Carolinian who runs Airline Information Research, tracking airline industry documents, said domestic carriers have asked Boeing to build a bigger plane, but Boeing balks, and Boeing is "the only game in town for that."
"They don't think there's demand," Avent said.
Boeing has declined to comment.
The U.S. government says this is fine:
Federal aviation law normally would ban foreign carriers from offering domestic-only flights. This protects the market for United States airlines.
But Volga-Dnepr and Antonov Airlines can apply to the U.S. Department of Transportation for permission on a flight-by-flight basis if they can show they are needed to handle an emergency. The emergencies never seem to stop.
How do they define an emergency?
They say that a cargo load is ready to go from Point A to Point B in the United States, that over-land delivery is not feasible, and delays are causing a problem. The application must say that no domestic airline is available or can take a load so big. And the foreign carriers must notify domestic cargo carriers so they have a chance to object.
American freight airlines object sometimes, said Brooks, of the National Air Carriers Association. "These things are looked at hard by the American carriers, trying to preserve what business they have," he said.
Yet U.S. Department of Transportation records show objections are the exception. In fact, the Russian or Ukraine air carrier will file an emergency application one day and routinely get permission the next, for a flight to follow almost immediately.
A U.S.-based attorney for one of the overseas cargo carriers disputed that this is a phony emergency. He would not speak for attribution but said that factory production lines rely on just-in-time delivery. The alternatives to requesting an immediate emergency flight -- either scheduling a giant cargo jet without knowing exactly what day it will be needed and then keeping it idle, or else delaying delivery -- would be untenable in billion-dollar industries.
The companies make frequent flights -- including for the U.S. space program:
Federal regulatory filings show how frequently the giant jets carry American goods from one U.S. city to another. The recent docket for Volga-Dnepr, the Russian company:
Aug. 5:
July 27:
May 17:
May 12:
April 1:
Last December, Volga-Dnepr delivered an Atlas V rocket booster from Huntsville, Alabama, to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on behalf of the United Launch Alliance. The month before, the cargo was an Atlas V booster tank, carried by the Russians from Huntsville, Alabama, to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The launch alliance puts U.S. government satellites, including those for military and intelligence reconnaissance, into space and helps support the International Space Station. It's a joint project of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and its reliance on the Russians to ferry its largest rocket parts within the United States is routine.
Last September, the Russian air carrier picked up a combustion turbine rotor in Charlotte, North Carolina, for delivery to EcoElectrica, a utility in Puerto Rico.
Said the emergency application to the Department of Transportation: Urgent lift was necessary "because EcoElectrica produces 16 percent of the island's electricity and the rotor is of extraordinary importance for the operation of EcoElectrica's power plant and thus to the economy of Puerto Rico."
In other words, Russian help was needed for the U.S. territory.
The U.S. government stamped its approval almost immediately.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland officials on Tuesday released police helicopter video and scanner recordings from the flag-burning demonstration outside the Republican National Convention that ended with 18 arrests.
The 13-minutes of video starts just after 4 p.m. July 20 and focuses on East 4th Street and Prospect Avenue, as a swarm of police officers and troopers converge on a crowd of demonstrators and media in anticipation of the flag burning.
Demonstrators with the Revolutionary Communist Party watched as Gregory Lee "Joey" Johnson lit fire to the U.S. flag.
The details of what happened are hard to make out on the video, which was shot as the chopper circled hundreds of feet above the ground.
Police rushed to the center of the crowd. The fire spread to two demonstrators during an ensuing scuffle, police said.
At one point, an officer can be heard calling for an arrest van to transport Johnson, rather than try to take him through the crowd of protesters.
"We have the main instigator, the main fire guy here," the officer said. "I cannot go take him through that crowd again."
The video keeps recording as a Cleveland police commander orders the crowd to disperse over a bullhorn. It's unclear exactly where the officer was when he gave that order.
The same commander gave a final warning minutes later.
The city released the footage in two videos separate videos, with a two-minute gap between the videos. A spokesman could not verify why there was a gap in the footage provided.
Most of the 18 people arrested were charged with failure to disperse, a misdemeanor.
Dominique Knox was the only person from Northeast Ohio to be arrested during the demonstration. He pleaded not guilty to assault on a peace officer, obstructing official business and resisting arrest charges.
Johnson, who was charged with misdemeanor assault, denied police reports that he lit himself or anyone else around him on fire and said he had room for his demonstration until police rushed the area around him.
Johnson was the defendant in the 1989 Supreme Court ruling Texas v. Johnson that invalidated laws in 48 states that prohibited the desecration of American flags.
Johnson was arrested as part of a political demonstration at the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas. The ruling cemented flag burning as a form of political speech protected under the First Amendment.
If you wish to comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section.
Donald Trump
A 60-year-old man was shot and wounded in Winston's Bar on Cleveland's eastside last month after arguing with a fellow patron about Donald Trump's electability. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
"No Firearms."
The sign on the front of Winston's Bar, a working-class tavern on Cleveland's East Side, is unambiguous. So are other written instructions posted near the entrance:
"Please: no soliciting or loitering in or around this establishment."
The bar may now wish to add one more rule for those who frequent the Union-Miles neighborhood establishment.
No politics!
Late last month, an unidentified 60-year-old man was shot in the bar after debating with another regular patron the suitability of Donald Trump to serve as president. Police said Darnell Hall, 45, shot and wounded the Trump supporter in the leg after their presidential debate turned increasingly testy.
The shooter, who has had other brushes with the law, reportedly was enraged that anyone in the overwhelmingly African-American bar would support the GOP nominee. He apparently found a way to end the argument with the Trump sympathizer, and then fled the scene.
Hall wasn't on the run for long. He turned himself in last weekend, and was charged with felonious assault. His bail was set at $15,000.
The bar shooting is worth noting. As the presidential election heats up, the rules of casual political discourse appear to be changing.
Ever since Donald Trump caught fire in his race for the White House, I've heard both friends and casual acquaintances acknowledge that they now approach political conversations with caution. Lately, their political banter has become even more guarded, depending on the setting.
A person who isn't completely clear where an acquaintance stands on the candidacies of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will often steer clear of a conversation involving presidential politics. They'd rather bite their tongues than risk a disagreeable political exchange.
Then there is another extreme. A friend whom I hold in the highest esteem has discovered that he can use Trump as a blunt political instrument in his home. Whenever he's not in the mood for conversation, or simply wants to exile himself into the doghouse, he will extol the political virtues of Trump to his wife. It drives her mad, and she leaves the room or simply refuses to engage him.
The funny thing is, I don't know if my friend is an actual Trump supporter. Honestly, I'm not sure I want an answer.
This self-censoring trend promises to become more pronounced as we prepare to enter the stretch run to Election Day. Even as prognosticators predict that the race between Clinton and Trump will evolve into one of the nastiest in modern memory, many of us responsible for choosing between candidates may find ourselves making the choice in relative isolation.
So, what are the current rules -- if any -- of electoral discussion? How are we to use each other as sounding boards?
Heck if I know. This much is clear: if someone loathes your candidate, has a drink in their hand, and appears ready to blow a gasket, play it safe! Change the subject.
Remember, a Cleveland man was just shot in a neighborhood bar simply for having the temerity to say that he thought Trump would make a fine president. That's a high price to pay for a round of free speech.
Hillary Clinton
Two new Ohio polls show Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton with a slight lead over GOP rival Donald Trump.
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Clinton edges ahead in Ohio polls: Two new presidential polls released Tuesday show Democrat Hillary Clinton with a lead in Ohio, according to cleveland.com's Andrew Tobias.
A new Quinnipiac poll finds Clinton leading Donald Trump in Ohio 49 percent to 45 percent, though her lead narrowed to 2 percentage points when third-party candidates were factored in. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll, meanwhile, showed Clinton leading Trump in Ohio 43 percent to 38 percent, or 39 percent to 35 percent with third-party candidates included.
Though Clinton improved over the last Quinnipiac poll in June (which showed the race tied) the new polls are in line with pre-convention polls showing the race "as close or tied." However, as Tobias notes, Clinton's "post-convention boost" in Ohio is narrower than recent nationwide polls, which show Clinton leading Trump by an average of 7.5 percentage points.
Another good poll for Portman: "The Marist poll also found U.S. Sen. Rob Portman leading Democratic rival Ted Strickland 48 percent to 43 percent. It's the latest survey to show Portman pulling ahead of Strickland," Tobias reports.
