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With an aim to promote digital literacy in the state of Goa, the government has signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Google India to start off the digital transformation programme in the state.
Steps have been taken in different parts of the country to promote digital literacy and to increase the level of education in rural areas as well.
Recently, the Goa government on August 31 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Google India to start off the digital transformation in the state.
The MoU was signed by Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and Vice President, Google South East Asia and India Rajan Anandan. While speaking about this initiative, Parsekar said, "As a first step, the Goa government will launch internet safety education for students in association with Google India".
This programme putforth by the government will be a part of curriculum for classes from 9th to 12th standards and would be applicable in all the government schools of the state.
This development will be seen as a turning point in the field of information technology in the state, say reports.
Earlier, as per IAN's report of June 2016, India is expected to soon launch a Rs 1,800 crore ($265 million) Digital Literacy Mission for 60 million people in rural areas as another initiative to bridge the gulf between those who have access to and can use computers and the Internet.
Commenting on this, Dinesh Kumar Tyagi, chief executive officer, of CSC e-Governance Service India, said, "The government will spend Rs 300 each on training 60 million people, which would total around Rs 1,800 crore."
Later, the senior government official also said that this MoU also envisions collaboration with Google so as to revamp all the government websites mobile-friendly.
Also, this tie up will further help in launching a digital literacy drive for women and introduce programmes to help the small and medium businesses.
Sometimes its good to be reminded of just how good a car is by giving it go once more. In the case of the Mitsubishi Xpander, its the smal...
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. A wildfire has forced the evacuation and closure of a small campground in northeast Yellowstone National Park, the first visitor facility in the park to be affected by wildfires this summer.
In addition, firefighters are trying to keep another fire from burning outside the park's western boundary where it would threaten several private subdivisions in Montana.
All other major Yellowstone tourist facilities and attractions, including Old Faithful, and all park entrances are open. However, the park on Thursday banned all charcoal and wood fires at all campgrounds, campsites and picnic areas because of the warm, dry and windy weather conditions.
Fire spokesman Bill Swartley said Thursday the fire that closed the Slough Creek Campground burned actively overnight and firefighters were working past midnight to suppress spot fires being started ahead of the main fire.
The Slough Creek Campground is the smallest of the developed campgrounds in Yellowstone with 23 sites.
Swartley said he didn't know how many campers were using the campground when it was evacuated earlier this week. Other backcountry campgrounds and trails in the area also have been closed.
Swartley said the fire that closed the campground was unusually active through Wednesday night.
"Critical fire weather conditions are in play, but it's just how the fires respond to them and one of the fires was quite active," he said.
The fire is one of five burning in Yellowstone. The largest fire has burned nearly 60 square miles north of the West Entrance Road, and firefighters are working to keep it from spreading beyond the park's western boundary.
Firefighters were expecting warm, dry and windy conditions to be conducive to fire growth into Saturday.
In neighboring Grand Teton National Park, a wildfire that had closed a road leading to Yellowstone's south entrance last week was still growing, but it was mostly burning in remote areas and no longer affects travelers between the two parks.
Weather catastrophe activity slammed into 39 states during the 2016 first half. But in a six-month period where insured losses rose well above typical levels, Texas was by far the worst hit, according to a new industry report.
Texas sustained more than $7.6 billion in insured losses in 14 catastrophe events, the Property Claims Services unit of Verisk Insurance Solutions noted in its second-quarter 2016 catastrophe review.
While it is too early to tell if the Lone Star State will be among the worst affected in 2016 in terms of catastrophe-related insured losses, Texas had a number of catastrophe weather events last year. In 2015, the state was the most affected in terms of catastrophe events, but aggregated losses came to $2.4 billion, PCS/Verisk said.
For H1 2016, Nebraska was the second most-affected state in terms of catastrophe-related insured losses, tallied at $550 million over two events. The states that placed number 3-10, in order of succession: Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Virginia, Kansas, Indiana, Montana and New York.
It has been a rough year for catastrophe events across the board. PCS/Verisk tallied 39 states that had major events, versus 27 over the same period in 2015 and 24 in the 2014 first half. One of the drivers of this years uptick: wind and thunderstorms that produced major hail and flooding.
For the first six months of 2016, 27 U.S. catastrophe events caused $13.5 billion in insured losses, 20 percent higher than the 10-year historical average of $11.6 billion in losses (from 2007 through 2016). Also, the number lands much higher than the 10-year frequency average of 21 events, PCS/Verisk said.
PCS/Verisk said the total could go even higher, because of surveys still pending for 7 first-half events.
Broken down, 61 percent of insured losses in H1 involved personal losses. Auto losses generated 24 percent of the number and commercial losses took 15 percent of the pie.
Canada was the other big catastrophe loss story during the first six months of 2016. With aggregate insured losses of C$4.7 billion through H1, the Fort McMurray wildfire caused 98 percent of the total, and 29 percent of PCS-tallied North America catastrophe losses during the six-month period, according to the report.
Source: PCS/Verisk Insurance Services
LAUREL A dozen years into a partnership that provides useful training and experimental gadgets for NASA and the International Space Station, Laurel High School students are still loading their ideas onto the launching pad.
Wednesday was T-minus zero day at LHS for a pair of NASA-HUNCH classes, a partnership that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shares with more than 100 schools nationwide. Students meet daily with teacher Linda Wright to work on projects NASA can use to train their astronauts
Students design and construct gadgets and useful items that NASA needs in space, items like zero gravity toilet paper dispensers or containers to move mice between modules on the space station. The mice are being studied as part of an osteoporosis experiment, and without a container, it can be difficult to carry them in zero gravity.
HUNCH stands for High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware.
Flo Gold, of Billings, a former Laurel math teacher, helped start the program at LHS and now works for NASA, coordinating school-based HUNCH programs in each of the continental U.S.'s four time zones. Joining her via teleconference Wednesday was HUNCH project manager Bob Zeek, who works at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau, also present for the opening day in Wright's classroom, praised students past efforts and encouraged this year's batch to continue the tradition.
These students sure are lucky, she said. There are great things happening at a lot of schools across Montana, but this is pretty unique. Students create things and send them off, and then they get used. Thats pretty neat.
Gold, who retired from teaching in 2008 and joined NASA the same year, said Laurel was the first school to participate in the program from a distance.
NASA wanted to push the envelope to see what we could build, she said.
Like NASA engineers and technicians, students are encouraged to work in pairs or small teams one to do the work, and another to carefully watch, say, the soldering process, to point out potential mistakes.
Thus, soldering and de-soldering are both highly valued skills.
Ayla Grandpre, a junior at Rocky Mountain College who went through the Laurel program before graduating in 2014, said she appreciated that high level of scrutiny as she has continued to work with NASA partners while studying computer science and chemistry at Rocky.
Theres always someone checking out your work, she said. You learn about constructive criticism and you learn to take it well.
Gold said she got excited during a recent visit to the Johnson Space Center in Houston when she spied an audio terminal unit built by students. Astronauts use the units routinely to communicate with each other inside the sprawling space station as it orbits the Earth.
NASA has so many projects for HUNCH students, she told Wrights students. Theyve already sent 160 projects up to the ISS even meals designed by kids in culinary classes.
Zeek said that throughout the program's history, students have always exceeded all our expectations.
Gold said that 86 percent of HUNCH participants have gone on to attend college or receive additional technical training. Many choose careers with an eye toward engineering or astrophysics but far more are NASA technicians, machinists and electronics specialists.
We teach students 21st-century skills, including problem-solving and being creative, she said. "We dont give you easy work, she told students, so that you can get that Oh my goodness! I did it! feeling.
Without community support, theres no way the program would be in its 12th year, Gold said.
Ron Weber of Weber and Sons Machine Shop in Laurel has been a main reason we have succeeded, she said. Anything we need, we just tell him and he gets it to us. It has taken the whole community to keep us involved.
The Australian consumer watchdog has sued the local arm of Volkswagen AG for its diesel emissions cheating practice.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took legal action against the company alleging that it knowingly and intentionally sold 57,000 vehicles to Australians which had been designed to cheat emissions testing.
According to ACCC chairman Rod Sims, Volkswagen engaged in multiple breaches of the Australian consumer law by concealing software in their vehicles to cheat emissions testing and misleading consumers about the vehicles compliance.
Consumers rightly expect that their vehicles emissions would operate as advertised during their day-to-day use and we allege that this was not the case, he said.
Automotive News reports that the ACCC wants the Australian arm of the Volkswagen Group to pay unspecified financial penalties, make public admissions of its misconduct and issue corrective advertising.
PHOTO GALLERY
As 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of BMW, the manufacturers appearance at Monterey Car Week was always bound to be special. The German firm did not disappoint.
Throughout the weeks 60-odd events, a selection of the most iconic cars to ever be graced with a BMW badge hit the famed Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and were on show at the various static displays, including the Pebble Beach Concours dElegance.
On track were the likes of BMW M1 Procars, a selection of 3.0 CSL Batmobiles and the V12 LMR from the Le Mans 24 Hours. BMW also brought along its most recent art car, based around the E92-generation M3 GT2 and put it on display alongside the very first BMW art car, another stunning 3.0 CSL.
Monterey Car Week also marked the unveiling of the second 2002 Hommage Concept cars. Bathed in a new shade of orange and complete with a Turbomeister livery, the car rightfully took center stage in the predominant BMW tent.
PHOTO GALLERY
Development on the film began in 2009, inspired by a series of drawings by illustrator and concept artist Mihajlo Dimitrievski. As the project has evolved over the years, it has been presented at various European pitching and co-production events including Paris Cross Video Days, Sofia Meetings, Animation Production Day Stuttgart, and the Visegrad Animation Forum.
John Vardar vs. the Galaxys creative team is led by Goce Cvetanovski as director and writer, Mihajlo Dimitrievski as art director, and Benjamin Hotton as animation director.
The anticipated release date for the feature is Christmas 2019. Its currently in the late pre-production phase (financed internally by Lynx), and about 50% of the films 2.3 million Euro production budget is secured. Lynx hopes to have the financing completed by early 2017 and begin production shortly thereafter. There are some private investors interested in the project, and if they enter, that would accelerate the production process and maybe even allow us to cast some star actors, director Goce Cvetanovski told Cartoon Brew.
The financial structure of the production still isnt locked, but Lynx anticipates that the film will be a co-production between Macedonia, Germany, France, Ukraine, and Bulgaria. We have signed memo-deals with producers from all these countries and further negotiations and film fund submissions are underway, said Cvetanovski.
In the meantime, Lynx is developing and producing plenty of other projects. The studio currently makes its own animated shorts and mobile games for Android and iOS, while performing service work for international clients, ranging from illustration and concept art through finished animation.
Lynx has been selected to pitch its childrens TV series Dragongarten later this month at Cartoon Forum in Toulouse, France.
Beating the pervasive bias against Native Americans in Montana may come from first admitting the biases exist, says Montana American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Caitlin Borgmann.
She was one of 18 panelists representing criminal justice, education and health care who spoke recently in Billings about discrimination against Native Americans.
The Monday meeting was meant to gather information for The Montana Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
The committee presented a report on border town discrimination in 2011. A major note of that report was the high percentage of Native American high school dropouts. Since the report was produced, Montana schools have seen an improvement in the number of Native American graduates, going from 61.5 percent in 2011 to 65 percent in 2014.
Committee board chair Norma Bixby, committee members David Lopez and Gwendolyn Kircher from Billings and Dennis Taylor from Helena all said they were impressed with Billings School District 2's presentation on Indian Education for All. Director of Indian Education Jennifer Smith said Tuesday the program focuses on giving American Indian students the tools they need to graduate high school and find a path to higher education.
"Many people are bigoted and they don't even realize it," Kircher said.
Borgmann believes public officials should put into place inherent bias training in their departments.
Racial disparity is "baked" into our systems, Borgmann said.
Questions regarding release from jail prior to a case being tried and release from prison on parole are in themselves biased against American Indians, who are often impoverished, Borgmann said. Most don't have a car or a steady job, and because of this are often not released from jail or can't afford bond.
There is some bias in decision-making, but it doesn't come from inherent racism, Borgmann said.
"People are not conscious of these biases. They don't have bad intent," Borgmann said. "But they've seen images in the media or other places and have ingrained views of people."
Billings Police Chief Rich St. John said his department does not profile for traffic stops and that officers make arrests based on behavior. No complaints about discrimination have been sustained during his time as chief. St. John noted that more complaints against officers are generated from within his office than from outside of it.
Kircher commended the police chief on the work he has done in his office.
However, the Billings Police Department does not yet analyze officers for implicit bias and does not have a way to gather that data.
Billings is about 89 percent white and about 4.4 percent Native American, according to the 2010 census. However, white people made up about 60 percent of arrests in 2014 and Native Americans made up about 25 percent of arrests, according to the 2014 Billings Police annual report. In 2015, white people made up 63 percent of those arrested and Native Americans made up about 22 percent.
Yellowstone County Deputy Chief of Criminal Litigation Ed Zink presented statistics at the meeting that showed from 2013 to 2014, the Native American population in Montana was about 6.2 percent. But American Indians made up 11 percent of the homicide victims, 9.2 percent of rape victims and 13 percent of aggravated assault victims.
American Indians also made up 11 percent of the people arrested in connection with a homicide case, 14 percent of those arrested on rape charges and 19 percent of those arrested for aggravated assault, Zink said, citing statistics from the Montana Board of Crime Control. Crime data kept by individual reservations was not included in those numbers.
Gwendolyn Kircher, who was attending school in the 1960s, said Native Americans need to take steps similar to those taken by African-Americans during the civil rights era. Native Americans need to organize and prepare to be beaten down, Kircher said.
"Native Americans are in the same spot African-Americans were before the civil rights movement," Kircher said. "Passive, docile, content and happy to have what we got and accept whatever happened to us. Separate but equal didn't work for us and it doesn't work for Native Americans."
Kircher sits on the City of Billings Human Relations Commission and invited one of the Native American women who spoke Monday to address the commission during its monthly meeting Thursday.
The city commission can make recommendations to the mayor and city council. Many people don't know the commission exists and could help them, Kircher said.
This was a problem presented by many who spoke during the public comment period of the meeting Monday, committee member Taylor said.
"People asked us, 'What do we do? Who do we tell?'" Taylor said. "We were just thinking, what do we do to get people connected?"
The Montana Advisory Committee does not have much power, committee member Lopez said. The committee is meant to advise the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which can in turn make recommendations to Congress. The power of the advisory board comes from exposing biases, not fixing them.
Billings author Russell Rowland said he can see the biases of Billings easily enough without a committee detailing them. He believes there must be solutions to the problem, and that solutions come from education. Rowland and journalist Adrian Jawort started holding meetings at the downtown Billings Public Library a year ago to open a dialogue about how Native Americans are viewed in Montana.
"I moved back to Billings 9 years ago and I was blown away by how much prejudice there was against Native Americans," Rowland said.
The natural tendency is for people in Billings to believe the problem doesn't exist, Rowland said. That belief just can't continue if people want to solve the high rate of arrest for Native Americans, low life expectancy and lack of higher education, he said.
According to the 2014 Montana Vital Statistics Annual Report, white Montana women live an average of 82 years and 75 years for men. American Indians in Montana have a life expectancy of 63 years for women and 58 for men.
People wishing to submit comment about discrimination against Native Americans in Montana have until Sept. 29 to share their thoughts with the Montana Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Those comments can be submitted to the email address ebohor@usccr.gov.
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer
An event focused on what brings people to the Okanagan and how their activities affect change is taking place in Penticton next week.
PechaKucha Penticton volume five will be held at Cannery Brewing on Sept. 8.
"The first four PechaKucha events that were held here were sold out," said Vaelei Walkden-Brown, one of the organizers. "And I think what makes these events great is that it's a range of inspiring speakers that all have unique stories to tell."
PechaKucha, which means chit chat in Japanese, was devised in Tokyo in 2003 as an event for designers to meet, network and show their work in public.
The presentation format is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds.
Presenters are given six minutes and 40 seconds to explain their ideas or share their work before the next presenter takes the stage.
For next week's event, themed Why Here, Walkden-Brown as well as other organizers Skyler Punnett and Katie Harris are bringing together a diverse range of the local community with backgrounds in art, design, architecture, mental health, social entrepreunership, hospitality and construction.
All are issues that have polarized the community and opportunities that are bringing the community closer together.
The speakers include:
-Dan Walton, journalist, photographer
-Hayley Bowie, The Rocky Bean Co.
-Howie RIchardson, biologist
-Ian MacDonald, Liquidity Winery
-Jen Vincent, Cowork Penticton
-Lyndie Seddon, Hoodoo Adventures
-Nic Vincent, Cowork Penticton
-Patt Dyck, Cannery Brewing
-Peter Wolf, artist, builder
-Rylee McKinley, youth activist
-Vaelei WalkdenaBrown, 557 Artist Block
Local music aficionado Tenacious T will also be in the house.
Doors open at 6 p.m., with the first presentation set to begin at 7 p.m.
Early bird tickets costing $10 are available at 557 Artist Block, the previous host of the event, or at Cowork Penticton.
They will cost $15 at the door.
Proceeds go to Pechakucha.org.
For more information, email: [email protected]
The efforts of firefighters throughout our province are appreciated by residents coast to coast, and while forest fires rarely change, the technology to fight them does.
While the Martin Mars water bomber was the face of the fight against the 2003 Okanagan fire, the Fire Boss light air tankers are what you will likely see fighting fires in 2016.
Kurtis Isfeld, manager of B.C. Wildfire Operations, says the planes used to fight fires have become more efficient and agile.
Isfeld said the most commonly seen water skimmer, the AirTractor AT802FB 'Fire Boss' light air tanker, is a single-engine, turbine-powered amphibious plane.
It is piloted by one pilot. This aircraft in particular has the ability to be able to drop retardant around a wildfire and can then scoop up water to drop on the actual fire itself to reduce the intensity, said Isfeld.
It skims about 3,000 litres of water in about 15 seconds from about 1,700 bodies of water in B.C. They provide us with a flexibility tool that allows us to operate in the geographics we see in B.C.
Far more useful that the larger Martin Mars that could only scoop water from about 130 bodies of water.
From that perspective, you've got a lot more flexibility as a decision maker on a fire when you've got a short turnaround.
Isfeld said in 2003 the province was just starting to use skimmer aircraft like the Martin Mars. The amphibious planes were used only on an as-needed contract basis.
In 2014, the province moved to have certain planes under permanent contract, a fleet of different types and sizes of aircraft.
There is a whole fleet of aircraft. We have the Fire Boss which is considered a light, a fleet of intermediate air tankers which are land-based, retardant-based aircraft and then we also have the Electra which is considered a heavy land-based, retardant-based aircraft, explained Isfeld.
For water supply to the fire we rely on the Fire Bosses, as well as our access to rotary-wing helicopters.
Isfeld said the province is also experimenting with the use of drones in the fight against wildfires.
We are using them to capture information and data on fires which we have found has actually been a safer and more cost effective method of scanning fire perimeters for hot spots, said Isfeld.
The big advantage to the UAVs that we are seeing is that they have the ability to operate in the evening, whereas traditional aircraft can't fly and scan at night. It gives us the ability to go out, identify hot spots with incredible accuracy and have those maps printed out and ready for crews first thing in the morning.
He also said it allows them to send firefighters on the ground to coordinates within the fire that require attention.
From a safety perspective and an efficiency perspective, we are really excited about that piece of emergency technology.
Isfeld said they also use eight remote cameras that crews can set up and keep running to monitor remote fires from afar.
It is very helpful, quick and gives you the ability to check in on that fire as much as you want. Versus, going out once in a while in a helicopter at a significant cost.
While technology is helping crews fight fires in all sorts of ways, the fight on the ground has not changed a whole lot in the last century.
Our organization has been around for more than 100 years and essentially it is very basic science. You have three elements; fuel, oxygen and heat. From a tactics perspective all we are doing is looking at employing ground or aerial tactics to remove one of those elements. Remove the heat, remove the fuel or remove the oxygen, that is how we get our success, said Isfeld.
Overtime technology has improved and we have access to some different tools that we didn't have before, but the general tactics of firefighting are pretty sound principles that have been around for awhile.
Meanwhile, the year-round mitigation work to prevent catastrophic fires has improved since 2003.
The B.C. government introduced the Strategic Wildfire Prevention Initiative in 2004 to help local governments and First Nations reduce the risk of interface wildfires.
As of April 29, about $78 million has been allocated to the Strategic Wildfire Prevention Initiative.
As well, as of March 31, 290 Community Wildfire Protection Plans have been completed by local governments and First Nations. Another 55 are in progress.
The government says these plans identify areas at risk and prescribe fuel management projects to address those risks.
As of March 31, completed fuel treatments and risk reduction efforts from all projects covered nearly 80,000 hectares of land in and around communities that face a significant wildfire risk.
And in 2016 the government invested $85 million to create the Forest Enhancement Society of B.C.
The new societys efforts will focus on wildfire-risk reduction.
We certainly understand as an organization that we have to be proactive with our mitigation efforts, said Isfeld.
One of the things we are trying to do is reach out to communities through education efforts, explain to municipalities about fire-smart principles. It is definitely a shared responsibility.
Each year, the BC Wildfire Service responds to an average of about 2,000 fires throughout the province. In an average season, air tankers conduct about 520 firebombing missions.
More than 1,560 firefighters and support staff are available for the 2016 wildfire season.
The B.C. government is also able to call on over 2,500 private contractor firefighting resources and a multitude of contingency resources (including those in other provinces).
As it stands, the province contracts the following aircraft fleet of 33 fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft;
One Type 4 light-lift helicopter
Five Type 2 medium-lift helicopters
Eight bird dog aircraft (used for co-ordinating aerial wildfire response)
17 air tankers (including four AT-802F 'Fire Boss' amphibious air tankers, four AT-802 land-based light air tankers, four Electra L-188 heavy air tankers, four Convair CV- 580 intermediate air tankers and one Avro RJ85 heavy airtanker)
Two parattack jumpships
For more details on the entire B.C. fleet, click here.
Photo: David Pusey
Contracted aircraft for the 2016 fire season consist of 33 fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft:
One Type 4 light-lift helicopter
Five Type 2 medium-lift helicopters
Eight bird dog aircraft (used for co-ordinating aerial wildfire response)
17 air tankers (including 4 AT-802F Fire Boss amphibious air tankers, 4 AT-802 land-based light air tankers, 4 Electra L-188 heavy air tankers, 4 Convair CV 580 intermediate air tankers and 1 Avro RJ85 heavy air tanker)
Two parattack jumpships
For more details about each aircraft, read below.
Bird-dogs Typically the first firefighting resource to reach a wildfire. They establish and maintain air traffic control near a wildfire, complete initial fire assessments, formulate fire attack plans, determine resource requirements, check viability of air tanker bombing runs, direct air tanker bombing runs and assess the effectiveness of aerial attacks. Bird-dogs are staffed by a pilot and an air attack officer. The BC Wildfire Service uses three different models:
The turbine-powered Turbo Commander 690 has a cruising speed of 480 km/h and operational endurance of four hours.
The turbine-powered Cessna Caravan C208-B has a cruising speed of 324 km/hr and operational endurance of six hours.
The jet-powered Cessna Citation C525 has a cruising speed of 720 km/hr and operational endurance of four hours.
Lockheed Electra L188 heavy air tanker This land-based air tanker has four turbine-powered engines and a crew of two pilots. It can load fire retardant from 15 air tanker bases throughout the province and has the highest payload in the fleet at 11,365 litres. Its cruising speed is 560 km/h and it can drop fire retardant at 225 km/h. This aircraft excels at responding to remote fires, has a large drop volume and can quickly establish lines of retardant to help contain a wildfires spread.
AirTractor AT802 light air tanker This single-engine, turbine-powered air tanker carries a crew of one pilot. It is land-based and is specifically designed to deliver fire retardant. It can operate from short airstrips, allowing it to load retardant from any one of the provinces 17 air tanker bases. It has a cruising speed of 240 km/h and can drop 3,025 litres of fire retardant at 190 km/h. This air tanker excels at attacking wildfires in mountainous terrain, directly attacking small fires and providing close air support for firefighters on the ground.
Convair 580 intermediate air tanker This two-engine, turbine-powered air tanker carries a crew of two pilots. It can load up to 7,950 litres of fire retardant from 15 of B.C.s air tanker bases, fly to a wildfire at 500 km/h and drop multiple loads at 225 km/h. It is well-suited for work in B.C.s mountainous terrain and its quick-response capability complements the work of the fleets other air tankers.
Avro RJ85 heavy air tanker During a pilot project thats running this summer, BC Wildfire Service staff are evaluating the Avro RJ85 turbo fan aircraft. This four-engine, high-speed air tanker is equipped with a fire retardant delivery system that was developed in B.C. and designed for use in B.C.s firefighting conditions. The Avro RJ85s single tank can be loaded with 11,365 litres of fire retardant in about eight minutes and it can deliver that load in a single drop or multiple drops (with varying volumes and coverage areas).
AirTractor AT802FB Fire Boss light air tanker This single-engine, turbine-powered air tanker is amphibious (i.e. it can land on water or at an airport) and is highly versatile. It carries a crew of one pilot. The Fire Boss can drop retardant around a wildfire to slow its spread and then scoop up water and drop it on the fire to reduce its intensity. The Fire Boss can skim up to 3,025 litres of water in 15 seconds from over 1,700 water bodies in B.C. Its targeting accuracy allows firefighting crews to take a more aggressive approach to fighting a wildfire and allows skimming aircraft to work in conjunction with air tankers dropping fire retardant.
Role of helicopters (rotary-wing aircraft)
Helicopters play a vital role by supporting firefighting crews and other resources on the ground. They perform many different tasks, including dropping water on hot spots, transporting BC Wildfire Service personnel to and from the fire line, and allowing staff to quickly get an aerial view of a wildfire.
Helicopters are generally categorized into four types, based on the amount of weight that they can carry: light, intermediate, medium and heavy.
Types of helicopters contracted by the BC Wildfire Service
Type 4 light-duty helicopter A light-duty helicopter can carry up to four passengers and is typically used for: GPS mapping; infrared scanning of wildfires; long lining equipment (transporting cargo to and from remote locations using a cable or rope); co-ordinating helicopter flight operations; transporting personnel (including the deployment of fire crews); initiating controlled aerial ignitions (to burn off fuels or create firebreaks); and allowing an incident commander or fire line crew member to observe a wildfire from above. Light-duty helicopters frequently used by the BC Wildfire Service include the Bell 206B, EC 120 and Hughes 500.
Type 3 intermediate-duty helicopter An intermediate-duty helicopter performs the same tasks as a light-duty helicopter, but can carry up to five passengers. Intermediate-duty helicopters frequently used by the BC Wildfire Service include the Bell 206 Longranger series, Bell 407 and A Star 350 series.
Type 2 medium-duty helicopter A medium-duty helicopter can carry up to 14 passengers and be configured with tanks or buckets capable of holding about 1,400 litres of water or fire retardant. Medium-duty helicopters are primarily used to transport firefighting crews and cargo, provide bucketing or belly-tanking support on the fire line to help suppress hot spots, or drop long-term fire retardant to help maintain a wildfire control line. Medium-duty helicopters are also used by the RapAttack program so firefighters can access remote fires by rappelling or hoisting. Medium-duty helicopters frequently used by the BC Wildfire Service include the Bell 205, Bell 212 and Bell 412.
Type 1 heavy-lift helicopter A heavy-lift helicopter is typically used for water bucketing or water bombing. It can carry up to 9,500 litres of water or fire retardant to help maintain a fireguard or suppress hot spots inside or outside of the fire perimeter. Heavy-lift helicopters frequently used by the BC Wildfire Service include the Bell 214B, Sikorsky 61, Kamov Ka32, Kaman K-MAX K-1200, Boeing BV107 (Vertol) and Sikorsky 64 Skycrane.
Photo: Thinkstock.com
People in Penticton will soon get a chance to hear what city staffers have been up to in researching medical pot regulations.
In a committee of the whole meeting next Tuesday, staff will present some potential regulations deliberated in the process so far.
While council would not be making any particular decisions on that day, Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said the meeting will give council an opportunity to provide direction for staff on some of the options.
While the community would not be able to participate in the dialogue in the meeting, Jakubeit said it could be an opportunity for people to hear what options have been running through city hall during the 60-day mandate to provide municipal regulations on the city's dispensaries.
"(It will) allow sort of two weeks for comments to start getting collected," he said. "Like, 'Yeah, I like the proposed hours,' or these proposed regulations, or they're too restrictive, or they're too open ended."
That 60 days is expected to come to an end in the next few weeks, with Sept. 20 likely to be the date of staff's presentation either outlining potential regulations, or asking for more time.
The process began in a special council meeting on July 19, when city council rejected the business licence of the Rush In and Finish Cafe along Westminster Ave.
After cancelling the business licence, a motion was passed in council to look into potential regulations the city could undertake for local dispensaries to work under.
The committee of the whole meeting will be held next Tuesday at 3 p.m.
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer
Staff at a new storefront on Penticton's Brunswick Street were busy Wednesday preparing food and welcoming visitors.
The Wine Crush Market held its soft opening from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
"I absolutely love it, and I think people are going to just love it," said co-owner Tyson Still. "It's a healthy product chock full of antioxidants and Resveratrol, which has many health benefits."
Still said it all started when his business partner was riding his bike in Summerland and came across some wild grapes.
He told Still they could get a sourdough starter from the grapes capturing the wild yeast, and they started experimenting with it.
"We started making some products and sampling them out to people and we got great reviews," he said. "People were intrigued with what we were doing."
From there they met a guy who owns a dehydration facility in Vancouver who told them he had a culled crop of grapes and dehydrated them.
That led to them incorporating the wine crush powder into all of their products.
It took off from there with them selling the product made from the wine crush at local farmers' market in the Okanagan and again getting rave reviews.
A storefront seemed like the right way to go and although it took a big effort to get it open, everything has now fallen into place.
Wine Crush Market offers a wide range of healthy products including sourdough RedBread and RhineBread, varietal Winecrush powder, sausages and much more.
It is now open, Tuesday to Saturday, at 283 Brunswick Street.
Dustin Godfrey
The City of Penticton lowered its Canadian flag to half-staff in honour of former Penticton MP Fred King.
King died in hospice Tuesday morning at the age of 93.
Mayor Andrew Jakubeit shared some words to commemorate the former MP, calling King "someone who commanded a fair bit of respect."
"He was well liked because he had such a bubbly personality," he said. "He was always a bit of a character, a bit of humour."
King served as MP for the federal Progressive Conservative Party from 1979 until 1988, when he retired from politics following a defeat by New Democrat Jack Whittaker.
However, King remained an active member of the community, working as director of the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation and working to bring more recognition to local veterans.
Prior to politics, King had various careers, including fruit farming and postmaster.
Prior to that, he had served in Burma during the Second World War for the Royal Canadian Air Force.
The flag will be flown at half-mast until his memorial service.
A movie filmed in the Okanagan last summer will be making its festival debut at the Montreal World Film Festival this weekend, but the future of the festival remains in limbo.
Kate Twa, who lives in Vancouver, wrote the script for The Orchard while in Arizona in May 2015, but she always had the Okanagan in mind, despite never really spending much time here.
She came to the Okanagan last summer with co-creator Ronan Reinhart to scout out places to shoot, and quickly fell in love with the area. By August, filming had begun in Peachland and Naramata.
It was so surprising to see how many people wanted to help and how happy they were that the Okanagan was being shot as the Okanagan and not as some distant American landscape.
We were treated really well.
Several local landmarks are featured prominently in the film.
I rewrote the script to include actual places in the Okanagan, like Andy's Animal Farm and the lavender farm and all of those places I rewrote based on who we met and what we saw, Twa said. Which was kind of cool because it became even more authentic.
The film is about a Los Angeles talent agent who inherits a small peach orchard in the Okanagan. He travels north expecting to make a quick sale on the land, but begins to fall for the area and the people who live there.
Twa enjoyed her time in the Okanagan so much last summer that she's recently bought a place in Naramata.
I didn't know that there was a place that was kind of like heaven, she said. My neighbours have vineyards; is there anything better in the world?
Twa flies to Montreal Thursday for the debut of the film at the Montreal World Film Festival, despite the festival experiencing some turbulent times as of late.
Cineplex pulled out of the fest last week, citing a number of concerns with the financials and operation of it, leaving the festival with far fewer screens then hoped.
It's gotten messy, Twa said. We do know that we're screening for sure this weekend ... we just have no idea what to expect.
Twa was told in July that their movie would be shown at the festival, but that was put in jeopardy when Cineplex pulled out. She was just told Wednesday that that the festival would in fact be screening The Orchard, just once, compared to the three screenings she was promised in July.
Montreal is only the start for The Orchard though.
We'll be a travelling caravan if we have to, Twa said. We're so excited for people to see it.
In addition to future festival screenings, Twa is trying to get a screening organized in the Okanagan.
Photo: Dustin Godfrey
To finish off his bike trip around his riding, Richard Cannings held a barbecue this week.
Cannings, the federal NDP MP for the South Okanagan-West Kootenay riding, took his bike along the Kettle Valley Rail trails around the riding, starting from Nakusp and concluding in Penticton on Tuesday.
That's when he fired up the barbecue in Skaha Lake Park, along with a donations bucket, with proceeds going toward the new hospital tower at Penticton Regional Hospital.
He said the barbecue will be the first of an annual event, as long as he represents the riding in Ottawa.
"It's first annual because I'm a new MP," he said. "We're going to be holding it year after year."
He said both the barbecue and the bike ride will send him back to Parliament armed with conversations he's had with people in the riding's communities along the way.
"It's one last chance to talk to people before I go back to Ottawa," he said.
He added that he spent his time around the riding speaking to people in various communities about subjects from the Site C dam and pipelines, to electoral reform and marijuana legalization.
"Everybody's got their main issues," he said. "It's quite a broad range."
He added that he had been hearing about the KVR trails, with people saying more investment is needed into the trails to promote tourism in the area.
He said he hopes to bike around the riding in the coming years as well.
"I hope I'll still be in good enough shape, next year," he said. "I definitely want to do it. I'll probably do a different route to see a few more different communities."
Yellowstone County is asking a judge to rule in its favor without a trial in a civil lawsuit filed against it by the family of Loren Benjamin Simpson, who was fatally shot last year by sheriffs deputies near Huntley.
This week, the county filed documents in U.S. District Court in Billings seeking summary judgment on behalf of the county, Sheriff Mike Linder and former deputies Jason Robinson and Christopher Rudolph.
Mediation in the case has not been successful, both parties said Wednesday.
Kevin Gillen, Yellowstone County deputy attorney, said in court records that the officers have qualified immunity from federal constitutional claims, which means they are not liable for civil damages.
Nathan Wagner, a Missoula attorney who represents Simpsons family, said he opposes the motions and will be filing a response.
Simpson, 28, died on Jan. 8, 2015, as he approached two deputies on White Buffalo Road in Huntley while driving a Ford Explorer that had been reported stolen. The two deputies fired at the vehicle with a shotgun and AR-15 rifle. Simpson was struck multiple times, including being hit by a fatal shot in the back of the head.
After the shooting, the deputies told investigators they felt threatened by the vehicle coming toward them. Both deputies resigned five days after the shooting.
A coroners inquest in February ruled unanimously that the deputies did not act criminally in Simpsons shooting death.
Gillen said the county is always interested in settling cases. And despite the countys motions for summary judgment, Gillen said, Were still in the process of discussing settlement if we can.
Even if the judge rules for the county on the federal claims, Gillen said the county still faces state claims alleging negligence, wrongful death and other allegations.
Wagner also said regardless of whether the county is successful on the federal claims, the case will go forward on the state claims.
The case began in state District Court and was moved into federal court. A trial date has not been set.
The county said the deputies have qualified immunity from federal claims.
It was reasonable for them to believe under the circumstances that the deadly force they used against Loren Simpson would not have violated Simpsons right against excessive use of force under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, the county said.
When Simpson drove his vehicle in the direction of Robinson, it was reasonable for Robinson and Rudolph to believe that Simpson posed a threat of death or serious bodily injury to Robinson that allowed them to use deadly force against Simpson, the county said.
Qualified immunity provides a government employee sued for monetary damages under federal Constitutional claims with immunity if it was reasonable for the employee to believe his actions would not violate a clearly established statutory or constitutional right, the county said.
The sheriff also is entitled to qualified immunity, the county said. Linder responded to scene of the shooting, reviewed the dash camera video of the shooting with command staff, met with county litigators and determined that the deputies actions were against "best practices" of the sheriffs office, the county continued.
Linder decided to begin disciplinary proceedings, but before that could begin, the deputies resigned.
Because it was reasonable for Linder to believe it was constitutional to do what he did, he is immune from liability, the county said.
Wagner disagreed. The county, he said, is trying to excuse the conduct of the officers by relying on recent case law indicating that if there is any benefit of the doubt, it will be given to officers. We dont think that applies, he said.
Qualified immunity is intended to give officers the benefit of the doubt if they were acting reasonably, Wagner said.
The deputies were not in danger, Wagner said. The only one in danger was Loren, he said.
The video, Wagner said, shows how Simpson swerved to avoid the deputies. They emptied their rifles into the vehicle. That is not a qualified immunity situation in our view, he said.
Photo: Dustin Godfrey
No court injunction has yet been invoked for a Penticton cannabis dispensary that has kept its doors open despite a cancelled business licence.
The Rush In and Finish Cafe's business licence was cancelled in a 5-2 vote on July 19, and fines have steadily increased for the store since that time.
The city's bylaw enforcement is now handing out daily $500 tickets to the shop, and Mayor Andrew Jakubeit had previously said the city would consider a court action against the shop if fines didn't work.
However, Jakubeit said on Wednesday that Jukka Laurio has been attempting to dispute the tickets in court, which Jakubeit said rings of a "sort of delay tactic."
Laurio has previously referred to the fines as a way for the city to gain some revenue from his business.
However, Jakubeit said if that's Laurio's attitude toward the fines, then "tell him to pay them."
He said the process to get the court's backing, which costs time and money, has not yet begun. He noted that council will meet next week, and the shop could find itself the subject of discussions of whether or not to pursue the shop through the court.
"Right now I don't have a definitive timeline on when we're going to ramp it up to injunctive action, or if that is our only option," he said.
However, he noted that Laurio's resistance to council may bode poorly for him when city regulations do come in that would tolerate pot shops in the city.
"Just like any business, they have to be in good standing to get their licence renewed," he said.
He added that with provisions from the city likely to come into place in the coming weeks, it may be best for the city to continue to fine the shop until they know whether or not it will fit the bill of city regulations.
"Whether he, or others, would fall into those provisions, and what those provisions are, I think that's the next thing," he said.
Laurio has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Two other dispensaries in the city Avitas down Main Street and Green Essence on Martin Street both closed their doors after failing to persuade council to allow their business licences to continue earlier in August.
Photo: Contributed
was saddened to learn of the passing of Fred King of Kaleden, a Second World War veteran and retired member of Parliament.
He was a kind, caring man who gave back to his community in many different ways that extended well beyond his time in Ottawa.
Although I considered Fred a close friend, he was also a mentor who offered support and sage advice on many issues around our region.
From his time as MP, Fred had many accomplishments although he was most proud of the work securing federally owned lands that could be used for Okanagan College's Penticton campus.
Some have pointed out that if it were not for his intervention, the Penticton campus may have been placed in a far less convenient location nor without considerable extra costs.
Fred was a strong believer and supporter in our youth and the importance of upgrading skills and education. Fred continued to quietly provide support and assistance for many individuals in hopes they would have a better future.
What I most admired about Fed was his sincere willingness to always help others, many who were complete strangers never asking anything in return only a desire to try and bring happiness and help to those who were in need.
It is a privilege to consider him my friend and to recognize his contributions and his service for the betterment of others.
I would also like to pay tribute to another former member of Parliament, the Right Honourable Stephen Harper.
The former prime minister recently announced he is retiring from Parliament, effective immediately.
Mr. Harper was one of the most misunderstood elected officials I have met who endured significant personal and public attacks that were at odds with my interactions with him during my time in the previous Parliament.
He cared deeply about Canadian families and encouraged policies that promoted prosperity and employment.
As my colleague, MP Pierre Poilievre, recently observed, under Mr. Harpers term as PM, the number of Canadians living in poverty declined to a record low of 4.2 per cent while middle class incomes rose by 11 per cent.
As we know, Canadian middle-class prosperity surpassed that of the United States in 2014 for the first time, all while balancing the budget in the final year of the previous Parliament.
Mr. Harper also eliminated retroactively a gold-plated pension perk that paid every former Canadian PM on retirement 66 per cent of the PM's salary.
Eliminating this perk cost Mr. Harper (and saved taxpayers) $1.5-$2 million in retirement benefits.
He also brought fairness to the formerly gold-plated MP pension plan and to the public sector pension plan by ensuring that these plans were funded equally on a 50/50 contribution rate.
These changes are estimated to save Canadian taxpayers close to $2.6 billion over the next five years.
What I most admired about our former PM was that he was not afraid to make difficult and unpopular decisions that were necessary for Canadas long-term prosperity.
It should also be noted that his electoral rivals tried to paint him as someone who would try to dismantle our health-care system by cutting federal transfer payments to provinces as the former Liberal government had done to balance its budget woes.
Mr. Harper consistently raised federal transfers each and every year while in office and insisted that his ministers support these year-over-year increases while finding efficiencies in their departments and staying focused on growing the economy.
While I appreciate some may see my comments as partisan, I have met few people who believe reducing federal funding for important priorities like health care or that forcing MPs to pay more into their pension plan was a bad one.
Ultimately, leadership means taking principled positions and making at times difficult decisions and for that I would like to recognize Mr. Harpers service to Canadians.
If you have a comment, question or concern about this weeks report or any federal matters, I can be reached at [email protected] or contacted toll free at 1-800-665-8711.
This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: BC Fire Info
Provincial firefighters have been dispatched to numerous lightning-caused wildfires within the Southeast Fire Centre.
Fires are burning within both the Arrow and Kootenay Lake fire zones.
While many are very visible, no structures are being threatened at the present time.
Fires of note include:
Three separate fires are burning about 12 kilometres south of Boswell in the Sanca area, east of Kootenay Lake. These fires are all 0.5 hectares or smaller. Airtankers, a helicopter and initial attack crews are working on site
Initial attack crews are responding to two small wildfires about five kilometres north of Queens Bay in the Coffee Creek region, west of Kootenay Lake.
Twenty-five BC Wildfire Service personnel are responding to a 0.2- hectare fire south of Champion Lakes Provincial Park, a 0.4-hectare fire on Mount Heinze (east of Birchbank) and a 0.5-hectare wildfire on Keystone Mountain (northwest of Salmo).
A 0.7-hectare wildfire west of Slocan Park in the Waverton Creek area is in steep, difficult terrain. A helicopter and initial attack crew are en route.
Since the start of the fire season April 1, 174 fires have broken out in the Southeast Fire District. More than 120 of those have been caused by lightning.
The fire danger rating through much of the zone is high, with pockets of extreme hazard in the Cranbrook, Arrow and Kootenay Lake fire zones.
Photo: www.ships.lv
The Port of Prince Rupert says a large container ship is sitting idly in the waters off British Columbia's northwest coast because the South Korean company that owns the vessel is having financial trouble.
The 255-metre long Hanjin Scarlet arrived at the port Tuesday night and was immediately anchored in the inner harbour, said port spokesman Michael Gurney.
A number of media organizations were reporting that Hanjin Shipping Co. filed for receivership but the company could not immediately be reached for comment in Vancouver or by email in South Korea.
Under normal circumstances, the ship would go directly to the terminal for unloading, but it has not been handled because of the uncertain situation, Gurney said.
The port authority said in a release that it is working with DP World, which owns the terminal, and CN Rail to find a resolution. DP World's terminal manager in Prince Rupert declined comment.
CN Rail said in a statement that all Hanjin containers in its system will be released for pickup and that the rail company will not accept additional export loads from the shipping company or bookings from other shipping lines destined for Hanjin vessels.
A separate CN Rail statement said the company is "closely monitoring the fluid and evolving Hanjin bankruptcy issue, and is developing the necessary steps to protect the interests of our customers and our business."
Gurney said the Hanjin Scarlet began its voyage in Busan, South Korea, and port schedules show the vessel was due to make its next stop in Delta, later this week.
The shipping line's financial fortunes are having a big impact on the Canadian freight industry, said Ruth Snowden, executive director of the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association.
She said members from across the country have been contacting her, concerned about the fate of the cargo on Hanjin vessels.
"It's most unusual. This is going to impact ports around the world," Snowden said. "It impacts Canadian importers and exporters because if I have a container on that vessel I can't get it."
There are thousands of containers on Hanjin ships and many more Canadian products could be sitting on docks abroad, Snowden added. Traders will now have to retrieve their cargo and arrange for it to be shipped on other lines, she said.
Photo: Nicholas Johansen Lytton wildfire burns within sight of food for hungry firefighters.
Richard Brown sits in the Jade Springs Restaurant, just north of Lytton, Wednesday night, waiting for his order of 55 meals from the Chinese food restaurant.
It's the only restaurant in town that's open at 10 p.m. anywhere near Lytton and Brown has a lot of hungry mouths to feed.
Brown is the warden for the Lytton Forest Service and has been tasked with delivering items to and from the front line, where crews battle a 300-hectare and growing wildfire that has been threatening homes throughout the day.
Just hours before, the BC Forestry Service had estimated the fire was 160 hectares, but the estimate was nearly doubled to 300 hectares by 7 p.m. Heavy winds had been blowing all day, whipping the fire northward.
As night fell, the wind continued, and the flames could be seen clearly on the mountains across the Fraser River from Lytton, engulfing trees in seconds.
While Brown spent the day delivering hoses, pumps and other firefighting necessities, he was now in charge of getting food to the crew that had just come off the line after fighting the fire since morning.
Brown says he's sure they'll be happy to see him after putting in 12-hour shifts.
"They're a little tired, but they're patient people, they're hard workers," he said.
While winds were expected to persist northward, Brown said you never know how fires will act.
"You can't really predict it, (the wind) shifts around in this valley, so the fire's going to move around."
Despite the river standing between Lytton and the fire, residents were busy watering down their houses and decks Wednesday afternoon. They may be used to the drill by now.
Near the end of June, a seven-hectare wildfire burned four kilometres south of town, just two kilometres south of where Wednesday's fire started.
"Just farther down the road," Brown said. "They're mostly railroad fires."
Elaborating, Brown says sparks from train wheels are often to blame for fires in the area.
Regardless of the cause, it needs to be stopped and there's 55 people down the road who need to be rested and fed by morning.
He loads the 55 meals into his truck and heads off.
The kitchen can be heard celebrating the end to their busy night on what should have been a quiet Wednesday.
Photo: Cam Jones
A Vancouver Island man witnessed an unusual sight in his backyard three cougars stalking a deer.
Courtenay resident Cam Jones glanced out his window, Wednesday, and caught the unforgettable moment.
I happened to look up and see the two come across the lawn. The third one followed a couple seconds behind, Jones told CTV.
I watched them as they headed toward the neighbour's, and then I looked up as I saw a deer running across my yard with the cougar in pursuit, he said. About a minute later, you see the cougar come back, a little out of breath. He obviously didnt get his meal, wasnt fast enough.
Then, one of the cougars sauntered onto his porch for a rest.
Jones has seen a lot of wildlife in the area, but never a cougar in broad daylight, let alone three.
I feel very privileged to be so close to something like that, something that you rarely see, so I thought I would share it with everybody, he said.
The BC Conservation Officer Service has seen an island-wide increase in cougar interactions this year.
Anyone who has a cougar sighting is asked to report it to the RAPP line at 1-877-952-7277.
with files from CTV Vancouver
Photo: UBC Okanagan
A new CIBC poll suggests four out of five parents aren't able to accurately estimate university tuition fees, with many also not understanding how RESPs work.
The survey found that only 20 per cent of parents correctly gauged the cost of post-secondary education tuition at between $6,000 to $9,999.
On average, tuition for an undergraduate degree costs $6,191, according to the most recent data from Statistics Canada.
Moreover, 37 per cent of parents said they had no idea how much to budget for non-tuition expenses, such as books, supplies, groceries and accommodation.
Kathleen Woodard, senior vice-president of retail and business banking at CIBC, says parents looking to send their child to college or university for four years should count on a total cost of at least $100,000, or $25,000 per year.
The poll did find that 76 per cent of parents saving for their child's post-secondary education had set up a Registered Education Savings Plan account, but many of them lacked basic knowledge about how RESPs actually work.
No matter what your family income is, the federal government will match eligible annual contributions to an RESP account by 20 per cent, to a maximum of $500 per year for each child under age 18 and a lifetime limit of $7,200.
Those government incentives, called Canada Education Savings Grants, can also be carried forward but $1,000 is the maximum grant parents can receive in any one year.
Of the respondents in the CIBC survey, 31 per cent of them said they were not aware they can catch up on claiming CESG in another year.
The poll released Thursday also said 53 per cent of respondents believed that RESP contributions were tax deductible, which they are not.
Another 45 per cent thought that RESPs can only be used to pay for their child's tuition, when in fact, they can be used for any purpose related to university costs, including general living expenses.
Photo: The Canadian Press
A self-styled champion of privatized health care is bringing his fight to British Columbia Supreme Court next week for the start of a months-long trial he says is about patients' access to affordable treatment, while his opponents accuse him of trying to gut the core of Canada's medical system.
Dr. Brian Day of Cambie Surgery Centre in Vancouver is challenging B.C.'s ban on the purchase of private insurance for medically necessary services that are already covered by the public system. He argues the restriction violates patients' constitutional rights by forcing them to endure gruelling wait times that often exacerbate their health problems.
"This is about making medicare better," said Day.
A statement from the B.C. Health Ministry, the defendant in the case, said its priority is to uphold the Medicare Protection Act and the benefits it safeguards. It declined further comment while the case is before the courts.
Day launched the lawsuit in 2010. There have been a number of delays, including a one-year postponement while the two sides unsuccessfully tried to reach an out-of-court settlement.
Canada's inefficient system is the product of a wasteful bureaucracy, a lack of competition and a misguided attachment to universal coverage, Day argues.
He said opening the door for private insurance would ease pressure on the public system, freeing up resources to cut wait times and boost the quality of care for everyone, whether publicly or privately insured.
It's widely agreed the lawsuit could have far-reaching ramifications for health care in Canada.
Adam Lynes-Ford of the B.C. Health Coalition, one of the interveners in the case, said making space for private health care flies in the face of the core Canadian value that people should have access to medical care based on need, not on ability to pay.
"This is such a profound threat to the health of everybody in Canada," Lynes-Ford said.
He said a win for Day would lead to a more U.S.-style medical system, meaning longer wait times for the average Canadian and skyrocketing costs as limits are lifted on what doctors can charge patients.
Colleen Flood, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, described Day's lawsuit as one of the biggest constitutional cases "perhaps ever."
"Basically, medicare is being put on trial, and will likely be found wanting in many regards," she said.
"But the question is whether the cure for what ails medicare is more privatization. That's what Dr. Day is arguing," she added. "I don't think so myself and I think the weight of the evidence is against that."
Photo: Google Street View
The Original Joe's, State & Main and Elephant & Castle restaurant-bar chains will be acquired later this year by Cara Operations Ltd., which sees an opportunity to increase its presence in Western Canada.
Under transactions announced Thursday, Cara will pay $93 million for a majority stake in Original Joe's Franchise Group Inc., which will remain under its current management and keep its corporate head office in Calgary.
"Original Joe's is a natural fit for Cara. The majority of Original Joe's restaurants are located in Western Canada, an area where Cara is currently under-represented,'' Cara CEO Bill Gregson said in a release.
Original Joe's president and CEO Derek Doke said "the opportunity to partner with Cara was attractive from a strategic and synergistic perspective."
The bulk of what Cara pays, $90 million, will be used by Original Joe's Franchise Group to re-acquire its trademarks and royalty rights from Diversified Royalty Corp., which also owns the Sutton real estate brand and the Mr. Lube franchise business.
This will allow Original Joe's to retain about $12.6 million in annual royalty payments now paid to Diversified Royalty.
Cara Operations currently has about 1,000 restaurants in its network, including Harvey's burgers, Swiss Chalet chicken and ribs, New York Fries and the Kelsey's, East Side Mario's, Bier Markt and other casual dining restaurants.
The Toronto-area company's total system sales will reach about $2.7 billion after adding the 99 locations in the Original Joe's group and the 117 locations from its previously-announced acquisition of Quebec-based St-Hubert chain of chicken and ribs restaurants.
Photo: Twitter - Thomas McIlwraith
The second phase of Enderby's main street construction begins following the Labour Day long weekend.
The work will complete the construction of Cliff Avenue, from the Vernon Street intersection to the Bawtree Bridge.
Construction will occur between Sept. 6 to approximately Nov. 11, Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. although there may be times when longer hours or weekend work is required, according to a City of Enderby press release.
Drivers are advised that during this phase of construction, there will be single-lane alternating traffic and no parking within the limits of the works. Two-lane traffic will be provided outside of the limits of the works.
This exciting project will replace critical underground infrastructure and create a new streetscape that will promote social and economic growth, said Tate Bengston, the city's chief administrative officer.
During construction, dedicated pedestrian walkways will be available within the limits of the works. Free parking is available throughout the downtown core, including nearby parking lots on Mill Avenue, Russell Avenue, and Maud Street.
HELENA The Montana Supreme Court has unanimously overturned a Great Falls man's incest conviction, saying he should have had access to crucial information about his daughter's mental illness that would have allowed him to challenge whether she was telling the truth.
The court ordered a new trial last week, noting a prosecutor heavily redacted a report written by the child's neuropsychologist before turning it over to the defense, and that the judge sealed the child's medical records without reviewing them.
Justices said Deputy Cascade County Attorney Jennifer Quick did not tell the judge or the defense that the medical records contained evidence clearly favorable to the man's defense. The records stated that the girl suffered from psychosis, lied because of a mental disorder and may have made and recanted another allegation of sexual abuse.
The court said the prosecution should have disclosed the details from the records to the father so the judge could have ruled whether they were admissible.
"We realize that child abuse is one of the most difficult crimes to prosecute," Justice Laurie McKinnon wrote in a 5-0 ruling issued on Aug. 24.
McKinnon suggested the prosecution may have been trying to protect the girl from an alleged abuser and the release of deeply personal information about her but said the defendant had a right to due process, adding that justices "are not convinced that this has occurred here."
Chief appellate defender Chad Wright said the father, who is serving a 50-year prison sentence, will be turned over to the custody of Cascade County as the retrial process begins. County Attorney John Parker and Quick did not return telephone phone messages left Thursday seeking comment.
The girl was 5 years old and living with her maternal grandfather, who was her permanent guardian, when she visited her father in Great Falls in late 2012. Soon after she reported that he had sexually abused her, court records said.
The Associated Press is not naming the father to avoid identifying the child.
The father's lawyers sought the girl's medical records because she had been diagnosed with a disorder that made it difficult for her to establish healthy attachments with parents or caregivers. She had lived with her grandfather since she was 3, but court records did not say why.
The father wanted to present expert testimony that a child with that diagnosis might also lie. The court ordered the state to turn over the medical records.
Just before the start of the May 2014 trial, Quick said the state was not comfortable turning over the records until the judge reviewed them. Then the state moved to seal them. District Judge Kenneth Neill granted the state's motion without reviewing the records, justices said. Neill is now retired.
The record given to the defense contained just one statement about the attachment disorder diagnosis, saying it was mostly likely caused by "early neglect or even possible abuse."
The only direct evidence against the father was the daughter's testimony.
"With the significant redactions made by the state in (the girl's) medical records, the defense was unable to seriously challenge her testimony and the jury had little reason to doubt her memory or truthfulness," the justices wrote.
The ruling added that "the prosecutor exploited this throughout her closing argument" by saying the girl was in a stable and loving home and there was no evidence she exhibited any symptoms of lying.
The records that the father obtained after the trial said the girl's living situation was not stable and that she was taking a mood stabilizing medication.
A psychiatrist had considered prescribing the girl an anti-psychotic because she lost contact with reality at times, the records said. A neuropsychologist said the child's condition was so severe she might need to be treated in a children's psychiatric hospital and the girl's grandparents had also complained about her lying, the records said.
Photo: Oliver Daily News
Emergency crews in Oliver responded to a call of a van that had flipped over off Highway 97 Thursday morning.
Cpl. Brian Evans of the Oliver RCMP detachment said the vehicle appeared to have been going off the highway, when the driver overcorrected.
The vehicle careened across the oncoming lane and flipped into a ditch.
Evans said the van landed upside down in a creek, which is about one or two feet deep.
He said the driver is lucky that the creek wasn't any deeper, or the situation could have been much worse.
The driver, the only occupant of the car, was transported to the South Okanagan General Hospital for minor injuries.
Evans said the car was being pulled out of the ditch at about 9:50 a.m.
Photo: The Canadian Press
Bombardier is juggling challenges on two fronts in Canada, temporarily suspending production of its Global business jets next year and missing a delivery deadline for a transit project in Toronto.
The aerospace and railway manufacturer says it plans to place workers at its aircraft completion centre in Montreal on furlough for an unspecified amount of time next year.
A company spokesman called it a "minor adjustment" to manage costs and address a sluggish market for corporate jets.
He declined to specify how long the suspension of Global jet production would last.
The company informed the completion centre's 1,900 workers of the proposed changes on Wednesday.
Last year, Bombardier said it would cut production of the Global 5000 and 6000 models from 80 to about 50 per year.
Meanwhile, Bombardier Transportation says it will deliver a light rail prototype for Toronto's Eglinton Crosstown transit line in two to three weeks after missing an Aug. 31 delivery deadline.
The manufacturer says the delay has no impact on delivery of trains for the US$5.3-billion transit line, which is expected to enter service in 2021.
New laws have come into effect today around the sale, promotion and use of e-cigarettes.
The province says tighter restrictions around vaping are intended to stop the growing use of e-cigarettes by young people.
"One in five youth in Canada have tried an e-cigarette," says the province in a statement.
Laws under the Tobacco and Vapour Products Control Act now treat e-cigarette use "exactly the same as tobacco, with the same bans and restrictions. There are no restrictions on adults buying e-cigarettes."
The act requires retailers ensure e-cigarettes are sold only to adults aged 19 years and older and to ensure that no retail displays are seen by youth. Also, no retail advertising for e-cigarettes can be shown where youth can see it.
E-cigarettes can't be sold in public buildings and their use is banned on public and private school grounds, in indoor public spaces and workplaces, and in vehicles when those under 16 years are present.
The province says B.C. has the lowest smoking rate in Canada at about 15 per cent.
Photo: Flickr-B.C. government
A low water level in the Shuwap region's Salmon River has prompted the B.C. government to stop all angling in Salmon Arm Bay.
Officials are hoping the action will protect chinook and coho salmon that are gathering to spawn at the confluence of Salmon River and Shuswap Lake.
The closure runs from the south and west of a line between Engineer's Point and Sunnybrae Point, and will be in effect from Sept. 3 to Dec. 31.
Dry weather and high temperatures this summer have resulted with low waters in the lake and a slow flow on the river, making it difficult for fish swim up-river to spawn, according to a government press release.
Photo: Nicholas Johansen
Sam Coutts drove from Vancouver to Lytton Monday to visit her boyfriend. While she was able to get a full day in with him on Tuesday, he was dragged out to the forest early Wednesday.
Coutts' boyfriend is on the Lytton Rattlers Unit crew, the local wildfire fighters, and they had a very busy Wednesday.
He was called out at 3 a.m. Wednesday morning and didn't return until 11 p.m.
Coutts, an artist, suddenly found herself with some free time on her hand, so she sat down and did what she loves to do paint.
Using a photo she had taken of the blaze earlier, she spent the day painting the smoky scene.
Rather than taking the painting home with her, she decided to brighten up some of the local heroes' day.
She brought her painting to the BC Wildfire Service office Thursday Morning, and gave it to the firefighters.
"They work so hard so I thought I could do something for them," Coutts said.
The donation is indicative of the strong support for the firefighters in town.
"Oh yeah, we really do (appreciate them)," said Lorna Thoms, a longtime resident of Lytton. "I think they earn their money."
Coutts headed back to Vancouver after dropping off her painting in the largely empty office.
While few were there to appreciate it Thursday morning, it'll be hanging as of token of appreciation when the crews finally return home.
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer
A first-time festival featuring live music, dance, writing workshops and much more is taking place in Summerland this weekend.
The Marginal Arts Festival is set to unfold from Sept. 1 to 3 at different venues.
"Summerland is a wonderful place to be to enjoy culture and we are commemorating the playwright George Ryga, who wrote all of his material right here in Summerland," said Dorthea Atwater, one of the organizers.
George Ryga, who died in 1987, is known as British Columbia's greatest playwright.
His ground-breaking drama, "The Ecstasy of Rita Joe," awakened the country to the continuing tragedy of indigenous peoples.
Two years later, the play opened in the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.
The same year "Grass and Wild Strawberries," with Chilliwack, then The Collectors, broke all attendance records at the Vancouver Playhouse.
Highlights of the first festival, which organizers hope will become an annual event, will be performances of poetry and stories accompanied by music all in a coffee-house style environment takes place tonight at 7 p.m. at the Summerland Waterfront Resort.
On Friday, an event titled, "Quit Your Day Job," including a tribute to Ryga and performances will be held at 7 p.m. at the Centre Stage Theatre.
During the day Saturday, from noon to 4:30 p.m., there will be a free concert featuring three bands at Memorial Park.
At 7 p.m., Saturday recording artist Campbell Ryga will give a performance at Centre Stage.
A variety of writing, singing and acting workshops will also be held during the festival.
For more information, go here.
Photo: Getty Images
The difference between speculation and Investing
Like clock work, every time the market cycle heats up, the opportunist in us comes out to play.
The slow-and-steady-wins-the-race mentality gets abandoned as people chase the sexier, faster buck.
Great people with admirable intentions to do right by their families look to invest some of the freshly minted equity in their home into something that has the potential to pay off big.
The right idea, but lately the conversation has begun to shift from solid, yet agreeably less sexy investments like single-family homes with suites, and duplexes, to this idea of buying three units in the latest pre sales condo development.
The thinking is: I could spread out my $150,000 by putting deposits on three units and then in a year or two, when the market has climbed up another 10 per cent each of my $500,000 units are now worth $550,000.
Since I only have a deposit of $50,000 with the developer, I have doubled my money on each unit just for sitting on them for a year.
Is the above scenario possible? Sure. Is it a forgone conclusion? Absolutely not! There are countless other ways this can go, including losing all your investment.
I use that word reluctantly because although the intention of the person was to invest their equity, what they were actually doing is speculating.
Speculation means: Ideas or guesses about something that is not known.
The cruel teacher of experience has taught me that to win big in this real-estate game you must avoid guesswork at all costs.
Forget about timing the market.
Forget about trying to predict where pricing is headed, and focus on the fundamentals.
Focus on positive cash flow.
Focus on creating your own appreciation through value-adding renovations.
I fell into the trap of speculating the last time the market was hot in 2006/2007.
I put $1.5 million worth of the hottest condo project under contract for $150,000 and had expectations of doubling my money at least.
I wasnt alone as I waited at the front of a 300 plus person line from 2 a.m. the night before the sales centre opened to the ravenous public.
I lost every penny of my six-figure investment when things went sideways in 2008. And that hurt like a you-know-what.
Contrast that with a duplex I bought around the same time in 2007, at the peak of things.
I put a similar amount down on this property, $140,000. I bought this property because the cashflow made sense.
I wasnt trying to guess what the market would do; I was investing my capital into a proven revenue stream.
In this case, it made about $1,000 per month net. Between that, and the equity I was building each month through my mortgage being paid off by the tenant, the returns were actually pretty good (18 per cent) despite paying peak pricing for the duplex.
Around the same time my $1.5 million in a half completed condominiums saw their values sliced by 20 per cent, my duplex value had plummeted to a mere 80 per cent of its former value as well.
The difference between the two was that I wasnt forced to sell my duplex at a loss, it cash flowed through the entire five-year market slump.
My mortgage got paid down by nearly $50,000 and I had approximately $50,000 in cash flow paid to me during that time.
Today, that duplex is worth about 10 per cent more than what I paid for it and the cash flow is about 20 per cent better than what it once was thanks to rents climbing at about three per cent per year.
The $150,000 I dumped into the condos was an expensive lesson, but one Im glad I learned as we go into this next boom cycle.
As exciting and alluring as some of these shiny new projects seem as an investment, sinking that same money into a boring, old duplex or multi-family building will always be my choice.
I know what Im getting into. I know where I can add value, and I know that as long as it cash-flows, theres no down turn in prices that will ever force me to take a loss.
As an investor, I like control; I dont like putting my fate in the hands of bankers, politicians or even public opinion. I like to see my returns on paper in black and white and I like to be able to influence my upside.
My challenge is I also love the smell of opportunity and, if Im honest ,I love the thrill of a good wager as well.
Knowing this about myself, I have to work hard at finding the discipline to stay the course with my investments and follow the plan Ive laid out, as unsexy and tortoise like as it may be.
If youre a boring old tortoise as well and want to see my hand-picked selection of painfully unglamorous cash flow properties with PDF analysis of each showing the predictable double-digit returns, click here and prepare to be underwhelmed.
This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: The Canadian Press
It's been one year since the image of a drowned toddler lying face down on a Turkish beach turned the eyes of the world to the Syrian refugee crisis, but observers say the powerful portrait of human suffering did little in the long term to alleviate the hardship in the conflict-torn region.
While Kurdi's photograph may have had little in the way of a lasting impact on Syria, observers say his image had a disproportionately powerful impact in Canada.
Catherine Dauvergne, dean of the University of British Columbia's law school and a specialist in refugee and immigration law, said the photo affected last fall's federal election.
"I think the important amount of attention that news story got probably pushed the refugee issue up into the public prominence and linked it to the election in a more direct way than had previously been happening," she said.
Friday, Sept. 2, marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Alan Kurdi, a two-year-old Syrian boy immortalized in a chilling photograph that captured the price all too often paid by those struggling to escape the years-long civil war.
The promise to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2015 became a key plank of the Liberal party's platform. The newly elected government eventually made good on the pledge, though several months later than expected.
But as time passes the urgency to help is ebbing, Dauvergne said, "not because the situation itself is not as urgent, but because it's hard to feel that urgency for a long time."
Rouba Alfattal, a professor of Middle East and Arab politics at the University of Ottawa, said "Alan's picture in our minds has kind of faded into the background."
Alfattal said heightened security concerns stemming in large part from increased terrorist attacks across Europe are partly to blame for the West's waning reluctance to accommodate refugees displaced by the conflict.
"We have been desensitized, unfortunately," she said. "I feel people have forgotten about Syria."
Some argue that while Kurdi's photo created a moral impulse in the West to take action, one of its negative impacts may have been that it focused excessive attention on refugee resettlement and distracted from addressing the core issue of stopping the fighting.
Photo: therivercalgary.com
The divide between detached houses and other segments of Calgary's depressed real-estate market continued to widen last month.
August numbers released Thursday by the Calgary Real Estate Board shows the estimated price for a typical condo in the city was down 0.76 per cent from July to $274,900, with prices now down 7.1 per cent from a year ago.
The price of the typical detached house, as represented by the real-estate board's benchmark price, was up in August by 0.18 per cent from a month earlier to $503,200, for a 3.3-per-cent fall from a year ago.
Inventories for condos have also climbed to near record highs for August, at close to six months of supply. Meanwhile, detached homes, which make up close to two-thirds of all sales, have under three months of supply.
A drop in condo and attached house sales helped drag down total sales from a year ago by 4.57 per cent, while detached houses saw only a 1.41-per-cent decline.
Condo prices are now at levels similar to the end of 2013, while sales in the segment are at their weakest level since 2003.
There has been some speculation that the foreign buyer tax imposed in Vancouver and sky-high prices both there and in Toronto might lead to more interest in Calgary's real-estate market, but realtor Jim Sparrow says that he and the five realtors he works with have seen no sign of an increase.
He said many prospective buyers are waiting until they have more confidence that the price of oil and the economy are recovering.
"They're like most other buyers right now. They're very hesitant to jump in the market when they don't have more confidence," said Sparrow.
Photo: The Canadian Press An inquiry is set to begin in Edmonton to look into the case of Melinda Green, killed watching a motor vehicle stunt at a car show.
A manoeuvre between two off-road Jeeps that led to the death of an onlooker at a charity function was an unplanned event that happened at the request of a news cameraman, a fatality inquiry heard Thursday.
"(A co-organizer) and one of the reporters from one of the news outlets approached me," said Sarina St. Germain, one of the organizers of the 2013 Jeeps Go Topless show.
"(The organizer) said to me, 'This guy asked if we could do this thing where one Jeep climbs on the wheels of another.'"
Two drivers performed the trick, in which the wheel from one Jeep slowly scales one of the front wheels of another, stationary Jeep. The vehicles were to hold the formation with their engines off and brakes engaged, then slowly dismount in reverse.
Instead, St. Germain said, the upper driver unexpectedly engaged his engine. The vehicle lurched forward and bounced and rolled about three car lengths into the front of another Jeep.
Melissa Green, 20, was crushed between them. Her mother, Mira Green, left the courtroom in tears as St. Germain described how the woman's daughter died.
The event on May 18, 2013, in the parking lot of a downtown shopping mall, was to benefit the Edmonton Food Bank. It was a display of modified Jeeps with some demonstrations of their capabilities.
St. Germain described how she tried to contact the head of the JK Owners Group, the event's sponsor, to get him to perform the manoeuvre the reporter had requested. When she learned he'd briefly left the site, two other experienced drivers stepped forward.
She said she was careful to keep the crowd of about 100 a safe distance back as the Jeeps got into position. Spectators were allowed to approach them once one vehicle was atop the other, engine off, emergency brake engaged.
St. Germain, who broke into tears as she recalled what happened, said the Jeeps held the formation for a couple of minutes. Then the engine of the top Jeep fired up.
"One thing that's been bugging me I don't understand why Craig (Supernault, the driver) started his Jeep," said St. Germain, who was putting her camera away when the engine revved.
"I heard this noise it was a high, high-pitched whine. I looked up and I could see Craig panicking because his vehicle was moving forward. He couldn't get the vehicle to stop."
World Bank assists Ghana in Strengthening Debt and Public Investment Management
Ghana has received support from the World Bank to strengthen its institutional capacity in domestic revenue mobilization, public investment management, debt management, and governance of State owned Enterprises (SOEs). Reforming the governance of SOEs and improving Governments oversight will also help improve public service delivery and contribute to economy-wide competitiveness.
This was made possible with an approval of a $15 million Ghana Economic Management Strengthening (GEMS) Technical Assistance Project by the World Banks Board of Executive Directors. The project which complements a series of Development Policy operations is to support reforms in debt management, public investment management, SOE governance, and capacity strengthening in domestic revenue mobilization. It will specifically support improvements in the Ministry of Finance; the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA); the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC); targeted SOEs; and select Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
Our support to Ghana under the GEMS project will among others, help theMinistry of Finance build capacity to better operationalize its medium-term debt management strategy and also help improve public service delivery through reforming the governance of SOEs so Government financing needs are met at the lowest cost with prudent levels of risk, saidWorld Bank Country Director for Ghana, Henry Kerali.
The GEMS Technical Assistance project will contribute to increased domestic revenue mobilization, reduced debt burden, help support better public investments and bring improved economic benefits to the people of Ghana. The project is consistent with and aligned to the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda II (GSGDA II) 20142017, which seeks to support growth and restore macroeconomic stability. It is also closely aligned to The World Banks Country Partnership Strategy for Ghana (20132016), which is to deepen support for Ghanas transition and involves assisting the country to sustain economic growth, reduce extreme poverty, and enhance shared prosperity for all Ghanaians to share in the benefits of that growth.
* The World Banks International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the worlds poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor peoples lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the worlds 77 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change to the 1.3 billion people who live in IDA countries. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 112 countries. Annual commitments have averaged about $19 billion over the last three years, with about 50 percent going to Africa.
www.worldbank.org
WHITEFISH Police in Montana say they shot and killed a mountain lion after a family was too scared to get out of the car because the animal would not leave their yard.
Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial said the mountain lion wasn't aggressive but gave no sign of leaving after the family pulled into the driveway Sunday night.
Dial said his officers decided to kill the full-grown female cougar after it became clear that the animal was not afraid of people. Dial said a habituated mountain lion could pose a danger to pets and young children.
Police said the animal's body was given to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks so it could be documented.
Photo: The Canadian Press The massive cruise ship Anthem of the Seas, operated by Royal Caribbean International, dwarfs HMCS Ville de Quebec.
A palatial cruise ship described by passengers as a mini, moving city cast an impressive figure on the Halifax waterfront Thursday, breaking port records as thousands of tourists flooded into the city.
The Anthem of the Seas arrived in downtown Halifax under grey skies, towering over historic Pier 21 on the south side of the waterfront boardwalk.
The Port of Halifax says the ship was carrying about 4,180 passengers plus the crew and weighs a whopping 168,666 tons, making it the largest cruise ship ever to visit Halifax both in terms of its size and passenger capacity.
The Quantum Class boat has everything from bumper cars and roller skating to a circus school and four swimming pools, along with more than 2,000 staterooms.
Linda Jacobs, a retiree from New York state who was vacationing aboard the mammoth ship with her husband Ed Jacobs, said it took them a few days to get their bearings.
"It's big. It's big and confusing. But after a while you get used to it," said Linda Jacobs on the boardwalk, adding that there are people from all over the world on the Anthem including China and Australia.
"It's like a mini city," said Ed Jacobs with a laugh. "There's people from all different places, and we've talked to just about everybody."
A round, mechanical capsule on the ship's upper deck that lifts passengers 90 metres above the sea could be seen ascending into the fog on Thursday morning.
Onlookers were gathering in nearby parking lots and along the water's edge to snap pictures of the massive vessel, which was built last year.
Photo: Google Street View
By Dermod Travis
It's here somewhere...
Licence, car registration fees to drop 35 per cent in 2016. No, that's Quebec.
Average passenger vehicle owner would pay an additional $17 a year in premiums. Nope, that's Manitoba.
Auto Fund rate stabilization reserve hits $377 million highest ever, $65 million profit in 2015. No, that's Saskatchewan.
Here it is: ICBC applying for basic rate increase of 4.9 per cent.
Vastly different story lines among Canada's four public auto insurers.
Just like ICBC's mishmash of eight different date-to-date comparisons in its news release last week in support of the corporation's rate application. Cherry picked to suit, actual dollars cited when useful, percentages when not, but no ratios since they wouldn't be helpful at all.
There's an eerie sense of deja vu to the release.
Example: The external pressures on insurance rates in B.C. are very real and theyre accelerating, including an escalation in the number of crashes, the number of claims being filed and the cost of settling those claims."
Here's what ICBC said in 2002 to justify its then rate application: Claims costs are up, with no sign of relief to come... These trends show no sign of abating.
According to its release, the number of crashes across B.C. jumped by 15 per cent in two years from 260,000 in 2013 to 300,000 in 2015.
Why 2013 and not some other year, say 2007? The numbers wouldn't fit the narrative.
In 2007, there were 281,000 crashes, reducing the jump to 6.8 per cent over nine years, but that's just part of it.
Back then, there were three million active driver licences in B.C. In 2014, 3.28 million (latest year posted to ICBC's website).
Take the number of crashes per 100,000 active driver licences and that jump turns to a drop, falling from 9,341 crashes for every 100,000 licences to 9,146 in 2015 (using the undoubtedly lower 2014 licence stat).
Against policies in force up 25 per cent since 2007 the ratio would drop even more.
They dip for injuries and fatalities as well.
According to Transport Canada, there were 13.9 fatalities per 100,000 licensed drivers in B.C. in 2007 and 8.9 in 2014. The injury rate dropped from 864.2 to 644.7.
When it comes to cost controls, ICBC was quite emphatic in 2002: ICBC has reduced its controllable costs by 22 per cent and has reduced its costs substantially, so further savings will be much smaller.
No kidding.
Last week, ICBC trumpeted the fact its executive team has decreased from 11 members in 2012 to just eight today. In 2015, total executive compensation was 46 per cent lower than it was in 2011.
No actual dollars, just a percentage.
Relying on ICBC's executive compensation filings, the corporation's top five salaries totalled $2.2 million in 2011 and $1.83 million in 2015, a difference of $366,930.
That's sure to put a dent no pun intended into the corporation's costs. It's also irrelevant.
As ICBC's media spokesperson Adam Grossman put it to the Vancouver Sun in 2014: (managerial) cuts are unlikely to result in lower rates for customers, those are mainly driven by injury claims costs, which total about $2 billion each year.
At least two of the corporation's senior executives are being paid to stay at home, part of the 390 severance agreements ICBC has signed with non-union staff between 2009 and 2015, each for between two to 18 months.
Despite those cuts, employee salaries and benefits rose 6.7 per cent to $395.9 million between 2007 and 2015, payments to suppliers of goods and services rose 38.9 per cent to $215.9 million and claims by 29.5 per cent to $3.3 billion.
ICBC is now on a hiring spree to cope with its self-inflicted backlog of claims and plans to add another 180 claims positions to its 4,700 employees.
Back in 2002, ICBC was put under the government's microscope. According to the core review's findings: It is clear that decisions regarding auto insurance rates and operations should be based on sound business principles and not political considerations.
Funny coincidence. In 2005 and 2009 both election years the rate increases at ICBC were zero.
ICBC is tops in one area among Canada's four public insurers: highest premiums.
Dermod Travis is the executive director of IntegrityBC.
Photo: Contributed
A British Columbia police chief says it's a miracle that no one died after nine people overdosed within a 20-minute period on what are believed to be drugs laced with fentanyl.
Emergency crews responded to a series of calls Thursday morning from four locations in Delta, where recreational drug users thought they were using cocaine.
Delta police chief Neil Dubord says first responders used the overdose-reversing drug naloxone and that one man had to be revived after going into cardiac arrest.
In an online video, Dubord says every time people use drugs for fun they're pulling the trigger in a dangerous game of Russian roulette.
The overdoses come less than a day after Vancouver Coastal Health Authority released data showing the vast majority of street drugs that have been inspected at its supervised injection site, Insite, contain fentanyl.
Statistics show the number of deaths in B.C. between Jan. 1 and June 30 where fentanyl was detected has leapt to 238, a 250-per-cent increase over the same period last year.
Photo: Instagram
The deadline to enter the Conservative leadership race is nearly half a year away, but the list of potential candidates is still growing as MPs look ahead to a caucus retreat in Halifax later this month.
Here is the latest list of who is in and who is still thinking about it.
Officially registered:
Kellie Leitch. The pediatric orthopedic surgeon, first elected as an MP in 2011, was the first to file her paperwork in April.
Maxime Bernier. The Quebec MP and former cabinet minister registered a few days after Leitch and has already outlined several key policy positions.
Michael Chong. The Ontario MP is a longtime champion of democratic reform.
Tony Clement. Also from Ontario, the former cabinet minister is trying again after losing to Stephen Harper for leadership of the party in 2004.
Still working on it:
Deepak Obhrai. One of the longest-serving Conservative MPs, he told his caucus colleagues earlier this summer that he plans to join the race.
Brad Trost. The social-conservative Saskatchewan MP first declared his interest in running for the top job after the party dropped a policy widely seen as opposing same-sex marriage at its convention in May.
Andrew Saxton. The defeated Vancouver-area MP is exploring a bid based on a desire to ensure a candidate from B.C., where he and his family have long lived.
Pierre Lemieux. Also defeated in the last election, the former eastern Ontario MP sent an email to supporters last month to let them know he is trying to raise the money needed to join the race so that he can champion social-conservative values.
Adrienne Snow. A Toronto-based communications consultant, Snow was previously involved in several policy think-tanks.
Andrew Scheer. The former Speaker of the House of Commons is expected to join the race soon after the Conservative caucus holds its retreat.
Lisa Raitt. The former cabinet minister and current MP from the Greater Toronto Area is expected to make an announcement later this month.
Thinking about it:
Peter MacKay. The former cabinet minister from Nova Scotia now working as a lawyer in Toronto has long been considering a run and said this week he is "seriously getting close" to make a decision.
Erin O'Toole. After saying no to the idea for months, the Ontario MP and former veterans affairs minister is now reconsidering that choice after some party pressure.
Steven Blaney. The Quebec MP continues to consult colleagues about whether he should mount a bid.
Kevin O'Leary. The popular TV personality and businessman first mused about running for the leadership earlier this year, but also said he is in no rush to make up his mind.
Dan Lindsay. The former president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba formed a committee in the spring to explore a possible campaign.
Candice Bergen. The Manitoba MP who helped lead the push to dismantle the long-gun registry said this week she is leaving the door open to a potential bid.
If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,...
GILLETTE A Gillette man convicted of second-murder in the fatal shooting of an acquaintance on Thanksgiving Day could get a new trial after prosecutors agreed the jury at his initial trial was given erroneous instructions.
The Gillette News Record reporteds Todd Sindelar was sentenced to 48 years in prison for the Nov. 28, 2013, death of Matthew Boyer. He was arrested in South Dakota after a high-speed chase.
The 24-year-old man appealed his sentence, claiming prosecutors wrongly instructed the jury to consider Sindelar's flight from the state after the killing.
Sindelar's attorneys argued that a 2002 Supreme Court decision classifies a "flight instruction" as a reversible error.
The state Attorney General's Office has sided with the defense on the issue and asked the court to reverse Sindelar's conviction and sentence.
The Donald Trump campaign is opening an office in Casper in the next two weeks, its first presence in the deeply red state, the White House hopeful announced in a statement Wednesday.
Trump named Bonnie Foster, of Casper, a longtime leader in the local and state Republican Party, its Wyoming director.
Foster will open the office in Casper.
Additionally, she will be in charge of communicating Trumps message across Wyoming and recruiting volunteers who can call voters in Wyoming, Colorado and elsewhere. Some volunteers will also travel to Colorado to knock on doors for Trump.
Its unknown whether the New York business mogul or his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, will visit Wyoming. In the weeks before the general election, battleground states such as Colorado, Ohio and Florida receive the most attention from presidential candidates.
I dont know what those chances are, Foster said of a potential Trump appearance. I put in a request this week on my weekly tracker that I have to send in, so it will go in on Friday morning. The energy sector has made a request to see if they can get him or Gov. Pence here to attend an energy summit.