Trump triggers another controversy: Donald Trump, after spending Monday on his "best behavior," ignited a new controversy Tuesday by appearing to call for violence against Clinton or U.S. Supreme Court nominees she might pick if elected, according to cleveland.com's Henry J. Gomez. "If [Clinton] gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks," Trump said at a North Carolina rally. "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is - I don't know."
A Trump spokesman emailed a statement afterward that the GOP nominee was saying that gun-rights supporters "are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power." Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook took a different stance in his statement: "A person seeking to be the President of the United States should not suggest violence in any way."
As Gomez notes, in politics, statements like Trump's "are called dog whistles. You speak vaguely enough to allow plausible deniability later on, but you put something out there that people will hear a certain way."
Lowest road to the highest office: While Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are running neck-and-neck in Ohio polls, there's one thing surveys have made clear: Ohioans don't like either candidate, writes Tobias. Three major polls last month showed that a majority of Buckeye State voters have an unfavorable opinion of both Clinton and Trump.
As Tobias reports, that likely means the next three months will be filled with negative campaigning, as Clinton and Trump try to drag each other down instead of lifting themselves up. The closer the race is around Election Day, the more intense the attacks will get. How that will affect voter turnout remains to be seen, as people may be either scared into voting or become so disillusioned they stay home.
Debate over debates? Trump committed to attending three debates this fall "but may try to re-negotiate the terms that have been agreed upon by a bipartisan commission," according to Time Magazine's Alex Altman and Zeke Miller. "I want to debate very badly. But I have to see the conditions," Trump said, noting that he haggled with TV networks over the terms of primary debates.
Coming to a swing state near you: Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in nearby Erie, Pa., on Friday afternoon, according to his campaign. Republican vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence, meanwhile, is set to make a campaign swing through Ohio on Wednesday along Interstate 70 - first in Dayton, then in Cambridge, in eastern Ohio.
Ice to see you: Former Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan plans to skate into Ohio on Thursday to attend the opening of Hillary Clinton campaign offices in Lima and Grove City, reports cleveland.com's Mary Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick also notes that Clinton and her super PAC "are expected to spend millions on ads during the Olympics."
Charlie Earl for president? Everyone expected Ohio's no-longer-recognized Libertarian Party to submit petitions this week to run Gary Johnson for president as an independent. But as I explain, when they submitted presidential petitions on Tuesday, they listed another name: ex-lawmaker and 2014 gubernatorial candidate Charlie Earl.
Here's why: Ohio Libertarians want to ensure that if they win their long-shot court case to regain state recognition as a party, they won't run into legal trouble by nominating Johnson while simultaneously running him as an independent. Their plan to avoid that is to insert Earl's name as a placeholder, and then swap in Johnson after the court case has been decided.
An Ohio secretary of state spokesman questioned whether such a swap would be legal under state law. But as Richard Winger of Ballot Access News points out, Ohio Libertarians used presidential stand-ins in 1996 and 2004.
#Harambe2016: Another surprise political candidate is gaining support -- Harambe, the gorilla who was shot at the Cincinnati Zoo in May after a boy fell into his enclosure. As the Cincinnati Enquirer's Jeremy Fugleberg writes, "Harambe's face is on signs at political conventions, ...Some Australian voters added Harambe as a write-in candidate on their ballots and his name was added to a recent presidential poll, where he won 5 percent support."
Audit finds unexcused absences: A state audit has found that ex-Cuyahoga Heights school district treasurer Joy Clickenger was paid for 25 days off work that she wasn't entitled to, cleveland.com's Robert Higgs reports. "Ohio Auditor Dave Yost on Tuesday announced that the state issued a finding for recovery of nearly $6,300 against Joy Clickenger, who now is treasurer at the Elyria school district." Clickenger's attorney disputed the finding, saying there is "absolute proof" that she was allowed to take the days.
Get Battleground Briefing, our FREE politics newsletter, delivered to your inbox: Sign up here. Tips or links? Send here. Follow along on Twitter: @HenryJGomez.
Strickland, Portman close in poll Other surveys show the two tied or former governor narrowly ahead
Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland -- a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio this year -- is apologizing for an off-color remark this week about late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
(Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com)
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democratic Senate candidate, has apologized for cheering the timing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's death.
"My friends," the former governor said Monday at an Ohio AFL-CIO event in the Cleveland area, "a lot of average citizens out there don't understand the importance of that court.
"I mean, the death of Scalia saved labor from a terrible decision," Strickland continued, as his audience clapped and laughed. "And I don't wish anyone ill, but it happened at a good time, because once that decision had been made it would have been tough to reverse it."
Audio of Strickland's remarks was recorded by the NTK Network and shared Wednesday morning by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the right-leaning America Rising PAC. Strickland, through his campaign, issued an apology within hours.
"That was an insensitive remark and I apologize," Strickland said.
Scalia was one of the Supreme Court's most dependable conservatives. Strickland and others have made the Senate Republicans' refusal to hold confirmation hearings on President Barack Obama's nominee to replace Scalia a central issue in this year's campaigns.
On Monday, Strickland seemed to be referring to the high court's 4-4 March decision in a case involving public-employee union's abilities to collect fees from non-members.
The tie vote essentially was a victory - at least temporarily - for organized labor.
Strickland is challenging Republican incumbent Rob Portman this fall in what is one of the nation's most expensive and closely watched Senate races. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll released this week shows Portman leading Strickland, 48 percent to 43 percent.
The Scalia comment was another unforced error for Strickland, who has gotten himself in trouble before with clumsy remarks. During a February meeting with cleveland.com reporters and editors, Strickland acknowledged that his record on gun control was "mixed and spotty" - a line that Portman allies have used relentlessly against Strickland, sometimes unfairly.
Strickland's Scalia comment also came a day before Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump drew criticism for suggesting that "Second Amendment people" might be able to stop Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival, from nominating liberal Supreme Court justices.
Trump's statement has been interpreted as a call for violence from gun-rights advocates, though the New York businessman has said he was talking only about action at the ballot box.
COLUMBUS, Ohio--Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Ted Strickland is finally going on the air with his first TV campaign ad, a one-minute spot that highlights his working-class upbringing and stances on blue-collar issues.
"The first in his family to go to college, his dad worked in a steel mill, his brothers finished concrete," the ad's announcer intones. "That's why he's fought against every bad trade deal, from NAFTA to most favored nation status for China."
The ad continues: "Now Ted Strickland is running for the U.S. Senate, calling for a moratorium on all new trade deals until we can prove they'll create American jobs."
Strickland's campaign plans to air the ad on broadcast and cable statewide starting Wednesday for at least a week, spending "seven figures" on air time, according to campaign spokesman David Bergstein. (Bergstein declined to provide more details on the size of the ad buy).
The ad, titled "Fire," comes more than two months after incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman's campaign began airing its first TV ads. Portman has been among the most well-funded Senate incumbents in the nation, while Strickland's fundraising has been underwhelming.
Until now, the only pro-Strickland ads on the air have been from outside groups such as Senate Majority PAC. But conservative groups have bought millions in ads as well on Portman's behalf.
Rep. Jim Renacci
Wadsworth Republican Rep. Jim Renacci says replacing America's corporate tax with a single digit consumption tax will recharge the nation's economy.
(Sabrina Eaton, cleveland.com)
WASHINGTON - Donald Trump isn't the only Republican on the ballot in Northeast Ohio who's plugging a new tax reform plan he says would revitalize America.
Wadsworth Republican Rep. Jim Renacci has unveiled his own tax reform plan with somewhat less fanfare than the GOP presidential nominee's highly ballyhooed roll out on Monday in Detroit.
He's been working behind the scenes to seek feedback on his proposal from business groups and his fellow congress members with the goal of passing a bill in the next Congress. He's also discussed his tax ideas with Trump and provided details of his tax plan to Trump's staff.
"Washington doesn't have all the answers and what we need to do is listen," says Renacci.
What's in Renacci's plan?
Renacci - an accountant who serves on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Commitee - blames high U.S. corporate taxes for reducing wages and benefits, hiking consumer prices and lowering stock valuations for investors.
Because other countries have cut their corporate taxes since 2000, Renacci says the United States now has the highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world, which makes businesses balk at U.S. investments and hiring.
Renacci's plan, which he calls Simplifying America's Tax System, or SATS, would repeal the nation's corporate income tax and replace it with a 7 percent value-added tax, or VAT, where goods and services are taxed at each stage of the production process, instead of on profits at the point of sale.