The Trump campaign hired Foster in late July. The announcement that there was a state Trump organization was delayed, she said. But as more Wyomingites have called the Wyoming GOP, inquiring about a campaign presence, Foster and the Trump organization decided it was time to announce it.
A number of states already had a state director in position during the primary. Wyoming wasnt one of them, and there were a couple of others, she said. Their goal was to put a state director in every state to do the ground game, in conjunction with the (Republican National Committee) to get the message out. They know Wyoming will hopefully vote for Trump and support Trump. But Wyoming can also be of assistance to help go door-to-door in Colorado, which weve helped in (U.S.) House races and Senate races in the past.
The majority of the Wyoming delegates who went to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July supported Trumps opponent, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
Trump has come under fire for his comments about Mexican immigrants, Muslims, women and an assortment of other topics. But Foster said hes the best candidate for Wyoming.
The thing about Donald Trump is hes a businessman, hes not a career politician, she said. He doesnt owe anybody any favors.
Trump is expected to cruise to victory in Wyoming and gain the states three electoral college votes. In the Aug. 16 primary, nearly 69 percent of Wyoming voters were registered Republicans.
Foster touched on a remark Clinton made in March about putting coal miners and coal companies out of business. She later apologized and highlighted her plan to help mining communities affected by job loss.
We already know Hillary said she was going to shut down every coal mine in the country, Foster said. The Clintons, and Hillary in particular, havent been in private business. You have to have someone who has been in private business to understand business. I think Donald will be a benefit to the state.
The Trump camp also named Steve Bennett of Casper its state chairman. Bennett, a real estate broker who was an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention in July, pledged to support Trump.
Bennett is a volunteer who will assist Foster in Trumps campaign, she said.
The Clinton campaign has had a presence in Wyoming since May 2015.
Bruce Palmer, vice chairman of the Wyoming Democratic Party, said Trump is not good for Wyoming. While Trump has released statements showing positions on various issues, including energy, he hasnt shown actual proposed policies. And hes waffled on issues, most recently on immigration, Palmer said.
But its larger than Trumps success at business, Palmer said. Trumps personality is not in alignment with Wyoming the statements hes made about women and non-whites do not line up with values in the state, he said.
I think were about hard work, about respect for one another, Palmer said. I dont see any of that coming from Donald Trump through this campaign.
Discussion
The national gonorrhea rate declined approximately 74% during 19751997 (1). After 1997, the rate fluctuated, but continued to decrease, reaching an all-time low during 2009. The national rate increased each year during 20092012, and after decreasing slightly during 2013, increased again during 2014 (the most recent year for which national data are available) (1). During 2013, the national gonorrhea rate was higher among men than among women for the first time since 2000, and remained higher during 2014. In contrast, during 20002014, rates were consistently higher among men than among women in the West census region, including Utah (1). Higher gonorrhea rates among men than women indicate substantial transmission among MSM. However, other factors (e.g., screening or partner notification practices) also can affect the male-to-female case ratio. Although not all states collect such information for gonorrhea cases, in Utah, information on the sex of sex partner(s) is collected for male patients, and until 2012, indicated that the majority of gonorrhea cases in males were among MSM.
Since 2011, the gonorrhea rate in Utah has increased substantially, with a much larger percentage increase among women than among men. The proportion of male patients self-reporting as MSM has decreased each year since 2009, indicating an expansion of heterosexual transmission of gonorrhea in Utah.
These data indicate that, in Utah, MSM were more likely to have received a diagnosis of gonorrhea from an STD clinic than women and non-MSM men, whereas the proportion of cases diagnosed at STD clinics decreased during 20092014. Research conducted in California found that gonorrhea patients who received a diagnosis at STD clinics were more likely to receive treatment that adhered to CDC treatment guidelines than were patients who received a diagnosis in other clinical settings (4). The increase in both proportion and number of gonorrhea cases diagnosed outside of STD clinics underscores the importance of providing education to clinicians regarding local epidemiology of gonorrhea infection, treatment options, and availability of treatment methods, such as expedited partner therapy (5) (prescribing treatment for heterosexual sex partners of gonorrhea patients without physical examination, where legally permitted) (6). Expedited partner therapy for heterosexual sex partners of gonorrhea patients has been available since 2009 in Utah, where it is recommended only in cases where other management strategies are impractical or unsuccessful.
Reviewing public health intervention strategies based on changes in disease epidemiology also provides an opportunity to consider introduction of innovative methods for identifying and providing testing services to persons at high risk. Examples of methods used successfully elsewhere are computerized interviews self-administered to emergency department attendees to ascertain STD testing needs (7), and an Internet-based program to facilitate home STD testing using self-collected vaginal, urethral, and rectal swabs (8).
In response to the increase in gonorrhea in Utah, UDOH formed a collaborative workgroup with multiple Utah LHDs. To gain a fuller understanding of the increase and the demographic changes associated with it, the workgroup developed a supplemental survey that was added to gonorrhea case investigation interviews during MayAugust 2014. The survey addressed the following topics: symptoms before diagnosis; health insurance; student status; places where patients met sex partners; sex with anonymous partners; drug and alcohol use; incarceration (of patient or partners); and gender (male, female, or transgender) of patients sex partners. The survey findings will be used to guide a case-control study to identify risk factors for gonorrhea infection among adult Utah residents.
The findings in this report are subject to at least two limitations. First, reporting of all gonorrhea cases to public health officials is unlikely for a number of reasons, including underreporting by laboratories and providers, failure of infected persons to access care, and misdiagnosis. However, no substantial changes in gonorrhea testing or reporting methods were identified during 20092014; therefore, these factors are unlikely to account for the reported increase in diagnoses and reporting. Second, case interview data are missing for 14%24% of patients, because of LHDs inability to contact the patient, not attempting to contact the patient, or patients declining to be interviewed.
Because of increasing numbers of gonorrhea cases in Utah, identifying populations at high risk is important to develop effective public health interventions. With likely increased heterosexual transmission and changes in the way patients are accessing services in Utah, health departments need to work with providers to ensure populations at high risk are being screened and properly treated for gonorrhea. In areas of the United States where gonorrhea has historically been associated with MSM, the public needs to be made aware of the potential for transmission into previously unaffected sexual networks, and the importance of STD testing for populations at risk needs to be reinforced. Clinicians need to be aware of changes in the risk for infection among women and non-MSM males when making screening and testing decisions and recommendations and educate their patients regarding gonorrhea transmission and prevention practices. Analysis of existing data and collection of additional data by other jurisdictions with substantial gonorrhea transmission among MSM might provide important information about whether similar demographic changes in reported gonorrhea cases are occurring in these areas as well.
Promising Suicide Prevention Approaches
As recognized by the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action, 2012, a comprehensive and coordinated prevention approach is needed (5). Promising models are available. For example, when fully implemented, the United States Air Force Suicide Prevention Program had 11 components that together increased community awareness of suicide, provided personnel training, encouraged help-seeking and help-accepting, enhanced confidentiality policies, sought to change social norms (e.g., reducing stigma for seeking mental health care), and created organizational accountability for implementing the program. This comprehensive approach was associated with substantial reductions in suicide rates (33%), homicide (51%), accidental death (18%), and severe family violence (54%) (9). Together for Life, a multicomponent suicide prevention program targeted to Montreal police, includes a publicity campaign directed at officers, training of all units and supervisors on suicide risk and how to give support, and a telephone helpline. The program was associated with a 79% reduction in suicide rates over 12 years while police in a comparison group experienced no statistically significant changes (10).
Prevention strategies at earlier stages of life also have shown promise. The Good Behavior Game is a classroom-based behavior management strategy for elementary schools that teaches youth to better control their emotions and work well with others through classroom rules, team activities, and positive reinforcement of appropriate behavior. This program has demonstrated reductions in antisocial behavior, smoking, and drug and alcohol use, as well as significant decreases in suicidal ideation and suicide attempts throughout childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood (11). Sources of Strength is a school-based program designed to reach all students regardless of their risk. Program components build connections between trained peer leaders and trusted adults who work together to seek to increase students acceptance of help-seeking, healthy coping, and communication with adults while reducing the acceptability of suicidal and other harmful behaviors. Program benefits include increases in referrals for assistance, acceptability of help-seeking and help-accepting, and enhanced perceptions of adult support, including among students with a history of suicidal ideation (12).
Increasing suicide rates demonstrate the need for more research to develop and implement prevention strategies that reach vulnerable groups. The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, a public-private partnership of more than 200 organizations, systematically examined the state of the science to identify research gaps (13). One area identified as in need of more research is prevention approaches for adults aged 3564 years. Consistent with this prioritized research agenda, CDC is rigorously testing innovative suicide prevention strategies (e.g., online, primary carebased settings) for middle-aged men.
A public health approach to suicide prevention is growing. The CDC-funded Injury Control Research Center for Suicide Prevention (ICRC-S) (http://suicideprevention-icrc-s.org/external icon) is a collaboration of the University of Rochester Medical Center and the Education Development Center and draws on public health approaches to inform prevention activities at the state, regional, and national levels. ICRC-S is enhancing access to data to inform prevention planning, systematically defining and addressing challenges to preventing suicide among middle-aged adults, examining issues (e.g., intimate partner violence, substance use, and economic challenges) that contribute to suicide, and using social media methods to define and reach groups at risk. The Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment is using a public health approach to advance both research and practice to reach vulnerable groups, guided by its statewide public and private Suicide Prevention Commission and collaboration with ICRC-S and other national organizations. Activities include implementation and evaluation of online resources to engage men in help-seeking for suicide and mental health difficulties (http://mantherapy.org/external icon), education of emergency department clinicians regarding counseling caregivers of youths following a suicide attempt about reducing youths access to lethal means (e.g., medication), and primary prevention with all youths regardless of known risk by prioritizing the Sources of Strength program in Colorado schools.
GLENROCK A 75-year-old woman has died from injuries sustained during a five-car pileup on Old Glenrock Highway.
KTWO-AM reported that Leoda Cain, of Glenrock, was the only victim in the Aug. 21 crash who had remained hospitalized as of late last week. Officials confirmed she died Tuesday.
Wyoming Highway Patrol said the collision occurred just inside the Converse County line from Natrona County when a truck did not stop for construction, as four cars ahead of the vehicle did. The pickup was traveling about 70 mph.
Patrol Lt. Joseph Scimone declined to comment on details of the investigation.
Dangote announces price rise, starts coal mining in November
ICR Newsroom By 01 September 2016
Dangote Cement's sales growth remains robust with Nigerian vollumes up 15 per cent in July and August. However, in the current quarter, the company has seen disruption to the gas supply, its preferred fuel in Nigeria. This has led to a substantial hike in its fuel costs as the company increasingly relies on LPFO and, to a lesser extent, on coal as prices for these alternatives are up to three times higher. The significant devaluation of the naira against the US dollar has also contributed to the company's rising costs.
To reduce the impact of these costs Dangote announced the ex-factory price of cement by NGN600 (US$1.90), with prices returning to the level seen before the company announced a price decrease in September 2015. Moreover, it has accelerated the installation of coal mills and the coal mining initiative in Nigeria. The cement producer expects to mine its own coal from November onwards. Most of Dangote's Nigerian lines are now able to run on coal, effectively nearly eliminating the plants' reliance on imported coal, gas and LFPO.
"These are challenging times for Nigeria and for Dangote Cement but we are taking strong actions that will position the company for continuing success. Our coal mining initiative will benefit both the company and the Nigerian economy by reducing the need for foreign exchange and helping us to both protect existing jobs and create new ones," said Onne van der Weijde, CEO of Dangote Cement.
Published under
(TNS) Dressed in ties and blazers, Roosevelt High School freshmen Keldrick Colbert and Clarissa Mata stood near the edge of a conference room at the Communities Foundation of Texas. They were polite, if a bit shy, when education administrators and business leaders stopped by to chat.Their eagerness, though, was undeniable.The 14-year-olds are among 913 freshmen enrolled in Dallas ISD's eight new early college high schools. On Wednesday, the duo were present as DISD and the Dallas County Community College District did a victory lap for the recent expansion, celebrating the announcement of nearly 20 corporate partners paired with the schools.While DISD and DCCCD will provide instruction, the corporate partners -- ranging from AT&T to the Dallas Police Department -- will give hands-on experience through mentorships, worksite visits, internships and potentially even job placement.Colbert and Mata said the chance to simultaneously get job training, a high school diploma and either 60 college hours or an associate's degree from DCCCD -- tuition-free -- was too good to pass up.Mata opted to transfer to Roosevelt because of her interest in health sciences and business management; the school's two corporate partners are Bank of America and UT Southwestern."I couldn't wait," she said. "They had such great opportunities."Early college high schools aren't a new idea for DISD. The district already has three stand-alone models -- Lassiter and Trini Garza Early College high schools and Gilliam Collegiate Academy -- and two programs embedded in existing high school campuses: Spruce and Samuell.But when DISD wanted to expand the concept to new campuses, it focused aligning educational opportunities at those schools with the area's labor market. Depending on the campus, students can study different "pathways" in areas such as law enforcement, information technology and gaming."We know we have to do a better job with the handoff from high school to college, and college to industry," said Israel Cordero, DISD's deputy chief of school leadership and one of the leaders in the development of the program. "And we want to put our students in the best situation possible to have the best possible options."DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa called the program transformative, fostering "enthusiasm and inspiration and opportunity for these kids to go get a living wage." Brookhaven College president Thom Chesney said DCCCD wanted to be "partners in supplying and sustaining a resilient workforce" in the Dallas area.Corporate partners at the event echoed those sentiments.Raamel Mitchell, a former DISD student and now citizenship and public affairs director at Microsoft, said his company jumped at the chance to join forces with DISD and DCCCD."When South Oak Cliff was brought forth as a school we could partner with, we really saw this as an opportunity to work with a school and school district that really understands the needs of the market today," Mitchell said.Patrick Morin, a managing director of American Airlines -- a future partner in the initiative -- said his company is focused on making "investments to make sure that we have a pipeline of talent.""It's no secret," Morin said. "It's a tough market to recruit in IT."While eight new programs seem ambitious, it only includes about 9 percent of the district's 11,000 incoming freshmen, Cordero said. But the need is there, he stressed. Data from those eight campuses shows that only 13 percent of recent graduates received a post-secondary degree six years after leaving high school. Research shows that students have dramatically greater odds of completing a post-secondary degree by finishing just one college-level class for credit.At the close of his presentation, Hinojosa addressed recent news of the district's declining enrollment and its failed plans at putting a 13-cent tax hike to voters; $32 million of a potential $104 million in additional tax revenue would have gone to nearly doubling the number of DISD's early college high schools.To fund all four grade levels at the eight new campuses and spread the early college high school concept to 11 more sites, including Adamson and Wilmer-Hutchins, the district will need to make the program a priority, he said."The headlines were not good this morning," Hinojosa said. "We're losing students, and that's our lifeblood. So, I can promise you this, this is my No. 1 priority for the budget next year. ... You've got my commitment to make that happen."DISD's new early college high schoolsCarter- Partners: Dallas Police Department, Wells Fargo; Pathways: Law enforcement, ITConrad -- Partners: SMU Guild Hall and JP Morgan; Pathways: Gaming, ITRoosevelt -- Partners: Bank of America, UT-Southwestern; Pathways: IT, business managementMadison -- Partners: City of Dallas' IT department; Pathways: IT, business managementPinkston -- Partners: Parkland Hospital, Univision, Plains Capital, SMU Simmons School of Education; Pathways: IT, network administration and business managementThomas Jefferson -- Partners: Telemundo, NBC-5, Pinnacle Group; Pathways: Visual communications, software programming, business administrationSeagoville P-Tech -- Partners: AT&T, Accenture; Pathways: IT, network administration and business managementSouth Oak Cliff -- Partners: Microsoft, EON Reality; Pathways: IT, electronics technology and manufacturing
Because of unique nuisance statutes and case law, North Dakota is what I tongue-in-cheek call a nuisance friendly state. For background on this interesting topic, please see my previous article in the Bakken Weekly, Nuisance Laws on the Bakken. This article discusses a common defense: I got the permit. Why am I a nuisance?
North Dakota statutes protect one from a nuisance lawsuit if another statute grants authority to act in a particular manner. Those statutes are strictly applied to preserve the meaning legislature gave to them. However, in extreme cases the party may yet be subject to a suit in nuisance if the act allowed by statute is performed in a negligent or unreasonable manner. For example, a statute granted the City of Dickinson the authority to operate a sewage system as part of its governmental function. The statute even allowed the city to discharge sewage into any river:
The offense was so great that a chemist who was called as a witness for the plaintiff testified, without objection, that the hydrogen-sulphide gas, which the city engineer said was the source of the noxious odor, is about 17% heavier than air; that in water it has a disagreeable taste, and that when inhaled it causes nausea; that it is poisonous and will cause headaches if inhaled in sufficient quantities.
That said, a nuisance claim was successfully brought against the city because the amount was so excessive that it was deemed unreasonable. The court said that by casting its sewage into the river with improper and insufficient treatment for a long period of time, the city was remiss in its duty and it may not now rely upon its legislative immunity to protect it from responding in damages.
Let us look at a nuisance lawsuit further. North Dakota derived the statute N.D. Cent. Code Ann. 42-01-12, which states Nothing which is done or maintained under the express authority of a statute shall be deemed a nuisance, from California. In doing so, North Dakota has determined that if you are conducting business in a district zoned for that type of activity, you are not completely immune from a nuisance lawsuit. Take the famous grain terminal case for example:
Harmon Motors is located in an area zoned C-2, "a general commercial district," and GTA was located in an area zoned N-1, "a light industrial district." No evidence was introduced that GTA was operating in violation of any city zoning ordinance or that GTA was in violation of any health ordinances. For that matter, the Williston zoning ordinance passed in 1970 provides for an exception for those businesses which were in operation when the zoning ordinance was adopted and GTA was in operation when that zoning ordinance was adopted. This, however, is not per se conclusive of the issues.
The court indicated that even though the offending party had been both grandfathered in as well as in compliance with city zoning ordinances, all this did not mean that the offending party was in the clear. In this case North Dakota also considered whether the party making the complaint has come to the nuisance, that is, moved into an area where a nuisance-like activity already existed. North Dakota courts gave less favorability to the complaining party and indicated that the burden of proof required to defeat the coming to the nuisance doctrine is very high.
The defense of I got the permit. Why am I a nuisance? nevertheless goes even further in North Dakota than other jurisdictions. An oil drilling operation had been flaring the excess gas it produced. This caused diminished air quality and excessive odors. But the court in Kartch v. EOG Res., Inc.,determined that the drilling operation was not a nuisance because the operators acted within the guidelines set forth in the applicable statute and their practices were customary in the oil industry in North Dakota.
Special consideration is also given to agricultural operations. If the agricultural operation has been in operation for more than one year and was not a nuisance at the time it began it shall not become a nuisance. Additionally, North Dakota recently passed a law that bars other laws from limiting farmers rights to employ agricultural technology, modern livestock production and ranching practices. This was a necessary modernization to current statutes protecting farmers from surrounding urban developments.
Now to be sure, no legal system would be in proper order without some ambiguity, and as evidenced above there are exceptions to every rule. The takeaway: Just having the permit is not enough. And just being in statutory compliance is not enough. A claim in nuisance could still be successful in court.
David Ganje practices law in the area of natural resources, environmental and commercial law in South Dakota and North Dakota. His website is Lexenergy.net.
WILLISTON -- The closing date for Williston man camps came and went with little of the drama that surrounded a series of votes by the City Commission to shut down the sites for good.
According to an ordinance passed last month, Thursday was the last day of operation for temporary workforce housing within city limits.
City leaders hope for cooperation, although the decision is still being challenged in federal court by three companies who claim that officials improperly handled the closure process.
We want to work in good faith with them, Mayor Howard Klug said. Were not going to go out there with bulldozers. They know what weve said, and we know that the city is involved with a lot of litigation.
Camps will be held accountable through code enforcement, and violators will be subject to fines.
Well treat this just like any other ordinance situation, Klug said. There would be a daily fine. Its pretty hefty, and the commission has the discretion to enforce the ordinance, but hopefully we wont get to that point.
Shortly after the commission voted to close man camps by July 1, Target Logistics and Lodging Solutions filed a protest in district court, claiming that requests for permit extensions were ignored by Willistons planning and zoning department.
In June, a Williams County judge denied the companies request to extend permits and suspend the closure date.
Still, the matter remains unresolved in federal court, where Target Logistics and Lodging Solutions filed a suit that Halliburton later joined. Attorneys for the companies say the lack of a supermajority vote on the divisive issue invalidated the closure decision. Such a vote is needed when 20 percent of businesses involved protest.
A federal judge in June granted a temporary injunction that stopped the city from enforcing the July date, but a new ordinance passed unanimously last month setting the Sept. 1 deadline.
Man camps were first allowed in Williston in 2010. By 2013, leaders set a closure date of Dec. 31, 2015, for all such facilities within city limits.
In 2010, Target Logistics and Lodging Solutions built facilities north of city limits, in Williams County. The companies operated under the countys jurisdiction, which had no pending shutdown, until May 2015, when Williston extended its borders to include the land that the camps were on.
Attorneys for the companies say that at a city meeting in April 2015, Williston officials discussed the upcoming annexation, but stressed that the move would be made to ease future growth, not to affect current use of the land.
The Citys message was clear: the ETJ extension would not impact existing uses of ETJ lands, a court filing by Target Logistics says.
Calls made to a spokeswoman for Weatherford, one of the companies that was vocal during public hearings leading up to votes on closure dates, and attorneys for Target Logistics and Halliburton, were not returned Thursday.
According to data compiled by the citys planning department earlier this year, about 2,900 man camp beds are in existence within city limits and its extraterritorial jurisdiction. Of that number, 1,035 of those are owned and operated by Target Logistics and Lodging Solutions.
Under the current ordinance, operators have until May 1, 2018, to remove temporary housing from sites, and until Aug. 1, 2018, to clean up the land.
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United Blood Services is testing the blood of all donors at risk of having contracted the Zika virus.
Zika is spread mostly by infected Aedes species mosquitoes, which are not found in North Dakota. While most people get mild symptoms from the virus, it can be transmitted from a pregnant woman to her fetus and can cause birth defects, including microcephaly and other brain abnormalities. There is no vaccine or medicine for Zika.
The Food and Drug Administration recently recommended testing all donated blood nationwide for Zika. The agency previously had recommended deferring anyone at risk of having contracted the virus.
Marni Wild, district director of manufacturing and laboratory services at United Blood Services, said the FDA only is recommending not requiring all blood to be tested. UBS, which handles blood donations in North Dakota, has been testing the blood of donors at risk of having contracted the virus since before the FDA made the recommendation as a precautionary measure, she said.
Michelle Feist, epidemiology and surveillance program manager at the North Dakota Department of Health, said active transmission of Zika is not happening in North Dakota, because the types of mosquitos that carry the virus are not found in the state.
However, people can contract the virus if they travel to a place with Zika or if they have sex with someone who has Zika. Wild said UBS asks questions during its pre-donation screening to see if donors are at risk of having Zika; if so, their blood automatically is screened before being used.
Wild did not know how much each Zika test costs UBS, but she said there is a financial hit on the organization each time a new test is added. She asked that anyone healthy and eligible to donate blood do so to help those who may need it.
While people in North Dakota are not at high risk to contract Zika, Feist said it is important for pregnant women or for couples who are planning to become pregnant to talk to their doctor about risk if they plan to travel. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintain a list of places where Zika transmission is occurring, which should be consulted before travel, Feist said.
Since Discovery Childcare Center opened in March 2015, Burleigh County Social Services has received 20 complaints against the facility, ranging from lack of supervision to inadequate food for children.
The east Bismarck child care center closed Wednesday evening, according to the North Dakota Department of Human Services.
The department notified the center on June 27 that it was revoking its license after receiving complaints and conducting visits. Though the center appealed that action, it has closed permanently, according to Rebecca Eberhardt, an early childhood services administrator for the Department of Human Services.
Left on the door of the center on Thursday was a note signed by owner Danny Zimmerman, saying the facility was closing effective immediately due to new state regulations and clients not keeping up with their outstanding balances.
Zimmerman also owns Kids Imagination day care Zone in Mandan, which remains in operation.
The Discovery Childcare Center had several rule violations that were consistently coming up as concerns, Eberhardt said.
Burleigh County Social Services received numerous complaints against the center, including not enough food being served, toileting practices for children, derogatory remarks being made to children and lack of supervision.
After the Department of Human Services issued the revocation notice in late June, county child care licensors continued to monitor the facility and more concerns surfaced. So, on July 29, an amended revocation notice was sent to the facility. The following day, a letter was sent to parents of the children registered at the day care center informing them its license was being revoked.
During a July visit to the center, social service workers found one staff member present in one room with 19 children. Near a sink in the center, within reach of children, were a Windex bottle and two prescription medications, for which Zimmerman was not able to produce signed medication permission forms.
During that visit, social services indicated "children were running around the center unsupervised. On the playground, one of the older children got in the baby stroller and was rolling down a hill when the wheels hit a broom lying on the ground. The child fell out of the stroller and hit his nose on the sidewalk causing a bloody nose. The staff did not see the accident."
Social services also observed a child outside who "wet his pants and was not changed." There were also staff members on-site who were younger than 18. Under the state's administrative code, minors are required to have written parental consent for employment.
In addition, several staff members had not undergone fingerprinting and background checks.
Julie Ramos Lagos has been taking her 5-month-old son to Discovery day care Center since June and said she didn't have any concerns with the place until last week, when she started noticing it was getting quieter with fewer staff members.
Ramos Lagos said her husband dropped their son off at the day care yesterday and later called her, worried that the staff member in the infant room didn't seem to be paying attention to the children. She and her husband decided to have their son picked up from the day care because they weren't comfortable.
"It was a concern, of course," said Ramos Lagos, who is also the assistant marketing manager of the Bismarck Tribune. She said her son will stay with her mother until October, when a spot will become available at an in-home day care in town.
"We're OK, but it's hard to say how many families at that center just showed up to that sign today," she said.
Zimmerman did not respond to calls and text messages seeking comment on the center's closure.
The Mandan center
County licensors also have received numerous complaints about Zimmerman's other facility, Kids Imagination day care Zone in Mandan, some of which were not substantiated. Complaints include poor ratio of staff to children, facility cleanliness, lack of food and milk, medication within reach of children, failure to report an injury and lack of supervision.
According to the Department of Human Services, the revocation notice does not apply to the Mandan day care center.
Bismarck resident Natalie Pierce took her son to the day care in Mandan for a brief period last year; but after hearing rumors that the place might close, she began looking for another place to care for him.
While Pierce was looking for another day care, her son -- who was 2 years old at the time -- hurt his shoulder at the Mandan facility.
"No one could tell me how it happened, she said. There was never a manager there. They say there is, but there was never a manager there."
Pierce said her son told her he hurt his shoulder after an older child was pushing him on a swing and he fell off. He couldnt lift his arm to put his shirt on or crawl into his car seat, she said. She took him to get an X-ray, but found nothing was broken.
She also became concerned about understaffing and a lack of staff training at the day care in Mandan. Her son got stomach flu three times in the few months that he was there. Since going to a different day care, he hasn't had the stomach flu once, she said.
I think it had something to do with just not a clean eating environment," she said.
Pierce said "by a miracle" she was able to find another day care for her son, and now he stays at home with his father. But she surmises it may be tougher for other parents.
Its really difficult, because there is not enough child care in Bismarck-Mandan -- or anywhere, for that matter," she said.
A man accused of shooting cats with arrows last fall pleaded guilty to two counts of felony animal cruelty on Wednesday morning.
Kristofer Gilliam, 36, of Bismarck, was sentenced to time served the 14 days he had spent in jail since his arrest. He will be on probation for the next two years; if he fails, he could face about a year in prison. He also owes $560 in court fees.
South Central District Judge Bruce Haskell rejected Gilliam's attorney's request for a deferred sentence, which could be wiped from his record if he successfully completed probation.
According to court documents, Gilliam's neighbor found two cats that had been pierced with the same type of arrow on separate days in November. Gilliam contacted police and said he had accidentally shot a cat during target practice in his yard. Police found an empty box of the same brand of arrows in Gilliam's car.
In court, Gilliam conceded it was likely he would be found guilty at a trial.
"A person could conclude this was an accident if it happened once, but it happened twice. So, I don't think so," Haskell said.
Orville Alfred Lindquist passed away peacefully Aug. 27, 2016, in Nampa, Idaho, just 13 days after his 98th birthday. He was a devoted husband that loved being with family and friends.
Orville was born into this world on Aug. 14, 1918, in Max, to Anna and Carl Albert Lindquist. Growing up during the depression with nine siblings was difficult, however this experience convinced Orville that education was critical to his future. After graduating from Max High School in 1936, Orville started college which was interrupted when World War II broke out, and he was drafted into the Army. After World War II, Orville completed his bachelor of arts in education from North Dakota State University with an emphasis in commerce and a minor in physical education.
Orvilles first teaching assignment was in Wilton, where he soon became best friends with Edgar and Edsel Anderson. Before long, the Anderson boys introduced Orville to their youngest sister, Edna, who eventually became his beloved wife of 62 years. They lived in Garrison; Crane, Ore.; Libby, Mont.; Minot; Geraldine, Mont.; Klamath Falls, Ore.; and eventually settled in Santa Cruz, Calif., where they lived in the same home for 51 years.
While in Santa Cruz, Orville obtained a masters degree in counseling at San Jose State University and became principal of the Adult Education Program. The friendships Orville developed over 40 years working in education were invaluable as were the members of his church family at St. Stevens Lutheran Church, where he attended for over 50 years.
Orville had many interests, however his true passion was hunting and fishing which began when he was 8 years old learning to trap muskrats with his father. He fished whenever possible, and his favorite was hunting mule deer with his boys and the Schnabele Family in Eastern Oregon.
Orville is survived by his wife, Edna; his son, Craig A. Lindquist and his wife, Robin; his son, Wade A. Lindquist; his daughter, Karen Lindquist and her spouse, Liz Papke; four grandchildren, Alise Erickson, Clay Lindquist, Kyle Lindquist and Kurt Lindquist; and two great-grandchildren, James Erickson and Ian Orville Erickson.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. MDT Saturday, Sept. 3, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 8 South Midland Blvd., Nampa, Idaho 83652. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made to Sunne Lutheran Church, 7701 Highway 36, Wilton, N.D. 58579. Condolences may be expressed at zeyerfuneralchapel.com. (Zeyer Funeral Chapel, Nampa)
A judge has dismissed charges against the last of five current or former employees of the North Dakota Department of Human Services who were accused of impeding the investigation into the drowning-related death of a 5-year-old girl in Velva last year.
Northeast District Judge Donovan Foughty signed an order this week dismissing the misdemeanor charges that were filed in February against Laura Gotvaslee, director of the DHS regional center in Minot.
Foughty dismissed the charges -- conspiracy to obstruct a government function and public servant refusing to perform duty -- without prejudice, meaning the state could refile them in the future.
Gotvaslees attorney, Robert Hoy of West Fargo, had requested the charges be dismissed with prejudice. He called the decision by former McHenry County States Attorney Cassey Breyer to charge the DHS employees ill-advised and wrong-headed.
While the judge didnt agree to his request or express an opinion on it, Hoy was happy the charges were dismissed and said they never should have been filed in the first place.
The bottom line is that the charges that were brought six months ago were dismissed by the prosecutor herself, and my client is happy to be exonerated and done with that, and I certainly dont expect that theyre ever going to be refiled, Breyer said Wednesday.
Similar charges against DHS Executive Director Maggie Anderson, former DHS attorney Julie Leer and current DHS attorney Jonathan Alm were dismissed within the past few weeks, also at Breyers request.
Breyer wrote in her request that the state is not alleging that the charges against the Defendant are improper, but she cited additional evidence that arose as her reason for seeking dismissal.
A fifth DHS worker, former Early Childhood Services Administrator Jennifer Barry, resolved the misdemeanor public duty charge through a pre-trial diversion agreement reached in July. The charge will be dismissed after three months if Barry commits no offenses during that time.
Breyer, who left the states attorneys office in June but continued to prosecute the DHS cases while working in private practice, declined to comment Wednesday through a spokeswoman.
The charges stemmed from the state crime bureaus probe into the death of a 5-year-old girl who was found unresponsive in the Velva city pool on June 8, 2015, while under the supervision of the KidQuarters child care center. Breyer alleged that the DHS workers allowed KidQuarters to operate unlicensed, didnt notify authorities about it and tried to obstruct the investigation, which attorneys for the defendants denied.
The McHenry County social worker who allegedly asked DHS to backdate KidQuarters expired license to six days before the incident still faces a felony charge of tampering with public records and two misdemeanor charges. A preliminary hearing last Friday was canceled, and a new date hadnt been set.
The centers operator pleaded guilty in March to felony child neglect and operating a child care facility without a license.
The state auditors office published a report last month that was highly critical of how DHS handles licensing and oversight of child care facilities.
A former government official of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation accused of accepting bribes and kickbacks from a construction contractor has pleaded guilty to federal charges in North Dakota. Randall Phelan was an elected representative of the governing body of the Three Affiliated Tribes from the end of 2012 to the middle of 2020. Investigators say Phelan used his official position to help the contractors business by awarding contracts, fabricating bids and managing fraudulent invoices. His trial had been scheduled to begin Tuesday. Phelan and two others were originally charged with receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the bribery scheme on the oil-rich Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The contractor has pleaded guilty to bribery.
Once upon a time, it may have been possible to work your way through college. Combine a full-time summer gig waiting tables or working as a lifeguard with a few hours behind the desk at the school library or tending bar during the school year, and you could cover your tuition costs and maybe pay your rent too. Those days are long gone, as anyone whos taken a look at current college costs knows. Now, theres even more proof that most students and families cant afford higher education unless they take out loans.
In many states, working 40 hours a week at minimum wage would still leave students unable to cover their tuition and other expenses at a four-year college, according to a report from The Institute for Research on Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Community colleges are cheaper, but even at these more modestly priced institutions students usually need to work at least 20 hours a week, and sometimes much more, to cover all their expenses.
Parents are also stretched thin. In states like Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Illinois, they would need to contribute more than 30% of their annual income to college costs if they wanted their child to graduate debt-free, the 2016 College Affordability Diagnosis found. For low- and middle-income parents, the cost burden is often much higher.
Faced with high costs, students have a few unappealing options: They can take fewer credits which will lower the price for a given term. They can work more to be able to cover the increases in college expenses. Or they can borrow more money, William Doyle, co-author of the report and an associate professor of public policy and higher education at Vanderbilts Peabody College, wrote. The first two make it less likely that theyll actually complete their degree, research shows, while the third saddles them with debt.
This study shows how the deck is stacked against low- and middle-income Americans when it comes to paying for college, Joni Finney, another of the reports authors, said in a statement. Without policy changes, the data point toward a problem that will only worsen. That paints a bleak picture for millions of Americans.
The affordability problem exists at colleges across the United States, from two-year schools to private research universities, according to the report. (Affordability was defined as the total costs minus financial aid of attending college relative to a familys income.) But it is much more acute in some states than others. These seven states have the least affordable colleges and universities in the country.
7. South Carolina
Number of hours youd need to work to afford to attend a four-year, public research university full-time: 48 hours per week
Families in South Carolina need to spend between 33% and 37% of their income to send a child to a public, four-year school. A student paying for college on her own would have to work 40 hours a week to cover the cost of attending a public research university and 23 hours to attend a community college.
Education is particularly costly for the states poorest residents. Twenty-eight percent of South Carolina families earn less than $30,000 a year, and covering the cost of attendance at a four-year public research university would eat up 87% of their income. Even more affordable community colleges would suck up 41% of their paycheck.
6. Ohio
Number of hours youd need to work to afford to attend a four-year, public research university full-time: 48 hours per week
Attending a public research university in Ohio, such as Ohio State, would cost 37% of the typical familys income. Public non-doctoral universities would cost 26% of a familys paycheck, and two-year schools 18%. Private schools would cost between 46% and 58% of a familys total income.
The amount of need-based financial aid Ohio provides to students is lower than the national average $97 per student at public schools, compared to a nationwide average of $474. The average college student borrows between $3,496 and $5,398 per year, depending on what type of school they attend.
5. Vermont
Number of hours youd need to work to afford to attend a four-year, public research university full-time: 41 hours per week
Community colleges are supposed to offer a relatively affordable path to a degree, but thats not the case in Vermont. The state has the third-most expensive community college system in the country, with the average family needing to fork over 29% of their income if they wanted to cover all the costs without taking out loans. For low-income families the costs are even more severe: 62% of annual income would have to go to community college tuition for the 17% of Vermont families making less than $30,000 a year.
Although students can still work part-time jobs to cover the cost of community college in many states, in Vermont, youd need to log 42 hours of minimum wage work per week to afford your associates degree. Thats about the same number of hours youd have to work to afford tuition at the University of Vermont or one of the states other public four-year schools.
4. Alabama
Number of hours youd need to work to afford to attend a four-year, public research university full-time: 47 hours per week
First, the good news. Alabamas community colleges, which enroll 35% of students in the state, are relatively affordable. Students would have to work 19 hours a week at minimum wage to afford to attend a two-year school full-time.
Public colleges and universities in Alabama are another story. A student would have to work 47 hours a week to cover costs at a public research university and 38 hours a week to attend other four-year public schools in the state. A family making less than $30,000 (a group encompassing 28% of the states families) would have to spend 73% of its income to cover costs at the latter. The state contributes an average of $21 in need-based and other financial aid to students attending public schools in the state, hundreds of dollars below the national average.
3. Rhode Island
Number of hours youd need to work to afford to attend a four-year, public research university full-time: 48 hours per week
The higher education landscape in Rhode Island is sharply divided between affordable and very unaffordable. In two categories (public four-year non-doctoral and private research), Rhode Island institutions were the most affordable in the country. Its community college system was also the seventh-most affordable in the U.S. But the states private colleges and its public research university (the University of Rhode Island), which enroll more than half the students in the state, were among the least affordable in the nation.
To cover costs at a private, four-year non-doctoral school in Rhode Island, a student would need to work almost 80 hours per week. The typical family would have to fork over 60% of their income to cover the cost of attendance. To pay the net price at the states public research institution, families earning between $75,000 and $110,000 would have to contribute one quarter of their income; those earning less than $30,000 would have to hand over 70% of their paycheck.
2. Pennsylvania
Number of hours youd need to work to afford to attend four-year, public research university full-time: 59 hours per week
Though Pennsylvania provides fairly generous financial aid to students, its not enough to make up for tuition increases at colleges and universities across the state. The state has the most unaffordable public research universities in the country, and its other public universities are nearly as expensive.
A family earning less than $30,000 per year would have to pay 105% of their income to cover the full cost of attendance at a school like Penn State or Temple University. Even higher-income families must shoulder a significant financial burden if they want to avoid loans. A family making between $75,000 and $110,000 would have to spend 29% of their income to cover all college costs at one of the states flagship schools.
1. New Hampshire
Number of hours youd need to work to afford to attend four-year, public research university full-time: 58 hours per week
New Hampshire has the least affordable colleges and universities in the United States, according to the University of Pennsylvania report. Community colleges, public four-year schools, and private colleges are all among the most expensive in the country. The state provides no need-based financial aid to students, and most schools have become significantly less affordable since 2008.
Families earning less than $30,000 a year would have to spend more than three-quarters of their annual income to send a child to a public two-year or four-year school debt-free. The net price at community colleges is comparable to the cost of attending a four-year school for lower-income families, and students would need to work at least 48 hours a week at minimum wage if they hope to pay for an associates degree on their own.
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Netflix has earned critical acclaim for its original TV lineup, which includes highly praised dramas like Orange Is the New Black and House of Cards. But not all of its series have fared quite as well. Despite the companys best efforts and in some cases a hefty price tag, these five Netflix shows failed to take off with either critics or audiences.
Below, check out five of the streaming companys biggest television flops.
1. Hemlock Grove
Based on Brian McGreevys novel of the same name, the horror thriller series examines the strange happenings in Hemlock Grove, a fictional town in Pennsylvania. Starring Bill Skarsgard and Landon Liboiron, the show follows Roman Godfrey (Skarsgard), heir to the towns wealthy Godfrey family, and the towns newcomer, Peter Rumancek (Liboiron) as they work together to shed light on a series of brutal murders.
Hemlock Grove was one of Netflixs earliest original titles, premiering just a couple of months after the acclaimed House of Cards, and it proved to be a big misstep. The show was universally panned, with critics slamming the series for its poor acting and painfully slow pace. Time Magazine even named it one of the worst 10 shows on television in 2013.
Though the freshman season was widely criticized, the show was renewed for two more seasons which isnt entirely surprising, as Netflix has a reputation for giving many of its series multiple chances. Despite its best efforts, the series never really took off and officially ended its run in 2015.
2. Bad Samaritans
Youve probably never even heard of this Netflix comedy and theres a reason for that. The show, which starred Brian Kubach, Julianna Guill, Tommy Snider, Alice Hunter, Robert LaSardo, and David Faustino, was one of Netflixs earliest original TV entries. It focused on a community service parole group and their parole officer, and debuted in in 2013 to dismal reviews.
How bad exactly? The show isnt even available to watch on Netflix anymore, which should tell you pretty much everything you need to know.
3. Marco Polo
Netflix shelled out a whopping $90 million for the 10-episode freshman season of this historical drama, marking one of its costliest and most ambitious projects ever. But the series failed to live up to its impressive price tag. Critics called the show, which follows Venetian explorer Marco Polo (Lorenzo Richelmy) through his adventures in 13th-century China, lifeless, sluggish, and emotionally empty basically the opposite of its obvious inspiration, Game of Thrones.
Despite the not-so-well-received freshman season, Netflix renewed the show for a 10-episode second season. Season 2 of Marco Polo kicked off in July 2016 and though it earned a more positive response, the show has since been canceled.
4. Between
This sci-fi drama, created by Michael McGowan, stars Jennette McCurdy as Wiley Day, a pregnant teenage daughter of a minister living in the small town of Pretty Lake. The town is plagued with a mysterious disease that has killed everybody who is over 21 years old.
The series, a co-production with the Canadian network, City, marked a change in format for Netflix. The show aired episodes on a weekly basis instead of its standard all-at-once release model. But critics didnt seem to think it was worth the extra wait. Though McCurdy earned some praise for her performance, reviewers critiqued the series for lacking depth and a compelling hook, with Variety calling it an utterly ho-hum addition to Netflixs original lineup.
Regardless, the series aired a second season in 2016. There has been no confirmation of a third season.
5. Chelsea
Chelsea Handler made her return to TV in Netflixs first ever talk show, which was widely promoted as a one-of-a-kind series that will do away with the conventions of traditional broadcasts late night shows. But despite its anti-talk show billing, Chelsea doesnt feel particularly different. The comedian still kicks off every episode with a monologue (although she refuses to call it that), followed by an interview with a celebrity or other public figure.
Critics and audiences alike have panned the anything-goes structure, which often feels awkward and clumsy. And theres been some trouble behind the scenes as well: Only three weeks and nine episodes into its run, executive producer and showrunner Bill Wolff opted to exit the series.
Though the show improved slightly throughout its first season, it has yet to fully to live up its potential. Despite the bad reviews from both critics and viewers, Netflix brought Chelsea back for a second season in 2017 although Handler has since announced it will be its last.
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Alexander Filippou, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Bonn, Germany, received the 2016 WACKER Silicone Award. The award was presented at the eighth European Silicon Days in Poznan, Poland. The Munich-based chemical group thereby recognizes Filippous groundbreaking work in the field of organosilicon chemistry. This includes isolation of a transition metal complex with a metal-silicon triple bond and synthesis of a stable silanone with a silicon-oxygen double bond. Filippous work is also important to industry, for example for developing catalysts or silicones with novel combinations of properties.
In his speech, Robert Gnann, head of the WACKER SILICONES business division, praised Filippou as a researcher, who, with his achievements, has had a lasting influence on silicon chemistry. Through his work, basic research has been given a new impetus, which is also to the benefit of the industry.
Filippous research focuses include triple bonds between transition metals and elements of the carbon group, as well as stable molecules of the elements silicon, germanium, tin and lead in their low oxidation states. Among his groundbreaking achievements were the isolation of a transition metal complex with a metal-silicon triple bond and thus of a silicon analog of a transition metal alkylidene complex (2010) and the synthesis of a stable silanone with a silicon-oxygen double bond (2014) and of a phosphasilenylidene with a silicon-phosphorus double bond (2015). The chemistry developed by Professor Filippou and his team is of great importance both as regards catalysis and for an understanding of certain industrial processes. It may even be possible, one day, to develop silicones with new property profiles, said Gnann.
Professor Alexander Filippou, born in the city of Thessaloniki, Northern Greece, in 1958, began studying chemistry at the Technical University of Munich in 1976. In 1984 he gained his doctorate with the Nobel laureate Professor Ernst Otto Fischer with a dissertation on New pathways of synthesis of anionic ketene and carbyne complexes of 16 Group elements through neutral-substituted carbyne-carbonyl compounds. He obtained his habilitation in 1992 on metal-centered coupling reactions of C1 ligands. Filippou was subsequently a Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Humbold University of Berlin for twelve years. Since 2005, he has been a lecturer and researcher at the University of Bonn. In 2007, he was appointed director of the universitys Institute of Inorganic Chemistry.
The WACKER Silicone Award was presented at the eighth European Silicon Days in Poznan, Poland. Silicones are extremely versatile materials and have become indispensable thanks to their many useful properties, stressed WACKER Executive Board member Auguste Willems to the audience of about 250 at the award ceremony. Demand for silicone in the industry has been growing for years. Experts estimate the market value of silicones at over eleven billion euros. Because of their versatility and their large spectrum of properties, silicones are particularly interesting for innovative technologies, stressed Willems. Silicone chemistry offers a variety of possibilities and development opportunities.
Andrew Mason's audio tour startup can now show you around Chicago with the help of some well-known city voices.
Detour which Mason launched in 2015 after he was fired as CEO of Groupon in 2013 offers GPS-enabled guided city tours. The app guides users through a set path for about an hour, on topics ranging from trash in San Francisco to a serial killer in Austin.
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Tours for Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles were set to launch on the app on Thursday morning. Chicago's tours include walks through Wrigleyville, Grant Park and downtown. By November, the company plans to offer nine tours in Chicago. Each costs $4.99 to download on the company's iPhone or Android app.
Veteran radio host Richard Steele narrates the Grant Park tour on "The 150 Year Battle Over Chicago's Front Yard," and historian Tim Samuelson narrates "Outside the Box," a tour in the Loop.
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Future tours will include a dive bar tour of Wicker Park and a tour of Old Town's "Great Good Places" with Chicago Tribune reporter Rick Kogan.
Filmmaker Ken Burns voices a New York City Detour of Brooklyn Bridge.
Detour uses GPS technology to create location-aware tours; as users stroll by storefronts or around corners, the app knows when to delve into a new part of the tour. The tours also provide tips on being polite, prepared visitors: A tour on Hasidic Williamsburg suggests a modest dress code, and one on San Francisco's "Beat Generation" reminds listeners to bring $10 for a cable car ride and a stop at a cafe.
"We really worked hard to create this immersive experience. It was something where you could put your phone in your pocket and feel like there's somebody there walking with you," Mason said.
Mason said the company typically takes three to six months to build each tour. The company employs 13 full-time, but each tour typically requires a freelance or contract writer, researcher, sound designer and editor. Detour hired an executive producer for its Chicago tours.
"When we get into a new city, it's finding the place, the stories and the storytellers that's really the hard part," he said. "We want to find stories that somehow reveal something important about the city."
The app also lets users share their tours with others meaning one person can pay for a tour and share it with others listening at the same time.
"Previously, audio tours were socially isolating," Mason said. "Now, we can hear the same thing at the same time. It's like you're seeing a movie together."
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Though Chicago's current tours feature more tourist-friendly areas, Mason said there's potential for tours in areas that are more off the beaten track. He gave the example of a tour of the Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco.
"They take you through their neighborhood, they tell you why they love it, they introduce you to some of their neighbors," he said. "There's no experience closer to walking in another person's shoes than taking a Detour."
The company plans to add tours for five more U.S. cities and five European cities in late spring 2017.
Mason also has plans for the technology the company uses to build the tours, called "Descript." He said the platform is designed to make working with audio as easy as a word processor. Using the technology, users can delete or rearrange words to change the audio.
The company licensed the technology to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art earlier this year, and hopes to work with other museums and organizations and eventually anyone that wants to build their own audio tour.
"The hope is that anybody will be able to create their own story of their neighborhood, even if it's something they're only sharing with a couple dozen people who might be visiting or something like that," Mason said.
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Mason co-founded Groupon with Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell and served as its CEO until he was fired by the company's board in February 2013. A few months later, he announced he was heading to San Francisco to start a new company and become a part-time partner at startup accelerator Y Combinator.
"The great thing about San Francisco is it has this feel of (being) the closest thing in our day and age that I can imagine to Athens in 450 BC, where it's the largest concentration of where the future of the world for the better or worse is being determined. And that's kind of all around you," he told Blue Sky this week. "Everybody that wants to be part of that ends up moving there."
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Twitter @megancgraham
In 2008, Chicago developer Joseph Freed & Associates, which has counted Block 37, a downtown Target store and Streets of Woodfield among its projects, was in the midst of a "severe liquidity crisis" that made it tough to cover expenses. Its chief executive, Larry Freed, began telling workers to divert funds from partnership bank accounts to pay without the partners' knowledge operating costs, federal prosecutors have said.
On Thursday one of those employees, former Vice President Caroline Walters, 55, was sentenced to six months in prison and two years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Robert Dow in Chicago for her role in a scheme that prosecutors said caused actual or intended losses of $11.6 million.
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Earlier this year, she pleaded guilty to lying to a bank about a public financing note that was issued for the redevelopment of a former Goldblatt's department store in the city's Uptown neighborhood. Walters had admitted in a plea agreement that she lied to Cole Taylor Bank about a public financing note issued by the city of Chicago that had been pledged to two different banks as collateral.
Walters told Cole Taylor that her company would resolve the other pledge, which had been made to a bank consortium after Cole Taylor's interest in the note already was secured. At the time Walters made the statement, she knew that the bank consortium had declared Freed to be in default, according to the plea agreement.
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"Freed called the shots, but I find it difficult to believe that" Walters, who has master's in business administration, could be found blameless, Dow said in court. "This is not a secretary with a high school education" who was just doing what her boss told her.
"Maybe her fatal flaw was being too loyal to her boss," the judge said. Another executive left the company, expressing concerns about how it was doing business.
The government had asked that Walters be sentenced to two years in prison, according to a sentencing memorandum filed last week.
Joseph Freed & Associates had stopped making payments on a $105 million line of credit with Bank of America, and began missing "substantial" property tax payments on numerous properties, prosecutors had said.
"Freed and Walters began to lie to creditors, including Bank of America, Cole Taylor Bank and the city of Chicago," prosecutors had said.
The judge also ordered Walters to pay restitution of $575,759 over an actual loss.
Even the prosecution's sentencing memorandum noted that letters sent to the court in her support said Walters was a "kind, caring and charitable person." She had no previous criminal record.
Her side of the courtroom was filled with about two dozen people. As she read from a written statement, Walters occasionally cried and repeatedly had to be told to speak more slowly by the judge and court reporter.
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Besides prison time, Walters could be at risk for potential deportation eventually.
Despite having lived in the United States for about 50 years, she is here on a green card. She is a citizen of the United Kingdom.
Afterward, Walters and her lawyer, Thomas McQueen, declined to comment, as did Matthew Madden, assistant U.S. attorney.
Larry Freed has yet to be sentenced.
byerak@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @beckyyerak
A passenger checks in to board a JetBlue flight to Santa Clara, Cuba, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016, at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The first commercial flight between the United States and Cuba in more than a half century flew out of Fort Lauderdale for the central city of Santa Clara on Wednesday morning, re-establishing regular air service severed at the height of the Cold War. (Alan Diaz / AP)
United Airlines will begin flights to Havana this fall, the airline said in a news release Thursday.
The U.S. Department of Transportation had tentatively given United approval to operate nonstop flights between Havana and its hubs in Newark, N.J., and Houston in July.
With the official go-ahead, United plans to start daily nonstop flights from Newark and Saturday nonstop flights from Houston on Nov. 29, subject to final government approval, United said.
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The flights are available for booking on United's website. The airline will use Boeing 737 aircraft on both routes.
"I'm incredibly proud of all the dedicated aviation professionals here at United who are working hard to get our historic Cuba service ready for takeoff in November," United CEO Oscar Munoz said in the news release. "The final approval by the DOT reaffirms that our flights will ensure better choice, convenience and competition for all travelers on this important route, and I want to thank the DOT for their decision."
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The first scheduled commercial flight from the U.S. to Cuba in more than five decades, from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Santa Clara, arrived Wednesday.
"Today's actions are the result of months of work by airlines, cities, the U.S. government, and many others toward delivering on President Obama's promise to re-engage with Cuba," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a news release after landing on that flight. "Transportation has a unique role in this historic initiative and we look forward to the benefits these new services will provide to those eligible for Cuba travel."
The Department of Transportation gave six airlines American Airlines , Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Silver Airways, Southwest Airlines and Sun Country permission to resume scheduled commercial air service to nine Cuban cities other than Havana in June.
A water canon salute is given to JetBlue flight 387 as airport workers watch, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016, at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The first commercial flight between the United States and Cuba in more than a half century flew out of Fort Lauderdale for the central city of Santa Clara on Wednesday morning. (Alan Diaz / AP)
The only flights connecting Chicago and Cuba approved so far are both operated by Frontier Airlines, which can fly between O'Hare International Airport and Santiago de Cuba daily and from O'Hare to Matanzas on Saturdays.
Although tourist travel to Cuba is still prohibited, family visits, official business, journalistic visits, professional meetings, and educational and religious activities are permitted.
United was one of eight U.S. airlines, including Alaska Airlines, American, Delta Air Lines, Frontier, JetBlue, Southwest and Spirit Airlines, selected for the Havana flights, the Department of Transportation said Wednesday.
United applied for the Newark and Houston routes because the Newark/New York area is home to the largest U.S. Cuban population after Miami, and the airline sees Houston as its gateway to Latin America, said spokesman Jonathan Guerin.
United also had sought Havana flights from Washington, D.C., and Chicago, but the Department of Transportation did not approve them.
lzumbach@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @laurenzumbach
A camouflaged prototype of Volkswagen's new midsized SUV is seen on an off road trail at Prentice Cooper State Forest near Chattanooga, Tenn., Monday, Aug. 29, 2016. The German automaker plans to begin production of the new model at its Chattanooga plant later this year. (Erik Schelzig / AP)
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. Volkswagen's new midsized SUV was seen as key to reviving flagging U.S. sales even before the Volkswagen's diesel emissions cheating scandal rocked the company to its core and caused one of the world's largest automakers to reassess how it does business around the globe.
The new three-row SUV is scheduled to begin production at Volkswagen's lone U.S. plant in Tennessee toward the end of this year, with the yet-to-be-named vehicle arriving in dealer show rooms early in 2017.
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Volkswagen sales through the first seven months of the year were down by 13 percent compared with the same period before the news of the emissions scandal broke in 2015. The Tiguan compact SUV has been one of the company's few bright spots in the U.S., with sales growing by 49 percent over the same period.
The company hopes to build on that success with the new midsized SUV. Following a test drive of a camouflaged prototype of the new vehicle, Matthias Erb, the chief engineering officer for Volkswagen's North American region, said the new SUV fills a gap that Volkswagen had when it came to growing families.
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"If someone already had a Passat but wanted something bigger after having two kids, we didn't have anything to offer them," Erb said in an interview conducted in German. "The Tiguan was too small because a compact SUV offers essentially the same space as a midsized sedan."
According to Autodata Corp., midsize SUV sales were up 4.5 percent in the U.S. through July. That's more than 3 times the total industry increase of 1.3 percent, so this is an extremely popular segment.
Volkswagen's SUV is coming at a good time for the company provided it is priced competitively, said Rebecca Lindland, a senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book.
Challenges will include changing perceptions among consumers accustomed to thinking of Volkswagen as selling compact sedans, and to try to ensure the SUV fits U.S. tastes by fostering a culture of being "listeners rather than tellers," Lindland said. That way the company can develop an understanding of "what the U.S. market needs versus what other markets need around the world however illogical or emotional it may seem."
Volkswagen officials promise that the new model will be priced competitively with existing SUVs, a segment of the market where Volkswagen has struggled in the past. The company is also keen to avoid repeating mistakes it made with the U.S. version of the Passat, which made an initial splash but then fizzled as the buyers were left underwhelmed compared with the European version.
The company has since decided to add a new engineering center near the plant to better adapt to local tastes.
But those changes will be limited to the interior and exterior of vehicles, because Volkswagen builds a shared construction platform for vehicles around the world, and it isn't going to be able to develop chasses and engines specifically for the U.S. market. Erb said that's hard to overcome, in part because U.S. customers don't need vehicles that can hold their own on the Autobahn.
"Our cars are always laid out for top speed including the B-SUV, which can be driven at speeds that would guarantee landing you in jail here without running the risk of exceeding its limits," Erb said.
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The success of the new SUV is also key to the future of the Chattanooga plant, which has only made the Passat sedan since opening to great fanfare in 2011. Most of the other Volkswagens destined for the U.S. market are made in Mexico.
"One vehicle for a whole plant is never good," Erb said.
Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this report.
Two red river hog piglets have been born at Brookfield Zoo and are now on public display, the institution announced Thursday.
The male and female were born Aug. 18 and are "healthy and adjusting well," said a news release from Chicago Zoological Society, which runs the west suburban animal park.
Two red river hog piglets are born at the Brookfield Zoo. (Kelly Tone/Chicago Zoological Society)
The piglets weighed between 3 and 4 lbs. each at birth, compared to typical top adult weights for the nocturnal omnivorous African species of 155 lbs. (female) and 250 lbs. (male). Now on view in the zoo's Habitat Africa! The Forest area, they have passed critical milestones such as nursing and sleeping alongside their parents.
The parents are first-time mother Charlotte, born in 2013 and at Brookfield since 2015, and father Little B, born in 2004 and at Brookfield since 2013.
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The piglets mottled stripes are expected to fade after about six months as they take on the distinctive rust coloring, with a white stripe down the back, of mature red river hogs. More than 200 of the animals are kept at 56 North American institutions, the zoo said.
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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
It was a not-so-happy Halloween in 2008 when the many thousands of his fans and followers heard that Studs Terkel had died. This news was perhaps softened a bit by the fact that he was 96 years old and that his life had been filled with activity: TV star, actor, radio host for nearly half a century on WFMT, author of nearly 20 books (among them such best-sellers as "Division Street America," "Working" and "The Good War," winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1985), energetic activist and civic symbol. He got it right when some years before his death he crafted his own playful epitaph: "Curiosity did not kill this cat."
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On that 2008 Halloween, Alan Wieder was driving his car along a road near the University of South Carolina, where he had been a professor for nearly two decades. He was talking on his cellphone to his girlfriend, Joanie Krug, who would later become his wife. He stopped talking so that he could turn his full attention the car radio's delivery of the news of Terkel's death.
"And then I just drove to the nearest place I could think of where I could get a pair of red socks," says Wieder, referring to one of the items that was along with a red-checked shirt, a loosened red knit tie, gray trousers and a blue blazer part of the familiar Terkelian wardrobe.
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That sartorial style came to be after Studs (it simply does not seem right to refer to him in any other way, not by last name or by his birth name, which was Louis) spotted a man at a party wearing a red-checked shirt and said he had to have one just like it. He always had a frazzled and rumpled look, as if he might have been a racetrack tout. But it's possible he could have looked even worse. As his wife Ida said, "I have to take him out to the store to buy clothes. Otherwise, he would be dressed in rags."
"Finally, I found a pair of red socks in a sporting goods store," says Wieder.
He no longer has those socks but he has a book, the first major biography of Studs since his death. (Previously there was "Studs Terkel: A Life in Words" by Tony Parker published in 1996.)
Wieder's "Studs Terkel: Politics, Culture, but Mostly Conversation" begins with these words: "This project began in my head over twenty years ago. As a university oral historian, it was Studs Terkel's books that made my work possible, credible in the academic setting that swept further and further into the world of empirical data. People's stories were not to be trusted, but Studs made them legitimate."
It is a fine and immensely readable book that hits all of the many stops in Studs' long career. It is the result of deep and detailed research, incisive and insightful thinking and is based soundly on "more than one hundred conversations with Studs' family members, friends, colleagues, and other people whose lives he touched."
I was among those people, for not only had I known Studs since I was born he took my father, his good friend, out for a celebratory drink that long ago night but I had written a number of stories about him over my newspaper years, including his obituary, which began by noting that he "arrived here as a child from New York City and in Chicago found not only a new name but a place that perfectly matched in its energy, its swagger, its charms, its heart his own personality. They made a perfect and enduring pair."
"At first some of the people I approached were suspicious," says Wieder. "I was lectured a bit: 'Don't get Studs wrong,' more than one said. And others were skeptical."
One of the reasons was that Wieder was far from Studs' inner circle, which numbered among it some people who were contemplating writing books of their own about him.
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Wieder was a virtual stranger, having met Studs only once. It was in 2003 when he was in Chicago for a conference at which Studs was a featured speaker. He was introduced to him by Bill Ayers, the local author and professor who was a friend of both Studs and Wieder.
"We shook hands and I immediately sensed that Studs was totally uninterested in talking to another professor," says Wieder. "But when I mentioned that I had just returned from South Africa, he brightened and we talked and talked."
Actually, that conversation lasted only 10 minutes but it remained vivid in Wieder's mind.
In the wake of Studs' death Wieder was wrapping up his book about a pair of South African activists. When his "Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War Against Apartheid" was finished, he focused on Studs. As he writes, "I had been scripting Studs' story in my head for many years."
"After that initial skepticism, so many people were willing to share their memories," says Wieder, who now lives in Oregon. "They all helped me get to know Studs as a human being."
His tone is understandably flattering, his admiration palpable. He ends his book with this appreciative assessment: "He amazed us!"
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There will surely be more books about Studs. His own books still sell and his radio interviews live on in the remarkable Studs Terkel Radio Archive.
In a sense Studs fashioned his own autobiography. Though famous for his skill in interviewing others, he also wrote a number of books in which his voice is the most prominent. Among them I think the best is 1986's "Chicago," a big title for a slender, 144-page book, which he described as a "rambling essay." But I find it to more like a meditation, a thrilling trip into Studs' feelings for this city with which he is so closely identified.
Wieder is proud of his own book, though he wonders still, "Did I really get him?"
The preface is by Chicago poet-teacher Kevin Coval, who calls the book "a tribute to one of the greatest men in the history of the greatest & most horrible of cities."
And the book ends with a poem by Studs' friend, the author-publisher-poet Haki Madhubiti.
These are its last lines:
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"your being among us is the rare, ripe, swinging musical
and we, the chorus, are still taking lessons, breaking only
to say thank you."
He wrote that a while ago, on the sad Halloween day that Studs died.
rkogan@chicagotribune.com
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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
VENICE, Italy Shot in widescreen CinemaScope, and brimming with love notes to the movie musicals writer-director Damien Chazelle so clearly adores, "La La Land" made its world premiere Wednesday at the 73rd Biennale di Venezia, better known as the Venice Film Festival.
You'll be hearing a lot about the movie this fall, and if you want a reckless, pointless prediction far too far in advance, here it is: Expect Chazelle's unabashed musical romance, his third really good film in a row, to find itself with seven or eight Academy Award nominations come January. There. Mission accomplished. I've managed to reduce an imperfect but vital new investigation of the musical genre to one stupid Oscars prediction.
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"La La Land" doesn't open until December. For now, a few thoughts about its influences, and its impact on the fall movie season as many hot prospects, notably "La La Land" and a very different 2016 highlight, Kenneth Lonergan's "Manchester by the Sea," head next week to the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado and then on to the Toronto International Film Festival.
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Venice scored the world premiere of last year's top Oscar winner, "Spotlight," so when a movie does well here, people notice. On the Lido across the water from Venice proper, the festival atmosphere is as serene as the Cannes festival is chaotic. Still, Chazelle's festival opener Wednesday generated buzz you could hear even if your plane hadn't yet landed.
"La La Land" stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in their third pairing following "Crazy, Stupid, Love." and "Gangster Squad." It's simple stuff in story terms. Aspiring actress and current barista Mia is one of countless faces in a sea of LA industry hopefuls. Sebastian is an aspiring jazz pianist who dreams of opening his own club.
They meet, testily, in passing in a traffic jam where the 105 meets the 110 near downtown LA. After the meet-cute, they connect, again testily, when Mia chances upon Sebastian's restaurant lounge gig where the jazzbo is discouraged from improvising. A romance, tentative at first, is tapped into motion. Career frustrations intrude.
Watch the trailer for "La La Land."
And, yes, people break into song and dance. The score of "La La Land" comes from the terrific young composer Justin Hurwitz with lyrics mostly by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The traffic-jam opening number, "Another Day of Sun," which appears to unfurl in a single, darting take (though you know some digital stitching was involved), dares musical-averse moviegoers to stick around. I can't wait to see it again: It's five or six minutes of sweet delirium, as Angelenos pop out of their cars and reveal what they're longing for, while showing us what choreographer Mandy Moore can do with dozens and dozens of dancers activated by Hurwitz's invention. It erases the memory of the scene in "Fame," which I never really liked, when everybody danced on the cars in traffic.
Some sequences in "La La Land" are set apart for duets between Gosling and Stone: a bit of tap and ballroom, or a soft-shoe shuffle on a canyon street dotted with Priuses, or a visit to Griffith Observatory, where the lovers float and dance on air, among the stars, the way Fred Astaire and Vera-Ellen did in "The Belle of New York." This scene's a disappointment; it labors too hard to create its fantasy. There are times in "La La Land" when Chazelle's protean, Vincente Minnelli-indebted camera sense he actually knows how and where and when to move a camera in the context of all sorts of scenes, musical or dramatic outclasses the talent on the screen.
This brings us to some key inspirations for Chazelle, and fruitful ones. The candy-colored but working-class musicals of Jacques Demy are all over "La La Land." As with Catherine Deneuve and company in "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg," Gosling and Stone aren't major-league vocalists. But in the movie's context, they're not meant to be; Stone, particularly, does a superb job acting each moment, each move, each setback and rebound, and she makes her skill set (which is pretty good) all she needs to break our hearts. Demy's "Young Girls of Rochefort" served as a clear signpost for "La La Land," and Hurwitz's expressive range of jazz-based music evokes a little Michel Legrand, a little more Jacques Brel and a lot of his own developing style.
There are problems in the film's middle section, but simply for the opening and closing numbers (the latter a beautiful what-if dream sequence suggested by elements of "Singin' in the Rain," "The Band Wagon" and other MGM classics) Chazelle's latest demands attention. His first film was a black-and-white 16 millimeter student project, "Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench," mashing together bits of John Cassavetes, the French New Wave and MGM. The characters were a jazz trumpeter and a waitress. Then he made "Whiplash," equally in love with the jazz idiom. Now, on a vastly larger but not insane budget, Chazelle has made a rich and paradoxical dreams vs. reality musical, linked stylistically to many musicals before it.
Out by the limos after the Wednesday gala screening, a somewhat dazed Chazelle told me he wrote "La La Land" long before "Whiplash," and getting it funded wasn't easy. Whatever its commercial prospects, it's clear: This is a filmmaker of serious dynamism and disarming sincerity. And unlike some lovers of the musical form (Baz Luhrmann, for example), Chazelle has already discovered what it means to create a look, and at his best, some real magic, without sacrificing the human element.
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At this year's Venice Film Festival, Michael Phillips is serving on the Biennale College Cinema panel. The Biennale paid for travel and lodging.
Movies on TV: Starting Friday, Phillips hosts a month of Friday and Saturday night programming on Turner Classic Movies, introducing such films as "The Conversation," "Cabaret," "Shane," "Twentieth Century" and "The Bad and the Beautiful."
mjphillips@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @phillipstribune
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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
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Actor Michael Shannon Chicago last fall. He has been cast as a FBI negotiator in a new miniseries developed by Weinstein Television based on the 1993 Waco standoff with David Koresh. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)
Weinstein Television is developing a miniseries about the deadly 1993 standoff in Waco, Texas, between religious cult leader David Koresh and federal agents.
Michael Shannon has been cast to play real life FBI hostage negotiator Gary Noesener, with Taylor Kitsch ("Friday Night Lights") as Koresh. The series is based on two books: "A Place Called Waco" (by former Branch Davidian David Thibodeau) and Noesener's "Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator."
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The miniseries has not landed at a network yet. According to Variety, "Weinstein Television is about to shop the package for 'Waco' to TV buyers" and that the series will "examine how law enforcement, media and the rights of individuals collided in a manner that reflect contemporary concerns."
Shannon, of course, previously played a fictional federal agent for five seasons on HBO's "Boardwalk Empire." A longtime Chicago theater actor, Shannon starred in playwright Brett Neveu's "Pilgrim's Progress" at A Red Orchid Theatre last fall.
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nmetz@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @NinaMetzNews
Watch the latest movie trailers.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
Color forecasters at PPG brainstorm with mood boards for the 2017 PPG color palette. They unanimously picked Violet Verbena, a grayish purple, as their color of the year. (PPG Paints)
Earlier this year, in a Manhattan conference room littered with half-eaten lunches, water bottles, laptops and easels, a group of color forecasters from PPG Brands was wrapping up a week of work.
They came up with recommendations that will influence the colors and finishes we're likely to see in 2017 on a wide variety of products, including appliances, cars, phones, airplanes, paints, beverage cans, even holiday ornaments. They also picked a color of the year.
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PPG Brands which makes paint, coatings and materials for industries ranging from architecture and aerospace to automotive and consumer products is just one of many companies that produce color forecasts.
At this Manhattan meeting, the forecasters were deep-diving into color decks, field research reports, magazines, books and each other's heads. The easels were covered with inspiration swatches, photos and descriptive phrases. One "mood board" listed the words "timeless," "memories," "diamond patterns" and "ticking stripes" under the header "Nostalgia."
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Small groups sprawled on the carpet with card-filled recipe boxes. They brainstormed, laying out arrays of coordinating colors that looked like mosaics, or game boards. Cards were edited in and out, until the palettes came together and there was a universal nod of satisfaction.
"We start really loose and abstract, then we take those organic concepts and make them more concrete," said Allison Heape, a color team leader from Long Beach, California.
At the end of the session, the group prepared an extensive file of themes, colors and finishes from which designers and manufacturers can draw.
Dee Schlotter, senior color marketing manager for PPG's paint brands, in Pittsburgh, oversaw the forecast session.
"We draw inspiration from global influences," she said. "The team considers what's happening in society, fashion, nature and elsewhere, and delves into things that resonate with consumers.
"For example, did a significant event take place this year, and are there colors that connect with it that capture the feelings it may have created?"
For instance, she said, "After 9/11, soft pink, a compassionate color, and chocolate brown, a grounding color, bubbled to the surface in home decor because they resonated with how people were feeling at the time."
A few years later, grays became popular and dominated the neutrals category, she said, "because with the state of the economy and of the world, the hue felt right."
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The forecasters also consider lifestyle and demographics. A Texas Baby Boomer may want different paint colors than a Millennial in Oregon does, for example.
The team also develops palettes around popular hues.
"Let's say pale beige is trending," Schlotter said. "It can seem dated, but when it's next to a dark granite gray, or an orange-red, it becomes fresh and new. Different from the beige a Baby Boomer remembers from the `80s."
Does the forecast team ever disagree?
"We have more than 20 stylists from six countries and four different industries, so the discussion's quite lively. We're all passionate color enthusiasts," she said.
But this year, the Color of the Year choice was unanimous.
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"Violet Verbena dominated trends reports from every industry and geographical region," Schlotter said.
The color is a grayish violet. The forecasters liked its gender and age neutrality, as well as its presence in the natural world, from amethysts to outer space. Those factors should make it appealing to a wide audience, they felt, but the team won't know for sure till products begin to roll out.
Schlotter is optimistic. Pop culture moments like the death of Prince in April and a new purple tea drink at Starbucks should draw consumers toward the color purple over the next year, she said. The trend is already visible: This summer, the company Big Chill launched a limited-edition collection of appliances in purple.
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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 11 The Lolla Bootie from Sorel for women is crafted with waterproof leather (for light rain) and stylized with cutouts and a two-tone stacked heel, providing comfort and style for spring and summer and obviously for Lollapalooza, it's in the name), $160 www.sorel.com (Sorel)
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 9 A West Loop condo situated at 659 Randolph St. Unit 614 is currently on the market for $462,900. (Rick Knoell / VHT Studios)
Kazoo magazine tells girls ages 5 to 10 how to be strong, smart, loud and true to themselves. (Kazoo magazine)
You won't find tips for glossier hair in Kazoo, a new print magazine for girls ages 5 to 10.
There are no articles on proper nail care or determining which swimsuit flatters your body.
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There are full-page comics by Alison Bechdel. (Yes, that Alison Bechdel, she of the test that measures whether women are fairly represented in works of fiction.) There are mazes that ask girls to help historically significant women find their destination. (Swimmer Diana Nyed journeys from Cuba to Florida in the first issue.)
There are science experiments and art projects and recipes and interviews with athletes.
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There is, in a word, inspiration.
Conde Nast veteran Erin Bried (she's worked as editor at large at Self and senior editor at Glamour) launched Kazoo after a demoralizing trip to a bookstore with her 5-year-old daughter, Ellie. Princesses and dolls and little girls in lipstick stared at them from the newsstand none of which interested her daughter.
"Every magazine for girls had a story on how to have pretty hair and how to have good manners," she said. "Walking home, I was quietly seething, thinking, 'I cannot believe this messaging that there's one right way to be a girl.'"
In March, she started a Kickstarter campaign to fund a different sort of magazine for girls. Within 30 days, the campaign raised a little more than $170,000 from 3,136 backers the most-backed journalism project in Kickstarter's history. The first issue debuted a few weeks ago.
"Girls are not born worrying whether their hair is shiny enough," Bried told me. "These are learned worries that we're giving girls. Go to a playground, and you'll see girls running, screaming, being strong, being loud, being messy all these wonderful things that we, as a society, slowly take away from them as they get older."
There are no photos of girls in Kazoo, a conscious decision Bried made to keep girls from comparing themselves with magazine images.
"For a story on making a boat, we didn't picture a girl in a boat, we pictured the boat," she told Vogue.
Kazoo has attracted some big-name fans, with essayist Roxane Gay and actress Rosario Dawson among those tweeting their support. Amy Poehler's Smart Girls site called it "required reading."
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Based on the first issue, I have to agree.
The name, by the way, is more than just a nod to the funny little instrument. It's an invitation, Bried said, to make some noise.
"Our main mission is to encourage girls to be loud, to be messy," she said. "Above all, we just want our readers to be true to who they are."
hstevens@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @heidistevens13
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With the curtain set to rise on "Hamilton" at the PrivateBank Theatre Sept. 27, there's no better time to explore the haunts of America's hottest Founding Father.
Dotted along the East Coast from Manhattan to Virginia are numerous sites associated with Alexander Hamilton as soldier, statesman and private citizen. So, let's crank up the soundtrack and hit the road.
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Our itinerary begins in Manhattan, where a young Hamilton stepped off the boat in the 1770s to "be a new man" (as the cast sings in the show's opening number). Today, most of the city Hamilton knew is gone, but some startling relics remain. (Note: while this is a driving trip, you should probably do the Manhattan sites without a car if you want to preserve your sanity.)
Begin in front of the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, a magnificent beaux-arts structure from 1907 at One Bowling Green, which now houses the National Museum of the American Indian. The building faces tiny Bowling Green park (www.nycgovparks.org/parks/bowling-green), which was once home to a gilded equestrian statue of King George III. On July 9, 1776, patriots led by Hamilton's buddy Hercules Mulligan tore the statue down, so that it could be melted into bullets. The iron fence around the park dates to 1771, and its fence posts still bear the saw marks where newly minted Americans removed the royal finials.
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A five-minute walk up Broadway leads to Trinity Church (www.trinitywallstreet.org) at the corner of Wall Street, home to Hamilton's final resting place. The tomb, topped by a marble obelisk, is in the south churchyard. His wife, Eliza Schuyler Hamilton who outlived her husband by 50 years is buried here as well; elsewhere in the cemetery, her sister Angelica and Hercules Mulligan are entombed (though not together).
Visitors at the cemetery of Trinity Church photograph the grave of Alexander Hamilton in New York. (Richard Drew / AP)
Lower Manhattan is home to a few other interesting sites associated with Hamilton. One block east on Wall Street from Trinity Church is Federal Hall National Memorial (www.nps.gov/feha), which stands on the spot of America's first capitol building and houses a few relics of that era. Three blocks north at 57 Maiden Lane, a plaque on the side of the modern building commemorates Thomas Jefferson's house. This was the site of the "Room Where it Happens," where Jefferson, Hamilton and James Madison reached the compromise that gave Hamilton wide economic leverage in exchange for giving up New York as the nation's capital.
Finally, head down to Fraunces Tavern (www.frauncestavernmuseum.org) at 54 Pearl St. Most of this building is a 1907 reconstruction, but the original tavern housed Hamilton's Treasury Department and hosted George Washington's farewell dinner. A small museum tells the story of the building.
Next, take the subway up to Harlem and St. Nicholas Park to visit Hamilton Grange National Memorial (www.nps.gov/hagr), which the Hamiltons built as their home in 1802, just two years before Hamilton's untimely death. As impressive as the house is, its odd history is equally compelling. Twice it has been lifted off its foundations and rolled to a new location. The building is run by the National Park Service, and rangers lead hourly tours. These fill up fast, so plan accordingly.
Take a 20-minute walk up St. Nicholas Avenue to see the Morris-Jumel Mansion (www.morrisjumel.org), which was briefly home to Hamilton's rival Aaron Burr and which hosted "Hamilton's" composer, Lin-Manuel Miranda, as he worked on parts of the musical. The house the oldest in Manhattan was also one of George Washington's headquarters in 1776.
Now it's time to get out of Manhattan.
Start the driving portion of your trip in Weehawken, N.J., site of the famous duel between Burr and Hamilton on July 11, 1804. There's not much to see here a bust of Hamilton and a plaque in Hamilton Park (www.weehawken-nj.us/parks.html) and completists should know that the actual site of the duel is unknown. But it's a quick stop on the way to Morristown, N.J., another 40 minutes west, and the Schuyler-Hamilton House (www.njdar.org/schuyler-hamilton.html).
It was here in 1779 that Alexander Hamilton courted Eliza. (Don't be confused that the house's signs refer to her as Betsy in real life, Hamilton often did too.) The house is only open 2-4 p.m. Sundays, but at other times, you can see it from the outside, or you can call to arrange a tour on another day. Updates about opening hours are posted on the Facebook page, so check before you go if this is on your must-see list.
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An hour's drive south of Morristown is Princeton University, Burr's alma mater, which refused to allow Hamilton an accelerated course of study. In the lyrics to the song "Aaron Burr, Sir," Miranda jokes that Hamilton's reaction to this news was to punch the bursar. That didn't actually happen, but Hamilton was certainly peeved and instead attended King's College now Columbia University in New York, which put him closer to the action when the war broke out.
Hamilton extracted his revenge on Princeton during the Revolution; at the Battle of Princeton in 1777, he lobbed cannonballs at Nassau Hall, the university's oldest building, forcing the British inside to surrender. Learn more about the conflict at Princeton Battlefield State Park (www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/princeton.html), 1 1/2 miles south of the university.
Head another hour south from Princeton, and you'll find yourself in Philadelphia, home to perhaps the most famous site associated with early America: Independence Hall.
As a member of the Constitutional Convention, Hamilton argued in these chambers for his federalist ideals in the musical, he and Burr narrate it in the song "Non-Stop" and it was here that Hamilton convinced the fledgling government to move to New York. Manhattan lasted as the capital for less than two years after Washington's inauguration, and Hamilton found himself back in Philadelphia as treasury secretary. Though the musical doesn't make this clear, it was in this city that he began his affair with Maria Reynolds ("Say No to This," "The Reynolds Pamphlet"), which derailed his political ambitions.
For that reason, while Washington, D.C., did become the nation's capital during Hamilton's lifetime, he has no real associations with the city. Instead, our next stop is a 5 1/2-hour drive deep into Thomas Jefferson's Virginia.
Head first to the site of the Battle of Yorktown, centerpiece of one of the musical's most arresting songs, "Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)." Grab a map at the visitors center at Yorktown Battlefield (www.nps.gov/york) where you shouldn't miss the exhibit with George Washington's tents then follow directions to Redoubt No. 10, where Hamilton's company overwhelmed the British. This key skirmish (in which Hamilton's troops rushed the British with unloaded guns and fixed bayonets to disguise their approach) led to the ultimate American victory over Gen. Charles Cornwallis and the end of the war.
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If you are in the area on a Sunday, the nearby custom house in Yorktown (www.comtedegrasse-dar.org/customhouse.html) is staffed that day by volunteers from the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. It is particularly rich in Marquis de Lafayette memorabilia.
Truth be told, Hamilton-mania hasn't really spread this far south, but change is in the air. This fall, the Yorktown Victory Center (www.historyisfun.org) will rebrand itself as the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, expanding its physical size and the scope of its mission. One new addition will be interactive exhibits on Hamilton.
Similarly, nearby Colonial Williamsburg (www.colonialwilliamsburg.org) which should be on the itinerary of any Revolutionary War fan has long had re-enactors who portray Jefferson, Lafayette and Patrick Henry. This fall, they'll add an Alexander Hamilton to the mix.
James Nevius is a freelance writer.
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U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy waves before she delivers opening remarks during JFK International Symposium at Waseda University in Tokyo Wednesday, March 18, 2015. (Eugene Hoshiko / AP)
He's been floating his name around town as a possible successor to Bruce Rauner, but would Christopher Kennedy make a good Illinois governor?
Don't ask his cousin Caroline Kennedy, now a U.S. ambassador.
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"You know, I've been in Japan, so I don't really know!" the daughter of President John F. Kennedy told Chicago Inc. following a speaking engagement Wednesday at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Kennedy, who cut short her own run for Hillary Clinton's former U.S. Senate seat in 2009 for undisclosed "personal reasons," had some supportive words for her cousin but was in a hurry to leave and didn't seem too keen to discuss the 2018 governor's race.