Renacci says many other countries have successfully implemented such a a "credit-invoice based consumption tax," and his plan "will make the U.S. the most competitive tax system in the world."
He predicts a zero percent corporate rate will trigger "a flood of investment to the U.S from foreign firms, as well as from American-based companies who have held accumulated foreign earnings overseas."
Renacci also wants to cut individual income tax rates for all taxpayers, eliminate the marriage penalty, expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and boost the standard deduction to the point where a family of four would have no income tax liability on income up to $50,000. He says this would result higher after-tax incomes for all, even accounting for consumption tax's impact.
Here's what he says his proposal will do:
Boost the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) by 5.6 percent every year over the next decade
Create 1.9 million new jobs
Increase U.S. workers' after-tax earnings by 5 percent
What do outside groups say about it?
An independent taxpayer advocacy organization called the Tax Foundation predicts Renacci's proposal would ultimately provide a slight rise in federal tax revenue. Although it would make revenue fall by around $845 billion over the next decade, the plan would "result in a substantial increase of the size of the U.S. economy in the long run" which would generate more tax dollars, the group says.
An analysis by the KPMG professional service and auditing company notes that both Renacci's plan and a June tax reform blueprint released by House Republicans call for a consumption-based tax system. It said Renacci's proposal includes features that may appeal to Democrats, such as dedicating money from a one-time repatriation tax to the highway trust fund.
"It remains to be seen how much political and stakeholder support may emerge for the proposal," the KMPG analysis said. "Nonetheless, it could be a starting point for discussion and negotiation."
How does Renacci's plan compare with Trump's?
Both plans would reduce the number of individual tax rates to three. Trump has called for reducing the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, while Renacci suggests eliminating it altogether. Renacci said Trump's plan is closer to the House GOP plan than his own.
"His plan is definitely going in the right direction," says Renacci, who supports Trump's presidential bid. "Both plans are moving in a direction of job growth and GDP growth."
On Monday, Trump promoted his plan during a private fundraising appearance in the Canton area, which Renacci attended. Renacci said the crowd of more than 100 people at the Brookside Country Club was "receptive to the direction that Trump wants to take the country."
Renacci said he didn't discuss taxes with Trump that day because others wanted to talk to the candidate and ask questions.
What's next?
The fate of either plan depends on getting elected.
Renacci has better odds of winning his election against the underfunded, longshot Democratic challenger who's seeking his seat, and going on to pursue his tax reform proposal.
For now, Renacci is trying to get the Joint Committee on Taxation to evaluate his plan. After he gets feedback from Republicans, Democrats and other stakeholders, he intends to put his ideas into legislative form and bring it before the next Congress.
"Whoever the next president is, my goal is to bring something forward that has support from both sides of the aisle," says Renacci.
$15 minimum wage protest
Members of Raise Up Cleveland along with the Service Employees International Union hold a rally in front of a McDonald's fast-food restaurant on E. 30 Street and Carnegie Avenue in support of raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
(Lisa DeJong/Plain Dealer)
Kevin Johnson, co-owner of Visiting Angels
The proposal to immediately hike Cleveland's minimum wage from $8.10 an hour to $15 an hour would seriously damage the city, resulting in significant and immediate job loss.
That's not a scare tactic or a convenient prediction crafted to augment an argument - it's fact.
Increasing the minimum wage in this manner won't do anyone in the city any good if there are far fewer jobs, and that's what would happen under this proposal.
Anyone who takes an interest in this issue must at least try to understand the plight of good, hard-working people in Cleveland who earn less than $15 an hour. For some of them, this must seem as if it is a potential opportunity to give themselves a raise if they had the chance to vote for it at the ballot box.
That is, indeed, tempting, and we understand that. In fact, we are not philosophically opposed to a minimum wage discussion, but if the issue is to be addressed, it must be at the state level.
Joe Roman is president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Partnership
Increasing the minimum wage only in Cleveland, as this plan would do, would immediately make Cleveland less competitive. Our minimum wage would be almost double what it would be in the remainder of Cuyahoga County and the rest of Ohio. Cleveland would become an isolated economic island, adrift from the mainstream economy of Northeast Ohio as well as the rest of the state.
It would stall and deeply damage the job-creating momentum that we now have in Cleveland, where our evolving local economy is showing significant and real signs of growth and success.
As just one example, at Cleveland-based Visiting Angels, senior citizens are provided non-medical, in-home assistance with their daily living needs. About 80 people work there. If this proposal to increase the minimum wage only in Cleveland were to take effect, Visiting Angels would immediately become noncompetitive.
The employees at Visiting Angels are now paid above the existing minimum wage, but in many cases they earn less than $15 an hour. Those higher labor costs could not be passed along to senior citizen clients, who would simply opt for other, less costly firms not located in the city of Cleveland.
Result? Visiting Angels would leave Cleveland and relocate elsewhere, as soon as possible taking their tax dollars to a neighboring suburb.
This plan would also discourage the expansion of existing businesses and discourage new businesses from locating in the city. There can be no doubt that this plan to raise the minimum wage in Cleveland alone is a plan that will bear unintended, significantly negative, outcomes for the very people it purports to help.
Cleveland City Council, which held public hearings on this issue, heard many predictions of lost jobs and businesses closing. A small sample:
Dave Wondolowski, executive secretary of the Cleveland Building & Construction Trades Council, which represents 17 unions: "If Cleveland adopts this minimum wage, it would destroy everything this community has been working for."
Steve Saltzman, vice president of Dave's Markets, said this plan would cripple his company and may require them to close grocery stores.
Michael D'Amato, president of Universal Heat Treating Inc. on East 93rd Street, said his family-owned business has been in Cleveland since 1965 but would likely have to close if this nearly doubling of the minimum wage in Cleveland took effect.
We want employers and employees to succeed in Cleveland. Targeting only Cleveland for such a large and immediate minimum wage increase makes no sense for the city's employers, employees and residents.
Those who are running this destructive effort would have us believe that many problems in Cleveland could be solved with one, simple, quick vote to nearly double the minimum wage. If Cleveland were to buy into that bloated temptation, the city and its residents will be left holding an empty bag in a deflated city.
Kevin Johnson, with his wife Connie Hill-Johnson, owns Visiting Angels, a senior home care firm in Cleveland. Joe Roman is president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Partnership.
Medical Marijuana Illinois
In this Sept. 15, 2015 file photo, lead grower Dave Wilson cares for marijuana plants in the "Flower Room" at the Ataraxia medical marijuana cultivation center in Albion, Illinois. Ohio's medical marijuana law takes effect Sept. 8 but with restrictive provisions that make it unlikely the law can easily serve as a screen for recreational tokes, Ted Diadiun writes.
(Seth Perlman, Associated Press, File, 2015)
CLEVELAND -- Cannabis. Hash. Weed. Locoweed. Pot. Grass. Mary Jane. Bud. Reefer. Hemp. Dope. Acapulco Gold.
As you know, these are all synonyms for marijuana (there are many more), and they are especially helpful if one is writing a column about the stuff and doesn't want to type "marijuana" 37 times. So with that out of the way:
Ohio is less than a month away from joining the 25 other states that have legalized at least some uses of marijuana.
Hemp Day in the Buckeye State will occur Sept. 8 - the specified 90 days after Gov. John Kasich, without fanfare, signed a bill that will make it legal for Ohioans to possess cannabis in some forms for medical purposes.
As reported by cleveland.com's Jackie Borchardt on Monday, there are still plenty of unknowns and it will be nearly a year before the process will be fully operational, but legalization is most assuredly coming.
At one time, that would have been terrible news for a lot of us who believe that legalizing the substance would open the door to the drug culture for untold thousands who might not otherwise have been inclined to walk through it.
Proponents of full legalization argue that weed is no more addictive than beer or alcohol ... that it is not a "gateway drug," a milder hallucinogen that leads to use of more powerful, more addictive substances. But while it is certainly likely that the majority of pot users have tried smoking it and stopped there, tell that to the survivors of people who started with weed and continued on in search of a better high before being finally stopped by a fatal overdose of cocaine, heroin or opioids.
The good news is that the Ohio legislation is not a sham law like those in Washington, D.C., and some of the states, where under the guise of medical difficulties, practically anyone can find a doctor who will, with a wink-wink, prescribe marijuana that can be smoked to help them deal with the rigors of the day.
The Ohio Legislature, in a welcome burst of bipartisanship from both the House and Senate, wisely crafted a bill that allows doctors to prescribe the drug for specific, legitimate illnesses and maladies, while walling off recreational use from those who only want to get high with a little help from their friends.
For example, it's still illegal to smoke it, or to grow your own. People with prescriptions for about 20 specific medical conditions will be able to buy plant material, patches, tinctures and oils, but with the THC -- the chemical compound that produces the high but also counteracts nausea and pain and could provide relief for other ailments -- monitored and labeled.
That stipulation stands in the way of further attempts, like the one that failed at the ballot box last November, by proponents of full legalization who want to make access to the drug similar to that in Colorado, where the frequency of hemp stores can seem overwhelming to the innocent visitor.
Last year a group with the ironic name "ResponsibleOhio" easily managed to collect more than 300,000 signatures that enabled them to get a legalization referendum on the ballot. The effort got thumped by a 2-1 majority, but polls showed that people were not necessarily opposed to legalization -- voting against it more because they didn't like the monopoly setup of who would be allowed to sell it.
In its campaign for passage, ResponsibleOhio emphasized the medical aspects of the drug, trotting out little kids with cancer or epilepsy who might be helped by marijuana treatments, while downplaying the hallucinogenic aspects.
The new law takes that part of the campaign off the table, which will make it much more difficult to rally a pro-pot majority to the cause. In fact, shortly after the bill passed the legislature, a group called Ohioans for Medical Marijuana (OMM) suspended a petition effort that had been aimed at getting a more expansive referendum on the November ballot.
That doesn't mean that the people opposed to legalization for recreational use can relax, however. The camel's nose is under the tent, and OMM was backed by a national group, the Marijuana Policy Project, which is dedicated to complete legalization of pot nationwide.
They'll be back. You can count on it.
Meanwhile, let's give credit where it's due. Ohio's legislators put aside party differences and in many cases a reluctance to attach their names to any form of legalization, in the name of common sense.
Borchardt has provided readers with definitive coverage all through the process. But even though she has no illusions after long experience covering politicians, she was also impressed.
"I've covered the Ohio Legislature for four and a half years, and I never saw it work on a bill like this," she said. "It was completely bipartisan, they took it on even though most of them didn't want to, they were open-minded and open to changes and suggestions.
"That's the way government should work. It was refreshing."
Ted Diadiun is a member of the editorial board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.
Mideast Syria War Q&A
This file photo shows a man riding a bicycle through a devastated part of Homs, Syria. Today, William Lambers writes that world leaders must come to the aid of Syrians who are starving because of the civil war in their nation.
(Dusan Vranic, Associated Press)
William Lambers, author and historian
Dr. Rajia Sharhan of UNICEF can save the lives of starving children in war-torn Syria. She can give them a miracle peanut paste called Plumpy'Nut, which nourishes children back to health. But only if Dr. Sharhan and other aid workers can reach them.
The tragedy of Syria's civil war is that children every day are being denied life-saving food by military forces who lay siege to whole cities. The Syrian government and the opposition forces all have prevented food from reaching civilians.
People starve to death, even though food is just a couple of miles away.
Sometimes the combatants will let aid convoys in to deliver supplies, then resume the fighting and start another blockade lasting months.
The town of Madaya is a tragic example. They have not received a delivery of food since April. Dr. Sharhan says reports are reaching her of children once again starving.
That is the story of Syria's civil war: innocent people caught in the crossfire and having to face extreme food shortages. We have seen this kind of suffering before from war and hunger.
When Winston Churchill knew the people of Holland were starving because of Nazi occupation during World War II, he wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt. Churchill said they should warn the Nazi command that "by resisting our attempt to bring relief to the civil population in this area they brand themselves as murderers before the world, and we shall hold them responsible with their lives for the fate which overtakes the people of Holland."
Churchill and Roosevelt knew they had to use every bit of power to avert a tragedy.
The Allies airlifted food into the famine-stricken Netherlands. This was followed by ground deliveries, a plan led by Gen. Dwight Eisenhower which saved millions of lives near the end of the war.
2015: Refugee crisis -- a wakeup call of failed world leadership: Kaylyn Hlavaty (Opinion)
Today, aid agencies want the same powerful action from world leaders to end the starvation and build peace.
Earlier this year, Save the Children, Mercy Corps, Oxfam and others sent an appeal to President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which read in part, "these atrocities are happening on your watch .... take urgent steps to rescue Syria's cessation of hostilities and end attacks on civilians. Please act now to keep hope alive for Syrians."
History will judge Obama and Putin on how they responded to the Syrian civil war, the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II.
The world is looking to the two leaders to end the five-year conflict and the immense suffering. But instead, the fighting goes on between the government and opposition groups. And the Islamic State has emerged from the chaos and made Syria its base. The terrorist group is a threat to every nation.
More than 13 million Syrians need humanitarian aid because of the war. That is more than the entire population of Ohio. Farming has been devastated and this will lead to years of food shortages unless peace and reconstruction can be established. Madaya's farmers cannot even reach their land to grow crops because of mines.
Madaya is where food is needed immediately to save lives. It was one of four towns that were part of a ceasefire to give relief and perhaps an opening for peace. But instead the blockades go back up and starvation comes again.
Salma Bahramy of the UN World Food Program, the lead hunger-relief agency in Syria, says, "We continue to call for immediate access to the besieged towns of Zabadani, Foua, Madaya and Kefraya, where 62,000 people, mostly women and children, are in dire need of food and humanitarian assistance."
Then there is the tragedy of the city of Aleppo. The city is blockaded and existing food supplies are about to run out. There are hundreds of thousands at risk of starvation if humanitarian aid agencies cannot gain access.
Dominic Graham of Mercy Corps pleads, "Many of those who remain tell us humanitarian aid is their only source of food. They have no money or income."
Meanwhile, the Syrian government and the opposition continue to fight even though it's clear there can be no military solution to the conflict.
Stephen O'Brien, the UN Relief coordinator says "people are completely desperate for an escape from the constant fighting, shelling and snipers that engulf their lives. Parents have no food for their near-starving children. Malnutrition so severe, that children die as a result."
That is why aid groups are urging Obama and Putin to "use their personal diplomatic engagement" to save Syria. They must influence the warring sides to let humanitarian aid through, implement ceasefires and peace.
The Syrian civil war and humanitarian crisis is on Obama's and Putin's watch. This is the test of their leadership.
Obama and Putin cannot fail Syria. We all cannot fail Syria. We cannot fail humanity.
William Lambers of Cincinnati partnered with the U.N. World Food Program on the book, "Ending World Hunger."
Get new posts by email:
Subscribe
He was bullied growing up. "They just beat the crap out of me, and it was not a safe or comfortable or awesome place."
According to Newton: He was named after Jeremiah Johnson, the bearded mountain man portrayed by Robert Redford in the 1972 film of the same name.
Newton said he's been making stuff his whole life and selling it. More importantly, he's proof that entrepreneurs can be molded from the most unusual backgrounds.
"I always have impeccable timing," said the 37-year-old creator of The Bearded Bastard , a line of waxes, pomades, and oils for men's facial hair. "TBB" product lines have names like "Barber Shop," which Newton jokes will remind you going to your dad's barber shop, a "holy grail" experience complete with "dirty magazines ... and someone has probably smoked cigars there."
The beard boom is getting bushier, and Jeremiah Newton is hanging on by more than the hair of his chinny-chin-chin.
He said he has occasional mental health issues and social challenges: "I am on the autism scale, so scent has always been an obsession."
He has had 100 different jobs, including shaman, massage therapist ... and drug dealer. "I spent my 22nd birthday in the county jail, and my parents bailed me out." (Newton said he turned his life around and the judge cut him a break.)
So how did he end up making hair products? "The Bearded Bastard was, funny enough, kind of a joke," Newton said. He was doing fine art photography and having trouble keeping his own mustache in place, so he created a wax.
"My friends were like, 'If you don't keep making this, we are going to kick your" (here he paused) " derriere."
Newton developed a recipe he liked start-up costs were almost nothing and he began selling products on Etsy. "The Etsy just started exploding."
That was 2011. Now TBB is sold in about 200 stores and online. It has eight employees, and sales are closing in on $1 million. A lot of the success has gone to "brand evangelists" to whom Newton sent free product. One is Isaiah Webb, aka "Incredibeard," who has 700,000 fans on Facebook. "He is an amazing friend, and a true artist," Webb said of Newton. "Jeremiah's products are simply the best on the market."