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In an apparent reference to Christopher Kennedy's service as the chairman of the board of trustees at the University of Illinois, she said, "I know he was a good chancellor, so ... I've just got to get my bag."
Caroline Kennedy, appointed U.S. ambassador to Japan by President Barack Obama in 2013, knows better than anyone the pressures and temptations to serve in public office that come with the Kennedy name.
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But asked if she'd discussed with her cousin his latest mooted run Christopher Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy, has previously publicly toyed with runs for Congress, the Senate and the governor's office, all of which failed to materialize she said, "No, I haven't had a chance to," and split.
It wasn't the first time Christopher Kennedy's coyness about his ambitions has caused awkwardness. He had an uncomfortable encounter with the Chicago media at the Democratic National Convention in July after he gave a speech denouncing Rauner, then angrily refused to give a straight answer about whether he was interested in running.
For her part, Ambassador Kennedy seems to be enjoying her role in Japan, and to be handling her duties with grace. Speaking to the students about the joys of studying abroad, she was asked if the stereotype of the "ugly American" persists and allowed that "everyone is rude in Japan, compared to the Japanese."
Learning the local customs had been a challenge, she acknowledged. At a state dinner attended by Obama and the Japanese imperial family, her second-in-command was aghast to learn that she would be wearing a dress that revealed her elbows and told her, "I hope you're going to change," she said.
Alas, there was no time to do so. But "the imperial family managed to handle the sight of my elbows," Kennedy said, to laughter.
kjanssen@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter @kimjnews
Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, address the audience at the Clinton Foundation's Clinton Global Initiative in 2014. (Michael Loccisano / Getty Images)
With so many journalists spending so much time shaming Donald Trump 's voters so as to protect Hillary Clinton in November, I'm getting mighty worried.
I'm not worried about Trump. He's a megalomaniac, and his kind of narcissism will help him blend in quite nicely in Washington if he's elected president. And I'm not worried about Clinton either. She's a pathological liar and well-suited to the Washington way, where liars are praised.
What worries me is that many but not all in my business are spending so much time shaming Trump voters, that they seem to have forgotten some important features of political corruption: what it is, what it looks like, what it sounds like and what it smells like.
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Particularly when it comes to Mrs. Clinton, her husband, Bill, and the pungency of the influence-peddling scandal involving the multibillion-dollar Clinton Foundation.
Her defenders keep insisting that there was "no quid pro quo" in having Mrs. Clinton, when she was secretary of state, meet privately with Clinton Foundation donors many of them foreign donors seeking the favors of Mrs. Clinton and the American government.
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And, these defenders insist, that there is no "smoking gun." When I hear the phrase "no smoking gun," I picture some Washington cat purring, expecting sweetmeats once the Clinton Restoration is secure.
The talking points were established early on by Clinton surrogate and interim Democratic Party Chair Donna Brazile on ABC, after The Associated Press broke its story about Clinton Foundation megabucks donors getting all that happy face time alone with Hillary.
Brazile said:
"So, you know, this notion that, somehow or another, someone who is a supporter, someone who is a donor, somebody who's an activist, saying I want access, I want to come into a room and I want to meet people, we often criminalize behavior that is normal. And it's I don't I don't see what the smoke is."
Only in Washington can it be considered normal, not criminal, for insiders to use our government to get rich.
There have been many Republican officials who stood up and said they can't vote for Trump for what he's done or said.
So where are the Democrats who are standing up to say they can't support influence peddling and the Clintons? Their silence indicates assent.
What is clear is that when Clinton surrogates say "there's no smoking gun" or "no quid pro quo," you'll soon hear some talking head repeat the same dang thing.
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It doesn't take days. Just about the time it takes to toast an English muffin and slap some cheese on it, they commence with the "no evidence" and "no smoking gun" and "no quid pro quo."
I don't work in Washington. Years ago, editors tried to send me to D.C. in the hopes I might acquire the necessary polish and gravitas. But I fought them off and happily stayed put.
So maybe it's that being a Midwesterner, I can't quite appreciate the difference between normal influence peddling and abnormal influence peddling.
But being from Chicago, where corruption is the glue that holds politics together and the bread and the meat and the sport peppers and the fries I can tell you what corruption does not smell like.
It does not smell like a smoking gun or a nonsmoking gun. And it does not speak Latin.
It smells like meat a-cookin', and that's not a language of words, but of appetite. It smells sweet, and there is no recipe. The recipe is understood, implied, and if you dare ask for the recipe, you are immediately ostracized and kicked out of the kitchen.
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It doesn't involve a straight payoff. Everything is layered. A deal goes to Mr. X. Another deal goes to Ms. Y. It's all circular and rather complicated, like the Clintons parsing English, and everything is understood in the spaces between the words.
When pundits moan about "no smoking gun" and "no quid pro quo," they must be referring to some cartoon definition of corruption, as if it involved an envelope stuffed with dead presidents, handed over to some grubby-fingered hack in the backroom of a greasy tavern with a tired Kiefer Sutherland doing the voice-over.
But people with governments and nations in the palms of their hands don't deal that way.
The other day at breakfast, I was talking about this stupid, narrow Washington definition of political corruption with a man who has made it his life study.
"Say you're in a meeting with an elected official, and you say, 'I'll give you so much money if you give me this favor and that favor,' You know what happens next?" asked the man wise in the Chicago Way.
I knew, but I played along: No, what happens?
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"The first thing the politician will think to himself, 'Why is he talking that way? This son of a b---- is wired up,'" he said. "And no one will ever talk to you ever again."
That's why it's depressing to hear meat puppets insist that there is no there, there, with the Clinton Foundation and Hillary, because it's already been laid out.
The corruption was in the selling of access to the highest reaches of the federal government.
To someone who was then a sitting secretary of state who as all the foreign tough guys with treasure understood was already reaching for the White House.
Listen to "The Chicago Way" podcast with John Kass and Jeff Carlin, joined by Tribune Editorial Board member Kristen McQueary and former Illinois GOP Chair Pat Brady , at www.chicagotribune.com/kasspodcast.
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Bishop Tavis Grant had one question Tuesday: Where's Gov. Mike Pence?
"We've been saying since the beginning, the governor should be here," Grant said during a community meeting Wednesday at the First Baptist Church in East Chicago.
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As East Chicago and residents around the West Calumet Housing Complex continue to deal with issues related to lead contamination at the site, Grant said the residents' representatives ought to be in the city given the anxiety in the community.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Gregg was invited to attend the meeting. Gregg said he went to East Chicago because he wanted to put faces to the issue, listen to residents and learn what's going on.
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Gregg said he went to East Chicago to "discuss policy not politics" but told residents during the forum he was sorry state officials hadn't been to the city.
"I understand what it feels like to be left out and disconnected from state government," Gregg said.
There's a larger disconnect between Indianapolis and the four corners of the state, Gregg said, and he wants to see the state become more connected.
"Part of it just requires the governor being visible," Gregg said.
Kara Brooks, the governor's press secretary, wrote in an email that Pence has directed his staff to support federal agencies that are leading the efforts in East Chicago.
The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority and State Department of Health agreed to provide the city with $200,000 to assist with its relocation and public health efforts. The state and city have partnered to offer residents free blood tests for lead poisoning starting Sept. 2.
"Members of his administration are in consistent contact with EPA and local officials," Brooks wrote. "He also directed members of his cabinet and senior staff to visit the area last week to discuss ways we can continue to partner with community leaders."
Many other federal officials have kept a close eye on the situation in East Chicago.
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U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly is planning to visit East Chicago, according to his staff, but has kept in contact with local and federal officials. Donnelly spoke to the director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to see that the residents of the West Calumet Housing Complex are relocated in the safest way, according to a press release.
U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky went to East Chicago last month and met with local and federal officials, spokesman Kevin Spicer wrote in an email, but he does not have any public visits planned. Spicer said Visclosky thinks he can be most helpful by continuing to be in contact with Mayor Anthony Copeland's administration and federal agencies to ensure any issues are dealt with.
Sen. Dan Coats' office said both he and his staff are in regular contact with local officials.
At the West Calumet Housing Complex, EPA teams continue cleaning the residences and federal and local housing officials are helping residents relocate.
Residents of the complex can start relocating Sept. 1, when the housing vouchers released by HUD become effective. HUD officials expect to have all the residents relocated by the end of the year.
Sherry Hunter, a resident and member of West Calumet Lives Matter, said people are feeling neglected and mistreated.
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"To me, they're not doing enough out there," she said.
Hunter said government officials should do more to assist residents and there's still a lot of work to be done.
"We really need a lot of help," Hunter said.
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Grant said people in the community want to hear that plans are in place for the residents. For the residents testing positive with lead poisoning, Grant said the government should make sure there's a link from testing to treatment for those affected.
The health department doesn't have enough capacity to deal with all the cases, Grant said, and federal agencies are busy trying to relocate all the residents.
"We don't want to fix the blame, we want to fix the problem," Grant said.
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State, city to offer free blood testing
The East Chicago and Indiana health departments will start offering free blood lead testing clinics to residents on Friday.
The clinics will run on Fridays from 1 to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the teachers' lounge at Carrie Gosch Elementary School, according to a press release. The state said its priority is on testing children and pregnant women, but all residents can be tested.
More information on the effects of lead is available at www.in.gov/isdh/26550.htm and www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead.
A Cedar Lake man has been charged with three counts of murder, among other charges, in Newton Superior Court in connection with an investigation into a triple homicide in Sumava Resorts earlier this week, according to court documents.
Sebastian M. Wedding, 24, faces three counts of murder after police found three people dead in a housing unit Sunday: Justin Lee Babbs, 20, Richard Thomas, 23, and Kimberly A. Spears, 39.
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Wedding was also charged with felony auto theft, for taking Thomas' 1997 Mercury, and misdemeanor theft, for taking Thomas' Playstation 3, an electronic tablet with a cracked screen and black and red Nike Air Jordan shoes, according to court documents.
A second man was arrested early Tuesday in connection with the deaths, but he has not been formally charged.
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The investigation began after an 80-year-old woman, who lived at the residence and was unharmed, found Babbs bleeding on the living room couch and went for help. The two other victims were found in a bedroom, Newton County Coroner Scott McCord said. All three were stabbed multiple times, he said.
Wedding was arrested at his grandparents' home in Cedar Lake by Indiana State Police about 12 hours after discovering the bodies. A second suspect, a 24-year-old Sumava Resorts resident, was arrested Wednesday, but Newton County Prosecutor Jeff Drinski doesn't expect charges to be filed for that individual until Tuesday.
Both suspects will be arraigned Sept. 7 in Newton Superior Court.
The investigation into the triple homicide is ongoing, and no additional information as to motive or the connection between the suspects and the victims will be released prior to the hearing, according to Newton County Sheriff Ton Van Vleet.
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Members of the Chicago Police Department gather at the scene of a shooting in the 5600 block of South Campbell Avenue in Chicago on Aug. 28, 2016. (Nuccio DiNuzzo / Chicago Tribune)
As Chicago police battle surging violence, the union representing rank-and-file officers continues to urge officers not to work overtime shifts over Labor Day weekend.
The request from the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police comes as the city is reeling from 86 homicides in August, the deadliest month in 20 years.
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The FOP has been calling for the boycott since late July, and the latest memo sent Wednesday to its 10,000 rank-and-file officers declared Friday through Monday as "FOP Unity Days" and urged officers to spend time with their families.
"In order to show unity and to protest the continued disrespect of Chicago Police Officers and the killings of Law Enforcement Officers across our Country, we are requesting FOP Members to refrain from volunteering to work ... for the entire Labor Day Weekend," the memo said.
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The request concerns officers working overtime to shore up police response to what could be a bloody holiday weekend, not the officers regularly assigned to work those days.
In a brief telephone interview Wednesday, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told the Tribune he was confident staffing levels for the Labor Day weekend would be adequate. He didn't take issue with the union's message but called on officers to stay united.
"I would never get upset with the FOP for encouraging officers to spend more time with their families because they should spend time with their families," he said. "But having said that, I'll tell you this, the best way for officers to support one another is to be out there for each other."
If the department falls short on the number of officers needed to work overtime this weekend, Johnson said, he'd cancel days off for some officers, a common move by officials over holiday weekends during the summer.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Johnson didn't know how many officers were scheduled to work overtime shifts during Labor Day weekend.
"We'll have adequate resources out there over this holiday weekend to ensure everyone has an enjoyable holiday," he said. "So I'm not concerned about the resources we have out there. We'll be OK."
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The Police Department has been under fire since November with the court-ordered release of a video showing Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times, killing him. The fallout has led to a U.S. Justice Department probe and a proposal just this week by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to replace the city's much maligned police accountability system.
For months, FOP President Dean Angelo Sr. has decried the treatment officers have been enduring on the job. He said officers are worried that if they are as aggressive as they once were, they could end up in viral internet videos, fired or sued.
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Chicago is approaching the holiday with homicides surging to 467, up from 311 a year earlier. All of last year, homicides totaled 473, just six more than Chicago has recorded this year with four months to go. And shooting incidents have risen by comparable numbers so far this year.
In recent years, the Police Department has spent tens of millions of dollars annually on overtime costs. The FOP instead favors the Police Department hiring more full-time officers.
As many as a few hundred officers each day work overtime on the department's "violence reduction initiative," assigned to designated crime "hot spots" primarily on the South and West sides. Additional officers are assigned to Navy Pier, McCormick Place, public housing, CTA train stations and parks.
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Ten-year-old Etyra Ruffin and other children were playing outside her West Side home Thursday afternoon when gunmen stepped from a gangway and opened fire, according to her family and police.
Etyra was grazed in the arm, but her father was more seriously wounded as he ran from the porch to protect his daughter when the shots rang out around 12:40 p.m. in the 4100 block of West Potomac Avenue in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood, relatives said.
Travis Ruffin, 30, was hit in the leg, arm and chest. He was taken in serious condition to Mount Sinai Hospital. A 25-year-old friend with him on the porch was shot in both ankles and was taken in fair condition to Stroger Hospital, said Officer Bari Lemmon, a police spokeswoman.
"He's the type of father who protects his kids," said neighbor Nanette Rios, who lives in a basement apartment at the home and heard nine or 10 shots.
Etyra was back home within a few hours after the shooting.
"I feel good," she said, smiling, a bright yellow bandage on her left arm. where a bullet had grazed her hours earlier.
Yvette Ruffin, Etyra's grandmother and Travis' mother, scolded the gunmen. "They could have been considerate that there were little kids out there," she said.
Friends and relatives said Travis Ruffin and his friend were expected to recover.
The three were among at least 15 people shot, at lease one fatally, in Chicago since Thursday morning.
About 10:35 a.m., a 20-year-old man was found shot multiple times in the stomach in the 4200 block of West West End Avenue and later died at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to police. Police News Affairs had no information about the circumstances of the shooting by about 9 p.m.
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The man was later identified as Malik Philpot, 20, of the 1300 block of North Parkside Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Philpot was pronounced dead at 11:19 a.m., according to the office.
Just before 4:15 a.m. Friday, a 24-year-old man was shot in the Burnside neighborhood on the South Side. He was playing dice in the 8700 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue when someone fired on him and his group. He was grazed in the back and treated on the scene.
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At 3:50 a.m. a 24-year-old man was shot and critically wounded in the Douglas community area. He was shot multiple times in the 3600 block of South Rhodes Avenue and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition.
At 2:30 a.m., a 19-year-old man was shot and critically wounded in Logan Square. He was walking in the 3300 block of West Schubert Avenue when two people approached, one of whom shot him in the back. He went to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition.
At 1:55 a.m., a 28-year-old man was wounded in Englewood. He went to St. Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center with a gunshot wound to the leg after an incident in the 6900 block of South Eggleston Avenue. Police said the wound may have been self-inflicted.
About 11:35 p.m. Thursday, a 29-year-old man was shot in South Austin. He was in the 4800 block of West Gladys Avenue when he got into an argument with someone who pulled out a gun and shot him in the lower back and both legs. He went to Mount Sinai Hospital and his condition was stabilized.
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At the same time, an 18-year-old man was shot in Humboldt Park. He was in the 2600 block of West Hirsch Street when he was shot twice in the shoulder and once in the shoulder blade. He was being treated at Stroger Hospital. Information about his condition was not immediately available.
At 11:22 p.m., a 27-year-old man was shot in Englewood. He was driving in the 7100 block of South Green Street when someone shot him in the arm and leg. He went to Advocate Christ Medical Center and his condition was stabilized.
About 8:10 p.m., a 15-year-old boy was outside near the 500 block of North Central Avenue when he was approached by a van. Someone in the van fired shots at the boy before fleeing, said Officer Thomas Sweeney, a Chicago police spokesman. The boy suffered wounds to the side and buttocks and was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital, where his condition was stabilized. Police initially said he had been shot in the 5500 block of West Adams Street, but that information was later corrected.
At 5:50 p.m., a 14-year-old boy was grazed by a bullet in West Englewood. He was in the 6700 block of South Hermitage Avenue playing basketball when he heard gunfire and was grazed in the stomach. He was treated on the scene.
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Shortly before 1 p.m., a man was shot in the 3500 block of West Palmer Street in the Logan Square neighborhood, according to Officer Michelle Tannehill, a Chicago police spokeswoman.
The 20-year-old man suffered a wound to the arm and was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. His condition was not known, Tannehill said.
Earlier Thursday, a father of 12 was critically wounded in a shooting in the North Center community, police said.
Residents and protesters gather to call for a stop to gun violence, at 79th Street and South Racine Avenue on Aug. 31, 2016. (John Kim / Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune)
Ten-year-old Anya Washington sprawled herself out on the ground, her cheek pressed against the hot pavement, right where 79th Street crosses Racine Avenue. She joined dozens of others who blocked traffic at the intersection as a form of peaceful protest, and Anya's friends lay beside her, wiggling as they tried to get comfortable.
As she lay, Anya tried to hold up a sign she made a black poster with a splotchy glittered heart.
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"I didn't have time to write any words," she said. "But I thought this would help. It's just love, and everyone needs love right now."
About 250 people gathered Wednesday afternoon outside St. Sabina Catholic Church in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, where the Reverend Michael Pfleger called for a peaceful protest at the end of Chicago's most violent month in nearly 20 years. August has been the deadliest month recorded since at least October of 1997.
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And although Chicago has a lower homicide rate than many other U.S. cities that are smaller in population, the city this year has had more homicides and shooting victims than New York City and Los Angeles combined. The two cities are larger than Chicago's population of roughly 2.7 million.
While Pfleger regularly holds peaceful marches, Wednesday's was especially dramatic. Dozens of people lay in the street, blocking traffic with their bodies. Pfleger held up a gallon of a deep red liquid he called "blood" and then poured it into the intersection, spelling out the letters "SOS."
About 20 minutes later, he took down the American flag that hung from a staff outside his church, flipped the flag upside down and then raised it back up. An upside down flag, he told the crowd, is a signal of distress.
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"We have parents begging their kids not to come home from college for Labor Day weekend (for fear of their safety)," he said. ""If you're upset about the flag upside down, get upset about the blood on our streets."
Earlier Wednesday, Gov. Bruce Rauner ruled out the idea of deploying the National Guard to help combat street violence in the city, saying that to do so would be an "emotional" reaction that "wouldn't make sense." At his demonstration, Pfleger demanded the governor instead call for a state of emergency in order to tap federal resources to help deal with Chicago violence.
"When there are fires, we call a state of emergency. When there are hurricanes, a state of emergency. When there's floods, a state of emergency," he said. "Well, we have the fire of violence and gunfire. We have the floods of blood in our streets. And we have communities that look like third world countries, that look like it must have had a tornado hit it, or a hurricane."
Sharon Miles, 55 and a member of St. Sabina, held a photo of her nephew Korey Parker as she demonstrated with protesters. Parker, 27, was the only son of Miles' younger sister, and was killed in July of 2012 a block from Miles' house. His case remains unsolved, she said.
"I'm here to support the families who've lost someone to gun violence. I'm standing up for them," she said. "We have to take our community back. We do. We have to stop letting this violence overrule and overtake everything."
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"I haven't had a good night's sleep in 25 years," said Theresa Matthews, who is coping with word of new charges in the 1991 murder of her daughter, Cateresa Matthews. Five teens who were convicted of the crime were freed five years ago. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune)
For two decades, Theresa Matthews lived with a sense of solace, knowing five young men were locked up in prison for raping and murdering her only child, 14-year-old Cateresa, in south suburban Dixmoor.
Then five years ago, DNA evidence exonerated the men by then known as the Dixmoor Five and pointed instead to a convicted sex offender as the killer. Still, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez would not bring charges, saying the DNA evidence was not enough.
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Matthews, who only wanted justice for her daughter, was deeply frustrated.
"I kept meeting with them and meeting with them, and they said they were investigating," Matthews said Wednesday in an interview. "They said, 'We don't have enough evidence.' And I said, 'What more do you need? You have the DNA.' It just didn't make any sense."
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Willie Randolph is expected to be charged in the 1991 rape and slaying of 14-year-old Cateresa Matthews, a case for which five teens were charged and exonerated. (Handout)
On Thursday, nearly a quarter-century after Cateresa was abducted as she waited for a bus, that sex offender, Willie Randolph, 58, will appear in the Markham courthouse to face charges of murder, kidnapping and predatory criminal sexual assault, according to authorities.
The charges follow an investigation that began anew in 2014 after the Dixmoor police chief asked Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart for assistance with the case and prosecutors from the county state's attorney's cold case unit joined in.
Besides the DNA evidence, Randolph made incriminating statements recently in prison to a witness "with much bravado," according to a law enforcement official. Those statements, according to the official, were secretly recorded and helped convince prosecutors that there was finally sufficient evidence to take the case to trial.
Randolph was being held at Stateville Correctional Center on a drug conviction, state records show. He was scheduled to be paroled in March, but officials kept him behind bars because an approved housing site could not be found, a requirement before a registered sex offender can be released.
But he was set to be released in less than three weeks, authorities said.
The investigation of Cateresa's killing highlighted many of the deep flaws in Cook County's criminal justice system, in particular the reluctance of prosecutors to abandon cases built on confessions even when they've been undermined by DNA evidence.
Cateresa disappeared in November 1991 after she left her grandmother's Dixmoor residence to return home. Three weeks passed before her body was found in a field near Interstate 57 with a single gunshot wound in the mouth. She had also been raped.
The crime went unsolved for close to a year before five teens were arrested. Primitive DNA testing failed to link any of the five to the crime, but three of them confessed and implicated the other two. Two Robert Lee Veal and Shainnie Sharp agreed to testify against the other three in exchange for reduced prison terms. The other three Robert Taylor, James Harden and Jonathan Barr were convicted and sentenced to lengthy terms.
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In 2009, a judge granted DNA testing sought by lawyers for Taylor, Harden and Barr. But police in Dixmoor were unable to locate the evidence, delaying the testing. By 2011, the case began to unravel after DNA tests failed to link any of the teens to the crime and instead pointed to Randolph, who had been paroled and released near Cateresa's home before her death. Later that year, prosecutors cleared the men, although Alvarez said she had struggled to reconcile the confessions with the DNA evidence.
Alvarez, who called the case "convoluted and confusing," balked at declaring the five innocent, even though teens are particularly susceptible to making false confessions. She suggested, too, that the DNA evidence alone did not prove that Randolph had raped and killed Cateresa.
Alvarez triggered an outcry when, during an interview for the TV program "60 Minutes," she left open the possibility that necrophilia had been involved. Randolph, she suggested, could have happened on the crime scene after the slaying and had sex with Cateresa's body. Alvarez later angrily disavowed the interview, saying it had been "one-sided and extremely misleading" and that her comments had been distorted.
Still, prosecutors did not charge Randolph, and the killing remained unsolved, causing continuing anguish for Theresa Matthews.
"The police had reassured me that they were the ones," she said of the Dixmoor Five. "It disappointed me when they were the wrong guys. I thought everything was over with. It was really stressful to hear they were the wrong people. Then they didn't charge this new person. I couldn't understand it."
In 2014, the Illinois State Police agreed to pay $40 million to settle a federal lawsuit brought by the Dixmoor Five that alleged that state police and Dixmoor police ignored evidence pointing to Randolph and instead focused on the five teens, leading to their wrongful convictions.
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Taylor, Harden and Barr served close to two decades in prison before they were set free.
In an interview, Cara Smith, chief policy officer at the sheriff's office, said that bringing the investigation of Randolph to a close was tough and time-consuming.
"While we had a suspect based on DNA, connecting all the dots was something that was very, very tricky," she said.
That work included the testimony of a number of witnesses before a Cook County grand jury. Sheriff's investigators also obtained another DNA swab from Randolph to confirm the initial match from the DNA evidence recovered from Cateresa's body.
Smith said investigators were confident Randolph acted alone and that none of the Dixmoor Five was involved in any way. She said investigators believe Cateresa was waiting at a bus stop after leaving her grandmother's when Randolph abducted her, took her to the field near the highway, sexually assaulted her and shot her in the mouth with a .25-caliber gun.
Randolph has close to a dozen convictions dating to the 1970s.
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Theresa Matthews said her daughter had spoken of becoming an accountant. She liked numbers and was good at math. She liked to swim, too, and she told her mother she hoped to have a house with a yard big enough for a pool.
Now, Matthews said she plans to attend every hearing in court again.
"I'll be there at every last one, unless the good Lord takes me away. That's the only way I won't be there," she said. "I'm Cateresa's voice. I have to speak for her. I want justice for her. It's up to me to speak for my baby."
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Jaqueline Gutierrez, 9, and her father, Edgar Gutierrez, 35, watch police work the scene of a fatal shooting in West Lawn on Aug. 31, 2016. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Josephine Camarillo was driving down Marquette Road late Wednesday when the black sedan in front of her lost control, veered onto a lawn and crashed into the porch of a small brick house.
The driver got out of the car and flagged down Camarillo. He was bleeding from his neck.
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"I thought they were just crashed at first," Camarillo later said as she stood nearby with neighbors. "None of us realized they were shot."
Then she leaned into the car to check on the passenger. He had a gunshot wound to the chest.
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"He had a big hole. I got scared," said Camarillo, 33. "I jumped away."
Another neighbor leaned into the car and applied pressure on the man's wound. Camarillo and others dialed 911 for help. For some reason, the calls kept dropping, she said.
"I was yelling, 'We don't need police. We need an ambulance,'" Camarillo said.
Police Supt. Eddie Johnson discusses Chicago's violence, gangs and the suggestion that the National Guard be called in. Sept. 1, 2016. (CBS Chicago) (CBS Chicago)
Moments earlier, about 9:55 p.m., when the car was two blocks away in the 6500 block of South Karlov Avenue, someone in a black SUV fired shots at the black sedan. A bullet grazed the 23-year-old driver's neck. His passenger, a 24-year-old man, was shot in the chest. The passenger was taken to Holy Cross Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
About a dozen neighbors gathered on the north side of Komensky and Marquette, across the street from where the car crashed. Camarillo, who has lived in the neighborhood for 22 years, spoke to every neighbor who stopped by.
"If you guys live here, be mad," Camarillo told the crowd of people who gathered next to her. "This is our neighborhood. It's not OK."
Camarillo and other residents said the neighborhood has seen more crime this summer than it usually does. In August, two other people were killed in two separate shootings in West Lawn.
A member of the Chicago Police Department works the scene of a fatal shooting near the intersection of South Komensky Avenue and West Marquette Road on Aug. 31, 2016. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
On Sunday, three people were shot less than a mile away in the 6200 block of South Kenneth Avenue about 7:05 p.m. A 19-year-old taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in critical condition was pronounced dead after midnight, and a 24-year-old man and 17-year-old boy each walked into Mount Sinai Hospital with leg wounds.
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About a month earlier, on Aug. 1, a 28-year-old man died after being shot in the head in the 3900 block of West 68th Street about 2:10 p.m., according to police. The man was taken in serious-to-critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and was pronounced dead later that day. Authorities identified him as Miguel Diaz, of the 3900 block of West 69th Street.
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"This doesn't happen in West Lawn," Camarillo said. "It's the first summer it's been like this. Why? I don't know."
Longtime neighbor Mary Nevarez, 52, agreed with Camarillo. Nevarez said she heard four gunshots while washing dishes inside her home near 65th and Karlov.
"This is a real tight neighborhood," Nevarez said. "This doesn't happen here."
Nevarez and other neighbors pointed out that Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan lives in their neighborhood.
"Tell the alderman we've had enough," Camarillo told other neighbors, encouraging them to contact the local officials. "Let's blow up his phone tomorrow. We can't let these (expletive) gangbangers take over our neighborhood."
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Camarillo said she wishes police officers conducted roll calls in the neighborhood.
"We need the National Guard here," Nevarez said. "There is no respect for life here."
U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush has been representing Illinois in Congress since 1993. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush has filed a complaint saying he was racially profiled by Chicago police after two officers pulled him over while driving on the South Side in August, according to police sources and city records.
According to the sources, the Wentworth District officers were running plates while on patrol on Aug. 4 because of a rash of vehicle thefts in the Bronzeville neighborhood.
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The officers ran the plate on Rush's Lexus and were told it was registered to a Cadillac, the sources said. The officers then stopped Rush shortly before 3 p.m. in the 4700 block of South King Drive, according to the sources and city records obtained by the Tribune through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Rush, 69, was let go without a ticket being issued.
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About an hour later, Rush filed a complaint about the alleged racial profiling with the Independent Police Review Authority, the city agency that investigates more serious allegations of police misconduct, according to the records. An IPRA supervisor reviewed the complaint the following day, and on Aug. 8, the matter was transferred to the Police Department's Bureau of Internal Affairs, according to the records.
The Chicago Democrat drives a maroon Lexus SUV with an Illinois license plate of "1." The words "U.S. Congressman" are displayed under the "1" in smaller letters.
According to Illinois Secretary of State records, another "1" vanity plate is registered to a 2016 Cadillac owned by a man who lives in the Near North neighborhood.
Anthony Guglielmi, the Police Department's chief spokesman, confirmed that officers made a traffic stop on that date and at that location, but he declined to identify Rush as the driver.
"We take the allegations very seriously," Guglielmi said. "We do have an internal affairs investigation, and we will do a very methodical review of the evidence, including the body camera footage and interviews with the complainant."
The police sources defended the officers' conduct, saying at least one of them wore a body camera equipped with both video and audio that captured the stop.
Police officials, citing a new state law, said the Tribune would be able to obtain the camera footage only if Rush gave permission for its release.
But efforts by the Tribune to contact Rush have been unsuccessful. The Tribune sent repeated emails to top Rush staffers seeking to interview the congressman about his racial profiling allegations. A reporter also attempted to interview him at his South Side home, but Rush sent him away, telling him to contact his staff to arrange an interview. But continued requests to his aides went unanswered.
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Rush uses taxpayer dollars from his congressional office budget to pay nearly $1,000 a month to Lexus Financial Services for an automobile lease, government records show. The model is not specified in those records.
The onetime co-founder of the Illinois Black Panther Party has been in Congress since 1993, representing parts of the South Side and Cook and Will counties. He was a Chicago alderman for a decade before that. He lost a race for Chicago mayor in 1999.
An ordained Baptist minister, Rush handily defeated Barack Obama in a primary challenge for the congressional seat in 2000, Obama's only electoral loss.
jgorner@chicagotribune.com
kskiba@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @JeremyGorner
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Twitter @KatherineSkiba
Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what's going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield.
Topspin
The Illinois State Board of Elections has revised sharply downward the number of voters whose information may have been hacked in a one-month cyberattack that began in June.
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After initially saying fewer than 200,000 voters' information may have been compromised in an attack of possible foreign origin, board officials now say the number is closer to 90,000.
Officials confirmed that about 700 voter records were viewed, and the 700 people will be notified by mail as required by law.
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"In addition, approximately 86,000 records are strongly suspected to have been viewed and the board staff continues to identify those individuals. Anyone within that group will receive written notification within the next 30 days," the board said in a statement.
In addition, the elections board said hackers viewed 3,533 records that will not be able to be identified.
Board officials restated that no files of registered voters were erased or modified, and that no voting history information or voter signature images were captured.
But if a voter's records were viewed, hackers could have obtained the voter's name, address and date of birth. And if the voter provided a phone number, email address, driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number when they registered, that information also may have been viewed. (Rick Pearson)
What's on tap
*Mayor Rahm Emanuel has no public events.
*Gov. Bruce Rauner has no public events.
*Community groups will hold an 11 a.m. City Hall news conference to discuss where they think the mayor's police accountability ordinance falls short.
*Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth will campaign at a community college in Champaign. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin will join her.
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*Sen. Durbin and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky will talk about improving mental health services on college campuses in an event at Loyola University.
What we're writing
*Aldermen, expert say Emanuel's police reform plan leaves too much power in mayor's hands.
*Rauner rules out National Guard as way to quell Chicago violence.
*Illinois' pile of unpaid bills Illinois' pile of unpaid bills could hit record high of $14 billion by next summer.
*Judge tosses social services lawsuit against state government that included Diana Rauner's organization.
*Dold, Schneider clash on Trump, trade, Iran.
*Cook County issues 10,000th same-sex marriage license with much fanfare.
*Hastert victim asks judge to have former speaker pay up.
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What we're reading
*The Beat: A violent intersection in Englewood.
*Retired Chicago cop's computer nerd son to plead guilty in celebrity photo hacking scandal.
*TV producer calls Chicagoans "slightly heavier" than New Yorkers while standing by Mayor Emanuel, who appears quite physically fit.
From the notebook
*Independent Maps group seeks rehearing: The Independent Maps group that saw its proposed constitutional amendment on redistricting struck from the ballot last week by the Illinois Supreme Court is now asking the justices to grant a rare rehearing.
The state's high court ruled 4-3 along party lines, with Democrats in the majority, that the map proposal unconstitutionally exceeded what can be done through a petition-driven citizen initiative to change the state's governing document.
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Though the proposal had been struck down for a variety of reasons on the trial court level, the Supreme Court addressed only one issue: assigning new duties to the state's auditor general as part of a multiphase process to create a commission aimed at taking much of the politics out of redrawing the state's legislative boundaries.
Those new duties, the court's majority said, went beyond the strict limitation that citizen-initiative proposals affect only the legislative article of the constitution.
In its request for a rehearing, the group said justices failed to "provide the citizens of Illinois with any guidance about whether a redistricting initiative is even permissible, let alone guidance about what the permissible contours of such an initiative would be."
"The majority opinion is inconsistent," said Dennis FitzSimons, who chairs the Independent Maps group as well as the McCormick Foundation board.
"At one point, it says that the auditor general can't be involved because that office is not now part of the legislative article of the constitution, but at another point, it suggests a redistricting initiative could use a nonlegislative actor to help select a redistricting commission. Which is it? Without clear guidance, no one will be willing to invest the time, effort and money necessary to put a genuine redistricting reform initiative on the ballot," FitzSimons said in a statement.
Just how rare is it for the state's highest court to grant a rehearing?
The last time was in 2006, the case of Murray vs. Chicago Youth Center. (Rick Pearson)
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*Group lauds Duckworth's support for expanded Social Security benefits: The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is rolling out statements from U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth and other top Democratic U.S. Senate candidates across the country who are calling for an expansion of Social Security benefits, not cuts to them.
"In Congress I teamed up with Sen. Elizabeth Warren to introduce the SAVE Benefits Act, a bill that would give seniors, veterans, and Americans with disabilities a raise. Whatever we do to balance our nation's budget, it cannot be on the backs of our nation's most vulnerable," Duckworth said in her statement.
"Many seniors across Illinois are barely making ends meet and Social Security makes a real difference in the lives of working Americans. That's why protecting and expanding Social Security has been, and will continue to be, a top priority of mine if elected to the Senate," she said.
Duckworth is among nine Democratic U.S. Senate candidates backing the change. The group also includes Democrats Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Patti Judge of Iowa and Ted Strickland of Ohio. Duckworth, a two-term congresswoman, is challenging first-term Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk. (Rick Pearson)
*When you're governor, some people like you, and some people don't.
Follow the money
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*Our Twitter feed of Illinois campaign contributions is down for maintenance. In the meantime, you can track campaign contributions in real time here.
Beyond Chicago
*Trump meets with president of Mexico and gives immigration speech, portrays Clinton as lacking "stamina."
*Clinton slams Trump, pitches her foreign policy to American Legion.
*Brazil dumps impeached president from office.
*World's oldest fossils found in Greenland.
A judge has tossed a lawsuit brought against the state by a large coalition of service providers including a not-for-profit run by first lady Diana Rauner that say they're owed more than $161 million in bills that have gone unpaid during the budget impasse.
The decision might not be the final word in the case, however, as the service providers are considering an appeal.
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The Pay Now Illinois coalition of providers contends they've honored their state contracts by continuing to deliver services throughout the budget stalemate, which began in July 2015, and that the state is in breach because it hasn't been paying the bills for the services.
The group brought its suit in the chancery division of the Cook County Circuit Court, hoping that the venue would provide a quicker resolution than the court of claims, where contract disputes are typically brought. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office, defending the state, argued the lawsuit was in the wrong venue and petitioned for a dismissal.
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Judge Rodolfo Garcia agreed that the case was in the wrong venue, but also urged the coalition to appeal to a higher court, said Pay Now Illinois leader Andrea Durbin.
"We are disappointed with the ruling but heartened by the court's recognition of the irreparable harm that has been caused in Illinois and by the judge's comment that our case deserves to be heard at a higher level," Durbin said.
Madigan's office would not comment on the ruling.
The groups involved in the suit provide services to youths, homeless people, people with HIV/AIDS and low-income people with mental health issues. Also a plaintiff is the Ounce of Prevention, a nonprofit advocacy organization headed by Diana Rauner, who is married to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
The first lady said in July that her organization had joined the lawsuit "as a business decision, to support and serve the organizations that we work with."
Providers had hoped to see their bills paid after Rauner and lawmakers agreed to a six-month stopgap budget in June, which has kept state government afloat for the time being. But that legislation wasn't a full spending plan, and many providers still haven't been paid.
"From the beginning this lawsuit has been about good business practices paying signed contracts in full and on time," Durbin said. "The state's failure to pay and their belief that there is no way to make them pay sets an extraordinarily bad precedent that should be of concern to anybody doing business with the state. It calls into question whether any contracts in the state are valid."
kgeiger@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter @kimgeiger
Since taking office, President Obama has sent U.S. troops into action on land or in the skies of seven countries on two continents. Obamas administration has authorized Navy SEALs to kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and approved the fatal drone strike on an American cleric in Yemen.
Here is a look at targeted killings under the Obama administration.
Faruq Qatani | Al Qaeda
When: Death announced Nov. 4, 2016
How: A precision airstrike carried out by the United States military on Oct. 23, 2016
Where: Kunar Province, Afghanistan
Qatani was a top Al Qaeda leader in the eastern part of Afghanistan and one of Al Qaeda's "senior plotters of attacks against the United States," according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Defense.
Read more >>
Abu Muhammad Adnani | Islamic State
Adnani, the Islamic State militant group's spokesman, is shown in this undated image provided by SITE Intelligence Group. (Associated Press)
When: Death announced Aug. 30, 2016
How: Drone strike but could not confirm his death. Islamic State said he was killed.
Where: Al Bab, Syria
Adnani was deeply involved in the Sunni Muslim militant groups larger operational strategies and served as its spokesman, creating a propaganda machine that has attracted foreign recruits from all over the globe.
Read more >>
Hafiz Saeed Khan | Islamic State
When: July 26, 2016
How: Killed in a drone strike
Where: Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan
The State Department last year designated Khan a global terrorist, saying he is the leader of Islamic State in Khorasan, which includes former members of the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban. Khan had previously been a Tehrik-e Taliban commander, but last year pledged loyalty to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Baghdadi.
Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour | Taliban
Mansour in an image released by the militant group in December 2015. (Afghan Taliban)
Killed: May 21, 2016
How: Drone strike
Where: In western Pakistan along the Afghanistan border
Mansour was killed when a drone strike hit his vehicle as he traveled in Baluchistan, Pakistan.
Mansour, known for his mercurial leadership, had been in the U.S. militarys crosshairs for years. He officially took charge of the Taliban in the summer of 2015 after the group acknowledged the death of founder Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Read more >>
Rahman Mustafa Qaduli, a.k.a. Abu Ala Afri and Haji Imam | Islamic State
Rahman Mustafa Qaduli (U.S. State Department.)
When: March 24, 2016
How: Died during an attempt by special operations to capture him
Where: Syria
Qaduli was an influential finance minister for Islamic State and a close advisor to the group's leader, Abu Bakr Baghdadi. He was a key player in Islamic State's military and financial operations, according to the Pentagon.
Qaduli, who had as many as a dozen aliases, joined Al Qaeda in Iraq in 2004, serving as Abu Musab Zarqawi's liaison for operations with Pakistan. The group was later rebranded as Islamic State. He was held in U.S. custody at the Camp Bucca military prison in Iraq in 2006, along with many other prisoners who went on to senior positions in Islamic State. He was released in 2012.
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Abu Nabil, a.k.a. Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi | Islamic State
(AFP PHOTO / HO / AL-HAYAT MEDIA CENTRE)
When: Nov. 14, 2015
How: Killed by jet strike
Where: Derna, Libya
Nabil led Islamic State in Libya and was a longtime Al Qaeda figure. He was killed during a F-15 jet strike targeted at his compound in eastern Libya the countrys government in effect has been a void since the toppling of Moammar Kadafi in 2011.
The Pentagon suggested Nabil may have played a key role in an execution video showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christian Egyptians along the southern Mediterranean coast in early 2015.
Read more >>
Jihadi John Mohammed Emwazi | Islamic State
(AFP/Getty Images)
When: Nov. 12, 2015
How: Killed by drone
Where: Raqqah, Syria
The 27-year-old British citizen was given the moniker Jihadi John after he appeared in videos announcing the killing of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as the slaying of American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.
Emwazi was described as a quiet and hardworking schoolboy in affluent northwest London and a graduate of University of Westminsters computer science program, and his presence brought the issue of homegrown extremism to the forefront.
"He was one of the worst, who hit and tortured without any restraint, Didier Francois, a journalist held for 10 months in Syria, told a French radio station.
Read more >>
Muhsin Fadhli | Al Qaeda
When: July 8, 2015
How: Vehicle was hit during drone strike
Where: Sarmada, Syria
Fadhli, who fought for the Taliban as a teenager in Afghanistan, had advanced notice of the Sept. 11 attacks. Years later, U.S. intelligence analysts had fears that his faction was progressing in its ability to attack jets and other Western targets.
The head of a shadowy cell of veteran Al Qaeda operatives known as the Khorasan Group, he was killed while traveling in his vehicle near the Turkish border in the Syrian town of Sarmada. He was identified as the authority of Al Qaedas operations in Iran before relocating to Syria.
Read more >>
Ali Awni Harzi | Islamic State
When: June 15, 2015
How: Airstrike
Where: Mosul, Iraq
Tunisian-born Harzi was a suspect in the 2012 Benghazi, Libya, attack, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans. His brother, Tariq Harzi, was known as the emir of suicide bombers for orchestrating hundreds of suicide bombings among jihadists.
"While it may have taken years to track down and eliminate Ali Awni al Harzi, those who kill Americans must understand that our memories are long and our commitment to justice is steadfast," Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said.
Read more >>
Mokhtar Belmokhtar | Al Mourabitoun
(AFP/Getty Images)
When: June 13, 2015
How: Airstrike
Where: Libya
The Al Qaeda-linked North African was the architect of a 2013 plot to seize a natural gas refinery in Amenas, Algeria, which resulted in the deaths of more than 38 foreign captives from 10 countries, including three Americans.
Belmokhtar had an extensive history of organizing terrorism, yet always slipped out of the clutches of the U.S. military and its allies. In fact, the French government had nicknamed the Algerian militant "the Uncatchable."
Read more >>
Adan Garar | Shabab
When: March 12, 2015
How: Vehicle struck by drone strike
Where: Bardera, Somalia
Garar was a strategic commander who planned the high-profile attack on Nairobis Westgate shopping mall in 2013, which killed at least 67 people including children. Only those who could prove they were Muslim were spared.
The Shabab leader was killed in his vehicle near the southwestern town of Bardera in Somalia. The Shabab, which has pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda rather than Islamic State, has suffered blows to their military capabilities in recent years.
Read more
Adam Gadahn | Al Qaeda
(AFP/Getty Images)
When: Jan. 19, 2015
How: CIA drone strike
Where: Waziristan, Pakistan
The Orange County native, who served as a top propagandist for Al Qaeda, was killed in a CIA drone strike in Waziristan, Pakistan.
The grandson of a Jewish doctor, Gadahn converted to Islam in 1995. He frequented the Islamic Center of Orange County, where those close to Gadahn say he fell under the influence of Hisham Diab, an accountant who lived in the Little Gaza section of Anaheim, who espoused extremist views
Gadahn appeared in five incendiary Al Qaeda videos before his death and became the first American since the World War II era to be charged with treason.
Read more >>
Hakimullah Mehsud | Pakistani Taliban
Mehsud in 2008. (AFP Photo / A Majeed)
When: Nov. 1, 2013
How: CIA drone strike
Where: Waziristan, Pakistan
The leader of the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, was killed by a CIA drone strike in Waziristan, Pakistan. He was known for attacking a CIA base in Afghanistan and a campaign that killed thousands of Pakistani civilians and security force members.
Mehsud was considered a top militant, and the FBI held a $5-million bounty on his head in the months before he was killed. Yet, Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan condemned the drone strikes, calling them an attempt to sabotage peace talks between the Pakistani government and the Taliban.
Read more >>
Maulvi Nazir | Pakistani Taliban
Maulvi Nazir meets with associates in South Waziristan in April 2007. (Ishtiaq Mahsud / Associated Press)
When: Jan. 2, 2013
How: Drone strike
Where: Northwest Pakistan
A U.S. drone strike in northwest Pakistan killed the top Taliban commander responsible for coordinating attacks on U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Nazir was one of two Taliban commanders in the Waziristan tribal regions to issue decrees against polio vaccination efforts in their areas. Nazir said his decision to ban the vaccinations was motivated by Washingtons drone campaign and a phony inoculation program orchestrated by the CIA in 2011 to help track down Osama bin Laden.
Read more
Abu Yahya al Libi | Al Qaeda
When: June 4, 2012
How: Drone strike
Where: North Waziristan, Pakistan
Al Qaedas former second-in-command, Libi was killed in a U.S. drone missile strike on Hesokhel, a small village in North Waziristan near the Afghan border. North Waziristan has long been a stronghold for Al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Haqqani network and other militant groups.
Libis death was a big win for covert U.S. anti-terrorism operations in Pakistan, which had their milestone with the killing of Osama bin Laden in early 2011.
Read more >>
Sakhr Taifi | Al Qaeda
When: May 29, 2012
How: Airstrike
Where: Kunar, Afghanistan
Al Qaedas second-in-command in Afghanistan was killed in an airstrike coordinated by coalition forces. Taifi frequently commanded attacks against NATO and Afghan forces, and he traveled frequently between Afghanistan and Pakistan to relocate weapons and insurgent fighters.
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Abdul-Rahman Awlaki and Ibrahim Banna | Al Qaeda
When: Oct. 14, 2011
How: Drone strike
Where: Azzan, Yemen
Awlaki, a 16-year-old U.S. citizen, was eating dinner along the side of a road when he was killed by a drone strike. Awlakis father, Anwar, was killed two weeks earlier for terrorist operations, but the sons killing sparked outrage among human rights activists who argued that Awlakis death was unrelated to his fathers activities and he was executed without charge, trial or legitimate reasoning.
"If the government is going to be firing Predator missiles at American citizens, surely the American public has a right to know whos being targeted and why." Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said.
Also killed was Egyptian-born Banna, whom officials described as the media chief of the Al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen.
Read more >>
Anwar Awlaki | Al Qaeda
A file picture released by the SITE Intelligence Group on September 26, 2010 shows US-Yemeni radical Anwar al-Awlaki speaking during a video lecture at an unknown location. (AFP/Getty Images)
When: Sept. 30, 2011
How: Drone strike
Where: Azzan, Yemen
The American-born Muslim cleric, accused of inspiring and plotting terrorist attacks on Americans, including the deadly shooting at an army base in Texas, was killed by a Hellfire missile fired from a drone aircraft operated by the CIA.
Although Awlaki was a midlevel figure in Al Qaeda, he cast a potent shadow in U.S. counter-terrorism circles because he spoke fluent English and was effective at reaching disaffected Muslims in the United States and elsewhere via speeches and sermons on the Internet.
His death marked not only an escalation of Obama administration efforts to kill leaders of Al Qaeda and its affiliates, but also another significant intelligence coup after the CIA-led raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, in Pakistan.
Read more >>
Atiyah Abdul Rahman | Al Qaeda
When: Aug. 22, 2011
How: CIA Predator drone strike
Where: Waziristan, Pakistan
Rahman first met Osama bin Laden in his teens, and the Al Qaeda kingpin appointed him to chief liaison for the group in Iran. Though he was unknown to most Americans, he "gained considerable stature in Al Qaeda as an explosives expert and Islamic scholar," according to the website of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center.
Atiyah was at the top of Al Qaeda's trusted core," said an intelligence official, who would not be identified discussing sensitive defense matters. "His combination of background, experience and abilities are unique in Al Qaeda; without question, they will not be easily replaced."
Read more
Ilyas Kashmiri | Al Qaeda
Ilyas Kashmiri (Saeed Khan / AFP/Getty Images)
When: June 3, 2011
How: Drone strike
Where: South Waziristan, Pakistan
Ilyas Kashmiri, a key Al Qaeda strategist, was killed in a 2011 strike in South Waziristan, Pakistan. Reports on Kashmiri alleged that he trained mujahedin to counter Soviet forces in 1980s Afghanistan and that he was tipped to command Al Qaeda after Osama bin Ladens death.
Kashmiri led a militant group in Pakistan and in recent years had been brought into the leadership of Al Qaeda, running a training camp and planning attacks against targets in India and Europe, said a U.S. intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.
Read more >>
Osama bin Laden | Al Qaeda
Osama bin Laden (Associated Press)
When: May 2, 2011
How: U.S. special forces unit raid
Where: Abbottabad, Pakistan
The founder of Al Qaeda and the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks was killed during a special forces raid of his compound. The Saudi Arabia-born extremist kingpin vanished after the fall of the World Trade Center towers.
Once or twice a year, Bin Laden popped up on a new video or audio recording, mocking America's leaders and urging his faithful to follow his path. They did so with bombings in London, Madrid, Bali, Indonesia, and elsewhere.
Interrogators at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were pushed to ask Al Qaeda suspects in custody about possible couriers. The information came in pieces, a U.S. official said, and it took years.
Read more >>
Abdallah Umar Qurayshi | Al Qaeda
When: Sept. 25, 2010
How: Airstrike
Where: Kunar, Afghanistan
The bombing of a compound in Kunar province, close to the border with Pakistan, killed Abdallah Umar Qurayshi, who had led Al Qaeda-affiliated Arab fighters operating in two eastern provinces, and Abu Atta Kuwaiti, an explosives expert.
Western troops, nearly all of them American, pulled out of the remote, rugged Korengal Valley after suffering heavy losses over several years. Fighters led by Qurayshi had staged attacks on Western forces in Kunar and Nuristan provinces, where insurgents sometimes targeted isolated U.S. outposts with devastating results.
Read more
Sheik Said Masri | Al Qaeda
When: May 21, 2010
How: Drone Strike
Where: Pakistan
Al Qaeda's former third-ranking leader a close associate and relative by marriage to Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan's tribal region. The death of Masri, an Egyptian who was believed to act as the terrorist network's operational leader, was a major blow to Al Qaeda, which had suffered a steady degradation of its leadership and ability to mount attacks since the U.S. stepped up its campaign of missile strikes by unmanned aircraft in the tribal region.
Read more >>
Hussein Yemeni | Al Qaeda
When: March 8, 2010
How: Drone Strike
Where: Miram Shah, Pakistan
The death of the elusive Yemeni proved a source of elation for U.S. intelligence officials after the expert bomb maker was killed by drone strike in early 2010. It is believed that Yemeni played a strategic role in the 2009 Camp Chapman suicide attack in Afghanistan that killed seven CIA employees and contractors.
A counter-terrorism official described the Miram Shah strike as a "clean, precise action that shows these killers cannot hide even in relatively built-up places."
Read more >>
Baitullah Mahsud | Pakistani Taliban
Baitullah Mehsud (A. Majeed / AFP/Getty Images)
When: Aug. 5, 2009
How: Predator drone strike
Where: Miram Shah, Pakistan
Mahsud was a founding militant of the Pakistani Taliban, which U.S. intelligence suggested could have been behind the 2007 assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Despite his small stature, it is suggested that he had commanded as many as 20,000 fighters and provided refuge for Afghani Taliban members after the 2001 U.S. invasion.
Read more >>
CINCINNATI "Crushed." ''Disappointed." ''Confused."
Some Hispanic leaders who have been advising Donald Trump say they feel betrayed after his long-awaited immigration speech that definitively ruled out a pathway to legal status for people living in the country illegally.
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Trump stopped short of calling for the mass deportation of millions of people who have not committed crimes beyond their immigration offenses. But he also ruled out what he dismissed as "amnesty," saying those who want to live legally in the U.S. will need to leave and head to the back of the line in their home countries.
"People will know that you can't just smuggle in, hunker down and wait to be legalized," Trump declared in his hard-line speech Wednesday night. "Those days are over."
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The language caught off guard a group of Hispanic faith and business leaders who have been advising him, often in the face of criticism from their own communities. In closed-door meetings, phone calls and in public statements, Trump and his aides had given many the impression that he was prepared to soften his stance on immigration as he tries to court more moderate, general election voters and boost his standing with Hispanics and other minorities.
Now, some feel Trump misled them.
"There's several of us who have gone out on a limb, if you will, to try to at least be at the table of reason with him, and that's left us confused and disappointed," said Tony Suarez, the executive vice president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. He's been among those pushing Trump to moderate his stance.
As recently as Monday, he said, the GOP presidential nominee had signaled on a conference call with faith leaders that they could expect to see a gentler, more compassionate Trump in the speech. Trump, Suarez said, was asked explicitly whether they would see a softening or any "hope" for at least some of the people currently living in the shadows.
"He said, 'Yes,' and he thought we would be very pleased on Wednesday," said Suarez. "The impression given on the call was not what we heard last night."
Alfonso Aguilar, president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, had prominently endorsed Trump after initially opposing his candidacy. He, too, said Trump had signaled a willingness to moderate some of his immigration plans, including limiting his call for deportations to those convicted of crimes.
"At this point, I just don't see how I can support him. So I'm withdrawing my support," Aguilar said. "I was expecting something very different last night. I'm not naive, I knew who I was dealing with. I knew this could happen. It was a risk.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump pauses while speaking during a campaign rally, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, in Wilmington, Ohio. (Evan Vucci / AP)
"From a political perspective, this is the end of Donald Trump. I really think now he's definitely going to lose."
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Trump's campaign, however, insisted the billionaire businessman had never wavered.
"Mr. Trump has been consistent in advocating for an end to illegal immigration and he will continue to reach out and work with voters from all communities to defeat Crooked Hillary Clinton this fall," said Jason Miller, the campaign's senior communications adviser.
Those speaking out against Trump also included Jacob Monty, a Houston-based attorney and member of the candidate's National Hispanic Advisory Council. In a Facebook post, Monty said he was finished supporting Trump after hearing the speech.
"I gave Donald TRUMP a Plan that would improve border security, remove hardened criminal aliens and most importantly give work authority to the millions of honest, hardworking immigrants in the US. He rejected that tonight and so I must reject him," he wrote, adding that Trump had at one point been moving toward a "compassionate immigration plan."
"Tonight he was not a Republican but a populist, modern-day Father Coughlin who demonized immigrants," he continued, referring to an anti-Semitic priest who gained prominence as a radio personality in the 1930s. "He must want to lose. He can do that without me."
Mark Gonzalez, founder of the Hispanic Action Network, had also expected Trump to go in a different direction.
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"We didn't see compassion last night so we're extremely disappointed," he said. "We were anticipating something a lot more favorable."
"He definitely didn't help himself with the Latino community last night."
Suarez, who had never endorsed Trump personally, said he would now be focusing his attention on Congress and on electing lawmakers who are more amenable to immigration reform.
"We're disappointed and it's only raised more questions than answers," he said of Trump's speech. "We tried," he said. "You don't always win. We tried."
But Pastor Mario Bramnick, president of the Hispanic Israel Leadership Coalition and another member of the advisory council, said he would be sticking with Trump because he believes the GOP nominee still has "a real desire to help the undocumented."
Trump's more conciliatory tone during his surprise visit to Mexico Wednesday, coupled with his private comments and some language in the speech, give Bramnick hope that Trump will one day unveil a plan "that's going to secure the border and that's going to be just and equitable to help the undocumented."
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Associated Press
For months, physicists buzzed about the tantalizing possibility that they had discovered a new particle that could crack the cosmic code and Change Everything. Physicists at CERN's Large Hadron Collider reported traces of this never-before-seen elementary particle a very small thing that could explain very big things.
Such as: Why is there matter, but not antimatter in the universe (outside of "Star Trek" episodes)? How can we identify the mysterious dark matter that accounts for most of the cosmos but has never been seen? Are there secret symmetries behind gravity, electromagnetism and the forces inside an atom?
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Physicists produced some 500 papers breathlessly interpreting the meaning of the as-yet unconfirmed particle, The New York Times reports. Then ... poof! A few weeks ago, scientists had to admit that the particle didn't exist. That intriguing bump on the graph in Switzerland was most likely a statistical fluke.
Imagine the profound disappointment among physicists around the world. A possible universe-altering, Nobel Prize-winning event, the most important physics discovery in half a century, turned out to be a ghost in the machine, a phantom, the blip that wasn't.
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Disappointing? Sure. But on another level, thrilling. Because there is little as exhilarating in science as a group of really smart people slapping their foreheads and admitting, hey, we got it wrong. Sorry, our bad.
As physicist James Beacham of Ohio State University said: "This is the success of science, this is what science does." Exactly.
Failure doesn't earn scientists tenure, prizes or megabuck grants, of course. No one cheers a drug that doesn't work, a test that fails to live up to expectations, a theory of the universe that proves to be wrong.
But there's good reason to celebrate these failures. Scientific breakthroughs often are built on a heap of experiments that sputtered. Every fizzle is one less dead end for researchers to wander down.
The flip side: Even research that is widely accepted may later prove to be flawed.
In 2015, researchers reported on a yearslong effort to replicate the results of 100 major studies on personality, relationships, learning and memory the core of modern psychology. Result: More than half of the studies didn't hold up when the original experiments were redone.
What gives? Researchers say and yes, we should listen to them that the findings didn't necessarily mean those earlier studies were wrong or that the scientists cheated. The different results could come from subtle differences in study design that translated into larger changes in the later experiments' results. Or it could be scientists reaching conclusions that were stronger than their data in the earlier studies justified.
The psychology finding "is not evidence that anything is broken. Rather, it's an example of science doing what science does," study co-author Cody Christopherson, a psychology researcher at Southern Oregon University, told Smithsonian Magazine. "It's impossible to be wrong in a final sense in science. You have to be temporarily wrong, perhaps many times, before you are ever right."
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Any of us can be temporarily wrong or temporarily right. Absolute certainty in medicine, in any science, in life, is elusive and often illusory. Think of all the medical "cures" of 20 years ago, 50 years ago, 100 years ago, that have now been debunked. The human body does not yield easily to pharmaceutically induced tinkering. The mysteries of human behavior, like the universe, are fiendishly difficult to comprehend.
Every hypothesis that collapses, every brilliant notion that flames out, leads somewhere else ... and eventually, we hope, to the truth.
So who will police the police, for real?
There have been too many bad cops in Chicago, and previous efforts to manage police oversight have failed. The death of Laquan McDonald is recent proof: A black youth is shot 16 times by a white cop, yet no officer at the scene reports what was captured on video, which is that the shooting was unwarranted.
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That scandal and Chicago's sordid history of police brutality bring us to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposed answer to the question Who will police the police, for real?
Emanuel's new plan deserves no applause, but no repudiation either, because we don't think the mayor's work is done. His job was to replace the not-so Independent Police Review Authority with a legitimate watchdog that takes on allegations of police misconduct without any risk of being shoved around or ignored by police brass or City Hall.
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This proposal would replace IPRA with COPA, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, and create the position of deputy inspector general for public safety as an additional set of eyes. The creation of a citizen oversight board, another crucial component, will come next. Overall, this plan looks better than what Chicago has had. COPA, spawn of IPRA, would have a broader mandate to investigate serious allegations of police misconduct and deliver recommendations to CPD. The superintendent would be required to respond within 90 days, removing the temptation to sit on a case.
Yet it's impossible to conclude that this Emanuel vision for police accountability would represent a truly independent check on potential interference from on high. That makes it unacceptable. This is Chicago, where politics is everywhere and nice intentions don't pay the rent. The big problem with COPA and the new inspector general position as proposed is they would remain under City Hall's thumb.
As envisioned, COPA and the new deputy inspector general don't get guaranteed sustainable budgets. They will need to ask for resources, which makes them another arm of city government, vulnerable to shakedowns if they start asking uncomfortable questions. COPA also would not have the power to hire independent counsel, required to enforce subpoenas. The city Law Department, already responsible for representing the police and the mayor, would get involved in that, which presents a glaring conflict of interest.
For COPA to claim true independence, there can be no leaching of City Hall influence. There has to be a wall to prevent meddling. We've seen how readily City Hall can infiltrate or overpower apparently independent entities. In the wake of the McDonald shooting, city emails obtained through a Freedom of Information request revealed how IPRA's former chief, Scott Ando, relied on the mayor's communications staff and city's top lawyers to vet and tweak public statements attributed to him. Several years ago, we saw how the Law Department thwarted the city inspector general's attempt to investigate potential wrongdoing because of a clever two-step: A city ordinance allowed the inspector general to subpoena records, but didn't authorize the ability to go to court to enforce those subpoenas.
Folks, this is how "The City That Works" prefers to work. Remember: IPRA was a failure, and practically an invitation to bad or incompetent cops to carry on. In eight years, it rarely sustained a complaint against a police officer. So it's got to be back to the drawing board on COPA and the inspector general to give the positions teeth. Next will come the creation of the new community oversight board, which the city says will play a role in the hiring of a permanent COPA administrator (Sharon Fairley of IPRA will continue in the job for now). That board is a crucial part of this reform puzzle, and we're eager to see how it comes together.
With the Laquan McDonald case, a new crisis has unfolded on city streets. Mistrust of police is rampant. Good cops doing a tough job feel betrayed. Gun violence worsens, coincidence or not. Faced with that bleak scenario, Chicago appears ready at least more ready than in the past to get a grip on police oversight. So bring it on.
Whatever the mayor proposes in terms of mechanics to fix oversight is part of the response. Earning back public trust will be the hard part. That won't be possible until this proposal is strengthened and vetted by the public.
That means Emanuel and the aldermen have to listen to what the aggrieved citizens of Chicago say about their Police Department. Otherwise that breach in trust won't be healed.
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August 31, 2016
Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust: UN Hosts anti-Semitic, anti-Israel Hate Groups
A shocking new report by Prof. Anne Bayefsky and Sarah Willig of Human Rights Voices and the Touro Institute for Human Rights and the Holocaust exposes how blatant antisemitism and incitement to violence is being spread at the United Nations by UN-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
According to the authors:
The UN is enabling these groups to spread hatred, encourage terrorism, and promote the destruction of the Jewish state from the world stage. Democratic states, led by the United States, control the purse strings of the United Nations either from within the UN bureaucracy or through domestic policy. Getting serious about combating gross intolerance and violent extremism means putting an immediate stop to the use and abuse of the United Nations to broadcast and support antisemitism and bigotry and the lethal consequences.
For the full report click here.
Posted by AS at August 31, 2016 11:44 PM
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Donald Trump's immigration policy speech Wednesday night in Phoenix was inflammatory, misleading and, I suspect, fairly effective.
Rather than focus attention on the difficult and controversial issue of what to do about the millions of undocumented immigrants within our borders now living orderly, productive lives working, paying taxes, rearing children who are U.S. citizens by dint of being born here the GOP presidential nominee trained fire on the small percentage of undocumenteds who commit violent or other serious crimes.
He began by telling the thumbnail stories of five Americans who were murdered by those here illegally. And though criminologists tell us that the undocumented are statistically less likely than average to commit such crimes, the resonant point is that all of the victims in Trump's horrifying litany would likely be alive today if their killers were not. And that they aren't necessarily one-off cases.
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These figures are a bit old, but a 2011 report from the U.S. General Accounting Office Criminal Alien Statistics estimated that, between 2003 and 2009, undocumented residents had been arrested for some 15,000 kidnappings, 25,000 murders, 70,000 sex offenses, 43,000 robberies, 115,000 burglaries and 213,000 assaults, among other crimes.
Again statistically modest, but the point is that the numbers should, ideally, all be zero.
To lay the groundwork for his 10-item action plan on immigration, Trump first thoroughly and brazenly misrepresented the position of his Democratic opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and of President Barack Obama.
Open the borders and let everyone come in and destroy our country, was the pithiest of those misrepresentations.
In fact, Clinton and Obama support an immigration overhaul that creates an arduous path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who pass a criminal background check, learn English and pay taxes. If anything, the Obama administration has been criticized by immigrant-rights activists for being too quick to deport those who commit minor crimes.
Trump spun sugar-castle fantasies about how quickly and easily he will build an impenetrable, physical, tall, beautiful, powerful wall across our 2000-mile border with Mexico, block federal funds from sanctuary cities that dont detain people simply for being undocumented and impose ideological tests on those who apply for visas.
He promised a bio-metric tracking system to hunt down those who have overstayed their visas and greatly expanded use of a web-based employment-eligibility system E-Verify as part of a renewed effort to enforce all existing immigration laws.
It was only toward the end of the speech that he did a little tapdance around the key question that many had tuned in to hear answered:
Are his oft-stated plans to deputize a deportation force to roust all 11 million undocumented immigrants from the country still in place? Does he still plan to throw them all out post haste and then force them to apply for readmission?
That grandiose pledge, along with the wall (that will never ever get built) were the centerpiece of the super-tough immigration stance that separated him from his generally more measured, more realistic challengers in the Republican primaries.
Our answer: "In several years," he said, "when we have accomplished all of our enforcement and deportation goals and truly ended illegal immigration for good ... then and only then will we be in a position to consider the appropriate disposition of those individuals who remain.
"That discussion can take place only in an atmosphere in which illegal immigration is a memory of the past, no longer with us, allowing us to weigh the different options available based on the new circumstances at the time," he said.
It was Trump-speak for the most banal mainstream Republican talking point on immigration, the one that begins, "First, we must secure the borders ..."
And it signaled that, like most major figures in both parties, he really doesn't have an appetite for doing an "Operation Wetback" number on otherwise law abiding people who are here just seeking a better life.
I doubt his supporters even noticed the squish. It was such a vague afterthought that it didn't dampen the thunder of the rest of his rhetoric, which seemed designed to assure everyone that rumors of his "softening" on this issue were greatly exaggerated.
But I bet that more than a few undecided voters did. Those looking for just a hint of compassion and reality in his words that would allow them to get beyond his nationalistic bluster heard what they needed to hear.
If so, Wednesday's speech did just what he needed it to.
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Twitter @EricZorn
Donald Trump's immigration policy speech Wednesday evening in Phoenix was inflammatory and misleading but, I suspect, also fairly effective.
Inflammatory
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Rather than focus attention on the difficult and controversial issue of what national policy should be about the millions of undocumented immigrants within our borders now living orderly, productive lives working, paying taxes, rearing children who are U.S. citizens the GOP presidential nominee trained most of his fire on the small percentage of undocumenteds who commit violent or other serious crimes.
He began with the thumbnail stories of five Americans who were murdered by those here illegally. And although criminologists tell us that the undocumented are statistically less likely than average to commit such crimes, the resonant point is that all of the victims in Trump's horrifying litany would likely be alive today if their killers were not in the U.S. And that they aren't necessarily one-off cases.
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Trump alluded to a 2011 Criminal Alien Statistics report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which estimated that between 2003 and 2009, undocumented residents had been arrested for approximately 15,000 kidnappings, 25,000 murders, 70,000 sex offenses, 43,000 robberies, 115,000 burglaries and 213,000 assaults, among other crimes.
Those numbers are old and statistically modest, but it's hard to deny the sentiment that they should be zero.
Misleading
In laying the groundwork for his 10-item agenda on immigration, Trump thoroughly and brazenly distorted the position of his Democratic opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"Open the borders and let everyone come in and destroy our country," was the pithiest of those misrepresentations.
In fact, Clinton supports an immigration overhaul that creates an arduous path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, who must pass a criminal background check, learn English and pay taxes. She has backed heightened border security measures, and her campaign website promises she will "focus resources on detaining and deporting those individuals who pose a violent threat to public safety."
Trump bemoaned the "record pace" of illegal immigration, even though since 2009 more Mexican immigrants have left the U.S. than have entered.
Effective
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Trump reassured his supporters that he hadn't gone wobbly on his signature issue despite some feints toward moderation in recent days.
He promised to quickly build an "impenetrable, physical, tall, beautiful, powerful" wall across our 2,000-mile border with Mexico and make Mexico pay for it, just as he'll make Persian Gulf states pay for the creation of "safe zones" in their countries for Syrian and Libyan refugees who might otherwise come here.
He said he'd block federal funds from U.S. "sanctuary cities" that don't aggressively enforce immigration laws, compel visa applicants to obtain "ideological certification" as part of an "extreme vetting" program and institute a "biometric tracking system" to hunt down those who have overstayed their legal welcome.
These are fantasies, not plans. But they're what allowed him to rise above his more reality-oriented opponents in the GOP primary race.
At the same time, toward the end of the speech, he tap-danced away from the element of his immigration fantasies that many people find the most disturbing his dream of quickly rounding up and sending back all 11 million undocumented immigrants in our country, then forcing them to apply for readmission.
When will that happen? "In several years," he said, "when we have accomplished all of our enforcement and deportation goals and truly ended illegal immigration for good ... then and only then will we be in a position to consider the appropriate disposition of those individuals who remain.
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"That discussion can take place only in an atmosphere in which illegal immigration is a memory of the past, no longer with us, allowing us to weigh the different options available based on the new circumstances at the time," he said.
In other words, never.
Like most major figures in both parties, Trump really doesn't have an appetite for doing an "Operation Wetback" number on otherwise law-abiding people who are here just seeking a better life.
Squishy? Yes. I doubt his supporters even noticed. It was such a vague afterthought not even included in the 10 points that it barely dampened the thunder of his rhetoric.
But I'll bet more than a few undecided voters did. Those listening for a hint of pragmatism in his bluster, something to convince them that he's not actually out of his mind on the subject of immigration, heard what they needed to hear.
If so, Trump's speech did just what he needed it to.
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Twitter @EricZorn
Alexander Bowers has been charged with three counts of predatory criminal sexual assault and three counts of criminal sexual abuse, according to the Oswego Police Department. (Oswego Police Department)
Oswego police, working with county, federal and international agencies, have arrested an Arkansas man accused of sexually assaulting a boy.
Alexander Bowers, 28, of Little Rock, Ark., has been charged with three counts of predatory criminal sexual assault and three counts of criminal sexual abuse, according to the Oswego Police Department. He was arrested at O'Hare International Airport on Wednesday evening, after he was detained by authorities in Japan, according to police.
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Bowers is accused of having sexual contact with a boy at an Oswego home over about four years, starting in 2008, police officials said in a statement. At that time, Bowers was 20 and the boy was 9, according to police.
The boy's parents reported the alleged assault to Oswego police in March 2016, when they became aware of it, police said in the statement.
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While investigating, police learned Bowers had moved to Arkansas. In late August, detectives found Bowers had traveled to Japan, and was attempting to travel to Australia, according to police. They said they notified the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which notified Australian authorities. The Australian authorities revoked Bowers' travel visa, according to Oswego police.
The Kendall County state's attorney approved the six felony charges against Bowers on Aug. 24, and a judge issued a warrant for his arrest and set his bond at $1 million, according to police. Oswego detectives notified the international police agency Interpol of the warrant, and Bowers was detained by Japanese authorities Aug. 30.
Japanese authorities arranged to have Bowers returned to the United States, and Oswego detectives were waiting for him at O'Hare, according to the press release. He was taken to the Oswego Police Department and then Kendall County Jail.
sfreishtat@tribpub.com
Twitter @srfreish
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Wilmington, Ohio, and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the American Legion's 98th annual convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Evan Vucci and Andrew Harnik / AP )
The workplace is not immune to the heat being generated by the presidential campaign between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.
John Jorgensen, an instructor for Northern Illinois University's Outreach Program, warned that the current political climate is as highly charged as it has even been, and that can have a negative impact around the office.
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"I have already lost two friendships as a result of this, and have had people say 'well, I'll see you after the election' and there are also people in my family who have very strong opinions about things," Jorgensen said. "In my 30-some years of doing this I feel like I've dealt with just about everything by now, but I've never seen anything like this. It is the most amount of polarization I've ever seen."
He made his comments during a roundtable discussion Thursday morning at Aurora University's Orchard Center about the impact of the election campaign on the workplace. The free event, offered by Aurora University's Human Resource Institute, included an invitation for business people to discuss the situation in a dialogue moderated by Jorgensen, who has more than 25 years of human resources experience working with small- and medium-sized businesses.
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Jorgensen acknowledged that people talk at the lunch table or water cooler about everything from the Bears vs. the Packers to issues about their own workplace, but he cautioned that in the office "remaining neutral and avoiding ranting and raving" are critical.
"I guess the three guidelines I would stress the most are to stay professional, be polite, and be civil," Jorgensen said. "If you can't communicate together you can't work together."
Jorgensen as well as other participants Thursday agreed that the increased "communication channels" of today which include cell phones and social media have increased problems, given that so much information and personal opinion are available.
Scott Netzley, a financial director working out of South Elgin, said he believes "opinions are important" and that "our society has become too sensitive."
"In the end, people need to get their work done, and if there are discussions at the water cooler I don't see where that is an issue," Netzley said. "This is who we are, and what our country was founded on. Some people get too sensitive when we talk about religion or politics, but our country was founded on free speech. I think people can have opinions, but just don't force them down others' throats."
Kathy Pierceall of Yorkville said she was representing the Farmers Insurance Group and came Thursday because she didn't have a lot of knowledge about the subject.
"I'm just here to listen to some ideas with the elections coming up," she said.
Aurora's Colleen Wolak said he has work in human resources all her professional life.
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"When we were growing up, we were taught that religion and politics were taboo, but now I think the political climate we live in has thrown that out the window," she said. "I believe people need to remain professional in the workplace and maintain a respect for diversity. We need to continue to have civilized conversations."
She said the presidential election adds a hot-button issue into the mix.
"This is going to be a sensitive issue over the next 10 weeks," she said.
Toni Williams, who works as a human resources manager for Exelon, said she is concerned about how the ongoing rhetoric of the campaign will affect the nuclear plants she represents.
"I need to understand given the political climate the everyday support I need to offer as an HR manager with our employees," she said. "There perhaps is the need to remain neutral but still have a voice there needs to be a balance. People can get really charged up."
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News
A federal jury on Tuesday found a South Holland woman guilty of pocketing kickbacks in exchange for referring patients to home health care agencies while she was running a Homewood-based business, according to the FBI.
Sundae Williams, 47, ran Serenity Marketing Inc., and recruited patients, including Medicare beneficiaries, for Chicago-area nursing agencies, according to the FBI. The company did business under the name Serenity Living.
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The jury convicted Williams on one count of conspiracy to solicit and receive remuneration in return for the referral of Medicare patients, and six counts of soliciting and receiving remuneration in return for the referral of Medicare patients, according to the FBI. Each count carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.
Serenity employees were trained to make cold calls to patients and convince them to accept the home services, according to the FBI. The employee would then get personal information from an interested beneficiary and sell that to the home health agencies.
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Williams is just the latest to be convicted as part of a federal investigation by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, according to the FBI. The strike force group is part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team, a joint initiative between the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
James Ademiju, a Matteson nurse, pleaded guilty this year to billing for unnecessary services and making illegal payments for patient referrals, according to the FBI. He testified at William's trial that some of his payments were made to her company. In a plea agreement, Ademiju admitted to sending some of Serenity's solicited patients to home-physician companies, believing those companies would charge for services to those patients even if they weren't necessary, according to the FBI.
Earlier this year, a doctor at Suburban Home Physicians, Alan Newman, pleaded guilty to falsely certifying patients for nursing services even though they didn't qualify for them, according to the FBI. He also bilked $2.6 million from Medicare, the FBI said.
In an April jury trial, Diana J. Gumila, a nurse and manager at Suburban Home Physicians, was convicted of directing employees to provide unneeded services to patients and certifying patients for services for which they did not qualify, according to the FBI. She also directed staff to bill Medicare in a complicated scheme that inflated costs, the FBI said.
Gumila was sentenced in July to six years in prison, according to the FBI. Williams, Ademiju and Newman are awaiting sentencing.
Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Thornton Township Supervisor Frank Zuccarelli and Cook County Judge William Hooks were among the speakers Wednesday at the National Organization Of Black Law Enforcement Executives youth conference at South Suburban College. The conference was designed to rebuild trust between youth and law enforcement. Aug. 31, 2016. (Erin Gallagher / Daily Southtown) (Chicago Tribune)
When Cook County Judge William Hooks asked the gymnasium filled with high school students if they had ever had a gun pointed at them, most, if not all, raised their hands.
Hooks was one of several speakers Wednesday at a youth training conference for Thornton Township High School District 205 and Thornton Fractional High School District 215 intended to rebuild trust between youths and the police. About 1,000 teens and dozens of law enforcement officials filled the South Suburban College Field House in South Holland for the event.
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"There is enough blame to go around," Hooks said in an interview. "If we treat people as disposable, they become disposable."
Hooks, who grew up at 64th and Lawrence in the South Side's Woodlawn neighborhood and now works in the felony criminal division, told the students that they had to "dare to declare" a good path in their lives. He told them that the "no snitch" policy does not help them.
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He described the fear defendants have when they are being sentenced to prison for major crimes such as murder. He said that no one is there for them, except maybe their mothers. Gang life "is not a good life," he said.
Hooks was one of several speakers who shared a message of mutual respect.
"When people don't meet you with respect, you don't give them disrespect in return," said WGCI radio personality Tone Kapone. "Confrontations always end bad."
Kapone, who opened the conference, said he understands what it is like to be profiled and feel like he shouldn't wear his hat backward in certain neighborhoods.
"I'm from this area," he said. "I grew up in Country Club Hills."
Thornton Township Supervisor Frank Zuccarelli, a Thornridge High School graduate, said he organized the event "because 500 people were shot in Chicago" in August, and 22 were murdered in Thornton Township.
"We've never had a year like that," he told the students.
Citing the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr., Zuccarelli said, "We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools."
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"Just like Tone said, if somebody acts like a jackass, you don't act like one back," Zuccarelli said.
The event was sponsored in part by the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. South Holland Police Chief Greg Baker, regional vice president of the organization, gave students examples of ways to stay safe in their neighborhoods.
Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >
"Settle issues that are in dispute with a police supervisor, police administrator or in court not on the scene," was one of 13 tips on a magnet given to each student. "Remember that every police officer is not 'out to get you.'"
In an interview before the event, Hazel Crest Police Chief Mitchell Davis III said that giving these teens a personal portrait of the police is important so they don't view everyone in law enforcement as an "adversarial stranger."
Davis, who is a member of NOBLE, described law enforcement as a "microcosm of society," with different levels of competency. Because officers face split-second decisions, their actions may come from lacking experience.
"It's not just a matter of they're out there trying to hurt someone," Davis said. "One thing I've consistently taught is you've got to learn about the person you're dealing with."
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Referring to both police and community members, Davis said both sides have to look at each situation and person individually, and not base assumptions on past experiences or rumors.
"Our children are most important," said Joyce Washington, a Thornton Township trustee. "Unless we can protect our children now, we can just say goodbye to our future."
Erin Gallagher is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
On August 1st, Uber announced it would cease trying to access the Chinese market alone and will merge with its long-time rival, Didi Chuxing in China, to benefit from the taxi companys local know-how and have immediate access to its large consumer base. Uber Chinas value will represent a 20% stake in the combined entity with Uber being Didis largest shareholder.
Uber was founded in Silicon Valley in 2009 with a reported $1.5 billion revenue and an estimated worth of USD $62.5 billion by late 2015. Today it offers its services in 506 cities worldwide, with more than 150 million rides a month, according to span>Uber.com.
Reuters reported that on June 18th Uber had completed more than two billion trips on its app and that in that same month it had raised $3.5 billion from Saudi Arabias sovereign wealth fund, part of a funding round that valued the company at $62.5 billion.
Travis Kalanick, CEO and Co-Founder of Uber, said in a press release why he went after the Chinese market after visiting there three years ago:
I came away with a different view. First, that China is an amazing country and if you aspire to make transportation as reliable as running water, everywhere for everyone you cant ignore a fifth of the worlds population. And second, as an entrepreneur, if you have the opportunity to build both Amazon and Alibaba at the same time, youd be crazy not to try.
However, critics have said Ubers merging with Didi Chuxing is a sign it could not crack localization in China.
Were profitable in the USA, but were losing over $1bn a year in China, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick
told Canadian technology platform BetaKit.
Writing for Fortune.com, Robert Salomon, Associate Professor of International Management at the New York University Stern School of Business and author of Global Vision: How Companies Can Overcome the Pitfalls of Globalization, said China is an incredibly complex market that differs culturally, politically and economically from the United States, and that large U.S. technology giants such as Amazon, Google, eBay and Facebook have all struggled to get a foothold here.
Image credit: Uber Newsroom
Ubers first obstacle was the fact that Didi Chuxing was already established and held large market share.
Salomon said Western firms struggle to navigate Chinas complex political structure, legal system and regulatory rules. He also mentions that the Chinese way of doing business means combining personal and business relationships and that Chinese consumer tastes differ vastly from Westerners, something that makes adapting products and services a challenge.
Salomons advice to companies entering China is to develop strategies that balance risks with rewards and that a measured approach, which includes partnering with established businesses as Uber has now done may be the best way forward.
Read Travis Kalanicks open letter to employees regarding the merger on his
Facebook page.