But when you're an unusual person like Jeremiah Newton, success isn't always a positive development.
"Success is a weird thing," he said inside his showroom in an Austin, Texas, strip mall. "Your life sometimes takes on a sort of characteristic that is not always pleasant ... and it's a lot of hard freaking work."
Newton also said hiring employees was more difficult than he expected "it takes building that person up for upwards of six months." He got hives during The Bearded Bastard's second year, and he had stress dreams about doing his taxes. "How the hell do you do taxes when your company grows 600 percent in one year?"
It's a nice problem to have.
Newton is now releasing a line of products for women's hair and beauty called My Dear, and he takes pleasure in mentoring others with lessons he's learned during his unique journey.
The Treasury Department auctioned $23 billion in 10-year notes at a high yield of 1.503 percent. The bid-to-cover ratio, an indicator of demand, was 2.43. The bid-to-cover ratio rebounded from the lowest level since March 2009 set in July, according to Reuters. Indirect bidders, which include major central banks, were awarded 72.2 percent. Direct bidders, which includes domestic money managers, bought 7.6 percent. The 7-year Treasury note yield fell to 1.3336 percent. The benchmark 10-year Treasury notes yield last sat at 1.5076 percent, having closed on Tuesday at 1.545 percent. Thirty-year bonds yields fell to 2.2279 percent, down from a close of 2.257 percent. Bond prices move inversely to yields.
Treasury yields
U.S. Treasurys
Most U.K. gilts also rose, after the Bank of England failed to meet it bond-buying target in its revived asset-buying program. The bank fell 52 million short of its target to buy 1.17 billion of gilts on Tuesday, the second day of the revived program. "The Bank of England's failure to persuade U.K. gilt owners to part with them is making asset purchases hard, which is what happened the first time they tried to buy corporate bonds, too," Kit Juckes, strategist at Societe Generale, said in a note on Wednesday. German bunds viewed as a "safe-haven" asset comparable to Treasury notes also rose on Wednesday, as did most Japanese bonds . In the euro zone, most French , Belgian , Portuguese , Irish , Spanish and Italian bonds gained.
Gilt yields
U.K. Government Bonds (GILT)
Brazil's Senate voted 59-21 early on Wednesday to accept charges against suspended President Dilma Rousseff and put her on trial for breaking budget laws in an impeachment process that is expected to end 13 years of leftist rule by her Workers Party.
A final verdict could come at the end of the month and will require two thirds of the votes in the 81-member Senate. If Rousseff is convicted and definitively removed from office, interim President Michel Temer will serve out the remainder of her term through 2018.
Delta Air Lines said it expects to return to normal operations later on Wednesday after a power outage hit its computer systems on Monday, causing the cancellation of more than 1,600 flights over two days.
The company said it would start operations with a little more than 150 cancellations on Wednesday after roughly 800 flights were canceled on Tuesday.
However, the airline said scattered thunderstorms forecast for the eastern United States could slow the recovery.
Systems that allow customer service agents to process check-ins and dispatch aircraft are functioning normally, Delta said, with most delays and cancellations a result of flight crews displaced or running up against maximum allowed duty periods.
Delta, the No.2 U.S. airline by passenger traffic, has yet to detail the financial impact of the disruption.
Rival Southwest Airlines forecast on Wednesday a further drop in a key profitability metric for the current quarter due to delays and cancellations of more than 2,000 flights after an outage hit its computer systems in July.
The budget airline also said it expected its unit costs to increase more than it had forecast earlier due to the outage that was caused by the failure of computer equipment supporting the carrier's network.
Delta's problems arose after a switchgear, which helps control and switch power flows like a circuit breaker in a home, malfunctioned for reasons that were not immediately clear.
Georgia Power, a unit of Southern Co. , provides electricity to most counties in Georgia, where Delta is based.
Yet less than a week later, the first stages of a much-vaunted 60 billion ($78 billion) addition to the Bank's bond-buying program appear to have stumbled.
When Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, announced an ambitious attempt to avert recession in the U.K. last week, the market sat up and took notice.
Despite offering to pay above-market rates, investors were unwilling to sell their U.K bonds, known as gilts, to the Bank. This meant that it missed its target for the second round of new quantitative easing (QE) purchases.
The central bank tried to address market concerns Wednesday by announcing that the shortfall would be addressed later in its bond-buying cycle.
Gilt yields moved lower following a statement from the bank, and were trading at 0.540 after the announcement, down from Tuesday's close of 0.584.
While the shortfall of 50 million is small in comparison to the total size of the package, it shows some of the new difficulties facing the Bank and may hasten calls for more drastic action by the U.K. government to combat the U.K.'s slowing economic growth.
Investors like pension funds, one of the major investors in the long-maturity bonds which were the target of Tuesday's auction, are holding on tight to their safe assets. This is partly because of general concerns about the economy, but, possibly more importantly, because U.K. pension funds are facing a record deficit of more than 400 billion.
"It tells you something about investors' anxiety that the bank goes into market and says we want to buy these things from you, we're prepared to pay what looks like a good price, and they get the majority of what they want bought but actually not everything," Ian Barnard, founding partner at Capital Generation Partners, told CNBC.
"I think that tells you that investors...want to hang onto their gilts which are this protection against further bad economic news and further deflation."
For the Bank, and central banks across the developed economies, there are now deeper questions to answer about faith in their capacity to fix the global economy's problems.
"Why does so much of the money that is borrowed via the credit markets just spin round the financial sector, either via buybacks or special dividends?" Marc Ostwald, currency, rates and emerging markets strategist at ADM Investor Services International, wrote in a research note Wednesday.
One of the U.K.'s leading research institutions has placed the value of European single market membership at an additional 4 percent to the country's economy.
The EU single market goes further than most trade deals, allowing the free movement of both goods and services between countries. It also seeks to tackle regulatory barriers such as licensing.
On 23 June the U.K. public voted in favor of leaving the European Union , throwing in to doubt whether Britain can retain full membership of the single market or if the country will now seeks an 'access only' deal.
If the U.K. can join the European Economic Area (EEA) this would allow near-full benefits of the single market but would also mean an EU budgetary contribution and would likely oblige Britain to accept free movement of people.
A new report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) has put a GDP value on the single market status for the U.K when compared to access achieved thorough the World Trade Organization (WTO), such as is enjoyed by the US, China or India.
"Maintaining membership of the single market as part of the EEA could be worth potentially 4 percent on GDP adding almost two years of trend GDP growth relative to WTO membership alone," the report reads.
Financial services are a famously strong aspect of the United Kingdom's economy.
The study suggest that the financial sector could be 'disproportionately damaged' outside the single market, placing it some 7 percent smaller by 2030.
Donald Trump's presidential campaign has long had a rocky relationship with the rest of the Republican Party.
But in recent days, a growing number of current and former members of Congress have joined their fellow Republicans in opposing him.
At least 22 current or former Republican members of Congress have now voiced opposition to his candidacy, in some cases even endorsing Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, in a Washington Post op-ed this week, wrote that "I will not be voting for Donald Trump for president. This is not a decision I make lightly, for I am a lifelong Republican." She cited Trump's comments about the Muslim parents of a fallen U.S. soldier and his questioning of the impartiality of a judge based on his Mexican heritage as among her reasons for denying her support.
Collins has some company within her party in the Senate when it comes to opposing Trump. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk, and Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse have said they will not support Trump's campaign. Kirk went so far as to rescind his previous endorsement and air an ad against Trump.
In the House, Rep. Richard Hanna of New York has said he will vote for Clinton, writing that "[Trump] is unfit to serve our party and cannot lead this country." In a first for the current Congress, Rep. Scott Rigell of Virginia has said he will vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson for president.
That is not to say Trump does not have support from the Republican Party's leadership in many respects. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have endorsed thew New York tycoon. But the number of defections within party ranks has raised eyebrows, and accelerated in recent days as Clinton has pressed to recruit Republicans and independents.
Here is a list of current and former congressional Republicans who have voiced opposition to Trump or are supporting another candidate, as compiled by CNBC:
watch now
Oil markets have been prone to over-bearishness of late with fears over supply returning to the market largely "overdone," according to the latest oil market analysis by RBC Capital Markets. Oil prices are oscillating on hopes that a rebalancing is taking place in the markets and fears of a continuing global oversupply and the potential for more oil to return to the market from the likes of Libya and Nigeria, producers which have seen supply disruptions. Helima Croft, RBC's head of commodity strategy and commodity strategists Michael Tran and Christopher Louney said in a note on Wednesday that market caution was overdone, however. "The oil market recently has found itself in a sort of bear trap. Even as we march closer to the point where the daily global supply overhang turns to a deficit, a deluge of bearish headlines has kept the market on its heels," Croft and her colleagues noted, adding that they "believe that the most significant bearish risks are overdone or have already been largely priced in." Although oil prices would remain choppy in the near term, RBC said, it maintained its conviction that "oil prices will grind higher through the balance of this year and into next, barring a significant deterioration in the "macroverse."
artiste9999 | Getty Images
RBC believed that Brent and WTI would average $48 a barrel and $49 a barrel in 2016, respectively, and $64/bbl and $66/bbl in 2017.
Giving a reason for such predictions, RBC warned that "investors should remain cognizant of the distress remaining across much of OPEC (namely Nigeria and Libya) and should side-step the numerous bear traps lurking in the market."
Production hikes unlikely
Oil prices have declined steadily since mid-2014 amid a glut in supply and a failure of demand to keep up. The glut has largely been blamed on the 14-member producer group OPEC which decided in November 2014 to defend its market share rather than the oil price (by cutting its own production).
The strategy has put pressure on many non-OPEC producers (who tend to have higher production costs) but it has also hurt OPEC members themselves: Algeria, Venezuela, Iraq, Libya and Nigeria are now known as the "fragile five" due to the loss of oil export revenues, workers' strikes and militancy disrupting production in the latter countries. Sentiment in oil markets has been hit by fears that once those issues are ironed out, the oil supply in countries like Nigeria and Libya could return with a vengeance, unravelling a delicate rebalancing act in global supply and demand that has seen prices tentatively rise to around the low $40s a barrel. Investors have also been concerned that Iran's oil supply could quickly ramp up as the country seeks to re-boot its oil industry after the lifting of years of international economic sanctions and elsewhere, there is the belief that U.S. shale oil producers could quickly ramp up production on the back of data showing rising rig counts. RBC Capital Markets said that those fears were "overdone," however. While the most fragile OPEC members "remain in a state of distress" and production was not likely to bounce back rapidly, it noted that as for Iran, the "doomsday scenario" of Iranian barrels flooding the market had proved to be "overblown." As for U.S. production, that too was unlikely to turn the corner until oil prices stabilize in the high-$40/bbl to low-$50/bbl range and that, "in any event, the market should be able to absorb these incremental barrels over the medium term given tightening market balances."
OPEC 'waiting in the wings"
Today marks the one year anniversary of the day Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin picked a new name and an audacious corporate structure in an attempt to spawn gigantic tech businesses in industries way beyond web search.
Happy birthday, Alphabet . You're one year old, and no less confounding to the outside world.
So far, the year has been great for Google. Unshackled from the unprofitable moonshots, its balance sheet and steady ads business growth has reassured investors.
It's been bumpier for "Other Bets," the hodgepodge, ever-evolving group of companies outside of Google that Page and Brin desperately want to behave like lean, world-changing startups.
More from Recode:
Google just showed Wall Street growth where it needed to in its non-ads business
Google is building a new hardware division under former Motorola chief Rick Osterloh
Even under Alphabet, Google executives keep the same old tight control over shares
This process, which includes imposing financial milestones and structures on several units that never had them before, is very much a work in progress.
Here are some highlights and lowlights from the first year:
OPEC upgraded its forecast for 2016 oil demand growth on Wednesday, in a report that may dampen hopes for a deal on a production freeze at its meeting next month.
A man stands near gas burning off from a well in Saudi Arabia.
In its August report, OPEC forecast demand growth of 1.22 million barrels a day (mb/d) year on year, which was 30,000 barrels higher than forecast in July. The new forecast would put global oil demand across 2016 at 94.26 mb/d. OPEC, which represents 14 major oil-producing countries, attributed the upgrade to better-than-expected economic performance in advanced European economies and some Asian ones, including India, in the first half of the year.
It left its outlook for oil demand growth for 2017 unchanged. This would see total oil consumption at a new high of 95.41 mb/d next year.
The oil group's basket tracking the price of petroleum varieties produced by OPEC members declined for the first time in five months in July. It averaged $42.68 in July, down from $45.84 in June.
"After a significant recovery for five consecutive months from its lowest value in years, the ORB (OPEC Reference Basket) slipped nearly 7 percent in July, falling against a backdrop of less-than-anticipated demand, high stocks, particularly of refined products, and rising supply. Hedge funds have also turned more negative, contributing to further pressure on oil prices," OPEC said in its latest monthly report.
Light crude oil futures for September have declined by 18 percent to around $42.40 per barrel from a recent peak above $51 per barrel. They remain sharply below the highs above $100 reached before the massive rout took hold in July 2014.
OPEC held its world economic growth forecast unchanged at 3 percent for 2016, but cut its outlook for the U.S., following weak first-half growth there. It now sees the world's biggest economy growing by 1.7 percent this year.
It upped its outlook for Japanese economic growth to 0.9 percent in both 2016 and 2017, following the country's recently announced fiscal stimulus package.
It saw the major oil-producing countries of Brazil and Russia rebounding from recession in 2017 to grow by 0.4 percent and 0.7 percent respectively.
No change from OPEC next month?
The OPEC report came as hopes rise once again that the group will discuss a production freeze in September when it informally meets in Algeria. On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on state television that he had started talks with other OPEC members and Russia on stabilizing oil prices.
Oil markets rallied afterward, but skepticism is warranted when it comes to any hopes that OPEC will act to support oil prices, either by freezing overall production or by installing individual country output quotas, as some members would prefer.
OPEC meetings in April and June failed to produce any agreement or meaningful decisions on price-supporting moves. Instead, the group, led by Saudi Arabia, decided to continue its strategy of defending market share instead of price, despite the concerns of some members.
Emma Richards, senior oil and gas analyst at BMI Research, told CNBC on Wednesday that there was "understandable skepticism" surrounding the next OPEC meeting.
"I don't think OPEC is really signalling that (it is going to freeze production) and I think the market and media has overreacted and read more into it than what was meant to be signalled," Richards told CNBC Europe's "Squawk Box."
"I think what they're trying to do is softly, verbally intervene in the market to support prices going into the third quarter when on a fundamental basis it's starting to look a little bit weak again."
Production limits for member countries as proposed by Iran are unlikely to be introduced any time soon, Richards said.
"Saudi Arabia has made it very clear that they won't subscribe to anything like that unless you have all members on board," she said.
Richard Mallinson, a geopolitical analyst at Energy Aspects, told CNBC on Wednesday that OPEC members like Saudi Arabia were happy to stand pat on production.
"We've been through this several times before and it didn't come to anything in April, so the market is rightly going to be quite skeptical that it can deliver any real results this time, too," he told CNBC Europe's "Squawk Box."
"Saudi Arabia is still looking for the rebalancing that has been taking place to reach its conclusion, for prices to go back higher to help."
Pacific Gas & Electric was found guilty on Tuesday of several federal charges stemming from a natural gas pipeline explosion in California that killed eight people and injured 58 others in 2010, a U.S. Justice Department spokesman said.
The utility was convicted of obstructing an investigation and violating pipeline safety regulations leading up to the deadly blast in San Bruno, a city of about 41,000 just south of San Francisco, spokesman Abraham Simmons said in an email.
The utility faces a maximum fine of $3 million, or $500,000 per guilty count, the unit of Pacific Gas & Electric said in a statement.
"While we are very much focused on the future, we will never forget the lessons of the past," PG&E said. "We have made unprecedented progress in the nearly six years since the tragic San Bruno accident and we are committed to maintaining our focus on safety."
The U.S. Attorney's Office accused PG&E of knowingly relying on "inaccurate or incomplete" infrastructure management records and failing to investigate its high-pressure natural gas pipelines after potential hazards had been identified, according to court records.
The California Public Utilities Commission in 2015 levied a $1.6 billion fine against PG&E over the blast and other issues, which the utility did not appeal.
The fine ranks as its largest ever safety-related penalty, dwarfing a $38 million fine for PG&E over a 2008 natural gas explosion in the city of Rancho Cordova.
The company has also paid $500 million to settle civil lawsuits from people who had been injured or family members of those killed in the blast.