MLD-6313_1c4bf84c-de3e-4bd1-9e08-c762a191d4d5-prv.jpg
The National Security Cutter Munro, pictured here during builder sea trials in early August. Wednesday, Ingalls Shipbuilding announced it had received an advance procurement contract in excess of $88 million for the ninth Ingalls-built Coast Guard cutter.
(Ingalls Shipbuilding photo)
PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- One day after announcing a $13.7 million contract with the U.S. Navy for design work on the new LX(R) warship, Ingalls Shipbuilding on Wednesday announced the receipt of an $88.2 million advance procurement contract from the U.S. Coast Guard for materials for a ninth National Security Cutter.
"NSC 9 will build on the performance record of her predecessors in the Legend class," said Ingalls president Brian Cuccias. "Coast Guard leadership has stated these ships help fill a need to bolster front-line operations in the fight against crime, especially drug interdictions.
"Ingalls is proud and honored to be providing this most advanced fleet of cutters to enable the Coast Guard to perform its daily missions in protecting America's shores."
Advance procurement funds are used to purchase long-lead, major items for NSC 9, including steel, main propulsion systems, generators, electrical switchboards and major castings.
"This long-lead material contract gives our shipbuilders the ability to immediately start work on the ship in anticipation of the construction contract," said Kari Wilkinson, Ingalls' vice president of program management. "This advance procurement helps us get started on the next great ship in this program."
Ingalls has delivered five National Security Cutters to the Coast Guard. The Legend class is designed to replace the 12 Hamilton-class cutters which joined the USCG fleet in 1960.
The sixth Ingalls-built cutter, the Munro (WMSL 755), is scheduled for acceptance sea trials and delivery before the end of the year. The seventh cutter, the Kimball (WMSL 756) is scheduled for launch by the end of 2016, and the keel for an eighth cutter, the Midgett (WMSL 757) is set to be laid this year, as well.
NSCs are 418 feet long with a 54-foot beam and displace 4,500 tons with a full load. They have a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 12,000 miles, an endurance of 60 days and a crew of 120.
The Legend-class cutters include an aft launch and recovery area for two rigid hull inflatable boats and a flight deck to accommodate a range of manned and unmanned rotary wing aircraft.
It is the largest and most technologically advanced class of cutter in the U.S. Coast Guard, with capabilities for maritime homeland security, law enforcement, marine safety, environmental protection and national defense missions.
PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- As of Tuesday afternoon, the revelation that Pascagoula Police Chief Kenny Johnson helped Moss Point Police Chief Art McClung avoid charges after a traffic stop under questionable circumstances has not led Pascagoula City Manager Joe Huffman, the city council or Mayor Jim Blevins to take any action against Johnson.
On Tuesday, the Sun Herald released dash cam footage of a July 29 traffic stop involving McClung. Officers pulled McClung's vehicle over after it was clocked at 109 mph on U.S. 90 between the Gautier bridge and the Pascagoula bridge, according to Pascagoula police dash cam footage.
Officers approached the driver's side of the car and immediately recognized that it was McClung driving his city assigned police SUV. In the video, an officer can be heard saying, "he's toast," in regard to the amount of drinks McClung had consumed.
Officers on the scene proceeded to call Johnson and ask him what it was he wanted them to do. According to the Sun-Herald, Johnson told his officers to drive McClung home and a report about the incident was not filed.
Huffman said he had spoken with Johnson, but is limited to what he could discuss about their meeting, citing the situation as a personnel issue.
"Chief Johnson and I talked, and right now where I am at on it is that he was not on site when the incident took place so he made a decision based on the information he had at that time and he felt it was the right decision," Huffman said. "I can support that, I think that law enforcement officers have discretion and Chief Johnson did what he thought was right at the time with the information he had."
Huffman said he knows the type of man Johnson is and his work done within and for the department speaks for itself.
"Our police department is accredited on a national level and we are trying to do the right things the right way," Huffman said. "If you look at the practices, information requested, Chief Johnson provided video and his perspective on it. We have nothing to hide and we are trying to be transparent with this situation and those are good practices."
The Mississippi Press made numerous attempts to contact Johnson in which calls were not returned.
The Mississippi Press did speak with McClung after the Moss Point Board of Aldermen decided to suspend him without pay while further investigation is conducted regarding the incident.
McClung stated he had yet to received official notice from the Board of Aldermen or Moss Point Mayor Billy Broomfield as of Tuesday evening.
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China's top economic planner warned Wednesday that challenges remain in investment and trade, and meeting annual growth targets will require "arduous efforts."
It is estimated that pressure will still remain in economic development in the second half of 2016, said Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, during the top legislature's ongoing bimonthly session.
While delivering a report to the session, Xu expressed confidence that the country could meet its major annual targets in economic growth, employment, commodity prices and residents' income.
He also said it was expected that targets for poverty reduction, energy consumption, environmental protection and renovation of substandard housing would be met.
"Great difficulties remain in meeting goals for investment and trade," Xu said, while elaborating on a national economic and social development report.
"Currently, the foundations for stable economic development are not solid enough and downward pressure remains."
The international economy has not recovered as expected, and trade protectionism has gained ground, Xu told lawmakers, adding that geopolitical risks and the increasingly complicated regional security situation will disturb economic stability.
On the domestic front, difficulties remain for the stable growth of demand, and regional polarization has evolved, with potential risks in sectors such as finance and employment needing attention, Xu said.
He also cited farmers' incomes, the increasing number of environmental incidents, severe production safety situation and the arduous tasks of disaster prevention, reduction and relief as difficulties the country must address.
Wednesday afternoon's plenary session was attended by Zhang Dejiang, the chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.
Stabilizing macroeconomic policy
According to Xu, China will continue to design and implement targeted and flexible macro-control measures, and pursue a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy.
The country will further reduce tax burdens for enterprises and closely follow the implementation of the replacement of business tax with VAT, said Finance Minister Lou Jiwei while delivering a report during Wednesday's legislative session.
China plans to formulate a pilot policy on commercial pension insurance with individual tax preferences offered to applicants, Lou said.
Also, the country is mulling an increased export rebate rate for some mechanical and electrical products and hopes to fine-tune the policy for individual income tax for equity incentives, Lou said.
The central government will promote public-private-partnerships (PPP) and accelerate the PPP legislation procedures, he added.
Meanwhile, China has promised to review government investment, promoting the use of funds to support startups in emerging industries, according to Lou.
Advancing key reforms
During the session, Xu said China was determined to further cut the number of items needing government approval and advance reforms in key sectors including state-owned enterprises, finance and taxation.
The central government will roll out assessment measures for environmental protection and improve intellectual property protection for enterprises, Xu added.
As China's economy settles into the "new normal," which features slower growth, the country will continue to boost development of emerging industries, said Xu.
The central government will formulate a "negative" list for the country's "Internet Plus" strategy and other supporting measures for the "Made in China 2025" plan, according to Xu.
Photo taken on Aug. 1, 2016 shows a symbol of Didi in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province. [Photo/Xinhua]
Beijing-based Didi Chuxing announced on Wednesday that it had signed a strategic partnership agreement with nearly 50 taxi companies from more than 10 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, to explore ways to help upgrade the taxi industry.
Didi said it will explore measures, such as big data and other internet technologies, to match the right online transportation requests with the right drivers, in order to boost the earnings of taxi drivers and improve operational efficiency.
Cheng Wei, chief executive officer of Didi, said that Didi builds its business empire on taxi business. Tens of millions people use taxis across the nation.
"Apart from sharing technology breakthroughs with taxis, Didi has been vigorously facilitating the integration of taxis and other vehicles that provides transportation services via ride-hailing apps," he said.
In the future, Didi will use a 100-million-yuan (US$14.97 million) fund to reward taxi drivers that get higher reviews on Didi Chuxing apps, according to Cheng.
The announcement came within a month of the Chinese government deciding to legalize car-hailing services from November, which practically levels the playing field for taxis and other app-enabled vehicles.
After car-hailing services debuted in the country in mid-2014, the lower prices soon attracted many passengers, prompting protests from taxi drivers across China.
Fights between taxi drivers and car-hailing service drivers were often reported by the media.
"With the aim to cover the whole car-hailing services, Didi need to tap further into the taxi market. If Didi did not make the move, another similar platform would take the business over," said Wang Xiaofeng, an analyst at consultancy Forrester Inc.
As a one-stop mobile transportation service provider, Didi offers a wide arrange of options to passengers, from taxis to private car, carpool to even bus and car-rental.
A famer sells kiwi fruits in Changputang village, Fenghuang county, Hunan province on Aug 31, 2016. [Photo by Xiao Yi/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
"If you have a daughter, don't marry her to any man from Changputang since nothing grows there except calamus."
This is a well-known saying in Fenghuang county, Hunan province for many years. However, finding a wife is no longer a concern for single men in the village now and the lands once occupied by calamus are now an orchard full of kiwi fruits, grapefruits and watermelons.
The Changputang village of Fenghuang county has a population of about 2,800. Most of the residents are of the Tujia ethnic group.
Before 1980s, the village was in extreme poverty due to limited land, lack of water and dilapidated roads. The per capita arable land was about two mu (0.13 hectares). The residents, with an annual average income of 600 yuan ($90), grew rice and corn for a living.
Since 1982, villagers began to grow crops such as watermelons and cucurbits.
"We didn't have confidence back then so we chose crops with short growing periods," said Wang Anquan, an official of Changputang. "Just in case they don't grow well, we could change to rice and corn." To his surprise, the venture was greatly successful.
Encouraged by their first experiment, farmers in the village introduced a special kind of tangerine from Zhejiang province, which brought an extra income of 2,000 yuan for every mu. Meanwhile, the income for rice was only 500 yuan per mu.
During the following years, the village further diversified its products with kiwi fruits and grapefruits.
In 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping visited Changputang during an inspection tour.
Xi said that better technology and a bigger market are needed to improve agriculture in the village. He advised villagers to keep an eye on the market and look ahead. Xi also encouraged them to work harder.
In the same tour to southern Hunan, Xi said alleviating poverty in the region should be done with targeted policies, including improving agriculture and education.
Agriculture is the key economic engine in southern Hunan. From 2011 to 2012, the Ministry of Agriculture invested 1.23 billion yuan to boost development in the area. Today, southern Hunan is the largest base for lilies and kiwis in China.
Today, the Changputang village can produce 6.5 million kilograms of fruits worth 35 million yuan. The average net income has reached 7,000 yuan per year. The net income of 90 percent of the fruit farmers is above 30,000 yuan. Every family has tap water and cement roads.
MOSS POINT, Miss. - Lee Andrew Gipson, the man accused of stabbing retired educator Willie C. Williams more than 50 times, was out on parole at the time, less than three years after receiving a 10-year sentence for burglary.
Family, friends and the community of Moss Point laid to rest a man residents called a "pillar of the community" on Saturday morning. Williams was found dead on Friday, Aug. 19, after being murdered as early as the preceding Wednesday. Gipson, 23, has been in the custody of the Jackson County Sheriff's Department since Wednesday, Aug. 24.
As reports of Williams' death spread throughout social media, people were angry, sad, puzzled, and frustrated that someone would commit such an act against someone so beloved in their community. Shironda Hayslett was one of those angered by Williams' murder, all the more so, she said, because Gipson had broken into her home and allegedly tried to burn down her home in 2013.
According to Gipson's criminal record, he was convicted on four counts of burglary and larceny of an occupied dwelling in 2014, and each count carried 10 years of prison time and 10 years of probation.
"September 2013, I received a phone call at work saying that I needed to hurry up and get home and when I pulled up to my home, my house was engulfed in flames," Hayslett said. "Once the fire was contained, the police officer and fire marshal had me walk through the house to see if anything was missing. Once I walked through, I noticed several windows had been broken out and proceeded to look further and I noticed money, televisions and jewelry were missing. The house was completely ransacked."
Hayslett said the following Monday morning, as she was headed to the police station to provide detectives with a list of missing belongings, she received a call from the detective working her case before she even made it there.
"I received a call from the detective saying they had the person in custody who had broken into my house and set the fire," Hayslett said. "They caught him in someone else's house and knew it was him based on a burn located on his face."
According to Hayslett, Gipson started the fire in her bedroom while snooping around for valuables.
Hayslett said officers told her it looked personal, but she contends that she had never seen Gipson in her life, nor did her children know who he was. Hayslett said she was told by detectives that the trial would be quick because Gipson had admitted to breaking into and vandalizing her home.
Hayslett later moved back to Tennessee and said she received notice that Gipson received 8-10 years for his actions. She was then encouraged to set up a VINE link (Victim Information and Notification Everyday) to keep her abreast of Gipson's progression through the criminal justice system, but said that information never updated or notified her of his release.
Gipson pleaded guilty in October 2014 to three counts of burglary of a dwelling and was sentenced to 20 years with 10 to serve with the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) sentences on the three counts were to run concurrently. Hayslett said she found out about Williams' murder through her mother and when her mother told her the name of the suspect in custody for Williams' murder, she said she did not have to look at his picture because she recognized the name immediately.
"I'm disappointed in the correctional system in Mississippi," Hayslett said. "That young man should have never been released so early even with burglaries. To know that he not only burglarized several homes, but he set fire to one. I do believe MDOC failed horribly and as I stated before, had that young man not been released so early, I believe Dr. Williams would still be here. I believe that in my heart of hearts."
According to Assistant District Attorney Cherie Wade, at the time Gipson pled guilty, burglary of a dwelling was defined as a violent crime under the statute. She said she thought that would require him to serve at least 50 percent of his sentence - five years -- before becoming eligible for parole. However, he would also receive credit for any time he served in jail prior to his conviction, she said.
Lee Andrew Gipson, 23, was arrested for allegedly murdering retired Moss Point educator, Willie C. Williams.
Although Gipson allegedly attempted to burn down Hayslett's home, Wade said, the arson count wasn't true billed by the grand jury. Consequently he never faced that charge in court.
Though Wade said she would have expected Gipson to have served a minimum of five years, minus time served before his conviction, MDOC Parole Board Chairman Steven Pickett said that Gipson actually became eligible for parole much sooner.
"The circumstances around this case was that he was sentenced to serve 10 years and he had to serve 25 percent of that time," Pickett said. "The parole board does not set parole eligibility dates -- the parole board just reviews them upon the date they become available for parole."
Pickett said Gipson served a total of 384 days prior to his sentencing in Jackson County, meaning he had less than two years left to serve before meeting the 25 percent minimum that made him eligible for parole. Gipson became officially eligible for parole on March 27, 2016. His initial hearing was denied by the parole board, Pickett said, but when he came before the board again in June his hearing was approved.
Pickett said Gipson was released because he had no rules violations. At the second review, in June, he was paroled subject to one year of electronic monitoring.
"We paroled him with GPS (electronic monitoring) within the first year so that we could have good reporting, so that we could know where he was, and this is a very sad circumstance," Pickett said. "The parole board looks at programs that are accomplished during the incarceration, they look at the inmates' behavior, and they look at the age."
"The law in Mississippi is presumptive parole, so unless we see a reason as to why not to parole someone, we will continue to try to do the best job we can in our evaluations," Pickett said. "When we reviewed this case, there was absolutely no possibility [seen] that he would be accused of murdering this educator, and that was not one of the things taken into consideration. If we could have told the future, obviously we would not have paroled him ... Many days, the success stories are not recognized, but the tragic ones such as this are."
This story was edited to add that Mrs. Hayslett received an update from the VINE Link she had not previously received information alerted her that Gipson is now in the custody of the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Beijing, Aug 31, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
President Xi Jinping called for linking China's and Canada's development strategies and promoting a series of "landmark projects," while meeting on Wednesday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The president said both countries should strengthen cooperation in fields such as energy, financial services, technological innovation and equipment manufacturing.
Leaders from both countries should maintain exchanges of views and coordination on issues of common concern, Xi added.
Trudeau is on an eight-day visit to China, which is Canada's second-largest trading partner, and he will attend the G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou.
Meanwhile, the two countries will establish an annual dialogue between both heads of government to boost bilateral relations and exchanges of views on international affairs, Premier Li Keqiang said while meeting with Trudeau on Wednesday.
Both sides agreed to enhance high-level engagement, exchanges and communication based on mutual respect and equality, Li said.
Both countries have great potential for cooperation, especially in high-tech and agricultural fields, Li said.
"We agreed to conduct feasibility research for a free trade zone as soon as possible and ... safeguard trade liberalization and investment facilitation," he added.
Trudeau said, "Renewing our relationship with China is extremely important for Canada." He also vowed to boost the stability of ties and frequency of meetings.
"China will play a central role in shaping the global landscape in the years to come, and it's in the best of our countries' interest to develop a stronger partnership," Trudeau said.
He said both countries agreed to expand trade and investments in energy, clean technology and agriculture as well as improve people-to-people ties such as tourism and cultural exchanges. Both sides will cooperate in climate change, environmental conservation, judicial training, gender equality and support for the UN peace-keeping operations, Trudeau added.
Ruan Zongze, executive vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said Trudeau's trip can boost trade and economic cooperation, as well as intensive people-to-people exchanges such as tourism and education.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 31, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday called for joint efforts with Saudi Arabia to make sure the G20 Summit in Hangzhou will succeed in boosting world economic growth and perfecting global governance.
Xi made the remarks when meeting with Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Beijing.
He said the international society looks forward to seeing the G20 Summit play a positive role in boosting the global economy and enhancing international economic cooperation.
China and Saudi Arabia are both important G20 members and emerging economies. They should work together to ensure G20 functions well as the major forum for international economic cooperation, Xi said.
Mohammed, also Saudi Arabia's defense minister, will attend the G20 Summit in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, scheduled for Sept. 4-5.
Xi welcomed Mohammed's visit to China and congratulated him on the success of the first meeting of a high-level steering committee for coordinating bilateral cooperation.
China takes Saudi Arabia as an important partner in the Belt and Road Initiative, he said, adding that China is ready to work with Saudi Arabia to enrich their comprehensive strategic partnership.
Underlining the importance of cementing strategic mutual trust, Xi said China supports Saudi Arabia's efforts in safeguarding its own security and stability.
He called on the two countries to step up the alignment of each other's development strategy, so as to deepen the integration of common interests.
"We should use the Belt and Road Initiative to lead bilateral pragmatic cooperation," he said.
The president said China is willing to expand cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the sectors of infrastructure, manufacturing, finance, investment and energy.
China has a large amount of industrial capacities, equipment and innovative technologies that are internationally competitive, and can be a partner of Saudi Arabia as the latter seeks to diversify its economy and develop its manufacturing sector, Xi said.
Mohammed said Saudi Arabia and China enjoy broad common interests and share similar positions in international affairs.
Saudi Arabia attaches great importance to developing relations with China and views China as an important strategic partner, he said.
Saudi Arabia firmly supports China's stance on Taiwan, South China Sea and other issues, he stressed.
The prince said Saudi Arabia hopes to deepen political and economic ties with China through the high-level steering committee and is willing to link its development strategy with the Belt and Road Initiative.
On the sidelines of the meeting, foreign ministers of the two countries also held talks.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir strongly condemned the attack on the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan, saying Saudi Arabia will "firmly stand together with China in the fight against terrorism".
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China was ready to work with Saudi Arabia to strengthen international cooperation on anti-terrorism.
Adel al-Jubeir also vowed to make joint efforts with the Chinese side to implement the consensus reached by the high-level steering committee for coordinating bilateral cooperation, which held the first meeting on Tuesday.
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Michel Temer (front) takes oath at the senate in Brasilia, Brazil, Aug. 31, 2016. Temer was sworn in as the new president of Brazil on Wednesday afternoon, after Dilma Rousseff was stripped of the presidency by the Senate in an impeachment trial. [Photo/Xinhua]
Michel Temer was sworn in as the Brazil's new president on Wednesday shortly after lawmakers ousted Dilma Rousseff from her presidency in an impeachment vote.
The Senate voted 61-20 to immediately remove Rousseff from office after a marathon debate, ending the long impeachment process.
Temer will serve out the rest of Rousseff's four-year term through 2018.
At the first meeting after his inauguration ceremony, Temer vowed to put Brazil back on track in all areas.
Temer said he would urgently seek support from various parties in Congress to tackle urgent issues, including unemployment.
"We have a huge unemployment rate, almost 12 million (jobless) people. This is a frightening number," said the 75-year-old president.
Temer also rebuked the allegation that the impeachment against Rousseff was "a coup," saying the impeachment process was carried out fully according to law.
In a separate voting earlier in the day, the Senate voted 42-36 to allow Rousseff to retain the right to hold public office. It needs a two-third majority to bar her from public role for eight years.
Rousseff remained defiant, calling the impeachment "a parliamentary coup" and "great injustice."
The impeachment vote sparked quick reactions both in Brazil and overseas.
Brazil's Central Union of Workers, a stalwart Rousseff ally, criticized the impeachment as "a coup" while the National Confederation of Agriculture hailed it as a "victory for the nation."
Ecuador, Venezuela and Bolivia criticised the impeachment and withdrew their ambassadors to Brazil. Brazil responded by recalling its envoys for consultations.
The Argentine government issued a statement, saying it respected "the verified institutional process" in Brazil and expressing its desire to work with the new Brazilian government on issues of common concern, such as the integration of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur).
Rousseff is charged with spending without congressional approval and manipulating government accounts in the run-up to her 2014 re-election. She was suspended on May 12 for up to 180 days.
Rousseff became the first Brazilian president removed from office since 1992, when Fernando Collor de Mello resigned just before the final vote in the impeachment process against him.
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Dilma Rousseff delivers a statement at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on Aug. 31, 2016. The Brazilian Senate voted on Wednesday to strip Dilma Rousseff of the presidency by 61 votes in favor to 20 votes against. [Photo/Xinhua]
As Brazil and Latin America reeled from the impeachment of Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff on Wednesday, reactions quickly began pouring in, mostly from her saddened supporters.
Brazil's Central Union of Workers (CUT), a stalwart Rousseff ally behind many of the protests in her favour, was indignant. In a statement, it said Dilma had faced "a coup" and predicted that unions and workers' associations would unite against any attempt to "strip them of their rights."
"This is not a simple change of mandate but the usurpation of Brazil's destiny by a wing of the political class, the judiciary and the press that desire power at any cost," said CUT President Vagner Freitas.
Taking the opposing line, the National Confederation of Agriculture (CUA) hailed the impeachment as "a victory for the nation." The CUA, which represents many private land-owners, said its members had been impressed with "Temer being fair in relation with other powers and with society. He transmits the hope that the country's economic crisis can be overcome."
Internationally, left-wing governments in the region were quick to blast what they saw as a coup.
The government of Ecuador released a statement, in which it condemned "the political events in Brazil...which have deposed from her position the constitutional President Dilma Rousseff."
Quito rejected "the flagrant subversion of the democratic order in Brazil, which can be considered an underhanded coup d'etat."
Venezuela followed suit, with its government writing that "the political and corporate oligarchies, in alliance with imperial forces, led the coup against President Dilma Rousseff, through anti-juridicial trickery. They have reached power in the only way possible: fraud and immorality."
On Tuesday, Bolivia's President Evo Morales wrote on Twitter that he would recall his country's ambassador to Brazil if Rousseff was impeached. On Wednesday, Morales confirmed that the ambassador, Jose Kinn, was being called to La Paz for "consultations" although there was no word if this was a permanent move.
In a statement, Morales condemned this decision by the Brazilian Senate "which ignores the will of the people expressed in the popular vote. This harms democracy in a brother country like Brazil and ignores the 54 million votes which took Dilma Rousseff to the presidency."
Cuba also condemned the impeachment, writing that "the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba strongly rejects the parliamentary coup that has been accomplished against President Dilma Rousseff," in an official release sent to local media.
In Argentina, the government of President Mauricio Macri issued a statement to say it "respected the verified institutional process" in Brazil and expressed its desire to work with the Brazilian government on issues of common concern, such as Southern Common Market (Mercosur) integration.
However, Macri's predecessor Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner threw her support behind her fallen friend, writing on Twitter that "Latin America is once again a laboratory for the most extreme right."
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Visiting U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx met Wednesday with his Cuban counterpart Adel Yzquierdo and Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez.
Foxx was in Cuba to mark the restart of scheduled commercial flights between the two countries.
"The meeting (with Rodriguez) took place just hours after the arrival of the official, who was among 150 passengers aboard U.S. airline JetBlue's Airbus A320, which inaugurated regular flights between the two countries, after more than half a century," the Cuban News Agency (ACN) said.
Rodriguez and Foxx discussed issues of common interest, and agreed resuming commercial flights marked a positive step in the process of improving bilateral ties, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
However, U.S. laws barring its citizens from traveling to Cuba for tourism, as well as the existing U.S. trade embargo, will dampen the effects of resuming the flights, Cuba's top diplomat said.
Foxx later met with Cuban Transportation Minister Adel Yzquierdo, and the two discussed the possibility of expanding cooperation in the area of transport, particularly in civil aviation, the ministry said.
Foxx was the first passenger to disembark after Wednesday's historic flight, which took off from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, landed in the central Cuban city of Santa Clara just before 11 a.m. local time, and he immediately headed to Havana.
JetBlue will be covering that route with three weekly flights until the end of October, and then increase frequency to daily flights.
Foxx was previously in Cuba in February, when he signed an agreement with Cuba to reestablish commercial air links.
Commercial flights were suspended in 1961 following one of the more serious incidents in U.S.-Cuban history, the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion, which was thwarted by Cuban troops.
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South Africa was elected on Wednesday as the incoming Chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
This came at the SADC's 36th summit taking place in Mbabane, Swaziland.
"We are extremely honoured to have been elected as the incoming Chairperson of SADC. This is a responsibility we take very seriously," President Jacob Zuma said.
Zuma commended and congratulated Seretse Khama Ian Khama, President of Botswana for his sterling work during his tenure.
"We appreciate his contribution to the well-being of our Community by convening several Ministerial Workshops on poverty eradication and food security, access to energy and water and illegal trade in wildlife," Zuma said.
Under Botswana's stewardship, the SADC last year adopted the Revised Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (2015-2020) together with the Industrialization Strategy and Roadmap, which is seen as a key milestone in the SADC's march towards regional economic integration.
"What we now need is not only to work on an implementation mechanism of these important instruments, but we also need to pay a particular focus on prioritization and sequencing of identified projects in order to have maximum regional impact," Zuma said.
For this to happen, it is critical that the SADC identifies high priority cross-border projects that are bankable and financed, he said.
"Our abundant natural resources should enable us to create regional value chains, to enhance industrialization, growth and development," said Zuma.
Critically important is a need to capacitate the SADC Secretariat to drive its regional integration agenda, he added.
The SADC chairmanship, on a one-year-term basis, rotates among the bloc's member states. South Africa will host the 37th Ordinary SADC Summit in August 2017.
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While debate about the "burkini" swimwear continues on in European politics, skin cancer experts gathered for a congress in Austria claim the full-body swimming costume may actually save lives.
Gathered at the 16th World Congress on Cancers of the Skin (WCCS) in the Austrian capital that kicked off Wednesday, the experts pointed out that potentially fatal skin cancers such as melanoma or basal-cell carcinoma are caused by UV light exposure, Austria Press Agency has reported.
The instances of these forms of cancer have escalated dramatically since the Second World War, and are projected to increase further in the decades ahead.
Sunscreens are not a particularly effective means of protecting against skin cancers, with one German study shown by the experts indicating that the development of melanoma precursors are not reduced by use of such creams and lotions.
German dermatology expert Claus Garbe said clothing, such as in the form of the burkini, is currently the best means of protection against skin cancers.
He noted that the swimwear was initially developed in Australia, where skin cancers occur at a very high rate, and that at present half of those who wear them are non-Muslims.
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Researchers in Australia have found what are believed to be the world's oldest fossils, and along with them, signs that diverse life forms lived on Earth up to 3.7 billion years ago.
The discovery of the fossils occurred on Greenland, and the Australian National University's (ANU) co-lead investigator, Associate Professor Vickie Bennett, said the breakthrough would not only give scientists a greater understanding of the history of the Earth, but remarkably could also help researchers in the hunt for life on Mars.
"This discovery turns the study of planetary habitability on its head," Bennett said in an ANU statement on Thursday.
"For the first time we have rocks that we know record the conditions and environments that sustained early life. Our research will provide new insights into chemical cycles and rock-water-microbe interactions on a young planet."
Colleague Professor Allen Nutman from the University of Wollongong said the fossils, known as stromatolite fossils, were found in Greenland's icecap, and "predated" the world's previous oldest fossils found in Western Australia by up to 220 million years.
"This indicates that as long as 3.7 billion years ago microbial life was already diverse. This diversity shows that life emerged within the first few hundred million years of Earth's existence, which is in keeping with biologists' calculations showing the great antiquity of life's genetic code," Nutman said.
Meanwhile, Professor Martin Van Kranendonk from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) said the fossil discovery points to strong evidence that life thrived on Earth extremely early in its history and development.
"This discovery represents a new benchmark for the oldest preserved evidence of life on Earth. It points to a rapid emergence of life on Earth and supports the search for life in similarly ancient rocks on Mars," Van Kranendonk told the ANU.
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Argentine Ambassador to China Diego Guelar on Wednesday hailed the Asian country as "a great partner."
China is "the great engine of the world. In the last decade, China has become the main trading partner of the most important countries. It is a global phenomenon," said the diplomat.
In an interview with Argentine radio El Mundo, Guelar said: "Beijing has met the conditions of the World Trade Organization and must be considered as a market economy" as the private sector is key to China's economic growth, generating about 60 percent of its GDP.
Hailing the importance of the upcoming G20 Summit on Sept. 4-5 in China's eastern city of Hangzhou, Guelar said the summit would group countries that account for "85 percent of global GDP and 65 percent of global population."
He added that President Mauricio Macri is planning a visit to China in March or April 2017.
During an interview with Xinhua last week, Macri said the upcoming G20 summit will provide an opportunity to review cooperation between Argentina and China, lauding China's "enormous importance" and "complementarity" to his country.
The two countries have complementary capacities for cooperation in fields like food security, energy and infrastructure construction, said Macri.
"We really value Chinese companies' capacity to build infrastructure and hope they value our capacity to produce food, to be able to increase the flow of exports to balance things out. That's our goal for the next few years," he added.
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Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has arrested an Iranian-American dual national in the country's northeastern province of Golestan on spying and security charges, Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday.
The IRGC identified the unnamed individual upon arrival in the country in July and arrested him later; the report did not say when exactly he was arrested.
He was charged with cooperating with hostile countries, acting against national security, and having links with anti-revolutionary elements and media, the report said.
Last month, Iran reportedly arrested another person, also with dual citizenship, who was accused of being linked to Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6.
METAIRIE, Louisiana -- On Wednesday, a Moss Point man was found guilty of attempted manslaughter by a Jefferson Parish jury for his role in an Oct. 2015 incident using a machete to attack a man he saw talking to his girlfriend in a Metairie bar.
Akando Ducksworth, 23, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Ducksworth told the jury at his initial hearing that he was intoxicated, which he claims led to his actions.
The complete NOLA.com story can be read here.
MOSS POINT, Miss. -- The following have been reported by the Moss Point Police Department for August 23 - August 28, 2016:
August 23
4413 Kreole Ave: Willy Roberson, 54, was arrested for contempt of court burglary-breaking and entering a dwelling.
4329 McInnis Ave: Darrick Simpson, 46, was arrested for domestic violence - simple assault.
4329 McInnis Ave: Kierra McWillaims, 23, was arrested for accessory after the fact.
4118 Trumph Ave: Orlandus Hugger, 22, was arrested for trespassing and malicious mischief.
August 24
4800 Donovan St: unknown suspect, motor vehicle theft - felony taking.
4501 Briggs St: burglary of automobile, truck, trailer, or boat.
I-10 WB, MM 68: Edward Aiello, 52, arrested for open container, no insurance, destroying city property, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, suspended drivers license.
August 25
4212 Ruby St: Devon Rounds, 32, arrested for resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, false ID.
4119 Hillma St: Albert Thomason, 28, arrested for aggravated assault, use of a deadly weapon.
4131 Main St: Darrius Clay, 36, arrested for trespassing, indecent exposure, public drunk.
4329 McInnis Av: Lee Gipson, 23, arrested for capital murder.
August 26
5031 Freeman Rd: unknown suspect, burglary, breaking and entering a dwelling.
Highway 63/Frederick: John Herrington, 25, arrested for trespassing.
Highway 63/Frederick: Autumn Ruebel, 22, arrested for trespassing.
4000 Highway 63: Lovin Payton, 55, arrested for public drunk.
August 27
4912 Weems St: unknown suspect, burglary of church, synagogue, temple, or other established place of worship.
6801 Hwy 90, Christopher Betts, 30, arrested for resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and public drunk.
4319 Terrace Drive: unknown suspect, malicious mischief - felony.
August 28
6801 Highway 90: Calvin Nichols, 44, arrested for obtaining signature or ting or value with intent to defraud, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and possession of marijuana.
6106 Kathleen St: unknown suspect, burglary-breaking and entering a dwelling.
4901 Hubert: Joseph Rawls, 33, arrested for disorderly conduct.
China Aviation Daily | Sep. 01, 2016
FL Technics, a global provider of integrated aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services, signed a cooperation agreement with Semmco, a UK-based manufacturer of ground support equipment and aviation access platforms. Under the agreement, FL Technics shall act as Semmco's exclusive representative in 24 countries across Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and the CIS.
FL Technics will exclusively supply Semmco's products in Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines, Cambodia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as acting as company's agent and reseller in Russia and the CIS region.
Semmco products include: Aviation Access Platforms, Nitrogen Gas Generation Systems, Nitrogen & Oxygen Trolleys (Fixed & Demountable), Wheel & Brake Changers, Service Carts, Cryo Carts, plus products designed for Airbus A320 FAM, Boeing 737 NG/CL and other civil and military aircraft.
"Having established strong relations with airlines and MROs in Eastern Europe and the CIS, we are delighted to assist Semmco in reaching new customers. At the same time, we continuously strive to expand our own MRO supply capabilities, and with Semmco on board, we can offer all our customers across Europe and Asia a wider range of integrated MRO support as well as more GSE and related equipment," commented Julius Bogusevicius, Head of Components and Materials Sales Department at FL Technics.
The G20 Leaders' Summit will be held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou on September 4 and 5, making it the first time that China hosts the meeting. China set the theme of the summit as "building an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive global economy," and the four agenda items are "breaking a new path for growth," "more effective and efficient global economic and financial governance," "robust international trade and investment," and "inclusive and interconnected development." The theme and agenda items demonstrate China's vision of improving the global economic governance and pushing the world economy back on track.
In order to improve the global economic governance, China has put forward a spate of proposals and initiatives since its current administration took office in 2012, including the Silk Road fund, the New Development Bank (formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the "Belt and Road" initiative. Will the country come up with a new driving force for the world economy in the upcoming G20 summit?
China's role in the G20
As far as I can see, China seeks to achieve the following things in the summit. First, China seeks to improve global economic governance and become a major force for reforming global governance. Second, the country will promote its model and an international agenda. China seeks to share its experience of reform and opening up and economic development to boost its international presence and influence of public diplomacy. Third, China aims to rebuild the world order. As the world's largest developing country, China is dedicated to protecting the rights of developing countries in the current global governance system and urging developed countries to fulfill its obligations to developing countries.
There are three aspects to observe whether China fully delivers on its role of hosting the meeting. First, can China demonstrate its international coordination skills when confronted with the different agenda of developing countries, new industrial countries and developed countries? Second, can China fully play its leadership role during the coordination? Third, will China be able to provide global public goods to help the continuous development of developing countries and new industrial countries?
In order to revive the world economy, China needs to proactively promote the reform of global governance and the institutionalization of G20 governance.
China can institutionalize the following eight global governance issues, namely, economic and trade governance, financial governance, green governance (including environment and climate change), energy governance, conventional security issues, unconventional security issues (terrorism and epidemics), hot issues (e.g., the Brexit's impact on the world economy), and global cooperation programs (including dovetailing the strategies of various countries, for instance, China's "Belt and Road" initiative and South Korea's Eurasia Initiative).
Three institutions can be devised to facilitate the aforementioned issues. First, the G20 summit needs to be responsible for the top-level design of global economic governance. Second, a new minister meeting under the G20 should be launched to allow trade and foreign ministers of the participating countries to coordinate issues in the global economy. Third, a G20 secretariat should be established to handle the various issues of those countries.
Xi-Park meeting & China-ROK cooperation
China and South Korea established diplomatic relations in 1992, after years of secret negotiations due to the involvement of the interests of the island of Taiwan and North Korea.
Currently the two countries are facing economic downward pressure and the security of the Korean peninsula is under the sway of external interference (including the nuclear issue in North Korea, the influence of the United States and the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, shortly THAAD). China and South Korea should work closer to build a real strategic partnership.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Park Geun-hye should hold a meeting during the G20 to thaw the ice between the two countries in the wake of South Korea's decision in deploying THAAD. Moreover, the two countries should establish a long-standing negotiation mechanism.
The two countries can cooperate on the following fronts, if they indeed decide to resume cooperation during the G20. First, they should carry out more pragmatic cooperation on dovetailing the "Belt and Road" initiative and the Eurasia Initiative. Second, the two countries should carry out security talks behind closed doors in order to discuss their problems more candidly, including THAAD, the nuclear issue in North Korea, ROK-U.S. alliance, and China-DPRK alliance. Third, China and South Korea should expand public diplomacy on various fronts. Fourth, the two countries should cooperate on energy security. Fifth, the two countries should expand cultural exchanges among its people to better understand each other and explore the global market. Among the five, secret security talks and public diplomacy are the most important, which require a communicating mechanism between the two countries.
Only when China and South Korea proactively resume cooperation can the two countries pull themselves out of the current impasse brought by external force. The close cooperation between the two will decide their role in northeast Asia and help them become a force of peace in combating external interference.
Kim Sangsoon is a senior researcher at the Charhar Institute and the president of the Korea-based East Asia Peace Research Association.
MOSCOW - No meeting in the Normandy format regarding the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is planned at the upcoming G20 summit in China, the Kremlin said Wednesday.
"Such a meeting is not in the plans at the moment, but there will be separate meetings with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel," the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The G20 summit will be held in China's eastern coastal city of Hangzhou on Sept 4-5.
The Normandy format is comprised of a diplomatic group of leaders from Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine set up to resolve the crisis in eastern Ukraine in accordance with the peace agreement reached in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
He added that contacts on Ukraine are continuing as all the countries involved see no alternatives to the Minsk arrangements to achieve a settlement of the conflict.
Earlier this month, an agreement on a trilateral joint meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit was reached during a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Merkel and Hollande, according to a Kremlin statement, but Peskov gave no reasons for the change of the plan.
However, he expressed regret about the "absence of any progress on the part of Kiev in the implementation of the Minsk agreement."
Peskov also ruled out the possibility of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine, saying that Moscow was not part of the conflict between the Kiev authorities and the main rebel stronghold of the Donbass region.
Workers inspect products at a workshop of Hengtong Group Co Ltd, a Jiangsu-based company. [Photo/Xinhua]
Editor's note: In this ongoing series on the birth and growth of privately owned Chinese companies that are redefining innovation, China Daily profiles Hengtong Group Co Ltd, a Jiangsu-based company engaged in optical fiber manufacturing and electric power and network construction, which eyes overseas expansion.
Hengtong Group Co Ltd, a Jiangsu-based company engaged in optical fiber manufacturing and electric power and network construction, aims to establish two to three overseas bases and achieve two to three overseas acquisitions annually. This plan is aligned with the country's Belt and Road Initiative.
The company is making efforts to speed up its overseas market activity. It has established seven research and development centers overseas, and set up branches for marketing and technology services in more than 30 countries and regions.
It established its first overseas factory in Brazil in 2012, followed by a joint venture in India in 2013. It also bought optical fiber and electric power enterprises in Indonesia, South Africa, Spain and Portugal in 2015.
It has registered trademarks in more than 100 countries and regions and its business covers 120 countries and regions. Its optical fiber products account for a 15 percent share of the global market.
"If there is no optical fiber web, there is no internet, let alone big data and cloud computing," said Cui Genliang, chairman and president of Hengtong Group.
The communication infrastructure is relatively backward in some countries along the B & R Initiative, which gives huge opportunities for Chinese companies like Hengtong to expand overseas, Gui added.
China's B & R Initiative aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa, along ancient trade routes.
Founded in 1991, Hengtong has seen its businesses covering not only telecom and electric power, but also being involved in finance, culture, tourism, real estate, capital investment and e-commerce platforms.
It has put forward a goal called the "5-5-5" internationalization target. That means that more than 50 percent of its products will be sold overseas, more than 50 percent of its capital will be from overseas and more than 50 percent of its professional people will have international background, according to the company.
The optical fiber communication giant now serves various national programs, including, intelligent cities and communities, ultrahigh voltage and intelligent power networks, big data, internet of things, high-speed trains, aerospace, national defense and other high-end fields.
In 2015, its overseas revenue accounted for 20 percent of the total sales. In the next decade, Hengtong will grasp the opportunities brought about by the B & R Initiative and continue to push forward its internalization strategy.
"The international market is a touchstone of an enterprises' competitiveness, in which we test our products and achievements, as well as the technology level of an enterprise," said Gao Anmin, the international vice-president at Hengtong Group.
Hengtong will make comprehensive use of talent and technology in the domestic and overseas markets, expand the channels inside and outside China and speed up its international expansion by depending on foreign investment and acquisition.
Nightview of Tianjin. [Photo provided to China Daily]
ICBC Financial Leasing Co Ltd, the largest financial leasing company by assets in Tianjin and established in 2007, will continue to strengthen its efforts to innovate in the field of financial leasing.
The company helped Ningbo Meishan-Island International Container Terminal Co Ltd to purchase equipment from other countries and took innovative measures to reduce taxes for the company in Sept 2015.
"This is done by duty-free leasing, a new type of leasing possible between companies in duty-free zones," said Tao Mei, vice-president of ICBC Financial Leasing.
"We set up a special purpose vehicle (that is, a subsidiary of a company which is created for only a specific use and is bankruptcy remote in the sense that it is not on the books of the main organization) in Dongjiang Free Trade Port Zone of Tianjin. Ningbo Meishan-Island is located in another local free trade zone. As a result, the company benefits from tax relief, with a reduction of at least 17 percent of the value-added tax," Tao added.
Tianjin has developed into an innovative base for China's financial leasing industry, according to financial leasing company executives and local government officials.
Earlier this year, CMB Financial Leasing paid $200 million for a sale and lease-back business in foreign currencies, which is the first of its kind nationwide.
"It will help cut exchange rate losses for the lessee and save financial costs by more than $2 million each year," said Zhou Ling, general manager of the shipping leasing department of CMB Financial Leasing.
At the end of March, total assets of financial leasing companies registered in Tianjin reached more than 770 billion yuan ($116 billion), accounting for around a quarter of the total amount nationwide.
"Tianjin is the first in China to implement dozens of innovative service models, including duty-free leasing, cross-border leasing and offshore leasing," said Kong Dechang, director of Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Financial Affairs.
As the most important area of the financial leasing industry in Tianjin, Dongjiang Free Trade Port Zone features leasing services for aircraft, ships and ocean engineering equipment. At the end of June, the total leasing assets related to the three main business areas reached $40 billion.
Tianjin will further accelerate innovation to boost the growth of financial leasing. The city is planning to launch China Tianjin Leasing Platform and China Financial Leasing Register and Transfer Platform, which are waiting for approval by the State Council.
"Aiming to support the development of the financial leasing industry, the two platforms will be open to all financial leasing companies nationwide. They will offer registration and transferring services for financial leasing assets worth a total of 4 trillion yuan," said Zhang Aiguo, director of Tianjin Commission of Commerce.
Wang Ying contributed to this story.
BEIJING - China's top economic planner warned Wednesday that challenges remain in investment and trade, and meeting annual growth targets will require "arduous efforts."
It is estimated that pressure will still remain in economic development in the second half of 2016, said Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, during the top legislature's ongoing bimonthly session.
While delivering a report to the session, Xu expressed confidence that the country could meet its major annual targets in economic growth, employment, commodity prices and residents' income.
He also said it was expected that targets for poverty reduction, energy consumption, environmental protection and renovation of substandard housing would be met.
"Great difficulties remain in meeting goals for investment and trade," Xu said, while elaborating on a national economic and social development report.
"Currently, the foundations for stable economic development are not solid enough and downward pressure remains."
The international economy has not recovered as expected, and trade protectionism has gained ground, Xu told lawmakers, adding that geopolitical risks and the increasingly complicated regional security situation will disturb economic stability.
On the domestic front, difficulties remain for the stable growth of demand, and regional polarization has evolved, with potential risks in sectors such as finance and employment needing attention, Xu said.
He also cited farmers' incomes, the increasing number of environmental incidents, severe production safety situation and the arduous tasks of disaster prevention, reduction and relief as difficulties the country must address.
Wednesday afternoon's plenary session was attended by Zhang Dejiang, the chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.
Stabilizing macroeconomic policy
According to Xu, China will continue to design and implement targeted and flexible macro-control measures, and pursue a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy.
The country will further reduce tax burdens for enterprises and closely follow the implementation of the replacement of business tax with VAT, said Finance Minister Lou Jiwei while delivering a report during Wednesday's legislative session.
China plans to formulate a pilot policy on commercial pension insurance with individual tax preferences offered to applicants, Lou said.
Also, the country is mulling an increased export rebate rate for some mechanical and electrical products and hopes to fine-tune the policy for individual income tax for equity incentives, Lou said.
The central government will promote public-private-partnerships (PPP) and accelerate the PPP legislation procedures, he added.
Meanwhile, China has promised to review government investment, promoting the use of funds to support startups in emerging industries, according to Lou.
Advancing key reforms
During the session, Xu said China was determined to further cut the number of items needing government approval and advance reforms in key sectors including state-owned enterprises, finance and taxation.
The central government will roll out assessment measures for environmental protection and improve intellectual property protection for enterprises, Xu added.
As China's economy settles into the "new normal," which features slower growth, the country will continue to boost development of emerging industries, said Xu.
The central government will formulate a "negative" list for the country's "Internet Plus" strategy and other supporting measures for the "Made in China 2025" plan, according to Xu.
BEIJING - Chinese companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, most of which are state-owned enterprises (SOEs), showed positive structural changes despite shrinking profits in the first half of this year.
A total of 1,124 Shanghai-listed enterprises earned about 11 trillion yuan ($1.64 trillion) in H1, slightly up 1.3 percent year on year, while their net profits shrank by about 5.7 percent to about 1.14 trillion yuan, according to the statement released by the stock exchange on Wednesday evening.
In breakdown, listed firms in the agricultural sector saw strong revenue and profit growth while the tertiary sector's total revenue accounted for about 42 percent of the total, indicating some optimization of China's economic structure.
The country's efforts to reduce excess capacity paid off as listed companies in overcapacity sectors such as steel and coal saw the value of their stockpiles dropping by 17 percent and net profit rising by about 250 percent. The number of loss-suffering companies also fell from 24 last H1 to 13, the statement showed.
Emerging sectors such as telecommunications and consumption-intensive industries like tourism posted strong financial performance.
Meanwhile, companies in different regions fared differently as coastal areas such as Shandong and Zhejiang provinces saw their listed companies rise fast in profits while counterparts in resource-intensive central regions like Shanxi Province saw shrinking profits.
A total of 177 listed companies suffered losses in H1, dropping by 11 companies year on year, the statement showed.
Cathay Pacific Airways is launching a new four-times-weekly service between Hong Kong and London Gatwick Airport, leveraging on surging visitor numbers between China and the UK, although the choice of Gatwick Airport is causing some uncertainty on the new flight's commercial viability.
The new flight by Cathay Pacific will become the second direct China UK flight landing in Gatwick, following on from Tianjin Airlines' direct flight between Tianjin and Gatwick, launched in June. Most other UK-China flights land in London's more popular hub airport Heathrow. Outside London, only Manchester in the north has direct China flights.
The new Cathay Pacific flight to Gatwick comes as Gatwick tries to transform its image from a European dominated airport, with the emphasis on holiday charter flights, to a major airport with scheduled long haul flights.
Gatwick is trying to take advantage of Heathrow's already full capacity, although it has experienced significant obstacles.
Newly installed UK Prime Minister Theresa May is considering an official inquiry which has recommended an extra runway be built at Heathrow despite energetic lobbying by Gatwick. She has yet to announce her decision.
Air China opened a non-stop flight between Gatwick and Beijing in 2011, but two years later shifted this service to Heathrow. Hong Kong Airlines launched an all business class direct flight between Hong Kong and Gatwick in March 2012, to cater towards business travelers, but insufficient customer demand means it had to cancel this flight in September of the same year.
One possible explanation for Cathay Pacific's new flight to Gatwick is "increasing demand from both business and leisure travelers" in the words of Cathay Pacific's General Manager Europe, Neil Glenn.
Cathay Pacific already runs direct flights 5 times per week from Heathrow while British Airways runs daily flights between Hong Kong and London.
Dan Elliott, a director and head of aviation practice at the London-based consultancy Frontier Economics, said normally Heathrow Airport is preferred by airlines because it is a major hub airport that connects to many other international destinations.
Wu Hao, vice chairman and executive vice president of Tianjin Airlines, told China Daily in a previous interview that Tianjin Airlines preferred Heathrow too. "Sadly there were no take off and landing slots available at Heathrow."
Booming demand for flights can be demonstrated by traveler statistics from VisitBritain. In 2015 over 1 million passengers travelled between UK and China, which is a 11 percent increase from 2014. In 2015, the number of Chinese tourists coming to the UK grew by 40 percent.
But Britain's decision to leave the EU could harm bilateral air traffic between the UK and China.
"I fear that the adverse consequences of the leave decision will damage our economy for years to come, making it more expensive for UK travelers to holiday or to transact business in China, whilst also making UK businesses less attractive to inward Chinese investment," said Paul Argyle, managing director of Flight Directors, an aviation industry sales and marketing firm.
Another key restriction for more flights is a bilateral flight numbers cap, which the two countries last negotiated in 2014, set at 40 return services in each direction to be operated by each country's airlines, an increase from 31 flights negotiated in 2011.
Jeremy Robinson, an EU and Competition Law partner at London-based law firm Watson Farley & Williams, said the UK could lose out on the potential to have more direct flights with China if it does not remain a part of the European Civil Aviation Area after it leaves the EU, although the specifics are still to be negotiated between the UK and EU.
Guy Stephenson, Chief Commercial Officer, Gatwick Airport, said the new flights mark an important milestone in the growth of the Gatwick long haul network, "which now more than ever provides the UK economy with vital routes into the world's most important markets."
To contact the reporter: cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com
Hangzhou is now in the spotlight as the host of this years G20 summit, from September 4-5.
Hangzhou, the capital city of East China's Zheijiang province, is one of the seven ancient capitals of China, having served as the capital of the Wuyue Kingdom during the Five Dynasties (AD 907-960) and the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). As a core city of the Yangtze River Delta, Hangzhou has been one of the most prosperous cities in China for more than 1,000 years, and is home to a myriad of natural attractions and historical legacies.
Marco Polo, the famous 13th century Italian traveler and merchant, described Hangzhou as "beyond dispute, the finest and the noblest in the world".
Now as Hangzhou has grabbed the world's attention, tourists from various places have gathered to this heavenly city to enjoy its slow life tempo and beautiful natural surroundings. Here are some highlights of the city you can't miss.
1 West Lake
The West Lake is definitely a place people can never miss when visiting Hangzhou. The lake itself covers 6 sq km, and includes some of Hangzhou's most famous scenic places.
There are "10 scenes of West Lake" and "10 new scenes", but it is not necessary to make a checklist and walk back and forth to look for these scenic spots.
Just walk casually along the Nanshan and Beishan roads and the causeways, take a ferry on the boat to the islands on the lake, or simply sit in a lakeside teahouse and enjoy the picturesque views and the longjing (dragon well) tea.
The lake is situated in the center of the city, with convenient public transport access. The Hangzhou government also offers free public bikes for tourists to travel around the lake. The parks around the lake are all free to visit.
Photo taken on August 29, 2016 shows the Leifeng Pagoda and Long bridge in the sunset in the West Lake in Hangzhou, capital city of East China's Zhejiang province. West Lake, located to the west of Hangzhou where this year's G20 summit is to be held, is a renowned tourist attraction not only for its picturesque landscape but also for its association with Chinese cultures embodied with historic scholars and national heroes. [Photo/Xinhua]
Hangzhou, located on the lower reaches of East China's Qiantang River, was an imperial capital during the Song Dynasty, dating back more than 800 years.
The historical transportation hub built in the Yangtze Delta is only 180 kilometers from Shanghai.
It's now recognized as one of the country's top 10 innovative cities, and also the hub of e-commerce.
Enterprises such as world's largest online B2B platform Alibaba Group, Volvo's Chinese owner Geely and China's largest beverage producer -- Hangzhou Wahaha Group, are all based in the city.
Hangzhou is also one of the most economically vibrant cities in China.
Last year, the city's GDP reached more than 1 trillion yuan, ranking fourth among the country's provincial capital cities.
For years, Hangzhou has been recognized by the World Bank as having China's best investment environment. Forbes magazine has consecutively placed Hangzhou on its ranking of Chinese Mainland's "Best Cities for Commerce.
It has been known as one of the best livable cities and low-carbon cities in China.
It is also the first city in China to run a public bike rental service.
Boasting ample accommodation for conferences and events, Hangzhou has been the host of the China International Cartoon & Animation Festival, the West Lake International Expo, the China Electronic Commerce Expo, and the World Leisure Expo.
The G20 summit will be held in Hangzhou soon. In setting the Hangzhou agenda, China has established "building an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy" as the main theme.
The government has trained nearly 4,000 volunteers from 14 countries to provide multilingual services for the events.
Hangzhou International Expo Center has been refurnished to be the major venue of the event.
Leaders from G20 members, guest countries and international organizations will attend the summit.
Lu Feng, a respected economist on Open Macroeconomics from China Center for Economic Research of Peking University (CCER) is responding to the media's questions.[Photo by Wu Zheyu/chinadaily.com.cn]
An important economic indicators system for structural reform is expected to be highlighted during the G20 summit, some aspects of these indicators were unveiled and showed their potential to fuel the economies of the world, according to exclusive comments made by the advisory team for Chinas Ministry of Finance to China Daily website.
A press meeting held to help media better understand the main issues to be discussed during the G20 summit, was held by China Center for Economic Research of Peking University (CCER) on August 29, 2016.
Lu Feng, a respected economist on Open Macroeconomics from CCER, and a long-serving advisor to the Ministry of Finance especially for G20 related issues, hosted the meeting and responded to the medias questions about the evolution of G20.
Among the official themes of G20: Innovative, Invigorated Interconnected and Inclusive, which is named as 4-I, Lu emphasized innovation in growth patterns, adjusting the economic structure and finally formulating a long-term mechanism, not only aiming at solving short-term crisis, is the consensus that both academics and policy makers have already achieved. Particularly, designing a roadmap for structural reform is expected to be a major achievement that China would contribute to not only G20 countries but also the whole world.
Workers check the steel tanks used to produce a special type of tanker in Tianming Special Vehicle Manufacturing Company, which mainly exports to the Middle East, South America and Africa, in Tuowang Port Industry Zone in Lianyungang, east China's Jiangsu province in June. The competitive manufacturing industry remains a pillar of the Chinese economy. [Photo/China Daily]
Despite adjusting its structure, it is still a driver for the world
China's economic growth has slowed in recent years, but its contribution to the world economy remains significantly more than that of other countries', which signifies the vital role it has played in maintaining global economic vitality, say analysts.
China's GDP growth was 6.9 percent in 2015, the slowest in 25 years. In the first half of 2016, it registered an even lower GDP growth of 6.7 percent, and the International Monetary Fund forecast in July that China's GDP growth this year could be 6.6 percent, triggering concerns that the country might be caught in the low-rate growth trap for some time.
Relative to other countries, especially the developed ones, however, China's growth is quite impressive and it has continued to make a significant contribution to global growth. In the 1980s and early 1990s, emerging market economies started playing a larger role in global growth, contributing about 25 percent to world economic growth. From the late 1990s until now, emerging-market economies have contributed about 70 percent to global economic growth, with China's contribution estimated at about 30 percent, says Wang Guangqian, president of the Central University of Finance and Economics.
Although estimates vary, researchers generally agree China's contribution to global economic growth in recent years ranges from 25 percent to 40 percent. From 2011 to 2015, China's average GDP growth was 7.3 percent while the global average was only 2.4 percent, with the United States, Japan and Germany registering 2.4 percent, minus 0.1 percent and 1.6 percent growth, says Wan Xiangyu, a researcher at the Institute of Quantitative and Technical Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. During that period, he says, China contributed 25 percent to global GDP growth.
In 2014 alone, China contributed 27.8 percent to global growth, making it the top contributor that year, says Ding Yifan, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council, China's Cabinet. In 2015, China contributed about 33 percent to global growth, the IMF said in a report in August.
Although China's economic growth rate has slowed, given its fast expansion of overall scale, the Chinese economy's contribution to global growth has become even more significant.
China has achieved such a growth against the backdrop of the fragile global economic recovery and domestic economic restructuring.
The low global growth has affected the demand for China's exports, one of the traditional growth engines for the Chinese economy, analysts say. It has also affected the flow of capital into the country.
On the domestic front, China has been unswervingly pushing forward economic restructuring to rebalance its economy and make its growth more sustainable. Such a drive is set to affect its growth, say analysts.
Moreover, China's growth used to benefit enormously from the so-called dividends of globalization, economic reform, demographics and industrialization, but those factors no longer facilitate its growth, says Liu Yuanchun, researcher of the Renmin University of China.
China's demographic structure, for example, has changed, with the number of young working-age people starting to decline. "China's trade surplus will also decrease gradually," Liu says.
Despite these adversities, China has continued to provide solid support for global growth. For example, it invested $118 billion overseas in non-financial fields in 2015, up by 14.7 percent year-on-year, benefiting the economies of destination countries. "China's outbound investment has created some miracles," says Ding.
For instance, in the 1990s, when China did not make any large-scale investment in Africa, the continent was a forgotten land and didn't attract much overseas investments. Entering the 21st century, China started investing in the continent and now it has become a powerful global powerhouse, Ding says. "All this has much to do with China's large-scale investment in the continent."
Wan Xiangyu, researcher, Institute of Quantitative and Technical Economics, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
China's contribution to the world economy can be analyzed from three perspectives. First, China has become the world's second-largest economy and its GDP accounted for 15.5 percent of the global total in 2015, according to the IMF. It has become a major engine propelling the growth of the world economy and global economic recovery. Second, China's poverty reduction greatly contributes to the global efforts to reduce poverty. From 1990 to 2015, the number of poverty-stricken people worldwide decreased to 836 million from 1.9 billion and China accounted for more than 70 percent of the reduction. Third, China's economic links with the world have helped stabilize the world economy and contributed to the post-crisis recovery of the global economic and trade system. China's trade in goods has topped the world for three consecutive years and it is second in terms of trade in services. Although its foreign trade fell due to the decline in global trade, the decrease is significantly less severe compared with developed economies. In 2015, its imports of goods helped create 20 million jobs globally. Its outbound direct investment, which is expected to exceed $500 billion in the 2016-20 period, will help boost global economic growth. More importantly, China's success in maintaining stable growth provides a new "China model" for other countries to learn from.
John Ross, researcher, Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China
China's economy has not only outperformed other economies, China's economic strategy has also "out thought" Western economic models. From 1978 onwards China ranked first among all economies in terms of economic growth. This growth necessarily shows that China's economic model not only produced more rapid growth than developed economies but also capitalist economies at the same stage of economic development. The degree to which economies influenced by the "China development model" outgrew the world average was huge. From 1978 onwards China's rate of growth was almost six times the world average. Since 1989 China again grew almost six times as fast as the world average. In social policy, China undertook massive and conscious programs deliberately aimed at eradicating povertythese are to be completed in the 13th Five-Year Plan by 2020 by lifting the remaining 70 million people out of poverty. It deliberately promotes development through urbanization as a way of moving the population into higher productivity economic sectors; it deliberately seeks to narrow the income gap between rural and urban areas; it does not rely exclusively on "the market" but deliberately uses State infrastructure spending to raise the economic level of its less developed inland provinces; and China has legally guaranteed private property but a key economic role was assigned to the State sector. The facts of world economic development show that China's development policies were the most successful in producing both economic growth and poverty reduction.
Wang Tao, co-head of Asia Economic Research, United Bank of Switzerland
After a weak start at the beginning of this year, China's economy rebounded thanks to policy support and property recovery. The stabilization of the Chinese economy and the foreign exchange market helped to boost confidence in other emerging market economies and global commodity prices in recent months. In the remainder of this year, we expect China's growth momentum to slow to about 6.5 percent, as global demand remains anaemic, the impact of the earlier policy stimulus fades and property investment weakens. However, we see little risk of a sharp slowdown, as we expect the government to intensify policy support again to ensure the achievement of the 6.5 percent GDP growth target, including by boosting public investment with sufficient credit support and accelerating pro-growth reforms. This stable outcome in China should help stabilize the global economy and financial markets, especially those in emerging economies. The biggest risk factor for global markets in the second half of this year is arguably a sudden shift by the US Fed or a sudden strengthening of the US dollar. We may see greater market pressures on capital outflows from China and on the yuan. Although we do not envisage the Chinese government changing its currency policy or allowing the yuan to depreciate against the US dollar beyond 6.8 this year, such pressures may lead to higher global investor risk aversion and further foreign exchange reserve losses, which could negatively impact China's capital markets.
Tom Orlik, cheif Asia economist of Bloomberg Intelligence
China's growth in the second half of the year should hold steady. Bloomberg Intelligence Economics expects growth for the year as a whole to come in at 6.7 percent, comfortably inside the government's 6.5 to 7 percent target range. Strong lending in the first half and resurgent property sales will support investment. A more competitive exchange rate and expectations of a return to wage growth in the US are both positives for exports. The critical question is whether policymakers can seize the opportunity presented by stable growth to press ahead with the twin tasks of deleveraging and structural reform. Deleveraging has to proceed slowly, given the risk of crystallizing stress in the financial system. A continued moderate deceleration in loan growth, and tighter controls on shadow finance, would represent steps in the right direction. Progress on increasing efficiency of State-owned enterprises is the crucial missing piece of the reform agenda. Current plans to merge major firms to create entities with global scale have the potential to generate efficiency gains. But the lesson of history is that mega-mergers have not always delivered the desired results. The onus will be on policymakers and management to show State ownership is consistent with improved performance.
Wang Meiling, a volunteer for the upcoming G20 Leaders Summit, learns English from a volunteer at a service station in Hangzhou. [Photo/China Daily]
Older residents add to rich lives by joining effort to support foreigners during Leaders Summit
Five years ago, Wang Meiling, now 60, was diagnosed with cancer. The disease took many things awayincluding her uterus and ovaries. But one thing she kept was her determination as an elderly Hangzhou woman to serve her community, especially during the upcoming G20 Summit.
"Next time a G20 meeting comes to China, I will be ... let me see ... more than 80 years old. Not sure if I'll be able to see it again," she laughed.
Wang was born in 1955, the year of the sheep according to the Chinese lunar calendar. She belongs to a generation that has witnessed most of the dramatic changes of modern China.
"When I was born, there wasn't much to eat. When I went to school, there wasn't much to read. There was the 'cultural revolution' (1966-76). When I needed to work, there wasn't much to do.
"There was the movement encouraging young people to work in the countryside. And when I got married, there was the family planning policy," Wang recalled. "And now I'm seeing the G20 come to my hometown. Who knows what's next?"
Wang, a Hangzhou resident and the eldest daughter in her family, left school when she was 16 and traveled five days by train to work in the far north-eastern part of China, Heilongjiang province's Jiamusi city, for eight years. When her mother retired from a State-owned printing house in Hangzhou, she was permitted to move back to fill the vacancy at the company.
With her broken education background, it never occurred to Wang that she would be able to speak another language one day. Yet the G20 gave her the chance.
Since March, Wang's community, Tianshui street in Xiacheng district, has offered retirees free English training in preparation for the summit. The classes start from the basic ABCs. Wang and about 30 other residents rarely miss a class, according to Cai Qiaoyan, the organizer of the program.
"The oldest student is an 84-year-old gentleman; the youngest is a 57-year-old woman," Cai said. "Now every one of them has learned at least how to greet a foreigner properly."
The greetings are not just the simple "hello" and "goodbye", but also include basic social mannersinteractions such as shaking hands firmly and looking people in the eye.
The teacher and assistant are sponsored by a local English-teaching agency. Students come every Tuesday morning from 9 to 10 and learn entry-level words and phrases.
The elderly residents have developed their own way to remember Western pronunciations. Some write Chinese pinyin beside the English words, while others simply use Chinese characters to imitate the sounds of the phrases.
Huang Genlan, 66, one of Wang's classmates, enjoyed studying English when she was a student at Hangzhou First Middle School, one of the best in the city. Yet the "cultural revolution" also drove her out of school and ended her language studies.
"Many of the words and sentences I recited back then are still clearly in my memory. They just stuck there," Huang said with a shy smile. She is one of the top students in the seniors' class.
"Welcome to Hangzhou. Very good. Nice to meet you. Where are you from? Japan? America? China?" When asked to demonstrate her oral English, Huang fluently spoke out in one breath. Her pronunciation had a North American flavor, not what a foreigner might expect from a typical Chinese senior.
Fan Zhilin, 56, was not sent to the countryside decades ago because her elder sister went in her place. Yet she put little effort into studying English when she had the chance because she had been told that "it's not of much use". Several years ago, cancer claimed one of her kidneys, and she started to realize what she has missed.
"I went to a traditional Chinese doctor every week. One day there was an English class coming. I told my doctor to give the prescription to my husband and he'll get my medicine. Then I rushed to the school," Fan recalled. "I just don't want to miss any classes."
Because of their enthusiasm, Cai doubled the number of classes and even designed some tests to keep everybody on track.
Wang Meiling is serious about learning.
"I can ask 'May I help you?' That's easy," she said. "But how can I really help if I don't understand what help they need?"
No Bad Blood: Taylor Swift Reports for Jury Duty, Is Dismissed
Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan. Former president George W. Bush. Fool-pitier Mr. T. All have fulfilled their civic obligation and reported for jury duty when called. But perhaps none are as famous as Taylor Swift.
But that didn't stop the worldwide pop star from reporting to Nashville's criminal courthouse this week for jury duty. And as quick as Taylor Swift, criminal jurist, appeared, she was gone again, dismissed over an overlap with her own legal case.
(Didn't) Shake It Off
According to the Tennessean, Swift was kind and cordial with other potential jurors and staff, posing for pictures and videos. "She's really a nice girl," fellow juror Michael Washington told the paper. "She didn't have a problem with taking pictures. If she didn't want to be there, she didn't act like it. She was just doing her civic duty. Very sweet."
This wasn't the first time Swift has been summoned for jury duty in Tennessee -- she deferred her service in December, probably because she was on tour in Australia at the time.
Out of the Woods
Had she been selected as a juror, Swift would've sat on a domestic violence case involving charges of kidnapping and aggravated rape. But Ken Whitehouse, spokesman for the Davidson County prosecutor's office, told the Associated Press asked to be excused "out of concern for an upcoming trial in Denver where she was -- she used the term 'groped' -- by a fan at a meet-and-greet." In that case, Swift is counter-suing a radio host for suing her after he lost his job amid her claims that he grabbed her butt during an event in 2013.
Swift, herself no stranger to the courtroom, has also been active in Kesha's campaign to exit her contract after the fellow performer accused producer Dr. Luke of sexual assault. Perhaps next time around the case won't hit so close to home for Swift, who told the judge she'd be happy to serve on any other kind of case. That's the spirit, T-Swift, I knew you weren't trouble.
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West Lake is lit up at night in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, where the G20 Leaders Summit will be held on Sept 4 and 5. [Photo/China Daily]
For eight months, Dong Yan, 49, did not take a single weekend off. Her goal was simple yet challenging: to brighten Hangzhou's West Lake for the upcoming G20 Summit.
Anyone who happened to visit the lake at night last year would definitely notice that the southern shore was in virtual darknessa fact made even starker by the color glow on the north shore and the city skyline to the east.
Dong's mission was to bring light to the dark side. As head of the construction department at Huagang administrative office, one of eight administrative divisions that manage the West Lake area, Dong got orders about 17 months ago to make the lake shine for the G20 Summit, which falls on Sept 4 and 5. For some, especially those in charge of the northern areas, the job might involve changing some existing light bulbs or installing some new fancy effects. For Dong and her colleagues, however, it meant building everything from scratch.
After public bidding, construction officially began in November. Dong and her colleagues spent countless days and nights with construction workers to make sure everything was done right, and on time.
"I think there is no standard for our G20 project," she said. "Only when the residents and visitors all feel satisfied can we say the project is successful. Because of that, I've put myself under a lot of pressure."
Three buildings in Hangzhou combine to display the G20 logo on Sunday night. [Photo/Xinhua]
But don't let her slight frame fool you: Dong is tough. The chief of the Huagang office, Ding Gaofeng, said he had seen many times when Dong visited a hospital in the morning and then rushed back to construction sites in the afternoon. He seldom saw her take a break.
"There was too much to do. I cannot afford to be sick," Dong said. "How many big projects like this can I work on in my lifetime? This will probably be the last milestone in my career. I must leave no regrets."
Dong's team was the only one that kept working through the Spring Festival, China's lunar new year. When last winter's snow blocked mules from carrying equipment to the mountains, Dong and her colleagues loaded gear onto their own shoulders and continued climbing. Their overtime work meant the project would be finished in mid-March, more than a month ahead of schedule.
Since then, all the Huagang staff has joined a rigorous work rotation to fill shifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Their task is to make sure all glitches are identified and fixed. A daily test run of the lights that lasts from 6 pm to 10:30 pm has been going on for about five months. No major problem was found.
Before the summit, West Lake kept most its lights turned off from Monday to Thursday. They only came alive on weekend nights and holidays.
The specific arrangement of the lights after the G20 is still under discussion, according to Ding.
Social media photo posts depicting the West Lake lights have been going viral on major social media platforms in China, including Weibo and WeChat. Residents and tourists are seen waiting in long lines after supper every day outside various entrances to see the newly brightened West Lake.
An online shop based in a village in Tonglu county, Hangzhou, made its first deal in October 2014. The capital city of Zhejiang province is a leader in China in e-commerce, boasting the biggest number of websites and the most vibrant online payment. [Photo/Xinhua]
Leaders Summit city in vanguard in internet finance and e-commerce
Why Hangzhou? The question might have entered the minds of many people since President Xi Jinping announced at last year's G20 in Turkey that Hangzhou will host the 2016 Leaders Summit.
"The Hangzhou model, with its emphasis on tertiary industry, especially fast-growing industries including internet financing, e-commerce and big data, stands for a Chinese path of development," Yan Jiuyuan, a researcher at Trigger Trend Research Center, a Guangzhou-based think tank, wrote in an analysis widely spread on the internet.
"The embedding and growth of the internet helped the city to realize its achievement, turning it from a second-tier city famous for tourism to a central city with great impact."
At present, more than one-third of the China's e-commerce websites are based in Hangzhou, pioneered by the industry's world leader, Alibaba.
Despite downward pressure on the domestic economy, Hangzhou's GDP increased by 10.8 percent in the first half of this year, ranking first among 26 major Chinese cities, according to the Hangzhou government. The information economy accounted for 23.8 percent of total GDP growth.
Hangzhou has also become the world's most convenient city for mobile payment. More than 95 percent of local stores, 98 percent of taxis and 50 percent of restaurants accept mobile payment, while a large number of vegetable market vendors can also be paid by phone.
On top of this, Hangzhou, Beijing and Shenzhen have been recognized as the three centers of China's business-starting tide. And Hangzhou also ranked first in terms of its latest growth rate.
Xi said in Turkey that the theme of the 2016 summit will be "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy".
"Innovation will be highlighted at the summit, as the whole planet is seeking a new growth model," said Huang Wei, chief of global governance studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Shen Yinchu, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said Hangzhou is a hot spot of technology development and personnel training.
"Its great contribution to the country and the whole world has been widely recognized."
Chen Fengying, a researcher on the global economy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Hangzhou is the best example of a city linking China's past, present and future.
"We all know about the city's ancient history. And at present, Hangzhou is a place where many industries have made a successful transformation," she said.
She cited Wahaha, the country's biggest beverage enterprise, which has come to the forefront of intelligent manufacturing and plans to enter industries including biological engineering, bacterial strain, environmental protection and energy saving motors.
Chen also cites the example of is China's biggest auto parts maker, the Wanxiang Group, which now eyes clean energy in the global market.
"There are many reasons for the central government to pick Hangzhou. But I think the key reason is that Hangzhou can present the future of China," Chen said.
China's decision to invite a record number of developing countries to the G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou is a smart move that reflects a new approach to managing the organization, observers said.
They noted that Hangzhou is a pioneer in upgrading industries, and inviting more developing countries to be part of discussions in the city will further facilitate sustainable development of the G20 mechanism itself.
Invitations to the first five countriesChad, Laos, Senegal, Egypt and Kazakhstanwere confirmed by Foreign Minister Wang Yi when he addressed the media with his visiting Laotian counterpart early last month.
Three of the countries take rotating chairmanships of influential regional groups.
Chad is chair of the African Union, Laos is chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations while Senegal is chair of the New Partnership for Africa's Development.
Later in the month, the Foreign Ministry announced an expanded list of countries that included Singapore, Spain and Thailand.
The summit has been prepared at a time China is turning to innovation-driven development, and Hangzhou has been well known for its leading role in online services, technology development and financial products.
Beijing has also pledged to transform the way the G20 operatesfrom a mechanism of crisis response to one of long-term governance.
Chen Fengying, a senior researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, noted that the developing countries account for more than 85 percent of world population and "they are a fundamental pillar supporting sustained economic growth worldwide".
Ruan Zongze, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said China, as the host country, has made the right decision by inviting a number of developing countries.
China, itself as a developing country, is well-positioned to make the concerns of the developing countries heard at the summit, Ruan said.
"What China wants is to solicit opinions from more countries for the reference of the G20 members," Ruan said.
An app of Alipay, China's biggest third-party payments platform, on a mobile phone. [Photo/VCG]
Alipay, one of China's most popular mobile payment apps, took a big step toward globalizing its services when it secured a third-party payment license in Hong Kong on Aug 25.
With this stored value facilities license, Hong Kong users can now use Alipay's e-wallet functions and enjoy merchant discounts.
Although Alipay has been in the Hong Kong market since 2007 and already works with about 6,000 merchants, including department stores, hotels and theme parks, its usage has largely been limited to mainland users due to Chinese central bank regulations, which allow only people with a bank card issued in the Chinese mainland to store credit in their accounts.
Peng Yijie, vice-president of Ant Financial, a subsidary of e-commerce giant Alibaba that operates Alipay, said the company is eager to bring the cashless experience to Hong Kong, given the southern city's close connections with the mainland.
Alipay was started in 2004 and now offers payment services at more than 80,000 overseas offline stores in 70 countries and regions.
The company also cooperates with ride-hailing app Uber in 69 nations and regions as well as Airbnb.
In August, Alipay reached an agreement with Munich Airport that allows Chinese tourists to make payments at the airport terminals by scanning an Alipay QR code on their mobile phones. Munich Airport is the first in Europe that supports payment services by Alipay.
The payment services provider has also signed agreements with a slew of physical stores, including upscale French department store Galeries Lafayette in Paris. According to the deal, Alipay will be available only to Chinese tourists.
Statistics provided by Ant Financial showed that among the more than 50 nations and regions that offer departure tax refund policies, 24 of them support Alipay. The majority of those countries are key overseas destinations for Chinese travelers.
In addition to Alipay, Ant Financial's other businesses are also making their way over China's borders.
In February 2015, Ant Financial became a shareholder in Indian online payment platform Paytm.
After more than a year of development, users are now able to use the Indian version of Alipay to pay for rides in tuk-tuk taxis, and make payments at cafes, gas stations and movie theaters.
According to Ant Financial, the number of Paytm users soared more than fivefold from 20 million in February last year to the current 135 million, becoming the world's fourth-largest e-wallet.
In November, Ant Financial and Korean Telecom launched K Bank, the first internet bank in South Korea.
"As a pioneer of China's inclusive financing industry, Ant Financial looks to showcase China's prowess to the world," said Jing Xiandong, the company's president.
He added that he believes China's financing sector will play a big role in reducing poverty and helping to promote social equality globally.
The ashes of John Leighton Stuart were buried in a Hangzhou cemetery in 2008. The former US ambassador to China was born in Hangzhou and spent 14 years of his life there. [Photo/China Daily]
John Leighton Stuart was awarded an honorary citizenship by the Hangzhou congress in 1946 when he returned to the city for a visit. He had just been appointed US ambassador to China, a position that would put him on a path he himself could not control.
Ambassador Stuart was not airdropped from the US. He was literally a native kid, having been born in Hangzhou in 1876 and spent 14 years of his life there. It was reported he could speak the local dialect before he could speak English and his Chinese had some Hangzhou flavor. He always considered himself more Chinese than American.
Most Chinese learned of his name, the Sinicized Situ Leideng, from a Mao Zedong article from 1949 where he was viewed as "a loyal agent of US cultural aggression in China". That was the year he left China for good. He died in the US in 1962.
It was only in recent years that ordinary people have discovered the other side of Stuart, the side apart from his official position as the last US ambassador before New China. Prominent among his contributions was his success in turning Yenching University from a school of 94 students to a top institution of higher education in China.
Even though the school existed for only 33 years, it was a cradle for China's top scientists and journalists. Ninety percent of Chinese journalists stationed overseas during World War II were Yenching alumni.
Stuart built the Yenching campus, currently home to Peking University, with traditional Chinese architecture, but he adopted a very Western approach of teaching, encouraging equal and amicable exchanges between teachers and students.
After Beijing fell to Japanese occupation, Stuart refused to fly the flag of the puppet regime or offer "thanks" for Japanese "liberation". He was arrested and put in jail for three years and eight months until the end of the war.
Many of his Yenching students ended up joining the Communist Party, and he mediated through them when he became US ambassador. He was also responsible for changing the US stance from all-out support for the Kuomintang government to that of a coalition government.
Son of Presbyterian missionary parents, Stuart had earlier helped found a Hangzhou-based school which is now the Zhijiang campus of the famous Zhejiang University.
His mother, affectionately called "Mother Stuart" by locals, had founded the Hangzhou School for Girls, one of the first of its kind in China.
The street where their residence sits is still called Christian Church Lane, and the church Stuart's father presided over, Tianshui Tang, is only a few steps from the residency. On a recent Sunday morning, locals were singing hymns to lyrics displayed on overhead television screens. There was a convivial atmosphere more befitting a family gathering in the 140-year-old house of God, the oldest in Hangzhou and newly restored in 2009.
A year before that, Stuart's ashes were buried in a Hangzhou cemetery.
Wen Yiduo, a scholar held in high regard by Communists, spoke of Stuart before he was assassinated by the Nationalists in 1946: "John Leighton Stuart is a friend of the Chinese people. ... He understands the needs of the Chinese people, but that doesn't mean he has supernatural powers to solve all of China's problems."
Historian Lin Mengxi offered this appraisal: "Not a single American during the 20th century had such a long-lasting and comprehensive involvement in, and such a deep impact on, Chinese politics, culture and education as John Leighton Stuart."
A citizen walks past a flower bed in the shape of the logo of G20 summit in Binjiang district of Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang province, August 25, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
Hangzhou will host the 11th G20 Summit between September 4 and 5 under the auspices of the Chinese government. Apparently the world is currently suffering from twin problems: a prolonged global economic recession, which is believed to have been around for quite some time and was caused by the repercussions of the 2008 World Financial Crisis; and an intensifying geopolitical conflict, instigated by a blend of complicated economic and political factors.
Against this messy backdrop, China is expected to take the lead on reaching coordination between major economies for pushing a growth strategy so that the geopolitical divides around the globe will disappear. This is indeed what the G20 has been designed to do.
However, things might not go on as well as expected. The Global Times reported on August 17: "Hype is swirling among foreign media that some countries will raise the South China Sea disputes during the Summit in September."
The fact of the matter is that even if this perceived speculation does not materialize, the problem of global governance under current circumstances makes it impossible to avoid geopolitical considerations. This could not be better explained than by referring to what was debated in the recent T20 Summit in Beijing on July 28 and 29.
Participating scholars at the event fell under one of two categories: those who pushed for global economic structural reform, industrial transformation and sustainable development, and those who were confused by the recent developments in the US presidential elections, the Brexit vote, the failed military coup in Turkey and ASEAN's divide on the South China Sea ruling.
It is true that China is trying to capitalize on "functional integration," in Parag Khanna's terminology, as a geopolitical tool deployed for the economic development service and hopes to eliminate the chance of geopolitical conflicts via the Belt and Road and AIIB initiatives. Nevertheless, for these projects to gain momentum, China needs to maintain a balance on the three following aspects:
An expectation balance: The Chinese leaders might be impressed by recalling the nice telephone conversation that President George W. Bush made in 2008 to ask President Hu Jintao's opinion on holding a G20 meeting. However, this memory now belongs to the past. Not only is mutual trust lacking between the US and China, but more often than not some Americans think that "coordination" is the pure outcome of having "strong leadership" while forgetting the role of "good will" as a prerequisite for sustainable and fruitful relationships.
A mindset balance: China needs to maintain a balance in its mindset as being a "developing country" versus being "the second biggest world's economy." To help maintain this balance, China needs to qualify statements made about both its strengths and weaknesses. To realize why, it suffices to have a look at what was published on Sept. 6, 2014, in the New York Times under the title of "Foreign Powers Buy Influence at Think Tanks" and its updated version on August 8, 2016 titled "Researchers or Corporate Allies? Think Tanks Blur the Line."
A connectivity balance: The Chinese government defines connectivity between East Asia and the Middle East through the "Belt and Road" and "AIIB" initiatives on purely economic grounds as a geopolitical instrument. However, one should not forget about geopolitical and cultural connectivity. A balanced approach in this regard through accumulated logic of integration will better position China to play its role as a responsible global player and move towards building new global relationships. Otherwise, persistent conflict in the South China Sea will push China back to its historical past as a stationed civilization with persistent and prolonged vulnerabilities.
The author Ali Biniaz has a PhD in economics, IPIS representative and first counselor for research, Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Beijing.
BUENOS AIRES - Argentine Ambassador to China Diego Guelar on Wednesday hailed the Asian country as "a great partner."