The utility said it has adopted new pipeline safety standards and spent some $2.7 billion in shareholder funds to improve its natural gas system.
"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." George Bernard Shaw
Everyone tells you that you need goals in order to succeed. What they don't tell you is just how difficult it is to define your professional goals.
As a child, Thomas Edison had an incredibly imaginative mind, so much so that he was not able to focus in the classroom and had to be home schooled by his mother. He made it his life's ambition to make her proud. Edison tried many jobs before finding his true callingsomething that allowed him to draw on his dynamic imagination. Over a thousand inventions has made Edison an icon for entrepreneurship. Edison chronicled his plans for new tools and technologiesfrom the electric light bulb to the motion picture camera in more than 3,500 notebooks.
Growing up I spent my time drawing, writing and sharing my creations with others. Unfortunately, my first job as an economist was quite the opposite of that. After slogging through many unhappy hours at work, I had an epiphany: I had to recreate my childhood. Not literally, of course, but I had to find a way to draw from those wells of creativity, curiosity and communication. My answer was the media industry, where I could stick to my values and rediscover my true passions. I joined a large news organization, and now, a few years later, I have a defined professional goal: to become a senior executive in a news media company and maybe even start one.
THE TAKEAWAY: Psychologist Gail Matthews at Dominican University found that you are 42 percent more likely to achieve your goals just by writing them down. If you don't know what you want to do with your life, think about the things that made you happy as a child and map them against potential careers. Write them down and be as specific as possible. While the goals you share publicly might be more realistic, don't be afraid to dream.
SolarCity is entering the roofing business.
The company said Tuesday it plans to make a high-tech roof with integrated solar panels, and hinted at other features as well. Executives said the plan could open up a new market with millions of potential customers in the United States alone.
"It's not a thing on the roof, it's the roof," said SolarCity Chairman Elon Musk on a conference call with analysts on Tuesday.
Musk said this will be a "standout" product and a "fundamental part of achieving a differentiated product strategy" for SolarCity.
The news came as SolarCity announced it had a second-quarter net loss of $55.5 million, or 56 cents a share, wider than last year's shortfall of $22.4 million, or 23 cents a share. The adjusted loss in the latest period was $2.32 a share, which was better than the loss of $2.44 a share analysts were estimating, according to a Thomson Reuters survey.
Revenue was $186 million in the quarter, which compared with an estimate for $146 million, according to Thomson Reuters. It was also up more than 80 percent from a year earlier.
SolarCity said the rate at which it is installing new panels slowed during the quarter.
Elaborating on the rationale for offering a high-tech roof, Musk said that this product would not cannibalize existing solar panel products SolarCity is trying to tap a new market of homeowners reluctant to install solar panels on a roof they may be replacing soon.
SolarCity Chief Executive Lyndon Rive, Musk's cousin, said there are 5 million new roofs installed in the U.S. every year. These are the customers SolarCity wants to go after.
Musk also hinted there will be other features on the roof, but did not give specifics.
"And so, why not have a solar roof that's better in many others ways as well," he said. "We don't want to show all of our cards right now, but I think people are going to be really excited about what they see."
Musk's other company, Tesla Motors , formally announced its plans to acquire SolarCity for $2.6 billion in shares earlier this month.
World Trade Center site in the Manhattan borough of New York Andrew Kelly | Reuters
The opening of the World Trade Center retail complex comes at an important moment for downtown New York: 15 years after 9/11 the downtown has completely transformed, but is there enough demand for a huge retail complex? The Westfield World Trade Center, as it is being called, consists of 125 stores, plus Eataly, a 41,000 square-foot food emporium where shoppers can buy 300 types of cheeses, 150 brands of olive oil, 300 types of dried pastas, and dine and drink their way through restaurants, coffee and pastry and prosciutto bars, and take cooking classes. It all sounds wonderful, but who are the customers? Downtown players I've spoken with identify three key constituents.
Westfield, which is in charge of the retail complex, says it anticipates 15 million global travelers to visit downtown by 2017 to visit the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, 1 WTC Observatory and other local points of interest.
1. Tourists
watch now
This should be achievable. Lower Manhattan had a record year for tourism in 2015. There were 14.2 million unique visitors in 2015, up almost 50 percent from 2013, according to the Downtown Alliance.
2. Commuters
About 250,000 people a day commute through the main transportation hub at the newly opened Oculus, according to the Port Authority. Wall Street is now a small part of the employment picture downtown. Education and health care are now major employers, as is the hotel industry. Professional services and media companies are also more heavily represented (TIME relocated downtown in 2015). The employment picture is certainly brighter than a decade ago. About 232,000 people now work below Canal Street in the private sector. That number has grown every year since bottoming in 2009, and it went up by 5,100 workers last year. "Downtown is much better insulated from economic downturns because we are a much more diverse neighborhood than we used to be," said Jessica Lappin, head of the Downtown Alliance. But the sheer volume of space on the market is making it difficult to absorb. One World Trade Center is still only 70 percent leased, with Conde Naste as the lead. 4 World Trade Center is also 70 percent leased. That's a lot of space to absorb, but the downtown office vacancy rate, at 9.8 percent, is slightly higher than Midtown's 9.2 percent rate. That's not bad, considering the size of the space available.
3. Locals
ROME, N.Y. The U.S. Navy has awarded Rome Research Corp. (RRC) a $13.6 million contract for services at a facility in Italy.
Rome Research is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PAR Technology Corp. (NYSE: PAR). Based in New Hartford, PAR Technology is a provider of restaurant/retail-management technology systems and government-contract services.
Under the five-year contract, the PAR subsidiary will provide teleport commercial-satellite terminal services at the global-information grid (GIG) facility in Lago Patria, Italy, and other remote locations, PAR said in a news release issued Tuesday.
The GIG is the global network of information capabilities, processes, and personnel for collecting, processing, storing, disseminating and managing information on demand for use by military commanders, policy makers, and support personnel, according to PAR.
The grid supports U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), national security and related intelligence-community missions and functions (strategic, operational, tactical and business) in war and in peace, the release stated.
The GIG provides capabilities to operating locations that include bases, posts, camps, stations, facilities, mobile platforms, and deployed sites. It also provides interfaces to coalition, allied, and non-DoD users and systems.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
SYRACUSE, N.Y. The Central New York Community Foundation announced it hired Kimberly Sadowski this spring as its new chief financial officer (CFO).
Sadowski has executive responsibility for the Community Foundations accounting, financial management, budgeting, audit, tax, investment, and general operations, the foundation said in a news release issued Tuesday. She is a licensed CPA with more than 20 years of experience working in the financial sector.
Most recently, Sadowski was CFO at ARISE Child and Family Service, Inc., where she provided overall supervision to the finance, human resources, and information-technology functions of the organization, which employs more than 700 staff members and has an operating budget topping $18 million.
Prior to her work at ARISE, she served as manager for Grimaldi & Nelkin, CPAs. Sadowski holds a bachelors degree in accounting from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Sadowski, who started in her new job on April 1, replaces Liz Cavallaro, who retired as the Community Foundations CFO earlier this year.
The CNY Community Foundation says its the largest charitable foundation in the region with assets of nearly $193 million. It awarded $11 million in grants last year to nonprofit organizations.
Contact The Business Journal News Network at news@cnybj.com
Oh I'm terrible at math this summer.
I have this horizontal row, filled with items that overflow.
I have these radio buttons under them, that show the page number.
I'm trying to make it where your on a mobile phone, and you slide left, the correct radio button is selected.
I have a left, remaining left, and a total of pixels
I just can't figure out the math to say, this is in the range of 1, 2, 3 and so on.
I wrote some code function run_touch_pagination() { var $e_sliderFrame = $( " .slider ul" ), $e_sliderSlide = $( " .slider-slide" ), _sliderSlide_width = $e_sliderSlide.css( ' width' ), _sliderFrame_maxWidth = $e_sliderFrame.width(), _sliderSlide_count = $e_sliderSlide.length, _sliderSlide_left = 0 ; _sliderSlide_index = 0 , _sliderSlide_pageCount = 0 ; $( " .slider ul" ).filter(function () { _sliderSlide_left = Math.abs($( this ).position().left - 23 ); }); _sliderSlide_pageCount = Math.ceil(_sliderSlide_count / sliderSlides); var x = _sliderSlide_left; var y = _sliderSlide_count * parseInt(_sliderSlide_width); var z = y - _sliderSlide_left; $( " #slideLeft" ).val(x + ' , ' + z + ' , = ' + y); $( " #slideNumber" ).val(); }
Now I know looking at the function above won't tell you much, and my description as well
So this is a link to the program.