China is "the great engine of the world. In the last decade, China has become the main trading partner of the most important countries. It is a global phenomenon," said the diplomat.
In an interview with Argentine radio El Mundo, Guelar said: "Beijing has met the conditions of the World Trade Organization and must be considered as a market economy" as the private sector is key to China's economic growth, generating about 60 percent of its GDP.
Hailing the importance of the upcoming G20 Summit on Sept 4-5 in China's eastern city of Hangzhou, Guelar said the summit would group countries that account for "85 percent of global GDP and 65 percent of global population."
He added that President Mauricio Macri is planning a visit to China in March or April 2017.
During an interview with Xinhua last week, Macri said the upcoming G20 summit will provide an opportunity to review cooperation between Argentina and China, lauding China's "enormous importance" and "complementarity" to his country.
The two countries have complementary capacities for cooperation in fields like food security, energy and infrastructure construction, said Macri.
"We really value Chinese companies' capacity to build infrastructure and hope they value our capacity to produce food, to be able to increase the flow of exports to balance things out. That's our goal for the next few years," he added.
Photo taken on August 30, 2016 shows a night view of the West Lake in Hangzhou, capital city of East China's Zhejiang province. The G20 Summit will be held in Hangzhou on September 4 to 5. [Photo/Xinhua]
HANGZHOU - A summit of business leaders from G20 members is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Jiang Zengwei, chair of the Business 20 (B20) China, said at a press conference on Thursday.
The gathering of business elites marks the beginning of "G20 time" for the scenic city of Hangzhou in east China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony of the B20 summit and deliver a keynote speech, Jiang said at the press conference, the first held at the G20 news center.
Leaders of Argentina, South Africa, Turkey, Australia and Canada as well as heads of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organization will also be present at the summit, said Jiang, also chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
Focusing on promoting robust, sustainable and balanced growth of the global economy, the B20 meeting will bring together more than 800 business leaders from 32 countries and 26 international organizations.
The business leaders are set to submit the B20 2016 Policy Recommendations to the Chinese president during the meeting, Jiang said.
The policy recommendations will cover topics such as encouraging robust international trade and investment, developing more effective and efficient global economic and financial governance, and enhancing infrastructure interconnectivity.
By addressing these recommendations, the G20 will create an environment that helps the international business community boost trade and investment, develop new business models, and create new jobs, Jiang said in a speech published on the B20 official website.
All of these are critical to achieving the G20's objective of building an innovative, invigorated, interconnected, and inclusive world economy and ensuring strong, sustainable and balanced growth, he said.
Established in 2010 under the G20 framework, the B20 has become an important part of the G20. To some extent, the success of the G20 summit depends on the B20 participants reaching a consensus on major measures to promote global economic development, Jiang said on Thursday.
With the world economy mired in a prolonged downturn, China, the world's second-largest economy and largest developing country, comes to the G20 presidency with high expectations.
The theme of the G20 summit is "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy." The summit is scheduled for Sept 4-5.
China's central bank vice governor Yi Gang, head of China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), answers a question at a news conference during the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's parliament, in Beijing, March 12, 2015.[Photo/Agencies]
HANGZHOU - China has worked closely with other G20 members in the fields of macroeconomic policy coordination, innovative growth and more effective global economic and financial governance, a Chinese central bank official said Thursday.
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) mainly participated in issues of strong, sustainable and balanced growth framework, international financial architecture, financial sector reforms, financial inclusion and green finance, PBOC Vice Governor Yi Gang said at a press conference.
G20 members agreed on an approach of "using all policy tools -- monetary, fiscal and structural -- individually and collectively" to support growth, according to Yi.
"This marks a milestone in the G20's recent history of macroeconomic policy coordination," Yi said.
China also led the efforts to build a more stable and more resilient international financial architecture, with the release of a report in this regard by the International Financial Architecture Working Group, which was resumed under China's G20 presidency, the vice governor said.
The report made several recommendations to improve the international financial architecture, including examining the broader use of Special Drawing Rights, strengthening the Global Financial Safety Net, improving debt restructuring processes and advancing the IMF quota and governance reform, Yi said.
"Global financial markets have seen bouts of turbulence since last year, but global financial system has remained sound and resilient," he said, adding that it reflected the effects of financial sector reforms since the global financial crisis.
This year, G20 members reached a consensus that financial reforms will focus on building an open and resilient financial system, summarizing elements of effective macro-prudential policies, developing robust financial market infrastructures and promoting financial inclusion.
The G20 also discussed green finance for the first time this year and established a G20 Green Finance Study Group, which released a report to identify challenges faced by green finance and provide voluntary options for countries to consider, Yi added.
On Wednesday, the PBOC and some other Chinese ministries unveiled a guideline for establishing a green financing mechanism to facilitate the economy's transition to sustainable growth.
Under the theme of "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy," this year's G20 summit is scheduled on Sept. 4-5 in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.
We have been taking actions against drugs traffickers to eradicate the menace in our area. We succeeded in seizing a large volume of drugs recently said Sann Nyunt, the officer of Maung Taw police station, when answering queries to Narinjara News.
On 23 August, a car was moving rapidly to avoid the police check at the border point no 1. The police team led by a Second Lieutenant later found that the drugs with 146250 WY symbol of worth Kyat 292.5 million were inside the car.
The incident took place at Ye Myataung village under Naw Yoon Taung track of Maung Taw township. However, the police could not arrest the traffickers as they could run away from the location.
Earlier on 19 August at around 8 am, the police seized 48750 WY symbol drugs from a motor bike. It was then driven by Nu Arlaung (47), son of Marshaw Arli, from Myo Ma Taung Quarter of Maung Taw township, said the police officer.
Similarly on 22 August, the police arrested Jin Ki (20) with 9750 WY drugs worth Kyat 19500000 and Delmu Harmauk (14) with 39000 WY drugs worth 78 million, when they were travelling in a bus from Maung Taw to Taung Pro.
The police then arrested Maru (21) from Maung Taw and Nur Bawshaw (45) from La Thar upper village with 107250 WY drug tablets worth Kyat 214.5 million. They were also from the same community.
Even though the local people criticized the police that they were yet to arrest the main drug trafficker. Of course, they appreciated the police forces for their success in seizing the drugs of 700 million Kyats in the last few days.
Gary Campkin, director of policy and strategy at TheCityUK
China can play a big role in furthering the G20 Leaders Summit agenda to enhance economic growth through greater liberalization of markets, according to an expert with a London financial industry association.
While the global economy is affected by uncertainties, including Brexit, Gary Campkin, director of policy and strategy at TheCityUK, said China's increasingly open and liberal markets are providing opportunities and acting as a catalyst for world economic growth and financial innovation.
He said an open trade and investment relationship with China will be especially important to Britain after it leaves the European Union.
"We would value the continuing development of an invigorated trade and investment relationship based on openness of each other's economies," he said. "This would represent a significant contribution from China, which shares the UK's interests in ensuring the process of Brexit leads to a stable outcome for the global economy."
In addition, Camkin said his team also looks forward to China helping to make progress on G20 objectives such as global regulatory coherence, governance and transparency. He said the summit can also play an important role to reach agreement on further steps to ensure increased trade and cross-border investment to stimulate growth and job creation.
China, as the world's second-largest economy, has the capacity to lead in opening up its markets and encouraging others to do the same, he said, while ensuring that the slowdown in China's economy is moderate.
He said the significance of the Chinese economy globally is emphasized by a forthcoming report by his team, which notes "reliance on Chinese growth has increased vulnerabilities for the global economic and financial system given the mainland's deteriorating demographics, growing debt burden and economic transition".
Overall, Camkin believes the key source of a new round of prosperity is to be created by the dismantling of trade and investment barriers. More specifically, in emerging markets, reform programs will be a key area for discussion and will of course vary hugely from country to country.
In developed markets, weak productivity growth is still an issue and this is something that will no doubt come under scrutiny.
Camkin said the slow down in China's growth after two decades of rapid growth is inevitable, but given China's market size as a major source of demand, its sustained growth will help the world economy to recover.
One key example is the global commodity markets' reliance on China to lead a recovery over the past year.
"China's role as a source of final demand is especially important given the continued mixed pattern of demand elsewhere in the world."
Camkin said the array of actions China has taken to liberalize its financial sector is already really helpful for the world economy, and the effects are already being felt in London.
Key examples include the opening up of China's stock exchanges to foreign investment by establishing a stock connect between Shanghai and Hong Kong, hence allowing Western investors to access China's stock market through Hong Kong.
Another example Camkin referred to is the increasing issuance of offshore renminbi bonds in London, allowing Western investors to increasingly access renminbi investment opportunities.
These initiatives are especially important as the renminbi will be included in the International Monetary Fund's basket of reserve currencies in October, meaning more Western central banks and institutional investors will likely increase their holdings of yuan-denominated assets to benchmark their investment portfolio against the basket.
As strengthening financial sector governance is a key objective for the G20, Camkin said his team welcomes China's involvement in this area.
Holding the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China is "truly historic" and China's G20 presidency will live up to high expectations from the international community, said a senior United Nations official.
"Under the leadership of the Chinese presidency, the G20 this year has sent a clear signal that there can be no sustained and inclusive economic growth without continued economic progress in the developing world," said Wu Hongbo, undersecretary-general for economic and social affairs at the United Nations.
Wu Hongbo, undersecretary-general for economic and social affairs at the United Nations
It is the first time that a member of the UN Group of 77 developing countries has hosted a G20 summit. The theme is "Towards an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy".
"The Hangzhou Summit will feature the strongest representation of developing countries of any G20 summit held so far," said Wu, citing the Chinese presidency's invitation to Thailand, the Chair of the Group of 77, to attend the summit as an example.
As China has made sure that the G20 aligns its work with the new UN development agenda, Wu said that the G20 summit will directly contribute to "the full and timely implementation" of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The agenda, which aims to eradicate poverty by 2030, was adopted by world leaders last year. The Chinese government is also making a strong commitment in the outline of its 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) to promoting the 2030 Agenda domestically.
With the global economy still facing slow growth, Wu said it's very important that the G20 commits to lifting its growth by 2 percent by 2018.
China is promoting priority areas and guiding principles designed for structural reform of G20 members, which is vital for achieving this goal.
Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said last week in Beijing that G20 finance ministers and central bank governors have reached a consensus on global cooperation.
"The extent to which this goal can be successfully achieved will depend on cooperation among countries," said Wu.
For example, a well-coordinated fiscal stimulus by a group of large, developed countries and emerging economies would be much more effective in boosting global growth than unilateral fiscal stimulus introduced by a single country, Wu explained.
"The G20 summit can chart out pathways to strengthen much needed macroeconomic policy coordination," Wu said.
He pointed out that it is also critical to not only address the short-term challenges to growth but also direct attention toward medium- and long-term sustainable and equitable growth paths.
Under China's presidency, the G20 is implementing an enhanced structural reform agenda, encouraging innovation and competition to boost growth potential and promoting the G20 Action Plan on the 2030 Agenda to achieve sustainable growth.
"China has demonstrated that the three dimensions of sustainable development - economic, social and environmental - are mutually reinforcing by building a world-leading renewable energy sector that creates jobs, fosters technological innovation and improves energy access," Wu said.
To Wu, China has been "the locomotive of global growth", contributing to more than one-third of world output growth during 2008-2015.
In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, it has played a critical role in sustaining global output, particularly for developing economies. It is also now the top trading nation in the world and is the biggest bilateral trading partner for many economies.
China will continue to be a key engine of global growth as it gradually transitions into a consumption-driven economy and demands more goods and services from the rest of the world and as its investments abroad continue to rise, Wu said.
China's nonfinancial outward foreign direct investment has been rising significantly, reaching $118 billion in 2015.
Ambassador Carla A. Hills, chair and CEO of international consultancy Hills & Co
Ambassador Carla A. Hills, chair and CEO of international consultancy Hills & Co, applauded the four priorities that China has identified for the upcoming summit.
Those are: breaking a new path for growth, more effective and efficient global economic and financial governance, robust international trade and investment, and inclusive and interconnected development.
"I am hoping that China will lead by example and take steps to implement these priorities," Hills, former US trade representative, said in a written interview with China Daily.
"As one of the world's two largest economies and as host of this 11th G20 summit, it has the opportunity to press for action that will not only further strengthen its economy but contribute to the growth and development of the global economy," she said.
She said past experience has shown that one of the most effective tools to generate global economic growth for the benefit of both rich and poor nations is to open world markets to trade and investment.
Notwithstanding the fact that at every past G20 meeting the leaders have pledged their commitment to maintain an open global economy, according to the last World Trade Organization (WTO) monitoring report covering mid-October 2015 to mid-May 2016, the G20 economies in that six-month period have applied 145 new trade restrictions, roughly 21 new measures a month, Hills said.
"I would hope that there would be a real commitment by each and every leader not only to refrain from implementing further restrictions but also to remove those they have put in place," she said.
wanglinyan@chinadailyusa.com
Business 20, a major support group for the G20 from industrial and commercial circles, has called on world leaders to make clear and transparent policies, as well as effective standards for handling disputes, to curb rising protectionism in international investment.
A number of proposals by the B20s organizing committees and task forces will be added to the G20 Summit statement this year, said Jiang Zengwei, chairman of B20 China, at a news conference on Thursday before the B20 and G20 summits in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.
The B20 proposals will concern international investment, employment, innovation and infrastructure development, he said.
The B20 provides a platform for international companies and chambers of commerce to participate in global economic governance and economic and trade regulation through meetings and summits. It collects the opinions of world business leaders and develops a consensus.
More than 3,300 investment agreements are currently used in global markets.
"The B20 suggests that relevant international organizations reassess the current investment agreements in a bid to build a more effective standard to better resolve disputes and assist global investment activities, said Jiang, who is also chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
The B20 proposals also include a plan for global infrastructure connectivity, an electronic world trade platform and suggestions on innovative growth.
A total of 815 representatives will attend this years B20 Summit in Hangzhou, including 142 companies on the Fortune Global 500 list and 103 enterprises from Chinas top 500 companies.
Zhang Yanling, a member of the executive board of the International Chamber of Commerce and former vice-president of Bank of China, said the B20 suggested adopting innovative technologies and management instruments to enhance infrastructure projects and connectivity among countries and regions.
"It is highly important for different countries to take actions in a united way to take infrastructure projects as a leverage to world economic development, said Zhang.
Contact the writer at zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn
PHOTOS BY RAYMOND ZHOU AND AGENCIES
Shutterbugs in Hangzhou are having a field day as the city emerges in a sharp azure splendor and the normally dense crowds become more manageable.
Shortly before the G20 Summit, a vantage point on the southeast side of West Lake had rows of photographers lined up, their lenses targeting the Leifeng Pagoda.
The structure in evening glow is one of the citys top 10 scenes, as selected back in the Song Dynasty (960-1279).
"It has become much easier to get a perfect spot, now that the traffic flow is so much smaller, said a photography lover surnamed Lin, who was trying different lenses for the perfect shot.
Hangzhou residents are given a week off for the big event and, with tourist attractions in neighboring cities and provinces offering deep discounts or free passes, many have opted to enjoy a vacation out of town.
For those who want landscape shots without too many heads cropping up in the foreground, this presents a golden opportunity.
Then there is the blue sky, said photographer Qiu Jianhua.
"The better the air quality, the better the photos will be, said the amateur-turned-professional, who had 30 of his works shown in Switzerland in 2009 and had a solo exhibition in Hangzhou three years later.
Qius focus of interest is natural scenery, but he is also fascinated by human stories.
In the past week, he has combined the two while photographing people striking poses at scenic areas people young and old, fashionably clad and lending themselves readily to the allure of the environment and the camera.
"The prevailing aesthetic for Hangzhou is simple elegance, he said. "But against this backdrop can be a flare-up of passion. You can detect poetry and history in this place.
Thats why the Hangzhou residents, regardless of age, show a madcap aspect in his photos, yet still manage to project exquisiteness and refinement.
Among Qius trove of photos of locals celebrating the summit on their doorstep are mass scenes of people snapping moments of the citys new glitz.
Unlike them, however, he still uses film in addition to digital media.
To welcome guests to the summit, he has compiled a digital guide to Hangzhou, generously interspersed with shots he has taken over the years of his hometown.
Yi Gang, vice-governor of People's Bank of China, answers questions on a press conference on Sept 2, 2016, prior to the G20 Leaders Summit to be held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.[Photo/China Daily] PBOC official says G20 members ready to work together for balanced, sustainable development
China and other key economies are ready to strengthen "policy-level coordination" toward balanced and sustainable growth in global business, a senior central bank official said on Thursday.
G20 members agree with one another that they must "use all policy tools to support growth", said Yi Gang, vice-governor of People's Bank of China, in the run-up to the G20 Leaders Summit on Sunday and Monday in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.
By all policy tools, he was referring to monetary and fiscal policy and, in the long run, measures to boost structural reform of the international financial system, Yi said.
"This marks a milestone in the G20s recent history of macroeconomic policy coordination, he said.
Yi Gang, vice-governor of People's Bank of China, answers questions on a press conference on Sept 2, 2016, prior to the G20 Leaders Summit to be held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.[Photo/China Daily]
At the same time, China stands with other G20 members in their opposition to competitive devaluation of currencies, and the country is committed to the yuans market-based exchange rate, he said.
Competitive devaluation offers "no hope" for solving the problems facing the world economy today, Yi stressed.
The level of the yuans exchange rate has remained by and large stable against other major currencies more so than most reserve currencies said Yi, adding that the yuan is also more stable compared with the currencies of many emerging market economies.
China is also willing to communicate and coordinate more closely with other major economies regarding the yuans exchange rate, he said.
However, with a wide policy tool kit from which to choose, each country has a flexible space to adopt policies according to their own circumstances, Yi noted.
Yi Gang, vice-governor of People's Bank of China, answers questions of a foreign reporter on Sept 2 2016, prior to the G20 Leaders Summit to be held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.[Photo/China Daily]
He said Chinas perspective is that macro policies can be effective in boosting sluggish demand in the short term, but tools for boosting supply-side reform would be more helpful in achieving long-term economic growth.
Commenting on Chinas pledge to not engage in competitive devaluation, Lian Ping, chief economist with Bank of Communications, said it reflects Chinas willingness to play the role of a responsible large economy.
"China is playing a leading role in helping the world avoid a war of currency depreciation, he said.
Although a weaker currency could be somewhat helpful for a nations export business, its benefit to the overall economy would only be marginal, Lian said.
"China has more important goals to achieve. Considering those more important goals, not seeking a government-engineered depreciation of the yuan is a fully rational thing for China to do. It will bring about lasting benefits for the country and the world, Lian said.
A garbage-truck maker and a sports-car startup are the top candidates to receive permits to manufacture electric vehicles in China as part of the government's push to encourage innovation in the auto industry, according to people with knowledge of the process.
A panel of experts appointed by the National Development and Reform Commission, which oversees the approval of new investment projects, has concluded its technical review of Jiangsu Aoxin New Energy Automobile Co and Beijing CH-Auto Technology Co, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The NDRC may soon announce a decision, which hasn't been finalized, the people said, without being more specific.
The NDRC said that it doesn't comment on applications in process. A representative for CH-Auto declined to comment, while calls to Aoxin's main line weren't answered.
Companies that are seeking the special license to produce EVs have to clear the evaluation, which will rate them in terms of their capabilities in research and development and manufacturing. So far, only two firmsBeijing Electric Vehicle Co and Hangzhou Changjiang Passenger Vehicle Cohave received permission under the program, which was announced in June 2015 to encourage companies outside the auto industry to provide competition to traditional carmakers.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is considering restricting the number of startup EV makers to a maximum of 10, said Dong Yang, an executive vice-president at the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers who meets regularly with the industry's officials. The MIIT didn't respond to a faxed request for comment.
Bloomberg
iRobot's product. [Photo provided to China Daily]
iRobot Corp, the US-based robotic technology solutions provider, which is known primarily as a maker of robot vacuum cleaners, is planning to triple or quadruple its investment in the Chinese market next year, in view of its average annual growth rate of 70 to 100 percent in China.
The company will open its Chinese headquarters in Shanghai on Thursday to strengthen marketing and promotion in China and extend its robotic products to healthcare services and the smart-home field.
"iRobot is focused on significant growth opportunities in China. We are continuing to increase the size of manufacturing operations in China as well as engineering functions. China is an incredibly important part of iRobot's strategy and we will continue to grow," said Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot.
Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot. [Photo provided to China Daily]
It launched on Tuesday its Braava jet mopping robot designed for the Chinese market. Starting at 1,999 yuan ($299), the compact robot mops hard floors to remove fine dust and stains. It cleans even in hard-to-reach places, like under cabinets and furniture.
"We will continue to diversify our home robot offerings and identify new product categories tailored for Chinese consumers," said Angle.
Angle emphasized that they are growing their investment in China very quickly and that establishing the headquarters in China is just the next step of their growth strategy.
"We will probably spend three to four times as much as money on marketing and advertising in 2017 as we did in 2016."
He also estimated the overall growth of home robots globally is about 25 percent. In China, the growth rate is very fast, close to 70 or 100 percent.
A cab-user (right) in Kunming, capital city of Yunnan, enjoys a Uber ride. Last month, US-based company Uber ended its fight with Didi in China and agreed a merger. [Photo/China Daily]
Foreign net firms are realizing the hard way that success in China takes Herculean efforts
If China's Great Wall was difficult to scale or penetrate for Eurasian nomadic raiders of the past, the Chinese mainland's technology and digital market are posing similar problems to foreign companies now.
In a recent move, Uber decided to end its lone fight in China, and merge its China unit with its bitter rival Didi Chuxing, a Beijing-based transportation network company, after investing about $2 billion in the market in less than two years.
Though hailed as one of the world's most valuable startups, Uber, the San Francisco-headquartered US multinational online transportation network company, had trouble developing business in China, the world's largest car-sharing market.
In less than two years, Uber won 17 percent of the Chinese market share, while Didi Chuxing controlled 70 percent of the local market.
By this merger, investors in Uber's China unit will own 20 percent of Didi, while Didi will invest $1 billion in Uber.
"This is a win-win situation," said Li Xiaoxi, portfolio manager at Principal Global Investors Funds. "Merger could be the best option for Uber to advance in and benefit from the Chinese market."
Uber is not the first Western internet company not to succeed in China. Yahoo had attempted to enter China but its business was unsuccessful. Ditto for eBay. Then there's instant-messaging app WhatsApp, now owned by Facebookpopular in the US and outside China but utterly ineffective in weaning Chinese users away from WeChat.
"China is a very difficult market for Western companies to penetrate," said Robert Salomon, associate professor at the New York University's Stern School of Business. "It is especially difficult for Western technology companies."
Why? Complex reasons abound. But it's certainly not due to want of effort.
Uber did a pretty good job in China actually. It had made headway into quite a few Chinese cities, including some third-tier ones. The localisation effort was easily seen. It had partnered with Chinese internet search giant Baidu and online payment firm AliPay. Still, it couldn't avoid bruising competition with Chinese ride-hailing smartphone apps.
"The customers (in China) are very very different," said Salomon. "They have different cultural tastes and preferences and ways to consume products (and services); the products they want are not the same as those Western consumers want."
For instance, Uber has always partnered with private cars, while its rival Didi, when it first came into the market, built a platform involving taxi drivers. Although in first-tier cities Uber represents cool and fashion, most Chinese people have more trust in cabs that are under heavier scrutiny from the regulators.
Also, one of the services Didi provides is "designated driving", which puts drivers on the network for those who have to take their car home after drinking. Its advertisements are visible at a lot of restaurants and it has got really popular.
Local companies in China are familiar with these marketing techniques and can easily take advantage of that, making themselves handier than their Western rivals, said Henry Huang, associate professor of Yeshiva University's business school, located in New York.
"They (Western companies) don't know China's market culture, consumer behaviour, regulations. Therefore, they can't play to their strengths in the China market," said Huang.
Unlike Apple, the technology this ride-hailing company uses is pretty simple to copy. And Uber did not have the early mover advantage. It entered China after Didi got popular among riders. That put Uber at a disadvantage in its battle against its Chinese rivals.
Didi is just one example. Among others, there is WeChat, an instant-messaging app used by almost everyone with a smartphone in China. It has now become an all-powerful app covering many aspects of Chinese people's daily life, not just chitchatting.
People use WeChat also for sharing moments of their lives, reading, paying phone or electricity bills, buying cinema, theater and event tickets, sending greetings and making money transfers.
These are but just a few of WeChat's uses. Businesses use the app to reach out to consumers with promotions.
"I think the Chinese competitors have reached a certain level now where they become competitive on the global stage," says Salomon. "Facing the most technologically advanced foreign competitors will allow local Chinese companies to realize their strengths or force them in some way to improve by having to compete with those technologically advanced foreign competitors."
Xinhua
Safety precautions advised after attack on embassy in Kyrgyzstan
China said it will work with Kyrgyzstan to discover as soon as possible the organization and people that carried out a suicide car bomb attack on China's embassy in Bishkek on Tuesday.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the remarks on Wednesday, as the ministry's Department of Consular Affairs and the embassy warned that China's citizens should be cautious about going to Kyrgyzstan.
The warning, valid until the end of September, asked Chinese people and organizations in Kyrgyzstan to "stay highly vigilant", avoid going outdoors and stay away from crowded places.
Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev ordered on Tuesday an immediate and thorough investigation into the attack. The Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security, an intelligence agency, said it has initiated a criminal investigation.
The attacker died in the blast. Three embassy workers were slightly injured.
In a phone conversation with Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldaev vowed that his country will thoroughly investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice, according to a news release issued by the Foreign Ministry.
Extending sympathy to the embassy and its staff members injured by the attack on behalf of Kyrgyz leaders, Abdyldaev said Kyrgyzstan condemns the attack in the strongest terms, and will do all it can to guarantee the safety of Chinese people and organizations there.
Kyrgyzstan is willing to strengthen counterterrorism cooperation with China and work with China to crack down on terrorism, separatism and extremism, he said.
Wang urged Kyrgyzstan to find out the facts of the attack as soon as possible, bring to justice those who are responsible and make sure such incidents never happen again.
Wang said China supports strengthened counterterrorism cooperation between the two countries.
Zhao Huirong, a researcher focusing on Central Asia studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China and Kyrgyzstan can diversify their counterterrorism cooperation and expand it beyond information exchange, personnel training and military exercises.
China and Central Asian countries are paying close attention to regional security, which is getting "more and more complicated" in recent years, Zhao said.
China will establish a rehabilitation university before 2020 to help disabled people, the China Disabled Persons' Federation said on Wednesday.
An estimated 85 million disabled people live in China, and about 26 million of those are registered.
"We aim to provide high quality rehab services," the federation's chairwoman, Zhang Haidi, said at a State Council news conference. "The current main problem is the lack of trained professionals.
Zhang said that under the current system, fewer than 8,000 rehab students graduate every year, and 70 percent of those are from two-year colleges, far from meeting the demand for such services.
In 2015, only 30 percent of registered disabled people received any kind of rehabilitation services.
According to the federation, China had 7,111 rehab centers as of 2015, with 232,000 employees.
"Rehab training is the core of public services for the disabled," Zhang said. "Rehab is about rebuilding. And it's the most urgent need - to have a better life."
Establishment of more rehab programs was written into the country's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).
A sea of colour filled the vast conference hall in the capital Naypyidaw as delegations from Myanmar's myriad ethnic groups mingled with stony-faced military officers decked out in full regalia.
The summit is veteran democracy activist Suu Kyi's much-trumpeted effort to reshape Myanmar as a federal democracy following decades of oppressive military rule.
The Nobel laureate has made bridging the ethnic fault lines that have fractured the nation since its mid-century independence a priority of her new government, which took power in March.
"So long as we are unable to achieve national reconciliation and national unity, we will never be able to establish a sustainable and durable peaceful union," she told delegates.
"Only if we are all united will our country be at peace. Only if our country is at peace will we be able to stand on an equal footing with the other countries in our region and across the world."
Speaking at the opening, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon,said in the following address,
This is a historic occasion for the further democratization of this country.
The symbolism of this Conference is clear from its title, which recalls the spirit of the original Panglong Conference convened in 1947 by General Aung San, the Father of Modern Burma.
But today, we also look to the future.
This conference is bringing together Myanmars different ethnic groups in a joint commitment to a federal union based on equality, democracy and self-determination.
I congratulate all sides for the patience, endurance, determination and spirit of compromise you have demonstrated in support of national reconciliation.
There is a long road ahead, but the path is very promising.
This is the first time that such a peace process has been initiated in the seventy-year history of conflict and division between the Union Government and armed ethnic groups.
Todays meeting marks a historic transition since former President U Thein Sein opened the doors to democratic reforms six years ago.
Around the world, we have seen the tragedies that can ensue when leaders deny the need for democratic change.
Myanmar shows what is possible, when leaders listen to their peoples genuine aspirations, genuine concerns of the people and genuine dreams of where this country should proceed.
The United Nations has been a steady partner in support of Myanmars reforms, in particular the national reconciliation process.
We will continue our efforts to smooth differences, lower tensions and move parties towards better understanding and dialogue in line with the goals and values of the United Nations Charter.
The long civil war has cost numerous lives and robbed successive generations of their dignity, tranquillity and normalcy. It is now clear that there can be no military solution to your differences.
I urge you to accept that no party involved in this reconciliation process can expect to achieve all its aims. Conversely, every side must win something if the process is to succeed.
This will require goodwill on all sides, and a recognition that success is in the vital interest of all the people of Myanmar, regardless of ethnicity, religion, political affiliation or socio-economic status.
It is encouraging that the different ethnic armed organizations with divergent interests and aspirations came together to form a single team to negotiate the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement last year.
This agreement was crucially important, and the new Government has undertaken efforts to make it more inclusive. The 21st Century Panglong Conference represents the result of those efforts.
I urge all of you, as you walk along this path with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to demonstrate the wisdom needed to address complex and unresolved issues, and to pave the way for a unified negotiation track that is inclusive of all interests and constituencies.
This will require sensitivity and flexibility, and respect for both signatories and non-signatories. You will need to be truly consultative if you are to reach sustainable solutions. In this connection, I urge you again to ensure that women make up at least 30 per cent of the representatives at all levels of dialogue.
Every transition [carries] risks.
But refusing to embark on transition may carry the greatest risk of all. We see tragic evidence of this around the world.
I urge you all to continue to face up to your responsibilities, particularly to the youth and children of Myanmar the future of this wonderful country.
You owe it to them to work for a better tomorrow, in which they can fulfil their dreams and aspirations in peace and prosperity.
Few expect a concrete deal to emerge from the five-day talks, which are seen as the start of a peace process that could take years.
Seventeen rebel groups have joined the talks in the capital, but others have not laid down their arms and some remain locked in combat with the military.
(Additional reporting AFP)
For a young, advantaged woman from the city, life offers seemingly unlimited possibilities. Pursuing a higher degree or working in a fancy skyscraper? All within reach. But a 25-year-old woman in Shanxi chose a more lonely road for her youth, by dedicating herself for the past two years to restoring murals at Guangsheng Temple in Linfen, Shanxi province. For more than 250 work days each year, Guo Jia spent most of her time facing storied, ancient walls and climbing up and down scaffolds. The Weibo account on which she posts about her daily work has attracted 300,000 followers, with Chinese netizens praising both her beauty and her dedication to such an isolating profession. [Photo from Guo Jia's Sina Weibo]
Liu Jing, leader of the research team on liquid metal. [File photo from web]
The liquid metal machine invented by Chinese scientists and once praised as T-1000 robot in sci-fi thriller Terminator now can "jump" and "run", according to an article posted by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on its WeChat account on Wednesday.
It briefed about the new discoveries on liquid metal made by a joint team of scientists from CAS and Tsinghua University that were published in global academic journals this year.
T-1000 robot in Terminator 2 Judgement Day. [Photo from web]
One of their academic papers titled "Liquid Metal Machine Triggered Violin-like Wire Oscillator" appeared as the cover story in the Aug 17 issue of Advanced Science.
The paper discovered that the first-ever oscillation phenomenon of a copper wire embracing inside a self-powered liquid metal machine. When the copper wire contacted the liquid metal, it would be swallowed inside and then reciprocally move back and forth, just like a violin bow.
Cover of the Aug 17 issue of Advanced Science and the illustration of he oscillation phenomenon of a copper wire embracing inside a self-powered liquid metal machine.[Photo from CAS's WeChat account]
Before this, liquid metal machine all appeared in liquid state so technical breakthroughs in combination with a solid metal and new discoveries on oscillation can give a boost to research and development of flexible machines.
Traces of the jumping liquid metal droplet.[Photo from CAS's WeChat account]
In the paper titled "Jumping Liquid Metal Droplet in Electrolyte Triggered by Solid Metal Particles" appearing in the June 2 issue of Applied Physics Letter, the scientists made an interesting finding on the "jumps" of liquid metal, in which the researchers explained the cause of electron discharge effect between the two.
Cover of the Aug 28 issue of Journal of Materials Chemistry B and the illustrations of the research finding about self-propelled liquid metal motors.[Photo from CAS's WeChat account]
Another recent paper appearing as the cover story of Journal of Materials Chemistry B published on Aug 28 is about the finding of "Self-Propelled Liquid Metal Motors Steered by Magnetic or Electrical Field for Drug Delivery".
Movements of both vihicles with one transformable wheel and four transformable wheels.[Photo from CAS's WeChat account]
The team also invented a mini vehicle with transformable wheels made out of liquid metal droplet through 3D printing. Their findings on "Liquid Metal Wheeled Small Vehicle for Cargo Delivery" appeared in the June 6 issue of RSC Advances.
In recent years, the team has been working hard on the application and industrialization of liquid metal. "We are lucky to rank at the front of this field but we can't afford the industrial development lagging the academic research. We should seize the historical opportunity to build a world-class liquid metal valley in China," said Liu Jing, the leader of the team.
Cover of an issue of Avanced Materials published last year and illustrations of its findings. [Photo from web]
Last year, when the team published its finding about liquid metal machines that can "eat" substances and then propel itself like a self-fueled motor on Advanced Materials journal, it attracted great attention from across the world and was labeled as real life Terminator.
But scientists said there is still a long way to bring that kind of transformable robot into reality.
An elderly woman walks in a residential community in Beijing. [Photo/IC]
A new plan calls for employers in Beijing to give staff more time off to show filial piety to their elderly relatives as the government aims to build a senior-friendly city. This is the first time that the capital has proposed such leave, reported Beijing News on Wednesday.
According to a plan passed by Beijing policymakers recently on improving seniors' lives in the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), employers of the city are encouraged to grant staff vacation to visit their elderly family members on their birthdays or on Chongyang Festival, a festival for senior citizens, or when their senior relatives are in need of rehabilitative service or terminal care.
The plan did not specify how to calculate the salary during the leave or how the leave be used.
The idea of family leave to see a spouse or parents living in other places has been put forward in China for decades, but due to various reasons, it is seldom used.
According to a regulation issued by the State Council in 1981, employees of government departments or public institutions are entitled to a 24-day family leave every four years if they do not live in the same place with their spouse or parents.
A survey conducted by the Beijing News shows that among 20 respondents working at government departments or public institutions, only five have taken family leave, with eight having never heard of the policy.
The report said that income is a major reason why few take advantage of the family leave. According to the 1981 regulation, an employee who takes the family leave can still receive their basic wage, but their performance pay will be affected.
According to statistics published by the National Health and Family Planning Commission in 2015, half the senior population in China, or more than 100 million people, are empty nesters, that is, people aged 60 or older whose children have left home.
As the country is facing increasing difficulty in caring for its aging population, it becomes an urgent task to carry out the family leave policy, Feng Xiliang with the School of Labor Economics in Capital University of Economics and Business told Beijing News.
Previously, the country had written "visiting parents" in its law books.
At the end of 2012, China's national legislature amended its law on elderly to require that adult children should visit their aging parents "often", or risk being sued by their parents.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau presents a memorial medal of Norman Bethune to Premier Li Keqiang on Aug 30, 2016. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
A memorial medal, made 43 years ago honoring the work of an inspirational doctor, was presented to Premier Li Keqiang by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when they met in the Forbidden City on Tuesday.
"I am honored to present Premier Li Keqiang a memorial medal of Norman Bethune, which was made in 1973 during my father's visit to China," Trudeau said on WeChat.
The Canadian physician Bethune was well-known and widely respected in China. He has been seen as symbolizing friendship between the two countries for treating wounded Chinese soldiers and sick villagers against Japanese invaders during World War II.
Trudeau is on an eight-day visit to China, including three and a half days in Beijing. He will also go to Shanghai and Hong Kong and will attend the G20 summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.
In 1973, his father Pierre Trudeau was the first Canadian prime minister to visit Beijing, three years after the establishment of diplomatic ties. He also visited the Forbidden City.
Pierre Trudeau made 50 medals of Norman Bethune and presented two of them to Chairman Mao Zedong and former Premier Zhou Enlai.
Trudeau also posted pictures of his trip to Beijing, including meeting with entrepreneurs and the moment when he presented the medal.
Red Army veterans will receive pro bono clinic services by specialists from Beijing as the government launches a one-week campaign, starting from September 3, the National Health and Family Planning Commission announced on Thursday.
The government will send nine teams of medical doctors and nurses to nine old revolutionary base areas, including Ruijin in East China's Jiangxi Province, and Yan'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Medical organizations across China will also set up free clinic stations to serve the general public, with special treatment for veteran soldiers, including free medical examinations.
"We expect 20,000 medical facilities to join this movement, and we project that 15 million people will benefit from this nationwide," said Li Dachuan, a director from the Commission in charge of the event.
The opening ceremony will be held on September 3 in Ruijin, the starting location of the Red Army's Long March. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the success of the Long March, when three armies, led by the Communist Party of China, joined forces in Northwest China's Gansu after a two-year-long march.
Pan Jianwei(center), chief quantum scientist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), gives a gift to Students at Zhongguancun No1 Primary School in Beijing. [Photo by Zou Hong/chinadaily.com.cn]
Students at Beijing's Zhongguancun No1 Primary School received a very scientific first class of the new semester on Thursday, as Pan Jianwei, chief quantum scientist of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), gave a lecture entitled "Value of Science".
The speech, given at the school's opening ceremony, gave students a brief introduction to the history of science and well-known scientists. Pan then introduced the basic concept of quantum mechanics and quantum communication, and its value in modern science.
"Many fantasies, like clairvoyance and clairaudience, have become reality in science to some extent," said Pan, chief scientist of pilot project of quantum scientific experimental satellite at CAS. "I hope what I said today would give them some basic impression of the science and hopefully guide them to be scientist one day."
China launched the world's first quantum communication satellite named "Micius" on August 16. The technology is expected to help build a hack-proof communication system, among many other uses.
China has been trying to improve its scientific strength both in professional fields and at the popular level.
"I've been following Chinese science for 12 years, and the level of Chinese science is skyrocketing," said Mika Tirronen, counselor of education and science, Embassy of Finland, Beijing.
"This is because of long-term education, not only taking place in universities, it started from primary level."
"We encourage the students to take part in science activities at a young age," said Liu Chang, principle of the school. "We hope to plant the seed of science in them."
Snow-covered mountains look over the Isfjord in Svalbard, Norway in this June 1, 2012 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]
ST. PETERSBURG -- China ranked first in the number of tourists that visited Frantz Josef Land Archipelago and Novaya Zemlya Archipelago in the Arctic region in 2016, Russian Arctic National Park said on Thursday.Nine round trips to these archipelagoes were organized during the 2016 tourist season, the park said, adding that 269 out of the 954 tourists were Chinese citizens.Different animals -- whales, beluga whales, narwhals and polar bears -- were seen during practically every voyage, according to the park.Russian Arctic National Park witnessed the largest number of tourists in 2015 -- 1,255 people. It plans to organize 10 round trips to the Arctic archipelagoes in 2017.
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As I clamber aboard a minibus for a leg of the Long March 80th anniversary press tour, I have no idea what to expect. I've never been to this part of China and, as all the materials I have been provided are in Chinese, I barely know when we will be having meals.
Getting on right behind me is Liu Chong, deputy head of the information bureau, Office of the Central Leading Group of Cyberspace Affairs. As the bus pulls onto the highway, he turns to me.
"I'm glad you're here. Historically, foreign friends even joined in the first Long March."
As the only laowai (foreigner) in the platoon of 50 journalists along for the tour, it's nice to know I'm not the one setting the precedent. But it got me wondering who those other influential foreign tag alongs were that have come before me.
There is, of course, the famous Otto Bruan. A German-born, Soviet-trained military advisor, he is often depicted in movies and on statues as part of the main decision-making body of the Red Army. Although I'm an American, I am also in China to act as an advisor, but I feel like my comparison with Bruan ends there. I stack paragraphs of text, not columns of troops in formation. I also hope Liu isn't anticipating me making as many blunders as Bruan, such as his failed anti-encirclement campaign that lost tens of thousands of troops. The worst I can do is misspell a couple words.
Am I similar to Bi Shiti, the famous Korean soldier who joined the Red Army after being driven from his home country by the Japanese? Nope. Bi was a competent and brave warrior, often at the tip of the spear for campaigns to seize resources or secure safe passage for the rest of the army. The bravest thing I'm likely to do on this trip is sample Hunan food that is much, much spicier than the Beijing fare I'm used to.
Then there is Rudolf Alfred Bosshardt, a Christian missionary who translated maps and helped acquire medical supplies for the Red Army in 1934. Now here is someone I can relate to. Bosshardt was a storyteller and wrote a book about his experience. The book, "The Guiding Hand: Captivity and Answered Prayer in China," was hailed by Bosshardt's commanding general, Xiao Ke, as the most accurate account of the Long March ever written by a foreigner. Maybe I can get Deputy Head Liu to say something similar about my chronicles of this experience, especially because I'm the only foreigner along for this trip.
But as kilometers tick by on the odometer, I realize I may have a different role all together. I can provide an outside perspective on a piece of history that my fellow reporters have known for all of their lives. I can shine a different colored light on issues we encounter that have already been framed in a certain way by media that has come before us. And I can be completely, unapologetically silly, interacting with the locals in a way that allows them to let down their guard and engage with us in new ways. Through this I hope my platoon of reporters can discover and report on something not yet discussed as we follow the route of the Long March.
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Four score years ago, the Chinese Red Army clinched the victory of the 25,000-li (7767 miles) Long March from 1934 to 1936. Here are some foreign participants we will never forget.
Hong Shui, a general of two countries
Hong Shui (known as Nguyen Son in Vietnam), inspired by late Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh, took part in the Chinese revolution and went on the Long March undertaken by the Red Army.
He was the only foreigner who went through from the founding of the Chinese Red Army to the victory of China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
Hong was conferred the rank of Major General of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in 1955. He was also a Major General in the Vietnam People's Army. It is rare for someone to be a general of two countries.
Hong was born in 1908 in Hanoi, and came to China in 1925. He entered Whampoa, China's first modern military academy, in 1926, and joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) the next year.
Hong was versatile and was highly appreciated by late Chairman Mao Zedong. During the Long March, he made great contributions to the publicity of the Red Army and the Party, inspiring the Red Army soldiers and winning support from the masses.
After his troops suffered several setbacks and were finally disrupted, Hong set off on the Long March alone. Having gone through all kinds of hardships and difficulties, he managed to walk to Yan'an, Shaanxi Province in early 1936.
In 1945, Hong returned to Vietnam to fight against French colonialists. He came back to China in 1950.
In 1956, a year after he'd been made a major general by the Chinese government, Hong was diagnosed with lung cancer. He returned to Vietnam and passed away in October of that year.
For two times during the Long March, Hong was mistakenly accused as an international spy and was expelled from the Party. He was readmitted to the Party after CPC central committee corrected the accusations in time.
His Chinese name means "flood." It was said that he once likened himself to a torrent of water, charging irresistibly through life's rugged landscape, against all the odds.
Li Tianmei showcases Dongjin in Tongdao Dong autonomous county, in Hunan province, August 30, 2016. [Photo by Wan Lijun/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
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Dongjin, or the Dong brocade, has recorded the history of the Dong ethnic group for thousands of years. Now it is helping them move out of poverty.
The technique, well-known for its rich colors and exquisite patterns, has been passed on from mothers to daughters of Dong ethnic group for more than 2,000 years. It was listed as one of the state-level intangible cultural heritage list in 2008.
Li Tianmei, a resident of Lanxiang village, Tongdao Dong autonomous county in Hunan province, is one of the few national inheritors of the technique.
Li, 69, started to learn the craft from her mother when she was 12 years old. By the age of 15, she could independently complete the whole process of making Dongjin.
"When weaving, you have to bind silk threads and tapes of various colors to your waist and legs while moving feet and hands at the same time," Li said. "Pieces of Dongjin slowly come to life with the squeaks of the loom."
The process is complicated and has more than 10 steps, including cotton ginning, spinning and dyeing, with the most difficult being counting the threads.
"The hundreds of thousands of threads must be counted and organized carefully one by one, otherwise the patterns will be distorted and the surface uneven," Li said.
Due to unstable income from weaving, the pressure to earn money was mainly shouldered by her husband. One time her husband was so stressed that he set her loom on fire.
Bu Li never gave up her passion. She began adding various modern elements into the old art.
"Dongjin is a craftsmanship left by our ancestors. We can't afford to lose it. We are responsible for attracting more young weavers to carry it forward," She said.
Aiming to encourage more inheritors, she established a school in the village to teach residents the skill with the support of local government in 2009.
The work is labor-intensive and time-consuming. Weaving a scarf may sometimes take a skilled worker up to one month. Therefore the price is also very high.
Li said that her family could make 3,000 to 4,000 yuan by farming. After the establishment of the institute, her average annual family income reached 40,000 yuan ($5,990).
So far, more than 3,000 women have learned the craft from Li. Many of them now make Dongjin in their spare time at home, earning extra income ranging from 10,000 to 60,000 yuan every year.
Many designers from foreign countries, including Italy and Netherlands, also come to her school to study the ancient art.
Moreover, the Tongdao county government has established a company to promote Dongjin. Besides selling the products in physical stores, the company is exploring a broader market through e-commerce.
"With the support of the government, I will continue to pass on the technique," Li said.
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A farmer sells kiwi fruits in Changputang village, Fenghuang county, Hunan province on Aug 31, 2016. [Photo by Xiao Yi/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
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"If you have a daughter, don't marry her to any man from Changputang since nothing grows there except calamus."
This is a well-known saying in Fenghuang county, Hunan province for many years. However, finding a wife is no longer a concern for single men in the village now and the lands once occupied by calamus are now an orchard full of kiwi fruits, grapefruits and watermelons.
The Changputang village of Fenghuang county has a population of about 2,800. Most of the residents are of the Tujia ethnic group.
Before 1980s, the village was in extreme poverty due to limited land, lack of water and dilapidated roads. The per capita arable land was about two mu (0.13 hectares). The residents, with an annual average income of 600 yuan ($90), grew rice and corn for a living.
Since 1982, villagers began to grow crops such as watermelons and cucurbits.
"We didn't have confidence back then so we chose crops with short growing periods," said Wang Anquan, an official of Changputang. "Just in case they don't grow well, we could change to rice and corn." To his surprise, the venture was greatly successful.
Encouraged by their first experiment, farmers in the village introduced a special kind of tangerine from Zhejiang province, which brought an extra income of 2,000 yuan for every mu. Meanwhile, the income for rice was only 500 yuan per mu.
During the following years, the village further diversified its products with kiwi fruits and grapefruits.
In 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping visited Changputang during an inspection tour.
Xi said that better technology and a bigger market are needed to improve agriculture in the village. He advised villagers to keep an eye on the market and look ahead. Xi also encouraged them to work harder.
In the same tour to southern Hunan, Xi said alleviating poverty in the region should be done with targeted policies, including improving agriculture and education.
Agriculture is the key economic engine in southern Hunan. From 2011 to 2012, the Ministry of Agriculture invested 1.23 billion yuan to boost development in the area. Today, southern Hunan is the largest base for lilies and kiwis in China.
Today, the Changputang village can produce 6.5 million kilograms of fruits worth 35 million yuan. The average net income has reached 7,000 yuan per year. The net income of 90 percent of the fruit farmers is above 30,000 yuan. Every family has tap water and cement roads.
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China's decision to invite a record number of developing countries to the G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou is a smart move that reflects a new approach to managing the organization, observers said.
They noted that Hangzhou is a pioneer in upgrading industries, and inviting more developing countries to be part of discussions in the city will further facilitate sustainable development of the G20 mechanism itself.
Invitations to the first five countries - Chad, Laos, Senegal, Egypt and Kazakhstan - were confirmed by Foreign Minister Wang Yi when he addressed the media with his visiting Laotian counterpart early last month.
Sponsored by the Chinese Consulate in Johannesburg, CAYA and GIBS co-hosted China Culture Day on the GIBS Sandton Campus in South Africa on Aug 30, 2016. [Photo/people.cn]
A Chinese cultural event was held at South Africa's top business school for the first time on Tuesday, Aug 30.
The business school of the University of Pretoria, the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) hosted the event on its Sandton campus. Speakers included the Chinese Deputy Consul General in Johannesburg, Ren Xiaoxia; GIBS lecturer Matthew Birtch, Mandarin SA representative Lance Long, and chairman of the China Africa Youth Association, Ken Chun. Guests from both South Africa and China enjoyed a traditional Lion Dance, Chinese cuisine and Chinese movies after the seminar.
Ren took the opportunity to explain the importance of such concepts as the Chinese round-table dinner, modesty and respect for teachers. She also pointed out that Chinese culture is a large and ever-changing concept, so much so that even Chinese people can't fully comprehend it.
"Culture is prone to misunderstanding for people who didn't grow up within that particular cultural context. It is not an easy task to understand another culture - especially Chinese culture - for many South Africans. I'm glad that such initiatives keep us on track to get to know each other better," said Ren.
Birtch noted that, because the Chinese economy is vital to Africa's development, South Africa should find a way to align itself with Chinese business culture. Long then elaborated on the cultural differences between South Africa and China. He listed several barriers such as South Africa's colonial history that have challenged Chinese companies wanting to enter the South African market. Chun concluded by affirming that, according to Hofstede's Culture Dimensions theory, China and South Africa have a lot in common.
A painting by Peng Pi. [Photo provided to China Daily]
A lithograph graduate of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Peng Pi, 32 and based in Beijing, has been painting on canvas. His productivity has resulted in several oil painting and lithograph series over the past decade.
His upcoming solo exhibition, titled Wildness and Calmness, at Beijing's First Sound gallery, shows his latest development in oil painting, displaying a dozen works inspired by his travels in Southwest Chinas Yunnan province.
The rich color scheme and carefree strokes bring the audience into the wild forest, underlying which the painter expresses his solitude attitude toward the buzz of city life and search for inner tranquillity.
The exhibition will run from Sept 3 to 9.
A painting by Peng Pi. [Photo provided to China Daily]
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A painting by Chen Jun. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Chinese ink art as a time-honored tradition has been changing since it was born. It transformation became even radical at the dawn of the 20th century along with the introduction of Western art. Today, ink art is deeply incorporated into the field of contemporary art as artists are making experimental attempts.
In Ink, an exhibition to be unveiled at Royal College of Art Gallery in London, glimpses into the diversity of a younger generation of Chinese artists who work with the medium of ink. Their approaches are more personal and avant-garde to reveal the spirit of their generation, with unrestrained will.
Featured artists include Yan Hualing, Hang Chunhui and Peng Jian.
The exhibition will run from Sept 7 to 13.
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Chinese indigenous brands Sanshi and Yimo presented new collections in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Chinese indigenous brands Sanshi and Yimo presented new collections in Beijing on Aug 16.
Both brands highlight natural materials like cotton and linen, promoting traditional, eco-friendly lifestyle. The collections use handmade cloth and hand printing, catering to both business and casual occasions.
Sanshi and Yimo were founded by Designer Tao Tao in 2009 and 2013 respectively. Tao has also founded Sanshi Lifestyle Space that promotes the Asian lifestyle. She is also a longtime patron of the Chinese band Sanshi.
Jewelry pieces designed by Shirley Zhang. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Western brands like Cartier and Tiffany have been sought after for years in China, but now they are going to be joined by a slew of new designer brands.
The Shenzhen Hemei Group announced in Hong Kong on Aug 29 that it has formed a strategic alliance with Bluebell Group, a Hong Kong-based branding company, and investment firm Orion Partners, to tap the consumer goods market in China.
The three have formed a new company that will find and nurture indigenous designer jewelry brands, as well as overseas ones.
The company has named Chinese jewelry designer Shirley Zhang as its creative director.
As of now, the new company has signed up more than 30 designers from China and Europe to help build brands for the Chinese market.
Of the three companies that have come together to form the new venture, Hemei seems like the most unlikely.
Hemei, a leading manufacturer of smart electric meters, however, got its first taste of fashion through Make Lumer, an affordable diamond brand, and apparently liked it.
The company is now also involved in tourism, capital management and new energy.
West Lake fish in vinegar is a signature Hangzhou dish found in various restaurants in the city. [Photo provided to China Daily]
If I ever go into the restaurant business, I pray for a reputation like that of Louwailou.
But perhaps I wouldn't live to see it. Like many of the world's most famous restaurants, Louwailou earned its acclaim over many generations. There is some debate about when the place opened, but 1838 or 1848 seem likely.
There are also a romantic mix of stories about its founding. Unlike today, when restaurants dot the waterfront of West Lake, back then there was not a good place to eat in the area, the story goes. The owner had failed the imperial examination for scholars, but he and his wife had developed skill cooking fresh fish and shrimp which they sold on the street in their hometown of Shaoxing. After the deaths of their parents, they moved to Gushan (Solitary Hill) on West Lake and made their living by boating and fishing. At some point the boss was inspired by Lin Sheng (1163-1189), a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), who wrote: "The green hill besides the mountain and a house sets outside another building, ceaseless dances and songs along the West Lake, the breeze that makes us inebrious..." Giddy with delight, he founded the restaurant now famous for "enjoying delicious dishes and beautiful scenery together".
The restaurant's setting lives up to such exalted sentiment. It glows on the lakefront, and a separate dining room is literally docked out front, for private parties for those with some cash and clout.
On land, the main dining room is a sea of white tablecloths and fast-moving waitstaff. After more than 150 years, the place draws a crowd and there's always a wait unless you happen to arrive as we didat 10:30 am when the restaurant opens. By 11 the place was full and a line had formed out front.
The specialty here is sweet-and-sour carp, and our platter arrived with two whole fish under a sauce that was dense without being gloppy. In Hangzhou style, the "sour" was a little more dominant that the "sweet", making the dish less cloying than some Shanghai or Cantonese variations on this theme.
"When prepared and presented well," the menu advises, "the dish will be served with erect pectoral fins with eyes looking up and have a tasty flesh, integrating delicious sweet and sour flavors as well as the taste of carp."
We ordered that right away (it's 208 yuan or $31 for 500 g), then started our meal with a platter of sweet lotus root and a local beer, followed by an intriguing side dish of wild vegetables with melon seeds, peanuts and pinenuts.
Next came beggar's chicken, which has its own sweet story from long ago: Unsure what to do with it, a beggar put a chicken in a lotus leaf and buried it in the mud. Later, eager to feed a hungry friend, he dug up the chicken and put it whole, still wrapped in the lotus leaf and mud, into the fire. "When he opened the mud casing," our menu recounts, "the aroma and tenderness of the chicken cooking in its own juices was heavenly". Since then, the dish has been a Hangzhou specialty, the story goes, with more local flavor added by using Shaoxing wine inside the lotus wrap.
These fun tidbits from the menu, by the way, are in English as well as Chinese, so guests from far away can enjoy the lore of the West Lake cuisine as much as the locals do. Crystal shrimps sauteed with Longjing tea, Dong Po-style braised pork, hot-and-sour fish soup, crispy rice with shrimp, and Hangzhou-style soup with sea cucumber, abalone, shark's fin, dried scallop and ham are all on offer, explained in similarly charming detail.
The restaurant has served many famous personalities over the years including Sun Yat-sen, late Premier Zhou Enlai and writer Lu Xun, as well as many foreign dignitaries and celebrities.
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Qishuping: Guizhou's only Qiang village By Yang Fan ( chinadaily.com.cn ) Updated: 2016-08-30
Chinas Qiang ethnic group has a lineage which dates back more than 3,000 years. Today, most Qiang live in the mountainous areas in northwest Sichuan province, however there are a small number living upon a mountainside in Guizhou.
The Qiang people of Qishuping village are descendants of the Hu family which fled war torn Sichuan as the Ming Dynasty (13681644) came to an end, finally settling on Fanjing Mountain.
Today the village is home to some 289 Qiang people all sharing the family name of Hu. Qishuping sits upon the eastern face of the mountain at an altitude of more than 1,000 meters, sheltering itself from harsh weather.
At the entrance to the village, three ancient trees stand tall in front of a backdrop of stone buildings and fortified watchtowers. Running through the middle of Qishuping, a stream trickles along its mountain pathway, providing fresh water to the village.
Facing south, households in the village are able to get more sun. Many buildings in Qishuping were built with archery holes in the walls so that they could be used in defense against an attack.
According to the Qiang calendar, the villagers celebrate the New Year on Oct 1 of the lunar calendar, and divide each year into 10 months consisting of 36 days each. It is vitally important in Qiang culture to return to the village or hometown on New Years Day each year.
Upon the New Year, Qiang people take part in a ceremony, setting fire to reeds and offering sacrifices to make contact with higher powers. Offerings are given, such as preserved meat, pigs heads, and grains, to wish for health, favorable weather and good harvests.
As there are only a small number of Qiang people in Guizhou, the local government sends a proportion of the children to Sichuan province each year to learn more about the culture of the ethnic group, such as its language, traditions and etiquette.
Hu Zhengyong is the 14th leader of Qishuping. He explained that life in the village is not the same as it once was, as the people seek to find ways to improve farming conditions and social wellbeing. We have started making handicrafts and growing crops to increase revenue in the village, Hu said.
The local government of nearby Taoying town is also hoping to create a tourism industry around the village and has invested 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) in infrastructure. An activity square and an exhibition hall have been built in the village, allowing visitors to learn more about Qiang history and culture. I hope tourism can help to preserve our culture and at the same time increase peoples income, said Hu.
Donald Trump flew to Mexico just before a highly anticipated immigration speech in Arizona tonight, and met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
After the meeting, Trump says the two men discussed a wall that the U.S. GOP presidential nominee has promised to build along the US/Mexico border. Trump says they did not discuss his often repeated demand that Mexico will pay for it. The Mexican president responded, and effectively said that Trump's version of events was not true.
"Who pays for the wall? We didn't discuss," Trump replied when asked by a reporter during a news conference following his meeting with Pena Nieto in Mexico City. "We did discuss the wall. We didn't discuss payment of the wall. That'll be for a later date."
Pena Nieto tweeted a response.
Al inicio de la conversacion con Donald Trump deje claro que Mexico no pagara por el muro. Enrique Pena Nieto (@EPN) August 31, 2016
"At the start of the conversation with Donald Trump, I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall," Pena Nieto tweeted after the Wednesday meeting.
He then tweeted that the conversation moved on to other topics.
A partir de ahi, la conversacion abordo otros temas, y se desarrollo de manera respetuosa. Enrique Pena Nieto (@EPN) August 31, 2016
The Trump campaign later said the discussion "was not a negotiation, and that would have been inappropriate." It continued, "It is unsurprising that they hold two different views on this issue, and we look forward to continuing the conversation."
The two men met and spoke at Los Pinos (The Pines), the Mexican president's official residence and office. The Trump campaign announced the visit late Tuesday evening Pena Nieto had earlier extended an invitation to both presidential candidates. Trump is traveling back to the U.S. Wednesday night to give a speech on immigration in Phoenix. Trump's position on immigration has waffled in recent days. At one point he appeared to back away from his previous support of mass deportations for the people in the U.S. illegally. He has since sought to clarify his immigration stance, and this latest push on immigration is part of that effort. He remains deeply unpopular with Hispanic voters. His visit to Mexico was also widely opposed by the public there. There were some protests in regards to Trump's visit. Two of Trump's closest advisers, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, joined Trump in Mexico.
So it's clear right now from both sides that EPN told Trump at the start of the meeting that Mexico wasn't paying and Trump didn't respond Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) September 1, 2016
Trump's visit, and Pena Nieto's failure to hold Trump accountable for his racist comments about Mexican people, were widely protested in Mexico.
Even more: Mexican pres. saying he strongly expressed to Trump, no paying for the wall. "Position non-negotiable." https://t.co/ZIMzXaQGcm Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) September 1, 2016
Trump surrogate just now: We left the press behind because we didn't want a photo op Trump surrogate this afternoon pic.twitter.com/kLCBxF152D John Whitehouse (@existentialfish) September 1, 2016
Pushback from Mexico: In mtg, President was strong that Mexico does not pay for the wall. Position not negotiable. https://t.co/jG5boFsiCg Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 1, 2016
Francis Bacon, the 16th Century British statesman, observed that: "Time is the greatest innovator". Two months ago, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, and both Europe and the rest of the world felt the shock. Post-Brexit Britain is now in a time of adjustmentwith the coming of a new prime minister, a new government and new policies. The China-UK relationship is also entering an important historical period with new development opportunities.
I have had the honor to have been China's Ambassador in the UK for the past six and half years. From this unique vantage point, I have been deeply impressed by the extraordinary progress made in China-UK relations in recent years. This progress was highlighted by President Xi Jinping's successful "Super State Visit" to the UK last year, which greatly advanced bilateral exchanges and cooperation across the board. During that visit, the two countries agreed to build a global comprehensive strategic partnership for the 21st century together.
Such a strong relationship and close friendship between China and the UK has extensive popular support in both countries, since it serves the fundamental interests of our two peoples and benefits world peace and development. Both countries have worked hard to come this far and both should cherish what has been achieved. Experience tells us that the important fundamentals for a healthy and stable China-UK relationship have remained unchangedour two countries need to respect each other, treat each other as equals and attach importance to each other's core interests and major concerns.
Next year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of ambassadorial-level diplomatic relations between China and the UK. As I reflect on what this relationship has gone through and envision its future, I am convinced that a number of steps need to be made in order to maintain the momentum in the relationship and bring more benefits to our peoples. Below is a course of action I believe the two countries should follow.
First, we must make continuous efforts to build stronger political mutual trust. Mutual trust is the foundation for cooperation. Progress in China-UK bilateral ties is always powered by mutual understanding, support and friendship between our two peoples.
It is natural that our partnership will be accompanied by differences of views, as China and the UK differ in political systems, development stages and cultural traditions. But the old Chinese saying, "truth does not fear contention", embraces the spirit that can be followed to advance relations. Being fair in a dialogue requires the ability to "stand in others' shoes". Candid and in-depth communication and thinking from the perspective of one's interlocutor will help to build trust, expand consensus and clear misgivings.
Since the new British government took office in July, China has reiterated its unchanged commitment to growing ties with the UK. The new British government has also stated its position of attaching importance to relations with China.
At a recent meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the nation's top legislature, Minister of Finance Lou Jiwei introduced the draft of the Environmental Protection Tax Law.
Currently the State collects cleanup fees from enterprises that discharge pollutants for others to treat, and there have long been calls for reforming the fees into a tax framework with stricter standards.
According to the draft, the tax will mainly target air pollutants, water pollutants, solid waste and noise pollution. It was planned that carbon dioxide would be included, too, but the draft does not include CO2.
It was in Europe that environmental protection taxes first emerged. Such taxes increase the operating costs of polluting enterprises so as to discourage capital from investing in high-polluting industries.
However, there are those who oppose such taxes. Some claim the collection of an environmental protection tax "legalizes" pollution, because the polluting enterprises think they have purchased the right to pollute.
Therefore even if the environmental protection tax becomes law, there need to be strict environmental standards, and the enterprises with excessive pollution should be punished, even held responsible if their pollution is as serious as a criminal offense. Only with joint measures can pollution be curbed.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to reporters at Abe's official residence in Tokyo, Japan, January 28, 2016.[Photo/Agencies]
Diplomacy is not simple math. By ignoring this fact, Japan again failed to trade checks for political payout from African countries at the recent Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development summit in Nairobi.
Japanese diplomats had burnt the midnight oil to lobby African countries to put issues beyond Africa's development in the Nairobi Declaration, which was issued on Aug 28. What Japan expected were remarks on United Nations reform and the South China Sea issue to counter China.
But the fact is, less than half of the African countries participated in the summit and the talks on drafting the declaration stuttered as some delegates were unhappy with Tokyo's plan to make the declaration political.
With natural resentment against any move reflecting colonial era politics, the African countries opposed Japan's attempt to impose its will upon them and bring Asian issues to Africa.
As a result, Kenya didn't issue a joint statement with Japan after a bilateral meeting between their leaders on the sidelines of the summit, although Japan's Kyodo News Agency claimed on Aug 29 that such a joint statement was released. And as the declaration shows, Japan had to agree with the African countries' views.
Moreover, the contents related to maritime issues in the declaration are confined to the field of maritime security cooperation among African countries.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did announce that Japan would invest $30 billion of public and private funds in Africa in the next three years. But Tokyo should realize checks cannot buy respect, particularly on a continent that values genuine friendship.
Africa should not let itself be used by Japan to politically challenge China, nor should international forums such as the G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou and the upcoming East Asia Cooperation Leaders Meetings in Laos.
Hostility, if not ended, will continue to eat into Japan's diplomatic resources without yielding any political returns.
DAMASCUS, Aug. 31 -- At least 50 rebels were killed and over 70 others wounded on Wednesday, when the Syrian army foiled militants' attacks in the central province of Hama, state news agency SANA reported.
The Syrian army was engaged in violent clashes with the rebels in the northern countryside of Hama on Wednesday, said SANA, adding that the rebels foiled several attacks on the towns of Soran and Taibet al-Imam.
The northern countryside of Hama has returned under the spotlight after the rebels carried out repetitive attacks on government positions in that area.
No clear reason why the rebels carry out such attacks, but it's part of their effort to get the army busy with more than one front to reduce the pressure on rebels in other parts of northern Syria.
Recent reports said the rebels in the northern province of Aleppo are reeling under fresh pressure by the Syrian army, which has reportedly closed the routes to the besieged rebel-held areas in the eastern part of Aleppo city.
The northern region in Hama is also close to the northwestern province of Idlib, a key stronghold for the rebels' Jaish al-Fateh, or the Army of Conquest.
SANA said the rebels there unleashed their attacks from areas close to Idlib.
Brazil's suspended President Dilma Rousseff attends the final session of debate and voting on Rousseff's impeachment trial in Brasilia, Brazil, August 29, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
BRASILIA - A few short hours after Dilma Rousseff was impeached as president of Brazil, her former vice-president and political ally-turned-enemy, Michel Temer, was sworn in as her successor.
At a special session of Congress, after the playing of the national anthem, Temer was sworn in. He was surrounded by the president of the Supreme Court, Ricardo Lewandowski, the president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, and the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Maia.
Temer will serve as president until Dec,31, 2018.
The new president did not make a speech but has already recorded an address to be broadcast live to the nation Wednesday evening.
Temer twitted on his account, saying that "I swear to uphold, defend and fulfill the Constitution, observe its laws, promote the well-being of the Brazilian people, sustain the union, integrity and independence of Brazil."
After the swearing-in ceremony, Temer was set to host his first cabinet meeting as full president. After this, he is to fly to China, where he will participate in a number of events, culminating in the G-20 Summit, to be held in Hangzhou on Sept. 4-5.
Shortly before the swearing-in, Dilma Rousseff vowed "a firm and energetic resistance against the putschist government."
Gao Min shows her work at a gingerbread decorating event at Leeds University's British-born Chinese Society. [DAVID YU/FOR CHINA DAILY] Thousands of British-born Chinese, or BBCs, face questions almost every day about their backgrounds.
They also deal with the challenge of forging personal identities in a country where many people will initially presume that they are visitors.
Britain is home to more than 433,000 Chinese, according to the 2011 census, with about a third of them born in the UK. They often find themselves caught between two cultures.
Clumsy questions such as But where are you really from? are familiar to BBCs. At home with their families, they may encounter different challenges, often raised by parents who are unaccustomed to British social norms and habits that their children have assumed as second nature.
British-born Guo Jinjin, a 20-year-old medical student at Leeds University whose parents moved to the UK from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, said, When I first found a boyfriend and I was invited to his house, my parents didnt feel comfortable.
When my parents were younger back in China, they didnt go to the opposite sexs house alone.
Tackling cultural duality has an impact on well-being among BBCs, according to Heung Chingchu, who conducted a study at the University of London on the development of their ethnic self-identity.
Heung found there was positive correlation between feeling comfortable with growing up among two cultures and self-esteem.
Anna Chen, a British writer whose father comes from Guangdong province, said that even the term BBC does not appropriately describe her identity.
I want to change this to Chinese Britons, because I think British has to be at the core of the term, Chen said. This is how I see myself, as a Chinese Brit, because I was born and raised in Hackney.
Guo Jinjin, vice president of Leeds Universitys British-born Chinese Society, said that since the European Union referendum was held in June, she had noticed an upturn in verbal abuse from white Britons.
Someone will drive by in a car and shout stuff at you like go back to your own country or chinky, she said.
What is clear is that ethnic Chinese work hard at school and that many succeed in the workplace up to a certain point.
In 2010, researchers at Bristol University found that Chinese students in British schools gained more top grades than their white British counterparts in every General Certificate of Secondary Education subject.
In the same year, the National Equality Panel found that a fifth of Chinese men were employed at management level, a higher rate than all other major ethnic groups in the UK.
However, Chinese women experienced a wider gender pay gap than other ethnic groups in Britain despite having higher qualifications.
In 2009, researchers at the University of York found Chinese in Britain were strongly represented in the service and hospitality industries, in medical and veterinary jobs, and in the retail and construction sectors.
But Chinese are underrepresented in certain jobs with high public profiles.
British-Chinese actress Elizabeth Chan wrote in The Guardian, Although we are the fourth-largest minority ethnic group in the UK, we are virtually invisible in public life principally the arts, media and politics.
The Chinese community in the UK is more diffuse than most ethnic groups. Many families working in the service industry in rural areas are the only Chinese in their communities.
Guos family moved to a village outside Lincoln, where she was the only Chinese girl at her secondary school.
There was some teasing from the other kids, she said. When I moved to Leeds, I had a lot of people asking me, Where are you from? Id say Lincoln, and theyd look at me like, no, youre not.
Guo said that for much of her youth she felt a strong desire to suppress the differences she had with her classmates, and didnt feel she belonged in either the UK or China.
When Im in China I feel more British, because of the differences in the way I grew up, she said. When Im in Britain I feel more Chinese, because I look different.
For Guo, celebrating her differences came with age. She now feels that she is able to use the access she has to two cultures to her advantage.
Chinese culture has become a bigger part of my life, she said. Ive embraced the fact that I am different. I get to experience British culture and Chinese culture and I think I am a better person for it.
angus@mail.chinadailyuk.com
The World Bank Group is a key multilateral development institution dedicated to reducing global poverty and supporting development. On the selection of President, China is supportive of the "open, merit-based and transparent" principles.
Dr. Jim Yong Kim assumed office in 2012. Since then, he has been working earnestly on the reform of the World Bank Group, setting the twin goals of "ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity", promoting global economic recovery and development with a vision of leading the World Bank Group to be better and stronger. Under his leadership, the World Bank Group has been strengthening cooperation with client countries, providing tailored solutions to them in a demand-driven approach and with greater development impact. It is also highly commended that he guides the World Bank Group to closer partnership with other Multilateral Development Banks and the private sectors for more results on global poverty reduction and development.
Dr. Kim also made great efforts to deepen the comprehensive cooperation between the World Bank Group and China. Substantial achievement has been made in lending, knowledge and international development cooperation. Such work brings about not only economic development in China and the world, but also development of the World Bank Group itself. In Particular, Dr. Kim's support to the cooperation between the World Bank Group, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank has enhanced the overall strength of the multilateral development system as a whole and is conducive to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
China appreciates the impressive achievement and leadership of Dr. Kim in his first term. China supports Dr. Kim's re-election as the World Bank Group President for a second term. China expects the World Bank Group to play a greater role in the global development agenda with greater contribution to global development cooperation, poverty reduction, economic recovery and growth.
(Source: Ministry of Finance)
Photo taken on Jan 6, 2014 shows technicians work on the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed railway constructed by China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) in Turkey. [Photo/Xinhua]
BEIJING - The Chinese railway industry has become a means of diplomacy as China's bullet trains and high-speed rail have become buzzwords in the news coverage of meetings between Chinese leaders and their overseas counterparts.
Zhang Yiwu, a professor at Peking University, said "high-speed trains mark China's rising power and influence globally."
As an advocate of the Chinese high-speed railway, Premier Li Keqiang has made all-out efforts during many foreign trips to highlight the country's high-speed rail technology, saying it ensures cost-effective projects without sacrificing quality.
In October 2013, Li's speech at the Thai parliament was widely reported by global media outlets, with many focusing on his "sales pitch" on behalf of China's railway industry.
One month later, he stressed the advantage of Chinese railway equipment and technologies in addressing a trade forum between China and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in Bucharest, Romania.
In May 2014, Li said at the headquarters of the African Union in Ethiopia that China would actively participate in infrastructure projects in Africa and build a high-speed rail research center in the continent.
He has pushed for bilateral cooperation in the railway sector during his other overseas trips, including that to Britain in June 2014 and the four-nation tour in Latin America in May.
An internal memo from a key Democratic Party electioneering group tells candidates to listen but "don't offer support" for the "concrete policy positions" of Black Lives Matter protestersand offers tips on getting past it. Whatever you do, don't say all lives matter! "This is the worst response," the memo warns.
The 2015 memo was allegedly swiped by hackers supporting Russian efforts to influence election season in America.
"Presidential candidates have struggled to respond to tactics of the Black Lives Matter movement," reads the memo, sent by a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee staffer in November. "While there has been little engagement with House candidates, candidates and campaign staff should be prepared. This document should not be emailed or handed to anyone outside of the building. Please only give campaign staff these best practices in meetings or over the phone." If approached by BLM activists, campaign staff should offer to meet with local activists," the memo reads. "Invited BLM attendees should be limited. Please aim for personal or small group meetings." "Listen to their concerns," it continues. "Don't offer support for concrete policy positions." The memo includes advice on what, exactly, to say to Black Lives Matter activists. It recommends avoiding phrases like "all lives matter" and warns not to bring up "black on black crime," since the "response will garner additional media scrutiny and only anger BLM activists."
BLM responded:
Editor's note: From poverty reduction and railway construction projects to political and trade cooperation, relations between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have developed rapidly. China Daily looks back at the milestones along the road to regional prosperity as Premier Li Keqiang attends a series of meetings in Kuala Lumpur.
July 1991
Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen attends the 24th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, marking the start of the China-ASEAN dialogue.
July 1996
China becomes a full dialogue partner of ASEAN.
December 1997
The first informal China-ASEAN Summit is convened in Malaysia, during which it is agreed to establish a good-neighborly partnership of mutual trust for the 21st century.
December 1997
The first ASEAN Plus Three Summit (China, Japan and South Korea) is held in Malaysia.
November 2002
China and ASEAN sign a framework agreement on comprehensive economic cooperation, in which they agree to launch the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area.
November 2002
China and ASEAN members sign the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.
October 2003
China and ASEAN establish the Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity during the seventh China-ASEAN Summit. The Chinese government also announces its joining the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.
November 2004
The first China-ASEAN Expo is held in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. China and ASEAN also sign a free trade agreement on trade in goods.
January 2007
China and ASEAN sign an agreement on trade in services.
December 2008
Xue Hanqin is appointed China's first ambassador to ASEAN.
August 2009
China and ASEAN sign a free trade agreement on investment.
January 2010
The China-ASEAN FTA is established on schedule. With a combined population of 1.9 billion people, the area is the largest among developing countries.
September 2012
China launches a permanent mission to ASEAN.
A Chinese tourist wears traditional Malaysian headwear during a visit to Kuala Lumpur. Chinese are expected to be exempt from visa requirements if they visit Malaysia in groups of two or more. [Photo/Xinhua]
Malaysia is to further relax its visa policies for Chinese tourists around Spring Festival to boost arrivals.
Chinese are expected to be exempt from visa requirements if they visit the country in groups of two or more, but they must buy tour packages approved by the two nations' governments.
Malaysian Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said more than 100 million visits were made outside the Chinese mainland by Chinese last year.
Malaysia's tourism industry would benefit immensely if it could attract 3 percent of this total to visit during Spring Festival, the minister said.
Ctrip, an online travel service provider in Shanghai, said the new visa policy could increase the number of tour groups visiting Malaysia.
"In October, Malaysia introduced visa-free policies for Chinese tour groups. However, they only apply to groups of at least 21 tourists traveling on direct flights," said Dai Yu, Ctrip's marketing director.
China ranks third in Malaysia's top 10 tourist source markets after Singapore and Indonesia.
However, the number of visits made to the country by Chinese tourists has dropped sharply since the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in March last year.
The Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board said the shadow cast by MH370 has now lifted and the number of visits made by Chinese tourists could reach 2 million by the end of this year.
Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Malaysia from Friday last week to Monday will also help boost tourism in the country.
Tuniu, another online travel service provider, said it has become a trend for tourists to follow in the footsteps of high-ranking officials.
A manager at the company, who declined to be named, said President Xi Jinping's visits to Vietnam and Singapore earlier this month have attracted more Chinese tourists to the two countries.
There are now nearly 200 flights a week between China and Malaysia, with a maximum capacity of 40,896 passengers.
suzhou@chinadaily.com.cn
Premier Li Keqiang sent a letter of congratulation on Monday to the China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week that opened in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province.
For the past 25 years since China established ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, people-to-people exchanges, including educational cooperation, have become a new force for the relationship and have shown great prospects for further exchanges, Li said in the letter.
The ongoing China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Year has nearly 300 events that are hosted in major cities from both sides, and China is willing to work with ASEAN countries to learn from each other and support to build a closer community, the premier said.
PHNOM PENH - Cambodia and China on Tuesday vowed to broaden bilateral trade relations for the benefits of the two countries and peoples, according to a statement released by the Cambodian side.
The statement was made after a meeting between Cambodian Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak and visiting Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng.
"Talks mainly focused on strengthening bilateral trade, including duty free and quota free treatment, and the exports of Cambodian rice and other agricultural products to China," the statement said.
"The two ministers underscored the 18 percent increase in Cambodia-China trade volume (to $4.4 billion in 2015), and agreed that Cambodia and China should do more to attract investment to Cambodia," it said.
Gao stressed that Cambodia is China's strategic trading partner under the "Belt and Road" initiative and ASEAN-China Framework.
According to the statement, China would assist Cambodia to organize the 1st Cambodia-China trade and investment forum in Nanning City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in September 2016.
It added that China would consult with relevant agencies to provide tariff preferences up to 97 percent of total tariff lines under the Duty-Free, Quota-Free Scheme as soon as possible.
Besides, China would consider increasing export quotas for Cambodia's rice to 200,000 tons in 2017 and encourage more Chinese enterprises to invest in Cambodia in the fields of food processing, light manufacturing, and agro-industry.
Also, China would coordinate with relevant agencies to continue the negotiations of the protocol on the exportation of broken rice, banana, mango, longan, cashew nut, pepper, coffee bean and soybean from Cambodia to China, the statement said.
Gao arrived here on Monday for a two-day visit to explore ways to broaden ties and cooperation between China and Cambodia.
A representative from State Polytechnic Samarinda in Indonesia tries a high-speed railway control system in Guiyang, Guizhou province, on Tuesday.ZENG JUN/CHINA DAILY
Chinese colleges signed strategic agreements with counterparts in Southeast Asian countries to train skilled railway transportation talent for ASEAN member countries.
The agreements, signed in Guizhou province on Tuesday, included Chinese universities at various levels - Beijing Jiaotong University and Guiyang Vocational and Technical College, for example - to jointly train international students in two-year college programs and four-year bachelor's programs.
As China has added contracts with ASEAN countries to build new railways, the need for technicians skilled in railway construction, operations and maintenance has grown.
Under the agreements, faculty members and students will be able to visit each other and exchange their experiences and programs.
It is the latest development in relations between Chinese schools and their Association of Southeast Asian Nations counterparts, after a deal on Monday at China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week established a railway transportation training league.
By Tuesday, 13 Chinese railway enterprises, including Chinese CRRC Corp and China Railway Group, 36 Chinese universities and colleges specializing in the railway industry and about 20 colleges from Southeast Asia, had joined the league, including Siam University in Thailand and the University of Surabaya in Indonesia.
"The league can enhance communication between colleges from China and ASEAN countries, increasing the number of international students and improving communication and cooperation between schools and enterprises," said Wang Hong, director of the Railway Transportation Commission of the China Vocational Education Association.
Liu Luming, vice-president of Guiyang Vocational and Technical College, said the school has 36 students from a province in Laos enrolled in courses related to the railway industry.
Laos and China have agreed to build a rail line between Vientiane, the Laotian capital, and Kunming in Yunnan province.
Zeng Jun contributed to this story.
Contact the writers at luowangshu@chinadaily.com.cn
VIENTIANE - China on Thursday vowed to deepen economic and trade cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The pledge was made during the 15th China-ASEAN (10+1) economic ministers' meeting which was held here in the Lao capital on Thursday.
Speaking at the meeting, Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng highlighted the fruitful cooperation between China and ASEAN over the past 25 years.
He said bilateral cooperation in trade and economy has all along been a "ballast" and "propeller" in China-ASEAN dialogue relationship.
Pointing out that there is immense potential for cooperation in industrial capacity between China and ASEAN, the Chinese minister called for more efforts in this regard and building cross-border industrial chains.
China stands ready to work with ASEAN on cluster cooperation in such fields as railway, information and communication, chemical industry, engineering machinery and agriculture, he said, adding that enterprises from both sides are encouraged to carry out all-round cooperation.
The Chinese minister called for greater synergy between China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and development strategies of ASEAN member countries.
He said the two sides should actively implement projects in related areas for mutual benefit and win-win results.
Gao expressed China's willingness to support ASEAN's community construction and the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 as well as to participate in the region's integration.
He said China will continue to provide development assistance as its capacity allows and help narrow the development gaps between ASEAN member countries.
China will also participate in the formulation and implementation of the master plan on ASEAN's connectivity and its post-2015 agenda, he added.
According to Gao, China will vigorously promote China-East ASEAN Growth Area cooperation and the Lancang-Mekong cooperation and provide financial support via platforms like China-ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fund, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund.