Program Demostration[^]
You have to reduce the size of your browser so just 4 items show. The frame will appear and turn gray.
There are 2 textboxes on the bottom of the frame under the radio buttons,
Left Box, is x, z and y, the right box is suppose to be the radio button index.
I'm wondering if this slider program is worth it. but that's what people want when they shop.
What do you think?
function run_touch_pagination() {
var $e_sliderFrame = $( " .slider ul" ), $e_sliderSlide = $( " .slider-slide" ), _sliderSlide_width = $e_sliderSlide.css( ' width' ), _sliderFrame_maxWidth = $e_sliderFrame.width(), _sliderSlide_count = $e_sliderSlide.length, _sliderSlide_left = 0 ; _sliderSlide_index = 0 , _sliderSlide_pageCount = 0 ; $( " .slider ul" ).filter(function () { _sliderSlide_left = Math.abs($( this ).position().left - 23 ); }); _sliderSlide_pageCount = Math.ceil(_sliderSlide_count / sliderSlides); var x = Math.floor(_sliderSlide_left); var y = Math.round(_sliderSlide_count * parseInt(_sliderSlide_width)); var z = Math.round(y - _sliderSlide_left); var p = Math.round(z / x); var page = (p <= _sliderSlide_pageCount ? p : _sliderSlide_pageCount); var idx = _sliderSlide_pageCount;
$(".slider-paginator-item i").each(function () {
if (x < z) { // This elimates the first and last radio from going blank or hollow
if (page === idx) {
$(this).removeClass('fa fa-circle-o').addClass('fa fa-circle');
}
else if (page !== idx) { // do nothing if no match
$(this).removeClass('fa fa-circle').addClass('fa fa-circle-o');
}
}
idx--;
});
$("#slideLeft").val(x + ', ' + z + ', = ' + y);
$("#slideNumber").val('page:' +page + ' idx:' + idx);
}
Project Demostration[^]
Don't forget the squeeze the width of your browser down to show 4 items to see the results.
modified 14-Aug-16 16:36pm.
So I have this code that I copied and modified for horizontal use.
I load all the items on page load, 7 of them for testing, but just the first 6 shows
When I run the code the first time, I get 6 items which is correct.
Then I slide the items left to show items 2 - 7 and run the code again, and I get 7 instead of 6
I suspect that the code is operating correctly, and it's designed to show me 7
I really wanted the value 6. Could you just double check the code for me.
var $e_sliderFrame = $( " .slider ul" ), $e_sliderSlide = $( " .slider-slide" ), _sliderSlide_width = $e_sliderSlide.css( ' width' ), _sliderFrame_maxWidth = $e_sliderFrame.width(), _sliderSlide_count = $e_sliderSlide.length, _sliderSlide_visible = 0 , _sliderSlide_pageCount = 0 , _sliderSlide_x = 0 ;
_sliderSlide_visible = $(".slider ul li").filter(function () {
return $(this).position().left + $(this).width() < _sliderFrame_maxWidth;
}).length;
Working Example
Shop the Project Indigo! store[^]
I'm guessing that your last LI is being ignored because it's right side lies on the right edge of the UL, which lies on the right edge of .slider.
Therefore: JavaScript return $( this ).position().left + $( this ).width() < _sliderFrame_maxWidth;
Should be: JavaScript return $( this ).position().left + $( this ).width() <= _sliderFrame_maxWidth; "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
- Benjamin Disraeli
Now I realize it's because the width of all the li's are wider now, so the hidden li's on the left are being included.
So I made a global var and ran the function on Dom Ready to get a snapshot first, and then on window resize, take another snapshot, which is probably a bad idea, since they may not be on the left slide.
I did implement your suggestion just now, god idea!
Maybe I should scrap the idea and start again, and make it ajax loading.
I have a better version of it today, in the link on the first post.
I m new to javascript and I want to filter specific elements into new array. Eg ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f'] to [' c', 'd', 'f']
JavaScript var input = [ ' a' , ' b' , ' c' , ' d' , ' e' , ' f' ]; var filter = [ ' a' , ' b' , ' e' ]; var output =[]; for ( var i = 0 ; i < input.length; i++) { if (filter.indexOf(input[i]) == -1) output.push(input[i]); }
Customise it depends on your need
Hi ,
I need to remove duplicate entries.
ex : Here "Voltage" array is repeating, having one is enough.
Please help anyone to solve this.
var data = [ { "metadata" : { "names":["times","values","types"], "types":["time","linear","ordinal"] }, "data": [ ["0",2.37130,"Global"], ["1",2.37130,"Voltage"], ["1",2.37130,"Voltage"], ["2",10.30980,"Intensity"], ], } ];
Here's some logic which, although not the most elegant will work across many programming languages. It is to teach you to solve a problem by breaking it down to smaller levels. Note that there are languages the let you automatically compare two arrays with a single function and this becomes much easier.
First, sort your array: any simply sort will do because if any entry is a mismatch then the array's your comparing are different. Sort by element 0, 1, 2, would be simplest to work with.
Second, for a 2-dimensional array, you can use nested loops.
Use a for() loop to operate on array elements explicitly by index so you can compare n and n+1
Similarly, work on the internal elements of of array n vs n+1, comparing them.
If you reach a failure to match, do a continue to the outer loop.
If you reach the end, they're a matched pair. Store the index of one of them.
Return to the outer loop for next (n+1, n+2).
When done, you can remove the duplicate members from the stored index list.
Various languages will allow you to do shortcuts.
Ravings en masse^ "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
I think my query is right I am having trouble adding Quantity and TotalPrice to the output
{!REQUIRESCRIPT( " /soap/ajax/32.0/connection.js" )} {!REQUIRESCRIPT( " /soap/ajax/32.0/apex.js" )} var record = new sforce.SObject( " Opportunity" ); record.Id = ' {!Opportunity.Id}' ; var retriveOpptyLineItems = sforce.connection.query( " Select PricebookEntry.Product2.Name, Quantity, TotalPrice From OpportunityLineItem WHERE OpportunityId = '{!Opportunity.Id}' and (NOT Name like '%Discount%')" ); var strProductNames = ' ' ; for ( var i= 0 ; i0){ strProductNames = strProductNames.substring( 0 ,strProductNames.length-1); } record.Sample_Product_Name_1__c = strProductNames; sforce.connection.update([record]); window.location.reload();
I've never worked with SafesForce, but I'm going to guess that your query returns a promise, and that you're attempting to act on the promise object rather than its resolved value.
Never mind, it looks like that's supposed to be synchronous. Sorry, too busy giggling into my coffee to find an answer.
Just FYI, your code is completely vulnerable to SQL injection.
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
- Benjamin Disraeli
This throws an unexpected identifier error that has me baffled
Thanks
JavaScript {!REQUIRESCRIPT( " /soap/ajax/32.0/connection.js" )} {!REQUIRESCRIPT( " /soap/ajax/32.0/apex.js" )} var record = new sforce.SObject( " Opportunity" ); record.Id = ' {!Opportunity.Id}' ; qOli = Select Amount,CloseDate,Name, (Select PricebookEntry.Product2Id, TotalPrice, UnitPrice, ListPrice From OpportunityLineItems) From Opportunity; record.Sample_Product_Name_1__c= qOli; window . location .reload();
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
Hi i have table have 5 comnun
Name Salary Bonus Deduction Total
Ahmed 500 500 100 900
calculation of total is
Total=Salary+Bonus-Deduction
and total in red color according to my code
what i need actually if i changed in Salary cell or Bonus cell or Deduction cell affect in total cell
suppose i added row above then edit salary
from 500 to 2000 meaning in this time row will be as bellow
Ahmed 2000 500 100 2400
total will be 2400 with green color
i can do by button but how to do by changing cell in table affect in total
@{
Layout = null;
}
Index
.red{
color:#ff0000;
font-weight:bold;
}
Name
Salary
Bonus
Deduction
Name
Salary
Bonus
Deduction
total
Name Salary Bonus Deduction
in my code below i can edit row success without any error but if i need to cancel value edited in row OR get value before changed what i write to cancel edit in row in table by using jquery my code as following
@{ Layout = null ; }