China will support ASEAN's centrality in pushing forward the conclusion of negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) by the end of this year, he said.
China is also willing to expand cooperation areas with ASEAN by supporting economic and trade cooperation between China's provincial areas and ASEAN member countries, he added.
A joint communique on industrial capacity cooperation was approved at the meeting and it will be submitted to a commemorative summit marking the 25th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relationship in September this year.
China is willing to work with all parties to build roads, railway lines, air and sea route networks in East Asia to improve regional connectivity and trade flows, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said on Thursday.
These goals can be achieved through the cooperative framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, the minister said in Vientiane, the capital of Laos while attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Trade and Economic Ministers' Meeting, which also involved China, Japan and South Korea.
China is keen to work with partner countries to draw support from financial institutions including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Silk Road Fund and the Asian Development Bank, to obtain funding for the projects.
"The Asia-Pacific Model E-port Network will become an important platform to promote regional trade facilitation and the development of supply chain connectivity," said Gao.
"China welcomes South Korea, Japan and ASEAN members joining this efficient network," he said.
Established in 2015 with members including China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia and Canada, the APMEN applies new technology such as cloud computing, big data and the internet of things to create new opportunities for improving regional trade and supply chain connectivity.
"We will also work closely with all related parties to complete talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership by the end of this year," said Gao.
The minister said China will also offer necessary assistance to certain ASEAN members, with smaller economies, to build electronic ports.
China, Japan and South Korea remained the ASEAN's first, second and fifth-largest trading partners in 2015, respectively. The total trade volume between three countries and the ASEAN nations amounted to $708.6 billion last year, accounting for 41 percent of the region's foreign trade.
At the same time, China, Japan and South Korea invested $31.3 billion in ASEAN countries, taking 32 percent of the regions' foreign direct investment.
"We also wish to reach a consensus on the talks on a China-Japan-South Korea free trade agreement as soon as possible to further cut trade costs, as well as create new market growth points for businesses in three countries," said Gao.
"As China, South Korea and Japan have solid industrial foundations and financial capabilities to carry out international production capacity cooperation, they are capable of accelerating the pace of industrialization and economic structure adjustment in the ASEAN region," said Lin Guijun, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.
CHONGQING - A highway corridor linking Chongqing municipality and Southeast Asia, to be completed this year, is expected to drive trade between the southwest China city and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The corridor consists of three routes. A route that opened in April runs from Chongqing through Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region to Hanoi, Vietnam. Another, stretching from Chongqing through the border crossing at Mohan, Yunnan to Vientiane, Laos, will open by September. A final route that goes from Chongqing to Yangon, Myanmar will also open this year.
Trucks travel 40 hours to complete the 1,400-kilometer trip from Chongqing to the Vietnamese capital, carrying mechanical equipment, building materials and auto parts to Southeast Asia, and bringing fruit, snacks and timber back to China.
More than 26 bus services have launched in the last two months, said Zhang Chunping, director of the management committee of the Chongqing Highway Logistics Base.
In the latter half of this year, two trucks will depart weekly from Chongqing, he added.
"The highway trade corridor has only started to take shape, but in three to five years, it will become a transportation artery and major trade route linking central China to ASEAN," said Li Muyuan, an expert with the China Communications and Transportation Association.
Chongqing authorities forecast that by 2020, regular truck services along the three routes will transport 20 billion yuan (about $3 billion) of cargo a year.
In 2015, trade between China and ASEAN reached 472 billion yuan, registering an annual growth rate of 18.5 percent for the past five years.
"Most of the trade, however, was between ASEAN and coastal Chinese areas such as the Pearl River delta in the south and Yangtze River delta in the east. Vast areas in the central and western provincial-level regions need to join," said Yang.
The Chongqing trade corridor will siphon cargo from the neighboring provinces of Sichuan, Hubei and Shaanxi.
"Chongqing is opening up to all directions, through Europe-bound railways to the west, Yangtze waterways to the east and highway transportation to the south," said Li.
Compared to shipping services, which take more than 20 days, highway transportation is cheaper and more convenient. Statistics show more than 80 percent of Chongqing's trade cargo is transported via highways.
"The trade corridor will bring new opportunities for cooperation between ASEAN and inland Chinese regions," said Allan Yang, director of the Laos-China Association for Promotion of Economy and Trade.
Laos has signed contracts with Chongqing to support cooperation in logistics.
ASEAN can also capitalize on Chongqing's Yuxin'ou rail network to Europe to expand the region's trade, Yang added.
China and ASEAN will need to cooperate more in customs inspection, clearing and port building to support the development of highway corridors, said Li.
China and ASEAN made several breakthroughs on the South China Sea issue on Tuesday, including vowing to finish a framework by the middle of next year for a code of conduct for the sea.
Senior diplomats also approved a guideline for a China and ASEAN hotline for use during maritime emergencies and a joint declaration that the Conduct for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, which was signed by more than 20 Pacific nations in 2014, applies to the South China Sea.
Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin co-chaired the 13th senior officials' meeting on the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.
He told a joint news conference that documents about the hotline and the conduct for unplanned encounters will be presented to the meeting of leaders from China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, scheduled for early September, for final approval.
"There is another achievement we reached broad consensus on pushing forward the negotiations on a code of conduct for the South China Sea," Liu said.
"All sides agreed to raise the frequency of the negotiations in a situation without interference, and seek to finish a draft framework of the COC by the middle of next year."
The senior officials' meeting has been held twice a year since 2011, but this is the third meeting held this year.
"We held the conference more frequently than in previous years," Liu told reporters after the meeting.
"It shows that as the situation in the South China Sea is getting more and more complicated, especially with the interference of external forces, ASEAN countries and China have realized that we have to grasp the key to the South China Sea issue in our own hand."
He said the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, signed in 2002, provides an effective platform for properly handling disputes through negotiation and cooperation.
Jia Duqiang, a senior researcher in Southeast Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Tuesday's achievements are "an important step" in China's relations with ASEAN.
"The frequent meetings between China and the ASEAN countries this year is a good thing it shows that we both have the willingness to keep the key in our hand," Jia said.
Wang Xiaopeng, a researcher with CASS, said the ASEAN countries are willing to work with China, which has interests intertwined with those of its regional neighbors.
lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn
Zhang Yaozhong contributed to this story.
Tropical Storm Hermine officially reached hurricane status on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, reported NASA and NOAA's National Hurricane Center earlier today. When it makes landfall, it will be the first hurricane to hit Florida since Wilma in 2005. Hermine will probably touch down along the state's eastern Panhandle in the wee hours of Friday morning, and NOAA predicts that its force and the associated water surges will be "life-threatening."
It's hard to hold your phone steady when it gets bumpy! #Hermine has lots of convection on its east side ? @lbucci45 pic.twitter.com/bURfaFDRFd HRD/AOML/NOAA (@HRD_AOML_NOAA) September 1, 2016
#Hermine will pass over western Atlantic SSTs that are anomalously warm by 1-3C #passthepopcorn pic.twitter.com/89pKqlN28r Peter de Menocal (@PdeMenocal) September 1, 2016
The National Hurricane Center says Hermine is currently spinning over the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 1 hurricane. Big Bend will likely experience the first landfall along Florida's Gulf Coast around midnight, with a high chance of deadly storm surges that may reach up to 9 feet, coupled with intense rainfall and related flooding.
NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured this image of the hurricane at 3:15 p.m. EDT (1915 UTC).
The image shows a much more organized Hermine with bands of thunderstorms wrapping around its low-level center and blanketing the entire state of Florida. The image was created at NASA/NOAA's GOES Project office, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The governor of Florida gave a stern warning to people who find themselves in the path of the storm today. Gov. Rick Scott struck an urgent tone in a state that may lack preparation because it hasn't been hit by a hurricane for more than 10 years.
"This is life-threatening," the governor told reporters in Florida's capital city, Tallahassee. "The storm surge, by itself, is life-threatening."
"We have not had a hurricane (landfall) in years," he said. "So many people have moved to our state (since) then, and we always have visitors."
People who are in Hermine's path "should have at least three days of supplies, and heed any mandatory evacuation orders along the coast."
Here are a slew of links from NASA to follow, to keep track of the storm's trajectory.
Here is NOAA's advisory, as of the afternoon of Thursday September 1, 2016.
The Tropical Storm Warning has been extended northward along the United States Atlantic coast north of Surf City to Duck, North Carolina, including the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds. A Tropical Storm Watch has been issued north of Duck to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, including the Chesapeake Bay from Smith Point southward, and the southern Delaware Bay. SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT: A Hurricane Warning is in effect for... * Suwannee River to Mexico Beach A Hurricane Watch is in effect for... * Anclote River to Suwannee River * West of Mexico Beach to the Walton/Bay County line A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for... * Englewood to Suwannee River * West of Mexico Beach to the Walton/Bay County line * Flagler/Volusia County line to Duck * Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for... * North of Duck to Sandy Hook * Chesapeake Bay from Smith Point southward * Southern Delaware Bay Interests elsewhere along the United States northeast coast should monitor the progress of this system. For storm information specific to your area, including possible inland watches and warnings, please monitor products issued by your local National Weather Service forecast office.
For updated forecasts, visit NHC's website at: www.nhc.noaa.gov.
New Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (center) watches as outgoing president Benigno Aquino steps down from the dais during the inauguration ceremony on Thursday at Malacanang Palace in Manila. [Bullit Marquez / Agencies]
After all the recent hoopla over the disputes in the South China Sea, an obvious priority for the region has been de-escalating tensions and finding ways to prevent or manage potential crises.
So with both Beijing and Manila having taken a step back from the tense standoff that had developed between them and making efforts to try and thaw their frozen ties, it is encouraging that other countries with disputes in the waters seem to be willing to do likewise.
The agreement between China and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Tuesday on the guidelines for setting up a hotline platform and their pledge to abide by the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea may appear to be a matter of course, but they had been on the agenda at high-level meetings between them for a while without any progress being made.
These agreements may seem more symbolic than substantive, since unplanned encounters at sea do not constitute a prominent concern between China and ASEAN states, even those with the most troubling disputes. And the hotlines may not be as important, or as indispensable, as the one between Beijing and Washington. However, their significance lies in the collective commitment to peace and crisis-prevention they represent; a commitment which is substantial in its own right.
From Beijing to Manila, to ASEAN as a whole, each and every party deserves a pat on the back for displaying such cool-headedness for, no matter how enthusiastic other parties are about trying to drive a wedge between China and ASEAN, it is up to those in the region to sort out the mess.
Agreements between China and ASEAN, like the ones announced on Tuesday, will create a favorable framework, or at least conducive atmosphere for dispute resolution on the state-to-state level. That is why Beijing has insisted on a "dual track" approach to dealing with the South China Sea issue. The historical mutual understanding and rapport between China and ASEAN are surely constructive in that regard.
What has been achieved at the meeting of high-level officials from China and ASEAN on implementing the Declaration on the Code of Conduct on the South China Sea may seem like affirming previously expressed intentions. (In other words, reaching agreement is a slow process, whose results are less than substantial.)
Small as it may be, the outcome of the meeting is an inspiring step toward the ultimate goal of formulating the anticipated Code of Conduct on the South China Sea. A goal that could be unachievable without such incremental progress.
President-elect Rodrigo Duterte speaks during a news conference in his hometown Davao City in southern Philippines, May 16, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
As Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's special envoy, Fidel Ramos has become an icebreaker in Sino-Philippine relations. Former Philippine president Ramos' recent visit to Hong Kong to meet with "Chinese friends", including senior diplomat Fu Ying, is a good start to ease the tensions after an arbitral tribunal ruled in favor of Manila in a South China Sea dispute with Beijing last month.
But the question now is: How the two sides can improve relations? Under current circumstances, the rational choice would be to conduct practical cooperation for the benefit of both sides while keeping a low profile on the diplomatic front.
Since being elected in May Duterte seems to have adjusted the foreign policy of his predecessor Benigno Aquino III. Duterte is much friendlier toward China and has met with the Chinese ambassador to Manila a few times.
Interestingly, some former Asian state leaders labeled "pro-China" failed to successfully conclude their leadership roles.
Yukio Hatoyama, for example, resigned as Japan's prime minister in June 2010 after less than one year in power. Hatoyama courted controversy at home for his pro-China foreign policy.
Though there is little evidence to show Washington's role in these developments, the United States will certainly not be happy to see a pro-China leader assume power in a South Asian or Asia-Pacific country while it implements its "pivot to Asia" strategy. But it is also not in China's interest to see another Aquino III-style leader in its neighborhood.
It is still premature to say whether Duterte will tilt toward Beijing, especially when an increasing number of Asian countriesSri Lanka and Myanmar, for exampleare balancing their acts between great powers. The Philippines under Duterte's leadership could use a similar strategy.
If China sees Duterte's leadership in its national interest, it should not push him too hard to tilt toward Beijing. In this context, Ramos' recent visit to Hong Kong made sense because a high-profile Philippine leader's visit to the mainland at this stage could unnerve the US and Japan and thus could backfire.
With the Asia-Pacific witnessing greater power rivalry, it would be irrational to analyze Beijing's ties with Manila only on a bilateral level, as the influence of the US and Japan must be taken into account. Chinese and Philippine leaders will have more occasions to meet in the near future, including at the ASEAN-China Summit in Laos in September.
In the meanwhile, Beijing should focus on practical cooperation with Manila in areas like infrastructure, agriculture, fishing and tourism to benefit the people of both countries.
Poor infrastructure is, arguably, the biggest hurdle faced by the Philippines and other ASEAN countries in their pursuit of long-term development. And China can help the Philippines on this front.
Such efforts are not likely to help resolve the maritime dispute, but they can push bilateral ties forward. Moreover, the maritime dispute has not stopped the two countries from exploring cooperation. In late July, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region signed a landmark agreement with the Philippines' Palawan province, the first of its kind since the South China Sea arbitration.
Also, during their informal discussions in Hong Kong, Ramos and Fu explored possible human and ecological security options and suggested cooperation in fields such as fishing, tourism, trade and investment, and the fight against corruption to benefit both sides. Through their suggestions, Ramos and Fu emphasized the prospects of practical cooperation for the two countries.
The author is a staff writer on foreign affairs and international relations.
zhanghaizhou@chinadaily.com.cn
Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi (5th R) attends a reception commemorating the 25th anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue relations in Beijing, capital of China, Aug 25, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
BEIJING - A reception to mark the 25th anniversary of the dialogue relationship between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was held in Beijing on Thursday.
Before the reception, Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi met with ASEAN ambassadors and representatives in Beijing, saying bilateral relations have made big strides over the past 25 years and contributed to regional peace, stability and prosperity.
China is willing to work with ASEAN to hold a successful commemorative summit marking the 25th anniversary of the dialogue relationship in September this year and to advance bilateral relations to a higher level, Yang said.
The ASEAN diplomats said China is the most active dialogue partner for ASEAN and ASEAN will work with China for a better relationship.
Yang and the ASEAN diplomats also visited an exhibition featuring China-ASEAN relations and unveiled a commemorative envelop to mark the 25th anniversary of the relationship at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
KUALA LUMPUR - As more and more Chinese companies tap into the burgeoning Southeast Asian market, expert and company officials expect localization to be a key aspect to boost industrial capacity cooperation between China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The long-time friendly ties and close neighborhood provide China and ASEAN countries with unique advantages in industrial capacity cooperation, especially under the Belt and Road Initiative, namely the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.
Lu Jianren of China-Asean Research Institute in Guangxi University sees great potential in cooperation between China and ASEAN that was built on solid foundation.
"In the past, we cooperated in traditional sectors like agriculture, now we are working on areas like infrastructure, industrial parks under the Belt and Road Initiative," he told Xinhua in a recent interview during a seminar in Malaysia.
Some ASEAN countries are lagging behind in infrastructure where China has advantages in expertise, he said, adding that China have also provided funding support through mechanisms like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Silk Road Fund.
China has long advocated win-win cooperation with ASEAN and Chinese companies are attaching greater importance to bringing in benefits to the local communities and industries.
Tang Zhimin, dean of international college at the Panyapiwat Institute of Management in Thailand, said more considerations should be put into ways in better matching China's industrial advantages with the demand of ASEAN countries.
"Localization is very important of industrial capacity cooperation," said Lu.
For China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation, its ASEAN manufacturing hub based in Malaysia is a all-around exploration for the company to expand operation overseas and seek industrial capacity cooperation. The company has put localization as one of the top priorities.
"We use localization to seek breakthrough in industrial capacity cooperation," said Li Hong, general manager of the CRRC Rolling Stock Center.
One year into full operation at the facility, the effort has already bear fruits. In the 50-acre CRRC Rolling Stock Center in the Malaysian state of Perak, local technicians can be seen working side by side with Chinese counterparts.
"More than 80 percent of our total staff and more than 90 percent of the technicians at the production line are local recruited, as well as two of its four department chiefs," said Li.
"We also have our eyes on the future by sending some of the staff to further studies in China, fully funded by the company. We hoped that they could strengthen our management team in the future," he told Xinhua.
On procurement, the company has an office devoted to find, cultivate and support local suppliers, which amounted to some 300 ranging from equipment to transportation.
Li said the purpose of the CRRC's ASEAN manufacturing center was by no means simply sending in Chinese technicians to do the work, but also to boost local economic development and to train local expertise, a common believe shared by more and more Chinese companies.
In early September, China will host the 2016 G20 Leaders' Summit in its scenic city of Hangzhou.
But soon afterwards, it will hold a high-level event with the ASEAN, to take place in Vientiane, capital of Laos.
Big power club is for swopping ideas on some of the world's long-term issues. But no long-range relations can match the closeness between China and Southeast Asia.
The dispute of South China Sea, thorny as it may be, cannot overshadow the long-standing relations between the Chinese people and their southern neighbors, and even less the geo-economic future they are bound to share.
News, by the way, came on August 17 that China and the 10-member group already agreed to finish a framework for a code of conduct in 2017 to ease tension and avoid conflict in the disputed waters.
Indeed, in the age of globalization, geo-economics can be an important a kind of resource. One country can leverage its good neighborly relations to improve its global positioning. This is obviously the case for China as it is for ASEAN.
At present, according to Chinese data, except mutual import and export among the member countries, China is already the largest partner with the ASEAN, accounting for around 15 percent of its total trade, larger than the United States, EU or Japan.
In investment, in the first five months of 2015, mutual capital commitment between China and ASEAN exceeded US$160 billion. China foreign direct investment was certainly not a small amount in a time when most companies were hoarding cash.
The geo-economic relations between China and ASEAN have several aspects of significance:
First, ASEAN is an important bloc power, especially economically. The total value that its 10 member nations produced was US$2.4 trillion in 2013, close to the GDP of France.
According to OECD, for the 2016-20 period, ASEAN's average growth rate is projected to be the third in Asia, after only India and China (with India as the leader).
Most note-worthy is that this is perhaps the only regional economy that can keep growing on a generally low level of government debt.
Even in the most alarmist investment reports, the region can still turn out markedly better growth prospects than most other parts of the world. In all likelihood, this growth momentum will carry on, as the region is projected to become the fourth-largest economy in world in 2050.
Second, ASEAN has unique features. They don't easily go away, and are likely to result in closer ties between China and Southeast Asia.
Right now, Southeast Asian cities have taken over more and more processing operations relocated from China since 2008, to serve the markets in both the developed and more advanced developing countries.
Throughout ASEAN, the percentage of people living in the cities is projected to rise from about 47 percent in the mid-2010s to 56 percent in 2030 and then 67 percent in 2050, according to the UN World Urbanization Prospects (2014 revision).
This being the case, the region is really one of the few places in the world able to combine an abundant labor supply, many coastal cities and port facilities, and a large number of small, flexible processing factories.
Such operations may have a good chance to stay in Southeast Asia for not a short period of time, so long as they are matched by good public infrastructure and education.
The new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), founded in late 2015 on a Chinese initiative, can provide additional financing towards such purposes.
It is some time now when international investors are talking about the possibility for building "another China" in Southeast Asia. In order for that to eventually happen, local governments will have to learn to build and manage their common channel for enormous capital. But step by step, this will happen.
Thirdly, on the part of China, it must learn to be an all-round service provider to participate more successfully in ASEAN's development.
Despite its current slowdown and adjustment to new realities in the post-crisis world, China should really see it in a positive light that Southeast Asian countries are both picking up the manufacturing activities left from the Chinese shore.
China will receive due returns. In a post-crisis environment, business usually recovers more quickly in societies of lower income and simpler industrial activities. But the stability and prosperity of Southeast Asian economies will in turn increase the demand for Chinese machinery and services.
China-ASEAN trade was US$472.16 billion in 2015, accounting for 11.9 percent of China's total merchandise trade with the world. In 1991, the volume was only less than US$8 billion, accounting for less 6 percent of China's trade with the world.
Also according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, from January to May this year, the construction contracts that China received from ASEAN amounted to US$10 billion, showing an increase of 8.2 percent year on year. This was after a 41.2 percent increase in the construction deals that China received in 2015.
As ASEAN's sizeable middle-class is expected to be more than double in 2025 to include 125 million households, its new consumers will buy not only brands from the West and Japan, but also products from China.
For all the years since the 2008 global crisis, Southeast Asia has been an unsung hero in the world.
Despite all the seemingly messy ethnic, religious and territorial relations, people really can't name any major, insurmountable uncertainty when comparing with many other parts of the world.
All the nations here have managed to keep up stability, politically and financially. And by doing so, they have contributed to peace and development in the world.
They have supported no protectionism. They have curbed extremism.
Indeed, as a regional environment, one can hardly think of a better case in the world today. It is an environment that makes China feel both lucky and proud to be its neighbor.
The writer is Editor-at-large, China Daily (Asia).
Premier Li Keqiang is to attend the China-ASEAN leaders' meetings in Vientiane and pay the neighboring country an official visit from Sept 6 to 9, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
Laos assumes the chairmanship of Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year and hosts all ASEAN and East Asian summits along with other high-level meetings, which will bring hundreds of international delegations to Vientiane.
The premier is scheduled to attend the 19th China-ASEAN Leaders' Meeting, which also marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN ties, the 19th ASEAN-China, Japan and South Korea leaders' meeting, as well as the 11th East Asia Summit, according to the ministry.
Premier Li's trip will be of great significance to further develop China-ASEAN ties and promote regional cooperation in East Asia, said the ministry's spokeswoman Hua Chunying.
This year also marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Laos, Hua said. It will be Li's first visit to the Southeast Asian neighbor since taking office. He will hold talks with Laotian Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and other leaders to exchange views on issues of common concerns.
"I believe Premier Li's visit will bring the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries to a new high level and more benefits to both peoples," Hua added.
YANGON - An expert in Myanmar on Tuesday stressed the need for the country to exert its best efforts in order to catch up with three other less-developed member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) in Economic Community building, out of three pillars of the ASEAN Community.
U Nyunt Maung Shein, chairman of the Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.
Despite being a bigger country compared to other less-developed ASEAN member nations including Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos and having an abundance of human resources, Myanmar lags behind them and has to exert greater efforts to overtake them, he said.
He admitted that Myanmar's small and medium industries remain at a non-advanced stage in terms of technological knowhow due to financial difficulties related to sourcing loans from banks, which requires insurance such as land to qualify for a mortgage.
He pointed out that Myanmar's per capita annual income stands at just $1,200, the lowest figure compared to the three other less-developed ASEAN member countries.
With regard to the political-security community, he said ASEAN is not like the European Union (EU), which has identical foreign policies practiced among all member countries.
Cars move on a street in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, Aug 27, 2016. The 11th G20 summit will be held from Sept 4 to 5 in Hangzhou. [Photo/Xinhua]
The G20 summit in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, offers a unique opportunity to world leaders to discuss and decide on a coordinated strategy to address the multiple challenges facing the world, such as the projected decline of world GDP growth to below the long-term average, slowing down of global trade and dwindling investment flows.
Given that economic and geopolitical headwinds are shaking their economies and regions, G20 leaders need to cooperate more than ever to ensure sustainable growth. As G20 chair for this year, China has done a remarkable job in preparing for the Hangzhou summit.
In recent years, China has evolved from being an "innovation sponge"absorbing and adapting existing technologies and knowledge from around the worldto a global innovation leader in areas such as consumer electronics, high-speed railways, space technology and construction equipment. The country spends more than $200 billion per year on research, second only to the United States, produces close to 30,000 doctoral students in science and engineering, and leads the world in patent applications (1.1 million last year).
The Hangzhou summit is likely to be a turning point for the shift in the G20's focus from designing standards for global financial crisis to responding to future risks for sustainable growth when and where they emerge. And with the G20 being on track to deliver on its previous promise to address the economic fundamentals, this is the right time to modernize the global rules on governance of "inclusion, innovation, invigoration and interconnectedness".
China, on its part, needs to bring its grit to the G20 if it wants to shake off the sluggish growth and help the world move toward sustainable growth by unleashing the potentials of the four "I"s to create more opportunities for the world. In fact, the theme for the Hangzhou G20 summit is "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy".
Since the global community has agreed to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, the world economy is expected to enter a key stage of inclusive and interconnected growth this year.
As an African proverb goes, "if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together". For the sustainable future of the world, both developed and developing countries should participate in global governance in the spirit of the Hangzhou summit's theme. Following China's experiences and think tanks' suggestions, the G20 should promote a public-private partnership model to facilitate innovations, including a public-private capital pool to increase productivity.
Besides, China's economic reforms are of great importance to comprehensive macro-finance, which the G20 can use as reference to create a common global framework to integrate global finance and the real economy.
To increase long-term investment, the G20 governance system should be expanded to include international financial institutions, in order to close the gap in infrastructure funding for regional projects to improve connectivity.
Moreover, an inclusive strategy will help boost growth in the G20 economies that have been suffering from economic slowdown, because such a strategy will stabilize public finance that safeguards employment and social welfare while encouraging productive investments.
Previous summits have offered important lessons for organizing G20 meetings. That China has worked out the best agenda for the Hangzhou summit suggests it has taken these lessons very seriously. And by leading the efforts to meet the global challenges, as evident in its summit's theme, China can make a huge contribution to economic, social and environmental prosperity of all.
The author is a senior economist at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, Indonesia.
BEIJING - Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said in Beijing Wednesday that its ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is entering the "period of maturity".
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will attend the 19th China-ASEAN (10+1) leaders' meeting, the 19th ASEAN-China, Japan and Republic of Korea (10+3) leaders' meeting, and the 11th East Asia Summit in Vientiane, Laos, from Sept 6 to 9, Liu told a news briefing.
Li will also pay an official visit to Laos.
Liu said Li's upcoming visits will help deepen China-ASEAN relations, promote the integration of East Asia and maintain regional peace and stability.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of dialogue relations between China and ASEAN, Liu said, and developing ties with ASEAN is a priority of China's peripheral diplomacy.
He said the two sides have deepened political mutual trust and achieved fruitful results in practical cooperation such as the new China-ASEAN free trade area agreement.
Moreover, China is the largest trading partner of ASEAN, and ASEAN is China's third largest trade partner, Liu said, adding that bilateral trade volume in the first half of 2016 reached $209 billion.
He said Premier Li will suggest making people-to-people exchanges a new pillar for China-ASEAN cooperation, and will stress China's constant support for ASEAN common community building as well as a bigger role for ASEAN in international affairs at the China-ASEAN leaders' meeting.
At the ASEAN-China, Japan and ROK leaders' meeting, Li will urge all parties to enhance cooperation in areas such as financial security, trade and investment, agriculture and poverty relief, connectivity, capacity and people-to-people exchanges, Liu said.
As for the East Asia Summit, Liu said the premier will introduce China's views on the summit's future development, and emphasize adherence to the positioning of the summit as a strategic forum, adherence to principles such as ASEAN-led, negotiations for consensus and accommodating all sides' comfort level.
China will urge the related parties to continue implementing the "Plan of Action to Implement the Phnom Penh Declaration on EAS Development Initiative", advancing cooperation in six key areas and sticking to the "two-wheel drive" of economic development and political security, so as to promote the sound and stable development of the summit, Liu said.
GQ interviewed everyone directly and tangentially responsible for (Jefferson) Starship's 1985 miasmic megahit, "We Built This City."
Bernie Taupin (lyricist, in 2013): The original song was a very dark song about how club life in L.A. was being killed off and live acts had no place to go. A producer named Peter Wolfnot the J. Geils Peter Wolf, but a big-time pop guy and Austrian record producergot ahold of the demo and totally changed it. If you heard the original demo, you wouldn't even recognize the song.
Grace Slick (in 2002): The Starship, I hated. Our big hit single, "We Built This City," was awful. I felt like I'd throw up on the front row, but I smiled and did it anyway. The show must go on.
See sample pages from this book at Wink.
Twisted History: 32 True Stories of Torture, Traitors, Sadists and PsychosPlus the Most Celebrated Saints in History
by Howard Watson
Firefly Books
2015, 176 pages, 7.5 x 9.4 x 0.5 inches (softcover)
$18 Buy a copy on Amazon
The careers of history's worst despots, murderers, assassins, and traitors are examined in this lurid and grisly page turner. The usual suspects are all featured: Hitler, Stalin, Jack The Ripper, Vlad The Impaler, and other unsavory characters. Some lesser known fiends, such as Gilles De Rais, the French nobleman who murdered 140 children in the 15th century, Lavrentia Beria, Stalin's henchman who was responsible for the execution of 22,000 Poles in the Katyn Massacre, Tomas de Torquemada, who executed 2,000 Jews during the Spanish Inquisition, and Thug Berham, the Indian serial killer who strangled almost 1,000 people, are also given a moment in the spotlight.
Comprised of a brief overview of the villains' crimes against humanity, with Fact Files showing their history, legacy, and circumstance of death, descriptions of their downfall and punishment, often including torture, and photos of their jail cells or gravesites, Twisted History keeps things short and sweet, compelling the reader to continue turning pages to see what unspeakable horror could possibly follow the last. The mood is lightened briefly by recounting the lives of honorable figures who've made the world a better place, such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Then it's right back to the scoundrels, the outlaws, the killers, and thieves.
Featuring bloodstained pages illustrated with vivid paintings, ancient wood cuts, and historic photos, Twisted History sums up the infamous lives and tragic death tolls of the worst people in history in about a half a dozen pages per monster, hopping from time period to time period and various parts of the globe. The book concentrates on the major bullet points, and those searching for a more in-depth analysis of the depths of depravity should probably hunt elsewhere. History buffs might be a bit disappointed that new ground isn't explored, but it's a good starting point for those interested in a brief visit to some of history's darkest hours.
S. Deathrage
(Photo : Getty images) The 11th G20 Summit is set to kick off in Hangzhou over the weekend.
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As the upcoming 11th G20 summit is set to kick off this weekend in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, authorities have invested billions in making sure that the streets are beautiful.
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A red banner greets you as you enter Hangzhou."Contribute to the summit by wiping out the four pests!" it says, referring to cockroaches, mosquitoes, and rodents.
The residents of Mantoushan, a middle-class community close to the venue of the G20 meeting, have seen great changes in their environment.
Roads and sewers have been constructed, and new story buildings have been brought up.
According to some residents, the new facilities are like a dream.
"China is getting richer and the government is taking care of us," said one resident "We never thought we'd see this kind of change."
The venue of the international summit has not been left behind.
A 24-hour fully equipped police force is supervising the venue to disperse unnecessary visitors. The venue has been decorated with flowers.
The venue where world leaders would be sleeping is also a site to see. Christmas lighting, Chinese lamps hang from trees. Billboards and posters have also been raised across the city. One billboard refers to Hangzhou as "the most beautiful and splendid city in the world."
The summit has not brought good news for everyone.
Wu Yuhua, a shopkeeper from Jiangxi province, is counting his losses until the summit is over as all construction sites and factories across the city have been shut down.
"All the migrant workers went home. All our customers were outsiders," he said. "There's no business, it's better to close."
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TagsG20 summit, china, Mantoushan
(Photo : Getty Images) John Kerry has called on China to accept the verdict of the Permanent Court of Arbitration on the South China Sea dispute.
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US State Secretary John Kerry on Wednesday urged China to learn from India to respect the verdict of international tribunals as he once again called on Beijing to recognize the South China Sea verdict delivered by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration in June.
Kerry made a reference to the India-Bangladesh maritime dispute case while speaking to students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi, Times of India reported. Dhaka won the case after a United Nations tribunal court in 2014 awarded a substantial maritime area of the Bay of Bengal to Bangladesh. India accepted and implemented the verdict without any protest.
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"India's decision to accept an international tribunal judgment regarding its maritime border with Bangladesh actually stands apart. This is the model to help potentially dangerous disputes in different danger spots...these can be resolved peacefully including [the] South China Sea [dispute," Kerry said.
Kerry added that there cannot be any military solution to South China Sea dispute, adding that the US would continue to stand by its allies.
China has been adamant that it would not accept the South China Sea verdict, regardless of international pressure. The international tribunal court's ruling dismissed China's historical claim over the maritime territory.
Since the verdict was delivered, China has been in overdrive to counter international pressure. Beijing's diplomatic effort ensured that South China Sea verdict was not mentioned in the joint statements of recently concluded ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting and Asia-Europe Meeting
China has already warned against any discussion of the South China Sea issue ahead of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou next months.
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TagsJohn Kerry, south china sea verdict, South China Sea Dispute, China and India, china
(Photo : USMC) U.S. Marines F-35B stealth fighters.
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The United States Marine Corps sees combat lasers as its future weapon of choice in attack and defense and plans to mount these weapons on its fleet of combat aircraft and air defense units as soon as posible.
The advantage of combat lasers, also called directed energy weapons, from the Marine Corps' view is they don't require expensive ammunition and can also be used defensively against missiles and other aircraft at a much lower cost, said Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Command and Deputy Commandant, Combat Development and Integration.
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He said that cost per shot ranges from $300,000 to $400,000 for the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) beyond-visual-range missile carried by Marine F-35B stealth fighters. The cost of the 25 millimeter rounds fired by the GAU-22/A four-barreled cannon arming F-35Bs is also expensive .
Gen. Walsh also said the Marines are looking to mount lasers on its fleet of Bell AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopters and even its Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor transport and troop carrying aircraft.
"As soon as we could miniaturize them, we would put them on F-35s, Cobra (attack helicopters) ... any of those kind of attack aircraft," said Gen. Walsh.
Lasers will lighten the Marines' logistical requirements, especially in ammunition (which is heavy and dangerous) by reducing the amount of powder and kinetic ordnance Marine units have to lug onto the field, he said.
In addition to its aircraft, the Marines also plan to arm its ground-based air defense units with combat lasers, said Gen. Walsh.
The Marines are working with the Office of Naval Research (ONR) on the Ground-Based Air Defense Directed Energy On-the-Move (GBAD) program, a ground-vehicle mounted high-energy laser system connected to air defense radar systems.
GBAD defends against aerial drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). It aims to provide an affordable alternative to traditional firepower to keep enemy UAVs from tracking and targeting Marines on the ground.
Gen. Walsh said ONR has tested a 10 kilowatt laser with the system and "the intent is to move to a 30 kilowatt laser" that can destroy light vehicles.
The Marines' immediate need, however, is to arm its F-35Bs with lasers, said Gen. Walsh. He said mounting a laser on board an F-35 is "absolutely" something the Marines are definitely interested in.
The Marines will start along this road by mounting a laser system on a Lockheed AC-130W Stinger II gunship. Gen. Walsh said this gunship is a better fit for the test because of its huge size, weight and power. He admitted it's been a tough job reducing the size lasers so they can arm smaller aircraft like fighters.
Despite these challenges, Gen. Walsh said laser weapons will be increasingly critical for the Marines in the future.
"It's very important. It's where we want to go," he said.
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TagsUnited States Marine Corps, Lasers, Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, F-35B stealth fighter, Bell AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopter, MV-22 Osprey
(Photo : http://www.mi.com/en/minote/) The first generation Xiaomi Mi Note is expected to have its upgraded version anytime soon.
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The latest leaked imaged of Xiaomi Mi Note 2 has reportedly confirmed the specs that are expected from the Chinese brand.
The new set of live images, accordingly, has given consumers a glimpse of what the upcoming smartphone has to offer.
According to GSM Arena, the curved screen of the device was very apparent in the new snaps.
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Among the expected specs that Xiaomi Mi Note 2 would boast of are the Snapdragon 821 SoC, 5.5-inch OLED display and internal memory options of 6GB RAM and 128GB.
Moreover, it was theorized that the device would be offered in two different editions - one would be with 1080p resolution while the other would come with QHD.
Commenting on the report, JohnRupesh wrote, "I hope Xiaomi puts in a larger battery this time unlike previous gen mi note."
However, when it comes to its official release date and price, no details have been disclosed.
It was noted, though, that the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 might come soon considering the frequency that leaks have been observed online.
Per The BitBag, the anticipated upgraded Mi Note from the Chinese tech firm might already be available between Sept. 2 and 7.
It was surmised that the announcement would be made during the IFA 2016 event in Berlin, Germany.
While the new leaked images have not revealed "screen-related configurations," the site shared that its display could be within 5.5-inch and 5.7-inch with 2K resolution, the trend these days.
Being a high-end unit, the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 might just be the saving grace following the reportedly "lukewarm response" to the Xiaomi Mi 5, as the report stated.
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TagsXiaomi, xiaomi mi note 2, Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Rumors, Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Release Date
(Photo : Getty Images) China and Canada have agreed to negotiate further to find a long term solution to the impasse over canola imports from the latter.
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Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday that China has agreed to extend the deadline for new restrictions on Canadian canola exports beyond September 1, as both countries agreed to negotiate further to find a long-term solution to the problem.
Trudeau made the announcement in Beijing, after meeting the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, CBC News reported.
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"We're happy to reassure Canadian farmers that [at] the Sept. 1 deadline we will be able to continue with the current regime of canola and we [would] work together very closely towards a long-term solution in the coming days and weeks ahead," Trudeau said.
China's Premier Li Keqiang told reporters that both sides have "shown flexibility'' on the issue, and he is confident that both parties would make some mutual adjustments after taking into account the larger picture of the China-Canadian trade and diplomatic ties.
The canola issue had cast a shadow on Trudeau's maiden visit to China, with a high-level Canadian delegation visiting Beijing to meet Chinese officials earlier this month to resolve the issue. However, the meeting failed to resolve the impasse.
With China being one of the largest markets for Canada's canola industry, the Canadian government can ill afford to lose control over the lucrative market. Canada exports nearly four million tonnes of canola seeds to China, every year, which is about 40 percent of Canada's annual canola seed exports.
China has expressed reservation over high dockage level found in Canadian canola. The dockage level denotes the quantity of plants, weeds and other foreign materials found in canola. China claims the high level of dockage gas the potential to spread blackleg diseases to crops in the country.
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TagsChina and Canada, Canada, Canola Dispute, china
(Photo : TASS) A Russian air defense system and its radars.
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Russian media reports the Russian Aerospace Forces has an operational air defense system that makes use of the country's vast GSM network (the same network used in mobile phones) to detect and track enemy missiles and aircraft intruding into Russian airspace.
This heretofore secret air defense system, which is identified as the "Rubezh airspace control system," is capable of detecting cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and low-flying aircraft such as supersonic B1-B Lancer bombers of the U.S. Air Force, said the Russian newspaper Izvestia.
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The paper said 2G cellular networks that use base stations to relay information with radiofrequency signals create stable electromagnetic fields. Metal objects such as missiles and bombers cause disturbances in these fields, thereby alerting the Russian defenses to the existence of an invader.
There are over 250,000 cellular networks base stations operating in Russia and this network is expanding.
Base stations will record the interference caused by any airborne metal object that crosses the electromagnetic field of a GSM network. Rubezh determines the coordinates of the invader with high precision by analyzing signals from base stations that recorded changes in the field. This result is achieved by using the Doppler Effect and triangulation.
Once Rubezh acquires and identifies the target, the system transmits the data to Russia's National Defense Management Center, and to Russian Aerospace Forces command and control centers for air defense systems.
Rubezh is being described as an innovative, cost-efficient solution that will greatly enhance the capabilities of Russia's anti-missile and anti-aircraft defense systems.
Ruselectronics, a Russian state-owned company that produces up to 80 percent of all Russian electronics components, will showcase the Rubezh airspace control system at the upcoming Army-2016 expo from September 6 to 11.
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TagsRussian Aerospace Forces, air defense system, GSM network, Rubezh airspace control system, Izvestia
(Photo : JSDF) Japan's Type 88 Surface-to-Ship Missile.
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Japan's Ministry of Defense is requesting massive funding for a new anti-ship missile system to defend its Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea also claimed by China.
The funding request was made as part of Japan's record defense budget for fiscal 2017, the largest in the country's history. The country's unprecedented defense spending is being driven by relentless Chinese aggression into the seas surrounding the Senkakus.
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The ministry said it wants $50.12 billion in spending for fiscal 2017, 2.3 percent higher than the initial budget for the current fiscal year. The increase in defense spending is the fifth straight year the government has set a record defense budget.
The proposed budget calls for Japan to develop surface-to-ship missiles as well as air-to-ship missiles for its fighter jets and maritime patrol aircraft. The new surface-to-ship missile system is expected to have a range of 300 kilometers, far enough to reach the vicinity of the Senkakus.
Japan also plans to organize a mobile amphibious unit with more than 2,000 troops at a base in Nagasaki Prefecture. The budget also proposes funds to dispatch extra personnel to the Philippines and Vietnam to enhance intelligence-gathering in the South China Sea.
Japan is boosting expanding its military ties with Southeast Asian nations -- especially the Philippines -- which have their own disputes with China in the South China Sea.
The Senkakus are a group of uninhabited islands controlled by Japan located due east of Mainland China, northeast of Taiwan, west of Okinawa Island and north of the southwestern end of the Ryukyu Islands.
Over the past few months, Tokyo has filed more than two dozen protests through diplomatic channels claiming China Coast Guard vessels had repeatedly violated its territorial waters around the Senkakus.
Funds will also go to strengthening Japan Coast Guard installations in the southern islands of Miyakojima and Amami Oshima to counter China's increasingly brazen aggression in the East China Sea.
Japan last June warned China further Chinese military naval incursions in the waters off the Senkakus will compel Japan to take "necessary actions," including mobilizing the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).
The warning was prompted by a warship of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) entering waters just outside Japanese territorial waters around the Senkakus.
Analysts have taken this to mean Japan has drawn a clear red line with the warning that violations of Japanese sovereignty by the PLAN will be met by force.
China has since tested this red line by sending PLAN warships close to the Senkakus but not close enough to trigger a Japanese military response. In its most blatant challenge to Japan, China last Aug. 6 sent a fleet of 230 fishing boats protected by seven China Coast Guard ships to swarm the waters off the Senkakus. Japan lodged a strong diplomatic protest over the Chinese provocation.
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TagsJapan, Ministry of Defense, china, Senkaku Islands, anti-ship missile system, People's Liberation Army Navy, surface-to-ship missiles
Michael Jr. explains why he chose clean comedy and how kids influenced his decision Guest Reviewer | 01 September, 2016 by Michael Foust
CHICAGO (Christian Examiner) If every comedian had the same standard Michael Jr. has, the industry would be a lot more family-friendly and probably funnier, too.
Michael Jr., currently on an eight-city gig as part of his "Bringin' The Funny.... Stand Up & Be Encouraged" tour, has one standard: to put on a show that is clean enough for his entire family to watch.
"I made a deal with my kids: Anything that I say on stage, I want you to be able to repeat it," he told the Christian Examiner.
So far, it has served him well. Michael Jr., a Christian, has appeared on The Tonight Show, Comedy Central, Oprah, The Late Late Show, BET's ComicView and Jimmy Kimmel Live. He also is a staple for faith-based audiences and had a part in the 2015 hit movie War Room.
Michael Jr. says his career changed when he grew comfortable on stage and made the transition from someone who was "trying to get laughs from people" to someone who was "going up there to give them an opportunity to laugh." Such a perspective has a spiritual angle to it: Michael Jr. views comedy as his gift. It's also the reason he is comfortable performing at homeless shelters and in prisons.
"I literally am not there to get laughs," he said. "I'm there to give them an opportunity to laugh. If they want to take the opportunity, great, but if they don't, I still was obedient. I still did what I was called to do. ... [But] I've never been at a homeless shelter, I've never been at a prison, where they did not laugh."
The Christian Examiner spoke with Michael Jr. about the state of comedy in America. Following is a transcript, edited for clarity:
Christian Examiner: Comedy, in America, often gets branded as risque or adult-oriented. At what point in your life did you decide you wanted to do a cleaner form of comedy?
Michael Jr.: When I started doing standup. I really, really enjoy being around my family, and I remember thinking one time: I want my kids to be able to come see me perform. I made a deal with my kids: Anything that I say on stage, I want you to be able to repeat it. And I remember being in a club in Los Angeles performing, and there were some really well-known, big-time comedians. I brought my kids down to the club with me, and we were in the green room. And one of the big-time performers who you would know if I said his name said, "Man, my kids have no idea what I do. I don't even know at what point I'm going to explain it to them, because I don't know how to show them what I do." I'm just really blessed that I don't have to have that experience. I'm the same person at home. Then when I became a Christian, it just made more sense.
Christian Examiner: So you were doing clean comedy before you were a Christian?
Michael Jr.: Yes, absolutely. Before I was funny just to be funny, and now I'm funny for a reason.
Christian Examiner:Why do think so much of the comedy nowadays is driven by low-brow humor and sexually oriented humor?
Michael Jr.: I was just talking to a comedian friend of mine about this. Here's what happens on stage: A lot of times a comedian does a joke and he wants to be clean. If the first joke doesn't work and the second joke doesn't work and they start to sweat, then they throw out a four-letter word. They think they're getting laughs, but all they're getting is a reaction. But what's amazing is something similar is true with Christian comedians. They don't go to cursing; they go the opposite way. If they do a joke and it doesn't work, then they will start to flow into their testimony. It's almost a diversion: You divert to something else that you know they can identify with. The value is in standing up there and knowing who you are and presenting what you have, and just trusting that the funny will be there. If it's not, then that means you're supposed to be a doctor with a good sense of humor.
Christian Examiner: So is it harder to come up with something that is appropriate for all ages, or is it harder to come up with the stuff you might see on HBO?
Michael Jr.: From what I hear it's harder to come up with the clean stuff. But here's the thing: All of those guys who are in comedy clubs doing really, really dirty comedy, when it comes time to do The Tonight Show which everyone wants to do they then have to clean up their act. And what they find out a lot of times is there's not much there [left over], because you have to pull out the verbiage. It doesn't get as big a reaction from the audience.
*****
Following are the remaining dates on the tour:
Sept. 11 -- Dayton, Ohio
Sept. 18 -- Grand Rapids, Mich.
Sept. 25 -- Flowood, Miss.
Oct. 2 -- Peoria, Ariz.
Oct. 9 -- Visalia, Calif.
Oct. 16 -- Harleysville, Pa.
Nov. 20 -- Redford, Mich.
The first time Jason Chu heard a song that resonated with his Asian American experience was during his junior year of high school, when he heard Got Rice? by AZN Pride. The song struck a chord in Chu, who grew up being homeschooled and then being surrounded by primarily White and African American peers in Delaware. Chu eventually ended up performing the song for his high school talent show. It was his first performance in front of an audience.
There was something about being in front of everybody and saying something that resonated with me, Chu recalled, saying that in retrospect, he realized that this experience was a launching pad to his current career.
That element of telling relatable stories is particularly prominent in his upcoming album. Chu is set to release his fifth album, Arrivals, on Friday night with a live performance at the Pico Union Project in Los Angeles, the first of the many Arrivals Story Nights he plans to host across the country. At the Story Nights, Chu and other musicians -- including Joe Kye, with whom Chu collaborated to create Arrivals -- will not only perform some of the songs in the Arrivals album, but also listen to stories from the audience and perform them on stage through spontaneous poems and lyrics.
The idea behind the Story Nights aligns with the way Chu perceives his career, as something more than just music. By sharing stories, he hopes listeners who resonate with them would find healing, and also be empowered to share their own journeys.
I hate concept of celebrity -- it says that Im better, Chu said. But I want to let people know that we are you were telling you. Its about your story. Anytime you see me, you should be seeing you.
This philosophy of storytelling stems from Chus Christian faith and his background in ministry, he says. Chu had been involved in a college ministry at Yale University (which is also his alma mater) and served as a full-time staff at an international church in Beijing. Chu also studied at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Without faith, I wouldnt have cared about people the way I do, and ministry is all about serving people, Chu said. And the music that I love, the music that I had been writing it was therapeutic and a release for me, but it couldnt just be for me. It had to be for others too.
Chus songs explore some heavy topics. For instance, a song called Peter from his first album Much Love tells the story of a devoted church-goer who also has questions about his attraction towards other males, and unravels some of the internal and external pressures that he experiences. In Red Lines from the album Millennials, Chu opens up about his own struggle with self-harm and depression. Chu also talks of the first time he felt sexual attraction after looking at what is presumed to be a Victorias Secret poster of women in lingerie, and his internal battles with lust and porn in the song no angels, also from the album Millennials.
Its a complete lie that silence, or covering up, makes you stronger, Chu said. The work of sanctification and salvation that gets carried out in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit is precisely this stuff no longer fearing the darkness. The light in us has overcome the darkness; hiding the darkness just gives it more strength. And its just like saying that the light is not enough to overcome it.
This is also the reason that Chu said he hopes these topics would be more widely discussed in the church. While Chu was involved in ministry, he said he felt that the church often thinks of outreach as events or sprints; but he says simply having these types of conversations make the faith more relevant to the everyday lives of congregants and seekers.
You dont have to be a musician to be creative and to talk about abuse or depression, Chu said. You can get creative with your liturgy, with your Thursday night youth group. But in order to be creative, you have to be honest and fearless.
Theres art in discernment and discipleship, too. Are we creative in how we approach these issues, or are we safe? The opposite of creativity is safety, because if we just stay safe, nothing gets created, he added.
Though Chu himself no longer serves in ministry in a staff capacity, he says his aim to serve others is the same, whether within the church or outside of it, and doing even more than music. Chu has partnered with several groups, including with government agencies such as Alameda County and the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAAPI) to speak out about issues such as mental health and bullying, and with mainstream media outlets like NBC Asian America to produce a series on Asian American musicians and how their religion affects their music, and vice versa.
Chu said these various roles give him different titles, such as hip hop and spoken word artist, as well as a host and cultural commentator.
Internally though, I think of myself as a speaker. Its all about giving voice to the things that need to be heard, always.
Near the end of Hell or High Water, David Mackenzies tragic and powerful Western/crime fusion, one of its principal characters speaks of being haunted by the events that have transpired over the course of the film.
His adversary suggests the troubled man should confront him again, in a more isolated venue. Maybe Ill give you peace, he says, euphemistically. Maybe, the troubled character shoots back quickly, Ill give it to you.
It would be hard for anyone who has ever attended a liturgical church service not to hear in such an exchange a bitter, cruel inversion of the ritualistic passing of the peace: the greeting of peace be with you and the reply, and also with you. It is both strange and yet somehow fitting that in a film filled with violence perpetrated on human bodies that this violence against language could have the capacity to pain the audience in equal measure.
But it does.
Hell or High Water begins in medias res. Two masked men terrorize a middle-aged woman opening a Texas Midlands bank. When she doesnt have the combination for the safe, they lay in wait for the manager to arrive, punching him in the nose despite his cooperation. Gradually their motivation is revealed. Tanner Howard (Ben Foster) is a convict who agrees to help his brother, Toby (Chris Pine), to rob enough banks to pay off a reverse mortgage and the back taxes on their family home. The brothers have less than a week before the bank forecloses on the property, and the stakes are raised by the fact that a contract for drilling oil on the land means the property will soon skyrocket in value.
Even before the films final confrontation, characters ...
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Every year or so, Hollywood turns out a romance shot in a picturesque locationusually written by Nicholas Sparksthat might as well be sponsored by Kleenex, for two reasons. One, because you'll go through reams of its most popular product (lotion or not, your pick) in the theater. Two, the movie's a lot like Kleenex: soft and comforting and even necessary sometimes, but easy to tear apart or melt, and meant to be tossed once you're done with it.
The Light Between Oceans, I'm happy to report, is not that movie. Instead of flattering romantic fantasies, it digs into the difficult truth about the world, and comes out with a hopeful realism that seems, after all, quite beautiful.
Directed by Derek Cianfrance (The Place Beyond the Pines), The Light Between Oceans is the old-fashioned story of a lonely lighthouse keeper (Michael Fassbender) and his wife (Alicia Vikander), who are deliriously happy in their wild, lovely island home until it becomes clear that their dream of having a child can only end in heartbreakthat is, until their prayers are answered in the most unexpected way.
Typically the film would end here, but there's more to this story, which is adapted from the bestselling 2012 novel by M.L. Stegman. The answers to their prayers depend on the heartbreak of someone else (Rachel Weisz), and so the film gains a backbone and a conflict that can't be easily resolved.
The Light Between Oceans is thematically rich, a clear morality tale about guilt, desire, and redemption that sustains an undertone of sadness. Here is the thing: we wreck one another's lives, and sometimes there's no clear fixno fix at all. Sometimes there's no way to hit the reset button. Redemption ...
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Your church holds within it a story. Whether in glory, fame, or failure, local churches are the pages on which we can read about Gods work in the world. Unfortunately, though, many of these stories remain on the shelves, or are at best shared only within their given communities.
At The Local Church, we want to change this.
Weve come to expect stories of God working through his people in many places. Whether its through a startup, college ministry, individual entrepreneurship, or community outreach, individuals are working as Gods agents everywhere. The reality, though, is that these individuals dont carry out their work alone. A biblically based, local congregationwhether as a support mechanism or the instigating agent, a refining tool or a sending structureis the core social underpinning of even the most influential Christians.
Scripture assumes the prominent presence and support of the local church in the lives of those who seek to carry out Gods purpose. Before his ascension, Christ establishes the church as his earthly hands. The entire book of Acts details the exploits of local church plants, complete with community-wide controversy, regular worship services, spontaneous revivals, and high-level leadership scandals. Christian ministrywarts and alltakes place first and foremost in the context of the local church.
Ive heard the true stories of local organizations gone wrong, and Ive experienced my share of frustration toward church politics, bureaucracy, and organizational freewheeling. Tales of congregations and leaders gone haywire have made many of us second-guess our need to even put up with the inevitable ugliness we find among the church ...
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home World American minister arrested in Russia for holding Bible studies
Baptist minister Donald Ossewaarde was one of the first to be arrested because of Russia's law against evangelism. Ossewaarde was accused of illegal missionary activity for holding Bible study meetings at his home in the city of Oryol.
Ossewarde was found guilty and ordered to pay a fine of 40,000 rubles on Aug. 14. The court did not give his lawyers enough time to arrive from Moscow, according to an email from his attorneys. He was then advised by the state-provided lawyer to pay the fine and not appeal his case.
"The problem is not the fine, which is about $700, but the fact that the court decided that Donald's exercise of his right to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ according to his beliefs is an illegal action," they said in the email.
Ossewarde believes that the case against him was an improper application of the law and intends to fight it. Ossewarde sent his family back to the U.S. but he remained in Russia to appeal the case. His lawyers, Vladimir Ryakhovsky and Konstantin Andreev, are optimistic about the outcome.
Ossewarde urged the Christian community to spread his story.
"I would ask all of my friends to think about how you might help to spread this story. After the appeals hearing, we can give more details to the media, but for now we will try to get the story out in this form," he said in a statement.
Ossewarde contacted several media outlets that have previously reported about Russia's law against evangelism. He hopes that the publicity will keep him safe and pressure the court to drop the case against him.
Forum 18 reported that there are four other individuals who were charged under the law against evangelism. Aleksei Telius, arrested on July 22, was fined 5,000 rubles. Ebenezer Tuah, arrested on July 31, was fined 50,000 rubles. Vadim Sibiryev, a Hare Krishna arrested on July 28, was acquitted. Aleksandr Yakimov, arrested on Aug. 5, is currently awaiting trial.
home World Benjamin Netanyahu urges students in Israel to read the Bible
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged students to study the Bible and their Jewish heritage at a cabinet meeting last week. He added that "excellence and Zionism" will be the basis of the revolution in education.
Netanyahu made the remarks in relation to the 2016-2017 school year that began on Thursday, Aug. 25.
"First of all, the study of the Bible," he said at the meeting. "We must make a major effort a this is the basis for why we are here, why we have returned here, why we stay here."
The prime minister stated that the study of the Bible and Jewish heritage will help students understand why they are in Israel. He also emphasized the significance of teaching about the contributions Jews made to society.
Netanyahu also pointed out the importance of knowledge to Israel's development. "Knowledge is a critical word," he said. "We want to give it to every child in Israel, Jews and non-Jews as one, religious and secular. This is the basis of the new world, and the basis of Israel as a strong nation in the world," he added.
The prime minister also recommended the use of the internet because it would enable teachers and students to communicate better.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett also affirmed Netanyahu's idea of introducing Zionism into the Israeli curriculum.
"We need to highlight our national values, Zionism, love of country and service to the state, and the strengthening of our shared Jewish roots."
Bennett also emphasized the teaching of the English language during the new school year. There will be 2,000 additional hours of English language lessons in schools as part of the campaign to improve language skills. He stated that every Israeli child should learn to write and speak English for easy job hiring in the future. The lessons will reportedly put an emphasis on practical skills instead of literature.
Another church leader falls victim to Russia's anti-evangelism law
A church leader has been arrested in Russia under the country's new anti-evangelism laws, days after a US missionary was convicted and fined for holding Bible studies in his home.
According to The Moscow Times, Sergei Zhuravlyov of the Ukranian Reformed Orthodox Church of Christ was arrested while preaching in St Petersburg and accused of "violating a provision of Russian anti-terrorist legislation that bans illegal missionary activity".
Zhuravlyov was later released on bail and is awaiting a court hearing.
The legislation he was accused of contravening was signed into law by President Vladimir Putin on July 6 and came into force two weeks later. Under the new law, known as the 'Yaroyava' package, house churches are illegal and religious activity or evangelism is prohibited anywhere outside a registered church or religious site, including private homes and online.
Only named members of religious organisations are now allowed to share their faith, and even informal witnessing between individuals is forbidden.
Critics have branded it a draconian attempt to stifle religious freedom under the guise of clamping down on terrorism.
Sergei Ryakhovsky, head of the Protestant Churches of Russia, previously wrote with other evangelical leaders to Putin urging him not to support the law.
They argued the law "violates human rights and fundamental liberties with regard to religious freedom".
Last week, it was reported that the first known victims of the legislation had been convicted and fined.
Baptist preacher Donald Ossewaarde, a US citizen, was fined 40,000 rubles (more than $600) for holding and advertising religious services in his home.
In Moscow, Ghanaian citizen Ebenezer Tuah, who heads the Christ Embassy church, was arrested and fined 50,000 rubles after police raided a sanatorium where he was performing baptisms.
Barack Obama urged to use G20 China visit to fight for persecuted Christians
President Barack Obama has been urged to raise the issue of religious freedom in China when he visits next week for the G20 summit.
Obama will be in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, on September 4 and 5. The province has been the focus of a months-long campaign to remove hundreds of crosses from church buildings, although this persecution has lessened recently.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom is calling on Obama to raise the issue of religious freedom with President Xi.
The commission also wants him to press for the release of prisoners of conscience.
Thomas Reese, the Jesuit chair of the commission, said: "As the Chinese government aggressively asserts itself on the global stage, at home it aggressively violates the human rights and religious freedom of its citizens.
"While these violations have intensified in Zhejiang Province, the location of the G20 summit, they also are taking place throughout China as the government seeks to repress the voices of individuals and groups advocating for their rights."
Large numbers of Christians live in Zhejiang.
Churches in Hangzhou have already been closed in advance of the G20 because of alleged security concerns and religious activities in all hospitals have been banned. Underground churches have also been ordered to cease activities.
The commission said that the Chinese government is continuing to use forcible disappearances, torture, detention and imprisonment to crack down on all religions.
Prisoners of conscience include Bao Guohua and Xing Wenxiang, imprisoned this year for opposing cross removals.
Bob Fu, president and founder of China Aid, which campaigns for persecuted Christians in China, was one of the seven religious freedom and human rights experts and family members invited to help prepare and advise Obama for his visit to China.
Fu told Christian Today: "As I explained to President Obama's National Security Advisor Ambassador Susan Rice during our meeting in the White House on Tuesday afternoon, the religious freedom and human rights situation in China has been the worst since the time of Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution in 1960s.
"President Obama and his Administration have failed the millions of persecuted Chinese freedom fighters and religious minorities in the past seven years by pushing these issues on the back seat of his foreign policy agenda to China.
"He should take this as his last opportunity to do something beyond the norm to not only raise cases of numerous arbitrary arrest of pastors, bishops and rights defenders, but more importantly to make a strong public statement along with our allies during his trip in Hangzhou to reaffirm American's long term commitment on the vital link between religious freedom, human rights and civil society with sustainable economic prosperity and international security.
"The whole world will watch whether President Obama will lead courageously for this effort during the G20 summit."
China: Canadian Christian Kevin Garrett jailed for spying will be treated fairly, says PM
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang promised yesterday that a Canadian Christian jailed on suspicion of spying two years ago would be treated humanely and lawfully.
Kevin Garrett ran a Christian coffee shop in Dandong, on the border with North Korea, and worked with North Korean refugees. Chinese state media said authorities had found evidence that Garratt worked with Canadian espionage agencies to gather intelligence in China. He was detained in August 2014 with his wife Julie, who was later released.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Beijing, Li said: "I want to say that China is a country with rule of law and our judicial authorities will handle it in strict accordance with the law, and give the relevant case humane treatment."
He said China would grant consular access in such cases if they involved foreigners:
"For these cases, the departments of both sides will continue to remain in touch and we believe it's essential for our two countries to remove disturbances and work together to uphold the other interests of China-Canada relations."
In a statement, Garrett's family said they were "extremely frustrated and disappointed" by the lack of progress over the issue. The statement said the family "implores the Canadian and Chinese leadership to set aside their differences and reach a resolution to allow Kevin to exit China and obtain critically needed medical treatment and to return to his family". It continued: "We appreciate the fact that both governments recognise Kevin's fragile medical condition and that his further incarceration would be detrimental to his health."
Trudeau said: "The foundation of a strong relationship is being able to be frank and open about concerns, questions and issues to work on together.
"That's part of why every time I've had the opportunity to sit down with the Chinese leadership I've highlighted a number of consular cases, including the Kevin Garratt case, and I continue to look forward to collaborating closely on these issues."
German police hunt man who tried to chop down giant border cross
German police say they're seeking a man who's launched a series of attacks on a giant cross near the Austrian border.
The suspect is said to have attempted to cut down the cross on various occasions.
The large wooden symbol is placed on the summit of the Schafreuter mountain which on the border between Germany and Austria. The cross was first attacked in May, then in July and again recently.
The latest attempt was spotted by a helicopter pilot who was flying over the mountain.
Police say they are unsure of the motive behind the attacks but have not ruled out the possibility that they are religiously motivated.
A German news outlet reported that the suspect police are seeking is "thought to be a man in his mid-thirties, around 1.80 metres tall, and fairly strong... with witnesses saying he had a foreign sounding accent".
If the motive for the attacks on the cross does turn out to be anti-Christian or anti-religious, it will join a long list of attacks on momuments to faith.
Iconoclasm is recorded in the Old Testament and throughout church history and remains an issue in parts of the world.
Ghana: Church launches five-year campaign against child trafficking
A five-year campaign against child trafficking has been launched by an Anglican diocese in Ghana.
The launch took place last Friday in Accra, where the diocese will build a new community shelter for children rescued from trafficking. It will also launch outreach educational programmes and take "pragmatic measures to address the root causes of child trafficking in the country," Graphic Online reports.
The Bishop of the Accra Diocese, Rt Rev Daniel Sylvanus Mensah Torto, said the new shelter would offer vulnerable children a "brighter future".
"The rescued children who would be sent to the shelter would have a new home, get access to education and be assisted to develop their God-given talent," he said.
The bishop stressed the importance of raising awareness of the issue in Ghana, and said the diocese would seek to influence "national and international policies, laws and programmes that protect children and also push for law enforcement".
He added that poverty is the "main underlying factor for child trafficking in Ghana", and the Church would be finding ways to support deprived families.
The campaign is a joint initiative between the diocese and the US embassy in Ghana. The US Ambassador to Ghana said at the launch that the US had signed a $5million agreement with Ghana to help combat child trafficking.
According to the US State Department, Ghana is "a source, transit, and destination country" for men, women and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour.
The 2015 Trafficking in Persons report said: "Ghanaian boys and girls are subjected to forced labor within the country in fishing, domestic service, street hawking, begging, portering, artisanal gold mining, quarrying, herding, and agriculture. Ghanaian girls, and to a lesser extent boys, are subjected to prostitution within Ghana."
The report warned that there had been an increase in the number of girls and young women in greater Accra at risk of sex trafficking and forced labour.
Green Christianity: Thousands of UK churches convert to renewable energy
More than 3,500 UK churches have switched or have registered to switch their electricity source from fossil fuels to renewable energies, amid a new wave of Christian support for environmental activism.
Some 2,000 churches from 16 Catholic dioceses, the majority of Salvation Army facilities and a third of Quaker meeting houses have made the switch.
The figures, released by charities today, come alongside the official beginning of 'Creationtide', a season of celebrating creation, raising awareness of its plight and those most affected by climate change, which runs till October 4.
"There are many ways in which we may respond to the threat and the reality of climate change and adopting renewable energy for our church buildings must be a priority," said Rt Revd John Arnold, Bishop of Salford and chairman of Catholic aid agency CAFOD. He added that "by adopting renewable energy we will directly help people threatened, and most severely affected, by climate change".
The widespread Catholic support for green causes follows last year's encyclical from Pope Francis, Laudato Si, in which the pope called for a committed fight against global warming to protect "our common home". That encyclical was followed by the Catholic Church calling on the UN to agree a goal of 'complete decarbonisation' by 2050. September 1 has been marked by Pope Francis as the official World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (which the Orthodox church has celebrated since 1989). Pope Francis this week proposed adding care for the natural world to the seven "works of mercy" Catholics are meant to perform.
Many other church groups have joined the crusade; nearly 700 churches of various denominations have signed up up for new energy sources via http://www.bigchurchswitch.org.uk/, founded by Christian Aid and Tearfund. Christian Aid Chief Executive Loretta Minghella said: "We need a big shift to renewable energy and a shared commitment to leave the vast majority of fossil fuel reserves in the ground. This action by thousands of churches shows a groundswell of public support for renewables to which governments must respond by doing all they can to shift to a clean energy future."
Tearfund's Advocacy director Paul Cook called for urgent government action alongside church participation. "The longer we postpone, the worse it will be for our future and the future of people living in poverty around the world," he said.
The Church of England's lead bishop on environmental issues, Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam, said the groundswell marked "a shift in the Christian understanding of our relationship to creation under God", and invited Christians to "rediscover older traditions of a godly relationship of humanity to the wider created order".
He said: "One simple thing we can do in response to such a crisis is to switch to using clean energy in our homes, communities, schools and places of worship."
ISIS 'executes 9 young men by slicing them in half with a chainsaw'
ISIS militants have executed nine young men in Mosul by cutting them in two with a chainsaw, according to reports.
A source living in the city told Iraqi News: "ISIS fighters have executed nine youths of Mosul. The outfit accused that these youths belonged to an anti-ISIS resistance faction."
The source added that the sentenced handed down to the men specified that they should be "tied to an iron pole in the center of Tal Afar Square in Mosul and then sliced into two with an electric chainsaw".
Mosul, which lies on the Nineveh plain in northern Iraq and was once considered the heartland of Iraq's Christian population, has been under ISIS control since June 2014 when militants overran the city.
Since then, numerous stories of brutal executions have emerged. In June, eyewitnesses told ARA News that 19 young Yazidi women had been burned to death for refusing to have sex with jihadists.
The women were reportedly forced into iron cages and set alight as a crowd of hundreds watched on.
Last December, three imams were publicly beheaded after they refused to recruit young people to ISIS' cause.
Iraqi News reports that in total thousands of people have been executed in Mosul since the summer of 2014, the majority of whom were accused of cooperating with security forces trying to flush ISIS out of the city.
Islamic State names Pope as enemy number one
Islamic State has singled out Pope Francis as its chief enemy.
The Middle East terror group describes the pope as a "non-believer" in its latest publication. IS condemns him for "defending" homosexuals who it says have an immoral lifestyle, the Express reports.
The terrorists also attack the pope for seeking dialogue with "moderate" Islam. Such moderate Muslims include Imam Ahmed al Tayeb, of Al Azhar university in Cairo, Egypt, who IS says is apostate for describing Christianity as a religion of love and peace.
Pope Francis has insisted the war on terror being waged across the world is not a religious war. He admitted however that the world was at war, when he spoke to journalists on the plane to Poland for World Youth Day, after Catholic priest Jacques Hamel had his throat slit by two IS followers in France.
"Religions don't want war. The others want war," the pope said.
IS however insists it is waging a war of religion.
In a feature on Pope Francis headlined "In the Words of the Enemy", IS condemns the papacy as "pagan" and warns: "The religion of Islam will continue to be spread by the sword."
The group accuses Pope Francis of hiding behind "a deceptive veil of good will" in order to subdue Muslims through appeasement.
"While previous popes spoke against Islam due to the actual reality they faced, based on mutual enmity between the pagan Christians and monotheistic Muslims, recent popes and especially Pope Francis have attempted to paint a picture of heartwarming friendship, seeking to steer Muslim masses away from the obligation of waging jihad against disbelief," IS says.
"Completely disregarding his own Church's doctrine of judging homosexuals as immoral for engaging in the perverted act of sodomy, Francis has again sidestepped religion for the sake of public opinion."
IS accuses him of following "some devilish interfaith fantasy, far removed from the truth." It accuses him of trying to remove the Qur'anic duty to wage jihad against pagans.
Speaking at his weekly audience yesterday, Francis emphasised that faith in Christ brings salvation. It offers healing, restores right relationships and affirms the inviolable dignity of human beings, he said.
Muslim migrants are converting to Christianity in Switzerland
Increasing numbers of Muslim refugees to Switzerland and Germany are converting to Christianity, according to reports from the region.
The reports come after it emerged that in Germany, more than 2,000 Muslims have turned to Christ since 2014.
In Switzerland, the churches are not keeping a tally but counsellors on the ground are reporting similar trends.
The number of Muslim refugees who are converting to Christianity has increased during the refugee crisis, according to Switzerland's Counselling Centre for Integration and Religious Affairs.
Coordinator Kathrin Anliker told the Swiss edition of 20 Minutes: "In recent months we've been told mainly of Afghans and Kurds who have converted."
She said it could be to do with the radical interpretation of Islam that prevails in their own country and a resulting disenchantment among the population, which is leading to a new openness to other world views.
"On the other hand, it may also be that some who can now be baptised in Switzerland, were already Christian in their home countries but kept it secret for fear of persecution."
Philippe Datwyler of the Reformed Church in Zurich also reported many conversions to Christianity in Switzerland's free evangelical churches. "The strong piety and the family atmosphere that prevail in the free churches meet the needs of convertsrather than the somewhat non-binding regional churches," he told 20 Minutes.
The Free Evangelical community runs services for Iranians and Afghans, led by a Persian Pastor, with new refugees constantly seeking to sign up.
Anliker said there were three reasons behind the trend: personal conviction is the first, using the church to integrate into society is the second. Thirdly, a few misguidedly believe that converting will help their case for asylum.
She also noted that for Muslims, where some Islamists believe apostasy must be punished by death, conversion can be dangerous. People who convert can be threatened by Muslims in asylum centres, and it could be extremely dangerous for them to return to their home country.
Lea Wertheimer, of the State Secretariat for Migration, made clear that each case for asylum was judged on its own individual merit, and conversion made no difference.
The Counselling Centre for Integration and Religious Affairs advises churches to consider any baptism of asylum seekers carefully to detect the true reasons for the change of faith. "If someone just comes to baptism, the churches should be cautious," says Kathrin Anliker, where such cases are exceptions. The purpose of the meeting should be to be able to trace the history of the person. "It is not about to lead a police interrogation, but to feel the motivation for the Christian faith."
Pastor to be deported to possible death in Kenya
A pastor may be sent to his death next week after Scottish immigration officials rejected his application for asylum.
Pastor Pip Ashiembi, originally from Kenya and now leader of Foundation of Love Church in Glasgow, will be deported on Monday. He has lived in the UK since 2009 but was detained last Friday at Dungavel House Immigration Removal Centre, according to Glasgow local paper the Evening Times.
He applied for asylum nine months ago after he and his family faced violence in Kenya but it has been rejected.
"I feel my life may be in danger," he told the local paper. "I know the government will say Kenya is a democratic country and it is now safe but I don't feel that way."
He said that asylum laws meant he could not appeal the decision in the UK but had to wait until he was in Kenya to question the decision.
"I enjoy my work within the church and community of Drumchapel. I do something which is meaningful and I don't get paid for it.
"I am 61 now, why should I be living my last days over in Kenya?"
One churchgoer, Alex Morton, said the congregation were shocked at what had happened.
"He is a very outgoing and sincere guy. His preaching is quite special. He doesn't just preach the book, he is a wizard with language and he is able to tell a story," he said.
"It will leave a big space in the church, no one can replace him," he told the paper.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "All applications are considered on their individual merits and in accordance with the immigration rules."
"Where someone is in the UK illegally and is found not to need our protection, we expect them to leave the country voluntarily. Where they do not, we will seek to enforce their departure."
This time, ISIS uses flamethrower to execute 6 of its leaders in Iraq for trying to escape to Syria
New method, same old savagery.
The Islamic State (ISIS) has found yet another barbaric way to kill its enemies. According to Iraqi News, the terror group recently executed six of its leaders using a flamethrowera weapon that sprays out burning fuel.
"The six ISIS leaders were executed by their counterparts using flamethrower," Iraqi News quoted Ismat Rajab, a Kurdistan Democratic Party official in Mosul, as saying. "They were executed as they tried to escape to Syria."
The execution reportedly took place in Nineveh province in northwestern Iraq.
Meanwhile, Iraqi President Fuad Masoum has apparently decided to give ISIS a dose of its own medicine. Earlier this month, he announced that his government will execute 36 convicted ISIS terrorists who were found responsible for the massacre of 1,700 people in Camp Speicher, a former U.S. military base near the central city of Tikrit, in June 2014, according to The Christian Post.
Masoum said the 36 ISIS fighters were sentenced to death in February by the central criminal court in Baghdad.
Survivors of that massacre, mostly military students, recalled that the ISIS militants promised their captives that they would be sent back to their families. The captives were divided into two groups based on their religious sects and put on lorries.
However, they were taken to a riverbank instead and killed with machine gun fire. Almost all those massacred were Shia Muslims, according to reports.
The ISIS later released videos showing hundreds of men being executed with machine guns.
On Friday, a new video released by ISIS shows the group's child soldiers executing five Kurdish fighters, according to Fox News.
The 9-minute video was posted online by ISIS leaders and was first reported by Middle East Media Research Institute, which tracks terrorist groups' communication throughout the region.
The children, who appear to be as young as 10 years old, shout "Allah Akbar," lower their guns and shoot the kneeling men in the backs of their heads. Friday's video was believed to be the first showing a mass execution carried out by multiple children, who are known as the "cubs of the Caliphate."
US astronaut speaks from space of the beauty of God's creation
A Christian astronaut has described the humbling experience of witnessing at first hand in space "the amazing creative work of God".
US astronaut Jeff Williams, commander of the International Space Station's Expedition 48, spoke to Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, through a NASA link.
Last month Williams, who listens to Mohler's Briefing podcast while in orbit, broke the record of 520 days for the amount of time an American has spent in space.
The astronaut takes astonishing pictures and regularly tweets them from the station.
#SpaceZoom slide show featuring giant clouds. In space the horizon provides endless options for photography.https://t.co/z1ZnOTp7wA Jeff Williams (@Astro_Jeff) 27 August 2016
The 15-minute interview took place during the latest regular Sunday chapel service at the seminary, when the space station was heading from a position above the US towards the Atlantic.
Williams told Mohler: "When I look out the window and I see this, all of the elements are what you would imagine you would see with a creative work by an infinite God. You see the design, you see the beauty, you see the purpose, you see all of those elements, you see order in all the details."
The astronaut, on his fourth space flight, continued: "It's one thing to be inside here, look out the window, and view the elements of God's creation in deep space as well as the planet.
"It's quite another thing to go outside, and now you have set yourself inside this suit that is sustaining your life and you can see through that full-faced visor not only the vastness and the majesty of the globe itself but deep out into space. It just deepens a comprehension, the observation of what we know through Scripture about the amazing creative work of God. It's an incredibly humbling experience."
Now a grandfather of four, he admitted he missed his wife, Anna-Marie.
"Family is what I miss the most. That's centred around relationships, our closest relationships, and as believers we understand how central relationship is to the human experience."
He ended the interview with a zero-gravity backflip.
Viewing God's 'creative work' in space strengthened faith of this record-breaking astronaut
This man has got the best view of God's "creative work," and he is setting a new world record. He is U.S. astronaut Jeff Williams, the commander for Expedition 48 of the International Space Station, which is orbiting Earth every 90 minutes at 17,500 mph.
Last Saturday, Aug. 24, Williams set a new world record for the most time spent in space by an American, passing the 520-day mark set by Scott Kelly. When he returns home from orbit after his 172-day mission on Sept. 6, he will set a new mark for an American in space at 534 days, according to NASA.
On Tuesday, Williams spoke with Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) President R. Albert Mohler Jr. through a NASA downlink to the SBTS chapel in Louisville, Kentucky, the Baptist Press reports.
Williams said the view of the universe from the space station's window is one that only deepens his Christian faith.
"When I look out the window and I see thisall of the elements are what you would imagine you would see with a creative work by an infinite God," Williams said. "You see the design, you see the beauty, you see the purpose, you see all of those elements, you see order in all the details."
"It's one thing to be inside here, look out the window, and view the elements of God's creation in deep space as well as the planet," Williams said.
"It's quite another thing to go outside, and now you have set yourself inside this suit that is sustaining your life and you can see through that full-faced visor not only the vastness and the majesty of the globe itself but deep out into space. It just deepens a comprehension, the observation of what we know through Scripture about the amazing creative work of God. It's an incredibly humbling experience," he said.
Williams spoke with Mohler for 15 minutes at the beginning of the normal chapel hour from 250 miles above Earth just after the International Space Station had passed North America before moving over to the north Atlantic.
The interview ended with Williams performing a zero-gravity backflip and waving to the chapel audience.
Mohler called Williams a "dear brother in Christ" and a "friend of the seminary." He also thanked NASA, which he said went beyond normal protocol to arrange the interview during chapel.
Collecting stories: Marcus Flacks
The collector and dealer discusses his passion for classical Chinese art and furniture and the stories behind his favourite pieces, ahead of The Flacks Family Collection: A Very Personal Selection at Christies in New York
Its alchemy, Marcus Flacks says of collecting Chinese art and classical furniture. As renowned dealers, collectors and experts, Flacks and his wife Debby consider themselves grateful custodians of the masterpieces that have entered their Hampstead home. The Flacks tale, like some of the best collecting narratives, began serendipitously. The first time Marcus and Debby bought a serious piece of Chinese furniture, they were less informed about the subject at hand. Marcus recalls, Like an idiot, I said, Do you have any chairs with the spindles? Not realising that probably at that time there were only four in the world. Fortunately, the dealer smiled and returned with a huanghuali spindle-backed chair, one that continues to hold a central place in the couples home.
Other highlights displayed in the Flacks beautifully decorated home include contemporary ink painter Liu Dans study for Dictionary, 1991, which marked a turning point in the artists practice. I love the fact that I have a study of something that Ive seen all the large studies of, that basically helped to launch a career, Flacks says of the work and his friend of 20-odd years. Its something very, very intimate between him and the piece, which Im allowed to tap into. Among the 46-lot selection of treasured works and objects offered in The Flacks Family Collection: A Very Personal Selection on 16 September at Christies New York are Liu Dans Far-Off Journey, an obscure sketch of an omitted section for a masterwork entitled Ink Handscroll currently in the San Diego Museum of Art.
At times, the couple lost track of their works of art and objects with their growing inventory. When putting together an exhibition of scholars rocks, Marcus included a rock that was apparently close to Debbys heart. There were a lot of rocks in the house, to be fair, he explained. My wife [had] said, You know its enough with the rocks. When telling his wife about the sale of the Lingbi rock with a hole in the middle, she responded, Thats mine. Marcus told his friend, the buyer, Lets find you another rock because otherwise, Im going to have to get divorced. The couple kept the rock and recently acquired a companion piece in bronze by British Pop sculptor Clive Barker. Its breathed new life into both the new piece and the old piece, Marcus says. Heres a rock that was created by nature over millions of years; someone has decided it was worthy of turning into an art piece. Of the rock that almost got away, Marcus adds, Im not a great believer in fate. But I thought, there must be a reason why we have to live with that.
Donald Traill/Associated Press
United Airlines will begin weekly service to Havana from Bush Intercontinental Airport on Dec. 3. Tickets go on sale Thursday afternoon or evening.
"I'm incredibly proud of all the dedicated aviation professionals here at United who are working hard to get our historic Cuba service ready for takeoff in November," United CEO Oscar Munoz said in a news release. "Today's announcement reaffirms that these flights will ensure better choice, convenience and competition for all travelers on this important route."
Exxon Mobil Corp. has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit it filed against the Harris County Appraisal District disputing a nearly $40 million property tax bill.
The Irving-based oil giant, which occupies a sprawling new corporate campus just south of The Woodlands, filed suit against the county appraisal district last fall, claiming the actual value of the property was "substantially below" what was assessed -- $1.04 billion. It did not provide its own assessment of the property.
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Austin-based Aspen Heights Partners has launched its first student-housing project in Houston, adding another apartment option near the University of Houston's main campus.
The four-story, $60 million project is being built the six-acre site of a former shopping center at 4971 Martin Luther King Blvd. Completion is planned in July.
The complex, just south of MacGregor Park at Old Spanish Trail, is a half-mile from the university and one Metro light-rail line stop away. The land was acquired in 2015.
"We just saw it being at a fantastic corner right across the street from the new rail line, right across the street from MacGregor Park," said Ryan Fetgatter, vice president of development for Aspen Heights Partners.
"Between those two amenities that were right there at your front door, we just decided that this was the best location in the market."
Each of the project's 235 units will include between one and four bedrooms, for a total of 717.
Students can sign up as a group or ask to be matched with a roommate based on questionnaires collected by Aspen Heights Partners. Residents have their own bedroom and bathroom and a shared kitchen, living, dining and laundry areas.
Rental rates have not been determined, but Fetgatter said they will be competitive with other new private student housing.
Aspen Heights Partners has built more than 25 student-housing projects across the country since 2007. It has moved from cottage-style projects that resemble a house to more dense, urban projects such as the one at UH. Common areas consist of pools, lounges for both studying and gaming, tanning booths, fitness centers and outdoor recreation areas.
Private developers and UH itself have added thousands of rooms to the stock of student housing in recent years. The university can house 8,000 students at nine residential communities, including the new 800-bed Cougar Place and 1,100-bed Cougar Village II.
Dallas-based Fountain Residential Partners is working on its third off-campus project totaling more than 1,300 beds near UH since 2013. Since completing The Vue on MacGregor and the Campus Vue apartments, Fountain Residential has hopped across Interstate 45 for a job in partnership with Austin-based Virtus Real Estate Capital.
Named The Gateway on Cullen, the project is being developed on 7.7 acres at 1901 Cullen. It's designed for 531 beds including one-, two-, four-, and five-bedroom apartments and townhouses.
Amenities will include a pool, volleyball court, an 8,000-square-foot clubhouse, fitness and cardio center, a private study room and surface parking. Opening is planned for fall 2017. Like other Fountain Residential Partners projects, it also is being marketed to students of nearby Texas Southern University.
Aspen Heights Partners had initially planned to build on that location but walked away in early 2015.
"At the end of the day, we just got a little bit concerned with the location being on the other side of the highway underpass," Fetgatter said.
Travel time by train at the MLK stop averages two minutes to the UH South/University Oaks stop, and five minutes to the Robertson Stadium/UH/TSU stop on the north side of campus, according to Metro. It's a 14 minute trip to downtown's Convention District.
Aspen Heights Partners announced the Houston project along with three other communities in Ames, Iowa, another new market, as well as College Station and Syracuse, N.Y. The company has secured $109.9 million in financing for the projects.
UH has added more than 4,000 students over the last six years, helped in part by its status as a Tier One research university.
"The University of Houston for a long time has had this stigma of being a commuter school, but we see that fading," Fetgatter said. "A lot more students are now coming from outside of the Houston area."
Looking at the world through the eyes of the Web
A Sugar Land police officer is among four men arrested Wednesday in a theft ring that targeted cattle and heavy equipment, officials said.
The officer, William Allen, was charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, a first-degree felony, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
A Richmond man using the pay phone in the lobby at the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday afternoon looked familiar, authorities said.
Police said Deion Johnson, 21, matched the description of the suspect accused of stealing a car a few hours earlier from the parking lot of a YMCA in Richmond.
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When BMC Software created its first product, the cutting-edge mainframe computers filled an entire room. Thirty-six years later, its products include software to help run IT functions from smartphones that fit in a pocket.
To keep up with the forward-marching pace of technology, BMC has overhauled its business at least three times. It now creates software for a variety of technologies, including mainframes, cloud computing and mobile devices.
"When the customers start spending on new things, BMC shifts our spending to make those new things work better and faster," said Bob Beauchamp, president, chairman and CEO of BMC.
BMC has at times provided market-leading, if not dominating, products. Other patches were tougher, requiring layoffs to cut costs and acquisitions to catch up with the newest technologies, said Colin Fletcher, research director covering IT operations management for Gartner, an information technology research and advisory company.
More Information TIMELINE 1980 BMC Software is founded. 1988 Becomes a publicly traded company. 1994 Acquires Patrol Software, helping it enter distributed-computing market. 1995 Products expand beyond mainframes. 2001 Bob Beauchamp becomes CEO. 2002 BMC acquires Remedy, helping growth. 2006 Sells Houston campus for $292 million. 2012 Activist shareholders confront BMC. 2013 Private investor group led by Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital purchase BMC for about $6.9 billion. 2016 Profitability is forecast to grow at double-digit rate. See More Collapse
Ultimately, BMC has grown to about $2 billion in revenues. It employs some 6,000 people, with roughly 900 in the Houston area.
"BMC has managed to become one of the few IT operations management software vendors to get to that size and expand," Fletcher said.
BMC was founded in September 1980 by Scott Boulette, John J. Moores and Dan Cloer. Moores bought out Boulette and Cloer in the early '80s, and the company shifted its focus from contract services to software for IBM mainframes.
Its early focus on mainframes gave BMC cash flow, and it was willing to risk profits to acquire startups with interesting new technologies, Fletcher said.
Beauchamp started at BMC as a sales executive in 1988, the year the company went public. He said it was growing and hiring incredibly fast. It outgrew its space in Sugar Land, and BMC built a campus in Houston in the early 1990s.
Also around this time, BMC began its first major overhaul. The up-and-coming technology involved distributed computing and minicomputers, which supported multiple users who could remotely access a shared computer resource.
BMC, which has made roughly 70 acquisitions to date, acquired Patrol Software for $33 million in 1994. This helped it enter the distributed computing market in 1995.
"For a larger established company or long-term company, one way to bring in innovation is to acquire," said Tim Grieser, an industry analyst for enterprise system management software at market research firm IDC.
By the end of 1995, mainframes were 96 percent of BMC's revenues and distributed computing was 4 percent. This year, mainframes make up less than 30 percent and distributed computing is more than 70 percent.
BMC continued its growth as investors pumped money into Internet-related companies. Businesses were also upgrading software in preparation for Y2K, the fear that computer programs wouldn't recognize '2' as the first digit in 2000.
"Everybody was scared to death that airplanes would fall out of the sky, that banks would stop working," Beauchamp said. "So there was a huge software buying frenzy that occurred for about two years prior to Jan. 1, 2000."
Beauchamp spent the turn of the century with a bottle of champagne - unopened, just in case - and a satellite phone. As it turned midnight in different parts of the world, he called BMC's international offices.
"We realized that the world was going to hold together," he said. "What I didn't realize is that revenues were about to collapse."
The company's growth came to a screeching halt in the early 2000s after the dot-com bubble burst. Technology companies were bleeding money and scaling back operations.
Beauchamp was named CEO in 2001, around the time BMC's stock plummeted to about $11 from more than $80. He had to lay off employees.
"We had to cut a lot of costs and that was a really, really terrible, rough period for me personally, but more importantly for the employees of BMC," he said.
After getting expenses down, BMC reinvented itself again and focused on Web 2.0, the rise of e-commerce. Fletcher said its 2002 acquisition of Remedy was "key for them finding growth."
Remedy improves IT service delivery, such as email support and technical issues. A Gartner report found that Remedy helped BMC capture 21 percent of the $2.2 billion IT service support market in 2015.
In June 2006, BMC sold its Houston campus for $292 million to Thomas Properties Group, through a joint venture with the California State Teachers' Retirement System. It leased space and used the money to acquire emerging companies that could propel its technology forward.
In 2012, it was confronted by activist shareholders as Elliott Associates and Elliott International acquired more than 5 percent of BMC's common stock. Elliott proposed its own slate of directors and urged management to consider selling the company.
Instead, BMC initiated a poison pill that would dilute the majority owner's shares if a person or group acquired beneficial ownership of 10 percent or more of the company's common stock.
BMC was ultimately purchased for about $6.9 billion in 2013 by a private investor group led by Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital. Fletcher said this allowed BMC to leave the activist shareholder saga behind.
"I doubt that BMC would have gone private if the activist investor hadn't gotten involved," Fletcher said.
BMC said it likely would have become private either way. Becoming a private company has helped BMC adapt to the latest technological wave without quarterly pressures from Wall Street, Beauchamp said, adding that there were "huge disruptors happening simultaneously."
These included Software as a Service, or SaaS, where customers use software without downloading it onto their computer, the Internet of Things, and big data and analytics engines.
Grieser, with IDC, agreed that becoming a private company helped BMC. "I think they are benefitting from the investment and lack of requirement to have public financial growth," he said.
Yet Fletcher said BMC and its competitors will have to undergo more changes.
BMC will be confronted by increased competition as non-software companies, such as automobile makers, create more and more of their own software. Combined with the open-source trend of sharing software and making it available for free, Fletcher said, and the next generation of IT workers are growing up in an era when people don't always pay for the products BMC creates.
"I think the company will have to continue to evolve at this pace, if not faster than they have before," he said.
Beauchamp said BMC un-veiled twice as many new products in 2015 than in 2014, and it's on track to double again this year. The company's profitability is expected to grow by double-digit rates in 2016.
"All the leading indicators of growth, every one of them is green right now," he said. "That's really exciting and that positions us, hopefully, well to maybe re-emerge as a public company in the not-too-distant future, which is one of my goals."
Concepcion drew first blood over Konos left eyebrow in the seventh. (Photo: Naomi Fukuda)
by Robert Ecksel
WBA: On Wednesday, August 31, at Ota-City Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan, WBA World interim super flyweight champion Luis El Nica Concepcion (35-4, 24 KOs), the hard-hitting mandatory from Panama City, Panama, decisioned WBA World super flyweight champion Kohei Kono (32-9-1, 13 KOs), the reigning and defending champion fighting out of Tokyo, after 12 hard-fought rounds.
The final scores were 115-113 (Melva Santos) and 116-112 twice (Stanley Christodoulou and Philippe Verbeke), all in favor of Concepcion.
Kono was making the fourth defense of the title he won in 2014. His advantages in height and reach were offset by Concepcions aggression.
El Nica outworked the champion. Kono landed several right hand counters, but his left was ineffective.
Concepcion drew first blood, opening a gash over Konos left eyebrow in the seventh. The new champion was cut in the 11th.
Thank God I managed this great victory that I dedicate to the Panamanian people, Roberto Duran and my whole family, he said. I am champion and want to fight the best!
The victory was a culmination of a lifetime of work for El Nica. He said he was going to bring the black and gold belt back to Panama and he was as good as his word.
Taguchi retains 108-pound title
In the co-main event, WBA World junior flyweight champion Ryoichi Taguchi (25-2-1, 11 KOs), fighting out of Tokyo, retained his title with a unanimous decision victory over former WBA minimumweight champion and #1 ranked over Ryo Miyazaki (24-3, 15 KOs), from Osaka.
The final scores were 119-109 (Stanley Christodoulou), 117-111 (Philippe Verbeke), and 116-112 (Luis Pabon).
It was Taguchis fourth defense of his title. At 56 he towered over the 5-1 Miyazaki. Using the ring, his legs, and superior reach, the champion worked behind his jab and used smart counterpunching to keep the challenger at bay.
Miyazaki had his moments. But Taguchi had more of them and the best man won.
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An attorney for the Houston school district's former chief auditor Thursday urged the district to release an investigative report explaining the auditor's alleged misconduct.
"I think the problem for HISD is that the investigation will show nothing," attorney Cris Feldman said during an afternoon news conference.
The district paid about $17,300 to a local law firm to conduct the investigation of the auditor's work, yet it has refused to release a copy of the report to him or to the Houston Chronicle, which requested the records under the state's public-information law.
Richard Patton, who was dismissed Wednesday from his job as chief auditor, also Thursday made his first public statement since the Houston Independent School District board suspended him in March. Patton said he was disappointed the school board ultimately decided not to renew his contract. He served as the district's top internal watchdog for two years and worked in the district since 2010.
"I've had integrity. I've had independence. And I've had objectivity," Patton said. "It's unfortunate that the board is putting constraints on this role that really limits the ability to do your job well."
Patton sued the district on August 5, two days after the board allowed him to return to work following his five-month suspension. In the suit, Patton alleged that the board was retaliating against him for reporting suspected illegal activity about school district matters to the FBI, the Harris County District Attorney's Office and the district's police chief.
Patton also alleged that the district further retaliated against him after he returned to work. The three-person ethics and compliance department, whose chief often handled sensitive internal investigations and reported to Patton, was removed from the auditor's authority.
The district's external investigation of Patton appeared to focus on the auditor asking his assistant to scan some personal documents for him using work equipment, Patton's lead attorney, David Feldman, previously told the Chronicle.
HISD, in a statement released Thursday, did not address the call to release the investigation. However, the district criticized Patton's work, saying the internal audit department made "critical errors" under his leadership. The district alleged that his October 2015 audit of the voter-approved construction bond program included "faulty and improper conclusions." HISD also said his September 2015 audit alleging possible violations of state law related to construction contracting "failed to apply the correct legal standards" and was flawed.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office recently granted HISD's request to withhold the external report on the auditor from public disclosure. The school district argued it was protected from release under attorney-client privilege.
The school board, however, could waive privilege, as it voted to do earlier Thursday on an unrelated matter.
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GALVESTON A Galveston County grand jury Thursday handed down murder indictments against an alleged serial killer who earlier this year led investigators to the bodies of two of several women he is accused of killing nearly 20 years ago.
William Reece was indicted for the deaths of 12-year-old Laura Smither of Friendswood and 17-year-old Jessica Cain of Tiki Island. Smithers' body was discovered in Pasadena in 1997, and Cain vanished that same year.
Reece was serving a 60-year prison sentence for kidnapping when he led police earlier this year to the remains of Cain and Kelli Cox, a 20-year-old University of North Texas student who vanished from Denton in 1997.
RELATED: Reece sent to Oklahoma to face capital murder charges
Reece was transferred to Oklahoma in July to face murder charges there, but Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady has said Reece will eventually be returned to stand trial in Texas. His attorney has said that Reece began cooperating with authorities in Texas in hopes of avoiding the death sentence in Oklahoma.
Reece was identified years ago by police as the "prime suspect" in the killing of Laura Smither.
After her disappearance, a massive search was mounted through boggy swamps and woods for the aspiring ballerina, among a select few who had been accepted into the Houston Ballet Academy the year before. Her face was flashed over the nightly news for 17 days until her body, clad only in a pair of socks, was found 12 miles from her home in a Pasadena retention pond on April 20, 1997.
Reece became a suspect after investigators learned he was a registered sex offender working off Moore Ranch Road, where the child was last seen jogging. On that particular day, Reece had been let go from work early because of rain.
However, Reece was never charged, and he even got a judge to restrict officers from interviewing him again without his permission in 1999.
A MOM'S MISSION: Smither's mother says she wants to meet with Reece
At that time, he told the Chronicle, "Hey, look. Enough is enough. Either file the (expletive) murder charges ... or get off me."
The girl's parents later won a $110 million wrongful death lawsuit against Reece, who chose not to participate.
Cain, a senior at a Catholic preparatory school, disappeared on Aug. 17, 1997, as she was driving home from a high school musical cast party at a Clear Lake restaurant. Her truck was later found on the shoulder of I-45, with her purse locked inside. Reece led investigators to her remains in a horse pasture near Hobby airport.
Reece, a former truck driver, had spent almost 10 years in an Oklahoma prison for two rapes in that state before being released on Oct. 5, 1996. He has been linked to five attacks on young women, four of which were fatal, over a five-month span in 1997.
The sole survivor, Sandra Sapaugh, then 19, escaped by leaping from Reece's truck on Interstate 45. Reece was convicted the following year in her kidnapping and received the 60-year prison term in Texas.
Investigators began to zero in on Reece as a possible suspect in some of the other cold cases after advances in DNA testing connected him last year to the death of Tiffany Johnston, 19, who was abducted from the Sunshine Car Wash in Bethany, Okla. on July 26, 1997. Her body was found the following day.
TRAGEDY: Cain's remains found in Houston field
Oklahoma authorities agreed to let Reece remain in Texas to assist in the investigation of the other young women's deaths on the condition that he would be returned to Oklahoma to stand trial before charges were brought in Texas.
Reece was transferred from a Texas prison to the Friendswood city jail. He led investigators to the remains of Cain and Cox, who vanished in the summer of 1997.
Cox, a 20-year-old University of North Texas student and mother, went missing down the street from the Denton Police Department after touring the station for a criminology class on July 15, 1997. Reece helped police find her remains in Brazoria County in April.
Cox left behind a then-19-month-old daughter, Alexis, who is now 20 and a student at the University of North Texas. The Denton County district attorney is handling the investigation into Cox's death.
The director of Harris County Public Health on Thursday sent a letter to federal environmental regulators urging them to remove toxic waste from the San Jacinto River, arguing it's the only course of action to address threats to human health and the environment.
Umair Shah, Harris County Public Health's executive director, told U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials that leaving the waste in the river is a bad idea, pointing to the problems that have occurred since a temporary cap was placed over the waste five years ago.
"In the short period since its implementation, the cap has eroded significantly and has required repeated repairs," Shah wrote. "Harris County Public Health is concerned that future cap deficiencies will continue to occur, further exposing the local community to dioxins through the water and sediments."
In issuing the letter, Harris County Public Health becomes the latest local agency to urge EPA officials to remove the waste. Last month, the Harris County Flood Control District urged similar action.
EPA officials are expected to soon release a proposed clean-up plan for the San Jacinto Waste Pits, which is a federal Superfund site.
A recent U.S. Army Corps report said leaving the waste in the river under a modified cap was a feasible clean-up option. However, the report also stated that extreme weather events might cause the cap to erode.
Texas officials discovered the waste pits in 2005 along the river, between Channelview and the small town of Highlands. The EPA determined that tugboats pushed barges of waste sludge from a Pasadena mill to the pits for offloading and storage in the 1960s.
The agency identified several hazardous substances in the pits, including dioxins, which are carcinogens linked to numerous potential health effects, including birth defects.
In 2008, the EPA designated the area a Superfund site and placed a $9 million armored cap over the sludge to keep it sealed.
In December, divers discovered a hole in the northwest portion of the cap. EPA officials characterized the damage as "displacement" of the stone cover of the protective cap and ordered repairs.
Big urban cities in North America will be transformed by 2030 by artificial intelligence technologies, as self-driving cars, package-delivering robots and surveillance drones become commonplace, according to a new report.
The report, produced by an international panel of artificial intelligence experts convened by Stanford University, takes an in-depth look at how artificial intelligence is already impacting society and how it will continue to evolve over the next 14 years. It is the first report in a planned series of studies looking at artificial intelligence, or AI, that will continue for at least 100 years.
"Until now, most of what is known about AI comes from science fiction books and movies," said Peter Stone, a computer science professor at the University of Texas who chaired the panel that produced the report. "This study provides a realistic foundation to discuss how AI technologies are likely to affect society."
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One of the key takeaways from the report refutes a common depiction of artificial intelligence in Hollywood: It likely won't go rogue any time soon and wipe out society ala Skynet in the Terminator movies.
But humans using artificial intelligence in the wrong way can hurt other humans.
And we do face the likely scenario that the technology is poised to soon replace people in certain kinds of jobs, such as taxi and truck drivers, according to the report.
"However, in many realms, AI will likely replace tasks rather than jobs in the near term, and will also create new kinds of jobs," the report's authors wrote. "But the new jobs that will emerge are harder to imagine in advance than the existing jobs that will likely be lost."
So exactly what is artificial intelligence?
The report's authors concede that it can be difficult to define. In movies, artificial intelligence is most commonly depicted as self-aware robots.
"I think the first thing to understand is that AI is not a thing," Stone said. "That's an important part of this report."
The reality is artificial intelligence is nuanced technology. And it is already woven into our daily lives to the point most of us give it little thought.
For example, computer "vision" is a kind of this technology that drives the kind of video games that give players simulated experiences that appear to mirror the real world.
It's also the kind of technology known as "deep learning" that makes it possible for Siri and other programs to understand what we say and respond.
Similarly, artificial intelligence is at the root of what allows machines like "Watson" the supercomputer to amass knowledge, use reason, and then squarely drub past Jeopardy champions in a game of trivia.
Along those same lines, the U.S. government announced in March that it was awarding a $21 million contract to a team of neuroscientists, mathematicians and computer experts to map a portion of a mouse's brain in hopes of someday teaching a machine to learn as we do. A Baylor College of Medicine neuroscientist is one of three principal investigators in that study.
Between now and 2030, these kinds of artificial intelligence will continue to evolve in new and exciting ways, according to the report.
As cars become better drivers than people, city dwellers will own fewer cars, live further from work, and spend time differently, leading to cities that look vastly different than they do today.
Similarly, special purpose robots will deliver packages, clean offices and enhance security.
It's easy to understand how robots performing those kind of tasks would stoke fears about humans losing jobs to machines.
But Stone said history shows us that advances in technology often creates new jobs when it threatens others.
"Think about the advance of the modern dishwasher," he said. "Obviously, when it came along, some people lost their jobs. But it also resulted in the formation of several companies that make dishwashers that employ many people."
Artificial intelligence could also transform poor communities in coming years.
The report's authors say that by using data mining and machine learning, artificial intelligence is already helping government agencies do things like prevent lead poisoning and distributing food more efficiently. Likewise, drones already are being used for surveillance in border communities.
The latter certainly raises the specter of innocent people being unjustifiably monitored and special care must be given to systematizing human bias and protecting civil liberties, the report's authors say.
That's just one recommendation contained in the report. Others include making sure the government acquires more technical expertise in the artificial intelligence field and continues research that probes issues connected to fairness, security and privacy.
"Currently in the United States, at least 16 separate agencies govern sectors of the economy related to AI technologies," according to the report. "Who is responsible when a self-driven car crashes or an intelligent medical device fails? How can AI applications be prevented from racial discrimination or financial cheating?"
AUSTIN -- The Texas Department of Public Safety, already operating the nation's biggest state-funded border security program, is seeking a nearly $300 million budget increase that over two years could drive the total cost of the controversial program to more than $1 billion.
Officials said Monday the additional funds are needed to hire 250 more state troopers for border duty, install 5,000 more cell-based cameras along the Rio Grande, replace 1,240 vehicles, two helicopters and four airplanes used in border enforcement, and to upgrade cybersecurity and counterterrorism initiatives. The proposed items would add $291.7 million to the agency's two-year base budget request of $749.9 million.
If approved, that total request would increase the beefed up border security cost to more than $1 billion -- about what Texas currently spends on all of its psychiatric hospitals, and is roughly two-thirds of what it costs to feed two-thirds of the state's public school students in the free lunch program.
The proposal comes at a time when polls show border security rates as a top issue among likely voters, especially Republicans. GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, too, has made building a border wall a major campaign issue in the fractious November general-election race.
In the past, the state's heightened enforcement efforts have drawn criticism for needlessly flooding some border areas with Texas law enforcement personnel who cannot enforce federal immigration laws, and can only make arrests for violations of state law, and for unduly militarizing the border by using National Guard troops on temporary deployment.
Supporters of ramped-up state spending have countered that they have no option because the federal government has declined the secure the border, especially two years ago when a flood of children and families overwhelmed federal patrols.
Legislative leaders on Monday said they had not yet seen the details of the request, but predicted that the increase promises to spark intense debate and questions as state revenues are expected to fall at least $5 billion short. The drop is caused by a sluggish economy due to the decline in oil prices and related downturn in tax collections -- and because of a shift in general sales tax revenues from myriad state programs to transportation infrastructure work.
Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat, and border lawmakers raised issues last legislative session about whether border-security spending could be sustained over the long-term.
"At some point in time, you have to balance what this state is spending on the border with other critical needs we have -- and this may be when that happens," Whitmire said on Monday.
"I can tell you that crime problems at the border don't stay at the border," Whitmire said. "Human trafficking, dope smuggling, cartel gangs, they end up in Houston and Dallas and San Antonio and Austin and other cities. Security at the border is important, but so is security in our cities."
Anticipating that the Legislature will have less than expected revenues when it starts writing a new two-year budget in 2017, top state officials -- Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus -- in June asked all state agencies to submit proposed budgets that were four percent less than their current spending. Border security was exempted.
Since then, many agencies have submitted requests arguing that they need the four-percent cut restored to ensure public safety or to keep from damaging key programs. DPS officials make the same pitch in their request for a two-year budget that totals just under $2 billion.
Sen. Jane Nelson, chairman of the budget-writing Senate Finance Committee, said the proposed increase will have to be weighed against other state priorities.
"Border security is a major priority, and it should continue to be prioritized in the state budget," the Flower Mound Republican said. "As with all issues, we will need to balance our overall needs with our available revenue, and it is going to be a tight budget next session."
Immigration and other advocacy groups that have been critical of border-security spending questioned the proposed billion-dollar price tag, after Texas more than doubled its spending to almost $800 million in 2015.
"If DPS tells us where they spent the first $800 million, which they haven't done so far, then we can talk about the billion they want now," said Terri Burke, executive director of the Houston-based ACLU of Texas, a long-standing critic of the border enforcement spending. "Why don't they give that money to local law-enforcement agencies to do the enforcement We've got a foster care system in Texas that's completely broken, so why not spend a billion to fix it? Or how about trying to prevent so many women from dying in child birth? Or how about investing a billion on the many other programs in this state that are so drastically underfunded?"
Of the additional spending, the plan shows $97.1 million would go to hire an 250 more troopers to patrol the border area, $65.8 million to replace high-maintenance vehicles, $39.4 million to replace two helicopters and four airplanes used in surveillance and interdiction of border crossers, $36.8 million for operation and maintenance of a statewide radio system, and smaller amounts for intelligence and counterterrorism operations, "communications command platforms" and "cyber security tools and support."
DPS director Steve McCraw has touted the border-security program as a key to thwarting international drug cartels from spreading crimes across Texas, as well as combating potential terrorist threats. Aides to Gov. Greg Abbott, who has supported adding the additional 250 state troopers at the border, had no comment on Monday about the DPS plan.
An HISD school bus driver on trial this week faces life in prison, accused of molesting elementary school-age girls on a bus during the 2014-2015 school year.
Johnathan Palmares, 46, has been charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child for allegedly fondling a school girl several times over the course of weeks on his bus.
Prosecutors have said Palmares drove a route in southwest Houston between elementary schools: Red, Kolter and Gross. Investigators believe the assaults happened after school as Palmares waited outside Gross Elementary with a dozen other children on the bus.
In a trial that began Tuesday in state District Judge Susan Brown's court, jurors saw several videos of Palmares sitting next to and touching the elementary school girl.
Earlier this year prosecutors made public calls for other possible victims, a move that outraged Palmares' attorney who said his client is innocent.
"Once another jury sees this, they will find him not guilty," attorney Sam Cammack said. "All he was trying to do was restrain an unruly child."
Both sides seem to believe school bus video proves their side of the story.
"The whole thing is on video, and there's no evidence of anything," he said. "If they had a video showing any inappropriate behavior, I'd have seen it."
Prosecutors said Palmares moved to America from the Philippines in 2006 and started working in Rochester, N.Y. He later moved to Houston and got a job driving school buses.
The trial is expected to last through the week.
Business / Companies
by Staff reporter
The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) will this month commission 31 wagons secured from China at a cost of $2,9 million as part of efforts to boost its carrying capacity.NRZ acting public relations officer Martin Banda, said the wagons have already arrived in Durban, South Africa.Banda said the wagons were supported by a dual breaking system, making them ideal to transport exports.He, however, said the wagons were a drop in the ocean as the parastatal needed more than 3 000 to restore its operational capacity.Currently, NRZ has less than 3 500 wagons compared to 9 000 it had a few years ago. Banda said in the short period, they needed to buy over 200 new wagons and refurbish over 600 to enable NRZ to break even.
A man has been arrested in the shooting deaths of his wife and 14-year-old daughter after he initially told police he shot them in self defense as they attacked him with knives earlier this year at his home in south Houston.
Michael Ratliff, 43, is charged with capital murder in the deaths of Sandtrece Ratliff, 44, and Ariel Ratliff about 2:45 a.m. June 16 in the 15100 block of Alkay near Anderson.
A man was shot early Thursday morning during an altercation with his neighbors in southwest Houston.
The shooting happened about 1:30 a.m. in the 12100 block of Troulon Drive near Beechnut Street, said Lt. Larry Crowson of the Houston Police Department.
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A Harris County grand jury on Wednesday no-billed a Precinct 5 deputy who shot and killed a man while conducting a traffic stop in west Houston in April. Later in the day, a small group of Black Lives Matter protesters demonstrated downtown.
The shooting happened after Harris County Precinct 5 Deputy Constable R. Felix stopped 24-year-old Ashtian Barnes as he was driving on Beltway 8 in west Houston on the afternoon of April 28.
Dashcam video of the encounter, posted by Black Lives Matter activists Wednesday afternoon, showed the deputy pulling Barnes over, approaching him, and warning him not to dig around. Moments later, he can be seen pulling open Barnes' driver side door, stepping into the car, drawing his gun, and firing as the car travels forward several hundred feet.
Officials with the Houston Police Department - which investigated the shooting - said at the time that Felix had pulled Barnes over because the car had a large number of toll road violations.
But at the protest on Wednesday, Barnes' father, Tommie Barnes, said his son was in a rental car when he got pulled over and any toll violations were the fault of the rental company. He said he saw the video from Felix's dashcam on Wednesday.
"It's heartbreaking. I just celebrated his 25th birthday without him. He should be here today," Barnes said.
Police said at the time Felix had claimed the car smelled of marijuana and Barnes didn't have a license or proof of insurance. During the traffic stop, Barnes repeatedly reached on the floor of the car, digging through papers as if he was reaching for something, said Kese Smith, an HPD spokesman. Felix called for backup, opened the car door and told Barnes to step outside his car. Barnes turned on the car, as Felix told him not to.
Then, Felix drew his weapon, police said. Barnes began to accelerate as the driver's side door of the car was still open. The deputy thought he might get run over, and held on to the door as the car traveled about 120 feet. Officials said then that Felix had reached for the deputy's gun. When Felix felt Barnes' hand on his hand and gun, he fired his weapon twice. Backup hadn't yet arrived.
BACKGROUND: Shooting brought traffic to a standstill
The dashcam video released Wednesday shows Felix stepping onto the footrail moments before the car begins moving. It is unclear from the video exactly when the deputy constable fires his weapon.
In a statement, officials with the Harris County District Attorney's Office said the grand jury had heard the case over two sessions by a group of 12 people that included three African-Americans and three Hispanics.
"The presentation was comprehensive and responsive to the needs of the grand jury," Harris County D.A.'s Civil Rights Division Chief Julian Ramirez said in the release. "The 183rd Grand Jury handled this case with great care."
"I want to express my deepest sympathies to Ashtian Barnes' family," District Attorney Devon Anderson said, in the release. "I know they are disappointed, but the grand jury's decision means they found that there was no probable cause to believe a murder or other assaultive offense was committed. It does not constitute an endorsement of the officer's actions."
The grand jury's decision drew immediate ire from Houston civil rights activists.
Ashton P. Woods, a Black Lives Matter activist, said the shooting was a clear case of "hyper aggression" by law enforcement.
"It's clear the officer didn't have probable cause," he said, adding that he wasn't surprised by the no-bill.
"When was the last time a grand jury in Houston, Harris County, true-billed a law enforcement officer for shooting a black person?" he said.
A Precinct 5 spokesman has not yet responded to a call seeking comment.
On Wednesday, about 10 people from Black Lives Matter protested on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse on Franklin. About 20 police officers stood across the street while protesters accused law enforcement of killing unarmed, black men.
Protesters also accused police of showing favoritism to the White Lives Matter movement, noting the group had firearms and there were far fewer police present when the controversial group protested in front of the NAACP's Houston office on Aug. 21.
RELATED: Confederate flag waves at White Lives Matter event
Police at Wednesday's rally didn't respond to the protesters' complaints.
Reporter Will Axford contributed to this report.
Editor's note, Sept. 2: Attorney Mark Bennett, not associated with the case, made a generalized statement to the Houston Chronicle about jurors. He referred to "explicit" bias when he meant "implicit" bias.
A Spring man charged with conspiring to join ISIS and kill people abroad has asked a federal judge in Houston to postpone his upcoming trial until after the November election, fearing he cannot get a fair jury given the anti-Muslim sentiment stirred up among voters this election cycle.
Ken Magidson, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, who has one other ISIS prosecution pending, said he opposes this continuance request, and for that matter, all continuances in cases where prosecutors are ready to proceed. The other case, involving a young man accused of plotting to bomb the Galleria, opens before a jury on election day, Nov. 8.
The trial for Asher Abid Khan, a 21-year-old mechanical engineering student at the University of Houston, has been rescheduled twice, which is not uncommon. The federal government has charged Khan with both conspiring and attempting to provide "material support" to a foreign terrorist organization.
The Klein Oak High School graduate is free on $150,000 bond. Jury selection is now set to begin Sept. 27, the morning after the first presidential debate.
Over the past two years, FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces have made arrests in at least 19 states, including four cases in Texas. Investigations here have been rooted in Spring, Houston, Dallas and Houston. And the FBI has more than 900 ISIS cases in all 50 states, according to Director James Comey.
According to court documents, the FBI tracked Khan on Facebook saying he wanted to join the violent jihadist network. He traveled to Turkey, investigators said, with plans to enlist in Syria, but he got cold feet and returned to Houston.
Last week, Khan's attorney Thomas Berg, asked U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes, who is known to have an independent streak, to bump the trial due in part to his heavy caseload but primarily due to the charged political climate toward Muslims in the public arena.
"The prospect of selecting an impartial jury is daunting enough in a terrorism case but this close upon the general election in November, with some candidates engaging in virulent anti-Muslim rhetoric (Mr. Khan is Muslim) and unmitigated bellicosity about ISIS/ISIL, jury selection seems problematic," Berg stated in his motion.
In his pleading, Berg did not explicitly name real estate tycoon Donald Trump -- the GOP candidate who has called for banning Muslims from immigrating to the U.S. However, Trump's critics have accused him of using incendiary language about Muslims.
The judge will meet with the attorneys Sept. 12 to discuss the motion among other pretrial matters.
Two criminal defense lawyers who have appeared before Hughes many times in the past couple decades said in their view the judge could go either way on this motion.
Attorney Mark Bennett said he thought the request was reasonable and fair, but determining that is at the judge's discretion. There is no legal standard for picking a jury when the societal mood is unfavorable to a defendant, he said.
"Federal judges have always been of the opinion that they can prevent jurors from acting with explicit bias by asking them if they have biases and telling them not to let their biases influence them and then telling them not to decide the case based on bias," Bennett said. He contended that would be an unreasonable expectation of any juror.
"Everybody has biases and some of those biases are going to hurt your client. Nobody wants to admit those biases. When the guy in the black dress asks if you have biases, you don't want to admit them. Or you think you can put them aside. You get people promising to do something that's impossible," he said.
Bennett said Hughes is very unpredictable.
Berg's reasoning is unique, said attorney John Floyd, but under normal circumstances requesting a postponement isn't a big deal as long as there are compelling reasons.
"The judge is independent. He's very opinionated and open-minded. He'll do what he chooses to do," Floyd said. It helps that Berg has a good reputation in the courthouse, he said, it might depend on how many continuances the judge has granted.
"I would be somewhat surprised if the judge didn't grant it," Floyd said. "It just kind of depends on what mood Judge Hughes is in."
Pedestrians got a rude awakening this week when they crossed the sidewalk at the intersection of San Jacinto and Holman in Midtown.
Vandals struck the crosswalk signs, hitting them with black spray paint and making the sign look like it's giving pedestrians the finger.
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Texas is a state with a long tradition of guns. The current campus carry law and a lawsuit brought by the state's Attorney General against a county over a gun ban at the courthouse stand as proof.
But, if it looks like the state is the Wild, Wild West where everyone is armed to the teeth, that's not necessarily the case. A survey done by Public Policy Polling last month includes surprising findings about the attitude among Texans toward gun control.
PPP, a Raleigh, N.C.-based operation, polled on a variety of issues in August. But, the gun-related questions provided the most interesting results in traditionally conservative Texas, where it appears a number of progressive policy proposals have reached mainstream popularity.
READ MORE: Group urges Texas gun owners to call on Congress to blunt control efforts
But, the results won't mean great changes for Texas politicians, who overwhelmingly oppose any sort of restrictions on gun control or imposing stricter background checks.
An extremely conservative Republican Party primary electorate - which accounts for about 7-8 percent of the state's voters - choose the candidates most likely to win in the fall, said SMU political scientist Cal Jilson.
"That means nothing for Texas electoral politics," Jilson told Chron.com. "Texas electoral politics is defined by the Republican primaries."
READ MORE: Cornyn's post-Orlando gun plan comes to naught
Among the findings:
-89 percent of voters in the state support background checks on all gun purchases, to only 7 percent who oppose them. They're supported by 94 percent of Democrats, 91 percent of Republicans, and 80 percent of independents.
-83 percent of voters in the state support barring those on the Terror Watch List from buying guns, to only 10 percent who are opposed. That's supported by 85 percent of Republicans, and 82 percent of both Democrats and independents.
-Voters in the state support an assault weapons ban, 48/43. That's because Democrats are far more unified in their support for one (70/21) than Republicans are in their opposition to it (34/55).
READ MORE: False Dallas shooting suspect asks Paul Ryan about gun control
These results came from a state with a campus carry law, where college students can carry guns on campus and where Attorney General Ken Paxton recently sued Waller County, about 55 miles west of Houston, over a ban on openly carrying weapons at the courthouse.
But, this is also a state where the National Rifle Association, long an opponent of any restrictions on anyone's ability to carry any sort of gun, has spent $275,000 on campaign contributions to congressmen and senators from Texas since 2010.
It is also a state with a 25-11 Republican to Democratic split among the Congressional delegation and where both U.S. Senators are members of the GOP, the party long favored by the NRA.
For gun advocates, the poll numbers are a bit stunning.
READ MORE: AG sues Waller County over gun rights at county courthouse
"I find that very hard to believe," said C.J. Grisham,, the president of Open Carry Texas. "Regardless, we oppose this effort and would fight any attempts to expand background checks, irrespective of public opinion."
For Jilson, that sentiment sums up the voters making the decisions and the money behind the campaigns.
"You can get similar polls on partisanship in Texas shows a dead heat between Democratic and Republican," Jilson said. "For now, it is the conservative Republican primary voters that make the choices."
News / Africa
by Committee to Protect Journalists
Tanzanian authorities should immediately lift a ban on two privately owned radio stations and allow them to resume broadcasts without further harassment or censorship, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.Tanzanian Information Minister Nape Nnauye on August 29 told reporters at a press conference in Dar es Salaam that he had ordered the privately owned stations Radio Five and Magic FM to cease broadcasting immediately. The stations had broadcast "seditious" material that could incite the public and disturb the peace, Nnauye said in a written statement issued on August 30. The stations complied with the order, two Tanzanian journalists told CPJ.The information minister alleged that Magic FM aired content that had the potential to cause a breakdown in law and order on its August 17 morning show, Morning Magic, and that Radio Five broadcast seditious content on its evening program, Matukio."It's difficult to see how a morning radio show could cause a breakdown in law and order, but it's crystal clear that the government is trying to stop the flow of information and commentary," said CPJ East Africa Representative Murithi Mutiga. "We call on the government to allow Radio Five and Magic FM to resume broadcasting immediately, and to stop attempting to silence critical voices."Nnauye said he had asked the content committee of the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority to summon the owners of the stations and to advise him on further steps, The Citizen, an independent daily newspaper, reported.Neville Meena, secretary of the Tanzania Editors Forum, told CPJ that the stations generally aired music and light talk shows, but that sometimes hosts and callers would discuss political issues. The minister did not specify what statements he deemed as seditious or dangerous to law and order, Meena said."We are very concerned by this action," he said by telephone. "The minister presented no evidence, and did not elaborate on what content in the stations he found seditious. This just goes to show that the current government, which has not even been in office for a year, is too sensitive to criticism and is seeking to close the space media enjoyed in the past."A journalist at one of the stations, who spoke with CPJ on condition of anonymity for fear of prejudicing negotiations with the government, also said he did not know what triggered the government's response, but that he suspected it was that many callers to a call-in show criticized a ban on political rallies imposed in June. Police briefly detained Edward Lowassa, President John Pombe Magufuli's main rival in the last election, on August 29 after he and other opposition leaders attempted to stage a demonstration to protest the ban, according to press reports.Magufuli's government, which came into office in October 2015, has taken a series of steps to restrict Tanzania's media environment. In January 2016, it closed the weekly newspaper Mawio, after it reported on a political crisis in the semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar, where results of elections which the opposition claimed to have won were annulled, CPJ reported at the time.In April, authorities halted live transmission of parliamentary debates, a vital platform that opposition parliamentarians use to communicate with the public. Another newspaper, Mseto, was closed for three years on August 11 after publishing an article quoting a former minister accusing Magufuli of corruption, according to press reports.Dozens of newspapers have also been taken off the streets for what the government described as licensing violations, according to news accounts.Tanzania government spokesman Hassan Abbas rejected claims that the Magufuli administration sought to muzzle the media."You have to look at each issue case by case," he told CPJ by telephone. "The minister followed the law in taking each decision and each of the papers and stations had committed a violation. Journalists need to understand that there are limits to media freedom. You can't just defame a president and get away with it."Abbas said a decision on the two shuttered stations would be taken when the regulatory committee convened a meeting on the issue, but did not say when this might happen.
-- What Donald Trump did last night, by The Washington Posts Joshua Partlow, Sean Sullivan and Karen DeYoung.Yet just hours later in a major speech on immigration in Phoenix, Trump had returned to the aggressive tone that has defined much of his campaign. Repeatedly raising his voice to a yell, Trump said that anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation, and he vowed to crack down especially hard on illegal immigrants who have committed other crimes.
We will issue detainers for illegal immigrants arrested for any crime whatsoever, he said, going further than other Republicans who have called for felons to be deported. Later, he said he would create a new deportation task force to deal with the most dangerous criminal illegal immigrants who have evaded justice.
-- Left unanswered by Trump: What would happen to those who have not committed crimes beyond their immigration offenses? (AP)
-- On the ground in Houston: Donald Trump's hard-line speech on immigration reform Wednesday did little to make up for a year's worth of anti-immigration rhetoric that has characterized his campaign, Hispanics across Houston said Wednesday.
-- ADIOS: Several major Latino surrogates for Donald Trump are reconsidering their support for him following the Republican nominees hardline speech on immigration Wednesday night.
Jacob Monty, a member of Trumps National Hispanic Advisory Council, has resigned, and Alfonso Aguilar, the president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, said in an interview that he is inclined to pull his support.
I was a strong supporter of Donald Trump when I believed he was going to address the immigration problem realistically and compassionately, said Monty, a Houston attorney who has aggressively made the Latino case for Trump. What I heard today was not realistic and not compassionate, per Politicos Katie Glueck.
>> Trump backers sport Make Mexico Great Again Also hat, AP
-- House and Senate Transpo chairs diverge on toll roads, by Quorum Reports Kimberly Reeves. ($) The chairs of the Legislatures transportation committees appear to be parting ways on the value and need of toll roads in Texas, especially given the new infusion of cash into highway infrastructure. Last week, Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, made his case to county officials, noting the continued collection of tolls provided increased capacity of road construction by hundreds of millions of dollars. This week, Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, talked about a strategy to take tolls off smaller projects like Camino Colombia in South Texas, which Pickett described as low-hanging fruit.
-- READ THIS: Yellow Cab leader fights transparency, then fights release of reports, by the Austin American-Statesmans Nolan Hicks. When Yellow Cab Austin President Ed Kargbo went to the Capitol to address state lawmakers back in June, he hammered on one issue in particular: transparency. However, in the weeks after he made that statement, Yellow Cab sought to block the American-Statesman from obtaining those very reports from the city of Austin, even though those reports have routinely been made public in the past. The Statesman requested the monthly reports which include total and per cab earnings, ridership numbers and customers average wait times in an attempt to examine the impact of the May departure of Lyft and Uber from Austin .
-- SA Express-News Peggy Fikac: Former Gov. Rick Perry is downplaying expectations as he prepares to compete on Dancing With the Stars and an online gambling site suggests thats a smart move. A ranking by online sportsbook Bovada predicts Rick Perry will finish last on the show, which starts its new season on Sept. 12.
CAPITOL DAYBOOK No Meetings
SPEED READ
City OK's next steps in roads partnership with Harris County, Houston Chronicle
As Voter ID challenge plays out, SOS Cascos kicks off voter ed campaign, Quorum Report
Dispute over Harris Co. jail video highlights growing importance of surveillance footage, Houston Chronicle
UT Austin needs more police, video surveillance to improve safety, Houston Chronicle
For Trump, a day of political whiplash on immigration, AP
AP Fact Check : Trump on immigration
Federal judge stays ethics sanctions, mulls providing list of immigrants to DOJ, Express-News
On mental crisis calls, police sometimes use lethal force, Texas Tribune
Spring man seeks to postpone his ISIS-related trial, Houston Chronicle
Lawyers for affluenza teen seek his release from jail, AP
Some civil rights sights at risk of being lost to history, AP
10,000 Syrian refuges find new home in US, AP
Venezuela's shrinking oil exports and growing crisis, Houston Chronicle
Oil pipeline protesters disrupt construction sites, Houston Chronicle
RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
-- Trump gambles on immigration but sends conflicting signals, by NYTs Patrick Healy. Yet the juxtaposition of Mr. Trumps dual performances was so jarring that his true vision and intentions on immigration were hard to discern. He displayed an almost unrecognizable demeanor during his afternoon in Mexico, appearing measured and diplomatic, while hours later he took the stage at his campaign rally and denounced illegal immigrants on the whole as a criminally minded and dangerous group that sows terror in communities and commits murders, rapes and other heinous violence.
>> Charity watchdog gives Clinton Foundation high marks, AP
>> Top Jeb! donor says hes with Clinton, Politico
News / Africa
by The Villager Namibia
WINDHOEK - The Ministry of Works and Transport is in the eye of a storm after issuing a N$1.6 billion railway procurement tender that will run over three years and will see about 60 000 metric tonnes of rail being imported without the relevant advise on the technicalities of the tender specification The Villager reported.The shipment will be broken down to 20 000 metric tonnes over three years but, ironically, the Ministry chose to have the whole consignment shipped in at once despite the move defying the odds.The tender which attracted more than 200 companies both locally and internationally is key to steering the Harambee Prosperity Plan action on improving transport and logistics but, could see the Ministry facing challenges executing it as the consignment is arguably of the largest ever done in the country.Minister of Works and Transport Permanent Secretary Willem Goeieman refused to comment saying he needed to consult on the issue first before going public. "This is a tender issue and I cannot just comment on it, I am in the United States and cannot comment at this time," Goeieman said.The Ministry has also awarded a tender to a local company to clear sand from the railway network in a deal that is worth N$60 million over six months despite Government cutting down on unnecessary expenditure. The Villager understands that the Ministry has now been forced to commit N$10 million payment per month to service the contract.Speaking to The Villager, the Deputy Minister of Works Sankwasa James Sankwasa James argued this sentiments saying that the Ministry was advised by state lawyer, Attorney General Sacky Shangala."Government was advised by the AG on this tender and we will not make irrational decisions without consultations. The Ministry of works has engineers in service and they advise us on all projects, including railway projects," Sankwasa said.Backing the Minister, Works and Transport Public Relations officer Julius Ngweda said the Ministry will not hit a brick wall when it comes to the logistics part of the tender."The Ministry wants 20 000 metric tons of rail annually from this tender and our Walvis Bay Port (Namport) will be able to transport the rail from Walvis Bay. We have capacity," Sankwasa said.The logistics of this tender will however not go smoothly as Namibia's port cannot accommodate such a heavy load at once.However despite assurances from the Deputy Ministry of Works and Transport that the planned acquisition of the rail will be done smoothly NamPort Chief Executive Office Busey Uirab told The Villager that port does not have the capacity to handle more that 20 000 metric tonnes of cargo at once.To add on to the poor planning around the current tender The Villager also understands that the country does not have sufficient space to store the amount of cargo that the ministry wants to import.Uirab said that NamPort can accommodated up to that 10 000 Metric Tons of steel.This will add additional transport expenses and will put strain to productivity as only 10 000 metric tons of rail will be transported at once."We never handled a once off shipment of over 10 000 MT before. They varied between 6 500 MT to 7 000 MT. Meaning for this shipment the vessel has to make six to seven calls at reasonable intervals, giving us enough time to get consignment out of the harbour. We have the capacity and the means to handle the importation of these rail tracks," Uirab said.He added that overall, they are comfortable that NamPort will be in a position to handle the consignment and what will be required is thorough planning between NamPort and all stakeholders in this project. The Villager also understands that the tender although its meant for Namibian registered companies has also attracted attention from foreign mafia who are offering surety to Namibian companies. According to the specifications of the controversial tender the winner of the tender should be able to give 10 percent surety for the successful execution of the project.The Villager investigations on the irregularities also revealed that a Zimbabwean controversial businessman Frank Buyanga who is wanted in his native country for different crimes including fraud where he defrauded desperate loan seekers is also using some Namibian companies to bid for the tender in return for surety.Buyanga operated a loan shark business in Zimbabwe that saw him taking several houses from those he assisted with finances resulting in the Zimbabwean Authorities issuing a warrant of arrest. He is currently residing in Johannesburg South African and his business tentacles spread across both Zimbabwe and South Africa.In the past NamPort has never handled cargo of 60 000 MT.NamPort only handled vessels berth 4 -6 carry cargo between 7 and 10 000 MTs, Uirab said.Meanwhile, the Ministry has targeted to upgrade 100km railway network for the 2016/17 financial year, while about N$978.2 million will be allocated to the upgrades and rehabilitation of the main national railway line network infrastructure in the country, which is still in a dilapidated state.
The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p.
News / National
by Staff reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is a trapped man, having now presided over Zimbabwe's indebtedness to both friend and foe, an economist has said.University of Cape Town Business Graduate School lecturer, Mills Soko, told CTV's John Matisson that China had now joined Western countries in demanding political and economic reforms from Mugabe before any bail-out package could be considered."Mugabe looks more dependent than ever, he is indebted to China as well as the West. Zimbabwe is bankrupt and has run out of cash," he said."China has made it clear it will not extend any rescue package until the issue of political succession has been sorted. There is also the issue of Zanu PF renewal and China has made it clear there is need for revitalising the party."Zimbabwe's problems, according to Soko, stem from "a dreadful governance" situation that should be addressed, but Mugabe remains "a barrier even to reformists within Zanu PF".He said the Look East Policy had allowed China to increase its economic footprint in Zimbabwe, but Mugabe had since defaulted in paying loans amounting to $1,5 billion.Soko said China had given indications that it would accept Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa as Mugabe's heir, but the internal struggles for power within Zanu PF made the situation murky."It is widely believed that the Chinese would prefer Mnangagwa. They have a long history of working with him after he trained in that country in the 1960s. Mnangagwa has a chequered history and was involved in unsavoury incidents in the country, including the Matabeleland massacres," he said."He has served in Cabinet since 1980 and is very close to the security. Of course, he is positioning himself as a reformer. There several interests that are coalescing around him, especially the military, but there is opposition to this from G40, led by the likes of [politburo members] Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere, who have teamed up with the First Lady (Grace Mugabe). Mnangagwa is in a good position, but it will not be an easy ride."Soko claimed Mugabe's recent moves to seek assistance from international finance institutions represent a "humiliation"."It represents a realisation that the Look East Policy has failed. It was designed to counter Western influence and pressure and now he has gone back to these Western countries, whom he owes in excess of $1,8 billion," he said."This is a very clear case of humiliation on the part of Mugabe having to see his Finance minister (Patrick Chinamasa) traverse Western capitals with a begging bowl seeking support from the West."Soko said Chinese leader, Xi Jinping has seemingly taken a hardline stance against the Zimbabwean strongman."China has made it clear that Zimbabwe needs to find her way out of the current morass. China has also become more assertive under Xi," he said.Soko said South Africa had an important role to play, as Zimbabwe's neighbour and largest trading partner."South Africa has to engage to address issues related to political succession and economic reforms to ensure Zimbabwe comes back to sound footing," he said."We are dealing with a failing State. With the security situation failing, including the (late) payment of soldiers and police, we have a serious situation. We saw such a scenario in the then Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) under Mobutu (Sese Seko) and it led to his ousting."
News / National
by Staff reporter
The power dynamics playing out in Zanu-PF will enter a new phase from tomorrow as the two wings of the ruling party the youth and women's leagues convene crucial meetings that would set the tone for the 16th annual national people's conference to be held in Masvingo in December.The Zanu-PF Youth League will set the ball rolling tomorrow when it convenes its first National Youth Assembly meeting at the party's headquarters in Harare the first such indaba since its national executive was ushered into office in 2014.Next week, the Women's League will congregate at the same venue for a two-day National Women's Assembly, which will open on Friday, before closing the next day.Zanu-PF insiders said the meetings, whose agendas are being kept a closely guarded secret, were meant to provide a convenient platform for Mnangagwa's rivals to push for an extraordinary congress in December where those aspiring for President Robert Mugabe's position would either be demoted or shown the door.While Mnangagwa was forced to issue a public statement last month, dismissing the allegations in the wake of vicious attacks on his person by Sarah Mahoka and Mandiitawepi Chimene, his rebuttal has done very little to appease those who are baying for his blood.
News / National
by Staff reporter
Government has cancelled a deal in which State-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) had partnered Econet Wireless Group to broadcast English Premier League games live on ZTV.Through Kwese Free Sports, Econet Media's free-to-air channel, Econet was also supposed to have facilitated the broadcast of the recent Rio Olympic Games held in Brazil.Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services permanent secretary, George Charamba, confirmed the development this week. Contacted for comment, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe spokesperson, Lovemore Nyatsine, referred all questions regarding the issue to ZBC.
News / National
by Staff reporter
Disgruntled war veterans have warned President Robert Mugabe of worsening civil unrest in the country if Zanu-PF bigwigs continue with their mindless bloodletting, as well as their current crackdown on dissenting voices, including former freedom fighters.Reacting yesterday to what he called the continued "persecution" of his family - as well as growing personal attacks on former Vice President Joice Mujuru - the secretary-general of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), Victor Matemadanda, also told the Daily News that Mugabe had "failed the nation".Matemadanda spoke in the wake of the invasion of his Karoi farm by Zanu-PF youths linked to the ruling party faction going by the moniker Generation 40 (G40), observing ruefully that ever since war veterans had started criticising the former liberation movement and its leaders, they and their families had not known peace.Matemadanda, along with four other ZNLWVA leaders, were also recently arrested on charges of undermining the authority of Mugabe, and are currently out on bail.However, he said yesterday, his family continued to be harassed by "vindictive" authorities."The continued harassment of my son who is a teacher at Kasimhure Secondary School in Karoi is a huge cause for concern. They want to mobilise people to demonstrate against him and hound him out of his job even though he has all the educational qualifications to be a teacher."However, these people (who allegedly include Zanu-PF women's league secretary for finance Sarah Mahoka) should know that I can retaliate. Mahoka is just a civilian and I am a trained soldier. They should not cry foul or arrest us when we fight back. We are going to defend ourselves and there will be bloodshed," he warned.His warning also followed Mugabe's fierce attack on war veterans in June - when he threatened to deal severely with the disenchanted ex-combatants who stand accused of plotting to stampede the increasingly frail nonagenarian out of power and working to elevate embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to the highest political office in the land.On their part, the angry war veterans, who are led by former Cabinet minister Chris Mutsvangwa, have since gone on to dump Zanu-PF as well and are now fraternising with anti-Mugabe groups such as Tajamuka/Sesijikile, as well as opposition parties, including the MDC and Zimbabwe People First (ZPF).Matemadanda warned yesterday that Zanu-PF "should not attempt to stop" these budding alliances or move to crush demonstrations by the populace as this would backfire.He also said it was wrong that Mugabe and Zanu-PF were "hell bent on rewriting history" and sidelining war veterans such as Mujuru and Mnangagwa who had played key roles during the country's liberation war."We are going to go around the country to tell the people about our history. Mugabe wants to remove the people he met during the war and there are a lot of machinations to get rid of everyone who has something to do with the country's liberation struggle."It is very unfortunate that we have a government packed with Mugabe's relatives who are trying to run this country from their backyard. They are abusing everyone. This should not happen in the country. A family should not run the entire affairs of the country."Can Mugabe fire his nephew even when he is not competent? We also demand an apology regarding the vilification of female war veterans. How can one claim that people like (Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister) Mandi Chimene is better than Mujuru?"Can a child who is 17 years old refuse the orders of a commander? And how can such a woman be abused on different fronts, by her own and the enemy? We also want this government to tell us if the children from the war that we have were a result of consensual sex," Matemadanda thundered.Turning to George Rutanhire, the man who recently tore into Mujuru and accused her of having caused the death of some combatants during the war, he said those "with logs in their eyes should not lose sleep about the speck in other people's eyes"."Can he tell us how many people he abused during the liberation struggle? We have five female comrades who are telling us that he sexually abused them. We want an apology from this person."We saying Mugabe is old. Everyone is seeing that. How can he also go for 34 years with Joice and allow people to abuse her now?" Matemadanda asked further.Apart from facing rising anger from the opposition, Mugabe is also facing the biggest challenge of his political career as his ambitious underlings brawl about succeeding him, with some of them now standing accused of aiding the wave of protests ravaging the country.Matemadanda said Mugabe had himself to blame for the current chaos as those people whom he had been sidelining would regroup and challenge him in future elections."She (Mujuru) was expelled from Zanu-PF but because she is a politician, she formed her own party. She tried to complain and they did not listen. They must realise that there is life after Zanu-PF. It is not her choice that she formed her own party but Mugabe's."When Morgan Tsvangirai was the leader of ZCTU (Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions) he was told you are talking politics, so form your own party and he did that. Now he is being labelled an agent of the West. But the truth is that Robert Mugabe is the real agent of the West."He (Mugabe) is the agent because he is fighting everyone. There is no rehabilitation in Zanu-PF. He is the only one who will not go astray, is that normal?" he queried further.In the meantime, riot police were awash in urban areas yesterday, including the capital Harare, after panicking authorities vowed to prevent further protests against the government.While traffic was thin in Bulawayo, most towns around the country were open for business despite the call for a shutdown.
News / National
by Staff reporter
Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi says that some 3 individuals Gracia Machel, Desmond Tutu and Kofi Annan calling themselves elders had written to one head of state calling for the inclusion of Zimbabwe on the SADC agenda but that was thrown out as the other leaders had not received the letter and saw no reason why Zimbabwe should be on the agenda.Minister Mumbengegwi was speaking to ZBC News Diplomatic Correspondent Judith Makwanya soon after landing at Harare International Airport Thursday evening.The comments come in the wake of violent demonstrations that left properties damaged and loss of goods by businesses in Harare Central Business District.The violence was aimed at attracting the attention of SADC heads of state and government attending the 36th summit in Ezulwini Swaziland this week.Minister Mumbengegwi said the opposition political parties have no right to dictate issues that should be on its summit agenda and their attempts to influence discussions at the just ended summit were dismissed by heads of state with all the contempt they deserve.Minister Mumbengegwi said the 3 individuals have no business with interfering with SADC business, and their suggestions should be dismissed with the contempt it deserves.Meanwhile, Mumbengegwi says the just ended 36th SADC Summit was highly successful with the approval of a budget in which contributions by member states of SADC should be 60 percent and the cooperating partners are now putting 40percent, a big improvement in accordance with the position that SADC has taken in line with the AU which has said regional organisations should be able to finance 100 percent of their budget in the next years.The summit continued to focus on the theme of industrialisation which is the brainchild of the President Robert Mugabe. The programme will ensure that SADC countries have goods to trade in as they move forward with their integration programme.
AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron mother and grandmother pleaded guilty Wednesday in connection with the heroin overdose death of a 16-year-old boy.
Andrew Frye, 16, died April 6 at the Super 8 Motel in Green. The Summit County Medical Examiner ruled he died from injecting heroin.
His mother, 31-year-old Heather Frye, and grandmother, 52-year-old Brenda Frye, both pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, Summit County prosecutors said.
Heather Frye also pleaded guilty to endangering children and tampering with evidence, while Brenda Frye pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in heroin.
Family friend Jessica Irons, 35, of Stow pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence.
They will be sentenced Oct. 12 in Summit County Common Pleas Court.
Investigators said the three women tried to hide needles and drugs before deputies arrived at the hotel.
Heather Frye bought the heroin from Brenda Frye, and Brenda Frye got the drugs from her boyfriend, Donald Callaghan, prosecutors said.
Callaghan is charged with heroin possession. He is scheduled to go on trial Sept. 12.
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Marijuana possession, Front Street: A Warrensville Heights man, a self-described Moor, was arrested at about 8:15 p.m. Aug. 25 after police found what they believed was marijuana in his Ford Mustang and cocaine in his wallet.
The man, 23, was driving 47 mph on Front southbound near Adalbert Street, a 25-mph zone. An officer stopped the car and smelled raw marijuana coming from the interior. The man told police he was a "strawman" and a Moor, and that he was driving to work. He said he would not comply "with any fictitious crimes that your system has to offer."
The man told the officer he possessed a "strawman's license" and additional "Moorish information." The officer saw several pieces of paper with handwriting in the car. A Nazi flag was drawn on one of the papers.
A police sergeant arrived to assist the officer and the man started recording the incident on his cell-phone video camera. The man denied having marijuana in his car and refused to give police permission to search his vehicle.
The man complained that police were treating him like a civilian, which he said he was not. He said he was a national and a Moor. He told police they were disrespecting his rights and that he would send his cell-phone video to the U.S. secretary of state.
Police asked the man several times to exit his car but he refused. A third officer arrived and police dragged the man out of the car. They found one white pill, marijuana shake, a pill bottle containing suspected marijuana and a digital scale in the car. Later, a jailer found cocaine hidden in a dollar bill inside the man's wallet.
Assault, Prospect Street: Police are looking for a woman, driving a small blue sedan, who beat up another driver in a road rage incident at Parkway Shell Auto Care, 20 Prospect Street.
The victim, 65, said she was trying to maneuver her pickup truck out of the gas station when the sedan, driven by the woman, approached in the opposite direction. The station was packed with cars, so the pickup and sedan blocked each other.
The victim raised her hands at the woman in the sedan, as if asking where she was supposed to go. The woman screamed profanities at the victim.
The victim stepped out of her truck to "reason" with the woman. The woman drove her car toward the victim, who jumped out of the way. The woman threw a slushy, which hit the pickup truck.
The woman parked her car, exited the vehicle and started hitting the victim in the head. Witnesses pulled the woman away. The woman was described as white, blond, about 19-years-old, 5 feet 4 inches tall and 110 pounds. The first letters on her license plate were GVH.
Breaking & entering, West Bagley Road: A TV and cash box were reported stolen at about 5:50 a.m. Aug. 29 from Ready Set Grow & Learn Child Care, 1433 West Bagley.
Someone broke a rear window to get inside. The glass was swept into a pile about 12 feet from the window. A men's room window was also shattered, and a door next to the window was damaged.
Attempted shoplifting, West Bridge Street: Police hope to identify and arrest a man who tried to steal $987 in groceries from Giant Eagle, 50 West Bridge.
The man attempted to push a cart loaded with groceries out the supermarket's kitchen door but the door would not open. Then an alarm sounded. The man, leaving the cart behind, walked out the store's front entrance.
Animal bite, Baker Street: A Baker resident, 46, told police that a black dachshund bit her on the calf while she was walking on the sidewalk near her home.
It happened at about 2 p.m. Aug. 26. The woman said that five dachshunds, all belonging to a neighbor, approached and started barking. One of the dogs bit her.
The woman said the dogs' owner was present during the incident but did nothing to control the dogs. She said the owner routinely allows the dachshunds to run loose and chase neighbors. Police said they would talk to the dogs' owner.
Operating a vehicle under the influence, North Rocky River Drive: A Berea man, 54, was arrested at about 2:15 a.m. Aug. 26 after police caught him driving drunk.
The man's Chrysler Fifth Avenue drifted left of center on North Rocky River near Depot Street. The man admitted drinking two beers and two shots of whiskey.
Theft, Front Street: A bicycle was stolen between Aug. 19-29 from the front of Baldwin Wallace University's Center for Innovation and Growth, 340 Front Street.
The victim said the bike was chained to a bike rack. The bike was cream-colored with a white wire basket on the handlebars. Also, the bike had newer over-sized tires and pedal-style brakes.
Theft, Fair Street: A packaged delivered to a Fair Street home was reported stolen Aug. 27.
According to U.S. Postal Service records, the package - containing Ray-Ban glasses, a blue ball for a dog, a shirt, a portable charger and phone bag - was delivered at 4:50 p.m. Aug. 25. However, the victim never received the package.
If you'd like to comment on this story, visit our crime and courts comments section.
4RNCDeJong13.jpg
Balloons fall from the ceiling of the Q during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on Thursday, July 21. A Press Club of Cleveland panel featuring representatives from the Cleveland 2016 Host Committee, Destination Cleveland, Team NEO, WKYC-TV and The Plain Dealer said the ambitious, multifaceted public relations campaign to change the national conversation about Cleveland was a slam dunk.
(Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- When Cleveland won the bid to host the 2016 Republican National Convention two years ago, some said the city had bitten off more than it could chew. Some predicted that this GOP convention would be the most violent and unpredictable ever held, and some media outlets sent their reporters to Cleveland with gas masks and flak jackets.
But Cleveland defied those prophesies of doom and gloom, rolling out an ambitious and strategic public relations plan and a multifaceted citywide welcome to tens of thousands of first-time visitors.
And in doing so, a Press Club of Cleveland panel told a sold-out lunchtime crowd on Wednesday, they changed the national conversation about Cleveland.
"It came off spectacularly well," said David Hertz, a former Pulitzer Prize-winning editor for the Akron Beacon-Journal and now managing director of Dix & Eaton, a Cleveland communications and public relations consultancy. "The party's not over; the party's just beginning."
Russ Mitchell, left, anchor and managing editor, WKYC-TV, and Eileen Korey, media relations manager, Cleveland 2016 Host Committee, at the Press Club of Cleveland.
Russ Mitchell, anchor and managing editor of WKYC-TV, told the rapt audience at the Music Box Supper Club that Cleveland's RNC was his 11th national political convention. And compared to the others, "Cleveland was a slam dunk," he said. "The city, the people of this city, everyone involved did a fantastic job. Congratulations to all of you for making this happen."
"I think the attitude in Cleveland and around Cleveland was: 'What can we do for you?' The attitude [at the Democratic National Convention] in Philadelphia was, 'What do you want? And 'No.'"
"I think Cleveland was hungrier," he said. Philadelphia had just hosted the Pope last year and had already hosted a national convention. "We hadn't hosted a convention since 1936."
Hertz read from a July 29 letter that David Gilbert, president and CEO of the Cleveland 2016 Host Committee, wrote to The Plain Dealer saying that Cleveland not only hosted the RNC, "we knocked it out of the park."
"The convention pumped an estimated $200 million into our economy and accelerated important civic projects," Gilbert wrote. "More important, it elevated how we are viewed by the world and how we view ourselves.
"The hundreds of positive stories written about our city were beyond all expectations. Not only did we hear universal praise from media, delegates and other guests, but we have logged amazing stories of people who plan to visit, relocate or invest in our community as a result of their convention experiences."
Eileen Korey, media relations manager, Cleveland 2016 Host Committee, center.
For Eileen Korey, media relations manager for the nonpartisan Cleveland 2016 Host Committee, the RNC was the highlight of a career spent building relationships with PR people and media people.
She helped compile what began as 50 to 75 story ideas into a media guide called "Stories Worth Telling," for journalists who came to Cleveland for the RNC, pitching stories about Cleveland that would resonate on a national level.
From neighborhood redevelopment to immigration to refugees, "we reflected a lot of the issues that were part of the [Republican] platform. We have a robust refugee resettlement community here. Who would've known?" Korey added. "We let Cleveland speak for itself."
When Mitchell's Homemade Ice Cream said it was developing limited-edition flavors to commemorate the RNC, she told them "Do it now, because this [media guide]'s gotta go to press. And that story went all over the place."
Emily Lauer, right, senior director of PR/communications, Cleveland 2016 Host Committee, and Rick Batyko, SVP, marketing, communications & development, at the Press Club of Cleveland.
Emily Lauer, senior director of public relations and communications for both the Cleveland 2016 Host Committee and Destination Cleveland, the region's rebranded convention and visitors bureau, said they identified some of the challenges Cleveland faces as a major city, but also spotlighted efforts to address those problems, led by people like Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams.
"When has Cleveland ever backed down from a challenge?" Lauer asked. With a limited number of people and a short time frame, "we had to be really strategic about who we went after. We were positioning stories in the way the media wanted to hear about them."
"If there was a superstar who emerged on the nation's radar, it was Calvin Williams," Mitchell agreed.
Rick Batyko, senior vice president of marketing, communications and development for Team NEO, an economic development organization focused on bringing jobs to Northeast Ohio, said that even before Cleveland won the convention, he and others started courting influential media companies in New York and Washington, D.C., to begin building relationships and anticipating what they would need. "We had 14 people around the table" both the Wall Street Journal and at The New York Times.
Team NEO and Destination Cleveland suggested story ideas that would capture Cleveland's rebirth and economic revitalization without ignoring its shortcomings, as well as contacts for the institutions or organizations that were working on those challenges.
They seized on the chance to tell Cleveland's story, talking about the resurgence of Downtown Cleveland and the rise of the biomedical industry, but left it up to the media what stories they pursued. "By no means was the Host Committee or Destination Cleveland a gate-keeper," Batyko said.
"What was really great about this was the way the [Cleveland 2016] Host Committee handled it," by involving people and advocates from throughout Greater Cleveland. "That's why it was so successful," he said.
In comparison to Philadelphia, "for every positive story they got about the city, we got three," he said.
Hertz agreed, adding: "We had more [news] coverage during the month of July than we've had any other single year. Incredible."
Susan Glaser, right, travel editor of The Plain Dealer, and Emily Lauer, senior director of PR/communications, Cleveland 2016 Host Committee, at the Press Club of Cleveland.
Susan Glaser, travel editor for The Plain Dealer, said she spent the week of the RNC covering stories about tourists, hospitality and hotels. She sought out first-time visitors to Cleveland, talking to them either before they arrived or as soon as they arrived, and following up with them at the end of the week.
"A lot of people talked about the river burning" or Cleveland's industrial roots. Some Texas delegates told her they hadn't realized Cleveland was on Lake Erie, or that Lake Erie was so big. "Did you take geography?" she wondered.
But by the end of their visits, "to a person, every single person I talked to" left the city impressed with both Cleveland and her people, she said. "It was very insightful."
"We all know that when anybody comes to Cleveland or Northeast Ohio and sees it for themselves," they end up changing their minds, Batyko said. "We're going to be on lists that we've never been on before."
Hertz pointed out that on July 19, New York Times' columnist Dan Barry wrote an RNC story headlined: "In Cleveland's Public Square, rights are exercised. Loudly." It was a far cry from his 2012 story on Elyria, called "At the Corner of Hope and Worry."
He said the change in tone and topic since 2012 underscores the "transformation and the progress we've made" in influencing what outsiders think of Northeast Ohio.
Two days after Cleveland won its bid to host the RNC, he and Hertz were at a Washington, D.C., pizzeria with reporter Molly Ball from The Atlantic when all the televisions in the restaurant announced that LeBron James was coming home to the Cavaliers. "It was a very good week," Batyko said.
This past spring, when it looked like it was going to be a hotly contested convention, with other Republican hopefuls challenging Trump for the candidacy, the number of media who said they were coming to Cleveland soared.
They reserved venues and hotel rooms at least a week before the convention, and even after other GOP bigwigs bowed out, those media numbers didn't drop. "We had a number of journalists who were there with time on their hands," Batyko said.
From left, Emily Lauer, senior director of PR/communications, Cleveland 2016 Host Committee; David Hertz, managing director of Dix & Eaton; Rick Batyko, SVP marketing, communications & development, Team NEO; Eileen Korey, media relations manager, Cleveland 2016 Host Committee; Susan Glaser, travel editor for The Plain Dealer; and Russ Mitchell, anchor and managing editor, WKYC-TV, at the Press Club of Cleveland luncheon panel on Wednesday.
When the Associated Press travel editor said she didn't want to visit the usual Cleveland landmarks, Lauer told her about the Millard Fillmore Presidential Library, a bar in the Waterloo neighborhood, and the Ashtabula County home of Joshua Giddings, one of the founders of the Republican Party. "I have a whole bucket list of places in Cleveland to explore now," she said.
When Hertz challenged the panelists and audience members to think of one word that captures the city's experience during the RNC, they said things like: "education," "headline-making," "exceeded," "pivotal," "pride," "Believeland," "unity," "impressive," and "welcome."
As Glaser wrote after the RNC left, it will be hard to know exactly how much it contributed to the city's travel and tourism industry. "If, three years from now, a major group books a convention in Cleveland, will it be because organizers remember the police and protesters hugging on Public Square in July 2016? Because of the new convention center? Or because hotel rates here are so much cheaper than Boston and Seattle?" she asked.
"The way we'll know if it made a difference is how many visitors come to Cleveland year after year after year," she said on Wednesday.
Mitchell added: "The Republican National Committee said that it had a wonderful experience in Cleveland. Who's to say that in four year the Democrats are not going to say, 'We want to go to Cleveland as well?'"
This is the Republican National Convention's video thank-you to Cleveland:
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MORELAND HILLS, Ohio -- Animal (miscellaneous), Murwood Drive: Shortly after 7 a.m. on Aug. 25, a resident reported that a rooster had now been hanging out near her property for the past two days. She believed that it belonged a neighbor on Chagrin Boulevard and was going to look for a nearby home with a chicken coop when she returned from work.
Suspicion, noise complaint, Jackson Road: After a postal carrier reported hearing a chirping noise coming a vacant home on Aug. 30, police determined it was a septic system alarm going off and had it reset. A similar complaint had come from a neighbor the night before.
Mutual aid, Liberty Road: Police assisted officers in Solon Aug. 30 with a report of a man who ran off into a wooded area, where a gunshot was soon heard. Dispatchers were told that a suicide note was found back in his car in a local church parking lot.
Fire call, Greentree Road: Officers responded initially to an Aug. 27 report of an odor of gas in a home's mudroom. No hazard was found and the scene was turned over to firefighters.
Public utilities, Chagrin Boulevard: A resident in the 38000 block of Chagrin reported Aug. 26 that a light on a utility pole with a "Do Not Pass" sign on it has been out for five weeks. Due to an electrical box being worked on across the street, police planned to check back.
Suspicion, Chagrin Boulevard: Police investigated a report of a suspicious person possibly on the campus of Moreland Hills Elementary School shortly after noon on Aug. 30 and found no cause for further action.
Debris on streets, Hiram Trail: A caller reported a large pile of dirt in the roadway just off of SOM Center Road shortly after 9 a.m. on Aug. 26. Police responded within 12 minutes and could not find any obstructions.
Traffic complaint, Giles Road: A caller was upset on Aug. 23 about people speeding up and down the street, requesting extra patrols.
Menacing, follow-up investigation, North Strawberry Lane: Police questioned a carpeting subcontractor about an Aug. 19 incident in which he denied threatening a customer, his family or the windows of his house. The west side Cleveland man, 55, did admit to calling the homeowner, 34, a "punk."
The homeowner said he had gone through a different contractor, who then turned the job over to the suspect. Police characterized the incident as a verbal altercation resulting from a dispute over upstairs installation and payment.
If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
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Donald Trump flys to meet with Mexico's president after disparaging Mexicans as murderers, rapists and criminals.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Despite Donald Trump having disparaged Mexicans entering the U.S. as rapists and criminals, Mexico's president, Enrique Pena Nieto, gave Trump an opportunity to play president along side him. Trump took full advantage of it, greatly helping his chances of actually becoming a real president.
Pena Nieto probably never thought Trump would accept the invitation to meet with him at Mexico's presidential palace. Pena Nieto had compared Trump's fear mongering rhetoric to that of Adolph Hitler and Mussolini. Trump's disparaging comments about Mexicans had many a pinata being made in his likeness.
But while Pena Nieto's invitation posed potential security dangers for Trump, it equally provided something he desperately needed -- an ideal opportunity to look and act presidential on an international stage.
Trump's campaign could not have asked for better optics and timing. His private meeting with Pena Nieto was followed by public remarks that had both men standing behind podiums with the Mexican seal, in front of a green marble wall, similar to the United Nation's chamber.
The demeanor of Trump matched the formal stage he found himself on. Trump's performance may help assure wavering swing voters that he can be up to the task of the presidency.
As much as the meeting helped boost Trump, it likely doomed Pena Nieto. Mexico's president has a 23% approval rating. Pena Nieto's public remarks alongside Trump will only lower his approval ratings. Mexicans already felt Pena Nieto's invitation had legitimized an undeserving and unfit Trump. Pena Nietro compounded the anger by not publicly demanding an apology from Trump or more strongly chastising him.
Mexican and U.S. Latino voters were likely even more put off when Trump followed his Mexico meeting by outlining his hard-line immigration reform plan in Arizona.
Trump booted any thought that he would be softening his stance on immigration by announcing he would boot 2 million aliens out of the country on the first day of his presidency.
The deportations are part of his following 10-point immigration plan:
1) Build border wall
Trump said the wall will be built with "above and below sensors." to prevent tunneling. He again said Mexico will pay for the wall. "They don't know it yet, but they will" A border wall is expected to cost billions of dollars.
2) End 'Catch and Release'
3) Zero tolerance for criminal aliens
Trump claims there are 2 million illegal aliens with criminal records. He intends to triple the number of ICE officers and hire 5,000 more border patrol agents.
4) Block funding for 'Sanctuary Cities"
In one of the more powerful moments of his speech, Trump invited on stage parents whose children had been murdered by illegal aliens.
5) Cancel Obama's executive orders for Amnesty programs.
This would be a nightmare for "dreamers" who are the very kind of Mexicans in the U.S. who Trump had praised in his remarks with Mexico's president.
6) Suspend visas from places where adequate screening can't occur.
Trump once again called for 'extreme vetting.' Instead of accepting refugees, Trump called for Mideast safe zones to be created and funded by gulf states.
7) Make sure other countries take back those who have been deported.
8) Biometric visa tracking system to prevent visa overstays.
Trump claims this would have caught at least two of the 9-11 hijackers.
9) Turn off job/benefits magnet with e-verify.
10) Reform immigration to benefit American workers.
Trump is calling for an immigration commission that implements a system that serves the country's needs over all others --"America first."
He wants immigrants chosen for admission based on "merit" and 'skill." You know, like do they have degrees from Trump University? And can they build a border wall with sensors for under a billion dollars, while being paid minimum wage ?
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Taco Bell confirmed it's bringing its fancier Cantina concept to Public Square, it just didn't specify when.
"The Taco Bell Cantina in Cleveland, located downtown at Public Square is set to open before year's end," a company spokesperson said in an email to cleveland.com. "At this point, there is no new additional information to share."
The spokesperson wouldn't comment on a jobs posting on Craigslist that said the Taco Bell Cantina would open in mid-September.
A cursory look at the space from the sidewalk during lunchtime Wednesday, however, suggested that target date would be a challenge. Except for a lone worker spotted on top of a scissors lift, the place still largely resembled the abandoned Cadillac Ranch on the street level of the old May Co. building that it is.
Renderings presented before the Cleveland Landmark's Commission back in June showed a 2,800 square foot restaurant with 30-seat patio. It will be the third Taco Bell Cantina in the nation, following openings last year in Chicago and San Francisco.
The cantina concept features a hip, urban environment, local artwork on the walls, open kitchen, community tables and free Wi-Fi. The menu, while still featuring the familiar Burrito Supreme, Quesarito and Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco, also includes shareable appetizers -- think mini taquitos and chicken fingers -- and alcoholic beverages such as beer and boozy slushes.
"If this wasn't called Taco Bell and the prices were higher it would be trendy as hell and getting rave reviews," a reviewer on Yelp wrote of the Chicago location.
Until sometime later this year, we'll just have to take his word for it.
A British Pub dishes it out in an American mall
The Pub operated for more than two and a half years inside Beachwood Place Mall.
(Laura Johnston, cleveland.com)
BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- The Pub at Beachwood Place has served its last plate of fish and chips and poured its last pint of Guinness. The British-themed restaurant and bar abruptly closed Wednesday after two and a half years in the mall.
"This was not an easy decision, but closing our Beachwood location allows us to focus on other, more profitable restaurants and is therefore in the best interest of our company," David Bell, Director of Operations for The Pub's parent company, Tavern Restaurant Group, said in a release Thursday. "We are very grateful to the Beachwood community for their patronage and to our team members for their efforts, but this particular location has been unable to meet sales quotas for some time."
The Pub's sudden closing follows the shuttering of its Rocky River outpost in 2011. It leaves the Cincinnati-based chain with 11 locations in four states. The company also operates restaurants under the names deSha's and Nicholson's.
"The Pub concept overall continues to thrive in other markets, including our licensed Pub at Cleveland International Airport, and we look forward to bringing The Pub to select locations in the future," the statement read.
When The Pub in Beachwood opened in 2014,
"It had all an Anglophile could want: decor, food, beer, music, sport and even pub trivia." Recent reviews on Yelp, however, were decidedly mixed.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -Starting next year, Cleveland says it will begin routine interior inspections of most city rental properties to make sure they're safe and don't pose threats to residents.
Though driven initially by a need to reduce the risk of lead poisoning in rental homes where children live, the effort will aim to improve overall health and well-being for all Cleveland tenants, said Building & Housing Director Ron O'Leary.
Councilman Tony Brancatelli, who for years has championed better housing code enforcement, said a well-functioning inspection program would be good for both tenants and landlords. Brancatelli said he'd heard the city might be planning to increase its enforcement efforts but has yet to see the plan, which city officials say is about 90 percent complete.
"It could level the playing field and improve the value of real estate, and shake out those who are irresponsible," he said. One potential headache could be enforcing it if certain landlords are resistant to inspections, he said.
The interior inspections would check for:
hot and cold running water;
working toilets;
functional smoke and carbon monoxide detectors;
safety hazards such as extensive use of electrical extension cords;
and peeling or flaking paint on windows sills and doors, which in homes built before 1978 can be an indicator of a lead hazard.
City officials said they are still working out which ordinances might need to be changed or amended in order for inspections to begin next year, but they expect to be able to resolve them.
Inspectors would issue citations for violations when necessary, O'Leary said.
Routine interior inspections would be a big change for the city, which currently uses a complaint-based system to inspect the inside of homes and does not have enough inspectors to perform routine exterior inspections.
The city had a rental inspection program for a time in the 1980s and 1990s, but it was primarily in larger structures with four or more units, said city spokesman Dan Ball. The new city program would cover far more rentals.
The city will need more money to make the interior rental inspection program work the way it should, O'Leary said.
Its impact will depend largely on whether voters pass a city income tax increase -- from 2 percent to 2.5 percent - in November, he said.
With the tax money, the city can hire and train about a dozen new inspectors to devote to a unit focused on rental inspections.
Without the tax money, the unit would be staffed by current inspectors, some of whom are currently divided into city zones doing complaint-based inspections.
A long haul
The city estimates it would take between three and five years to inspect each rental unit with a full staff of inspectors, and longer with a smaller staff.
The inspection plan is closely related to the city's efforts to increase the number of property owners who follow a largely-ignored rental registration law and pay a $35-per-unit annual registration fee.
The city has more than 90,000 rental units, which include single-family homes, duplexes, and multi-unit, large properties.
It's not yet clear if the routine inspections would include all larger properties or focus on single family, duplex and smaller multi-unit buildings.
Will inspections help the lead problem?
It's impossible to tell if the city's routine interior inspections of rental properties would reduce Cleveland's high lead poisoning rate. But there's some evidence to indicate it could help.
In Rochester, New York, a city law that launched routine rental inspections targeting lead hazards has been credited with helping drop lead poisoning levels among that city's children by 80 percent in the past decade.
Rochester's law called for interior and exterior inspections for deteriorated paint in areas where health data showed children were at highest risk for poisoning.
In August, Toledo became the first city in Ohio to pass a law like Rochester's. Toledo's law requires both visual and laboratory proof that smaller rentals built before 1978 are "lead safe," or free of lead hazards.
Cleveland's rental inspection plan would accomplish some of the same goals, but is not the same.
Officials recently said it was open to exploring a law like Toledo's here, though officials are still debating whether a Cleveland version would require simpler visual inspections alone or a stricter standard, where samples collected from homes would be tested in a laboratory for lead.
Angela Shuckahosee, executive director of the Cleveland Tenants Organization, said she would prefer Cleveland go beyond visual inspections. Area hospital leaders have also expressed their support for lab testing of rental properties.
The main worries in allowing laboratory testing: cost and liability for clean-up.
State law requires that the hazards must be made safe if lab tests, such as dust wipes taken from windowsills or doors, reveal unsafe levels of lead.
That also requires a follow-up inspection from a qualified lead risk assessor, which can cost between $200 and $600.
In Toledo landlords will use private inspectors to check for lead in their properties or to confirm an identified hazard has been fixed, minimizing the cost to the city.
That possibility is still on the table here, city officials said.
Right now, Cleveland housing inspectors can cite owners for peeling paint, but don't have the authority or training to investigate or follow up to determine if there's a lead hazard. Those cases are handled by the health department, which has fallen behind on investigating lead poisoning cases due to a dearth of qualified staff.
Shuckahosee said she sees recent events in Toledo and Cleveland's tentative plans for rental inspections as signs of progress.
"The Toledo legislation gives me some hope and Cleveland would be foolhardy not to take it seriously," she said.
News / National
by Staff reporter
The Namibia government has commended the local immigration department for setting up world class systems which will be replicated in Southern African nations.The comments by the visiting Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration of Namibia Mrs Pendukeni Luvula Ithan came after touring the immigration department' head offices together with Home Affairs Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo.The tour took the delegation to the Harare International Airport where they assessed operations at the port of entry with Mrs Ithan saying there is lot that her country will learn from Zimbabwe in terms of technology.Immigration Department Director of Administration Mr Stephen Museki explained to the delegation the processes that his organisation undertakes.The delegation from Namibia is still in country on a familiarisation tour of some of the institutions that fall under the Home Affairs Department which is line with SADC provisions regarding harmonisation of operations.
Thursday 1
Holy Hell (CNN 7pm) Filmmaker Will Allen documents the time he spent inside the Los Angeles spirtual group/creepy cult, the Buddhafield.
Tracks (Spike 8:30pm) Name That Tune gets an uncredited update with contestants trying to identify song titles by listening to musical tracks.
Friday 2
Imaginary Friend (KOB-4 1:08am) Alex Newellwho was a runner-up on The Glee Project, but went on to appear as trangender student Unique Adams on Glee anywaystars as the imaginary friend to an unmotivated woman leading a mediocre life. This late-night show is a product of NBCs online-based contest NBC Playground.
Abandoned (Viceland 7pm) Vice travels the world looking for abandoned industrial setting like empty factories, crumbling shopping malls and ghost towns.
Saturday 3
Sunset PPPL (KOB-4 1:19am) In this sitcom a group of five millennial roommates wrestle with their own concepts of personal and professional success. This is also a product of NBC Playground, an attempt to lure internet-leaning, digital- content- loving young people to regular old broadcast television.
Tom Felton Meets the Superfans (Freeform 10:30pm) Young actor Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films) bravely hooks up with his most diehard fans to find out whats their freakin deal.
Sunday 4
The ABC Fall Preview Show (KOAT-7 9pm) Should you watch ABCs new fall lineup? Hosts Anthony Anderson, Randall Park, Katy Mixon and Piper Perabo think so.
Monday 5
Stalked By My Doctor: The Return (Lifetime 6pm) Lifetime is now making sequels to its suburban paranoia thrillers. Here, poor Eric Roberts returns as a creepy doctor with some serious boundary issues.
Harley and the Davidsons (Discovery 7pm) This three-part docu-drama miniseries chronicles the efforts of Bill Harley and brothers Walter and Arthur Davidson to found the iconic American motorcycle manufacturer back in 1903.
15 Septembers Later (History 7pm) Good news, pickup truck drivers: History Channel has read your bumper sticker and has not forgotten 9/11.
The Comedy Central Roast of Rob Lowe (TV Land/Comedy Central 8pm/11pm) Well, this ought to be a clean, tasteful, wholesome affair.
Loosely, Exactly Nicole (MTV 11:30pm) Comedienne Nicole Byer stars in this scripted comedy series loosely based on her own life (as, it seems, are all stand-up comedy star-based sitcoms).
Tuesday 6
StartUp (Crackle Streaming anytime) Martin Freeman (Sherlock) and Adam Brody ( The O.C.) star in this sex- and violence-filled drama about a Miami startup company.
From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series (El Rey 7pm) Season 3 of the crime/horror movie spin-off (now shot right here in New Mexico) gets underway with more vampire- on- bank- robber violence.
Wednesday 7
The Incredible Food Race (Discovery Family Channel 7pm) Families compete in goofy, food-based obstacle course events before squaring off against one another in a cooking competition. Because ... ideas.
News / National
by Staff reporter
Zimbabwe and its largest trading partner South Africa are finalising discussions for the establishment of a Beitbridge One Stop Border Post which is expected to ease congestion at the busiest port of entry in Southern Africa.Authorities on both side of the Limpopo River have expressed their commitment to seeing the finalisation of the one stop border post master plan implementation.The two governments are in discussions which are expected to result in the adoption of the Memorandum of Understanding to pave way for the roll out of the concept which has long been on the cards.Zimbabwe's Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce Chiratidzo Mabuwa is confident a breakthrough will soon be made on the ongoing discussions.Economic analyst Dr Abel Mubango noted that the one stop border post concept will ensure that the port of entry becomes more efficient.Beitbridge Border Post, which is the region's busiest inland port of entry, has constantly witnessed delays in processing of cargo and human traffic.
News / National
by Staff reporter
The government has, with effect from this Friday, the 2nd of September, 2016, banned all public demonstrations in and around the Harare central business district.The ban will be in place until the 16th of this month.The ban is in line with Statutory Instrument 101 A of 2016 issued in an Extra-Ordinary Government Gazette this Thursday.The statutory instrument stipulates that the regulating authority, Harare Central Police District, Chief Superintendent Newbert Saunyama has banned public demonstrations on reasonable grounds that the powers conferred by Section 26 of the Public Order and Security Act Chapter 11:17 will not be sufficient to prevent public disorder.ZRP national spokesperson, Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba says any person who organises, assists in organising, takes part in or attends any procession of public demonstration starting tomorrow (Friday) shall be guilty of an offence.Police have also banned the carrying of dangerous weapons as the law enforcement agents move in to curb the destruction of property and violent protests being perpetrated by MDC-T hooligans.The ZRP regulating authority of Harare issued a prohibition order on the carrying in public places of dangerous weapons for a period of three months up to the 2nd of December 2016.The police noted that the prohibition order has been issued in terms of Section 14 (1) of Public Order and Security Act Chapter 11:17.
Opinion / Columnist
Following recent reports in the media on allegations of gross negligence by nurses at Gwanda Hospital children's ward which resulted in a one month old baby having to have a hand amputated, the Gwanda Residents Association saw it prudent to take the issue head on with the hospital authorities and seek to know what really transpired leading to the unfortunate incident.The Association was motivated to take the move disappointedly because Gwanda Hospital has in recent years been on a huge rise towards excellence which left us wondering what could have suddenly happened.On Wednesday, the 31st August 2016 the Association sort audience with the hospital administration which was represented by the most senior officials from the hospital.Suffice to say that going into the meeting as residents representatives we were in a not too good mood against the hospital which we only recently established a formidable working relationship with.In the discussions that ensued, we were very lucky that we got there at a time that Ministry of Health officials had just completed their investigations on the matter which made it easier for us to pick up the factual hospital side of the whole issue.First and for most the Association regrettably notes that the media house that ran the story did not through the three times that it ran the issue bother to contact the hospital to get the hospital's side to this very important matter.Such journalism leaves us as an Association disappointed and failing to understand the motive of the media house on sensationalising a matter of this nature which if not handled professionally and carefully was bound to cause mayhem and discord in the community.The hospital trail of events leading to the ultimate unfortunate amputation of the baby's arm give a near completely opposite picture of the events outlined by the media house which if the journalist would have cared to stretch his journalism ethics a little further would have avoided sensationalising the matter and causing disharmony in both the hospital and the community in Gwanda.We will not be repeating the sentiments portrayed in the media reports that ended with an editorial comment calling on the Ministry of Health to dismiss the entire nursing staff at the hospital and having their practising certificates cancelled and the doctors and hospital administration reprimanded.The facts of the matter are that, the mother of the child first came to Gwanda Hospital from Bulawayo for maternity service prior the incident of the child being admitted at the hospital.It is no secret that the Gwanda Hospital maternity hospital is of late amongst the top in the country which has seen an influx of expectant mothers from across the region preferring to come and deliver in Gwanda other than anywhere else in the region.On the day that the baby was admitted at Gwanda hospital, the baby was coming for a routine seventh day check up.Hospital facts are that at birth the child had a weight of 2700 grammes but on day seven the child was weighing in at 2200 grammes which was a loss of 500 grammes.The hospital had no alterative but to admit the child. Facts on admission are that the child was heavily dehydrated and very underfed and at a serious risk of deteriorating further.As reported by the paper, the nurses who admitted the child tried several times (but certainly not ten times as was reported by the media) to inset a cannular on the baby to administer orals and antibiotics due to the baby's severe dehydration.The hospital discovered that the mother was refusing to breastfeed the child for reasons she would not give. Instead she was feeding the child 90 millilitres of formula milk per day instead of 90ml per feed which explains the huge weight loss and dehydration the babe faced.In our investigations, we also gathered from other mothers who were with the mother at the time she was admitted at Gwanda Hospital that she was not even willing to only bath the child let alone feed the child.The hospital staff discovered problems with the child's hand a few days after admission upon which they transferred the child to Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo for a scan which is not available in Gwanda.Mpilo hospital apparently couldn't do the scan and implored on the family to rush and do the scan at a private institution outside the hospital. The family refused to do the scan and in fact opted to reject further health care from the hospital and left the hospital to have the child attended to at a religious cult.The child was away from health care for over ten days before resurfacing at the United Bulawayo Hospitals in an advanced state of illness a fact which the media chose to ignore.The scan was eventually done at the private institution with the insistence of UBH in liaison with Mpilo Hospital and the amputation had to be unfortunately done.Findings so far made by the hospitals do not at all point to any negligence on the part of nurses and doctors at Gwanda Hospital but if anything could unfortunately point the negligence on the part of the parents.As the Gwanda Residents Association we are extremely saddened by the media house's entire handling of the matter which has left an absolutely undue dent on the staff at Gwanda hospital and caused panic and worry in the community.Our visit to the hospital presented to us a picture of extremely demotivated medical staff.Further to that we met up with patients in the wards not believing in the nurses at all as very have been tagged negligent and murderous.A sober mind will tell one that a nurse who presented with a near dying baby tries her best to insert a cannular into the dehydrated child until she finds the vain was not mutilating the child as the paper reported but was very concerned and committed to her duty to save a life.As the community of Gwanda it has taken us years to get this hospital to the level that we are in today and under no circumstances shall we sit back and allow some forces to at the strike of a pen destroy what we have laboured to build.We are indeed aware that medical errors do happen at health centres and Gwanda Hospital is not spared of them but for the sake of community building and development as the community we will always be more happy to have issues presented to us in their precise state not made sensational for any cause.As representatives of the Residents of Gwanda, the Gwanda Residents Association would by means of this statement want to encourage our staff at the hospital to remain focused and continue to strive for excellence and not be dented by this isolated incident.To the residents we would like to urge each other to continue believing in our dedicated hospital staff and continue to give the hospital the support we have been giving them that has seen the hospital take the huge stride which continues to even attract those from outside us to our hospital facilities.Bekezela Maduma FuzwayoSecretary GeneralGwanda Residents Association.
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is on a week-long visit to China, and he certainly has his work cut out for him amid a range of complications currently weighing on bilateral ties.
It's his first official visit to the mainland, and he's due to stop in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Hangzhou for the G20 leaders' summit that commences Sunday. Trudeau's father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, was one of the first Western leaders to normalize relations with China in 1970s. From a trade spat to backlash against Chinese immigration, tensions between the two countries have increased this year. At the heart of the matter is the fact that Canada values its relationship with China but remains hesitant over the latter's politics, which makes diplomacy more challenging, summed up Jeremy Kinsman, a former member of Trudeau's foreign affairs council. "Canada remains wary at the way the [Chinese] state exercises power and authority, both in regard to dissidents but also in foreign relations. Canada will have no influence on any matter unless there is a relationship so building that relationship is the purpose of the trip," Kinsman explained. Here's a breakdown of the various issues likely to imbue talks this week.
The canola war
The two countries are currently in the midst of a trade spat over canola. The crop is one of Canada's top commodity exports, and shipments to China are worth around $2 billion a year. China wants to only allow canola shipments containing one percent of dockage, versus the current 2.5 percent allowance. Dockage refers to parts of the canola plant other than seeds, such as weeds and other crops. The move is expected to tighten imports of Canadian canola, with Beijing justifying its action on concerns over a crop-destroying fungal disease called blackleg. As Canadian media point out, China did the same thing six years ago and at the time, scientists confirmed that there was little chance of blackleg infection, which saw China ease restrictions in 2012. With that scientific reasoning still valid today, critics say Beijing's new rule is akin to implementing a non-tariff barrier so China can protect its own canola production and improve prices on existing stockpiles. Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland has warned bilateral ties cannot advance until a deal is reached, which throws a cog into on-going talks for a free trade partnership (FTA).
August 31, 2016: A billboard with a Chinese message that translates as 'Welcome, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his first official trip in China and to participate at the G20 summit in Hangzhou." FRED DUFOUR | AFP | Getty Images
"It's hard to proceed with free trade when Canada feels the Chinese aren't being straight with them," said Charles Burton, associate professor at Brock University. "The science seems to be on Canada's side but as the seller, Canada will have to adjust and change some of its facilities for separating canola from other materials" noted Paul Evans, professor at the University of British Columbia. "Trudeau is going to play for time and postpone this matter for at least a year or two." For now, Beijing has agreed to delay implementing the new rule, which was due to come into effect Thursday, as both countries work out a long-term solution.
Energy investments
For a Canada-China FTA to proceed, Beijing also has a few preconditions, notably a removal of barriers to Chinese investment in Canada's vast oil sector. Under previous PM Harper, Ottawa installed barriers to investment by foreign state-owned enterprises (SOEs) within Canadian oil sands in 2012, which resulted in a pronounced drop in funding for Alberta's now cash-strapped oil sands. Public support for Chinese SOE investment in the resources sector stands at 11 percent, pointed out Burton, referring to the results of an Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada poll released Wednesday. But despite the strong public opposition, Trudeau is ready to take a more open view, according to Evans. "He doesn't see SOEs as a direct threat to Canadian-style capitalism."
Consular matters
In June, reports emerged that China was refusing to allow Canadian-Chinese citizens residing in Hong Kong to enter the mainland on Canadian passports, warning they could only visit as Chinese nationals. Such a move effectively denies the dual citizens of Canada's consular protection and is a big setback for the 300,000 dual Canadian-Chinese citizens in Hong Kong, Burton noted. Matters like these are unlikely to improve China's general image in the eyes of Canadians, he added. In a February poll conducted by Nanos Research, 76 percent of Canadians said they held a negative impression of the Chinese government. The situation of Kevin Garratt, a Canadian man who has been jailed in China for the past two years on suspicion of spying, is another prickly matter. Garratt was living in a Chinese city on the North Korean border where he conducted Christian aid work for North Koreans when Beijing detained him in 2014. On Wednesday, Premier Li Keqiang told a news conference on Wednesday that China and Canada would continue to communicate on the issue, stating that Garratt would be treated humanely and lawfully.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang R holds talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Beijing, Aug. 31, 2016. This is the first official visit of Trudeau to China since taking office in November 2015. Wang Ye | Xinhua |Getty Images
Housing
Mainland officials may also raise the matter of Canadian resentment to real-estate purchases by Chinese citizens. In July, the province of British Columbia (BC) implemented a punitive tax on foreigners buying residential property in an attempt to stem a massive spike in home prices, believed to be driven by wealthy Chinese spending millions on homes. The rule, which came into effect on August 2, was aimed at addressing concerns that Canadians were being priced out of the market and soon prompted Chinese state media to warn buyers about owning Canadian real estate. "Canadian public opinion is riled by the belief that wealthy Chinese, whose wealth comes from sources that may be questionable are buying property in Canada, notably Vancouver, often in non-transparent ways, as a hedge for their assets in worry the Chinese economy will tank," explained Kinsman.
Not all is lost
The court's move to rehabilitate the world's seventh-largest container shipper is seen as mainly procedural, and an eventual liquidation of assets is likely, analysts and industry officials said.
Rival Hyundai Merchant Marine will also deploy at least 13 of its ships to two routes exclusively serviced by Hanjin, while the South Korean government also plans to reach out to overseas carriers for help.
Seeking to contain the fallout, a South Korean court said it would soon begin proceedings to rehabilitate the carrier - which would allow Hanjin to take legal action in other countries to keep its ships and other assets from being seized.
Hanjin Shipping vessels have been seized at Chinese ports in the wake of the South Korean firm's collapse, further roiling the industry as freight rates jump and manufacturers scramble for alternatives.
"Unlike dry cargo, liner shipping is all about marketing and service reliability we haven't seen any large carriers come back from collapse," said Rahul Kapoor, a director at maritime consultancy Drewry Financial Research Services.
"There is a loss of faith among customers. It's very unlikely Hanjin can come back from the ashes."
Hanjin's banks decided to end financial support for the shipper this week and since then, many of its vessels have either been denied entry to ports or unable to dock as container lashing providers fret that they will not be paid. This includes the port of Busan, South Korea's largest.
The Korea International Trade Association said on Thursday that about 10 Hanjin vessels in China have been either seized or were expected to seized by charterers, port authorities or other parties. That adds to one other ship seized in Singapore by a creditor earlier this week.
The collapse comes at a time of high seasonal demand for the shipping industry ahead of the year-end holidays.
Freight rates on some routes where Hanjin operates many ships have surged.
The cost of shipping a 40-foot container on the Busan-Los Angeles route has jumped about 55 percent, from $1,100 to around $1,700, according to South Korea-based freight forwarder Pantos Logistics. Rates between South Korea and the U.S. east coast via Panama have risen about 50 percent to $2,400, it added.
Stranded televisions
LG Electronics, the world's No.2 maker of TVs, told Reuters it was canceling orders with Hanjin and was seeking alternatives to ship its freight. It is also making contingency plans for cargo already on board Hanjin ships in the event the vessels are seized.
The Korea International Freight Forwarders Association said it has been inundated with calls from cargo owners worried about the fate of their shipments in transit to the United States and Europe.
While mobile phones and semiconductors are carried by air, other electronics like home appliances are shipped by sea.
"This will have an impact on the entire industry," said Cho Kyung-kyu, a director at the association.
South Korea's maritime ministry said on Wednesday that Hanjin's woes would affect cargo exports for two or three months, with about 540,000 TEU of cargo already loaded on Hanjin vessels and facing delays.
A Hanjin bankruptcy would be the industry's largest ever in terms of capacity, according to consultancy Alphaliner, exceeding the 1986 collapse of United States Lines. The shipper accounts for 7 percent of Far East-North America container trade.
South Korea's ailing shipbuilders and shipping firms, which for decades were engines of its export-driven economy, are in the midst of a wrenching restructuring.
State-run think tank Korea Maritime Institute estimated that shipping rates on Busan to U.S. routes would rise 27 percent and Busan to Europe routes would rise 47 percent in the near term, causing Korean exporters additional shipping costs of about 440.7 billion won per year.
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Most workers don't maximize their Social Security retirement benefits by waiting to claim at age 70. Yet that doesn't have to stop people who retire before 70 from receiving as much in retirement benefits as those who waited to receive the maximum amount, according to research by Eva Levine, an estate lawyer and certified financial planner at Plenaris Advisory in San Jose, California. Claiming Social Security at 70 "looks good on paper, but is not practical for many people," Levine said. (See chart below.)
In many cases, retirees would be better off claiming Social Security at full retirement age and investing the benefits than waiting to claim until 70, Levine said. Full retirement age ranges from age 66 to 67, depending on your birth year.
The two most promising strategies Levine outlined in her research were to invest Social Security benefits claimed at full retirement age into variable annuities and indexed universal life policies. The major drawback to these scenarios is that retirees would have to fund them with all the Social Security benefits received from 66 to 69, presumably living off other income and retirement savings in the meantime until they hit 70. The end result would yield higher total benefits in your 70s, 80s and 90s if the insurance products performed as Levine assumed.
The best annuity on the market to protect against outliving your money is to delay taking Social Security payments. Allan Roth founder of Wealth Logic
Variable annuities and indexed universal life policies are complicated products that can carry high fees and surrender charges if investors want to back out of their contracts early. Instead of buying expensive guarantees from insurers, more people should wait to claim Social Security benefits at 70, said Allan Roth, a certified financial planner and founder of Wealth Logic in Colorado Springs, Colorado. People who wait to claim Social Security at 70 receive an estimated 40 percent discount to the cost of replacing those benefits with an inexpensive deferred annuity, Roth said. "The best annuity on the market to protect against outliving your money is to delay taking Social Security payments," he said.
Investors should review variable annuities and indexed universal life policies carefully before buying. A financial advisor who is a fiduciary can help you with the evaluation. A variable annuity is an insurance contract where your payouts are based on the investments you select. These annuities are tax deferred, which means you don't pay taxes on the income and investment gains until you make a withdrawal. Indexed universal life policies credit a tax-deferred account based on the performance of one or more market indexes, such as the S&P 500. These policies have a guaranteed growth rate and offer downside protection when the index generates losses. Here's how the downside protection works: Let's say the S&P 500 drops 2 percent in a year, indexed universal life policyholders would not see the value of their accounts diminish. The trade-off is that such policies put a cap on how much the account can be credited if the market gains. If you claim Social Security retirement benefits at age 70, you generally will not receive more benefits than someone who claimed at full retirement age until after you reach 80. Using insurance products to boost Social Security benefits claimed at full retirement age can reduce the risk of dying before you reap the full benefits of waiting to claim at age 70, Levine said. "My approach is to help my clients get more clarity so they know exactly what to expect," she said.
Rosy assumptions
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The outbreak of the Zika virus spread in Southeast Asia Thursday, after Singapore noted that total cases had risen to 115 while Malaysia confirmed that its first reported case was a woman who had traveled to the neighboring city-state. The woman was diagnosed with Zika after she experienced rash and a fever for a week after her Singapore trip, Malaysia's Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam told Reuters. The woman's child, who is in Singapore, and four other Malaysian nationals also tested positive for the virus, Reuters reported. Malaysia, which shares a border with Singapore, has been taking precautionary measures since Monday such as scanning people to detect fever at major entry points and various airports, The Straits Times reported.
Singapore also announced late Wednesday its first case of a pregnant woman testing positive for locally-transmitted Zika virus, as a potential new infection cluster emerged.
Pest control workers fumigate the drainage at a Macpherson housing estate in Singapore on August 31, 2016. Roslan Rahman | AFP | Getty Images
The pregnant woman lived in the Aljunied Crescent or Sims Drive area, the first reported infection cluster, according to a joint statement by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the National Environment Agency (NEA).
She will have a maternal-fetal medicine specialist's counselling and advice, the agencies said, while her doctor will closely monitoring both her health and her baby's development. Meanwhile, a new group of infections were identified in Bedok North Avenue Three, east of the previously affected areas. A further 33 locally-transmitted Zika cases were found, raising the total number of infections to 115. Nine of the new cases were detected as a result of the MOH's back-testing of patients who had shown signs of Zika symptoms. India's foreign ministry confirmed that 13 Indian nationals were among those tested positive for Zika, while six Bangladeshi nationals diagnosed with the virus was confirmed by Bangladesh's foreign ministry, Reuters said. The Chinese embassy in Singapore was informed that 21 Chinese nationals residing in the city-state had been affected by the Zika virus, China's Foreign Ministry told Reuters on Thursday.
Any disease outbreaks in Singapore, which has a tight system for containing disease, shows how difficult the disease is to control, Thomas Frieden, director at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a Thursday NBC report. The foreign ministry added that the 21 Chinese nationals' health was not under threat, and some had already recovered, Reuters reported. "Over time, we expect Zika cases to emerge from more areas," Gan Kim Yong, Singapore's Minister for Health, said in the official statement. "We must work and plan on the basis that there is Zika transmission in other parts of Singapore and extend our vector control efforts beyond the current affected areas.
After dropping in on Mexico's president, Donald Trump doubled down on his vow to make Mexico pay for a border wall.
With renewed bluster, Trump offered some clarity on his immigration policies Wednesday night in a speech in Arizona, renewing calls for a deportation force and pledging to build an "impenetrable" barrier on the U.S.-Mexico border.
"We will build a great wall along the southern border. And Mexico will pay for the wall, 100 percent. They don't know it yet, but they're going pay for the wall," Trump said.
Hours earlier, Trump met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico City and took a decidedly softer tone. In a tweet, Pena Nieto said after the meeting that he told Trump his country would not pay for the barrier.
Pena Nieto tweet
The tweet translates to: "At the beginning of the conversation with Donald Trump I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall."
In a subsequent tweet, the Mexican president said in Spanish, "From there, the conversation addressed other issues, and developed a respectful manner."
Trump's speech in Arizona, which lasted more than an hour, followed confusion over whether Trump had softened his immigration stance. He outlined the steps he would take to crack down on immigration, a priority he has loudly stressed from the outset of his campaign that was once perceived to be a long-shot.
"The universe is made of stories, not of atoms." Muriel Rukeyser
We've all experienced this before politicians opting to share anecdotes instead of focusing on the hard numbers of their proposed policies. How many times have we heard that "an unemployed mother of two in California will be able to give her children a good education" or "a student in the Midwest will easily find a job after graduation." Why do politicians rely so often on storytelling?
According to West Wing Writers, a speechwriting and communications strategy firm in D.C., 63 percent of people recall stories a speaker tells, yet only 5 percent can remember a single statistic even when the speech includes vastly more statistics than stories.
Since I work in a news company, I often share my personal story to tell people why I am passionate about the industry. The story goes like this: My Italian father was on a train in Paris when he noticed a group of soldiers bothering a Portuguese woman as she was trying to read a newspaper. He approached the soldiers, telling them to leave the woman alone.
Then he wrote his phone number on the front page of the woman's paper, saying, "If you are ever in Rome, give me a call and I'll show you around." One year later he received a call from the woman on the train, who was visiting Italy with a friend. She had kept the paper. That was the beginning of my parents' relationship and why I can say that newspapers are in my DNA.
THE TAKEAWAY: Tell a story about yourself that evokes emotions. If you come from humble beginnings, tell people how you got from point A to point B to achieve your passion. Selectively shape your narrative so that it's one people remember.
About 10 vessels operated by Hanjin Shipping have been effectively seized at China ports by charterers, port authorities and others as of Wednesday, a South Korean trade association said on Thursday.
Some of the ships were not being allowed to leave Chinese ports, while others, which are currently at sea nearby, were expected to be seized, the association said.
Hanjin Shipping filed for court receivership on Wednesday after losing the support of its banks.
On Thursday, a judge said that a South Korean court will give the go ahead for commencing rehabilitation proceedings at Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd as early as this week,
The court's decision will allow Hanjin Shipping to engage in legal action in jurisdictions outside South Korea to keep its ships and other assets from being seized, the Seoul Central District Court judge said.
"We're not considering liquidation at all," the judge told Reuters.
Europe's 13 billion-euro ($14.5 billion) tax demand is "total political crap" that's "completely unfair," Apple's CEO Tim Cook has told the Irish Independent.
In an exclusive interview with the Irish newspaper, Cook blasted the order by the European Commission on Tuesday that Ireland claw back the huge sum, plus interest, in back-taxes from Apple .
Cook said that the European Commission's move was a backdoor attempt to harmonize tax rates across the European Union, and that Apple had likely been targeted because of anti-U.S. sentiment at the commission.
"What I feel strongly about is that this decision was politically based, of that I'm very confident. There is no reason for it in fact or in law," he said.
To read the full Irish Independent report, click here.
The European Commission accused Ireland of giving Apple an unfair advantage over other companies by allowing it to pay a tax rate of between 0.005 percent and 1 percent, in breach of the European Union's state aid rules. Apple has been operating in Ireland since the 1980s.
Ireland, which fears losing its competitiveness in attracting global businesses to its shores, has said it will appeal the ruling, as has Apple.
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Hillary Clinton's campaign on Thursday attacked a Politico report saying aides to former President Bill Clinton used federal money to subsidize the Clinton Foundation and to support his wife's private email server.
The news site said the taxpayer money part of the Former Presidents Act, which gives assistance to past commanders-in-chief also helped to buy IT equipment at the Clinton Foundation and to compensate aides. The report, which stressed that an investigation found nothing illegal and included an aide's defense of the former president, said the findings cast more light on "how the Clintons blurred the lines between their non-profit foundation, Hillary Clinton's State Department and the business dealings of Bill Clinton and the couple's aides."
In a tweet Thursday morning, Brian Fallon, Hillary Clinton campaign press secretary, called a version of Politico's headline "egregiously false" and said the campaign would demand a correction. The Politico tweet he cited read "Bill Clinton used tax dollars to subsidize foundation, private email server." A later headline on the outlet's website carried a slightly different headline: "Bill Clinton aides used tax dollars to subsidize foundation, private email support."
A note on Politico's report said "The headline on this story has been revised to reflect that (General Services Administration) funds were used for IT support." A Politico spokesman told CNBC that the story is completely accurate and "has not changed." He added that the "headline was sharpened for clarity."
Fallon seized on the report as pressure to find a headline in documents received through the Freedom of Information Act that "don't contain news." He compared it to a recent Associated Press story about access to Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state that also received heavy criticism from the campaign.
The AP stood by the story, which reported that more than half the people outside the government who met with her while she was secretary of state gave money either personally or through companies or groups to the foundation. The AP acknowledged that a tweet promoting the story had "sloppy" wording. The tweet said "more than half those who met Clinton as Cabinet secretary gave money to Clinton Foundation."
Read the full Politico report here.
Opinion / Columnist
It cannot be the equivalent of selling a 37-year-old jalopy, but it comes pretty close.In 2018, Robert Mugabe and his political party will be gunning for power for the umpteenth time since this former British colony achieved independence in 1980.Many thousands of lives were lost during the combat between the white colonialists and the black brothers and sisters of the revolution.More than 20 000 others - all black - were massacred in cold blood by other black people.Its name - Gukurahundi - provokes a particularly turgid anger among one ethnic group of the population.The prediction of a victory for Mugabe's party in 2018 has been made by his supporters, some of them motivated by a love of the party, rather than a well-calculated strengths of the respective combatants.Meanwhile, the debate continues unabated of the chances of a Zanu-PF repeat of its thumping victories since 1980.There have been suspicions of these victories, some of them suggesting chicanery of one sort or the other.Above all, however, is the almost universal suspicion that if the ruling party wins at all, it would have used subterfuge of some sort to achieve that victory.Mugabe's party has been dogged by charges of duplicity of one sort or another.The entire administration, at one time or the other, has been branded as corrupt.Many of its leaders have been suspected of massive wrong-doing to do with money.So far, ordinary people have not been entirely satisfied that all the crooks have been handed the just punishment they deserved.Mugabe has denied most of the allegations of corruption among his clique.What remains to be proved by the people is the oft-repeated allegation by ordinary citizens that the government has paid little attention to the massive material needs of ordinary people, preferring, instead, to enrich its own members and lackeys.Before 2018 dawns, there may be hurried actions by the ruling party to improve its image and posture as a champion of the masses, rather than this elitist guardian of the rich and corrupt circle.For the moment, we shall leave the final verdict to fate - humans will probably be extremist in their judgment of Zanu-PF's reign since 1980.The final verdict will be rendered at the polls. To some analysts, a verdict in favour of Mugabe and his party would be a travesty of human justice.There can be no doubt that a majority of the people of Zimbabwe have had it to their necks with the lack of respect displayed by the Mugabe regime for the people of this country - particularly those who have longed to speak of their country's respect for them as noble, rather than incidental.The evidence is abundant in a calculation of the rich and the poor standards of living.Most of the rich are people of the governing party.The poor are to be found mainly in the opposition parties, people who may have previously belonged to the ruling party, but left in despair, when they were told there was no room for them.All people who have campaigned for the equal distribution of wealth among the people and equality in the distribution of services to all sectors have sided, politically with the opposition.It was almost inevitable that most opposition groups would coalesce into one huge organisation to challenge Zanu-PF in 2018.We have yet to see its reaction.In the past, we have witnessed blood on the floor.
Diamond Offshore shares fell more than 10 percent Thursday after the company said that Petroleo Brasileiro cancelled a drilling contract two years early.
Brazil's Petrobras terminated its contract for Diamond Offshore's semi-submersible drilling rig Ocean Valor. Diamond Offshore said in an SEC filing that it could take legal action. The drilling contract was extended in 2014 and had been scheduled to terminate in October 2018.
"The company does not believe that Petrobras had a valid or lawful basis for terminating the contract, and the company intends to defend the rights of its subsidiary under the contract," Diamond Offshore said in a SEC filing Thursday.
According to the filing, the rig had been earning an estimated $455,000 per day during the extension period.
In a note to investors, Capital One analyst Luke Lemoine said "this could be a drawn-out process, and Petrobras has received the more favorable outcome in the past."
Lemoine rates Diamond Offshore stock as underweight with a $20 price target, based on the fact that offshore drilling fundamentals are still rough, despite improved oil prices.
The stock was on track for its worst daily performance since February, 2016. Thursday was Diamond Offshore's seventh negative session in a row.
Shares are off by more than 21 percent year to date, which would be its fourth consecutive year of double digit losses.
-CNBC's Chris Hayes contributed to this report
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There is no Trump pivot After a weeks-long flirtation with "softening" his position on immigration that culminated with a surprisingly banal joint press conference with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, the Republican nominee reminded us on Wednesday night that Donald Trump is Donald Trump and that's not going to change. Trump, to review, has no experience in elected or appointed government office. Nor does he have any interest in or knowledge of American public policy. But he did once say Barack Obama was born in Kenya and become a huge celebrity in Republican Party politics. He followed that up with the claim that the Mexican government is deliberately sending murderers and rapists to the United States.
That combination of racist attacks on the president of the United States and racist attacks on the entire Mexican-American population were good enough to vault him to the top of the GOP primary polling. They delivered him the nomination. And they're clearly not enough to deliver him the presidency of the United States.
Republicans are full of wishful thinking
This turn of events has sparked a months-long bout of wishful thinking in Republican Party circles. "He's not a policy guy," one Republican Senate staffer once told me, as part of a loopy explanation that Trump would actually be a fine president because he'll be so indifferent to policy matters that other people will just make all the decisions about everything. The pivot, or softening, whatever you want to call it is just part and parcel of that same wishful thinking. That's the moral of Wednesday night's speech. There are no hidden depths to Trump. There's just fear and demagoguery and nonsense. David Duke loved it.
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Trump portrays a world in which crime is skyrocketing (it isn't) and illegal immigration is skyrocketing (it isn't) and skyrocketing immigration explains skyrocketing crime (it doesn't, because neither of those things is happening). He says he can build a 1,600-mile wall across the southern border at a reasonable cost (he can't), and he says he will get Mexico to pay for its construction (he can't). He says immigrants are depressing average Americans' wages (they aren't) and that Hillary Clinton has a plan for open borders (she doesn't). Trump is, on some level, surely aware that he is bulls---ing. He worked in the real estate development industry and knows better than you or I do that the logistical requirements to undertake the wall project as he's defined it are mind-boggling. At times, he's even considered owning up to that fact.
Tweet Portions of the US-Mexico border, for example, run through roadless, uninhabited desert. To build a wall there, you would need to build roads to transport the material, build places for the workers to live, hire other workers to maintain the colony, and somehow pay everyone enough to make it worth their while to go live in a temporary camp in an uninhabited desert. It's self-evidently absurd, and of course Mexico isn't going to pay for it. Trump is Trumps
Trump's passion, however, isn't for the details of border security or immigration economics. It's for lurid tales of bloodshed. He opened the speech with long descriptions of a handful of people who've been murdered by illegal immigrants, and he closed it with testimonials from relatives of the deceased. Lurid fantasies about avenging these crime victims have dominated much of Trump's "thinking" about politics ever since he made a splash with paid newspaper ads urging the execution of five young men who turned out to have been falsely accused of murder. A normal person would feel ashamed to have once loudly and publicly advocating for the killing of five people for a crime they didn't commit. Not Trump. "These young men do not exactly have the pasts of angels," he wrote at the time. (Trump has bragged about punching his music teacher, which I guess is what angels do.) The one hint of moderation is that he said we should deport Hillary Clinton for unspecified crimes, which is much more restrained than earlier calls to have her locked up or maybe killed.
Trump is a person, not a cartoon. He can do a calm, controlled speech or even a calm, controlled week. But there is no calm, controlled, responsible version of Donald Trump the politician who can mount a sustained presidential campaign or who could serve for a sustained period of time in the Oval Office. As a political figure, Trump has always been a race-baiting, fearmongering demagogue and that's not going to change. If that's what you're looking for in a president, then you'll love the Trump administration. If you find it off-putting but you're really into tax cuts, he'll probably throw you those too.
But it's long past time to stop expecting someone to pull off the Trump mask and find some kind of earnest, responsible politician lurking underneath. The Trump we saw Wednesday night is the Trump who accepted the Republican nomination six weeks ago is the Trump who descended the Trump Tower escalators in Manhattan a year ago. Trump is Trump.
Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell:
Campbell Soup The food company reported adjusted quarterly profit of 46 cents per share, 4 cents a share below estimates. Revenue was just shy of forecasts. Campbell said it was not pleased with the quarterly results, pointing specifically to "execution issues" with its Campbell Fresh business. Its full-year EPS forecast of $3 to $3.09 is also shy of the consensus estimate of $3.14 a share.
Joy Global The mining equipment maker earned an adjusted 10 cents per share for its latest quarter, 2 cents a share below estimates. Revenue was also below forecasts. Joy said that market conditions remain "extremely challenged."
Salesforce.com The cloud software company reported adjusted quarterly profit of 24 cents per share, 2 cents a share above estimates. Revenue was very slightly above forecasts, but its current-quarter revenue and profit estimates came in below Street estimates.
Shoe Carnival Shoe Carnival's earnings fell 5 cents a share below estimates, with quarterly profit of 22 cents per share. Revenue was below forecasts, as were the shoe retailer's comparable-store sales.
Box Box lost an adjusted 14 cents per share for its latest quarter, 5 cents smaller a share than estimated. The online file sharing company saw revenue come in above Street forecasts, however, and Box raised its full-year outlook on improving sales.
Charter Communications The cable operator's stock will replace EMC in the S&P 500 after the close of trading on September 7, with EMC being acquired by privately held computer maker Dell.
Apple Apple CEO Tim Cook told a Dublin radio station that the company expects to repatriate billions of dollars back to the U.S. next year, although he did not specify an amount. He also called the European Union's $14.5 billion tax bill for the company "total political crap."
Las Vegas Sands , Wynn Resorts Shares in the casino operators could benefit from news that gaming revenue in Macau rose by 1.1 percent in August, the first monthly year-over-year growth in the Chinese territory since May of 2014.
Wal-Mart Stores The retail giant is beginning its holiday layaway program tomorrow, two weeks early, hoping to get a jump on the holiday shopping season.
Lazard Lazard erred in its analysis of SolarCity 's worth in its work advising the solar equipment company on its sale to Tesla Motors , according to a regulatory filing, undervaluing SolarCity by $400 million. However, the purchase price of $2.6 billion was within the valuation range even with the miscalculation factored in.
McDonald's McDonald's named Executive Vice President Christopher Kempczinski as the new president of McDonald's USA as of the end of the year, following the retirement of current president Michael Andres.
JPMorgan Chase The bank was given a stand-alone asset management license in China, according to a regulatory filing.
Costco The discount retailer reported flat global comparable-store sales for August, and flat comps in the U.S., as well. Both measures had been expected to rise by 1.3 percent, according to estimates from Thomson Reuters.
Five Below Five Below raised its forecast for the full year, after the discount retailer reported better-than-expected results for its most recent quarter. However, it gave downbeat guidance for the current quarter, which includes the back to school shopping season as well as Halloween.
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The West Coast may be home to Apple , Microsoft and other technology giants, but it lags other countries when it comes to having a fully functional, public early warning system for earthquakes. Last month's devastating 6.2-magnitude quake, which killed nearly 300 people and counting in central Italy, is a reminder of the potential hazards that come with living in a seismically active region. California has several massive faults that could unleash a powerful 8.0-magitude quake, while Washington state is at risk of an even larger 9.0-magnitude temblor. Yet despite several rounds of funding, the high-risk region has much farther to go in rolling out a potentially life-saving warning system. "The system is operational in an extremely limited sense," said Douglas Given, the Earthquake Early Warning coordinator for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In hopes of changing that, the geophysicist is leading the agency's efforts with university partners to develop and test a so-called ShakeAlert system on the West Coast.
An expensive solution
Work on California's advanced warning system officially started a decade ago, but it remains in testing. This summer, the state's government appropriated $10 million in funds toward building out the system. The federal government has provided just over $13 million to improve ShakeAlert, and another $6.5 million was offered up by a private organization, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
However, funding remains well short of what would be needed to complete and operate the system and it's unclear who would foot the bill. The USGS estimates it will cost just under $40 million to completely build out ShakeAlert on the West Coast, and roughly $16 million annually to run and maintain it. In California, there are already more than 400 ground motion sensors installed on what's known as the California Integrated Seismic Network, with remote sensor stations generally positioned several miles apart. This network is the backbone that would provide the information to ShakeAlert. The first seismic waves that trip sensors are so-called primary waves (p-waves), which help the early warning system determine the quake's location and magnitude. That information is quickly processed, and the alert is sent out before the arrival of the stronger secondary waves (or s-waves). Depending on the location of a tremor, the earthquake warning time can range from seconds to minutes. It would give people time to shelter under a desk or table, or hold onto something to potentially avoid injuries during the shaking.
The urgency to be more ready for earthquakes is always there. Tina Curry deputy director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services
Although still in the test phase, ShakeAlert proved its value in the 2014 magnitude-6.0 quake in South Napa. A roughly 10-second alert was issued before the shaking was felt in San Francisco, which would have allowed the Bay Area Rapid Transit's trains to automatically slow or stop. (The trains weren't running because the quake occurred just after 3 a.m.) Indeed, automated actions could also include bringing elevators down to the ground floor so people don't get trapped. There also are applications in hospitals, factories and power plants. A handful of other test participants currently receive ShakeAlert notifications, including researchers, scientists, key agencies, and companies such as Disneyland in Anaheim. "We're confident in its capabilities and we will work out all the bugs, minimize false alarms, things like that," said Tina Curry, deputy director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, in Sacramento. "In a couple of years we think that there'll beat least a limited degree of what we call actual public use of this system."
Years behind Japan
The 6.7-magnitude 1994 Northridge Earthquake remains the costliest quake in U.S. history. The temblor occurred on a previously unknown fault and killed nearly 60 people, injured thousands and caused an estimated $49 billion in damage to businesses and homes.
"The urgency to be more ready for earthquakes is always there," Curry said. "We still don't know or can't predict where they will occur and when." Yet Japan is indisputably farther along, Given said. The Asian country's nationwide system launched in 2007, and several other countries including China, Taiwan and Mexico have built more limited or experimental systems. At present, the U.S. public alert infrastructure network used for things such as flash flood or hurricane weather alerts is considered generally too slow to meet the needs of a wide deployment of ShakeAlert. One remedy proposed through the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions is to use a cellular broadcast technology that would simultaneously send everyone an alert message. That's the same general technology used in Japan for its early warning system. "As a carrier, I can say we recognize the importance to the public safety for this," said Brian Daly, a director of government and regulatory standards for AT&T. "We're putting forward this effort ahead of any FCC rulings or rulemaking efforts." Existing cellular towers could be used for cell broadcast technology, but consumers would likely require new handsets to support the added capabilities, according to experts.
A National Guardsman stands guard outside the ruins of the Northridge Meadows Apartments where on January 17, 1994 an earthquake rocked Southern California. Tim Clary | AFP | Getty Images
The future of the U.S. space program should rely more heavily on private companies than government resources, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin told CNBC on Thursday morning.
"Elon Musk's SpaceX rockets are cheaper than government rockets," the second man to walk on the moon said on "Squawk Box."
Aldrin's comments were made shortly before Thursday's explosion of a SpaceX rocket on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. It happened during a test firing two days before planned liftoff. No injuries were reported, but the Falcon 9 rocket and its payload were destroyed.
The evolving business model for space exploration and travel is being led by three billionaires: Musk and SpaceX, Amazon founder and entrepreneur Jeff Bezo's Blue Origin, and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.
The new space race has a "long ways to go," Aldrin said. "We are still planning on to go to the moon and Mars on government rockets. I think it's time we need to entertain a change ... [in] who makes the cheaper rockets for the American people."
"[Private] is still cheaper than government transportation," he added.
Getty Images
If your Labor Day weekend plans include a visit to a car dealership, make sure you shop around first not just for the vehicle, but the financing as well. September is one of the best months to buy a car, with shoppers netting an average 7.64 percent off the sticker price, according to TrueCar.com. Labor Day in particular tends to be big because the three-day holiday weekend intersects with brands' summer sales and the start of model year-end clearances, said Matt DeLorenzo, managing editor for Kelley Blue Book. "We've been noticing a lot of rebates and sales events," he said. "In particular, we've been seeing a lot of lease deals going on." Yet Americans are spending more on their cars, with both average transaction prices and amount financed creeping up. During the first quarter, auto loans topped $1 trillion for the first time, according to Experian. That quarter also set records for the average amount financed ($30,032), average monthly payment ($503) and average term (68 months).
The rate you'll pay to finance a car purchase varies widely, depending on factors including your credit and where you borrow. (See charts above.) Rate differences can add up to thousands of dollars over the life of the loan. Auto manufacturers are often the best financing source, offering rates 51 percent below average, according to a new report from WalletHub.com. Among the manufacturers the site assessed, Cadillac, Ford, Hyundai, Mini, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota had the lowest financing rates. But it helps to arrive at the dealership with alternative offers in hand, said Greg McBride, senior analyst for Bankrate.com. You might not qualify for the dealership's best offer, or the financing term might be longer or shorter than you'd prefer. Offers from some banks, credit unions and online lenders may also give dealership rates a run for their money.
Rahman's statement noted that Malaysian official 1 was only referred to in the civil suit, not named as a subject, calling the difference "black and white." Rahman blamed Najib's political opponents for "deliberately mixing the two up to deceive the Malaysian people."
Abdul Rahman Dahlan, a minister in the prime minister's department and strategic communications director for political coalition Barisan Nasional, said in a statement on Thursday evening: "It's obvious that the so-called 'Malaysian Official 1' (MO1) referred to by the U.S. Department of Justice is our prime minister."
The "Malaysian official 1," named 32 times in the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit seeking to recover assets allegedly funneled away from troubled state fund 1MDB, is Prime Minister Najib Razak, a senior government official said.
In July, the U.S. Department of Justice moved to seize more than $1 billion of assets tied to an alleged international conspiracy to launder funds funnelled away from 1MDB, including funds related to the film "The Wolf of Wall Street."
That complaint said officials at 1MDB, their relatives and other associates diverted more than $3.5 billion from the state fund and laundered it through complex transactions and shell companies with bank accounts in Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the U.S.
The producer of "The Wolf of Wall Street," Red Granite Pictures, was co-founded by Riza Aziz, Najib's stepson.
Riza was named as a "relevant individual" in the complaint, but Najib wasn't named. However, media have reported, citing unnamed sources, that the complaint's 32 references to "Malaysian Official 1," who allegedly received hundreds of millions from 1MDB, were to Najib.
Najib has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, as has Riza and Red Granite Pictures.
When asked for comment via email on Thursday, the Malaysian prime minister's office referred to official statements made in July.
One from the prime minister's office said the Malaysian government would cooperate with any lawful investigation and another from Malaysia's Attorney General's office disputed that any investigation had found evidence that funds were misappropriated from 1MDB.
Questions about movement of funds from 1MDB came to widespread attention a little over a year ago, when the Wall Street Journal reported that in 2013, nearly $700 million had flowed from the debt-ridden fund to Najib's personal bank account.
Najib has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and, under pressure from the outcry caused by the WSJ report, said the funds were a private donation from a Middle Eastern country he declined to name at that time. He has denied benefiting personally from the funds.
In January, Malaysia's Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali said that Saudi Arabia's royal family gave Najib a $681 million gift, of which Apandi said about $600 million was later returned.
Apandi said that no criminal offense had been committed. But globally, investigations into 1MDB in locales as varied as the U.S., Switzerland, Singapore and the Seychelles have continued.
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The mistake came after Tesla and SolarCity co-founder Elon Musk, who is the largest shareholder in both companies, went out of his way to create processes and structures, including a special board committee at SolarCity, aimed at alleviating concerns that he used his influence to force the two companies into a deal.
While the purchase price was within the valuation range that Lazard came up with for SolarCity even after accounting for the miscalculation, the error illustrates how even leading investment banks can make mistakes on some of the most high-profile deals.
Lazard , the investment bank that advised SolarCity on its $2.6 billion sale to Tesla Motors , made an error in its analysis that discounted the value of the U.S. solar energy company by $400 million, according to a regulatory filing.
An analysis by Lazard for SolarCity that indicated an equity value of between $14.75 and $34.00 per share was wrong because it double-counted some of the company's projected indebtedness, according to Tesla's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
After identifying the computational error on Aug. 18, more than two weeks after the signing of the deal, Lazard realized the valuation range based on its discounted cash flow model was $18.75 to $37.75 per share.
SolarCity and Tesla agreed however that the error would not change their view of the deal, according to the filing. The purchase price, to be paid for with Tesla stock, equated to $25.37 per share.
Lazard and SolarCity representatives offered no immediate comment. A Tesla spokesperson declined to comment.
Lazard ranks No. 10 in the Thomson Reuters Americas M&A league table so far this year, down two spots on where it was last year.
This is not the first time that a major investment bank made a miscalculation on a big deal. An erroneous share count in the leveraged buyout of Tibco Software in 2014 by its financial advisor, Goldman Sachs , led to a Tibco shareholder lawsuit that was settled earlier this year.
Goldman discovered it had overstated the number of Tibco's fully diluted shares only after the company agreed to sell itself to private equity firm Vista Equity.
This had the effect of lowering the sale price to $4.14 billion from the $4.24 billion used in Goldman's fairness opinion. Nevertheless, Tibco decided not to ask Vista to pay the additional $100 million.
Goldman and Vista agreed to pay $30 million to the Tibco shareholders as part of the settlement, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time.
Sony 's recent round of tough restructuring has not come at the price of innovation, the company's chief executive told CNBC, adding that the company was still able to create "wacky" products to wow consumers.
Speaking to CNBC at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin Thursday, Sony boss Kazuo Hirai also said the company was not going to sell its smartphone business, despite a small global market share, as it could be a major player to drive a "paradigm shift" in mobile communications industry.
Last year, Tamotsu Iba, a former chief financial officer and vice-chairman at Sony, attacked Hirai for his leadership style, saying the the cost-cutting measures at the company are leading to the "the Sony spirit" being lost. Iba said Sony risked "sinking".
Hirai, who took over the reins of the Japanese electronics giant in 2012, has overseen jobs cut in places where Sony was losing, such as mobile, while it sold off its Vaio computer business in 2014. Hirai has doubled down on areas of strength for Sony such as its image sensors and PlayStation video games unit.
The CEO said that despite all this, Sony still has the ability to innovate.
"Sony is committed to making sure we innovate on both fronts - traditional products and also really new ideas, sometimes wacky ideas, but ideas that really wow our customers," Hirai told CNBC in a TV interview.
"One of the things that we really focused on as we were going through a very tough restructuring through the past several years was that we were not going to skim on R&D and that we were not going to skim on innovation. As a matter of fact, it was during those times where I actually instituted and started...the business unit dedicated with coming up with those edgy products and that's paying off today."
Sony touted the potential of its camera in the Xperia XZ when it unveiled the device at the 2016 IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin.
Sony unveiled its latest flagship smartphone - the Xperia XZ - Thursday as it looks to build on momentum in its mobile business, amid a continued turnaround at the electronics giant. The Japanese firm, which is enjoying a turnround in its fortunes, showed off two smartphones - the 5.2 inch Xperia XZ and the 4.6 inch Xperia X Compact - at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin on Thursday Key features of the devices include: A bolstered camera with three sensors, one of which is a laser capable of measuring distances in low light conditions allowing a quick focus
Video stabilization to get rid of jerky motion when shooting moving images
A 13 megapixel front "selfie" camera with a larger sensor than Sony's previous flagship Xperia Z5, to take pictures in low light environments
Smart battery technology to help stop the cells wearing out. For example, the phone can learn your sleeping habits, so that if you are charging the phone overnight, the battery will charge to 90 percent, stop, and then the remaining 10 percent will charge just before you wake up. This stops the battery over charging.
Water resistance - but not for the compact version. Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai has been on a drive to make those parts of his business that were bleeding cash, such as the smartphone division, more efficient while boosting money-makers such as gaming with the PlayStation consoles. So far there have been successes: The mobile communications division swung to an operating profit of 400 million yen ($3.8 million) in the three months to June 30 after a 22.9 billion yen loss in the same period last year.
The Sony Xperia X Compact is the smaller of the two devices and could prove popular, according to analysts, due to the demand seen with Apple's iPhone SE. Sony
However, to achieve this recovery, Sony has quit unprofitable markets which in turn has hit scale, making future smartphone launches difficult. "Sony has now engineered the business to a point where it's financially viable which is important, however it's very difficult to see how they can grow going forward," Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight, told CNBC in a phone interview. The company has lost out in the high-end space to the likes of Samsung, Apple and Huawei which dominate in terms of market share, leaving Sony to be a niche player. But the success of Apple's smaller 4-inch iPhone SE device, which has seen strong demand according to the company, could be a boost for Sony's Xperia X Compact. "The Compact is more interesting because the iPhone SE has shown that there is an appetite from some consumers for a smaller device. It might be the compact variant that could be the most important in international markets," Wood said. Sony's smartphone strengths have typically been with its camera because of its expertise in this area, but manufacturers such as Samsung have also bolstered their offering, making it difficult for the Japanese company to differentiate itself. "There is not much to make these phones stand out on a shelf," Daniel Gleeson, senior consumer technology analyst at Ovum, told CNBC by phone.
Smart device updates
Sony used the press conference at IFA to give updates on three devices that it unveiled this year - the Xperia Ear, the Xperia Projector, and the Xperia Agent. With these smart products, Sony is hoping to play in the so-called Internet of Things market as smartphone growth slows and it looks to new areas for growth. The Xperia ear is a wireless set of "smart" ear buds that can give you calendar reminders and tell you the weather. Users can talk to the device and it can carry out tasks like replying to a message or giving you directions. The device was announced in February and Sony said on Thursday it will be commercially available from November without giving a price or markets.
Sony
The South African Renewable Energy Technology Center (SARETEC) is looking to bolster the country's clean energy ambitions by creating a skilled workforce for the renewable energy industry. Based in Cape Town, SARETEC describes itself as being South Africa's "first national renewable energy technology center."
If these kinds of resources are to be harnessed, however, a trained and skilled workforce is needed.
Renewable energy has considerable potential in South Africa over fossil fuels. For instance, the country has an abundance of sunshine over 2,500 hours per year, according to the government. Wind energy both inland and around coastal areas is another resource that has potential to be a big part of the country's clean energy mix.
"SARETEC is going to be providing the skills that (are) required in order to run these power plants, these renewable energy power plants," Naim Rassool, managing director at SARETEC, told CNBC's Sustainable Energy.
"SARETEC has been specifically designed and set up to do that on a world-class level," Rassool added.
"And it is not only about looking at wind and solar, but also looking at all other forms of renewable energy generation."
In drawing up its training program, SARETEC is open to a whole range of ideas.
"What we've done here, is we've modeled so well on what has been around overseas already, which is proven curriculums and proven processes," Sven Pietrangeli, operations manager at SARETEC, said.
"Our main goal at this point is to create enough trust, so that people trust what happens here, trust what we train, and know that when they employ an individual they're getting a certain product at a certain standard, that this individual can fulfill their role properly and safely," Pietrangeli added.
Susana de Jager is one person to have directly benefited from the program, and is involved in work on a wind farm.
"SARETEC gives the local people an opportunity to get a qualification that they can use in their own country, working on automated big machinery, big fields," she said.
"If you can use local people to do a good job with good payment I think it will be very good for South Africa and the growth of the wind industry," she went on to add.
In an earlier statement, SpaceX said there were no injuries but the "anomaly" on the launch pad destroyed the Falcon 9 rocket and its payload, the Amos-6.
In a tweet, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said accident happened when propellant was being loaded, but the cause of the explosion was not determined.
The satellite was intended to expand broadband and video services for the Middle East and parts of Europe and Africa, including a Facebook project to expand internet access in sub-Saharan Africa.
A SpaceX rocket blew up on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Thursday, shaking nearby buildings and spewing smoke into the sky, two days before its planned liftoff with an Israeli satellite.
According to SpaceX's website, its standard payment plan for a Falcon 9 launch is $62 million.
The explosion happened around 9:15 a.m.
"There are no hazards to the general public," Brevard County Emergency Management Director Kimberly Prosser told Florida Today. "We're monitoring the situation, but there have been no requests for assistance."
There is NO threat to general public from catastrophic abort during static test fire at SpaceX launch pad at CCAFS this morning.
Saturday's launch was supposed to be SpaceX's ninth this year and 29th since its initial venture in June 2010. The mission was to place a communications satellite belonging to Israel-based Spacecom into orbit over the equator.
Facebook had partnered with French telecommunications firm Eutelsat to use the satellite. Eutelsat said the loss of the satellite could cost the company up to $56 million through 2019.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz said in October 2015 that the satellite cost $300 million to build, and was supposed to operate for 16 years.
Last week, Beijing Xinwei Technology Group agreed to buy Spacecom for $285 million, according to Reuters. However, the deal was contingent on the successful launch and in-orbit testing of the Amos-6 satellite.
The explosion happened while Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in sub-Saharan Africa.
"As I'm here in Africa, I'm deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX's launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent,"Zuckerberg said in a post. "Fortunately, we have developed other technologies like Aquila that will connect people as well. We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided."
Local NBC affiliate WESH posted video of the rising smoke.
SpaceX has had other setbacks. In June 2015, an unmanned SpaceX CRS-7 rocket exploded about two minutes after liftoff from the cape during a mission to carry cargo for the International Space Station. Musk blamed it on a structural failure.
SpaceX resumed launches in December 2015, when a Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Florida with a payload of communications satellites. As planned, its reusable main-stage booster landed safely near its launch pad.
Correction: This story was revised to correct that the launch was supposed to be SpaceX's ninth this year and 29th overall. Also, the launch was scheduled for Saturday. This was unclear on an earlier headline.
Workers at Tesla's assembly plant in Fremont, California. Noah Berger | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Millennials have expensive tastes when it comes to stocks. Among their favorites is Tesla , which has a $200 plus market price, according to a TD Ameritrade study. Investors in their parents' and grandparents' age bracket baby boomers and beyond like Ford , trading at about $12.50 a share. Investors over age 70 also tend to stick with dividend-paying blue-chips AT&T and GE . Both trade at less than $50 a share. So although the different generations share the same six favorite stock picks, including Apple , a portfolio of millennials' 10 most-bought stocks had an average share price of about $146 on Wednesday, higher than a similar portfolio for the other age groups studied. TD Ameritrade studied the portfolios and trading activity in 6 million funded client accounts for the first six months of this year.
10 most-traded and most-bought stocks in the first half of 2016
One argument for paying up for Elon Musk's automaker is the clean energy play. "That's a major theme with young people," said Nicole Sherrod, managing director of trading at TD Ameritrade. She added that college students almost always ask her about investing in companies with responsible business practices. "I think we're only going to see more and more of that going forward," she said. Boomers also like electric cars, to an extent. Tesla was the 10th most-traded stock for that age group but didn't make the list of top 10 stocks bought. The electric car maker is ninth on the millennials' top-traded list and 10th most-bought.
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Trump met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico on Wednesday and in a subsequent news conference touted five "shared goals" for the two countries.
"I think in terms of the optics, he got exactly what he wanted. He went to Mexico , got a cup of coffee, ate a doughnut, got a really good photo op. But in terms of demonstrating that he's a leader, I think he failed. I can only imagine what will happen when he sits down with Vladimir Putin," Davidow, who served as ambassador to Mexico under President Bill Clinton, said in an interview with " Closing Bell ."
Aside from getting a good photo opportunity, Donald Trump did a very poor job when he went to Mexico to meet with its president, former ambassador Jeffrey Davidow told CNBC on Thursday.
President of Mexico Enrique Pena Nieto walks along with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump after a meeting at Los Pinos on August 31, 2016, in Mexico City.
However, there was a dispute over whether the pair discussed who would pay for the Republican nominee's proposed border wall. In the news conference, Trump said payment wasn't discussed. However, afterward Pena Nieto tweeted that he told the billionaire that Mexico would not pay for it.
Trump's spokesperson responded by saying, "It was not a negotiation, and that would have been inappropriate."
However, Davidow told CNBC, "This is the time that you lay it on the table. If you really think you're a great dealmaker, this is the time when you start negotiating the deal. I didn't see any of that."
Things that Trump has been proposing, like payment for the wall, renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement and stopping American business from going to Mexico, should have been raised in a "respectful" fashion with Pena Nieto, he added.
As for why the Mexican president would want to meet with someone who appears to be hostile toward the country, Davidow believes Pena Nieto wanted to get Mexico's side out to the American public.
"If you listen carefully to what he said at the press conference, he presented a really cogent picture of the importance of a friendly Mexico to the U.S. but he didn't say it very well. It got lost in the shuffle of the translation and was overwhelmed by the optics of the event," he said.
In a speech later Wednesday evening, Trump ditched the softer tone he employed during his news conference in Mexico. With renewed bluster, he reiterated his vow to make Mexico pay for the wall and outlined his plan to crack down on immigration.
CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.
An improbable 24 hours for Donald Trump and his campaign wrapped up Wednesday night with the Republican presidential nominee delivering a one-two punch to many of his critics and those who had written his campaign off for dead.
His much-watched speech on immigration, preceded by his meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, gave Trump the unlikely chance to simultaneously cast himself as more presidential to undecided voters and yet even more fiery and unwavering to his base. And unless you're one of Hillary Clinton's most ardent supporters or a member of the fervently anti-Trump news media, it was quite clear he pulled it off.
Wednesday night's immigration speech by Trump was already going to be watched closely, at least by the media. But after the news frenzy surrounding the Mexican visit dominated the airwaves and the Internet for hours leading up to the speech, it turns out that millions more actual non-media pundit Americans actually watched the speech. And while they saw the same old bombastic Trump persona, they heard him deliver a better and more reasoned message and this is crucial they saw and heard it with their own eyes and ears and not through the mainstream media's filter. In short, Trump just tricked the media into letting it allow the public to actually hear his immigration message. And they heard it loud and clear.
Trump's unexpected invitation from Mexico's president turned into a quick meeting and respectful joint news conference that lent instant new credibility to the Trump campaign on both the immigration and foreign-policy issues. Forget about Trump, any non-incumbent presidential candidate is always challenged to look presidential and relevant among foreign leaders. That made the invitation from Pena Nieto pure gold all on its own. But the fact that it came from a man who recently compared Trump to Hitler and the visit occurred just before Trump was set to make this crucial speech was a stroke of luck any campaign would die for.
And then it was time for that speech, which turned out to be mostly about cracking down on criminals who also happen to be illegal immigrants. Say what you want about how Americans feel about peaceful people crossing the border illegally, but no clear-headed American wants more violent criminals coming into this country.
Graduates hoping to score a job in the City of London are being defeated by a set of arcane rules that dictate what color shoes you should wear and how best to tie your tie, a U.K. government study has found.
A new report released Thursday by the Social Mobility Commission, which was set up by the U.K. government in 2010, looked at the unwritten expectations of investment bankers in the United Kingdom.
When discussing dress codes, it finds "relatively opaque" codes of conduct go as far as dictating what color of shoe a British investment banker should wear.
"For men, the wearing of brown shoes with a business suit is generally considered unacceptable by and for British bankers within the investment banking division", the report said.
Authors of the survey, entitled Socio-Economic Diversity in Life Sciences and Investment Banking, heard evidence that exceptions on brown shoes can be made for M&A bankers who hail from continental Europe or some bankers who are sufficiently senior.
One respondent to the survey explained how he was told that despite having a successful interview he wasn't quite "polished" enough for the bank.
"He looked at me and said, 'see that tie you're wearing? It's too loud. You can't wear that tie with the suit that you're wearing'", reads the statement.
The report suggested that dress codes are considered by financiers as important when reassuring clients about the quality of service they will receive.
It may sound suspicious, but it's totally legal. "Retail arbitrage" happens when someone purchases an item from one merchant, then turns around and sells it somewhere else for a profit. And thanks to the popularity of online marketplaces, it's become a somewhat common occurrence. It also explains why multiple orders that CNBC placed on Amazon were shipped with either Wal-Mart labeling or a Target invoice. In a small-scale test last month, CNBC ordered eight identical (or nearly identical) items from Amazon, Target and Wal-Mart. Each item was ordered four times, and sent to four cities across the continental U.S. The orders were placed with standard shipping, and without the use of membership program.
Of the 32 items ordered from Amazon, the majority of which were fulfilled by third-party vendors, six came with Wal-Mart or Target labeling or packaging.
The four bookshelves ordered from Amazon were fulfilled by three different third-party sellers. Yet each one arrived to their respective cities in packaging with Wal-Mart's labeling. The average of the four Amazon sellers' bookshelf prices was $15.22 more than Wal-Mart's price, which held steady at $68.
This bookshelf was ordered from an Amazon third-party seller, but was packaged and shipped by Wal-Mart. Source: CNBC
Tide laundry detergent ordered from two different third-party Amazon sellers arrived in Dayton, Ohio, and Lincoln, Nebraska, in Target and Wal-Mart packaging, respectively. The box sent to Dayton even included a Target invoice. That invoice included the Dayton shipping address, but the billing address was for an unknown person in South Carolina. The billing address for the detergent shipped to Lincoln was for "Joe Order."
This Wal-Mart invoice was sent with an order placed through an Amazon third-party seller. It listed Joe Order as the person who placed the order. Source: CNBC
CNBC paid the Amazon sellers an average $10.26 more than the average of Target and Wal-Mart's prices. Third-party sellers were the only option for CNBC's buyers because Tide wasn't available directly from Amazon in any of the four cities without being a paid Prime member. Amazon would not officially comment or respond to questions on retail arbitrage or the results of CNBC's shipping test. Part of the guidelines posted on its website for third-party sellers does not permit "purchasing products from another online retailer and having that retailer ship directly to customers."
There are no rules against buying an item from another retailer and reselling it, so long as the outside seller ships the item directly to the customer with the seller's own labeling, packing slip and invoice.
Piper Jaffray's internet research team acknowledges that arbitrage has existed on all e-commerce platforms for some time, but said its role on Amazon's site is probably very small. As of the second quarter of 2016, Amazon's roughly 2 million outside marketplace sellers represented more than 49 percent of the total number of items sold on Amazon.com. In many cases, those third-party sellers ship products directly to the consumer, without ever passing through an Amazon warehouse. In some cases, the products may have been bought from a retailer and resold on Amazon.
Tide detergent was ordered from an Amazon third-party seller, but was packaged and shipped by Target. Source: CNBC
Technology is playing a bigger role than ever in the presidential race from how the campaigns engage voters to the ways the media covers the candidates and the platforms we use to follow along. While both major candidates deserve applause for embracing technology as a campaign tool, they fall short in supporting policies that recognize technology's critical role in growing our economy.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is the only candidate with a fully-developed technology policy. She supports highly-skilled immigration, but any constructive legislative remedies will likely fail because she would insist that specific reform be part of a much more controversial overall immigration package. She also supports investing in STEM education to funding innovation hubs across the country, but offers no ideas on how to pay for it.
Secretary Clinton demonized different business sectors during a bruising primary process and would probably continue the direction of the Obama White House, which has generally been antagonistic to business, though favorable to technology. And once she began campaigning for president, Clinton's position on trade has become muddy.
Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson doesn't have a dedicated technology agenda like the Clinton campaign, but he has been a strong advocate for certain tech issues. He has referred to the internet as the most important tool for equality ever created and advocated for encryption, recognizing that consumers need to trust their data is legally protected.
Johnson also supports several policies that would benefit the tech sector free trade, highly skilled immigration, reduced burdens on business, a balanced budget and believes in letting business lead and grow the economy with minimal government interference.
Republican nominee Donald Trump has no apparent technology policy platform something the tech sector has repeatedly asked him to share. He barely talks about tech companies, and when he does it's frequently within the anti-trade and immigration context.
Trump's fiscal proposals generally support the broader business sector lowering the corporate tax rate, repatriating certain overseas funds, investing in infrastructure and he promises to tackle the runaway federal bureaucracy by temporarily banning any new agency regulations.
But how can Trump be a pro-business candidate when he promises to punish China with huge tariffs and disparages the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, even though it will help the United States compete with China in key trading markets?
Our presidential candidates are quick to promise a better, stronger America. But, so far, only the Clinton campaign has engaged our country's technology community and shared a coherent policy agenda that recognizes the promise of economic growth and job creation the U.S. tech sector can deliver.
Commentary by Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the U.S. trade association representing more than 2,200 consumer technology companies, and author of the New York Times best-selling books, Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World's Most Successful Businesses and The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream. Follow him on Twitter @GaryShapiro.
For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
ROME, N.Y. Assured Information Security, Inc. (AIS) announced it has acquired Ross Technologies, Inc. (RTGX) of Maryland.
AIS didnt release any financial terms of the acquisition, which closed Aug. 1.
AIS is a cybersecurity firm that is headquartered at 153 Brooks Road in Rome. It also has offices in Massachusetts, Maryland, Ohio, Colorado, and Oregon.
RTGX is a Columbia, Marylandbased company that provides cybersecurity services for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and intelligence community.
AIS says its acquisition of RTGX expands its presence in the Washington, D.C. area.
The transaction also adds new capabilities and services to the AIS brand and grows its client portfolio.
AIS now employs 252 people after adding RTGXs 76 workers, Dan Kalil, operations manager at AIS, told BJNN.
Although our organic growth has been significant, this acquisition brings RTGXs well-respected capabilities and expanded resources under our corporate umbrella, Charles Green, CEO of AIS, said in the companys announcement. The need for cybersecurity is growing rapidly, and we want to continue to build our workforce to meet the demand.
AIS provides government and commercial customers with cybersecurity services such as research, development, consulting, testing, forensics, remediation, and training.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
Nigeria league matches will be played across the country this weekend despite a court order suspending the competition until further notice.
A high court in Bukuru, near Jos, suspended the league indefinitely on Wednesday until an earlier order by the same court for Giwa FC to be fully re-instated in the league was complied with.
However, chief executive of the League Management Company (LMC), Salihu Abubakar, assured matches will go ahead as planned even after this latest court order.
The league will continue, there is no problem, said Abubakar.
The clubs should go about their business, we will worry about the legal issues.
Nine matches have been scheduled for Sunday.
Heartland are home to Ikorodu United, Pillars hosts Sunshine Stars, Plateau United welcome Shooting Stars and Rangers take on Rivers United.
The other fixtures are Warri Wolves vs Nasarawa United, Abia warriors vs IfeanyiUbah, Akwa United vs MFM, Lobi vs Enyimba and El Kanemi vs Tornadoes.
The Malaysias High Commissioner to Nigeria, Amb. Datuk Lim Juay Jin, has disclosed that about 13,000 Nigerians are currently studying at various levels in educational institutions in Malaysia.
He made this known during an interview with newsmen on Wednesday on the sideline of the flag hoisting ceremony to mark the 59th Independence anniversary of Malaysia.
According to him, Malaysian educational process is a stepping stone for a lot of Nigerians who want to pursue their education further as Nigerian students in Malaysia made up most of the number of Africans studying in the country.
He attributed this to the affordability of cost of study, good standards and the English speaking environment in Malaysia. He further stated that Nigerian students studying in Malaysia are actually promoting bilateral relations between the two countries, though in an informal way.
JavaScript var tempDiv = " " ; divs.push(tempDiv);
is this code valid in javascript?
i'm getting error in chrome console that says unexpected identifier
the error is on first line.
not valid Javascript. Nested quotes need to be escaped:
JavaScript var tempDiv = " " ; var tempDiv = ' ' ;
You also need to remove the spaces around the = character for the string to be valid HTML.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
that was helpful
In a vb.net 2010 web form application, I have the following code:
<%@ Page Title =" " Language =" VB" MasterPageFile =" ~/MasterPage.master" AutoEventWireup =" false" CodeFile =" default.aspx.vb" Inherits =" attendanceletters_default" %> <%@ Register Assembly =" Telerik.Web.UI" Namespace =" Telerik.Web.UI" TagPrefix =" telerik" %> < asp:Content ID =" Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID =" MPHead" Runat =" Server" > < script src =" ../scripts/jquery-1.3.2.js" type =" text/javascript" > < / script > < script src =" ../scripts/jquery-ui-1.7.2.custom.min.js" type =" text/javascript" > < / script > <% If ( False ) Then %> < script src =" ../scripts/jquery-1.3.2.js" type =" text/javascript" > < / script > <% End If %> < script src =" ../scripts/site.js" type =" text/javascript" > < / script > < script src =" ../scripts/json2.js" type =" text/javascript" > < / script > function GetStudentLetterTemplate(schoolyear, schoolnum, milestone, studentlink, language, semester) { alert('schoolyear: ' + schoolyear + 'schoolnum: ' + schoolnum + 'milestone: ' + milestone + 'studentlink: ' + studentlink + 'language: ' + language + 'semester: ' + semester); if (milestone == '999') { alert('You have selected student(s) having more than one CAIP entry for the current school year'); return; } }
I want to display a javascript alert message in production when an error condition exists. The code listed above works in a development envirnonment, but the code would not deploy to a test app server.
Thus can you show me what I can do to fix the code listed above?
If not, would you show me what I can do in a production environment to have a warning message displayed to a user with the least amount of extra code?
I do not care how the warning message is displayed, I just want a warning message to be displayed.
You might have a hard-coded route in your JS that does not exist in production. This could be a specific URI (ie "http://localhost:8080/site/asset") or a relative URL that is not appropriate in your release build ( ie "../../assets" to escape bin). Your web browser whitelists sites for script execution, and your production server is not whitelisted. It's far more likely that your aspx is not producing the correct response on the server side.
Also, this snippet is hysterical: HTML < script src =" ../scripts/jquery-1.3.2.js" type =" text/javascript" > < / script > < script src =" ../scripts/jquery-ui-1.7.2.custom.min.js" type =" text/javascript" > < / script > < br / > <% If (False) Then%> < script src =" ../scripts/jquery-1.3.2.js" type =" text/javascript" > < / script > <% End If%> "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
- Benjamin Disraeli
Hi All,
I am very new to java script , actually I have one HTML page and I am using it in SAP that page contains buttons like 'Save' Bold' 'Italic' Etc all word formatting options.
Like in this editor above we have B I U , Small and BIG and ETC..
when I open that code in note page I have observers that below code has written to create a button.
JavaScript var nicSaveOptions = { buttons : { ' save' : {name : __( ' Save this content' ), type : ' nicEditorSaveButton' } } }; var nicEditorSaveButton = nicEditorButton.extend({ init : function () { if (!this.ne.options.onSave) { this .margin.setStyle({ ' display' : ' none' }); } }, mouseClick : function () { var onSave = this .ne.options.onSave; var selectedInstance = this .ne.selectedInstance; onSave(selectedInstance.getContent(), selectedInstance.elm.id, selectedInstance); } }); nicEditors.registerPlugin(nicPlugin,nicSaveOptions);
with the above code Save button is displaying in the tool bar.
Now I want to add another button in the tool bar with different logo EX : To send email
Can you please help me how to add new button and it's event for that button.( the above button having even I copied the same code and paste I got that save option two times )
NicEdit[^], so normal JavaScript conventions will only help so much. There's an example that was first thing that came up on Google for me: javascript - Nicedit.js - cannot add custom button - Stack Overflow[^]
I should also note that as per the site, it is no longer under development.
If you're interested in learning JS this is probably not the bast project for you, as you'll be learning the conventions of a dead script module rather than actual JavaScript. I would suggest using one of the many JS tutorials that you can find by googling "javascript tutorial"
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
- Benjamin Disraeli
Hey everyone and sorry for my bad English. I give my best.
I want to create a offline chatbot and I want that he answer in multiple for special words. (answer must be random)
Here An Exemple:
Me: Hey
Bot: hey
Me:hey
Bot: hi
Here the js code: (what is wrong?)
Java var $messages = $( ' .messages-content' ), d, h, m, i = 0 ; $(window).load(function() { $messages .mCustomScrollbar(); setTimeout(function() { fakeMessage(); }, 100 ); }); function updateScrollbar() { $messages .mCustomScrollbar( " update" ).mCustomScrollbar( ' scrollTo' , ' bottom' , { scrollInertia: 10 , timeout: 0 }); } function setDate(){ d = new Date() if (m != d.getMinutes()) { m = d.getMinutes(); $( ' ' + d.getHours() + ' :' + m + '
' ).appendTo($( ' .message:last' )); } } function insertMessage() { msg = $( ' .message-input' ).val(); if ($.trim(msg) == ' ' ) { return false; } $( ' ' + msg + '
' ).appendTo($( ' .mCSB_container' )).addClass( ' new' ); setDate(); $( ' .message-input' ).val(null); updateScrollbar(); setTimeout(function() { fakeMessage(msg); }, 1000 + (Math.random() * 20 ) * 100 ); } $( ' .message-submit' ).click(function() { insertMessage(); }); $(window).on( ' keydown' , function(e) { if (e.which == 13 ) { insertMessage(); return false; } }) var Fake = { " Hi" : [ ' Hi' , 6000 ] " Hi" : [ ' Hey' , 6000 ] " Hey" : [ ' Hey' , 6000 ] " Hey" : [ ' Hi' , 6000 ] } function fakeMessage(msg) { if (msg == ' ' ) { return false; } var resp = Fake[msg][ 0 ]; console.log(msg, resp);
Home | LinkedIn | Google+ | Twitter "There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare
SolidSnake7 wrote: (what is wrong?) Only you can tell us. We cannot run your code so you need to do very basic debugging and find out what IS happening. Then you can explain to us so we can help you.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
I have created HTML tables as below by hard coded the values:
Name weekhandledticket monthlyhandledticket dailyhandledticket credits
xyz 1 2 1 1
My requirement is I want to achieve this dashboard directly on browser without hard coding the values.it should directly taken from external file like javascript .is it possible to attain this requirement using JavaScript itself? Please give me some idea to drive this requirement?
TO BE MORE PRECISE "TO create a dashboard using HTML table and display the data on runtime with help of javascript ?"
It sounds like you need to learn some JS and I would suggest by starting with jQuery. Have a look at jQuery Learning Center[^] to get started.
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
- Benjamin Disraeli
JavaScript Tutorial[^]
But the best way to generate pages is server-side, for which PHP is a great language: PHP 5 Tutorial[^]
You can make changes to an existing page with either javaScript (via DOM) or php (via AJAX), depending upon where the 'new' data is stored.
Ravings en masse^ "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
1. put an ajax call and get your data in jquery.
2. Bind your data to the html table format.
Here you done
2. Put and ajax call and bind the response in html tables to show
I have two separate HTML files (index.html and home.html) and a javascript (bodyswapscript.js) file. I'm trying to figure out how to swap in (only the body) of home.html into the body of the index.html by using java script. Basically swapping 'body' elements between HTML files.
I have posted my html code and java script below. The html is quick and dirty, so I'm only interested in swapping out the body information of index.html with home.html. I also would like to keep the unordered/list items as my header and be able to use the browser back button to go back to previous pages.
1.) index.html
HTML < head > < meta name =" generator" content = " HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 14 February 2006), see www.w3.org" > < meta charset =" utf-8" > < title > My Profile < /title > < link rel =" stylesheet" href =" style.css" type =" text/css" > < /head > < header > < hgroup > < center > < h1 > Index < /h1 > < h4 > index page < /h4 > < /center > < /hgroup > < link rel =" stylesheet" type =" text/css" href =" style.css" / > < script src =" http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.5/jquery.min.js" > < / script > < script src =" bodyswapscript.js" > < / script > < nav > < div id =" wrapper" > < div id =" header" > < ul > < li > < a id =" homeContainer" href =" home.html" > Home < /a > < /li >